A/N: This is my first foray into the world of writing Miraculous fiction. I am not a new writer by any means but I have not been active in this fandom before. Honestly the show, while interesting, failed to capture my attention in the beginning. It wasn't until a friend linked me to a MLB&CN story he wrote that it caught my eye. Now, after having binged the whole series and devouring dozens of stories, I couldn't resist plotting my own.

I started their adventure at age 15 so they are in Lycee instead of college.

Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous. Or the characters. Or Paris.

*UPDATE 4/9/19 - The fic has been edited to be more streamlined and to clear up some issues I was seeing with my character development. Please start back at the first chapter and reread the story as a few details have changed. Hope you enjoy the newer version as much as the older one.*

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The swarm of colorful ladybugs moved throughout Paris healing the city and it's inhabitants. Cars that had been totaled were reverted back to their original state, a storefront that had been smashed apart suddenly was back to normal, and several people with grave injuries were able to stand once more under their own power.

While a relief to those it had helped, the whole experience seemed rather underwhelming to the majority of the population. A few tourists that had been visiting were certainly shocked by what had been a relatively peaceful afternoon being suddenly turned into a very battle for their lives, but for most it was just another day in the city of love. Too often had those ladybugs been seen flitting about, taking destruction and erasing it from the world, to be altogether surprising anymore.

Ladybug glanced around cheerfully, surveying the repairs with hands on her hips. One who did not know her very well would think it was an expression of pride on her young face, but those who in fact did know her would say that she was not the boastful sort and that her expression really was one of just being happy that everything had worked out well in the end.

"Ow ow ow ow ow."

Ladybug's joyful smile slipped into a well-practiced smirk, her eyes rolling in amusement at the antics of her partner in black, this time with red and orange streaks. "You know, Chaton, the drama only works after the battle if nothing was fixed. Plus if you remember we added a bit of fire power of our own?" She turned to give him a smug look, watching the black cat make his way towards her, one hand still gently rubbing his shoulder.

"I'll have you know, Milady, that power-up is fire-resistant, not fire-proof. And just having it heal instantaneously doesn't remove the memory of the pain. And that hurt."

"Aww," she simpered. "Poor kitty. You know, I thought cats were only afraid of water," she quipped with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Fire, Bugaboo. We're also afraid of fire. And that was some seriously big flames that guy was putting out." The two heroes looked over at the former akumatized victim who was steadily getting to his feet with the help of a pair of first responders. Thankfully no one had been seriously injured as they knew that tended to weigh heavily on those who ended up becoming pawns of Hawkmoth.

"I'm concerned though that Hawkmoth seems to be stepping up his game lately." Ladybug wasn't surprised to hear those words tumble from her partner's mouth. It had been on her mind a lot as well. "I mean bubbles and copycats and that weird time we were all turned into pink gummy ladies was horrendous enough, but now we are dealing with potential fatalities every few weeks."

"Well, even as much as I hate to say it, it makes sense. He's been throwing Akumas at us for three years now but they've always been emotional temper tantrums for the most part. Some of the last few have been people trying to cope with a traumatic experience."

The two looked over at the Akuma victim again. The middle-aged man had come home from a business trip to find a couple of teenagers had broken into his house and, whether intentionally or accidentally, had started a small fire that quickly engulfed the home. No one had been hurt but the man had suddenly found himself homeless and Hawkmoth had wasted little time turning that to his advantage. The flames the man had been able to conjure and control were far more dangerous than most of their past fights.

A shrill beeping sound next to Ladybug's ear told her that she was due to change back. "Gotta go, Kitty." She gave him a smile before quickly snagging a nearby tower with her yo-yo and swinging up out of sight.

Spared having to use his Cataclysm after their third transformation, Chat Noir was content to watch as the victim received medical care for a few minutes before they whisked him off to the hospital. At that point the officers who had been keeping the press back were forced to move onto the more pressing matters of handling the crime scene investigation and Chat suddenly found himself swarmed by microphones being shoved in his face and tv cameras aimed directly at him.

"Chat Noir! Any comment on the uptick in Akuma attacks-"

"-do you feel enough is being done to catch Hawk-"

"-with the recent devastation hitting Paris what do you and Ladybug have to say about-"

"Chat! Boxers or briefs!"

