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Shizuke asking Fiona how to dress like a tough guy. Fiona's taking his request so seriously, only the best for her best friend. When she's done with him, people won't recognize him as the same nerd in their class. She's actually kinda psyched to get him dressing like her so she can finally have someone to go shopping with or raid Gav's old closet together.

If only she could talk him into getting earrings - she swears its totally safe and legal if it's just on the ears, it's not like she's asking him to get something hardcore like a tongue piercing. The most he's willing to try are ear cuffs. Really Shizuke? Do you wanna look like a rule breaker or not?! Don't be a coward! Being a tough guy means not half-assing shit!

I was trying to reference that one spiderman meme:

... But realized I can't copy the poses one to one, not when Fiona's too short for Shizuke to literally look up to. So now they're both standing with Shizuke leaning down, examing accessories with seriousness like Fiona is doing.

Their outfits are kinda akuma-inspired, based on Timebreaker and Onichan. IDK, I was already committed to having Keagan wear graphic tshirts with akuma referrences. There might as well be a shop that specializes in akuma-inspired fashion.

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Comparing old and new art of Fiona being supportive of Shizuke adapting some rebellion in his fashion choices. It was always the plan for them to have a scene like that.

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Okay some Shizuke thoughts: how third wheeling Keagan and Fiona affects how much he wants romance.

Being childhood friends with two people with insane unresolved romantic tension (or in the og story, fiance's who actually like each other), exposes Shizuke to the concept of romance from an early age. He sees how it's both a painful and wonderful thing. He craves it for himself and envies them.

Just to make it clear, Shizuke himself doesn't actually fancy either of his childhood friends. If anything, childhood friends fall into "practically family" in his head that he'd have trouble seeing either of them in a romantic light at this point. He just wants what they have with someone else.

... And so my thoughts go over to Reverse AU Shizuke, the one time he isn't childhood friends with Keagan and Fiona (none of them are and that's the Marinette never met Alya situation for this reverse au). He reads to me as someone who isn't a romantic. It's why he's fumbling around when it comes to Blair in this au, his feelings for her was a suckerpunch he did not see coming. He never felt that way before, never crossed his mind.

It's not just cause he was raised in a cult. OG Story Shizuke, well, it's not as restrictive as the Supreme but his monster slayer clan that kept an iron grip on their traditions was hardcore training him to compensate for his lack of offensive magic. He didn't get a chance to socialize much either but OG story Shizuke was still a bit of a hopeless romantic and expresses a desire for romance... I just don't see it with reverse Shizuke.

Reverse au Shizuke, instead of having childhood friends with romantic tension, he had childhood friends with a strong familial bond: the Tsurugi heiress and her cousin Chihiro. Sure, like every other Shizuke he had a bit of an infatuation towards Ai, but he wasn't able to identify it before it faded away into a stronger platonic love for her. Being childhood friends in this AU pretty much doomed any romance between them into the friendzone... This might've contributed to Shizuke not making a move on Blair cause he believes attraction is fleeting and he loves her platonically, never mind how differently he feels when he sees Ai with another guy vs seeing Blair with another guy. Shizuke being isolated here definitely messed up his EQ which was a lot higher in other AUs where he can identify his crush in two or three episodes.

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Stupid nerd! That much caffeine would kill you! He's pretty sure. Okay, he isn't but he'd rather not take any chances! Gav refuses to have the blood of his sister's friend on his hands. He needs this stupid job to stick it to his stupid dad that he doesn't need stupid college but now this stupid nerd waltzes in begging for his stupid death... Maybe he should knock some sense into him. Knock him out. He'll thank him for saving his life later.

Anyway, meet Gav, Fiona's older brother. College drop out. Part-time coffee barista and cafe chef. Apprenticing at some tattoo shop. Talented artist. Unwilling twink. All around horrible influence. Probably the reason Fiona, in her heart, adopted Shizuke as her older brother cause her real brother is a chaotic mess and a tsundere asshole. Excellent at cooking, baking and brewing coffee though, it's how he landed his cafe job despite his foul mouth. He's not supposed to be at the cashier, well, ever, but felt the need to intervene on his sister's friend's safety. It's not like he cares or anything, he just doesn't want any problems at his workplace.

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In the OG story, there's gonna be a time where Fiona forms her own party to drag her fiance's ass back to the realm of the mortals... and everyone on the team has tried to kill her at least once. She insists she never held it against them cause if she knew she was the vessel of an angry god who wants all of humanity dead, she'd try to kill herself too. Despite her cold deadpan resting bitch face, Fiona's a very chivalrous knightly sort who'd put everyone's wellbeing over her own... and that makes everyone's guilt worse.

