There was nothing like being able to sleep in– no alarms were set, her parents were there to get her kids breakfast, there was no looming workload to overwhelm her– just the soft confides of her bed to curl up in. She settled back into the warm bliss with ease as she began to awake, head snuggled against a broad chest, which shook as he gave a small laugh.

"Mmmm," Marinette mumbled in protest, curling up closer to him.

"You're going to waste away this beautiful morning?" A familiar voice asked, and she nodded in confirmation, humming.

For once everything felt right in the world, and despite the late night she had spent running about the city transformed, this was the most rested she had felt in forever. She didn't want to move nor wake up– just being like this was perfect.

"My dear wife only wants me as a pillow," the voice said dramatically. "Woe is me! And here I thought she would be so happy to see me back so soon..."

It was then that Marinette remembered that her bed should be empty, and her eyes snapped open. She looked up to see a pair of gleaming green eyes looking down at her, a playful smirk on his face. He had one warm arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her close, and he leaned in and planted a kiss right on the tip of her nose.

"Good morning, Princess," he said, sounding amused.

"Adrien?" She asked, and he replied by giving her another kiss. She laughed against his lips, before returning it, throwing herself into his arms. As they pulled apart she gave him a light punch on the shoulder, laughing. "What are you doing here? You said you were going to be gone for the entire week!"

"I decided that I missed you too much," he said, stretching as they sat up, still smiling that smile. "Thankfully your parents were up late to let me in, I don't think they would have wanted me breaking into the bakery just to see my lovely wife."

"Well, waking up to you is much nicer than an empty bed," she replied, chuckling, before pausing. "...You are okay with being in Paris right now, right?"

Adrien's eyes grew distant for a moment, though his gaze was warm as it shifted back to her. "Yes, I am. This is a time for celebration after all... and I think it took me too long to realize that."

The week of Hawk Moth's defeat had always been hard on both of them, albeit for different reasons. Most thought her aversion to the festivities was merely in support of her husband, but her own memories were heavy as well. Her thoughts turned back to last night, a smile tugging on her face as another blond entered her mind. As the night had worn on the barriers between them had kept falling– and by the time they had parted ways he was throwing out cat puns and grinning at her with that purrfectly familiar grin.

He was indeed her same old kitty.

"I ran into an old coworker last night, actually," Adrien said, slowly getting out of bed. "Seeing her again... well, I guess she reminded me that running does nothing. If you're going to face something, you should be doing it together," he glanced over his shoulder, smiling softly. "Made me wonder what I thought being away from my family would do."

She pushed herself to her feet, making her way around the bed so she was over on his side, wrapping her arms around him. He instantly pulled her in, his chin resting on the top of her head, his embrace tight.

"Running's always been my way of solving things," he whispered, a bitterness in his undertone. "I think it took me too long to realize it gets you nowhere."

"It got you to your friend," Marinette replied. "Which brought you back here, didn't it?"

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, arms wrapping tighter around her, before taking a step back– and with his hands cupping her face he pulled her in for a kiss. She melted into his embrace, up on her tiptoes to meet him. His breath tickled her lips as they pulled back, and his arms slowly slid down until they were resting over her stomach, where they lingered.

"How are you and little Louis doing?" He asked softly.

She let out a small laugh. "We don't even know if they're a boy yet."

"I was right with both Emma and Jae~" Adrien replied, and a warmth ran through her when she saw his teasing smirk once more.

"Coincidence," she insisted, tapping his nose.

"Speaking of the kids, they don't know I'm back yet," his eyes sparkled with mischief. "Think I can scare them?"

She smirked. "I'm sure they're already up, so you better hope Mom and Papa haven't told them yet."

"Race you downstairs?"

"You're on."

Marinette was ready to bolt from the room, but before she could take a single step she found herself swept up into Adrien's arms bridal style. She let out a slight yelp of surprise as he turned towards the bed, gently dropping her onto it. She barely had time to react as he drew the blanket up, throwing it over her head– and then bolted from the room as quickly as possible.

"Hey!" She shouted as she scrambled to pull free of the blankets, but she already heard Adrien's footsteps as he raced down the stairs. "Adrien Dupain-Cheng, come back here right now!"

Despite the fire in her eyes there was a huge smile on her face as she threw herself out of bed, racing out after him, as if she had a chance to still claim the race. Shouts and laughter echoed up from the bakery, leaving the room silent with the humans' absence.

Three figures slowly emerged from various places in the room– phasing from a dresser drawer, pulling out from the lingering shadows of a corner, drifting out from the closet. The three kwamis regarded each other, no words passing between them.

Plagg and Tikki regarded each other with an almost solemn expression, drawing near to each other, before pulling the other into an embrace, each glowing faintly. Nooroo kept his distance from the pair, eyes focused on the door where their holders had just exited. Unlike the others there was a smile on his face, calm and content.

It had taken the others kwamis time to agree with his desire for silence, though they knew it had been the right choice– which he could sense strongly now. What emotions interested him the most though were those coming from the humans below– while there had always been love and happiness between them, there was now a lightness that had not been there before, edged with a powerful hope.

Their chosens' years 'apart' had been a struggle for them, but a forced reveal would have hurt them rather than heal. It needed to be on their own terms, when they were ready to see who the other was. When the bitterness and loneliness was finally set aside– and after so long they were finally on the right path.

The important thing was that they had always had each other, even if they didn't know it.