Chapter 3
In the afternoon Nathaniel stood in the kitchen watching over the dinner and behind him stood Luka holding a dressing bag filling into ten dessert glasses a light pink cream carefully avoiding making any mess with it.
„I believe that 5 or 6 would have been enough. We still got pudding and a small box with various pastries," Luka mentioned looking back at the redhead.
„I was afraid it wouldn't be enough," Nathaniel responded. „Or that everyone would prefer to eat something else. I'm still not sure if people like vanilla pudding,"
„I don't think anyone here disliked any of the desserts. It can come to the situation, that some may not enjoy elderberry, but it's a matter of taste of everyone's tongue,"
„I believe Lila may like it. I know she likes the elderberry syrup. There was this one day as she was pregnant she tried it and couldn't stop to want it for the rest of the evening," Explained the redhead making Luka chuckle.
„Ah I remember, but she drank it diluted, right?"
„Yes she did after the fourth bottle," Nathaniel answered. „Where should I have known you would drink it like that?"
„The notes on the bottle?" Luka responded making Nathaniel frown.
„Yes I could have read them before, but I forgot. What else do you want? I'm not perfect,"
„Well I knew this since a little child, but well we're not born with all knowledge,"
„You know the time Lila was pregnant was cool and all, but her mood swings and raising eating habits were getting into the nerves with the time. I never thought that going through pregnancy would be this …..adventurous,"
„I know how you felt. You had to see Adrien or Ivan dealing with it," Remembered Luka. „I encountered him one night organizing for Kagami a pair of wool socks because she was freezing and it was about 30 degrees at night. He complained to me where that made sense,"
„If you thought that was weird, I had to buy Lila a sweatshirt where it had XY's face on it and she hates XY,"
„Now that's strange," Luka confessed. „Look I just finished this and will put it inside the fridge. Shall I help you out with something?" Questioned the raven-haired man opening up the fridge, so he could put two desserts after the other into it.
„For now on it's fine," Nathaniel responded, then Luka walked across the kitchen to look at the outside to see Marinette put the plates on the table followed by her son Rouven which carried for the mother the plates and Nathalie added the napkins on top of them.
„I will help Marinette on setting up the table," Luka announced walking through the corridor to leave the house, where he took up a bunch of knives from the end of the table and followed Nathalie to add them to it.
„See Dad? I'm helping mommy too," Rouven announced proudly making his father smile.
„You're doing a great job, buddy," Complimented the man making his son smile, then watch his mother take the last place of his hands afterward Marinette pecked the boy on the cheek.
„Thank you so much, my little prince," Marinette said, then Rouven held up for his father his hand to earn a high five, but before he earned it he spotted the boy Elliot Agreste enter into the lot of the Kurtzbergs along with his parents making Rouven smile excited, then he ran to encounter the blonde boy giving him a high five leaving Luka back chuckling at seeing the two friends.
„You're here too!" Rouven mentioned making Elliot nod.
„I'm surprised to see you here Adrien," Luka mentioned looking at the adult, which nodded.
„Kagami told me she forgot about today's occasion and told me about it, but I insisted to come along. I took one of the books to any chance I got to use it," Adrien mentioned. „You know because of the exam,"
„Take a break Adrien, you have probably studied the entire day for it. Enjoy the time you're here with us," Luka offered making Adrien smile.
„Thanks for the offer, but I still prefer to focus a little on the learning. We watched before along with Elliot and Hope the movie they were watching yesterday on repeat today," Adrien explained placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.
„I can't believe Rocky was the bad guy. He was always very nice to everyone," Elliot complained making Adrien chuckle and caress the boy on his face.
„The plot is a little hard for your age to follow champ. We can later on try to explain to you what led Rocky to be the bad guy in the movie," Mentioned the blonde man earning a nod from the son.
„Hey Elliot wanna play tag with me?" Questioned Rouven earning a nod from Elliot, then Rouven touched Elliot on the elbow and ran off. „You're it!" Shouted the raven-haired boy making Elliot laugh and run behind the friend. Nathalie chuckled at seeing the two boys run, then watched Elliot stop and look at her, then he made his way toward the girl scaring her off to run along with Rouven away from him and began to laugh with the boys playing the tag game.
