Love by Design - Adrienette

United in Fear of Marriage

Marinette felt numb. It was official, she was marrying Adrien Agreste, but it wasn't the joyous occasion of her fantasies. Yes, she loved him. Yes, she was pretty sure he felt the same way about her. Still, there was one aspect that filled her with unease, choking out any premarital elation she was supposed to be feeling. Neither she nor he was supposed to be told that they had to do it.

Beside her, Adrien hadn't made a single verbal complaint, but she could see how he kept shaking his head like he couldn't believe what was happening to him. For what seemed like the hundredth time, they reached out to squeeze each other's hand, reassure each other, tell them they were going to make it through this. Again, completely the wrong vibe.

Her parents had apologised profusely when they'd sat down to talk with Marinette, and later with Adrien. They emphasized how they were out of other options, the time when they would be thrown out on the street looming dangerously close. However, they had maintained that if either teen was unwilling to go through with it, that they would rather become homeless than inforce this marriage with an iron hand. Despite being less than thrilled with their circumstances, the secret superheroes were quick to resign themselves to terms. They just couldn't do that to her parents.

Nathalie's suggestion had opened up a potential backdoor for them, wich provided a shallow layer of comfort, but it looked painful. Divorce was such a bitter word. Even if from a marriage that had been nothing but a technicality, neither of them wanted to have "divorced" ever apply to them. They knew they were going to do everything they could to make their marriage work, but the intended sanctity of the vows they were soon to make would be forever stolen from them. A shadow would hang over their relationship for the rest of their lives: it wasn't their choice.

Everything they were supposed to do was handed down to them. They were just to go here, say that, just days before they'd endured a rigorous medical examination that French law required all couples to take within two months ahead of being wedded. Almost nothing about the ceremony itself was within their control, not even their wardrobe, wich was an extra sting to Marinette. What kind of designer had no say on her own wedding dress?

The one thing they were allowed to choose was their chief attendants, which was noncontest to them. Considering the somber mood surrounding the upcoming wedding, Alya was unnervingly exuberant to be appointed Marinette's maiden of honor. Thankfully, Nino was more sober about his acquisition of best man.

Adrien and Marinette did have a bit more say on things that were going to happen after the wedding, such as when Gabriel took them house shopping.

Of course, they didn't have absolute free range of the housing market. His father handed them a list of 250 homes he had preaproved, but it still was enough to overwhelm the young couple. When they had narrowed it down to their top 10 on paper, he took them to see the rest in person.

Adrien was actually rather excited about this part. He was eager to be gone from the cold, unwelcoming house of his childhood, and he predicted that the primary difficulty of living with Marinette would be around her getting up in the morning.

He was yet to witness the monstrosity first hand, but he'd been assured by her parents as well as Alya - who'd had the occasional sleep over with her best friend -, that Marinette was the champion of ignoring an alarm clock completely and sleeping through its loudest tones. Her parents conceded that she'd gotten a little better about it this past year, but Adrien knew she had a bug in her ear, Tikki by name, who managed to make the scattered girl a little less so.

"One good thing about this," he told Marinette as they took a last look around the home they'd already reported as their favorite "is that the kwamies can have free run of the house when it's just us home."

"Really?!" Plagg was immediate in shooting out from behind Adrien's jacket, intent on exploring their new home for himself.

"Not yet Plagg," Adrien stuffed the kwami back in his shirt. "After we move in, after the wedding."

"Hurry up and get married all ready." The black kwami grumped.

As they came back out into the front, Marinette spotted her soon-to-be father-in-law shaking hands with the property owner and signing something. She began to stumble as the reality of the situation came crashing down on her.

"Marinette!" Adrien caught her by the elbow before she could go down. "What's wrong?"

"This is real. Here is where we will spend our lives and raise our family together."

It became all too easy to see the faint outlines of their as-of-yet imaginary future children running around the side of the house. Adrien felt his knees go weak and could no longer hold up both of their weight, so he eased down to the ground, letting her fall gently beside him. "This really is happening, isn't it?"