𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗼 ;; oneshots

THE DESIGNER AND THE TWINS

Can also be titled as: Gabriel Agreste and the One Time He Had To Be A Decent Person Because of Societal Pressure

Gabriel Agreste was in the middle of a round of edits on some evening dress designs Saturday afternoon when he heard the front doors open. He spared only a single glance in that direction- no doubt it was Adrien, returning from whatever outing he had managed to persuade Nathalie to allow, just in time for piano lessons- before returning his attention to his work.

The squeals of excitement yanked his head back up a moment later. He frowned, sitting up fully and staring in the direction of the atrium. Two voices- young, definitely girls, and sounding nearly the same- exclaimed over how large it was, how there was no color, how the other should look at the big painting, could they play in the plants-

Gabriel Agreste pushed himself up out of his chair and strode to the office door, scowling out into the atrium. The first thing he saw was Adrien, trying his best to contain two young girls that came up to hip-height. They were running to and fro, trying to look at everything all at once.

He cleared his throat, unimpressed. Adrien's head whipped around, but the girls didn't slow down at all. Gabriel spared them a glance, then turned his attention on his son. Adrien was cringing a bit as he watched the girls tugging at a door, but he straightened as he turned to Gabriel.

"Father, I can explain," Adrien said quickly, gesturing to the girls. "These are Alya's sisters. I was helping Alya bring some books for our project back to her house so we could work on it there during the week, but then her bike hit a hole and it fell over and she got a really bad cut on her leg. So her older sister had to bring her to the hospital because she'll probably need stitches, but her younger sisters still needed to be watched, so..."

"So you offered," Gabriel finished, entirely unamused. "Forgetting, I'm sure, that you're meant to have piano lessons in three minutes? Your instructor is already waiting for you in the lounge."

Adrien froze, gaze shooting back to the twin girls. They had finally paused in their exploration, glancing between Adrien and Gabriel with wide eyes. "Uhh..."

"Were none of your other friends available to help?" Gabriel demanded. "Or were none of them willing?"

"They- well-" Adrien shifted from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable. "Nino is on the other side of the city- he's got family over, apparently, and they were going to a roller garden- and Marinette is busy right now, Alya said. She's already babysitting Madam Chamack's daughter, and Manon is a handful just by herself."

Gabriel glanced at the two other girls. They were giggling over something between the two of them. Then he looked back at Adrien, who was looking a little stressed, and he considered.

Adrien had to attend his piano lesson, of course. He had gone without lessons for a while now because his instructor had been gone on vacation and then sick leave for several weeks already, and there were several things that Gabriel had already asked the instructor to work on so that Adrien would be able to perform at the Gabriel winter investor's dinner. Adrien wouldn't be able to concentrate or learn a thing with the twins around, that was obvious. They were unruly and Adrien had absolutely no experience with kids. He wouldn't be able to control them. Gabriel, however, had raised a kid- or helped raise a child, at least, considering that Emilie and their old nanny had done most of the work so that he could focus on designing- and was aware of how to keep kids under control.

There was no other option, really. If the twins went along for the lessons, Adrien's instructor could very well quit and then Gabriel would have to waste some of his time finding a suitable replacement. A quick mental cost-benefits analysis confirmed that, and he sighed before addressing Adrien. "Very well. I'll watch them while you attend your lesson. As soon as it's over, though, remember to come collect them at once."