Destiny

The Other Family [Childhood]

Adrien Agreste - son of silver screen actress Emilié Graham de Vanily, and fashion connoisseur Gabriel Agreste.

Adrien Agreste - World famous model, exceptionally talented musician and home schooled MENSA applicant.

Adrien Agreste - the owner of a hidden story he never told.

To the world he had it all.

A beautiful face resulting in a wonderful job, the girls flooding to spend time with him, the money, the fame ... everything. He was a young boy who idolised and craved to be just like his father, the business tycoon that was Gabriel Agreste.

Gabriel Agreste always came across as a man determined to make something of himself, someone who worked hard to achieve.

He had missed Adrien's first piano recital, his first fencing championship. He'd missed his first catwalk for the brand and the time when he'd made fluffy Mother's Day pancakes for his Emilié and almost burned the house down. But it was fine, because Gabriel was working hard. He was building the company, giving up his time with his family to make sure they lived well. That a legacy was left for them in his wake.

But Adrien would never forget the day it all came out. The day his perfect family was ripped apart ... the day he found he had a half brother.

Gabriel had come home more flustered and short tempered than usual, Adrien being a naive 10 year old at the time wondering how he'd made his father so angry so suddenly.

The designer entered the house throwing his weight around, belittling Emilié and sanctioning Adrien for not learning his new piano piece to the standard he'd expected. The shouting and screaming from his parents, sent Adrien running up the stairs and to his room, only he never made it.

The young teenager sat on the top step in turmoil at what was happening below. Watching as his life was broken to pieces.

Gabriel Agreste had a second family.

A girlfriend and a son, in London. A son who was the same age as Adrien and who apparently looked almost identical.

Gabriel had been cheating on Emilié for the entirety of Adrien's life. He'd been with his other family, spending time with them and giving them the love Adrien so craved.

Amélie was Emilié's long estranged sister. The twin she'd fallen apart from over 20 years ago, the twin who Gabriel just had to have.

Félix, Gabriel's illegitimate son, had leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, Gabriel wasn't a match leaving only one other option. Adrien.

He still could remember walking down the stairs, back straight, ready to confront his father. To be the man the famous designer failed to be himself.

Adrien was taken for tests, and for examinations only to be announced as a perfect match for Félix and therefore at 10 years old he gave Gabriel's other son a chance at life. Emilié had been protective of Adrien ever since. Fear of what would be said if anyone found out Gabriel had another child, a whole other family, therefore keeping him locked away from the outside world, and by result the media.

Adrien and Félix had formed a bond, one Gabriel never acknowledged. They had spent time together before and after the surgery, in and out of hospital, and was through that connection Adrien discovered the full truth of his childhood.

The piano recital Gabriel missed - it was Félix's first day at school.

His fencing championship - Amélie needed some help with a sick Félix.

The fluffiest pancakes he'd ever made - Gabriel was making pancakes with someone else.

The birthdays, the Christmas', the other events Gabriel missed weren't for his need to provide but for the need to be with his other family.

It seemed Adrien and Emilié weren't the only ones in the dark though. Félix and Amélie had no idea either, partially due to Gabriel's influence in separating the sisters.

When 'the shit hit the fan', for the want of a better term, Gabriel had to make a choice and he decided, after all the neglect, to stay with Emilié and Adrien, and Adrien still hasn't forgiven his mother for accepting his father back. It seemed the need for fortune and fame was as high on her priority list as Gabriel's. Amélie could never give him that power.

Gabriel was still a shit and Félix now knew how Adrien had felt, and the two had built an unlikely friendship in their hate for their father.

•••••

Marinette stared in shock as Adrien, for the first time in his life, told his story. He wasn't sure what it was about Marinette that made his spill, but once the can of worms was opened he didn't seem to be able to push them back in.

He watched her face morph with the story, wincing and comforting where needs be, but she didn't interfere. She let him talk. Let him get it off his chest.

The hurt, the betrayal, the lies ...

"Why are you still at 'Gabriel'?"

He could hear the obvious detest in her voice as she asked him the question.

Why indeed ...

"I can't leave my mother there alone. I don't trust him, Mari. If there's one thing I know about my father it's that the only way you can win is with blackmail and I haven't found anything yet. It's the only way it works."

She tightened her grip on his hand. The action went to and fro as the story progressed but she never let go. Her hand was always solid ground for him to come back to, for him to use as his anchor.

"How have you turned out so wonderful?" He gazed into her eyes and saw nothing but the truth, and couldn't help but huffing out a laugh.

"Wonderfully weird, you don't need to placate me Marinette. I know I'm messed up, geez, I'd never tried M&M's until a month ago. You and your friends must think I'm strange."

"We do, but I like strange. Strange is interesting."

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to put up with this, with me, you know. It's fine. Your life would probably be more simple without this black cat spreading his bad luck." A pinch to his chest had him holding back a yelp. He was guessing Plagg wasn't too happy with the black cat reference.

"You just need a lucky bug to help you out."

"Marinette, I'm damaged, I get it."

"No you don't, Adrien." She said, stretching into the paper bag and pulling out another croissant. "You look at this from the outside and it's all smooth and shiny, the perfect representation of a pastry, but inside -" breaking the croissant in half, Adrien watched Marinette tear it away from each other. "It has holes, it's flaky, it's imperfect. But if I try a piece it still tastes amazing. Regardless of how the outside, or the inside look, the taste is still wonderful, it's not destroyed by the fakes or holes. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Marinette smiled at Adrien, the latters eyebrows creasing as he tried to work out what she'd actually meant.

"I don't know if you're comparing my life to a croissant or letting me know you want me to eat me."

Marinette started to laugh, pulling his hands into her lap and messing with the ring on his finger.

"You're so brave Adrien, not many people would have done what you did. Most would have been so angry at Gabriel they wouldn't have bothered. They would have walked away and left that young boy to suffer the consequences. You're a great man Adrien Agreste and don't you forget it."

He took control of their hands, lifting them to his mouth and pressing a gentle kiss to the back. She made him feel so worthy and wanted, his heart fluttering in multiple directions as he tried to control his actions. He wanted to kiss her, to wrap her in his arms and never let her go - to never let this feeling go.

He couldn't wait to get to know this woman more.