Day 40
Love is a covenant.
The words rolled around Adrien’s mind as he took his time setting up candles for the evening. They agreed to meet here, on the Eiffel Tower, just like they used to do. It had been Marinette’s idea when she brought up how much she missed being Ladybug.
And Adrien had to admit he didn’t realize how much he missed being Chat Noir until he transformed and began running through the city.
He’d bring up the possibility of doing this again, of having this become their bonding time just like it used to be when they “patrolled” the city.
Just as he lit the last candle, Ladybug swung in. Chat straightened, standing tall in pride at his work of setting up candles and flowers everywhere on this little spot high above everywhere else.
She looked over the scene, her eyes wide as she took it in. “Oh, kitty,” Ladybug whined, her eyes soft as she crossed her hands over her chest. “You didn’t have to do this.”
His heart swelled. “For my lady, anything. Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful.”
His grin widened. “I’m glad.”
She set the bag filled with their dinner on the ground before walking up to him and throwing her arms over his shoulders. Instantly, he swooped her up, holding her tightly against his chest as he lifted her feet off the ground. They stayed like that for a while before Chat lowered her back to the ground.
“Thank you,” she whispered in his shoulder.
“For you, milady, the world.”
She squeezed him tightly one last time before slipping from his grasp. She took a breath, clearly composing herself before swiping at her eyes. “I’m going to start crying, and we haven’t even recited vows yet.”
Chat chuckled, though he felt the same way. They had come up here with a purpose, and that purpose was completing the day’s dare: write new vows to recite to your partner.
So they did. They each had spent the day rewriting vows to the other. Adrien remembered the first time he wrote vows, he spent days agonizing over it. Today, he only had a couple hours to complete it, which was nice in a sense because he knew it didn’t have to be pretty, they just had to be true and earnest.
Though, he wanted them to be pretty. They agreed they would get their vows framed together and use it to replace the picture they killed last week.
Oops.
With a steadying breath, Chat pulled out his copy of his vows from his pocket, just as Ladybug pulled out a copy of hers.
He went first, reciting the vows and promises he wrote down and fully intended to follow. Half way through, she was crying, and he wasn’t far behind. And then he finished with pulling a locket from his other pocket.
Her jaw fell to the ground.
“We may not have rings this time around,” he said. “But I want to give you this as a symbol that I love you and always want to be with you, no matter what challenges we face or other rough spots we hit. I want to fight for this marriage because I nearly made the stupid decision to give it up. And I’m sorry. I’m ready to go forward with this marriage stronger than our partnership ever was.”
Ladybug couldn’t even look him in the eye. She was in complete tears, hands over her mouth, as she stared at the necklace. A heart that he had engraved with “Love Dares.”
Carefully, he cracked it open so she could see two pictures. One of them on their wedding day, and one of them as superheroes snuggled together. He owed Alya big time for helping him with that. “May I put it on you?”
“Please.”
He walked up behind her and carefully draped the necklace around her neck. He clasped it, and she immediately reached up to hold the locket that sat right at her collarbone. “I love it,” she said. “I love it.”
“I’m glad,” he said, hugging her from behind. She melted into him, tears still pouring down her face just as a couple slipped down his cheeks.
They stayed like that for a little while longer before Ladybug turned in his arms. “I still have vows to recite to you.”
He smiled, his heart warm. “Okay.”
Just as he suspected, she reduced him to tears with her vows and promises. “And,” she continued. “I knew we wouldn’t have rings this time, either. So I have a little something else to present you with. Something you could keep with you to remember that our time together is precious.”
She slipped over to the bag she’d brought and pulled out a little black box. His heart leapt. She got him something? She was busy all day but still managed to get him something?
With a smile, she opened the box, revealing a pocket watch.
He’d carry that thing with him the rest of his life.
Carefully, he picked it up from the box and looked it over, realizing that it had been engraved, too.
Time is Love
Through his tears, he sniggered. “It’s a pun.”
Her smile grew as a giggle slipped out. “I know.”
He opened it, and in the lid of the watch, there was a picture of them. One from their honeymoon that had been snapped as a candid but was so precious since Marinette was in a Ladybug dress and Adrien was decked in black with hints of green and silver.
“I love it,” he said, closing it and holding it against his chest. “I love it so much.”
“I’m glad.”
With that, he kissed her. Long and hard and fervently. Because this was his wife and the most precious treasure he could ever hope to find.
And he would spend the rest of his life proving that to her.
YOU ARE READING
The love dare
Random⚓After Hawkmoth was defeated, Adrien and Marinette are both hurt, leaving their marriage strained. Worried, Tikki and Plagg decided to take matters into their own hands by issuing a series of dares in an attempt to help their charges fix their marri...
