I understand that a lot of people have been reading and enjoying this story, but, unfortunately, I've decided to give up on it. I originally came up with this idea a while ago when they first introduced the concept of more miraculous into the show and I tried writing it then, but gave up and deleted it (as I've done with all of my previous fanfictions lol). I tried writing this again last year because I thought it would be something fun to do on the train to college, but got too busy and picked it up again during lockdown. As much as I would like to continue with it, as I have a fully fleshed out plan for it, I can't find any real motivation for it and have kind of written myself into a corner.

Although I do have an overall plan, I keep introducing new ideas and never develop them as far as I could and I fell like I have too many loose ends and I'm not happy with what I'm writing. This has been fun and as much as I would like to finish this story, it's hard to continue something I have little motivation to do. This was always something I've never taken particularly seriously from the start, so I feel like this was always going to happen.

I am, however, planning on starting a new project still related to "Miraculous Ladybug". As many fans are, I'm with how season three was done and have little faith in the future of the show, as characters have shown little development and the plot is still quite minimal and has little impact on the show overall. Since watching a few lot of videos on "Miraculous" (these videos by Fallen Gale /JePDL981gpA /ZndT4AOfWG0 and this video by ordinary dreamer /ZRmYiwwZkNw in particular) I've decided to write a fanfiction where I rewrite the show from the beginning.

I'm sorry if you were enjoying this story and were looking forward to seeing it through to the end, but I don't want to put something out that I'm not happy with, even if it's just a fanfiction idea I came up with when I was 15 that I picked up again because I was bored. Hopefully I'll have the first chapter of my new fanfic ready either by the end of next week, but I am going to take this one more seriously than the other ones I've written in the past.

Below is the start of the next chapter I was writing, but I couldn't work out how to finish it. If anyone would like to try to rewrite or continue this story, I don't mind so long as you credit me in some way. I would be happy to read it :).

Chapter Eighteen - Homesick

Annabelle noticed that Adrien had seemed off today. It was hard not to notice. He kept zoning out in class and he was even doing it lunch. She'd said his name a few times, but he didn't seem to notice. She kicked his leg under the table, which seemed to get his attention.

"Ow, Annabelle, what was that for?" He asked, rubbing his leg.

"You zoned out again. You've been doing it all day. Did something happen last night?"

He didn't answer, just looked down and started to zone out again. Annabelle rolled her eyes and kicked him in the other leg.

"Hey! Quit doing that." He glared at her and she glared back.

"Just be glad I'm kicking your legs and not anywhere else."

He glared at her, then sighed. "Anyway, nothing happened. I'm fine."

She rolled her eyes again and groaned. "I'm not buying that for a second." She got up and grabbed Adrien by the wrist, dragging him out of the cafeteria.

"Annabelle, what are you doing? I hadn't even finished my lunch yet," he said, trying to wrench his wrist out from her grip, but her hand wouldn't budge.

"Something's clearly wrong and you're gonna tell me what it is." She said, continuing to pull him in the direction of the locker room.

He gave up on trying to get his wrist back. Her grip was surprisingly too strong. When they got to the locker room, she sat down on one of the benches and gestured for him to do the same.

"So, what is it?" She asked.

"I told you it's nothing. I'm fine." He sighed. "Anyway, if you really think something's wrong, don't you think you're being a bit too blunt about it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "First of all, still not buying it and second, you were exactly like this to me when I wouldn't go to school."

Adrien wanted to argue with her, but knew she was right and it would make him sound like a hypocrite if he did.

He sighed. "It's Marinette. It's been bugging me for a while, but I don't think she likes me. Whenever I see her or try to talk to her, she always seems uncomfortable or tries to avoid me. Alya and Nino have told me that she doesn't hate me, but sometimes it's hard to believe them. I've known her for nearly a year and I've barely had a proper conversation with her once."

Annabelle just started at him. Is this kid an idiot? She thought. Maybe he just isn't good at noticing this kind of thing.

"Are you sure she doesn't like you and it's not, I don't know, something else?" She asked, hoping he would get what she was hinting at. He didn't.

He shook his head. "She's always so confident around everyone, even Chloé and Lila. She gets on so well with everyone else. It's just me." He sighed. "She only acts like normal around me when I'm Cat Noir."

"What?" She interrupted. "How often are you around her as Cat Noir?"

"Well, I've saved her a few times and sometimes I visit her on her balcony."

"She has a balcony? That's so cool." Annabelle shook her head and focused. "Not the important part. Why do you visit her? Isn't that a bit weird?"

"I visit you all the time as Cat Noir."

