Bonne Anniversaire~!
One sunny morning, Adrien stood in front of the College Francoise-Dupont, staring at the front doors as if they were the Gates of Hell. His heart thundered in his chest, his nerves crawling as though he had fire ants in his blood. His bag felt like a ton weight, its precious cargo (not Plagg) threatening to set him off balance.
...Maybe he should be doing this as Chat Noir.
That's what boyfriends did, right? Give their girlfriends presents on their birthday? Chat Noir was the one dating Marinette, not him. Although he was technically...
Adrien quickly shook his head. No, no, no. It was Adrien Agreste that bought this. It was Adrien Agreste that would give this to her. All he had to do was step one foot in front of the other, go to class, take out the box, give it to her, and say 'Happy Birthday.' It wasn't complicated at all. There should be no way he could somehow mess it up. Yet even as he thought this, he knew something was going to go wrong. His body seemed to have developed a sixth sense for it, as it began to break out into a cold sweat and he felt faint.
A hand clapped on his shoulder, startling a small shriek out of him.
"Whoa, sorry, dude!" Nino said, holding up his hands apologetically. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"N-no, it's okay," Adrien replied as he tried to calm his already frazzled nerves. "I shouldn't have been so deep in thought."
The DJ looked his friend over, before it came to him. "Ohhh~ It's Marinette's birthday today, isn't it?" His lips twisted into a teasing smirk. "You get something for her?"
His bag seemed to gain ten more pounds. "Yeah," he said weakly.
Ever his best friend, Nino patted him on the back. "Hey, don't sweat it. Even if you stutter, a present's still a present. Just don't do something dumb like lose it, or have Nathalie deliver it for you, or make Marinette think that it came from somebody else, or-"
"You can stop now, please," Adrien said quickly, his panic rising.
Grinning, Nino pushed his friend forward. "C'mon soldier, hup-to." With his forceful encouragement, the pair of them made it to class in relatively one piece. Thanks to his procrastination, the class was nearly full by the time they entered. As usual, Marinette was missing, always diving in at the last possible second (assuming she actually made the bell).
For once, Adrien would love it if he didn't have to wait for her. Sitting down in his seat, he put his bag aside and waited with hands interlaced on the desk in front of him. However, his nerves began to manifest physically, as his leg shook and his knuckles turned white. His eyes kept darting over to his bookbag, paranoid that it would somehow vanish when he wasn't looking.
Nino glanced at him. "You don't have a bomb in your bag or something, do you?"
"Yeah, well, no. It's just..." Adrien wasn't quite sure how to explain. Plagg was occupying the same place as his present. What if he did something like try to eat it? He did have a history of making jewelry disappear. (Were kwami jealous of other jewelry?)
Arching an eyebrow, the DJ sighed and held out an open palm. "Give it here."
Relieved, Adrien dove into his bag and dropped the velvet ring box into Nino's hand.
Nino stared at it.
"...This is your present?" he asked slowly.
"Well, yeah, see? It has a little bow," the model replied, flicking the bright red ribbon on top.
As Nino continued to give him an unwarranted expression of incredulity, Alya entered class then, hefting a rather large wrapped box. Adrien was relieved to see it. It was so much less pressure if he wasn't the only one giving Marinette a present. Only she stopped in front of them to stare at the box. "...Is that what I think it is?" she asked dubiously, looking between the two boys.
"It's my present to Marinette," Adrien answered, taking the ring back before anyone got the wrong idea.
"...Dare I ask what kind of ring it is?" the reporter asked slowly, as she and Nino exchanged a look.
"A normal one?" the model replied uncertainly, suddenly feeling the press of all his classmates' eyes upon him. (That bad feeling was coming back.) Just to make sure the ring was still actually in there, he flipped the box open. He showed it off to his two friends, well aware that everyone was trying to peer over his shoulder. "See? Diamonds and rubies."
All the air seemed to suck out of the room as the whole class gasped at once.
Alya was nearly apoplectic. Her present slipped from her fingers to the ground, all but forgotten. "You-!" she cried in a strangled voice. "You can't just give a girl a diamond ring!"
"What? Why not? My dad gave my mom tons," Adrien replied indignantly. He couldn't help it though. He'd somehow managed to find out Marinette's ring size as Chat Noir while she was napping. Then he'd spent a whole two months trolling all the famous bijouterie of Paris trying to find the perfect one. He finally did when he found a gold ring inlaid with tiny diamonds and rubies all along its circumference. "See, the diamonds are because she's beautiful and tough and the rubies represent passion and leadership. The gold's for her heart of gold," the blond explained matter-of-factly.
It also hinted at Ladybug without it being completely obvious.
His boy Nino glanced at the ring itself, judging it critically. "W-well, it's not that bad. I guess." With a nervous laugh, he patted Adrien on the shoulder. "Way to make us all look bad though, dude. You're setting the bar way too high." Alya gaped at the DJ as if he'd lost mind.
Beside them, Chloe's eyes narrowed.
Suddenly, the door burst open a minute to class. "I'm here!" Marinette cried. She was completely out of breath, as if she'd only gotten up five minutes ago. Adrien managed to palm the box just in time, hiding it underneath his desk. "Oh man, I would've hated to get detention on my birthday!" the designer said, before she gave them all a bright smile. "Morning everyone!"
"H-Happy Birthday, girl!" Alya replied, giving the model just one last glance before she wrapped her best friend up into a hug. She picked the box up off the ground (hopefully it wasn't fragile) and handed it over. "Here, I got you something."
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" Marinette squealed, returning the hug in full. That was when the bell rang. "Oh darn it. I'll open it up at break, okay?"
Adrien watched her round the corner of his desk, his heart thundering in his throat. He flicked the box open underneath his desk, feeling his whole body turn colder and colder.
Now! Do it now before you completely lose your nerve!
"Marinette!" he called to her back, whirling up to his feet to face his one true love.
That was when he tripped. (On what he later found out was Chloe's handbag.)
With a yelp, he stumbled forward. The ring box went flying up in the air. When he could have simply dissolved in panic, he had Chat Noir's reflexes to thank as he snatched it out of the air. Then he crashed, one knee hitting the ground right on his funny bone. His face went scarlet with pain, biting his lip so hard it nearly bled to keep from screaming an obscenity.
Which is how Marinette found him when she turned around, one knee to the ground, diamond ring outstretched, silent, redfaced and worrying his lower lip.
The whole class was silent. Even Chloe and Sabrina who were shaking violently as they managed to hold in their fit of laughter.
Marinette slowly placed Alya's present on top of her desk. Then she put a hand underneath his and the other over, gently closing the box. Suddenly, she bowed her head in apology, crying out, "I'm so sorry!" Redfaced and flustered, she fled the classroom. Not to return for the rest of the day.
Adrien's eye twitched.
"Um... dude...?" Nino said uncertainly, the majority of the class taking a step back from the blond in growing alarm. As if they expected him to snap and go on a murder spree.
Then Adrien let go of the curse he'd been holding onto. "FFFFFFFFF-!"
"Mr. Agreste!" Mme. Bustier cried in horror, entering the class right at that precise moment. "Detention!"