Later on, the adults sat at the table chatting with the exception of Adrien, which had his nose inside a book to study.
„We're still working on animal-themed suits for the singing competition, which will start next month. It's quite hard to design an ostrich-themed costume for someone on the stage," Marinette explained earning a nod from Kagami.
„Who will be wearing the outfit?" Questioned Kagami. „Do you already know that?"
„No, we receive the measurements and along with them we have to create the costume,"
„What costumes are also being designed if I may ask?" Questioned the redhead.
„Sure you can. The ones we're working on currently are a dinosaur, a dog, a zebra, and a penguin," Responded Luka's wife. „The upcoming ones are an albatross, a leopard, a crab, and a clownfish,"
„Wow the last two sound hard,"
„Believe me, this will be a challenge,"
„I saw the work you were doing on that ostrich. I believe you and the others will be really successful with them either," Assured the husband making Marinette smile and lean her forehead on his.
„Thanks Luka,"
Luka leaned his chin over Marinette's head and glanced at Adrien, which was focussed on the book and Kagami was having a glass of water.
„What do you usually do at the animal center of Mr. Agreste?" Questioned Luka looking at Kagami.
„Check orders for the house, appointments, follow requests of adoptions or visits, notice down specific changes of certain animals in and outside of the cage, moving them around. Pretty much the same as my mother-in-law is doing," Kagami responded. „It's not every day the same, but it has lots of aspects that are fixed to be done at some point,"
„You're really fine working together with Adrien's parents?" Questioned Luka curious.
„I always heard family business was difficult, because of the relationships and all," Nathaniel mentioned putting into his glass lemonade juice.
„Yes but so far we never had issues due to us being in the same family. I don't know how others have experienced it," Kagami mentioned. „Also I have only been there for about a year,"
„My parents love you Kagami. There's no way, they could think otherwise of you," Adrien commented glancing at his wife making her smile at his comment.
„How does your mother feel about Adrien?" Luka asked.
„She's fine with him, don't worry. She actually enjoys knowing when I'm not able to be around to help her, that he can,"
„A mother-in-law always appreciates this from their son-in-law," Nathaniel mentioned making Marinette giggle along with Luka.
„Indeed," Luka agreed, then watched Elliot appear walking towards his parents and placed his hand on Adrien's elbow.
„Daddy, will you play with us?" Elliot asked followed by Adrien looking down at his son a little neutral at the quest.
„Uh has it to be now?" Questioned Adrien earning a nod from Elliot.
„Pretty please?" Begged the son making Luka grin at his friend, then Adrien rolled his eyes at Kagami, which shrugged her shoulders, then Adrien sighed and placed down his book.
„Well your Daddy could really use another break," Adrien mentioned getting up from his chair, then watched Rouven come along to grab Luka on his hand to follow him.
„Dad you will be the villain. You will be Rocky the fire guy," Rouven announced making Luka chuckle.
„You're saying that now, because I have flames on the edge of my pants, right?" Luka questioned earning a nod from the son.
„What will we be then?" Questioned Adrien looking down at his son, making Elliot think.
„I will be Ken, the brother of Kiara. You or your dad will be Uncle Norm and the girl Ally," Rouven mentioned earning a nod from Elliot.
„Uncle Norm sounds like a good role for me," Adrien mentioned. „Can I keep him?"
„Can I be a boy instead? I don't know how to be a girl" Elliot questioned earning a nod from the father.
„Yeah….you can be called…..Ali or so. It's a boy name," Explained the father earning a nod from Elliot.
„Okay," Elliot replied, then Rouven ran against Elliot and waved his arms against him making a wind sound watching Elliot sit down on the ground.
„I've hit you with my wind power!" Rouven announced making Elliot laugh, then Elliot got up and swung his arms forward to pretend to be throwing water at the friend.
„Splash!" Elliot shouted, then Adrien observed his son run behind Rouven and Nathalie, afterward Luka followed the kids and packed Nathalie causing her to scream, afterward she laughed as Luka began to tickle her.
„Ken! Help me!" Shouted Nathalie, then Rouven stopped along with Elliot and the raven-haired boy ran against his father and held his hands in front of his father.
