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Adrien had been excited to do something other than modelling, so he had been learning and working in each of the departments at Gabriel after finishing school - photoshoot crew, accounting, marketing, you name it and he's either worked in there or will work there soon. These experiences over the past few years meant that his coworkers learned to see him as more than the boss' son; he was making friends with his colleagues! Bonding with his colleagues has lead them to have many hang outs together and for his circle of friends to continue to grow.
Tonight was one such hang out, having Korean BBQ at a place Janine from the design department recommended. He was glad that she had booked ahead, because their group was so big they almost filled the entire restaurant, but someone was missing-
'Hi! Sorry I'm late,' Marinette apologised as she rushed into the room. Adrien perked up, happy to see her, and immediately looked for a seat around him for her to join them, only to pout when there were none available nearby. She giggled and said, 'I see a seat by Andre and Gillian - we'll talk after dinner on the way home, yeah?'
'Yeah,' he answered with a smile, squashing his lament about being deprived of her presence for the duration of dinner. 'Talk then.'
His eyes watched her as she walked over to her design colleagues and sat down, greeting them happily.
'Someone is a love-sick puppy,' Dennis teased, and Adrien grumbled that they should start cooking the meat so they could eat.
Soon, chatter and the aroma of cooked meat filled the air, soju was plentiful, and Adrien was laughing along with his friends at the terrible joke Dennis from HR made. Some people were more tipsy than others, but all were having a good time. Adrien's eyes flicked over at Marinette, who was giggling at something before accidentally dropping the food in her hand with a little yelp. He sighed; she was adorable.
'That's the millionth time you've done that Adrien,' Lillian observed.
'Done what?' Adrien asked.
'Fawned over Marinette wistfully - it's clear that you like her,' answered Lillian, resting his cheek on his hand. Adrien blushed. Lillian was too observant for his own good.
'I was just hoping to talk to her tonight,' Adrien said. 'Her internship with us through ESMOD is almost over and I haven't had the chance to find out what she thinks about her experience.'
'You mean apart from your nearly daily lunches with her and chaperoning her home after work every day, no matter how late she stays back?' a very drunk Janine asked pointedly, obviously seeing through his half-truth. Janine tended to drop truth-bombs whenever she was drunk. 'You're not very good at hiding how much you love her.'
Adrien groaned and dropped his head onto the table with a thunk, ignoring Claudia's amused snicker. Was he that obvious? Was he making a fool of himself? Did Marinette know about his love for her?
'On a scale of one to ten, how pathetic am I?' Adrien asked from the tabletop.
'Zero,' replied Dennis. 'But you being a hopeless romantic and desperately in love? Twenty out of ten.'
'It's adorable, really,' Claudia added. 'I wish someone loved me the way you do her.'
A chorus of hummed agreements came from around the table.
'But it's hopeless,' Adrien argued, not bothered to lift his head, 'she doesn't see me that way. I have no chance with someone as amazing as her.'
Janine snorted before letting out a hearty laugh. 'You know that girl loves you!!'
Adrien snapped up to look at a mirthful Janine. 'What? How?'
'You know - romantically? Sexually?' Janine replied, swirling her glass of soju around. 'She's just as obvious with her affections as you are.'
The other occupants around the table hummed in agreement once more. Adrien's head was awhirl with this new information.
'Really?' he asked, his voice warbling slightly.
'Yes!' they all answered.
Adrien picked up his glass of soju and downed it in one go. What was he supposed to do now? Was he really that lucky?
~/~
Adrien couldn't remember much else of what was discussed at dinner. He was too distracted with the possibility - the intoxicating, alluring, gut-wrenchingly hope-inducing possibility - that Marinette might actually like him back. He couldn't help but watch her from the other side of the restaurant, filled with longing as she had a wonderful time talking animatedly about something or other with the people around her. She truly was amazing.
'Ready to go, Adrien?'
Adrien's head flicked up to see Marinette smiling softly at him, cheeks pink with merriment from the night's event. He glanced about and saw the restaurant mostly clear, with only the lingering stragglers left from their group.
'Right, yes. Coming,' he said, picking himself up and gathering his belongings before taking her proffered hand as they left the establishment. Once they were peacefully walking along the footpath, he commented, 'You looked like you were having lots of fun tonight. What were you guys talking about?'
Marinette's eyes sparkled before she began her animated recount of her evening. Adrien avidly listened to her stories, but was continuously distracted by her enchanting beauty and Janine's explosive claim. At one point, Marinette gushed about how Andre came up with a wonderful solution to her designing conundrum, and while Adrien appreciated Andre's assistance to Marinette, her very effusive commentary made Adrien like Andre a little less. Thankfully, she moved on from that topic onto the next without noticing his momentary jealousy, and continued her recount. Dutifully, he continued to listen attentively, but he couldn’t stop the intrusive thoughts and burning questions as they got louder and louder in his mind until he couldn’t stand it anymore.
'Marinette!' Adrien burst out, turning to stand in front of her, stopping her in her tracks, and put his hands on her shoulders, her beautiful blue eyes looking up at him in startled curiosity. 'Is it true? You love me?'
Her eyes widened, clearly taken aback. Fear struck him, and he panicked - it might’ve been the alcohol in his system, it might’ve been the sudden burst of desperation, it might’ve been the need for her to know how deeply and truly he loved her since their lips brushed all those years ago in the wax museum when they were fourteen - but he couldn’t give her the chance to reject him before he could bear his heart to her.
