Chat Noir opened his eyes and yawned, blinking his bleary eyes as he looked around the room. Marinette stood over him, leaning down as she shook him softly awake. He looked up at her.

"W-what time is it?" Chat asked as he sat up and stretched. He felt so much better, though, still a bit sleepy.

"It's almost one in the morning," Marinette said in a hushed voice but Chat could hear how tired she was. His eyes flew open and he stood up from the warmth of the covers.

"Marinette!" he groaned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Why didn't you wake me sooner? Aren't you tired? You should get some rest!"

"I am tired," Marinette agreed. "but you needed more rest than I did. So, I let you sleep while I worked on some stuff."

"Have I ever told you how wonderful you are, Princess?" Chat purred and tilted his head to the side to match his lopsided grin.

"Possibly," Marinette placed a hand on her hip and grinned right back at him. "but you could stand to tell me more."

"Seriously though, Marinette..." Chat stood up straight and placed a hand on her shoulder. "you're an amazing person." Marinette stood feeling a bit awkward at the sudden seriousness of his compliment. How was she supposed to respond? Saying "Oh thanks!" just didn't feel right.

"You're pretty amazing too," Marinette said after some thought. "I mean, you're a hero of Paris. You saved my friend Adrien... my whole class wants to thank you for what you did."

"Well, it was my purr-leasure, Princess," he grinned at her and gave a bow. "but they really have you to thank. You were the one who convinced me to find him and bring him home."

"But you're the one who found him..." Marinette seemed a bit down as she sighed and looked at the floor. "not me."

"From what I hear, you did everything you could to find your friend," Chat smiled at her and lifted her chin, tilting her face to look at him. "You did more than most people would. I'm sure he really appreciates that... how could he not? I would have been so touched if anyone had been out there looking for me when I ran away."

"Well, if it's any consolation," Marinette smiled up at him. "I would have looked for you, Chat. Believe it or not."

"I believe it with all my heart," He smiled back at her his expression softening. His thumb brushed lightly against her chin where he still held her face. Chat Noir realized that he'd kept her gaze for too long and was leaning towards her a little too much. He looked away suddenly, dropping his hand to his side. "I'm sorry I've kept you so long. I should let you get some sleep. Goodnight, my fair Princess."

Chat took her hand and bowed deeply, pressing a kiss against her knuckles.

Marinette blushed. She held her hand to her chest as Chat Noir climbed out of her room and off into the night. Why were there butterflies in her stomach? She shook her head. That was enough of that. Marinette went to bed, determined to forget about the warmth that had bubbled up in her chest and the butterflies that still fluttered within her.

oOo

Adrien fell back on his bed and groaned. His arm draped dramatically over his face and he let loose a long sigh. He was still tired but feeling much better than he had before. Adrien figured that his father probably knew that he'd been out but he didn't care. What could he do? Ground him from being Chat Noir? He snorted at the thought but didn't doubt that his father might actually try that. His father couldn't keep him locked up here anymore. There was a safe place he could go if he started to feel trapped in his elaborate prison cell. The thought made a smile slip unnoticed onto his face.

"What are you grinning about?" Plagg shot at him as he plopped himself down on Adrien's pillow. He'd been acting even more grumpy ever since Adrien decided to come home.

"I'm not grinning!" Adrien scrunched his face trying to make any expression but this insufferable grin that he just couldn't get rid of. Why was he grinning anyway?

"Yes, you are..." Plagg said bluntly and Adrien turned on his side to face away from his kwami.

"Well, if it's bothering you maybe you should look somewhere else?" Adrien offered in a matter-of-fact tone. Several minutes passed in relative silence with the exception of Adrien's occasional sighing. Every time he did, Plagg's face would contort, twisting itself unrecognizable until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, that's it!" Plagg sprang off the pillow and thumped Adrien on the back of his head. The boy turned a wary eye on the little spirit. "Why do you keep on sighing?! Are you already so head over heels for Marinette that you can't contain it?!"

"W-what?!" Adrien protested sitting up now and glaring down at his kwami. "I'm... I'm not... I don't know what you're talking about! We're just good friends!"

"Oh yeah?!" Plagg prodded him. His little arms flailed as he spoke, overwhelmed with frustration. "Well, I wish you were!"

"I'm not... wait, what?" Adrien found himself bewildered by the odd confession.

"If you like her and her family so much then why don't you go back?!" Plagg demanded floating up until he was only a fist away from the end of Adrien's nose. He realized then that Plagg wasn't angry, he was beseeching him. "You need to leave this place! Why did you ever come back here?!"

"I can't stay at Marinette's house!" Adrien protested. He didn't like being here just as much as Plagg but it couldn't be helped, he had nowhere else to go. "You know I won't put her and her family in danger like that."

