After figuring out their temporary living arrangements, Marinette left the other heroes and followed Rena Rouge across the city, eventually landing on the roof of a modern looking apartment complex. While it didn't have the quaint style that was particular to France's more historical buildings, it did have a nice view.

Marinette was only able to appreciate the scenery for a brief moment when Rena surprised her with a soft, "Let's rest." In a flash, her suit disappeared, leaving Alya standing there in a flannel shirt and jeans, with Trixx hovering over her shoulder.

It wasn't as if she was shocked to see her friend all-grown-up. She obviously already knew who Rena Rouge was behind the mask. Yet… Marinette couldn't help but feel a slight sense of unease about it.

"This is... It's okay, right?" Marinette asked softly, and Alya offered her a comforting smile in return.

"It's alright." Alya nodded, her voice gentle, as if she already understood why she was so hesitant; and maybe she really, truly did. It only made sense if they were still so close as allies and friends. "I know it's you, Marinette."

Another moment of quiet passed before Marinette said, "Spots off," and Tikki flew away to meet Trixx between them, the two kwami spinning around one another with soft giggles.

"Sorry." Marinette rubbed her elbow as she stared at the roof. "It's... I'm not used to anyone knowing who I am. Not outside of Master… Fu..." Her voice softly trailed off and she looked up at Alya curiously. "Can I ask how you found out?"

"Circumstances called for it," Alya simply answered, placing her hand on Marinette's shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You'll know when it's the right time."

Circumstances, huh? Marinette repeated to herself, knowing it was pointless to ask for more than that. It was enough information to make her wonder why, because in her time, Alya's identity had been compromised. She couldn't use the fox miraculous safely anymore… So how…?

Her mind briefly wondered back to Alya's odd reaction to Hawk Moth's name, but Marinette quickly shook those thoughts from her head while her friend pulled her phone out and started tapping at the screen. "I've just got to warn you though, I have a roommate. But it's okay, he's a pretty cool dude." Alya winked at her.

"W-wait…" Marinette practically squeaked as she processed that information. "You live with a guy?" She couldn't help the apprehensive feeling that bubbled up again. There were too many questions of who, what, where, when…? Not to mention how they were going to explain Marinette's presence to him. If she was still Alya's friend, wouldn't he know her?

Alya nodded with a laugh, then motioned for Marinette to follow her down through the roof access door and into the building, their two kwami diving to hide in their respective pockets. They only descended two flights when Alya led her out of the stairwell and down a beige hallway that smelled too strongly of some sort of cleaning agent. She came to a stop in front of a door somewhere in the middle.

Alya didn't even get a chance to take out her keys when the door suddenly swung open, and Marinette practically jumped out of her skin at the sudden figure that burst through.

"Woah! Sorry, dudette!" Nino stumbled away with his hands raised. "Didn't think I'd startle you like that."

"Nino?" Marinette glanced at Alya with wide eyes, feeling the wall pressed up against her back. She must have wound up there in her panic. Pressing a hand against her chest, she let out a small sigh. "Sorry, I'm just… jumpy. I don't know much, obviously, but just being here is a lot to absorb."

"So I take it you got my text, babe?" Alya strolled over to Nino and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before moving into the apartment. "Hope you don't mind that I offered our place for her to stay."

"'Course not!" Nino shook his head and stepped aside to let Marinette pass, bending at his waist in a low bow. "Mi casa es su casa, and that goes double for friends—even mini versions."

After Nino closed the door behind them, Wayzz flew over from a small kitchen to stop in front of Marinette and put his flippers together, dipping his head forward in a respective greeting. "It is good to see you again, young guardian."

A look of panic crossed Nino's face as he waved his hands around wildly. "Wait, little dude! She doesn't, uh... Things might not be like that... yet. I mean, I dunno, maybe?"

Wayzz turned around to face Nino. "Do not worry. We kwami have a sense for this kind of information. Though she is not from our time, we still know when that particular responsibility has been passed on."

"Ah." Nino nodded and raised a hand to scratch his chin, a sad look on his face. "So Master Fu is already gone."

"Nino!" Alya hissed, her wide eyes flicking to Marinette.

Nino followed her gaze, and he started when he realized. "S-sorry! I forgot it might have been recent for you." He stretched his arms behind his head. "It's been years for us. Not that we— " his hand waved between himself and Alya "—knew him at… uhm… I should probably shut up."

"I-it's okay." Marinette didn't feel upset—she didn't think—but her voice broke all the same. "It's what he was training me... for..." She turned her head, surprised when she felt her eyes sting with tears.

