47. Chapter 47

Their last week in London flew by in a flash, full of packing and cleaning and slightly teary good-byes. They had shared the news of their engagement with Marinette's team (and, of course, Madam Rosalie had already known) and with Paul and Ben, and they had even had a bit of an engagement party rolled into the good-bye party that Marinette's team had thrown at the end of the week. It had been great to share their news with people who had been absolutely thrilled for them, no questions asked.

Adrien and Marinette both hoped that they would get similar reactions once they were back home.

"Let's stop by your parents' place first," Adrien suggested as their train drew closer to Paris. The sky was getting darker, which meant that the bakery would be closing soon and they could talk to both Tom and Sabine at the same time. "They're more likely to be understanding."

"They won't understand why we didn't tell them," Marinette sighed. "And all I can tell them is that I thought they would be really likely to tell Alya."

"They would probably think that you would tell Alya right away," Adrien agreed. "So it's not like you're coming completely out of left field."

Marinette could only shrug.

No one was there to meet them at the train station, which they had planned. If they had told anyone exact details, the Gorilla might have come with Gabriel and they would have to explain why they returned to Paris on the same day. They would get completely interrogated by Alya and Nino if they called their friends, and Marinette had thought that her parents would probably still be in the middle of cleaning up the bakery when their train pulled in.

So they hopped on a bus instead.

"I'm so glad we brought some stuff back for the wedding," Adrien grunted as he lifted his suitcase onto the bus. It felt like he had stuffed it full of rocks. "And that we shipped the rest, except for the stuff that you left with Abbey and Sarah. I wouldn't want to be dealing with carrying more than what we have now."

"It's good that our apartments were furnished," Marinette added. "I wouldn't want to have to haul pots and pans and silverware and-"

Adrien groaned again as they paid their fare and headed for the seats. "Oh, that would suck."

"What's going to suck is telling your dad," Marinette said. "I'm not looking forward to that."

"Me either." Adrien let out a long sigh and slumped into the seat next to Marinette. Even with the heads-up that he had given Nathalie at the start of the week- she was currently the only person in Paris to know about their engagement- there was only so much preemptive damage control that she could be expected to do. "Nathalie said she did something that might help, but she couldn't elaborate. She just said to give her a heads-up before we go to the mansion so that she could prepare."

"Mysterious." Marinette let herself lean against Adrien's side, lightly enough that it wouldn't be immediately obvious to the other people on the bus. Not that it mattered anymore, not really. By the time anything went to print, they already would have broken the news to their families. "Are you staying in your old room until we can find an apartment, or do you think you'll be staying in my old room?"

"I'd like to stay in your room, if your parents are okay with that." They had briefly discussed it once or twice while they were in London, but they had been so focused on trying to find jobs in Paris and looking at possible apartments that they hadn't really fully finalized their immediate plans. "They might not be. I'd understand if they don't want to deal with having another adult in the house, even if we don't plan on being there for long."

"They adore you, you know that."

Adrien gave her a small smile. "Adoring having me as a guest and adoring having me stay there in your room for an indeterminate amount of time are two different things, especially considering that we're dropping a surprise engagement on them." He slid his hand into Marinette's, turning it so he could see the ring glittering on her finger. He had heard stories online where the glitter and sheen of an engagement ring wore off and people regretted buying the ring they did over another one, but that hadn't happened yet at all. Marinette clearly adored her ring, and they had already seen that the finest silks could be brushed past the ring and not snag at all. It wasn't too plain, and yet would be able to fit well with any outfit Marinette chose to wear.

And it was a sign that she had agreed to marry him. The possessive cat in Adrien purred.

The bus rumbled forward, and soon enough the familiar storefronts of their neighborhood came into sight. Adrien felt the smile on his face grow- they were home- and he could see Marinette grinning, too.

"Well, we're back for good," Adrien said cheerfully, standing and tugging on the bell to get the driver to pull over at their stop. "Are you ready, my Lady?"

"With you at my side? Always."

Tom and Sabine had just finished putting things away in the back kitchen and were coming out to wipe down the front counters when movement on the sidewalk caught their eye. They paused, then scrambled to hide behind the display case closest to the counter.

Because out on the sidewalk, looking very cozy with each other, were Marinette and Adrien.

