Chapter 21

The alarm only buzzed twice before Adrien shut it off. "Plagg! Today's the day!" His kwami twitched an ear and buried his face back in the pillow, but Adrien didn't care. Nothing could bring him down today.

He was ready in record time, and soon found himself at the breakfast table with his mother. "Whoa, Adrien, slow down!"

"Can't—" Adrien smiled as he kissed her cheeks— "Gotta be early."

"Oh, that's right," she smiled. "Though I don't know how I could have forgotten, it's not like you've talked of anything else—" but Adrien wasn't really listening.

He shouldered his carefully prepared bag and raced down the stairs of their apartment and out the door to the Metro station. Even considering how much slower he was now that he didn't have a car and bodyguard at his disposal, he was so much happier with his newfound freedom that he did a little skip as he entered the train, then bit his lip as the familiar twang of guilt nipped at him from. He shouldn't be happy his father was dead.

"No," he whispered to himself, repeating the words of his therapist, "it's ok to feel joy again. You're not guilty." The courts even agreed. Gabriel Agreste's death was a tragedy of his own making. A few more steadying breaths and Adrien smiled again. It was getting easier to work through those momentary twangs of guilt. The panic attacks were harder to overcome, and nights were still rough, but even those were slowly healing.

The train arrived at his stop and he raced back into the morning light. The little bakery stood warm and inviting, and the tinkle the bell made as he pushed open the door always made him smile.

"Adrien! Good morning!"

"Hello, Tom!" he smiled, "Is she up yet?"

"Not yet. You might want to take some orange juice up with you," Marinette's father winked as he handed Adrien two glasses of juice and a plate of fresh pain-au-chocolat.

"Thank you, you're the best!" Adrien's head swam with the rich chocolate scent. "Oh yeah, and the other thing—"

"Don't worry. It's safe."

"Awesome."

Adrien shook Tom's flour covered hand and skipped upstairs, and chuckled when he heard Tom mutter, "I can't wait until he calls me 'Dad.'"

Adrien slowed on the final flight of steps, took a breath, and pushed the trap door open slightly. The dawn was breaking in full now, streaming pink rays through Marinette's windows. He padded inside and set the juice and pastries on her desk, then climbed the rest of the way to her loft. Marinette was not a neat sleeper—her bed was a jumble of blankets, her hair was a rat's nest, one foot was hanging off the edge—and Adrien loved it. Tikki must have sensed his presence, because she stirred first and blinked blearily. He flashed a devious grin at her. Tikki realized what Adrien was about to do and cried, "Wait!" just a fraction of a second too late. Adrien ran a single finger up the bottom of Marinette's exposed foot.

The jumble of blankets exploded in every direction, limbs were flailing, Marinette was screeching, and the offended appendage jerked upward and connected with Adrien's nose.

"Ouch!" he yelped as stars popped across his vision and his eyes flooded with water. "Dang, am I bleeding?"

"Adrien! Oh, I'm sorry!" Marinette fumbled, trying to climb out of bed but tripping over the blankets and crashing into him. He careened into the railing but caught her moments before tumbling down the stairs. "Sorry, sorry!" she apologized rapidly.

"No way, it's my own fault. I shouldn't have tickled you," he chortled.

"That's a good point. You really shouldn't have. What are you doing in my bedroom anyway?" she croaked, suddenly becoming very self-conscious of her hair and adorable Chat Noir pajamas.

Adrien checked his nose—it wasn't bleeding, but it stung like crazy—"I just wanted to be the first one to wish you Happy Birthday!"

"Oh!" her eyes popped open. "I thought we were going to have a party later—"

"Of course we're having a party later. Do you think I could get Alya to cancel her plans? Do you think I could prevent Jagged Stone's 'surprise appearance' that he keeps bragging about, even if I wanted to? I just… wanted a little alone time…" he unexpectedly felt sheepish. She really was adorable in those pjs, and his plan suddenly seemed terribly risqué. "I can go if you want to get ready or something…"

She pursed her lips, "You can stay on one condition," she mused.

"What's that?"

"You can't look nearly so perfect when I look like this," she teased, then reached up and scrambled his hair.

He laughed and let her tangle his mane. "Better?"

