AN: One-sided reveal

Adrien just finished a facetime call with his aunt and cousin in England. It had been a few months since he had been emancipated. Gabriel tried to derail the proceedings, but thanks to his own competent lawyer, Adrien managed to win the case and get his well-earned modeling money back from his father. His Aunt Amelie deserved some credit as well for being one of his support pillars. Even though she and Felix had issues with his father, they had very little against Adrien now that he was openly defying Gabriel. Felix had already apologized for his behavior on his last visit and the two cousins got along fairly well now. She was also instrumental in declaring his mother legally dead. Adrien knew his father refused to move on which is why she was always declared missing, but it always bothered him that such a thing was left so open. It's like trying to move forward but the past was just an overbearing presence. Adrien knew that she wasn't coming back and his father was delusional. So, the case was closed against Gabriel's wishes.

Aunt Amelie had offered to host him in her own home, but he declined saying that he preferred to stay in Paris. He left out that he needed to stay because of Chat Noir. Still, his aunt had provided a decent place for him. It was the least she could do for the son of her sister. The place was something that had been in the family for a little while but was not used unless the Graham De Vanily's visited Paris. Gabriel was not aware of the address either as the sisters elected to keep him out of the loop on it's existence. The deed was transferred to Adrien and he could do with it as he pleased, provided that he would host his mother's family when they visited, if it wasn't an inconvenience.

It was a good deal, and he had moved out of Nino's place after receiving the deed. He couldn't thank Nino and his family enough for hosting him through the legal proceedings. Along with Alya, Marinette, and their respective families, all of them always supported him through the ups and downs of the process. The three families even helped him move in and said their door would always be open to him if he needed it.

Adrien took a part-time job at Marinette's bakery. It wasn't that he needed the money. His mother's inheritance that he received as well as the money from working was more than enough to support him for decades if he didn't waste the money. Plus, he didn't have a mortgage or rent to pay. It was more for practical reasons. He knew absolutely nothing about cooking but figured that living on his own meant that he should learn. He also went to Alya's place where her mother would teach him some higher end cooking. His first attempts at cooking are best left unspoken and completely forgotten, but he eventually learned to make some decent grub. He also worked for the social interaction he could have. Especially the puns he and Mr. Dupain would throw back and forth. He and Nino were able to hang out anytime now and would alternate between whose places they would play videogames at. Sometimes, he would join Marinette for videogames as well.

Adrien had his lawyer file sexual harassment charges against Lila. The girl tried to lie her way out, but the evidence and eyewitness reports refuted her claims. Adrien won a sum of money from the brat and filed a restraining order against her. Lila's mother also found out that her daughter faked her signature on the employee forms and pulled her out of modeling. Lila tried to cause trouble for him at school but he was ready for her. Adrien managed to shut her down before it got out of hand and the liar had been sulking since. No one in school believed her lies anymore.

Chloe had mostly left him alone now. She actually seemed to act nicer to people for a change. He would wait and see how long that lasted because last time, she couldn't even make it to 12 hours of kindness. If she can act nice for a whole year, he would see about reaching back out to her again.

Adrien had also started to take some college classes so that he could be ahead of his year mates and finish college early. He wanted to get a PhD in Physics and maybe an MBA. He had always been pretty decent at business and numbers. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do yet but elected to keep his options open.

So, everything was set on Adrien's side. The young man had obtained his freedom and took control of his civilian life. Now that he was fairly stable, it was time to help the cat.

oOo

Chat let out a breath of exhaustion. The akumas had been getting even more aggressive lately. That was probably a sign of Hawkmoth's growing desperation. He couldn't help but wonder what Hawkmoth would want with the miraculous. Aside from power, of course.

It took a while, but eventually the new Miraculous trio managed to defeat the akuma.

"Pound it!" they yelled and did their usual fist bump. Two chirping noises interrupted the moment. Ladybug and Rena were going to change back, but Chat had some time since he didn't use his powers this battle. The Kali training was really working for him.

"Gotta go Chat. See you around." Ladybug and Rena took off together in the same direction. It didn't hurt as much as it did at first, but it still bothered him how quickly Ladybug took Rena into her confidence while Chat was still left on the outskirts.

So Chat gave them a few seconds to get out of sight and high-tailed it after them. He broke his staff into two parts. In one hand, he had his baton that could extend as normal. In the other, he held his chat phone with the GPS tracker on.

He was tired of the secrets. While Chat always tried to trust and respect Ladybug's privacy, she had never returned the same for him. His trust in his partner had wavered severely as more time passed. And he still didn't know who the temporary holders were or why Ladybug told and trusted Rena over him. So, he was going to learn things the old-fashioned way. By tailing them and figuring it out himself.

After a few minutes, he landed on an empty rooftop and saw Rena and Ladybug arrive on the roof of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Two flashes of light later, and Alya and Marinette stood in the heroines' places. Adrien felt his jaw drop. He always suspected that Ladybug went to his school, but he did not expect Marinette to be the bug hero. He was mildly impressed she managed to throw him off during kwami buster. He thought it was fishy that Marinette was given so many miraculous all at once instead of Ladybug stepping in. He supposed he could let that little fib go, except that it had also hurt him that Ladybug trusted a first-timer with so many miraculous all at once. His lady had really put him through the ringer and didn't even realize it. He didn't even know how he was going to face Marinette in school. Or Alya, which explained why the brunette knew Ladybug's secret as well as a lot of other things.

Chat sat down on the rooftop and detransformed. Plagg came out of the ring and quietly nibbled on the cheese wedge Adrien mindlessly threw at him. Truth be told, Adrien didn't really have a plan for what would happen after he learned Ladybug's identity. He didn't expect it to be someone he already knew and saw nearly everyday. It's not like Plagg didn't warn Adrien that he would be shocked by discovering Ladybug's identity, nor did he discourage him. Tikki was always a little sensitive about the reveal and how much information the users were given. But he knew that Adrien was ready and it was time for a reveal anyway with Ladybug being the new guardian. The girl was just having some self-confidence issues, which was not a good thing for fighting evil, and trouble breaking the rules Fu had set. She was the guardian now and she set the rules. As the guardian, it was important for Adrien to know where to go if anything had happened and either he or Marinette couldn't transform.

Plagg just nibbled away at his cheese while his user processed everything. He didn't get enough cheese for all of this.