Hello again! Once again thank you so much for all of your awesome reviews. Your feedback is always much appreciated. Also, thank you to everyone who has followed this story and added it to their favourites. Finally! A chapter that doesn't involve birds! Thank goodness for that!

Five Gold Rings

Adrien had no idea why he didn't think of this before. He had been thinking way too hard about this whole thing. All this time, he should have just gone back to basics. He should have just gotten Ladybug an item of jewellery. Girls liked jewellery, right? Most of the girls he knew at school wore jewellery. Chloé was covered from head to toe in it, Juleka had her bracelet, Marinette wore earrings, and Mylène wore a necklace.

Yeah, jewellery definitely seemed like a safe bet.

The idea had come to him while he was once again walking through the streets of Paris and came across a cute little jewellery shop. He had once again needed to get out of the house and away from Plagg's constant teasing and laughter. The last incident had especially given Plagg plenty of material to work with.

Adrien shuddered at the memory of what had happened yesterday. That probably had to be the most embarrassing one yet. He couldn't believe that he had subjected Ladybug to that. He wasn't sure how he was going to face her again. By now, she must think that he was a huge freak. Who just randomly showed their partner four shrieking blackbirds, claiming it to be a surprise? Worst of all, it was Ladybug who finally managed to stop the painful racket and set them all free. It really just cemented the fact that he was useless and that all he ever did was screw things up.

But hopefully now he could make amends. He could give her something that would last forever. Something that was more normal and that hopefully wouldn't cause him anymore trouble. It wasn't a gift he had made so it wouldn't fall apart, and it didn't involve any live animals, so there was no chance of his romantic moment being screwed up.

At least, that was Adrien kept telling himself as he peered into all of the glass cases in the small shop, now unsure of what exact piece of jewellery he should get her. Earrings? No, she wouldn't be able to take her miraculous off, so those were out of the question. Maybe a necklace, or a bracelet? At the moment, nothing was really jumping out at Adrien. He wanted the piece of jewellery to be special and mean something. He didn't just want to pick something at random.

Sighing to himself, Adrien headed further inwards, looking at a display full of rings. Maybe a ring would be better as it was more simple and less likely to get damaged? It could match his own miraculous and be symbolic of that, so the ring would always remind her of him. The idea of getting her a ring was sounding more and more appealing by the second.

Feeling his cheeks growing warm, Adrien imagined himself shopping for a ring ten years later. Only this time, it would be an engagement ring. He and Ladybug would have finally revealed their identities to each other after defeating Hawkmoth and would have begun their life together. They'd be settled down in a nice house, and that's when Adrien would know that it was time to take the next step. He would buy her the perfect ring, get down on one knee over a candle lit dinner with the Eiffel Tower in full view, and she would cry tears of happiness before accepting his proposal and jumping into his arms!

Adrien shook his head. He was getting way too ahead of himself. He just needed to focus on getting the ring for her Christmas present for now. Because if he didn't manage to find her the perfect gift in time, he might never get to marry his lady one day. He would be a humiliated, lonely and sad kitty forever.

Gulping, Adrien forced himself to focus on the rings in the case in front of him. They were all really beautiful. Should he get her white gold or normal gold? They were all decorated to a varying degree with beautiful gemstones that sparkled in the light. However, it was the five displayed front and centre in the middle shelf that caught his attention.

They were the most stunning rings Adrien had ever seen. All of them seemed to perfectly represent him and Ladybug. All of them were made out of gold. One of them had a large ruby in the centre with tiny emeralds surrounding it. Another had a line of rubies and onyx around the golden band. All of them had at least a ruby, or an emerald, or an onyx included in the design, making them all perfect representations of him and Ladybug. One even looked like a yin and yang design with how the diamond and onyx had been interwoven.

All five rings looked so breath-taking, Adrien wasn't sure he could choose between them.

"Do you need any help, sir?" The store assistant suddenly appeared out of nowhere, making Adrien jump.

"Oh – umm – I'm trying to choose a ring for my girl – errr – friend. These five rings are perfect, and I just simply cannot choose between them," Adrien admitted, staring at the five rings longingly.

"Hmmm…what is your price range? None of these rings come cheap."

