Chapter summary: Midnight talks. Sharing beds. Wakey wakey breakfast shoved down your throat. Adrien can't make tartines it looks like The Hunger Games instead. School time talks. Elders are sneaky. Akuma attack is some kind of bovine that hates cats. Chat ran up a tree then into a sewer drain. Send help. Oh look, plot. I CAN'T WRITE FIGHT SCENES!

We found a reason to climb higher, breaking the mould just to inspire: with all of our stars in line, knowing there's no time to waste. Now, hold on, we're breaking new ground: and suddenly I don't feel so alone, 'cause this is home. I want to take the first step that seems to far, then we'll get the chance to find out who we are. If it rains, it pours, but we'll keep pressing through. Nothing feels impossible with you. And I promise you, when we've got no clue I will do whatever it takes just to cheer you on. You're a glimpse of hope in miles of strife. I don't want to stand alone anymore.
- Aviators

Part V:

Adrien looked from the chaise he was trying to sleep on up to the loft where Marinette was, she hadn't made a sound in the last few hours, so he assumed she was asleep. He would give his left arm to be able to sleep next to her, it might help.
He gave a sigh and got up, checking his phone and noted it was past midnight, and mentally groaned, making sure he made no noise, and Plagg was tucked back into his pocket (who knew when akuma would attack), but he tried to make sure Plagg slept at least.
He made sure to close the trap door quietly, he was sure she wouldn't mind him getting a glass of water.
"Adrien?" A voice called, making him flinch and freeze and he looked down to see his elder self at the bottom of the stairs, blinking at him. "You alright?" He asked, quietly.
Adrien blinked back. "Um…Couldn't sleep…" He offered.
Elder-Adrien looked understanding. "Ah. Water?" He asked, moving over to the kitchen.
Adrien nodded, but then realised his elder-self had his back turned. "Um. Yes, please." He amended.
Elder-Adrien looked over his shoulder and gave a smile, before looking back to the cupboards and went about getting two glasses out.

Adrien walked down the stairs quietly, knowing that possibly two females were still asleep somewhere in the house, as Elder-Adrien fixed up the glasses of water.
"Here," Elder-Adrien noted softly, giving over a full glass.
"Thanks." Adrien thanked, and looked around the house curiously.
It was noted on Elder-Adrien. "You haven't been here much, have you?" He asked, curiously.
Adrien looked back to him, and shook his head. "These last few days have been the longest I've stayed here." He replied truthfully.
Elder-Adrien looked as if he was thinking. "Gamer tournament?" He asked.
Adrien lit up, and nodded. "That would have been the longest, besides now. I keep Marinette's charm with me, though." Adrien said, pointing upstairs to where his things were kept besides the chaise.
Elder-Adrien nodded. "I keep hers too," He told, unnecessarily, Adrien remembered seeing the charm every time he saw the Elder Chat because he had it on his belt.
"How did you get it on your belt as Chat?" He asked, curiously.
Elder-Adrien chuckled and moved off to the lounge to sit down, stifling a yawn, and Adrien followed obediently. Elder-Adrien motioned to the couch, so Adrien sat down, still ingrained in him in how he was brought up.
"I was able to attach it to my belt when I gave it to Plagg, quite by mistake, mind you. Plagg warned me it might get stuck on as Chat, but there was a fight going on, and I really didn't listen when there was a tsunami wave coming in for me. So, it's on my belt now." Elder-Adrien told, with a little smile. "I guess it can hold a little extra power, but it mainly acts as an actual lucky charm, alongside Pyaar." He mentioned.
Adrien looked excited, as much as he could when he felt the entire world on his shoulders. "So I just give it to Plagg, and it'll appear on my belt?" He asked.
Elder-Adrien gave out a small and quiet chuckle. "Yeah. You might wanna discuss it with your Plagg first so he doesn't freak out, and bait him a lot with cheese." He told him.
Adrien nodded.

Elder-Adrien stood up and took both empty glasses to the sink.
"When did you learn to cook?" Adrien asked as he did.
"My lessons started after I learnt who Mari was, so you'll have a few years' head start against me. It started out that I would come over the days and nights when her parents went out for conferences and conventions, and I learnt from her and helped as much as I could. I'm still getting the hang of making déjeuner, I can't seem to get tartines right. Everything else, I'm good at, tartines as simple as they are, I can't seem to get right. Mari laughs at me all the time." Elder-Adrien commented, coming back over to the lounge and collapsing on it, nearly sending Adrien flying off it. "Sorry," He apologised seeing that he nearly sent the kid flying.
Adrien waved it off happily.

