#Emilie would accept Felix into her home no questions asked

[adastra-rising]

A collection of WIPs from the Feligami Fic, now titled: “Roses of Blue”

I have no reason to be in misery because I wrote this. Yet, here we are. Why am I here just to suffer?

I kinda lost the plot a little because the election results has turned my family into a battleground and the best way to deal with daddy issues is NATURALLY to project them onto your morally gray blorbo of choice and use them to write fanfiction.

So its sort of become more of a Felix character study, with feligami elements because I really like writing in his head. Specifically, a lot of musings on his relationships with people: Kagami, Adrien, Amelie, Emilie, and regrettably Colt.

I’m hoping to get this fanfiction out within the next week or two.

[invisible-pink-toast]

was going through my files and found some unfinished old fics from maybeequeen week back in 2022! i'm going to work on finishing a couple of them but probably will never complete this one, still it's just a little snapshot into chloe's life and her relationships. it was for the birthday prompt:

On Chloe’s 11th birthday, the best part of the day was supposed to be that her mother had promised to be there. Audrey was in London doing some fashion critic thing with British Vogue. Normally the flight over from New York was too long, but the flight from London to Paris was only an hour.

But around lunchtime, Chloe got a voicemail from her mother’s assistant, saying that Audrey was busy with a fashion show, but she wished Chloe a happy 10th birthday. Chloe had curled up on her bed, holding Mr Cuddly as tight as she could, as she tried not to cry. Her mother hated crying. 

In the evening, Andre Bourgeois threw Chloe a party. It was very fancy and sophisticated and Chloe felt very grown up. Unfortunately most of the people who’d been invited where her father’s friends, business associates, political sponsors. And given that it was an eleven-year-olds birthday, all of their wives and husbands and partners and children were invited too. A family event.  ‘We should never waste an opportunity to network, sweetheart.’ Her father had said, fixing his cufflinks, as a stylist did Chloe’s hair. It’s not like the other kids from school would have wanted to come anyway. At least Sabrina, Adrien and Felix were going to be there. 

When the party started, Chloe went around with her father and smiled and introduced herself. She answered the polite and uninteresting questions, gracefully accepted birthday wishes and clenched her teeth as her cheeks got pinched by women who had apparently known her since she was a baby, even though she was sure she’d never seen them before.

Sabrina arrived and Chloe showed off her new dress and new jewelry and told Sabrina all about her new presents, as Sabrina gasped and admired and begged to borrow things. But the real best part of the day was the surprise Chloe got was when the Agreste’s showed up. 

She’s in the middle of falsely smiling at one of the hotel board members when hands grab her around the middle from behind. She yelps, but is only pulled into a hug by a laughing Adrien. 

‘Happy birthday, Chlo!’ He yells in her ear, and then she’s laughing too. A real one, not the simpering little giggle she’s been putting on all night. She turns in his arms and hugs him back. 

‘Adrikins! You came!’ 

‘Of course! But you’ll never believe who else did…’ He says mysteriously, before grabbing her hand and pulling her through the crowd. 

Aunt Emilie has been awfully sick. She’s been sick for a long time now, but whenever Chloe would ask about it, her godmother would wave away her concerns and say she was fine. Chloe still doesn’t know what she’s sick with. Over the last few years, Emilie’s only gotten worse. She has terrible coughing fits, bouts of confusion or anger that come out of nowhere, and terrible spells that Uncle Gabe calls “episodes”. Chloe has never seen one of the episodes, but Adrien told her they were awful, and made him so scared that he couldn’t get them out of his head.

Several months ago, Emilie took time off of work so she could stay at home, to try to rest to get better. Chloe thought that was a good idea, when she was sick she got to stay home and eat as many sweet things as she ordered, at it always made her feel better. Adrien stopped going out as much, staying at home to keep his mother company. At first Chloe would go over all the time to see them. But as the months passed, Emilie didn’t seem to be getting better. So Uncle Gabe said his wife needed proper rest, and that Chloe should give her the space to do so. Chloe started shortening her visits, then decreasing her visits - first to twice a week, then once a week, then every fortnight - always under her godfather’s watchful and disapproving gaze. Her last visit got cancelled because Emilie needed a visit from the doctor, so Chloe hasn’t seen her for almost a month. 

So when Adrien pulls Chloe through the crowd, she’s expecting to see someone like Jagged Stone or the President. Instead she sees Uncle Gabe, frowning like he always does nowadays, but beside him, grinning without a care in the world, is her Aunt Emilie. 

Chloe gasps and races forwards (in a very undignified way) and throws her arms around Emilie. 

‘Careful, Chloe!’ Gabriel snaps, steadying Emilie with his hand, but Emilie shushes him and wraps her arms tightly around the birthday girl. 

‘I didn’t think you could come?!’ Chloe says, her face still buried in her aunt’s jacket. Emilie runs a hand over Chloe’s fancy hairdo. 

‘Well, I couldn’t miss your 11th birthday now, could I?’ Emilie says, tucking a strand of Chloe’s hair back into place, and Chloe smiles up at her. ‘It’s a very important occasion. Happy birthday, dear.’ 

‘Yes, happy birthday.’ Gabriel echoes. 

Chloe sniffs, and steps back, remembering herself and smoothing out her skirt. ‘Thank you for coming.’ She says politely, but she’s still smiling brightly. That’s when she gets a good look at her aunt. She’s very pale, supporting most of her weight on her cane, and she’s wearing a winter coat even though it’s September. But her smile is just the same as ever, so Chloe puts it out of her mind, and eagerly shows off her party and her presents to her new guests. 

[unoriginalmess]

Untitled Feralnette Fic Ch. 1

Hiya there anyone who happens upon this first chapter of this fic. I would like to start out by saying that this is my first fanfic ever. I've been wanting to write a fic for the miraculous fandom for a while but I haven't had any inspiration until I stumbled upon this glorious AU created by @bigfatbreak. I highly suggest checking out all of their posts about this au because they are hilarious and genius and about 100 other amazing adjectives that could be used to describe them and their posts. Anyways enough with my rant and let's get on with the fic. ⚠️Slight angst⚠️ ⚠️Swearing⚠️

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When Marinette got home after her and Luka's breakup, all she could do was cry. She wanted to be with him, but her Ladybug duties came first. If lying is a deal breaker for him, then maybe it was best that they ended it now while their relationship was still in its early stages. Still, she couldn't help but feel the loss of her first relationship. She ended up crying for a whole entire day. She just hoped that Hawkmoth(or Shadowmoth or whatever the fuck he wanted to be referred to as this week) wasn't feeling particularly akuma-y today, because she didn't know if she could bottle up all these feelings, even though the world is relying on her ability to do so.

Ugggghhh!! It has been exhausting having to be "happy and perfect Marinette" and "happy and perfect Ladybug" All. The. Time. She's also pretty sure that Hawkmoth had discovered the similarities in her personality as Marinette to Ladybug, and that's why she's been targeted by multiple akumas lately. She has had to have her emotions under control even more than usual. If only there was a way to get Hawkmoth to stop targeting her. Maybe she should just not give a fuck anymore. Haha as if! It couldn't be that easy! Could it?

The more she thinks about it the more it starts to make sense. If she just let herself go completely crazy as Marinette, she would be killing like 10 birds with one stone. She would get hawkmoth off of her trail, she wouldn't have to deal with having to hide her emotions all of the time, she wouldn't have to deal with the added stress of maintaining her perfect persona, she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of Lila's lies taking her friends away if she didn't have friends in the first place, and so much more stress would be taken off of her plate! It was perfect! It might hurt a little at first, but it's for the best in the end. She spent that night planning out her outfit for tomorrow, doing her homework, and going to sleep knowing that, in the morning, François Dupont isn't gonna know what hit them.

....

Adrien Agreste had been having a rough week. He had been abandoned on patrol by ladybug, been broken up with by his girlfriend, and was feeling completely and utterly alone. He knows that his lady has been feeling overwhelmed by her guardian duties lately, and that he 100% deserved that verbal lasting that kagami had given him but he couldn't help but feel this way. He was also feeling guilty about lying to kagami and leading her on for so long. After she broke up with him he took some time to assess his feelings for her and realized that he had more of an admiration for her than an infatuation. He definitely didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about him. She told him that she LOVED HIM, and he was so distracted (blinded) by ladybug that he didn't even process her confession. So, he was looking forward to Sunday morning. He cleared his schedule and on that beautiful Sunday morning, he did what he is only allowed to do on very rare occasions: sleep in. Or at least... thats what he had planned on doing.

When Nathalie had knocked on his door that morning Adrien was not in a good mood. He vaguely heard her say something about father wanting him downstairs in some amount of time for something involving a business partners child and some other robotic sounding words that his half asleep brain couldn't process completely.

"I have a cleared schedule this morning, Nathalie. What could father possibly want me for that is more important than my precious sleep?" He asked snappily.

"Your father wants you downstairs to welcome the new guest that will be living in the house for the rest of the school year. You have 15 minutes to make yourself look presentable and I suggest leaving the attitude upstairs," she half informed/half reprimanded him. As she walked away, Adrien reluctantly rose from his nice warm bed and went to go get ready with only one thought racing through his mind: Who could possibly be staying with them?

....

Felix Culpa was not looking forward to living at the Agreste mansion for the rest of the school year, but for their parents' sake they would do what they had to. It wasn't all for their parents either, they were also concerned about the strange "dissapearance" of Emilie (who was his aunt in all ways except blood relation) and about the treatment of Adrien since said "disappearance".

You see, Felix Culpa is the heir to the Culpa Fabric Empire. The Culpas have been the sole fabric supplier of the Agreste brand since the very beginning. Felix's mom Diana was best friends with Emilie since their college days. Diana and Emilie made the deal with the two brands because as best friends who are both involved in the same industry, it just made sense to have a business relationship with each other. Diana never really cared for Gabriel as a person, but she could tell that he loved Emilie more than anyone else in the world so she could tolerate him for the sake of her best friend.

When Emilie went missing, Diana was absolutely devastated and tried anything she could to find her. She invested in missing person ads as large as billboards, organized search teams, tried to aid the police in their search for her in any way she could, but there was no leads, no legitimate calls to the number on the billboards, and the search team came up empty handed. While she was doing all of this to try to find her, she couldn't help but be furious over the fact that Gabriel was doing nothing to help in the search. All he did was hole himself up in his oversized mansion and call it a day.