With all of the questions being thrown his way all at once he was almost certain that last one he had imagined. However, when the rest of the reporters around him were stunned into silence he realized he wasn't hearing things and in fact one of the strangest questions he had ever been asked was just uttered by a reporter.

The reporter in question blushed hard when Chat Noir fixed her with a half-lidded stare. She was young, he noted. Around twenty years old, short but not overly so, and had her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. He thought he recognized her as a blogger that had been following them around recently and decided that he might as well answer one question that day.

With an amused smirk, Chat pushed forward until he was directly in front of her cell phone she had been using to film the event and was now currently being used to record his unofficial 'press conference.'

"Well I suppose I can give Paris a slight glimpse into the more private aspects of Chat Noir," he earned an even heavier flush of the young blogger's cheeks at the intentional innuendo. "The suit is one-piece and magical so I have no idea what is going on down there. However, when I'm not behind the mask I always go commando."

Giving a wink towards the crowd and especially the now flustered ladies in the group, Chat dug his baton into the street pavement and launched himself up onto the nearest rooftop. Before the cameras could even begin to follow, he was gone.

Sneaking back into class had not been the easiest thing in the world as most of the 'Akuma Safety Procedures' had been increased as time went on. During the duo's second year at Lycée the city had instituted a mandatory lockdown on government buildings and schools if an attack was deemed a level three or higher. It made for a safer Paris for the citizens though it made it much harder for the two teenage heroes to slip back into their school before their absence was noted.

Chat Noir, ever the sly feline that he was, crept back into the building through the lower basement window. It had been a favorite spot of his to transform in and out of as the hallway at the top of the stairs had no cameras and, in the three years he had been at the school, he had never once ran into a staff member. The lock was easy enough to pick and it allowed him to slip right back in with no one being the wiser.

"Plagg, Claws In." A bight flash of light illuminated the dusty basement for a moment before it was once again plunged into darkness. As his superhero alter-ego, Chat had the advantage of seeing in the dark so avoiding any boxes or shelving was easy. Once the powers had dropped however he was back to having to rely on his memorization of the room in order to reach the stairs.

"Next time how about we don't get so close to the fire?" His impish kwami floated in front of him though he was less mischievous and more of a grump at that moment.

"Aw, what's wrong, Plagg? I thought cats like us enjoyed a nice cozy fire."

The black kwami huffed in irritation and stroked his tail as if he was afraid it was going to shrivel up and fall off. "Do you see me sitting at a campfire with a stick and a wheel of camembert making s'mores? There's a big difference between us being cozy and us burning to death."

"Eh, your power-up gave us more than enough protection but yeah, let's not do that again anytime soon."

"I'll say," his kwami irritably muttered. "I'm totally drained. Those extra transformations really take it out of me. You have any cheese?" Adrien rolled his eyes before climbing up the stairway.

"I have some brie in my locker. You'll need to wait until we get home after class if you want camembert." Plagg grumbled but chose not to say anything more.

Adrien reached the top of the stairs and gripped the doorknob that would take him into the lower hallway. Cracking the door open as much as he dared, the blond teenager snuck a peek to see if the coast was clear. Thankfully it was and he managed to slip out unseen. Adopting a casual stride, Adrien reached the courtyard to see most of his fellow classmates ditching their trash from lunch and making their way towards the classrooms.

'Damn. That was only long enough to miss lunch?' It certainly had seemed longer to him but he wasn't about to complain. He may not have had a chance to eat and his stomach would not be happy with him later, but at least he could make the excuse that he had to run home for break. With his strict diet and even stricter father, no one would think twice about it.

Adrien slipped in behind Juleka and Rose on the nearby stairwell on their way to their next class. He wanted to sigh in happiness at the idea of complex math equations after the workout he just had. Being Chat Noir was a way to embrace his other side, but after dodging fireballs nonstop had worn him down to where being Adrien Agreste wasn't such a bad thing.

Around him many students were discussing what had just gone down a few miles from school. The frequency of Hawk Moth's attacks had dropped but the severity was on the rise leading many to become as alarmed as they had been during the first time an Akuma had appeared.

