#I wonder who's gonna get akumatize

[purplecatghostposts]

Top 5 favorite writing ideas on your current WIP list <3

I have SO MANY but I think these are the ones I’m gonna go with! Only counting ones that I haven’t published yet bc that helps narrow down the list!

A Kaleidoscope Of Butterflies. Remember that ‘Ladybug!Félix’ thing I mentioned that kept getting more complicated? Yeah. He’s both Ladybug and Guardian and very stressed with responsibility but is doing pretty well so far! It’s also what I call a ‘Death Swap’ AU where Gabriel and Amélie used the Peacock Miraculous and died rather than Emilie and Colt. Félix, while thankfully no longer living under Colt, also no longer has the support of his very loving mother. There’s a lot of details to this AU and it concerns me bc I have no idea how long it’ll end up being, BUT it’s got Black Cat!Marinette, Bee!Adrien, Turtle!Kagami, and Fox!Luka as major players!

World Gone Mad (Let’s Start The Show). Monarch takes over Paris, Akumatizing Chat Noir into the out of control Chat Blanc and causing Ladybug to go MIA in the process. The Miraculouses are scattered in the process, a couple ending up on both sides, and the remaining heroes do their best to fight back against Monarch and his army of Akumas. Argos ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and finds himself trapped in Paris, but he finds an ally in Queen Bee due to having a similar goal: find their missing siblings and survive. Their reputation makes them unlikely heroes, but they just might be the allies the heroes need to win. This was to both satisfy my need for writing Félix and Chloé’s relationship, but also Félix meeting Chat Blanc!

You Win Some, You Lose Some. For months, Ladybug and Rena Rogue have been fighting against Hawkmoth and his own team of supervillains, including the destructive Chat Noir, the relentless Ryuko, and the defensive Chelone, on top of the usual Akumas. While others have been recruited, those two are the only consistent heroes. However, when Nino is chosen by Duusu to wield the lost Peacock Miraculous, not only does he join the hero scene, but learns all about Sentibeings, and the importance of treating them kindly. Accidentally ended up being a Nino-Félix Kwami Swap but Turtle!Félix and his battle dome is now one of my favorite things ever. Also Peacock!Nino being best friends with Adrien without either of them knowing he’s a senti was something I just really needed.

Before We Crumble. In a span of a week, Adrien finds himself not only Chat Noir and Guardian to an empty Miracle Box, but orphaned after his father passes. Outside of his own and the Butterfly Miraculous, all other Miraculouses are not only scattered and hidden, but Sealed, making them unable to be used unless a certain ritual is done to release them once again. Chat Noir not only faces Violet Admiral, the new Butterfly Villain, alone, but must track down and unlock the other Miraculouses if he wants to have any fellow hero allies. However, Chat Noir is not alone. While the Ladybug Miraculous may be missing and he’s only able to undo the magical effects, not repair the damage, Adrien still has allies. Not only from his Aunt Amélie and Félix, who have moved into the mansion with him, but from all his friends at school who just want to help.

Wonderful Nothing. One of the Akumas from the new Butterfly Villain sends people to alternative dimensions, and manages to send both Ladybug and Argos to the same one. However, it’s one Ladybug recognizes as the reformed Shadybug and Claw Noir’s universe, giving her hope that they can escape this. However, before they can track down the heroes, they’re ambushed by a mysterious Dog Holder vigilante, and Argos is targeted, his Miraculous taken, leaving them in a bad spot. Thankfully, they receive answers soon enough: Shady and Claw have been trying to properly catch and talk to ‘Cerberus’ for a while now with no luck, and no idea what his goal are or where he got his Miraculous. From the name alone, Félix has a pretty good idea of who they’re facing… This was a huge excuse for not only Alternative Félix thoughts, but Félix VS Félix Shenanigans.

Andddd some Honorable Mentions:

You Can’t Win Me (I Can’t Be Beat), a semi-Portal inspired AU featuring both of the sentitwins as highly intelligent robots who may have more to them than meets the eye.

Saint Bernard Sits (At The Top Of The Driveway), a Fantasy-Miraculous AU featuring two terrible supervillains, Flairmidable thievery, and a rekindling romance <3

Blood Is Thicker, a Vampire AU with Monster Hunters Kagami and Marinette, Félix and Adrien having gone through hell but still coming out on top, and a couple misunderstandings about who is and isn’t a vampire.

Does A Swallow Dream Of Flying?, A Swap AU with Black Cat!Félix, Peacock!Adrien, and also Adrien in a bow tie. It’s really important to me that you know he wears a silly little bow tie.

How The Morale Goes (Nobody Knew And Nobody Knows), Monarch’s wish throws everyone into the past with new roles. Neither Adrien nor Marinette are the Miraculous Holders, Félix has the wrong mom entirely, along with a bunch of other mix-ups, and worst of all, a couple of them all remember how it used to be and are now trying to figure out all the new information. The kids all use their knowledge from the previous world to try and fix this one!

His Brother’s Keeper (Also sometimes called The Oversight), Félix hears of Hawkmoth getting help from a new Peacock Holder and goes to Paris to track down and take it for himself. There’s a high chance that his uncle, who is definitely Hawkmoth, is getting help from his assistant. However, he should’ve paid a little more attention to Adrien acting a bit strange before it became too late and he abruptly discovers that his uncle chose a different partner in crime. Enemies AU but Félix ends up learning things he shouldn’t essentially.

Again, I have way too many ideas and I love them all too much to give up. Hope you enjoyed reading about some of these, and thank you so much for the ask <33

(Send me a top five of something and I’ll rate it!!)

[lukaslosteyelashes]

My Review of the Miraculous London Special, Part 1

I've watched the London special and I really wanted to write out my thought on it sooner but I got so caught up in reading and reblogging others’s posts that my thoughts got jumbled up.

Anyway, I really wanted to reflect on my theories that I wrote before the release of the episode and share my further speculations, thoughts and questions.

What this part contains:

The opening scene - I'm pondering some of my previous thoughts about Lila and how she utilizes the power of the Butterfly Miraculous.

The wish - A theory about what wish could have wiped out their future.

Let’s get to it!

Spoilers ahead ->

The opening scene

was quite impactful. We see a miserable Nooroo at Lila’s lair in an invisible force field or something of that sort, which is very interesting. I wonder how Lila was able to make it, maybe every Miraculous holder has that power over their Kwaims.

Then Timestalker appears and it reveals that it’s Lila herself which made me question some things about her.

Not gonna lie, I always thought that Lila could remember every instance she was akumatized, maybe except for the first one. So the fact that she needed the notebook to write everything down as a Timestalker so that she could get the information after she breaks from the Akuma’s effect, surprised me. That’s why the theories about Timestalker being a different person, precisely either Adrien or future Lila, were born in the first place. Also Gabriel, Nathalie and everyone who was able to break from the akumatization remembered what happened (if I remember correctly) so it's baffling why she can't. I want to think that she actually upgraded her Akumas, that it's different from the Akumas Gabriel were using and it's also different from the Mega Akumas. Someone pointed out that she wears the brooch upside down, different from how Gabriel wore it which might have some effect on the powers.

To be honest, I didn't understand Timestalker’s ability at first so I needed to rack my brain a little bit 😅, But after I understood it one thing become clearer: which is, how was Lila able to get the Butterfly Miraculous in her Edna disguise and find out Ladybug’s identity as Timestalker at the same time.

These two moments take place very close in time. But it still doesn't answer the question of how Lila knew that the Butterfly Miraculous will be lost in the rubble. Did she just guess or was she there for something else and found it by chance?

Anyway, my future Lila theory (that I briefly touched at the end of this post) wasn’t that far fetched, but instead of a couple years older Lila we got a couple hours older one and instead of having two of them from a completely different timeline, it’s the same Lila being both villains. Also the boxes had a different purpose than I originally thought.

So, after she de-akumatized herself, she read the notes then quickly akumatized herself again, using her bag this time and became Spectral Looter then disappeared to pay a heartwarming visit to Marinette to steal the Miraculouses. Then she made a wish?

The wish

I expected we would find out what she wished for and what she sacrificed for it, if she even sacrificed anything, but we didn’t. It kinda makes sense, we can’t discover Lilamoth's objective too soon.

At first I thought her wish might be Ladybug to never exist and I will continue to believe that until it is proven otherwise but with a little bit of a modification: she wished for either Marinette or Ladybug or both to not exist. Lila hates both of them with a burning passion and after she found out that the two of them are the same person, it kind of made things easier for her, it's enough to deal with one of them to get rid of both of them.

Like I said, we don't know what she's after so her wish could be literally anything but whatever was it, it was powerful enough to wipe out the future where Alix Kubdel is bunnyx completely and quite fast.

part 2 | part 3 | part 4

[princess-of-the-corner]

God I forgot about Qilin. Cool asfk akuma, arguably one of Gabes best designs, dragged down by the fucking ticket inspection and bringing in the goddamn army. (As well as how the episode felt like it was written avid ACAB Enthusiasts)

my problem with the episode is that it's a bit all over the place in a few spots like.

Firstly take this with a grain of salt because I'm white af

Okay. This is supposed to be an episode about racism and the cops being harder on minorities. But it doesn't.... come across that?

The ticket inspector was initially doing his job. Sabine didn't have a bus ticket. Yes it's because Mari got off the previous stop with the tickets, but if he handwaved everyone who said 'oh I totally bought a ticket but I lost it'.......

Now he does get unreasonable after that, accusing her of being hostile, having her arrested instead of just printing a ticket, etc. But this is also a show where the 'you seem to have broken a law so you immediately get arrested' is not out of place. (I mean sometimes it is BUT it's a 'what works for the story' thing). Doubly so as the target audience is children who sometimes do think 'oh god oh god I sneaked one extra candy they're gonna send a full swat team and arrest me and I'm gonna go to jail!!'.

Then you have the whole thing of literally all the cops showing up for one lady and then the Akuma and then the cops ignoring LB and CN in favor of blasting the Akuma with weaponry despite months of the Heroes handling this on their own. Which at first seems out of place until you remember episodes like Rogercop where all the cops weren't mind controlled they just went 'yeah I guess the obviously Akumatized(controlled by supervillain) cop in a mech suit is in charge because the mayor, who he kidnapped, said so. Time to arrest the Heroes!!". So while it hasn't happened in a while, cops just acting Like That™ aren't out of place in this world.

And like. The ticket inspector is a rando who is only seen here going against Sabine, but we have no idea how he'd act with a white guy breaking the same law. And Roger has been shown to be corrupt as hell toward white people(specifically the Couffaines who as far as we know are white). So it doesn't quite get the message across that this is out of the norm.

Then you have Marinette having to apologize to the ticket inspector who, at this point, is now much more reasonable of 'well she did technically break the law by riding the bus without ticket or ID, but given the circumstances we'll let it go' but Mari insists on paying the fine like he was in the right.

Honestly I feel like this episode suffers from not being direct about what the issue is. Yes it's implied that it's a racism thing, yes most of the audience including the kids will probably pick it up. But when you give that much wiggle room on 'what is motivating this character's actions', then combine it both with stuff that's /supposed/ to be extreme but is par for the course in the series and the protagonist apologizing to the guy who instigated all of this.... it gets very mixed and it can get lost and make people who do see the allegories wonder if they're just reading too much into things.

And I don't know exactly where to place the blame on. Did the writers pull back to try and make the situation more 'relatable to everyone' thus making it relate to no one? Was it a bigger thing of the studio or S&P saying 'hey you can't depict real racism in a kids' show'?

I mean either way there's some blame on the writers for the other flaws like Mari apologizing and undercutting anything the ticket inspector did wrong. But still.

[shysublimecoffee]

I prefer not to sound harsh, but Miraculous has become a fandom where I find more enjoyment in reading fanfics than watching the show. It feels like there's a lack of effort or an attempt to justify and rearrange elements, often ignoring past seasons and assuming the audience won't notice. The handling of Derision is a notable example, with more astute critics than me delving into their dissatisfaction and the evident retcons.

I didn't anticipate the show going to such lengths as portraying Gabriel as someone deserving of a statue, and it left a sour taste in my mouth to see the hero endorsing it. Adrien/ChatNoir's portrayal has become quite pitiful, with a peculiar shift where Ladybug takes on a significant role in the Agreste Saga despite her absence from that narrative. Ladybug, who isn't even part of the Agreste Saga, is the one delivering heartfelt moments. The decision to sideline Adrien and put him out of commission is disappointing. It's his story yet she the one who has to make it about her. She gets to shine along with a cool costume to boot.

There's a palpable bias from Astruc against Chloe, evident in the show's treatment of her character. Despite her being manipulated by Gabriel Agreste, the narrative blames her for becoming mayor, and the absurdity of the situation is magnified when everyone in the story goes along with it. The inclusion of a scene in Revolution where Chloe is crying is perplexing and frustrating, as it seems to perpetuate the negative and irredeemable image the show consistently paints of her. The added layer of her mother being horrid to her intensifies my annoyance, especially when sympathetic scenes are presented in a seemingly contradictory manner.

I mean you want her to be the worst but yet she has scenes like this? Why not go all the way wtf. Why give her depth only to take it away and then make her be so demonized in s5 and act like she was like this from the start. When she's been a joke

I hate to be critical, but seriously, it's hard to ignore how the Miraculous universe is just dripping with untapped potential. Five seasons in, and the movie outshines the show effortlessly. It makes you wonder about the writers' team and their approach—seems like they're just coasting on low effort for profit, and somehow, it's working, thanks to Miraculous inexplicable popularity.

The show's been beating the monster-of-the-week horse for five long seasons, lacking any creativity in crafting interesting villains. Gabriel, honestly, feels like a starter villain, and if they're going to make him the big bad, can we at least get some villains with a bit more pizzazz? You know craft creative interesting villains? KNDS, Original PPG, Totally Spies they got it so why not Miraculous. It's so damn tiring seeing the same old song and dance with Gabriel 24/7 monologuing to his wife and releasing the akuma I thought Mayura would be important but she's barely there.

It's not even an excuse kids do deserve better entertainment so why should Miraculous lower its standards. Marinette is very weird to me as the protagonist because her lovelife is more focused over everything I gauged her well enough to know about her that the rest of the secondary needs more of a spotlight to be cast on them. I like her but am I the only one who just skips when she starts the whining about Adrien and her plan to again get together it was cute at first now I fast forward to the more interesting part of the episode because it irks me i'm tired okay... what other facet of her character do the writers focus on besides her love life? I hope I don't appear to salt on her but Imma tag it just in case. I think she's in neutral treading to dislike because how can I come back from her gaslighting her boyfriends I'm sorry I can't.

You know what I'm afraid of that if Lila gonna be the next big bad they'll just recycle everything from Gabriel onto her. We'll have the same akumatizations same monster of the week formula only this time it's Lila.

I trust more in the fanfic community to come up with a better substantial plot than Miraculous could ever be. I know romance is a big part but the lore is so damn little it's season 5 are they ever going to expand more in the later seasons lol.

I'm tired from writing this long. Imma go to bed now.

