Adrien twirled his miraculous ring between his fingers, sitting on the edge of the roof. Plagg glanced up at him uncertainly, and tried to think of something that might calm his typically optimistic holder.

"Adrien, I..." Plagg started over to whisper over his shoulder.

"She said she doesn't need me Plagg," Adrien replied, looking off at the skyline of Paris rather than his kwami or the ring.

"She doesn't really mean that! Of course she needs you! You're Chat Noir and Ladybug, Ladybug and Chat Noir," Plagg tried to break through to him, but Adrien's deadpan expression didn't change.

"She might need someone to toss a cataclysm around once in a while, but she doesn't need that person to be me," Adrien shrugged despondently. "This ring, you, that is all that anyone would need to step into my shoes...and they wouldn't mess things up, and annoy Ladybug with their constant need to express their undying love for her," he ranted bitterly.

"Kid, snap out of it! You're gonna get yourself akumatized talking like this," Plagg warned, scanning the sky for rouge purple butterflies. "How bout' you say the word, and transform, then we can race around the roof tops and go cataclysm something...that'll make you feel better!"

Adrien shook his head.

"Binge watch movies till we pass out?!"

Adrien shook his head.

"Eat a mountain of cheese?"

Adrien lifted an eyebrow at Plagg. "That would only make you feel better," Adrien said with the hint of the briefest of smiles, but Plagg still felt a twinge of victory in this more typical 'Adrien' response.

"But you love to make me happy!" Plagg zipped up in front of him, pulling out a truly heart melting pair of baby-doll eyes, only reserved for the most desperate of bargaining situations.

Adrien sucked in his lower lip, in an effort to cling to his melancholy, but it was no use. His mischievous kwami knew just how to bring him out of his own head, and in his own way show he cared. Adrien rolled his eyes, and let out a deep sigh, as if he had been holding his breath forever. "Fine, fine...I'll get you your cheese, then will you just let me wallow in peace?!"

"Oh, come on, do you really want to just let Ladybug's lapse of judgement make you miss out on enjoying abondance, emmenthal, Comté, Roquefort, and of course my creamy Camembert, cascading down around us...Plagg temporarily let his visualization of this cheese mountain run away with him, and his mouth lulled open, phasing out into a fantasy of cheese landslides.

Adrien stared at Plagg incredulously. Here was one of the most powerful powers of the universe, the kwami of destruction itself, sidetracked by a dairy product. "Yeah, I think I'll pass..." Adrien stood from his perch, and walked back toward the stairs.

Plagg shook his head, and flew after Adrien, "I'm serious! You can't let her get to you. She is not the final word on your self worth! Just because she is so blind to see that you're the Camembert she's been drooling over for years, and leaves you on the shelf...well that just means you have more time to age to ultimate perfection!"

Adrien stopped, and shook his head at Plagg. "So now I'M the 'cheese of her dreams?!' Yeah right. More like I'm the stinkn' Epoisse de Bourgogne that no one wants!"

"Hey, don't knock Epoisse de Bourgogne! If you give it a chance it's pungency and sharpness can only be appreciated by those who truly take the time to acknowledge it's unique qualities," Plagg defended.

"It is so foul, it's banned on French public transport," Adrien stared Plagg down.

"A travesty," Plagg stared back, unblinkingly.

The standoff ended with Adrien groaning, and continuing down the stairs, sinking back into the pain of his continued rejection. "My point is, no matter what I do, she just doesn't want me. She says she trusts me...but she doesn't tell me her secrets. She says she'd never abandon me, but as soon as I'm unavailable she can just drop in one of countless of weilders to oust me. She said...she said, I was just another one of her partners...did I just imagine the connection we had before...have I really just been holding her back? Getting in her way?!"

"Just stop beating yourself up already!" Plagg zoomed into his path. "You are the best Chat Noir I have ever had...and that's saying something! You shouldn't try to change yourself just to please someone who is missing out on how amazing you already are!"

"Change myself..." Adrien said quietly. "What if I could start over and be the partner she's always wanted! I would be there to support her, take the weight off being guardian, keep things professional, without my feelings for her getting in the way!"

"No...I said don't change...ahh...are you even listening...don't you make that face...you are so not bringing Fluff or Sass in on this!" Plagg protested.

"I'm not going to mess with time and cause some irreversible damage to the space time continuum or something," Adrien brushed off his kwami's concerns. "I just need to rebrand my Chat Noir image...have a rewrite of my character...have Ladybug see me in a different way..."

"I don't like where this is going at all!" Plagg crossed his tiny arms with a pout.

"...and a new costume. One that with make me look like a whole new person. My hair will need to change, otherwise she'll recognize me for sure. Maybe a costume that is more charcoal grey...one without a cute little bell..."

"But you love your cute little bell!" Plagg gasped.

"You're missing the point Plagg. The old Chat Noir me...well, that was all about the kind of hero I wanted to be, but if I'm going to be the Chat Noir that Ladybug needs...one she wants to have at her side...someone she can respect...well...I guess I've figured out by now that I need to be someone else.

"Pff!" Plagg grumped. "A costume change isn't want you need! She needs the blinders off and she needs to take the stick out of her a..."

"Ladybug has adapted to being the guardian...why shouldn't I grow up too!" Adrien cut him off. "This is it Plagg! This will be a fresh start for both of us!"

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I just started this story, and am wondering if any of you would be interested in seeing a different take on Chat Noir "reinventing himself and how Ladybug reacts to a "new" black cat weilder? I'd hate to see Chat Noir change, but Ladybug has been taking him for granted. Time to shake things up! Please Like or follow or even leave a review if you'd like more chapters;)

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I did not create Miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir, I just love the show.