Fanart artist: Coucher de Soleil

Adrien detransformed in his room and sunk down against his wall. Tears were streaming down his face. He had just walked away from one of the best things that had happened in his life. 

"Kid, why did you walk away from Marinette?" Plagg asked. 

"I did it to protect her. If she dates a superhero I'll just be putting her in danger. She'd always be a target for akumas," Adrien said. 

"Marinette's a strong girl, I'm sure she could handle it," Plagg said. 

"I know that... but even so, it would never work. Marinette can never know who Cat Noir is. This isn't fair to her. She's better off without me," Adrien said. 

"Adrien you and I both know that reeks of stinky cheese, and not the good kind. Marinette loves you and you love her, why are you letting her go?" Plagg asked. 

"She deserves better," Adrien said. 

"So what are you going to do then? Go back to pining for Ladybug? You were happy.  Marinette was happy. Don't you both deserve that?" Plagg asked. 

"This conversation is over Plagg," He said, threw Plagg a piece of cheese and walked away. 

Plagg watched Adrien walk away. He didn't know what to do. Adrien was the best owner he ever had. He wanted to help him, but he didn't know what to do. 

Plagg sat down on the dresser. He'd never felt so powerless in his entire life. He looked at the cheese that Adrien had thrown him before setting it aside. 

For once, he didn't have an appetite. 

Tikki was sitting by the windowsill. Marinette had finally fallen asleep after hours of crying. Tikki looked over to her. Her cheeks still stained from her tears, her eyes still red and puffy. Marinette whimpered in her sleep. 

"no... please don't... leave," She muttered. Fresh tears began falling from her eyes. 

Tikki was quiet. She flew over to Marinette and kissed her forehead. 

"Stay strong Marinette. You'll get through this," Tikki said and then curled up and went to sleep. 

The next morning when Marinette went to school, she was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. Alya was quick to notice her down mood. 

"Woah, Marinette, what happened? Yesterday you were so happy. It was sunshine and rainbows. Today it looks like a thunderstorm hit," Alya asked. 

"I... it's nothing," Marinette mumbled. 

"Girl, you and I know this is not nothing,"   Alya said. 

Marinette didn't meet Alya's eyes. 

"Okay, you're not ready to talk yet, but when you're ready, I'll be here for you," Alya said. The two of them walked into class together. Marinette slouched at her chair and laid her head in her arms. She just wanted to wake up from this living nightmare. 

Meanwhile, Adrien wasn't doing much better. He couldn't sleep at all last night, he just kept replaying Marinette's face as he was walking away. The shock and hurt that showed through her eyes were haunting him. This was all his fault. When he walked into class and saw Marinette resting her head in her arms. 

She looked so tired and drained. She shouldn't be at school, she should be at home resting. 

"Hey dude, you keep staring off into space. You good?" Nino asked.

"Yeah... things have just been a bit crazy recently,"  Adrien said and went to sit down. 

Nino looked at him with concern but knew Adrien wouldn't say anything more. The two sat down. Adrien tried to pay attention to the lesson, but it was impossible with all that was going through his head. At the end of the day, Adrien watched Mariette leave the class. He ran up to her and called out to her. 

"Marinette!" He called out. 

Marinette turned around and face Adrien and the sight made hit heart drop into his stomach. Her eyes had bags underneath them showing a lack of sleep, he could see the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. Even so, she gave Adrien a weak smile. 

"Hey Adrien, did you need something?" She asked. 

Adrien didn't know what to say. 

"Are you alright?" he asked. 

"Yeah, just a little tired," Marinette replied. 

Adrien was silent for a moment. 

"take care of yourself Marinette," He said softly. 

"Thanks, you too," Marinette said and then went home. 

The gorilla came a few minutes later and picked Adrien up. When he got home he sat on his bed. 

" Are you sure this is what you really want? You saw how bad Marinette was looking. Why are you punishing yourself?" Plagg asked. 

"She'll get over me, and when she does, she'll realize she's better of without me," He said. 

Plagg went quiet. No matter what he said Adrien wouldn't listen to him.

