Love by Design - Adrienette

Relief in Dupain

As soon as Marinette got in the door at her home, she sighed and leaned against it.

"Big day?" Sabine asked her daughter.

"Yes, I went to the zoo with Ivan, Mylene, Alya, Nino, and..." she thought of the last person there, now her boyfriend, though only they and their kwamis knew it. They hadn't yet introduced each other to their magical friends, but they hadn't very well had the opportunity to do so.

"Adrien?" Tom guessed, folding his apron after a long day of work in the kitchen. As much as he had decided in the past few days that he didn't like Gabriel Agreste, his sentiments were different regarding the younger Agreste. Adrien seemed to be a decent young man living in his father's shadow. If both teens chose to do so of their own will, he would allow for Marinette to date Adrien.

Marinette nodded, and then realized she had something she needed to ask her parents. They hadn't accepted an offer of money from Adrien's father, had they? "About Adrien... About last night... What?"

Tom and Sabine understood what Marinette was asking, and it made them uncomfortable. They didn't want to have to tell her about Gabriel's first offer that they had turned down. Sabine made a hesitant start, wanting to tell her daughter all the necessary information without giving more. "Gabriel was in here yesterday to return your sketch book, but he wasn't able to find it in his bag. He ended up inviting us to dinner."

She didn't want to think it, but Marinette had the feeling her parents were hiding something from her. From the little she knew about Adrien's father, he wasn't the kind to make a house call just to return a dropped notebook. Her mind went back to Adrien's birthday and how he had complained about getting the same pen for three years in a row. Gabriel's rigid ways had even upset Nino enough for him to become vulnerable to Hawkmoth's akuma. No way was Gabriel spontaneous enough to just decide to have a family over for dinner, as her parents were trying to make it sound.

"I got my book back!" She showed them. "Adrien brought it to school for me! Oh, and he said his father intended that night as a date." Her parents' faces registered shock, but she didn't know if it was shock at what she told them, or merely the realization that she was aware. She walked to the bottom of the stairs that lead up to her room, and there paused, hoping they could offer her some sort of explanation.

Tom cleared his throat. "Yes, Gabriel mentioned that. Your mother and I didn't think you'd mind." He and his wife were relieved that that seemed to be the extent of their daughter's knowledge. Either Adrien didn't know any more than Marinette did, or he was also trying to spare her the worry.

Marinette blushed; was she really that obvious? Her parents had known that she had feelings for Adrien. They had accepted the invitation for her, nothing else. "Was that all?"

"All that's of any consequence. He made us another offer, but we declined it."

Marinette smiled, relieved. "No. I don't mind." She backtracked to have a three-way hug with both of her parents before heading up to her room.

"They're good people Marinette, you're lucky to have them!" Tikki told her as soon as they were alone.

"I know," said Mari, "and I should have trusted them. It's just, Adrien seemed so sure they were accepting money for something." She flopped down on her bed. "I guess that's just the sort of thing parents do, in his experience." She felt sorry for him. The loving home life that she took for granted was a wistful fantasy from his perspective. He had no mother at home, and a father that wouldn't acknowledge him. All he wanted was a day, an hour even, of quality time with his father. He had accused her parents, not because he thought of them as bad people, but because he thought selling their child would be a normal thing to do.

A/n - I don't have any real-life friends that are interested in my fandoms, so I often find myself talking about them to my parents. They usually tune me out when I go into that mode, which I am okay with, but occasionally they prove in suprising ways that they were paying attention. My mom gave me a crack-theory "Hawkmoth is Future-Adrien".