RIP Adrien.
The silence was palpable. Adrien shrunk under Ladybug's undiscerning gaze, all the air in his lungs seeming to evaporate. Seconds ticked by but still she did nothing though he could see the thoughts turning inside her head. He just wanted this agony to be over and for her to pull the plug and oh god why wasn't she saying anything?
"Well..." Plagg whispered behind him. "This is awkward."
Extremely put out from Ladybug's total lack of reaction to his grand reveal, the Leopard King lifted a hesitant finger, expression pinched. "Um..."
Ladybug burst out laughing. It was a full laugh that shook her body and echoed loudly. They all just watched, stunned, as she clutched her stomach and wiped a tear. She waved him away though a giggle or two slipped out. "For a second there I thought you were implying that the cat was Chat Noir, but that's impossible because that would mean...would mean..." Her laughter died down almost instantly, as if a switch had flipped, and then Adrien could see the fiery wave of heat that skyrocketed up her neck and across her face. As she continued to look between him and the bell around his neck, he almost expected steam to start whistling out of her ears.
A small, insane part of him couldn't help but think how the red of her face was a cute, nearly identical shade to the red of her suit, but the still rational side just told him to be afraid as she fixed her eyes on him once more.
Very afraid.
It was very much Ladybug standing in front of him right now, but it was almost amazing how much Marinette was leaking through the mask. She had always been incredibly expressive and he had the front row seat to watching the realization crash over her. He imagined this was what it felt like to stare down an approaching train while also being tied to the tracks.
First her face was flat but when the spark of realization had burst into a flame, it was like watching a movie by facial expressions alone: there was shock, denial, mortification, confusion, and then suddenly her eyes were drilling into him so hard, he actually felt like he was being pierced. Anger wasn't enough to describe what he saw in her burning eyes, but if he had to pick the words to justify it, it was nothing but the look one gave its prey. And he was definitely dead meat.
"Chat... Noir." She enunciated slowly. She tried taking deep breaths, but the murderous vibes practically rolling off her as she loomed closer to him made him squeak in terror.
They'd started staring at each other so intensely that both had quite honestly forgotten the Leopard King all together. As he stood dumbly to the side, pride incredibly offended and mildly confused, he could only watch in disbelief. This was unacceptable. No one ignored him!
Ladybug! Adrien yelped when both completely missed the whip that lashed out at her. Taken by surprise, he could only watch in horror as his lady was thrown across the room, a cloud of dust puffing into the air as she roughly landed in a pile of old boxes. Adrien's haunches rose in anger and he hissed when the Leopard King sauntered over towards her as she struggled to pick herself up, luckily only flustered rather than actually hurt. She scowled deeply at him.
"Sorry, this isn't personal." She said, yoyo already spinning at high speed beside her. "But I'm not in a good mood right now. So I hope you don't mind if I'm a little rough."
"I'd like to see you try to even land a blow." The Leopard King lunged at her, a feral grin splitting his face. "You can't hope to win without your partner!"
Adrien groaned helplessly. This wasn't good; he had to do something fast about this cage or Ladybug could get into serious trouble. He tried alternating at striking at the lock and bashing himself repeatedly against the bars of the cage but it was no good and just left him with a sore side. This was hopeless. Plagg we have to help her! He cried when Ladybug managed to slide safely near his cage. Ask her to break the cage open!
Still trying to keep out of sight, Plagg cautiously called out to her, "Hey Ladybug, do you think you could be a pal and open-" He snapped his mouth shut when she fixed him with a searing glare that had made villains more than ten times his size cower and flee, jabbing a red clad finger straight between the bars.
"No. In fact, I don't want to hear another peep from you two." She hissed, seething. "You've caused enough trouble and you will stay put here until I clean up this mess. And you," She addressed directly to Adrien. "I'll deal with you later."
Plagg mournfully patted Adrien's paw, but he only leapt to his feet in alarm. Ladybug behind you! In the time she had spent saying those few words to them, the Leopard King had picked himself up and produced the same cursed bow that had put him in this predicament in the first place and he was horrified to see that it was aimed directly at her back. His meowing made her twist around just as a glowing arrow sailed dangerously close and dissolved into one of the cage's bars instead.
