We are officially one week in! Yay! I had a thought to make this one super fluffy, but I got hit with a bucket of inspiration and had to change it up a little. So, I hope you enjoy this unorthodox Ladrien!                                                                                     -Colorado

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It sucked being Ladybug sometimes. She watched as her partner leapt away, cheering with delight. She wasn't sure how he could still be so happy after what had just happened. She looked down at the bouquet in her hand, yellow roses with white tulips. It was an apology, although she should be the one apologizing. Ladybug hated rejecting him, but it was necessary. They couldn't possibly date as superheroes, it would be too dangerous! Plus they wouldn't be able to go on dates, or meet each other's families, it just was a bad idea all around.

That didn't stop her from thinking about it though.

With a heavy sigh, Ladybug turned away. She didn't want to go home yet though, and she wasn't about to detransform. She knew that Chat Noir had recommended taking runs around Paris before. It felt a bit too leisurely for her taste, however. Ladybug was for business only, not for running around Paris.

'There's nothing wrong with an extra patrol or two.' She reasoned with herself.

Yeah! That's all it was, a patrol. She definitely wasn't trying to avoid talking with Tikki or trying to distract herself from what had just happened. Yeah, definitely not. 

Oh, who was she kidding?

She was totally trying to not focus on what just happened. Because that would mean thinking about her feelings, and those were too much of a jumbled mess for her to sort through them. Why was love so hard?

Ladybug began to swing away, trying to pay attention to anything that would catch her eye. However, she was afraid that her heart wasn't set on a patrol. Her thoughts kept on going back to the events of the afternoon, and just what it meant to her.

It had started out normal, with her and Chat Noir doing one of their patrols. However, the afternoon in Paris was way too hot to be running around in full body suits and she allowed Chat Noir to talk her into getting ice cream. They had ended up sharing a singular ice cream cone and eating it near the Seine. It felt too much like a date to Ladybug, but Chat Noir looked so happy like that. However, some pictures of their outing fell into the wrong hands and now the tabloids were awaiting their public announcement. Ladybug had expected Chat Noir to make light of the situation, but instead he stopped their outing and got her flowers.

'Apologies and friendship.' Ladybug remembered, starting down at the flowers.

It was different from their usual routine, and it had a hole forming in Ladybug's stomach. 

But it didn't make any sense.! If anything, shouldn't she be glad that Chat Noir is making an effort to not flirt with her as much anymore? By any logic, that should be the thing that she wanted! However, Ladybug could sense that wasn't it. She was disappointed that he wasn't flirting with her and she couldn't figure out the reason for her life. Was it just because she hated change? Or was it because she wanted him to flirt with her? And if she wanted him to flirt with her, that created a whole new slew of problems.

Ladybug was so wrapped up in her head, she didn't notice her companion until she ran straight into him.

"Ah!" She cried, failing back.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Whoever she had just ran into offered out his hand and Ladybug looked up only to find...

"Adrien?" She could hardly believe her eyes. "What are you doing up here?" She was still on the rooftops, the surrounding noise told her there was a cafe on the lowest level.

"Oh, I needed to grab something to eat, but due to paparazzi I had to sneak out to the roof." He explained sheepishly.

"Oh."

"What about you? Is there an akuma?"

"No, no akuma. Just patrol."

'And trying to figure out who I'm actually in love with.'

"I saw that you were hanging out with Chat Noir earlier today." Adrien prompted, and Ladybug felt her cheeks heat up.

"Oh, you saw that? Yeah, we wanted to get some ice cream. Of course, people always have to blow things out of proportion. Chat Noir and I are best friends, but that's all we are. Which is something that people somehow don't get even though we've explained it hundreds of times!" She let out a huff. "Uh, sorry, I don't mean to share anything you don't want to hear."

"No, no, I get it. Pretty much any time I'm seen with a girl, no matter the occasion, rumors start flying about us dating. It always sucks."

There was a funny feeling in her stomach as she watched her ex-crush talk about dating so casually. Ever since getting over him things had been different. At least, when she was Marinette she felt a lot different. The stuttering was nearly gone, she no longer felt that jealous rage whenever he was seen with another girl alone, and she'd stopped daydreaming about their future as much. Marinette felt more confident, mature, and better than ever. No longer tied solely to a boy, she was able to spend more time with friends and family. Her relationship with a lot of her classmates had strengthened now that she wasn't obsessed with him anymore. She hadn't had to deal with Lila in months! Life was just so much better now that she wasn't pining after him.

"Yeah..." She sighed, sitting down. "It's even worse when it's common knowledge that one party likes the other."

"I've been in that situation a couple of times." Adrien sat down next to her. "But, you and Chat Noir seem like you have a strong enough relationship to get through it."

