She's his guard, he'd grown up with her, and yet he'd never managed to catch her name. She stood as though masked, yet she is quick on her feet, dodging attacks, deflecting blows meant for him, and of course fighting back. It's one of the reasons when he'd grown up losing to the girl that couldn't be all that much older than him, that he fell for her.
He called her Ladybug, because as his personal and closest guard, she had to be lucky and more than that in order to defend him properly. Names were that one space that seemed hard to break, a barrier that he couldn't cross though she smiled at him, and it was as beautiful and fitting as if a princess were staring him down.
Her quick feet though were of a fighter's lot, and she had no fear or distaste for swords or other weaponry. Ladybug was eager to defend, as if taking a blow meant for him, or dishing one out to an attacker meant everything to her. Adrien still stood in awe of her, and could scarcely believe himself when he couldn't quite look away. Having a female guard was uncommon, but not neccessarily unheard of.
Ladybug had been the strongest of his 'men' even back when they were kids. She could defeat the prince who had been trained to defend himself since he could barely walk, and she can beat the toughest of men. Yet, the confidence that she exuded made her seem more like a princess or a queen than a commoner, and yet what royalty would willingly mask her own identity in order to become of a lower social class? She couldn't be royal, which meant that he couldn't marry her.
Nevermind the fact that she might have his head if he suggested it, because it was the most distracting way of attempting to defend oneself. You were useless at letting your guard guard you, if you couldn't bear the sight of her stepping in for shots meant for you. Yet you also had to care for your guard, let him or her know that you didn't require this sacrifice without appreciation or care.
A proper prince must not get in his guard's way and also, must ensure the guard's safety after the threat has been taken care of. It's what he'd been trained to do, but it was hard not to look at her, with her dark hair that framed a face that might at first appear innocent or gentle, if one did not know any better, and not fall.
It was hard to not more than literally fall when he sparred with her. It was as easy to fall for the woman that ensured that he kept his life, as it was to breathe. Adrien just wished that he could tell her how he felt and that the shy glances that every now and again left her for him before darting away, and seriousness steels her veins up could actually be because they are together.
Adrien would have to be blind, to not know that Ladybug liked him too, but he'd also be naive to think that she'd date her prince when she was under oath to protect him. He wasn't sure if there was a way to make her realize just how much he cared.
On top of everything else, he'd eventually have to marry for his kingdom's sake. As sole heir, he was required to have future heirs and maybe heiresses in order to keep his family in power and his lineage intact. Yet, how could he marry a princess when the only lady that had his eye was Ladybug? It wouldn't be fair to his future bride.
Adrien wasn't entirely sure either that marrying a commoner could resolve any of his problems, as that would not forge new alliances or strengthen old ones or even ensure that his wealth and inheritance doubled or tripled since he got married. His family, of course, like any other royal family had demands on these kinds of things.
Adrien looked out at the courtyard, surprisingly alone, as he watched Ladybug fight the palace guards, and with her quick footing and natural seeming fighting skills, she was clearly the most skilled. When finally, they paused, Ladybug looked tired, but not enough to ditch her dignity to collapse on the ground. She had to have a lot of pressure as his guard. She wasn't really allowed to marry herself unless she were to bring forth heirs or heiresses that could be trained from birth to be exceptional guards, and she couldn't marry until her body grew weak enough for him to need a new guard.
Or at least, that's what he was vaguely sure that they said. A pregnant guard, no matter how skilled she is, could spell disaster. It would either cause conflict in a marriage between her and someone else, lead to pregnancy trouble, or even make others view him as an easy target. They were well aware that Ladybug was no one to mess with, but sometimes Adrien wondered what she was like, when she wasn't on guard duty. She barely had time for herself and slept, if she could, in the castle.
Adrien just knew that she stayed close enough to defend him if need be, and that she had to be a light sleeper or else things could spell trouble for him. He sighed, pushing away from the window, it hurt too much to debate constantly over all of this. He needed a chance to just stop thinking about it and let the pieces fall where they may, yet it was hard to get her out of his mind.
She wasn't immune to the prince's stares, nor was she all that eager to lose her job or put his life at risk. Marinette needed this job, had needed it for a long time, with times being hard on her parents' bakery, she had decided to go to work at a much better paying job in order to keep food on the table and her parents working their dreams.
