Arranged - Adrienette

-chapter 2: telling adrien-

Chapter 2! 5 is already in works, and this and 3 was written before I even posted ch 1. I still think this chapter is pretty boring ??? But slightly better than chapter 1. I originally wanted to combine chapter 1 and 2, but then it was just a long mess and it didn't have any nice seperation to it. So they're seperate chapters! Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 2!

- chapter 2: telling Adrien-

What.

She almost thought she had misheard him. She locked eyes with him, searching for anything to say he was joking. Gabriel Agreste was the last person on earth to joke about ANYTHING, but she was hoping, maybe lightning struck him last night and he was trying to be funny now. Please.

It had been a minute of silence, and he was 100% serious. She was engulfed in thoughts. Her? Was he so sure, as to picking her over the other interns, over the other people who were even higher up than she could dream of who would willingly marry him. All the perfect models he could have chose, and he chose her? Why was he trying to arrange a marriage anyway? What was she to do with it? Did Adrien want an arranged marriage?

"I-I'm so sorry sir, this is a lot to process." She bit her lip, looking around frantically. "Why..... Why me?" She felt so odd, a good odd. Special.

"You have potential to be very large in the fashion industry, Marinette" the man paced away from the table for a moment, where she had taken a seat, still trying to process everything going on. Arranged marriage ? Adrien? Her? She wasn't opposed to it, but....

The slam of several black binders on the table made her jump back into reality, looking up at the man. "I won't live forever. Adrien isn't a fashion designer, he's a model. I need someone to take the Agreste name when I'm retired." She felt tears well up in her eyes. Happy tears. Was she that good? Good enough that the man would want her to take over his business? So good that he'd give her his own son to marry?

"W-wait, is Adrien okay with this? Did you talk to him about it" she knew that he was no good at talking to his son. She was usually a messenger between the two, she would send small notes back and forth between them, he wasn't very good at facing his own son. Adrien said it had something to do with his mom, and she asked no more. Maybe this would be an opportunity to get them talking.

"Well.... I"

"You have to talk to him. I-i can't tell him, you have to. You're his father, this is your idea" she stood, smiling with passion and giving him the binder of spring designs for the following year.

"I still haven't gotten an answer from you, miss Marinette." She paused. That was EXACTLY what she was avoiding. She didn't know what to say, what to do. What if he was disgusted at the idea? What if she wasn't good enough. She assumed he had some perfect model girlfriend that she didn't know about anyway.

"I-I um. I'm not against it.... So to say. But I'm not.... It's not a yes, but it's DEFINITELY not a no." Her lips forced a small smile, as she stood up and started to take many of the books back to the shelf with him.

"You seem to take a liking to him. He likes you too. He requests often that you're his escort or that you're his house help. You're a designer and he's a model, I can't go wrong with that." He was so sure that the two would get married, he was so sure that it would just magically work.

"I-It's just so much to process..... Sure when we were young, I had the biggest crush on him, but-"

"This is why it's even more perfect. You two could bond over your old feelings. I could have you two married in two months time-"

"Woah woah woah! I won't get married to ANYONE that fast..... A-at least give us a chance to see if we like one another first..... A-at least ask Adrien first!" She felt dizzy again. So much information. So much hope put into one girl. Honor, happiness, yet fear. Her mind was running. Running away.

"Nathalie, can you bring Adrien up to the office?" The man pressed the button, Marinette's entire face flushing with color. Oh no. She'd have to watch him reject her right to her face. She wished the ground would swallow her up, she wished she was just..... Off the face of earth. Her old crush? the silence in the room was too much for her, well, the "silence". She assumed it was silent beyond her heavy breathing and her heart pounding loudly in her ears. Why was she acting 15 again?

She swore she could hear Adrien coming up the stairs, she was doing her best to calm her breathing. Every single step, every touch of his sneakers to the slick stone stairs, sitting up and doing her best to compose herself as the door slowly creaked open. "Oh god." She murmured to herself, hoping they didn't hear through the silent room.

"Dad? Why did you need me?"  His voice was so soft, but he almost seemed exited. His father wanted to talk to him, it made her look up and give him a helpless smile. shit. He was so cute, such a model, and his father thought she was worthy enough to marry him? As she blonde sat down next to her, she was in-between both of them now, she was on the verge of tears, sniffling and doing her best to hide it. He was going to reject her for sure.

"Adrien, I have a business proposal for you" the father definitely seemed nervous. She was practically shaking already though, so maybe compared to her he looked calm. She looked up at Adrien for a second, he was listening with open ears.

"I would like to arrange" Gabriel seemed to pause, looking at Marinette with a soft smile playing on his lips. "A marriage. Between you and Miss Marinette." At the model's inhale in, she covered her face with her hands instinctively, to hide the redness and tears playing on her face. Oh god, she really wanted the earth to swallow her up now. She wouldn't dare take her hands off of her face. He was so..... Too good. That's all she could think. He was too good for her.