start notes—
"So, if you're going on a date, that means dream daddy is single?"
my tellonym: milkisande
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mid
tomorrow, too, my heart;
will probably be jumbled and confused.
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"WHAT do you mean,'can you borrow Trixx this Saturday'?"
Alya's face is one of incredulity, and Marinette can't really blame her. After all, despite having asked for some rather bizarre things in the past (most of which came with a half-baked excuse of 'oh, it's-just-a-gift-for-work-I-mean-a-friend-I-mean-a-work-friend!'), the former was sure that at the very least, her best friend knew that there were some things that were simply off limits.
Some things specifically being her just-turned-a-year-old daughter, Trixie (or Trixx, as she so preferred).
Marinette laughs weakly, scratching her head in what one could probably call typical Marinette fashion, with the girl not seeming to have grown out of her awkward phase even after more than a decade of friendship. "Well…"
Before she can begin with yet another excuse, Alya cuts her off. "And before you give me some other clearly fake explanation as to why you need something from me, remember that this is my kid and I'm not about to lend her to you that easily, even if you are my best friend."
Hands crossed on her lap, Alya taps her fingers, clearly in waiting. The two had decided to meet at a hole-in-the-wall café near the Sorbonne, a personal favorite of Marinette's due to its obscurity— somewhere she could work in peace, away from all the noisiness and chaos of the streets of Paris and those who knew her.
The meeting itself was rather spontaneous, an offer for lunch which Alya had just realized was a disguise for another one of her best friend's favors. She looks down at the cheesecake slice on the table, then audibly hmphs, now knowing that the sweet treat was part-and-parcel with the bribe.
"Come on, Mari! I've known you for years, meaning that I'm all too familiarwith your embarrassments. Do you really think that anything you do is going to surprise me now?"
Marinette sighs, absentmindedly tucking a stray strand of hair back into place. A few years ago, she had made the decision to chop it all off, rationalizing that a pixie cut was much more practical and fitting, given that her token pigtails gave off a childlike aura that she had long since grown out of.
After all, she's no longer the awkward, embarrassing, and clumsy Marinette who would stumble on her words as often as she stumbled over her own two feet. She's now the confident, mature, and independent Marinette that took the world by storm with her designs and talent.
Or, at the very least, she liked to think so.
Marinette glances back at Alya, who was looking less than entertained with the amount of time she was taking. She should really just be honest and tell her— in any case, Alya was right: she's had her fair share of embarrassing moments, and this would be, at the very least, just another one to add on her list; with something like this barely cracking the top three (never shall item #1: the Macaron Tragedy of '23 be repeated).
Taking a deep breath, Marinette manages to speak. "Do you remember when we went to the park last month?"
Alya perks a curious eyebrow. "Yeah, what about it?"
"And do you remember the man we saw near the fountain playing around with that kid?"
"Ah, that creepy pigeon man? I knew you had a thing for—"
"NO, NOT HIM!"Marinette cuts her off suddenly (and rather loudly), quieting down when she realized that other customers were looking at their table. "The other one."
Alya laughs, then smirks, leaning over the table. "Oh, so you mean the hot blonde with the serious daddy—"
Turning red, Marinette covers the former's mouth, looking over her shoulders frantically before letting her friend go. "Yes, him! But be quiet!"
"Why? He doesn't even go here!" Alya retorts, before noticing her friend's sheepish grin. "Unless… Marinette… have you been hiding something from me?"
Looking down in what could be a cross between (victorious) embarrassment and shame, Marinette manages another awkward laugh before quickly mumbling something that Alya couldn't quite hear.
"What was that?"
"Mhmmhmhmmhmm."
"What was that?"
"MHMMMHMHMMHMM."
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng if you speak in tongues one more time I will send the macaron photo to all your co-workers and—".
"NO!" Marinette squeaks, grabbing Alya's hands to stop her from taking her phone, then sighed. "Okay, okay, so maybe he has been here before…"
"What."
"And maybe we did end up getting coffee together…"
"What."
"And maybe we are going on a date this weekend…"
"What."
"And maybe I need to borrow Trixx for it to happen…"
"Wait—. WHAT."
The excitement in Alya's voice for the conversation suddenly drops in tone, replaced with a flat response laced with confusion and suspicion. The unspoken question lay in the air: how the hell did you manage to mess up this one?
Marinette's shoulders drop, the sheepish expression on her face returning full force. "Look, it's not my fault, okay!" She's quick to retort. "Adrien and I— Adrien's his name, by the way — somehow we ended up talking about his baby, and I thought he was talking about his pet, you know, like how I call Tikki my baby, but apparently, he was talking about his actual baby— like a living, breathing, child, you know, and I panicked and just continued the conversation and—"
"Wait." Alya states, effectively stopping Marinette from her rambling. "You thought," she starts slowly, as if processing the statement in her mind per word. "That when he was talking about his kid, he was talking about… what—? A cat?"
