#also claw noir has way more pining :)

[viscari-a]

MariClaw AUs

AU thinking let's go. Bad boy x sunshine is a classic dynamic and I saw MariClaw (marinette x claw noir) and the possibilities are endless. Since I'm a love square shipper this is going to be MariClaw and Marinette x Emo!Adrien! Highkey I headcanon that Adrien became emo because Marinette did it first so I'm not going to dive into mechanics of why Adrien is emo but Marinette isn't. I would say 'maybe he watched too much anime' but the brand of claw noir feels a bit more more wattpad bad boy (back in 2016) than shoujo bad boy, depending on the shoujo. He's been pining for literal years AU

maybe she once gave him a bandaid, maybe he's always seen her from afar and curiousity became love, who knows! Point is, he's liked her for SO long and when he's given the chance to go to school, he's super excited because that's the school she goes to!! Cue manga cliches and the title is probably something like "The New Delinquent is Actually a Softie at Heart and He's is in Love With Me???" It could be so cliche, with very lighthearted and cute romcom moments. maybe a secret admirer AU!!

It could also be super angst/fluff. Marinette thinks the whole thing is a prank, or doesn't think he actually likes her, and it's the slowest burn or the most comedy romcom. OR it's the first person who appreciates her slash doesnt bully her (the standards are low here, kids, cause i'm going on the assumption she's heavily bullied), and it's a story of self-acceptance! All of these ideas assume that Adrien has the bravery to approach her and talk to her though :> (not quite romantically, thats up to you. Personally, I think he's too shy to be able to blatantly flirt) Integration of Claw Noir is possible is so many ways that I'm not going to go into it. He joined the Supreme to get back at her bullies + protect her AU I once read a villain!chat blanc fic where he and her are soulmates and he does questionable things like follow her around and is kind of wary but also curious. This would have the same vibes! Could also be more wholesome/pining where he stays in the shadows. Plus hurt/comfort when she realizes, plus the fact that his powers are corroding him! Sick fic potential Can also be a lovesquare enemies to lovers (+ mistaken/secret identity), if Ladybug is part of the Resistance and Claw Noir is with the Supreme ;) The Balcony cliche AU

Marinette has mixed feelings on the Supreme but there's one hero who she sees a lot (potential for pining on Claw's part) and it bothers her so much that one day she meets him on the balcony and gives him food and it becomes a Thing! Traditional Marichat vibes but with a more kuu/tsun-dere Noir

Reverse crush AU There's a certain brand of danmei where the MC is really really shy and it's a lot of angst until the ML realizes that the stoic MC is just shy and is actually the cutest, kindest person ever. This! Is! EmoAdrien x Marinette!! One of the potentials, anyway. Marinette thinks Adrien hates her because he keeps glaring/staring at her (and all the stares she's used to are judgemental ones), only talks to her in clipped sentences, and never goes near her. Then, something happens!! Maybe he gives his umbrella to an abandoned cat or something, idk. Point is, she gets more interested and it's a slow burn-ish progressive romance :) Now the above [she thinks he hates her] except he keeps partnering her with projects and events and everything and she's really confused by the mixed signals so can he please stop. I think everyone collectively died when EmoAdrien realized + quietly blushed in the movie so flirting would be SO fun here because both of them would get really embarrassed.

Secret Identity AU Maybe the secret is that he's Claw Noir or the secret is that he's Adrien Agreste but either way it'll be fun :> Maybe she hates his alt persona so he dies a little inside everytime she makes a comment or a jab and this can be either very comedic or very angsty or both Dengeki Daisy AU, same scenario, enough said. Would probably be more interesting if its Claw Noir + OG Adrien / Chat Noir + EmoAdrien, just to have more of a switch. (In Dengeki Daisy, MC has online friend A who she's never met, and a classmate B who she kind of hates. She talks to A about B, where she rants about B and A comforts her. A and B are the same people).

Manhwa style

Sweet, strong, feminine, girlboss MC? With a the stoic, rich, powerful, smitten ML? say less. He might be more of a tsundere than stoic, though. Gabriel Agreste is definitely the hidden boss. Could be the above but also a villainess/reincarnation/transmigation AU. Reincarnated into a game like an RPG or Stardew or something could also be fun, and bonus points if Mari liked him (as a character) before transmigation!

Gaming AU! Gaming AU. Maybe they meet in a game, on Discord, or because they're always playing at the same time and get matched? This is so beautifully canonical. Especially when Adrien is home schooled, he probably gets really attached to his online friend. And if they're both bullied?? they're each other's comfort (be careful to not let this be co-dependent, unless you're going for that). Can have secret identity AU. But, in my personal opinion, the super cute option is to also have them realize on their own! Maybe they've been doing discord calls for ages and recognize each other's voice. Maybe he's been telling her about the school and they realize they're going to attend the same one! Tbh this doesnt have to be mariclaw but the vibes are cute

Extra notes

Yeah Claw Noir doesn't have to have superpowers in all/most of the AUs

Marinette is a loner/bullied in most of these AUs because otherwise it feels a bit too much like a Mary Sue/self-insert (cute competent popular girl meets famous pretty emo boy who hates everyone except her). Can it be done if she's friends with Nino and Alya? Yep. Heavier themes on friendship where Alya (and maybe Nino) are more wary at first but grow to like him and help him be more self-confident. Less romance focus, more character development/trauma healing

If we're going with canon then for all of these, a true happy ending would involve the Supreme being dealt with, but I don't want to deal with that (plus I don't think we know who he is, anyway)

I realize a lot of these are a flavor of Chat Blanc but I had already written it all anyway

Personally, I am a sucker for smitten x insecure and EmoAdrien x OGMari fit that to a tee. Emo x Sunshine I have mixed feelings on because boi have I read a lot of that, but if it's done well it's super cute and MariClaw does that really well!! I could probably think of more AUs but I've already spent at least half an hour purely typing I pretty highly doubt I'll write any of these since they feel like longer fics + I don't have enough canon info on Claw Noir to comfortably characterize him; if anyone wants to write or draw something based on these then feel free to!

[toxinellebug]

Shadybug/ClawNoir Christmas PART 3

Betterfly never in his worst nightmares would’ve dared imagined that Claw Noir would use his Cataclysm on a human being!!

The superpowers granted to the old man by the kamiko have protected him from instant death, but the damage is done. There is no telling what will become of the old man once he relinquishes his powers and the magic is gone.

Betterfly must get to Father Christmas, NOW!

But first, he has to evade an angry Shadybug.

He’s been defensive ‘till now; as a peaceable man, he is hesitant to physically attack a lady let alone a young girl, but desperate times call for desperate measures after all.

Forgive his rudeness, young miss…

Parrying another swing of her blade, he pushes off and makes a run for it, leaping from roof to roof, ignoring her accusations of cowardice, he spies his target- running up he grabs a string of Christmas lights off the edge of a rooftop, and turning, he yanks the lights free and flings them at the pursuing Shadybug.

The string of lights wraps around her like a bolo, entangling her and causing her to slip on the ice, landing ungracefully on her derrière. As a result, she shouts several things that are quite unladylike.

It won’t hold her for long, but Betterfly only needs long enough to get to Father Christmas and bring the poor man to safety!

Father Christmas falls to his knees, clutching his chest in pain.

Claw Noir can’t believe it! What’s WITH this guy?? Also, how is he still alive???

