Author's Notes:

Holy Celestia, you people.

The "Complete" tag means nothing to you, does it?

Nearly every review wanted more of this. Good grief...

Well...okay. Just a little more.

Enjoy!

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG: "FAILED A SPOTS CHECK"

by Mythril Moth

Epilogue

At one in the morning, Adrien's eyes shot open, glittering in the darkness. "That's IT!" he exclaimed.

Plagg rolled over and yawned, opening one eye sleepily. "What the cheese are you yelling about at this time of night?" he grumbled.

Adrien clambered out of bed, turning on the lights with his phone, and started pacing. "I know who she is," he said distractedly.

"Good for you," Plagg muttered before turning over and going back to sleep.

Adrien paid him no attention. "All night long I've been thinking back over every battle we've fought together," he rambled. "Things Ladybug's said, places she's shown up..." He woke up all his computer screens, looking over the various videos and images of Ladybug, moving strings on his virtual string theory board. "She's known the name of everyone in our class. She was there when Mylène turned into that slime monster, but how? The school was sealed off and the only ones there were our class and Director Damocles. And what was she doing at Le Grand Paris when Cheng Sifu got turned into Kung Food? She had to have already been there because the entire building was covered in caramel, she couldn't have gotten in from the outside." He started pacing again. "And it would explain why she hates Chloé so much..."

"Everybody hates Chloé," Plagg said; he'd given up on sleep and was now watching Adrien with mild interest.

"Well...okay, that's a good point, but there's one person who hates her more than anybody else." With a few swipes, half the tiles featuring Ladybug were gone, replaced by a single, clear image of her, next to a photo from the school blog.

Adrien smiled. "Yeah. It's her." He shook his head. "It's so obvious..."

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Great, now can we go back to sleep?"

Adrien paid him no attention. He was too busy staring dreamily at a picture of a girl he saw almost every day.

After breakfast, Nathalie reviewed Adrien's schedule. "You have no photo shoots today, but Monsieur Agreste has requested extra lessons in—"

"I'm not interested in what Father wants me to do today," Adrien said. "I'm doing what I want to do today."

Nathalie blinked, frowning. She hurriedly tapped her tablet several times, then walked up to Adrien and turned it to face him. His father was on the screen, face stern and forbidding.

"Adrien, you will do as you are instructed."

"No, Father. I'm on holiday, like every other teenager in Paris. You plan and schedule and order and micromanage my life until I barely have time to do anything I want to do. I have something I need to do today that's important to me, and I'm going to do it. Because this is my life, and my life isn't about you and your wishes."

It felt good to say that. Liberating. Empowering.

It was only after the fact that he realized he'd probably just sentenced himself to being locked up in his father's cold, joyless house again, cut off from all his friends. Cut off from her.

Gabriel Agreste pressed his lips together. Adrien's gaze never left his father's image on the tablet.

"Nathalie. Clear Adrien's schedule for the rest of the week except for the two photo shoots on Friday."

Nathalie blinked. "Y-yes sir," she said numbly.

Adrien sighed. "Thank you, Father."

Gabriel's image vanished abruptly. Nathalie turned her tablet around and began hurriedly sending out messages to cancel various tutors. "Will you...be needing a driver?" she asked.

Adrien stood, wiping his mouth. "No thanks," he said. He paused, then said, "Actually...yes, I believe I would like to be dropped off somewhere. I'll either make my own way home or call when I'm ready to be picked up later."

Nathalie nodded and walked away, her heels clicking.

The car stopped in front of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie, within walking distance of Collège Françoise Dupont. Adrien waved the driver off, then looked up at the building, a dreamy smile on his face. His nerves were jangling and his heart was racing.

He stepped through the door.

Sabine Cheng looked up from where she was assisting a customer and smiled brightly at him. "Good morning, Adrien!" she said cheerfully.

"Good morning," Adrien replied. "Is...is Marinette home?"

Sabine's eyes twinkled. "She's up in her room, working on one of her projects," she said.

Tom Dupain walked in from the back with a tray of croissants. "Ah, good morning, Adrien!" he called jovially. "It's been a while since we've seen you!"

Adrien laughed. "I thought I'd drop by and visit Marinette," he said.

Tom grinned. "Oh, she'll be delighted to see you!" He quickly assembled a plate of cookies and croissants. "Here, go ahead and take some food up with you, that way we can leave you two kids alone for a while."

Adrien blushed. "A-alright." He accepted the food gratefully, then went through the back and up the stairs, his pulse pounding as the trap door leading to Marinette's room drew nearer. On the last step, he took a deep, steadying breath, then knocked on the trap door.

"Yes?"

Adrien pushed the door open slightly. He could see Marinette sitting at her desk, her legs folded underneath her in her computer chair and her brow furrowed in concentration. He took a moment to gaze at her, taking in her striking beauty, before pushing the trap door all the way open and climbing the rest of the way up. Marinette looked up from her project and let out a startled squeak, her brilliant blue eyes widening. "GWAH! A-Adrien?!"

He waved, smiling. "Bonjour, Marinette!"

