Very late upload today... sorry. However, it's still thirty minutes til midnight so technically I've made my deadline. I was on the road all day, so I couldn't get to writing until late. However, I hope you enjoy this one and the angst that comes with it. Anyways, be sure to leave a vote and comment!                                                                                                             -Colorado

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Adrien had been tired before. He had flown plenty of red eye flights, had many photo shoots running late, galas that wouldn't be finished until early morning when he had school the next day, but he had never been tired like this.

Fashion week was upon Paris, which Adrien never looked forward to. He was often filled with photo shoots, fashion shows, galas, speeches, you name it. Being the face of one of Paris' most notorious fashion brands wasn't easy. However, this year was possibly even worse. While in years past he could afford a week off from everything but fashion, that wasn't the case this time.

Adrien adored going to school, he really did. In fact, he never wanted to skip school unless absolutely necessary. It was easily one of the best parts of his day. Not only did he get to learn, but he got to spend time with friends without his father's interference. The only downside was the amount of homework he received. He was definitely feeling it this week.

Since he had missed school, and would continue to miss school for the week, he was left with a mountain of work to catch up on. He tried to squeeze them in between shoots, shows, and galas, but the hour-long car rides were insignificant compared to the amount of work he had. So he was left to catch up in the wee hours of the morning, when no self-respecting teenager would be awake. 

The combination of endless work plus little sleep was not good for any part of his health, and by halfway through the week, Adrien was feeling it. He hadn't meant to snap and Giuseppe, but one too many spaghetti metaphors tipped him over the edge. Giuseppe had first looked just as angry as Adrien felt, he loved his photographer, but he had a very short fuse. Of course, Giuseppe did not give Adrien a break and instead stormed off. Giuseppe had told Nathalie what had happened, who had told his father. Now Adrien was sitting in his room, trying to ignore the inevitable of what would happen next. 

His father was never the nicest man, but when he was angry...

Adrien winced at the memory of his past scoldings. He did not take confrontation well, especially when it was from someone he cared about and despite Plagg's advice, Adrien truly did care about his father. He just hoped he would be able to continue to go to school.

"Come on kid, I'm sure it won't be that bad. Your dad has been pushing you way past your limits. He's gotta understand that not everyone can be nice all the time! In fact, your old man should understand that better than anyone, he's never nice." Plagg attempted to cheer Adrien up, even if he knew it was futile.

"Thanks Plagg." Adrien said, but his heart wasn't in it. He was so not looking forward to this.

"Adrien Agreste!" He heard his father yell, as his door opened. Plagg rushed to hide himself as his father stormed in. "Your performance at your photoshoot is unacceptable. I do not ask for much from you, Adrien!"

"I'm sorry."

"You better be sorry. You are the face of the brand, every move you make affects our reputation. That includes when you lash out at our photographers. Now I have to make sure that this doesn't get out to the media." Gabriel rubbed his temples. "During fashion week, too! I don't know what's gotten into you."

"Well, I'm-."

"Ah! I don't want to hear your excuses, there's nothing that you could say that could make this okay." His father exhaled a deep breath, no longer yelling.

'It's not an excuse, it's a reason!' Adrien thought, but he knew that if he were to say that, his father would blow.

"If your image is ruined, it could cost our brand millions. Everyone looks to you when they see Gabriel, that's the point of being the face of a brand. If you are perfect, then we continue to make money and I can continue to support you. If that image is ruined, we no longer make sales, bills pile up, we go bankrupt. Do you want that to happen?" He went to sit down next to Adrien on his bed.

"No, father."

"I don't want that to happen either, but mistakes like this cause that to happen. That's why we have to be careful to always greet people with a smile, understand? When things like this happen, it ruins that image. Your perfection is money, Adrien, and money is the most valuable thing in the world." 

"Yes, father."

"Now, you have another photoshoot in an hour. Do not mess this one up, understand?"

"Yes, father."

"If you do, there will be consequences. Maybe these school friends of yours are the source of your outbreaks, I always knew they were bad influences on you." Gabriel looked at Adrien, who stared back with panicked eyes.

