When Marinette woke up the next morning, she was unsurprised to learn that Adrien wasn't next to her anymore. He usually woke up earlier than her and there were a few times she had woken up cuddling with him, but more often than not, he would be in another room doing some work.
She was, however, surprised to find that Plagg was next to her. Plagg was curled up in a little circle next to her torso. She had learned that he wasn't interested in proper snuggles, so she gave him some small scratches instead. Apparently, the scratches were enough to wake him up and he stood up and moved closer to Marinette's head.
Now that she was awake, he was happy to do his favorite thing. He started to bite at her hair. She giggled at the action and continued to provide him with scratches and pets. He was purring and she could hear it very clearly from the few centimeters he'd been from her ear.
She looked past the cat at the nightstand and it was almost 08h30. She wanted to sleep more, but more than that, she wanted to keep hold of the sleep schedule that she had managed to hold onto for the last few months. Mostly, though, she really just wanted to drink some water.
She turned away from Plagg, planning to get up. She saw that Adrien had refilled her cup of water and noticed that her dress was now hanging up in his closet. She sat up enough to drink the water from the nightstand and took two of the painkillers before she left the bedroom to go further into the apartment.
Adrien was standing in the kitchen, listening to music through his headphones while he was brewing some fresh coffee for the two of them to drink with breakfast. He was doing some little dancing to his music, not noticing that Marinette was there yet. She smiled at his shirt and couldn't help but think about last night.
She sat down at one of the barstools on the other side of his countertop and it only took him another few moments to realize she was sitting there. He took out his earbuds. "Good morning, beautiful," he greeted, causing her to blush.
"Morning, hot stuff," she responded with a quick wink. He smiled and moved the box of pastries across the counter so that she could grab one. She took the pain aux amandes, which was not surprising to him at all. He knew that it was her favorite. That was why he got it in the first place.
He didn't have a negative reaction to the nickname, so she took it as an okay sign that they'd be able to get over the hurdle of the fact that she kissed him without warning the night before. She ate the pastry in her hand and Adrien finished making the coffee. He brought two mugs from his cabinet, then grabbed the sugar and creamer that he kept around.
He poured the coffee into the mugs and slid hers across the counter to where she was sitting. He also gave her a spoon, then moved around the counter to sit on the stool next to her. He gave her temple a light kiss and she smiled, but it made her feel guilty.
"I'm sorry for kissing you without permission last night," she whispered. Adrien heard her voice break and noticed she wasn't looking at him. He didn't expect her to have this reaction to their kiss. He placed a hand around hers, holding it protectively.
"There's nothing to apologize for, princess," he told her, "you're allowed to kiss me whenever you want to. You're also allowed to not kiss me if that's what you want. If there's ever a time when I don't want your affection, I will let you know."
"Promise," she asked, almost silently. It wasn't one of the sexualities that she'd ever heard of, 'playing for the other team' while still being interested in kissing the other gender. She wasn't going to question it, though, they were both consenting adults.
She figured whatever labels he used for himself didn't matter as long as they were both okay with anything that happened between the two of them. She wanted to kiss him again immediately, but she knew it would just make her fall further in love with him.
"I promise," he slid his hand across hers until their pinkies were linked together. Using the link of their pinky promise, he brought her hand up and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. "I love you, princess, and that's not going to change anytime soon."
She found herself pretending that he was meaning that he was in love with her, like he had said in her dream last night, but she tried to let go of that idea almost as soon as it occurred. "I love you too, my knight." She wanted to tell him she was in love with him, but she didn't want to ruin everything good between the two of them.
Marinette didn't kiss Adrien very often after that. Each time they kissed, it was a chaste peck on the lips. She was still practically smothering him in affection in other ways, though. She would kiss his cheek, or forehead if they were sitting or laying down.
She would snuggle into him almost every time they were in the same apartment and he found himself looking for more excuses to see her. He knew he didn't want to put any pressure on her regarding the collab until after the wedding, but he wished he'd had a valid reason to invite her back into the office.
The remainder of June was uneventful, all things considered. Marinette managed to just about finish Nino's tuxedo and came over to Adrien's apartment so she didn't have to deal with keeping Nino away from Alya's dress. Marinette ended up coming over early that day to clean as much Plagg hair out of Adrien's guest room as she could.
Adrien helped her clean and no matter how simple cleaning together was, he loved it because it was just more time he could be by her side. Marinette gave him a brief kiss as a thank you before Nino came over that evening. When Nino arrived, he immediately saw the lovestruck look on his best man's face in addition to the joy that seemed to be practically radiating off of Marinette.
