Work Text:
‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵
Winter meant many things: The hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers, fresh snow falling from the clouds, and of course, temperatures cold enough to bring a chill. With the chill brings activities that only can be done during this time. A popular one amongst the people was ice skating. While the rink run by Philippe was open all year, it was usually bustling during the winter season. Amongst the people who would go would be Gabriel Agreste, who would go often with his wife Emilie and young son, Adrien. M. Agreste would enjoy skating with his dear Emilie, even if he spent most of his time trying to help his son find his footing and picking him up off the ground. What used to be his favorite time of the year slowly turned into a time of forlorning and hopelessness after his wife died. Adrien would go skating even after that, and would always ask his father to join. Gabriel would make excuses as to why he wouldn’t come along- usually saying he was “too busy”. In reality, he just could not deal with the painful reminder of doing an activity Emilie loved without her.
Another winter was approaching. As Gabriel was working on the design for a dress for an upcoming collection, he happened to look up through the skylight. a canvas of grayness with white falling spots was above him. They would momentarily stick to the outside surfaces before they would melt away, leaving a small bead of water as a reminder of its existence. He admired the beauty before returning his eyes to his screen. The door to the atelier opened, and Nathalie entered, taking a seat at her desk at the corner. She too looked out the window. “Oh. It’s snowing.” She remarked.
He did not respond with a word, but instead hummed to acknowledge her. He was just about to get back into the creative zone, when the door opened yet again. This time, it was Adrien. “Father, my friends and I want to go ice skating… Can I go? Please?”
Gabriel sighed, as he looked up from his giant monitor. “Don’t you want to stay inside and practice your piano instead?”
“I can do that later… I don’t have anything else to do and I already did my homework. Please, Father?” Adrien pleaded again.
“...I suppose you can go, then.”
“Thank you, Father. Maybe we can go together sometime.” The boy responded enthusiastically as he left the room, as his father watched. Gabriel returned to work. Nathalie momentarily stopped typing on her keyboard.
She told him, “You know, Gabriel, Adrien has been asking you for years to go with him to the ice rink again. Maybe this year is your time to go.”
Gabriel relented, with a sigh. “I’m not sure, Nathalie… Emilie loved to go ice skating this time of year. I don’t think I can do it without bringing up painful memories.”
Nathalie frowned, folding her arms across her chest. “Well Adrien doesn’t seem to think the same way. He probably thinks of his mother fondly as he has fun with his friends, instead of moping about and throwing a pity party in his room like you expect him to.”
Gabriel did not respond right away, instead pondering Nathalie’s observations to himself for a moment. “...You have a point, I suppose… but I don’t think I want to go alone.”
“Well, if you don’t want to go alone, I’ll go with you.”
“Excellent. We can go this evening… though there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“We can’t go out like… this.” He motioned towards himself and then to her.
She nodded. “Yes, It would be rather impractical to ice skate in business attire, that would be bizarre and quite frankly, not very comfortable.”
“No no, I didn’t mean that, though you do make a valid point, now that I think about it. I mean we can’t go as Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur. We will draw too much attention and assumptions from the public about our status. We must find a different way.”
She thought about it for a moment, and glanced at his ascot. “Well, Gabriel and Nathalie cannot attend, but perhaps Hawk Moth and Mayura can .” a smirk appeared on her face.
Gabriel smiled a little. “Ah, that’s a wonderful idea.” He removed his ascot, and unpinned the peacock brooch from his shirt. He grabbed her hand and placed the magical jewel into her hand. “I am always happy to have Mayura back by my side.”
Gabriel handed her the brooch, pinning it to her sweater. “And she is happy to be back, even if she was never fully gone..”
