Hello readers, and welcome to the 4 glorious months of Miraculous Ship Prompts!

I've been looking forward to this since last year when I wrote my Marichat May story collection My Kitty, My Princess (if u have not read those yet, please go to my profile. Maybe wait for May though).

I loved writing all those Marichat short stories last year and I thought about doing more. Like the other ships. But I wasn't prepared to go into the next 2 months of prompts, and I had already missed April. And I thought trying to do all of the month's prompts (even just as many as I get inspired by) would be too much. So, last year, I came up with this plan.

I went through the list of prompts for this month and picked my favorite 7 to write. A week's worth of prompts. Then when the next month's lists come out, I'll do the same and post them here too. So I'll be doing about a full month's worth of stories while getting to touch on all 4 ships.

Still gonna try to stick to my old rule of less than 2,000 words a story.

1 more quick note; this first story I actually wrote last year while still in a prompt writing mood after Marichat May (I was looking back at prompt lists from past years). Luckily, I could also pair it with a prompt from this year.

I wrote this, being inspired by the 2020 Adrienette April, Day #13: Scarf Reveal

Phew! Now that that's out of the way, please enjoy ;)

Adrinette April 2023

Day #2: Handmade

Adrien wasn't a big fan of press events but he had a secret weapon to boast his mood…

His favorite blue scarf.

The scarf that his father had given him for his last birthday. The best birthday gift he had ever gotten. Adrien felt warmth, love, and joy when he wore it. And if the reporters asked about the scarf, he'd tell them that it was a one-of-kind that his father had made especially for him for his birthday. They'd love to hear that. It would certainly paint his father in a much sweeter light if they knew that.

Ready to go, Adrien was behind the screen backdrop for the interview with Nathalie and his bodyguard, waiting for it to start. They could hear the murmuring of the reporters and photographers chatting on the other side.

Suddenly, Nathalie opened her tablet and Gabriel Agreste's face appeared on the screen. Knowing what to do, Nathalie turned the screen around so that the man could talk with his son and cheek his appearance one last time before he went out.

Adrien faced the screen, his good mood showing through with his genuine smile as he faced his father on the screen.

Gabriel was just about to give him a brief run-threw of what he wanted him to talk about during the conference when the unfamiliar fabric around his son's neck drew his attention.

"What is that?" he asked. Adrien followed his eyes down at himself, confused. "That scarf is not a part of the brand. You can't go out there wearing something that isn't mine. Take it off immediately," he demanded.

Adrien's smiled quickly fell. Not part of the brand?

"But…father, you gave this to me for my birthday last year," Adrien asked, very confused.

How could his father not recognize the amazing gift he made just for him?

Unless, he didn't make it? But that made even less sense. He knew his father would never buy clothes from another designer, especially if they were for his son, so that lead him to assume that he had designed and made this scarf for him.

But apparently, he had never seen the scarf before at all.

Adrien's eyes went to Nathalie. She had been the one to give him the scarf. She told him that it was from his father. That's what he was lead to believe for the past year.

But apparently…she had lied.

"I-" Gabriel wasn't sure what to say on the subject at the moment. "Just take it off for the interview. You may put it back on afterwards," he said before jumping into his review of what Adrien was supposed to say for the interview.

Adrien barely listened. He already knew exactly what his father expected him to say.

His good mood long gone, Adrien took the scarf off and gave it to his bodyguard to hold onto before plastering on a fake smile and got through the press conference like a pro.

That evening, Adrien barely touched his dinner. Later, up in his bedroom, Adrien sat on his couch, looking down at the scarf in his hands. The scarf that had meant so much to him just because he had thought it was from his father.

Now that he knew that it was a lie…was it still special?

There was a knock on his door, then it opened. "Adrien?" Nathalie called quietly into the room. Adrien didn't move or look at her as she came over and sat next to him. "I think I owe you an explanation," she said, her voice full of regret.

"You said this scarf was from father," Adrien said grimly, his head still tilted down. "Even if he didn't make it himself, just for me, he would have at least recognized that it was the gift he gave me for my birthday last year. Unless…" Adrien finally turned his head to the left and looked at her. "…it wasn't from him at all." Adrien's eyes were full of hurt and a bit of anger. "Nathalie. Did you buy this for me and tell me it was from father?"

Nathalie shook her head. "No. Someone else did," she replied.

That wasn't the answer he was expecting. "What?" he asked. Nathalie hadn't even gotten the gift herself?

"Your father is very busy, Adrien. He doesn't have time to pick something out for you. So for the last few years, he always asks me to find something for you," she explained, which only made Adrien more annoyed. Of course. It was just like his dad to make Nathalie do everything he couldn't be bothered to do. It definitely explained why he kept getting the same lame pen for his past three birthdays before. "But last year, I didn't remember him asking me to get you a gift but he insisted that he did. Anyways, I didn't have anything. But just before that conversation, a classmate of yours had dropped a gift off for you in the mailbox." Adrien's annoyed expression quickly changed to shocked. It was from a classmate? "I panicked and…" Nathalie let her sentence drop as Adrien quickly finished it for her.