Not that he was trying to commit murder or anything. He’d never used his Cataclysm on a person before, but he’d always assumed it would just caused them to crumble to dust like everything else. 

The fat man may not be dust… but he does look like he’s in a lot of pain. For a second, Claw Noir almost feels bad. ALMOST.  

It’s his own fault for getting in the way! Why did he have to go and do something so stupid all for some lame tree?! 

Walking past the downed man, Claw Noir marches towards the giant tree in the middle of the Place de la Concorde; wrapped in white faerie lights, it’s covered in silver and gold baubles. Large, perfectly symmetrical red ribbon bows are tied to every other branch. There is just a scant dusting of angel hair, and on top rests a bright, neon star.

One of his cat ears twitches, and in the distance he can make out the orchestra inside the Le Grand Paris Hotel playing “Mon beau sapin”.

It makes him sick. The perfect tree, the happy carols….This whole stupid Holiday is nothing but people getting drunk off mulled wine and opening presents. The most wonderful woman in the world is GONE, but everyone is feasting and laughing without a care and expect him to do the same?

Here’s what he thinks of their “Happy Holidays!” He raises his hand and summons another Cataclysm-

A mittened hand grabs his boot.

Looking down, it’s the fat bearded guy in the tacky red suit. Somehow, despite the pain, he’s crawled his way over here.

Did he already forget what happens when you cross paths with a black cat?

Father Christmas tells Claw Noir that he knows he doesn’t believe in the Magic of Christmas, and nothing he says will change that. But there are still people in this city who do believe, people who NEED to believe. For some, this holiday may be the only thing that can bring them joy in such a cheerless world. Can he truly take that from them?

Claw Noir sneers; don’t make him laugh- trees, tinsel, ornaments… all that junk comes from the store. People can always go out and buy more “christmas magic” tomorrow.  He plans to live for today! He swipes at the tree-

Only for a snowball to hit his claws and turn to black dust before he so much as touches a single pine needle.

What now???

Betterfly has arrived. 

He tells Claw Noir to stop this now.

Stop? Sure, he’ll stop… Just as soon as Boogerfly hands over his Miraculous!

Claw Noir rushes Betterfly, who stands in place calmy until the last possible moment before leaping away, and Claw Noir finds himself yowling in pain as he is ensnared in a red and black polka-dotted electrified net.

The sparks die down and the cooked cat glares up at Humbug holding her lucky charm; a net gun.

He accuses her of doing that on purpose!

She didn’t… But she won’t deny that it was funny. What’s he complaining about anyway? He still has 8 mangy lives left.

Unfortunately, she was too distracted by that little light show that the Butterfly got away, AGAIN. What lousy luck…

Betterfly has managed to carry the old man back to the rooftop of his apartment, leaning him against the rooftop access door, he uses his super enhanced strength to break the lock, then helps his kamikotized ally inside.

His heart is heavy; he knew Shadybug and Claw Noir were ruthless- never hesitating to use their full strength to violently attack anyone Betterfly had granted powers to. Which is why, after seeing what they did to that poor Théo Barbot boy, Betterfly had decided against ever sending a kamiko to any minor unless it was to get them out of immediate danger. Children shouldn’t be exposed to such risks.

But he hadn’t anticipated that such intensity could lead to… This.

Father Christmas notices Betterfly’s saddened expression and tells him he thinks it’s time he returned the “gift” that was lent to him.

Before Betterfly can stop him, Father Christmas rejects the kamiko and reverts back into a regular old bearded man… who clutches his chest in agony, wheezing to breathe.

Betterfly tells him to try and keep calm, delicately loosening the first two buttons on the old man’s shirt and peeking underneath the fabric. His heart sinks at the sight of blackened flesh.

The Kamiko was only able to shield the poor man from the full impact… but it was not enough to prevent the effects of the cataclysm. There was nothing he could do.

This man was dying, and it was all his fault.

Betterfly sobs out his apologies. He never meant for this to happen!

The old man is extremely forgiving- he understood that he was taking a risk from the start. They were both only trying to do the right thing and he has no regrets.

Shadybug sighs as she surveys the damage… mysterious presents everywhere, gift bows on shiny new windows, suspicious wreaths with golden berries, the remains of a sleigh hanging out of the side of the eighth floor of the Le Grande Paris Hotel, flying reindeer circling the Eiffel tower. The whole city reeks of magic.

What a pain.

Tossing her net gun into the air, she calls out for Miraculous shadybug and loveliness swarms throughout Paris- Reindeer, Sleigh, and presents vanish, windows are restored to their old, un-shiny yet unbroken state. Wreaths of gold make way for plain wreaths, no longer mangled and back on each of their original doors. Toppled snowmen are rebuilt, and the Le Grande Paris Hotel shows no sign of being crashed into.

Claw Noir, no longer barbecued but thoroughly confused, asks Humbug what she did THAT for?

Idiot.

The Supreme made it clear that they were to be DISCRETE! The public could NOT be allowed to discover the existence of the Miraculous or magic.  Just how was this fleabag expecting to explain this whole mess if she DIDN’T cast the stupid cure?!

Yeah, well… how was SHE going to explain beetles swarming all over Paris in WINTER?? That’s also suspicious!

Whatever. She’s going home.

Glittering ladybugs swirl around the old man’s chest and his haggard breathing becomes light. He sits up and pats his chest- the pain is gone! 

Betterfly can’t believe it! How is this possible??

There is a chiming of bells… it is now midnight.

The old man smiles; his cheeks are rosy and there is a twinkle in his eye.

It’s a Christmas Miracle of course.

A miracle?

Betterfly looks out the rooftop access door into the cold winter night.

Yes… a Miracle.

(TO BE CONTINUED AND FINISHED IN PART 4!)

PART 2

PART 4

[teacupfulofstarshine]

une ladybug, lady du coeur

summary: logan just wants to save the city. he's not very interested in the advances of his partner. he isn't. yes, he is. (OR: a miraculous ladybug sanders sides!au that is a VERY late birthday gift to @blinksinbewilderment​)

a/n: this is a gift for my lovely spouse squad member blink!!! her birthday is in august, and it is now almost february, i know, i'm bad at this, i'm sorry. also i love you blink i hope you enjoy this ~ 

cw: mutual pining, cartoon violence

wordcount: 2818

read it on ao3!

“This is getting ridiculous,” Logan grumbles, fumbling to shove his books into his messenger bag. Outside, there’s a loud, distorted roar from the akuma of the day. “We are never going to finish the French Revolution unit at this rate.” 

“Good thing you memorized the entire textbook at the beginning of the school year, hmm?” Roman says teasingly. He throws his iPad into his bag and elbows Logan, who smiles at him as soon as Roman isn’t looking at him. The building shakes with the force of another blow, and Roman instantly tugs Logan close to him. Logan pretends it doesn’t make his face flush pink. 

“We have to go,” Roman says. “We have to get out of here!” 

“Roman -”

Roman throws his backpack over his shoulder, and Logan barely manages to sling his messenger bag over his shoulder before Roman is grabbing his hand and sprinting through the school. Logan stumbles after Roman, once again cursing that he’s so much shorter than his best friend. Roman flies down the stairs three at a time, and it’s a wonder Logan doesn’t faceplant. 

They burst out of the school and immediately dive into a nearby bush as a large hoof slams down into the street nearby. Logan cowers into the bush, and Roman hovers his body over him. Logan opens his eyes, and it’s only then that he notices that when Roman had grabbed his hand, he’d laced their fingers together.

