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The morning had started like any other. Adrien had woken to go to school, except he wasn’t. Well, he thought he was, but it seemed his body wasn’t listening. That’s when it hit him. Everything seemed so much bigger, not to mention he wasn’t in his own bed. Looking down, he saw his clothes were no longer there. In fact, his whole body was replaced by one that was all too familiar to him.
“Plagg!” Adrien yelled, finally snapping all the pieces together. Adrien was in Plagg’s body and that would have to mean Plagg was in Adrien’s body. Adrien had become accustom to magical occurrences, why wouldn’t he? For the past year and a half, Adrien had been fighting off Hawkmoth and his akumatised victims 24/7. Though never, not in his wildest dreams, did he expect to swap bodies with his Kwami.
“What?” Plagg groggily asked, refusing to even open his eyes. Plagg has never been an ‘early bird’ and not a single one of his past holders could change this fact. He planned to sleep till Adrien was basically yelling at him to get up because Nathalie was calling to go to school. Today, Adrien was calling for him earlier then normal. After a solid minute of constant disturbance, Plagg gave in and sat up.
“What is it? I know my rights very well and I have a right to sleep an extra 20 minutes before you need to leave for school,” Plagg responded, clearly annoyed.
“We have more important issues right now, like the fact that I’m in your body! How the hell did this happen?” Plagg was confused for a brief moment. Looking down, he could clearly see that he wasn’t a small floating being but rather a human.
“No, no, no. Not this again. I hate when this happens!” Plagg complained, throwing his hands up in frustration. Adrien threw him a look of confusion.
“What do you mean ‘again’? Does this happen often?!” Adrien feared the answer, but he needed to know. Plagg obviously realised that.
“If you’re wondering why it happened to you, you’re just really unlucky,” Plagg answered. Adrien sighed in disbelief.
“What is this?”
“It’s this thing that happens once every 22 lifetimes. You just so happen to fall in this lifetime and now I’m stuck in this body,” Plagg sighed in defeat. He wasn’t really bothered to fight mother nature.
“How long does this thing last for?” Adrien asked though yet again, he feared the answer.
“24-36 hours. I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean you’re not sure?!” Adrien was panicking and to Plagg, it was adding more frustration to what he was already experiencing.
“Well this thing doesn’t happen often and it’s not unusual to miss it too. You see, when we’re without a holder, we don’t experience it. Even I have only experienced it a few times only,” Plagg explain as he began to move out of bed.
“This is a complete disaster Plagg. What if Hawkmoth strikes again? What if people figure out you’re not me, but rather a look-a-like? What if father finds out?! Oh no! I can’t let father find out.” While Adrien was experiencing a nervous breakdown, Plagg began to think of all the positive outcomes for the day to come.
“Maybe it’s not that bad,” Plagg began, catching Adrien’s full attention. In that following moments, Adrien witnessed Plagg changed his usual blonde hair to raven black. It followed by something he was all too familiar with, as he transformed into Chat Noir. “I haven’t been a human in ages. I think ill go for a stroll.” Plagg jumped up to the windowsill and jumped out of sight.
Adrien was dumbfounded at what had occurred. Did Plagg just hijack his body and take off? It was the light thud of someone landing that gave him hope that his all too annoying kwami had had his fun and decided to go back. Then again, only five minutes had passed. He looked towards the person who had landed and saw the light of his life.
“Ladybug?!” Adrien asked shocked but quickly remembered that he was a kwami and would not recogonise him as Adrien Agreste. That was what he initially thought.
“No. I’m actually her kwami, Tikki. Nice to meet formally meet you Adrien though I’m sorry It’s under these circumstances.” Ladybug had said as he bent down to pick up the poor trapped teen.
“It’s alright. How’s Ladybug though?” Adrien asked.
“She’s fine. She was surely shocked but after explaining, she feels better,” Ladybug explained.