"I knew they were going to get together soon," Sabine said happily as they watched their daughter relax into Adrien's arms. She rested her head against Adrien's chest and Adrien dropped a kiss on the top of her head. Marinette glanced up at him at that, and they shared a tender smile.

"Ooh, that back rub goes to me," Sabine said gleefully, elbowing her husband. "I told you something was going to happen between the wedding and when they got back, and I was right."

"They still might be in denial," Tom said, sounding hopeful. "We don't know that something happened."

Sabine huffed. "You're just being a sore loser. Just look at them staring into each other's eyes like that, they're- oh! Look, look!" The pair on the sidewalk had started leaning in towards each other. Sabine whipped out her phone as they drew closer, poised to kiss. "Oh, they're so cute. Just think of the green-eyed grandbabies!"

"I think it's a little soon to be talking about that," Tom said, even as he held up his own phone to capture a photo of the two kissing. Despite his earlier protest, he looked eager as he watched Adrien and Marinette draw closer, closer-

Only to give each other a chaste little kiss on the lips.

"Oh come on," Tom and Sabine both groaned, disappointed when Adrien and Marinette stepped apart with no further kissing.

"That wasn't even picture-worthy," Tom grumbled as the duo on the sidewalk linked arms and headed for the side door. "Lame. If I was going to lose the bet anyway, they could have at least broken the news in a more dramatic way."

Sabine elbowed him as they straightened up out of their hiding places and headed for the side door to meet Adrien and Marinette. "Don't say that to their faces. Besides, they might not be fans of PDA. Making out on a public sidewalk could get them in trouble."

"Ugh."

The doorbell rang, and they rushed to answer it.

"Act normal," Tom hissed, hand on the doorknob. "Don't make them suspect that we saw anything."

"I should be saying that to you," Sabine hissed back. "Just act normal. Don't greet them by offering to bake them a wedding cake or anything like that."

"I wouldn't do that!"

"You're home!" Sabine exclaimed, opening the door and beaming at the two of them rather arguing the point with her husband, because he knew perfectly well that she was right. Tom just didn't want to admit it. "Come in, come in. Do you guys want something to eat?"

"That would be great, Mama," Marinette chirped, pressing a kiss to her mother's cheek. "Is there anything we can do to help you guys clean up first?"

"The cleaning can wait." Sabine ushered them in, noticing with interest that Adrien had his luggage still with him. Apparently they hadn't stopped at the Agreste Mansion yet, even though it was closer to the train station, or maybe Adrien was intending to stay in Marinette's room now that they were back in Paris.

If it was the second option, that would mean that Adrien and Marinette were serious in their dating, even though they presumably had only recently gotten together. Even though she had wanted Adrien as a son-in-law for years, she might have to have a talk with Marinette about the wisdom of them having their own separate spaces until they had been together for a bit longer.

"We have a whole variety of things you can choose from," Tom announced as he helped Adrien and Marinette get the last of their things in. "Croissants, tarts, macrons, cookies, muffins, wedd- er, cakes-"

Sabine sighed and leveled a look at him. Clearly she shouldn't have mentioned wedding cakes earlier, because now he had the idea in his head and it was more likely to slip out.

"I'll have a croissant or two," Adrien said, grinning and hugging Sabine and Tom. "It's great to see you guys again."

"We're glad to see you kiss- er, kids- as well," Tom said cheerfully, cringing slightly at his slip-up and hoping no one noticed. He quickly grabbed a plate and two croissants plus a cookie before heading back over to where the group was standing. Sabine had her face buried in her hands while both Adrien and Mariette looked somewhat amused.

...apparently they hadn't missed his mistake after all. Bugger.

"So did your last few weeks in London go well?" Sabine asked as Adrien practically inhaled the first croissant and Tom fetched a muffin for Marinette to eat. "Busy?"

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look that was a little too full of grins. "Yeah," Adrien finally said after a pause. "Pretty busy. We had to figure out how to get everything home, and then there was the graduation ceremony, and Marinette had projects to finish up for Madam Rosalie plus the commissions she got independently. It was a lot to do."

"And cleaning up the apartment took forever," Marinette added. "After being there for so long, we just had stuff all over, and then we had to clean while we were still living there... it was an actual pain."

"Yes, it is easier when you have a bit of a time overlap between a new place and an old one," Sabine agreed. "Tom's mother always complained about that whenever she moved to a completely different area."

