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Marinette knew Adrien was tired the second he walked into the bathroom door frame. She winced as he rubbed his nose. "You okay, sweetheart?"
"Daddy!" Emma said, beaming up at him from the bath.
"Yeah, just a long day at work. Hi, little cabbage," he said, smiling--first at Marinette and then at their blond-haired toddler, who splashed around. "How's Emma?"
"She's good," Marinette said, her hands covered in bubbles from Emma's bath. Marinette had been sitting on the toilet for over forty-five minutes, and the hard seat cover was hurting her butt. But Emma was stalling her bedtime, as usual, and wanted a long bath even though the initially-lukewarm water had gone cold.
"Good," Adrien said, and then groaned. "It's Wednesday, isn't it? I have to pick up groceries and put the trash out."
"I've already taken care of the trash," Marinette said, deciding to add shampoo to Emma's hair. "I have to wash your hair, lovely girl."
"Nooo!" Emma screamed, turning away from her parents. She gripped the sides of her head.
Undaunted, Marinette squeezed pink shampoo into her palm and started scrubbing Emma's hair, making the girl shriek and squirm. Marinette glanced up at Adrien.
He'd leaned his head against the door frame and closed his eyes. Dark circles pooled under them. "Still need to shop though, right?"
"Yeah," Marinette said, wincing again for what she was about to say. "And I need you to go to the warehouse club tonight, too. We're completely out of apples and eggs and toilet paper, and you know how many eggs we go through. We have big lists at both stores this time.”
Marinette did all the meal planning and cooking, as she liked that part of the daily chore, and Adrien picked up everything she wrote down. He never questioned the list, but he sometimes picked up fresh fruit like strawberries and blueberries even if they weren’t on it. Adrien loved fresh fruit--and sugary cereal, too.
Adrien rubbed the bridge of his nose, and Marinette picked up the wash bucket to dump water on Emma’s head. She heard him sigh from behind her. “Okay,” he said, and despite his exhaustion, she could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll go shopping.”
Marinette finished rinsing Emma’s beautiful hair and stood, leaning over once more to drain the tub. Marinette spread out the towel she’d brought from the linen closet to dry off her hands and the toddler as well. “Thanks, dear heart,” Marinette said, turning to Adrien after she’d already picked up the dripping Emma.
Adrien pulled his phone out of his pocket and stepped out of the doorway. “Okay, so, apples, eggs, and toilet paper. I see the apples and eggs, but the toilet paper’s not showing up.”
Marinette grumbled as she carted the giggling toddler to her room, laying her on her bed. After drying Emma off, Marinette retrieved her phone from her jeans pocket.
The way they ran the grocery list was simple, or at least Marinette thought so. They each had a shared notes app on their phones that could create boxes that Adrien could check off when he’d picked up the item. When planning dinners, Marinette scrolled to the bottom of the list, added the week’s meal plan, and then scrolled up to uncheck boxes on the current giant list of items. Whatever was unchecked, Adrien bought.
The only problem with this system was that the notes app didn’t always sync, and Marinette had to manually refresh her own list so it would load on Adrien’s phone. While waiting for the little purple icon to spin, Marinette blew on Emma’s belly. The toddler laughed and wriggled.
“There,” Adrien said, beaming. He kissed Marinette on the temple. Then he scrolled through the list, which was partitioned by store. “It’s synced now. That... That’s a lot of food.”
“Yeah,” Marientte said, crossing to Emma’s dresser drawers to find a pair of underwear and pajamas for her. “You haven’t been to the warehouse club in a while, so we’ve been out of stuff. And we need things like laundry soap and wood shavings for Shortcake’s cage, which is better picked up there because the sizes are bigger.”
Adrien nodded as Marinette dressed Emma. The toddler whined. “I want Daddy to put me to bed tonight!”
Adrien grimaced, and Marinette knew why. The bedtime ritual could take anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours, because Emma would constantly come out of her room, needing to go potty and begging for someone to wipe her butt. The toddler was an expert at stalling bedtime, Marinette thought ruefully.
“Kitten,” Adrien said, ruffling his daughter’s hair. “Daddy has to go to the stores tonight before they close. Can Mom put you to bed tonight?”
“No!” Emma said crossly, folding her little arms. “I want Daddy!”
“Just go,” Marinette said, kissing his cheek. “I’ll handle her.”
Adrien sighed. “How about one story, and then I’ll head out?”
“Two!” Emma said, and Adrien shook his head.
“One,” he said firmly, and Marinette leaned on the wall to listen.
Emma chose her book, Shadow’s Nighttime Adventures, and Adrien awkwardly sat down on the edge of her bed to read it. Most of Emma’s bed was taken up by her ‘tent’: a blanket tucked into the slats of the top bunk of her bed. She’d wanted a bunk bed for reasons unknown to her parents, but they’d gotten her one anyway because they hoped to have more kids eventually. Emma liked to fill her bed with toys and books, and Marinette had no idea how the girl slept with all the junk taking up space on the mattress.
“... but first he admired the twinkling stars with his nighttime friends.” Adrien finished the story and smiled down at Emma.
“More!” Emma demanded, but Adrien stood.
“Sorry, baby bug, but Daddy has to go,” he said, handing the book to Marinette, who placed it on Emma’s bookshelf.