There’s a very strange feeling in his chest, and he has no idea how to handle it. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to think about it for much longer as Roman pulls away. He feels disappointed, but then Roman is flashing his million-dollar model smile and Logan forgets how to feel anything but lovestruck. 

“You stay here where it’s safe, okay? I’m gonna go get help.” 

“What? What if something happens?” 

“Hey, you know me! Paris’s favorite face and all that, I’ll be fine.” Roman winks at him, before leaning down and hugging Logan quickly. He sprints out of the bush, a streak of blurred red, and Logan buries his head in his hands and groans. 

There’s a little rustling noise, and then a tiny little creature flies up out of his bag. It’s a little red creature, with two small antennae, covered in large black spots. He hovers next to Logan’s head, little tail twitching as he pats his head sympathetically. 

“Crush got you down?” 

“Shut up, Emile,” Logan mutters. “He’s not my crush.” 

“I don’t think you’re telling the truth,” Emile sing-songs, landing on Logan’s head. “Did you see the way he held your haaaaaaand?” Logan blushes, picturing the way Roman’s fingers felt laced between his and the press of Roman’s broad palm against his smaller one, the glow of Roman’s vibrant green eyes in the sunlight as he glances over his shoulder and grins rakishly at Logan. 

“Shut up,” Logan says shortly, rather than think about feelings anymore. “We have to deal with this akuma before anyone gets hurt.” 

“Whatever you want, Logan,” Emile says. “You know how to suit up!” 

Logan sighs, running his hands through his hair, and tucks his messenger bag into the bushes. He sweeps a few stray brown curls behind his ear, revealing his unassuming, plain black stud earrings. “Alright, here we go. Emile, spots on!” 

A flash of red sparkles swirls around him, and the earrings glow. Emile giggles as he swirls around and disappears into Logan’s miraculous. Logan can’t stop a cocky smile from spreading across his face as the transformation begins to take hold. 

He presses his hands against his eyes and pulls them across his face, leaving a gleaming red mask in his place. The transformation races down his body and spirals around his arms, his torso, his legs, melting away his polo and tie and slacks. His outfit is replaced with a bright red bodysuit, covering him completely from the neck down in a pattern of tiny gleaming hexagons with large black polka dots. He feels the red ribbon attach itself in his hair, tying it back from his face, and his yoyo materializes on his hip. 

Ladybug drops to the ground in a perfect crouch, reaching for his yoyo and quickly flipping it open. He presses one of the buttons, and his insufferable partner’s face appears on screen with a phone dialing icon. 

“Honestly, if you don’t pick up I swear to god,” Ladybug mutters. The phone rings for almost twenty seconds, but no one picks up. He snaps the yoyo shut when he hears a civilian scream and immediately throws it up towards the roof. He tugs the line and swings away, directly into the line of fire. 

*~*~*~*~*

Most days, Roman doesn’t give a damn about being one of the most recognizable faces in Paris. He’s an extrovert - he loves people, loves taking pictures with them and performing for them and just generally being around them. He’s not like his introverted best friend. He loves the limelight.

When he’s trying to sneak away and transform, however, this is less appreciated. 

“You want some help, kitten?” his kwami drawls, curled inside of the pocket of his letterman jacket. 

“I don’t like it when you do stuff like that, you know that,” Roman mutters, ducking quickly into an alleyway to avoid yet another paparazzi camera. 

“I know, but I don’t think you have a choice,” Remy says. Roman swats at his pocket, but he can’t deny that Remy is right. Normally, he can sneak away on his own, but the crowds just keep growing and growing. 

“Don’t do anything too permanent, okay?”

“No sweat, kitten. You know Ladybug’s gonna fix it all when you’re done, right?” 

“I don’t wanna make extra work for him!” Roman argues. 

“It’s literally not even him, kitten, it’s his miraculous that powers it all.” The little black catlike creature flies up out of his pocket and disappears into the crowd. Roman keeps running, not taking any time to look back or see what his kwami is doing. Little black bubbles fizzle through the concrete, and he hears someone shouting behind him, but he darts around a building and into a dark and dirty alleyway. Within a minute, Remy floats through the wall and lands in his palms. 

“Do I even want to know what you did?” 

“Probably not. You subscribe to that pesky human concept of ‘morals’ or whatever.” Remy yawns, curling into Roman’s cupped hands. 

“Can you just get in the damn ring already?” 

“I will not.” 

Roman reaches into his backpack and pulls out a small plastic travel thermos. “Not even for . . . coffee?” 

Remy’s ears twitch, but he maintains a nonchalant facade. “Coffee? What would I care about coffee?” 

��Oh, nothing much . . . it’s just double-brewed espresso, made with that expensive shit you love, that’s all.” Remy whimpers and twitches again. “And I added a little splash of lavender honey and creamer . . . but if you don’t want it, I guess I’ll have to drink it . . .”

“No!” Remy wails, shoving the lid off the travel cup and diving inside. Roman has no idea how Remy can stand submerging his entire body in near-boiling coffee, but he isn’t complaining. Remy pokes his head out of the travel mug and shakes a few drops of coffee out of his fur, smiling. 

“You needed me?”

“Of course I do,” Roman snarks. 

“You know how to call me, don’t you?”

“Remy, claws out!” 

Roman grins as a blur of black disappears into the silver ring he wears, which quickly burns black as well. He can feel power thrumming through his body, racing along his veins like lightning, and he smirks, shifting his stance to a more confident one. Two fingers swipe along his face, dragging black leather in their wake. He combs through his hair as it grows longer and more unruly, and black leather cat ears sprout up from his tousled curls. Black leather and green lightning spiral around him, and the facade of Roman Roi drops away. 

Steel-toed black boots hit the ground as Chat Noir pulls his black belt tail out of his outfit, With a flick of the wrist, his staff is in his hand, and he vaults up through the Paris sky. 

*~*~*~*~*

Ladybug dodges another blow from the akuma, which shrieks and hurls another projectile his way. It’s a florist, he thinks, akumatized over scathing comments from the mayor’s hellspawn. Ladybug doesn’t blame him for being upset, but the thorny vines choking the city streets are really a bit much to deal with.

“This is not necessary!” Ladybug shouts, drawing his yoyo and quickly lassoing the nearest building. He swings away as a plant erupts where he was standing. The thorns are enormous and sharp and almost as big as he is. “I know that you are upset, but please -”

“You want to call my profession silly?!” the akuma roars. Ladybug is sure that he has some kind of proper akuma name, but he honestly doesn’t remember it anymore. “I will cover you in thorns, and you will see how sharp a florist can be!” 

Ladybug winds the cord of his yoyo around his fingers, crouching in the shadow of a balcony. He needs to figure out where the akuma is hiding, he needs to control the damage to make sure no innocent civilians are injured, he needs - he needs - 

“My ladybug, look out!” 

A silver staff flies out of nowhere and knocks Ladybug back as a Venus flytrap roars to life beneath him. If he hadn’t been knocked out of the way when he was . . .

A dark figure lands next to him. “Fancy running into you here,” Chat Noir purrs, eyes gleaming dangerously as he pulls Ladybug to his feet. 

“Of course I ran into you here, we are both superheroes. This is our job,” Ladybug says, rolling his eyes. Chat Noir spins him around and dips him, and Ladybug is about to scold him for letting romantic nonsense interfere with their job until he realizes that they’ve narrowly avoided a deadly blow. 