"Which she does often," Tom grumbled. "You would think that she would settle down now, but no."

Sabine tried not to grin. She was pretty certain that Tom's mother simply picked the smallest, cheapest apartment in whatever area she chose to live in just so she would have somewhere to store her things while she jetted off (or motorcycled off) to wherever she wanted to explore next.

Tom was still anxiously jiggling as he watched Adrien and Marinette eat their snacks. Sabine stepped back to watch the two of them, and noticed their entwined hands, hidden by their bodies.

Aha. So that was why Adrien was eating with his left hand instead of the right. She had wondered.

Standing with her hand wrapped in Adrien's, Marinette was getting more and more nervous. Her parents had clearly noticed their little show on the sidewalk, and it was clearly only a matter of time before they brought it up.

And now her mother had clearly caught sight of their hands, and she was nudging her dad and pointing. Marinette purposefully took another bite of her muffin, taking her time to enjoy it just to see how long her parents lasted before they cracked and started interrogating her and Adrien.

It didn't take long.

"So for how long have you been dating, then?" Tom asked as soon as Marinette had polished the last crumbs of her snack. "Curious minds want to know. A couple days, a few weeks, a month...?"

"Over a year," Marinette admitted sheepishly, grinning at her parents' startled expressions. "Nearly two, at this point."

All of them jumped when Tom let out a triumphant shout, apparently having recovered quickly from his surprise. "HAH! So this isn't a recent development, then. It happened way before Alya and Nino's wedding."

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a puzzled look. That...was not the reaction they had been expecting. "...yes?"

"So I won the bet, then!" Tom turned to his wife with a wide grin. "The back rub is mine!"

Sabine spluttered, clearly taken aback. "But- but- no, but they're dating-"

"But it didn't just happen, so it doesn't count. You specifically said that you would win if something happened between the wedding and now. It happened well before, so technically-"

"I hate technicalities," Sabine grumbled.

"Hang on," Marinette said as she slowly caught on. "You're saying you bet on us?"

Her parents didn't look even remotely abashed. "Of course," Tom said cheerfully, beaming at them. "You two were so close at Alya and Nino's wedding, but since you hadn't said anything we assumed that the two of you hadn't figured out your feelings for each other yet. It was just for fun, dear," Tom added when he saw the look on Marinette's face. "And if you still hadn't sorted yourselves out by the time you got back, your mother and I were going to do some hardcore matchmaking."

Suddenly Marinette was feeling much, much less guilty about having hidden their relationship from her parents. Still, she groaned and buried her flaming face in her hands. Adrien, who wasn't doing a whole lot better, patted her shoulder comfortingly and tugged her snugly into his side. Even though they were dating- engaged, his mind reminded him helpfully- it was still strange to have his girlfriend's- er, fiancée's- parents talking about their plans to set the two of them up.

Tom and Sabine would probably get along fantastically with Madam Rosalie, maybe a little too well. Adrien briefly wondered if he and Marinette should maybe rethink their plan to invite Madam Rosalie to their wedding before deciding that no, it wasn't as though she would possibly be able to scheme with Marinette's parents that much. He and Marinette were already together, after all. In theory, they shouldn't be embarrassed by others mentioning how cute they were together. In reality...

Well, it was just a bit embarrassing. But he was sure that they would get used to it eventually.

"And you didn't tell anyone?" Sabine asked, clearly attempting to distract them from the bet that she and Tom had had going on. "Why not?"

"We just wanted to be super-careful about keeping it secret so that Mr. Agreste wouldn't stop helping Adrien with tuition and rent," Marinette explained, trying for a sheepish grin. "Since he tried to ban Adrien from dating and all. And we weren't sure if you guys and Alya and Nino would be able to resist telling someone else, and what if you told someone that didn't understand why we had to keep it a secret and it got out? We just decided it was safer to not tell anyone."

"Well, I can't say I fully understand," Tom said, patting the two of them on the shoulder. "But if you're happy, that's what matters- hold on, is that a ring?!"

Saying that Marinette's parents were shocked was the understatement of the century. They were thrilled, of course, and had practically started planning the croquembouche tower for the wedding already, Marinette could see it in their eyes, but they hadn't been expecting Adrien and Marinette to actually be engaged, even after hearing that the two of them had been dating for two years.

