In this AU, there are no miraculouses. Also, all the students we know are in the same school year, even Luka and Kagami.
I want to thank my beta, Mico, who helped me proofread and develop the story's plot.
Adrien logged onto his PC. Being almost 7 pm on a Friday night, it was time for him to do his usual weekly video game stream. Since he was going to play Valorant with another streamer known as Ladybug, he planned to stream on YouTube and Twitch at the same time.
Once all his equipment was set up, he specifically made sure his motion capture gadgets were also up and running. After a few minutes, at the bottom left corner of his screen where his real face and body would be, sat someone who looked almost like him, except for the fact that he was wearing a black, glossy leather suit with a shiny golden cat bell. A mask covered the top half of his face, only showing his eyes, and he wore cat ears used as headphones. He had fancy motion capture technology, which made his avatar move very realistically –– despite looking like a cartoon character.
With his PC, highly branded headset, pricey motion capture technology, and modern furniture, costing a couple thousand euros altogether, his setup was deemed an impressive gaming rig to everyone. His keyboard and mouse changed color every so often –– just the way he liked. He also liked seeing the moving parts of his PC next to his two monitors.
Connecting with Ladybug on Discord, he started the stream.
"It's Chat Noir here," said Adrien.
"And Ladybug's here too," said Ladybug.
"What's going on guys? We are back on Valorant and we're going to continue our road to Diamond," said Adrien. "As you can see, we're currently at Silver 2, as usual. We're consistently at Silver and we peaked at Gold. Don't give up on your dreams, people! Well, that's supposing leveling up in Valorant isn't your actual dream... right guys? Haha, nevermind. Ahem. Anyways, back to focusing."
Having warmed up earlier (so that the audience didn't need to watch that) they hopped onto a competitive game.
"We need a scout, so I'll pick KAY/O," said Adrien. "It should be easier when the enemy team can't use their powers."
"I'm gonna pick Killjoy cuz we need good defense," said Ladybug.
They were on Breeze. Adrien liked some parts of the map, but he didn't like the fact that there were a lot of wide-open spaces.
As it was the pistol round Adrien decided not to buy so that he could save his credits as much as he could and hopefully buy a lot of things next round. Ladybug chose to buy a Ghost, –– a suppressed pistol –– and an alarmbot –– a kind of device used to detect enemies. She really needed that equipment since they were starting out as defenders.
"I will go A," said Ladybug. "Where do you want to go?"
"I'll go B," said Adrien.
Adrien stayed behind a wall, with a good view of the path ahead. After a few seconds, he threw his knife as far as he could, but he didn't detect anyone.
"I didn't pick up anyone," said Adrien. "I'll wait for a bit before going to you, Ladybug."
"I see people," said Ladybug.
"I'm on my way," said Adrien. "I'll flank."
Adrien decided to push through the middle of the map. He made his way down some tunnels with stone walls. Even though he was walking and taking a huge risk by sneaking behind, he was very fortunate that none of the enemies had gone to the site yet. He carefully made sure not to fire until he was sure he could get the kill. Thankfully, he managed to kill the enemy Reyna with two headshots. Moving so that the enemy wouldn't catch him, he threw another knife, detecting two enemies.
A few seconds afterwards, he shot the enemy Phoenix twice in the body, but his enemy quickly whipped around, and two well-placed shots on Adrien's head and body spelt his death.
Two of his teammates had already died before him. It was now up to Ladybug and the other team member against three enemies. A dangerous 2v3. He spectated them both.
Ladybug aimed her pistol at an area she guessed the enemy would be. Just as perfectly planned, an enemy walked right into her path and was killed by one easy headshot.
The spike was planted. While one enemy was distracted by Ladybug's turret, she snuck around and shot them. The other teammate killed the last enemy and Ladybug swiftly defused.
"I gotta say, your aim was spot on, milady," said Adrien in a playful tone. "Those headshots were clean."
Adrien could see Ladybug internally groaning and rolling her eyes in his head –– one of her common traits –– even though she was quiet.
For the second round, Adrien bought all his abilities, heavy shields, and a suppressed submachine gun called Spectre. Because of its cheaper price compared to most guns and its decent fire rate as well as damage, Adrien thought it was a good gun all-round.
During the first half of the game, Adrien had his fair share of good rounds, where he got three kills when he fired at the enemy with a Spectre. Other times, though, he was on the receiving end of some quick kills. He had been killed by a single headshot from an assault rifle, and he was quite frustrated, but he didn't allow himself to express it. He had been inflicting similar kills on his enemies.
It was the last round in the half. The score was 6-5, and Adrien's team was in the lead. He was determined not to let the enemy tie the game.
Adrien and two others were being aggressively pushed on the A site. One of his teammates had been sniped. Soon after, the other had been riddled by bullets. He was alone defending, while Ladybug and their other teammate was still busy rotating.
He took cover as the enemy Reyna used her blinding ability. He then peeked, and with careful mouse movement, he left-clicked once and killed her with one headshot. The enemy Phoenix soon aimed at him, but he moved the mouse with precise aim and again, skillfully hit another headshot.
"Those shots hit them hard," said Adrien cheerfully.
He then reloaded his Vandal. It was an assault rifle that resembled an AK-47 and was the gun Adrien used most often because of its headshot power that it had so perfectly demonstrated earlier.
He moved closer towards the pyramids, sidestepping and dodging enemy fire. Ladybug and the other teammate had quickly been killed.
"80 on Skye," said Ladybug.
Adrien saw the enemy Skye, and with only two shots to the body, she instantly died.
