Chapter Text
Paris was illuminated. The night air was filled with the scent of freshly fallen rain, and it carried the warmth from open windows out into the city, curling round the rooftops and gathering and condensing on the tiles like ethereal vines. It was these vines that curled around Adrien, half asleep, stomach pressed on the rooftop of a warehouse as he turned the page of the book in front of him. The building thrummed beneath him as it heated itself and he paused for a moment to watch the cars go by, eyes pretending to be alert. It was near enough midnight, and he had performed the usual act of sneaking out after his father and Nathalie were sure to be in bed, guided over the concrete canopy of Paris by streetlamps and faint starlight.
There was something about it that was so romantic, going on patrol with Ladybug in the middle of the night. And it was nothing to do with his feelings either; just the nostalgic scents of the city and the semi-distant sounds of boats on the river seemed to invoke something within him, and when he was the first to show up at their rendezvous point – like he usually was – he’d taken the time to bask in its complicated simplicity.
He closed the book (for it was rapidly failing to hold his interest) and rolled onto his back. His tail lazily swept at the droplets of water nearby and his mouth opened to drink in the night-scents like a cat and he shuddered with the otherness of it all. This person he could just become, such a joyful and happy spirited creature with no worries and no obligations other than just keeping people safe.
Being Chat Noir was exhilarating.
Still, perhaps not quite his true self, this miraculous version of Adrien Agreste was exactly what he had needed, and to whatever higher powers he owed thanks, he reflected upon them every time he transformed. He became stronger, lither, faster, and completely liberated. The mask gave him the freedom to rebuild his personality from its foundations without judgement. No one knew who Chat Noir was. He loved that. It made it worth surviving photoshoots and interviews and recordings and premieres and signings and everything else, just so that he could afterwards join Ladybug in an akuma fight.
“Adriennnnnn,” Chat Noir nudged his mind – although it was more of a lazy drawl than a nudge in truth - and the blonde blinked as reality crashed down upon him, “I can sense Ladybug’s kwami. They must be close. Let’s get ready.”
“Alright, alright,” his voice broke once as he spoke, having been unused for the entire evening, “I’ll get up.”
He pushed himself up onto his elbows with a heavy sigh. He was getting far too comfortable, and far too selfish, just lying there doing nothing. Being Chat Noir wasn’t just about him anymore. And especially since he’d made it his own goal to be more considerate to the individual he now shared his body with, it wasn’t just himself that he was letting down.
“It does happen from time to time,” Plagg had said, falling gradually through the air until he came to land on Adrien’s palm, “and it’s actually very easy to explain, if you’d just calm down for a second.”
“You think I’m going to be calm? Now? After this?” the whites of Adrien’s eyes were visible all around his irises, and he was pressed against his bedroom wall, hair sticking up like it was mimicking a bush. His breaths were coming in laboured pants as he tried to avoid looking in any sort of mirror. He couldn’t do something like that again.
“Yes,” his cat-kwami was actually being serious for once, voice low, soothing. His tiny paws pressed spots of warmth against Adrien’s skin, and his whiskers softly tickled his face when he held him close. “Now,” he said, “allow me to explain.”
Adrien tried desperately to slow his rapid heartbeat. He could feel his pulse across every inch of his body, and focused deeply on it, pulling air forcefully through his nose and letting it out of his mouth at half that speed. He closed his eyes.
“Okay,” he croaked, “I’m listening.”
“Good evening!” Ladybug’s grin was brighter than any light behind her and Adrien immediately stood up to try and return it. He stepped forward, shoulders wide, and watched as she took just a few moments to recover from her journey.
“Damn,” Chat whistled in their mind, “she’s beautiful. Just look at her.”
“I know,” it took a lot energy for Adrien not to alter his expression as he silently replied (he was sure he looked lovesick anyway), “so don’t get in the way tonight. Play it cool. Be chill, like me.”
“Oh ho?” a smirk, “since when were you, as Chat Noir, ‘chill’?”
“I was thinking we take the south bank of the river tonight,” and Adrien realised she had her yoyo open right next to him, and he instinctively nodded. On screen was a map, and she had drawn a little route to overlay it. A familiar one, which was good. With recent events, Adrien struggled to take in much new information.
“As expected of my lady,” he remarked, and leaned in closer and looked up through his eyelashes, “always prepared. Oh,” he gave a mocking sigh and pressed the top of his hand against his forehead, “whatever would I do if I didn’t have you?”
She winked, and before she even replied he felt like melting, “there would probably be a lot more akuma around, kitty.”
“Awww,” he pouted, “are you implying that I’m not good for anything? Surely…” (he saw her fold her arms and the spots on her mask moved up as she raised her eyebrows), “surely my stick and I help somehow?”
Ladybug shook her head and turned away, trying to hide how the corners of her lips were still upturned, “so gross.”
The familiarity of the conversation, one they’d already had many, many times, spread through him with comfort. He couldn’t really grasp just how much of a lifeline he was using it as.
