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“Hey, Plagg,” Adrien said. “Are you awake?”
With a groan, Plagg answered. “I am now.”
“Oh, sorry…” He should have figured. It was the middle of the night after all. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll let you go back to sleep.”
“Well, I’m already awake,” the kwami yawned. “So, you might as well tell me what’s on your mind, kid.”
Adrien glanced over to where Plagg’s voice came from, unable to see anything in the dark of his room. “Thank you… I just wanted to know… do you think… Ladybug trusts us?”
Plagg groaned. “You woke me up for that? Come on, Adrien… you owe me some extra stinky camembert tomorrow. I’m going back to sleep.”
“But you didn’t answer my question…”
“She’s told you she trusts you before, hasn’t she?” Plagg said.
“Yeah, but…”
“Well, there you go then. What’s the problem?”
“Do you think she means it,” Adrien said.
“I don’t know. It’s not like I’m a mind reader or anything,” Plagg said. “Why don’t you try asking her?”
The room went quiet for a few moments before Adrien spoke up. “Because… if she didn’t, she wouldn’t tell me.”
“What makes you think she doesn’t?”
“Because I’ve been thinking…” A lot of thinking recently, especially since Nino transformed into Rocketear. “And I realized that unless she doesn’t have a choice… she doesn’t really trust me with anything…” Heck, she rarely even seemed to include him in her plans anymore.
“You’re probably just imagining things,” Plagg yawned. Adrien wanted nothing more than for that to be the case. “She trusts that you’ll have her back in a fight, doesn’t she?”
“I guess—"
“I mean, it’s not like she’s relying on other heroes more than you or anything. Right?” Concern flooded over him, and the room grew quiet. “Wait, I don’t think that came out right.”
She doesn’t trust me, crept into Adrien’s mind. It felt like someone jabbed him through the heart. His mind started racing again, trying to think of anything that proved otherwise. Then, his mind turned to the temporary miraculous holders… His mind ran through each of the temporary holders they have worked with. He couldn’t think of one whose secret identity Ladybug had told Chat Noir about. There wasn’t a single one. No, it was worse than that. Chat Noir did learn someone’s identity before. Once. When Marinette was Multimouse and accidentally transformed back right in front of him… Ladybug immediately banned her from ever getting a miraculous again… Yet, Alya and Nino knew each other’s identities, and Hawkmoth knew all the temporary holders’ identities, but they were all still allowed to receive a miraculous. The only reason he knew any of his fellow heroes’ identities was because he happened to be Adrien and they happened to get their miraculous in front of him or tell him…
It suddenly felt so much harder to breathe. It didn’t make any sense. What possible explanation could there be other than the obvious? “She doesn’t trust Chat Noir,” he said, turning over in his bed, looking away from where he knew Plagg would be.
“Wha— you don’t mean that.”
“Don’t I?” Adrien said. “How else can you explain it? Why are other miraculous holders allowed to share their identities unless they share it with Chat Noir?”
“Um, because Ladybug says so?” Plagg offered. “She is sort of the boss, now that she’s the guardian.”
“But that’s not fair,” Adrien said.
“Maybe not,” Plagg said. “But she’s the guardian. That’s just how it goes. The guardian sets the rules, and we just have to follow them. It’s a lot easier not to think too much about it.”
The room went quiet again as Adrien processed his kwami’s words. His mind only came to one conclusion: the rules are different for Chat Noir. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he laid there. He clutched his pillow tight, hoping to alleviate some of his frustration and hurt. He laid there like that for a while, waiting for his need for sleep to give him a reprieve from his thoughts.