Adrien Agreste hadn't slept in four days.
Perhaps he had stolen winks, here and there, but it hardly changed anything. His grades were starting to slip, just the slightest bit, and his performance in photo shoots was becoming a little less quality. To anybody else, maybe this would be a sign that something needed to be done, but to his father, it was only an excuse to hit him with it harder.
"You're becoming lazy." His father had said, an unreadable emotion on his face. "I'll schedule another photo shoot for Thursday and piano lessons tomorrow. Go and study your Chinese." Adrien, lacking any energy to protest, had accepted his fate and trudged away.
It was even affecting his crime fighting as Chat Noir. His moves had become more sloppy and his witty one-liners had started to fade. Ladybug had begun to notice, but... she was the whole problem, so how could she solve it?
He was fretting so much over her, spending his nights in bed, clutching at his hair; looking out the window, his hand on the glass; climbing the Eiffel Tower as Chat Noir; imagining situations that would never, ever come true, because Ladybug would never love him and he was too much of a coward to ever do anything about it.
Tonight was one such night. Chat Noir stood, this time on the Arc de Triomphe, with his tail flapping in the wind and his head in his hands. The night was cool, clear, dark. Paris was lit up, lights dotted here and there on windows and in stores. There was the glowing pillar of the Eiffel Tower, stood in the middle of such a glorious city.
His tired eyes soaked in the sight, and he sat down before he felt he would fall over with exhaustion. His ring beeped with only two pads left, and some of the Miraculous energy fell away. Fatigue filled every corner of his body, weighing him down and making his vision gray and fuzzy. He raked a hand through his hair, looking around a bit more. It felt like his very bones and muscles were falling apart, dying. He crossed his arms over his chest protectively and shivered.
His ring beeped another time, and Chat decided that was enough. He made his way home, somehow - and found himself in his bed, unable to fall asleep. His mind was entirely occupied with her.
How she ran, jumped, glided, skipped, flew, fought, laughed, talked, hugged - everything was fascinating and beautiful. How her eyes sparkled when he occasionally made a good joke. How she cared about everybody, even if they were akumatized. How her hair shone in the moonlight, glinting silver and black.
How would he ever tell her how he felt? How would she react? Did she love him, at all? What would he do?
He stayed awake until the sun rose. In the morning, Plagg only sighed and nuzzled his neck. Adrien knew the kwami felt for him, and he pet the top of Plagg's head with his index finger. Plagg smiled, and refrained from making any snide remarks, choosing instead to give a small purr before ducking away.
When Plagg stopped purring, Adrien froze. He thought he heard scratching at the door, and then curled up as he eyed the door with fear. The scratching grew louder, and he covered his ears with his hands and tucked his head between his knees. He felt Plagg bat at his hands with his paws, and said, "Come on kid, let's - let's go." Adrien nodded, and got up unsteadily to go to the main hall.
When he reached the door, he prepared himself for whatever demon lay behind it. Cautiously, he reached for the doorknob and flung it open to see - nothing. Nobody. With a small sigh of relief, he continued on his way.
Adrien was driven to school, as always. As he stood up to get out of the car, he felt oncoming dizziness cloud his mind, and almost fell to the ground. He rubbed his forehead and steadied himself, sort of stumbling over to where Nino was talking with Alya.
"Hey," He said, and leaned on Nino's shoulder. It probably looked somewhat casual, but Adrien felt he needed Nino's support to stand. "W-what's going... on?" He yawned and stretched.
Alya looked worried. "Adrien, are you alright? You look like you haven't slept in a week and there are major bags under your eyes." Nino turned to Adrien and nodded, worry shining in his eyes.
"Yeah, man, you okay?" Adrien nodded, but didn't find the energy to respond. He felt his eyes slip close for half a second, and then jerked back up to see Alya take a step closer and Nino holding his shoulder.
Alya's concern was more obvious now. "I don't think so, Adrien. You just fell asleep standing up!" Adrien shook his head to clear some cloudiness, but only succeeded in giving himself a headache. "You should go home."
Adrien stood up a little straighter, but regretted it immediately. "No, no, I'm... I'm okay." He flashed a weak grin at the two of them and basically dragged himself away, collapsing into his seat in class and putting his head on his elbows.
He found himself staring vacantly at the whiteboard, waiting for the others to come in. Their dull conversation was only a quiet buzz in the background. He looked towards the two people coming in, Alya and Marinette.
Adrien looked over Marinette, the emblem on her shirt standing out to him particularly. The flowers were black and pink, and pretty. He felt a bit of dull cheer, when, in front of his eyes, the flowers turned gray and withered.
He gave a yelp of surprise and leapt back in his seat, terror and confusion in his eyes. When he looked back at Marinette's shirt, the flowers looked as normal as they always did, but Marinette had an expression of concern on her face. "A-Adrien?" She asked, looking at him strangely.
"What?" He said unconvincingly casually, and reached up to scratch the back of his neck.
"Is there something, uh, wrong?"
"Oh, n-no! I just - uh, nevermind." Adrien looked back down at his desk. What had he seen - was it real, or was he just imagining things?
Marinette took a step closer. "What is it, Adrien?" Her words were more authoritative, collected, like the Marinette he saw when others were in danger.
Adrien kept his eyes trained downwards, instead focusing on his hands. He fiddled with his thumbs a little, and then replied. "It's nothing, Marinette." His eyes flicked up to meet hers for a moment, and then he turned to look at the door. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her frown sadly and trudge away. There was the sound of bags dropping behind him, and he knew she had sat down.
The first half of the day went by sluggishly, and Adrien fought hard to keep awake. When lunch break rolled around, Marinette and Alya tried to join him and Nino, but Adrien felt so disengaged from the conversation that he didn't think he uttered a single word the entire time. When the two girls walked away, Marinette's shoulders were sagging and Alya was rubbing her arm comfortingly. He probably hadn't been very nice ignoring them, but he had no energy to talk at all.
By the end of the day, he had an extreme headache, and felt like he was going to fall if he stood up. Shadows plagued the edges of his vision, and he was constantly trying to search for their source, but his efforts only proved to make his friends more concerned for him.
When the last bell finally rang, everyone got up and left except for Nino, who waited for him, and Marinette, who lingered by the door a little longer before walking out. He rubbed his face with his hand and tried to stand up, but then immediately fell back into his seat.
Nino frowned. "Dude, you are not okay. Don't come to school tomorrow." But despite his apparent state of upset-ness with Adrien, he slung an arm around his shoulders and helped him up, walking him to Adrien's car. When he got in, Nathalie didn't say a word.