Well this chapter has been in my head snice I started writing this story. So here it is! :)
Plagg expected the apartment to look different; he'd seen the very beginning of Marinette and Adrien's decorating efforts before they had kicked him out of the apartment.
He expected decorations. Not a blanket fort and about six different shades of blue streamers taped to the ceiling and along the walls.
He stood in the doorway of the apartment and just shook his head.
"One word: Overboard. Chill with the streamers."
Adrien turned around and shook his head in amusement as he watched Plagg trying to dodge as many streamers as possible on his way to the kitchen. "You can never have enough streamers. Besides these ones match your shirt."
He tossed the roll of crepe paper at Plagg. "Wait, no what are you doing?" Adrien questioned as Plagg picked up the roll of tape off of the table and walked down the hallway.
"Staging an intervention. You need serious help."
"No, not my streamers!" Adrien panicked when he saw Plagg's intention to rob him. "Come on I was so close! I was almost done!"
"Well now you are done. Don't make me take any of these ones down." Plagg threatened as he batted a streamer dangling from the ceiling and threatening to stick to his damp shirt.
"You wouldn't dare! Mari would kill you." Adrien warned.
"I'll take my chances."
Marinette insisted that they spend the next three hours getting ready for the party going so far as to drive over to Nino's house to physically drag Alya away from the video phone and hang up on her co-worker in the middle of conference call number four. Saying that it was very important that Alya leave ASAP.
Tikki found the entire thing to be a bit extreme but that was just how Mari was. She tended to act extreme in most situations.
Tikki didn't really see the appeal of making a mess of the apartment that they would just have to clean up later so she just watched from the relative safety of the bunkbed as Alya and Marinette disappeared into the depths of the closet. Tikki was stuck by memories of how they used to do stuff like this in high school and for pure nostalgia sake she dug out one of Marinette's wireless speakers and turned on her phone's Bluetooth and did a YouTube search for a Jagged Stone album.
Alya and Marinette screamed in unison.
"Mind reader!" Mari squealed. Tikki just rolled her eyes and went back to painting her nails. She didn't really get why Marinette liked this type of music, It wasn't really Tikki's taste but she figured she could indulge her best friends for a few songs.
"You should wear something cute!" Marinette emerged from the closet wearing white ankle boots, black leggings and a long-sleeved pink shirt that went almost to her knees like a dress.
Tikki raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend as she blew on her nails to dry them. "Should I be insulted?" Mari pouted sliding into the desk chair; sitting on it backwards so she could face Tikki without having to turn the chair around completely; resting her chin on the back of the chair as she fixed her roommate with a bright-eyed stare.
"Oh come on….Are you at least going to wear the hoodie?"
"Why?" Tikki had a very good idea of where this conversation was going and she couldn't decide if she liked it or not.
"Because, don't you want to kiss Plagg."
Tikki couldn't help sighing in annoyance at her roommate's romantic fantasies. "We are not going to kiss."
"If you say so."
"...Mari. I can read you like a book, that's your "scheming" face whatever you're planning I'm telling you right now if you value our friendship and your life you will stop planning whatever you're planning right now."
Marinette sputtered and shook her head "I'm not planning anything." Mari insisted as she turned her back on Tikki, leaving the room to curl her hair.
Tikki shook her head at her friend's retreating back and twisted the lid back onto the nail polish bottle. Just as her phone chimed with a message. Sighing in annoyance and resigning herself to the possibility of getting red nail polish on her screen protector she turned on her phone and swiped at the screen to read the message.
I hate streamers.
She bit her lip to keep the start of a confused laugh from escaping her lips; very much aware that Alya was still in the room with her and would ask what was so funny.
That has to be the most random thing anyone has said to me over text message….. do I even want to know why?
I don't think I could even attempt to explain. Next time. I'm not leaving the two of them alone to decorate.
Should I be scared?
Yes. Yes you should.
"Who are you texting?"
"Plagg is complaining about streamers." Tikki clarified as Marinette reappeared in the bedroom with her hair down, hair brush in hand. She sighed softly. "I told Adrien to stop, I guess I just have to do damage control when we get there."
