Disclaimer: I do not own MLB.

Nightmares

Marinette found herself unconsciously attached to stray cats after she became Ladybug. She wagered that it was her friendship with Cat Noir that prompted such behaviour from the hero, and when she was a civilian, Marinette had gotten into the habit of leaving bowls of milk or water outside the bakery so that the strays had something to drink. She couldn't have possibly anticipated that the biggest stray of all trying to claw his way through her trap door at three in the morning.

In the early hours of the morning, he clawed at her trap door like the cat he almost was. Bleary and tired, Marinette left the safety of her bed knowing that something was amiss. She fumbled with the locks in the dark but eventually managed to open it to reveal Cat Noir in the same suit he'd worn going into battle earlier that day. He lit up when he saw her, and she wasn't even halfway up the ladder when she was immediately pulled up into a hug. The autumn air was cool and tickled the back of her neck. With her hair down, the wind pushed strands forwards as if trying to tangle them in the mess of blonde hair that was Cat Noir. The hero sighed her name into her shoulder and she tried to hug him back as delicately as possible. Something was clearly wrong.

When he pulled away, he attempted to smile but it fell flat. "Princess," he greeted.

"Cat Noir?" Marinette rubbed sleep from her eyes and readjusted her position on the ladder. "What-?"

"No, no," he said quickly and seemed to be trying to collect his heroic charm all at once. "Knights are not supposed to wake their damsels in the middle of their beauty sleep and for that, I apologize. I was just passing through and thought to visit."

"Visit?" Marinette couldn't comprehend why he'd want to do that at all. She glanced back into her room to try and find the time but was unsuccessful. "What time did you wake up?"

"An hour ago, Princess, but now that I have seen your beautiful face, I can't help but say that I'm certain of my ability to sleep soundly."

"Kitty, what's going on?" Marinette's hand drifted up. Her fingers brushed the edges of his cheek. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine." Marinette yawned as she clambered back down the ladder and landed in her bed. When he didn't follow her in, she gestured at him with her hand. "Get in here."

Amidst the darkness, the moonlight slanted across an exposed area of his face, illuminating his mask. The green of his eyes seemed to glow more intensely, and Marinette, even half-asleep, found them mesmerizing. "Princess, that is your room. I wouldn't dare-"

"Either you come in or I come out. And I'd much rather you come in considering how chilly it is out there. Make your choice."

He hesitated before jumping down into her bedroom. Marinette's lips parted with a sigh and she reached out to subtly move Tikki. As it happened, the kwami had hidden before Cat Noir made himself comfortable. Knowing Tikki was safely hidden away was a relief in and of itself, and the next matter at hand was figuring out what was wrong with Cat Noir. She reached out for the lights but then another hand clamped down on her wrist to prevent it.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't turn on the lights," he said hurriedly, placing her hand back into her lap and then withdrawing. Moonbeams slithered past the occasional cloud to bring light to her room, but from the angle he was at, Cat Noir's face seemed completely in the shadows. In comparison, the pale light crawled over her skin and made her more visible to him.

"Why not? Wouldn't you prefer to be in the light?"

"Don't you think is enough?"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I'm not the one that can see in the dark."

"And you know I can do that, how?"

"Lucky guess." She guessed at where his hand was and, when she found it, pressed her palm to it. "What's the matter? You're scaring me."

He sighed. "It's stupid, Princess, really. I just wanted to see you. That's all."

"But it's so late at night and you could have waited for tomorrow, but you didn't. You haven't even made a cat pun yet. That definitely means something is wrong."

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "You miss my puns? I'm touched."

"I never said that," corrected Marinette as she leaned against the wall. His hand turned in towards hers so that their fingers linked together. "So, what possessed you to race over here? It's clearly not some casual visit." There was a silence thick with contemplation as Cat Noir thought of what to say and Marinette wondered what could be so bad that he couldn't say it out loud. "If you're not comfortable talking about it, that's fine. You can always talk to Ladybug about it, I'm sure."

