If Adrien could say one thing about his father, is that he loved him.
Sure, he was not the best father around, could be way overprotective, neglected his son more often than not, and could spend from weeks to months without looking at him face to face (because through a tablet did not count), but still. Gabriel was all Adrien had left of a family. And despite all his hurt, the boy was willing to forgive his dad for he was torn after his mother disappearance.
Well, at least to some extent.
Because there was only so much shit that Adrien could take from his father, and the list of tolerable mistakes was definitely growing smaller with each new day in his life – had been for a long time now.
And a babysitter, without a shadow of doubt, was not part of that list.
A babysitter? Seriously?!
Or, as Gabriel himself liked to say, a "second secretary, one to take care of everything that Nathalie is too busy to do herself." Which was, really, just a babysitter.
Because as far as Adrien was concerned, a "secretary" did not follow him around 24/7 to make sure that he was okay. That was a job for a bodyguard. But then again, not even Gorilla himself made sure that Adrien was inside his classroom, nor stayed in school for the whole damn time until it was over, did not try to do "dangerous" things for him – seriously, since when opening a book became DANGEROUS? He was Chat fucking Noir, he would not die if he had a papercut!
And most of all, Nathalie and Gorilla did not tell every single one of his breaths to his father.
Yep. Definitely a babysitter. Which for a nearly 16 years old boy was quite embarrassing, not to mention annoying.
It's been no more than two weeks since Gabriel had hired Fantine Gagnon. It came as quite a surprise, not only for Adrien but for Nathalie as well. Nobody quite understood where the idea of hiring her came from, but it was there, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. All Adrien knew was, his life suddenly became a mess.
The fact that his babysitter had been following him around as much as possible left him little to no privacy. Suddenly he found himself looking forward to going to the bathroom every chance he had, because at least then he could be alone. Other than that, Fantine was always close, no matter the situation. He could barely hang out with his friends without her reporting every second of it. Hell, it's been two weeks since the last time he and Marinette had shared a kiss on date!
And worst of all, Adrien barely had any privacy to transform.
In only two weeks, he'd had more close calls than all of the past year, and that was a lot! Fortunately for the cat hero, he had one ally in his times of despair: her fangirl side.
He should have seen that coming, really. The young woman was amazing at her job, but she was definitely not the serious type. Her perkiness could be way over the top at times, like everything she ever did was wonderful, including being Gabriel's ears and eyes. It could get quite annoying, really. And this one time she heard Alya talking about superhero comics, they'd spent over one hour passionately debating over which ones were better.
So of course, it was no surprise that she would squeal and watch in awe every time an akuma appeared. (Seriously, if she had a blog, that girl could give Alya a run for her money!) And since to follow Adrien Agreste also meant following Chat Noir, it was rare for them not to be around an akuma attack. As soon as she was distracted, the hero would run and just go back when the fight was over – but not before one or two stolen kisses from his Lady to make up for the lost time, and more than a few warnings from Alya that Fantine would soon notice his absence.
Long story short, Adrien's life soon became unbearable. Not even Plagg could offer him as much freedom as before, the only exception being at night. No hanging out, no kissing, no doing anything that could possibly be bad in his father's eyes because really, he would know. Every breath. The woman actually insisted on calling Gabriel every 5 minutes on his phone for her "reports".
"Every five minutes?" Ladybug asked incredulously during one of their patrols. "Like, you actually counted?"
Chat hummed in response. "I timed it on my phone. Not one minute more." He sighed, rubbing his head against her shoulder, much like a real cat asking for attention. "My Lady, how can I live like this?"
"I don't know," she replied sincerely, her fingers running soothingly through his hair. "Actually… I don't know how your father is living like that either."
Adrien frowned. What did his father have to do with that? "What do you mean?"
"It could get pretty annoying to receive calls from someone every five minutes. Or, scratch that, it could be actually bothersome." Ladybug looked down at the hero now practically lying on her lap, who looked back. "I wonder how he is able to work at all."