The rushing of footsteps fast approaching from the the hallway and the surprised gasp alerted Plagg to the figure that stood transfixed in the doorway. He turned to confirm that it was his seven year-old sister in the doorway and not one of the kids who actually lived in the apartment.
"Colette, where's Aunt Natalie?"
"She's coming." Colette replied, bright brown eyes still transfixed on the streamers dangling from the ceiling. At the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside of the apartment Colette squeaked and tore her attention away from the streamers and crawled into the blanket fort
Whispering urgently to Plagg as she disappeared. "I'm not here."
A moment later Natalie appeared in the doorway looking more than a little annoyed with having lost track of the seven year-old. "She's not here." Plagg informed his aunt casually flicking his gaze towards the couch turned blanket fort.
Catching onto the game Natalie pretended to look confused and put her hands on her hips. "Where did she go?"
Colette tried to stifle a laugh and the blankets twitched as she crawled deeper into the safety of the fort.
Plagg's smile turned mischievous.
"I don't know but if we don't find her I guess she won't get a cupcake."
The blanket stopped moving for a moment and Colette poked her head out, shooting her gleaming brown eyes at Plagg with all of the hope a seven year-old was capable of expressing. "Cupcakes?" She breathed, brushing her wavy black hair out of her face.
"Found her." Plagg said matter-of factly to Natalie.
Collette spun around to face her aunt before turning on her brother once more, realizing she'd been tricked.
"Not fair! That's not nice!"
"I never joke about cupcakes. Calm down." Plagg hushed his sister and stepped behind the counter to retrieve two plastic store-bought containers. Taking out one of each.
"You can only take these if you promise to be good for Aunt Natalie."
The slightest hesitation. "I want to hang out with you and your friends! Adult parties are boringgg!" Colette whined. "Aunt Nat doesn't have streamers!"
No point trying to explain to her that he and Adrien were technically adults now, even if Adrien had insisted it was necessary to construct a blanket fort.
"I'll give you the extra streamers if you promise to go with Aunt Natalie okay?"
Another pout. "Fine."
"Cupcakes." She demanded, only to squeal in shocked outrage as Plagg pushed the miniature cake into her face, smearing frosting on her nose. Standing frozen in her shock for a moment longer Colette snatched the other cupcake out of Plagg's other hand and did the exact same thing as revenge. Snatching the two cupcakes and retreating behind Natalie to eat the two cupcakes in safety.
"Must you encourage her?" Natalie scolded in attempt to hide her amusement.
"She's seven. Besides she didn't say please. I wouldn't have smeared frosting on her face if she had said please."
"You started it!" Colette protested feeling slightly disappointed that her cupcakes had less frosting now.
He'd admit that he had started it but he didn't regret it. She looked cute with frosting on her face even if she was scowling at him.
He offered a cupcake to Natalie before he disappeared down the hallway and into his room to retrieve the streamers he'd confiscated from Adrien barely ten minutes ago.
Colette stood impatiently at the start of the hallway, snatching the roll of streamer paper away from him and running around the apartment with it trailing behind her like a kite string.
Jinx watched the streamer paper from where she sat perched on the counter; tail flicking back and forth as she debated whether or not it was worth chasing after it.
Natalie couldn't help laughing even as she tried to suppress a cringe at the mess Colette was making.
"Okay, okay enough." Natalie turned to Plagg looking apologetic and smug all at once as she put a hand on her hip and shook her head at him with an "I told you so" look
Plagg just shrugged in response and shook his head in return as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he watched his sister hide behind the counter, dragging the streamer along the floor at a much slower pace trying to coax Jinx to play.
"Oh come on, let the kid have her fun."
"We have places to be." Natalie replied shooting another apologetic look, looking past him to Colette as the little girl jumped up from the floor.
"Aunt Natalie's going to take me to the Eiffel Tower to see the lights! I don't ever get to see the lights because mom thinks I still need a bedtime. I don't have a bedtime tonight!"
