They spent almost every night together after that, unless Adrien had a big meeting late into the evening or early in the morning. He would usually spend the night at her apartment, but sometimes they would sleep at Adrien's place. Adrien loved waking up with Marinette in his arms and Marinette loved falling asleep in his.

On April 6, Marinette woke up at 08h00 and went out into the kitchen to start her morning brew of coffee. She saw on her counter that Adrien had taken out her vase and she was shocked that there were 24 gorgeous lilac roses on her counter and she felt her heart pound in her chest. There was a post-it on the vase and she picked it up to read it.

'Happy Birthday, Princess! I have a plan for dinner tonight. Wear something nice and I'll meet you downstairs at 18h15. Text me if that plan doesn't work for you, though. Love you! -Adrien '

Marinette sent him a text as soon as she had some coffee in her system. 'Thank you for the flowers, my knight. They're gorgeous! 18h15 sounds great to me. Love you, too! '

He was stepping into a meeting when he got the text, so he couldn't immediately reply, but he also couldn't help the huge smile on his face in reaction to the text. He walked into the meeting with the shareholders and had to force the smile off of his face. He needed to maintain a professional look while he was at work.

Adrien was stuck in meetings far longer than he expected to be. Nathalie told him his meetings would be done by 16h00, but everyone was running late or talking longer than they were allowed to. At one point, the meeting got pushed back because someone had spilled coffee onto Adrien and he needed to postpone until he could get to the warehouse downstairs to get changed.

With all of the delays, Adrien didn't get many chances to check the time so he didn't even register the fact that it was already 18h10 when he was wrapping up his last meeting. 'I haven't looked at the time all day. I'm not going to be ready by 18h15.' The text from Marinette came through just after his final meeting was done.

'That's fine, princess. I just got out of my last meeting, so I probably need some more time to get ready before we can go to dinner.'

'Do you want to just order something instead of going out? I don't need anything fancy for my birthday. I think I just need some time where I'm not working on my designs if you just want to watch something and relax.'

She immediately followed up with another text. 'You know what's relaxing? Plagg's purring. That's what I want for my birthday!'

'Sounds good to me. Choose what you want, and I'll pick it up on my way home.' Marinette had chosen a Thai restaurant that was between the Agreste office and their apartments, so Adrien stopped there on his way home. He also stopped by a store to grab a sweet dessert wine for later. With the stops, he arrived home at 18h45 and sent Marinette a text when he had gotten there.

'I'm going to get changed. Door is unlocked, feel free to come inside when you get here. Love you.' She smiled at the text and put on a comfortable t-shirt with leggings before putting on a jacket and heading over to his building. Marinette opened the door slowly when she arrived, being careful not to accidentally let Plagg out.

She saw the bag of takeout on the counter and immediately started taking the plastic containers out. She identified her food and wanted to start eating, but figured it would be polite to wait for him to come back into the kitchen. On the other hand, though, it was her birthday.

She didn't have much time to consider her options because next thing she knew, she was warmly enveloped in Adrien's arms. "Happy birthday, princess," he said. He squeezed her so tightly she half expected to be given the heimlich maneuver. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and she smiled, blushing brightly under his attention.

"Thank you," she responded, "and thank you for the flowers, and for picking up dinner. You're seriously the best, Adrien." She learned that his birthday was in October and she was already filling a small section of the notes app in her phone with ideas of how to make his birthday as special as he managed to make hers.

Adrien picked up his container from next to her and she grabbed hers. They both sat at his dining table and Marinette was surprised that there was a little bag at the seat she would normally take. It was a soft pink color and had a lilac rose on the front.

"You didn't have to get me a gift," she told him. "You've done enough already."

"I really wanted to, though," he chuckled. "I think you'll like it if you just open it." He winked at her and she felt her heart stop momentarily. She found herself falling further for him, but she was forcing herself to remember that he wasn't interested in women and there was no way for her to change that.

She smiled shyly and opened the little bag before she started her dinner. There was a little box within the bag that she also opened. Inside of the box was a pair of small red earrings with black spots. "I don't know if you remember, but when you put your number in my phone, you included a little ladybug emoji, so I thought of you when I saw these earrings. They're cute, just like you. Plus, ladybugs are supposed to be lucky and you've made me feel lucky that I even know you."

Marinette's heart soared in her chest and she leaned up to give him a small kiss on his cheek. She quickly put in the new earrings, glad that she had taken off the pair she usually wore earlier that week. "They're adorable, Adrien. I love them. Thank you." She gave him a lingering hug and felt his arms wrap back around her. She sat back into her seat and Adrien reached out his hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear so that he could see the earring.

"I love them, too," he agreed. The two of them sat, eating their dinner, only occasionally being interrupted by Plagg jumping onto the table or jumping onto one of their laps. On a memorable occasion, Plagg even walked across Marinette's shoulders and Adrien couldn't help but chuckle.

The two watched 27 Dresses that night, after Marinette specifically requested it. Adrien had never seen it before, but he seemed interested in the movie the entire time. At some point, they had positioned themselves so Adrien's head was in Marinette's lap so she could play with his hair while they watched.

