Marinette ducked playfully, just avoiding the handful of flour Adrien had flicked at her head. As the powder sprinkled down in her hair, she lunged forward, grabbing him around the waist and wiping her oily hands on the back of his shirt, burying her face in his chest. "Adrien!" she squealed, turning her head aside and squeezing her eyes shut. "Stop that!"

"Stop what?" he asked, a little too innocently, looking down at her with mirthful eyes. "You said to mix the flour and sugar, right?" She nodded, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. He wagged his eyebrows. "Well, you're the sweetest thing in this house, so…"

She rolled her eyes. "Why do I put up with you, you silly Cat?" He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, and she closed her eyes with a sigh, resting her cheek against his chest. "Right. This is why."

Adrien ran his hands up and down her back, and she nuzzled in closer, humming in contentment as she let her hands roam up and down his back. This was the thing they had been missing, when they got married in Angola – or at least one of them. They had been with friends. They had had each other. They'd had their wedding night. But their only "honeymoon had been in the refugee camp, with tents all around them and barely any privacy. So this really was their honeymoon.

They had arrived at their rented beach house on the Riviera almost a week ago, after spending the rest of their first week of honeymoon in Athens. The damage to the beach house hadn't been severe; the owner had sent Adrien pictures of the beach house, showing sheets of siding that had been pulled loose, the private dock that had been smashed by the waves, the debris strewn along the front of the building. But once the debris had been removed, it had only been a matter of days before the siding was replaced. They hadn't installed the new dock yet… but Adrien and Marinette hadn't needed it. They had simply enjoyed their time on the beach, or else taking advantage of the solitude and privacy of the beach house – without a dozen houseguests living with them, to say nothing of Adrien's mother living in the same wing, this was the first time since their wedding that they were really alone together. Tikki and Plagg were with them, of course, but the Kwamis had given them as much privacy as they desired. Here, they were free to do anything they wanted, anywhere they wanted, even more than they could at the hotel in Athens.

Not that their week in Athens hadn't been enjoyable, of course. Once the others had returned to Paris, they had spent most of that day passed out asleep in their hotel suite – though not all of it… And each day there, Marinette had dragged Adrien to a different destination, spending at least an hour working on drawings for her new Greek-inspired clothing line, while he watched her with a mix of amusement and enrapturement. Before they had left, Marinette had amassed enough sketches for an entire line of new clothing, although a couple of the pieces had drawn a little more inspiration from their trip to Atlantis.

They hadn't seen any signs of Nerarchos or Night Bat while they were in Athens, though the Olympiad had given them daily updates on their searches for the two criminals. Privately, Marinette had hoped that they would stay away, at least until after the honeymoon: even though they had spent two days searching for Atlantis, this was supposed to be a vacation. But there had been nothing. And since arriving at their beach house along the Riviera, they had still seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Finally, Marinette stirred and looked up into Adrien's love-filled eyes. She swallowed. "Th–the butter is getting warm," she warned him, glancing over at the counter. "If we're going to have homemade croissants for breakfast tomorrow, we'll need to chill it again, to make sure the butter doesn't melt out of them."

He nodded in understanding before capturing her lips in a searing kiss and pressing her tightly against his chest for a long minute. He trailed kisses along her jawline. "How long will that take?" he murmured against her ear.

"Mmmm…" She shivered. "At… least an hour," she gasped, her back arching involuntarily.

"Oh?" He smirked, brushing the spaghetti strap off her shoulder. "I wonder what we'll do for that hour…"

Three hours later, while the finished croissants cooled on a rack in the kitchen, Marinette took Adrien's hand and pulled him out onto the back deck of the beach house overlooking the sea. Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she murmured her transformation phrase as he did the same. Red and green lights flashed around them as they continued to embrace. Her eyes closed against the brightness, Marinette found Adrien's lips for a kiss, before pushing him away and springing off the deck with Cat Noir in hot pursuit. Together, they sprinted down the now-familiar boardwalks and sidewalks running along the sea, taking in the sights. Ladybug smiled, letting her eyes close and trusting her instincts as she and Cat Noir raced along side by side, the stiff late afternoon breeze whipping her accustomed pigtails back behind her head.

"I thought you'd gotten enough exertion already, Milady," Cat Noir teased, poking her just under the ribs.

