A/N: Final chapter! I ended up adding a section for Max's reaction (since I hadn't had one before) and it ended up a little longer than planned, whoops.

Also, in case anyone managed to miss it in previous chapters/has since forgotten (since I've gotten some reviews that were along that thread): yes, Hawkmoth was defeated. Details were in an earlier author's note.

Nino glanced down automatically as his phone buzzed. Setting his fork down, he pulled his phone out and checked his messages.

Normally he would just ignore it when he was out on a date with his girlfriend- normally his phone would be turned to silent, so he wouldn't even notice any messages until afterwards- but tonight was different.

Tonight, Adrien was going in for another attempt to find his soulmate. It was his best-bro duty for Nino to be on call in case Adrien struck out again.

Adrien: I sang.

Nino grinned, he couldn't help it. He looked up at Alya in excitement. "His soulmate is there! Adrien sang!"

Oh my gosh! What did he say?" Ever eager, Alya was out of her seat in a moment and at Nino's side, peering over his shoulder at his phone. After a moment, she sighed loudly. "Really? That's all he said about it? Come on. I want the deets!"

Nino checked his watch. "Well, he probably hasn't gotten to talk to her yet. It's intermission right now. The most he'll know is that she's there, which character she is, and maybe her name from the program."

"Still! I want to know everything." Pouting just a little, Alya headed back to her seat while Nino typed out an excited reply. "D'you think we can invite the two of them over once the play is over? I want to meet her right away!"

Once he tucked his phone away again, Nino grinned at her. "It might be a bit late by then. I'm sure she'll be exhausted, and she and Adrien might want to have some time to get to know each other before you come in and interrogate her."

"Oh, I suppose." Alya let out a long sigh as their waitress appeared with their meals. She thanked her, then turned back to Nino, clearly too excited to eat. "This is great! D'you think that Marinette knows Adrien's soulmate? Maybe we can interrogate her after the show is over."

Nino smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Oh! Oh, my god, I'm such an idiot. It totally slipped my mind that Marinette works in the theater at her university! We could have asked her to slip Adrien in backstage ages ago." If he had thought of it, then maybe Adrien wouldn't have had any problems this semester with his in-person classes.

Ah, well. What was done was done, and now Adrien had his soulmate.

For the rest of dinner, Nino kept pouncing on his phone whenever it chimed. None of the messages were from Adrien, though, so Nino just grumbled and set his phone back down each time.

And then, just after the waitress swung by with the bill, Adrien texted again. Nino quickly finished adding a tip to their bill, placing his credit card down on top of it, and then snatched up his phone.

Adrien: Nobody told me that Marinette worked in this theater!

Nino winced. "Oh, Adrien's soulmate and Marinette must know each other," he told Alya. He paused. "Hang on, if Marinette knew about Adrien's soulmate bond, and she apparently knows his soulmate well enough for him to find out pretty much right away- why didn't she mention it earlier? Surely his soulmate would have mentioned something!"

"Did Marinette know about Adrien's bond?" Alya asked. She stood up, slipping her coat on. "Did Adrien ever sing when she was there? She's been so busy with her job pretty much since when he started having problems, it's possible that she heard about it once and just forgot or something. It's not like Adrien liked talking about it or anything. He's been avoiding the topic as much as he can recently."

"Oh, maybe." Nino considered his phone for a moment, then typed out a quick response.

Nino: does Mari know your soulmate? That's so cool!

Nino: or wait did you two just run into each other backstage?

"I can't believe that Adrien didn't know that she was working there, though," Alya said. "I mean, we've discussed Marinette's job before, right? About her making costumes and how she's totally wasting her talent there?"

All Nino could do was shrug. "I mean, maybe we mentioned it once. But with Adrien, sometimes it feels like things go in one ear and out the other. Not that I blame him, since he has a lot going on and all, but..."

His phone let out a series of chimes, and Nino quickly swiped to read his messages. As soon as he did, though, he let out a barking laugh that made everyone nearby turn to look at them. Alya scrambled Nino's side.

"What? What is it?"