"And this is for real this time?" Tom checked with Adrien as Sabine exclaimed over Marinette's ring. At Adrien's nod, he grinned. "Good boy. Do you have a wedding date set yet?"

"We only just got engaged last weekend," Adrien said with a laugh as he glanced over at Marinette. He couldn't stop the smile that slid across his face as he watched his fiancée. "I need to get settled in at my new job, we don't know where we're going to be living yet- well, we have a few , and Marinette is still looking for a position that would suit her that would be in the city. We figured we should probably get that figured out first before getting into wedding planning." He grimaced. "...and we figured that we should also probably focus on actually surviving telling Alya and my father about the engagement. No point in getting ahead of ourselves."

Tom laughed. "Ah, I'm sure Alya will forgive the two of you eventually. She'll probably be too happy about it to cause too much damage." He didn't say anything about surviving Mr. Agreste, Adrien noticed. That was probably smart. Even he wasn't sure what to expect from his father. "So, are you kids going to tell us about the proposal? And details? When did you ask?"

"We have pictures," Adrien told Tom, pulling out his phone. He had uploaded the pictures that Plagg had taken onto his computer, then emailed them to himself so he could have them on his phone. He noticed that Sabine and Marinette had stopped their conversation and had returned their attention to him. He held up his phone with the best of the proposal photos, and both Tom and Sabine clustered in close to see it. "I proposed last weekend, in the same garden where we got fake-married." He grinned, and both Tom and Sabine awwed. "Right under the trellis, too. Madam Rosalie pulled some strings so that we could get into that part of the garden, since it's a private part and normally it's locked up so it doesn't get messed up."

"It was so gorgeous, Mom," Marinette gushed, grinning widely. "There were all these flowers, and it was lovely outside, and there was no one else in that part of the garden, so we had it all to ourselves."

"It does look gorgeous," Tom agreed as he and Sabine flipped through the photos on Adrien's phone. "Good job with the proposal, son. I mean, it might have been nice to know about it ahead of time, but eh. Not a big deal in the long run. And it's pretty funny, I have to admit." He clapped Adrien on the shoulder. "Welcome to the family, son. Want another cookie? Some cake? We can bake your wedding tower, right?"

"We wouldn't dream of getting it from anyone else," Adrien assured him. Tom grinned widely.

"Great! So do you have preferences on flavor, or style of sugar work, or fillings-"

"Tom!" Sabine interrupted, laughing. "They have plenty of time to decide on stuff like that later. Don't harass the poor boy." She handed Adrien's phone back to him. "Those were very sweet pictures, Adrien. Fantastic job on the proposal."

"Not pictured is how incredibly nervous I was," Adrien joked, accepting his phone back. "I thought I was going to forget French completely or something."

Tom laughed. "Oh, that's common," he told Adrien. "Even if you're 95% certain that you know what the lady is going to say. I was a ball of nerves before I asked Sabine. I kept thinking of all of the worst-case scenarios and absolutely everything that could possibly go wrong- and a couple things that couldn't go wrong, but I was still worried anyway."

"So did you have one of your London friends take the pictures?" Sabine asked. "You must have, or word would have gotten out about your engagement before you even got home."

Marinette nodded, looking happy as her parents hugged her again. "Yeah! We hadn't wanted anyone to know, so that it wouldn't accidentally get out, but it was hard to avoid keeping it a complete secret. Abbey moved into my old apartment last summer so she could forward all of my mail to Adrien's apartment, so she found out. And I found out at the same time that everyone on my team already suspected that we were dating, so we did end up confirming it with them."

"And yet you didn't trust your parents," Tom sniffed, then grinned when Marinette gave him an utterly exasperated look. "I'm joking, cupcake. I'm sure it felt easier to control who knew when they were people you saw every day. And I can't deny that your mother and I might have gotten a bit excitedif we had known, though we would have tried our best to be careful."

"But enough about that." Sabine beamed at them, happy tears in her eyes. "You have to get settled! Will you be staying here while you look for apartments? We'd be happy to have you for as long as you need."

Marinette threw herself at her mom to hug her tightly. "I was hoping you would say that! That would be great."

