*Author's Notes*

Happy (belated) Plagg Appreciation Day! If you don't know, I'm trying to make all Friday 13ths Plagg Appreciation Day in the fandom. I kinda failed this month since I am publishing this on the 14th, but I finished writing it it on the 13th... does that count?

The next Friday 13th is in November. Who wants to join me in celebrating Plagg?

~ The Truest of Friends ~

"Kitty? Chat Noir, you with me?"

"Hmm?" Chat Noir blinked a couple of times to catch his bearings before looking over at Ladybug.

She was still lounged across the rooftop, basking in the setting sun. However, while the rest of her body seemed relaxed, her face was tight in concern: her eyebrows stitched together and her mouth a thin line. Tilting her head to the side slightly, she reached out for him. "You okay? You kind of drifted off there."

"Oh, yeah, no. Sorry. I was- I'm just a bit distracted. What did you want?"

Her expression softened. Sitting up, she shifted so she could playfully bump Chat Noir in the shoulder with her own. "We can head out if you have something you need to do. I was just commenting on how much I'm going to miss these summer sunsets."

"Yeah." Chat Noir's voice was soft; distant. "Me too."

"You sure you're okay? You don't quite seem yourself tonight."

He gave her a sweet little smile and gently shoulder bumped her back. "Nah. Don't worry about it. I was just thinking that with the end of summer it's also the end of something else."

"It is? What?"

"Our first year as superheroes." He playfully winked at her, but quickly shifted his gaze to the cityscape stretched out before them. "At least, our first year as partners, right? Tomorrow is the anniversary of Hawk Moth akumatizing his first victim; which is also the first time we met."

"Yeah, I guess it is. I've gotten so caught up in everything, I- how did I forget that?"

"It's fine. It's probably not something most people want to immortalize, especially the poor kid who got akumatized."

"I dunno. It's also when he started dating that girl, remember?" Ladybug winked at Chat Noir, making his smile deepen. "I mean, technically that's the day after tomorrow," Ladybug clarified, her face tightening again as she mini-rambled, "but they got together because of the whole Stoneheart thing and Ivan finally letting Mylène know how he truly felt about her-"

"Thanks to you, if I recall correctly." Ladybug relaxed, and the two shared a light chuckle. Then Chat Noir glanced down at his ring. "You already know I was new when we met. I don't know if I should also tell you this, but that was actually my first day as a superhero."

"Mine too." Ladybug placed a hand on Chat Noir's shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Chat Noir stole a quick glance over at Ladybug before again studying his ring. "Is it wrong that part of me is slightly thankful for Hawk Moth? I mean, I know he's terrorizing the city and exploiting people's lowest moments, and he absolutely needs to be stopped. I'm not excusing anything he's doing, but-" He shifted slightly away from Ladybug so he could get a better angle of looking her in the eye. "If it weren't for him attacking Paris, I never would have received the Cat Ring. I wouldn't have the freedom to be Chat Noir. I wouldn't be able to help people the way I can as a superhero. I don't know if I'd ever meet you, M'lady. And-" He played with his ring, looking back down at it. "-and I wouldn't have ever met my kwami."

Ladybug briefly bit her lip, her own eyes downcast before scooping Chat Noir's left hand in both of hers. "It's okay. I understand. I feel the same way."

"You do?"

She nodded. "I'm- I'm nothing like, well, like this when I'm out of costume. Being Ladybug is a lot to burden, if I'm honest, but it also gives me confidence I didn't know I had. I also can't really imagine life without my kwami now that I know how amazing her companionship is." Ladybug then cupped Chat Noir's left jaw. "Hawk Moth also allowed me to meet one of my best friends."

"One of?" Chat Noir teased. Ladybug lightly elbowed him in the ribs, and they shared another chuckle. "I know what you mean about your kwami, though. I don't know if I could bare ever being without him again. He's more than my kwami or even a friend to me. He's- well, he's-"

"Family," Ladybug finished.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, mine too." She sidled beside him, and rested her head on his shoulder. Her left hand reached up to her earrings, brushing them lovingly.

Chat Noir leaned his head against hers, and played with his ring a little more. "It feels like I've known him for more than just a year. Is that crazy?"

"No."

"No offense, M'lady, you're amazing, but Plagg- he's the only one who truly knows me. All of me, ya know?"

"Yup. Same with Tikki."

"I love him. I don't know what I'd do without him. Even if I was never Chat Noir again, I'd still need him. Do you think he knows that?"