Plagg had been sitting next to him on the couch and Adrien was petting Plagg throughout the movie. Marinette could feel Plagg's purring from next to her and felt like they were a picture of domestic bliss, despite the fact that she was certain he didn't have feelings for her. After the movie ended, Adrien told Marinette to close her eyes and she complied.

She heard the fridge door open and a few glasses tapping together with the motion. She heard a plasticy sound, followed by a slight tear of paper, then a few pieces of glass placed onto the countertop. She heard a lighter flicker on and was almost certain that Adrien was lighting candles on a birthday cake.

"Can I have your hand," he asked when he came back closer to her. She extended a hand out to him and he took it, giving it a soft kiss before using it to lead her over to the kitchen. He brushed her hair behind her shoulders and whispered that she could open her eyes. When she did, she saw that it was a cake from her parents' bakery.

It was covered with strawberries and raspberries which were her favorites. Frosted across the top of the cake were the words 'Happy Birthday, Marinette.' There was also a smaller section of frosting that had the words 'We love you!' which was clearly not part of the design, but added by her parents after the fact.

Marinette blew out her candles, wishing for some Ladybug luck. As soon as the candles were out, there was a swift knock on the front door. Marinette was surprised, but saw that there were four plates and four wine glasses on the countertop. Adrien went to answer the door while Marinette played keep-away between Plagg and the cake. He answered the door to Nino and Alya.

They both greeted her with les bisous before she started slicing up the cake. She kept the slice that said 'we love you' for herself, then gave a slice to the other three. Adrien pulled out a sweet moscato and gave everyone a glass before toasting Marinette and her birthday.

The four of them talked for the rest of the day, but Alya and Nino left close to 23h00. Marinette considered going home after that, but ended up joining Adrien when he went to bed that night. She was being held in his arms while they talked. She was drowsy while they talked, but she could make out that he was inviting her to [something] on April 15 and she wanted to go, but Jagged and Penny had invited her to a charity football match that they were participating in and she had already told them she would go, so she had to politely deny Adrien's invitation.

They kept spending all of their free time together, which really ended up just being while they slept in the remaining week before the charity soccer match. On the morning of the 15, Adrien had to get up at 05h00 to make sure everything was ready for the match for his team. One of his teammates had someone design the jerseys and Adrien with his co-captain distributed them.

They were purple and covered in butterflies. Adrien walked around to meet everyone on the akuma team. For most of the celebrities, he had met them before, but most of them hadn't seen him since he was still a model for Gabriel. He did end up being a captain, and introduced himself to his co-captain, Lila Rossi.

He was also shocked that Jagged Stone was on his team. He was excited to meet the man who had been his musical idol for years and couldn't believe that he would be the captain in charge of a soccer team with Jagged Stone. While he was meeting people, Lila was following him around and at first he thought it was nice, she seemed like she had been shy and wasn't good at introducing herself to others.

After a few minutes, though, it became clear that she was just trying to get close to him and that she was just following him around. She grabbed onto his arm and he gently pushed her off of him. This happened a few times and each time made him more and more uncomfortable. While he was meeting one of the team members, he mentioned his girlfriend, but that didn't dissuade Lila's incessant clinging.

The team watched on the tv as the crowd filled in with people and Jagged pointed excitedly to the screen when a certain seat had been filled. "Penny, looky. She actually showed up, my rockin' niece who designed our uniforms. I want to go say hi." Penny placed a hand on his arm.

"You can see her after the game, Jagged," Penny told him, "she'll enjoy it much more if she's surprised by the whole team wearing her designs."

Jagged pouted, but knew that Penny was right. Adrien checked his watch and saw that it was 10h30. They were going to start getting announced at 10h45 and their team had to start getting lined up for the announcements. Lila and Adrien, as captains, were getting announced first, then the rest of the team.

Lila forced herself into being in the line-up in front of Adrien and he tried not to care. When the announcements came, Marinette heard the name Lila Rossi and stopped focusing on the team in front of her for a second. She got frustrated by the girl who spent their entire collège experience lying about celebrities. She was able to calm down and focused back on the game just in time to hear the name Agreste.

She identified him as the new CEO, but she was too far away from the field to make out any distinct features. She didn't even know his first name and the back of his jersey just said the name 'AGRESTE'. The co-captain kept attaching herself to his arm and she could see from her spot that Lila was making him uncomfortable.

She looked a little closer at the shirts and was able to make out her own design that she had submitted to Jagged a few months ago. He hadn't told her what they were for, but she loved the way that the shirts ended up. She had been invited to the akuma team's celebration after the game was over and she couldn't wait to go and get some pictures with the team in her designs.

The Akumas won the soccer match and Marinette was happy to ignore Lila being part of the team because it meant that the money was going to a good cause. After the match, she texted Penny to get details about the after event and Penny let her know that it was going to be hosted at The Grand Palais. Marinette showed up and was immediately waved through by the guard.

"Marinette, my favorite little lady," Jagged exclaimed excitedly when she came in, "how has my favorite niece been? Did you have fun at the match, love?" Adrien immediately looked in the direction Jagged had yelled and saw his girlfriend walking in wearing a beautiful purple casual spring dress. She walked up to Jagged and gave him a hug before Penny gave her one, too.