"I'll help with the bags," Tom volunteered, leading the way towards the stairs. "It's times like now when I wish that we didn't have quite so many floors, but oh well. We're in shape, right, Adrien?"

"If you say so."

Tom laughed.

Once the last of the suitcases and bags were settled in Marinette's room, Tom and Sabine had to head back down to the bakery to finish tidying up for the night.

"And we have to go duck out for a bit, too," Marinette reminded Adrien, who looked like he would much rather curl up on her lounge chair and relax for a bit. "To let your father know that you're home, and pass on the news."

Adrien groaned loudly but followed Marinette back down the stairs.

"Time to face the beast," Adrien jokingly called into the bakery as they headed out the door, only half-kidding. "...you'll call the police if we vanish, right?"

Tom chuckled. "Oh, now you're being dramatic," he said. "Your father has to understand that you're an adult now and don't need his permission to do things."

"Yeah, I know. But try telling him that."

Nathalie greeted them at the door when they arrived at the Agreste Mansion, taking note of their lack of luggage with a single raised eyebrow before leading them into the foyer.

"Your father will be expecting you," she informed Adrien. "It might work better if you go in by yourself first, and then introduce Miss Dupain-Cheng afterwards." She managed a small smile at the two of them. "Congratulations on your engagement, by the way. As unorthodox as it might have been."

The Gorilla, who had just entered from the dining room, blinked and looked a bit startled. His gaze jumped between Nathalie, Adrien, and Marinette, finally settling on the ring on Marinette's finger. His eyebrows shot up, but as usual, he didn't comment.

Feeling nervous, Adrien knocked on his father's office door and stepped inside. His father glanced up from where he seemed to be arranging photos of models into their runway order. He set the photo in his hand down, then half-rose. "Adrien."

"Father," Adrien responded, feeling awkward. His father's distant greeting stood in such stark contrast to the Dupain-Cheng's welcoming hugs. "It's good to see you."

"I'm glad you're home," Gabriel responded, sitting back down in his chair again. "I've had your room freshened up for your arrival, and Nathalie will get a schedule to you for modeling. Do let her know if you need something changed for a job interview or something. And, there was one other thing that I needed to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Adrien managed, stomach churning. Clearly his father was expecting things to go back to practically the same as they had been before he left for London. Having to break the news he had would be hard.

...and clearly his father had either forgotten or not been listening when Adrien told him that he had already gotten a decent entry-level intern position in a lab with a research group. Perhaps he should just remind Nathalie, as she was more likely to actually remember.

Gabriel nodded. "Yes. After some deliberation, I have decided that it would be beneficial for you to get a girlfriend. Nathalie has alerted me to the fact that you're old enough that some might see it as strange that you haven't been on any dates before. Nathalie will provide you with a list of eligible women, I believe. Or perhaps she was waiting to consult with you first, so she can take your taste in women into account."

...Adrien wasn't sure what Nathalie had done (and he wasn't sure that he would ever find out, either), but clearly he needed to thank her.

"Ah, funny you mention that, actually," Adrien started, hoping that his grin wasn't too awkward. He glanced towards the door, where he could see Nathalie peering through the slightly open door. She nodded encouragingly, and Adrien steeled himself and continued. "There's, ah, someone I want to introduce you to."

Gabriel glanced back up (because of course his attention had gone back to his work as soon as he was done issuing instructions to his son). "Huh?"

The door swung a little further open and Marinette darted through to join Adrien. Her hand curled around his tightly. She was clearly as nervous about this as he was, though she was doing a good job of keeping a fairly neutral expression on her face. Gabriel's gaze darted to her and then back to Adrien, clearly puzzled.

"Father, I wanted you to meet my fiancée, Marinette."

Gabriel dropped back into his chair and stared at the two of them, wide-eyed. "Your- I- I'm sorry, what?"

...well, he wasn't yelling, at least. Yet.

"This is my fiancée, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Adrien repeated, letting go of Marinette's hand so he could wrap his arm around her waist. "You've met her a few times before, remember?"

"Your fiancée," Gabriel repeated, still clearly shocked. "I- what- your-" He shook himself and focused his still-shocked gaze on Adrien. "For real this time?"

"For real," Adrien confirmed. "I get the feeling that we're going to get that question a lot," he added to Marinette. He grinned, though it was a little strained. "I can't imagine why."

Marinette groaned and elbowed him.

