Tear Jerker / The One to Make It Stay

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• The Obliviated Chat Noir inspires far more sympathy than his normal self by virtue of caring enough about his partner to respect her wishes. When both of them think that she has a boyfriend already (due to seeing photos of Luka in her cell), he decides that he geniunely wants her to be happy and confesses his feelings purely to get them off his chest. He does so blissfully unaware that he doesn't have any problem making his feelings known normally, and has, in fact, been forcing them upon Ladybug... or that his confession is being filmed and will be used to set a cascade of increasingly dramatic events in motion that will ultimately lead to Adrien losing the ring.
• Seeing Marinette and Alya's friendship unraveling swiftly throughout White Hot Morning is painful. While Alya means well, her efforts to "help" Marinette confess to Adrien aren't helpful in the slightest, primarily because she outright refuses to listen to her. In her mind, Marinette needs her help — needs to be pushed in the 'right direction'.
  Marinette: But I don't want to confess to Adrien.
  Alya: That's exactly my point. Now come on, Adrien is waiting for you.
  • This culminates in Alya staging an "emergency meeting" at the bakery, barging into Marinette's bedroom with the other girls in tow to hash out a battle plan to sabotage Adrien's outing with Kagami. Her complete refusal to accept that Marinette is happy with Luka — to the point that she suggests that she's only dating him to make Adrien envious — proves to be the final straw, as Marinette puts her foot down and declares that it's best they give each other space over summer.
  • Making this worse is that this comes right after Ladybug benched Rena Rouge for the summer. Marinette originally intended to keep an eye on Alya while they hung out over the holiday and try to nudge her in the right direction... but Alya's controlling behavior forces her to give up on that plan, as she realizes that her "bestie" is refusing to listen to her, and the only way she can set boundaries is by pushing her away.
• Poor Mirielle's whole situation in The Radio Still Plays. Having to perform on stage for the very first time for Summer Sesh is stressful enough, but Alec proves to be an utter nightmare to work with... and that's before she learns that he intended to sabotage her performance — and potentially those of others — in the hope that her utter humiliation would make a memetic viral video.
• Hearing Only Yourself shows just how deluded and self-absorbed Adrien is, to the point that he blames Ladybug for all of the recent tension between them simply because she refuses to give in to his advances. He also blames Alya and Marinette for the awkwardness of how he overhears them arguing about the latter's former crush on him, ignoring the fact that he only learned about it the way he did because he was trying to play a prank on them. He also ultimately decides not to do anything about it because the thought of any kind of confrontation makes him uncomfortable.
• I Owe You Every Joy of Love explores July's events through Alya's eyes, casting many of her actions in a new light by revealing her perspective. This includes:
  • Seeing firsthand how Lila manipulated her into thinking that Marinette's request for space was actually her way of breaking off their friendship in a roundabout fashion.
  • Getting reamed out by her big sister for seemingly ignoring all of her attempts to contact her (when her cell's notifications were mysteriously turned off), causing Nora to miss an important match so she could babysit the twins. Followed by her mother gently upbraiding her for her Skewed Priorities.
  • Grappling with the fallout of the confession video, as Ladybug was not the only one who noticed that it had been cut up and tampered with, with her attempts to manage the problem by deleting negative comments only serving to transform that into more of a ticking time bomb...
  • ...Especially as she also finds herself grappling with the slow, awful, creeping suspicion that she may have created or worsened all of these problems through her own actions, and might not have anyone to blame for her current misery other than herself.
  • This all builds up to a Moment of Weakness that Hawkmoth promptly attempts to capitalize on, as Nino suggests that he needs some space as well after an argument. Hawkmoth tries to exploit her heartbreak by akumatizing her into Friend Zone, but she manages to resist... though she's still left exhausted and emotionally drained afterwards.
• All the Laughs We Had in the Past sees Ladybug and Alya having a much-needed conversation, with Alya breaking down as she realizes that Lila sabotaged her, and was never the friend she thought she was.
  Alya: I wanted to believe that Lila was a good person. When my friends presented proof that she was lying, I figured that there had to be some truth to that. But... I couldn't afford to be wrong, and so I just told myself Marinette was jealous and that everyone else was being unreasonable, because it'd be easier that way.
• After getting akumatized into Miracle Queen, Chloé goes after Aurore, blaming her for what happened. When Ladybug and her allies arrive to help evacuate people, Aurore relays what she declared... and her reaction shows that she believes it.
  • Then there's the immediate fallout of Miracle Queen's assault, as she manages to trick Chat Noir with a Mirage of Ladybug, kissing him while slipping the Cat off his finger. Adrien's Secret Identity is exposed, and Mayura ensures that the ring ends up in Hawkmoth's hands. When Chloé finds out, she's horrified... and Ladybug is in no mood to offer her any comfort after everything she's done.
    Chloé: Ladybug, I'm—
    Ladybug: It's a bit too late for your apologies, Chloé. Maybe you should have given them out sooner.
  • After learning of the above, Master Fu solemnly decides that he must leave Paris. Adrien knows that he is the Guardian, and with his identity compromised, the only solution he sees is to return to the temple where he once studied, leaving Kaalki and some of the other Miraculous with Marinette.
  • The weight of all of this crashes down hard onto Marinette, who breaks down in Luka's arms afterwards.
• You Smile Like an Angel delves into Juleka blaming herself for not being able to prevent Hawkmoth from securing the Cat ring. While she at least has Rose in her corner, she's unaware that her brother is Viperion and Marinette is Ladybug, and that neither holds her responsible for what happened.
• How Gabriel chooses to phrase his son's Fatal Flaw in Don't Step Over My Head. It neatly underscores Adrien's Freudian Excuse for his selfish behavior, in a way that dispassionately strips his son of any agency and paints him as utterly helpless in the face of his distant, controlling father.
  But his son's biggest weakness was that he just wanted to believe for a second that things would go his way.
• Adrien's second POV in Paper Sky, My World is Wishing Me Asleep, highlights just how hopelessly skewed his priorities are, and how incredibly self-centered he is at his core. He's so concerned with feeling sorry for himself that Feline Fatale destroying Paris only matters to him in the sense that it's a reminder thathe can't transform into Chat anymore.
  • The very fact that he blames Plagg for Feline Fatale. The fact that he can see somebody he supposedly cared about in that awful position, being used by a villain to inflict horrible pain and suffering, and just... sulks. As if Plagg has any control over what is happening. Adrien failed Plagg in every way that mattered and has the gall to see himself as the victim.
• Kagami's first POV piece in Paper Sky is aptly named Tears Are in Your Eyes Tonight, as it chronicles her perspective of events as she gradually falls out of love with Adrien. She's willing to fight for him, rising to his defense whenever he refuses to defend himself from the unwanted advances and demands of others... but he never returns the favor. Fortunately, Alya comforts her after her akumatization, and they get a fresh start.

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