The three of them sat on a bench while eating their ice cream. Nathalie watched the two 'friends' laughing and telling jokes to each other. She smiled at how cute they are. That made her think about Gabriel. Does he really love her or is it just because of their child? Many thoughts ran through her head when someone placed a hand on her shoulder making her jump.
"Nice to see you again, mademoiselle." a masculine voice uttered behind her.
When she looked behind her, she saw Christoper standing with a flower in his hand. What does this man think he's doing? After what he did to me does he really think that I would have any interest in him?
"What are you doing here and what do you want?" Nathalie blurted.
"I know I made a mistake when we first met, but please forgive me. I was stupid that I tried to force you. So I'm begging you, forgive me."
"What makes you think she can forgive you?" Gabriel replied. He wrapped his hand around her waist in a protective manner. "For all I know, you tried to sexually assault her."
This caught the attention of Adrien and Marinette. What they heard seemed to be unreal. This man is still alive after what he did to Nathalie? They thought she or Gabriel had killed him before he could even step foot outside after what he did. Adrien's protective mode has been turned on. Marinette was quick to notice so she led him to a nearby bench to sit and calm down.
"I know she's like a mother to you, so you need to calm down. Let your father handle this."
"Fine, but if he touches her, I'm the one who's killing him."
"I guess I don't see much of a problem with that." she giggled in reply. He gave her a small smile before averting his gaze again over to the adults.
"Get out of here, you sick bastard!" Nathalie yelled. She quickly threw a punch at his face, but he simply moved out of the way.
"Oh, mademoiselle, you can't get rid of me that easily. What worked once won't work twice."
"How about a third one?" Gabriel aimed his fist to his face and brought in a punch that knocked him to the ground. "You can't dodge that, can you?"
Once again, Christopher had another bruise on his face. "I'm not that easy to knock out-" he aimed a punch at Gabriel, but the gorilla stopped him from doing so. He let out an angry grunt and shoved him backwards.
"Take this man back to Audrey." Gabriel ordered. "Have her deal with this poor excuse of a human."
The Gorilla gave him a nod in agreement and dragged Christopher far from them. Christopher threw the rose in his hands to Nathalie but she avoided it.
"Of all the things you can throw and grab, you chose a rose?" Nathalie mocked.
"It's a symbol, darling. I'll be back for you. And you will be mine."
"Yeah right," Gabriel uttered. "Let's see if you can even go near her, you little bitch!" he yelled.
"Gabriel Agreste, you are in public and the kids are right behind you. Do you think before you act or you're just plain stupid? This can ruin your whole reputation! The public still doesn't know a single thing that has happened and the fact that we're together doesn't make it look much simpler! It looks like you're taking a grown man away for no absolute reason!" Nathalie whispered in his ear.
"No need to be that rude, Nath." he whispered back.
"It's okay, Miss Nathalie. We would've said some choice words as well. And we would defend you both too!" Marinette blurted.
"Thank you, you two."
"Hey father, since we're all here, I'd like to introduce to you, my soon-to-be girlfriend, Marinette!"
"Soon-to-be girlfriend?"
"Well, uhh, we're aren't sure about it yet. Plus, we don't want the press all over us right now."
"Well-" He abruptly stopped when Nathalie hit him on the back of the head. "Oww, what was that for?"
"Don't ruin this for him. Marinette is an amazing girl."
"I wasn't-"
"You know what, just keep your mouth closed. I'm not in the mood to deal with you. Now let's just enjoy our ice cream."
"Mood swings much?" he uttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Adrien stated.
Both adults turned their heads to the boy who was looking at them curiously. Same was for Marinette. The girl never knew that Gabriel could be like that towards his employees. Or for the usually cold person to be so emotional.
"The two of you are acting differently lately. Is there something big that's happening that the both of you have time to relax? Or is there something you didn't tell us?"
"All I'm going to say is a drunken incident about a month ago." Nathalie murmured. Gabriel blushed and turned his face away from them attempting to hide it. Marinette instantly knew what she meant.
