"What a day," Adrien groaned as one hand closed the bedroom door behind him while the other one unbuttoned his jacket. "Francis, can you turn on the low lights?"

Tikki flew out over the large bed as the room lit up in a soft glow, just enough to see by, but not so bright as to dim the spectacular scene perfectly framed by the windows. A night view of Paris spilled out beyond the glass panes filling the entirety of the corner wall, the golden light of the eiffel tower visible in the distance.

A quiet squeaking noise drew his attention to the dresser at the front, and Adrien smiled as he turned to the colorful terrarium made up of tubes and plastic cubes. The wheel inside the main tank spun frantically while he bent over to peer in.

"Hey, little girl," he cooed softly to the hamster inside. At the sound of his voice, the small creature paused her exercise before scampering to the glass and pressing her snout against it, tiny paws scrabbling over the surface. "Are you looking for mama?"

Usually, by this time, Marinette would have given her a treat, so Adrien popped open the small bag and dropped one in before turning and flopping back onto the bed with a sigh. What a time to have everything go completely out of control. Granted, his past-self wasn't annoying or intrusive at all, it would just be his bad luck that things kept happening that allowed past Adrien to figure out bits of his own future with their unfortunate timing.

"Tikki," Adrien started. "At this rate, Past-me is going to discover Ladybug's identity tomorrow morning, and by next afternoon, he'll have somehow found out everything about Hawk Moth—and I can't decide if that's good or the worst thing to ever happen!"

"Not possible!" Tikki squeaked, zipping up to hover in front of him. "I made sure to put away all the wedding photos. Anything else incriminating about the present has been hidden or locked, and you should know better than anyone that your younger-self wouldn't snoop around like that."

Adrien hummed to himself. "True. I never did pry when Marinette insisted that we had to keep our identities to ourselves." He drug his hands down his face. "Though I did get a bit impatient with her at times."

Adrien turned to look out over the bed, a huge king-sized mattress with a navy comforter spread beneath him. At the headboard, arranged neatly on one side, sat a small collection of stuffed animals—mostly black cats—that he had gifted to Marinette over various holidays, or simply because he thought she would find them cute.

"Crap," he said aloud as a thought hit him. He immediately jumped up from the bed and scrambled over to the joined bathroom. Just as he feared, all of her overnight things were still inside. "I didn't bring Marinette any of her stuff."

Tikki flew past his shoulder and hovered over the toothbrushes sitting in their stands. "Her parents always keep a few things handy, just in case. Remember when you stayed over during Christmas?"

"Right." Adrien blinked, recalling that time fondly. It had been his first holiday with her family.

Though they hadn't planned on spending the night, they'd gotten so distracted by a Super Mecha Battle Tournament, that by around one in the morning, with snow covering the streets, her parents hadn't let them walk out the door. "I'm glad they upgraded Marinette's old bed. Can you imagine two grown adults trying to share a twin?" Adrien grinned just thinking about it.

Tikki giggled. "I'm sure you wouldn't have minded at all."

"You're right." Adrien laughed as he strolled to the bed and laid back on the sheets, staring up at the ceiling. "But we haven't even been here for very long, and now we have to sleep separately until who-knows-when."

"I wouldn't say for more than a day—two tops." Tikki flew up into his view. "I'm certain everyone will be able to figure this all out soon. Don't worry!"

Adrien heard a soft scratching noise right then, but he didn't think anything of it. Since he'd been sharing the room with a hamster for a good while, he was used to little scrabbling sounds in the middle of the night. Tikki must have thought the same, because she didn't say anything about it.

So when a soft knock came from the balcony, he shot up and turned to look, jolting in surprise as he spotted a dark figure through the glass door. Green eyes peered back at him in the glow of the lights.

He couldn't unlock the door fast enough to pull it open. "Marinette?" he whispered, grasping her elbow and feeling the cold about her despite the protection of her suit. "I would have left the key out if I knew you were going to be here!"

"Sorry." She lowered her head as she rubbed her upper arms. Adrien placed his hand along her hip to help her inside and to try and transfer some of his warmth to her. "I couldn't get to sleep."

He followed her to the edge of the bed where she sat down and fiddled with the end of her long braid. "Since everything was so short notice, I don't have any of my pillows... Or my husband." She smiled up at him before flopping back onto the covers with a sigh, stretching her arms above her head. "And I don't think I can survive at my parent's house for very long."

Adrien gave her a puzzled look, sitting down on the bed beside her. "What are they doing to wear you out like this?"

"It's not them!" Marinette shook her head. "It's... I just didn't realize how tiring the stairs were before!"

