Marinette rolled over with a small whine, to avoid the bright light shining through the blinds. She curled closer into her nice, warm, snuggly, breathing pillow. She froze and her eyes flew open in realisation… Pillows don't breathe.
"Morning" a husky voice said.
"Adrien?" Marinette squeaked, abruptly sitting up. Adrien was still lying beside her in the bed, with his hand running through his mussed hair.
"You slept well last night?" Adrien asked while trying to contain the smirk that had spread on his face.
"You stayed here last night?" she said, eyes growing wider.
"Well I didn't have much of a choice since every time I went to leave; you starting whimpering and it looked like the nightmare was starting to come back," Adrien explained, "Not that I minded." He continued, under his breath.
"Sorry about that… I didn't mean to disturb your sleep." Marinette apologised.
"Don't apologise to me." There was silence for a moment before Adrien sighed. "We should probably start getting ready for rehearsal today. It's supposed to be your first day back… But since you went against the doctor's orders, you only get to do half of the rehearsal."
"Adrien! No! I need to practice more than 2 hours a day!" Marinette cried.
"I don't care. If you had behaved then you wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with." He chided.
"I suppose." She grumbled, staring down at the covers that were still over her lap. "Um, Adrien, do you mind if I get dressed now?"
"Hmm? Sure, go ahead." he replied..
Marinette looked at him pointedly. Realisation dawned on him, painting his face bright red, as he realised he was still in her room… And that she wanted to get undressed.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry Mari! I-I'll just, um… go. Yeah! I'll go and get ready in my room. See ya, bye!" He stammered, scrambling out of bed and slamming the door behind him.
Over the next few days, Marinette and Adrien fell into a peaceful routine. They would go to class together then have lunch, go shopping and have dinner or the two would just hang out in general. Their dancing had improved immensely since Marinette had moved in; Tikki and Plagg attributed it to the pair being much closer, making them more comfortable around each other and therefore being able to anticipate what the other may do. The only time Marinette seemed to be alone was when she would say goodnight to Adrien and then leave to bed. Unfortunately this seemed to be when the voice would return with the nightmares, and each one growing worse. It was as if they were condensing a whole days' worth of torture into the few hours they might get a night.
Adrien woke once more to the sound of Marinette screaming in terror. 'This is the 5th night in a row' he thought as he threw the covers off himself and raced into her room. He grabbed her hand and called her name, rousing her from her fear induced sleep. "Adrien?" Marinette whispered, still shaking from the horror she had just endured.
"Mari, was it that dream again?" he asked, reaching his arms around, hugging her.
"Yes, I don't know why I keep having the same dream all the time," she cried, holding back her tears.
"You don't seem to have it when I am here…" Adrien pondered out loud.
"I guess so," Marinette agreed, "But what difference does that make?"
"Well it just means that we are going to have to 'sleep together' from now on so that you, and I, can have a full nights' sleep," Adrien said, like it was the simplest answer in the entire universe.
"WHAT?" Marinette shrieked, looking at him, shock painted all over her face.
"What? Don't you want to sleep with me?" He laughed as she blushed and rambled incomprehensibly. "Come on Mari, my bed is bigger so it will be more comfortable."
Adrien smiled and grabbed Marinette's hand, dragging the still stammering girl towards his room. His room was large and the main feature was the large 4 poster mahogany bed with silk sheets. 'Wow' Marinette thought as she followed Adrien, stopping to wait as he started moving the mountain of pillows from the bed onto the daybed in the corner. "You sleep in this?" she asked as she walked around to the unused side and jumped up.
"Normally yes but lately I have been sleeping in your room." He teased as he jumped into his side of the bed, rearranging the pillows so that they were more comfortable.
"Sorry about this, I feel really bad," Marinette apologised, voice soft, as she wriggled down under the covers until only her hair was visible. Adrien pulled the covers back and looked at Marinette, "Don't be sorry! How many times have I told you that?"
"I know bu-"
"But nothing! Let's make a deal, if us sleeping in the same room manages to stop your nightmares, then you have to promise never to apologise to me about all of this."
"And what if it doesn't?"
"I will apologise to you for making this awkward and you can move back to your apartment if you want to." He counted.
"It isn't awkward but ok, I'll take that bet." Marinette smiled.
"Good. Now go to sleep otherwise you will be exhausted tomorrow; after all you get to start dancing more again."
"Ok. Good night Adrien,"
"Good night Mari."
The voice didn't reappear again that night or any night after that.
"ADRIAN FUCKING AGRESTE!"
"Shit dude, you're in trouble now!" Nino yelled as Alya broke into the boys' change room.
"What is this I hear about you and Marinette?!" The wild girl growled.
"Um, depends? What have you heard?" he asked timidly, looking at Marinette as she slipped into the room behind her best friend. Awkwardly trying to grab her best friend and drag her back out.
"That you are sharing a bed and that this has been going on for a few weeks!"
"Well I didn't have much of a choice." Adrien defended, before realising what he implied. "Wait! That didn't come out right!"
"Of course you had a choice! She didn't force you to sleep with her did she!?"
"No! I mean it was cause of the nightmares!" Adrien blurted out.
"ADRIEN!" Marinette cried.
"What? It's not like it was a secret or anything!... Was it?" he asked, worry slipping into his voice.
"Nightmares?" Alya asked, looking between the two.
"Um, yeah, Alya. I have been having nightmares for a while now… And we found that they go away when I sleep in the same room as Adrien… That's all." Marinette explained.
"Well why didn't you say something to me sooner? I could have helped you." Alya said, exasperated.
"I-I-I…I suppose I was ashamed of what was happening. I didn't want you all to think that I was going crazy or that I was unfit to dance with the company."
"We would never think that of you Mari," Adrien said softly, reaching out to tap her affectionately on the chin. "It's not your fault that you were having nightmares."
Marinette looked at her friends and was surprised at how at home she felt with them all. She took a deep breath and nodded internally to herself. It was now or never. "Actually, it wasn't just nightmares that was bothering me…." She admitted, "There is a voice…."
"A voice?" Alya asked, curious.
"Yeah, it started after our parts were announced. Whenever I am alone it would say nasty things to me and every time I would go to eat, it would ridicule me to the point that I couldn't eat anymore. It is the same voice from the nightmares." She explained.
"…It's the reason you fell, isn't it?" Adrien asked.
Marinette nodded, wringing her hands together, waiting for someone to tell her she was mad and that she could never dance again.
"Huh, so maybe we should start calling you the Black Swan, " Nino piped up from the corner where he and the other male dancers had gone to hide from Hurricane Alya.
"Nino, this isn't funny." Adrien scolded, eyes narrowing at his best friend. "She got hurt because of this."
"True…" Nino looked at Marinette apologetically. "Sorry girl."
"It's ok Nino, I know you didn't mean anything mean by it. In a way you're right… I am a Black Swan."
"What are you girls doing in here?" Plagg boomed from the doorway, "Get your butts back into your own change room before Tikki finds out!"
A shock of realisation ran through both Alya and Marinette as they stared at Adrien and Nino. They turned to each other, eyes wide and then bolted out of the room.
