46. Chapter 46

In which a number of things happen :D

Adrien's second graduation from undergrad was very similar to his first, all things considered. There were the speeches that he only half-listened to, the unfortunate soul one row back who had gotten sick and was sniffling periodically, the too-bright lights and a feeling that he really, really should have tried to smuggle his water bottle in with him.

And, of course, his father wasn't present this time, either, but Adrien had expected that. Marinette had been meant to go into work for a bit later in the day to make sure some deadlines got met but had taken the morning off to come, and Ben had come along with her. They would no doubt provide more enthusiastic support than Nathalie had when she had attended Adrien's graduation from the business program his father had forced him into.

(Bystanders reported that she had sat motionless until he crossed the stage, and then she had clapped three times before proceeding to sit like a statue until the end of the ceremony. Adrien suspected that that was an exaggeration, but only just.)

Nino and Alya had also sent their congratulations, but hadn't been able to leave Paris. Nino's DJing job had asked him to take some weekend hours, and Alya was still drowning in her piles of research. Adrien was maybe a little disappointed, but ultimately it didn't really matter.

Graduation was just a couple hours of sitting in a crowded auditorium before spending a couple seconds crossing a stage to get a piece of paper. If his friends couldn't make it, then they couldn't make it. It wasn't a big deal.

"It's going to be really strange not getting to see you on a regular basis," Paul told Adrien as the graduating class headed outside afterwards. "But I guess there was never a chance of you settling in London permanently, was there?"

Adrien shook his head. "Not a chance. I have too many ties to Paris, and I miss speaking my own language all of the time."

"And Marinette is going back."

"That's true," Adrien acknowledged. "And all of my other friends live there. It's my home, and as much as I enjoyed London..."

Paul nodded. "Yeah, I'd feel the same way if I had gone somewhere else for school. At least there's the Eurostar. It wouldn't take that much time to visit, really."

Adrien nodded.

The next few minutes were a whirlwind as Adrien waved good-bye to some of his classmates that he had gotten to know over the years. They weren't close friends like Paul or Ben, but he had enjoyed talking to them before classes and occasionally studying with them as well. Adrien doubted that he would see them again- some were moving to other cities around the UK, most heading back to their hometowns- and he had only exchanged phone numbers with a couple. But since they weren't close, Adrien suspected that he wouldn't even notice their absence.

"Hey, we finally found him!"

Adrien spun around to see Marinette and Ben headed towards him, grins on their faces. He waved back, feeling a bit like an overgrown bat next to Marinette's stylish and flattering shirt and skirt combo. She gave him a quick sideways hug before letting go and stepping back. Adrien grinned at her.

They had done it. He had finished his degree and graduated, and he had gotten a job back in Paris. His father's control over his life was lower than ever now, and would just drop even more now that he had an actual adult job and was making his own money, completely apart from his work as a model. Soon he and Marinette would be returning home and could be public with their relationship.

It would be fabulous.

"Paul! Paul, over here!"

"Oops, that's my mom," Paul said, glancing towards the call and taking a step away from the group. "She'll be with the rest of my family, so I better go. Unless you want another run-in with my sister before you get out of London."

Adrien made a face at the thought. "I think I'll be all right without, thanks."

"I figured that you would say that," Paul said, taking a half-step backwards to head towards his family. "And I'll get to see you again before you leave London, right? Or do you take off right away?"

"I'll be here for a week yet," Adrien assured him, waving his friend off. His eyes flicked over the crowd as Paul's mom called for him again, and he spotted Paul's sister in the crowd, glancing around at the milling graduates. "We have to pack up our apartments, after all. I'll text you and we can figure out a time to hang out before I leave."

Paul nodded again, then turned to follow his family, intercepting and herding his sister away from Adrien and Marinette before she could spot them. It wasn't long before he vanished in the crowd of excited graduates and their families.

"I should probably go as well," Ben admitted. "I have a cousin graduating later today, all the way on the other side of London. But maybe we can get together for dinner or something before you leave."

Adrien nodded, reaching out to shake his friend's hand. "Yeah, of course! And we'll have to stay in touch. Maybe you can come visit Paris sometime."

Ben grinned. "Yeah, it would be good to go over now that there aren't supervillains running all over the place. It's a nice city, really. And you can come visit London again, though I'm sure you've seen everything there is to see at this point. So I'll see you two later, I guess?"