[a-chlolix-blog]

Scarabée and Kitty Claws AU

Bea-Loved. An infatuated Super Fan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~Earlier that day~~~~~

Despite only being around since the beginning of the school year, Scarabée and Kitty Claws have become extremely popular.

Especially among their fellow students.

Before school started, Alya was on a video call with Esmée Rousseau. A schoolmate who has helped her out quite abit with the ScaraBlog.

She's also known in school for being an incredible cosplayer and costume designer.

Alya: The Fan Mail livestream is going to be so great!

Esmée: It involves Scarabée and Kitty Claws, of course it's gonna be a success! With me working my music with the school blog, everyone will know by lunch.

Alya, smirking: Are you gonna gonna submit Fan Mail?

Esmée loves having a friend like Alya.

Someone who is aware of her fangirl crush on both Scarabée and Kitty Claws, but doesn't judge her.

Esmée, blushing: That's for me to know and for you to NOT find out!

Alya, playfully: Is it about which of the is hotter?

Esmée, her face going from red to a darker crimson: ALYA!

The playfully teasing is even fun between the two.

~~~~~Later on at Lycée Françoise Dupont~~~~~~

Alix, walking with Alya to class: Are you sure reading Fan Mail they send you through Email for Scarabée and Kitty Claws on the ScaraBlog is a great idea?

Alya: It'll be fine, for those who wanna be anonymous, they can send hand written letters. That way they won't be embarrassed.

Alix: I take it that the Lady WiFi incident that did wonders for the ScaraBlog inspired this?

Alya: As well as Kitty Claws lying about dating Scarabée, getting Jolie akumatized into a copy of her, and apologizing to her on the ScaraBlog later that same day.

Alix playfully rolls her eyes as the two part ways to sit in their respective seats.

While sitting in her seat, Chloé gets a text from Adrien.

🌟Princely Sunshine☀️: Meant to send this to you after the play. 😉

The text has a very familiar photo attachment.

When Chloé opens it, she sees a picture of her staring at Scarabée before they had to quickly get out of the limousine before it was blown up. From Adrien's point of view.

With a smile, Adrien has his full attention on Ms. Bustier as she talks, fully aware that Chloé was currently staring daggers at him.

Ms. Bustier: Alya, I couldn't help but overhear your plans to read fan mail for Scarabée and Kitty Claws on your blog.

Alya: That's right!

Ms. Bustier: Aurélien passed his spelling test last week and decided he wanted to show Scarabée and Kitty Claws how smart his is through a letter telling them how school he thinks they are.

Alya: I will make sure his letter is the first one I read.

After quickly giving Alya the letter, Ms. Bustier goes back to teaching the class.

~~~~~Later on during the Lunch Break Period~~~~~

Even before Alya entered the cafeteria, her phone's notifications kept going off

Marinette: Whoa, you're gonna have alot of fan mail to read later

Mylène: You should really turn off your notifications before the next class period.

Alya: Oh I will. The letters that have been given to me are WAY easier to keep track of than these notifications. This ScaraBlog Fan Mail reading might have to be a two hour long livestream.

After Alya Marinette and Mylène get their lunch, they sit with Alix, who was sitting with Nathaniel, Marc and Esmée.

Across from their table sat Chloé Adrien and Sabrina.

Sabrina: Did you send an Email?

Adrien: Yeah, but I used one of my private accounts, so my "fans" won't harass Alya or the two heroines.

Sabrina: That was a smart move.

While Adrien and Sabrina talked to each other, Chloé was discreetly writing her own letter while thinking of her plan.

Chloé, internally: This is perfect! After school Kitty Claws and appear before Césaire, give her the letter from Scarabée's "Secret Admirer", she runs it on the blog, and Itty-Bitty's utterly smitten for this "Mystery Woman". Flawless, utterly flawless!

Just as Chloé finished writing her own letter, she hears an unfortunately familiar mocking tone of voice.

"Did you seriously hand write a letter?!"

Chloé quickly, but discreetly balls up her letter, only to quickly realize the question isn't directed at her.

She then looks over at Alix's table and sees Brigiette standing over Esmée, who is covering her letter.

Alix: Brigiette, don't you have ANYTHING better to do than annoying us or stalking Adrien?

Brigiette, ignoring Alix and continues to mock Esmée: Awww!!! You even have a ScaraClaws pin! You're SO obsessed.

Esmée, with her head down: ...

Nathaniel: Says the girl who would be Adrien's second shadow if Chloé and Sabrina weren't there to keep her away.

Adrien, shouting from his seat: He's not wrong!

This causes everyone including a now less guarded Esmée to laugh.

Brigiette notices half of the letter and goes to grab it, only to end up ripping it in half.

All the laughter immediately stops as everyone now stares at Esmée and Brigiette.

Brigiette: Oh please! I did her a favor.

While beginning to cry, Esmée snatches the other half of the letter from Brigiette and runs out of the cafeteria.

Alya and Marinette, running after her: Esmée wait!

Alix, getting out of her seat and walking towards Brigiette: I'm getting suspended!

Mylène and Marc, grabbing Alix's shoulders: No you're not!

Brigiette: If Scarabée and Kitty Claws are just as amazing as my Adrien-

Adrien, shouting from his seat: Not yours!

Brigiette: They'd be absolutely turned off by a mushy anonymous love letter.

Sabrina, shouting from her seat: You would know! You sent him HUNDREDS!

Neither Adrien or Sabrina noticed how quiet Chloé was until she stood up.

Sabrina: Chloé?

Adrien, noticing something in her balled up hand: You okay?

Chloé: I'm gonna get some air. *quickly walks towards the cafeteria's exit*

Chloé, internally: There's no way this Mystery Girl letter would have worked! Your own mother won't even respond to one of your letters, why would Scarabée respond positively?!

When Adrien gets up to follow Chloé, Brigiette goes to follow him, only to be stopped by Sabrina.

Who Brigiette immediately realizes she's WAY stronger then she looks.

Sabrina, politely: You're not going anywhere near him.

Adrien manages to catch up to Chloé before she leaves the cafeteria.

Chloé throws the balled up piece of paper in the direction of the nearest trash can, not even looking to see if it went into the trash.

Adrien: Are you sure you're okay?

Chloé: I told you Adrien, I just need some air. Also I just remembered, I got something to do after school. Meet at your place later?

Adrien: Obviously! I'll let Sabrina know.

Chloé: Thanks.

Chloé then leaves the cafeteria, with her thoughts being a fusion of confidence and insecurity.

Chloé, internally: I don't need some cringey letter written on gold colored paper! Kitty Claws is ALL who is needed to swipe Scarabée off her feet. It HAS to be Kitty Claws...

From the side of his eye, Adrien sees the balled up piece of paper Chloé tried to throw away

Adrien then picks up the paper, uncrumbles it and begins to silently read Chloé's letter.

Adrien: Oh Chloé...

After putting the letter in his pocket, Adrien walks back into the cafeteria.

When Adrien goes back to where he was sitting, notices that Brigiette is no where in sight.

Adrien: Sabrina-

Sabrina: I purpose I only had a talk with her!

~~~~~In the girls' bathroom~~~~~

Marinette and Alya stood outside of Esmée's bathroom stall, trying their best to comfort her.

Marinette: Esmée, it's okay! Brigiette doesn't know what she's talking about!

Alya: Yeah, that girl couldn't take a hint to save her life.

Esmée then opens the stall out walks in front of the two.

Esmée: Thanks you guys, I think I'm gonna be okay now...

Marinette: That's great to hear, now let's go back to the cafeteria.

Alya: I would LOVE to hear more of your cosplay ideas!

~~~~~After School~~~~~

After returning home, Esmée goes into her bedroom.

She admirers the superhero pins she made herself before briefly looking into her closet, looking at the many Scarabée and Kitty Claws themed costumes she managed to make within the short time the heroines have been around.

Esmée, pulling the nearest pillow close to her: What if... Brigiette's right?

She then realizes the pillow is red with black dots and throws it into the wall.

Esmée: DAMNIT! I AM OBESSED!

~~~~~In Hawkmoth's Lair~~~~~

Hawkmoth: A young creative mind fueled by desire and full of doubt...*readies the akuma* the perfect combination. Fly my Akuma and unleash this unrequited soul's true potential.

~~~~~Back in Esmée's room~~~~~

With her window opened, the akuma enters her room and goes into the ScaraClaws pin she has on her shirt.

Hawkmoth: Bea-Loved, I am Hawkmoth. You fear Scarabée and Kitty Claws rejecting you due to your creativity, but with the powers I give you, they'll be the ones admiring you. To keep the power that will win their affections, you just have to bring me their Miraculouses!

Esmée: I will do all that I can for them!

Esmée is then akumatized the Bea-Loved

Her hair is now red hair with black dots. Done up in a neat ponytail.

There are pink hearts in her pupils.

She's now wearing a black and light green strapless dress with her now pink heart-shaped pin in the middle of her chest.

crimson high heels and elegant long gloves to match.

Bea-Loved: Before I greet Scarabée and Kitty Claws! I'm gonna need assistance.

~~~~~At The Louvre~~~~~

Alix was walking through the Louvre with Ayla, Marinette, Nathaniel, Marc, Kim and Max

Alix: Postponing the livestream to tomorrow was the best idea, Alya.

Alya: It's only fair. Esmée should call if she wants to add her letter to the fan mail.

Kim: I don't get way Esmée would wanna keep her letter anonymous. We ALL think Scarabée and Kitty Claws.

Max: It's not that simple, Kim. Our friend Esmée have obviously developed an infatuation with Scarabée and Kitty Claws. She is most likely embarrassed by this fact. Especially considering that there is a 99% chance that she doesn't know their true identities.

Kim, shocked: Seriously?!

Nathaniel: Did you seriously NOT realize this?

Marinette: Could you really not tell considering what happened in the cafeteria?

Mylène: I can understand her wanted to keep crushing on two superheroines a secret. Brigiette's action weren't cool!

Marc: As if she has a right to mock crushing on celebrities...

Alix, to Marc and Mylène: Which is why you two should have let me hit her at least twice.

Marinette Alya Nathaniel and Mylène then get a notification on their phone.

Nathaniel, after quickly reading the text message: Did you three also get a message from Esmée tell you to come over?

Marinette: Yeah.

Alya: Do you think something happened?!

Mylène: I hope she's okay...

Nathaniel: We're just gonna have to find out.

Alix: Keep us posted.

Marinette, Alya, Nathaniel and Mylène then leave the Louvre and go in the direction of Esmée's home.

~~~~~At the Agreste Mansion~~~~~

Sabrina gets a notification on her phone from Esmée as well.

Sabrina: Esmée wants me to come.

Adrien, putting a seal envelope in his jacket pocket: I'll come too. Hopefully I can talk to her about the Fan Mail reading livestream.

Sabrina: But you already sent your message.

Adrien: I REALLY gotta make sure it isn't traced by to me.

Sabrina: That's true... you can never be too careful when it comes to fangirls.

Adrien, internally: Sorry Sabrina, but Chloé's letter to Scarabée is our little secret.

Sabrina: We gotta text Chloé to tell her we won't be here when she returns.

Adrien, already texting her: On it!

After exiting the Mansion, Sabrina and Adrien gets into the limousine that will be driven by Placide.

And with Adrien's demand, the two are being driven in the direction of Esmée's home.

~~~~~At Éclat Épanoui~~~~~

Kitty Claws was looking through the many different flower combinations in the well-known flower shop.

The owner of the shop Lillian Thorns then walks up to her.

Lillian: Do you need any help Ms. Claws?

Kitty Claws: No thanks I think I am fine. And Kitty Claws is just fine.

Lillian: Noted, I hope you find what you're looking for, Kitty Claws. *walks away from her*

Kitty Claws, internally: I know I gotta make it up to Adrien and Sabrina for ditching them later. But if I'm gonna confess to Scarabée it has to be perfect!

Kitty Claws then notices the lavender roses, the amaranthus, and the red tulips.

Kitty Claws: I'll take all of these in a bouquet!

Lillian: Oh! A perfect choice of flowers for romance.

After paying for her chosen bouquet, Kitty Claws leaves Éclat Épanoui.

Kitty Claws: Itty-Bitty's gonna LOVE these! Should I get expensive chocolates too? NO! There shouldn't be ANY hint of my identity for this! Waiting for her to approach me isn't the best idea... I'll look for her.

She the open her the end of her staff, carefully puts the bouquet in it, seals it, and begins her search for Scarabée by jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

~~~~~ In front of Esmée's home~~~~~

As Marinette, Alya, Nathaniel and Mylène walked up to towards the building, they noticed a familiar limousine stopping in the driveway.

Adrien and Sabrina then greet the four of after exiting the vehicle.

Adrien: Hey guys!

Sabrina: Good evening.

Nathaniel: What are you two doing here?

Sabrina: Esmée sent texted me and Adrien's here for support.

Adrien: Clearly alot is needed for the situation...

Adrien, internally: This is a very convenient group.

Mylène goes to knock on the door, only to realize it's opened slightly.

Alya: So... I'm not the only one creeped out by this?

Mylène: Nope, I'm creeped too.

As they're all entered the building, Adrien makes sure to go in last.

While being behind Alya, he manages to slip the envelope into her bag without anyone noticing.

As they're all walking in the direction of Esmée's room, Adrien could help but notice how clean it is.

Adrien: Is her place usually like this? I expected costume materials everywhere from how popular I've heard her costumes and cosplay are.

Alya: Esmée told me that her parents only let her continue cosplaying if she kept it all in her room. Understandable, least cleaning for the three of them.

They all stop in front of Esmée's door.

Marinette feels a chill down her spine before knocking on the door.

Marinette: Hey Esmée, we're here! Also your front door was slightly open.

A cheerful voice on the other side of the door: Oh! I must of left it like that by mistake!

Alya: Also Adrien's here, is that okay?

The cheerful voice on the other side of the door: Of course! The more, the merrier!~

When Marinette opens the door, a glowing pink is launched into her chest which sends her flying into a wheel across the hallway.

Alya Mylène Nathaniel Adrien and Sabrina, absolutely shocked: MARINETTE!

As she falls to the floor, Marinette's body begins to glow pink like the pin in her chest.

Bea-Loved, revealing herself to the group: Marinette's not the only one who will be modeling my heroic cosplay.

Alya, trembling: Esmée... what has Hawkmoth done to you?!

Bea-Loved: The name's Bea-Loved now. And you're all gonna LOVE what I have in-store for you! Isn't that right, Marinette?

Marinette now stands before the group, now dressed in the original Sparrow's costume with pink hearts in her eyes.

Pinned!Marinette: Absolutely. Whatever dearly Bea-Loved wants, she gets!

Before anyone could react, Marinette lungs at Alya and holds her in place.

Alya: Marinette! What are you doing?!

Bea-Loved: Making sure you aren't left out, Alya!~

Bea-Loved then summons a glowing pink heart pin between her fingers and flicks it in Alya's direction.

When it quickly makes contact with her, Alya begins to glow pink like Marinette did.

Alya, transforming: Everyone... get outta here!

