Chapter Text
~Present Day~
Plagg wouldn’t say he collected freaks. The growing number of teenagers in his house were merely coincidental— not his problem really. Of course, once his wife brought one home, that one started telling others about the once-flower-shop-now-basically-homeless-teen-center and then they had two teens. Then three. Then four.
After he found a really pathetic one shivering in the gutter he knew it was over. This was happening. He was running a freak home now.
The kid looked up, rain soaking his face almost enough to hide the tears. Plagg sighed, recognizing the freak-mark only he could see.
Destruction.
“How’d it happen?” he asked automatically. “What scared you that much?”
The boy paled. “What? I— I’m not sure what you mean. I’m not—“
Plagg gestured out of the alleyway with his umbrella. “Do you want me to keep walking?” he asked. “Or do you want my help? You’re what? 15? The police will find you in the hour and then what Adrien? Talk your way out of it with stunning good looks?”
The kid’s eyes went wide. “How’d you?”
“You’re on the news,” he said. “People get scared when city blocks go flat.”
Adrien’s voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. I’m not a freak. I just…” he stared at his hands, shaking in his lap. “I’m not a freak.”
“You are a freak,” said Plagg. “What scared you? Manifesting like that’s not normal.
Either you were mad or scared.” He tilted his head. “You’re the scared type.”
Adrien eyed the man. What was he supposed to say? Fear of death? One too many bruises? Or fear of making another mistake? Earning another punishment? “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” he managed to say.
“Are you calling me strange?” Plagg asked, half offended. The kid was a mess of mud and torn clothes. “You’re the strange one, sitting in the mud like a kicked puppy.”
Adrien hung his head, hugging his knees and muttering something Plagg didn’t hear.
Plagg just sighed. Tikki had always been better with kids.
“Food,” he said, pointing in the general direction of his house. “Dry clothes. No cops. Freaks who can un-destroy stuff. Sound appealing yet?”
“What?”
“You’re not my problem,” Plagg said, starting home. “Follow me or don’t. It’s on you.”
The kid was on his feet in a heart-beat. “Someone who can un-destroy stuff?” he asked.
“Like— like, someone who can fix the… everything?”
Plagg held his umbrella out just enough to cover the kid without looking like he meant to. “Yeah.”
“Like Ladybug?”
Plagg tried not to smirk. “There’s a resemblance.”
Adrien’s eyes lit up.
“Don’t get too excited,” said Plagg, turning the corner. “Cleaning up after yourself won’t change much. It’s just easier to sleep at night.”
The boy’s face fell. “Oh,” he said, picking at the fraying edge of his shirt.
Plagg didn’t offer encouragement. Manifesting was a death sentence, maybe one the kid had managed to dodge for tonight, but he wasn’t one for empty promises. The government didn’t see him as human anymore. He didn’t have rights. He didn’t have anything.
He was just a problem for the government to make go away.
Plagg pulled out his phone. “Calling home,” he said, knowing full well the kid would bolt if he thought he was turning him in. “Tikki’s the only one who likes surprises.” Nino was still scared of the doorbell. A whole new kid could have him shelled up for two days if they came without warning.
Adrien didn’t watch him type the number. He didn’t seem interested in the call at all.
He’d only been on the run a day. He didn’t know how scared to be yet. Plagg eyed him. Poor little moron, going to the house of someone who could easily be an ax murderer. If someone else had found him…
Plagg decided to focus on the call. The ringing cut to a shout. Plagg jerked the receiver away from his ear, still easily hearing every word.
“If you aren’t bringing tea, don’t come home!”
Adrien paled.
Plagg sighed, holding the phone to his ear again. “Alya, would you give the phone to Tikki please?”
“Do you have tea or not?”
“I got everything on the list.”
“You aren’t answering the question.”
“I have tea,” he said. “Now give Tikki the—“
Alya had hung up.
Plagg sighed and dialed again.
“Is everything ok?” Adrien asked, suddenly hesitating on the sidewalk.
“Yeah,” he said, dialing the number again. “Just—“ the phone picked up on the first ring.
“Be-leaf in Love Flower Shop, how may I help you?”
Good. It was Nino. “It’s Plagg. Where’s Tikki?”
“Oh, um… dude.”
“Nino?”
“Where are you exactly?”
Plagg stopped walking. “Why’s it matter?”
“I mean, like, you close to home or, you know, not?”
“I’m on the edge of the block.”
There was a long pause before Nino answered. “Um, well, Kagami saw her old lady on the news and…”
The sky cracked overhead. Plagg and Adrien both looked up in time to see the lightning linger a second too long.
Plagg swore. “I’ll be right there,” he said, snapping his phone shut. “Keep up kid,” he said, starting to run.
“What?!”
Adrien didn’t get much chance to react. If he didn’t run, he’d be left behind.