"Adrien…?" Came a smaller voice, and they both looked to the stairs, to see Marinette standing there, rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry, Princess, did I wake you?" Adrien asked, getting up from the lounge and walking to the stairs, hugely aware that in her half asleep state she could probably fall.
Marinette sleepily shook her head as she walked down, Adrien quickly taking hold of her in awareness once she came in closer, (and because he wanted to).
She sleepily rested her head against his chest for a second. "Woke up, and you weren't there." She admitted tiredly.
When she lifted herself from him, he walked her over to the lounge and sat her down, sitting down once she was situated.
Elder-Adrien had his nose crinkled in adoration.
"Oh…!" She gasped, seeing him, and he waved politely. "What are you doing up?" She asked curiously.
He chuckled. "Well, I went to the bathroom, and came back to Mari hogging the bed, so… I know when to choose my battles, and that one isn't one." Elder-Adrien stated happily.
The youngers stared. "…Oops?" Marinette asked.
Elder-Adrien shrugged good naturedly. "It's fine, if she can get comfortable then its fine, she's the one pregnant. Some nights she can't get comfortable at all." He reminded.
"Oh," Both breathed.
No wonder he was so good natured about it.
"And normally there is an extra bed," He started. "But we're in said extra bed. So," He shrugged again.
Noting that Marinette gave out a grumble yawn, he got up to the kitchen only to come back with another glass of water for her.

Adrien blinked, but looked reminded. "So, why aren't you good at déjeuner?" He asked.
Marinette blinked in confusion, but Elder-Adrien went, "Ah! Right." Seeing her confusion, he elaborated. "Adrien is asking how long I've been practicing cooking." He told her, and she understood.
Elder-Adrien looked thoughtful. "I guess I'm not good at it because it's normally Mari's thing to do. She's the one up at dawn, bakers' daughter. But I'm getting there." He added in an afterthought, as if he needed to clarify he was trying. "But lately she hasn't been able to do everything, especially on nights before when she's been restless. So, as long as she doesn't get cravings for tartines, I'm good." He finished proudly.
"How can you not get how to do tartines?" Marinette asked.
Elder-Adrien lit up, and pointed to her. "There's the million-dollar question!" He remarked, as if in that second he could see his wife in her younger self more clearly than most times. "If I had a dollar for every time my wife asked me that, we could retire happily without caring about using my money." He stated, still lit up happily.
This caused the children to frown. "Your money?" They echoed.
This caused Elder-Adrien to deflate. "Ah. Yeah. I kinda don't like using the money Gabriel gives me. So, I try not to use it. Don't want to." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back into the chair with a pout.
"Well, that makes sense." Marinette replied helpfully. Adrien could very well understand that particular sentiment.
Hearing them agree with him he smiled at them.

Elder-Adrien looked from one younger face to the other, and noted that they both looked tired.
"You think you'll be alright, now, Adrien?" He asked, well aware they had school tomorrow.
Marinette looked sleepily confused, but Adrien nodded.
"Thanks for the water." He thanked, and Elder-Adrien nodded softly.
"Of you go, then. I'll see you in the morning." He remarked.
They got up and made their way up the stairs. "Oh, before I forget…" Elder-Adrien started, they looked back down at him, as he was now by the stairs. "If you hear someone throwing up at three in the morning, it'll be Mari, not an akuma attack, so you two don't need to worry if you hear her." He told them.
The other day she wasn't sick, but he'd warn them just in case.
They blinked at him, but nodded, and disappeared back up the hutch, and closed the trap door behind them.

Adrien watched as Marinette made her way to her loft stairs.
"…Marinette…?" He questioned, looking fidgety and nervous.
She looked to him. "Yes, Chaton?" She asked.
"Um…Could I…Could I sleep next to you…?" He asked, his nervous fidget with his hands was back.
She blinked at him, in sleepy non-understanding.
He would need to elaborate. "It's just that…I don't want to be alone…" He tried. "If…If you don't want to, you-you don't have to… it's alright… I won't blame you —I just—I…" He squeezed his eyes shut.
It was too much to ask for.
His eyes flew back open in shock when he felt himself being hugged.
"It's alright, Minou," She told him, holding him tighter. "You can." She told him, then grasping his hand she led him to the stair case, and went up first, he blinked up at her. "Come on; There's still a few hours left before school." She reminded.
Adrien nodded and climbed up the stairs, and looked to her nervously. "Which side…?" He asked.
He had never slept next to anyone, but he knew the mechanics of doing such. Sharing was a requirement.
She blinked. "Um…Have you slept in an elevated bed before?" She asked. He shook his head. "Alright, take the wall. I don't want you miraculously falling out." She told him, tiredly.
He nodded, in no mood to fight, or elaborate. He pawed over the bed to the wall, not before carefully taking out Plagg so he couldn't get squashed and placed him next to Tikki then balled up as small as he could get. He didn't want to take space away from her.
She looked at him. "Minou…" She breathed, lying down on her side, she palmed him, and he looked at her. "Come here, Silly Chaton." She remarked, grasping his arms and pulling.
Before either knew what had happened, they were in each other's arms, covers up to their necks, fast asleep comfortably and for the first time in a long time for Adrien, he finally felt safe.

