Adrien shot up in bed with a gasp, dripping in a cold sweat. His green eyes darted around his darkened room, grounding him back in reality. The blond took a few shaky breaths as he willed his heart to stop racing.

An inky black silhouette drifted in front of him, glowing green eyes piercing the darkness.
"Again?" Plagg asked, watching Adrien in what seemed a mix of mild frustration and concern.

Adrien nodded slightly, pulling his legs up to his chest.
Even in the dim light, the kwami could tell his holder was exhausted. Dark circles rimmed the young model's eyes as he stared off seemingly at nothing.

"Kid, that's the fourth night this week- is there something you need to talk about?"

This earned the kwami a slight hum of consideration, "I'm just tired." Adrien said at last, "Hawkmoth's been pulling middle of the night akumatizations for a little over a week now... Between that, school, fencing, Chinese, and modeling there just doesn't seem to be enough time to rest anymore." He rubbed his face tiredly.

"And the nightmares?" Plagg pressed.

Adrien averted his eyes, "Probably just stress getting to me..."

Plagg wasn't convinced he was telling the whole truth, but Adrien didn't seem to want to delve into the matter further so he sighed, "If you don't get some good sleep soon, you're going to burn yourself out, you know."

Adrien layed back, draping an arm over his eyes, "Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to just pass out for a solid eight hours." he muttered.
Plagg thought he heard Adrien's breathing hitch, maybe a slight whimper. Maybe he'd imagine it, though, because silence quickly filled the room again.

~x~x~x~

Adrien had been on the edge of sleep when a loud rumbling shook his room. Shouts followed in the distance. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and walked over to the window. There was a plume of smoke in the distance.

He heaved a deep sigh. So much for sleep tonight.
"Plagg... claws out!" Adrien held up his ring, willing the kwami to transform him into Cat Noir. Ladybug was bound to need a hand.

Cat Noir vaulted over the rooftops to his partner's side. Ladybug was already fending off the akumatized villain to the best of her ability, but seemed grateful for his appearance.
"There you are, Kitty." she smiled slightly, "I think the akuma's in his blaster!"

"Got it." Cat Noir replied with a nod, ready to use a Cataclysm on the weapon when the opening presented itself.

The battle lasted longer than expected, but eventually the pair of teens found themselves on the rooftops catching a breather.

Cat Noir leaned heavily on the guard rail, eyes prickling and head pulsing with fatigue. "Does Hawkmoth ever sleep?" he sighed.

"Yeah, really." Ladybug muttered, putting her elbows on the rail nearby as she stared out over the now quiet city. "These constant middle of the night akumas are wearing me out." she yawned, as if to emphasize her point.

"You and me both, m'lady." Cat Noir replied tiredly, eyes closed.
His ring chirped a reminder that there wasn't much time left.

Ladybug's earrings chimed their agreement.
She offered a slight smile to her friend, "We need to go home before we detransform. Get some sleep, Kitty." she bid, preparing to swing off with her yoyo.

"You too."

KLNNNG!

"Unnph."

Ladybug turned, slightly startled.
Cat Noir seemed to have inadvertantly caught his staff in the rail and jabbed himself in the shoulder in the process.

"Cat Noir?" Ladybug asked, finding her gaze lingering a moment.

Cat Noir was rubbing his shoulder, but recovered his stance, "Just slipped a little since it's dark." he offered, "Good night, m'lady." he tacked on as he vaulted off.

"Don't you have night vision?" Ladybug called after him.
Either he didn't hear her or didn't care to honor her with a reply.
Ladybug sighed and headed home. After school they were supposed to attend a 'Meet and Greet' to boost citizen morale, and she was intent to have as much sleep before then as possible.

~x~x~x~

Cat Noir landed neatly back inside his room and detransformed, shoulders sagging tiredly as he trudged over to his desk.

"Aren't you going back to bed?" Plagg asked, already looking for some cheese to snarf down.

"No point." Adrien sighed, "The sun will be up in two hours. I'll feel worse if I do manage to fall asleep."

Plagg sighed, but didn't push the matter further.

~x~x~x~

In Ms. Bustier's class that morning, Marinette was nursing a large thermos of coffee. With today's after school event, she wasn't taking any chances of letting herself get dozy.

"Whoah, girl. Did you stay up late working on a sewing project again?" Alya asked, sliding into her spot beside Marinette.

"Uh, yeah." Marinette agreed, taking a big swig from her thermos, "I've been super busy lately. Lots of... sewing projects."

