Gabriel smiled sadly at her loyalty, pressing a kiss to Marinette's temple. "Thank you, Mari. But," he grabbed Laurent's card, handing it to her, "for the sake of your future, it's best to know all your options."
Marinette looked up to him in confusion. "Gabe..."
"Just in case, okay?"--Marinette nodded-- "Now, you kids are free to go. Have fun tonight, alright?"
Marinette bounced with excitement before rising to her toes and kissing Gabriel's cheek. "Thank you!" She pulled Adrien along. "Come on, chéri! Food!"
"Oooh, yes!"
Gabriel smiled as the two ran off into the sea of people. Then, he found a hand on his shoulder belonging to his own date.
"Why did you do that, Gabriel?"
The Agreste turned to her with fear in his eyes. "I'm Gabriel Agreste, possibly the most catastrophic failure of a father up until last week. I'm not taking any chances with Marinette's future. Even if I screw up again, at least she'll..."
Nathalie grabbed two glasses of champagne of the silver tray a caterer was carrying around.
"What are you doing?"
"We'll you're talking some crazy negative language that I do not understand, and you look like a man who could use a drink." Nathalie smiled mischievously, shaking the light colored liquid gently around the glass. "Wine time."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "You know we have to stay sober, right?"
"Why?" Nathalie shrugged. "We're not driving tonight."
Gabriel shook his head. "What about our kids?"
Nathalie blinked. "Pfft. Our kids."
Gabriel's cheeks darkened. "I said that, didn't I?"
Nathalie nodded. "Yes, you did!"
The Agreste reddened further and face palmed himself. "Yes, you know what? Our kids. Because we both take care of them. And Marinette calls me dad and Adrien sees you as his mother. And we're dating now. So, yeah, our kids, okay?"
Nathalie giggled. "Aw, I haven't seen you this red since Emilie. Cute."
Gabriel laughed at himself. It was true. He was no better than Adrien with Marinette. The man exhaled his blush away and shook his head.
"I'll take that drink now."
"Oh, you were actually going to drink?" Nathalie giggled nervously as she held two empty glasses. "I'll find you one."
Gabriel blinked as she walked off into the crowd, trying to find another caterer or alcohol of any sort. She came back a few minutes later with another pair of glasses.
"Look what I found!" She exclaimed. "Italian red wine. I am a happy girl."
Gabriel shook his head and accepted the glass. "Don't drink too much, Nathalie."
The dark-haired woman laughed and tapped her glass against his. "Cheers." She drank. "Don't worry, Gabriel. You remember all the parties in college?"
Gabriel nodded. "How could I forget? You had the highest alcohol tolerance I've ever seen. How you were still able to function for class the next day was beyond me."
"What can I say? Just because I was a good student didn't mean I didn't know how to have a good time," Nathalie said, acting completely sober. "It's just been a while since I've been stress free and happy, you know? It's always been something like Adrien is depressed, I'm in love with my best friend's husband, work, Mayura. I am just glad to have one night of some peace and fun."
"I can relate completely," Gabriel agreed, furiously sipping the wine. "We can just relax for a while."
Nathalie's eyes widened and she held his glass to slow him down. "Woah, Gabriel. You have to be careful. I mean, you're a total lightweight."
The Agreste's lips set, slightly offended. "Pardon me. No, I am not."
Nathalie laughed as if he'd just told the world's funniest joke. "Oh, Gabriel. You happened to be a kill joy who was best friends with two of the biggest party girls. We pressured you into drinking every once and a while, but you're stomach could never handle liquor, much less keep up with us."
Gabriel joined in on her laughter, feeling nostalgic. "Oh, yes, I remember. You and Emilie would gang up on me and bully me all the time."
Nathalie grinned. "We did not bully you."
"Yes, you most certainly did!" Gabriel protested. "You'd drag me to sorority houses straight out of Legally Blonde, and pressured me to drink beer with you guys."
"Fine, we bullied you a little." Nathalie gave in, taking another sip. "But it was only because we didn't want you to rot away in your dorm studying all the time."
"Yeah, well, at least you'd take care of me after you made me sick."
"Of course." Nathalie caressed his cheek, making him redden slightly. "Oh, Gabriel, we were never trying to hurt you. We just loved you so much and wanted to share our world with you. You didn't go to high school with Emilie and me, so we wanted to make you feel welcome when Emilie befriended you in your freshman year. Even when I was still in high school, Emilie hung out with me more because we were like sisters. We just always wanted to include you, especially when I started college too. But we kinda made it worse when we forced you out of comfort and made you sick a bunch of times."
"You always made it up to me." Gabriel smiled. "You guys would partake in study groups and stay with me in my dorm when I was ill, even though it wasn't allowed."
Nathalie shrugged. "No one suspected anything--everyone thought you were gay anyway."
"Wait! W-What?"
Nathalie took a large gulp of wine. "I never said anything. Don't know what you're talking about."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Is this why those guys in senior year avoided me? Was it because my friends were girls?"
"Well, that and," Nathalie shook her head, "You were a fashion dork that had no filter. I mean, it took me weeks to get used to the 'Where'd you get that sweater?' 'What material is it?' 'It's not really your color. Blues and purples suit you better.'"
The Agreste frowned. "Blues and purples do suit you better! That sweater was orange. Orange! I love you, Nathalie, and you're so beautiful, why must you destroy yourself with orange?"
Nathalie's cheeks darkened as she laughed, the alcohol finally causing her to be a bit tipsy. "Oh, it doesn't matter, and... I love you too, Gabriel."
The Agreste smiled as he noticed a new song play: Say You Won't Let Go.