It was now down to him and two attackers. He had to always be alert of making sure that the enemies weren't sneaking up on him from behind.
He then threw a knife down the hall, not detecting anyone. Once he carefully looked at the wooden doors where the enemy could enter, he threw a grenade. After that, with 40 seconds left on the clock, Adrien decided to go to the B site in case the enemy rotated. It was a very good thing he did because he then saw the enemy about to plant. He quickly shot the enemy Brimstone holding the spike, then found himself in a bit of a longer duel with the enemy Sova. He had to dodge the shock darts. He threw a flashbang, then he looked, but didn't find Sova. Split second, he saw the enemy first and took a shot. Having killed the whole team, Adrien got an ace, and he heard the most satisfying sound the game could offer, and soon the congratulations from his teammates poured out.
"Let's go, kitty!" said Ladybug. "You really have cat-like reflexes."
"Well, I was definitely on the hunt," said Adrien, trying to supress his secret happiness to hear Ladybug's occasional bit of humor. "But that play, though –– I didn't expect to win that. It was quite miraculous if you ask me!"
It was the second half, and this time, Adrien decided to buy a Ghost. He had 20 kills in the first half, which surprised him.
Although it was just a pistol rounds, Adrien deemed that round to be important to win as well as the fact that it was usually easy. Thankfully, he was able to get two headshot kills and win the round without dying.
Soon, Adrien's team only needed one more round to win. The score was 12-8, with his team on the lead.
"We're gonna push A," said Ladybug. "You should be in the front, while I'll be in the back because I'm sniping."
Adrien threw his knife, detecting three enemies. His teammates had killed two of them before pushing onto the site. Ladybug had sniped an enemy who was on high ground. Adrien had heard the loud noise of the Operator, a powerful sniper rifle, being fired. He planted the spike while waiting for the other defenders to show up. He saw the enemies come from the wooden doors. He then quickly shot them both, winning the game.
"Let's go!" Adrien said, blasting his mic. "32 kills."
"It seems like you carried a bit," said Ladybug sarcastically. "I got 23. I'm not saying the other teammates were bad since they were able to pull their weight quite a bit."
Adrien ended up getting 35 RR from that, and he was able to rank up to Silver 3 after weeks of trying –– breaking a deadly cycle of winning and losing, while barely profiting in RR.
"Pound it," said Ladybug, and Adrien raised his fist.
They played a few more games and won the next game, firmly placing them both in Silver 3. Although they lost the next one, they won the game after that. After a total of four games, they decided to call it a night, and it was time for them to say goodbye to their viewers.
"Well, it's time for me to go," said Ladybug. "Have a miraculous night. Bug out!"
"This will be it for the stream, guys, peace out!" said Adrien.
He then ended the stream and closed everything before turning off his PC. He then spun in his chair and stared at the ceiling, thinking thoughtfully. That night was action-packed, but it was a way for him to unwind from a busy week. He enjoyed that night, and he was really in the zone while playing as Chat Noir.
He was also thinking about Ladybug a bit, having enjoyed the time he spent with her. He streamed with her once every two weeks, but sometimes would join her to make pre-recorded videos or just play without recording. It was those times when he could say most of the things that he wanted to say to her. Of course, his imagination differed from reality. They haven't shared any personal information yet, and he decided to respect her wishes of keeping her identity a secret. He was also secretive about his Chat Noir persona and didn't tell anyone he knew about his channel. By now, they had both been doing YouTube together for 4 years, ever since he got all his gadgets at the age of 13.
After taking a break from the screen, Adrien took out his phone and looked through messages and notifications. He had countless likes and comments on one of his Instagram accounts. That's what he got for being a model and influencer for a huge international fashion company, simply called Gabriel, named after his father, which was also known as the Agreste brand. His professional content was on the Agreste brand's Instagram account. He also had a personal account where it was mostly about him and his friends –– though that account had just over 2 million followers. It was inevitable as he was bound to become famous for modeling for such a big fashion company for 4 years. He could've used his influence as a model to gain more YouTube subscribers faster, but that would give away his identity. For now, he would work with his current 250,000 subscribers.
He didn't bother reading most of the comments. He was used to it. He had gotten a lot of unwanted attention from girls. He could imagine how uncomfortable he would be once he turned 18, and he would receive attention from older women. No one would care, as it wasn't illegal, and society would think it's cool. There were so many girls that wanted him, but he only had eyes for Ladybug, and he was sure she didn't like him back. It seemed like a celebrity crush, well, at least to the people who knew about his feelings. He knew that most of the girls who followed him just wanted him for his fame and fortune.
He looked through his friends' Instagram stories. He saw a picture of his best friend Nino and his girlfriend, Alya. They had gone out to an arcade and had bubble tea as well. He was happy for them both, having gotten together 3 years ago. He was amazed at how they had been going strong, even though he didn't understand a thing about dating as he had yet to go on a date. From what Nino told him, what he and Alya had was more serious than just mutual attraction. It was closer than friendship, though, and he felt like their relationship would be more serious as they got older.
He then turned off his phone and went to bed. No one was pressuring him to date, though if he wanted to pursue someone, he should shoot for someone he knew in real life –– not someone he knew online and will probably never meet. Maybe the real girl behind Ladybug looked and acted differently in real life. He couldn't judge, as his Chat Noir persona was more confident and laid-back than the real-life blonde male model.
He spent a bit of time just thinking about Ladybug. The feelings were a bit intense whenever they hit him. He was glad that while focusing on school, she never visited his mind. He still had a lot of energy and feelings of happiness, but eventually, he calmed down and sleep overtook him.
