Was Plagg in a lot of trouble? Particularly with Tikki?
Yes.
Was he going to regret this later?
Probably.
Was Tikki going to be furious?
Most definitely.
Did he care right now?
Nope, not at all. If anything, the kwami was having the time of his life. With no need to transform or patrol, he could just sit back and relax. He lounged on Adrien's pillow, patting his round stomach happily, full of Camembert that he just spent the very important patrol night dining on. And it was amazing. What a wonderous evening, this was such a great idea. Great enough that he can easily ignore all the trouble he was going to be in later. This was just way to nice to stress about it now.
Plagg arced and stretched, squirming about as he rolled onto his side and dug his paws into the pillow, and gliding along it, smearing cheese crumbs over it as he went. He finished with a roll, flopping off the pillow and dropping onto the mattress where he stretched out one more time before settling down.
This was so niiiiiiice.
He was probably going to regret this later but right now, Plagg was having the time of this life. For him, this night doesn't have to ever end.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Just as Plagg was dozing away, he was awakened when his holder dropped into his room with a giddy cheer.
The cat glared at him with one eye as the oblivious bee hero started to pace about, practically vibrating with happiness. Plagg sighed, rolling over to pout and stubbornly hold onto this night. He didn't want it to be over yet.
Not that Adrien got the memo.
"Plagg! Oh my gosh, it was amazing! Did you know Ladybug can blush?" Adrien prattled, dropping onto his bed and making the huffing kwami bounce. Adrien turned around, cupping his cheeks with his gloves, a glowing smile on his lips. "I made her blush so much."
"And now I got to hear about it," Plagg muttered, drifting away from Adrien to get some space, and to keep from getting bounced again. Sitting on top of Adrien's middle computer screen, Plagg wondered out, "So, did she wonder about Chat Noir at all?"
"She did, did try to call Chat so we can 'meet', but, I directed her attention away," the bee hero reassured as he got up, setting his hands on his hips, looking pleased.
Plagg gave a small hum, nodding his head lazily. "So, he wondered, what will you do when Ladybug's expecting Chat and you?"
"I can do it, Plagg," the hero brushed off. "I'm easily juggling two lives already, I can handle a third."
He allowed his transformation to fall away, just as Pollen spun out of the comb, stopping to give Adrien a dry look. She said, "I have to back Plagg on this, Adrien. You should stop while you're ahead. Give the comb back to Ladybu—"
"Pollen," Adrien cut in, making a face at the kwami. "That won't make sense! I come out, doing perfectly fine as a hero, and then I don't want it anymore? We should at least wait till an akuma shows."
"You mean the akuma where she'll be expecting you and Chat Noir?" Pollen brought up again, setting her paws on her hips. "Adrien, Honey, do you know why I was released."
"Cause you're the buzz?" Adrien offered, giving her finger guns.
Pollen struggled to fight off a smile before shaking her head. "Ladybug had me so she can get more help. You having me doesn't provide more help, she wants help from Chat Noir and—"
"It'll be ok," Adrien persisted, walking by Pollen. "We handle akumas easily."
"Apparently not that easily if I'm here," Pollen persisted, following Adrien. "Ladybug has a big responsibility, Adrien. She can't skip over it, she always has to succeed and that, Honey, is a lot of pressure. If other miraculouses are released, it's to help Ladybug make that pressure lighter, make things easier so they don't overwhelm themselves or overwork themselves or don't shoulder everything alone, which a lot of Ladybugs will do. This is why I should be given back to her as soon as possib—"
"After the first akuma attack," Adrien decided, stopping at his bathroom door. "I'll go through the first attack, realize it's not for me, and return the miraculous, ok?"
Pollen sighed, crossing her arms as she stared down at Adrien with a frown.
"It'll be fine," Adrien said. "Plus, Ladybug is interested in me. Do you know how wild that is? This is my chance to start dating her!"
