A/N: This is it! This is the end. Really, truely, I mean it this time. It's wrapped up with a pretty bow. Enjoy and I'd love to hear your reviews! :)

He didn't take her house-shopping. And upon her absolute insistence, he didn't buy her a ring either. ("Not even a promise ring, bugaboo?" "No.") Instead, he took her for ice cream. The Gorilla kindly kept his mouth shut tight about it, for a price.

He got to send a picture to Natalie.

Adrien found out later that she owed him lunch. He'd laugh if he wasn't so shocked his father's employees were making bets about their employer's son's love life behind his back

A two-hour date later, they would officially call themselves established. Laying down all joking, teasing, and jesting, they decided to take it slow. Rushing what they had as friends and partners and potentially more was not a risk they wanted to take. They each wanted this to work. That and they were young and had all the time in the world.

Alya and Nino, when hearing about it after said date, believed them…for all of a week.

"I don't think they know the concept of 'taking it slow'," Alya commented.

"I'd believe it if the only thing they did was hold hands and go on an occasional date. But three times this week, my boy's got caught up in a text convo with Mari. And if they were taking it slow, they'd actually let each other's hands go."

"That and the googly eyes and the love-struck looks on their faces…"

"Dude, they got it so bad."

"You know what they say," came a high-pitched voice that grated on both Alya and Nino in an instant. "Go in fast, burn out just as quickly. Adrien's just indulging in a little fling. He's naïve enough to fall for the 'sweet, innocent' girl. Trust me, he'll be over her and back to mwah in no time."

"Yeah," Alya scoffed. "You just keep telling yourself that, Chloe. You're just mad because Marinette got Adrien before you did."

With a growl and a few scathing words, Chloe marched off.

"We watchin' their backs against Miss Mayor's Daughter over there?"

"Oh, yeah."

So the good friends that Alya and Nino were, they did. Marinette and Adrien were hard-pressed not to notice. Not that they were mad, per say, at the way their friends were sassing the blonde menace and keeping her at bay. And most certainly they didn't encourage it.

Oh, no.

They agreed that if anyone asked, they were too busy hanging out to notice. Which wasn't entirely lie. They spent a lot of time together. Adrien often walked Marinette home, where he would often stay and do homework and play games until her parents proclaimed it dinner time and they begged for him to join. Family dinners soon became a thing for Adrien, and the Dupain-Changs enjoyed his company just as much as he did theirs.

It wasn't all that long until Adrien and Mareintte grew steadily more public about their relationship. Between their hugging and coddling and all around closeness, the entire school knew that they were together and there was absolutely nothing Chloe could do to stop it.

Much to everyone's dismay. If you asked Ladybug and Chat Noir, they'd say that five was way too many times for a single person to get akumatized.

And then came the day that changed it all.

Alya's fault all together.

"Did you see Ladybug and Chat Noir?" The girl squealed on the first day of their final year of school. She then proceeded to shove the newest photo on the Ladyblog in Marinette's face. "They are totally a couple and this proves it!"

Marinette pushed Alya's cell phone away from her face just enough to see the picture. And immediately began fighting the burn inching up her neck. It was a picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir after they had completed patrol, hanging out on the rooftops of Paris. She had thought they had been well hidden.

Apparently not since Alya had a perfectly clear photo of Chat Noir snuggling Ladybug in his arms, his face pressed against her cheek while she wore a smile bright enough to dim the lights on the Eiffel Tower.

Whoops.

Ever since they started dating, Marinette and Adrien had decided that they wanted to keep Ladybug and Chat Noir out of the dating mess. (Rather, it took Marinette a week to convince Adrien of it, but eventually he understood and caved to her wishes.) They didn't need their superhero-selves at the forefront Paris' gossip rags in a "confirmed relationship," nor did they want Hawkmoth to find out and use it to their advantage.

Clearly, they were not careful enough.

"They are just so cute!" Alya squealed loud enough to shake the schoolyard. "And I knew they were dating. I knew it!"

"Who'd you know were dating?"

