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

Three Years, Eleven Months and Twenty-Five Days

The weather seemed to have increasingly gotten worse over the following days, and now, on New Years' Eve, Gabriel was stuck with both Adrien and Marinette in his mansion because there was no way Adrien would let Marinette return home in this weather.

She lived down the end of the road, he wasn't too sure what Adrien was so worried about, it wasn't like she would be blown away. He knew she was small but she wasn't that small. Adrien had been lucky Gabriel had allowed the girl in the mansion again to begin with — Adrien begging for her to be allowed in their house as part of his Christmas present. Like the pen wasn't enough. Cue the eye roll.

So here they were, sitting around the dining table. Him, Nathalie, Adrien and Marinette, eating what they could pull together from the kitchen as his staff were too afraid to venture out in a blizzard. He remembered back in his day he would have been forced out in weather like this to go and get a newspaper from the corner shop. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that jazz. But these days, goodness, only a tiny sprinkling of snow up to their knees and nobody goes anywhere. He was extremely tempted to dock their pay.

Marinette had taken it upon herself to cook them all dinner, as well as bake them a special treat for dessert. Goodness, she just tried far too hard. Could she not understand he would never like her? This was turning into a neverending nightmare, one he just didn't seem to ever be able to wake up from.

"Bon appetit," Marinette announced, placing the bowl of steaming hot broth in front of him. He watched as she placed another in front of Adrien, Nathalie following behind with two more bowls. Goodness, they were staring down into them like hungry dogs! He'd made them all sandwiches for lunch, what was their problem?

He looked down at the combination of liquid and vegetables, and was mildly annoyed by the smell as it created a pool of water in his mouth. He must be starving to be affected this way. Gabriel thought back to what he'd eaten so far that day; a croissant, three of Marinette's pistachio macarons, a ham sandwich, a banana, an apple, six biscuits, cheese and biscuits, and a jacket potato. Yep, he was only salivating because he hadn't eaten enough.

Picking up the soup spoon (she'd even got the correct spoon out for him, dammit!) He placed it into the bowl and slowly stirred his 6 a day around his bowl. Carrots, potatoes, swedes, leeks, onions, parsnips. Where was his meat? Did she think he was a vegetarian or something? Was she? Oh no, Adrien couldn't marry a vegetarian. That just wouldn't work. He liked his meat, and he expected his dinner guests to like meat too..

Gabriel lifted his head, ready to send out his scathing comment about lack of protein when he saw something else which made his stomach churn, there wasn't a chance he would be eating now. His stomach was squeezing in on him, spiralling out of control and ready to send the Krispy Kreme donut — which he'd consumed earlier — out onto his plate. Oh, he'd forgotten he'd eaten that. Anyway, Marinette had placed the bowl in front of Adrien only for his son to turn his head and kiss her on the cheek, throwing compliment after compliment at the girl for being so amazing.

She'd thrown a few cut up vegetables into a bowl and filled it with hot water, big deal! He could have done this himself, all he needed to do was boil the kettle and find a knife... okay, maybe him not knowing where his utensils were could have been a slight problem, but he would find a way around it in the end. Maybe, with a karate chop or something? He'd been watching Cobra Kai religiously afterall!

"This is really good, Marinette," Nathalie said as she shovelled another good amount into her mouth.

Traitor!

The three around the dining table continued their conversation as Gabriel studied the bowl. How were they eating this thing?

"What do you think of the lamb, father? I don't know what Marinette did with it but it just melts in your mouth."