Prompt submitted by ming85 on tumblr. Consider this fic a very heartfelt thanks for your constant support ✨

The Truth

Gabriel Agreste lived a transient life. Hardly a week went by when he didn't leave the city on some errand or another, and when he did, he flew. There was the private jet for the quarterly trips to Japan, Korea, and America, and for other less frequently visited but equally distant corners of the earth. For the destinations within sight of the horizon, he usually took the helicopter. Climbing in now from the roof of the Gabriel headquarters, Gabriel straightened his tie and took the headset off its hook, ready to deal with the unavoidable 'headset hair' that would follow this journey across the city.

While Gabriel was settling, Adrien slung himself up into the helicopter with a confidence that suggested he planned on flying it himself. The pilot turned around and greeted Adrien with a warm smile and a wave. Any oral greeting would have gone unheard beneath the thudding rotor above them. Adrien waved back with equal familiarity and put his headset on, pausing a moment to fiddle with his mic before speaking into it. "Hey, Jas! It's been awhile. How are you?"

The audio came through both the pilot's headset and Gabriel's. "Oh, you know. Your father keeps me busy."

At first Gabriel wasn't sure what she meant by that, but then the wink she gave him before turning her attention to the dashboard caught him so off guard he almost blushed. If he didn't know better, he'd mistake that for an innuendo! Gabriel made the unfortunate mistake of catching Adrien's eye as the helicopter left the landing pad. His son, who had recently crossed the threshold into his twenties, had grown up into far more cunning a man than Gabriel had ever envisioned when that golden haired child brought him seashells on the beach, drawing pictures in the sand… Adrien was giving him that 'cunning' look now, across the backseat of the helicopter. Furrowed eyebrows and a scarcely hidden smirk. Gabriel stared back blankly. Whatever you're thinking, no.

His son's smirk only deepened. But instead of saying anything, Adrien turned his attention toward the view.

Below them, the city of Paris was falling away. The midday sun glittered on every window and car, and rippled along the surface of the Seine like a gas fire all the way through the heart of town, until it disappeared in the distance around a bend into a southern arrondissement. Gabriel watched two morning doves scatter below them, spooked by the thunder of the helicopter blades. Instead of meeting back up again, the doves parted ways. One flew north and the other passed briefly by Gabriel's window.

"So." Adrien's voice crackled in the headset, but Gabriel kept his eyes on the fleeing dove. "What's up with you, Jas? Dating anyone?"

Gabriel flashed Adrien a warning look, but his son was staring intently at the city below, with that sparkle of awe that had always been there. Adrien has always been as enamored with heights as his mother had been. It was only Gabriel who'd never cared for them, which was ironic, considering the nature of the miraculous Jacqueline had left behind in his care.

The sound of Jas's laughter came through tinny and crackly, but somehow still more alive than most of Gabriel's other employees. It had a surprisingly soft and girlish lilt to it for someone who wore no makeup, sported unnatural shock-red hair with an undercut, dressed in mostly leather, and whose muscles (hidden beneath her aviator jacket though they were) suggested that she could lift a grown man over her head and throw him ten yards. "I think I'm a little old for you, Adrien," she said, once she had laughed herself out.

Adrien didn't bat an eye. "Oh, you know I'm off the market," he replied slyly, "but I know someone who really needs a date, if you're interested. I think you guys would make a good match."

"Is that so?" she said. Gabriel glared at his son, but Adrien was unfazed. The glare just didn't inspire the same fear and obedience that it used to. "Since when did you become a professional matchmaker?"

"Since you didn't say 'no' when I asked if you were dating anyone," he grinned.
"Would you mind if I came up?"

"Sure, kid."

"Adrien, sit down," Gabriel worried. "Put your seatbelt back on." The sight of his son removing his seatbelt and standing up sent Gabriel's heart into his throat. Jas may be an amazing pilot, but that didn't mean Adrien needed to act like an adrenaline junkie and move around the helicopter midflight. Of course, Adrien simply ignored his father and wiggled his way from the backseat to the front, dropping in beside Jas with excitement. "Always liked it up here better," he explained. "I mean, look at this view!" To punctuate the statement, he leaned toward the front dash and positively vibrated in place at the edge of his seat.

"You really are your mother's son," Jas laughed.

Gabriel tore his eyes from them and settled them back on his own window. It was true. Adrien had inherited his love of flying from Jacqueline.

Gabriel could only hope that he wouldn't inherit her love of leaving as well.

For the remainder of the short flight Gabriel switched his headset off. Whatever Adrien was up to with Jas, he wasn't really interested. Only when they arrived in Meaux did he switch it back on, to direct Jas on which helipad to descend toward. Adrien was the first out when they hit the ground, stretching his long legs as he went and shooting a wave and a thumbs up back at Jas before striding toward the door on the roof. Gabriel opened his door to follow, but paused when he spotted Jas peering at him around the edge of her seat.

Only now did he realize it might have been wise to listen to what Adrien had told her. That boy sure had a mouth on him.

