inspired by Christina Perri's song, Human

What did they expect to happen?

Put someone on a pedestal and they're bound to fall.

She wasn't a machine, an android. She wasn't a... constant, she wasn't some robot with one set programming. Sure, most days she could do it, but...

...

Did Adrien feel like this?

Like he could never reach the standards people set? Like he could never be who they wanted him to be forever? If he did, he hid it pretty well.

"I'm only human," Marinette whispered as she turned and fled from the scene in front of her.

For the citizens of Paris found out through a sleazy reporter who decided to just stalk Ladybug to get the scoop. You know. Invade her privacy. Throw her out there. She, who was barely 16. No biggie.

"I'm only human," she shakily said as she ducked into an alleyway and climbed over a wall, curling up in an abandoned warehouse that she had discovered in an akuma battle only a week ago.

Not a single one of them cared that she was barely 16 when it came to all the attention she was getting, but suddenly it was a huge deal that a 16 year old girl was their hero and out there fighting crime when she should be focusing on school, her life. Not a single citizen of her so-called City of Love bothered to realise they were driving her to paranoia and depression and anxiety. Not one of her 'friends' talked normally around her.

"I'm only human," she sobbed, curled up on herself after checking her phone again and seeing the lack of messages and calls on her home screen.

Nobody cared that she, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, 16 year old girl with big dreams and a huge responsibility, had been the Ladybug they adored and worshipped for over a year. All they saw was someone 'undeserving' or 'too young.' It was like walking into a shop you'd worked at for ages and your manager suddenly turning around and telling you that you're fired. Who wouldn't feel heartbroken, cheated?

"I'm only human!" she screamed from where she stood in front of the Eiffel Tower after doing her duty and protecting Paris once again only to be bombarded with questions and accusations. "I bleed when I fall down! I crash, I break down! I'm only human!" Her voice echoed through the city and left shocked silence wherever it was heard. "I cannot deal with this! Akumas are simple, Hawkmoth is simple, why do you have to be so difficult?! I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, yes, but I am also Ladybug! You can't change that and you won't change that until my job is done so shut up about it!"

Her voice wasn't unheard, but the media twisted it. Turned her words against her. 'Can we trust her to protect us?' 'She is, as she said, only human.'

"I can take so much, 'til I've had enough." She growled, ripping off Hawkmoth's brooch and not even staying to watch him revert back to his civilian form. She didn't care about Chat's cry of shocked outrage that was all too similar to the gasps when she was revealed.

The city stopped when she released her transformation while walking out of Hawkmoth's hideaway, seeing the girl was so much more than believing the news.

"I'm only human. You build me up and I fall apart, because I'm human. Go on. Shoot me down. Tell me I'm not who you wanted me to be. Tell me I'm not your hero. But I am still Ladybug. And I'll be damned if I let some words take me down after I just got rid of Hawkmoth."