„I'm using wind on you Rocky!" Rouven shouted watching Luka place down Nathalie on the ground then fall back down on his back.
„Woah…..lehlehlehleh….too much wind…..," Luka mimicked trying to play it out to the kids the role of getting hit by a wind blow. Adrien began to laugh, then approached the kids around Luka, which began to tickle the older adult making him laugh.
„Hey…..Ali, where should I help you out?" Questioned Adrien, then Elliot pulled Adrien's arms on Luka's taille to tickle him there. „You know I have a better idea, son," Adrien told placing his arms under his son's arms tickling the boy causing him to laugh.
„No dad, stop it!" The boy ordered laughing at the tickle attack of the father. „Mom, help me!" Elliot called making Kagami laugh and get up from the table to stick her hands under Adrien's arms to tickle him making him go off Elliot and fall down on his back. Elliot began to tickle his father from behind Adrien's head under the arms, while Kagami was on her knees tickling her husband on the side of his belly.
„No, no, no! Please…..I can't hold it!" Adrien complained as his wife joined in, afterward, the others stopped watching only Elliot and Kagami tickle Adrien, then Elliot stopped still cackling from the fun and observed his mother play with his father, soon she looked up at her husband's face and smiled warmly at him. Elliot noticed their minor loveable interaction and looked up at Luka, which saw it too then gave a thumb up at the blonde boy.
Nathaniel got up from the table running at the exit of the plot with his smartphone, which he held on the road and raised his fist in victory and looked back at the guests.
„Hey guys! Lila's is almost here!" Nathaniel announced. „Nathalie your mom is coming!" Nathaniel shouted making the daughter smile and ran toward the father, which picked her up to show her far on the end of the road a black taxi come along making Nathalie happy.
„Mommy is coming!" Nathalie commented with a smile, then the guests reunited around the Kurtzberg's to await Lila's taxi to arrive.
„Is it that black Sport class?" Questioned Kagami watching on the left side of the window a hand raise out to wave at the guests. „There she is," Kagami mentioned earning a nod from her husband.
„Wave your arm," Nathaniel asked watching his daughter obey the father with a chuckle watching along with the father the vehicle approach the last crossroad before their house, soon as the car was in the middle of it from the right side a dark-blue hatchback appeared, then pulled the brakes at the moment he crashed against the taxi causing it to flip around shrieking all the guests that had witnessed it along with the Kurtzbergs.
„Nooo!" Shouted the redhead as the taxi lied on his head and the other car stood with a damaged front beside the car. Nathalie stared at the cars shocked about what she just saw, then Marinette got in front of the two.
„Look at me you two, focus me," Marinette asked watching Nathaniel look at the car, then Nathalie began to cry and Marinette embraced the two unsure about how she should handle the situation. Nathaniel stared horrified at seeing the state of the two vehicle, then felt Marinette move his face away from the scene and gazed at her husband, which was on the smartphone typing down a number. „Luka?" Marinette asked watching him look at the cars, then she rolled her eyes at Kagami, which led Rouven and Elliot into the house, then Marinette grabbed Nathaniel by his arm to pull him away from there and she gazed back to see Adrien head towards the cars, seconds later followed by her husband, which made his way to the blue car while Adrien was trying to open the door of the driver, which he couldn't move due to it being damaged.
„I will see if they need any help. Make sure they don't get to us," Kagami ordered Marinette which nodded and led Nathaniel along with his daughter back to the house, where they sat down on the couch next to the boys, which were looking sad at their friend's state.
„Maman, will Mrs. Kurtzberg be okay?" Rouven questioned, then Marinette sat down between him and Elliot and placed her arms behind the two boys.
„At the moment I don't know what I can tell you. Dad called the ambulance and Adrien and Kagami are trying to help, where they can," Marinette responded. „The only thing we can do is to wait here for the professionals to come and take care of the rest," Marinette explained and looked at Nathaniel, which embraced his daughter tight, which was sobbing about what she witnessed. Elliot looked up at Marinette, which noticed his sad feeling and caressed him on the head, then the blonde wrapped his arms around the woman, which took him along with her son tight to her to give them comfort.