"Yeah, but that's different. I know who you are. She doesn't. Doesn't she find it strange that a superhero sometimes randomly joins her on her balcony at night?"

Adrien has never thought about it like that before. He'd always seen her as Marinette, the girl from her class, but she'd never send to find it strange that a superhero would visit her. He'd always enjoyed her company too much to think about it.

"I guess that is a bit weird when you put it like that..." He paused, then smirked. "Anyway, why do you care so much? Are you jealous?" He teased.

"What? No, of course not…" She laughed nervously and averted his gaze. She could feel her cheeks getting warmer again.

He laughed. "I'm only kidding, don't worry,"he said, noticing her discomfort, but clearly misinterpreting it.

Annabelle sighed. She knew she had to sort out her feeling, but didn't want to right now, so she tried to change the subject.

"Is that all that was bothering you, or was there something else? You've seemed a bit out of it for a while now," she asked him.

Adrien looked down and his face turned sombre. He remained silent, but it was very clear that something was on his mind.

"It's ok, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She became worried that she had stumbled onto something she shouldn't have.

"No, it's fine," He responded flatly. "It's just…" He sighed. "I've never told you this before, but a few years ago, my mum disappeared and it's her birthday next week."

Annabelle didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth to speak, but decided it would probably be better if she just stayed quiet and listened.

He continued. "I really miss her and the more I miss her, the more I want to spend time with my father, but… Well, I've already told you that I hardly see him. I just wish that he wasn't so controlling with my life, especially when he's barely even a part of it and I know he probably misses mum just as much as I do, but sometimes it seems like he doesn't care about anything at all."

Tears began to form in his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face Annabelle. She still didn't say anything, but gave him a comforting smile. He smiled back weakly and pulled her into a hug. She was surprised by this and gingerly wrapped her arms around him. She really hoped he couldn't feel her heart beating faster.

"Thank you," he said, hugging her tighter.

"It's ok."

The hug lasted a lot longer than she was expecting and when it started to seem like it wasn't going to end, she decided to say something.

"Do you want to go back to lunch now?"

Adrien pulled away and looked at the time. "Lunch is nearly over. We should probably head to class."

The two of them left the classroom, Annabelle's pulse finally beginning to return to normal. She knew she really needed to get her emotions under control, but that wasn't what her mind was focusing on. Listening to Adrien talk about his parents made her realise how much she missed hers. She was going to say something, but she didn't think it was right to talk about her problems instead of Adrien's. His seemed a lot more serious than hers. She was only a little bit homesick. It wasn't a big deal.

Adrien decided to take Annabelle's advice. At the end of the day, he decided to talk to Marinette. As per usual, she jumped when she saw him approaching which disheartened him, but he didn't give up.

"Hey Marinette, can I talk to you for a sec?"

She looked at Alya nervously, who smirked and pushed her towards her crush. "Ah! Uh.. yeah sure…"

They moved to somewhere that was out of ear shot from the others before Adrien began to talk. He sighed.

"I know that I've asked you this before and Alya and Nino have told me otherwise, but I just feel like sometimes it seems like you don't like me and I just wanted to ask you if that was true. It's ok if it is, you don't have to spare my feelings."

Marinette just stared at him in shock for a while. It looked like she was trying to say something, but was struggling to form the words.

"Marinette?" He was starting to get concerned.

"I-I… uh… w-what?" She finally stuttered out. "You think I don't like you? W-why?"

"Well, I mean, you always seem so uncomfortable around me, but you're always so much more confident around everyone else, so I thought you must not like me. Is that not true?"

"No! Of course not! I…"

Now seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally confess to him, but Marinette was too nervous and stumbled on her words, saying something intelligible. Adrien looked at her confused and she exhaled, trying to calm herself down. If she didn't do it now, she was never going to find the right time to do it again. She breathed in and out once more and made direct eye contact with her crush.

"Adrien, I like you."

He smiled. "Really?"

She nodded. She was internally screaming at what she had just told him, but trying really hard not to let it show.

"I'm glad that you don't hate me. Sorry, for doubting that we weren't friends."

Marinette's face fell. He didn't understand what he meant. She knew that she needed to correct him, but she felt too dejected to do it.

"Yeah… friends…"

She smiled at him meekly and said goodbye, wishing him a good weekend. As she watched him walk away, she could feel tears forming in her eyes, but tried her best to hold them back until he had gone. She felt like such an idiot.

She felt someone bump into her from behind. It was Annabelle.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "I wasn't looking where I was going... Are you ok, Marinette?"

"I'm fine." She sniffed and pushed her way past her, no longer able to hold back the tears.