Alya arched an eyebrow, "Riiiight. So gifts for Adrien, then?" she asked.

Marinette's cheeks flushed, "What? No! I mean some of them, but not all of them! That would be totally weird of me! Haha! Nope... Maybe."

Alya shook her head.
"Okay, chill. I'm just teasing."
The girls chattered back and forth quietly for a bit as Ms. Bustier went over reminders for upcoming school activities and reminded everyone of the Meet and Greet later, in the event they wanted to turn out to support Paris's heroes.

Alya looked past Marinette for a bit and smirked, "Looks like you're not the only night owl." she mused.

"Huh?" Marinette blinked her blue eyes in confusion.

Alya pointed to where Nino and Adrien sat.
The latter's head would slowly dip towards his chest and then jerk upward, only to repeat the process. It looked like Adrien was fighting to stay awake.

Marinette watched her crush, "Aw, poor Adrien."

"I think you both might need to work on your sleep hygiene." Alya replied dryly.

"Girls, please. Class is in session." Ms. Bustier reminded, hushing them.

~x~x~x~

Adrien wasn't quite sure how, but he made it through all his classes. He'd be lying if he said he remembered anything of substance, though. Everything just felt like it wasn't absorbing today. His legs felt heavy as he slogged his way over to the waiting limo. He had to get home, transform, and meet Ladybug in the park for their 'Meet and Greet'.

Truth be told, he really wasn't in the mood to be social right now, but he couldn't bear the idea of letting his Bugaboo down. Still, he reasoned as he fairly melted into his seat, there wasn't much harm in resting his head on the window for the ride home. After all, the window pane was cool and offered some small comfort from the fiery headache piercing through his skull.
Just a few hours in the park, then bed, he told himself. He was just so tired...

Marinette was leaving school herself and caught a glimpse of Adrien, heart clenching in her chest.
He looked absolutely bone tired. She hoped he was going home to rest.
It really looked like he needed it.

~x~x~x~

Adrien wasn't sure what point during the car ride he'd fallen asleep, but upon being woken by his bodyguard he realized two things- Cat Noir was supposed to be at the park right now... and he felt so much worse than before his catnap.

He retreated to his personal bathroom, splashing cold water on his face whilst Plagg tried in vane to talk him down.

"Oh, kid. You don't look good. How about you call Ladybug? She can handle the park solo."

"No way, Plagg... She doesn't need to get any flack on my account." Adrien replied weakly, cheeks flushed with fever, "Besides... I'm already late..."

Plagg tried to argue more, but found himself summoned within Adrien's ring as he transformed into Cat Noir.

He popped a couple ibuprofen to help tame his fever and then headed out the window into the Parisian afternoon.

Ladybug was already swarmed by press and fans alike when Cat Noir reached the park. For the moment, he was reassured he'd made the right choice. He stood behind a tree, panting as he tried to catch his breath and summon forth his model persona. He needed that Adrien more at the moment- the Adrien with the ability to keep smiling and posing no matter how long he had to stand under the unrelenting sun. After a minute or two, he managed to get himself enough into the right mindset. He emerged from his hiding spot, offering friendly waves to people in the crowd as he took a more central spot by Ladybug.

"Where were you?" Ladybug asked, turning to him.

"Just taking a catnap, m'lady." Cat Noir replied with a smirk.

Ladybug shook her head.
They were both tired, but he didn't need to act so irresponsible.
She was about to scold him when she thought better of it.

Something didn't feel right.
She tried to assess what it was exactly, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
All she knew was Cat Noir was off somehow.
She watched him for any telltale signs, any gives, but nothing readily jumped out.

Cat Noir was largely on auto pilot.
He was barely paying attention, just going through the motions.
By and large it was working, but he could feel his exhaustion trying to claim him.
He stumbled. Did Ladybug see? She was staring at him. Her lips parted.

All of a sudden, screams filled the air.

"Ah! My eyes! I'm blind!" someone was screeching.

"Help me! I can't see!"

"Run!"

People were scattering every which way as an akumatized woman chuckled and weaved through the crowd, causing chaos in her wake, "You won't ignore BlindEye anymore." she declared.

Cat Noir swore inwardly.
Not now.

Author's Note:
So much has happened since I last wrote fanfiction. To sum up quickly: I got married and had two kids. Finally finding ways to have 'me time' again and decided to give the series Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir a watch... I promptly got addicted and recently watched the season 5 finale. I decided for simplicity to set this fic somewhere in the season 1 timeline, so love square it is! Reviews make me happy and I'll see you all in chapter 2!