Chapter Text
"This is Nadja Chamack, reporting live from the Agreste Fashion Headquarters, where the most awaited event of the fashion season is currently taking place. For those of you who are new to the scene, the Agreste brand is known for making fabulous designs each year throughout the seasons, but their Spring Line is the most anticipated of them all."
The reporter's voice echoed through the building, heightening the excitement of the hundreds of spectators watching from both their TV screens and their seats in the audience. The energetic chatter from the crowd was loud enough to be heard from the rooms backstage, where the designers were making last-minute tweaks and adjustments to the finalized outfits.
In the midst of all this chaos was the one and only Adrien Agreste, currently having a stray button sewn back onto his dress jacket. It was normal for modeling clothes to need last-minute fixes like this, but he couldn't seem to make this bit of information sink into his girlfriend's mind as she frantically worked on the fallen piece.
The blond took one of Marinette's shaking hands and pressed a small, calming kiss on it before talking. "You're doing great, love. This outfit is wonderful, and I am sure that every single person out there will think so, too. Besides," the blond smirked playfully down at the trembling woman, "if this design were… off, somehow, do you think my father, the biggest control-freak we know, would have let you present it?"
Marinette took a calming deep breath, holding the jacket in front of her and giving it one last inspection. "I know," she replied, carefully examining the resewn button and deciding that it would have to do. There wasn't enough time to fix it as she would have wanted, so the only thing left to do was to trust her skills and pray that the piece wouldn't fall off during Adrien's walk on the runway.
The jacket was carefully removed from her hands by her boyfriend, and he threw her a wink before putting it on, completing the first set that he would be modelling. Gabriel Agreste had given Marinette the chance of a lifetime not only by having Adrien, the main model of the fashion show, wear one of her designs, but by allowing one of her designs to be the opening outfit of the show. It was a custom for the Agreste line's fashion shows to feature what they thought were going to be the most popular outfits at the beginning and at the end of the event, so this was an opportunity that Marinette knew she could not allow herself to mess up.
The couple saw the lights of the catwalk turn on, and the audience cheered in anticipation, knowing that the show was just about to start. Gabriel Agreste walked into the backstage room, his cool eyes surveying his surroundings as he made his way towards the entrance to the main platform. He stopped briefly in front of his son and Marinette, examining Adrien's ensemble before placing his hand firmly on the woman's shoulder. Marinette inhaled sharply, as if awaiting judgement from the man she knew to be cold as ice, and she tried very hard to keep her composure. After a couple of seconds of silent examination of the outfit, Gabriel turned his gaze to her, nodding slightly with a barely-there hint of a smile on his lips, before he spoke. "You did well, Miss Dupain-Cheng," he said, before resuming his walk out to the stage in order to start the show.
Adrien whistled, looking amused and impressed by the very brief interaction he had just witnessed. The blue-eyed woman, who was standing frozen in place, was looking after the man with a dumbstruck expression, which prompted the blond to speak. "Congratulations, Mari. You have successfully impressed the great Gabriel Agreste."
Snorting, Marinette turned towards the blond, a remark on the tip of her tongue, but before she could say much, the man in question finished his introduction of the Spring Line and officially commenced the show. Adrien stole a quick peck from his girlfriend's lips with a cheeky grin and whispered, "for luck," before he started making his way out onto the stage. Marinette blushed.
The music was booming all around them and the crowd was sitting forward on their seats, eagerly awaiting to see whatever masterpiece the brand had come up with this year. Nadja Chamack, who was just as eagerly watching the stage, gasped a little when Adrien appeared at the edge of the catwalk, clad in what had to be the most impressive design of the whole fashion line. As the man modelled proudly down the length of the stage, the woman spoke briefly to her little recorder.
"Adrien Agreste has come out on stage, and he is wearing a magnificent set created by up-and-coming fashion designer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, one of the many talents this brand has to offer this year. And what an exquisite design! It is, altogether, an amazing ensemble.” Other reporters around her took notes and photos that would be sure to become headlines in online forums and social media within the next few minutes, and Nadja described the outfit into the microphone before taking a small pause as Adrien reached the end of the catwalk.
The woman continued speaking. “The designer of this piece is currently just an intern at the Agreste Fashion Line, which speaks volumes to the potential that founder Gabriel Agreste must have seen in her. And we can see it too! Just look at this first outfit! The colors, the sharp cuts and edges, and-- is… is Adrien Agreste wearing a ring?”
