Stitches • Marichat

Epilogue

Let's play a game! Can you spot how many references to the first book I made? Let's find out!

"Marinette, where are you taking me?" Adrien heard Plagg snickering from within Marinette's purse, where he was hiding along with Tikki. The two kwamis had plenty of their respective snacks with them as well. Adrien could feel Marinette's cold hands on his arm as she pulled him to whatever destination it was that she had in mind.

"You know, it definitely takes the surprise out of something if I tell you, right? Just follow me." Marinette giggled as she continued to tug him along after her. The pair hadn't been walking for long, just having left the bakery about five minutes ago, but Adrien's curiosity got the better of him. He followed behind her, smirking as a thought crossed his mind.

"You know that I'd follow you to the ends of the Earth, bugaboo." He completed the line with a wink that was hidden behind the pink scarf Marinette had placed over his eyes. While she couldn't see it, he knew he had gotten the reaction that he wanted when he her hand clench his just a bit tighter. He could practically feel the heat of her blush ooze off of her and he smirked. Even after these few weeks of knowing that Adrien was Chat Noir, she still wasn't used to Adrien being flirty to her and sending her pick up lines. The other day he had said one to her, and he truly thought he had broken her ("Can you take me to the vet? Cause you just took my breath away." "You know we're already dating, right? You don't have to use pick up lines anymore." "Yeah, but they still make you look like the prettiest cherry I've ever seen." The blush wouldn't disappear for a long time).

He loved knowing that he had this effect on her. But it would be unfair for him to say that she didn't do the same to him. Simple things she does makes his heart beat wildly, as if they had only started dating. In reality, it had been almost 4 months since they began their relationship, and Adrien truly hoped that this feeling he had would never go away. In his heart, he knew that Marinette would always do something that made him feel like an excited, lovesick fool again. He wasn't too worried on his end. As for her, Adrien was fairly certain that she would be happy with him, as she hasn't said or done anything that showed otherwise.

After a short while, Marinette finally pulled him to a stop.

"Surprise!"

"Alya, you're supposed to wait for her to take the blindfold off of him..." Nino. That was definitely Nino; Adrien has heard that voice of disappointment one too many times to not be able to recognize it.

"Then how would it be a surprise? He wouldn't be scared."

"You don't scare them, you shock them- oh whatever." Adrien's lips curled into a smirk as he heard his friends playfully argue with one another. Marinette carefully untied the scarf hanging over his eyes, allowing him to see Alya and Nino bickering with one another.

The group of friends were inside of Alya's home, bunched up inside the living room of the apartment. Scattered across the room were a few loosely hung black and green streamers, sunken black balloons with a bright green paw hanging from the ceiling, clearly lacking helium. On the coffee table by her couch were a platter of croissants and cupcakes, and then a few healthier options for Adrien. Said boy smiled as he thought about how kind that was, Alya knowing that he would feel guilty if he ate too much of the sugary desserts that didn't belong in his very strict diet.

Next to the table sat three wrapped presents and one brightly colored gift bag. The gift bag was a whole clash of colors that would have made his father gone mad, and by the looks of it, Marinette wasn't holding out too well either; glancing over at the present every few minutes and twitching an eye. The sky blue plastic had orange polka dots covering it, lavender tissue paper hiding the contents within the bag. Next to the bag sat a square box, wrapped in white paper with silver "Bon Anniversaire!" printed repeatedly on it in an almost impossible to read cursive. A red glittery bow sat on the upper right corner of the gift, giving it a little burst of color. The larger gift next to it was what Adrien predicted was Nino's present, being badly wrapped with a blue wrapping paper with striped candles covering it. And the final present was the most neatly wrapped, a tame olive green with a black flower-looking ribbon on top of the rectangular box.