"Useless!"
"Why couldn't you save her yourself?"
"Pathetic!"
"Always so desperate for help."
"Ridiculous!"
"Martin is really the better choice for her."

"No!" Gabriel yelled as he woke up drenched in sweat.
"What...the...fuck..."
A voice uttered with disgust, and as the designer carefully move his eyes up he could see his own son staring down at the two of them.
"You're disgusting! Is this how you mourn the loss of my mother?"
"No-no! Adrien! This is not what it looks like!"
"I bet."
And with that final statement the kid walked away leaving both his father and Nathalie shocked, but to be honest Nathalie was more embarrassed than shocked.
"I-...I should go-" she mumbled slowly before getting up and rushing away.
"No Nathalie-" but it was already too late as she had left.

Now the assistant quickly made her way down the stairs still wearing the pijama which Gabriel gave to her.
Nathalie was about to make it out of the door but soon she realized she couldn't walk down the streets of Paris dressed like that.

"Do you want me to drive you?"
A voice asked which clearly wasn't her superior's, instead it was his child's.
"A-Adrien I-..."
"Don't say a word! I just want to get you out of here as fast as possible."

The assistant hesitated, should she explain what really happened or should she leave it, eventually Nathalie didn't bother in telling him the fine details so she just followed Adrien out to the car with her head facing the floor acting all ashamed and embarrassed.
"Get in!" He ordered and she did as told.
Nathalie was good at that, obeying, but as she opened her mouth to thank him she had broken the first thing Adrien told her to do, stay quiet.
So Nathalie stopped speaking as soon as she realized which caused her to just make a weird sound that got the teenager's attention.
"What?"
"N-nothing...I mean I just wanted to say thank you."
But before Adrien even had a chance at formulating a reply Gabriel arrived at the scene.

"Adrien? What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm doing what any 17 year old would be doing, father."
The teenager spat that last word "father" with utter disgust, and this instantly broke Gabriel's heart into a million individual pieces.
"I don't allow it! Get back here! Both of you!"
"Adrien you should listen to your fathe-"
"Shut up! You have no right to speak! You're not even in this family!"
"Adrien! Apologize to Nathalie this instant!!"
"No father, she volunteered to sleep with you!"
"She didn't! You don't even know half of the story!!"

By now the young assistant had tears in her eyes which made it difficult to see but she still managed to get out of the car and leave.
Both men were still arguing whilst Nathalie made her way home but at least no one held her back, that was until she made it out the big iron gates and a hand pulled her back.

"Nathalie please, stay." Said Gabriel who held onto her hand so desperately as if his life depended on it.
But despite all of this Nathalie just shook her head:
"No sir, I can't-"
"Please, I'll make sure Adrien won't bother you-"
"It's not because of him."
"Then what is it? Please just tell me, I'll get rid of whatever or whoever is bothering you. So tell me-"
"ITS YOU!" The assistant exclaimed which took Gabriel by complete shock, he would've never thought it was his own fault that Nathalie wanted to run away.

"Wha-...what did I do?"
"You're selfish! You won't ever let go of me as if I was your little puppet to control. Well I'm not!"
"I-..." the designer took a step closer to her and slowly ran his fingers down his assistant's cheek which was slippery from all of her salty tears. "...Nathalie I'm so sorry, I didn't know I was being so stupid-"
"Don't even try to apologize, I-I-"

Nathalie tried to threaten him but soon she just fell apart, Gabriel was too good at comforting and she couldn't keep on insulting him because deep down the assistant knew she never meant to say any of those things.

Just as if their situation couldn't possibly get any worse, Gabriel spoke again which encouraged a waterfall of tears to stream down Nathalie's cheeks:

"Shhh it will be fine dear."

The assistant couldn't even hold herself up properly but before she could've collapsed onto the floor Gabriel took a hold of her and gently lowered the both of them so now she was compressed against his chest.
Nathalie was lost for words and the designer clearly saw this, so to help her he quietly whispered:

"Just let it all out, I'll listen."
"I didn't mean it sir! You're not selfish at all, in fact you're quite selfless, and you never control me. I'm so sorry for accusing you of these horrible things, I just needed to yell."
"You see, it's all better once you've let your frustration out, isn't it?"
"Y-yeah...t-thank you, sir."
"No problem Nathalie."
Gabriel smiled as he wiped her last tears away and saw the sudden smile that appeared on her face.
Instantly he also began smiling.

"H-how?"
"Pardon?"
"How are you so good at...this?"
"Comforting?" He asked to which Nathalie nodded and snuggled back into his chest. "Emilie..." the designer began quietly. "...she taught me, and I learned."

Gabriel's description was concise and Nathalie did not like it, she has gotten way too comfortable to move so instead she asked him more questions in hopes of occupying him longer, so she herself could enjoy more of his presence.

"Why did she teach you?"
"Oh well you know...we weren't quite sure how to treat one-another so she taught me what she liked."

Nathalie still looked confused and Gabriel could sense it, so without further ado he took her face into his palm and lifted it up.

"I'll explain it another time, for now let's just get back in the house, alright?"

She nodded.

