Hey all,

This is it. The final chapter.
You know, this is not the original ending that I had in mind? But RoseySparrow may have threat- I mean CONVINCED (pleasedontfillmyshoeswithcheese) me to consider a different ending. So, you know, feel free to thank or berate her at your leisure.

Cheers,
SG

Cat Noir sat on the same railing he always did and waited. Usually the thought of Ladybug's imminent arrival cheered him, but tonight, not so much. He pulled the last macaron from his pocket. He spared it a glance before scarfing it down.

"That good?" Ladybug teased from behind him.

He choked, spitting out cookie crumbs. "Ladybug!"

"Sorry," She giggled.

"No, you're not."

"You're right, I'm actually not." She giggled harder, and he found it hard to not chuckle himself. She glided over to stand next to him, leaning on the rail. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, but I'm not entirely sure where to start."

"Okay. Then I'll start. Adrien Agreste knows my secret."

"What!?"

"Earlier today, when he was almost akumatized, he told Marinette to get in touch with me. He knew she could do it."

"Oh, right." He sighed and whirled around so he could slide off the rail. "Yes, he knows. I'm sorry about that."

"Did you tell him about your secret too?"

"He knows it."

"I know it's a little scary, Kitty," Ladybug touched his shoulder, "but I'm pretty sure we can trust him."

Cat Noir stared at her. She trusted him? The civilian him? "How can you say that? Even Marinette doesn't trust him, and for good reason it seems."

"No." She shook her head, "I don't know what he told you about today, but,"

"That he stupidly tried to get himself akumatized?"

"Except he didn't." She insisted.

"He literally swung his bag at an akuma hoping to hit it."

"Hoping to save Marinette. Which he did!" Ladybug snapped, "I know his execution could have been better, but he was trying to keep Marinette safe. Which, given that he knew her secret, wasn't an unreasonable thing for him to do."

"He charged forward without a thought to the consequences."

"Cat Noir, you don't even have a ball of yarn to stand on when it comes to that kind of thing."

Cat Noir froze, "Did you just…"

Ladybug pursed her lips. For about half a second, they both held it together and then she giggled. He lost it, but he had badly needed the laugh. When he recovered, he found her smiling at him. "Feel better?"

"Yeah, I do." He nodded. "So, you're really not mad?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried." She stepped in close, "But, I think it'll be okay. I trust Adrien."

"Do you trust him the same way you trust Marinette, though?"

"Uh, sure."

"That did not sound convincing."

"Well, I've known Marientte longer." She shrugged.

Cat Noir considered for her a long moment. "If I asked you something, would promise to answer me truthfully, or tell me if you're unwilling to? No dancing around the question? No lying?"

Ladybug thought it over and nodded. "Yes."

"What are your feelings on Adrien exactly?"

She looked away, frowning.

"Please, Mi'lady." He knew he sounded awfully close to begging, but he couldn't muster up the dignity to care. It'd been a long day, and he was still angry with himself. "I need to know."

"I love him."

The answer was simple enough. Except it wasn't. He had been looking for exoneration, but love? It was all he had ever wanted from her. But it wasn't for him. It was for Adrien, the pretty, compliant shell his father had created.

Did she even know him? She'd always been so certain they couldn't know each other in real life, and yet, she claimed she loved him. Maybe they did know each other, and maybe she saw something in him that he'd missed himself.

Looking around though, at the city, the skyline, the thousands of ads featuring his face, he knew what was more likely. She'd seen him, maybe even spoken to him, but there was no way she knew him. Not if she loved Adrien.

"So you're in love with the model." Cat Noir stepped back. He had to check himself. He didn't want to risk being akumatized twice in one day, but this hurt. "That figures. Every other girl who's seen his precious face is too."

"Don't!" Ladybug snapped. "Don't you dare! You don't know him!"

"I think I,"

"No! No, you don't!" Angry tears glistened in her eyes. "Not if you can be so blasé about him!"

"I'm sorry then," He sighed. He didn't want her akumatized either, but he struggled to hide his resentment. "Why don't you tell me about how perfect he is."

"He's brave!" She replied. "Braver than me even."

