To resolve a love square

Chapter 1

"Finally, I have translated a spell that will secure Ladybug and Chat noir's miraculouses (?) as mine and I can at long last have the power to make my wish." Gabriel Agreste told the butterfly kwami, Nooroo, who looked very nervous indeed. Gabriel Agreste was a world famous fashion designer, a single father and part time super villain. His villain name's Hawkmoth and he frequently released akumas that evilized the citizens of Paris so he could lure out Ladybug and Chat noir who each had possession of a miraculous that he wants. Getting the two miraculouses would enable him to make a wish, a wish for his hearts greatest desire. And above all else he wants his wife, Emilie, so that he Adrien and her can be a family once more. Hawkmoth has always been kept from his dream by the pesky heroes but now, he had an advantage...the ability to see peoples thoughts. With this power he was going to go out and defeat the two 'saviours' of Paris himself (with the help of an akuma or two), he would be able to see exactly what they're planning to do and so end the struggle for the miraculouses once and for all and if the plan failed, well he would at least know their identities. Gabriel was planning to expand his clothing empire soon and so needed all of this super villain and fighting stuff out the way quickly. Being a super villain required more hard work and time than the movies and books credited the villains for.

The best thing about the ability is that it doesn't require him to be transformed, he could use it on whom ever, whenever he liked.

In the centre of the pale circle of moonlight, Gabriel Agreste stood, surrounded by white butterflies, ready to conduct the ceremony that would grant him his new power. Nooroo looked on at his master in worry for what was to come, either everything would explode like the raging fires of hell or disaster would reign supreme. Either way, the struggle between Hawkmoth and Ladybug and Chat noir was going to soon come to an end. Nooroo knew he couldn't do anything to help sway events one way or another, all he could do was hope for the best and watch the story unfold. Hawkmoth raised his hands above his head and the ceremony began. Gabriel kept his hands raised, the right holding an exact replica of the butterfly miraculous while the other held an ornate dagger. As the ritual continued, Hawkmoth began chanting. At first it was quiet but as time wore on it grew in volume and authority as he controlled the growing aura of magic that pulsated and grew in front of him. The magic was all different colours and kept changing shape. When the magic had finished growing, Gabriel poked at it with his mind, like the ritual had instructed and he began to absorb the ball of energy into his soul. He could feel the power streaming through his veins, all the way to the very centre of his being.

The room became dark as the bright magic was absorbed into Gabriel Agreste. When everything seemed to be how it was before, the fashion designer laughed with glee at his certain victory over the two heroes of Paris. Many ideas coming to his mind on how he was going to destroy them, how he was going to make them scream...

The fashion designer turned to his hovering kwami, "Nooroo, come closer, I want to perfect the art of using this new ability." His voice was cold as the winter winds that raged outside in protest of the event transpiring in the abandoned observatory. Gabriel knew that for any of his newest plans to work he'd require full, expert control over his new power. Practice does make perfect, as they say.

Nooroo turned a pale, unhealthy looking greyish violet at his holder's demand. "I don't think it's a good idea to experiment on me, master." Nooroo spoke softly, barely audible, afraid of angering the esteemed fashion designer.

"What? Why not? Is your mind immune to being penetrated? Is it protected somehow?" Gabriel questioned his kwami, wondering that if kwamis' had protection against psychological attacks, was anyone else also resistant? Could Chat noir and Ladybug also be immune somehow? Could he become resistant just in case another got a psychological attack/ability?

"No, master, it isn't that. It's tha-" He started but was quickly cut off by the impatient Agreste.

