#Partners for Life|Ladynoir

[ladyofthenoodle]

i think there should be more marichat enemy aus. i DONT mean marichat stories where ladynoir are enemies and marichat bonds. i mean actual marichat enemies where marinette and chat noir are actively trying to destroy each other’s lives. something goes wrong during evillustrator and somehow they both come out of it thinking the other hates them. the idea of chat noir hating her civilian self pisses marinette off so she decides to hate him too. marinette constantly has the upper hand here because ladynoir are still partners. chat noir does not understand why his lady is upset with him or why marinette is so mean.

meanwhile adrien is ABSOLUTELY terrified marinette will find out his secret identity and start going after him in real life too. so he avoids her at all costs. marinette is devastated by this and knows in her heart this is somehow chat noirs fault. meanwhile they are making out as ladrien.

[trashart00]

Less than 12 hours until the release of “The Tortured Poets Department”!

Hence, I present to you, “The Tortured Catboy Department”

Track List:

SIDE A: Deux Semaines (feat Ladybug) / The Tortured Catboy Department / My Lady Abandons Only Her Favourite Partners / Down Bad

SIDE B: So Long, London / But Daddy I Love Her / Fresh Out the Slammer / Akuma !!! (feat Monarch)

SIDE C: Guilty As Sin? / Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me / Even Ladybug Can’t Fix This / loml

SIDE D: I Can Do It With a Broken Heart / The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived / The Cataclysm / Adrien Agreste

Bonus Tracks: The Black Cat / Solitude / Doppelgänger / Tell-Tail Heart

(Love how so many of the original track names still work)

My takes of what each song is about/inspired by under cut (but, if you feel like it, tell me yours :D)

I’m picturing all of these to be from Adrien’s perspective so they reflect mostly his version of the situations rather than the objective reality (especially the Laybug centered ones)

Deux Semaines (feat Ladybug): This one would focus on the sequence in Multiplication where Monarch doesn’t attack and how LadyNoir’s relationship recovers from the events of Season 4.

TTCD: Kept the “Catboy” singular because while there are multiple Catboy identities, there is only one boy underneath them all. Hence while I think it would be about him just stating his issues with everything, it would also focus on loneliness and how his department is understaffed :(

MLAOHFP: All of the Season 4 LadyNoir separation arc angst, with the “Favourite” being a callback to Risk (and kinda a jab at Rena because he thinks that she’s really her favourite, but y’ know, she didn’t abandon her so Rena can’t be her actual favourite)

Down Bad: Mainly about how Chat’s love for LB makes him excuse her behaviors, but also makes him act out (maybe a reference to Elation).

SL,L: About the whole arc of Gabriel sending Adrien to London and all of the memories he would have surrounding this ordeal - key point, not “So Long, Paris” because he didn’t want to leave, and in the end he comes back to a changed world.

BDILH: This one’s either about the Chat Blanc breakup or Gabriel’s dislike of Marinette in Season 5 (or both, with maybe a line about how he feels like this has happened before)

FOTS: Adrien realizing his father is a Bad Person.

Akuma !!! (feat Monarch): This one would be like a song about his daily life and then the chorus would start with a shout of “Akuma!!!” and it would switch to him as Chat Noir. I feel like it would start out with normal life being boring/hero life being fun but as it goes on he grows exhausted. Monarch has a rap verse.

Guilty As Sin?: Chat Blanc centeric - would ask who is to blame for the destruction of the world, like is it Chat because he lost control or Hawkmoth because he took advantage of his son’s emotion?

WAoLOM: Chat Blanc centric at first (like a villain song) but ends with Adrien reflecting on the events of Evolution-Destruction-Multiplication-PS night

ELCFT: I think it would be about his relaction ship with his father and how he wishes there was something he could do to go back to how they were when Emilie was alive but there’s no easy fix and his father keeps on getting worse and worse after any attempt.

loml: A song for Marinette with a bittersweet air - she’s the love of his life but he can’t tell her everything, and she can’t tell him everything either

ICDIWaBH: CatWalker centric - him going back to Ladybug in Kuroneko.

TSMWEL: I actually have three for this one - 1. About Gabriel and his need to domineer because he feels small and powerless. 2. About Adrien feeling small and insignificant. 3.About Plagg because he’s a smol boi (it would be like a lighthearted, cheeky song, like when you sing to your pet about how adorable they are)

The Cataclysm: Literally about how he cataclysmed Monarch, but also about how the event impacted his perception of self.

Adrien Agreste: Ending the album with a song that’s his own name :o.

Now for the variants:

The Black Cat: This one has Chat on the cover and the song is mostly about his bad luck. ‘I Love You It’s Ruining My Life” works both directed at Ladybug and his father.

Solitude: With Chat Blanc on the cover, this one’s about his mother. I think the “You Don’t Get To Tell Me About Sad” is pretty self-explanatory.

Doppelgänger: CatWalker is on this one, his song would be about how he may literally be the same person but he doesn’t fully feel like himself. He had to repress a lot of himself to be CatWalker hence I thought “Am I Allowed To Cry?” fit him really well (especially with Plagg not giving him the time to fully recover before he had to jump back in). Please note the crossed out name (unlike Chat Blanc) because he’s reinventing himself.

Tell-Tail Heart: This one has Ladybug on the cover - wait she’s not a Catboy?? The song is titled “Tell-Tail Heart” as a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart” and would explore Chat’s perspective of Ladybug’s guilt for keeping secrets, how any excuse she makes is ultimately unimportant because she would do it either way. The fact that this is the only song title with a pun references how Chat tries to lighten the mood and avoid serious conversations, and the “Tail” is supposed to refer to Rena Rouge. The flowers she’s holding are meant to be foxgloves which symbolise secrets and insincerity (they’re also poisonous and damage the heart :)). I also really liked the “Old Habits Die Screaming” for her as it could mean both Chat Noir’s love for her being an old habit that he cannot get rid of, but also her habit of keeping things from him (especially with how she does it again at the end of season 5) being something she can’t stop. It is also him being able to see that, despite what she tells him, her “Heart” is tells him otherwise.

(also would like to point out that he wouldn’t mention Rena by name, he’s upset, not evil)

[familyagrestefanblog]

Ladynoir in Bug Noire's design:

I need a break writing other posts so let's talk about a detaile I appreciate so freaking much about Bug Noire’s design:

This entire design SCREAMS how much Marinette wished Chat Noir were with her right now and how much she needed him (which she absolutely did, she fucking LOST.)

Chat Noir is with her as the legs that carry her, the shoulders and arms that support and steady her.

In her eyes while she keeps wearing her normal mask, so that when Monarque looks her in the eyes he not only sees her as Ladybug she's also pircing him with every eye-contact with one of Chat Noir's most distinguishing featurs: his green non-human eyes. And it's noteworthy that here it's of crucial importance that her mask and eyes do NOT combine the two miraculous as the rest of her outfit does. Cause now every time Gabriel looks in her eyes she's making him ackowledge them as seperate individuals.

Marinette is not just standing here as Bug Noire for herself, she's also representing her partner who she lost to Gabriel and wants to get back:

Which - if I may point out - is extremely relevant in this fight because Marinette just saw how badly Gabriel treated Nathalie who then met her end right in front of Marinette because she sacrificed her life and health to help him as Mayura:

Ladybug and Hawkmoth BOTH lost their partners that day but only ONE of them honored hers in this last battle because Marinette ackowledges that she wouldnt have gotten this far without Chat Noir, meanwhile Gabriel in the end basically completely disregarded Nathalie and everything she ever did for him.

But let's continue.

Chat's in her ears that have his green all around on its borders because she most likely can hardly imagine him without his extra ears on his head (Mister Bug being the only rare exception), and then topped it off with a hair style reminding of her Lady Noire hair.

And in the weapons she fought with. Bug Noire fought so much more with Chat's baton than with her own yo-yo which she also colored exclusively in his colors while only changing the footprint color to her red. The yoyo accurately represents Chat's colors (mainly black) while for the baton the main colore should have ben red to represent her suit (but I get why they didnt to that. Not only is she here wearing her suit and red as her main color, it also wouldnt have fit very well overall)

And the weapon with which she hit the butterfly miraculous off of Gabriel was the baton too. The fight choreography took so much care to have Marinette include Chat's baton and cataclysm as much as possible. She didn't just wore both of the miraculous, she fought for the BOTH of them. Using Chat's things so often because thats all she has left of him right now and incorporating him so crucially into her suit design that it's heartbreaking. She literally projected the support Chat gives her onto her suit design because she wished so BADLY that he was by her side right now.

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

Derision was a breath of fresh air this season. I didn't have much to analyse in the latest episodes, but here I go now.

This episode gives us that very important backstory needed to understand Marinette's behaviour both as herself, but also Ladybug. Chloé's bullying and her trauma with Kim has very much shaped her way of thinking and acting, which we see the most throughout season 4 and 5.

After confessing to Kim in what turned out to be a prank and humiliated, Marinette swears to three things:

To never fall in love with someone without knowing them fully

To always have everything planned and under her control

To never get feelings for someone who is friends with Chloé

Each of these decisions are a direct consequence of her trauma, beliefs acquired due to it, and they have tremendous impact on her decisions later on. Let's take it piece by piece.

Belief 1: I should never fall in love with someone without knowing them fully

I guess I am not the only LadyNoir stan who has been thoroughly annoyed for years that Ladybug refused to acknowledge that she held a deep affection for Chat Noir. Well, turns out, that had a very justified reason. She has prohibitten herself from having feelings with someone who she doesn't know fully, which obviously is impossible when she can't know the person behind the mask. This decision to omit any romantic feelings that she may have for Chat Noir happens mostly unconsciously: it is not that she actively thinks that the person behind the Chat Noir person is bad (or God forbid, friends with Chloé!). It is just that she has once put her faith in someone and let herself fall in love with them without knowing them properly, and it led to humiliation, heartache, and hurting her friend Socqueline. So obviously, in her mind, as someone she can't ever fully know due to the identity schenanigans, Chat Noir is a no-no on her crushable guys list.

Then you might ask, how come she ends up falling in love with Chat Noir in season 5? She even explicitely says, in Elation, that she doesn't care that he wears a mask, right?

