#LAdrien

[asukiess]

hi Kayla!!!! I’m your spouse secret santa 🫶🎄……. I checked my records, and the first fic of yours I commented on was sweater weather.

in those two years since that comment, I’ve enjoyed every opportunity to listen to you gush about ladrien and putting him in hospitals and sad situations, so I slapped a medical bracelet on him to commemorate your latest fixation.

here’s to many more years, and merry christmas!!!! 💕

@coffeebanana

close up:

[wisteriasymphony]

"you were destined for me. perhaps as a punishment" but specifically about lovesquare and the punishment being that the person you fell in love with and the person everyone tells you you're in love with aren't as real as you wanted them to be. the punishment is sitting next to the person you are told you love more than anything but never knowing what to talk about anymore. the punishment is wanting the little unattainable perfect crush back and knowing you can't get it, because it was always all in your head and you can't just un-realize that that precious, comforting thing was nothing more than stuff you were telling yourself.

but getting the comfort taken away was always going to happen.

[rosie-b]

The Magic Melody

Wrote a little something for the mwg prompt exchange : )

He wished his mother would come back. But she couldn’t, and Adrien couldn’t celebrate Christmas the way he used to. The carols he heard snippets of every time he went outside made him want to cover his ears; the holiday lights decorating the windows of every shop he passed made his head hurt; the cookies Marinette had brought into class tasted no better than the handful of dirt he’d eaten once on a dare.

At least this Christmas couldn’t be as bad as last year’s. Nothing could beat Santa Claus getting akumatized, after all!

Adrien almost gets akumatized, but maybe a song and a visit from Ladybug will help him feel better. You can read the story below or on AO3!

Adrien hadn’t always hated Christmas. He still had fond memories of playing festive songs on the piano with his mother, or decorating the Christmas tree, being held up by his father so he could hang his ornament higher than anyone else’s. There wasn’t usually a big party, and Adrien had never received as many gifts as Chloe did, but the calm, happy time he’d spent with his family was what had made the winter season a special one.

Now, Nathalie and the servants were the ones to decorate the tree. Adrien still played the piano, but none of the songs his father wanted him to practice were the ones he’d played with his mother in past years. He wasn’t even sure he’d want to play them if he’d been given the sheet music; Adrien knew what had made the songs special and it had nothing to do with the musical arrangement of each piece.

If he let himself sit in the undisturbed silence of his room for too long, Adrien found himself giving in to the horrible ache in his chest, falling into a deep well of emotions he knew he should be bottling up so Shadowmoth couldn’t use them. 

They were so much harder to control now than before. The break-up with Kagami had gone… as well as any break-up in Paris seemed to go, but it left him feeling even more alone. If he couldn’t even manage to move on from Ladybug, how was he supposed to move past the ugly pain that he felt around Christmas? He had no one to talk to about it, no one he felt comfortable weighing down with the immature hurt and rage he was feeling, at least. No, Adrien had to deal with this alone. 

So, while Plagg napped in an empty container of camembert, Adrien found himself wishing again that this Christmas could be like the ones he’d celebrated when he was young. He wished Nathalie had invited him to help hang the tinsel she’d professionally placed on the real evergreen in the foyer. He wished his father would come out of his room and celebrate, or at least show up for dinner on Christmas eve.

He wished his mother would come back. But she couldn’t, and Adrien couldn’t celebrate Christmas the way he used to. The carols he heard snippets of every time he went outside made him want to cover his ears; the holiday lights decorating the windows of every shop he passed made his head hurt; the cookies Marinette had brought into class tasted no better than the handful of dirt he’d eaten once on a dare.

At least this Christmas couldn’t be as bad as last year’s. Nothing could beat Santa Claus getting akumatized, after all!

At that thought, Adrien let a smile force itself onto his face. He twisted it into the expression gracing so many of Paris’ billboards, the carefree grin that implied the happiness Adrien really should be feeling. Maybe, he thought, if I try hard enough, the smile will make me feel at least a little bit as joyful as it makes me look. He’d tried that trick before without success, but surely one more attempt couldn’t hurt.

It was the yo-yo zipping just centimeters past his face that snapped him out of the trance he’d fallen into.

“Adrien!”

Following the sound of the familiar voice, Adrien turned and looked into the wide, frightened eyes of Ladybug as she steadied herself beside his couch. Behind her, the window he kept cracked open sent a strong breeze through the room.

“My— Ladybug, are you okay? Is there an akuma nearby?” he asked, feeling concerned. He couldn’t think of another reason for her to be there, but if there was an akuma, why hadn’t he received an alert about it? Shouldn’t Ladybug have sent a message to her chaton before heading off in pursuit?

Ladybug looked away and hung the yo-yo back at her side.

