#Hawkmoth doesn't need a child to help him

[actually-factually-anonymous]

The unnecessary lack of personal stakes of Marinette Dupain-Cheng in the Agreste Arc

Inspired by a recent post by @starguardianniom, with half pinched again from my own reblog:

Marinette has zero personal stakes in the main conflict of her show, except that she happened to be the first girl who helped Fu across the road, and was thus chosen to wear the earrings. She doesn't even really seem to have any reason to be Ladybug aside from the basic "I can't sit back and do nothing" she stated in Origins. So a sense of responsibility conferred by being the bearer of the earrings, and an ostensible general desire to do good.

This would be fine, except that Adrien very much did have a reason to continue being Chat Noir. Plagg's Miraculous is the source of his freedom, and a new identity of his own making separate from the carefully curated child of Gabriel Agreste. Most importantly he had so much personal connection to the core plot that his narrative potential dwarfed Marinette's beyond compare.

His mere existence is the very axis of the plot, putting it in motion by the apparent desire for a designer child seeming being the very reason Gabriel and Emile sought the Miraculous all those years ago, and the consequences of his creation being the very reason that Gabriel devolves into magical terrorism. Hawkmoth being his father whom Adrien clearly cares for and whose goal of restoring his much mourned mother setup a truly impressive case for split loyalties for when Adrien (seemingly) inevitably learnt of his father's identity and true goal:

I made a comparison before between Avatar and Miraculous where Avatar won without question. Allow me to balance the scales here: the setup for Adrien potentially turning on Ladybug, or having to sacrifice his familial bonds for the sake of justice outweighed Zuko's own setup for choosing his ''honour"/loyalty to his family over his burgeoning sense of justice.

In potential at least. Rest assured that Zuko's character arc still far eclipses anything Adrien was ever allowed.

But the point I'm trying to make here is that in the very story that bears her name, Ladybug's only reason to be involved comes from the fact that she happens to have Tikki's Miraculous. She has no personal investment in the fate of Hawkmoth than other citizen of Paris, she certainly has no conflicting loyalties.

She doesn't even have a personal reason to continue being Ladybug. You can draw a parallel if you like with one of her ostensible inspirations Peter Parker, who learnt the price of personal inaction in a harsh and unforgiving manner that selflessly drives him to protect others. You can say that the Stoneheart incident fulfills a similar role.

But here's the thing: Peter Parker is Spiderman thanks to his radioactive blood. Ladybug is whoever wears Tikki's Miraculous. If Peter retires, he takes his powers away from the protection of New York. If Marinette gives up her Miraculous, a new Ladybug will arise in her place within a day. There's no need for her to be Ladybug, to take on that responsibility, and until the season three finale there's no personal stake for her to be the girl under the mask any more than any other Parisian citizen.

And that means that Marinette isn't the heart of her own story. In Avatar, it's Aang's quest to defeat the Fire Lord because it has to be him that restores balance. In Star Wars, it's Luke whose connection with Vader that has to restore Anakin's better nature. In just about any series there is a pressing need and personal stakes for the protagonist to be that The Protagonist of that story, that make that story their story.

But the setup here has all the pathos and personal stakes placed upon Adrien. Marinette is the centerpiece of the show, but Adrien's handed all of the narrative potential even as the writers let it go to waste.

It's like preparing a finely seasoned meal, then leaving it to rot as you serve plain vegetables. There's just no reason to have the vegetables when the fine meal is ready for consumption: and if that's a problem? If the plain vegetables were always meant to be the centrepiece? Then you should have seasoned the vegetables and made something delectable with them.

Because the saddest apart about Marinette having or actual ties or pathos to the Agreste Arc is that once upon a time that was not the case.

In previous Miraculous proposals, before the PV, Marinette Cheng was at least as part of the main story as Felix/Adrien was. There were various versions of how the story would go, with one echoing Cardcaptor's plot, and the later proposals looking more like what we got in the final product.

But all had Marinette having a personal stake in the story. In the Cardcaptor-esque plot, Marinette was Fu's granddaughter (or granddaughter figure), and Fu was the caretaker of the The Orb. A crystal that contained all the "fairies" (beings that served both the roles Kwamis and Akumas would later take). The story kicked off because Marinette brought her crush Felix into her Grandfather's store and accidentally broke The Orb, shattering it and allowing the Fairies to escape across Paris and empower countless people- heroes and villains both.

It was her mission to retrieve the Fairies, because she was the one who had released them. She was Fu's granddaughter and it was her responsibility to clean up her mess. It was her story, and Felix/Adrien was the one with less direct connection.

Later proposals ditched The Orb as the Kwamis were developed, but up until the most recent and final versions of the story Marinette retained Fu as either her blood Grandfather outright or at least a mentor so close from her childhood that she thought of him as a Grandfather. She also was usually being trained to be a Guardian or something like it herself from childhood.

She wasn't just a girl Fu found on the side of the road. She had as much connection to the Guardians and their world as Felix/Adrien did to Papillion. It even added a certain Montague-Capulet tragic element to the romance, since if Felix/Adrien and Marinette ever got together it would mean one having to choose between their partner and their family.

But for some reason, in the final product Marinette was stripped of all pre-series personal connections to the Miraculous.

The question is why? Was there really so great a need for Martinette to be "a girl like any other" that all of the plot relevance needed to be stripped out of her and added to Adrien, only to then completely ignore all that potential pathos by sidelining Adrien at every turn?

Because if you weren't going to do anything with Adrien, then all you've done is needlessly undermine Marinette's potential as a character.

Seriously, if you had given me the backstory of these two characters and asked which one was the main character: there would have been no chance I would have selected Marinette. Because all the writers have given her backstory is side-character material, whereas Adrien's very existence, as well as his relationship to his family and the Miraculous is at the heart of the story.

And I doubt there would be many others who would think otherwise.

[theerurishipper]

I brought this up with another blog, but something that a lot of Felix stans who are also Adrien salters say whenever someone points out how Felix acted worse than Adrien is that the show never made out Felix to be a good guy whenever he did something villainous, while whenever Adrien did something bad, the show went out of its way to make sure he got away with it, or didn't have to apologize

However, there were times were he did apologize when he did something bad.

Whether they were good apologies is up to debate, but they did happen.

Felix has yet to apologize for anything he did wrong, so honestly that excuse of why they think Adrien is worse than him really falls apart.

Adrien has apologized way more for lesser things in the span of nine months than Felix has ever done in his life.

He was kind of a jerk to Ladybug in Glaciator and Frozer.

He messed with Theo the sculptor in Copycat.

He gave Marinette some reasonable yet ineffective advice.

He messed up in the New York special.

And all these had consequences. In Glaciator and Frozer, he apologized to Ladybug for his behavior. He apologized for the ineffective advice he gave. His actions in Copycat had consequences in the form of him being targeted by an akuma and his mistake in the New York special was called out and he clearly felt guilty about it. These are the worst of the mistakes he's made, and he's been made to deal with them. The narrative never excused him of anything.

I listed the mistakes Adrien has made. Let's look at everything Felix has done.

Victim blamed his cousin for being abused.

Tried to ruin that same cousin's life out of spite.

Tried to strike a deal with Hawkmoth.

Stole all the Miraculous from Ladybug and gave it to Gabriel, betraying her and putting all of Paris in danger.

Sold his cousin's free will back to his abuser.

Committed genocide.

And he has apologized for exactly none of this. In fact, he did all this with a gleeful smirk on his face. This is an obtuse and ridiculous comparison.

And never made Felix out to be a good guy when he did what he did?

Felix stans: The show never justifies Felix! It always portrays him as a bad person and never excuses him!

The show:

Kagami:(puts her arm in front of Félix, defending him) I am nobody's prisoner! Félix is not your enemy! He's like me! He doesn't know how to express himself. Everyone is wrong about him! Including me. (They smile at each other)

Félix: And it was only when his father died that he could recover it, and his freedom along with it. (Félix takes the ring from his father's hand and puts it in his finger) Félix: He understood that the amulet that had allowed his mother to give him life could also take it away. (Félix is now seen "standing" before the Agreste mansion) Félix: So he went to the house of the tailor, who had become a prince, to steal the jewel. (An image of Gabriel appears on the background with only half of his body shown, towering over Félix) Félix: But the tailor had become a powerful prince. (Félix wears a mask resembling that of when he wielded the Dog Miraculous in the episode "Risk" as Flairmidable) Félix: The child had to steal other magical amulets that the tailor desired. Only then was he able to make an exchange.

Allow me to refer to you the last time someone confronted Felix with his mistakes.

Argos: True, except I work for no one. (kicks Ladybug, causing her to crash onto a building) I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! (charges in to punch her and she dodges) I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish! (makes another attempt to attack Ladybug with his heel as Ladybug rolls away to evade it)

The show literally pulled the classic "he's not evil, he's just misunderstood!" trope with Felix, and somehow, he's a better person than Adrien? He literally got excused for everything he did without any regret or remorse on his end. He gets a tragic backstory as an excuse and a girlfriend as an easy gateway to the good side and somehow, he's considered redeemed, even though he has continually expressed no remorse for his actions and only justifies himself over and over. In contrast, Adrien actually owns up to his mistakes and apologizes for them, even when he doesn't really have to. There's no comparison here.

Thank you for your ask!

[fairyqueentitana]

Let's talk about The Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir aka Miraculous Ladybug

Hey guys I'm back and ready to rant! So many of us have heard of or watched Miraculous Ladybug and based on the numerous fanfictions I would on AO3, Wattpad and the like I know it's popular.

For those who haven't watched or heard of it, the story follows two teenagers Marinette Dupain Cheng (ladybug) and Adrien Agreste (Chat Noir). Essentially both teens save an old man who is the guardian of jewels called the miraculous that give you magical powers and companions. Hence, he chooses them to be the new heroes in order to hopefully regain a stolen miraculous that is being used for evil.

Marinette is a stalker: I know we love her very much but am I the only one creeped out by her obsession with Adrien. She got his schedule without his permission and used it. She occasionally follows him and has his face plastered everywhere for at least three seasons. What is worse about this is that all the girls in her class encourage this creepy and obsessive behaviour and make plans I understand that they are young but no, I felt sick every time I scene showing her obsession came up. In addition, her parents see her room and laugh about it, and her kwami (magical creatures linked to the miraculous) Tikki seems to encourage her on occasion. WHY HASN'T THIS BEEN ADDRESSED!

Gabriel Agreste is an abusive parent: Abuse does not have to be physical. Mr Agreste is emotionally neglectful and abusive while also being incredibly controlling and manipulative. Even his attempt to shelter his son raises some eyebrows. This man never buys his son an actual gift, he only hugs him 1-3 times in the show and attempts to stop him from watching his mother's work. In addition to that, I get being an over-protective parent but his deal with Lila sickens me. His control over his son's likes and dislikes and hobbies borders beyond parenting. If you are a good parent your child should be able to confined in you, ask questions and have conversations. Good parents can be proactive but accepting. The man is so busy being a supervillain he doesn't even recognise that he is no longer being accepted as a true parent. He makes Adrien almost submissive to him in a way like a robot to never rebel, ask questions or differ from what Gabriel wants.

Adrien Agreste is a pushover who occasionally has his moments but he is very flawed: Being raised in a household run by Gabriel Agreste makes Adrien likely to not address an issue no matter who it harms. In the Lila situation, all he had to do was back Marinette up, all he had to do was pull Alya and Nino aside and tell them what happened instead he says take the high road what high road she is LYING THROUGH HER TEETH TO OUR FRIENDS! When he does stand up for his friends outside of the suit he does it well and honestly with a lot of truth and it's commendable. However, for someone that is a hero, he is out here being selfish at the worst times. How he reacted to the Identity of the Guardian of the mIraculous and what he did during the Akuma attack was incredibly selfish. His behaviour with Chloe. That girl is a bully yet he scolds those who have been victims for being happy when she is not around. If I was Marinette I would have side-eyed him so hard.

4. They had no training and Master Fu was cool with this: He sent children out to battle an adult with no training whatsoever. WHY!! They could have gotten killed or just given up to Hawkmoth.

5. Miss Bustier is an enabler: This statement needs no explanation if you know you know.

6. Where does she get the time: Marinette is a designer yet we are reminded of this every now and then and she is the youngest in their class. Most of Marinette's creations are wonderful, so each one is carefully crafted and promoted out of the box. She is class president and helps at her parent's bakery all while managing her superhero persona and her grades which is why I have to ask IS SHE SLEEPING? The same goes for Adrien as well they both balance so much I'm shocked there is not an episode where they both just lose it and verbally annihilate Hawkmoth. Personally, if that were me I would be so mad and Hawkmoth would feel my wrath.

7. Jagged Stone has Marinette design things for him and is close to her family why isn't she more famous? I'm leaving this to be analyzed and explained to me cause frankly I would like an explanation. 8. Marinette's lack of ability to speak Mandarin makes sense to me but some other things bother me. I understand that a lot of teenagers and young adults grow up in a home with a parent who speaks a foreign language and never learns the language but learns their culture. Marinette's Chinese background is barely explored, one movie and a few episodes do not count as background. I want her in traditional wear from time to time. Yes, she lives in France but I find it a bit bothersome that she never really gets to explore deeper into it we know all about her French and Italian background shows more than her Chinese background.

There is so much more I wanted to say after really watching this show and I will tell you guys the truth. I am getting more and more annoyed with each new episode.

[generalluxun]

So, I'm going to agree to your baseline idea, while disagreeing strongly with where you've put the emphasis. Chloé *idolizes* power, it's what she's been taught.

See: Her Mother, and her Father.

There's a distinction there between idolizing it, and craving it.

For example: Lila *Craves* power. Big, small, it doesn't matter. She cannot and will not leave anyone alone. She will plot, and stew, and work the angles to claw every scrap of power she can for herself. She *needs* to feel powerful.

Chloé idolizes power. She pretends to have it, and exerts it to show her worth. It's the only type of worth she was ever brought up to understand. Do you think Audrey, or Andre ever cared if she was kind? Charitable? Smart? Strong? Both are shown to be narcissists repeatedly throughout the series. (Slight salt: André's 11th hour repentance means nothing, since he blames all his failings on his child) However Chloé doesn't really crave power. Throughout the series she rarely grasped for things, and actually took loses in stride that most bully-characters would flip out on. She barely bothered Marinette at all despite taking repeated losses to her (Until S5 Lila shows up and stokes Chloé worst traits for her own gain) All of Chloé's uses of power are performative, momentary. Trying to show she is 'worthy' because self-worth is something she severely lacks (see: Upbringing again, parents that don't give a fig)

Chloé's actual hang up is: Abandonment

From a mother who was across a literal ocean and can't remember her name, to a father who is more concerned with his career than parenting(the only times he ever parents her are when his image is at stake) and who seems to think being left to live alone in a suite with an employee caretaker is a healthy family life for a child.