“You’re welcome,” Chat Noir says. “You can thank me properly later. For now, we have a job to do, don’t we?” He pulls Ladybug to his feet easily and takes his staff from where it’s lodged in the building behind them. “What’s the scoop?” 

Ladybug fills him in. “I hate people like that,” Chat Noir mutters. ‘People who try to put others in boxes and act like they can’t ever have a different role . . . that’s complete and utter horseshit. I deserve to be - people deserve to be whoever they want to be.” Ladybug tilts his head in confusion. 

“You are correct, Chat Noir, but still . . .”

Chat Noir shakes his head and spins his staff in one hand, deflecting a barrage of thorns. “Where do we suspect the akuma is, my ladybug?” Ladybug squints at the akuma, trying to reason out where the akuma might be. 

“I . . . there! There’s a sunhat on the akuma’s head, and from what I understand the akumatized citizen wears that hat frequently.” 

“How are we going to get to it?” Chat Noir asks. “I only get one Cataclysm before I change back, so we have to make it count!” Ladybug pulls his yoyo from his hip and spins it rapidly in front of him. 

“Let us see if this evens the odds. Lucky Charm!” He throws the yoyo up into the air, kicking one leg up behind him for balance. Logan does not believe in luck, but Ladybug finds he has no choice but to believe, given what he does. 

The yoyo glows, giving out a shower of heart-shaped sparkles as it spins rapidly around and around in the air. Ladybug can never look up at the lucky charm while it’s forming, but Chat Noir always stares at it starry-eyed (when he can, anyway, and isn’t too busy defending them from the akuma attacks). 

The Lucky Charm glows so brightly that even Chat Noir has to look away, and it drops down into Ladybug’s waiting hands, and it’s . . . 

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Ladybug asks, holding the red-and-black-spotted plastic hairbrush in his hands. He looks up, and the world is suddenly black and white. This is normal; once his Lucky Charm lands in his hands, the world is devoid of color until he looks around, and certain objects will light up in red and black color. From there, he has to figure out what to do. 

“You got an idea yet?” Chat Noir asks. Ladybug squints around, and then he has one. 

*~*~*~*~*

Chat Noir doesn’t know what Ladybug sees when he holds his Lucky Charm. His eyes go slightly unfocused, and the brown of his irises gleams red and black. All he knows is that within a minute, Ladybug’s eyes always refocus, sharp and clean, and he always knows exactly what to do. 

“I need to get close to the akuma,” he says. “As close as you can get me, okay? I know what I need to do.” 

“Any specific vines you want me to take out?” 

Ladybug points out a few key points, and Chat Noir grins, throwing his fist into the air. “Cataclysm!” His fist comes back down covered in inky black bubbling flames. Ladybug spins his yoyo rapidly, and Chat Noir can’t stop himself from winking before he tears off across the street. 

Chat Noir only gets one Cataclysm, the same way that Ladybug only gets one Lucky Charm. Unlike Ladybug, however, Chat Noir has a little bit of a window where he can work. If he’s fast enough, he can hit a few of the vines before his power fizzles out. He launches off the building, careful to only land with his feet and his free hands, and takes off towards the akuma. 

Ladybug had pointed out three or four specific vines that Chat Noir should try to hit; he manages to hit two of them before his Cataclysm runs out. He settles for smacking the vines aside with his staff, trying to draw as much of the akuma’s attention as possible. He succeeds, too; the akuma is so busy staring at him that it doesn’t notice when a red-and-black-spotted plastic hairbrush comes flying out of nowhere like a boomerang and hits the akuma squarely in the eye. 

The akuma wails, and Chat Noir can hear his ring beeping down to four minutes left as Ladybug’s yoyo soars through the air and knocks the akuma’s hat off its head. It goes flying through the air towards Chat Noir. “Chat Noir, it’s up to you!” Ladybug calls. 

Chat Noir deftly expands his staff to pin the hat against the nearest building and sprints along the street, vaulting himself off of a nearby parked car and snatching the hat up. The akuma wails as he tears the hat in half, and a little black butterfly flutters out of the hat. “Get out of here, you nasty bug!” Chat Noir hisses. 

Ladybug’s yoyo glows bright white as he spins it around rapidly. “Time to de-evilize!” The yoyo sails through the air, slamming right into the akuma, and two black-spotted red wings snap out and trap the akuma inside the yoyo. Ladybug pulls it back against his body and gently taps the compact. It pops open to reveal a little white butterfly fluttering off into the sky. 

“Bye-bye, little butterfly,” Ladybug croons, a fond expression on his face. Chat Noir can’t stop himself from grinning dopily at the sight. Ladybug hops off the roof and picks up the hairbrush from the nearby building and throws it into the air, as high as he can. “Miraculous Ladybug!” 

A glittering swarm of ladybugs tears around Paris, and Chat Noir grins as a tingle of magic floods through him. 

*~*~*~*~*

By the time they finally escape Patton’s eager questioning for his blog, Virgil standing next to him with a GoPro dutifully recording, there’s only two minutes left on their respective miraculouses. “Pound it!” Chat Noir exclaims, offering his fist to Ladybug for a fist bump. Ladybug rolls his eyes, but he accepts the fistbump anyway. Before he can pull his hand away, Chat Noir grabs his hand and turns it so that he’s holding it, back of his hand facing up. 

“Chat Noir? We’re about to de-transform, what are you -”

Chat Noir lifts his hand to his lips and kisses it, softly. “Until next time, my lovely ladybug.” Before Ladybug can protest, Chat Noir is vaulting away. Ladybug barely manages to make it to a safe place before his last dot beeps away and his transformation disappears in a flurry of sparkles. Ladybug is gone, and Logan Cerveau lifts his hands to catch Emile. 

“Thank you,” he quietly tells his kwami. 

“No problem,” Emile yawns, settling in for a nap as Logan tucks him into his breast pocket. “You’re so smitten, it’s adorable . . .” 

Logan is too busy concealing his blush to protest. Much. 

[mi6-cafe]

It’s Supportive Sunday!

Supportive Sunday is a day when we encourage you to support someone in the fandom!

Here’s some ways to do that:

Kudos something you like

A short comment (“Loved this!” or “Extra kudos!”)

A more detailed comment (“X made me laugh out loud!”)

Make a rec post

Send a creator a short anon ask about their work! (“What inspired X?”)

Send a reader who’s commented a short anon ask showing your appreciation! (“Your comments make my day!”)

Reblog this post with a rec

This Sunday we’ve chosen to feature the creation which were created for the MI6 Cafe miniBang. Yes, it is a bit late, but because of all things 2020 the deadlines kept moving slightly, and then there was Fest but here you are:

Behold all the minibang creation below the line

“Wedding Gifts and Butterflies”

by Ana (juggling_hearts)

Summary:

Of course, the wedding and everything associated with it had been, dare he say it….fun. But Sebastian was more than glad to have some time to both of them, no interruptions or guest insight. Just him, his husband and the boffin’s wedding night gift.

6.5k, 00q, fluff and smut, e-rated

>>READ HERE<<

Art by Nana-chan: Tumblr

“Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don’t really go in for that anymore… (or do we?) ”

by AtoTheBean

Summary:

Rumour has it, back in the days of old Boothroyd, the gadgets were divine. Or ridiculous, depending on your point of view. And Bond doesn’t have any complaints about Q’s tech, but he still gets a bit wistful when he reads those old mission reports.

