Gabriel Agreste...
The man; the myth, the legend; the grumpy old man who wouldn't know love if it kicked him hard and straight up the hiney.
Gabriel had a number of issues in his life, but the worst one goes by the name Marinette Dupain-Cheng; his s...
The first year of university was over and Gabriel's nerves were on edge; he swore if his hair wasn't already white it would slowly be turning that colour now.
After a whole lot of discussion and Marinette being banned from the mansion for the remainder of the summer break, Gabriel had allowed his son to go on a camping trip with some of his friends including: Cap-Boy Keith and Nosey Rosie. Nathalie told him he needed to learn their names; he told Nathalie he didn't like them and didn't really care to find out.
So, Adrien had departed for a holiday in a... tent! The thought sent shivers down Gabriel's spine. It was like they didn't want to go too far away from Paris or something, choosing a local field over five star luxury. Adrien and his friend's all worked, and they seemed to have good little incomes for students; they could most certainly afford something better than a trip to the French countryside. Cap-boy Keith with his DJing and Nosey Rosie from her YouTube ads, and then Marinette... Well, it didn't matter if she made money or not because she would just sponge it off his naive little boy. His lad who worked his ass off smiling at a camera. It's as though she thought anyone with a pretty face could do it! Ha! He'd like to see her try.
Gabriel sat down in the lounge, a glass of sherry in hand as he flicked through Adrien's social media on his tablet. His son could be an idiot sometimes so Gabriel was quite sure he'd post something on there that would put the brand in disrepute. He was almost 19 now and getting a little too big for his boots.
"You know that's just the same as stalking." Nathalie entered the room, her wine glass perfectly placed in between her thumb and index finger, its slight sway making him feel nervous for the plush velvet of his top of the range three piece sofa.
"Just checking he's not ruining my company." Gabriel said, downing what was left in his own glass, leaning forward and placing the glass perfectly on his anti scratch coaster.
"He hasn't worked for you since he was 14," Nathalie said, seating herself beside him to look at the tablet too.
"Still my son." Gabriel continued swiping and typing until suddenly a photograph he hadn't seen before appeared on the screen. He looked at the time posted... 21 seconds ago.
The only lighting in the photograph came from the flickers of embers illuminating the scene from the campfire. It looked like some sort of professional photograph for a clothing brand like Ambercrombie or Hollister.
A girl was sitting on the lap of a boy, a hoodie which was obviously too big for her covering her hands and falling from one shoulder. She cupped the boy's face and pressed her forehead into his as her loose hair cascaded down around her shoulders and covered sections of her face. Her bare legs crossed over one another; one of his hands cradled her thigh with the glistening of a silver ring reflecting the flames as the other appeared around her back.
The embrace between the two of them was so natural and pure, one which made his heart ache for his Émilie. They were smiling at each other with pure love and lust, and for some reason he felt his heart to do something other than hate — maybe just slightly loathe.
"Looks like my son's going to be a photographer." Gabriel grinned. Finally, his son would be back in fashion; using the skills he'd supplied him with to get back in the social scene he deserves.
"Um, Gabriel?"
He continued to stare at the two models on the screen. Their opposite colours made them look exquisite, their light to dark like day and night. The moon and the sun. The yin and the —
"Ouch!"
Nathalie slapped Gabriel around the back of the head, her vicious attack pulling him from his creative mindset into one of shock.
"What did you do that for?" he cried, his hand going to the back of his head, delicately rubbing over where she'd just assaulted him. "I could have you fired for that."
"You could, but you won't." Nathalie gloated, her smile knowing as she took the tablet out of Gabriel's hand, screenshot the photograph and opened the gallery.
Using two fingers, she stretched it on the screen bringing the occupants into focus and finally giving Gabriel a closer and more detailed view of their faces.
Crap!
Closing the gallery, he headed back into the social media app and back to the photograph of Adrien and Marinette. After another glance at their bodies entwined as one and a heat taking over his cheeks, he moved to the comments.
'Our first vacation together 💕'
And your last, Gabriel thought with a childish huff. He considered reposting the picture in his stories with one of those hash brown things.
Hash brown: This woman is a menace and is corrupting my son!
He began scrolling through the comments to see how many people agreed with him, only to scroll faster in complete disbelief. How could so many people like Marinette? It seemed everyone saw her as an equal to them, the Agreste's! Worthy of his son's love! What was wrong with these people? Weren't they meant to hate the fact Adrien had a girlfriend?
A series of unfortunate events followed.
First, he had to eat his words that yes, Marinette could pass as a model and second, he'd just accidentally hit the 'like' button.
Shit!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
