A/N: You know that song from Nightmare Before Christmas, This is Halloween? Haha. I can't get it out of my head. Then again, this is the beginning of my Halloween special... well, sort of. Haha.

Adrien nearly skipped back to his house. Supper with the Dupain-Cheng family left an impression on him; it was so different from whenever he had to sit through a meal with his stone-cold father. He had actually felt welcomed and loved, as if he was a part of the family. He had even heard some rather embarrassing - for Marinette, at least - stories of her parents when they were younger and dating.

He wished he had a family like that.

Walking in through the front door, he wondered what it would be like to wake up and know his wife would give him a kiss on his cheek with a smile, telling him she loved him. He wondered what it would be like to spend time with his child, teaching them how to do what he does for work (whatever that might be). He wondered what it would be like to cook alongside his wife, humming a common tune.

The thoughts of a certain happy family warmed him, and he nearly collided with his father in his daydreaming.

"F-Father! I didn't know you were home," he stammered, taking in Gabriel's furious expression. Oh, no, he groaned inwardly, recognizing that look. He quickly hardened himself, preparing for the lecture and punishment for whatever he had done to displease his father. "I can expl - "

"You did not come home last night. For all I knew, you had been kidnapped. I had been waiting for a ransom call when your… friend," he spoke the word with disdain, "had called me, explaining you had to work on a class project together and it had required you to stay over. I see now, though, that more than just a class project had happened."

At this, he glared at the boy's blue-black locks tumbling around his head haphazardly. He reached out, fingering a clump. Adrien held perfectly still, holding his breath. "It is a good thing you didn't damage it. We will see what we can do about it in the morning; because it is so dark, we may have to wait for it to grow out. In the meantime, we could take a few shoots with this color and see how it goes."

His hand dropped from the hair. Adrien took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. He could feel Tikki trembling in his shirt. "I'm sorry I didn't call," Adrien carefully said, "and I'm sorry I didn't come home sooner. There was a second akuma attack - "

"I would have sent a car to pick you up. You would have been safe." Gabriel sighed, exasperated. "Now, we have to deal with your hair because of this foolish rebellious mood you have been in. This is why I did not want you attending public school; I knew this would happen eventually."

He turned away. Adrien stepped forward, feeling as if something was squeezing his lungs; he knew his father was on the verge of banning him from attending school again, and he couldn't let him do that. He couldn't let his father control his every move yet again. Not now. Not after he already lost Plagg.

"If I need to work on another project past the given time, I'll call beforehand and make sure it's okay," he quickly rushed out at his father's back. "I won't dye my hair again; I'll go to whatever shoot you want me to."

Gabriel glanced over his shoulder at his son. His eyes narrowed. "A week."

Adrien's stomach dropped. He tried consoling himself; a week was better than never. "Yes, sir," he whispered, losing the strength to continue arguing. After all, if he pushed the topic too much, his father would revert back to the whole 'never' choice again, and Adrien would never see his friends again.

"Now go to your room." Gabriel Agreste walked away, leaving the teenager in the empty foyer.

Adrien trudged up the stairs mechanically. Something similar had happened only last spring; he had fallen asleep at Nino's place while actually working on a project, and Nino hadn't woken him up. His father had been angry then, too, only he had banned Adrien from attending school or seeing his friends indefinitely. Luckily, after going to all of the shoots and doing what was asked without complaint, his father had allowed him to return to school - a month later. He had had to cram to catch up to everyone else.

A week. It's only a week this time, he chanted to himself, closing and locking his bedroom door behind himself. He sank to the floor, tears springing to his eyes. Only… a week…

Tikki zipped out of Adrien's shirt, fluttering around him in concern. "Adrien?" she whispered, placing a little hand on his arm.

He kept his head buried in his arm, letting the tears fall silently. "Don't worry, Tikki. This is normal for me," he said, spitting out the last words. He smiled bitterly. "I'm a bit jealous of Marinette. I wish I had a family like hers."

