Chapter Text
They were getting confused.
It was a few months after Mama and Papa discovered each other as well as both of the Dolls, and there have been many changes that had been made since.
One of the changes was that the two had taken to sharing time with Littlebug and Chaton. Which was a nice change and made them very happy. Now Littlebug got to spend time with Mama! And Chaton got to spend time with Papa! And Littlebug and Chaton got to spend more time with each other without having to sneak away and worry about getting caught!
Chaton got to show Littlebug Mama’s home with all the neat-looking and nice-feeling clothes. Littlebug in turn got to show Chaton Papa’s room room with all its stuff and the shiny stair railings and poles that they could slide down.
All in all, it was a change that they rather liked.
The other change was more confusing, though. Since Papa’s Day, Papa had seemed insistent on presenting them with things.
A lot of things.
More things than they knew what to do with, really.
It seemed that every day, they were finding something new that he had gotten for them. Littlebug and Chaton weren’t really sure what to do with the things. Some of them looked like toys they recognized. Littlebug particularly liked the blocks. Chaton preferred the fluffy cloth bear that was as big as he was and perfectly hug-sized and comfy to nap with. The rest…they didn’t quite know what to do with or why they were there.
Except Papa seemed intent on watching them with each item, even writing things down in a notebook. He seemed to be hoping for…something? They didn’t know what.
But it made him happy when they presented him the latest item they discovered. Handing any item to him made him smile and coo and he would play with them using the object. Which was nice! And they liked it a lot.
Not the item, but the way it seemed to make him happy.
They liked Papa when he was happy the best.
So maybe the things were tokens to let Papa know they wanted to play? It made the most sense. Though it kind of saddened them both at the idea of giving up certain ones they were attached to in order to play with Papa. Or that they’d eventually run out of things to give for Papa’s time. Would Papa start ignoring them then?
Littlebug didn’t believe so, since she and Papa spent plenty of time together before. But things were different now. Chaton was with them too, now. And they were going back and forth with Mama who still lived in her home. Plus having both the Pink One and Dark One around as well. There had been many new changes that had made them happy.
Was this a not-happy new change? Was it only temporary?
Fortunately, Marinette seemed to catch on to their confusion.
“Adrien, you need to stop.” She finally told him one day.
He looked to her in surprise from his computer and the next large group of toys and games he was intending to buy. “But Marinette! I’m their ‘DAD’ now. I have to show them I love them!”
She frowned. Not out of annoyance—she couldn’t be annoyed with him caring for the dolls and wanting to shower them with love. But this was getting to be a problem and part of her hesitated to be the one to tell him that. “I get that, but I’m sure there are ways of letting them know you care without buying out an entire toy store.”
He pouted. “I didn’t buy out an entire toy store.”
She glance back briefly at the boxes of toys already lining up the room. She then raised an eyebrow at him.
He looked away. “I only bought one of everything because I didn’t know what they’d like.”
“And buying everything would solve that?” She asked incredulously.
“This way I could see what they prefer or not!” He exclaimed as he tried to justify the excessiveness.
“You could just ask them.” She pointed out. “Or show them a catalogue and let them pick what they would like.”
Seeing how sad he appeared, she rested a hand on his shoulder. “We need to keep things in moderation. It’s going to be hard to hide the fact we have them if we’re going to these extremes.”
And even if they didn’t, she certainly didn’t want to spoil the dolls with gifts to the point they became selfish and entitled. The last thing she wanted was to result in either of the dolls turning out like Chloe. She probably wouldn’t forgive herself.
“But this way I can keep track of what all they play with!” He argued. “And they like everything I’ve gotten for them!”
She sighed. “Okay, Adrien? Is it that they like the gifts themselves or that they like that they’re from you?”
He blinked.
“What?”
She laughed. “Adrien, I’d bet that you could give them a pair of your socks and they’d be happy.”
“No way!”
It was fortunate that Adrien did not take that bet.
