Today was the day. Parisian sunlight emerged from the looming glass windows that hung over Adrien's bed. The boy turned onto his side, dodging away from the uncomfortable heat that blanketed over his face. He slightly cracked open his eyes at the harsh glare that washed over him as his mind began to stir. Blinking a few times, Adrien's mind slowly found its bearings-

A shot of panic flew through his chest as he glanced over at the clock. '8:25'.

'I'm gonna be lateee!'

Adrien didn't waste a single moment more in slipping out of his bed, while furiously brushing his teeth as quietly as furiously allowed. Most mornings, Adrien enjoyed a soothing warm shower in the morning, but today, he couldn't care less for anything past the most basic of hygiene. Adrien dashed back out of his bathroom and shoved everything that he could think of shoving into his bag.

'Binder, check. Tablet, check. Pens...'

Inching open his bedroom door, he glanced around the mansion's grand entrance hall. Luckily, nobody was in sight. He quickly slid out of his bedroom and tiptoed down the stairs. It felt revitalizing to push past the gigantic entrance that had kept him sealed up for so long. A cool autumn breeze tickled his face as he stepped outside, and his hair was playfully tossed around by the light wind as he descended the steps to his house.

'SLAM'

Adrien cringed at the sound; he'd forgotten to let the doors shut gently.

'Well, there goes any hopes of nobody noticing...'

Hoping to at least maintain his head start, he sprinted away. He grimaced slightly, though, as he heard a muffled sound emerge from inside.

"Ad...i...n?"

He picked up his pace.

Adrien's heart bounced with adrenaline as he dashed down the paved sidewalks towards Collège Françoise Dupont. Adrien had impatiently anticipated this day for almost a month now. His whole life, ever since his mother's disappearance, Adrien stayed in his house alone, his father too busy with whatever it was that kept a famous fashion designer busy. Adrien utterly hated every moment of it. It was only through the one friend that he'd been allowed to speak with – even if it was only rarely - that he stayed sane. But now? It was finally all going to change. It was through this same friend, Chloé, that Adrien's escape plan had originated.

A remarkably plain day. On this day, the pair of friends sat together at a grossly fancy dinner party, the two being strut around like the dolls that they were. It was that day that Chloé had unknowingly offered up an idea that lit Adrien's eyes with a burning fire.

"Ugh, it's too bad that we only get to be together during these awfully boring dinner parties, don't you think Adrichou? Maybe we should just run away together."

Chloe batted her eyes flirtatiously while nuzzling her head uncomfortably against Adrien's neck. He didn't mind though, how could he? She was the closest thing he had to anything that even resembled affection, albeit, it was a rather clingy kind.

"You know we can't just run away, Chloé. We're both famous, people would notice us being gone."

"I guess you're right, such is the price of fame," she declared as she held her hand against her forehead melodramatically, "I should just bring you to collége some time. That dump could certainly use someone else like me. The others there are oh-so horribly dull."

Adrien went silent for a moment, but before Chloé could continue, he interrupted.

"D-do you think you could do that for me, Chloé?"

"Hm, do what?"

"What you just said. Sneak me into collége. Do you think you can, really?"

"Huh? Oh! Oh, of course I can sneak you in Adrichou!" Chloé giggled gaudily at the thought. "Oh, I can do even better than that! I can get daddy to sign you up this fall! Your father will never know! Oh, Adrichou, finally we'll be able to spend more time together; I can teach you all about school culture. Don't worry, I am adored by everyone after all. This is the best idea I've ever had!"

As Chloé continued to stroke her own ego, Adrien's heart was fluttering at the thought; Chloé would get her dad to sign him up for collége! He'd be able to make friends, sing music numbers, and... well, everything else that happened at collége! At least, that's what all the movies had promised.

Maybe even... he'd find love? Leaning back in his chair, he dreamed happily at the thought. Adrien had always been a hopeless romantic, drowning himself in grossly cheesy romances to fill the void of love that had burned itself into his life.

As Adrien stared off, lost in his thoughts and excitement, a wide smile crept up his lips and he let out a longing sigh, one that Chloé had misinterpreted as being directed at her. Adrien had barely dodged out of the way of her sudden assault of kisses.

