A huge thanks to the Anon on tumblr for requesting this!
Got a little longer than I originally planned, though :D
Enjoy~

"You got this, girl.", Alya tried encouraging her but Marinette's knees wouldn't stop shaking.

"A-Are you sure, though?", she replied, pulling her shoulders further up, "I-I mean, maybe I should just let it be and-… And maybe just move on and-…"

Alya sighed, wrapping an arm around Marinette's shoulders and leaning her head against hers.

"You sounded so sure on the phone. You don't have to do anything but you really worked up the courage to finally confess to him. Besides…", she sighed, "It's been going on for so long already. At some point you gotta tell him."

Marinette nodded slowly and even allowed herself to smile but tensed up again as the bell rang. Showtime, now or never.

"Okay, I'll try. I-If I can't confess we can just talk, right? That's a start?"

Her best friend squeezed her shoulder and nodded, grinning widely.

"Yeah! That's the right mind. Now c'mon, I'll wait outside, yeah?"

The girl gave her a last nod, then she quickly grabbed her bag and ran outside to meet Nino who was already waiting for her. He had actually been the one to tell Marinette Adrien would still get his sports bag from the lockers after the lessons, to get a moment alone with him. She would have to thank him later, she reminded herself.

But for now, she busied herself on her locker, waiting for Adrien. Out of nervousness she didn't even notice him approaching her, already starting to smile.

"Hey, Marinette!"

"Huh, woah! Uhm-… Adrien!", the girl turned to him with a jolt, slamming her head on the locker door. The blonde immediately furrowed his eyebrows.

"You okay? That looked like it hurt. Want me to take a look if your head's okay?"

She quickly shook her head, clenching her jaw at the stinging pain. But her courage was seeping out of her like water out of a sieve so she had to be fast.

"Uhm, n-no, I'm fine! I just-… I was waiting for you.", the words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly that she could obviously see Adrien struggling to keep up. Speak slower, she noted, feeling her heart beating up in her throat.

"Oh, uh-…", he mumbled, then regained his composure and smiled again, too polite to ask after her head again since she obviously wanted to tell him something, "Why did you wait for me? Did you want to talk to me?"

"Y-Yeah…", Marinette forced herself to talk slowly, now finally coming a bit to ease. Not looking at his eyes helped, "I, yeah, I wanted to talk to you. See, uhm-… It's totally fine if-… If it's not that way and-… Whatever you say I'll, uh, and-"

He chuckled, his hands now gripping the strap of his bag and leaning back. He was obviously relaxed. How was he so relaxed?!

"Is everything okay?", he asked in a bemused tone, probably because she was mumbling so incoherently. She knew he'd never laugh at her, that's what made him so perfect.

"Uhm, yeah, sorry… So, uh, Adrien, uhm-… I-…", she panicked. Her heartrate went up to beat at lightspeed and her head felt like it was filled with wool. Her chest was beginning to heave up and down and she found it hard to breathe so she pulled up her shoulders and squinted her eyes, just letting the words tumble out of her mouth as if she stood in front of her mirror at home, "… I'm in love with you!"

She didn't dare opening her eyes again. Actually, she never planned on opening them again. She didn't want to, not after her rushed confession. She had admired him for over a year now and then she just stumbled over her words to get her second biggest secret out within a few seconds of talking to him.

She knew she had messed up when she felt his hand on her shoulder and flinched.

"I'm so sorry, Adrien, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to pressure you or anything and you don't have to pay it any mind and I just wanted you to know and I'm so, so sorry, I-", she rambled, her eyes still closed. His second hand came to her other shoulder and she forced herself to bit on her lip, stopping her flood of words. Finally, she opened her eyes again.

A tiny part wished he would smile. Maybe even look at her fondly, confess his undying love to her. She knew it was a hopeless hope.

"I-… I'm sorry, Marinette.", she saw the honesty shining in his green eyes, "I-… I appreciate you as a friend and-… I'd be really sad if-… If this would somehow, well, break something but-…"

She pressed her lips together as he leant back again, his expression so sorry but also so far away as his hand came up to scratch the back of his head.

"Well, I-… I'm already in love with someone else… I'm so sorry, Marinette, really. I really like you and I-… You're awesome and really cool but-… I'm really sorry."

She breathed through, as the first thing. The wool in her head began to rustle and rush in her ears. Then she nodded, mechanically, tears shining in her eyes. She felt warm, too warm, as she nodded, forcing a smile.

"Oh, okay. Y-Yeah, that's okay. No, don't, uhm-… It's alright. I'll see you tomorrow in school, then!"