Cat Noir started to cut in, but Ladybug pressed on. "He doesn't have the benefit of our super powers, but he's always willing to charge toward danger if it means helping someone who needs him. He actually saved me once! When Riposte had me bested, he jumped in, unarmed, and yanked me out of the way."

He had forgotten he'd done that as Adrien. It had been so spur of the moment, and it had felt only natural to protect her.

"He's smart. He studies hard despite how busy they keep him with Chinese, and piano, and fencing, and everything. And he excels at all of it, because he's so diligent. He practices all the time."

Cat Noir stared at her. He hadn't expected any valid reasons for Ladybug's affection. After all, didn't Chloe and his other fans love him for his face and popularity? But here was the love of his life, insisting that he was brave, determined, and clever. Exactly how he saw her.

"And yes, he's pretty, okay? In fact, he's beautiful." She shook her head, "But he's also loyal, and he's incredibly kind."

"Kind?" Her rant started to remind him of Marinette, and how she saw the boy she loved. Maybe it was just natural to see the best in someone you love.

"That's what first drew me to him, his kindness." Ladybug looked out toward the city, but her gaze softened. "The first time we spoke, it was a misunderstanding. After that, I was rude to him, but he was still kind to me. He gave me his umbrella, not even two seconds after I snubbed him, because he saw that I needed one, and he took the time to clear the air between us. That was the moment I fell in love with him."

Umbrella? But the only person he remembered giving an umbrella to was Marinette. The same Marinette that had been standing next to him when the first Ladybug had shown up to fight the first Timebreaker.

There's nothing odd or wrong with what you just said.

The first Ladybug.

Reality crashed on his head like a ton of bricks. The only time he'd ever seen Marinette and Ladybug in the same place, there had been two of them. A second Ladybug for Marinette to become.

No. He'd been with her for two whole weeks. If she were Ladybug, surely he would have figured it out before this? She would have had to come up with reasons to get away from him to transform.

Except they'd already been separated when the Liaison and The Mourner had struck. Then he'd been the one to send her away with the excuse of locking the side door on that fake akuma. And he'd gone to get her bo,

No, he realized.

He'd hijacked her excuse for leaving him on Mother Midas.

What else had he missed or discounted? The closet. He had known that stupid closet had no other entrances or exits, but he never saw Ladybug go in or Marinette come out. He had put Ladybug's emotional reaction to the bakery and the way her hands shook over the injured Tom Dupain down to overwhelming compassion. He had willfully, adamantly, rejected Marinette's one scored point against Kagami, even though Ladybug's name had screamed in his head. Looking back there were so very many other things that he had just,

Dismissed.

"No." He shook his head.

"What do you mean no? Everything I've told you is true, Cat Noir."

I've never lied to you about my feelings, Cat Noir. You're not just my partner, you really are my friend.

You're my friend, Cat Noir, I wouldn't lie to you about that.

How had he missed that? How had he failed to notice that Ladybug never worried about Marinette, despite Marinette knowing her secret? How had he not questioned it when Master Fu told him not to be concerned, despite his staunch insistence that they keep their identities a secret? And how many times had he noticed how easy things were with Marinette without ever realizing why?

You have the ability to be very perceptive, Adrien, but you have to give that perception meaning. Until you do, you're going to struggle.

Stupid freaking Luka, telling him that he loved both girls. Of course he did. Marinette was his Ladybug. It was so stupid. It was so beautifully stupid. His partner had been his partner this whole time.

He started to laugh.

"Cat Noir?"

He looked at her, at Ladybug, at Marinette hidden behind a little, polka dotted mask, and he remembered something else. "I should have settled the question of that ridiculous dream when I actually had the chance. And, I should have added my own name back on to that stupid list."

"Excuse me!?"

"The list. The one I was keeping? I didn't need to know my own identity. What I needed was to figure out who you were in love with so I could gift him to you. So I could use him to convince you to trust me with my own identity." Cat Noir shook his head, "I thought I was so clever when I came up with the idea. If only I could get you to trust me, I could keep you safe both as a civilian and as a hero. I never imagined the answer was me or that I ever would have wanted it to be."

