#I gotta theorize over the weekend then lol

[hadal-hideout]

She muttered to herself for a couple seconds, trying to remember what he referred to Urbanshade by, but she gave up pretty quickly, instead focusing on the new information. She was a little tempted to continue asking about the accident and for more information on Urbanshade, but 624 looked relieved that she wasn't pressing her on it, and she didn't really feel like ruining that right now.

"Oh, that's probably why I haven't seen it; I don't usually go past door 60. How far are we from Sebastian's shop? And how come you trust him so much? I mean, you've only been staying with him for a few months, right? Is that really enough time to trust someone? Especially someone who supposedly hasn't told you what he needs important documents for?"

There, maybe that'd be enough to see if she was lying or not. Of course, she could just ask her outright, but if she was lying, then there was no guarantee that she'd admit to it. Claire hated lying– regardless of whether she was doing it or whether she was the one being lied to. Though she didn't really believe that omitting information counted as lying (It was too vague, and therefore not reliable), 624 had explicitly not omitted information; she clearly said that she didn't know what he wanted for.

And sure, maybe she didn't actually know and Claire was just a bit more paranoid than the rational person, but she also claimed to trust him! Which was clearly impossible, because how could you trust someone who you don't know all the important things about? And why he collected research was clearly an important thing to know about, because she'd admitted that it was important to him.

So, clearly 624 was lying, the only question now was whether she would admit to it. Though there was a chance she was telling the truth, and Claire was just being paranoid.. But Claire had no reason to be paranoid! Sure, some of the expendables went a little mad after staying down here for too long (which, considering their life expectancies was usually a couple months), but that was just because they were at risk of dying all the time, and Claire didn't have to worry about that! There was no reason for this place to make her more paranoid, she was doing perfectly fine down here.

"Why do you hate it down here so much anyways? And how old are you now?"

She hesitated after hearing the deal, unsure of whether she wanted to agree or not. People didn't tend to ask as many questions as she did, so she wasn't used to having to answer questions about her, and she always said to tell people as little about herself as possible... But she was curious about what she was accused of, and her father always said that if she had nothing to hide, then she shouldn't mind answering any questions. And besides, if 624 was going through all this trouble to hide what she was accused of, then it's gotta be interesting, right?

"This is probably a bad idea but.. Fine. What's your question?"

There was some rummaging that could be heard in one of the many rooms in the blacksite. An expendable sorted through the drawers as she had done numerous times before, however this time her motives were a bit different.

It had been slow in Sebastian's shop recently, and since she had taken up space there, she had decided to scrounge up some research for his sake.

Unfortunately, it seemed that almost every single room, drawer, locker, shelf, and desk had been looted. She let out an annoyed sigh.

She decided to take a break since she was getting tired after doing this for who knows how long. She leaned against a cold metal wall and slid down it to sit down.

- @exrp624-calisto

After several minutes of silence outside of the room, 624 could hear what sounded like shouting. It was accompanied by two pairs of footsteps quickly approaching the room 624 was in, along with what sounded like a child's laughter.

The noises quickly got closer, until a little girl ran into the room, crouching behind one of the desks while holding a small object close to her. She didn't seem to have noticed 624, as her attention was focused on the door.

The footsteps outside continued for a couple seconds before they slowly moved away, causing the girl to smile, tuck the object in her pocket, and look around the room. She quickly noticed 624, and her smile immediately dropped, her expression now filled with distrust, annoyance, and a small amount of fear.

"Who are you? What do you want? Why are you here?"

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Thoughts on Gou Episode 21

We're now in the home stretch, and it's time to see which theories stand the test.

But first, crossover references!  Although no, I still haven’t read Ciconia yet.

So this happened

tfw the DM forgets your real name and calls you by your PC’s name instead

Gotta love how not!Featherine’s comment makes no sense unless you’ve read both Ciconia AND some Umineko short stories to understand the connections (at minimum, Vier=Takano=Lambda’s pieces, therefore Satoko basically confirmed as Lambda in some form). Good thing it actually doesn’t matter beyond, again, convoluted cross-WTC theorizing.

Speaking of which, Ciconia.  I mentioned in my guide that I haven’t read it yet, and I waffled back and forth over whether I wanted to marathon it this weekend rather than doing usual episode thoughts.

