A/N: Thanks so much for all the comments and continued kudos, they give me life! I'm really sorry for the delay both in responding to comments and in updating, but real life has been a bummer. I tried to put a lot of cute in this finale, so hopefully that will assuage you.

P.S. Does it count as an early xmas present now? Enjoy, Shiloa

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"Bye bye, little butterfly," Ladybug sung as she released the purified Akuma into the park.

Adrien watched, baton still in hand, as the butterfly flew up over the trees of the park.

Ladybug threw the broken phone charm into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

A swarm of magic ladybugs fixed the bridge, the lamp posts, and the phone charm, which reappeared in the little boy's hand as he returned to normal.

"Wha? Huh?" cried the boy, kneeling on the pavement. His dad rushed over to him.

Ladybug turned to Adrien, fist out-stretched. "Bien joué!" Her face fell when he didn't reciprocate. "Chat?"

"Um. Sorry." He held out his fist as an after-thought, but she let it hang.

"I guess it was your turn to be distracted today," she said. "What's up?"

What's up. Like their fight last time hadn't even been a thing.

He collapsed his baton and stowed it behind his back. "Can I talk to you, uh, later?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Later?"

"I know we have to transform back now," – his ring gave a warning beep – "but maybe we could meet up later tonight somewhere? Still in our suits, just, without the Akuma battle."

She frowned. "Is this about last time?"

Adrien winced. "A little. But not about you, exactly," he assured her. "More about me. I just...need to tell you something. Not my identity! Just..." Darn it. Hadn't he rehearsed this?

Now Ladybug looked worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He went for a smile. "I just wanted to talk to you."

She put a hand on her hip, searching his face. Then her lips quirked upwards. "This isn't an excuse for more of your flirting, is it?" she asked, with a huge roll of her eyes.

"No, no," Adrien tried to laugh, his stomach dropping. His ring beeped again. "It's important, I promise."

Her smile softened. "Alright," she said. Her hand brushed his arm. "How does tonight at ten sound?"

And so five hours later, Adrien transformed and made his way to the roof of Le Grand Paris, a small bag slung over his shoulder.

He found Ladybug leaning against the railing, well away from the pool, looking out over Paris.

"Hey," he said, to let her know he'd arrived.

She turned to him, expression curious. "Hey. So what's this all about?"

"Um," he started, looking down. "Uh, first –" he opened his bag and clasped his clawed hand around a thermos, which he held out towards her. "Here!"

She took it, eyes wide. "What's this?"

"Tea!"

She stared at him.

"Um, sorry. I heard tea was good for when people are feeling down. I don't know if you even like tea, but...it's warm." He smiled at her, and it probably only wobbled a little.

"I, uh." Was she blushing? "I do like tea, actually. Thank you. But I, um. I'm actually feeling better than I was last time we met, so please don't worry about it." She took a sip of the tea anyway, and perked up. "This is good though."

"Oh. Good. I'm, uh." What were his hands doing? "Glad you like it."

She nodded, but then pursed her lips. "I thought...this wasn't about me."

"I – uh. Guess it sort of is? I just needed to say something, and I guess it's kind of about you, but –" Cool it, bro, he told himself, and it sounded like Nino. "Look," he started again. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I just wanted to apologize for upsetting you, the other day. And to say...I'm here for you. If you, um, need me. And if you don't, well," he went for a nonchalant shrug. "That's okay too."

Ladybug raised her eyebrows. "That's quite a change of tactics."

"I know." He sighed and rubbed his neck. "But if I'm honest, you're not the only one who's more confident with the mask on. I get it. So I don't want to push you." He looked at her. Her eyebrows were still raised, but she didn't look mad. He looked away again. "But I did want to tell you something about my regular life." Her face hardened, and he added, "No specifics! I just – it's important to me."

Her eyes flicked across his face for a few seconds, and then she relaxed. "Okay then."