Well, here is the thing, at the end of Season 4, Chat Noir shows to Ladybug that she can trust him, and she really does. She starts giving him more responsibilities as her partner (like confiding him the Bunny Miraculous), but also as a friend. She realises that she trusts Chat Noir literally with her life, why not with her heart? So she is willing to make an exception to her belief, because she trusts Chat Noir and that he'd be there when she is down (and not kick her the way Kim did).

Belief 2: I must always have everything under control

I won't get in the details of Marinette and her need for control and how it affects her relationship with Adrien and with Chat Noir because I already did it after Passion (I think my analysis from then still stands in this new context). But basically, Marinette has an urge to control everything because, now we learned, in times she didn't, things went very sour. This applies to her superhero work and how she wanted to be the only one in charge until her overbearing of responsibilities broke her in Risk, but also her personal life, where being in a relationship with Adrien is totally unchartered territory for her (more on that in the aforementioned post), plus too similar in circumstance to what happened in the past with Kim, so she is being extra controlling.

Belief 3: I should never get feelings for someone who is friends with Chloé

Marinette's context with Kim and Adrien show a lot of similarities, which explains why she is being overly controlling and reserved when it comes to her relationship with Adrien.

Adrien and Chloé are childhood friends, and since their friendship developed outside the school, Marinette doesn't know much about their friendship dynamics (neither do we). She only knows that Chloé is cruel, and how can someone nice be friends with someone so cruel?

Hence her mistrust of Adrien in Origins. When they first meet, she doesn't like Adrien, thinks that he is trying to prank her for Chloé. See the parallel with Kim? That never was Adrien's intention of course, and he comes clean in a half-apology, telling her that he never meant to put the chewing gum on her seat. A recognition of his actions and how they may impact her, which Kim never did. Even when confronted a year later by Ondine and Adrien, he still continues to argue that he was in the right. Meanwhile, Adrien acknowledges that his action might have hurt Marinette even if he didn't even mean to prank her. From the beginning, Adrien sets himself different from Kim, and Marinette inconsciously acknowledges that by allowing herself to develop feelings for him.

Nonetheless, the scar of that past trauma stays, and manifests itself when she wants to finally confess her feelings for Adrien. After all, Kim pranked her just as she had confessed to him, so it is totally underastandable that in Marinette's brain, confessing and making yourself vulnerable equals to being hurt.

But she is willing to work on that. At the end of Derision, she does take Adrien's hand, even though after some hesitation. However, she can't keep holding onto it, and she apologies for it. Adrien says that they have time, allowing her the space she needs to unlearn her past beliefs.

While Marinette decides to work on herself to get over her fear, Adrien also unrealisingly addresses the source of Marinette's fear by confronting Chloé and severing all ties and friendship he had with her.

In the end, both are willing to be there for each other and do the right thing.

This season shows that Marinette cannot, in fact, continue hanging onto the beliefs she acquired after Kim's prank.

She does prove herself wrong by managing to fall in love with someone she doesn't know fully, and even acknowledges that she doesn't need to know Chat Noir fully to love him.

She sees that she cannot keep everything under control by herself and she needs support, especially that of Chat Noir. But also, she learns that she needs to yield some control to Adrien if she is to have a healthy relationship with him.

Lastly, she is willing to try and get past her fear of Chloé. Adrien also distancing himself from her, facilitates Marinette's job.

Overcoming these three beliefs that Marinette acquired due to the trauma caused by Kim and Chloé, Marinette is now one step closer to being able to love Adrien (but also Chat Noir!) fully and freely.

Note: I haven't watched anything beyond Derision, so please do not spoil beyond that in the tags or comments 0:)

[ramen8008]

I LOVE aged up Ladynoir dynamic because they are more mature and understand each other to a level that just AHHH!

One of my oldest and most loved Ladynoir head-canons basically goes like this:

Where as they grow older, they grow closer but especially during the time where the og friend group kinda separates because of college and Marinette being Marinette is like "you know what? not having close friends with me helps me focus on college AND ladybug" but she still NEEDS SOMEONE (whether she knows it at the moment or not) .

It gets tougher, the akumas evolve into causing more mental and emotional damage than physical, hawkmoth grows to understand that with their age and jobs it's easier to target their mind. During this time they've grown more independent than they should have. So one night they talk, they explain their situation, they vent to each other and decide that the comfort they feel with one another can't be compared to anything else. That maybe the other is more than just a work friend that they joke with, more than just someone they only see during the most stressful times of the day, maybe it's easier to find a best friend in someone who you've known for most your life, who you've been through thick and thin with, who understands you in ways most might never. So Chat Noir and Ladybug grow closer and closer.

They rant about college and work (Adrien works in his father's company now and did a business course so he doesn't have to model and Marinette has an Etsy shop on the side). They get close and have random night talks where they talk about things no one but them and the night sky will ever hear. Everything they go through as heroes, the ups and downs, and they also talk about fun stuff, learn more about each other, finding out that chat is a part of multiple fandoms, that Ladybug has a horrible bed head and hates that chat doesn't, that they more are more of a romantic at heart than they want to admit. But they also talk about just the struggles and anxiety that comes with their jobs, just how messed up what they went through as kids is now that they see it from an adults point of view, but they also just laugh it off, joke about the trauma some fights inflicted. Nightmares that keep them up, hopes they are too scared to say out loud, sometimes even the fear of losing purpose if hawkmoth is defeated.

There's so much more too. They have the kind of friendship where they make jokes and promises into the night about how if they are always going to be single because of their jobs they'll just get married in their superhero costumes. How ladybug is going to love making chat's kids little clothes and how chat is going to make sure that ladybug gets time with her future partner whenever there's an akuma by handling it for her. All the while not knowing that their feelings for each other keep on growing and growing. It's so huge that it feels like their hearts will combust but it's also constant to the point that they get used to it.

It hits them like a truck yet it's so slow, maybe just talking one night and it hits them that they can't imagine life without the other, that they want the other in a way that's more than what they ever thought, no they've thought of it before, they've jokes about it but never acknowledged the truth this jokes had in them, never acknowledged that over time they became to lean on each other more than just in battles, they became each others partners in more than just fights against akumas, more than in a platonic way. They've always loved each other but their love had grown into something much stronger

P.s. thx @rosekasa for reigniting my Ladynoir head canons and now I'm on a journey to go through all my head canons 🤍

[kisspromptsforthelovesquare]

Kisses under an umbrella

One last kiss before I sacrifice myself/risk it all for you

Jumping on the other kiss

“I thought I’d lost you” kiss

Detransformed but still pre-reveal kiss

Romantic sewer kiss

We just won/lost an akuma battle kiss

“In case we don't make it out of this alive" kiss

“I just found out your identity and I don’t think it’s physically possible to keep my lips off your face now” kiss

Formal kiss

We're platonically cuddling on a chilly patrol night when we're making each other laugh so much we spur-in-the-moment kiss

Sleepy/half-asleep kiss

“I forgot you’re dating my other identity” kiss

Someone’s hanging upside down kiss (aka Spiderman kiss)

Blowing a kiss

“Someone claimed to be dating you and I couldn’t contradict them” jealous kiss

“Your suit’s in the way” kiss

“Your suit’s not in the way anymore!” kiss

Someone just lost their memory kiss

He/she just said yes kiss

"Kiss it better" kiss

Celebratory kiss

Kiss for the camera

Kiss they think is secret but actually lots of people can see, or getting caught kissing

Forehead kiss

"Did you know that kissing is good for hiding in plain sight, because it makes people uncomfortable so they look away?" (aka fake out make out)

I got jealous how you smiled (politely) at that civilian who was obviously (except to you) flirting with you

Kiss on a dare

André got akumatized again and he's leaving couples alone kiss

True love's kiss worked before let's try it again kiss

We need to make our fake dating look convincing kiss

Hello kiss, or goodbye kiss

Distracting your injured partner from pain while you patch them up kiss

She mixed up her words and asked for a kiss by accident but he just went with it kiss

“It’s not fair that you remember kissing me and I don’t” kiss

“I need you to stop punning for like FIVE SECONDS, so I’m going to occupy your mouth in a different way” kiss

The akuma is a huge Ladynoir shipper and it's the only way out kiss

“Sure I’ll help you practice confessing to Buttercup” kiss

“Thanks for saving my life” Ladrien or Marichat kiss

Anywhere but the face kiss: hand kiss, wrist kiss, shoulder kiss

One corner of the square kissing to prove another corner isn’t dating kiss

You were going in for la bise and I read into it kiss

“I’m/You’re using a different miraculous today” kiss

Spin the bottle kiss

“I know I said I wanted to keep our relationship a secret but…” kiss

"What do you mean you're moving away?!" kiss 

Welcome home kiss

"I want my first kiss to be with someone that I love and trust, but it's not that I'm IN love with you or anything hahaha no way" kiss

Kiss you to sleep, or kiss you awake

"Distracting you while you're trying to do something because I want attention" kiss

"Oh no, you made me fall in love with you" realization kiss

"Kissing your forehead/cheek while I thought you were sleeping" kiss (bonus if the 'asleep' person was actually unconscious and the kissing person is all "please come back to me.") 

Kiss during Second Chance

Anniversary kiss

“I thought this was just dancing, so how did we start kissing?” kiss

“We just fought and I’m mad at what you did, but I want you to know I’m not mad at you” kiss

“You fell asleep on public transport and I’m waking you up at our stop” kiss

“It’s been years since we’ve seen each other and I didn’t know what happened to you because of secret identities” kiss

“Reunion” kiss but one of them has the kwagatama ability to talk to the other through reunion and their lips can’t even touch because one is a ghost :(( 

Winning a bet kiss

Drunk kiss

Soft kiss after wrapping them in a blanket

Kiss on an old injury

“Our friends are trying to set us up, haha, let’s humor them” kiss

Sneaking into each other’s room kiss

“I’m pretty sure the grimoire says something about kissing, but I’m not sure exactly what. Want to help me experiment?” kiss

Apology kiss

Kissing while using one of the suit power-ups

“We’re both so busy that we’ve barely seen each other in days, so we should make the most of it” kiss

Kissing under the mistletoe

Kissing in a car

Identity reveal kiss

“Let’s recreate our first/favorite kiss”

Kissing backstage after a fashion show

“We should be focusing on this battle but, wow, you are extra distracting today” kiss

First kiss, or last kiss

“I know it’s the worst possible time for a kiss but…”

Failed kiss or interrupted kiss

Kiss as a confession/to show you how I really feel

Post-reveal pre-relationship kiss

Kisses that tickle

“We found our way back to each other” kiss

Soulmate kiss

Everyday domestic bliss kiss 

A kiss to comfort

“Why exactly are you kissing me?”