"Well, not specifically a cat," Marinette responds, quick to defend herself. "I just thought that he was talking about his pet, like a snake or ladybug or something— though he does seem like a cat person, I don't know, maybe…?"
It takes Alya another minute, but when it finally does register, she bursts into a fit of loud, unstoppable, laughter.
The people in the café are staring now, some (if not all) judgmental or annoyed, but the person guilty for it all can't seem to care less. Tears seem to be forming in Alya's eyes from pure joy, consequently resulting in the intensified redness on the face of her companion.
"Alya!" Marinette only manages to squeak out, burying her face in her hand in honest embarrassment.
Clutching her stomach with one hand, and wiping her tears with the other, Alya draws in deep breaths of air, finally quieting down, but no less entertained than she was a minute ago.
"Almost thirteen years and you haven't changed," Alya manages to say through fits of soft giggles. "Still the awkward girl I went to high school with all those years ago."
Marinette pouts but doesn't respond, knowing that she was right, after all.
"So I'm assuming that's why you want to borrow Trixx, then?" Alya asks, starting to calm down. "So she can be the baby that you'll bring to your playdate?"
Despite huffing at her choice of words, Marinette droops in quiet and embarrassed submission. "… Yeah."
Alya grins, finally taking a bite of the cheesecake previously laying untouched. "Look, Mari, I'd love to help you but what are you planning to do? Pass her off as your kid? I mean, Trixx looks nothing like you; and even if you do manage to convince him, how long do you plan to keep it up? Are you planning to keep lying to him like that?"
Noticing Marinette's defeated look, Alya smiles softly and apologetically. "Come on, don't be sad! Just tell him the truth— it's not like you meant to lie!"
"Yeah," Marinette mutters in response, "but then he's going to realize that all I am is a klutz and not the mature and perfect girl that he probably wants to be with!" She groans, upset at how logical her friend was being about everything.
In response, Alya laughs, before quieting down at her friend's pointed look. "Please, Mari. Anyone who's ever met you knows that you're not that type of girl." Sensing Marinette's glare, Alya's quick to amend herself. "I mean, your first meeting wasn't that great adult-wise either. You are an awkward mess of a human, but that's part of your charm! It's cute!"
Marinette manages to laugh with that, then replies, with a hint of cynicism, "really?"
"Definitely, girl! And if Adrien can't see that, then hot daddy vibes are the only things that he's got going for him."
Marinette's laugh is full-blown now, with one of the customers finally having had enough and shushing them.
Covering her mouth, Marinette giggles along with Alya, as the latter puts her finger to her lips in a 'quiet' gesture.
"So, if you're going on a date, that means dream daddy is single?"
"Yeah, he didn't really give me the details, but the mom's out of the picture. And can we please not call him that?"
"What? Dream daddy?"
"Yes!"
"I think it's perfect though." Then softer. "Sorry Nino."
They burst into a loud fit of laughter again, and despite the shushes from disgruntled customers, remain entertained and amused by their conversation.
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That weekend, Marinette meets Adrien at the park.
He waves when he sees her, but what attracts more attention is the small toddler lying next to him, wearing a black hoodie that seemed to cover his entire tiny body.
Marinette waves back, awkwardly, as a cat with a uniquely red coat appears from behind her. Adrien pauses as she walks over to him, an embarrassed blush evident.
The man suddenly kneels down, petting the cat with an amused look on his face. He looks up, then smiles. "I'm assuming this is Tikki, then?"
Scratching her head in slight mortification, "Oh, yeah. So maybe there was a little miscommunication on my end?"
Adrien laughs, about to respond, when a curious and delighted boy peeks out from behind his back. "Woah, is that really a cat? Its fur is so red!" The boy, who Marinette now notices has faux cat ears sewed onto his jacket, tugs on his dad's jeans. "Can I play with it?!"
"It's a her, and you have to ask Marinette if it's okay," Adrien replies calmly, the ghost of a smile still on his lips. His arm wraps around his son's waist, then winks at the girl in question. "About that playdate, then? I'm a little surprised, but I guess it's not a total catastrophe." He smiles, and she feels like falling.
"Seems like the kids will still get along pretty well, right?"
At this point, Marinette's red to the point of no return, but she manages to nod. Enthusiastically, the boy grabs Tikki's leash, pulling her along with him, leaving the two alone. Adrien stands so they're face-to-face, despite him being a good few inches taller. He smiles.
"So, that's your baby, hm?"
"Haha, oh well… cat's out of the bag?"
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end notes—
i'm still thinking about adding more chapters (specifically on the First Meeting, the Coffee Date, and of course, the Playdate), but it really still depends on how i feel after posting this au
inspired by this prompt: "The hot single parent I'm into proposed a playdate for our kids and I happily agreed but I was actually talking about my pet please send help" AU.
thank you for reading! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～