Adrien tossed and turned all night. He had experienced such a roller-coaster of emotions over the past days. The time with Marinette had been such an oasis from the battle within himself. He hoped the warmth he experienced with her would follow him home, but as he lay alone in his bed the coldness crept back in.

In the rare snippets of sleep he was able to steal away, nightmares plagued his mind. Again and again in his worst dreams black and violet butterflies blacked-out the sun. He was trying to find Ladybug but she was no where in sight. She had vanished. Then suddenly Marinette would show up, and try to help him, but he would push her aside to protect her from the swarm of akuma attacking him. In the very last moment he would hear Marinette's voice whisper, "You never really saw me." Then everything would go white. Not black. It would never go black. Everything would be shrouded in white light. Then he would wake up panting in a cold sweat.

As tired as he was, he would try to stay awake to avoid that dream. His exhaustion would eventually win out as the night wore on, and once again the same nightmare would resurface.

It was almost a relief when finally he looked over at his alarm clock and saw he only had 8 minutes till it was time to wake up. Rather than savoring the last few minutes curled up in bed, he sighed, and flicked off his alarm. He lowered his bare feet to the icy floor, and put his head in his hands. What was wrong with him these days. He was an absolute mess! He glanced over at his pillow, and saw Plagg passed out, practically drooling in his undisturbed unconsciousness. Must be nice, Adrien thought. Nothing ever seemed to phase him! Shaking his head, he got to his feet, and started his morning routine.

It wasn't until Adrien was packing his school back for the day, that Plagg yawned widely, and stretched his tiny arms in front of himself. Arching his back for an extra luxurious stretch, Plagg sleepily blinked over to where Adrien was adding his History textbook to the top of the bag. Then Adrien tossed a wheel of Camembert in the side pocket. Immediately Plagg was up in the air, attending to his precious cheese, to ensure that Adrien's "careless treatment' of the Camembert had not caused it to be damaged in any way.

Adrien was caught mid-way between a yawn, when Plagg spoke up. "So, you stayed up pretty late with Pony-tails huh?!"

"What?!" Adrien responded irritably. "I gave you a truck-load of cheese when we got home last night to make it up to you, now what do you want?"

"Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed! Huh, Mr. Grumpy!" Plagg teased. "It is not what I want! I was curious to see what it was that you want?"

"Plagg, I don't have time for this! I'm going to be late," Adrien sighed, zipping up his bag.

"Late, late, for a very important date?" Plagg sang.

"Late for school," Adrien said flatly. Then he groaned. "Then Chinese, and then fencing...ahhh...I don't know how I'm going to get through today, and it hasn't even started yet!"

"A certain bluenette sitting in front of you all morning might make things a little easier!" Plagg winked.

Adrien strung his bag over his shoulder and went to the door. "Marinette was hanging out with Chat Noir last night."

"Who also happens to be you," Plagg pointed out.

"She doesn't know that! She can never know that," his tone dropped.

"Don't you like her?" Plagg crossed his arms.

"Well of course I like her!" Adrien burst.

"Purrfect!" Plagg clapped his paws together as if he was brushing off imaginary dust. "You like her, she likes you, just kiss her already!"

"She likes me?" Adrien asked. "As in likes me likes me? You really think so?"

"AARRRGHHHhhh!" Plagg groaned. "Why are you like this?! Yeah! Very very obviously she likes you! Maybe 'like' is actually too much of an understatement in this case. She is majorly into you! How is it that you are the only one that does not see this?"

"Marinette likes me," Adrien repeated letting the warmth of this revelation sink in.

Plagg watched his kitten with a smug look on his face. "So..." Plagg asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Well...I'm not sure. I mean she told Chat Noir that she loved him...I mean me...but then with the whole getting her Dad akumatized thing, we've kind of just settled in to being really good friends. It is still hard to believe that Chat Noir...I mean me...was really her type. Do you think she could still have a thing for that side of me?"

Plagg was too busy banging his head against the desk to respond.

"How could that even work?" Adrien continued to debate the issue with himself, "...I mean if it really is true that Marinette has still fallen for Chat Noir... What if Hawkmoth found out and she was in danger because of me? I couldn't risk her safety. Oh gosh! What if Ladybug found out I was dating a civilian in super-hero form! She'd string me up with her yoyo for sure!" Adrien contemplated the risks. "On the other hand..." Adrien got a far away look on his face, and a smile softly tugged at his lips. "If Marinette could really like me...that would be...that would be..." Then Adrien shook his head, not allowing himself to linger on more daydreams. "What if you're wrong Plagg, and I end up making a mess of things like I did with Ladybug?! For so long she could barely get out two words with me as Adrien, and I made her uncomfortable. Now we're finally able to hang out, and relax around each other. If I try to tell her I want more, I could loose one of my best friends!"

"...Or you could gain yourself a girlfriend by noon!" Plagg shot back. "Then I could finally have some piece to focus on the important things in life!"

" What could be more important that love?!" Adrien challenged him.

"So this is love then?!" Plagg shot a glance at Adrien.

"Well, uh...love is...not that...I'm just saying in general, the affection someone might have for another someone..." Adrien waved his hands around, and his face went red.

"Whatever! The more important things I was referring to is facilitating the final ripening stage of my Camembert. With all this teenage angst bouncing all over the place my cheese curds are going to go sour before I can even drain them! Have you ever drained cheese curds! It takes focus! Once you just tell the girl you love her already, I will finally have a moment of peace!"

"You're making that stinky cheese in my room!" Adrien dropped his bag, and looked at Plagg.

"I like to think of it as taking part in Caseiculture," Plagg waved off his weilder's concern. "I'm no novice affineur! I know exactly how to bring cheese to maturity."

"I don't provide you with enough Chamenbet now?!" Adrien put his hands on his hips, and narrowed his eyes at Plagg.

"Is it ever enough?!" Plagg sighed dreamily. Then he flew up to Adrien and smiled, "You know that Marinette-girl is the daughter of the best baker in Paris. You get with her and we could be both set for life! Think of all the cheese bread!"

Adrien rolled his eyes, and groaned. Swinging his bag over his shoulder, he held his jacket open for Plagg to tuck himself inside. "I wonder if Ladybug would be up for another kwami-swap," Adrien threatened. "I bet Tikki isn't this crazy!"

"Oh Sugar-Cube is is treat to be sure," Plagg responded, unfazed. "But she's got her own vices."

ooooooooo

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