Teasing Adrien all evening and jumping his bones the second they had reached home had been a spur of the moment thing.
She had fantasized for years about how having sex with him would feel.
She had ultimately caved under the weight of her want, of how much she wanted to be one with him at long last.
And waking up naked, curled up against his skin like this, she could quickly see herself becoming addicted to more than simply waking up with him.
It felt right, being bared for his eyes only, being at her most vulnerable in front of him.
As if he was sensing that she was awake, Adrien shifted beside her and cracked one eye open. "Morning, love. How are we feeling?"
"Dreading going back to school," Marinette answered truthfully, pressing herself against his chest. "Is it bad that I kinda want to stay right here forever?"
Adrien chuckled softly. "But if you do, you'll never become the amazing designer you're destined to be. Hop in the shower, princess, I'll fix the breakfast."
It took a few hugs and kisses, but Adrien eventually managed to usher Marinette into the shower. She let the water slowly wake up her deliciously sore muscles.
"Are you okay, Marinette?" Tikki asked when she stepped out of the shower. "It's a huge step you took with Adrien last night, and some bugs have complained about being sore the next day."
Marinette blushed, shaking her head at her kwami. "I'm fine, Tikki. I am sore, but it's a good sore, does it make sense?"
Tikki laughed. "More than you'd think, Marinette. You forget I'm thousands of years old. I've seen and heard many things."
When Marinette finally emerged from his bathroom roughly fifteen minutes later, enough time for the blush to subdue to a level attributable to the shower, fresh waffles were waiting for her on the dining table.
"How in the world did you manage to cook all of this under twenty minutes?" she asked her fiancé, pouring a hefty amount of syrup on her plate.
"I helped him!" Plagg commented proudly, mouth full of cheese.
Adrien chuckled as he finished prepping some strawberries. "Actually, I had made the batter yesterday morning before you came back from school. All I had left to do was cook them, easy peasy. Now eat up, you'll need strengths to fend off all of your classmates."
"Ugh," Marinette groaned. "You just had to remind me, didn't you?"
He smiled at her softly, placing a quick peck on her forehead. "Everything will be fine. You're stronger than that."
"You should go Marinette. Prove them you have nothing to be ashamed of," Tikki agreed.
Plagg looked up from his cheese long enough to mumble, "I'm more than able to watch over my charge for us two, princess. Go prove them all wrong."
She let out a long sigh, looking at her odd family, composed of a lovely, goofy man and two thousand-years-old deities. "I guess you're right. I'll see you all for dinner?"
This time, Adrien kissed her properly. "I'll be waiting, princess. Now go and prove them all they're wrong about what can bring Marinette Dupain-Cheng down."
"Hey Adrien," she heard Plagg ask on her way out. "Could Tikki and I get the spare room? So we don't have to suffer through your disgusting mating rituals next time?"
Adrien's groan had Marinette giggle all the way to school.
Turned out, Adrien had been right.
The excitation about Mark's imprisonment had worn off already, and it seemed nobody, at least on campus, knew he had claimed to be attacked by none other than Chat Noir. She heard some whispers about Chat Noir and Ladybug's unexpected return on her way to class, and she guessed she had been too upset to pay attention to it the day prior.
It was the most popular topic amongst her fellow students, though. Word was quickly going around the campus about how many girls, and even some boys, who were speaking up about harassers.
Marinette was mostly left to her own devices as a result, save for a younger girl shyly thanking her for having the courage to report Mark. It was a nice change, being able to follow her lesson without being reminded all the time of what her former friend had done to her and Adrien.
When the class came to an end, though, her teacher called her to the front, bringing unwanted attention upon herself.
She waited until the amphitheater was mostly empty before she shyly made her way to the front. "You wanted to see me, Madame?"
Madame Jones smiled at her, warmth and concern emanating out of her. "I did. I only wanted to make sure you are okay, Marinette. How is your arm?"
"It's mostly fine," Marinette answered truthfully. "It stills stings sometimes, especially when my fiancé disinfects it, but otherwise I'm okay."
"Speaking of," her teacher said gently. "We had a faculty meeting this morning. The headmaster wanted me to tell you that you don't have to worry about Monsieur Taylor being on school grounds. Given his unacceptable behaviour toward you and the restraining orders that will be in function once he's released from jail, he has been unanimously voted to be suspended from our institution. Our priority is to ensure that you feel safe on campus."
Marinette could feel her eyes wet with grateful tears upon hearing those words. "Thank you, Madame Jones," she weakly choked out. "It… It really means a lot to me."