Still chuckling, Nino tilted the screen so that his girlfriend could read it. Adrien's messages shone on the screen.

Adrien: actually

Adrien: uh

Adrien: funny story really

Adrien: so it turns out that Marinette is my soulmate

Adrien: not sure how we missed that honestly

Adrien: Surprise?

"Oh my god those idiots," Alya groaned, slapping her forehead. "How did they miss that? How did we miss that? Adrien's been singing songs from musicals and Marinette has been working around mostly musicals. I've heard her humming a million times. Well, a couple, at least. I've never heard her sing, though."

"We'll have to tease them forever about this," Nino said with a laugh. "Absolute idiots. At least Marinette won't be feeling left out as the only one in our group without a soulmate."

"They'll be so cute together." Alya was grinning, already clearly picturing their friends together in her head. "And they'll be hopeless for at least a few months. Adrien is such a romantic and so is Marinette."

Nino nodded in agreement. "They'll be glued together at the hip, I'll bet," he said. "And Adrien already had a crush on her, I'm sure."

Alya let out a dreamy sigh. "Could they get any cuter? I think not."

Max was partway through arranging a video game tournament when his phone buzzed. He gave it a cursory glance, and then did a double-take when he saw Adrien's name. He reached for it immediately, checking the time as he did.

Huh. It was pretty early yet, so surely they had only gotten as far as the intermission. If his newest theory was correct- that it was a stagehand that was Adrien's soulmate, not a performer- then Adrien wouldn't have had a chance to meet them yet. Perhaps he was just texting Max to keep him in the loop, or because he was anxious and in need of a distraction.

Except that wasn't the case. Adrien had sung this time.

Max frowned, properly turning away from his tournament notes to pull up the notes and spreadsheets that he had made based on the data they had about Adrien's soulmate. Adrien hadn't sent any further details, which was puzzling. Nothing about which character his soulmate was playing, or a name, or anything. He was probably a bit distracted, of course, so that oversight was forgivable.

It was hard to turn back to his work, but Max forced himself to not bombard Adrien with questions. He was sensitive to the fact that discovering one's soulmate was a big deal, and his curiosity could wait.

The wait until Adrien's next text felt like an eternity. When it came, Max snatched up his phone again. This time, Adrien had sent a photo. It was a selfie with Adrien and another very familiar face- their old collège and lycée classmate Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Max glanced down at the caption.

Adrien: So guess who apparently works backstage?

Max's eyes practically popped out of his head. Marinette? Then he shook his head.

No, no, Adrien couldn't possibly mean what Max thought he meant. To the best of Max's knowledge, Marinette regularly met up with Alya, Nino, and Adrien. If she were his soulmate, then they would have known ages ago. Adrien must have just not realized where she worked, and then had a lovely surprise of another person who could show him around backstage and help him find his soulmate. That would be nice for him to have a friend there, since to the best of Max's knowledge, neither Alya nor Nino had been able to accompany Adrien to the musical. It hadn't been ideal, not with Adrien as nervous as he had been, but it couldn't be helped.

There were no further texts, and Max went back to his work. Adrien had no doubt found his soulmate, and they would be getting to know each other now. Max made a mental note to text Adrien before the end of the week- perhaps they could meet up and he would get to meet Adrien's new soulmate.

But for the rest of the evening, he could bask in the glory of another problem solved using logic and deduction.

The next morning, Max was picking up a coffee on campus before his first class when he ran into Nino. He lifted a hand in greeting, and Nino grinned and hurried across the small shop to join him.

"I assume that Adrien found his soulmate last night?" Max said as soon as Nino was within earshot. His words were met with a burst of laughter and he frowned. "…did I miss something?"

"Did Adrien not tell you everything?" Nino asked, still grinning. "Oh man. What did he tell you?"

"He sent a picture. Apparently he ran into Marinette backstage." Which, now that he had had a night to think about it, Max was exasperated that he hadn't known that little tidbit of information beforehand. With a connection on staff, it could have been so easy to have Adrien go in with Marinette one afternoon and just find his soulmate then during rehersals, without the need for special seating arrangements. "It would have been nice to know that she worked there."

