One night, he didn't come down for dinner, and yet that wasn't enough of a reason to worry too much; the night before, he'd fought with Adrien's mother, but yet they'd somehow managed to get along or at least if they didn't, they put on a good act since then.
Emilie kept her son's attention with a lot of well meaninged chatter, asking about his studies, whether he wanted to watch a show or movie with her that night, and always managed somehow to be the kind of support that Adrien needed. She was good at being a distraction though whether she meant it or not.
Gabriel still didn't come down for dinner no matter how often Adrien and Emilie talked or whether they laughed or seemed happy; his father was caught up with work or something else, and so they acted like it was normal.
Adrien's mother though did carry up some food for her husband though it didn't amount to too much, just something in case he was hungry, before she hurried off to watch one of her and Adrien's favorite movies together. She spent a lot of time that day with her son, more than was even normal, but Adrien soaked up the attention with a childlike glee.
The next night, Gabriel came back home at midnight; Adrien was already tucked into bed, sound asleep, when his father came home from work, mind kind of blank from overexerting himself.
He crept up the stairs, pausing in his journey to his room to wish his son a goodnight, and with a gentle smile that slowly stretched along his face at just seeing his son fine and presumably happy with the day, he walked to his own bedroom to find his wife asleep, book not even opened on their night table. She usually waited up on nights that Gabriel worked late, and yet tonight, she hadn't bothered even trying to stay awake.
Gabriel's chest hurt, but his wife had been saying some really weird things lately, and even though, he'd argued with her the other day, he still worried about her through whatever was going on.
He changed into night clothes before laying down next to Emilie and trying to fall asleep though his mind felt like a heavy, dead weight in his head. How would he piece everything together like it was normal, when it felt like anything but?
It was harder to fall asleep with the faint feeling that his wife was upset with him, had been for a while, and he realized that she hadn't even sent him 'check in' texts, messages to let him know that he was loved or whether Adrien had asked about him or his job again, or just simple messages asking how he was or if designs were going well. They were random and depended heavily on whatever was happening at home and however Emilie felt, but Gabriel wasn't quite sure how to handle the sudden lack of them.
It was such an ordinary thing to receive them that he'd forgotten that he hadn't received any or sent her a quick message; he tried to return the favor the best that he can if he wasn't super busy at work. Today, he'd worked to the bone, felt like he had to.
He'd pushed himself beyond all sanity, and he'd really liked how his designs were coming along now; he was positive that he was hitting a breakthrough and would soon be a much better designer and better provide for his family. His wife had always been his main support though, and he felt a hole in his heart for not having sent her his in progress designs and for not hearing how she felt about them, what she really, really liked, or what just seemed weird to her.
He trusted her as more than someone who only modeled his clothing, because he loved her, trusted her opinion, and believed that there was a thing or two to be said about how the model wears the clothes or what he or she likes when the designer makes the clothes with them in mind.
His ideas were shifting to clothing for his son though he doubted that he'd want to model, and why should he when Gabriel had a lead model, his wife that often was his inspiration more than she wasn't. Adrien was young yet, still had time to grow up more before he got more of an introduction into his father's business that he'd take over one day.
He'd make a good model though it was just a thought that Gabriel decided to scrap from his mind and focus on something else entirely.
Emilie begged him the next day to take a day off, and he decided to only take a half a day of work, because truly his designs were getting somewhere since yesterday, and his inspiration was much steadier than it had been in a while.
He didn't want to give up when things were going so strongly, but he also didn't want to burn himself out especially when his wife wanted to spend time with him again, so when he got home from his half a day at work, he immediately sought her out.
"Let's try the Miraculous out!" Emilie begged, "I want to know what it's like."
"Okay," Gabriel assented as they both ended up spending all day figuring out their powers and how to use them, how to talk to their Kwami better, what the creatures liked eating, and whatever other little details that filled in the blanks rather nicely.
Gabriel and Emilie forgot dinner in their excitement and the newness of it all, and so left their son to eat dinner all by himself for the first time in his life. Adrien sat alone at the dinner table, more confused than frustrated over why his parents weren't sitting with him especially since his father had missed dinner quite a few times lately, and his mother had been by her son's side so often lately that Adrien was beginning to think that it was normal.
He felt lonely as he waited for his parents to come to dinner that never did especially when he found that he couldn't eat much since his belly was in all kinds of knots.
Adrien went up to his room when it seemed like more of a lost cause to wait for his parents that would never come to dinner that night and stare at partially eaten food when loneliness makes it hard to eat.
The next day, Gabriel barely got to work on time after having slept in, hadn't had a chance to wish Adrien good morning, and had to dart off to even get some work done, but he did manage to finish three suits that he'd started the other day and nearly finish another one. Soon, he'd have to make them and not just the designs, but his inspiration felt steady especially after having talked with Nooroo yesterday.
His wife hadn't said anything weird in quite a few days now, so Gabriel just assumed that their old argument was forgotten and in the past and that La Paon and Le Papillion would be working beside each other for any reason they chose in the future.
They didn't want to make it too obvious, let too much hint at who they were, so they'd stay secretive for a while. Emilie and Gabriel had long since agreed to that, besides if too many people knew too much, a secret identity became a burden hard to keep to yourself.
When Gabriel returned home for the day, Emilie wasn't there, and he found Adrien trying to fight back tears and failing in his bedroom all alone except for the one man that worked for Gabriel standing outside his door in case Adrien needed anything.
"What's wrong?" Seeing his son cry put Gabriel in an overprotective panic mode of sorts; he just wanted his son to be fine and well taken care of. It was hard enough to balance everything else and keep a steady roof over their head though their house wasn't as small or rundown as Gabriel had lived in before, before he'd met success with his clothing line.
"I-I don't know where Mom is. She left in a hurry to buy groceries with a weird, almost sad smile on her face, and she never returned home. It's been a while." Adrien hiccuped with his tears. It was alarming to see his young teenage son fall apart, especially since Gabriel knew it wasn't like his wife to take off in order to buy them groceries. They either sent someone else out to pick up their groceries with a list or they went as a family.
Gabriel had gotten used to his wife not sending him little messages throughout the day and felt an annoying pit in his stomach over the fact that he'd let that get normal and isolate himself even further from his wife.
He tried at first to keep everything together, to show up and be there for Adrien, but he found it hard to work and focus on Adrien's homeschooling and whatever else.
Working at home wasn't always an option, and eventually, it became a hassle as he sent people out to look for his wife, hid her Miraculous away that she'd left behind, and ended up putting Adrien in more extra curricular activities, so that he wouldn't be bored and that the time would pass faster for him.
It felt like a little bit more each day, and eventually Gabriel would look up and see just how broken they all had come from things like this. How his wife's disappearance left Gabriel broken and wishing that he he knew how to fix himself, and led Adrien towards more loneliness than he'd ever known.
Gabriel's slow fall into not being there like he should, only fueled the flames of loneliness in his son's heart and pushed them the remaining distance apart. By the time that he'd see what he'd done, things would have fallen further and further away from a fix that might patch everything up nicely and let the past become the past. Scars had been left in the wake of their hearts, and those weren't things that were quick to heal at all.
