A Lonely Cat Noir

A Trip to the Bakery

Adrien sat up suddenly, awaking from his fatigued state. It was hot, so hot, but why was he shivering? He stood up, still aching everywhere, and made his way to the window. It was still dark, he looked down at his watch; 3:27 am. What was wrong with him? He looked out into the garden, his mothers grave just outside his window. The insatiable longing filled him. The fresh air was cold, and he could feel his cheeks and nose flushing as he stared out. He could feel the tick of his watch on his wrist, and it was slowing down. The back of his neck heated up, and his breath fogged up before his eyes. He'd never really thought of his mother so much before, why now? 

With both his mothers grave and the stars in sight, he reached out his hand, yearning for what could not be. Tears slid down his cheeks, he stood there. Waiting. 

A short while later Plagg floated up behind Adrien, "Adrien", he said softly, "Is everything okay?" 

Silence. 

"Plagg", Adrien said a little while later. "I'm going to go for a run",

"That's fine", Plagg replied, his head down. 

"Claws out". 

Cat Noir jumped out of the window, darkness enfolding him into its loving arms. 

---

Adrien's run looked broken. His face was screwed up in pain, and half the time he wasn't even running, just stumbling. However, he always picked himself back up, he always kept running. Plagg floated beside Adrien with a worrisome expression on his face, the occasional reminder Adrien could stop came out of his mouth every so often, it was no use. Adrien ran for an hour and a bit, around the neighbourhood streets. Finally stopping at the park near Marinette's house, and collapsing onto the grass. 

"Adrien, you shouldn't do that to yourself", Plagg said hovering a little above where Adrien lay panting. "You should be sleeping right now, I should be sleeping right now". 

Adrien shooshed him. "Plagg, be quiet, just look up at the sky". Plagg did. It was still dark, the stars glinting down at them. They were so far away. 

Adrien stood up 20 minutes later, "Do you reckon Marinette's parents have any food for me?" 

Plagg rolled his eyes, and turned away to look at the bakery, "maybe,  but don't you think they'll find it weird, seeing you at 5 in the morning?" 

"I'll try and get you something as well", Adrien said, "something... cheesy". 

Plagg turned back to Adrine smiling coyly, "sounds like a good idea". Plagg led the way, Adrien following behind. 

---

Adrien knocked on the door, Plagg hid behind the corner.

"Morning!" He called out. 

"Hello? Who's there?" He heard Marinettes mum Sabine call out. Through the stained glass, he could see her walk to the door. 

"It's Adrien, Marinette's school friend". 

"Adrien!" She opened the door, "what on earth are you doing up this early? Come in, come in". 

"Thank you", Sabine let Adrien in, it was so warm, and he could smell freshly baking pastries and bread. "Sorry to bother you, I was just walking around and I saw your lights on, so I thought I'd come to say hello", 

"That's very sweet, but Marinette won't be up for another 3 hours, it's quite early". 

"Oh no, I realised that, Marinette barely makes it to school on time most mornings, don't worry". 

"Oh, well come sit down and have some tea, there's some in the pot on the bench", Sabine gestured to the bench near the ovens. 

"Thank you so much, I'm so sorry if I'm being a bother". 

"Adrien!" Tom called out, "How are you?" 

"I'm great thanks". 

"What are you doing up this early?" 

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk, and then I saw your lights on and thought I'd come to say hi". 

Sabine pulled a tray out from the oven, lined with freshly baked chocolate croissants, "Adrien, would you like a croissant, you can taste test them to make sure nothing is wrong". 

Adrien looked over at where Sabine held the tray of croissants, would it be rude to say yes? Adrien looked closer at the croissants, flaky brown pastry, melted chocolate oozing out. He couldn't say no. "If you really need me too, I can", he grinned coyly at Sabine. 

She and Tom laughed, "Of course you can", Sabine came over and let him take his pick. 

"Thank you so much", Adrien said taking a bit. It was heaven, he closed his eyes, taking in every flavour, the chocolate, the buttery croissant, the powdered sugar on top. "It's the best thing I've ever had", he said opening his eyes. 

"Oh, you're so sweet", Sabine laughed. 

"So how has school been Adrien?" Tom asked. 

"Yeah, it's been okay, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, so it's not been that fun. But I still enjoy seeing all my friends",

"That's good, yeah I can understand it, we both saw that video of you with your rude finger out to those girls. It must get pretty tiring". 

"Tom!" Sabine smacked her husband with the tea towel, "Don't talk abo-"

"No, it's fine, really", Adrien said, just a touch bit awkward. "Yeah, I had like three hours sleep the night before, and I just couldn't be bothered... you know... doing anything. I didn't even realise it happened until it happened". 

"Don't worry, we all get grumpy sometimes. You're just in the spotlight when it happens". Tom says. 

"Yeah, Dad was so grumpy, he sent me straight to bed and told me not to get up until I'd slept", Adrien said laughing. Sure, he stretched the truth a bit, but it didn't matter. 

"Gosh, you should see Marinette when she get's grumpy, she does a whole lot more than point the rude finger!" Tom laughed. "She'll yell, then she'll go up to her room and pretend to be mad". 

"Yes, Marinette does have a bit of a problem with staying grumpy at us, it's quite sweet really". 

Adrien laughed, "That sound like Marinette, no matter how mad she is with Chloe, it never lasts". 

Adrien, Tom and Sabine chatted a little longer, Adrien watching them both cook as he drank his tea. At one point he felt Plagg come and pinch him from under the table, so he tore a little bit of what was left of the croissant and snuck into under the table. He could almost imagine Plagg complaining about it not being cheese. He wouldn't be complaining for long, not until he ate the actual croissant. 

Adrien left the bakery at 6, transforming into Cat Noir in a little alley and making his way home.