Adrien readjusted his position so that he was more in the light. It felt so weird posing in beach trunks on a fake tropical set when it was raining and cold outside. Of course, the Gabriel brand didn't just sell clothes in Europe and there were parts of the world where Christmas time meant sun, sand and surf...he just couldn't really picture it though. To Adrien Christmas had meant hot chocolate with snickerdoodles, open fireplaces, warm blankets and snuggling up to his mother to read Christmas stories before bed.

He tried not to let out a sigh. Christmas had never been the same since his mother left. Adrien's father, Gabriel, had always struggled to find any joy in the season at all, or any other time of the year for that matter, preferring to shut himself away most of the time. Adrien was lucky if he saw his father for dinner Christmas Day. His father's assistant, Nathalie, had tried to observe the season by decorating a tree in the mansion foyer and making sure Adrien always had a nice present (he had known for some time Nathalie had been picking his gifts), but it lacked the kind of joy and family atmosphere that he had seen in his friends' families. There was nothing special about the season anymore in the Agreste household, not that he ever let on to anyone else. This year though, Adrien hoped things might be different.

"Adrien, you are losing focus." Vincent the photographer complained.

"Sorry."

Vincent waved his hand dismissively. "Why don't we take ten and you can have a break to refocus."

Adrien grabbed his shirt, slipping it back on and making his way over to the snack table. He didn't get far though when Marinette came over to him with a steaming hot cup of coffee made just the way she knew he liked it. "Here, you look half frozen." She said, passing him a sandwich as well.

"You always know how to warm me up m'lady." He said with a cheesy grin. Marinette just smiled and bopped him on the nose.

"You only have ten minutes Kitty. I'm going to get your other outfit ready in case Vincent wants to move on to the next piece."

Adrien took a bite of his sandwich and watched as Marinette readjusted the messy bun in her hair and talked to Nathalie who had just scurried in with some papers. He let out that wistful sigh he'd been holding. So much had changed in the few years that he was still trying to catch up with it, but there were three things in particular that marked the biggest changes to Adrien's life.

********
The first was when a particularly bad akuma had kept Chat Noir and Ladybug up most of one spring night. Night time akumas were always the worst, not only because they happen in the early hours of the morning, (seriously, does Hawk Moth even sleep?), but also because they were usually fed off nightmares making them extra complex.

Completely exhausted by the time they defeated the akuma, they collapsed together on a favourite concealed rooftop to catch their breath and get some strength to try and get back home. After almost six years of chasing akumas together, Ladybug and Chat Noir were extremely comfortable in each other's company, having a close bond that floated somewhere between friendship and maybe something else? Maybe? One day? Perhaps that was more Chat's wishful thinking. Ladybug was his best friend, his partner, but he still loved her even though she had told him that a romantic relationship wouldn't be prudent between superheroes, not to mention the other boy she liked who never seemed to notice her. Despite the time that had passed though, his heart still belonged to his spotted partner.

Entwining their gloved hands, they leaned against one another. Chat loved these quiet moments with Ladybug, how much she trusted him and how safe he felt when he was next to her. In the peaceful night, he could imagine them always being this way, preferably without the akumas. Before too long, the two heroes had fallen asleep. It wasn't until the sunrise had begun to peak over the horizon that Adrien woke up to find himself curled up with his head in the lap of a warm body - a detransformed body that his foggy brain realised was most definitely an unmasked Ladybug. Adrien laid frozen with his eyes open towards the sunrise, unsure what he should do until he felt soft fingers run through his hair.

"Adrien." He heard her voice softly say, and it made his heart skip a beat. The softness, the mar the, the achingly familiar sound of his name in her lips, like he had heard it a dozen times. "It's alright Kitty, you can look." He rolled onto his back, his head still in her lap, and turned his eyes up and looked straight into an all too familiar set of bluebell eyes.

"Marinette." He breathed in awe and she smiled at him softly.

"It's not that I'm not completely freaking out right now." She said, turning her eyes away from his and out to the horizon. "It's just that I've been looking at you for the last 20 minutes trying to decide whether to run and leave you here, or if I should wake you up and let you know I know who you are." She looked back down at him with a small smile on her lips. "You made the decision for me by waking up." She bit down in her lip and her cheeks pinked up. "I guess I can freak out more later."

