Disclaimer: I don't own ML, Astruc does

Adrien Agreste considered himself to be a normal boy. Sure, his dad was a billionaire fashion designer who couldn't give him the time of day, but overall Adrien was just like everyone else.

That is, until the day his cat turned out to be a god.

It started six months before his birthday, at the beginning of the school year. See, before, he hadn't been allowed to leave the house, much less go to school. He had to enroll himself, which was only accomplished due to his friend Chloe pulling some strings. Somehow, his father's secretary-Nathalie-managed to convince his dad that his going to school wouldn't result in the immediate destruction of the universe. How she did that, Adrien had no idea. His father had gotten him a cat as a present, hoping that having to take care of a pet would teach him about responsibility. In reality, Gabriel needed his son out of his hair, and distracting him with a cat would be a good way to achieve that.

Adrien named the kitten Plagg. He had black fur and green eyes that gave anyone the feeling of being judged. Plagg was also perhaps the laziest being in the world; all he did was eat and sleep. Not exactly intriguing. But Adrien adored the little cat. A pet didn't care about any responsibilities. A pet didn't expect Adrien to be perfect.

His birthday was better than any he'd had before, despite the whole best-friend-getting akumatized deal. Nino had become the Bubbler, an akuma that attempted to rid the world of adults forever. But Ladybug, Ladybug herself, had shown up to save the day.

Ladybug.

Adrien admired the heroine just as much as everyone else in Paris. She was so brave, so kind, and so heroic. Ladybug defeated akuma after akuma-practically every day, in fact. And she did it by herself, only having her abilities and her yo-yo to overpower the supervillains. His love for the hero had only grown after Bubbler's defeat, when Adrien saw her comforting Nino. He'd walked over to help Nino get up, but froze when he saw her.

"Adrien!" She said, clearly a little flustered. "Hi, ugh, happy birthday!"

For a second, he questioned how she knew his birthday. But he shrugged that off, saying, "I'm-I'm fine, Ladybug. Thanks so much for all your help."

"It's nothing. Ugh, I mean, it's all in a day's work for the hero of Paris," she said. He suddenly heard a beeping sound, and Ladybug jumped back. "I'm about to detransform. Have a nice birthday!" And then she was gone, swinging off to wherever superheroes go.

"Dude," Nino muttered. "Was that Ladybug?"

"Yeah," he responded. "It was."

After that whole debacle, many of his classmates surprisingly stayed at his house. Apparently they believed that a party was still a party, no matter that it was caused by an akuma. Adrien stayed with Nino, trying to comfort his poor friend. He was clearly shaken by his whole experience. His eyes had bags underneath them, and every few minutes he would see Nino look around nervously, like he was trying to avoid someone that wasn't even there. Having never been akumatized, he didn't really know what to say. Marinette had done a far better job than him, bringing his friend food and a blanket.

"It'll be alright," Marinette said. "A lot of people have been akumatized, and no one blames you for what happened. It was Hawkmoth who did it, not you." She had fierce look in her eyes, something Adrien hadn't seen with her before. The girl always stuttered and panicked whenever he was around. While he was sure she didn't like him, that didn't appear to extend to his best friend.

"Thanks Marinette," he told her.

Again, she whipped around right at him and started blabbering incomprehensibly. "Oh-I'm fine, I mean, it's fine, Nino's fine, ugh..." then she turned around and practically ran out of the room.

He sighed. Why did she hate him so much? Adrien thought she'd gotten over their first meeting, when she believed he put gum on her seat. He apologized, explained how it was a misunderstanding, and at first, it seemed like she got it. But now, Marinette avoided him more than ever. It made him sad. She was so nice to everyone, except him.

His classmates all left the party a few hours later. It was dinner time, and their families would want to have dinner with them.

I wonder what that's like, he thought. But he shoved that aside. This was a good day. He got to meet Ladybug, his hero, and she actually talked to him! Sure, it was only for a few seconds, but still. A win is a win.

As he walked up the stairs toward his bedroom, he realized how tired he was. It had been an incredibly long day, even without the Bubbler situation. Yawning, he opened the door, expecting to see Plagg lazily lying on the bed.

But what he saw would change his life forever. Because Plagg was there, but he was not a cat. Plagg was a tiny creature who floated in the air, munching on what appeared to be some cheese. And this creature-Plagg-opened his mouth and said, "Hey, can you get me some more camembert?"

"WHAT?" Adrien shrieked. His voice was higher and more shrilly than it had ever been. Not his most dignified moment. But how could he react any different, when his cat had turned into some magical being?

"Calm down kid, it's me, Plagg. Seriously, do you have any more cheese? I'm starving." He took another bite of his camembert. "And keep your voice down. You'll wake up all of Paris at this rate."

He breathed in. Stay calm, stay calm, he instructed himself. He took a few deep breaths, and walked closer to the bed, and closer to his cat. "What are you? What did you do with my cat? Why are you here?"

"I'm a kwami, kitten. Basically this ultra-powerful god who grants powers, except I don't have any fancy temples or blood sacrifices. I just need my cheese."

A kwami. Adrien had never heard the term used before. He'd heard of wizards, genies, and fairies, but never kwamis, who apparently cared more about cheese than his current mental state. "Why would a god pretend to be my cat? Are you even a cat at all, or are the ears-"

Plagg looked at him like he was the slowest person in the world. "I'm here because you are my chosen, Adrien. Just like Ladybug is the ladybug kwami's chosen."

Ladybug had a kwami. Ladybug was like him. Ladybug had listened to a magical six inch god tell her she was the Chosen One. This was too much. How had this become his life? His birthday party seemed like a million years ago. "I'm like Ladybug? But I don't have any powers."

"You have this," Adrien saw what Plagg was looking at. It was a hexagon-shaped box with some sort of symbol on it. Chinese, he guessed. He slowly opened the box, half expecting a huge explosion the second he saw what was inside. But there was no bomb. Only a ring. A small, silver ring that would easily fit his finger.

"What is this?"

"It's your Miraculous. It's what allows you to transform. All you have to do is say, 'Claws out,' and I'll turn you into a hero."

A hero. That word was enticing to Adrien. A hero wasn't some model. A hero saved Paris, not his father's fashion show. Adrien quickly put on the ring, and shouted, "Plagg, claws out!"

"Wait! I'm not done explaining-" he saw the kwami get sucked into the ring, and felt a green light wash over him. He felt stronger, faster, and more aware than he ever had been before.

He raced to the bathroom, quickly turned on the light, and looked into the mirror. There he was, the perfect son, model, and student, with wild hair, cat ears, and eyes that were just like the very cat in his ring. He smirked. This was it. Adrien-no, Chat Noir-ran out of the bathroom, opened the window, and jumped out.

It was time to be a hero.

AN: So this is my first multi-chaptered fic. It's basically an AU where Adrien doesn't get his miraculous at the same time as Ladybug. The explanation as to why will be a bit later, as well as the explanation as to why Plagg was in the form of a cat for so long. I'm excited to see this play out, and I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it. Please leave any criticism in the comments; I always hope to improve upon my writing. Thank you!