"That's not what I said young lady, you have to go to sleep after we get home from seeing the lights."
Colette muttered under her breath as she stepped out of the apartment into the hallway "I still get to stay up past my bedtime."
Laughing under his breath and shutting the door behind them he turned back around to face the apartment just now realizing that his roommate had disappeared and was uncharacteristically silent.
Instantly suspicious.
"You're out luck if you're trying to find the streamers!"
–
"Oh my gosh! Nooooo." Marinette gasped as she flung open the apartment door and beheld the mess of streamers dangling from the ceiling. "Adrien what did you do!?"
Plagg shot her a look. "He told me this was your fault." He informed Marinette pulling a streamer off of the ceiling and throwing it at her just as Adrien finally emerged from the hallway. "It's not my fault!"
Plagg directed his disapproving stare at his blond-haired roommate "Throwing your girlfriend under the bus? Shame on you." He tossed a streamer at Adrien who dodged it and ripped another one off of the ceiling and threw it at Plagg who dodged and Marinette squealed as the streamer landed in her hair.
"It's your fault for buying them in the first place." Adrien accused Marinette half-heartedly.
The bluenette girl huffed and shook her head, pulling the decoration out of her hair and brushing it casually over her shoulder as she pulled another one off of the ceiling, stepping farther into the apartment, trailing the streamer behind her absentmindedly as she made her way into the kitchen.
"Jeez, you weren't kidding." Alya piped up as she stepped through the door after Mari pulling her own streamer off the ceiling and tossing it casually over her shoulder.
"You're all a bunch of pessimists, it's not that bad." Tikki trailed in behind Alya carrying a tray of chocolate chip cookies- Alya's discarded streamer draped around her like a scarf, contrasting with the red scarf already twisted around her neck.
Setting the cookie tray on the table she retracted her steps back into the living room fingers brushing the streamers and letting them fall out between her fingers as she passed by.
"It looks fine, Adrien." She reassured as Adrien who had been set upon by a very annoyed Marinette and Alya.
"Oh, don't encourage him." Plagg muttered under his breath as he pushed a streamer out of his face.
"If I don't, you're certainly not going to." Tikki huffed, mouth twitching into a smile.
"I can be encouraging!"
"Your pep talks suck." Adrien commented. "They're absolutely a-paw-ling."
"Oh God don't you start with the cat puns," Plagg protested.
"I blame you," Plagg accused, turning back to Tikki. "I swear every other word out of his mouth is a cat pun ever since Jinx came into the picture."
"Aw come on, he's just 'kitten' you." Tikki giggled, bumping Plagg's shoulder.
"No, okay I'm done. Tell me when everyone wants to at least try and act like adults."
"Aw come on that one was purr-fect." Tikki giggled as she picked up Jinx from the floor and rested her chin on the cat's head. "Just look at that little face! You can't say no to that face."
"Yes I can. I'll be in my room and I'm taking the cat with me." Plagg declared snatching Jinx out of Tikki's arms.
Tikki frowned in response, tugging the streamer away from her neck now that she didn't have the cat.
"You're no fun." She tossed the streamer at his retreating back.
"Stop laughing!"
"I'm not laughing." Plagg replied without turning around.
Oh she could practically hear the smirk in his voice. She scoffed, rolling her eyes "Whatever."
"Now who is being mature." Adrien teased as Plagg disappeared behind his closed bedroom door.
Tikki spun on her heel to face him, flushing red and sputtering even as her blue eyes glared at him, she opened her mouth to retort-
"Says the guy who built a blanket fort in the living room!" Came the somewhat muffled shout from behind Plagg's closed bedroom door.
Tikki snapped her mouth shut, smirking at Adrien's expression of betrayal. "Touché." Adrien begrudgingly shouted back
Tikki burst into laughter and leaned an elbow on the counter, smirk still on her face as she shot a look down the hallway
It was kind of nice to have someone to back her up.
"Get a room!" Plagg groaned, throwing a pillow at Adrien and Marinette.
"Both of you!" He shot a look at Alya and Nino who were causing him similar frustrations.