"Well, if I can read your mind then I don't really care about any silly little opposition to me reading your mind. Now come here!" As he growled this, Gabriel swiped the purple kwami out of the air and held him in a tight, vice like grip, so he couldn't escape. The man then focused his mind, never relenting his hold on the struggling creature in his grasp, not caring, or really noticing the kwami becoming more and more fierce in his pointless endeavour to free himself. Gabriel soon sent his mind towards Nooroo. He quickly entered the little god's mind and immediately regretted doing so. In there he saw just what he'd become, a power crazed monster that obsessed over one goal and shut everything else out. Even his own flesh and blood, his only son. Gabriel saw what he'd done to his son and how much Adrien had suffered at his hand. He'd hurt so many, abandoned and deeply neglected his only son, made everyone in Paris think that he was a lunatic that deserved to be in a mental asylum (Nooroo had been reading up about speculations and opinions about Hawkmoth on the internet). Finally, Gabriel saw what he'd done and for the first time since receiving his miraculous, he regretted his work as Hawkmoth. Regret and anguish flooded through him like an ice cold tidal wave. What made it worse was that despite all the horrible truths about him that swirled around Nooroo's mind, he could sense that his kwami., Nooroo, in spite of all the terrible atrocities he had done, still sympathised with him and believed that he wasn't a truly evil person, that he could change. If his kwami, who's position was of faith, sympathy and understanding, then what must everyone else think of him? Well, he could see that much from the butterfly kwami's mind. But what must Adrien think of him? When was the last time he and Adrien had had a father, son conversation? Too long, that was for sure. How long had it been since he'd shown any sign of affection towards anyone?

Then, in the middle of the churning storm of horrifying revelations was a thought that dragged a choked sob out of Gabriel. If he had succeeded in procuring the ladybug and black cat miraculouses and received his wish to bring back Emilie then he would've had to have sacrificed Adrien to get his wife back. The universe must remain in balance, after all. His son was the one thing that he would never be able to sacrifice. For anything. Not even his beloved wife. Gabriel quickly realised there was no use any more for his being Hawkmoth, not that he thought he could stomach it considering what Nooroo thought of him and what Paris and his son must think. He didn't believe that he could bear becoming Hawkmoth ever again, but no matter how much he wished to never become his other persona again he knew that if he was to give his miraculous up, he'd have to do it properly. He was going to have to return Nooroo to Ladybug and Chat noir which meant that he'd have to adopt Hawkmoth once more.

Nooroo hovered nervously near his master once again, he was released soon after Gabriel had entered his mind. The man unable to do anything in his grief. He was worried about him, for he knew that all the terrible things in his head about him and his wish could easily break even the strongest of men's sanity if those sorts of things were said about them. Nooroo became even more distressed when he saw Gabriel stand up with his 'I'm a man you don't want to mess with, mate' face (his usual face but a bit more frown and with a hit of resentment showing). Nooroo was afraid that that face meant that some of his worst fears were being realised, Gabriel was about to do something stupid and ill thought out... Again... "Master, please don't tell me you're going to go through with another terrible plan that you concocted in five seconds. You remember what happened last time, don't you?" Nooroo tried to reason with the designer, already fearing what the results may be. Gabriel, for all his creativity and cleverness really had a knack for executing abominable plans that never ended well. Last time he made Nooroo promise to never ever let him do something so ludicrous again, the only reason he dared to back chat his master. No one wanted a rerun of the unholy sight the previous event caused. Chat noir had said in a recent interview that he still had nightmares and that he might have a case of PTSD. It really was that bad, although, with Chat being Chat, he was probably exaggerating slightly. But the point still stands. The mere thought of previous incidents made Nooroo, as well as over half of Paris, shudder.

"Nooroo, do you honestly believe that I would make that same mistake again?" Gabriel asked his kwami. Nooroo just raised his eyebrow and gave him a deadpan look.

"Yes." He replied simply. "Yes, I do."

It didn't matter what Nooroo thought about his newest half-arsed plan, he had to make amends for everything that he'd done wrong in the last few years... Starting now...

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The next day, Gabriel started working through the list of 'repairs and apologies' he had made the night before. He started by begging on his knees for Nooroo's forgiveness while presenting the butterfly kwami with 27 separate fruit baskets, each containing various different types of exotic fruits. Nooroo was definitely surprised at his master, who insisted that from then on called him Gabriel, friend or any nickname Nooroo so chose, even dad or brother. If Gabriel was going to change, he was going to do it properly. And he never once entered a person's mind, he swore he wouldn't unless it was an emergency, the person had information that could benefit his fashion industry or he was learning the identities of Ladybug and Chat noir. Gabriel believed he had a right to know who it was that he had been fighting over the years.

