#adrien and marinette are witches but neither of them knows the other is

[rosie-b]

I Can Hear the Bells (you didn't hear the chimes)

2 chapters, completed (9806 words)

“So, you had a dream about Marinette. Was it a good dream?”

Adrien practically melted. “It was amazing, Plagg,” he said with a wistful sigh. “We were lying on a beach together, and she kissed me and—”

“Ugh, I get it! So, it was a love spell. No real danger, problem solved. Thank cheese.”

“A love spell? Wait, but Plagg, couldn’t that mean that Marinette got affected, too? What if— oh, no,” Adrien gasped. “What if I made her fall in love with me?”

You can read the rest on AO3; chapter one is just below!

Adrien was becoming a rather decent witch.

He wasn’t the best one in the world, but he’d gained a mastery of 23 complex spells and 74 simple ones over the past three months since his eighteenth birthday. That meant he had to be doing well, right?

Even so, the near-constant pressure to study magic he got from Plagg, his familiar and instructor in all things magical, was taking its toll. What Adrien needed, as Plagg had conceded after his pupil had nearly fainted after a simple tea leaves reading, was a solid few days spent off. A break, during which Adrien could relax and recharge by taking advantage of others’ magic abilities, instead of relying on his own.

“What you need,” Plagg had said, lazily floating in front of Adrien with an unbothered expression on his face, “Is a good relaxation spell. And your specialty is destructive magic, so you can’t make one for yourself.”

Adrien had sighed and waved Plagg’s stinky breath away with one hand. “And where would I find one, then? Magic is still new to me, after all; I don’t know any other witches I could ask to give me one.”

“And that’s entirely your parents’ fault,” Plagg had sniffed. “In the old days, no witch worth their salt would have died without leaving a secret book of instructions for their kid. But no, they had to leave the dirty work to your poor, abused familiar!” 

The kwami was fond of lamenting in this way to Adrien, who’d gotten used to it by then.

“Plagg, we’ve been over this. Just get to the point, please!”

Plagg had scowled at Adrien for a moment and then given up the act.

“There are plenty of other witches in Paris. The reason that you haven’t met them is because they only go out without being disguised as normal mortals at night, and then only on certain days of the moon cycle. On those nights, they hold a magic fair, a collection of witches’ shops. And we’re in luck, because there’s a fair tonight!”

Adrien had brightened up immediately. “Really? Where is it?”

Plagg had waved one tiny paw dismissively. “If you go out past sundown and keep yourself open to magic, you’ll be able to sense where to find it; it’s easy. Once you get there, pick up a spelled object; it’ll be a toiletry item, a bath bomb or whatever those creative witches are putting their spells into these days. Whatever it is, it’ll probably have lavender in it, like most relaxation spells do.”

“Lavender bath bomb, Paris witch shop, nighttime. Got it. Thanks, Plagg!”

And so, taking his familiar’s advice, Adrien was going to visit a magic fair. He’d taken Plagg with him, although the little kwami had protested that he was losing quality napping time. But for all his protests and prickly personality, Adrien knew that Plagg cared about him deep down.

Adrien left his apartment fifteen minutes after the last rays of sun had disappeared from the sky. As soon as he stepped outside, he felt a tugging sensation in his chest. 

“To the left,” he muttered, because that’s where the sensation seemed to be leading him.

“To the left, to the left, to the left,” Plagg repeated in a nasal voice. “Now kick, now kick, now kick—”

“Oh come on, Plagg!” Adrien cried in exasperation. 

The kwami only giggled and flew out ahead of Adrien. “You come on,” he smirked.

Adrien rolled his eyes, but stepped forward, slowly following the magic map with only a few wrong turns, eventually ending up at Place des Vosges.

There, lined up around the perimeter of the park, with some shops in the center by the fountain, was a collection of twenty or so little tents made of colorful, embroidered cloth. This is it, the magic seemed to say. This is what you’re looking for.

Around the outside of the park, there was a glowing teal line. Adrien paused before it, deciding whether he should cross it, or if some warning system would be triggered if he did. 

“What is that?” he asked Plagg.

Plagg twitched his tail. “It’s a time spell. Once you enter the park, you can spend as long as you need inside, but once you exit, it will be like only a few minutes passed. That way everyone can get their shopping done and still get enough sleep tonight.”

“Oh,” Adrien hummed. “That’s really smart!”

And he stepped over the line into the park, with Plagg just behind him.

Wooden signs outside the tents announced what was sold in each, from charms to potions. There was even a tent selling ‘illusive’ hats, whatever that meant.

“The tents are a temporary thing,” Plagg continued. “They use a different spell, an illusion, to let the witches set them all up before sundown. That way, the boring normal Parisians don’t suspect a thing, and the ancient tradition of— oh camembert! A cheese tent! Adrien, I have to go. I will meet you when you leave the circle! Good luck and goodbye!”

Before Adrien could get in a single question, his familiar was zipping off to a small tent near the edge of the park. Shrugging, he kept walking along, knowing that Plagg would show up eventually—once he’d eaten half the poor cheese seller’s stock, probably.

There were a lot of witches gathered in the park, most of them with a kwami floating nearby. Some of them were even wearing pointed hats, which Adrien thought was rather strange. He’d assumed, after Plagg had suddenly appeared and announced magic’s existence to him on his eighteenth birthday, that pointy hats were just a made-up stereotype, not a fact of witches’ society!

Adrien passed seven tents that didn’t seem to carry the right kind of spelled items before he found a medium-sized red tent that advertised a variety of healing and creative spells. That sounded a lot like what Plagg had described earlier, so he headed inside the tent, whose sign read “Ladybug’s Boutique.”

There was no chime like he’d expect at a normal store as he stepped inside, but he only had a moment to glance around before the handful of people inside the tent fell quiet, staring at him like they’d never seen a blond boy in Paris before.

“Rena, I’ll call you back,” the witch sitting at the tiny checkout desk said, and pressed the earring in her left ear. “Fly, helcome, er, welcome! What brings a person like you here?”

Adrien blinked at the witch, who didn’t have a kwami near her, but was wearing a red hat with black spots on it. She must be Ladybug. Somehow, she looked familiar, but Adrien was positive he’d never met her before.

“Uh, I’m just here to look around, I guess. I wanted to get a bath bomb, but I haven’t found any so far.”

Ladybug’s smile twitched. “I see. Well, luckily for you, I do sell bath bombs—totally normal bath bombs! So normal, like, you wouldn’t believe.” She gestured vaguely to a basket of bath bombs sitting to the left of the desk, half-hidden by a rack of scarves.

Adrien wasn’t sure why normalcy would be a selling point for a witch’s bath bombs. Maybe she just meant they didn’t work any differently from non-magic bath bombs?

Around Adrien, the other witches turned back to what they’d been doing before. The ones who’d brought their kwamis subtly ushered them into purses or pockets — their hiding spots, in other words. 

Adrien wondered if the other witches thought he wanted to steal their kwamis. Not that a teacher more open with their information than Plagg wouldn’t be nice, but he had no intention of taking one, and besides, he was somehow growing fond of the stinky cat.

Adrien didn’t say anything, because he didn’t want to be rude. Instead, he kept addressing Ladybug, who seemed like the only one to be okay with his presence, even if she was still a bit jumpy.

“Oh, thanks! I guess I’ll just take a look through them, then,” he said. He walked over to the basket and began sorting through.

Just before he reached the basket, he’d caught a mumbled whisper from one of the guests. Adrien wasn’t positive what it had been, but he was pretty sure it was a spell. 

And considering how blank the bath bombs’ wrappers now were, he was pretty sure it had somehow erased the labels from each one of them.

Adrien scowled. Okay, that was just rude!

He shot a frown at the man who’d cast the spell, but there was no sense in starting a fight over it, so he kept sorting through and did his best to guess at what each bath bomb’s spell was. There were a few purple ones, and Plagg had said the spell would be lavender, so it had to be one of those ones. 

Eventually, Adrien grabbed a bath bomb that was light purple on top, with a pale white lower half. Most of the bath bombs seemed to be of that kind, which meant that Ladybug made a surplus of relaxing spells on purpose. She probably cared deeply about helping other witches stay relaxed in their crazy lives! That was so nice of her.

Adrien walked over to the desk to check out. It took him all of two steps, and Ladybug was already ready to scan his purchase when he arrived. 

She stared at the bath bomb for a moment when Adrien handed it to her. 

“This doesn’t have a label,” she said, staring up at him like he’d peeled it off himself.

“None of them do anymore. I’m not really sure why,” Adrien sighed, because he really wasn’t sure why the other witch would be so petty as to ruin all the hard work of whoever had prepared the bath bombs for selling, likely Ladybug herself.

“I see,” Ladybug said, shooting a glare at someone behind Adrien. A chime sounded as whoever it had been stepped out of the tent. “I don’t even know what sp— what type this is anymore. I make so many of these,” she fussed as she lifted the bath bomb and sniffed it. “I don’t know. I mean, I think I know? And it shouldn’t matter anyway, right? But I could be wrong, and if I’m wrong, then! Then!”

Ladybug clutched at her hair, clearly about to fly into a panic.

Adrien smiled reassuringly. “This is the one I want. Don’t worry,” he said, keeping a calming smile on his face. “If you’re wrong, I will only blame myself, I promise.”

“And Claude,” Ladybug muttered under her breath. Then, with a smile, she continued, “I’m so sorry about the mixup. How about you just take it for free as an apology, okay?”

Adrien shook his head. “That’s awfully generous of you, but you don’t need to apologize. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault. Let me give you something to cover it, at least. How much would it usually cost?”

Ladybug tapped her fingers on the desk, which did not, Adrien noticed, have a cash register on it. 

“There’s no label, is there, which means no price, which means you don’t have to pay. I insist,” she said with a blinding smile when Adrien opened his mouth to protest. “Please. Just take it.”

Adrien closed his mouth with a click. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll take it. But then you have to take this,” he said.

And slamming down a ten on the desk, Adrien darted out of the shop before Ladybug could catch on to what he’d done and forcibly give the money back. He’d learned from experience that nice people like her did not take kindly to people paying them when they thought they were owed nothing. But Adrien knew that he had to pay something for the bath bomb, though how much, he had no idea. 

He hoped ten euros had been enough. But maybe it was too much? 

Oh, well. If it was, then it was just extra payment for the kerfuffle he’d caused. He knew that there had been fewer witches when he left than when he’d entered, and he hated the thought that he could’ve cost her business with his inexperienced, somehow repulsive witch’s air.

“Plagg!” he called when he reached the edge of the park. “Plagg! Over here!”

A few seconds later, a small black cat, noticeably rotund, slowly flew over to Adrien. 

“Did you have any luck?” Plagg asked with a burp.

Adrien wrinkled his nose. “Yes, actually, though not in making any witchy friends. Come on, we need to leave, I’m like cyanide to businesses here!”

Plagg frowned as they left the park’s protective circle. “Yeesh, I didn’t think you would be that bad at blending in. You’re all witches,” he said, pondering the matter.

“Yeah, but I guess learning about magic eighteen years later than normal marks me as different somehow. I don’t blame them, it seems like a close-knit community and seeing someone new intrude on it must have been weird. Maybe next time will go smoother.”

“Maybe,” Plagg agreed. “I’ll have plenty of time to whip you into shape by then. We’ve got a whole fortnight,” he informed Adrien.

“That’s good,” Adrien said. “As long as your teaching doesn’t involve any camembert, I think we’ll be ready for a second shot by then.”

__*__*__*__*__

Adrien almost turned the key the wrong way in the lock when he got back to his apartment.

He was still getting used to the place. It was smaller than the suite he’d grown up in at Le Grand Paris, but he didn’t mind. He tried not be resentful of the Bourgeois family—they’d been so kind to take him in after his parents died, after all—but they were very different from him. A little too different, perhaps. He’d already been planning on moving out after his eighteenth birthday; Plagg’s sudden arrival in his life, like some small, smelly godfairy, had just sped things up.

Stepping into the bathroom, Adrien shut the door behind him and stood with his hands on his hips, pondering the empty tub. He’d used plenty of bath bombs before (being Chloe’s only friend and pseudo-brother guaranteed that), but he’d never used a magic one, and the label for this one had been conveniently destroyed. He should have asked Ladybug for the instructions while he could; then again, it had been a strange shopping experience, so he didn’t really blame himself for forgetting to.

But hopefully, he knew someone else who could help.

“Plagg?” Adrien called, knowing he could hear him wherever he was in the small apartment.

“I thought you told me that you weren’t comfortable with me being in the bathroom when the door is shut,” Plagg called back.

Adrien groaned. “I’m not naked, Plagg.”

A moment later, the kwami was hovering in front of Adrien’s face.

“So, what is it? I assume you badly need my help with some very big problem, or you wouldn’t have interrupted my nap.”

“Nope, nothing big, sorry. Do you know how to use a magic bath bomb?” Adrien held it out in front of Plagg, who sniffed it once and shrugged.

“Not my area of expertise, kid. I’m a kwami of destruction, remember?”

“But you know about other kinds of magic, too.”

“Eh, little bits here and there, yeah. This particular object smells like creation magic, which theoretically I know the most about, but bath bombs are new to me. The last time I was a familiar was a few centuries ago, and they weren’t really common then.”

So much for that idea, then.

“Well, do you have any guesses, at least?”

Plagg’s ear twitched. “If it’s like the other spelled objects I know, you just use it like you usually would. But first, activate the spell; that’s something you have to do to get rid of the safety lock most witches put on their spelled objects so that pesky regular humans can’t use them for themselves. This object smells like creation magic, so the right words should be ‘spots on.’ And that’s all there is to it, unless bath bombs are special.”

Adrien pinched his nose. “Really, Plagg? You could have led with that instead of saying you couldn’t help.”

“Well, if that’s how you’re going to react to me graciously choosing to share my illustrious wisdom, see if I help you again,” Plagg said with a sniff.

Adrien reached out and cupped the kwami in his free hand. “Sorry, Plagg. I am grateful for your help, you know. It’s just been a rough night.”

“It’s been a rough three months, more like,” Plagg corrected, letting out a reluctant purr when Adrien scratched behind his ears. A moment later, he flew up and over to the door. “Okay, time for you to take that relaxing bath of yours. I’ll be napping, so don’t call again unless you really need me!”

Adrien smiled. “Bye, Plagg,” he said. The kwami phased through the door, and then he was gone.

So, Adrien plugged the tub’s drain, turned on the hot water, and pulled up a playlist Nino had made for him as a graduation present to listen to while the tub filled and he got undressed.

Adrien hummed along to the songs, thinking of how lucky he was to be part of a friend group that hadn’t fallen apart after they moved on to university. Alya, Nino, Marinette, and he still met up almost every week, and Nino and he even went to the same university, though for very different majors. Adrien was studying to be a pediatric nurse; Nino was a film production major. They would never share a class again.

The tub had filled up enough, so Adrien unwrapped the bath bomb and plopped it in the tub, whispering “spots on” as he did. The bath bomb immediately started fizzling, but that was what they all did. It smelled nice, too, but so did most of them. It really seemed like a normal bath bomb, Adrien mused as he slid himself into the tub.

The rest of the bath was relaxing, but not any more relaxing than other baths Adrien had taken in the past. There wasn’t anything to mark this as a magic occurrence, and he was tempted to conclude that Ladybug’s spell simply hadn’t worked, but he decided to hold off on judgment yet. Maybe the effects took a while to kick in, or maybe they would show themselves in more subtle ways. Maybe Adrien would finally wake up feeling refreshed, instead of still tired and dreading the long day ahead.

Besides, Adrien did feel more relaxed now than he had before the bath. And it was finally the weekend, and Plagg had promised to give him a break from constantly testing him on his magic skills for a few days. That was good enough for him, Adrien thought as he dried off and wrapped a fluffy robe around himself.

__*__*__*__*__

That night, Adrien dreamed of Marinette.

It wasn’t that surprising to him; he’d been dreaming of her ever since eighth grade, when he’d fallen in love with her. But although he’d had hundreds of dreams about her, something about this one was different.

For one thing, Marinette was an adult in it. More of an adult, anyway; she was easily in her mid-twenties (and still just as gorgeous as ever). So was Adrien, and they’d been resting on an island together, lying on the beach without a care in the world. It was the most blissful feeling Adrien had ever experienced; and then Marinette had rolled over and kissed him and it had gotten even better.

“I’m so glad you convinced me to come here, mon amour,” she whispered, laying her head on his chest and looking up at him with eyes as dazzlingly blue as the sea.

Adrien’s heart had been close to bursting, but in the dream he’d still managed to stroke her hair and whisper back that he was glad she’d agreed to come.

 “You were right, after all,” Marinette had continued. “This is the perfect place for our honeymoon.”

Adrien could feel his eyes growing wider, but his dream self had gone on like nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, almost.

“Mm-hmm. I told you it would be a dream, milady.”

Marinette had laughed, pushing herself off his chest to hover over him, staring right in his eyes and making Adrien’s heart flutter wildly.

“You and your puns,” she’d laughed. “I hope you’re enjoying this, Adrien.”

“How could I not? You’re finally with me,” he’d purred.

“Now and forever,” she’d agreed, and leaned in for another kiss.

Adrien had woken up in a sweat.

It was still the middle of the night.

“That was so not relaxing,” he’d groaned, and had tossed and turned for the rest of the unrestful night.

At breakfast, he stared at his burnt toast without taking a bite.

Plagg flew in, holding a sock from the bottom of the laundry hamper.

“Hi, Adrien,” he said cheerfully. “Feeling any better?”

Adrien’s eye twitched as he kept staring at the toast.

Plagg cleared his throat. “You have lunch with Nino and the girls at noon, and you asked me to remind you, so I reminded you, and you have to remember now and thank me profusely for my service. A little bonus camembert wouldn’t hurt, either.”

Adrien thought he could make out Marinette’s face in the ridges of the burnt toast, but then his eyes unfocused, and he couldn’t make out anything.

Plagg’s tail twitched. “Hello?”

If Adrien drank twelve cups of coffee, he might feel awake enough to respond.

“Hello?” Plagg was getting impatient. “Adrien, wake up! You’re not supposed to be this relaxed!”