Speechless, Tikki landed on his arm and watched him with wide eyes. She took in everything he did; how, after a while, he got up and mechanically grabbed clean clothes. How he went to the bathroom and washed his face before sitting down at his computer to check his email - he skimmed Chloe's frantic messages before deleting them without responding - and browse the Ladyblog. How he answered the soft knock at his door with a dry face, accepting the tray of food from Natalie as she whispered some sympathetic phrases to him before hurrying away. How, after he was done eating, he opened his door only enough to slide the tray out onto the floor before shutting and locking the door once again. How he absently flipped through his games, pulling out the one he and Marinette had played for the gaming tournament and turning it on. How he stared glassy-eyed at the screen as he defeated opponent after opponent.

After the eleventh win, Adrien blinked and focused on the little kwami now floating between him and the screen. "Adrien," Tikki said firmly but gently, "we need to get out of here."

Adrien was confused. "But I can't. My father - "

Tikki shook her head. "Not as Adrien."

His breath whooshed in sharply. Memories of leaping, bounding, sprinting, and flipping over the rooftops of Paris flashed through his mind; Ladybug - Marinette - never knew he had donned his suit for something other than patrol or fighting. He transformed just to get out of his prison.

Because that's what this was.

Staring at Tikki, Adrien realized the little kwami had seen it, too. She had seen how, despite him having everything, he was so limited on what he could and could not do. She had seen how his minute actions were monitored and controlled. She had seen how his life was shadowed by his father's domineering, controlling figure.

She had seen why he had donned the suit to begin with.

"Let's go!" Tikki chirped, giving him a big smile. "We can drop by Marinette's place for cookies!"

"Plagg is probably whining for cheese, too," he said, a twinge of sadness shooting through his chest. However, he was smiling.

"You spoiled him too much." Tikki wrinkled her nose. "Camembert cheese? Really? So disgusting. Marinette's chocolate chip cookies are the best."

"I'd like to try one, then." Adrien got up, his smile easier this time. He quickly made a call for some camembert cheese - not unusual, considering he had been ordering it since junior high school. Smiling slightly, he reminisced on the first time he had encountered the ravenous Plagg.

Before he could transform, Tikki stopped him. "Your phrase to activate and deactivate this Miraculous is 'spots on' and 'spots gone'; only a little different from Marinette's."

"Thanks, Tikki." He smiled at her. "Let's go see Marinette, then. Tikki, spots on!"

The transformation felt different than Plagg's. Once he was in the suit, he took a deep breath, feeling as if he could control his emotions better. No… that's not it, he thought, examining himself in his bathroom mirror for a moment. I… feel better. As if there are positives in all of this.

Which there were. By not having to go to school, he would have more time to swing around Paris, free of responsibilities. Also, at least Tikki ate something he could stomach. Plagg was with the one person he wanted to be with, so it was no far stretch to hang out with one or the other. Plus, he got to learn new tricks with this new Miraculous.

He twisted in front of the mirror, examining the big black spots on his suit - much bigger than Ladybug's. The black collar dipped down farther on him, and black bands chased down his sides all the way to his ankles. The suit seemed to be thicker where his elbows and knees were, forming black pads to protect him.

He grinned, staring at his tamed blue-black hair in the mirror. The mask was black with small red spots along the bridge of his nose and around the corners of his eyes; very different from Ladybug's. Even the yo-yo was different; it was a little bigger and was solid black with five red spots on it. The string was red.

Opening his bathroom window, he swung his legs out, taking a huge gulp of fresh air. He already felt better as he took in the late evening view of Paris. Dark rain clouds covered the sky, looking as though they would open up any moment now. Plucking the yo-yo off his waist, he gave it an experimental whirl before launching it at one of the support beams of his mansion-like house. It caught and held.

He gave it a few experimental yanks, testing the give before allowing himself to tumble from the window sill. The yo-yo's string retracted as he tumbled towards the ground, swinging him forward. He landed on the roof, staggering slightly as he regained his balance.

Elation filled him. Sure, this wasn't like when he was a cat and leaping across the rooftops, but it was just as exhilarating - if not more.

Swinging to the next roof, he managed to land without staggering for several feet. He sprinted across the flat ground, swinging his yo-yo ahead of him and jumping off blind.

"Wahooooo!" he yelled, unable to contain the adrenaline rush coursing through him.

He felt like he was flying.

For the next thirty minutes, his feet never touched the ground.

Adrien landed in the alley, gasping for breath. "Phew," he said aloud, still grinning as he leaned against the wall. Unlike the main street, the alley was very dark; if he had had night vision, he would have been able to see, but the Lady - no, Gentlebug suit didn't have that capability.

