What's that saying? Once bitten, twice shy? Well, Adrien wasn't sure if that was the correct one for explaining this situation, but he was quite sure things were not going well.

"How are you not divorced?" Luka exited the gift shop kitted out in his disguise followed by Nino and Adrien. It had been two years since they'd last been here, two years since the twins and Bella ended up in the past but here they were again. Back in 2021.

"I ask myself the same question everyday," Adrien said walking down the street as he put on his aviator sunglasses.

"You know you could give Marino a run for her money," Nino stated, causing Luka to bark out laughing and Adrien stare unimpressed at his friend.

"Don't mock the tash!" He replied, smoothing down the sides. Adrien Agreste was the only man who could pull off such a look. Well, Adrien Agreste and Tom Selleck.

The disguises this time represent those of the Stationation, with Nino taking the policeman and Luka the fireman, Adrien, however, opted to pay homage to his wonderful wife by dressing as the Mustachio Biker. They begin to head into Paris on their search, none of them remembering this happening in their timeline.

Adrien refused to take full responsibility for what happened this time. Alix had come around to see Marinette, complete with Fluff, and it just so happened that Hugo had found the Miraculous. Also, thanks to Marinette's hard work getting the young boy to speak, he had become a mimicking parrot.

Marinette was as much to blame this time. He'd told her that the guys were over for poker night. They did it every month. It was even written in capital letters on the calendar. He hadn't been asked to watch Hugo, she'd just expected it, therefore it was her fault too. But he was a wonderful husband and decided that he would find the cherub before he could cause mischief and bring him back.

The fact that Nino had decided he could put twelve marshmallows in his mouth and Luka challenged that he could do thirteen had nothing to do with the lack of supervision of the small child. Adrien just had to take photographs for their yearly scrapbook. It's just the way it worked.

So here they were, back in the past, and this time chasing a two year old. When did their lives come to this?

•••••

"Hey dudes," Nino walked onto 'The Liberty' greeting his friends as he headed towards where they were seated on deckchairs. It was guys day and they had a packed out schedule.

"Hey Nino," Adrien greeted his friend with their usual handshake as Luka placed his guitar down to follow next.

"So what time is our first event?" Luka asked.

"Laser tag at eleven," Nino replied, checking his phone.

"Awesome," the musician said as he relaxed back in his chair again. "So what are the girls up to today?"

"Alya's babysitting her sisters, not sure about Mari?" Nino responded. Both guys looked over at Adrien who obliviously looked back.

"What?" He asked.

"We were wondering what Marinette is doing today?" Luka responded, a smug smile appearing on his lips as he looked at Nino to see a mirrored reaction.

"How would I know?" Adrien reached up to rub the back of his neck. It's not like he kept tabs on her all the time.

"You just seem quite inseparable these days," Nino dropped Adrien a wink causing the blonde model to widen his eyes in shock.

"Dude," Adrien hissed, "her ex boyfriend is sitting right there."

Luka laughed and slapped Adrien on the shoulder.

"Listen, Adrien, she likes you. What's stopping you from asking her out?"

His secret identity and continuing love for his partner in crime, Adrien thought. If only he could say that out loud. Instead he opted for the simplest thing.

"I don't want to wreck our friendship."

Nino and Luka rolled their eyes and looked at each other. One day, they both thought, one day they'll stop being such idiots.

A glowing circle appeared in front of them and a tiny little boy fell out.

"Papa," he shouted, running towards Adrien only to trip up and tumble halfway. Something about it made Adrien oddly nostalgic.

"Woah, little fella." Adrien rushed forward to grab the child and hoisted him onto his hip.

"Me, k" the little lad said, wrapping arms around Adrien's neck and snuggling into him. "Lub du."

Adrien looked between Nino and Luka, eyes wide as the small blonde boy hugged on tightly.

"I swear I don't have a son." Adrien said, "I've never," his face turned a bright shade of red, "I've never ... you know."

Unsure what to do, Adrien tapped the little lad on the back before prying him off himself and placing him on the floor. It was then he took notice of the boy's aesthetics. Blonde hair; wild and puffy like his own when transformed, and blue eyes. Gorgeous, wide blue eyes very similar to ...

