Against you

1

He was beautiful, Nathalie thought as she admired her boss more, taking a close look at his face, so mysterious yet so emotionless.
How did he manage to hide all of the grief and anger he had built up in his heart?
How was he so secretive with everything he did?
She never knew any of the answers to these questions although she had been working here for quite some time now.

The assistant carefully walked up to his podium, carrying some important paperwork when she miscalculated the amount of steps there, and accidentally tripped.
Those papers flew everywhere whilst Nathalie herself landed on the floor before her boss.
This was embarrassing, really embarrassing in fact.
But still the designer didn't bother to help, instead he looked down at his assistant and shook his head in disappointment.

"Nathalie I told you to wear normal shoes if you can't 'handle' high heels..." he scoffed "...they're not even 'that' high."
"Y-yes, I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again."
"Good."
Gabriel sighed as he focused back onto his work whilst Nathalie was left to pick up all of the papers by herself.

Why were his stupid insults so nice to hear?
Why was anything he said so attractive?
She didn't know, but what the assistant did know was that she definitely enjoyed listening to her superior's voice.
It didn't matter if he was aggressively yelling at her or arguing with someone, she always got lost in some utterly weird thoughts.
Maybe Nathalie did like the degrading after all and that's why she hadn't quit her job yet.
Or maybe she was just completely insane.

(Potentially the second 'insane' reason was true)

Anyway, after shaking her head the young woman forgot all about her stupid thoughts and she focused back to the mess in front of her.

In a few minutes time the assistant stood up and handed the documents over to her boss who just gave the paper pile a strange glance and then said:

"Place them on my desk."
"Yes of course sir."

She walked down, carefully and slowly this time so no accidents would happen, and when Nathalie got there she placed the documents on top of Gabriel's desk, just like he'd asked her.

"Thank you." An almost silent whisper came from the grey haired man who was too busy to look up, but his assistant was still thankful for his 'kind' words.
"You're welcome." She replied which made Gabriel glance up for a second.
He wondered why she'd said that because Nathalie would usually stay silent after his 'thank you' but the fact that this time she said something else bothered him a bit.

"Is something wrong sir?" Nathalie questioned as she saw her boss's troubled expression but the designer just shook his head and said:
"No...not at all. In fact! I'm quite well, especially now as I sense a negative emotion."
He smirked before turning around with one single quick movement and looking at the painting of Emilie before him. "Nathalie, I'll need you."
"Yes of course sir."

She nodded and without hesitation stood next to him.

Now the small circle below them shook and a little glass elevator magically appeared which took the two adults to the attic above.
There Gabriel got out and immediately transformed, but his assistant however wasn't ready to do so yet as she still had something to tell him before their mission.
So without wasting a second longer the young woman placed her hand on her superior's shoulder and pulled him back.
"Sir wait!"
She whispered to which the villain immediately sprung around and grabbed Nathalie's face.
"Is anything wrong?" He asked almost worried to death but his assistant just smiled and shook her head.
"I'm fine, I just wanted to tell you that...well...today is Halloween and Adrien-"
"No!"
"But sir-...he is four...this kid deserves a bit of fun."
"Nathalie I said NO! NO dressing up, NO trick or treating, and most definitely NO MAKING ANY DECORATIONS!"  Stated Hawk Moth before turning away and taking a step closer to his butterfly shaped window "We don't celebrate the day of the dead...you know why."
"Yes I know...and I'm sorry...he was just really excited to be...a cat...and I-...well I may or may not have given him my makeup bag-"
"NATHALIE! Get him immediately! And you better have all of the mess he made cleaned up before I arrive! Understood?"
"Y-yes o-of c-course s-sir." She mumbled right before turning away and sprinting to the elevator so she could find the toddler and get rid of any big trouble which he created.

Meanwhile this Gabriel stayed back and knowing that he was all alone the villain transformed back into his own self.

"Oh Nooroo, will I ever find them? The heroes? Or at least their miraculous?"
"I'm not sure Master...you might need to find the guardian first because I've never seen the heroes at all...so I assume there's just one person holding onto all of these magic jewels."

...

"ADRIEN!!! ADRIEN!!" The worried woman yelled as she flung open the door and rushed inside the bathroom to find Adrien.
There he was, trying to pain cat whiskers onto his tiny adorable face but his short little arms got too tired so he gave up after two whiskers.
And as soon as the toddler saw Nathalie he laughed and handed over the eyeliner he had been using.
"Mommy look!"
"I-...that's wonderful Adrien, but your father will be very angry if he-"
"NATHALIE!" The designer exclaimed loudly and his assistant immediately jumped in fear since she didn't know that he was behind her. "Why does my son have 'that' on his face?!"
"B-because I was not able to get it off yet."
"WELL THEN HURRY UP!"
"Y-yes of course! ADRIEN!! Come here! Don't run away nooo please!!"

Now the assistant sighed as she gathered her thoughts and ran after the four year old who was already way ahead of her.
He hid behind the chairs and threw all types of toys at Nathalie just to make her stop chasing him, but eventually after a good race the young woman managed to get him.

"Nooo mom!!! I want to be a cat!!!"
Screamed the little one as his 'mom' began wiping off the drawn on whiskers.
"What did you just say?" Exclaimed Gabriel in shock as he walked closer to the two and placed a hand on his assistant's shoulder "what did you call her?"

Nathalie gulped whilst she vigorously shook her head but Adrien didn't get what she was trying to do so he just shrugged and looked up to his dad with full confidence "mom"
"MOM?" Spat the grey haired man looking down at the young woman who trembled in fear.
"No...no Adrien! Remember I'm not-"
"Mom!!" The toddler laughed whilst Nathalie turned away in embarrassment.
"NATHALIE!"
"I'm so sorry sir I didn't want this to happen but Adrien can't understand that I'm not-"
"Mom!!" The child laughed again and Nathalie just began sobbing.
"NO ADRIEN NO! WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS! YOU CANT CALL ME MOM WHEN-"
"When what?" Questioned Gabriel to which his assistant just shook her head vigorously.

Now he'd seen how much damage was done to the young woman , so for a split second the designer decided to soften up.
"Nathalie." He whispered in a much more soothing tone whilst also grabbing her arm and making the woman turn to him who by now could barely even see from her tears which completely blurred her vision.
Thankfully Gabriel saw this soon and he managed to wipe her tears away so now their faces stood only a few inches apart whilst the designer still waited for her to answer. "So...when is Adrien not allowed to call you that?"
"I just-...well...he got so used to it that I thought it was just a harmless little nickname but I knew you'd get mad about it...so I told him that whenever you would be around he could only call me by my name...but when we would be alone he could call me-"
"Mom!!" Adrien smiled to which Nathalie smiled back and laid a kiss onto his forehead before turning back to her boss with an embarrassed face "I'm so sorry sir. I know I shouldn't have done it-"
"Yeah...well...I won't be mad...it is pretty smart I have to say but-...you know how I feel about Emilie. And-"
"Yes of course, I understand. I'm just not sure if Adrien-"
"It's fine...he's just a boy. It won't affect him long term...right?"
"...right...I hope."

To be continued-

So far so good?
Good book?