This was inspired by a prompt by SeasOfSilver on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord. I saw it and thought it would be the perfect sequel to my other Halloween story, Tricks and Treats. If you haven't read that one, or if you read it when I first posted it on here nearly two years ago, I've included a little summary/reminder so it's not completely necessary. (Although I do recommend checking it out!) I've set this one towards the end of season 4, so there are no spoilers. Hope you enjoy!

'Listen up, losers. You should all be thanking me for…'

'Ahem. Chloé, is that how we speak to our classmates?' Miss Bustier asked.

A few people sniggered.

'I mean…' Chloé rolled her eyes. 'Listen up, everyone. As I was saying, I've convinced Daddy to throw the biggest Halloween festival Paris has ever seen. It'll be even more spectacular than the fabulous party I threw last year. And this time, nothing will go wrong.'

Adrien smiled to himself. He knew Chloé was referring to how Plagg had ruined her hair to get her to stop dancing with him. She had never found out who had done that and was still mad about it a year later.

'Anyone who is anyone will be there,' Chloé continued. 'Jagged Stone, XY, Clara Nightingale…'

'All this because she wants to show off that fancy costume of hers?' whispered Alya to Marinette. 'It must be really something.'

'Are you even surprised?' her best friend replied, rolling her eyes.

'And all the best food and drink places will be open,' Chloé finished. 'That means you, Dupain-Cheng. So that bakery of yours had better be up to scratch.'

'Chloé,' said Miss Bustier with a warning tone.

'Only joking,' said Chloé in an obviously fake nice voice. 'I probably won't see you lot there, since I'll be touring the city with Daddy. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to get a glimpse of me in costume.' She paused. 'Well, that's it.'

Sabrina clapped as Chloé returned to her seat, but she was on her own in doing so.

'Thank you, Chloé,' said Miss Bustier, smiling. 'I'm sure we're all looking forward to it, aren't we students?'

Most people nodded. They all seemed on board with the idea, even if Chloé was being her usual bratty self about it.

After class, Alya and Marinette were joined by Rose, Juleka, Alix and Mylène, all of whom were looking very excited.

'We should all go around together,' said Alix. 'Have a girls' night out.'

'If you two don't mind,' said Rose to Alya and Mylène.

'Nah, it's cool,' said Alya. 'The festival's on all night. We can meet up with Nino and Ivan later.'

'Or you, Marinette,' Alix teased. 'Don't you want to spend the evening trying to get close to Adrien?'

'Girls' night sounds great,' said Marinette firmly. 'My efforts to get Adrien to notice me always end in disaster anyway. I'd enjoy myself much more with you guys.'

'If you say so,' muttered Juleka.

'We can invite Zoe and Kagami too,' suggested Mylène.

'Awesome idea!' exclaimed Rose. 'We're going to go and start planning our outfits right away!'

The four girls headed off down the stairs, leaving Alya and Marinette alone in the classroom.

'I think this Halloween is going to be very different to last year,' Alya decided as they packed away their school things.

Last Halloween, Chloé had thrown a party at Le Grand Paris, to which all of their class had been invited. Alya had come up with the idea that everyone should dress up as the villains they became when they were akumatized, leaving Marinette and Adrien to dress up as Ladybug and Cat Noir. Marinette had opted for black leather and cat ears, and Adrien, coincidentally, had donned a red-and-black spotted suit. This had resulted in what could only be described as an…eventful evening. Marinette had received a visit from Cat Noir himself, who had teased her and complimented her outfit. Later, Ladybug had done the same to Adrien. The pair had finished the evening with a romantic moment on the dance floor.

'I never would have suggested you dress up as Ladybug if I'd known you were Ladybug,' Alya said, lowering her voice to a whisper. 'Sorry, girl.'

'No worries. It's not like you knew.'

'Yeah, true. I still think Adrien would have made a good Cat Noir though.'

Marinette pulled a face.

'I saw Adrien dressed up as Cat Noir when the two of us got picked for that music video, remember? It was so weird. Those two aren't alike at all.'

'Imagine it, though? It would mean he's in love with you!'

