Adrien woke up to a faint tingle against his cheek and immediately smiled at the familiar sensation. He needn't open his jade eyes to recognize the silky dark hair that had just brushed against his skin, the sweetest scent of cookies and croissants reaching his nose as she breathed softly above him, the slightly louder background noise of France's capital bustling even in the middle of the night, in the wake of her opening his window to sneak in.

"Did I wake up or did I just start dreaming?" he mumbled sloppily, still groggy from his interrupted rest, but coherent enough in his movements that his lady's quiet snort was lost between his lips as he pulled her in. She giggled against his mouth, losing this battle, and kissed him back just as eagerly - soft, slow and adoring, lacking any raucous intention for now. Not that Adrien minded - he was quick to wake, but the same could not be said about all his body parts - however, he could feel her exhaustion in the way she kissed him and barely balanced her body on top of his.

His hand making its way to the small of her costumed back, he gently turned her on her side, finally opening his eyes to look at her as her head unceremoniously plopped against the pillows, despite his attentiveness. Ladybug looked as beautiful as always, blue eyes shining in the moonlight and longer hair cascading down her shoulder and into the scarce space between them. Despite her undisputable magnificence, she had definitely looked livelier a few hours ago, when he had last seen her.

"Eventful patrol tonight, Buginette?" He raised an eyebrow, his favorite nickname for her slipping from his lips like a taste of candy; after finding out who she really was beneath the mask on that fateful night in London, Adrien felt that one of his greatest achievements in his life was coming up with that particular nickname, which beautifully blended the two sides of his favorite person in the world. And he'd come up with it before knowing that it did.

Oh, how he had laughed when he realized the reason behind his lovebug always freezing, glaring at him and brushing him off heatedly whenever he called her that in battle.

True to her character and perhaps mirroring his own train of thought, Ladybug rolled her eyes with a soft smile. She snuggled into him, burying her head in the crook of his neck and sighing contently at his involuntary purr. She found it comforting, apparently.

"There was a bomb alert downtown. You'll see it on the news in the morning," Ladybug muttered. Adrien's hold on her immediately tightened - they both hated that particular subject equally, but he knew how it could take its toll on her, emotionally. "Was it for real?" he inquired softly.

The lack of response was all the answer he needed.

"You should have called me, my lady."

At his reprimanding tone, Ladybug heaved out a long breath. "We got there in time. It was deactivated and those who needed to be restrained were restrained. There were no victims. That's my job and that's where my job ends," she said, reciting what they had agreed upon together the first time they were caught up in something of that nature. They were to aid the authorities and protect as many people as they could, no more and no less.

"You did a great job. I'm proud of you. Still call me next time, Stubborn-ette," Adrien kissed the top of her head while his fingers slowly found their way into her hair. He was overcome with the urge to squeeze his partner in the tightest embrace known to mankind when, instead of snorting at his admittedly horrible pun, she uttered a quiet 'okay', but he refrained. She could take it, but he didn't want to hurt her anyhow.

The both of them had, quite honestly, believed that their lives as superheroes would be over once Hawkmoth was defeated - he was the reason why they became Ladybug and Chat Noir in the first place, and without a magical threat, there would be no need for magical solutions. So they thought.

However, after the extremely difficult task of battling and defeating his own father without screaming at the top of his lungs that he was his son, that he wanted his mother back too but even he could understand she would have never wished for things to turn out the way they did, Adrien had had to make another difficult decision.

Paris had been more open to the idea that Hawkmoth was no other than famous designer Gabriel Agreste, heartbroken husband who had turned to black magic in the hope that he might undo a tragedy, but now deeply and truthfully sought redemption, than to the notion that Ladybug and Chat Noir, symbols of safety and security, might never soar among the Parisian buildings again.

Public opinion knowingly and with very little backlash accepted Gabriel's plea to be allowed house arrest not in his own mansion, which was confiscated by the French authorities, but in a very highly guarded building, surveyed by the police and superheroes alike. Why? Because the team had vouched for him and admitted that Gabriel really was just a man with a broken heart who had lost his way, but could learn to find himself again.

