Ever After - Ella Enchanted AU

Ever After - Chapter 12

Adrien felt as light as a feather as he stood looking at himself in the full length mirror that was propped against his bedroom wall. He had a dopey grin on his face that would no doubt freeze on his face like that, as his mother might have told him if she were there to witness it. Then again, he was sure she would have just been thrilled to have seen him smiling again. It had been a very long time since he had had any good reason to smile, and within the castle and at that moment, the reason for his overflowing glee was sitting in the stacks where he had left her not fifteen minutes before. Adrien wished he could will time to go faster. The less time spent here, the more he could spend sitting with Marinette and talking to her about his very important proposition.

"Marinette has a lot of interesting opinions about the kingdom, Father." Adrien mused, making a weak attempt at conversation with his father who had been sitting at Adrien's desk signing papers since the tailor had started measuring his son. "You should hear them."

King Gabriel peered over the top of his silver spectacles with the same measured expression that Adrien used to spend hours trying to figure out. The young man had since given up trying to unravel his father's perplexing emotional withdrawal, but in times like these when he was so excited, he wished that his father could find it in himself to have some kind of extroverted response. But all he managed was a monotonous, "I can't wait."

Adrien gulped, raising an arm so that the tailor could take a good measurement of his chest. "The giants' working conditions, for instance. They're horrendous. Luckily, I've talked to them and they're open for negotiations so as to avoid any unnecessary-"

"The only negotiations between me and the giants," Gabriel interjected abruptly, his gaze averted down to where his quill tip was paused on the signature line, "will be over our vegetable deliveries."

Adrien's jaw worked over and over as he took a measured breath. He wasn't one to get angry, after so many years of being oppressed by his father's outright disrespect of his only son, he had learned to have a thick skin. But this was more than just Adrien that he was putting down, this was the well being of his countrymen. Adrien shooed away the tailor to turn on his father, keeping his gaze firm as he stood his ground. "This isn't a joke, Father."

"We'll talk about it after your coronation," His father said flatly, a sure sign that he had no intention of allowing his son to remind him of frivolous endeavors. Adrien's lips pressed into a thin line. "Fine, but we will talk."

"Of course." King Gabriel responded noncommittally as he handed off a few contracts and edicts to Natalie.

Adrien turned back to look at himself in the mirror and all he could wonder was whether or not Marinette would be proud to have seen him stand up to his father in such a way. Marinette, who stood up to ogres. Marinette, who talked fearlessly with giants. Marinette, who didn't falter when she stood before the king. Adrien typically would have let matters lie and just agreed to whatever his father wished of him, not wanted to strain their already strenuous relationship with unneeded strife. That was before Marinette showed him the injustice that lurked in his own backyard, and how he could have the power to right it if he only took a chance at using it. He wanted to make her proud.

He also wanted something else of her too, something far more personal than he had been willing to express so quickly in the library before they parted ways. Something that couldn't be conducted so casually in between stacks of books.

"I... I'm going to ask her to marry me," Adrien confessed in a small voice, the act of uttering the words making his mouth go dry and his heart beat rapidly in his chest. It was so simple, but saying it out loud made it all the more real and had Adrien go pink with unrepressed delight. He twisted at the silver ring he always wore on his right hand nervously as he waited for his father's response like a condemned man waits for the noose.