No room to swing a Cat?

29 - The gift

"I can smell breakfast!" Alya said, standing at the door.

Marinette broke the eye contact with Adrien to look at her friend, a little confused. Somehow her mind kept thinking about the latest confession of love – the one she'd been waiting for years!

"Oh, there you are, sweet lovebirds! Don't you have enough yet?" Alya sang ironically. "Were we so annoying too, Nino?"

"You still are..." Marinette muttered and turned back to the cooker. Adrien chuckled.

"Don't be mad, girl!" the friend came closer. "Better look at the beautiful ring I got from my Nino!" She waved meaningfully with her left hand.

"Because you didn't want to say 'yes' without the ring..." the newly minted fiancé commented wryly.

"Oh, come on, babe!" Alya laughed. "I'd accept you anyway! Yet..." she hesitated, still staring at her ring. "I'm glad it's so beautiful... That confirms myself in the belief that I've made a good decision."

"If I didn't know you so well, I'd feel offended right now..." Nino commented, kissing his fiancé in her ear. Then he sat down next to Adrien and looked curious at his plate. "What's there today?"

"Mine!" Adrien moved the plate away from his friend. "Not sharing!"

"You've always been so possessive?" Alya joked. "Or it started after your realisation what a precious you'd had just in front of your nose for all this time?"

"The result, not the cause is all that matters now..." Adrien answered back and added in a more serious tone: "Being aware of all those wasted years is painful enough, so let it go, OK?"

"My poor sunshine boy..."

"Here you are!" Marinette cut in by putting a plate in front of Alya, interrupting her bantering.

"So sweet?!" her friend noticed wryly. "Do you want me to drive me into diabetes or to get fat? I'll have to buy an oversized wedding dress? Really? So envious? You're going to ruin the most important day of your best friend's life..." she was mumbling.

Marinette rolled her eyes and just squeezed a lemon over the plate, as she'd done before for Adrien. Alya became speechless – as Adrien before. She was chewing slowly and staring at her best friend in an awe.

"So good?" Nino asked, taking the advantage of sitting between Adrien and Alya.

He didn't manage to even touch the crepe, because his fiancé moved her plate away from him and mumbled barely understandable "Mine!", after which the rest burst out laughing.

"Isn't it like what's yours it's his?" Marinette joked.

"We haven't got married yet! And I want this recipe as a wedding gift!"

"I'll think about it..." the cook replied and put the last plate in front of Nino.

"Oh, come on! I want that recipe!"

"Geez..." Nino muttered while eating his crepe so fast as if it was a competition. "I want that recipe too!"

"What for?" his fiancé asked in surprise. "You can't even boil an egg..."

"The secret lies in technique not in the ingredients..." Marinette only smiled. "You'll be lost with or without the recipe..."

She chuckled, when she heard her friends' teasing about who was a worse cook. Then she turned back to the cooker, but suddenly the sight of Adrien staring at her with a lovesick smile drew her attention. She leaned in over the countertop, and he whispered:

"One day some man will be thankful to have you..."

She ran out of breath, because she recognised her own words.

"Some man?" she asked ironically, raising her brow.

"Oh, right, my mistake... I will be thankful to have you..." he corrected himself immediately and added with a tender smile: "I've already been..."

"Much better..." she stroked his cheek and went back to cooking.

Adrien laughed quietly. He felt like bliss filled him completely. He couldn't believe that he needed so little to be so happy.

"What's so funny?" Nino asked, glancing at his friend suspiciously.

"He's happy because he'll have these crepes forever..." Alya commented, but after a while she added with satisfaction as if she suddenly found out the solution: "We'll be dropping in for breakfasts."

"Dropping in?" Nino spotted. "They're moving out?"

"Not yet. But how do you imagine it will look like? Where will the kids sleep?"

Nino choked with his crepe and looked at his fiancé terrified.

"Wh-What kids?"

"Our kids, babe. Some day! I'm not telling you we'll have them now! But some day they will appear. If not ours, there will be theirs for sure." Alya pointed the other couple who blushed instantly.

"Probably I'll move out as soon as my home is renovated..." Marinette whispered, suddenly sad. She felt so well in this apartment.

Adrien glanced at her, uncertain. They had had such a great time that he totally forgot about her house. It occurred to him suddenly that Marinette treated her stay at Alya and Nino's as temporary, so as soon as she could, she'd come back home. That thought was painful for him. Even though her house wasn't halfway around the world, for him it was like on another planet.

"There's no room to swing a cat in here..." Marinette whispered in his ear, taking the advantage of their friends' noisy teasing. "Even though some alley cat told me once that no one would notice..."

Adrien looked at her with hope suddenly awakened in his heart. And then he heard:

"There will always be a room for a certain Cat in my home..."

He smiled in response, feeling like his brain just melted like the butter on a frying pan. Although he was aware that his friends' apartment had been a safe shelter for him for last few years, he'd never been here so happy as for those last two weeks. Especially from last evening. All in all, it didn't matter where he was going to live, if only the woman of his life lived there with him.

"What are you whispering there about?" Alya cut in, and Marinette rolled her eyes. Adrien only chuckled.

"We're planning our future..." Marinette said and went back to cooking.

"Don't plan too much for the evening!"

"Wait, what?" they both asked in surprise.

"We're going to have a little celebration of our engagement tonight! With you both."

"But..." Adrien began, but words died in his mouth. He glanced at Marinette, helpless. They were to have their first date tonight! The first of a million.

"A date will still be there, don't worry. You can go out tomorrow." Alya ignored her friends. "Besides, tomorrow we're out with Nino to celebrate with our families, so you'll have time for... uhm... dating... Alone..."

"Uhm... Al?" Marinette tried to say something, but her friend had already decided for all of them:

"No more complaints! I'm a bride so you can't refuse anything I ask!"

"You're sure you know what you're doing, man?" Adrien joked and earned Alya's glare.

"I'm okay with that, dude..." Nino muttered staring at his fiancé with admiration.

"So, it's decided!" Alya summed up and continued her breakfast.

Marinette only exchanged glances with Adrien. Their date had to wait...