Nadja Chamack’s focus was on the model’s left hand now, making sure that the blond hadn’t just switched his usual ring from his right hand to the left, but she noticed both instead. Adrien Agreste was currently sporting a fresh, never-before-seen silver band on his ring finger.
“Oh, but he is! He is wearing a ring, ladies and gentlemen!"
The crowd sitting around the reporter started to gasp and murmur excitedly as they paid close attention to Adrien's left ring finger, which indeed contained a new piece of jewelry. Adrien couldn't help but chuckle lowly at the crowd's reaction. He had been sure that people would notice this new accessory, and Marinette had even suggested he take it off for the fashion show.
Adrien had thought the idea was preposterous, and he had voiced this quite adamantly. "I'm not going to take it off, Mari. I'm not ashamed of us, and I'm not trying to hide you. Why would I want to hide this?" he had said, gesturing to his ring. "If people notice it, then let them. And let them think what they want."
"But, Adrien, people are gonna notice, and your father is going to be furious about it. It will draw attention away from the fashion show."
Adrien had shrugged nonchalantly and smiled. "It'll be good publicity. Besides, it's you and me against the world, My Lady, remember?" He had placed a calming, reassuring hand on his girlfriend's shoulder, and she had smiled endearingly at his words. "Always."
"Is this an engagement ring? A wedding ring?! Did Adrien Agreste secretly get married? Who could the lucky person be?" The reporter's questions were coming like a bomb. "This is sure to be the scoop of the season, on top of the news about the fashion show in general!" Nadja Chamack took a pause in order to gather her thoughts and resume the task of reporting about the topic she was expected to cover for the day. "We'll be on it soon enough, folks! But, for now, let's go back to our main focus of today!"
Nino and Alya, who happened to be seated behind the reporter, snorted quietly at Nadja and the crowd's reaction. "If only they knew how hard it was to get them together," Alya whispered, dramatically placing the back of her hand against her forehead and earning a giggle from her boyfriend. "And how tricky it was to find a way for the 'lucky person' to give him that ring."
Nino snorted, crossing his arms in amusement as the event came to the forefront of his mind. According to Alya, Marinette had concocted a list of a few ways she could give the piece of jewelry to her boyfriend - now fiancé. She had wanted it to be romantic since, apparently, his proposal to her had been perfect, and she wanted him to have a ring, too. Because those two were sappy like that.
So after many failed attempts and a couple of days of pondering, the young woman finally came up with a brilliant idea. It was relatively simple and safe, at least when compared to putting the ring inside one of Adrien’s favorite desserts or something along those lines, of course. And it was far easier than creating a whole outfit that went with the ring.
In the end, the blue-eyed woman decided that she was going to make him complete a scavenger hunt, the final surprise being the ring. Admittedly, it had been no easy feat to plan the hunt, for she had wanted it to be extra special and meaningful. Knowing that, she had roped both Alya and Nino into helping her coordinate everything. The three of them had woken up early the day the hunt was supposed to take place, and they had hidden a plethora of little gifts, clues and trinkets around Paris for the blond to find.
Nino had to admit that running around with the blond had been fun, especially as he got to see the man’s reaction first hand every time he discovered the small gifts and little clues. Apparently, the hiding spots had been meaningful to both of them at one point or another: their former high school, the fountain at the park they used to frequent when they were teenagers, the Eiffel Tower, and André's ice cream stand among them.
As they both stumbled over to a neatly wrapped box, their hair tousled, Adrien grinned widely as he fumbled to open it. The bespectacled man had been impressed with Marinette’s creativity and wit as he read the little note from over his best friend’s shoulder. Your final present is in the same place where you used to leave me nighttime notes. The blond knew exactly where his final destination would be, and so the pair had ended up at Marinette’s place, Adrien’s smile near bursting as he ran up the stairs to her bedroom in his excitement.
He had found that climbing up to the balcony from inside Marinette’s bedroom was harder than arriving from outside - at least for him. But when Nino urged him to make his way up, the blond’s goofy smile had made the whole scavenger hunt worth it.
Marinette was accompanied by Alya on the small deck, and when the girls noticed the boys' arrival, the redhead squeezed her best friend’s shoulder before walking away and going down the trapdoor, leaving the pair alone to have their moment together in privacy. Although the two friends didn’t go too far, wanting to see the man’s reaction.
Adrien approached his girlfriend and hugged her. He was happy to see her after all the running around he had done on her behalf. “What’s all this for, Mari?” he had asked, forgetting that there was a final box he was supposed to be looking for in this location.
“Look for your last item, you silly cat!”