Admittingly, design wasn't an easy past time when you had no time, so about twice or even three times a week, she skipped sleep to design, an eye always towards Adrien's room and ears craned to the windows. He needed to be safe, even when he melted her heart or his affection drove her crazy. If she could marry him, she would. She just couldn't.
A guard doesn't marry into royalty, and Adrien would need a guard that could fight better than her if she did end up marrying him. Not too many people were lining up to be guards, and of the few that were, she was stronger than them. She'd been practicing since she was young, because her mother always believed that even a girl needed to be strong just in case.
Her father had even volunteered to be her opponent when she'd admitted to wanting to be a guard. She'd went up against him, learning new ways to be a threat when he was so much bigger than her young self, and when she'd gotten stronger, naturally she'd applied to be a guard. It had taken hours of hard work, and she still wasn't done trying to improve her fighting skills.
Falling in love with Adrien along the way had not been her plan at all. She had met him as a kid, where they had the best relationship a guard and a prince could have, friendly but innocent. She'd always been helping him grow as a fighter as well, while in the mean time, studying up herself. Marinette had never expected to be known as Ladybug which kept others that wanted to target the royal family from hitting the guard's family to weaken her, and it gave the right amount of distance between her and Adrien.
If he didn't know her name, he couldn't rightly ask for her hand in marriage and beyond that, he couldn't fall for a whole identity, which kept some feelings kind of safe in the obliviousness of reality. Yet, it didn't stop her from falling for all the little things. The way when he was tired, he practically fell asleep anywhere and somehow always managed to look adorable doing so, the timid smiles he gave when he wasn't sure what to say or do, because Prince Adrien could be different from just Adrien. The way he kissed her hand when no one was around to yell at them. The cheeky smile on his face when he told a particularly 'clever' pun.
All of this was enough to fall for him in every little thing, but she wasn't entirely sure what to do when feelings ignited in her veins. She just knew what not to do. She couldn't act on them, had to be serious, and she definitely needed to do something other than this. Marinette couldn't erase her feelings for Adrien, despite the doomed romance that would ensue if she acted on them, and she knew just how very little she could ever do on this.
"Marinette?" Ladybug startles, nearly letting her slip and get nicked by the sword of the other guard in one of their daily practices, to ensure that no one got weak or failed to be attentive to just what a fight meant for the prince and for other royal members.
"Yes, Ma'am." She answered pulling back, looking up at Queen Emilie in all of her stunning glory. She stood as a sort of hallmark of what a queen should look like. Her blond hair rolls down her back from where she'd deliberately let it hang, and her green eyes are further heightened by the beauty of her extravagant royal garments. There are rumors that King Gabriel designs his wife's clothes, but no one can prove or disprove these particular rumors.
"Come with me a second." The Queen motions towards the particular hallway that she waits for Ladybug to join her at. She follows her queen as if she were her Royal Guard, keeping an eye attentively around them just in case. Feeling belatedly that a test could be right around the corner. They happened sometimes, but usually King Gabriel or his personal guard led those tests. It had never been Queen Emilie, and Marinette quietly enters her highness's office, always quietly in awe of the sheer extravagance and beauty and size of such spaces.
"Marinette, I take it you hear that my son refuses to marry?" Queen Emilie asks as she leans against her desk, and Marinette startles. It sounds like the prince, but she hadn't heard any news of it.
"I thought he'd marry one of the princesses that came to visit recently?" She thinks of Princess Lila, Princess Chloe, even Princess Sabrina. Princess Rose was scheduled to visit tomorrow, if Marinette remembered exactly.
"He refuses to." Queen Emilie sighed, "We are a weak kingdom as we have only one heir, and if he doesn't have children, we are doomed to fall apart." She looks a little sad for a moment, "Of course, King Gabriel does not approve of me calling you here."
"Why am I called here?" Marinette blinks, realizing belatedly that that might be too sudden, "Your highness?"
"I feel as if we could break tradition just this once." Queen Emilie answered, "But first, how do you fight for a person you love? Do you grow weak?"
"How can you grow weak then?" Marinette asked; she could see how someone could become distracted, but to grow weak, when you love someone is rather unlikely to her. You'd fight harder to keep him safe.
"Okay." Queen Emilie smiled, looking a tiny bit happier, "You do know why my son refuses to marry?"