"You gave me that gift and told me it was from father," he said. Nathalie nodded. Adrien's frown only deepened.

Now he wasn't just disappointed in his father. He was disappointed in Nathalie too.

It was one thing for Nathalie to lie to him that that gift was from his father when he couldn't care less to get him something himself. But another for her to steal someone else's gift for him and give the credit to him.

"It didn't have a name on it so…" she tried to defend herself but she knew it was no excuse. She knew who it was from. "And that's not all." Adrien looked at her again, expectantly. "Remember how that was the day your friend Nino got akumatized and threw you a party in the courtyard with all of your friends from school?" Adrien nodded. That was a fun time, before it turned bad with the Bubbler forcing everyone to party just to make Adrien happy. "Well, during that time, one of them, the one who got you the gift but forgot to sign it, must have come into the house. They wrote their name on a sticky-note and placed it on the gift. Later the evening when I was going to give it to you, I saw the note but I still had to give you something from your father," Nathalie paused again. This was even worse. "So I took the sticky-note off and threw it away. Then I gave you the gift," she quickly finished.

Adrien couldn't believe his ears. Nathalie stole a gift that one of his classmates meant to give to him for his birthday and told him it was from his father? Then when they tried to correct their mistake of not signing it, she threw it away and still lied to him?

"Who was it from?" Adrien asked. He didn't care if he sounded gruff and rude. Nathalie just hung her head. "Nathalie, you can't tell me all of this and expect me to not want to know."

Someone had actually remembered his birthday and gotten him a beautiful gift. He wanted to know which of his amazing friends was so thoughtful and sweet while the wrong people had gotten the credit.

Nathalie looked back up at him. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Adrien's eyes widened. "Marinette," he whispered under his breath before looking at the scarf again. He lifted it closer to his face, as if that would help give him some verification.

"She was the one who dropped it off in the mailbox and it was her name on the sticky-note," Nathalie added.

Adrien lowered the scarf into his lap. "Knowing her, she must have made this." He had been right about one thing at least; this scarf had been handmade especially for him by someone very talented in making clothes. It just wasn't his father. Marinette was super talented and thoughtful. Of course she had made this herself. Still, there was one thing he couldn't understand. "I wore this the following day at school. Why wouldn't she tell me that she made it?" he asked Nathalie but she just shrugged.

"I don't know," she said before standing up. She had to get back to work. "I'm really sorry I lied to you, Adrien," she apologized before starting to walk back towards his door.

"Nathalie," Adrien spoke up, making his father's assistant stop just before reaching his door. "Could you do me a favor and tell my father that if he's not gonna put any effort into my birthday gifts, then I'd rather he not get me anything at all," he said grimly, not looking back at her. "If you want to get me a gift that's actually from you, that's great. But don't try to make me feel better by telling me it's from him." Because now he knew that it would just be another lie.

"I'll…let him know, Adrien," Nathalie said, a bit startled by his hardened tone and words and left the room. He was upset and she didn't blame him.

~*MDC+AA*~

The next day at school, despite the warm temperature outside, Adrien wore the scarf. To his luck, Marinette was standing by the stairs, talking with Alya and Nino. As he approached them, Alya quickly tugged Nino up the stairs, leaving Marinette alone. He wasn't sure why exactly but he wanted to talk to her alone anyway so he didn't really care.

"Hey, Marinette," the blonde model said as he stopped before her.

"Hi, A-Adrien," the bluenette girl replied with a slight stutter. Adrien just grinned. Marinette was so weird, but in a fun way that he'd never want to change.

"I just wanted to say thank you for making me this scarf," he said quickly, touching the fabric around his neck.

"You're welcome," Marinette replied without thinking. It wasn't until after the words had left her mouth that she realized what she had said and her face fell. "Wait-"

Adrien just grinned back at her.

So it was true.

Before she could stutter out anything else, Adrien wrapped his arms around her. Marinette just stood there, frozen with shock as he hugged her.

"Seriously. Even though it's not from my father, it still means a lot that it came from you," Adrien said to her before pulling away. "But I gotta ask. You saw me wearing this the day after my birthday and heard me say that I thought it was from my father. How come you never told me that it was actually from you?" he asked.

"I…" Marinette wished that she wouldn't have to explain to him anything. But now that he knew, it couldn't be helped. She wasn't sure how the mix up had happened—she hadn't sign it after all—or how he found out, but he did. And now he just wanted the truth. "I wanted to. But…you looked so happy when you thought that it was from your dad. I didn't want to ruin that by correcting you," she admitted shyly looking away.

Adrien's face was unreadable for a moment but he quickly grinned at her again.

"Marinette," he said, grabbing her shoulders. "You're awesome." He pulled her in for another hug. This time, Marinette wasn't too shocked to hug back. She was so sweet, putting his feelings before her own. "But the next time you decide to make me a present, please don't forget to sign it," he added after pulling away.

Marinette just giggled and Adrien joined her.

So what if the scarf wasn't from his father? Knowing that it instead came from Marinette still made it special to Adrien. Maybe even more so.

Next one is tomorrow. See u then ;D