"It's only normal, Marinette," her teacher answered. "This is quite an extraordinary situation, but in no case should you be punished for who your heart chooses to love. Monsieur Taylor's inability to accept that your affections laid elsewhere unfortunately led to his name and his fashion career to be compromised, but you should never feel responsible for it. You aren't to blame in any way. He broke the school code of conduct by attacking another student, and others have started to come forward to make statements regarding his conduct as well. We felt that was sufficient reason to enact a suspension, and will reassess the case when formal charges are laid."
"Thank you, thank you very much," Marinette uttered again, before excusing herself from the room.
As if her world hadn't been shaken enough yet, she came home to a sweaty Adrien, panting from moving stuff and furniture all day.
"What have you done, silly kitty?" she asked fondly, burying her fingers in his scalp as she reached forward to plant a kiss on his lips.
Adrien laughed, returning the kiss with mirth in his eyes. "I only obliged my lady's wishes. You said you wanted to move in with me yesterday."
"I helped him all day!" Plagg crooned. "I'm going to need hefty amounts of Camembert to survive this level of exhaustion!"
"You haven't…" Marinette trailed off, instantly guessing that yes, Adrien had (because clearly Plagg hadn't lifted a paw).
And indeed, he had.
He had moved all of her stuff into his own bedroom, hanging her clothes beside his in his closet and putting her toothbrush beside his in his bathroom, just like she had wanted to.
True to his word, he had also switched their mattresses, hers being the most comfortable out of the two.
Her old bedroom was now bare, devoid of any personality.
Everything that made her room hers had been moved into Adrien's room, making his room theirs.
Making her old room look like a plain, boring guest room again.
Just like it was two years prior.
Eyes watering, Marinette looked at Adrien. "Really? You moved all of my stuff all by yourself? But… what about my undies? Oh my gosh, did you find my whips and leashes?"
Unfortunately, Marinette didn't manage to keep a straight face long enough in front of Adrien's horrified expression. Her facade promptly crumbled, and she burst out laughing, reassuring her silly kitty that no, she wasn't really upset, and no, there wasn't any kinky sex toys to find.
"Really," he said. "I happen to fully agree with you. It's ridiculous to have separate bedrooms when we sleep together every night anyway. And I love having you near."
Marinette beamed at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Ten years.
Ten years she had denied herself that simple pleasure.
Being able to touch him freely.
To love him freely.
She pressed a soft kiss against his lips, a smile blooming on hers.
"Let's eat whatever you made for dinner," Marinette said, grinning. "And then, we'll watch a movie and cuddle the hell out of each other."
They ended up talking through the movie Adrien had pulled up on their on-demand service, and when they eventually moved their making-out to their bed, it felt new and special like they were teenagers again.
When they made love that night, it was soft and tender, almost lazy in some aspects. Marinette could feel Adrien's care and love through every slow thrust, and she lost herself in his touch.
She loved that man.
She loved him more than anything and would make sure he knew it until his dying day.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.
Mark had been convicted for assault on Adrien and attempted assault on Marinette, but the superficial injuries they had both suffered added to his (according to the judge) apparent mental impairment claiming he had stabbed Chat Noir and not Adrien had meant ridiculous jail time for him, a matter of mere months.
Thankfully, nobody in the courtroom had seemingly given credit to Mark's accusations toward Chat Noir, and word about it hadn't really gotten out. The most popular theory among the few that knew was that Chat Noir had heard about the assault allegations and had promptly come back with Ladybug from wherever they were retiring to make sure they weren't dealing with another Copycat.
Still, Mark was being punished for his actions, and that's all Marinette wanted.
During those weeks, she didn't think it would humanly be possible to grow even closer than she already was to Adrien. But life had surprises under its belt for both of them. Their relationship was blossoming into something beautiful, something even greater than it was to begin with.
Chloe's son's second birthday party came creeping up on them, and before she knew it, Adrien was wrapping her into a hug in their kitchen, watching her carefully wrap Carlisle's gift.
Adrien smiled as he saw Marinette hunched over the colorful package, Tikki holding up the ribbons.
She straightened up, looking at him with bright eyes. "I'm done wrapping Chloe's son birthday gift. You're sure I didn't mess up? I don't want Chloe to go all momzilla on me because I bought a gift that is so typically masculine."
He chuckled, resting his chin on her shoulder. How much he loved her knew no limit. "It's gonna be fine. Carlisle is a boy, and Chloe knows that. And boys love cars and trucks. Our gigantic firetruck is going to make him squeal with delight, and he'll probably play with it for a few years."
