Author's Note: This is a fic based off of a comic written and drawn by hogeky on tumblr by the same name. Please go there to view images and support her comic!

Permission was received to write this fic.

"Sleepwalking?" Sabine exclaimed, incredulously.

Marinette couldn't exactly hide from her mother why she had screamed, especially when she had come running into the room to check to see if she was alright. By then, the girl was helping Adrien crawl in through the window and had turned around mid way to see her very shocked mother. There were worse situations to be found in.

He nodded slowly, embarrassed by his poor excuse for having appeared at Marinette's window on the third story of their home in the dark of night.

Plagg, I am going to kill you for this…

He had every intention to see Marinette. He had no intention to see her as Adrien.

As soon as he had begun tapping at her window, Plagg decided it was a brilliant idea to detransform, leaving him stuck at the sill to wait to be resuced. Adrien was going to make sure the kwami didn't receive a speck of camembert for at least a week. Only plain cheddar or mozzarella for the devious thing.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, I don't know what came over me," he apologized meekly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"It's okay dear," she replied. "I'm just glad you came to our house instead of a strangers!" A blanket seemed to materialized in her hands and she wrapped it around him, her motherly warmth making Adrien want to sob just a little bit. "I'll call your dad and let him know you're here."

Uncertain as to how good an idea that might have been, Adrien simply agreed. "Uhm, thank you very much."

"While I'm downstairs, does anyone want any macrons?"

"No thank you! I've already disturbed you enough tonight," said Adrien. It was at that moment that his stomach chose to outright betray him. A loud whale like noise erupted from the depths of his gut, causing a look of surprise to blossom forth on every face in the room, his only differing in its painful shade of red. Sabine giggled.

"I'll take that as a yes. Make yourself at home dear." She left without much more of a comment, and Adrien was alone with Marinette. They sat in silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say. He had just come uninvited into her home through the bedroom window. He really didn't know what could be said.

"Sorry again Marinette," he attempted. Her eyes widened at the idea that he could be apologizing to her. Flailing her arms in an attempt to appear unbothered, she tried her best not to look anxious. This, to nobody's surprise, was not the most successful of tasks.

"It's okay, I wasn't sleeping anyway!" she spouted.

"At this hour of the night?" he replied innocently. Marinette bit her lip and decided to sit down next to him. She couldn't tell him why she'd been up so late, since doing so would reveal some very personal information on her part.

"Yea, uh, I was doing… my homework," she fibbed. She wasn't sure whether or not he believed her, but he didn't miss a beat responding.

"Oh right, I guess you would have loads since you missed a week of school."

"Yep. I hurt my leg so I had to stay home while it healed." It was mostly true.

"Really? Are you okay now? Does it still hurt?" His concern for her made Marinette's heart flutter ever so slightly. She silenced herself aggressively in her mind.

"It's healed over," she managed. The scar was going to last, and there was a mild and dull throb, but she didn't need to tell him that. It would only cause unnecessary worry.

"Oh gosh, that's a relief." The two fell into a stillness that slowly became less bearable. Clearly, Adrien had been enjoying the absent conversation, regardless of its topic. It looked to distract him from the fact that he was currently sitting in her house at a likely unwelcome hour.

'I guess your father must be worried sick," she commented, breaking the tension that slowly built in the air. Almost immediately, his expression darkened. His gaze ran from her eyes and to his lap, shoulders tensing and aura unapproachable. A hand rushed to scratch his head with a bit of belligerence; perhaps an anxious mannerism.

"I doubt it." His voice was curt. Marinette's heart sank. "He didn't care about my mom, and he sure as hell doesn't care about me." She frowned and bit her lip, holding back the lump in her throat. "I just wish he'd forget about me too." There was an audible sharp inhale, followed by a shaky release of breath. He was clearly holding back so much emotion.

"Adrien, I'm sorry," she started, reaching a hand out to place on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to –." Before Marinette could even register what had transpired, Adrien's hand had swiftly taken hold of her own, their fingers laced together.

Panic was the first thing to fly through her mind, shocked by his sudden movement. That same panic morphed into a flustered feeling, her heart pounding through her body. When she was able to regain some semblance of consciousness and awareness, she could just make out the tear that threatened to fall from his eyes.