Adrien couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. "We have a second floor too, you know. You don't seem to complain about that."

"I know!" She draped an arm over her eyes. "But everything important in my parents' house is downstairs from my room." She lifted her hand and began ticking off on her claws. "The kitchen, the bathroom, the living room. Heck, even the bakery! If I need anything, I have to go up and down one to two flights each time." She rolled onto her side and pouted in a way that Adrien couldn't help but smile at. "If I weren't carrying your child, I might have the energy to do all that."

"Oh, so it's my child?" Adrien flopped down beside her and propped his head up against his arm, giving her a cheeky smirk. "Yet you still had the strength to transform and leap across Paris to our apartment?" He reached out with his other hand and began to massage his fingers into her hair just below her cat ears. "Was my lady really that lonely?"

Marinette closed her eyes and sighed contentedly, leaning her head into his touch so much like an actual cat that Adrien had to suppress a snort from how cute he found it. It didn't take long before they had crawled farther up onto the bed and she snuggled in close. Adrien wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and a soft rumble eventually vibrated from her chest.

He nuzzled his nose against her hair and grinned. "Now you really are my purr-incess." She let out a soft whine while he squeezed her, though she didn't make any move to push him away.

"And now you've ruined it." The purring sputtered when she lifted her head, her mouth drawn down in a small frown. "You know I can't control it."

"I know." Adrien shifted and reached his arms around her back to pull her body flush against his, reveling in her soft giggle when he sweetly kissed her cheek. It didn't take long for her to lay against him once again and the rumbling to resume. "And I love it. It's such a soothing sound."

"It is weirdly comforting," Marinette softly agreed.

A moment of quiet passed between them as Adrien's hand reached up and continued to massage her scalp, her warm breaths brushing against his neck in an easy rhythm. Her grip eventually relaxed, and he noticed the rest of her body slowly go limp as well.

"Are you falling asleep?" Adrien whispered as he pulled his head back to look at her.

"It's hard to stay awake, but I'll probably need to go to the bathroom soon anyway," she mumbled sleepily. "I can be gone before past-you wakes up." With what seemed like a tremendous effort, her eyelids fluttered open. "Speaking of, how is little Adrien?"

Adrien hummed to himself softly, thinking about his answer before a smirk grew on his face with a devious expression. "You mean my past-self, right?"

"Of course I—" She blinked back at him slowly, his words and meaning taking a bit to sink in before the soft blush finally spilled out along the edge of her mask. "Oh my god Adrien no!" He yelped out a laugh when her claws dug into his chest and she buried her face in his shirt. "Yes!" her embarrassed voice squeaked out. "I meant your house guest!"

"Ouch! Milady, you're actually wounding me!" Though he had been surprised, Adrien chuckled as he pried her claws out of the fabric. "Did you forget how sharp these are?"

"Sorry," she mumbled as she released his shirt, but before she could pull both of her hands away, he reached up and grabbed one so he could lightly kiss her gloved fingers.

"He's been fine," he mumbled in answer to her previous question. "Not snooping, if that's what you mean. Aside from accidentally finding out that I'm married, just not to whom." Adrien chuckled softly. "He'd probably flip over the moon if he knew the truth."

Marinette hummed, which was shortly followed by a quiet, "Claws in." Adrien watched Plagg swirl around above their heads as he let out a loud whine.

"Pleeeeeease tell me there's Camembert!"

"Sorry, Plagg." Adrien smiled apologetically. "Past-you ate the small amount I bought earlier. There's still some other Marinette-safe cheeses in the fridge."

"Aww," Plagg moaned. "But that's not Camembert." Though he didn't sound happy with his choices, Plagg still twisted in the air and made a bee-line for the kitchen. Adrien only let him go because he noticed Tikki phase through the wall after him, content that she would keep his greedy kwami in-line and out of sight if either of their past-selves popped up.

"You don't have to go before the night is over, you know." He returned his attention to Marinette as he ran his hand lightly across the back of her neck. Without the suit, she was left in her pyjamas, allowing him access to her bare shoulders. "I can set an alarm and you can leave before past-me even wakes up."

"I have to leave before my parents get up anyway," Marinette grumbled. "I may be an adult, but as long as I'm staying at their house, Papa will definitely be checking on me before he opens the bakery."

"He's just worried about you and the baby." Adrien's eyes moved down to her stomach, which was partially visible where her top had slipped up. According to the doctor, she was thirteen weeks along, yet she still showed no physical signs. Slightly worried, Adrien wondered if that was normal, tucking it away as a question to ask about at her next exam.

