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Adrien wakes up shivering, looking outside through her large windows to see it pouring rain. She bounces up and enters her bathroom with a large grin on her face. She picks up a stray hair tie and ties her hair up in a messy half-up half-down ponytail, the loose hair only reaching just above her shoulders.
When she first came out, Juleka and Zoe convinced her to let them dye her hair, and she decided – after a lot of convincing – on green ends. It came out a little bit too dark for her liking, but has since faded to a lighter turquoise that she much prefers.
When she picks up her eyeliner, she remembers Luka and Marinette teaching her how to do makeup on the houseboat. She picked it up pretty quickly due to seeing people do her makeup all the time as a model, but it was nice spending time with her girlfriend and one of her best friends.
Two of her other closest friends, Nino and Alya, were the whole reason she was on the houseboat, due to them throwing her a celebratory party on the Liberty. It was one the greatest nights of her life.
But she was so giddy today because her and her friends were all staying on the Liberty, and docking it somewhere else for the holidays (Anarka obviously escorting them, making sure things don’t get too rowdy). She’s packed her bags, got Nathalie’s permission, and now just has to get ready.
She finishes her wing and begins to brush her teeth. Once she’s done, she stuffs her toothbrush into her already full bag.
She gets a phone call from Marinette, and when she picks up, she’s greeted with her very chipper tone.
“Hello! Are you ready?” She greets, and Adrien can hear her messing around in her room.
“I am! I’m so excited, I’ve been ready for weeks! ” She giggles, opening her cardigan for Plagg to fly in, “Although, by the sounds of it, you haven’t.”
She can imagine the girl frantically rummaging through her drawers to look for something she doubts is necessary. Hair everywhere before she combs her fingers through it.
“I have! Well, not for weeks , but I did pack everything last night, and now I just have to look for my presents that are around here somewhere.”
“Mine are all in my bag, I really hope I’ll be able to pick it up, I practically packed my whole life up in it.” She jokes, even though she knows Gorilla would be carrying it to the houseboat for her. “I think Nathalie will be getting me soon, so you better be ready by the time we get there!”
“You know I can get there myself, I don’t live that far from their dock.” She argues, knowing Adrien won’t give in.
“We’re picking you up, whether you like it or not!” She says, twirling her hair between her fingers. Since her dad passed , she felt a lot more comfortable being herself, doing things her dad would’ve gotten upset with.
Deciding to do things on the fly is something she's still getting used to, but Nathalie’s been making sure she knows she's allowed to hang out with her friends.
“I won’t argue,” She giggles, “I’ll be ready in half an hour.”
“I’ll see you then! I love you,” She smiles, pulling up her long, dark green skirt.
“I love you too!” Marinette responds, ending the call.
Adrien has a big grin on her face while she buttons up her white, short-sleeve shirt. It has Marinette’s iconic flowers going down one of the sleeves, and has an ‘M’ on the breast-pocket. She tucks the bottom of her shirt into her waistband, and throws on a large, brown corduroy jacket as she smiles to herself in the mirror and walks back into her room.
She sits down on her bed to pull her black hightops on when Plagg flies out from wherever he was hiding, “Okay, cool, you have a girlfriend and look awesome, where is my cheese? You need me to be well fed if you want to turn into Chat Noire!”
“First of all, thank you, Plagg, I do have a girlfriend and I do look awesome. Second, while I did pack it, thank you very much, I would rather not have to transform while I’m meant to be relaxing.” She says, opening her messenger bag for Plagg to fly in, which he did reluctantly.
A knock on the door quickly captures her attention.
“Adrien, may I come in?” She hears Nathalie ask, and she quickly gives approval, Nathalie then appearing in her doorway, “You look very nice, Adrien. Are you going to have breakfast now or later?”
Her face lightly flushes at the compliment, “Thank you, Nathalie! I was going to have breakfast at Marinette’s if that’s alright.”
“Of course. I assume we’re driving her, too. Your bodyguard already made extra room for her things in the back.” Nathalie is still getting used to being a parental figure for Adrien, but she knows she’s trying to give her as much freedom as possible, “Are you ready to leave?”
“I am! Thank you, Nathalie. For everything.” She responds, Nathalie looking a little bit stunned. She immediately softens when Adrien walks up to give her a hug. When Adrien pulls away, she can see Nathalie trying to subtly wipe tears from her eyes with one of her fingers, a small smile on her face.
“No need to thank me, dear. Watching you grow into a confident young woman is an honour.” She bends down and picks up one of Adrien’s bags, “I presume Plagg has already given you an earful about his food.”
Nathalie found out about her identity shortly after the final battle, and Adrien found it was much easier to escape from her duties — not that she had many anymore — with Nathalie knowing.
“Yes, yes he did. I made sure it was packed in a different bag than the one he’s in right now. I would like some to be there by the time I get to the boat.”