Then, he realized they needed one last thing before they headed out- two doses of the ice power up. It would be more than helpful to both stay warm and to skate on the ice. He retreated to his lair, when he promptly sent her a message to fetch some ingredients from the kitchen. After retrieving them, namely the ice made from pure spring water, she met him downstairs. Over the pot, he added the ingredients in, the ingredients reacted and the resulting product turned into a light blue liquid. She held two test tubes, which he carefully poured the ice potion into, and then capped them off. Now, they were finally ready to go. As they returned to the main floor, Gabriel signaled for his Tsurugi self-driving car. When it came up to the front stairs, they exited the mansion and got into the car. The car was instructed to take them to the Gabriel store just a few blocks away from the ice rink. As the car approached the storefront, it deceled. They exited the car, and watched as it drove away. Instead of going into the store, they turned the corner, and then headed down a nearby alleyway to transform. When they were far enough down so they would be obscured, they stopped. From his suit pocket, Gabriel pulled out the vials of ice potion from the inside of the garment. She took one from him, and together, they transformed into their masked counterparts.
“A pleasure to see you, Mayura.” Hawk Moth greeted her, by extending a hand to her.
Mayura smirked and took his hand. “A pleasure to be here, Hawk Moth.”
“Are you ready to have a good time?”
“Yes, but only if you don’t try to akumatize someone.” Mayura told him, in a half-joking tone of voice.
His eyebrows raised quizzically. “Oh, but what wouldn't a night out on the ice be without a little bit of scaring the other patrons?”
“Less interesting for sure, but it would definitely be more fun to just enjoy skating instead of terrorizing others.”
“I suppose that’s a fair point. Fine, I won’t try to do anything like that… unless a really good opportunity strikes.”
She simply rolled her eyes, knowing there was no point in trying to convince him that was also not a good idea. She yelped in shock as she was then swept off her feet by him.
“Let’s get going, then.” He grinned at her.
She nodded as her arms wrapped around his neck. “Yes, the more time we have the merrier… I hope.”
He lept high up, landing on the roof of the building they were right next to - the preferred method of transportation by miraculous holders in Paris. As he spotted the green rooftop of the rink, he leapt down from the rooftop, and then set her down on the ground. The two then crossed the street and entered the rink. It seemed a little convenient that the rink was suddenly mostly empty - they could have sworn that it was fairly bustling in the front lobby. The only two people who remained were a young couple at the ticket counter - a woman with blonde hair that was pulled into a ponytail and her partner, a dark-haired male and a prosthesis for his right arm. She grabbed the tickets, and then his arm, and told him something in German as they walked away from the counter. They were clearly not locals, which would explain the lack of fear in their eyes.
Next, the infamous supervillains walked out to the ice rink. They bypassed the rental portion of the rink, where many people were convening to get ready. They made their way into the stands, as they both retrieved their vials of ice potion. They uncapped the vials, and drank it. Hawk Moth cringed at the after taste of the liquid. In a flash of light, they received their ice upgrades. He gained a beautiful cape, with fuzzy detailing and underside. It, and his suit now had a beautifully intricate pattern all over, resembling icicles. His mask now covered his full face, just leaving his eyes exposed. He even gained a set of antennae. Mayura’s outfit also became more appropriate for the cold: her normal headpiece became a stylish winter hat, her dress becoming shorter and fluffier with a fuller skirt. Her outfit was now patterned with a delicately intricate pattern, resembling snowflakes. Her sleeves became flowy and long, and her footwear became laced up boots, equipped with blades on the bottom so she could skate on the ice. She looked over at Hawk Moth and raised a brow. “Are you serious right now?”
He paused, and raised an eyebrow. “What? Is there something wrong with the costume? It’s the mask, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not the costume... It’s your skates. They’re untied.” She gestured towards his feet.
He looked down. “Oh.” He knelt down, and began to tie them. “Don’t scare me like that, I thought it was something serious.”
“We use magical potions to transform our outfits into special ice outfits, and you can’t even manage to do it so that your laces are tied…Incredible.”
“Yes, yes, I know… Hopefully it won’t happen again.”
Mayura looked out onto the ice to see just how many people were here. There were a few people out on the ice, most notably that couple they encountered in the lobby, and now another couple- two middle aged folks, skating together on the ice. She tapped his shoulder. “Wow, look at those two: The woman with the short red hair and her husband, they’re good.”
Once he was done tying his laces, Hawk Moth popped up and watched them. They were good, especially with how in sync they were. When the other man dipped his wife down in a finishing pose dramatically, they laughed as they gazed at each other momentarily before they resumed skating again.. There was a deep connection between them, he sensed- one of deep love, affection, and happiness. Disgusting. Hawk Moth wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, they’re good and all… But we can do better.”
