-11- Late Night Calls

"I cannot believe you're dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Gabriel stands with his arms crossed behind his back, Adrien standing a few feet away.

"What do you mean, Father?" Adrien asks, confuses. "There's nothing wrong with Marinette."

Gabriel turns around, glaring at his son. "She's not good for our brand. Our brand represents the best of the best and that girl is a nobody."

"Marinette is not a nobody!" He shouts back. He's not one to raise his voice at his own father, but when it comes to Marinette, he couldn't hold back. "She's really talented. You should see the dress she's working on."

"I don't want you seeing Marinette anymore, Adrien." Gabriel turns around, done with the conversation. "End of discussion. Am I clear?"

"NO!"

Gabriel turns around, an eyebrow raised. "Excuse me?"

"I love Marinette, Father." Adrien stands his ground. "You loved Mom, didn't you? Would you let someone stand in the way of that?"

Nathalie walks in. "Sir? A moment?"

Adrien lowers his head and walks out, sighing. No matter what his father said, he wouldn't stop loving Marinette. She makes him happy, truly happy, after his Mom's disappearance.

Plagg sticks his head out of Adrien's shirt. "Your dad sucks."

"Don't say that, Plagg," He whispers, frowning. "He's probably just looking out for me, but he can't make me stop seeing Marinette."

"Adrien! You may come back in," Gabriel shouts from the other room. Adrien walks in slowly, afraid of what his father's going to say. "I've had a change of heart. Prove to me that this Marinette girl is worth it and I will allow you to keep seeing her."

Adrien smiles big. "Really?! But how am I supposed to do that?"

"Invite her over for dinner tomorrow night." Gabriel walks over and places a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "If you're going to date this girl, I should formally meet her, don't you think?"

Father's actually showing an interest in my life?

Adrien's so blinded by the absence of his father's love that he doesn't realize how strange it is that his father suddenly changed his mind. He hugs Gabriel before running up to his room to call Marinette.

She picks up on the first ring. "Hi! Hey!"

"I have to ask you something." Adrien assumes by her silence that she's starting to silently panic and quickly says, "Don't worry. It's nothing bad. I promise."

"Oh. That's good. What is it, Adrien?"

"I want to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night so you can officially meet my father."

Marinette's eyes widen. Shocked, she drops her phone and races to pick it back up. "Wait, what?! You want me to meet your dad? For real, Adrien?" Quietly, she adds, "He's kind of scary."

Adrien laughs. "It was actually his idea. He wants to meet you, Marinette." He forgets to mention the fact that his father told him to break up with her unless he could show Marinette was worth it.

"Wow. That's so sudden, don't you think?" She bites her thumb nail.

"It's not like we're getting married."

Getting married... "We could, though." Her eyes widen. "Ah! I mean, eventually. Not now, of course. We're too young to get married. Although, I heard in America you can get married at sixteen years old if you have your parents' permission. I'm sure mine would say yes, but I don't know about your dad-"

"Marinette!"

Her eyes snap open. "Yes, my love?"

Adrien smiles. "It's the first time my father has actually shown interest in my life, Marinette. I'm so happy, it's kind of embarrassing."

This is a big deal for Adrien. She smiles, rolling over in bed, and stares at her picture of Adrien on the wall. I guess it's not weird anymore to have them up. "Okay. I'll come over for dinner tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Adrien and Plagg fist bump. "I'll have my bodyguard pick you up. You should also bring your sketch book. My father wants to look at your designs."

"What?!" Marinette gasps. "Really? He wants to look at my designs?" She squeals, waking Tikki up from her nap, who glares at her. "Oh, and I'll bring my portfolio, too!"

"What about that dress? Have you finished it, yet?"

Marinette sits up and looks over her railing, staring down her unfinished dress. She pouts. "You actually just reminded me to keep working on it. If I start now, it should be finished in the morning."

"You should wear it."

Laughing, Marinette jumps down and walks over to her mannequin. "Yeah, right. And make a complete fool out of myself in front of your dad?"

"You could really show my father what an awesome designer you are, Marinette." Adrien starts spinning in his chair, glancing at the photos of Ladybug tapped above his computer.

"If you really want me to..."

"Please?" He asks, pouting his lips.