Tikki giggled as Marinette retaliated Plagg's attack by throwing the pillow back at his face with a squeal of not-entirely false outrage.
"Oh leave them alone." Tikki chided even as she walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.
"You all make me sick." Plagg accused the two happy couples.
"Absolutely disgusting." Tikki agreed, teasing.
Plagg scoffed. "Don't patronize me."
Tikki shrugged nonchalantly as she took a bite out of one of the chocolate chip cookies.
There was the sound of approaching footsteps from the living room and Marinette appeared in the kitchen doorway shaking her head in reaction to Plagg's comment.
"How come there are two cupcakes missing? We were saving those to have enough sugar to pull through until at least two A.M." Marinette lifted a plastic cupcake container in each hand. Shooting an accusatory glare back into the living room.
"I had to negotiate with a seven year-old. It was either sacrifice cupcakes and streamers or I would have been babysitting. I considered this to be a better alternative, I'm regretting my decision and I once again stress the fact that you all make me sick. The whole point of a New Year's kiss is to wait until midnight."
"Speaking of midnight, what time is it?"
"11:37." Tikki replied casually from the other side of the kitchen where she was checking the time on her phone clock as it charged.
Marinette shrugged her shoulders and snatched a cupcake out of the box. "Close enough."
"My streamers!" Adrien mourned from the living room, jumping up from the floor and almost knocking down the blanket fort down on top of Alya and Nino in his haste to stand up and run into Plagg's room.
Plagg rolled his eyes at his over-dramatic roommate and smirked as he followed his friend into the hallway to gloat.
Tikki and Marinette following close behind out of curiosity. Even Alya seemed curious enough about the outcome of all of the drama.
Plagg watched as his roommate spun around his room, honestly he was getting a fair amount of amusement from Adrien's overreaction.
So he simply watched his roommate's panic whilst nonchalantly leaning against the wall.
"You're not going to find them." Plagg reassured. Looking towards the door as Marinette and Tikki appeared in the doorway, Alya lingering behind them in the narrow hallway.
He shot another smug look at Adrien and saw a similar expression mirrored on the blond's face.
Everything clicked in his head.
He shot his eyes back to the doorway in the same moment that Marinette faked tripping and pushed Tikki into the room.
Adrien rushed out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.
Plagg blinked, folding his arms as he tried to suppress a laugh, glaring at the closed door.
He shot an amused smirk to Tikki who stood facing the door when he heard her mutter something under her breath, likely a threat towards Adrien or possibly even Marinette.
He couldn't help being amused.
"You have to admit you pretty much walked into that one.""
She spun around, face going pale before she turned almost as red as her hair. "Oh shut up!" She snapped. "You don't need to rub it in my face."
"Just saying, it doesn't lock from the outside someone is probably leaning against the door."
Tikki shot another glare at the door.
"Just so we're on the same page, we're going to kill them when we get out of here."
"They are so dead." Tikki agreed.
"In that case…." Plagg pushed himself off of the wall and crossed the room towards his desk, putting his finger to his lips for Tikki to be quiet when she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing.
He lifted his keys up off of the desk smiling in triumph as he turned to Tikki. "Adrien's an amateur." He hissed.
Tikki giggled and Plagg put his finger to his lips again, Tikki bit her lip to stop.
Plagg crossed the room once more, this time to the window and slid it open as silently as possible.
He turned back to Tikki with an exaggerated bow. "Shall we?"
–
Plagg was glad that the apartment was only on the first floor. It definitely made sneaking out of his window easier, less impressive but easier.
The sooner they got back into the apartment the better, considering he wanted to make Adrien's metaphorical death as slow and painful as possible. Oh he couldn't wait to see the look on Adrien's face! It was definitely going to be priceless.
"I've never snuck out a window before." Tikki commented casually as she swung her leg over to the outside of the window frame and dropped down the few feet to the ground.
"First time for everything right?"
"You make it sound like you're an expert."
He turned to look at her as they walked along the side of the building. "I've done it once or twice." He admitted trying to turn it into a bit of a joke but he could feel the smile on his face falter just a bit and he subconsciously twisted the black ring around his finger. Then stopped when he realized she was watching.
