"Good night, little kitten," Adrien murmured warmly as he stepped out of his toddler son's room, though he knew the sleeping boy couldn't hear him. "Sleep tight."
He let his gaze rest affectionately on the child for a moment, then quietly closed the door and headed up the stairs towards his own bedroom on the top level.
He and Marinette had figured it would be best for their room to have easy access to the roof. After all, while there were not any supervillains currently active as there had been when they were teenagers, they still liked to transform every now and again. They'd taken to patrolling a few times a week (albeit in turns now that one of them would have to keep an eye on the kids) and continued to help keep Parisians safe however they could.
"Hugo's asleep," Adrien announced as he entered the room. Marinette glanced over at him, swaying gently beside their bed as she rocked their seven-month-old daughter, Emma. Though she was not crying and did not appear to be in any distress, she seemed reluctant to close her eyes and fall asleep.
"Oh, good," said Marinette, casually approaching her husband and holding their daughter out to him. "Can you take Emma for a moment? I need to brush my teeth…"
"Of course," said Adrien genially, accepting the baby and beginning to rock her gently as Marinette had been doing.
"Thanks."
Adrien slowly made his way over to the bed as Marinette rushed off to the bathroom. He heard the rush of water from the faucet as he carefully sat down, back propped up against a pillow and legs sprawled out in front. He never took his eyes off his daughter has he reclined ever-so-slightly, letting the baby lean against his chest.
Emma stared back at him with wide, curious eyes, not upset but still not sleepy. Those eyes had been blue when she was born, but lately they seemed to have been shifting, becoming more of a warm teal. It seemed that, like her brother, Emma was destined to end up his spring-green eyes rather than keep her mother's sky-blue.
It was a bit of a shame, Adrien thought, that neither of the kids had their mother's eyes, which he regarded to be the most beautiful in the world. But then again, he thought, she'd probably say the opposite. Marinette always said how much she loved his eyes.
Besides, Adrien added to himself with a hint of amusement, they still had one more chance. He and Marinette had always talked about having three children. So perhaps the next would get her eyes.
And either way, in his opinion, Emma was still the most precious baby girl he'd ever seen. Green eyes were nowhere near enough to change that.
"You're so beautiful, you know that?" he cooed. Emma smiled at the sound of her father's voice, and Adrien smiled back.
"My sweet little kitten," he continued, enjoying the baby's happy reactions. That little grin and bright eyes filled his heart to bursting. "My tiny love-bug. My precious princess."
"Remember when you called me that?"
Adrien turned as his wife crawled into bed next to him, grinning. Her eyes shone with teasing and a hint of nostalgia.
"Called you what?"
"Princess."
Adrien laughed. "Did I really?"
"Mm-hmm," said Marinette. "Waaaaaay back when we had just barely become heroes. It was…Evillustrator, I believe? At any rate, it was the first time we'd interacted while you were transformed and I wasn't." Her tone turned teasing as she shot him a bemused glance. "I think you were trying to make a cool impression, flexing your noodly little middle-school muscles and prattling on with some metaphor about being my 'knight' for the evening."
Adrien glanced away, cheeks tinged pink. "Oh, gosh," he mumbled, though the corners of his lips still turned up in a sheepish smile. "Was I really that corny?"
Marinette laughed, leaning over to kiss her husband on the cheek.
"Yes, but it's ok. We all did dumb things in middle school, you know? I still fell for you in the end. Besides," she smirked. "frankly, you're still a bit corny."
Adrien cast her a look of mock-offense, but quickly dropped the act.
"What can I say?" he sighed smoothly, rolling his eyes back in a fake dramatic swoon. "I just can't help myself around girls as beautiful as you."
"There you go again," said Marinette.
"Only the best for you, my Lady," replied Adrien before turning back to his daughter. "Besides, whatever I said back then, you can't be my princess now."
"No?"
"Nope. That's officially Emma's job." He turned again, locking eyes with Marinette. "You are my queen now, bugaboo."
Marinette giggled. "Ah. And I suppose that makes Hugo the prince?"
"Mmhmm. Unless he wants to be a knight like his dad."
"Why a knight and not the king?"
Adrien shrugged, grinning. "Whichever you prefer, my lady."
The conversation fell silent for a while, and before long both parents found their eyes drawn to the little girl in her father's arms, nonchalantly playing with her fingers.
"She's so beautiful," Adrien breathed softly.
"Mmmm," Marinette agreed, reaching out a hand to gently stroke the pale blonde fuzz atop her daugher's head. "She looks so much like you."
"The Agreste side of the family, for sure, but I'd say more like my mom," Adrien countered, recalling the old pictures he'd seen.
"Pffft," huffed Marinette. "You look like your mom, Adrien, so that makes sense."
Adrien shrugged. "I suppose you're right."
They sat there a little while longer, and gradually Emma's eyes began to grow heavy, and before long she had finally drifted off to sleep.
"Do you want me to take her to her crib?" Marinette asked quietly.
"No, that's ok. You've already brushed your teeth, I haven't yet, so I'd have to get back up anyways. You can go ahead to sleep." He leaned over, planting a loving kiss on his wife's forehead. "Good night, Queen Marinette."
She smiled. "Good night, King Adrien."
Adrien slid slowly off the bed and headed down the stairs to the nursery, careful not to jostle Emma lest he wake her again. She was sleeping through the night now, thank goodness, and he didn't want to have to put her to sleep more than once if he could help it.
At last he reached her room and lay her gently in the crib, pulling a warm blanket over her little body and giving her one last contented look.
"Goodnight, Princess Emma," he murmured. "My sweet little kitten."