At the moment, I think I’m going to take my own advice and not zoom through it and risk burnout.  I’ve been super looking forward to reading it for a while, I don’t want to ruin it for myself.  (Also: potential liveblog material after Gou, maybe...?) On the other hand, if Reddit continues to be as much of a spoiler minefield as it was this week, I might just do it anyway.

(In particular, I’m really intrigued by the implications of not!Featherine saying Satoko/(Lambda?) has already looped hundreds of millions of times in hopes of meeting her.  Is Ciconia Lambda’s ultimate origin?  ...Don’t answer that, please!)

Shoutouts to @kanirisu and @endlesscertainty‘s comments on my Lambdadelta guide entry, by the way.  I doubt Ryukishi had Gou itself already in mind when he wrote that “Lambda hasn’t finished Higurashi” meta-jokes, but it looks like he’s definitely riffing off of them now!

Also, one read of this situation is that regardless of her "age," Featherine is experiencing the WTC stories not in in-universe order, but in publication order. Which may be another cute meta-joke on Featherine being Ryukishi's author avatar, haha.  (Or yet more Ciconia stuff, I suppose.)

Anywho, galaxy brain move on Ryukishi’s part, putting an Umineko character in Higurashi to sell Ciconia lol.  Seems to have worked, so I can’t begrudge him that!

Through an Umineko Lens

Lacking Ciconia, therefore, all I can do is apply my Higurashi and Umineko knowledge.  But that’s not nothing!

First of all, there's some delicious irony in what may be proto-Lambda being on the wish grant-ee side for once. Lambda herself is usually acting as the wish-granter, and by her criteria in “Memoirs,” I'm not sure she would have considered Satoko's wish interesting enough!

I suppose my "Satoko challenges not!Featherine" theory from last week didn't quite happen, though the general thrust of Episode 21's scene did indeed feel like not!Featherine turning Satoko into a new player - "one who lives in loops" - and not her direct piece. If I had to describe the current game board set up, I think it's not!Featherine as a (neutral?) Game Master with Rika/Bern and Satoko/Lambda as the opposing players. So we're still on track for Bernkastel Origin Story!

Also, I’m really enjoying the differences between Gou's not!Featherine and Umineko's Featherine. Not!Featherine definitely reads as more childish, more cruel, and more impulsive - look how casually she throws her power around! -  which seems just right for how I’d expect a younger version of the Umineko character to behave. Essentially, she’s acting a shade closer to some of the newer witches we see in Umineko. How adorable yet horrifying, I like her already!

I'm also glad I added a bullet in the Guide about how Featherine's offers aren't deals, per se. In that sense, not!Featheriene acts exactly like Umineko Featherine. Once you see her, your fate has already been sealed.  

At the end of the day, Satoko being as confused as the Higurashi-only audience makes me tentatively hopeful? Maybe?  It reminds me of Rena's fourth-wall-leaning "it makes no sense!" from the end of the first cour. Does that mean we may be getting more explanation on who or what not!Featherine is...?

I really do hope so. Not!Featherine being purely a Deus Ex Machina who chucks references to other WTC works everywhere and then disappears would be quite a let down. 

Meanwhile, with Ryukishi's comments in the livestream that we'll get more of why Takano changed her mind... I'm also getting my hopes up that maybe I was wrong in this ask too. An actual explanation of what the heck is going on with the Takano/Lambda/Satoko situation would go a long ways to restoring my faith that these Umineko/Ciconia elements are being used to satisfying ends.

Pre-Gou Loop(s) Confirmed!

Continued congratulations to @tsuisou-no-despair, for also predicting the “before Gou, Satoko is trapped in loops where Rika is normal” aspect!

Also, it seems like the answer to my “Satoko goes through loops before Gou” vs “Satoko initially refuses Featherine's deal, but later things happen to make her reconsider” question from last episode, was indeed that both were true. It was just Satoko’s first loop itself that was a rejection of the deal!  That chandelier drop definitely had the air of Satoko consciously and fully accepting the devil's bargain, while she had been dumped into the loop unwillingly before.

And woah, what a way to accept...

Chandelier Yuri Murder Suicide

Damn, Satoko, that’s probably the most ridiculously stylish murder-suicide I’ve seen before. Yuno Gasai can eat her heart out, that’s how you kick off a yandere-fueled time loop.  Not!Featherine's must be very entertained!

Still, I’m quite surprised Satoko jumped to both murder and suicide so quickly. I suppose reliving the exact same five years is what desensitized her? (Speaking of: five years is a nice parallel with Rika's initial loop limit.) But I would really have preferred to get more insight into her sliding down the slope and coming to believe that time travel means no consequences to her actions.