"Mrow."

Glancing down, he saw a little tabby staring up at him with brown eyes. A weird shiver went through him as he stared into the cat's eyes that seemed to be asking him something. "Mroooooow."

Crouching in front of the cat, Adrien reached out cautiously. The cat stared at him, not moving. It didn't even glance at the hand offering a pat.

"Hey, kitty," he cajoled, wiggling his fingers like he sometimes did at Plagg when he wanted a scritch. "Come here."

At this, the cat stepped forward, mewling again - though this one sounded more urgent. Suddenly, it's ears went back and it hunkered down, glancing over its shoulder. It hissed into the shadows, slinking around him to hide behind his leg.

"Tobi," someone sing-songed, sounding like a young girl. Adrien strained his eyes, wishing he still had his night vision. "Tobi, did you find a new friend?"

The cat yowled loudly, hissing and spitting at the shadows. Adrien froze when its paw wrapped around his leg, tugging. However, he felt no claws digging into his suit; it was almost as if the cat was trying to pull him away.

"Tobi, let's go home," the voice said, and the cat's ears flattened against its head.

"H-hey," Adrien started hesitantly, disconcerted by not being able to see the speaker. "This is your cat, right? It seems pretty scared…"

"Why, that's because he ran away." A little girl in a white and pink dress stepped out of the darkness. Cat paw patterns covered the dress, and her curly blonde hair formed two cat ears. Her light blue eyes were very dilated. In her hand, she held a collar. "Do you mind giving him back, please?"

Alarm bells went off in his head as he took in the girl. The way she held onto that collar was… odd. Almost as if it was the most precious thing to her in existence.

He took a step back, accidentally stepping on the Tobi's tail. He yowled in pain.

The girl's expression sharpened. Her lip curled up in fury as her sky-blue eyes turned into two slits - just like a cat's. "You hurt Tobi," she snarled, holding the collar to her chest.

"I-I'm sorry," Adrien stammered, glancing behind him. However, the cat was gone, having escaped as soon as the girl's attention was off of him. "He was behind me and…"

"There's no excuse!" she yowled, lunging forward. "You hurt my kitty! I'll make you feel what it's like!"

He bumped against the wall, jarring his still-aching body. The earlier flight through the sky had worn him out, slowing him down significantly - putting him at a disadvantage with the surprisingly fast and nimble girl.

She ducked underneath his arms and reached up, wrapping the collar around his throat. He felt like he was being constricted. He stared at the growing girl, his eyes widening as she became significantly bigger than him. She grinned at him, bending over and picking him up.

"Ooooh, black kitty! So pretty. Let's go home, then." Humming to herself, she carried him down the now large alleyway.

"No! Put me down!" Adrien yelled, but it came out as yowling. He stopped, licking his lips only to find sharp, pointed teeth. Glancing down at himself, he saw two black paws and legs covered in silky black fur. A strangled mewl came from him.

"Aww, is the poor kitty shocked? It's okay. You'll feel better after a good brush and some milk."

No. Way. A hiss escaped from his lips, and he could feel his ears pressed flat against his head. Tensing, he lunged out of her grip with his claws extended - at least he knew how to do that from his time being Chat Noir.

She yelped in pain and surprise, dropping him. He staggered, not used to having four legs, but quickly skittering away.

Everything looked huge. He barely recognized streets as he sprinted down them blindly, not stopping. He couldn't stop - not when that crazy girl wanted to take him home. A few rain drops struck the ground as it began to rain.

A broken mirror caught his eye. It was leaning against a trash bin, a huge crack running down the middle. A black cat with bright green eyes and a black collar stared back, looking panicked as it got soaked in the rain. Two red stones with black spots were attached to the black collar around its neck.

He slowly approached the mirror; the black cat mirrored his movements, slinking forward almost stealthily. The ears went back as he panicked a bit; he had known he had been turned into a cat, but to see it…

He began to hyperventilate. The reflected cat breathed shallowly, backing away as he turned and sprinted down the streets, not even knowing where he could go.

Bluebell eyes filled his mind.

A/N: Hope you like cats. ;)

Lots of thanks to my friend and beta reader for my original fantasy-sci-fi story! Adele is a blessing to my heart. I love talking to her. One day, she just randomly said, "What if Adrien was a cat?!"