He flew over Adrien’s head and draped the sock he’d been carrying over his hair. Then he dove down to the plate and scarfed the burnt toast down without hesitation.

Finally, Adrien moved.

“Hey, you ate Marinette!” he complained. He crossed his arms, and the sock fell off his head and onto the table.

“Good morning to you, too,” Plagg said. “Listen, Adrien, are you okay? You’re acting weirder than usual.”

Adrien sighed and pushed the chair back from the table. “I don’t think that was a relaxation spell, Plagg,” he said. “If anything, it was a drain-your-energy-overnight-spell. Or maybe it wasn’t magic, at all! Because I do not feel rested, Plagg. And I had a weird dream about Marinette.”

Plagg groaned. “Whatever it was, do not tell me about it. You wax poetic about her around me too much anyways. It’s disgusting! You humans and your lovelorn, sappy sighs and faces. It’s enough to turn me off cheese! Cheddar, anyway. Not camembert. I don’t understand why you won’t just confess to her!”

“You don’t understand, Plagg! We’ve been friends since we were kids. If I confess to her and she doesn’t feel the same way—”

“It could ruin your friendship forever and blah blah blah. I get it,” Plagg said, rubbing his forehead and swishing his tail. “I still think you should tell her. So, the bath bomb didn’t work? Which witch did you buy it from, anyway?”

“I think she was called Ladybug,” Adrien said thoughtfully, staring off in the distance. “She was wearing a polka-dotted hat. I thought those were just in fairy tales.”

“Ladybug? But then why—? Adrien, you activated the spell, right?”

Adrien nodded. “Yep.” He frowned at the spot on his plate where his toast had been, which was currently being occupied by a week-old stinky sock. “Ugh, really?”

Plagg shrugged. “You’re welcome. Anway, did, uh, Ladybug recognize you?”

Adrien tilted his head. “I don’t think so. But nobody there seemed happy to see me. One of the witches in her tent spelled the labels off all the bath bombs.”

“What? Then you made sure to double check which type it was, right?”

“Even Ladybug didn’t know what it was. She sniffed it and said she thought she knew what it was, but maybe she didn’t, and also said it shouldn’t matter, and I told her it’d be my fault if I picked the wrong one to get her to stop worrying. She nearly didn’t let me pay, either,” he huffed.

“What, but why wouldn’t she check first? She could check! What kind of witch is she? I thought Tikki would teach M— would teach her better than this!”

Adrien blinked. “What do you mean, she could check? She tried to check, remember? It’s not her fault,” he sighed, leaning over the table and resting his chin on his hand.

Suddenly, Plagg looked very grim. “Adrien,” he said seriously, which was nearly enough to make Adrien’s heart stop pumping, “You did tell her that you were a witch, right?”

Adrien blinked. “No, why would I? It’s a magic fair, right? The only people there were witches.”

Plagg covered his eyes and wailed. “That’s not a given! People take their families to those shops even if they’re too young to have a familiar! They even take their friends sometimes, boring ones, with no magic at all! And worse, sometimes the illusion spell breaks, and normal humans who aren’t supposed to know about magic wander in, and then the witches have to hide what they’re really doing there! Please tell me, did you at least hear a chime as you walked into Ladybug’s tent?”

Adrien tried to remember. “I don’t think so. Why?”

Plagg looked up at him wearily. “Then she didn’t know you were a witch. Oh, this one’s my fault, kid. I should have warned you, but I couldn’t help it! I can’t resist my gooey camembert!”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Plagg, what are you saying?”

“There are two easy ways to identify a witch, kid. One of them is their kwami; you saw a lot of witches at the fair with one on their shoulder, didn’t you? The chime would have gone off if I’d been with you, but you were alone. Second way to identify witches; a magic hat. That’s the more secretive option; they hide your true identity from everyone you meet, even other witches. It’s the perfect option for witches who are uncomfortable with anyone knowing who they are, though us kwamis can see right through the illusion. If you’d had a hat last night, you could’ve gone incognito and the chime would have rung for you. But you didn’t have me, and you weren’t wearing a hat, so the chime didn’t ring and Ladybug thought you were just a regular old human who snuck into the fair!”

“She didn’t check what the bath bomb’s spell was because she thought I wouldn’t be able to activate it,” Adrien gasped. “Plagg! This explains so much!”

“I’m going to go hide in a cave for the next thousand years,” Plagg moaned. “I can’t believe it. I’m failing my job as a familiar! Tikki is never going to let me live this down!”

Adrien was too floored by their discovery to ask who Tikki was or what living in a cave would accomplish.

“The other witches thought I was just a regular human, too! And that rude guy, he was just trying to help by hiding the labels with the spells on them! But I didn’t notice and I just stood there and bought the wrong spell, like an idiot!”

Plagg flew to Adrien and grabbed his nightshirt’s lapels with both paws, shaking them furiously as he spoke. “We have to find out what kind of spell you used, Adrien! Do you hear me? This is very dangerous, and while I normally like that, I don’t want you to get hurt!”

Adrien stopped panicking and blinked down at Plagg as a grin spread across his face. “Aww, Plagg! You do care!”

“Of course I care, I chose you to be my witch! I’m supposed to take care of you and make sure you don’t accidentally blow up the world because you don’t understand your magic! And instead I fell victim to the seductive evils of camembert! I’m a failure!”

Adrien laughed. “Don’t worry, Plagg, I’ll forgive you. But first, you have to help me figure out what kind of spell it actually was that I activated. I think it’s related to the dream I had.”

Plagg groaned and flew over to the sock lying on the table. “Not the dream!” He draped the sock around himself and inhaled deeply. “You’re probably right,” he mused after a moment. “So, you had a dream about Marinette. Was it a good dream?”

Adrien practically melted. “It was amazing, Plagg,” he said with a wistful sigh. “We were lying on a beach together, and she kissed me and—”

“Ugh, I get it! So, it was a love spell. No real danger, problem solved. Thank cheese.”

“A love spell? Wait, but Plagg, couldn’t that mean that Marinette got affected, too? What if— oh, no,” Adrien gasped. “What if I made her fall in love with me?”

Plagg snorted. “Unlikely. But you know what, if you want to check, your chance is coming up soon. You have lunch with her in just over an hour.”

Adrien shot up from the table. “What!? But I told you to remind me earlier than this! What if I’m late?”

“I did warn you earlier than this,” Plagg huffed. “But you were busy making googly eyes at a piece of toast. Which you then called Marinette when you yelled at me for eating it, for some reason.”

Adrien’s face flushed red. “Plagg! Just help me get ready on time, will you?”

Plagg sighed. “My troubles never end,” he whined. “This is the last time I sign up to be a familiar.”

(tumblr link for chapter 2)

[flightfoot]

i think you rec fics if i'm wrong i'm so sorry. any fluffy fics with all 4 lovesquare sides? - though just ladynoir/adrienette would work too.

Yep I give those recs! This is actually one of the tricker cases, because on the one hand there's a lot of them and on the other hand they're interwoven with a lot of other things and often don't have specific tags to search with, so I'll see what I can do. I'm mostly just looking for fluff fics that have more than one side of the Lovesquare represented.

I Put A Spell On You by dazaimaru

Friday, October 25. 6 days until Halloween. It’s their first high school Halloween dance, and Marinette and Adrien are ready to throw on some non-superhero costumes for once--that is, until an akumatized witch spoils the party and threatens to reveal what lies underneath everyone’s disguise. With Hawkmoth taking full advantage of the spooky season, the days leading up to Halloween are certainly going to be thrilling! Especially considering Marinette’s growing feelings for a certain black cat…

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Fate, Destiny... A Hamster by @mostmagical

After finally moving into his very first apartment per Ladybug’s suggestion, Adrien stumbles upon something no movie or TV show could have ever prepared him for: someone else's hamster. At least now there’s an excuse to talk to the new neighbor. (Adrinette Never Met AU)

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Villainous Matchmaking by @nedjsmlfavs

When Chat Noir is tragically unable to attend an event with Ladybug, the mayor calls in a favor from a designer ‘friend’. Now she’s attending in style, on the arm of the hottest male model in Paris. Which would be fine if it weren’t for one, tiny issue: Paris’ favorite domestic terrorist now knows how Ladybug feels about his son. This leads him to his greatest plan yet, using Ladybug’s extremely obvious crush on Adrien Agreste to akumatize Chat Noir. A Ladrien/“platonic” Ladynoir fic

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Painted Canvas by @wehadabondingmoment

And then, Adrien would send her a selfie, acting as if he was some secret agent trying to not get caught and he was so ridiculous that Marinette’s heart ached at the thought of being away from him. Hushed phone calls, his voice sounding like honey; in moments like these, she wasn’t Ladybug, only a teenage girl drunk on love. Or: Adrien and Marinette are soulmates and it still takes them years until they finally meet. Also fencing.

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Professeure (of your love) by @mostmagical

“We should do it.” Her voice came out in a screech. “What?” “Just a fake wedding at graduation,” he said, like it wasn’t completely crazy. . . After ages of letting Paris believe their beloved superheroes are married and in love, Marinette's superhero partner turned fellow teacher wants to apply the same logic to their civilian lives and put on a fake wedding for their students. Only problem is, for Marinette, the being in love part is very much not an act.

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From School Bells to Wedding Bells by @linnieluna

When the superhero duo takes on another exhausting fight against an akuma, Chat Noir does what he never hesitates to do and takes a hit for his partner. The problem being: neither of them knew what power the akuma possessed. That is... until he is transported into the future. More specifically, to his friend Marinette's wedding.

---

The Power of Love by @nedjsmlfavs

In which Ladybug announces that she’s pregnant via her long term boyfriend and Chat Noir is a supportive partner. After all, he can hardly be upset when he’s been dating his Princess for years! A different take on the show’s tagline (“The Power of Love Always so Strong”) written for Valentine’s day 2023.

---

The Rules of Engagement by underworkedoverwhelmed

When tragedy sends Adrien Agreste racing back to Paris to run his father’s fashion house, Marinette doesn’t expect much from her very new, very rich boss. At least not until she is set up on a blind date with a very familiar face. Much to her surprise, Adrien Agreste was hiding far more secrets behind his stoic business-like mask of temporary CEO. Maybe as many secrets as she had been trying to hide for years. As they grow closer, Marinette fears her mask isn’t nearly as foolproof. Day after day, it gets harder for her to keep all her secrets well hidden from the surprisingly sweet man who insisted on staying by her side as often as possible. Only she couldn’t afford to fail. Not when her biggest secret could spell the end of the job she’d dreamed about for years.

---

Dreams of You by @chocoluckchipz

Dreams had long been his only escape. Dreams of Ladybug, the girl who had always been there for him. If only in his dreams. And only while she was also sleeping. Because with the first rays of sunshine gliding over her skin, with the first fluttering of her eyelashes, from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, memories of Adrien would vanish from her mind. She would go on living her life. He would always be the only one who remembered. At least until they meet in the real world and fall in love all over again, something that would’ve been easier to do if Adrien wasn't a prisoner in his own home.

---

Tell Me Why You Love Me by @linnieluna

“Anyway, that piece of paper contains the name of this texting app. It’s completely anonymous, so you can download it, make your account with no attachments to your personal life, and communicate with me outside our suits. I included my username on the paper, too, so you can add me once you’re done." Her partner skimmed through the words on the paper and nodded his head. “Brilliant as always, M’lady. I’m surprised we didn’t figure this out sooner within our superhero careers.” “Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have this before, but hey, better late than never. Make sure not to have your phone screen on the messages if you’re going to leave it somewhere. We don’t want anyone reading our texts. Also, this is for emergencies only. No jokes or puns. I can only deal with you for so long.” “I don’t know if I can agree to that last one,” he said. Now 22 and working full-time, Marinette and Adrien seem to be getting busier and busier, which means fewer opportunities to keep track of akumas and show up on time. With the idea of using a messaging app to communicate with each other without revealing their identities, their lives immediately grew to be easier... until it wasn't.

---

Soul Searching by LiquefiedStars

Marinette was devastated when her soulmate turned out to be Adrien Agreste and not her sweet, loving partner Chat Noir. Despite their misunderstandings, she is willing to give Adrien a chance, even if he doesn’t seem all that interested in her. After all, they are soulmates and the universe says they are meant to be together. A Soulmate AU.

---

Love is Blind by @jennagrinsoverml

Tired of all of his potential girlfriends being blinded by his face, his fame and his name, Adrien takes a chance to compete on Love Is Blind: France, where he hopes that dating without seeing each other—or learning each other’s names—will finally help him to be lucky in love. What will he do when he realizes that his Lady is one of the contestants, however? And will he be able to win her heart where he’s never succeeded before? Meanwhile, Marinette is looking to meet the right guy after years of pining away for someone who has only ever seen her as a friend. She’s not entirely sure if she can fall in love with someone without seeing them, but the things that have always mattered to her most are the kinds of things that can’t be seen. What will she do when she realizes her heart is being pulled in two directions? And will she be ready to make a decision in time?

---

Over and Over by stcrsquad

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has had the worst day possible. She's failed to confess to Adrien (again), made an embarrassment of herself, and got into a fight with Chat Noir. Adrien Agreste has had the worst day possible. He is tired of being pushed aside by everyone, including his crime-fighting partner Ladybug. Luckily, fate (and Bunnyx) works in mysterious ways because they wake up again on the same day. A do-over. Except it keeps happening. Can the two figure out what they need to fix to break the loop, or will they be stuck forever?

---

Graine de toi by MireilleTanaka

Ladybug and Chat Noir think they’re close, until they begin waking up in one another’s skin. AU: Adrien is homeschooled, and he and Marinette have never met. Written for Adrinette April 2020, Day 17: Life Swap. The one prompt snowballed into a multi-chapter fic. Loosely inspired by Your Name (Kimi no na wa), but no need to have watched it to read, since there's no actual plot connection except the premise of swapping lives.

---

Knight in Shining Amour by Cakedecorator

Marinette is the daughter of the castle bakers, and she herself is the royal seamstress. She lives her life making clothes, helping her parents, and generally living a simple life. However, she also laments the loss of her childhood friendship with Prince Adrien, and remembers the promise they made when they were five years old. Resigning herself to the reality that she would never be able to marry the prince, and assuming he'd forgotten their promise, Marinette tries to live her life without letting loss get to her. However, her love story begins a new chapter when she's approached by Cat Noir, a debonair new knight in the castle.

---

Evergreen by tanyatakaishi

Everything was gone. The entire cityscape had been obliterated, leaving them in a valley of trees. Blue mountains, peaks dressed in snow, stretched tall in the distance and at their foot lay an array of vineyards, miles wide with no civilization in sight. AKA: two heroes lost alone in the woods with no cheese.

---

Someone to Watch Over Me by @dfcfanfics

Adrien is used to his father taking him for granted and treating him poorly, especially since his mother's disappearance... but it's never been anywhere _near_ this bad before. Between that and trouble at school, his life is in quite the downward spiral. He's been putting on a brave face, but he's struggling... and his friends are starting to notice. One special friend in particular. Marinette is determined to help him, any way that she can -- with _and_ without her mask. But when Akumas fly towards Adrien, he soon finds himself more deeply entwined in Marinette's life AND Ladybug's private life than he'd ever imagined. Can Adrien possibly decide between the two angels who are making his life worth living again? Can Marinette process Adrien's crush on Ladybug AND his growing feelings for her? And can Gabriel stop laughing long enough to launch his master plan? A fluffy DFC - buggachat Ladrienette jam. 10/15: Our story is now complete with the posting of Chapter 24, the epilogue. Thank you so much for reading, as always.

[fragileizywriting]

"i think i'm having an identity crisis," kitty exclaims as they walk through the woods. it's brisk and early morning, and even though they're in a completely different world, that doen't mean superheros are allowed to skimp on training. half marathon every other day, supplemented with any other exercise they're thinking of doing.

two hours of hard running all around the woods. chat told them to be careful before they left, advising them to not be too loud because there are monsters and— what was it again?— thieves?— in the forest, too. he said he'll be able to feel if there's a fight going on so there's not too much of a problem if they end up getting into a scuffle.

(and, okay, side note here: the analogy he used about his magic being able to touch all corners of the forest and being able to detect disturbances had reminded her so clearly of star wars fanfiction she used to read a few years ago when the movies were big.

the force, she wanted to say. you're talking about the force. do lightsabers exist? use the force, chat.

she'd spent so long chewing on her lips so she wouldn't end up blurting out if he knew how to force-choke someone or stop blaster beams in midair. she was so close to saying it, though.)

they're completely alone in the forest. woods. thing. she doesn't know the difference; everyone's been using the words interchangeably and she honestly hasn't gotten around to asking just yet. she'll ask adrien when they get back— no, not her adrien, the other one. the literal king. that one. the one who inhales books the way that she inhales food. he's bound to know, right? (god, it's going to be such a mess to write all this down in her diary when she finally gets home. she really needs to find a solution to the name situation. the pronouns are gonna suck, too. she can feel it.)

"you're having an identity crisis?" luka snorts. "seriously?"

"have you even met the other marinette's?" she argues. "one is an empress. queen. whatever. the other is what i would absolutely call a priestess."

"huh, you're right. i noticed that, too. she kind of reminds me of kagome from inuyasha," adrien hums out. he's stretching out his arms, doing what he can in that funny pirates shirt and breeches combo that makes her snort and giggle every time she pays attention to it. their clothes are such a mess. he looks like a prince with no more allowance. he's just missing the sword at the hip, honestly. "i think it's the talisman papers. or maybe the long hair? or maybe even the bangs...?"

"wasn't kagome your first crush?" luka asks.

"actually, endymion from sailor moon was my first crush."

oooohhhh. "it's the shoulder things on mamoru's armor, isn't it?" she asks. "i feel you. those pallbearers are so eighties but so iconic."

"that's absolutely not the name of the shoulder pieces," adrien laughs. "anyway. i liked kagome a lot. kikyo, too. marinette reminds me of the two of them."

"which is why i'm having an identity crisis!"

luka groans. "why are you having an identity crisis?"

"i'm not a witch priestess! and i'm certainly not a queen!"

she's just kitty.