At least, like many people, I assume that's why Satoko was able to bring herself to kill Rika - she thinks her actions will get immediately undone.  Of course, we the audience also know that Fragments don't work that way...

It also reminds me a little of some of the nonsense Erika pulls in Umineko. When you start thinking outside the Fragment box, and not like this is your only world, that’s a recipe for some serious shenanigans.  Really, one of my disappointments with Rika in OG Higurashi was that she never tries anything this dramatic!

And yeah, just like Episode 16, the impact of the cruelty in this scene is majorly dulled for me since I know there’s a version of both girls that got over it. 

I’m just imagining Lambda and Bern reflecting on the situation like: “Hey Lambda, didn't you say you once dropped a chandelier on me?” “Ohoho, so I did! Maybe I should do it again some time~ ♡” “Sure, I’ll even let you do it right now if you make the chandelier ten times as heavy and quadruple the height it falls...”

Also of note/interesting contrast: OG Rika normally didn't even consider what would happen to the Satokos of the timelines she abandons. It took until Minagoroshi for her to realize Satoko probably dies in every world too!

And speaking of Gou Satoko playing catch up to OG Rika's selfishness... reminder that OG Rika didn’t always consider Satoko her equal either:

Of course, it’s not just Satoko - Hanyuu was really the only other person who could see the world from Rika’s level.  But that attitude puts this line from Rika in a different light, doesn't it?

So yes, I continue to be on the "both girls are such a mess" side, haha.

...Which isn't to say I'm not looking forward to Satoko immediately regretting her theatrics when she wakes up wincing in pain next loop. Heh.

So, “Rika isn’t dead” theory finally denied in spectacular style, right?  Hm...

Actually, I'm still not sure that this murder-suicide isn't a fakeout. As in, we’re being tricked to think this was the event that brought Rika back to 1983, concealing that the looping Rika is actually the one from the first St Lucia timeline.

Because Rika simply dying in 1988 doesn’t quite explain why she is able to loop again by herself, or why her looping initially appears desynched from Satoko’s. And not!Featherine outright said that Satoko's looping involves dying, so those theories I had last episode about what happened to the original Matsuribayashi Satoko haven’t been addressed...

Plus that OP sequence (particularly the shot with the hands reflected in Rika’s eye) is just really intriguing, especially given not!Featherine’s slit-pupils and reference to a cat...

In Conclusion

I still have an awful lot of high hopes (more Featherine and Lambda explanations, Rika making her own wish to go back...), but the biggest damper on all of them is the remaining time left. We don't yet have any explanation of what was going on during the previous cour's loops either.  How on earth will that fit in just three episodes?

I could see the next episode being another time loop montage, covering how Satoko went from Episode 21 to what we saw in the first cour. Fingers still crossed for some Satoshi and a real H173 vs evil Oyashiro-sama explanation.  (Will we get full explanations of the mysteries in the previous arcs, or not?)

There's also the way not!Featherine seemed to think it will take a long time for Satoko to grant her own wish - and in Episode 16, Satoko seemed outright surprised to hear she'd get what she wanted. So how long was Satoko trapped in her own hell? (And how much was it still voluntary by that point?)

After that, then a two episode looper thunderdome finale...?  Which will have to cover the fallout of both girls realizing the other is a looper, presumably some kind of fight involving the Onigari, and then the aftermath of whatever happens when a looper gets killed by it.

With that much to cram in, it looks like it will be a zero-sum competition between more meta/cross-WTC explanations and keeping the other club members relevant. Oof. 

Please don’t let us down, Ryukishi...!

[breeeliss]

[Miraculous Ladybug]: It’s All Hype!

lol i’ve stopped being anxious about these prompts being late, they’ll happen eventually

--

[Day 4: Common Interests]

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

--

Title: It’s All Hype! Pairings: Ladynoir (Ladybug x Chat Noir), Adrienette (Adrien x Marinette) Summary: Alya accidentally gets the Internet in a frenzy after announcing that Ladybug and Chat Noir are dating, but the two heroes are adamant about correcting the error and making sure the world knows that they’re just friends. So Alya proposes a staged public break up to set everything right.

In hindsight, she really underestimated how utterly freaking difficult that would be.

