Things start going downhill for Adrien. First, he finds out his dreams of winning over his Lady are definitely dead after she finds a boyfriend. Then when he tries to get over her by dating Kagami, she dumps him. That’s when he finally realizes Marinette is more than “just a friend”. The problem is, she’s already moved on with Luka. The icing on the crud cake that is his life comes when he figures out that Marinette and Ladybug are the same person—meaning he blew it with the girl of his dreams twice.
It all becomes too much for Adrien, and he goes into a downward spiral that pushes him to make some questionable decisions to escape a lonely fate. Whether or not this story will have a happy ending is anyone’s guess.
“Brokenhearted” is a story by Gale-of-
the-Nomads. It started as a simple prompt, but then the author turned it into a full story with 5/6 chapters. The chapter is split into two endings, one happy and one tragic. The chapters can be found here on Archive Of Our Own or here on tumblr.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: Adrien’s deeper feelings for Marinette are realized when she leaves his side to join Luka, and Adrien finds seeing her go to another boy hurts him worse than being dumped by Kagami.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: The main reason Adrien agrees to be akumatized to steal the Miraculous. Even if he can never be with Marinette, he can at least bring back his mother so he’ll have someone who loves him.
- Second Place Is for Losers: Kagami’s viewpoint, whether it’s fencing or romance, which is why she dumped Adrien when she sees he has feelings for Marinette. She refuses to be second place with her own boyfriend.Kagami: I am no one’s silver medal.
- Trauma Conga Line: It starts out small for Adrien. First, he is struggling to understand why he feels odd when Marinette starts dating Luka. Soon after, he finds out Ladybug has a date, which goes successfully, meaning that any hope he had of winning her over is gone for good. He tries to move on by dating Kagami, but she dumps in less than a month, with the explanation that she refuses to be his silver medal in love. He realizes what she meant when he has a Green-Eyed Epiphany, realizing that he is in love with Marinette. He tries to forget his love by dating other girls, but ends up breaking a lot of hearts because he dumps a girl each week after finding no emotional connection to her and not wanting to lead her on. He’s labeled a playboy because he goes through so many dates and ends them all so abruptly. Of course, Hawkmoth has field days with the negative emotions from his exes and akumatizes every one of them, which ticks Ladybug off and gets her mad at Adrien for what she believes is him toying with these girls’ hearts. Then, one day, Adrien gives into his impulses and kisses Marinette, which he later kicks himself for because she’s still with Luka. That same day, he sees Ladybug rescue Luka and give him a look, a look not of unrequited love, but of real, returned love, and pieces together that Ladybug and Marinette are the same person, making him realize the full impact of how badly he blew it in love. After this, he decides he can’t take it anymore, returns his Miraculous, goes back to homeschooling, and cuts off all contact with Marinette and their friends. This all happens in the FIRST CHAPTER.
- Things get worse for Adrien as the story progresses. Luka, as a favor to Marinette, breaks into his home to talk some sense into him, only to end up in a brawl when Adrien confesses his feelings for Marinette and the fact that he kissed her. Then Adrien finds out that his father is Hawkmoth and his mother has been in a coma all this time from using the damaged Peacock Miraculous. When Gabriel reveals that he’s been trying to get the Ladybug and Chat Miraculouses to revive her, Adrien agrees to be akumatized so he can steal them and use them to bring back his mother. He believes it is the best way, since Gabriel promises to stop akumatizing people after bringing back Emilie. Adrien believes that this way, he can have someone who loves him and not have to mope around unloved knowing he can never be with Marinette.
- Things aren’t much better for Luka. Sure, he finally gets together with Marinette and is chosen to be the new Chat Noir after Adrien quits. But neither is as great as it’s supposed to be. Marinette is distracted by Adrien’s absence and doesn’t pay attention her boyfriend like she should. He tries to do her a favor by talking to Adrien, only to be told that Adrien kissed his girlfriend and end up in a fight with him. Then, when he confronts Marinette about the kiss, it’s clear she still has feelings for Adrien. It’s also shown that Plagg misses his old kitten and is somewhat dismissive of Luka’s heartbreak. He finally hits his breaking point when the akumatized Chat Blanc confesses his love for his girlfriend after giving him multiple beatings.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Adrien realizes he is in love with Marinette only after she gives up on him and moves on with Luka... or at least tries to.
- Verbed Title: The Inciting Incident is when Adrien finds out his dreams of winning over his Lady are definitely dead after she finds a boyfriend.