Marinette felt Adrien's arms wrap around her waist and pull her against his chest while his chin rested comfortably on top her head. She both loved and hated that he had grown so tall.

Alya raised her phone higher to stick in in Adrien's face. "Ladybug and Chat Noir. They are so adorable!" she paused. "Well, next to you two, of course."

"Of course," Adrien said. Marinette resisted the urge to giggle at the irony.

"What are you laughing at?"

Apparently, she had failed. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Adrien shifted so he was now looking at her over her shoulder.

"Nothing," she confirmed, her smile only growing.

"Yeah, I doubt that." He hugged her tighter, causing the now giggling girl to curl up into him while he shoved his face into her cheek. One of his favorite positions.

When they pulled away, Marinette's gaze immediately landed on her best friend, who stood shock still, her wide-eyed gaze bouncing back and forth between the couple before her and the phone she held limply in her hand.

"Alya?"

"NO! WAY!"

It took a substantial amount of bribes in order for Alya to keep quiet. It shouldn't have surprised either of them. Alya was observant and had the eyes of a hawk. She ran the Ladyblog and happened to be best friends with Ladybug's alter ego. Really, it was only a matter of time before she figured it out.

However, now that she knew and had nearly screamed it to the entire school, it would take a bit to get everything back under control.

And while things did get under control, they never did return to normal.

Because Alya loved LadyNoir nearly as much as she loved Adrienette. Since she learned that they were now the same people, all the reasoning that Alya did to justify why Ladybug and Chat Noir were the couple to end all couples and should get married immediately fell directly onto Marinette and Adrien. And her audience was the entire school. It took no time at all before the heckling and harassing started.

On the plus side, Adrien did finally find out what Marinette's ring size was.

About half way through the year, Marinette and Adrien were growing weary, ultimately deciding to seek out private time together while in school. Unfortunately, it stirred up some…suggestive rumors.

Suggestive rumors that somehow, by all of Chat Noir's bad luck, got back to Adrien's father.

When Adrien got called into his father's office, he was nervous beyond all belief. When his father held up a copy of the school newspaper (that Adrien now severely regretted bringing home) opened up to a page of him and Marinette, he knew he was absolutely, totally, and completely screwed.

Three hours later—yes, three—Adrien was released from his father's office. While it started off horribly, it ended on a much better note. Much better.

Hour one was spent convincing his father that absolutely nothing unseemly or suggestive was happening between him and Marinette. That he was still the completely honorable son that Gabriel Agreste raised. And maybe Adrien got in a bit of chastising his father for even thinking for a second that his perfectly respectable son was inappropriately gallivanting around with a perfectly innocent, sweet girl.

While he was aware he was pushing it, his father seemed to accept it. Amazingly enough.

Hour two was spent conveying to his now calmed father all of Marinette's good qualities, her interest in fashion, and her potential to the Agreste brand. Despite being socially deprived when he was younger, Adrien learned a thing or two about how to get a conversation to go in his favor. He knew exactly what to say to convince his father that a potential internship for Marinette would end better for him than it would for her.

It still shocked Adrien that his father agreed.

Hour three…

Adrien would rather not discuss the conversation held during hour three.

What it did end with was his father presenting Adrien with a ring. His mother's ring.

"You get this after I meet her."

Adrien beamed. "Of course, Father."

Telling Marinette the next day was hilarious, to say the least. Adrien was aware he shouldn't laugh at his girlfriend's panic attack, but she was just so adorable, he couldn't help it.

So when the arranged dinner at the Agreste Mansion went not only good but smashingly well, Marinette was nothing short of utterly relieved. Marinette got an offer for an apprenticeship after she completed school. She tried to contain her excitement as she squeaked and stumbled out a "yes."

And after Adrien saw Marinette home, he entered his own home only to see his father standing in the foyer, holding out a little velvet box.

The slight smile on his father's face almost seemed out of place, but it was still great to see. "I trust you'll go about this correctly?"

"She doesn't deserve anything less."

The box was placed into Adrien's outstretched hand. "I'm proud of you."

