Work Text
There were a few things that Adrien Agreste knew with absolute confidence the world:
His father was the world's most self centered man in the active universe.
He had the best friends a man could ask for
And most importantly as of recently….His girlfriend had the alarmingly effective ability to overthink a situation to the point of borderline insanity.
Adrien's day hadn't been great. He had woken up late (curiously enough his alarm clock had not gone off), spilled his coffee down his pants in his rush to get to class, and ended up arguing for the better part of 30 minutes with the irate mother of student insisting the well deserved C was going to ruin her son's life during his lunch/planning period. The class project of the day had resulted in a curious pinkish stain to the wall that nearly had the janitor in full meltdown mode (and he of course volunteered to assist in the removal.) More than anything, he wanted to go home, kick off his loafers at the door, and wrap his Lady in the warmest hug imaginable until he got kicked out of the kitchen for being distracting while she cooked.His less than sunny texts to his girlfriend, normally replied to within the hour, had curiously been left on read, so he had been, among the rest of the day’s considerations, replaying the last few days to narrow down what he could have done to irritate his overwhelmed Bugaboo. He hadn't left the dishes in the sink or socks in the hall again had he? Like any other couple, they quarrelled over some trivial household things or the constant low key argument of him taking “unnecessary hits” in battle ( he'd be damned if he let his Lady take a hit when he could very well take it himself), but these normally resulted in more talking , not less. Or texts of the source of irritation. Mari was not one to hold a grudge to her kitty generally. Adrien’s (very late, curse that damned persistent stain!) train ride was a moving train of thought on the disconcerning possibilities of Pissed Off Bug (a reality that full stopped more then one Akuma in her time on the superhero circuit).So when he opened the door to their flat and was meet with a dark house, he was, to put it lightly, bummed and more than a little concerned. The kitchen was a dark, but even then the filtering light from the pale pink curtains framing the widows reflected the chaos within. Papers lay in unkempt piles along the mosaic tiling that Mari had gone positively doe-eyed over during the kitchen remodel. Pencils and a few sketchbooks open to half finished lay dangerously close to a water glass leaking condensation along the kitchen table. Now its wasnt horribly abnormal for Adrien to enter the house directly into the fray of barely controlled chaos related to Marinette’s slightly scattered thought processes this time of year; it was close to winter line designs being due to her manager’s desk for final edits, but the source of the chaos was normally… was well, present.“Mari?” He called out, gathering a floral towel from the sink and making quick work of the puddle as he gathered up the books. A lone light peaked out from the partial open bathroom that lay a few paces off the kitchen but no reply was had. Hands full of the sketchbooks, he toed open the door, revealing the less than tidy washroom to be, sadly, empty...well, mostly empty. The drop of books made a dull echo throughout the house.“PLAGG!”The sudden exclamation of his name stirred the drowsy kwami, breaking into his rather pleasant daydream of floating along a cheesy river fading as he shook himself awake. The kwami phased through th canvas bag that served as his daytime nap zone during classes, crossing the short distance between the doorway and the bathroom to regard his panicked charge with a sense of amusement.“So, you found a stick?” Plagg snickered, flopping backwards in the air to make eye contact with his abonormally pale charge.“Do you know what this is?!” Adrien yelped, a near pubescent squeak to his voice, waving the test dramatically in front of his kwami's face. One of the things that Plagg noticed frequently about his charge was when properly panicked, say for example finding out his girlfriend was with a completely unexpected child, Adrien took a dramatic backslide out of puberty in both voice and maturity. Like about now…..“ You,uh, know that she peed on that thing right?” Plagg inquired as his charge sunk to the floor, both hands smoothing back his hair nervously as he clutched pregnancy test in his hand. Adrian paid no regard to his kwami's comment, the thoughts rushing through his head at a speed that would make a NASCAR driver jealous.“ Pregnant? But how?”Plagg sunk lower to eye level, still snickering slightly. One thing he did have a knack for, and that was finding some darn dramatic kids to latch on too. “I unfortunately well aware of how aware you are of how that happened. Nasty human mating rituals and all.”Adrien, not meeting his kwami's eyes in the slightest with a faint flush to his cheeks that had nothing to do with his current state of panic, dropped his hands to his lap to regard the unassuming piece of plastic in his hands.“ I'm not sure I'm ready to be a dad. I mean , I'm not sure I'm qualified to be a dad. But what if I….Plagg, I don't want to be my dad…”Plagg huffed, cutting his charge off from his panicked ramble with a petite paw to the nose in a soft, affectionate swat. Adrien finally met his kwamii's eyes, green eye wide with panic. Plagg shook his head, sighing in exasperation. How could this kid still think of himself so poorly? Plagg wondered as he briefly considered his words.