"Is it because he likes me?" Marinette worries that this question is much more forward than the first one that she'd asked.
"Yes." Queen Emilie sighed, "He says that it would be unfair to whoever he will marry, if he does not love her and instead loves someone else."
"Oh." Marinette worried suddenly that she'd be fired. She had never acted on these feelings, and yet she isn't sure that this isn't the beginning of the end of her job. Marinette would have to move back home then.
"Do you love my son?" Queen Emilie was just as authoritative as her husband, don't let anyone fool you on that one.
"I-err..." Ladybug wasn't sure that being honest would let her keep her job, yet lying was repulsive to her still, "I, um, I do."
"Okay." Queen Emilie assessed her. "You wouldn't make a bad queen, but you must train our other guards on top of your royal duties and keep Prince Adrien out of danger, still."
"Wh-What?" Marinette was pretty sure that the queen was setting her up to marry Adrien, and she had no idea how to understand this or if she could.
"You will marry my son, in May." The look Emilie gave her told her that she had no choice as the Queen left her office as easily as she'd entered it.
Marinette gulped in what air she could and wondered if there was something that she should do right now.
"Prince Adrien?" Marinette woke him from his nap, something that she wished she had time for as it might melt this stress away.
"L-Ladybug?" He blinked his eyes open before he quickly righted himself, "Is there danger?" She never woke him up from naps.
"There is no danger." She answers to calm him down.
"Okay." He relaxes.
"Will you come walk with me?" It's an odd request on her part, but she doesn't know how to eventually tell him.
"Sure." Adrien's up and out of bed, hair still tussled from sleep, and he follows her to the gardens, to a particularly quiet section of them, stepping around the flowers that still need trimmed back as they walk through the path designated for them.
"Prince Adrien," Marinette catches her breath as they walk between two bushes, putting them out of sight and out of earshot of anyone nearby, "My name is Marinette."
"Marinette?" Adrien's smiling, though he still looks confused.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the daughter of poor bakers." She finishes, wondering if there's more to say on her basic introduction.
"You are?" Adrien looks up at her in awe, "How'd you become such a strong guard, then?"
"Lots of practice." She answers, instead of something more eloquent. She's fishing for better words, and so, she turns to him, still out of sight of the castle.
"Prince Adrien?" She wonders if her nerves will eat her alive as she tries to speak to him.
"Yes?" He's not used to her addressing him with his name near as much or slowly starting conversations with him.
"I was wondering... No, I was hoping," She's looking into his green eyes, unsure of herself all over again, "That you'd take my hand, or... marry me?"
Adrien looks like he hasn't put two and two together, because it was something that he couldn't believe, and so Marinette is fishing for something obvious to him, something that sounds a little less absurd.
She drops to a knee, realizing belatedly that the prince is reaching out to her as if she is injured. She's grateful to be in armor and not an elegant dress as she grabs his hand, to move it away from checking her for injuries.
"Adrien Agreste," She drops the title, "My Prince, will you grant this lonely guard's wish? Will you do me the honor, great priviledge, and future joy of becoming my husband?" It's kind of awkward, and she feels a bit as if she's crossed some boundaries as to what she should be doing, but at least it's clear.
Adrien's brain seems to shut down, his face goes pink, and he finally answers her, "Y-Yes, I mean, how do you-, are you sure? I, uh, love you." He pauses as his words catch up to him, "I should be the one on my knee asking you to marry me."
Ladybug's giggling before she can help herself as she stands and wraps him up into a hug that will hopefully be the first of many. She hopes that her laughter doesn't take away from the genuineness of the proposal. Suddenly, she feels as if it will be okay, though she'll probably get even less sleep than she does now, especially when they, one day, have kids of their own.
"Ladybug?" He's staring at her, she can feel it, though she's too close to see it.
"Prince Adrien, your mother gave us permission to marry." She answers finally, hugging him tighter, "I guess, it's okay that you like me too, then."
His eyes are wide when he pulls back to look at her, to see the honesty in her clear blue eyes, and somehow Ladybug knows that she'll be Princess Marinette Agreste until she one day becomes queen and that this is just the start of a new and admittingly strangely beautiful life together.
She presses close, close enough to hear his heartbeat, and to relax against it's rhythm.