In which Chat Noir does some serious soul searching. I mean, does Ladybug really need him at all?

"Hm, I thought the clown look kinda suited ya."

Adrien suppressed a grimace, shoving the magazine to the side. Some amateur with a cellphone camera had gotten a picture of Ladybug and her latest akumatized villain, Reflecta, in mid battle, probably right before being zapped by her 'glamour ray' themselves. One part of the article had been put into bold quotes: "Where was Chat Noir?"

If you looked closely, you could see him in the background, by the blocked doors… Well, Adrien could see. To the casual observer, he was just another garish copy of Reflecta's blazing pink dress and matching updo. Luckily, in the general panic no one had noticed Chat Noir get slammed with Reflecta's ray and become essentially useless. And after that, everyone seemed to forget he was there at all…

"Shut up, Plagg," he sighed, taking the magazine and tossing it into the garbage. Plagg just shrugged and kept devouring his cheese. Adrien had to fight the urge to throw that in the garbage too.

He was being unfair. Ladybug had remembered him, even been generous enough to bring him along to the TV studio with her. He'd been able to help – a little – but it hadn't been enough. Not in his eyes. Certainly not in the eyes of the people. They noted his apparent absence from the battle with mocking curiosity.

"Is it just me, or is this becoming a habit?" he mused, pulling together his things for school. Just a few weeks before, not only had he been a useless tagalong, he'd been a flat out obstacle for Ladybug, an enemy on top of four other enemies when he was controlled by the Puppeteer. He still couldn't think back on it without visibly cringing. It could have been a disaster. Ladybug could have been hurt.

But she was too good for that. Ladybug didn't make mistakes like he did. She won.

Adrien let his backpack slide to the floor. Maybe he shouldn't go to school today. The thought had barely entered his head before he shook it off. He'd never get away with it, not with Nathalie on top of his schedule for every minute of the day. He swung his backpack up onto his shoulders and trudged down the stairs, calling back a half-hearted, "Come on Plagg, time for school."

School passed without excitement. It was always a relief to him when class wasn't interrupted by one of his peers trying to destroy the school or enslave their rivals, all under the control of the mysterious Hawkmoth. Adrien liked school. It made him feel… normal. Liked. Even needed. The fact that he no longer got that feeling from being Chat Noir only made the school day more precious.

At the end of the day, Adrien took one look at the limo waiting out front for him and halted at the top of the stairs. He couldn't go home yet. Nino had a dinner with his parents, he'd rather get the flu than hang out with Chloe, and Marinette and Alya had disappeared right after class. Wait- they're still here. Hunkered down behind the stair railing, laughing quietly about something. He almost didn't interrupt, but his dread of sitting for hours in his room alone made the decision for him. He gathered his courage and walked over, as casual as he could manage, and leaned over the railing to look at them.

"Whatcha guys doing?" he asked, resting his chin in his hand, a technique he'd learned from years as a modeler. Trying too hard? Probably.

It didn't matter, because apparently he'd scared the life out of Marinette. She fell over, babbling nonsense while Alya tried to right her again.

"Uh, I was just wondering," he plunged ahead, recovering his smile, "if either of you guys would like to get coffee or something before heading home?"

"Oh, I can't," Alya said immediately, "I have a ton of homework to catch up on. But Marinette would love to go, wouldn't you, Marinette?" she asked, slamming her fist into her friend's back a few times to stop her from choking on her own spit.

"I- ah- oh no- I mean- oh yeah!" Marinette managed, jumping to her feet. "That would be great!"

"Great!" Adrien beamed, his heart immediately lifting. "I mean, bummer, Alya, I'm sorry you can't come with. Maybe next time?"

Alya assured him she would, then without so much as a goodbye to her friend, she practically ran off down the street, laughing as she went.

For a moment, both Adrien and Marinette were lost for words. Then Adrien remembered where he was and offered Marinette another smile. "Shall we?"

"I-I do," she said softly, looking a little dazed, then suddenly blinked. "I mean, yes! We shall!"

He waved her toward the limo, then requested the driver take them to the nearest coffee shop instead. Once there, he let his chauffeur know he could walk the rest of the way home, and went inside with Marinette.

"I just wanted to say again how awesome you were, getting a special photo-op with Juleka after that whole mess with Chloe," he said, as he sat down with a huge mocha blended with ice. Marinette almost upset her tea as she hurried to thank him. "You're a really good friend," he added, once she'd steadied her cup. "And a good class president too." He was always surprised, in the best way, when Marinette took charge of problems in the classroom and solved disputes for the betterment of her peers. Considering how hard she found it to talk around him, after all. She reminded him of Ladybug in that regard, so efficient, never afraid to take charge and get things done. Compared to Ladybug, he was a joke. At least with Marinette… well, she made him feel welcome, always.

"That's really kind of you, Adrien," Marinette finally managed to say, "but I'm not that great. Alya's my vice-president, but really, I'd be lost without her."

Adrien smiled at her. She was being modest, he knew, but he didn't push it. In his head, he'd already lined up several comparisons between the two of them, and that was wrong. No matter how upset his recent failure as Chat Noir made him, it wasn't fair to drag Marinette into his baggage.

"A-Adrien? Are you all right?"

He blinked, and Marinette was there, her blue eyes wide with concern. Had he forgotten himself and made a face?

"I- ah, yeah. I'm fine," he lied. "I mean, I…" Why not confide in her, at least a little? Marinette was kind, clever, caring… "I just… I've been…" How could he phrase it without sounding completely pathetic?

He couldn't.

"I just didn't get enough sleep last night," he laughed, taking a huge swig of his drink for emphasis.