"Uh, right. Okay." He took a deep breath. "Recently...a friend encouraged me to do something that I really wanted to do, and – it's good. It feels, great, to try something, to be someone that I like, without the mask on. I'm, uh, bad at that. Usually. I always feel like I'm getting it wrong. So...I guess I wanted to say that it's okay if you want to keep your regular self and Ladybug separate, but. It's okay to give yourself a chance, too. Just because you can't do back-flips without your superpowers, doesn't mean you can't do anything. It doesn't have to be perfect, if it's something you want to do."

Ladybug looked away for a moment, then sipped her tea. "I guess I can make muffins, sort of."

Adrien's cat ears twitched. "What?"

Ladybug smiled at him. "That's actually why I was so short with you last time. I'm sorry. I was trying to do something on my own as, you know, the regular me, and it wasn't going well, but..." she shrugged. "I got there in the end. And it didn't save Paris, or anything..."

He grinned. "But you still felt proud of yourself?"

She grinned back. "Yeah." Then she titled her head. "You really want to be friends in normal life?"

Adrien jolted upright, heart hammering. "Only if you're offering."

"Why?"

"Why do I want to know you without the mask on?"

She nodded.

"I just really like –" his courage failed him, "spending time with you. And it would be really nice to do that without being in the middle of a battle."

She rubbed her chin, smirking. "It does make conversation rather difficult."

Adrien wasn't breathing. "Right."

Ladybug let out a puff of air. "Alright then."

And now his pulse was racing. "What? Really?"

She laughed. "Down, kitty. Yes, really."

"I just – really?"

"Yes. I could use a friend like you in my day-to-day life."

Adrien's smile was sudden and wide. "A friend who's charming? Hilarious? Gorgeous?"

Ladybug was smiling, too, but she rolled her eyes. "Dependable. And it's actually nice, talking about this sort of stuff. If we're going to have complicated double-identities, we should probably stick together."

He beamed at her. "I couldn't agree more."

She put her hands on her hips. "Well, then." She paused, eyes wide. "Oh, gosh. How to do this?"

Adrien shrugged. "Count to three?"

"No, I mean, just, give me a second." Ladybug clenched her eyes shut, took a couple of deep breaths. "Okay. Okay. Spots off."

Her suit melted away, first revealing her feat, then torso, face –

Adrien's jaw dropped.

"Uh," Marinette fidgeted. "Hi."

"Marinette?" he choked.

Her hands were back on her hips. "You're supposed to transform, too!"

"Sorry! Plagg, claws in. Sorry," he repeated as he was slowly unmasked, too. "You just surprised me."

Now her jaw dropped. "Adrien?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Surprise?"

"I –" she gaped, opening and closing her mouth. "But – you – how – we – but you – how?"

He chuckled, but it got stuck in his throat. "Good summary."

"No way," she breathed.

Adrien's chest felt heavy again. "I guess it is pretty unexpected..."

Marinette's face did a crumply thing.

"No, I mean! I mean not you, actually." Mysterious absences, standing up to Chloé, giving good advice... "Actually, for you," his voice cracked, "it makes a lot of sense."

Her eyes widened. "It does?"

"Well, like I said," Adrien blushed and looked down at his feet. "A good leader, really talented –"

"B-b-but." Marinette's arms flailed.

He laughed. "Yeah, the stuttering does throw me off a little. I never would have guessed! But, I mean, it's not like I act the same way in class –"

"With the flirting!" She pointed at him. "You never flirt! And the – without your stupid swagger! And," her eyes got even wider. "The puns."

Adrien shrugged, rubbing his neck again. "Yeah."

The wind whistled as they just stared at each other.

Then Marinette smirked, and it was almost like Ladybug smirking. "So kind, considerate Adrien, who doesn't even like to sign autographs, secretly likes showing off."

"Hey!" Adrien protested. "The puns aren't because I'm trying to show off! I actually," his blush returned, "just really, really like puns."

She raised an eyebrow, grin widening.