"You put them in danger just by knowing them as Chat Noir!" Plagg challenged him, his tiny chest puffing up. "The same goes for everyone that you know as Adrien! They can all be used against you! You could protect them if you were always close by!"

"Plagg..." Adrien had thought of this before, but there was nothing he could do about it. Every solution involved him revealing his identity and that wasn't exactly open for debate. "Even if my father was the kind of person who would use them against me, it's not like I can hide them away. I can't leave and take all my friends with me. I'm trapped no matter what I do... I can't run anymore. That stopped being an option once my father found out my identity. The best I can do is stay here and hope that my father never has reason to use any of them against me."

"I... I know..." Plagg visibly deflated, his whiskers hung low and his eyes drooped.

"I hate this just as much as you do, Plagg. Trust me," Adrien sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wish I could get away from here. But if I ran to my friends, it would do nothing but make them actual targets instead of just potential ones. This is the safest place I can be right now... for everyone's sake."

"The safest place for everyone but us..." Plagg floated forward and nestled himself against Adrien's neck just inside his collar. He lifted a hand to softly pat the kwami. Plagg didn't show affection very often but when he did it was sorely needed on both sides. Adrien spent the rest of the night catching up on his homework and review sheets. It was mostly stuff he already knew thanks to his advanced homeschooling tutors.

He rubbed his eyes as his head drooped. He'd been awake since he left Marinette's house and the sun was beginning to rise. Adrien picked up his phone and looked at the time. It was just about time for his alarm to go off, it was nearly six am. Adrien had been playing video games and watching anime since he finished his homework in an attempt to keep himself awake through the night. Stretching and yawning, he stood from the couch and decided to get ready for school a bit early...

"You know man," Nino said as Adrien rested his head on his desk before class. "there's this thing called sleep. You should try it sometime."

"Sleep is for the weak!" Adrien yawned, his eyes closing against his will. Despite having gotten a few hours in at Marinette's place, he was still so very tired.

"Dude," was Nino's only response as she shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Don't you judge me, Nino," Adrien sighed into his desk. "I'll get plenty of sleep when I'm dead. Does that make you feel better?"

"Not even remotely..." Nino grumbled as he pulled his textbook from his bag.

Alya walked into the classroom just as the warning bell rang and took her seat. Marinette was nowhere to be found but Adrien figured she probably ended up sleeping through her alarm. He felt guilty. Maybe he shouldn't bother her anymore? But then again, he knew that he would never be able to keep himself away.

A minute later the final bell rang and Marinette came bursting through the doors looking a little panicked and rather disheveled. Adrien sat up straight, startled by the sudden loud noise of the door banging open as the girl practically fell across the threshold. Her hair was loosely falling around her face, her usual pigtails yet to be tied, and her jacket hung slightly from one shoulder. She looked a general mess.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Dupain-Cheng," Mme. Bustier said as she started writing on the board. "please, take your seat."

"Sorry," Marinette squeaked as she hurried past the teacher to her seat behind Adrien. He felt a bit worse now, seeing her so frazzled. He would have to do something to make it up to her later. He had a hard time keeping focused in class as his vision was continually blurring and he kept yawning.

Once class was out Adrien saw Marinette and Alya head out of class together. He followed not too far behind them as they made their way to the lockers. Alya pulled the brush from Marinette's open locker and started running it through her friend's hair.

"... I know! I just get so caught up in designing that I lose track of time!" Marinette explained as Alya continued to loosen knots with the brush. "Oh, gosh... I look terrible!" she moaned as she looked at her reflection in the small locker mirror.

"Well, at least you look better than I do," Adrien laughed lightly as he came up next to the girls. He paused suddenly, he hadn't really thought of a good reason to come over and talk to Marinette... that stupid joke was all he had! What should he say now? Marinette looked at him, mouth open slightly like she wasn't quite sure how to respond. This conversation was already headed into a steep nosedive through the tiled floor between them. For a brief stint, he contemplated simply turning on heel and running away.

"Yeah, boy, you seriously need to get some sleep," Alya said with a grin, single-handedly saving the conversation. "Those are some serious bags under your eyes."

"According to Adrien, sleep is for the weak and the dead," Nino said from somewhere behind Adrien. He jumped at the sound of his voice, he hadn't realized Nino followed him from class. He was getting sloppy without proper sleep.

"Using my own words against me," Adrien chided pressing a hand to his chest in mock-hurt. "How could you?"

"Very easily, dude," Nino's half-lidded eyes showing just how unamused he was.

"Marinette here must share that sentiment since she stayed up half the night designing her spring line," Alya said in a stuffy tone often used by high fashion designers who were describing their lines in full – rather abstract and metaphorical – detail. Adrien snickered, knowing the tone all too well.

