Chapter Nine: The Treetops Glisten.
The treetops might be glistening but who said that was a good thing?
Adrien was ecstatic!
Nathalie had scheduled him in for an extra long piano rehearsal that afternoon, and no amount of begging, cajoling, pleading, pulling at her heartstrings, or bribery had persuaded her to allow him just a little bit of his rehearsal time to spend with his friends. She had been abundantly clear. His schedule said he must practice his piano, so that is exactly what Adrien was to do.
Luckily, Chat Noir had no such schedule to tie him down. A stash of camembert and a few whispered words was all it took to get Adrien out of the house, and sat on a park bench waiting for his friends to show up.
Nothing could ruin his good mood.
"Is this supposed to sound like a dirge?"
Nothing save a recalcitrant kwami, that is.
"What?"
"A funeral song."
Adrien bit back a sigh and looked down to see Plagg looking out of his bag, a moody and mulish look on his face, holding up the music player so Adrien could see what he was listening to. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.
"It's not a funeral song. It's nostalgia! He's remembering happy times from the past-"
"He's mourning the past!"
"-and hoping that everyone can have Christmases as good as his were!" Adrien had lots of experience in ignoring Plagg's outbursts and continuing with what he was saying, but that didn't stop the little so and so from being annoying.
Plagg pulled a face. "Stupid."
"What's the matter with you Plagg? You've been grumpy and ill tempered for days now - more so that usual."
"It's that!"
Adrien looked in the direction that Plagg hissed and saw… nothing. It was just a random corner of the park. There were no people or animals there, no akuma (thank goodness), nothing out of place at all. It was just a small copse of trees with bare branches and frosted bark.
"...the trees?"
"The frost!"
"I thought cats didn't mind the cold?"
Plagg scoffed. "Us cats know better than to sit on a freezing cold park bench in weather like this!" He hissed up at the overcast sky like it had personally offended him and Adrien tried not to roll his eyes. "Whose idea was it to put this Christmas thing in the middle of winter anyway?"
Don't roll your eyes. Don't roll your eyes. Don't roll your eyes! Adrien took a breath and mentally counted to ten before answering. "You were the one goading me to sneak out, so don't go complaining now. Nino said he'd be here as soon as he'd been to Marinettte's to get her and Alya, and bring us all some snacks."
"And why can't you can't go to them?"
"Because Nathalie will send Gorilla to all my friends' homes looking for me if she notices I'm missing. You've got my scarf in there to keep you warm, not to mention a mountain of camembert, and it isn't all that cold right now. Not like it will be in January."
"Urgh, pass!" Plagg hissed and threw himself back into Adrien's bag in a manner that the model privately thought was a tad too dramatic. "My only consolation is that Tikki is suffering with me."
"Tikki? You mean Ladybug's kwami?"
"Bugs hate the cold more than cats do. She won't be a happy little bug right now."
"And her being cold makes you happy?"
"Misery loves company."
Author's note: the sproglet's cold is getting worse (still no cough thank goodness) and he has given it to me and the hubby as an early Christmas gift. Isn't that sweet of him? I'm getting a hot cuppa and a hot water bottle after posting this and heading straight to bed. But first, a quick reminder that I have not seen all of season 2 or season 3 of Miraculous Ladybug, so please do not spoil it for me.
Replies to reviews:
yellow 14 - glad you liked the little scene with Tikki. And I totally have to disagree with you about Heart - they're the best! They are the soundtract to my whole day, especially now that they have Christmas songs on!