Marinette watched in a gobsmacked manner as the blond scurried off red in the face. Well that was weird.
She contemplated whether or not this silly crush was really worth pursuing. In truth, she didn't really know the blonde all that well. Only time would tell.
The first time Adrien had set foot in the S.P.H. was in the late summer. Few knew of its existence, and this was despite the fact the building itself was anything but shy in its exterior. On the surface it appeared like nothing other than a lavish looking library or ministry building. At the front entrance were columns founded on Corinthian bases, a large apse with arches going around the dome, beyond that was a row of arched windows that circled the entire building, along with several steep gabled roofs over the rectangular conjoined structure.
Adrien had taken a deep breath and strolled in with his head high, whilst attempting to tame the slight quiver of his hands.
One sharp look from Gabriel gave Adrien the means to make them stop.
A tan woman dressed in a smart suit had approached them. She had the grace that would lead one to conclude that this was someone good at being sneaky. "Gabriel and Adrien Agreste, correct? A pleasure to make your acquaintance," she eyed Adrien with curiosity, "You must be our latest patient."
The name "Trixx" was engraved on the silver plaque pinned on her right breast pocket. "Yes." said Adrien before glancing up at her oddly colored amethyst eyes.
"We go by code names here at the S.P.H.," Trixx said, having caught Adrien's confused stare.
Adrien concluded that the strange inhuman eeriness about her must be some sort of high tech disguise. Trixx led the way down a long hallway, "We take great lengths to ensure the safety of both faculty and patients."
Gabriel and Trixx exchanged a few more business toned inquiries and comments, prompting Adrien to mute them out as he let his mind wander about what secrets this posh building surely held. How many Veelas had come here, anxious and awaiting their verdict? Was there other weird phenomena other than veela beings that strode through these halls?
Adrien's hands began to fidget with the hem of his sleeves. His nails began threading at the cuffs, surely rendering the expensive button-up a thrift store prize. Gabriel gave Adrien's sleeve a pinch and the blond let his hands go limp, sharp nails retracting. The trio arrived promptly in front of a singly ebony door. The name "Dr. Plagg" shined in silver, etched into the wood, and etched to Adrien's anxiety.
It took a handful of meetings, time Adrien could have used to hang out with Nino, during that summer to finally get Adrien to warm up to the ink haired Plagg. Plagg was tall and nimble, seemingly limbless in his gestures he practiced with ease. He fidgeted a lot, though in a way was deemed socially acceptable, unlike Adrien's bouts of physical habits, Plagg would wave his hands often, reassemble the position of his legs, and held the air of a charismatic esteemed man. Adrien's eyes had often been described to resemble emeralds, though looking at Plagg's narrowed cat-like ones, Adrien felt his fans were wrong. Adrien could sometimes swear that in the sunlight Plagg's green pair of eyes glowed. But here is where the pleasantries of the spectacle that is Plagg ended.
It was apparent Plagg wasn't getting anywhere with his casual confidence and polite but charming ways to try to coax Adrien out of his shell. So he took a completely different approach. One that his boss and colleagues would probably frown upon if they knew. He decided to be his completely unashamed, most brash, honest version of himself. (Not that being Plagg was of any shame, thank you very much, Tikki)
Plagg, being the genius that he is, was not surprised when Adrien finally opened up to him about his veela issues. It's not like Plagg spent several days worrying if he was a failure of a Kwami agent. Nope, it was all in a days work of being Doctor Plagg that Adrien Agreste finally sprouted the cursed "Marinette" name.
Now here they were, two months later. Plagg was spinning on the swivel chair, his weird toothy grin etched on his face. Some professional he was.
Across from him Adrien was slumped over on his chair, the look of utter misery.
"I will never live it down."
The tan man's obnoxious laughter only further agitated Adrien's mood.
"You certainly never will."
Adrien pouted.
Plagg shrugged. "Listen kid, I'm a veela specialist not a therapist. If you wanted to be cheered up or reassured...well I'm afraid that's above my paycheck."
"I'll pay you fifty dollars to listen to me ramble."
"Tell me your deepest traumas." Plagg reclined in his chair.
Adrien scoffed.
"You mentioned that you were drawn to this Mariana girl-"
"Marinette."
"-Marietta girl by some weird urge?" Plagg waggled his eyebrows, "Sounds like standard teenage boy hormones to me."
Adrien thought back to him walking into the library. "No this was different, It- it almost seemed like I sensed her all the way from outside the library."
At the blond's admittance Plagg's pen stilled. "Oh? Now that's interesting."
"What does it mean?"
"You were urged to go into the library, felt a really strong connection to her, could detect her smell, and squawked in front of her face, all leads to one conclusion."
Adrien leaned to the edge of his seat.
