"No I don't think you get it, it took me forever to find any kind of lead on you. Everyone else says that you don't have a spine but personally I think you actually grew a spine. It takes guts to ditch people like that-"

"You would know considering you were one of them."

She kicked him in the shin again but it was honestly more annoying than actually painful.

"I'm not proud of it; Come on, I thought we were past the petty insults. I offered you a truce! Could we at least try to make it last five minutes?"

"I've got places to be that aren't here and don't involve you."

She brushed off the insulting statement for once not trying to kick him as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. Leaning against the brick wall of the apartment building one leg bent behind her. "Thanks for sugar-coating that for me," she replied voice dripping sarcasm.

"I can take a hint. You're a busy person and I'm not, but I'll be around more so if you ever want to know anything."

She pulled one of her hands out of a pocket, a scrap of paper between her fingers. "Call me, or don't I seriously don't care but at least take it so that if you throw it away then that will be on your conscious; meanwhile I get to at least say I tried."

Fair enough. He would be able to shoulder the weight of disappointing her, she on the other hand wasn't as tough as she would like everyone else to believe. He owed it to at least take the stupid piece of paper and get rid of it somewhere where she wouldn't see.

She'd take the hint but he had enough remaining respect for their past alliance not to tear the paper to shreds in front of her.

He took the number from her and shoved it into his pocket without looking at it.

She dug into the pocket of her jeans shoved one of the black earbuds into her ear, waving her hand at him in a dismissive gesture.

"As you were."

She spared him from having to actually say goodbye, reaching into the other pocket of her leather jacket and pressing a button on some device that he couldn't see- the music was loud enough that he could hear it even with the earbuds.

"You'll go deaf."

"What?! I'm sorry I can't hear you!" She smiled at her lame joke.

He just shot her one last glare before he walked down the sidewalk and disappeared behind the corner of the building.

"Hey what's up?" Adrien's voice floated through the other end of the phone. "you never call me at work so it must be good."

"What is it with redheads?"

"Tikki?"

"Trixx."

Adrien inhaled sharply. "Scale of one to insane?"

Plagg shrugged even though he knew Adrien couldn't see. "She kicked me... multiple times so she was in one of her better moods."

"It could have been worse," Adrien pointed out. Ever the optimist "Tikki could have been there."

Plagg rolled his eyes skyward. Torn between laughing and cringing. The universe help him if those two ever met.

"I'm fairly sure that would trigger the Apocalypse. You laugh but I'm serious."

"Whatever, look I've got to go. We'll talk if you're not dead when I get back to the apartment."

"We need to talk." Plagg exhaled, unable to suppress the childish groan. Yep, he still hated that phrase especially coming from his mom.

He leaned against the front door and looked at his mom who was standing in a similar pose at the top of the stairs.

"What? Am I grounded?"

"I don't need your sass today young man."

Why did he think that he could tolerate Trixx and his mother in the same day? Maybe the hypothetical apocalypse he'd mentioned to Adrien earlier wasn't such a bad idea? He'd bet his money on Tikki's survival skills... none of that was relevant right now.

His mom was giving him that judgemental look that told Plagg she had caught him zoning out.

Great.

"... and since you clearly weren't paying attention to what I just said I will repeat myself for your benefit; I had to pull your sister out of school today because she got in a fight with a classmate-"

"And what does that have to do with me?"

His mother's glare might have actually killed a lesser being.

"She's never had behavioral problems before, I'm starting to rethink my decision of letting you watch her while the court case is settled.." His mother glared at him again. "That's clearly not the only thing that we need to discuss."

Tikki wasn't sure when exactly she had fallen asleep but she jolted awake when she heard someone moving around the back room.

Her first logical explanation was that she was about to be murdered.

She froze for just a second as her brain tried to decide what would be the best response; fight or flight.

She pushed out of the desk chair as quietly as she could manage on the polished tile floor.

She turned to face the front door, then spun around and exhaled a deep breath, hand going to her heart to calm her racing pulse.

"Oh my god, Wayzz you almost gave me a heart attack!" she accused the blonde haired, pale-green eyed boy standing behind her in the doorway that lead into the back of the clinic.

Wayzz offered her an apologetic smile holding up two coffee cups from the coffeeshop a few blocks down the street as he began to explain himself.

"Nooroo texted me and said something about you having a hangover and being stubborn. I brought coffee."

Hearing his voice seemed to help Tikki's brain finally process exactly who was standing in front of her.

"Wayzz!"

Tikki managed to restrain herself long enough for her friend to set the coffee cups down on the desk before she crushed him in a hug.

He smelled like the ocean and sunlight.

"How was California?"

"Warmer."

Tikki rolled her eyes and looked oujt the window at the still icy street.

