Leon's and Gabriel's birthdays were a week apart, and one of Gabriel's weekends south fell right between the two. Gabriel had his sweatshirt for Leon wrapped and in his backpack. But Leon for some reason insisted that they go back to Gabriel's house and hang out, instead of at the workshop.
"Here", Gabriel said, handing Leon the package with a grin. "I made this for you." Leon shredded open the wrapping and pulled out the sweatshirt. His jaw dropped. "Wow. This is mint! You made this?"
"Yep. At school."
Leon ran a finger over the design, grinning from ear to ear. "A Platini sweatshirt! This is amazing!" He shrugged off the stained windcheater he was wearing and put the new one on, then posed. "Hey, when you become a super famous clothes designer, maybe I can be your model!" He stood up on Gabriel's bed and strutted for two steps before losing his balance on the springs and catfalling off. They both laughed.
Then Leon reached into his backpack and pulled out a carefully-wrapped brown paper package. Book-shaped. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him.
"This is for you", Leon said, "but you have to give it back".
Gabriel laughed and punched him in the shoulder. "You idiot, you just want to look at the ladies". Then he started ripping off the paper. In the same moment he realised two things: that it wasn't a girlie mag, and that Leon wasn't laughing with him. He looked up. "Quant on Makeup? This is amazing!"
Leon's face was a study in mixed emotions. "I meant it", he said, reaching out and opening the book to show a stamped and dated library slip glued inside the front cover. "You have to give it back."
There was a moment of silence, while they looked at each other, one stunned, the other red-faced. Then they both burst out into peals of laughter.
"I can't believe you got this for me!", Gabriel said finally, when they could both breathe again.
Leon looked sheepishly at the floor. "I didn't dare buy it at the bookshop. It was hard enough finding a time when I could ask the librarian to order it in for you without anyone overhearing me". Gabriel heard, unspoken, the "without anyone telling my dad". He also knew that this book would have been expensive, possibly way more than Leon could spend without his father noticing. He reached out and slung an arm over Leon's shoulder. "It's fantastic", he said. "I'll have to check it out again on my card."
"It is on your card. I nicked your library card out of your wallet last time you were down."
They both burst out laughing again.
The two boys spent nearly an hour looking through the book. Mary Quant's detailed instructions on how to achieve each look intrigued Leon much less than Gabriel, but he loved watching his friend get excited about each new idea. When the last page was turned, Gabriel's fingers lingered on the back cover for just a moment, eyes lost in thought. Leon called it his "designer thing". Then he shook himself, hid the book under his mattress, and they headed off back into town.
Leon got compliment after comment on his new sweatshirt as they walked to the auto workshop. He answered each one with a bit of a pose, always saying that it was Gabriel's design. He usually followed this with an elbow to Gabriel's ribs. By the time they reached the workshop, Gabriel was feeling a bit bruised. It was a relief to sink down into the old, worn sofa.
Anton and one of the other mechanics wandered in. "Happy birthday, Gabriel!" he said. "Leon, what are you wearing?" Leon immediately jumped up and turned around so they could see the design, shouting "Le Roi!". Anton stuck his head back out of the break room door, into the workshop, and said "Hey, fellows. Check out what our Gabriel made for Leon!". A couple of the others nearby put down their tools and came in to look. There was a cheer, and some shouts of "Platini! Platini!". Anton beamed at them both. Then his 2IC, Stephane, asked "So what did Leon get you, Gabe?"
The two boys froze, looking at each other, mirth turning cold in their throats.
Gabriel's poise reasserted itself. "He got me a book". He met Anton's eyes but couldn't hold them, and flickered his glance away for a moment. It was completely an accident that he glanced up at the photo portrait of Brigitte Bardot, amongst the girlie mag posters on the wall. The mechanics didn't miss it, and burst into howls of laughter. Anton scowled. "Was that the brown paper packet I saw in your bag earlier? You are too young for such things, Leon! How did you get it?"
Leon blushed. "I... told them it was for a friend".
The room exploded with more hoots. Anton sighed, and left the room. The other mechanics didn't stop grinning at the two red-faced teenagers. Leon was clapped on the shoulder a few times. Finally Stephane said "So, can we have a look?" Gabriel, still a little stunned, said "No, it's at home under my mattress". The laughter redoubled.
Later, after the two boys had made their escape from the congratulations and the requests for Leon to acquire more, they made their way down to the fisherman's jetty. They found a spot out of hearing of the old men at the end, leaned over the railings, and laughed with relief and craziness until they couldn't stand up any longer.
A/N: Fun fact: the book Gabriel gets for a present, "Quant On Makeup", was one of my favourite books around then. I must have checked it out of the library at least eight times and gone over every page over and over again. If you've never come across Mary Quant or her work, look it up. I dare you to study her makeup styles from the time, and watch the video clip of "Loving the Alien" by David Bowie mentioned in the first chapter of this fic, and not start to see what's influencing the look of all those akumas.
Reviews: Thanks, TheSilverHunt3r, glad you're enjoying it. There don't seem to be a lot of stories featuring Gabriel around, but I wanted to write this one because I find the multiple sides of his designer persona fascinating. He's very much a character where so much about him is implied but never said. I totally have this headcanon where he was almost as much of a cinnamon roll as a teenager as Adrien is now.