With every leap, Chat Noir cursed under his breath. His legs and arms couldn't take it anymore. Approaching his open window, he leapt through and crashed to the floor.
'Claws in!' Adrien panted as a flash of color enveloped him. Flat on his back, he lay there with his palms to the sky and his eyes squeezed shut. Breathing hard, Adrien refused to let this bout of consistent attacks beat him.
'Plagg, go rest. I know you are hovering over me in worry.' The kwami started to speak but couldn't get the words out. The cat kwami was in a state of panic. He had eaten after every transformation and rested on Adrien's bed after the day was done.
Not Adrien. He had stopped eating full meals about a week ago. The busy schedule meant that he had a moment or two to pick at the meal prepared at lunch. Other meals he missed altogether. Nathalie had stopped bringing out the dinner course, and Gabriel was always absent. No different there. So, Adrien would be Chat Noir for every hour of the day outside of school and extra curricular activities. That meant Adrien wasn't sleeping either.
'Adrien, please! Just eat something. A meal is important. I would say breakfast is most important, but we are in an emergency. Anything will do!' Adrien began to open his eyes and slow his breathing. Plagg was right, for once. Food was a necessity if he hoped to keep up with all the akumatizations. It was around 11:45pm, so the kitchen was a no go. Perhaps the gorilla would help. Unmoving from the floor, he shuffled around in his pocket and pulled out his phone from the front of his jeans. After unlocking the phone, he quick-dialed the gorilla from the menu and waited. It picked up on the second ring.
'Could I request some food please?' Adrien queried into the phone. 'I'm still hungry from dinner, so could a sandwich be brought up to my room please?' Nothing was heard in response and then the phone cut out. 'Well, I've tried. We'll see if he brings anything.'
'If not, I'll gladly share my cheese with you. I have a little I could spare.' Plagg looked slightly troubled, but seemed sincere. Adrien laughed under his breath and sat up to lean on his palms.
'Plagg, I'm honored that you would willingly part with some of your treasure for me. It means a lot.' His smile mirrored his kwami's. A little lopsided and tired, but very warm. They had been through a lot, and it helped knowing that they really did have each other's back. Sure Adrien made some mistakes when he was Chat Noir, but Plagg made them too. And together they learnt to move beyond those mistakes. They lay flat out on the floor next to one another and enjoyed listening to the Parisian bustle down below. There was a hum from cars traveling home on a Saturday night. It seemed that all of Paris had had a long night.
A knock came to the door. Adrien groaned slightly and pushed himself up off the floor. Dragging his feet he answered and found a tray of sandwiches before him from the gorilla. He gave a blank expression while Adrien smiled his best model smile and thanked him. After closing the door, the smile faded. Exhaustion was setting in and anything seemed hard to do.
'Ooh, they look appetizing! Try one. I bet you'll feel better in no time.' Sitting at his desk he began to paw through the stack of sandwiches before him. Nothing looked to suit his fancy. Maybe the most plain would do just to fill his stomach before bed. Biting into a ham and cheese quarter didn't make him feel any better. But he most certainly didn't feel worse. So, after eating about three squares, he was done. Pushing the dish aside, he began to pull his shirt over his head and drop the clothes where he stood. He unzipped the front of his jeans and stepped lazily out of them, tripping a little on the waist band as he kicked them out from under his feet. With a slight shiver in the evening air with his window still ajar, his bed welcomed him with a warm embrace. And before the exhausted cat could pull the covers over his shoulders, he was asleep.
•••••••••••
Marinette woke with a start. Jolting forward, she threw Tikki off her place on the pillow and proceeded to panic.
'I'm going to be so late for school! It's already-' she found the time on her phone above her bed. '11:30!? I don't think there is any excuse that will help me this time. No, no, no.' her panic rose with every second.
'Marinette, stop worrying! Today is Sunday. There isn't any school, and you were wise enough to not organise anything with Alya. So just calm down.'
'Oh, right…' she trailed off. How could she be so scatter-brained? Her schedule was quite full as of late. At least she could stop panicking. She lowered her hands from her chest and laid them out in her lap. Tikki placed herself within the open space in her Ladybug's hands. With a sigh and a voice of reason, she confronted Marinette.
'You are not coping, Marinette. You need a day off. And so far, today seems to be that day. Why don't you put some loose clothes on and sit out on the roof today. Draw a little and maybe do some sewing on that gown you've been working on. Do what you love today, so that you don't come to hate Ladybug.' The poor kwami looked so conflicted inside. 'I know that you lie awake to think about everything. Don't keep it bottled up. Talk to me about it and let's find a solution.'
'But, Tikki, it's just the stress of being Ladybug in general. I need to figure out a solution to get rid of Hawkmoth for good. I just can't figure it out because I have no idea where he is! But, loose clothes and sewing sounds good. I might skip the roof for now. I don't think my eyes are rested enough to take seeing sunlight in full.'
•••••••••••
Hello,
Thank you so much for reading Burning the Midnight Oil. I have been a fan of Miraculous Ladybug since we saw the Felix and Marinette videos way back when. And I am super excited to start writing an idea that I had started working on since Timetagger. I am not sure how many chapters there will be, but I do know how I want the story to go. So, thank you for joining me on this journey, and hopefully we will all be happy with how this story ends. Next chapter should be out shortly.
Xalyce Out!