"Plleeeeaaasseeee father! It's my 16th. That's a big milestone! I don't even want a big party just a few friends over" Adrien was practically begging at this point.

The stone cold man he called his father was looking down at his son with an unfazed expression and the dislike for the idea of teenagers running around his mansion.

"Hmm... one condition. The party isn't here, it'll make a mess. It can be at a park or event location, only a few friends ok?" Gabriel caved.

"Really?" Adrien replied.

"Your mother made a big deal out of her 16th too, I'll allow it"

Adrien jumped up, punching the air in victory.

"YES! Thanks father, I promise it won't be anything too wild" He said, hugging his father only to not be hugged back.

"Yes, yes. I'll have Nathalie make arrangements, I'm sure she won't mind planning it. She'd planned many of your mothers parties before" Gabriel said.

Adrien definitely didn't mind having Nathalie organise it, she was good at planning parties. Plus, she'd probably be able to pull some strings to make it even better than what his father allowed.

"Perfect! Thanks again father, I have to go make a guest list!" Adrien smiled, quickly turning on his heels to rush up the stairs to Nathalie's room.

Gabriel watched him leave, and went right back to work. He didn't particularly care for birthdays, and never met Adrien have proper parties in the past. Only family get-togethers, but he figured he'd let this one slide since Adrien clearly look after his mother with his desire for a sweet 16.

Adrien rushed up the stairs, skidded down the hall and burst into Nathalie's room. She was in bed, doing some work on her laptop.

"NATHALIE! Guess what?" He exclaimed.

"Calm down Adrien, you'll break the door off its hinges if you push it that hard" Nathalie replied.

"Oh! Sorry. But guess what?"

"What?"

"Fathers letting me have a sweet 16! He said you can be in charge of organising it though..."

Nathalie sighed, of course she was in charge of it. Not that she minded, but it was typical Gabriel, pushing all responsibilities involving his son onto her.

"I'm amazed you managed to convince him, but I'm perfectly ok with planning it. Honestly I was hoping I could, whose on the guest list?" Nathalie asked.

Adrien sat on the bed next to her, watching her open a new document to write things down on.

"Uhh, Luka obviously" he began.

"That's no surprise. You know what... I'll see if I can pull some strings and have him stay the night, you two can have a sleepover" she said.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Young love always needs a birthday sleepover"

Adrien wrapped his arms around her for a tight hug, showing his gratitude with the squeeze.

"Thank you!" He smiled.

"You're welcome but let's not collapse my lungs, I'm already sick" she joked.

"Oh sorry!"

Adrien let go, and Nathalie ruffled his hair with a smile. She turned back to the laptop to keep planning.

"Who else?" She asked.

"Nino, for sure. Uh... Marinette and Alya, the band manners... oh! Marc and Nathaniel. That's about it, it's only a small party" Adrien listed.

Nathalie typed them all in, making 8 total guests. Small but just enough for what Adrien was looking for. All his closest friends was all he needed.

"No Chloe?" Nathalie asked.

"Oh... yeah she's kind of mad at me right now. So probably not" Adrien replied.

"Why?"

"I told her that if she didn't stop being a bully then I'd stop hanging out with her, I was hoping she'd take that as a wake up call. But she took it more of a punishment and hasn't spoken to me since. She'll come around... I hope"

While the two had a complicated relationship, they still cared for each other. Adrien knew Chloe could change with the right help, and Chloe knew Adrien hated his closed up life and wanted the best for him. They may be having a rough patch now, but if she could fix her ways they could definitely rekindle.

"Ah, I see. What about Lila?" Nathalie asked.

"Oh god no-" Adrien replied.

"Yes I have noticed you seem uncomfortable around her. Although I figured I'd ask since she's in your class"

"She's... ugh. She's mean. Really mean, I have no idea how she even managed to get father to let her into the company. She lies all the time, manipulated everyone she comes across. She even tried to get Marinette EXPELLED! She just... makes me uncomfortable" Adrien explained.

Wow, Nathalie never knew it ran that deep. They'd talked about Lila being creepy before, but each time Adrien mentioned it, it was like ten new creepy things came up. She assumed that they'd maybe had a disagreement and that was they their friendship was a but strained. But turns out it was completely one sided, Lila was obsessed and Adrien hated it.

"Hm... I'll have to look into that..." She muttered.

Adrien was relived she understood and believed him. Maybe next time he had to do a photoshoot with Lila or something similar he could get Nathalie to make an excuse for him to dip out early.

"Felix?" Nathalie asked.

"I wish... but after all the family drama recently, it's best not to invite him. I wish we could just go back to the way things were but... I think his dads death really hurt him. He's not the same" Adrien sighed.

"That's fair. It is sad to see him change like that, although I can't say I blame him for taking it badly... so only 8?"

"Yeah, only 8. We can have it at a park or something, just a small get together with music and food. I don't need anything big, just my friends with me"

Nathalie wrote down some location ideas and some ideas for birthday cakes as well, intending to refine all the details a little closer to the date.

"Any themes? Or just a plain birthday party?" She asked.

Adrien hadn't thought about a theme, but it would be fun to have one. Maybe it could be on the beach and be a tropical theme? Or maybe it could be a throwback theme to the late 2000s when he was born? He pondered for a moment, thinking of something he could theme the party around. And then it hit him, the perfect idea.

"Costume party! Then maybe Luka and I can match..." he smiled.

"Costume party it is, I'm sure all your art and fashion friends will love that. It means they get to make a costume" Nathalie replied.

That was definitely true. Marinette would love to make a costume from scratch. And Nathaniel would be designing everyone's costumes the second he gets the invite. And even though Adrien was sick and tired of the model life he did like to play dress ups here and there. Costumes were more fun than regular clothes.

What could he dress up as? There were so many options. The only one that was a hard no was Cat Noir. That would be WAY too suspicious, he'd get caught immediately.

But maybe he could he Viperion and LUKA could be cat noir? That would be funny, the old switch-a-roo. Although... being any superhero's at all might be a bit risky of getting caught. So maybe it wasn't the best idea.

But there were so many options to choose from, he and Luka could talk about it.

"You'll dress up too right?" Adrien asked.

"Well, maybe if I have the strength to that day. It would be fun to fit in with all you kids" Nathalie laughed.

"Mum would want you to, I know she'd made you dress up for parties before" Adrien teased.

That was true... she did have a few costumes in her closet from Emilies many costume parties. Maybe she could break out the old Morticia Aadams dress again...

"We'll see. And what about you? What will you be?" She asked.

"Not sure yet... there's still a few weeks before my birthday I'll figure something out" Adrien replied.

He was practically buzzing with excitement. He didn't need a big party to have fun, just his closest friends and those he cared about were enough to make his sweet 16 the best party he's ever have. And it'd be even better if he could manage to have Luka over for the night.