A/N: I'm very sorry this is a week late. The past two weeks have been unnaturally hectic and booster jab side effects did not help. But here is the epilogue. This is only with Unintended Consequences, not Best Friends (the original). I really hope this fits with the story, but I definitely leant into the fact that I was writing for Marinette and Adrien in a relationship so I'm fully aware that this could work as a one shot rather than an epilogue, but I personally love getting even a tiny glimpse at what life is like for the characters (or iterations of characters in this case) lives after the roller coaster of the main story line!

I hope you enjoy and please keep leaving comments! I love them!

Hopefully, I'll be back soon with another story!

Epilogue

5 Years Later

"Hey babe," Adrien called into the apartment, wondering where the love of his life was. He placed his overnight bag down on the hallway floor and slipped his shoes off, still slightly worried by the lack of response. "Marinette?"

He walked through to the living room, finding it empty, but with obvious signs of it being recently vacated; a book lying face down on the table and a half empty glass of wine next to it. He seemed to have caught her on one of her relax nights rather than a stressed work night. He chuckled to himself, thinking she must have just gotten up, pulling herself out of her book binge mode to go get something. He then made his way to the kitchen, going after a glass of that wine Mari was drinking, hoping that she hadn't made her way through the bottle. But he was stopped in his tracks at the sight in front of him, quickly clamping his hand over his mouth to stop bursting out in laughter.

Marinette had her back to the kitchen door, headphones plugged into her ears as she danced around the kitchen, fixing herself a very delicious looking plate of cookies from a Dupain Cheng Bakery box. She was mouthing along to the music and swaying her hips in a delightful adorable yet hilarious fashion. Adrien felt his heart glow with love for her, but the side of his brain dedicated to their incredible friendship won as he bit his hand in a lame attempt to hide the laughter currently shaking his shoulders. He just leant against the doorframe, watching the pyjama and dressing gown clad girl spring around and put the box away, turning around to pick up the plate when her eyes finally landed on him, his face barely able to contain the grin gracing his face. She jumped, then grabbed onto the counter to brace herself, pulling the headphones out of her ears before fixing him with a glare that finally set off the laughter that Adrien had tried so hard to contain.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, her hand now clutching her heart as she took a few deep breaths.

"I thought I'd come and surprise you. I know I wasn't supposed to be here until Saturday, but I didn't need to be at school now, so I came back to the city early. There's only so much Marinette-less time I can take. Plus it was well worth the busy train, I would have hated to miss that show!" Adrien replied through bouts of laughter, walking round the counter to be closer to a very put out Marinette.

"Don't try to sweet talk me Agreste. You gave me terrible fright and I'm not going to forgive you that easily for laughing at me," she said indignantly, spinning round to face away from him.

"Oh come on Marinette," Adrien pouted. "You're the cutest dancer and I only wish I could have heard you properly singing rather than just mouthing." He placed a light hand to her waist, gently twisting her back to him, his face breaking out into a smile when he saw her biting her lip to suppress her own smile. They were in the middle of a teasing war, something only the two of them could find endearing about their relationship. And they were both determined to win.

Adrien met his eyes with Marinette's, spotting the determined glow as she tilted her chin away from him.

"Well then I guess I'm going to have to do everything I can to convince you to forgive me," Adrien shrugged. One of his hands snaked round her waist to land on the hip farthest from him, inadvertently bringing them closer together. His other hand slowly traced her arm, sending shivers down it as his lips went to find where her neck met her shoulders. He placed soft kisses up her neck, stopping at the end of her jaw. His hand came up to her chin, moving her head closer to him so he could kiss up to her ear, gently sucking at her earlobe.

"How's this?" he whispered, sending more shivers down Marinette's spine. She hummed in response, her hand landing on top of the one resting on her hips. She gave it a squeeze as she suppressed the moan. She had missed this while Adrien was away. Not that she'd let him know that just yet.

"Not quite forgiveness worthy yet," she added, a little breathlessly as she tried to hide just how much she was enjoying this.

Adrien just laughed, his warm breath tickling Marinette's neck in the best way.

"Well I guess I'll just have to do better then," he murmured into her neck before taking a hold of her waist, spinning her around and lifting her up onto the counter, coming to stand in between her legs. His hands found the tie of her dressing gown, pulling it open and pushing it off her shoulders, leaving her in her soft cotton bottoms and silk cami top. His lips went back to her neck, kissing and sucking his way along her shoulder and back up to her jaw, going further to the corner of her mouth.

"How about this?" he asked again, placing more kisses on either side of her mouth, not quite kissing her fully just yet.

"Hmmm, not yet, you're nearly there though," she whispered back, her arms resting on his shoulders, hands interlinking behind his head.

"Well, I have one last idea." And he finally kissed her, capturing her lips as he erased the space between them, his heart exploding at finally being able to hold her and kiss her like he'd wanted to for weeks since the last time they saw each other.

"Mmmm, you're so forgiven," Marinette hummed through the kiss, her hand tangling in Adrien's hair before swiftly creeping to the top button of his button down, carefully undoing it and making her way to the next before she lost patience and reached to the hem, ready to tug it of his head, desperately wanting more. But his hands stopped her, his fingers wrapping around hers as he broke away, a dazed yet steady look in his eyes.

"Nu uh, not yet. I haven't seen you in person for 4 weeks and we are not about to rush this. Plus I have news and then I want to savour every. Single. Minute." He punctuated his last words with a kiss to Marinette's pout, making it very hard for her to be mad at him for stopping her acting on the raging fire running throughout her body.

