Adrien Agreste decided that he hated schedules. His own schedule, more specifically. He decided that about a week after his parents started making them for him, which was...a very long time ago.
Anyways, he hated having a set list of things he had to do and places he had to be and just the general absence of flexibility and the freedom to do what he wanted to, when he wanted to.
Of course, Adrien wasn't the only one, and the world doesn't work like that.
Would Adrien have voluntarily sacrificed every one of his evenings for the next indefinite period of time to satisfy the curiosity that was now verging on the brink of paranoia? Curiosity did kill the cat, after all. The answer was yes.
Would that have been completely creepy and definitely set his objective on edge? Perhaps. Okay, probably.
But Adrien could not do that because he was not only a part-time superhero, vigilante, and amateur private eye (the term amateur is used very loosely here), he was also a teenage student suffering from sleep-deprivation and overwork.
That day was the first time Adrien had fallen asleep in class. Sounds skeptical, but it was true. Adrien used to be legendarily adept at paying attention, which was kind of necessary, because if someone with average perceptiveness took a certain amount of concentration to understand something, then Adrien...well, you can infer from there.
The author apologizes in advance for subjecting Adrien to the status of the epitome of density. Because his obliviousness will only be more exaggeratedly magnified from here on out.
Anyways, that was when he realized that no one, not even the teachers, cared if you were awake or asleep in class, so long as someone that vaguely resembled you was sitting in your seat and they were quiet. Adrien later reasoned that he ought to have noticed earlier and that this was probably a daily routine for Nathaniel.
However, unlike Nathaniel and anyone else who was experienced with sleeping in class, Adrien was not equipped with a subconscious body clock that recommended him to wake up conveniently before the classroom emptied.
Nino had actually sat beside the redhead last year, so he knew better than to wake a sleeping person. Only, in Adrien's case, this was not very much appreciated.
Adrien showed up to science class seven minutes late.
Mme Mendeleiev was actually more annoyed about him being late than she was about Ivan dozing off a few seats behind him. He hastily apologized and slipped into the empty seat, glaring at Nino, who merely shrugged.
It was during science class that Adrien came to another unfortunate discovery that made him like his schedule even less: the project was due in two days and he hadn't done a thing. Juleka didn't seem irritated, only mildly annoyed, really, but his procrastinating and putting it off for the last week hadn't done either of them any favors. The goth girl suggested her own home to work at, since Adrien didn't really feel like bringing project partners over to his place, what with his father around.
It looked like he wasn't going to able to pay a certain red-haired artist a visit this evening.
The project didn't go half-bad. Juleka knew her stuff pretty well, and Adrien forced himself to devote his entire concentration on something other than Nathaniel or Luka for once, which resulted in the project being completed in a single evening - thank goodness.
Luka wasn't a problem, either. He popped in once to inform them that dinner was ready, keep to his own room, mostly, although Marinette was there at the beginning. She had to leave soon, though, because she and Nath hadn't finished the project either. Adrien did a very good job of distracting himself and keeping himself occupied with his work. He was reserved but polite, keeping his distance from his partner's brother, but not so curt as to seem suspicious.
By the time they were done, it was too late to do anything other than go home, although Adrien did make a deliberate detour through the redhead's neighborhood, if only to make sure he wasn't up to something questionable at this late hour (Adrien purposefully remained oblivious to the hypocrisy).
Unfortunately for him, Nathaniel was awake. In fact, not only was he awake at this unearthly hour of 9PM, he was also accompanied by none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng. They both looked exhausted, and seemed to be enthusiastically working on their project. Chat didn't mean to peep, but from his convenient position and its view, as well as his considerable logic and reasoning skills, he assumed it was art-themed. Excellent observation skills indeed, Adrien thought to himself, frowning as he tried to discern whether their comfortable interaction spelled friendly classmate camaraderie or something else. Which would suggest that not only was Nathaniel really a very sneaky person, Marinette was cheating.
Preposterous ideas indeed, but Adrien wasn't crossing any possibilities off until he was absolutely certain with total conviction that they were indeed out of the question.
And now, as Chat peered still through the window, he could recognize the affectionate, slightly dreamy expression on Nathaniel's face, despite being too far away to be able to see clearly through the glass pane. And Marinette was...Chat was close enough to see her more clearly, now, yes, Marinette had the audacity to be nodding off against the bedframe of the bed in the bedroom of a male classmate. A male classmate who had been confirmed to have previously harbored affections for said girl. Oh, the scandal!
But then Nathaniel froze as if his sixth sense had been piqued (there were actually more than six senses - Adrien had done research on this - but we shall call it a sixth sense because to call it his Spidey sense would be inaccurate in this case, even though it is the closest applicable term), and turned around to glance outside. Chat immediately went into fight-or-flight mode, electing it safer to throw himself to his own death on the other side of the building, than to have to produce a justifiable explanation why he was here at this time. Heaven forbid Nathaniel grow more suspicious than Adrien suspected he already was.
The irony of the whole situation was poetic, really, but Adrien was going to deny that for now. Obliviousness did have its benefits, and a large supply of excuses was one of them.
Chat sped home at Mach 12, not pausing to think or breathe until he had landed on the floor of his own bedroom and de-transformed as he collapsed on the sofa out of exhaustion. His neck was thrown back against the top of the sofa, and he rolled his head back the left to look at Plagg, who was looking at him with an expression of mixed disapproval, exasperation, and irritation.
"Adrien freaking Perfection Agreste!" was all the black god could say out of sheer frustration.
"Yes, Plagg?" Adrien asked in mock politeness.
Plagg looked like he was ready to explode, blow a fuse, go into a coma, do literally anything to save himself from this absurd and unconventional torture.
"Are you alright, Plagg?" the blond tried again, patronizing. Plagg managed a glare.
"Would you like some cheese, then?" he asked one final time, feeling rather sympathetic and forcing himself to get up and grant his kwami some camembert out of pity for the poor sprite's sanity.
Plagg snatched it from him, taking a nibble out of a corner for lack of words to describe the situation. Adrien watched him with mild amusement, tired all the same. He changed into a set of pyjamas and decided to dedicate tonight to sleep instead of stalking or anime. He didn't want to be late to class tomorrow again, either, but on top of that, his brain needed a break from the overstimulation it was being subjected to as of late. The same could be said for Plagg, who floated over after taking an age to finish his camembert.
"In all my millennia..." was the last thing the kwami said, shaking his head as he flew close enough but left considerable distance between himself and Adrien.
And then all of the model's worries and thoughts evaporated into the sweet release of long-overdue sleep.