, 00q, fluff and humour.

>>READ HERE<<

Art by meduszoa: Tumblr

“London Unmade”

by Boffin1710

Summary:

The London skyline was dark, cloud covered, as a light drizzle fell. The darkness broke in a few places here and there by what appeared to be the flicker of flames dancing across the drifting clouds. Streets were silent. Only the bravest, or the fool hearty, were out this time of night anymore. The remaining were sheltering, hiding, repenting for their sins as fear and death consumed the population of the city. This was London unmade.

4.7k, 00q00, angst/au - apocalypse, implied character death.

>>READ HERE<<

Art by AsheTarasovich: AO3, Tumblr

“Serenade On Your Heartstrings”

by christinefromsherwood

Creator Spotlight

Summary:

It was still dark when the phone began to ring. Q forced his eyes open. “Jaaaames.” “…Ooh love, ooh loverboy…” “Hnnnnng.” “Let go. I need to take this.” James’s arms around him tightened, pushing against his bladder. Suddenly wide awake, Q tried to squirm away towards the nightstand and his phone.

3.8k, 00q, established relationship/domestic fluff/light angst.

>>READ HERE<<

“A moment before” by Ksan: Tumblr

“Silence”

by Dassandre

Summary:

“You must have fucked something up on that last mission,” Alec said around a mouthful of chicken tikka at lunch one afternoon.

5k, 00q, heavy angst.

>>READ HERE<<

“Art for Silence” by BBR: Tumblr

“Halt & Catch Fire”

by Eltea

Summary:

When stolen Q-branch schematics and an attack on an MI6 whistleblower both point to the same culprit, Bond and his allies find themselves flying halfway around the world to California - where they’ll have to navigate the glamorous, treacherous world of Silicon Valley tech startup culture if they want to catch a traitor and stop a disaster.

19k, gen, action.

>>READ HERE<<

Chris (ravenclawkwardly): Tumblr

“The Parting of Hero and Leander”

by Equinox2324

Summary:

Bond and Q have managed to turn their relationship of mutual annoyance to one of friendship. They also sleep together sometimes.When Bond is called away to an incredibly dangerous, high-risk mission, Q is absolutely not worried in the least because he and Bond aren’t actually together. Honestly. Especially not when he finds out that Bond has been critically injured in the middle of the mission.Cut to Q being in distress about his boyfriend who is absolutely not his boyfriend and some pining.

9.4k, 00q, angst, mutual pining.

>>READ HERE<<

“yearning” by Ruggsie:

Tumblr

“N00Bz”

by furiosophie

Summary:

There is little that escapes Bond, but for the life of him, he cannot fathom how he ended up going from what felt like a life or death situation to sitting on a hotel room bed, eating pizza with a man wearing a Grumpy Cat shirt and not much else. For a brief moment he wonders what Alec would do now, in a situation like this - in bed with an asset and nothing but a cat seperating them. Fuck. He knows exactly what Alec would do.- Or the one where Bond has to go undercover at a Fortnite World Championship and his best chance of tracking down the bad guys is to work with the cocky, obnoxious, and incredibly cute star player Q-TEA and his cat.

9k+, 00q, e-sport au, fluff/angst.

>>READ HERE<<

“Cover Art” and “Snes” by christinefromsherwood: Tumblr

“Q and Bond” by myo.mikan: Instagram

“A Second Time”

by Ghoul

Summary:

Bond’s an old dog that’s outlived his owner. Where else is his loyalty supposed to end up now that M is gone?

3.8k, 00q, angst.

>>READ HERE<<

“Art for ‘A Second Time’” by Boffin1710: Tumblr

“Standard Protocol, and Other Workplace Hazards”

by hideyseek

Summary:

In which Q gets into an argument (with HR), and gets out of his head (about Bond), and gets by. Or: MI6 finally gets to the paperwork around Q’s emergency promotion.

5.3k, 00q, fluff? what’s a genre. it’s light, it’s workplace romance. sorry!!!!.

>>READ HERE<<

“A Moment for Tea” by storm_of_sharp_things: Tumblr

“Genius”

by IrishWitch58

Summary:

Bond is home from a mission and looking forward to spending time with Q. Q is having issues with people thinking he’s just a brain. Taking lunch should be a way to cool things down, shouldn’t it?

4.5k, 00q, smutty fluff.

>>READ HERE<<

“Embrace” by dhampir72: AO3

“Movie Moment”

by Izzie

Summary:

Q has just been recruited at MI6. Bond has worked there for years. When the pair meet by chance in Q’s bookstore, sparks fly but neither is willing to admit it. A formal work introduction turns into an unofficial date at an art gallery and as Bond walks Q home in the rain, the two men screw their courage and take the opportunity to have a “movie moment.”

3.1k, 00q, first meeting.

>>READ HERE<<

“Movie Moment” by 10k: Tumblr

“Surprise! A Twin!”

by Liv

Summary:

Benoit Blanc finds out he is a twin. A twin brother to James Bond.

8.3k, fluff, Knives Out Crossover: Benoit/Q

>>READ HERE<<

“The Mario Cart Scene” by Chris: AO3

“Killing Me Softly (With Biscuits)”

by Mely (Celyan)

Summary:

Wherein James returns from a mission and finds out the hard way that sometimes, biscuits can be more explosive than one might think. Well, at least he gets a date out of the ordeal, as well as one (1) biscuit.

3.3k+, fluff and humour, getting together

>>READ HERE<<

Art by BBR:Tumblr

“Chirps, or the Feline Foes of James W. Bond.”

by midrashic

Summary:

James Bond is fluent in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, BSL, and, just for fun, Esperanto. He never thought he’d be adding “Cat” to that list.

7K, 00Q, established relationship/domestic fluff.

>>READ HERE<<

“Cover Art for Chirps” by BlueBellOfBakerstreet: AO3, Tumblr

“Dedicated”

by Nana-chan

Summary:

Prompts: A) Dedication B) In an attempt to get the sleep deprived Quartermaster to finally go home, Bond offers to buy his groceries. In the grocery store when he looks at the note Q had sent him, he discovers there’s been a mixup. He doubts Q would have sent him to buy lube, condoms and a new pair of lacy knickers.

E-rated, 3.9K, 00Q, romance: established relationship

>>READ HERE<<

Art by Azure7539:Tumblr

“Glint”

by ProblemWithTrouble

Summary:

Q is on vacation when Bond arrives which is odd because Bond was supposed to be retired and with Madeleine Swann.

3.5K, 00Q, fluff

>>READ HERE<<

“Storyboard for ‘Glint’” by Ven: Tumblr

“Art for ‘Glint’” by Olly: Tumblr, Instagram

“Kitty Kitty Bang Bang”

by SouffleGirl91

Summary:

Bond’s done. The last mission was a wake-up call, he’s not up to par anymore. Moneypenny could have died. After weeks of moping, help comes from an unexpected quarter – his balcony. The old ginger tom’s got a limp, torn-up ears and a scar above his left eye. He also likes tuna and is a very good listener.

11k, 00q, fluff, getting together.

>>READ HERE<<

“Selfie” by dhampir72: AO3

“Sweetener”

by storm_of_sharp_things

Summary:

Alec Trevelyan takes stock of his relationship with James and Q, and discovers it is a refuge he never expected.

4.3k, 00q00, domestic fluff.