The last straw for Diana was when Gabriel tried to use the "grieving my wife" excuse to try to abuse their business arrangement. That day, she told him that the Culpa brand would no longer be associated with the Agreste brand and that after the new collection is released, he would need to find a new fabric supplier. She knew that the Agreste brand would take a huge hit from having sub-par fabric, but she never thought that Gabriel would try to make up for that fact by using Adrien as a walking mannequin and locking him up in the desolate prison that he calls a home. As soon as she realized that he was doing this she scrambled to find a solution.

That is how Felix ended up here, standing in front of the mansion they would be living in for the next 9 months in exchange for Gabriel getting back into the Culpa brand's good graces. Don't get them wrong, they were excited about being able to be in Paris, home of the most innovative fashion pieces in the world, and about being able to see their honorary cousin Adrien (who wasn't half bad to be around despite him having no backbone whatsoever when it came to anything involving his father) but dealing with Mr. Agreste was definitely one of the low points of this arrangement.

They decided to just get it over with and knocked on the door. It was opened by the man that their cousin affectionately referred to as Gorilla. They nodded a thank you to the man, remembering that he was a man of few words, and proceeded to the bottom of the staircase. Mr. Agreste stood at the top with a very tired looking Adrien a few steps down. Felix wasn't even slightly surprised that this is where he chooses to welcome his guests, looking down on people must give him some sort of power trip or something. It's almost as if he heard the phrase "It's over, Anakin, I have the high ground," and made that his own personal motto. Whatever, let him have the feeling of false power if he wanted it, Felix knows that they have all the power in this situation and they're sure that Gabriel knows it as well.

"Hello Felix," Mr. Agreste greeted them with the same amount of warmth in his voice as liquid nitrogen, "while you are staying in this house you will abide by my rules. Adrien will inform you of them and show you to your room. You will attend school with him in the morning and I'm sure that you already know that you must represent not only the Culpa brand, but also the Agreste as well. I will be in my office working, do not disturb me. Contact Nathalie with any questions that cannot be answered by Adrien." He finished his spiel and left to what Felix assumed was his office space.

"Hello Felix!" Adrien greeted him with as much enthusiasm as he could muster in his sleepy state. "Come with me and I'll show you to your room."

Adrien led Felix to their room and listed all of the rules of the household that they were expected to follow. And... wow. Felix could not believe that their cousin had to live like this. The only social interaction this kid gets is at school and fencing? Pre-approved outings only with people determined socially acceptable by Gabriel? And if he gets even one "B" he isn't even going to be allowed to go to school at all? Felix knew that the living situation was bad for Adrien but know the only question running through their head was: What did they get themselves into??

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And... thats it for chapter 1! Mostly background info at this point, but next chapter will be the class' reaction to feralnette and felinette meeting for the first time. I just want to say thanks again to @bigfatbreak for giving me the inspiration to write a fic for the first time ever. Feel free to leave constructive criticism, I'm always looking to improve, especially at writing since this is my first time posting anything I've written online, so I want to get better so that I can make better content for you guys, gals, and non-binary pals. If anyone wants to be tagged just let me know and I'll make a tag list for ya. :)

[sairenharia]

Sentimonster Adrien Theory 2

Spoilers for all of Season 4 as of 8/31/21

For my previous thoughts, and the validity of at least SOMEONE on the cast being a Sentimonster, refer to: Here

As a note, my previous theory was written after Ladybug and BEFORE Chat Blanc, and Felix. I will be retreading ground for Adrien specifically, but basic belief in there being a sentimonster is there.

Something I just want to say, I don’t think Adrien being a Sentimonster negates the abuse Gabriel inflicted on him. What it does is explain why GABRIEL is able to justify it, but seeing where someone is coming from does not excuse them of their actions. Gabriel has to repent. The fact is Adrien is a person even if Senti!Adrien is true, and that doesn’t change just because he’s not human. Treating someone who can think and feel cruelly is never a good thing.

That being said, evidence and why I think Adrien really might not be human.

A: The Wish

We know Emilie is in the basement. She is in some kind of stasis. We know the Wish involves her.

We do not know Gabriel’s wish. We very deliberately do not know Gabriel’s wish, because we, the audience, hear him talk about it a lot, but only in vague terms. He wants his wish, he wants to change time, he wants to achieve a goal.

But he’s never said he wants to wake Emilie up, fix her, bring her back. He wants to do something for her sake, but its not the most obvious thing.

So its NOT the most obvious thing. There is no reason to be vague about this unless its to elude to a deeper meaning. The obvious wish is too obvious to be obtuse.

And more importantly, we know Emilie and Gabriel wanted something fifteen years ago thanks to the Shanghai special. Something to do with the human virtues, potentially.

We know Marinette is fourteen now. So Adrien’s birthday in Bubbler was his fourteenth birthday. 

The want for something started around the time Adrien should have been conceived.

B: Ask for Forgiveness, not Permission.

Adrien doesn’t like to ask his father for things. We see this over and over again with him sneaking out to things like the Startrain, or say he’s going to fencing with Kagami, and other excuses. Sometimes he does try to do things in the straight forward way, but when there are things he really wants to go to, things he doesn’t want to have to accept a no, he sneaks out.

Like the class trip. Like going to see his mother’s movie.

And when Adrien is told directly ‘no,’ he will often listen. For Adrien. Chat Noir, however, is a different entity, and he often uses it for a reason for why he can go out. Chat can, Adrien can’t.

To date, the only time Adrien has gone against a direct order from Gabriel is in regards to going to school.

And Chat Blanc.

I’ll get to Chat Blanc.

Adrien was told he could not attend school, and he accepted that. Until he became Chat Noir and only then did he rebel. Interestingly, when he was pulled from school after the book incident, he didn’t plan to just run away again. We know he was willing to disobey to attend, so why did the ban take this time?

Perhaps because Gabriel made it a thing that was allowed. It wasn’t an outright rebellion, it was a thing earned and then lost.

C: What Is The Amok?

Its the rings.

Not ring.

Its BOTH RINGS.

Which may or may not be magic items in of themselves, but there is not enough information for that.

When Gabriel transforms, there is a distinctive beep. When we first see the basement, we hear that beep again. We we see the rings in Felix, we hear that beep yet again. This beep is a sound cue of significance in regards to Gabriel and Emilie.

And here is the thing. If Adrien is a Sentimonster, he’s meant to be their child. Which comes into some questionable things, ethically speaking, for his free will. They don’t want Adrien to know he’s a Sentimonster. They could tell him to always hold onto his Amok, but he’s the son of very wealthy people. Even without being a model, there is every chance his Amok could be stolen because he’d be a target for theft.

But just having the Amok sitting somewhere is dangerous.

And what if it gets broken?

The only way to keep Adrien’s Amok safe is for one of his parents to have it....or both.

Crocoduel has shown us an item can be Akumatized and taken apart at the moment of enchantment and exist as two separate things. And a bonus, the item has to be put together and THEN broken to break the magic.

And here are the twin rings that are perfect copies of each other and get clean together really nice and maybe they attach a little bit? Having two rings stay together that well while cleaning is quite the party trick if there isn’t something to that. But visually speaking, it tells us, the audience, these are two halves of the same whole.

And it allows a little bit in the form of free will. Because if someone does not possess BOTH rings, they cannot control Adrien completely. Its still incredibly hard for Adrien to resist, but he IS capable of disagreeing at the very least.

Of course, when combined with the home atmosphere, his ability to resist doesn’t account for much without extreme circumstances, but still.

We can see this with Sentibubbler. The moment Ladybug had the coffee cup, he changed tracks without a sign of hesitation or confusion. Because he just had the one item. Even though Ladybug was ordering him with more autonomy then Shadow Moth. (I will also get into that.)

This is also why in Felix, Gabriel immediately goes to retrieve Emilie’s ring to wear. Sure, accusing Felix of stealing the ring gets into a whole legal lawsuit that makes it complicated and would make it difficult to retrieve the ring. Its a whole hassle, but it doesn’t explain why he needs to wear Emilie’s ring.

Except Felix has the ring that is one half of Adrien’s Amok.

Gabriel HAS to wear the ring, because Emilie cannot influence Adrien in any way, but Felix can. Gabriel has to balance out whatever Felix may do to Adrien, so he takes his wife ring. And its why he can’t get into the legal battle because he has to wear the ring to protect ADRIEN, and if they see him with the ring, there will be questions he can’t answer.

This also may explain Gabriel seems even more harsh to Adrien after Emilie’s disappearance despite some oddities.

Adrien wasn’t allowed to go to school while Emilie was around. But Gabriel granted it. When Adrien wants for things he wasn’t allowed before and is willing to fight for it, Gabriel grants it.

I don’t think Gabriel’s authoritative nature has truly changed that much. I think what changed was Adrien’s PERSPECTIVE of it. Because before, Emilie was a constant counter to his need to obey. Now he doesn’t have that, so being told what to do feels more absolute. I think the thing that truly changed was how much time and affection Gabriel was willing to show Adrien in his pain, not how much he restricted him.

Which still ain’t great.

Though that is a thought. Maybe Gabriel avoids Adrien because he knows he’s a commanding sort and he’s trying to not do overly much. Which is why most of his time around Adrien is when he can critique him, because it gives him a focus for orders? It would be a twist.

D: What About Chat Blanc? Or rather, what about Plagg.

So I’ve heard people say Chat Blanc disproves this theory because that is certainly a time to command Adrien to obey with his Amok! Which true, except for two things.

One, the end of Felix has little reason to change in the new timeline. Adrien and Marinette dated for at least a little while which was shortly before Felix happened. Felix still visited.

What might have changed was what kind of terrorizing Felix did on Adrien.

What has no reason to change is Felix stealing the ring.

Which means Gabriel DIDN’T have the means to absolutely command Adrien to do anything, we only had half the Amok.

And the fact the Amok was in two pieces is why Chat Blanc didn’t destroy himself if Gabriel’s ring was still capable of being destroyed while he was transformed, and if London still got wrecked. We saw in Crocoduel the item has to be COMBINED and THEN destroyed. Destroying both at once doesn’t count.

And it would explain something in Chat Blanc.

We know the move he TRIED to do was kill himself. He engulfed himself in the power before it went out of control.

We also know, officially of Guilt Trip, that cataclysm DOESN’T KILL SENTIMONSTERS. It makes it so the Amok doesn’t control them, usually go crazy. We saw Chat Noir get Cataclysm’d in Miraculer, but he didn’t turn to ash. We don’t even know if he truly died. He was suffering, to be sure, and we see Sentimonsters take damage. He could have been damaged.

