Chapter Text
After picking out his outfit, Y/n turned on the knob of the shower, waited for it to get warm, and stepped in. Normally, the pressure jet of a hot shower felt soothing, but instead, it felt like someone was digging into Y/n's skin with a shovel. Did he get bruised? He never fell, though. Y/n stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist before turning around in front of the mirror and straining his neck to see his back. Were those... scars? Dead set in the middle of his back, prominent scars with a purplish tint displayed themselves like cracks in a mirror. Two especially large scars like cat scratches branched into smaller ones and so on. It looked like those photos when someone had been struck by lightning, except less severe. Y/n counted it splitting into nine segments. Y/n never overused his miraculous, why was this happening? In fact, it couldn't be that. The scars weren't black, and they weren't on his face. Y/n turned the pressure on the shower down and stepped back in. The water poked at the scars like a bruise instead of full-on slashing, and Y/n sighed. There wasn't any time for this. He could worry about it later.
Y/n arrived at school early, Nino having a similar idea and waiting at the entrance with him.
"Yo Y/n, what type of party should we throw for Adrien's birthday?" Crap. Y/n had completely forgotten about the bubbler situation.
"If Mr. Agreste approves it, that is." Nino shot Y/n a look.
"Of course he's going to approve it, dude. It's Adrien's birthday." Nino brushed it off. Y/n shot Nino a knowing look, which Nino took as skepticism.
"Right, right. Just in case though, we could get Adrien to come over to my house on Saturday instead of the skatepark. You could meet him there and bring him, and when he arrives it'd be a little birthday hang-out--just the three of us." Nino nodded.
"Okay, that's plan B if it makes you feel better."
Nino took out a bubble wand before blowing a few bubbles. Just then, an expensive black car pulled up, causing Nino and Y/n to smile. Adrien stepped out of the car. He was able to shut the door and walk a few steps before he was enveloped in a hug by Y/n--who, due to working out so much--was able to pick him up and spin him around a few times.
"Happy birthday!!" Y/n put Adrien down, and Adrien's face turned ever so slightly redder. Then, it was Nino's turn to send Y/n and Adrien a knowing look. Nino put an arm around Adrien's shoulder.
"Yeah, happy birthday dude!" He looked over to Y/n like he was about to win a bet. "So, what'd your pops say about the party?" Adrien suddenly looked like a dejected puppy.
"Ah, my father said no." He forced a smile. "It's okay though." Y/n stood on the other side of Adrien and put an arm around him; it looked like a group huddle in a theatre performance—where they were cheating out to the audience.
"Well, it won't be a party, but we can do something special on Saturday skating and studying." Y/n gave a sympathetic look to Adrien, who laughed.
"I still don't know how you convinced my father to add that to my schedule."
Y/n had walked into the Agreste household, where he was met with that all-familiar staircase. Although, the show's graphics hadn't given it as much glory as it held in real life. Gabriel had stepped out, asking what Y/n wanted.
"Hello, Mr. Agreste." Y/n had shot an innocent and respectful smile, despite the fact he wanted to give the dude the middle finger. "I'm just here to pick up Adrien for skating--he's truly talented at it!" Gabriel had nodded.
"Oh, yes, that. Well, I think my son could serve using his time in better places than on a skateboard. You understand." It was said more like a command than a question. "Besides... I don't want my son around any bad influences." Gabriel eyed Y/n's scar, a scowl almost visible on his face.
"I mean this with no disregard, sir, but I'm not a bad influence." Y/n tapped his scar. "I just had to learn the hard way as a kid that I need to be more careful." Y/n was lying through his teeth. Gabriel's scowl lessened, but he still looked with distaste at Y/n.
"Very well. However, I still stand on the fact that my son has better things to do with his time, like focus on school."
"Ah, yes sir. Then..." Y/n pretended to think for a minute. "What if we studied, too? I'm a straight-A student myself, and I'm sure we'd have a wonderful time studying together. Hopefully, in addition to skateboarding? I've been teaching him some tricks, and he's such a fast learner!" Y/n's smile formed to that of a more genuine one. "He's getting so good at it, in fact, he looks straight out of a movie!" That seemed to get Gabriel's attention.
"Alright, just this once. I'll have to double-check to make sure you're not lying about the straight A's..." Y/n was suddenly even more thankful that Master Wang Fu had made sure it didn't seem like Y/n had appeared out of nowhere in his records. "but, so long as you teach my son well, I'll allow it." Y/n hammed up the stars in his eyes.