Let me tackle your bullet points a little with this different paradigm:

She idolizes Ladybug: because everyone loves Ladybug.

She wants a Miraculous: because the only positive feedback she ever received was as Queen Bee

She orders her dad around: mimicking the dynamic she was taught growing up. (This is also why she orders Sabrina around. This is literally how families work to her.)

She misnames the butler: Tough call, is she actually just stupid like they want to pretend half the time, or mimicking her mother again?

She is Cruel to Marinette:... they actually haven't given us a reason. It's Marinette and Marinette only, which is weird. She also *loses* every time she engaged with Marinette, so that doesn't seem to be a path to power. (The real answer is, she's mean because Marinette is the protagonist and Chloe is an antagonist and... that's all)

The Chat Noir one is actually correct, just for the wrong reasons, as above: She's been taught that there is a top dog, and then the rest. LB is the top dog. You're *supposed* to treat minions that way.

You've got the events listed post-bullet points out of order so I'll put them back in order:

Hawkmoth and Mayura directly target the girl who has abandonment issues to tell her she has been abandoned by the person she idolizes(the person who had, temporarily, replaced her mother in her life as an idol) She even rejected their offer once, so the villains craft the perfect storm where:

Chloé's parents are in danger(the time Ladybug always gives people a Miraculous)

She has no way to contact Ladybug(they broke the signal)

They are actively there manipulating her insecurities.

And critically Ladybug makes a mistake, and second guesses herself due to her jealousy at a critical time. (it's an honest mistake! It just happens at a terrible time)

So what happens? She feels the abandonment. Chloé loses hope, hope that Ladybug will ever call on her again, that she will have a chance to prove herself again. Master Fu's voiceover even states that it is about 'losing hope' not power. she takes Hawkmoth's bargain, and trades helping him for him freeing her parents. (it is a bargain, she doesn't switch sides for nothing)

Zoe: This one is very interesting because if you watch Soul Crusher carefully you will notice something: Chloé isn't actually *mean* to Zoé when she first arrives, not in an antagonistic way. She's rude, yeah, but that's her 🤣 But if you look past the rudeness she's ACTUALLY trying to be a big sister to Zoé. She explains the rules as *she* knows them (the rules are bad, but again, this is upbringing, it's still an honest attempt) She also instantly claims Zoé as a sibling, something not all step/half/etc siblings do.

Chloé's outlook is what makes Zoé sad, not her treatment *of* Zoé. Zoé doesn't want the life that Chloé believes is the truth, and André decides to parent this child(she came undamaged so he can get a free ride) and at least tell her there is another way to live. (Though he tells her to lock it away, D- Parenting instead of F)

It's not until Zoé chooses the 'losers' over her that Chloé switches to being mean. Zoé 'abandons' her. (Not intentionally, but she picks the different life, which Zoé is allowed to do! It just interacts poorly with abandonment issues) It never occurs to Chloé that the other life is viable, and honestly, why should she ever expect it is?

Adrien: This one is so weird, they were supposedly friends but, the show does so little to show them being friendly? Still, we'll take it as is. Adrien's 'leaving' Chloé is a scene I kind of ignore, since she already broke things off in Queen Banana(when he picked the class over her, abandonment again) and Derision being a train wreck of an episode with retcons and character assassinations galore(not just chloé) but to take it at value:

This is deep into S5, when Lila has already been stoking Chloé's worst traits. We KNOW Lila does this. How? We see her do it to Kagami of all people; sweet, pure, Kagami, who has friends and who knows that Marinette is Ladybug. what chance does isolated, damaged, Chloé have? So yes, Adrien shows up and demands things of her and she blows him off. Why wouldn't she? He's *already* picked the other kids over her time and time again. He abandoned her long ago. Him coming to yell at her and demand an apology is really just kind of toothless? Oh no, what are you going to do, not hang out with me even harder? 🤣

It does strike to a pattern though. No one ever actually interacts with Chloé unless they want something from her. (To stop being bad, yes, understandable, but they still *want* something) The only exception is of course: The Party that gets thrown for Queen Bee... the last time she was ever allowed to be Queen Bee (So you see why that might... sting) It's a very strange ommission in a kids show. Positive reinforcement is usually a much better approach to change than negative.

So what you're witnessing is a spiral, not of power because she never had any power, her father did and even then all she did was lose. She spirals into bitterness and resentment, stoked by Lila, Gabriel, and Tomoé. It literally takes every villain we've had through the series to drag Chloé down to her worst self. Is she being bad? Oh yes, definitely, but this is not the cruel machinations of a villain, this is the tragic doom of a child who fell through the cracks, and into the clutches of the worst the show has to offer. (Seriously: They cheated for 8 YEARS and not a single teacher or administrator noticed)

She lashes out, because she's not a 'good victim' like Adrien. Petty snipping, little displays that allow others to step on her. Any actual cruelty in S5 is at the behest of Lila literally talking in her ear by the end.

Revolution comes about because someone shoves a Laptop that controls AI murderbots into her hands(Tomoé just left it laying around?) and points her at the Mayor's office two seconds after the heroes run her father out of office. (yes he left, but do you think any of the villains would let her believe that was the truth?)

All this and her first reaction upon seeing Monarch is *still* to arrest him. She's messed up, but still has that much. It's Lila again who manipulates her into taking the akumatization. Does she know how to be a good Mayor? No. she's 14! and again, She's got a whole caste of villains deliberately stoking her, setting her up because they *want* her to fail. She is the patsy for everyone. (And weirdly it works because no one thinks to ask HOW a 14yr old got control of Tsurugi Brand AI murderbots)

The show even punctuates it: Her father abandons her to her mother, despite knowing her mother is horrible(he's divorcing her after all) and the *only* part of the whole thing that upsets her mother?

That Chloé *failed* and made her look bad. That's it. That explains all of Chloé's morality in a nutshell. That's the priorities she has been given. THAT is what this child is being left to, by everyone in her life. Heroes, family, teachers, everyone is content to let THAT be her sole influence.

Is Chloé actually sweetness an light? No, she's messed up. She acts out. She passes her pain on to others, which is an *extremely common thing when it comes to child abuse* It's called a 'cycle of abuse' for a reason. We see it play out at the very end of Revolution.

Audrey berates Chloé. We see the fear-response. then Chloé goes to contact Marinette, to *pass on* that pain she's feeling.(it's not a good response, but abuse victims rarely have good coping mechanisms) Marinette stands up to her, breaking the cycle, and that is shown to be a good thing... but it seems to forget that the *other* child is still in the clutches of her abuser.

It's a tragedy that plays out in real life all too many times.

Here are some thoughts on why I think Chloe's character arc makes perfect sense.

Chloe has a real bad hangup about power. She needs to feel it desperately.

she idolizes Ladybug, who is powerful

she wants a Miraculous to feel powerful

she orders her dad around to feel powerful

she mis-names her butler to feel powerful

she bosses Sabrina around to feel powerful

she is cruel to Marinette to feel powerful

she is dismissive of Chat Noir because he is subservient to Ladybug and therefore weak

When Adrien stands up to Chloe regarding her treatment of Marinette, she perceives this as him ordering her to reign in her power. To restrict her power.

In response, she re-asserts her power: she cuts him out of her life. Similarly, Ladybug denies her a Miraculous, so she turns on Ladybug, again lashing out at someone who has diminished her power. She then aligns herself with someone who promises it to her.

Then Zoe shows up, and Zoe gets attention and affection (and therfore power) from Andre, who isn't even her real father! She's spent more time with their mother, which is another form of power.

S3 through S5 is a systematic stripping away of the thing Chloe holds most dear: power. In response to this, she exerts power every opportunity she gets: she tries to take over the movie, she bosses Adrien around, she revels in her cruelty toward Marinette, she aligns herself with Lila (who Chloe recognizes has the power to fool everyone around them), she is cruel to her sister, and eventually she "leads" a fascist takeover of Paris (of course, not realizing that she's fourth banana in the takeover after Evil Gandalf, Slightly Less Evil Elon Musk, and Lila.

Her character arc makes perfect sense.

Uhh, umm, in this powerpoint presentation I will

[sweetlydraws]

During and After- Painted Lady Au.

What happened to Marinette’s class during Lila’s reign, and after Marinette’s akumatizing.

Chloe and Lila.

Chloe-

During: Chloe lost everything. Sabrina left her only a week after Lila showed up. Chloe lost her power. With Lila around, no one was afraid of Chloe. This pissed Chloe off to no end. Chloe tried to ruin Lila in any way. Lila cried to Miss. Bustier. Chloe had no one to help her. Chloe got in trouble. Being sent to the principle and having him threaten to call her father, scared Chloe to no end.

The school ended up not calling her father, but he still found out somehow. Chloe suspected the Lila did it. Having her father not even talk to her hurt the most. This was his form of punishment. Removing himself from her life. Chloe locked her self in her room and didn’t come out.

No one came to her. Not even HawkMoth. If you asked Chloe what she did, she’d tell you that she did great and went shopping. In reality, Chloe broke down. She raged. She tried to do anything to get her father or mother's attention.

Chloe spiraled. She was under house arrest, she couldn’t do anything. One day she was watching the news and seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat another akuma without her. A commercial played, a phone-based therapist. Chloe's grip on her phone increased. She was the mayor's daughter, she couldn’t. Chloe did some research on phone-based therapists. She finally found an anonymous based one. It takes Chloe a week after downloading the app to use it.

Chloe found it hard not to just talk about herself. The therapist wouldn’t let her, apart of the anonymous part. It had taken another few sessions for Chloe to open about her insecurities, about not being able to be a good person without the approval of others. The therapist suggested for Chloe to do one thing that she didn’t before for her.

That night Chloe did her homework by herself. After her house arrest was over and she turned all her work in. She ran and hid to call the therapist. The therapist told her they were proud and that she shouldn’t do this for them but for her. The next day Chloe got back all her papers. She had gotten C’s and D’s on most of them but one paper. Her history paper, she had gotten a B- on it. Chloe cried.

Chloe tried her best to stay out of drama. Tried some days were better than others. But every day she would leave school, hide in her room and do her homework. She started to let Butler Jean help her with things she was struggling with. She wouldn’t let him do it for her. Jean kept his approval of Chloe to himself, not wanting her to revert to the girl who fired him.

Chloe joined another anonymous group. For Akuma victims. Chloe felt guilty for joining this group, she had caused quite a few akmuas in her time. But sometimes she sees another person in the mirror. Sometimes they wear a ladybug costume, and sometimes they would have black hair. Sometimes a buzzing is in her ear when she trying to sleep.

Chloe doesn’t reveal much about her akumatizing, she doesn’t want to be judged or found out. She learned that some people get a butterfly tattoo on the place where they were akumatized. Trying to take back what happened to them. Chloe was too young to get a tattoo, so she got earrings instead. Black with red spots.

Chloe was trying to heal, she was trying to hide. Then Marinette Dupain-Cheng was akumatized.

After: When Marinette showed up in the classroom, Chloe wasn’t all surprised.  What did shock her was the powers of Marinette. She had looked at Chloe and a burning glow appeared on her head. Insecure Chloe tried to hide this, and now everyone knows. After Marinette left, the class blew up. People were in denial, in rage, but Chloe. Chloe was quiet. Quiet until one Kim opened his mouth. Kim had dimwitted on his head. He was saying that there was no way that his was true if Chloe Bourgeois could be insecure. He laughed. Chloe knew that there would be a new akuma if he laughed one more time. And he did. Chloe doesn’t remember what she said but she does remember that her hand was sore as she ran out of the class.

The next surprise was Chat Noir giving her the Bee miraculous. Chloe was hesitant but thought back to her sessions. Take them back, touching her earring. She becomes Queen Bee again. Then she loses. She loses the Bee miraculous. Chloe spiraled again. This time it was worse. She wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t live. Jean force her to drink soup. Chloe broke when she thought she saw pollen by her window. It was a wasp. Chloe called her therapist and broke down. Telling everything she could.

They talked for two hours. Chloe thought about Marinette. Her heart sank. Over this past year, Chloe thought about Marinette a lot. Thought about what she did to her. Chloe and her therapist came to the conclusion that Chloe was jealous of Marinette and her happiness. Chloe didn’t think she should ever visit Marinette, but after going to school and seeing Lila try to save face and take over again. Chloe snapped. Chloe would say that she was nice and polite about everything she did. She wasn’t. Chloe went to the school board, she went to her father, she went to everyone and anyone. Her father helped because she wasn’t trying to save herself.

Andre didn’t really see a change in his daughter. But then again he wasn’t seeking her out. It was Butler Jean that came to her corner. A full investigation started on the school. Chloe decided that she would leave. Leave Paris, leave her family, leave her past. Applying for several private schools outside of Paris, and not in America later, Chloe had her out. She only had one more thing to do.

Chloe was shocked to see Nino outside of the Dupain-Cheng bakery but here they were. Neither was sure how to speak to each other, they knew each other's secret. Chloe still remembered when she saw that Nino and his girlfriend were Carapace and Rena Rouge. Nino had been crying she could tell, she could feel the weight of guilt in his eyes. The same guilt she had felt. Nino had been childhood friends with her, and Chloe a childhood bully.

When Chloe left the bakery, she felt lighter for the first time ever. She called her therapist and talked. Chloe is no longer the bully she was. Chloe was a victim of bad parenting.  But Chloe is healing. Chloe mentions to her therapist that she should thank Lila for ruining her back then as it made her change. The therapist refuted that by saying Chloe made the change, not Lila.

Chloe started getting calls from Sabrina and Adrien but she wouldn’t answer. Sabrina wasn’t her friend, she was her slave. And Adrien… Chloe is aware of his situation but he knew… Knew about her and Lila and choose to stand aside. She couldn’t forgive him just yet. Besides she has her history work to get to.

