Dad Nino ... take centre stage

Nino adored the Agreste twins, he really did, but he also knew they could plan a bank hoist from the age of three. Louis, his wonderful Godson, was Adrien in a nutshell. The kid was as smart as they come and the way he could work numbers was incredible, there'd been talk about him being part of MENSA in the future with extra support and tuition from Max. Emma on the other hand was the brawn. You didn't pick a fight with that kid unless you expected to lose. Nino got on with them well, he adored them ... which is why one sunny afternoon he offered his services for babysitting.

"Nino, I need your help." Adrien called his best friend up in a panicked state, and Nino couldn't help but wonder what Dad of the Year (voted for by unknowing Parisians) had done this time. Maybe they'd gone back in time again, or blown up the house, anything was a possibility with the Agreste clan under Adrien's watch.

"What's up? Need me to watch the twins?"

"That would be amazing," his best friend sighed down the phone, "Emma dared Hugo to shove a pea up his nose and we can't get it back out. I need to take him to the hospital."

Nino snorted a laugh. Of course Emma did, his precious Louis would never do something like that.

"Mari's going to kill you!"

"I swear they wait until she's out of the house to go crazy. It's every week! They never do it for Tom and Sabine." This just fuelled Nino's laughter more.

"Bring them over. I'm sure Rueben will like the company."

So here they were ten minutes later. Adrien had pretty much thrown the twins out the car and demanded his driver to take himself and Hugo to the hospital.

"Where's Rue?" Emma asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The young girl was amazing at keeping Rueben entertained, and he was quite sure she would be his son's first love.

"He's in the house. I'm just about to take him for a walk while Auntie Alya has a bath." Nino walked the twins into the house, Louis trailing behind playing on some sort of handheld game.

"What you got Lou?"

"A Nintendo switch," he responded, twisting his hands as he buttoned bashed the controller. "Dad got me the new Miraculous game to try out."

"Oh really?" Nino had heard about this, he knew Max and Adrien were creating the idea together but he didn't realise it was released yet.

"I'm betaing it, and so far it's pretty cool."

Nino slowed down to look at the screen as Emma continued into the apartment. "Woah, look at Carapace go!"

Louis was currently playing as his Godfather's alter ego and Nino couldn't help but feel a little smug. For someone who was usually so shy and reserved, Louis was rather vocal about his choice of favourite superhero, and unfortunately for Adrien his son wasn't Chat Noir's biggest fan. Nino half expected that was the reason why they had Hugo.

"It's so awesome, Uncle Nino. Uncle Max has managed to give you all your upgrades, with Maman's permission of course. Watch this."

Louis tapped a couple buttons, manoeuvring Carapace up and over the Eiffel Tower before changing him into water mode and submerging himself into the river.

"That is so cool! Can you do it with all the characters?"

"Just the OG's at the moment?"

"OG's?" Nino questioned.

"Yeah, the original gang. Maman, papa, you, Auntie Alya and Auntie Chloé."

"Wicked!" As much as the trio of men got along, Nino couldn't deny that he was sometimes jealous of Adrien's relationship with Luka. The two having children only a short time apart drew them closer and the fact Luka was one of Marinette's best friends too, didn't help the situation. So when Adrien called in emergencies, Nino couldn't help the little growth in his heart.

They walked into the house just in time to see Alya dashing towards the bathroom. "Make sure he naps on the walk, and don't come back until he's had at least forty five minutes."

Before Nino could respond Alya had made her way into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Reuben had been going through a 'Wonder Week' or as Nino liked to call it 'I wonder how to shut the baby up' week, and sleep had been replaced with screaming at a pitch he only thought was suitable for fending off cats. Therefore, being the amazing husband he is, he offered to take their little cherub out of the house for a while and give his wonderful wife a break and, hopefully, a nap.