Adrien blinked at her trying to process who was talking to him with the person he knew she was a few hours ago. Of course he should have known that his amazing and talented friend would be Ladybug. Now that he knew it seemed so obvious to him. Marinette had all the qualities that he loved about Ladybug, brave, determined, kind, beautiful...

"Oh, that's okay." He said, sitting himself up, feeling slightly embarrassed he had been sleeping in her lap. "I can freak out later too...in a good way." They both shared a shy smile, then he looked at her more seriously. "Are you okay with this? I mean you didn't want us to reveal our identities until after we defeated Hawk Moth."

Marinette bit her bottom lip again and Adrien had a desperate urge to want to unhook her lip from her teeth. "I know I did." She said, worry evident in her voice, but she pushed it aside. "I guess it doesn't matter now and it's not like Bunnyx has turned up to
say this is a disaster with major future repercussions." Adrien could see concern laced in her eyes, like a memory she was trying to to think about.

"And me?" He asked gently. "Are you okay with Chat Noir being me?"

Marinette looked at him with wide eyes and Adrien was worried that she might have been upset to find out that he, Adrien Agreste the pampered model, had been her Chat Noir. Although they had known each other for years as civilians, since Collége in fact, they didn't really get all that close as friends until towards the end of Lycèe. Even then they had kind of been thrown together because of Alya and Nino dating and she was still fairly shy around him. After that, they didn't see each other much during their first year of uni. Marinette was studying fashion and Adrien was studying business and although they were at the same campus, they only really saw each other if their best friends set up a lunch date or something.

Lost in his thoughts, Adrien was taken aback when Marinette suddenly wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"I won't deny it will take me some time to put these pieces of you together in my mind." She said, her breath warm on his neck. "You were, are, still my friend. But I wouldn't have wanted my Chat Noir to be anyone else but you." She said the last part almost in a whisper into his ear. Adrien curled his arms around her waist and held her closer to him, feeling that familiar pitter patter of his heart when he was close to Ladybug, to Marinette he also realised.

"I feel the same way about you being Ladybug." He assured her. "I can't believe we have been so close to each other this whole time." He let go of her and tucked a loose hair behind her ear. Her face flush into the most delicate pink and he wasn't sure if it was embarrassment at his affectionate gesture or from the cool early morning breeze that was blowing. The two Kwamis that had been hiding behind a chimney came out to join their chosen, both seeming to be happy that the masks had finally fallen and assuring them that everything would be alright. They called on their transformations and Chat took Ladybug's hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze before pressing a kiss to the back of it. He was sure he saw Ladybug blush even more under her mask.

"W...Well, we better be getting home before we're missed. I'm sure you have early glasses, I mean classes today too." She stuttered. Adrien couldn't help but smile as she threw her yo-yo and he watched her swing back towards the bakery.

*******

"Adrien." He looked up to see those same bluebell eyes looking at him. "Kitty, Vincent has been looking for you. He's happy with the beach photos and wants you to change into the tennis outfit for the sports spread." Nodding his head she patted him on the knee and went back over to where Vincent was to help with the set change.

Adrien made his way into his dressing room. He checked on Plagg in his bag and found him dead to the world in a cheese coma curled up next to Tikki who was surrounded by cookie crumbs. He smiled to himself and shook his head. It was one of the nice things about working together that the kwami's got to spend more time together too. Gabing his clothes off the rack that Marinette had prepared for him, Adrien's mind wandered to the second event, or rather non event, that year. The disappearance of Hawk Moth.

A few months after the accidental reveal, Hawk Moth's activity started to dwindle to a point where it stopped altogether. At first Marinette was worried that he was cooking up some powerful scheme. As the weeks and months went on however, there was not a single akuma in sight and slowly they started scaling back their patrols. While Adrien was grateful that there weren't any akumas interfering with his midterms, he was missing seeing Ladybug....Marientte, as often.

Things got better in that department though when Marinette was chosen as an intern by Adrien's father in her final year of university and she joined the Gabriel team. Adrien's father hadn't taken on an intern in years, but he seemed to have taken a keen interest in Marinette. Adrien wasn't about to question it though, after all she was the highest performing student in her cohort and he knew his father wouldn't let talent like that get away from him. Suddenly Adrien and Marinette were seeing a whole lot more of each other and much of the playful banter that they often shared on patrol behind the masks easily fit into their civilian selves and he loved it...he loved her.