"Thank you so much, sir!"
"Yes, yes." Gabriel was about to wave Y/n away when Adrien appeared. He looked at Gabriel, then Y/n, and quickly started to panic.
"Father, hello." He started to walk down the stairs to greet Y/n and hopefully get out, when Gabriel spoke up.
"Adrien."
"Yes, father?" He turned around completely.
"From now on, in addition to teaching you skating, this boy will be your study partner."
"Y/n will?" Adrien seemed confused. Gabriel nodded, the stern look still resting on his face.
"Yes, father." Adrien smiled before walking up to Y/n.
"You ready?" Y/n innocently tilted his head, earning even more confusion from Adrien.
"...yes." Y/n nodded, and before leaving, turned to Gabriel.
"Have a good day, sir!"
When they had gotten outside, Adrien had looked at Y/n like he was some sort of magician.
"What was that?"
"Mr. Agreste wanted to stop you from skateboarding with Nino and me, so I convinced him that if he let us then we would start studying too."
"You convinced him?" Y/n had laughed at the expression on Adrien's face.
"Any dad would want their kid to study." Y/n laughed.
Of course, Gabriel would like the idea of him hanging out with a well-mannered, innocent, and polite straight-A student. Especially one that complimented Adrien that much and respected Gabriel's authority. Suddenly, Marinette was pushed out from behind the stairs. She fumbled in front of Adrien, holding a blue box decorated with a pink sash. She looked at the trio in a bit of a daze.
"Hah... hey." Marinette raised her hand to greet them.
"Hello!" Y/n smiled warmly. He tried to ignore the shuddering feeling of the fact that just like in the show, Marinette probably woke up in the morning, and kissed a computer with Adrien as the wallpaper on it.
"Hey." Adrien lifted his arm awkwardly.
"I-- wanted to um... gift you a make! I mean! I made you a gift!"
Marinette was about to lift the gift to show Adrien--when Chloe stormed up and pushed her aside. Y/n rushed towards Marinette, putting his hand out and catching her. Selfishly, this wasn't just to save Marinette from falling. There was no way Gabriel was going to get away with not providing a gift for his own son.
"You okay, Marinette?"
"Yup!" She laughed awkwardly, before looking over to Nino, Adrien, and Chloe.
"Happy birthday Adrien!" Chloe reached over and kissed Adrien on the cheek, he pushed her away a bit--her hands still on his shoulders. "Did you get the gift I sent you?"
"No?" Adrien shot Chloe a skeptical look.
"Ugh, those delivery guys!" Chloe started ranting about how they were incompetent, and how her gift was probably too heavy for them. "I'll make sure they get it to you by tonight!" She leaned in to kiss Adrien on the cheek again before walking away.
"Sorry about that." Adrien turned to Marinette, scratching the back of his head with his hand.
"It's okay! I--uhm, here's a gift. I mean, your gift!" She held it out, closing her eyes anxiously.
"Oh, thank you!" Adrien took the gift from Marinette, untying the ribbon and pulling out a blue scarf. "Wow, this is amazing, Marinette!" He smiled.
"Thank you! I mean--you're welcome!" Marinette's face turned red and she started to panic. "Bye!" She zoomed off.
After school, Nino and Y/n waved goodbye to Adrien and watched him climb into the backseat of the car before turning to each other.
"So, what should we do when I get Adrien over to your house?" Nino looked expectantly at Y/n.
"I'll bake a cake, and decorate for a party. I also have tons of board games and movies." Although Y/n was going to have to finish the siding of the house before the two came over, so they didn't know he lived in an only recently not abandoned house.
"Okay, sweet. You send me your address." Y/n pulled out his phone, and Nino's buzzed shortly after. "What time though?"
"I think seven?" Y/n smiled, hell yeah, Akuma prevented.
"Yeah, totally."
"Okay, bye Nino!" Y/n waved before walking off.
"Bye dude!" Nino pulled out his phone, setting a reminder for himself—when Ayla and Marinette started walking out of the doors.
"Hi, Nino!" Nino quickly set the reminder, shoving his phone in his pocket before going over to greet them.
One reminder
Adrien's birthday party at Y/n's house
Saturday, 6:00 pm