"I'm scared," he confessed breathily, looking scornfully at his lap, his hand holding hers tightly, tethering him. "I'm scared that I'll lose everyone; everyone who's dear to me. I'm scared I'll lose them all again." Adrien's grip on her never faltered, and she could feel his fear through it. She wanted to hold him, to tell him that she wasn't going anywhere, that he didn't need to hold on so tightly. "I lost my mother because of him," he continued. "And now, he wants to separate me from my friends." Finally, he tore his eyes out of their empty gaze to look at her, his expression sending pain through her chest. Her breath was heavy now, as she felt the swell of empathy and suffering in the pit of her stomach. His last words were a whisper. "And I will be alone again."

Marinette hadn't realized it before, but there was dampness on her cheeks. When Adrien looked at her, dread ran through him.

"Marinette?" he cried in alarm. "What's wrong? Why are you-? I-!" Her other hand grasped his in a movement so fierce, it sent a jolt through Adrien.

"No!" Her voice was ferocious and stubborn. "I swear you'll never be alone. No matter what happens." There was a sort of finality in her statement, and he wanted to believe every word of it. Blue eyes pierced his gaze and nothing could tear him away from the sight of them. "Nino, Alya, and the rest of the class will always be there for you, no matter what your father says!" Feeling a slight uneasiness for speaking for others, she mended her statement. "I will never let you feel lonely."

The tears that Adrien had been trying to hold back broke through in that moment. There was nothing left he could do. There was nothing more he had ever wanted to hear.

"I don't know what happened to your mother," Marinette went on, trying not to let the sight of his sadness deter her speech. Truthfully, she was surprised that her speech was not already deterred by his mere presence and vulnerability. "But believe me when I say, that the only way it will feel better is if you tell your father what's on your mind. Be honest with him. And more importantly, be honest with yourself."

A moment of silence fell upon them as Adrien took in what he had just been told. Suddenly, both of his hands were around hers, and he turned to face her head on, eyes closed, his forehead bumping hers.

"I guess you're right," he said finally. "But if I'm going to tell anybody what's on my mind, it'd be you. I want you to be the first to listen." Marinette, who was still in shock that Adrien's face was centimeters away from her own, warmed at the thought that he trusted her so dearly. Her eyes closed as a sign of her trust.

"Gladly."

She wasn't sure how long they stayed that way, holding hands and leaning on one another, but it felt serene. Eventually, she pulled away slowly and looked up at him. A breath of laughter escaped her lips when she caught sight of the state of his hair.

"What? What is it?" Adrien asked, thoroughly befuddled at her spontaneous burst of laughter. Obviously, his shock had nothing to do with the fact that she looked ever more charming with such a genuine smile on her face. Obviously.

"Your hair suits you that way," she noted. "It reminds me of someone kind and gentle." Adrien brought a hand out from beneath the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders and touched the muss of hair on his head.

Huh? Oh. My hair's messy like it is when I'm Chat Noir…

"You think so?" he grinned, ridiculously pleased by the idea that Marinette thought Chat Noir was kind and gentle. Some things never ceased to amaze him, and in this case, some people.

He couldn't have been more grateful to have Marinette in his life.

"Yes, he's here. Yea, he said he had some sleepwalking problems," Sabine explained. Gabriel Agreste was surprising calm given the situation, but she did her best to explain regardless, assuming the calmness was due to the knowledge that Adrien was in fact safe and sound. He would likely want to talk to his son, or at the very least, she thought, Adrien would like to speak with his father. Mrs. Dupain-Cheng entered the room, still speaking idly, and halted mid sentence when she realized what she had walked in to find.

Her heart melted at the sight of the two teens sleeping on the couch, the blanket shared between them, and heads rested on one another. Her favorite aspect of the view being the hands she saw entwined casually amid their pose.

"Hello?" the voice from the phone called. Sabine stepped out of the room soundlessly, pulling the door shut as she did.

"Uhm, Mr. Agreste," she whispered, "I think it would be better if Adrien stayed with us for the night."

Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of the fic. A lot of work and scheduling things have come up and on top of that I've been working on a Secret Santa fic as well (which will be posted after the event is over though before Christmas Day). Sorry for the delay but I am definitely still working on this!

P.S. if there are any continuity errors at this point, please feel free to tell me! It's been a while since I've been writing this and I might have missed something. Don't feel bad, I know I make mistakes and would rather know and fix them.