“Oh yeah? What are you willing to do to get a kiss from me? 😏” kiss

Accidental lip contact during la bise

Kissing in a disco

"What's the difference between le bisou and la bise? Hmm, let me show you..." 

“Maybe this will jog your memory” kiss

“I was going for the cheek/forehead and I missed 😳” kiss

Sealing a pinky swear with a kiss

"Will you marry me?" kiss

"I just love you so much, I can't help it" kiss

Fake dating kiss

A safe for work “not safe for work” kiss (like they’re standing on a forklift or something - what were YOU thinking?)

Interrupted by kids. Or a hamster. Or a kwami. 

 "Miracle cure brought you back" kiss

“Here’s your present” kiss

A kiss that promises forever

---

More info below:

I hope you wanted a long list of kiss prompts for the Love Square this Valentine's Day! What better way to celebrate a day of love than with our favorite lovesick dorks. 🥰

Use this list however you want. As an ask game, a challenge to draw or write every one, or just pick your favorites!

(For more fun, here's a random number spinner that you can set to any number you want.)

Feel free to use any version of them you want, too. Multimouse, Cat Walker, Dragon Bug, Chat Blanc, or stick to the original four-cornered square, if that's your thing!

Tag @kisspromptsforthelovesquare and we'll reblog. Marinette and Adrien's love for each other is forever. Just like the offer of reblogging. There's no time limit.

There's also a collection on AO3. Feel free to post there instead/as well.

Have fun everyone! Go and make them smooch!

Thank you to the wonderful @ladyofthenoodle for the header, and for our Discord group with their kiss suggestions.

[theerurishipper]

This is just an unstructured, incoherent vent post, but I've seen a few posts recently about how Adrien would definitely forgive Marinette for keeping secrets from him because he loves her, or that he would blame himself for not noticing what was going on and not her. And those aren't wrong, per se, but this is what I mean by the show taking away Adrien's agency. Ultimately his choices are allowed only as far as they do not inconvenience Marinette or anyone else the narrative cares about, like Felix or Nathalie. Which is why Adrien is not allowed to grow, he is not allowed to prioritize his own feelings and emotional needs. Any wrong done to him is resolved by him putting aside his own feelings to forgive the people who wronged him. And yes, he has been taught that his feelings don't matter by Gabriel and that he should bend over to the whims of everybody around him. And that kind of makes it worse, how the effect of Gabriel's abuse is used to convenience everyone around him. I think it's gross.

Just look at the Ladynoir conflict from Season 4. Adrien brings up his grievances with Ladybug's treatment of him a few times, but ultimately, he ends up putting it aside to focus on her emotional needs when she is at her lowest. Kuro Neko gave us the message that it wasn't that Ladybug was treating Chat Noir unfairly, but that Chat Noir should stop expecting to be treated with respect and should stop having emotional needs. And at the end of Strikeback, nothing is resolved, Ladybug hasn't apologized to him or resolved to do better by him, but he still shows up to her side to comfort her. No, she didn't apologize to him. She admitted her mistakes but did little to correct them even after the fact. That whole arc ended with Chat Noir being treated poorly over and over, and yet coming back to Ladybug's side because he's such a good partner and he loves her so much.

And Adrien, a character who has been forced his whole life to bend to the whims of others to please them at his expense is doing the same thing to Ladybug. Adrien exhibiting this behavior is 100% a trauma response. Ladybug is supposed to be his escape from his abusive homelife. And yet, the show writes him falling back into his trauma responses with her (Kuro Neko) and does jack shit to portray it as a bad thing. And the Season 4 finale is once again Adrien putting aside his feelings and showing up to support her. Adrien's emotions are not validated, they are tossed aside. Ladybug admitted her mistakes as she did several times through Season 4, but she still did little to correct them. That admission in Strikeback doesn't do much, because we never see her do anything to fix her mistakes after that. What happened was that Chat Noir saw her in distress and decided his feelings were unimportant because she needed support.

This is not healthy. Adrien should not be invalidating his own feelings so that he can offer comfort to others. He shouldn't forget and forgive so quickly without the other person doing anything to correct their behavior towards him. Once again, this is how Gabriel has taught him to behave, to stop "being so emotional" and to conform to his expectations. And Adrien continuously downplays his own issues for others' sake. And obviously, we would understand that he can heal from this, that he can learn to take care of his own emotional needs first.

And quite frankly, all the posts about how we shouldn't want Adrien and Marinette to break up, or how we shouldn't be so hard on Marinette, or that she is just a child in tough situation, or that she is doing it out of love and that Adrien would forgive her kinda make my point. Because let's be real. What Marinette did is a serious breach of trust. I do not understand how anyone could forgive something like that quickly. And I understand why she did it. I don't think she is a bad person or anything like that. But it's still an awful thing to do. And frankly, I don't see how Adrien could just... instantaneously forgive her without invalidating and downplaying his own pain and hurt. If he did, I would seriously question his self-worth. And while I don't think Adrien would never forgive Marinette or that he would stop loving her, frankly, I would like to see more acknowledgement of his feelings and his emotional needs both from the fandom and the show. I would like to see that his feelings matter, that he is allowed to be angry and that he is allowed to hold people accountable and call them out. I would like for him to not forgive some people. I would like for him to require distance and space from them. That would be development for Adrien, to let himself be emotional and not feel the need to put his own needs aside for others.

But for Adrien to prioritize himself, it would mean acknowledging the harmful things characters like Marinette have done to him. And that can't happen, because all the purpose Adrien serves is as a plot device to connect Marinette to Gabriel, and actually having her be held accountable by the narrative for her choices is a big no no. Growth for Adrien would mean that he lets himself be angry at Marinette for how she kept secrets from him, never apologized for it, and ultimately ended up keeping the greatest secret of all from him about his father and the fact that he is a Sentimonster. But as the writing to this point shows, Marinette isn't a safe space for him where he is allowed to be himself. She is someone who also elicits his trauma responses from him. He doesn't let himself be angry with her, he always puts himself last when it comes to her.

I am not saying Marinette is in any way comparable to Gabriel. She is nowhere as bad as him, she does not come close to that in any way. Marinette is a good person. But what she did in the finale, is explicitly something that Gabriel wanted her to do. Gabriel wanted to continue to dictate his son's emotions and perceptions, and Marinette helped him do it. That's not a healthy relationship. And looking at all the Marinette-Gabriel parallels in Season 5... it's not a good look at all. The show portrays Adrien as someone who has been denied autonomy his whole life, and as someone who is expected to cater to the desires of the people around him and be perfect for them while neglecting his emotional needs, and made his arc one of finding independence and his own identity and learning that his feelings and desires matter. But also, they only matter as far as they don't inconvenience Marinette. Adrien shouldn't downplay his feelings, but if doing so would help Marinette, then he should do it actually. And it's hard for me not to see it as Ladybug benefitting from his trauma from his abusive home. It sounds harsh, but that's how it feels.

And all the talk of how Adrien would never hate Marinette and that he would forgive her is... disappointing to me. Because I don't necessarily disagree, but it still is about prioritizing Marinette's feelings over Adrien's. What is focused on is not how Adrien might feel betrayed, but how Marinette might feel sad about Adrien feeling betrayed by her, and reinforces that Adrien is so good because he would not hold it against her. Even though he should, even though it means he would be downplaying his pain massively if he didn't blame her for that. If Adrien's character should develop, he should be allowed to realize that he has the right to get angry and that he doesn't have to downplay his emotions or feel like it's all his fault. He should be allowed to do that without people jumping to Marinette's defense and excusing her of blame.

Throughout the series, Adrien has been the person to help Ladybug through her problems, and the narrative has never allowed her to do the same for him. And I want to see focus on Adrien for a change. I want to see someone other than Plagg reassuring him and supporting him, especially his partner. I want to see the narrative be less about "oh, Adrien would never hold anything against Marinette because he loves her and would understand her always," and be more "actually Adrien is allowed to prioritize his feelings and want distance from Marinette after she betrayed him in such a personal way." That would be development. That would be reclaiming his agency. That would be free will and autonomy. I would like to see focus on this in the show and the fandom.

Adrien is not obligated to forgive Marinette. He is not obligated to understand her reasonings for why she did what she did. He is allowed to be angry at her and express his hurt because of her actions. Seasons 4 and 5 have regrettably established Marinette as someone else who denies Adrien's agency and around whom he reverts back to his fawning trauma response, and quite frankly the best thing for him to do would be to break up with her and go find himself on his own terms. I want his character to develop and grow, and unfortunately, Seasons 4 and 5 proved to me that it would not be possible as long as he is around Marinette, both from a character and narrative standpoint.

I just wish people would acknowledge and validate Adrien's perspective and feelings more. Even if it means calling out Marinette. Gabe is Adrien's abuser but he isn't the only one who has hurt Adrien in the story. Marinette is an incredible and amazing person but as far as we've reached in the show, she is hurting Adrien. And she has done many things across these two seasons that violate Adrien's trust. It's not even that this is a mistake she could learn from, but that she has done several such things over and over. From keeping secrets about the Miraculous holders' identities even though Hawkmoth himself knew, to Rena Furtive, to trying to trick him into an identity reveal in Ephemeral, and now keeping the fact that he is a Sentimonster and that Gabe is Monarch from him. It's gone from secret keeping to outright lying to him. It is not healthy. And it is a sign of stagnation and regression in Adrien's growth if he continues to keep forgiving her over and over again despite her never fixing her behavior.

If Adrien's arc is about finding autonomy, then he cannot be with someone who is complicit in denying him the ability to make his own choices. If Marinette was supposed to be the knight in shining armor, they shouldn't have given her the key to the tower and have her hide it away. If she was supposed to save him, they shouldn't have had her condemn him further. If Marinette was supposed to be the one who helped Adrien regain his self worth, the person whom he could trust and rely on the most, they shouldn't have made her side with Gabe, deny Adrien his agency, and violate his trust so many times.