He seemed like he wanted to hold her back, say something else, but she already rushed past him, the first tear rolling down her cheek. As she was outside the locker room she realized Alya would be waiting for her outside of the school. She honestly didn't want to see anyone right now but she would have to smile that through.

So she straightened her shoulders, clenching her teeth. She wanted to be home when Adrien came out of the school, having grabbed his stuff, so she had to brush Alya off fast.

Her mind went on autopilot. The tears flowed down her cheeks but she didn't even notice them through the dull feeling of the wool, the heavy pressure on her chest. She forced a smile and kept her head down as she already went down the stairs outside of the school.

Smile through it, then it'll be over fast.

"Marinette?", Alya asked, already sounding worried. Marinette kept her head down until she could anymore since she stood right in front of her best friend, Nino right behind her. So she looked up, the face of her friend in front of her clouded by unstoppable tears. Her smile wavered.

"It's okay.", she repeated, the same phrase she had already said to Adrien, "I never had any chances anyway."

"Oh Marinette…", Alya begun, attempting a hug but Marinette quickly took a step to the side, ducking out beneath her arm.

"Uhm, no, just, uh-… I'll go home. It's okay, it's alright. I mean, I didn't expect anything else.", she continued as she walked backwards, keeping up her smile with clenched teeth, "It's, uh, it's okay. Bye!"

The last thing she remembered before finding herself crying on her bed, curled up beneath her blanket, was turning and running.

Of course, Hawkmoth had decided to use this horrible day.

Marinette's head felt light and heavy at the same time from too much crying, her limbs were unwilling to cooperate and her throat was blocked. Her nose was runny, her eyes swollen and her bump hurting with a stinging pain and still, still she had to go out and fight that damn Akuma.

She didn't even care what kind of Akuma it was.

She just wanted to go home and suffer alone in her bed. She didn't want to see anyone, especially not Chat Noir, the other boy who had a special place in her heart. She couldn't put up with his flirts right now.

With a brief transformation, Marinette was out, scowling at everything and everyone on her way to the Akuma. Some kinda disappointed worker, apparently, was fired too early or some stuff.

She decided she would do this fast.

"Well hello there, my la-", Chat Noir begun as he touched down next to her on the roof but as she kept her gaze firmly on the Akuma beneath them she felt him hesitate, "… Ladybug?"

She finally turned to him, hearing him gasp more than seeing it. Apparently, her transformation hadn't gotten rid of her horrible state but she didn't really care.

"Let's get this over with.", she harshly said, already wanting to engage the Akuma into a fight but Chat's hand held her back. Softly but firmly.

"What's up?", he asked, oh so innocently, "Did-… Did something happen?"

"Nothing that you need to be bothered with.", she snapped but his face stayed worried and determined.

"Ladybug, I see that you cried. You're still crying."

She lifted a hand to her cheek and as she eyed her gloves her fingertips were wet. Just when she thought she had run out of tears.

"It's okay.", she huffed, freeing her arm from his grip.

"Did someone die?", he now asked, almost sounding scared. Ladybug hugged herself and looked away, then she lowered her gaze.

"… Might as well…", she finally mumbled but shook her head, breathing through and squaring her shoulders, "We got an Akuma to fight, Chat Noir."

He couldn't hold her back a second time as she jumped off the building, throwing out her yoyo to swing past the Akuma and come to a halt in front of them. He followed her suit, though.

"Wrong day, Hawkmoth. Free this civilian and let's be done with it today.", she heard herself say but after the short conversation with Chat Noir she felt even duller than before. The Akuma snarled something, Chat Noir retorted with a side glance at her and suddenly, they were in a fight. The Adrenaline rushed through her body as she jumped out of the way of an attack but she was exhausted. Crying had taken a lot out of her, as well as dehydrated her pretty bad. Her vision was swimming and spinning as she found herself rolling over the asphalt, only to be scooped up by Chat Noir a second later. He lifted her up to a roof and set her down, furrowing his eyebrows beneath his mask.

"Stay here. You can't fight right now. After this, we'll talk."

Well, he could dream on.

As soon as he had left the roof she already readied her yoyo, throwing it out to swing across the street onto the other roof. There, she followed the street down and jumped behind the Akuma who was currently busy holding off Chat Noir. Her partner saw her and scowled but she didn't care.

"Hey, here!", she yelled, black spots already dancing in her eyes.

The Akuma whipped around and shot something at her, causing her to jump out of the way. Her vision was blacking out momentarily now but she bit her lip, shaking her head. Another attack came her way and she jumped another time, coming to a halt next to her partner.