Nino laughed. "It slipped all of our minds, honestly. Like, I realized after Adrien sent that message that oh, yeah, that is where Marinette works. But yeah, she wasn't just a backstage guide last night. It turns out that Marinette is Adrien's soulmate."

Max's brain almost short-circuited as he took in this new information. He had never, ever taken into consideration the possibility that Adrien's soulmate might be someone that he already knew, since he had assumed that Adrien would have talked about it enough to eliminate that possibility. Looking back, that was a mistake. Adrien had a history of not sharing his problems with others, even people who were close to him. All it would take was an avoidance of talking about the problem and an assumption that Adrien knew where Marinette worked, and both Adrien and Marinette would continue their lives, completely oblivious.

He had thought that he had taken all variables into account when making his plan to minimize the amount of time it would take to find Adrien's soulmate. That was twice that he had been proved wrong, now- first with the assumption that the soulmate was a performer, and now with the assumption that the soulmate must be a stranger.

Max did not like being wrong. It was frustrating to find out that there were still holes in his logic and assumptions.

"They've sent me a couple pictures, and I can tell that they'll be sickeningly sweet already," Nino continued. "All cuddly and everything. And they're both super happy, Alya and I talked to them a little bit last night after the show. I think we were all kicking ourselves for not communicating a little better, 'cause if we had, this all would have been wrapped up ages ago. But we didn't, so they're super-glad for your help because otherwise Adrien would have been wandering around like a sad lost duckling for another couple of years."

Faced with this deluge of words, all Max could think to say was "Of course."

"He's already texting me asking for date ideas because he turns into a pile of helpless mush when confronted by a crush, so I wouldn't be surprised if he texts you, too," Nino continued. "Seriously, just remind him that he knows Marinette. It won't help, probably, but he'll get himself straightened out eventually."

"Right," Max managed. He glanced at the clock on the wall and jumped when he saw the time. He was going to be running behind on his carefully crafted schedule if he stayed for much longer. "Ah, I think I have to go. I have class soon. Thanks for updating me."

"No problem! Have a good day, Max!"

Max waved good-bye to Nino and then headed out of the café and down the street towards his class building, where his Statistics class awaited. He couldn't help but look forward to it even more than usual after the rest of the morning.

After all, numbers were much easier to work with than humans. There weren't so many dratted variables that popped up out of nowhere to disrupt his carefully made calculations.

Chat Noir was practically bouncing as he ran to his and Ladybug's meeting spot, dancing along the rooftops between steps.

He had found his soulmate, after years and years of thinking that he didn't have one and over a year of the most frustrating bond known to mankind, and she was amazing. He and Marinette had already gone on one date- they had gone out together for lunch, since Marinette was busy at the theater in the evenings- and he had met her parents and been welcomed to the family. They got on spectacularly even without their friends there to keep the conversation going, and just before he left for patrol they had just scheduled another date for after the last of the Sound of Music shows.

(Adrien had attended every last one of the shows, sitting up in the light booth with Jason except for the sing-along show, when he got to sit in the crowd. He wanted to support Marinette, who had to fill in for the sick actress for the rest of the run of the show. Since they had yet to kiss, mostly because they wanted to take things slow, they both had to make sure to be careful with the timing of their singing for now.)

He hadn't told his father yet, partly out of respect for Marinette's busy schedule and partly because he was putting it off because Mr. Agreste was bound to be a downer on their excitement at finding each other. But they had told all of their friends, and several of Adrien's classmates, and then the entire cast at the theater, and everyone told them that they were already adorable together.

Life was great. Adrien was floating.

Even with his head in the clouds, Chat Noir didn't miss the fact that his partner was in an equally good mood when she arrived. A huge grin was on her face, and clearly it wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon.

"Hey, Bug," Chat Noir greeted, scooping Ladybug up and spinning her around once. "You're cheerful tonight."

"So are you." Ladybug was practically glowing as she grinned up at him. "But yeah, I found out just earlier this week that I have a soulmate- I had thought that I hadn't before, so it was really just-!" She clasped her hands together, absolutely lighting up as she did. "And they're one of my best friends, and we just scheduled our second date, and I'm so happy I could sing!- but I won't, because my boyfriend said he had something going on tonight, and I don't want to bother him."

