The fight was over. Ladybug was standing by his side still; the others were gone. Four minutes. Four minutes to talk to her before she inevitably slips out of your sight once more. He saw her out of the corner of his eye straightening and turning to him. He turned to her, and she smiled slightly. Then she took out her yo-yo and was about to swing away.
"Wait!" he lunged towards her and grabbed her forearm. "Why were you late today? Is there something I should be worried about?"
"Cat, I'm fine," Ladybug assured, looking a little ticked off.
Cat Noir scrunched up his face but did not let go of her arm. "M'Lady, we're partners, aren't we?" She gave a slight nod along with eyes searching his face. "Then I think you should be honest with me. What was wrong?"
It was her turn to scrunch up her face, and she huffed to herself, then glared at him. "Cat Noir, let go of me. I'm in no mood, and my Miraculous will run out of energy soon."
He fixed her with a stern look and stood his ground. How much do you really know about her? "Then you better explain quickly."
"Really? Fine," she turned to face him sharply, anger and some other emotion in her gaze. "I'm not always going to be there, Kitty. You can't rely on me so completely. I'm not sure if you have a life, but I have one. I have so many responsibilities that I have to juggle along with this, and I'm inexperienced! I'm not perfect! Heck, I'm not even close. I'm just a baker's klutzy daughter. I'm probably going to get all of Paris in trouble, so just leave me alone. I know when I'm messing up, so I don't need you to inform me of all my mistakes too."
Then she yanked her arm roughly away from his relaxed grip and swung off in a huff. Cat Noir scrambled off to an alleyway where he could be Adrien again. There was a small flash of light and he was normal again, with a tiny spirit begging him for cheese. He ignored Plagg though and gazed out from the alley in the direction of Ladybug. What did I do? I shouldn't have let Marinette's thinking worm it's way into my head. Marinette… she said basically the same things about Ladybug, didn't she?
His eyebrows fell heavy over his eyes and his thoughts wandered out in different directions, trying to find the frayed ends of the pieces of evidence his mind had gathered in order to tie this conundrum together.
"Oh, Tikki, I'm so stupid. I shouldn't have told him anything when we were together in that room. And then I exploded, and so obviously. Ladybug isn't supposed to act that way! I'm just so stupid sometimes." Her legs were dangling over the edge of a building. She was sort of far away from her house, and she did not really care if someone saw her and wondered what she was doing on the roof of a four story house.
Tikki was perched on her knee with a empathetic look on her face. "Oh, Marinette… Don't say that. You have to remember, you are Ladybug! There's no difference, besides the fact that you keep on acting like you're different than Ladybug. The Miraculous is something you earned! You're not stupid; you're smart, brave, and capable. Cat Noir was right when he said those things about you- and it's both yous; Ladybug and Marinette!"
Marinette's lips turned up into a half-cocked, sad smile. "Thanks Tikki. I just sometimes wish things were easier. Sometimes it's just… so much pressure."
Tikki flitted up to her shoulder and shared a helpful smile. "I know Marinette. But I also know you can do it."
Marinette smiled again, but it was more hopeful; more happy. Yes, she could do it. I'll continue on from here. It's the only thing to do. One step at a time, that's how the world goes. She stared out into the distance. Across the buildings of Paris, she could see the sun starting to set. And for a second, she believed she almost glimpsed Adrien's face peeking out from the shadows of a far-off alley.
A/N: I know some people wanted more from this story, so after getting some advice, I decided to wrap it up with a bit more. I'm not completely satisfied, but I hope it's fine. I know it's still open-ended, but I don't think I'm going to continue it since I have other things I'm writing. I also don't really feel like I want the story to end in a perfect bow. So it's over now. But I will be writing more Adrienette/Ladynoir/etc.