тнe pαlм oғ тнe cιrcυѕ ĸιɴɢ | мιrαcυloυѕ lαdyвυɢ//ɢreαтeѕт ѕнowмαɴ αυ

chapter four- the world we're gonna make

Emilie walked briskly to keep up with her husband, who was running excitedly and practically dragging her and frantically telling her to pick up the pace. "Calm down, Gabriel," she said, suppressing the urge to laugh, "You're making a scene." The man could hardly contain himself. "We don't have much time if you're going to pick up Adrien from school afterwards," he complained. "Why would a bank loan us 10,000 dollars anyway?" Emilie asked. "Because we put up collateral," Gabriel responded flatly. "But dear, we don't have any collateral." Gabriel smirked. "Sure we do, in the South China Seas." Emilie blinked. "In the South China Seas?"
"Deep in the South China Seas," Gabriel snickered. "And what exactly did we buy with this loan?" she questioned. "That's what I brought you here for," he said, gesturing widely to a building across the street. "Hawkmoth's Aku-mazing Museum of Arts and Fashion," she read aloud, jokingly grimacing at the lame pun. "What kind of museum is it?"

They entered, and Emilie gazed at the garish display. There were dozens of mannequins arranged with all sorts of eccentric and quirky-looking outfits. The mannequins were all placed in silly-looking ways, making the designs that much more charming. Emilie was speechless, earning a sheepish chuckle from Gabriel. "I know how it looks," he admitted.

"If you didn't, I'd be worried."

"It just needs a little work."

"The loan has to be paid back every month, Gabe."

"We're gonna pay it, we just need customers."

"Hundreds of them."

"We're gonna get them!"
...
Gabriel opened up the front door, gently tossing his briefcase and jacket onto the armrest of the sofa before collapsing onto it himself, letting out an exasperated sigh. Nooroo circled him anxiously, and Emilie came over to see what was the matter, Duusu not far behind. "Are you alright?" she questioned. "Can I get you anything?" Gabriel sighed. "Some tea would be great," he sighed, the blonde giving him a kiss as he sat upright. "Where's Adrien?" he asked. "He's in his room, playing the keyboard." she replied, heading back into the kitchen to make the tea. "So, what happened?" Gabriel huffed, earning a sigh from Emilie. "Bad day, huh?" she said, to which he nodded. "Not a single ticket sold," he said, discouraged. Emilie came back and sat next to him, handing him a hot mug of peppermint tea. "There's always tomorrow," she comforted, rubbing his back as he sipped his tea. He smiled faintly, setting the mug down and slowly rising to his feet. "I'm going to say goodnight to Adrien," he said, Nooroo lingering behind and settling with Duusu in Emilie's lap.
Gabriel knocked lightly on his son's door, hearing the music from the other side stop and a faint voice give permission to enter. Adrien was sitting on his bed, wearing his black shirt, casual pants and socks, the cheap keyboard in his lap. "Hello, Father," he said, scooting over to allow him some room to sit down beside him. "Hey," he replied, purring an arm across his shoulders. "You have quite a knack for music, don't you." Adrien blushed. "I like being able to appreciate things for what they are," Adrien said, wiping some dust off of the instrument. "Is that so?" Gabriel asked, to which Adrien nodded. "Matter of fact, I was hoping I could check out a new place that just opened up the other day. It looked really interesting from the displays in the window," he said, "but I think it would be even better if it had real people instead of boring old mannequins." Gabriel's eyes widened, and he let out a contemplative hum. "Well... perhaps you could go see it," he said cooly. "And tell me what you think of it." Adrien nodded again. "Alright," the man said, standing up and lightly messing up the boy's golden blonde hair. "Goodnight, Father," he said as he left the room. "Goodnight, son," Gabriel said softly, turning off the light and shutting the door behind him.

Gabriel came bounding into the kitchen, dropping an assortment of pencils, pens, and paper onto the table. "Gabe, what on earth are you doing?" He grabbed a sheet of paper, beginning to scribble wildly on it. "Our son is a genius," he said, scrawling more words onto the paper before lifting it up to show Emilie.

              —————————————
                         ~ 𝚆𝙰𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙳! ~
            𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁𝚂, 𝙰𝙲𝚃𝚁𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙴𝚂, 𝙼𝙾𝙳𝙴𝙻𝚂
                    𝚄𝙽𝙸𝚀𝚄𝙴 𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙾𝙽𝚂
            𝙳𝙰𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙰𝙲𝚃𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝚃𝙰𝙻𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂
         𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎, 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝙾𝚕𝚍

          𝙾𝙿𝙿𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚄𝙽𝙸𝚃𝚈 𝙾𝙵 𝙰 𝙻𝙸𝙵𝙴𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙴!
             —————————————

Emilie read the flyer, squinting to read the fine print at the bottom, which listed his contact information (using the name Hawkmoth instead of his own, of course), as well as the location of the museum. Nooroo and Duusu looked the poster over as well, exchanging curious glances. "This will get people interested for sure, and I think I know a way to take things up a notch," Gabriel said, his gaze resting intently on his own kwami.

***
Adrien stretched, reaching an arm into the air before running it through his hair to straighten it up after his father left. He picked up the keyboard and slid it back into its usual spot under his bed, but something small brushed his hand. He leaned over curiously to see what it was, and found a little black box, covered in red markings. He picked it up, turning it over curiously.

"What's this doing here?"