Adrian POV
"All of the other kingdoms and queendoms have received our invitations and they are all sending emissaries to meet here in a few days. I'll see to it that their rooms are prepared for their arrival." I reported to my father hoping that he would respond with some form of enthusiasm.
"Good, on the note of guests how is our dear Ladybug faring?" He asked with a small smile. I coughed and responded,
"She seems to be adjusting moderately well, though she needs to stop working so hard...." I muttered the last part under my breath but he still managed to make it out.
"Is she without a maid? I thought you would have been more prepared than that Adrian." I jumped about a foot hearing my name.
"No father it's not that!" I exclaimed earning a stern but amused expression from him. I coughed again ignoring my rising blush of embarrassment and continued,
"The problem was she didn't come equipped with knowledge as to how she would be expected to dress and act,and insisted on making at least part of her new wardrobe herself. In the process she overtaxed herself without realizing it and I had to regulate her to her chambers in order to make sure she got proper rest. I'll be checking in on her after this to see to it that she is still resting as I ordered." My father gave me an odd look and I found myself shifting uncomfortably under his scrutiny.
"I haven't seen you look this excited about anything since you first met your friend Nino, you truly care for this girl don't you?" He asked suddenly causing me to choke on absolutely nothing out of pure embarrassment and shock.
"F-father! I don't see how this has any impact on anything I've said up to now. Besides, of course I care about her, I'm the one responsible for bringing her here in the first place I have to take responsibility for her." I exclaimed as my father laughed quietly to himself.
"If you say so, you can go." He replied smiling. I found myself smiling back as I bowed and began to walk away.
"Oh before you leave, as it would be inappropriate to keep a female guest with just the two of us we will be forced to claim that our dear Ladybug is your betrothed in order to keep questions to a minimum." He informed me with an almost guilty smile. I sighed and nodded saying,
"She's not going to like this." He laughed and stated,
"That is why I'm having you deliver the news, I've a feeling she may not be as bothered by it if it comes from you." I blushed again and walked out without another word. When I got to Marinette's room I wasn't surprised to see the door slightly ajar. I guess they'll have to fix that lock...... I thought feeling guilty. I knocked gently and immediately heard,
"Doors open, come in!" I pushed the door open gingerly and stopped dead in my tracks. Standing in front of me was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, she had shoulder length raven hair tied into a small braid with a red ribbon, a long red dress with black sleeves that only covered her shoulders and when she turned away from the mirror she was looking at she gave me the brightness smile I'd ever seen.
"Oh Adrian, hey! What do you think?" She asked holding her skirt as though she were going to curtsey. I fumbled for words but eventually I scraped together the sentence,
"You look incredible." She blushed and thanked me.
"So why are you here? Not that I mind but don't you have prince things to do?" She asked looking confused. I coughed and shook my head to clear it.
"My father wanted me to tell you that we'll be operating under the pretense of being engaged while our guests are here for upcoming summit. We don't have to act like we're in love but we will have to say that we are......" I explained nervously trying to sound official. She stared at me for a full minute before sighing.
"This place is never going to make sense to me. So we have to lie about being engaged to a bunch of diplomats because your dad said so? Ugh when did my life get so complicated?" She asked cynically. I laughed nervously and avoided eye contact. I heard her sigh again and say,
"Well if we're going to do this, we may as well do it right, I'm going to need to learn as much about this place as I can in as little time as possible so let's get started." I grinned and replied,
"Let's."
(Timeskip to the day of the guests arrival and switch to Marinette POV)
Adrian and I stood outside the front doors of the palace, well he stood I fidgeted nervously. He reached over and squeezed my hand reassuringly. I looked up at him and he smiled understandingly. If I had to get stuck with anyone at least it's someone kind... I thought feeling a little less out of place. Just then a gigantic monster came barreling into the courtyard and I hid behind Adrian with a squeak. He however barely reacted at all as the monster leaned down so that they were face-to-face.
"All right Alya, very funny, you can come out now and stop." He said completely straight-faced. Immediately the monster evaporated into a puff of orange smoke leaving a disappointed looking girl around our age with long red hair that ended in white tips that was kept up in a ponytail wearing a long orange dress with a white stripe down the middle standing in front of an orange carriage.
"Aww... you're never any fun! Just one time I'd like to prank you and actually see you get scared!" She exclaimed grumpily. Adrian just laughed and stated,
"Never going to happen, you know your mirages never scare me." She smiled and shook her head before glancing behind him at the spot where I was still hiding.