"You're a creep, kid."
Now, of course, Plagg perfectly knew what was up with Adrien. He'd only seen it a handful of other times before, no thanks to Tikki always being the star specialist Fu usually chose handle veela patients, but Plagg was certain Adrien was just 'displaying'. In normal terms, he was crushing and trying to court Marinette. Would Plagg let Adrien know? Maybe later. The gobsmacked expression on Tikki's face when Fu announced Plagg was to handle the high profile celebrity Adrien Agreste as a patient was an expression Plagg would treasure in his fondest memories. As such he wanted to stretch his duration as Adrien's veela specialist and consultant to further rub it in know-it-all Tikki's face.
Speaking of-
"Evening, Plagg. How's Mr. Agreste doing?" Tikki nodded to Plagg as she came to a halt in front of the elevator doors.
The beginning's of a smirk trembled at the corners of Plagg's lips. "Pretty well actually, he's been telling me all about this...interest in a classmate of his."
Tikki was in all forms an organized formidable woman who perhaps took her job too seriously. Plagg insisted -much to the annoyance of his colleagues- there must be a flaw in Fu's perfect poster girl. After much observation -which yes Plagg, was capable of thorough research and smart conclusions- and speculation Plagg felt he'd figured out Tikki's weakness. She was a hopeless romantic.
He'd caught her reading gossip magazines detailing dating advice that probably only teens followed, reverse harem books, vampire books, fantasy novels involving pretty elves, etc etc. She only ever did it when she thought no one was watching, during break, and sometimes while waiting for patients it seemed as Plagg once passed by her open office. Tikki, usually all business and pens and papers, would perk up at the mention of any love related fiasco or gushing some colleagues did. Plagg bet every one of his Camembert cheeses that the girl was the type to read and write fanfiction in her spare time.
"Oh? He's got a crush?" a spark of something lit up in Tikki's blue eyes.
"For a veela that could mean several things." Tikki voiced aloud, "Most veela present and within months, sometimes weeks, they start to seek out their mate. Ah, nothing stops them short of proud displays of absolute adoration. To be loved with such passion by a veela must be nice. They often embarrass themselves, going out of their way to primp up and impress their-"
Plagg blinked.
Tikki cleared her throat, "Though, of course, you know that."
Plagg rose a brow, "You sure like your job, eh, miss-know-it-all?"
A small red dusted her cheeks.
The elevator dinged to a stop.
The cold mansion seemed even more unwelcoming than usual. Adrien grasped the handle of his messenger bag and slowly trudged his way up the stairs. Usually even Natalie was there to greet his return from his weekly visits to Plagg's office. The tall white corridors only further contributed to the feeling of isolation. It was hard to believe that Adrien once ran down these halls feeling warmth from the bright white walls as his mother chased behind him. All he could see was his reflection on the marble floors now, even the ghosts of his and his family's laughter no longer haunted these hallways.
As he entered his room, the hyper awareness of the silence overcame him, everything was too clean, too white, the architecture too minimalist. The space looked like it belonged as an ad in a Hotels magazine rather than as Adrien's room.
Tick Tick Tick
His indexes' nails picked at the skin at the edges of his thumbs. What was he doing with himself? Everyone had their own thing back at school. Nino had music. Chloe had luxury and aesthetics. Sabrina had Chloe. Nathanael had art. Max had his brain. Alya had blogging. Kim had sports. And so on. They all had something they were each passionate about and focused on. Something that kept them going and made them excited. Sure Adrien dabbled in piano, fencing, and modeling, and other skills his father expected him to excel in. But that was just it. He only did them because it was expected of him. He wasn't really passionate about anything. A Jack of all trades but a master of none. He held no purpose other than looking pretty for a camera. Coming into his veela inheritance had only made matters worse in that regard. All Adrien wanted was something other than this.
Could it be that was asking too much? Several people out there would kill to be in his shoes, to have the money and not worry about starving, about not being popular, or having a roof over their head. At that thought Adrien grimaced. He shouldn't be ungrateful.
Yet a part of him still felt numb, empty, and cold. It died with his mother and Adrien didn't know how to bring it back.
He looked down at his hands to realize he'd picked his thumbs too much and realized they'd turned pink. Little droplets of blood fell, marring the pristine white tiles of the linoleum floor.
Apologies for the hiatus. I'm a college student and struggle to find free time. Now with Corona Virus it seems I've more time on my hands. Don't mind the self indulgent glimpse into Plagg and Tikki's weird competitive thing going on there. I feel Adrien doesn't have enough character development in the show, so I'm going to try and fix that. Also maybe give him a passion for something because I feel the only thing he is into into in the show is Ladybug and that's his whole personality lmao, which I find kind of sad.