But Chat Blance is a Sentimonster AND an Akuma, so he was able to take the damage more and went absolutely off the rails instead, and instead of blaming Gabriel, like he should have...

He blamed Ladybug.

Because he was no longer connected to what gave Gabriel control over him. The only ‘control’ over himself he recognized was Ladybug’s influence and his own love.

And then there’s Plagg’s influence, which ties into Cataclysm. Sentimonsters cannot be killed by Plagg’s magic, but they can be FREED of control thanks to his magic. As I said in my first post, the one time we see Adrien disobey as direct order, its after he meets Plagg and goes to school. He uses Chat Noir as a means to disobey all the time.

In being bonded to Plagg, Adrien is given genuine free will and freedom, over the manufactured version that his parents made with a split Amok. He is able to decide things on his own, because he has the chaos magic that grants him the ability to SAY NO. To develop his own means of rebelling.

Ask for forgiveness over permission. And sometimes, learning to say no anyway.

This doesn’t change the conditioning Adrien has been through. He’s obedient to a fault because that is all he’s ever known. Its just instead of fear and gaslighting having trained this into him, it was magic. His parents never NEEDED to be cruel, Emilie COULD be as kind as Adrien says, because they never needed to use negative reinforcement on him.

They had magic.

And that was able to do the job just as well.

Plagg is able to naturally counter the magic. And he’s giving Adrien the unconditional love and support to help him learn, but Adrien is still a person, still has a personality. And the mental bars he has around his head are just as effective as the magic ones were.

E. Shadow Moth vs Mayura

There is something I’ve noticed between how Shadow Moth and Mayura operate.

Mayura made Sentmonsters for others, but she did make one for herself: Ladybug. But here is the thing about Sentibug, she gave her orders. Gave her a general guideline. And then she let Sentibug take those orders and just go.

Shadow Moth, when he makes an Amok, does not do this. He allows others to control Sentimonsters as they will, and often Sentimonsters are just given general guidelines, but not Shadow Moth’s Sentimonsters. Sentibubbler, SentiNino, SentiAlec are Sentimonsters Shadow Moth made.

And he didn’t give them orders. He didn’t give them guidelines.

They were Literal Puppets.

He controlled their movements. He SPOKE THEIR WORDS FOR THEM.

Out of all the Sentimonsters, Gabriel is literally the only one who has used his Sentimonster this way.

And I think there’s a good reason for it. I don’t think Gabriel is capable of making an entity that can act on its own, but is still a complete slave to his will and be okay with it.

Because what does that say about Adrien?

Akumas are fine because those are PEOPLE. People he manipulated and coerced, people he threatened, but they are still people. They can still refuse him and he knows it.

Puppets are find because that’s all they are, puppets.

But this middle ground that Sentimonsters are, that is what Adrien is. And Gabriel is unable to cope with that because it means seeing his son as a tool and despite how much of a genuinely terrible person Gabriel is, that is not something he’s willing to see in himself.

So he hyper controls the Sentimonsters and Does Not Think About It.

F. Wishmaker.

Listen, its valid to have a wish as a child to be what your parents wanted to be. Depending on parents, it could be a perfectly healthy wish.

Here’s the thing.

Everytime Wishmaker granted a wish, we saw people at the age they wanted that wish granted. They were children when they had this wish.

ADRIEN WAS AN INFANT.

And here’s the thing.

Infants don’t think of others. Infants are a bundle of vulnerability that is very curious about the world and don’t want to die and is trying to figure out how to make its wants known. Infants are selfish beings because they are just trying to survive in this world they’ve shown up in.

An infant doesn’t think about what its parents want.

Adrien should not have been CAPABLE of having that wish as an INFANT.

Not unless he wasn’t human.

A Sentimonster sure does want to do what its Amok holder wants.

And what his parents wanted was a son. What they wanted was Adrien.

So that’s why Adrien appears as Adrien for the wish, because for all he has doubts, the Sentimonster in him knows that is what they wanted.

F2. Gabriel and Emilie’s eyes.

....idk, fam. The fact their eye colors were switched FEELS important and we’ve supposedly seen Emilie at seventeen with green eyes and her sister has green eyes, so what’s up with that is wei-

F2. GABRIEL AND EMILIE’S EYES, A THOUGHT I LITERALLY HAD RIGHT NOW.

The Amok is both rings. Gabriel and Emilie have their own rings. The rings they have always worn as their own.

Felix, with green eyes, has Gabriel’s ring.

Gabriel, with blue eyes, has Emilie’s ring.

The reason the eyes are switched in Adrien’s memory is because he associates the eyes with the ring and the current holder of the specific ring have THOSE EYES. He knows the faces they SHOULD be, but the eyes are DIFFERENT because the holders are DIFFERENT.

G. Allergies.

Its still funny if a boy made out of a feather has a feather allergy. It may also be a defense mechanism put in. Logically, any peacock user will have feathers. Maybe he’s allergic in case they ever lose the peacock, he’ll avoid the holder while they’re transformed at least. Maybe it could even distract the holder from noticing anything off about him.

H. Obedience.

Adrien is obedient. Which is one of the reasons he’s a suspect Sentimonster. I won’t go into this because I already talked about his Permission versus Forgiveness thing.

I. Taking Charge

I talked about before about Adrien taking charge and struggling with it, but I also have another point about it.

The thing is, we see Adrien excel at second in command....but also when he’s Chat Noir.

Adrien did BADLY as Mister Bug and as Aspik. But the thing is, Plagg wasn’t there at the time. As Mister Bug, Plagg was with Marinette. As Aspik, the ring is in the weird pocket dimension things are bamf’d away and while Plagg is around, his power isn’t bonded to Adrien.

Adrien has proven able to figure out Ladybug’s plans with minimal instructions. The fact Mister Bug couldn’t even get to step one is weird.

He tried being Aspik for months and was unable to figure out what he needed to do, focused solely on the objective of protect Ladybug. Unable to step back and think beyond his goal. Three months is a long time to not come up with ANYTHING.

Its like Adrien’s ability to decide things on his own was compromised. Like his free will was stripped away, hindered by the rings that control him. He could try to focus on protecting Ladybug, but he couldn’t figure out a good way to take down the enemy on his own.

His father didn’t want him to.

We do see Adrien can lead well. When he wanted to talk to Juleka in Guilt Trip, HE was the one making the right decision. But he was unable to overtake Marinette’s charisma, so even if he could think of what to do, how to handle the situation, he doesn’t have the force of personality to overtake a true leader.

We see Chat Noir have plans and direct a crowd.

With Plagg granting him agency, he’s able to make good decisions, good calls, able to use that brain of his well. Its when he loses Plagg he struggles the most.

J. The Need To Be Useful

Adrien thinks he needs to be useful. He needs to be good and perfect. And yes, this is reinforced by Gabriel’s treatment of him, always criticizing him, but it is a kind of curious fear.

Adrien has two great fears.

The fear of trapped isolation and the fear of rejection.

The fear of trapped isolation is the one Gabriel has reinforced. Adrien has only shown a fear of his father rejecting him once, during Christmas, when he was frustrated in the idea Gabriel would not spend time with him, and even then, Adrien chose to make it a reality on his own first.

And its very likely Gabriel was affectionate when he was younger.

I think the fear of rejection from Gabriel is a newer one that Adrien is aware of. After Gabriel has refused to be around Adrien.

But I think the fear was ALWAYS there. Because he is an Sentimonster. If a Sentimonster isn’t useful, then they have no reason to exist. And the thing is, while Adrien fears this, there is also a strong part of him that is RESIGNED to it.

Which makes it even weirder in that Gabriel’s behavior should make this a NEWER fear...unless it was part of Adrien’s natural existence. One of a Sentimonster. He’s afraid of it, because he wants people, he loves people, but there is a part of him that just....accepts it as a natural consequence.

One that isn’t worth fighting.

Like he isn’t in season four right now.

K. Memories

Adrien couldn’t remember having childhood dreams. We know he used to play with Chloe and...that’s it. There’s even implication his modeling is a Newer Thing instead of being a child model.

We know he didn’t have a childhood dream. He never had a childhood wish. Which is weird because Adrien is the biggest romantic dreamer of the series save for ROSE. He never thought about being a charming knight, a magical girl, even just being a superhero? He was all on board with being a superhero when offered, like he’s thought about it a lot!

But it wasn’t something he called a childhood dream.

But you know who probably did have being a superhero as a childhood dream?

Chloe.

If Adrien has two Amoks to make a facsimile of free will, it may have been impossible for him to truly ‘dream’ in the sense Wishmaker was talking about. It was too deep of a want for him to truly conceptualize enough to count.

But he played games with Chloe, he still saw the wishes and dreams and fantasies that he could enjoy with her as a proxy.

Perhaps that is why they were such good friends. Chloe wanted things so fiercely that for Adrien, who struggled to want, he was able to figure out how to do it with her influence. Not enough for a childhood dream, but enough to know how to want enough that it gave him a love for people. A need for more in his life beyond the perfect son.

L. Emotions.

Adrien is the heart of the Ladybug and Chat Noir duo. The Peacock is the Miraculous of Emotions. Adrien has shown a difficulty at controlling his own feelings. He can control his REACTIONS, but its hard for him to figure out what to do about his feelings beyond ‘conceal, don’t feel.’

Which is weird, because he’s extremely empathetic. He’s very good at judging others emotions (save for Marinette ‘Just A Friend’ Dupain-Cheng.) He can offer comfort and figure out is they need space or help. The fact he struggles with his own says maybe his are just too strong.

Like he’s a being Made Of Emotions.

M. Narrative Foreshadowing.

Just saying it again.

It comes up a lot with Adrien becoming some kind of puppet, copy, impostor. It happens so much. SO MUCH.

Also he was the first one to think Sentibug was a Real Person.

Then there is the end of Mega Leech.

Could it just be another example of Adrien being emotionally abused? Sure.

However, considering how often this series genuinely glosses over abuse (Adrien, Chloe, Kagami, even Zoe to an extent), its weird to just throw that in at the end of an episode that, frankly, barely involves Adrien’s emotions.

Save one.

Adrien was told it was a perfume commercial. He was Lied To. He was told One Thing was Another.

And there is the framing. There is the double focus on the ring, the focus on the words. There is so much focus on this being a command that could not be denied, and that doesn’t need to involve the ring AT ALL if it was abuse.

Unless, of course, the ring was an Amok.

Then the visual cues make a whole lot more sense.

N. The Wild Mass Guessing.

Now what is the wish.