Walking into the lounge area of the apartment, Nino saw Emma walking out of the room cooing. He always thought it was adorable how his 'niece' loved Rueben; she made sure he was never at a loss for cuddles and kisses. She always asked Marinette if they could swap Hugo for the little boy each time they came around. It was sweet.

"You want to come with me, Lou?"

"Sure," he placed his Nintendo Switch on the coffee table before messing around with the buttons on his smart watch. "I need another five thousand steps to hit my daily goal."

"Emma? You want to come for a walk?" Nino shouted out of the room only to be met with a quick 'no' before he turned back to Louis. "Al, Emma's staying here." He shouted towards the bathroom before turning to his Godson, "let's go."

Placing his hands on the pushchair handles, Nino led the two of them out the door of their ground floor apartment, and out onto the street.

"So how's school?" Nino asked, only to be met by a shrug.

"It's okay."

"Are the classes alright? Are you struggling with any?" Louis burst out laughing and Nino couldn't help but think about how much like his father he looked when he did. His smile was pure Agreste.

"You're funny, Uncle Nino." Louis said, calming down. "They're giving me next year's work so I don't get bored. Uncle Max seems to think they won't be able to keep me in the class for much longer. He said that if it wasn't for my Papa they would have moved him up a year, but instead the two competed for the highest scores."

That was true, but it wasn't just those two. "Your Maman was surprisingly smart as well, especially considering she used to sleep through most classes."

Louis laughed, "Papa said he was surprised she graduated."

"We all were."

They reached the crosswalk and waited for the light to change so they could cross, when two teens came to stand beside them, both of them turned their heads to look into the pushchair.

"Oh my God, he's a doll." One of the girls laughed, only for the bleeping of the crossing to cover the rest of their conversation.

Nino laughed, looking every bit the proud father. "Thank you," he called after them, and the two carried on walking. "That was nice wasn't it? I mean I know he's cute, just look at his maman, but to call him a doll, I'm thrilled."

They carried on around the corner and in front of the gang's old collège. Nino began to tell Louis the story about how his parents fell in love with each other on the steps, and how Adrien finally asked her out on a date on the same steps a year later. As Nino gestured enthusiastically to Louis, Mr Damocles exited the school and came bounding down the staircase. Stopping at the bottom he looked at Nino, and a look of recognition took over his face.

"Mr Lahiffe, is that you? And a - a - a doll?" Nino couldn't work out his old principle. He'd just called his son a doll, why did he look so shocked? Reuben was a lovely looking boy, and it seemed he was very doll-like. That was a compliment, not something to be worried about.

"I'm glad you think so, Mr Damocles. He's wonderful isn't he?"

"But a doll?"

"I know he looks like a doll, but honestly he's a baby, just a very, very pretty one."

"I don't think you understand what I am saying. He's - a - doll!"

Nino smiled and tapped his old principle on the shoulder. He was obviously losing it in his old age. "Good to see you, Sir."

The two began to walk again and Louis looked at Nino curiously, "he's obviously losing it in his old age," Nino responded, chuckling a little at the madness of his principle.

As the two continued their walk around Paris, Nino was shocked at the amount of people who thought his son looked like a doll. I mean, yeah, Reuben was a beautiful baby, but he didn't think he looked exactly like a doll. Perhaps it was because he was asleep? All babies looked so calm and doll-like when they were asleep didn't they? That's why parents freaked out and checked if they were breathing all the time. I mean Nino got up at least twice a night to give Reuben a little prod to get him to move.

"He's a doll,"

"Oh, wow, look at the doll,"

"That man's got a doll in a pushchair,"

"Poor soul."

After the forty five minutes requested by Alya, the two began to make their way home. He reached for his back pocket, using one hand on the pushchair, and the other to search for his phone. "I'll just call Auntie Alya and let her know -" there was no phone in his pocket which meant he'd left it at home. No harm done. They'd be back in five minutes.

"There's this girl at school who I like," Louis was looking at his watch, pressing buttons and talking out loud. "We were boyfriend and girlfriend when we were younger, but that was before we understood what it actually meant, and now, I feel like she's my soulmate. Papa always told me how it felt when he met Maman and I feel exactly like that."

