Plagg and Adrien (Background Adrienette/Marichat): Duality (One-Shot)
@mnzknight96 asked for Plagg and Adrien, “duality”. Thanks for the prompt! ^.^
Summary: Adrien gets friendship (dating) advice.
Read it on AO3: Plagg and Adrien (Background Adrienette/Marichat): Duality
Chat Noir backflipped through his window into a three-point landing, calling off his transformation as he stood.
Almost immediately, his effulgent mood plummeted, and he went over to bellyflop onto his bed with a sigh.
“What’s wrong, Kid?” Plagg chuckled as he zipped over to the mini fridge where Adrien kept the cheese hoard. “You miss your Princess already? You just spent the past three hours cuddling and flirting.”
“Chat Noir did, you mean,” Adrien grumbled, fingers curling around the comforter.
Plagg paused in the middle of lifting a wheel of Brie to his mouth to cock an eyebrow at his holder. “Last time I checked, that’s still you.”
Adrien shook his head. “It doesn’t feel real, though. Marinette would never act like that if I went over there as Adrien, so I feel like I’m tricking her. …She doesn’t like Adrien.”
With a heavy sigh, Plagg set down the cheese and floated over to land on the duvet beside his kitten. “Sure she likes you, Adrien. You two are friends. You hang out all the time.”
“Because our best friends are dating,” Adrien protested. “If Nino and Alya ever split, I doubt Marinette would bother with me. I make her uncomfortable.”
Plagg mentally swore at Tikki’s girl’s inability to function around her crush. It had been causing problems for Plagg’s kid for years now.
“No, you don’t. She always has a great time with you,” Plagg insisted. “You’re one of her closest friends. Didn’t she tell you that when you were over there tonight?”
With a sigh of frustration, Adrien pushed himself up. “Again, that’s Chat Noir.”
“Which is you,” Plagg snorted, flying in to flick Adrien on the nose.
“Hey,” Adrien groaned, covering the injury with a hand. “What was that for?”
“You were being dumb,” Plagg answered flatly. “After three years, it’s finally getting on my nerves.”
Adrien opened his mouth to retort, but Plagg cut him off in a gentler tone.
“Listen, Kid. I think you know that Chat Noir isn’t some act you put on. That’s a part of who you are, and Marinette genuinely likes that part of you, doesn’t she?”
Adrien blinked as he considered for a moment. “…Yeah. She does.”
“Okay. So, she likes you, yeah?”
Adrien slowly began to nod. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Plagg gave an amused snort. “I’m always right. I’m glad you finally noticed.”
“Don’t get a big head,” Adrien cautioned with a fond eye roll. “The one you have is already disproportionate to the rest of your body.”
Plagg flew in to give Adrien’s nose another flick. “Don’t get sassy when I’m doing you a favor, puny mortal.”
“What favor are you doing me exactly?” Adrien arched an eyebrow as he rubbed at his sore nose.
“I’m coaching you on how to become closer to your Princess in your civilian form.”
Adrien’s eyes went wide, and he leaned in closer. “What should I do?”
“Take notes,” Plagg chuckled. “I don’t know when the next time I feel this generous will be.”
Adrien scrambled to grab his phone off the nightstand and open up his notes app. “Ready.”
“First off,” Plagg began to list, holding up a paw, “you should ask her to spend time with you one-on-one. Take her fun places. See if you can get her in to see photoshoots and runway shows and those awful gala things you hate attending alone. Make an effort to spend more time with her as Adrien.”
“But being alone with me makes her nervous,” Adrien sadly pointed out.
Plagg waved his paw dismissively. “She just needs to get used to it. She has no problem hanging out with you as Chat Noir, so it shouldn’t be a problem once she realizes how similar you two are.”
Adrien gulped. “But what if she starts realizing that Chat Noir and Adrien are a little too similar?”
Plagg pushed Adrien’s worries to the side again. “You trust her, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“—And she knows what a big deal secret identities are,” Plagg continued. “Chances are she won’t even say anything to you about it, so you won’t have to tell Ladybug that your identity is compromised. It’ll be fine.”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure about this.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. How does that sound?” Plagg offered.
Adrien considered briefly before nodding. Making complicated, long-term plans had never been his strong suit, so he was willing to put off thinking about the possible issues of getting close to Marinette on both sides of the mask until later.
“So, what else should I do to get Marinette to like me as Adrien, oh Wise One?”
“Bribery,” Plagg replied with a conspiratorial grin. “Get her stuff. Just little gifts here and there. It doesn’t have to be anything big or expensive that would make her feel awkward. Maybe bring her coffee sometimes or pack breakfast for her. Just little things that she’ll appreciate. Maybe a small bouquet of flowers just because you were thinking about her…Jagged Stone tickets…some fabric scraps your father isn’t going to use.”
Adrien furiously took notes, his thumbs flying across his phone’s keyboard. “That’s actually a fantastic idea, Plagg. I know we have a bunch of lace that he used for the winter formal line last year that’s just lying around gathering dust. I bet someone as creative as Marinette could turn those scraps into something amazing.”
Plagg nodded encouragingly, a satisfied smirk pulling at his lips as his kitten began to brainstorm his own ideas for small gifts for Marinette and fun places he could take her so that they could get to know one another better one-on-one.
It was an ingenious scheme, if Plagg did say so himself. Even Tikki was sure to applaud him once their holders were together and living happily ever after.
