Our Heroes (mlb x pjo x avengers)

(32) Staying Up Late and Sleeping Early! Aka Gen Z Being Sleep Deprived

Full Chapter Title: "Staying Up Late and Sleeping Early! Aka Gen Z Being Sleep Deprived and the Oldies Sleeping Early!"

[Natasha's POV]

After their excellent meal, everyone was knocked into a food coma.

"Ugh, I don't want to get up," Tony complained. Natasha had to agree. It had been a while since the Avengers had a home-cooked meal like that. She could feel herself dozing off even though she would usually be raring to go after a meal—or, rather, what the Avengers called a meal, which consisted of a lot of frozen food and artificial flavors. 

She looked outside and noticed that the sun was almost set. They were having so much fun chatting while eating that they hadn't realized how much time had passed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Will making his way to the couch and flopping over the side of the armrest. Looks like he's down for the count. I think I'll do the same, Natasha thought.

"I say we all just take a nap," Steve suggested. Wow, Natasha realized, I hope this isn't a sign that we're getting old.

Having no energy to make their way to their rooms, everyone decided to sleep near each other in the living room to 'keep Will company.' (They just didn't want to admit how tired they were.)

Natasha claimed a couch to herself as others went to lay blankets down on the floor. This is nice, she thought. It's like a big slumber party. She'd never had anything of the sort before, growing up in the Red Room as she did.

Despite her drowsiness, she refused to fall asleep before the others and forced herself to stay awake until everyone was asleep.

The boys were knocked out rather quickly, sprawled out on the floor in all directions. She heard Nico moving around and turned to discreetly look at him.

He was gently moving Will to lay comfortably on the couch rather than in the slumped position he had dropped himself in. After carefully laying a blanket on his boyfriend, he quietly made his way over to the others and made sure they were all covered and sleeping in positions that wouldn't make them uncomfortable.

For someone who wants to appear scary, he really is a kind-hearted kid, Natasha thought.

Finally, Nico made his way to Natasha. He unrolled a blanket for her and draped it over her body. It was only then that Natasha realized she hadn't bothered to get a blanket for herself.

"Go to sleep," he whispered to her. How had he noticed she was still awake? This boy sure is a mystery, she had to admit.

"Sweet dreams," he said softly before returning to Will's side. Natasha gave a small sleepy smile and whispered back, "You too."

Before drifting off completely, she saw Nico sitting up on the couch next to Will rather than laying down, twisting his skull ring methodically. Was he not planning on sleeping? That was the last thing she thought before finally escaping into the world of dreams.

~~~~

[Adrien's POV]

Adrien was practicing one of Chopin's preludes on the piano—one of his favorite pieces, in fact—when his mind started to wander. It had only been a few days since he had met the new team of superheroes but he felt strangely comfortable with all of them.

If someone had told Adrien a few years ago that a time would come when he would be making friends with so many people so easily, he wouldn't have believed them. It's crazy to think that not too long ago he had no friend other than Chloé.

Speaking of his friends, Adrien had decided that tonight was finally the night that he would go check on Marinette. Since it has been a few days since her nightmare, he figured it would be okay to finally ask how she was doing.

He remembered the way she had cried and clung to him. He had seen her at school the past few days, of course, and she had seemed fine, but he knew better than to believe that everything was completely okay.

Perhaps she would be more willing to open up to his superhero form rather than in his civilian form, and if that was the case, Adrien wanted nothing more than to be able to help her.

After waiting for a bit, Adrien transformed and hopped out the window, following the familiar route to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. He's made his way there so many times at that point that it felt like second nature to land on her balcony.

He noticed the lights in her room were off and cursed, realizing that he came very late at night and that she was probably sleeping.

However, just as he turned to leave, a voice stopped him. "Chat?" Marinette asked.

She was wrapped in a blanket with a hot chocolate in hand, sitting on one of the chairs on her balcony.

"O-oh! Hey, Marinette. I was, um, in the area, and wanted to check up on you," Chat Noir explained sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. He took in her appearance and realized her eyes were tinted red. Had she been crying again? Just often did she have these nightmares and how bad were they to distress her so much?

"Check up on me?" she asked, sitting up. "Oh, if this is about what happened a few days ago, then I'm okay now. It was just a bad dream," she explained quickly. Chat could sense her discomfort on the subject and decided not to push.

"Well, that's good then...So, what're you doing up so late?"

"Just...thinking." Then, after a moment of silence, she asked, "Do you want to sit down? I could get you some hot cocoa."

Chat agreed, wanting to spend more time with her. She handed him the drink when she came back and sat next to him.

"Chat Noir, can I ask you a question?" Marinette finally asked.

"Shoot."

"Well...if you ever get akumatized, what do you think would be the reason for it?" she asked hesitantly.

Chat looked shocked at the question. That was the last thing he was expecting her to ask. However, he pondered over it seriously before replying, "Honestly, there's a lot of things I can think of. I usually think with my emotions rather than my head, so if anything bad happens, in any way, I'd probably be affected pretty badly. Most likely, if something happened to Ladybug, or one of my friends or family, I think that would be the biggest cause."

Marinette nodded solemnly, "That makes sense. I think I would get akumatized for something similar." She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, his hand naturally finding its way around her back.

"Marinette...you know, if something's wrong you can always tell me or one of your friends, right? I don't know if you realize this, but you mean a lot to a lot of people, including me. You're always helping people, but never reach out to ask for help. We're all always here for you, should you ever need anything," Chat said worriedly.

At that moment, he realized he had never felt more himself. He wasn't speaking to her as just Chat Noir or Adrien but as both. All of him wanted to comfort the girl next to him right then and there and for once, he didn't feel the two sides of his personality clashing with each other. Next to her, next to his lady, he felt complete.

At that moment, he felt that he could see the girl next to him—really see her—for who she was, and for who she always has been. And for some reason, at that moment, in the darkness of night, he felt that she could see him in the same way.

Marinette put a hand to his cheek, searching his eyes. An understanding seemed to pass through them as their cheeks tinted pink. Finally, Marinette pulled her hand away and laid her head on his shoulder once more.

"Thanks, kitty."

"Don't mention it, Mari."

Wait i actually kinda like this chapter for once,,,,

if anyones confused.....lets just say adrien and marinette looked past the mist for a quick sec and realized some things for once...

(also sorry for the late chapter ik im only like a day or two late but still i hit a bit of a slump with this story and it took a lil longer to publish so apologies!!)