Quirking an eyebrow at him, she smiled mischievously. "And here I was thinking you would need something to get your energy back before next time!"

His eyes flashed. "Don't worry about me, Bug," he assured her, giving her a smoldering look. "I'm ready whenever you are. Right here, right now."

"My, aren't we forward today, Chaton," she teased him, though she could feel her cheeks heating up. Clearing her throat, she smirked, leaning in closer. He leaned forward eagerly to close the distance, but she backed away and tapped him on the nose. "But if you want the reward, you'll have to earn it." His mouth fell open, but before he could react, she sprinted down the street, threw her yo-yo to wrap around a streetlight a block away, and reeled herself toward it through the air, flipping twice before landing on top of a tall resort hotel. Cat Noir shouted something behind her, and his staff extended as he gave chase. Before he could reach the top of the hotel, however, Ladybug had already dived off, launching her yo-yo to catch onto an electric line and swinging around it to throw herself over the next building. Spinning around in midair at the apex of her arc, she gave Cat Noir a wink and blew him a kiss, as he tossed his staff down and ran across it to the next rooftop. She spun her yo-yo above her head to slow her fall, and caught a quick glimpse of Cat Noir summoning the staff back to his hand just before she dropped below the roof level. To her right along the seafront was a large marina, with a long yacht moored at the very end; directly below her was nothing but sandy beach. Taking careful aim, she threw her yo-yo at the yacht's bow, aiming to pull herself toward it and behind the boat's cover before Cat Noir could reach the end of the roof and spot her. The yo-yo had only crossed half the distance, however, when a strong breeze picked up from directly in front of her, blowing the yo-yo off-course. Her eyes widened in surprise as the yo-yo missed the yacht completely and fell to one side. She reeled it back in, shifting it toward the next boat in the line, but not fast enough. Gravity caught her, and she felt her weight return as the sand rushed up to meet her.

"Ladybug!" Suddenly, strong arms caught her in a princess carry, just before the jolting landing. Ladybug closed her eyes and grabbed onto Cat Noir as he rolled over in the sand, cradling her to his chest protectively.

She let out a giggle. "I guess you won!" she managed, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and pulling his lips down toward hers. "So, you earned your prize!"

Not taking the invitation, he instead looked down at her, worried. "Are you okay, Milady?" he asked, running a hand up and down her back.

Ladybug swallowed. "I'm okay." She smiled, the tightness in her chest releasing. "I knew you'd catch me – like you always do." She frowned, glancing back toward the water. "Though I don't know where that wind came from. Or how it could affect my yo-yo like that."

Cat Noir furrowed his brows, glancing out to sea. "Yeah…"

"[I suppose that's fair]," an ethereal voice spoke, seemingly all around them. The wind picked up for just a moment, before coalescing together into a deeply-tanned man with long, flowing white hair and beard. The man stood a couple paces away from them, his arms folded, eyeing them suspiciously. "[I do not know where you came from, either, Ladybug and Cat Miraculous holders]."

"You recognize our miraculous?" Cat Noir demanded.

At the same time, Ladybug blinked, staring at the stranger nonplussed. "Um… who are you?"

"[I believe I asked you first]."

Cat Noir quirked an eyebrow, setting Ladybug back on her feet. "You might have implied the question," he pointed out. "But my partner actually asked it." The man made stared at them silently. Cat Noir finally sighed. "Well, it's like you said, I'm Cat Noir; this is Ladybug. We came down here from Paris, and we were on vacation. So you are…?"

There was a pause. "[I have been called by many names, by many peoples, in many languages. But I am the Mistral]."

Ladybug cocked her head to one side. "As in the wind?"

"[Yes]." He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "And you are miraculous users," he added, switching languages to heavily-accented French. "Authorized to do so by Miraculous Guardians?"

"We are," Cat Noir agreed, nodding. "My mother is in fact one of our Guardians."

"I see."

Cat Noir furrowed his brows. "So… what are you?"

"And are you a friend?" asked Ladybug, putting a hand on Cat Noir's arm.

"Perhaps," the Mistral agreed, glancing back and forth between them. "If you are a friend to me."

They shared a look, and Ladybug stifled a giggle. "We're not exactly in the habit of trying to make enemies."