>>READ HERE<<

“Sweetener” by pettikotes: Tumblr

“The Claw”

by Venstar

Summary:

Something was clawing its way through Q’s mind.

3.5k, 00Q, thriller noir.

>>READ HERE<<

“Art for The Claw” by Azure7539: Tumblr

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Waver 1 - 13 (FINAL) | Prisma Illya 1 - 10 (FINAL) | Prisma Illya 2wei! 1 - 3

Another (and to be honest, the last) batch of impressions from the Fate/ project.

Waver 1

Well, this’ll be interesting. I’ve been hyping this show up for a while for myself, so let’s see how it goes.

Geez, this intro is like a dang movie! I’d love to see a proper Troyca movie! (<-Says the fan of Troyca.)

Wait, if it’s Kayneth Archibald, then is Archibald relatd to Archisorte? Or am I just making thing up here…? Also note Reines refers to Kayneth as “Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald”, possibly meaning Archibald is the middle name, since El-Melloi is a shared surname (or is that a title…?). That probably means Archibald =/= Archisorte and both are similar-sounding middle names. The fact Reines is Kayneth’s niece also explains things quite a bit.

Why is Waver upside down…? Won’t the blood rush to his head soon? (Sure, it allows me to ogle his hair more, but…logic rules more than my stupid whims, y’know?)

Interesting. You can see that although Waver grew out his hair, there’s two layers to it – the longer one in the front and the shorter one in the back. (I’m just curious because I like the hime cut – which is pretty similar - and long hair on dudes in general, in part because both are fairly rare.)

Okay, that explained my gripe with upside-down Waver. Thanks, Reines. (<-genuine)

Aw, Waver buddy, even at this stage, you’re plenty cute. Don’t ever change! (<- As you can see, I am an easily pleased person in most cases.)

Melvin who now???

Troyca’s comic animation rules! It’s too bad Idolish7 Second Beat is using chibis instead of this…

Professor Kayneth. I forgot he had a formal title. I wonder, does Waver - I mean, El-Melloi II – have that title as well?

I guess I should’ve known Saber had the capability to look scary, but…I never knew Saber could look so scary…

*cut to eyecatch* - *points at eyecatch* Okay, someone tried to save budget here, didn’t they???

Aw, friendship between fiction boys is cute…until it involves the puking up on blood on one end.

Waver is the OG underdog here…don’tcha think?

“…with several demands.” – Uh-oh…this is gonna be bad, isn’t it?

You need a Tuner for Magic Crests? (…Like a tuning fork, but a person?) *brow raised in suspicion*

…is it appropriate for me to say “Oh, good lord!” now? (Okay, I did that rather deliberately, but normally in these notes I’d self-censor it to be “oh, goodness” or something like that.)

Seriously, the black-haired dude in the Ionian Hetairoi is my favourite, even if only because he looks like Waver (and he’s really easy to spot, to boot).

Why is this in first person??? I’ve dropped entire shows based on their usage of 1st person cam! Room Mate and Makura no Danshi basically scarred me for life on that front…and both of those are TV shorts!

Hey, wait a second. This “use a quote on the titlecard” thing is clearly an Ei Aoki sort of thing to do. I mean, it’s in ID: Invaded as well…

Waver 2

*new blonde girl appears* - So this is the rumoured Animusphere girl (Mary), huh?

Bounded field, huh? I’m glad I chose to watch F/Z before this, then. Now I actually understand the (rough) mechanics of how that works.

There’s assassins and then there’s Assassins…*thinks about the Holy Grail War*

As it turns out, astromancy is basically astrology.

The one thing that bugs me about “Modern Magecraft” (there’s a similar concept of New Magic in Mairimashita! Iruma-kun) is…how is the magic “modern”…? Especially in a work like this, where the magic is based in arcane rituals and bloodlines…you really need to establish how the “modern” bit works.

Gray is facing away from the Animusphere girl (Mary), I noticed.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes – Basically, the fact I’ve memorised this quote is one of the lingering impacts of my time in the Detective Conan fandom, as it can be used on things like quizzes, not just mysteries.

Can we please use proper English, Waver??? (Says me to a character whose name I still find nonsensical enough to not be proper English.) As I said previously, “whydunit” is modus operandi or motive…the new bit is “howdunit”, which would be the method.

I do believe the geocentric model was overthrown by people like Kepler.

Gray kind of looks like Saber with that hairstyle, come to think of it.

With the way Gray hides herself under that hood, it’s no mystery as to why guys love her…at least, I know ThatRandomEditor does. Of course, I’m heavily neutral on the whole affair because I don’t swing that way, but…you know…

LEMPC seems to stand for “Lord El-Melloi Production Committee”, if I’m guessing right.

I seem to remember there was a quote somewhere that said the only constant in this world was change…hmm.

Waver 3

They seem to keep calling Japan “the Far East” (or at least, Japan is part of the Far East). That’s a pretty antiquated term for a supposedly “modern” magic anime. I get vaguely peeved by the term “the Far East” because it causes people to take an oriental viewpoint on things and thus it’s kind of like people from the Anglosphere looking down on Asians. (I also get vaguely peeved by the term “Westerners” for much the same reason and “Caucasians” because it implies all people of the Anglosphere come from the Caucasus, which is false…then again, these niggles are specific to international studies, so I have a vested interest in explaining them.)

…Wow, that star-eyepatch girl is…really something, to be thirsty specifically for Waver’s Iron Claw. (Then again, with my weird tastes in things, who am I to critique her?)

Flitz von Erich. I was surprised to learn this guy actually exists…on Wikipedia, at the very least.

“Any lady should know about wrestling.” – I disagree, Luvia.

Blue furry electrical creature…I dunno how the zoology in this show works, but the fantasy series I’m reading as of the time I was typing this comment has a blue creature called a Raiju (literally “thunder beast” in Japanese, so it would suit the “Thunder” in the episode title). If it’s anything like that, I’d laugh myself silly.

This girl on the poster seems to be called Flan Noir (or something similar).

“…yellow, round, fluffy-smelling…” – What? Svin, you have no right to call a girl those words!

When is this series set if people don’t have phones as a standard? *Googles* Okay, if F/SN is set in 2004, then F/Z is 1994. That would make sense, actually. The internet as we know it was first used in 1995 and didn’t become widespread for home use until a few years later, as I remember having computers in 2004 (albeit the blocky ones with the dial-up).

I was looking at images for the source material and I think I know why I like Waver (aside from the fact he has long hair). Normally I like the boys whose appearances are hard to get right, such as En…Waver in the novels and manga for this series sometimes looks grumpy, sometimes he looks constipated and worst of all, sometimes he looks like Snape with a hook nose.

Okay, so I googled Caules to figure out who his sister was…and I got Apocrypha spoilers. See, his sister is Fiore, who is apparently in that series.

The videos got encoded funny again…

There seems to be a mystery around why Svin and Gray can’t be together…well, one deeper than just “Svin is gaga for Gray [for reasons we don’t know at this point in time]”.

Ha, the El-Melloi Class is basically just the Misfit Class from Mairimashita! Iruma-kun.

“Only the flesh was bitten off.”  

This Jupiter gibberish, I assume, is drawing upon the mythology of Jupiter – that is, Zeus – as the god of thunder and king of the gods (thus presiding over living beings).

The English is good on the bill, bar a space between “Mystics of magecraft”.

Norwich is apparently a “faculty” which the Modern Magecraft Theories guys – i.e. Waver – rule over.