"Car-piss" the child said, making his way to Nino. "Sell bon!" He said, holding his wrist towards Nino. Adrien and Luka trying desperately to hold back the laughter threatening to boil over.

"Uncle Car-piss!" Adrien snorted, the barrier broken and a howl of laughter left his mouth.

"I don't know what you're laughing at Papa," Adrien shrugged, at least he didn't have a name for something you'd do in the toilet.

The little boy suddenly noticed Luka and turned back to Adrien.

"Papa, papa," he bounced up and down in excitement pointing back at Luka, "second choice." This time it was Luka's turn to burst out laughing, offering his arms out to the small child.

"That I am, sweetie," the young boy moved towards him and climbed into Luka's lap. "Uncle Vikram." The little boy cuddled into Luka and wrapped his arms around his neck, snuggling into his shoulder.

"Who is this kid? Why are you Vikram? What's 'second choice'? What does this mean?" Nino was going hysterical and Adrien could only smile. For once he wasn't in the dark about what something, fully understanding the kids versions of their names.

"As it's out now," Luka started, holding out one hand to Nino, "Viperion, nice to meet you."

Nino recoiled in shock and looked to Adrien for what to do. Adrien's expression mirrored his own, both teens looking at Luka as though he'd grown a second head.

Nino stretched out and shook the hero's hand.

"Carapace," Nino replied.

"Car-piss!" The young boy shouted, bouncing up and down on Luka's lap.

"Woah, you're both heroes, that's just ..." Adrien said, his voice laced with surprise, brilliant really for someone faking it.

"You already knew, man," Nino said, "I told you."

"Oh, yeah, right."

"And you recommended me for the snake Miraculous," Luka said, he had to admit, Adrien was a mighty fine actor.

"Oh wow! Is it hot in here?" Adrien grabbed the collar of his tee and puffed it in and out. Those mighty fine acting skills finally being thrown out the window.

"We're outside dude," Adrien let out a startled laugh and Luka mentally took back his thoughts. Perhaps he wasn't as good as he originally thought, how had this guy ever fooled anyone?

"Maman say ere Kitty, Kitty," the little boy pointed at Adrien, and climbed off Luka's lap, walking over to his future father.

"Papa say RAR!"

"I bet he does," Luka said with a sly smile on his face, Adrien's own hitting a temperature high enough to start a fire. The red glow expanding from cheek to cheek and forehead to chin.

"That's enough little one," he picked the boy up and held him close, Luka and Nino still laughing.

"What? Does your papa pretend to be a cat?" Nino asked.

"Yep. Me, Kitty Ne-Nor! Papa Big Ne-Nor!"

Adrien sighed and looked between 'his' child and his friends. Offering his hand out.

"Chat Noir at your service," he announced, watching as Nino's jaw dislocated itself from his face.

"Be glad there's a kid here because I have very colourful words to say about this. I'm so sorry for insulting you dude!"

"Argh, I'm over it." Adrien said, looking back at the small child.

"I kind of knew," Luka said, fiddling with the rings on his hand.

"Maman bug?" Before Adrien could question Luka further, the child made himself centre of attention again. Maman bug? Did that mean? A sudden weight lifted from his heart, he was going to get the girl ... he was going ... to ... get ... the ... girl!

The child broke Adrien out of his thoughts as he started wailing, loudly!

"What do we do?" Nino asked, looking at Luka.

"How am I meant to know? I'm nineteen!"

"Yeah but you're smarter than us!"

"Hey!" Adrien shouted out over the screaming, bouncing the young boy up and down on his hip.

"It's true man! You know books, Luka knows life."

Whilst Adrien and Nino argued it out, Luka devised himself a plan. Grabbing his guitar he began to pluck a melody, singing along with the tune. For how good Luka was at playing said instrument, he was tone deaf when it came to singing. Add in Nino and Adrien, and soon you had a bunch of off tune superheroes trying to calm a crying toddler down.