"That is...a surprise," Gabriel choked out. "I, ah... are you sure?"

"Yep," Adrien confirmed, though he wasn't sure if his father was asking him if he was sure about the relationship or sure about the engagement not being a prank. Either worked. "I asked last week. We were waiting until we got home to say anything to anyone."

Gabriel gave himself a little shake and then his expression settled back to impassive coldness, just like before. That was an impressive recovery, actually, but Adrien far preferred the Dupain-Cheng's open-armed welcomes and congratulations. "I don't recall ever lifting my ban on dating while you were in London-"

"I am an adult, Father," Adrien reminded him, trying not to grit his teeth. He was so, so glad now that the Dupain-Chengs had been willing to host both him and Marinette, because at least they treated him like an adult rather than a child to order around and that meant that he would actually be happy to go home, instead of dreading it like he would if he had gone back to living with his father. "I don't need yourpermission to have a relationship. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. I kept our relationship out of the tabloids and that was all that you cared about, right?"

Gabriel's jaw worked wordlessly for a moment as he tried to find his words. Clearly he hadn't been expecting Adrien to push back. "I- I mean, I suppose that- yes, perhaps- but-"

"And we kept it a complete secret while we were in London," Adrien continued, figuring that it wasn't too much of a stretch. Very few people had learned about their relationship. "So anything they printed was entirely conjecture and based on the behavior of two friends."

"Somehow I doubt that," Gabriel muttered. He cleared his throat and steepled his fingers, directing a glare at Marinette. "So will you be moving to London permanently, then?"

Adrien blinked, taken aback. "I- what? No, we're going to be living in Paris. Why would we be moving to London?"

"Miss Dupain-Cheng has a job in London, does she not? A job that she's been working at for three years now?"

Marinette frowned, clearly feeling as confused as Adrien felt. "No, that was just a temporary internship. I just got it extended for two years longer than it was meant to be originally, since Adrien was going to still be in London."

"Well, why didn't you ever say so?" Mr. Agreste half-exploded at Adrien. "Then it would have been fine for you to date, no need for secrecy at all."

Adrien blinked, taken aback. He could feel Plagg's I-told-you-so quiver in his pocket, but... "I told you that she was just interning at Madam Rosalie's ages ago, though!"

"Yes. Well. I forgot," Gabriel returned stiffly, as though it wasn't entirely his fault that Adrien had had to keep his relationship under wraps for two years, just because he never listened to anything that Adrien ever said. "I cannot be expected to remember what all of your friends are or are not up to."

Clearly, since you can't even remember what your son is up to, Adrien wanted to say, but it was probably best not to aggravate his father further.

"At any rate, it was nice to meet you again, Miss Dupain-Cheng," Gabriel continued, casting a rather disdainful look in her direction. "Congratulations on your engagement. Adrien, I want you to give a full update of your job search to Nathalie at breakfast tomorrow morning, so she can get a better idea of what your schedule will be like-"

Adrien had had enough. "I already have a job lined up, which I already told you about a month ago when I got it. I'll be starting in two days. And I'm not going to be staying here. I'll be staying with Marinette in her room. Her parents have already invited us to stay for as long as we need to find our own apartment."

"That's not appropriate," his father stated immediately. "I must insist-"

"We are engaged," Adrien cut across again. "And also not teenagers or children. And we've been sharing an apartment for over a year. It is perfectly appropriate for us to share Marinette's old room. And speaking of which, I believe it's time for us to head back, since Marinette's parents will be expecting us for dinner. Good night."

With that, Adrien turned and marched out, ushering Marinette ahead of him.

"That didn't go nearly as badly as it could have," Marinette said later. "I mean, he did accept our relationship. Eventually."

"I liked telling your parents better."

Even with their parents clued in to their relationship, there were still two more people who deserved to get the news in person. Adrien texted Nino asking if he could come over and talk to him before Alya got home from the newspaper, and Nino agreed.

"So you said you had news?" Nino asked in lieu of greeting as soon as he opened the door for Adrien. "What is it? Don't tell me you're going to move to London permanently. I'd die of loneliness without my best bro."

"You seem to have made it this far without seeing my gorgeous face every day," Adrien joked as he gave Nino a hug. "But no, I'm not moving to London."

