A/n: slightly shorter than usual because I'm still backing all my stuff up to my new computer. Make sure you back your stuff up guys I've had books purged before it's not fun.

Adrien could always reject his father, but he couldn't escape his mothers blood.

He was a carbon copy of her, in appearance and in kind nature. He got almost zero of his fathers genes, and get, the name 'Agreste' defined him. His mother lived on not only in his heart but in his blonde hair and green eyes, his smile and his care for those he loved.

Maybe that's why Gabriel hated him.

Because he was a living, constant reminder of the woman he lost. The woman he could control, the woman he branded with his last name on that marriage certificate. But Adrien? He was turning out just like her, Emilie before he'd gotten to her. Before he'd clipped her wings. That adventurous, wild and free girl who wanted to see the world and do what she loved. Adrien was turning out just like her, although he was proving to be hard to beat down. The older he got, the more aware he became of the family situation and his fucked up family tree and he wanted out.

Gabriel grew to hate his son, because he saw his dead wife in him. And he was getting to smart to control anymore. He was loosing what was left of his wife that lived on through Adrien. Of course, Gabriel would never admit it was his own fault though.

And what about Luka? Things were a stark contrast with him. Sure he had a few issues here and there with his father being absent most of his childhood, but he and his sister had always been close and content with their mother. Their grandparents were always a welcome visit, aunts and uncles and cousins were fun to hang with at the family reunions.

The family was close, all of them artists and creatives in some way. Weather it be music, visual art, performing arts, literature or fashion. Everyone was free to peruse their dreams and had the support they needed in each other. The occasional spat here and there sure, what family didn't argue every now and then?

And the partners that dated and married into the family? They were just as much family. Rose had become Anarkas daughter in law the moment she started dating Jueleka. And as soon as she saw the sparks starting to fly between Luka and Adrien? She was opening her home to the blonde in an instant.

Adrien had never really felt what a real family was like. He knew mothers love from his own mother, but never the warmth of a complete family. His father was always cold, his cousin had drifted from him as soon as they grew up, his grandparents out of the picture and so many deaths over the years it felt like his family tree was cursed to never be normal and loving. But anytime he went over to Luka's place? There was this comfort, this warmth. He was always sad to leave, and exited to arrive. He liked hanging out with Juleka and Anarka just as much as Luka. Well... almost as much, he definitely was biased toward Luka with his planet sized crush and all.

It only dawned on him that the warm fuzzy feeling was familial love when he'd fallen asleep mid hang out, and woken up with a blanket and pillow, the rest of the house keeping quiet not to wake him. They cared, they truly, deeply cared for him. Like... a son in law...

Adrien knew, that when he turned 18 and was legally no longer tied to his father, he could show up at the Couffiane's door with nothing but a suitcase of the things he treasured the most and they'd let him stay for as long as he needed. That was his plan actually, once Luka told him it'd be totally fine. He didn't mind he'd bed downgrading from a mansion sized bedroom to a small boat cabin, because that small boat cabin had Luka in it sleeping beside him.

Because down the small hallway was a mother who'd accepted him as her future in law, making breakfast for her own kids and whichever of their friends has spent the night. Because that little house boat, it was a family home. A family home he'd been accepted into.

His own house, it didn't feel like home. And his own family, it didn't feel like his.

But Luka's? That was a family he was overjoyed to be accepted into and one day he'd be legally a Couffiane by marriage into that family. And his family tree could die off, the Agreste name dying with him and his only cousin who took his own fathers last name anyway.

He often felt like the world had played a cruel prank on him by placing him into the Agreste family tree. But maybe bringing Luka into his life was the worlds way of trying to say sorry and make it up to him.