AN: This takes place a couple months after the defeat of Hawk Moth in "Mind Games." However, a couple of chapters jump to an (alternate) future timeline, which gets explained later. I'd suggest reading "Milady" and "Mind Games" first, but here's the quick recap if you need it:

Adrien and Marinette found out each other's identities in "Milady" when Hawk Moth crashed a dinner date. Marinette stopped stuttering around Adrien after performing emergency surgery on him (for which she had to cut all of his clothes off – hard to feel embarrassed by anything after that!) while he was bleeding out on her bed. They started dating. Then in "Mind Games" they and their friends defeated Hawk Moth and Mayura and reclaimed their miraculous. Now the miraculous holders are continuing to fight crime as the Heroes of Paris.

As an aside, I finally watched the second half of season three and… it was good but not great. Some of the episodes were great ("Ikari Gozen," "Battle for the Miraculous," among others). I'm still annoyed that they can't just air episodes in order, since the release order introduces the new heroes before they first receive their Miraculous. This also means some of the Season 3B episodes do take place before "Milady" diverges from the show, but others don't. Also, if anyone wonders why my characterization of Chloe is vastly different from "Miracle Queen," it's pretty simple: "Milady" diverges from the series before Chloe has a chance to get truly bitter at Ladybug, meaning that she didn't fall nearly as far and thus didn't have to climb back nearly as much.

Replies to reviews of the last chapter of "Bugs Have to Stick Together":

To Speckleflower: I'm guessing that Hawk Moth doesn't let Nooroo eat quite as much as Marinette and Adrien do for their Kwamis, but that was more about the banter between the three girls!

To anonymousfriend27: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed this! If this was your first introduction to my stories, I hope you go back to read everything that came between!

Present Day

Adrien slowly pulled open the roof hatch to Marinette's bedroom, careful not to make any noise. He didn't want to wake her up at 6 in the morning; to be honest, he wasn't even supposed to be at her house that morning. He'd just finished his patrol with Ryoku and been on his way back to the mansion when he'd seen the bakery and felt an overwhelming urge to look in on his Lady.

Adrien slipped through the hatch as quietly as he could. Marinette was fast asleep, Tikki lying on a small shelf next to the bed. Adrien carefully climbed down onto Marinette's bed, knelt, and kissed her on the forehead. Marinette gave a little hum and smiled slightly, but didn't wake up. Adrien smiled to himself and quietly climbed down from her bed, stretching his sore back muscles as he did so.

Adrien was just about to transform again and slip out Marinette's window when the hatch in the floor opened up and Mme Cheng stuck her head through.

"Marin—" she started, then stopped when she caught sight of Adrien. "Oh, good morning, Adrien. I didn't realize you were here. You must have snuck in quiet as a cat!" Her eyes twinkled.

Adrien's heart stopped beating for a moment at her last comment, his eyes widening, before catching himself and forcing his expression to return to neutral. Why did Marinette's mother make a cat reference? About him?

If she had noticed his reaction, Mme Cheng chose not to comment on it. Instead she said, "I was just going to wake her up, but if you can do that, I'll set another place at the table for breakfast. Tom is making those sausage and egg pastries you love so much!"

"Thank you, Mme Cheng," Adrien managed to get out, just before her head disappeared through the hatch and she closed it behind her.

Adrien knew that Marinette's parents liked him; M. Dupain had made it clear the moment that Mme Cheng insisted on fixing up one of their guest rooms for him to use permanently.

When he had first asked Adrien to step into the living room with him for a private conversation, Adrien had been afraid he was in trouble. It was nothing Marinette's parents had done; the moment Marinette had brought him home the morning after his father's arrest, they had literally embraced him with open arms and made him feel like a member of their family. At the same time, however, he knew from personal experience just how protective M. Dupain could be of his only daughter: some of the bruises Weredad had left after that disastrous first date had taken weeks to fade; the memory itself still had not faded. However, that had been far from M. Dupain's mind.

"I see the way my daughter looks at you, son," M. Dupain had told him, putting a massive hand on Adrien's shoulder and looking him straight in the eye. Adrien's eyes had watered at the seriousness in his mien. "You are a good young man, and I trust you with her. Do you hear me? I trust you with my daughter. One day, I hope you have a daughter of your own so you fully understand just what that means. All I ask of you is that you prove yourself worthy of that trust. Earn the way she looks at you."

At the time, Adrien had almost commented that, "I'm pretty sure that saving her from Akuma attacks on a semi-regular basis for the last two years should count," but he'd known that was not what M. Dupain had in mind.

Now, however, he wondered if maybe M. Dupain had already known. But when would they have found out? How would they have found out?

With a shrug, Adrien climbed back up the ladder, crawled to the head of the bed, and pushed a strand of Marinette's hair back. "Milady," he whispered, kissing her forehead softly.

"Mmm," she mumbled, opening her eyes fractionally and looking up at him. Her expression changed to surprise, confusion, and then fear as she caught sight of his face inches from her own. "Adrien?"

"'Morning, Bugaboo," he said, grinning.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, sitting up and blushing slightly.

