#habriel? idk

[ahelicoprion]

They aren't just friends, your honor. I'd like to present my evidence.

The nicknames.

Harry literally calls Gabriel "Sweetie" and "Gaby." That's... that's just... YA KNOW?

Also, not only does Harry call Gabriel such endearing nicknames, but Gabriel let's him without even a word of acknowledgement or distaste. We all know that he probably wouldn't even let Adrien, his own damn son, be so casual with him so the fact that he just let's Harry say these things as if they're just normal immediately says a lot about their prior relationship.

The costume.

Harry Clown mentions that this was his first costume for his shows, and based on how popular he seems to be now and that he's released at least one movie / recorded special before, Gabriel had to have designed this several years ago. This means that they've been good enough of friends for not only Harry to ask Gabriel about it but also for Gabriel to do it. Also, Gabriel seems to be so ashamed of having ever created the costume even though his Akuma outfits are usually far uglier than this French fry so the fact that he did just for Harry is so sweet and shows how much he cares about him.

The entrance.

While we didn't technically see the beginning of the interaction in Gabriel's office, it seems as if Harry just walked right in, unannounced. Harry's conversation with Marrinette was around 5pm, and based on the fact that his show began while there was still daylight outside, I can't imagine that it was too much later than that. This means that he just went straight over to the Agreste manor after talking to Marinette and it's hard to imagine him having called in advance. This means one of two things. Either A: he knocked on the front door and Gabriel stopped whatever he was doing to let him in and hang out or B: Harry just walked in without being let in and Gabriel just allowed it.

The dynamic.

I don't think I've ever seen Gabriel this patient or soft at any point in this show other than with Nathalie when she got the peacock miraculous. He's letting Harry simply rant excitedly over his movie ideas and dreams of touching people's hearts. He has such a strangely soft expression on his face as he watches and listens to this man and though it barely shows, the slight change in his expression and demeanor is noticeable as it breaks his usual cold, expressionless front.

He also seems used to it, as if this is something Harry does often. He dodges the paper effortlessly, which is hard to do so calmly unless you're completely in tune with someone. And again, his expression is so soft, it feels weird to see.

On top of that, Harry seems rather comfortable too! While most people are intimidated and anxious around Gabriel no matter how long they've known him, Harry simply walked into his office and started talking and ranting as if it were normal for him with a smile on his face.

The writers.

Finally, I find it very hard to believe that the writers didn't know what they were doing with this. It would have been so easy for them to simply have a purely professional relationship where Gabriel just designed his costumes or whatever without changing the plot or anything. Also, we know for a fact that the writers do pay a lot of attention to the fandom. They read our shitposts, they see our memes, they even read our fanfiction. They like to see our love for the show and what we think of it and they adapt to fit their audience. That also means that they know our ships, even outside of the love square. They know that a good portion of us are just queer rats looking for those background ships like Roseka and Marcthaniel. They know how easily we ship and yet still chose to write Harry and Gabriel this way. Yes, it's possible that they just thought it would be funny and didn't think too hard about it, but I don't know if I believe it.

I just, I can't see any realm of possibility that they are and always have been / wanted to be just friends.

While the chances of us getting any explicitly canon queer relationships in the show that can't just be excused as close friends are slim - none due to censorship, I really hope to see more of these two on-screen together in the future and maybe even some more of their flirting and romantic tension.

EDIT: I wrote this post right after watching the episode and barely looked at any posts about it so it wasn't until like 2 days after posting this that I realized Harry was an insert based of a real person but shhh I still like this ship