Gabriel Approves The Second Time Around

Chapter 1

I wrote this a long time back (like, a few months ago) and have been wanting to post it here since then, but never had a chance until now. The whole story is already published on Tumblr (if any are interested: the-writer-is-alive is my tumblr handle) and it might take me a bit of a while to get this story up and settled here on Wattpad.

But anyways, until then, here's the first part. Enjoy

-

"I- I like you Adrien!"

He stumbled back away from the cowering girl in front of him, the weight of her words not yet settled completely on his mind. Liked him? As in... romantically? Adrien may have been an oblivious idiot, but he wasn't that helpless. Even he knew that the way Marinette chose her words and the way she was quivering with what was probably fear of an answer, this could only mean that one thing.

That Marinette Dupain Cheng had a crush on him.

A part of him, the part that wasn't in shock, was quite honoured that a girl as amazing as Marinette had a crush on him of all people. That girl probably had half the school crushing on her and yet still it was him who caught her attention. And normally, whenever a person 'confessed' to Adrien, Adrien was smart enough to realise that it was probably due to his high status and not much else. But this time was different, because he knew Marinette, she was his friend, and he knew that she wasn't the kind of person to kiss up to people just because of their wealth, if his first day at school was anything to go by.

It was such a shame he wouldn't be able to give a positive response to her confession. He already had his sights set on Ladybug and while he realised that he would most definitely have reciprocate Marinette's feelings had Ladybug not been in the picture, his lady was there and he still loved her. It would be unfair to both him and Marinette for him to accept her feelings while he still pined over his lady.

"Marinette I- "Adrien was cut short when he felt claw dig into his chest. Marinette had her shoulders tensed and was looking straight down at her shoes, so Adrien risked a glance into his breast pocket to see Plagg hiss at him. The little Kwami shook his head. Adrien narrowed his eyes at him, only for Plagg to point to Marinette, make a heart with his paws and then tap the end of his tiny arm.

Ask her to give him time to make up his mind regarding the confession.

Adrien gulped and looked back at Marinette. Plagg rarely interfered with things like this, but this time it looked as if the Kwami was on to something. Plagg was hardly serious about anything, so to see that expression on his Kwami's face meant that Adrien would put his faith in the little god for now.

"Marinette?" Wide bluebell eyes looked up to meet his. "Listen I- I'm flattered by your confession- I really am! It's just that- well- you've kind of caught me of guard and I- I'd like to ask for some time. To think things over. I don't want to give make a rash decision and then have both of regret it. May I ask that of you?"

Marinette looked at him blankly for a few seconds before her mind caught up with her surrounding, "What? Oh! Y-y-yeah, sure! Take all the time you need! I- uh- yeah."

He smiled kindly at her, "Thank you Marinette."

"R-r-right. I'll- um- I'll see you tom-tomorrow Adrien."

"Goodbye Marinette."

When the raven-haired girl had walked out of sight, Adrien sank to the ground. "Plagg. What just happened?"

-

Once Adrien had finally gotten back into the safety of his room, he promptly collapsed on his bed as a million thoughts ran through his head at once.

"You okay kid?"

Adrien turned to his side so he was facing Plagg and answered his question with a deadpan look, "Do I look okay Plagg?"

"No need to sass me kid. Come on, talk to me."

"Plagg... "Adrien avoided looking his Kwami in the eye and instead stared at the space above his shoulder, "I think I should just have rejected her. I mean, you know I have a crush on Ladybug. But Marinette's so sweet and thoughtful and I really don't want to hurt her, y'know?"

"Then don't."

"Rejection always hurts Plagg. I should know."

"Don't reject her then."

Adrien's brow furrowed, "Did you even hear what I said? I'm in love with Ladybug, you know that."

Plagg simply sighed and looked Adrien straight in the eye, "Look kid, I'm going to be straightforward with you. At the rate you're going, Ladubug's never going to reciprocate your feelings. And that's not because she doesn't care for Chat Noir, it's because for her saving Paris will always come first and there's nothing you can do about that."

Adrien stared mutely at Plagg as the little Kwami continued, "Maybe she could fall in love with you at some point, but when? It's not going to happen anytime soon, with Hawkmoth on the prowl. And who know when you're going to be able to take him down once and for all. In fact, there's a high chance that even when you do manage to, Ladybug might already have special someone in her life, and you'll have waited after her for nothing. Listen kid, your dedication to Ladybug is charming and all, but it's only going to get you hurt in the end. Ladybug isn't obliged to swear off of dating just for you and neither are you. You gotta get that in your head kid."

Adrien's whole mouth suddenly felt dry. Plagg simply sighed and whizzed off, probably in search of some cheese. All the better, Adrien had a lot he needed to think about, even more so than before.