Chapter 10: BONUS

Adrien hadn't been able to spend the night with Marinette in a while.

He felt bad leaving her alone, especially after she had admitted that she slept better when he was there. Still, his work schedule had become unbearably packed, and he couldn't find the time to transform and show up on her terrace. Of the few months they had been together, he had only managed to make five or six nightly excursions, which he regretted.

She had told him that she understood, and that Ladybug would be able to handle the patrols for a while on her own-it had been extremely calm lately, anyhow.

His father had been insufferable. Although Nathalie had sworn herself to secrecy regarding the occasional nights away from home, Gabriel had still somehow found out that there were nights spent away. Nathalie had taken the blame, telling him that, since it was the end of the school year, Adrien was spending the night at a classmate's house to work on a group project.

She was nothing compared to his mother, but Adrien admired just how much his father's assistant did for him.

Adrien laid on his back on his bed, his blankets and half of his plethora of pillows on the floor. It was hot, even with the windows open. A little too hot. The school year had just officially ended the day before, and it was the first summer vacation night that he had ever had.

He had to admit, he was happy not to have some of the stress of school, but he honestly dreaded having to deal with the new-and-improved "intensive work schedule" that his father had promised him.

As if the one he had wasn't bad enough already.

He rolled onto his side, relishing the tiny cool breeze that came in his window. He would take advantage of this one free night to get the sleep that he knew he wouldn't have for the rest of the summer. He closed his eyes after turning on the fan next to his bed.

"Sleeping already?"

He opened his eyes at the familiar voice and smiled up at the perpetrator. There she was, clad in scarlet, perched in his open window.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see a bug in my room," he said quietly. "Be prepared to hide. My father himself has been checking on me to make sure I'm staying home."

"Too many group projects?" she teased, dropping into his room silently.

"Way too many," he replied. "Come lay with me."

He patted the bed next to him, but she lingered, smiling at him.

"You look a little hot, are you sure you want me there?"

"Marinette, no matter the weather, I always want you in bed with me."

She snorted, releasing her transformation and waving to Tikki as she floated away in search of Plagg. She placed her shoes where they wouldn't be seen from the doorway and crawled in next to him, pulling the blankets up with her.

"Now that I'm in bed with you, what do you want with me?" The teasing lilt was gone, replaced with something a little more feral.

"I want to sleep with you," he breathed.

Her face flushed darker than her alter-ego's suit, but she snuggled closer to him. "I-I'm not... entirely opposed," she said quietly. "In fact, I kind of came here to-"

"Good night!"

With a grin, Adrien flopped over onto his side, no longer facing her. Marinette huffed, sitting up and leaning over him.

"Adrien," she whined.

"I'm sleeping."

"Adrieeeennnn."

He faked a snore.

"Adrien."

She spent the next few minutes trying to get his attention. She tugged lightly on the hair on the back of his neck, eliciting a grateful groan. A split second later, she felt all of the blankets piled up on top of her, forcing her to lay back on her side.

"I thought I heard someone." The voice was unmistakable. Gabriel had come in to check on Adrien a little sooner than expected.

Marinette slowly drew her knees up against her chest, determined to simply look like a pile of blankets.

"I just got off the phone with a friend," Adrien lied. "He wanted to know if I was free at all this summer. I explained to him that I would be busier than ever, so the chances are slim."

He hoped that Marinette caught on that this comment served partially to inform her of his summer plans (or rather, the ones his father had made for him).

Gabriel sighed. "You shouldn't take calls so late at night," he half-heartedly scolded, shaking his head. "At least you haven't snuck out."

He bid his son good night before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Alya's going to be pissed," Marinette's muffled voice sounded from the mass of blankets. "She's got a ton of plans for this summer. You'll have to make an effort to get away from what work you can."

Adrien rolled over, then peeled the blankets away from her so that he could look at her. She was clearly more upset than Alya would ever have been. He smiled and cupped her face with one hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"I'll do what I can," he whispered. "Even if I can't meet with you during the day, I'll find a way to slip away during the night and barge in rudely through your skylight."

Marinette giggled. "I'd like that."

"How long can you stay?"

"Maman and Papa think I'm with Alya tonight," she said. "I'll be here until morning."

"We just have to be careful, then," he murmured.

After a few moments of silence, a sly grin crossed his face.

"You said you came here expecting to-"

"Don't say it out loud!"

He chuckled, moving to pull something from his bedside table.

"I'll try not to disappoint, but I have to tell you that I've never done this before."

It had been the most awkward encounter of Marinette's life.

However, it was also the most enjoyable.