The way he looked at her, angry and irritated, infuriated her.

"What's the plan?", she asked, stubbornly keeping her gaze on the Akuma.

"Keeping you out of this!", Chat replied but she rolled her eyes and dodged another attack by spinning her yoyo as a shield.

"Not a good plan.", she snapped at him, then surged at the Akuma. Their gazes met and she gulped as he readied his hand, taking an offensive stance. Suddenly, she realized – what was there to fight for?

Sure, she had family, she had friends, but-… She felt so empty. So disappointed, so-… Hopeless.

Adrien had rejected her. She had been courageous, she had confessed and he had rejected her. The love of her life and just like this, she had lost it.

The pens, becoming deadly projectiles as the Akuma created them to shoot at her, closed in. She didn't dodge. She couldn't.

He had rejected her. She would never ever be happy again, she just knew. Adrien loved someone else.

A sharpened pencil went through her shoulder and she cried out. Another hit her stomach, then her chest. It took multiple more to force her to the ground.

She wheezed as blood began flowing. As the world swam more rapidly than before, as Chat Noir's screams finally went through to her. She dropped to her knees, then fell over. Her face made an impact on the asphalt but she didn't feel it.

A shadow rushed past her, a loud scream over her wheezing. She closed and opened her eyes again and suddenly Chat Noir was beside her, grabbing her yoyo from her trembling, clenching hands.

He cried out, something flashed. He had apparently discovered that their weapons wouldn't work with their partner. The yoyo clattered to the ground next to her and she squinted her eyes again, then she felt him turning her head to let his claws come close to her ears. She tried stopping him, warning him that it wouldn't work, scolding him to be so rash with their identities as she already felt the warm light of the transformation rushing over her body.

Chat gasped and she closed her eyes again as she heard a high scream from her Kwami.

As she opened her eyes for the last time she saw Adrien crying above her. He held her close, held her firmly, and was crying so heartbreakingly. His ears were bleeding and her Miraculous missing.

But she didn't question any of that. The only thing that mattered to her was that Adrien was crying.

"… H-… Hey…", she forced out, her voice breaking. His eyes snapped open and he immediately got a hold of her head, to be able to look at her.

"Marinette, Marinette, I'm so sorry!", he immediately wailed, his tears dropping onto her cheeks, "I-… I'm so sorry, So sorry I wasn't fast enough… I-I'm so sorry I rejected you, I'm so sorry, I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you, I fell in love with you as Ladybug. You're Ladybug and I failed to realize, I'm so, so sorry, please, please forgive me!"

His rushed stammering didn't seem to take an end sometime. He spoke of himself as Chat Noir and how he had fallen in love with her and how she was Ladybug and how he had tried to save her by taking her Miraculous and transforming to capture the Akuma and purify it. It had worked but he hadn't managed to call for the healing light. How sorry he was he made her cry.

But she didn't care.

The only thing that mattered was that Adrien was crying.

"… Sh-… Shhh…", she tried, lifting an incredibly heavy hand to brush over his cheek. Her gloveless fingers left a trail of blood on his skin and he clenched his teeth but she didn't care. One by one, she brushed his tears away, again and again, before her hand fell. The floods on his cheeks wouldn't stop.

"Marinette… Marinette, please… The ambulance will be here in a few seconds… Please stay with me… I need you, I need you so badly… Please, Marinette!"

The girl barely managed a smile, her body already feeling light. Her head would've dropped already if he hadn't held it and her muscles gave up on her.

The smile on her lips wavered, then she blinked. Something sounded weirdly rattling, she couldn't pinpoint what it was. He seemed to panic and frantically waved for something as his attention was caught by something down the street. But she focused on him alone, his jaw, his face.

He was Chat Noir, hm?

So he had really loved her. And she had loved him. But they had both been too blind.

He briefly looked down to her, saying something but she couldn't hear it. He watched her for a bit then he began screaming, looking up again.

She couldn't bear leaving in the moment he would look at her. She wouldn't be able to do that to him.

His gaze found hers again and she blinked, hinting to a smile but not managing more. He nodded, said something else, held her with him. She would maybe even have a chance if he wouldn't stop looking at her. She knew he waved for help that had arrived.

His green eyes were so full of regret and sorrow, sadness and fear. Her gaze jumped as he brushed over her cheek, a faint feeling against al the numb.

Then he looked up once more. Just as his eyes were gone, she went along with them.

Her breath stopped, her muscles that she had unknowingly still tensed relaxed and her heart stopped beating. Her vision went out and the last thing she heard was a scream as if she was under water, then she stopped.