Clearly Emilie’s use of the peacock is what made her sick and it made her sick for years. Now whether the peacock was ALREADY BROKEN or Emilie broke it is up in the air. Either way, we know she used the peacock longterm. Since there is no talk of supervillains or previous superheroes, it seems highly unlikely she was granting people super powered monsters.

So, her use was for a Sentimonster. Perhaps trying to split the Amok broke the peacock. Perhaps that one use was enough to make her sick, but because it was just the one time, it took years for the magical sickness to take her down. That is all up in the air.

What we do know, the crux of the wish is fifteen years ago. Which means it involves Adrien’s existence in some way. It likely involves rewriting time a bit.

And here is the thing.

Gabriel loves Adrien. He does. He’s a trash person, he’s toxic at best, abusive at worst, but HE LOVES ADRIEN.

What if the peacock was broken when they found it. What is Emilie DIDN’T break it?

‘I wish the Peacock was never broken.’

Fifteen years ago, Gabriel and Emilie were trying to have a baby. But they were unable to conceive. Amelie had her own baby boy, and he’s beautiful, and Emilie and Gabriel just hurt more at their inability to have a child.

(This is why adoption should be seen as more valid, folks, but that’s neither here nor there.)

But Emilie’s family knows of magic. Because let’s be fair, there is something truly suspicious about that lot and it screams they know magic stuff. Emilie has heard of grand artifacts and magics and maybe there is away around this limitation.

They explore the world, research magic artifacts, until they finally find the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous. They are able to learn what they can do, either from Nooroo and Duusu. Clearly an Akuma does nothing for them, but a Sentimonster?

That had possibilities.

But the Peacock is broken.

Emilie doesn’t care.

They experiment. She uses the Peacock more and more, but she figures out the trick. She figures out how to make a child, how to make him SAFE.

Adrien is created, using the sign of their union, and the Miraculous are locked away.

But Emilie is still sick from figuring out how to create Adrien. And the years go by and she doesn’t get better, but she doesn’t care. She has her son. A son both her and Gabriel love, but they have to be careful. He’s not human, after all, just a little off.

Let him meet Chloe, because the Bourgeios are hardly normal. Slowly socialize him. Keep him inside so no one sees how odd he is. Keep him safe. He grows, happy enough, independent ENOUGH to believe.

Then Emilie collapses.

And doesn’t get up.

Gabriel is the only one with active control. He keeps Emilie’s ring on her finger and hides her away, but now, he’s the only one who can order his son. He doesn’t want to destroy what independent thought Adrien has achieved, doesn’t want to destroy HIS SON, so he keeps his distance. He only interacts in ways where he can be silent, or criticize what he has always criticized. Doesn’t even dare to get him a gift for his birthday because what if that becomes far too important?

As Adrien shows a rebellious streak, does things for himself, asks for things HE wants, things that Gabriel will sometimes give if its deemed safe, and Gabriel tentatively shows a little more attention. Goes to a few events, goes on a few trips. Not for long, brief amounts of time, hoping that Adrien keeps being Himself.

Because he can’t take off the ring.

Taking off the ring means leaving Adrien vulnerable.

And he fights Ladybug and Chat Noir for his wish.

If the Peacock wasn’t broken/didn’t break, then Emilie wouldn’t have gotten sick. She would wake up and Adrien wouldn’t be erased by his sole control. Maybe if he’s bold enough, he can just make sure Adrien was never at risk of being a puppet again. Take the Amok’s out of the equation, make his son real.

And if time is altered then....then it doesn’t MATTER if Adrien is hurt NOW. If he hates being alone. If Gabriel fails, at least he doesn’t erase what little will his son has left. If Gabriel wins, then literally nothing done matters!

Sometimes he forgets that. He sees Adrien in danger, and he feels that fear, that need to save his son.

Sometimes he remembers, tells himself if he wins, then any harm he caused Adrien with Riposte, with Style Queen, WITH CHAT BLANC, will no longer matter. He just had to win, he has to win, he has to win because it will return Emilie, and it will ensure his son is never lost in the magic that makes his soul.

It doesn’t matter who he hurts. It doesn’t matter how villainous he becomes. None of it matters as long as he achieves his end.

Once, he even thinks of explaining it to Adrien. Tell him he’s Hawk Moth. Tell him he’s a Sentimonster. He knows the distance hurts his son, but if he knew why, then Adrien would understand just how much he loves Adrien.

He keeps his distance so he doesn’t accidentally change Adrien.

He’s Hawk Moth so he can save Emilie and Adrien.

He will fix everything once he wins, and he regrets how often he had hurt Adrien until then.

And then Adrien talks about how he’s noticed Gabriel and Nathalie becoming closer and Nathalie has the Peacock. Adrien is switching his loyalty from Emilie to Nathalie, he’s changing due to MAGIC and Gabriel is furious because he’s been too lax, been too kind, he needs to WIN.

When the Peacock will no longer hurt, when Nathalie will stop fighting him on him using it, he takes it. To keep Adrien from changing more due to magic.

There are times where Gabriel’s heart remind him of his love. He can’t hurt his son then.

There are times where he remembers his goal. If he wins, whatever harm he caused Adrien doesn’t matter, and he HAS to win.

And he throws himself more and more and more into the fight, into winning because if he can win, then he can save everyone important to him.

What does it matter if Adrien suffers now as long as its undone?

[clarawatson]

Summary: Derek Morgan proposes a simple question after a particularly bad case:  “If you could bring anyone here, at this moment, who would it be?” Words: 1017 Trigger Warnings: Aaron Hotchner laughs.