Adrien's gaze shot to his father, shocked and bewildered at the wide smile on his father's face.

With a nod, his father turned to take his leave. Not that Adrien really wanted him to go.

"So," he said in way of getting his father to stay just a moment longer, "Apprenticeship? Not internship?"

"Of course not," his father returned. "Internship implies that she'll be learning how to design for Agreste. Apprenticeship implies teaching her how to run it."

There had been many times his father had rendered him speechless, but never like that before.

It was only later that night when he stared at the sparkling diamond ring in the little velvet box that Adrien suddenly grew nervous. He was going to ask Marinette to marry him. He was going to do it. He was going to ask her—miss perfect, wonderful, compassionate Ladybug/Marinette, a princess and a lady with a bright, shining future ahead of her—to marry him. He wasn't nervous about her saying yes. He knew she loved him and thought the world of him just as he thought the world of her. He was just nervous about how her parents were going to handle an eighteen-year-old boy asking for their nearly eighteen-year-old daughter's hand.

The answer: surprisingly well.

"Adrien," Sabine told him, "I would be nervous if I didn't watch you two with my own eyes. You two may be young, but love like that doesn't even always exist between married couples. You have my blessing."

"Our blessing," Tom interrupted. "Welcome to the family, son."

Adrien chuckled, but still shook Tom's hand. "I'll accept that welcome only after Marinette says yes."

Of course, he wouldn't ask her until a few months later, after they had finished school. After her eighteenth birthday. Before Adrien would start up university (online, because he wasn't going to leave. Marinette had encouraged him to go, to chase a dream of his own, and he promised he would do it. But he wasn't leaving her. Not a chance.) Before Marinette started up her surely hectic apprenticeship with Gabriel Agreste. Just when everything was calm. Just when the moment was perfect.

A moment that took place after a sweet and simple dinner date that ended with them wandering around Paris for two hours before sitting down on a park bench to eat ice cream and watch the sun set.

"If my fifteen-year-old self could see us now," Marinette started, her ice cream finished but unwilling to leave Adrien's side just yet, "she might just have a heart attack."

"Then I'm very glad she can't," Adrien returned, "because I very much like that you're alive and well."

Marinette chuckled, snuggling in closer against him. "I still remember the day you told me you overheard Alya and I talking about my dream to marry you and have three kids and all that. That was heart attack inducing enough."

Adrien chuckled. "But I'm very glad I did. It lead to this."

She looked up at him, her blue eyes shining brighter than all the lights in Paris. "It did," she said reverently. "Before that, I barely could believe that it would ever happen. Now, I'm really living the dream."

Adrien hummed, suddenly feeling the little velvet box burning a hole in his pocket. "Not quite."

Marinette's smile faded as her brow quirked in confusion. Adrien gave no time for her to ask what he meant before taking her hand, sliding off the bench and onto one knee. Her gasp filled the night and gave him the lightest feeling. "Marinette Dupain-Chang," he began, holding her left hand tightly. "I love you. I love that you are my partner. I love that you are my best friend. I love spending time with you, whether it's wandering around Paris or spending an organized night out. I love knowing you are always there for me, and I love being there for you. Ever since the day I overheard you and Alya talking about your dream, I've hardly been able to picture anything else for my future. I want you. I want to see you happy, all the time, every day. I want to make a life with you, to have three kids and a townhouse. I want to watch you succeed in becoming the greatest fashion designer Paris has ever seen. And I want to always be at your side."

By now, he had retracted the little box and flicked it open, revealing the diamond ring. By now, she was crying tears of joy. "So, Marinette Dupain-Chang, will you please, please do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?"

She couldn't speak. Not past the emotion. Frankly, she couldn't even seem to find a voice at all. So she frantically nodded her head, trying all the while to find the words she desperately needed to say. It wasn't until after he slid the perfect-sized ring on her finger and she collapsed into his awaiting arms did she manage, "I love you, too, Adrien. I love you so much."

Adrien just held her, smiling so wide it nearly hurt while a tear or two rolled down his cheeks.

Because it was moments like this that dreams were made of.