“Can’t say the same for me. Plagg just took of just a little while ago. I can’t let my father find out about this. He won’t believe I swapped bodies though he will believe it as misbehavior and will undoubtably cause many problems in future,” Adrien explained.
“That’s quite alright. I’ll make sure he’ll stick to your father’s routine though I can’t promise he’ll act like the sweetly behaved boy you are at school,” Tikki said though she immediately regretted her words.
“Ladybug goes to my school?!” Adrien asked, shocked at the new revelation. Tikki mentally scolded herself for not being careful.
“I know you have many questions, but I can’t answer anything in regard to Ladybug. Anything else, ask Plagg, he’ll answer. Right now, I need to find him before school starts and I still need to prep him for that as well.” With that, Ladybug lowed him onto his bed. “Stay here. Last thing I need is you getting yourself into trouble.” Ladybug gave him one last pat on the head before heading for the window. Just as she was about jump out of it, Adrien called out.
“What did Plagg mean ‘I haven’t been a human in ages’?”
“Always saying unnecessary things,” Ladybug muttered quietly to herself.
“We weren’t always kwami, Adrien.” Ladybug smiled warmly. A smile that would have melted the boy’s heart if only it was his Ladybug that did it. With that, she jumped out and began her quest to find her opposite.
It didn’t take long for her to find him. Despite the way he acts, Plagg had always appreciated the fancier things in life. She had 40 minutes till they were both officially late to school but Tikki was determined for that not to happen. As she landed on the top of the Eiffel Tower, she dropped her transformation, revealing the body of Marinette.
“Hey stranger,” She said as she took a seat next to Plagg. There he sat, casually eating his camembert cheese, a small jar of cookies untouched but waiting.
“See that you’ve been waiting for me,” Tikki said as she opened the jar of cookies and began to eat the sweet treat she had been enjoying since its creation.
“Of course sugarcube. What do the young people call it? Oh that’s the word. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?” Tikki giggled at the way he emphasised ‘boyfriend’.
“Is that what they call it? When was the last time we got to do this Plagg? 300 years? How did you survive without me?” Tikki teased.
“I don’t need you to be babysitting me,” Plagg huffed.
“You should have given Adrien a proper explanation. Luckily I swung by to check on him,” Tikki sighed. Plagg knew what she was gonna say next, and despite not wanting to do it, he knew he would.
“If I did do that, I wouldn’t have been able to set up such a nice scene for you,” Plagg flirted. Tikki giggled in response.
“And I’m thankful for that but now I need to get us to school on time. I promised both my holder and yours that we’d do what they always did.”
“Your promise not mine. Do you really think I can be the goody two shoes Adrien is? I’m literally the living embodiment of destruction and chaos,” Plagg reminded as he popped another wedge of Camembert cheese into his mouth.
“I only promised Adrien that his father wouldn’t figure out the change in behaviour. I never said anything else about school mates.” Tikki smiled though it was more mischievous then anything else.
“Have you been hanging around me too much, cause I think this sugarcube is turning bitter,” Plagg questioned giving her a devilish smirk in return.
“I only do promises I can keep.” The two chatted about their current holders till Tikki noticed that all the food was gone, and that time was passing way too quick for her liking. She stood up and brushed her clothing off, Plagg mimicking her actions. “Change his hair back,” Tikki commanded.
“What? No way, it’s better this way,” Plagg defended.
“I don’t care, just do it. It’s not that bad being blonde,” Tikki pressed on. Plagg eventually folded and did as she said, hair returning to its original colour.
“Happy?” Plagg asked sarcastically.
“Yep, now get out of those clothes,” Tikki instructed. Plagg smirked at her in response and all Tikki could do was roll her eyes and wonder why such a guy was her boyfriend for the last million or so years.
“You know what I mean Plagg, and stop being such a pervert. Change into his regular clothes so the two of us can run to school so we’re not late.”
