The day was passing by quickly, and Adrien had no idea how to slow its momentum. The work was unending, his conversations with Marinette were pleasant but fleeting, and closing time was approaching.

He'd stay in this kitchen forever if he could, just because he was too much of a scaredy-cat to figure out what to do next.

How does a friend ask his current friend that he wants to continue hanging out with her on Valentine's Day because he would very much like to turn whatever this is into a date?

He didn't want to scare her by rushing into things, but really, was this rushing into things? This was ten years in the making—for him, at least.

But with this sort of buildup, he wanted it to be perfect. The opportunity of asking her out on Valentine's Day was too good to pass up, but where was the planning? The grand romantic gesture? Marinette deserved a whole orchestra, fireworks above the Seine, maybe a bouquet of roses? Or fifty. Fifty sounded about right.

And yet he was low on supplies and empty of ideas. All he knew was that if he left this kitchen without properly asking her out, he'd never forgive himself.

About an hour ago, he'd finished his last batch of cookies. Marinette had him doing the base of icing for her final batch of cupcakes, then passing the sweets to her so she could add special embellishments. That meant they were sharing a bench, which meant that every time she took a trek to the front of the bakery with another tray of pastries, she'd touch his shoulder on her way past him.

It was simple and sweet and so Marinette that he wanted to scream about just how unprepared he was. About how it was a kick in the stomach just how much he wanted this, wanted her.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. Her tongue was sticking out as she concentrated, turning his messy base icing into a shimmering red rose. "That looks really good."

Her tongue disappeared as a shy smile overtook her lips, eyes darting towards him and then back to her current design. "I think that's the twentieth time you said that."

"And I was right every time," Adrien sighed as he examined his own shoddy icing job. Only half of one of his lessons had been dedicated to decorations and presentation, so he had a good head for putting these sweets together, but no idea how to actually make them look nice. Mari, despite her adorable concentration face, made it look so easy. "How many more of those should you be making? At this point we'll barely get any more customers, it's almost closing."

"Not exactly, Agreste. There's always a rush right before closing for all the Parisians who forgot something special for their significant other and hope a pretty pastry will get them in their partner's good graces. The prettier I make their sweet, the more likely they are to succeed," Marinette laughed to herself.

"A regular superhero," Adrien said, making Mari laugh again softly.

"Yeah right," she finished off another cupcake before yawning. She'd been doing that more often the past hour. Her coffee this morning had four shots of espresso, and while it had left her wired and ready for the stressful morning, it seemed to be leading to a crash from the combined lack of sugar and caffeine.

Bringing her coffee this morning had certainly made her happy. Inviting her to a coffee shop after they cleaned up the kitchen could be a nice opening for his something more conversation. Would those kinds of places be busy and filled up on Valentine's Day? Adrien had no idea—he hadn't taken a girl out on this certain day in years.

He could mention how she seemed sleepy, and they could get coffee together as a pick-me-up—but then would she be offended? He'd accused Alya of not getting enough rest one day and she yelled at him so that the whole of Paris could hear her chew him out. Mari wouldn't jump on him like that but having her be offended and not knowing that she was offended was kind of scary.

He wanted to be subtle. He wanted to be cool. Models (or in his case, former models) were supposed to be naturally cool, right?

"You look tired."

Not subtle and a definite possibility of offending her. A+ job Agreste.

Mari, however, didn't flinch at his statement. She nodded sleepily, another yawn sneaking out as if she couldn't help it. "I forgot what working bakery hours was like. I feel like I'm back at university, sitting through classes after cramming the night before, but with sore wrists and my back all bent out of shape from leaning over." She bit her lip in thought, abandoning the confectionary in front of her. "Actually, I guess that part is the same."

This was it. He could practically hear Alya and Nino whispering in his ear, pushing him to take the leap that he'd always been too scared to attempt.

It was now or never.