"If you insist," she resigned, holding onto Adrien's hands as she jumped down off the counter. "But you're right. I've also nearly finished the book I'm reading, so you're going to have to wait even longer."

"You really know how to make me regret my decisions don't you?"

"Indeed I do." Marinette bopped him on the nose, making him laugh before trapping her between himself and the counter. Her breath caught in her throat as his lips edges closer to hers, his nose gently bumping against hers as he moved closer. But then he was gone, quickly running to the living room with a cookie in his mouth, having reached round her as he built up the tension between them.

"You jerk!" Marinette called after him, shaking her head as she listened to him cackling with laughter, following him into the living room with the plate of cookies, the bottle of wine and an extra glass.

"I might be," he said as Marinette flopped onto the sofa opposite him, lifting her legs so her back was on the arm rest and her feet were laying next to Adrien. He copied her move, entwining their legs. "But you love me."

"I do rather unfortunately." Marinette playfully rolled her eyes, picking up her book and getting sucked back into the world of the characters.

They sat like that for a while, sipping on wine, snacking on cookies and reading their books, just enjoying each other's company in person, something they hadn't done for a while, when Marinette's head shot up from her page, suddenly remembering something.

"You said you had news," she said, watching as Adrien lifted his own head with a confused expression.

"Huh, what news?"

"I don't know what news! You said you had some though. Earlier on. In the kitchen."

A look of understanding broke on Adrien's face. "Ohhhhh, that news. How many pages do you have left of that book?"

"Two. Why?"

"Finish it first then I'll tell you."

"Adrien! If I do that I won't be able to concentrate on them!"

"Yes you will. If I tell you now, your attention will be on the book and I want your full and genuine reaction."

"Ugh fine. You're annoying, you know."

"You've mentioned that before. But I think I'm an angel!"

Marinette just shot him a look before turning back to her book, finishing the last few pages before slamming it shut and placing it on her lap. "Ok, I've finished. Now tell me."

Adrien reached over and took the book from her lap, placing it on the coffee table, then pulled her closer to him by her legs, taking her hands in his.

"Well, I had a meeting earlier today with my advisor, and she said that my dissertation has been approved. I'm graduating!"

Marinette's jaw dropped, a smile so wide gracing her face.

"What! Congratulations!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Adrien's neck.

"Thank you! It was a relief. I thought I still had so much more work to do on it. But she said that it was pretty much flawless and there was no need for me to work on it for the next year. So I'm graduating early!"

"That's amazing. I'm so happy for you. But I can't lie and say that I'm not happier for myself!" Marinette pulled herself away so she could look into Adrien's sparkling eyes.

"And why's that?"

"Because it means that after four long years of living apart, I can finally live with my husband."

Adrien just laughed, pulling her towards him once again, but kissing her this time.

"That brings me onto the next thing," he said when they had reluctantly separated. He then dropped off the sofa, his hand reaching onto the bag he'd moved into here earlier, lifting out a small object. He then spun on his knee to face Marinette, raising up so he was on one knee in front of her. She had her eyebrows raised at him, wondering what on earth he was doing.

"When we eloped nearly five years ago, on a whim at Gretna Green when we were on a trip in Scotland, we were on our own and I never got to propose to you like I wanted to, just quickly with a cheap plastic ring from the gift shop. And then afterwards, when we came back home, our plans to live together near my school in London while I studied for my PhD and you started to build your portfolio and gain experience in a different city for a few years, backfired when you immediately got offered your dream job here in Paris and could not pass it up. So it hasn't exactly felt that we've been married, even though I've loved every last minute of being able to call you my wife.

"I love you so much Marinette and I'm so glad we did get married then, despite only being romantically together for three months. But I knew then that you were the one for me, and I know that even more now. So, Marinette Dupain Cheng Agreste, will you please marry me again, this time in front of our family and friends, on the day of our fifth anninverary?" He popped open the box after he spoke, causing Marinette to gasp at the beautiful yet simple diamond set on a thin gold band that matched the simple gold wedding ring that had been residing on her finger for years.

"Oh you stupid beautiful man," she gasped. "Of course I will!" she leant down a little, taking his face in her hands as she kissed him passionately, unable to hide the smile on her face. "But you should know that you absolutely did not have to do this. As far as I'm concerned, we got married in June nearly five years ago. And I will always treasure the plastic ring that is lying broken in my jewellery box because I refused to take it off from underneath my wedding ring until it did."

Adrien laughed and slid the new ring on top of her current wedding band. "I'm glad. And that day will always be our day, which is why I thought we'd use the same date. I may have already reserved about four venues on the way back from London because I've had the ring for months now and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to ask you. And I was pretty sure you'd say yes. You wouldn't exactly throw the ring in my face and ask for a divorce. If you had said no to another ceremony, we could have just used one of the venues to host an anniversary party."

"Wow, you really thought about this."

"Of course I did. You are the love of my life and I can't wait to actually live our lives as husband and wife after graduation."

"Me neither." Marinette leant down and kissed him again, feeling Adrien's arms wrap around her, his hands reaching behind her thighs as he lifted her up, finally carrying her towards her bedroom. Their bedroom.

"Dr and Mrs Agreste. I like the sound of that," she whispered to him, making him laugh and kiss her even harder as he rested her on her back.

"I love you. So much."