Nathalie chuckles, “That’s probably a good idea.”
Adrien and Nathalie start heading for the car, continuing to chat until Nathalie bids her goodbye, “I hope you enjoy your trip, it’s well deserved. I know this year hasn’t been easy on you, but I’m sure hanging out with your friends will be nice.” Adrien gently smiles at her. “Hanging out with your friends and Marinette .”
Adrien splutters, “Thank you, Nathalie.” Covering her face with her hands.
The drive to Marinette’s is silent, save for the few giggles Adrien makes at her phone. Once they’ve arrived, she thanks Gorilla who gives her a small grunt in acknowledgement.
She jogs up to the door, walking in and greeting Tom and Sabine.
“Hello, Adrien! Marinette’s still getting ready — you know how she is — but she prepared you some breakfast,” The soft-spoken lady greeted, handing her a bag of croissants, Adrien eagerly taking them, “I snuck in some chouquettes of my own!” She finishes, faux-whispering.
“I don’t know why that girl feels the need to feed you herself, when we could just as well!” Tom states, making Adrien chuckle.
“Oh, you know why, Tom.” Sabine nudges him, Tom knowingly grinning in response. Adrien flushes, picking up a croissant to keep her mind busy.
Marinette quickly runs down the stairs, wrinkling her long-sleeved, pink blouse. Her flared jeans clearly not making her running easy, and while Marinette has experience frantically running around in much more impractical clothes, Adrien knew better than to not be ready to catch her.
Which proved to be a good idea, when Marinette fell into her girlfriend’s arms.
She stood up straight, straightening up her shirt, looking at her girlfriend with a wide – and slightly apologetic – grin.
“Adrien! Hello, I heard you arrive and had to make sure they,” She said, pointing to her parents, who were faking shock, “Wouldn’t tell you something embarrassing.”
“That wouldn’t be a problem, unless they had something embarrassing to tell me.” Adrien jokes, enjoying the spluttering mess she’s just made her girlfriend.
“I— Don’t we need to leave soon?” Marinette stuttered, fiddling with her fingers.
Adrien smiles, taking her girlfriend’s hand, “That’s probably a good idea!”
She catches Sabine sneaking a paper bag in one of Marinette’s bags. She just shrugs it off as Marinette forgetting something important, and her mother helping her out.
She picks up one of Marinette’s bags, with Tom and Sabine ushering them out the door.
“You two be safe, alright? If you need SuperDad to come and rescue you, I’m only a call away!”
“Oh, Tom, they’re perfectly capable of being their own superheroes,” Sabine says, winking in their direction, causing the teens to nervously blush and chuckle.
“Haha, yes papa, we’ll be safe, Ankarka will make sure of it. Even if she has two eighteen year olds, she has to take care of us like we’re still fourteen.” Marinette jokes, looking up at Adrien, matching the lovestruck look in her eyes.
They finally make it back to Adrien’s car, after Tom makes sure that they haven’t forgotten anything. Gorilla greets the two with a pleasant grunt, waiting for them to buckle in, to make the short drive to where the houseboat was docked on the Seine.
Once they arrive, Gorilla helps them bring their bags onto the Liberty, giving them a fistbump each before departing.
Luka and Juleka come to greet them before their mother can lecture them about the ‘rules’.
“Hey! I’m so glad you two could make it, you both look awesome,” Luka greets.
Juleka mumbles out a “So cool.”
“Nino and Alya are setting up for breakfast if you want to join them,” He says, pointing in the direction of the other two, who perk up and wave at the four of them, “Me and Jules’ are setting up the sleeping arrangements with our mom. I don’t think you want to hear her complaining about everyone and everything.”
Adrien and Marinette both quickly shake their heads, with Juleka chuckling quietly.
The two girls walk over to the couple setting up a picnic on the other side of the boat. Nino had switched his cap out for a red beanie, and was wearing a dark green raincoat. Alya had earmuffs on with little fox ears attached to the top, and matching orange gloves. She’d styled her into two high pigtails, that curled down and reached her shoulders.
“Alya thought it would be fun to set up a picnic, and you know I can’t say ‘no’ to her on-the-fly plans.” Nino says, whispering the last bit behind his hand, receiving a glare from the all-knowing girlfriend.
She quickly brings her gaze to her best friend, sighing, “Girl, for a fashion designer, you sure don’t know how to dress for the weather. At least Mlle Model over here does.” Adrien blushes and the unexpected attention.
Alya quickly rustles through her own bags, looking for something to cover up her underdressed friend.
She pulls out a big, fluffy blanket, “There, now you can go cuddle up and not freeze to death.” She says, handing her the blanket
“I— I’m not that cold!” She argues, pushing back the orange fabric, immediately getting goosebumps.