"Of course! See you later, Ben!"

And then they were two.

"Do you have more people you want to say good-bye to?" Marinette asked, glancing around. "Because, ah..."

"You have to get back to work too, don't you?" Adrien asked, and she nodded. He gave it a second's thought and then shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I talked to pretty much everyone that I would want to talk to before the ceremony. We can go back and then I can get started on getting things cleaned."

"You can leave some stuff for me to deal with, you know," Marinette pointed out. "We could just clean in the evenings when I'm there, so you don't have to do all of it."

Adrien just shook his head, placing a single hand on the small of Marinette's back to guide her through the crowd ahead of him. "I'm just going to be floating around aimlessly during the day anyway, so I might as well clean and pack. I don't mind, really. And I can pick up some boxes from the post office for us to pack our blankets in to ship them home, too. You just worry about getting stuff wrapped up at work."

"Only if you're sure."

"I'm sure." Adrien had to resist the urge to duck down and press a kiss to Marinette's cheek. He contented himself by giving her side a gentle squeeze. "Give me five minutes to change out of my bat gown and then we can leave, okay?"

Adrien let out a triumphant little huff as he finally got the last of the dishes out of the top cupboard. They were large plates that he and Marinette only rarely used, and as such, there was a thin layer of dust both on them and on the shelf. He shoved the plates in the dishwasher, then hopped back up on the chair he had dragged into the kitchen to wipe out the shelf.

"I doubt the landlady is really going to look there," Plagg drawled, floating into the kitchen. "You're just being picky now."

"Maybe so, but I know if I were moving in next, I would want the place to be good as new." Adrien rolled up on his tip-toes to reach the very back of the shelf, then came back down as he worked towards the front. "And it's not that much extra work. I'm not doing the dishes by hand or anything. And what else would I do with my time?"

He shouldn't have asked, really. But Plagg perked up, leaping at the opportunity.

"You could go to the cheese market! Or- ooh, there's a farmer's market tomorrow nearby, I bet that there would be some cheese stalls there-"

"Forget I asked." Adrien moved down to the next shelf, emptying it into the dishwasher and wiping it clean. "And I have plans tomorrow, remember?"

Plagg gave him a puzzled look. Adrien sighed and leveled a Look at his kwami.

"The ring?"

"Oh! Right!"

Rolling his eyes, Adrien went back to work. When the dishwasher was properly full, he got it going and then headed out of the kitchen and towards the hall closet to do a bit of cleaning there. He and Marinette both still had a couple light coats left in the closet- a rain jacket and zip-up hoodie each. After some deliberation, Adrien decided to get the hoodies packed and leave the rain jackets, just in case. From there he moved on to the row of shelves on the other side of the hallway, opening all of the doors along the section and seeing what they had left there.

It...wasn't too bad. There were a couple sweaters that hadn't made it into earlier trips back, but they were light enough that they wouldn't take up too much space. Marinette had several pairs of shoes still tucked away, and Adrien knew enough about both Marinette an fashion to know that there was no way that Marinette would consider leaving the shoes behind. The only other thing left was a couple sets of spare sheets- both he and Marinette had had two sets for their beds, so now they had four between them- and a few blankets that they had deemed too heavy to be on their bed now that it was summer.

Maybe they could narrow down their collection of sheets a bit and donate a set or two along with their towels instead of trying to bring them back. The blankets they would keep- after all, Marinette had either made them or added embroidery or other decoration, and so they couldn't just be replaced with a run to the store.

Adrien hummed to himself as he moved everything that needed to be packed to the couch, making sure that things were folded neatly. The sheets went in a separate pile, so Adrien could ask Marinette about them later.

At last, their apartment was starting to look more bare, like they were actually ready to move out instead of barely making a move towards it.

(Adrien didn't like it. It was starting to feel too impersonal, not like a home. It wasn't bad when Marinette was there and they were hanging out together, but when it was only him and Plagg? It felt like just another place, not personal at all.)

Their suitcases were filling up, and it felt good. Adrien scrubbed and cleaned, then went back to the kitchen to get the cleaned dishes out of the dishwasher.

He was guessing that the two of them might not want to have to bother with doing all of the fiddly cleaning later in the week, so it had to get done now.