It didn't have to be written this way, but these were the decisions made by the writers. They chose to portray Marinette like this for no discernable reason and refused to acknowledge it or deal with it meaningfully. Adrienette is so profoundly unhealthy now that if Adrien's character is to grow, the only way for him to do that is to break up with Marinette. But the show has also made it very clear that Adrien is only a plot device and a trophy for Marinette at the end. So I have no doubt that all will be forgiven in a matter of minutes, and the narrative will praise Adrien for being traumatized and denying his own emotional needs to comfort Marinette as she feels bad for hurting him. And it's sad, but I guess it is what it is.

[bittersweetresilience]

ladynoir in my bookmarks for @sleepysebris and @luckychatons

our hands would not be taught to hold another's by @ladyofthenoodle (38,147 words)

Adrien knew that wasn’t fair to blame Ladybug for this. There were rules, and now that Master Fu was gone, it was her job as the Guardian to enforce them. There were rules, and he knew the rules, and he broke them. He hadn’t meant to, but he did. That didn’t make losing the ring hurt any less.

downpour by @frostedpuffs (7,080 words)

Ladybug and Chat Noir tell each other their ages during a heavy rainstorm, but with the new bit of information they learn about their partner, they start developing other sorts of questions a little too deep for two teenage kids.

All My Life by Faithxoxo (12,080 words)

The thing Marinette is quickly realizing, is that love means more than wanting to spend every day with someone, or knowing their schedule by heart, or wanting to get married and have three kids with them. Loving someone means being able to talk to them for hours, and missing them all the time, and trusting them with your life. Her mind always goes to one person, and it isn’t Adrien.

Ma Chérie by Miss_Nihilist (4,912 words)

Chat Noir is ready to move on and start pursuing a girl in his class. Before he does, though, there’s just one thing that he needs from Ladybug. Too bad that it’s the one thing she can’t give him.

Like Smoke From a Furnace by @wackus-bonkus-maximus (7,518 words)

Marinette and Adrien give up their Miraculous. Ladybug and Chat Noir never meet again.

I (Wish I) Knew You by @buggachat (49,733 words)

University has been hard on Marinette. Making new friends and maintaining her grades is a lot easier said than done when she has to disappear at odd times to fight akumas. She’s struggling, and with Alya away with family and Adrien painfully out of reach, she’s never felt lonelier. If only she could talk to someone who really understood her struggles... but it’s not like Chat Noir would know anything about loneliness. Right?

all of your flaws and all of my flaws (are laid out one by one) by @coffeebanana (7,968 words)

Ladybug and Marinette have both been acting strangely since Monarch’s defeat, and Chat Noir would give anything to know why—to be able to help them. He just... didn’t expect his answers to come when Ladybug drags him to his father’s statue in the middle of the night along with a bag full of spray paint.

[xhanisai]

ladybug are you aware that your partner is a cat?

AO3

Pairing - Ladynoir

Prompt - 'Just Cat Things'

Summary -

This time, he was completely unreadable, standing only a few centimetres away from her with his big green eyes peering down at her face and his kissable lips devoid of any emotions. Just as mysterious as his namesake.

"Mon Minou? Is something wrong?" Her question was soft and breathy, her heart very much affected by the close proximity and the delicious way her partner towered over her frame. He didn't budge, didn't even utter a single word and before she knew it...

~(x)~

.

.

.

 Ladybug was quite used to her partner gazing at her silently at any time whenever he could. Be it curiously (wondering what was going on through her head during an Akuma battle), be it lovingly (especially when he's praising her for her quick thinking or when she's talking about something mundane from her civilian life) or even with concern (cradling her wounds during brutal fights or pressing her face into his chest so that she could cry away all the pain and stress she dealt with). It still never failed to light up the skin under her suit in a soothing yet increasingly warmer flame, her mind always internally hoping that her face wouldn't catch fire from the intensity of her Chaton's eyes.

 However, this time it was different.

 This time, he was completely unreadable, standing only a few centimetres away from her with his big green eyes peering down at her face and his kissable lips devoid of any emotions. Just as mysterious as his namesake.

 "Mon Minou? Is something wrong?" Her question was soft and breathy, her heart very much affected by the close proximity and the delicious way her partner towered over her frame. He didn't budge, didn't even utter a single word and before she knew it...

 .

 Bump.

 He bonked his head on hers.

 .

 "Great patrol as always, My Lady~♡ I'll see you soon!" With a quick kiss to her frozen and baffled cheek, even sneaking another peck on her forehead, the feline hero vaulted away with his baton, leaving behind his flabbergasted partner who couldn't choose between melting into goo on the spot or screaming from the top of her lungs in confusion.

 'Why did he headbutt me!?'

.

.

.

~(x)~

[generalluxun]

So, at what point did you decide to ditch your initial pairings in Dog Daze?

Decide isn't quite the way it went down. It's more that it became increasingly clear Adrienette was misfiring. The post-Risk stress was getting to Ladybug, and her partner taking a more active role in heroing was both helpful and scary for her (a lack of control).

Adrienette actually had a date (Adrien:it's not a date, Sabrina:But it might be!) Alya set it up, the sneaky fox!

Marinette wanted to confess at the end of the movie. She was trying to, bit freezing up. Adrien wanted to comfort her, and used what he had recently learned from his time with Sabrina. He kissed her gently on the forehead. This has the opposite effect intended. Marinette panics and bolts. She's still got everything built up to be Very Important(TM) in her head and his intended gentle reassurance was instead seen as pushing too fast and doing things out of order.

So that didn't help.

When Adrien talks (he's confused) with Sabrina about what happened she figures out that it was probably a confession. Adrien... Doesn't know how to take this. On one hand he's floored, Marinette is amazing! On the other hand, he's worried loving him is causing her stress. *He has a very real example of love causing stress between Cat Noir and Ladybug*

Meanwhile Ladybug confesses... To Cat Noir. Marinette is building up her nerves by clearing the air. She reiterates that they can't *do* anything with their love, because of the masks, but hopes that being honest will help. It does! Ladynoir ends up in this nice place where they clearly love each other, even if it doesn't mean the usual things.

Adrien, not knowing Ladybug was going to do that, had reached out to Marinette to meet up and talk about what happened at the theater(and give her another chance to confess if that was what it really was, though he doesn't say that to her) They meet up on the way to school. She's putting on a brave face but clearly wired. He's trying to help. And finally she does confess! And it is sweet and heartfelt!

And in that moment, Adrien envisions the life Marinette wants, and it's set against everything going on. Monarch, his father, the trials of Ladynoir, all of it. He just can't subject her to that. He tells her she's wonderful, and if *he* were a different person with a different life it would be so easy to say yes. He tells her if life changes, then he'd consider himself lucky if she would date him, but also asks her not to wait. She's too special to be kept waiting in the wings.

Marinette- has a panic attack. She's put so much into this moment. not just her love life but as a sign that she's not a failure(after losing most of the miraculous) and that life is still 'in control'. It takes Adrien, Alya, and Sabrina's help to bring her back out. She ends up being shepherded by Alya while Adrien and Sabrina talk(he nearly had a panic attack in response to Marinette's) and there I think, passed the idea of adrienette working out.

There was just too much going on. It was a bad time, and they had very different needs. Adrien and Sabrina made their way slowly towards admitting they had actually already been dating for a while. It actually might not have happened but others kept poking their relationship and requiring definition.

I expected Marinette to end up with Lukanette. She contacted him soon after her failed confession. She was very open this time though about needing to blow off steam and feel lovable(despite the fact Adrien had said she was, you know how feelings are) They hung out a few times but Luka stayed resolutely in supportive friend territory by his own choice.

In the end (after Dog Daze, during a one shot) Marinette actually ends up with someone who lives life as frenetically as she does. They both spin out of control regularly, but they also both know what it is like to spin out of control and how to help each other through.

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

ladynoir 12 for the drabble prompts!

Hey Nicole!

So, you did prompt #12 (also yay! my favorite number!), which ended up corresponding to Love Don't Die by The Fray!

I'll admit, it took me a while to figure out what to do with this one, but I ended up taking the angst route lol

This is a PRPR fic, where Chat Noir and Hawkmoth's identities have been revealed to the public (Ladybug is still unknown though)...

anyways... hope you enjoy!

ao3 link

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Instead I'm Never Leaving You

“LADYBUG! LADYBUG! OVER HERE!” The shouting and blaring lights of overzealous reporters threatened to overwhelm her, but she blinked back spots and stood her ground. She reminded herself why she was here. Why was she standing alone with only the bare vestiges of a whisper of his hand in hers, of his warmth radiating next to hers, a stolen moment taken from only moments ago, but feeling like a lifetime past. 

One eager reporter with bright purple hair and a sharp haircut broke from the fold and shoved her microphone underneath Ladybug’s face. 

“Ladybug, what do you have to say about the rumors of your partner being Adrien Agreste?” 

Ladybug pursed her lips and fought against the building headache in her temple. 

“No comment.”

This was not to discourage the enthusiastic reporter, who pushed the microphone even further into Ladybug’s face, its plastic scent was beginning to make her nauseous. 

“And what do you have to say about the allegations of famed fashion designer Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth, and about the potential implications of Chat Noir being the son of Hawkmoth?”

Forever on the defense for her partner, this time, Ladybug could not hold herself back from speaking. 

“The identity of Hawkmoth, regardless of who he is, has no effect on Adrien Agreste, who has never done anything to harm Paris, and it certainly has nothing to do with Chat Noir, who has spent every waking moment defending all of Paris, including myself.” Ladybug could feel her face turning a bright red, as her voice rang clear with righteous fury.

For a moment the crowd around her silenced, until a voice in the crowd, to which she could put no face, piped in.

“Ladybug, don’t you think that we’d be better off without Chat Noir? How could you trust your partner, if these are the kinds of people he spends his time with?”

She was going to be sick. 

Surely he had been watching the crowd, surely he knew that they had given voice to the seeds of doubt growing heartily in the back of his mind.

Ladybug looked around helplessly for an exit, then remembered the trusty yo-yo hooked against her side.

“I’m sorry everyone but I have to go.”

With an eager fling, she catapulted herself into the air and made her way to the nearby rooftop that she knew he’d be hiding behind.

It wasn’t fair. With merely a grainy video taken by an invasive fan, which had showcased a side view of what looked to be Adrien’s Agreste’s face, after Chat Noir’s transformation. And had been posted to social media barely two days after the arrest of Hawkmoth suspect #1 Gabriel Agreste, Adrien’s… Chat Noir’s life had been effectively ruined.