And now, today was that day that they had planned out so long ago. With the collége in sight, Adrien's heart began pounding. Nervousness? Fear? He didn't care what it was; nothing could ruin the raw excitement that flowed through him.

Though he had often come outside for various different photoshoots, none had ever felt like this. Even though those moments had set him free from the hulking walls of the prison that was his house, nothing about it was truly any less confining. But now? Sprinting through the streets without a bodyguard in sight? This. This was freedom.

"Adrien, stop!"

'Well, that didn't last long...'

Glancing towards the noise, Adrien noticed the all too familiar silver car speeding towards him. He noticed Nathalie, waving at him frantically, a distressed look painted on her face. Any guilt that he felt in the moment was immediately replaced by determination. Adrien turned and sprinted, glancing backwards periodically. Maybe if he made it inside...

It wasn't soon after he made it to the school's steps that he heard the car skid to a park and the door clicking open. Maybe outrunning a car wasn't the best plan. He could hear Nathalie's severe tone already.

"Adrien, no, please! You know well your father opposes this!"

Adrien spun around, responding sharply, "But this is what I want!"

He turned to continue up, uncaring as to whether or not Nathalie or the Gorilla would try to stop him until he heard a soft cough. Glancing back, he noticed an old man, fallen over, with his cane out of reach, and a bystander passing by, too distracted on his phone to notice. Running over without a second thought, Adrien helped him up and shot the man a soft smile.

"Thank you, young man," replied the old man warmly.

Adrien turned back around, still grinning from the old man's gratitude, before noticing his two bodyguards standing firmly in the way of the stairs. Adrien knew he wouldn't be able to force his way past them, and suddenly realized that it'd only make things worse if he kept trying. Sighing in defeat, Adrien strolled towards the two.

"All I want is to go to middle school like everyone else, what's wrong with that?"

Seeing the two's unfazed stern faces, Adrien let out another sigh.

"Please, don't tell my father..."

An agonizingly long drive later, and a dreary walk back into the giant mansion that he was supposed to call home, Adrien sat miserably, regurgatating knowledge out at Nathalie. The short bursts of praise from his "teacher" did nothing to cheer him up, rather, they dug him further into despair as he thought of what could have been. If only he had been a bit faster...

'This could be a real teacher right now... This could be a new friend sitting beside me right now...'

"Give us a moment, Nathalie."

Hearing his father's voice was the very last thing Adrien had wanted at the moment, and staring at the harsh look that sat atop his father's face had Adrien bracing for impact.

"Very well," responded Nathalie as she stepped aside.

"I already told you it's out of the question that you go to collége."

"But, Father!"

"You have everything you need in this house. I forbid you from going; the outside is far too dangerous."

"Why do you want to shut me off in a cocoon, I'm always alone..." A fit of welled up frustration rose and spilled out, "Why can't I have friends, like everyone else?!"

"Because you are not like everyone else." The sharpness to his father's words only made them stung more. "You are my son, Adrien! Resume."

Adrien tilted his head down defeatedly. His mind was in an utter flurry of emotions. Mercifully, Nathalie allowed Adrien to cut his lessons short, and he gladly took the opportunity to bolt back to his room, barely holding back tears on his way up.

It didn't take long, however, for those same tears to spill out as he reached his bedroom. Adrien hugged a pillow close to his face, as short, cut-up breaths and soft cries came from his throat. He didn't know how long his face was tucked into his pillow, but a huge and powerful vibration shook him out of it. Knowing earthquakes were a rare occurrence in Paris, Adrien headed out the doors to see what had caused the commotion.

Adrien hadn't known exactly what to expect; he didn't know much about the outside world after all. But a giant hulking stone monster that looked like it was ripped straight out of a comic book? Definitely not. When the monster flipped a car and the police that were stationed outside of his gate were sent running, he took it as a sign that he should probably retreat back inside.

Hopping over his couch, Adrien plopped down onto the cushions below and turned the TV on. A shaking news report confirmed that he hadn't just imagined what he'd saw. A giant stone monster really was rampaging across Paris, and strangely, it both excited and terrified him. Perhaps growing up with cartoons and other fictional shows as his only source of the outside world hadn't been the most healthy for his mental state.

Glancing down only momentarily, he noticed that a hexagonal black box with intricate red carvings had somehow found itself onto his coffee table.

