First Order of Business | Adrienette

My Dear, Dear, World of a Father.

Adrien goes to the mansion early in the morning. He felt like a scared child sleeping in his apartment on his own the night before. He didn't really get any sleep between flashes of nightmares of seeing his mother deteriorate again and the eternal scorn of his father. But he knows that having a week with a lot of support from Marinette made a difference. He's never realized how turbulent his relationships before her were. With her, it's peace. The stress from his life isn't a burden to her. She tries to make it easier for him.

It's eerie being in the mansion he ran through as a child. It's hard for him to believe this was the same place where laughter would echo off the walls in those moments of familial bonding. That was a lifetime away from now. Adrien unconsciously wore all black, like he was preparing for another one of his parents' funerals.

He ventures to the hallway where there is a large mirror hung above a small table that holds an urn. He figures it's filled with sand or ashes of trash. He feels foolish for talking to it as a teenager when he could have just been praying to the sky. His father has now tarnished those moments of vulnerability, and Adrien hates that he's the one that feels ashamed.

The front door creaks open after a few minutes of staring at his own reflection. There are footsteps, as if Gabriel is walking around, looking for him. Adrien has never been so glad to be a copy of his mother when Gabriel's own face appears in the mirror.

"Hello, Adrien," Gabriel says. They meet eyes through the reflection of the glass. Adrien can't wipe the look of anger off his face no matter how hard he tries. He's never felt anything like this.

"Hello."

Gabriel seems to study him in the mirror. He watches him in a way that Adrien has seen him go over his designs after being put on a mannequin for the first time. He's looking for a flaw, an imperfection to alter. A weak point. "Are you here saying hello to your mother?" Gabriel asks. He walks forward and stands next to Adrien, the urn in front of them. They complete a triangle, and Adrien is suddenly aware that he is never going to be a part of this family ever again. This family has died.

"Not really," Adrien answers. He almost wishes he was nervous because that would mean he's not numb to the cruel reality that is his father. But it's nothing he hasn't been preparing for. "I know about mom. And Switzerland." His father has always been a man of very little expressions, but he looks surprised.

"What are you talking about?" he asks. Adrien scoffs like it's a reflex. To be lied to by your father about your mother to is to be killed. Adrien reaches over and with the palm of his hand and starts pushing the urn closer and closer to the end of the table. Gabriel doesn't stop him, and the urn hits the tile and shatters. Red sand splatters on their shoes. "How did you find you?" Gabriel is calm about it. He is a madman.

"That doesn't matter," Adrien faces him. He hasn't stood this close to him in years, and he would've died for his father's love back then. Now, he wants nothing to do with this shell of a man. "I know, and I demand you bring her back to be properly put to rest." Gabriel's eyebrows furrow, a familiar frown set across his face.

"You are nobody to demand anything from me."

"I am her son. I am your son, remember? Do you remember that you have a son?" Gabriel looks offended and looks away from Adrien. He's turning red.

"She's staying."

"She is not." Adrien isn't sure when he developed this assertive voice. Maybe it's the one thing he got from his father. Adrien points his finger at Gabriel's chest. "I will never stop fighting until she's back here. Do you understand?"

Gabriel shoves Adrien's hand away and yells, "You are being weak. She can come back. She will come back. They're making significant strives." With Gabriel's mouth snarled, Adrien watches his father turn into the form of a desperate animal. There is no hope for anyone here. Has he always been this gone? Or was it recent? He never spent enough time with him to notice.

But Nathalie did.

"You'll have to play his game."

"How significant?" Adrien asks. Gabriel does a double take, like he can't believe what is coming out of Adrien's mouth. Adrien can't either, but if his father would do anything, then it seems like Adrien got another trait from him.

"Huge leaps," Gabriel says, with a little shake to his voice. "They made a revolutionary discovery recently. They believe they can get blood flow started again." He talks like a child excited to talk about his science project. Even then, Adrien is sure his science projects growing up had more credibility than this.

Adrien tries to pretend there is not a crazed look in his father's eyes. He doesn't recognize this man. What happened to the man who could commandeer a room with a single glare, move armies with a single point of a finger? He looks pathetic and clammy now.

Adrien has never felt like a bigger liar in his life when he asks, "So mom can come back?" Gabriel nods several times. Adrien knows. Adrien knows unfortunately and maybe he is a little jealous of the delusion his father lives in. "In the folder, it said that you needed me for something."

"Yes," Gabriel urgently nods. "If I were to pass away, I'd need you to keep paying for her place. Well, our place. I would put you on the account now, and you'd have access. You can go visit her." Adrien doesn't want to keep having a conversation with a sick man any longer and decides it's time to give in one last time.

"Okay," he says.

"Okay?" Gabriel smiles.

"Yes. I'll sign whatever you need. I'll be responsible for mom... and you. But," Adrien brought out the Agreste in him to set conditions, "I'm leaving Agreste soon. I'm going to do a few more things to make sure mom's work isn't completely destroyed, but the second I say I'm done working there, then I go. You release me from my contract with no issue."

His dad doesn't seem to like this idea, a frown returning "If you leave, it would no longer be a family company."

"Deal with it." Adrien has never been so cold towards him. "And I'm done seeing you." Gabriel takes this like a shot to the heart. Play the game. Play the game. "For now." It's forever. "Give me time to forgive you." Not even a lifetime will be enough time. "But do not see me in the office. Do not visit me. Do not call me unless you absolutely have to." Maybe his father is wondering when Adrien changed, too.

"Okay. I agree to your terms." Gabriel reaches out to shake Adrien's hand, and Adrien is reluctant to do it. It feels like a goodbye. This is all deceit. This isn't family. This is barely blood. This is a bloodbath at the same time.