By the time Marinette got home late in the afternoon, every last dish in the kitchen had been cleaned and the hallway closets were clear. Adrien had vacuumed the living room as well, getting up all of the discarded threads and fuzz from Marinette's commissions. Her sewing machine had been taken down and packed away the night before, even if it wasn't going to go back to Paris right away, so Adrien didn't need to worry about knocking into it at all.

"We can get this over to Abbey's apartment tonight, I think," Marinette said, knocking on the sewing table. "She's wanted to replace the one she has, so sooner rather than later. And then we can feel like we made even more progress."

"Empty closets are good closets," Adrien agreed. "And empty corners."

"And empty fridges are also good," Plagg said loudly, zipping around the corner. "And look, I can volunteer to help you empty it!"

Adrien grinned. "Great! There's some leftover broccoli in the fridge that I've been wonder what to do with. I'll go grab that for you really fast-"

The affronted look on Plagg's face made the rest of them all laugh.

Marinette woke up on her last Sunday in London to breakfast in bed and a cuddly boyfriend. It was the perfect way to start a morning, in her opinion.

And they would be spending the entire day with each other, focused on being together instead of each being wrapped up in their own projects or studying. Adrien had persuaded her to set the packing aside for a day to go explore some flower gardens, since it was spring and things were really blooming.

It would be the most date-like thing they had ever done outside of their apartment, which meant they could easily get seen by Adrien's fans and thrown right back into the tabloids. But it was nearly time for them to go home anyway and any stories about them didn't really matter anymore, so Marinette agreed to go along with the trip. Besides, it made Adrien happy, and she so loved seeing his smile.

"They have some lovely ornamental shrubs," Adrien told Marinette as they took the bus to the gardens. "And sculptures, and fountains. But the flowers are the main attraction at this time of the year."

Marinette nodded. She had been to several gardens before, and they were always gorgeous. Part of her was always seriously curious about the amount of time it took to keep the grounds up and looking so pristine. Her own balcony plants were a weak substitute for a garden, and while they were pretty, seeing them bloom was nowhere near as gorgeous as seeing an entire garden covered in greens and yellows and pinks and all of the other colors of flowers in bloom.

"It's the perfect day for a trip," Marinette said, glancing out the window. There were only a few wispy clouds in the sky, and it was warm but not overly hot. "I'm glad you suggested it."

"And I'm glad that you agreed." Adrien reached over just enough to brush the tips of his fingers over the back of her hand. "It wouldn't be nearly as much fun to go on my own."

It wasn't a long bus ride, and then they were at the gardens. After a brief play-argument over who was paying, Adrien bought their passes and led her into the gardens.

And then they explored, and explored, and explored.

"I haven't been here since our prank," Marinette told Adrien as they admired a fountain. "You would think that I might have, since it's a great setting for a photoshoot, but nope. We've used different settings."

"You've said. Big Ben, the London Eye, the Globe Theater..."

"I think Madam Rosalie likes playing up the London-based thing," Marinette admitted. "But I do know that the group that does formalwear and wedding outfits comes here pretty often. I've just never really joined them since."

Adrien smiled and nodded, the tips of his fingers brushing over the back of her hand. Marinette smiled over at him, endlessly smitten.

How had she gotten so lucky as to get Adrien as her partner and boyfriend? They were made for each other in pretty much every way.

They wandered through a garden of tree sculptures, admiring the trimmed bushes and twisted branches. Tikki tugged on Marinette's sleeve and alerted the to the presence of a likeness of a woman hidden among the branches of one old tree.

"It's fun to find them," Tikki told them. "Traditionally, in- oh, I think are traditional in Japanese gardens, but I might be wrong- they just occur naturally, and gardeners delighted in finding them. I think some nowadays might have some help in forming when a gardener really wants them for aesthetic reasons, but it's hard to know. It could have just formed like that."

"Very cool." Adrien craned his neck to look at the figure again. It would be really, really hard to see from any other angles, simply blending into the tree, but at this angle there was no mistaking what it was.

"Do you mind if we sit for a little bit?" Marinette asked, glancing around. "It's just- everything is so gorgeous, and I want to sketch a few ideas I just had down before I forget them."

"Of course!" Adrien led the way to an empty bench. "Sketch away. I was just thinking that it would be nice to get off of my feet for a bit. We've been walking around a lot."