Silence fell between them and the echos of people attending parties in the upper levels of the apartment building floated down to fill the space.
Her expression turned into something that he thought might have been pity and he felt himself frown in response, shooting her a sideways glance but she wasn't looking at him anymore.
"So what's the story behind what you said earlier, about making negotiations with a seven year-old?"
"My sister," Plagg clarified.
"I figured, you mentioned her before. What is she like?"
"She's okay most of the time. Seven year-olds. She thinks she wants to grow up."
"Growing up is overrated."
"That's what I say to her. She said that she wanted to stay and hang out with me and all of us because apparently our aunt was boring. I had to bribe her with cupcakes and the rest of the streamers."
"You didn't want to have your poor impressionable sister around us." Tikki teased.
Another shrug. "Better you, Adrien, Mari, Alya and Nino than Trixx."
She tilted her head at the last name.
"Trixx?"
"She's….another friend... it's complicated."
"Oh."
They rounded the corner of the building and Tikki froze in her tracks,
"Wow. Look at that."
All the street lamps were on; the light reflecting off the rain still on the sidewalk, now turned to ice. Lights strung along from lamppost to lamppost.
"Guess that's why people call it the City of Lights huh."
"I guess, I'm used to seeing it like this. There's always lights, I bet we could find a street party."
"But what about-" Tikki jerked her head towards the lobby of the apartment building.
Plagg shrugged. "It's Adrien's last night alive I'm merciful enough to let him enjoy it."
"Fair enough."
"Come on, I bet we could find you some hot chocolate."
"That is bribe I'm willing to take."
–
They walked down the street following the sounds of voices of people in the street and the entire world dissolved into the special kind of chaos that usually came with the holiday.
People laughing and shouting to be heard over the music that came from some unknown source.
They did manage to find a vendor who handed them hot chocolate in styrofoam coffee cups.
"No money, on the house for you and your girlfriend."
Plagg almost choked on his hot chocolate. "We're not-"
"I'm not his-" Tikki took a sip from her cup to have an excuse not to say the word and the vendor just shrugged and shooed them away to serve the next person in line.
Tikki would admit three things. That the stranger's assumption that she and Plagg were dating had caused her a fair amount of embarrassment.
And that she really wasn't sure why it hurt to have Plagg deny the statement faster than she had.
It was after all, the truth. They weren't dating. So why did the truth hurt?
The last thing she would admit to herself later, with no small amount of guilt; she ditched him. Not entirely on purpose but she didn't try very hard to find him once she realized she had lost him in the growing crowds of people milling about in the street.
She found a little café and sat down outside despite the cold and ran her fingers against the metal table until they were numb.
Trying to clear her head and decipher her thoughts and emotions.
Which clearly worked not very well at all because the next thing she knew she'd gone into the café and showed a waitress her ID so they would let her order a glass of champagne.
She took the glass back outside to her table content to people watch, taking slow and careful sips from her champagne; until a pleasant buzz filled her brain.
Plagg's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out when he saw the text message was from Tikki.
A picture, of a street café. He knew where that was.
–
She was the only one sitting outside.
He slid into the chair across from hers any sort of nonchalant greeting died in his throat as he saw the empty wine glass.
"Are you drunk?"
Tikki blinked at him and giggled. "No, it was just one glass of champagne."
"I can't leave you alone for ten minutes can I?"
"Oh shhh, I'm fine! Come here, I wanna tell you a secret."
"What?"
"No, come here!"
She reached out with her hand and ran her thumb along the black ring on his finger.
"What does this mean?"
He pulled his hand away from hers.
"It stands for a broken promise, I intend to fix that."
She tilted her head at him and frowned. Dark blue eyes sparkling with the reflected lights from the street. Her eyes drifting from his hand to his eyes.
"Do you want to hear a secret?" She leaned forward, a soft smile on her face.
"You're going to tell me anyway aren't you?"
The soft start of a laugh and he was caught off guard when she reached out a hand to brush her fingertips along his cheek. "You have really pretty eyes."
