𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗼 ;; oneshots

PARANOID

"Sir," Nathalie said in the most long-suffering voice she could manage as she watched her boss and his wife brainstorm ideas for the hidden elevator they wanted built to carry them up into their secret attic-cum-lair. "I see some potential issues with this plan."

"Nonsense," Mr. Agreste said briskly, consulting the house blueprints again and pointing to a particular section. "There's plenty of space in the wall right here from where the dumbwaiter used to run for the elevator we have planned. It would just be for one person at a time, after all. It doesn't need a whole lot of space."

"We might have to move a wall in the library upstairs in slightly, but that's not a huge issue," Mrs. Agreste chimed in. "We've consulted a 3-D model on the computer, too, to make certain that we were looking at the 2-D prints right. Our elevator will fit."

"That's not-" Nathalie started in exasperation, wondering if it was too late to look into a career change. She suspected the answer would be yes.

"And we're hiring in a contractor from the US," Mr. Agreste added, cutting Nathalie off. "They're the best at the secret doors and elevators business, and they have enough nonsense going on over there in the States that they won't be paying any attention to anything going on in Paris. They won't get suspicious of us."

Nathalie sighed. "Yes, I'm aware of where the contractor is from, considering that I was the one to find them. I was more concerned about what you're going to tell Adrien when he wants to know what's going on in your office. You know he'll be curious."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Agreste looked startled as they exchanged a look. Clearly they hadn't considered their son when making their plans. Nathalie tried not to sigh.

She didn't have any kids of her own, but sometimes it felt like she was the only one that took Adrien fully into consideration when making plans.

"Well, maybe we could do some other renovations at the same time," Mrs. Agreste suggested. "New curtains, replacing the lights in the atrium, maybe, uh..."

"Isn't Adrien into spy...stuff?" Mr. Agreste asked. At Nathalie's nod, he nodded. "Perhaps we could get him a hidden door of his own to distract him. We could make the doors to his walk-in closet blend in with his climbing wall, and he would be too thrilled about that to be concerned about anything else."

He was right, Nathalie had to admit. Adrien would be thrilled to have a secret entrance to his walk-in closet. Still, he was likely to notice the construction in other parts of the house as well, or wonder why his parents had suddenly decided to allow him to have a hidden door, and she said so.

"It can be his Christmas present," Mrs. Agreste suggested. "We can say that we wanted some security upgrades in the office to explain away the construction there. Perhaps we can have some smaller, non-custom secret doors elsewhere in the mansion as well. It would go with our heightened security."

"I am not turning the mansion into some sort of spy movie set," Mr. Agreste said peevishly. Apparently he didn't realize that his planned secret elevator to be the absolute biggest 'spy movie set' element of the planned renovations. "I don't want to have to press certain piano keys or pick up a certain book or whatever whenever I want to go to the bathroom."

Mrs. Agreste gave him one of her famous Looks. "We can discuss possible locations that wouldn't interfere with our lives too much. I think it would be a good diversion to have at least one other secret entrance that Adrien knows about. Maybe we could develop that safe room we've been talking about." She turned back to Nathalie. "And we could also take Adrien on a trip with us while the construction is going on, so he doesn't necessarily know that there's something going on in the office."