"I know," Marinette responded, the appreciation apparent in her voice. "It has been a rough start. Everyone has different experiences, so it's not always the warm and fuzzy glow that some people say it is." She sighed as she shifted beneath him, and he felt her hands move up to clasp loosely behind his neck. "I just wish it didn't come with so much nausea."

"Well, relax here for as long as you need." His words were muffled slightly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, his own arms sliding to the small of her back. "The door's locked, and Plagg is probably busy eating all of the cheese in the apartment, so you'll have no interruptions."

At that moment, the distinct sound of little hamster paws scrabbling against a glass terrarium disrupted the quiet.

"'No interruptions,' huh?" Marinette giggled, craning her neck around to peer at the dresser. "I think our fur-baby is trying to get your attention."

Adrien groaned. "She's probably just realized that you're in the room, but I already gave her treats for tonight." His grip on Marinette's waist tightened as he tried to ignore the faint squeaks. "I swear, she's just as greedy as Plagg with his Camembert."

"That's hard to believe." Marinette gently toyed with the ends of his hair. If he had been transformed as Chat Noir right then, he would have been the one purring from the sensation. "I've seen Plagg inhale two entire wheels in less than an hour."

"Alright, no more talk about cheese-eating kwami and interrupting hamsters." He traced his fingers softly over her spine, and Adrien felt her shiver beneath him. "With an early morning akuma, an impromptu hospital visit, and our past-selves dropping in, I've had no alone time with my lady all day."

"Now who's been lonely?" Marinette shifted back far enough to look up at him from beneath her eyelashes, and Adrien sucked in a quiet breath. Either she was just extremely tired, or was doing a very, very good job at tempting him.

As he moved to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, not for the first time in his life, Adrien thought himself a lucky man. The two amazing girls he knew as both a hero and civilian wound up being one in the same. No wonder I fell in love with her twice.

He wanted to kiss her, and he didn't have to ask for permission, because her expression told him everything he needed to know. How had he never been able to read her like this when they were kids? With the bond they had shared for so long as superheroes, it was hard to believe that they never figured out who the other was beneath the mask with just a single look.

Without hesitation, Adrien lifted his hands to cradle her neck, gently brushing a thumb over her cheek as he moved in and placed a kiss directly against her lips. Their warm breaths mixed, and Marinette hummed pleasantly beneath him, instantly responding to his affections by sliding her hands up and tangling her fingers in his hair.

As soft as her touch was, the contact seemed to burn against his scalp, and it spread like wildfire throughout the whole of his insides. Eventually breaking away from their kiss, Adrien shifted, making an almost animal-like growl as he trailed down her chin before moving into the crook of her neck.

"Adrien…" Marinette's voice huffed as she tugged at the material over his chest. He suddenly had the urge to discard his shirt completely.

Instead, he wrapped an arm around her middle and eased her onto her back, his legs shifting so he could lift himself and take a look at her beneath him. Though they should have been used to one another's company like this, Marinette's face was practically red from her blush, looking embarrassed as though she were peering up at him for the first time again. He couldn't help the gentle smile that formed while he took her in.

"You're such a tease," Marinette whined as she lifted her hands to his face, gently tugging him back. When he settled over her, his knee lightly brushed the inside of her thigh, so he inched closer to better mold himself around her.

Marinette's sharp gasp pulled him out of his bliss, and he shot up to quickly fall back on his knees. "Did I over do it!?" he blurted out, his eyes flitting over her as he tried to find the reason for her reaction.

She shook her head hesitantly, but it was obvious that something was wrong. He could see the way she bit at her lip, and how her fingers shook unsteadily. Before he could press further though, she simply groaned and hid her face beneath her hands, so her response was only an incoherent mess of muffled words.

"Marinette." He reached up and pulled one of her hands away. "You need to tell me what's wrong."

"It's a heat rash," she finally mumbled, her face appearing more red than before. "It's… because of the pregnancy… And with everything that happened, I was too distracted to pick something up." She groaned and pulled her hands back over her face again. "I even went out shopping, but I forgot to buy it then!"

"Is there anything that can help?" Adrien asked.

Tikki suddenly appeared over his shoulder, so she and Plagg must have snuck back into the room while they were distracted. "We were actually looking for calamine this morning, but then the akuma interrupted!"

"Hmm…" Adrien looked to the bedside table for his phone, and as if reading his mind, Plagg helpfully snatched it up and dropped it in his hand. "Thanks, Plagg."

He quickly used the voice to text to search for something useful that they might already have in the apartment—not that he wouldn't go out and pick up something for Marinette regardless of how late it was; not even the fact that all the stores were closed would stop him.

