Destiny

It's Me and the Couch, or Nothing [Cooking Together]

"I don't care what you say, we're not taking it with us!"

"No! The agreement was he came too, you big sour puss."

"It's a piece of crap, Marinette."

"Is that how you see our love, Adrien? Does our love mean nothing to you?"

"Now who's being the dramatic one?"

"I'm not dramatic, I'm just trying to keep our family together."

"Marinette, that thing is more deceased than Julius Caesar."

It had been seven glorious months since New Year's Eve. Seven glorious months since they'd said the big 'L' word. (no, not laryngotracheobronchitis, no one had croup here!) and it was fair to say they were closer than ever, which is why they were currently boxing up Marinette's apartment ready to move her into Adrien's new swanky rich kids pad.

It had been a crazy few months. So let's take it back to December and New Year's Eve.

Marinette and Adrien dropped their transformations as they entered Master Fu's massage parlour, the cover location for Fu and Su Han to work from whilst training Marinette and Adrien in the ways of the Miraculous.

It seemed the kwami's were right. The ladybug and cat bond was extremely rare; It was twice in a millennium that such a pair could be found. Therefore Marinette and Adrien were stuck with these new jobs. Not that they had any issues with it, they'd grown quite fond of beating up bad guys.

Completely shocked by all the information being thrown at them, the hot night they'd originally planned turned into a cold night on a stake out in the Louvre museum with two ancient monks. It seemed a 'statue' was going to appear that needed some superhero perzaz!

They'd found the statue, claimed what they needed (a feather of some sort), and finally headed back to Marinette's at six in the morning, snuggling up in bed and falling straight to sleep.

So much for letting the new year in with a bang.

As the year progressed, the training Marinette and Adrien were receiving became more and more intense, their powers developed to become stronger resulting in some very quick  take  down's of akuma's.  had become a piece of cake. Annoying ... but a piece of cake.

Not only had they missed out on Valentine's Day (thank you Dark Cupid) they'd managed to miss out on most social occasions and Marinette's birthday. Most people just believed they went home to celebrate privately, whereas really they were running around in a super suit trying to capture a giant baby in a yo-yo made playpen.

Su Han and Master Fu had guaranteed them that they were getting closer to discovering the holder of the butterfly Miraculous. All Marinette and Adrien needed to do was keep fighting and the monk men would do the rest of the work tracking down the lost Miraculous.

Their masters were happy with them, seeing that the bond the pair held was some extraordinary, something they hadn't seen before. Regardless of knowing each other's identities, the masters were happy with them continuing their jobs as the key miraculous holders, working together to choose the secondary holders.

Tikki and Plagg were becoming an integral part of their life, the relationship strong and deep, one almost as prominent and important as the heroes were to each other. They had become a strange little family but none would change it for the world.

Time was flying yet Marinette couldn't help but marvel at how easy everything with Adrien was. The way he fit into her life was seamless, and the way she fit into his, it was just a shame Gabriel Agreste was part of that family.

Emilié had remained in London with her sister, both keeping out of the spotlight and doing their best to get away from Gabriel. Félix was still living at home with his mother meaning Adrien was the only one who was still coming face to face with his father. Even though he had initially refused to return, with Marinette's university not allowing a change in her placement, he'd gone back to hell with the intention of supporting her. He was an Angel, and she adored him.

Gabriel was not happy with the relationship, and made it abundantly clear not only to Marinette and Adrien, along with his new woman, Nathalie Sancoeur, but also to the staff at Gabriel. Adrien had been pulled from ad campaigns only for profits and respectability to drop from the lack of his son's face. It seems Adrien was a lot more to the brand than just a model. Luckily, Adrien could use this as a bartering tool, and that's to the physical and mental training of their masters, Adrien was to manipulate and intimidate Gabriel. His main aim was to get his father to back off from Marinette.

Which brings us to now ...

Adrien and Marinette moving into their new home and debating on the infamous couch.

"Kitty, don't be such a grumpy cat! This sofa is an integral part of our relationship. I've created a 12 page PowerPoint presentation if you need more persuading on the subject."

"Marinette, darling, I've got to agree with Adrien on this." Tom entered the apartment ready to grab the next belongings.

"Adrien could say the sky was red and you'd believe him." She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "I know you love him more than you love me."

Tom guffawed, swinging an arm around his daughter's shoulders and pressing a kiss to her forehead, as Adrien rolled his eyes.

Marinette shrieked and pushed her father away. "You haven't even denied it!"

Adrien joined in with the laughter this time as Marinette had a breakdown in front of them. He strolled over to his girlfriend, taking hold of her shoulders and soothing her whilst his arms ran up and down her biceps.

"I suppose the apartment is big enough for the couch to come too, but we are getting a new one for the main living area. This one can go in the study."

Marinette looked away, turning up her nose. "Fine."

"Good," he responded, leaning his head around to the side and kissing her on the nose.

It only took her a couple of minutes to respond, before she broke her serious face with a smile and pushed him away with the tip of her finger.

"Bad kitty," she laughed, being pulled forward and taken into his arms.

"I love you too, Princess."

"I never said I loved you."

"You don't need to." He kissed her on the nose again, a giggle passing her lips.

"As cute as this display is, let's get finished here. I'm hungry and you promised us a spaghetti bolognese for dinner." Tom picked up the last box in the room as Nino entered and took one side of the couch, Adrien the other.

"Careful with it," Marinette shouted after them. "He's a delicate object."

Sabine and Alya side stepped, allowing Adrien and Nino, now joined by Tom, to take the beloved couch out of the apartment and down to the moving van, Marinette being supported by her mother and best friend as she watched it go.

••••••

The boxes had been piled around the room, only the bed (plus covers), dining table and kitchen supplies homed in their new places; the rest could wait for tomorrow.

"Are you sure you two don't need any help?" Sabine asked from her position at the dining room table. There were only two seating choices, the dining table or 'the couch'. Now, due to its unpredictability, everyone had opted to sit at the table and watch Marinette and Adrien, Marinette couldn't understand why?

"We've got it Maman, we cook together most nights now."

"Doesn't Buttercup take you out for nice meals?" Alya piped up, Adrien turning around to face her with a grin on his face.

"Where's the fun in that? I get to be up close and personal with my lady when we cook together." He placed his hands on her hips and kissed her neck as she cut up the peppers. A small squeak emitted from her mouth, a red flush taking over her face as Adrien, once again, showed a little too much admiration in front of her parents.

Her mother had called it sweet.

Her father had 'got used to it'.

But still it was a little too much PDA for Marinette to deal with. As much as she loved Adrien (and oh wow! She really did!) she was still getting used to his language of love. It was flowers and physical contact, and he doted on her incredibly.

But here and now, as they cooked together for the first time in their first home she couldn't deny how lucky she felt.