Adrien watched her, idly lounging in his bed as the first morning rays filtered through the windows and illuminated her clumsy endeavor to gather her clothing.

"You're beautiful," he cooed.

"And naked. And embarrassed," she huffed, stepping back into her underwear. "I can't believe I fell asleep so fast."

"I must have tired you out."

"Don't tease me," she hissed, though her smile betrayed her pretend anger. "I have to get going. I have to get to Alya's house. Papa texted me and said he was going to pick me up in an hour or so to help with the bakery. I can't just not be there."

"Aw, not ready to introduce me to your parents?" Adrien said, feigning the hurt in his voice.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at his shit eating grin as she pulled her shirt on over her head.

"Watch yourself, or I will."

"Is that a promise? It's not like they haven't met me before."

"That's true." Marinette clicked her tongue in thought. "I don't know, Adrien. If you can be there around noon, then be there. If you don't show up, then I don't introduce you yet."

"I'll see if I can squeeze you into my veeery busy schedule," he grunted, leaning over to pull the tablet off of his bedside table.

He was clear from eleven-thirty until one-thirty. He had more than enough time to make a quick visit.

Not that he wanted to tell her that.

His grin spread as she transformed and climbed over him to get through the window.

"Will I see you later?" she asked, hesitating.

"Maybe," he said. He stood to kiss her. "I'll show up if I'm able to."

He watched her swing out of his window, and continued to watch her until she disappeared.

"Ma-ri-nette!" Alya groaned when her raven-haired friend tapped on the window.

Seeing Ladybug, Paris' superheroine, on her windowsill in a flustered state had become something familiar and almost routine to Alya. She stood, opening the window and pulling her friend into the room.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You suddenly stay the night with your boyfriend and come back with an expression like that. Something happened," she reasoned, sitting on her desk.

"We may have..." Marinette released her transformation, sitting on the desk chair. "You know... done it."

Her face sunk into her hands as the squeal she expected never came. Alya just stared at her, a bit dumbfounded, but then wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"If he hurt you, I'll kill him," she said menacingly.

"Alya."

"Okay, okay, I won't kill him." She exhaled with a smile. "But seriously, girl, are you okay? I know that can bring a whole onslaught of new emotions."

"No, no, I'm okay," Marinette assured her. "I went over there with the intent to do that, and he knew that, so-"

"Did you at least have fun?" Alya's usual teasing demeanor was gone, replaced with the concerned friend that she was known to be. "That's the most important part. If you can't laugh with each other, then what are you doing having sex with him?"

"It was really fun. And awkward. And embarrassing," she admitted. "There was a lot of laughing at each other, and with each other. I just- oh, Alya, he asked to meet my parents."

Alya stifled a laugh with her free hand. "What, is he going to ask your father's permission to marry you?"

"Alya!"

"Right, right, okay. I mean, you've been together for a few months now. For the better part of the end of the school year," the redhead reasoned. "It's not really a secret you should keep from your parents, especially since you know they'll support whatever decision you make. Besides, it's not like you have to go in and say, 'Hey, this is my boyfriend, super-hottie model, and we slept together last night!', right?"

Marinette groaned again.

"That's it, I'm finding a new best friend."

"That hurts!" Alya clutched the left side of her chest and slumping over in fake agony. "Fine, but if I wrote about who Ladybug is on the LadyBlog-"

"Oh, so now you're threatening my identity so we can remain friends?" Marinette teased. "I'm the hurt one!"

They laughed, then proceeded to sit on the floor and talk about everything, Alya's journalistic side trying to document every detail of her friend's first experience. She offered solid advice and answered what questions she had answers for, looking on the internet for other answers that she wasn't sure on.

Marinette marveled at how amazing friendship was, leaning her head on Alya's shoulder.

"We're home, Maman," Marinette called when they entered the bakery. She looked at the clock. It was still ridiculously early.

"You look well rested," her mother greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "Ususally you come home from Alya's begging to go back to bed."

"We played with her siblings a lot, so we were pretty tired," Marinette lied. "We had to babysit for part of the night."

Babysitting and playing with siblings wasn't a lie-Marinette just wasn't there to take part in that.

"Why don't you head upstairs and finish up whatever homework you might have?" Sabine suggested. "Oh, and someone came by to drop off present for you."

When her mom winked, Marinette suppressed a groan.

'He's taking matters into his own hands,' she cursed inwardly.

"Alright, I'll be in my room." She waved to her parents before heading upstairs to their home above the bakery.