“You've got more give a damn in your pinky nail then your so-called dad has in his entire person. If you tell anyone this, I'm denying it, but you're a good kid and I am pretty dang sure you're not going to jack this up.” Plagg said, placing his paws on Adrien’s cheeks with his nose bumping his charge’s in a uncharacteristically affectionate manner.Kawmi and boy remained locked in this moment for a few moments before a thought hit Adrien’s mind like a sledgehammer. He sprung up from the floor like a shot, grasping two handfuls of hair in a clear sign of abject panic.“Maris freaking out right now, isn’t she?”“Yeah, she's pretty good at that” Plagg replied with a snort, hovering in a lazy circle around his charge as he tapped urgently on his phone. Straight to voicemail, again. Only did that when she was...transformed. The pieces of the puzzle clicked together in rapid succession. She was out, transformed, very possible over thinking...and she hasn't called him. A moment of hurt came and passed rapidly as Adrien sat down on the bed, staring at the glaring blue positive sign. She isn't freaking because she doesn't want this, right? She is freaking because we aren't ready...right? They had spoken, briefly, of children, and collectively decided that was well in the future for a set of 22 year olds fresh on the cusp of fledgling careers….Get settled, get stable, then babies. That was the plan. Well, if the plan’s arye anyways…. Adrien arose from their shared bed, with Plagg following his floundering charge as he rummaged through the side drawer next to the bed before pocketing a small object and turning to face his Kwami.“ I guess life, uh, found a way through that 98.9 % effectiveness huh?”“What the heck Plagg?” Adrien paused, confusion painting his face as he turned to the bemused Kwami.“Birth controls like 98.9% effective?”“How in the heck do you know that?”“Television commercials.”“Plagg, I'm going to have to cut off the cable if this is what you doing with it.” Adrian said, side eyeing his magical partner with apprehension. Jeez I'm glad we only have basic cable. I'd never be able to live him with then. A thought occurred to him briefly as he grab a well wrapped container of cheese to persuade his partner into transformation.“Wait did you seriously just quote Jurassic Park to me? Now? Seriously?”“Yep.” The black Kwami lazily prowled closer to his charge, eyeing the cheese container hungrily as he popping the p of the statement with satisfaction.“Yeah I'm totally going to shut off the cable. He said, shaking his head at small magical creature in front of them as he tossed a fragment of foul smelling Kwami ambrosia before turning with a wince to avoid be site of Plaggs less-than-stellar mid air table manners. Setting the small wooden box on the nightstand, he called out his transformation.“Claws out.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not having a good day. No, cancel that. Marinette was not having a good week. First and foremost, she had woken up late. Extremely late, as in Adrien's alarm clock was going off late. His school schedule started substantially later than hers so she scrambled out of the house in a complete panic, completely blind to the fact that Adrien rolled over and went back to sleep when she turn the alarm off.After catching the second train to work, Marinette had entered a complete image of chaos within the design studio. Fabric samples have been lost, placing a delay on the already tightly scheduled mock-ups of the winter line. Thus began a panicked and all around short-tempered romp through multiple fabric stores around Paris to find a appropriate replacement. Marinette had texted Ayla early in the day to cancel her long-awaited “working” lunch plans with her constantly scheduled reporter friend, so she was exceedingly surprised when the dark-haired reporter rapped her knuckles on her office door with her characteristic hey girl greeting. “Alya! did you not get my text? Things have come up and….” Marinette began as she pinned a pleat into place. Her protest was cut off with a cheerful chuckle from her friend as she entered the office, presenting a brightly colored bag of Chinese takeout.“And if I didn't bring you something you wouldn't eat lunch, girl.” Ayla chastised, grabbing a rolling chair to sit sideways on and spin around slowly as she wheeled backwards towards the designers desk. Marinette paused briefly before nodding in acknowledgment to the truth of her best friends statement. Ayla, chuckling at her bestie, begin to unpack the food as the girls made cheerful small talk while Marinette continued to make small adjustments to the dress residing on the mannequin in the corner of the room. Marinette was mid-laugh when the odor of sweet and sour pork hit her, and her stomach aggressively turned from work deadline nervous to eviction notice. Marinette lurched off her chair to grab the small trash can residing near her workstation and resorted to a few small dry heaves in the wake of the sudden onset of the nausea. Ayla, eyebrows raised in alarm, quickly made her way across the room to rub soothing circles along her friends back and shoulders.“You okay there girlie?”Marinette still felt a slight tinge of nausea as she arose from her crouch over the trash can. She flashed a anxious smile at her friend as she perched herself on the edge of her desk next to Alya, hip bumping her affectively.“It's nerves, with the lines coming up, this morning… and I really haven't eaten today. It must have just hit me wrong.”