"Oh, girl." Alya stepped forward, and Marinette leaned against her as her older friend pulled her into a tight hug. "I know it's hard, and I'm sorry we couldn't be there for you back then." She eventually shifted around and held Marinette at arm's length, gripping her shoulders. "Right now, you just relax and not worry about anything miraculous-related, because we'll handle everything."

Marinette rushed forward to hug her again, and Alya squeezed her back. After a quiet moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and Marinette unburied her face from Alya's shoulder to see Nino smiling at her.

"So uh, maybe we could chill out for a bit?" He adjusted his hat and gave her a wide grin. "It's been a while since I've had a game night."

"You just want to see if you can beat a less experienced Marinette, don't you?" Alya smirked.

"I neither confirm nor deny that accusation." Nino put his hands together as if to pray, seemingly to try and appear innocent. "But playing a game of Ultimate Mecha Strike is a pretty good way of taking anyone's mind off of things."

As Nino showed her to the room with the entertainment system, Marinette wiped at her eyes with a smile. Even though she knew almost nothing about this future, she let go of those little concerns flitting around her head. For the moment, it didn't appear to be anything she needed to worry about.

oOo

Adrien landed with a soft thump on the rooftop, quickly straightening up and turning his back to the balcony doors like Mister Bug had instructed him to do on the way here. A pink glow flashed behind him, and once the light had faded, Adrien softly called out, "Claws in."

"Hmm, pretty ritzy place you got, kid." Plagg grinned mischievously as he hovered in front of Adrien, peering over his shoulder. "But it looks a bit roomy for just one person."

"Plagg!" Tikki flew around to sternly glare at his kwami. "We told you not to look until Adrien had a chance to clean up!"

"Relax, sugarcube." Plagg reclined in the air, resting his head against his paws. "You know I can keep a secret. Besides, I don't see anything incriminating."

"Plaaaagg..." Tikki's tone was drenched with warning as her expression narrowed.

As fascinating as it was to watch the kwami pair interact, something that he had never seen before, he was reminded of a small concern that had been bothering him. "So uh, if we're both staying in the same place, won't it get a bit... you know... confusing between us?"

"Well, we'll know who we're talking to if it's just each other," his older-self said from behind him. "But I guess it would get a bit weird for our kwami or any of the other heroes if they meet us without the suits."

"I'll stick with 'kid' for my chosen," Plagg said. "And maybe… Hmm… 'Mister' for the future version?"

"Mr. Adrien?" Tikki tried. "If we want to specify to whom we're speaking, it can work."

Mr. Adrien—that sounded weird, even in his head—laughed at that. "Technically, I'm the 'present' Adrien, since I'm in my own time, but because I'm Mister Bug with the earrings, either would be a good distinction."

"Hey!" Adrien exclaimed when he had a thought, grinning mischievously. "How about, 'Old-rien?'"

Tikki giggled while he heard a groan from his older-self. "While I appreciate the pun, I'm decreeing we stick with 'Mister' or 'Present Adrien,' thank you. 'Oldrien' makes me sound like an old man, and I'm still young." Footsteps shuffled along the balcony before Adrien heard a door open. "Now, just stay here while I get everything cleaned up. Tikki, can you help me?"

"Of course!" Tikki flew off after Present Adrien—which still sounded as weird as the alternative they'd come up with—and the door shut quietly behind them.

Adrien passed the time by marveling at the view, not surprised that his future self had found a place high above the city skyline. It was something he could see at any point just by transforming, but even when running around the rooftops as a hero, he never grew tired of admiring it.

And the small garden visible in his peripheral on the rooftop balcony was a delight and a surprise. He could see a few small bonsai trees out of the corner of his vision, while potted planters hung along the railing before him with red roses spotting the bushes. It reminded him of the flowers that Marinette had on her own balcony.

I wonder what my future friends are up to, Adrien thought to himself.

About twenty minutes later, Present Adrien returned to fetch him, and Adrien eventually stepped into the lavish apartment that would be his future home. His father's mansion was such a huge place, wide and empty. Ever since his mother had disappeared, it had lost any sort of homely feel.

The apartment however, had a lived-in look, despite being quite large and open. The living room was decorated with small tables alongside a comfortable looking sectional couch, a TV hanging on the wall and a few pleasant, colorful images scattered about the place. A set of modern stairs off to the side led to an open second floor where he could see ceiling-high bookcases and a desk that seemed suspiciously clean.

"Wow," Adrien marveled. "I can't believe father allowed me to get my own place like this."

Present Adrien laughed. "I obviously can't reveal much, but let's just say that there are a lot of things that open up for us in the future."