Lila-

During: Lila was the queen. Lila had the school under her thumb. And those who weren't were thrown out. Lila had the Adrien Agreste as her “boyfriend”. The one thing Lila’s father taught her before he and her mom got divorced was power rules the world. Not love, not niceness, not any of that stuff. Lila had taken that to heart. A lie here and there doesn’t matter as long as you are at the top. Lila hasn’t seen her father since she was 6, he left to marry an older and richer lady. Lila doesn’t love Adrien, Lila doesn’t love anyone.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a bigger problem then Lila was expecting. First Lila finds out that she knows she’s a liar, then she finds out that Marinette and Adrien know. She heard Alya call Marinette their everyday Ladybug. She is pissed. Marinette doesn’t deserve that power!

All it takes is a few honey words and a few fake tears for Alya to be fully on her side. Her boyfriend, however… Lila learned that they were childhood friends. That wouldn’t do. Some fake texts and false emails later, Lila had Nino under her control. Nino had to stay in good graces with Lila or else he’ll lose his in with the “big music producers.”

Marinette tried to give up her position as the class representative. As much as Lila would love to have the power that would give, she doesn’t want the work it brings. So Lila starts to spends rumors about Marinette being lazy and not understanding responsibility. She was voted in to stay. Lila wouldn’t lie, but watching the life drain from Marinette's eyes was the highlight of her year.

Alya’s birthday was coming up. Lila made a big party for her and filled Alya’s head with bad things about Marinette. Ayla had not invited Marinette. What Lila didn’t know was that Ayla had told Marinette they would hang out at a different time. The next Monday was Lila’s undoing.

After: Lila quickly had to address the situation. Marinette was akumatized and had marked everyone with the truth. Lila broke into sobs. Claiming that all this had to be lies. However Chloe’s smacking the lights out of Kim threw her off. Chloe without saying anything confirmed that her word was true. All but her, Adrien, Alya, and Nino were left. Nino was screaming at her, Alya was still trying to defend her. Adrien broke out of whatever trance he was in and went off on her. Lila swears she saw the devil in his eyes.

As the days went on her life continued to fall apart. Her schemes were out in the open. Lila was at her home under house arrest, while her mother and the Paris school system figured out punishment for her. Alya came to see her as a last-ditch effort to not be wrong. Lila played along before laughing in Alya’s face.

Lila was only Alya’s friend to use her for the Ladyblog. She wanted her face everywhere. She doesn’t care about Alya’s reputation. Lila shooed Alya away, saying Alya did what was needed for and that Lila found her no longer fun to use. Lila was sent to live her grandparents. She has no more power in Paris.

(Lila never worked with HawkMoth. She had no reason to. Lila had everything she wanted.)

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Sister of the Bat

[Masterlist]

I love siblings!Brucinette, especially Marinette being the older sibling. (Maybe I am projecting as the eldest child and enjoy bullying younger brothers in general.)

So hear me out.

Marinette is adopted by the Waynes when Bruce is like 9 or so.

She is older by like 2 years and her parents died. Bruce's parents took pity on her and took her in.

Gina takes Marinette with her as she travels around after Tom and Sabine dies in an accident and one of their stops is the Wayne Manor because Gina is good friends with Alfred.

Thomas and Martha offer to adopt Marinette to give her a stable home life and Gina accepts.

Bruce acts very much like Damian and demands her to get out of the mansion and insists that she is not family, much to his parents' dismay. He refuses to acknowledge her as a sister.

Marinette at least tries to be nice and be friends with him but her wellspring of patience can dry up and she later starts to call him 'demon brat.'

Marinette was there the night outside the cinema. The two siblings got a little closer after it and at least, stopped fighting each other on a daily basis. Alfred wishes it didn't take Thomas's and Martha's death for the two to get along.

Deep down, Marinette blames herself for what happened that night because how else can you explain why everyone she sees as a parental figure dies. Bruce doesn't blame her though.

So fast forward to when Marinette is 14 and she goes on an exchange program to Paris to visit her hometown. It took a lot to convince Bruce to let her leave Gotham and promises to come home for the holidays.

Hawkmoth happens. Bruce figures out that she's Ladybug when she refuses to come home for the holidays and investigate why.

He comes to Paris to help. Alfred follows to keep an eye on the two and also wants to know what the situation is since he used to be a miraculous holder.

Alfred had a 'talk' with Fu about putting responsibilities of a city on the shoulders of one of his wards. He also nearly got akumatized when Marinette was made Guardian and had more responsibilities on her young shoulders but managed to calm down.

Hilarious scene I thought of. Alfred cocks his shotgun, threatening to shoot Su-Han when he shows up and fires a warning shot to make a point.

They stayed in Paris for 2 years. Moving into Marinette's old house when the exchange program ended.

Bruce gets tempted to use the earrings and ring to bring his parents back but ultimately doesn't upon finding out about the consequences.

Of course Bruce is going to get a miraculous. I was thinking the rooster or the dog. And the weapon is a boomerang. Oh wait, how about the horse. It sorta works?

Hawkmoth gets defeated. Gabriel goes to jail. Adrien gets his mother back. The Wayne siblings and Alfred move back to good old Gotham.

(I realized that this got longer than I expected.)

Time skip to a few years later, when Marinette goes to Tibet to be trained as a Guardian and Bruce follows her not long after to learn how to fight and figured the Temple was a good place to start.

After she finishes her Guardian training, they both travel around, sometimes going their separate ways and meeting up again once a few months. Marinette only sometimes trains with some of the masters Bruce was learning under, she mainly goes around looking for lost Miraculous and righting the balance in places.

Of course, Marinette gets on the first plane to Nanda Parbat to knock some sense into her dumb brother, the moment she found out that Bruce was training with the League of Assassins.

"Okay, I left you alone for a week and the next thing I know you are in the League of Assassins. THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS LED BY RA'S AL GHUL. What the hell were you thinking, Bruce?! Does Alfred know about this?"

"Well, it is the League of Assassins. Assassins, Mari. I need to know every form of fighting so I can be Batman."

"I am sorry. Bat-what?"

"Batman. The identity I created so I can fight in my crusade against crime."

"Right.... That totally makes sense. But why a bat? I thought you were scared of those. I literally hung pictures of bats in my room so you would stay out. I even made a bat plushie named Terry. You remember Terry, right?"

"Yes and I hated him. The point is, I chose a bat as a sign of overcoming my fear and using it as a symbol to strike fear in the hearts of my enemies and as a symbol of hope for the innocent."

"Did- Did you just.. have an answer ready for when people ask you why you are dressed as a bat furry?"

She stuck around to pester Bruce into quitting the league and simultaneously mess with Ra's at the same time.

She used magic to keep herself hidden and succeeded to stay that way until Bruce left.

She's also the reason why Bruce hates magic.

Marinette went back to Gotham first and set up a fashion empire.

Bruce comes back and starts being Batman.

Marinette at first tries very hard to respect Bruce's decision to do this mostly on his own. Until an incident where he got stabbed and instead of resting, he goes out.

So tired older sister Marinette puts on a black kelver suit with bits of red as a homage to her time as Ladybug, a domino mask with white lenses and a cape with a red hood (Hawkmoth had ruined cowls and she later changed it into a kelver jacket with a hood because despite the dramatic effect it brings, she was not great at jumping around rooftops with a cape which made Bruce takes great pride in showing off how great his cape is any chance he gets)

She went out to make sure Bruce doesn't get killed. (No miraculous because she doesn't want people coming to already crime-filled Gotham for them)

People called her 'Red Hood'. (Joker uses that alias because he wants to taunt the Bat after hearing rumours that 'Red Hood' was dead. Jason took it because it's the name of the one person who pisses Bruce off and gets under his skin more than anyone.)

Batman has that deep and gruff voice to disguise his voice while Red Hood uses magic to distort her voice enough that it was still understandable but drove shivers down people’s spines.

She was there first hand and managed to record a lot of failed or dramatic moments Batman has. Blackmail...

Bruce is stubborn. He tells her that he has everything handled while getting his ass kicked. Mostly he gets the villain of the week tied up in an hour and Marinette leaves to go deal with something else in another neighbourhood.

Not very often there are cases where Bruce is obviously very tired and needs help but is too stubborn to ask for it. Marinette asks if he needs help and he says no. She lets the fight go on for like 15 minutes, casually leaning against the railing or wall and in one case, eating chips and sharing it with a barely conscious henchman before asking him again. And joining the fight whether he said no or not.

-------

The nature of their relationship is questioned as they are seen together often enough.

That came to light when Penguin was dangling Red Hood above a death trap and threatened Batman that he was going to kill his girlfriend unless he met the demands.

“Ew…” “What the-. No!” “Gross. I would rather die, thank you very much.” “She’s my sister.” “My standards are way higher than that.”

“Oh. My apologies. But still the same sentiment. Do it or she dies.”

“No.” Batman answered.

“Kwamis, if this is about the cookies, I said I was sorry, Baby Brother.”

“The sign clearly said ‘Do not Touch.’”

The two clearly adult, usually serious and fearsome vigilante bicker like children.

Penguin cleared his throat after being frustrated at being ignored, “Hello, still here by the way. And I thought he was the older one.”

“He wishes.” Red Hood snorted, already freed and ready to kick some Penguin’s ass.

“Oh no.”

------

Joker thinks he is Batman’s arch nemesis. And for the longest time, was the only Gotham Rouge who has never faced Red Hood. (Marinette knows about the Joker but due to the circumstances and dislike for the man’s fashion choices, has never met the ‘Clown prince’ in person.)

But Joker doesn’t pay attention to frivolous gossip of the Gotham underworld much. So as far as he knows, there was only one vigilante in town and that was the Batman who is his equal and vice versa or so he thought.

That illusion was shattered, the moment another figure appeared from the shadows while Batman was busy trying to deactivate the bombs on the hostages.

“Yo, Demon-Brat, Need help?”

“No.”

“Who is this, Batsy? Your sidekick?”

Red Hood looked offended, “I find that very offensive.”

Batman sighed, “The bane of my existence.”

It was Joker’s turn to be offended. He puts on a hurt face, “But I thought I was your arch nemesis, Batsy. What about all those fun times we had?”

“Sorry, Jester. But me and Bats have a longer history.”

“It’s the Joker. You nitwit.”

“Nitwit? Come up with better insults, you second-grade clown. I have seen birthday clowns scarier than you. And it’s the green wire that you need to cut.”

“Who are you anyway?”

Red Hood took a bow. “The name’s Hood. Red Hood. I am here to make sure the Demon-Brat over there doesn’t get killed, dressed as a bat furry. Now, any last words?” She aimed her guns at the Joker.

“Oh. I think I will like you.”

[Fight scene as Batman frees the hostages and then, they fight the Joker together.]

As Joker is led into the car that will take him to Arkham Asylum, “I don’t like you.” He said as he glared at Red Hood.

------(Time skip to so many years and after Marinette had left Gotham due to being unable to deal with Bruce's bullshit anymore)

Batman is working on his latest case in front of the Batcomputer when his phone rang from a number he wished never called.

He answered it.

“Hey, Bruce, I am going to be in town for the next few days. This is a heads-up, in case we ever ran into each other.”

“Understood. Is anyone new going to show up during your stay?”

“Maybe. That remains to be seen.”

“Tell me when it happens.”

A small laugh at the other end. “Same old Brucie.”

Alfred enters. “Is that Miss Marinette?”

“Hello, Alfred. Nice to know that you are well.”

“Miss Marinette, it would be nicer if you come by the manor. It’s rather empty without you.”

“I would love to, Alfred but my schedule is rather packed and I am pretty sure the manor is full of strays that Demon brat had brought home over the years.”

“They are not strays. They needed someone to train them properly and they agreed to be adopted.” Bruce still hasn’t figured out how he has so many kids. One day, it was just him and Dick and the next thing, kids come and go from his house. But he wasn’t going to let her know that.

“Sureee…”

“Miss Marinette, it’s been so long since we last saw you. I am confident that you and Master Bruce can remain civil for a few hours. Please come by.”

A short silence.

“Do it for me. Please.” Alfred added.

“For you Alfred, I will come over sometime in the afternoon tomorrow but I cannot promise anything else. Goodbye.”

“Good Day, Miss Marinette.”

---

The next morning, Bruce wasn’t in a good mood and the kids tried to figure out why. Bets on Jason or Damian.

Alfred on the other hand looked almost giddy with excitement, cleaning up the manor with a vigour.

When he was asked, he answered “Miss Marinette is back in Gotham. She’s coming over for a visit today.”

Dick and Jason seemed to understand what Alfred meant.

“Wait, she’s back. Does Bruce know she’s going to be here?”

“He and the Miss have agreed to be civil towards each other.”

“Well, I am going to the kitchen to make some popcorn. This is going to be good.” Jason said, gleefully rubbing his hands together as he walked away.

All the other kids looked confused. “Who’s Marinette?”

Dick answered,“She’s well...if there was anyone in the entire world who can drive Bruce mad, it’s her. I swear he came close to breaking the no-kill rule every time she visits. Last I heard she was in Australia.”

“Why does Father dislike her that much?” Damian asked.

“She was the original Red Hood.”

“I thought Jason stole that name from the Joker.” Tim scratched his head.

“Well, the Joker stole it from her to taunt B. When B started off, Batman had...um...a partner. This was way before my time. Her methods were a little conventional. She prioritizes the innocents but she broke the no-kill rule a few too many times. Nearly killed the Joker once.”

“So what happened?”

“They argued a lot. Fought nearly all the time. By the time B had Jason for like what? a year?, she moved out of Gotham and rarely came back. The last time was Jason’s fifteenth birthday before he died and we never heard back from her again, except for a few birthday presents”

“Why isn’t there any picture of her? Why have we never heard of her before?”

“Bruce likes to pretend that she doesn’t exist because...well... you’ll see.”

------

Jason to Dick later. “You didn’t tell them?”

“No. Would you tell them about her and Bruce?”

“I see your point. This is going to be epic. We are totally recording, right?”

“Way ahead of you. Cameras in nearly every angle of each room, plus hidden microphones for audio. Babs is making sure they are all in working order. Thank Bruce paranoia at times like this.”

Doorbell rings. “And Action.” Jason said as he and Dick took out their phones to get some first hand footage. Extra blackmail is always handy to have.

Alfred opens the door to reveal a woman in red, wearing sunglasses. Outside, a red and black motorbike was parked. Her hair was dark and hung loose down her back. She takes off her glasses to reveal bluebell eyes that held the same steely glint as Bruce but they softened at the sight of the old butler.

“Hey Alfred. Long time no see.” She warmly said as she hugged him.