"Oh, the price isn't a problem at all." Adrien quickly waved that notion off. "Huh…you know what then? I'll take all five! She's worth it."

"Yes sir!" The store assistant yelled happily, eagerly dashing towards the cash register.

At least this way, if Ladybug didn't like one of them, she could just pick out the ones she liked. And if she liked all five of them, well, that would be a huge bonus! This was going to impress Ladybug for sure! Surely, nothing could go wrong on this one. He had just simply bought her a few rings. They were made out of real gold and gemstones, so it wasn't like they could break, and there were no animals involved. The rings were perfect! Adrien should have just stuck to the simple gifts all along.

Feeling positive about the whole thing, Adrien quickly paid for them and headed back out onto the street, ready to head home and get the rings somewhere safe before he next saw Ladybug.

He began walking down the street, peering into the bag and admiring the cute little boxes the rings had been placed in before loud screaming suddenly caught his attention. Confused, Adrien looked up just in time to see a crowd of terrified looking people charging towards him. Adrien quickly braced himself for impact while looking around to try and see what had suddenly caused a group of people to panic, his superhero instincts kicking in.

"Akuma!" Someone screamed.

Adrien should have known.

But before Adrien could push his way out of the crowd to try and find somewhere to transform, his bag was knocked out of his hands by the frightened crowd. Adrien then watched in horror as the rings burst free from their boxes at the force of the impact with the ground. He tried to fight his way out of the crowd as quickly as he could in order to try and get to them, terrified that they were doing to get stolen or roll down a drain.

Finally, the crowd ran off, leaving a battered and bruised Adrien behind. Ignoring the pain, Adrien dashed towards where a few of the rings had rolled to, bending down to pick them up and brush the dirt off them.

"Adrien?!" A familiar voice yelled before he heard someone land next to him. "A-are you alright?"

Oh no.

Please no.

Why did the universe hate him so much?

"L-Ladybug?" Adrien stuttered.

"Are you hurt?" Ladybug demanded, her eyes wide with panic as she checked him over, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"N-no, I'm fine."

Ladybug sighed with relief. "What are you doing here? You need to find somewhere safe right away; there's an akuma on the loose!"

"I…"

"You dropped something?" Ladybug asked as she looked down and noticed the remaining four rings that were scattered across the ground before looking at the one in Adrien's hand.

No no no no!

Now she'd seen them! That meant he couldn't give them to Ladybug because then she would immediately know his secret identity! How was it possible that all of his attempts to give her a gift were ending in disaster?! It was like the universe was enjoying torturing him and messing with him, just to see how far it could push him. He was so sure that these rings were perfect. That nothing could go wrong with just simply getting her some rings. But of course, fate had to find a way to ruin things for him.

"What pretty rings." Ladybug smiled as she admired them, her cheeks still tinted pink.

"Oh…yeah…" Adrien muttered miserably. Well, at least he got to know that she liked them, though that thought offered him little to no comfort. She liked them, but he couldn't give them to her now. It would expose his secret identity which Ladybug was firmly against. His romantic opportunity was ruined again. Ladybug was smart. She would make the connection and recognise the rings straight away.

"Anyway," Ladybug said as she quickly picked up the rings – her rings – and gave them back to him. "You need to get somewhere safe! Chat Noir and I will handle this!"

"Yeah." Adrien sighed miserably, taking the rings from Ladybug and putting them back in the bag as Ladybug took off towards the threat.

Despite how rotten he was feeling, Adrien knew that he had to join her. He couldn't leave her to face this akuma alone. That stupid akuma! If it wasn't for that, Adrien would have still had the perfect gift for Ladybug! He was going to make Hawkmoth pay big time for this!

Adrien clutched the bag tightly in his hand as he ran into the nearest ally way so that he could transform. Anger began to bubble inside him, reaching a dangerous boiling point until Adrien could practically feel the steam hissing out of his ears.

His gift idea had been ruined again.

Right now, Adrien was definitely in the mood for taking on an akuma.

Bad luck again, Chat. I feel so guilty writing him into all of these awkward and horrible situations. Will things ever turn around for him? You shall see. As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts. Reviews are always greatly appreciated.