"may i point out that neither of my iterations are korean? neither of them. one is greek. the other one doesn't even have legs. all the marinettes look like they're asian, because they are, which i didn't think would be a feat of accomplishment, but here we are anyway. meanwhile, i'm a lizard thing. greek luka looks like he's in tears at all times, i've never seen myself look so sad before. lizard or sad. it's a renaissance painting."

"if anything, he's a snake."

"he doesn't do the tongue flicking thing. how are you having an identity crises when i don't even have legs?"

she bites back a serves you right for having the longest legs out of the three of us.

[artzee-bee]

End of all things [1] | Chat Noir x witch!reader

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug (Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir)

Summary: Y/N had been Chat Noir’s friend and moral support for a long time now. Even though she had magical powers too, she never liked getting involved with akuma attacks, but now, as Hawkmoth’s gotten control of the miraculous of creation, she couldn’t stay indiferent anymore. She had to save her friend and Paris!

Genre: Mostly angst? A little fluff

Warnings: canon typical violence, mentions of death/dying

A/N: This was requested, but as I was writting it, it got very long and I’ve decided to post it in 2 parts. I’m not gonna post the request just now, so as to not spoil the rest of the story but Part 2 will be coming out on friday!!!

Part 2

~~~

Chat was pacing around the room, waiting for you to be done with your potion. You had heard from your parents that there had been a new akuma attack today, but as the news reported, the two parisian heros took care of the problem in no time. For this reason, Chat’s presence at your house felt unusual. Normally he would stop by when he needed to rant, when he was in need of comfort and reassurance but the fight today went well, so what could possibly be bothering him?

“Ok, I’m done” you said, screwing the cap on the little bottle and placing it on your shelf “Wanna talk?” you asked, to which Chat gave you a shy smile

“Yeah, a little”

You made your way to your bed, motioning for him to follow you. You got under your covers and passed him his favorite plushie, a cat to no one’s surprise

“So what’s up? Is it about the fight today?”

“Well no it’s more like a...personal problem?”

“Oh…”

“Claws out” in a rush of light and electricity, the infamous hero vanished before you, transforming into Adrien Agrest

“Well, what is it?” 

Adrien revealed his identity to you months ago. You first met him as Chat, but when you really got to know each other, he decided you needed to know all of him. Well, he needed you to know all of him.

You listened to him rant until way past midnight. Until you were both too tired to stand up straight, so you laid down in your bed, covers up to your necks, muffled stories told in between yawns. You listened carefully, giving him your full attention. He fidgeted with the collar of the stuffed toy and you used your magic to make 2 hot chocolates. Eventually, everything that needed to be said, was said. You offered Adrien to watch a movie, since that always cheered him up, but he refused

“It’s late and I have a photoshoot early in the morning. My makeup team will be angry with my dark circles anyways, better not make it worse” he joked

Adrien transformed back into Chat and you cast a safety spell on him, which you did every time he left your house late at night. He always teased you about being ‘too protective’, but deep down he found it sweet how much you cared and wanted to know that he would get home in one piece.

“Night Chat” you said, wrapping your arms around the hero

“Good night Y/N!”

The next few days went by quietly. You hadn’t run into Adrien at all, but you texted a bit back and forth. Sunday evening however, things took a toll for the worst. You turned on your tv, ready to catch up with your show when you heard Nadja Chamack’s voice doing the news report

“It seems as though Rena Rouge and Chat Noir are struggling to stay on their feet! They have taken shelter under a fallen bus, leaving Ladybug alone to defeat Hawkmoth'' your pulse skyrocketed. As you watched the screen you could see Chat and Rena off to the side, struggling to catch their breath. Rena seemed to be in pain while Chat was trying to help. Ladybug was using her yoyo the best she could in order to protect herself from the supervillain, who was wielding his cane like a sword over her head. The fight was clearly going in Hawkmoth's favour! You grabbed your jacket and ran out the front door and onto the empty streets of Paris, towards the Eiffel Tower, where the fight was taking place. 

People screamed at you from their balconies to go home, warning you about the fight and the danger you were putting your life in but you didn’t care. All you could think about was how they needed you. Chat needed you! Every late night talk and every inside joke shared between you two replaid in your head like a broken record. Behind Chat’s tough mask, his alter ego of hero and protector, was the fragile figure of Adrien Agreste. The young blonde boy who cried during romantic comedies, who liked to have his hair braided and forgot how to speak when someone complimented him. If you didn’t help, the heros would loose and he would most likely die! Alongside Ladybug and Rena who, even though you didn’t know their real identities, were still young girls. As you ran down the street, you heard kids crying inside one of the homes. You ran past but at the last second you heard Nadia’s voice coming from their tv

“Ladybug was akumatized”

You approached the Eiffel tower from the side, where you could see everything going on. In front of the tower, right next to Hawkmoth, stood Marinette Dupain-Cheng, dressed in a tight, dark red suit, darker than Ladybug’s. Black butterflies replaced the dots of the heroine's suit and the purple butterfly mask of Hawkmoth’s control was shining over her face. Marinette was Ladybug! She did, in fact, get akumatized. On the other side, you saw Rena and Chat, struggling to stay up right. They were obviously in a lot of pain and extremely tired, but Hawkmoth was merely mocking them.

“After all this time” Chat spoke up, but his breaths were shallow and rapid “I thought you’d know one thing about us! We don’t give up without a fight. Never will. Especially not against you” and with that, the two ran at each other.

“It doesn’t have to end like this, you know?” he said “We don’t have to fight to death. I wouldn’t want to have that on my conscience. All you have to do is give me your miraculouses willingly. The town will be safe, you will be safe! It’s the most heroic option you’ve got. You won’t be any good to Paris if you are dead”

You knew this was not just another fight between them. This was it. Either the heros won or everything they’ve worked for would be lost. Hawkmoth would win and get his hands on both miraculous and god knows what kind of destruction that would bring not only upon Paris, but the world. You focused all your energy in one spot in the air, right between where Chat and Hawkmoth were supposed to clash but before they could reach each other, you sent a wave of energy that blew both of them apart, like a bomb. Hawkmoth flew back into the Eiffel tower while Chat hit the pavement with a thud. Confused and certainly disturbed, both of them began looking around for an answer as to what happened when, finally, Hawkmoth’s eyes landed on yours.

“Aha, miss Y/L/N. What a spectacular honor to finally meet you!” you didn’t reply, instead you stood tall, maintaining eye contact

“I know a lot about you. Seen a lot. Felt a lot of your emotions. None of them can compare to the powers I’ll have with the two miraculouses. With Ladybug’s earrings and the guardian under my control, I’d say my mission here is almost over’’

“Y/N get back!’’ Chat screamed but you were too involved now to run. This was your fight too.

“It is time you give up Hawkmoth. Paris is not yours, neither are the miraculouses. We will destroy you, no matter what it takes!”

“Listen to yourself, kid! <<Destroy me>>? The most you can do is pull a rabbit out of your hat…” before he could finish his sentence, you snapped your fingers in his direction and instantly, the ground around beneath Hawkmoth and akumatized Marinette, fractured. From within the cracks, many tangled plants came out, encapsulating the 2 villains. You sprinted towards Chat and Rena, ignoring the signs of struggle coming from the prison of weeds.

 Alongside the two superheros, you hid inside a corner coffee shop, which was now empty.

“Y/N, you need to leave!! You are putting yourself in too much danger!” Rena told you, as she collapsed to the ground from exhaustion

“Stop with that already! I am here and I’m not going anywhere!”

“Yes you are!” Chat looked at you. His voice was calm and yet, his eyes were filled with disappointment “You are not a superhero. This is our job!”

“You need help”

“No we don’t!” Chat had never, in all your years of friendship, raised his voice at you, let alone yell “ You need to stay safe! You could die! Hawkmoth doesn’t care about anything if it helps him get what he wants! I am ready to take that risk. Rena is too” you both turned to the red headed hero, only to see her slowly nod “But I can’t allow you to take it”

“You can’t tell me what to do”

“I don’t want you to die!” he screamed again “I love you and I will never forgive myself if you don’t come out of this alive!”

Before you could say anything, you saw Hawkmoth and his minion, through the cafe window, cutting through the last of the plants and escaping your trap. You grabbed Chat’s arm and pulled him to the floor, from where you could not be seen

“We’re in this together now” you said in a stern voice, looking the blonde kid right in his eyes “Whether you like it or not '' this time, he simply nodded.

You stuffed your hands into the pocket of your jacket and pulled out 3 little bottles, containing a mate, green liquid. You had prepared one for each of the heros, now you’d only need two.

“Here, drink this!” You handed each of them one “Regeneration potion. Should put you back on your feet.” as soon as they finished drinking the brew, you could see color coming back to their faces

“Where’s Marinette’s akuma??” 

“Her necklace” replied Rena “It’s a gift from her kwami”

“Got it. You deal with Hawkmoth. I’ll bring Marinette back!”

Chat and Rena exited through the front door, grabbing Hawkmoth’s attention. He called out to Marinette to attack, but before she could take a single step in your direction, you had snuck up behind her. Using a simple invisibility spell, you managed to exit unnoticed behind the two heros. It finally felt like the fight had truly begun. From the corner of your eye you could see Chat and Rena doging Hawkmoth’s attacks while you, were doing your best to get your hands on the stupid necklace! Even though she couldn’t see you, Marinette seemed to almost always know what your next move was. She would expertly block all your attack and would keep you an arm’s length away at all times. Finally, you had enough and in one swift motion, you pinned her back to your chest, ripping the necklace away. A wave of black and purple took over the both of you and when it vanished, all you were left with was a half unconscious Marinette in your arms. You dropped her to the ground slowly as she was coming back to her senses. You wanted to talk to her but your thoughts were driven away as you heard Chat scream bloody murder.

On the opposite side of the platza, you saw Hawkmoth rip Chat’s ring off his finger, forcing him to detransform. The exhausted figure of Adrien Agreste fell to the ground with a thud. Hawkmoth had, indeed, gotten his hand on both the miraculouses.

[muggle-born-princess]

"Chloé's actions don't excuse her behavior!"

Uh, no shit sherlock. That's the point.

The point of Chloé's character traits isn't you to go and say "Wow, she's so mean and bitchy, mommy, I wanna be like her when I grow up!" ^__^ The point of her character is that yes, her behavior is awful; yes, her actions are horrendous, yes her personality is pure and utter shit.

BUT:

It also justifies it.

A lot of people tend to think that "excusing one's actions" and "justifying one's actions" mean the same thing, but it doesn't.

We do not excuse Chloé's actions, we justify them.

We don't look at her and say "Oh, she's a bitch because mommy was to her, okay she's free to go."

We look at her and say "Oh, she's a bitch because her mom is an abusive, neglectful narcissist and her dad is a doting, overworking father and neither of th em paid any attention to her. That explains everything." Furthermore, because of this, this caused her to develop mental issues as time went by.

For example: let's take Petunia Dursley from Harry Potter.

Petunia raised Harry in a horrible environment. She abused him, neglected him (kept him in a stair closest for 11 years ever since he was a baby), excluded him from the family every moment she got, but why was that? Not because she was a horrendous bitch (and don't get me wrong, she was), but because she was jealous of her sister aka her nephew's mom.

Lily grew up as a witch.

Lily grew up with magical powers in a non magic family.

Lily went to a famous school for those who did magic.

Petunia. Did. Not!

Therefore, when she saw her orphaned nephew on her doorstep, the last thing that came to mind was her jealously and envious she had over her sister aka the one who got the privileges of being a witch, not her. Should her actions be excused? No. Are her actions justified, however? Yes.

In addition, let's take the two girls whom at this point, have the biggest rivarly with Chloé: Marinette and Zoé.

As we know, Marinette and Chloé had a long history with each other, even before Adrien was introduced. However, we have no idea how the rivalry started. Some theorize that Marinette did something that set Chloé off, and while that's a plausible, we don't have all the proof to see if that's true. The only source is how similar Marinette can be to Chloé (both have been known to sabotage others to get what they want). Another theory is that Marinette and Chloé were once friends, but something changed. Did Chloé or Marinette one day snapped and had enough with the other? Was one jealous of the other? For all we know, some sort of conflict happened between them and we don't know what it was or how it happened. Going back to the jealous part, some also have noticed that Chloé could be secretly jealous of Marinette and her life.

Marinette has a loving and supportive family, Chloé doesn't. Marinette has friends who love and care about her, Chloé doesn't. Marinette gets good grades and works hard for what she wants, Chloé doesn't. Marinette doesn't rely on people to get what she wants. Chloé does.

Now let's move on to Zoé. Zoé's history was that she was conceived by Audrey while in New York and that's it. Once Zoé comes into the picture, Chloé immediately connects the dots and realizes that she was living with her mom this whole time. As we know, Chloé loves and idolizes her mom to the point where she acts like her. Acts rude and bitchy and looks down on those who she sees as "inferior." So in conclusion, Chloé in the end envies her half sister not just because she's nice to everyone, but because she gets more attention than her. Especially from the one parent that she looks up to yet refuses to do anything with her but belittle her.

In conclusion, Chloé's actions and behavior are and will never will be excused. Yes, she needs to face consequences; yes she needs to be disciplined; yes she needs some tough love, but we (fandom and characters in the show) need to understand that her actions are justified. They explain why she is awful, they explain why she is nasty, they explain why she is the way she is. Can she change? Yes. Can or will it happen? As of now, no; but there is still a possible chance. We just have to see where it leads to.

I doubt Chloé is irredeemable. There has been times where she has shown to do better. Yes, she has screwed up time from time and while I understand that the point of her character is that not everyone can change, we also need to remember that old habits die hard. Maybe she'll change at the last minute. Maybe it will be in the season 4 finale, the season 5 finale, or hell even the series finale.

Chloé in the end needs to improve.

Not as Queen Bee.

As Chloé Bourgeois.

[etherealxgenie]

Why Lila is Marinette’s Own Fault || Miraculous Why?

(Before I begin, note that this is my opinion over the topic and am no way am bashing anyone’s love for the ship and/or character. I respect who and what you like, therefore expect the same courtesy. However, if this is something you cannot handle, please click the back button as this will be a heavily discussed topic. No flames allowed. Other than that, enjoy.)

So usually in the story, there’s always one or two mean girls who is out to get the main character for some kind of superior reasons to justify. And there’s no reason as to why they act this way just for the sake of being mean.

Like the Ashleys from “Recess”, who tend to pick on kids just for the fun of it sometimes or cause they’re popular.

Same can go for Libby from “Sabrina The Teenage Witch” who was out to get something for what she wants or just to be superior to the other kids in school.

For Miraculous, we already have that kind of character, Chloe Bourgeois, who is the daddy’s girl of the Mayor to get what she wants. And until we had some small character development in season two (which season 3 took it away!!), we had no reason feeling sorry for her and she was just for the convenient plot in the social life for Marinette in the series.

And then… there’s Lila.

Before I get into hand in this, let me note that Lila is not a good person at all in the show. She’s a liar, a manipulator and will do whatever she can to get what she wants. She breaks into homes, steals and molests pretty models. She’s been pretty shown to be just selfish without consequences and unless we get a background story of why she acts this way, she has no excuse. Especially when she teams up with hawkdaddy to now have permission to invade and spy on Adrien whenever she wants? Fuck that.

So in Volpina, Lila is introduced as this pathological liar to get attention in season one. She obviously goes for Adrien cause he’s the famous model after all. Reasonable considering as the new person looking for attention, you seek out the most popular/famous person in the school. That would Adrien.

Though considering with her connections, it would’ve been smarter to try and impress Marinette instead if Lila did her research before she came into the scene. But of course, new person so she wouldn’t know, but whatever.

And we can see Lila easily just says things just to get Adrien’s approval and such.

And so, Marinette follows them around (stalking? really?) because Tikki points out Lila has the book Adrien took from his father’s vault and threw it in the trash.

Now the SMART thing to do would’ve been to see how Adrien would handle the situation and wait for him to leave, if to acknowledge Adrien has a mind of his own and knows when to walk away (which he does). Or at the very least, try to distract them as Marinette while Tikki retrieved the book.

But… no. You transform into Ladybug to lash out at a girl PUBLICALLY, for anyone including Adrien to hear, just to embarrass her and call her out on her lying because she… “hates liars”.

Marinette, you fucking lie ALL the time! Most of those times to Adrien! And I’m not just talking about when in regard to being Ladybug, you hypocritical- (groans)

I can list plenty of episodes: Gamer, Aninmaestro, Ikari Gozen and hell, even Reverser counts! If she hadn’t lied about Marc’s book, Nathaniel wouldn’t have torn it! (sighs)

And before you all start jumping at me saying Lila got what she deserves, I only agree partially. Ladybug, as a public figure and heroine, practically the face of Paris, acted irrationally lashing out at a bystander because of lies which were or were not believable. Lila was broadcasting a post or making the news, she was trying (poorly) to impress a boy. Ladybug gave Lila the Regina George treatment.

Yeah, so you caused an akumatized situation and Lila hates your guts. Hell, I would hate you too. That’s like a celebrity jumping at an innocent bystander when they’re whispering to their friend about a rumor that only the two of them were talking about. You can’t jump to try and stop them and should just let it dispel on its own. At that point, Lila had no real power but you just influenced her.

And… oh boy did things get worse because of this.

Look season 3 was trash (except for moments in certain episodes) and I feel talking about the infamous ‘Chameleon’ physically hurts me but… yeah gotta point out a few things. The whole episode was unrealistic, and it was an obvious ploy to be sympathetic to Marinette with Lila back… but… you’re not fooling me.

So, Lila is still on her lying game, being able to fool the students and the staff?! Okay if you believe a student has so many disabilities without any paperwork proof, you can actually get fired for that for fraud. As someone who worked with education before, that’s just pure incompetence.

So yeah, Marinette comes to school seeing the seats changes to accommodate Lila and upright begins to plot to discredit her for her lies. UM… what happened to trying to start over with Lila after failing to do so the first time?

Oh, that’s right. She gets that way (at least partly) because Lila is sitting next to Adrien. I can understand if it was because they rearranged the seating without her say so but let’s face it. Lila sitting next to Adrien was her real trigger.

So since Marinette failed to acknowledge her mistake the first time, she spends all day trying to prove Lila is lying and in return the class is angry at her. Alya even comes to point out that Marinette is jealous of Lila.

And you know what? Alya is right.

Alya knows at least what Marinette is capable of doing so when it comes to Adrien and how far she’s willing to go. Remember that Alya is the one who encouraged her to break into his locker and steal his phone. So of course, she’s worried Marinette is gonna do something to the new girl.

I don’t blame Alya for doing one of the most competent things in the show: Warning Marinette to NOT go off the handle without proof and not make herself look bad in the process.

And because Marinette failed to do so… she made Lila her enemy AGAIN. It was bad enough you had her as your enemy as Ladybug, but now you get to deal with twice the drama!

Your own fucking fault, Marinette.

Also, the advice Adrien gave? I don’t blame for him for it and neither should you. Yes, his advice is not perfect, but with the options he has on his plate, its hard to do something otherwise.

For every encounter Adrien has had with Lila, it ended up with her being akumatized or a disaster no matter how he tried to handle her. We didn’t get to see how he would resolve in Volpina because of Ladybug’s intervention, but he would try at least in Chameleon and try to get her to see she didn’t need to lie and actually tried to befriend her. At this point, Lila was already triggered by Ladybug and Marinette so she just might have to take Adrien by force instead.

At that point, Adrien just wants to stay away and which he was trying to tell Marinette don’t interact with Lila or confront her cause there’s no way to do so at this point. Maybe he was trying to tell her to wait until her rumors got discredited, but he didn’t say it clear enough for her to understand.

And keep in mind, Adrien is a sheltered child with little to zero social skills taught to him by Nathalie and Gabriel. Hell, we don’t know how his childhood was really like even with Emelie around either and Adrien seems more like the pacifist unless he needs to absolutely step in. And he did by cleaning up Marinette’s mess in ‘Ladybug’. So now he’s gotta suffer being around Lila more because of Marinette making Lila her enemy.

But once again, this is bad writing as the writers of the show obviously forgot what it’s like to live in reality. In the real world, Lila would be immediately discredited without any proof the moment she came back. Not to mention, some of the class have their own connections and have more braincells proven in the previous episodes. Google search and such. A 5-year-old wouldn’t believe these lies in these times. Hey, I believe that because I once had a kid in kindergarten during my time as an afterschool art teacher look at one of my books I illustrated before and said they liked the ‘graphics’.

