Dance with Me, Chaton

Comfort

Adrien chuckled. "I am honoured. Thank you for sacrificing yourself for me to escape the mess I've created."

"A mess indeed," Plagg hummed. "Did he even tried to contact you at all after you left?"

"Nope. He sent the documents I asked for with Nathalie when she came to pick up the keys from my apartment. She told me they wired the compensation straight into Marinette's account, but there is no way for me to check it—"

"She got it," Plagg inserted. "Tikki wrote me a message this morning."

"Oh. Good. I'm glad."

"Marinette's mad at you for that, by the way. Just so you know."

"What? Why?"

"Something about not needing your help. I decided not to tell her you sent out her resumes and portfolio to every major fashion house yesterday, but I'm guessing she won't like it, either."

Adrien frowned. "I'm only trying to fix what I've done. Why would she be mad at me for that?"

"Don't know," Plagg said, standing up. "But you're lucky we're out of her reach for now. At least until Saturday."

Adrien leaned back into his chair. "What's happening on Saturday?"

"On Saturday, kid," Plagg said with an overly satisfying voice. "We're going back to Paris and debuting you at Kwami Kave."

Adrien's eyes blew wide. "What?"

Plagg groaned. "Do I really need to explain how this works? You are a smart kid, you can figure out this yourself. We go in there. You perform. They love you. Boom! You are in."

Adrien shook his head. "Plagg, no. I can't. I'm not ready yet."

"That's up to me to decide."

"Seriously. There is so much more I need to learn from you. Even from what I've seen you doing—"

"No one said I'll stop teaching you," Plagg interrupted. "Marinette debuted years ago and Tikki still teaches her. Though at this point, they are more like partners than a teacher/student combo, but that's not the point. The point is, kid, that you're good enough to not embarrass me at the club. So, I'm debuting you, but our training will continue as before. Don't worry about that. That's a standard procedure," Plagg puffed with a smile on his face. "I still have plenty of ways to torture you. Or did you think I'd let you go that easily?"

A smile tugged at Adrien's lips as he watched Plagg. No matter how tough and cruel and grumpy he was pretending to be, with Plagg being the only one by Adrien's side in all of this, there was no way Adrien would believe him to be that anymore. He was peculiar and eccentric, but Marinette was right, Plagg had a heart of gold.

"What about Marinette?" Adrien asked. "I doubt she'd be happy to see me there."

Plagg huffed. "It isn't her club. She can't tell me who can join and who can't."

"No, it isn't," Adrien said. "But I can't invade her safe space after what I've done. Not unless she wants me there. Can't we postpone it for a few weeks? Until we make up?"

"Nope." Plagg shook his head. "I've waited long enough already. Master Fu would think me an incompetent teacher if I won't bring you in soon, and I, for once, care what Master Fu thinks."

"What about Tikki? I doubt she'd approve—"

"No, kid. Can you stop this?" Plagg grumbled. "Don't threaten me with my own wife."

"I just—"

"No 'I'-s, no 'just'-s," Plagg silenced him. "We're going and that is final."

Adrien sighed. He didn't want to argue with Plagg. He always seemed to have a good reason behind what he wanted to do, something Adrien couldn't see yet. That much he'd learned already. And it wasn't like Adrien didn't want to go. He did. He worked hard to get in. However, he wasn't sure Marinette was ready to see him yet. He stood up and walked to the window, focusing his sight on the waves of the ocean.