(submitted by @eliasraine)
Adrien still tries to go to school; he still helps out Master Fu; he still gets caught by Nathalie and the Gorilla.
But this time he decides that enough is enough and scarpers once he gets the ring, in the naĆÆve assumption that freedom is going to be more satisfying than say, regular meals, a comfy bed, not freezing to death thanks to central heating, et cetera.
So the moment he gets a chance he nicks a few hundred euros, a few changes of clothing, an old sleeping bag and a few coats, and books it.
As a result, Marinette never meets Adrien in school; Nino and Alya are first besties, with Marinette their mutual bestie.
Dunno if making Marinette feel like a perpetual third wheel is a bit too angsty.
Adrien finds his way onto the alleyways and eventually down into one of the shelters.
He is regretting his choice, but decides with typical teenaged stubbornness to stick it out (note to self: how does he keep Plagg fed, even if Plagg only goes with Camembert by preference and in fact will accept any cheese?)
Hence we get Ladybug, semi-lonely teenaged superhero, Chat Noir, homeless teenaged superhero, their nemesis Papillon, desperate father trying to retrieve the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculouses in order to a. bring his wife back and b. use his newfound omnipotence to retrieve his son, should conventional means fail.
Gabe (with Chloe and the Mayorās help) of course brings every conventional means he has to bear: private investigators (note to self: are those a thing in Europe?) the police, Interpol, so on and so forth.
Unfortunately for Gabe, none of those pan out, ācause Adrien is very, very observant and thinks quick on his feet, and also he has a magical ring that lets him hop over rooftops at a secondās notice.
Nothing much changes in terms of the actual battles?Ā Except that Chat Noir doesnāt hit as hard due to being weak from hunger and also he smells funny in spite of dunking himself in the Seine regularly.
Until he actually passes out during a fight.
Like, literally just working on fumes after maybe four or five days without eating, and then during a critical moment just straight-up blacks out from overexertion.
Ladybug of course wants to help him but doesnāt know how: still has her hang-ups about him not actually being as enamored with āMarinetteā as he is with āLadybugā, so isnāt willing to drag him to the bakery and let him stay there, doesnāt want to bring him to a hospital and accidentally reveal his identity.
Settles for letting him wake up and bringing him food regularly on patrol.
As she gets closer to Chat and starts to fall for him, she starts playing up theĀ āif youāre homeless I know someone who you can stay withā angle.
Chat, being a bloody idiot who doesnāt want to be beholden to anyone, always refuses and pretends as though everything is fine (the twat).
This works up until winter(real winter, not the pansy-ass kind of winter yāall get in Socal, as in the kind of winter that tends to leave frozen corpses behind for people to find in the spring thaw) hits.
Deus ex Machina! a half-frozen, barely-coherent Adrien is found by Nino, who, when Adrien continually protests being brought to the authorities, brings him home.
And then Nino and his parents just assume that heās escaping an abusive household or something, hence why heās so adamant about avoiding the fuzz.
Which is a bit of a dick move, come to think of it.
Okay, retroactive correction for why he ditches: he goes up to confront his dad personally when Gabe denies him even with Nathalie on his side, overhears him arguing with Master Fu or Nuuru or something and/or actually fighting Master Fu (letās just say that he went up to confront Gabe and to ask him nicely one last time to return the stuff he nicked, the bastard) and fearing retribution from pops, runs for it.
In between, we get character development from the trio!
Marinette still gets the confidence boost from Chatās constant support and encouragement and from being Ladybug all the time, so sheās still as āgive-no-shitsā and ātake-no-prisonersā as ever.
And she still gets the adoration of her peers, same as before.
But in the absence of Adrien she falls for Chatās genuine good nature and his dorky charm.
Conversely, when Evillustrator happens, she spends a lot of the time trying to impress him (and boy howdy does she succeed) while heās a lot more businesslike, since thereās no bad first impressions sort of thing that heās trying to correct for.as in canon.
And poor Adrien is left stuck in between his genuine adoration of and love for Ladybugās courage and inventiveness and sheer cocky confidence and Marinetteās own courage and yadda yadda, with the additional complication that Marinetteās own home life draws him in too, due to the homesickness issue.
When Alya and Nino find out that their bestie is in love with Chat Noir, they obviously concoct damsel-in-distress scenarios.
discoholicmusic
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
prguitarman