.

Adrien woke up to hear his wife quickly getting out of bed, gathering his senses, he quickly rushed after her just as she bent over the toilet he gathered her hair out the way, and rubbed her back.
She groaned as her legs shook, feeling her tremors, he made sure to wind his hand over her waist to gently take hold of her in case she lost her footing.
"I checked before we came here about morning sickness, and I swear its normal. But holy damn, are you okay?" He asked, nervous and worried, as she bent over again and coughed.
"I'll be fine, Minou." She gasped, eternally grateful that he wanted to be a part of this, and had taken a lot of her weight, because she was sure had he not, she would be on the floor.
That had happened once, and Adrien had freaked out over it so much she found herself in the family doctor's in under an hour, with him not taking fuss.
"Are you sure…?" He asked, and she could hear the worry in his tone.
Feeling her stomach settle, she nodded, and he led her to the sink, where she grasped a cup and filled it with water to gargle. He left her there for a second to flush the toilet, then he was back at her side again. Ever the worry wart.
"It's fine, Adrien. It's normal, like you found out. It differs from woman to woman. But its natural." She reminded.
He sighed. "I know. I just wish I could do more." He told her.
She smiled at him. "You can take more shifts once the little vomit is born." She reminded.
He nodded. "Right."

Adrien lit up. "Oh yeah. Had a midnight conversation with the children. Adrien couldn't go to sleep, Marinette wandered out when she realised he wasn't there." He told her, to try and get her mind of being sick.
She looked to him. "Yeah?"
He nodded. "If we go and wake them, most likely we'll find them in the same bed." He noted.
"Naw," She noted, then took another mouth full of water to gargle again, then spat it out. "Marinette most likely freaked out when she didn't see him, you know?" She asked.
Adrien nodded. "I know the feeling." He told her, patting her back. "So," He straightened out. "What's for breakfast, Milady?" He asked.
She smiled at him and let him lead the way to the kitchen.

.

Adrien woke up in stages.
He was feeling something that he couldn't put his finger on, but it was unfamiliar but extremely welcomed.
He curled up more against whatever he had his arms around…
Hang on, what.
That was new.
Adrien had his head on his pillow, and he only owned one of those.
He really should own more.
So…if his head was on his pillow…what was he hugging…?
Adrien opened his eyes a little getting used to the sun, that was in the wrong position for his bed.
He blurrily noted that his room was a lot pinker then what it was before.
Pink.
This room was pink.

His eyes opened wide, and he saw that he was indeed hugging Marinette.
Marinette who was asleep.
Marinette who was actually hugging him in return.
Oh gods in heaven, he swear he has just died.
So, this is what heaven felt like.
He stared at her in awe as she slept unawares.
He'll deal with whatever brought him here later, for the moment he just felt warm, and like nothing bad could go wrong whenever he was next to her. He closed his eyes in bliss and settled back next to her happily to be where he was.
This…. this was what home should feel like.
And he would follow it anywhere.
He would follow Marinette anywhere.
Would trade much of his life if he could just stay with her.
He settled more so against her warmly; if he woke up to this feeling for the rest of his life he could handle whatever life could throw at him, just as long as Marinette stayed where she was, next to him, for the rest of his life.
Marinette was warm. Marinette was safe. Just one more reason to never leave this girl.
With that last thought, he burrowed down into her and fell back asleep happily.