Chat Noir frowned slightly, briefly sidetracked. It was fantastic that Ladybug had found her soulmate- he knew from experience how much it sucked to want a soulmate and think that he didn't have one- but that last comment was odd, and something about it niggled at him, like he should pay attention to it. "Uh. If you don't mind me asking- what does singing have to do with your soulmate being busy?"

Ladybug beamed. "Oh, it's because of our bond! It's a really strange one- it's a musical bond, so he has to sing when I do. And I've already gotten him into so much trouble accidentally, before I knew about the bond, so I don't want to slip up again. He didn't say what he was doing, but I'm assuming that if he was telling me about it, then he wouldn't want to get forced into singing-"

She kept talking, but Chat Noir had checked out slightly, staring at his partner. He had been amused by the coincidence that he and Ladybug had managed to find their soulmates in the same week- within days of each other, even- but some things were starting to sound a little too similar to be entirely coincidental.

Not to mention the fact that Ladybug also had black hair and blue eyes and a creative streak a mile wide, like someone else he knew.

"Ladybug?" Chat Noir started tentatively, once she was done talking. Her eyes snapped to him. "Uh, so, funny coincidence- I just found my soulmate a few days ago after searching for ages. We just set up our second date before I came out. And, uh, it was a musical bond, too." An impish grin slid onto his face. "You could say that I found her through the sound of music."

The way her eyes widened left no doubt in Chat Noir's mind. Ladybug was Marinette, his soulmate. His amazing, incredible soulmate.

"Adrien?" Ladybug whispered, stepping closer to him. Her eyes were wide as she took him in, her fingers reaching for his hair and brushing it across his forehead, pushing his bangs into his normal style.

Chat Noir's grin was practically splitting his cheeks. "Hey, Marinette."

"Oh my god."

His laugh this time was loud and free. "Oh my god, we're blind. I didn't think we could get more oblivious than the whole soulmate thing, and yet we somehow managed it."

"There was magic interfering," Ladybug managed, overtaken by giggles in front of him. She stepped forward into his arms, still giggling as she wound her arms around his shoulders. "Otherwise we would have been found out by everyone ages ago. Alya would have figured me out within a week."

"My father would have figured me out within a month, and what a disaster that would have been." Chat Noir hugged Ladybug, pressing a kiss to her crown. She immediately wriggled around in his arms to press a returning kiss to his cheek and he grinned.

He and Marinette had been getting a bit more tactile with each other as they hung out more after performances and during the day between classes, but he and Ladybug already often hung out sprawled out all over each other. If their friends thought that they were cuddly before- well, Chat Noir had a sneaking suspicion that they hadn't seen anything yet.

"I can't believe we've been so close for so long," Chat Noir said after a few minutes. He kissed the top of Ladybug's head again. "And I can't believe it took so long for our bond to develop. Like, if you compare how long Nino and Alya have known about each other..."

"Tikki told me that being active fighters sort of repressed the bond developing," Ladybug told him, and Chat Noir blinked in surprise. Plagg had never told him that, even though he had asked the little kwami if the Miraculous was affecting the bond loads of times. Someone was going to have to forgo their favorite cheese tonight for that little stunt. "Apparently once the bond is there and we find each other as civilians, we would be able to see past the Miraculous magic."

"Oh! So it's no coincidence, then, that we figured each other out tonight." He grinned. "I did wonder. We've shared enough about our lives ever since we defeated Hawkmoth and Mayura that we should have at least gotten suspicious before tonight."

"Yeah, we can blame that all on the kwamis." Ladybug shifted in his arms, and Chat Noir didn't hesitate to sit down on a nearby chimney, pulling Ladybug into his lap as he did so that they could see each other. "I'm glad you found me, though. I'm glad you're my soulmate."

Chat Noir smiled down at her, soft and loving. "I'm glad, too."

And as Ladybug pulled him into a kiss, Chat Noir knew that there was nowhere that he would rather be.

Fin.