Mayura turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head slightly. “You are aware this isn’t a competition of who the best skaters are, right?”
“Yes. But I want to show them that we’re the better couple. We must defeat them”
He punched the open palm of his left hand with a determined look on his face which vanished after looking at Mayura’s displeased face. “-I mean outskate them!”
“No. Absolutely not, Hawk Moth. We are here to have fun and enjoy ourselves. No winning. No trying to beat other people. No preying on other people’s emotions. Do you understand?” She asked him sternly. Her eyes narrowed as she folded her arms across her chest.
He remained silent for a moment, but quickly realized that she was not messing around. He relaxed his stance. “Yes, I understand, and I apologize for that. I suppose I let my jealousy get the better of me.”
She sighed, as she took his hand with both of hers. “It’s fine… now come on. Let’s enjoy some time before the crowd comes in and makes it harder for everyone to move.”
Just as they stepped foot onto the ice, Adrien, alongside Alya, Marinette, and Nino, entered the rink. The aspiring journalist gasped, turning to her boyfriend and then her best friend. “Oh my gosh, guys, look! It’s Hawk Moth and Mayura!”
“Whoa. Wonder what they’re doing here.” Nino shrugged, as he looked at Adrien.
Adrien’s posture suddenly tensed up as his eyes locked on Hawk Moth and Mayura. “Let’s hope that they’re not planning to destroy the rink with some kind of sentimonster… or akuma.”
It seems like Marinette had a similar reaction, as she was now fidgeting with the strap of her purse. “Yeah, maybe they’re just here to have… fun?”
“Pff,” Nino scoffed. “Yeah right. Since when do supervillains just want to have fun? All they want to do is just cause trouble and ruin the fun for everyone else.”
“Well, whoever they are under those masks… they’re real people. Who knows what kind of lives they live.” Marinette said, as her voice sort of trailed off as she too, was watching the supervillain pair.
“She’s right.” Alya agreed. “We should leave them alone and let them enjoy their fun…At least until they ruin everyone else’s.” She then pulled out her phone to snap a picture. “Okay, now we leave them alone. This is so going on the Ladyblog later. Do you guys think they’re a couple under their masks?”
“Oh, totally.” Nino said, “Because what of the chances two people want to terrorize Paris together if they aren’t related and don’t have a common goal?”
Adrien nodded in agreement.
The four teenagers then got onto the ice. Hawk Moth observed his son, skating and having an absolute blast with his friends. It seems like his skating has even improved quite a bit since the last time, though that’s probably because he’s older now too. He remembered when Adrien couldn’t go more than a few meters without falling flat on his butt. He wished he could say something, but alas, he would not only blow his cover, but get more than a few funny looks from not only his son’s friends, but the other citizens of Paris. Mayura looked at Hawk Moth, “Is there something wrong?”
“No, no…” He leaned in, “Adrien’s skating skills have improved. I wish I could tell him.” He whispered.
“Well. Maybe sometime this winter you can go with him, and tell him that in person.”
“Mm… I suppose you’re right, Mayura.” In the meantime, Hawk Moth grabbed her hand. “...Try and keep up.” He joked, as he began to skate faster.
She smirked. “Don’t worry, I can keep up…” She began to match her pace with his, maybe even picking up the pace even faster. “Maybe I can go faster than you.”
He quickly matched her pace. “It seems like we are in sync - both in scheming, and on the ice. Just as it should be.
It’s true- as they skated together, the movement of their feet were perfectly in time with each other. It seems like they were drawing the attention of some of the other skaters, particularly as they began to skate circles around some of the slower moving ones. They were sure to at least be wary of them. Alya had taken a break from skating, as she got off the ice and into the stands again. She pulled out her phone, as she began to film. She figured that, even for super villains, the formidable couple were very graceful in their movements which were incredible to onlookers eyes, despite them being evil. Marinette noticed and joined her friend off the ice. She leaned in, watching her best friend furiously typing on her phone’s keyboard. “You couldn’t wait until you got home?”
