Growing Up

A Display Of Lost Hope

After running away from her problems, Marinette felt it would benefit her to go on an early patrol. Being forced to focus on her hero duties instead of everything else in her life seemed better. As she swung from building to building, she heard a loud and obnoxious honk.

"Must be traffic, should see what's going on..." She mumbled to herself. As Ladybug looked down to the street, she immediately swung into action. There, Adrien Agreste mindlessly walked right into the middle of the street and was about to get hit. "Adrien!" She shouted to try and get him out of whatever trance he was in. When he didn't respond, she managed to swoop in right before the van hit him.

 "If your looking f-for r-ransom," he stumbled, "my f-father isn't a very reasonable person so y-you won't get any money!" He crouched while in the hero's arms and tried to shield his face from the wind.

This made Marinette's heart flutter a little when he acted so innocently. "Adrien, I don't think it's appropriate for a hero to kidnap a civilian and use them as ransom." She dropped him off a couple of blocks away from the dorms at a park. She watched him squirm and blushed embarrassedly and laughed a bit.

 "H-hey LB, can I call you that? LB? No? Okay, Ladybug's fine, I'll stop now." He shifted his weight awkwardly from front to back while rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, thank you for helping me back there..." He looked at the spotted hero with a shy smile.

Ladybug stumbled back a bit because of his beauty. "Anytime Adrien. It's my duty to ensure the physical and emotional wellbeing of all Parisians." She patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Adrien called out. "Can we talk about something?" He gently held her hand, barely touching it as if it would break at the slightest pressure.

What! Adrien w-wants to talk to me about something important? Marinette jumped around in her head. Is it okay to accept? Maybe he doesn't want his friends to know and that's why he isn't talking to Nino or Alya or Felix, she questioned further. I guess I don't have a choice... "Oh, sure Adrien." She squeezed his hand and pulled him close. "Hold on tight." Putting an arm around him, she used her yo-yo to hoist them onto the roof of the nearest building. "Be warned that I'm not a professional." She sat with him on the ground.

"That's okay, all I need is someone's opinion..." He frowned. "I've gone through some trouble with my cousin..." He leaned back onto his arms.

"Can you tell me more?" Ladybug relaxed too. "Can you tell me about your overall relationship with your cousin?" Of course, she already knew all this but needed to act like she didn't.

"Well, Felix has never been the nicest person in the world, but he's basically the only family I have who cares about me in the slightest. He's not exactly a quiet person, just uninterested in most things so he comes off rude or mean."

Boy, is that Felix's only personality trait? Marinette asked herself. Being mean? "Okay, so what did you have an argument about?" She questioned. I didn't think Adrien was able to get so angry at someone... She pondered.

"There's a girl that he likes and..." He paused again. "Well, how do I say this without... The girl he likes actually likes me and it's a mess." He curled into a ball again and sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore." His shifts in movement made Marinette uneasy.

She didn't say anything. Her heart sped up as it hit her that she could possibly be the girl. She then reminded herself that it would be ridiculous if Felix liked her... Although he was getting surprisingly friendly lately. Even then, she was in no position to give Adrien advice because she 1, liked him, 2, took Adrien's side as soon as she heard Felix's name, and 3, could possibly hurt Adrien by giving him bad advice which would hurt their relationship. Choices, Ladybug sighed mentally. She didn't know what to say, so she didn't respond to him. Everything was going downhill.

How was she, Ladybug, supposed to protect every citizen's mental health if she couldn't even help her friend? She felt weak knowing that she wasn't capable. Timidly, she surveyed the cracks in the concrete below them.

Adrien interrupted the silence. "So then, he blamed me because apparently I'm her first love or something and I've 'ruined' her standards by making them too high just because I'm a generally nice person." He was getting anxious. "But maybe it is my fault because I don't like Marinette like that and maybe I've been leading her on, which would make me a terrible person, and I just want to go apologies to her." He was pacing now.

He had confirmed it. He didn't like Marinette and felt bad about it too. "...Why would you apologize to her?" Ladybug said with a blank face still looking at the ground.

"Because there have been so many guys who've walked up to her... Great guys too!" He ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean, at one point Nino liked her, but besides him, there was Nathaniel who would've been a great match for her because they connected on a creative level." He stopped pacing and slapped his face lightly. "And don't get me started on Luka." He whipped his arms through the air making gestures. "He treats her like a queen, and I've seen the way he looks at her! It's the same face Felix makes when he looks at her..." He walked back over to Ladybug and sat with her again.

It took Ladybug a second to process the information. "And then there's Felix who likes her too?" She now looked at Adrien with stone-like eyes, unable to decide what to do with that information.

"Yes, and then there's Felix. I can't tell her that he likes her because it would hurt him... But I don't know if I want her to be with Felix." He crossed his arms.

"What do you mean?" Now she was more curious than disappointed at Adrien's rejection.

"Ladybug, we all think we've grown up or are growing up in one way or another, but I don't think that's the case... I mean look at me. I can't even sort out my problems by myself." He sighed. "And Felix says that the four of us, Alya, Nino, Marinette, and I haven't changed a single bit over the years and that it's our fault but doesn't placing the blame on others make him childish too?"

As the conversation closed, Marinette finally processed everything. Adrien didn't like her back, and she would have to learn to live with that. Apparently, multiple guys over the years have wanted to be more than just a friend. Felix did like her. It was too much still. She could feel herself on the verge of tears and tried to make an excuse.

"I know you wanted to talk to me about a lot of things Adrien, and as a hero, I should be a mentor and guide the people I help towards the right path but..." Her voice cracked. "I don't know what to tell you." She quickly wiped a tear and apologized. "I shouldn't be crying, but it's hard to know I can't help you." She stood up and walked towards the edge of the building. "All I can say is, the sooner you let that girl know that she should move on, the better. I know I would appreciate it if the guy I liked did that." She motioned for Adrien to come closer so that she could drop him off.

When they reached the dorm, they couldn't bring themselves to say goodbye. Instead, Ladybug gave one more tip. "Don't force things, Adrien. Just because you don't want her with him, even if she doesn't end up with Felix, you shouldn't rejoice because you knew he was immature. Forget that he told you he liked her because you interfering with their relationship in any sort of way will only make things worse." And with that, she disappeared. 

Less than a block away, she hid in the closest alley she could find and de-transformed. After holding it in for so long, she was finally able to let all her tears out. With every passing second, she felt like she was drowning more and more. She sent Tikki back home and secluded herself in that small, dark space. The sun was already going down with a soft purple filling the sky as if to add to her mourning and lack of dignity. But in her defense, liking the same boy for more than 2 years can have a toll on someone.

"Dupain-Cheng?"