"Nath, I'm home!" Adrien called, shutting the front door behind him as he kicked off his shoes and hung his keys up, smiling when he heard the giggles coming from the living room.
"We're in the living room!" Nathaniel called back, head peeking around the corner of the wall to smile at him.
Adrien set his work bag down on the kitchen counter and walked forward smiling as he saw Nathaniel, hair pulled back and shirt covered in paint. Adrien leaned down to steal a kiss before pulling away, stepping around Nathaniel, and sitting down, sighing as he let the tension of the day melt out of him.
"Where's Felicity?" Adrien asked, eyes sweeping the room and coming up empty.
"She went to her room to pick out her bedtime story. I told her you'd be here soon to read it to her, so she wanted to be ready for you," Nathaniel chuckled, reaching out to hold his husband's hand, "How was work?"
"Ugh, don't even ask," Adrien groaned, flopping back onto the carpet and dragging Nathaniel with him, "I know break is coming up, but the kids could at least pretend to be paying attention. I'm tempted to give them all a pop quiz the day before, but they'd probably all fail."
Nathaniel laughed, curling up against Adrien and humming as the blond's fingers went right to his hair. It was quiet for a few moments as they both relaxed after the long day they had each had, but the silence was soon broken by the sound of toddling footsteps and the appearance of their daughter, Felicity.
Felicity was two and a half and Adrien's pride and joy. When the couple had looked into adopting, Adrien's twin sister, Adrienne, had offered to be their surrogate if they wanted. They had discussed it for close to a year before asking if the offer was still open. Felicity had Nathaniel's sea blue eyes and Adrien's golden hair, although hers curled at the ends like Adrienne's did.
When she saw the two of them cuddled together on the floor, she squealed and darted forward, throwing herself right on top of them. Adrien caught her with a grunt, quickly situating her so she rested between her fathers.
"Felicity!" Adrien grinned, pulling her forward so he could cover her chubby cheeks with kisses. "Did you behave for Daddy today?"
The girl squealed, flailing until Adrien stopped kissing her and set her back on top of his chest.
"Yessss!" She hissed, letting her head flop down so she was laying completely on top of her Papa."We played a lots and then we hads grilled cheese for lunch and then we painted and then you got home!"
Adrien chuckled, letting one hand resting on her back as he turned to his husband, eyes softening at the love on the redhead's face.
"I'm glad you had fun today," He hummed, the hand not resting on her back squeezing Nathaniel's gently, "I was thinking, since it's a veryspecial day, we could order some pizza, watch The Princess Bride, then I'll read you whatever bedtime story you want, and we'll both tuck you in, okay?"
Felicity seemed ecstatic, jumping off his chest and bouncing in place. After a few seconds, she stopped, confusion crossing her face as she stuck her index finger in her mouth.
"Wait, what's special about today?" She asked, turning to the giant calendar on the wall and noting that nothing was written down for today.
"Well~!" Adrien smirked, sitting up and pulling Nathaniel with him. "Today is the eighth anniversary of when I first asked Daddy to go on a date with me."
Nathaniel laughed, sitting up fully and turning to his husband, eyes dancing with glee as Felicity's eyes blew wide and she wandered over, sitting right in Nathaniel's lap.
"Really?" She asked, blinking up at her parents.
"Yep!" Adrien responded, grinning at Nathaniel before turning back to their daughter. "It was the day before break, and I'd finally built up the courage to ask…"
The bell was only a few minutes from ringing, and Adrien couldn't stop his leg from bouncing in nervous excitement. Today was the day. He was finally going to ask Nathaniel Kurtzberg on a date, and though he knew he was almost certainly going to get rejected, he couldn't help the small hope that bloomed in his chest telling him that maybe, just maybe Nathaniel would say yes.
When the bell rang, he nearly jumped out of his seat. He managed to slowly pack up, eyes darting back to watch Nathaniel every few seconds. When Nino grabbed his shoulder and asked if he was alright, he gave him an awkward smile and told him that he was simply tired, and for Nino to go ahead without him.
Nino was the last person besides the two of them to leave, so the room was now silent except for the sound of Nathaniel putting all his stuff in his bag and tossing it over his shoulder, pausing when he looked up and made eye contact with Adrien.
"Adrien, are you okay?" The redhead asked, walking down towards the blond, brow furrowed in worry.
"Yeah! I mean, yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to stay behind so I could talk to you." Adrien responded, right hand coming up to rub the back of his neck nervously.
"You wanted to talk to me?" The boy asked, looking more confused than concerned now, "What about?"
Adrien gulped, face flushing as Nathaniel continued to stare at him. 'Well, it's now or never' he thought, gathering as much courage as he could and straightening.
"I uh, I got tickets to that watercolor art exhibit next week and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me?"
Nathaniel blinked a few times before he coked an eyebrow, hands sliding to fiddle with the strap of his bag.
"You want me to go to an art exhibit with you? Like...a date?"
Adrien's face flushed even more as the word 'date' left Nathaniel's lips, but he figured that if he didn't finish asking now, he'd never get up the courage to try again later.
"Well, yes? I mean, it doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be! I just figured we're going to be on break next week, so we wouldn't have to worry about homework or anything."
Nathaniel's face seemed to pink slightly before he flashed a small smile at Adrien, causing the blond boy's heart to skip a beat.
"I'd like that a lot actually. If you want, I can give you my number and you can text me the details?"
Adrien nodded eagerly, pulling out his phone to swap numbers with the redhead, after which the boy left with a wave and a smile. Adrien floated on cloud nine all the way home and through patrol that night, causing Ladybug to simply roll her eyes and leave him to his thoughts.
Nathaniel's face had pinked slightly, but when Adrien and Felicity turned to him, wide grins painted across their faces, he simply rolled his eyes, standing up and stretching with a groan.
"Yeah yeah, Papa was super cool. Now come on, let's get you into your jammies while Papa orders food." Nathaniel responded, grabbing Felicity and settling her on his hip as he kissed Adrien and headed upstairs to their daughter's room.
Adrien sighed, a goofy grin crossing his face as he thought of how lucky he was, and how ten years ago, there was no way he would've imagined this as his future. His father hadn't approved of him quitting modeling to pursue physics at first, but he couldn't be happier with how everything had ended up. He was nearing his sixth wedding anniversary with the man of his dreams, with a wonderful daughter, and a job that genuinely made him happy.
Shaking his head, he walked back over to his work bag and pulled out his cell, quickly pulling up the number for their favorite pizza place and hoping it got there soon. After all, he had a husband to kiss, a daughter to cuddle, a movie to watch, and a bedtime ritual to follow. He was swamped, and he couldn't be happier for it.