"Considering how much you tell me how much you love me?" she teased, "I find it hard to believe anyone you know doesn't know exactly how you feel."

Chat Noir stiffened with a sharp inhale.

"Kitty?"

"Sorry. I have to go. I have something I need to do after all." Before Ladybug could protest, Chat Noir scooped up her hand and placed a quick peck on the back of it. "Thank you for listening, L.B." He rolled away from her, and onto his feet. "Can we meet up again tomorrow? For our... anniversary?" He gave her an exaggerated and suave wink.

She giggled even while giving him a dismissive shake of the head. "Sure, but it's a purely professional anniversary. I'm still in love with someone else, in case you forgot."

"How could I?" he teased, a smile still on his lips. "Same place, same time?"

"I'll be here."

Chat Noir presented her with an elaborate bow before leaping off into the city. He raced across the rooftops, hooting gleefully into the night air.

Landing in his bedroom a few minutes later, Chat Noir released his transformation; once more becoming Adrien.

"Boy, weren't you getting sappy up there on that rooftop." Plagg hovered where the Miraculous spat him back out. His demeanor was as dismissively aloof as always, but his eyes were softer than usual.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Plagg." Adrien tossed his kwami a slice of Camembert before jogging over to his desk.

"What are you doing?" Plagg gobbled down the cheese before floating over to Adrien and glancing over the teen's shoulder.

"Making plans for tomorrow," Adrien replied excitedly. He started grabbing papers and a pencil, then hurriedly typed away on his phone.

"Blech." Plagg made a face, zipped into the cheese cabinet beside the desk, and floated back out with the rest of the Camembert wheel held over his head. With a kick of his little flipper-foot, Plagg closed the cabinet door behind him. "You're going to get all sappy again. Aren't you?"

"Yup." Adrien didn't hesitate a second as he replied and began scribbling notes onto a sheet of paper.

"No thank you. I'm going to take a catnap." Plagg brought the cheese over to Adrien's bed, and started nibbling on it as he snuggled onto one of the pillows.

Adrien didn't mind. He welcomed the space as he discreetly scrolled through a cheese selection on his phone, and writing some ideas down on a piece of paper.

That night he hid the list inside his treasured unsigned valentine. In the morning, while Plagg continued to lay about, Adrien rushed the list to his bodyguard.

"I was wondering if you could get this for me for lunch? And let Nathalie know to not bother prepping anything for me. I want to do that myself, if I could."

The Gorilla looked over the simple list, and grunted acknowledgment of the request. The easy part done, Adrien hurried back to his room to finish getting ready for school.

The morning crawled by. It was only the second day of classes, so the lessons were mostly renewal to help the students recall what they were taught the previous year. It granted Adrien plenty of time to plot out the next bits of his plan, and scribble down the words he wanted to make sure he said, hoping he didn't get too emotional.

Finally, the bell rang for lunch, and he had to keep himself from sprinting to his father's town car. The Gorilla handed Adrien a large grocery bag, then started for home.

"What's that?" Plagg loudly whispered; inching closer to inspect the bag, threatening to just phase through it.

"It's for my anniversary surprise." Adrien replied with a sweetness and excitement that made Plagg mime a foul taste in his mouth before scurrying back to Adrien's shirt.

"Nevermind," Plagg murmured, "I don't need to know what crazy scheme you're coming up with this time. Just let me know when it's about to blow up in your face, Romeo."

Plagg's poor attitude wasn't about to soak into Adrien. He welcomed the peace. Once home, Adrien bee-lined to his bedroom. He tossed his bag onto his desk chair, scooped up a wheel of Camembert he kept in his room, and scurried back to the kitchen; Plagg begrudgingly in tow.

Leaving the Camembert open on the far counter, his phone next to Plagg to keep the kwami entertained, Adrien untucked another note he scribbled down the night before. Checking that Plagg wasn't watching him, Adrien unpacked his bodyguard's shopping.

A container of sprinkles. A bottle of honey. A bag of dried cranberries. A pomegranate. Adrien then riffled through the pantry for a bag of sugar, a bag of flour, and ground Cayenne pepper. He lined his work station with all of the sweets, then checked in with Plagg to make sure his kwami was properly distracted.

Carefully, he finished unpacking the rest of the shopping: another wheel of Camembert, a block of cream cheese, and a small packet of rice flour. Another glance at Plagg to make sure he didn't smell the Camembert and try to steal it, and then Adrien grabbed milk, an egg, and a stick of butter from the refrigerator.

