AN: And here it is, the last part of this little reveal fic. This part is from Adrien's pov, and is basically just pure fluff, because I'm a firm believer that he is totally in love with Ladybug, but he also has a bit of a crush on Marinette.

Three. You're my best friend

He had forgotten to ask for the hint.

But it didn't matter.

Adrien stood outside of the school, staring up at the building. It was so familiar, but somehow, today it seemed filled with so much more promise. He had arrived early, convincing Nathalie that he needed to work on an assignment in the library. It had been a white lie, and Adrien felt a bit guilty about it… but he needed to be here for the arrival of his classmates.

He knew his Lady. He had spent hours almost daily fighting at her side. He knew her voice, how she moved… he knew her.

"Why are we here early?" Plagg complained, floating out from Adrien's jacket. "Don't we spend enough time at this place?"

"I need to watch for Ladybug," Adrien replied, finding a seat perched on a bench and watching as Juleka and Rose walked into the courtyard. Plagg zoomed back beneath the jacket, but didn't retreat entirely back into the pocket he had made his own.

"You've been in her class for months now, and you think you'll suddenly recognize her?" Plagg replied dryly. "I doubt that. Even without the glamour, you'd be surprised what a mask can do."

"The glamour?" Adrien blinked down at Plagg in confusion, and the Kwami yawned and settled back into his pocket. Adrien sighed and rolled his eyes, lifting a finger to poke at the creature. "Plagg, care to explain?"

"It's magic, Adrien," Plagg retorted, his voice disgruntled and muffled by the jacket. "Your face is plastered everywhere, do you really think that no one has connected Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste is pure coincidence? It doesn't work as well on other Miraculous holders, but it's still there… unless a certain cat's carelessness gives him away of course."

Adrien muttered a low oath and contemplated the courtyard. Kim and Max had arrived now and appeared to be arguing with Ivan, while Mylene held his hand and watched in contentment. He remembered Ladybug's comment, way back when Ivan had been their first Akuma – they're made for each other.

At the time, he had been so awed by his Lady that he had hardly paid any mind to their classmates after they had been saved, but now he found that he agreed. Despite their myriad of differences, Mylene and Ivan fit.

Adrien wanted that. He wanted to fit with someone.

He wanted to fit with Ladybug.

"I can't let a glamour fool me," Adrien murmured low. There was a movement in his jacket and he looked down to see Plagg peeking up at him.

"She wants you to find her," the Kwami pointed out. "Perhaps she'll have a moment of carelessness herself."

It was one of Plagg's rare moments where he was actually helpful, and Adrien felt a grin curve his lips, hope fluttering in his chest.

"Yeah," he agreed, looking back across the courtyard. "Yeah, you're right."

He watched his classmates arrive, eyeing each one contemplatively. He grinned when he saw Alya arrive, Marinette at her side. Nino was with them, talking about something with enthusiastic hand movements. Adrien's grin faded when he saw Marinette give Nino a wide smile and say something that had the other boy laughing.

"Do you think she'll ever be like that with me?"

Plagg peeked out once more and saw where Adrien was looking before giving a sigh and rolling his eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for Ladybug? I thought that would trump even your odd obsession with being friends with Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"It's not an obsession!" Adrien argued, eyes darting around his classmates again, before landing once more on Marinette. And okay, so maybe it was odd, how much he wanted the dark haired girl to like him, but it was just…

She wasn't comfortable around him, not since that first day, when she told him off because she though he was pranking her. That day, she had been… amazing. And she still was. Adrien admired her talent with design, and the way she could stand in front of her classmates and not just make them believe in her, but also believe in themselves.

She was so confident with everyone… except Adrien.

He couldn't tell if it was because her false assumptions on their first meeting made her uncomfortable, or if it was just because she didn't like him. But either way… he wished it was different.