The other then start running towards the exit.

This however doesn't stop Bea-Loved from flicking pins into Mylène and Nathaniel's backs, leaving Adrien and Sabrina to be the only ones who managed to escape.

When they both hastily intro the limousine, Placide gets surprised, but doesn't say a word.

Adrien: Take us to The Louvre quickly!

Placide then quickly drives away before Bea-Loved exits the building with her now four minions in cosplay of the former heroes and heroines who took on the Alias Sparrow right behind her.

Bea-Loved: Look for Scarabée and Kitty Claws, my Sparrows!

Pinned!Marinette, Pinned!Alya, Pinned!Nathaniel, and Pinned!Mylène: Yes, Dearly Bea-Loved.

The four minions then run and jump in different directions.

Bea-Loved: I have BIG plans for Scarabée and Kitty Claws!~

Bea-Loved then begins skipping down the street.

~~~~~Back at the Louvre~~~~~

Alix was preparing snacks for her current guests with Jalil's help.

She couldn't but worry about the others, who still haven't returned yet.

Alix: I hope Nate and the others are okay. They still haven't answered any of my texts.

Jalil: I'm sure they're alright.

Kim then quickly runs into the kitchen.

Kim: Alix, you gotta see this!

Alix: What's going on?!

Kim: Nate's down in the Museum wearing the coolest Sparrow cosplay I've ever seen!

Alix then feels a chill run down her spine.

Alix, internally: Something's up. One of them would've at least texted and told us they had a surprise planned. Also, where are the others? It's best to keep my guard up.

When Alix and the others make their way to the Museum, they see multiple people taking pictures of Nathaniel in the Sparrow cosplay.

She couldn't help but notice a shiny pink heart shaped pin the didn't match the rest of the costume.

Minion!Nathaniel: By the orders of my dearly Bea-Loved, I am searching for Scarabée and Kitty Claws. Is anyone aware of their whereabouts?

A random teenaged girl, walking up to him: Before coming here, I saw Kitty Claws-

Adrien and Sabrina through the Museum's entrance.

Adrien: Don't tell him anything!

Sabrina: He's one of the Akuma's Minions!

This causes everyone except for Alix's group to run away from him.

Minion!Nathaniel, turning to face Adrien and Sabrina: DO NOT INTERFERE WITH MY DEARLY BEA-LOVED'S PLANS!

Nathaniel runs towards the two only to be tackled by Kim.

Alix and the ran up to Adrien and Sabrina as Kim barely manages to hold him down.

Marc, panicking: Who is the Akuma that did this to Nate?

Sabrina: Esmée...

Adrien: And Nathaniel's not the only one...

Alix: I take it that you don't know where the others are?

Sabrina: We don't. Sorry...

Max: If one of them is looking for the Heroine Duo, then it is 75% likely that they all are.

Nathaniel kicks Kim off of him and towards the group.

Minion!Nathaniel: Do NOT interfere with my dearly Bea-Loved's mission again.

And with that, he leaves the museum.

Marc: We have to help Nate and the others.

Max: But how? We aren't even aware of the Akuma's powers besides the fact that she’s able to transform others into minions in very accurate cosplay. When it's comes to a weakness or if the others can be freed from her control, we're completely clueless.

Sabrina: Another thing we know is that Esmée has a crush on both Scarabée and Kitty Claws. Maybe we can use that to our advantage?

Adrien: Which means we would have to find Scarabée and Kitty Claws before Bea-Loved or her minions do.

Kim: I saw where that the girl who saw Kitty Claws somewhere went to hide. Let's go ask her!

Alix: You guys go ahead. I'm gonna go back sure Nate left.

Adrien: Will you be alright by yourself?

Alix: Of course.

And with that, Alix quickly left the group.

After running an area of the Louvre with no people around, Tikki flies out of Alix's waist bag.

Alix: Esmée... I can't believe something like a super celebrity crush got her akumatized.

Tikki: Situations like this come with the job, Alix.

Alix: You're right... Tikki, Spots On!

After transforming Scarabée leaves the Louvre to quickly see if Nathaniel was still nearby.

Scarabée: He isn't here. Let's hope KC's at least close to the location that girl saw her at.

When Scarabée enters the Louvre, she immediately noticed by the group.

Marc: Scarabée! Thank goodness you're here!

Max: And with remarkable timing. There is an Akuma who has targeted you and Kitty Claws.

Scarabée: I am aware. I haven't heard from Kitty Claws yet, so she probably isn't aware of the Akuma yet.

Adrien: We've been told she was last seen at the Éclat Épanoui flower shop.

Kim: Do you think she's under Esmée's spell?

Sabrina: Unlikely, if that were the case then she would only be looking for Scarabée.

Kim: Then why would she be at one of the most popular flower shops in Paris?

Adrien: That's... a great question.

Scarabée: Well I hope the owner of the shop has answers. You all stay-

Marc: I'm gonna cut you off right there. With all due respect Scarabée, we're all helping with this.

Scarabée: Are you sure? This could be difficult...

Kim: Not only is the Akuma one of our friends, but our other friends are being controlled as well. We wanna help in anyway we can!

Scarabée: *sighs* Alright, just make sure you all stay outta sight. If the Akuma or her minions spot me, it could be too dangerous.

Adrien: The limo me and Sabrina took here should fit all of us, so we'll be fine.

After leaving the Louvre and watching Scarabée to jump from rooftop to rooftop, the group gets into the Agreste limousine and follows her.

While in mid-air, Scarabée tries to call Kitty Claws, but doesn't get an answer.

Scarabée, internally: KC... where are you? What could you possibly be doing right now?

~~~~~On top of the Eiffel Tower~~~~~

Instead of the staff being on her person, it was sat down away from Kitty Claws, with the heroine not noticing it vibrate at all.

Instead she was pacing back and forth, thinking to herself.

"You give her the bouquet and then what? If she asks, you can't tell her your true identity! There's NO WAY she'd date Chloé Bourgeois! Does that mean I can know HER true identity? I mean that really wouldn't be fair..."

Kitty Claws' pacing is interrupted by one of Bea-Loved's minions lands in front of her.

Pinned!Marinette: Kitty Claws, I have been ordered by my dearly Bea-Loved to escort you to her.

Kitty Claws: That voice... Dupain-Cheng- BAKERY! Girl from the Dupain-Cheng bakery?!

After quickly fixing that near slip-up, Kitty Claws quickly leaps up and grabs her staff.

Kitty Claws: I DON'T wanna deal with Hawkmoth's bullshit today!

Kitty Claws attempts to run at Marinette with her with staff, only for Marinette to stop the prevent the attack from happening by grab her wrist.

Marinette: I will deliver you to my dearly Bea-Loved no matter what it takes!

Marinette then throws her onto a near by rooftop.

Kitty Claws is able to get back up on her feet and throws her staff at Marinette before she could leap at her.

Kitty Claws: Who IS this "dearly" Bea-Loved?

Pinned!Marinette: Only one of the most talented cosplay inspiring costume designers in Paris.

Kitty Claws, internally: Rousseau must have taken that Stalker's words to heart... not that I'm any better.

With a deep sigh, Kitty Claws then lowers her staff.

Kitty Claws: Take me to your "Bea-Loved".

~~~~~Back at Éclat Épanoui~~~~~

The Agreste limousine stops two buildings away from the flower shop as Scarabée swings closer to it.

Adrien Sabrina and Kim watch them while Max and Marc lay lown.

Adrien: We'll be safe here, G. You can take a break now.

Placide then quickly leaves the limousine and runs into a nearby building.

Adrien: He should be back with food in ten minutes.

Kim: Makes helping Scarabée ALOT easier.

Max: Considering there is a 50% chance of Scarabée needing extra help, that also means the Akuma could get extra help.

Sabrina: Which is why we're here to even the odds.

Marc: This will be an Akuma Battle so ANYTHING could happen within ten minutes.

As Bea-Loved leaves the flower shop with a bouquet of red and yellow roses, she looks up and sees Scarabée on top of a street light.

Bea-Loved, excitedly: SCARABÉE!

Scarabée: Oh shit! This that really you, Esmée?

Bea-Loved: The name's Bea-Loved now!~

She then summons four pink hearts pins between her fighters and flings towards Scarabée only for the heroine to block them before jumping onto the ground.

Scarabée: Esmée... being made fun of for liking superheroes must suck, but this isn't the answer!

Bea-Loved: There's no need to be worried about me Scarabée. You'll join me soon enough~

Bea-Loved the presses the pink heart pin on her chest.

Scarabée, internally: I saw Nate with that same heart pin. Could the akuma be in hers?

Bea-Loved, still pressing the pin: My Sparrows, fly to me!

After a few seconds, Mylène Nathaniel and Alya land in front of her.

Scarabée, internally: They all have the pins... the akuma's has to be in the main one.

Bea-Loved then notices that one of her Sparrows is missing.

Bea-Loved: Where is-

Kitty Claws: SPECIAL DELIVERY!

While in the air, Kitty Claws sends Marinette crashing into the other Sparrows before landing in front of Scarabée.

Kitty Claws: Sorry I'm late, Itty-Bitty. Are you okay?

Scarabée: I'm fine. Just focus on NOT getting hit by those pins!

Bea-Loved: My Sparrows, bring them to me!

Mylène and Nathaniel lunged at Scarabée while Marinette and Alya leaped at Kitty Claws.

Scarabée, blocking and dodging their attacks: Nathaniel! Mylène! Snap out of it!

While Scarabée continues her attention on the two Sparrows she fought, she turns her back to Bea-Loved.

Bea-Loved: Got you, Lovebug~

Looking at Scarabée with a smirk, Bea-Loved summons another pin between her fingers and aims for the shorter heroine.

Hawkmoth, communicating through Bea-Loved: You have the shot! Take it now!

Right after getting both Marinette and Alya off of her, Kitty Claws looks at Bea-Loved and quickly realizes what's about to happen.

Kitty Claws, running towards Scarabée: SCARABÉE! LOOK OUT!

Before Scarabée could react, Kitty Claws pushes her through the flower shop's window.

Now noticing that she’s now glowing pink, the black cat heroine falls to her knees.

Kim: MAX-

Max: Connecting my laptop to the limousine now!

Before Bea-Loved could get any closer to the flower shop's entrance, the Agreste limousine comes at her at full speed, knocking her a good distance away after hitting her.

Right here she was hit, Bea-Loved saw Max's face.

As the still transforming Kitty Claws and the four Sparrows go after Bea-Loved, Kim goes into the flower shop to grab Scarabée.

Kim: Sorry about the mess, Ms. Thorn.

Once they were both in the limousine, Max uses his laptop to drive the limousine as quickly as possible away from Bea-Loved and her Sparrows.

Hawkmoth, communicating through Bea-Loved: SCARABÉE'S GETTING AWAY! GO AFTER HER NOW!

Bea-Loved: There's no need to worry about her, my Knight Kat's got this cover~

Kitty Claws then finishes her transformation into a fusion of her own heroine persona and the New York heroine Knight Owl.

Knight Kat: Anything my dearly Bea-Loved wants, she gets!

After driving the limousine until Bea-Loved and her minions out of sight, Scarabée and the other hid in a candy shop called "Sucrée Symphonie".

Sabrina: How is she gonna be defeated? Kitty Claws got pinned and we don't know where the akumatized item is...

Scarabée: Considering that all of the minions we've seen so far have on a pink heart pin, I'm betting that it's the pin Esmée has on her chest. We just need to find out if she has a weakness of some kind...

Marc: I can help! Out of all of us here, I haven't been by Bea-Loved nor have I tried to hurt her minions.

Max: He's correct. Sabrina and Adrien escaped being transformed, Kim tackled Nathaniel, and I'm 100% sure Esmée and I made eye contact before I hit her with the limousine.

Scarabée then pulls two earpieces out of her yo-yo.

Scarabée, giving an earpiece to Marc: Considering that the Agreste limousine draws ALOT of attention, they'll be here soon. I'll sneak the others out the back.

Marc: Hopefully Esmée is still so very detailed...

~~~~~Outside of Sucrée Symphonie~~~~~

Bea-Loved, Knight Kat and the Sparrows had the Agreste limousine surrounded.

Marc, running out of the candy shop: Oh WOW! You cosplay is SO amazing!

Bea-Loved: Why thank you, Marc! Knight Kat, Sparrows, Stand down. He's a friend.

Marc: With how powerful you are, there's NO WAY you could have any weaknesses.

Bea-Loved: Considering that your creative self didn't catch a certain detail, I'm proud of the design. There's actually a weakness!

Marc: Oh really?

Bea-Loved: Yeah, if Scarabée kisses one of my minions, they'll be the only one freed from my control. But if Scarabée were to kiss me, they'd all be freed from my control!~

Marc: So very genius! Hawkmoth could NEVER!

Bea-Loved: Not without MY ideas-

Hawkmoth, communicating through Bea-Loved: FOCUS ON FINDING SCARABÉE!

Bea-Loved: *rolls her eyes* Talk to you later, Marc!

And with that, Bea-Loved and her minions leaped away.

Marc: You get that, Scarabée?

Scarabée: Yeah. Never thought I'd have to act out a fairytale. Good work, now go hide with your friends. I can take it from here. Lucky Charm!

After using the magical luck power, two smoke bombs and flower bouquet wrap.

Scarabée: The smoke bombs I get, but why bouquet wrapping? I'll have to feature this out fast.

She then puts one of the smoke bombs and flower bouquet wrap in her yo-yo before going after the cosplaying akuma.

Scarabée manages to stay hidden from Bea-Loved and her minions as she caught up to them.

Knight Kat was standing the closest to Bea-Loved when a smoke bomb is thrown at them.

Bea-Loved: My Knight, protect me!

Knight Kat: Cataclysm!

Knight Kat had her cataclysm ready for anything that would attack her from the front, the smoke make her blind to an attack from behind.

Scarabée surprises her with a tornado kick, flinging her into the nearest alley and quickly runs to tackle her.

When the smoke clears, Bea-Loved immediately notices Knight Kat's absence.

Bea-Loved: Knight Kat, come to me! .... Knight Kat?!

In the alley, Scarabée was on top of Knight Kat, kissing her lips as she slowly turned back into Kitty Claws.

Scarabée, internally: Sorry KC, hope you'll forgive me for this...

When Scarabée finally pulls away, she sees the heart pin break into pieces.

Kitty Claws: Itty-Bitty? What happened? What is my cataclysm activated?!

Scarabée, quickly gets off of her: What all do you remember?

Kitty Claws: After saving you from being a controlled cosplayer, everything's a blur-

Scarabée: Don't worry about what you can't remember! I need your help to quickly feature out what to do with flower bouquet wrap.

Kitty Claws: Did you say flower bouquet wrap?

Scarabée: Yeah?

Kitty Claws then opens her staff and quickly but carefully pulls out the bouquet of carefully wrapped and selected flowers.

Scarabée: And thanks to you, we've got a away to defeat the Akuma.

Kitty Claws: Oh Itty-Bitty, you flatter me! Where's the akuma?