"I was just thinking… the thing is, I've got nothing else going on tonight, and as far as I know you don't either… but it would totally be fine if you do! Have plans, already, I mean, but I'm pretty sure you don't… not that you're not totally capable of scoring a Valentine's date, which is the whole point of what I'm going for…" Adrien trailed off as Marinette's eyes widened. "Would you want to get coffee with me? Tonight?"

She didn't look tired anymore. Not even a little bit.

"Adrien?"

He gulped. "Yeah, Mari?"

"By getting coffee with you, you mean a date, right?"

His ramblings had confused him, so surely, they'd confused her too. He fought the urge to slam his head against the wall in frustration with his own scattered speech as he responded. "Yes. A date, with me. That is, if you want to—"

"OF COURSE I WANT TO!" Mari practically screamed. Adrien jumped in surprise as she stood from her chair, eyes blazing. She grinned at him, and the full force of a happy-Marinette practically knocked him off his feet it was so overwhelmingly beautiful.

Adrien smiled, knowing he looked goofy and excited but unable to help himself, and rubbed the back of his neck. He'd been hopeful, sure, but he hadn't known just how excited she would be about the prospect of a date with him. "That's great! I wanted to do this for a while, but I never actually—"

"What?" Marinette's grin faltered as she interrupted him again, brow furrowing. "What do you mean you've wanted to do this for a while?"

Adrien blinked in surprise. "Uh, since college, I guess? You could never speak to me back then and it took so long just to get you comfortable around me, and by the time we were friends, I was too scared to ruin what we had. Or to intimidate you like I used to."

"Intimidate me?"

"Yeah? You could never speak to me because I was a model and Gabriel's son and you wanted to be a fashion designer?"

Marinette blinked her beautiful blue eyes once. Twice.

She gave Adrien no warning before throwing the nearest cupcake into his face. "I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU IDIOT!" She yelled at him, face turning red at the admission, but she was unperturbed as she threw another cupcake his way. This time he was prepared so he dodged it, but her words kept coming. "I could barely get a word out to you because I had a crush on you the size of Europe! And I only managed full sentences because I realized if you'd never like me, BECAUSE I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION YOU CONSIDERED ME JUST A FRIEND, I at least wanted friendship if I couldn't have something more." She threw the nearest bag at icing at him for emphasis. "You. Are. An. Idiot."

Adrien caught the icing bag, squeezing tight so it still sprayed out on his shoes.

But the icing on his nice sneakers, smeared on his button up from her first cupcake toss, none of that mattered.

Not when Marinette Dupain-Cheng admitted to being in love with him.

"You love me?"

Marinette's face flamed red, but whether it was embarrassment or fury, he couldn't tell. She pointed an accusing finger at him as he took a step closer. "You were so nice with that stupid umbrella and you were honest and I hated liars and you laughed and—can you blame a girl? And I said loved, I loved you."

Adrien took another step forward. He'd been aware of how close their seats were before, but now that he towered over her, her back resting against the counter, it was all he had to do to lean over… "What about now?"

Marinette's gaze softened only slightly as she stared up at him.

"Now, I'm wondering how I can possibly be in love with the stupidest man in Paris. Thinking I was intimidated by you, I mean come on—"

Adrien captured her lips before she could say another word. He muffled her squeak of surprise as he rested his hands on her hips. She relaxed into him, returning the simple kiss as her hands rose to rest on his chest.

It was slow and sweet and over before it had even begun, but for now, after all their years of waiting, pining, of crossed signals and miscommunication, it was perfect.

Adrien rested his forehead against Mari's, smiling softly at how lucky he was. "I love you too, Marinette."

The next kiss was not nearly as slow or sweet.

Author's Note –

And the end is upon us! I had so much fun writing this that I didn't want to wrap it up, but this conclusion felt so nice and natural I just knew I had to follow my gut and go for it. I guess inspiration did end up striking and I finished this faster than intended, but I hope all my lovely readers enjoyed this story. Your support honestly makes my day, so thank you all for sticking with me to the end!