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There's a hand-painted sign outside Luka's room that says no girls allowed.
It takes a while for Adrien to be comfortable enough to ask about it.
It takes Rose rapping on it with her knuckles one day, tapping out a song Adrien only half-recognises, and Luka sighing deeply before he recites, "You don't count, Rose."
He sounds like he's said it a hundred times before.
Rose ducks inside, grinning brightly, and offers up her nail polish.
Juleka joins them the next night, and she knocks on the sign too. Her notes are a different pattern, one that Adrien only half-remembers.
Luka's sigh isn't quite as deep. "Jules, you know you don't count."
Juleka brings journals and music with and asks Adrien his advice on the new makeup Rose had gifted her.
A week later, Adrien's sprawled across Luka's bed, reading one of Juleka's magazines while Rose's nail polish dries on his toenails, when a tapped-out pattern that doesn't match either Juleka or Rose drags him halfway back to awareness.
Half-asleep on the floor of his room, Luka drowsily calls back, "It doesn't mean you, Marinette, you don't count."
"Luka," Adrien finally asks, once Marinette's ducked in with them and made herself comfortable, back braced against the bed and feet shoved against Luka's side as she drops her sketchbook down beside her on the floor and lets her head thump back towards Adrien. "Does anyone count?"
Luka shrugs lazily, one hand trailing over his guitar strings, the other hand finding one of Marinette's. "Probably someone does."
"You just put up that sign for privacy, didn't you," Marinette says, amused, but she lets Luka's hand grasp hers and she lets Adrien shift closer.
"... You can't prove that."
When Kagami starts joining them, she doesn't mention the sign. Adrien gets the feeling that maybe she doesn't want to call attention to the apparent posted rules when everyone else seems to be ignoring them.
Kagami doesn't have a pattern, or at least not yet, but Luka calls back for her to come in anyway and then Marinette teaches Kagami her pattern.
(Adrien doesn't have one of his own either. He wonders about that).
"It's because you're the only boy on the ship, isn't it," Marinette asks, a month or two in.
Luka smiles, eyes drifting after Kagami as Kagami frowns down at Marinette's nails. Kagami's never painted someone else's before and it shows, but Marinette very clearly doesn't care. "Yeah, it is. It was Mom's idea. Jules had a no boys sign for a while too, but we're not sure what happened to it."
An unspoken Rose probably happened to it passes between them. Rose doesn't like the idea of keeping people out.
(Adrien doesn't like the idea of keeping people in. Adrien and Rose have gotten to be much better friends than he'd have anticipated).
"... the knocks." Adrien only knows he's curious after he's asked the question.
Luka shrugs, rolling his shoulders after and tapping Adrien on the shoulder to get him to turn over. Adrien goes, more than willingly, still unsure where his boyfriend learned to give massages but complaining the furthest thing from his mind. "The knocks were my idea. We were pretty little and I sort of, didn't entirely get Mom's point?" Sheepishly, he admits, "I didn't think no girls allowed was ever meant to include Juleka."
Marinette snorts and then starts laughing, causing Kagami to accidentally leave a stripe of nail polish down her index finger. "Okay, we'll bite. Why not?"
Adrien can't see Luka's face, but he can hear the sigh he heaves. His answer sounds like a recital of something he's found himself saying far too often. "Because Juleka's not a girl, she's my sister."
"You know we can hear you, right?" Juleka's voice calls from the other side of the dividing curtain, right on time.
"Yes, but the polite thing to do is to pretend that you can't!" Marinette calls back over, taking her hand back from her- their- girlfriend and shaking it like it'll maybe make the nail polish dry faster. That definitely hasn't been Adrien's experience, at all, but he can't blame her for trying. "We're managing to not-hear the two of you just fine!"
"Yeah, but there's only two of us," Rose answers brightly, still from the safety of the other side of the curtain. "There's twice as many of you over there for us to not-hear!"
Anarka's voice drifts in through the open porthole, from somewhere up on the deck. "Kids, I can hear all of you."
"You are louder than all of us," Luka calls back, hands finding and digging into a particularly bad knot at the nape of Adrien's neck just as Adrien starts to lift his head curiously. Instead he finds himself dropping back flat to the bed, going limp and loose and struggling not to let loose the loudest purr of his life.
He's pretty sure he can hear Plagg snickering.
He's pretty sure he can hear Plagg and Tikki both snickering.
If he could move instead of lying there with Luka's careful, gentle hands turning his muscles to liquid, Adrien would be giving Marinette a look, an are you sure we really want to do this look.
He does want to, really, but he's not always sure that they should.