The sudden rush of heat to his cheeks made him choke.
"Nope," he stood up. "let's get you home."
"I'm not drunk, Plagg." She took up to prove her point and made it about six steps away from the table until she slipped on a patch of ice that was invisible in the dark.
He instinctively stepped forward to steady her, a hand on her shoulder, sliding down to the small of her back.
"I can walk." She protested.
"Sure you can, walking means you can slip on ice. I don't think you want to go to the hospital for New Years. That would be lame." His other hand went underneath her knees and he picked her up princess-style.
Trying- and failing- not to notice the fact that she smelled like chocolate and cinnamon and roses.
–
Adrien had left the apartment door unlocked. Plagg was still going to kill him.
He pushed down on the door handle with his elbow and pushed it open the rest of the way with his shoulder.
The apartment was dark, Alya and Nino must have left because only Adrien and Marinette were still in the living room. Both asleep on the couch now that the blanket fort had been dismantled. The rest of the blankets had just been scattered across the floor.
Plagg shut the door with his shoulder and crossed the room to put Tikki on the floor. She blinked at him, already half asleep.
"I thought that we were going to murder Adrien." She turned her head to look at the couch.
"Shh, just go to sleep, we can kill him in the morning." He sat down next to her, his back pressed against the wall.
She hummed sleepily. "Okay."
Plagg leaned into the wall and closed his eyes.
–
He instinctively pressed closer to the sense of warmth, eyes still closed. Still asleep.
Somewhat against his will his eyes opened and he pulled back purely from shock as he realized that Tikki was right next to him. He tried to move away from her as quietly as possible so as not to wake her and was immediately stopped when his spine hit the wall with a dull thud.
Cursing the universe for his bad luck, he moved away from her as much as possible, ignoring the wall that was pressing into him.
He lowered his eyes to the hardwood floor, the six inches of space between them seemed like a chasm; a literal and metaphorical line that he was not going to cross.
She hadn't meant those things she had said. She had been drunk. He refused to give himself the hope that she would say those things to him if she was in her right mind.
No matter how hard it had been not to kiss her when she had brushed her fingers across his cheek-
His train of thought derailed and crashed as he lifted his eyes away from the floor when she made a soft noise in her sleep, the blanket had slipped off of her shoulder, the sleeve of her sweater slipping with it; exposing the back of her shoulder. The skin dusted with freckles.
She gave a little shiver in her sleep and it took all of his common sense to tell him not to press against her again. She pulled the blanket back over her shoulder in her sleep and Plagg sighed; the whisper of breath stirred her hair and she hummed in her sleep.
No.
He could feel himself falling, common sense slipping away as his heart clenched in his chest. He stood up as carefully as the small space between them allowed and inched his way sideways along the wall until he had his back against the door; until he was far enough away that he couldn't smell cinnamon and roses.
He slid down the door until he was sitting with his back still against it, His head turning to look at her when she made another noise in her sleep that sounded like a protest as if she sensed that he wasn't there anymore. He turned away from her, his eyes moving up to stare at the dark shadow of the ceiling. His head thudding softly against the door.
Tikki blinked herself awake, feeling cold even though she still had the blanket on her shoulders, she stretched and stood, blinking at the gray light that was filtering through the window.
Her head hurt a little bit and she couldn't figure out why, she looked around the living room; at Marinette and Adrien asleep on the couch.
She crossed the room and retrieved her scarf from the back of the chair where she had left it last night.
Absentmindedly noticing Plagg's absence she would have sworn he been with her….. and just like that; last night came back to her so hard and so fast that she couldn't help but sharply inhale from the shock of it.
There was a sound from the couch and Tikki spun around to see Marinette stretching and sitting up.
"You okay?" Mari asked, voice heavy with sleep.
"Yeah-" she shot an almost involuntary look, down the still-dark hallway. She turned back to Marinette. "I have to get going, I've got a shift at the clinic."
Marinette frowned. "That's lame."
Tikki twisted the scarf around her neck. "I know."