"What do you mean by that?" Adrien said in confusion.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?!" Marinette bubbled. Nathalie nodded. "Congrats, Miss Nathalie!" She ran over to her and gave her a loose hug.
"What am I missing?" Adrien asked. Marinette shook her head.
"You'll know later, Adrien." Nathalie replied.
"We got drunk when a big client came over. You can take a guess who that was."
"Audrey." both teens replied.
"And I was honestly super stressed out. Found a bottle of vodka... You know what happened next." Gabriel stated.
"He stole my vodka." Nathalie said, unamused.
"Wait, that was yours? It was half empty when I found it!"
"Why do you think it was half empty in the first place?"
"I- you have a point."
"You're the biggest pain in the ass, but I still stick around because I love you."
"Are the two of you dating??" Adrien and Marinette said in usion.
"I guess we are, after I decided to finally move on."
"I'm happy for both of you, but I think I missed a few chapters."
"Continuing the story, I'm pretty sure she came down to the kitchen."
"I came down to get a drink. You already drank most of the remaining bottle. You begged me to have some with you. Last thing I remember was waking up in your bed." Nathalie stated. "I wasn't exactly.. excited to see my boss in the same bed as me."
"You don't have to go that detailed." Adrien uttered.
"Not like you haven't done the same, only without the drinks, pretty boy." Marinette said aloud.
"He did what??" Gabriel choked on his ice cream and faced his son.
"Princess! Why'd you have to mention that in front of my dad!"
"Tell me what happened last night between the two of you right now!"
"Gabriel. Shut up. Or do you want me to go into detail about our night a month ago? Unlike you, I remember most of it."
"He's sixteen!"
"And you're keeping him away from the real world."
"Am I hearing this right?" Adrien whispered.
"Alright, fine. Let's go home before the reporters see us. Marinette can join us if she wishes."
"Thank you, Mr. Agreste!" she said excitedly. He nodded and texted Gorilla.
He pulled up nearby and they hopped in. "I call shotgun!" Adrien yelled. Marinette sat on the left while Nathalie sat in the middle, resting her head against Gabriel's shoulder.
He moved her over to his lap and laid her head into his neck. "Is that better?" She slowly nodded and drifted off.
"She's really worn out, isn't she?" Marinette asked.
"I've pushed her way too hard these past few months. And she usually refuses to rest. I'm worried for her." He placed a kiss on her cheek. She smiled at him before falling back asleep.
"Mr. Agreste?"
"Yes, Marinette?"
"Could I maybe spend the night with Adrien, if that's okay with you and my parents?"
"Why not? We could have a movie night. Nathalie needs some time off work, and I guess I could too. Gorilla, stop by the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, please." Gorilla grunted, turning down the next street.
The ride to the bakery had a deafening silence. You can only hear the car engine running. Adrien, from the rearview mirror, took a glance at his parents. They look so sweet together. Who knew what he told his dad when his cousin came, came true. His father did move on.
The gorilla parked the car outside the bakery and grunted at her. "I'll be right back!" Marinette said joyfully.
"We'll wait for you." Gabriel answered before looking down at his love again. She looked so peaceful sleeping and not seeing her coughing and in pain. He wished he could do something little to make her happy. Then something hit him.
"Wait, Marinette! Can you also bring us croissants? For all of us."
"Of course! I'll ask my parents." Marinette ran off to the bakery, leaving the Agreste family in the car.
Adrien from the front, took a photo of his parents asleep in the car, cuddling but forgot to turn off the flash. He froze in his position, afraid that if he moved even a millimeter, they would wake up. He stayed in this position until Marinette came back. When she opened the door, she almost burst out laughing when she saw Adriens facial expression, she instantly knew what it meant.
Adrien slowly backed away, and back to the front seat. That's when Gabriel opened his eyes to see the two teenagers looking at each other, trying not to burst out laughing. "What.. are you doing..?"
When the teens heard him, they couldn't hold it anymore, and they burst out laughing and this made Nathalie wake up and Gabriel very confused. "Seriously, what's the matter?"
Adrien held out his phone and showed them the picture of them sleeping. "Can I keep this? Please!"