She ascended the stairs to her room and lifted the trap door, exposing pink walls and a strange parcel on her desk. It was fairly large, wrapped in brown paper and twine, a note stuck to the top of it. Reluctantly, and with a pit of suspicion growing in her stomach, she opened the once-folded note and flitted her eyes down over the few lines consisting of Adrien's handwriting:

You said something about "I NEED A BILLION YARDS OF THIS FABRIC" once when we were out together, so I went ahead and hunted it down for you. It's not a billion yards, but maybe you can make a nice pair of underwear or something.

-Adrien

She undid the twine and peeled back the paper, a small smile tugging at her lips. He bought her fabric, and if it was the fabric she was thinking about, then it had been part of a final seasonal sale for spring, and it no longer existed.

Meaning he had to have done some hunting and special ordering to get it to her.

She lifted the lid off of the box and set it aside gingerly, admiring what was laying inside. It was exactly what she thought it was. It was silk, a deep blue that shimmered and caressed her skin like an angel's hand. There was a fair amount of it, though nowhere near a billion yards of it. She lifted it carefully and wrapped it around one of the large spools she kept in her closet in case of new fabrics that she didn't want to crease. She looked back in the box, finding a small spool of lace in the same color, and laughed at the small note attached to it that read "In case you really make underwear ;)".

She placed it with her other varying colors of lace and ribbon in her closet, which she realized was serving as more of a supply closet than one for actual clothes, no matter how many dresses she had hanging in there.

She flopped down onto her chaise lounge and closed her eyes, smiling sweetly, thinking about the possibility of Adrien meeting her parents.

A wave of panic washed over her.

Adrien looked out of the window of the car, tapping his fingers on his leg and humming. Nathalie looked vaguely annoyed, or even curious, but said nothing to him. He was in a ridiculously good mood, and had finished his first photo shoot early enough to drop a present off for Marinette.

He had told the assistant that it was her birthday, and he intended to drop by again to see her that afternoon during his scheduled break.

He watched clouds roll past, white and happy in the bright blue sky. He briefly examined cars that went past him, counting how many red ones he could see. There were only three in the time that his game lasted. They pulled up at another photography studio, and he climbed out of the car.

He had previously been worried about this particular photo shoot, but not so much anymore. This was a company that often wanted to get away with things as racy as possible, especially now that he was fifteen and growing into his body, and growing into it well. However, he felt great. He was soaring above the clouds, but this time as Adrien. He had the confidence and the sway in his step that Chat Noir always did. He would take whatever this company wanted, as long as it stayed within his father's guidelines, and he would destroy their expectations simply by surpassing them.

He was going to rock that photo shoot.

He stripped in the dressing room and put on what they told him to-simple, dark blue jeans that he was advertising, and a black button up shirt, which they requested he only button partly and leave the top third open.

He whistled as he complied. It was much less racy than he had expected, and definitely less racy than the last photo shoot they had with him.

He clambered back into the car's back seat, barely as tired as he should have been after a photoshoot. He checked the time. He had gotten out of that one early as well.

"We can start your break early if you would like," Nathalie said from the front seat.

"That'd be good," he said. "Let's head to the bakery, then. You can drop me off and pick me up when it's time to leave for my next appointment."

"Very well," she murmured, and the car took off.

Adrien felt almost giddy, and it was physically obvious that he was excited. He practically vibrated in his seat, humming again despite the lack of any sort of music in the vicinity, and he tapped away at his phone, telling Nino what happened.

[Nino wake up this is very very very important]

It took only a few minutes to receive a reply.

[What? I'm asleep]

[Marinette stayed the night and we did the thing.]

[What?]

[We did THE THING Nino. WE DID THE THING]

[HOLY FUCKING OH MY GOD DOES ALYA KNOW I HAVE TO ASK HER]

Adrien grinned.

[I thought you were sleeping?]

[Also I'm sure she knows, Marinette left this morning to go over there]

[Bro omg this is great, fill me in later okay?]

[You got it]

The car pulled in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and Adrien slipped his phone back into his pocket as he waved to the assistant. He entered, immediately gaining the attention of the small woman manning the counter that he had met this morning. Marinette's mother.

"H-hello, is Marinette home yet?" he asked, all of his confidence slipping away under her kind scrutiny.

"She should be up in her room," came the sweet reply. "You can go ahead and let yourself in."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, moving past her with a smile and heading up into their home.

He stopped briefly at their living area, looking at the well worn, obviously lived-in setup. Part of him longed for something like that. His house was too cold, too big, too...white. It was so pristine that it looked like a magazine setup. He longed for the crayon marks that were still on one of the walls, which looked like a family portrait that Marinette must have drawn when she was still tiny. He wished that he had the same large couch, with stains from spilled food and warm handmade blankets and pillows that were obviously used for more than just decoration.