A/N: so I found this file from before I started writing Quiet Birds when I wasn’t sure where it was going to go. I was just writing indulgent fanfiction that only I would see. But I thought this jet scene from one of Mom’s first cases with the BAU would be fun to look at.

~~~~~

“If you could bring anyone here, at this moment, who would it be?” Morgan asks after a particularly tough case. No one’s sleeping, or listening to music, or even pretending to wind down. JJ looks up with a soft smile on her face.

“Emily Dickinson, she’d be so fun to talk to,” she says. Hotch hums in agreement, but it’s Prentiss that frowns.

“Are we bringing them on the jet? Wouldn’t she like, freak out, no one’s been flying in her lifetime, right?” Prentiss says.

“I’d invite Einstein,” Reid piques up, oblivious to the rest of the conversation. Rossi deadpans him, and you can’t help but nod an agreement if just to make him feel better. 

“Ice-T,” Morgan says and you know, at that point, he’s just trying to lighten the mood.

“Ringo Star,” Hotch adds. 

“Of course you’d invite him,” Rossi grumbles, but there’s a smile ghosting his face.

“Amy Lee,” Prentiss says. Immediately you find yourself agreeing with her.

“Heck yeah,” you respond excitedly, finding another Evanescence fan. Emily cocks her head at you, but she knows she’s found someone to listen to dramatically sad and beautiful music to.

“Do they have to be real?” Rossi poses, and you find Morgan thinking about it.

“No.”

“Jack Ryan.” There’s a collective murmur and then Hotch says.

“Which one?”

“Harrison Ford.”

“Hotch wore those videos out,” you comment. “Dad had them in this box out the back and he only ever brought them through when Hotch was sleeping in the guest room. I swear he can quote them back to front.” He opens his mouth to prove you right and you cover his mouth with your hand.

“Who’d you bring?” JJ asks, leaning forward curiously.

You think about giving them a dumb answer, like Captain Kirk or Princess Leia, but you know what your answer is.

“Felix,” you say and a curious hush falls across the plane. Hotch peels your hand off his mouth.

“Felix hated flying,” he says. You shrug, thinking about seeing your husband again after all this time.

“He’d put up with it to meet the team, though.”

Hotch throws his head back on the chair. “Ok, ok, you’re right. He’d charm this team right off their feet and then he’d convince Strauss he can do my job better than me and take over.” You lean back on the chair and pout at him.

“That would be such a shame.”

“Who’s Felix?” JJ asks.

“Dead husband,” you say dryly almost immediately, throwing everyone off guard. Hotch watches you intently, then shrugs.

“First off, he’d hate that Dave’s here because Dave’s a ‘cool kid’,” Hotch forms too many air quotes with his fingers. “He’d love JJ.”

“Oh, for sure, he would have died for someone to talk to the media for him.” The cause of your husband’s death floats in the unsaid implication that he died because he didn’t have one. “Morgan?”

“Adored, would have pushed him to have his own team.”

It’s involuntary that you start to laugh. The idea of Felix pushing Morgan to have his own team… He’d done the same thing to Fornell, and when Fornell hadn’t gotten the hint he’d made tiny voodoo like dolls and stuck them all over his desk. You can tell Hotch is thinking it too, because he walks his fingers across his arm and dissolves into a fit of giggles. 

“He made dolls of teams when he wanted to drop hints,” Rossi explains. You and Hotch are too far gone with fits of giggles to stop and explain. You clutch your chest as you try to calm, wiping the tears away from your eyes.

“Prentiss,” Hotch finally says when he gets his breath back.

“Oh, work wife. For sure. Bread and butter.” You think of all the goth things Felix had in storage, when he used to dye his hair black every weekend, how his college room looked like the inside of a witches cauldron. 

“Spencer?”

“Adopted. He would have created a room dedicated to Spencer, he’d go buy a granny flat just so he’d know Spencer was sleeping somewhere safe.” 

Hotch nods, “Remember when someone told him children ask six hundred questions a day and he worried he wouldn’t answer any of them so he just, read facts books for six months straight?”

“That’s not something someone just forgets.” You’re pretty sure you’ve still got all those little facts tucked away in your brain somewhere. “Huh! Garcia!” 

“Garcia would be his spirit animal,” Hotch pinches the bridge of his nose. “If Felix came here, right now, I’d give my job to him in a heartbeat.”

“You know he wouldn’t accept that,” you whisper lowly. “He’d be so mad at you he’d yell at you to see your worth.” You dramatically shake your finger at him, face squished up like Felix used to do at school. Hotch shakes his back, face scrunched up in return, and for a moment you’re teenagers again. Even the team are grinning at your interaction.

“Is this Felix Garza we’re talking about?” Morgan asks. “Never be the source of work coming into your home, Felix?”

You turn to him, nodding.

“Yeah, he had an FBI pep talk day at his house when I was training. It was in DC, I remember because I was supposed to go back to my hotel room but he insisted, said the lasagna—“

“Was the best thing he’s ever seen anyone create,” you finish. Morgan nods.

“You did that?”

“God no,” you laugh. “Haley’s recipe, Felix’s mom’s handiwork, but that was my dining table so it was my lasagna.” 

“He told us that work always has a way of following us home, but we have to ensure that we’re never the ones to bring it through the front door.”

“Or the back,” you add.

“Or your wife will kill you and make it look like an accident,” Hotch finishes, which seems to be quite true considering his situation. You rub his arm comfortingly and the jet falls into silence. But hey, you’ve all had a good laugh.

Well, at least you and Hotch.

[sincerelymarinette]

A Recorded Life (47/50) - Miraculous Ladybug

Words 1677 Chapter Summary: After finding Emilie Agreste in the secret basement garden, the team was a bit torn apart. They now have to figure out where to go from here, while still keeping mentally sane. Time for some more investigation to find Hawkmoth. Author's Note: Some angst and some fluff (: Also, sorry for missing 2 weeks! It's been hectic around here and I didn't have the time to finish the chapter. Thanks for your patience! I hope uploading a few days early makes up for it. 3 chapters left!!

Prev / Next / Masterlist

Investigation

---

The next morning

Marinette consoled Adrien for hours after Alya called the rest of the team to the Mansion. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she knew it was serious. And finding Emilie Agreste in a garden full of moths was the last thing she ever expected to find. Emilie Agreste was supposed to be dead and resting peacefully...years ago. It took Adrien a long time to finally come to terms with it all, and his father ruined that for him, too.

Adrien cried a lot, not sure how to contain his emotions. He sobbed in front of her body with his friends surrounding him, also crying and confused, until some friendly people came to take her out of the Mansion. Once Marinette convinced him to go back to the bakery, she gave him (and the rest of the team) a snack and some medicine to help them all sleep. Though it took Adrien a few hours to fall asleep, he finally did, in Marinette's arms.

She was relieved when he fell asleep, because it gave him a chance to get it all off his mind. Marinette was worried about Adrien, even more now, and they had to act fast. She's sure Alya, Nino, and Chloé were already awake, but Marinette didn't want to leave Adrien at the risk of waking him up. He's barely gotten any sleep these past few days, and he needs the time to de-stress and rest up. A lot of traumatizing things have happened recently, and Marinette wants to be there for him just like he was for her when they went viral as superheroes.

Only a few more minutes passed before Adrien tossed and turned in his sleep, and he looked like he was having a nightmare. "Adrien," Marinette grabbed his shoulder. "You okay?"

Adrien stopped tossing and sighed, but his eyes were still closed. "No, but I will be," He said.

"Do you want to go downstairs and talk to the others about our next step, or do you want to stay up here?" Marinette asked, trying to be as careful as she could with her words.

Adrien was quiet for another moment, then shifted to sit up. "We should go talk about the plan. The quicker we work on this, the quicker he goes away," He said.

Marinette grabbed his hand, and they locked eyes. "We're going to do this, and I know it will all work out," She promised.

With no response from Adrien, the two of them climbed down the ladder and out of her room to meet with the other three in the living room. "Morning, guys," Alya called, not looking away from the TV where a computer was connected.

"How'd you sleep?" Chloé asked.

Adrien shrugged and sat on the couch. Marinette answered as she walked to the kitchen to grab them both a piece of fruit. "Once we finally fell asleep, I think it was okay," She said. "Took us a while to get to that point, though. How about you guys?" She asked.

"The same," Nino responded. "I woke up first because I couldn't stop thinking about looking at the news footage from the fight," He said.

Marinette handed an apple to Adrien, who contemplated eating it. He didn't want to, but he knew it would make all of his friends a little relieved to make sure he was eating. They know he's going through some things and need to make sure his physical needs are met, even if he doesn't want them to be. "So, you find anything?" Marinette asked as she sat next to Adrien on the couch.

"Actually, yeah. I think we missed some of their conversation with Hawkmoth because I sure don't remember all that was said," Alya said and skimmed through the video. "The Akuma talks about Hawkmoth on vacation and being off the grid. It was some weird choice of words, so maybe they're hinting to where they're hiding," Alya explained.

"Adrien," Chloé turned to look at him. "You don't know anything about a vacation home, do you?" She asked.

Adrien shook his head. "Just the one we share with Felix and his mom. But...that's countries away," He said.

Marinette sat up straight when she came up with an idea. "So it's probably not that since he has to be nearby to Akumatize people. But if it is off the grid-like the Akuma hinted to, then that explains why Adrien wouldn't know about it. I think we have to go back to Gabriel's office and get on his computer," She said. "Just to check some locked files to see what we can find," Marinette explained. "And we can check to see if the bug Alya had me plant last time caught anything. Maybe they came back to check what was left behind," Marinette said.

"That's a good idea," Alya said. "I'll come with, so I can hack into the computer. Not that I don't think you can do it, Mari, but I can probably do it a lot faster," Alya shrugged.

"Great, we'll go in a few hours. Adrien, do you want to stay here with Nino and Chloé?" Marinette asked.

Adrien shook his head before Marinette could even finish her question. "No, I want to go. Since mom has been...moved...I want to scope out what else was in that basement. We didn't exactly get to check out everything since there were people there to take her," Adrien explained. "But, I do have one question that I can't get off my mind. Why did my father have my mom in a basement?"

Marinette frankly didn't want to know the answer to that question. Her only idea was terrible, and she didn't want to say it. "Maybe he was planning on trying to use our Miraculous to bring her back," She said, but didn't finish her thought.

"I thought to make the wish it would take something away after," Alya chimed in. That was exactly it, but Marinette still didn't want to say it.

"Ah, I don't know if Hawkmoth knows exactly how it works. But we don't have to worry; he won't get our Miraculous, and now Emilie is in safe hands," Marinette defended. It was a good thing they were so strong. She was afraid that if Hawkmoth did get the chance to bring his wife back, they would lose Adrien in exchange.

---

Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Rena Rogue walked in the front of the Agreste Mansion that was still surrounded by police tape. They all headed straight to the office to get to work as quickly as possible, as they wanted to be done before the sunset. Rena Rogue went right to the computer as Ladybug and Chat Noir ventured into the lair, then into the basement garden.

Chat Noir was looking intently at everything as he walked around the garden slowly. Ladybug was following behind him, not entirely sure what they were looking for. "I can't believe he held her down here," Chat Noir said. "I thought we had grieved her and finally come to terms that she was resting in peace, but no. My father ruined that," Chat Noir grumbled. "I miss my mom and wish I could have her back every day, but I know that's not possible, and I've accepted that. My father's a delusional coward," He said, holding back the tears as he looked and the empty spot where Emilie was the night before.

"Adrien," Ladybug put her hand on his shoulder. "Your mother will finally get her peace now, and your father will get what's coming to him. We just have to figure out where he and Nathalie are, and this will all be over," She reminded him.

Chat Noir sighed and pushed Ladybug's hand off of him, turning to face her. "How do we know this will all be over? He's clearly gotten stronger, and he has found ways to get around us. What if something happens?" He asked.

