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If someone were to say that Adrien Agreste was nervous, that would be the understatement of the year.
He had been throwing around the idea of proposing to his ex-akuma-fighting partner and long term girlfriend of three years, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, for the better part of two months.
He had enlisted both Nino and Alya’s help to pick out the perfect ring. Between the three of them (with a little extra help from Tikki and Plagg, though the latter had not been much help at all), he had chosen what he believed to be just that.
So why was he so nervous?
While he was fairly certain Marinette was going to say “yes”, the idea of having to ask her was setting him on edge. What if he messed it up? What if there were complications in his plan? What if she just laughed in his face?
Even Plagg had given him a look of pure disbelief at that last one when he’d voiced his concern.
It was just that Marinette was possibly one of the best things to happen to him, only coming second maybe to becoming Chat Noir. Which was no small feat given that fact alone was part of how they came to be so close. He was unsure how to live up to the idea of a perfect proposal he knew she deserved.
When the end of January rolled around and people started talking about Valentine’s Day, he had a flash of inspiration. What better day to propose than on the day of love itself?
Plagg had given him an entirely different look of disbelief on that one, but when he had spoken to Nino and Alya about the idea, they had been entirely on board with his idea and had given him pointers.
In the end they had come up with a plan. It was simple; Alya would take Marinette for a little bit of a girls pampering day, bring her home to get ready, and Adrien would take her to an upscale restaurant for dinner leaving the ring with the Maître D’, who would make sure the ring would be placed atop the ornate cupcake he’d ordered for them. Then he would get down on one knee, pop the question, and they’d live happily ever after.
Simple.
The only thing Adrien had failed to take into account was the inevitable bad luck he carried around with him, courtesy of the Kwami of Destruction.
The day of the planned proposal, things had started out pretty great.
The two had woken up in their flat as usual, Adrien making Marinette a lavish breakfast before Alya came by, whisking Marinette away to the spa.
Adrien left shortly afterward and met up with Nino.
“So my dude, are you ready for tonight?” he asked with clap on Adrien’s back.
“Honestly? I feel like I might throw up. Marinette has definitely noticed I’ve been a little on edge lately. I tried to convince her it was just some difficult students, which thankfully she believed. There have actually been a few who totally didn’t understand the details of the project, but keeping something from her has been so hard.”
“It’ll all be worth it when she says yes tonight.” Adrien drew in a breath to say something but Nino cut him off. “And she will say yes. The girl is head over heels for you dude. I’ll eat my hat if she says anything else.”
“Thanks Nino,” Adrien said, feeling only slightly reassured. “Come on, I’ve got to pick up the cupcakes and drop them off at the restaurant along with the ring, then we can set up the thing for Alya at your place.”
The two made their way to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery and picked up a pair of cupcakes designed to look like a Ladybug and a Black Cat. Nino raised his eyebrow at Adrien who waved his hand explaining that it was an inside joke between them. Even if Ladybug and Chat Noir were no longer needed after the fall of Hawkmoth, the superheroes would always be a part of them, and Adrien wanted to incorporate that. Marinette’s parents handed them to Adrien with a smile and a tight hug, wishing him well on his endeavours that night.
Next, they brought the cupcakes to the restaurant, where Adrien explained that the ring belonged on the Chat Noir cupcake which was to be put in front of Marinette, and the Maître D’ assured Adrien that everything would be in order for their dinner tonight.
Having those two errands done definitely made Adrien less worried about the night’s events, but he still had a few hours to go, and many things could go wrong in a few hours.
The two boys spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Nino and Alya’s place, playing the new Mecha Strike V after they’d set up Nino’s Valentine’s dinner until Alya messaged them saying she and Marinette were on their way back to the apartment, giving them about an hour before Adrien would swing by and pick Marinette up. He’d brought over to Nino’s everything he needed to get ready.
Even though he knew Marinette carried around both cookies and cheese whenever they went out for their Kwami, Adrien made sure to sneak Plagg a hefty amount of Camembert while Nino wasn’t paying attention.
When Adrien was on his way out, Nino stopped him. “Dude, you look like you’re about to pass out. Take a couple deep breaths.” Adrien did as he was told. “Good. Now listen to me one last time: Marinette loves you. The two of you are going to have a fantastic time at dinner, you’re going to get to dessert and propose, and the two of you will live happily ever after with like, three kids and a pet cat.”
Adrien drew in another few deep breaths and nodded. “Thanks Nino. I’ll see you later, hopefully with a ring on Marinette’s finger.”
All the preparation over the course of the day however did not prepare for how Marinette took away his breath when he walked into their apartment to pick her up.
Coming out of the bedroom, Marinette was wearing a midnight blue cocktail dress with a black lace overlay, leaving her collarbones mostly exposed underneath. She wore her hair half pinned back, the rest falling in loose waves at her shoulders. Her makeup was simple, a little black eyeliner and mascara with nude, glossy lips.
“Does it look okay?” Marinette asked when Adrien stood still for a moment too long.
“You look amazing,” he replied. “All ready to go?”
“Let me just grab my coat.”
Plagg and Tikki took up residence in Marinette’s purse for the evening, happily munching away on the snack inside of it, leaving the couple to converse over dinner without any worries. If Marinette could tell Adrien was acting differently than usual, she didn’t mention anything, and he hoped that didn’t mean she knew what had been planned for that night.
When dessert rolled around, Adrien’s palms grew sweaty and he had to take some deep breaths in the hope that he could calm his heart rate enough to ask the question when the time came round.