Scarabée: In the pink heart pin on her chest.

Scarabée then reveals her to Bea-Loved.

The cosplaying Akuma then quickly notices the bouquet of flowers in Scarabée's hands.

Scarabée: Bea-Loved, I wanna show you how much your work is appreciated. Which is why I got these gorgeous flowers.

Bea-Loved: Oh Scarabée-

Hawkmoth, communicating: DON'T DO IT! IT'S A TRAP!

Bea-Loved: Don't ruin this for me!

Ignoring Hawkmoth Bea-Loved runs towards Scarabée, only for Kitty Claws to leap from the alley and throw the second smoke bomb between them.

Bea-Loved: WHAT-

With just a poke from her cataclysmed finger, Bea-Loved's pin falls to pieces and the akuma flies out of it.

Scarabée then uses her yo-yo to catch it purifies it and releases the now pure butterfly.

Using her Miraculous Cure, she throws the bouquet in the charmed wrappings into the air and fixes everything.

When Esmée and the others are turned back to normal, Kitty Claws pulls Scarabée into yet another victory selfie.

Kitty Claws couldn't help but smile as the flowers fell around both her and Scarabée

Scarabée: See ya KC!

Kitty Claws: See ya...

The two heroines then part ways.

Esmée then runs towards Marinette Alya Mylène and Nathaniel.

Esmée: YOU GUYS! I'M SO SORRY!

Alya: You don't need to apologize, Esmée!

Marinette: This was Hawkmoth's fault, not yours!

Nathaniel: It's all okay now.

Mylène: Let's go back to your place.

Esmée: Thanks you guys...

Alya: We don't even have to talk about the fan mail livestream if you don't want to.

Esmée: I will be changing my letter for sure!

Alya: We've got all day and the rest of tomorrow to help you come up with ideas.

~~~~~The next afternoon~~~~~

Chloé Adrien and Sabrina were watching the ScaraBlog's fan mail livestream.

Sabrina: Esmée sending an Email instead of an anonymous letter was so nice.

Adrien: Sounds like she isn't crushing on Scarabée and Kitty Claws anymore. Wish some of MY fans were like her...

Chloé: You'll probably be wishing for a long time.

Alya, from the phone: And now for our final letter for the stream!

When Alya takes a very familiar piece of crumbled paper out of the envelope, Chloé's eyes go wide.

Chloé, internally: That's... oh no!

"Scarabée, you're not only my favorite of the two heroines, but you're an amazing inspiration to me. Seeing how you can pull through even the toughest situations leaves me in awe. Everytime I see you, it's like you manage to become even more incredible everyday. I hope you continue to be your beautiful and badass self."

Sabrina: Whoa... that was a really sweet one.

Adrien: Such a nice way to end the stream, right Chloé?

Chloé: R-right.

It took everything in Chloé to not bury her face into her pillow.

Sabrina: I wonder who sent it...

Adrien, smirking: I'm sure Scarabée will be so flattered no matter who it is.

Chloé, muttering: Shut it, Adrien!

~~~~~Later that night~~~~~

With Adrien and Sabrina gone home, Chloé was getting ready for bed when Plagg flies up to her.

Plagg: Are you still embarrassed by your letter being read on the ScaraBlog-

Chloé: Adrien HAS to be the one who submitted it! I know he wanted to cheer me up, but WHY do that?!

Without realizing it, Chloé ends up pacing on her balcony.

When she stops to look up at the sky, she sees Scarabée jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Chloé: Plagg, Claws Out!

After Scarabée lands top of the Eiffel Tower, Kitty Claws lands behind her second later.

Kitty Claws: What brings you out and about Itty-Bitty?

Scarabée: Just thinking... I saw the ScaraBlog's fan mail livestream.

Hearing this causes Kitty Claws' heart to beat rapidly.

Kitty Claws, fake laughing: Oh yeah that! I already forgot about it! So lame!

Scarabée: I'm gonna let the bitchy mean girl bit slide tonight. I for one thought the messages were very sweet.

Kitty Claws: Y-you did?

Scarabée: Yeah, especially that last message... if I can inspire more people like that messenger, this hero stuff can get alot easier...

Kitty Claws, beginning to blush: Okay, many not ALL of the letters were lame...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inspired by: @emdoddles @princess-of-the-corner @muggle-born-princess @dcschart @justanotherpersonsuniverse @symphonic-scream

[kawaiichibiart]

Matagot AU

In case anyone wants to know where this started:

Not sure how far I'm going to get into this AU, but I figured some of y'all would be interested. So... :)

First thing ya gotta know, I never plan for any ship in the lovesquare to be the end goal. Just not my thing, I don't like it. And in all honesty, whenever I think of the Matagot AU, I don't see any romantic relationships developing. Purely platonic friendship and familial love.

Because he knows he can change the way his costume look, it'd easy for Adrien to change his appearance to ensure no one makes a connection between Chat Noir and Matagot. The only reason Ladybug can is because of the bond they've developed and her knowing his identity.

↑ Unfortunately, despite them having revealed themselves, it wasn't the happy moment they both wished for.

And while some would have argued for Ladybug to take back the cat miraculous, seeing as Monarch was dead, she didn't want to. Even if she did, she wouldn't be able to.

There are many ways kwamis bond with their holders. Stories of "true holders" have circled around for centuries, people who had been "destined" to wield a certain miraculous. But the reality is that those so called "true holders" actually formed a sort of soul bond with their kwamis. A special connection between the two that added some additional protection to them and the miraculous. One of which is only they can remove the miraculous.

Plagg formed one with Adrien shortly before Monarch made his first appearance, and Tikki planned on forming one with Marinette but could never find the right time to bring it up.

Of course things aren't easy at first. Trauma aside, Adrien has a lot of trust issues and things he's internalized. As I mentioned in the linked post, people wanted someone to blame because Gabriel was dead. And who better than his son? A lot of blame was shoved on to Adrien to the point where things that were unrelated to Monarch and people being akumatized were also blamed on him: You got fired? It's Adrien's fault. Your significant other left you? It's Adrien's fault. You got expelled? It happened because of Adrien. You were robbed? Failed a test? Broke your grandma's favorite vase? It's all Adrien's fault. It happened enough that he began to internalize it and now feels like he has to apologize for literally everything. Because it's all his fault, right?

*Catwoman entering the Batcave with Matagot, each with a smoothie* Nightwing:...what ya got there, Catwoman? Catwoman: a smoothie

Bruce and Selina definitely get into "minor" arguments about her taking in a boy and teaching him how to break into places and steal.

Honestly, it's kinda fun not having to be hero in Gotham. Chat Noir and Catwalker were both heroes. Matagot isn't. Vigilante, anti-hero, either works. Maybe people back in Paris would question it. But, he can't really find himself caring. He will feel bad if it reflects badly on Ladybug though. He's not gonna stop but he'll feel bad.

Personal therapist Harley Quinn, most of their "therapy" sessions is just breaking shit with bats. Sometimes they're joined by Jason /Red Hood. Don't tell Bruce/Batman.

When Marinette makes her way to Gotham, it's part of a school trip that students had to pay for. The trip was divided so some students went to Gotham and some went to Metropolis. The reason she chose Gotham over Metropolis was because she had been visited by Wonder Woman.

Originally, Diana planned to train Marinette herself, but after learning that the holder of the cat miraculous ran away, she told her she'd help her get in touch with her friend, Batman. If anyone can help her find Adrien, it's him and his team. And, if she's willing, she'll talk him into giving her more training. With that, Marinette decides she's heading to Gotham.

Adrien avoids his old classmates and friends like the plague when they arrive. While they didn't really do anything, some of them did participate in blaming him for everything. If he sees one of the few he fully trusts is alone, he might talk to them. Might.

[literaphobe]

I’ve seen a lot of gender swapped mlb stuff where either one or both of their genders are swapped. How do you think any of those variations would change the love square dynamic or the characters in general, if they would change it all?

GONNA TALK ABOUT WLW LOVE SQUARE. other variations will be elaborated on if u come back and ask my sweet anonie <3

adrienette: i feel like fem adrien would give marinette so many more demons. i could go more in depth about my visions but ifl it would be really funny to see alya try and convince marinette that girl adrien TOTALLY likes her like its SO obvious and marinette is like IT DOESNT MEAN ANYTHING ALYA SHES NICE TO EVERYONE!! plus we dont even know if adrien likes girls!! and adrien walks by only overhearing the last sentence and is like oh! i do like girls :) and then after marinette’s recovered from her heart attack the new meta becomes OKAY BUT WE DONT KNOW IF SHES ATTRACTED TO GIRLS. MAYBE SHE JUST THINKS GIRLS R REALLY FUCKING COOL!! the next day the papers announce that girl adrien is in love w ladybug

ladynoir: chat noir has got the biggest crush on ladybug like she is so seriously gay like if she didnt already know she was gay if she was the most repressed gay girlie in this gay girlie world she would know what she was with ONE look at ladybug. ladybug has no fucking idea chat noir is in love with her. she thinks they are best friends. no one understands this life other than Her. one time some sleazy guy hit on chat and ladybug beat the shit out of him. he just so happened to be akumatized but she was so pissed off and violent about it. the dating rumors and the media are the same about it. aka incredibly invasive and ladybug is just as pissed off that they think they are dating. she gets so aggressive about it to the point where chat noir asks her what she thinks about the lgbt+ community. and chat is like im sorry like im a wlw and if u dont like gay ppl thats okay i just– and then ladybug like kisses her and is like im gay too u idiot its just weird of the media to speculate so harshly and then chat is just like FROZEN and ladybug freaks out shes like IM SO SORRY I SHOULDNT HAVE LIKE I MEAN I SHOULDVE ASKED and chat is like NO ITS OK UVE KISSED ME BEFORE ANYWAY and ladybug is like THATS DIFFERENT I HAD NO CHOICE BUT HERE– and then chat kisses her to calm her down (and shut her up) and pretty much just even the scales in terms of initiated kisses. when news about girl adrien x ladybug breaks out ladybug is like ???!!!!!!!! and chat is like um do u hate that she likes u i mean the news probably waaaayyyy exaggerated what they interrogated out of her and like um so overstretched it probably haha what do u think of blonde models and um adrien i guess like do u hate her do u think shes cool do u think you could fall madly in love with her and spend all your days together

ladrien: ladybug saves girl adriens life and shes like oh thank you ladybug… ur so wonderful 😍 like so clearly into her but ladybug is dense af and also nervous af she doesnt even believe the rumors!! shes like ur welcome girl adrien haha um yeah so um i saw the news but dont worry!!!! i know how the news exaggerates all the time like they always call me and girl chat noir a couple even tho we are not!! and adrien is like oh so like… ud never date chat noir? and ladybug is like uh… we are… friends and partners. do you.. want me to date chat noir? So the news really got it all wrong and you dont like me at all? and adrien is like I DO LIKE YOU… UM WHO WOULDN’T LIKE YOU? <- she has no idea how to save this bc she wants to date ladybug but doesnt know which identity to chase her with best and she thinks ladybug might not like EITHER of her identities so shes like confused at shit but also she very easily gets her hopes up and shes like maybe i should tell her???

marichat: ifl the events of glaciator will always be so inevitable for marichat. like marinette will always look so inviting on that balcony of hers staring off wistfully into the evening air and chat noir will always feel drawn to it when ladybug is nowhere to be found… what would be fun about wlw marichat guys

[imsparky2002]

Where Was The Tomato?

This features some altering of canon to make Nath less of a creep. Just letting you know.

Nathaniel Kurtzberg was prepping for the undead apocalypse, something that he had been hiding from his classmates. He had studied zombie movies, comics, games, and books religiously. He had been turned into Evillustrator after getting caught drawing zombie apocalypse plans in science class. He knew his stuff and kept that knowledge to himself in case he had to kill an undead friend. When Miss Bustier, or “Zombizou” barged into class and infected Sabrina, the redhead knew exactly what to do. Sure, this was an Akuma who would probably be defeated by Ladybug and Cat Noir in a span of an hour or so, but he wasn’t taking chances. While everyone else was panicking, he analzyed the infected. They seemed to act as love-hungry zombies, repeating “Kissou” over and over and spreading the infection via smooches. Nathaniel also knew that Chloe had caused the akumatization, as usual. So he figured that in order to avoid Zombizou’s wrath, he needed to get as far away from Bourgeois as possible. He couldn’t do it at the start, as people would look for him, wondering where he had gone. He waited until Mylene had been infected, causing a panic between the group. It seemed that as usual, most of his classmates were running around like headless chickens, attracting attention from love zombies. Why couldn’t they just keep calm and find a safe spot? Whatever, he still managed to slip away, and began looking for a place to hide. Maybe the classroom he had left? Zombizou would be looking for new places to infect, skipping the places she already visited. He had dived into the empty classroom, closing the windows and locking the door.

“Alright, more like yanderes than zombies, but I can make it out if I keep calm.” Nathaniel said aloud.

This would be fine! All he had to do was keep quiet like always, and they wouldn’t notice him. Should he use a marker and draw kisses on himself, blend in with the rest of the infected? Probably not, they’d smell the marker, and uninfected kids might think he was a zombie himself. He would have kept on debating what to do, if he hadn’t heard a scream outside the room, a tall boy in a hoodie ran for dear life, before stopping at his door.

“HELP! IS ANYONE THERE! PLEASE HELP ME!”

Nathaniel recognized the voice. It belonged to one of the boys in Mendeleiev’s class. He had seen the kid a few times during lunch, sitting by a tree, always writing in his notebook. Nath had found him to be pretty cute, and wished he would join the art class, even if he just knew how to write. The paranoid part in his brain screamed not to let him in, in case it attracted attention.

“I’M NOT INFECTED! I SWEAR TO GOD! PLEASE!” the boy screamed.

Nathaniel felt his heart ache for the boy, and decided to be a hero. He unlocked the doors and pulled the tall kid into the room, locking the door behind him. He was immediately hugged by the hooded kid, causing him to blush. He heard the other boy’s muffled cries of relief, causing his heart to melt even further.

“Thank you! I thought I was gonna die out there!” the boy sobbed, staring up at Nathaniel with tears in his eyes. Nathaniel just shushed him, taking the boy to one of the desks to sit down.

“Sshh! It’s ok, man. Just try not to attract any more attention, alright? This is a hiding spot I don’t want to lose.” Nathaniel explained.

“I-I’m sorry.” The other boy sniffed.

He gave the writer some time to calm down. Once he had composed himself, Nathaniel stuck out a hand.

“I don’t know how long this is gonna last, so I want to get to know the guy who’s hiding with me. I’m Nathaniel Kurtzberg.” He said.

“Yeah, I know who you are.” the writer mumbled. “I’ve seen some of your drawings on the school website. The movements, the expressions, the attitudes, they’re all so... vivid.” he gushed.

Nathaniel couldn’t help but blush. Some people had complimented his art before, but not in such detail, not with such genuine passion. “T-thanks.” he sputtered. “That means a lot to me... what’s your name?”

“Marc Anciel. Better known as ProseScript.” Marc replied, causing Nath’s eyes to widen in shock.