Shizuke's taking it the hardest cause he reciprocates the found family feelings since childhood. The furry twins are shocked she even remotely likes them, much less would ever see them as family.

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Relationship chart of all my Chloe-inspired OCs

It's kinda funny how they all loop back to the main Chloe expy lol. It's like they all gravitate towards their shared Chloe-ness. Okay, this is oversimplifying their relationships but some of the details are hitting spoilers so I'll leave it at that.

For the full breakdown on how they all have a bit of Chloe in them:

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In light of the recent S6 episode, it got me thinking of how my OCs are gonna handle the situation of getting slandered for dating a model. While Blair isn't as famous as Adrien nor does she have fans as obsessive as his, there's still a bunch of incels in that group who'd probably look at Shizuke with his glasses and sweater vest and think he's an easy guy to crack. He's not rich despite attending a prestigious school nor is he famous. He looks weak and timid and they're probably thinking all this cause he resembles the Asian nerd stereotype... But then I think of who won't take it well if they try to pull stuff to get Shizuke to give up on Blair:

They will be fucked over physically and legally.

Fiona is an infamous bully hunter and is extremely protective of her friends. Anyone threatening Shizuke will learn the hard way not to do that... And that's assuming Shizuke hasn't already handled it as a form of mercy cause whatever he does to defend himself is less painful than whatever Fiona's gonna do to them if she catches them trying to hurt Shizuke.

Keagan is the mayor's son. If Fiona's an unstoppable force cause she's abnormally strong, Keagan's even worse between his tech skills, connections, money and mayor father. It's either they get blackmailed, sued, or socially sabotaged, they won't know what hit them until it's too late. There is no escape either, Keagan has his ways of finding the truth. Keagan may be nice and friendly but step on the wrong foot and people will see the terror he is capable of... The guy has a bit of Chloe going on, they should be scared. Shizuke can't stop him.

So that plot would've stopped dead halfway in because of these two.

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For context, my OC Leo, the model whose poster got vandalized in the picture above... He's kinda related to the two below:

Leo's an Adrienette descendant. 😂 I swear, I didn't mean to get the show's vibe so well but like... Damn. It's like a family tradition: get your pics vandalized by haters 😈

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The Differences in Leadership: Which One is the real Leader?

It's something of a minor debated topic with my OC AU, as Shizuke and Blair have somewhat evenly split authority between them when it comes to running their team. No one in the team would argue those two are the ones they answer to, but the overall opinions in-story on who the "real" leader of the team is can vary depending on the character and what they value more in a leader.

General public pretty much defaults to seeing Shizubug as the leader. He is the one wearing the Ladybug's spots. He is the one declaring their team's mission statements in every interview, the moral compass reassuring the public with utmost sincerity. He serves as the face of the team as the one most likely to drop in to help even with the little things like helping an old lady cross the street. He is the most important member of team as he not only purifies akumas and fixes everything in the end, he is also the only one with sufficient mastery of mirakungfu to go head to head with Pavonis. He is the most indispensable member of the team. He should be the leader, right?

Except, as their teammates soon learn, it's actually Blaircat who's calling the shots on the field. As Shizubug charges forward, it's up to Blaircat to make sure he gets to where he needs to be on the fly, tear down obstacles that get in his way and gauge what needs to be done, even reel the bug back in if needed. Shizubug may be the team's face in every interview but it's Blaircat who catches him when he falters. As Shizubug gets to reassure the public, Blaircat backs up his ideals with the steps to get there. She is the one running the show.

But then you get to the backstage and it's Shizubug taking the initiative to train the team. He tries to train them to master mirakungfu, provides them with potions they may need, informs them of the common reoccurring akumas, helps them with whatever homework the guardian leaves for them to the best of his knowledge like an assistant teacher... He's the one pushing them forward and building them up, unlike Blaircat who was content to strategize using them as they are.

It gets further confusing when Shizubug doesn't second guess Blaircat's instructions on field or when Blaircat goes along with Shizubug's training like the rest of them. They both defer to the other depending on the situation.

This is why if you ask the rest of the team who the real leader is, you get mixed answers. They put different things on the table with that same firm assertiveness one would expect from someone used to being the designated leader...

It's not as if they never fought over who gets to lead, they kinda did back when they were still a duo. Both of them are used to taking the lead in their personal lives, it's just the reason behind it and what field they're on are just vastly different. It's why their leadership styles are so different.

My personal opinion, I wrote this fic to be more Shizuke centric at first but Blair just stole the show as I was writing it and demanded she gets bumped up to co-protagonist. She's too strong of a character to be firmly a deuteragonist, much more so than just a love interest.

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Shizuke's supporting character to antagonist arc in the OG story lol.

