Love by Design - Adrienette

Dinner, With Scream for Dessert

A/n - Before you read, why not check out this video? These two lines struck me as funny when put together.

Homework was light that day, so Marinette and Alya decided they had ample time to walk around town for the day and relax. They happened to run into a couple friendly classmates of theirs: Rose and Juleka, and so spent a few hours with them. After that, they went to Alya's house to complete what little homework they did have. That might not have been the best idea with Alya's three younger siblings in the house...

It was near dinner time when Mari finally got home, which would normally have been fine - but today she was met by her mother, who practically pushed her up the stairs into her room. "Marinette, there you are! Quickly! Go change into something nice; we've been invited to a dinner."

"What could be going on?" Marinette wondered to Tikki. Usually they would have had much more notice before going over to someone's house. At very least a day!

Tikki flitted around the room, her little wings going at a blurring speed. "Who knows, but I bet it's going to be exciting! Maybe it's Jagged Stone's producer, and he wants you to design another album cover!"

"I doubt it," Mari laughed as she looked through her wardrobe.

*at the Agreste residence*

Plagg had to dive for cover as without warning, Nathalie opened the door to Adrien's room. She stood with the door open, her back straight, staring past the startled teenager. "Your father would like to speak with you."

Adrien got up and followed his father's assistant out of the room, curious as to what this could be about. His father rarely spoke with him in person, usually relaying messages through Nathalie. Something was surely up!

Gabriel sat in his office chair, looking just about as relaxed as a wooden plank. His eyes drilled into his son. "Sit down, Adrien. Nathalie, you may go."

The door clicked shut as Nathalie returned to monitoring the household, leaving father and son in privacy.

"You're not a child any longer," Gabriel began, "and before we know it you will be ascending into adulthood. I believe the time has come to begin the search for a young lady to be by your side. We're having guests for dinner tonight, and their daughter is around your age. I believe you even know her. She will be your date."

Adrien's heart sank. His father was taking away from him one of the few freedoms he felt he had left. Images of a masked girl in red and black flashed across his mind. There was only one girl he was interested in, and he didn't even know her real name. He'd never managed to get close enough to her in the first place, and now? There was no way his father was going to approve of a girl who spent her days swinging from rooftop to rooftop so gracefully, taking down villain after villain, keeping their city safe.

"Adrien!" Gabriel, now sounding somewhat angry, called his son out of his reverie. "You will keep her company tonight, and show her what a gentleman you can be. Do I make myself clear?"

Adrien had never learned to argue with his father, not to his face at least. "Yes, father."

"Good. Now go and greet her. They'll be in the entry room down stairs."

"They're here?" Adrien jumped up and bounded down the stairs; he'd worry about his Bugaboo later. Now he was concerned with not angering his father. He halted at the bottom. The couple there in the entry room weren't the wealthy snobs he'd been expecting... they were regular working class people. Hiding ever so shyly behind her parents was their daughter. "Marinette?!"