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Adrien remembers the night his parents died. The night that his life permanently changed forever.
They'd been out on a Friday night, the sun setting and giving the city a warm hue. Each street had stone buildings dressed in soft oranges, pinks, yellows, and purples. He remembers holding his mom's hand as his father and her talked, loving smiles adorning their faces. When he thinks of that day he can still feel the warm breeze of summer waxing into autumn.
A handful of leaves had already begun to fall from the trees. As the sun finished setting the temperature slowly got colder.
Of course being a kid, it had never bothered him. He stepped on the leaves like a randomized game of hopscotch. Oblivious to his father passing his mom the suit coat he wore. He wished he would've seen their faces one more time. Loving, happy, and alive.
They took a shortcut back to their home, because it was still a home then, and slipped through an alleyway. His father led him and his mother through it, laughing about something his mom had said to him. Adrien remembers being able to see his house at the end of the alley.
That's how close they had been. If they'd just made it a few more steps-
But no, instead a man stopped them halfway to the finish line.
“Money. Give me your money.”
Adrien remembers his dad pushing his mom behind him, his mom pulling him with her.
Gabriel faced the man, “We don't have any money with us, we just went for a walk around. Leave us be and no one gets hurt.”
The man was haggard and Adrien remembers smelling booze, “Not how this works fancy pants. Jewelry then, hand it over. The lady has a pretty pin-”
His mother slipped out from behind his dad, defiant and foolish.
“No, it's plastic and worthless. If you need help, maybe we can help you?”
Adrien remembers.
Remembers the way she stepped forward, hand outstretched in kindness.
The man got nervous and pulled a gun, shooting his mother. She cried out in pain and he screamed while his father shouted and ran to intercept the man for harming his precious wife. Then another gunshot rang in his ears, tears already falling from his young eyes. His father laid unmoving in the alleyway.
His killer was long gone.
Adrien screamed and cried and screamed more until someone, he doesn't remember who, found him shaking his dead mother in a vain attempt to arouse her from her sleep. Red soaked the sundress she had worn, and red stained his father's dress shirt. When the police finally arrived Adrien was already mute with shock and drowned in grief.
An officer had tenderly laid his father's suit coat over his shoulders.
It didn't make him feel better.
The rest of the night was late and a blur.
He sat alone, so so alone, in the police station. Officers bustled about and none paid him any mind, too busy with their work. Yet a seat creaked next to him and an officer passed him a sandwich.
Adrien looked up, a kind policeman giving him a tired smile. Not one of pity, not one of sadness, or anger, or anything but exhaustion.
“My wife made it for my lunch, but we have too much to do tonight so I figured you could use it. I don't think you've had dinner yet right?”
Softly he shook his head and took the offering.
His mom had always told him to use his manners, “Thank you…”
Adrien liked to think that even from death she was proud.
The officer smiled, “Not a problem kiddo. I'm Officer Raincomprix, but that's a bit of a mouthful so you can call me Officer Roger or Mr. Roger.”
Why was he telling him this?
Regardless of his questions he stayed silent. Nodding he continued to nibble at what was apparently a turkey sandwich. A little odd but his father always said to never refuse a gift. It hadn't tasted bad either at the time.
Adrien remembers how he sat in that station till the sun returned and its rays warmed him through the windows. He remembers watching as policemen whispered and spared him glances. At the time he was too tired to care, the sandwich was long gone.
It was Officer Roger who had finally broken through all the shared looks and the hushed whispers. The man kneeled before him, knees pressed into the hard linoleum flooring.
“Hey kiddo… I have a daughter at home. She's your age y’know. Would you want to come stay with me for a while, at least until the grown-ups figure something out?” The man offered.
Mom always reminded him to accept hospitality with gratefulness so he had tried his best, a nod was all he managed though.
He hoped his mom forgave him.
Mr. Roger had smiled at him that morning, something akin to fondness and offered him a hand. A hand that Adrien had taken. Officer Roger had taken him into his home so that he didn't have to sleep on a police station chair. Adrien remembers the hushed and hurriedly conversation that was shared between Mr. Roger and his wife.
The woman had come over to him and knelt, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear and wiping dirt from his cheek.
She had kind eyes, “Hey sweetheart, let's get you cleaned up.”
Adrien had remembered her letting him take a bath to wash off the blood and dirt and tears. Remembers how she had come back laughing with arms full of her husband's clothes.
She'd said, “Sorry, these are going to be huge on you but I threw your clothes in the wash.”
The woman had laughed as he drowned in a sweatshirt, a pair of shorts cinched so small it was more of a skirt.
Adrien had been directed to their bedroom and told to sleep however long he liked, and told to come find her if he needed anything. She'd promised soup for dinner. She was kind and caring and it made not having his mom around a little easier. Even though his dad never called him things like ‘kiddo’, having Mr. Roger also helped.
It had been the worst sleep and somehow the best sleep of his life.
Ghosts haunted him and faces leering scared him when his eyelids closed. But he'd been so exhausted that he had just accepted the terrors.
