Plagg was in so much trouble.
Was he that easy to peg?
That his seven year-old sister had figured it out before he'd pushed himself out of the quicksand that was denial?
And here he'd prided himself on being hard to figure out. Granted Colette had most likely eavesdropped on his conversation with mom.
And it was that conversation that had flooded back to him as soon as Tikki as showed up at the apartment.
' I just want you to be careful. For once in your life be careful Plagg.' "
"... it was your father's fault as much as mine, it just wasn't meant to work out... we tried. And now everything is a mess."
She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. Glacing down at the ring on his finger with a sad little smile.
"It was your father's- I should have gotten rid of it. I got rid of almost everything-"
"but you kept this," he spun the ring around his finger."
"Because I still had hope that he'd come back to me... hope can break a person as much as it can fix them. I should have packed it up in that box with my half of the promise and shipped it all off to America."
"But you didn't." he stressed.
Another sad smile.
"You couldn't get rid of it either, how cowardly is that" for me to expect my son to get rid of something that I couldn't but you couldn't get rid of it either it seems, because here it is- missing it's other half- but here it is."
He couldn't figure out why she was choosing now of all times to have this conversation with him.
"If this is some sort of elaborate way to try to tell me that you want it back then be my guest."
He pulled it off at his finger and set it on the table he'd stood up and meant to walk away from it all right then a there because she had picked up the ring and was leaning back in her chair and then he heard something that made him stop in his tracks.
He hadn't heard his mom laugh in years.
"... sometimes I wonder what happened to the earrings." she said the words so quietly that he knew he wasn't supposed to have heard those words but he did. And damn curiosity.
"What earrings?"
"Little ruby earrings," she set the ring down on the table with a click. "not that it matters now because those are halfway across the world some days I regret it some days I don't- what I'm trying to say is... be careful... don't make a promise to the wrong person, and don't let anyone make promises to you."
"And you're telling me this now because-"
" I just want you to be careful Plagg, for once in your life be careful. I don't want the same thing to happen to you, I know I haven't been there as much as I should have been, then and now and I know this is probably going to mean nothing to you but I regret that and... I'm sorry."
He pushed the words away to breathe, to process and think and change the subject.
"So, you don't want the ring back?"
She looked down at the ring sitting between them on the table.
"I don't, your father on the other hand..."
"Then I'll give it to him."
She looked at him for a moment.
"No you won't, I have a feeling that it means more to you than it ever did to him."
'Be careful, for once in your life Plagg, be careful.'
And why was he listening to that voice inside of his head now?
The irony wasn't lost on him at all, that the moment Tikki would do something reckless he was left would be the cautious one and maybe it made him a coward, but he didn't move.
He listened to that voice in his head and he didn't move.
He kept waiting for her to deny it.
But she didn't.
And then he blinked and he was suddenly in that moment on New Years and he remembered how badly he had wanted to kiss her outside of that street café and how he had verbally deny himself the temptation because all the evidence in front of him said that she was at least a little bit drunk despite her insistence otherwise.
She seemed perfectly sober now.
Be careful.
She looked like she was going to cry and he'd be damned if he ever let her cry because of something he did or didn't do.
Careful.
He might have just imagined the shiver that went through her when he brushed his fingers underneath her chin to turn her face to look at dark blue eyes on the verge of tears.
He felt the last bit of denial slipping from him as he started to drown; his entire world focused on that shade of blue, searching for one shadow to tell him she didn't want anything to do with him. He wanted this but if there was even the slightest bit of doubt on her part then he would stop, for her sake and not his own.
Careful.
He held his breath, waiting for the moment to shatter, for her to pull away and for a second he thought she just might, thought he finally saw a flicker of his doubt mirrored in her eyes and he had the urge to make that shadow go away even as his thoughts urged him to pull away.
The little sigh that she made when he kissed her almost shattered all of his self-control.
He didn't want to be careful anymore but he owed it to her, to himself. There was still a chance that she wouldn't want a relationship even after this.
He would stop if she told him too, until then...
He traced the words on the back of her earrings- 'halfway across the world'- except they were right here and now the story could come full circle and they might suffer the same fate as his parents or they might not but they could have this moment.
His hand moved from her ear to the back of her neck the other hand trailing down to the small of her back, pulling her closer.
He felt her smile against his lips and he pulled away, his nose brushing against her cheekbone, he pulled away even further. She looked at him her dark blue eyes flashing with a mixture of surprise and disbelief.
He watched her press her fingertips to her lips and he became very aware of the lingering taste of coffee on his lips.
"... I- I meant to talk to... to you." She stammered.
New York! How was she supposed to talk to him about New York after that?!
The metaphorical line she had been tightrope-walking on for months now suddenly didn't exist and she could feel the looming threat of an anxiety attack.
What was she supposed to do now?
She didn't regret it, but... what was she supposed to do? She didn't know how to respond to this anymore didn't even know what this was anymore.
She didn't think this would change things between them but clearly it would, she hadn't meant to ask him to kiss her... that had just come out of her mouth and now that it was over and she was expected to talk she didn't want to.