“You’re Marc Anciel? The one who writes those amazing short stories for DuPont’s website?” Nathaniel exclaimed. “I thought it was just the Literature teacher using a penname!”

Marc beamed a little, scratching his neck. “I didn’t feel comfortable revealing my identity. So I went with “ProseScript” instead.” Marc admitted. He showed his notebook to Nath, as if to backup his claim.

“God, the dialogue, the use of vivid descriptions, the wit, you’re amazing, Marc!” Nathaniel gushed. “I’m glad that if I’m gonna die in a love-zombie apocalypse, it’s with someone with such a talent.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way about you.” Marc said, starting to grow in confidence. He then gave a little chuckle.

“You know it’s funny. I’ve sorta been prepping for an apocalypse, shame it was the wrong kind of monster.” Marc giggled. This intrigued Nathaniel. Marc had been preparing for a monsterpocalypse as well? They really were perfect for each other.

“Oh? What kind?” Nathaniel asked. Marc opened his backpack and pulled out a small black notebook. As he showed off a few pages, Nath could see content dedicated to holy water, garlic, silver, a bucketload of ways to defeat bloodsuckers. Every type of vampire was in there. Like Nathaniel, Marc held a lot of knowledge for monsters, except he specialized in vampires.

“I thought the monsters would be trying to suck my blood, not my tongue.” Marc joked, before groaning in response.

“I’ve been prepping too! Except for zombies, not vampires.” Nathaniel responded. They shared a laugh over the absurdity of the situation. Then, Nathaniel felt his heart begin to beat rapidly. The realization hit him like a freight train. He was in love with Marc. But why? He only just met him! Sure he thought he was cute, but did he really want to have a crush on him? Normally, he’d hide such feelings, but this was an apocalypse. Those rules went out the window. In an unusual show of strength, he cleared his throat, and looked at Marc.

“Marc, I think... no, I know I love you.” Nathaniel admitted, relieved to get his confession out of the way. Marc gaped in response, before hugging the redhead once again.

“OMIGODOMIGOD YESS!” He yelped, before being shushed by Nath once again.

“Sorry! It’s just, I’ve had a crush on you for a while! I didn’t think you liked me back, I saw you giving googly eyes to Marinette-”

“Eh, I’m bi. That’s ok with you right?” Nathaniel asked.

“Oh totally, I’d never be biphobic. I’m just so happy the feeling’s mutual!” Marc replied.

“Well, when this is all over. Would you want to make a comic with me? As boyfriends?” Nathaniel asked.

“Yes yes, a thousand times yes!” Marc cheered. It was at this moment that Nathaniel got an idea. He heard the love zombies getting closer, and grabbed Marc.

“Kiss me.” he stated.

“Now? Doesn’t that seem a little fast?” Marc asked.

“There are infected coming, and we need to blend in. Plus... I want to see what it feels like.” Nath admitted. Marc nodded in understanding, and as the zombies passed their room, they ignored the seemingly “infected” boys kissing each other. As they moved out of sight, the boys pulled away from each other, grinning from ear to ear.

“That was amazing.” Nathaniel gushed.

“Not how I wanted my first kiss, but it felt awesome.” Marc replied.

And so the two boys spent the next hour or so, hanging out together, learning more and more about each other. At some point, Nathaniel’s classmates would come back, cured by Ladybug’s Miraculous, but he didn’t care. All that matters was that he survived Zombizou’s apocalypse, and found a partner while doing so.

And that was it! I thought it’d be cute for Nathaniel and Marc to meet during a zombie apocalypse. It also explains where Nath was during the second half of the episode. Lemme know what you think in the replies and reblogs. @artzychic27 @msweebyness 

[awakefor48hours]

The Maribug Fic -- Rewritten

[Fanfiction.net] || [AO3]

[Chapter 2 >]

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Relationship: Maribug/Ladynette Tags: Crack fic, No beta, I will update this every time someone asks Characters: Marinette Dupain Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Cat Noir (more to be added later) No warnings

Summary: Cat Noir asks Ladybug an important but difficult question to answer. So she tells him a ridiculous lie. What's the worst that could happen?

Woohoo, I'm stable enough to write this. If you don't know, last year, I tried to write a Maribug fic but I was fighting some of the worst depression in my life and I could tell the fanfiction was suffering because of that. But I'm better now. Also, this is going to take place at the same time as the original fanfiction (a little before Kwami's Choice special and a little after Elation). Now without further, onto the crack.

Cat Noir and Ladybug were sitting on a roof of a building watching the sunset after spending the day on patrol. Fortunately, there wasn't much disturbance today. Just a few kittens stuck in trees.

"I wish patrol was like this every day, M'Lady." Cat Noir commented.

"I do too but as we both know, that unrealistic." She then stood up about to leave only for Cat Noir to stop her.

"Before you go, M'Lady, can I ask you a question?"

She turned to face him and just said "yeah, sure, go ahead."

"Okay, so I've been wondering... why have you only given a Miraculous to Marinette Dupain Cheng once?"

Other than being Multimouse, technically speaking... she has given a Miraculous to Marinette Dupain Cheng. In fact, she's given a lot of Miraculouses to Marinette Dupain Cheng. But of course he wouldn't know that.

"Cat, don't you remember? I can't give a Miraculous to Marinette Dupain Cheng. We both know her identity!"

Cat Noir scratched the back of his head. "I know about that but this isn't the first time we've both known the identity of a holder. We both know Ryuko's identity, Bunnyx's identity, Pegasus's identity." Why did he have to make good arguments now? "In fact, when you gave Chloe the Bee Miraculous, the whole world knew her identity. Not to mention, along with being a great a holder of the Mouse Miraculous, she's one of the few people in Paris who still hasn't been akumatized." Not an easy task. "It's also doesn't hurt that her parents have the best bakery in all of Paris. So, I just don't understand why you gave her the Mouse Miraculous once."

She had to think of something to say but it was really hard. She wasn't expecting questions like this and he made some damn good points.

Think Marinette, think! What is a totally believable reason for not giving herself a Miraculous without blowing her identity?

"I, uh, have a crush on Marinette."

Was it too late to reveal her identity?

"You do!?" Cat Noir sat up in surprise but also... intrigue.

"Yeah... I... have... a... crush on... Marinette Dupain Cheng." What is she even saying? "So in order to stop myself from getting distracted on the job, I just... I just haven't given her another Miraculous."

She could see the gears turning in Cat Noir's head. He probably already saw through her lie. "That's actually a great decision!" Or maybe he didn't see through her lie. "You're already losing your composure just thinking about her."

"Yeah... I sure am!" She started gesturing wildly. "If I think about Marinette for too long, a villain could definitely take my Miraculous easily. So it's best that I just don't get distracted."

Cat Noir stood up and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You made such a great choice."

Ladybug laughed lightly. "You're, uh, not gonna tell anyone about this, right?"

Cat Noir took a step back and bowed at her. "Not even if the most heinous akuma tries to torture it out of me."

"Gooooood." She was thankful for that at least.

"I'll see you around, Ladybug." Was the last thing Cat Noir said to her before using his pole to catapult himself into the air, leaving Ladybug alone.

She watched him for a few moments before heading home herself. When dropped into her room, she detransformed and reality finally caught up to her and it hit her like a truck.

"AAAAA!" She screamed, then started her head against the wall. "I TOLD CAT NOIR I HAVE A CRUSH ON... MYSELF!"

She then tightly grabbed her hair, almost to the point of pulling it out. "This is a disaster! A disaster! A disaster! A DISASTER!"

Tikki flew to her eye level. "Calm down, Marinette. It's not the end of the world."

Marinette now focused on Tikki. "It might as well be! I already blew my chance at being with Adrien and now I just my chance at being with Cat Noir! I'M SO LAME!"

So glad I took that break because I'm already loving this rewrite more. (Also like my Adrichat fic, new chapter comes out when someone asks for it)

[aalissy]

Hard Decision

Whoo day 11 is done!! And I think it’s my new fave heheh. It’s my take on what would happen if Marichat had gotten together after Elation instead of Adrienette :). Lemme know what you think!

AO3

Marinette paced on her balcony. The cold wind blew on her cheeks, cooling some of her anxiety. Every so often, she’d tug on one of her pigtails, letting out a frustrated screech. Why was this so hard?! 

She knew that she wanted to reveal her identity. Wanted to tell Chat that she had been his lady this whole time. Wanted to tell him that he had fallen in love with her twice. Wanted to give him all of her because she trusted him more than she trusted anyone else in her life.

But, whenever her mind was made up, and Marinette decided that she was just gonna blurt it out as soon as he landed on her balcony, a flash of Master Fu’s frowning face filled her mind. What would he think? He was the one who had pushed just how important their secret identities were. That if she and Chat revealed their identities, they might have to both give up their miraculouses.

But then, when she had made her mind up the other way, that their identities were too important to lose, she’d remember that Master Fu was gone now. Marinette was the guardian now. Everything was up to her. And, even if she had lost the miraculouses, she trusted Chat when he said that they would get them all back. Together. 

Tugging on her pigtails again, Marinette let out a frustrated yell. She buried her face in her hands, shaking her head back and forth. “Why is this so impossible?” she muttered to herself.

“Marinette, if this is worrying you so much, then why don’t you wait and do it later?” Tikki’s calm, reassuring voice came from above her.  

“I can’t just wait, Tikki,” she muttered in her hands before looking up at the kwami. “Chat deserves to know the whole truth. I can’t keep lying to him about this. Especially now that we’re dating. He needs to know that I’m Ladybug so that he can decide if he still wants to be with me.”

Marinette glanced away, guilt hitting her like a truck. She sighed, taking a few steps away to lean over her balcony railing. “Especially now that he says that he’s over Ladybug. It just feels wrong lying to him like this.”

Tikki was quiet for a few moments. Long enough that Marinette wondered if she had gone back inside the room. But then, she spoke up, her voice sounding hesitant and unsure, “But, Marinette, Chat’s keeping his identity from you as well. Would you expect him to reveal the whole truth to decide whether or not you want to stay with him too?”

She spluttered, whipping around to stare at Tikki with wide eyes. “What?! No, of course not.” 

In fact, Marinette was sort of hoping that she could convince Chat to keep his identity secret. It wouldn’t be good if they both knew each other’s identities. What would happen if she got akumatized again? With a shiver, she wrapped her arms around herself. She couldn’t let that happen. 

Her thoughts drifted to their second kiss of that night. The one that had saved her from Monarch’s clutches. The one that had solidified the fact that they were going to try a relationship. Even if it was difficult. 

With a tiny smile, Marinette let her arms fall back down to her sides. “But I love him, Tikki. On either side of the mask. No matter what.”

Slowly, softly, Tikki murmured, “And you don’t think he feels the same?”

Her eyes grew sad as she glanced down towards her feet. She shifted, blowing out a quick puff of air. “I know he doesn’t,” Marinette muttered, brushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. “He told me himself that he’s not in love with Ladybug anymore. That it was too much to bear.”

Suddenly, her head whipped back up, determination flaring in her gaze. “Which is why I have to tell him that she’s me! I’m done with the lies and secrets.”

Once again, there was a long pause wherein Tikki said nothing. After a tense few seconds, Marinette glanced over at her kwami. She swallowed as Tikki slowly gave a nod of her head. “Alright. If that’s your decision then I won’t stop you. You’re the guardian now, so it’s your choice.”

Marinette thought that she’d be hit by an instant wave of relief. That didn’t happen. Instead, she felt kind of numb. Hollow even. Maybe she’d been expecting Tikki to scold her. To tell her that she couldn’t reveal her identity because it was too dangerous. 

She blew out another sigh, about to start pacing again when Tikki’s eyes widened. Her kwami quickly phased through the trapdoor back down to her room and Marinette knew her time was up. It was now or never.

A light thump sounded behind her and she quickly whirled around, tilting her head to stare up at Chat Noir. 

“Hello, purrincess,” he said.

He looks nervous, Marinette thought before clearing her mind. It was time. 

“I need to tell you something!” she blurted out at the same time Chat did.

She blinked before they both burst into giggles. They were so in synch sometimes it was funny. With a wave of her hand, Marinette gestured at him to go first. “What did you want to tell me?”

“No, no, it’s alright. You go first.” He gave her a shy grin, scratching the back of his neck anxiously. 

Okay. This was good. She could speak her mind without completely freaking out. Yep. She could definitely do this.

Sucking in a deep breath, Marinette rushed out, “I-I want to talk to you about secret identities!”

Clenching her eyes shut, she felt her heart quicken its pace in her chest. She didn’t want to see his reaction. Didn’t want to see the anger and hurt in his eyes as he realized that she had been lying to him the whole time. 

When Chat didn’t shout at her or at least demand an explanation, Marinette cracked an eye open to peek at him. He didn’t look hurt or shocked. If anything he just looked confused.

Both her eyes opened as she frowned. Why was he confused?

“Marinette... I already know that you’re Multimouse, remember? You accidentally took your miraculous off in front of Ladybug and me.”

She blinked again, feeling her lips part in surprise. Oh. Multimouse. How had she forgotten about Multimouse? Well, that was going to be difficult to explain.

Biting down harshly into her lower lip, Marinette slowly shook her head. “I-I’m not talking about Multimouse...”

Chat stiffened, his eyes darting away from hers as his expression morphed from confusion to anxiety. “T-then are you talking about my identity?”

Her brow furrowed once more. What was he talking about? 

Opening her mouth, she was about to explain that wasn’t what she meant at all when he began to pace. His movements matched hers just a few moments ago, one of his hands coming up to rake through his hair every so often.

“I swear, Marinette, I was going to tell you,” Chat said, looking at her seriously as he took her hands in his. He squeezed them and now she was the one who was confused. What was he talking about? 

“That’s actually what I came to talk to you about right here and now. And I know I shouldn’t have done it. That I was taking advantage of your feelings for me when you already said that you were over me. But then we kissed and all I could think about was how much I loved you and how much I wanted to do it again.”

Marinette blinked furiously, a whirlwind of confusion hitting her. What was he talking about? Taking advantage of feelings... that was supposed to be her line. He hadn’t done that to her. That was what she had done to him by not telling him that she was Ladybug.

Chat was still mumbling about taking advantage of her when she placed a finger over his lips, shushing him delicately. He looked at her with a pair of wide, innocent eyes. Did he know how adorable he was?

Marinette took a step closer, moving her finger from his lips to his cheek as she stroked it softly. “Slow down, kitty. I’m not understanding you. What are you talking about? You didn’t take advantage of my feelings at all. I love you.”

His gaze softened before he quietly murmured, “Yeah, but you don’t love Adrien anymore... right?”

Adrien? What did Adrien have to do with this? Her frown deepened and she opened her mouth to ask him what he meant when suddenly his words from before hit her. Taking advantage of her feelings. Telling Chat that she was over Adrien.

Her heart roared in her ears as her palms grew sweaty. Marinette scanned his face, searching for Adrien’s features under that dark mask and messy hair. She found it. With a quiet gasp, she stumbled back from him.