–
She didn't really have a shift at the vet clinic but it was the only excuse that she could think of to leave.
She was such an idiot.
What had she been thinking, getting drunk- she hadn't been that drunk. She wasn't really hungover expect for the minor headache.
She knew exactly what she was thinking.
She'd wanted to kiss him.
She'd wanted to kiss him, but every time she tried to get up the courage to do it, she would always catch sight of that ring and her brain would remember the logical conclusion that she had come to a few weeks ago; he had a girlfriend.
And if that was the case then Tikki refused to be the kind of girl who kissed guys that were already in a relationship.
No matter how much she wanted to.
So she had ditched him to be away from the temptation of wanting to kiss him. She had been trying to convince herself he wasn't worth it and the thought had made her unjustifiably sad.
And he had pretty much admitted that he didn't think about her in that way.
She could respect that.
She would back off, teach her heart to be happy for him from a distance.
–
The flower shop beckoned her with it's bright colors and the promise of friendly advice.
Tikki pushed open the door, the bell over her head chiming her arrival as she stepped into the room and inhaled the fragrant scents of roses, lavender and lilies.
"Hello?" She inquired to the seemly empty shop. There was a disembodied squee from somewhere in the back of the shop before a blonde haired girl revealed herself, squeezing Tikki into a hug that wasn't nearly as bone-crushing as one of Alya's.
Rose Lavillant had always been like a little sister to Tikki; the little blonde's bubbly personality was extremely infections and Tikki had always admired the blonde for her unending patience for everyone and everything. She would always offer a shoulder to cry on and had a quiet determination despite a seemly fragile demeanour.
"Hey Rose."
"Hi! Oh my gosh I feel like I haven't seen you in forever! What's been going on?" The blonde pulled out of the embrace and bounced on her heels awaiting an answer.
"Oh, not much." Tikki replied trying to seem nonchalant as she rushed into the next part of her sentence making sure that they were actually alone in the store. "I'm here in confidence, I need advice." She whispered toying with the fringe on her scarf.
"You? Need advice from me? Well talk about a table flip you were usually the one who gave everyone else advice back when were were all in the same school."
"I know, but I need to talk to someone and I can't tell Mari about it yet because I don't want her to have a heart attack."
"Well you certainly look like you're going to have one if you don't tell me whatever is so secretive that Marinette of all people can't know about it."
Tikki continued playing with the fringe of her scarf, pulling at a loose thread, tugging until it snapped between her fingers.
Much like this scarf her resolve and confidence were slowly unraveling, she pulled the accessory away from her neck suddenly feeling strangled and knotted it in her hands instead making a noise in the back of her throat that was born of distress and disgust with herself over her inability to speak. She cleared her throat and stared at the length of red fabric between her hands. Remembering an old Chinese belief about a red string that supposedly tired two souls together, Marinette had told her about once.
The thought made her want to smile and have a panic attack all at once.
Rose remained silent, oblivious to the full extent of Tikki's inner turmoil.
"So... there's this guy-"
The one sentence guaranteed to make almost any girl squeal
And squeal Rose did.
"Oooooh, is he cute?"
Tikki rolled her eyes as another sound of protest and distress made it past her lips. "That's not the point!"
"I know, it's just a mandatory question."
Someone kill me. Right now please.
"That's not the point," Tikki insisted again. "The point is that I like him but I don't think I should tell him because if he doesn't feel the same way it will just make things unbelievably awkward and I don't want that but let's just entertain the idea that I tell him and he likes me back then I'd feel like a jerk for telling him because I'm pretty sure he already has a girlfriend."
God she felt like a cliché. She didn't want to feel like a cliché.
"I can't tell you what to do. This is your guy problem. I'm not you I don't know what you're feeling because I'm not you. I can tell you to tell him but in the end for it to work right you have to be the person who tells him. Does that make sense?"
That didn't really help though she was still in the same dilemma she'd been in when she'd come here.
For those of you that are curious; Trixx and Duusu tied in my poll so I'm just going to combine their chapters into one to kill two birds with one stone so they're on their way! :)