Marinette suddenly looked in his direction, as though she could feel his gaze on her, and for a moment they both froze as their eyes made contact. Hers were incredibly, Adrien realized. Even across the school courtyard, the color was unmistakeable. The only other person he knew with eyes that blue was –

Marinette's gaze darted away from him, red creeping onto her cheeks, and Adrien felt a ball of disappointment begin to form in his stomach. She had talked to him the other day, and he had thought that maybe they would make progress, become real friends, but if she was back to not looking at him…

She looked up once more, meeting his gaze directly, and a smile curved her lips, one that left Adrien helpless to do anything but smile back. She lifted her hand in a wave. The action caught Nino's attention, and then he was dragging both Marinette and Alya with him to Adrien's bench.

"Hey, man, how long have you been over here?" he asked, plopping onto the surface next to Adrien. "You should have come and joined us."

"I was just lost in my thoughts," Adrien replied, because the truth – I was trying to figure out which of our classmates was Ladybug – was hardly something he could admit. "Hi Alya… Hi, Marinette."

Alya returned his greeting easily, but it was Marinette on whom Adrien's attention was focused. She gave a quiet hi in return, her cheeks flushed, her shoes scuffing the ground.

"I-it's a nice morning," she added after a moment, and Adrien felt his earlier mood lighten as he realized that Marinette was really making an attempt here, to talk to him. "I can't w-wait for school to be done" – her eyes widened suddenly, as though she were panicked – "I mean, not that I don't like s-spending time with all of you, but it's just – it's so nice and…"

"Easy there, Girl," Alya said with a laugh, looping an arm around Marinette's shoulders and tugging her in close. "We get it, it's nice and you'd rather be off somewhere letting the day inspire your designs and stuff."

"I like to design outside," Marinette offered to Adrien, when his expression must have looked puzzled. It was possibly the most words she had ever spoken to him without stuttering, and Adrien couldn't even be disappointed that he'd lost time in his quest for Ladybug, not if it meant progress like this.

"I don't blame you. Paris must be great for inspiration." The bell rang, and the four teens began to head for their first class, Marinette and Alya in the lead while Adrien and Nino fell in behind them. Adrien contemplated the back of Marinette's head, and then blinked in surprise. "Hey, Marinette… are you a Ladybug fan?"

Marinette stiffened and stumbled over her feet. Alya laughed, grabbing her arm to keep her upright.

"Easy, Mari. And isn't everyone a fan of Ladybug's?"

Marinette's gaze on Adrien was searching, as though she were trying to figure something out.

"She and Chat are Paris' heroes," she finally said slowly. "Why?"

"I just… you wear your hair like she does. I'd never noticed before. I was wondering if it was because you're a fan."

Marinette's hand darted up to her hair, fingering the dark strands, and when she looked at Adrien, there was amusement dancing in her blue eyes. For a second, Adrien's breath caught at that expression, and he found he couldn't look away.

"Pigtails are a very versatile hairstyle," she responded at last. "I was wearing them before Ladybug even arrived."

Adrien watched her go, her head ducked in as Alya spoke to her excitedly, the hand that wasn't looped through Marinette's arm gesturing with excitement.

"Hey, Adrien, are you okay?" Nino asked, stepping up next to Adrien, who watched the girls with a furrowed brow.

"I'm… yeah. I'm good," Adrien replied, and it was true, really. There wasn't anything wrong. It's just, for a second there, Marinette had shown him the confidence he so rarely got to see, but there had been something else. A spark that made Adrien think of –

But no, it couldn't be. Except…

It would make far too much sense.

MBF

Adrien spent the next classes leading up to lunch wishing that he and Marinette could swap seats. He knew she was back there; was more aware of it than he had ever been. His mouth felt full of the words he couldn't just blurt out.

Are you Ladybug?

If she was… well, he could hardly blow her secret identity in front of the entire class, could he? And if she wasn't – well, not only would it be awkward for them both, but it would inevitably lead to the question of why Adrien was so interested in the superheroine's identity.

Neither option was attractive.