Like a parent leaving his young toddler mildly unattended for the first time, Adrien glanced over at Plagg every couple of minutes, making sure he hadn't moved. Once or twice the magical being did look over to see what Adrien was doing, but upon seeing the wall of sweet ingredients, he turned back to the phone and left Adrien alone.

The most trying bits were plucking the pomegranate arils out, and thickening his treat over a fire without drawing more of Plagg's attention. By the time he was done with his surprise, Adrien only had the time to quickly grab an apple and a handful of almonds for lunch before heading back to school; his treat hidden inside the refrigerator.

Another agonizingly slow second half of the school day ticked by, but it again gave Adrien time to prep his speech for later. Ladybug had told him that she couldn't imagine anyone not knowing exactly how he felt, and he was determined to make sure that was true. He needed to rush when he got home, though, to make sure everything was perfect before he had to head out to meet up with Ladybug. It was a small window, but luckily it was one of the few days he didn't have an after school activity, and the homework was still fairly light.

The final bell was a sweet sound, and he nearly bolted out of the classroom. Adrien only managed to contain himself long enough to say goodbye to Nino and wave to the girls; keeping himself as perceptively calm as possible to not rouse suspicion.

"Finally!" Adrien sighed as he got back to his bedroom. He jogged up his spiral steps to the mezzanine where he kept his DVDs, books, and video games. Scooping up the one he knew to be Plagg's favorite, he rushed back to his TV and popped the game in. "Here ya go, buddy." He placed the controller on the sofa and gestured for Plagg to take his spot beside it. "I just need to finish up that surprise. Mind entertaining yourself a bit more?"

"Pfft. Fine! I get it. I guess I don't need any love today," Plagg grumbled, but he still accepted the offered controller and started up his game.

Adrien slowly backed away, making sure to finish whatever prep-work he could manage in his room so that Plagg saw that he was nearby. Once he was confident his kwami was too distracted to notice him sneaking out, Adrien raced to the kitchen. Pulling his surprise out of the refrigerator, he placed it on a dish, and pulled out the final item he had asked his bodyguard to get: a box of club crackers.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

"Plagg?" Adrien creaked his door open, slid inside, and carefully closed it behind him. A little metal food dome rested on top of a plate in his left hand. Adrien's eyes darted between the domed plate and the video game still playing on the TV. Raising his voice slightly, Adrien called out for his kwami again.

"Ha! Take that!" Plagg finished up his battle in the game, then paused it. "Adrien? Is it time to meet up with Ladybug already? I was hoping to get some dinner in." He pouted as he floated over to his holder.

Adrien shook his head, and struggled against the smile fighting to spread across his face. "I have something else I needed to make sure to do before meeting up with L.B. tonight." He held the plate out for Plagg. "I hope this works for dinner. Go ahead, lift the dome."

Plagg quirked an eyebrow, but complied. The metal dome then crashed to the floor.

Sitting on the plate was a kind of sloppily, but lovingly, made cheese ball. It was a little lumpy across the top, and it looked a bit softer than it probably should. The sides were decorated with panels of club crackers, and pomegranate arils were sprinkled across the top, along with crushed walnuts, and a honey drizzle. More crackers, some grapes Adrien had found sitting out in the fruit bowl, and a couple of slices of brie lined the plate like a moat around the cheese ball.

"I know it's a bit sweeter than what you normally like, but-"

Plagg's eyes watered up. "It's beautiful, Adrien. The most magnificent thing I've ever seen!"

Adrien blushed slightly, then placed the plate down on the coffee table in front of his sofa. He peeled one of the club crackers off the side of the cheese ball, and used it to cut into his masterpiece. The inside of the ball was stained red from the chopped up dried cranberries hidden throughout the cheese mixture. He offered the coated cracker to Plagg.

"Happy anniversary, Plagg. A year ago today I opened that jewelry box and found you and my Miraculous, and, well, I wanted to make sure I celebrated with you before I celebrated with Ladybug. Especially since I only met her because of you."

Plagg greedily devoured the cheese covered cracker, then went for another bite.

"When did you do this?"

"Over lunch. I tried to throw you off with the sprinkles and sugar and stuff." Adrien peeled another cracker off the cheese ball and tried some of his concoction. It didn't look pretty, but it did taste fairly good. The recipe he found online was thankfully simple enough for him to follow. He'd have to remember to leave a kind review on it later.

