Gabriel gets used to... (Adrien having a girlfriend)

Eighteen Months...

It had been 18 months since Adrien had taken himself off the market. 18 months of good grades and a happy son. 18 months of Adrien being in a committed relationship. 18 months of...her.

Teen romances were not meant to go on this long. This should be over by now with Adrien begging Gabriel to set him up with someone more worthy; more their social standing. But alas, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was still the solid love of Adrien's life.

Damn!

Marinette had not returned to the mansion since the 'rat' incident almost 10 months ago, Adrien deciding to spend time over at her house, or out and about on dates. They were with each other almost every night, and to make it worse Marinette was becoming a media sweetheart. Everyone seemed to love her.

Everyone but him, that was.

But here they were; the end of lycée and still together. He considered his options, though the choices were few and far between. He looked down to his cell phone, swiping a thumb over the display and looking into the eyes of his wife and son, maybe he should try...not too hard though.

Sighing, he picked the object up and swiped around until he reached Adrien's number, pressing the green phone and waiting for him to answer. He really hoped he wasn't making a mistake with what he was about to do.

'Father?' Adrien's shocked voice sounded out through the speaker, Gabriel visibly deflating with gratitude that his son had picked up.

"Adrien, it's your father."

Silence on the other end, followed by a cough.

'Yes, well, your name did appear on my screen and I answered with 'father'.'

"Yes, yes, of course." Gabriel kicked himself, he'd already shown a weakness, dammit! He needed to pull himself together or he'd end up losing the upper hand.

His stomach churned and bile rose to his throat as he closed his eyes and prepared for the next words to leave his mouth.

"I was just calling as I thought it would be nice if Marinette came for dinner." The word nice came out as a hiss through his clenched teeth, his nose scrunching up at the possibility of making small talk with Adrien's girlfriend.

'Oh?'

Oh! That's all he gets? Not a 'thank you for being so understanding father' or 'oh wow, father you're the best.' Just a mediocre 'oh?'

"Does that not fit in with your plans?"

Silence on the other end made Gabriel wonder if he'd been muted, it wouldn't surprise him with Adrien's childish behaviour sometimes. He tapped his index finger on the back of the phone as he waited for Adrien to speak, what was taking so long?

'We're actually with Tom and Sabine, it's their anniversary and we're just out for dinner.'

Of course they were! They were the 'favourites', Adrien wanting to spend more time with them than him. Over the past week he'd been to Marinette's three times! Three whole times! What were they doing to get him there? Luring him with sweet treats like Hansel and Gretel.

"Well, bring Marinette around later."

'Can she stay the night?'

Oh! He did not just ask that! "Don't push your luck!"

'Yes, sir! I suppose we'll see you later then?'

"Yes. I –" he gulped, closed his eyes and reached to take off his glasses. Clutching them in his fist he used his knuckles to rub rather aggressively over his eyes. "I'm looking forward to it."