“Miss Marinette. I must say that I miss having your charm around the manor.”

Seeing Dick and Jason in the hallway. “Boys, look at you. You have grown so much. Dick, I see you finally got rid of the mullet.(It wasn’t that bad, Dick said under his breath) Jason, see, I told you that you will get bigger than me one day.”

“Hey, M / Aunt Mari” They hug her.

“Jason.” Her tone changed and he froze, she sounded pissed. “You name stealer.”

“I wanted to make you proud. I was very mad at B back then and I thought why not use the name that pisses him off the most. And you were my favourite auntie.” He tried to explain himself. Maybe he should have asked her first before using her name.

Marinette thought about it for an antagonizing long time watching him squirm, “Hmm….Valid. In that case, you can be my successor.”

“Always knew I was your favourite nephew.”

“Hush, that’s our secret. Now where are all the other strays Brucie has.”

The other bat kids had appeared from where they were.

“Oh… are these the new strays that Brucie brought home over the years?”

“I am no stray. I am Father’s blood son and his heir. You will treat me as such, woman.”

Marinette mutters under her breath, “No doubt about it, you are Bruce’s son. Can’t believe that Demon brat actually got a kid with his DNA. I thought for sure that he was going to keep adopting kids with some resemblance to him.” Jason laughs.

“I am Tim. And the Demon spawn over there,” He gestured towards said kid, “is Damian.” At the nickname, she raised an eyebrow and looked at Dick. He nodded. She chuckled.

The excited blond woman hugged her next, “Hi, I am Stephanie, unlike the others, I came in and never got adopted.”

“Smart girl.”

Stephanie pointed towards Cass, “and this is Cass. She doesn’t talk much.” Cass settles for a wave.

“I am Duke. The family’s newest addition.”

“The only ones not here are Babara, Harper, Colin and Kate.”

“Kate as in Kate Kane?”

“The one and only.”

“Oh. I have to meet up with her at some point.”

“Come on now. Let’s not loiter in the hallway. I am sure Miss Marinette would like some tea. And remember your promise.”

“I promise my best.”

“I hope your best is enough. Master Bruce is currently in the study.”

“Great. I don’t have to deal with his annoying face.”

They moved to the living room. Marinette, Jason and Dick catch up on what happened over the years. Mostly on Jason’s and Dick’s part.

Bruce finally comes down the stairs and the room falls silent. The atmosphere suddenly felt thick and hard to breathe, the moment the two made eye contact with each other.

“Marinette. You are still here.”

“Disappointed, Demon Brat?”

Everyone looked shocked, except for Dick and Jason who had started recording on their phone the moment Bruce showed up.

Marinette stood up with folded arms and a murderous glare on her face when she saw what Bruce was wearing. Bruce on the other hand smirked, wearing clothes that clashed terribly and was an absolute eyesore, especially to a fashion designer’s eye.

WTF was happening???? Was running through most of the bat kids’ heads.

“You are doing this on purpose. You are trying to piss me off.”

“You started it by not leaving the moment the amount of time warranted for a visit has passed.”

“I didn’t come here to see you. I came here for Alfred and stayed for them.” She pointed her thumb in the kids’ direction. “You should have stayed in your little man cave, Bats.”

“How about you scurry back to Europe where you belong, Bug, before I eat you.”

“Aw...Look at the cute baby bat, baring his non-existent fangs.”

“I am a full-grown man. You onesie wearing imposter.”

“I was thirteen year old! Thirteen! If we are going to rip each other’s first suits, then let’s talk about that fashion disaster you wore when you first started out. That cape was a walking hazard, much less be used to run around rooftops. It’s a miracle that you can still walk after that accident. And the ears. You looked like a fucking Rabbit.”

“You are one to talk. That cloak incident in the winter gala of- .”

“That doesn’t count. I only fell down because you stepped on it. If memory serves, you embarrassed yourself in front of Miss Kyle by falling face first into the fountain and ran away from the gala, that same day.”

The insults and jabs went on and on. Stories full of blackmail were exchanged.

Jason and Dick are delighted at the blackmail material and grinning like maniacs.

The rest were still in shock at Bruce’s behaviour. This is way different from the Brucie Wayne persona and a far cry from the stoic Batman.

“Face it, Baby brother. You can’t just admit that I am wayyy better than you.”

‘Baby Brother’, Tim mouthed. He looked at the two eldest for answers but were of no help as they try to capture the best angle for their video.

He vaguely remembers the name Red Hood appearing in the news along with Batman and Robin and there being a second Wayne when he was younger.

He thought that they would be exes or something that worked together but the sibling rivalry in front of him made so much sense now.

“I can beat you in a fight any day, Brucie.”

“Well, I am Batman.”

“And I have been doing this hero shtick since I was 13. So weapons or no weapons?”

“No weapons. Alfred won’t appreciate new scratches in the living room. Freestyle, all out brawl, first one pinned or knocked out loses. right here, right now. No hitting the face or between the legs.” He said, taking off his silver glittery suit jacket.

“I like the sound of that.” She said as she took off her red coat and got into a fighting stance. “Give me all you got, demon brat.”

Dick and Jason made sure to clear out the room and continued filming from the stairs.

“She’s like our aunt?” Tim asked.

“Adopted. Like us.” Jason grinned, as Marinette got cornered and did a flip to get out “I like to think that the adoption genes from Thomas and Martha were passed down to B and doubled to explain why there are so many of us.”

“Why has Father never mentioned her to us before?”

“Would you talk about us to your pets if we were living far and far away?” Dick asked.

“You and maybe Cass and Thomas. The rest of you. No. I wouldn’t. You make a good point, Richard.”

The two siblings downstairs had abandoned fighting the proper way and were wrestling on the ground like five years old.

“Master Bruce. Miss Marinette. I expected better from both of you. You are supposed to set a good example for the children.” Alfred had arrived.

They both stopped and broke apart, looking sheepish under Alfred’s disappointed gaze.

“Sorry Alfred.” They both apologised and glared at each other.

“I guess I miss you,” Marinette said first, “Demon Brat.”

“You weren’t miss as much, Imposter.”

Alfred cleared his throat. The two siblings sighed.

“I am sorry for calling you an Imposter and that was very rude of me.” Bruce ‘apologised’ like he had recited that particular sentence too many times.

“I am sorry too for calling you a Demon Brat despite the accuracy of the statement and I endeavour to do less of it in the future, Bruce.”

“Well since dinner is nearly ready, both of you clean up the mess and come to the dining room.”

“Alfred, I really can’t stay-” Marinette started.

“You are staying, Miss Marinette. It has been years since you were here.”

“Fine, because I love your cooking nothing else and Brucie better change his clothes.”

“No.” Bruce replied childishly.

------

At the dinner table,

“So Aunty M, can I call you that?” Tim asked.

“It’s fine. What do you want to ask?”

“I heard you and Bruce talking about magical butterflies in Paris and you starting your um hero career when you were 13 because of it.”

“Oh.” Marinette’s hand on her fork tensed a little. “Wasn’t expecting that but I can see why you are curious.”

“Now that I thought about it, you never told Jason and me the entire story about it.” Dick said.

“You are right. It’s more of the entire incident left too heavy of a mark for me to talk freely about it.”

Bruce looked her with worry in his eyes, “M, you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.”

Marinette took a bite first while she gathered her thoughts first. “When I was 13 years old, I went on a student exchange program to Paris so I can learn more about my home town….”

She told them about Hawkmoth and the magical earrings she received. The responsibility of the entire city that came with it.

“You don’t sound happy about having magic powers.”

“Well, it happens when you are a just kid with already enough trauma on her plate from four parents dying in front of her. Then, you get chosen to be a hero by some old man just because you decided to be a decent human being and help him cross the street. I repeat, chosen, no training, no information on what exactly was going on. Dropped some magic earrings. which the bad guy clearly wants, into the hands of a child and pushed her out the door to fight in a long tiring war. He got amnesia halfway through the entire thing and left for London. I was young back then but didn’t know any better. At first, it was really fun. Then... If Bruce wasn’t so stubborn and stayed in Gotham like I wanted him to, I might have came out of it way worse.” Her voice was soft as she seemed lost in some painful memories.

“I already lost my parents. I didn’t want to lose another family.” Bruce said.

Marinette smiled, “Yeah. I am thankful for your help. I couldn’t keep you out of superheroing if I tried and Alfred and I tried a lot.”

A few of the Batkids sent smirks towards Bruce to remind him of how they got adopted.

“So how did Bruce help you out?”

“Well, he was more of the Oracle in the situation, tracking down Hawkmoth. Alfred and me kept him from going out, no matter how much he wanted to join the fights. But…” Marinette smirked and Bruce stiffened as he realized what she was going to do.

Marinette moved forward and ‘whispered’, “You should know that you kids aren’t the only ones who parkoured around rooftops in brightly coloured bird-themed suits in your preteens.”

“No way...The Batman was like your Robin?!”

Bruce dropped his face into his hands. “Mari, stop.” He hissed.

“What? I am simply enlightening the children on their heritage.”

Alfred comes in to take away the plates, “I also recall the young Master sneaking out many times to accompany you on your night patrols.”

“Alfred!”

“Nearly forgot about that. There are times where he followed me in his pjamas and a table cloth as a cape when he can’t find where I hid the Miraculouses. Can’t keep him down even when he got sick and was loopy from the medication.”

“Is this the same Mr. Lecture-us-for-not-wearing-our-proper-uniform-when-we-patrol and sneaking out to patrol?”

“One time, I got sick so Bruce wore the earrings to be Ladybug and he had this entire speech prepared for when he take down an akuma that he did in front of the mirror.”

“I thought that you were asleep.” Bruce mumbled in embarrassment.

“You aren’t as quiet and sneaky as you thought you were. Also Chat showed me the video of you taking the akuma down and how he found you when you were practicing the yo-yo.”

“He what?!”

“I also told him to sent it to Alya.”

“No!” Bruce stood up and hurried towards the Batcave. “How did I know about this?”

“Who’s Alya?”

“My reporter friend. Back in the day, she ran the Ladyblog, where she posted information and videos about akuma attacks.”

“So you are saying that there is a video of a tiny Bruce in a red with black polka dot suit, running around Paris on the Internet.”

“I think there are a few featuring him in his Chick-lad suit too. It was the cutest thing ever. Wanna see?”

“Aren’t you worried about him deleting the blog off the internet?” Tim asked as Marinette looked through her phone.

“My brother may be good at hacking but he can’t reach the level of Max Kante who made an AI at fourteen and coded the Ladyblog. Besides, Alya has back-ups and I have back-ups too. Mostly footages of Chick-lad in action.”

“Show us.” they all demanded.

------

In the next JL meeting,

“So regarding the problem in the-” Batman was saying as the presentation screen blacked out.

“On it.” Cyborg said as he got up to make it work again but the screen flickered back on before he can do anything.

‘Batman.’ A voice that suspiciously sounded like Nightwing narrated as clips of Batman fighting on the streets of Gotham, driving the Batmobile, facing off many Gotham Rouges and posing with the other Justice League members played. ‘The Dark Knight of Gotham. The Caped Crusader. Thought to be smartest and most dangerous member of the Justice League.’

‘But all heroes made their start somewhere...’

A news clip played showing Paris being wrecked by an akuma and Nadja reporting the scene. English subtitles are inserted for those who don’t understand French. Most of the members are confused as Batman felt horror beginning to set in. He might not be able to show his face to the other heroes again after this stunt his children had pulled.

The camera zoomed in on the girl in red and black fighting the orange-skinned person with a rope weapon of some sort. Wonder Woman gasped as she recognised a Ladybug user. Then, a younger boy with yellow and red feather designs, slammed into the akuma. The video paused right before the boy made impact with his mouth wide open. A circle is drawn around the boy dressed as a rooster? and an arrow pointed towards him with the words ‘Batman, aged 11’ next to it. ‘Former alias: Chick-lad’ was under it.

Red Hood’s voice was soon heard. ‘This is the infamous Dark Knight in his humble beginning. Before Gotham, there was Paris. The city of Love had dark days upon it. The young boy took up the mantle of Chick-lad and fought the demons that plagued the cities in a rather startling bright yellow. He fought alongside Ladybug who is most known for being the leader of the team that lead the charge. But we are not focusing on her right now. We are going to show you the brave chicken who had feathers on his suit.’

“No. No. No.” Bruce said as he desperately tries to turn the documentary or whatever it was off. Green Arrow and Green Lantern had began recording on their phones. Superman tried not to laugh at his friend. Cyborg looked like he can’t comprehend the boy on the screen was the same dark, not as intimidating anymore, figure in front of him.

Cue clips of Chick-lad in action and dramatically saying a lot of cheesy one-liners and puns as he try to take down akumas by himself with his bow and arrows, much to Ladybug’s visible frustration. Some horrible attempts at trick shots with the bow.

Videos of Ladybug scolding a self-satisfied but bloody Chick-lad on irresponsibly using his powers to tie up citizens for simple crimes like littering.

------

An amused Ladybug filming herelf,

“Hi, Ladybug here, on the 17th June of 19**, Robin Hood over there decided that he was going to see how many cars he can carry.” (LB calls Chick-lad Robin Hood as a nickname in the suits because of the bow.)

Camera switches to said hero under a bus and 5 cars, struggling to hold it up.

“On a good day, he can’t lift 100lbs for two minutes. But with the added Miraculous strength we can lift more than a ton for over an hour. Let’s add more and see what the limit is, shall we?”

“Ladybug, no. Help me. I can’t carry it anymore.”

“No..*Laughs* oh shit. Wait. Hang on. I am coming. Don’t you dare drop that. The Miraculous Ladybug is not for fixing the things you broke.”

Scene Cut.

A masked boy in a black cat suit was filming this time. “Bonjour, beautiful City of Lights, Chat Noir here, LB is taking medical leave due to her illness but her replacement is filling in the meantime and unfortunately, he’s not..the best with the yo-yo.”

The camera move to show Chick-lad in a red and black form-fitting suit with some armour. He was suspended in mid-life, tangled up with strings and hanging from what looks like the structure of the Eiffel Tower like a bug trapped in a spider web. He was furiously trying to get free but gets more tangled up in the strings.

“Paris is doomed.” Chat Noir deadpanned before asking, “Should I be getting LB, little chick?”

“No. Do not get my sister. I told her that I can handle Paris while she is incacipated and I will....once I get out of these stupid things.”

“Don’t diss the yo-yo. It did nothing to you.”

