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Passion

It was a strange dream.

He was back at Nino's party, standing with Chloé and Lila. The two girls were talking about diamond-studded sneakers and some alleged item from Italy.

As Adrien listened to them go on and on, he glanced around the room. And he felt his heart drop when his eyes landed on an unexpected party guest.

Chat Blanc was standing there, chatting it up with a group of people. No one seemed shocked or disturbed by his presence; in contrast, everyone was laughing along with what he was saying.

"I invited him," Nino said, suddenly appearing next to Adrien. "He's actually a pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

"But... but..." Adrien protested.

"Come on, I'll introduce you," Nino interrupted before dragging him over. "Chat Blanc, this is my boy Adrien."

The villain dressed completely in white turned and smiled. "Hey man, nice to meet you."

Adrien couldn't speak, too confused about how this was possible.

"Let's talk," Chat Blanc continued, guiding him away from the group. "This is a great party, don't you think?"

"Uh, yeah," Adrien finally managed to say. "But how did you..."

"Nino invited me. I'm his best friend, after all."

Adrien lowered his brow. "No, I'm his best friend."

That got a laugh. "Did you forget that we're the same person?" Chat Blanc asked with a big smile, obviously amused.

"No, I didn't forget. But I don't understand how you're..."

"What's that?" Chat Blanc interrupted, looking down.

Becoming more confused, Adrien followed his gaze. And he discovered that he was holding a gift bag. "Oh uh, it's a present for Nino."

"Cool. Anything good?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's a... a..." he trailed off, suddenly not able to remember what he brought.

More smiling from Chat Blanc. "You don't know what the present is?"

"No, I do. It's a... um..."

"Presents are important, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Adrien replied, getting irritated.

A laugh. "Don't worry, I'm sure it will come to you. Well listen," Chat Blanc continued, putting his hand to Adrien's shoulder. "I have to leave. Hopefully we'll get to hang out again soon." Then he started to walk away.

"Wait!" Adrien called, stopping him in his tracks. "How are you here?" he asked, finally getting the question out.

He stared at him like he was crazy. "I'm you. I'm always here." Then he ran toward the window and jumped out.

And suddenly Adrien felt like he was falling, so he flinched and snapped his eyes open.

It was dark in his bedroom. Looking around frantically, he could tell that it was still the middle of the night. Catching his breath from the dream, he rested his head back down on his pillow.

It took a minute for him to calm down. That was strange. What a super strange thing to dream about. Chat Blanc hanging out with his friends at Nino's birthday party, of all things. But sure enough there he was, giving him a hard time about Nino's present.

'Don't worry, I'm sure it will come to you.' That's what he said.

It was a set of headphones.