When he woke up that evening he heard laughter and chatter. Mr. Roger, his wife, and a new voice he hadn't heard before. Softly his feet had led him to the kitchen of the home, and gathered around the dinner table was the family. A little girl sat next to her dad, chattering about what she did at school earlier in the day.
Mr. Roger noticed him first and smiled, waving him over.
“Good morning kiddo, come take a seat.”
He nodded and sat, his wife already placing a bowl of soup in front of him. Tentatively he had poked at it before remembering his parents' words of manners and beginning to eat. The little girl watched him for a while before her mother scolded her for staring.
“But mom,” she whined, “I don't even know his name! How are we supposed to be friends if I don't know his name!”
Adrien looked up from his soup bowl, which was noticeably emptied from its contents. Really? All she wanted to know was his name?
His dad's voice echoed about giving a proper greeting.
He stood and outstretched his hand for her to shake, “My name is Adrien Agreste, pleasure to make your acquaintance miss.”
The girl looked at her then giggled and hugged him.
Adrien just stood there in shock.
She grinned, “I'm Sabrina! You talk funny, but we can still be friends! Momma says you're gonna stay with us for a while.”
Mr. Roger and his wife just sat and watched, ready to jump in if their daughter overwhelmed him. After all, he never had siblings and he had just lost his parents.
Yet Adrien persevered and gave Sabrina a small smile.
He'd never had a friend before.
Mom and Dad had homeschooled him and paid for tutors. He didn't have any cousins he could play with either as far as he knew either.
Just as Sabrina had told him that night, he did stay with them a while. A while turned into ‘for the time being’ which became ‘for the foreseeable future’ and in the end he remembers him and Sabrina sneaking around the house only to catch Sabrina's parents talking late one night.
“Are you sure? We didn't plan on this…”
“Absolutely sure. Adrien needs a family.”
“We can't just replace his parents though.”
“We're not, but he needs the stability and the police have nothing. It's like the man who did this just disappeared.”
A sigh, “It's horrible what happened… Sabrina really loves having him around, I think without her he would've never opened up.”
A chuckle, “Well I suppose we should sign some paperwork on it then shouldn't we?”
Adrien had wanted to listen more since they mentioned his parents but Sabrina had already gotten bored of the conversation and pulled him away to play. So he followed along because she wanted to play superheros and out of all the games they played that was his favorite.
Not long after Mr. Roger and his wife explained to both Sabrina and him that they were going to be his legal guardian until he was old enough. He'd stay with them and go to school with Sabrina. They promised that they were never going to replace his mom and his father. Mr. Roger gave him a hug and Adrien found that they didn't need to replace his parents because they'd already found their own spot in his heart.
So Adrien went to school.
He learned.
Met more friends.
Grew.
When he was about to enter highschool, was when Sabrina's mom got sick and passed away unexpectedly.
It took a hard toll on their family. She'd been the first person to make sure he was clean and had a place to sleep. Sabrina was especially hurt, and he made sure to be there for his sister. Mr. Roger closed off and he became distant from them both.
Their life stayed that way for a while.
When Adrien turned sixteen he got a portion of his inheritance. Including his mother's pin.
It was more suited for a woman but he pined it to his shirt anyway, wishing for any connection to her he could get. The teal feather pin shifted before his eyes into a silver feather fan and a light flew out from the jewelry.
He was too in shock to do anything but stare.
“Hello Adrien… you've grown up so much, little one. I am Duusuu, your mother's kwami.”
A little floating bird-thing gave him a sympathetic smile and Adrien had a very long day after that.
Duusuu had explained herself and the connection to his mom. Then asked him if he wanted to find the man who killed parents and get justice.
There was only one answer.
Yes.
The little kwami guided him to learn everything he could, knowledge was power after all. Duusuu urged him to learn combat so he signed up for fencing. She guided him in a direction he felt himself made for.
At eighteen after he graduated he said goodbye to Mr. Roger and Sabrina. Their relationship had improved with time. Adrien would travel the world to learn more, so that he could get justice for his parents. As well as others he decided. Because what was the point of dedicating his life to this if he just used it all for himself. Sabrina's mom hadn't helped raise him that way…
So he traveled and met people and learned. Learned everything he needed to learn if he was to be successful.
Gabriel Agreste had an up and coming fashion company when he died, and Adrien took it over. He would use it as a cover for his real job.
The first time Duusuu let him use her magic he was twenty. He had stopped a mugging.
Newspapers, news outlets, and the internet said that the hero from almost two decades prior, Peahen, had returned. However many argued that it couldn't have been the hero.
Adrien didn't know about the name Peahen but Peafowl didn't sound bad?
He moved back into his old home, the manor, after that. Kept in good contact with his sister and Mr. Roger as well. His late night vigilantism came with a lot of errors and he found that the police weren't exactly fond of his work. It was alright though, recently they'd started being just a little bit more friendly.
Mr. Roger, Sabrina, and him also went out a lot to spend time together, still as close as they were when they were children.
So when the circus came into town, who was he to say no?
Part way through the trapeze act, the two adults fell to their deaths.
He covered Sabrina's eyes while her dad went to close stuff off and get reports, already slipping into work mode.
Blue eyes met green and Adrien remembered.
He remembered the night his parents died.