Marlena Césaire had taken Alya's reception outfit to the Honeymoon Suite of Le Grand Palais that morning so that Marinette didn't have to rush to get that to the reception as soon as possible. Marinette had everyone pack their clothes into their garment bags when they changed into their dresses, so there wasn't too much to pack up.
Thankfully, Marinette didn't have too much to take with her. Sabine had come to the Bridal Suite to help take everything outside including the tray that once contained pastries while Tom went to the groom's room to help Adrien with the same. The garment bags were hung in the now empty area in the back of the bakery van while the trays were placed onto the seats.
"Do you want to ride to the reception with us?" her parents offered, but Marinette opted to go with Adrien instead because she figured it would make sense for the best man and maid of honor to show up at the reception together. When they arrived at the ballroom, Marinette noticed a chart of tables, but she didn't need it.
She pointed Adrien in the direction of two empty seats at the table for the wedding party. Marinette was seated on Alya's side and Adrien was placed on Nino's side. Marinette noticed that each seat was marked with a placard displaying the first and last name of the person from the seating chart. She wished she'd gone the long way around to her seat so she could have seen Adrien's, but there wasn't a way to do that without looking suspicious at this point.
Alya had changed into the jumpsuit that Marinette had made for her to wear at the reception. It was a similar shade of ivory with a low v-cut neckline. The flowy pants came down to barely brush against the top straps of the heels she was wearing. There was a belt between the top and pants that was lacy and covered in silver gems
Everyone sat down to enjoy the late lunch that Marlena's coworkers had prepared while they were at the ceremony. Most of the staff viewed Alya as family, so Marlena made sure that the ceremony was being live-streamed so that the staff members who were stuck in the kitchen would still be able to attend in spirit.
While they ate, a few of the members of the waitstaff stopped by their table to congratulate Alya and Nino on their nuptials. They thanked everyone who stopped, but the two of them were wrapped up in talking to one another for most of the lunch. This was the first time they'd been able to relax and just be with each other as husband and wife.
A short while after eating, Nino and Alya stepped out onto the floor to share their first dance as M. and Mme. Lahiffe. The fact that Alya was planning to be Alya Césaire-Lahiffe wasn't the point of the night, so they figured it was a moot point when Nino's DJ friend called them for their first dance.
Marinette wanted to move to the other side of the table to look at Adrien's placard, but he moved over to take Alya's seat before she could. "Will you join me on the dance floor after they've completed their first dance," Adrien asked, placing a hand over hers. She looked into his eyes, his bright, peridot green eyes, M. Agreste's bright, peridot green eyes, and nodded silently.
She didn't even realize that Nino and Alya were still dancing until the rest of the crowd around her started applauding for them. She joined in with the applause and when she finished, Adrien took her hand in his and led her onto the dance floor. They slow-danced to a song that Marinette hadn't heard since she was in middle school.
It was her first time dancing with someone to this song and it felt nice. She had never had a partner to dance with before and being in Adrien's arms made her feel so safe and so comfortable. She needed to tell him how she felt, she knew she did... Or, she could set him up with the blue-haired man that was standing on the edge of the dance floor.
She excused herself after the dance ended and Adrien was immediately asked to dance by one of the twins. He thought it was probably Ella because last he'd heard there was… something? going on between Etta and the girl that came as Noël's 'date' to the wedding that night, Manon, Nadja's daughter.
He was sucked into his own thoughts during the entire dance with Ella and next thing he knew there was a tall guy in a suit and yellow tie approaching the two of them. "Do you mind if I cut in?" the stranger asked the two of them.
"Not at all," Adrien and Ella responded in unison. "He's all yours, Luka," Ella added before she walked away from Adrien and Luka to see if she could catch the eye of someone she'd be interested in. Adrien was caught off guard when this guy placed his hands onto his hip and began leading him in a dance.
The surprise was apparently very visible on his face because Luka almost immediately understood that Adrien wasn't prepared to be dancing with another man. "I'm Luka," he introduced himself. "Luka Couffaine, a friend of the bride."