"You can't think like that," Ladybug said. "The five of us work well together; we're a good team. He can't beat us and our friendships. It's going to be one against five, and while your father is driven by greed and selfishness, we are driven by the need to protect and save. That's how I know we will win," Ladybug told him.

Chat Noir didn't respond, he was anxious and worried, and the only thing that he could picture were countless bad outcomes. "I just can't stop thinking of what could go wrong," He admitted.

Ladybug nodded and thought about how to respond. "Well, there is no need to worry. We're going to do this together to get justice. Justice for Paris, for us, and for your mother. And you know I will be right by your side through this whole thing, you don't have to face any of this alone. You don't have to face the fight, the emotions, or your father alone," Ladybug began to ramble on. "I will be right here with you. I love you, Adrien," Ladybug said without thinking, then gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "Sorry. I know you're going through a lot of different emotions right now, and that probably wasn't the best time to blurt that out," She stressed.

"No," Chat Noir said. "I needed that, and I love you. You're right, we're going to be here for each other, and we will get our justice that everyone deserves," Chat Noir agreed.

The two leaned in for a hug. It was a very emotional day, and it was hard to hold their tears back. Hopefully, Alya found something, so this would all be over soon.

As if on cue, their hug was cut off by Alya's voice. "Guys, I got into the computer. Plus, the bugs got a hit that wasn't just us. Want to check them out?"

"You ready?" Ladybug asked and held out her hand.

"With you, yes," Chat Noir replied and grabbed her hand. They walked together to meet Alya to find what she found.

---

@lady-of-the-roses-and-lilies @bookishserendipity03 @avatheexceed @gkz10 @coccinellegirl @kat-thatoneweirdo @strawberryblondish @snow-swordswoman @lilgaga98 @evufries  @toodaloo-kangaroo 

[cheeseeatingtrashmonster]

Who Said That Every Wish Chapter 12: Returning the Glasses

Feelings run high as the aftermath of all the excitement catches up to everyone.

<< First | < Previous | Next > Read on AO3

The next morning when Adrien arrived at the hospital, Nino was asleep. He made as little noise as possible as he made his way to the side of the bed. Being careful of the monitor lines and IV lines, Adrien crawled onto the bed and cuddled his friend. Nino woke up when Adrien started purring.

"What the hell, Adrien?" he asked, not opening his eyes.

"You could tell it was me?" Adrien asked, purring pausing. "Huh. I can't purr while I talk."

"Well, you definitely aren't Felix."

"Why do you say that?" Adrien asked, purring whenever he wasn't speaking.

"He's mad. I lied to him. I did exactly what he didn't want me to do. I betrayed his trust. I made decisions for him. You name it, I screwed it up."

"I think what he's mad about is mostly that you got yourself hurt," Adrien said. "He's not happy about those other things, but he was terrified for you. Marinette told me that she and your mom had to help him through a panic attack when he heard what the doctor had said about how badly you'd been hurt. I totally missed it, but he's been crazy about you for a long time."

"How did you miss that?" Nino asked. "I've known for a year. Nathaniel has known, obviously, for forever. I think Chloe knows. Your brother is not a subtle guy when he pines."

"And you were just ignoring it?" Adrien asked, sitting up a little to glare at Nino.

"No. I was trying to keep my distance and be polite but make sure I wasn't leading him on. I thought it would be cruel to tell him I knew and couldn't feel the same because I had my eye on a certain superhero who couldn't give me the time of day."

"He was so mad the first time you flirted with him," Adrien said with a chuckle, leaning with care against Nino again. "He said you were as bad as I was with Ladybug."

"Dude, this is so weird. We've discussed this before, as Puns and Shelly," Nino said. "Not the Felix-being-mad part. Us both being hopeless."

"I can't believe you had a crush on Felix and he had a crush on you and you both ignored each other for each other."

"You're one to talk," Nino said, starting to lose the fight against sleep. He was getting bored of sleeping. "You ignored Marinette for Ladybug. She ignored Punny for you."

"Yes, but at least Ladybug and I started dating before the reveal," Adrien said. "That means of all four of us, I won."

"Hey, Grumpy Chat came to me when he ran away," Nino said, forcing his eyes open after a very long blink. "I'd call that pretty close."

"Go to sleep. I heard the frequency of cat's purrs is good for healing. Go to sleep." Adrien said, resuming purring loudly. Nino didn't even try to respond to that.

/*****/

"Oh, come on Felix!" Nino said. He was waiting to be taken for more tests, but apparently, tests were slow on Sunday afternoons. "Adrien says purring is good for healing. So you should come over here and help with that."

"I'm staying over here," Felix said, continuing to pretend to read his book.

"Okay, answer me this," Nino said. "You're going to forgive me eventually, right?"

"What's to say I haven't forgiven you already?" It was a good thing Felix had read this book already because he wasn't picking up a single sentence.

"The fact that you're over there and I'm over here."

Felix hummed noncommittally.

"I want to date you," Nino said. "I want to take you out to dinner and introduce you to people as 'my boyfriend' and make Nathalie crazy by being over at your place all the time."

Felix turned the page of his book.

"Do you still like me?" Nino asked, crossing his arms as best he could with the awkward cast on his right arm and scowling.

"Is that relevant to me forgiving you?"

"Answer the question, dude."

"I'm in love with you," Felix said. He kept his eyes on his book because that was safest. "But you almost got yourself killed. The only thing more painful than going back to avoiding you and pretending I don't know what kissing you feels like is having you and losing you."

"But you-" Nino started to protest before the connection between Felix's last two sentences made itself apparent. "You’re not scared we'll get together and break up," Nino said, finally getting it. "You're scared I'll die or disappear or-"

"Or be a psychopath torturing children over magical power," Felix said. "Not so much that one. But you get what I mean. I have a history of losing too much."

"I really don't know how to convince you that I'm going to stick around," Nino said, frowning. "But I will. We can figure it out. I just don't know how yet."

"You don't have to do that," Felix said, turning another page he hadn't read. "It really is okay if you go on with your life and forget about me. You shouldn't have to work this hard. I'm not-" Worth it, Felix thought. But he couldn't voice it, because he couldn't hear Nino refute it.

"You are infuriating," Nino said, leaning back against the raised part of the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"Then that should help you forget Grumpy Chat," Felix said.

"No, you dummy," Nino said, not looking away from the ceiling. "That's why I liked Grumpy in the first place."

Unable to think of a single response to that, Felix redoubled his efforts to actually read. He had finally comprehended three consecutive sentences when Nino spoke again.

"If you really meant any of that, about wanting me to forget about you and being okay with me moving on," Nino sat up and looked at Felix. "Then why are you still in here with me?"

Nino realized his mistake even before Felix fully processed the question. Felix stood and picked up his bag, crossing to the table next to Nino’s bed. He placed Nino's glasses on the table and left without a word. Nino only sighed. He should have known that pointing it out was the fastest way to make it stop.

What Nino didn't see was the tears falling from Felix's chin as he walked down the hallway, away from him.

/*****/

"Felix! You're just in time for-"

"No, thank you," Felix said, barely above a whisper, pushing past Mr. Dupain to reach the stairs to Marinette's room.

"Felix, we found the inflatable mattress so you don't have to sleep on the floor any-"

"No thank you," Felix said again, closing the trap door on Mrs. Cheng.

"Felix?" Marinette sat up from her blanket cocoon to blink owlishly at Felix throwing everything he had gathered from the mansion the day before into suitcases.

"You need sleep. Rest up so you'll get better," Felix said, taking Nino’s hoodie back out of his bag and folding it on the chaise.

"Why are you packing?"

"I'm staying with Nathalie."

"Since when?"

"I can't do this, Buggy." He sat on the chaise and started zipping a suitcase.

"Do what?" Marinette pulled a blanket around her shoulders and stumbled down to sit next to him. She could see he had been crying.

"Your parents and all the talking and you asking me questions." He lurched to his feet and grabbed his bags, trying to figure out the best way to wrestle everything through the trap door.

"What happened?" Marinette asked, reaching out for his bag to hand to him once he was down a few stairs.

"Nothing. I'm staying with Nathalie because I'll be more comfortable there. And it'll be easier on everyone else, too."

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the Dupain-Cheng family had a silent, eye-contact conversation.

"You going somewhere?" Tom asked Felix.

"I'll stay with Nathalie. I've imposed on your hospitality enough. Thank you for your time and support."

Tom and Sabine exchanged another look.

"You don't have to go," Sabine said.

"I would like to."

"Okay. I'll drive you," Sabine said.

"Thank you."

On the way, Sabine asked, "What does Adrien say about you leaving?"

Adrien was running around as Chat Noir to burn off energy. "I haven't told him."

"Then are you sure? You seem upset. Maybe talking it out with him would help."

Felix said nothing. He didn't want to talk it out. He wanted to be alone, and the closest he was going to get until he could get this ring off his finger and get out of town was staying with Nathalie.

Sabine helped Felix get his bags out of the car. Felix found Nathalie's apartment number and hoped she was home.

"Yes?" Nathalie said over the intercom.

"May I stay with you?"

"Felix?"

There were a few minutes where Felix tuned out. Nathalie came to open the door and help with his bags. Sabine explained the situation to Nathalie in hushed tones. Felix closed himself in the guest room and fell asleep before he had his winter jacket off.

/*****/

"Felix?"

Felix rolled out of bed into a crouch, sensing something was wrong. He started cataloging facts. It was early evening. That was Nathalie's voice. This was not his room.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Nathalie said, flipping the bedroom light on. "I was worried that if I let you sleep much longer, you wouldn't sleep at all tonight."

He was at Nathalie's. Right.

"It's fine," Felix said, straightening up. "I didn't mean to fall asleep in the first place."

"I ordered dinner. It's from that pizza place you like."

Felix and Nathalie settled down on her couch with pizza and salads to watch the news while they ate.

"Why did you come here?" Nathalie asked.

"It's quieter here. I won't be in the way as much. I don't know."

Nathalie noted Felix had finished half of the food she had hoped he would.

"Adrien and Nino texted me," she said.

"I don't want to talk about this." Felix set his plate on the coffee table.

"They're worried about you. Sounds like a fight with Nino and then-"

"I don't want to talk about this," Felix said. "Are you going to make me?"

She wanted to. She couldn't help if she didn't understand. But something about the look in Felix's eye, something familiar there, made her pause.

"No, I won't. Please help me wrap up what's left here."

Felix didn't speak the rest of the night. He curled up in the living room, bouncing his attention from the news to a book until it was an acceptable hour to go back to bed.

"Emilie," Nathalie whispered to Duusu in the otherwise silent living room. "He's just like Emilie."

"I would have loved to see her with them," Duusu said.

"The twins were why I came back," Nathalie said. "Because she asked, and she had two little boys who were more important than my lingering hurt feelings."

"That's a good reason."

Nathalie stared at her tablet, not absorbing the legal documents before her in the slightest. Her mind was back with her Turtle partner many years ago.

/*****/

"Shouldn't you not be using your phone?" Mel asked, sitting at the foot of Nino's hospital bed.

"It's this or I go absolutely crazy, dude." He texted as quickly as he could one-handed.

"Is that Felix?"

"No, he's not talking to me."

"Why? What did he do?" Mel's frown and narrowed eyes made Nino smile.

"It's not him. Well, it's not not him." He reached for his hat only to remember it wasn't there.

"I kinda always saw him as a jerk," Mel said. "But he really cares about you. I didn't know he was capable of caring about anyone else. And he's surprisingly good at making sure everyone else is okay during a crisis."

"Yeah?" Nino had to resist explaining at length why he fell in love with Cat Man. Those stories involved a lot of supervillains, jumping off buildings, and near-death experiences, and wouldn't make sense when Mel thought he was talking about his shy but prickly classmate.

"He spent the whole night taking care of Marinette and her cold or flu or whatever she probably infected us all with. I'm hesitant to say it, but he might just be able to keep up with you and keep you from running yourself into the ground again." She considered for a moment. "If you can keep him from running himself into the ground."

Nino chuckled. "Yeah, that's the real issue here."