He started out as a this bright newbie knight who's been freshly promoted to one of the prince's bodyguard. He's pretty happy about the job, getting to protect one of his bestest friends (Keagan) next to his other best friend (Fiona). Sure, there were naysayers against this commoner immigrant getting such a prestigious position over other nobles but Shizuke's confident he can prove them wrong. Yeah, he's a healer but he can make it work...

But then Prince Keagan ran away. There goes everything good he had going for him.

A monster that comes out every decade has started attacking the kingdom - same monster that killed his parents years ago and killed Fiona's parents recently. It was a chance for revenge! It was his chance to prove himself! This time, of his own merit! Just kill the monster and be a hero!

He'll do it even if it kills him!

But why is Prince Keagan protecting that beast?!

Step aside, Keagan! He doesn't wanna fight you - why are you pointing your sword at him?! Why are you protecting the thing that killed both of your friends' families?! Killed thousands of your people?!?!

side note: Shizuke's healed the worst of his injuries but healing doesn't save him from laundry bills or armor repair. It's bad enough he got into a fight against his best friend, his bills are rising at every attempt to attack the monster.

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Maybe I should just get rid of Zoe and her cameos in N2CaTs. Even her role as secondary bee for contrast to Chloe is easily replaceable with Pavonis' former bee team mate - it's just for Princess Honey's power arc, to demonstrate some power evolution divergences I was low-key kinda hinting at with Shizuke being shit at making anti akuma charms. Literally her only purpose, and she doesn't even need a line for it.

I just needed someone who could use Honey Cure. A generation that doesn't have a ladybug to use a miraculous healing wave to fix things might make someone else in a team adapt that role out of need. Even adults can suffer from overusing a miraculous... Or a certain old lady past her prime could end up in a coma and only survived cause someone unlocked Honey Cure out of trauma when the rest of his team mates died. Pavonis didn't know he survived and is the reason Hisui is still alive, the only one he could save as he learned the power too late.

Meanwhile, the lore bit with Marinette falling into a coma due to qi deficiency from going overboard making an island city with her powers... I could just have Chloe unlock it as part of her redemption arc. She just wouldn't be well known for Honey Cure, she's more infamous for her mind control swarm ala Queen Wasp.

Princess Honey would still have conflicting feelings about Chloe and her rep either way.

I can warp the lore and just pretend Zoe never existed. Like who even cares about the background lore surrounding her. Besides, it further establishes how au this is, I already set Kuro Neko out of order by having it already happen before Ephemeral - cause I felt having the reality of Chat Noir being able to choose to leave can add to why Marinette didn't wanna talk to him directly about Suhan's ultimatum. Zoe just doesn't add anything here that isn't replaceable with another character, be it an OC that I already intended to exist or Chloe herself, who isn't just a historical figure for power lore but is someone I feel is still a relevant figure when it comes to exploring Adrien and heck, Marinette.

Zoe just isn't giving enough for me. TBF the rest of the heroes outside the og core 5 + Luka and Kagami aren't giving much either but...

I wanna divorce from canon even further and I feel it'll help me more to pretend she doesn't exist. Go back to the good old days when I can still wholeheartedly love this show and that was before Zoe existed. Zoe feels more like a reminder of when I started feeling the show is getting... Well... Less fun to watch.

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Keagan posing as Leo as a parody. Sibling behavior when your older cousin is like, this perfect handsome popular model guy and you're just the family's underachiever... Except, Keagan does have the same face as his cousin. In theory, he could've been just as handsome. he just fucks around so much people forgets his pretty boy potential. Even Fiona, who's been pining after him for years, forgets this. His reverse au counterpart proves he could've been popular in an attractive way instead of the class clown way.

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Writing notes for BTAL REMASTERED: How Shizuke refers to his peers

Nicknames are reserved for "Kaji" (Keagan) and "Fuyu" (Fiona). The three childhood friends are pretty much the only ones who call each other that. I'm gonna have to edit N2CaTs to have Adrien refer to them by "Keagan" and "Fiona" to demonstrate some subtle distance, he'll get to call them by nickname after he gets a one-on-one chapter with them. Blake only got to call Fiona "Fuyu" as of Ego Split but Keagan hasn't let him call him "Kaji" as of yet. Blair notably still calls them Keagan and Fiona in N2CaTs. Goes to show those two also consider Shizuke's nicknames for them as something special they wouldn't allow just anyone to use. Shizuke notably doesn't nickname anyone else the same way.

Shizuke's notably one of the few to actually yell their full names like a put-upon mother. Extra notable with Fiona, whose full Russian name isn't officially used in most records due to differing naming conventions so even teachers don't actually call her "Fiona Fiya Feodorovna Kuznetsova", but this is extremely rare.