The man known as the most dangerous criminal in modern French history was allowed relative freedom, because they said he should be and, more importantly, because everyone knew they had defeated him. Numerous times and one decisive time. And they could do it again if needed.

Ladybug, Chat Noir. Rena Rouge, Carapace, Queen Bee. They made not only Paris, but the entirety of France feel safe. The population could not even fathom them not being around anymore - the mere hint at the idea had caused a national uproar.

So Master Fu had given them all a choice. They could give back their Miraculous despite what the entire world thought, say goodbye to their beloved kwamis and also condemn Gabriel Agreste to a lifetime in jail, bankruptcy and even more severe mental illness, since they would no longer be around to keep an eye on him. Or they could stick around and learn to tackle non-magical, but much more soul-shattering, traumatizing human violence and betrayal of all values they held dear, including life. They could keep living their double life, keep hiding their secret identities from the world, keep their precious kwamis, and grow.

It had been an easy choice.

They all felt the consequences, but they were a team. And Chat Noir and Ladybug - they were much more than that. They could do anything as long as they were together.

"Dude, I'm off to the club- oh," Nino stopped dead in his tracks, instinctively moving to pull the door to his roommate's bedroom back closed. "Sorry, man, I didn't know you were sleeping. Thought you were out helping Ladybug."

Adrien faked rubbing the nonexistent sleep from his eyes. "No problem, bro. Something happened?"

"Could have been some nasty shit. But you know, it's Ladybug," the DJ chuckled.

Adrien let out a nervous laugh himself. "Yeah, probably why she didn't call me. Have a good one tonight, Nino."

"You know it! Sorry for waking you up, man, go back to your beauty sleep."

The door snapped shut and before Adrien could react in any way, Ladybug's brunette head popped out from underneath the covers. "Do you think he knew I was here?"

The twenty year old couldn't help it - he threw his head back and laughed louder than he should have, considering Nino probably hadn't even made half the distance towards their apartment exit yet. "Maybe on the day you ask that for the hundredth time, my love, some magic unknown to us will activate and he actually will know."

Ladybug clicked her tongue and lightly smacked his arm. "Kitty!"

"I know, I know!" he breathed defensively, mirth still dancing in his green eyes. "But we are going to find ourselves stepping in the litterbox from time to time, Buginette. They're our roommates."

Their team dynamics were truthfully... quite the thing.

The entire world, from Paris to Ibiza, knew that Queen Bee's real identity was Chloe Bourgeois, but she knew none of her teammates' real names. Rena Rouge and Carapace had figured each other out a long time ago - when they were fourteen, in fact - and after moving in together as roommates, it had really only been a matter of time for witty, inquisitive Alya to sniff out Marinette's identity and for loyal, compassionate Adrien to feel so bad about his horrible etiquette as a friend and as a roommate that he confessed to his best friend.

Nino, however, didn't know that Marinette was Ladybug and Alya had no idea that Adrien was Chat Noir.

None of them played with their secret identities (and even Chloe admitted that she wished she hadn't), so, engagement or not, neither Alya, nor Nino had ratted out their best friends' secret identities to each other. And even though fate had Alya and Marinette moving in the apartment right in front of Adrien and Nino's, the so-called cat and bug duo would have remained oblivious to each other's double life to this day.

But Nino and Alya had decided that, now that Hawkmoth was defeated and they could all afford to leave Paris for a few days, they would celebrate their engagement in London.

And oh, so many things had happened in London.

So many wonderful, wonderful things-

"You're thinking about that again, aren't you." It wasn't a question, and despite the shadow of a blush dusting her cheeks, Ladybug's expression was not amused.

"How do you always catch me?" Adrien grinned sheepishly, not even bothering to try to deny it.

She apparently couldn't resist his cuteness, and pecked his nose.

"Well, one, you have one particularly dorky expression on your face whenever you think about it," Ladybug teased, mercilessly ignoring his pout. "And two, you did not hear a word I said earlier."