“Yeah, yeah.” When he was done, the two jumped off the tower and ran halfway across Paris just to get to school on time. After straightening up the clothing and hair (more like Tikki doing it for him), the two entered with enough of a gap to seem like they weren’t together.
“Hey girl, what’s up with you?” Alya asked as Tikki sat beside Marinette’s BFF.
“What do you mean?” Tikki asked.
“What do you mean ‘what do you mean’?! You came to school on time AND walked in just moments before Adrien!” Alya whisper-yelled. The two watched as Plagg took his seat and immediately put his head on the desk.
“And?”
“And? You’ve literally come three times this year actually on time and you’re not going on and on about the great Adrien Agreste! Did you hit you hear or something? Cause my BFF would be over the moon right now,” Alya had explained. Being Marinette wasn’t all that easy it as Tikki thought.
“I’m sorry Alya, I really don’t feel like myself today. Maybe I’m getting sick or something,” Tikki played along. Trying to convince Alya would be the hardest out of all her classmates. If she could fool Alya, she could fool anyone.
“Yeah right,” Plagg muttered. Nino glanced up at Alya and Tikki and pointed to Plagg, snoozing with his head on the desk.
“What’s wrong with Adrien?” Nino asked.
“Bet his father has been working the poor boy on death. Literally. He has acting weirdly lately too,” Alya commented as he watched her classmate sleep.
“Maybe he’s just being lazy,” Tikki muttered quietly as she kicked the chair in front of her, waking him up. Alya and Nino shared a look.
“Something is seriously wrong, what’s with you?” Alya asked. Before Tikki had a chance to defend, the teacher walked in and class had begun.
It was half an hour left till lunch and Plagg had basically scribbled in an empty book all day. It’s not like the teachers care. Adrien was a straight ‘A’ student and Plagg has been around since the beginning of time. Plagg thought of himself higher than the school’s education. It was during this time when he began to take notice of a certain tapping sound. At first he brushed it off but after a couple of minutes, he began to recogonise the pattern as Morse Code. Plagg began to scribble down the dots and dashes till the message became clear.
‘-- . . - -... . .... .. -. -.. ... -.-. .... --- --- .-.. .-.. ..- -. -.-. ....’ was written on his page. He then translated it into the message. ‘meet behind school lunch.’ Plagg wondered how long she had been repeating. He glanced back to her and nodded. His head in understanding. All he needed to do was wait the remainder of the time in class though he was very tempted to ditch class and go anywhere but there. Then again, he knew it wouldn’t be any fun without Tikki being there.
The bell went eventually went off and almost instantly, Plagg had left a confused Nino behind. He was shortly followed by Tikki and the two met behind the school.
“What’s up sugarcube?” Plagg asked, leaning against the school building. Tikki wasn’t happy but not at him but rather herself.
“I can’t let Marinette down. Being madly in love with Adrien till the point of obsession is hard,” Tikki complained. She took a few steps closer till she was so close that, she rested her head against his chest sighed.
“Aren’t you madly in love with me?” Plagg asked teasingly, trying to lift her spirits in a ‘Plagg’ way. It seemed to have worked as Tikki let out a small chuckle.
“Hardly. We’ve been together for too long. I have no reason to since I’m already comfortable around you.” Tikki smiled knowing that it was bound to offend Plagg in some way.
“Guess I need to fix that.” Plagg smirked as he tilted the girl’s head up and leaned in for the kill. Their lips met for the first time since the last time it happened. Being together was one thing. Being together in human form was another. In kwami form, their contact was nothing more then hugs and shared meals. But in human form, them being together could be much more.
Plagg pulled away all too soon, leaving Tikki wanting more, but pride prevented her from asking for it. He gave her a mischievous smiled.
“Whenever you see me, imagine that or something along those lines,” Plagg whispered before hugging her one last time. “Alya awaits you. I’ll circle the building before I enter.” Before she had the chance to say or do anything, Plagg had already began to walk.
