Chapter Thirteen: Dreams of You And Mistletoe.

Plagg discovers the modern use for mistletoe.

When Plagg saw the first sprig of mistletoe in a Christmas wreath he didn't think anything of it, save for laughing himself silly because humans in this time and place used a parasite to decorate for their most special festival. Beyond that it didn't mean anything to him. Greenery of any kind had always been used to decorate for winter festivals, and mistletoe was green.

It was only when he saw his second, third, tenth, twenty-fifth, thirty-seventh sprig of mistletoe that he realised there might just be some meaning to it after all. People seemed to be going out of their way to buy it. They even had artificial versions of it.

Several akumas, fashion events, and school days later, Plagg had forgotten all about the perplexing parasitical puzzle until Adrien returned home from school with a small bunch in his bag. That stirred Plagg's curiosity enough to finally look up the mistletoe phenomenon online.

After his welcome home camembert, of course.

Adrien was at his desk, working on his homework, when Plagg finished savouring his meal and zipped through the wall into his hidden home. It didn't take him long to look up the mistletoe tradition and he did not like what he was reading.

Kissing. Kissing?

Urgh, now there was a cheese-curdling notion if ever he heard one. The last thing he needed was to see humans start attacking each others' faces whenever they were near the damn stuff. He could only assume the reason that Paris was carpeted with the stuff was because it was the city of love and everyone living there was as romantically sappy as his kid.

Wait.

Adrien was a romantic sap and Adrien had mistletoe in his bag.

"Oh holy cheddar!"

Plagg phased through the wall and floated over to Adrien's desk where he was completely surprised to see his kid staring dreamily at the mistletoe and doodling black cats and ladybirds all over what should have been his homework. He'd know that 'I-love-Ladybug' expression anywhere.

He groaned and landed in Adrien's head. "You're meant to be making me enjoy Christmas - not putting me off it for life!"

"What have I done now?"

"I can see your doodles. You're planning on surprising Ladybug with mistletoe!" Plagg fake gagged and dodged Adrien's hand when he tried to pull him off his head. He jumped onto the desk and glared at the artificial leaves and berries. "I don't need to listen to you get any more lovesick."

"It's a sweet tradition Plagg. That's all." Adrien rolled his eyes then smirked. "But if you want me to be more lovesick then I'll mmff-"

Plagg pounced and clamped Adrien's lips shut. Adrien shook his head to try and dislodge his kwami but Plagg held firm. Attempts to pull him off met with the same success and so Adrien settled for scowling.

Plagg stared straight back. "Don't even joke."

Adrien huffed but nodded, agreeing to no more love sickness for the night. Outwardly anyway. Plagg gave him another long stare before letting go and zipping off to the cheese cupboard.

Adrien rubbed the camembert crumbs off his lips and waited until Plagg was safely across the room before speaking. "Do you mean to say you wouldn't want to catch Tikki under the mistletoe?"

It was just a hunch of his, based purely on the way that he had heard Plagg speak about Tikki before, the oddly reverent tone in his voice that snuck in when he wasn't paying attention, but there was no way Adrien could have predicted the response his comment got.

Plagg froze in midair and, although it was extremely difficult to see on a black cat, Adrien swore he could see the faintest hint of colour growing under all of that dark fur.

"Plagg… are you blushing?"

A hiss was his only answer and Adrien promptly fell off his chair in a fit of giggles.

Author's note: The hidden home I mentioned is a nod to my other fic Plagg's Mansion. Plagg actually caught Tikki under the mistletoe in Chapter 16 of my fic All I Want For Christmas if you want to read it and see how that played out.

This chapter is brought to you by the wonderful people in the NHS, as I was writing this on my phone in A&E while being seen for a head injury. One fainting spell plus one kitchen counter equals one bumped head and a trip to A&E. It was mostly written up so I edited it ready for posting as a way to distract myself from the hospital, but this is going to be the last chapter for a while (a few days up to a week) because I'm taking a break and resting up. Don't worry about me, the hubby is keeping a close eye on me and I have the whole extended family phoning to check in. I'll be fine.

Reminder, 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 - it would just be too easy to discover Plagg like that. Glad you liked it.

KayKay0606 - eat the sweets! I sure did when writing that chapter.