Dreams

After walking home with Cat he drops you off at the front door, only to meet again on your balcony, where you let him inside from the cold.

"It's freezing out there! Do you wanna get under the blankets with me?" You ask, walking over to you bed and moving the covers around.

"If it's ok with you, then absolutely, but what if your parents come up here?" He asks hesitantly.

"First of all, if it wasn't ok with me, I wouldn't have asked, silly! Second, they're all downstairs doing something of their own. The only one with a chance of coming in would be s/n wanting me to play or something, but I think they have something they're wanting to watch, so it's fine! Come on!" You say, sliding under the covers.

"If you're sure..." He says before giving you a surprise by kicking off his boots, leaving him in black and green paw printed socks.

"You can do that?! Also, this may sound weird, but I love your socks." You exclaim as he climbs under the blankets.

He laughs, and responds with, "Yeah, the whole thing comes off except my mask and ears, which is how I got dressed for the Halloween dance."

"Huh." Is all you say, more focused on cuddling up to him.

He sighs as he wraps his arms around you and pulls you close to his chest.

"Why the huhhh?" You ask, imitating him.

"Hm? Oh, that was a happy sigh!" He explains.

"Ohh, ok. Just checking."

"Wait, why would you think it was sad? This is my happy place!" He says, burrowing his face into your hair.

You smile and reach up to pet behind his cat ear, making him purr.

"Mine too."

You don't mention it, but you are worried about him, since it's Christmastime, and his father is in prison, his mother is at the hospital, and his cousin and aunt can be a bit odd.

While you ponder on what you could do to help, you notice his breathing has gotten slower and a more regular pattern.

Plus he hasn't mentioned the nonstop purring, so that leads you to believe he's asleep.

You almost fall asleep too, until he starts twitching.

At first it's small, mostly his cat ears is all you can feel.

You try to look at him, and see his face scrunched up, plus he's stopped purring.

From his expression you guess he's having a nightmare, and are about to wake him, when he suddenly squeezes you really tightly.

You'd never thought about it before, because he's always so soft and gentle, especially with you, but with the added superpowers, he's insanely strong.

Making a squeak, you start trying to shake him awake, simultaneously trying to pry his arms away.

"Cat! Let me go!" You say as soon as his eyes seem to be open at all.

He immediately moves his arms away, and you take a deep breath.

"Wh-what happened?! What's wrong?!" He asks quickly, seeing your expression.

"You were having a nightmare or something, and moving in your sleep."

"Did I hurt you? Are you alright?!" He asks, looking horrified.

"I'm fine now. And let's just say I may know what a car in a crusher feels like now."

"Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry!! I swear I didn't mean to, I had no idea what was going on! I would intentionally hurt you! Are you sure you're ok?!"

"Cat, I know you wouldn't, you were asleep. I'm not blaming you for what you did while you were sleeping. And I'm alright."

"Are you sure? What happened that felt like a car in a crusher?!"

"Well, you'd been hugging me the whole time, but then it was closer to a bear hug."

"So I squished you?"

"Basically."

"I'm so so sorry! I don't even know how strong the miraculous makes me, but I know it's more than normal people. You could've been seriously hurt, are you absolutely positive you're not in pain? Anywhere?" He asks, looking you over.

"Yeah, I'm fine." You say shrugging and doing a little twist.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, there might be a bruise or something later, but nothing serious, like a broken rib or anything!" You say, cracking a smile, but it has the opposite affect on Cat.

"Whoa, what?! Did you think that you might have an injury that serious?!"

"I was just making an example." You say, getting a little worried that he's so scared, making you think you've still underestimated his strength.

"Do you know how to check for broken bones? You might consider making sure." He says.

"No, I don't, I've never needed to. Do you?!"

"Yeah, I took a short first aid class when I first got my miraculous."

"Oh. That makes sense. If you're that worried, I guess you could check to be sure."

His face heats up, and he looks at you in surprise.

"Uhm. Are you ok with that? I would have to touch your sides."

