Adrien hadn't meant to cause so much of a ruckus. The whole idea was that he would turn up at the university, hopefully find Marinette, 'pretend' it was pure coincidence and then invite her out for coffee. There he could tell her that surprise! They were engaged.

However, the idea seemed to grow in extraordinary proportions, when he remembered Marinette was meant to be in design class and he could quite easily drop in and pay her a visit. Maybe he could just go in, send Marinette a message, then escape. She hadn't been answering his messages all morning, or been on the group chat — which was going slightly chaotic at the moment.

A group chat called: SSSHH with: LB, CN, RR, C...

Received Message from: Alya
What the fuck is going on!

Received Message from: Nino
I better be the best man, dude! Though you two — not telling us you were dating...such a low blow, man! We've waited years for this!

Received Message from: Félix
I get blood relative bonus...I'm the best man!

Received Message from: Luka
About time! Really happy for you both!

Received Message from: Kim
If you're not hitting Elise, can you send me her number please?

Received Message from: Alix
Sits back to watch...interesting...very interesting!

Received Message from: Zoé
Yayyyy! It's about time! Where's Marinette? I can't believe she kept this a secret!

Received Message from: Alya
Guys, I've just heard from Tikki, Marinette's turned her phone off. Let's cool it down until she's back with us. I'm sure her fiancé will keep us in the loop!

Adrien couldn't help but gulp. If Tikki had been to Alya, that meant Alya knew this wasn't real, because as far as he was aware Tikki hadn't been with him when he'd made this tiny little blunder, so the small red kwami would be just as confused as everyone else.

He looked down into his shirt to see if Plagg was there, not being at all surprised by the absence of his kwami.

Oh man, Marinette was 100% going to kill him.

After sneaking out of the lecture and towards their meeting spot, he'd made a colossal mistake — he'd taken off his hat in a need to wipe the sweat that was forming on his brow. What he didn't expect was to then be mobbed.

Although, considering he was currently standing outside a world renowned fashion school and being a world famous actor/fashion model, he should have seen it coming, really. Even his unshaven face couldn't save him this time.

Almost two hours later and he was still there taking pictures and talking to fans.

"Adrien, over here!"

As voices continued to call him, he looked down at the small girl in front of him. The girl who had plagued his dreams and his life for the past eight years. The one who was his most favourite person in the world.

"Can I have a photograph?"

"Adrien, I love you."

"Back off, will you!" An authoritative voice grew closer and Adrien automatically went into defensive mode, cradling Marinette into his body with the intense need to protect her.

"It's ok, pretty boy, we're on the same side."

Adrien looked at the face which matched the voice and was startled to see Anthony was there, Marinette's tall fashion friend dropping a wink and coming to their defence. Adrien's hand released Marinette a little and allowed her to move.

"Marinette, I —"

Before Adrien could say anything more, the two of them had been blocked by another stampede. Damn, news was travelling faster today than he could in cosmo mode.

He was suddenly ripped from Marinette's hold, arms wrapping around him as lips pressed to his cheek. Phones were held high, filming as he was pushed and pulled from one girl to the next.

Everyone seemed to step back, eyes moving between him and Marinette, and all he wanted to do was protect her, the way he had for eight years. He was meant to arrive here unknown, grab Marinette and explain to her what was going on. Instead he was being mobbed and touched extremely inappropriately.

"I – um – I –" He tried to think of a reason to get away, to preferably turn back time and not make such a feature of himself outside Marinette's university. Maybe Alix was watching and would come and save him, although he knew how much his friend loved being a nuisance and leaving them to fend for themselves — the latest in the WhatsApp group an indication he was on his own.

He'd lost sight of Marinette, her five-foot-two inches getting absorbed into the towering people around her, and Anthony still trying to do his best to fend off as many as he could. The way this guy was standing guard, Adrien was tempted to invite him to meet Lana. He was almost certain the guy could get an extra part as a bouncer, or hit man.

Adrien glanced over heads again, glad to be an almost freakish height (the one thing he'd thank his father for), and tried to spot his best friend, only to be surprised when a tiny person with black hair came bounding forward with sheer determination.

"Out the way..." The small force made herself known, pulling him towards a gap in the crowd and into a clearing, Anthony sidestepping in the most comical of ways to help free them, parting the crowd like the Red Sea.

Marinette held his hand tightly, a feeling which caused his stomach to flip and twirl as she began to pick up speed. She dragged him down the street and around the corner, slamming him against the wall. He was half expecting her to transform and carry him to safety like she had many times before.

She pressed her body into his, and he was quite sure his heart rate had accelerated to fat burn speed. Lana would be happy to hear he'd hit his activity goal for the day. She didn't need to know it was due to a small bug pressing him up against a wall. Damn, he'd had this fantasy for a while...if only the kissing and...other stuff was reality too.