“Ain’t ever seen ya get that worked up over take-away. That's usually my job.” Alya snickered, placing a fond hand over the slight swell to her lower abdomen. “ No chance you joining me in bump camp right? Oh, we could be bump buddies! Joint maternity shoot, you would have to start showing quick with how little you are.” Alya paused in her teasing, a playful smirk to her best friend while poking a gentle finger at her petite friends side. Marienette let loose a snort of a laugh.“As glad I am that you have so many plans for my non existence pregnancy, that's not in the game plan right now.”“But you guys have talked about it right?”“Of course. And we both want them, but the timing...it's not right.”Alya snickered at the comment. “Nino and I weren't planning on this action neither but here we are. Half of us wouldn't even be here if there were only planned babies.” “You guys know what causes that, right?” Marinette stood, a playfully stern look on her face as she regarded her friend, arms crossed. Alya rose from her perch on the desk edge slower, waggling a playful eyebrow at Marinette as the bluenette cast a considering eye to her near finished creation. “So, how goes the line?” Alya asked, perching herself back on her rolling chair, and the two women dissolved into lighthearted small talk over egg rolls as Marinette detailed her morning and Alya her doctors appointment that am.Alya’s playful comment was a sleeper cell of worry for the busy designer. Consideration was given in passing, but quickly overshadowed by the more pressing issues of the workday. Soon, Marinette's entire focus was completely absorbed with alterations yet to do for the following day and fabric shipments. In fact, the idea did not occur to her again until she settled, exhausted, on a cold train seat heading back to the apartment. Pregnant? There's no way…. The idea, slow brewing since the conversation that morning in her subconscious, suddenly took life in a panic-inducing fashion during the short trip home. Marinette tried, and failed, to put it out of her mind as she made brief, half-hearted sketches at the kitchen table. It wouldn't hurt to check, right? With Tikki’s usual overwhelming encouragement to her charge, the two made a brief outing to the corner store.30 minutes later, Marinette pondered at two blue lines. Slightly off-kilter with shock, several minutes were wasted silently rereading the Box.“It's positive Tikki.”The small red kwami buzzed back and forth excitedly, regarding the discarded instruction packet before coming to hover over her charge's shoulder to regard the small plastic test in her hand. “Oh, how exciting!”“Tiki, we're not, I mean we can't, we aren't…” She clutched the test as she sat down next to the sink, stuttering as she regarded her kwami in shock.“I'm on the pill.” “All the more reason that it's meant to be! Oh Marinette, I'm so excited for you. A baby! I love babies. They are just...” Tikki exclaimed as she swooped excitedly in front of her charge, placing her tiny Paws on her charges cheeks. Tikki clasped her petite paws together against Marinette's cheeks, before releasing a high pitched delighted squeak before she continued her uncharacteristic babbling.“ They are….just the most adorable sweetest things in the world. I just can't wait.” Despite the overwhelming stress of the current situation, Marinette had to snicker slightly at the excited antics of her kwami. Tikki flitted around excitedly above her charges head, small squeals of delight emitting from her as she settled on Marinette's head.“What if he's not ready?”“ You can get ready together. Do you honestly think that Adrien isn't going to be completely on board with this?”“What is this mean about me being Ladybug? I mean, this is happened before right?”Marinette paused, cupping her hands in front of her in a clear signal to Tikki, and the petite god settled in. Tikkis regarded her with affectionate wide eyes. “Of course it has. Between many of my Bugs and Plagg’s Kittens. Some of them retired, some of them didn't. I'm not going to force a choice either way. But...the transformations take a lot more out of me as the pregnancy goes on…..” Tikki paused, noticing a well of tears in her charges eyes. “ Just until after the baby, Marinette. You don't want to be out trying to run rooftops with a baby bump. And...You don't necessarily want let people know about that either. Just because Hawkmoth is gone doesn't mean someone would be above using a baby. If they ever need a cleansing we can, but active combat is completely out.” “Starting now?”“Ideally, I mean, Trixx grounded Rena as soon as she found out.”“Tik?...I get it, I really do…”“Wanna go on one more run before you tell him?”Marienette gave her constant companion a watery smile before nodding. She knew, logically, that Tikki was most definitely right, but the idea of not being able to be ladybug even for the relatively short time frame still had a slight depressing effect for her.“Spots on.” The only thing that Chat Noir knew better than the roofs of Paris was the petite spotted superheroine that sat huddled on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. It hadn't taken him long to figure out where she might be, but he still took a moment to regard her before retracting his baton. 