“It’s a horrible choice for a weapon. Bows and arrows are way better.”

-----

Green Arrow laughed, “I have to get a recording of that.”

Batman had given up trying to turn the thing off (he cursed his decision to make the screen battery-powered so it didn’t turn off when he pulled the plug) and was face-down on the table with sympathetic pats from Wonder Woman while she fan-girled in the moments when Ladybug is on screen.

Flash had gone and gotten popcorn for everyone.

-----

Someone filming Chick-lad as he taunts the akuma and evading its attacks until a yo-yo wrapped around him and pulled him out of the akuma’s range. The camera followed his trajectory. There was a pissed Ladybug on a nearby rooftop, now holding Chick-lad by the back of his suit.

“CHICKEN-LAD FOGHORN LEGHORN THOMAS WA- BUG. You are in so much trouble.”

“There was an akuma.” He weakly said

“You were grounded by Al and I can handle the akuma.”

“Well, Ladybug.” The akuma said, “Prepare to be-”

“Shut it. Can’t you see that I am talking to this little superhero here who is supposed to be at home because he is grounded?” The akuma obeyed and awkwardly stood around.

“Al was worried when you disappeared. Stop being so reckless, you piece of drumsticks.”

“This is rich coming from the girl who lets herself get eaten by a T-Rex.”

“It was part of the plan and you mister are going home right now.”

“No.”

“Do it or you ain’t getting any of Al’s snickerdoodles.”

“Fine.”

-----

“Hey, Robin Hood! Whatcha thinking about?”

Chick-lad was in a familiar pose of Batman when he is in his brooding mood.

He didn’t look up, ignoring his sister. Ladybug placed an egg under him as the camera shakes from suppressed giggles.

“Are you brooding again? I swear it’s hard to...no way.” Ladybug said in faux surprise.

This got Chick-lad’s attention. “What?”

“There’s an egg under you. How is there an egg up here?!”

The tiny hero stood up, “Har Har, no way I am falling for that... Holy shit, that’s an egg. How is it here?”

“Unless…”

Chick-lad looked horrified. “No…I mean there is no feasible way that I..”

“You laid an egg!”

“No no no no….nuh uh...I did not lay an egg.”

“I mean you brood all the time and the pro-long use of the Miraculous does give certain characteristics to our human bodies.”

“Your weird craving of aphids is a way different territory than me laying an egg. I laid an egg, Ladybug! I can’t do that. I am a healthy male Rooster.”

“That’s your own child you are talking about.”

“I am not ready to be a father.” (The caption ‘said the man who proceeds to adopt a gazillion children’ appeared under Chick-lad.)

“Well, what do we do with it?” Chick-lad asked as he tentatively picked the egg up.

“We could eat it. Omelet for breakfast sounds good.” Ladybug suggested.

Chick-lad caressed the egg like it was a precious baby, “Help me hide it from Alfred. I will do anything.”

“No. We are not going to eat my kid.”

“So you decided to be a responsible father, then, little brother.”

“Deal.��

Screen cut to a dark screen like a camera was hidden inside a bag.

“-ONE WEEK! THAT’S SEVEN DAYS, 168 HOURS, 10080 MINUTES OR 604800 SECONDS!”

Someone was laughing very hard.

“THAT’S HOW LONG YOU WATCHED ME BABY THAT FAKE EGG AND MADE ME THINK I WAS THE FATHER. FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK, YOU WATCHED ME SING LULLUBIES AND TELL STORIES TO IT.”

“Fatherhood suited you.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT YOU EVEN GOT ALFRED IN ON IT!!! ALFRED!”

“He thought this might make you learn to be more responsible. And hush you don’t want to wake up little Eggbert.”

“You are the worst.”

Ladybug cackles, “I know.”

------

The compilation lasted 20 minutes before it ended with a side-by-side comparisons of the various poses by Chick-lad, next to a Batkid trying to recreate it.

Batman stood up with every shred of dignity he still had left, “None of you will breathe a word about what happened today.” and walked out of the room.

“How is it after being embarrassed like that he manages to still scare me?”

There are a few inside jokes made from that ‘presentation’. Phrases like ‘the chicken grew up to be a bat’ baffled other members’ who didn’t see it. Until Oliver and Hal did a movie night and showed them the video that Oracle emailed them.

Ollie got a recording of a young Bruce saying “Bow and arrows are better.” in French on his phone. It’s one of the phrases in French that he knows. He says it everytime Batman has a disagreement with him. (Bruce once took out a custom bat-bow and arrows in a meeting and did an awesome archery trick that narrowly missed Green Arrow by a millimetre and proceeds to say that his skills are ‘rusty’.)

Later, he would tell newbie heroes that Batman once said, “C'est un choix d'armes horrible. L'arc et les flèches sont meilleurs.” and that means, “It’s a horrible choice of weapons. Bow and arrows are better.” in French. Bruce walked by once and told the newbie that it was taken out of context and that the horrible weapon in question was a yo-yo.

Wonder Woman passed her number to Batman to give it to Ladybug in front of everyone.

“Hey, Supes, who’s that?”

“It’s Batman’s sister, apparently. Used to be a superheroine with some magic earrings about twenty years ago. And those earrings used to belong to Diana’s mother.”

“Batman has a sister? And there’s two of them?”

-----

Stephenie had tried to fight crime with a yo-yo. It went horribly for everyone involved.

Damian asked to spar with Marinette before she left. She beats him with a custom yo-yo since she rarely uses the Miraculous nowadays. She left it for Damian as a very late or early birthday present.

Damian had trained himself to use it as a weapon since if his aunt can do it, so can he and carries it around because it has benefits like ‘it’s a toy, Father. It’s to entertain myself in that boring prison they call school.’

He also learned how to do tricks with it. He took down some would-be kidnappers with the yo-yo as Damian Wayne. (Stephanie was jealous of how good Damian was and asked him to teach her.)

------

Marinette and Bruce finally made up (skipping over the angst plot) and there were more visits from Aunty M. She does turn down being a vigilante again, choosing to focus on her new role as co-CEO of Wayne Enterprise to lighten the load but made a special appearance on a very busy night.

“Eddie! How are you? I see you are still doing purple on green.”

That voice. Whoever said that Batman was scarier one was wrong. The OG Red Hood was the one who plagues his nightmares to this day.

The Riddler turned around, hoping he was wrong. The rumours said that she was dead. But dying meant nothing to the Bats since the second Robin came back to life and was the current Red Hood.

There was a chilling sound of metal against concrete walls. “Eddie…”

“You can’t be real. You can’t.” His men were looking at him like he had gone mad. They had never seen their boss this terrified before. A few older ones from the early days dropped their weapons and run off.

Out of the shadows, a figure in red stepped out and the metal of her gun glinted under fluorescent light.

“I left Gotham for a nice vacation and what do I see after 5 years of absence? Idiots like you who still pairs green with purple.”

Riddler gets on his knees and began begging for mercy. Riddler’s goons get knocked out by the other bats as OG Red Hood tore into his fashion choices.

-----

“I mean I don’t get why people is getting so worked up over this new Red Hood.” A newbie henchman said.

“There’s another one? Did the current up and one die again?” Penguin asked.

“No. I think they are sharing the name. The old one is still around but there’s another one with the same name. She’s the one without a helmet and wears an actual red hood. I heard rumours that she has a voice of a demon, literally. They also say that Riddler surrendered himself when she showed up on the scene. You okay, boss?” he asked a very pale Penguin.

“She’s back. I thought she left for good. Batman probably welcomed her back with open arms if she is back on the streets catching the likes of us. Pack your bags, boys. We are moving out of Gotham.”

“Why? And where to, boss?”

“Anywhere but here.”

“Come on, Boss. She’s just another Bat. More work for us but we can handle her.”

“You fools. That woman is the Red Hood. The Original before there were any Robins working for Batman. When the name Batman was nothing more than a myth, a bogeyman for criminals, she was Bloody Mary story. Say her name three times and she will show up to hunt you down. The Red Hood you know now is great at catching criminals yes but she is the predator and we are the prey. She will stop at nothing, I repeat nothing to catch us. With Batman, he will let us get away to save the innocents. With her, I once left her with a ticking time bomb stuck to several hostages and got on a train to Chicago. Do you know who I saw when the train pulled into the station? She was standing on the platform, with that red hood over her head, waiting for me.”

“Aren’t you a little old for campfire stories, Oswald?” The voice asked with amusement from behind him. The same voice that had Riddler screaming for the hills. Penguin turned very pale.

“You are not getting me this time.” Penguin snarled as he called for his men and activated the bomb under his club.

“None of that now.” She grabbed the remote and de-activated the bomb. She then grabbed his collar and put a gun to his head.

“You remember what happened to the old Black Mask the last time I was here, right? When Batman was less tolerant of people breaking his no-kill rule. I will make you join him if you don’t call off your men and give me the information I came here for. I will even spare you from paying for your medical bills if you cooperate nicely and turn yourself back into Arkham.”

Penguin agreed, begging for his life.

[dreamwreaver]

You know, I was gonna sit back and enjoy the takedown of this take by the wonderful @anxresi but they deserve a break, so I'm gonna handle it.

Season 2 provided plenty of in universe reasons for Chloe to have the potential to be a hero. Yes she wanted the attention, but that craving for admiration and love comes from a mother who never gave it to her. Audrey couldn't even remember her own child's name until Marinette tried (in good faith but the worst way possible) to get them to bond over the fact that they're both "terrible" people.

Chloe's tendency to look down on those who are beneath her socially comes from BOTH her parents. Audrey who is just the worst, and Andre who consistently used his status as Mayor to do whatever he felt like without really listening to the people that got him there. And when for 14 years that's all you've ever known it's a hardwiring that's hard to break from.

Ladybug inspires her to be a better person, but one 14 year old should not be responsible for the betterment of another. Even still, Chloe tries, and the importance of a magical girl genre is TRYING. It also doesn't help that Astruc's argument of Chloe always regressing to her normal attitude is undercut by the fact that at least up through season 3 practically every non two parter episode is self contained. Without explicit references to something that happened earlier you have no way of telling which point in the timeline Chloe's behavior falls.

I think most fans of Chloe's problem with the way things have panned out isn't necessarily her being corrupted, it's how lazily we got it delivered to us. A corruption arc needs time and focus dedicated to it, and we got one episode focused on Chloe being targeted before the finale. Not to mention the fact that the show's thesis of "Marinette needs to learn a lesson every episode" completely undercuts Chloe allegedly choosing the darker path because the narrative went out of its way to show that Marinette was making the wrong choice by letting her feelings for adrien and worry over Kagami stealing adrien from her caused her to make the wrong choice when it should have been Chloe.

Not to mention, Chloe was in a rock and a hard place. You have the magical villain telling you your parents will remain a monster but if you join him they'll be safe. Ladybug and Chat Noir and even Ryuuko weren't doing much to beat them, and even if they had Hawkmoth approached Chloe at her lowest point. Y'know, the narrative point where most people make bad choices? We can see when she's defeated how much it hurts, and what hurts isn't losing the power of queen bee, it's losing pollen, one of the few friends she has.

Seasons 4 and 5 don't help as now the narrative pushes Chloe 2.0 on us with none of the baggage or interesting aspects a character who isn't in the background should have, who is instantly loved by everyone to the point of warping people's personalities around her, and every episode that features her as more than a bg character goes out of its way to shit on Chloe and turn her from a mean girl who was a hurt child crying out for love to a legit sociopath who does things way worse than our s1 baseline for how low she sinks. Now riddle me this; we didn't have enough time to show Chloe being preyed upon for her downfall, but we have plenty of episodes to spare just to shit on Chloe and have the narrative tell us how we should feel about her backstory.

Meanwhile the guy who betrayed ladybug way worse than Chloe ever did and the literal main villain who by the end of season 5 was shown to have gone completely insane with his desire for power, are allowed to be or at least be remembered as heroes. Let's remember; Felix pretended to be adrien and handed over every other miraculous from Ladybug's yoyo for the peacock jewel, created a sentimonster for the express purpose of committing genocide, and drugged ladybug for some trippy play to ask for her help instead of just telling her who the villain was and trying to help her come up with a plan to stop him. Or god forbid, at the bare minimum APOLOGIZE.

And if you want someone who doesn't want to change, doesn't care to be better, and is genuinely devoid of any good qualities: Lila or whatever name she's got this week is right there. As a matter of fact she only gets worse as the seasons progress. We never expected Lila to get better from her first introduction when she refused Ladybug's apology. I'm not saying she needed to, but she said "you're right, we'll never be friends" instead of, "thank you for apologizing, but I don't accept it"

One line indicates acknowledgement that one has done wrong but isn't entitled to forgiveness. The other is basically saying we are forever enemies and nothing will change that. Lila has never had any inclination to change and when caught just assumes a new identity. That's the villain we love to hate, not the girl who was shown to want to be better but wasn't allowed to be because the creator of the show forced the writers to walk it all back. And do not give me the "it was planned from the start" excuse, just because it was planned doesn't mean it works. If anything, it shows a refusal to allow organic changes in the writing process or take into account that the mean girl with a heart of gold archetype is a staple favorite character in magical girl shows, which miraculous rips off the most besides regular superheroes.

Tbh; I wouldn't have been mad at Chloe's corruption if they'd dedicated time and effort to it. But they didn't. And the fact that TA continues to shit on the depiction of neglect and abandonment Chloe represents by saying it wasn't abuse, her parents were abused by her, bullies can never be heroes, and that her being sent off to live with the person who treats her the worst while her equally culpable father gets to wash his hands of the kid HE fucked up while starting over with the daughter that ISNT EVEN HIS meanwhile the guy who terrorized paris for love gets a fucking statue in his honor is just bad writing. It's a spit in the face of the fandom.

Why do Miraculous fans think that Thomas Astruc hate Chloe?? Because he didn’t have her a redemption arc she didn’t even need?

It’s not hating a character to make them an antagonist, or just a bad person. People love Disney vilains for a reason. And Thomas created Chloe to be a mean girl.

Season 3 showed that her character had more depth, that bad things happened to her when she was little, and that she has a softer side… But that doesn’t mean Chloe should suddenly become a good person. It just means that Chloe’s character is complex.

But the show made it clear until now why Chloe couldn’t get a redemption arc: she doesn’t want to change. She wants to keep her privileges and treat everyone like they were inferior to her. She can’t possibly get a redemption arc now.