She blinked back angry tears for him, knowing that their being spotted would only hurt him more. 

When she caught sight of him, he was facing the opposite direction from where the crowd had been, as though he hadn’t caught the entire thing from his hideaway.

He heard her before he saw her.

“What they’re saying is true, you know.”

“Chaton,” She sighed, her shoulders drooping.

“You would be better off to drop me. I mean, who would blame you? I wouldn’t trust me either.”

The ache that settled in her heart became too much for her. Rather than fight against his untrue words, rather than remind him of how much she cared about him, about how much she needed him, she sat down beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder. 

There they sat, with only traffic and wind to harmonize the silence, until Ladybug felt pressure and tenseness ease from Chat Noir’s shoulders, until his head sloped onto hers.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that.” She said quietly, she took his hand and began to draw circles on his knuckles. 

He shrugged with feigned nonchalance. “It’s okay.”

Ladybug sat up abruptly and turned herself towards Chat Noir. She grabbed his face in her palms to make sure he could see the earnestness on her face.

“It’s not okay. No partner, no person is as kind, as giving, as loyal and– and as goodhearted as you. You don’t deserve this treatment. What your father did was awful, but it’s not in any way a reflection of you. You– you are the opposite of him in every way, and I’m sure if Alya and Nino were here right now, they’d agree with me.” 

Ladybug stroked Chat Noir’s cheekbone in a repetitive motion that managed to catch reluctant tears, haphazardly falling from his weary eyes. 

“I know everything in your life is insane right now, that people are confused and have turned you into something you are not. But know this Chaton. I am never leaving you, and I am not going to turn my back on our partnership. Because I know who you are and I will always love you for it. Minou, we will get through this like we get through everything, together.” 

Chat Noir finally released a shuddered breath and nuzzled his face into her palm. 

“Thank you M’lady.”

“Always Chaton.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you so much for the ask! <3

Request a lovesquare side and a number from my playlist for a drabble!

[jennagrinsoverml]

ML Christmas Fic Recs

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! 🎄🎁❄ I love a good seasonal fic and we have a lot of them in this fandom, so this is a long list. I'm not going to comment on the fics like I usually do to keep this post from being too long. Just trust me that they're all amazing!

I'll Be Home for Christmas by @thelibraryloser

Adrinette: Fake Dating for Christmas "Reasons"

Mistletoe by @11jj11​

The four times the Love Square found themselves under a mistletoe.

A Cat of Their Own by @sariahsue

Tom and Sabine have learned Ladybug's secret identity, it's obvious their relationship It's also obvious to them that Cat Noir adores their daughter. How deep do those feelings go? And how far are they willing to go to mother the boy underneath the mask?

Santa Baby, Slip a Superhero into a Box for Me by therealjanebingley

There's an akuma with the ability to give everyone their heart's desire for Christmas.

But when your heart's desire is your crush, and your crush has a secret identity…who's going to show up under your tree?

Better Fate than Never by @2manyfandoms2count​

This Christmas, about ten years after their first meeting, and five after Hawkmoth's disappearance, Ladybug and Chat Noir are taking the leap and finally revealing their identities to one another.

Two people, one hotel, one plan to drop the masks.

Seemed straightforward enough. Or so they thought...

The Purr-fect Gift by @gryffindorcls​

Years after the reveal and the start of their relationship, Marinette and Adrien move in together. To her dismay, Adrien has become distant and quiet after the move. Marinette just wants things to return to normal, but Adrien has a surprise for her that will change their lives forever.

Unraveled by @overworkedunderwhelmed​

When her holiday family obligations leave Chat Noir more than willing to pick up the slack, Ladybug comes to a rather startling observation -- one she was shocked to realize she hadn’t picked up on before.

Resolved, Marinette gives her all to make Christmas extra special for her partner.

But even the best laid plans can unravel.

Somebody Waits for You (Kiss Her Once for Me) by @thelibraryloser

Ladynoir: Caught Under the Mistletoe

The Christmas Miraculous by @mommadon​

Adrien's trying to build a new life for himself in New York, but after an unexpected break-up with his girlfriend, he returns home to Paris for some soul-searching. What he finds may surprise him.

A pure, 100% fluff, cheesy Christmas movie style fanfic for your guilty pleasure enjoyment.

baby please (come home) by @lnc2​

It’s the first Christmas after Hawkmoth’s defeat and Adrien is struggling without his lady.

Christmas by Starlight by @deinde-prandium

Worried that Ladybug is working too hard, Chat Noir plans the ultimate Christmas surprise. He's gonna give her the stars. Literally.

(Thing is, he doesn't realize that he's in for a surprise of his own.)

Then how the Reindeer Loved Him by @baneismydragon​

A chance meeting on Christmas eve leads to a moment of magic between Ladybug and Adrien.

Kistletoe by @codenamejd​

Adrien has inadvertently caught Marinette under the mistletoe...

...but Adrien's never heard of mistletoe.

12 Dates of Christmas by @lyramae-archer

When Ladybug notices that her partner, Chat Noir, seems down at Christmas season - the happiest time of year - she takes it into her own hands to make the days memorable and special, all with a Christmas spin. They aren't *dates* - they are just two friends doing Christmas things together because her kitty needs to smile. At least until she discovers who it is under the mask.

Kissing for charity by plikki

Marinette doesn't understand why the idea of Chat kissing someone else is killing her. It's for a good cause! But it's so bad that she's forced to spend her savings to make sure she would be the only one kissing him. For the sick children, of course.

Chat Noir's Christmas Spirit by @jennagrinsoverml​

Chat Noir isn't feeling the Christmas spirit this year.

How could he? Nothing's improved since last year.

But his Lady notices and puts her brilliant mind and kind heart to turning her partner's holiday around.

Since We've No Place to Go (Let it Snow) by @thelibraryloser

Marichat: Snowed In

and what's this? a BONUS trope? there was only ONE BED?

Be not afraid of greatness by @zipadeea​

"Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, The pretty follies that themselves commit." Maybe so, but sometimes, sometimes, all it takes to see is an early morning make-up exam, an irrational lack of sleep, and a pen that's out of ink. Reveal fic!

Chocolate Coins by @inkjackets​

A cold December day, a load of chocolate coins, two teenage superheroes... the perfect recipe for fun!

Smudged to Perfection by @overworkedunderwhelmed​

As pleased as Adrien was to have found an early Christmas gift from one of his friends on his desk at school, he was ecstatic when he realized it possessed a power far stronger than he’d ever imagined.

Zibeline by @chatonne-rousse​

Marinette finally pulls Adrien's name for the class gift exchange. She has a great idea for the perfect Christmas gift, but when Ladybug allows Chat Noir to help, things end up going differently - though not worse - than she had envisioned.

at every table, i'll save you a seat by @ladynoirist

unbeknownst to them, adrien and plagg have the same plan for christmas morning: giving their kitten the best christmas he's ever had

A game of pretend by @emsylcatac

Marinette was certain that Adrien was Chat Noir. She was also certain that he knew her identity. Yet, the both of them were acting like they hadn’t connected the dots and were still oblivious to what was now painfully obvious. She didn’t know if it was a game they were playing at or not, but if so, she had no intention of losing.

Which proved itself to be extremely difficult when Chat Noir suggested on patrol one evening that they go gift-shopping for their lovers together.

Butter by @ao3bronte​

It’s warm in their garden igloo, an Eden of good company and beating hearts cocooned against the December chill and the gently falling snow cascading from the heavens. Chat wishes he could spend the rest of his life like this, laughing and joking with Ladybug over a homemade Christmas dinner made just for the two of them.

Mice to Meet You by @sing-in-me-oh-muse​

Santa and his elves ended up sick from a shortage of sugar cookies because Mrs. Claus had gone on vacation to visit her cousin in Antarctica (and he's too busy to bake for himself and 300 elves).

So the day before Christmas, Santa calls Chat Noir for help.

But Chat can't do it on his own.

He needs help from Multimouse! Well. Several Multimouses.

Resolution by @thelibraryloser

Ladrien: New Year's Eve Resolutions

and also... another Ladrien specific bonus trope which is a surprise and I will give you a hint: it isn't gratuitous blushing

The following fic is amazing and absolutely worth reading, but does feature sexual content, so minors beware.  

Advent Calendar by @ghostlyhamburger

Chat and Ladybug do a different Christmas activity every day

[familyagrestefanblog]

Clarification I definitely should have done ever since season 4 and the Ladynoir conflict started escalating, but hey, let's just get it out:

There are reasons why I'm harping down so badly on Miraculous' Girlboss feminism and defend Adrien as much as I do.

To get the feminist (in-universe) explaination out of the way first:

I would be lying if I said that I like the direction the show has taken Marinette's character and the story in general. But regarding her specifically I simply have to say that most of my problems with her are how she is written as Ladybug, Guardian, and especially leader & partner. Not in her civilian self. Hence why you won't find that alot on my blog, only when it contributes to the overarching double standards problem from s4 I take issue with.

I simply cant deny it, Ladybug is a kind of leader I just came to not be able to respect alot anymore in how she operates most things bc she doesn't really ever look passed how things look & stand for herself, and what SHE needs & wants. Marinette is a very low empathy person in the sense that she struggles putting herself in other people's positions, or remembers considering that at all.

But that's not the reason why I can't respect her as leader. I have ADD, that would be really hypocritical of me.

What leaves me unable to respect her as leader though (& honestly kinda even wanting Alya to take her position) is the fact that the show doesn't see much wrong with Maribug doing that.

They don't properly depict this as flawed leadership she actually NEEDS to grow out of by making up for her shortcomings by, for example, making other people her official co-leaders. Instead the show since s4 (& kinda s3) will proceed to put it's feminist foot down if Maribug isn't actually in the end 100% correct and "totally girlboss justified" in any given case - with CN & authorities specifically - no matter the context. Ergo she's barely ever truly improving her weakpoints in partnership skills for example & continues doing the same mistakes over n over.

like she genuinely would benefit from having Chat Noir as her co-leader too, not just Rena Rouge. But no. The neurodivergend low-empathy girl can't have a high-empathy boy co-leader bc apparently thats misogynistic now, huh ?

Again, I have ADD and I'm also a woman. In fact, I actually have alot in common with Maribug (hence why it hurt so much once s4 took her away from me), so forgive me when I still say: I am NOT going to lower my standards of my believe that neither of those aspects get to be an excuse on everyone else's expense regarding LEADERSHIP (which I do also am in the position of in my life).