So with that the designer lifted her off of the floor and carried his assistant back to the house.

Adrien still looked pissed as he watched his father carry Nathalie up to his bedroom but the teenager didn't have much control over what his father does, so he just had to accept it.

"Pathetic."
"What, why? Shouldn't you be happy? Maybe Nathalie can convince your dad to be less strict and BOOM we're out of the house for good." Plagg said as he tossed another cube of cheese into his mouth.
"No Plagg! I appreciate Nathalie and her hard work but she simply can't love my dad."
"That's her problem, not ours."
"Plagg! You don't get it!"
"What? That Nathalie has bad taste in men?"
"No! That Nathalie has a boyfriend!"

The kwami almost choked to the sound of that, so it took him a few gulps before he could get his next piece of cheese down his throat.
After finally being able to breathe again, the little black cat looked at his owner and gave him a weird look:

"How do you know that Adrien?"
"I've seen him around, he's this tall brown haired guy, my father argued with him the other day."
"OoOoOoOoO that just makes things better!"
"Yeah great! Nathalie is a hoe and my dad is in love with 'that'."

*Meanwhile with Nathalie and Gabriel*

"You should rest, I have a couple of things to do down in the office but I promise I'll come back soon."  Said Gabriel as he carefully placed her down onto his bed and pulled the blanket over her.
"I want to help!"
"I-...it would be best if-"
"Sir! Treat me like I should be treated, I'm your assistant, my place is down in the office not up here in your bedroom."

Gabriel couldn't argue with that, Nathalie was telling the truth, it was him who was very protective.

"Fine, but just promise-"
"Not to overwork myself, I know."

The assistant giggled as she had successfully mocked him, and it even brought a smile onto the designer's faces, she did do a good job at impressions.

Soon enough both adults were working down in the office.
Gabriel always kept an eye out for Nathalie and whenever she would start to seem a little pale or tired he'd ask if she was alright or if she craved any coffee.
Her answer was mostly yes to the coffee since that was the only fuel that kept her going.

After 5 glasses of that delicious beverage Nathalie decided to end her job for the day since her superior had already warned her about overworking herself so she wanted to show that she knew where her limit was.

"I think I'll go sir. I'm pretty much done for the day."
"Alright Nathalie, good job. Do you want me to drive you home or-?"
"No it's fine, I think Martin is waiting for me."
"Oh, I understand. Well good night then!"
"Good night sir!"

And with that she left.

Gabriel immediately felt alone, so he also decided to head upstairs and get some rest.
On his way he could hear the faint sound of mumbling which came from his son's room, of course the designer was very intrigued by what it could be so he decided to have a look, and to his surprise Adrien was having a conversation over the phone with someone.

"You know my stupid father, he would never allow me to leave the country." Spat Adrien disappointedly.
"Good thing I don't have a dad."
"Felix! You can't joke about that! Although I'm quite jealous of your situation."
"Yeah, here it's great, as long as my grades are A's mom let's me do whatever I want to. You know she has this new 'visitor'."
"Really? Again? I swear Aunt Amelie is a whor- never mind I can't say that."
Adrien laughed as if this was the most hilarious joke ever, but to Gabriel this was actually rather depressing.
"Oh please, I think the same."
"You know it's the same with my dad, he also has a new 'visitor'."
"Really? He managed to get over his dear Emilie." Felix laughed with such a devilish tone that even the designer himself felt intimidated.
"Pathetic I tell you, he is really losing himself and needs someone's constant validation."

Gabriel couldn't listen any longer because he felt more insecure than ever.
These stupid teenagers were insulting the living hell out of the adults and he just couldn't handle it anymore.
The designer always knew he didn't have the best father-son relationship with his son but still, Adrien must've really had an audacity to talk about his own father like that.
Gabriel almost fell into tears but he managed to hold himself back.

"Fuck. What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing master. You're completely fine."
"No Nooroo I'm not! I need constant validation to feel like myself! Adrien is right-...I am losing everything I've had so far."
"No maste-"
"QUIET NOOROO!!!"

Gabriel stormed into his bathroom and glared upon his own reflection.
The more he looked the more shame he felt.
Maybe if Nathalie was here to validate him he would feel like himself again.
The fact that this was true only hurt the designer more, he eventually couldn't take it anymore and forcefully punched the entire mirror which broke into a trillion pieces.

The whole house got alarmed by this sound so it was no surprise that within seconds Adrien stood glaring down at his father and all the chaos that surrounded him.

"Father? What happened?"
"I-...Adrien am I really that horrible?"
"What?"
"I know you hate me but goddamn, how much? Am I really a monster? Please tell me! All I want for you is happiness and yet I'm doing more harm than good."

Adrien gasped and backed away as his father dropped to his knees in front of him.
Gabriel looked so desperate for an answer that it scared the teenager to the point where he couldn't even find the right words to reply with.

"I should've died instead of your mother."

To be continued-

Yeah Adrien is 17 (almost 18), and also yes he still lives with his father because Gabriel is so protective that he won't allow his son to move out. You might've thought Adrien was younger but that's only because Gabriel treats him like an immature child whilst he is actually almost an adult.