Coming out a little early with this one since I'll probably run late next month due to finals. Sending love to all my fellow students out there, you got this!
The world was crumbling around him. The night air was further darkened by thick clouds of smoke, and columns of fire cast moving shadows that haunted him as he ran through the streets of Paris, searching desperately for someone.
Strangely, he couldn't remember who he was looking for, only that it was imperative he find them, hold them, protect them.
The sense of urgency pulsing within him grew only stronger as buildings began to fall alongside him, crashing to the ground and sending up sprays of blinding ash in their wake as he struggled to avoid the falling debris. Still, he ran, the heavy staccato of his feet on what remained of Paris' once lovely streets unceasing, oblivious to the sparks and cinders burning into his skin with every laborious stride and heart eating through his chest with exertion and anxiety.
Faster, he had to be faster.
Desperate, he screamed for her, her name a mystery lost in the smoke-filled wind whipping around him as the fires grew and grew. The flames surged in a steady and remorseless rampage to devour the only home he'd ever known.
And somehow, when he did finally spot her slight form lying amongst the rubble of the city he once loved, he knew in his soul that he was too late.
Adrien bolted upright with a heavy gasp, chest heaving as he struggled for air. His hands gripped the sheets - the ones his maid had replaced only the previous afternoon - until they turned to ash. Hunching over, he shook as he tried to catch his breath, tears streaming down his face at the intensity of the dream's effect. He still didn't even really know who he was chasing, or what it all meant, but the sense of loss he had felt was so profound that it rocked him to his core.
Unbeknownst to him, it had a similar effect on a girl right down the street. Though her sleep had been dreamless, Marinette had been shocked awake by a gut-wrenching feeling of desperation and pain. She gasped, curling into a ball in the hopes of defending herself from the sensation.
"Marinette, what's wrong?" Tikki fluttered up to ask in response to a moan she hadn't realized she'd let out. "Are you okay?"
"Chat," she managed to choke out through the overwhelming torrent of emotion. "Something's wrong."
Flitting away, the kwami reappeared seconds later with the girl's phone. "Here, message him."
She shook her head with great effort, unable to manage the movement required to do as the being suggested. Instead, she focused on breathing deeply, attempting to calm her racing heart and clear her mind enough to send back a question.
Adrien was still struggling to catch his breath when something poked at him mentally. It was cautious, but insistent, and he sought it out and focused on it. The message was a bit fuzzy, laden with great concern, but it was much clearer than any of their efforts the night before.
Ladybug was asking what had happened, if he was okay. If he needed her.
The effort of "reading" her message had distracted him enough to slow his racing mind, calming his heartbeat. He struggled to reply, unsure how she had managed to send such a clear message. Thinking it might be easier to understand if he kept it simple, he sent her one word, followed by a series of images.
"Nightmare."
The thought resounded in Marinette's head, as clear as if someone sitting next to her had spoken the word aloud. Images of charred buildings and dancing flames flashed through her mind, followed by a disturbing image of a dainty, bloodied hand and a faint whisper of the sense of loss that had so overtaken her before.
Her heart broke for her partner, and she was suddenly thankful for the peaceful night of sleep she'd had. "Sorry," she sent back to him, finally feeling able to uncurl herself and reach for her phone.
Opening their message thread, she typed out a quick message.
TheOGLadybug: If you want to talk about it, like actually talk about it, you can call me.
Adrien forced himself to reach for his phone when it buzzed, knowing it was her. Eyes flicking over her message, he tentatively typed a response.
Miraculous_Sixpack: It's fine, LB, I'm okay. Don't worry about it.
His phone vibrated in his hand, startling him, and he saw an incoming Link call. He let it ring for a moment, before tapping the button and raising the device to his ear.
The first few seconds of the call were silent except for the sound of their breathing. Then, Ladybug spoke hesitantly.
"I...I can tell, you know."