"That's why you were fighting?" She shifted around to lean against Nino's good shoulder.

"Kinda. I'm still not sure exactly what went wrong, but part of it was definitely how mad he got that I got myself hurt."

"You walked into a bad neighborhood. You didn't choose to get beat up. You act like you walked up to some shady dudes and insulted their mothers or something."

These were the moments Nino felt alone. He couldn't tell Mel that it was like he did that. The conversation couldn't go farther because she couldn't know he fought Hawkmoth. He didn't want to talk to Marinette because he really didn't want to share private conversations he'd had with Felix with her. He might be able to talk to Adrien, but Adrien was dealing with all the stuff with his dad. Also, it would be talking to Adrien about his brother, which was a little weird.

"Hey, you zoning out on me?" Mel asked. "Mom said you haven't been sleeping well."

"It's fine," Nino said.

"It's okay if it's not fine," Mel said. "I'm still pretty freaked out that you're in here."

"I'm okay," Nino said. "I should probably nap though."

"Okay," Mel said, pulling the blanket up over Nino and pulling her phone out. "You sleep. I'll be right here in case you need anything."

When Nino woke three hours later to someone taking his blood pressure, Mel still next to him, he realized just how badly he had been sleeping until then. He whispered his thanks to her and fell back asleep before the blood pressure cuff was off his arm.

/*****/

"Felix, let's go for a walk," Marinette said. She was standing in Nathalie’s doorway, looking better than she had in days.

“You’re wearing makeup to make me think you’re feeling better,” Felix said, ushering her into the apartment. “Let’s sit and stare awkwardly across the room instead.”

“I’m Ladybug, you know,” Marinette said, sitting down with a slight pout. “I know my limits.”

“I’m sure you do,” Felix said. “Let’s not push them today anyway.”

They sat on the couch and stared awkwardly across the room.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Why did you leave?"

"Marinette-"

"Because I had both of you, right there," she said, turning to face him. "I know where Punny will be every night, I know he's close enough that if something goes wrong, I can get to him. And I thought I could say the same about you, my best friend, but now you're gone. You're only a few blocks away, but you're not… there."

"We have enough superheroes to go around," Felix said. "And the threat is gone. Everything's fine. You don't need us right there."

"I know, but…" She stared at a decorative vase across the room. "Don't you want to be near us?"

Felix didn't really know how to respond to that.

"We're your family, me and Adrien."

Adrien. Felix grasped at the chance to get the focus off himself, even as shame at his tactics slid up the back of his neck.

"Shouldn't he be the one you're really concerned about?" Felix asked. "At least I saw some of this coming by suspecting Gabriel. Adrien just found out his father is his worst enemy, lost his home, and came back to his best friend hospitalized. And, not quite as bad, his father's assistant used to be a superhero but didn't know about Gabriel being Hawkmoth. And, less negative, but still overwhelming, he also found out his girlfriend is his classmate. The very same classmate who asked him out and he turned down."

"He…" Her eyes widened. He could see the wheels spinning in her mind.

"I'm fine," Felix lied, "but you probably should see how Adrien is doing."

Marinette bolted up. Felix helped her into her jacket while ignoring the running stream of anxiety she was shouting at him. She was gone a moment later.

Duusu flew from the living room to Nathalie's bedroom.

"He didn't answer her, either." Duusu settled on Nathalie's outstretched palm.

"Nino said they fought, and we know Felix was with him before Nino tried to fight Hawkmoth," Nathalie said. "I expected them to get together quickly and happily after they revealed."

Duusu laughed. "They aren't you and Emilie, Sweetie."

Nathalie smiled. "They aren't, but they are. I suspect Felix is about as aware of his own feelings right now as I was of my own at his age."

"Give him time. Let him rest," Duusu said, fluttering up to kiss Nathalie's forehead. "You figured it out. He can, too."

/*****/

"Mom, where's Adrien?" Marinette asked as she barreled into the bakery.

"I think he's in your room," Sabine said. "Leave your door open when you're both-"

"-both in my room, I know, Mom."

The lights were off when Marinette got up to her room. At first, she assumed her mother was wrong and Adrien was somewhere else. Then she heard the sniffling.

"Adrien?"

"Oh, sorry, Marinette," Adrien said, sitting up from where he was slouched in front of her computer.

"Are you okay?"

Adrien gave a bitter, very un-Adrien laugh. "I don't even have a baseline to figure out where 'okay' is."

"Oh, Adrien." She coughed into her sleeve and came to lean against the desk facing him.

"Do you remember when we played video games and hung out and just… had fun?" he asked, reaching for her hand.

"It was nice," she said. "I was in love with you for so long. And then I fell in love with… you."

A quiet moment passed, holding hands and letting the memories bubble up, new context making them all the more precious.

"How about I make us some tea, and you can just talk for a while?" Marinette suggested.

"How about you go change into your pajamas and put on a movie we won't really watch, and I'll make tea and some snacks, and we can both talk?"

Marinette tried to kiss Adrien's cheek, but he moved at the last second and caught her lips with his.

"Sounds good."

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Oscars 2018 Live Updates: 'The Shape of Water' Wins Big at 90th Annual Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pulled out all the stops for the 2018 Oscars enlisting a who's who of A-listers to present, including Gal Gadot! Nicole Kidman! Tiffany Haddish! And Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lawrence (in lieu of Casey Affleck)! We saw performances from Mary J. Blige (yas!) and Sufjan Stevens. (We're still blubbering.) And one film was crowned Best Picture, but which one...?

That's just one of many questions that was answered during the telecast, which aired live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 4. Equally pressing was whether this year's Oscars would manage to avoid repeating last year's La La Land-Moonlight mix-up, considering Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway would once again be on hand to present Best Picture. "I'm still not clear on how the wrong envelope got into Warren Beatty's hands," host Jimmy Kimmel claimed ahead of the show. "I'll be honest, it would be funny if it happened again."

Here's a minute-by-minute breakdown of the 90th annual Academy Awards:

Photo by Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S via Getty Images

8:48: As for the other big winner of the night, Mark Bridges (aka the winner of Best Costume Design) won the $17,999 jet ski, riding it onstage with a life vest on and Helen Mirren riding shotgun.

Photo by Matt Sayles/A.M.P.A.S via Getty Images

8:41: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are back again to present Best Picture, with the former cheekily beginning, "Thank you, it's so nice seeing you again." This time, there are no envelope mix-ups, and 2018's Best Picture is…The Shape of Water! (And yes, Guillermo del Toro made sure to check the envelope.)

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

8:32: Frances McDormand wins Best Actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The now two-time winner took the mic and stammered, "I'm hyperventilating a little bit. If I fall over, pick me up because I've got some things to say." McDormand likened herself to Olympian Chloe Kim, thanked "every single person in this building," and then asked every single female nominee to stand with her: "Meryl, if you do it, everyone else will!"

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

8:29: Jennifer Lawrence, Jodie Foster and Jodie Foster's crutches ("Streep," she explained of her injury. "She I, Tonya-ed me.") took over presenting Best Actress. "None of us will ever forget those who came before us," Lawrence said, before thanking Foster, "who gave me one of my first roles when I was 19." Upon being thanked back for her sweet words, Lawrence shrugged, "I improv'ed it."

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

8:20: Gary Oldman wins Best Actor, presented to him by the incomparable Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda. The Darkest Hour actor and first-time winner looked at the Oscar statuette, his "glorious prize," before saluting Winston Churchill, "marvelous company on what could be described as an incredible journey," and his "dear friend," Denzel Washington.

Photo by Matt Sayles/A.M.P.A.S via Getty Images

8:13: “These four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces this year,” Emma Stone announced while presenting Best Director. The Oscar was awarded to The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro, his first win. "I am an immigrant," he began before getting choked up. "I think the greatest thing that art does and our industry does is erase the lines in the sand. I think we should continue doing that."

8:04: Jennifer Garner is on hand to introduce the In Memoriam segment, which is accompanied by Eddie Vedder performing a lovely cover of Tom Petty's "Room at the Top." The gold-tinted montage ends with a clip of Jerry Lewis and applause from the audience.

8:01: Who better than Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda to present Best Original Song? The award goes to "Remember Me" from Coco, a second nomination and second win for Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. (Who previously won for Frozen's "Let It Go," and made sure to plug the Broadway show!)

7:58: Christopher Walken presents Best Original Score to Alexandre Desplat for The Shape of Water, who starts his speech by saying, "My mother is also turning 90 this year. She will be very happy." For those keeping track at home, that is two for The Shape of Water.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

7:50: Zendaya called "This Is Me," from The Greatest Showman, "so much more than a piece of music" while welcoming Keala Settle to the stage for her Best Original Song performance. Wearing a sparkling blue gown, Settle hit all the right notes during her show-stopping number, as Viola Davis clapped along enthusiastically in the front row.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

7:47: "Can we dim it just a little bit? So I can go back to my 40s?" Sandra Bullock deadpanned about the show's lighting and as they dimmed, quipped, "Good thing I'm not presenting with Gal Gadot tonight. It'd be like looking in a mirror for her." She went on to present Best Cinematography to 14-time nominee Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049. Deakins looked to his wife to thank her and said, "James? Whatever."

Photo by Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S via Getty Images

7:35: Jordan Peele wins Best Original Screenplay for Get Out, which he's presented by Nicole Kidman. "You guys are going to mess up my jet ski," Peele joked while accepting his award to extended applause. "I want to dedicate this to everyone who helped me raise my voice," he said of his history-making win, concluding, "I love you all."

7:32: James Ivory won his first ever Oscar -- Best Adapted Screenplay for Call Me By Your Name -- and, at 89 years old, is now the oldest winner in Academy history. "A story that's familiar to most of us, whether straight or gay or somewhere in between," Ivory professed, as Timothée Chalamet looked on the verge of tears.

Photo by Handout/Getty Images

7:25: Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek, three of Harvey Weinstein's accusers, take the stage together to speak on Time's Up and the "badass" women involved in it and introduce a montage of "trailblazers," espousing intersectional progress -- for race, for gender, for sexual orientation -- that still needs to come.

Photo by Handout/Getty Images

7:18: Dave Chappelle pays tribute to "unsung heroes" as he's introducing Andra Day and Common's performance of "Stand Up For Something" from Marshall. Common began with a spoken word tribute to the Parkland students and Puerto Rico, among others, before Day brought down the house while absolutely belting the song.

Ten activists joined the artists onstage: Alice Brown Otter (Standing Rock Youth Council), Bana Alabed (author and Syrian refugee), Bryan Stevenson (Equal Justice Initiative), Cecile Richards (Planned Parenthood), Dolores Huerta (Dolores Huerta Foundation, United Farm Workers of America), Janet Mock (#GirlsLikeUs), José Andrés (ThinkFoodGroup), Nicole Hockley (Sandy Hook Promise), Patrisse Cullors (Black Lives Matter) and Tarana Burke (Me Too).

7:12: "Hi, Meryl! I want you to be my mama one day!" Tiffany Haddish calls from the stage, before awarding Documentary Short Subject to Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 and Live Action Short Film to The Silent Child, the latter of whom accepted their award in sign language to honor the short's 6-year-old star.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

7:10: A shoeless Maya Rudolph and Tiffany Haddish -- our dream 2019 Oscars hosts -- take the stage to joke about #OscarsSoWhite: "When we came out, we know what you were thinking," Haddish joked. "Are the Oscars too black now?!" She then ran down all of the white people who are still in attendance. White people with clipboards, Tiffany Haddish is watching you.