The journey was bothersome, considering he knew there was a faster way to get back inside, but it was worth it. Plagg wanted to see if he had ‘helped’ Tikki with her problem. Despite him seeing Marinette and she seeing Adrien, the two had long overcome the boundaries of just physical form. Their connection was far too great yet all at the same, fragile.
Reaching the front of the building, Plagg had finally entered back into the school and headed towards where Nino was. It just so happened to be that he was sitting with Alya, and more importantly Tikki.
“Hey guys,” Plagg had called as he approached them, putting up the best Adrien impression he could. “Mind if I sit here?” Despite it being asked to everyone present, he looked directly towards Tikki, flashing her his version of Adrien’s ‘model’ smile. Unlike Adrien’s which was pure and full of kindness, Plagg was more luring and mischievous. Something he knew Tikki liked.
“I don’t mind, what about you Marinette?” Alya asked, not so subtly pressuring her friend. Plagg could see her expression change from her calm the calm and collected Tikki to typical ‘Marinette in front of Adrien’. Usually Tikki would be able to fool just about everyone, but she knew that in order for her to succeed, she wasn’t going to hide it. She needed to embrace it.
“I uh, um. Sure you can,” Tikki stuttered. It had worked, and for Plagg, it brought back memories of the 1500s when Tikki openly got embarrassed in front of Plagg because of Plagg. It was the last time it happened but Plagg wanted to seize this opportunity to the best of his abilities and forever remember it so that one day, he can bring it up again and again.
“Cat got you tongue?” Plagg whispered as sat down in front of her. Tikki shot a glare at him but he only smiled back. He wondered if what he did earlier was the cause of her stuttering or something else.
The rest of the day consisted of Plagg teasing Tikki in subtle ways and Tikki being defenseless against it. She hated that she was becoming a stuttering mess in front of Plagg, considering the are meant to be balanced by nature (though both knew Tikki was in charge) and therefore equal but different in every way. She hated the fact that she loved seeing Plagg be such a trouble maker for her too. It was frustrating. Finally school ended and as promised, Plagg behaved in front of the people associated to Adrien’s father. As he walked passed Tikki, who was walking out by herself, he whispered,
“Meet me by the river in half an hour.” Before she could say anything, Plagg had hopped into the limousine where he was then dropped home. He was greeted by Nathalie and Plagg was faced by his first serious obstacle.
“How was school Adrien?” Nathalie asked. Plagg knew this one. Adrien always said the same thing so all he had to do was repeat it in the stiff with a hint of annoyance tone his holder always did when the question usually occurred.
“Fine,” Plagg replied. He seemed to be safe but he knew the next question Adrien would normally follow up with asking. He needed to ask it in a somewhat hopeful manner that would be crushed by the fact his father didn’t have time for him. “Where’s father?”
“Your father is not feeling well and so he won’t be joining you for dinner,” Nathalie replied. Plagg was almost free. All he needed to do was to mimic the feeling or being let down though expected it. A soft mutter that was just loud enough to be heard but soft enough to still be respectful.
“Figure,” Plagg had muttered as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom. He entered, locked the door and headed to the bed where he was tackled by kwami Adrien.
“Who’s Tikki? Is Ladybug actually my classmate? Were you human at one stage? Did anyone figure me out? How did you change-,” Adrien bombarded Plagg with questions but Plagg swiftly covered his mouth.
“Even in a different body, you still continue to complain,” Plagg sighed.
“If you were listening, you would have noticed that they were in fact questions.”
“Same thing.” Plagg brushed off as he began to change Adrien’s physical appearance. His pale skin became a more of an olive tan as he headed to where Adrien stored all the camembert cheese. Running his hand through Adrien’s neat hair changed it to an untamed locks of black hair, similar style to Chat Noir’s but messier. With a flash of swirling light, he had grown more than a head taller. Within mere minutes, Adrien was unable to identify his body, it being replaced by a man to be in his mid-20s. “Anyways, I’ll answer some of them later. Right now I’m gonna spend the rest of my time as human being with Tikki.”