“Oh, no, not to worry! I mean, there almost was, well, it got too close, but everything is under control. There is currently no threat, and I’m okay!” She paused, looking back at Adrien with furrowed brows. “Are… you okay, Adrien?”

Adrien blinked. None of what she’d said was making sense. “Am I okay? I’m fine, Ladybug, just like always!”

Ladybug glanced down and then back up. “Yes… I mean, no! You’re hiding it, but you’re not okay, are you?”

Adrien plastered an Agreste-brand smile on his face, carefully keeping any trace of Chat Noir out of his expression. “I’m not sure what you mean. You’re the one who broke into my room all of a sudden—not that I mind!—looking out of breath and concerned. I think between the two of us, that makes you… well, more likely to need assistance. So, how can I help you, my— hero?”

Ladybug clasped her hands together. “Don’t worry about me! Really, what I came in here for… well, you were right the first time, actually. There was an akuma, a butterfly I spotted while I was, um, on patrol. I followed it here, and I’m pretty sure if I’d been any later, Shadowmoth would have gotten his next victim, and it would have been you. So, I know something’s wrong, Adrien! And I’d like to help, if you’ll let me.”

There was no trace of dishonesty in her gaze as she looked at him, blue eyes silently pleading with him to tell her about the negative emotions she’d literally traced back to him.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Adrien stalled, feeling his palms beginning to grow clammy.

Ladybug put her hands on her hips. “Then I’ve got time to hear it. It would be irresponsible of me to leave you feeling so bad, Adrien. If you still want to help me, do it by letting me help you!”

Adrien glanced over to the container where Plagg had been resting. The kwami had left to hide himself, so there were no risks there. Besides, he didn’t want to turn down some time spent alone with his lady, and she did have a point. If he was Chat Noir right now, he wouldn’t want to leave a civilian at risk of being akumatized.

“Fine. We can talk on the sofa, if you’re comfortable with that,” he offered.

Ladybug nodded and promptly walked over to take a seat there. She patted the spot beside her, and Adrien obediently followed her and sat down, though his heart was racing at the proximity.

“Now, what’s been bugging you?” Ladybug asked.

One side of Adrien’s mouth curved up in a barely-there smile.

“Aside from a giant ladybug and a purple butterfly?” he cracked, unable to hold back the joke.

Ladybug gave him the usual glare, and then backpedaled immediately, seeming to realize that he was not, in fact, Chat Noir. She blushed and waved her hands around, exclaiming, “Sorry! Sorry, I’m used to telling my partner to shut up and— just keep going! Sorry!”

“It’s okay,” Adrien said. “It was a bad joke.”

He fell quiet, wondering how much he wanted to tell Ladybug. They weren’t partners right now; he and Ladybug were just two well-known faces meeting by chance. She probably didn’t care about his sob story any more than she cared about the hundreds of others she heard every month. She’d stick around until she was convinced he wasn’t an akuma risk anymore, then leave. It was just a matter of finding the right words to say, the right smile to put on.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Ladybug said hesitantly, after a long moment had passed, “is this related to what happened last year?”

Adrien turned to her in surprise. “You remember that?”

A rueful smile covered her face. “Santa Claus got akumatized. Of course I remember,” she said. 

Adrien’s heart fluttered again. It was just the circumstances, he told it. I’m not special to her.

Ladybug shifted. “Is… Christmas not a good time of year for you?”

Adrien’s mouth fell open. “What do you mean?” he rasped out. “It’s just another holiday! There’s nothing that special about it, I mean, I celebrate it but I don’t… it’s more fun when you’re a kid,” he finished lamely.

Ladybug leaned forward. “But it used to be more enjoyable, then. Something happened to change the way you feel! Even last year, you seemed excited. But now?”

A new emotion swam in her eyes, and Adrien’s stomach clenched. 

“I think I know what it is,” Ladybug said softly. Adrien sat stiffly, willing himself not to flinch as she concluded, “It doesn’t feel the same as it did when your mother was still here. Your father hasn’t been present, and your friends can’t do much to help while you’re not at school, so you’re feeling lonely. Is that right?”

She worried her lower lip between her teeth, clearly unwilling to press the issue but still hoping she’d been correct. 

Adrien nodded and looked down at his lap. “I guess you could say I’m haunted by the ghost of Christmas past,” he whispered, and oh, that joke did not come out the way he’d wanted it to. “I miss the way it was when we could celebrate as a family. My friends do try, but even Nino can’t convince my father to have another Christmas party or let him stay over for more than an hour at a time. I have a lot of time to sit and do nothing, and I hate it! I should be relaxing, or at least practicing my Chinese or the piano pieces my father wants me to learn but…”

He closed his eyes as he realized what had been stopping him. He looked back at Ladybug, who was still listening, her face turned towards him in open concern.