Adrien was still trying to push off Lila at every chance he had and Marinette felt something twist in her chest as she watched this man who was nothing more than a stranger to her try to fend Lila off. "Lila, I told you, I have a girlfriend," he announced again and Marinette knew it was time to take action. She knew Lila was manipulative and would do everything in her power to drive Agreste into the ground if the CEO did so much as look at her wrong. M. Agreste deserved better than whatever nonsense Lila was going to try to push upon him.

Marinette went over to where he was trying to get away from Lila. "Is everything okay over here, my prince?" She desperately hoped that M. Agreste would play along, but she was also uncomfortable about the fact that she was really no better than Lila, trying to attach herself onto his arm, despite how noble her intentions were.

"Everything is wonderful, princess, now that I have you by my side. You said you wouldn't be able to come, though." He wrapped an arm lovingly around Marinette's waist and didn't hear her breath catch at how much he sounded like Adrien. How much he sounded like her very good friend Adrien. He even almost kind of looked like Adrien, if it weren't for the lack of glasses. She bit her lip and placed her arm around his waist in response.

"I didn't realize you were talking about this," she told him, "Jagged invited me and when you said April 15, I knew I was busy with him and I didn't even think that you two would be inviting me to the same event. I'm sorry you didn't know I was in the crowd earlier, but I was cheering for you the entire time. Now, come on, I want to introduce you to Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny."

He let out a sigh of relief at the fact that Lila moved on to a different target. He felt a little bit bad for whoever ended up on the receiving end of Lila's attention, but him feeling bad for someone wasn't going to help anyone, so he tried not to focus on it. Instead, he was focused on the fact that now, it was just him and his girlfriend and he couldn't be happier.

Marinette started to walk the two of them over to Penny and Jagged, but she felt weird trying to strike up a conversation with them on the arm of this guy she didn't know beyond his profession. Thankfully, she knew his last name, but that really wasn't much, especially since they were just trying to convince Lila a minute ago that they were dating.

"Did you make your dress," M. Agreste asked her when they stopped walking momentarily. She smiled brightly, proud of her creation and knowing that fashion would be something totally reasonable that she and her fake boyfriend would be able to talk about easily since they were both familiar with the industry.

"I did," she informed him. He briefly let go of her so that he could take a glance at it. "I saw the fabric back in February and I was immediately inspired to create something bright and colorful and happy. It gave me a nice break from working on more serious projects."

Adrien found himself wondering when Marinette could have possibly created this dress without him noticing it at all, but he figured that wasn't really any of his business so he let it go as soon as he had started questioning it.

"It's lovely," he told her, sincerely, "I think that you definitely succeeded in creating something bright, colorful, and happy. Cool colors like purple can easily look melancholy, but you did really well with making the overall shape convey the happiness that could have been taken away by the color."

"Yeah," she said, "I think that's honestly something your company could work on. The Agreste clothing lines are pretty, but the clothing is always so one-dimensional. I mean, I used to look up to Gabriel when I designed when I was younger because the shapes were pretty. He never played with the colors or really any fun or interesting elements and I just stopped liking the designs as much after I started adding more fun to my designs."

This was the most that Marinette had ever told him about her opinions on fashion, especially Agreste fashion. He didn't know why she was so much more passionate about it right now than she usually was, but he was awestruck by her. He knew the brand that he now owned was getting ripped apart by her, but she had never looked more beautiful to him.

"If that's the case, you're welcome to bring your designs to Agreste and I'd be happy to add you to our team on the spot, Mlle. MDC," he told her confidently. He winked at her with a smile on his face and he saw as a blush came over her cheeks. DId he overstep? Was it weird for him to have been offering to hire his girlfriend? Did that make it seem like he had been trying to have control over her by making her financially dependent on him?

Marinette pulled a business card out of the bag she had carried into the event and handed it to him. "Give me a call," she said, "I'd love to set something up." She winked at him and he felt like he had been struck through his heart. He knew Marinette was already extremely busy with the wedding outfits and the fact that she was trying to create her own fashion house, but Marinette was willing to work with him. Work with his company. He was so in love with her and that wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

He looked at her card, despite the fact that he already had her phone number. He glanced at it and was surprised that the phone number wasn't the one he'd been texting, but it made sense that she would have a different number for herself personally versus her professional MDC phone line. He smiled at the card and put it into his wallet, wanting to hold onto it as long as possible. He would have Nathalie reach out to her on Monday to set up a meeting.

They made small talk for the remainder of the event, and Marinette was pleasantly surprised when M. Agreste continued to tell people that the two of them were dating. Apparently, they had been dating for just over two months after he asked her to dinner on Valentine's Day. He brought her roses for their first date.

She thought it sounded similar to when she went out to dinner with Adrien, but it was a pretty basic story, so it isn't surprising that a basic story would sound like something that really happened. After all, that's kind of the point. They wanted their fake relationship to be believable.

They spent the rest of the event together then Marinette eventually excused herself. She exchanged les bisous with him and reminded him to give her a call so that they could set up a meeting, then she left.