The roar of the blades above them began to die, and Jas mirrored his motions when he removed his headset and set it on its hook. "Gabriel," she said. The casual use of his first name was a testament to the length of her employment with him. What had it been? Fifteen years, now?

"Yes?"

"Were you listening to the conversation Adrien and I were having on the way here?

His lips pressed into a fine line. "I'm afraid not."

If he wasn't mistaken, a bit of relief colored her face. "Okay. Well, he said some interesting things. And I was wondering–"

"Jas," Gabriel interrupted softly. "I do have some sort of idea what you were talking about, and I'm afraid Adrien was mistaken."

"…Oh." A few strands of hair fell off her shoulder and across her cheek. The midday sun seemed to set them on fire.

"Don't misunderstand," Gabriel backtracked. Her stoic face betrayed no emotion or investment in this topic, but still, he intensely disliked the idea of hurting such an old friend's feelings. "You're very…" Here he faltered. He'd never been very good with words.

An amused smile cracked the ice on her face. "No need for that," she laughed. "I'm not upset. But, just so you know, if you ever are interested… I'd love to."

Gabriel cleared his throat. "Duly noted."

Adrien was waiting just inside the stairwell when Gabriel pushed the heavy door open and flooded the dim interior with daylight. He had that 'Christmas morning' look in his eyes. "Well?" he burst. "What did she say? What did you say?"

Gabriel pinched his nose and tried not to scowl. He was working on that. Resting bitch face, Adrien liked to call it, and if he ever wanted to stop hearing that godforsaken phrase then he had to do something about the scowl. "Adrien, if you ever try to set me up with anyone again, I will ship you off to a convent in Siberia."

"Aw, come on!" His face fell and he glanced at the open door, where across the rooftop Jas was now lounging in the pilot's seat with a waterbottle to her lips, awaiting their eventual return. "She likes you! And it's obvious you like her too, so what's the problem?"

"It's none of your business."

"Père." Adrien stepped toward him, lowering his face as he did so. Despite the fact that it had been like this for at least four years now, Gabriel would never quite be used to the fact that his son was as tall as him, and looked him directly in the eyes when they spoke. "It is my business. We're family, and I want you to be happy. You know that, right?"

"I know."

"And it's been twelve years," he added quietly. When Gabriel abruptly turned and started down the stairwell, Adrien grabbed him by the arm to stop him leaving. "Don't do that. I'm not a kid, anymore, and I don't want to do this silent, guessing-game bullshit with you anymore either. I'm so beyond done with that, and I thought you were too, all things considered. I tell you what's going on in my life, now. It'd be nice if you returned the favor for once."

Gabriel pulled his arm from Adrien's grasp, but didn't yet resume his descent. Everything was easier when Adrien was a child, and too timid to speak his mind.

He sighed. Easier maybe, but not better. That much was clear to him now, from this vantage point on the past which he'd spent years climbing.

Gabriel looked up at his son, playing with the truth on the tip of his tongue; the last little secret that Gabriel had stubbornly held onto.

When Ladybug and Chat Noir finally found him, Gabriel had felt almost relieved to be defeated, and to have the butterfly miraculous torn from his lapel. He was tired of abusing it just to goad Jacqueline into coming back. Tired of playing the villain in a useless attempt to light the fire he had married in the first place. Wherever Jacqueline was, if she had ever heard of Hawkmoth or the terror he caused with the power that was meant for good, it hadn't been enough to lure her home. In the end he knew that it had always been futile. She wouldn't have left them if she wasn't sure that she didn't want this life. She wouldn't have left Adrien if she wasn't sure.

The longer Gabriel took to answer him, the more Adrien's face softened. It was incredible, Adrien's capacity for forgiveness. When Chat took off his ring on the night they defeated him, Gabriel had been certain their relationship was over. But instead that was when it began. Maybe Jacqueline had meant Gabriel to replace her when she left him her miraculous, pinned to a note that contained only five cold words that could mean five hundred different things. I can't do this anymore. (To this day these words still swam before his eyes in a calligraphic font when he lay his head down at night.) And maybe there were a thousand different reasons he desired her return. But the biggest one now, eclipsing all the others, was the desire to show her the hero she had created by accident. The one who had replaced both of them. The one who saved Gabriel from Jacqueline's ghost.

Even now, even here, Adrien was still trying trying to save him from her. So perhaps Gabriel owed him that last little secret.

"I still love her," he admitted quietly.

Adrien's eyes widened in surprise. The shock was probably more from the honesty than the admission itself, which Gabriel had always considered obvious. Still, the truth mattered. The dazzling sunlight from the open doorway reflected off both the ring on Adrien's hand and the butterfly on his collar, catching Gabriel's attention. The truth always mattered, even if it was ugly.

"Thank you for telling me," Adrien finally said, and just like that, a pressing weight that Gabriel didn't even realize was there had lifted off the stairwell. The whole space seemed warmer and brighter as Adrien passed him on the steps, turning around at the middle landing to cast a happy glance his way. "Come on, we're gonna be late."