Keeping It Fair (Adrienette AU)

30

A.N. I'M BACK LUVIES

MARINETTE

Is it ironic that I’m the one who’s sweating buckets while Adrien sits calmly beside me?

He asked me if the both of us could eat dinner with my parents so that he'll have a reason to be around them and eventually...ask permission.

"Would you like more mashed potatoes, Adrien?"

“Yes, please,” he replies and proceeds to reach over across the table to take the bowl of mashed potatoes from Maman.

I was completely against this because I didn’t want to be seen around my parents for now. Things are still not yet okay and our presence here might jeopardize a lot of things regarding the elections. Adrien was also afraid to be here but he really asked me two nights ago, “If not now, then when?”

And here’s the thing, he is right. As much as I want to distance myself from my parents, for now, I also want to be true to Adrien and, in some way, live our relationship freely with the blessing of my parents, especially Papa.

Now that internal drive has led both of us to be here. Thankfully, Maman and Papa agreed to have dinner together, but Papa clearly had his reservations in regard to Adrien. There was a certain stern glint in his eyes when he set them on Adrien the minute we arrived at the bakery. He did not say anything, but I was certain that there were a lot of things going through his mind at that moment.

Maman suddenly clears her throat, taking me away from my reverie. She glances toward Papa who has been quiet throughout the entire meal and also glances at Adrien who is busy finishing his last serving of mashed potatoes. “So, Marinette, how is Rustan Nordic?” If this was her attempt in trying to break the ice of the tension in the room that could amount to the coldness at the South Pole, then she is doing absolutely nothing. She could have lessened the tension in the room by asking something that is not related to anything about politics.

Still, I have to answer her to keep the conversation going.

“Well,” I wipe my mouth with my table napkin before I continue, “he is more motivated now compared to before.” And that’s the truth. “But, to be honest, it’s still going to be hard. There was a new poll that was released to the public through social media and the results came this morning. Byvael is still leading by around eight percent.” I hear Adrien softly sigh sadly beside me.

Her brows furrow in concern. “But that’s just eight percent, right?” Maman asks.

“Yes, but eight percent is eight percent. Byvael is leading.”

“I never trusted those polls, though,” Papa chimes in, “It’s clear that those polls are rigged to whoever is paying them. And it’s clear who made that poll.”

Adrien then says, “Still, even if those polls are rigged, the main objective is to let undecided voters know that Byvael is leading. The complexity of undecided voters is that they want certainty. These polls feed into their heads the idea that they can give their vote to a man who is sure to win. And sadly, that man is not Nordic.”

Papa gazes at Adrien. “So you knew of these polls then, Adrien?” He had a pointed tone to his voice and he sounded accusatory. “How could you have known of these polls so well? Was this some kind of trick you had up your sleeve when you were working for Byvael?”

“Papa!” I berate him. What is Papa doing?!

“It’s okay, Marinette,” Adrien calms me down, placing a hand on my forearm, before he looks back at Papa to answer, “I knew how these polls worked because I studied them for some time, but I never planned to use any of the rigged polls to rile up the undecided voters to eventually decide on Byvael last minute. It’s dangerously tempting, but I made a promise to never resort to any of that. To be frank, I may have sabotaged some activities under Nordic.” He reaches over to rub the nape of his neck. “But I did it to rile up his manager.” Adrien throws an apologetic glance at me. “It was fun at that time to see you mad.”