"Ah...ah...ah...ah..." Marinette looked wildly around the room; Adrien followed her eyes and felt a blush rise in his cheeks.

There were pictures of him everywhere.

His mind, heart, and nerves racing on hormone-fueled adrenaline, he rapidly finished assembling the last pieces of the puzzle he'd begun putting together the night before.

Marinette was always nervous around him. She stuttered. She mixed up her words. She became clumsier and more disaster-prone than usual.

*She has a crush on me.*

Adrien smiled as he set down the plate of snacks on the desk. "Well, this is quite a little shrine," he joked.

Marinette ducked her head. "I am so embarrassed," she moaned.

"Don't be," Adrien said. "This is nothing compared to my Ladybug shrine." He grabbed the other chair and wheeled it over, sitting down next to Marinette and examining her project with interest. "You're making a new purse?"

"Ah...yes!" Marinette fumbled a bit as she turned back to her purse. "I need one with a bit more room, but one that isn't much bigger than my old purse. I'm trying to make it as roomy on the inside as I can without making it a big bulky bag. I don't like big bulky purses."

Adrien examined the purse. "It's nice," he said. "I like this little pocket here. That's fleece lining, right?"

"Y-yes."

Adrien smiled. "I'm sure Tikki will be very comfortable in there."

"I hope so," Marinette said without thinking. "That's the main reason I'm making this—" She trailed off, eyes wide, and turned slowly to Adrien, her mouth open in shock.

Adrien's smile widened. "Bonjour, Ladybug," he said softly.

Tikki floated out of a drawer. "PLAGG! What did you do?"

Plagg flew out of Adrien's jacket. "Don't blame this on me," he said. "You slipped up and gave Adrien hints."

Tikki blinked. "What? I didn't—"

Adrien turned to look at Tikki. "You knew too much about me," he said. "It made me realize Ladybug had to be somebody close to me." His eyes turned slightly sad. "There aren't that many people who are really that close to me." With a sigh, he looked at Marinette. "After that, it wasn't hard to figure out. I mean, I only know one girl who could possibly be My Lady." He took her hand and gently kissed it.

Marinette's face turned scarlet. "Y-you're Chat Noir," she said numbly. "I've been in love with you for months and you're Chat Noir."

Tikki giggled. "You have to admit it's pretty funny," she said.

Adrien looked around the room again. "Well," he said slowly, "I get the feeling I might actually have a shot at winning your heart after all." His eyes twinkled as they locked on Marinette's. "At least...I hope so." He clasped her hand between both of his and leaned forward. "You know, I've been in love with you ever since our first battle together," he said. "I've wondered just who Ladybug was behind the mask. What you do in your spare time, what you like and don't like, if you have a boyfriend...I've thought about you every day and every night for the longest time. And all the while, you were right there in front of me. My friend, the pretty and talented Marinette..." He reached up and brushed a finger through her hair. "And you know what?"

"Wh-what?" Marinette asked shakily.

Adrien leaned closer and whispered, "Now that I know who you are...I think I love you even more."

Marinette let out a strangled little squeak as every muscle in her body decided to turn to jelly. Adrien gently caught her by the shoulders and propped her up.

"I think you broke her," Tikki said with a smile. "Plagg, maybe you should transform him. I don't think Marinette can deal with this without the mask right now."

Marinette suddenly shot bolt upright. "Wait, wait, wait," she said. "Adrien...is Chat Noir." She looked into Adrien's eyes, her own narrowed in thought. Adrien could see the intelligent mind of Ladybug working feverishly behind those bright blue irises. "But wait, what...no...and..." He could see the pieces start to fall into place, just as they had for him. Marinette shook her head. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Oh my god."

"Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?" Adrien asked, laughing. "All the little clues, all the little signs. Both of us totally missed so many things..."

Marinette covered her face with her hands. "Alya photoshopped Chat Noir's costume onto a picture of you one time and I laughed at her. Laughed. Told her it was stupid to suggest you could possibly be..."

Adrien affected a look of mock indignation. "What, you don't think I'm heroic and capable enough to be a superhero?"

"No, I couldn't picture you as being that corny or obnoxious," Marinette said with a shaky giggle.

"I told you so!" Tikki laughed.

Adrien smirked. "Well, you're exactly as snarky and temperamental as Marinette as you are as Ladybug," he said, "and that's one of the many things I love about you."

Marinette ducked her head. "Adrien..."

Adrien cupped her chin in his hand and leaned close. "Call me the name only you call me," he said.

Marinette looked into his eyes, her cheeks flushed, and saw the longing there. She filled in the black mask, the wild hair, and the ears. The playful admiration that so often graced that same beautiful face, a face she now realized belonged to the two most important boys in her life. Because they were one and the same.

"Chaton," she whispered.

And then he kissed her.

FIN.

Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Zagtoon, Method Animation, Toei Animation, and Thomas ASTRUC. This intellectual property is used without permission with no intent to profit from said use. The unique content contained on this page is the property of Mythril Moth, and redistribution of this content without express permission is strongly discouraged.