welcome to the no miraculous/childhood friends/brothers!AU that no one asked for but my brain decided to write anyway. let's see where this takes us...

first off, let me assure you: in spite of what it may look like, this is ABSOLUTELY 100% going to be a story that ends with adrien and marinette together. just stick with me and it'll all pan out i promise!

secondly, this is officially the longest fic i have ever written, by a landslide. is it going to be a bumpy ride? quite possibly. but we're sure to have some fun along the way.

(i hope.)

and third: this story was inspired by the book The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols, which is one of my favourites of all time and one of my greatest sources of inspiration when it came to drafting the plot for this fic! consider this an homage to Jennifer and the amazing book she wrote, which still has a grip on me all these years later!

anyway! onward to the prologue...

note: this, like everything i have ever done, is un-betaed. so pls be gentle

Prologue

The sun was shining, bright and hot, reflecting directly off the surface of the lake and into her eyes. She squinted, trying to make out the figures down by the water's edge. She could hear their laughter from where she was sitting, half-hidden in the shadows of the sycamore tree, but was too nervous to ask to join in their games. She could never remember why exactly; something one of the boys had said or done, probably. Skinned knees and hurt feelings, such were the ways of children.

She shifted in place impatiently, tired of being ignored and quite ready to go home and pout for the rest of the afternoon.

At least there her pouting would be acknowledged by one of her parents…

She stood up, brushing dirt and grass from her skirt, but paused at the sound of voices approaching from behind.

A low murmur, followed by a light, tinkling laugh.

Monsieur and Madame Agreste.

Marinette felt her heart sink. What if the boys had told them that they didn't want to be her friends anymore, and the grownups were here to take her home and tell her that she could never come back and play superhero or make blanket forts or—

"Marinette, ma belle, why are you crying?"

Madame Agreste crouched in front of her, haloed by sunlight and looking like a beautiful fairy princess, all golden hair and eyes green like the grass. Her hands were soft and warm as they brushed away Marinette's tears and that only made her cry harder.

"P-please don't m-make me go home!" She wailed, devastated at the thought. "I p-p-promise I'll be good and I'll let the boys play whatever they want—I'll even help them c-catch frogs, even though it's mean and icky!"

Suddenly she found herself scooped up into a pair of slim but strong arms, cradled against a body that didn't feel as nice as her maman's but still smelled really good.

"Shh," Émilie crooned, rubbing Marinette's back in an effort to soothe her. "It's okay darling, no one is going to make you go home if you don't want to."

A few moments passed before Marinette was able to stop hiccuping, and calm enough to answer the adults' concerned questions.

"Was one of the boys mean to you?" Gabriel Agreste cast a disapproving glance toward where his sons were playing.

Marinette looked away, muttering under her breath.

"Princess rescue…"

The Agrestes exchanged a look. Marinette got the distinct impression that they were sharing a secret or perhaps a joke at her expense, in that infuriating way that adults so often did.

"What was that, dear?" Émilie asked, amused.

"The boys want to play princess rescue!" Marinette burst out, frustrated at being laughed at and unable to hold in her ire any longer. "But they keep making me be the princess, even though I'm just as good at being a knight as Adrien."

She huffed, puffing her cheeks out and scowling.

"And they told me if I didn't want to be the princess then I had to be the horse! And I don't want to be a horse either!"

This time Mme Agreste laughed and even Monsieur Agreste cracked a slight smile, which up until that moment Marinette hadn't even believed to be possible. She goggled at him, her prior dismay completely forgotten.

Mme Agreste set her back down on the sun-dappled grass, kneeling to crouch in front of her.

"You know, Marinette, you can be anything you want to be. The princess, the dragon, the knight. Even horses have to be brave, in their own way."

Marinette screwed up her face at the thought.

"And you're so brave already. Perhaps the boys just feel like they need more practice at it." Mme Agreste winked, her eyes twinkling like they contained all the secrets of the universe.

Marinette pursed her lips, considering.

At last she nodded, satisfied.

"I am much braver than them." She conceded, warming to the idea. "Did you know that Adrien still cries every time we have to put worms on our hooks when we go fishing? Even Félix still makes Papa do it! I'm the only one who can do it myself." She puffed her chest out proudly, carefully not mentioning the fact that Papa still wouldn't let her handle the hook by herself, claiming it was too dangerous for five-year-olds to do on their own. Even though she was almost six!

The nerve!

But Marinette knew she could do it, if she wanted to.

To her surprise, Mme Agreste snorted, before devolving into peals of laughter.

The sound rang out like bells across the lawn.

Everything began to grow bright and fuzzy around her, like the sun had been persuaded to shine brighter in response to her joy.

Félix looked up at the sound of his mother's laugh, turning fully to face them when he caught sight of Marinette. He gifted them with one of his rare smiles, wide and so beautiful everything around him seemed to get brighter. His blonde hair caught in the wind, whipping around and obscuring his eyes at the last moment. But she knew they would be sparkling and blue, so blue. Just like the summer sky behind him.

She felt a hand settle atop her head, the touch soft and tender, just like the voice that spoke.

"They both have gentle hearts, my boys." Marinette could tell even without looking that she was smiling. "They may not show it, but they need you just as much as you need them."

"Will you look out for them for me, Marinette?" Her voice began to fade, sounding farther and farther away.

Marinette began to run, drawn forward into the light, towards the sun, the sparkling lake, and the promise behind that brilliant smile.

The last thing she heard as everything began to blur, bright and indistinct around her, was Mme Agreste's tinkling laughter, and her words carried on the summer breeze.

"I swear, those two were made for each other."

-x-

notes:

*slaps top of fic* this baby can hold so many AUs

i know it might not seem like it now, but i PROMISE YOU this is adrienette endgame! stick with me and i promise the payoff will be worth it!

this work has been cross-posted from AO3