"I don't mind. You do that all the time, I usually enjoy it." You respond, feeling your face heat up too.

"Yeah, but you always have a shirt on, I would have to feel your bare side."

"Oh. Well it's still alright with me, I mean, you're literally checking for broken bones."

"Yeah, I just hope you're not too ticklish!" He says, cracking a tiny smile.

You laugh a little, and turn your side to him, and roll up your shirt.

He scoots closer to you, and glancing periodically at your face, starts to ghost his hands over your sides, pressing lightly.

You shiver at his touch, and he asks if he should stop.

"It's ok, just a cold chill."

Nodding, he goes back to feeling your sides.

When he's done, you let your shirt fall down and listen as he tells you that there's nothing broken.

"But like you said, there will probably be some bruises later on. And again, I am really, sorry."

"I know you are. I'm ok, but are you?" You ask, thinking back to what started the entire thing.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He asks, looking away.

"Well, I assume you must've been having a pretty intense dream."

"Oh, right. That."

"Yeah. That."

He gulps, and bites his lip.

"If you don't wanna talk about it, that's ok, I just thought it might help."

"No, you're right. It would be good to talk about it, and you're the only one I'd discuss it with."

You give him a smile, and take his hand.

"What happened?"

"Well, it was Hawkmoth. Or my dad, I guess I should say. He'd escaped prison, and went to steal the miraculous back.

He found Master Fu, and stole the entire box of miraculous.

When he destroyed the box and got to the miraculouses, he transformed back into Hawkmoth, and fused a bunch of different kwamis together."

You don't exactly understand what all he's talking about, but don't interrupt to ask.

"A-and and then he went to find me and Ladybug, but ended up finding you." He says, and you can see tears welling up.

You stroke your thumb across his hand as he continues.

"He captured you, and used his cane to take a video of him hurting you, an-and then he, he sent it to me, so I figured out where you were, and since you weren't in danger at the moment, I snuck up and grabbed him. That's when you woke me up." He chokes out through many voice cracks, and gasping breaths, leaving you speechless.

"Oh, Kitty." Is all you can say as you pull him into your arms and pull his head to lay on you.

You just stroke him for a while and let him get everything out.

"Do you get dreams like this often?" You ask after he's calmed down.

"Sometimes. But usually not so vivid. It felt so real!" He says putting his arms around you.

You notice he's being extra careful about it though.

"I know, I know. But it was just a dream, it didn't happen." You say, petting his hair.

"But it caused me to hurt you!"

"That's ok, I'm fine. You didn't mean to."

"And it could've happened! He came to your house! He you!"

"He didn't get away with it though, you got him!"

"But what if we didn't? You could've been seriously hurt. Heck, you could've been seriously hurt tonight!"

"I'm not! You checked yourself, I'm totally fine!"

"But what if you weren't. What if I'm just dangerous in general?! My miraculous is a symbol of bad luck! My power is ultimate destruction! What if I ended up falling asleep like that again, and ended up calling for a cataclysm in my sleep?! I could, I could destroy you." He says, pulling away from you.

"There's too many 'What if's. Besides, it didn't activate just then, so why would if you were basically unconscious?!"

"Because I have to want it, and if I wanted it in my sleep, it would activate. And I don't know if Ladybug could fix it." He says quietly.

"I guess you'd just have to detransform, especially if you're tired."

"But I could forget! There's too much wrong this. With me." He says, starting to take in short, quick breaths.

"Adrien Agreste. There is nothing wrong with you, or with us. I love you, you love me. That's what matters. If we love each other, we'll find ways around anything else." You state, taking both of his hands into yours and holding them tightly.

The tension in his shoulders seems to melt away, and he looks up at you with the smallest of smiles.

"You really think so?" He asks, his breaths slowing.

"I know so. We're in this together, right?"

"Right." He says, his smile growing.

You return the smile, and release his hands to hug him.

He hugs you back, still being extra careful.

Pulling away enough to look at him, you lean in and kiss him softly.