"No, please don't take me away from school!" He practically begged.

"Let's see how this next shoot goes. If you disappoint me again, Adrien, I will not hesitate to pull you out of school. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, father."

With a huff his father stood up and left. Adrien closed his eyes, but to no avail, he felt the tears forming.

"My offer to cataclysm him still stands, Adrien." Plagg flew out of his pocket.

"Thanks, Plagg." Adrien wiped some of his tears away before walking over to his computer. He turned it on, but seeing the picture of him and his mother only made him more upset. "Hey Mom, I wish you were here right now." He closed his eyes, but a sob escaped him before he could stop it.

"Oh kid." Plagg curled up on the top of his head and began to purr.

"Thanks, Plagg." Adrien choked on his words. "But, I've got another photoshoot soon. I've gotta get ready." He stood up, knocking his kwami off. Wiping his tears away, Adrien walked to the bathroom to try and cover up his red eyes and puffy cheeks. "My dad is right." He said, trying to make his face smile. "I've got a reputation to uphold."

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Interview after interview after interview, Ladybug could feel her resentment towards reporters growing with every passing minute. Hawkmoth had decided to be an even bigger douche than usual, sending out three akumas in one day. Chat Noir had bolted as soon as Ladybug had caught the akuma, not even sticking around for their usual fist bump. So not only was she upset that she couldn't say a proper goodbye to him, he had also left her to scavenge the reporters alone.

On top of that, it was fashion week and the deadline for one of Marinette's competitions was in T-minus five minutes and forty seconds. Thank the lord her design was done, but she still had to get home and submit it. If she was going to make her deadline, she would have to leave now. However, Ladybug unfortunately came before Marinette.

"Ladybug, do you think the multiple akumas is a sign to Hawkmoth's growing power?" One reporter asked her.

"I believe he is trying to show his power, but actually he has never come close to taking our miraculouses." She answered, trying to not appear too antsy.

"Hawkmoth has been around for quiet some time. How close are you and Chat Noir to finding him?"

"Because of our minimal contact with him, we do not have much information on the man. However, what we do know is being used to try and sort out who he could be. Rest assured, Chat Noir and I will bring him in one day. I made that promise to Paris on day one, and I intend to keep that promise."

"Have you thought about surrendering your miraculouses to him? He has said that he would stop his attacks then."

"That mentality is exactly what Hawkmoth wants you to think. If we were to give up our miraculouses, we are unsure what would happen. Besides, he is not a reputable source, if he were to continue his attacks and Chat Noir and I were defenseless then there would be nothing to stop his tyranny."

It was a two minute journey to her house, and there were only three minutes left to enter. She needed to go, and she needed to go now. 

"Ladybug, what is your response to the rumors that you and Chat Noir are dating?"

Oh great, just what she needed. As if she wasn't stressed enough, but if she didn't answer this question even reputable sources would be hunting her down. Not to mention Chat Noir's reaction if she didn't mention it. That conversation was never fun to have,

"Those rumors have been around since the beginning," Ladybug began to say, rubbing her temples, "and the answer will always be the same. Chat Noir and I are dear friends, but nothing more."

"But what about this photographic evidence?" The reporter continued.

"Whatever evidence you have is most likely taken out of context. Both Chat Noir and I have agreed that we are just friends, nothing more, nothing less. Now I'm sorry, but that's all the time I have for now. Bug out!" Ladybug gave the crowd one last smile before rushing away.

'Please still be open, please let me submit my design still, please tell me all of my hard work hasn't been for nothing, please that's all I ask. Please, let Ladybug not screw things up for Marinette for once.' She begged to whatever was out there as she rushed home.

"Come on, come on, come on." She muttered as she detransformed and slid down her railing to get to her computer. "Please, please, please." She said as she frantically pressed the power button.

The website popped up immediately, but Marinette's joy was temporary.

"'No longer taking submissions.'" Marinette read, confirming her fears.

She should've known, Ladybug would always ruin her civilian life. 

"I'm so sorry, Marinette." Tikki said softly.