I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I've come through

Unknown to the guys currently trying to lull the little boy, an audience began to crowd around the boat. The little boy suddenly calmed down enough for Adrien to place him on the ground. The three teens continuing their song, slowly pulling in some of their audience to join in.

We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

Wild applause broke out from around the boat and the three serenaders stood to take their bow. The little boy mimicked their actions. Before standing up and tensing.

The teen lads stood watching as the little boy began to tense harder and harder, his face turning red and slight drool running from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were watering and popping as the straining continued. He stopped, then repeated the same action again, staring Nino in the eye as he did.

"This is oddly unsettling," the bespectacled teen said, going eye to eye with the straining toddler.

Finally, a loud squelch sounded, followed by a trump and the three lads stepped backwards away from the toddler. Adrien positioned his arms out to the sides in protection of his friends and whatever had just evacuated this small child.

"Ugo, poop!" The little boy said, clapping himself. Obviously it was a joyous occasion for him, they just weren't on the same wavelength as the toddler when it came to exciting times.

"Is that your name? Hugo?" Adrien said, stepping forward and kneeling in front of the boy only to reel back with an upturned lip as the smell hit his nose.

"What have you eaten?" Adrien said, lifting his tee to cover his nose and mouth.

"Grandpa ssants, silly Kitty!"

Yep, Adrien thought, definitely Ladybugs kid.

"Have you got any baby things?" Adrien asked Luka.

"Do I look like I still wear nappies?" He retorted.

"Well sometimes you tend to talk sh-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Nino moved forward, covering the small boy's ears with his hands. "No swearing in front of Hugo."

Adrien sighed and rubbed his head, the beginning of a stress migraine appearing. He knew babies were hard work, but he thought they would get easier as they got older. He made a mental note to toilet train Hugo as early as possible so when this circulated around again he wouldn't be doing it in his pants.

"Take his Nappy off and clean him up a little, stick him in the bath or something, I'll go and get supplies."

"Why do we need to clean him up?" Nino asked, looking as Adrien made his way off the boat. "He's your son."

"Because I have money to go buy things, Car-piss!" Adrien called back over his shoulder, heading onto land and into the city centre. Luka started snickering next to Nino, causing the latter to give him a deep glare.

"You've got to admit it's funny," Luka said with a shrug, grabbing Hugo under the armpits and taking him into the bathroom.

"Whatever you say Vikram."

•••••

"So you can't remember any of this at all?" Luka asked Adrien.

"Not a clue! Do you think we even saw him?"

"Most likely," Nino said, "after all, your bad luck causes us all kinds of issues."

"Gee, thanks friend. Thank you for making me feel so special. I'll make sure I buy you an exciting gift for Christmas." Nino stuck his tongue out at Adrien as Luka placed himself in between them.

"Boys, boys, boys, chill out ok!"

They continued walking towards "The Liberty', using it as a starting place on their mission. If Hugo had gone after his partners, either Adrien or Marinette, there was a good chance he would go there, even into the future 'The Liberty' was home to a lot of their hangouts.

"Hold up guys, incoming hotties!" Nino grabbed Adrien and Luka's arms, pulling them behind the bench, hiding from view.

The three thirty year old males looked over the bench spotting the three girls that made their hearts sing with joy. Oh, to have such beautiful wives.

"I don't know if it's cute to say they look hot, or slightly on the perverted side." Adrien responded.

"Your mustache is suited for pervy so let's go with that," Luka pointed out to Adrien, causing the blonde to smack him around the back of the head.

"She's so cute!" Nino squealed out, looking over at a younger Alya. "How old are they here, do you think?"

Adrien studied Marinette, proud to say he could pinpoint exactly how she looked every year since he'd met her at the age of thirteen. From hair length, to nail varnish colour, he knew everything. His friends called it stalkerish, he called it madly in love.

"Looking at Marinette, she'll be nineteen in three months' time."

"You're such a freak Agreste," Nino responded. Adrien looked over at his friend and wiggled his eyebrows. He was a freak and proud.