Plagg practically broke down the door to a store before Adrien could read the sign as a flower shop.
The weather was worse inside. Adrien had never been in an absolute down pour, but the flower shop was as wet as a shower stall. Papers blew around like a hurricane. Lightning crackled around a cash register.
“Uh…” Adrien looked at Plagg.
The man had already bolted up stairs, holding the rail to keep from being blown away.
Pure electricity crackled in the kitchen. A teen close to Adrien’s age floated a foot off the ground, wind and rain raging around her like the eye of a storm.
The wooden kitchen table was on fire.
“What triggered it?” Plagg asked. “She’s got rain and wind down. Can’t she stop?”
“I don’t think most people are their most rational selves when they manifest!” Tikki snapped back, clutching the remains of a fire extinguisher. The edges of her apron had been singed and a tuft of her red hair clearly matched.
“Try calming her down?” he suggested.
“Yes, brilliant,” Tikki spat, hardly her best self at the moment either. “Why didn’t I think of that? She’s not conscious!”
Plagg looked around the kitchen. “Where’s Marinette?”
“Still not back,” answered Alya. He hadn’t noticed her standing in the corner holding the detached smoke alarm. “She’s said she’ll be late. She’s sticky again.”
“Just perfect,” Plagg grumbled, pulling his coat off. He kicked off his shoes.
Tikki grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare!”
“This is destruction,” Plagg reasoned, gesturing at the storm. “What’s it going to do? Destroy destruction?”
“You’re not indestructible!”
“He kinda is,” piped Alya.
Tikki silenced her with a glare.
“She’s not wrong,” Plagg said, gently freeing his arm. “I’ll be fine.”
Tikki’s forehead furrowed. Her eyes sparkled wet. “You don’t have to.”
But he did.
Because he didn’t collect freaks.
He collected family.
That was the first thing Adrien learned about the freaks at 236 Kwami Street.
~12 Years Ago ~
Plagg let out a soft laugh, watching the fog from his breath float up into the alleyway. There was something oddly pleasant about this situation. How many days had it been? 167? Assuming the cops were after him as intently as the news claimed— and they were paying people decently well— they’d already wasted over a hundred thousand tax dollars.
It was almost amusing.
His stomach growled. Plagg frowned.
Almost amusing.
“You’d think someone else would’ve gotten their attention by now,” he mumbled, digging in his pocket. “I know I’m fascinating, but it’s getting obsessive at this point. I should file a restraining order. It’s practically stalking now.” He snorted, taking a bite of cheese. “I hear that’s illegal.”
He lazily looked up at the sound of sirens. Unsteady footsteps clattered nearby and he slipped into shadow, fully ready to ignore the passerby.
“Oh my lanta,” grumbled a girl’s voice. It was strained and Plagg’s nose twitched at the smell of blood. “That’s going to stain… drat. Ow.” The girl took a sharp breath.
Plagg eyed her from his hiding place.
She was tiny.
Like, shorter-than-normal-but-also-hasn’t-eaten-in-a-week, tiny.
Plagg nibbled at his cheese, watching her pat her dress out and begin to glow. The holes in her clothes disappeared, replaced by neon red patches of colour where she had touched them.
He made a face, chewing quietly. No wonder she got shot. She hadn’t even checked her surroundings before powering up. Sure, Plagg had a talent for hiding, but she hadn’t even tried.
“Oh…” she said, staring at her hand.
Plagg noticed the hole in her waist the same time she saw the blood on her hand.
“Darn…” she mumbled, stumbling slightly. “That’s not… good.” She crumpled.
Plagg winced as she hit the ground. The sirens were getting closer. He pulled his back pack over his shoulder and strolled out of the shadows, crouching beside the crumpled girl.
He’d never seen such bright hair. It was so red.
“You know, you should really learn to check your six before you glow,” he said, poking her with a cheese string. “You never know where someone might be watching from.”
The girl winced, opening one eye as she struggled to breathe.
“How many fingers?” Plagg asked, holding out his hand.
Her eyes rolled back.
“Yeahhh, that’s not great,” Plagg mumbled, sitting back on his haunches at the sirens grew closer. This wasn’t really his problem. She hadn’t asked for help and it was clear she hadn’t been in hiding that long. She didn’t know what she was doing.
It was a sad place to die though.
“Seems like a you-problem,” he muttered, getting up. The alley would be overrun by cops any minute. He should’ve left the moment she stumbled in.
Plagg hesitated at the edge of his shadow, trying to shut up the burning guilt in the back of his mind.
Helping always ended badly. He was libel to kill her by accident if she didn’t turn him in on purpose.
Still.
He swore, turning back to the crumpled body. “This is psychological harassment,” he growled under his breath, crossing to the back of the alley.
She was small enough to shadow with. He’d get her out of the city. Then she’d be her own problem again.