Marinette jolted when her alarm went off, so much she groaned and dug back into whatever pillow she had managed to throw her arms around.
Her pillow moved with her.
Well, that was odd. She didn't have a pillow that breathed.
Marinette's eyes popped open when she realised her "pillow" breathed.
And her eyes were greeted with a Grumbling-Waking-Up-Adrien-Agreste.
She recalled her last conversation with Adrien (be that a few hours ago), and she watched him shake his head a little, tighten his grip on her as he tried to grasp his sleep that was becoming more and more elusive as Marinette's alarm blared in his ear. She blinked sleepily at his blonde head: he wanted to, no, had pleaded with her to stay next to her.
She blurrily watched him for a few seconds longer.
"…Mari…" He mumbled sleepily. "Alarm…" He tried, and made a small gesture to her phone going off in her alcove. She reached up over to her phone, noting that the kwami's had flown out the way, probably as soon as the blasted thing had torn their sleep away from them all. Tikki was rubbing her eye, while Plagg was glaring daggers at the phone.
While Marinette was settling her phone, Adrien slid to sit up, rubbing his eyes, a little confused.
"…Warm…" He mumbled, still not with it.
Marinette looked to him, as he yawned cutely (in her mind, anyway).
"Warm?" She asked, stretching.
"You're warm." He mumbled, switching eyes to rub tiredly.
Marinette blinked at him. "…That's…good…?" She asked in confusion.
He nodded. "Warm and safe." He continued to mumble in his half asleep state.
"I guess that's good." She shrugged. "We better get down stairs, Minou." She told him.
Adrien nodded and followed her down, absentmindedly collecting Plagg and his charged phone on his way out, hissing at Plagg's comment for cheese.

Adrien woke up further with an alarmed jolt when Elder-Marinette charged at him and forced a cookie into his mouth.
"Wa', tha'?" He muffled around the cookie he barely didn't choke on.
"Wakey, wakey!" She called as she rushed off back to the kitchen.
"I guess that's one way to do it." Marinette giggled, causing Adrien to glare at her.
Once Adrien was able to actually eat the cookie, he at once realised the fuss his elder had at having them in the morning, aside from it being stuffed down his throat, he could get extremely used to eating them as the first thing in the morning. It went against so much of Nathalie's dietary report, that he almost did a jig in spite of his father.

They came into the kitchen to see Elder-Adrien shutting the fridge door.
"No, Plagg, for the last time, cheese isn't a suitable human breakfast." He was sighing to his kwami who was holding up a slice of camembert. The black ball of disaster almost looked sad. "I know you're being helpful, but you like your cheese anytime, us humans just can't have cheese, and only cheese all the time." He explained, patting his Plagg's head affectionately.
Adrien's Plagg who was sitting on his shoulder looked to his human. "Wait, you humans can't just eat cheese all the time?" He looked outraged.
Adrien shook his head. "We can't, but look at it this way: more cheese for you." He told him.
Plagg almost looked stricken by the thought that his human couldn't just eat cheese all the time. At least every time his human had denied his offering (and sometimes when he did) made much more sense now.
"Huh." Plagg murmured thoughtfully.
Elder-Adrien looked to them brightly. "Well, there you guys are! I was about to come get you in case you both slept through Marinette's alarm," He caught his wife's glare. "What! We did it all the time!" He reminded in defence, causing her to shrug, and he to look back to the children. "Mari's making tartines, just to spite me—I mean in an another attempt to teach me." He corrected quickly seeing Elder-Marinette's glare return. "Which failed. You'll be eating hers." He told Adrien specifically, he knew Marinette could hold her on.

Marinette watched in utter dismay as even her Adrien couldn't put together a tartine, without it somehow exploding on him once he tried to make his own seeing how it looked simple when Elder-Marinette made one for Elder-Adrien, who just shrugged sadly seeing him attempt to make one.
"How. How is this simple?!" He ended up growling at his piece of nuclear waste of a tartine on his plate. It. Was. Just. FANCY. BREAD. It was meant to be simple.
He glared at his waste land with utter contempt and his Marinette took pity on him, switching out his plate for hers.
"Try this," she placated calmly, knowing now to never give Adrien tartines to make himself, unless she wanted to know what a dystopian future would look like.

The elders got them ready for school, (Elder-Adrien fetching Adrien's clothes for him so he could actually leave) after locking up the bakery.
"What are you guys gonna do?" Marinette asked curiously.
Elder-Adrien shrugged. "Probably patrol. Maybe keep an eye out for akumas?" He asked, looking to his wife.
Elder-Marinette nodded. "We'll do that. Though if there is an akuma attack, you guys will probably still need to show up." She reminded them.
They nodded, and with that the elders sent them off to school then transformed themselves to patrol the city they loved.