“Noooo!” Emma cried miserably.
Marinette stepped forward and kissed Adrien’s cheek. “Thanks for shopping.”
“Sure,” Adrien said, and yawned as he exited the room.
***
Putting Emma down was exhausting, Marinette decided, as she closed the door for what she hoped was the final time that evening.
Emma had successfully held off going to sleep until after ten-thirty pm. And Marinette knew Emma would be jumping on her mother’s belly at seven am at the latest. Marinette had no idea how a toddler could survive off of eight and a half hours of sleep.
She’s supposed to be getting twelve or thirteen, Marinette thought, yawning herself. Maybe she’d go to bed early tonight. She figured Adrien already had; the time was late, and he’d been tired after a ten-hour day at work.
Poor handsome man, Marinette thought, walking downstairs to the kitchen to take her anti-anxiety meds.
She stopped short when she entered the room and turned on the light. There, on the counters, was evidence that Adrien had been shopping: apples, bananas, and a bag of chocolate peanut butter cups, her favorites. Marinette squealed and bounced in place. Those weren’t on the list! How sweet!
She tore into the bag and unwrapped one of the cups. The combination of salty and sweet exploded on her tongue, and she moaned quietly as the chocolate melted in her mouth. Tossing the wrapper into the trash can, she opened the fridge.
There was nothing as satisfying as seeing a refrigerator full of food, she decided. It meant… It meant that her husband was a good provider, both by working and picking up groceries. It meant that he cared for her and Emma. Going to not one, but two stores after he’d had a long day? Marinette marveled at his desire to take care of his family.
And his work ethic. He always did the right thing when it came to his wife and child. He works so hard for us. Marinette worked, too, but Adrien had longer days than she did and got up earlier, even with Emma jumping on her.
Her chest was warm, and she rubbed her cheeks. She was overwhelmed by his love for them. And she was equally overwhelmed by her love for him.
And she had to tell someone. She took her phone out of her pocket and punched in Alya’s name on her contact list.
While waiting for her friend to pick up, Marinette took her medication, multivitamin, and iron supplements. They were running low on the latter, she realized. She and Adrien donated blood as often as they were able to, and while she needed the extra iron in supplement form, Adrien didn’t. He had remarkably iron-rich blood.
Supplements were another thing Adrien would pick up, if she asked him to.
“Hello?” Alya said in Marinette’s ear.
“Alya!” Marinette said, her excitement making her heart swell. “I’m in love with Adrien Agreste!”
Alya’s pause was almost too much for Marinette to bear. “Uh, yeah,” Alya said, and Marinette could hear the ‘duh,’ in her tone. “I would hope you are. You had his baby.”
“No, Alya!” Marinette said, spinning in place. “I’m in love with him! He’s amazing!”
Alya laughed. “I’m glad, Marinette. What did he do?”
“He picked up groceries!”
Alya paused again. “What?” she finally said. “He… picked up groceries?”
“Yes!” Marinette said, squealing. “Isn’t that great?”
“Sure.”
“No, no, no, you don’t get it,” Marinette said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “He loves us. He loves us. He takes care of his family.”
“Ah,” Alya said, and Marinette could hear the skepticism. Her heart sank, but she would not allow herself to be brought down from her high.
“He also bought me chocolates.”
“Okay, now that I can understand,” Alya said, giggling.
Marinette wanted to take him to the top of the Eiffel Tower and kiss him senseless. She wanted to put his favorite cereal on the list. She wanted to play games until midnight.
Wait… What if he’s awake, and we could play games until midnight? she thought, and then ran downstairs to the office to check.
Adrien was awake, seated at his computer.
“Alya, I’ve gotta go,” Marinette said, beaming at the love of her life.
“Okay, M, take care,” Alya said, and hung up.
“Hey, hon,” he said, smiling at her. “Why did we need five bags of frozen spinach?”
“What?” Marinette said, startled out of her mission. “Five?”
Adrien tilted his head. “You put two on the list, but we already had three in the freezer. And we use frozen spinach what, once a month?”
“Oh,” Marinette said, scrubbing a hand through her hair. It was getting longer recently, and she wondered if she should get it cut. “I didn’t check, and I didn’t mean to--but that’s not important!” She jumped in place. “Adrien! I love you!”
Adrien blinked. “I love you, too.”
“No,” Marinette said, placing her hands on his desk and leaning forward into his space. “I. Love. You.”
“Okay,” Adrien said, cupping her cheek. “I love you, too.”
“No, no,” Marinette said, her hands now fluttering around her face like caged birds with nowhere to go. “I’m so bad with words. But what I’m trying to say is… Thank you.”
Marinette swallowed. “Thank you for shopping. It means so much to me that you would go to not one, but two stores after working a long day to provide for your family. You want to take care of us, and I appreciate that so, so much.”
She placed a hand on her heart. “You’re amazing, Adrien Agreste, and I love you.”
Adrien’s eyes welled with tears. His lips, which had parted during her speech, slowly curved into a smile. He leaned forward and kissed her. “Marinette, I… I don’t know what to say.”
Marinette grinned at him. “Say you’ll play games with me until midnight?”
Adrien laughed. “Play games? With you?” he said, eyes twinkling. “Anytime.”