Not some of his best acting. Marinette seemed hardly convinced. He opened his mouth to change the subject, but a scream cut him off, followed by the unmistakable crash of glass exploding. Both their heads snapped up, and when they ran to the window they saw what could only be the work of an akumatized villain: three animal-like gouges across the side of a bus, and huge footprints in the demolished sidewalk, leading down the street.

"Ah-I have to go home!" Marinette cried from beside him, startling Adrien.

"What?! It's not safe outside!" He had to get away, transform into Chat Noir, find Ladybug-

His thoughts came crashing to a halt. A traitorous voice in the back of his mind demanded, Why? With his luck, he'd just get in Ladybug's way, maybe put her in danger. Would it be better to lay low, only offer his help if it looked like things were going poorly? Before he'd even finished the thought, his mind was made up. Ladybug was better off without him.

He turned to Marinette, ready to pull her under a nearby table for cover, maybe grab his phone to see if there was live feed of the incident- but she was gone. "Marinette?! Marinette!" His eyes combed the coffee shop, then the street. A flash of her black hair and pink jeans around a corner, in the direction the footprints led. Toward the danger! She was trying to run home!

Adrien grit his teeth and lunged out the door of the shop, tearing down the street after her. On the horizon, a black cloud of smoke and dust was rising. If Ladybug didn't show up soon, he'd have no choice but to transform… But first, Marinette.

The corner of her bag disappeared behind a building, but when he got there, she was gone again. Groaning, he ducked back into the shadow of an alley, crouching behind the dumpster. No choice. He had a better chance of finding her from the rooftops.

"Plagg, time to transform!" he shouted, dumping his backpack on the ground and waking his kwami. He ignored the usual complaints and donned Chat Noir's black suit, then used his staff to launch into the air and onto the roof.

He remembered Marinette lived at her family's bakery, and leaped across the rooftops in that direction. He made it all the way there without sighting her, and his stomach knotted. He backtracked, tried other routes, but there was still no sign of her. Meanwhile, the sounds of destruction were growing closer. Still no Ladybug-

A shadow fell over him, and he whirled around to see Ladybug standing there, reeling in her grappling cable. "There you are, Chat!" she cried. She looked winded. Has she been fighting this whole time?!

"I was starting to think you weren't going to show," she said, and the knife twisted in his gut.

Again, he thought.

"I wouldn't miss a chance to spend a Sunday afternoon with you, Milady," he said, missing his usual confidence by a mile.

"Enough flirting! I think the akuma is in this guy's sunglasses. Let's finish this!" And with that, she was swinging away from him, toward a towering monster in leather and shades, with huge nails like knives that he was using to carve up buildings and vehicles alike.

Chat Noir caught up just in time to see Ladybug catapult over the monster's head, snatching the sunglasses as she flew in a graceful arc, landing on the adjacent rooftop, and snapping the cursed object over her knee. She sealed the akuma, and the monster shrank back into a man, all the destruction disappearing in a swirl of magic. When she turned to him and offered her hand for their usual fist bump, he didn't return it.

"Ladybug," he said gravely. "I'm not going to be Chat Noir anymore."

She blinked, too shocked for a moment, then waved a dismissive hand. "Chat, I told you, we don't get to know each other's secret identities. If you transform back now, I'll just close my eyes." She laughed a little, and the sound cut through him. He wouldn't get to hear that sound anymore, save for news reports and the occasional interview on Alya's blog. But he also wouldn't be a liability to her anymore, and wasn't that worth the blow to his own selfishness?

"I don't mean I'm going to transform back," he said, though a small beep from his ring told him that would happen anytime now. "I mean… I quit."

The force of these words seemed to hit them both like a train. Ladybug stammered for something to say. "Wh-What? Why? Chat Noir… why would you say that? This isn't funny! If this is a joke, it's not-"

"It's not a joke! I'm no use to you anymore, Ladybug," he cried. "Maybe I was before, but… you're so much better than when we started! You're so powerful and smart. You've grown a lot, and I… well, I guess I can't keep up with you anymore. I don't want to hurt you again."

"Chat…" she begged, ever kind, ever forgiving of him when it mattered, "that's not fair! I make mistakes too. We're a team! I need you!"

For one wild moment, he almost tore his ring off right there. If she saw all that he was, just a high school kid, just a marketing ploy to his father, just a lost, scared, insecure boy who questioned whether anyone really cared about him or not… well, she wouldn't want anything to do with him. Problem solved. She didn't need his baggage dragging her down. Still, she'd forbidden them from telling their secret identities, and even now, he couldn't betray her like that.

"This is for the best, Ladybug," he said softly, and he smiled, even though it killed him. "I'm just slowing you down."

Then he turned and walked away, because he knew that she would argue and reason and tell him he was wrong, he was crazy, he was her partner and she couldn't do without him, but he knew the truth and he had to stand by it.

He'd dropped his backpack in the alley behind the dumpster, and halfway back his transformation wore off and he'd had to stick to walking. Adrien's mind was whirling so much it hurt, but the memory of Marinette stopped him dead. Had she gotten home safe?! He hadn't even made sure. Cursing, he broke into a run, grabbing his backpack without pausing, and headed back toward the coffee shop. Maybe he'd just been mistaken that she had run off, and she'd been waiting there for the smoke to clear this whole time.

He rounded the corner and slammed right into Marinette, scrambling to catch her before she fell to the pavement. He expected her to jerk away, to stammer and blush and dissolve into a nervous puddle, but when he straightened, it was so much worse. She looked up at him and met his eyes, her own swimming with tears. Her lips trembled.

"Gone…" she whispered, and then she hid her face in his shoulder and sobbed.

So I don't know if this is finished or not. I wrote this all in one sitting, it was pretty spur of the moment... and yeah. I guess feedback will help me decide, so please comment? 3