“What happen to my body?!” Adrien asked horrified. “How did you do that? I need to at least know that much or I won’t be ordering you any more cheese for the next two months,” Adrien threatened, now desperate for answers. It was not uncommon for Adrien to use his love for cheese against him. Plagg sighed as he walked to where his chosen was seated on the bed, and sat down.
“A kwami is a being that has more power than imaginable but cannot fully convey that power. Because of this, we need a human to act as our host for this power so it can be put to good use. However, this rare occurrence allows us to be both the power and the conveyer. You kids never understand how much power we once had. This transformation I di to your body is just a preview of what I could do before,” Plagg summed up. With that, Plagg had snapped his fingers changing his outfit to become something more fancy. He wore a simple green dress shirt buttoned up with a black vest over the top. Adrien’s shorts were replaced with long black dress pants and black formal shoes to sum it all up. “Now if you excuse me, I have prior arrangements to attend to.” With that, Plagg was out the window and on the was to their meet up point.
Being civilized and not wanting to be mistaken as an akumatised victim, he decided to walk to their meeting place by the river. Surely enough, Tikki was there waiting for him in a form he remembered all to well.
“Plagg!” Tikki basically threw herself into his arms. “It’s great to see you like this,” She muttered into his chest.
“You too. You look the best like this,” Plagg commented as he retuned the hug. When he looked down at the person in front of him, he saw the girl he met all those years ago. Tikki’s original form could not compare to any girl he had ever met and his chosen was in the modelling industry. Tikki’s blazing red hair was cut just above the soldiers she even wore a dress that reflected her kwami self. She wore a red baby doll dress with black dots sparingly spread around the dress. The several layers of cloth added to create a more of a ballgown look. Her frame was more petite compared to Marinette, making quite a noticeable height difference.
“Thanks. You’re even being sorta like a gentleman,” Tikki pretended to be shocked thought a small part of her actually was shocked.
“Don’t get used to it. I know that you know that this thing isn’t going to last long,” Plagg sighed. Tikki frowned slightly indicating that she did in fact know but I only lasted a second.
“It’s best to live in the moment and right now, I take it that we have till sunrise.” Tikki laughed. Plagg grunted and Tikki knew what that meant. Out of the two, Plagg was more of the clingy one though he didn’t show it like how most people did. It was because of this that Plagg always acted as if he didn’t care.
“Well I guess we better make the most of it.”
------
The alarm beeped loudly and all Plagg could think was for time to stand still. He wanted to ignore it but the gentle stirring signaled it was too late. Tikki slowly sat up, holding the blanket near and took note of the time.
“Plagg, we need to go home. The magic is wearing off,” Tikki gently whispered not knowing that Plagg was already wake and hadn’t even had a wink of sleep. It was true. Plagg had gazed up and noticed how features of Marinette was beginning to appear without Tikki forcing it to happen.
“No, not yet. Can’t be now,” Plagg mumbled not at all happy about it. Tikki giggled as she bent to give Plagg a light kiss.
“Unfortunately so.” Although Plagg was the one complaining, Tikki too wanted to stay like that. It was the life they always wanted but never got. Fate loved to screw around with those two. They didn’t have long to gather their things. Sunrise was yet to hit so Plagg had volunteered to walk Tikki back to Bakery.
The two walked hand in hand. It was sort of weird for Tikki to realise how much shorter Adrien was compared to human Plagg. Then again, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were together. As the bakery came to view, Plagg had noticeably began to slow down his pace. As if by doing so, they he could make the moment last just a bit longer.
“This my stop.” Tikki smiled though it was filled with sorrow. She didn’t want it to be any more painful then this, so with one last peck on the cheek, she parted ways with him. That was her plan, but Plagg’s grip refused to let up, spinning her around for a proper kiss. One with passion, longing, happiness and regret all swirled together.