“Of course not. The Ladyblog has always been known for the hottest scoop served up fresh.” Alya responded, “And this will be a great one! Most of my posts talk about how awesome Ladybug,” She pointed to Marinette subtly, "and Cat Noir are. I hardly write about the villains and now is totally the chance to drop my theory about their identities.”
“Oh really? Who do you think they are?”
Alya’s eyes shifted quickly, before she looked behind her for a moment. She leaned in and whispered, “I think it’s Adrien’s dad, and his assistant.”
The black haired girl nearly choked on her own spit. She suspected Hawk Moth was Gabriel Agreste more than once, even after the famous fashion designer became akumatized. There was just something that was off about him, but she could never put her finger on what it may be. “What makes you say that, Alya?”
“Come on, Marinette, the man never goes outside, unless he really has to… plus, he’s really mysterious and eccentric, and lost his wife… maybe he wants to use that wish to bring her back.”
It was ridiculous and oddly specific, but because it was so ridiculous and oddly specific, Marinette could almost believe it. “You know… maybe. But I guess we’ll never know for sure until we unmask him. But Adrien can’t find out about this. He’ll be really hurt if he finds out we think his dad is Hawk Moth….”
Alya nodded, as she wrapped up typing her blog post, being sure not to include her conspiracy, as tempting as it was. From behind, Nino appeared, and asked. “What are you two doing?”
The girls nearly jumped out of their skin, with Marinette falling out of the seat as she was sitting in. Alya quickly looked at her boyfriend, “oh, we were just… talking about girl stuff, you know? Right, Marinette?”
Marinette quickly got up, brushing off her pants. “Right, of course. Girl things, like makeup, clothes and uh… stuff?”
Nino raised a brow. “O…kay then. Anyway, c’mon, Adrien and I are hungry, let’s go get some snacks.”
The girls agreed, as the group of teenagers exited the rink. Hawk Moth watched, and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I swear if my son is going to fill his body with that garbage carnival gru…” He muttered under his breath.
Evidently he didn’t mutter quietly enough, as Mayura heard, stopping dead in her tracks. “He’ll be fine. Stop whining. One hot dog isn’t going to kill him.”
“Fine, fine… you’re right, I suppose.” He relented. “To be honest, I’m getting sort of tired. I haven’t skated in so long. I think I may be out of shape.”
“No, don’t worry, it’s not just you. I’m tired as well. Perhaps we can stop at that cafe for some coffee?” She suggested.
“That sounds lovely.” He smiled at her. The two of them made their way off the ice, and then out of the skating area. The real struggle would be being able to find a spot to detransform now that they had blades on the bottoms of their feet. They can’t exactly do that in the middle of this lobby, so they’d have to find either a secret spot, or go outside and find an alleyway, and fast. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a back door - literally. The door led to the back of the skating rink, where the dumpster was. He grabbed her hand, and pulled her towards it.
“Is this really necessary?” She asked in a whisper to them, trying not to draw too much attention.
“Well, we can’t go too far on concrete with blades on the bottom of our feet… and we can’t exactly drop our guard in the bathrooms, so yes, it is necessary.” He explained, as he escorted her out the door. After verifying the coast was clear, he uttered, “Frozen Nooroo, dark wings fall.” And in a flash, he was back to Gabriel Agreste.
“Duusu Snow, fall my feathers.” Mayura cited, as her transformation dropped to reveal Nathalie Sancoeur. She looked at him. “...Did you enjoy yourself, Gabriel?”
He took a moment before responding. “Yes,” he said simply. “It was simply magnificent. You know, we make a great pair, both on the ice, and in my lair.”
She blushed lightly. “I suppose you’re right. I believe that couple we saw earlier agreed. In fact I think that gentleman wanted to speak to us… About us.”
“And what were we going to tell them when they would inevitably ask us why we were dressed in such goofy costumes? ‘Oh, we’re just the supervillains of Paris, we’re hiding who we really are in these costumes’? That doesn’t sound too good.”
She chuckled. “You know what, you’re right. That doesn’t sound good. In fact it sounds downright dreadful.”
The two of them had a good laugh about that, as they exited from behind the ice skating rink. She knew of the coffee shop that was just a block away. She led the way there. They entered, and the barista perked up from behind the counter. Gabriel and Nathalie approached the counter. The young woman straightened up, realizing that the famous fashion designer had just walked into her cafe. “Welcome, Mister Agreste! What can I get for you, and your assistant?”
