Chapter Text
Adrien stared at himself in the mirror. "I can't believe how lucky I am."
"You say that every day, Adrien," Plagg scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"But I mean it! Do you remember when we first met?"
"You mean that sad little kitten I had to rescue?"
Adrien rolled his eyes, but didn't argue. "Yes."
"I do remember that of course."
"I would never have dreamed of this, that one day I'd be getting married to the woman of my dreams- Ladybug or not- and that I'd be free of my father's expectations... I had no idea I would grow to love baking so much."
"Yeah yeah." Plagg finished off his cheese and looked around before getting up to Adrien's face. "I am proud of you, Kitten. You have come so far, and it is on your own merit, it's never been my doing that made you the Chat Noir that you are, that allowed you to overcome your father being Shadowmoth, or that helped you learn to bake from your parents."
"They're not my parents."
"Adrien, please, they're about to be your parents in law and they've already said they don't mind if you call them mom and dad, which you have."
"On accident!" Adrien blushed, then sighed. "Alright, alright, you might have a point. Might. I can't believe it's been ten years..."
Nino appeared at the door, ready for the day. "Dude, come on, let's get those groomsmen pictures you wanted before the ceremony!"
"Alright. Let's do it." Adrien followed Nino. He still couldn't believe it was the day. He was getting married. He was going to be Adrien Dupain-Cheng.
Marinette had protested, but Adrien was tired of being connected to his father, and dropping his last name was the best way to do it.
Marinette had stopped protesting immediately.
Adrien laughed through pictures with Nino and the others he had chosen to stay at his side. It had been difficult to choose, because neither he nor Marinette had wanted too many people up there with them. He had settled on Luka, Felix, with Chloe as groomswoman in the end.
He could not wait for the ceremony to begin.
.
Marinette waited, butterflies swirling in her stomach as the time neared. She wore the wedding dress she had designed and started sewing years previous.
She watched Rose line up to go up first, then Zoe, then Kagami. That just left Alya, walking up with Nino. They were just waiting for the music to start.
Alya turned and winked at Marinette.
Tikki hovered at Marinette's side. "Don't tell me you're nervous!"
"I think it's an excited nervous," Marinette whispered. "I've been dreaming of this day for years, and it's become a certainty for years. I just hope it lives up to the hype in my head."
"It will... there's your dad."
"Thanks, Tikki." Marinette took a deep breath in, and let it out.
As she walked, she thought about the years after they finally stopped Shadowmoth.
The whole team had been revealed with a few holders unknown as they were not the main holders.
They had thought that the danger was over, with Shadowmoth taken care of.
They should have known better, with superheroes needed for a variety of reasons across the world.
It wasn't long before they were facing supervillains looking to make Paris their new base.
They quickly learned that even though the heroes in Paris were teenagers, they were more than capable of kicking anyone's butts thanks to their Miraculous.
In the early days there were concerns about teenagers fighting the supervillains off, until Marinette and Adrien stepped up and asked Paris who was there to defend Paris if not them?
Supervillains had been in and out for years, often disappearing overnight, then a few years before Shadowmoth first appeared, they stopped showing up completely, like Paris just wasn't for them.
Nathalie confirmed when asked that Gabriel had been Hawkmoth on and off for years, working to drive off any potential villains. He didn't need them interfering with his goals.
Which meant that Shadowmoth had, ironically, kept Paris safe from the problem that plagued many major cities around the world.
Knowing that, and knowing that Paris would not be able to come up with proper superheroes without hiring some within a short time frame, they reluctantly agreed to let the teenagers keep being superheroes.
So long as their parents made sure they were getting sleep and food, and they kept up with their schoolwork and their parents were happy with their superhero-life balance.
With everyone knowing their identities, it was also pretty easy for them to be called out when they were superheroing too much, especially Marinette and Adrien, instead of letting other team members do the work.
Marinette had a hard time not trying to help; with her lucky charm, she could always repair the damage.
But Paris took a cue from other cities, particularly New York as it had the biggest supervillain problem, and started developing a system for clean up and repairs in instances where she could not make it, or on days she was forced to not work.
The rest of their school years went smoothly, followed by going to college and figuring out their careers.
Nathalie helped Marinette build her own fashion business while Adrien decided he'd rather take over the bakery one day instead of taking over his father's business, which he gave to Felix when his cousin expressed interest.
Everyone was surprised when Felix and Kagami started dating, but Adrien knew it would work when he saw Felix smile at Kagami for the first time, a real genuine smile that had been rare to appear before.
Marinette was thrilled for them.
She was still settling into her business, but Adrien was supportive, and she still worked part time at the bakery to take some of the load, especially when there were special orders.
But being able to focus on the special orders and setting up how the business would work easily kept up most of her time.
Marinette was pulled out of her thoughts by the music starting.
Her father took her arm and they stood at the back of the lines, just out of sight of everyone.
"I am so happy for you, Marinette. Adrien makes you happy, and that's all we wanted for you. You have so much more than that."
Marinette smiled up at her dad. "Thank you, for never chasing him away completely."
He laughed sheepishly.
As she stepped into the aisle with her dad, Marinette saw Adrien turn to look. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped and then he was beaming at her.
Marinette took another step, walking slowly as practiced.
As she walked, she couldn't help but think about the little moments that had led to this.
Meeting Adrien, thinking he was a bully, but then he apologized and gave her his umbrella...