Ella and Etta came pounding past the three girls and made their way onto the boat. Suddenly, a loud squeal sounded out from the deck sending Alya, Marinette and Kagami running towards the noise. Unfortunately, Marinette tripped up and ended up sprawled on the floor as the others continued their journey.

"She's a lawsuit waiting to happen," Adrien said, wiping a hand down his face.

"At least she only tends to hurt herself," Luka commented, watching a dazed Marinette sit up and check her knees for scrapes.

"Easy for you to say, you don't live with her," Adrien grumbled, turning his attention back to his teenage wife. She never changed, if anything she'd only gotten worse. Adrien was still recovering from Hugo's birth when she head butted him with so much force that it gave him a concussion. Hugo was almost a day old by the time he came around, Adrien having to spend more time in hospital than Marinette. He'd never been so grateful for amazing in-laws and friends.

"He's so cute!"

"What's his name?"

"Can we play with him?"

Adrien shot up and looked over to the deck, and there he was. The smallest of the Agreste tribe being fawned over by the women. Adrien watched as Luka grabbed a bare bottomed Hugo and hoisted him up onto his hips, cooing and bouncing the toddler.

"I want another kid," Luka said, "I miss them when they're all squishy."

"Are you going to carry it then? Because I'm quite sure Kagami said you'd only have another if it was an accident." Kagami had discussed this numerous times with the group. Bella had been a mistake. A great one, but still a mistake.

Even though she never really seemed it, Kagami was a very maternal person and a great mother. No one could understand why they hadn't had more children. It was nothing to do with the baby, more to do with the pregnancy. Kagami had had it rouge which was a complete contrast to Marinette who sailed through the first with the twins. Adrien and Luka were sure the girls were going to fall out during the nine month stint; raging hormones and all, however it only brought them closer together. Each being Godparents to the other's child.

"There's another way of having children without having to go through the pregnancy." Luka said with a sly smile on his face.

"No way man!" Nino screeched, "are you guys adopting?"

"It's early days, but we've discussed it." Luka was engulfed in the arms of his friends as they celebrated the joy of a possible new Couffaine. This was great news.

"Mamabug!" The guys all stopped in their tracks and turned to face the boat. Hugo was going crazy clenching and releasing his hands to Marinette as she walked up to the group. "Mamabug! Mamabug! Me lub du!"

The guys watched as Marinette's eyes widened and her face turned three shades brighter than a red English postbox.

"And that's our cue," Adrien led the guys over towards the boat, each keeping their eyes on Hugo and the gang.

"He's gorgeous isn't he, I need to go and bathe him. Do you want to come with me, Marinette?" Younger Luka smiled at Adrien's wife and tilted his head towards the bathroom.

Adrien stopped and turned to Luka.

"Are you using my son, to flirt with my wife?"

"What? Me? No! It must be because I knew it was Marinette's son."

Luka's theory came to a grinding halt when younger Luka said the following words ...

"I might have the little dude for a while, perhaps you and I could take him out somewhere? Treat him to some ice cream and get some for ourselves?"

Older Luka nervously gulped as he looked at Adrien. He was quite sure the guy was going to kill him. He held his hands up in mock surrender as Adrien took his cue to march up and onto the boat.

"Hugo, buddy!" Adrien said, causing a mass amount of eyes to turn and face him.

"Papa Ne-nor!" Hugo suddenly started struggling in Luka's arms, desperate to get to his father. "Second choice, put down!"

Adrien started to laugh and wiggled his eyebrows at the younger Luka, taking the young boy from his arms. Hugo looked between Adrien and Marinette, then back to Adrien.

"Kiss Mama," Hugo said, "big smooch!"

Adrien looked at Marinette as she turned a vibrant shade of red.

"Um - I d-d-don't think, I - um - don't ..."

"Oh my god, it's you!" Alya pushed her own Nino out the way to make her way towards her future husband. "Buff boy's back!"

"Buff boy?" Kagami questioned.

"Future Nino. Look at my husband, Gami. He's fit as fu-"

"Hey," younger Nino said, pulling Alya back to himself, "I'm standing right here!"