"That's great, Lou, who is she?"

"I don't want to say," Louis responded, "she's dating Alexander."

"Your cousin?"

"Yeah, and I know Finley loves her too. But I know she is meant to be with me, we're made for each other."

Nino could guess which girl it was. It seemed Louis' love for Bella Couffaine was life long and life fulfilling. He idolised the ground she walked on, just as Adrien did Marinette's. This young boy's heart was so full of love.

"You know, your maman and papa weren't always with each other. They weren't each other's first boyfriend and girlfriend. They built up to it, got to know each other as best friends before making it into a romantic relationship. Your papa, and your maman, both believed they should be together and they patiently waited for the right time so that when it did happen it was perfect."

"And was it?"

"What do you think?" The two walked in silence for a couple more minutes, turning the corners and walking towards the house. Suddenly Louis spoke up again.

"I think, as long as Papa gets the pea out of Hugo's nose, then yes they are perfect. They love each other so much."

"They definitely do, but not as much as they love you, your sister and your brother." Nino was stopped in his tracks by a young boy wrapping his arms around his stomach.

"Thank you Uncle Nino," Nino melted into the embrace. This kid meant so much to him and he hoped that Reuben would grow up to be like him one day.

They made it back to the house and opened the door, hearing the sound of laughing in the lounge. Nino parked the pushchair by the door allowing Reuben to carry on sleeping away from the noise.

"Oh, there he is," Alya was sitting with Hugo on the sofa, as Emma was playing with something in the corner of the room. Adrien was sitting opposite, a cup of coffee steaming in his hands and a wide, terrifying smile on his face.

"Good walk, bro?" Adrien asked, crossing his ankle over his knee. Before Nino could respond Hugo sprung off the sofa and ran to grab his hand.

"Uncle Nee-nor, I got pea in my nose."

"So I heard," Nino laughed, only for a second small laugh to join in with him. It sounded a lot like Rueben. He turned his head towards the door and looked at the pushchair. He hadn't taken Rueben out so why did it sound like the noise was coming from in the corner, from near Emma. He looked over, eyebrows creasing in confusion before looking back at his wife. The look on her face did not fill him with confidence.

"How was Rueben on the walk? Did he sleep?"

"The whole way," Nino responded to his wife. "We got so many compliments about him too. Apparently he looks like a doll, I'm not surprised though, look how gorgeous his maman is."

Alya's smile seemed to be taking on a life of its own, and for some reason sweat began to trickle down his neck and onto his back. Had it suddenly gotten hot in here?

"That's nice to know, because I'm quite sure he has been awake for the last forty-five minutes."

"How? I've had the cover down on the pushchair and haven't heard a peep."

"Go and check on our son ... please!"

Nino moved over to the pushchair, swallowing down a rather large lump in his throat as he walked. As he reached the pushchair something became apparent.

FIrstly, Reuben had shrunk down a lot in size. Nino stretched forward and removed the hood from over his 'sons' head. The next thing that became apparent was that Reuben had suddenly turned caucasion with blonde hair and blue eyes, leading to his final thought that his son was in fact a doll.

A screeching laugh was heard from the sofa as Emma stood holding Rueben in her arms. He'd been played by an eight year old, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Did you check on him at all in the past hour?" Alya asked. He was quite sure she was grinding her teeth. Oh man he was dead. Alya took Reuben from Emma and stormed to the pushchair replacing the doll for the baby. "I'm going to see Marinette at the bakery, don't you dare come after me." Once their son was strapped into the pushchair Alya turned around and stormed out the room.

"Maman's going to kill me," Emma said, causing Hugo to laugh. Louis shrugged and instead of getting involved, picked up his Switch and continued his game, Nino on the other hand had a rather important question to ask Adrien.

"So this flower shop you visit often? Do they do same day deliveries?"