Prologue

Patrol started out dull. Dreadfully so. A twenty-two year old Chat Noir leapt from rooftop to rooftop, relishing the freedom he had, but also feeling bored. Freedom was no longer scarce. When he was eighteen he moved out, still living off of his father's account and continuing to model, but going to college and studying business and whatever tickled his fancy, like theatre his first semester, which had been a horrible mistake because, even though he was a famous model and even more famous superhero, he could not act and had performed the worst monologue the professor had ever seen in his forty years of being a college professor. He gave a small chuckle at the memory, then frowned, a glint in the corner of his eye.

She was standing on the bridge, a fake looking smile on her face, a basket hanging off of one arm, a bag sitting at her feet. Her eyes were tired, glossy with tears, and her cheeks were stained red, skin rubbed raw around her nose from wiping away tears. His heart almost stopped when he looked at the stranger. He had never seen someone look this awful. "Can I help you?" he asked, hoping there was something he could do to help the woman standing in front of him.

"Yes," she licked her lips in reply, her voice cracking, choking back tears. "Can you-" he watched as the droplets began to roll down her face, "can you hold this for me?" She passed the basket to a confused Chat Noir, before reaching down and grabbing her bag.

Chat peered down into the basket, seeing a bundle of blankets, something stirring underneath. Tentatively, he moved the blankets, revealing a small face, even smaller hands, wrapped in a soft blanket, face scrunching up. "What?" He looked up at the woman, preparing the give the baby back to her, afraid to be holding the infant, knowing his power was destruction. "Ma'am, what are you-" he saw the glint of silver and saw her give a small smile before a resounding BANG filled the air, the woman falling to her knees, her head bleeding out, her brains spattering the bridge.

For a moment he could only stand there in stunned silence. A woman killed herself right in front of him. She passed him her baby then killed herself. After the shock came anger. What kind of woman would leave their child alone like this? Then he realized that she must have been waiting for him. She stood on that bridge, looking up at the skyline, calling out to him. A wave of regret and sadness washed over him. He didn't know this woman's name, but she chose to trust in Chat Noir. She trusted him with her child.

The child.

Loud cries were filling the air. The baby must have woken up when it heard the gunshot. He bounced the baby in the basket and used his baton to call the police, reporting the suicide before leaving without a trace.

He rushed to his home, leaping across the rooftops, being careful to not harm the baby in the basket. He didn't know what to do. He had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. Was he supposed to take the child to the hospital and dump it there, never knowing what became of it? Should he call Ladybug and ask her to come over and help? He shook his head, vetoing that idea. If she came over, then she'd know where he lived and that would just reveal his identity. Besides, he was pretty sure she was out of the country, studying. Calling any of the other members of the team would spell out similar disaster. He was on his own for this one.

Unless he wasn't. He had an idea. He just needed to make a phone call.

When he reached his house he re-transformed, Plagg releasing from his ring. "Kid, you've got to stop going out so late! I'm not as young as I used to-" Plagg stopped and looked at the crying child in the basket. "What's with the kid."

Adrien shook his head, shaking off Plagg's question. "Long story. I'll tell you later. Right now I really need help."

"Well, can you get it to stop crying? Give it some Camembert, or something. This screaming keeps up much longer and my head is going to explode," the black fairy looked down at the basket and saw little droplets of blood littering the basket, the jovial tone becoming uncharacteristically serious. "Something happened to the mother, huh?"

Adrien nodded, pulling out his phone, searching his contacts for one name in particular, "Yeah. I was on patrol and," he sighed, waves of regret crashing down on his chest, "it happened so fast. I couldn't stop her. Plagg," he turned to the kwami, for the first time letting the events that had just occurred process, "I'm not really worthy of being a superhero, huh? Ladybug probably would have been able to stop her. She wouldn't have a crying baby sitting here. She would be calm, collected, able to fix everything."

Plagg rested on Adrien's shoulder, placing his hands on his wielder's cheek as comfortingly as he could manage. "I don't think so. You're pretty super, Adrien. One of the best wielder's I've had." Plagg let out a small laugh, barely audible over the sound of the crying, "You also give me more cheese than any of my other wielder's, so maybe I'm a bit biased."

He rolled his eyes, the hint of a smile returning to him, the familiar sparkle lighting his eyes. He rolled up his sleeves and tapped on the number, praying she would answer. Three rings later, she did. "Hello?"

"Alya, you've got to help me." Adrien placed the phone on his shoulder, holding in place with his ear, before picking up the baby, bouncing him up and down like he had seen on television shows.

"Adrien," he could hear her take a deep breath, trying to compose herself, obviously able to hear the crying from her end of the phone, "what did you do?"

"Something stupid?" Admittedly, that was true statement. If he was smart he would have left the child with the mother and the the police handle the situation, but the nagging sense of responsibility that nagged at him... Chat Noir gave him freedom, but it made him be noble as well.

"How much legal trouble will you be in for this?" question mode was out.