School, in short was boring, for the most part.
Chloé glared daggers at Marinette, and Adrien spared no expense in glaring at his former childhood friend.
"So what's new?" Alya asked, sliding up next to Marinette who was sitting in her class seat with Adrien side on in his seat, Nino now sitting next to him.
"Adrien can't make tartines." She giggled, she was still finding this extremely hilarious.
Adrien actually groaned. "Why do we need to keep bringing this up!" He said, hanging his head.
Marinette giggled. "Because it's simple." She told him.
Adrien pouted. "It really isn't." He replied.
Alya and Nino were looking between their friends, then to each other and shrugged.
Marinette was still giggling. "It really is. But now I know, if I ever have a need to know what a dystopian future might look like, all I need to do is get you to try making one." She told him, happily.
Adrien flopped his hands onto his chair railing, then folding his head onto them. "So not far." He pouted.
"Alya…!" Rose started, as she and Juleka came up to them.
"Hey, Rose! Hey Juleka!" Alya greeted back.
"We heard that there looks like there's two Ladybugs and Chat Noirs!" Rose exclaimed.
Both Marinette and Adrien froze, Nino looked alarmed, and Alya paled a little when she noticed other ears such as Chloé's perk up to listen.
"Is it an akuma? We've seen two Ladybugs before!" Rose continued, unaware of the panic she was causing.
Her mentioning the two Ladybugs caused Alix to huff, and mumble her apologies again.
"Have you been able to talk to them?" Rose barrelled on.
Alya blinked and then laughed. "I've talked to them, yeah!" She started, both Adrien and Marinette saw the little hand wave to signal she was taking care of it.

The classroom gasped in excitement, while some like Chloé, pretended not to be interested.
"What did they say? Where are they from? Is it because of an akuma?!" Rose was the first in asking.
"Like usual, they didn't say much, I think an akuma sent them here from wherever they're from, so they're probably waiting it out until that particular akuma shows itself." Alya commented, doing damage control easy.
"But it wasn't on your blog." Chloé was the one to huff out, many shocked to agree with her.
Alya laughed. "And you expect me to post this? There are some things they did mention that I would have an extremely bad time if it got onto my blog. I'm not one to wrong superheroes when they've asked me not to!" Alya exclaimed. "Do you want to be on the bad side of one? I could go ask Lila about that. That I did get permission to post." Alya continued, noting Marinette's groan of disdain.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"Ladybug or Chat Noir must follow my blog because either of them saw it or both, because Ladybug took a disliking to Lila saying they were best friends when the girl actually had never seen her before." Alya mentioned, internally gleeful to finally get that out.
There was an outraged shocked gasp from around the classroom.
"What do you mean Ladybug doesn't know Lila?! Lila knows everyone!" An equally outraged Chloé remarked, as huffily as everyone else.
Alya looked amazed that Chloé was still in on this class discussion that wasn't even about her.
Alya then looked sneaky as she took out her phone. "Here," She started, and turned her phone on.

It was a video recording of an interview neither Marinette or Adrien knew of, because it actually featured Elder-Ladybug.
"Hey, here! Ma'am! Ma'am!" Alya had called.
They watched as Ladybug flinched but turned to her politely, her eyes lighting up when she recognised Alya.
"Wow, you look young! This still a time when you upload to your blog?" She asked.
They all heard that Alya flipped that she remembered her. "Yes!" She near on screamed.
This caused Marinette and Adrien to chuckle at their friend.
And it caused Ladybug to laugh into her hand. "I really should remember your name by now, Al…Alya, yeah? Ladyblog." Ladybug pretended.
The camera wobbled as if Alya was nodding. "Yep! That's me!" She stated happily, causing Ladybug to smile at her.
"Hey, LB!" A male voice called and an Elder-Chat came poling down from elsewhere. "There needs to be—" He stalled seeing Alya. "Oh hey! It's Alya, dang you guys are young. I keep forgetting!" Chat prattled away, causing Adrien to mentally groan at himself.
Ladybug rolled her eyes at him affectionately, while Alya freaked out. "Oh my god, he remembers me to!" She breathed frantically.
"Hold up, Alya. There needs to be what, Chat?" Ladybug asked.
Chat blinked, then shook his head. "Damage control. People are asking about Volpina." He told her.
They watched as Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Ugh. We're gonna have to talk to ourselves and remind them." She muttered, but it was caught on camera anyway.