Marinette beamed, settling down immediately and pulling her tablet out. Adrien watched over her shoulder as two flowery summer dresses took shape, followed by a pair of flared pants. An enlarged section showed intricate beading around the neckline of one of the dresses, and the other had trailing embroidering.

"Oh, this is a lovely spot for inspiration," Marinette said happily, her pen flying. "And- oh, I just had this idea for fringed pants. They would be a little out there, but so much fun if I can get the proportions right."

Adrien grinned. "Oh, that does sound like fun. Especially to spin around in."

The next garden had a lot of flowers, color everywhere. There were flowers nestled in the junctures of branches and vines twining up the trees and over trellises. It was gorgeous now, but probably wouldn't be very popular in a few weeks, once the flowers dropped their pedals and the garden turned mostly green.

"It's amazing how they've arranged these so that all of the plants get enough sun for good flowers," Marinette said, glancing around the gardens. There were hardly any bare patches, or areas with plants that weren't flowering. It seemed that they had really come at just the right time. "And then- Adrien, look here! They have some plants with really decorative leaves, too. This is so pretty!"

They found a tucked-away bench in one of the back gardens to sit on while they ate the lunch they had brought. There were plenty of cookies- Marinette had had a little too much cookie dough squirreled away in the freezer and had ended up baking up most of it in one large batch.

Tikki had been thrilled. Adrien had been equally excited and had sampled a few too many cookies the previous night. It seemed to have only slightly deterred his appetite for them now, so it was good that Marinette had packed a lot of them.

"There's only a few more sections that we haven't visited," Marinette commented as she perused the pamphlet that she had picked up at the entrance. "There's a sculpture garden back a bit farther. That would be fun! And I kind of want to peek in on that garden where we had that photoshoot and see what it looks like now, since the last time we were in there it was fall."

Adrien grinned and nodded. "Yeah! That would be fun." He packed up the remains of their lunch and gave her a hand to pull her to her feet. "Come on, my Lady. We still have garden to explore."

Adrien was having more than a little trouble staying focused as he and Marinette wandered through the gardens, exploring a few more sections as they worked their way towards what had been their photoshoot garden, where he had decided to propose. He shouldn't be this nervous, really- he and Marinette had talked about getting married, after all, and Tikki had helped him pick out a ring they were sure Marinette would like. The ring wasn't ridiculously fancy or anything, though, which was starting to worry him a little. It was a carved band with a pretty pattern, and the gems inlaid in the band were a bit on the small side and mostly served to add a little extra sparkle.

Still, it was gorgeous and Tikki was positive that Marinette would absolutely love it.

"I can't believe we haven't been here since the photoshoot," Marinette said as she bent down to sniff some flowers. "It's absolutely gorgeous! And this is probably the best time of the year for it, too."

Adrien grinned. It seemed that Tikki (and Madam Rosalie) hadn't led him wrong with the location for asking Marinette to marry him.

"Oh, the private gardens area is open!" Marinette exclaimed as they got further down the path. "Do you think we can go in? I'm curious about what it would look like in the spring."

"I'm sure it'll be fine if you do," Adrien said, knowing full well that those gardens were normally closed off to keep them looking nice for events. He had asked Madam Rosalie to ask the garden owner if she could leave the gate open for them so he could propose in the same place they had originally gotten "married".

Plagg, who had initially come up with the idea, thought it would be funny. Adrien thought it would be romantic.

Marinette nervously edged forward, glancing around as if she was worried that she was going to be yelled at. She vanished into the garden, and Adrien followed.

As soon as Marinette got into the garden, all of her attention was on the flowers there. It was a mishmash of absolutely gorgeous flowers on the ground and in the trees, bordered by decorative vines and plants with particularly pretty leaves. Adrien followed her, vaguely aware of Plagg zipping out of his pocket with the camera he had brought. He wanted engagement photos, but he wouldn't feel comfortable with having any other people there. Plagg and Tikki were going to be with them no matter what, so they might as well help.

Tikki, who had abandoned Marinette's jacket for Adrien's under the pretense that Adrien's pockets were larger, was staying in his pocket for moral support because Plagg sucked at moral support, unless he was in a certain helpful sort of mood.