They've barely worked out how this relationship works out just yet. They're not even really clear on which of them is dating whom (though by now, everyone but Kagami is pretty sure Kagami's only really interested in girls, and yet she'd still asked Adrien out before any of the rest of them had gotten brave enough to ask each other, so no one is in a hurry to clarify the point).
But whatever Adrien's relationship to Marinette is right now, their partnership's the bedrock they've built everything else on. It's the foundation that the two of them regularly stake their lives on.
Adrien honestly hadn't pushed for a reveal, as badly as he'd wanted one. He's still surprised that Ladybug had decided that they needed one after all.
"It was always supposed to be about our safety, and we stopped being safe a long time ago," she'd said, tiredly, leaning against the rock wall of the tunnels they'd met up in. Adrien doesn't like it down there, and he'd been so twitchy and skittish that he still doubts anyone or anything but Ladybug could have kept his attention at all.
(Marinette hasn't suggested the tunnels again).
So Adrien hadn't actually answered her, too nervous to remember to respond, and that had made her wince so badly that he would have suspected her of forgetting his night vision if it wasn't something that she always remembers. Just like she remembers his favourite ice cream flavours and his favourite rooftops, and he remembers her coffee order and her favourite places to spar- their names have been one of the only things they don't know about each other for the longest time now.
And Adrien thinks even that might be debatable, on the nights where he starts to forget that he's ever answered to anything but Chat Noir.
(He's never heard Chat Noir imbued with the same level of disappointment that he has Adrien. Even at her most frustrated, Ladybug has never said his name like that).
"We're not safe now." Ladybug had slid down the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, and invited him in close with a glance that had turned knowing at his flattened ears and stiff posture. "Hawkmoth could akumatise either one of us if we let ourselves get too scared or stressed, and I can't do that aga- I can't do this without you, kitty."
"But you have." Adrien's voice had croaked on the way out, strangling itself on his fear and hope. "Style Queen-"
"Plagg helped. Plagg had to help. We need you." She'd reached out, snagged him by the wrist even in the darkness of the tunnels, and let go like she'd been burned when he'd flinched.
He'd decided to ignore that as he followed her signal and sat down beside her.
He doesn't flinch from her. He never had before. Deep in the tunnels with earth and stone pressing in on all sides and no way to see the sky, though- that had been different. He knows Ladybug won't trap him or let him be trapped but there's a wider gulf between knowing and believing than he'd used to think there was.
Ladybug had been hesitant when she'd first moved closer, after that, but a weak purr had escaped him at her touch and then she'd curled into his side, warm and real and bright with relief and with concern. She'd known he didn't like the tunnels, but he'd told her he would be okay. He hadn't meant to lie- he'd really thought he would be, with her there.
(They stay away from the tunnels, and every place they've met since has been open to the sky).
It does help, having her there. Plagg would help more but Adrien tries not to think about that too hard. (But Plagg had found him in his nightmare brought to life, that first time with Sandboy, and Plagg had immediately given him the power to escape that nightmare. And Father hadn't even answered him).
And then the next thing Ladybug had said, after she'd seemed sure that if he wasn't okay he also wasn't outright panicking, had been, "Spots off."
So. Adrien's known that Marinette and his Lady are one in the same for a while now. He's had time to get used to it (he's still not used to it). He's spent plenty of time with Marinette and Tikki, and Plagg already mostly refuses to leave Adrien's side for anything short of an in-progress disaster. Sometimes Adrien's not too sure even that would do it.
The upshot of it is that Adrien's been spending a lot more time with Marinette and Plagg and Tikki all together. Marinette never brings up the tunnels again, to Adrien's relief, and they stick to finding out of the way greenhouses and copses of trees deep inside the city or especially secluded rooftops.
They need to get Luka and Kagami over to one of their hidden places.
The ship's a fantastic place for the four of them to meet and spend time together (and date? some of these might be dates, but literally none of them can figure that out), but Anarka's welcome is always loud and enthusiastic and loud, and Rose and Juleka had just vividly demonstrated their lack of privacy.
But the tunnels are definitely out, and they're not sure where else they can go.
Marinette solves that problem, the way she solves most problems when she doesn't overthink them first. After her latest anxiety spiral, about how they were supposed to keep up with their homework and their civilian lives while the battles and dangers increased, Plagg had sniffed and told her she did fine with five-minute plans.
And after a startled silence, Adrien and Tikki had scrambled to find a timer. Phones are too full of distractions, so they hadn't wanted to use that, but when Adrien had shyly asked Marinette's father if he had a five minute egg timer the man had been happy to hand him one.