He took a small step forward, reaching for her. “Marinette... I,”

Before Chat could say anything else, though, she suddenly erupted into giggles. That was probably the wrong reaction to have but she couldn’t help it. All she could think about was the circles that they had gone around and around in. 

Chat had gotten over Ladybug only to fall in love with Marinette who was Ladybug. And she... she had gotten over Adrien only to fall in love with Chat who was Adrien. What else could she do but laugh?

“Marinette?”

Chat sounded worried, and honestly, she couldn’t blame him. 

Slowing her giggles, she sucked in a fierce breath of air. It really was time to tell him. “I-I hadn’t been talking about your identity. I had been talking about mine. And I wasn’t talking about Multimouse, either. I was talking about Ladybug. Or, well, me being Ladybug.”

There was a long pause as neither said anything. Marinette’s giggles immediately ceased as she looked up into Chat’s eyes. There was an unreadable expression there and her gut swirled with even more anxiety. 

Maybe she never should have said anything. Maybe he hated her now. Just because she realized that she loved both Chat and Adrien now didn’t mean that he would feel the same. Maybe he despised the fact that she had lied to him for so long.

“You’re Ladybug?” he whispered, that same, fixed expression on his face.

Slowly, she gave a nod of her head. There was another even longer pause. Marinette opened her mouth, prepared to unleash a slew of apologies when suddenly Chat rushed forward, his arms wrapping around her as he lifted her into the air. She squealed, surprise filling her as he hugged her to him tightly. 

“It’s you,” he whispered, “Of course, it was you.”

Relief mixed with love and she squeezed him back. When he slowly lowered her to the ground, Marinette nibbled her lower lip before giving him a small smile. “So you don’t hate me, then?”

“Not even slightly,” Chat said, cupping her cheek. “Do you hate me?”

“I couldn’t even dream of it,” she murmured. 

In the next second, Marinette was leaning up at the same time Chat leaned down. Their lips met in a sweet kiss. Their surroundings disappeared as they both drowned their worries away. It was just them. And it always would be.

Leaning back, she whispered, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” he whispered back before tilting his head as he deepened the kiss. Throwing her arms around his neck, Marinette realized how truly thankful she was. She had made the right decision after all, because this was complete and utter perfection.

[kleenex-tissues]

Yours Truly

Maribat coming at you again twice in the same night baby

As always, click here for AO3

Chapter 2:  Marinette Dupain-Cheng Will be Fluent in English, Mark Her Words

Marinette Dupain-Cheng liked to think of herself as an optimist, not that she had much choice.

After spending the past three years fighting a guy who took advantage of the negative emotions of Paris’ civilians with nothing but a yo-yo, she had learned to ward off bad feelings rather quickly.

No matter how many times she got detention for skipping class to fight an akuma. Or got yelled at by her Maman for falling asleep at the bakery’s register after staying up all night fighting an akuma. Or her friends called her flakey when she was late to their hangout because she was across town fighting an akuma.

Quite frankly, it was a wonder just how she hadn’t been akumatized in all these years, but her ability to switch into aggressive positivity seemed to keep even Hawkmoth at bay.

This optimism was what got her into trouble when she convinced herself that she would be improving her English-speaking skills before going off to university. Applications from multilingual students looked remarkably better for programs outside of France, so in order to keep herself from being a total liar on her resume, she was going to speak English perfectly!

Easy as it sounds, no?

Well, actually, no.

Between being Ladybug: defender of Paris and menace to poorly dressed villains, class president for the fourth year in a row, going to school full-time, filling out her portfolio for design school, taking commissions for outfits and costumes, working part-time at her parent’s bakery, and having a social life, she was spread a little thin. There was no possible way she could fit in an extra language class.

After the fifth week in a row of missing her time-slot with her English tutor, Marinette felt defeated. She knew if she continued to fail, she would spiral into a panic. If she was bad at English, then she would have lied on her applications. If the schools she applied to found out she lied, she could get denied attendance. If she was denied attendance, she would have to spend the rest of her life living in a bedroom above her parents’ bakery, making out-of-fashion clothes because she lost all her inspiration to design after getting deni–

“Girl, stay with me,” Alya snapped at Marinette. “You’re catastrophizing again.”

Marinette only groaned in reply from her position face down on her school desk.

“C’mon, Mari! It’s only September, you’ve got plenty of time to improve your English,” Nino piped up from in front of her.

If Marinette could count on one thing to stay positive about in her hectic life, it was her friends. Every year since they were 14, Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Adrien had been placed into the same classes. While their classmates had shuffled and changed over time, these three had stayed solid in her life. The same four seats in the front of the classroom – Marinette and Alya behind, Nino and Adrien in front.

Her life was better for them.

“My life is over,” mumbled Marinette.

Alya, Nino, and Adrien shared a look before the former rolled her eyes and patted her friend on the back. “No, it’s not. You’re just a little busy right now. Some time will free up soon.”

Marinette shot up to look at her friend in horror.

“There is no soon! I will never make it to this stupid class without an akuma attacking, or an emergency at the bakery, or a hours-long project due the next day with zero progress done on it. How am I ever gonna learn English?”

Just as tears began to form in Marinette’s eyes, Alya hugged her tightly. Her warm embrace calmed Marinette down well enough to keep any tears from falling.

‘Breathe in. Breathe out,’ she thought to herself, trying to calm down and match the breathing pattern of the girl attached to her.

“We’ll help you figure it out. You’re never alone when we’re around, okay?”

Marinette nodded into Alya’s shoulder. “Okay.”

This was how Marinette ended up in her room a few hours later staring at a pen pal website on her monitor like it had personally wronged her.

Alya’s idea of figuring it out was a pen pal website. Something about ‘real-world application’ is how she described it.

As it turned out, Alya had discovered the service on accident over the summer and decided to look into it. She met a girl from Hawai’i named Robyn, and they had really hit it off. It was all she could talk about for months, and realizing how much her English had improved, she had an idea. Marinette didn’t know the definition of stranger, so what better way to learn than through making friends from an English-speaking country?

Everything was easier said than done for Marinette, however.

The application to just be approved for the pen pal database was brutal. A dozen questions about her demographics, ten personal open-answers, and a preference sheet made up the documents. It felt like every page dragged on before she finally reached the submit button.

Her finger hesitated over the mouse.

“What’s wrong, Marinette?”

The query came from her desk, where the source of her superpowers rested in the body of a small red creature – Tikki, the Kwami of Creation. They had been partners for three years now, ever since Hawkmoth came to Paris. There was no one she could trust more than the small goddess before her.

Marinette chewed on the inside of her lip before answering. “I’m just not sure if it’s a good idea. I barely have enough free time as it is. How am I gonna be able to spend the time actually talking to this mysterious pen pal?”

“I think you’re worrying over it too much! You only have to message them as often as you feel comfortable doing. Maybe state in your email that you have work, but still want to make a friend.” Tikki flew up to hug her holder’s face. “Plus, you can reply while you’re working at the register since the email goes to your phone too!”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. I’m sure I can make some time. All worth it to improve my English, right?”

Tikki nodded her head in agreement before moving to put her hand over Marinette’s. They would click submit together. In one quick movement, they pressed the button together.

–

Her application took its time to process, and within a few days, Marinette had forgotten all about it. As she bounced down on her chaise after a grueling akuma battle, she pulled out her phone to check her notifications. Not answering anyone for three hours in the midst of an emergency tended to let her notifications fill up fast. She scrolled through a couple texts from Alya about the amazing photos she got of today’s win, alerts for the Ladyblog – the website said friend had dedicated to recording the akuma attacks, a hoard of replies in their class group chat, and emails.

The top email description read, “New Pen Pal Awaits You!” and the one below it being her confirmation that she was accepted into the pen pal database.

She looked at Tikki nervously before opening it the top one.

To: maridesigns@xxxxx.net From: penpalsonus@xxxxx.com Subject: New Pen Pal Awaits You! Hello Marinette,

Welcome again to our service, Pen Pals On Us!

Our website is dedicated to giving you new experiences with people from all over the world. Using the application you filled out, we have found you a perfect pen pal based on your preferences.

Language(s): English, French Pronouns: She/Her Likes: Animals, Fashion, Sketching Age Range: 16-18

Through analyzing your preferences and those of the many people registered in our database, we have decided to pair you with:

d.w.redbird@xxxxx.net

Language(s): English, Arabic Pronouns: He/Him Likes: Animals, Art Age Range: 16-18

We hope you become great friends!

Pen Pals On Us XXX First St, Somewhere, CA xxx-xxx-xxxx

“Well, Tikki. It looks like I’ve got a new friend.”

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Sapotis

Directory | Despair Bear

It was all hands on deck chez Césaire: not only had Marinette come to help Alya with her twin sisters, Nino had also come (along with his little brother Chris) and Adrien had joined them for the sleepover (the first he'd had in years, and even then, it had only been with Chloé).

Which led to right now, with Alya running after the twin terrors while Marinette reassured their mother.

“Yes, Mme. Césaire, they're in bed – well, almost! Enjoy your evening!”

As she hung up, Alya finally caught up with Ella and Etta.

“Alright, little monsters, bed! You've had enough mischief for today!” she exclaimed, grabbing her sisters and carrying them as if they were bags. “You have to sleep to be in top shape for the amusement park!”

“No fair!” Ella complained, while Etta pointed at Nino's brother.

“Why does Chris get to stay up!”

“Chris is a year older so he gets one more hour than you,” Alya replied as she made her way towards the bedroom.

“Hm!” Chris hummed, happily nodding as the twins angrily glared at him.

“The Sapotis are gonna get you Chris!” Ella said as they disappeared up the stairs.

While Chris asked about the tablet she was using, Nino turned to Adrien.

“Hey, guys, thanks for agreeing to help with the kids,” he said in a low voice, mindful of his girlfriend. “Alya really needed the distraction.”

“What do you mean?” Adrien asked, curious.

“Dude, you saw Scarlet Lady at the party. Alya's totally in shock that her idol is a bossy show off,” he explained. “Though I already knew that.”

“Ooh,” Adrien replied, clapping Nino's shoulder. “Well, hey man! We'll cheer her up! Good looking out for Alya!”

Nino smiled, blushing.

“Heh, thanks. I'm trying to be better about these things!”

“I wonder why we didn't notice it,” Adrien and Marinette said in unison.

They couldn't see it, but having to deal with Scarlet Lady's meltdown had made them numb to that sort of thing.

When Alya returned from putting the girls to rest, she brought out an orange juice jar, several glasses and a couple of cantaloupe slices.

“Hey, Alya, what's a sapi– sapo–?” Marinette tried to ask.

“'The Sapotis'?” Alya corrected. “Little prankster monsters from Creole legend. They spend their time getting into mischief.”

She then pulled out her cellphone and brought out an image Marinette recognized from their visit to the Louvre, the day Alix's brother got Akumatized.

“But check this – the Ladybug existed since Ancient Egypt! But no way is Scarlet Lady that old!” Alya exclaimed, so sure of herself. “Which means the Earrings have changed hands loads of times, see?! So maybe the Scarlet Lady at Chloé's party was someone else–”

“I'm gonna stop you there,” Marinette said, feeling awkward at the straws her friend was trying to grasp.

“Hey, where's the orange juice?” Chris asked, and Alya turned to see that the jar was now completely empty.

“Ah!” she muttered, already knowing who was the guilty party.

“Heehee! Sapotis did it!”

Yeah, girls, way to cover up your involvement.

“Oh, the cantaloupe too!” Adrien said, seeing the fruit now completely eaten.

“Sapotis did it! Haha!”

Alya's left eye twitched in annoyance as she walked to the twins' room, where she found them both allegedly under the sheets, but her keen sight could easily tell they had both rushed back in just moments before.

“Ella! Etta! If I see you up again you're not going to the amusement park, got it?!”

The two girls giggled, completely unaware of the danger they were both in.

“It's not us, it's the Sapo–”

Alya's temper frayed, and she pointed her fingers at both girls with the face only a thoroughly annoyed elder sister could do.

“I. MEAN. IT.”

The two girls were somewhat cowed by the fact that Alya was angry.

Not enough, though, to really understand how close to the edge she really was.

----

With Alya back in the table, Nino thought it was better to distract Alya from the current situation.

So, he started to bring up heroes, and made a question to Alya.

“So, what would you call yourself if you were a Ladybug hero?”

“Justice Bug! No, Superbug! Scarabella!”

Nino rose an eyebrow.

“Can I be a beetle instead?”

“Hey,” Chris suddenly said. “What's the TV doing?”

“Huh?!” Alya said, turning towards the TV.

Which was on.

And someone was clearly meddling with the TV remote.

“Hahaha!”

And it wasn't difficult to ascertain the guilty party.

She returned to the main hall, where she found Ella and Etta lying on the couch, Ella with the remote in hand, acting as if it was something funny.

“Haha haha!” Etta laughed.

“It's not us, it's the–!”

Alya's frayed temper snapped.

“GRRR!”

And the girls realized too late that they had pushed her too far.

“Uh-oh.”

That was when Alya issued her punishment.

“But Alya–” Ella tried to protest, but Alya was having none of it.

“No! The boys will be going by themselves because you two can't behave!” Alya berated the girls, who were now realizing their disobedience had consequences.

“WAAAH!” they both cried out.

----

“Ahh, the life of young children is no fun at all,” Hawkmoth said through his newest Akuma. “They should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want!”

He looked around, and nodded when he became certain that Nathalie was nowhere close to him with a recorder.

He didn't want her to play this back at him in the future.

----

It came all of a sudden.

“Ha–CHOO!”

“Whoa!” Marinette said, shocked.

“You okay dude?” Nino asked in worry. Adrien picked a handkerchief from the box Marinette offered and blew his nose.

“Yeah, I have the feeling someone was talking a lot of BS related to me.”

----

As Alya returned and detailed what had been done with the twins, Chris broke down crying, and had to be held by Nino.

“I didn't mean to get them in trouble...” he said between sobs, as Nino patted his back.

“It's not your fault, Chris!” Alya tried to console him. “I'll take them some other time!”

“Yeah, little dude! The park's not going anywhere!” Nino added.

CRASH!

Now officially fed-up with her sisters, Alya ran again to her sisters' room and slammed the door open.

“SERIOUSLY?! Don't try and tell me it's because of–”

Then she had a look at who was at the room – and it wasn't her sisters, but two little goblins wearing something that looked like the twins' helicopter hats.

“S-Sapotis?!” she said, stunned.

“Alya!”

“Food!”

“FREEDOM!”

The two little monsters jumped on Alya, causing her to fall to the ground as they escaped the room.

“AH!”

“Alya?!” Marinette shouted, worried.

She got her answer when the two monsters landed on the table and began to eat the food laid on it.

“My cookies...” Adrien lamented: they were Dupain-Cheng cookies, and he hadn't got around to enjoy them!

The obvious Akuma did, and as they did another of them popped in the air between them.

“They multiply when they eat!” Marinette exclaimed, while Chris held onto her leg.

And then the monsters turned towards them.

“Chris!”