"Well it looks like they can scare someone here, whose your friend?" She asked giving me an apologetic and encouraging smile. Adrian nodded at me as if to say that I could come out and I cautiously stepped out from behind him. He placed a protective arm around my shoulders and said,
"Alya, this is my betrothed Marinette, Marinette this is my friend Alya, the one I told you about?" I held my hand out cautiously and timidly said,
"Nice to meet you Alya." She took my hand and slyly replied,
"Ah so you're the famous Ladybug I've been hearing about, you must be something pretty special to steal the heart of this tom cat." He and I both turned identical shades of crimson and she burst out laughing.
"Well as much as I enjoy being made fun of, your betrothed appears to be arriving." Adrian said with a smirk as he pointed to a green carriage coming through the gates into the courtyard. When it stopped in front of us a tan boy with glasses in a green suit stepped out and immediately went to Alya. He kissed her cheek and said,
"I've missed you." She blushed and hummed in response while Adrian did something I didn't know he could, he rolled his eyes.
"I'm sorry but for those of us who don't prefer to watch their closest friends kissing, I'm going to have to ask you two to save the love for when you're alone, all right?" He asked with a mockingly apologetic tone. I nudged him and the boy looked over at me.
"You must be Ladybug right?" He asked holding his hand out for me to shake. I took it and nodded.
"My name's Marinette, and I'm going to assume that you're Nino?" I half stated/half asked him cautiously. He nodded enthusiastically and turned to Adrian before asking,
"Just throwing this out there but you wouldn't want to trade, would you?" Alya growled and I sighed as Adrian threw an arm around his shoulders and mockingly laughed before saying,
"Very funny Nino, but no, she's mine." The three of us started at him for a moment before his statement hit home with all of us and Adrian's and my faces turned a deep scarlet while the other two laughed their heads off.
"I-um-er...-I mean-um..... oh look Kim and Kagami are here!" Adrian yelled pointing to the gates as he tried to hide his blush. I turned to look and saw a boy dressed in a brown suit with a circlet riding on top of a red carriage with gold trim. The carriage stopped and Adrian yelled up to him,
"Lose your convoy again your highness?" The boy just laughed as the door of the carriage opened and a beautiful girl with short black hair and brown eyes dressed in a red tunic with black and gold trim. Her hair had two horn like pins in it and on her waist she had a long, thin rapier. She stepped out of the carriage and slammed the door hard enough to cause the boy to fall off. He caught himself and landed on his feet as the girl walked directly towards Adrian.
"It is good to see that your kingdom has yet to fall prey to Mayura's destruction prince Noir." She said in an almost robotic voice as she gave Adrian a small smile. "Prince Noir"? Doesn't she know that his names Adrian? Why doesn't she call him that like the others do? I thought feeling confused. Adrian smiled awkwardly and said,
"Well Kagami, we do have a new secret weapon so we won't be falling anytime soon." He clapped a hand on my shoulder and I blushed bashfully. My blush was immediately extinguished however when the girl turned and looked at me coldly before stating,
"A secret weapon requires that it be kept hidden, and unfortunately your kingdom has been making quite the spectacle of this new princess of yours." I balked slightly at her coldness but I recovered quickly and held out my hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you princess Ryuko,did I say that right?, I'm Ladybug, but you can call me Marinette if that makes you more comfortable." I smiled brightly at her as she hesitantly took my hand.
"It is a pleasure, lady Noire." she said cautiously before immediately turning back to Adrian who was giving me an 'I'll explain later' look while poorly hiding a blush.
"It would appear that all of us have arrived, shall we go inside?" Adrian nodded and gestured towards the doors. Everyone started to file in slowly but Adrian held back to walk with me.
"Lady Noire is technically your official title since we're supposed to be engaged." He explained not meeting my eyes. I nodded in understanding but frowned.
"Why does Kagami call you prince Noir? She knows your names Adrian so shouldn't she call you that?" I asked him.
"Her family is very strict so she always follows the rules, even when she doesn't agree with them. My official title is prince Noir so that's what she calls me, good job calling her by her title by the way, how'd you know to do it?" I shrugged and responded,
"Well if she called you yours I figured she'd rather be called by hers." He looked at me with a bemused smile and shook his head.
"You never cease to amaze me Marinette, have I told you that yet?" He said grinning at me. I blushed dramatically and shook my head mutely. Then I got an idea and a wicked grin spread across my face. I leamed in and whispered in his ear,
"You know I'm not sure I like the idea of me taking your name, personally I prefer the sound of 'mister Bug' to 'lady Noire'." I stepped away and headed inside as he stood there blushing. And that is for the 'she's mine' comment from earlier. I thought with an evil smile.