"Adrien-"
"You can keep it. I know that's not the only one on your phone." Nathalie cut off Gabriel's words. "Just don't post it online, okay? We don't want paparazzi interviewing us day and night."
"Okay!"
"Now get in the car, Marinette, before someone sees us."
"Look! It's Gabriel Agreste and his son! This will be a big hit in the news!" Someone saw them in the car and now a whole crowd is running towards them.
"Quick get inside!" Nathalie pulled Mariette inside the car. "Step on it!" Nathalie told Gorilla.
The car drove away as fast as it could away from the people. On the way to the mansion, the crowd is still following them. Gorilla parked the car and the five of them ran inside as fast as they could.
"That was close." Adrien uttered. "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah." they all said in unison.
"Nathalie, how about you?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bit tired." she answered, leaning against him.
"Do you want to rest for a bit before the movie night?"
"No, I'm fine. I'm not that fragile."
"You're not fragile, but the-"
"Okaaay, Adrien and I will just go to his room to set the mood. We'll be leaving the two of you here." Marinette dragged Adrien up the stairs, while leaving Nathalie and Gabriel with Gorilla.
"You can have the rest of the day off." Gabriel told him. "Also, take this cash for your troubles. I know there are a certain few figurines to complete your collection."
Gorilla gave him a wide smile and walked away excitedly.
Nathalie, who was in his embrace, left it, and walked away to the office while grabbing a snack on the way.
"What are you doing?" Gabriel entered the office to see her on her tablet with the monitor open.
"Just wanting to check if anything important is happening. If not, I honestly don't care right now. I just don't want to get yelled at by clients."
"Alright, but if there are, I want to help. You don't need to overwork yourself right now. I know it seems like I'm treating you like you're made of glass, but I'm just worried."
"You're worried all the time, Gabe." Nathalie said with a chuckle.
"That's because you don't care for yourself as you should be doing."
"If I agree to take it easier, will you stop acting so protective?"
"I'll do anything to keep the both of you safe."
"So you promise to give me a little freedom?"
"I already told you, yes I will stop being overprotective. And I will make much more free time to spend with you too if you want."
"Why wouldn't I want that?" She shut her monitor down and plugged in her tablet while giving Gabriel a loving smile. "When will the movie start?" she asked.
"I don't know. We don't have a movie picked yet."
"I just realized something." Gabriel looked at her with a brow raised. "We let them go to Adrien's room."
"And..?"
"Alone."
"Oh. OH."
She grabbed his arm before he could run out of the atelier. "Let them enjoy it. I will go and ask them to join us."
Nathalie walked out of the room, leaving a frozen Gabriel behind. She climbed the stairs, taking a breath when she reached his door.
"Adrien? Marinette? We're ready for the movie whenever you are. I won't come in, but please be down shortly."
Adrien and Marinette sighed in relief, collapsing back onto Adrien's bed. "Thank God it was Nathalie and not your dad, kitty."
"You're right, purrincess. We would have been cat food if he's the one who knocked."
"I think Nathalie put two and two together."
"Thank the Lord she did."
They quickly got out of bed and headed down stairs, throwing clothes on at the same time.
When Gabriel saw them, he murmured, "I'm not going to ask.."
"H-hey, father." Adrien looked at him directly in his eyes to see him trying not to say anything.
"Come on, Adrien. Sit down with us." Nathalie interrupted. Nathalie sat beside Gabriel, while Adrien sat by Nathalie. Marinette laid down, her head resting on Adrien's lap.
"What movie are we watching?" Marinette questioned.
"I don't know. Does anyone have suggestions?" Gabriel answered.
"How about Strange Magic? I've heard good reviews on it." Adrien piped up.
"Why not? Nath, do you want to look it up?" She nodded and grabbed the remote.
Not long after the movie concluded, all of them fell asleep together.
To be continued..
Editor's Note: This chapter went by pretty quickly. And a fair warning, this isn't the end of Christopher. He's the William Afton of this AU: "I always come back." Honestly excited to think about all the ways I can kill him though! ~Ellie
Author's Note: Be ready to rage over Christopher in the next chapters. He could be good or he could also be bad for this story. -Zoe