[chatsmouse]

In my opinion, Marinette keeping Gabriel's secret from Adrien is one of the best things that came from the leak.

Adrien has a grand total of 3 alive family members that we know of. I am purposefully excluding Nathalie and the Gorilla as they would not be there if they weren't on Gabriel's payroll.

Amelie lives in London with her own life. While Adrien clearly loves her, she's not steady support for him unless he moves in with her.

Felix established himself as the enemy to Ladybug and Chat Noir last season. Adrien is aware of what his cousin did to help Hawkmoth and whether he will ever choose to forgive Felix for the betrayal will be another question yet to be answered. My guess is it'll depend on whether or not the Sentihuman thing comes in as a plot point this season.

Gabriel is all Adrien has. We, as viewers, see Gabriel as emotionally distant and abusive towards Adrien. He gives Adrien everything he needs except for freedom. Adrien doesn't have the same perspective we do. He sees a father that loves him and wants to protect him. Gabriel was probably a lot different before Emilie "went away." Adrien, while unhappy with modeling and being restricted from being a normal child, still loves his father and looks up to him. We see this in the few genuine moments that they have together.

How can Marinette, in good conscience, take that away from him? How can she look Adrien Agreste in the eyes and tell him that his father was the domestic terrorist that hurt her, hurt Paris, and hurt him on multiple occasions? And tell him the reason why?

Chat Blanc and Ephemeral proves that Adrien gets akumatized everytime he finds out and with Marinette still failing to secure the Butterfly at the end of season 5, its safer that Gabriel is given the opportunity to repair his relationship with his child and become a better parent.

THIS is Marinette protecting Adrien, not Ladybug keeping more secrets because of old habits. We've seen Adrien protecting her physically, we see Chat and LB protecting and helping eachother all the time. Regardless of whether there is a reveal this season, Adrien is one of Marinette's best friends (and possibly her boyfriend at this time). Marinette is taking the trauma Adrien would have had with this knowledge. If the knowledge that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth got out, Adrien's life would be altered and there would be no undoing it.

but to be clear: Fuck Gabriel Agreste, hope u die bitch

[universallywriting]

Given resent events, I’m guessing you have opinions. Please tell us

Well, personally, I had a delightful time. I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a "real" reveal episode, and the episode honestly surpassed my expectations in terms of being a fun watch!

Really, my greatest disappointment is that everyone isn't talking about the absolutely hilarious reaction that no one saw coming when Chat goes "I'm Adrien Agreste" and Ladybug doubles over with laughter screaming "Yeah, okay, and I'm the queen of England". 10/10. Best reaction I've ever seen.

But it's also a reaction that makes a lot of sense, because Marinette and Ladybug just aren't really different people. Ladybug has a bit more confidence, but Marinette is just as much of a go-getter in real life. She's a leader, she's active in helping people and making change, she's clever and she makes a lot of plans.

Marinette is an honest person, so finding out that Adrien has a whole side to him that she doesn't understand is something that takes her a while to understand. Ladybug is the first time she's ever been required to keep a big secret like this, whereas Adrien has spent his whole life learning how to put on a face. And it's also really sweet that the second he tells Ladybug his identity, he starts allowing more of that side of himself to show in real life. He doesn't even need to know her identity, just the confidence that comes from being fully known by the person he admires so much is enough for him to bring that side of him to his normal life, for him to understand how much he was hiding and be all of himself.

The other thing I pulled for the episode is that, at this point, I feel pretty sure that the reveal can't happen without Adrien knowing his father is Hawkmoth. Each time they find out each other's identities, the thing that goes wrong is that they're stupid children who are so obsessively in love that Gabe takes a break from being Negligent Father of the Year to actively spy on his child, and immediately finds out Adrien's secret.

Until Adrien and Marinette know who Hawkmoth is, they're always going to end up outing themselves to him when they know who they are, because they cannot stop themselves from dating. Their secret identities are the only thing that keeps them apart romantically, and the second it's gone they have no self-control. They talk all night on the phone, constantly go on dates, pass notes in class, etc.

This really makes me feel like the season finale - The Last Attack of Shadow Moth - is probably going to be about Hawkmoth 1 getting unmasked/defeated so that we can move to Hawkmoth 2. If S4 ends with Adrien finally not having a supervillain for a dad, that would clear the way for them to do the reveal in the movie that's coming out, and, like... I would not be surprised at all if they want to use their big-budget movie to do their big real reveal.

Or maybe they'll just never do the reveal and the most elaborate reset of all time will happen, idk.

I also think it's funny that the fandom was so angst hungry they assumed that this was going to be some horrible spiral for Adrien because Ladybug decided not to call him, and instead it was just Gabe fucking up his life again and when he checks his answering machine he's like "fourteen missed calls? fuck, she's gonna kill me" and not at all about him feeling abandoned or anything like that lol.

[dreamwreaver]

I'm gonna say this, Chloe and Nathalie are severely under used and that's what makes both of their directions come right out of nowhere. And to a lesser extent, gabriel is too.

Had we not spent the first season arguing about who is hawkmoth and instead devoting that time to the how of Gabriel does it, further seasons could have explored the why. We know is his goal is to bring emilie back because she died from using the peacock. I still think the senti thing is something they tossed in towards the end of season 3 as season 4 does almost nothing with it and s5 tries to but fails to make it matter in the end.

At any rate; why are we just now finding out at the end of Gabriel's arc he was never gabriel Agreste but instead Gabi grassette? What does this help us with at the point where Gabriel is so crazed with power and actively dying he's beyond saving. Cool, he came from nothing, we knew that in style queen and it added almost nothing.

With nathalie, we knew as of season 2 and when they bothered to have her show up in s3 that she has feelings for gabriel. The supplemental webisodes explain that she fell in love with his tenacity to reunite his family, he seems to have feelings for her that he hasn't quite realized yet. Again, we shouldn't really need this to understand the character motivations, because anyone who hasn't seen them wouldn't understand why she helps him. Time spent on stupid things in show could have been spent exploring why this woman who seems by all accounts to have a pretty firm moral compass is helping her boss be a supervillain. Like before s2 we suspected either she didn't know or feared going against him because of how powerful he was as himself. One assistant's word against her boss who is a famous if not beloved fashion icon. But nope, it's love, and it's love that never goes anywhere for anyone so why include it at all when her being afraid of him was both demonstrated and a good enough reason in and of itself?

Chloe is the same. Comparatively, season 2 spent like 5 episodes on the beginnings of her character arc, ending with "maybe being a hero will teach her how to be a good person". But nope, she is never once shown to be active as queen bee until miraculer, like halfway through the season, we never learned of gabe and Nathalie's plan to target her specifically to corrupt her, so her losing this status as a hero and then turning to the dark side doesn't hit because there is no build up. Chloe's a headstrong and reckless person, if she needed to do whatever to save her parents she would. This isn't malicious evil or a spoiled brat throwing a super tantrum. This is a child being manipulated by adults and playing right into their hands. But Chloe's at fault for their actions.

And what bothers me more is that instead of exploring this at all and showing how this loss affected her, she's reduced to a charicature of s1 chloe while nathalie remains bedbound and neither having any agency outside of the hand of the authors.

I think the energy spent trying to shoehorn redemptions in for Gabe and Nathalie was a big drain for little payoff. They were good camp evil people with no redeeming qualities. Why mess that up? Why the 11th hour turnaround on the murderers?

Yeah it's.

You know what it's kind of the reverse of Chloé? Because with Chloé they spent the first two and a half seasons establishing that she was a character with depth had reasons why she was Like That™ and could be good wanted to be good, but then flipped it right over to 'nope she's an iredeemable asshole!'.

Meanwhile Gabriel and Nathalie had the last two and a half seasons showing every single reason why they're awful people who really don't care about anyone other than themselves and doing horrific things, only to last second switch to the Good Side?

And it's. It's not like either couldn't have been done better.

Because they could have easily made Gabriel and Nathalie a lot more sympathetic. They were better at this in the first two and a half seasons, though not perfect. But if Season 4-5 had given more depth to the good/sympathetic sides instead of.... THAT? It might've worked.

[wannajointhecrabcult]

Masks and Music

(Part 1)

Part 2

I didn't think that my last post would've gotten ANY notes at all, so imagine my surprise when I find out that people actually liked it. After that suprise I thought why not and make another one so here we go! This is a Miraculous/Batfam crossover.

Imagine that Damian gets sent to Paris because the fam doesn't want him to become an emotionally constipated sad boi like Bruce and think that a change in scenery would help.

They don't know about the whole Hawkmoth situation because SOMEONE from the justice league decided that the while thing was a prank DESPITE that it was an ENTIRE CITY calling instead of a single person.

Like, aren't you guys supposed to be the world's greatest heros or something?

Who hired you?

Damian being the grumpy lil kid that he is holds a grudge and decides to not accept any calls or video chats from his family or tell them about Hawkmoth because that's what you get when you send someone across the world against their will.

(and because of plot convenience shhh)

Anyways, Damian goes to school as instantly adds Lila onto his mental list of people he needs to get rid of.

I mean, seriously, he's only been is the room for what, 15 seconds and he's already getting a migraine?

Great. Juusssttt great.

He sits in the back of the class with what seems to be the only person with brain cells in this room.

The dark haired girl just looks over and sees the disgust at Lila written all over his face and gives him a silent empathetic nod.

'This is unfortunately normal here.' she tries to convey through the small action.

He just nods back to show his understanding before turning around to observe the others.

In a few minutes Ms. Bustier walks in the room and asks him to introduce himself to the class.

It looks like the teacher never told the class that they were getting a new student because they all have to do double takes when they realize that there's a new face in the room.

He gives them the bare basics, telling them that his name is Damian Grayson, he's from America, and that he doesn't want any of them to talk to him before sitting down.

Clearly the teacher wanted him to say more or scold him for being so rude but a glare shut her up.

Later during a break period Lila tries to flirt with him and brags all about how she's met so many different celebrities and her achievements.

He tells her off and tries to move away but her nails are digging into his arms as she tries to convince him that he should stay away from Marinette.

Before he can maim her, the dark haired girl comes out from behind him and starts spraying Lila down like an unruly cat with some sort of strong smelling liquid from a spray bottle.

Lila screeches and stomps away.

When he turns to his hero the girl explains.

"It's a mixture of shredded lemon, expired maple syrup, vinegar, and pomegranate juice. I call it People Repellant but Thot Begone works too. Oh, and I'm Marinette by the way."

He eyes her hand before shaking it.

"Damian, though I assume you already know that. Can I get some of that by the way? I know a couple insufferable annoyances that would benefit from a spray down.

Marinette just blinks for a second before she bursts out laughing and that was the start of a great friendship.

Together they:

Make fun of Lila in the back of class.

Help eachother with homework (they only cheat off eachother when they REALLY need help)

Prank Lila in odd ways (Hey, just because she found hundreds of furbies hidden around her house that turn on one by one in the middle of the night effectively scaring the crap out of her when she's trying to sleep doesn't mean that it's their fault. She had it coming.)

Break a couple laws (shhhhhhh. Those toy stores don't need those furbies anyways).

Dare eachother over stupid things (they still insist that the cereal incident was caused by the other).

And overall become closer as friends.

They bring out the overdramatic chaotic gremlin child in eachother.

One time when Damian goes over to Marinette's place to work on a project he finds her singing a Disney song to herself on her balcony.

This isn't the first time they've caught eachother singing.

One time Marinette caught Damian in the art room at school humming one of the many annoyingly cheesy and catchy songs that Dick likes to listen to.

Despite him explaining the embarrassing situation to her she still teased him for weeks after.

He'll never get to live it down.

Damian shakes his head to get rid of the flashback when a devious smirk spreads across his face as a revenge plan comes to mind.

After carefully placing his stuff on the floor he sneakily makes his way across the space until he's right behind her.

That's when he joins in.

Screaming at the top of his lungs at first, effectively giving her a mini heart attack before eventually quieting down to a normal singing volume.

She glares at him, annoyed by his loud and obnoxious entrance before she starts singing again.

They eventually end up full Disney movie dramatically performing around her balcony with dance moves and over dramatic acting.

Is it bad that actual birds and other animals are appearing and joining in?

Damian totally kept one of the pigeons.

He named it Dolores.

(He later trained Dolores to attack Rossi on sight.)

When they're finished they end up on the floor out of breath.

They stay like that for a few minutes before Damian sits up.

"That. That was fun. I don't think I've actually ever sang before."

Marinette jolts up in suprise and turns to face him.

"Really? I never would've guessed. You have a really nice singing voice."

He would deny till his dying breath that he blushed when she said that but he covers it up with a smirk.

"Well I guess that's just because yours is so terrible in comparison."

He squawks when she jabs a finger in his side.

"Pshh. As if. Besides, my singing skills can't be worse then your gaming skills." She challenges with a cheeky smile.

"ExCuSe mE?!"

And that's how they spend the rest of the day playing video games, leaving the unfinished project to be completed on a later day.

Good thing it isn't due until 2 weeks time.

After a couple of hours playing video games, creating many possible Lila murder plans, eating pastries, and joking around, it's time for him to leave.

As Damian left for his place he got a feeling that something big was gonna happen.

Marinette also got the feeling but they both ignored it.

Little did they know, someone just happened to walk by and starstruck by the amazing singing they recorded the performance before posting it on the internet.

Imagine the duo's suprise when they wake up the next day to find themselves trending on the internet.

Luckily the video quality was pretty trash so their faces weren't identifiable but the audio was loud and clear.

The world was talking about the cute couple singing to their hearts desire on a balcony. If that's not cliche and adorable then the world doesn't know what is.

The assumption about their relationship status left them looking like tomatos but that didn't stop them from wonder why they didn't notice a creep recording them.

Damn Disney songs and their unnatural ability to distract people.

Of course Lila took advantage of the rising popularity of the video and talked about how she taught the two people in the video how to sing and gave them tips.

The two just walked past the idiot squad and sat down in their seats, making a mental note to come up with a prank later, when the akuma alarms came on.

They fall into their normal routine of Marinette running out to find a place to transform as Damian covers for her.

Oops did I forget to mention that Damian found out her identity because she crashed through his window in the middle of the night still transformed and asked him what's the answer to question 24 in their science homework because she just defeated an akuma by herself and was running on 20 minutes of sleep?

My bad.

Anyways it turns out today was the day Marinette had officially had enough of Chat's bullcrap.

It was gonna be a normal akuma situation.