"Emilie used to be obsessed with this song, because it described our story perfectly." Gabriel began. "We did meet at a party. Our freshman year. And she got way too drunk and threw up. I had to hold her hair back too. She was spewing nonsense about how she loved me and wanted to take me home. Next day, she remembered nothing. But I loved her immediately. And crushed on her for years before we got together and I finally told her about that night."
Nathalie frowned noticeably, making Gabriel shut up completely. He felt horribly, realizing he was rambling on about someone he was supposed to be getting over.
"I-I'm sorry, I..."
Nathalie shook her head, taking Gabriel's glass and drinking the last few sips. She sucked air through her teeth and held her head. "Phew! Okay! I'm better now."
Gabriel sighed, taking the empty glass and setting it down on a nearby table. "Don't drink so much, Nathalie. You're not in your twenties anymore, you know."
Nathalie raised an eyebrow. "You calling me old, Agreste?"
"What?" He shook his head. "No, of course not! You're younger than me!"
They stayed there in an uncomfortable silence before Nathalie's face became pale as her body shook slightly.
"Gabriel, I feel ill."
"That's because you drank so much," Gabriel huffed. "Three and a half glasses in less than five minutes!"
Nathalie whimpered as she held her stomach with one hand and her mouth with the other.
"Okay, okay! Come on!"
Gabriel quickly led her to the restrooms.
"Hold my hair back, p-please?" She gagged. "It's not as short as it used to be."
"Of course," Gabriel said, gathering all her hair in his hands. "Just let it out. You'll feel better."
"Thank yo--"
And Nathalie regurgitated all of the alcohol she had just drank while Gabriel tied back her hair with one of the rubber bands he'd taken from Marinette earlier that night. Then, he rubbed her back.
"I'm so sorry, Nathalie."
The dark-haired woman shrugged as she finished vomiting, wiping her mouth with some toilet paper before flushing the toilet.
"I'm fine."
Gabriel blinked as he watched her move to the sink and wash her hands and face. "What? Just like that? You just puked your guts out!"
"You forget who you're talking to?" Nathalie chuckled a bit, pulling out a travel toothbrush from her purse. "I'm not a newbie."
"A toothbru...What the...?" Gabriel stammered. "You just had that in your purse?"
"Yeah, so?" Nathalie rolled her eyes and shoved the toothbrush in her mouth. "I was a party girl. Yes, I had a higher tolerance than most, but I still had a limit. And more likely than not, I pushed it." She spit out the toothpaste and put it back in her bag, retrieving her make up to touch up instead. "I was always ready to puke, but get myself back up and out into the party, fresh and new to make out with the next guy that came my way. Especially if it was to take my mind off you." Nathalie smacked her lips and removed the hair band, messing up her hair just a bit. "I'm ready. Kay, bye, Agreste."
Nathalie shouldered her purse and threw the rubber band to Gabriel, which he caught, as she made her swift exit.
"Make out with the next guy who..." Then, as Gabriel realized what she was up to, his eyes widened and he went after her. "Wait, what?!"
***
It took him a few minutes, but Gabriel finally managed to spot Nathalie with another man. She was smiling, waving her fan delicately over her face. Then, it seemed the man invited her to dance, and she accepted.
Gabriel found a row of chairs against the wall and sat down, dragging his hands over his face. With the amount of idiocy Gabriel presented, Nathalie would probably appreciate a stranger's one night of company, than his miserable relationship with her for the last twenty years.
Nathalie spotted Gabriel and frowned as he was doing nothing to stop her. He just sat there, watching.
At least he's sulking, she thought.
Gabriel shook his head. He couldn't handle watching his date dance with someone else. Emilie would have never... Stop thinking about Emilie; it's what got you into this mess in the first place. He loved Emilie, but she was gone now. Gabriel really did love Nathalie. But letting go of his first love is harder than he thought. Regardless, he had to make it up to Nathalie. He's hurt her way too many times to ignore.
Gabriel stood up and made his way through the crowd. "May I cut in?"
Nathalie's smile stirred something within the handsome stranger as he politely bowed to her and left the couple who clearly had things to work out.
Gabriel, with an unspoken consent, took Nathalie's hand with one of his, as the other held her waist. "Have fun?"
Nathalie shrugged. "Sweet kid. Polite, Handsome. And a good dancer too. But, he was only in his thirties. He deserves someone better than me. He was just a distraction to me, anyways."
"It's now clear to me you wanted to drink so much because you were scared I wasn't going to be able to move on." Gabriel sighed, pulling her close. "That I'd talk about Emilie, or make you feel like our relationship was less important to me. And, I'm so sorry."
Nathalie relaxed in the embrace. "It's okay. You'll need time to get over her. It won't happen overnight. And, I loved her too, you know. I still miss her too."
Gabriel nodded. "I really do love you, Natie."
"Natie?" Nathalie lifted an eyebrow. "I don't believe you've called me that in years."
The Agreste smiled widely. "Natie was the cute party girl everyone wanted to hang around. She was hyper and creative and affectionate. And she was my best friend. Thank you for bringing her back out tonight."
Nathalie smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you too, Gabe."
"Adrien Agreste! What the hell?!"
The adults looked in the direction of the commotion, knowing that voice. It was Marinette, and it was clear that she was about to kill Adrien.
"Should we do something?" Gabriel asked.
"Let them handle their own problems." Nathalie shook her head. "Besides, I want to see how this plays out."
Gabriel shrugged as the both turned to watch the scene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry it took so long to update! Hope you enjoyed the Gabenath. We'll return to Adrienette in the next episode! Ask spoilers!