"Chaton!" Marinette gritted out, trying to balance the grocery bag she was carrying without letting the ones on her shoulders throw her off balance. She was strong for her size, but Ladybug magic aside, she was clumsy, and these bags were just asking to be dropped.

She heard Adrien's voice from the living room, a low rumble through the wall, and realized there was someone in there with him. Sighing, she hefted the bag higher. She had just gotten a very strange voicemail from Chloé and really wanted to talk to Adrien about it, but she supposed it could wait. She hadn't sounded too dire, but then Chloé- despite her teenage years indicating differently-was not one to be dramatic within their group.

"Uh, Adrien?" She called more hesitantly, hoping whoever it was hadn't heard her call him 'kitten'. Yikes.

"Coming! Coming!" She heard his socked feet pad across their parquet floors towards her. He navigated what, in the last three months they'd lived there, was slowly becoming a disaster zone, also known as her design space. Their place was tiny- just like Adrien promised, but luckily without the leaky windows-and her design work ended up happening in the living room area. She had a show coming up at the end of the year, and the only place the dress form wasn't completely in the way was the far half of their living space. Adrien claimed all the fabric made it homey, but he mainly wouldn't complain because otherwise she would be stuck at the studio all night and they'd never see each other.

He took the bag from her and it lowered, letting her see his face. Why does he look suspicious? She furrowed her brow at him and peeked over his shoulder.

Who's here? She mouthed, nodding in the direction of their living room.

"Oh, it's just-" he was cut off when another bag was taken from her shoulder.

"Hello my dear," Gabriel leaned over and kissed her cheek in greeting, and she reciprocated.

"Gabriel!" she smiled, genuinely pleased to see him.

"Grab her other bag, son. I'll help you unload." He motioned to Adrien and then walked into their small galley kitchen.

"Hey," he leaned over to give her a brief kiss but his father's voice echoed from down the hall.

"Hurry up, kitten!" Adrien rolled his eyes, but Marinette burst out laughing.

"Better not keep Lord of the Butterflies waiting in there," she said loudly to Adrien, and heard Gabriel's loud chortle float back towards them.

She followed Adrien down the hall and watched the Agreste boys from the doorway.

"Can you stay for dinner, Gabriel?"

"If you have room for me, my dear." he glaned at her over his shoulder.

"You're always welcome, you know that. I'm glad you finally got a chance to see the place...err...finished." She glanced around the corner quickly to see what state he had found the living room, cringing at the warzone in the corner, but Gabriel just laughed.

"He's too neat," He nodded towards his son with his head while he placed the lettuce and carrots in a bowl for later. "It's good for him to live with a bit of a mess. Us creative minds can't help it, anyway."

"Speaking of creative minds, I have some design sketches to finish for a presentation tomorrow." She looked over at Adrien to get his attention. "Give me a bit and we'll start dinner?"

"I'll start sous cheffing in preparation," he winked at her, knowing how bossy she was in the kitchen. She looked back to Gabriel and noticed he had perked up.

"What are you working on?"

"Do you want to come see?" She asked, knowing his answer. She had really gotten close to Adrien's father in the last few years. She loved Adela too, and often had coffee and baked with the older woman when she was at the Agreste household, but her and Gabriel just understood each other. She remembered spending many an afternoon in high school going over and waiting for Adrien to get done a shoot only to completely lose track of time going through potential designs or debating the resurgence of certain trends with Gabriel. He had taken a massive interest in her work and development as a designer, always interested in her newest designs and introducing her to valuable connections every time she and Adrien attended one of his work functions. Adrien had sometimes joked that she was the protege he always wanted, but she could always see true pride in her boyfriend's eyes and knew he was beyond pleased that their families melded so well. All he ever wanted was a large and happy family, and he fit in with the Dupain-Chengs just as well as she did with the Agrestes.