"I'm Adrien," he introduced himself, still in a stupor, "Adrien Agreste, I'm the best man." The two spoke for a few minutes to the side of the dance floor instead of dancing and Marinette looked on at them, happy that they seemed to be getting along so far. She thought they'd hit it off well and figured the two of them would make a nice couple.
After a few minutes of talking, Luka's expression became more serious. "You're not gay, are you?" he asked Adrien, sincerely. Adrien chuckled a little bit but shook his head.
"Not gay," Adrien assured, "maybe bi, but I'm in a relationship and I'm so happy with Marinette. We've been together for almost 9 months." Adrien's face took on a dreamy expression when he said the name Marinette. Luka tensed up when he heard what Adrien claimed and he dropped his face into his hand.
When he recovered after a minute, Luka placed a hand onto each of Adrien's shoulders and made very clear, direct eye contact with the man in front of him. "Does Marinette know that?" Luka asked him and Adrien chuckled again at the question.
"Of course she does," Adrien responded casually. Luka watched as the joyful look on his face became stressed and slightly confused as Adrien seemed to think through the last 9 months of his 'relationship' with Marinette. He swallowed the saliva in his mouth and looked back at Luka. "Doesn't she?"
Marinette was back by the head table, talking to a guy who Adrien didn't recognize. She placed a hand onto the guy's forearm and Adrien knew at that moment he needed to clear things up with her. The only thing he could hear was the volume of his own hear pounding as he looked at Marinette and the guy he'd never met.
"Excuse me," he added to Luka as an almost afterthought. He didn't have a plan, but he knew he needed to make sure Marinette at least knew he was an option before she could choose whoever this guy was.
Marc was finishing up their conversation with Marinette while Adrien quickly made his way over to them. Marc excused themself to find Nathaniel in the crowd of guests. Adrien didn't know how he was supposed to start this conversation with her, but he knew he needed to say something to her.
"We're dating," was apparently what his brain landed on before he could think through the consequences of his words. He was quiet enough that no one except for Marinette could hear him over the sound of the music and conversations happening in the background. "Marinette, princess. I thought we've been dating for almost 9 months."
Her jaw dropped and she didn't know what possible reaction to have to his claim. Adrien thought they were dating. No, Adrien seemed to know they were dating? Marinette didn't. How didn't she know they were dating? Adrien cringed and took a quick step back from her. It was okay when he'd been that physically close to her when they were dating, but now that they weren't… but she was fine with them being close even when she didn't think they were dating..? so, it should still be okay to be close to her, right?
"We're dating?" Her response was clearly more of a question than his statement before was. "You thought we've been dating for almost 9 months?" It sounded even more ridiculous when she said it and she watched as his shoulders visibly deflated at the idea that he managed to concoct an entire love story in his head.
He felt so stupid and made a silent vow to leave her alone. He started to walk away from her, but she reached out to him and wrapped her hand around his wrist as best as she could. "I'm in love with you." She seemed just as surprised by her claim as he was. Adrien watched as Marinette's face seemed to light up in a bright red color, matching her Ladybug mask from the bachelorette party.
She covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to think through what to say instead of just letting her mouth start with no thoughts behind it. She was still holding onto his arm with one hand, firmly enough to ask him to stay, but light enough that he could easily leave her if he wanted to.
"I've thought you were gay for the last year," she admitted quietly, "you told Nino you were 'playing for the other team' and I just- I thought I didn't have a chance with you. I've spent the last year breaking my own heart thinking you couldn't be interested in me because I'm a girl, but falling in love with you more every day." She took a shaky breath and released it slowly.
"I know people who are just… tactile or touch-starved and I thought I could just live out my hopes that you'd be interested in me by accepting when you kissed me. I know saying that sounds super manipulative, but you gave me permission to kiss you in June and I wanted to feel like you could love me like I loved you." Marinette's eyes were filling with tears.