If he were transformed, his black leather ears would have fallen flat on his head guiltily. "What is it you said, purr-incess?" Adrien inquired, not even trying to excuse himself. She loved it anyways, no matter how much she talked nonsense to him when she caught him thinking about it.

Ladybug flicked his forehead. "I said you should sleep, chaton. Your puns are worse than usual tonight."

But he was wide awake now, and any traces of sleepiness were replaced by a very powerful urge to play. He flipped them so he towered above her to convey as much, gazing down as her head bumped against the pillow, a growing smirk on his face.

"Meowch," Adrien purred in his Chat Noir voice, which, according to a particularly disturbed Marinette, was apparently just Adrien Agreste's bedroom voice, used outside of the bedroom.

"You hurt my peel-ings, Ladybug."

If she had found his whole one second of assertiveness sexy, the way she struggled not to laugh while lifting a delicate eyebrow proved it was for naught. "Peel-ings?"

"As in I want to peel this costume off of you."

"Get off."

"Okay, that was kinda bad-"

"Adrien, I swear-" but she was already laughing, which gave him the possibility to grasp her wrists and pin them above her head, while peppering light, tickly kisses on her neck. He knew she was very ticklish and needed a much more firm touch to feel pleasure and not erupt in a fit, but her uncontrolled giggles and weak squirming were exactly what his civilian form needed to keep that powerhouse of a woman pinned down.

Adrien then took her earlobe in his mouth and sucked, ignoring her surprised gasp and gliding his tongue upwards on the arch of her ear. "Tikki, spots off," he whispered almost tantalizingly.

"I-It won't work when you say it, you d-d-dork," Ladybug stammered. "A-And she'll kill you."

That was true, to an extent, but he believed he was on good enough terms with the god of creation that she would not quite resort to murder just yet. "Then you say it, Buginette," Adrien breathed, running his bare hand over her clothed waist, ribs, and cupping a perky breast; they had played that game the opposite way enough for him to know firsthand how nerve wracking it was to be touched in sensitive areas through that suit. "Let me play with you."

He had worked her up enough, it seemed, for the glare she gave him could have made his toes curl - not in fear, but anticipation. She dropped her transformation with a growl that instantly made him hard and, not before the kwami of good luck flew by his head and gave him a light smack, Marinette grabbed a fistful of his hair, wrapped her strong thighs around his torso and suddenly she was sitting on top of him.

That was kinda cute and very, very hot, he mused, but Adrien's inner cat was in the mood for a different game. As much as Ladybug could swing Chat Noir over buildings if she pleased, Adrien could very easily grab, bend and position Marinette wherever, however and in any way he wanted. Practicing battle sports in his civilian life, compared to her otherwise sedentary hobbies, had turned out in his favor after all.

She was beneath him again before she had time to yelp.

"Under the charges that you badmouthed the greatest pun designer in Paris," Adrien spoke as he popped the buttons on his girlfriend's work shirt one by one, her protests muffled by his index finger. "I am afraid to say that tonight, you are under Agreste."

Annoyance, amusement and arousal muddled together on Marinette's face as her partner's hands continued to work on exposing her body. Her own fingers fumbled in the darkness until they found what they were looking for, and she was rewarded by a hiss from her human cat.

"What about my right to free speech?" she asked teasingly as their eyes met, not missing the way his pupils dilated at her continued ministrations.

His whole body flexed and, though Marinette was learning his mannerisms better and better by the day, she only realised that it was a telltale sign that he was about to pounce when her whole world had already turned upside down, she was on her stomach with her rear propped high in the air and Adrien's fingers had found their way deep inside her folds.

Marinette let out a strangled scream, only to be silenced by a second pair of digits entering her mouth. She gave in and sucked his fingers obediently while his other hand did wonderful things to her, offering a demonstration of what was to come.

"You have the right to remain silent," she heard Adrien's voice, hoarse from arousal, but her foggy brain understood the suggestion.

Right. They couldn't be loud, because they didn't want anyone to know they were together yet.