The blond had laughed, releasing the girl from his embrace and turning around to the place he was sure he would find the last box: the table where he had left various notes to Marinette as Chat Noir after he had come back from his trip to Russia.
What he found wasn’t a note with a clue, but a black box with a single silver band inside. His eyes went wide with shock, but his smile stayed in place. He turned back to the woman who was shyly approaching him, a gleeful look on his face.
“I wanted to give you a little something to commemorate our togetherness," she explained, lifting her own hand so as for him to look at the ring she had been wearing on her own ring finger for weeks; the ring he had used to propose to her. "So… I don't know, I was wondering if you would marry me, Adrien Agreste?” she asked playfully, a bashful look lingering on her face. As if she didn't know what his response was going to be.
The man couldn’t believe what Marinette had planned all along - seemingly with the help of their best friends. His eyes darted from the girl’s blushing face to the box she was currently picking up. She removed the ring from inside it and held it in the palm of her hand.
“Well, I don’t know, Marinette. This is all so sudden…” the man had replied, a cheeky grin on his face.
Marinette laughed, pushing him away from her playfully. “Adrieeeeeeen.”
The man laughed too, because the moment was too perfect, and because his whole scavenger hunt adventure had all been for this. The fact that Marinette had gone through all that trouble just to ask him a question she very much knew the answer to was too endearing.
“You already know the answer, love. I would be the biggest fool in the world if I said no,” he said, thinking about how far he had gone to get this woman to fall in love with him. "Especially after all we've been through," he added, and they both laughed at that. “So yes, I will marry you.”
Marinette smiled widely as she gently slid the ring into the man’s finger. Once it was on, the blond pulled her into his arms and kissed her sweetly. They chuckled in amusement as the couple’s best friends cheered from their spots in the trapdoor, clearly having peeked at the whole moment despite having left the scene and claiming privacy for them. They couldn’t help it; they wanted to see the conclusion to their great plan. And the couple couldn’t be bothered by their friends’ presence.
Nino’s mind came back to the present - the Spring Line fashion show - when he heard his girlfriend speak again. "And, by the way, Nadja, I already have dibs on that exclusive engagement interview!" she whispered to Nino.
As Adrien struck his last pose on the catwalk, the voices of the people around him fading out, he thought about how proud he felt to be modeling one of Marinette's designs. He was extremely happy that she had finally started to make her way into the industry she had always dreamed of belonging to. And he was overjoyed to get to be a part of her professional journey.
Before he knew it, other models had made their appearances while wearing other pieces from other designers, and then Adrien was back on stage for the sixth time, wearing the last of Marinette’s pieces: a sunflower yellow jacket, a black shirt, and black slacks. Adrien could see his father and Nathalie sitting together next to Marinette in the front-row seats, carefully monitoring the process of the show from the spectator’s point of view.
Gabriel Agreste turned to his assistant, already discussing damage control over Adrien’s little stunt with the ring, while Marinette fiddled with her skirt, eyes glued to the blonde. Gabriel and Nathalie hadn’t been prepared for the news, and so the next couple of days were surely going to be hectic dealing with the press. The older man sighed in exasperation as Nathalie scrolled through social media headlines, which depicted a mixture of people reporting theories about Adrien’s new piece of jewelry - was it an engagement ring, or a wedding band? Had he gotten married in secret? Who was the lucky woman -or man- who had managed to snatch away one of Paris’ most eligible bachelors? -, and excellent reviews of the designs the line had presented this year.
“I guess we could consider this good press?” Nathalie offered, trying to disguise a bit of help for Marinette and Adrien within her remark, and Gabriel grunted in response. He was going to have a serious talk with both Adrien and Marinette later, but he couldn’t deny the train of thought that had been circling around his mind for the last couple of days.
So Gabriel turned towards Marinette, giving her a stern look, and the girl did her best not to feel intimidated by the man who was very clearly not enjoying her involvement in his and his son's personal life. “I have to say, Miss Dupain-Cheng, that you and my son have been acting very unprofessional since the very beginning after he came back from his business trip. I don’t think that you and him should have developed this kind of intimate relationship, especially since you are my employee and he, the heir to my company.”
The girl pursed her lips, clearly in disagreement. She wanted to say many things to the man beside her, but she was hesitant to do so considering that they were in a very public place and he was still her boss. And, even if she disagreed with him, he was still Adrien's father, and she did not wish to get on his bad side - or rather, to do so more than she already was. She decided that in this case it was best to keep silent and let the bespectacled man have his say.
“However,” he continued, “maybe you won’t be such a bad addition to our family after all.”