Marinette giggled, spinning in his arms to cup his cheek tenderly. "True. How could I forget that you, handsome Adrien Agreste, were once a little boy?"
"I have changed a lot since then, I don't blame you," Adrien chuckled. "Grew up a few inches, put on a little weight. Even picked up a lovely fiancée along the way, you would like her!" he teased, a playful gleam in his eyes.
Marinette sighed playfully, resting her forehead in the crook of his neck. "Is that so, kitty? Now, get change into more appropriate for a royalty toddler birthday clothes before we run late and Chloe sends a search party for us."
Adrien chuckled. "She's so enthralled in the festivities preparation, she probably wouldn't even notice if we don't show up at all."
"Wanna bet on that, kitty?"
Somehow, the idea of Chloe sending an entire search party to track him down if he failed to show up to her only son's birthday party suddenly seem less silly.
Sure, motherhood had changed Chloe a lot, and in more good ways than bad.
But he wasn't quite ready to taunt the devil uselessly.
"Alright," he sighed. "You win. I'm gonna change. Are you ready to leave?"
She gestured to her flawless outfit and perfect makeup, grinning. "I'm ready to roll, captain. Only had that gift to wrap left, and I think I managed."
Indeed, the package was pretty as a button. A big, square box wrapped in a bright yellow and firetruck red paper, with a royal blue bow on it. An electric green tag was identifying the recipient of the gift, not that there was going to be many candidates once they would get there.
To: Carlisle Bourgeois-Raincomprix
From: Uncle Adrien and Auntie Marinette
It had taken a little convincing on Adrien's part to have Marinette write her name beside his on the tag, but his ultimate argument had left her speechless.
"We're going to get married, Marinette," he had said. "We come as a pair from now on, whether you like it or not."
Failing to come forward with a viable argument against his, Marinette had ultimately caved in.
Before Adrien could answer, though, he brought up a hand to caress her cheek. "I love you, Marinette. I love you so much."
Marinette was overwhelmed by his sudden declaration. And three words couldn't convey how much she loved him too, the kiss she pressed on his lips at this precise moment was easily worth a thousand words.
When they walked into Chloe's son birthday party, hand in hand, Adrien was suddenly assaulted by the bright colors surrounding them.
Chloe had gone with a fairytale theme, probably taking advantage of the fact that her two-year-old couldn't choose for himself yet. There were kids running all over the place, each of them either dressed into princes or princesses.
As soon as they walked into the reception room, Carlisle launched himself at Marinette's calves, hugging her tightly. "Auntie Mawi!" he cooed happily, and Adrien his heart waver in his chest.
Because Marinette shoved the box into Adrien's hands and kneeled to Carlisle's leve with open arms, smiling at him warmly. "Hello there, birthday boy! How are you this wonderful day? What is it, Carlisle? What do you need?"
"I want to dance with you, you're pwetty," Carlisle replied honestly.
And Adrien stayed there, staring hopelessly at the odd pair walking away from him to undulate awkwardly on the dancefloor.
A few songs passed before Chloe playfully elbowed Adrien, flashing a knowing grin his way. "She's going to make an amazing mother someday," she said, linking her arm with his.
Adrien stared at her like a deer in headlights, stammering, "What… what do you mean? Carlisle isn't a diffic…"
"Oh please, Adrien," Chloe scoffed. "Carlisle is the very definition of a spoiled brat. And I have no one to blame for it but me. But here, your beloved Marinette is keeping up with his whims without batting an eye. She's going to be a wonderful mother. She has so much love to give. If you let her get away, I'm going to end you."
Heat pooled in Adrien's gut.
Having children with Marinette? What a dream.
He could already envision it. Mini-Adriens and Mini-Marinettes running around their apartment, mini versions of themselves only wanting to be loved by their parents.
Tokens of their love.
Tokens of their history.
Doubt crept up his throat when his eyes fell on Chloe's father. Could he be a good father? Chloe's parental figure had taught her to spoil your children, and she was repeating the pattern. With Gabriel Agreste as his only parent, what kind of father would Adrien be?
What kind of father could he be?
Marinette suddenly looked at him from where she was dancing with Carlisle, tears of mirth pooling at the corner of her eyes.
And the smile she flashed him as she danced with an elated two-years-old made his insides melt.
It was a smile so pure, so genuine, that he was convinced they somehow would be okay, that they could do anything together.
A smile that made him fall in love with her all over again.