He pulled himself together, climbing the stairs to Marinette's room. He knocked lightly on the trap door, feeling a little awkward not going in through her bedroom window or skylight, but then kicked himself.

'That's not something that regular boyfriends do,' he told himself.

When she didn't answer, he went ahead and opened the door, pulling himself up into the room and looking around. It was the same as always. However, Marinette was curled up on her chaise lounge, fast asleep. He moved to sit on the edge of it, snaking his arm around her, watching her sleeping self curl into his side while he scooted further into the seat. He tapped her nose in an attempt to wake her. She grumbled something quietly and opened one eye, peeking up at him from where her face was buried in his chest.

"When did you get here?" she asked groggily.

"Just a moment ago," he replied. "Your mom let me up."

"I'm not making underwear."

Adrien caught himself only after his laugh was let out, and he grinned at her.

"No?"

"No."

Marinette stood and shuffled over to the trap door and lifted it, looking back at him with sleep-ridden eyes. She gestured with her head for him to follow her and started down the stairs.

"Maman, Papa, can we talk?" she called as she descended.

"It's hard with no one watching the shop," Sabine called back up.

"Maman," she called again, almost whining.

"Kitchen," her father's voice came in.

Adrien almost reluctantly followed her into the bakery's kitchen. There was quite a bit of flour all over the kitchen, and the giant man hunched over the counter was covered in it, too. He turned at the sound of Marinette's footsteps and promptly wiped flour on her nose. Sabine walked in soon after, and Adrien could hear the sound of the last customer of the moment walking out.

"Family meeting," Marinette said.

Her parents exchanged raised eyebrows, her mother crossing her arms and smiling.

"You've met Adrien," she said, nervousness overcoming the sleep that clogged her voice.

"Yes, we have," her father said.

"Well, Adrien is my... boyfriend?"

Her voice came out as a squeak, and the last word sounded like a question. Her head hung, like she was expecting to get an earful from her parents.

Adrien felt himself standing straighter than normal, almost stiff, while her parents looked him over. He met their eyes, anxiety wracking his body, his head swimming with thoughts of 'They won't approve' and 'I'm not good enough for them. I'm not good enough for-'

"Finally," her father let out in a huff.

"Finally?" Adrien repeated.

"Finally," he repeated. "We thought it was going to happen, we just weren't sure when. You've been here an awful lot."

"I-it's actually been a couple months," the blond admitted, looking down while Marinette dared look up.

"You're not mad?" she asked.

"Of course not," Sabine said sweetly. "We had been expecting it."

Adrien stared over at Marinette, who exchanged the glance, both in equal amounts of awe. Adrien's anxiety dissipated, and his mind filled with thoughts of 'They accepted me, and I'm good enough!'

Marinette took him by the hand, yelling something at her parents in a happy voice that didn't quite reach his ears. Still in shock, Adrien felt helpless in the girl's grasp, and didn't really come to until she slammed the trap door of her bedroom behind him.

She threw her arms around his neck, planting butterfly kisses on his cheeks and neck before laying back on the chaise lounge again.

"They accepted me," he said dreamily.

"They did indeed," she replied breathlessly, tapping out a message to Alya on her phone.

Adrien pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Nino as well.

"Marinette, your parents accepted me," he reiterated, sitting next to her. "They think I'm good enough."

She smiled at him, bringing a palm up to his cheek, sitting up to gaze into his green eyes.

"Adrien," she whispered, "You've always been good enough."

She touched her lips to his, and pulled away almost as quickly as she had leaned in.

"Always," she repeated, leaning into his chest.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. His lips twitched up into a smile while he reflected on the events that had led to this. He had discovered she was Ladybug and started pursuing her as a civilian. He had watched her despair over feeling like she was torn between two different boys, and he watched the stress melt away from her when he revealed himself to her. He had fallen in love with her many, many times over that week leading up to the masquerade they had attended, and they had stayed together, working seamlessly in their responsibilities as superheroes, as well as in their civilian forms. They had made it work somehow, and Adrien didn't want it to end.

He marveled at the girl leaning on him, the perfect girl, his perfect girl. She thought he was good enough. Her parents thought he was good enough.

Finally, someone thought he was good enough.

A/N

Hi I'm sorry it's taken so long!

I've been super busy with school, so it's been hectic trying to get this done and all of my schoolwork as well.

Here it is-the final chapter! I'm dying and it's a little weird knowing that it's done but it's also kind of a relief.

I've never ended a story before, and so this is kind of it? I'm done.

Until the next fic,

~Meeko