Adrien stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her. He saw a glint of light reflecting off of the cufflink and his immediate reaction, the same as it had been all night, was to think about his 'girlfriend' who, apparently, hadn't been his girlfriend at all. He gave her a gentle squeeze to try to offer her support.
"You talked about fashion so much and that kind of just… cemented what I already thought." She was practically mumbling into his shirt. "I can't believe I've been standing in my own way for months. I didn't want to ask about your sexuality because I thought you'd tell me when you were ready, but you never did and I was too nervous about things changing to ask."
"Oh, princess," he whispered quietly to the girl who was trying to keep herself from sobbing into his arms. He saw that the table for the wedding party a few meters away from them was empty and eased Marinette over to it and into the chair that used to be Noël's for their conversation because he knew Marinette would probably be in pain if she stayed standing in her heels for too much longer.
He moved his chair so that it was as close to hers as possible and placed a gentle hand on her cheek. "I tried to ask you out on Valentine's Day," he explained from his perspective, "you said it was a date, so I went out to get you flowers. I brought you red-tipped yellow roses because I was starting to fall in love with you. I would have explained that day if I had known how you felt, but I didn't want to mess up our first date."
He rubbed one of his thumbs under her eye to wipe away some of her tears that had begun to fall. She managed to see his name placard. 'Adrien Agreste' and she felt like an idiot. "I have to learn everything I can about fashion," he continued, "it kind of comes with the territory of being forced into a position you're uniquely unqualified for at the age of 24. I thought you would have figured that out at our meeting when I was practically begging you to save the brand with a collab."
"I didn't know that was you," she admitted with a wince and he was taken aback. There was no way that she didn't know that he was the head of the brand she was working with, right? "Your glasses," she added after a moment, "I never put together that my neighbor, my knight, Adrien, was M. Agreste who I thought I was helping by playing the part of his fake girlfriend."
Marinette sniffled and Adrien placed his hand gently on Marinette's. He used the hand that was on her cheek to tilt her face up so that he could meet her eyes. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, princess, I have spent the last year falling in love with you every day and I'm extremely interested in you. I would be honored if you would agree to go on a completely romantic date with me."
"Of course, my prince," she said with a soft chuckle, "I would love to go out on a date with you, Adrien Agreste." Marinette leaned slightly closer to Adrien for a kiss, but Nino came up and didn't realize they were trying to have a moment, so he clapped Adrien on the back to get his attention.
"Are you ready for the speeches?" Nino asked the best man and maid of honor. Marinette hadn't even noticed the wedding DJ called for everyone to return to their seats for the speeches because she was so focused on talking to Adrien. Noël was coming back toward the table and Marinette stood and went around to her seat back at Alya's side, releasing her hand from Adrien's as slowly as possible.
"Who wants to go first?" Alya asked the two of them, looking back and forth between Marinette and Adrien. Adrien volunteered to read first when he knew Marinette could still use a few minutes to recover from crying. He reached his hand into the inner pocket of his tuxedo to grab the speech that he had written for his best friend. The DJ announced him and Adrien was handed a microphone. He stood up and took a breath.
"For those of you who may not know me, I'm Adrien Agreste," he shot as subtle of a wink as he could at Marinette, "and I like to consider myself the best friend of Nino Lahiffe, whether he agrees or not." A few people in the audience chuckled politely at his claim before he continued.
"I first met Nino when I was 17 and he was the DJ for an event I had to go to. He has had my back since the day we met when he deliberately changed the tempo of the music when I was uncomfortable with people who were trying to dance with me. Since that day, I knew that Nino was the type of person I needed to keep in my life as much as I could."
"With my schedule, though, 'as much as I could' meant usually over video games at the end of a long week, or maybe, if I was lucky, he would invite me to dinner with him. I got to meet Alya when I was 19 and was shocked to learn that they'd been dating for 5 years already. I, as a young, naïve 19 year old, barely knew what a relationship was, let alone that someone my age could have already been in one for 5 years."