He managed to find a helpful article specifically aimed at pregnant women. "This basically says to keep cool and use a damp compress, or take a lukewarm shower." He scrolled down for more and suddenly grinned at the words he found. "And this one says getting naked will help, which I am fully on board for." He wiggled his eyebrows playfully. "I can even join you, if you'd like."

Marinette did not look amused as she reached an arm back and grabbed up one of her stuffed animals—a round little ladybug with hearts for spots—and tossed it at his face before he realized what she was doing. The plush hit him square on the nose. "That would only make things worse!"

"Just teasing! Teasing! I surrender, milady!" He fell back and held up his hands in front of him, wincing as she grabbed a stuffed bear with a heart in its paws. "I think the heat of the moment is gone now anyway."

She hugged the plushie to her chest and carefully sat up, huffing at him. "Was that a pun?"

"Not an intentional one." He hesitantly chuckled. "I wouldn't joke about your misery." Adrien righted himself and crawled back along the bed until their noses touched, making sure to steer clear of her legs. "So please let me know when you're suffering, Marinette, even if it's that embarrassing stuff that comes with pregnancy." He reached up to gently brush her cheek. "I won't laugh or anything. I'll just worry more if you try to bear it alone."

She quickly glanced down at that, and he followed her gaze to the stuffed bear. "Also not intentional…" He paused only a moment before adding, "Though you have to admit, my puns are beary funny."

"Just bear-ly," Marinette grumbled in response. Though she sounded annoyed, he noticed a tiny smile tug at her lips.

"In all seriousness, Marinette, I mean it." He laid a soft kiss against her brow. "We're in this together."

"Alright," she eventually mumbled. With his help, she slowly laid back on the sheets. "I didn't mean to make you worry." She drummed her fingers together while averting her eyes. "It's just... After I fainted, everyone treated me like I was made of glass and—" she groaned, shaking her hands "—I love you guys but it's frustrating and tiring and just… just..." She held the stuffed bear up between them like a shield and sighed.

"Too much?" Adrien smiled, gently tugging at the bear's foot until he could see his wife's face again when she nodded. "I guess I did go a bit overboard calling the whole team…"

"Maaaaybe…" Marinette agreed.

"Sorry, bug," Adrien murmured as he drew her fingers to his lips again to kiss them. "I may have panicked while you were with the doctor."

"You don't need to apologize," Marinette huffed, though from the playful expression on her face, she didn't appear to still be annoyed. "You just need to run out for my every beck and whim when I get those weird pregnancy cravings."

Adrien blinked at her in surprise. "You mean you haven't got them already?"

"Trust me, I asked maman about some of the things we should expect," Marinette said with a frown. "Chocolate and cheese is not a weird craving."

"It is when cheese triggers your nausea." Adrien chuckled, tucking her hand beneath his neck and enjoying their warmth. A delighted shiver ran down his spine when she wiggled her fingers to tickle his chin.

"Only Camembert and the really smelly ones." She smirked. "But anything like cheddar and Gouda are perfectly fine, since they aren't strong at all."

"Oh!" Adrien perked up as a thought crossed his mind. "Because it's goo—"

"Adrien," her voice cut in sharply, and his pun died before he could complete it. "Don't you dare."

"What?" he whined. "How can you expect me not to pun when you do it too? You also made a cat pun this afternoon as Lady Noire." He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, his voice lowering into a growl. "Do you know how crazy that drives me when my lady says something like that?"

"I don't mind them in small doses." Marinette's cheeks flushed pink at his words, and he could feel her squirm slightly beneath him. "But you've used that one about three times already, remember?"

"Oh..." Adrien turned away with a thoughtful look that quickly morphed into a grin. "I'll have to sit down and come up with more cheesy dad jokes then."

Rather than the groan that he had expected, the gentle laughter that escaped her gave him a pleasant jolt in his chest. "You'll have plenty of time to think up all sorts of jokes in the future." She curled her fingers around his and guided his hand lower, pressing his palm against her abdomen as she whispered, "Papa."

The glow on her face as she said that word completely warmed him from head to toe. Without hesitation, he dove in to kiss her again, huskily chuckling at the surprised squeak that he elicited from her. His legs shifted carefully alongside hers, mindful not to put her in any discomfort this time.

The quiet of night eventually settled over them, and as Adrien lay beside Marinette, grasping her hand in his, her steady, quiet breathing enticed him to join her. He slowly drifted off next to his sleeping wife, too distracted by her serene face to even notice their two kwami sneaking onto the pillows beside their heads.