"You did this for me? Today?"

"Of course. I- wait, hold on a second." Adrien dug his notes from earlier out of his pocket. Unfolding his speech, Adrien cleared his throat.

"Plagg, I should make more of a point of making sure you know this, but especially today, I wanted to prove to you how much you mean to me. You aren't just my kwami. You're not even just my friend. You're my family, and there are days where you feel like the only one I have."

Plagg hovered over his cheese ball present, a cracker dangling from his little flipper-hands as he gaped at Adrien.

"I can truly be myself around you, Plagg. I can follow the rules. I can be a little rebellious. I can be mellow and reserved. I can be free-spirited and playfully over-the-top. I can be stupidly lovesick, and I can be confused as to what love even is. I can be on the top of the world, loving life. I can even be freely sad. I know you accept me and love me for who I am, and you do so much to try to make sure I feel that love."

"Hey now," Plagg sniffled, swallowing the cheese-dipped cracker whole before wiping tears away. "Don't go all cheesy on me! I- I just- I was-"

"Being a great friend," Adrien replied. "You try all the time to cheer me up and make sure I know I have someone in my corner. You may tease me, but it's all good-natured, and to my benefit, actually. You even root for me and Ladybug to get together, even after complaining about how much I talk about her. You try to be your best self around me, and you encourage me to do the same. When it looks like my heart will be broken, you also help me figure out my next move, or how I might be able to move on."

Adrien tucked his speech away, and scooped Plagg up in the palms of his hands. "You always have my back, and are there for me even when I fear that Ladybug isn't. You cheer me up when I miss my mom, or I'm sad about my father. You help me remember to have fun. I can talk to you about anything, and- and even if I could never be Chat Noir again – if I could never feel that level of freedom again – I would still want you by my side. I need you, Plagg, as my brother. As my truest friend. I would never want to give our friendship up."

Adrien pulled Plagg close to his chest, cradling the small being near his heart. "I love you, Plagg. You mean so much to me, and I hope you know that."

Plagg again sniffled back some tears as he wrapped Adrien in as tight of a hug as his tiny body would allow.

"You truly are the best Chat Noir I've ever had, Adrien. I love you too. Thank you, for everything."

"Same."

They hugged for another couple of seconds before Plagg pushed back against Adrien's chest, batting him away. "Okay, okay, okay. This is getting way too sappy! Let me go!"

Laughing, Adrien complied.

"Alright, we can't let this cheese go to waste now, can we? Let's go, otherwise I'm just eating it all myself." Plagg scraped more cheese off with a cracker, then popped it in his mouth, shortly followed by a grape.

"Yeah. Okay." Adrien tossed a grape into his own mouth. "Happy anniversary, buddy."

"Yeah. You too." Plagg did the closest thing to a blush that Adrien ever saw. Then the two quietly munched away at more of the cheese ball Adrien made, enjoying the time they had together before Chat Noir was due to meet up with Ladybug.

~ Thank you for reading. Reviews are always welcome. ~

*Closing Notes*

I had about four false-starts on this story. I kept coming up with great concepts that just devolved, and ended up not really celebrating Plagg specifically. Even this one feels like it took too long to get to the point, but I ran out of time, so I guess it's this or nothing. Whoops. Either way, I hope you (and Plagg) still feel the love.

This story brought to you by two things:
1. a picture prompt Chibisunnie sent me of a sloppily made birthday cake using a cheese ball, club cracker side decorations, and cheddar slices in the shape of '31' (I instantly went "OMG, that IS something Adrien would 100% attempt to do!")
2. Listing to "Thank You For Being A Friend" by Andrew Gold for like three hours straight.

Also also... I know that Adrien could have just had The Gorilla buy a pre-made cheese ball, but Adrien seems like the type to make homemade gifts from scratch, doesn't he?

Finally, if you enjoyed this, and are looking for more Plagg Appreciation, I currently have two other one-shots:

Breaking Monotony
Summary: Plagg's days are all starting to feel exactly the same. As he goes through yet another school day with Adrien, he wonders if he can do something to start shaking up the status quo. At the same time, though, he reflects on how great it is that his life is fairly predictable.

Forever in Darkness
Summary: Plagg has always been in darkness. It had become all he knew. Then he got a ray of sunshine, and it helped save him. There was a reason he believes Adrien is the best Chat Noir ever.