That wasn't as startling a revelation as Adrien thought it might have been. Adrien had always said that he would love the girl under the ladybug mask, he just never realised how much he already did. Plagg had often teased him over the years that he had a crush on the pigtailed girl who used to sit behind him in class. Of course Adrien dismissed that idea stating his heart only belonged to Ladybug. Besides, Marinette didn't feel that way about him, he was just her friend. The truth though was that things were never that simple. Yes he loved Ladybug, but Marinette had always been special to him in a way he never could put a finger on. When he found out she was Ladybug, it all made sense, but it was also more complicated.

When the reveal happened, they were both feeling a little confused. Adrien realised he had friendzoned Ladybug as Marinette and as Chat Noir he knew Ladybug had him firmly in the friendzone because she liked someone else. Adrien had assumed the other boy must have been Luka because Marinette always spent so much time with him and Kitty Section. He couldn't blame her for that, Luka was a sweet guy who had always been kind to her. Besides, it was no secret how Luka felt about Marinette. But Luka had been out of the country for some time now touring with Jagged Stone, and it didn't seem like they were in a long distance relationship, not that she had ever mentioned anyway, and he was sure Nino would have told him if that were the case.

Still, he loved what they had now, this easy friendship they had developed outside of the masks. Adrien remembered when Marinette used to be nervous around him at school and he hoped that knowing he was Chat would help get rid of some of that since she had never been nervous around his hero persona. At first, she was stuttering and nervous around him as Ladybug and he thought perhaps he'd ruined everything between them somehow, but after she started working at Gabriel there had been a change, a positive change. He wasn't sure how that came about, but he didn't want to do anything to jeopardise it.

Stepping out of the dressing room, Marinette scurried to him and started messing up his hair with her fingers. "Hey." Adrien protested. "I just combed that." Marinette giggled at him.

"Exactly." She teased. "You're supposed to look like you've been playing tennis, not stepping out of the day-spa." He didn't miss the sarcastic tone. Adrien rolled his eyes and blew his fringe out of his eyes.

"It wasn't my fault Chloé dragged me to a day-spa. I didn't know she was going to make me have a pedicure while I was there."

"Aww, but you had such pretty feet, Chaton." Marientte cooed, patting him on the cheek. She then picked up his wrist and slid a sweat band onto it, turning the Gabriel logo to the outside. He couldn't help his heart picking up pace at the soft touch of her fingers on his wrist.

"There." Marinette said confidently. "Now I think you're ready." She looked up at him, still holding his wrist, and Adrien felt himself becoming lost in her eyes.

The moment was broken by the soft wails of a baby that had awoken in a pram near where they were standing. Marinette gave him a soft smile and patted his arm. "It's alright." She said. "I'll go get him."

Adrien watched as Marinette walked over to the pram and picked up the baby boy with soft blonde hair and striking sapphire eyes and Adrien's heart melted every time he saw them together. That was the other major change that had happened to Adrien - baby Edmond, his little brother.

When Adrien was called late one night to his father's study, he expected to be told that he had done something wrong in the photoshoot that day or worse, wouldn't be allowed to stay at university. Although he and his father had a slightly better relationship now than they did when Adrien was in school, they still didn't see each other all that much outside of work related issues. Adrien had wanted to move out of the mansion and into his own apartment when he turned eighteen, but his father made a deal with him that if he stayed at home and continued with his photoshoots for the next three years, his father would ditch the other extracurriculars and allow him to go to university. It wasn't the best deal, but at the time Adrien figured three more years modeling to have more freedom was a small price to pay.

When Adrien had sat down in his father's office, he felt like he could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Nathalie was there too which he didn't expect. Usually she would leave to go home to her apartment around six or seven and it was well after ten. She looked tired and worn out, and seemed to have been avoiding his eyes.

"Adrien, we have something we need to talk to you about." Gabriel's unemotional words uttered in the silence. He saw Nathalie shifting on her feet and Adrien had a sinking feeling. He knew Nathalie hadn't been well recently and had taken some time away from work. He remembered years ago when she used to have dizzy spells, just like his mother had, and he feared the worse.

Gabriel took a drink of something Adrien thought smelled like whiskey. He wasn't sure the last time he had seen his father drink. Placing the glass down on his desk Gabriel ran a finger around the rim of the now empty glass. "Nathalie and I..." He started but seemed to have been struggling for words, a trait that was most unlike Gabriel Agreste. Adrien waited as his father stood and held his hands behind his back. Gabriel looked briefly at the picture of Adrien's mother, Emilie, on the wall and let out a sigh. He turned his head away from the image.

