#this just in: the Agreste men are cursed with miscommunication issues

[greentrickster]

Oh! Oh oh oh! I was about to go, "And, since canon insists that it's a universal constant that Gabriel find out Adrien and Marinette's secret identities the instant they find out each others', only instead of instantly sneaking off and plotting to akumatize his son, this Gabriel instantly goes into the room and confesses his identity too," but I had a better idea.

This is a semi-inverted universe.

So Adrien and Marinette start dating and they instantly find out Gabriel's identity, they're walking past his study on Marinette's first visit to Adrien's home, hear movement inside when Adrien was sure his father was out 'on business,' then hear "Light wings down" and Gabriel start talking to someone called Nooroo.

It's only because they're both used to having to keep their cool to avoid Hysperia (Gabriel Agreste, his father) that they manage to keep their emotions in check and scarper to Adrien's room before doing anything more.

At which point it's very much a "He's been living in your/my house this whole time?!" situation, and they're still committed to being good guys, but it's only been a couple days since the alternate universe shenanigans, and they're both absolutely having "THIS COULD HAVE BEEN OVER YEARS AGO, TF?!?" moments. And Adrien's all for going back and confronting his dad right now, but Marinette pulls him back like, "No, we should gather more information first, then we decide how many pieces he may or may not need to be made into."

Commence operation Stealth Mission, aka a bunch of leading questions while they're working together. Do you have any kids? A son. Does he know what you're up to? Oh heavens no! Why not?

And Gabriel just looks at the two of them like they're a little crazy and goes, "You- I'm not trying to be accusatory here, but you both are aware how incredibly dangerous what I'm doing is. We've already lost his mother. The thought of him getting hurt or - god forbid - killed helping me? I couldn't bear it. And just knowing about the miraculous would put him in such danger... I haven't always been a good man, but I've always tried to be a good father. Even if... I haven't been doing a very good job of it lately."

Pawdrien, in an arch tone. "Oh? Purray tell."

"I'd prefer not to, it's a rather... sensitive matter-"

"No, spill, how come your oh-so-precious Ad-er, son has to be kept in the dark, probably thinking you don't even care about him or his mom, but Alya and Nino get to be in on this?"

"What?" Hyperia frowns in confusion, "But they're completely different situation?"

"Why, because they're not related to you?"

"No, because Alya's blackmailing me. I'd never put them in such danger otherwise."

He says it so calmly that it trips them both up, and just- "What?!"

"Yes, she found my hideout, got a video of me detransforming, and said she'd post it to social media if I didn't let her help, then she brought Nino in on it as well."

Marinette, slightly dazed. "...respect." And, since Adrien's kind of still processing, "How come you stole the Butterfly in the first place, anyway? I've been wondering."

And Gabriel explains the Supreme's system and how the miraculous are handled and lent occasionally to a favoured few, and how he used to be actively part of that system. "I and my wife were never quite favoured enough to be deemed 'worthy' of that honour, however. So we did what any pair of rich and entitled people would do."

Marinette, "...you just took what you wanted."

Gabriel, embarrassed shame-face, "I'm afraid so. And I'm ashamed to say that it was my idea."

"Why did you even want them, they're generally nothing but trouble," Adrien asks, still angry but also in shock at this information deluge.

"Because my wife and I wanted something we couldn't have on our own."

"What, more power?"

"A child."

That stops both Adrien and Marinette dead in their tracks.

"To this end, we stole two of the miraculous," Gabriel continues, "The butterfly and the peacock-"

"Wait, you have the peacock!?!" Adrien snaps out of his stupor to screech, "It's missing?!? What does that one even do, like- allow you to make living creatures out of a person's emotions by imbuing some item with those emotions and the item then being able to be used to ensure total obedience from the creature and you used it to make a kid-?!"

"I- what?! No!" Gabriel, horrified, "That would be- how would that even work for-? And to create a person that could be so completely controlled, who would-?!?" he shakes his head to clear it, "No, we stole the peacock as well as the butterfly because it's the miraculous of Observation, and can grant its wielder magically perfect awareness of their surroundings. Which is useful when you're sneaking around behind a magical overlord with overwhelming power. We used the peacock to ensure we wouldn't be caught, and the butterfly to create a Kamiko that could cure medically unchangeable conditions.