'I love you too!' he declared, almost yelping with how flustered he was. 'As in romantically! And sexually!'
Marinette was shaking under his hands, eyes so wide that his concern for her well-being cut through his self-berating about his less than stellar confession, and her muffled tea-kettle squealing as her face turned red before his eyes only made him even more concerned about her.
'Marinette, are you okay?' he asked.
Instead of answering, Marinette fainted. Adrien quickly caught her in his arms before she could go crashing into the pavement, and his panic came back with a vengeance.
'Oh my god, I’ve killed Marinette!' Adrien whimpered.
Plagg stuck his head out of his pocket and looked Marinette over. 'Nah, you didn’t kill her, but when she comes to, I doubt she’d want to be in the middle of the street.'
'R-right,' Adrien agreed, and adjusted her in his arms so he could carry her properly. His apartment wasn’t far away - she could recover there, and hopefully she’d forgive him for his clearly unwanted confession.
~/~
'Ughhhhhh.'
Adrien almost dropped his ladle in his hastiness to get to Marinette's side as she awoke. He dropped to his knees next to the couch he had laid her on, sitting by her head as she frowned and rolled over to face him with her eyes still closed.
'My head hurtssss,' she groaned, bringing her hand to her forehead, scrunching up her face at the pain. Adrien quickly hurried to grab a glass of water and pain medication before returning to her side.
'Marinette?' he greeted gently. 'I have some ibuprofen for you.'
Groggily, she opened her eyes and sat up, accepting the water and medication. Satisfied that she was okay, Adrien returned to the stove.
'Whaddya doin'?' she mumbled, turning over the back of the couch to face him.
'Making soup,' he replied, stirring the pot. 'You passed out, and I thought that some comforting soup would be a good idea for when you would wake up.'
'You're a saint,' she muttered, before flopping back down onto the couch with a groan. 'Is that Maman's recipe?'
'Yeah, it's the only soup recipe I know,' he admitted as he turned off the stove and started to transfer the soup into two bowls. 'You, your family and Alya's mum literally taught me all I know about cooking.'
Marinette let out an amused huff. 'You know my parents love having you over - they think of you like their own son.'
Adrien blushed before wistfully thinking about his now crushed dream of being their son-in-law. Instead of admitting that particular train of thought, he replied, 'The feeling's mutual - they're more like parents to me than my own ever were.'
He walked over, carefully handing her a bowl of soup after she sat up once more, before taking a seat on the adjacent couch with his own bowl. They sat in silence as they ate, relishing the warmth of the soup, before Marinette suddenly blurted out, 'Oh my god!'
Adrien almost dropped his bowl, and quickly put his bowl on the coffee table, barely registering Marinette doing the same. 'What's wrong? Are you okay?'
'You love me!' she cried, pointing shakily at him. 'You told me you loved me romantically a-and sexually!'
Adrien flushed. 'I-'
'Or did I dream that?' Marinette continued. 'Did I dream that? Might've. Had a quite a bit of soju tonight.' She got up and started pacing. 'Sorry. My mistake. You didn't declare your love for me! Why would you? It's just plain old me, Marinette - the normal girl with the normal life. Nothing special about me. There's no way you'd love me that way!'
'You didn't dream that!' Adrien squawked. 'I... I confessed that I loved you - not the way I wanted to confess to you, mind you - I wanted to do it properly, romantically, with candles and rose petals - but I ended up just blurting it out, and then you fainted in my arms. I must've freaked you out really bad, and you clearly are still freaking out, so I'm sorry - I've probably ruined our friendship with my confession that you didn't want, and I really hope you forgive me, Marinette, I really do, but I couldn't go a moment longer without you knowing how I felt for you because-'
'H-how you felt for me?' Marinette asked timidly.
'Well, yeah,' Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
'You love me?' she repeated.
'I do,' he answered. There was no use in denying it now.
'I... I love you, too,' she said. His heart stumbled and his lungs froze in place.
'Y-you do?' he asked, tentative hope rising within him.
'I do,' she confirmed, smiling shyly at him. He couldn't help but beam. He swept her up into his arms and twirled on the spot, careful to not hit the coffee table as he spun in joy.
'You love me! I love you! We love each other!' he cheered, her giggles loud in his ear. He gently put her back down on her feet before immediately kneeling. 'Will you be my girlfriend?'
She bent down to his level before kissing him soundly. Her lips felt divine, and he mourned their parting from his. 'Yes, I will be your girlfriend.'
'Hah! Yes!' came a cheer from the kitchen, and they both turned to see a cheerful Plagg by the stove, with... was that-
'Pay up, Sugarcube! My boy confessed first!'
'Fine! You win!' Tikki pouted at Plagg. 'Expect your winnings in a week... um... whoops?' Tikki flinched and gave a pained wave to them. 'Don't suppose you could forget this?'
Plagg scoffed at Tikki's request. Adrien, still on bended knee in front of a standing Marinette, turned to face his girlfriend. 'Marry me.'
'Adri- Chaton?' Marinette asked breathlessly. 'You're my Chat Noir?'
His heart danced happily at being called "hers". 'Always, m'lady.'
Marinette dropped to her knees and kissed him so thoroughly he was left desperate with the need for air, yet desperate to have her lips on his like that all over again.
'Yes,' she said simply.
'"Yes," what?' Adrien asked, dazed from their kiss.
'Yes, I'll marry you,' she replied, before kissing him soundly once more.