Alya gasped. "Which reminds me!" She started, causing the two elders to blink. "Do you know Volpina personally? Like, does she save the day with you guys where you're from?" Alya prattled on.
Ladybug blinked, while Chat looked to her in wary. "Uh. No? Volpina was a akumatized victim of Papillon, you guys need to understand that. You all need to understand that we don't personally know, or have met the person who was akumatized as Volpina before now. Is that understood?" Ladybug asked sternly.
"Yes, Ma'am," Alya replied (fake) nervously.
Before Ladybug could reply, Chat was chuckling. "Seriously, don't call her Ma'am, she'll end you." He said, then caught his partner's glare. "What! You will! I called you that once, and you threw me off a building! Again!" He retorted.
This caused the class the laugh.
"That was because it was you, Minou." Ladybug replied, causing him to cross his arms when she winked at him, but she turned back to Alya. "Though, seriously, you don't need to call me that." Ladybug reminded.
"Sure thing!" Alya noted, happily. "Anything else I can know? Like—" Alya was cut off from whatever she wanted to say when Chat gave her a stern glare, that made everyone want to draw in their theoretical tails between their legs.
"Sure, ask away, but if it makes its way onto the Ladyblog, then I'd have to break your phone." He said pleasantly with a touch of venom.
"Sorry, sorry!" Alya quickly amended.
In the background you could hear a bell tolling, and Ladybug looked to Alya quiz-ably. "Uh, shouldn't you be heading to school…?" She asked.
"Yikes!" Alya noted and the video ended.

"See!" Actual-Alya near on shouted, causing them all to jump in their seats, or from where they had crowded around.
"When did you get this?" Marinette asked curiously.
"Just this morning, that was the hour bell you heard in the background." Alya told her.
"Oh," Many said, it would be why they hadn't seen it: the video was probably still being processed if it was only recent, because when she had taken it wasn't a live feed.
Chloé huffed. "That means that Lila brat is a lying little know it all." She hissed.
Marinette and Adrien looked to each other, and then understood what their elders had done.
Before anyone else could say anything, their teacher came in and class was demanded to start.

Even if class was a drag, it was soon cut short by a huge explosion that caused many to fall out of their seats, and their teacher to scramble for something to hold onto.
"What was that!" She screeched in alarm while many of the students had gotten up to the bay windows to see the pile smoke skirting across Paris's skyline.
"It's coming this way!" Chloé screeched seeing the pile of smoke coming straight for their class.
They ran away from the window, when a black mass flew towards them. They ducked when the glass shattered and a black mass of Elder-Chat came through it at an extremely fast rate, and collided with the far wall of the classroom.
"Dude!" Nino was the first to exclaim.
"Merde." The man hissed, getting himself back up, then stalled seeing the children. "Whoops." He then looked to the surprised teacher. "Get your children out of here!" He near on yelled, before vaulting back through the broken glass towards whatever threw him half way across Paris.
"R-Right! Everyone, you need to leave! Don't forget to read chapter eight!" She shouted, the students were already through the door before she finished screaming at them to leave.

"What do you think that was!" Adrien shouted as they ran out of school.
"I don't know! But we're gonna find out!" Marinette shouted back, she then rounded on Nino and Alya. "For once, can you please stay out of danger?!" She asked then.
Alya stalled in her retort seeing how worried both her friends were. "…Promise to give me an exclusive after it, and I'll stay behind." She grouched.
Marinette lit up, eyes shining with tears, launched herself to hug her friend. "You got it!" She yelped, before tearing herself away and running off with Adrien.
"Cover for us!" Adrien yelled.

They followed the trail of devastation to find their elder selves battling what looked like a humanoid crossed with some kind of bovine that had it in for Chat.
"This is so animal abuse." Ladybug muttered, seeing Elder-Ladybug fly out the way last second of a charge and Elder-Chat run up a tree in alarm.
"What the hell!" Elder-Chat yelled as the akuma turned tail and rammed the tree he flew up.
"You shouldn't have pissed him off!" Elder-Ladybug yelled as Chat literally dug his claws into the wood of the tree to keep himself from falling out.
Elder-Chat turned to glare at her. "I wasn't about to let it ram you!" He declared.
"True, but you got thrown half way across Paris," She mentioned.
"Oh sure, it's fine when you do it, but totally not fine when someone else does it!" Elder-Chat ranted back.
Elder-Ladybug just rolled her eyes. "Just hold your whiskers." She told him.
"Do I want to know?" Ladybug asked, ignoring the fact that her Chat Noir had taken up hiding behind her.
Elder-Ladybug sighed. "No. We don't get it either." She then threw up her yo-yo for her lucky charm, seeing that it was a replica of Chat Noir she threw it in the opposite direction, and the akuma chased after it.
But in the meantime something flew of the akuma as it ran off.
Elder-Ladybug saw it race towards the open sewer vent. "Minou!" She freaked, realising the object they needed and that it was small enough to go into the vent to never be seen again.
Elder-Chat quickly realised what was going on, and in a flash of green light stood no man, but a diving little black cat that dived after the object, and subsequently let out a disgruntled mewl when he obviously found water inside the sewer vent.
Elder-Ladybug threw her cage at the akuma to stall it, once it was caged her focus was on the sewer vent. "Minou!" She yelled freaking out in concern.