And I repeat: LEADERSHIP. Not Marinette herself as a person necessarily & esp not her civilian life.

People always say that her critics wouldn't be so hard on her if she were a man, but I strongly disagree. In my experience, if Marinette were a boy people would actually draw a line nowadays and call out that Mariano is too stuck in his own head to be a good leader (& partner). And maybe even demand that he shouldn't be in that position anymore either at all or until he's in a better head space.

Bc with male characters people are actually drawing lines now in important factors when it comes to power & the accountability coming with it, bc in the end being in change means it ain't about you

Hence why e. g. Steve Rogers (Captain America) was then a fucking fugitive from the law when shit got real in the MCU. They had to do that bc of his leadership morality not being able to exist well within a corrupted & complex law system under fire and attack. My man's an amazing battle leader, but the MCU did VERY well leaving taking care of all kinds of social & political matters to Tony Stark. This kind of nuance ain't Steve's strength. Marinette & Steve are actually a EXTREMELY similar type of leader and it's interesting that I don't exactly vibe with him too much either in that regard, but like him as person the way I did Marinette. So for me it's definitely an issue with their type of leadership.

But the mainstream female leader characters are often still "too female" to get held to the same regular standards bc telling a female leader character in a complicated and not entirely beneficial situation & position 'yeah, it's sucks but you're not the center of the universe'' is now more often than not still "too mean/ sexist"

again, Steve was made an outlaw for a reason and you can bet if he had been a Stephanie people would have made all her struggles about sexism & called the 'outlaw leader' route after Civil War misogyny, merely bc "society doesnt respect women". This is whats happening with Maribug & it clashes with her leadership style.

Hence why there AREN'T ALOT of mainstream female leader characters. And if we get some, most of them are narratively defined by how powerful & in control they are for THEIR OWN BENEFIT and it being depicted as 100% right & just in general (like with Marinette) which goes against what a normal leader should be, so alot of people don't like them (ignoring the actual sexist people for a sec)

The first Wonder Woman movie for example was so well-received for a reason. They did it RIGHT (& may I please also recommend Wakanda Forever? Fuck, that movie was GOOD)

--

But yes, it's notably how Maribug treats Chat, who is supposed to be her partner and friend, that I take alot of issues with.

And yes, I would say the same if LB were male and CN female. Ladynoir is so rooted in toxic femininity that this "partnership" (or just the entire LS) the way it is could NOT exist today in gender bend. S4 and the s5 finale in particular are unthinkable in gender bend and they sold it as "justified female empowerment" & "unparalleled loving treatment" from Ladybug's side Chat Noir needed to learn to be GRATEFUL for.

All while, and I will never stop stressing this: the show has never stopped writing Marinette to treat Chat Noir as if he basically just spawns into existence once he puts on the mask. He's HALF a human being. Even once she falls in love with him in s5.

This is the fundamental and deep seeded problem of where my issues come from here. It never stands in question if Adrien views Marinette and Ladybug as full human beings, but the other way around that very much is the case. In whatever way it's depicted. Yes this is a line I draw, especially because of the whole Sentihuman thing.

I personally am alot more like Adrien regarding Friendship and partnership (or what his character initially started out). They are heavy & meaningful topics for me. So seeing Marinette being utilized to girlboss all that into the ground with Chat Noir, esp in s4, while she apparently barely ever even noticed anything wrong with how she treats him in the first place as she literally replaced him with Alya/ Rena in everything but name

cause buring him under a wall of secrets & lies meant she can still 100% benefit from his eternal devotion by letting him believe she's too alone to be a partner anymore AT ALL. (Kuro Neko onwards and then NEVER stopped letting him think she's just as alone as he is. NEVER. She's still doing it in s5 while leaving him 100% isolated which was then his demise in the s5 finale.)

and gives Alya the deluxe partnership entirely on his expense, while barely ever sparing him even the most basic thought in anything; & by "Risk" then literally having them switch status. Rena is her actual partner she fully treats that way and he's merely her favorite temp hero with no rights, which Rena was previously.

And the only reason why Chat was treated with something resembling to fairness or dignity again in season 5 (& finally wasn't a rag doll for her every little mood anymore...) was because Maribug plainly had no other choice and had her team & position of power taken away by force while Alya renounced for her own safety. And yet she's still treating him as half a human being even by the end of S5. AFTER her character development. He's Chat Noir and that's where his existence ends in her leadership & friendship. CN and Alya in s5 are literally 2 halves of ONE PARTNER.

All that was painful to watch to say the least. Bc it's imo honestly a disgrace to friendship and partnership. I can't put into words how ashamed I would be of myself if I treated someone the way Marinette treats Chat Noir (again, HALF A HUMAN BEING).

Much less a friend I claim to love dearly and don't want to loose (another thing the MCU did better regarding Steve's fall-out with Tony over Bucky... I should really make that comparison post why Steve works for me & Marinette doesnt)

Just the mere fact that Marinette in "Elation" even told Chat "It doesn't matter who's underneath your mask" is honestly outrageous.

Because thats simply what it is for me. If s4 & 5 Marinette were portrayed from a similar morality angle to Emonette in the Paris special I would have much less issues with her. Cause thats ironically an angle female characters barely get & is mostly used to redeem the broken bad boys with a hidden heart of gold™.

Double irony: s1-s3 actually DID put civilian Marinette often into that angle, hence why I really liked her, but then s4 suddenly said "well, her methods & actions really dont matter. She's wrong, but actually not really; ergo she should get rewarded in the end. Always. But with a few exceptions. Here n there she loses to claim otherwise. But actually the world just needs to learn how right & amazing she is."

She makes countless mistakes but often either doesn't really learn from them anymore or they just don't "count" bc that's 'what makes her quirky & loveable', so having any issues with her now means you hate women. And she's a very flawed leader but actually never did anything wrong. Ever. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I will be VERY blunt now: The moment you put a female character into the leader role the FEMALE aspect is supposed to be of secondary importance. And a leader, by the nature of the position, ALWAYS has to be questioned morally wise in my opinion bc of the fatal blindspots that will automatically occur in every leadership.

And it happened here too: Chat Noir's treatment. But they demanded that her being the (female) leader means she's OWED to treat him badly & gets to keep him as blindspot on HIS expense bc she doesn't like thinking about him existing as civilian person.

A leader is ALWAYS somebody who is NOT going to sit well with everybody regarding their approach. That's a normal instinct, and in fact it would be highly dangerous if that wouldnt happen at all. So if I, or other people, don't respect her as one that simply means she has an opposition the way every leader has & is being held to normal standards a leader should be held to, regardless of gender.

Sorry if you think thats sexist, but in my opinion that's a YOU problem. I personally respect female leaders too much to not acknowledge them as anything else but the potential threats they are. The same way I do with male leaders.

You're leader first, woman second. If you can't handle that get out of the leadership position (yes, oc that also applies the other way around). Feminism was about making sure that women cant be excluded from e. g. position of power just bc we're female. The goal wasn't to have yet another group of people stomp their foots, now claiming that they are OWED power once they wanna have it to feel powerful. But that's what Marinette was used to teach an entire generation of children, especially girls.

The last thing you will EVER get me to do is accept that I should be holding women - specifically for equality, female empowerment and leadership - to LOWER (moral) standards as I would the men in her position.

Buddy, I am NOT gonna fucking do that. Just the thought is pissing me tf off, and has ever since s4, cause it directly plays into the misogynistic thinking of:

"Women can't be given power, status or even too much focus as human beings because they're too irrational and immature to be able to then lay proper priorities & take rightful accountability for their shit like a man in power could; and not just scream and cry while playing the oppressed victim card the moment things don't work out & they aren't being given the special female treatment to let them mostly off the hook consequences wise.

Leading to everyone around them, especially the MEN, having to step up, do the work & basically babysit the women like children - while still having to give her the credit as person in charge - turning the women more or less into toddlers wearing a queen's crown"

Which, by all means, Adrichat in every dynamic of the love square by season 5, Gabriel at the end of "Recreation" and even Luka & Félix (& "thankfully" Alya too since s4) had to do for Maribug in alot of ways.

Pick up all of her slack in several major areas & catering to her while simultaneously having to still give most of the credit to HER or else they would be "mean to the female lead" (it's also telling that Alya is treated the best here, & goodness dont get me started on Su-Han...).

And with that out of the way, a few more meta reasons:

1) I'm NOT watching a damn documentary. Marinette is NOT a 14 year old, she doesnt exist & isnt based on a real person or story. She's a fictional main character and narrative tool, so forgive me for approaching this differently than a real life case.

and 2) in everything I watch I automatically look out for the narrative's blind spots and victims of the writings' favorites. I take it this seriously because this is career related for me.

Hence why I have barely ever liked a main character and ironically Marinette/ Ladybug was once one of the few exceptions (alongside Korra from Legend of Korra and Blitz from Helluva Boss)

Look, when I for example watch Helluva Boss or a Yugioh show I will automatically pay extra attention to how the female characters are being treated bc they are obviously treated worse by the writing and much more neglected and scapegoated than the male characters.

Meanwhile when I watch Miraculous and She-Ra, I do the opposite and pay attention to how the male characters are treated bc now they have the gender-biase against them.

And when I for example watch Avatar the last Airbender or Legend of Korra [and She-Ra, that show is great], then I actually get to be mostly fucking happy for once in my life jfc

I'm not going to elaborate too much more on this because I already named by my main point in the beginning: Chat Noir's - not even Adrien's, I mean CHAT NOIR - sometimes honestly awful treatment being the biggest moral and narrative blind spot of the entire show, and honestly where most of Maribug's problems then are also rooted in. Hence why I started focusing so much on Chat Noir since season 4. I look at the overall narrative and circumstances and look for the blind spots that needs to be solved to get to the core of the problem of this whole mess, to get effective results.

And that was and even by the end remained the fact that Adrichat is treated so badly, scapegoated in every possible way in the name of "feminism" and kicked out of the story where HE is at the core of most everything going on, just so the show can force Maribug into everything, make things about her that have no business being about her

Just so she can then be made to constandly turn around and scream, cry and stress about problems - and go about them in the least effective way - that wouldnt be there in the first place if she wasnt the main character of a story that isnt hers.