"You can hardly call a single dress a 'line' of clothing, Alya," Marinette sighed as she continued to brush through her own hair.

"What?" Alya looked confused. "But I know that you were planning on doing a dress, a skirt, and like three different styles of shirts! What happened to the rest?"

"Oh, uhm..." Marinette thought for a moment. Adrien noted the slight defeat in her voice as she spoke. "I guess I didn't have as much money saved up as I thought I did. My savings is a bit low, so I won't be able to get enough fabric for the other pieces."

Adrien's eyes grew wide as he realized... he'd never paid her back for all the cheese! This girl had done so much for him and here he was not keeping his promise to pay her back. What kind of friend was he? Why hadn't she mentioned anything about it sooner? Well, she wasn't really the sort who would hound him about that kind of thing. Maybe she had just been hoping he'd remember it on his own? Or maybe she'd just forgotten about it until now? Adrien made a mental note to bring money the next time he visited her. Adrien was drawn from his thoughts when the bell rang for class.

At lunch, he checked his wallet to see how much cash he actually had on him. It wasn't enough. He was going to have to go home and get more before the next time he went to see her. There was no way he was showing up empty-handed again.

The rest of the day Adrien could feel his lack of sleep causing his mind to fumble around in a clouded haze. He could hardly focus on anything, his vacant staring nearly getting him in trouble a couple of times. Nino helped him somewhat, nudging him back to reality whenever his eyes would close or his head would droop. He really needed to get up and do something to get his blood pumping. He had fencing after school, maybe that would help?

Though he felt much more awake with a rapier in his hand, Adire knew his form was off and his instructor called him out on it several times. Adrien was growing more and more frustrated by his own lack of performance. M. d'Argencourt hadn't lightened up on him at all despite having been supposedly kidnapped. He had actually been taking it harder on him, or at least it felt that way to Adrien. He wondered if his instructor was disappointed in his inability to defend himself against his would-be kidnappers. It did reflect somewhat poorly on his teacher. It was hard to say, M. d'Argencourt was a bit of a stiff person, to begin with. One thing was for certain though, he expected more of his student.

By the end of class, M. d'Argencourt had Adrien off to the side of the class drilling basic forms over and over. It was monotonous but at least it kept him up and moving. Once in the locker room, Adrien tore off his face mask and began stripping off his pads. It was humiliating being stuck back in basics. He was the top student in his fencing class, he should be teaching basics not being instructed on them! Plagg bristled as Adrien picked up his back and headed to the car out front. He hated going back home, not that that would ever change.

Nathalie had become colder since everything had come out into the open. Sometimes Adrien wondered if the woman was a robot. Aside from his father, he'd never met anyone more unfeeling. She stood in the foyer tablet in hand, same as always, clicking away on its surface. Without looking up she called out to him.

"Your father is busy with his work and won't be down for dinner."

"Yeah, what else is new?" Adrien sighed as he walked past her without batting an eye. "I'll take dinner in my room."

"Your father also asks that you don't go out so late anymore," Nathalie said making Adrien pause on the stairs and look back at her.

"You can tell my father," Adrien growled at her. "I'll stop going out as Chat Noir when he stops making Akumas and terrorizing the city. Until then, what I do in my spare time is none of his business."

Nathalie didn't respond but continued to click away on the tablet. Adrien went to his room and slammed the door. He was frustrated enough with being forced to do basics in fencing and now this? His day was just getting worse and worse. Adrien was quite certain that his exchange with Nathalie had made him lose his appetite.

He threw himself on his bed and let out a loud growl into the mattress. Plagg had been more eager than ever the last few nights to transform and run off to anywhere but here. He sat next to Adrien on the bed and watched him expectantly. A thought occurred to him then and he propped himself up on his elbows a manic look on his face.

"Let's do something crazy, Plagg..." Adrien said, a moment later he had shot to his feet and was collecting something from his bedside drawer. He moved quickly to the windows and flung them wide open.

"Like what kind of crazy are we talking about?" Plagg inquired though his excitement was more than noticeable. "Are we gonna, like, rob a bank or something?!"

"I'm going to be a hero!" Adrien took in a deep breath, feeling the electricity of his revelation course through him. Plagg looked at him dumbly. Really? This was his crazy idea?

"You do know you're already a hero, right?" Plagg asked feeling his excitement deflate a bit.

"Of course, Plagg. What I mean is," Adrien's determined grin crawled back into place as he looked over his shoulder at the kwami. "I don't need to be standing next to Ladybug or fighting Akumas to be a hero of Paris... Claws out!"

Adrien was gone with the wind and in his place was a leather-clad black cat vaulting over the rooftops of Paris. Chat Noir was always meant to be a hero, no matter what.

He'd almost forgotten that.