Next on his list he bought every single one of his workers a present, each costing over €50, with an extra special something for Natalie, along with giving everyone a pay rise and extra time off. Gabriel also started to organise a massive staff party as a sorry for not being the nicest of person to work for. The details of 'mission: party extravaganza' would have to be a side project as he worked through the list. Needless to say his staff were surprised pleasantly so, but still very surprised, and none were more so than Natalie. Explaining things to her would have to wait though, he had other more pressing issues.

The most important portion was up next. It was code named 'Operation Father's day'. Phase 1 was simple and went just as he'd planned, well, almost...

When Adrien got home from school that day Gabriel had been waiting, well, lurking in the shadow of the staircase. Evil habits are hard to break. As his unsuspecting son walked through the door Gabriel stepped towards him. "Dad? What are you do-" Adrien started but was cut off when his father embraced him for the first time in what could possibly have been years.

Adrien was speechless. His brain had short circuited. It started up again at his father's voice, "I'm so, so sorry I neglected you since Emilie passed on. I know just saying 'sorry' doesn't begin to make up for everything I've done to you, so I've taken the liberty of organising a father and son weekend for us, if you're willing to give me a chance to fix the mess I've made of our relationship." Gabriel pulled back to look into his son's eyes that were oh so similar to his mother's.

If Adrien had thought his father hugging him was shocking, imagine how he felt after hearing that. Actually, don't bother. After processing his father's words, he promptly fainted. Luckily Gabriel was quick enough to catch him before he could hit the floor. The fashion designer chuckled nervously to himself, hoping with all his heart that his son could, in time, find it in himself to forgive his failure of a father.

Gabriel laid his son in his bed, after carrying the boy all the way to his room. The fashion designer looked at his son with a sad smile, he bent down and softly kissed him on the forehead, whispering another 'sorry' while thinking how he should've been there, by his Adrien's side, throughout the whole of the teenager's life. He sighed heavily as he walked out of Adrien's room, not wanting encroach on his privacy. As he turned to head off to his office, he ploughed into Natalie. He quickly summed up their interaction. Gabriel told her to keep an eye on Adrien, to make sure he was alright and quickly left to work on other parts of his list. He also knew that he'd need to start on some of the mountain of paperwork that he'd been neglecting because his concentration had been on evil doing and recently, making amends.

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Later, when Adrien awoke from his sleep, he had a strange mix of elation and deep sadness and longing swirling through him. He'd had a wonderful dream of his father saying sorry for everything, giving him a hug and begging for his forgiveness, along with the offer of a father-son bonding weekend. He was happy because it was a happy dream, everything minus Ladybug he wished for, but longing, emptiness and bitterness came with the nice feelings because the reality of his relationship with his father was that his dream would never come true. Adrien knew that in reality he couldn't forgive his father as quickly as he would in a dream, because the years of pain wouldn't just disappear, he'd promised Ladybug once that he wouldn't forgive too quickly, not without proof of regret, remorse and attempts at redemption, not just empty words and hollow promises. The two had had a long discussion about when it was positive or unhealthy/a horrible idea to forgive someone. It was soon after they had met and it became apparent to Ladybug that he had lived a sheltered life, she gave him a few pointers about socialising with real people. He lived, even to this day, by those pointers.

Adrien was making his way to the kitchen when he bumped into Natalie, who looked startled to see him up, she immediately rushed up to him with concern in her eyes, "Are you alright, Adrien?" She asked. "Not feeling dizzy, or anything?"

"I'm fine, Natalie, what's with the fuss anyway?" Adrien was a bit confused, why wouldn't he be okay?

"You fainted earlier, don't you remember?" Natalie was still looking him up and down to double check that he really was, truly fine.

"I fainted? When did I do that? I don't remember." Now that he thought about it though, it did make sense since he didn't usually fall asleep in his clothes, not unless he had had a particularly hard, tiring and late akuma battle or patrol.