All the embarrassing moments of stalking she had done afterwards to try to make sure he actually was as perfect as he appeared, and reluctant to admit her feelings because of how the one time she had admitted her feelings to someone had gone.
Marinette thought about becoming Ladybug and meeting Chat Noir, how he had flirted with her from the get go.
How she had been flattered by his attention, but interested in Adrien. It was nice though, to have someone so interested in her no matter what she said or did.
She thought about how she had grown more confident after becoming Ladybug. Sometimes because of Alya, but mostly because when she was Ladybug she was the hero, and it showed her that she was not the failure she had started to believe she was.
Standing up to the akumatized villains, which gave her the courage to stand up to Chloe. With Adrien on her side more often than not.
The journey to figuring out who Shadowmoth was.
The bakery fire.
Getting kidnapped.
Learning who Chat Noir was by revealing herself.
The fight.
The aftermath.
Realizing that Shadowmoth had been operating for years before revealing himself to keep supervillains from invading Paris, and without him, suddenly a bunch of teenagers were the only ones who could protect Paris.
How they stepped up and dealt with all concerns that they were too young, and the concerns for their safety and their family, as they had revealed themselves without considering the consequences.
Getting through school.
Figuring out her future.
All the while, Adrien was at her side.
There were good moments with just them, with Marinette's parents, with Nathalie and Adrien's bodyguard. With their friends. At school.
Marinette could see that Adrien had tears in his eyes threatening to fall, and that made her tear up.
She loved him. Now, they were going to spend the rest of their lives together.
.
Adrien sat next to his wife at the reception after their ceremony.
His wife!
He had finally married the woman of his dreams, Marinette, Ladybug.
He couldn't be happier.
And to think, for a long time he had never thought it would ever be possible to be so happy.
He had initially only wanted what his parents wanted, because he loved seeing his parents smile at him.
His mom delighted in anything he did and encouraged anything that seemed like a talent, while his father liked having him model clothes.
Then his mom had disappeared, and his father had gotten more distant than ever. The only way to get even a hint of a smile was to give him what he wanted.
It took going to school out of desperation to save him. After all, he hadn't even made it to school in order to meet Plagg for the first time.
Becoming Chat Noir had been incredibly freeing, and at the same time he was gaining confidence from being a superhero, he was making friends and learning what it was to be normal, at least for a bit.
It had been hard, slowly breaking away from what his father wanted. Years of therapy had taught him that it was a typical trauma response to a controlling parent. Many had a hard time saying no to their parents even into adulthood because their parents were so controlling and had extreme punishments for stepping out of line.
Adrien was grateful to know he was not alone in that, that there was a reason it was so hard to disobey his father.
He was more grateful for his therapist, pointing out problems he had considered normal before they could affect his relationship with Marinette and his friends.
Adrien looked over at the gathered people and smiled. They had compromised.
This was their wedding and reception, for family and friends only.
They entrusted Chloe and the rest of their friends with planning the public party for all the people that would be offended to not be invited to the wedding.
Despite that, the wedding ceremony, and parts of the reception were being broadcast so that people could feel included.
Even better were all the superheroes who volunteered to be on call for Paris if something happened so that Marinette and Adrien would be the last ones called if another supervillain attacked.
There were Marinette's parents, his friends, most of their parents who had been incredible throughout the years after he started going to school.
There was Marinette's uncle, and Felix and Adrien's aunt, and extended family they were obligated to invite.
There were superheroes. There was Master Su-Han.
There was his bodyguard and Nathalie, who had always done their best to walk the line between letting Adrien be a child while still following orders.
Both had continued to be there for him after Shadowmoth's arrest.
After his father's arrest.
Gabriel Agreste was not there and for good reason.
Most of the people could not stand to see him anymore, not after what he did.
Even if he did manage to get probation after so long in prison, people would never be happy to see him.
After all, the only reason things ever worked out when he was wreaking havoc was that Ladybug had her Miraculous Ladybugs to fix everything.
Adrien was glad his father could not be there.
He had remained in contact, in the hopes of leaving a door open if Gabriel ever got help and started working on things to become a better person.
Adrien was not expecting much of him, but Gabriel had not even hit the lowest bar that would get Adrien to do more than the occasional visit and life update.
"You okay?" Marinette whispered.
"I'm okay, just nostalgic," Adrien whispered back. "And glad my father isn't here."
Marinette kissed his cheek. "I'm glad he's not too. He never did learn."
Adrien put a hand on her cheek to keep her from pulling away. "But you were always there, no matter what he said. I love you."
"I love you too."
"Can you believe we're here right now, milady?"
"No, I can't, Kitty. It's beyond everything I could have hoped for back when I first became Ladybug."
"It really is," Adrien agreed softly, kissing her once more.
Nino stood up for his speech, starting with a joke about how Adrien and Marinette could get so caught up with each other they forgot that others were around.
That caused them to break apart, blushing, though not nearly so as embarrassed as when they were teens.
Marinette leaned on Adrien to listen to Nino talk about their relationship and how close he was to both of them.
After that, Alya would give her speech, and then it would be time for dancing.
Everything was perfect, even the kwamis were happy with their snack table.
What happened all those years ago had turned into a blessing. If Gabriel had not been trying to lay a trap for Chat Noir, they would not have found each other, and they would not have found him out either.
But that was all the good will either allowed towards Adrien's father these days, as he had never come around fully, despite the love he claimed to have for Adrien.
It wasn't long before it was put out of their minds again for their first dance, with everyone they loved watching and cheering them on.