The bell rang, and Adrien fought back a wince when he realized that he had no clue what they had been taught in the last three periods. Glancing down, he could at least take comfort in knowing that he had the right notebook out. But rather than notes about Geometry, he had been making absentminded doodles of ladybugs in the margins of the page. Like some lovesick teenager, which he was, of course.

But it was still embarrassing.

Nino had turned to talk to him about something, but Marinette had begun to walk by him, and Adrien didn't think. Instead, he just got to his feet so he could walk at her side. His sudden appearance, made Marinette give out an eep and nearly trip on the last step before looking at him with wide-eyed panic.

"So… Ladybug stole your hairstyle then?" Adrien asked into the awkward silence, rubbing a hand over his neck and grinning at Marinette sheepishly. For a moment, her panic morphed into confusion, and then she chuckled, finally remembering what she had said to him about her pigtails.

"That would be s-something, wouldn't it?" she replied. She hugged her books to her chest and began to walk again, and Adrien fell into step with her. Their shoulders brushed briefly as they walked through the door, and Adrien swore he felt a shock before Marinette pulled away, her expression wide-eyed once more.

"I guess you're right," Adrien said after another moment, determined to set Marinette at ease and see if his – crazy, impossible – suspicions were correct. "Lots of girls probably wear pigtails."

But did all those girls have that dark shade of hair? Black, with blue undertones? Or those incredibly eyes, blue so perfect even the clearest sky couldn't compete?

And were all of these things he was suddenly noticing really proof, or was Adrien just grasping? Because if his thoughts over the past three hours had told him anything it was that he wanted Marinette to be Ladybug.

She was kind, and a natural leader, and in those rare moments when she had seemed to forget, for even a second, her awkwardness around him… he liked her.

He had gone over all his female classmates time and time again, and none of them fit like Marinette did.

"Are you doing anything after school?" Adrien had blurted the words out before he could think twice, and Marinette jolted to a halt again, her face rapidly turning red. Adrien felt his own face flush in response, and he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Now would be the time to backtrack. To suggest that they should hang out with Alya and Nino… yet… "I mean – it's just… I'm free. And that doesn't happen often so I was hoping that you might want to do something with… me?"

He expected her to go red, to stutter out an answer – hopefully a yes – but instead she quirked her head to the side, her eyes narrowing slightly as a smile curved her lips. Adrien had seen that smile before.

It was Ladybug's smile, just before she called him Kitty Cat.

"I would like that," Marinette said, and wasn't it an odd sort of reversal, that she was the one that was confident, while Adrien thought his face might be hot enough to boil water. "I would like that a lot."

"Great!" Adrien replied. He watched Marinette walk away, and he grinned, when he noticed the tight grip she had on the strap of her bag, turning her knuckles pale. Once she disappeared around the corner, Adrien leaned back against the wall. The halls had emptied, and Plagg came out to float in front of him.

"She's Ladybug," the Kwami noted. "Or at least, you believe she is."

"You don't know?"

Plagg gave his head a sharp shake.

"No. I'm as oblivious as my Chat's until Tikki makes her presence known to me, and vice versa. But Adrien, you can't simply ask this girl if she's Ladybug. You may be wrong."

He wasn't. Adrien was positive of that. Marinette was his Lady.

But, just in case…

"I know. I have a plan."

MBF

He sent Marinette a text to meet him at a hidden little alcove in the park. It was a pretty little place, with a fountain and lush grass. Adrien knew about it because it had been used for a couple of his photoshoots. In between shots, he liked to sit on the fountain's edge with bare feet and dig his toes into the grass.

It was pretty, but off the beaten path. Adrien wasn't sure that there were many other people that even knew about it. If they did, they ignored it in favor of the wider spaces and pathways of the wide open parts of the park.

Marinette was sitting on the fountain's edge when Adrien arrived, sketching furiously in a pink book, her brow furrowed and the tip of her tongue just sticking out between her lips. It was kind of adorable, and Adrien found himself caught up in watching her, rather than announcing his arrival.