"You told me not to care what other people think! Well," he spread his arms out, grinning as well. "I like puns. Deal with it."

Marinette groaned. "I guess I'm going to have to, now that the cat's out of the bag."

Cat's –

Holycrap –

"Yes!" Adrien punched the air. "Yes, you did. Best day of my life!"

Her smile lit up the night sky.

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"You know she stares at you during class."

"Plagg!" Adrien whipped his head around, but there was no one else in the locker room. "You are supposed to be hiding in class! Not spying on La – rinette," he spluttered.

"Smooth," his kwami quipped, lounging on a sweater in Adrien's locker. "You know she's always stared at you during class, right?"

"I – what?" Adrien's heart thumped. "Really? Why?"

"Hey, I just tell it like I see it. You wanna know why, maybe you should ask the lady."

"But –"

"Or you could just confess your love to her. You know, like you were planning on doing months ago."

Adrien felt himself turning crimson. "I –"

"Now that you know who she is, it should be easy, right?" Plagg floated up to hover in front of Adrien's face. "Or does having the mystery solved take all the romance out of it for you?"

"You –" Adrien made a grab for him, but Plagg zoomed out of reach and out of sight. "Hey –"

"Adrien?" called a different voice.

Adrien spun around and froze. "Hey, Nino."

Nino walked over to him. "Hey, man. What are you doing? Lunch has started."

"I'm," Adrien gestured, "um..."

Nino leaned against the row of lockers. "Talking to yourself in the locker room?"

Adrien rubbed his neck. "Kind of."

"You know, dude, this is really getting out of hand."

"What?" Crap, Nino had noticed! Okay so maybe Adrien wasn't as careful talking to Plagg as he should be but it's not like Plagg made it any easier –

"Your not-crush on Marinette. You've been staring at her all week, and now you're berating yourself out loud in empty rooms." Nino shook his head, smiling. "It's not healthy."

Oh. Well that was fine, then. Adrien paused, then closed his locker and leaned against it. "Okay, so...what would be healthy?"

Nino punched his arm. "Just ask her out! Like I said. It's not rocket science."

Adrien glared at him. "I seem to recall that when our positions were reversed, you weren't quite so blazé."

Nino held up his hands. "Okay, okay, fair. But who was the one telling me to just go for it?" He met Adrien's eyes.

Adrien sighed and hung his head. "I know," he groaned. "But it's not that simple this time."

Nino raised an eyebrow. "Because..."

"Because we're friends!" Adrien looked up at the ceiling. "I don't want to mess up what we have if she doesn't like me back."

"Who says she doesn't like you back?"

"Well, I mean..." She herself. All the time. "Who says she does? I just don't want to pressure her. What if she doesn't want that kind of attention?"

"So, what, are you gonna start acting like Chloé does with you?"

"Wha –" Adrien spluttered. "Of course not!"

"Then you're fine." Nino pulled Adrien forward and slung an arm around his shoulders. "She knows you'll respect her decision."

Well. She had said she trusted him, so maybe that was true.

Nino thumped Adrien's back. "But don't worry so much, okay? I actually legit think she's into you."

Adrien's pulse spiked. "Really?" He looked at Nino, brow furrowed. "How would you know?"

Nino smiled. "Of the two of us, who's the one who's actually dating?"

Adrien started to shake his head, but wait hold on – "How did you ask out Alya?" And why had he never thought to ask for this crucially important piece of information before?

"Well..." Nino thought. "We were just hangin' out, you know, stuck in that cage, and laughing about something, and I was like, 'hey do you wanna go out for a bite after we get out of here?' and she was like, 'it's a date'. I thought it would be really hard, but she just sort of makes me feel at ease."

Well that was useless. There was nothing about Marinette that made Adrien feel at ease. Well, not since he'd discovered she was Ladybug –

Wait.

"So, just talk to her like I usually do, and then just, sort of –"

"Ask her, yep." Nino smiled and held out his hand for a fist-bump. "You're gonna be fine, bro."