Kids are fucking smarter nowadays than you think.

The only reason anyone would believe Lila’s lies is if she’s magically influenced with some kind of ‘silver tongue’ spell or something and honestly? It looks like that’s the reason.

I dunno if Thomas Astruc or Zag is trying to insult the kids/adults or insult themselves to say Paris people aren’t that smart. If it’s the latter, you should see what you are doing because I don’t want to believe that because that’s disrespectful.

I know it seems I’m trying to stand up for Lila this portion, but I’m just looking things in a  more realistic and logical way. Did Lila take things too far? Yes, waaaayyy too far and should be arrested for it since she works for Hawkmoth. But it could’ve been handled better and that makes Marinette at fault too.

Part of me wonders if she’s done this before because in Zombiezou, she also causes Chloe to ruin her gift for Ms. bustier. If Marinette didn’t antagonize Chloe in the locker in front of the class, maybe she wouldn’t have done anything. Again, I’m not saying Chloe was justified, but if that was the reason, yeah I can see her doing it for payback.

So to all those fics where I’m supposed to be ‘Boo-hoo’ for Marinette because of what Lila did? Fuck you guys because you need to dig deeper into the story to see both sides and not just make it a pity party where Marinette is the innocent victim.

It’s called “Cause and Effect”.

And considering she made Lila her enemy, Marinette is gonna get effected enough because that’s how karma works.

[azure-wolf-227]

ML AU: The Little MermAdrien

A sort of The Little Mermaid-inspired AU that @princess-of-the-corner and I came up with. (Shout-out to @tippytoezombie for suggesting ‘MermaAdrien’ as this AUs name).

Adrien is a merfolk prince that’s fascinated by the human world, he regularly sneaks off to watch Humans at the beach and on the docks, as well as collecting human items that he finds in sunken ships. His father, Gabriel, is the king of the merfolk kingdom and hates humans after his losing his wife to an attack by them.

Merfolk’s appearances resemble that of different fish species. Adrien has angelfish traits.

Chloe and Adrien are still childhood friends despite the fact that Chloe is a human. It went like this: small Noble kid (her father is the Duke) who ran away to the docks when upset about her mom, falls in and meets a little mermaid boy and become secret friends not telling anyone back home about each other.

Chloe teaches Adrien stuff about the human worlds including how to read and write. Merfolk are normally illiterate and mostly use oral language and songs since paper and ink don’t work underwater. Adrien’s reading and writing skills are about kindergarten level.

The Miraculous are magical artifacts that grant powers though they’re nerfed compared to canon and there are no transformations. The Kwamis still exist as magical beings connected to the MIraculous who guide the wielders, kinda like Familiars.

The Kwamis can change their forms depending on the environment their at i.e. on land they’re their normal form while they turn into their Aqua forms underwater. The transformations are something they can already do instead of needing to drink a potion like in canon.

Adrien found the Cat Miraculous while exploring a shipwreck and met Plagg. He keeps Plagg’s existence hidden from his father.

One day, Adrien watches as a ship is sunk by a storm and saves a girl his age from drowning. He falls in love with the girl and sings while she’s semi-unconscious in the beach, then leaves before she can get a good look at him. That girl turns out to be Kagami, the princess of the nearby human kingdom. Adrien vows that he’d find a way to be together with Kagami, while Kagami searches for the boys who rescued her.

Adrien has a fight with Gabriel about the latter’s interest in the human world despite the fact that humans are the reason Emelie died. The fight gets to the point where Adrien declares that he doesn’t want to be a merman and runs (swims?) away.

He then goes to visit Ariel Rinn the Dragon Witch (Corner’s original character) to ask if she can turn him into a human.

Ariel tells him that she has a spell that can do that but it involves him trading of skill for another (i.e. his voice/singing ability for the ability to walk on land). 

The spell becomes stable with True Love’s Kiss and would not only give Adrien his voice back but let him shift between human and merperson at will.

Since Ariel is kinder than Ursula, there are not dire consequences if Adrien fails to get True Love’s Kiss. He’d just be stuck as a mute human, though Ariel still warns him that the girl he has a crush on might not be his true love. Regardless, Adrien still wants go through with it.

Ariel casts the spell, and Adrien loses his voice but becomes a human. He ends up washed up on the beach, naked and stumbling as he tries to walk. He’s found by Marinette who decides to help him so she drags him home to her parents’ bakery. Romantic shenanigans ensue.

Note: Marinette has the Ladybug Miraculous earrings, she found on the beach several years ago and met Tikki, though she didn’t tell her parents about her. She keeps Tikki hidden from Adrien, and he in turn doesn’t let her know about Plagg. Tikki and Plagg are aware of each other but don’t tell their owners.

Marinette and Adrien are in her tailor shop (She has her own successful business at this point when she’s not in the bakery) when Chloe comes in to pick up the dress she ordered for a Gala at the palace.

She sees Adrien and is like “yo what the FUCK???”. Despite being unable to speak, he manages to convey that he did some Magic shit and is Human for now, but ya know. True Love’s Kiss and all that. 

Despite needing to process All That, Chloé is happy to have her friend on land now, and says she can have him be her plus one to the gala. 

She gets a little demanding with Marinette on having her throw together a last-minute suit for Adrien and he manages to mediate the two. But Adrien has also already begun falling for Mari so he makes sure Chloé knows that he won’t go if she doesn’t. 

Chloé protests at first, knowing that her mother would berate her for embarrassing her by inviting a peasant, but she was already risking that by inviting Adrien(yeah he’s a prince but no one else knows that and also he will act like a total dork who can’t even dance). Marinette notices something is up with those two but doesn’t guess the mermaid shit. She reluctantly agrees to go with them. 

Eventually at the Gala, Adrien takes interest in the musical instruments where the entertainment is setting up. He’s not used to any of the instruments because they don’t work underwater. Which naturally is where he meets Luka who was part of the band setting up. They share some light flirting but Adrien is so confused because he liked Mari and then there’s also the fact that this was started by a crush on the girl he saved.

Speaking of! Kagami and Adrien meet again here. Kagami is incredibly confused by him, as he doesn’t admit to being the one who saved her and like in the movie, him being currently voiceless while her savoir had sang to her makes Kagami wonder if it’s just a coincidence. But as they interact she does begin to fall for him regardless. 

The four eventually end up running into each other together and both Mari and Luka are panicking because hello Princess Kagami! And everyone is falling for each other.

Meanwhile Chloé’s job is to lie her ass off whenever someone asks a question about Adrien’s past.

Back under the sea, Gabriel is busy trying to find a powerful magical artifact that could bring his wife back to life. Why is he doing this instead of looking for his missing son? Well, Gabriel doesn’t actually know that Adrien is missing.

Nathalie and the Gorilla are supposed to be keeping an eye on Adrien and, well, neither wants to inform Gabriel that Adrien disappeared until they find him.

So they’re scrambling to make sure Gabriel doesn’t find out while also looking for Adrien. They never think he could be on land!

Gabriel finds where the magical artifact is hidden but he gets in over his head and releases the monster that guards the artifact (to keep things from canon, we are using Yan Woshi, the Akumatized version of the Prodigious’ Guardian) who then heads towards the human kingdom.

To save the kingdom, Adrien goes to confront the monster, hoping to destroy with his ring’s power; Kagami, Marinette, and Luka go after him.

They discover that Adrien is a merman, either from Chloe or  because they all gave Adrien True Love’s Kiss and saw his transform.

[pl-panda]

The Vines that bind us - Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don’t own Miraculous Ladybug or any DC characters. I own only the plot, and even that is inspired by the amazing story "Marigold Ivy" by @lwandile13 on Wattpad. Go check it. It's great. He allowed me to take some inspiration, for which I'm grateful. Also, don't translate the french words maybe. Or at least do it on your own responsibility. Big thanks to @Liza! on Discord for being my Beta :)

NEXT

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a normal girl, with a normal life. But she had a secret. Her real name was Marigold Isley. She was born under that name in Gotham city sixteen years ago. Her mother never revealed to her who was her father, but Mari never cared. She was happy with her mom and several aunts and uncles. Technically, none of them were related to her by blood, but Rogues were quite close to each other (excluding some outcasts like Joker or the Menagerie). They taught her many interesting things such as lockpicking, stealth 101, or hand-to-hand combat. She was five when it started, so her first-ever practical test was breaking into a kitchen cupboard and stealing a jar of cookies. Overall, she was very happy. 

It changed when she was eight. One very tired social service person named Elizabeth Barrow got wind of a child of a villain. That Elizabeth was new to Gotham after being reassigned from Metropolis and didn’t yet get the wind of how things worked. Maybe her colleagues didn’t like her, or maybe she was just too overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the problem in Gotham. Previously, there was an unspoken agreement in the government that they wouldn’t notice Marigold. In exchange, rogues were calmer. Or at least tried to keep the death toll down. For a time, Gotham even started to slowly heal. But then, Elizabeth took the case of Marigold Isley. Ivy tried to fight. To protect her daughter. For three days, the city was held hostage by giant plants. It was only the fear in her daughter’s eyes that made Poison Ivy relent and let go. She didn’t want that life for Marigold. The one condition she gave was that the girl would leave America as a whole, to ensure she would be safe from all the madness. 

And so Marigold ended up in the care of baker’s couple in Paris. She never showed any powers thus far and the adoption agency kept the parentage a secret. That’s when Marinette Dupain-Cheng was born. She continued with martial arts training and stealth training, but now only as fun and reminder of her mother and extended family, as opposed to actual necessary survival tool. She also picked up designing as another hobby, which soon turned into a kind of obsession. She was generally a ray of sunshine. 

The one black spot in the happy world of Marinette was the Mayor’s daughter. Chloe Bourgeoise considered herself above others and just couldn’t stand sunshine girl. She ruined her clothes, sometimes damaged her homework, or verbally assaulted her. While Chloe was generally disliked, she was more of a nuance. Overall, Marinette was happy. At least until two events changed that. 

When she was twelve, Paris was attacked by Hawkmoth for the first time. Marinette found herself becoming Ladybug, a superhero with magical powers that protected the city from harm. She received a partner in form of Chat Noir. It took some time before she got hang of it, and then more time before she and Chat became an actual team. Over time, more heroes joined them, even if temporarily only. She had people she could count on. She became Happy again. 

Privately, she started her own brand: MDC, managed to become a class representative, and became best friends with Alya, who joined around the same time she became Ladybug. It was quite ironic. The superhero was best friends with one person whose greatest dream was to unmask the hero. Marinette also developed a huge (and a bit unhealthy) crush on Adrien Agreste, a famous model who was in her class. She spent years vying for his attention, but nothing ever came from her attempts. She was unable to even say a word around him and her face always became red like her mother’s hair. Overall, she couldn’t complain.

Then, when she was fifteen another black spot appeared. It was Lila (Liela) Rossi. She came to their school and immediately started sporting lies with every breath. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to buy into that, believing her like she spoke the gospel. Everyone but Marinette. She tried to expose Lila, but it only backfired. She became an outcast, disliked by everyone, and universally hated. Suddenly, it became okay to bully her because she was a bully herself and deserved it. It became okay to shun her and no longer include her in anything. The worst was Alya, her former best friend. At first, she just tried to nudge Marinette to give Lila a chance. When Marinette tried to show the truth, Alya practically attacked her. She was just as much responsible for Mari being cast out as Lila was. The fact that her best friend abandoned her only fueled the gossip and allowed Lila to drive the final nail in. In the span of a few weeks, Marinette was left alone. 

Around the same time, Chat Noir became more persistent in his pursuit of her while Adrien, who Marinette knew was aware of the lies, was only telling her to keep the high road (do nothing). She could understand him. As a famous model and son of a well-known fashion designer, he was always taught to not provoke the press. It still served as a wake-up call on her crush. 

--------

Marinette was packing her things after lessons when she noticed someone approach her from behind. Immediately, she tensed. After eleven years of martial arts practice, it was an instinct. Before she had time to turn around, something heavy landed on her desk with a loud Thud!. She turned to see Chloe standing over a large book, a single thick envelope, and a puffy bag that content Marinette couldn’t guess.

“What’s a…” She started, but Chloe cut her off. She had her usual ‘resting witch’ expression.

“The book contains every single instance I verbally assaulted you, destroyed something of yours, talked about you behind your back, or in any way otherwise did something wrong toward you. Here are the materials for the damaged clothes,” she pushed the bag toward her, “and here is money for other things.” Chloe gave her the envelope. “I apologize for all of that. I was jealous of all the attention you kept getting even though I thought I deserved it. I now realize that my behavior was wrong and hurtful. I will understand if you’ll never speak to me again. I kept acting ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” With that, she turned and started to walk again. Marinette idly noticed that there was no Sabrina nearby. Thinking back, Chloe was no longer acting (overly) mean toward anyone as of late.

Making a split-second decision, Marinette raced after the blonde and pulled her into a hug.

“Wha…” Chloe yelped before sinking into the hug. Neither girl realized they were crying until they finally separated. Blonde had her lite make-up in total ruin while Marinette had tears still going down her cheeks. “Does that mean you accept my apologies?”

Marinette didn’t answer immediately. She stood there with open mouth for a moment before smiling weakly. “Yes, Chloe.”

Since that day, they were best friends. It turned out to be a blessing. Chloe, once she finally allowed someone to truly know her, turned out to be a highly intelligent, funny, and very much still overbearing person. She still acted high and mighty, but it no longer felt mean, rather just… felt. She took to defending Marinette from the rest of the class. She was aware of Lila’s lies from day one but never acted on it until it was too late. Sabina abandoned her for the liar. Dealing with loneliness was hard on her. She didn’t even have parents that cared. Her father would probably move sun if she asked, but he had an emotional range of a toothpick. Her mother didn’t even know her name, so she didn’t bother.

Something about their friendship must’ve upset Lila because the girl upped her game. Marinette’s parents suddenly found themselves facing strong critique and constant inspection from the sanitary department and child protection questioning their parenting abilities. MDC, who was slowly becoming one of the go-to fashion designers for famous found herself in the middle of several fake media scandals, including one lawsuit over defamation. If it wasn’t for Jagged Stone and Penny rallying her customers, Marinette and her parents would end up broke. He managed to save MDC and practically made her untouchable. Still, Alya and Lila got off scot-free as nothing could be linked to them.

Perhaps what pushed Lila over the edge was Chloe confronting Adrien. She yelled at him for good two hours straight about responsibility and morality, pointing in detail exactly what he did wrong. She would probably go on if Marinette didn’t stop her. After that, Adrien finally apologized and tried to make things right, but it only turned against him. By then, Lila had everyone so deep into it, that he was powerless. She didn’t go after him as her partnership with Gabriel Agreste was too important, but she did tattle to the Fashion Mogul about it. Gabriel tried to get his son under control, but this was one thing that he couldn’t achieve. 

It did inspire a whole youth fashion line ‘rebel’, which became a global hit.

All this time, Marinette kept two secrets. One was her identity as Ladybug and the guardian, the other was her true name and family. Until she kept neither.

----------

Marinette returned home after another day at school. Recently, her mother revealed she was pregnant with another child, even though she was believed to be barren. Everyone in the bakery was overjoyed and the couple even started to hand out small treats to any guest that came. The free samples helped the business return to a better standing. 

When she entered, strangely there was no sound in the bakery. It was empty. Usually, her parents would both be very busy as it was still business hours. Slightly worried, she went upstairs. When she entered the living room, she found an envelope addressed to her. 

Isley

We tried, but we can no longer tolerate you. We turned a blind eye when we learned how improper you act, trying to drag every boy you meet for some, and we quote, “alone time”. We didn’t react to the bullying accusations, believing them to be overexaggerated. Even when you were expelled, we still had hoped you’ll turn out into a fine young lady. But now, we must think of the baby. Today was the last straw. Hearing about how you ruined that poor impaired girl’s birthday was both cruel and against everything we taught you. 

We held hope you won’t follow in your mother’s footsteps, but you proved us wrong several times. We supported your obsession over fashion, even with the drama it caused, because it was actually non-violent. At first, we didn’t want to teach you how to fight, but we convinced ourselves that you would have a way to vent the emotions somewhere away from us. 

Please, don’t try looking for us. We will probably have already left the country or even the continent. The bakery is yours. We don’t want to have anything to do with the spawn of evil such as you. 

We hoped you would turn out better

Sincerely,

Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng

Marinette tried to read it over and over again, but her eyes welled with tears. She had no idea she was screaming until her throat was coarse. Rationally, she knew she needed to keep calm or she would attract the Akuma, but emotions made her not care. 

Unknowingly to her, the plants all around Paris responded to her cry. They started growing and spreading, trying to get to their queen and comfort her. The Akuma that would’ve come for her stumbled into one of the vines, corrupting it. Hawkmoth was surprised, it was not something anyone ever seen in Paris except on TV or some strange Japanese shows that play after midnight. The more important thing was that even though he akumatized the plants, he had no control over them. He couldn’t even recall his Akuma. 

Back in Marinette’s living room, she started to feel the ground rumble. Soon, plants exploded from the ground and broke windows. She slowly looked at her hands to see them tinted with green. They were not the same as her mother’s, but close. She looked to the floor where pieces of glass littered everything. Her face was the same, but her hair became blue and her eyes were now the most vibrant iridescent green she’s ever seen, exactly the same color her mother’s eyes were. 

She started to panic even more. Tikki floated next to her, talking to her, but Marinette couldn’t hear her. Or maybe process it. She could hear the plants call to her. She could hear them speak. They promised her revenge. They promised retribution on those who attacked her. God’s wrath would rain upon them from the sky and hell’s fury would consume them from beneath. 

Impaired girl…

“Liar Rossi.” Marigold seethed. She knew there was only one person who would do such a thing. Only one talented enough to convince her parents she was a villain. If they wanted a villain, they would get one. Her mind was being clouded. Her clothes were already torn, replaced by a skintight outfit made of leaves, much like her mother wore. Then, Marinette remembered another part of the letter. She added a skirt made of purple petals that complimented her blue hair nicely and long sleeves that reached to her hands, ending with a triangle that reached her middle finger and surrounded it at the base. She left the decolletage as it was.

Exiting her house, she allowed the vines to carry her. There were only so many places The Liar could hide. First, she went toward School, as it was closest. She made plants carry her over the roof right into the courtyard while more of them broke the doors and blocked any exit. The fencing class was still going on, but The Liar was not there. She looked over the scared crowd, spotting two people she wanted to find. She needed to protect them from The Liar, else they end like her. She grabbed the fencer in a red outfit and her partner, knocking their masks to reveal Kagami and Adrien. The plants wrapped around them, forming a sort of cocoon before dragging them to the heart. Marinette then turned her sight to Eifel tower. She knew The Liar liked to drag the class there. 

As she moved through town, she passed the Hotel where Chloe lived. Pausing, she made the plants lift her toward the balcony. Her best friend was indeed there, right next to the lit-up Bee-signal. Honeystly…

“Marinette!?” The blonde jumped in surprise

“Marinette is gone. She should’ve never even been. I’m Marigold, the daughter of Poison Ivy.” For a moment, the fog thickened, but Mari shook it off quickly enough, before whatever caused it managed to get the hold of her. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng! If you got yourself akumatized, I’m telling my daddy!” Chloe shouted. Seeing the tears form in the iridescent green eyes, she looked at her friend with pity. “Oh, Mari! Is this the Liar again? Come here right now!” The blonde spread her arms for a hug. She didn’t care about the Akuma. Her friend needed her and she would help her conquer the world if she asked. Chloe owed Mari… everything. She helped her evolve beyond being the queen witch. In response to the gesture, the plants in the garden started to grow until they surrounded the two of them in a tight cocoon. Marinette stepped onto the balcony. She affectionately petted the vine that carried her so far before allowing it to return to its hunt for the Liar. 

“Chloeee!” Mari launched herself at the girl. She sunk into the embrace, allowing tears to start flowing again. She sobbed her heart out while pushing a piece of paper she constantly held in her clutched fist before. The blonde took it and read while patting Marinette on the back of her head. 

