I am done with love

We don't need no education

After Adrien had left them alone and had gone to bed, Gabriel sighed deeply as he looked at the young woman in front of him.

"Would you like, to take care of finding a public school for him and accompany him there for the first time? I mean, to see, if he finds his classrooms and stuff!", he asked her softly.

But Nathalie shook her head vigorously.

"I would love to bring him there, and to take him back here, when the school is over, but I won't embarrass him in front of all the other kids, by staying with him, as if he needed someone to look out for him. I will gladly choose a good and close school, and I will visit the location and get to know the teachers, but what do you think, how long the others would laugh at him, because he went there on his first day with a chaperone?", she explained calmly.

Gabriel stared at her for a moment, then he agreed:

"Yeah, you're probably right. I didn't even think about that!"

"I slowly get an idea, why you and your son didn't get along so well over the last years. You really need to try and think like him, when it comes to stuff like school, friends, 'girls' or 'boys' and most of all, clothes. Stop making him wear your brand clothes all the time. Maybe he likes a totally different style. If he chooses them himself, then let him, but give him a choice. I....sorry...if.....I went too far......I just.......tried to identify with him and......maybe got a little carried away!"

Her last words were rather quiet and reluctant. But the designer had stood up from his armchair and walked towards her, to bend down and kiss her lips very tenderly.

"I am glad, that you are here, to help me with things like that. Maybe you will really make me become a better father or become one at all!", he hummed sweetly. Then he proclaimed:

"But now come, let me show you to your room. Oh please, love, don't look so sad. I didn't say, you'd have to stay in there. You can share my bedroom with me if you want to, I just thought, you'd like to have some personal space. Would you like to take a look?"

It took Nathalie less than a week, until she had checked upon the closest high schools, and found one, that seemed fit for the young Agreste. And as his childhood friend, and the Mayor's daughter, Chloe, was going there as well, he would already know someone, and wouldn't be the outsider or the new kid, for too long.

Adrien, who had really looked forward to going to a normal school, got into the car, in which Nathalie was waiting after his first day with a frown on his face.

"What's wrong?", she asked carefully, "Didn't you like it?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not sure. Those kids are so......different! And none of them seems to like Chloe. So as they considered me her friend, they didn't even give me the chance to talk to them much. How am I supposed to make any friends, if they don't let me?"

Placing a hand on his shoulder, the young woman said softly:

"Just give them a little time. As soon, as they find out, that you're not like Chloe Bourgeois, they will start talking to you. I am sure about that!"

Adrien sighed: "I hope, you're right!"

Almost two more weeks passed by, with Adrien walking through the big entrance doors of the Francois Dupont school with a sad expression every day. Then, at the first day of his third week, he got into the car and sat next to Nathalie with a beaming smile.

The assistant observed him for a moment, then she simply questioned:

"Well, what's her name?"

"Marinette!", Adrien answered dreamily, then he noticed, what he just did and blushed deeply, before he tried to deny, that he was in this mood because of a girl, "I-I meant.....uhm..... whose name? I don't know......w-what you....are talking......about!"

But Nathalie raised an eyebrow at him and he quickly gave in.

"Alright. Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and she is sitting in the seat behind me. She has been sick for the last two weeks, that's why I haven't met her before. And well, she's.....nice!", he mumbled with still red cheeks.

"Just nice?", Nathalie teased.

"She didn't ignore me, like the others and she is really kind and she is also.......very.....pretty!"

"So, you're saying, you like her. And you like like her?"

Though she hadn't thought it was possible, the young woman watched the boy's face turn even darker red as before, when he nodded.

Nathalie smiled at him lovingly.

"That's great. I'm really happy, that you start to make friends. Is it okay, if I give you a hug?", she hesitantly asked.

Adrien looked at her in shock.

"I....I.....well.....if....you'd like to? I....sorry, but I'm not used to getting hugs!", he stammered.

"Well, it's about time, you get used to them, don't you think?"

And then she hugged the young model tightly, feeling him relax and enjoy the motherly love, he had lacked for so long.

"So", she wondered after the embrace, "what did you do in school today?"

"Uhm, actually, I have no idea!", he admitted, while scratching the back of his neck.

The young woman shook her head.

"You should focus on the lessons as well, Adrien. This is not a Pink Floyd song!"

"Pink what now?"

"You most certainly know it!", she started to sing the first couple of words of 'Another brick in the wall':

"We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom, teacher leave them kids alone..."

"Oh, yeah, that. I promise I'll try to focus on the teachers as well, okay?", he said persuasively.

"Okay!", the young singer agreed, without further discussion, giving him the chance to prove himself.

As they entered the mansion and Adrien ran into his room, instead of slowly walking towards it, Gabriel exited his office and looked astounded.

"What was that? Does he finally like school?", he asked.

"Well, I would rather say, he likes the girl, who's sitting behind him, but I think she'll get him there!", Nathalie replied with a smirk. "But there's another thing, we need to talk about. I offered him a hug, back in the car, and he wasn't sure, if he wanted one, because he wasn't used to getting hugged. 'You' really need to change that, do you hear me?"

Gabriel stared at her for a moment, then he chuckled.

"Do you still think, you are too young and too cool, to be his mother? Because you certainly started to act as if you were!"