Marinette didn't respond, she just turned around in her chair slowly. She stood up, fell face first down on her chaise, and began to cry.

"Marinette, it's gonna be ok, there will be other competitions!" Tikki said, flying by her. "Please don't cry, you might attract an akuma."

"Oh, so everyone else is allowed to cry, but me?" Marinette yelled.

"Everyone else isn't Ladybug, if you get akumatized it's game over. You know that, you've known that since the beginning." Tikki said, too gently after Marinette lashed out.

"I know." She whimpered. "But it's so unfair! I should be able to cry, and get upset, and be angry! Stupid Ladybug is always messing up my stupid life and getting in the way of my stupid emotions."

"I know it's hard, but-."

"That's just it, Tikki! You don't know. I always have to make sure Ladybug comes first. It doesn't matter what Marinette is doing, if Ladybug is needed then she takes priority. If not, all of Paris suffers for it! An akuma causes havoc or a sentimonster destroys half the city or Hawkmoth manipulates the city to the point where we have a mass akumatization on our hands! I can't make one mistake, as soon as I do it's game over. It's up to me to cast the cure, to bring people back. It's up to me to make sure identities stay secret. To make sure that our publicity is fine, to make sure morale is okay, it's all on me!" Marinette ran her hands through her hair.

"It doesn't matter what relationship I ruin," she continued, "as long as Ladybug is there to save the day! I've flaked out on my friends so many times, not to mention my romantic interests. Do you know how many times I've nearly confessed only for an akuma to pop up?" Marinette fell back into her pillow. "It's so hard, Tikki, I'm so tired." She sobbed.

"I'll always be there for you, Marinette." Her kwami said, laying down next to her. 

Marinette ignored Tikki, trying to pull herself together.

"No, you're right, I've gotta compose myself. Come on, let's see what other competitions are going on during fashion week." Marinette sat up, drying her tears.

Tikki smiled at her holder.

"That's my girl."

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The balcony was mercifully empty. Adrien was attending yet another gala, and the stuffiness of the banquet hall was starting to get to him. Luckily, he managed to sneak away from whatever investors he was talking to and snuck out to one of the balconies. He took a deep breath in, letting the Parisian night cool him down. He always hated the tuxes he had to wear, it always made him so overheated.

His moment of solitude was interrupted by the balcony door opening and closing. Adrien turned around, preparing to make more small talk, but he was relieved to see his partner stepping out.

"O-oh, I didn't realize anyone else was out here." Ladybug stuttered.

"No, it's ok. We can share the balcony." Adrien scooted over, allowing her to join him.

"Sorry, it just got so stuffy in there. I don't know how you can handle it." Ladybug said, somewhat nervously. Adrien found it cute.

"Meh, you get used to it after awhile, although it's abnormally worse tonight. I'm not sure if my father turned off the AC or what. Even I got overheated, and I should be used to it."

"Yeah..."

There was a lull in the conversation as Adrien tried to wrack his brain for a conversation topic.

"So, um, I'm a bit surprised to see you here. I didn't think you attended these sorts of things." He said.

"It's true, I didn't. However, Hawkmoth has been so busy this week I thought I deserved a bit of time off. Especially because the akumas have been much more difficult. He's really stepped up his game."

"The outfits were better, too." Adrien commented. "Makes me wonder if it was Hawkmoth running the show at all."

"If Mayura was using the butterfly miraculous this week, at least the akumas were better to look at." Ladybug laughed. "Although, I'm surprised you noticed."

"One tore up a shoot earlier this week, some model that had been fired. It was pretty obvious."

"I remember that. In fact, I've noticed seeing a lot of model and designer akumas this week. Is fashion week always this stressful?"

"It's never fun, but this year it was definitely worse." Adrien sighed.

"Why?"

"Oh, well uh," Adrien hesitated. Sure, he and Ladybug had interacted before, but they had never really talked before.

"You can tell me anything, Adrien. Don't worry." She placed a hand on his arm.

"Oh," he blushed, "ok."

"So...?" She prompted.