Adrien bumped his hand. "Thanks, Nino."

"No problem. Now come on," he jerked his thumb towards the door. "Let's eat."

So, Adrien thought, after they'd finished lunch and were heading back to class. How to do this?

Let her set the terms, Marinette had said. So, a proper love confession. Like you were planning on doing months ago, Plagg had said, and how was he the one with the answer?

What had Adrien done with that love poem he'd written?

No, that was stupid. He just had to say it. I don't need poetry, he'd said himself. I'll just tell her.

Hey, Marinette, I need to tell you something, he thought in math class that afternoon.

So, I really like you, and if you want to, would you date me? But you don't have to, of course, he thought in P.E.

So I just wanted to tell you that I'm in love with you, he thought in literature class, but enough about me, how are you?

I'm doomed, he thought as the bell rang and everyone filed out into the hallway.

It was so overwhelming that he didn't realize he wasn't looking where he was going until he bumped into –

"Marinette! Uh, sorry!"

She smiled, adjusting her purse. "That's okay. Are you alright? You seem kind of distracted."

You're kind of distracting. But no, he'd told himself he'd stop doing that. "Uh, it's nothing! Just thinking about...stuff." Nice, he thought, and it sounded like Plagg.

Marinette tilted her head. "Really, are you okay? It's not like you to miss an opportunity for a line like that."

Adrien's mouth fell open.

"I mean!" Marinette blushed. "I guess you don't want to be flirty at school? I'm just – uh." She glanced around; they were alone in the hallway now. "I've been trying to combine the two of you in my head, and...well."

"No, I just thought," Adrien scrambled, "I mean I guess I'm not sure where I stand on acting like – like myself, or – but I've just been thinking that maybe you didn't like it when I flirted with you like that. And that maybe I should have gotten the message earlier."

Marinette blushed harder, but smirked. Like a Ladybug-Marinette sandwich. "It can be annoying in battle. But I, um, actually like our banter? It's fun and, uh – kind of cute?"

It was? Did that mean he was kind of cute?

Marinette fidgeted. "So I don't mind. Uh, but! Thanks for checking, though! That's good of you. B-but now that I know it's you...uh. Well I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

"About what?" Adrien croaked.

"Um!" Marinette stood ramrod straight. She took a deep breath. "Would you like to go on a date sometime? With me?"

"A – date?" His heart thudded. And then possibly stopped.

"Y-yeah! If you want to." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "The weather's supposed to be nice this weekend so I had this idea for a picnic in the park but we could just go for smoothies or a movie or –"

"You really want to go on a date with me?" The gravity was off again, Adrien was sure of it.

Marinette's blush was worse than ever, but she wasn't looking away. "Yes. If you want to."

He wasn't sure when he'd started smiling. "Yeah – yes! Of course, let's do it!"

She beamed. "Yeah? This Saturday afternoon?"

How did she know that was his only scheduled free-time? "That's perfect. One o'clock?"

"Great! I'll pick you up. You bring a blanket, I'll get the food."

"Okay." Was he breathing?

"Great!" Marinette repeated. She was smiling, too. "I'll see you then! Well, I mean obviously I'll see you in class tomorrow," she was backing away, waving a hand around, "but, you know. It's a date."

"Yeah," Adrien breathed. Then, inspired, he gave a flourishing bow. "Until then, my lady."

Marinette giggled, then waved, tripped a little, and walked off.

She'd giggled. He had made Ladybug giggle. Marinette giggled when Adrien flirted with her.

Adrien practically skipped down the school steps towards the car that waited for him.

"You two are so embarrassing," Plagg complained quietly from Adrien's chest pocket as Adrien slipped into the back seat.

But Adrien just sighed skyward and slid his head against the window.

"Completely hopeless," Plagg griped.

