Marinette woke to a start, the pillow she had been clinging to flying from her chest and landing somewhere across the room. Taking a few shallow breaths, she looked around frantically, trying to ground herself to reality. On her left, laying next to her, was a mess of blond hair. On her right, was her clock. It was 4 in the morning, a time that she most definitely did not want to be awake at. Marinette lay back into the mess of pillows that adorned her bed and looked up at the blankets hung above her. Her mind was still reeling and spinning from her nightmare, and although her eyes threatened to closed, she was too scared to let them.
Rolling over to face her boyfriend's back, she considered waking him so he could keep her company. Instead, she opted for cuddling up against him, allowing his warmth and presence to comfort her.
That was enough to wake him.
"Mmm," Adrien moaned, clearing the fog in his mind and turning over. His eyes remained closed, unwilling to fully wake at the early hour of the day. "What are you doing up? Are you okay?" he mumbled. Marinette took hold of one of his hands and shook her head.
"I'm fine," she replied. He didn't believe her for a second, and began the attempt to lift his lids. "I just had a bad dream. It's fine." Adrien was much more awake now. His arms were around her in seconds and he pulled her into a tight hug. He brought his lips to her forehead and left them there.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he muttered.
"Not really."
"Okay." For a few minutes, they cuddled in silence. Sleep threatened to overcome both of them.
"Could you talk to me?" Marinette asked gently. "Anything. Tell me a story, or something. I just. I don't want to think right now." Adrien squeezed her softly.
"Sure," he whispered. It would help to keep him awake as well. He wouldn't have been able to sleep knowing that she was suffering anyway.
Without enough capacity to create brand new, witty story, Adrien launched into a lovely retelling of Cinderella, then Sleeping Beauty, and finally Beauty and the Beast, doing his best to only give her happy tails but staying true to the original versions of each. There wasn't much response from the girl, but occasionally he would hear her lightly hum when he got to a part she liked, or disliked. They were both very distinctive hums.
Adrien didn't make it to the end of the last story before her heard a light snore come from Marinette's mouth. Chuckling to himself, he readjusted into a more comfortable position gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before closing his own eyes.
"Goodnight."