Written for Day 5: Nightmares of Marichat May.

Marinette woke up to see a bare arm on top of her. Her eyes widened as she rolled onto her side, to keep herself from seeing Chat's identity. She tried to scramble up and off the bed, but a tight grip on her waist stopped her from leaving.

"Chat! Chat Noir!" Marinette tried to hiss but that was when she started to hear soft sobs. "Chat, are you crying?" Marinette asked desperately, but she didn't hear a reply.

Having no other choice, Marinette loudly called for Plagg. The grumpy kwami got up after a few moments, asking for cheese.

"There's no time for that, Plagg! Chat Noir needs your help!"

Plagg took one look at Chat and whatever he saw made the kwami rush to Chat's side. Plagg made soft soothing noises, which surprised Marinette. She had never expected Plagg to be so gentle with anyone.

Tikki was peeking out of her own hiding place and she clearly shared Marinette's surprise.

"Marinette, it isn't working! He needs you to wake him up!" Plagg informed her, moving to hover in front of her.

She stared at Plagg in fear. "How do I do that without seeing who he is?"

It was Tikki who came to the rescue. "Here, Marinette!" She was pulling along an old sleeping mask of Marinette's, one that she rarely used anymore, what with all the late-night akumas and how hard it was for her to wake up, to begin with.

With Tikki and Plagg's help, Marinette managed to pull it on with one hand, immediately turning herself towards Chat. She blindly shook him awake, causing him to sit up in a panicked breath.

"What-what's going on?"

Marinette blindly looked for his hands. When she finally found them, she put them together, wrapping her hands around his. They were as cold as ice. She was hoping the warmth of her hands would help Chat recover from his nightmare.

"Marinette?" She heard Chat ask, causing her to smile in relief. It was working!

"Chat Noir, are you feeling better now?" Marinette questioned, quietly so she wouldn't spook him.

"She can't see you, Kid," she heard Plagg speak up and realized Chat must have been shaking his head.

"Y-yeah," he croaked out. "I'm better now."

"Do you want to talk about your dream? You don't have to if you don't want to," Marinette made sure to stress that it was a choice.

"No, I want to," Chat admitted after a few moments of silence. "The dream began with my Father…" As Chat spoke, Marinette remembered what they had talked about last night.

They'd gotten maybe halfway through the movie when Chat blurted out, "I had a fight with my Father."

She'd lifted her head off his shoulder to get a better look at him, his arms still wrapped around her making it hard for her to move, trying her hardest to act like this was the first she was hearing about it. Marinette was privately surprised, she'd believed Chat when he'd said that he couldn't reveal any details to her because of identities. It turned out that he just didn't want to tell Ladybug.

She wanted to ask why he was hiding things from his partner, but Marinette swallowed down her hurt. It was more important to be there for Chat than to soothe her own hurt feelings.

"I just wanted to spend some time with him. Am I really that horrible to be around that my own Father can't stand me?"

"Oh, Kitty no," Marinette breathed out. She had tried to get up but Chat was holding onto her tightly. With a start, Marinette realized he was trembling. Instead, she'd wrapped her arms around his abdomen, trying to provide him with the support he desperately needed to ground him.

Privately, Marinette swore to herself that Chat's father was a dead man walking. If she ever met him, she'd kill him.

"You could never be a bother. The problem is with your father, not you," she'd promised him fiercely before she'd strained her neck to give him a long kiss. They'd shifted on her bed, Marinette kissing Chat to remind him that he was very much loved, as he tried his hardest to not cry.

The movie lay forgotten, as they'd drifted to sleep in each other's arms.

Marinette was jolted from her memories back into the conversation she was having with Chat as he let go of her hands for a moment.

"After telling me he hated me, the dream changed. Suddenly, I had to watch Ladybug be tortured by an akuma and I couldn't do anything. I can't lose her!" Chat was saying and Marinette's heart twisted in pain for her Kitty.

She wanted to reassure him that Ladybug was alright but didn't know where to begin without revealing her identity. Marinette had never hated the secrets she kept more than she did in this moment.

All she wanted to do was tell him how much it meant to her that Chat loved her so much, but she couldn't say a word. Marinette felt panic seize her as she felt Chat stiffen.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry, Marinette." He called for his transformation and was out of the skylight before Marinette could even react.

Her shaking hands pulled the eye mask from her face, as she stared up at the still open hatch in her roof. "Tikki, what just happened?"

Her kwami had no answer for her.