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Adrien shuffled his feet, fencing foil in hand, as he waited backstage, unable to keep still. He heard a crunch and looked down – he'd accidentally stepped on another one of Rose's origami flowers, which had started the evening on her wall-sized scrapbook pages (by far the Spring Arts Gala's most popular exhibit), but which had, throughout the event, made their way between the streets of Max's scale model of downtown Paris, onto the speakers playing a selection of Ivan's songs, and – mostly – into Juleka's hair.

"You alright?"

Adrien looked up to see his fencing partner smiling at him. A rival from fencing lessons who had, to Adrien's surprise, volunteered quite readily to help with his act.

Perhaps he was better at making friends than he'd thought.

"I'm fine," Adrien told him, his voice only sort of squeaky, his stomach only sort of rolling. "Just a bit nervous."

His partner nodded. "Fair enough. Me too. I just channel it into my excitement."

Channel –

"Yo," Nino stepped through a curtain towards them. He was still dressed in the green suit he had modelled for Marinette's fashion walk. "How were we?" Behind him came Alya, sporting Marinette's red dress, and Marinette herself, flushed and beaming with a sowing bag hanging off her shoulder.

"You were amazing," Adrien told them, keeping his voice down – Mylène was currently performing her monologue onstage. He reached for Marinette's hand. "Your designs are incredible."

She smiled, linking their fingers together. "Thanks."

Adrien's stomach settled, just a bit. "You'll have to make something for me to model someday."

The way Marinette smirked and looked him over top to bottom had him blushing like a stoplight and Nino snickering into his hand. "Sounds like fun," she said.

"Woah girl," Alya chuckled, pulling Marinette back. "Don't get him worked up before his gig. There's a big audience out there."

Adrien's stomach un-settled, quite a lot. "There is?"

Alya waved her hands out in front of her. "I mean, no, not that big, it's nothing to –"

Spinning around, Adrien walked quickly into the left wing of the stage and peered between a gap in the curtains at the audience beyond. It was big. Not an army of knights or a giant stone monster or a pack of wild animals, but still –

He jolted; sitting in the front row, right in the middle, was his father. His father was here. But Adrien had been sure Father couldn't make it, he'd said he was busy this evening, he'd said –

He'd said he had plans.

Adrien felt a hand on his, and jumped. He turned to see Marinette looking softly at him.

"My father's here," he breathed.

"Of course he is," Marinette whispered. She squeezed Adrien's hand, and his eyes stung.

Applause sounded from the audience. Adrien looked over to see Mylène bowing, grinning wider than he'd ever seen her. Ivan threw a rose onto the stage, and she picked it up, actually blowing a kiss to him as she exited.

Sabrina entered from stage right, microphone in hand. "Thank you Mylène, for that stirring performance! Up next, we have a thrilling sword fight choreographed by Adrien Agreste, so hold on to your hats!"

Adrien tensed, stomach clenching and freezing him in place. He glanced into the other wing to see his partner, who saluted him as he flipped his mask down. Channel it into excitement. Adrien breathed in, shot another look at his father, gripped his foil, and felt his whole body light up.

He turned to Marinette. "Wish me luck, my lady."

She opened her mouth, but then shut it again, eyes alight. She pulled a small red ribbon from her sewing bag, took his left hand and tied the ribbon around his wrist. "A token of my affection, brave sir," she said with pomp, putting a hand over her heart.

Adrien was smiling again, fit to burst. He touched the ribbon and gave his best bow. "I am honoured indeed."

Marinette smiled back, taking his face in her hands and pulling him into a kiss. "Knock 'em dead, kitty-cat."

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A/N: IRL DON'T TAKE THAT LONG BACKSTAGE AFTER YOU'VE BEEN ANNOUNCED FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Ok cool

This has been my contribution to the LadyNoir insecurities-about-identity-reveal trope. *bows overdramatically*

This has also been my first attempt at writing real, actual romance instead of just implied romance, so please let me know if you thought I did alright! (or if I'm terrible at this. break it to me gently). Really, I've never done anything like this before and only sort of know what I'm doing so any comments you have would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.