Marinette smiles. "Okay. Only for you."

"This is so great. I can't wait for you to meet him." Adrien stands up and walks over to the window, resting his head against the cold glass. He can't stop smiling. "My father's going to realize how talented and awesome you are."

"I guess, Adrien," She whispers, shrugging. She wonders why it's a big deal to Adrien if his father thinks she's an awesome fashion designer. "I didn't even know your father was interested in my designs."

"He was blown away by that derby hat you made for me." Adrien walks over to his closet and puts it on. "I still have it. I'm wearing it as we speak."

Marinette grins. "Really?"

"Of course. You made it."

Marinette thinks about the scarf she made for his birthday and how Adrien thinks his father got it for him. She wants to tell him, but hearing how happy he sounds about his dad finally caring for once, she couldn't be the one to ruin that for him. "If I have to dress up tomorrow, then so do you."

"Anything for you, Mil—" Adrien pauses and corrects himself. "Marinette."

"My parents are going crazy about you," She says, glancing down at her trap door. Her parents are downstairs planning a dinner that doesn't have a date yet. "They're excited we're finally dating."

Both of their computers ding.

"Did you just get an email from Alya, too?" Marinette asks, looking back at her computer.

Adrien walks over and checks. "Yeah. What's up with that?"

"AHH!" Her eyes widen as Alya's video from this morning plays on her computer. "Alya filmed us kissing at school!"

"At least she got our good sides," Adrien jokes, laughing.

Marinette rubs her forehead. "She! Filmed! Us! Kissing!"

"It's not the first time we've been filmed kissing," He reminds her, flashing back to their moment on the Eiffel Tower. That was the moment he knew he always loved Marinette. "Remember that short movie we made for class?"

"I guess you're right." She crosses her arms, sighing. "I just hope she doesn't post it everywhere."

Adrien goes quiet for a moment before saying, "I have to ask. Did Miss Bustier change my grade because of you?"

"Yes..."

"That was really nice of you." Adrien smiles at a picture of Marinette on his desktop. "I've never had someone care so much about me."

"Of course I care, Adrien. You mean a lot to me." Marinette squints her eyes and jumps as she stabs her finger with a pin. "OW!"

Worried, Adrien asks, "What's wrong?"

"I just stabbed my stupid finger with this stupid pin trying to finish this stupid dress." Marinette shuffles her phone and pin in her hand, groaning. "It's hard holding a phone in one hand and a pin in the other."

"Do you want me to hang up?"

"NO!" She screams, shaking her head fast. "No, don't you dare hang up. I like talking to you. Here. I'll put you on speaker phone." She sets her phone down. "That's better."

Adrien smiles. "I didn't want to hang up, either."

"Well, like you said earlier," Marinette teases. "You are crazy about me."

"And I'll never deny it."

***

Hours pass over the phone. Marinette and Adrien talk about everything and anything. After hour one, they switched to video call so they could see each other. Marinette turns the camera towards her now finished dress to show Adrien. "Tada! It's finally finished! I'm so proud of myself. This was definitely the hardest one I've ever designed."

"It looks amazing, Marinette!" Adrien couldn't help but be proud of his awesome and talented girlfriend. "And I'm sure you'll look beautiful wearing it."

Blushing, she whispers, "Thank you," and turns the camera back around. "I'm just glad it's finished. Now I can start working on your suit." She yawns. "But not tonight." She checks the time, yawning again. "It's almost one am." Adrien smiles as Marinette struggles to climb into bed. She falls head first into her pillow and pulls the blanket over her head, setting her phone against the railing.

Adrien's in bed, too. "You look cute in your pajamas."

"Adrien, it's one am. I have bags under my eyes and my hair's a mess."

"So?"

Marinette laughs. "Is this something I should expect from now on? Random compliments out of nowhere?"

"Yes, obviously." Marinette nods as he laughs. He secretly takes a screenshot, but she hears the click. "Before you ask, no I did not take a screenshot of you."

She rolls her eyes. "No, of course not."

"I couldn't help myself."

Yawning, Marinette scoots closer to the camera, and blows Adrien a kiss. "Goodnight, my love."

Adrien waits a minute for her to fall asleep and whispers, "Goodnight, Milady."