Alya huffed as she saw the small "online" beneath Nino's name as she checked on her phone.

It was 3 in the morning and she had woken up for no special reason, so she had decided to drink a bit of water, unlock her phone and scroll around a bit, only to find that her boyfriend was awake.

Without another thought, she called him, not surprised as he accepted.

"Coincidence?", she asked drowsily, blinking a few times while sitting up, "I think not."

Back came a very forced voice accompanied by a yawn, trying his best to act sleepy.

"Oh man… Alya… What're you doing, calling so late… You woke me up."

All Alya had as a comment to that was a lifted eyebrow.

"Are you kidding me, your phone is never on vibration or sound. You're still awake, not just now."

She literally heard his shoulders slumping, defeatedly.

"… Okay fine. You got me. Why're you up so late?"

She groaned as she slid back against the headrest of her bed, rolling her eyes.

"I woke up. Dunno why, I think I was just thirsty. How about you?"

An awkward silence followed as he didn't respond for a while but just before Alya was about to say something he laughed nervously and talked up before she could.

"Heh, yeah, you know that one song I talked about yesterday? Yeah, I uh, I'm currently remixing that one, I uh, that's just what I'm doing right now!"

Alya sighed in exasperation and shook her head, half believing him but she sensed that something was wrong.

"Nino, and now honestly. What're you doing? It's a school night, you're normally in bed at 1am. Which is also late but I don't wanna by a hypocrite."

He once again remained silent before she heard a noise coming closer to him, passing him and vanishing again. It almost sounded like a car.

"Where. Are you.", she was now wide awake as she sat up straight, her eyes widened. A thousand possible thoughts passed her mind and she felt panic rising up inside her before Nino answered, thank god.

"… Uh… Let me in?", he sheepishly asked, making her eyes blow wider than she had thought they could get. With one jump she was out of the bed, had hung up on him and was hurriedly sneaking down the hallway not to wake anyone. A few fast steps later she opened the front door, already hearing him sneak up the stairs to her apartment.

With a hushed whisper she yelled down, seeing his head appearing next to the railing, in the middle between the stairs. His eyes were bright golden but the dark rings under his eyes and the mussed up hair spoke for themselves that he had apparently tried to sleep but hadn't managed.

"Nino, what are you doing here?!"

He quickly ran up the last stairs, careful not to be too loud, groaning as he finally reached her and heavily leant on her. Alya tightly locked her arms around his waist, grateful that she had woken up just at the right time. She didn't even want to know how log he had been outside already. His ice-cold clothes and the red nose already told her of an answer that she didn't want to hear, though.

She didn't want to admit that she was relieved that he wasn't in trouble, so she leant back again and gave him a light slap, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Are you crazy?! You haven't taken any drugs, have you? Oh my god, you're such an idiot!"

Nino pouted as he turned his head to her again, her fingers slowly appearing as red shades on his cheek.

"Hey, that wasn't nice.", he whined but she didn't care as she pulled him inside as silently as she could, past her sisters' and her parents' bedrooms towards her own.

Only as they were in her room again, she sat him down on her bed and closed the door.

"So, what's up?", she asked in a stern tone, her voice leaving no room for discussions or attempts to lie.

Nino sighed and gestured for her to sit down next to him. She did, although not without some hesitance.

"I just-… I've been having nightmares ever since we got the Miraculous. I had nightmares of-… Uhm… I couldn't sleeping anymore. So I went to get some fresh air."

She couldn't hide her concern anymore as she grabbed his arm, hugging it tightly while resting her head on his shoulder.

"Don't you know that's super dangerous…?", she asked, suppressing tears as she felt him beside her, alive and well and although a little cold, still fully healthy.

He carefully shrugged to that, cupping her face and keeping her close as he kissed her forehead.

"I know… I just-… I couldn't stay home. I had to get out."

She shook her head while she led him to lay down on her bed, snuggling against him as his head finally rested on the pillow, with her ear pressed against his heart.

"… Nightmares of which kind…?", she slowly asked, kissing his shirt. He groaned and shook his head but she nudged him with her nose and he let his other arm lie over his eyes as she demanded to know.

"Nightmares like losing people.", he finally admitted, almost sounding embarrassed, "Like you. Losing you. I can't bear losing you."

Her breath stuttered as she felt his chest rising erratically, looking up to him shell shocked to find that he was crying. Suddenly, she realized that their position was the wrong way.

"You won't lose me, Nino.", she mumbled while propping herself up and getting up to him, resting her head on the pillow instead of him, and leading him to press his ear on her chest in turn.

"I won't.", he whispered, his voice thick and his teeth clenched.

"You won't. Ever. I'm Rena Rouge, I can keep an eye out for myself. And if I can't, you will. You always will."

To that, he gave her a slow nod, remaining in silence until his breaths came more even.

"I will."