And it definitely became a crisis meeting.
After Adrien had shown Nino the folders and Nino had leafed through them for 5 minutes in disbelief, they agreed that they could no longer get to grips with the situation on their own. They needed support!
And who would be a better support than the best friend of the wooed?
Alya was thrilled. She had to be begged a little at first and Adrien and Nino had to make concessions to her that they would certainly regret later, but Alya as an ally was definitely worth it.
Nino would certainly get used to the fact that his child would be called Perceval at some point, but with some luck it would be a girl, he could live with Elaine.
Adrien told the two of them what he had allegedly learnt from his colleague. This was nothing new for Alya.
She was also given a pen for the whiteboard and the three of them set about brainstorming.
'I think Marinette needs security at the moment. She doesn't want to tie anyone down who might regret it in a few years' time.' With these words, she gave Adrien a meaningful look.
He just smiled innocently; self-reflection wasn't really his strong point.
'I would never regret it! I want to be there for her and since I know she's pregnant, I only want to be there for my child!' he replied with raised eyebrows.
'You have to prove that to her! The best way to do that is to write her a crazy folder just like she did for you! With schedules, checklists and, best of all, color samples of the nursery walls!' Adrien and Nino looked at her with wide eyes.
'What? I know my girl! She always wanted the totally cheesy proposal, a house, 3 children and a hamster with ...' em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"you/em, she choked on the last word, then cleared her throat and continued: 'Never mind, it's too late for that. You should have thought of that earlier, maybe then she wouldn't have been so broken by the on-off relationship with Luca.' There was a dangerous glint in her eyes at these words and Adrien and Nino swallowed hard.
But as is often the case, sometimes you only hear what you want to hear and Adrien and Nino were particularly adept at only hearing what they wanted to hear.
'A cheesy proposal, hmm? That would be an idea!'
'Dude, great! We need a ring, a horse-drawn carriage, roses! Preferably the top floor of the Eiffel Tower!'
Alya eyed him incredulously 'So Mr Romcom and Mr Cuddlesong. How exactly are you going to organize something like this on a Saturday morning for Sunday evening? Everything is closed! By the way, it's February, it's bloody cold, it's only great in nice weather!'
Adrien visibly slumped at these words, but then he remembered that he still had tonight as Chat. Chat Noir didn't need permission for anything. He would simply pick her up from her flat and take her there. She wouldn't even know where her head was because of all the romance, she would say yes and everything would be fine. Of course, he would also tell her who he was and that he knew who she was. It was just perfect.
'Hello, is anyone in there?' Alya asked him, waving a hand in front of his face. That brought him back out of his daydream. She had made other important counterarguments that he probably should have heard.
'Guys, thanks, you're the best, I have to go buy a ring before the shops close. Alya, diamonds or rubies, which do you think she likes better? Can you find your way out?'
'Dude, I'm coming with you! I know the perfect jubilee! We've only got two hours until the shops close.'
Shaking her head, Alya patted her baby bump. 'At least your cousin will have the two of us. She's going to rip him up in the air.'
He found a beautiful white gold ring with a single ruby cut into a heart. The perfect ring for his lady. Nino was blown away at the sight. He bought a new bunch of roses. He had completely forgotten to hand over the bouquet from the day before due to all the excitement, it was perfect for the petals he wanted to scatter.
He then spent an hour in the bathroom and another hour in front of the wardrobe. As Chat, she didn't see what he was wearing, but he was finally going to show her who he really was.
By the time he got everything ready at the Eiffel Tower, he was in quite a hurry. After all, he didn't want to keep his princess waiting. In his rush to do everything right, he didn't even notice the wind, which was getting stronger and stronger.
He arrived punctually at Marinette's balcony. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of her.
When he knocked gently on the balcony door, she looked up, smiled at him and made her way to open the door for him.
Hello Chat, thanks for coming, I really need to talk to you!' she greeted him. But he just held his finger in front of her mouth.
'Shoo, tell me Purrincess, did it hurt?'
She looked at him confused 'Did what hurt?'
'When you fell from the sky? You're clearly an angel!' he asked her with his widest smile.
She just rolls her eyes. All ladybug and shook her head. 'Come in, we need to talk seriously. Can you do that?'
'Of course I can, I need to talk to you seriously too. But not here. Put on a jacket and come with me!' He had already gone to her cloakroom and held the jacket out to her.
Marinette snorted, but let herself put on the jacket and slipped into her boots. She went to the door and asked;
'So, where are we going?' but before she could fully register what was going on, he picked her up like a bride and carried her to the balcony.
'Hey!' she protested, but by then he was already taking her across the rooftops of the city to his destination.
When he dropped her off at the Eiffel Tower, Marinette was already shivering from the cold, the wind was howling, it was snowing, it was a classic mid-February day in Paris, just cold and wet.
The wind had already blown away the scattered rose petals.
'What are we doing here?' she asked, confused, rubbing her upper arms to warm herself up a little.
'Marinette, my princess. You are the light of my life. My sun by day, my moon by night.' He looked into her eyes, but his words didn't seem to reach their intended target, which made him slightly uneasy.
Plagg had practised these innocuous words with him so that he wouldn't get caught up in anything that she might not take so well. That he was Cat Walker, for example. The little god thought it was all a stupid idea, but what did he know?
But the fact that Marinette just looked at him as if he had fallen from the moon while she shivered with cold unsettled him.
He cleared his throat 'Well, when I found out that you were going to have a child, I immediately realized that the three of us belonged together.'
That sentence.
According to Plagg and according to Nino, he shouldn't have said that sentence.
He realised why the moment he saw the look on Marinette's face. There was no more confusion, only anger.
'What do you mean, when you found out I was having a baby?' she asked calmly. Yelling at him would probably have been better, because there was something very threatening about that calm. It was the calmness of someone who knew exactly where she would hide your body after she had killed you.
'Erm... Cat Walker?' he asked with an innocent smile and hunched shoulders.
'Marinette, will you marry me? You and I make a perfect team. The two of us against the world?'
Oh oh, that was the other sentence Plagg absolutely meant he shouldn't say.
"Marinette froze. 'What did you say?'
'M'lady...' oh yes, and another thing he wasn't supposed to say.
'What. Did. You. Say?' there was a pause, the air was palpable.
'Since when do you know?' her tone was hard.
'Since I found your lucky charm at the disco, at the Christmas party.'
'You weren't at the Christmas party!' she whispered, and then she realised everything. If he had been a little afraid of her before, it was nothing compared to now. There was murder in her gaze.
'I'll let you know when I get the test results.' She said, turning away. 'Tikki, spots on!' and she was gone.
'Plagg, Claws in.' He muttered.
'Well, that was a No, I'd say.' Plagg said without humour in his voice as the two of them looked after Ladybug, who disappeared into the distance.