Chapter Text
Standing in front of his tablet, Gabriel Agreste scribbled some lines before stopping to take a step back and observe the result. His brows furrowed before he undid his past two pen strokes and then redrew the shape of the dress a couple more times before feeling satisfied with it.
After the rather unsuccessful akumatisation of one of Adrien’s classmates earlier today followed helping Mr.Ramier liberate the frozen poultry across Paris, he found himself behind on some designs he had hoped to have finalised. While he could technically take more time with them if he wished, failing to meet his self appointed deadline would irk him. Besides, if he finished his sketch tonight, a prototype could be assembled before the year’s end.
While his job offered him enough freedom to play super villain as often whenever he liked, he still at his heart enjoyed his work. If he really had wanted to, he could leave designs to others and delegate the running of his brand to someone else capable, yet selfish or not, he found himself not wanting to let go of this passion. He liked being a tastemaker: crafting something truly beautiful and bending the world’s fashion to suit his whims.
Even if my fashion empire could survive without me for a time, I still find solace in my sketching. Usually. Even if deadlines are fairly optional for me, they can be annoying. I could click my fingers in two weeks time and my designs could be plastered anywhere I like and still showered in praise, but then I’d have to admit defeat on this self-imposed deadline and Agrestes do not give up.
A knock at the door disrupted his thoughts. Tapping his finger against his stylus, his other hand reached up to rub the bridge of his nose before responding. “You may enter.”
The door opened slowly as Adrien sheepishly entered. “Um, father?”
“What is it, Adrien, can’t you see I’m very busy?” he replied, drily. Even less than usual he didn’t feel like dealing with the mundane world.
Adrien’s head drooped, a frown forming on his lips. “Yes, father, I’m so sorry, it’s just that some of my friends wondered if I could join them on a walk so we could exchange Christmas gifts.”
A loud scowl shot out of Gabriel as he shook his head, while he had been aware of the date, in his mind he admittedly hadn’t actually registered what else that the twenty fourth of December was. “Christmas? That benign holiday. If there’s truly anything else you wish to receive for it, simply inform Nathalie.”
“But father, it’s not about the material side, it’s about receiving a gift from their hearts. Besides I figured without mom here, we wouldn’t be doing our normal Christmas eve traditions anyway since so far we haven’t done any of them. I just thought it’d be fine to do something else with my evening.”
At the mention of his late wife, Gabriel’s grip on his stylus tightened and he shot back, “Your mother would want you here.”
“Would she? Normally the house would be decorated: there would be cookies in festive shapes and we’d all gather for a movie, this year we don’t even have a tree! Even last year when she was too sick to leave her bed, we still had decorations. Why can’t we still do that?” he pleaded, his eyes beginning to tear up.
“Bah, it’s just extra things to clean up.” excused Gabriel, his fingers running erratically along the length of his stylus, feeling his creativity being stifled by the second as thoughts of his wife threaten to beat his desire to work. “Besides, I have a lot of work to do.”
“As always…” stated Adrien under his breath, his fists clenching as his sorrow shifted into anger.
“You may leave now.”
“Yes, father.”
As Adrien exited, Gabriel looked back to the screen in front of him, his brain failing to refocus on it. He was very aware it was their first Christmas without Émilie, he didn’t need his son reminding him. It was tough enough to not obsess over the hole she left in their life regularly, but this holiday only seemed to magnify it. The idea of seeing trees and decorations felt like further daggers in the wound. It was her favourite time of the year and Gabriel couldn’t imagine seeing tinsel or a candy cane without being painfully reminded that Émilie could no longer appreciate them.
At the very least, nothing sows strife like families forced together so I suspect this Christmas will be rather full of potential akumatisation victims to choose from. Rebellious kids sat next to conservative relics, in-laws made to play nice till tensions burst, estranged relatives reminded why they never return home, so many powerful sources of emotions to take advantage of. Truly it shall probably be my busiest day since I donned the butterfly miraculous; plenty to keep my mind occupied.
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No matter how Gabriel tried to focus on his sketch, nothing seemed right. Sure there was no shortage of passable designs, but none felt like they lived up to his standards. For indiscernible reasons, each one felt lacking in some regard.
Unfortunately the rest of Paris seemed to be in a much better mood than he was, there were hardly any negative emotions that he could feel. Despite how far away his miraculous allowed him to sense emotions, most were more jolly than disgruntled. The strongest one he could even feel was emanating from Adrien’s room and he couldn’t imagine sending an akuma after his own son.
It truly seemed like the whole of Paris was infected with the Christmas spirit, but perhaps he shouldn’t be so surprised. The lull before a storm of negativity he imagined, but as much as a break might actually do him good, at present there felt like there was no good excuse to do so.
When a knock sounded at his door, he almost welcomed the temporary distraction.