"Nino and Alya were the best example of a healthy relationship that I had and I couldn't have asked for a better one. I know that it can be uncouth of me to mention Nino's bachelor party at his wedding reception, but we managed to accidentally plan the bachelor and bachelorette parties in the same part of town."
"I'm sober, keeping an eye out to make sure that Nino is having the time of his life out with his friends. While being careful that he doesn't do anything that will get either of us in trouble with Alya. We arrive at the last bar of the night and Nino immediately goes to do a dance-off with Noël. I look away for a minute to get some cola and next thing I know, he's on the dance floor with a girl."
"Nino, dressed as a turtle mind you, managed to dance with one person that entire night in the hours we were out on the town. I got a little closer to make sure he wasn't going to mess things up and it was Alya, in a fox-themed costume, costumes that neither of them knew about beforehand. This man, at his bachelor party, only wanted to dance with his fiancée and that's the type of love that I can't wait to have for myself."
"A toast to my turtley awesome best friend and his foxy bride. To Nino and Alya." Most of the reception was laughing throughout Adrien's toast as he spoke and Marinette was feeling the same, she couldn't wait to experience the kind of love that her best friends shared and she was desperately hoping to start experiencing it soon.
Nino and Alya both stood up with tears in their eyes to give Adrien a hug in thanks for his speech. Adrien handed off the microphone to Marinette while he was up and her fingers brushed over his, causing a small blush to creep up each of their faces.
"Thank you for that, Adrien," Marinette began as Adrien sat back in his seat, then she looked out to the crowd of guests at the wedding of her best friends. "For the maybe two of you who don't know me, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Alya has been my best friend since we were 14 and she stood up for me on her first day of school." Marinette was already starting to get choked up, but she took a deep breath.
"I also grew up with Nino Lahiffe and I can tell you all that there is no better match that I can think of than these two. Nino is the most patient person I have ever met and he'll stay rational in almost any situation while Alya is a spitfire and will stand up for anyone at any time without even considering any consequences."
"I grew up with my parents as my ideal example of love, two people who had personalities that matched each other perfectly and they barely disagreed on anything. I think the biggest argument I saw growing up was if a cake should have silver accents in the decoration or gold and I thought that the easygoing nature of their relationship was how love was meant to look."
"I didn't realize how wrong I was until I saw Alya and Nino. I never understood the phrase 'opposites attract' until I saw the two of them interact. In their case, though, their opposite traits don't just attract, they thrive. Nino is the only person who I've seen change Alya's mind on anything, no matter how small. They balance each other perfectly."
"When we were 16, Alya told me that she never wanted to get married. She loved Nino then just like she loves him now and I'm certain that she will love him until the end of her days, but she was so certain that she didn't want to get married when we were younger. I never thought I'd live to see the day when someone made her change her mind, but Nino did."
"I never thought Alya would be as excited to get married as she had been over the last 12 months. Almost every conversation this last year has been 'Nino's wonderful,' 'the flowers,' 'the croquembouche,' or any other wedding topic. She's so happy and I can't thank you, Nino, enough for making her as happy as you do."
"Every day, I'm impressed by your love for each other and the joy that you share. A toast to Alya and Nino, the best friends I could've asked for." Tears welled in the eyes of most of the guests in attendance and Marinette was trying to keep from crying as she finished the speech. After her turn, the parents got a chance and everyone enjoyed the speeches before most of the guests returned to the dancefloor, including the rest of the wedding party.
Kim went to the dancefloor with Max, Etta joined Manon, and Ella went to the floor to find a guy to dance with, as did Noël. Alya and Nino were dancing together and Marinette watched them as Adrien came around to her side of the table. He sat down in Alya's seat next to her and placed his hand on the table between them, where she could see it.
"I think we may have been interrupted earlier," he said with a bright smile on his face. She placed a hand on his and looked over at him.
"I think you're right, my prince," she said quietly in response. They each leaned in, closed their eyes, and met in a kiss. They were interrupted soon after by the flash of Alya's camera. Marinette thought she could hear Alya's excited squealing in the background, but she was too focused on her first official kiss with Adrien, the guy she was dating.