Day 5: Right-Hook

Chat Noir used the twenty euros that Ladybug had reluctantly handed over to buy himself a plate of crepes and waffles, and after that the Egg Discourse™ had thankfully ended. They finished their brunch together while Alya started checking all of the likes and hits racking up on the video that she had posted of the two of them arguing rather vehemently about food of all things. Figures that they couldn’t dare to argue with each other about something serious but the moment you brought up irrelevant discourse about breakfast foods, they were both at each other’s necks and attracting the attention of an entire restaurant with their antics. Alya thought about telling them that they acted exactly like an old married couple who loved to bicker about the little things and didn’t sweat the big ones, but she figured it would sound odd considering they were trying to convince the world of the exact opposite.

The three of them ended up on top of an apartment building near the café with Alya leaning against the chimney and moderating all the comments that were steadily pouring onto the end of the video. She must have been at it for longer than she realized because at some point Ladybug and Chat Noir discarded their weapons next to her and started killing time in that way they usually did whenever people randomly caught footage of them on their patrols at night. They’d switched from a crunching competition to doing handstands on the edge of the roof to some light hand-to-hand practice by the time Alya was sure she’d gotten all of the inappropriate comments off.

“Sorry about this,” Alya told them as Chat Noir knocked Ladybug onto her back and declared himself the winner of their second round. “My friend Nino usually helps mod this stuff for me when I’m busy but he’s got a family thing right now and I don’t want to let the comments get too cluttered.”

“Take your time, we don’t have much to do today anyway,” Ladybug said, sounding slightly out of breath. She nodded at Chat Noir. “Again.”

“Don’t stay so flat footed by the way,” Chat Noir told her. “Stay bouncing on your toes and you can move quicker. When you’re ready.”

Ladybug lunged at him first while Chat Noir quickly blocked her punch, and Alya cleared her throat as she pulled up a few comments. “Alright. So the results of that little show during brunch are turning out to be interesting.”

“I can’t believe you actually uploaded all of that,” Chat Noir called over, ducking underneath Ladybug’s kick and coming up behind her.

“It was the closest thing to a fight I was going to get out of you two, of course I posted it. We’ve been at this for like two days, I’ve gotta take what I can get.”

Ladybug landed a kick in Chat Noir’s abdomen but he stepped back with the momentum of the blow and stayed steady on his feet. “Well, is the video helping?”

Alya sighed. “So a few things are happening. Good news is that there are actually a few people who are theorizing that your non-existent relationship is looking a little rocky.”

“Oh sweet!” Chat Noir grinned. “That’s good!”

“Alright. So. LadynoirXOXO229 said ‘if they’re fighting about something as silly as eggs I can only imagine what their really bad fights must look like. I’m worried.’ Frowny face, frowny face, sobbing emoji.”

Ladybug snorted. “Our really bad fights involve akumas flinging us halfway across the city.” She hissed when her arm collided with Chat’s steel-toed boots as she blocked one of his kicks. “If you can deal with that, you can deal with anything.”

“Uh, ChatNoirIsMySon said, ‘jesus I never expected them to get so uppity about something as simple as eggs. Are they okay?’”

Chat Noir paused for a moment and sighed forlornly. “No, unfortunately. I feel horribly betrayed.”

“Oh get over it,” Ladybug said with an eyeroll. “If you feel so betrayed why don’t you try knocking me over again?”

“So demanding! ”

“And then ItsCalledChatBug — um yeah, sure buddy, like I didn’t totally coin Ladynoir from like day one — they said ‘Ladybug looked about two seconds from punching Chat Noir in the face.’ You’ve got a few more comments that all read something like that so I’d say that the seed is planted.”

“Well that’s a good sign I g —!!” His sentence was cut off as Ladybug took advantage of his distraction and swiped his feet out from under him with her leg and left him sprawling on his back. He grunted when Ladybug playfully planted her foot in the middle of his chest and waved sweetly at him. Chat scowled at her and held his hand out so that she could help him up. “Stop looking so self-satisfied,” he muttered. “I’m still winning.”

“For now.”

“Now for the bad news,” Alya continued, ignoring their back and forth. “Which is what I was admittedly afraid of when I posted the thing. It kind of just encouraged people. Like a lot of people. Like they think you guys are such a cute and adorable couple and that this is proof of how close the two of you are.”

“Well I guess they’re not wrong ,” Ladybug reasoned. “At least not completely.”