After realising what a significant difference it made, Adrien had gone to get one of his own- or he would have, if Tom hadn't insisted on giving him one, too.
"They're a set, son," Tom had said, his eyes warm and fond in a way that Adrien's not used to seeing from anyone not his age. "Can't have one without the other."
Adrien had ended up taking the ladybug timer home, though it had ended up right back in Marinette's room beside her black cat once Adrien had realised how little the mansion even feels like home now.
He's glad Father never notices how often he sneaks out anymore. He is. It's a lot more convenient, and it makes it easier to get to patrol and easier to get away to spend time with his friends and easier even to spend the bad nights on the Liberty and the worse ones at the bakery.
He's glad, but since Father still goes coldly furious and threatens Adrien with the loss of school when he does catch wind that his son's not where he was supposed to be, he's also-
Father only notices him now when he's not doing what he's supposed to. When he's failing to play the part of the perfect son.
Father never had been the one to check that he wasn't sneaking out at night, anyway. That had been Nathalie, and recently she's been delegating more and more of her old tasks to the Gorilla as she moves more stiffly and loses energy by the day and-
And Adrien doesn't always know just how he feels about Nathalie, Nathalie's place in his life has always been sort of confusing because she's Father's secretary but she's more than that but Father will start shouting again if Adrien suggests that even accidentally, but Adrien does know for sure he's definitely never wanted anything to happen to her. Just because she's a confusing part of his life doesn't make her any less a part of it.
Even if he knows how much Nino distrusts her.
Even if she always, always enforces Father's rules.
Even if he knows she's lied to him in the past.
He doesn't really want to admit how relieved he was when the majority of her Adrien-related duties had slipped over to the Gorilla.
(There's no way the Gorilla doesn't know that Adrien's sneaking out, or that sometimes his friends are sneaking in. The Gorilla waits too long after he knocks on Adrien's door for it to be coincidental, and that's on top of being the only one who still knocks at all.
The Gorilla's made no move to stop them. Once or twice Adrien's even slipped back in through his window to find sandwiches or hot chocolate waiting for him, and he thinks by sheer process of elimination that has to be the Gorilla, too).
When they do decide on somewhere to talk to Luka and Kagami, it almost ends up being the bakery. The Liberty doesn't have enough privacy, the mansion isn't safe, and no one even considers trying to go to Kagami's. At least at Adrien's they know how not to get caught.
(They know exactly how many people they can hide under Adrien's bed at once, too, but that part was definitely accidental. Also unnecessary, as it turned out, and Adrien reflects much too late that it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Gorilla to have a coded knock).
And then the morning of the meeting, Marinette sits bolt upright, nearly hitting her head against the window as she reaches to shake her partner's shoulder.
"Wha," Adrien- Chat- he doesn't really like sleeping detransformed now, when he has the choice- mumbles.
Marinette shakes him again, more gently, and then sounds momentarily derailed. "I've seen your schedule. I used to know your schedule. How are you not a morning person? Even your holidays start at four am!"
"Not a morning person when I don't gotta be," Adrien mumbles, but he reluctantly accepts that he's awake now, so he scoots closer to the headboard and sits up to blink the sleep from his eyes.
Marinette wraps her arm around him in a sideways hug even as she continues. "Kitty, we can't bring them here, we can't tell them it's us. That's- knowing about each other is one thing, but if we do that all four of us will know, and that really isn't safe!"
Adrien blinks at her, more slowly than he had before, and thinks. And swallows. "Kagami is... not good at identities."
"Kagami is a lovable ball of seething rage and spite sometimes, you mean. Her identity wasn't the real problem, it was a casualty."
"... okay, fair. I guess she has done fine when it's not, you know, her mother." Adrien lets himself fall backwards and stares intently up at the skylight. "We... did still give her the Dragon when Hawkmoth knew who she was. We probably shouldn't have done that."
"We might not be entirely rational where Kagami's concerned," Marinette agrees, dropping down herself, but only to rest her head on her boyfriend's shoulder and drape an arm across his chest so that she could feel the content purr that always rumbled through him when they first woke up. "Also, we had already let Chloé keep hers, and that was way more dangerous."
"And it didn't exactly end well for us," Chat says, suddenly much more serious. "It didn't even end well for Chloé, really."
Tikki's been very quiet up until now, but at that she flutters down and alights on her chosen's arm, still draped over Chat. "It wasn't your fault, Marinette."
"Tikki's right," Adrien tells his girlfriend, shifting just enough to let Tikki feel his purr, too. Tikki won't say as much, but Adrien knows from Plagg that the ladybug kwami finds their purring just as soothing as Marinette does.