“Salauds! Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! How dare that cochons! And the chienne! Wait till I tell daddy about this! Don’t worry Mari. I will protect you! I will ruin her! Merde!” The rant made Marigold pause. She never heard Chloe curse. Like… never. “But first. Mari. You know I love you and I would help you hide the body, but drop the Akuma. It’s making you look Ridiculous. Utterly Ridiculous! I mean the dress is so much spot on and so you, but the whole take over Paris is more my style. I can let you be my faithful sidekick while we take over the world if you want.”

For a moment, Marigold continued to stare at Chloe before she burst out in a fit of laughter. It wasn’t a nervous chuckle or the villain cackle, but genuine pearly laughter. It was just so… Chloe-ish. She couldn’t imagine anyone trying to dissuade an Akuma by offering to become a sidekick. 

“You… You… Never change Chlo.” Mari smiled at her friend. 

“Whoa. You… didn’t make me a fertilizer? I mean, of course, you wouldn’t. You are just too good of a person, but Hawkmoth…”

“I’m not akumatized Chloe.” Mari smiled. “It’s me.” As if to prove her point, she stood up and spun, allowing the blonde to see her from all sides. “This is how I really look. Apparently, I do take some after my mom.”

“Your… mom?”

“Pamela Isley, she was a famous biologist. Mom was brilliant. She used to be one of the smartest people in the world.” Mari praised. “There was this one accident that she is now famous for…”

“Pamela Isley? I remember reading about her.” 

“Yeah… She is…”

“Didn’t she create this environment-friendly line of cosmetics?” Chloe asked in her typical fashion

“Yes! I have no idea why everyone remembers her only for the ‘Poison Ivy’ thing!”

“I know, right?” Chloe nodded. “Wait a…”

“Tada!” Mari said weakly before trying to look away, doing everything not to look her friend in the eyes. The blonde gently grabbed her chin and moved it so she could look right into the beautiful green eyes of her best friend.

“Mari! If you think I would abandon you just because your mother took veganism too far… You’re utterly ridiculous!”

Marigold smiled slightly. Slowly, the green receded and her eyes turned back to normal. The dress remained, as without it she would end up naked and she didn’t fancy trying to explain to anyone that. 

She then turned to the plants and tried to order them to return to normal, only for them to resist. For a moment, her mind started to feel fogged, but it didn’t hold at all now. 

“As much as I like the scenery, maybe we stop the plantpocalypse?”

“Um… Remember how I told you I wasn’t akumatized?”

“Yeah?”

“I think the plants are…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Chloe shouted. “Listen here Hawkmoth! Get this Akuma the heck away! I don’t care about some fancy Jewels that will totally clash with your suit! I mean purple and white with red earrings? Are you colorblind?”

There was no visible reaction to the plants. 

“Strange…” Marigold ran her hand over the plants. “They still respond, just refuse to yield.” Inside, Mari cursed that she couldn’t consult Tikki.

“So… Want some cookies?” Chloe asked. “We just have to wait for Ladybug to save the day. At least the damage will be repaired.”

‘Except Ladybug it trapped here…’

Suddenly, something small and black slipped through the vines and entered their small peaceful enclave. It zoomed between items on the balcony, trying to avoid being seen. It would’ve been successful if Chloe didn’t know about Kwamis. 

“What was that!?” She shouted pointing at Plagg’s hiding place.

“What? I didn’t see anything!” Mari tried to lie. It was the one skill she never had. She did compensate for it by never getting caught.

“A Kwami! I’m sure I’ve seen one.” 

“Kwami? Who’s Kwami? Is that some bird? How would a bird get here? I mean we are trapped in…”

“Ugh! I don’t have time for games!” Plagg suddenly floated before the pair. “Chat is trapped and can’t help without revealing himself. Paris is being destroyed mindlessly and nobody can do anything as the vines are harder than steel.” The cat summarized. “And I’m hungry. Give me cheese!” He looked at Chloe. “Camembert would be the best, but I’m not that picky.”

“Why come to us? Ladybug took away my miraculous.” The blonde asked. 

“I didn’t come to you. I came to her.” The god pointed at Mari. 

“Me?! Why? It’s not like…”

“We don’t have time for charades guardian! The Akuma is out of control! Literally! Hawkmoth’s connection was somehow severed and now you have a giant plant that knows only the rage. This is serious!”

Mari wanted to protest or try to save some of her identity, but then Tikki floated out of her purse.

“Oh no! Marinette! He is right! We have a huge problem.”

“Why?” The girl asked resigned.

“You’re Ladybug!” Chloe shouted but was subsequently ignored

“Hawkmoth must’ve akumatized the plant, hoping to control you, but he had no idea it was sentient. But it stopped being sentient the moment you let it go. I… It never happened before.”

“You’re Ladybug!!!” Chloe shouted so loud that everyone had to look at her. 

“We can talk later. Now we need to somehow deal with the plants. Maybe… No. What about… But they are too tough… What if…” Marigold started to run through various scenarios and plans. 

“Can’t you just order them to expel the Akuma?” Plagg asked bored.

“It… It might work.” Mari had a focused expression. In her head, she was running through all her knowledge of biology, miraculous magic, and how her mom’s powers worked. Hesitantly, she walked to the edge of the cocoon and called the main vine to her. The wall spread slightly and allowed the tip of it to enter. Mari touched it and started gently caressing it. 

“you’re a good boy. Yeah! Who’s a good boy? You’re. Yes! You’re a good boy. But Good Boys don’t have Akuma. Do you want to be a good boy? Of course, you do…” 

Chloe stood there and watched how Marigold kept talking to the plant like it was a puppy. She felt something fall into her hand. Opening the palm, she saw two earrings.

“I… I can’t!” She protested, but Plagg floated before her eyes.

“She can’t do it. If Akuma escapes, we will have plantmagedon on a larger scale.”

“Fine. Spots on!”

Just as Mari finally talked the plant into expelling the Akuma, Chloe caught it. 

“Bye Bye Little Butterfly!” She released the pure white bug. “Lucky charm!” Chloe shouted. A red and black folder fell into her hands. She looked at it curiously. Inside, she found a complete set of adoption papers for her father to sign. She quickly pulled out the sheets and tossed the folder itself, releasing a swarm of ladybugs that repaired Paris to how it was before plants. The sheet stayed. 

Transformation dropped after that and Chloe handed the jewel back to the true owner.

“You still have sooo much explaining to do!” 

Nobody remembered about Adrien and Kagami being carried together to safety, which turned out to be Mari’s basement. And while Ladybug Cure should’ve restored them to where they were taken from, for some unknown reason they remained locked there until Mari returned late into the evening to spend the last night at the bakery. It would be some time until Tikki admitted that it was an act of revenge on Plagg for revealing her chosen’s identity. He had to go the whole day without cheese. The one good thing that came from it was that Kagami and Adrien had a long frank talk and ended up as friends. The relationship just wasn’t working.

----------

When Mari was adopted by the Mayor, she decided to keep using the Dupain-Cheng name at least for now. At first, Chloe’s father was against it, but once the girl presented it as a way of getting good press of mayor who personally looks after his citizens he practically ripped the papers to sign them. Although on paper he was the adopter, Chloe was the real parent/sister that took care of Mari. Lila seethed and spitted, but couldn’t really do much more. Adrien and Chloe roped Jagged Stone and Penny into Marinette Protection Squad. Luka and Kagami, who somehow hooked up, also joined. At some point, Mari entrusted Luka and Kagami with permanent Miraculous and Gave Chloe the Bee miraculous back. Some Fox illusion of Chloe publically applauding new heroine helped hide her identity. The hardest part was revealing to Chat, Viperion, and Ryuko her true identity. Adrien was a big surprise, but at least they finally dealt with their crushes once and for all. The fact that they were in love square in two people was way too awkward. Chloe and Mari did notice Adrien sometimes looking at Luka, but he was happy with Kagami. The only person that disproved of ‘Lukagami’ was Kagami’s mother, but she warmed up to him when he accepted the challenge to a duel and was completely pacified when she learned that Luka is apprenticing under Jagged Stone. 

Jagged and Penny wanted to Adopt Mari, but ended up filling the role of uncle and aunt. After some time, Mari realized that she rebuilt what she once had in Gotham. These people might not have been her family by blood, but it mattered little. That family might’ve been damaged, maybe even broken, but they were happy together. They found solace in one another. Once more, Marinette was happy. 

Until a trip to Gotham came knocking on the front doors.

NEXT

[milknette]

day 11 - star-crossed lovers

if my love was just a curse, then i have only tears to shed.

tumblr month: @auyeahaugust

links: ao3 | ff.net

"PLEASE, dearest, tell me the truth."

Marinette doesn't even look up as he speaks, his voice echoing from the otherwise empty dungeon.

"For what reason?" She asks, instead. "It seems you've chosen your side." Marinette spares him a passing glance, and it's so cold he almost takes a step back. "Who to believe."

"I was given no other choice!" He argues, holding almost desperately onto the bars that prevented him from holding her directly. "Lila is trusted by the people— trusted by my father, even! She's—"

"The divine messenger," Marinette finishes for him, though her tone drips of venom and nothing of the kindness he had known from her prior. Had he truly been fooled? "The woman who claims to speak directly to God." She laughs to herself; bitterly, almost angrily. "And yet it is I who is considered the heretic."

At that point, Marinette keeps eye contact.

Her stare is sharp and icy; the warm ocean blue he had familiarized himself with nowhere to be seen.

"How foolish."

Adrien grips the bars tighter. "Then tell me she's wrong," he pleads. "Tell me that you hadn't… that you're not…"

"Not what?" Marinette asks, voice almost terrifyingly devoid of emotion. "Tell me, dearest, what crime you've accused me of." She rages with quiet ferocity. "Tell me what I've done that justifies being treated like a monster." Her tone borders on cruel. "Say it."

They stare at each other, neither willing to back down. Accusing her outright, he knows, means that there's no turning back. There's a finality that comes with speaking it aloud— a finality that quite clearly meant that whatever they had with each other (if anything) is over.

So, Adrien ends it.

"That you've enchanted me to fall in love with you."

The words hang in the air, becoming much heavier when said aloud. He continues, quiet. "That I've been cursed to give my heart to a witch."

Marinette's strangely silent.

Then, almost vulnerable, she asks it:

"Was the possibility of you loving me so outlandish that only a curse could make it so?"

For a moment, he almost sees his Marinette; kind, loving, honest, and who he had loved so purely.

"Do you despise me?"

The 'no' escapes his mouth before he can even register it, shocking both of them.

Adrien knows he should hate her; loathe her for the sins she's committed to the kingdom— to him.

But he also knows confidently that his feelings are the complete opposite.

The only question that remains is whether that feeling of love to her is genuine.

He sighs, dropping down to his knees. He leans his head against the prison bars, exhausted. "I could never despise you," Adrien mutters, almost as if he were saying it to himself. "And that's the problem."

"Adrien, I—"

Then he faces forward, staring directly at her. "And you misunderstood," he starts. "I never believed the curse because I could never love you."

He smiles, though all he can really feel is the crushing sadness that threatens to bury himself whole.

"I believed the curse because I never knew I could love someone that much."

The silence is deafening.

Then, a single tear rolling down a cheek.

And in a moment, it becomes an overwhelming torrent of them.

Marinette finally breaks down, collapsing onto the floor as her body's wracked with sobs.

Adrien's never wished so terribly that he had some cataclysmic power to destroy the cell holding her hostage, and to hold her in his arms.

So instead he watches, almost helplessly, as she puts herself back together.

It only takes a moment.

(She never did make it his business to see her vulnerable; Marinette believed it to be the most intense form of intimacy, and she had always been too scared to take that step.

Now he knew her fears weren't unfounded at all.)

"I'm sorry," she finally says, after what seems like an eternity. "I had never meant… for any of this to happen."

He laughs lightly. "I don't think anyone could have expected this outcome," he says. "I'd have thought our story would finish with a completely different ending, really."

Marinette smiles, wiping her cheeks with a tattered cloak. "And what would that be?"

"The palace," Adrien hums. "I take over my father, and rule on my rightful place as king."

"How wonderful." She says, features softening. "Though I do recall you saying this was our story? How would I fit in?"

"Every king needs his queen."

"Perhaps Lila can fill that role."

They both share a laugh.

"No… only one person can fill that role, truly." Adrien stares at her, almost nervous, as he speaks up. "And that woman—"

"— is someone you'll find someday," Marinette interrupts, before standing back up. "Whoever she is, I hope she realizes how lucky she is to have someone so lovely by her side."

Marinette cups his cheeks, and the warmth that spreads throughout his body only yells his deepest desires:

How could  this  be evil?

She smiles, then presses a kiss to his forehead.

"I now release you from this curse, Prince Adrien of the Agreste Kingdom," Marinette begins. "Now live and love freely, without this monstrous witch to hold you back."

"Wait, Marinette—"

"There he is!"

Lila comes bursting through the entrance to the dungeon, a string of guards on her trail.

She immediately runs to him, almost yanking him away from her cell.

"My dearest prince," Lila cries, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I've been so worried! I've prayed and spoken with God, who by His gracious heart, has told me where you've been kept captive."

A snort.

The nun seethes at that sound, suddenly turning to face Marinette, eyes glassy with anger. "And you!" She growls, walking forward to roughly grab Marinette by her dress' collar; almost strangling the girl as she's held up. "Release Adrien from his curse, you damned witch—"

"Lila, stop!" Adrien pulls her away, allowing Marinette to be thrown back; coughing and breathing deeply as she falls to the floor. "There's no need to be cruel."

She glares at Marinette, before letting go.

"Fine." Lila says, though the lack of remorse on her expression is evident. She reaches upward and holds the cross on her necklace, rubbing it almost too intensely. "I'm confident that the Lord will pass upon her fair judgment."

At that she latches on to Adrien, then grins. "Now come with me, I have some great rituals to help remove the horrid stench of that witch from you."

He only nods, silent, as he's led upstairs.

He turns back.

"Goodbye, Marinette."

It physically hurts him to see her smile.

"Goodbye, Prince Adrien."

.

.

"Marinette, you are henceforth being trialled as a witch. What say you to this claim?"

"If it is a sin to love, then I will gladly admit I am guilty of it."

"Then we shall take that as your acceptance of the accusation. Prince Adrien, as the victim, what say you?"

"..."

"Prince Adrien?"

"..."

"See, he is clearly under the spell of this witch! We must kill her now to free him! Do it now!"

"Here, here!"

"No…"

"Kill the witch!"

"Wait…"

"Burn her at the stake!"

"... Don't!"

Screams, fire, a vision of black, then—

Nothing.

She's gone.

.

.

A dark red scarf flying in the wind.

A hand outstretched, grabbing it from the air.

A woman, running over.

A man, falling in love.

Between them, something is lit.

It begins the same way it ends.

In flames.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

The cursed statue- Luktober Day 2

I know the stories are supposed Luka centered and I hope this is centered around him but I’m a little worried it’s not. Let me know. This prompt came from @write-it-motherfuckers, whoes prompts I’ve been using for a few ML stories I’ve written. I can’t help it, they’re good. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.” Curse

It wasn’t often that Adrien got drunk, but it had been quite some time since he and his friends managed to get some time together like this. The group of them had gotten rather pleasantly tipsy when they came down to see him and were now enjoying dancing around and giggling hysterically in the rain, most of the dreary little town, already shut for the day. He would probably wouldn’t be hearing the end of it when it came to him and his friends loud obnoxious singing, not for some time at least. There weren’t many people under fifty in this town and complaining was practically an Olympic sport around here.

As Adrien passed through the old park, one of them noticed the large old statue, partially hidden, just a little way off the beaten track. No one in town quite knew its origin, but it had been there as long as the town had been, and it was doing no harm where it was. Most chose to ignore the bizarre nameless statue.

One of his friends whistled appreciatively at the figure and they all laughed, dancing and stumbling their way into the tiny clearing. Adrien’s friends started joking around, eventually convincing him to climb up onto the statues base and give it a kiss. Drunk and enjoying being silly and carefree for once, he gave a dramatic bow and clumsily climbed up the slippery base, his friends hooting and whistling at him the whole way. 

Reaching the statue, his friends cheered and teased him over their height differences, laughing as he only flipped them off. Wrapping his arms around the statue’s neck, he paused briefly, finally noticing how sad the statue looked up close, its face partially concealed from any other position. Something about it made his heart twinge painfully. Shaking the surprisingly sober thought off, he used his grip around its neck to stand on the tips of his toes, kissing the slightly bent over figure directly on their cold unyielding lips.

Instantaneously, lighting struck somewhere else in the park, disturbingly close by, the following boom of thunder loud enough to make his ears hurt. His friends shouted and screeched in alarm, before running back onto the path, laughing loudly, headed the short distance back to his place. Unfortunately, they were all too drunk and giggly to notice that he hadn’t followed.

Having been startled by the thunder as well, he lost his footing on the slippery base of the statue. He barely managed to fall an inch before a powerful arm was locking around him, lifting him just enough to keep his feet off of the slick ground. 

Wide eyed, he snapped his gaze back up, shocked to find himself meeting the wonder filled aqua blue gaze of what had previously been a statue. Now they were flesh and bone, their skin and hair soft against his hold, his arms still locked around their neck. They seemed in awe of him, and in full honesty, the feeling went both ways. There was no question that their beauty was beyond human, their now living form radiating with power and grace and their eyes tugging at something deep inside him.

“Thank you.” a calming voice said, escaping the person in front of him. The rain was starting to weigh down his dark hair, the blue tones in it shining in the moonlight. He gently pulled one hand away from his neck, his warm lips pressing a kiss onto Adrien’s hand. Adrien’s eyes just caught a snake tattoo wrapped around his wrist, the head just resting on the bottom of his hand.

Adrien was sure he had a million questions, but the alcohol in his brain and the sudden appearance of the man, cause that what he was, had made his brain mush. He then heard voices, familiar ones. It sounded like his friends finally noticed he wasn’t with them and he had the only key to his apartment.

He felt his other hand being taken off of the guy in front of him and was gently pushed back. Not to knock him off, but to encourage him to step down safely. He did so, his eyes not really leaving the aqua blue eyes that had his locked. He watched the guy come down as well, his white shirt flat against his body mildly distracting him.

“Goodbye.” He said before he turned and walked away.

Adrien stood there staring at the figure as it disappeared in the rain when he felt a firm hand on his back.

“Woah, dude. Did the lightening fry the statue?” Nino asked, dazedly looking at where the statue had once stood.

“No. I’m cold, let’s go.”

                                              _______________

Adrien was right about the town’s residents not letting the singing at early hours ago. He’d taken his friends to eat at his favourite café, one that wasn’t hounded by those living there and he happened the bump into one of the more influential members. If it wasn’t for his life with his father before he moved here, he wouldn’t have found a way to end the conversation quickly and move on.

“My head is pounding.” Marinette groaned, as she tried to become one with the table top. Kagami didn’t look any better, a change in her usual quiet and calm demeanour. Nino was surprisingly ok, but Adrien played that off to his usual late nights as a DJ.

“Tell me they have coffee.” Alya begged, flipping through the menu.

“It’s before 12 pm, so it’s bottomless.” Adrien said, watching them perk up. He’d be happy too, but his mind was still on what happened last night. He kissed that statue and then it came to life. Had he just imagined it? It would be his luck that a guy who looked as perfect as that guy did, enchanting blue eyes, dark hair and a practically perfect face, would be a figment of his imagination.

“M. Agreste?” Adrien looked to see another influential member of the community standing next to his chair, practically glaring at the whole table. “When you came to this town, we welcomed you after hearing about your life with your father. You told us you wouldn’t cause any trouble. The minute your friends arrived, we have loud, raucous laughter and singing at early hours of the morning and now a beloved statue is missing. M. Agreste, I truly hope you have nothing to do with that.”

Missing statue? “The one off the hidden path?”

“Yes.”

Had he not been dreaming? “I don’t think even drunk me has the power to pull an old statue. Neither could my friends.”

The woman narrowed her eyes before letting out a huff. “I had better not hear anything about you getting into trouble.”

“Rude.” Alya said, watching the woman walk away. “What statue is she talking about?”

“The one you guys drunkenly dared me to kiss last night? I didn’t say anything cause I was pretty sure I was so far gone it couldn’t be real, but I think it had to be now.” His friends all leaned in to listen to what he had to say. “Remember when I kissed it and that lightning and thunder suddenly flashed?”

“We kinda turned tail and headed back to your place.” Nino said.

“I know.  When you guys did, I almost fell but I didn’t cause something grabbed me. That statue, I think it came to life. Like actual flesh and bone. He thanked me, helped me down and then left.”

They all looked disbelieving – understandable – but Nino remembered what he said.

“I asked if the lighting had messed it up.”

“It was kinda like in a movie, when something magical happens and thunder and lightning crash?”

“So, what do you know about the statue?” Kagami asked.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know anything about it. I was just told it’s been there as long as the town’s been standing and this is one of the older towns in France.”

“Could we look it up? Is there anyone who might know anything?” Alya asked, getting ready to pull her trusty phone out.

“Actually…there might be someone.”