"Well, to get straight to the point, Nathalie is having a baby." Adrien looked at his father slightly confused. He had suspected over the years his father and Nathalie had been having a relationship that was beyond their professional one, but nothing had ever been confirmed to him, and they hadn't been very affectionate towards each other, at least in front of other people. Adrien distinctly got the feeling that this had not been something planned.

Adrien heard his father muttering about too much wine at a function after party one night and something about being lonely and one thing leading to another, but Adrien felt like his father was just making excuses for himself. He looked over to Nathalie who looked more vulnerable than he had ever seen her before. Ignoring whatever it was his father was saying, Adrien got up out of his seat and wrapped his arms around father's assistant (girlfriend?) in a warm hug.

"I'm happy for you Nathalie." He said to her, and she patted his back in return. At almost 40, Adrien was sure this had been just as much of a shock for her as for anyone.

"You're not upset are you?" Nathalie asked, but Adrien shook his head with a smile.

"I always wanted to be a big brother." He said excitedly and it seemed to have put her at ease. His father cleared his throat behind him and Adrien turned to see him looking a little less stoic and perhaps even somewhat guilty.

"I have of course asked Nathalie to marry me. I won't be having a child of mine born illegitimate, there is too much at steak with the company. It will just be a private civil service as soon as possible. We don't need the media bothering Nathalie seeking tabloid fodder." Adrien knew the media would have a field day banging up a story about how Nathalie had trapped a grieving widower and got herself pregnant on purpose. Adrien knew that wasn't true, but since when did reporters let truth get in the way of a good story?

Adrien noticed his father had gone to fiddle with the wedding ring usually on his finger, only for it not to be there. "As you know, your mother has been gone for more than seven years and has now been pronounced legally dead." Straight to the point as always, Adrien thought, then his father added. "Perhaps it's time for a new beginning, for all of us."

There wasn't a whole lot of warmth in Gabriel's voice when he said it, but Adrien hoped that perhaps the words might ring true. When his father told him that he could bring one friend with him to the ceremony, he merely raised a curious eyebrow when Adrien announced he would ask Marinette. For Adrien, there really wasn't anyone else he would ask. She was the only one who really knew him, even more so than Nino, and if this wedding was to be a new beginning, then there was no one else he would rather have there with him.

He only felt slightly guilty that he spent the entire ceremony looking at Marinette.

*********
Edmond's giggles filled the studio as Marinette carried him and blew raspberries into his cheeks. At four months old, there weren't too many people Edmund was happy with picking him up besides Nathalie and Adrien, but Marinette was the exception. Usually he had a nanny that looked after him during the day, a kindly older British lady by the name of Mrs Jeffries, but if on her days off Nathalie was needed on set, she would bring Edmond too. Marinette was nervous when Nathalie first asked her if she could watch Edmond for her. While she had babysat Manon for years, she hadn't cared for a baby before. Nathalie seemed to have trusted her though and Edmond clearly adored her. Adrien couldn't blame him, although he was a little envious of all the kisses his little brother was getting.

"Oh, he woke up." Said a frazzled Nathalie, kissing the baby on the head. "I'm so sorry to do this to you Marientte, but could you give him his bottle? I've got to get these orders sorted before the Christmas break and I'm just getting so far behind..."

"It's fine Nathalie." Marinette reassured her with a kind smile. "We're good friends aren't we little guy." She said, baby Edmond gurgled happily with a gummy toothless grin.

"Nathalie, Victoria just cancelled on us." An exasperated Vincent said, waving his arms in the air as he walked over to them. "That's the third model this week to come down sick." Nathalie pinched her nose under her glasses. A nasty bug had been doing the rounds of the office, leaving them short staffed just before the Christmas break.

"Alright Vincent, I'll call the agency and see what they can do. We needed to finish the female shoot before the Christmas break. At least Adrien's shoot will be done." She gave Edmond another kiss before rushing back out again.

"Here Adrien, take him while I warm his bottle." Marinette said, moving closer to him to pass the baby. Adrien was sure her cheeks flushed pink as their arms brushed. "Oh, here. Don't let him dribble on your clothes or I think Vincent might have a heart attack." She said as she draped a cloth nappy over his shoulder, protecting his white polo shirt. Edmond started to fuss. Going over to her bag, Marinette pulled out something soft and black. Bringing it over to Adrien and Edmond, she gave it to the baby. It was a soft black cat toy with stitched green eyes and a little Santa hat. Edmond promptly put it in his mouth.