The youngers stood idle agape in awe.
"You…just turned into a cat." Ladybug breathed, watching Elder-Ladybug flutter frantically at the opening, hoping for her partner to come back out.
"That was awesome." He told her excitedly, ignoring the bellows of the caged bovine.
"Minou…" She worried frantically, pulling out her yo-yo to track him, seeing that he hadn't moved, she flipped her yo-yo around and flung it down the vent hoping to catch her Chat. Feeling it being tugged on, she slowly yanked the line back out, revealing a disgruntled yet very wet black kitten, who yowled at her, his mouth full proudly.
Elder-Ladybug smiled gratefully and held out her hand for the kitten to drop the object, once he did she threw it at Ladybug. "Go fetch the lucky charm," She told her.
Ladybug nodded, and rushed off to find the Chat Noir replica she had seen get chased after, while Elder-Ladybug changed back, causing the kitten to mewl at her in concern, and her Tikki to warp exhaustedly back into her purse.
Marinette got up with her kitten in her arms.
"When did that happen?" Chat asked, curious.
Marinette shook her head. "Not sure, he always avoids telling me," she affectionately tugged his ears, and he swatted her hand playfully. "He rarely changes because he has no control over how long he stays changed for." She told him as Ladybug broke the object and cleansed the butterfly.
With the cage disappearing, the akuma turned back into a civilian Ladybug walked over to them. "Aw, he's cute." She noted even the Miraculous Cure made him fluffy and dry.
The kitten gave out a displeased yowl, as if he didn't like being called cute.
Marinette patted his head. "She's right, you know." She remarked.
He patted her arm in annoyance.

Elder-Marinette placed her kitten down onto the table top, in her family bakery, and looked to the children, who noticed that the black kitten had a green collar, with a familiar bell with a familiar green paw print on it, next to a familiar dangling lucky charm.
"You don't need to go back to school?" She asked.
They shook their heads. "Kinda happens when there is an akuma attack," Marinette observed.
"And when the window gets broken by a superhero." Adrien added.
Elder-Marinette blinked, and looked to her kitten. "That was where you ended up?" She asked in concern, the kitten nodded. "Were you hurt?" She asked, scratching his ear, he let out a purr.
"I think he was fine." Adrien noted. "He got right back up again." He told her.
She rolled his eyes. "That doesn't stand. I've seen him fall off buildings, get crushed by rocks, get hit in the head, get bulldozed by a tsunami wave and walk it off like nothing happened." She told him with a defensive sniff.
"What I'm worried about is that the akuma was after you specifically." Elder-Marinette pondered. They watched as the back hair on the kitten's back rose in defence as he butted up against her hand in distress. "We might need to handle this soon, Minou." She told him, then looked apologetic to Adrien. "I apologise mon Chaton, but I can't have an akuma that powerful targeting you personally." She told him.
Adrien had stalled, his shoulders clenched, but he nodded resignedly, when he felt Marinette put her hand on his back supportively.
With it, she nodded. "Tikki! Nooroo!" She called, noting the teens flinched while at the same time the respective kwami's flew out of her purse. "Tikki, I need you to go get as many cookies as you can." The pixie nodded and zoomed off, even Marinette's Tikki flew out of her purse and flew off to help. Elder-Marinette looked to Adrien. "Can I borrow your Plagg?" She asked, and Plagg flew out of his pocket.
"You…don't really need to ask me…?" He voiced, seeing that Plagg showed himself anyways and gave the elder a salute.
Elder-Marinette smiled. "Here's your favourite job, get as much cheese as you can."
Plagg looked ecstatic, and zoomed off happily.
Elder-Marinette looked back to the nervous little butterfly who still looked guilty over the situation. "It was never your fault, Nooroo," Elder-Marinette reminded, cupping the poor kwami sadly. "Will he still be in the atrium…?" She asked.
The little butterfly nodded and nuzzled her hand in appreciation. "He'll be there." He squeaked quietly, only to giggle when the nearby kitten swatted him playfully, he caused him to fly a little away from Elder-Marinette, and the kitten followed playfully, leaping once to try and catch the kwami.
"Adrien," Elder-Marinette giggled taking hold of the kitten under his belly to stop him while Nooroo gave out a happy giggle.
The other kwami came back with their bounty, which was dutifully sorted to divided into two lots per item.
"I'm gonna smell like cheese," Adrien pouted, knowing he'd have to have one pile of cheese on his person somewhere in case he transformed back.
Elder-Marinette looked to him apologetically. "Sorry, mon Chaton." She replied, causing him to shrug.
The kitten on the table did a little dance to gander her attention, and Elder-Marinette quickly grabbed him was able to get him on the floor and back away before a green light engulfed him and transformed him back to Adrien.
Who gave out a vocal displeasure of changing. "Blech!" He groaned, shaking his limps.
"You alright Minou?" Elder-Marinette asked, while the teens looked on in awe.
Elder-Adrien nodded while plucking up a piece of cheese and giving it to his exhausted kwami. "Here, Plagg," He said, nudging his kwami.
"Cheese!" Plagg noted, and was more lively looking then he was a second before.
"We're going to the atrium?" Elder-Adrien noted, and Elder-Marinette nodded, causing him to sigh. "Fair enough, once Plagg has eaten, we can go." He offered, everyone else silently nodded.

