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Is this love? Marinette thought to herself, feeling something painful clench at her heart.
Another sleepless night, her mind wandering to Adrien, his smile, his soft eyes, the thought she knew in deep in her mind was true, the fact she knew he wouldn't love her. It was painful. More painful than she'd ever imagined it would be. Sure, she'd had small crushes when she had been younger, ones that didn't like her back. Those hadn't hurt, she hadn't really thought much about whether or not they felt the same. Not as often as she did with Adrien.
She never thought love would be painful. But thinking about it, if it was a small crush that didn't feel the same, you could move on easily. The longer feelings lasted, the deeper one fell, the more painful it would be when the self-doubt and self-deprecating thoughts came to her mind. Which usually happened at night.
Tossing and turning, and finally giving up and curling into fetal position, she clutched at her chest. It hurt so bad, it was almost unbearable. It was like all this weight was heavy on her heart. It was like someone came along at squeezed her heart as tight as they could, never letting go of it as they squeezed tighter and tighter still.
It was horrible. Feeling that way was worse than anything she'd ever felt in her life. And it was all because of one boy.
No, she told herself, this isn't love. This is unrequited love.
And that, was the worst feeling in the world.
Adrien groaned, staring up at the ceiling. Unrequited love is the worst feeling in the world, he thought to himself.
His heart clenched painfully, feeling as though it was squeezing in on itself, closing its doors and hiding from the world. Hiding from the world felt like a good idea. It had been another day, another patrol, and another attempt at confessing to Ladybug. She'd looked at him, sad blue eyes staring into his emerald gaze.
"I'm sorry, I already told you... There's someone else."
And he knew that, he knew, but he kept trying anyway. Why? Because he loved her. But he was starting to think it was time to stop. That letting go would be less painful than holding on. That maybe letting go would mean less painful, sleepless nights were his heart hurt like it did then.
Adrien turned to his side, wincing at the pain he felt in his heart, staring out the windows and into the City of Love. Is this love?