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Determination

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

Once everything was back to normal, Ladybug walked up to Lila and unceremoniously removed the Fox Miraculous from around her neck.

"Thank you so much for saving me!" Lila said in response. "You always do such an amazing job, Ladybug!"

"Uh huh," she murmured, not fooled by her predictable lies. "I hope you have a good night." And she turned her back on the girl and walked away.

Left behind, a snarl curled on Lila's lips before she left to go home.

Ladybug went straight to Chat Noir.

"Yet another one retrieved, M'lady," he told her after their traditional fist bump.

"I can't believe we're actually doing it. We're actually getting them back, one by one. Just like you said."

"Did you seriously doubt me?" he asked teasingly.

A laugh. "Maybe the tiniest little bit," Ladybug admitted. "But I shouldn't have. I should have known that you were right."

"Well, I was bound to be right at least once in all of my nine lives."

More laughter. "Yeah I guess so."

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of beeping.

Ladybug hesitantly smiled at him. "You got a minute?"

"I always have a minute for you, M'lady," Chat Noir purred.

"Awesome, I'll race you there," she said, taking out her yo-yo.

He quickly took his baton and they flew to the nearest rooftop. Without saying a word, they sat back to back.

"Spots off." After a moment, she spoke again. "You can go ahead too."

"I don't need to recharge. I never used my power this time."

"Right," Marinette said, feeling dumb. "Of course."

Silence.

"But," Chat Noir said, "I suppose that Plagg must still be pretty hungry, and I don't want him to be mad at me later. So I think I should detransform anyway."

Marinette smiled to herself.

"Claws in."

She gave him some time to take care of Plagg. "So uh, did you find a holder for the Mouse yet?" she finally asked.

Adrien sighed. "No. I thought that I had the perfect person, but it didn't work out."

"Didn't work out?"

"He said no," Adrien continued in explanation.

"Oh, well sometimes these things happen. Don't stress about it, Kitty. I'm sure eventually you'll find an even better perfect person for the job."

"Thanks. So how about you? Did you find someone for the Pig?"

"I ended up giving it back to the same person," Marinette explained. "I mean, no one knows her identity except us. She was never exposed like Rena or Carapace, so I figured it would be fine."

He nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Yeah."

They let some time go by as they sat there in silence. Then Marinette continued. "Are you okay keeping the Mouse Miraculous until you find someone? Or do you want me to hold onto it?"

"I'll keep it, M'lady. I'm sure I'll find someone soon."

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Adrien stared up at the ceiling as he lay in bed that night. He couldn't let Ladybug down; he had to find the right person to give the Miraculous to.