"Ooh, this is gorgeous," Marinette breathed, reaching out to brush her fingers across some petals. "This was such a good idea to come out here, Adrien. And we picked the perfect day for it, too!"

Tikki pressed the ring box into Adrien's hand. Adrien's knees started to shake.

Marinette continued around the garden, oohing and ahhing at the flowers. Adrien's legs got more and more shaky as Marinette approached the lattice arch that they had gotten "married" under. He couldn't for the life of him think of what he could say to get Marinette's attention once they got to the exact place where he wanted to propose, he couldn't remember what he wanted to say, and he was possibly going to trip over his feet and fall on his face.

Tikki nudged harder. Adrien tried not to flinch.

Okay, maybe Plagg would have been better for moral support after all. Tikki just wanted him to hurry up and propose.

"Ooh, look at the arch!" Marinette gasped, abandoning the small purple flowers she had been admiring to inspect the vines trailing up the trellis. "That's really pretty! I wonder how much time they spend maintaining these gardens. It's absolutely impeccable."

"Well, they do have to keep them nice for events and such," Adrien managed. Marinette was right under the arch now, right where he wanted her. Tikki's pushing had become so insistent that Adrien was having a hard time keeping his hand in his pocket. Taking a deep breath, Adrien wobbled down onto one knee, pulled out the ring box and opened it. The ring sparked in the sunlight. "So it, uh, looks good in pictures."

"Yeah, I guess so-" Marinette started, turning around. She blinked at the empty air above Adrien, clearly taken aback for a moment when she didn't see him right away. Her gaze dropped down and her eyes flew wide open before her hands clapped over her mouth. "Oh."

Adrien's smile got a little more confident. That sounded like a good oh. A nudge on his side reminded him that he actually had to say something, not just hold up the ring. He cleared his throat and tried to find his words.

"Marinette," Adrien started and miraculously, his voice didn't squeak. "My Lady. My partner in everything. Love of my life. I can't ever imagine not having you in my life and by my side. So- will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Oh my god yes," Marinette breathed. A smile was spreading across her face, replacing the surprise. "Oh my god yes."

She said yes. She said yes!

"Great," Adrien managed, then shook himself. Great? What kind of response was that? "I love you, bugaboo," he added, slipping the ring onto her finger and straightening to press a light kiss to her lips.

Marinette returned the kiss, smiling the entire time. She grinned at him as they briefly parted. "I'm never going to get you to let go of that nickname, am I?"

"Nope," Adrien proclaimed grandly, pulling Marinette into a dip and kissing her again. They stayed there for several long seconds, enjoying the moment before Adrien pulled them both back up. He gave her another quick peck on the lips. "Love you."

Marinette giggled and kissed him back. "Love you too." She raised her hand, inspecting the ring. "This is gorgeous, Adrien. Wow."

Adrien did a small fist pump, making Marinette giggle again.

"I helped!" Tikki said, phasing straight out of Adrien's pocket with a cheer and zipping in circles around Marinette. "I told him you would love it! Congratulations, you two!"

Adrien grinned as he watched Marinette cuddle Tikki. She was absolutely glowing, and the ring looked absolutely perfect on her finger.

"We wanted to make sure it would be a good ring for you when sewing," Tikki was telling Marinette. "Is it?"

Adrien glanced over at Marinette- his fiancée, how exciting- suddenly anxious. He could remember the fancy stones on his own mother's rings, significantly larger than the ones on Marinette's ring. Of course, his mom hadn't been a designer- she was an actress and occasional model, and of course her ring had to come off when she was pulling the designer clothes on and off. To his relief, Marinette was beaming.

"It's perfect," Marinette assured them. She twisted her hand, making the ring sparkle. "If they were any bigger, they would probably snag. And these are perfect for this ring. It's really gorgeous, Adrien," she added, letting go of Tikki to pull Adrien close again. She tugged him down to pull him into a deep kiss, one that probably bordered on inappropriate considering that they were technically out in public. "I love you."

Adrien grinned down at her, unable to resist dipping down to steal another kiss from his fiancée. His fiancée. It felt so, so right to be able to say that. "I love you, too."

A/N: The chapter that could easily be titled 'A Patchwork Of Important Events" lol

The next update will be an Outtakes chapter that was originally part of the main story and then didn't quite end up fitting very well. .. but I didn't want to get rid of it, because I really liked one of the scenes in it.