Clearing his throat, he spoke up. “Enter.”
As the door opened, Nathalie stepped in, tablet in hand. “Sir, we have a visitor at the front gate.”
Raising an eyebrow, Gabriel was curious who would darken his doorstep at this hour.
As he gestured impatiently with his hand, Nathalie took the cue to continue. Approaching him, she turned her tablet to display the view from the camera outside, wherein Chloé Bourgeois gripped the gates and shook them aggressively, exclaiming something inaudible but probably predictably annoying.
Sighing, Gabriel tapped a button, allowing him to hear the young girl’s shrieks.
“Good evening, Miss Bourgeois, to what do we owe this… visit?”
“I want my Adriekins!” she demanded as she stomped her foot.
Frowning, Gabriel replied back. “He’s currently indisposed, I’m afraid your trip is wasted, goodbye.”
“Noooo! You’d better let me in or I’ll tell my daddy and he’ll make you open them.”
“Go ahead, frankly I don’t see what the mayor can do about who I choose to let into my private property.” A smirk spread across his lips as he read the negative emotions stirring within Chloé, as much as he carried disdain for the girl, she was always a useful muse for his akumas. Whether her bad mood grew to breaking point or was taken out on others, he could easily see her creating just the break he needed.
Through the camera, he could see her cross her arms, huffing as her foot tapped in annoyance. A wealthy brat like her wasn’t used to not getting her way. To Gabriel’s dismay however, her frustration dropped as she took a deep breath and her gaze met the camera with a sincerity he had never seen in her before.
“Can you at least let me give Adrien my christmas gift? I know what it’s like to spend Christmas wishing my mom was there and obviously I can’t imagine what it’s like for you and him since… I know Émilie won’t be back and that she was such a huge part of the holidays for Adrien. I just want to make sure he’s okay and that he knows he can count on me if he needs me.”
For a moment, Gabriel actually considered letting her in but the notion quickly left his mind. He scoffed, more at the sentimentality budding in his heart than at her. “Miss Bourgeois, I’m well aware of my wife’s absence and neither me nor my son have any need for you. If you wish to see him, you can come back, hmmm sometime in the new year.”
With that said, he tapped a button on the screen, turning off the camera and feeling Chloé’s sorrow building yet again. As he adjusted his glasses, he noticed a frown on Nathalie’s face, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her.
“Yes, Natalie?”
“Sir, I know Miss Bourgeois can be a useful pawn but she does care greatly for Adrien, perhaps, you should let her wish him a merry Christmas-
Gabriel cut her off with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Bah! I think I know what’s best for my son.”
“With all due respect, sir, I’m not sure you do. Adrien is used to a very different Christmas, it’s not just Émilie that is lacking this year, ordinarily his aunt and cousin would be present, last year excluded. I know you have been avoiding Amélie’s calls since the funeral, but I do think Adrien could benefit from some extra company and sense of normality perhaps.”
“Normality? How could there possibly be any normality, Nathalie? The boy’s mother is dead. The best present I could possibly get him is two gift wrapped miraculouses so I can bring her back. Otherwise nothing could possibly help either of us.”
Nathalie bit her tongue, holding back on other thoughts that she knew would be unwelcomed. “I’m sorry, Gabriel, perhaps you’re right. And you think Chloé will aid in that endeavour tonight?”
“If she doesn’t, someone else will, there’s a thick miasma forming over the Parisian air tonight, I just need to wait for the right argument or wrong present for the perfect target to appear.”
“Well hopefully that can happen sooner rather than later, it would be great if Adrien could wake up to a real family Christmas with Émilie back.”
A smile spread across Gabriel’s face as he considered waking up next to his beautiful wife again before he quickly shook his head, dispelling the wish from getting his hopes up too high. “Yes, well if there’s nothing else, I have work to-”
“Actually sir, Placide was wondering if he could have Christmas off.”
Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “Who?”
Narrowing her eyes, Natalie spoke with a hint of displeasure, “Adrien’s bodyguard.”
“Yes, right, well in that case no. Without him, who would make the Christmas dinner, neither you nor I could possibly pull it off and Adrien deserves that much at least.” As much as Gabriel held little warmth in his heart for Christmas, he could admit being able to take some guilty pleasure in the homemade Yorkshire pudding that Placide would make each year. He could still recall the first year he baked them, his way of giving Émilie a taste of home for Christmas.
A frown flashed over Nathalie’s face. “Yes, well, it’s just he hasn’t had Christmas off in almost a decade and-”
A dismissive hand shushed her as Gabriel adopted a mocking tone. “If it was such an issue for him, why hasn’t he said so? Give him his usual Christmas bonus with a ten percent increase and not a cent more, I’m sure that’s what it’s really about anyway.”
With a sigh, Nathalie nodded and swiftly made her exit, leaving Gabriel alone yet again.