Unsurprisingly Nino, who was directly beside him, was busy having an animated conversation with Alya. Judging by how cross he was being with his girlfriend and how gleeful her expression was as her fingers danced on her phone's touchscreen, Adrien was sure that the Ladyblog would be getting a firsthand account of the battle along with a rather close-up video. It never failed to amaze him how Alya managed to slip out of the school during lockdown, traverse half the city, get her scoop while avoiding injuries and certain death and still make it back to the school and into class before her super-powered friend.

Choosing to get all of his things ready for the next class rather than interrupt his two friends, Adrien leaned down to open his backpack before jolting upright at the loud sound and sight of Marinette Dupain-Cheng stumbling through the doorway.

Marinette had arrived back at the school a minute or two after her partner had, though obviously neither of them knowing. She had a lot easier time of it however. The spotted super-heroine had made her own way back into the school via the roof. It was the easiest and quickest method she knew of and it had served her well for the past few years. It required a bit of Ladybug strength to get the door on the roof open in the beginning as it was meant to be locked at all times, but she had taken a bit of inspiration from her partner shortly after finding the entrance and borrowed the janitor's keys to have a copy made. Since then she was able to come and go as she pleased to transform and fight for Paris.

Noticing that the school's courtyard was nearly devoid of her classmates, Marinette scrambled to get to her classroom, worried that she was already late. She had been worried she hadn't gotten back early enough, though she was shocked to find out how quickly their fight that morning had gone.

'Perhaps not quick enough. Maybe I can work out some plans to minimize the time each battle takes. Kind of like plotting out a game of chess. Plan ten moves ahead. That sounds like a good idea…except I'm no good at chess!'

Thinking to herself Marinette barely noticed where she had been rushing to. With the sudden introduction of the door frame directly in front of her eyes, the young girl narrowly prevented herself from crashing into the wood but could not reverse the stumble.

Hoping that nobody bothered to notice her latest blunder, Marinette straightened in time to see several pairs of eyes looking her way before shaking their heads in amused recognition before continuing on with whatever they had been doing before, most of them being engaged in conversations. However she couldn't fail to miss the one pair she loved to see looking her way and also the one she loathed looking her way when she was being her clumsy self.

Flashing Adrien an embarrassed smile, she tried to quickly move past and up the stairs only to trip on one of the first steps. Slamming her eyes shut and bracing herself for what was sure to be a spectacular bruise, she waited for the impact. It never came. Instead, she found herself wrapped in two bands of steel.

'Incredibly soft and toned steel.' She breathed in by instinct and sighed pleasantly. 'Steel bands that smell of a wonderful cologne. Wait…Cologne?' Marinette's eyes snapped open to see those heavenly green eyes she had just been staring at now directly in front of her. She blushed heavily before realizing what the two 'bands of steel' actually were.

"AH! Sorry, sorry!" Scrambling out of Adrien's grasp she stood up quickly. When Adrien didn't let go right away, she felt her face burn and knew she must be sporting an impressive blush. "Th-thank you, Adrien."

Adrien smiled broadly. "You're very welcome, Mari." Holding onto her for another few seconds, he finally took pity and let his arm drop from her waist. Giving her a sly wink, Adrien turned back towards Nino who had ended his conversation with Alya and now was waiting for a chance to talk with his friend.

Marinette took the opportunity to slip away and slide into her seat directly behind the blonde. She wanted to simply remember the smile he sent her way and the feel of his arms around her for a few minutes, but her friend next to her wasn't having any of it.

"Girl, it's been three years," Alya whispered to her, leaning over slightly to make sure her comments were kept to just the two of them. "Don't you think you should either work up the courage to ask him out or maybe it's time to move on?"

"Shhh!" Marinette spared a glance towards the blonde in front of her, noting with relief he seemed to be talking animatedly with Nino, discussing their weekend plans. "I'm going to. I just need the right moment."

Alya rolled her eyes. The 'right moment' her friend had been waiting for turned into three years of indecision. Marinette had always argued that he just made her nervous, but after a year of constantly beating around the bush she had finally managed to relax around the teen model, at least enough where she could hold a decent conversation with him. Now her reasoning was that as they had become really good friends she didn't want to ruin that friendship if he didn't feel the same. And that was one thing Alya couldn't argue with.

While she and Nino certainly noticed the chemistry between the two, Adrien seemed to be completely oblivious. Eventually they had given up on trying to get the two of them on the same page and simply let Adrien continue to be clueless while Marinette seemed too stubborn to stop pining away over him.