“We used to play Christmas songs together every year. She’d play from this old book of classics, it used to have a green cover but it fell off one year and we never found it again. And when we finished those, she’d play other songs, arrangements of modern tunes she’d found and liked. And I…”

“You can’t play the piano without thinking about her,” Ladybug finished for him. 

“Yes,” he breathed, and felt the ache in his chest sharpen as he bent over, pressing his palms to his eyes as if that could stop the tears from forming. One moment later, a hand landed on his shoulder. It hovered there as Adrien took a shuddering breath, and then Ladybug began gently rubbing circles on his back.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien,” she earnestly told him. “I wish you had been able to talk to someone about this before! Your father should be more understanding; I know he misses her, too. If you want, I could try to talk him into letting you out of piano practice for a while! Would that help you?”

Adrien hesitated, and then slowly shook his head.

“I’m so tired of being sad about this,” he admitted, wiping his eyes and sitting up a little straighter. “I don’t want to hide from it, either. It’s just… you’re right, I don’t have anyone to talk to about this.”

A pang went through his chest as he spoke, because technically, he did have Plagg. But even though Plagg understood loss, he wasn’t the best at talking about it or dealing with ‘icky’ human emotions. And none of his friends had gone through something like this, and his father would never open up enough for such a discussion.

“Well, you should know that I am here for you,” Ladybug said in a determined voice. “I know we aren’t really close, but I’ve seen how good you are. You’re kind to those around you, even the people I wouldn’t be as willing to trust. The fact that when you’re hurting, no one can help you the way you help others… it isn’t right! It’s not fair, and if you’re ever going through something like this again, you should call me. Er, leave a message on the Ladyblog! I’ll see it eventually and come over. If that’s what you’d like! You can tell me to just leave you alone, you know? I can do that now if I’m being intrusive!”

Ladybug was blushing and playing with one of her pigtails when Adrien looked over at her.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he said quickly. “That’s a really generous offer, Ladybug. I know you’re busy, especially now that… uh, now that Hawkmoth has two Miraculous at once,” he finished, remembering that Adrien Agreste had no way of knowing about Ladybug’s responsibilities as Guardian.

“I meant it, Adrien. I really do want to help you,” Ladybug insisted.

She looked the same way she did when she was about to solve her Lucky Charm and win the akuma battle, like she wasn’t going to let anything get in her path and stop her from achieving her goal. Seeing the serious expression on her face, Adrien couldn’t help but smile, and while it was small, it was more genuine than any he’d worn in the past few days.

“Thank you,” he said in a small voice. “That means so much to me. Just knowing somebody cares this much helps, but I’m wondering… I think it might help if I did play some of our old songs, but with someone new. I have to move forward at some point, and I’d rather keep the memories with me instead of trying to box them up.”

Ladybug tilted her head. “You want me to play piano with you? I’m honored, but I’m afraid I don’t know how!”

Adrien stood up and offered her a hand. When she took it, he pulled her up off the couch and led her over to the place where his piano had been sitting untouched since noon.

“You don’t have to. You just have to promise not to make fun of me when I can’t remember how any of the songs go,” he joked.

Ladybug wrinkled her nose in offense. “I would never,” she huffed. “So, you’re sure about this?”

Adrien nodded as he sat down at the bench, tapping the empty spot he’d left expectantly.

“I’m positive, m— my dear Ladybug,” he confirmed.

Ladybug’s eyes never left his as she sat down beside him. There wasn’t much room on the seat, and their legs brushed as Adrien positioned his fingers over the keys and tried to pick which tune to play.

He didn’t feel like any of the classic tunes right now. He’d heard his fill of them over the past weeks, anyway, and while they were fun, his heart felt too raw for any of them. 

Instead, he picked a slower, gentle song his mother had always liked.

After tapping out the first few chords and confirming that he was in the right key, Adrien glanced at Ladybug. 

“This one is called ‘The Snow Path.’ It’s from Canada, and it’s normally sung, but Mother found a piano arrangement she liked, so we played that. And later, I played while she sang,” he remembered, and his mouth twitched. 

It felt like he wanted to smile and cry at the same time. Suddenly nervous, he started playing, remembering the right notes as he went and sometimes pausing to replay the same bar a few times until he got it right.

“Sorry,” he apologized perfunctorily.

Ladybug shook her head, and her pigtails brushed his cheek. “Don’t be. It sounds lovely so far,” she whispered.

Adrien nodded and continued, playing until he reached the end of the short piece and then pausing. “I want to play it again,” he said, and it wasn’t just because he wanted to get all the notes right this time.

“Then do,” Ladybug encouraged, and so the song began again.