The blonde's eyes widened at that. The whole time, he'd assumed that this was exactly what his father had wanted: someone to tell him Adrien's every step throughout the day. He had been so immersed in his own misery that he never stopped to think that, maybe, this change could be affecting the older Agreste too.
He grinned. Maybe there was some hope for him after all. Gabriel was much short tempered than he was, it was a surprise that he had kept up with Fantine for this long. But then again, being the way she was, she probably just refused to listen and kept working in the way she found was best. Maybe a few more days and she would be fired – and then hopefully he would not try to hire anyone else besides her.
It was a good realization in his opinion, and he was grateful that Marinette had pointed it out, or else he would never have noticed.
"You're always so clever, you know that, Buginette?" Adrien used his elbows to lean up, closer to her lips. She gave a playful smirk in response.
"Well, I am Ladybug after all, Chaton. My Lucky Charms aren't exactly direct."
"Ah, but you have always been very intelligent."
"You don't know that."
"Well, I know that I love you!" His smile grew wider as he suddenly pushed Ladybug backwards until he had her pinned against the rooftop, his lips planting kisses all over her face.
"Chat!" She giggled, the sound warming him up inside. "You have a photoshoot tomorrow!"
"Not until afternoon." He looked down at the spotted heroine as she gently pushed his face away from hers. "Let me make up for the time we lost last week."
"You already did that."
"And I will do it again no matter how many more times it's necessary." He took the hand still on his face, gently kissing its palm. "S'il te plaît, ma Princesse?"
She only rolled her eyes before pulling him back for a kiss, murmuring something about having warned him. But in all honesty, Adrien could not care less as his Lady's soft lips met his and they soon became a tangled mess on the rooftop. Because she was worth it, and every time they kissed, he knew everything would be fine.
=X=X=X=
Well, he'd been wrong before. And he was definitely wrong now.
After arriving home with the most love-struck grin on his face and getting barely any sleep, it was needless to say that his performance on the photoshoot the next day was beyond lacking.
Marinette would never let him hear the end of it.
That was the least of his problems though, since Fantine had quickly noticed his lack of motivation. As a result, Adrien was witnessing the most horrifying and yet funniest scene he'd seen in his life: his babysitter insisting on staying the night to a very frustrated Gabriel Agreste.
"Mlle. Gagnon, listen. There's no need for you to work at night," the man insisted for what could be the tenth time by now, trying his best to keep his calm at the young woman clearly out of control. "I will make sure that my son will sleep myself. You should go home and sleep as well."
"Oh, don't worry, I've pulled all-nighters many times before, I can do it just fine, M. Agreste!" She gave him a flashy smile, showing all of her teeth as she pulled her bag up on her shoulders again, even though it had not slipped in the slightest – she seemed in need of moving, like every second standing still was a torture to her muscles. Adrien had never seen her quite like that before.
"Mademoiselle, how many cups of coffee did you have?"
"Just enough." She then turned to the teenager, looking almost as if she was his age and they were just going to hang out that night. "So seems like we're having a sleepover tonight! Not that we will have any time to mess around, to bed." She motioned with her hands for him to move, "Go go!"
A deep sigh was heard from behind her, and even though Fantine herself did not mind the sound, Adrien looked at his very distressed father, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand while holding his glasses in the other. The whole situation was so surreal; it was so bizarre to see Gabriel Agreste struggling to be in control that the sight was nothing less the amusing. Barely containing a smile, the blonde replied with a quick "yes ma'am" and ran to his room.
Even when he thought that his fun would be soon cut short, Adrien found himself wrong once again.
Fantine entered his room shortly after himself, putting her bag on his couch and sitting down, eyes glued on him. He observed from under the covers, thankful that she could not see his open eye in the dark.
Unknowingly to her, a stare contest started just then. While her staring was borderline creepy – seriously, who can sleep like that? –, Adrien kept staring back, refusing to fall asleep just yet. Who knows what that crazy woman could do.