"Ahh," Adrien sighed dramatically as his father moved to follow Marinette out of the kitchen. "Go, fly away my little bugs, have fun without me. I'll just be here, slaving away in the kitchen for your supper."

Marinette turned and stuck her tongue out at him, and his father just chuckled.

"Always, fur-gotten," Plagg zipped up beside him, noticing that he was unpacking the cheese.

"Tail me about it," Adrien threw a chunk of camembert his way and then gave Plagg some madeleines Marinette must have grabbed from her parent's bakery to go take to Tikki.

As he chopped vegetables, Adrien heard Marinette's voice rise and fall from the other room, the way it did when she was excitedly describing something. She would start to talk louder and louder in her excitement, and then realizing her volume, she'd lower her voice, but the cycle would only repeat itself. He smiled, thinking of his two creative geniuses in the next room. He was glad his father knew his girl so well, he would need his keen design mind for what they had been talking about.

"Finally, I'm invited over, and it's only because you need something from me." His father sat regally on the one armchair they possessed and Adrien rolled his eyes.

"We've invited you over so many times. It's not our fault that you're a global design sensation and are too busy for us." Adrien looked pointedly at his dad, but there was a smile on his face. It had not escaped Gabriel's notice that his son had only spoke in the collective 'we' since he had arrived and he had to suppress a smile. His son was one of the lucky ones and had gotten it right the first time.

"But I do need your help," Adrien continued, but then stopped, nervously. Gabriel leaned forward, intrigued. He and his son's relationship had improved tremendously in the past few years and he hadn't seen Adrien temper his words so much since he was fifteen.

"Adrien," he began, his tone soft, worried that something was wrong.

"No, sorry. I've decided...I've just never said it out loud before." A brilliant smile lit up his face. "I'm going to ask Marinette to marry me."

Gabriel was shocked, pleasantly so, but they were both very young. Then again, so were he and Adela when they wed.

"Not yet," Adrien added, seeing the skepticism on his father's face. "Probably sometime this spring, so a while away. My birthday was a few weeks ago, and hers is in a few months, so we'll both be twenty-one. I mean," he started to ramble, "I doubt we'll get married right away. Mari has her side design business that is really stepping up lately, her clients have doubled in the last few months, and I want to at least finish my master's beforehand, and Alya and Nino are out of the country right now-"

"It's a wonderful idea," Gabriel cut him off, placing a hand on Adrien's shoulder, and the tension drained out of his son.

"It's right, you know? And I guess it may seem soon, and maybe unnecessary because we're young and we're already committed to each other, but...I kinda just want to shout it to the world." His son looked up at him, and he was simultaneously a young boy and a grown man in Gabriel's eyes. Now he was getting engaged, and Gabriel suddenly felt a wave of emotion overtake him.

"I am so happy for you both, and selfishly very excited to call Marinette my daughter." Adrien broke out in a grin and tackled his father in a huge hug the way he had when he was younger, and Gabriel savored every moment of it.

"So you'll help me then?" Adrien asked pulling back.

"Of course! What do you need?"

Adrien then went on to detail his plans for the ring. Sabine had not so subtly hinted about a year ago that when Adrien finally decided to pop the question, she had two jade baguettes, each about 8mm, that had been passed down through her family for generations. Her mother wore them as a necklace her whole life and Sabine was given them as earrings on the announcement of her engagement. If Adrien wanted, he could use them in Marinette's ring. Sabine brought them out and showed them to Adrien, and he knew they would be perfect. A vibrant clear green, they were reminiscent of the color of his own eyes and he could imagine them vividly surrounding the asscher cut diamond his grandmother had left him for this very occasion.

"I know it's not your area of expertise, but the two of you talk design so often I thought you'd have a clearer idea of her style. I also want all our parents to be involved and have some input so it's more meaningful…" He trailed off and looked at his father expectantly.

"I would be honored," Gabriel responded, feeling his eye well up a bit at the idea and was impossibly even prouder of his son in that moment.