"That arrow..." She pieced together. "That's what it was, wasn't it? What changed him."
"Correct." The Leopard King said, already drawing another one. "It was unfortunate that it hadn't worked instantly but if I manage to even hit you once, then you're mine. I won't make the mistake of letting you get the miraculous away this time either!" She barely scrambled out of the way at the series of arrows which he began to rapidly fire off. She was dodging them for now, but she wouldn't be able to forever.
No longer able to just sit and watch, Adrien started running back and forth. Plagg arched a brow.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
Anything! He hissed back over the rattle of the cage as it began to swing. I may not be transformed, but I'm still Chat Noir and I'm going to protect her! This was all his fault so it was to time to lie in the bed he'd made for himself. The cage moved slowly at first but with his increasing speed it gained momentum and began to swing in large arcs. When he got it to the point where it had began to peak horizontally, he began to throw all of his weight down as hard as he could.
"Whoa!" Plagg yelled when there was a loud snap. Adrien's stomach dropped when gravity greedily took over and sent the cage flying across the space. It landed roughly against concrete, tumbling twice before stopping on its side, and Adrien groaned in pain, sore from impact and with his shoulder pulsing in pain from the awkward angle he'd landed it on. He tried rolling it and winced when it hurt but it wasn't debilitating so though he could probably expect a nice big bruise later he could live with it.
"Chat!" Ladybug cried when she saw the cage crash noisily but the Leopard King wasn't about to spare her a moment to check on him. The distraction had given her the opportunity to distance herself, but if she let her guard down for another moment, he might actually get her. She just couldn't get enough time to land a proper hit, let alone the time to call her lucky charm.
"Are you crazy?" Plagg buzzed around Adrien worriedly as he climbed to his feet.
Probably a little. The landing hadn't busted the lock but he was pleased to find that some of the bars had dented enough for him to try and squeeze through. It was uncomfortable, especially with his hurt shoulder, but after a few minutes of struggle, and a hearty push from Plagg, Adrien finally wiggled his way through.
He looked up in time just as the Leopard King managed to sweep Ladybug's feet from under her and she took a nasty spill to the ground. She stared up at him with wide eyes as he began to draw an arrow.
Get away from her!
In a dead sprint, Adrien jumped straight on the Leopard King's back and onto his head. Completely surprised, he cried out, accidentally shooting the arrow up where it harmlessly dissolved on the ceiling. The bow clattered onto the ground as he tried to grab at him to throw him off but Adrien held tight, sinking his claws into all the soft place he could get his paws on, constantly writhing and scratching despite the Leopard King's hits.
As the Leopard King stumbled around, Ladybug frantically climbed back to her feet, not missing a beat. She threw her yoyo into the air. "Lucky charm!"
After a bright flash of light, a small spotted jar dropped down into her hands and she frowned. "What is this?" She shook it, feeling it rattle softly inside and unscrewed the top revealing some kind of plant. It just looked like dried bits of grass to her, but there was a clear, pleasant smell of fresh, minty herbs. She looked confusedly at the Leopard King and Chat and back the to the jar, mind whirring. When it clicked, her eyes went wide.
OH.
She wasn't going to have a better chance than this and she only felt mildly guilty before she chucked the entire thing, cap off, just as the Leopard King was finally able to pull Adrien off his face. A rain of leafy debris showered the duo and she watched with bated breath. If this was actually what she thought it was and it worked...
"What the-" the Leopard King sputtered on some leaves that he'd accidentally inhaled mid-snarl. He dropped Adrien in alarm who had also become aware of the strange leaves and sniffed at the interesting plant curiously.
It was subtle at first, but a tingle began to form and spread through his body. He suddenly felt relaxed and jittery as everything seemed to grow fuzzy. It was when he shivered in delight though that he simultaneously realized with horror what exactly this was as he watched the Leopard King's pupils dilate wide, mirroring his own. They even looked at each other and he could see that they'd both reached the same conclusion.
Catnip.