"Apparently you fainted after your father apologised for everything, asked for your forgiveness and if you wanted to spend time with him at some point on some sort of bonding weekend." Natalie recapped him on what he appeared to have forgotten.

"Oh." Was Adrien's intelligent reply. Inside, his mind was a tornado of thoughts. So his dream hadn't been a dream, but reality. Scepticism washed over his rising joy as Ladybug's words and his own promises echoed through his head. He walked back to his room to think it all over. Adrien wanted to be prepared for when his father inevitably asked for his response to his question and about the 'bonding weekend' Natalie spoke of.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Natalie's worried voice came from his door. He looked up at her, a question suddenly popping through the turmoil inside.

"I'm fine. But, do you know when this weekend bonding trip will be?" He asked. At Natalie's negative response he asked, "Could you find out for me?" She simply nodded and left with one last concerned glance at the young blonde boy she left him in peace. She didn't know what was going on with her boss any more than Adrien did. Natalie was curious as to what had brought his new attitude on, wondering if it was all some obscure plan or if he was genuinely changing for the better. She sincerely hoped for Adrien's sake (and for Paris') that the change was genuine, lasting and for the better of everyone, the boy more than deserved a bit of parental love. Plus Paris deserved a break from all the akumas that have been terrorising the city for the last few years.

Natalie made her way to her boss' office, since that was where he said he'd be. She was trying to find him so she could get answers to Adrien's question, as well as hopefully getting some of her own answers to the many inquiries that had been plaguing her all day. When she finally made it to the large door that represented her destination, Natalie took a deep breath and knocked on the giant, hard-wood door. She entered when she heard Gabriel's muffled voice permit her entry. Inside the office was still as dark as ever, but it had somehow become warmer, as if a large block of ice that had kept the room chilled had been melted away to allow warmth to surge through the space once again. Then again, maybe a less visible ice really had melted, a more metaphorical one. In the corner of the room she could see Nooroo happily munching his way through what appeared to be a large basket of fruit. He was munching on a mango that was over double his size. She briefly wondered how such a small creature could have the physical capacity to hold that much fruit. Gabriel must of followed her gaze because he said "I thought fruit was a far more appropriate display of apology, opposed to a pay rise or staff party. Which reminds me, can you look into some venues for the event, I had a few ideas and I would look into the situation more myself but I'm up to my eyes in paperwork, and my to do list keeps growing bigger by the second." He handed her a folder containing the research he had already done. "Also, how is Adrien doing? Is he up and about yet?". Concern was written clearly over the designer's features as he inquired after his son, if Natalie weren't so professional then he would've seen her shock, but as it was her face remained ever impassive.

"Your son is fine. He also wants to when you plan on taking him on this bonding weekend you spoke of."

Gabriel leafed through some paperwork, deep in thought. Just when Natalie was about to leave, figuring that she would get her answers later Gabriel suddenly let out an exclamation "Aha!" He then turned to his assistant, to give her another set of instructions, "Please move all meetings that were scheduled for this weekend to another time, cancel my flight to Japan and inform Adrien that if he so wishes, we will leave this Friday, after he finishes school and we will get back late-ish Sunday. That is all, thank you, Natalie." Gabriel had a softness to his tone that Natalie had never heard before. She hesitated before leaving the room, looking back over her shoulder she said,

"I will do as you ask, like always, but I do sincerely believe that if you want your son's forgiveness, you will get it much quicker if you tell him about the trip yourself. It would give your words meaning, instead of leaving them as empty promises. I know it's not my place, sir, but you have affected your son deeply with your neglect, no matter how much either of you deny it. Telling him yourself, speaking to him in person, would raise his trust in both you and your promises to fix things." She knew he wouldn't want to hear what she was saying, but it was too late to back out now, "If I was Adrien, I wouldn't trust you any more than a mass murderer. Luckily for you, I'm not Adrien and I know he will forgive you in the end, he far too kind. Even so, he should be sceptical of you and your vows, you have let him down too many times for him not to be." With those final words of (surprising) wisdom, Natalie left Gabriel's office and went about doing her duties, leaving a slightly baffled and shocked fashion designer in her wake.

