Chapter Seven
"Don't waste your love on someone who doesn't value it," -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
It was two weeks since Marinette made her triumphant return to Paris. France wasn't far away from Italy but not having the ability to return home whenever she wanted was torture. Not being able to speak Italian when she arrived made it worse. Of course, now she could get by decently because she had no other choice when but to do so when living there. Learning a second language had its perks, however, like saying something in Italian just to make Adrien curious as to what she said and refusing to tell him. He, of course, would retaliate and say something in Chinese and tickle her until he got her to admit what she said. The two of them had possibly too much fun together.
The two of them were seldom seen apart in those two weeks, only separating to hang out with their own best friends, Alya and Nino, to have some girl time and guy time. When that happened all the other did was talk about their beloved and texted them the whole time, much to the annoyance and mild amusement of their friends. It was during this exasperated time when Nino came up with an outburst so obvious it almost seemed ridiculous that the two of them hadn't done it yet.
"Why don't the two of you just move in together! Then you can see her all the time and I won't be fighting for my bro's attention when your with me!" Once Nino said that he could see Adrien freeze. It was almost as if the wheels turning in his head became visible and Nino had to refrain from facepalming. Had they seriously not thought of this?
The next thing Nino knew he was swept up into the air in a crushing-all-of-the-oxygen-out-of-his-lungs bear hug. "Nino, you are a genius!"
"Dude, it wouldn't even be hard. You have your own house now. Marinette's clothes already take up their own closet. Tikki stays with you and Plagg more often than not."
Adrien sighed and released Nino from the hug. "Yeah. Maybe I'm just a bit too close to her to see something so obvious. It's not like I haven't been thinking about our future or anything."
This piqued Nino's interest. "What exactly are you saying?"
Adrien shrugged and pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket and tossed it to Nino. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was inside but Nino thought that he should investigate anyway. He opened the box and felt his jaw almost drop to the ground. "Damn, dude. That's a hell of a rock."
Adrien shrugged again. He had taken great care in picking out the ring. It did have a big diamond in the middle of it, but he didn't want to be too flashy. He knew Marinette liked classy items that would go with everything. There were a few diamonds studded along the rose-gold metal that made up the ring. The middle reminded him vaguely of a rose.
Upon inspecting the ring Nino found an inscription on the inside, carefully scripted and engraved with beautiful cursive lettering, reading "To you I give myself, for I am yours."
"Didn't know you were a poet. That's actually really nice," Nino said, placing the ring back into the box.
"I'm not a poet. Just obsessed with Shakespeare."
Nino laughed and rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me that's from Romeo and Juliet!"
Adrien shook his head, seemingly embarrassed. "It's from As You Like It. It was the only quote I could find that sounded nice that fit on the inside." This just made Nino laugh even harder.
"So, when are you going to propose?"
Adrien shrugged. "Not sure. I got the ring right after she got back from Italy, so I think I'm just waiting for the right moment. I don't know when that will be though. Is there such a thing as a right moment?"
"Eh, maybe. Maybe not. If you're going to ask her to move in with you you could just propose then, but you could propose coming back from taking out the trash and she would say yes. That girl is crazy about you."
"I'm crazy about her too."
"Yeah," Nino pictured his own girlfriend in his mind, thinking that it was lucky that both he and Adrien had such fantastic women. "I know you are," he said, picturing Alya as he said it. He might not be as romantic as his friend, but he was just as crazy about Alya as Adrien was about Marinette. "Listen, I'll help you out if you need it. Give me a time and a place and I'll be there. You'll give Marinette the best proposal you can. Just return the favor for me when the time comes, alright?"
Adrien gave Nino a quizzical look. "Are you thinking of marrying Alya?"
"In a couple of years maybe. We're both too busy with work to think about it. We decided if the timing isn't right by three years from now we'll just say screw it and have a quick and simple wedding. It's more our style anyway."
"Yeah, sounds like it."
"So you just going to ask Marinette to move in with you for now?"
Adrien nodded. "Yeah. I'll have to hide the ring somewhere. Maybe at the top of my closet. There's a shelf up there that she can't reach and she has no reason to need anything from up there."
"Good." Adrien's phone went off, a text message coming through. A dopey grin crossed Adrien's face and Nino could tell exactly who it was. "Go. Get out of here. Ask Marientte to live with you and live happily ever after, or whatever you're after, Agreste. We'll hang out when you're not pining over her like a lost puppy, alright?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, go! All this mushy love crap we're talking about is making me nauseous anyway. My sweet tooth isn't half of what yours is."
Adrien rolled his shoulders back and stood up, extending a hand to Nino and bringing him in for another crushing bear hug. "Thanks man. I really appreciate it."
Nino returned the hug after only a brief moment of hesitation, out of surprise more than anything else. "Yeah, anytime. Just save some happiness for the rest of us."
"Will do."
Adrien left Nino's apartment with a skip in his step, walking to Alya's place where Marinette was camped out, talking about whatever girls talked about. Know the two of them they probably just finished watching some gory horror movie that Adrien wouldn't be able to stomach. They had a tendency to do that stuff when he wasn't around. They were probably straightening up the mess in Alya's apartment since Marienette sent him a text saying that they finished their movie. He reached Alya's place and knocked on the door twice before letting himself in.
Marinette and Alya were laughing, chatting away as they put brightly colored patchwork quilts into a closet in the hallway and fluffed orange and white pillows that sat on the couch. Trixx sat quietly in her dog bed observing the two girls cleaning, standing to attention when she caught sight of Adrien. "Hey, Adrien!" Alya said, peeking over the top of the blanket pile. "Go ahead and head out Mari. I can finish up everything else by myself."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! You two go and do whatever cute things you do!"
Marinette finished fluffing the pillows. "Alright. Well, call me if you need anything."
"Will do! Now go have fun!"
Adrien extended a hand to Marinette and they laced their fingers together, leaving the apartment. "Why don't we get you home?" Adrien asked.
Marinette nodded, a little disappointed that the two of them weren't going to be hanging out, but decided she would offer him dinner and make him stay so they could be together longer. "Alright, sounds like a plan."
She was confused when they started walking away from her home. They walked down streets that she was more than familiar with, but weren't the ones she grew up on. "Where are we going?" She asked, noticing they were heading closer and closer to Adrien's house.
"You'll see."
She wasn't surprised at all when they stopped in front of his place, but she was confused. "I thought you said you were taking me home?"
She noticed a tint of red dusting his cheeks, and him raising his hand to the back of his neck, a telltale sign that he was nervous. The hand that was holding hers was slightly damp with sweat and warmer than usual. "Well," he said, letting out a nervous chuckle, "I was kinda hoping this could be your new home?"
She didn't answer with words. Instead she threw herself on top of him, throwing him down onto the ground and kissing him and laughing. Once Adrien realized this was Marinette saying yes he started laughing too, only calming down when she rolled off of him to the side. He got on top of her, placing his knees on either side of her and bent down to kiss her. They were happy. Perfection stretched out before them. Adrien knew that this was the future they both desperately needed.
This might have been my favorite chapter to write so far, but I also love anything where I get to be sappy and romantic and I love Nino and bromances so getting to include all three was fun. I hope everyone is having a good beginning of the school year! Other college students if you need to cry just do it. You'll make it through. Prayers for me by the way. I've got an algebra test tomorrow that I'm hoping to not fail! Plotting for my Halloween story is well underway. I'm thinking there will be two prologues, one released on the first and another released on the thirteenth (of October). How does that sound?
Well, let me know what y'all thought of the chapter. I'll see y'all soon! We're nearing the end folks!