“So HawkmothGetBent said , ‘this is literally how me and my boyfriend are all the time this is the single most adorable thing I’ve ever seen the two of them do.’ LBBeauty said ‘this is the greatest thing to ever happen to the Internet hands down everyone else go home.’ OhMyWhiskers said ‘I’d pay money to see the two of them do stuff like this on a daily basis. Relationship goals tbh.’ So essentially we took two steps forward and then took two steps backwards. Meaning we didn’t go anywhere. Although, I will say you two got me a ridiculous amount of followers this weekend so thank you very much for that.”

“Dude, who is OhMyWhiskers I want that username,” Chat Noir laughed.

Ladybug stopped for a moment, gently smacked his arm, and pointed to her eyes. “Focus before I accidentally punch you somewhere important.”

“Sorry, sorry. Come at me, I’m ready.”

Alya started laughing. “Oh man, okay, get this. Because I’m a little asshole, I pinned a poll at the top of the blog asking people what they thought about eggs. So far it’s 60% yay and 40% nay.”

“Ha!” Ladybug cheered as they kept on fighting. “What did I tell you?”

“You are not changing my mind, they’re still gross, and we are not reopening this discussion.”

Alya stuffed her phone in her jacket and pillowed her arms behind her head as she laid down flat on the roof. Out of the corner of her eyes she could still see that they were sparring but she decided to think out loud anyway. “I think we need to just screw it and do something dramatic. Like we’ve been doing things by the books this entire time. I think we just need something super crazy and out there you know? Just sucker punch everyone with the news.”

They were caught in a really intense moment of rapid blows and blocks, but when they briefly pushed away from each other to catch their breaths Ladybug answered, “How crazy are we talking?”

Alya shrugged and started fiddling with the ends of her jacket sleeves. “What if you both faked your deaths?”

Chat Noir wiped his forehead. “Then Paris would be doomed because Hawkmoth would have a field day.”

“Oh right, I forgot about that part,” Alya mumbled. “What if only Ladybug faked her death?”

“Then there would be no one to purify akumas and Chat would have to fight by himself.”

“Okay, so we kill Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir frowned. “I think we’ll run into a similar problem.”

“Fine!” she said, throwing up her arms. “Then I’ll fake my death.”

Ladybug snorted. “I don’t see how that’ll help us. Or you for that matter.”

“Well I don’t know what else to come up with,” Alya complained. “I’m totally out of ideas. I honestly didn’t mean to make you both uncomfortable. And I know how I can get with the fan theories and stuff and I need to remember that you guys are real people and I have to be careful about all that stuff. I get it. Trust me. So I thought I could like make up for it by helping you and fixing my mistake, but I’m hitting a block. And it doesn’t help that you two are literally impossible to work with! Always gotta make things complicated!”

Chat Noir laughed and walked over to gently pat her on the head. “I can’t tell if you’re mad at us or mad at yourself, but don’t worry about it. We know you weren’t trying to be mean about it. And you realized your mistakes. We’re not mad, we promise.”

“Not even about these rumors running around?”

Ladybug shrugged. “I mean, I won’t lie, I’d prefer if they weren’t out there. Like I said, it’s just….weird to have everyone wishing for you to get together with another guy when you’ve got a boyfriend you love very much. But we’re not going to hate you if it turns out we can’t squash them. We’ll just have to deal.”

Alya bit her lip. “I can still take those pictures down, you know. It’s a little late in the game, but at least it’ll help. Or at least delete the shippy caption. It’ll only take a second.”

“There’s still hope of this blowing over eventually though, right?” Ladybug asked.

Alya and Chat Noir laughed simultaneously. “Not likely, my Lady,” Chat Noir said regretfully. “Like I said. Our fans are really intense.”

Alya chewed on the nail of her thumb and kept her gaze up at the overcast sky. “Hey, I know we’re not like…. super close friends or anything. And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but totally off the record: did this shipping stuff bother you before you started dating your partners? I know you kinda said it didn’t, but why?”

Chat Noir hummed and sat cross legged next to Alya’s head. “I mean, to be honest, we didn’t realize that we had an official fandom until recently. I mean, we’ve been following your blog for ages, but now it’s like the center for everything having to do with us. At first when we found out about it, we were kind of too surprised to really have an opinion. It wasn’t something we ever expected to happen to us.”

“Everyone loves you two,” Alya explained. “No one would bother with being this extra if they didn’t really care about you and what you do for us.”

