Based on a comic by hawkmog (Instagram) - Link in the comments

Nathalie doesn't know that Gabriel is Shadow Noir.

Disclaimer: This oneshot was originally written in German and to save some time and energy I let Deepl translate it and only went over it to try to fix some things. (I ended up overthinking everything regardless so I'm not sure if it really saved time)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas. The holiday of love. And yet it hadn't felt like that this year either. Just like the year before, Nathalie had tried to get Gabriel to at least today spend time with his son, but she hadn't been able to archieve more than them having dinner together. And when their plates had been emptied, Gabriel had gone straight back to his study. Nathalie had offered Adrien to do something else together, but he had declined with a sad smile. It hurt Nathalie's heart to see the boy so unhappy, but she didn't know what else she could do.

A soft knock broke through her gloomy thoughts. She looked at the door in surprise. Had Adrien changed his mind?

There was another knock.

Something seemed strange to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it, so she pushed the feeling aside and went to the door, but when she opened it, no one was standing in front of it.

She stood there for a moment until there was another knock.

Confused, she closed the door, turned around and froze. There was a black shadow outside her window. Fear ate through her body for a moment, but then she noticed the two purple dots in the shadow and exhaled with relief.

"Shadow Noir," she greeted her guest after opening the window for him.

"Ho ho ho," he said with a grin on his face before pulling a sack out from behind his back.

Carefully, he placed it on the floor. Nathalie slowly began to realize what was happening, so the next time Shadow Noir's eyes were on her face, a smile had begun to form there, which he was only too happy to mirror.

"Merry Christmas, Nathalie," he wished her lovingly and the next moment she was in his arms.

"I'm glad you're here," she murmured.

Shadow Noir buried his face in her hair before distancing himself a little from her so that he could look her in the eye.

"Did something happen?" he asked worriedly.

Nathalie shook her head.

"Just the usual."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Nathalie sighed before she began to tell him about her disappointing Christmas.

Shadow Noir listened attentively and then took her in his arms again.

"People sometimes do hurtful things when they're hurt themselves," he explained, as if she didn't already know that.

"I know," Nathalie said quietly. "I'm just sorry for Adrien. He misses his father a lot."

Shadow Moth's arms tightened a little more around her body.

"He'll realize," he said reassuringly. "He'll realize it eventually and change his behavior."

Nathalie sighed again. "I hope so."

"I know it," Shadow Noir asserted firmly. "And now enough with the gloomy thoughts! I've got presents!"

He stood up to bring the sack he had brought closer to her.

"Hey," he said sympathetically when he saw that Nathalie still looked sad. He took her hand in his and looked her firmly in the eye. "It will get better, I promise you that."

"How can you promise something like that?" she asked with a crooked smile on her lips.

"I just know it will. Trust me."

Nathalie looked at him skeptically. "You're not up to anything, are you?"

Shadow Noir shook his head. "No, I just ... know the situation."

Nathalie lowered her head in dismay. "Right."

Gently, the man lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on it.

"I love you," he said quietly, meant for her ears alone.

Part of the smile returned to her lips and her heart warmed.

"I love you too," she returned just as quietly.

"Are you ready for presents now?"

The smile on her face continued to grow and she nodded. Maybe Shadow Noir was right. Maybe things would indeed get better at some point. And if not, she would find other ways to give Adrien some happy moments.