Nightmares

Chat Noir sat atop a roof and watched as Marinette walked on the dark sidewalk below. He had been trailing her for a couple streets now, since he noticed her walking home while on his patrol. Ladybug wouldn't be happy he had left his post, but he had business with this civilian. Patrol could wait.

She turned a corner and he followed, silently vaulting between roofs. He waited until she crossed over into a darker part of town before jumping down behind her.

She didn't hear him at first, continuing on her way wherever she was going. It seemed as if she had no destination in mind; just aimlessly walking farther and farther from the city.

Before long they were so far from any other person that if she were to scream, no one would hear.

And that's when he pounced.

"Cataclysm." He whispered dangerously to the night, only the stars above seeing as he launched towards the girl.

She turned when he was almost upon her, almond eyes wide in terror and betrayal as she raised her arms to defend herself. It was a mute effort.

The black spread across her skin from where his fingers touched, mottling her skin and sending it off in the cool breeze. With nothing but a handful of her white shirt in his hand he-

He shot up in bed gasping for air and clutching a handful of his own shirt.

Plagg lifted his head and eyed him worriedly from his nest in the trash bin but didn't say anything. He watched as his chosen launched himself from his bed and shut the bathroom door behind him. The faucet turned on and Plagg got up, shooting through the door to check on him.

"Adrien…?"

Said boy had his hands braced against the counter, head hanging low. Water dripped from his nose and chin where he had splashed his face with it to erase the feeling of the nightmare.

The kwami floated over to him, watching warily before he threaded himself into his charge's hair. Plagg kneaded Adrien's head, purring sadly to try and calm him.

"I-I-" He choked out, gripping the counter so tight his knuckles stretched white. Adrien gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes as tight as he could, fighting against the tears that still worked their way out.

"It's ok, Adrien." Plagg said. "They all have them. It's only a dream."

"But it f-felt so real." Adrien whimpered.

Plagg patted his head soothingly. "... Who was it?"

"Wh-What?"

"In your dream. Who was it?"

Adrien took a deep, shuddering breath before answering below a whisper. "Marinette."

Plagg nodded knowingly to himself. He guessed as much.

"Why did I have the dream, Plagg?" Adrien cried. "Why do we all have them?"

"It's a powerful thing, to hold destruction in your fingertips. It haunts the best and the worst of us. It just means that you care about Marinette, is all. Sometimes it's surprising who it is, but I saw this one coming, kid."

"Of course I care about her; she's my friend…" Adrien said, his voice weak.

Plagg flew out of his hair, hovering in front of Adrien's face now that he was coming down from his panic. "Kid, you and I both know she's more than that."

"But, Ladybug…"

"Is your partner. She's strong and has a near indestructible suit. In fact, I don't think Cataclysm even works on other Miraculous holders. But Marinette is your small, caring, civilian friend, who might be more than just a friend…"

Adrien made another broken sound deep within his chest and wondered how he was going to be able to face Marinette after his nightmare.

The answer: He wasn't. All day at school was spent avoiding her, even if it tore him up inside. But he needed time. Time to forget her pained expression and time to remember it was only a dream.

Time to figure out why it was her and not Ladybug, who he had thought he cared about more than anyone else in the world.

It hurt, avoiding her like he was. All he wanted was to wrap her up in his arms and bury his head in her shoulder. To never come out. But he didn't even trust himself anymore. He wanted to stay as far away from her as possible, to keep her safe. Even if it was only a dream, it still tore him up inside every time he thought of it.

But what hurt him more was the look on her face every time he turned and ran away from her. Because it was real. It wasn't just some nightmare his dream had fabricated. He was the cause of her mixed expression of pain and sadness.

Alya came up to him at lunch, asking why he was being so rude and distant with them. Apparently in order to avoid Marinette, he had been avoiding them all like the black plague.

His only answer was a look of shame directed at his shoes, to which she responded with a huff as she walked away.

"Why don't you just talk to her?" Plagg groaned to him in the empty locker room. He had asked to be dismissed early, making some lame excuse about a photo shoot. But in reality, he just didn't want to run into any of his friends at the end of the day.

"I can't, Plagg, and you know it." He closed his locker and swung his bag over his shoulder. He turned to leave and Plagg flew around in front of his face.

"Why not?"

Adrien shook his head, swatting the kwami out of the way. "It's too soon." A beat. "And I'm afraid."

"Why?"

Adrien sighed, letting his bag slump to the ground. "I'm scared I will hurt her. Like you said, Ladybug has a Miraculous to protect her; Marinette doesn't. She gets hurt enough as it is from her own bad luck, and she would be better if she just stayed far away from me."

"But don't you see that you're already hurting her, acting the way you are?" Plagg reasoned.

"She'll get over it." Plagg snorted. "She will. She never liked me all that much to begin with, and before she knows it she won't even care anymore."

"I doubt that." Plagg said. "You really don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

Plagg sighed. "Adrien, you need Marinette. It's why she was in your nightmare. It's how it always works. And avoiding her isn't going to do either of you any good, because it goes both ways."

Adrien scoffed. "Marinette doesn't need me; she doesn't need anyone. She's so strong and good…"

"You're wrong."

Adrien started, whirling around to see her standing awkwardly in the doorway to the locker room.

"I do need you, we all do. I'm… I'm not as strong as you think, Adrien. Everyone needs somebody." She took another step in. "It's okay to need people, but you have to ask for their help. We wanna help, Adrien, but I need you to tell me what's wrong."

She had never spoken so much to him before, unbridled and without tripping over her own tongue.

"M-Marinette-" He said, voice cracking. His chest felt tight, standing so close and yet… So far.

She came a couple steps closer. "Did I… Do something wrong?"

"N-No!" He said. "I-"

She sighed, looking off to the side. "Adrien, I'm trying to help, but I can't do anything for you if you don't… Don't tell me what's going wrong."

"Everything." He said quietly. "Everything is going wrong."

She crossed the rest of the space between them and wrapped him up against her chest.

"It's okay. We can fix it, I promise."

He didn't know how she was planning on doing that, but he let the words settle him. He trusted Marinette, and knew she would never let him down.

Plagg was right: he did need Marinette. But he didn't need time anymore.