"Models and their egos," Nino sighed as he led Adrien inside. "Okay, so you aren't moving to London. Where are you moving to, then?"

Adrien had to snort at that. "Why do you keep assuming that I'm moving?"

"Because you sounded so serious when you told me that you had news you had to tell me in person and that's exactly what you said before you told me that you were going to be taking off to London for three years," Nino retorted. Then he paused. "...so wait. You aren't moving?"

"I'm moving back to Paris, but everyone already knew that." Adrien looked a little nervous. "This is something else."

"You're making me nervous, dude," Nino said warily, eying him. "Are you sick or something?"

Adrien looked somewhat puzzled. "Uh...no? Do I look sick? Why do you keep assuming the worst?"

"Because you're being strangely mysterious and serious about something!"

Adrien laughed. "It's not bad news, I promise. It's just..." He shook himself and let out a breath. It did not make sense to be this nervous. This was Nino. "Okay. Marinette and I are engaged."

Nino stared at him like a statue for a full thirty seconds, then turned and banged his head hard once against the wall, nearly making Adrien drop his phone in surprise. Then he turned back to Adrien and, in a scarily calm voice said, "I'm sorry. I think I must have misheard you. What was that again?"

Adrien stared at him, startled. "What did you do that for?"

"Because I must have misheard you, because I thought you said that you and Marinette are engaged."

"We are!"

"Dude. Okay, I knew you were a bit socially incompetent, but this goes beyond a little misinformed," Nino groaned after several more seconds of staring yielded nothing besides a sincere-yet-slightly-puzzled-looking Adrien. Nino rubbed his forehead, looking exasperated. "I can't believe I have to tell you this, bro, but most people date before they up and get married."

"I'm engaged, not married," Adrien pointed out helpfully.

"Yeah, well, most people date before they get engaged, too!"

"Uh..."

"But do you do either? No, of course not!" Nino was pacing now, hands running through his hair. "You would think that Marinette would be a little more reasonable, but she said yes? When you hadn't even been dating? How-? I can't even. You guys are ridiculous."

"Actually, we were dating," Adrien said helpfully before Nino could start banging his head against the wall again. As fun as it was to watch his friend work himself up into an exasperated frenzy, he didn't exactly want to have to be the once to explain to Alya why there was a Nino-head-shaped dent in their living room wall, or how Nino had gotten a concussion. "We just figured that it would be a good idea to tell as few people as possible since we didn't want the reporters or my father hearing about it and making a fuss."

Nino fixed him with a look. "And you didn't trust Alya or I not to say anything?"

Adrien had to good grace to look sheepish. He had to admit that now, in retrospect, he and Marinette probably could have found some way to tell their friends and just make it very, very clear that the news was not to be shared. There probably had been no need to keep their dating as closely guarded of a secret as their secret identities but, well, old habits were hard to break. Besides, it was pretty funny. "We were worried that someone might overhear you talking about it in public, or that Alya wouldn't be able to resist telling Rose or Mylène and then they would tell someone else."

"Fair enough, I suppose." Nino still looked fairly exasperated. "Still, we could have been careful, and you could have told us, like, a couple months before you came back. We could've kept a secret that long, at the very least."

Adrien raised a single eyebrow.

"...or maybe not," Nino admitted after a moment of consideration. "Alya probably would have been very loud about you two finally getting together. She will be very loud as soon as she finds out."

"Yeah, Marinette's insisted that I come with her when she talks to Alya to act as a bit of a shield," Adrien admitted. "So, uh, can we stop by later to break the news? Just act surprised."

Nino snorted. "Oh, I knew there was an ulterior motive for you coming and telling me first. If my wife wants to attack you and your fiancée, I'm not gonna stop her, just a heads-up."

"Thanks, bro. Your support means everything to me," Adrien said dryly. Nino laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. Congratulations and all that, I guess, but dude. Seriously. You. Are. Ridiculous."

Alya, as expected, was thrilled to see them again. And Alya, as expected, picked up on their squirmy behavior within minutes.

"So, you two look incredibly serious over there," Alya said suspiciously as she backed up a couple steps, eyeing them up and down. "Why, I can't for the life of me guess. Care to enlighten- is that a ring on your finger?"

"We're engaged," Adrien confirmed with a grin.

And Alya screamed.