“We should start,” she said, and Adrien understood that the time for aimless flirting had sadly come to an end, and he needed to fall into his place at her side.
“You’re right,” he nodded in agreement and stretched out his long limbs, shaking away the lethargic feeling that had settled to cover his bones, “you’re late enough as it is, LB.”
“Shhhh,” she waved dismissively and made her way to the edge of the roof, “I had stuff to do. Let’s go.”
And they did. Jumping and rolling, sailing through the air and letting a comfortable silence fall between them that he knew Ladybug needed and Ladybug appreciated. It was the same for him, originally, but silence on a patrol when Ladybug wasn’t rendering Chat Noir incapacitated was an utter rarity.
He presently surfaced, slamming into the forefront of their mind just as fast as they were running, and for a second his sheer presence overwhelmed Adrien enough for him to slip and stumble. Ladybug thought nothing of it as he regained his balance; neither of them were perfect. But he couldn’t tell her the real reason. Not yet.
“We’re hungry,” Chat Noir felt that it was necessary to be the first thing to point out, “ask Ladybug if we can go and get something to eat.”
“Chat, we’re busy on patrol. I have loads of cheese at home. We can wait.”
“You can wait. Me, however…” and his break in thought broke Adrien’s thoughts too, and he almost missed the sharp corner, shoes scraping for purchase on the wet tiles.
“Adrien, I wonder if shops’ll give us discounts on food? You know, because we save the lives of the owners practically on a daily basis and everything. Camembert, 50% off, just for all our hard work. Damn. Now that’s something I’d give a lot to see.”
“You’re just sounding like Plagg, Chat. Come on, be quiet for a while. Relax.”
“I think you’re the one that needs to relax. And of course I’m going to sound like Plagg. How do you think I’m here in the first place?”
“I haven’t exactly been counting the minutes,” Plagg yawned in Adrien’s cupped hands, “but you’ve been in and out of your transformation for the whole week. We haven’t stopped. You’ve slept as chat noir more than twice during that time.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Everything. Think about it,” the kwami sat up, “what happens when you become Chat?”
Adrien licked his lips. They were so dry. “I really don’t understand what you mean. I can’t… I can’t really think straight with… this. You’re going to have to spell it out for me. I’m sorry.”
There was a pause, mostly filled with the tiny creature staring at his ward with a pained sort of expression, before he floated into the air again, “well, I fuse with that ring,” he pointed to it as he spoke, “and then the ring fuses with you. That’s how you get your powers.”
“So, that means…” Adrien was finally getting hold of some sort of realisation, and he slumped to the floor, “that means I…”
“You’re just human Adrien,” Plagg drifted down to join him, “overuse of something is going to have side effects. That’s true for everything, isn’t it?”
“Yes but, I never thought-“
“Like I said, this has happened with other Chat Noirs. Overuse of the miraculous results in residual miraculous power remaining in the body. Depending on the amount, it can result in things from simple cat-like tendencies while de-transformed, to something much more extreme… like this. And hey,” he tried to laugh, “just be thankful that it manifested as another personality, and not a permanent physical pair of ears, or a tail… while that is something I enjoyed seeing, it was a big inconvenience for the poor Chat.”
“But isn’t that what the miraculous is designed for?” Adrien’s voice was very thin, “to deal with every akuma that’s thrown at us? No matter when, or how often?”
“Of course,” Plagg nodded, “but you haven’t just been transforming just to deal with akuma, have you?”
Adrien’s face heated up, and he looked away.
His bedroom was silent again for a good while, and the blonde spent the entirety of it trying to ignore how full his mind now felt.
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
It was Plagg’s turn to hesitate, but what he went on to say weighed so heavily on the boy’s heart he wondered how his ribcage managed to still hold it in place.
“Because it made you happy.”
Adrien grabbed two handfuls of hair, pulling down until it all slipped from his grip, and pressed his palms against his face. His breath was hot and the room was cold. He couldn’t bring himself to close the window. He didn’t want to move from that spot, and he just curled up, cheekbones digging into his knees.
“Is it permanent?” he asked into his jeans.
He felt Plagg land on his shoulder, the sound of his response much closer than before.
“It really depends,” the kwami said quietly, and buried himself into his hair.
“On what?”
“… A lot of things.”
“Is that the best answer you can give me?”
“I really don’t think you’re in the right state of mind for me to go into details right now.”
“…Yeah. You’re right, Plagg.”
“But you’ve got to do something for me now.” Plagg patted his ear, and the smile that appeared in his voice was enough to get Adrien to look at him.
“What’s that?” (Adrien didn’t realise that his eyes had the beginnings of tears building in them).
“He’s…” (Adrien did realise exactly who Plagg was talking about), “…probably really scared right now. You’ve completely buried him in the dark. He’s trapped. You’ve got to care for him.”
“I’ll… I’ll try.”