"Jealous. Why didn't you tell me you were coming back? I would have-"

"And ruin the surprise? Althought I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow, I thought my uncle gave you the day off, I was supposed to cover your shift."

"Technically I did have the day off, I just came for peace and quiet, this headache is extremely annoying."

"Which is why I brought coffee; caffeine withdrawal make headaches worse especially after hangovers, I wouldn't know how much it helps though, I just read it somewhere."

"You're a lifesaver."

It hadn't even occurred to her that coffee might help with the headache, she had been focused on problems that- at least at the time- had seemed more pressing. She became hyper-aware of her sketchbook sitting open on the desk behind her.

"You're welcome. Will you go home now? I feel bad watching you suffer."

"So you're trying to make me leave so you don't have to watch my suffering?"

"You know what I mean."

"I know, I was teasing. You're right, I should go home."

"Just doing my job as the voice of reason."

Tikki moved back to the desk, shutting her sketchbook and putting her phone in her pocket.

"We'll catch up tomorrow. Thanks for the coffee."

"Don't mention it. Just consider that I want to hear your side of everything first, I've got an entire year's worth of stories I want to hear."

Tikki turned to face him again once she was on the opposite side of the counter. Taking a sip of her coffee and smiling at him.

"I'm not the one who left the country for what was basically an extended vacation."

"It was field study for my career as a marine biologist, it was very hard work."

"Scuba diving and getting a tan, your life is so hard."

He smiled. Placing his hands on the desk and spinning the leather cord of a sea glass bracelet around his wrist-a gift from his uncle that had inspired his career choice- "Would it make you feel better if I admitted to you that I can't surf."

She laughed. "I missed that?! Please tell me someone was filming!"

"Nope."

"Why? That had to have been hilarious. You could have gone viral."

"I failed miserably."

"You're always the one saying to make the most of failure."

"You remember that?"

"And you still remember my favorite coffee order, so we're even." She turned, smiling over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow."

"It wasn't my fault!" Colette insisted, on the verge of tears currently curled up in the fetal position on her bed in her room.

"I'm not blaming you, I just want to know what happened." Plagg sat down on the corner of the bed, watching his little sister fight a losing battle not to cry.

"He made me mad so I hit him but I got in trouble because I hit him, but it wasn't my fault because he started it by making me mad and now I'm in trouble with the teacher and with Maman!"

"You're not in trouble with mom, she's mad at me, not you."

Colette sniffled and looked at him as she tried to figure out why he would be in trouble.

"But... you didn't punch anyone... did you punch someone?"

"Nope."

"Then why is Maman mad at you?"

"Because she think I taught you how to punch people."

Colette sat up, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"But, you didn't and... even if you did I wouldn't tell her you taught me. I'm not a snitch," she frowned and looked like she was about to start crying again. "... maybe, maybe I am a snitch."

Plagg was pretty sure she was talking to herself at this point. She did that sometimes when she was trying to think.

"What makes you think you're a snitch?"

"Because nobody likes a snitch and I don't have any friends. So that means no one likes me." She concluded.

"What do you mean you don't have any friends?"

"Nobody plays with me and everyone else teases me for not having any friends... I didn't want anyone to tease me anymore so I told myself to hit the next one who teased me."

Plagg rarely hugged people, he wasn't a very touchy-feely type of person, but his protective instinct had him pulling his sister closer to him.

"... I didn't think that mom would come to school to get me, you were supposed to be the one who came to get me, I made the teacher promise to call you and not Mamram,"

Colette folded her arms and stared at them, the last bit of her sentence turning into mumbling. "the teacher is a liar and I'm mad at her now too."

"It's okay to be mad at people, Kitten, but that doesn't mean that you can hit someone when they make you mad."

"I know, I tried."

"And did hitting someone make you feel better?"

"... No."

"See, that's not how we fix our problems."

"How do I fix it?"

"Depends, there's a lot of different ways to fix a problem I know someone who draws like you do, she draws butterflies when she's upset."

"Why?"

"It makes her feel better."

Colette considered this new idea.

"That doesn't make sense, but I like your friend Adrien... I think I would like her too, your friends don't make fun of me for not having friends."

She squirmed until she had gotten away from him, crawling across the bed and grabbing a pillow; apparently finding that to be a better substitute than hugging her brother.

Plagg tried not to take it personally.

"What are you doing?"

"Shh, I'm thinking." Colette demanded. She fixed him with a serious stare.

"Your friends don't make fun of me."

"No." Plagg agreed.

"Can... we share friends?"

"I don't see why not."

"And you can ask your girlfriend to explain why she draws butterflies so that it makes sense to me!"

