May I present to you my first bit of post-ABND drabble! And the real question is why must I feel the need to write angst this way? *Sighs* Well, I've had this scene in my head since late February or something, and it was something that stuck out as being important to acknowledge, so I really felt that it needed to be written. I promise the next bit from this ML world from me will be much happier, but at least there are some precious moments to be found here!

Marinette woke with a start, her eyes snapping wide to see soft, waning moonlight filtering through the sheer curtains that hung over the window a few feet away.

A small clock sitting on the bedside table near her head displayed that it was only 2:47 in the morning. The night was still and quiet, and for a moment she couldn't understand what had drawn her so forcefully from her deep slumber.

But then she felt a nearly indiscernible tremor run through the mattress and heard a sharp intake of breath behind her.

Marinette quickly rolled over to find Adrien lying flat on his back beside her, shaking violently.

His eyes were closed tight, and he was breathing hard in and out through his nose. The muscles in his jaw were tense, and his hands were balled into fists. His legs had come free of the covers. They were bunched up towards the foot of the bed in a way that told Marinette he must've kicked them off.

"No…" he mumbled, through his clenched teeth, his head jerking this way and that. "No… no… please no…"

"Hey," she said softly, reaching her hand out to place it on his shoulder. The moment she touched his skin, he flinched away from her, his mumbling growing more frantic.

"No… don't… please…"

"Adrien?" Marinette said, reaching out for him again to grasp his arm firmly. "Adrien, wake up! Honey, it's just a bad dream…"

"No… stop please… don't…. no…"

She felt the muscles in his arm flex as he unconsciously tried to pull out of her reach, but she held fast, her voice becoming stronger and more urgent.

"Adrien! Sweetie, wake up!"

"Please no… don't touch her… no!"

"ADRIEN!"

"NO!"

With a hoarse cry, Adrien's eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, gasping for air and staring at the dark wall in front of him.

Slowly, Marinette sat up beside him, wrapping an arm lightly around his bare shoulders. He was still trembling.

"Another nightmare?" she asked gently, already knowing the answer.

Adrien said nothing, but reached a shaking hand up to rub at his eyes, bowing his head low to his chest.

"Oh, mon chaton," she sighed mournfully, leaning her head against his. "Which one was it this time?"

Adrien said nothing, hardly even responding to her touch.

Marinette silently berated herself for not having seen this coming. She had known Adrien had looked exhausted upon returning home from his long business trip earlier that evening. Dark circles had lined his eyes, and he had been quiet all through gulping down the leftovers she had saved for him.

In the recent weeks, he had been pulling horribly long hours working near his father; and between his time spent at the office, and traveling back and forth to Madrid twice in six days to meet several important people, Marinette had hardly seen him.

It was times like this when Adrien had always been more susceptible to the night terrors.

"Honey?" she asked softly, seeing that he was still gazing straight ahead. She gave him a gentle shake, trying to pull him out of whatever horrific visions were running across his sight. "Adrien, talk to m–"

Letting out a squeak of surprise, Marinette's words were cut off as Adrien suddenly whipped around and took her lips in his own.

She blinked in surprise as his eyes squoze shut. Leaning into her, Adrien pushed her back down onto the pillows, his mouth hard and insistent against hers. Marinette frowned, but closed her eyes and returned the kiss hesitantly.

Adrien took her response and ran with it, tilting his head to deepen the motion as he propped himself over her on one elbow. His free hand rubbed burning trails along her stomach, and his tongue brushed along her lower lip, pulling her mouth open.

Marinette laced her fingers through the hair along the back of his neck. She gasped a little at the intensity of his kiss. It wasn't sweet, nor of passion, but rather full of hunger. Like a deep, unsettled need was driving his actions, a ravenous fire that was eating at him and pulling her along into the heat of it.

Greedily, Adrien's mouth moved even more roughly against hers, taking, taking, taking. The hand he ran along her side clenched at the folds of her shirt, exposing her waist a little to the cool night air, and a small hum vibrated involuntarily from her throat.

It was then that she felt the hot splash of tears hit her cheek, and Marinette's eyes blew open to look up at him.

Her mouth froze under his, but rather than be deterred, he began trailing his lips hot along the edge of her jaw.

"Adrien…" Marinette sighed, slumping a little further into the pillow and let her hands fall away from him, trying to ignore the sparks of pleasure she felt as he ran a line of kisses down to the base of her neck. "We should talk."

His only response was to clench his fingers tighter along her hip, pulling her a little more towards him as he grazed to the sensitive skin above her pulse.