Both Marinette and Nathalie were dumbstruck by the man’s words, because, as offensive as it sounded, it was all the approval from Gabriel that Marinette and Adrien were going to get. It even felt like a small victory. Gabriel turned his head back to the catwalk, and Nathalie threw a small, victorious smile to the girl.
Marinette drew in a deep breath, followed by a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been aware of how nervous she had been about Gabriel Agreste’s reaction to the news. It had been just one item on the long list of worries that had plagued her ever since Adrien had asked her to marry him some weeks ago. The memory came unbidden to the forefront of her mind, bringing a small smile to her lips.
They had been in the middle of finishing one of their newly re-established routine patrols, and they had just arrived at one of their favorite places: a rooftop just in front of the Eiffel Tower, where they used to rest and spend time together before they had been separated when Chat Noir went away to Russia.
Ladybug had been talking to Chat for the second time about how it was bizarre for Hawkmoth to have been so inactive in the past few months. The woman had not noticed that the usually talkative man had been silent throughout her charade; not even witty comments had been thrown her way. What she hadn’t known at the time was that Chat Noir’s mind was busy elsewhere; somewhere far away from Hawkmoth and superheroes and possible doom. Somewhere that had only previously existed in their middle-school dreams.
As the silence stretched on, she turned around when she finally noticed that the blond had stopped responding. She threw a worried glance his way, approaching him carefully. “Chat Noir, are you okay?”
“What? Oh, um, yes?” the man answered, his green eyes wide with sudden nervousness.
Ladybug narrowed her own eyes suspiciously. “What’s going on?” she tried again. She knew her partner well - better than ever, she would say. And he was acting strange.
The blond closed his eyes and chuckled ruefully. He should have known that it was only a matter of time before his Lady noticed that something was going amiss. He lowered his head and peeked up through his lashes towards Ladybug, who was looking slightly worried now. “Bug… I… It's a beautiful night, don't you think? And this is a wonderful view, isn't it?"
The woman chuckled at her partner, because it was so uncharacteristic of him to be this nervous. "Yes, to both?" she answered, smiling sweetly and crossing her arms in front of her, waiting to see where this conversation was going.
"And I... uh… I've been meaning to ask you… to tell you something… "
The superheroine's automatic response to this type of line of conversation was to internally worry, and so she did. She approached the man carefully, placing her hands on his shoulders and speaking in a calming, whisper-like tone of voice. "What is it, chaton?"
Chat Noir grabbed Ladybug's left palm from his shoulder, lowering it in front of their torsos and cupping it with both of his hands. He took a deep breath and mustered up a beaming, nervous, genuine smile.
"Iwantyoutobemywife!”
The woman thought she might have just imagined what she thought she heard, so she blinked a couple of times, as if trying to ground herself, before breathlessly replying with a question: “...What?”
“Oh, come on!” the man exclaimed lowly in frustration, though his smile was still in place, and he ran a calming hand through his mused hair. He then exhaled calmly before gazing at the polka dotted superheroine again and repeating himself in a slower, more articulate manner. “I want you to be my wife, my Lady.”
The superheroine's mind went blank for a couple of seconds, which felt like centuries to the man before her. She let the words sink into her brain before scoffing, thinking that this had to be one of Chat Noir’s casual flirting; although she had to admit, it was going a bit too far this time.
“This is no time to joke around, Chat Noir,” she replied with a playful chuckle and a sweet smile.
The blond released the woman's palm as he reached for his suit pocket, slowly and deliberately, and produced a small satin box out of it. Ladybug's gaze had followed his gesture, and her eyes slowly started expanding as the realization of the seriousness of the situation sank in. Chat Noir opened the box gingerly and presented its content to the shocked woman before him. As expected, inside lay a simple but elegant engagement ring, with a delicate red stone as a highlight.
“I’m extremely serious about this, Marinette. I want you to marry me. I want to marry you, and I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. And-- I know, I know it might seem sudden, but we’ve known each other for so long… and it’s perfect. This is perfect. You’re perfect.”
"But Adrien," she interjected, using his real name like he had used hers, "there's so much that we still have to do." Her thoughts were flowing out on their own, and for once, she was trying to will them to stop. She saw Chat Noir's cat ears drop a bit, and she took a breath, trying to think of how to word what she was going to say next.
Just say yes.
"I haven't finished college; you haven't started college - didn't you say you wanted to? And we haven't defeated Hawkmoth… this could go wrong in so many ways..."