"If he's Nino, then you must be -" All eyes turned to Luka, who took his hat off.

"Hey guys!"

"Look at me!" Luka said, walking towards himself, eyeing the newly formed muscles. "Where did I get these?" he poked himself in the bicep, marvelling the muscles he never knew he had.

"Hot!" Kagami randomly shouted out towards Luka, covering her mouth from the sudden outburst.

"I won't deny that," Marinette agreed, both Luka's flushing at her adoration.

Adrien rolled his eyes, looking down at his little man in his arms.

"Right, buddy, when we finally get your nappies, we'll sort you out and head home. We just need to find Auntie Alix." Adrien said, looking towards Marinette for some sort of indication that they'd need her help.

She was staring back with her eyebrows creased, studying Adrien with an intent of something. He gulped at her look. It was too much like his wives.

"Who's gone to get the nappies?" She quizzed.

"Adrien," both Nino's replied before looking at each other in curiosity.

"What about me? Who are you?" Young Adrien made his way back onto the boat, arms full of carrier bags.

"Was I always this extra?" Older Adrien whispered to Luka. His friend nodded with a sigh before turning to Kagami. He wished he hadn't been so obsessed with Marinette when he was younger. His wife really was a stunning teen, and now she was just a Goddess reincarnated.

As if the situation couldn't get more confusing, a portal began to open in front of them. An older Ladybug and Bunnyx stepping through. Adrien held Hugo tighter intending to use the small child as a shield.

"Adrien!" She announced, and no one could deny the anger in her voice. Maman bear had come to get her baby back.

"Yes!" The two Adrien's replied, confusing Ladybug and pulling her attention from her husband to the younger version next to him.

"Oh, hey hot stuff," she dropped him a wink, sending him unconscious and straight to the floor.

"Listen, M'Lady, it's not all my fault this time!"

"M'Lady?" Young Marinette questioned but no one was listening, instead everyone was curious about the current suited hero making her way towards her prey.

"Sure it's not! It just so happened you were watching Hugo and here we are ... again!"

"You were watching Hugo, not me! It's poker night and Nino was shoving marshmallows in his mouth!"

"I was shoving more in mine," Luka added, causing a glare from Marinette. He reeled back in shock, not used to being on the receiving ends of Marinette's death glares.

In the midst of the argument, and ignoring the fact young Adrien was collapsed on the floor, Hugo had begun stroking Adrien's upper lip.

"Capatillar" Hugo shouted, ripping the moustache off Adrien's top lip and swinging said item around.

The freedom (of the lip) was the catalyst to a number of different events:
1/ Adrien screaming
2/ Hugo screaming
3/ Ladybug grabbing her naked bottomed son from her husband's arms and passed him to younger Nino
4/ Hugo advancing to peeing on younger Nino who then screamed.
5/ Older Luka taking Hugo and grabbing the nappies from near 'unconscious Adrien'
6/ Older Adrien was recognised as ... well ... Adrien
7/ Everyone screamed
8/ Marinette fainted
9/ Ladybug face palmed
10/ The future heroes gathered their things, and the child, and swiftly made an exit.

"Ok, you two looked hot," young Alya said, pointing towards Nino and Luka, "but Adrien was just smoking."

"Agreed!" Kagami second.

"Agreed," Luka exclaimed, helping young Adrien up from the floor, the others staring at him. "What? It's true!"

The gang worked together to try and awaken Adrien and Marinette wondering how two people so right for each other, could keep getting it so wrong?

•••••

"How can I make it up to you?" Marinette had put Hugo to bed, as Adrien dealt with bathing and settling the twins. They were now seated on the sofa, Adrien trying to find a way to make it up to his lady.

"Well lucky for you, Hugo still wakes in the night. You'll have a great time bonding at three in the morning."

"How long for?" He asked.

"Oh, I don't know a month? Maybe two?" Marinette tucked her feet under herself on the sofa, snuggling up to Adrien.

"Fine, but don't blame me if I need cuddles to get back to sleep."

She tilted her head and kissed his chin.

"I can live with that ... Mario."