“See you soon,” Plagg whispered as he pulled away. Tikki couldn’t take it. Plagg knew what he had to do. As he began his journey back, he heard the cries of the one he loved, but he didn’t turn back. He knew that if he did, he would return to her. Time was of the essence and he transformed into Chat Noir (since most of his other powers has stopped working), and ran to the Agreste mansion.
The last thing he remembered was thinking that it wasn’t the last time. And cause of this, it gave him hope.
The End
PSYCH!
“Plagg!” A voice all too familiar yelled to sleeping cat. Plagg grumbled at the voice. Having basically no sleep yesterday was all too much for someone who slept for more than half the day. Eventually he willed himself up.
“What is it?” Plagg asked just slightly annoyed (sense the sarcasm).
“We’re back! I’m human! I can’t believe I’d actually miss being me,” Adrien celebrated. Surely enough, Plagg was back in his body, as if what happen was just a dream.
“Good for you. Now let me sleep,” Plagg grumbled. He didn’t want to deal with anything considering yesterday was the most action he’d seen for at least 200 years give or take. Adrien completely disregarded Plagg and went to get dressed and ready for school. All movement stopped when a knock was heard. A second later, Nathalie entered.
“Adrien, your father has business at your school so the two of you will be leaving in ten minutes,” Nathalie informed in a monotone. She left shortly after that. Adrien was kicked into overdrive. He had to if he wanted to eat breakfast. While Adrien zoomed around the room, Plagg slowly rose and headed to get more cheese.
“You need to stock up more cheese. Human’s can eat so much that I’m almost out,” Plagg called from inside the mini fridge by Adrien’s desk.
“Yeah, yeah. Not now though,” Adrien said half-heartedly as he grabbed Plagg and stuffed him in his bag. Adrien rushed out of the bedroom and headed to the dining area when cereal sat ready for him to eat. It was only couple minutes into eating when Gabriel entered the room shortly followed by Nathalie. “Good morning father. How are you feeling?” Adrien asked.
“I’m better now. Your principal called earlier this morning saying he need to meet me. Do you know why?” Gabriel question.
“No father.” Adrien answered though he feared what it could have been. He thought of all the worse things Plagg could have done. He was the kwami of chaos and destruction after all.
“Hurry up and finish your meal, I’ll be waiting in the car,” Gabriel instructed as he and Nathalie left. In just a minute he was finished and ready to run to the car. When he entered though, the atmosphere was so heavy it was suffocating. He felt it be realised as he exited the car upon arriving at school. Adrien needed to escape and if it meant running to class ahead of his father, so be it. He was so ready to feel the relief of the safe environment he called school but instead was met with pairs of eyes and the murmuring of students present. Nino and Alya were chatting but they immediately shut up when they saw Adrien walking towards them.
“Hey guys, what’s up with everyone. Am I missing something?” Adrien asked as he took his seat next to Nino.
“You’d like to know,” Alya smirked knowingly.
“How long have you guys been at it all the while hiding it from us? Dude, not cool but I forgive,” Nino said to him, giving him a pat on the back. Now Adrien was really confused.
“Am I missing something?” Adrien repeated.
“Don’t play dumb dude. Everyone knows,” Nino mused. Adrien through the two a quizzical look.
“You serious? Haven’t you seen it?” Alya queried.
“No?! Should I worry??” Adrien answered with his own question.
“Seriously? It’s all over the school page. One of your fan girls followed you round back yesterday and saw this,” Alya said in disbelief. Nino grabbed his phone and showed his best friend.
“You were so smooth, teach me some time.” With that, Nino pressed play on the short video. It was definitely Adrien. Anyone in Paris knew that but it was the girl he was with just so happened to be one of his closer friends.
“Marinette?” Adrien whispered, shocked at who he, or better yet Plagg, had kissed.
“Boy, you make it sound like you didn’t know,” Alya said though the words faded into the mush of sound Adrien was. And then he snapped.
“What the hell did you do Plagg?!” Adrien yelled as he stormed out of the room.