Mate, I dont know what to tell you here, but the fact that we are following Marinette Dupain-Cheng ,who has nothing to do with anything besides being the cool action girl, is and will always remain of the of core problems of this show. I WISHED that wasnt the case. But for the love of everything, Kagami would have made so much more sense as the female lead, but no.

Anyway, I will leave it at that now cause I already elaborate much further than I initially wanted to, I just wanted to finally have all this stated.

This Blog is not a full representation of how I lay priorities in (feminist) media in general, my view adjusts to the piece of media I'm watching.

And unfortunately, ever since season 4 Miraculous turned into a full blown extreme case and has only gotten better somewhat recently. So I will continue doing what I always do: focus on the fucking VICTIM whose bad treatment pulls down the whole show's quality, and here that's plain obviously Adrien Agreste/ Chat Noir.

And with all due respect: Die mad about it.

[miraculouslycool]

okay so i'm not the only one who thought the placement of the handful of scenes where adrien's life is constantly mobbed by fans was random, right?

this episode was about marinette's superhero duties keeping her from being happy with the one she loves, and the people around her, her friends, telling her what to do and who she should be with, even though they all mean well.

(and if any of you even try it with me by adding alya salt to this i will RUIN your life)

but this episode was also just as much about what is keeping adrien from being happy with who he loves - his status as a celebrity, both as adrien AND chat noir. he can't run away to catch respite from detransforming, he can't even eat in peace with people following him around and seeking him out.

the cruel twist of irony there - he goes to marinette, actively seeking her out, but she refuses to see him. adrien is constantly chased but he can't even see the girl he's chasing after.

and then HE comes to marinette as chat noir. she's seeking him out but he chooses to go to her. adrien's agency is always at its most active around marinette (even more than ladybug). she says to him that she's a "fan" of his, but its not true. it's a lie she can't not tell to protect her identity, but also to hide that she's ladybug, his best friend, his partner, who's more closer to him than he's aware.

the idea of a "fan" here isn't even the first time its being used to hide the true nature of someone's feelings (see: troublemaker). this time its protecting marinette's identity but also desecrating their relationship as marichat. (ironic, i thought some people considered ladrien would have this concept)

but she also tells him that she's not like his other fans. she won't invade his space like they do. she knows who he is. she knows what a good person he is. she doesn't care about the mask and his image, she cares about who he is inside. she worries for his well-being, and she worries how her judgement affects him too.

and this is most importantly shown in the ladynoir scene. marinette is ladybug, and once ladybug hears that he has feelings for marinette, not her, she understands. she gives him a sweet smile and an affectionate gesture to his neck, showing him how close they truly are and how they understand each other. how she's his best friend and that will never change, even if romantic feelings change and superhero duties hold them back.

in a world full of people exploiting his image, seeking his attention shallowly, marinette is different to adrien. she's the one who saw through his sadness in risk, the one who gave him the courage to stand up to his father.

she's not his fan, she's his friend who will always love him no matter what. and that means so much to him, and hurts her so much to refer to herself as yet another fan in a crowd.

and remember how the first glaciator had ladybug rejecting chat noir with the utmost kindness one could possibly give? and how that brought them closer when it logically should have driven them apart? i think that happened again here. yes, their was a lot of doubt about whether being a superhero is even worth it, or if they'll ever get to be together, but it solidified their friendship and the foundation of their relationship.

the probability of them being together as a couple or not won't ever change how much they love each other and that's as pure as true love can possibly get.

[asukiess]

the scene of chat cataclysming gabriel’s statue goes like this in my head:

Ladybug told Chat that Monarch was Gabriel Agreste, but it has to be a secret (you have to trust me). Chat has been dealing with this fact for weeks, completely unable to reconcile what Ladybug told Adrien, unable to reconcile everything to do with that reveal.

So he’s alone at night, pacing around the statue and driving himself mad until he finally calls for his power and he’s moments away from doing it when Ladybug’s yo-yo wraps around his arm (a la Derision and other eps).

She confronts him, bewildered he’d “go behind her back” so to speak but also terrified he’ll actually do it because to her, Adrien still looks up to his father and has previously liked the statue (I don’t know if I can ever measure up to him.). What would Adrien do if it was gone? He used to go to his mother’s statue in the garden!

And that’s when the classic S4 ladynoir fighting comes back: Chat basically saying Ladybug not only kept Adrien in the dark, but the whole city, that if somethings important then it’s important to say it, and that she doesn’t trust him, and why would she lie to Adrien?

And she begs him to try and trust her even if it’s hard, because she’s not ready to tell Adrien the truth and Lila’s interfering in her personal life (I’m thinking slow blackmail) and things are getting insane and she needs her partner on her side.

And it would be the cherry on top of Chat just said, “Do you keep your boyfriend in the dark too?”

[kasienda]

Bend the World Around It - Ch 4: Ladynoir is Canon

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Read on Ao3

Inspired by @blur0se for @marimbles. Thanks to @coffeebanana for being an amazing beta!!

Chapter 4: Ladynoir is Canon

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you!” Ladybug yells, her arms crossed. 

Chat laughs, and sweeps her to the side of a beam of light. “Focus on the akuma, m’lady! That one almost got you.” 

Ladybug harrumphs, and her yoyo shoots out. “Stop being so distracting then!”

Chat’s grin grows two fold on his face. “Oh? Is my lady distracted by meow ?” 

Alya’s phone is trained on the exchange, not missing a moment. Something has definitely shifted between the two of them, no matter how much Marinette denies it.

“Is it just me, Ladybloggers, or is Ladybug acting a little smitten these days?” 

Nino, beside her, snorts, but refrains from commenting. She grins at him, careful to keep her phone camera on the superhero duo. 

Marinette might kill her for adding fuel to the rumors, but Alya would be teasing her a ton later in person anyway. Marinette probably thought she was being subtle, but the girl didn’t know the meaning of the word. Not when it came to falling in love. 

Alya loved that about her. 

Flirting banter aside, they work in tandem more smoothly than ever and the akuma is defeated and purified in less than two minutes. 

The two heroes turn towards each other for their traditional fist bump. Alya always loves to catch this part - even though it’s always the same. There’s something so powerful about acknowledging each other’s support every time, about never taking it for granted.

Only when their hands meet there’s no fist bump at all. 

Ladybug pulls Chat Noir to her and whirls him around into a dip. Then, she’s kissing him senseless.

Alya almost drops her phone. 

“Nino!” she hits him in the shoulder. “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

Nino nods rapidly, his own face lighting up in a smile. “Yup! Definitely babe!” 

“Come on!” She can corner Marinette later for details, but that runs the risk of letting Nadia Chamack get the first interview, which, as the founder of the Ladybug, Alya absolutely cannot let happen. 

“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” she calls, running up to them with her video still rolling. “That was quite the display! Are the two of you dating?” 

Alya half expects Marinette to glare at her, but she doesn’t. Instead, she turns an absolutely besotted love sick smile towards her partner. 

“Actually, no. We’re married.” 

Alya drops her phone. “What?! Ma– Ladybug! What?!” 

She sweeps up her phone off the ground and keeps recording.

Ladybug’s fingers are interlaced with Chat’s as they stare into each other’s eyes waaay too sweetly.

Chat Noir turns to her first. “Actually, today’s our anniversary!” 

Ladybug’s face dissolves into total confusion. “What? No, it’s not.” 

Chat Noir turns back to her. “Three years, six months,” he tells her, kissing her knuckles of their joined hands, “to the day.”

Alya shakes her head. That doesn’t make sense! They haven’t even known each other for that long. Alya’s been listening to the blow by blow of Marinette’s love life since they became friends.

But Ladybug’s face melts into goo. “That is not a thing.”

He grins, and kisses her nose. “It is now.”

Pink blooms across Marinette’s face. “Gah! How am I ever going to compete with you romantically?!” she demands. 

Chat Noir smiles and it’s like the rest of the world doesn’t exist for him. Not the akuma victim, not Alya or Nino, or her phone still recording this exchange. 

He brings her hand up to his face, and deposits the gentlest kiss. “M’lady, it’s not a competition, but if it was, you’ve already won. At least in my book.”

Ladybug surges up to her tiptoes and kisses him again. The kiss does not stay chaste.

Nino whistles. 

Alya bites her tongue on all the questions she wants to demand of her best friend for the sake of the video.

When they pull apart, gasping, Alya lets herself speak. 

“You heard it here first, folks. Looks like Ladynoir is canon!” 

Ladybug and Chat Noir both giggle, and wave to the camera. 

Alya grins. She has never seen Marinette quite this happy – and she’s seen Marinette positively giddy during a sugar high after Adrien told her he liked her outfit. 

She supposes her curiosity can wait. 

…

Marinette is suspiciously hard to get ahold of for the whole next day. 

Alya: You had better call me back before tomorrow! I’m going crazy, girl! You can’t just drop that on me in front of all of Paris and expect me not to slip up! I’m about to burst! And the only person I can talk to about this is Nino!  And he can’t keep a secret! Call me back!!

Her phone immediately buzzes in her hand. She answers immediately. 

“Just come over,” Marinette invites. “I’m home. We can have a sleepover!” 

Less than an hour later Alya has a pillow hugged to her chest across from Marinette on her bed. Marinette tells her about an akuma that hit both Ladybug and Chat Noir with Jubilation an entire six months prior. Six months . Marinette kept this from her for six months!

“Three years?!” Alya echoes. “You dreamed up a life together for three years?”

Marinette nods.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alya’s not upset. She is confused. 

Marinette glances away. “I don’t know. It felt too fragile. Like an alarm clock would go off and I’d wake up and it’d all be a dream.” 

“If you had told me it might have started to feel real!” 

Marinette smiles. “Yeah, you’re right. But it also felt so unfair because he can’t talk about it with anyone in his life.” 

Alya’s chest clenches. That would be so hard. 

Marinette’s smile grew threefold. “But I feel so free now that we’re public. Before, we could only see each other once in a while. It was so hard to pretend that he wasn’t part of my life. And I still can’t talk to anyone about it as myself.” 

“Besides me,” Alya insists. 

Marinette nods. “Besides you.”

Alya scoots forward on the bed eagerly until there’s no space between their knees anymore. 

“So tell me everything.” 

Marinette giggles. “Well, so apparently, Chat Noir’s family owns an unused apartment in downtown Paris.” 

“Unused?!” Alya repeats. How wealthy did he have to be to just have an apartment lying around. 