Ladybug leaned against the chimney and stared down at Alya and Chat. “We know,” she smiled. “It’s just this whole superhero thing got sprung on us really unexpectedly. All we knew was that we had these powers and there were people who needed us. We do this because it’s necessary, because we’re the only people who can do what we do. We sort of didn’t think about everything else. Like the fanfare and the publicity and standing up for something bigger. So it took us a while to react.”

“And when you finally did?”

Chat Noir shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know we sort of just ignored it. People sometimes got really crazy with it when they asked personal questions or were inappropriate or something like that. Most of the time, though, it was just stuff on the Internet and gossip and it’s easy to just not take that stuff seriously. But it’s different when you have someone you really care about — someone that makes you happy and someone that knows you so well — and you’re hearing everyone just talk about how much they say you’re the perfect match for a completely different girl.”

“We care about each other so much,” Ladybug said. “Honestly. I can’t imagine not having Chat Noir around. We act the way we do because we’re important to each other, and he’s one of my closest friends. But it’s just not like that, you know? We’re both in relationships that make us so happy, so it’s just not gonna happen with the two of us. It’s weird having the Internet think otherwise.”

“I see what you’re saying, but I also understand why people think the way they do,” Alya said. “ I thought that until you told me you weren’t together. You just have this chemistry with each other. It’s not something you see all the time, you know? So it’s easy for people to assume it’s something romantic.”

Ladybug reached down and fiddled with the ends of Chat Noir’s hair. “We kind of have to have that chemistry.”

Alya frowned. “What do you mean?

“When you do what we do and have a partner doing it along with you, have to learn how to put your whole trust into that person,” Ladybug replied. “I wouldn’t be able to defeat akumas if I didn’t have total faith in Chat to keep me safe or distract an enemy or agree to a really last minute plan. We have to be close. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to work as well as we do. And doing our job would be impossible.”

“So you guys got close really quickly because you had to?”

“Eh, yes and no,” Chat Noir decided. “Don’t get me wrong, we had to really get used to each other and spend a lot of time together at first once we realized this was our job now. But it also happened kind of naturally. Even in our first battle when we were strangers, we worked really well together. We don’t clash on the important stuff and that lets us work together without much tension. It’s almost too good to be true sometimes, but I’ve learned not to question it.”

Ladybug laughed when Chat Noir smiled happily and nuzzled against her hand. “The two of us lucked out. I couldn’t possibly ask for anyone better. And I guess maybe from the outside looking in it does come off a certain way to some people.”

“Plus it also helps that we are both very good looking. Especially me.”

Ladybug frowned and reached over to punch him in the shoulder, but he rolled to the side and hopped up on his feet before she could touch him. He winked and stuck his tongue out. “Ah, you gotta be quicker than that.”

“Oh square up, you loser. You’re just waiting for me to get a good hit in aren’t you?”

“It wouldn’t be a full day otherwise.”

“God,” Alya laughed. “If you’re this nauseating with each other I can only imagine you two with the people you’re dating. Chat’s girlfriend must get sick of you very quickly.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Oh man, I can only imagine.”

“Excuse the both of you, I am a gentleman,” Chat said, sounding affronted. “I regale her with my love, affection, and quality puns on a daily basis just like every self respecting man ought to do. And I make her laugh. That’s important in a relationship.”

“You sure she’s not laughing out of pity?”

“You know what? Just for that? I’m not going to feel bad when I punch you. Let’s go.”

“Don’t test me. I’ll deck you in the face and then your girlfriend is gonna wonder why a little girl beat you up.”

“First of all rude. Second of all, everyone knows you’re a certified badass so stop acting humble and kick my ass already.”

Alya cupped her hands around her mouth. “You’re killing me with all of this banter, go get a room!” she laughed.

They both made silly faces at her and continued on with their sparring, and Alya was comfortable to enjoy the weather, watch the sky, and occasionally look over at the two of them taking advantage of each other’s company without the dramatics of an akuma getting involved. As exhausting as dealing with both of them was, Alya was in a way grateful for what little time she got to spend with them. Sure she’d snagged interviews with them before, but those had always been business first. This was just Ladybug and Chat Noir acting their age, being dorks, and taking advantage of an opportunity to have some fun. It was a charming look into their relationship that Alya only ever got to see literal snapshots of, and, all this dating-not dating drama aside, it made her realize how precious it seemed. These weren’t jobs they asked for, but they made do and gained each other out of the deal. It wasn’t until then that she felt bad for trying to publicly smear their relationship, even if it was fake and only for the sake of diffusing rumors that she started.