Can you imagine Waver swearing? Since I had the volume off, I basically made him say “…if Sir Gueldoa had resorted to brute force, we would’ve been f***ed” in my head…and that was hilarious.

Aw, thanks 7Mononoke. “A cowardly thief sneaks away in the night. If you stride away, bursting with song, you are a conquering king.” That’s a quote from Rider himself.

So the Association has set positions for Masters in the War? Geesh…that must be hard on Waver to find out they’re closed, considering how much Waver pines for Rider.

Waver 4

I finally got the chance to listen to the ED last ep and now it’s the OP I can hear properly. This OP isn’t particularly impressive, considering it’s an instrumental (instrumentals always seem to have less impact for me unless I’m looking for something to chill to), but it does capture the London-esque spirit of the setting very well.

What’s up with this metal (?) maid off to the side, anyway?

“Good thinking to leave the door open…” – For some reason, even though it’s a completely different and much more benign context, this made me think of KyoAni and my heart sunk.  

Atrum Galliasta…I hate that man. He may look hot, but he was nothing but a b*stard to Medea.

Bolo ties…nrgh…Basically, ever since Arima wore a bolo tie, I’ve become fairly bugged by them. That’s why Bram’s bugs me.

Aw, Waver, buddy, plase don’t sacrifice yourself again. I read on the wiki you become a Servant’s vessel (specifically for Zhu Ge Liang), so keep your hopes up.

I’m seriously feeling ID: Invaded vibes from this episode, what with the lightning.

I suspect a locked room murder is going to happen soon, knowing the genre. Either that or some other crime.

Considering Fate/ was an eroge-based thing initially, these sex jokes…there’s probably plenty of them out there.

Well, it seems this series only makes sense in that non-Detective Conan way, i.e. you want to know how it all comes together and can’t necessarily figure it out for yourself until you know how the magic works. I’m randomly going to guess this is more Jupiter-based stuff and call it a day on that front.

Seriously, I never got what was up with nightgowns (or just pyjamas in general) having hats. You don’t need protection for your head at night…that’s what pillows are for, yeah? (The only reason I see a hat-like thing working with nightwear is a onesie and that’s meant to be part of the inherent appeal of the thing.)

Waver 5

I feel like Adashino is meant to be an Irene Adler-type figure…

“Peaceful Fairys” (sic)

Where did Kairi’s scar come from…?

The Black Dog was in Mahoutsukai no Yome as well, but this one looks a lot less inviting, huh?

It seems, like the name Rail Zeppelin implies (as “Demon Eyes Collection Train”), most of the people involved in this case have Magic Eyes (or whatever they’re actually called). I wouldn’t be surprised if Kairi had them as well, considering he’s wearing dark glasses in the middle of a thunderstorm.

“King Arthur is a dude, right?” - *laughs madly* They finally managed to parody their own bulls***! (Well, I’m not counting Carnival Phantasm or whatever else because this is the first time they threw a meta joke in there in the whole of this project, as far as I can remember.)  

Trimmau seems to be the maid’s name…huh. They never mentioned that earlier, I don’t think.

So what’s the difference between Fairy Eyes and Mystic Eyes?

Wait, does that even work…? The entire house is the murder weapon? That’s basically breaking the “secret passageway” thing on a larger scale.

So what’s Trevor’s motive…?

The dogs running towards the Workshop reminded me of the Hunger Games for some reason…must be the climax.

That fairy isn’t emoting much…

Oh cra-Wills is going to sacrifice himself, like Adashino was going to do! That’s the second time I’ve seen that in 2 days (the first was in the Hypnosis Mic manga about the Dirty Dawg).

Uh…Waver’s not particularly fit or fast, is he…?

Can you be paid for your case if your client is essentially dead…?

Adra? I read around and Adra seems to be a way to spell the location (or whatever it is) in the first case…which got adapted into a stage play, but not an anime. That’s probably what he’s (Waver) referring to.

Notably, the title is translated to “lance” but yari means spear…

Waver 6

I seriously wanna slap that pink-haired girl…Update: Her name is Yvette.

This is basically Gray fanservice…

If Gray = Saber and Saber =King Arthur…hmm…does it count as a girl’s party?

Homeland? Since Britain is Saber’s (aka Gray’s) home country, I think they meant “hometown”…I’d hav to listen to the Japanese to make sure, though.

I still think Waver is a stupid, or at the very least false, name for a boy, especially if he did come from Britain. That’s basically my one limitation on him as a husbando.

The red bit of the eyecatch was shapd like an eye…it did catch eyes in a sense, after all.

So Trimmau is sustained by magic.

Locked-room…or rather, bounded field…mystery time!

Luvia did mention wrestling in another episode…

I had to google that, but the Separation Castle is from the Adra case mentioned in episode 5. No wonder I don’t remember it…

“Are you suggesting there were faults…” (from Luvia) - Ooh, I was thinking the perpetrator was caught inside their own bounded field or maybe it was an outsider, but that works too, Reines.

Add calld Luvia out for her extravagance, LOL.

Catch-as-catch-can appears to be “no-holds-barred fighting”, particularly wrestling.

That case was both informative and possibly solveable by the audience. Both good qualities for a mystery.

If you summon the spirit again, is it the same Rider with the same memories? Or can you summon a different version of the same Rider with amnesia, much like Rin did with Archer? Update: Oh yeah, I did read this on the wiki at one point but then forgot about it. The next episode (7) confirms that Rider wouldn’t remember Waver if he were summoned again.

Waver 7

…C’mon, admit it, show. The glasses are not only there for plot reasons but to up Waver’s status as megane boy for the rest of this case. Not that I mind – I actually really like megane boys, but I’m nowhere near the love of Meganebu – but in the case of plausibility, I wanna poke holes into it.

Auction for which Mystic Eyes now…?

There’s a guy…with an elephant head…I know I shouldn’t be bugged by it, but I need the MST3K mantra right now.

This is gonna be a Murder on the Orient Express thing, isn’t it? All cases set on trains seem to take cues or make homage to it. (I may not be that proficient on Christie in comparison to Holmes, since Holmes was Conan’s inspiration, but Murder on the Orient Express I have read and I did secure an anthology of 4 Christie novels at one point specifically so that I could improve in this area.)

The main series never explained the bad blood between the Church and the Tower, did they…?

*sweatdrop* Let me guess…when Yvette mentions “multiplay”, she means a threesome, right?

How do anime people see out of those blindfold thing, anyway??? (Or is it that Leandra has Mystic Eyes that were sold off or otherwise tampered with?)

I believe the word is “palate”, Kairi (or subbers).

Anime characters being bagworms with their blankets is always appealing, no matter the gender. It’s funny and/or relatable, after all.

Does Gray get motion sickness…? Update: Seems I spoke about a minute too soon. She does.

Waver 8

How does Waver know that Adashino got the documents about the train? Is it because she was in all those places at all those times and he connected the dots?

This lady has heterochromia. Specifically, one is brown and the other is blue or green.

Hmm? I thought the character design was familiar for this. As it turns out, Jun Nakai (who did the character design for this) also did Gate’s, which explains it.

Dionysus is the Greek god of wine, IIRC. Hephaestion is, as (s)he explained, the confidante of Alexander the Great (had to google this one).

It’s hard to see before the brightly-lit scene where Olga reappears, but as shown, Waver seems to have cut off part of his forelocks on the left side.

