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Higher forces had given her diabetes because they knew that, if it weren’t for that, she would be every pastry chef’s worst nightmare. At least, that’s what she liked to tell herself.
It was summer when, giving up on the positivity she had clung to for so long, Tikki called the universe unfair and petty.
Truth is, it had conspired against her—keeping her from devouring three or four slices of cake with icing and sprinkles while binge-watching her favorite shows. Because of it, she also couldn’t drown her frustrations in ice cream, nor eat chocolate after chocolate until she felt sick like most people. There was already a permanent excess of sugar in her blood.
The years had done their job as teachers, of course—teaching her to adapt, to accept. But there were still those moments—walking past the bakery windows downtown, the scent of freshly baked cupcakes calling her name—when she couldn’t help but feel a little melancholic. That same melancholy would sometimes creep into other thoughts, making her reflect that, despite the medical diagnosis, there was a strange lack of sweetness in other parts of her life too: in the suffocating college schedule, in the boring job, in the dark apartment she came home to every night.
There wasn’t a single reason to believe anything would ever change.
Not a single one.
However…
Something did.
Because there wasn’t even one reason to believe everything would stay exactly the same. Because, sometimes, impermanence is the most reliable thing in this world.
Just over a year later, Tikki stomped her foot and made a face at the sky for a whole different reason. Alright, maybe the universe wasn’t entirely petty—after all, it had given her Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino. On the other hand, Tikki still accused it of being a second-rate comedian.
It had made a sarcastic boy, with messy dark hair and a devil-may-care grin, lay his green eyes on her in the back of genetics class. It had made that boy sit beside her. And finally, as if all that weren’t enough, it had made him friends with her friends.
And so, many parts of her life slowly became divided into before and after Plagg.
Before meeting him, Tikki thought of herself as reasonably patient, but he managed to shatter that impression with ease. Living up to the nickname, Plagg slipped into every moment of her day like a proper pest—making ill-timed jokes, pelting her with paper balls, stealing her fries at lunch, blowing up her phone with stickers. But after a while, even as she rolled her eyes, Tikki found herself infected: laughing more around him than with anyone else. In just three months—with the diagnosis confirmed and still no cure in sight—she even regretted, say, half the insults she’d hurled at whoever wove her destiny.
Maybe, just maybe, she should’ve trusted that cosmic stubbornness sooner. But come on, the universe was a bit… confusing.
How could she have known, back then, that Plagg would be the kind of guy to rearrange his whole routine just so he could accompany her on daily workouts? That he’d offer to help her buy her medication? That, on particularly bad days, he’d listen for hours, say just the right things, and tickle her until her worries dissolved into laughter?
Plagg was annoying, stubborn, and unpredictable. Yet also thoughtful, honest, and… (don’t say it, don’t say something so cliché, don’t say it ) sweet.
“Hey, sugarcube!” he said one day.
“What?” she mumbled back.
“It’s sugar-free!” Plagg beamed, pointing at the chocolate pudding in the coffee shop like he’d just discovered a diamond.
Tikki had started that day with a storm cloud in her mind, but that small gesture cleared the skies, leaving a warmth in her heart that lingered for hours.
And it wasn’t just a one-time thing. From then on, whenever he could—and after double-checking she was sticking to her diet—Plagg would buy her a diet dessert. Not only that, he’d even started making his own recipes. (Tikki made sure to savor every bite.)
It was winter when she realized that, for once, the universe had been extraordinarily kind.
Because it had made that boy, whose bright smile rivaled the stars, lay his eyes on her, and only her. It had made even the coldest season feel a little less cruel, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. It had conspired in her favor, because when the moon rose in the sky, Tikki stepped into a home filled with light, the soft sound of music playing in the background.
There was something about Plagg that made her feel electric all the time, as if the sugar in her veins had been replaced with caffeine: her heart ready to sprint out of her chest, the restlessness that kept her awake after hearing a soft-spoken phrase, the panic in her brain when he leaned in and their faces got too close. And yet, the first time his lips met hers, she discovered there was something about his kiss that slowed her entire world down.
It was addictive and terrifying, magical and unfamiliar.
Now, she didn’t mind as much about the sugar restrictions. That love was sweeter than anything else in the world—just the right amount.