He felt a bit bad making them all take their coffees to go, but he wanted to get to the massage shop before it got to full. He easily found Master Fu, as everyone called him, behind the front desk, his eyes trained on a paper map. Adrien noticed where the statue once stood was marked, lines leading to a few different places within the town.

“Master Fu?”

“Very busy, we’ll be open soon.” He said, not looking up.

“It’s about the statue.”

That got his attention. “Ah, Adrien. The statue? I hear you and your friends were very loud last night.”

“Ok, I get it. I was really loud and drunk. Which is why I thought that when I kissed that statue and it actually stopped me from falling, I was losing it. But that isn’t what happened, was it?”

“My dear,” Master Fu asked Marinette, “Would you flip the open sign for me?” once it was marked as close, Fu pulled a book out from under the desk and opened it, pushing it forward. “Our town was known for magic once. We used it for good and were a safe haven for those running from the witch trails. One of our well-known ones was him.”

In the book was a drawing of a man playing a lyre. It was the tattoo on his wrist that made him realise who it was.

“His name was Luka. Could understand the truest feelings of a person. He found the truest feelings of the wrong person. A girl who lied her way out of the trails and away from any danger. She warned him to keep out of her attempts to gain power. He wouldn’t listen, not wanting anyone to suffer under her. She saw his truest feelings, letting the things he loved slip away just to keep a person happy, including a person he loved. Right when he got her to reveal her true colours, she cursed him into stone, becoming a statue that was overlooked, to stay that way until someone with a similar heart could break his curse.”

“Letting things go to make someone else happy. That sounds familiar.” Nino said, looking at Adrien.

“Nino. Where would he go? He just left after, well, when it broke.”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. All the places he’d know would be gone; he has no relations in this time. His sister had married a woman and they never had children.”

Adrien looked at the picture. It seemed so detailed, like the person who made it truly took the time to really look at him.

“Where was this picture drawn in?” his favourite picture of himself was him at the grand that was at his childhood home. He might not like the home, but people knew they could find him at the piano if he was ever stuck at home.

“Well, it used to be the land behind his home. Now though,” Fu consulted his map before pointing to a place. “Here. It’s now the library.”

“Which has a garden. Thanks.” Adrien said, ready to head out the door.

“Adrien? The fact that you managed to break his curse means you two understand each other. I’d keep an eye on him. That girl, she wasn’t known for not tying up loose ends.”

                                                 ______________

Everything he knew was gone. It was clear much time had passed. What was once open areas was now paved roads and tight corners. It still felt the same, felt like home, but it sounded different, down to its main core. He couldn’t hear the ever-present sounds of his family. They were also gone. How long had he been stuck in stone, the cruel words of that, for lack of better words, witch had been shouting reverberating in his head.

‘You’ll never be free, until someone with the same heart as yours breaks you out!’

But who would have his heart, would give up all they wanted to make another happy? He knew it would never be possible, that he couldn’t protect the people he cared about, felt it in his heart as he became stiff and unable to move. Then he felt lips press against his and it was like everything shifted back into place. He felt him stumble and grabbed onto his waist as quickly as possible. He stared down at slightly glazed green eyes, framed with wet blonde hair and the sweetest song he’d ever heard. He wished he could have stayed but he had to go. Now, he sat in a place that held the faint song of his home, wishing he’d stayed.

Feeling someone staring at him, he looked over. Standing, with this scarily familiar smirk, was a girl. Her auburn hair flowed down her back, waving in the non-existent wind. She lifted a hand to cover her mouth and he saw the faint marking of a tattoo, a fox with its fangs showing. The tattoos marked a person who used magic, their familiars. He’d only ever seen 2 people with a fox familiar. The last one was the one who scared him the most.

“Luka!” a voice he didn’t know called. He looked to see the person, the one who broke his curse running towards him. How could someone with such a kind song have a heart like his, be willing to make himself unhappy to help others? He looked at the girl to see him glaring and for a moment, he felt the urge to use his magic to protect the blonde one, the one who set him free of the horrible words and feeling of stone. But she turned away and left, disappearing into the building. His attention was drawn back to the one who called his name.

“I don’t believe I introduced myself.”

“No. you didn’t, but you disappearing cause a bit of a stir. I heard from someone what happened to you.”

“And you broke my curse. How?”

The blonde man sat down next to him, fiddling with the ring on his finger. “My life before I came here wasn’t the happiest. I had my friends but life at home was…hard. It was just easier to make everyone else happy. It’s only been recently that I’ve started to do things for myself. Last night, I decided I wanted to get drunk and I did. We were on the way back to my house when we found you and they dared me to kiss you. I remember thinking you looked so sad and it hurt me. Then you saved me from hurting myself and you were so, I don’t know, normal, I thought I just imagined it all. When I found out, you were kinda like me, how you risked everything to make sure people knew who that person was, I wanted to help.”

He meant every word. Luka didn’t have to hear the sound of his heart to know that was true.

“What is your name?”

“Adrien. Adrien Agreste. It’s nice to meet you.”

“My name is Luka. I’m in your care.” Over Adrien’s shoulder, he saw a fox with the same fur as was that girl’s hair. It seemed Adrien was more in his, if that omen meant anything.

[flightfoot]

Could you rec some Adrinette “she's just a friend”?

And what kind of ask you won't answer or feel uncomfortable? Just want to make sure about it

Eh, depends. I generally won't answer asks that are being super negative towards someone by name, and sometimes I'll just delete asks if they're talking about a subject that I'm getting tired of, I ended up deleting a few asks about the London Special because of that. I don't want to be an endless spring of negativity about something, even if I think it's not good, I'll complain about it for awhile and then move onto other topics.

As for the fic recs... hm. I don't often bookmark "she's just a friend" type things, since I'm pretty tired of it, but I'll see what I can do.

---

Patrolling with a friend for Christmas by @seas-of-silver

Adrien just wanted to gift his Lady some time off and hang out more with Marinette during the festive season - it didn’t exactly go to plan, but somehow ended up… better?

This was adorable! Chat Noir tries to give Ladybug a break by recruiting Multimouse to replace her on patrols for a bit, and Ladybug returns the favor by recruiting Aspik to replace Chat. Yep, it’s Snekmouse!

---

From school bells to wedding bells by @linnieluna

When the superhero duo takes on another exhausting fight against an akuma, Chat Noir does what he never hesitates to do and takes a hit for his partner. The problem being: neither of them knew what power the akuma possessed. That is… until he is transported into the future. More specifically, to his friend Marinette’s wedding.

Ah I love time travel fics! Older!Marinette’s surprised, Younger!Adrien’s bewildered, and Older!Adrien is off knowing exactly what happened and giving his younger self some subtle heads-up. 

It gives Adrien something to look forward to, to cling onto, through bad days in the future at least!

---

a winter so warm by @rosekasa

winters were hard for even the best of vampires, but at least adrien had marinette to keep him warm with her cuddles. december was going to suck without her. so it was only to be expected to get extra cuddles in before she left, right? (well, not really, considering those heating supplements he was taking, but she didn’t need to know about that).

This one’s mostly just cute cuddly adorableness! It’s basically like all those “Marinette gets the Ladybug trait of needing to cuddle up to someone for warmth”, but with Adrien instead. And of course featuring Marinette being a very talented witch who just wants to help Adrien stay warm when she isn’t there XD.

---

The New Guardian Is... Multimouse?  by The_Rabbit42

During the events of Miracle Queen, Master Fu passes on the role of guardian to a surprising successor... Multimouse! Marinette is frustrated, Alya is confused, and Chat Noir is oddly pleased. How will this affect Marinette's friendships and partnership on both sides of her identity? How will this affect Adrien's view of the girls in his life? And how long will they keep it together?

I adore this fic! It diverges from the season 3 ending, with Multimouse - who Chat knows is Marinette, becoming Guardian instead of Ladybug. Which leads to some ripple effects, like Marinette not confessing her identity to Alya, since she’s able to get some support from Chat when he drops by her house. Not that that stops tension from building between Ladybug and Chat Noir, since she won’t just let Chat go and get a Miraculous from Marinette during a battle, and she won’t tell him why, leading him to think that she just dislikes Marinette or doesn’t trust him to get Miraculous like she does. But even while all this tension is building between Ladybug and Chat Noir, Chat’s still able to talk to Marinette, air his feelings in ways he doesn’t feel like he should do with Ladybug, and it’s all a great, complicated situation that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing unfold!

---

Wedding Belle by IlioneThe3rd

Monarch is gone but the Butterfly has taken his place. When an old schoolmate of Marinette’s from her Francois Dupont days gets upset that a couple who have been engaged for a long time still aren’t making any wedding plans, the Butterfly akumatizes her into Wedding Belle, a supervillain with the power to force couples to get married. Guess which other longstanding couples and “just friends” she will target 😉

---

Perfectly Platonic (Unless...) by @frostedpuffs

After accidentally revealing their identities in less than ideal circumstances, Adrien and Marinette must navigate their newfound relationship as both partners and friends. Becoming best friends was a quick process, but when romantic feelings begin to bleed into what's supposed to be a platonic connection, their friendship starts to change in more ways than one. Surely it can't be that hard to hide their feelings from their best friend? (A post-reveal, pre-relationship fic full of romantic crushes, best friend shenanigans, and a whole lot of dumbassery.)

If you just want a straight-up romance slowburn with these two just somehow being convinced their relationship is platonic (or that the other person wants it to be platonic at least), you'll find little better to scratch that itch than "Perfectly Platonic (Unless...)". It's a little smutty and definitely earns its M rating because of that. If you want mutual pining, there's a ton of that here!

---

this is my winter song to you by katrinette

On the last day of school before winter break, Adrien overhears someone singing in one of the classrooms. By the time he gets there, she's gone. He can't get her out of his head. And he keeps hearing her, wherever he goes, until she's the only thing that he can think about. But Adrien doesn't know who she is. At least... not yet. ––– Set against the backdrop of season 4 before Kuro Neko, Adrien begins to really understand the role that his friends play in his life.

Ah this is a lovely Lovesquare fic! Adrien's smitten with a voice he hears and he just keeps on hearing snippets of her singing, but can't track her down and it's driving him crazy!

There's a lot of cute Adrienette and slice-of-life in here, so if you want a low-key fluffy fic full of Adrien's and Marinette's usual adorableness, you came to the right place!

---

When Bunnyx Brings A Baby by Druwho

Marinette thought she was up to any challenge. She was Ladybug after all! But when Bunnyx arrives with a baby in her arms asking her to babysit, Marinette quickly learns that Akuma battles are easy compared to taking care of a baby. A baby that seems to know her and for some strange reason... Adrien?

An entry in the “Lovesquare has to babysit their future children” genre! This is just adorable. Has an ongoing sequel too.

---

I hope these strike your fancy!

[mistydacat]

Marichat May Day 1|| Witch AU

This story is loosely based off of Spatziline's Halloween AU comic which is linked below.

Marinette got up from her bed and stretched. Cat Noir, who had curled up at the end of her bed, peaked his little head out at her. He flicked his tail in annoyance, probably from the fact that Marinette had woken him.

"Sorry, Kitty." She apologized, reaching to pet his soft fur. He purred.

"All is forgiven?" She asked, her fingers rubbing under his chin.

She watched as his little cat body morphed into that of a human. He grew until he was taller than her, the fur on his face and body disappeared, replaced with pale skin. The hair on his head turned blond and grew longer. His eyes took on a human shape, though their unnatural green colour and diamond-shaped pupil stayed. His cat ears and tail remained.

Marinette's hand was still holding his face in a tender caress. His purring got louder.

"All is forgiven." His voice came, soft and soothing, but with a hint of mischief.

"Good." She retracted her hand. "So you'll let me work now."

Cat Noir's face fell. "I never said that. And what work do you have anyway, my Purr-incess?"

Marinette laughed. "I've been reading the spellbook, and you'll never guess what I found."

Cat Noir raised a brow. "What is it?"

"You know Pinocchio, right?" She asked.

"Yes..?" He didn't know where this was going.

"Well, I've found a potion that has similar effects as Pinocchio's curse. For every lie told from the drinker's mouth, their nose is to grow an inch."

"An inch for every lie?"

"Precisely. What a smart kitten you are!"

Cat Noir decided to let her sarcasm go this time. "Now I'm interested. Who's it meant for?"

Marinette smirked at him. "Isn't it obvious?"

"It's Lila Rossi, isn't it?"

"I prefer calling her 'Lie-la.'"

"Of course you do."

"Anyway," Said Marinette. "It's best if we start as sooner rather than later, this potion takes a while to make."

"I don't get any belly rubs?" He pouted.

"Maybe if you behave, you'll get something better." She teased, patting his head. She got out of bed and stretched again.

"I'm going to get changed. You start breakfast, okay?" She instructed.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

About an hour later, Marinette was perched on a wooden stool with her spell book propped open on a reading stand.

"Hey, Kitty. Can you get the cauldron started with some water?" She called.

"Will do!" Cat Noir saluted and went off to complete his assigned task.

As Cat set up the cauldron, Marinette started setting out their required ingredients.

"It's ready." He said after the water started boiling.

"Thank you, Kitty." She placed a quick kiss on his forehead.

"Not that I'm complaining, but all I did was boil some water."

"Then use that as motivation to help me finish this. Now, crush these snake scales." She said, handing him a jar of said snake scales.

"Will I get another kiss?"

"We'll see about that when we're done."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

They spent the morning and a good portion of the afternoon working on the potion. The recipe for the concoction was easy enough. However, it was particularly bothersome to make, as it was required that all the ingredients be boiled separately, then mixed together, and boiled again.

When they finished, they ended up with a single vial of red-black liquid. Now Marinette and Cat Noir just had to figure out how to get Lila to ingest it.

"I think I have an idea. How good are your baking skills?"

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

An hour later, Lila Rossi heard a knock on her door. When she went outside to check, she was surprised to be greeted by an empty porch.

"Hello?" She called out, but the only being there other than herself was a small, black cat, sitting near the bushes.

Lila noticed a neatly wrapped package and a card lying near her feet. Curious, she picked it up.

"From your secret admirer." She read the card aloud. Lila opened the package, revealed a dozen red, heart-shaped cookies.

"Oh, how sweet! Though it seems my admirer was too much of a coward to show themselves." She remarked.

If Lila hadn't been as ignorant as she was, she would've noticed a witch hat peeking out of the bushes. She also would have noticed that the seemingly innocent black cat lying in the grass had hissed when she spoke and was now glaring at her.

But Lila was ignorant, among other things, and didn't notice.

She picked up a cookie and took a bite.

"Not bad." She murmured to no one in particular.

She went back inside, unaware of the horrors that were to unfold the next day.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

"Do I get my kiss now?" Cat Noir asked Marinette when they had returned home.

"Not yet, silly Cat." She said, swatting him away as though he were a pesky fly. "I want to see if it worked first."

"And why wouldn't it? It was made by the best witch in the world!"

"Don't flatter me. It won't get you that kiss any sooner."

Cat Noir pouted. "A cat can try."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

The next day, Lila Rossi had invited her "friends" on a picnic. Though they weren't really her friends, just people she had managed to woo by lying and deceiving them at every turn.

Her so-called "friends" consisted of Alya Césaire, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Alix Kubdel, Mylène Haprèle, and of course, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"Adrien isn't joining us today?" Observed Lila.

"He's busy." Said Marinette through clenched teeth. Adrien Agreste was, in fact, busy. Busy sleeping on Marinette's lap and purring, that is. Adrien hadn't even gotten an invitation to this picnic.

"Anyways. I called you all here today to tell you about something amazing that happened yesterday!" She gushed.

Ah, just as Cat Noir had predicted. If all went according to plan, Lila wouldn't be telling them she had just found some cookies at her doorstep the other day.

"What is it?" Asked Rose, curious.

"You see, yesterday Adrien Agreste showed up at my door with flowers and these expensive flowers and heart cookies! He said that I was the love of his life and asked me to be his girlfriend. I told him I didn't know what to say, so I'd answer him today."

Ah, and so it begins.

She had told three lies. Adrien Agreste had not shown up at her door, he had not called her the love of his life, and she had not said she would get back to him on that.

As expected, her nose grew three inches.

The girls collectively gasped, but Lila thought they had been shocked at her story.

"So, I called you here today to ask you how I could reject him without hurting his feelings." She had lied again. She had really called to tell them this made-up story, and probably get a reaction out of Marinette.

Her nose grew another inch.

"Lila?" Squeaked Rose.

"What?" She asked.

"Um... Your nose..?" Started Alix, unsure of how to finish her sentence.

"What about my nose?" She reached up to touch it, only to be greeted by an extra four inches of cartilage.

Lila screamed. "My nose!"

"Calm down! There's has to be a logical explanation for this!" Said Alya.

"Pinocchio." Said Marinette flatly.

"Huh?" Asked Alya.

"Every time she lies, her nose grows." Explained Marinette, "At least, that's my theory." The girls glared at Marinette.

"Even in this situation, you have the nerve to call me a liar!?" Gasped Lila. "I didn't know you hated me so much! I would never lie to you guys!"

Another inch.

"Lila, what colour is your hair?" Asked Marinette.

"What? Brown, of course! Are you okay, Marinette?"

Her nose did not grow.

Alya seemed to catch on. "Okay, now tell us your eyes are blue." She said.

"You guys know my eye colour! Why are you telling me to do this?" She laughed nervously.

Alya crossed her arms. "Lie to us about your eye colour and prove Marinette either wrong or right, then we'll know what kind of friend you really are."

Lila sighed in defeat. "I-I have blue eyes." She lied.

Another inch.

And that settled it.

"You guys! I've never lied to you before this! I swear!"

Even when she knew she had lost, Lila still kept going, as though she thought her nose would take pity on her and not grow another inch.

The girls (and Cat Noir) got up from the table, angry at Lila's betrayal. They didn't care to help her figure out how this had happened, it served her right! They left her to figure out what to do with her seven-inch nose by herself.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

"Does the kitty get his kiss now?" Asked Cat Noir. They had arrived home, and Marinette had changed into her pyjamas and was getting ready for bed.

"I never promised." She taunted.

Cat Noir's ears flattened against his head, he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.

"I'm just kidding! Silly Kitty!" She sat on her bed and opened her arms in an embrace. "C'mere my Kitten."

One thing she had learned about Cat Nor is that he was a sucker for hugs and cuddles. He displayed this more in his cat form, but as he wrapped his arms around her and curled himself into a ball at her lap, it became apparent he enjoyed cuddles in his human-ish body as well.

He purred. "That's a new one." He murmured.

"Huh?"

"You've never called me 'your kitten' before."

She lifted his chin with his finger, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Well, you are my little kitten, Mon Petit Chaton."

"I like that." His purring continued. "But don't tell me that was supposed to be my kiss."

"'Course not, this is your kiss."

Without any warning, Marinette captured his lips in hers. He almost gasped in surprise, but didn't fight back. Their kiss was short and sweet, and before he knew it, Marinette was pulling away.

"Now, that just won't do." He murmured against her lips, pulling her in for another kiss.

Marinette's eyes widened in surprise, but she kissed back, her hands tangling in his hair as he gripped her waist. She kissed him harder and pulled him closer to her.

They pulled away, panting and red, unsure of what they should do now.

Cat placed a kiss on her forehead. They gazed at each other, a little dazed. Neither of them spoke.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time..." He whispered, breaking the silence.

"Me too."

He nuzzled her cheek, earning a giggle from Marinette.

"It's getting late, Mon Petit Chaton. We should get to sleep now."

Cat Noir crawled off of her, transforming into a cat and curling up at the end of the bed.

"Sleep well, my kitten."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Spaziline’s Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-4E3ElM7Bg&feature=emb_title

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Parts: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

[artzee-bee]

End of all things [2] | Chat Noir x witch!reader

Fandom: MIraculous Ladybug (Adrien Agreste/ Chat Noir)

Request:”Hello good evening, could you please do where a witch!Reader who always tries to comfort Chat/Adrian when he is feeling down. Cuz you know in season 4 I noticed he’s getting sadder and sadder. The reader doesn’t like to get involved in all these weird happenings and just lay low. Whenever Chat/Adrian comes to the reader’s house they always make him feel at home. That's when things go off, at the final battle where Hawkmoth got the Miraculouses and the heroes thought they would lose. (Y/n) just landed in front of them looking so done with Hawkmoth.Hawkmoth thinks that (y/n) was just a weakling, but he was wrong. (Y/n) is far stronger than Hawkmoth even he will use the all Miraculouses he’ll still lose.”

Genre: Angst

Warnings: canon typical violence

A/N: It is incredibly late right now, I hope this piece makes sense and that you like it! It was a cool request, but complicated for sure :))

Part 1