She looked over her masterpiece and sighed, "Not really. Now you look even more perfect, more like the boy I fell in love with twice."

He chuckled and kissed her nose, "You always look perfect to me."

She blushed and returned his kiss before he beckoned her downstairs. "Oh, that smells great!" she smiled at the pain-au-chocolat. "Hang on, I saved some cheese from last night for Plagg—" she tried, but Adrien caught her hand.

"Today, you're only allowed to serve others if you want to." She chewed her lip bashfully. "Also," he added, "Plagg found that cheese less than half a second after we entered your room. It's long gone."

She giggled and took a seat on the chaise. As the two shared the delicious pastries, Adrien marveled. When she caught him staring at her for the third time, she asked, "What is it? What's on your mind?"

He gave a little half-grin and swallowed, "We've been through so much together. We've seen each other at our very best and very worst, yet here we are, just sharing breakfast, and I don't think I've ever been happier."

She stroked his cheek softly, "Me too."

"I mean, I know it can't always be like this, and I don't expect it to. I know hard times will come again, but… well, your dad told me something once about love. He said it was built on trust and experience, and I think I'm starting to understand what he means."

She nodded. "When those hard times come, I'm excited to figure them out together."

He stole another kiss, this one longer and deeper. "Can I give you your birthday presents now?"

"Presents? Ugh," she moaned with a twinkle in her eye.

"Don't even start that," he teased. "You're the world's best gift giver. One day of the year, you have to let us peasants try to catch up."

She winked as he opened his messenger bag and extracted the portfolio. "Ok, so, this is kind of crazy, and it's ok if you don't feel comfortable. Seriously, you can say no and I won't be upset at all."

He handed the folder to her and she blinked curiously. She opened it and started reading through the information it contained. Adrien's stomach did backflips as she tried to figure out what he'd brought. "Wait," she paused, "are you serious? A job?"

He nodded, "Pending art school and that you want it and stuff—it's completely up to you."

"This is huge Adrien. I mean, I'm still in Lycée, I've still got a year before University, then probably six to eight years before finishing the Master's Art program and…"

"And Vanily-Agreste Design will be there for you the entire way through. The board of trustees was more than happy to secure the paid internship, especially after everything you did for us during the rebranding. You helped all of us—and me especially—discover there's so much more than just a name, and making sure yours is well known throughout the industry is the least I can do."

A tear trickled down her cheek and Marinette beamed up at him. His heart swelled. "Of course," she cleared her throat, "I want to still field other offers, I want to have a normal University experience, but—thank you so much Adrien!" She launched herself into his lap and peppered him with kisses. He held her tight.

"I love you so much, Marinette."

"I love you too, Adrien."

It was with great effort that Adrien pulled back from Marinette's embrace. "I have one more gift, well, except all the sewing supplies I plan to thoroughly embarrass you with tonight—"

"Adrien!"

He laughed, "Close your eyes."

She scowled playfully, but obliged. He raced back to the trap door, "Ok, Tom, I'm ready—" and a moment later, Marinette's dad winked at Adrien, who cupped the tiny thing in his hands. Adrien snuck back to Marinette's side, opened his palms, and said, "You can look."

Her jaw dropped and her eyebrows scrunched up in excitement, "No way, you got me a hamster?"

She took the fluffy creature from Adrien's hands and let it nuzzle her cheek. It explored her fingers. Adrien gave it an enormous shell-on peanut from his pocket and the two laughed as it stuffed the thing in its mouth whole. "Your dad helped me set up a hamster fortress downstairs. He belongs to both of us, of course, and any time you need to leave town for—" he winked, "whatever reason, I get to be your official hamster-sitter."

"Oh Adrien," she sighed, in love with the white and brown little furball already.

"All he needs is a name," Adrien smiled.

She grinned that spectacular grin, rested her chin on his shoulder and looked up at Adrien with those dancing bluebell eyes, "I've got the perfect one. His name will be…"

~~~~~~The End~~~~~~

Author's note: And thus ends my big long epic headcanon adventure! I hope you liked it. It's been a lot of fun to write. Thank you so much for reading, for your comments and kind words, and support. I love hearing from each of you and hearing your theories and ideas as well. Have a wonderful day, whenever you read this, and keep on Miraculousing!