"Oh, absolutely." Ladybug agreed. "It just sucks having to reject him each and every time. He's so dear to me, even if he's not the guy I love. Sometimes, I think it hurts me more to reject him than it hurts him to be rejected. Then today with this whole drama, he didn't flirt or joke about it at all. He only apologized, and gave me this bouquet."

"It means sorry and friendship, right?"

"I didn't realize you were so well versed with flower language." Ladybug turned to Adrien, looking shocked. 

"I've done my fair share of research." He bashfully admitted.

"Anyways, all of this has got me trapped in my brain overthinking everything, which is never fun.

"You know what it sounds like?" Adrien suddenly stood up.

"What?"

"I think you need a break, and I know the perfect spot." He offered out a hand. "Do you trust me?"

Ladybug knew that it was a bad idea to accept. After all, the boy asking her to spend time with him was why her feelings were so jumbled. However, when he smiled at her like that she felt exactly how she used to. She shook the emotions away and took his hand.

"Alright, where are we going?" She pulled in, ignoring the red on his cheeks. He probably was just hot from the summer day.

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"Well, here we are." Adrien said fifteen minutes later. "What do you think?"

Ladybug felt her jaw drop as she set the two of them down. She walked forwards, allowing herself to get lost in all of the different plants and flowers. Adrien had led the two of them to a rooftop garden. Of course, Ladybug had seen them before, but never one this vast and well taken care of.

"How did you find this place?" She asked in a whisper. 

"I'm friends with the owner. He runs a flower shop, and this is always where I go to get my orders. He's the one who taught me all about flower language, actually. Anyway, he's let me up here sometimes whenever I have a really specific order. And I know how much ladybugs like flowers, so I thought it would help." He gave her a smile. One that used to make her heart fly with joy. It still did, but hey! He was a model after all, it was his job to smile and make her feel good.

"Oh. Thank you." 

"You're welcome. Besides, this is always a great place to come and think, and it sounds like that's what you need to be doing."

"God," Ladybug sat down on an empty bench. "Everything is so complicated right now. Feelings have got to be one of the hardest things to figure out, period."

"Feelings? Feelings about what?" Adrien moved to sit down next to her.

"I'm not sure if I should say." She muttered.

"Well, I won't make you share anything that you don't want to. However, I've learned that sharing how you feel can help a lot. Besides, I might be able to offer you unbiased advice about these troublesome feelings."

Ladybug really wished that Adrien would stop being so kind about this. It was not helping her trying to sort through her feelings. Although, she didn't like him anymore. She couldn't like him anymore. That ship had sailed and now she needed to find a new one. Because she was over Adrien Agreste!

"Ah. Well the thing is, it's going to get really personal and I don't know if I can share all that much."

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I'll leave you to think."  

After a few moments of Ladybug trying and failing to identify what exactly her chest was doing and why her stomach felt like a cesspool of nerves, she finally gave in.

"Alright, but what I'm going to tell you has to stay between us, okay?"

"Okay. I'm excellent at keeping secrets, trust me."

"Ok, so the first thing you need to know is that there's this guy in my civilian life. He's always expressed how much he's liked me, but, like with Chat Noir, I had to reject him. However, lately he's stopped flirting with me and last time we hung out our friends began to tease us and he only told them to stop. Normally he would play along, and it just... really disappointed me. Then today, a similar thing happened with Chat Noir and it reminded me of what had happened between the two of us."

"And do you like this guy in your civilian life?" Adrien asked.

"I don't know! I mean, I wouldn't mind dating him, I guess. But there's so many things in the way. I'd have to lie to him a lot because of Ladybug duties. I'm a total flake, we just wouldn't last. It would be way too hard." 

"Do you think that's just an excuse?" Adrien suddenly asked. "That you're using fear as a way to avoid your feelings?"

"I mean, maybe? That's the confusing part! I don't know who I like. The guy I thought I was over I'm suddenly having thoughts, the guy I thought I would never like I suddenly have growing feelings for! I don't know."

"There's another guy?"

"Yeah." Ladybug sighed. "He's someone who I like so much it kind of consumed me. I could never properly talk to the guy, and I think I failed to confess probably a good 100 times. I recently got over him and things have gotten a lot better. Not only for my mental health, but also for our friendship. However, I'm starting to think otherwise." She glanced towards him. "Which of course just makes things worse, because if that's the case, can I like both?"

"Well... yeah. You can like more than one person, you could even be in love with more than one person! That doesn't make you any less of a good human being. It's only when you begin to go farther than friendship and stop communicating does it make you a bad person." Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder. "But you're Ladybug, I'm sure that you'll do the right thing."

"Y-yeah." She felt her cheeks heat up. 

"So, how does this boy who you liked for a long time feel about you?"

"Well, I know he cherishes my friendship, and I know he was in love with someone. However, I had hoped that he liked me or maybe that I was that other girl. I know now that I wasn't, and I think he's going to be asking someone else out soon..."

"And how does that make you feel?"