Marinette nods. “Uh huh. Chat proposed that we live there together whenever we could get away. So, one day a week, that’s what we do.” 

“Oh my god! Girl!” 

…

Sabine slides the white cardboard box across the counter. “Can I get you anything else?” 

The customer smiles. “No, thank you. That will be all.” 

The bell doorbell rings, signaling the arrival of more guests. 

“Thank you! Come again!” Sabine calls after the customer. 

Everyone in the small bakery front turns and gasps. It’s none other than Ladybug and Chat Noir who have arrived. They hang back from the counter, discussing the menu over one another’s shoulders. Sabine can’t help the smile that blooms across her face at how comfortable they look standing side by side even with all the extra attention. 

Taking advantage of the distraction caused by the presence of two superheroes in the dining area, she pokes her head around the back. Her husband is folding a rectangle of dough for tomorrow’s batch of croissants. 

“Tom, they’re here again.” 

He looks up with a huge grin. “Have they ordered yet?” 

“Not yet.” 

He always makes a point of checking in on the heroes himself. She thinks giving them special attention is his way of thanking them for purifying his akuma not once, but twice. 

“And have you seen Marinette?” he asks. She has grown scarce as of late. 

She shakes her head. “Not today, but I’m less worried now. She’s been far more energetic and upbeat in the last two weeks or so.” 

She steps back into the showroom, behind the counter. “What can I get you?” she asks the next customer.

She carries out the order automatically. 

“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” she greets as they step forward. “Always lovely to see you! What can I get you?” 

Since the two heroes started coming in regularly just over two weeks ago, Chat Noir has always ordered the same thing: a cheese danish, a salmon quiche, and a single passionfruit macaron that Tom only started adding to the regular menu when he learned it was the hero’s favorite flavor. Ladybug is less predictable, often selecting the special, but the girl seems to have an eye for which items are the freshest and orders those. 

“Mme. Cheng! You are looking radiant as always,” Chat Noir greets. Ladybug smiles at him, pink dusting her cheeks. 

Sabine’s chest floods with warmth at the sight. She just loves young love. There’s something so pure about it. 

Once they order, they settle into two seats by the window. The same seat they always choose if it’s open. Sabine wonders if they choose that seat to advertise for the bakery intentionally. 

Tom delivers their orders to them a few minutes later. “Can I get you anything else? On the house.” 

Chat Noir only lets Tom and Sabine treat them when Ladybug pressures him into letting them taste test their new pastries in exchange for honest feedback. 

Ladybug turns to him, her arms shooting out to the side the same way Marinette’s do when she gets excited. “M. Dupain! Can you convince my idiot boyfriend that marmite frosting on fruit would be absolutely atrocious?! That it needs to be a marshmallow and cream cheese mixture!” 

Tom laughs with his whole belly. “You sound like my daughter. I do use a marshmallow-cream cheese mixture on many of my desserts, but I’ll also have you know the finest delicacies often come from unconventional experiments.” 

“What?! Traitor!” Ladybug squawks. 

Chat Noir bursts into laughter. 

“Anything else?”

“Would Marinette happen to be here today?” Chat asks.

Tom shakes his head. “Sorry to disappoint. I think she is out with friends at the moment.” 

Chat Noir literally wilts in place. Ladybug glances away before turning back to them again. 

“Maybe we’ll get lucky another day, Chaton. We’ll just have to keep trying.” 

…

“We’re going where?” Nino asks his girlfriend. He had to have heard her wrong. 

“To dinner, with Ladybug and Chat Noir,” she says again.

“Is this in an interview?” 

She laughs. “No, we’re just going over there for dinner as their friends.” 

Their friends?! Like sure, they are friends in the sense that they have stood back to back against hordes of akumas on more than one occasion. You can’t depend on each other in violent and life threatening situations and not come out the other side as friends. 

But they had never just hung out. They don’t really know each other, like, as people.

Which Nino is completely on board to change! Absolutely! One hundred and ten percent.

And he’s also super super intimidated by them. This isn’t just anyone. This is Ladybug and Chat Noir . 

“Wait. Wait. Where is there?” 

“Their apartment.” 

“They have an apartment?!” 

Ladybug and Chat Noir had an apartment. A really nice apartment on the top floor in the expensive part of downtown Paris. 

“Rena! Carapace!” It’s absolutely surreal to be called that while Nino’s wearing an ordinary blue graphic tee and his usual red hat. “We’re so glad you could make it!” Chat greets with a beaming smile and open arms like they’re old friends. 

Chat Noir’s arms clap around his back. 

“H-hey mec! How’s it going?” Nino stammers.

“Great! Great! Come in! Come in!” Chat enthusiastically herds them inside into the apartment.

The place is waaay too fancy with expensive rugs and antique furniture that do not match Ladybug or Chat Noir’s aesthetic in any way as far as Nino can tell. And yet, they both are super comfortable in the space as they give them the tour of the four bedroom flat. Alya’s jaw drops at the spacious kitchen with an entire wall of pantry cupboards, generous marble counter tops and an island with a stainless steel grill on one side. 

“Girl! You have to let me use this kitchen. My mom would be so jealous!” Alya exclaimed. 

Ladybug laughed. “Let’s do it!” 

They have family pictures of the two of them on every wall, just like his nana. Like, they live here. 

He frowns. How old are they? He had always assumed they were about the same age as him. 

Twenty minutes later, Nino is more confident than ever that he’s fallen into some kind of twilight zone. He’s sitting across a polished mahogany dining room table from Ladybug and a baby doll that is sitting in a high chair. An actual doll with a mop of dark hair and plastic eyes that stare blankly into space. Nino wants to ask, but Alya hasn’t said anything, and he always follows her lead. So he ignores the doll. 

Ladybug pours sparkling water into crystal flutes that are so nice that if Nino hawked them he could probably pay for his parents’ rent for two months. She and Alya chatter about potential future dishes they might try making in the ridiculously nice ladynoir kitchen. 

Chat Noir brings out a quiche lorraine that he apparently made completely by himself and is quickly cutting it into pieces to serve to each of them on porcelain plates. He even cuts an incredibly thin slice that he places in front of the doll.

“This is delicious, Chat Noir!” Alya says. “Ladybug says you’ve improved a lot in a short time. I never would have known you were a beginning chef from this!”

“Thanks, Rena!” 

Alya elbows Nino, and he startles into better posture, glancing between the two heroes who are both looking at him expectantly.

Nino hesitates for only a moment before he takes a bite. 

“Do you like it?” Chat asks eagerly.

“It’s great!” He takes another bite to avoid having to elaborate. Not that it isn’t good! It is! But Nino doesn’t know how to talk about food in any kind of classy way. Not like Alya. 

But apparently it doesn’t matter because Chat Noir beams like Nino had just told him he won a national cooking championship.

Alya shakes her head in what he knows is fond exasperation. 

Conversation flows between the other three like they really are just old friends, and Nino doesn’t know what to do with himself, still worried about using the wrong fork, which is ridiculous because there’s only one, but isn’t that a wealthy person thing? Nino feels like he should know with Adrien as his best friend, but he had been banned from the Agreste mansion so early in their friendship he hasn’t had any practice. 

After dinner, Chat Noir continues to share things about the apartment. Little things he’s done to make it a more comfortable space. Talks about what Ladybug has been teaching him in the kitchen with so much excitement and pride. 

Ladybug and Alya get along like they’re life long friends. And Chat Noir is being insanely friendly specifically to him, the guy who thought Chat Noir had tried to steal his girlfriend. 

Like an idiot.

“Mec, can I ask you a question?” 

Chat Noir beams at him. “What’s up?” 

“Why are you being so nice? Why are you sharing all this with me? ” 

“Well, apparently Ladybug and I cannot learn each other’s identities. That means I can’t bring her into my civilian life. I can’t introduce her to my friends or anyone. And it’s been driving me crazy!” 

Nino tries to imagine not being able to talk about Alya with his family or with Adrien. He doesn’t think he would be able to do it. 

“That sounds really hard.” 

Chat nods. “So I guess I want to share this part of my life with the people that I can.” Chat shoulder bumps him. “And you are my friend, right?” 

Chat bites his lower lip, like Nino’s potential answer could wreck him.

Which is wild . 

“Yes!” Nino blurts. “As long as you see me that way. I know I wasn’t exactly–” 

Chat puts a hand on his shoulder and offers a disarming smile. “It’s fine. Promise.” 

Nino smiles back, feeling the last of his nerves fade. “What’s with the creepy doll?” Nino asks without thinking.

Chat bristles like an angry cat. “She’s not creepy!”

Nino throws his hands up in surrender.

Chat relaxes. “Her name is Emma. She… she was our daughter in our dream.”

“D-daughter?!” Nino echoes. “Wait! Dream?! Back up, mec! I’m so lost.” But he suddenly wanted to understand. 

Chat smiles softly. “There was an akuma with the power of jubilation. Ladybug and I got hit together. We were trapped in a dream together that showed us the future we both wanted. We lived years together. And then, we had to wake up.”

“Fuck, mec.”

“Yeah.”  

…

The camera shot over Ladybug and Chat Noir sitting side by side on a rooftop, eating ice cream, probably from Andre’s Ice Cream Stand if Gabriel had to guess. 

“Ladybug and Chat Noir have announced that they’re going to renew their wedding vows later early this fall,” the voice of Nadia Chamack announces. “They plan to invite all former akuma victims. I for one am delighted to honor their relationship that has always resulted in the teamwork that has kept all of us safe from Monarch.” 

Gabriel scowls at the screen as the report continues. 

It was especially grating how often the two heroes were about, and how seamless their teamwork had become against his akumas since they had come together romantically. 

“They’re not even old enough to be married,” he grumbles. 

“You don’t know that,” Daizzi insists from her glass cage.  

“They’re on timers!” Gabriel snaps back. 

“They can’t get married legally without revealing their names anyway.” Perhaps they would get married as their civilian selves. He should have Nathalie look into all marriages a month before and after the event and see if she could find any suspects. 

“They can get married in their hearts!” Daizzi coos with her front paws clasped together and her head cocked to the side. “They deserve that much happiness!” 

“Silence!” Gabriel roars. He doesn’t care about Ladybug and Chat Noir’s happiness, but they were foolish to announce their wedding date to all of Paris. He will be able to use the event to corner them once and for all. 

…