Gabriel Agreste was not a friendly person. For a few years now, this fact had been an open secret among Parisians and anyone in the fashion industry alike.

Once upon a time, he may have gone far enough with that thought to say he wasn't a social butterfly, but his days of making light of things and joking around had long since passed. He didn't really have a reason to anymore. Not since...

Well, he hadn't thought he had a reason until Adrien started pulling away.

It happened slowly. So slowly, in fact, that no one really noticed for months – over a year even. But to Gabriel, it all started to become apparent when he realized that he'd missed a fencing tournament that he hadn't even heard about until Nathalie informed him that Adrien had won. So he sent her with his congratulations and a request to please remember to inform Nathalie of any such events in the future. Naturally, Adrien agreed.

Then it happened again. So Gabriel reiterated his statement, a little more harshly. Nathalie gave his son's apologies saying that Adrien had told her it slipped his mind.

Then it happened with a piano recital.

A basketball game.

Another fencing tournament.

By that point, Gabriel figured that it was time to confront his son, and so he made the proper scheduling arrangements and called the younger Agreste before him.

At the proper time, Adrien walked into the room with a face almost as blank as the woman he followed, although Gabriel could see the makeup caked on under his eyes. Was the boy not sleeping? Nathalie gestured for him to stand in the center then stalked off to take her place at the side of the room, tablet in hand.

"Adrien," Gabriel said as he leaned back in his chair. "There has been an issue with you not informing me of your recitals and tournaments. Is there a reason for this?"

The boy just shrugged his shoulders, although he did look mildly uncomfortable. "Not really. I just forgot to tell you about them."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I have accounts here of no less than five different incidents, all within the last three months. You were reminded to let us know. I didn't think your memory was that bad."

He expected his son to get angry at the slight accusation. Instead, to his surprise, Adrien didn't answer, but his father did note how the teen's hands curled into fists. Not tight ones, though. He frowned.

"Adrien, I need to know about these things."

The boy cocked his head. "Why?"

He sounded genuinely curious. Gabriel blinked, slightly taken back at the obviousness of the answer to his question. "So I can schedule them."

The look on the boys face became incredulous. "So you can... why schedule them? You never come."

Ah, and there was the root of the matter.

"I have a full schedule."

Adrien shook his head a little. "A full schedule. That's your excuse again?"

"Excuse?" Gabriel scoffed, voice going cold. "It is the reason you have a roof over your head and everything you want."

For a moment he thought his son would explode or back down. He usually responded with one or the other and this time looked no different. But then, Adrien seemed to deflate. "The sad thing is, you honestly believe that."

The older Agreste's eyes narrowed. "What more could you possibly want?"

Adrien looked away. "Nothing you can give," he said.

Well, he would not indulge a selfish, childish whim. "You will inform me of these recitals and tournaments in the future. Are we clear?"

For several seconds, his son just stared at him.

"Well?"

Then he shook his head. "I don't want you to come."

That managed to surprise Gabriel again. "Excuse me?"

Adrien sighed. "You don't care about it. Any of it. You just want me to put on the facade of the perfect person. You want me to win so you have your model of a son. I'm sorry, father, but I'm sick and tired of crawling after approval you are never going to give. I'll do your modeling and all of the activities, it keeps the peace, but I'm tired, father. So tired. So why don't we just go on with our separate lives as you obviously want to. You haven't been to any of my tournaments or concerts in almost two years. Not since..." He had the intelligence to fade off and look down. After a moment, though, Adrien continued, despite his father's warning look.

"I finally have support again, and people that come to watch me, who cheer me on and don't care if I win or lose. I'd much rather reserve seats for them, seeing as they'll actually make use of them. That is all. I'll continue to do what you want, but I don't want you to come unless you actually want to be there... and it's obvious you have other things you would prefer to do."

He didn't say it with any heat, which was unusual for Adrien, and Gabriel didn't really know how to respond to this. He could respond to anger. He could respond to defensiveness. But this... Adrien had stated it in a sort of resigned, exhausted voice that seemed to sap the very emotion out of the room. It was an impressive feat and effectively cut off any wind to Gabriel's sails. So they sat there in silence for several seconds until the younger Agreste spoke again.

"May I go, father?"

"Please inform Nathalie of the events. If you do not wish for me to be there, I will not. But I would like to be informed nonetheless," Gabriel finally heard himself say.

Adrien actually sighed as if his father had just asked him to carry the weight of the world. Such dramatics. He was so like his mother. "I will endeavor to remember, Father."

"Adrien..." he said in a warning voice. It wasn't difficult to see the loophole in that.

The boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gabriel wasn't sure if he should be annoyed or proud. "Very well," Adrien replied, voice still calm for the most part. "Whatever you wish. May I go?"

A charged silence descended over the room.

"Yes," Gabriel finally said.

"Thank you, Father," he said politely with a bow, turned and walked out of the room, leaving Gabriel to stare after him and wonder how things had gotten this far.

"Nathalie," he finally said after a little while, "was he serious?"

"I believe so, sir. I heard him speaking on his phone to his friends, and he said much the same thing."

"Oh."

He hadn't realized he'd skipped that many performances. He hadn't realized just how much time had passed already. He hadn't realized that Adrien... that his son would ever stop wanting Gabriel's approval and presence. Of course, he'd thought he'd have a whole family by this point (curse Ladybug and Chat Noir!), but still...

Gabriel would willingly admit that he didn't want to do family activities and hadn't wanted to since her disappearance. It was too painful. As much as he loved and wanted to protect Adrien, seeing him was just a reminder of the absence in their life. It was easier to avoid interaction until he could remedy the situation – until he could bring her back.

But now... would Adrien want to be a part of the family? The thought had never crossed his mind before, but with how his son had just acted...

Like he'd given up.

Perhaps something needed to change after all.

But... what?

xXx

Adrien returned to his room, eyebrows creasing, his lips in a tight line. He was proud of himself for keeping his temper, but it had been a near thing. He just didn't get it. Why was his father suddenly pretending to care? What was he hoping to get out of this act? Obviously he didn't care to even show face at any of Adrien's activities before this, so no one would know anything had changed. So why?

The hands he'd managed to keep somewhat relaxed now clenched into tight fists, his nails digging into his skin, threatening to break through. "Can you believe him, Plagg?" he found himself asking. "He wants me to inform him. He wants to "know"." And then it struck him. "He wants his control. Despite the fact that he never shows up."

The little kwami floated into view, for once staying quiet and watching his chosen silently while Adrien continued. "He just wants to pretend – to play house. Does he want to get back to that picture perfect family we were when mom was here? No, he just wants people to think we're perfect. Is just having a face for the public that important to him? Oh, who am I kidding, of course it is. He doesn't want to put in the time and effort for anything actually, you know, real. And isn't that how it's always been? We've never been perfect, even back then. Isn't that why she left? Abandoned me and dad? Because she wasn't happy?"

Then he asked in a smaller voice. "Why couldn't she take me with her?"

He sat there despondently after that, just slumped onto his couch. That's how it had been lately. He couldn't ever seem to muster up his anger for long, because it was just too much. He hated the whole situation, and hating himself for being upset about it earlier. He'd already wasted enough time on this. He thought he'd come to terms with it, but his calm had been wrecked by the first stone thrown into the pond. The first time his father even pretended to show interest. Was Adrien's resolve that weak?

Did it even matter. All of his anger had slipped behind some sort of numb shield. All he felt lately about this was a sort of resignation that dragged him down – that wanted to drown him. He was losing his ability to care if it succeeded or not.

xXx

Plagg sat on his chosen's shoulder, trying to comfort the boy who owned his ring. It wasn't something he normally found himself doing but the broken look on Adrien's face shattered something inside the fairy. Unfortunately, he wasn't good at this. Tikki had always been better. What would she say now? Something about looking at the other side, perhaps?

"I'm sure he's trying to do his best," he finally said. And hey, it sounded like something she'd say. He mentally patted himself on the back. He really deserved more cheese for this.

"Yeah well, he should have tried doing that before," Adrien practically spat. "It's too little too late Plagg." He went over to his bed and threw himself onto it, sitting there quietly, trying to process what had just happened with his father. "He doesn't care. He's just trying to keep his schedule – trying to control me again. I'm not going to fall for it. I'm not going to hope. I... can't. Not anymore, Plagg."

The words, 'it hurts too much' went unspoken, but somehow echoed in the room anyway.

"You... sure you don't want some cheese, kid?" Because hey, that always made him feel better.

Adrien just sighed, but the look he shot Plagg still seemed more fondly exasperated than anything else. It was better than that wall of tiredness that always seemed to melt into numb from before, so the kwami decided that he'd take it as a win for now.

xXx

AN: So this is the reposting of a Round Robin fic (under the same name) in the Miraculous Challenges forum (which you can reach if you click the forum up at the top and look for it there). If you'd like to help with the fic, please come! We'd love to have you!

Special thanks to Texas-Variety Katie Bug and Cute Kirby for helping in the Round Robin and writing! And don't worry, the chapters will get longer as we go along (I'm really not used to such short chapters, LOL). Anyway, let us know what you think!