7:05: Outside the movie theater, Mark Hamill shakes Gal Gadot's hand and tells her how nice it is to meet her, while Armie Hammer and Ansel Elgort get ready to shoot hot dogs into the crowd and Guillermo del Toro and Lin-Manuel Miranda are tasked with carrying a six-foot-long submarine sandwich. "There's a strong aroma of marijuana in this theater," Jimmy Kimmel tells the movie goers as they realizes the Oscars can see them and they can see Meryl Streep (and the rest of the Oscar attendees). And then a guy named Mike introduces Tiffany "Tiffany Hachish" Haddish.

6:59: Continuing his shtick from last year, Jimmy Kimmel wants to thank the movie-going public by specifically thanking a theater full of people across the street from the Dolby Theate. To do so, he recruits stars in the audience (Ansel Elgort, Gal Gadot, Lupita Nyong'o, Armie Hammer, Mark Hamill, Margot Robbie and more) to go across and surprise them.

6:56: Matthew McConaughey presents Best Film Editing Dunkirk's Lee Smith. (Fun facts: Smith was last nominated in 2009 for The Dark Knight and, from the looks of it, is probably a full foot taller than Matthew McConaughey.)

6:52:Spider-Man star Tom Holland and Gina Rodriguez (who I would love to see play Spider-Man) present Best Visual Effects to Blade Runner 2049. (Which, unfortunately, means Andy Serkis and the War for the Planet of the Apes franchise will remain unawarded.)

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

6:44: Sufjan Stevens enlists Chris Thile, Moses Sumney and St. Felix for an angelic rendition of his Call Me By Your Name theme song, "Mystery of Love." I stopped crying for approximately one second to comment on how much we love Stevens' pink, pinstriped coat.

6:40: As expected, Coco wins Best Animated Feature Film. (Disney and Pixar haven't lost in the category since 2011.) Producer Darla K. Anderson and co-director Adrian Molina got teary eyed as they thanked their wife and husband, respectively, and director Lee Unkrich earned huge applause when he thanked the people of Mexico.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

6:35: Jimmy Kimmel's stick-carrying, Star Wars-loving "9-year-old self" introduces the cast of The Last Jedi -- Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran and BB-8 -- to present Best Animated Short. "Don't say La La Land. Don't say La La Land," Hamill joked, before awarding Dear Basketball. Kobe Bryant is now an Oscar winner.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

6:30: Allison Janney, now and forever, will be known as Academy Award Winner Allison Janney, after winning Best Supporting Actress for I, Tonya. "I did it all by myself," she joked onstage, bursting into laughter. "Nothing could be further from the truth!" And yes, she made sure to thank the bird.

6:22: Rita Moreno makes quite the entrance (would you expect anything less?) to present Best Foreign Language Film to A Fantastic Woman, the first Chilean film to win the award. Director Sebastián Lelio paid special thanks to his "inspiration," star Daniela Vega, who blew a kiss to the audience. (Vega also makes history tonight as the first openly trans presenter at the Oscars.)

6:13: "Viva Mexico!" Gael García Bernal, Miguel and Natalia LaFourcade perform "Remember Me" from Coco, beginning with Bernal's acoustic version before neon lights popped on and mariachi dancers took the stage as Miguel and LaFourcade sang a peppy bilingual rendition of the Best Original Song nominee.

6:10: Lupita Nyong'o presents Best Production Design to The Shape of Water's Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau. It's the movie's first win of the night -- though likely not its last, considering it earned more nominations than any other film this year.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

6:07: Jimmy Kimmel does some crowd work -- asking Steven Spielberg if he "has any pot" -- and then welcomes to the stage Lupita Nyong'o and Kumail Nanjiani, who discuss their difficult-to-pronounce names. (Nanjiani jokes, "My actual Pakistani name is Chris Pine") and make a pledge to stand with the DREAMers.

5:58:Baby Driver co-stars Ansel Elgort and Eiza González award the Oscar for Best Sound Editing to Alex Gibson and Richard King for Dunkirk and Best Sound Mixing to Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo for -- again! -- Dunkirk.

5:56: Jimmy Kimmel reads the opening joke from the very first Academy Awards in 1929: "Christopher Plummer is tonight's youngest nominee."

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

5:43: Taraji P. Henson introduces "my sister," Mary J. Blige, for a performance of her Mudbound track, "Mighty River," the first of the night's Best Original Song nominees. Blige, dressed in a fuchsia mermaid gown, delivers a killer vocal as fake rain pours down onstage.

5:38: Greta Gerwig and Laura Dern walk onstage holding hands to present Best Documentary. "Congratulations, buddy," Dern says to Gerwig, one of the night's most-nominated filmmakers, before the duo present the award to Icarus, about the Russian doping scandal. "We hope Icarus is a wakeup call," director Bryan Fogel said. "Yes, about Russia, but about telling the truth, now more than ever."

Photo by Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S via Getty Images

5:30: Eva Marie Saint, who won the Oscar in 1955 for On the Waterfront, gets a standing ovation while paying an emotional tribute to her late husband, director Jeffrey Hayden. She awarded the Costume Design achievement to Phantom Thread's Mark Bridges. House of Woodstock stays slaying!

5:26: Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot present Makeup and Hairstyling to Darkest Hour's Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick, for their uncanny work transforming Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill. (Fun fact: Tsuji's last Oscar nomination was for Norbit!)

5:24: Jimmy Kimmel announces that, this year, if anyone's speech goes long "instead of music, you will see and hear this." At which point, Lakeith Stanfield ran onstage, dressed like his Get Out character and screaming, "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

5:18: If there is going to be an upset in any of the acting categories, it isn't Best Supporting Actor, with Sam Rockwell winning the first Oscar of the night for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. "I'd like to thank the Academy," Rockwell said. "Never thought I'd say those words!"

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

5:12: Jimmy Kimmel caps off his opening monologue -- full of politics, naming names and jokes about this year's nominees -- by encouraged tonight's winners to thank their kids and raise attention for their activism. That said, he offered whoever gives the shortest acceptance speech a jet ski, modeled Price Is Right-style by Helen Mirren.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

5:04: Host Jimmy Kimmel jokes about Envelopegate during his opening monologue: "This year, when you hear your name called, don't get up right away." (Jennifer Lawrence -- who is sitting next to Emma Stone -- loved it.) Kimmel then made good on his promise to speak about Time's Up, specifically discussing Harvey Weinstein's expulsion from the Academy and sexual harassment in Hollywood, joking that Oscar is the perfect man because he "keeps his hands where you can see them...and most importantly, no penis at all."

5:00: The 90th Academy Awards preempt "Celebrity Street Fights With Mario Lopez" and kick off with a black-and-white reel poking fun at "Hollywood's godless elitist," including shots at Armie Hammer ("Armie was born when a witch put a curse on a Ken doll!") and Mexican-born, Kenyan-raised Lupita Nyong'o ("Let the tweetstorm from the President's toilet begin!").

RELATED CONTENT:

2018 Oscars: The Complete Winners List

Oscars 2018: 13 Moments You Didn’t See on TV

Jimmy Kimmel Offers a Jet-Ski to the Oscar Winner With the Shortest Speech During Opening Monologue

[diamatic]

Although I often joke about how the world is “fucking me” (and honestly, it sometimes feels like it is. although I try and keep in mind that the world serves you what you are able to handle and what you are able to somehow grow from..) I’m am truly thankful. And yes, this is a lame thanksgiving post about emotions that I should try and remember to feel outside this morbid holiday. 

I’m thankful that although one of my best friends isn’t in the best situation, she is alive. She is slowly getting back to herself, she still is herself. I see it when she still makes comments on the way I dress. When she rolls her eyes at me. When she smiles. That even though I often had to walk out because her friends pissed me off, she has so many people who love her. That so many people are thinking of her and making the drive to even see her once. That she has once again proven that she is the badass woman I decided to stick with and do life with because she was one of the only people at school that didn’t annoy me and piss me off. 

I’m thankful that although my family is no longer as big and warm as it was over tow years ago, I have a house full of people who are spending the day together, food being prepared in the kitchen to make the house smell like it usually would on this day two years ago. That although my dad is working himself to death, he is happy being busy. Although my brother and his girlfriend are in a rocky patch right now I feel, she still is going to stop by. Although my mother has turned into my worst enemy and has already driven me to start drinking, she still brought me a warm homemade muffin as I typed this and only rolled her eyes at me once for making drinks before 11am.

I’m thankful that although Rachel is engaged way too soon I feel, she is living with a girl she loves and who I couldn’t create a better match for her if I tried. That Emily is in Turkey with her husband, already having made a meal for him and his family, although she is far as fuck and I'm not sure when I'll see her again. That Alfie is still able to sit with his mom, and she is fighting. That Malik has a house full of people who are closer together now after all those deaths. That Brandon is crazy in love and with his perfect family, his sister safe at home with him from all the thirsty ODU men, that Gerald is about to be engaged and I know it- and that his girl is creative and a teacher who loves and believes in kids too. That although Colin and Quinn are not together today, they have moved into their new place and Colin has given us Quinn - the only girlfriend out of the group that has fully accepted me and loved me and never made me feel like she has questioned my place with the boys. Who gets drunk with me and holds me and makes me truly laugh. Who looks out for me without making me feel like I'm the baby of the group. For Zein working hard today to be a fucking amazing doctor and help this world, but not his crazy girlfriend who I will fucking deck one day if she tries me. For Harrison following Zein and becoming just as an amazing doctor. And his girl Dell, for somewhat accepting me. For Phillip for being a teacher and for fighting for black lives just as hard as this world should. For Lauren and Felix and Jackie for putting up with me for all these years and for letting me grow and accept that sometimes I just can’t. Sometimes I'm angry. Sometimes I lash out and have to cuss someone out colorfully. For how the broke up so many fights I’ve started but also understood that sometimes, it was just what the universe orders. And would play along with my excuses when I showed up with busted lips and knuckles.  And that they are hurting to see Livi like this too but still find the courage to show up and make her laugh.

I’m thankful that the universe brought me a woman that I'm crazy about. Who makes me nervous as fuck to even make eye contact for too long. I’m thankful that she accepts that I’m nervous sometimes and that I sometimes can’t talk around her. That she asks if I'm ok and will play along when I lie and say yes. That she makes me laugh and pushes me out of my comfort zone for the first time in my life in many, many ways. That she has brought me around her fabulous family with excitement when I can’t give her that yet. That she doesn’t let me pull away when I know my body is doing so, but she gives me space.. even when I don’t want it.. because she respects me. That she kisses me and I forget to exhale. That I would rather scratch her head so she can sleep, even when I haven’t slept yet. That although I want to tell her my life story, tell her just how she makes me feel, that I want to ask her what are we doing and what are we, I don’t because I'm too busy enjoying her smell or her stories or sitting and holding her hand. I’m thankful that she makes my brain relax and me not lose my shit when I feel like snapping. When my leg is shaking and she grabs my hand, it stops. That if I'm stressed and rambling, she will listen until I hit a point where I just need to shut it off, so she kisses me instead of telling me to “chill” or asking me to shut up like I'm a child. That although I can’t call her babe or tell her that I am falling for her although I don’t show it, I am thankful to know someone so brilliant that makes me nervous to do these things for the first time in my life. That I have someone I make sure I watch pull off or walk into her house before I pull off because I want her safe. I’m thankful that I suck at this but she still is around and holding my hand - And kissing it slowly over and over and over and over again.

I’m thankful that I’m working. That I can pay my bills. That I am able to drive and walk and sleep in a bed or chair or car. That I am able to lose my mind in a bed or in my shower. That I am able to type this. That I’m able to complain.