~~~

You could have sworn that time stopped altogether at that moment. Somehow, even though the disappointment of having lost and the worry you felt for your best friend, you found a little power to look at Hawkmoth. You expected him to be joyful, restless! You expected him to have already put on both the miraculouses and yet, they were resting in his palm. His eyes weren’t even on them.

“Adrien?” he looked at the broken boy on the ground

“We’re not over yet!” he yelled, running towards Hawkmoth as fast as he could, but it didn’t matter how much will to fight he had anymore! Adrien’s body was going numb. It was giving up on him. And Hawkmoth was gaining more power and energy with every second that went by. The villain grabbed the boy by the shoulder, immobilizing him to his chest, the same way you had done with Marinette

“You are weak and powerless without your ring, boy. Stop it at once!”

“No!” the desperation in his voice made your heart crumble

You felt Marinette stir in your hold. You knew she must have been awake and watching by now, but you didn’t let go. You had been unable to protect Chat from losing his powers, from wasting his energy by squirming in the arms of the enemy. You’ll be damned if you let anything happen to Ladybug now! Because even if this was the end, even if they’d never get their powers back, Marinette and Adrien will always be Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

Tears fell from your face as you watched your friend kick and scream in fear and frustration. His hair was sticking to his forehead with beads of sweat

You weren’t sure what you could read within Hawkmoth’s facial expression, but you could tell it wasn’t the confidence from a minute ago. Neither the focus. You could still do something! Under your breath, you began to mutter a chant. You had never tried this specific spell before, but there was nothing left to lose. It was supposed to attract an object of your choosing, to you. Focusing on the image of the miraculouses, held captive in Hawkmoth’s iron grip, you prayed it’d work.

“I don’t want to have to kill you Adrien!” finally, the boy managed to escape and take a few steps back

“What do you care? Just a moment ago you would have done anything it took to get rid of me and Marinette!” 

Hawkmoth turned around to face you almost instantly, noticing the movement of your lips. 

“Stop that!”

You saw his fist tighten and shake slightly. His fear was all the motivation you needed! Your chants grew louder and louder, more confident and powerful. Hawkmoth placed both his hands around the jewelry in an attempt to prevent it from reaching you. Finally, there was a chance you could still win this!

And then there was a hand on your mouth.

And a kick on the inside of your knee.

You fell to the ground in pain, as the person behind you pushed you harder against the concrete. Right then, was the first time you heard Marinette say anything that day. 

“Rena?” her voice broken with despair

“I've never akumatized a hero before” you heard Hawkmoth’s taunting laugh “Can you imagine the possibilities Y/N?”

Tears were brimming in your eyes. Rena was forcing you to the ground with all her force. You heard Adrien call out your name, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him. You had to find a way out of this but exhaustion was catching up to you quickly. You weren’t used to fights! You weren’t used to such powerful spells within such a short period of time!

With all the strength in your body, you focused again on an imaginary spot, in the middle of it all. You closed your eyes and imagined the ball of energy growing bigger and bigger, somewhere between you and Hawkmoth. Winds picked up speed around you. You opened your eyes slightly, and all you could see was Marinette’s horrified look, but you didn’t care. Not anymore. As long as you were still conscious, the fight would go on. The ball of energy went off again, creating the same bomb effect as in the beginning of the fight. Rena flew off of you, allowing you to move just in time to see Hawkmoth fly into a tree, and drop not only the black cat and ladybug miraculouses, but the butterfly one as well.

It seemed like the magic brooch had come undone from the impact. All 3 jewels fell to the ground and Hawkmoth was swallowed by a purple light. As the detransformation came to an end, all that was left was an unconscious Gabriel Agreste

“Dad?” Adrien’s voice felt like a punch in the heart. You couldn’t tell if he was angry or sad. His eyes turned almost red and he took off running after his father, but you were faster and caught up to him before he could reach Gabriel. You tackled him to the ground to prevent him from waking up the villain and possibly causing more chaos.

“Wait, Adrien, we need the miraculouses!”

“No, what I need is to talk to my DAD!”

“Adrien please!” you could barely manage to keep him from squirming underneath you

“Of course” Marinette replied slowly before holding out her hand. You let go of Adrien, but he didn’t get up. He just placed his right hand on top of Marinette’s, as she carefully slipped the ring on his finger, back where it belonged. 

You heard rapid footsteps come your way and saw Marinette run towards the miraculouses, picking all of them in her hand and hugging them to her chest.You couldn’t even imagine the relief she must have felt! She looked like finally, everything in the world was right again. It gave you hope! Adrien visibly relaxed as he watched her too.

“Can I have Plagg back?” he sobbed

Plagg flew out, looking sacred and in distress, but he tried to smile for his boy.

“I’m sorry Plagg.'' the kwami didn’t say anything, choosing instead to nuzzle himself in the crook of Adrien’s neck, in a hug. The boy placed his hand on top of him and began to sob quietly. Your heart sank at the sight and you couldn’t help but let yourself fall on top of Adrien again and wrapping him in another hug. You could hear every beat of his heart and every sorrowful tear rolling down his cheeks. The noise was so loud, you almost didn’t hear Marinette transform back into her heroine self.

You opened your eyes to see her tying up Gabriel, alongside Rena. She gave you a nod, letting you know they got it from here.

“Adrien?” Gabriel whispered slowly. It seemed like he had finally woken up. The boy beneath you slowly raised his head to meet the glance of his dad. Immediately, he pushed you off in order to run to him

“Father. It’s ok! It’s gonna be ok! It’s a misunderstanding, isn’t it?” Adrien ran to him, hopefulness in his voice like he didn’t know he was merely kidding himself

“I did it for a good cause Adrien…”

“No...you didn’t” he insisted

“One day you’ll understand”

Adrien stepped away from the weak body of his father, suddenly horrified at the realisation that Hawkmoth was, indeed, no one other than his own dad. He turned around to see you and Plagg still on the ground where he left you. Tears were quickly making their way back into his eyes as he rushed to you, throwing himself into your open arms. Ladybug picked Gabriel up, and dragged him away, with Rena right on her tail.

Adrien’s cries were muffled by your hair, but his words were still audible, at least to you

“He was my father! All this time”

“I failed everyone”

“No you didn’t Adrien”

“You didn’t know”

“I let myself be vulnerable and gave him the opportunity to take away my miraculous! I could have lost Plagg forever! I let Ladybug down! She lost her earrings and got akumatized and I couldn’t do anything about it!”

“Stop Adrien. It’s ok. It’s all gonna be ok” you tightened your grip around his body “eventually…”

[imthepunchlord]

Im curious to know more about the Felinette Royalty Bethroed AU setting for the ‘Dressing Up’ and ‘Magic’ promts you’ve writen about? Honestly I’ve loved them and I would like to know more about them!

Its a bit of a loose fairy tale idea, one I wouldn’t mind doing but have yet to really get anything going for it. So for now, just little drabbles. But, there is a lot of background for it. 

Marinette, in this world’s noble ranking, is a countess, which is like the bottom of the barrel in nobility, known but not one many give attention too. Which for her is fine, for in this world she is a witch, and where magic is feared but also desirable, she rather that not be known. She also plays a bit of a Robin Hood role, though I have yet to really touch on it. She does have a crush on Adrien, who she has seen at a few galas and was charmed by his public sweetness, though has yet to truly approach him and talk one on one with. 

Kwamis in this world are unique fairies that are drawn to special humans, magical or not, and can lend them their power and service. Because they have been taken advantage of, a few humans are trusted to watch over them and work to keep them a secret; Fu is the current overseer of kwamis, though Marinette is next in line. Tikki and Plagg are both drawn to her so they tolerate each other to share her. 

King Gabriel is a tyrant. He potentially has Nooroo and Duusu, still undecided, and potentially did something with his sibling. It was known that there was a disagreement with them and then that sibling disappeared. He’s taken in his nephew Felix, but as a petty and spiteful man, and one that is wary of his nephew’s loyalty and vague goals; partly as an insult and partly to keep Felix from having anything powerful at his side, Gabriel chose a lowly countess to become Felix’s fiancé (much to Marinette’s horror). Unfortunately for Gabriel, he is unaware that he actually Felix the most powerful ally he could have in his life. 

This Felinette is a slowburn, and while there are no romantic feelings between them (yet), they are keeping things pleasantly neutral between them. Both know neither chose this, but won’t take it out on each other. There is a potential thought where Gabriel gives Felix a task to seek out the elusive thieves, Ladybug and Lady Noire, who are being big thorns in Gabriel’s side, unaware that they are the very countess Gabriel has welcomed into his court and family. 