"I'll say!" Plagg flopped onto the couch and bounced against the cushions. "I can explore the whole house without needing to hide!"

"You can't just go anywhere you please!" Tikki hovered over Plagg. "You still need to stay out of the closed rooms!" When Plagg grumbled a response, she shook her head and zipped into the sparkling kitchen across the room, only to phase into a glass jar that was filled with cookies.

"When did you move in here?" Adrien turned around and asked.

Present Adrien hesitated. "I probably shouldn't say?" Although he eyed Adrien with a curious look before holding up his hands and shrugging. "I haven't been here long, if that's what you're wondering. So no big changes for you anytime soon."

"Okay, but speaking of changes, something's been bugging me for a while," Adrien started, his brows furrowing despite the accidental pun. "Is Ladybug alright? You mentioned needing to switch miraculous because of health concerns."

"Ladybug is, uh... perfectly fine," Present Adrien assured him. "I mean, she had to go to a doctor, but he said it wasn't anything—ah..." He caught himself a little too late, and Adrien froze, unable to help his train of thoughts as they went off the rails.

"You..." Adrien pointed at his future-self, grabbing at his hair with the other hand. "You spoke with her doctor? You know each other!" It clicked in his mind all too fast as he remembered bits of the heroes' conversation before they'd left. "You know who she is! You all do!"

"Hold on a minute—!" Present Adrien waved his hands wildly. "I mean, anyone could probably, uh… Shit."

Tikki popped out from the kitchen and covered her face, drawing her paws down until she turned to Present Adrien. "You've really let the cat out of the bag this time!"

He let out a nervous chuckle at that. "At least he doesn't know who she is, just that I know."

Adrien took a deep breath and slowly lowered his hands, his features widening with a dazed expression. "You know... Which means... I'll know too..." He then scrunched his face up. "But wait, why would she share her identity? She's always been so stubborn about keeping it a secret."

"Things change." Present Adrien shrugged. "And circumstances allowed us to be more open once Hawk—nope, wait, that's definitely confidential. Probably." He flopped back onto the couch with a sigh. "Anyway, at some point, it was impossible to hide between us, but I'm not going to say anything more about it." He leaned back and wove his hands together behind his head. "Just sit tight here until the rest of the team finds the akuma."

Adrien opened his mouth to press for more info, but Present Adrien shook his head with a stern look before he had the chance. "No further questions, but I can at least safely give you this: If you love Ladybug as much as I know you do, then it's important for her safety that you don't know her identity before you need to know." He then pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. "We can chat about unclassified things later though, right now I have a few messages to send."

Present Adrien stepped toward the hallway on the other side of the room before facing him again. "And, while I don't think it's necessary to state, I just want to establish that you need to stay out of any containers. I've hidden most of the incriminating stuff, so anything you can see in the apartment is okay to use or look at." Having said that, he turned with a nod and disappeared into the joining hall, Tikki flying off after him.

Adrien dropped on top of the couch and glanced around with a sigh.

"Pretty nice place, if you ask me." Plagg floated toward the kitchen area and immediately phased into a closed cupboard.

"Plagg, stop. He just told us not to snoop," Adiren reminded him. "Plus, we're guests here."

"Technically, it's your house too!" Plagg's muffled voice came from inside the cabinet before he popped his head out. "Just in the future." He then disappeared again, seemingly unconcerned about any rules.

Adrien stood up and marched over, opening the cupboard without thinking. "Plagg! Get out!"

"But I can smell cheese in here!" his kwami whined, hovering up and carrying a small wedge in each paw before sniffing them both and making an odd face. "Yuck! This isn't camembert! What is this? Gouda? Swiss! BLECK!" Plagg tossed the cheese back inside. "I don't think we live here! There's no camembert at all! Just a bunch of cookies and low-grade cheeses!"

Adrien glanced back at the cookie jar curiously, thinking that it was definitely an odd choice. Maybe his future-self had put Plagg on a diet? Or at the least, while their miraculous were swapped, he had simply stocked up on supplies that Tikki preferred while the cheese went with Ladybug for Plagg.

Ugh, my poor lady, Adrien thought. There was no worse fate than smelling like camembert all day.

While he was distracted by Plagg and his shenanigans, Adrien didn't notice the soft click of the front door until it opened, and he swung around in a panic, only to watch as Nathalie strolled in. He relaxed for a split second before he remembered this wasn't Nathalie from his time, and quickly realized that trying to come up with a believable excuse for how he was there would probably be disastrous for Present Adrien.

