Sequel to Day 23

"Marinette, are you ready to - " Adrien climbed inside his girlfriends' childhood room then paused when he saw the faded pink walls.

Before they began dating, he remembered it being filled with his modeling photos and cutouts from various magazines. He thought it was a normal 'friendly' thing to do thanks to his oblivious nature, and recalled how he commented that Marinette was 'just a friend', something that his girlfriend ridiculed much to his disgruntlement.

He didn't see her 'Adrien Wall', a moniker he often used to tease her, when he first visited her room during their UMS practice and only learned about it when Plagg accidentally spilled the boxes filled with his pictures and cover magazines, and Tikki blurted out the reason behind it.

He rolled on the floor laughing when he saw the humiliation and utter embarrassment that Marinette projected that day. It took him few kisses and tight cuddles before his girlfriend forgave him and offered his apologies for making fun of her childhood obsessions.

He didn't consider it as stalking for a bit, and he was proud that Marinette fell in love not on his looks but on his real self. He thought that Chat Noir was his real self, only to realize that it wasn't, that Adrien Agreste was a half-model half-superhero all along.

It was all thanks to his Princess.

Now that they were living together and ready to make a big leap to their relationship - not that she was aware of the ring in his pocket - he realized that her bedroom walls changed.

Gone were the solo modeling poses when he was young and the schedule calendar that he had when he was in collège. Her wall was now filled with pictures of their friends both in collège and lycèe, though the majority were from Alya and Nino, and Adrien was always present in every group poses. There were a handful of pictures that showed him with his girlfriend and knew that some of their selfies were kept saved on their phones for privacy, but what surprised him most was the number of pictures of Ladybug and Chat Noir pinned together with their civilian selves.

"I'm sorry, I'm in the toilet..." Marinette trailed off when she saw her boyfriend staring at Ladybug and Chat Noir's grinning picture that was pinned on the wall.

"Did you miss it?" her question finally broke his reverie and saw the longings projected on his emerald eyes.

"A bit," Adrien confessed then looked at the pictures again "I miss running on the rooftops with you, our patrols together that always end up goofing around with your yo-yo and batons, us saving lives from you-know-who."

She didn't say anything when he laughed at his word.

"I just really miss our extra us," he finally said. "Not our raucous youth but our crime-fighting partnership."

Plagg who was floating above them opened his mouth but was hushed immediately by Tikki. The red kwami flashed her Chosen an understanding smile then dragged her black counterpart to the balcony.

"You know that we can still call our transformation and save the day in our usual powers, right?" said Marinette as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's torso and pressed her cheek on his back. "We can still do it without chasing corrupted butterflies."

"I'm sorry if I'm ruining the mood." he sighed, took her right hand that was pressed on his stomach then kissed its pulse.

She shook her head "Don't be. Besides, your Maman was saved, your father paid the consequence and Nooroo has been redeemed."

"I know, but still - "

"Adrien," Marinette asked, and this time she turned him around so he could face her squarely "If there was something that you want to rewrite in the past, what would that be?"

"I should have asked your hand in marriage the first time we met." was his immediate answer.

"You know that you were fourteen that time," she deadpanned "And I was thirteen."

"We can just lie our age, with all that secret identities and stuff," the blond smirked then wiggled his brows suggestively.

She slapped his arms lightly "C'mon, Adrien. It was a serious question."

"But I gave you a serious answer!" he retorted "We should have revealed our identities in the first place and spared ourselves from teenage angst and heartbreaks."

"But you do realize that we might not end up like this if that happened, right?"

"Hmm, I don't think so," he muttered then placed his hands on her waist "We could have advanced our relationship early."

"What do you mean?"

"Marinette."

She was taken aback when his face went serious, especially when he took one step backward "I'm supposed to ask you this after our dinner tonight, but we promised not to keep secrets anymore and I've been withholding you this for more than twenty-four hours - well, actually forty-eight hours."

"Kitty, I don't understand..."

She covered her mouth with a gasp when Adrien went down on one knee and pulled a small velvet box in his pocket "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you - "

"YES!"

The blond whined then pouted indignantly despite the tears that were falling on her face when she dropped down and crushed him with her fiercest hug "Princess, you're supposed to listen to my words before you say yes!"

"I don't care, mon Minou," she snorted then peppered his face with kisses "I will still say 'yes' regardless."

"But you have to let me finish my proposal! You have no idea how many times I rewrite it to match the mood!"

"Okay, I'm giving you a chance to finish those words," she stood up with a grin as she wiped her happy tears "Give it a shot, Chaton."

"Marinette Ladybug Dupain-Cheng," he went on, still on a bent knee "Will you accept this purr-fectly paw-some mew who is lucky to Mari you, who will never Cheng to leave you in Dupain and in Comfort?"

"Absolutely no." was her cold reply.

"But you just said yes!" he gaped incredulously, "You can't take it back!"

"Of course I can," she huffed with crossed arms "You used my name in a pun!"

"But your name will sound better if you add Agreste on it."

"Okay, that was a smooth move, but no - I'm going to say no because of the puns."

He stood up abruptly then frowned "Why not? It has a nice ring to it."

Marinette slapped her forehead then groaned inwardly "Get out."

"C'mon, my Lady," he cooed "My marriage proposal is quite engaging."

"Adrien!"

"I bet Alya would be so proud she was practically made of honor!"

"I'm leaving," Marinette raised her hands as if surrendering then marched outside the room.

"Princess!" he bellowed "Mari me!"

"No!"

Tom met them downstairs with a pursed grin "I think I have an idea what happened."

"I asked your daughter to Mari me," Adrien complained, "But it was no A-veil."

"I'm not going to accept a punny proposal!" the raven-haired screamed in the kitchen.

"But it was funny, dear," Sabine chuckled when she emerged from the other room.

"I thought I needed to groom it a little," Adrien told her while feigning a sad expression.

"It's alright son," the mother patted his back "You took a lot of bride in this."

"Not you too, Maman!" her daughter bemoaned.

"We're just fastidious," the blond told his future in-laws "I'm fast while your daughter's tedious."

"I'm not tedious!"

The three looked at her with a knowing smirk. Docking her head back on the kitchen counter, she muttered: "I demand a decent proposal tonight."

Adrien whooped then scooped her with a giddy smile "You better prepare yourself, my Lady!"

"Bring it on, Kitty!"

Tom and Sabine laughed at the couple with tears at bay, especially when they saw the loving promise that shone on their vibrant eyes.

They should have taken a picture of it so they could show it to their future grandchildren about their parents' ridiculous love story.

.

.

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Bonus:

"The wedding cake we'll be making will be in tiers."

"Papa!"

- END -