“I’ll have a latte please. And what about you, Nathalie?”
“A black coffee, please.”
The young woman entered their orders in the system on the touch screen register. “That’ll be 7€.”
Nathalie was about to get money from her wallet, but Gabriel put her hand on her arm in a motion to get her to put away her wallet. He pulled out his, and then handed her 10€. “Keep the change”, Gabriel said afterwards. With gratitude, she accepted the tip graciously, as she hastily went to prepare the drinks. She worked fast but cautiously; as she handed them their beverages. The two took the time to sit down to enjoy their warm drinks over some small talk. The warm liquid warmed their bones, a perfect way to do so after a rigorous round of ice skating, especially on a cold winter day like today. They were caught off guard by the sound of the bell chimes from the door, indicating a patron had entered. Of course, it was Adrien and his friends.
Adrien seemed almost as surprised as they were, “Hello Father, hello Nathalie,” He greeted them as he approached their table, “what are you doing here? I thought you were busy today?”
Gabriel sat his coffee down, having to think of a lie within seconds.
“Well, yes, we were… but the meeting with our brand partners ended earlier than expected. So, we decided to come and get some coffee.”
“So you came all the way out here? You didn’t just go to the coffee shop around the corner?”
“Um. This one has the coffee that Nathalie likes the most. Isn’t that right, Nathalie?”
Not really having paid attention to the conversation that had been unfolding in front of her, her gaze snapped back as she cleared her throat. “Oh, yes. The roast of the blend at this particular cafe is my absolute favorite.” It wasn’t really a lie, either.
“Oh, okay. Well I hope you enjoy your coffee…” Adrien said, as he was about to leave to go rejoin his friends.
Nathalie stopped him, though. “So Adrien, how was ice skating?”
“Oh, it was pretty good. It was weird though, Hawk Moth and Mayura were there.” Adrien recounted.
Her eyebrow raised up. “Oh, is that so? Well, did they cause any trouble?”
“No… that was the weird part. It looked like they were having fun! Having fun and not hurting other people in the process, I mean. I feel like they probably only have fun like that when they’re tormenting the people of Paris.”
Gabriel quickly interjected, “That’s not true, Hawk Moth takes no pleasure in what he does.”
Nathalie and Adrien both stared at him. Nathalie’s stare sent off a warning. Adrien asked out of confusion, “how would you know?”
After he took a moment to calm down from the heated interjection, Gabriel stated, “Personally, I don’t believe he’s doing this to get a thrill, but rather he has a certain goal in mind to help someone dear to him.”
Adrien was used to his father saying things that were either weird or didn’t make much sense, but this was definitely on the farther end of the spectrum of strangeness. Though, he also supposed he had a point. “Maybe you’re right… but I guess we’ll never know.”
“I guess not.”
“Oh, by the way, Marinette invited us over to her home after we got hot chocolate. Can I go, Father?”
Nathalie looked at Gabriel again. Gabriel didn’t even hesitate this time, “Of course, Adrien. Just don’t stay out too late.”
“I won’t, Father, I promise. Thank you. See you later.” Adrien said with a smile and a wave, as he walked over to the counter. At that point, Nino, Alya and Marinette had already ordered and received their hot chocolates, standing off to the side as Adrien got his drink. With their hot chocolates in hand, the group of teenagers left the coffee shop. Gabriel was also ready to go. He stood up, as he picked up his latte. Nathalie followed suit, as they exited. They headed towards the Gabriel store at which they were dropped off at - in hopes of preventing any suspicion from the chauffeur.
“Gabriel, are you out of your mind?” Nathalie abruptly asked him.
He was caught off guard. “What do you mean? What did I do this time?”
“You almost exposed yourself to your son! If you’re going to try and defend what you’re doing… at least try and make it less obvious next time.”
“I guess you’re right, I shouldn’t have probably said that… but I couldn’t help it. I was just so angry that my own son would think something like that.”
