Weird Flex, but Okay

They spent almost the whole day in Adrien's room, either playing video games or watching movies. And each time Adrien asked if he had any business stuff to take care of, Gabriel was sure to remind him that he was priority number one in the gentlest way possible. It was possible he was bordering on babying his son, but that's what he was and always would be: his baby.

Even if he did dress up in a leather cat suit half the time.

Notably, Adrien's eyes didn't flash blue even once the whole day, something Gabriel hadn't expected after Emilie's return as Helena. Like magic latched onto itself, like two drops of water next to each other on a plate, and the proximity was bound to cause both him and Madelaine to have more frequent visions of the past and future. He just hoped it wouldn't interfere in his son's life.

Adrien had fallen asleep nearly half an hour ago in the middle of a movie, snoring softly with his head on Gabriel's chest. He glanced over to Plagg and Nooroo, completely engrossed in their game of Go Fish (Nooroo was winning and Plagg was not happy about it).

A knock on the door made Gabriel wince. He knew it was too good to last.

"Dinner is ready, sir," Nathalie said.

Gabriel turned to look over his shoulder at her and gave her a nod. Then, he looked to his son and gently shook his shoulder. "Hey," he said softly. "It's dinner time."

Adrien hummed in confusion as he woke up, looking around the room. The new space would take some getting used to, but Gabriel could tell he preferred it to his old room. "What's happening?" Adrien asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"You ended up taking a little nap," Gabriel explained. "Dinner's ready."

"Mm-hm," Adrien nodded, still a little out of it. He stood up and wobbled on his feet a bit before grabbing Gabriel's shoulder to right himself.

And there it was. The blue flash.

Gabriel sat Adrien back down, waiting for him to come out of it. He blinked, shaking his head, obviously disoriented. "What was it?" Gabriel asked.

"I saw…" Adrien's eyebrows furrowed together, like he was still trying to make sense of it. "I saw Ladybug, but she was Chat Noir, and I was Ladybug. We were about to give each other our miraculous back, but… neither of us had to turn away from each other. I think we knew. But what would make us switch in the first place?"

Gabriel sighed and rubbed his son's shoulder. "I'm sure you two were just goofing around," he declared. That was a lie; he'd fought them both enough to know they wouldn't dare swap unless it was a necessity. "Do you still want dinner?"

A small smile lit up Adrien's face, and he nodded, taking the bait for Gabriel's distraction.

The two walked downstairs and into the dining room (Plagg and Nooroo elected to stay behind and finish their game), and instead of his usual seat at the opposite end of the table, Gabriel picked up his plate and set it down beside Adrien's.

For a moment, Adrien stood there, stunned, and Gabriel gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Adrien cleared his throat nervously and sat down, digging into his meal.

"There's more food than normal," he mentioned, looking his plate over.

Gabriel nodded. "Running around as Chat Noir, you burn more calories," he explained. "It stands to reason you should get more food because of it."

Adrien slowly looked from his father to his plate again, then dug in. "Thanks, Dad," he said between bites. His eyes darted to the door for a second. "Speaking of Chat Noir, is our new guest going to be joining us for dinner?"

"No," Gabriel sighed. "Madelaine said she'd like to spend a day getting to know the city since she'll be living here. I know you probably wanted to eat dinner with her, but-"

"It's fine," Adrien cut in. "Just… wondering." He reached out for the salt shaker, but before he could touch it, he froze, eyes turning blue and glassy.

A frown spread across Gabriel's face. No visions all day, then two in twenty minutes? That didn't feel right.

Adrien took a sharp breath in and grabbed the saltshaker, eyes returning to normal.

"Are you okay?"

Adrien nodded his head, refusing to look up at his father. "Yeah," he replied. "Just… another weird one. Chat Noir giving a speech or something alone." He shrugged his shoulders. "Ladybug must be running late that day."

Gabriel pursed his lips, a million thoughts running through his head. Finally, he took a deep breath and set his silverware down, then put a hand on one of Adrien's. "Do you know why your mother and I home schooled you?"

"The Guardians?" Adrien asked. "You didn't want them to know about me, so I had to be mostly a secret."

"That, and… and the visions." Gabriel shook his head. "It seems like their timing is completely arbitrary, Adrien, and we were concerned someone would take notice. The eye change is… hard to miss. It will be your choice and your choice alone, but I'd like you to consider returning to that."

"No." There was no explanation, no attempts at making Gabriel see his point, just "no." It was hard to blame him.

Again, Gabriel sighed. "I understand your concerns, but we do need to address this," he added in. "If your visions come at random-"

"They come in clusters, okay?" Adrien huffed in frustration. "I'll go half the day or all day without one, and then it's two or three within an hour. If I have one, I can go to the nurse's office and say I have a migraine before the next one hits."

"Alright," Gabriel replied with a nod.