"None, I hope?" He licked his lips and jumped into his soliloquy, hoping Alya would help him. "The mom killed herself and I happened to be there so I took the kid," he tried to be vague, leaving out as many details as he could so she couldn't trace the incident back to him being Chat Noir. "I really need help. I've never had to take care of a kid before and I know you have your younger siblings and I really couldn't think of anyone better to help."

"You're too good for your own good, you know that, Agreste?"

Adrien let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Alya."

While waiting for Alya, Adrien continued to bounce the baby, attempted to change the diaper, subsequently discovering the baby was a boy, placed the baby on his shoulder and patted the back, not sure what this accomplished but he had seen it done in a movie so it was worth a shot. He nearly cried in relief when Alya arrived. She had a large bag slumped over her shoulder and she immediately pulled out some white powder and a bottle, filling the bottle with water and mixing it with the powder, putting it in the microwave, then taking the baby from Adrien then starting to feed him, the baby calming down. "You're in over your head."

Adrien nodded. "I know, but I couldn't leave him there. His mother gave him to me right before she died, and it was like she was asking me to take care of him."

"So you're keeping him?" Her voice was low, as to not startle the baby, who was finally starting to drift to sleep, but the tone was sharp, causing Adrien to sheepishly rub the back of his neck, casting his gaze downward, avoiding his friend's harsh glare.

"Yeah, I was thinking I would." Alya took the baby and went to sit down on Adrien's couch, where he took a seat next to her. "I know I don't know anything, but I've got you, right? And Nino. I know the two of you have got my back, and if you don't I've got the internet and my father's money. That's all I've needed to get by before."

Alya relented, looking down at the baby who was polishing off the last of the bottle, her gaze softening. "You won't be alone, Adrien. You won't need to depend on your father's money or the internet. I mean, those things certainly won't hurt, but you've got me with you, and Nino. We've got your back, and I know Marinette will too as soon as she gets back from America."

"Alright." Adrien let out a sigh. "So, what do I need to buy?"

Alya smirked. "I grabbed some necessities on the way here, and Nino is already coming with a car so we can transport everything. Somehow I knew things were going to end this way. This will be one of those time's your father's money comes in handy." She gave him a wink before her expression darkened. "What's your father going to say? Is he going to be happy that you're essentially adopting a kid? You're, what, twenty-two? That's kind of young to be a single dad, don't you think?"

"He'll be mad at first but," Adrien glanced at the sleeping child in Alya's arms, "I think he'll warm up to the idea of having a grandson. Maybe it'll help mend some of our issues as well, and as for the single dad bit," he shot a smile in his friend's direction, "I'll be single but not alone. He'll have Uncle Nino and Aunt Alya, right?"

"Yeah, you will." Alya stood up and grabbed a fluffy throw off of the back of the couch, swaddling the newborn in the blanket, suspecting it was cleaner than the blankets he was wrapped in before, glancing at the blankets that lined the basket, paling slightly at the sight of the mother's blood. "We'll take care of this little guy." She placed a small kiss on the top of his head. "You going to give him a name?"

Adrien's smile broadened, a mischievous look glinting in his eyes. "I've got a few. Let's see, there's Howl, Jiji, Ashitaka, Sosuke, Totoro-"

Alya stood up, the soft, motherly look in her eyes only moments ago replaced by something darker. "Do you have any names that aren't from a Studio Ghibli movie?"

Adrien hung his head, looking at his friend, trying to hide the slight blush that graced his cheeks. "Uh, no?"

"Thought so. You can't name him after a Studio Ghibli character," Adrien perked up, only to be shot down again by Alya's sharp words, "or any anime character, period." At that moment Alya's phone started ringing. She picked up. Nino was waiting outside with a car. "Come on, you can think of a name while we shop."

They went to various stores, gathering the necessities they could considering it was pretty late at night, making a note of what supplies they couldn't, putting it on the list to get first thing in the morning.

Eventually Adrien was able to decide on a name, after at least thirty-two others -not that he was counting- were vetoed by Alya, so Romeo Agrete was now joining the family, simply because being named after a tragic Shakespeare protagonist was the least of all evils. Adrien did declare Romeo's middle name to be Howl, getting the anime reference in somewhere.

Romeo grew up with Adrien as his father, Chat Noir as his favorite superhero, Plagg as his best friend, and Uncle Nino and Aunt Alya as his favorite people in the world. It would be four years before Marinette would get to meet Romeo.

I can hear y'all saying that this isn't the soulmate AU y'all were promised, and I'm sorry! I'm really working hard but I'm also not going to force that story because that makes it bad for everyone involved. I was trying to figure out what to do for my Valentine's story, freaking out because it was the day before I promised to publish and I still had no idea what I was going to write, going through no less than six ideas before deciding they were good fic ideas, just not for a Valentine's fic. Seriously, there are like twelve word documents on my laptop that are half written prologues and plot ideas. This one came to me while I sat in the bathtub, lamenting my sorry state, praying I can find a good fic, so I hope y'all like this one! Marinette will be appearing in the actual story, I promise, but, frankly, Alya worked better here. Let me know what y'all think and I will see y'all February 1st! Thus begins the next holiday countdown!