To her credit Marinette had in fact tried to let the other boy go over the years. She had dated several guys including Juleka's brother, Luka as well as entertaining Nathaniel's crush on her to try and see if there might be something there. But after several dates with each of them all with the intention to try and forget Adrien, she still found herself measuring them up against him and that was ultimately what caused those relationships to peter out.

There was one other guy she had always wondered about. Another green-eyed blonde that she knew rather intimately and would know completely were it not for the mask covering his facial features. It had not been a recent development, though she could not deny the feelings had steadily been getting stronger as time went on. More and more she noticed how their celebratory fist bump had begun to give her butterflies in her stomach. How the silly nicknames he gave her caused a small flutter in her chest. There were days when she wanted to toss caution to the wind and see where things might lead to if she gave him a chance.

But two things held her back. First, that her feelings for Adrien had never gone away, and second, she wasn't sure if he could feel the same way about Marinette as he did his spotted partner. She also could never tell her friend, the one who wrote more about the city's superhero duo than anyone else, that she had begun to develop deeper feelings for the sly black feline that spent his days fighting akumas and nights running around on rooftops. She feared Alya's head might explode if she did. It did not stop her mind from wandering though.

'Oh my Chaton. If only things could be so much simpler.' She had to admit to herself that if Adrien had never come along she would have gotten together with Chat Noir long ago. Though rather corny and constantly spouting clawful puns (she smiled subtly at that), he was incredibly sweet and a true romantic at heart. She still remembered the wonderful night he had planned for the two of them, even if she had unknowingly ruined it by not showing up, something that she regretted for years.

However, her attraction and admiration for her partner never quite managed to surpass her feelings for Adrien. Still, she couldn't deny how Chat seemed to be taking up more of her thoughts lately. 'We're friends and partners. Have been for years. It's only natural we would be close, even closer than in the past. And with all of these more dangerous akumas it's only natural I would be thinking about him more. I'm…concerned. That's all.'

The rest of the day went rather smoothly compared to that morning's Akuma attack. Homework was light which was a godsend to Marinette who wanted to catch up on some much needed sleep, but they had been given a partner assignment in their History class dealing with the role France played in the American Revolution and how that in turn affected their own country. Thankfully they were allowed to choose their partner and Marinette and Alya had immediately teamed up. Adrien and Nino were almost immediately behind them exchanging fist bumps.

As they were gathering their things Alya cast a mischievous smirk towards her friend before giving her a playful shove. "So. Have you finally decided what you want to do for your birthday tomorrow?"

Marinette groaned and hung her head. Her closest and dearest friend had been bugging her about it for weeks and she had come to the conclusion she wasn't going to stop. Not today and certainly not tomorrow.

"I told you. I'm just having you over for some cake and then I figured a movie night sleepover." Over the years she had become more comfortable with being social, especially when hanging with her girlfriends. She absolutely loved hitting the movies or going to the arcade with Alya, Juleka, Rose, Mylene, and Alix. When it came to her being the center of attention though was when she tended to freeze. All too often she would make excuses to leave or not go in the first place.

"Girl it's your Eighteenth! You can't just spend it at home! I know you've been avoiding having big parties ever since your grandmother was akumatized and turned half our class into coal but you gotta get out there, enjoy what Paris has to offer you!"

Marinette sighed heavily at her friend's insistence. "You know I would love to get over this hangup but I don't think that's going to happen in the next twenty-four hours."

"You're right," Alya stated suddenly. Marinette turned to her a little surprised she had agreed. "It's gonna take thirty." Whistling loudly to carry over the din of their classmates gathering their things to head home, she quickly gained their attention before winking at the dark-haired girl who froze. "Alright everyone! Tomorrow is Marinette's birthday party at the Nostalgique Tavern. It's her eighteenth and we are gonna do it right!"

The class cheered in approval and continued to file out while Marinette sat there too stunned to move. Her eye however was twitching madly while her best friend, 'ex-best friend' she thought to herself, smiled smugly at her.

"By the way, everyone plus myself have been planning this for two weeks so your butt is going to be there. Now, I'll be at your house tomorrow at six to help you get ready."

"But-" she began only to find herself the last person in the classroom as the rest of the students had already headed out. Marinette groaned and let her forehead bounce off the desk top.