Adrien stood frozen at the backdoor. He dared not to move and even if he wanted too, his arms and legs wouldn't listen to him. The figure with luminous, yellow eyes sat motionless at the kitchen table. The words of Marinette flashed through Adrien's head. Just now, he had thought her story about how her parents' eyes changed, was ridiculous. But now, here in his own kitchen sat someone with fluorescent eyes. Someone. But who was it? He was seated with his back against the weak light that came from the hall. His face was dark and unrecognizable. Adrien didn't dare to ask. He didn't even dare to make any sort of sound. He had no idea what he had to do.
Suddenly the light flashed in the kitchen. Unexpected, that it looked like Adrien got a slap on his eyes. He squeezed them shut. He slowly opened them again. His mother was standing at the light switch and walked to the fridge. At the kitchen table, his father was seated. His mother opened the fridge, got out a can and walked back to the living room, without saying anything. His father blinked, yawned and stretched his limbs.
Adrien didn't understand. His father was seated at the table, but he didn't have any luminous, yellow eyes. He had on his glasses. Suddenly, Adrien got it. The glasses! That's what he saw. The luminous eyes were the glasses. The glasses had reflected the light from outside, from a lantern on the street. That had to be it. Adrien sighed in relief. That was one problem solved. Now came the second one. He had to explain why he was home this late. He cleared his throat. His father looked up, as if he just noticed Adrien standing there.
"So, you're here," He said. "Come here. I got something for you." Carefully, Adrien walked to the table. Maybe he would get hit. His father didn't hit quickly, but sometimes, if he was really angry...Adrien's father put his hand out. There was a roll of licorice in his hand.
"Eat this. HAWK-LICORICE is good for you." He then stood up and walked to the living room, without saying anything. Adrien started at the roll of licorice, that was in his hand. He needed a little bit of time to understand it all. Now punishment for being home late. No ban on going to parties. His mother hadn't said anything, hadn't asked why he was home just now. Maybe that meant that she was angry. But she hadn't even looked at him.
No sermon, but a roll of licorice. Adrien was actually supposed to feel a lot of relief. Instead, he felt something else. An alarming feeling, that was close to panic. It was very strange what happened in these last few minutes. The reactions of his parents were off. They acted so...different. But the most oppressive thing Adrien found was the roll of licorice in his hand. When he was four, his uncle convinced him that Kitty Licorice was made out of actual kittens. Adrien had slept poorly for nights and cried for all the kittens that he had already eaten. He had a lifelong of dislike to licorice left over from that. And his parents knew that! So this little present wasn't normal. The longer he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He clasped his hand around the roll of licorice. He walked to the trashcan and threw the roll in the bucket.
Adrien walked out of the kitchen. His parents were just staring at the TV in the living room. He looked at them for a little bit. They didn't move a muscle and didn't turn their gaze from the TV. It was like he didn't even exist. Adrien shook his head and walked up the stairs. It was all because of Marinette and her fantasies. Now he was starting too. He just had to forget it all. Sleep a night about it and tomorrow it would all seem like a dream. The roll of licorice was probably a joke from his father. Maybe that was his way of showing that he was mad at me, Adrien thought. If that was the case, then it worked. I would've preferred he would've just chewed me up and spit me out. That will probably happen tomorrow, though.
His thoughts went back to Marinette. Strange really. When they were little, they would play with each other a lot. But that was years ago. She went to a different school, so he didn't see her that often. Tonight was the first time they had talked in a long time. He thought about her hair and her pale face, behind the hedge in the moonlight. She had become a cute girl. Very cute, actually. Even with her crazy ideas.