Nino, Adrien, and Marinette all flinched away, clapping their hands over their ears. Alya could be incredibly loud when she wanted to be. Alya screamed for a full thirty seconds before she ran out of breath. She took a deep breath, and all of them cringed, preparing for another round of deafening screaming.

Instead, Alya visibly composed herself and then turned a suspicious look on Adrien and Marinette.

"Okay. Right. Ha ha very funny, you two. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I'm not falling for that again." Alya crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes further. "Whose ring did you borrow this time?"

"It's mine," Marinette said indignantly. "Why is it that no one believes us?"

"Your parents did," Adrien pointed out helpfully. "But then again, we told them about the dating thing first."

"That's true."

"That would have been a better lead-in," Nino pointed out helpfully. "And then we could be ticked at you for not telling us that first, and then you could freak everyone out again with the sudden engagement."

Alya spun on him. "You knew?"

"No no, definitely not!" Nino said hastily, putting his hands up in defense. "Your screaming just blew all of my freak-out out of my head and I was just, y'know, suggesting what they should have done given that they just said there had been a dating thing."

Alya lit up again. "They did." She turned on Adrien and Marinette. "Explain. Now."

"We couldn't risk letting it get out to the press at all," Adrien said quickly, before the threat in Alya's eyes could manifest any further. "Not until I had finished university and Marinette had finished her job. And if you had said anything about it in public and someone overheard, or if any of our other friends heard and didn't realize that we didn't want people knowing, the press could have sunk their claws in quickly."

Alya did not look happy. "I could have kept a secret."

Nino snorted. "Babe-"

She whirled on him. "What?"

Nino held his hands up in defense. "Admit it, you would have at least told Mylène and Ivan, and probably Rose and Juleka as well, and maybe even Alix, just so you could gloat about being right-"

"I would not have!" A pause. "Okay, maybe I would have."

Adrien stifled a snort.

"But you still could have told us sooner!" Alya insisted, wheeling back to face them again. "You could have told us that you were dating at the wedding, and then broke the engagement news later!"

"You would have started squealing in joy and then everyone who was there would've wanted to know why," Marinette said dryly. "And then everyone there would have found out, and then Adrien and I would have been hounded for our last couple months. The press in London was already breathing down Adrien's neck and jumping on us for looking close, they would have had a field day if they heard that we were actually dating."

Nino snorted. "Oh, like they aren't going to have a field day with your surprise engagement? I wish I was in contact with some of your friends back there, just so I could ask them to pick up a copy of all of the magazines and read every. single. last. article. to you guys."

"You wouldn't make it, The articles would melt your brain with their stupidity before you even got halfway through." Adrien grinned. "But you're in luck, in case you did want to melt your brain. Sarah swore that she was going to hunt down every article and news report that they do on us and give it to us as our wedding present."

Nino cheered.

Alya still hadn't forgiven them, clearly. She was still giving them a bit of an evil eye, though it seemed a bit teasing. "Ugh. Models and their flairs for the dramatic, honestly."

Adrien spluttered indignantly. "I- what? Why am I being singled out for this?"

"Because you're the only model we really know and therefore we feel more comfortable with generalizing the whole lot of you?" Nino suggested helpfully. Alya shook her head, eyes narrowed at Marinette.

"No, no, we can't let Marinette off of the hook," she told Nino. "They're both crazy dramatic people. Perfect for each other, really."

"I think there was approval somewhere in there," Adrien told Marinette. "Somewhere, buried deep."

Alya finally laughed at that. "No, I'm really happy for you guys," she admitted. "Crazy happy. It's about time, really. I was just really surprised. And that's pretty funny, really, when you think about it. How did your dad take it?"

"Better than expected, still not as well as he could have," Adrien said cheerfully, exchanging a smile with Marinette. "I don't know if he's any closer to properly accepting it today, though, because I didn't go back over. But never mind that. Do you want to help us write a Facebook post announcing our engagement?"

Alya lit up. "Are you kidding? I'd love to!" She grinned widely at them, grabbing her laptop from the dining room table and shoving it at Adrien. "Go ahead and log in. Oh, I cannot wait to see people's reactions to this."

A/N: WOOOOOO back in Paris! And no one killed them for keeping things secret! :D

There'll be two outtakes after this, then the final chapter, which will be an epilogue. I hope you've enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it!