He sighed. "Of course you can." His response came out more bitter than he intended, and he regretted it in the hanging silence. He ran a hand through his hair, combing through tangles presumably caused by his restless sleep. "I mean, sorry. Just, are we ever going to be able to have secrets again?"
A beat of silence, then, in a small voice came, "I didn't mean to intrude."
He winced, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's not what I meant, Bug. I'm sorry." He looked up at the ceiling with a sigh. "I just don't want to worry you over something stupid."
"It's not stupid," she replied instantly. "If something bothers you, it's never stupid."
He knew she meant it, but he still felt bad that his dumb, cryptic nightmare had affected her, caused her to worry over him. He sighed again. "I don't- I don't even know what all it was about. I was running, chasing...someone. I don't know who, but I had to find her." He paused. "Maybe it was you."
She hummed in interest on the other end of the line, and he continued, "But it's almost worse if it was you because- because I couldn't save you. And that's my whole job, standing between you and danger. And I failed." The tears started up again, slipping down his cheeks as he took a quiet, shuddering breath and repeated in a broken voice, "I failed you."
"Chat." Her voice was warm with love, that word alone somehow reassuring. "That's not your whole job, you have other important responsibilities, too." He could hear the smile in her voice as she continued, "If you weren't there, who would come up with great opening lines for our battles, or akuma-appropriate puns to piss them off and make them lose focus? Who would be there to catch me when I tripped over something stupid and tease me about it into next week? And who would be there, when I was craving donuts on patrol, to convince me to have a midnight picnic on the Eiffel Tower?"
He sniffled, lips turning up in a gradual smile as she went on. "Sure, you stand between me and danger at times, but I do the same for you. You are no less important than me in this whole thing, and you're so much more than a human shield to me. I know you'll always do your best to protect me, but that isn't all you're here for, okay? You're my best friend, and I wouldn't have gotten this far in hero-ing without you." Her voice lowered to a shy whisper. "You mean more to me than you know, okay?"
If his heart were any more full, it would burst. His grin was unstoppable now, even as he dried his remaining tears with a regrettably ash-covered hand. "You mean it?"
"Of course. Would I lie to you?"
"No," he chuckled, then paused. "It was only a nightmare, right?"
"Right," she affirmed, the confidence in her voice soothing the rest of his worries.
"Okay." He heaved a deep sigh, this one filled with relief. "Thank you, my lady."
"Anytime, Kitty. I'm always here for you."
"I know." He smiled, gaze drifting down to his hand and his grin dropped. "I'd better go. I...kinda turned my sheets to ash, and I need to clean up."
Marinette winced. "Yeah, okay." She paused, almost reluctant to hang up. "Call me anytime, okay Kitty? And I mean it, anytime. If I can't answer, I'll at least message back."
"Got it. Thanks, Bug. See you later."
And that was it, the end of their first phone call as their civilian selves. Under other circumstances, Adrien would have been over the moon at the thought, but in his current state he felt nothing as he rolled off the bed and headed towards the shower. The burnt sheets were a problem for future Adrien.
After an unfortunately sleepless rest of the night, Marinette struggled to sit still waiting for class to start. Her thoughts lingered on what had happened with Chat Noir, and she was so involved in her worries over him that she didn't notice until halfway through the period that Adrien had failed to show up.
After she got over her shock at that realization - After all, Chat Noir had never taken precedence over her interest in Adrien before. - she began to worry for her friend. She slid a note over to Alya, who sat beside her once more, asking if she'd heard anything from Nino.
Receiving a negative response, Marinette leaned back on her bench. It concerned her that the usually punctual boy was absent. Judging by his behavior yesterday, he'd must've decided to take a day off, but even that was unlike him. She resolved to try to coax a message out of him during one of their breaks.
The rest of the week passed in much the same way. Adrien skipped school as his friends tried to get ahold of him, to no avail. He hated shutting them out, but thought it was for the best until he could get his power under control. Most of the day he practiced using the power, and had been making significant improvement. It turned out that it worked on something of a scale. He was starting to be able to break something down into its components, rather than destroying it outright. The power even came in handy one afternoon when they had to fight an akuma whose power involved trapping people in giant Chinese finger traps. They were able to save everyone without him having to use cataclysm and recharge over and over again.