"Yes, that's well and nice, but, some things are far more important than—"
"It's important to me," Adrien said, pouting at Pollen. He turned, insisting, "It'll be ok. I'll give you back to Ladybug after the first akuma, by that point, we'll be dating and it'll be amazing. So relax, it'll be ok."
He closed the door on the gaping kwami, not looking back at all. With an angry buzz, Pollen darted to Plagg's side, her body wiggling in agitation. "Is he always like this?!" she demanded.
"Not always," Plagg said, leaning away from the angry bee. "But, he does have tendencies of brushing you off when you say something he doesn't like to hear."
Pollen sat down next to him, her arms crossed. "Are you serious?"
"Oh yeah, like, Copycat, I called him out on his jealousy and all I got for it was a 'ha ha'." Plagg rolled his eyes. "Adrien is a good kid, Poll, but if he doesn't like what he hears, he won't hear it."
"And you haven't fixed this, why?" Pollen wondered, frowning at the cat.
"Hey, I'm not much of a teacher," Plagg said.
"Your job is teaching," Pollen huffed, crossing her arms as she scowled at Plagg.
"And I find life's a better teacher," Plagg replied, ears going down as his tail curled in displeasure. "I get kids who usually don't like to listen, they like to do what they want. Good trait for a cat that needs to get involved, but exhausting to restrain. So, I just let their own mistakes teach them a lesson."
"Some of those mistakes can be avoided though," Pollen pointed.
Plagg sighed. "Why couldn't it be Trixx? She'd get it."
"This is why cats and foxes have a mixed reputation," Pollen huffed. "You're both too lenient and not as involved as you should be."
"There is such a thing as being too involved," Plagg countered.
"As we can see here, that's necessary." Pollen waved to the door. "That's why I'm here, to provide help to Ladybug who is overworked, juggling a lot of responsibilities, Wayzz has even mentioned concern on whether or not she's getting enough sleep with how much she does and just…" Pollen shook her head. "She's getting overworked and overwhelmed juggling so much."
Plagg sighed. "And Tikki probably isn't that big a help, pushing her to tackle on more."
"She does like her Ladybugs to be leaders, and for the most part, they are brilliant leaders and can handle a lot. But she is still a child, one who's taking on more than she should. That's why I'm here, not Trixx. Bees are dutiful and hardworking, and can help balance out the load, Adrien, he doesn't have the same drive in this. He doesn't take akuma attacks as seriously, he doesn't pay attention as much as he should…"
Pollen shook her head, sagging where she sits. "It leaves a lot more work and pressure on this Ladybug. And that's not fair. That's not being a good partner."
"To be fair," Plagg voiced, "his father is as loving as a glacier. And most of his life he's been caged with a leash so tight, it practically chokes him. He needs that freedom and he needs that fun. He needs to make mistakes, to be goofy, to figure himself out."
Pollen sagged. "Plagg, what's the point of making mistakes when he isn't learning?"
"Part of that is Miraculous Ladybug," Plagg mumbled.
"I can get him needing this time to figure himself out, to relax and have fun, but this is at the expense of a partner who is starting shoulder this load a lot more than him. Ladybugs will do it, they'll take the weight world if they have to and sometimes they can't—"
"I get it," Plagg huffed.
"He doesn't need to become all serious," Pollen said. "But he does need to step up. He needs to grow. Pay attention more, be more focused. He's had his fun, but things are getting a little more serious, a little more weighted. It's time to step up."
Plagg gave her a dry look before sighing. "I'll work on it."
"Good," Pollen bid with a nod.
Both turned to see Adrien come out, looking refreshed and happy with himself. Ignoring the two, he dropped on his bed with a happy sigh, missing Plagg's amused smirk.
Just a few seconds passed before Adrien noticed what was off.
"Ugh! Plagg! Why is there cheese on pillow?!"
Plagg snickered, darting down into the trash bin as Adrien grumbled about cheese in his hair. Pollen gazed between the two, shaking her head slightly.
Well, if she was going to be here, she had a lot of work to do.