"But then we got greedy. We had our child, our wonderful son, but why stop there? Why not try for more power and status and wealth while we were at it? Only... we didn't know it, but the peacock miraculous is damaged. And extended use can lead to death. The Supreme knew this, presumably had some idea of what the two of us were up to - even if he didn't know who we were - and goaded us into excessive use. She lost her life, I lost my wife, and, worst of all, my son lost his mother.

"Which is why I can't tell him about... any of this. He's so much like her, he'd never accept having to just watch on the sidelines - he'd insist on helping. And with him still in such pain over his mother's death... he can be so reckless, just like she was. Sometimes it feels like she's still here with us, in him, and it's such a comfort. I only wish I could offer the same comfort to him... but he's made it clear that he doesn't want me to- he's- he's handling it in his own way, and I need to respect that." a soft, slightly depreciative chuckle, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be putting all this on your shoulders. I- haven't really talked to anyone but my kwami about this. I can't let anything slip where the Supreme might hear, and my son has enough to deal with without me getting all gloomy on him, like I was when she had just passed."

"...you miss her then?"

Gabriel looks Adrien in the eye with a sad smile. "Every day. But the only thing I can do is move forward and hope she'd be proud of the man I'm trying to be now."

~Later~

Adrien, flat on his back in the middle of his room which Marinette sits on his sofa, "Okay, so we can never tell him who we are."

Marinette, "Maybe after we defeat the Supreme-?"

Adrien, "Maybe. ... ...oh gods, that fight we had by the Seine last year, I thought he was just angry with me the next morning for stupid dad reasons, but I think I cracked his ribs the night before, he was probably just in pain- wait, the butterfly's the miraculous of emotion, it doesn't come with- with healing powers or anything, and he couldn't go to a hospital for any Hesperia-related injuries, how much stuff do you think he's been walking off-?!?"

(Listen, I know this isn't canonically accurate for the butterfly and peacock, but also this is fanfic so canon is only as relevant as I choose for it to be.)

What I really want to know is how Gabriel ended up working with Alya and Nino because, frankly, I'm 100% sure that it started out as a hostage situation and also that neither of the kids were the hostage. Seriously, just-

Gabriel, exhausted from another busy night of trying to help people and fight back against the Supreme's tyranny, using whatever secret passage he has to get into his lair (the one where his counterpart keeps Emilie's cryopod) but heavens forbid his son find out about and get involved in such dangerous activities, he could get hurt! And he's not despairing but he's tired, so just kind of walks in and immediately de-transforms so he can talk to Nooroo, because it always helps to talk things over with a friend.

Thus he walks into his lair, exhausted and totally focused on Nooroo, who just freezes in mid-air staring straight ahead, mouth open, "Uh... Gabriel...?"

"Yes, my friend?"

And the kwami points and Gabriel turns the way he's pointing, and there's Alya, tucked in a spot that would be easy to defend or hide in where she has a good view of the entrance but is hard to see from it, and, most importantly, phone out, up, and recording.

Dead silence as they all stare at each other.

Alya: "I'll admit, not the story I was expecting, but I can work with it."

Gabriel: "...I don't suppose I can give you a substantial amount of money to leave and pretend you never saw any of this?"

Alya: "Yeah, no, I want in."

Gabriel: "In? On what"

Alya: "On saving the world and getting rid of the Supreme, obviously."

Gabriel: "What?! Absolutely not, you- you can't be any older than my son, who is a child, I'm not endangering a child in this battle-!"

Alya: "Could you repeat that for me? Because it sounded a whole lot like, 'Why yes, Alya, absolutely post that video you just got of Hesperia turning into Gabriel Agreste on your blog'!"

Gabriel: "...you wouldn't. You'd ruin everything I've been working for, the only chance we might have-"

Alya: "Glad we see eye-to-eye, glad to be on the team, I'm Alya, where should I put my stuff?"

And then she drags Nino along to help out, because power's meant to be shared, right, and there's strength in numbers, and also we'll need Nino because someone's going to have to plan and DJ for their victory celebration when they finally win!

OoOoOoOoO

Alternative that could actually be even more fun: Nino's actually the first one to join the revolution with Gabriel just because he keeps accidentally getting caught up in Betterfly/Hesperia vs. Claw Noir and Shadybug shenanigans, to the point that it's just easier to recruit him officially than to let things continue as they are. Then Alya pulls exactly the same thing as in the previous scenario, except this time she's trying to find out what the bae's up to instead of get whatever dirt on Agreste she was after.