"You have patrol with ladybug. You should transform," Plagg said

"You're right. Plagg claws out," He said

Cat Noir got to the Eiffel tower. Ladybug wasn't there yet.  He sighed and sat down. He really needed to talk to Ladybug. She was the one person he could talk to about this whole situation. 

She arrived a few minutes later.

"Hey Cat Sorry I'm late," She said. 

"It's no problem bugaboo, I-" Cat Noir paused mid-sentence when he saw Ladybug. She looked so tired, her eyes dull. He was almost certain that beneath her mask her eyes were red and puffy from tears. He immediately forgot about all the problems he'd been dealing with and focused on her. 

"Ladybug, what's wrong?" He asked. 

"I-its nothing- wait are you alright? You look really down," Ladybug said. 

"I'm fine, besides you're more important than my small problems," Cat Noir said. 

"No, I-I'm fine Kitty," She said and offered him a weak smile. 

"C'mon, let's start patrol," She said and left before he could get out another word. He sighed and went to start patrol. 

When they both returned ladybug wasn't looking Cat Noir in the eye. 

"Well, I better get going. Good night Cat Noir," She said and was about to leave when Cat Noir grabbed her hand. 

"Ladybug, please, talk to me," Cat Noir said, his eyes pleading. 

"let's sit down," ladybug said. 

The two sat down in awkward silence for a moment before ladybug spoke up. 

"Okay, if I tell you about my problems, will you tell me about yours?" Ladybug asked

"Done," Cat Noir said. 

ladybug took a deep breath. It felt awkward talking about Cat Noir to Cat Noir, but maybe he'd help her see his side of this whole situation. 

"My boyfriend broke up with me," She said. Cat Noir's eyes widened. 

"you had a boyfriend?" He asked. 

"Yeah, it wasn't for that long, but then he suddenly broke up with me the other day. I don't even know why," She said. 

Cat Noir was silent. 

"well, he's an idiot. You're a beautiful, kind compassionate girl, who any guy would be lucky to have. You can't let him get you down," Cat Noir said 

Ladybug looked at him and gave him a weak smile. 

"Thanks, Cat. So what about you? What's got you so down?" She asked. 

"Well... I broke up with my girlfriend the other day," He said. 

"Oh... what went wrong?" Ladybug asked. 

"Well, I dated her as Cat Noir," He said. 

"oh... So why did you break up?"She asked. 

"I was putting her in danger. She means so much to me. I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt because of me," He said. 

Ladybug looked at Cat Noir. The pain was clear in his eyes. He really thought that this was the best option. 

"You really love her, don't you?" ladybug asked softly. 

"I really do," He said. Ladybug was silent for a moment before placing a hand on his cheek and turned his head to face her. 

"Kitty, you did it to protect her. I know the choice was hard, but I think you made the right choice, and it just proves what a kind, intelligent, selfless guy you are," she said. 

The two of them were staring into each other's eyes. They started leaning in and then something magical happened. 

They kissed. 

Ladybug missed the fireworks she felt when she kissed Cat Noir. In those few moments, everything was perfect. When they pulled away they were both still lost in each other's eyes. 

"Cat Noir..." she said.

"M'lady," He said. 

They rested their foreheads together. Neither one wanted this moment to end. 

Cat Noir pulled away first. 

"I-" He said, but cut himself off and walked away so his back was facing Ladybug. 

"I love you ladybug. I always have and a part of me always will, but I can't do this. Not right now, not after I just walked away from Marinette. I'm sorry, I-I have to go," Cat Noir said and then left. 

Ladybug was left there stunned. She went home and detransformed. The situation still settling in. She was eerily calm.

Tikki looked at her concerned. 

"Marinette are you okay?" she asked. 

Just then the situation settled in and Marinette and she started panicking. 

"Oh Tikki, What have I done?!" She yelled. 

"Marinette calm down," 

"I kissed Cat Noir as ladybug! He doesn't know ladybug and Marinette are the same person and so he thinks he just betrayed Marinette but in reality I just let my stupid feelings get in the way and now I may have just ruined my relationship with Cat Noir!" 

She looked at Tikki, tears threatening to spill. 

"Tikki what have I done?"