“Tattletale!”

“Get him!”

“Huh?!”

Before anyone could react, the Akuma had swarmed the group, grabbed Chris and jumped for the balcony.

“CHRIS!” Nino shouted as his brother tried to reach out to him.

“Help! Nino!” Chris said, crying, as the Akuma took him away, laughing without a care.

“STOP! BRING BACK MY BROTHER!”

“C'mon, we gotta catch'em!” Alya said, bringing her boyfriend's cap.

The four teens quickly ran out of the house and spread in order to stop the Akuma.

Two of them ran into different alleys.

----

“This is getting crazy! We need to intervene!”

“Sure, Banana Boy.”

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

----

“Now, while we have the chance!”

“Yes, My Queen!”

“Pollen, Buzz On!”

----

All over Paris, the Akuma started to cause chaos.

Two of them took control of Jagged Stone's car – while he and Penny were in it.

“Ahh!” the rocker shrieked.

“What is thiiiis?!” Penny asked, shocked.

“Rock'n'roll!”

As the car swerved around, another four of them were stealing a rickshaw while laughing, and another pair was jumping to take a sweeper's vehicle.

“Trumpet!”

“Ah!” the poor man said, as Alya attempted to grab one of them.

“Knock it off!”

And, in another street, Nino was running after a group of the monsters that had stashed Chris in a shopping cart.

“Get back heeeeere!”

----

Temporarily ignorant of the goings-on outside, Chloe was currently relaxing in her father's hotel's spa, eating cookies, while Tikki just floated in the water with a kwami-sized towel on her head.

“Ahh, I earned this,” she said, even though she hadn't actually done anything to do so.

Then, a small army of tiny monsters swarmed the spa, causing great ruckus around her and bringing their chaos to the room.

“Stop!”

“Ah, wait–!”

“What are these things?!”

Annoyed, Chloé turned around to yell at the closest of the monsters she could see.

“Do you mind? I'm trying to relax–”

Her complaints were quickly muted when one of the creatures found a bowl with mud intended for facial treatments and decided it would be fun to throw it at the girl's face.

Where it landed with a SPLAT!

----

Chat Noir and Marigold were getting irritated – the Akuma were multiplying as they found more and more food, and each time they fought one, it was clear it was only a clone.

“Get back here!” Marigold yelled at a laughing clone, as Scarlet finally deigned to show up.

“Hey lackies, why haven't you cleaned up yet?!”

The two heroes glared at their 'teammate'.

“The Akuma is in the hat, but...” Chat Noir began.

“... only in the original, not the clones,” Marigold finished.

“Seriously? There's sooooo many!” Scarlet replied. “So lame. Hey, how do you know all this stuff?”

Both heroes became startled at Scarlet actually pulling the thread for once.

“Oh! Um!”

“You see–”

“Whatever, Lucky Charm.”

Thank goodness she's an idiot! both heroes thought as the ladybugs formed...

“A teapot?” she asked, surprised. “Do I throw it? It's ugly.”

Ignoring the opening she had created, Chat Noir was instead helpful.

“The Akuma's too young for tea!”

“That's it!” Marigold exclaimed, grabbing the teapot. “Chat Noir, I think you need to go work on your Kung-Fu!”

And, as she winked at him, he understood the message.

“You're right, I think it'll definitely help! Be right back!” he replied, throwing a wink back.

“Is this some gross new way of flirting you're doing?” Scarlet asked, disgusted – and caused both heroes to flush.

“NO!”

----

Adrien opened the door to Master Fu's home, Plagg in tow, with a bit of a hurry.

“Master, Scar's Lucky Charm was a clue to come see you for help!”

“Ah, I see,” the elder man said, a cup of tea in hand. “I believe the Lucky Charm is telling us you'll need a power beyond what you three can offer.”

Standing up from his seat, Fu walked to the gramophone that hid the Miraculous Box.

“You must entrust this power to someone you trust, who will return the Miraculous.”

“I know just the person!” Adrien stated, causing Fu to look at him in askance.

“It's not Marinette again, is it?”

“Ha!” Plagg laughed, while his wielder blushed.

“N–No! I have other choices!” he replied, covering up that Master Fu had been accurate.

----

Nino was at his wits' end, trying to corner one of the little gremlins that had kidnapped Chris to force the truth out of them, but right now the group he had found was more entertained toying with a merry-go-round.

“Dammit, tell me where you took my brother!” he yelled, but got ignored as the merry-go-round twirled.

“WHEEEE!” the Akuma yelled.

“This is your stop!”

Chat Noir suddenly landed next to the merry-go-round and forced it to stop, causing the Akuma to fly off – and two of them popped out as they hit the ride's bars.

“Chat Noir!” Nino said, stepping forward. “Dude, please, you gotta save my little bro! He was taken by these Sapotis Akuma things!”

“Nino Lahiffe,” Chat Noir replied, pulling out a small wooden box from a pocket. “Wouldn't you rather save him yourself?”

Nino rose an eyebrow.

“Hooooow do you know my name?” he asked. Chat Noir managed to skip answering the question by handing over the box to him.

When he opened it, a flash of light revealed a small fox-like creature now floating in the air, along with a pendant that resembled a fox tail.

“Whoa, awesome!” Nino exclaimed, while the creature giggled. “Hey, little dude, are you some kind of genie?”

“Ha!” the creature said, smiling, and Chat Noir laughed.

“That's what I said!”

“I'm way better than those guys!” the small fox replied, winking. “I can make you a hero! Just say, Trixx...

----

“LET'S POUNCE!”

----

The two girls were getting surrounded by the Sapotis clones, and they were struggling with dealing with the group, so much so that Scarlet had collapsed from the struggle.

“There's so many of them!” she complained, while Marigold's top kept twirling around them.

“Get up, they're still coming!” the Bee heroine replied.

“Sorry for the wait!”

In the blink of an eye, two boys – one in black, the other in orange – went on to attack the crowd of Sapotis, making them pop out with strike after strike.

“Not so tough now!” the fox-like one said, hitting one with a large flute.

“That'll teach ya!” Chat Noir added with a swing of his baton.

“Chat Noir! And – a fox hero?!” Marigold said.

“Sup,” the newcomer replied with a smile.

“Another Volpina, get him–!” Scarlet tried to say, but Marigold quickly grappled her away.

“We're already dealing with an Akuma, relax!” Marigold yelled at her as she pulled away.

----

Alya was still running after the copies of her sisters' Akumas, and her earlier snapping was back.

“If you think being Akumatized will convince me not to discipline you in the future, you've got another thing coming!” she yelled.

----

With the crisis temporarily held back, Chat Noir went on to present his superhero-ed friend.

“Ladies, meet my super pal, uh...”

Oh, right, they didn't have a name lined up for him.

“Um, Fox Trot!”

“Nice,” Chat Noir said, smiling.

“Well, new fox face, don't forget who's in charge here, got it?” Scar stated, and Chat Noir rolled his eyes at her. Fox Trot crossed his arms and smirked.

“Obviously, I'll take my cues from the established Heroes of Paris. Chat Noir and Marigold.”

Scar's face turned thunderous as she took in the comment.

“WHAT?!”

Marigold looked at Chat Noir with a smirk.

“You chose well.”

He nodded.

However, the time of fun had to end, and the heroes (along with their assorted load) went back to the battleground, where the Akuma copies had kept multiplying in spite of their effort.

“They're coming! By the hundreds!” Fox Trot noted.

“Guess I'll try this again,” Scar replied. “Lucky Charm.”

“A unicycle?” Chat Noir asked. Seriously, that power gave out such a weird list of objects...

“What do we do with that?” Fox Trot asked as Scar struggled to hold the Lucky Charm.

“Heavy...”

“Here, guys, I'm gonna need these objects to make it work!” Marigold replied, bringing out a piece of paper that Chat Noir picked up.

Construction Cones

Tape

Trash Can

Broom Handles

Chat Noir looked up from the list and at Marigold.

“When did you have time to do this?” he asked, honestly curious. Where did she get the paper and pencil from?

“No time for questions!” Marigold exclaimed, clearly wanting to avoid having an awkward conversation.

----

The objects were surprisingly easy to find (Paris was a big city, there was always bound to be some place under construction or repairs, and handles were thrown to the bins on the regular), and as they moved towards the place Marigold had suggested for setting up the trap, Fox Trot brought something up.

“Do you always make it this complicated to save Paris?” he asked; in the past, they (mostly Chat Noir) tended to go with simpler methods.

“Only when Her Highness calls the shots,” Chat Noir jokingly replied.

“We can't all have the sophisticated method of hitting it in the face,” Marigold joked back.

----

“Attention please! Sapotiland, the amusement park of the future, is now open!” Marigold announced through the megaphone as she pedaled on the rickshaw. “At Sapotiland, all pranks are allowed!”

At the top of a building nearby, Chat Noir and Fox Trot had been waiting for the signal, and the veteran hero looked at his friend.

“Alright, Fox Trot, you're up!”

“This'll get my bro back?”

“Of course!” Chat Noir replied, putting his fingers to his temples while winking. “Focus on exactly what'll attract those little Sapotis.”

“I know just what they want,” Fox Trot replied, and put the flute to his mouth. “Mirage!”

And, at the tune of his flute, a shining, majestic amusement park grew from nothing, catching the attention of all the clones.

“Whoa,” Chat Noir said, astonished by the illusion crafted by Fox Trot.

“SAPOTILAND!” the Sapotis said in unison, and quickly marched in that direction. “SAPOTILAND!”

As the crowd passed by, Chat Noir noticed the one individual in the crowd that wasn't like the others.

“Fox Trot! There!”

“Chris!” Without a thought, Fox Trot jumped down and grabbed his brother from the crowd that had kidnapped him. “Gotcha!”

“Wah–!” Chris exclaimed.

“This way to Sapotiland!” Marigold shouted, keeping the Akuma distracted from trying to get Chris back.

----

Today was probably the worst night Chris had ever had. He had thought he'd have a good time with Nino and his friends, but then the twins had done those things, they had been punished, they had been Akumatized, and they had grabbed him because they blamed him for all of that.

But now, he was in the arms of a hero that looked like a fox, that had rescued him, and was looking down at him with a smile.

“Hey, little dude, you okay?”

“Whoa...”

This... this was what a hero was truly like!

So amazing!

----

The Sapotis were led to a narrow corridor that would take them to their target.

“Yay!”

“Sapotiland!”

Not knowing that it was a trap, for the device Marigold had constructed was spinning around its axis, the broom handles swatting their hats off their heads and into the trash can the heroes had collected earlier.

“Watch your foot!” Fox Trot commented as another hat flew.

“Got it!” Chat Noir replied as they moved the can right into the path of the hat.

“That's all of them!” Fox Trot said, grinning, and Chat Noir primed his attack.

“Cataclysm!” he said, and the entropic energy coming from his hand hit the full can, which started to vanish. Then he turned to Chris. “Wanna break it?”

“YEAH!”

----

As the Miraculous Cure did its work, Ella and Etta woke up in the middle of the street, no longer the Sapotis, but now confused.

“Where are we?” Ella asked.

“I don't know, how'd we get here?” Etta asked.

“Ella! Etta!” a voice they knew all too well shouted, and the two young girls turned to see their bigger sister running towards them.

“It's Alya!”

“Uh-oh, we're in trouble.”

But the gloomy expectation didn't come to reality as Alya just about tackled her little sisters into a hug, much to their surprise.

“I have been looking all over the city for you!” Alya exclaimed, huffing as she held onto them for dear life. “I'll kill Hawkmoth!”

The girls chose to just take the good fortune for as long as they could have it, and hugged their sister back, until two people walked up to them.

“Marigold! S–Scarlet Lady!” Alya exclaimed. “Have you seen a little boy–”

“Don't worry, Chris is on his way home right now,” Marigold explained, causing Alya to sigh in relief. “Would you girls like a superhero escort?”

“Yeah!”

“Yay!”

“As for me, I have to go,” Scarlet Lady said, her earrings beeping. “After all, I'll be very missed if I'm not–”

“I didn't expect anything from you anyway,” Marigold dismissively interrupted her, as she and the Césaire girls were already walking away.

“Bye!” Etta cheerfully said, but Scarlet Lady didn't care.

“HEY!”

----

By the time they arrived to the Césaires' home, the twins were fast asleep in their arms, and both hero and reporter did their best to put them back to bed without waking them up.

“Thanks for this, Marigold,” Alya whispered, as Marigold struggled to get Etta to let go of her.

“No problem.”

The two of them head the balcony window close, and Alya stood up.

“Oh! That must be Chat Noir with Chris. I'll be right back.”

“'Kay,” Marinette replied, giving her a thumbs up.

Alya tiptoed her way to the sitting room, where she found another figure.

“Hey, thanks Cha–huh?!”

The reason for this reaction was that this wasn't Chat Noir, but another boy dressed up like a fox the same way Chat Noir resembled a cat, and that he was holding Nino's brother in his arms.

“Ah! Shh! He's asleep!” the unknown hero whispered, a finger to his lips.

There was a torrent of questions she wanted to make of him, but Alya managed to cover her mouth before it came out.

“W-Whoareyou,why'reyouafox,how'dyougetChris–”

The hero was clearly confused.

“Uh, I can't understand you,” he admitted.

----

He knew that his girlfriend was enthusiastic and wanted to learn about the heroes for the Ladyblog, but this was a bit excessive.

“What's your name?! Are you a new hero?! Hey, what's your Miraculous!” she rapidly fired as she took photos from every angle. Finding the bed they had prepared earlier for Chris, he carefully set him down and took his glasses off so he could sleep.

“Fox Trot, Temp, and that's a secret Mlle. Reporter,” he replied after chuckling, while he covered Chris. “G'night, little dude.”

As he turned around, Alya turned her phone and began to check on the photos she had taken.

“... even a temporary hero does more than Scarlet Lady on his first day...” she contemplated... and that was when the dam cracked.

When she realized that everything she had done for Scarlet Lady had been for nothing.

When the illusion that kept her from seeing the truth broke.

“What else have I been ignoring?” she asked, and tears pooled and fell down her cheeks as she sobbed.

“Ah! Um! Uh!” Fox Trot said, struggling against the desire to just hug Alya and dry her tears. That was Nino's job – if he tried that right now, he doubted she would take it as well. But there was something he could do. “Y–You know, I was also bad at picking up hints and stuff, but hey! Now you know, so now you can fix things!”

“Fix things...” Alya replied, clearing her tears. “M–Maybe I could... talk to past Akuma victims? Or focus on the real heroes...”

“Yeah, great idea!” Fox Trot replied, smiling.

BEEP!

Which, of course, was why his pendant now bothered to warn him that he was running out of time.

“Ah!”

“It's beeping!”

“I know!”

“Quick, hide in my room!”

As Fox Trot rushed to hide in Alya's room, Marigold came down to investigate.

“Alya, who're you talking to?” she asked.

“Umm...” Alya mumbled, trying to distract her while Fox Trot left.

----

Unseen by the girls, Chat Noir was helping Nino come down the balcony in a rush without being discovered.

