Unclean Hands 🫴🏻 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

28 | Eighteen

Two Months After

Adrien slumped downstairs and rubbed his eyes as he tried to wake himself up. The doorbell kept ringing like crazy. Nathalie and his bodyguard were out of town for the weekend, so he had the house to himself. They were due to be home by this afternoon.

"Who's coming over at seven in the morning?" He mumbled to himself.

Adrien reached for his phone in his pocket and checked the time. His eyes widened. It was almost one in the afternoon. Did I sleep in?

He never slept in. He was never allowed to.

Without another care, he shrugged. Guess I needed it.

Adrien opened the front door and paused, then smiled big. "Oh, Marinette? What are you doing here?"

"Good morning, Adrien!" She cheered. "Or actually afternoon now, I think. I didn't sleep much last night, so time is a confusing construct right now."

"Why didn't you just use your key?" He asked, confused.

"I couldn't reach it," Marinette said as she struggled to hold multiple wrapped presents and gift bags in her arms. "I had to ring the doorbell with my nose." She stepped forward and pecked a kiss on his cheek. "Happy birthday."

"Wait, it's my birthday?!" He asked himself as he checked the date on his phone. Sure enough, his birthday was today. "Holy shit, I can't believe I forgot."

Marinette walked to the dining room and sat all eighteen of his presents on the table. "Don't worry, I didn't forget."

"You're not saying that's all for me?" Adrien asked with wide eyes as he walked over. "Please don't say that."

"Of course they're all for you."

"How many are there?"

"Eighteen," She boasted. "I spent all night wrapping. It needed to be perfect!"

He smiled at his girlfriend—was she? —and grabbed her hand. "You did not need to get me eighteen gifts, Marinette."

"They're all homemade, if that helps," She tried with a grin as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "I wanted to do something nice for you, after you've been having such a shitty time these last two months."

"Thank you." Adrien leaned down and kissed her. "You're the best. I love you so much."

Marinette stepped back and grabbed a colored-coded sheet from her purse. "Now, some of the presents are meant to be together, so I made this little puzzle for you. It shows you how and in what order to open them."

Adrien didn't argue. He didn't say it was dumb or ask why he couldn't just open the gifts all at once. He appreciated the time and effort Marinette took to make his birthday special. He'd open them exactly how she wanted him to, with no complaints.

"Happy birthday, son."

Adrien turned and saw his father standing at the other end of the dining room table, a fake smile plastered on his dead face. He ignored him and focused back on Marinette.

"You're still okay with going to the Kitty Section meeting, right?" She asked him. "I know it's your birthday, so if you want to stay home and hang out, we can totally skip."

"No, it'll be nice to get out of the house," He answered fast. He wanted to be anywhere but home. "What time does it start again?"

"One," She said, and she checked her phone and gasped. "And it's almost one! Shit, we're going to be late! Ugh, I'm such a curse!"

Adrien rolled his eyes. "I love you just the way you are, Marinette." He kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand.

They walked outside and he climbed on the back of Marinette's scooter, and they rode to Luka's houseboat.

***

Twenty minutes later, and only ten minutes late, Marinette parked her scooter on the sidewalk and she and Adrien walked onto the houseboat together, hands interlocked.

"Seems pretty quiet for a Kitty Section meeting," Adrien wondered out loud. He looked up and noticed balloons and streamers decorated around the dock. "What the—"

"SURPRISE!"

His friends jumped out and threw confetti over Adrien and Marinette.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Adrien smiled. "You guys threw a surprise party... for me?"

"You can finally have one now!" Nino shouted with a grin. "Now that your old man—"

"Nino!" Alya snapped as she elbowed his side, hard.

His best friend gulped. "Uh... sorry."

"It's okay, Nino," Adrien said. "You're right, but I don't want to think about my father today."

Nino wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "Good, because today is all about you, birthday boy!"

Adrien looked around the houseboat. There were two tables set up: one for food, drinks, and snacks and the second for presents. Presents for... him?

Adrien smiled again and tried not to break into tears.

"How does it feel to finally be eighteen?" Ivan asked him. "Feel like a grown up yet?"

"Not in the slightest," He answered honestly. Everything seemed more confusing than it did before.

"I don't think any of us will ever grow up," Alix joked as she threw a beanbag at Kim's head.

"Ah, you've wounded me!" Kim dramatically shouted as he tripped and fell back, putting on a show, and kept rolling until he threw himself off the boat and into the water.

Alix rolled her eyes, but soon ran after him and dove headfirst into the water. Max joined them, too. 

As the party went on, the group all played games, ate great food, and watched as Adrien opened all his presents. He only cried a total of seven times.

"You guys are the best," Adrien whispered as his friends surrounded him. "Truth is, it's been hard with my father gone... missing... and this is the happiest I've been in a long time."

Everyone joined in for a group hug and held each other tight.

Adrien had noticed the last few hours he hadn't seen his father once since he left the house. Did that mean he could only see him at home?

If that were the case, Adrien wanted to move out immediately.

Marinette walked over and leaned beside Adrien as he stared out at the sparkling water. "I'm glad you're enjoying your birthday."

"Me too," Adrien whispered. "Did you know this was a surprise party?"

"No, I was kept in the dark, too. Alya and Nino were afraid I'd slip up and spill everything to my boyfriend," She joked as she remembered the conversation with her friends. Her eyes widened slightly, and she quickly added, "Uh, Alya called you my boyfriend. Not me. I don't know what we are, but we've been together for a month now. Well, I don't know if it's together-together because we haven't put a label, but I love spending time with you, and—"

He kissed her to stop her rambling. He grinned at her and said, "Yeah, about that—"

"Adrien Agreste?"

The birthday boy stood and looked over to see Officer Reimer standing at the dock opening. How the hell did he even know I was here?

"Yes?"

"I'd like you to come in for more questioning, if that's alright," The officer called out. "Now that you're eighteen, you don't need a guardian present anymore."