Adrien was sitting on his couch doing some paperwork while Marinette was doing the fitting. As soon as the door was closed between the fitting and Adrien on the couch, Nino quietly asked Marinette, "when are you going to tell him that you're in love with him?"
"I'm not in love with him, Nino," she lied poorly. "Even if I was, there's no way that he's interested in me. I mean, you know him. I can't give him what he would want in a relationship. He would just be let down."
"Marinette," he began. She was momentarily struck by the fact that he had used her name instead of calling her 'Nettie,' but she continued to listen. "I don't know what's going on in your brain if you can't see how much that man cares about you. I've known him for years and I've never seen him look at anyone the same way he looks at you, not even his ex."
He could see the question in her eyes, wanting more information about this ex. "Adrien dated someone when he first graduated lycée," Nino clarified, "the relationship was mostly for convenience, but he did genuinely care about them." Nino was trying to respect Kagami's preferred pronouns by saying 'them,' but Marinette interpreted it as Nino trying to hide Adrien's ex's male pronouns.
"He never cared about them half as much as he cares about you, Nettie. We've been best friends for years and he's never even considered changing his schedule for me, but he was willing to rearrange a work meeting the day he met you if he had to."
Marinette let out a sigh, not wanting to mention what she had heard Adrien and Nino talking about months ago. At this point, she was now holding onto the secret of the fact that she was eavesdropping in addition to knowing Adrien's sexuality without him coming out to her.
Nino had heard from gossip that Adrien had said he was dating Marinette at the after-party for the soccer match, but he also knew that Lila was at the game. He wouldn't have put it past Marinette to pretend to date Adrien to get Lila to leave him alone.
Neither Adrien nor Marinette had told him that they were dating. He also hadn't heard anything official from Alya. Based on all of that and Marinette's denial, he was inclined to believe that the entire situation was to get rid of Lila and that was disappointing. He thought Marinette and Adrien would've made a nice couple if they tried dating.
Nino was wearing his full tuxedo and Marinette walked around him, examining the lines of the tuxedo, just like she had done the day at the bakery. Marinette left the room where she'd been working on the tuxedo to find Adrien. She had Adrien put on his suit so that she could see if the lines of both suits looked nice together.
A few minutes later, Adrien walked in wearing his full tuxedo. He was wearing the bowtie and cummerbund as well. He saw Nino and wolf-whistled at his best friend. "Looking good in your tux, mec," Adrien complimented with a wink that was meant to be jokingly flirty. It was true, Nino did look good in the tuxedo, but Marinette was caught up just looking at Adrien wearing his.
Marinette giggled slightly at the sound of Adrien's wolf-whistle, but ultimately decided to stay seemingly professional as best as she could. The lines of the tuxedos were similar enough to look cohesive together, but it was clear that there was meant to be attention focused on Nino's instead of Adrien's.
She took a photo of both men in their tuxedos and sent it to Alya, who responded with three heart-eyed emojis. Nino's bowtie was the same seafoam green as Adrien's, but there was ivory detailing in the cummerbund that was the same color as Alya's dress. "We officially have your fiancée's approval," Marinette informed Nino, holding out the phone so he could see the reply.
"Of course we do," Nino responded confidently, "Alya wouldn't have chosen a sub-par designer to make our wedding outfits. We only wanted the best for our wedding." Nino changed back into his normal clothing, then Marinette helped him properly hang the suit in a garment bag so that he could take it home until the wedding.
Adrien offered for Nino to stay for dinner that night, but Nino turned down the offer because he had to get to an event at the news station where Alya worked. One of Alya's coworkers was hosting a baby shower and all significant others were invited.
Marinette and Adrien spent the rest of the evening hanging out and talking. Marinette made dinner for them that day and after they finished eating, they sat on the couch together and Marinette curled into him for an evening of cuddling while they watched movies.
It was one of the first times in a while that Marinette hadn't been working on a project while they watched movies and Adrien made the most of it by holding her as close to him as he could. In the comfort of his arms, Marinette fell asleep halfway through Spiderman: Homecoming. He decided it would be best to let her sleep.
When he finished the movie, he carried Marinette into the bedroom so that she could sleep more comfortably in a bed instead of just on his couch. It wasn't the first time he had carried her to bed and he was certain it wouldn't be the last. He kissed her forehead before he laid down next to her to go to sleep.
Marinette had fittings with the rest of the wedding party and everyone except Alya had their outfits perfected and sent home with them by the end of September, which Marinette was thankful about. Alya's dress and jumpsuit were mostly done, but they both had details that needed to be added or fixed and Marinette was happy to have the rest of the time to do them.