"You trying to pull a therapist card on me right now, Agreste?" Ladybug turned to look at him with a smile on her face.

"Hey! Just answer the question, this is your therapy session, not mine."

"Well to be honest, I think they'd be a good fit. I'm good friends with the girl, too, and I know she cares a lot about him. I used to be super jealous, but I'm not really that way anymore. As long as he is happy, then I'm happy. Besides, I've even sat down with her and planned their first date, and it didn't feel awkward. It was one of the things that clued me in that I didn't like him anymore."

"And what about the other guy? The one who's liked you since the beginning? How would it feel if he went out with someone else?"

Ladybug conjured up the picture of Chat Noir coming to patrol and saying how much he loved this girl in his civilian life. She felt her heart drop to her stomach.

"Not good."

"And if that boy you liked went out with someone else?"

Ladybug imagined Adrien coming to school, showing everyone a picture of a new model who he was going out with. To absolute horror, she felt the exact same drop.

"The same." She whispered, almost afraid to speak the truth. 

"I hate to break it to you, Ladybug, but I'm pretty sure we both know what that means." Adrien gave her a sympathetic grin.

"Oh great." She groaned, leaning down into her chair.

"But, hey! Look on the bright side, now you've sorted through your feelings."

"If only that didn't make things so much more complicated now."

"But now that you know, what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't... I don't know."

If she went back to Adrien, he was the safe option. She knew how her crush on him would operate. It would be back to her same old routine. 

However, did she really want that? Her life had gotten so much better after she gave up on Adrien. She felt so much more free and independent than she ever did. She was gaining more confidence and maturity by the day! If she were to chase after Adrien again, she risked losing all of that and ending up back where she was.

So then that left Chat Noir. Her feelings for him were new and exciting, but also oh so dangerous. She had enough faith in herself that she could keep a level head around him as Ladybug, so at least her crush wouldn't be a huge wedge in their partnership. However, the moment he found out about her crush on him, everything would come crumbling down. She knew how he felt about her too damn well. He wouldn't understand why they couldn't date, and if they fought it could lead to catastrophe (no pun intended).

On the other hand, if they did start going out, that wouldn't exactly be an easy way out either. They would not only have to keep a healthy relationship reliant on communication whilst making sure their identities stayed intact, but they also had to make sure they weren't being obvious enough that Hawkmoth would find out. Ladybug wasn't sure if she could handle knowing that her partner was in danger and that it was all her fault.

Yet, she knew that Chat Noir wouldn't reject her, and Adrien quite possibly would. Rejection was something that Ladybug couldn't handle, even now. If Adrien were to reject her, she wasn't sure if their friendship could recover. He didn't seem to be the type to stop talking to her because of feelings, but she wasn't sure if she couldn't handle it.

Either way she risked losing one of them, and that thought was something she couldn't bear.

"adybug? Ladybug?" She heard Adrien calling her back to reality. 

"Huh? Oh, sorry."

"You okay? You seem to be spacing out."

"I was just thinking."

"About your feelings?"

"What else? And to be honest with you, I have no idea what I'm going to do. If I ask out the one guy and he rejects me, I'm not sure if our friendship would survive. If I begin to go out with the other guy, our break up is practically inevitable and I'm not sure if our relationship would survive that either." Ladybug rambled.

"Well, the nice thing is that you don't have to decide right now. You've got time to think about it and think it through. That's the luxury of having a crush that no one knows about, there's no expectation for you to do anything."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Thank you for helping me."

"After everything you've done for Paris, it was the least that I could do." Adrien stood up and walked over to some bluebells. To her surprise, he picked a couple and then offered them to her. "Here, these are for you."

"What? Why?" She asked, taking them slowly.

"They remind me of your eyes. Besides, hopefully they'll help you remember this conversation when you're sorting out your love life."

"Thank you, Adrien. I'll be sure to keep what you told me in mind." Ladybug held a bluebell up to her nose.

"I should uh, be heading out. I'm pretty sure my dad will be worried by now."

"Oh! Do you need me to take you home?" Ladybug stood up, moving to stand next to him.

"No it's ok, I know the way from here. Besides, I need to order some more flowers." He winked. 

"Oh, alright. I'll see you later then?"

"See you later."

With a wave and a smile, Adrien entered the building through a rooftop access door. Ladybug waved bye, flowers in both hands. One from Chat Noir, her brand new crush, and one from Adrien, the one who kept coming back.

Ladybug sighed as she took in the flowers.

What was she going to do?

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So... it didn't turn out exactly like I had pictured, but I like it anyway. The thought of Ladybug and Adrien being recurring crushes that keep coming back is a really interesting idea. Especially if you dive into the more unhealthy aspects of their feelings. It's something that I think most people have to go through, and it doesn't seem to be something that's written about in Ladrien content. Anyways, I hope you liked this one!                                                                               -Colorado