"What's this doing here?"

Adrien felt an indescribable shiver; it was as if someone else in the city had just said the exact same thing at the exact same time. Dismissing the thought, he grabbed up the box, popping it open. An obsidan black ring lay in the center of some velvet cushioning. Before he could examine it further, though, a bright ball of green energy exploded out as a magical sound rung through his ears. In a few seconds, an adorably small, black cat (?) remained as the energy dissipated, seemingly asleep.

Yawning dramatically, the thing began to stir. Strangely, this was giving Adrien that same sense of fear and excitement from earlier. Maybe he actually was delusional. His excitement, however won over any of these thoughts.

"Wow, awesome! Like the genie of the lamp!"

"Oh yeah, I met him," responded the small black cat thing. "So he grants wishes, no need to make a cheese out of it. Plagg." he introduced abruptly. "Nice to meet you!"

To say Adrien was ecstatic was an understatement. Plagg? Flying cat thing? He couldn't be dreaming, right? His expression soon turned to horror, however, as Plagg flew over and started biting at his foosball table.

"No, don't touch that!" As he lunged, Plagg lazily floated away. "Hey, come back here!"

"Ooh, this is shiny, is it edible? Hm, not at all. And this?"

As Plagg flew around from object to object, Adrien soon realized that he'd have no chance at catching the tiny creature like this. The boy glanced around desperately in hopes of finding an opportunity before Plagg ate his whole room. Scaling up his rock-climbing wall, Adrien jumped down as Plagg was distracted munching on TV remote. The small black cat-thing was cupped up in his hands as they landed on the soft couch. Reality struck, suddenly; Adrien had been chasing this strange black cat creature for the better part of a few minutes; what was it even doing in his bedroom?

"I still don't know what you're doing here!"

"Fine. I'm a kwami," Plagg responded dully, "I give powers. Yours is the power of destruction. Get it?"

Shaking his head, Adrien's guard lowered back down at the words that spilled out of Plagg's mouth as if they were a completely normal thing to say.

"Alright. Do you have anything to eat?", the kwami continued, "I'm starving!"

"It's a joke from my father, is that it?" The stupidity of his words hit him very quickly, "Wait, that's impossible. He doesn't have a sense of humour." Catching him off guard, Plagg suddenly flew upwards and took on a more severe tone.

"You can't ever tell your father I exist! Or anyone else, for that matter!"

Adrien simply nodded, as Plagg continued.

"Anyways, you're now a superhero. Congratulations."

"Wait, what?!"

"Didn't you hear me? A superhero? Magic powers, yeah? Anyways, your special power is Cataclysm, it lets you destroy anything you touch. Also, you get a super magic baton. I'm sure you can figure it out."

Barely any of it was registering in Adrien's head. He felt far too distracted by a strange mixed feeling of awe, excitement, and utter disbelief.

"It is now your job to save Paris from villains like Stoneheart over there." Plagg continued as he pointed out the window. Adrien cringed as he noticed another car was sent flying. "Of course you get all the regular superhero stuff, super strength, super speed, jumping power, blah blah..."

As Plagg floated off to God knows where, the information hit Adrien like a truck... no, more like a train. Something finally clicked in his mind; he was chosen? He was going to have powers? This was just like all those superhero stories! Wait. Was this his origin story?!

"Powers? Superhero?"

"Are you deaf, kid? Yes! I think I've said it three times now. Why do I always get the dumb ones..."

Adrien blinked, not even noticing the snarky comment that his kwami had made.

"Oh, yes," Plagg continued, "it seems you have a partner as well. I can sense her kwami, so there's that-"

"What good is a superhero if he can't get out of his house?" Adrien brought up, suddenly.

"None." He noticed the small kawmi bouncing by on a roll of bandages that Adrien didn't even realize he had in his room. "That's why all of this will soon change. If you want it, of course."

Adrien stared at the small silver ring that sat in his hand. It looked like nothing special at all, as cold of an object as the rest of his house, and yet, he finally saw what lay beneath the shiny metal surface. This ring, Plagg, everything; it was freedom. Determined, Adrien slipped it on, feeling it conform to his finger perfectly.

"Just say 'transforme moi!', and bam I transform you!"

"Got it!" Adrien could barely stop himself from squealing stupidly. "Plagg, transforme moi!"