Letting out a huff of impatience as he tried to draw her in again with a gentle nip, Marinette brought her arms underneath his shoulders and pushed him up off her. Cupping the sides of his face with both her hands, she pulled him around to look at her, a small swell of frustration building as he gazed resolutely off to the side.

"Adrien," she repeated his name, tilting her own head a little to try and catch his eye.

Instead, he pulled even further away and stared blankly out the window, the pale light from it reflecting softly off the wet streams trailing down his cheeks.

"Adrien, look at me." Marinette's voice grew in the strength of the demand, and she tugged him around again, unyielding. Finally, he was forced to meet her gaze, his green eyes dark with sorrow. "Talk to me. Please."

Adrien opened his mouth, staring at her for a moment before he sighed, releasing the tension in his muscles to slump down against her. His chin rested on her chest and he closed his eyes in defeat.

"It doesn't matter," he said in a low voice. "You don't need to get wrapped up in my nightmares too."

Marinette frowned at this.

"I don't care about getting wrapped up in them, it's you being trapped in them that has me upset."

"I didn't mean to make you angry."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it."

Adrien opened his eyes once again to regard her, a crease pinching between his eyebrows as he fought to keep in whatever was plaguing him. But Marinette held his gaze, a fierce determination filling her, not letting him back down.

Finally, his eyes fell shut once again and Adrien bowed his head to the side, nestling it under the crook of her neck. His arms wound around her waist, and he curled up into a ball beside her. Tucking his legs under her knees, he pulled her more securely into his warmth.

"It's always the same," Adrien said, his woeful sigh muffled a little as he tucked his face further into her. Marinette in turn rested one arm atop the one he'd lain across her stomach, and wrapped the other around his shoulders once again, softly caressing her fingers through his hair. "No matter what sort of enemy appears, or even if it's H-Hawkmoth himself, it always has that ending. You get hurt, I'm too slow to act, and I-I… and I l-lose you…"

Marinette's breath caught in her chest when she heard his voice crack, and a fresh wave of trembles ran through him as he spoke. Her grip on him tightened, and he cinched himself even closer about her. A soft sob passed through him, and Marinette's heart ached with the thought that he might never be truly free from the fears that had already haunted him for so long.

Forcing herself to take slow, measured breaths – so as to give him a constant rhythm to focus on – Marinette reached over to pull their comforter over them once again. She took extra time and care to tuck it in securely all around as best she could, knowing that he appreciated the feel of the downy cocoon. Once they were wrapped up in the soft warmth, she went right back to stroking his hair again.

"You're never going to lose me," she said quietly after a few moments. "You know I can take care of myself just fine."

"I've already almost lost you before."

"But you didn't really, did you? I mean sure we've had close calls –"

"Marinette…"

"But we always pulled through!"

"Marinette, I don't know what I'd do without you –"

"And I don't know what I'd do without you, but thankfully we'll never have to find out, yeah?"

"But what if –"

"Adrien, you and I are the perfect team because we have each other's backs no matter what. And even if one of us can't do anything to save the other, we still come out of it, you know?"

Adrien was silent now, and Marinette shifted a little to nuzzle her check against the top of his head.

"Nothing is going to happen that we can't handle," she continued in a low, gentle tone, barely above a whisper. "Because when we fight the good fight, we do it together, and together we are unstoppable."

"…Promise?"

"Promise."

Adrien shifted against her a little after a moment, and though she couldn't properly see his face, Marinette could've sworn she'd felt him smile. She began humming soft lullabies into the night, and little by little, she felt every last part of him relax into her embrace. The moon traveled lazily across the sky, its soft blue light shifting through the curtains as time passed.

"Don't you worry, my love," she murmured softly, as the gentle waves of sleep began to wash over the both of them once again. "I'm not going anywhere."

So I consciously left some bits of this a little ambiguous due to the fact that I am still toying with the idea of writing a proper sequel to ABND, involving more Hawkmoth. But any ideas I have for that are a bit vague, and if I ever did take that step, it wouldn't be for a long while. As such I haven't decided on how I'd want this particular scene to relate to it, whether I'd want it to come before or after such things. So yeah, the timeline for it is a little open ended! ;}

I know many of you might be wondering where the heck Ch 13 of ABND is, and I do apologize for keeping you waiting yet again! I just sort of lost motivation for writing once the summer heat hit and I started working even longer hours. Plus I really needed to get this one fic out of my system! I may repeat the process with another (MUCH happier) drabble soon enough, but at least I'm back at writing again and I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually!

As always, please do leave comments! Your support is such an amazing thing, and it really motivates me to keep writing, so thank you!