The Leopard King fell on all fours and began to writhe around the ground, whining and purring, rolling in what remains of the herb had scattered having received the brunt of it but Adrien could already feel an intense itching need to do very much the same. He sank down in bliss, almost against his will, and succumbed to the need, rolling around without abandon and chirping happily without care.
"Oh my god." Ladybug watched the debacle incredulously. "I can't believe that actually worked." Nervous that the effects wouldn't last long, she hurried over to pick up her cat who had his eyes closed and was purring very loudly and unevenly. In his drunken-like state, he even started batting his head against her before blissfully melting into a fuzzy black ball of liquid cat in her arms and nuzzling against her affectionately. Though a part of her couldn't help but think he deserved this just a little, she did try dusting him off as much as possible before kicking up the Leopard King's whip that had been abandoned.
"This is pure gold. Can you please take a picture? No, a video!" Plagg, who had recognized the subtle smell instantly and had stayed far away from any of it, floated to her side just as she stomped one end of the whip and yanked harshly upwards with her free hand. It snapped in two with a loud twang.
With a practiced hand, she easily caught the dark butterfly that flew out and a moment later a white one fluttered into the distance. She bent down to pick up the empty jar and shot a hesitant look at the cat in her arms before tossing it up into the air.
The Cleansing Light swirled all around, the magic dancing and sweeping up everything. The magic reattached the cage to the ceiling and flew to swirl around the Leopard King and the mess of catnip, leaving an extremely disgruntled looking man who still looked plenty out of it but Ladybug and Plagg had their eyes trained solely on the black cat that was still wiggling in her arms and reaching out his paws to happily catch the imaginary ladybugs that had started to lazily fly around him.
"Why isn't it working?" Ladybug exclaimed, the panic already welling inside her voice. "Could he have been like this too long?" Plagg shook his head vehemently, but he couldn't hide his worry either.
"That's impossible! It can't be permanent- I've never seen Ladybug's power fail-"
Then in the middle of his sentence, there it was, the magic bursting across her arms. They sighed together in relief.
And then a thought occurred to Plagg and he turned big, alarmed eyes on her, quickly reaching out a futile paw. "Wait Ladybug,he's still-"
But it was too late and the magic vanished just as Ladybug, already scowling again, began talking. "Chat, I swear to god, you've got some explaining-" But then she was choking on her words, emitting a sound akin to a dying animal, because she had completely forgotten the fact that Chat didn't have his miraculous.
Which meant that Chat Noir wasn't transformed.
Which meant that it wasn't exactly Chat Noir in her arms.
She first noticed the perfect hair which she had mistaken as Chat's initially but then there were those beautiful green eyes that were blinking dreamily at her and it clicked.
Her mouth opened in a shrill scream as not Chat Noir, but Adrien Agreste curled closer against her only to let out a pained "Oof!" a second later when she dropped him in shock.
Plagg rubbed his temple, sensing the beginning of a head ache. "Well that could've gone better."
~.~.~.~.~
When the delusional ladybugs flying around his head finally disappeared, Adrien slowly came to, the largest whine tearing from his throat. He must have been hit by a train from how much pain he was in; his head was pounding and his shoulder and practically everywhere else ached whenever he tried moving. Even though his eyes were still closed, the light seemed too bright and he struggled to turn over and away from the source. It felt as if he hadn't slept for days or was just waking up from some deep sleep except while also having been beaten with a bag filled with bricks.
"Plagg?" He groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Fingers... He looked at his hand, blinking slowly. Then he shot up only to end up crashing right back down as he was overcome with a brutal wave of vertigo.
"Easy kid." Plagg's voice floated over to him. Adrien's lips thinned into a flat line when he heard the grin in his voice, but to his credit he did sound a little sympathetic. "Don't worry, this won't last. Your just riding out the rest of the effects from the catnip and it'll be out of your system soon enough now. It did quite a number on you. Remember anything?"
"It's all kind of... muddled." Adrien murmured, frowning. He tried sitting up again, but went deliberately slower this time. "I remember attacking the akuma and then everything kind of goes hazy."
"Yeah, that would make sense." Plagg scratched his neck sheepishly. "You kind of... got high, in a matter of speaking." His kwami sniffed him, drawing back with a shudder. "And from what I can tell, it was some really good stuff too. I don't envy you, but to be honest I'm surprised it affected you as badly as it did. I know you're supposed to be unlucky, but this just takes the cake."