'With Ladybug, not with Marinette.'

'Maybe that's the reason he dressed up as you?' Alya suggested. 'So as not to give away his secret identity?'

Marinette scoffed.

'Yeah, right. He's just a big fan of Ladybug. He told me so.' Marinette decided to change the subject. 'Anyway…the festival. I would never admit this to Chloé, but I do think it's a good idea. It'll bring in a lot of business for the bakery.'

'No costume ideas yet then?'

'Nope. But I'll think of something.'

'We'd better get on it soon. Halloween's only three weeks away!'

Marinette still hadn't managed to think of any ideas when the time came to transform into Ladybug and meet her partner for patrol that night. Cat Noir was already on the rooftop waiting when she arrived. He was always excited to see her, but tonight he seemed especially eager to talk to her.

'M'lady!' he called out as he bounded towards her. 'I have a proposal for you.'

She sighed.

'Kitty, you're skipping steps; proposing comes after dating-'

'What? No, not that!' he reassured, waving his hands. 'For our Halloween costumes!'

She raised her eyebrows.

'Our Halloween costumes? You know we're not supposed to see each other without these costumes?' She gestured to their superhero suits.

'Yes, I know, Bugaboo. I've had one of my brilliant ideas.'

'If you say couples costumes, I'm gonna get super mad.'

'I wish I thought of that,' he muttered, then flinched under her glare. 'Umm…anyway! My idea was that we go as our second-favourite heroes!'

Ladybug tilted her head. 'Second favourite?'

'Yeah, because I'm your first favourite, and you are mine,' he clarified, 'hence second favourites.'

She thought about it. He was right, of course. Last year, she had dressed up as her favourite hero: him.

'We'd be supporting our teammates and we'll be doing it as our civilian selves. We don't need to show the outfits to one another, and it's so unlikely we'll ever meet, considering Paris is made up of millions of people.'

Ladybug paced around the rooftop for a minute, considering it. Who was her partner's favourite hero besides herself? He'd probably go as Carapace or Viperion, or one of the American heroes. And there would be plenty of Parisians dressed up as them. She wouldn't know it was him.

'You know what, Kitty,' she said, coming to a stop in front of him. 'That's not a bad idea.'

'Oh, I knew you'd think so!' He picked her up and spun her round, causing her to squeal in surprise. Her laughter echoed through the night as he put her down.

'Okay, since it means so much to you. But you're not allowed to just be a different version of me, like Dragon Bug.'

'Oh no, m'lady. As delightful as that would be, I've got something else in mind. And it's definitely not you.'

'I'm actually intrigued to know…' Ladybug gave him a curious look.

'Nope. Not telling.'

'Oh, I wasn't saying you should. And I'm not telling you mine either. But what I will tell you is…my costume will be better than yours!' And with that, she threw her yoyo and vanished into the darkness, laughing.

'Oh, it will, will it?' He extended his baton and gave chase, thrilled that she'd agreed to it. This Halloween was going to be even better than last year!

'Oh, I love this costume already! Whatever Ladybug's dressed up as, it won't be as good as this!'

Adrien's suit was silver-grey around the upper legs and torso, black on the lower legs and arms, and in between there were stripes of rosy pink. A thin, pink skipping rope was wrapped around his waist, dangling down to his ankles. The look was completed with a pink-and-grey mask and a pair of large, round grey ears. He'd even used some temporary hair dye to turn his hair black.

Plagg slapped a paw to his forehead.

'Adrien…why in the name of all the stinkiest cheese did you decide to dress up as Multimouse?'

'She's a real hero, Plagg.' Adrien stood in front of his huge bathroom mirror, turning around to admire the costume from all angles.

'And the rest aren't?'

'She's not just any hero, though. She's Marinette.' Adrien stared dreamily into space. 'One of my best friends in the whole world. She's the most wonderful person I know, besides Ladybug of course. And she hasn't just used the miraculous of the mouse. She's used nearly all of them. It takes a strong hero to do that.'