Of course, his improvement was imperfect, and the power still got away from him on occasion. Unfortunately, he had lost some things he cared about to it, like the blue scarf his father had gifted him.
He'd been coming in from the gardens, having taken a short break from practicing, and ran into his father. The conversation had been...less than pleasant. Though he'd told him he was very sick and needed to rest, his father was not one to stand for excuses. Gabriel had berated him on his appearance, lethargy, and general mood in a more hurtful critique than usual. He gave the ultimatum that if Adrien didn't get his act together and become a "proper representation of this family once more," he would be pulled from school. By the time he had stormed to his room the anger had overtaken him, and his scarf had been ash before he'd realized what he was doing.
Miserable and sick with what he'd done, he gathered the remains of the scarf into a plastic bag and placed it in a drawer in his bathroom. Silly as it was, he couldn't bear to get rid of it. He wanted the reminder of what could happen if he didn't get his shit together.
He and Ladybug chatted on Link nightly, and they'd made some good progress with their mind link. They could share pictures and single words pretty well now, though anything more complicated still came through fuzzy more often than not.
By the time the weekend rolled around, Adrien was more optimistic than he had been in days.
"Plagg, I think I'll be ready to go back to school next week," he commented as he worked on reducing an old gym sock to a pile of thread and elastic. Once he'd done so, he put the pile in his trash can and turned it to ash, smiling at how accomplished he'd become with his power compared to mere days before.
"That's great kid," came the unenthusiastic reply, which Adrien paid no mind. Plagg preferred staying home, where there were plenty of places to nap and unlimited access to cheese.
Putting the trash can back down, he tapped his toes with nervous energy and spun around in his chair. Though he'd thought it necessary at the time, he was beginning to regret shutting his friends out for so long. He'd been far too dramatic about the whole thing- he could have at least made some excuses and let them know he was okay. Now that he was more confident with his power he realized he owed his friends a huge apology for being a jerk all week.
He only hoped they'd forgive him.
Adrien arrived at school on Monday feeling exhausted, but lighter than he had in a long time. His heart beat an anxious rhythm as he stepped out of the car and approached the building, knowing he had a huge set of apologies to deliver and hoping beyond hope that his friends would accept them.
Nino accosted him almost instantly, sneaking up on him and taking his arm without a word to guide him to a bench in the courtyard. As they sat, Adrien opened his mouth to blurt out a blabbered string of inadequate "sorries," but Nino held up a hand before he could get a word out.
"Bro. Let me go first."
Adrien gulped at the serious face his normally jovial friend was wearing and gave a hesitant nod. Nino straightened up next to him and cleared his throat before flinging an arm out to point across the courtyard. "Hit it!"
Uh, what? Adrien followed the line of Nino's finger to Alya, who lurked ten feet away with her phone in one hand, presumably recording them, and the other moving down to press a button on the boombox at her feet.
Unfamiliar music blared from the speakers as Nino hopped off the bench, moving to the beat in front of Adrien, who began sweating in nervous confusion. What is happening?
It was already disorienting enough, and then Nino opened his mouth and began to sing along to the song.
In his state of shock, Adrien didn't catch most of the first verse - the song was in English and his brain wasn't functioning at a high enough level at the moment to translate well. He made out strange clips like "rock and roll" and "mac and cheese" which only added to his confusion. Things only started to clear up when the chorus hit.
In his startlingly nice voice, Nino crooned, "Dude, I love you, bro, I love you. Man, I love you!" Adrien felt his cheeks pink as he translated the words and took note of the staring classmates that were beginning to surround them. Though typically somewhat shy, Nino was somehow unperturbed by the attention they were getting and threw in a snazzy spin, snapping to the beat as he hit the next line. "You're my brother from another, 'nother mother."