"So, this week I had to miss school, right? And I had a ton of makeup work to do, but my schedule was so full I could only get it done at night. Which led to several all-nighters, which led to me being exhausted and being a bit more impatient and I..." He blushed, but out of embarrassment, "I lashed out at one of my photographers."

"I'm so sorry, that sounds awful, really." Ladybug said gently.

"Thank you. Anyways, my father came in and gave me a pretty harsh lecture. He essentially said that I had to be perfect 24/7 or else the Gabriel brand would lose all its money and he wouldn't be able to support me anymore."

"What?" Ladybug cried. "That's insane!"

"You wanna know the worst part? He literally said that he 'doesn't ask for much from me.' Like, hate to break it to you, father, but perfection is a lot to ask! Especially from your teenage son who you barely care about anyways!" Adrien huffed, before turning to Ladybug looking bashful. "Sorry, I didn't mean to overshare.

"No! You didn't overshare, trust me. Don't ever apologize for sharing your feelings, ok?" She gave him a smile that was so genuine, Adrien felt his heart skip a beat.

"Oh, ok." He blushed. "I'm under so much pressure, just because of my last name. I never even wanted to be the face of the brand to begin with. My father decided for me and sometimes I honestly hate it. It's just so hard to keep this perfect, friendly, reputation all the time, you know?"

Ladybug snorted.

"Boy, do I."

"Well, spill." He lightly elbowed her. "I've poured my heart out, it's your turn now."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't that be extremely unprofessional?" Ladybug looked shocked.

"Maybe," Adrien shrugged, "but I really don't care. You're a person, Ladybug, you deserve to talk about your problems." 

"Well, it's exactly what you said. Since I'm Ladybug, I can't get akumatized. If I do, it's game over for both Chat Noir and I. Since I have the cure, I can undo any damage any other akuma does, even if it's Chat Noir himself, but not me. I essentially have to be positive all the time, or else the world ends."

"I couldn't imagine that pressure." Adrien said earnestly.

"I'm the one with the plans, the one with the luck, the one with the morale, I'm team leader, as much as I don't want to be. That puts a lot of responsibility on my shoulder, and I'm not that old. I'm definitely not old enough to be dealing with all of this." Ladybug gesticulated around her.

"Yeah."

"And being Ladybug interferes a lot with my daily life. I've gotta lie to everyone to keep my identity intact. I've skipped out on so many plans and have ruined so many chances just because I'm Ladybug. I know that saving Paris is a huge privilege, and I shouldn't even be complaining but I-."

"No!" Adrien suddenly interrupted. "You can complain as much as you want. It might be a privilege to save Paris, but to insinuate it's all sunshine and rainbows is an awful thing to do to yourself. You're allowed to get upset when it interferes with your daily life, I promise. You're one of the most selfless people, ok? Obviously, being Ladybug has just as much bad as it does good and that's a side you can't show all that often."

"Exactly! God, it's so nice to talk to someone who understands."

"Of course I understand, Ladybug, I go through the exact same thing."

The two shared a smile, for once feeling like they've found someone who knows exactly what they're going through. However, their moment of companionship was quickly broken.

"Adrien! Where are you? There is someone that I want you to meet." His father's voice was a rude awakening.

"I uh, I should go." Adrien said and Ladybug nodded. "But hey, if the pressure is too much, my window is always open, okay? Just in case you need someone to talk to again."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. I promise." She gave him one last smile.

Adrien nodded, taking in her presence one last time before disappearing into the crowded ballroom.

Things no longer felt so bleak, now that he knew there was someone who he could talk to. Maybe the pressure wouldn't kill him quite yet.

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You know, there's not a whole lot of characters that I think are unredeemable. Even Lila is interesting from a writer's standpoint. However, Gabriel Agreste is a character that I despise. If you like the guy, that is your opinion and I respect that, however, I'm very anti-Gabe. Nathalie, on the other hand, gets a pass because she (in my opinion) truly does care about Adrien and is a better parental figure than Gabe could ever be. Vote and comment your thoughts!                                                                                                                                    -Colorado