On a similar note, Shizuke refers to his grandmother as "grandma", which comes off a lot less formal compared to how he refers to his parents as "Otosan" and "Okasan". His paternal grandparents are "Ojiisan" and "Obaasan". There's more respect for them but like, it's not as affectionate as "grandma".

Despite being in love with Chat Noire, he doesn't nickname her the way she nicknames him "Bugsy" (affectionate) or "Moodybug" (derogatory). At most, he shortens her name to "Cat". His crush on her makes him too nervous to be too casual around her.

Blair... He refused to call her by name at first. He refers to her with an italicized "she/her" or "civilian" when he's Ladybug. He hesitates to consider her as a peer cause he suspects she's Hawkmoth at first - saw all the signs she might be Chat Noire but magic shenanigans kicked in to rewire his brain to come up with a conclusion besides her being Chat Noire and the best his brain could come up with is she's friggin Hawkmoth. It's kind of a major edit lol.

He calls all his classmates by their given names by default or uses full names when he's scolding them. "Jake Falkner" gets the brunt of the full name treatment for showing up in his PJs and sleeping in class. Blair definitely notices him not using her name when he calls her twin "Blake". He's been in the same school for years and is acquainted with pretty much everyone that it'd be weird to call them by surname as if he doesn't know them... But now that he's on a first-name basis with everyone, it feels weird to call even new classmates like Blake by surname when everyone's default for classmates seems to be given names anyway.

People he's not close to or he's specifically distancing because they're on bad terms with him get the surname treatment. Another major edit. So he calls Natalia as "Hale", Damien as "Guerrero", Leo as "Aurelio" and Ai as "Tsurugi".

When he first moved to Helios, it used to be his default to call everyone, even peers his age, by surname plus honorifics rather than given names. Like Fiona used to be "Kuznetsov-san". It's more out of polite respect for strangers than distance. Close friends were given names plus casual honorifics like "Damien-kun" or "Ai-chan". He has since phased out honorifics in his English.

Kaji and Fuyu never got the -kun or -chan treatment. Notably, he probably felt Fuyu might not appreciate the girly, cutesy sounding -chan added to her preferred gender neutral sounding nickname "Fuyu" so he never bothered with it. It's part of why Fuyu is quicker at giving away nickname privileges than Kaji, as a tomboy she vastly prefers her nickname than her very feminine given name, Fiona.

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Characterization notes for N2CaTs as I'm drafting out this related one shot and rereading Scorched Origins and what to edit or rewrite in that one:

When Plagg was first assigned to Blair, I should write him with more... I dunno the exact feeling for it. Like, distance? Aloofness? He's keeping Blair at arm's length. Definitely got this "let's get this over with" vibe as he cooperates with her. Keeps his replies short and mostly job related. Like he's just tolerating this new arrangement. Doesn't help how smug and full of herself Blair was, riding the high of having been granted a Miraculous - and tbf she's a teen whose wildest dream just came true how can she not let it get a little into her head? He isn't "happy" or thrilled about being tied to a new kid, only going through with it cause Adrien cared about this city and its people and Adrien's been dead for half a century by then so it's not like he can pressure the guardian to bring him back to Adrien.

Blair can never replace Adrien.

The thing that broke the ice for Plagg is how Blair almost died on the first day. The new Hawkmoth has already unlocked this new power with her sword, something that can cut through magic by transmitting the blade through it or whatever. Not important, just the sword was able to stab Blair even though she's transformed with an indestructible suit. Blair being the emotionally constipated girly that she is tried to brush it off. Sensing how her near death experience is affecting her despite her attempts not to let it, Plagg offered to let her quit. Blair strongly refused, she needs to be a hero, it's the only way she can understand why they left.

And that's when Plagg realized, Blair may not be living in a mansion, or have her schedule decided for her by the hour, or have a forbidding abusive father... Blair is nonetheless trapped in her own way... In the same way as Plagg is.

That's when Plagg realized he can no longer ignore Blair.

Blair, being the low empathy girly that she is, wouldn't have noticed it. That's the tricky part of writing this when she's the POV character. Might just make this part of N2CaTs instead.

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Natalia and Shizuke sure cope differently when it comes to their respective first love. Leo was a more out and out asshole when he broke up with her. There's a whole episode on that so I won't essay on her any further. Just that he's a relatively fresh wound that still stings. There's a clear person to blame.

Shizuke on the other hand, he believed it was completely one-sided and he mistook her kindness for friendship. When he blurted out he liked her, he wasn't just friendzoned, she full on stopped talking to him and he got mocked by the class for thinking he had a snowball's chance in hell with her... They were just in 2nd grade and it may have just been puppy love but it's like a core memory to him. He doesn't blame her at all but it still hurt. It's been so long it's like a dull ache for him.

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First Love

VS

Current Love