"What happened?" Adrien looked around in surprise. He was back in his room, in bed to boot and he could see the sun beginning to dip outside. A rush of excitement hit him. So he had managed to turn back which obviously meant that Ladybug had won... wait a minute. His excitement popped like a balloon.
"Plagg... tell me what happened." He repeated fearfully.
"Well..." Plagg drawled for a moment, but then they both jumped when there was a sharp knock at his door. He zipped over his shoulder to hide, speaking so quickly that Adrien almost couldn't catch it all.
"So the story is that you snuck out this morning but Marinette found you passed out from a dizzy spell and walked you home, got it?"
"WHAT?" Adrien wheezed as his door opened, revealing a very perturbed Nathalie.
"Adrien? Did you just wake up?" Nathalie said stiffly, tone clipped.
"Y-yes!" Adrien sputtered, a completely flustered mess as he tried to register what Plagg had said while also attempting to stay calm. "Yes."
"Were you just talking to someone? I heard yelling."
"No, no!" Adrien waved quickly but then flailed across the bed to reach for his phone and cram it against his ear. "I mean, YES. I was just talking with my friend. Bye Marinette..." He trailed off weakly into the phone, forcing a laugh while feeling the heat crawl rapidly against his skin. He pulled the phone away, wanting nothing more than to bash his face against it but if he didn't want to look any more crazy than he was sounding it was probably for the best that he didn't give in to that particular impulse.
Nathalie pursed her lips and gave him a really weird look. "Um, right. That's the girl who brought you home this evening right?"
"Y-yeah...?" He sounded much more unsure than he would have liked but to be honest, he himself was trying to get a grasp of it all as well.
"What were you thinking? It was crazy to try and leave the house in your condition, especially without saying a word." Nathalie scolded, mouth dropping into a harsh scowl. "You're lucky that that girl found you and escorted you home before anything happened. This is clearly more serious than we had initially thought so we'll be calling the family physician and..." She went on and on, slipping in comments to chastise him on how irresponsible and dumb he'd been which he could only nod at because he wasn't really listening. Instead, he was screaming on the inside because all he'd gotten from that was that Marinette had taken him home.
Marinette had taken him, Adrien, home.
Nathalie sighed, pushing up the bridge of her glasses with a righteous huff. "Honestly... but enough of that. I'm sure your father will have plenty to say himself, but until then is there anything I could have delivered up for you? You must not have eaten yet today; maybe that's what caused you to faint."
He felt a sharp poke at his back side and he instantly said, "Just...camembert, please?"
She just looked at him strangely again, but began to slowly back out. "Alright. Then I'll leave you to rest. This will not happen again, yes?"
"Yes." Adrien mumbled, face hot. Satisfied, she nodded and left. As soon as the door closed behind her Adrien face planted on top of his sheets, exhausted all over again. He felt Plagg whiz out from under the covers and drop on top of his head.
"Just end me."
"There there." Plagg said."It's not as bad as it sounded." Adrien glared at him. "Okay... maybe it was. But it was actually really funny now that I think about it. Marinette made quite a scene showing up at your door with you half-passed out in la-la-land on her shoulder while she looked like she was about to faint herself. And then you should've seen her sprint away- that girl can run!"
"NOThelping Plagg."
"Oh, that reminds me." Plagg said. "You want the good news or the bad news?"
"Seriously? Was that not the bad news?" Adrien sighed deeply, sitting up."Ok, good news." Plagg flew over to the desk and back quickly, holding up a small, silvery object in triumph.
"Ta da!" Plagg cried, dropping it into his lap.
"Wha- my ring!" Adrien slid his miraculous right back on his finger, staring at it in disbelief. "But how?"
"Well, that's the bad news." Plagg said. "But I don't think I have to tell you..."
His groan was muffled. "I knew it, but still. So she definitely knows everything. She hates me doesn't she?"
"Eh..." Plagg shrugged offhandedly which was perfectly reassuring.