“Well, I can’t blame him. He doesn’t know that this is all you, or why you’re doing it. He doesn’t understand neutral morality and how sometimes people have good intentions but don’t do good things to get their way…”
“That’s true. I won’t dwell on it any further.” He remarked, as he took a sip from his latte. They finally arrived at the Gabriel storefront. Since he was here, he decided to pop in, and make sure that everything was going smoothly. It should, considering pretty much all the staff members he hired to run his stores were personally screened by him to make sure they were fit for the job. His high standards were known by everyone, including the potential candidates. He seemed remarkably impressed. The whole store was spotless, and all the garments were hanging or folded neatly. None of them were wrinkled, and were perfectly categorized by size - As he expected. What’s more, the new hire was even better than he thought. Gabriel approached one of the employees in the store, giving the young man a bit of a scare it seems given by his body language. Gabriel simply told the young man that he, and his coworkers were doing an excellent job at maintaining the very high standards that the Gabriel brand has set for years now.
The employee seemed more than thankful for the glowing review from the very top of the company he worked for. Nathalie was impressed too. As she and Gabriel exited the building to summon and wait for their ride, she turned to him and said, “That was probably the best condition I’ve ever seen that storefront. Not that it was never messy, but you know…”
“I know, right? Perhaps they just cleaned. However I did inform the management of the store that this week I would be dropping by at random, so I guess they were just really prepared for whenever I would drop by.”
“Ah, I see. Good to know they take their jobs seriously, then.”
“I told you that I only hire the best of the best. And you are certainly more than the best of the best.”
She blushed lightly at the compliment. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that… but thank you. I am glad that I am worthy.”
“More than worthy. There are not enough things that I could do to repay you for all you have done for me, Emilie and Adrien.”
She didn’t say anything back. She truly believed that she didn’t deserve all this praise. She believed she was just doing her job, and maybe even a little more. Still, nothing noteworthy in her eyes. The car pulled around the corner, as she and Gabriel entered the vehicle. He directed the driver to take them back to the manor. The drive back to the manor was quiet, mainly because there were many things they could not say to each other without outing the biggest secret they were keeping from everyone. Of course the ride felt like an eternity with so much on the mind, as well as running into some minor traffic. However, once they returned, they exited the vehicle and hastily made their way inside, especially now that the snow was starting to fall. They quickly retreated into their shared workspace. Nathalie took her place at her desk, and Gabriel took his in front of his standing computer. She woke her computer from its sleep, as she immediately went to check the Ladyblog. She saw Alya, and knew darn well that Hawk Moth and Mayura would end up front and center. Sure enough, there they were. “Gabriel, you should check the Ladyblog.”
He raised a brow, going to his bookmarked pages and tapping on the URL for the blog. His eyes widened as he scrolled through the newest post made by junior reporter Alya Cesaire. “Paris’ number one supervillains Hawk Moth and Mayura were spotted on the ice rink this afternoon. No one knows who they really are behind the masks, but one thing is for sure: they’re really good on ice. This husband and wife duo really know how to be graceful and elegant while showing off for the crowd– wait a second, did she just call us ‘husband and wife’?” He did a double take.
Nathalie laughed, “I guess she did. I suppose she assumes the only person willing to help the number one supervillain in Paris would be a wife, or a very close friend… which I suppose isn’t a bad guess.”
Gabriel seemed slightly flustered at the insinuation that Mayura and Hawk Moth were married. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. The irony is that it seems like the plan failed. We went as Hawk Moth and Mayura to avoid any of this, and yet it happened anyway.”
“Hm. Funny how that works out, doesn’t it?” Nathalie remarked, as she finished up her coffee, leaving the empty cup on her desk.
Funny indeed. Gabriel milled his options through his head. There was no real harm in letting a teenager think that his alter ego was married to Nathalie’s alter ego… but at least if they went as Gabriel and Nathalie, less people would be interested in his relationship status, and especially so close after Emilie’s death. They’d be far more interested that he’s made a rare public appearance. “Nathalie?”
“Yes, Gabriel?”
“I propose we go skating again next week. As civilians instead. Adrien can come too if he wants to.”
“I would be happy to. Perhaps you’ll enjoy yourself more this time around hopefully not be so focused on other things that way?”
“Perhaps it will”.
‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵
The End