She peered around the wall, Adrien keeping his eyes on the little whippersnapper in front of him and unconsciously licking his lips. Yes, it just needed some puckered lips and kissing.

"Marinette, I –"

"Shhh!" She slammed a hand over his mouth, his pout causing a kiss on the palm of her hand, her eyes looking around frantically and her ears obviously on high alert in case someone rounded the corner after them. "Plagg, Tikki, can you go and check it out please? Anthony will have held most of them off," she whispered, Adrien placing his own hand on top of hers and moving it off his mouth. "But you never know if any would have followed us."

"I always knew I liked him," he whispered to her, keeping her smaller hand engulfed in his much larger one. It was always so special to do such an action without the gloves. A positive of their reveal he never over thought about.

"Not as much as he likes you," she replied, her head still bobbing around, keeping an eye out for crazed fans.

He chortled. One thing Anthony wasn't shy about was letting Adrien know he was his hall pass – his boyfriend's too.

"So, how was your date last week?"

Marinette looked at him with a frown. "You've got to be kidding me. You're asking me that now?"

"No time like the present?" he said through a grimace.

Blatantly ignoring the question, Marinette stepped away and surveyed the area once more. "I think we're safe."

Before he could say anything, Marinette launched herself into his body, wrapping her arms around his torso and her head burying into his chest, a natural and perfect join between the two of them.

"Why are you back?" she asked. "I thought you were busy for, like, the next month?"

Oh, yes! For a moment, he'd forgotten the reason he was here. The proximity between them was too close, causing his mind to short circuit as he tried to make coherent thoughts...and his hips to move slightly away.

"Would you believe me if I said I'd missed you?"

She stepped away from him, an eyebrow raised and her arms now crossing over her chest.

Well, hello, Ladybug.

"Nice try, Kitty. But I can tell when you're lying."

She finally grabbed her phone from her bag and turned it on, Adrien, Tikki and Plagg telling her to stop as she watched the device come to life in her hand, lighting up again and again and again.

Alya.

Luka.

Alya again.

Nino.

Her Maman.

Her Papa.

Her Papa again.

Her Papa again.

Alya.

Zoé.

The WhatsApp Group.

Oh yes! He was in deep trouble. Her azure eyes darkened as she glared at him, guilt and pleading innocence coating his own. He needed to explain before she looked at any of those messages.

As she moved to retrieve the first one, his own hand shot out and grabbed a hold of her wrist, almost wrapping around it twice.

"Can we talk before you read those, please?" he asked, his grip on her wrist tightening.

"I don't know if –" She was interrupted by the sight of the two kwamis getting in between them.

"I think you should get out of here," Tikki's soft voice said, Plagg nodding alongside her.

"Tikki? What's happening?" Marinette asked, the bright red kwami giving Adrien quite a look.

"It's not for me to say." She was literally trying to burn Adrien down. The glowing of her eyes was enough to turn him into ash.

Marinette bit down on her bottom lip and Adrien couldn't help the twitch in his hand as he wanted to remove it...to touch the plump pink thickness... He breathed out! This was not the time or the place to let his unrequited desires take over his actions.

"Come with me," she finally said, taking his hat from his hand and stretching up on her tiptoes to pull it tightly over his head. She took a hold of his hand and led him silently out into the street.

They remained like that all the way back to the mansion; hands joined and silence covering them like an umbrella in the rain. Her hand was starting to grow a little sweaty in between them, yet he didn't care. A reason to be this close to her was a blessing and a moment he would cherish, as in about 30 minutes he might find himself hanging from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

They made their way into Adrien's room, quickly greeting Nathalie on their way through the mansion, and settled, side-by-side, his sofa...the place where only a week ago they'd fallen asleep side by side halfway through a One Tree Hill marathon.

Her phone continued to sound like a YouTube playlist, as songs blasted and text tones continued. "Tikki, can you silence Marinette's phone please?"

His partner's kwami nodded before taking Marinette's phone and moving it to the other side of the room, silencing it and allowing him to place all his attention on Marinette.

Here goes. The make or the break of their relationship.

"Well, you know they wanted me to date Elise and my agent has been sending me out on all these dates?"

Marinette laughed. "How could I forget? I think you've dated every Victoria Secret model who's out there."

Adrien chuckled through the anxiety gripping at his throat. "Yeah. Well, they think now I should be moving on from dating and begin to 'settle down'."

He saw her shuffle a little, the look in her eyes dulling. "Oh...so...what does that actually mean?"

Taking a deep breath, he ripped the band aid from the wound and prepared to tell her the story. "Surprise! I'm...I'm engaged."