"Kitty?" She searched his face, "What are you trying to say?"

"You're smarter than that, Marinette." It felt so good to say her name out loud. "You know exactly what I'm saying, it's just so stupidly unbelievable you don't want to."

She drew in air, her hands flying to her mouth. He watched the way her eyes darted back and forth. Then she glared at him. "But you were there for Volpina!"

"Queen of Illusions?" He took another step closer to her, and reached out, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. "How do you think I was so sure that the Adrien she dangled off the Eiffel Tower was a fake?"

"What about Gorzilla!? He didn't have any illusions!" She protested, "And you and Adrien were in the same place there too."

"So was Wayhem, my biggest fan, who was so desperate to protect me. How much do you think it took to convince him that I was a coward? He destroyed that cut out of me he was carrying to take my place." He smiled, "And I didn't let you close to him once he had the helmet on, remember?"

"Oh!" She turned away pink cheeked, her breath quickening.

"All the stupid mistakes we've both made these past weeks," He chuckled softly, "Had we had any other partners, we might have been discovered on day one, but we were both struggling too hard to keep our own secrets."

"Isn't that what we were supposed to do?" She shook her head. "What happens now when one of us get akumatized or brainwashed?"

"We'll fix it." He soothed. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "We're not exactly green heroes anymore, Marinette. We've seen our best friends akumatized, our teachers, my father, and we've dealt with it all. And now, we know that akumas can be fought off. Whatever comes our way, we're partners, and we'll handle it."

"There is that." She admitted. She turned to him, not breaking his hold on her. "And there's always a chance that Master Fu will have some good advice for us, now that we know."

"Exactly."

"Besides, this does give me a chance to keep a promise I should have made."

"What promise, Mi'lady?"

With one hand on his shoulder and the other catching the back of his head, she kissed him. It was quick, too quick for him to react, and she pulled away flushing.

He blinked. "Before you say anything, that doesn't count."

"What?"

"I was surprised, you can't hold me to dream-standard level kissing when I'm surprised."

She burst out laughing. "Adrien."

"Also, I'm pretty sure you told me that I kissed you in your dream, and I think that's definitely something we should try."

"Adrien!"

"After all, how are we really going to know for certain that I can't make you forget my name, if we don't test everything under the same conditions?"

"Cat Noir! It's only going to be a surprise this time if you keep talking!"

"Oh, uh, well then. With permission, Mi'lady?" He teased. When she nodded, he pulled her closer. "Plagg, Claws in."

The End

So, initially, I thought I had this story all figured out. There were some things that I definitely wanted to do (The duel between Kagami and Adrien over Marinette was always going to happen.) and some things I had no idea were coming. (Luka got an early mention, and that was going to be it, no actual screen time, let alone making him the final akuma victim. Then we actually met him in Captain Hardrock, and well, that was that, as they say.)

My initial plan didn't include a reveal between Marinette and Adrien, but rather Adrien and Alya, with her agreeing to never speak of what she knows. Ideally, that would've allowed it to fit somewhere squarely in season 2. But two things happened:

First, a lot of things came up canonically that just shredded that ending, so I moved it forward, and had Marinette come to Adrien's rescue. Second, a couple of friends convinced me that after everything that's happened in this story, a major reveal was more than a little earned, both by the protagonists and the readers. And they were right.

With all that said, I have a few special thanks to dole out. My brother, who will probably never see this, but he and his amazing wife but did some editing for me on my more difficult chapters before I met RoseySparrow. RoseySparrow, who quite generously offered to beta read and edit my work. CoffeeIsMyDrugOfChoice is another real world friend who had to put up with me reading to her, demanding her thoughts, and then bullying her into making a profile. (Yes, I'm actually very mean in real life.)

Also, thank you to all of you who have spent your valuable time enjoying this story. Please know that your feedback has meant a lot to me, and every time I got an email about a new follower, favorite, or review, I read it immediately and saved it in a folder to keep. (And yes, I'm not naming names, but several of you come to mind as constant encouragers. I saw all your messages and I love you for it.)

Thanks again, and I hope to see you on the next one.

Cheers,
SG