Ladybug trying to fight the poor butterfly victim while chat noir either doesn't show up, tries to do everything on his own to impress her and ruins the whole plan, or just watches and complains about how she needs to get over her denial and date him BUT

This time he decided to actively try to push her in the akuma's way therefore putting her in SO MUCH MORE DANGER than she was already in.

Now she had to dodge out of the akuma's way AND CHAT'S!

WhAt ThE fUdGe?!?!

You think possibly killing Ladybug and trying to force her to beg for you to save her is gonna make her like you?!?

Just how hard did you hit your head when Gabriel dropped you on the floor when you were 2?

After the akuma was eventually defeated Ladybug told Chat to meet her on an abandoned rooftop that night because they needed to talk.

Chat being the oblivious person that he is (I swear I don't actually hate chat noir, this is for the plot I'm sorry) thought that it was for a love confession and became overly smug before leaving.

Making sure that he isn't following her, Marinette meets up with Damian at his place (school's over because of the attack) and asks him to help.

Later that day when the two miraculous holders meet up Ladybug distracts the Catboy by flirting with him while Damian uses his ninja skills for something other than sneaking up on her and giving Marinette mini heart attacks.

From behind he quickly hits a pressure point causing the other boy to fall unconscious.

Using her ALMIGHTY GUARDIAN OF THE MIRACULOUS powers, Ladybug takes Adrien's ring away and places a spell on him that makes it so he will never be able to use another miraculous ever again.

After they take Adrien home Marinette gives Damian the ring and Night Prowler is born.

He promises to do everything in his power to make sure that Selina and his family doesn't find out for the sake of his pride.

We'll see how that goes.

Night Prowler first officially appeared during an akuma named 'Break Dancer'.

Ironically, she was a ballerina that had to drop out of the finals in a competition because she broke her right leg the day before the show.

She could turn civilians into back up dancers and forced them to perform against their will.

They also worked as minions who would attack the duo for her while she stayed a safe distance away.

It was pretty obvious that the akumatized item was the music box held inside the bag that Break Dancer had slung around her shoulders but the real question was how could they get to it without becoming attacked by the backup dancer or becoming one of them.

Luckily (eheheh), a car with an open window playing music just happened to pass by before driving off.

Before it drove off, the music coming from the car was loud enough to play over the music box which caused some of the minions to become free again and run off.

Ladybug called her lucky charm and a Bobby pin landed in her hand.

As she looked around she noticed a store a couple blocks away that had a couple radios.

Unfortunately, the store was locked and closed.

Fortunately, she knew how to pick locks and a Bobby pin did come from her lucky charm soooo......

Who is she to deny literal gods.

They break into the store and grab a radio, and a speaker and rush over to where the akuma was causing chaos.

They turn on the radio, connect the speaker and turn the volume on as loud as it can go before flipping through the stations for a good song.

If they're gonna fight with music in the background they're gonna be picky about it and wont settle for anything other than epic.

While fighting they eventually get swept up in the music and end up singing along.

It's nothing less than full on majestic.

When the fight is over and the akuma is purified they find out that someone recorded it and posted it on the internet as well.

Now everyone knows that the beloved hero of Paris and her new partner were the two people singing on that balcony.

Ummmmm.....

Good thing that the video quality was trash right?

If it weren't for that their identities would've been busted the moment they started singing in hero form.

Luckily there aren't many people other than Damian that know what Marinette's singing voice sounds like so they're okay.

Well.... They WERE okay,

Until a certain rockstar and his agent came across the two videos and put two and two together.

So now King Sting (bee!jagged) and Peridot (turtle!penny) have joined the team.

Poor Penny, now she has to deal with two gremlin children and a some sort of bizarre man-child.

The next akuma confused the group quite a bit.

He didn't really do anything but sit on a rooftop waiting for the miracle team to show up.

They were all suspicious of him at first but when they did reveal themselves to him he explained his situation.

He was akumatized because his favorite rock band broke up but he didn't really want to take their miraculouses away.

He just asked if they could perform another song for him and he would give his akumatized item to them.

They all sorta looked at eachother and collectively went 'screw it why not' and sang another song.

If they were great before, they are absolutely AMAZING now.

Well that's what happens when you add a famous rockstar to a team of singing superheros I guess.

The akuma was blown away and true to his word handed over the rolled up picture in his pocket and was purified despite of Hawkmoth's nagging.

Haha screw you Hawky.

This time the ordeal was recorded by a news station and the 'hand over the akuma in exchange for a song' thing became a trend.

There were still normal akuma's that didn't follow follow it but those were far flung between.

It seems like Hawkmoth was getting annoyed by this so there started being less akuma attacks over the months.

Because of this some people were actively trying to get upset to attract one of the purple butterflies.

They traded one good thing for another I guess.

To stop that from happening the group started performing in public as superheros during concerts and festivals.

Because of this they became quite well known outside of Paris as well.

Is it ironic that more people know them as a band rather than a superhero team now?

When Marinette learned that they could change what their superhero costumes looked like if they put enough will into it she squealed.

Marinette designs superhero performance costumes for them whenever they have a festival to play at.

Whenever asked about their outfits they always reply with MDC.

Marinette's business gets really popular after that.

And since no one knows who MDC really is, she doesn't have to worry about the whole "Oh no me and my family are gonna be in danger!" thing

It's a win win!

Overtime they basically become a second (or third for some people) family to eachother.

Damian becomes more 'kid like' and open to others,

Marinette becomes more confident and overall happier,

Jagged gets to hang out with his awesome niece and her 'maybe more than just a friend',

And Penny gets a new outlet for stress and has so many more crazy stories to tell people.

One day while she's in the living room on the sofa watching 'The AristoCats' Damian just barges into the room and dramatically flops over onto of her.

He just lays there with his head in her lap and the rest of his body sprawled on the couch.

After everything that has happened this is normal for them now.

Without asking any questions or talking at all they just watch the movie together with the occasional remark or quip between them.

Around half way through the movie Jagged kicks down the door, effectively scaring the crap out of the two teens, while Penny follows behind him with an apologetic look on her face.

At first Jagged was yelling about something having to do with'Fang' and 'Dragon' and 'Miraculous' but after taking in the domestic atmosphere of the room he just sits down on the floor and joins in on watching the movie.

Penny, shaking her head in both amusement and exasperation, sits down on another chair and does the same.

While combing through Damian's hair with her fingers Marinette looks around the room.

'My life can't get any more complicated, can it?'

Oh boy, she just jinxed it.

This is just an idea I've had bouncing around in my head for awhile and I couldn't resist the urge to write it out. I AM planning on making a part 2 so if you like this keep an eye out for that. I'm by no means a fast writer though so it will take a while. But then again not many people will probably read this soo.... Yeah.

[inkapricot]

this has definitely been discussed before, but i love thinking about an angle they could have taken with making Gabe sympathetic.

the idea of a man who has just lost his wife, doesn't really know how to be a parent on his own, trying to resurrect her for the good of his family. (he states it's for the good of his family in the show, but like, time and time again it is clear his actions are self-serving)

the idea of early show Gabe, maybe the first season and a half, admitting that he doesn't think becoming Hawkmoth is good, that he doesn't agree with his own actions, being kinder to Nooroo, ashamed and guilty but willing to live with the bad things he's done if it means Adrien can have his mother and Emilie can live the full life with her son she always wanted.

him trying to be there for Adrien in his own genuine, awkward way, having never been the sympathetic parent?

and then I'd imagine further on in the show, he keeps failing, he's getting frustrated, and Adrien is seemingly able to move on much easier than Gabriel thought. (Little does he know it's because of having friends, being Chat Noir, and actually having support from his father) He gets worried that what if Adrien doesn't actually need either of them anymore, and all the terrible things Gabriel has done means nothing? So he gets more desperate, more demanding of Nooroo, maybe more willing to use manipulative or abusive tactics to get Adrien to conform back into the child that needs his mother more than anything else, so Gabriel's actions are still worth the pain they caused.

and as you can imagine this only causes him to spiral further and further, and now Nathalie is sick so he definitely needs to keep going to save her too, he gets more and more willing to be cruel to the son he was trying to help in the first place to get Adrien to conform, to need Gabriel's solution. He becomes the version of Gabriel we have in the show, except he wasn't a selfish madman off the bat, he was a father actually trying to help his family that turned into in irredeemable monster along the way.

and I imagine this could result in the ending of Gabriel's time as Hawkmoth, getting unmasked or realizing that Adrien is Chat Noir and have it all come crashing down the man he's become and how far from his original goal he strayed. (Instead of like, immediately trying to akumatize or manipulate Adrien. Or maybe in this hypothetical, he's so far gone he doesn't even realize how badly he's ruined his life until he no longer has the miraculous and still tries to use Adrien as a tool)

Don't get me wrong at all, I love the way Adrien's relationship with Gabriel is handled in the show. Gabriel is a cruel father, and if the show at this point tried to get me to sympathize with him or redeem him it wouldn't work no matter how hard they tried (and even if this did happen, original intent being good or bad is absolutely no exucse to abuse your child). Sentimonster theory or not, it's a great representation of the way real life abuse can manifest itself. I'm just such a sucker for tragic characters, it's fun to think about a different way Gabriel could have panned out.

[mlwritingprompts]

Submitted prompt:

Am I the only one who thinks Fu's irresponsible attitude in "Party Crasher" should have been treated more seriously?

So this guy who is supposed to be "wise", decides that going into a boys-only party, bringing the miraculouses with him.

A party that's happening in the house of one of those who he suspects of being Hawkmoth.

It's really weird that an action as irresponsible as that got ignored by MARINETTE who is by all rights the one who is more responsible than everyone else in this show.

So here, Marinette... doesn't take his actions very well. At all.

Occurs after Party Crasher.

OOC Marinette (possibly, but frankly, she deserves this).

Also, please correct it if I got something wrong, because my memory is kinda vague about this episode.

----

"So, Marinette, what did you want to talk about?"

Fu talked calmly and seriously to Marinette, who had sent Tikki earlier to talk to him about something very important, and this time, Tikki herself did not know as Marinette told her it might be better to tell them both at the same time.

Marinette looked at him, feeling a little anxious, but knowing that she needs to talk about this.

About what Fu did when he went to that party.

"Why?"

The question confused and threw off Fu, Wayzz and Tikki.

"Why were you at the party? That was reckless of you."

Fu and the rest realized what she is talking about, and well.

They were shocked at her audacity. She is a child, criticizing him? He's 180 years old.

Fu then calmed down and tried to explain that it's not simple.

Marinette though, got a stricter expression on her face.

"Months, it was only after months of fighting Akumas, with only Chat Noir for support that I even got to know you exist at all. And even then, it was only sheer coincidence that I got the book of the miraculous and only then did Tikki tell me about you."

Fu sweated at her glare.

"So, not only you would have not even interacted with me at all if not for me finding the book, but you also had me and Chat Noir deal with this mess of Hawkmoth, without trying to at least help us in secret.

"And now, after this insane focus of yours towards the secrecy and protection of the miraculouses, you casually decide that you can go to a party that's in the house of someone we SUSPECTED he might be Hawkmoth, along with bringing the miraculouses. You could have made a call to me and stated that you were checking for evidence or something, but not only did you not do that, but you also tried to fake ignorance when I found you."

She looked at him as he was strangely silent.

She sighed at this. "Look, I'll make this clear, do you actually want to deal with Hawkmoth and Mayura? Then, please, act like it. I'm tired of having to deal with this, and you also are making things difficult by simply not giving us much needed informations until it's too late."

Fu stayed silent, until he then spoke in resignation,"Then, what do you want me to do?"

Marinette simply looked at him.

"Tell me everything you know about the miraculouses, and the powers of the ones we have, and we then will use this to deal with Hawkmoth, once and for all. With no secret knowledge that can bite us later."

And he did.

It was the least he can do.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Honestly, one thing I find genuinely disturbing about canon Miraculous Ladybug is how Chloe's trauma symptoms are never used for sympathy, but instead to try and paint her as "pathetic".

Like, that goes beyond infuriating and straight into "how soulless do you have to be to get enjoyment from a child's trauma?"

FKFG;GKFG

FUCKING YEAH

Like?????? A lot of what Chloé does is straight up trauma response???????

Imitating her mother in an attempt to get love from an emotionally abusive fuck? Whining for her dad's attention because she craves parental love but only knows how to get attention by being a problem™? Fawning over Ladybug because not only does LB save her but LB occasionally gives her positive attention?? Trying to cling to happier times and her friendship with Adrien??? Attempting to control every little thing because it's all spiraling out of control? Snapping at Ladybug over supposed betrayal??? Pretending that a horrific situation was totally something she wanted to do and not something she was forced into??? Thinking she's evil when she's just a teenage girl?????

Literally 99% of Chloé's character is trauma response holy shit.

And like. Canon is supposed to have us hating her for this. Worse even, we're supposed to /laugh/ at how awful she acts.

I think the extra fucked thing is that some of these things that we're supposed to hate/find humorous in Chloé are used for /sympathy/ with other characters! Especially Zoé but also Marinette and sometimes even Adrien!

Zoé acting mean to get love from her emotionally abusive mother was her entire first episode where we feel sorry for her and she learns that she doesn't have to because fuck Audrey she's a bitch we're friends who will love you you don't have to be like her. But no Chloé should get along with Audrey because they're soooo alike and surely Audrey will see this and love her! And surely telling Chloé to imitate her mother won't lead to her continuing to be a massive bitch, right?

Marinette and the Girl Squad doing kinda sketch shit in the name of love is totally fine! If Chloé fucked around with traffic laws to get the Gorilla's car ticketed so she could ask Adrien out, she'd get karma-ed to hell.

All of Season 4 is building up how Chat is being effected by LB's double standards on secrets and identities and everything being kept from him but if Chloé is pissed that the 'your identity is revealed so you're benched' thing only applies to her she's a whiny brat that just wants her superpowers back because she feels entitled.

Marinette snapping at everyone and trying to obssessively control everything in her life is an awful thing and she needs help. But when Chloé does it she's just a bitch!

When Adrien gives in to Akumatization because his dad confronted him we're horrifed and feel sorry for him! When Chloé is cornered by Hawkmoth and doesn't even have a Miraculous to save her and doesn't know who Hawkmoth is or have any idea of his morality, clearly her joining him is just a tantrum!

God I was already pissed at this but it's really showing off ain't it??????????