After a moment or two of sketching, Marinette suddenly froze. As though she could feel his presence, she turned her body slightly, so she could look back at him. Their gazes met for moment, and Marinette's brow remained furrowed when she saw him, dressed in the black leather and mask of his alter ego.

If Marinette was Ladybug… well, then she knew who he was anyway. If she wasn't – then she would never have any need to think that Chat Noir was her classmate.

"Chat," she welcomed after a moment.

"Princess," Adrien said in reply, the pet name falling so easily from his lips. They were the only ones that he had such names for – his Princess and his Lady – and maybe that should have been a sign to him right from the start. "What's a purretty girl like you doing all alone here?"

When he swung down to settle next to her on the edge of the fountain, it was with fewer acrobatics than he would have usually used. But his ribs weren't entirely healed, and he knew that his Lady would never forgive him if he re-injured himself.

"I'm meeting someone," Marinette replied at last, carefully closing her notebook and setting it aside. "A boy that I've had a crush on for a while. He asked me out today."

A boy that I've had a crush on for a while.

And maybe it was foolish, that Adrien hadn't realized it. It made so much sense – the blushing, the stuttering… even her disinterest in Chat Noir, if she truly was Ladybug.

"Maybe he doesn't deserve you," Adrien blurted out, and then mentally winced… because how dumb was he? To not only feel jealousy that Marinette had a crush on Adrien rather than Chat, but to also be putting down himself. Marinette raised a brow at him, and Adrien shrugged uncomfortably. "A gentleman shouldn't keep a Lady waiting. He should be the one waiting for you."

"Now what do you know about being a Gentleman, Chat Noir?" Marinette asked, and she pulled a knee up so she could rest her chin on it and grin at him.

"You wound me, Princess" – Adrien clutched dramatically at his chest, and Marinette laughed Ladybug's laugh. It made him grin, because this… this was what he wanted with her. The easy relationship. Not the one where they stuttered and blushed and couldn't speak to each other – "I am always purrrfectly mannered."

"Two purr puns in one conversation. You're slipping, Chat," Marinette responded, the smile caused by her laughter still flirting with her lips, even as her expression became more contemplative. "Princess… I thought you said I was a Lady."

And there it was – Adrien's opening. Marinette was looking at him with those blue, blue eyes, and once more, the question sat on the tip of his tongue.

Are you Ladybug?

Only this time, Adrien found that he didn't need to hear her answer. Because he was looking at her, and he knew those eyes. Somehow, the Glamour had kept him from realizing… but now that he did?

He would know his Lady's eyes anywhere.

So instead of asking the question, Adrien released his transformation. The familiar swell of magic leaving rushed over him, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was Adrien Agreste, and Marinette had let her leg fall back so her foot was on the ground, and she was staring at him.

And for a second, he thought he had gotten it wrong. That Marinette wasn't Ladybug, and it had been his own secret desires that had made it seem so obvious. He was just about to open his mouth, to explain to her that she couldn't tell anyone, and that he was sorry and would keep her safe, when she shook her head.

"Wow," she said, before he could speak up. "I mean… I knew it. But, it's different to know and to see. And I just… wow."

"Oh, thank God," Adrien sighed out, his shoulders slumping with relief. "It is you… My Lady."

"Did you seriously reveal your identity to me when you weren't sure I was Ladybug?" Marinette raised her brows, and Adrien shifted uncomfortably under the severe look.

"Well… I was 99% sure you were Ladybug. It was a calculated risk" – Adrien leaned forward, focusing his gaze on Marinette, and he saw her swallow, red rising into her cheeks, something that made Adrien's lips curl in a smile – "A boy that I've had a crush on for a while?"

"Yeah, because it's not like you knew" – Marinette rolled her eyes, and then gaped at Adrien when he just shrugged – "really? How did you not know? I mean… it's not like I was a stuttering mess around you when you were Chat Noir."