It wasn’t just that she was out of ideas. It was also that it wasn’t fair to make the world think that Ladybug and Chat Noir were anything other than what they were right now — two people who meant the world to each other even through the worst of times. Two people who shared something special.

She let out a huge sigh. Looks like she was back to square one — doing this the hard way. Buzz about their supposed relationship was going to be ridiculously difficult to kill and it was going to take forever . But editing her original post and killing the rumor on her blog was probably a good place to start with. After that, it was just squashing all of the dissents to the correction in the comments sections. Maybe she could get help. Alya would cover the Ladyblog, Nino would cover Facebook, Marinette would deal with Instagram, and Adrien would snoop around on Tumblr. Hell, maybe she could bribe Chloe to yell at people on Twitter. She was no doubt pissed to hear that Ladybug was dating Chat Noir instead of her and would probably enjoy dashing everyone’s hopes. There were no guarantees that any of it would actually help put a dent in things, but at least it was something.

God this was going to suck. Lesson learned. Marinette was going to be reminding her about this slip up for months.

Although, even as she was thinking this, her reporter instincts were bringing up one last question to niggle in the back of her mind as she kept watching the heroes. She wasn’t sure when she’d be able to speak with them this candidly again in the future and — off the record of course — there was just something she had to know for herself.

“Can I ask one more question?” she said.

“Sure,” Ladybug struggled out in between ducks and blows. “What’s up?”

“Did you have any feelings for each other before you both started seeing other people?”

Chat Noir froze and snapped his head towards Alya. “Wait, what??”

But he picked the wrong moment to get distracted because right when Chat Noir stopped, it was already too late for Ladybug to stop the right-hook she had aimed straight for his face. Instead of dodging, he felt the full force of her fist to his cheek and went sprawling back a couple of feet before landing on his butt and howling at the searing pain that was spreading all over the left side of his face.

“Oh my God!!!” Ladybug screamed. “I’m so sorry!! Oh no, oh no, I didn’t expect you to just stop, I’m so sorry.”

“Ah, Jesus,” Chat Noir said, working his sore jaw. “When you said you wanted to deck me in the face I thought you were kidding.”

Ladybug gently cupped his injured cheek and turned his head. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Chat Noir laughed. “Nah, you’re good. Might just bruise a bit, that’s all. I deserved it for not paying attention.”

Ladybug bit her lip and pressed a quick apology kiss to his cheek. “I’m still sorry.”

“It’s fine, honest. Crap you hit hard though!”

Alya came over and winced at his cheek. “Dude, you’re gonna wanna ice that. She really clocked you good.”

“Yeah, my bad, I was, uh….trying to hear your question and I got distracted. What was it again?”

Alya bit her lip, opened her mouth, but decided against it. “Never mind. It’s honestly nothing, don’t worry about it. Besides, I’ve gotta get going anyways.” She pulled out her cell phone and checked the time. “My little sisters are going to be back from their sleepover soon and I need to look after them until Maman comes home.”

“Need help getting down?” Ladybug asked. “I could give you a lift back home if you want.”

“Don’t worry about it. If I biked all the way here just to try some eggs, I can bike home.”

Ladybug let Alya hang onto her yoyo while she gently lowered her down to the sidewalk. Chat Noir crawled over, huffing and whining in pain while holding his cheek, and called down to her while she unchained her bike. “What are we going to do about this whole dating rumors thing?”

Alya shrugged. “Eh, I’m all out of ideas at the moment. I’m gonna sleep on it and probably do some damage control on social media in the meantime so at least it feels like I’m doing something. You know where to find me if you’ve got a way to make this blow over quicker. I’ll do some thinking too.”

“We trust you,” Ladybug smiled. “And thanks for everything. Even though it really didn’t go the way we planned.”

“Oh, that’s an understatement,” she chuckled. Alya straddled her bike and saluted the two heroes. “Welp. It’s been a blast, you crazy kids. And pay better attention so pretty girls don’t beat the crap out of you, Chat. Okay?”

He rolled his eyes and gave her a thumbs up, still holding his face. “Yeah. Sure. Will do.”

Ladybug pouted. “You want some ice, kitty? I’ll run to the bakery across the street.”

Chat sniffled and nodded. “Yes please.”

Alya shook her head in amusement and pushed off from her bike waving over her shoulder as she dipped into the street and headed home. Yup. These two were definitely special, alright.