"No w-wait, I didn't finish explaining everything to youuuu!"

Adrien felt a strange force as Plagg slipped into the ring. It felt as if his own limbs were nudging themselves along. As his body moved on its own, he felt a soft light wash over him, transforming his clothes. He, of course, went along with the strange sequence, adding in his own dramatic flares where he felt it fit nicely. After a few seconds, he stared down at his now clawed black hands.

"So cool!"

Glancing at himself, he saw that he was covered, full clad in some magical leather, a couple pockets situated on the sides of his stomach. His gloves maintained his dexterity, and Adrien let out a breath of relief; he wouldn't have to deal with cat paws.

Walking over to his bathroom mirror, Adrien shut the door behind him. As he turned to the mirror, he was taken aback at first. A leather mask was donned over his face, and for a second, he couldn't even tell that it was him who lay behind the mask. Shaking out of it, he concluded that there must be some magic that sealed away his identity. Green lenses covered his eyes, giving them a very cat-like appearance. He smirked at the small bell the adorned his neck, giving it a small jingle.

The long tail-like belt that hung from his back stayed limp, and Adrien wondered if it actually had any uses. His new ears on the other hand stayed perked up and slightly vibrated at his touch. His hair had somehow grown messier covering his original ears completely. Snapping his fingers in front of the black cat ears atop his head, Adrien jumped and almost yelped at how loud the sound was; it seems the ears weren't just for decoration. Feeling underneath his now shaggier hair, his old ears were still present, but numb.

Having finished admiring his suit, Adrien picked out the baton hooked to his belt. He felt a bit taken aback by the thing: buttons and different sorts of gadgets adorned it. He'd have to figure it all out later. Adrien jumped yet again as he pushed a button and the pole suddenly extended out, colliding with the floor and ceiling, wobbling back and forth, yet holding its position. Pressing the same paw-shaped button, the baton retracted to its original length and Adrien reacted quickly, catching the thing easily. It seemed Plagg wasn't lying about those enhanced senses.

It wasn't long before Adrien found himself flying across a few roofs and playing around with his new tools. Extending the baton between two rooftops, he walked across the makeshift tightrope, surprised at how easy it was to keep balance.

"Huh, I'm starting to get used to this."

Adrien turned his head up curiously when he heard a scream growing increasingly louder, and didn't have any time to react before a flying girl barrelled into him, knocking the two down. Following the dizzying collision, they found themselves tangled up in a string, dangling down from Adrien's baton.

"Hi, you can say I'm glad you dropped by!" he started, cheekily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

A few more apologies and struggling later, the two were free. The new superheroine in front of him was covered in red spots, like a ladybug, and pulled at the yo-yo that was stuck to his baton, a strange choice for what was presumably her weapon.

"You must be the partner my kwami told me about!" Though he was excited to meet another superhero, the thought of having a partner in heroism excited him even more; superhero duos were always best friends or even...

"I'm..." he thought for a second. "Chat Noir! Yup, Chat Noir! And you?"

"Me? I'm Ma-"

Suddenly the yo-yo and the pole retracted launching downwards... and right onto Adrien's head. He squeaked out in pain as he rubbed at the sore spot that formed.

"I'm... maladroit... I'm so terribly clumsy..."

"Don't worry, Miss Maladriot!" It seemed that his superherione partner was bit more nervous about the whole thing than he was. His own self-doubt had come and gone pretty fast. He reassured, "I'm starting out too!"

Their conversation, however, was suddenly interrupted by the all familiar rumbling of Stoneheart. The two gazed up in shock as a skyscraper was levelled, and the sounds of distant screams grew. Without hesitation, Adrien – no, wait, Chat Noir - vaulted off.

"Hey, where are you going?!" shouted the girl below.

"To save Paris, no?!" Chat worried that she might have still been too nervous, but was pleasantly surprised at hearing the whizzing of the superheroine's yo-yo shortly behind him.

Perhaps his excitement had gotten Chat ahead of himself. As he dodged around Stoneheart, it seemed that he was only making things worse while his partner still remained absent. Was Stoneheart getting bigger? It was definitely getting bigger, right? He could've sworn that his partner was right behind him; maybe she fell off a building? 'Oh god, what if she's hurt and I just left her?'