(As Kagami and Luka might, one day).
(It never even occurs to Adrien to think that he might not always be able to purr. He's Plagg's. He won't lose his purr).
Marinette's silent for a long, long moment before letting out an explosive sigh and shifting her head, slipping just far enough down his shoulder that their hair mingles together on her pillow. She reaches up to flick at his bell, once, briefly. Adrien blinks at her and rolls his eyes, but fondly, because she's admitted that she likes the noise it makes.
The noise it only makes when Ladybug is the one messing with it. Even Adrien himself has enough trouble getting his bell to actually ring that he sorta suspects Plagg mostly only lets it ring for Marinette.
"I should have gotten Chloé first, that day," Marinette says, finally, into the still air. The reluctance in her voice even now makes it very clear why she didn't. "I should have- Hawkmoth knows who Kagami is, too. I played favourites, and we can't do that, and..." She sighs again, this time turning her head into Chat's neck right after.
Adrien holds himself very, very still as Marinette's voice ghosts over the nape of his neck as she breathes, "I should have gotten Chloé."
"You couldn't have known," Adrien tells her softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and drawing her closer still.
Marinette makes a noise of discontent and pulls away slightly, which makes Adrien go tense until she complains, "You're still too bony, kitty, I love you but you are uncomfortable." She narrows her eyes up at him. "I'm gonna go get some of Maman's char siu bao, and either you're gonna eat all of them or I'm going to start hugging the cat pillow to sleep instead of you."
"My lady, how could you wound me so?" Adrien gasps dramatically, though he does let his arm fall away in a sudden fit of self-consciousness. "You would pass over a real, live cat of your own for a mere stuffed substitute? How catastrophic!"
"That's not-" Marinette picks up one of the smaller pillows they keep stuffed around the headboard for their kwami and waves it above him like a threat. "That barely even made sense, Chat."
He winces away.
He doesn't mean to, but it's enough for Marinette to drop the pillow instantly.
"Chat-" she starts, but he interrupts her before she can get any further.
"I think I know a place." Adrien doesn't meet her gaze. It's too easy for her to read a world of meaning from his eyes alone.
(He knows the flinching has gotten worse. He doesn't know why. Father's been a lot moodier since the amok began joining the akuma, or since Nathalie started getting sick- they happened close enough together that Adrien's not sure- but Father's anger isn't-
He does throw things, sometimes, but not at Adrien. Father throws things behind locked doors, away from the rest of the world, and even if the yelling and the crashing still makes Adrien tense and wary and makes Plagg urge him out of the house as fast as he can, faster every time, now-
Father never throws things at him. Adrien's not in danger, not really, Plagg's not- Plagg's mistaken, he's not in danger.
... he still listens to Plagg and leaves, though. He's not going to make Plagg stay through that).
"I know a place," Adrien repeats, softly, and this time Marinette hums in response.
Jardin des Papillons is just as deserted as he'd expected. The man who takes their fee and lets them in looks somewhere between shocked and thrilled to see them, and doesn't seem to have any idea what to say, beyond, "Please, enjoy your visit."
And then, after a slight hesitation, he adds a quieter, "Please stay as long as you ca- as long as you like."
Adrien turns to meet Marinette's eyes, but she's already staring around the greenhouse. She looks like her feelings are at least as mixed as the employee's.
(He's the only employee they can find. The butterflies seem well taken care of, but most of the facilities themselves are... not in good repair).
"I did not know there was a butterfly garden here," Kagami observes, as Adrien and Marinette lead her and Luka farther in.
Adrien and Marinette wince simultaneously. Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien catches Luka wincing, too.
"It hasn't exactly been popular lately." Luka touches the strings on his guitar, the way he sometimes does for luck. "It makes most of us too nervous now."
"Private, though." Kagami looks around, keen eye taking in details as swiftly as ever.
Marinette's deep breath coincides exactly with Adrien's own. "Yes. Very private. Surprisingly private. Um." She looks at Adrien, then away, then back, and he can see the start of panic in her eyes now.
He's not the only one. Tikki's eyes appear briefly in her purse, and Adrien feels Plagg swarm up his shirt to peek out at their partners from his collar at almost the same time.
Marinette reaches down to Tikki, who nudges a familiar necklace and bracelet into her hands. "We were... given these, so that they could make it safely to each of you."
The garden is full of butterflies, and empty of people save for the four of them.
Longg and Sass are free to greet their chosen exactly as enthusiastically as they want to.
(Fu's rules no longer apply, and inadvertently or not he's left Marinette and Adrien to make the new rules.
Longg and Sass are free to stay with their chosen as long as they want to).