'You got that right,' Plagg said quietly enough for him not to hear. 'You're missing one small detail, kid. The only person who is supposed to know about Multimouse besides Ladybug is Cat Noir. What are you going to say to Marinette when she sees you?'

'She won't. She'll be with her friends all evening. They're having a girls' night. Nino told me.'

'Also, you're Adrien Agreste.'

'Um, yes I know my name.'

'You're famous. And whenever you're out and about, people take pictures of you and put them on social media. Marinette will see.'

'I don't look like myself. There will be huge crowds of people dressed up. I'll blend right in.'

With immense effort, Plagg fought the urge to give a cat-like shriek of frustration. That boy was far too stubborn. He'd insisted on getting this costume specially made, despite his kwami's warnings about what might happen. He narrowed his green eyes as he wondered which hero Marinette had chosen. With any luck, it'd be one of the girls on their superhero team. She was the Guardian, after all. Surely she'd be more sensible than Adrien…

Tikki flew around Marinette, trying not to give an exasperated sigh. This can only end badly, she thought.

'You're sure you don't want to go as Rena Rouge?' she coaxed. 'Or Ryuko, or Vesperia, or Pigella…'

'That's right!' Longg, Pollen and Daizzi, along with the rest of the kwamis, flew over. 'We have many wonderful holders you could dress up as. We'd even be happy for you to use our miraculous for the night.'

'All of those heroes are great teammates,' said Marinette as she tied her green wig into a ponytail. 'But there's nobody else besides Cat Noir I'd rather be. And I don't want to use a miraculous just for dressing up. I can't risk any of my friends recognising it.' She grabbed a box from her dresser. 'Ready to put the green contacts in again?'

'If you say so,' Tikki relented, helping her owner put the familiar tinted lenses into her eyes. Marinette went over to the mirror and admired her handiwork.

'I look so awesome.'

All it had taken was a few alterations to the leather catsuit and matching mask that she'd made last year for Marinette to become the perfect Cat Walker.

'He was only my partner for one night, but he was ever so charming and helpful.' She thought back to that night, how perfect her temporary partner had been and how she hadn't stopped blushing the whole night.

'You take care of everybody equally, Ladybug. Now I want to take care of you.'

Just thinking back made her blush all over again. That moment especially, with the moon forming a perfect halo of light around him, gave her a familiar fluttering in her chest and stomach that she usually associated with a certain somebody…

'He reminded so much of my perfect Adrien.' Marinette reached up and pulled a picture of Adrien off her wall with her clawed hand. She took a deep breath and released a huge, lovesick sigh, her green eyes glazing over.

Tikki frowned. She didn't like where this was going one bit.

'You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?' she asked warily.

'That Cat Walker was Adrien? It's possible. They are very much alike. And the name does suggest it could be him, since he's a model and all. Just think, that would mean Master Fu thought about giving the cat ring to Adrien! Imagine that. I would have been saving the city with him this whole time.'

'Imagine that,' said Tikki. Marinette was too busy admiring the picture to notice the underlying sarcasm in her kwami's voice. 'That would explain why you couldn't concentrate on anything all evening. You were thinking of Adrien.'

'Yeah, you're right,' Marinette admitted sheepishly, now clutching the picture to her heart.

'Marinette…if Adrien really was Cat Walker, aren't you afraid that if he sees you, he'll guess that you're Ladybug?' asked Sass worriedly.

Marinette shrugged.

'I don't know for sure that it was him. And I can always say that I was out and about that night and spotted Cat Walker and Ladybug. Or that Alya took a video of them or whatever.'

'Mmm-hmm,' Tikki replied.

'And anyway, like Cat Noir said, there are going to be millions of people out on the streets tonight. I'm going to be with all the girls. I probably won't even see Adrien. And he might not even recognise me!'

'Right.' Marinette's kwami knew it was far too late to talk her holder out of this crazy plan. 'I just hope you know what you're doing.'

'Of course I do.'

'But you still have to explain to your parents and your friends who Cat Walker is. What are you going to tell them?'

'Aha! I've thought of that too. Don't worry Tikki. I have it under control. What could possibly go wrong?'