As the trays were placed in front of them, Marinette cocked an eyebrow at Adrien, since they hadn’t asked the waiter for any dessert. He smiled at her and the waiter removed the lids before bowing and leaving them to their dessert. When the couple looked down, Marinette smiled and teared up in appreciation, expecting to look up and see Adrien smiling sweetly at her, but was instead met with panic on his face.
“Adrien? Something wrong?”
Something was most definitely wrong. Here were the cupcakes, but the ring was nowhere to be seen.
“What? No?” Adrien replied in what he hoped was a convincing tone. “You, uh, stay here and enjoy this, and I’ll be right back alright?”
Marinette nodded and Adrien shot out of his seat in the direction of the kitchen, trying to catch the attention of the waiter who’d served them their dessert.
“Excuse me, but the cupcakes you brought over, one of them was supposed to have a ring in it, and it’s not there.”
The waiter looked puzzled. “It was in there before I put the lids on the dishes, I’m not sure where it could have gone. I will take a look in the kitchen to see if it fell off.”
“Thank you,” Adrien said and glanced all around the carpeted floor of the restaurant to see if he could find a sparkle among the fibers. While looking, a flash of black zipped across the carpet, followed by a red one.
He followed them towards the bathrooms where he found Tikki and Plagg hiding behind a plant. Taking out his cell to make it look like he was on the phone, he asked, “What’s going on?”
“I may have made a mistake,” Plagg answered.
Tikki supplied an explanation saying, “Plagg got bored during dinner and flew into the kitchen to see if they had any fancy cheese. He saw the trays and opened it to get a look, accidentally knocking the ring off the cupcake. The waiter came by and took them away before he got the chance to put it back.”
“So where is it now?” Adrien replied, trying not to raise his voice.
“I actually have it right here,” Plagg supplied, holding the ring out towards Adrien.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, he looked around to make sure no one was looking and took the ring from Plagg’s paws. “You are in so much trouble,” he told the kwami and gestured for the two of them to hide in his suit jacket.
He found the waiter and told him he was able to find the ring, assuring him it wasn’t a big deal and that he wasn’t upset (at least not at the waiter) before returning to the table.
“Is everything alright?” Marinette asked, looking very worried when he sat down looking rather exasperated.
“Everything is fine. I’m sorry for disappearing like that. Have you had any of the cupcake?”
“I may have taken a little nibble out of the icing.”
“What did you think of it?”
“Tastes like home,” Marinette replied.
“As long as you like it.”
Adrien was little dismayed by the way things had turned out that evening but he was determined to still propose to her by night’s end.
“I had a really great time tonight Adrien, but are you sure you’re alright?” Marinette asked on their way home. It was an unusually warm night for February, so the two thought they’d walk back to their apartment.
“Everything didn’t exactly go as planned, but I did get to spend the night with you, and that’s always a treat for me.”
Marinette nudged Adrien with her hip. “Silly kitty, we spend almost every night together.”
“I know,” he replied with a genuine smile. “And actually, speaking of which, the point of dinner tonight was beca-” he tried to start, but the two heard a shout coming from around the corner.
Peeking around, they noticed a woman being approached by a man down an alleyway. The man looked normal enough, but judging by the noise they’d heard the woman make coupled with the scared look on her face, he was not someone she was happy to be with.
“Care for a little date night saving of Paris?” Marinette asked. Adrien was annoyed that they’d been interrupted but he was not the kind of guy who would let a woman be taken advantage of.
The couple transformed and lept to the top of the building before dropping down behind the scared woman.
“My lady, I don’t know about you, but those aren’t the kinds of sounds one should be hearing from a woman on a day made for romance,” Adrien said.
Nodding, Marinette told the man, “I don’t think you’ve romanced this woman properly. She seems a little upset by your presence, actually. Maybe you should leave her alone? I’m sure she’d rather be at home, in a bath with a nice glass of wine instead of with you.” To the woman she added, “Am I wrong in saying you want him gone?”
The woman shook her head. “I w-was just leaving from my shift at work when he cornered me s-saying no woman should be alone on Valentine’s Day. I have a girlfriend who’s waiting for me at home.”
“See Monsieur? I think it’s best if you left,” Adrien said, and stepped towards him baton extended in front of the woman.
The man scoffed but turned and left the alleyway, knowing full well not to mess with the heroes of Paris.
“Thank you so much Ladybug and Chat Noir.”
“That’s what we’re here for, to keep the citizens safe,” Adrien replied with a smile. “Now how about we escort you home?”
Once the woman was safe at home with her girlfriend, the heroes made their way in the direction of their own home, opting for a little game of chase to see who could make it there first.
A few blocks away Adrien caught up with Marinette and held her hand to prevent her from going any further.
“Something wrong?”
Adrien shook his head. “Nothing at all my lady. I’ve just been trying to talk to you about something and both times I was prevented from doing so.” De-transforming, Adrien reached into his pocket to pull out the ring, holding out to her. “This isn’t as romantic as I’d wanted it to be but, Marinette, will you marry me?”
Marinette gawked at Adrien for a moment, leaving a heavy silence in the air between them. Adrien tried to keep a straight face, but the longer the moment lasted, the more unsure he became.
Lowering his hand slightly, he opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Marinette’s arms around his neck, lips pressing against his, stopping anything but a noise of surprise from escaping him. She pulled back and he could see her eyes were sparkling with unshed tears, smiling so wide he was sure her face would crack.
“Yes,” she breathed out, leaning forward to kiss him again with just as much vigor. “Oh my gosh, yes Adrien, I want to marry you.”
Dropping her own transformation, she held out her hand so he could slip the ring onto her finger. He mirrored her smile and pulled her in for a tight hug, burying his face in her neck.
“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” Plagg asked, earning a bop on the head from Tikki.
“Not even close,” Adrien replied.