She learned that Adrien's birthday was on 13 October, a Friday that year. He spent the night at her apartment the night leading into his birthday. He had one meeting that day and that was as free as he could get his schedule to be. It was frustrating, but he would rather only have one meeting than back-to-back meetings like he'd had on Marinette's birthday.
Speaking of Marinette's birthday, he walked into the kitchen and found two vases. One was filled with marigolds and had a card placed within the flowers. The other vase was stranger, Adrien was surprised to find that it was filled with mini-pastries, small versions of croissants, pains au chocolat, quiche, and choux pastries on skewers and arranged like a bouquet.
He picked up the card from the marigolds. 'Let me know what your schedule looks like today, I think I still owe you dinner. I found out marigolds mean good luck and between Plagg being a black cat and your birthday being Friday the 13, seems like you could use some luck. Have a great day. I love you, - M '
He chuckled and checked the time. He was lucky his meeting was a 9h00 meeting instead of 8h30 so he had time to leave a note for Marinette in response before he left. 'Thank you, princess. I love both bouquets. I only have one meeting this morning, so I'll be done by 11h30 if you want to spend time together after that. Love you, -A' He took a few of the small pastries from that bouquet for breakfast but left most of them where they were.
He got a response text from Marinette at 10h45. 'I somehow missed your note earlier.'
'Anytime today works for me, I don't have anything I need to get done immediately.'
'Just, text me when you're free. '
He smiled at the rapid string of texts from his girlfriend, but he couldn't focus on them as he discussed his first year as the CEO of Agreste with the stockholders. It wasn't how he wanted to spend his birthday, but he knew that he had only been CEO for a year and a few weeks, so they needed to make sure he was doing all the work he was supposed to do.
He left the office that morning at 11h00 and immediately went home to change. He decided he should see if Marinette had any specific plans before he decided what to wear for the rest of the day. 'Anything specific on the agenda today?'
'Not really. Whatever you want, my knight. I have a gift for you, but I can take it to lunch or dinner or your place. Whatever you want to do, it's your birthday.'
'So, if I say I've been stressed lately and just want to go back to bed and cuddle for a while then maybe have pizza delivered later or something.'
'I'd ask if you want to cuddle at my place or yours… ?'
'Mine, unless you have stuff to do at yours, I just want to hang out with Plagg, too.'
'I'll be there in 10, go put on some comfy pjs.'
About 9 minutes after he got the text, he was wearing green joggers and a black t-shirt that had a cat face on it. The word 'PAW-SOME' was spelled out around the cat's face. He heard something gently kicking against the door and opened the door to his girlfriend and both vases he'd left at her house that morning.
He took one from her and placed the flowers into his guest room/office area, the only place he knew they'd be safe from Plagg as long as he closed the door behind himself. Marinette didn't look ready to spend hours cuddling. She looked nice in her jeans and blouse, but he didn't think she would be comfortable in her outfit for very long.
"Do you want to borrow some pajamas, princess?" She looked at her own outfit and didn't even notice the blush that reached every visible inch of her face and neck. She nodded, thankfully, and he led her into the bedroom. "Would you prefer pants or shorts?"
"Shorts," she responded. He grabbed a pair of light blue basketball shorts from the drawer, then went over to his closet to get her a t-shirt. He grabbed her a t-shirt that had the Tom Holland Spiderman symbol on it because he knew that was her favorite Spiderman iteration. He also grabbed the only hoodie he had, in case she got cold. She accepted the pajamas and he left her in his room so she could change.
She came back into the living room a few minutes later and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Happy birthday, my knight," she mumbled against his t-shirt. He put his arms around her too, then he twisted his face so that he could place a gentle kiss on her head.
She brought the gift she'd gotten for him with her to his apartment and she was excited to give it to him. She put the bag in front of his eyes, silently taunting him to open it. He took the gift and opened it. Along with all the tissue paper, there was also a smaller velvet bag.
He poured the contents of the velvet bag into his hand and two sets of cufflinks tumbled into his palm. The first set he noticed was a set of triforce symbols from The Legend of Zelda. The second set was black cat heads and he really liked both sets.
"Nino said you can wear the cat heads for the wedding," she told him after he'd had long enough to identify the shapes, "especially since they can't have the real panther there. Cat cufflinks are probably the closest we can get."
"I love them, Princess," he said quietly, "thank you. They're purrfect." He wrapped his arms around her, wishing that he had more reasons to wear fun cufflinks. He couldn't help himself when he kissed her in thanks. She kissed him back and neither of them had expected it. After their kiss, the two of them went into the bedroom to spend as much of Adrien's birthday cuddling as they could.
