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Adrien was more than a little glum, after finding out *Marinette Dupain-Cheng* was *Ladybug.* Of all the people who could have been His Lady, it had to be *her.* Of course it did. That was just his luck as the black cat.
He wished he could take it back. Go back to when he didn't know Ladybugs identity, back to when he could just freely and easily be in love with her. Flirt with her and be flirted back, always hoping some day, she'd say yes to a date with him. Back to when he had hope for her in general.
But he couldn't. He was stuck with the knowledge that the original source of all his social issues was the woman whose side he fought at. He had hoped Ladybug wouldn't even go to his school; that that textbook had been a fluke. That she wouldn't know Adrien; because nobody who knows Adrien likes Adrien. And Ladybug knew Adrien.
His first day of public school went terribly, to say the least. First he'd been accused of putting gum on his classmates seat when he didn't; but then, because Chloe was his friend, he'd been ostracized by the rest of the student body, including his desk-mate who refused to even look at him.
The only good thing to happen to him that week was receiving his Miraculous and Plagg. At least Plagg liked him, more or less. In his own, Plaggy way. And he'd met Ladybug; the most beautiful and ferocious woman he'd ever seen, who even when terrified, and even after making a massive mistake, didn't stop until she'd won and protected everyone. He'd fallen in love with her almost instantly.
Months of working together, of flirting and compabionable back and forth banter, and they became good friends. He wanted to be more, but he could tell she wasn't ready and respected that. He'd wait forever for his Lady to love him.
And then it had happened. The worst possible thing; he hadn't meant to see. It was his bad luck again. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, when he'd looked into that alley from above, seen Marinette, was about to leave it - why she was there he hadn't bothered to question because he was on his last paw pad - and there'd been an attention-pulling a flash of pink. And suddenly...
There was Ladybug. Who was Marinette.
And Marinette hated Adrien more than anything, which angered him greatly because he hadn't even committed the crime she accused him of; embarrassing him in front of the whole class and turning them all against him.
So he was glum. And more angry, because now Marinette had managed to take Ladybug away from him, too.
He'd followed her home sneakily, to make sure he wasn't wrong and yep. There she was; Marinette Dupain-Cheng. In all her infamy. He had glared at the balcony for at least an hour, while she tended her plants and talked to her kwami, and about all her friends, her wonderful and loving parents.
He waited until she'd climbed down into her room before angrily running off. When he was back in his bedroom and his transformation released, he burried his face into his pillow and screamed.
"Come on kid, I'm sure its not that bad." He felt a small paw pat his head awkwardly. "It is, Plagg. I found out Ladybugs identity." "What?! Who?" "... Marinette Dupain-Cheng." His kwami winced audibly, and Adrien turned his head to look at him, seeing the painful empathy in the small green eyes. "Yeah. The one person who hates Adrien the most... is also the woman I'm in love with. What am I gonna do, Plagg? Now I can never tell Ladybug who I am! She'll hate me for sure!"
He re-burried his face as his eyes began to sting. If he was gonna cry, he didn't want Plagg to see it. "I don't know, kid. I don't know." The kwami just sat on his pillow and stroked his hair while Adrien cried himself to sleep.