Sabine Cheng was in no way an idiot.

So when the petite heard unusual noises coming from her daughter's bedroom when she awoke in the middle of the night to visit the bathroom, Sabine decided she would have to check on her daughter. She knew that Marinette was learning about her body, but Sabine was beginning to think that they would have to address just how loud she was… or buy her a gag of some sort as this was becoming ridiculous. On her way up the staircase, ready to remind her daughter that although it's healthy to masturbate she needed to keep it down, the woman froze.

"Oh wow! Fuck!"

That was not Marinette's voice.

The woman found herself trying to move from the position she was currently in: mid step ascending her daughter's staircase, only to find that she was frozen to the spot with a mixture of embarrassment, mortification-

"Ah!"

-and honestly, a little bit of happiness that her daughter was doing something with someone, and not just to a picture of Adrien~

The young man's throaty moans were starting to become much more obvious and Sabine knew she needed to move. 'Just creep back down-'

"Fuck Mari I'm gonna-"

'Watch the step, watch the step!'

Completely forgetting about her need to use the toilet, Sabine made it back to her bed as quietly as possible, making sure her husband's headphones were still in place before putting hers in. That would be the last thing they needed: Tom finding out that his little girl had sneaked a guy up into her bedroom…

'Like mother, like daughter…' The petite woman smiled to herself while snuggling into her husband's side. It was not like Sabine had never snuck Tom into her room when they stayed with parents before they were married. 'We'll have to talk about being a little more discreet though… and protection perhaps…' the dark haired mother thought wryly to herself, 'imagine if Tom had been the one to wake up…'

Deciding she would strategically place a box of condoms just inside her daughter's room in the morning, Sabine began to drift off into a comfortable slumber. It was only when she was just about to fall off the edge of being awake however, that Sabine realised that she had not visited the bathroom, and the petite woman cursed her aging body and exited the bedroom once more.

So far, Adrien's morning was a cat-astrophe. So much so that by the time he was entering class, the blonde had completely forgotten about leaving his top in the ravenette's room.

Firstly, Marinette had not shown up for their morning registration causing the blonde to bounce his knee constantly until he could go and visit her; secondly, Chloé had accosted him on the front steps leading into school. The socialite made sure to get her point across with regards to the evening's event loud enough for everyone to hear…

"You can rip each other's clothes off once we've got some good shots for all I care, but I want Dupain-Cheng looking her best if I'm going to be pictured with her. Make sure she's there on time and looking presentable Adrikins. No. Hair. Out. Of. Place. You got that?"

His shock and confusion lasted for only a moment, as Nino helpfully pointed out that the day before they had both been missing at the same time. In a moment of reflection, Adrien acknowledged internally that it appeared suspicious. Even though no one actually knew, the smirks and eye rolls of his classmates when Chloé was giving her orders told him that enough of them had their suspicions.

That was when he remembered that Alya had walked in on them mid way through 'getting busy', and Adrien wondered if the astute aspiring journalist had put the dots together already. If she had, he had seen no inclination from her, but then again, Alya had an amazing poker face when it mattered: she had been the one to gather evidence against Lila and her lies after all, and Adrien knew that to complete the task, she would of have been required to put on quite the show for the lying Italian. The blonde just wished that his own face was able to stay straight, with the way he pursed his lips to try and hide the smile that wanted to spread across his face, Adrien was sure he and Marinette had been rumbled; the blush that appeared on his cheeks was also not a great deterrent for them to believe otherwise.

Now it seemed that Marinette was the only one not privy to the true identity of the young man who had given her the love mark on her neck. 'Thank Plagg, they don't know how far we went last night!'

Leaving the class quickly as their lunch hour began, Adrien rushed to where his driver was waiting and informed him that he was having lunch with his friends. The intimidatingly large man simply frowned, shook his head and gestured for the teen to get in the back with his thumb.

Adrien sighed.

If Gorilla was not going to let him bail on having lunch at the mansion, it meant that his father wanted to speak to him. Clambering into the back, he felt irritated by his lack of being able to escape and check on Marinette so instead he sent her a text. Alya had sent her many already that morning, but maybe the one he was about to send would get a response.

Nathalie stood before the blonde after instructing him to go straight to his room.

The box of condoms she had shoved into his lap the instant he sat down felt like a weight in his gut. 'Why hasn't she said anything yet?'

The dedicated assistant just stared.

What she needed to say was obviously something she was not ready for: not that her expression said much but Adrien could just tell.

Awkward seconds of silence were drawn out into several minutes until the woman finally let out a preparation breath and looked Adrien straight in the eye.

"Your search history caused an alert to ping up on my devices."

Adrien's eyes widened. 'Fu~ck…'

"Evidently there are areas I failed to cover with you."

The blonde could feel his cheeks warming and knew that the shade of red was quickly spreading down his neck. He gulped.

"I haven't spoken with your father about this-"

Adrien let out a relieved breath.

"-but we did not practically cover condom application, and I need to know that you know how to use one of them before you get some girl pregnant an-"

"She's not just 'some girl'!" Adrien finally found his voice and clenched his jaw when Nathalie pursed her lips with irritation at his defensive outburst.

"Be that as it may," she took a few steps to the cart where Adrien's lacklustre chicken salad was currently placed and picked up a whole cucumber. Adrien wanted to die. "I need to make sure that you don't encounter any issues." She held out the cucumber, which Adrien took reluctantly, and then gestured to the box. "Get one out, and show me that you know how to use it correctly."