.

.

As calmly as the four could, the sneaked into the atrium.
"I was wondering when you'd come find me." Papillon's voice rang out.
The four immediately had their hands on their weapon of choice.
"Was your sending out akuma's a way of an invitation?" Elder-Chat asked, even with his night vision, he couldn't make out any shapes.
"Come now, that's no way to greet me." Papillon said slyly.
"Open up your window and you'll see how well we'll greet you!" Ladybug shouted from Chat's side, having no night vision she was just in the dark as both Chats were.
"As you wish, my dear." Papillon agreed.
All around them came the sounds of mechanical whirling to open up the window in front of them, and behind Papillon, who was standing, his arms outstretched, cane in hand.
"Shall we begin with you offering up your miraculouses?" He asked, as if he just asked someone out for a cup of tea.
"You're wasting your breath!" Chat snarled.
"Hmph. You're right. Then, I'll take them by force, my son!" He yelled, then launched his butterflies at them.
Chat knew it was coming, but it still took its toll.
"Chat!" Ladybug screamed seeing him freeze, and launched herself at him while both elders got out of dodge.
"Run!" One of them yelled, unheeded as the butterflies swarmed the children, cutting of their surprised screams.
"So, what to do with you." Papillon questioned seeing the elders, coming back together with Elder-Ladybug floating back to Elder-Chat's side, before they could retort he sent out a wave of force that caused Elder-Chat to spear in his baton, and grasp his partner to make sure she didn't go flying.

Then both the children burst through the purified butterflies with a wave of a yo-yo and a baton, stirring the butterflies back to their master, who growled at them angrily.
Adrien at least should understand!
Before he could question their idiotic motives, they split running at him from different sides, aiming for his miraculous.
"I'm taking Nooroo back!" One of them yelled as they came at him.
"No, you won't!" He yelled, and he sent his butterflies back out to hurl them across the room, where they slid to a stop on the ground with moans as they had been knocked out of their transformations.
"Ah!" The Elder-Ladybug voiced, and flew over to them in an attempt to help them up and protect them.
Now he was left with a grouchy over grown mangy black cat to deal with.

"You know what?" Elder-Chat growled. "I'm done. I'm done with you. I'm done with your shit. I'm done with this shit. Cloche Éclater!" He exploded while pulling down one zipper on his pocket only to throw out what looked like tiny cat bells that launched at Papillon, sticking to the floor around him, bells that made subtle ringing noises as Elder-Chat held his baton like one would a detonator. "Move one single thing on your body, move that staff of yours, move any of your butterfly's and I will blow you sky high." Elder-Chat seethed in rage, his thumb hovering over the top end of his baton, its paw print glowing to match the ringing noises from the bells, he watched out the corner of his eye as his Lady helped the teens up before glaring back at Papillon.
Papillon didn't seem to take him seriously and made motions to move which Elder-Chat growled warningly at, while seeing her chance: Elder-Ladybug flew at Papillion her hand outstretched for his miraculous.
"No! Don't!" A shrill unfamiliar voice called out before anyone could make a decision, and then the world turned white.
"No!" They heard Gabriel shout, in a voice they could only categorise as alarm.
Blearing through the white Chat thought he could see the Agreste family Mansion's foyer, with his father on the stairs with the bomb bells around his feet dangerously: the man looked more terrified then Adrien had seen in his whole life, before the whiteness became too bright for him to see anything so he closed his eyes.

A/N: If someone can figure out what happened, I'll give you a clue if you're right XD