Adrien was just finishing up his last piece of homework for the night when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He sighed slightly at the interruption, then hope filled him that one of his questions from his ever elongating list would be answered. He told who he thought was Natalie to come in, only for his father to appear in the doorway instead. The man looked quite uncomfortable standing in his sons doorway, having not spoken to the boy properly for years and considering Adrien's reaction to the last confrontation between them, you can see why Gabriel was nervous.

Adrien soon got over his initial shock, Ladybug's words once again offering him guidance and strengthening his resolve to not cave too quickly to his father's possible new affections. "Is there something you needed?" He asked, not being impolite but not being entirely respectful either.

Gabriel just stiffened slightly at his sons tone of voice and answered him accordingly. "I wanted to let you know that we will be leaving after you finish school this Friday and getting back Sunday for that weekend I told you about." Then he added on quickly, "If you want to go, that is."

Adrien thought about the situation he was being offered. On the one hand, he could spend time with his father and maybe work on fixing their relationship. On the other hand, he could be making it too easy for his father to fix things, he wanted to see if the man was serious about this and how far he would go to make things right. After a brief mental debate, Adrien decided to see how hard his father was willing to go for him. "I'm sorry, but I can't go this weekend."

Gabriel looked saddened but quickly hid it, "Very well, I understand that your friends come first. Especially since you always wanted them and have only had them for a short period in your life. I'll make arrangements for another time if you wish." Adrien just blinked. He hadn't expected that, he wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but whatever it was, it definitely wasn't that.

"I'm not hanging out with my friends, although I wish I was, I'm doing a photo shoot." Adrien's shoulders sagged slightly as he said photo shoot, it had become a natural habit to slump whenever they were mentioned. Photo shoots were so boring that some days Adrien would pray for an akuma to interrupt, just so he could escape.

Gabriel caught onto his son's not-so-subtle response to the mention of photo shoots. He wondered if Adrien actually enjoyed any of the other extra activities he had made the boy do. Gabriel had never even considered Adrien's feelings on the subject and just assumed that he did since Adrien didn't complain, in fact the boy excelled at all of them. That didn't mean he liked them though...

"So, you're telling me that you can't go on this weekend because of a photo shoot?" Gabriel asked his son, no emotion in his voice.

"Yeah. I'm doing photo shoots almost every time I have more than two hours to myself." Adrien couldn't hide the bitterness in his tone. Gabriel inwardly cringed at the words, knowing that the bitterness was directed at him, one way or another.

"I gather you don't enjoy them then."

Adrien looked down sheepishly, knowing that he shouldn't lie to his father. That didn't mean that he wanted to tell his father the truth, that he didn't like the photo shoots. So he remained silent, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

Adrien's silence was all the answer Gabriel needed. The designer understood that his disliked all of the photo shoots. After a few awkward minutes of silence and no eye contact, Gabriel had come to a conclusion about the best thing he could do for Adrien.

"Adrien." His tone was like stone, hard and cold. Adrien's eyes snapped up, betraying his fear of his father, his fear of rejection, a look that pierced Gabriel like a sword through his slowly thawing heart and reminded him of the damage he had caused his only son. "I have come to a decision about your modelling career. I am firing you from the Agreste fashion business, to immediate affect." With that he turned stiffly on his heel and walked to the door. He paused in the door frame and looked back, "I do not, under any circumstances, want to hear of you attending any sort of photo shoot ever again." and he left a stunned and perplexed former model standing alone in the room.

A/N Yay, the first chapter is complete! I've been so excited to post this story. My main priority is still my other fanfic, All he ever wanted, so this will probably be updated a lot slower. Either that or I'll be smart and write ahead. I'm much happier with this story personally, I feel like the other is rushed and I know it's not my best writing, although you guys seemed to like it so I'll take it as a win anyway. Please review and tell me what you think about the story so far and into the future of this story. I would also like to apologise to RoseySparrow who I may or may not have told that this would be posted a few months ago.

Rejected exam questions (P.E): A large round disc that you throw. Discuss.