"No, I can't," he said finally. "I don't want to worry her."

"Then worry me," said Marinette, bumping his shoulder lightly. "I won't tell anyone; I promise."

"It's not that I'm worried you won't tell someone. It's just that you're sort of a part of it."

She paused at that. "I am?"

A shadow of him bobbed his head as he affirmed it was true before he shifted in place. "Ugh, I shouldn't be here. I just wanted to check-"

"You wanted to see me face to face. It's too late in the night for that to be a visit of whim. I can listen if you want me to. Or we can just sit here until you're well enough to go home."

"Okay." They sat together in the darkness, both waiting for Cat Noir to speak. He seemed, at first, to struggle in getting the words out, but soon enough, Marinette heard him in a low, mournful voice.

"I've been having dreams where Ladybug dies."

She let that line soak into the silence and Marinette held back a shiver. Her own death? That was enough to spook anyone.

Cat Noir seemed to notice her discomfort and squeezed her hand. "It wasn't all bad. At first, it was kind of silly. She was falling and some pigeons took her yoyo. I was sneezing so much that I couldn't save her and she fell into the ocean. But that was just the beginning. Now, I dream that I get akumatized and I attack her with a move that she can't dodge," he continues, "or where I'm trapped and a monster comes to crush her and I can't do anything."

"Those are some nightmares," said Marinette slowly, inching closer to Cat Noir in an offer of support. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? It's not like there was anything you could have done."

Which was both true and not. As Ladybug, Marinette knew that she should probably have noticed the jitters in her partner whenever they battled akuma late at night. Perhaps if she took more of an active role in knowing about his life, she would have found a way to quiet his mind.

"How long have these dreams been going on?"

"On and off for a couple months," he said with a shrug. "I'm almost used to them."

"You shouldn't be." Marinette frowned but said nothing for several moments before another thought occurred to her. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"About that…today you were in that dream."

"I was?"

"You were," he affirmed. "Initially, it was Ladybug and I was too far away from her to save her. But then all of a sudden, it was you instead. You were being held captive and I couldn't do anything. I tried harder to escape but then you got hurt and I knew you'd died somehow."

"Oh. That does sound scary."

"I know," he said. He gave her a shadowy smile. "The knight always saves the princess."

"The dreams aren't real, Cat Noir, you know that right?"

"I know that, but it doesn't make it any less scary."

"You're right," she squeezed his hand, "but I want you to also know that I'm here and I'm safe. You've saved and protected me thousands of times. That's what heroes do."

"But what if I slip up? Ladybug has magic and amazing abilities, but you're a normal girl. How does that work out for you when you're in danger? You could get seriously hurt."

"So could you and Ladybug, but you both always save the day in the end." It made Marinette feel strange to have Cat Noir worrying about her well-being. They looked after one another as heroes, but to know that he cared for the side of her that was very much human and not heroic at all was something else entirely. "That's something we need to focus on, okay?"

"Okay." He reached his other hand out to cradle her face. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Me too," she said lightly. Feeling bold, she turned inwards to kiss it. "These hands have saved thousands of people. Don't forget that."

"I won't." Cat Noir leaned into the moonlight and knocked his forehead against hers. "Thanks for listening to me."

"No-" she stopped and yawned widely in his face. Marinette was stunned into embarrassed horror at what she had done while Cat Noir chuckled quietly between them. "-problem," she finished weakly, allowing herself a smile as well.

He said his farewell and disappeared through the trap door to the roof.

"Is he gone?" asked Tikki, her sweet voice coming from the pillow at the head of Marinette's bed.

"Yeah." Marinette locked the trap door before settling into bed again. She already missed some of its light.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I hope so. Maybe Ladybug will talk to him about it at the next akuma attack."

"That's a good idea, Marinette," said Tikki sweetly. The kwami settled into the stuffed animals nearby. "Good night."

"Good night."