[adragonhoardingstories]

Of Blood and Bonds - Chapter 4

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@abrx2002 @clumsy-owl-4178 @daminett4life @zalladane

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On that note, this book will contain swearing, mentions of rape and torture. I will try not be explicit but that's really relative. Read at your own risk. There will be warning before if I make a explicit scene so that you can skip it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy and don't hunt me down for this.

___________________________________

"Colin this is Marinette, my sister, Marinette this is Colin." Damian introduced the redhead who seemed a bit bewildered but he recovered quickly. 

"Pleased to meet you ma'am. I didn't know that Damian had another sibling."

"Well neither did he before yesterday." Marinette laughed good-naturedly. "So you're his best friend." 

"Yep!" Damian didn't refute the statement. 

"So Miss Marinette where are you from?" 

"Just Marinette is fine Colin." 

"Bu-"

"Miss makes me feel old, you don't want that now, do you?" The boy looked scandalised. "I'm only about two years older than Damian anyways so if you want to call me by a nickname, that's fine too."

The boy grinned shyly. "Okay Marinette."

Damian looked distinctly surprised. "Well done, he still calls the others Mr, they are going to be annoyed by this development."

"Oh Damian." Marinette turned on her heels and winked at them, eyes full of mischief. "This is nothing. I got Alfred to  call me by just my first name?" 

Now, both boys looked very impressed but still disbelieving. "I'll believe it when I see it." The redhead claimed. Marinette laughed but said nothing more on the matter.

"So where are you bringing me?" 

"The Gotham's Botanical Garden. I think you'll enjoy it. However, I must warn you to stay clear of anything that may anger Poison Ivy. "

She took it in stride. "Of course, I'll ask before I do anything." 

"It'll be so fun. People don't talk about it because of Ivy but the gardens are so beautiful." Colin started ranting and Marinette hid a smile at the fond expression on her little brother's face. If one didn't know what to be looking for, they would miss it but Marinette had become very very attuned to emotions, especially after she gained the Miraculous and became Guardian. 

"-attract so many different kinds of butterflies."

"Huh." Marinette mused. "It'll be nice seeing some actual butterflies and not akumas for once."

"You mentioned akumas before too." Damian interrupted. "What are they?"

She seemed a little surprised. "Do you - do you really have no idea of what's going on in Paris?" 

Both of the boys shook their head. Even Colin looked curious now. 

"It's pretty surreal but, when I was twelve, this guy surfaced. He calls himself Hawkmoth. He sends out these magic butterflies called akumas to anyone who's experiencing any negative emotion to possess them. He makes a deal with the victims to give them powers for them to be able to take revenge upon whatever wrong happened to them and return he asks for the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Who?" Colin interrupted and Marinette blinked. She had sounded so...old, so burdened as she spoke - so different from the bubbly macaroon making girl that Damian had learnt to know. 

"Right, context. After his first akuma, two heroes surfaced in Paris too. They're powered by the Miraculous too. Hawkmoth wants Ladybug's earrings and Chat Noir's ring. No one knows why exactly and well we're not interested to find out. More power in that madman's hands can only cause harm." 

"You mean to say." Damian's voice was flat. "That there has been a sociopathic terrorist in Paris for five years and no one knows of it. Why didn't the mayor call for the Justice League?"

Marinette's face darkened. It almost made both if the boys shudder and take a step back. 

"Oh but we did. More than once, more than ten times in fact. We only stopped whenthe Leaguers asked us to stop wasting their time with pranks."

"What?" Damian exploded. "They just disregarded all the damage that must have been caused, all the phone calls. They didn't even look into it."

Marinette placed a hand in his shoulder, urging her aura to seek his and calm him down. "The thing is one of Ladybug's powers is the Miraculous Cure. It fixes all the damage caused in the midst of battle."

"All the damage?" Even Damian didn't seem to believe it at that point. 

"I know it seems too good to be true." She fished out her phone and tried to look for a video. "And we understood that but everyone in Paris is pissed that they didn't even bother come verify our so called claims. I mean for God's sake, they have aliens, shapeshifters, magicians and even guys who are themselves powered by magical jewelry if I'm not wrong." 

Marinette huffed as she found a video. It was one of the first ones from the Ladyblog, when Alya was still a reliable reporter. She played the video. It was of The Mime and it showed how he cut the Eiffel Tower in two as well as the Miraculous Cure taking effect. 

The boys especially Damian seemed horrified and Marinette felt a little of guilt for subjecting them to that. 

But then Damian looked up at her and his lazarus green eyes of reminded her that he probably had seen worse. 

"That's…" He didn't seemed to know what to say. 

"Terrifying." Colin said. "Are they all really that strong?" Marinette winced, debating whether to tell them the truth of not. 

Damian seemed to sense that. "You can tell us." He prompted and she sighed, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

"That's actually one of the tamer villians." She admitted. "The Mime appeared during the first year of Hawkmoth's reign of terror. One of the worst akumas back then that come to mind is Syren. She flooded the entirety of Paris, about three quarter of the population died and were brought back by the cure." She took another look at them and decided that she wasn't going to be the cause of their further trauma. 

"Hey, this is it, right?" She promptly changed the subject, knowing very well that she hadn't been subtle at all. "Gotham Botanical Gardens." She beamed down at them. 

"Wow, it's beautiful." She took a moment to appreciate the sight. "Hey you're right, there's a lot of butterflies. Can we go there first?" She was basically bouncing as she turned to look at her brother and his best friend. 

Colin looked gleeful while Damian seemed just amused. "You act like a child." Her brother informed her. She stuck out her tongue at him. "And you speak like an old man but you don't see me complaining." 

"Fair enough." He chuckled. "What are you waiting for? Let's go then."

He couldn't help the full-blown smile appearing on his face as both his sister and his best friend literally ran to the butterflies and started gushing together. 

He started to make his way to them when someone appeared in front of him blocking his view. His usual scowl and glare were back on his face when he looked up. The boy seemed to recoil slightly at his look but it didn't deter him more that that. 

"I don't know who you are." His tone clearly gave away that he felt like he was the one in power here. Damian cursed the time when he used to act like that. He had learnt that lesson the hard way - had learnt not to underestimate an enemy. "But you're gonna stay away from my princess. She doesn't need children like you around." 

Damian took a second to analyze him. Blond Hair. Green eyes. He remembered  reading those as Marinette's triggers during his research. He had to clench his fists to stop himself from reaching out to his weapons.

"She can decide that for himself." He said instead and went to walk around him but the boy grabbed his shoulder. 

The next thing he knew he was standing behind his sister. "Adrien." She cut in smoothly. "I didn't expect to see you here, especially not without your bodyguard." Damian could see that she was tense, her back muscles were coiled as if she was ready for a fight. 

"Princess." He was beaming. "I snuck out." He said almost proudly. "We need to talk."

"Gotham isn't Paris." Her words seemed more like a warning rather than the facts they were which the blond idiot obviously didn't catch on. "And I want nothing to do with you, haven't for  three years. I owe you nothing. Give up."

That was a clear dismissal if Damian knew one. "Princess you need to listen to me-" He reached out to grab her hand but was cut off.

The younger boy had seen her lurking but she hadn't seemed a threat so he didn't know whether he was thankful or not that she had jumped in. 

Ivy spoke "The girl asked you to go away." Thankful, he finally decided.

The boy looked a little nervous - so he did have some braincells. "Ma'am, respectfully, this does not concern you." Well not enough it seemed. 

"Oh well, respectfully." Her plants towered behind them. "I don't give a damn. Stay away from them."

The plants grabbed him and threw him just outside the park boundaries. It seemed a little tame for the likes of Ivy but then again she always did go softer for children even if they were brats.

Damian watched as the boy scrambled back to his feet and glared in their direction before he stomped off. 

"Damian." His sister was clearly fretting over him, he would never admit it but it felt good, he felt loved. "Are you alright? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"I'm alright, I'm alright. I told you, I can take care of myself." 

She smiled, soft and relieved. "I don't doubt it but promise me if you see either him or Lila from yesterday, you need go the other way."

"Why?" He frowned. He had a doubt on blondie but what about that Lila girl? 

"And by Lila, do you mean the sausage haired girl?"

His sister cracked a grin at that thought she was still serious. "Yeah her."

"Why?" He repeated and she became grim at once. "Because he's sick in the head and she's a psychopath so please, promise me." She met his eyes and really, faced to that did Damian have any other choice but to accept?

She beamed at him as Colin approached them. "That was so cool. Are you okay Dames?" He turned to talk to his best friend and gave him a once over before nodding. 

"Thank you for stepping in." He heard his sister and turned around. Ivy may be one of the villains-turned-anti-hero but it didn't mean that people didn't need to be wary around her. What was Marinette thinking?

"Boys like him need to be taught a lesson before it's too late." Damian's mind immediately went to Harley's and Joker's relationship. 

"I don't think a lesson would do him any kind of good at this point but thank you." 

It was very apparent that her words made Ivy re-evaluate her. 

The woman gave a nod. "Don't mention it." She said nothing else but didn't move away. 

Marinette smiled. "By the way, I love that flower in your hair. That's a lily right?" 

"Yes." She said slowly but the spark in her eye showed that she was now interested. "You know flowers?" 

"I have a garden of my own." Marinette revealed. "I tried growing some lilies but they're no where as beautiful as this one." Marinette fished for her phone again and started showing her images. The older woman didn't say anything but Damian could see that she was interested and she seemed almost pleased.

Deeming it safe for now, he slowly turned to Colin who was staring at the scene with amazement. 

"Colin." His friend turned to him wide-eyed, "Your sister is amazing." 

He couldn't help but feel smug at the words. "Obviously." He said but then lowered his voice. "Tell me, how did she get to me so fast when she was watching butterflies with you." 

Colin sobered up at that. "She was talking to me when suddenly she just snapped her head up to look at you. I think that's when the boy came. She told me to stay there and started walking towards you. The thing is when the guy touched you, she was about half-way there, I didn't register but the next thing I knew she was standing between you and the blond." He shook his head. "There's something about her…it's not necessarily bad but she's just...different…special."

"I know what you mean." Damian agreed.

~

"-and then she spoke with Poison Ivy for one hour straight about plants and gardening. Ivy even gave us a personal tour of the botanical gardens." 

"Seriously? She usually takes forever to warm up to someone especially if the other sirens aren't with her."

"Marinette seems to be the exception." The youngest Wayne said as he but into another macaroon. Once again, he had been ambushed on his return home - this time however, it was only his brothers and that had demanded he tell them all about her. 

His felt his phone vibrate and knew it was the message he was awaiting. "She's busy during the day." He informed his brothers. "But she invited us for dinner."

His brothers looked at each other and grinned. Tommorow looked promising.

[spooky-z]

Lovechild au - 2

Marivenger where Sabine and Tom are SHIELD agents protecting Marine. The daughter of three Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America and Winter Soldier), born of a Hydra experiment.

Part 1

Marinette could be a brat when she wanted

With them disguised as a beautiful family of bakers, newcomers to Paris, she takes the opportunity to play tricks on people

At the bakery opening, she managed to convince everyone that she didn't understand/spoke French

As everyone mumbled about how cute she was, Marinette (in Mandarin) commented on ways to kill someone with just a baguette, an innocent smile on her face.

Every time a client asked what she was talking about, Tom and Sabine lied saying they were compliments

Everyone believes, because like, it's a child! There was no way she could say something very bad

Tom puts this in the daily reports and Tony, despite worrying about macabre ideas, is proud of his little demon

At school, Marinette (who is seven years old in the papers) enters Ms. Bustier's class.

For the first few weeks everyone was uncertain around her because they thought she didn't understand French very well

One of the times Chloe tries to mess with her, Mari goes to the principal's office, not bothering to talk to Ms. Bustier, knowing that the woman would do nothing.

“Sir, I came to complain about my classmate Chloe Bourgeois. She's been making racist jokes about my parents and me, talking about how I'd better get back to my country.” She says seriously. The director is momentarily speechless, shocked. “If you refuse to punish her, I will be obliged to contact my parents and lawyers for justice.”

When Chloe is called in the principal's office, everyone is surprised and Mari just sits there, in the back of the room, enjoying her tea

The mayor appears trying to stifle the case, but Marinette faces him

André Bourgeois is not ashamed to admit that he had to change his pants right after the girl Dupain-Cheng left the room

Chloe was suspended for three days and had to write a letter of apology to Marinette's family

After that day, Mari secretly became Dupont's heroine even though no one talked to her

She enters the school athletic club at 8 (6)

It was no surprise to her family that she became the team star

In this au, Marinette wants to follow in the footsteps of Tony and Bruce and be a science nerd

So, she ends up becoming the cute-badass-nerd at school

At 9 (7) she and Chloe become friends after the blonde is finally honest with her apology

Marinette forgives because they are children and children are sweetheart

The class keeps an even greater distance

Chlonette bff

Mari helps Chloe with her problems (parents) and Chloe helps Mari show more (sincere) emotions around other people.

"Adrikins" doesn't happen

But "Maribug" does

When an older student tries to intimidate Chloe because she is the mayor's daughter, Marinette doesn't think twice before punching the boy in the balls.

It doesn't take long for rumors to start hanging around school

The best rumor is that she tried to kill Eric with a pudding

But she and Chloe don't care.

Time passes, the class was getting used to the brunette's way

Not with Chloe, because Chloe was only nice with Marinette

When she does 11 (9) Tikki, Miraculous and Ladybug happen

It doesn't take long for her to find out that Chloe is Chat Noire, her partner against Hawkmoth.

Because it was obvious and she was a genius

... Needless to say, that Master Fu came to live with a constant headache after that

With not-so-secret identities, Mari decides to tell Chloe the truth about everything (parents and hydra)

“I knew a normal person wouldn't have the courage to face Chloe Bourgeois.” That's all the blonde says before they watch SAW again.

Then Adrien starts attending Ms. Bustier's class

Female school population boils

The two friends barely blink for the blonde's presence at school

"Um, there's a model in our class now... What do you think about train after class?"

"Model? Cool... Sure! First I have to talk to my parents.”

"OK."

He befriends all but both, because everyone warned him of Marinette's behavior and how possessive Chloe was.

Until the two save him from being torn in the middle by his fan club

Mari fully carries him in her arms like a bride

Do you hear the reverse crush going on? I know!

Marinette oblivious, blushy Adrien and jealous Chloe

The class ships Adrinette

Dads don't approve

Chloe wants to strangle the model

Sabine just wants to end this mission and take a vacation in Hawaii

Tom thinks that the croissants needed more love