Adrien drooped, depressed. He'd really messed everything up hadn't he? "So that's it then. I was hoping that maybe, as Adrien, I could've had a chance and fixed this somehow but now that she knows I'm Chat, it's all over. The fact that she's not even here means that she doesn't want to talk right? And how am I supposed to look her in the eye the next time I see her? She's never going to want to speak to me again."
To his surprise Plagg just snorted. "Nah, I wouldn't worry too much. She loves you just fine." He said it so matter-of-factly that Adrien couldn't help but feel a tiny flutter of hope spring back to life though he still burned at the mention of her loving him.
"What? How could you know that?" Adrien demanded.
"I read her diary." He said simply.
"You did what?"
Plagg crossed his arms defensively. "Hey I was bored! What did you expect me to do in that box all those days? There's only so long you can sleep you know and I had to entertain myself somehow. "
"But- but," Adrien stumbled over his words. On one hand he thoroughly disapproved of Plagg's actions because it was an invasion of her privacy but on the other his curiosity was starting to niggle him and he couldn't help but wonder what exactly he had happened to read. But he had to stay strong and resist. "You can't just do that!"
"I just peeked a little." Plagg pouted then shot him a sly look. "I mean I knew she liked you, but whoa."
Adrien clapped his hands over his ears. "Plagg stop."
"Are you sure you don't want to know anything?" Plagg cackled.
"No!" Yes... He couldn't cave in though. Absolutely not. These were Marinette's deepest thoughts, they weren't meant to be known-
"She thinks you have a cute butt! And not just as Adrien!"
"I don't want to hear this!" Adrien lied although he went bright red, secretly very pleased. Oh my god she thinks I have a cute butt... Okay, he very much did want to hear this, but if he didn't put a stop to this now he'd crack. "Enough!"
Plagg huffed, crossing his arms. "Okay okay, fine. Party pooper."
Adrien dropped his hands. "Thank you."
A beat of silence.
"Oh by the way, you also drooled all over her."
Adrien's aim was strong and true and the pillow he sent flying smacked Plagg squarely in the face, successfully sending him across the room. He was still chuckling when he floated back to his side, ignoring the sour look Adrien sent him.
"My point is," Plagg said a bit more seriously, eyes softening at his hopeless charge."You're over thinking everything right now. I promise you she doesn't hate you, but what I can tell you is that she is a little hurt and overwhelmed from everything. Let's wait a bit to give her space and then we can go over to properly talk with her."
"Wow Plagg." Adrien gaped at his kwami in shock. "That was actually... very reasonable."
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy." Plagg said indignantly. He paused. "But I would be prepared to grovel if necessary."
Adrien nodded grimly. He had lied and betrayed her trust for selfish reasons and he was honestly prepared to do anything if it meant his lady forgiving him. Because she truly meant everything to him and if he lost her because of this, he would be devastated.
His mind filled with her, from the sound of her giddy laugh as they raced across the rooftops in the odd hours of the morning to her radiant smile that never failed to be there every day in class to the warmth of her embrace that made him feel safe and cherished. From the beginning, Ladybug had always been his light in the dark, but if Ladybug was the light then Marinette was the sun. And he wanted all of it.
He could only hope that maybe... just maybe... she would want all of him too.
Ladybug. exe not responding. (Hooray for parallels! LOL)
Why is it that my writing bursts come when I have exams? :'D But I have to admit, I feel a little bad for putting our cinnamon roll through such mortification, and he hasn't even met her face to face yet!
This chapter was a train wreck tbh, but I loved it omg. I'm also thinking that next chapter will be the last but I have a bit I want to happen so it might be a bit of a doozy if I don't end up splitting it. Yikes.
Also to the guest who left me a message about someone copying this story: If you happen to see this, you should know that they weren't copying me! It's completely their own story and besides it's not like I own the idea of Adrien turning into a cat LOL. I'm sure there's already plenty of fic out there about it too- I mean, it's such a silly and cute idea that there's no way I'm the only one who had the idea, you know? So I wanted to thank you for letting me know and I appreciate you defending me, but it really is just a coincidence :) You don't have to either, but it might be a nice idea to apologize to the author if you sent a message about it too!