'So... I may or may not move to New York.' God she was the worst human being alive.
"Oh God, I'm such a jerk!" I just did that I can't believe I just did that! I'm the worst human being alive!... I just said all of that out loud didn't I?"
"Pretty much. So that means you didn't want me to kiss you."
"No- I mean yes I wanted to but I wasn't going to- not like that not now because you have a girlfriend and I meant to come a talk to you about- Why are you laughing, don't laugh this is serious I-"
She lost her train of thought a second time when Plagg kissed her again. "You're cute when you ramble, you're spending too much time with Marinette." The kiss on her forehead servered to calm her down for a split second before she became flustered again she wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or disgusted with herself.
"I- need to talk to you." She insisted saying the words out loud more to remind her that she had something more important to do other than kissing him.
"I'm listening."
New York. Tell him about New York right now!
No, not right now that would be too much emotion to try and coherently explain after he'd just kissed her... she looked down at the floor; eyes catching the glimmer of green gemstone from the discarded ring that had rolled across the floor and come to rest against the kitchen counter.
A pit grew in her stomach at the sight of the piece of jewelry- she should really apologize for the entirety of the last three minutes to save herself from the wrath of his possible girlfriend even though she wasn't in the least bit sorry for the kiss.
She was sorry for not feeling sorry about it, if that made any sense.
She sighed, ducking under his arm to go and pick up the discarded ring from the floor, the apology spewing from her mouth as soon as she touched it.
"I'm really sorry I mean I wanted to kiss you but I wasn't going to, that just came out of my mouth and I'm sorry because that's absolutely no excuse at all I just... I'm sorry that was really uncalled for on my part because you have a girlfriend."
He was laughing at her again and she couldn't help but feel she was missing the part where this was supposed to be funny.
"I kissed you back," he pointed out.
True; he had a point so she wasn't entirely to blame for this but that didn't really serve to ease her guilt.
"I kissed you back," Plagg repeated. "I don't have a girlfriend unless you want to count the redhead standing here and rambling in my apartment."
That compliment or flirt or whatever it was didn't necessarily go over her head she simply chose to temporarily ignore it in favor of clearing up the misunderstanding she had placed around him.
"But... this is a promise ring, you said that it stood for something that you intend to keep or fix."
"It's not strictly mine, it belonged to my parents; more specifically my father... before the divorce."
Oh.
Well now she felt stupid, thoroughly embarrassed that she had misread the situation so completely she changed the subject again still not completely ready to acknowledge the kiss directly.
"Oh... so your parents- when do I get to meet them?"
He stared at her for a solid three seconds before he burst out laughing again. Clearly she was missing whatever joke he thought was amusing so she just watched him laugh.
"Oh... oh you're serious?"
"Well yes, I'm not laughing am I? I want to meet them."
"Trust me, you don't; my parents aren't exactly the type of people you want to bring a girl home to."
"Why not?" She'd pushed too far and she knew it, she could practically see him shutting down.
"Because-"
"Because is not a reason."
He sighed, stepping closer to her. "Because it doesn't matter, they don't matter. I only just started to reconcile with my mom, I haven't had the guts to talk to my dad in years I don't remember the last time I actually saw him in person and I'm not going to drag you into this mess just so they can sit down and find something about you that they don't like."
"They wouldn't do that, and even if they did I wouldn't care."
"I would. I'm not going to drag you into it because it doesn't matter, most of what happened was in the past anyway and it doesn't matter now." He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently but she refused to be distracted.
"How can you stand there and lie to my face." Okay... there was probably a million different ways she could have worded that better but her mouth and her brain weren't quite on the same wavelength yet.
He looked for all the world as if he'd been physically slapped and he took half of a step back, his hands slipping off her shoulder before she grabbed his wrists to keep them in place. "It matters, of course it matters. You might not want it to matter to you but I know it does, otherwise you would talk about it instead of shutting down like this." She stepped closer to him.
"Your past matters because it's what made you who you are and it matters to me because I want to know everything about you."
"That speech was incredibly cheesy."
She scowled at him, the expression not quite reaching her eyes. "I can take back everything I said and walk out of this apartment right now."
"Nope, too late you said it can't take it back." She ducked out their loose embrace and turned to the door. "I can still walk out on you." she teased. Managing to take a total of two steps before she felt his arms wrap around her waist, his breath brushing the shell of her ear. "Just because you can doesn't mean you will."
"Can doesn't mean I will." she repeated. "Even though you're insufferable." She added rolling her eyes at the door as she backed up into his embrace.
"And yet you tolerate me."
"Against my will."
She felt his chest rise and fall with laughter a second before the soft sound reached her ear. "Entirely against your will." he agreed pressing a soft kiss to her ear that sent a shiver of happiness down her spine.
New York what?
Why was she so concerned about it anyway she might not even take the job, she had a few months to decide although she knew it was ideal for the decision to be made sooner rather than later it could wait a few more minutes if not a day or two. She had enough mercy in her to let them enjoy this moment.