Chapter Text
Marinette was peacefully at sleep until a few minutes ago, when she felt a light tapping on her left shoulder that was turning more aggressive by the second. When you have two kids under the age of five, any hours of sleep were a godsend, so waking up in the middle of the night for unknown reasons was unpleasant to say the least. Marinette groaned, rolling over to face the edge of her bed, her bleary bluebell eyes blinking to make out the short fuzzy figure standing directly next to her face, and that figure’s identical bluebell eyes were blinking right back at her.
Marinette sighed slowly, sitting up in her bed, readjusting her silk pink pajama top, her husband’s arms still wrapped around her waist as he miraculously was still sleeping despite this rude (yet very cute) interruption.
“Are you alright, Emma?” Marinette whispered to her daughter, as she lightly reached out to caress her cheek and run her fingers through her messy blonde hair with her left hand as she rubbed her eyes open with her right. “It’s…” Marinette glanced at her clock on the bedside table. “3 AM, kitten. Go back to sleep.” Marinette suddenly remembered the date. “ You have school tomorrow! First day of kindergarten Em, so you need re-“
At those words, Emma promptly burst into tears. “I don’t wanna go to school!” She wailed, and Adrien jerked up with the new loud sound. Marinette quickly picked up her daughter (who was pretty big for a five year old but still easy for her to pick up thanks to her Ladybug skills) and pressed her into her chest in hopes to muffle her tantrum, but Emma shook her fists and wailed even harder, pounding on the bed frame.
“Whatsa going on?” He mumbled, still sleepy as he reached over his wife for his glasses sitting on the bedside table and flicking on the lamp light. He fidgeted to put them on his face for a second and to adjust to the light, but the moment he did he saw the chaotic scene of a crying Emma Dupain-Cheng and a very confused Marinette Dupain-Cheng trying to comfort her. Marinette made eye contact with her husband, mouthing a very obvious What do I do? and tilting her head down to kiss the top of the crying child in her arms, mumbling words against her scalp. Adrien looked just as confused as her, but scooted closer to his wife and wrapped his arms around her, thus rocking her and then rocking Emma.
“Kitten, can you tell us what’s wrong please?” Adrien asked politely, not wanting to scare his daughter into another crying fit. “If you continue crying, you are going to wake up Hugo, and we don’t want that,” he warned, and that got Emma (sweet little Emma who values her brother more than her) to quiet down a little bit, her body still sniffling as she turned around from trying to suffocate in Marinettes chest to only slightly choking on air and staring at the end of the bed frame. Marinette rested her chin on top of her head, wrapping her arms around her daughter tightly. Adrien rested her head on his wife’s shoulders, one arm holding Emma’s tiny little hand and the other around Marinette’s waist. They were snuggling as a family. They stayed in that position for a long time until Emma had properly calmed down.
Emma finally spoke, her voice wobbly. “I’m scared for school, Mommy. It’s gonna be so different than daycare. And none of my friends are there.” Emma sniffled agsin, tears running down her pale face.
Marinette made eye contact with her husband, who had lifted his head. First day jitters were rough. Marinette remembered sneaking into her parents bedroom multiple times before the first day as a kid, whining about sharing a class with Chloe and another year of torture and bullying.
Adrien spoke first, unraveling himself from his place behind his wife so he could be directly in front of Emma. “Hey, little bug,” he spoke softly, lifting up her chin so that his bright green eyes could stare into her blue ones. “You are going to be okay. School is scary, but you are very lucky. You are going to make a lot of lifelong friends. You might meet your Alya or Nino. Heck, you might meet your Marinette.” He glanced up at his wife, who was watching this exchange with a fond smile, with a look of adoration, and was met with the same look of love. Adrien smiled, bending his head down to his daughter again. “You are going to have a lot of fun, and make a lot of memories. So don’t be scared okay? You will have fun, and Mommy and Daddy will be waiting for you at the end of day, so you have to give us a big hug and then tell us all about it, do you promise?”
Emma grinned slightly. “I promise!” She was still crying, but much calmer now. Adrien could tell she was fighting off sleep but the way her eyes kept on closing as she snuggled deeper into her mothers’ arms.
“Do you want to sleep here tonight, kitten?” Adrien asked her. Emma nodded, snuggling again into Marinettes chest and immediately going into a sleeping trance, but not before muttering “I love you” under her breath.
Adrien kissed her little forehead, moving her bangs out of the way to do so. “I love you too.”
Marinette gently placed Emma right in the middle of the bed, on a pillow. She leaned over and kissed her forehead too., before tucking her up with a blanket. Marinette then scooted over to her husband, giving him a light kiss on the lips. “Kitty, that was beautiful.”
Adrien smiled slightly, his arms wrapping around his lady’s waist and pulling her down into bed. Marinette shrieked “Don’t wake her!” as they landed on the bed with a slight hop, their limbs intertwined with each others. The couple glanced at their daughter, but Emma obviously inherited her mother’s deep trance-like sleeping state, as she didn’t even flinch at the commotion.
Adrien wrapped Emma into his arms, and Marinette wrapped her arms around him, so they were sandwiching Emma in the middle. Adrien ran his hand through his daughter’s hair, thinking about the fact she was going to school tomorrow. She going to go to school, make friends have homework get a boyfriend and then never come home-
“Hey,” Marinette said, reaching out to erase the tears that were streaming down his face. “Not you too.” She laughed lightly, moving slightly to kiss the top of his forehead.
“She’s growing up so fast,” Adrien said quietly, looking at his sleeping little girl. “I’m just so happy for her. She’s going to school- something that I wish I could’ve done. I remember…” he paused, wondering if he should tell Marinette this. Oh screw it, Marinette knew all his deepest secrets. She was the love of his life after all. “when I was a kid, the day that public school would start in Paris, I would sit in my bed and cry myself to sleep. Every year. I wanted to be like Chloe so bad and go to school. Not even my mother knew that I did that.” He confessed slowly, not glancing at his wife once, instead focusing on the child in his arms.
Marinette’s heart broke for her kitty once again. She was so glad she could give him and their kids the love he never had growing up. “Man, fuck Gabriel Agreste.” She declared.
Adrien covered Emma’s ears. “No swearing in front of our daughter, buginette!” And Emma let out a soft snore that made both of them laugh.
Marinette kissed Adrien then, a slow, soft kiss, thanking him for being such a good father. He returned it, cupping her cheek lightly with her hand. Even after over fifteen years, the excitement and flutters of kissing Adrien never died down. She was too tired to go deeper, however, so she kissed his nose softly and then snuggled closer to her daughter and promptly fell asleep.
The Dupain-Chengs had no idea what the future held in store for them, but they knew that whatever it was, they would have each other.