Adrien finally jerked to look up at him. "Alright?" he parroted.

"Alright," Gabriel repeated. "I'd also like you to work on meditation to try to control your visions, but as I said, it's ultimately your choice. I've deprived you of your free will and a father who cares about what you want for too long; I don't intend to continue it."

A long pause passed, Adrien just staring at him in shock- obviously, he was still getting used to the new normal. Finally, he said, "I wanna wash the dishes together."

Gabriel's eyebrows furrowed together. Where the hell had that come from? Be cool, he reminded himself. Go with the flow. "Weird flex, but okay."

Adrien looked like Gabriel had dropped an ACME anvil on his head.

"Did I use that correctly?" During the few moments of free time he'd had overnight, he looked up some teen slang in an attempt to connect; it obviously wasn't working.

Then, a miracle happened. Adrien laughed. Maybe it was the right thing to say after all. "Yeah," he said through his giggles. "Yeah, it was actually pretty good."

They finished up their dinner, Gabriel asking Adrien about school and Adrien asking him about work, then finally made their way to the kitchen. For a moment, Gabriel stood in front of the sink, a thought occurring to him.

"You've never washed dishes before."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, that's… part of why I wanted to do this," he explained. "When I went to Marinette's house, her parents talked about how they had to wash the dishes after dinner, and it kind of just… hit me. That I didn't know how."

Gabriel gave a single nod in response. "Well, then, we're just going to have to fix that." He set his plate down and turned the water on to start running. "First, you need to get the water hot. If you don't, you're just going to be scrubbing for hours. Then, you need to throw away any scraps on your plate. Some sinks have disposals that can take a bit of food being thrown down them, but not all, and even then, they can't handle things like bones."

Adrien remained silent as his father spoke, watching attentively and hanging on his every word. It was nice, if not a bit odd, Gabriel thought. He hoped there would be more moments like this in their future, and he had a sneaking suspicion Adrien felt the same.

"When it comes to actually getting things clean, you need to get some soap on a sponge or scrubby and just go at it. The only major exception is on nonstick cookware, you don't want to use anything abrasive because it could take off the coating." Gabriel held up a scrubby to illustrate.

Again, Adrien remained fixated. "What about a brush? Can I use a brush?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah, you can- wait. You don't mean a hair brush, do you?"

"Do you need a different one for dishes?"

It took him a moment to process, to accept that this was really happening, before he responded. "Yes…" he replied slowly. "There are special brushes for dishes, and you don't want to brush your hair with the one you use for the dishes or vice versa."

Adrien blinked at him a couple of times, then the light bulb lit up. "Oh my God, you don't actually think I'd use one that's been used, do you?" he asked with a laugh. "I just wanted to know if, like, the bristles were different or something."

Gabriel let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he whispered, hoping he was unheard by his giggling son.

"What's got you laughing like a hyena?"

They both turned to the door to see Madelaine walk in, a confused look on her face.

Adrien blushed. "I'm not laughing like a hyena…" he grumbled. "Dad's just teaching me to wash dishes."

Madelaine scoffed and approached, inspecting their work. "Couple of rich boys like you doing dishes? I don't believe it."

"I grew up middle class," Gabriel replied. "And Adrien should know how to wash dishes."

"He should also know how to do it without wasting all that water." Madelaine jerked her head to the faucet. "You've gotta stop the drain and pour some soap in first." She reached over, doing exactly what she'd said.

Gabriel glanced at Adrien to see a small smile on his face, and he could imagine why. He turned his attention back to their guest. "That you for helping us, Madelaine," he said. "We both really appreciate it."

Madelaine cast a quick glance at him, her smile looking just like Adrien's. "Well you obviously need it," she replied, but there was no bite in her voice. "But don't think this means I'm your maid. You've gotta do your share of the work, too."

"Of course." The trio washed the dishes, mostly in silence, and Gabriel found himself just enjoying their presence. It had been so long since they'd been together as a family, even if Madelaine was still under the impression that she wasn't Emilie.

As he readied himself for bed, he couldn't stop thinking about it, about ways he could spend time with his wife and son more. Maybe next weekend, they could all go to the park together- yes, that sounded good.

Nooroo flew up to them, a smile on their face. "Did you enjoy your bonding time?" they asked.

"I did," Gabriel replied with a chuckle. "I was actually just thinking of ways we can spend time together next weekend as well."

"Ooo, maybe you can go to that bakery where Adrien's friend lives!" they cheered in response. "And, of course, you can pick up some chocolate croissants for me while you're there…"

Gabriel snorted, a bright smile coming to him. "You know, all you had to do was ask," he declared. He laughed and shook his head. "Goodnight, Nooroo. I'll see you in the morning."

Nooroo nodded and smiled back. "I'll see you in the morning, Gabriel."