The shippy chapter

When Marinette was 15 years old, she had her first kiss.

For all his efforts and attempts to coax one out of her, she had never expected that Chat Noir would be the one to receive it. She had also never expected to be the one to initiate it. Honestly, she'd been hoping that her first kiss would be Adrien. Nope. Instead it went to the mangy cat she called a partner. The best part? He didn't even remember. So unless he'd gone looking for footage or his kwami told him, Chat Noir had no idea they'd kissed.

As frustrating as it was, Marinette wasn't bitter.

During his Valentine's Day rampage, Dislocoeur had corrupted Chat Noir. He'd been trying to tell her something and she had allowed herself to be distracted by him and was unprepared for their enemy coming up behind them. He'd taken the hit for her. She had known immediately that something was wrong, even before the effects of the arrow on him became evident. The emotional repercussions from utter hatred he displayed towards her were nothing in comparison to instincts screaming at her that this was wrong. He should not be against her; they should not be fighting. He was corrupted and she had to save him.

Did she want to kiss him? Hell no but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do and she had to save Chat Noir. To that end, it was worth it. Although, there was thing that she could never quite let go of, a nagging thought in the back of her mind. What if it had been his first kiss, too?

She could justify giving him her first kiss. She could justify kissing him without his consent. She just didn't feel right knowing she might have taken his first kiss when he had no memory of it.

Of course, there was no way in hell she would ever bring it up.

The love of his life jumped into the mouth of a T-Rex right before his eyes and Chat Noir swore his heart stopped. A cry ripped its way out of his throat and inside his mind, Plagg screamed.

For the first time in his life, Chat Noir believed himself capable of murder. His time was ticking away but as he whirled his staff aggressively, he was fully prepared to use whatever time remained to end the akuma, victim and all. He did not know if the feeling came from himself, Plagg, or maybe both, but that son of a bitch was going to pay for this.

Then she emerged alive and unscathed and he couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her. He'd thought he'd lost her. For a few, horrible seconds he'd thought he'd actually lost her. And Plagg, oh God. Even though the kwami's cry had had no sound, Adrien would never forget it.

"TIKKI!"

That night, Plagg told him what happened to a kwami when their Miraculous was destroyed. It was the conduit that allowed them to exist corporeally and on this plane. Without it, they would cease to be.

Adrien nearly threw up. For all he loved his lady, he could not imagine the pain Plagg would go through if he had lost his partner. They'd been together since the beginning, the little god had once admitted, each other's other half. What would it be like to lose someone so vital to you?

"Like losing your twin, your best friend, and your mate all at once," Plagg informed him with an air of detachment that was distinctly unsettling. "Or so I've been told."

Adrien was horrified. "It's…happened?"

"Three times," Tikki admitted to her ashen-faced host. "Their names were Ranné, Amaat, and Kaoss."

"Were they all from different pairs?" Marinette asked.

The kwami nodded. "Ranné represented the element of water. Amaat embodied truth. Kaoss embodied chaos."

Marinette was quiet for a long minute as she considered this. "And their partners?"

Tikki looked like she had eaten something sour and it took her a moment to respond. "They live," she answered flatly. "Which is why you must be careful, Marinette. I do not control what Lucky Charm gives you and I understand you did not have much time to think but so many things could've gone wrong today. I do not want to die but more than that, I do not want to leave Plagg behind."

Looking back, Adrien was sure the reason he was so behind Nino asking Marinette out was because he knew Nino would never hurt her. He had not forgotten the primal instinct to protect her that had flared once and he knew without a doubt that no such thing would ever occur with Nino. He was too good. Except for a brief hiccup in the beginning, Nino had reached out to Adrien when no one else would. He'd been kind; he'd helped him in the beginning and continued helping him even now. There was no one else in the class he'd rather end up with her.

Yet Nino's infatuation seemed to fade almost overnight, leaving Adrien wondering just how genuine it had been. Nino reassured him that it was nothing to stress about; just that Alya had "explained" a few things to him. Whatever that meant. The end result, Nino had no plans to further pursue their blue-eyed classmate.

Adrien couldn't believe Nino had just let his feelings go like that so suddenly. He was no expert on girls or matters of the heart—and considering he was hopelessly in love with a girl who deliberately hid a part of herself from him, his case was even bleaker than it appeared on the outside. Even still, Adrien did not understand how someone could just simply stop feeling for another person like that. He'd seen Nino. The boy had been beside himself with nerves and his affection had been genuine.

He couldn't imagine not loving Ladybug. From the moment they had met, Chat Noir had felt complete with her. When she was near things were just…right. He was sure they were meant to be together, one way or another. Even if things never progressed the way he wanted, he did not think he could ever truly stop loving her. Never mind get over her.

"It was a schoolboy crush," Plagg scoffed while Adrien brooded on his couch. "You can't put much stock in those. He'll probably be 'in love' again in two weeks."

"And what about me, Plagg?" he asked tiredly. "Is what I feel just a schoolboy crush?"

Plagg shot him a look of annoyance. "No, it's worse. Much worse. Cringe-worthy. A total appetite killer. Honestly, how anyone can stand to be around you is beyond me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about love, kid," the kwami informed him. "You're so in love with her it's disgusting."

Adrien smirked. "So you believe me now?"

"I always believed you thought you were in love." Plagg floated up to Adrien's face and folded his arms. "Yesterday, I knew that you were."

Nothing like watching the love of their life jump into the jaws of death to pull a genuine reaction out of someone. Hey, wait…. "And what about you, Plagg? Do you love Tikki?" Adrien asked.

He tensed, tail lashing once. "There are no words for what I feel for Tikki. Not in your language, at least. Love does not even begin to cover it."

Adrien blinked in surprise at the tiny cat but chose to not comment. What was more powerful than love? Nothing he could think of. Then again, he wasn't a god and he was only fifteen. What did he know about the emotions kwami could feel?

Plagg, like all other kwami who had been in his position, knew from the start that his host would one day fall in love with his partner. Romantic or platonic, it did not matter; the end result was still the same. Partners always loved each other on some level, they had to in order to survive, but it was the pairs that started together that always shared the deepest connections.

He was a bit concerned this time around. Usually it became obvious fairly early on what kind of love would blossom between the pair. Though Adrien would argue vehemently against it, Plagg thought perhaps it would be platonic love. Sure he thought himself in love with the girl but Plagg knew how fickle the hearts of humans could be, particularly young ones. Oh, he had no doubt that Adrien loved her, but he was hesitant to label it as romantic. Ladybug herself had also shown no signs of romantic feelings for Chat.

The boy's response to Ladybug's apparent death proved him wrong. Through their moment of shared terror and despair he had felt and seen the boy's very soul once more. Adrien Agreste was truly in love with his partner. Yet she felt nothing more than friendship towards him.

It didn't make sense. They could not have chosen wrong. He and Tikki had been so careful…

There was something else going on, Plagg was sure of it, he just had no idea what. Contrary to what Adrien believed, though, he was a patient cat. There was plenty of time and absolutely no rush. For now he would kick back and allow events to unfold. Tikki could be counted on to do the same. Knowing her, she would be just as curious to see where this led.

Huehuehuehuheuee.