Fortunately, their escape from Césaire Home was successful, and Chat Noir brought Nino to a nearby alley, where he took off the pendant and put it back in its box.

“Thanks for trusting me, Cat-Dude,” Nino said, giving him the wooden box.

“Cat-Dude,” Chat Noir repeated with a chuckle. “I never doubted you.”

“Whew, that was fun!” Trixx said, floating. “You sure know how to set a scene!”

“Aw, thanks!” Nino replied, scratching the back of his head. “One day, I want to be a movie director, so–”

And he gasped.

“Can I keep the fox to make movies?!” he asked. Chat Noir noted how Trixx was clearly using some of its power of illusion to make sparks and bubbles float around them. But, in spite of the puppy-dog eyes both of them were putting out, he had to be firm.

“Negative.”

----

Alya was wondering where the others were: it had been at least ten minutes since Ella and Etta were deakumatized, they should have already returned by now, right?

Just as she thought that, someone knocked on the door, and she ran to check.

“Coming!” she said, and as soon as she opened the door Marinette was glomping her.

“Alya! You're okay!” the pigtailed girl said, widely smiling.

“You too!” Alya replied. Alright, that's one–

“Woo, found you!” Nino shouted, glomping both of them.

“Ah!” Alya exclaimed. Nino had rushed so fast that she had nearly fallen from the impact, but she had managed to stay on her feet.

“You're safe!” Adrien exclaimed, also glomping the group.

And, like wafer thin mint into the gullet of a morbidly obese eater, everything went to hell.

In their case, Alya lost her balance.

“Ahh!”

“Oof!”

And she was trapped under the weight of her friends.

----

The morning after, everyone gathered for breakfast at the Césaires' kitchen, with Marlena bringing a plate full of pancakes for everyone to enjoy.

“So, how was your night, kids?” Marlena asked.

“Oh gosh, maman, listen to this–” Alya said, getting going on her explanation of the previous night's events.

Meanwhile, Nino turned to Adrien.

“Hey mec, what do you want on your pancakes?”

“Huh? Oh...”

That made him realize something.

Actually, even though Nino says he doesn't notice stuff, aren't I the one who doesn't tell him stuff? he thought, realizing that he was doing his best friend a disservice.

“I... I like blueberries,” he decided.

“Nice,” Nino said, passing him the bowl with the berries.

Shouldn't I rely on him more?

Any further musings were interrupted with the arrival of the twins, who had bed hair and were trying to shake off her tiredness.

“Good morning, girls. Sleep well?” Otis asked, worried as Alya had mentioned how they had been Akumatized.

“Mmn,” they mumbled in unison as they sat down.

“Chris, we're sorry for kidnapping you,” Etta said.

“And pranking you,” Ella added.

“Have fun at the amusement park,” both finished.

But Chris was of a different opinion.

“Who cares about the amusement park! I'm helping Alya talk about Fox Trot in the Ladyblog!” he exclaimed, waving his fork. “Don't worry, I'll teach you guys all about him. It's okay, Nino, you're still the coolest.”

Adrien smiled as Nino covered his blushing face, knowing very well the cause.

“Thanks.”

“Marinette, I want Fox Trot PJs,” he asked.

“If you say please.”

----

Anansi

@zoe-oneesama Alya's finally seeing the light after only seeing the shadow for too long. Opinion?

BTW, that's 397 pages, 158139 words and 851574 characters.

[starguardianniom]

Chloé's wish and fate

Soo, apparently at the end of season 5, Chloé will be leaving Paris with her mother, after her dad basically gives up on her, fires himself as the mayor of Paris, and take Zoé with him. Audrey makes it clear she'll start pushing Chloé to do great at school, to Chloé's nervousness because Chloé knows Sabrina has been the one doing all the work, so she's probably extremely far behind and will have to answer for it. But back to how it's gonna end for her, leaving Paris with her mother and her dad won't be around to clean up behind her anymore. It's harsh. Except, that's literally what she wanted back in season 2 Malediktator and in season 3 Miracle Queen. She wanted to leave the city after her dad wasn't able to ban Marinette from the city and get the whole school shutdown simply because Marinette outright told her to her face that she wasn't hero material, after she did a fake video of her as Queen Bee saying she was a hero, she wasn't at the time, and in the previous episode had turned into Queen Bee for the first time to make a catastrophe that could have seriously killed people just so she could try being a heroine, and then got akumatized over it when everyone found out and got mad at her for being beyond irresponsible and careless about it, and her mom doesn't support her on live tv, which kind of fair for Audrey to not appreciate that behavior at all,and outright abandons her dad who's heartbroken enough over her leaving to get akumatized and in Miracle Queen she wanted to leave the city after betraying the heroes and being told she would never be Queen bee again, only to be told her mom was staying in Paris, leaving her stuck in a city that she made most of the people hates her because of her sheer cruelty and getting away with it over and over again, no matter how many times villains went after her after she pissed their civilian selves. Soooo, at the end of season 5, she gets her wish of 2/3 seasons ago, leaving the city with her mother. She forgot that by doing so though, her dad won't be around to spoil her and clean up all consequences behind her, and that Audrey actually expect her to do her own work, and that Sabrina can't follow her to do her school work. She got what she wished for a few seasons ago, and then immediatly understands that it's not gonna go the way she wants it to go at all. And that scares her. She lost her privileges (that granted, she abused above and beyond all 5 seasons), lost her dad who enabled her, lose her best friend who got tired of her and doing her stuff, and now is with her mother who expect her to be good at stuff other than being mean. I wonder what her state of mind will be next season.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Other thing - the "Mari has no personal connection to Gabriel" would bother me less if Adrien had more focus. Like, if the reveal happens, & we get a lot of Adrien angsting over fighting his dad, or wondering what else he missed? I would care FAR less about Mari being connected, cause the focus is on the person who DOES have an established connection. But they didn’t want to focus on Adrien, they wanted to focus on Mari. So not giving her any emotional investment just makes it all seem. 🤨🤷‍♀️

Yeah like.

Adrien is the one who has all the connections to this plot all the emotional investment.

He should get to know. To have big emotions over the truth even if it hurts. Gabe trying to akumatize him over it would be a big moment, and after Chat Blanc and Ephemeral, having it be 'this time it's different, this time Adrien manages to resist' would've been such cool buildup and worth having CB and E end in retcons!

and even if it still ends the same, with Gabriel winning but deciding last second 'oh I've been An Asshole™' and killing himself to avoid the consequences of his actions save what he can and that's considered a 'redemption'

at least it would be /Adrien/ choosing to say 'you know what that was fucked up but I Get It™ so I'm gonna just try to remember the good parts of my father's life instead of the hot mess he ended up as' instead of Marinette going 'but Adrien might be sad if I tell him so I gotta lie!'.

[miracleandplagueau]

I have a lot of questions but this are the more important to me

1- Does Gabriel in your AU cares about Adrien or he is gonna be this cold and cruel parent towards him?

2-The Butterfly/Moth miraculous power, how it will work? Does it have a limit?

3-The power of the Peacock is still the same? (in my versión I give it the power to let blind anyone who look directly to the feathers, and the sentimonster thing is kinda now part of the Ladybug, cuz, you know, creation)

4-Adrien is a sentimonster in your AU?

5-Master Fu is in this AU?

1. Gabriel is still going to be a strict father, a bit distant and cold, but he has a soft spot for Adrien. After all, all those additional activities are for his future, for him to not depend on his father's reputation alone and build one for himself. To add to that, his son takes up appearances after his passed wife, how could he ever hate him when he cares about his wife so much?

2. The Butterfly Wonder's powers are nearly the same since I just fixed a few things about the logistics. First of all, It's worth noting the first big change: the akumas are only the carriers - the source of the power comes from the wonder itself. The Butterfly user can share his power with 5 people at once, each person weakening him as that power is borrowed to fuel the other person. The Butterfly Wonder can go beyond just 5 people, but It only has enough power for five and this is where things can get a little disturbing. If the user pushes themselves to akumatize more than 5 people, the artifact will be forced to acquire that power itself - oftentimes by draining the person using of their energy, stamina, life and all the other things. The detransformation countdown begins after the last person akumatized "disconnects" from the Wonder user. A few other things I feel I need to note is that the object of akumatization has to be alive and sentient (In order to avoid situations like Robostus). Additionally, being blinded by emotion, any emotion (both negative and positive) can help bring their form to their full potential, which is why Monarch is using people only in a state of overwhelming anger, sadness or overall negativity.

3. The power sounds so cool! I made it so that the user can trick anyone looking at them into thinking they're not there or that they're in a different position. It's kind of like an illusion, but only for the user themselves and person they might be holding. I'd like to say It's "concealment", but I'll have to find a better name for it lol

4. Nope. And with what's going on in season 5, I say good riddance

5. He is! However, I did definitely change his character and backstory a bit AND the way the first meeting goes as well. I think It's important to note that both Jiayi and Adrien find him on their own and BOTH stay in contact with Master instead of Ladybug being the only hero allowed to talk to him.

Thank you so much for asking! I hope I explained everything well lmao

[dreamwreaver]

Here's how I make miracle queen better than canon

I'm gonna say this, as fun as I found the episode as a stand-alone, in the greater context of the series it heralds where you can tell the writers got stuck. S3 should have been the end of Gabriel's tenure as hawkmoth, given how much work (by their standards) was set up to foreshadow Lila becoming the next one. Gabriel should have had his final defeat here, but he didn't. Now I'm gonna tell you how he should in a way that doesn't turn Chloe into an idiot.

Let me remind you all that Chloe has a penchant for convoluted schemes even when they require thinking on her feet. The stupid self insert episode animaestro taught us that.

So, Chloe, NOT being the idiot she's later portrayed as, realizes something. If she truly wants to prove herself as a hero, someone exceptional, someone truly worthy (or entitled, whichever you prefer) to her miraculous; she needs to do the one thing ladybug and chat noir never could. She becomes Miracle Queen and as she stands with Hawkmoth as her swarms paralyze the population of Paris she summons all the miraculous holders to her. And as hawkmoth is celebrating his premature victory, she turns to him and says,

"Oh no, I must have misspoken, I meant ALL the miraculous holders."

Then dragonbug and chat noir arrived attempting to reason with/defeat Chloe. But she's standing there with her "royal guard" of heroes, and looking like she's been expecting them.

She doesn't order everyone to attack, and in trying to protect themselves from Miracle Queen's wasps they've essentially imprisoned themselves. But she knows that, and she's taking glee in the fact that she has a captive audience.

With all the theatrics, no one has noticed how oddly silent Hawkmoth has been. Mayura is still observing, trying to get the sentimonster to attack jade turtle's shelter, but she's too far away to hear what's been going on, until now.

As ladybug and chat noir wonder what she's doing Chloe gloats that now she'll be the one true hero of Paris, as there will be no need for the others once hawkmoth is defeated. Obviously as she's akumatized they wonder what she means.

Chloe orders hawkmoth to stand before them, and it's with malicious glee that she snatches the butterfly miraculous from off his chest. And then, things go wrong.

When hawkmoth's identity is revealed a large gasp rips through the conscious crowd of three. Adrien makes the fatal mistake of gasping in a horrified whisper,

"Father?"

That catches Chloe's attention, "Adrikins?"

Marinette is now freaking out because the goofball who's been trying to get her affection for months now is the same guy she's been unable to speak properly around for about the same length of time. But while Chloe's sputtering in disbelief about how her perfect Adrikins would willingly become a flea bitten cat, her ire suddenly turns towards Gabriel.

Because Chloe holds a grudge. She knows how hard its been for Adrien to lose his mom. Knows how distant his father has become and how much it's hurt him. And it's canon how viciously protective of adrien Chloe is. So to now have the knowledge that the reason Adrien essentially lost both parents is because his dad was off playing supervillain... her rage is palpable.

So palpable in fact that she breaks free of the akuma because of her disgust with the man in front of her. A man who throughout her young childhood was essentially family. Every memory, every Akumatization comes flooding back and she breaks free. The wasps disappear, the heroes under Chloe's control all come to, and wonder where they are and how they got transformed, and gabriel suddenly realizes he's the center of three people's attention. Then the toll of the forced detransformation and Chloe's break from his akuma sends him to his knees. He sees queen bee standing over him with a clenched fist, and when he winces from the expected impact, it doesn't come.

When he peeks, all he can see is the brattiest kid in Paris looking at him with utter condescension in a way certainly no child has ever looked at him. And she only has one thing to say,

"Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous."

With the wasps gone dragonbug drops her shield. And they approach. And Chloe, to her credit, does the selfless thing. It's safer for the butterfly to be with Ladybug than with Gabriel. And besides, Chloe wants to see gabriel ripped apart at her own father's hands. This was the man who akumatized her parents; three times now.

But as she goes to hand it over a object knocks into her hand, causing the butterfly to go flying and caught by a blur of blue. Mayura has realized what's going on, and forgotten about the guardian entirely; too focused on saving gabriel. She picks him up and starts running, but everyone is still too shocked to do anything. Until master fu shows up, revealing that not only have the villains gotten away, but so is his tablet with the decoded grimoire. The peacock and butterfly miraculous are still lost, and now ladybug and chat noir must relinquish their miraculous as their identities have been compromised.

But Marinette, with mc plot armor, convinces him that they know who hawkmoth is, or was rather. And that Chloe's identity has been public since day one, and now only chat noir has been revealed. Her identity is still in tact, but she works best with her kitty and if chloe promises to keep it a secret he can remain a hero.

Chat noir begs chloe to do this for him, and since she could never deny her Adrikins anything she agrees, on the condition that ladybug allows her to permanently keep her miraculous. Ladybug is hesitant, since even though hawkmoth has been defeated the butterfly miraculous is still lost which means mayura could still use it. And beyond that Chloe still sided with the villain, betraying him for her own glory. Master fu says that since the identity of hawkmoth is known it's merely a matter of tracking him down, and the more heroes that can be devoted to that cause the better. So ladybug tentatively agrees, Chloe keeps pollen, and we allow ourselves a happy end.

Cut to nathalie, considerably weaker with a broken miraculous resting in the limo as Gabriel's adrenaline kicks in and he feels like a fool that Nathalie wasted the last of her strength on a plan that failed so hard he can no longer be hawkmoth, and now he must either flee or hide. But nathalie says that at least they can now fix the peacock miraculous since she has the guardian's tablet. They order the gorilla to return them to the Agreste mansion before the news can spread.

But in the scramble to rescue her boss, Mayura dropped something in the park. The butterfly, and we cut to it laying innocuously on the ground until a VERY familiar pair of brown heeled boots walk into frame next to it.

Season 4 involves shenanigans with Lila's hawkmoth because now there's a new problem. And gabriel alternately hiding out in the basement with emilie or the empty attic while Nathalie brings him food and looks after adrien. (She claimed ignorance and since the peacock is in hiding with gabriel it's not like they have any evidence it's her). As for the love square, idk... Marinette now has to deal with reconciling the two sides of the boy she's always loved, while still dating luka and now trying to figure out what she's gonna do.

The end.