Yay! Fun thing! Soft thing! Stretchy!
He soon discovered that yes, the dolls would very much be happy if he gifted them socks. As evidenced by the way Littlebug and Chaton began to pull one of the socks between them like a game of tug of war. Adrien had worried they were fighting for a moment until both began to twist and were soon wrapped up in the sock together, their little legs kicking out from beneath the wrapping as they had fun in their silliness.
“Cute.”
It was also soon realized, to Adrien’s embarrassment, that while he had been taking note of specifically how the two have been interacting with the toys, he hadn’t quite taken note of what else they took interest in besides those toys.
It turned out that while Adrien had written that the two had played with some action figures in a princess castle, he failed to notice that the two had taken more interest in some of the bigger boxes that the toys had come in. It was only after Marinette came for a visit that they discovered the “fort” made of three boxes of various sizes interconnected together.
Said “fort” was apparently manned by Commander Spotty and loyal knight Sir Sharp Claws. Which were really just Littlebug wearing a toy flag as a cape and Chaton wearing Adrien’s gifted sock as a hat. But they seemed to enjoy playing as knights in service of King Sleeps and Queen Pinky.
“What?” Plagg demanded as he looked up from his cushioned throne at the intruder.
Adrien raised an eyebrow.
“….they’re your kids. Don’t judge me.” He groused before rolling back over.
Queen Pinky looked up from her “throne” on top of a pillow carried by four unicorn toys. For her part, she seemed to have taken her role seriously, as she was wearing a velvet cloth that looked to be from a fancy doll dress as a cape along with a little toy crown.
Marinette gaped. “Tikki?” She couldn’t help the giggles.
“Do you bring offerings for the King and Queen?” Tikki demanded imperiously.
“Offerings?”
“If not, then you are to remove yourselves!” Tikki announced.
“Are you serious?”
Plagg shrugged. “You heard the lady.”
Sure enough, following the orders of the “Queen”, Littlebug and Chaton proceeded to push Adrien and Marinette away from the fort. The two teens were a bit too busy fighting giggles to really try to oppose them. They were left on the other side of the room recovering from their laughing fit over the pure hilarity of the whole thing.
“Okay, okay. You were right, m’lady.” Adrien admitted once his chuckling finally died down enough for him to talk properly.
Marinette was still giggling. “They’re kids. And they’re creative. They can be happy with anything, so you don’t need to go overboard, Adrien.”
He winced. “Yeah. I just…I want to though.”
She sobered at that. “Hmm?”
“I just want them to know I care.” He quietly admitted.
Oh.
Marinette leaned against him in a show of support.
“I think that simply being with them and playing with them shows that most.”
He leaned back against her, accepting the reassurance.
“Occasional gifts are fine, but they won’t have time to play with everything and really be able to tell what they like if you’re getting them too much at once.”
“I’ll try to scale it back.” He promised.
Marinette smiled in relief.
Chaton and Littlebug didn’t really know what they were whispering about. They were simply being cautious of any potential counterattack by the enemies of their King and Queen. At least until those enemies called them for dinner at Mama’s house at which point they abandoned their posts much to Tikki’s unhappiness and Plagg’s apathy.
The next day they returned to Papa’s place, he presented them with a new gift of paints, brushes, and sponges for decorating their fort.
Then he spent the rest of the afternoon helping them decorate the fort.
It only stopped when they tried to paint Plagg, too.
“No, no! None of that!” He told them, taking the supplies away before they could really get started. “I’m supposed to be Chat Noir, not Chat Rose!”
Chaton and Littlebug pouted. They just wanted to make his tail pretty. And his paws. And maybe his ears…
“No.”
Could they at least paint each other?
“No. Paints are for the fort.”
They pouted more, but then Papa pulled out glow-in-the-dark star stickers to put inside the fort and they were successfully distracted from the unfairness of not getting to see a pink-tailed Chat Noir.
All in all, things were getting better.