“I... Marinette, I can do that with you by my side… We can conquer the world and take the fashion industry apart with our prowess. We can keep protecting Paris and defeat Hawkmoth together. Isn’t that what we were planning to do, anyway; what we've been doing since day one?" The superhero held the small box in his right hand now, using his left to grab the woman's palm again. "And about college… Heck, I don’t care about when I do it, I just… I just want to be by your side.”
It was a bit painful for Ladybug to have to put Chat Noir through this kind of conversation - she didn't want him to think she was rejecting him. Not after all this time. Not after all they'd been through. But there was much to think about, and she always had to be the voice of reason, didn't she?
Just say yes.
"Chat, there's so many risks… I..."
The man sighed in slight exasperation, a bit of hurt flashing in his green eyes as he tried to keep his cool. “Bug… it’s starting to look as if you don’t want to marry me. Do you? We can wait if that is what you want, just tell me--”
"No!" came the quick response, before the woman could realize what she was doing, and how she would have to explain herself unless she wanted to create a bigger misunderstanding. "I mean… I just… I… I'm ruining the moment, aren't I? Why do I always have to overthink everything?" The superheroine chuckled before shaking her head, as if the gesture would help her clear the haze of the intruding thoughts in her mind.
She looked at the confused but smiling man in front of her before taking a deep breath. "Okay…. Okay, ask me again," she finished with a grin.
Chat Noir laughed, his eyes becoming bright with mirth. He knelt before the woman this time, grabbing Ladybug's left hand with his own while the other held the small box before him. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Ladybug, my bugaboo, princess of my life, My Lady… would you do me the honor of making this cat the happiest being in the world, and marrying me?”
Ladybug's giggle came unbidden, because this was the most amusing and unexpected marriage proposal she had seen in her life. And it was for her.
And it was perfect.
Her best friend, her partner, and the love of her life, asking her to marry him. And she had almost been too dumb and ruined it; she wasn't going to do that a second time.
"Yes, Adrien," she finally replied, as if calling him by his name made the moment feel more real than it already was. Because she had to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. "You and me against the world, right?"
Chat Noir beamed at the woman before him, dropping her palm so he could remove the small ring from the box and carefully slide it on her gloved finger.
The implications of this event started playing out in the woman's mind: setting a date, all the planning, the telling people, the wedding. Because she had just said ‘yes’ to marrying Adrien Agreste, the love of her life. She had just agreed to marry Chat Noir, one of her best friends and her lifelong partner. And if she stopped and thought about everything they had both gone through with all of their different personas, she would have never imagined that it all would lead up to this.
For the first time in a long while, Marinette’s head was spiraling, but not in a bad way.
She would have never imagined that her life would turn around to grant her everything she had ever wanted; and even the things she didn’t know she wanted, but maybe had needed.
Deciding to take in the moment, Ladybug allowed herself to take a deep breath, clear her head of every thought, and just live. She had the right to do so. She had the right to enjoy every moment of her life, and she would work hard in order to do just that from now on.
So she let her lips curl up the way they wanted to. She opened her eyes and allowed herself to marvel at the beautiful ring Chat Noir had picked out - the color of the stone had not gone unnoticed by her.
She allowed herself to take in their surroundings - one of their favorite places in the world, with one of the most romantic and breathtaking views that only they could enjoy. Ladybug closed her eyes for a second time, feeling the cold night breeze dancing through her hair, and when she opened her eyes again, her sight finally set on the man who was now standing before her.
Flashbacks of moments together came flooding: the first time Marinette had met Adrien, thinking that he was as mean as Chloé Bourgeois was. The first time she had allowed herself to get a good look at him, when he handed her an umbrella on a rainy school afternoon. That moment had been the first glimpse she had caught of Adrien’s gentleness.
She also remembered her first time as Ladybug, meeting a black cat superhero who she had no idea was going to turn her world upside down, and who would become one of her best friends and one of the most important people in her life.
Her mind pulled up images of memorable moments between the two - all of them flashed through in a matter of seconds, and finally, her mind was back on the present: on the blond with the beaming smile and green eyes who was holding her hands and who had completely stolen her heart.
The woman wrapped her arms around her boyfriend - her fiancé, pulling him in for a sweet embrace. She placed her hand gently on his hair and whispered softly, “I love you.”
Chat Noir’s arms tightened around her, and he sighed contentedly. Because every piece of their lives were ultimately, at long last, in place.
And finally, as he stood in her embrace, having just asked her to be his wife, Ladybug did the one thing that was left for her to do in this wonderful moment:
She pulled away from her now-fiancé’s arms, and she kissed him.