Somehow, this song had always felt nostalgic, but now especially, it was bringing tears to his eyes as he remembered the past and the vision he’d always had this time of year. Paris never got much snow, but when he heard this song, he could picture a curving trail through the woods, already blanketed by snow, with more falling around him as he walked along. There was an older couple ahead of him and a girl on his left. They’d just left their cabin and were enjoying a nice walk before they’d head back for hot chocolate and then bake cookies. They’d decorate the tree, and Adrien would let the girl hang her ornament up higher than anyone else’s. They’d hang tinsel, and string on the lights, and just sit there together, talking about everything and nothing, listening to music and eating the cookies they’d decorated.

It was a beautiful dream, one he’d had for years. But it was one Adrien could never have.

A sudden touch on his cheek stirred him from his thoughts, and he realized he’d stopped playing.

“You’re crying,” Ladybug whispered, her face close to his. She wiped a tear from his cheek and started moving back, but Adrien grabbed her hand and brought it back to his cheek.

He struggled for words, unsure of what he wanted to say. Sorry for crying and ruining the song? No, besides, she wasn’t the type to care about that. I’m not sad, I’m just happy? They both knew that was a lie. Then what?

“I’ll be okay,” he said eventually. “I’m sad, of course; I miss her. But I’m also happy that you’re here. I’m glad someone gets to hear the music and maybe remember her with me. It makes her feel less distant.”

Ladybug’s face smoothed out, the worry leaving her eyes. “I’m glad you chose to share her memory with me,” she said. “I’m happy to be here with you, and I’m glad I could help, even if it’s just a little. So thank you, Adrien, for letting me.”

Adrien found it was becoming easier to smile, so he did as he slowly released her hand. Ladybug blushed and clasped her hands together in her lap.

“Do you mind if I play it one more time?” Adrien asked.

Ladybug smiled. “I would love that,” she said.

Adrien began to play the familiar tune, feeling more confident this time, and hummed along to the melody. Softly, Ladybug began to join in, and he smiled encouragingly. She blushed a little, but didn’t stop, instead leaning against him and humming a little louder.

This time, when Adrien pictured the snowy path in the woods, he didn’t think about the couple ahead of him. He forgot about the cabin and the tree and the cookies and just thought about the snow falling gently around him and the girl at his side. He let himself smile, because even in the cold, he was sure that the love in his heart would keep him warm.

At the end of the song, tears were still stinging his eyes, but they didn’t threaten to fall. The ache in his chest was still present, but it hurt much less than it had before. He felt strong enough to stop playing, to turn to Ladybug and thank her, to say goodbye without worrying about one of Shadowmoth’s butterflies finding him and preying on the negative emotions which were beginning to fade away.

“Thank you,” he whispered, and in the comfortable quiet of the moment, he was sure it wasn’t just Ladybug who heard. There was a warm presence at his other side, calm and reassuring, reminding Adrien that he was never truly alone. 

“You’re welcome, Adrien.”

[i-wiggle-i-squirm-bc-i-am-a-worm]

Heyyyy!! I'm really excited to share a piece of the work I'm doing for @mlbigbang2024!!!

It's for the incredibly talented @jigglypuff1994's fic 'Dear Ladybug, Love Adrien' I can't wait for everyone to read it and see the great artworks made by the rest of the artists involved!!

Go and read the preview here!!

[hamsternamedmarinette]

Feels good to draw something stupid again

[vile-wizard]

Superhero dreams....

[bonesbugs]

💚🟥

[anna-scribbles]

honestly ladybug you’re lucky it wasn’t a musical

[catmelot]

Love square!!!💖💋

But I feel like it kinda lost some quality when I submited it 😢

☕💖Buy me a Ko-fi! ☕💖

[thelilyknight]

“and what would you have sacrificed?”

“myself.”

[bugsandboos]

the most disturbing part of the london special for me was seeing the usual emotional and easy to read by her over-the-top-expressions marinette look so devoid of any feelings at all. i’d argue this is the first time in the entire show where she’s gone completely numb to her environment.

i mean, LOOK AT HER!!!

[megatraven]

when the ladrien hits

[gentil-minou]

Artists I beg someone needs to draw adrien with this as his bedroom decor

[mlbmemes]

i don’t really like chloe but i felt like this fit 😭

[jascurka]

I had a dream yesterday and there was ladrien in it

I have forgotten what it was about but there were lot's of ladrien and I would look at it and go ooo ohohooo ladrien??? ladrien.... I gotta tell my tumblr friends about ladrien from my drieam but my beautiful advanced mind clears cache data to save storage so I made a little sketch instead because I miss them

[ponytailzuko]

[ID copied from alt text: A digital painting of the characters Ladybug and Adrien dressed up while sitting on the ledge of a balcony at night, smiling at one another. End ID]

back at it again with these two hanging out at night.