After a few minutes, she looked down, her face suddenly illuminated by her phone. Before he could internally cheer in victory, Fantine stood up and ran away from the room, leaving him alone. What the-
But then she was back in no time, again sitting on the same spot on the couch, and another staring contest began.
Until she looked back at her phone and repeated everything she'd done up until that point. It happened again a third and a fourth time.
By the time she sat down the fifth time, Adrien was more than a little confused by her actions. Where the heck was she going? Wasn't her supposed job to watch him?
Her job.
She wasn't, was she?
The blonde bit his lower lip to stop a smile from appearing and waited for her to get up and go back again. As soon as she sat down, he began counting. 1… 2… 3… And all the way until she stood up again.
… 298… 299… 300.
300 seconds. Five minutes.
Fantine closed the door again and no matter how much Adrien could have tried – because really, he didn't –, he would not be able to stop his laughter. She was actually reporting! In the middle. Of. The. Night! Oh, if only he could record everything that night, he would be able to share his fun with his friends. If only they were there.
His laughter eventually died down, though he still had a hard time holding back a few giggles. Adrien then looked at the door. He still had some time.
Still smiling, the superhero took his phone, his pillow, and his blanket, tucked his kwami into his pajama shirt and left through the other door. Looking both ways to certificate himself that Fantine was nowhere near, and using the shadows to his advantage, he ran. He needed a place to sleep in the mansion that wasn't his room that night, and he knew exactly where to go.
It took him no time at all to reach the TV room. Sure that his babysitter was looking for him by that point, he opened the door making as little noise as possible and slipped inside. After locking it, the lights suddenly filled the room and he turned around, gasping to see a very awake Gabriel Agreste sitting on one of the couches, pillow and blanket resting right next to him. They stared at each other for a moment, until Adrien's lips curved into a grin.
"I take it you're hiding too, père?"
The older man groaned, and his next words had Adrien nearly out of breath for the second time that evening: "That woman is a nightmare."
Once again calm, he sat on the cough next to his father's, making himself comfortable. "You tell me about it."
Almost as if on cue, Fantine's voice could be heard from somewhere outside, calling desperately for the two Agrestes and wondering where they both had gone to. Adrien managed to muffle his giggles with his pillow, catching the attention of his father once again.
"You're having too much fun with this."
His first instinct was to look serious and apologize, but a second glance at Gabriel allowed him to notice a small, almost nonexistent curve at the corner of his lips. He, too, was trying not to laugh. That brought the smile back to his lips.
"Believe me, that's a first," he said sincerely, but allowing himself to sound more playful. When his father nodded in agreement, he asked, "Where did you get this idea anyway?"
"I don't know, and honestly, I'd like to forget it as soon as possible." Another giggle. "I'm firing her in the morning. Enjoy your last hours of joy."
"Oh, I will." Adrien sighed in relief before he lay down and covered himself up, his father soon following his actions.
The lights were still on though, and for once, he wondered if he should say something, anything. Maybe he should strike up a conversation, if only not to let that brief moment die. He opened his mouth, trying to think of anything, when Gabriel beat him to it.
"So, what is this I've been told about a girlfriend?"
There was no scolding in his voice, no disapproval. If anything, he seemed genuinely curious about who had gained his son's heart.
That brought a smile to Adrien's face as they started talking about one of his absolute favorite subjects in the world, and it did not stop there. Their talk went on for a while, and he felt like he actually had a father again after a long time.
Maybe it was wishful thinking on his side, that things would get better again, that whatever they were doing at the room would grow into something deeper, more comfortable. But for that moment alone with his father, Adrien found himself grateful to whatever had pushed them enter the TV room that night – whether it was simply Fantine, or Gabriel's mistake in the first place.
It was only much later, way past their bedtime, when they were both barely able to keep their eyes open that the lights were once again turned off, and Adrien finally fell asleep with a bright smile present on his lips.