But he didn't have time to run or find a place to hide. If he tried, surely she would have noticed and spotted him anyway. At the very least, Plagg managed to duck inside his pocket just in time, because Nathalie turned in his direction and stopped in the doorway. She didn't really have much of a reaction other than her eyes widening slightly as they moved over him. Though feeling frozen in place, his gaze did the same to her, noticing that she had a small streak of grey in her hair, but other than that, she looked like the same old Nathalie.

"Adrien?" she asked with a clear voice, an unexpected tone for someone that was meeting a past-version of the adult they knew.

"Uh..." He waved, not knowing what else to do. "Hi." He wondered if she might buy a story about him running into some age-changing akuma, but before he could spin up a tale, Present Adrien walked back into the room.

"Alright, everything seems to be..." His words trailed off as he looked up from his phone, and Adrien and Nathalie turned to stare at him. His eyes flicked between the two of them before Present Adrien groaned and slapped his forehead. "Hello, Nathalie. As you can see, we've got a bit of an akuma situation."

"Oh," Nathalie said rather calmly and closed the door behind her, carefully adjusting the bag she carried on her shoulder. Adrien couldn't help but notice how odd it looked, because the flowery, pink fabric clashed with Nathalie's dark suit. "I assumed that might have been the case."

"Yeah." Present Adrien rubbed the back of his neck before motioning to Adrien. "Say hello to past-me."

He waved awkwardly again while Present Adrien continued with his explanation. "We're trying not to mess up the past, so any information regarding our current time might be a bit sensitive. We don't want to risk our younger-selves knowing too much about now."

"Selves?" Nathalie repeated, and he saw Present Adrien wince at the slip-up.

"Uh, yes." Present Adrien coughed into his hand. "Past-me and... someone else. So," he quickly began, obviously trying to change the subject. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" He curiously eyed the bag in her arm, obviously sharing the same thought about how out-of-place it seemed.

Nathalie glanced down at the large purse and shot an amused look back up at Present Adrien. "Well, I was hoping to drop this off with 'someone else,' but I suppose it will have to wait for now."

"I can take it instead," Present Adrien offered. "It may be awhile before I can drop it off though."

"No, it's fine. I wanted to deliver it as soon as possible," Nathalie answered while pulling out her phone. "Don't worry, I should be able to locate—" Her eyes flicked toward Adrien. "—them, while I run a few more errands."

"You don't want to stay?" Present Adrien asked, looking a bit disappointed. "You only just got here."

"I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to hold much of a conversation without accidentally revealing anything." She motioned in Adrien's direction with a tilt of her head. "But we can catch up later, maybe after the akuma gets settled. Good day, Adrien." She then turned to Adrien with a warm smile. "And Adrien." With that, she moved to leave.

When the door shut behind her, Adrien whipped around to face his future-self and immediately asked, "Do you have a roommate?"

Present Adrien seemed to freeze as he tried to form words, but only managed a few incoherent sounds before he just groaned, covering his face. He peeked from between his fingers at Tikki helplessly, who simply floated out over his shoulder and shrugged.

"Is it Nino?" Adrien tried. Wait—no, that was dumb. Unless Nino secretly liked pink, floral purses in the future.

"No! Nope!" Present Adrien shook his head and swung his arms out. "I'm not answering any more questions! Although I think it's at least safe to say that it's not Nino. He lives with—er, well... elsewhere." He tapped his fingers against his chin. "I feel like any information at this point is more than I should give away."

With the motion of his fingers, Adrien caught a quick flash of light. For a split second, he thought it was his miraculous—until he remembered that it was still with Ladybug. So his eyes flew back to the spot on his future-self's left hand and stared, unable to remove his gaze from the gold band around his ring finger.

Tikki appeared to notice first, when her head moved between the two of them and she suddenly squeaked in surprise. "Adrien! Your ring! We forgot your ring!"

"What?" Present Adrien said. "No, my ring is still with—" His eyes widened as he glanced down at his hand before smacking his forehead with it.

"You're married?" Adrien asked with awe in his tone. "Wait! I'm married! I mean... will be...?" He felt a goofy grin growing on his face. "That's who Nathalie was looking for, right? Who is it? How did we...!? W-wait... It's... It's not..." His voice trailed off, hopeful... They did switch miraculous, after all. That sounded like something a husband would do for his wife! But... Wait, no... She had said something about having her own place.

Present Adrien gave in with a sigh. "Okay, yes, fine. I'm married. You've already seemed to piece that together." He then gave Adrien a stern look. "But I won't say who she is, other than…" He paused over that, appearing to gather his thoughts before finally speaking, a warm smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "I married an amazing girl... And she makes me happy. But that's all you're getting out of me."