How is this my life right now? He cast a somewhat mortified glance at Alya, who was laughing - scratch that, cackling as she recorded them. Taking a breath, he managed to uncurl his shoulders and focus on the words his best bud was serenading (?!) him with.
"You are my fav-o-rite, I'm not ashamed to admit," Nino continued, reaching out to ruffle Adrien's hair with affection as the blonde batted him away with a growing grin. "'Cause I do, dude, I do-"
Adrien jabbed him in the shoulder with a smile, finally beginning to understand. He hummed along as Nino continued the chorus. "Dude, I love you, bro, I love you. Man, I love you!"
Without warning, Nino yanked him out of his seat and they were dancing, and the relief and love that Adrien felt were so raw and real that he couldn't even bring himself to be embarrassed.
"You're my homie, no one knows me like you know me."
Adrien lifted one pair of clasped hands and Nino willingly spun under his arm. They couldn't help but laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it, and happy tears pricked at Adrien's eyes as Nino chuckled his way through the rest of the lines. "Like the sun and the moon, all the best things come in two. What would I do without a friend like you?"
The start of the next verse was cut off by the abrupt ringing of the bell, which Adrien was startled and relieved to find barely ruptured his eardrums at all. The group of students broke into wild applause as Alya shut off the music, though she made sure to keep recording as the boys took a pink-cheeked bow together. Grabbing the boombox with a grin, she turned to head towards the boys and spotted a shell-shocked Marinette standing a few feet away. Grabbing her friend's hand, Alya reassured her, "Don't worry, I got video," as they walked towards the now-hugging boys.
"Dude, I can't believe you just did that!" Adrien gasped with laughter, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye as they stepped back from each other.
"Well, when your best friend is as oblivious as mine, it's important to go big with expressions of love." Nino nudged him with an elbow.
In unison with Nino, Alya nudged Marinette, throwing in a significant tilt of her head. Under her breath she murmured, "Gee, it's almost like he can't take a proper hint, so you have to s-p-e-l-l it out."
The bespectacled boy twisted his cap back into place and adjusted the sleeves of his jacket, adding, "You've been super out of it the past few days. The silent treatment was definitely not cool, but I wanted to make sure you knew, without a doubt, that I'm here for you, dude."
"That goes for us too!" Alya chirped, raising her and Mari's joined hands and bringing them in for a group hug with the boys. "We've got your back, Sunshine."
"And we're here if you want to talk about it, Adrien," Marinette chimed in, giving her friends a gentle squeeze.
The boy winced, hoping his friends would understand as he said hesitantly, "I'd rather not. I-I know it's shitty not to explain myself after pulling a stupid stunt like that on you guys, but I just want to stop thinking about it. I just- I was having a rough time, and I didn't want to take it out on you, so I thought it would be better to just keep to myself until I had a handle on things."
"You can always count on us, man, no matter what it is we'll support you."
Alya nodded at Nino's statement, ruffling the blonde boy's hair affectionately as he waited on pins and needles for Marinette's reaction.
The petite girl pulled back from their group hug and crossed her arms. "We'll forgive you, on one condition."
Adrien's head bobbled up and down anxiously. "Anything."
The girl poked him sternly in the chest, bright blue eyes piercing through his own. "Never shut us out like that again. You're part of our family, Adrien, so lean on us. Let us help you with these things, okay?"
It was enough to make a grown cat cry, and he sniffled back the tears that burned his eyes once more.
"I promise."
With a grin, Nino swung his arms around Adrien and Marinette, Alya linking up on Marinette's other side as the foursome made their way towards their classroom. "So, study group after school to catch Adrien up on all the stuff he missed?"
"Yes!"
"I'm down if Mari brings snacks."
God. He didn't deserve them.
Adrien squeezed Nino in a side hug, grinning down the line at the girls. "What would I do without you guys?"
"Probably eat fewer pastries," Alya teased.
Adrien gasped, bringing a hand to his chest with a flourish that made his friends laugh. "An uninhabitable hellscape of a life."