Adrien leaned back against the wall and shifted as she turned to sit next to him. He pulled a small miraculous box out of his pocket and told her, "I just finished my patrol with Kagami and wanted to stop in and see you. I hope that's okay."

"What if my parents catch you? How would you explain that?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Um, your mother actually did catch me when I was just about to leave," he answered, grimacing. "She seemed cool with it for some reason. She just said to wake you up and invited me to stay for breakfast."

"I'm telling you, it's not normal how much my parents like you," Marinette grumbled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Adrien debated telling her what her mother had said, but decided against it. It wasn't his place.

"So how was patrol tonight?" Marinette asked him, smiling as she leaned against his shoulder.

"Quiet," Adrien replied. "No sign of that jewelry store crew that KM and Rena Rouge encountered last week. Kagami and I just spent half the night fencing at the Champ de Mars."

"Sounds like fun."

"Actually it was, but Kagami's still a little better than I am." Adrien winced, reaching to feel his back. "She got me a few times pretty hard; good thing it was just the flat of the blade. The only reason I don't have more bruises is because she's still not used to her sword and I've had years to practice fencing with my staff!"

Marinette pushed Adrien to lean forward, away from the wall, and started rubbing his back. Adrien closed his eyes as he felt her fingers massaging away the tension and stiffness in his muscles. "So did you win?"

"At least a couple of rounds," Adrien answered, chuckling. "But I think Kagami figured out who I am." Marinette's fingers stopped moving. "I used the same feint tonight that I used on her in practice last week. She gave me a look afterward but didn't comment on it."

Marinette resumed her ministrations. Finally she said, "We figured it was only a matter of time before the new recruits figured out you were a hero. Our headquarters is under your mansion, after all, so the first time we bring them there, they'll know you have a connection. I guess it's not the worst thing for her to learn it now."

Adrien nodded in agreement. "Thanks," he said, rolling his neck in a circle and moving toward the ladder. "I definitely needed that. We'd better get moving before your mother gets worried."

Adrien climbed down to "his" room to change into fresh clothes while Marinette showered and dressed. After changing he called Gorilla to let him know to pick him up from the bakery. Then he went downstairs to find M. and Mme Dupain-Cheng talking in the kitchen. They fell silent when he entered the room, and M. Dupain greeted him loudly. "Adrien! Good morning, son."

"Good morning, sir," Adrien answered, going over and pouring himself a cup of coffee. "I hope I'm not imposing."

M. Dupain dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "Certainly not! I always have more than enough. You're always welcome in my house."

Adrien sat down at the table, helping himself to a pastry as he did so. He ate contentedly as M. and Mme Dupain-Cheng moved around the kitchen, M. Dupain cleaning up the breakfast dishes while Mme Cheng frosted a batch of cupcakes for that morning's display. Marinette came down a few minutes later, taking her accustomed seat next to Adrien and reaching for a pastry of her own. Adrien smiled at the domestic scene around him. It was something he'd never experienced at home. His parents had loved each other, of course, but his father had never been very good at displaying his feelings. And the mansion's kitchen was mostly off-limits; they hired world-class chefs for that. The closest to this scene that he could remember was the day his mother made cookies with him. She wasn't much of a baker, and they'd gotten more batter on the floor than the baking sheet, but it was still one of his favorite memories.

He sensed Marinette's eyes on him, and gave her a reassuring smile before glancing at the clock to see that they only had 20 minutes before school would start. Adrien stuffed the rest of his pastry in his mouth and pointed out the time to Marinette. Marinette jumped up, grabbed her bag, and ran for the door.

"We'll be late!" she squealed. "Bye, Mama, Papa! We'll see you at lunch!"

Adrien grinned as he followed Marinette out the door, thanking M. Dupain for breakfast as the door closed behind him. There was a twinkle in M. Dupain's eye as he waved them off and turned back to check on the bread in the big bakery oven.

"What's Gorilla doing here?" Marinette asked, pointing at the car.

"I need to pick up a couple things at the office before school," He told her. "Want to tag along?"

Marinette shrugged, so Adrien opened the car door for her to get in and slid in after her. He smiled to Gorilla in the front seat, who gave him a grunt of acknowledgement and pulled away from the curb. The car merged into traffic and started toward the building housing Agreste's offices, which was on the other side of the business district.

"Do you have to go back after school?" Marinette asked, leaning against Adrien.

Adrien wrapped his arm around her. "Not today," he answered, rubbing her shoulder absentmindedly. "Our managers are doing fine on their own and there's nothing pressing that I need to handle at the moment. Besides, we've got homework."

Marinette was about to respond when both their phones vibrated simultaneously. Adrien withdrew his hand and pulled out his phone at the same time Marinette did the same.

The moment he saw the sender, Adrien looked up at Gorilla and said, "I think we'll have to do this after school. Can you drop us off at the end of the block?"

Gorilla gave him a confused look but nodded and pulled over. Adrien opened the car door and slid out of, holding it open for Marinette to follow. Hand-in-hand they crossed the street and ducked down an alleyway.

"I guess you're going to be late again," Tikki commented, poking her head out of Marinette's purse.

"It's a pity these robbers can't work around our school schedule," Adrien joked. "Plagg, claws out!"