Chapter Text
After 3 years of being Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste finally gave up on Emilie and allowed himself to openly express his hidden feelings for his assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur.
Their relationship blossomed into a beautiful family dynamic as Nathalie managed to get Gabriel to start spending more quality time with his son, Adrien. Something that they both desperately needed.
Gabriel continued to be Hawk Moth, but under the new motivation to try and find other ways to try and bring Emilie back. Ways that wouldn't possibly end up in sacrificing Nathalie in the process.
Everything was perfect. And then it wasn't.
One night, without a word and one last kiss to Nathalie's forehead as she slept, Gabriel left the manor with a suitcase of belongings, unsure if he would ever be coming back.
When Nathalie awoke to find Gabriel gone, she wasn't concerned. Gabriel was an early riser and most mornings he was up before her. When she was unable to find him in the manor she became worried and when she tried to contact him she was met with his voicemail. Her worry became concern and then panic when no one was able to tell her anything about where Gabriel was.
With one last attempt to figure out where he was, she checked the security footage. After watching Gabriel leave the manor with a suitcase in the middle of the night, she was a mess. Adrien tried to console her, but he was also dealing with his own sorrow of his father leaving them.
*******
2 years went by without a word or a sighting of Gabriel or Hawk Moth anywhere in the world. He was just gone.
Nathalie continued to run the business as usual, not letting the press know that Gabriel was missing. She kept looking when she could and her love for him never wavered. She tried her best to take care of Adrien at the same time, but running the business and taking care of Adrien was no easy feat.
Adrien understood and he was old enough to take care of himself, but it was hard getting up every day for school and not be greeted by Nathalie or his father in the morning. Meal times were no longer smiles and laughter, but quiet and most times by himself just as they had been only a few years before.
Their little family was once again broken and there was nothing they could do to fix it this time.
*******
Adrien sat on his bed in his room, staring at his desk where a picture of him and his mother and father sat next to a picture of him with Nathalie and his father. Both pictures were the same format. Professional. Gabriel to the left, Nathalie and his mother to the right, and himself standing in front of them in the middle. They were the only two pictures he had where they were all smiling. Happy. The only two pictures he had of his father smiling.
It had been two years to the day without so much as a goodbye.
Adrien moved over to his desk and picked up the two frames, looking between them. He felt angry, but also an overwhelming sadness as he stared at his father's smiling face in both pictures. First his mother and now his father was missing.
He couldn't count the number of times he wished that he had a normal family.
"I can't remember dad, and I can't remember mom.
And Nathalie just isn't quite the same." He sang as he put the pictures down on his desk in their original spots. He glanced at the window as he continued.
"But I had him, and life seemed fair.
Yes, I had him. He was there," He remembered how hard Nathalie worked to get his father to spend more time with him and it really helped their relationship. Having his father back was the best gift she could have ever given him. He started to walk towards the window.
"To give me strength, show concern.
Ask for nothing in return.
Say hello, talk me through.
Do the things that fathers should do." He continued singing, the lyrics falling from his lips with ease. His father was finally taking an interest in his life and was doing things for him without needing to be asked.
Adrien wrapped his arms around himself as he stopped in front of the window. The rain outside matched his mood.
"And I'm missing you." He reached out and placed his hand on the cold glass. Raindrops rolled down the window past his hand. His eyes started to water and his forced his eyes closed to stop it.
"I'm just missing you." He pulled his hand off the glass and wrapped his arms around himself tighter, turning away from the window before opening his eyes again.
As he walked back to his bed he began to wonder how Nathalie was holding up on today of all days.
*******
Nathalie sat at her desk in the atelier trying to focus on work, but between the rain and the two year anniversary of Gabriel's disappearance she was unable to focus on anything for more than ten minutes at a time. Her self doubt slowly started to seep in as her hands stilled on her keyboard.
She looked to the picture of her and Gabriel that she kept on her desk and felt the tears forming at the corner of her eyes, but she blinked them away. Why did he leave? And why didn't he tell her why? Was it because he didn't love her anymore? Was there someone else? What about Adrien?
She forced herself to stand from her desk, trying to push those intrusive thoughts away as she moved over to where Gabriel used to stand when working on his designs. She let her hand run along the edge of the podium, praying to any god that he return safe and sound.
"There is it, he's gone, and he's hung me out to dry.
The joy he said he felt, well, I guess it was a lie." She started singing, letting her doubts be heard by anyone passing by the atelier. Her fear slowly turned to hope as she imagined him there with her in that moment.
"But when I had him, my life was fine.
When I had him, he was mine." She felt tears coming to her eyes again as she looked down at the ring he had given her barely a month before he left. A rosegold band with a teardrop shaped sapphire in the middle and two amethyst stones on either side to represent both of them. He promised her that he'd be everything she wanted him to be and more to make up for everything that he'd put her through while he was fighting for the miraculouses.
Nathalie turned towards the large window on the opposite side of the room and began to walk towards it.
"He'd share his thoughts, be a friend, stick with me until the end.
Watch a movie, roller skate, fill the world with fear and hate." She recalled all the times they spent just the two of them in the manor and all of the times they battled side by side as Hawk Moth and Mayura. Things she'd give anything to be able to do again with him.
She stopped in front of the window and stared longingly out at the dark sky.
"And I'm missing you." She reached out and placed her hand on the cold glass, noticing a couple walking down the street huddled under an umbrella. Her heart ached for Gabriel at the sight.
"I'm just missing you." The tears started to fall as she removed her hand from the window and wrapped her arms around herself, imagining it was Gabriel's arms holding her.
*******
A knock on the door had Nathalie quickly wiping her eyes as she turned to see Adrien standing in the doorway.
Adrien could see the pain in her eyes and quickly crossed the room to her. He took her hands in his and held them tight. He offered her a small smile, as he didn't know what to say.
After a moment Nathalie opened her arms and pulled Adrien in for a hug. They still had each other.
Adrien's head rested comfortably against Nathalie's shoulder as he'd gained some height over the past few years. He never got a lot of physical contact from his father even after they reconnected, and from what he could remember of his mother, she also wasn't one for a lot of physical contact. But Nathalie had always been one for physical contact of any kind from hand holding to hugs, she was all for it if he needed it. Her hugs always made him feel better.
Nathalie rested her head against Adrien's, feeling happy for the first time that day as she held him tight. It wasn't Gabriel, but Adrien was the next best thing. Gabriel had been getting better at showing affection to her and Adrien through physical contact by way of hand holding, hugs, and kisses, but Adrien's touch was something that she would never get tired of. It had been so long since she'd had any physical contact with anyone.
They took a moment to enjoy each others embrace before singing in unison.
"Now we're all alone, now you're gone for good.
Now we're stuck right here wishing we understood." Their voices harmonized naturally together as they stayed in their embrace.
"He gave me hope when nothing went right." Adrien continued, finally feeling the tears start.
"He gave me someone to hold every night." Nathalie finished, holding Adrien closer and as she began to run her fingers through his blonde hair. Comforting him and herself in the process.
"And I'm missing you." Nathalie could feel the tears starting again as she sang.
"I'm just missing you." Adrien replied as he held Nathalie tighter.
"I'm just missing you." They finished together, their voices lowering to whispers as they stood there for a long time, not wanting to be the first one to pull away and end the moment.
They still had each other.