Plagg honestly has the biggest hoot about this, being right under the king’s nose and he’s none the wiser. 

[nomolosk]

Snapshots (AU Yeah August 2020)

read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25655623/chapters/63298387

Day 20- Fairytale

Universal had been darting all over Paris, following the pulses put off by various soulmates finding each other. There weren’t all that many- only eight- but none of them matched the general description of Ladybug or Chat Noir, and now her time was running out. Try as she would, she couldn’t make any particular reality last for very long. Hopefully, after she delivered their Miraculouses to Hawkmoth, he would fix her power so that she could enjoy her alternate universes as long as she wanted to.

Growling to herself, she tried to think what kind of universe would help her find them next. Fun was still possible, but she really needed something geared toward finding out who they were, or stealing their Miraculouses. 

Making a decision, she forced the new reality on top of the present soulmate universe, watching as the changes expanded outward from her, and wondering if the heroes would think to try locating her that way.

----

Ladybug made her way to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with Chat. Apparently, they’d both had the same idea of transforming to avoid a possible identity reveal through a soulmate mark, because Chat had tried calling her right after she and Tikki decided transforming would be best. Now she was hoping they could come up with a workable plan for confronting this akuma. 

Tikki could apparently remember everything- possibly because she was a kwami and the akuma didn’t take non-human brains into account when she was rewriting memories. 

And Marinette could remember bits and pieces of what happened since the first time she and Chat had gotten caught in the change while transformed. Not everything, but enough to know that she’d been separated from both her Miraculous and Tikki during at least one of the universes.

That… was worrying. What if the akuma decided to do something similar in the middle of the fight, once they finally found her? Speaking of, how could they find her if she continued to be so circumspect?

She already knew this akuma wasn’t the flashy type, otherwise she and Chat would have been on top of her after the first reality change. It was possible to see the effect whenever she changed reality again, but the memory rewrite negated most of the advantage of that, since it was possible neither she nor Chat would be able to remember to go after her, or even get to the center of the change before the akuma had moved on.

This is really annoying, she thought. We can’t wait for her to come to us, but we also don’t want to draw her to us in case she tries to figure out our identities, and it’s dangerous to take her on in the first place because she could change reality and strip us of our powers!

Speaking of… 

Ladybug watched with dread as a ripple in the air moved steadily towards her, changing everything in its wake.

----

Ladybug, the Luck Knight, charged towards danger on her trusty mount, Tikki. She was on a quest. Well… perhaps “quest” was the wrong word. More like a challenge. A contest, even. With a prize beyond measure if she managed to pass all the tests. 

Off to the side, she caught sight of an oven with smoke issuing from it’s chimney. Considering she was riding through a deserted patch of wood, an oven in use struck her as… suspect. There were several things it could be, but most of the signs pointed to ‘witch.’ Whether it was a white witch or a black witch remained to be seen. 

Ladybug reigned in and dismounted, approaching the oven obliquely and with her sword out. It was too bad Chat Noir, Knight of Destruction and her partner in arms, couldn’t join her on this journey- she could have used his help, if only to watch her back. But he’d been called home in order to wed, and while she missed him, she was happy he would finally have someone else to try and romance. Something within her screamed at her with the thought, but she ignored it in favor of trying to watch her own back.

As she got closer to the oven she began to hear something. A faint call for help. She edged closer, activating her lucky charm just in case. She checked the area around the oven again to see if illusions would now fall away… but there was nothing. 

“Out! Out!” she heard again, still faint, but echoing a little, as if the sound came from the bottom of a well. “Take us out before we burn!”

Ladybug held her lucky charm in one hand and checked the area once more before picking up the hook to open the metal door. Praying her luck would hold (and she wouldn’t see a child in there) she peered in. All that met her gaze was half a dozen loaves of bread. Letting out her breath, she relaxed a little.

“Take us out! Our crust is crisp and our insides tender. Please take us out before we are ruined!” the bread pleaded- though how it could speak without a mouth was beyond her. Ladybug tended to chalk these things up to magic and go on with her day. Now she looked around and found a bread peel lying a table beside the oven. Ignoring the fact that the table hadn’t been there a moment ago, she took up the peel and shoved it quickly under the bread, smiling as she managed to get all six loaves on the peel at the same time. Being raised in a bakery sometimes came in handy.

With a practiced motion, she pulled the bread out and deposited it on the table. 

“Thank you, thank you!” the bread said, and Ladybug smiled at it. 

“You’re quite welcome,” she said. “It would truly be a shame to let good bread burn.”

“Yes, yes! Please, take one of us with you! It will give you energy when you need it.”

Ladybug quirked an eyebrow under her helmet and bowed to the bread- however strange that felt. She wasn’t likely to turn down an offer of magical provisions, so she carefully said, “Thank you very much. Would any of you like to volunteer?”

Incredibly, one of the loaves on the table twitched, and she picked that one up, calling Tikki over so she could stow it in her saddlebag, carefully wrapped. Turning back to the table, she was about to ask if there was anything else she should do for the bread… but the oven, table, and bread had vanished. She put her hand on the saddlebag, comforted by the warmth she felt radiating from the loaf that still remained.

Shaking her head slightly, she remounted and continued on her way.

----

Chat Noir, Knight of Destruction, sat in the window of the impossible tower on the impossible hill, and tried very hard not to curse his own father. Right now being Chat Noir was easier than being Prince Adrien. At least if this whole thing collapsed underneath him, Chat Noir was more likely to survive than Prince Adrien would. 

He’d always known King Gabriel had standards that reached the moon, but he’d never imagined that he would renege- oh wait, not renege, oh no, not that- on a marriage contract. And all because once the Princess had arrived, she’d apparently been very annoying.

King Gabriel had decided that he did not in fact want this woman for a daughter-in-law, but since going back on the arrangement entirely would most likely mean war, he had decided to throw the field open in a contest. Whoever passed all the trials and succeeded in bringing Prince Adrien down from his tower would be allowed to wed him. Of course, the last and most hazardous trial of all was conquering the glass mountain.

It had to be magic, of course. There was no earthly way for a mountain- more of a small hill, actually- to be made of glass, have a regular stone tower built on top of it, and not shatter into a thousand pieces. For one thing, there wasn’t enough glass in the world. 

Still, Chat felt ridiculous. He’d always hated being the one everyone admired and envied. It was the reason he’d become Chat Noir in the first place. People treated Chat Noir with respect (and fear, in the case of criminals and evil-doers), but they still treated him as a person. Prince Adrien never got to experience that. And now here he was, once again reduced to the status of a prize.

Granted, having now met with Princess Chloe, Chat could understand his father’s concerns. She was both vain and self-serving- a dangerous combination. And he had already heard servants gossiping about how impossible it was to serve her. A Queen like that would be a bad bargain for the Kingdom, and he didn’t relish the idea of her as a wife, either. 

Now, if only Ladybug would enter the contest…

He had no way of knowing who had entered, but he could see some of what went on from his window. He’d been in the tower for nearly a whole month, and in that time, only three had come close enough to attempt the mountain.

Surprisingly, Princess Chloe- he would recognize that shrill voice anywhere- was the first to get past all the other obstacles and attempt the mountain. Unsurprisingly, she hadn’t gotten far before giving up, complaining loudly about the ruined state of her hair.

The second attempt was made by a seemingly resourceful woman with brown hair. She had caught his interest, since she’d brought a retinue with her. They’d begun building a large crane, but when they’d hoisted her up to the top of the crane, the top of the mountain was narrower- and thus farther away- than the bottom, and she couldn’t swing across the gap.

The third was a fierce looking woman who had made it halfway up the mountain using something attached to her hands and feet. But then it had started to rain, and she had lost her grip on the now-wet glass, sliding back down to the bottom. 

After that, no one else had gotten far enough in the contests to make the attempt. Chat frequently thought about simply cataclysming the whole thing, faking his death, and rejoining Ladybug to have adventures for the rest of his life.

And that, of course, is when Ladybug showed up. 

----

Universal watched from the sidelines, carefully disguised with all the other ‘nobles of the land,’ and watched as this reality’s version of Ladybug- this time a knight in red and black armor- made her attempt. Once she got to the top, Universal was planning to change realities again, this time to something that would strip them of their superpowers again. Hopefully, she’d be able to learn their identities as their masks melted away.

----

Ladybug felt the eyes on her back as she readied Tikki for the climb, but she didn’t let them bother her. She unpacked the golden armor that was the third gift and put it on the horse, clutching her lucky charm tight. Once the horse was ready, she unwrapped the loaf of bread- the first gift- and quickly ate it, feeling a surge of energy both magical and mundane.

Whispering spells under her breath, she mounted, and rode straight at the glass mountain, determined to free the poor soul at the top. When she’d heard that King Gabriel, instead of outright honoring the marriage contract with the Kingdom of Bourgeois, had decided on a contest for his son’s hand in marriage, she knew she had to do something. She had seen many a noble sacrifice their own wishes for the sake of lands or gold- she had even assisted in that sacrifice- but she’d known the Prince as a child and decided then and there that he should be allowed to make his own choice.

So she would complete the course and rescue him from the tower, and then… then she would set him free. She stubbornly squashed the hope that always rose in her heart when she considered what he might choose to do with that choice. He didn’t know her anymore- to him, she was nothing but yet another heroic knight, questing for adventure and fame (also money, but it was considered gauche to mention that). To him, his rescue would seem merely another attempt to gain favor and fame.

Tikki slowed as they approached the foot of the mountain. At her rider’s urging, she placed one tentative foot on the slippery glass, and when it didn’t slip off as expected, took another tentative step. Soon, Ladybug had her trotting around the mountain in an ever tightening spiral until finally… they reached the top.

@auyeahaugust

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

Nice Guy Adrien the Musical Outline - ACT II

@lenoreofraven

→ The second half of this act from “Meant to Be Yours” to “Breathin” has been adapted into my fic “Bewitched,” for those who want a better idea of how things would play out.

→ In “Bewitched,” Viperion has a hypnosis power, which I refer to as “Snake Eyes” in my other work “The One to Make It Stay.” This was because this was written prior to “Party Crasher” airing, so we didn’t know what the snake’s power would be. I think “Second Chance” could still be used in this scenario, but I’ll leave it vague for the time being.

→ Like I said before, I’m going to write Act II with Marinette being akumatized into Bewitched in mind. Now, it should be possible to akumatize Marinette into something else and have roughly the same outcome, depending on the powers that you give her. Anyway, Bewitched’s outfit is a slightly altered version of this one that NS Yoon G wears in the music video: 

However, I changed the bottom half of the outfit to be more appropriate for a fourteen year old girl, so instead, she’s either wearing a black tulle mini skirt (which would fall just above her knees) or black biker shorts of the same length. Underneath them, she’s wearing black and white striped leggings similar to this outfit:

As well as black boots and lots of chunky, spiked jewelry, and a black witch’s hat on top. She hides her akumatized object in her blouse pocket. So, yes, her akumatized form is essentially cosplay of NS Yoon G, but toned down for a fourteen year old girl.

Act II opens with the students having returned to school after break (either for All Saints or Christmas, depending on how much time has passed since the beginning of school), and classes in session. Adrien has been none stop trying to text Marinette and get her attention, but to no avail. She has blocked his number by this point, and he’s resorted to contacting her through other social media sites and apps. Despite trying to flaunt his relationship with Lila in Marinette’s face, it seems to have entirely backfired, and at some point, Adrien broke things off with her. Alya continues to play cheerleader for Team Adrinette, but we see signs of wariness from Nino. Bustier’s class is going to discuss Romeo and Juliet, but everyone seems more interested in the status of Ladybug and Chat Noir. A fan sent in a video of Chat confessing his love to Ladybug and sent it in to the Ladyblog, where it was immediately posted. Adrien decides that this is his opportunity to make big romantic gestures to Marinette and win her over. However, Marinette has decided to move seats by this point to keep Adrien away from her, and is now in the back. He doesn’t have as many opportunities to talk to her. As class begins, Ms. Bustier calls for everyone to return to their seats so they can start discussing the reading. Alix makes a comment about how Romeo and Juliet has the lamest, most nonsensical plot she’s ever read. Everyone gasps, clearly offended and asks how she could say something like that. (I Hate Shakespeare)

The school day comes and goes, and once again, we find ourselves at Chloe’s hotel. She is relaxed upstairs, turning her bedroom into a summer simulation of sorts. She’s being waited on by Sabrina and Jean, while complaining about the events of the day (“Ugh, Adrikins has been so weird lately! First, he said he liked Dupain-Cheng, of all people! Then, he decided to date that girl with the sausage hair just to make her jealous. And now he’s pretending it didn’t even happen?” “That discussion we had about the play today was utterly ridiculous!”) To wash away the events of the day, Chloe has ordered a full day of pampering for herself, including a trip to the spa. She’s even nice enough to arrange a package for Sabrina and Jean. After all, she needs them in tip-top shape. (Fabulous)

Gabriel has been noticing an increase in negative energy lately. He thinks it’s his chance to evilize someone into his most powerful akuma yet. Adrien returns home from school in a rather snappy mood, complaining about a girl. This makes Gabriel pause for a moment. He’s a bit worried that his akuma might end up picking the girl that rejected Adrien and going after him. However, he can’t afford to just give up on saving his wife, either. He won’t let anything stand in the way of reuniting with her, not even his own feelings. Surely, Adrien would understand someday. (Standing)

Adrien is frustrated about how things aren’t going his way. He’s messaged Marinette about 273 times in the past week, and hasn’t gotten a single response or reaction from her. He even had to give up on Operation: Jealousy, because it made her less interested in him. How is that even possible, he wonders to himself. Plagg points out that if Adrien continues this behavior, the Master might decide to pull his miraculous away, but Adrien isn’t convinced. How else are they going to defeat Hawkmoth? And speaking of his power, he decides it’s time to pay Marinette a visit. Plagg is against using Chat to get close to Marinette/Ladybug, but he doesn’t listen and uses his freedom and mobility to find her. (Macavity Part 2)

Marinette, tired of the influx of messages and how Adrien won’t leave her alone, decides she can no longer handle being Ladybug. She heads over to Fu’s and lets him know that she can’t afford to be Ladybug, since she’s at such high risk of being akumatized. She’s returned the earrings to Kagami, and told her to meet Fu, because she can’t handle it anymore. Fu tries to convince her otherwise, but Marinette won’t change her mind. Running out of the room in tears, Marinette laments how everything could have gone so wrong. Maybe Lila was right. Maybe she was cursed. What an irony, she thinks to herself. (No Good Deed)

As Marinette is running home, she ends up stopping in front of a store with some mirrors. An image flashes in her head - her as Ladybug. She tries to go for a quick change to get rid of it, and takes out her hair ribbons, stuffing them into her pocket. Before she can get any closer to home, Chat pops in, and after her avoiding him all day. Once again, he proclaims his love for her, reminding her that he’s dumped Lila, so there’s nothing standing in their way now. Then he realizes she’s been crying. Marinette snaps and tells him he’s the problem. There’s back and forth arguing until Kagami appears as Ryukōun, and tells Chat to back off. The two of them get into a fight as Marinette runs off, not sure where to go. Hawkmoth akumatizes her into Bewitched (not shown on stage/screen until next scene) and she promises him that by morning, neither Chat nor Ladybug will be a problem. (Meant to Be Yours)

The next day at school, everyone is gathered outside to share gossip, with quite a few people surrounding Lila as she launches her next story. Adrien quickly finds Nino and Alya and relays what happened the previous evening. Alya assures Adrien that things will turn out alright, but Nino points out his concerns with Adrien’s behavior. Before a full fight can escalate, Bewitched enters the scene and blasts Lila with her curse beam and frightens everyone around her. Bewitched forces Lila to tell the truth, lest she get hurt by her own words. Lila ends up revealing that she and Ladybug were never friends and that the interview she did for Alya when she first arrived was a lie. Bewitched then goes on to curse Alya to always or do the wrong thing, and turns Nino into her familiar. As the scene goes on, more and more students get either cursed or familiarized (Nino and Juleka are absolutely spared; Nino because he defended Marinette’s honor and Juleka because Bewitched doesn’t want to upset Luka). Adrien, Kagami, Felix and Chloe all manage to escape prior to getting hit by Bewitched. (Reason to Become a Witch)

Managing to get far away enough from Bewitched, both Kagami and Felix berate Adrien for his actions. If he just left Marinette alone after the rejection, things wouldn’t have turned out like this. Kagami points out that he doesn’t deserve the ring, completely outing Adrien as Chat Noir. Luka arrives on the scene and is caught up by everyone. He is not pleased and calls Adrien out for being so selfish. He’s even less pleased when it’s revealed that Adrien only became interested in Marinette after it was revealed that she was Ladybug. Before the fighting can escalate, Kagami decides to split up the group. She gives the snake miraculous to Luka and Felix, telling them to go after Bewitched, while she and Adrien go and give Chloe the bee. (Congratulations)

Kagami and Adrien arrive to give Chloe the bee. However, a bit of arguing causes the cat to be let out of the bag, and now Chloe is in on the secret identities (both Ladybug and Chat). She is infuriated by Adrien and how ugly his attitude has gotten. And disappointed in herself after realizing that doing nothing didn’t stop any akuma victims. That was the wrong thing to do in this case, she realizes. Instead, she needs to work on standing up to people like that and use the power that she has to her advantage. She’s going to be the hero that Ladybug, no, Dupain-Cheng, believed she could be. (Ugly Heart)

Luka and Felix run into Bewitched. Felix saves Luka from getting hit, but becomes a familiar. Queen Bee, Ryukōun and Chat Noir arrive on the scene, but Chat’s ego quickly causes him to lose the cat miraculous to Felix after Bewitched turns Queen Bee’s power against them. Luka transforms into Viperion while Alya arrives on the scene to apologize. Satisfied, Bewitched familiarizes her. Using his power, Viperion is able to calm down Bewitched and convince her to give up the akuma. After Kagami purifies it, she, Luka and Felix all take Marinette home. After the long day, Marinette tries to find ways to make herself fall asleep, but the events of the day weigh heavy on her mind, and she’s anxious as to what comes next. (Breathin)