Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir—I Wish I Knew You When I was Young

Pairing: Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir and Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: Generally PG-13 (However, M in one later chapter which will be separated into the PG-13 version in here and a M version in it's own separate section: "I Wish I Knew You When I was Young-Chapter 13 Mature Version") for minor language and sexual content.

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any of its characters. All right belong to Thomas Astruc, Jeremy Zag, Zagtoons, and all their respective licenses.

Summary: They finally did it! After almost five years, they finally took down Hawkmoth, but at what cost? With Hawkmoth's downfall, Ladybug and Chat Noir both disappeared from Paris. Ten years pass with a generally peaceful city, but what is left of Paris' heroes?

A/N: This series holds spoilers to season 2. However, I want to note that I started this series after seeing the Riposte episode which will explain some inconsistencies in this series deviating from the actual season 2 episodes that aired after Riposte. Sorry for this and I hope you enjoy.

I Wish I Knew You When I was Young

Chapter 1- Never Again

"LADYBUG!" Chat Noir's voice echoed through the Louvre as she had been stabbed through the chest by an akumatized victim's weapon. "NO!"

She crumbled to the ground as he darted to pull her into his arms.

"Ladybug!? LADYBUG! Answer me, please!" He begged, holding her in his arms.

"B-bye-bye, little butterfly…" She whispered, then let her lucky charm go, "M-miraculous ladybug…"

Suddenly a wash of red encompassed the area as things repaired themselves, people with stab wounds were now injury free, and Ladybug felt breath return into her previously punctured lung. She looked up at her partner who was sobbing over her, oblivious of the repairs her magic had done. She felt tears come to her own eyes as she saw what she'd done to her partner.

Moments before she had realized the only way to get the item where the akuma was stored was to take it within her, literally. However, she knew she couldn't tell Chat Noir her plan because he'd try to stop her or worse, plan to do it himself, and if she missed retrieving it in time, the akumatized victim could escape and more people could get hurt. Still, that didn't change the trauma she saw she'd caused him. She slowly touched his face, knowing the shock was inevitable. Sure enough, he snapped out of his nightmare as he looked down at her, yelping, "Ladybug!?"

"I'm okay, Chaton… I'm okay."

"WH-WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" He suddenly shouted, looking royally pissed off, a trait rather uncommon of him.

"I know… I know; I'm sorry."

"You knew what was going to happen, didn't you!?"

She didn't know what to say, and he cursed angrily, once again shocking her by his uncharacteristic actions today.

"Chaton, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? YOU'RE SORRY!? You died in my arms a second ago! And you did it on purpose!"

"I knew it had to be done, and I couldn't bear to let you do it again." She whispered.

Suddenly a familiar chirp came from his ring and her earrings.

He sighed and grumbled, "Yah, whatever. I guess I'll see you later, My Lady."

With that, he released her gently and got up to go.

"Chat, wait!"

"No, My Lady, I've got like three minutes tops. I got t—MMPH!"

He was cut off as she grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him down, kissing his lips with enough passion to make him freeze in his tracks.

"Wh-what was that for?"

"I'm sorry, Chaton… I'm so sorry. I couldn't see it till that moment I came back… that moment I looked into your tear-stained eyes and knew… I knew that you loved me, truly loved me… and it's also why I did what I did… because I realized in that moment that I had to be the one to do it. I needed to be the one who sacrificed something because I couldn't watch you do it one more time… I couldn't watch the man I love die again before my eyes." She sobbed out.

He froze in shock at her words, replaying them over and over again in his mind.

"Y-you love me!?"

"Yes… I'm sorry it took me this long to realize it." She muttered.

"We needed to go."

"I know; I'm sorry."

"No, I mean, we need to go… now!" He growled, suddenly kissing her passionately.

She blushed but nodded.

Her knees went weak as he scooped her up in his arms, and they took off into the night. He took her to a vacant room in Le Grand Paris and made sure all the lights were off and all curtains were closed. They were bathed in darkness, so dark they could only see the other's shadow.

"I'm going to release my transformation now, okay, my lady?" He whispered, huskily in her ear.

"Okay…"

"Are you sure about this though?" He whispered.

"I've never been more certain of anything… and once we have Hawkmoth behind bars, I will turn that light on and show you who I am." She whispered, pulling his lips down to kiss her.

"I love you, My Lady."

"I love you, too, Chaton."

With that she closed her eyes as he released his transformation, just in case she could see him through the light it caused. Once they confirmed that neither could see through the darkness, she did the same. Once that barrier was gone, little stood in the way as they embraced, kissing each other with a passion as though they were afraid that either would disappear the minute they divided. She helped him shove his shirt down his arms, and he slowly reached for hers. Soon both undershirts were gone and then the pants, leaving both in just their undergarments. As she felt the warm skin of his chest against her stomach, she realized just how real this was. This was Chat Noir, the man she'd fought alongside for nearly five years at this point. This was the young man she had refused to notice because of a certain other man in her life, but after some fateful words she'd unintentionally overheard him say to another classmate about her being his "good friend," she started to drift from him.

As the years continued, she began to realize that she had placed him on a pedestal of perfection, and yet, as she became a better friend to him, she realized he wasn't perfect. He was immature at times, probably due to his sheltered lifestyle. He sometimes had a weird sense of humor that reminded her a lot of Chat Noir's due to the occasional drop of puns on his part. He was overwhelmed by everything his father expected him, and it showed occasionally as he would fight his way to enjoy a movie date amongst their group circle or real chance at a birthday party. He wasn't perfect, and she realized that she liked that about him because it made her realize that she hadn't been in love with him in a healthy way but in a crush that leveled on fantasies she'd imagined and stalkerish behavior. She realized that she did still like him; after all, her heart would never misunderstand the feeling she felt that day in the rain when he offered her his umbrella. However, maybe it wasn't enough to warrant her potentially ruining an opportunity of an incredible friendship to force her feelings upon him. So she lowered his god-like image off her pedestal, taking down the photos from her wall and the schedule from her presentation board, and in its place, she placed the lucky charm bracelet he gave her from her birthday almost four years ago next to a photo of him with Alya, Nino, and her. Why? Because that was the real Adrien, not her fallacy.

So, as the years continued, she couldn't help but like Adrien for the traits she'd fallen for in the first place, but in the moments she then realized she'd shared with Chat Noir, she encompassed a much deeper love, a genuine love, not just an attraction or crush. So she told him that she loved him, told him that she never wanted to lose him, told him that she wanted all of him, and in turn he reciprocated, giving her all of himself, short of a glimpse at his unmasked face.

They kissed and embraced and toppled around the bed like the couple of love-struck teenagers they were, and they made love.

After their afterglow, they slowly, hesitantly removed themselves from each other's arms, restored their clothes to their original places, made sure their kwamis had finished their snacks and transformed back. They kissed one last time and parted ways into the night.