His thoughts were soon interrupted, though, as Stoneheart launched a soccer net at him. He, of course, dodged out of the way easily, but a short fearful gasp turned his attention to a civilian girl, kneeling down, and about to be crushed by the thing. Instinctively, he tossed his baton over, which thankfully extended out and held its position, bouncing the net away harmlessly. Chat didn't have much time to celebrate, however, before he found himself grabbed up by the monster.

As he struggled, Chat gazed up and noticed his superheroine partner staring downwards, obviously still nervous.

'C'mon! I know you can do it!' he half-thought, half-hoped.

As if she had heard him, the spotted heroine glided down, knocking down Stoneheart and freeing Chat. He yelped as he was sent flying out of the monster's grasp, luckily landing in the soft netting of a goalpost. Thankful at the somewhat cushy landing, he noticed his partner sprinting over.

"Sorry I took so much time, Chat Noir!"

"No worries ladybug-girl. And now, let's break some rock!"

The fight didn't last much longer. His partner's smarts and confidence astounded Chat. While he went ahead attacking boldly, but recklessly, his partner was instead cool-headed and strategic. Heck, he even wasted his superpower and almost got himself trapped again, while she used hers flawlessly.

"Bien joué!" The two fist-bumped as they watched Stoneheart transform back into a tall and large boy that her partner seemed to recognize.

A short goodbye later, Chat found himself with a skip in his step as he bounded away. After the adrenaline of the fight had come and gone, the reality of it all suddenly hit him. He had just spent the last half hour battling against a giant super-villain side by side with the most amazing partner as a SUPERHERO! He felt free and powerful, sensations he'd been craving his whole life. 'Please, don't let this be a dream, and if it is, please don't wake up yet.'

As he arrived home and the last claw on his ring beeped away, he felt the magical energy that made him Chat Noir dissolve away while a very tired looking Plagg emerged from his ring, yawning as dramatically as he did when they first met.

"Ugh, kid! Do you have anything to eat? I'm absolutely starving over here!"

"Alright, sure," Adrien responded, rolling his eyes, "I'll call for my chef to make something for us."

A short while later, his personal chef, who, as always, was the best that money could hire, strolled in carrying trays of lavish snacks. As Plagg poked around with the lids that concealed the food, Adrien flipped on the TV to see if the news had caught up to them yet. Sure enough, every possible Parisian news channel he found was reporting on the new superhero duo of Paris. Adrien's heart fluttered as his eyes were glued to the footage.

"Seems you did a good job," the kwami praised. The two listened to the report for a short while longer before something caught Adrien's attention.

"... the new protectors of our city, Ladybug and Chat Noir!" The TV dissolved into background noise as Adrien's thoughts took over.

"Ladybug... Her name is Ladybug..." However, his longing daze was quickly broken with Plagg's overly loud complaining.

"Ugh, yuk! You want me to eat this?!" the small kwami burst out, holding up a small fruit cup.

"Are you kidding? It's our starred chef who made all of this!"

"If you want me to regenerate after a transformation, I need more delicate cuisine."

Sighing incredulously, Adrien conceded, "Okay, what do you want?"

"Hmm...", Plagg sniffed at one of the dishes, opening up the lid. "This!" He pointed at a small fondue that hid beneath.

"You want a different fondue?"

"No, you idiot, the delicious camembert hidden beneath!"

"Camembert?! Just camembert?! Ugh, but that's the worst smelling cheese of all the smelly cheeses..."

"Well, smelly cheese is the price of superpowers... unless you'd like to relinquish being Chat Noir and never again see your darling Ladybug,"

Despite the teasing, Adrien had never so passionately retreieved a wheel of camembert in his life. Regrets quickly flooded back in, however, as he delivered the horrid smelling cheese to his kwami, and its "delicate" aroma filled his nostrils.

"Stinky camembert. Perfect, he only eats camembert, which means I'm gonna stink all day because of him..."

Adrien glanced back up at the TV, having forgotten to turn it off during his venture for camembert. Having assumed it would just be more coverage of their battle, Adrie eyes widened at what was instead terrifying news. New statue-like replicas of Stoneheart had appeared all around Paris!

"Plagg! What's happening? I thought we defeated it!"

"You captured the akuma... right?"