"Did you make this? It's so cute." Adrien asked as he followed her while she heated up some water in the microwave. Thankfully the venue had a kitchenette for making tea and coffee and such.

"Well, I know how much he loves Plagg, but since Plagg can't always be with him, I thought he might like a substitute, one that's a little less wriggly, smelly and complaining." She took the bottle out of the microwave and tested the water on her wrist. Perfect. Adrien played with Edmond and the toy cat while Marinette poured the formula into the bottle and gave the milk a shake.

"You've become a bit of an expert with that." Adrien quipped and Marinette gave him a shy smile.

"Alya gave me a few tips. When Nathalie first asked me to feed him I rang Alya in a panic. Once she finished laughing at me, she actually gave me some useful advice. Thank goodness she had the practice of younger sisters." She smiled at him and reached out to take Edmond, throwing the cloth nappy over her own shoulder. "Okay big boy, time for bottles." Marinette said in a sing song voice.

"Well, you'll have had plenty of practice for yourself now." It wasn't so much his words, but the look in his eyes when he said it that had Marinette feeling her face going red, but she was saved when Vincent called Adrien back onto the set. The cheeky cat gave her a wink before he left.

Marinette settled herself into a chair and watched as Edmond happily sucked away at his milk, clutching onto his Santa Plagg. He looked so much like Adrien, especially when he had his eyes closed with the same nose and the same facial expressions. She wondered how much his own son might look like him. She shook her head and tried not to think of it too much though. They were friends, best friends even since the masks fell, but it was hard for her not to let her heart betray her when he looked at her like that. There were times when she thought she saw it, the way he had looked at her as Ladybug years ago, before she made him try to move on from her. She felt like such a fool now for having enforced the no reveal rule for so long. In a way she had always thought Chat's declarations of love were just part of his persona. Now though...seeing that same look in Adrien's eyes made her wonder.

Tikki told her she should just come clean about her own feelings towards Adrien, and Chat Noir. After all, there really was no reason to keep her heart a secret anymore, but deep down she was scared.

Believing she had no chance with Adrien, she had considered Luka, but soon realised she had slowly begun to fall for Chat. He was the one always by her side, who had taken the hits for her and had been her rock over the years. Whenever she doubted herself, he was there building her up. She was close to telling him just what he meant to her when they accidentally revealed. Chat always said he loved Ladybug, but Marinette was only Adrien's friend. Perhaps that's all she would ever be. She was closer than she ever thought she could be to Adrien now, and she didn't want to risk that by telling him her true feelings.

Marinette softly sang a Chistmas carol as Edmond happily had his milk. The sound of her song floating across the studio to where Adrien was posing for Vincent. It was getting late and most of the other staff had already left. Adrien couldn't help looking over to where she was, watching as she lovingly cared for his little brother. Marinette stood up and patted Edmond's back until he let out a milky burp.

"You should ask her out Adrien." He was startled from his thoughts by the statement his photographer had made. Vincent came and stood next to him while he fiddled with his camera. "You look at her, she look at you...I've been watching the two of you for months since she came here to work for your father. Even before that when she would watch your photoshoots in high school with that friend of hers."

"Alya." Adrien added absently, still watching Marinette as she rocked a sleepy Edmond still singing Christmas songs.

"Yes, yes, but it was this one you were looking at with those doe eyes." Vincent said as he wiped the lens in his camera. Adrien didn't know what to say. Had he really been looking at Marinette like that back then, even before he knew she was Ladybug?

"I know that look Adrien." Vincent continued. " I watch people fake it for a camera everyday, but you and her...that's not fake. You don't let that get away from you."

"I don't know Vincert. It might take a miracle." Adrien said, hearing Ladybug's voice in his ears telling him she could never fall in love with Chat.

Vincent patted Adrien on the arm "It is the season of miracles." He said with a smile and headed back over to his tripod. Adrien rested his head back against the wall, his eyes falling back to Marinette, as they always seemed to. She was carefully placing a sleeping Edmond back into his pram. She must have felt him watching because she turned around when she stood up again and gave him a beautiful smile that made his heart flip in his chest. Ladybug said she couldn't love Chat, but maybe Marinette could love Adrien. He decided it was worth a try.

A/N - I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Feedback is always most appreciated. I will try to update as often as I can 😊