5 years together and seeing her like this, a backlit silhouette again the city they had risked life and sanity to protect, still floored him. She sat with one leg dangling off the side of the tower, foot twitching in a erratic pattern that betrayed the nervousness. Coming up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and perching his chin on her shoulder. With a quick peck on her cheek, he leaned slightly forward to catch her eye. “Thinking big thoughts M'lady?” Marinette found that, despite her intense desire to tell her doting partner the news, the word seem to catch quite firmly in her throat. She swung her legs back over the the railing of the Tower, wound her arms around his waist, and rested her forehead on his shoulder. Adrien's heart went out to her as he regarded the clear tension in his beloved's shoulders, heard it in the shuttering nervous deep breath she took. He traced a feather-light finger down her cheek, before gently hooking a clawed finger under her chin. Per usual, there was no hesitation as she looked up to regard him, a slightly tense smile gracing her face. They broke the silence in unison with a sudden fury of words. “I need to tell you..”“Found the test.” Marinette's eyes blew wide as she stepped back with a slight gasp, her hands flying to cover her mouth. Adrien, despite the gravity of the situation, couldn't help but chuckle slightly at his partner’s reaction. He reached forward to gather her back into his arms, rubbing small comforting circles on her upper back.“ That's not how I planned to...I mean...I didn't really plan per say….I know we talked about it and we.. we're not ready and it's not the best time…”“Mari…”“ And it's really not the best time but it just happened and I'm not ready but I guess I have to be and its a baby and that's huge and...Adrien….it's a baby...oh my God….it's a baby. A baby..”“Mari…” Marinette paused, looking up look up at her partner. Adrien cupped her face gently, kissing her cheek before leaning in to whisper to her ear. “Breath, Mari…” His lips brushed the shell of her ear as he spoke. Superhero or not, he knew his lady well and one of the things that was most prominent about the Marinette side his lady was that she was prone to the most over the top panic attacks the world had ever seen. Which was not what they needed right now. Getting Mari settled was priority number one for having a conversation that actually got things accomplished. Adrien whispered out a slow count as she took slow measured breaths in an attempt to reduce the panic up in her throat. She knew it was not most productive measure in the situation but pregnancy is kinda grounds for a mild panic attack and internally felt she wasn't entirely out of line. “I think I'm okay, but I am definitely freaking out. We're not ready for this. We talked about this, we talked about how not ready we were for this, and then what are we supposed to do about Ladybug? I mean Alya is already…. And now me and Tikki said that I can't be involved in any manner of fight.”“Jesus... are you even allowed to transform? What will that do to the baby?” Adrien step back slightly, a mild alarm in his eyes as he regarded his girlfriend. Marienette's heart melted slightly as regarded his alarm on behalf of a child that he had known about for maybe an hour. I really have a gem here don't I. She thought as she collected her thoughts. “Yes, to purify but nothing else. Tikki was very clear, it doesn't sound like it would do anything to the baby to do that.“ I'm on her end on this... I don't think it's a good idea.Anything that comes up we'll handle. We've got three non pregnant superheroes in the city, we will figure it out.” She watched as the tension lessened in his shoulders as he gathered her back in his arms. But this was her Chaton and she knew him well enough to know that one of his more worrisome habits is that he wasrReckless at times to a fault in pursuit of his duties. “Just because Hawk moth isn't around anymore doesn't mean they're still not going to be dangerous situations that I need to back you up for.” Despite the worrisome conversation, she modeled her face into shoulder. Worried or not, this was her Comfort person oh, and she be damned if she let that go to waste if it was offered. Judging by the tightening of his arms around her waist, he was also in need of a little bit of emotional support.“My lady, you have to trust our team. You and I trained them, you have to trust in that.” “so I can trust you three boys to not be jacking around doing stupid stunts while on Patrol without our supervision?”He leaned back to stare at her, a amused grin negating the comically wide eyes he loosen the grip on her shoulder. “Never!”She shook her head with a slight laugh, choosing to sideline this conversation for another less intense time. She leaned forward on her toes to grace him with a light kiss. “We are trusting us with a person. A live person.” “ We trusted ourselves with a city, Bugaboo.”“Fair point.”Sabine was, above all else, exceedingly perceptive woman. So when her daughter and future son-in-law (it was going to happen eventually even if she had propose herself) showed up 30 minutes early to Saturday dinner with matched pensive faces, it wasn't particularly difficult for her to figure out why. She regarded them as they entered the the kitchen with a amused smirk, holding the tea infuser over the cup to drain before turning and addressing her husband. “Tom?”Her broad shouldered husband, hunched over and elbow deep in pastry box folding for the following day, paused this duties and turned to his grinning wife with a raised eyebrow.“You owe me twenty…”She said, giving a soft jerk off her head towards the two adults hovering in the doorway. Tom turned quickly to regard his daughter, a wide grin overtaking his face and he quickly close the distance across the kitchen and swept Marinette up in one arm and Adrien firmly in the other for a delighted hug. And when her future son-in-law pulled them aside to show them the antique engagement ring but perfectly represented her daughter before announcing his plans...It's not like she didn't know it was coming too.