Alya eyes her arms, and raises her eyebrow, “Right, and that’s why your arm hairs are standing on end.”
Marinette grumbles out a response, the words reaching no one’s ears, but making the three others chuckle. She grabs the blanket and wraps it around herself like a cape. She visibly brightens when Adrien kisses her on the top of her head.
“I understand what Sabine meant when she called you a superhero,” She chuckles, pinching some of the fabric and waving it around like it was flying in the wind. Marinette covers her face with her hands as her face heats up in embarrassment.
Marinette ends up cuddling up into the blanket on the floor, watching as the others set up the picnic. Adrien helping Alya, with the blanket and food, and Nino setting up the music for, quote un-quote, ‘ambiance’.
At some point, Zoe showed up and started setting up the food she brought.
“Hi, Adrien! I love how your hair’s turned out, the green’s faded so nicely!” She exclaims, wrapping her pink, orange, and white scarf around her neck. She had a similar jacket to Adrien on, hers was instead black, and looked more worn-in. “I know we’re supposed to wait for presents, but I really wanted to give you yours. I bought it when I bought mine, it’s a scarf! Yours is pink and blue, with little white stars!”
Adrien takes it out of Zoe’s hands and wraps it around her neck, “Thank you! It’s very warm!” She gives the pink haired girl a friendly smile before digging through her own bag, pulling out a pink, yellow, and teal bracelet, “I might as well give you yours early, too! It’s a friendship bracelet.”
She ties it around the younger’s wrist, “Thank you so much! I’ll help the others finish setting up. I’ll see you around!”
They wave each other goodbye, and more and more people show up. Adrien sits down next to Marinette, moving the blanket to wrap around herself as well. She cuddles close to her and gives her a peck on the cheek.
“Everyone seems very excited! Maybe not as excited as you, but still.” Marinette grins, “I also saw you and Zoe giving each other presents, when we were supposed to wait until Christmas.”
“If you’re going to blame anyone, blame Zoe, she was the one who gave me my present first, I was just being courteous!”
Marinette rolls her eyes and gives Adrien a peck on the lips, who pulls her in for a longer kiss.
“I would appreciate it if my best friends stopped tonguing each other in front of my breakfast,” Alya jokes, making the girls break apart.
“You just hate seeing two girls kissing!” Adrien pipes up, making Alya put a hand on her chest in offense.
“I mean, I’m a girl every Tuesday, and she doesn’t discriminate then, so maybe it’s just you!” Nino comments, a few people looking at him with raised eyebrows.
“What on earth does that mean?” Adrien laughs, chuckles being heard around the blanket.
“You know damn well what I mean.”
Adrien shuts up after that, not knowing how to respond. Marinette starts scratching her, subconsciously making her move her head to the feeling. No one wanted to comment on it — to try and prevent another one of Nino’s out of pocket comments — and all went back to their own conversations.
“What do you think Nino was talking about?” Marinette asked, making Adrien look her in the eyes, pure bliss in her gaze.
“Well, I think I’ll just sit him down; an intervention of sorts. Because I have no clue, but it didn’t sound cisgender to me,” She responds, making Marinette snort.
“You’re such an idiot.”
They fall back into a peaceful silence, Marinette still scratching her girlfriends head.
Adrien wraps her arms around her, a quiet rumble coming through her chest. Marinette’s breath hitches, making Adrien sleepily look up at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re— Um, you’re purring,” Marinette stutters. Adrien looks shocked for a moment, and then giggles quietly. “What are you laughing about?”
“This was how Nathalie found out,” Adrien whispers, rubbing her head into Marinette’s neck.
“What?” Marinette whisper-yells, Adrien just laughs and gestures towards her ring, “Oh my kwami, you didn’t even try to deny it? What if I was Hawkmoth?”
“Hawkmoth’s been dead for a while, so I doubt it. But even if you were, I think I would just give you my– Wait, what did you just say?” Adrien responds, pupils tiny while she scans Marinette’s face, until something clicks and her pupils dilate wider than before, making her look like a real cat, “I found you! Oh my kwami, I found you!”
“What? No! I— um— I got that from my time as Multimouse! It was from my time with Mullo—” She rushes to explain, only to get cut off by a very excited Adrien.
“And Trixx! And Tikki!” Adrien overly excitedly yelps, bringing attention to the pair, Adrien rubs the tip of her nose against Marinette’s, making her smile, and everyone else much less interested.
With the rumbling of Adrien’s chest sounding comparable to a car engine, Marinette decides denying won’t work, “Alright, Chatonne, you’ve found me. Though you did take a very big risk in telling me.”
“I would risk anything for you, Milady.” She responds, twirling a finger through one of Marinette pigtails.
“How did I not figure this out sooner?” Marinette groans, tilting her head down to give Adrien a kiss.