That sentence stuck Plagg in a way that he hadn't expected and all he could do was sit and stare at his little sister for a long moment before he dared attempt a coherent sentence. "What did you say?"

Colette looked at him trying to think back about what might have confused her brother, had she been talking too fast? Mamram said that she did that sometimes.

"Butterflies?" she asked.

… noi that wasn't it, he was still looking at her all confused.

"... Girlfriend?"

He still looked confused... Maybe he didn't know the meaning of the word?

".. A friend who is a girl." she explained slowly.

Her brother was still staring at her

"What? You said she so that means the person you were talking about is a girl. I pay attention."

Tikki picked at the plastic on her phone case, maybe she should just text him. Why was there any need to walk over to his apartment just to tell him that she had been offered a job in New York? It wasn't like she was going to take it... she didn't know what she was going to do about it.

… but it was something major and it would likely be handled better if she told him in person. She had made up her mind about that much at least and she wasn't going to change it.

When she knocked on the door, he answered and seemed surprised to see her there, not disappointed just surprised.

"Hey."

He stood there looking at her for a split second longer before he backed away from the door, throwing it open wider, a clear invitation to come in.

She ducked under his arm, trying not to glance at the black ring on his finger as she did so.

"I wanted to talk to you- in person." She clarified when she was sure he was about to make a joke about being the twenty-first century and how you could talk to someone without walking almost eleven city blocks to see them.

He didn't make a joke though, just replied with a casual and perfectly valid question. "About what?"

She turned to face him as he leaned against the door, closing it as he waited for her to supply an answer to his question.

New York, I might go to New York. I don't know for long... I- I'll stay... if you want me to."

For some reason she couldn't seem to get the words past her throat and she just stood there blinking at him as she was suddenly stuck mute. Everything rushing around inside of her brain just... stopped for a split second and as a result she couldn't seem to get her mouth to work.

"Are you okay?" Plagg asked.

She pressed her lips together, composing herself enough to open her mouth again and words finally made it out.

"... why are you so... you?"

"... I'm... sorry?" He sounded as confused as she felt

… and maybe it was the fact that they were alone or maybe it was the fact that some part of her was secretly jealous of the idea that he had a girlfriend or maybe it was the way he was looking at her; his expression caught somewhere between being smug and looking genuinely concerned for her well-being and she might live to regret it but... the words were already coming out of her mouth.

"Kiss me."

Her train of thought screeched to a halt and spontaneously combusted with the amount of internal panic she suffered the moment that the words were out of her mouth and she realized exactly what she had said.

All she knew was that she didn't want to tell him about New York just yet... not until she knew where they stood on the metaphorical line she had drawn in her head...

He blinked at her, blinked at her and didn't move.

She could feel the horrible moment when her throat started to close up and she would have to run out of the apartment then and there but he was leaning on the door.

She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, felt it spread to the back of her neck and she just stood there.

Shame, embarrassment and regret loomed; ready to crash down upon her and drown her in a tidal wave, the back of her eyes began to prickle with oncoming tears and she turned her face away from him.

Weak.

She was so weak, she couldn't even handle rejection and hold back the tears long enough to get home where she could cry in peace. Why him? Why was it him of all people who could drive her crazy?

She ignored the shift in the room that told her he had finally moved, tried to ignore the involuntary shiver that went through her when she felt his fingers underneath her chin, turning her face so she had no choice but to look at bright green eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light of the apartment.

She blinked, her breath catching in her throat. Felt his fingers tilt her chin up further and then they moved at the same time.

She rose up on her toes and he tilted his head down; the last bit of space between them disappeared. The breath that had been caught in her throat leaving her in a sigh.

She could compare it to what gravity must feel like, the way she could feel herself getting closer, falling into him in such a way that it seemed as if she fit like a puzzle piece finally put where it belonged.

The hand with the ring went to cup her cheek, the cold metal in contrast with the heat of her blush.

Her fingers trailed up his arm, his wrist, his hand, until they found the small circle of cold metal and slid it off his finger.

No broken promises would weight on him in this moment. She could only lift this invisible weight off of him even if he would only let her do it just this once. She knew what this piece of jewelry meant to him, she had to know what it meant to her. Had to know why she was drawn to it and him in a way she couldn't explain.

She dropped her hand away, ring secured in her palm, her fingers finding the inscription on the inside of the band in the same moment that his own fingers trailed up her cheek to brush one of her earrings.

Each of them tracing the words they had traced a thousand times before and everything fell into place. The ring slipped form Tikki's fingers, the sound as it hit the floor echoed in her ears, triggering a profound moment of both shock and clarity as she knotted her fingers in his hair. Turning the gentle kiss into something deeper as all of her doubt slipped away.

She had found her other half.