The young man screwed his lips up before signing with defeat, "fine~ I have looked at this kind of thing you know, and we have already had the talk-"

Nathalie glared at him and Adrien noted the way her ears flushed pink, "I am aware of what you have been researching Adrien, and although we have had the talk, I need to know that you are able to perform this simple task in order for you to protect yourself."

Adrien scoffed and rolled his eyes, "protect the company's image, you mean."

Nathalie looked straight over his head and let out a frustrated breath before looking straight at him again with a very unnamused expression. "Yes, the company would be affected if you got a random girl pregnant-let me finish!" She gave him a pointed look and folded her hands in front of her stomach. "But Adrien, if you catch an infection, or a disease that will stay with you for life, then the company's image will be the least of our concern."

Adrien felt the tension that had been building dissipate with Nathalie's obvious concern, "oh."

"Yes," she continued in a stern manner, "'oh'! Did you really think that preventing pregnancy is the only function of a condom?"

"No!" Adrien defended himself childishly, "I just didn't think that STIs were what you were concerned about…" he looked away from Nathalie awkwardly and tried to rub his neck to then remember about the items he had in his hands.

"Adrien," Nathalie sat down beside him and sighed tiredly before allowing a small smile to soften her features. "I have watched you grow from a young child to a teenager, and now a young man, you are my concern, your health is my concern… so if you choose to have sexual intercourse with another person, I want you to be able to utilise the correct tools to make sure you're safe…"

Adrien rolled his lips, the woman had continuously kept him at arm's length but he always had the suspicion that his father's assistant cared: now he had proof. "Thank you Nathalie."

"Don't thank me," the woman chided with slight amusement, "just get the condom on the cucumber so I know that you're prepared." As Adrien began to do as he was told, Nathalie watched him fondly, "and if she's not just 'some girl'… then why don't you invite her to dinner so we can get to know her?"

Adrien dropped the items and pulled Nathalie into an unexpected hug, the assistant was required to steady her glasses before gently hugging him back.

"Thank you Nathalie."

When Adrien was dropped back off at school, he was surprised to see none of his friends waiting outside on the steps. He did not think he was late, in fact he knew he was fifteen minutes early, so the blonde proceeded to climb the stone walkway and headed to class.

Upon reaching the open doorway, the young man mentally prepared himself for seeing Marinette, he had not received a text message from her yet, and part of him was desperate to call on his transformation and head over to check on her. When he saw Alya sitting next to an empty seat, that is what he almost did, but the blogger caught his worried gaze and called him over.

"I spoke to Mrs Dupain-Cheng at lunch," she smirked at him, "Marinette was up really late last night apparently, and she's kept her off to let her sleep."

"Oh, that's good then," he smiled and hoped Alya had not noticed his cheeks warming. She did. "Least she'll be well rested for the party tonight."

"About that," Alya eyed him knowingly, "her maman has given me this," she held up a brass key, "it's the key to the back door so you can let yourself in as they've shut up shop to get the cake and other bits over to the hotel to start setting up. Apparently Marinette knows you have a key as her maman managed to wake her briefly to explain you'll be popping in…" Alya's hazel eyes connected with his over the rim of her glasses as she handed it to him, "you'll be able to wake her later if need be, won't you Sunshine."

"Ye-yeah, of course," Adrien nodded with too much enthusiasm for it to be normal and the blogger pursed her lips with amusement at him. "I can do that."

"I bet you can," she winked suggestively and then whispered, "just make sure not to leave any more marks that can't be covered up…" and with her comment, Adrien gulped, his cheeks igniting with a new blush.

'She knows'

"Dude! You're here!"

The blonde turned just as Nino patted him on the back in greeting, Adrien's forehead furrowed as he pushed Alya's discovery to the side for a moment, "why, wouldn't I be?"

Nino smirked and cocked a brow, "well, with you shooting off at lunch, we thought…"

"We thought you'd sneaked off to see our little sleeping beauty…" Alya pointedly assessed him with a smirk before doodling on a scrap of paper on her desk, "we weren't expecting you back."

'That explains why they didn't wait outside for me…' the blonde kicked himself as they probably would have covered for him too.

"But being as you're here, Alya hasn't got to keep hold of the key."

"So you guys thought I was there, and you didn't say anything to her maman?" Adrien tilted his head while glancing between the couple. They both shook their heads.

Nino smirked at him, "if you'd gone to the trouble to sneak past Tom… then we thought it was best they didn't think you were there."

Alya snorted at Adrien's indignant expression, but then the blonde conceded that although Adrien would not have snuck in, Chat most definitely would. As his best friend slipped into his seat and Adrien began to follow suit, his eyes caught hazel orbs dancing with amusement at him. The blonde stopped, and Alya pushed the scrap of paper towards him.

Your secret is safe with me Sunshine.

Adrien discreetly nodded in thanks and turned around to sit in his seat, only to feel a tap on his shoulder and another scrap of paper flashed at him briefly:

But you need to tell Marinette.

Thanks for reading! And for the follows, faves and comments =)

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the latest chapter, I'm getting through a lot of my other fics too so expect some updates coming over the next few days!

Take it easy =^.^=

Lady Rhi X