"I thought you didn't like me. Your first impression of me wasn't exactly good," Adrien admitted, looking away from her. He was so focused on not looking at her, that when her hand landed on his arm, Adrien jolted in surprise and looked over at her.

"I…" her tongue darted out to wet her lips. "I-I never did apologize, did I? For how I t-treated you that first day. I want to. You-you didn't deserve to be treated that way."

"I understood it. And now that I know you do like me" – he couldn't help but tease her a little bit. Because when she was his classmate Marinette, he had simply wanted her to like him, would have never dreamed of teasing her. But she wasn't just Marinette – not that there was anything just about her – she was also his Lady. The girl that he was completely lost over. The girl he flirted with shamelessly. And so, he had to tease her a bit – "well… it eases the sting a little bit."

"Careful, Kitty Cat. Or I'll have to re-evaluate my opinion of you."

"Oh?" Adrien leaned toward her, resting his hand on the fountain edge between them so he could get closer and grin at her. "And what is your opinion of me?"

He expected some smart remark, one of her Ladybug comebacks where she called him Kitty Cat and smirked at him.

Instead, her expression softened, and she reached out her hand to rest it over his. Adrien blinked in surprise and looked down at where their skin touched, then looked back at up Marinette.

"I think you're kind," she said. "And loyal. There's no one else, not even Alya, that I'd trust to have my back like you. You're my best friend, Chat… Adrien."

Chat swallowed, and had to look away from her, feeling far too vulnerable with the expressions he knew had to be written all over his face.

"You're my best friend, too, My Lady."

As he spoke, he looked down at their hands. He turned his over, so that he could twine their fingers together. It felt nice, to hold her hand – warm and strong.

"You weren't disappointed," Marinette noted, and her words made Adrien's gaze jolt to her again. She was looking out to where they could just see the larger park through the trees. "I was afraid you might be."

"Disappointed… because it was you?" Adrien couldn't imagine in what world anyone would be disappointed in Marinette. "But… why? You make people feel good about themselves, Mari. You make them want to be good. Now that I know… it makes so much sense. Because no one else could be Ladybug."

Her cheeks flushed, and she peeked at him shyly from the corner of her eye. Adrien turned fully toward her and reached out with his free hand, so he could turn her face towards him.

"It's true," he said earnestly. "That day, in the rain? All I could think was how excited I was to finally have a friend, and how happy I was that it was you."

Marinette smiled at him, still shyly, but there was a hint of Ladybug in it too. Later, Adrien would probably blame that on what he did next.

In the moment, it just seemed right.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. It was a sweet kiss, just a press of his lips to hers. Adrien's eyes drifted shut, and he cupped her cheek with his hand. When he pulled back and blinked open his eyes, it was to see that Marinette was doing the same. Adrien swallowed, feeling a flush rise in his cheeks, and the same color rose in Marinette's as well.

"I… that…" Marinette bit her lip, her eyes darting from his for a moment, before they came back to his after she took a deep breath. "You know, this is supposed to be a date."

"You're right," Adrien agreed, climbing to his feet. He didn't release his grip on her hand, and used it to tug her to her feet as well. "Would My Lady like ice cream?"

"I'd love some," Marinette replied, and they headed back to the main park, fingers still twined and arms rubbing against each other. When they would have stepped out of their little sanctuary, Marinette pulled him to stop.

"Is something wrong?" Adrien asked.

"No… I just wanted to tell you… that I'm glad it was you. That you ended up being my Kitty Cat." She went up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his cheek. When she pulled back, there was a teasing glint in his eyes. "Now come on… I know the best place to get ice cream!"

Adrien let her tug him along behind her, a smile lighting his face.

She was glad he was her Kitty Cat… and Adrien couldn't be happier that she was his Lady.

AN: I hope you enjoyed this! And thanks to everyone who reads this, even though I haven't updated in months and I'm so sorry for that.