What’s an Odo???...ooh, fanservice…*ogles*

The summoning of Hephaestion and Trisha’s murder may or may not be related…we just don’t know how, yet.

I think a Detective Conan Murder on the Orient Express-style mystery would be a good video ga-*googles* There’s at least one of them out there already (albeit only in Japan)...namely, this one. Spoke too soon.

Oh yeah…this is Olga’s new room, isn’t it? I almost forgot about that.

Update: I think this look at the Adra Separation Castle case is interesting. It’s similar to posts I would write, but done by a professional – namely Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku and Anime News Network.

Waver 9

So if there’s a Servant…you have to find the Master.

Olga reminds me of Reines…kind of.

LOL, whoever thought of a zombie cooking show…?

This series really goes all-in on the zombies and the fake-outs thereof, huh? Dangit, Melvin, don’t scare us.

Melvin has a really odd relationship with Waver, huh? If you’re really insisting you’re “the only person to ever be able to hurt Waver”, I don’t quite see how you guys can be friends in the normal sense of the word.

Why would someone have a violin at a time like this…?

Interestingly, they don’t bother to do any fanservice of Caules. That scene with Gray and Yvette was fanservice for those who like them, but the only guy who’s getting to do any fanservice in this series is Waver himself…(what with him being naked and knocked out right now.)

“Sibyl” seems to be a synonym for “virgin”…(*whispers “Awkward…”*)

Update: After reading some of Marth’s posts on this series, I’m inclined to call this “Murders on a Train (with an Exploding Helicopter for Good Measure)”.

Waver 10

For some reason, there’s episode 0 – 9, then 11 – 13 on the service I’m using. Where’s 10?

I think Waver’s relationship with Rider is interesting because of the way I think of relationships myself. Waver has made it clear that he wants to see Rider again so he can basically prostrate at his feet all over again (and maybe win a wish and/or see Oceanus while they’re at it), but – hey, hear this! - I used to believe, when I was still an impressionable kid, all relationships, whether they be between friends, family or even lovers, lasted roughly in the same state basically forever (as in, friends stay friends forever, they’ll never be so far apart that they can’t kep their relationship alive etc. etc.)…Obviously, I was wrong and arguably, this change in thinking, plus the related changes in technology, are where my ability to fleetingly but passionate love both 2D boys and the series they come from comes from.

Wait, so the Child of Einasshe (sp?) is the forest, yeah? I don’t think I got that 100% straight.

I never thought the shield form of a Mystic Code could be used for snowboarding down a mountain/hill…whatever Gray just went down. I didn’t even know Add had a shield form, for that matter.

“[U]sual individual” – LOL. What a way to refer to Waver.

“Wait a minute!” – I’m just imagining Phoenix Wright all of a sudden. A Waver legal mystery series would be boring as all get out – I’m far less interested in the courtroom versions of mysteries and more interested in how the pieces fit together. (Update: Then again, I am a person who likes the action genre and courtroom mysteries don’t have much of that, which might also explain my choice.)

“…lacking the element of motive to begin with.” – Well, Waver’s not wrong…

I’m observing this apple and noticing someone skimped on the detail around the stem. Does anyone still remember Art Academy for the DS? After looking at some promo material for it, I basically learnt how to draw a proper apple (and nothing else, really). If an apple is just drawn as a circle, it doesn’t quite look like an apple up close. (Two of the main things I screw up on when drawing are perception and the colour of highlights, both of which are covered in something like an apple stem and the related indent.)

Oh goodness…I was hoping Karabo would keep his vision (or actual eyeballs)…but that’s gruesome.

I’m guessing, based on the wheelchair, that Waver’s still paralysed or otherwise not able to move around like normal. Update: Spoke too soon.

Someone encoded the video funny again…

Waver 11

What was that crossword thing…? A warding spell of some sort?

Is that an owl in the back?!

Stealth fighter…Rider wanted on, didn’t he?

Every time he appears on screen now, I basically curse Melvin. He’s entertaining to watch, sure, but he’s annoyingly prodigal (= wasteful). He’s basically Dice from HypMic at this stage (aka he’s the sort of person who’d bet away his own clothes, given the chance and incentive).

Look at the way Waver’s hair drags behind him as he walks…it’s gorgeous…

“Residual Image” (as translated in the title) is literally “the left-over image” (zanzou). Not surprising, but I find the exact combo of characters used interesting since it could be short for “nokoru eizou” (where the nokoru’s character is read as zan in the combo, as you can guess).    

Waver 12

Wow…this series really pulled something out of its butt this time, huh? “The guy without a heart”…no viewer would’ve known that actually referred to a character called Dr Heartless unless they knew of his existence somehow (the closest they would’ve been was having an inkling that this pointed to a name of the culprit).

There is an owl in the back of the auction room!

Ay? So what the heck is Pandemonium in this case?

“dotard” – Turns out this means “an old person, especially one who has become physically weak or whose mental faculties have declined.” You can’t say I don’t enrich my vocbulary through watching anime, huh?

I’m still wondering…why adapt case 7 of this series (Rail Zeppelin)? Why not case 1 (Adra)? Update: I don’t know where I pulled the number 7 from, since this is volume 4 – 5 of the series. Apparently some of the cases were anime-original though.

Waver 13 (FINAL)

Oh, Flat, you stupid…

Waver’s exasperated faces are great. No wonder Reines likes to toy with him…

I can assume Rail Zeppelin is a Ghost Liner, yes?

Can I guess that Adashino ~likes~ Waver…? Update: Turns out that’s not quite the case.

Ooh, Waver without his shirt is se-okay, I’m getting distracted. Seriously though, Waver never showed his Crest in F/Z. I never even knew what it looked like until now! The fact it’s such a simple design in comparison to his Command Seals is…kinda underwhelming, really.

I think there’s a bit of a pattern between Jakurai (from HypMic) and Waver…namely, they suck when it comes to drinking. (Also, of course, the long hair. Don’t forget it, never forget it.)

Shut up, Add!

For some reason, I felt like a lot of that last part, while getting closure for Waver, it almost had connotations of “I’ll meet you on the other side, Rider”…so it felt kind of sad, to be honest. That talk between Reines and Olga I don’t think I’d understand without Apocrypha and Grand Order, but I guess that’s to be expected in such a huge franchise. Anyways, moving right along!

Illya 1

I’ve been a bit worried about what I’ll have to subject myself to for the sake of Magical Girls…

Was that…Taiga?

Who’s Liz…?

Okusama, huh? (Okusama = someone’s wife, although it seems to be used in the plural here since I don’t think Kiritsugu and/or Iri are dead in this timeline.)

The subs I’ve got say Shiro is adopted here too (when it’s not in the Japanese), although I wonder exactly how much of UBW is going to be true in this anime…

Hmm…a bit of digging reveals Luvia’s not a Master. So throwing out Lancer is really just a joke on how Lancer gets roasted early on in Grail Wars, right?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…squick, much…(Thank goodness the source I was using edited out the loli fanservice, so I can tolerate this series a lot more…but still, suggesting you have a romance with your step-brother, even if it’s known you’re not related from the beginning, is…you already know my feelings on that, based on my reaction. Shiro is, what, 15? About twice Illya’s age!) Update: Okay, so he has no confirmed age in Prisma Illya, but he’s 17 in F/SN so I’d assum the same or similar, seeing as he attends the same school. It’s fine if it’s platonic, but this is clearly an Onii-chan, daisuki! thing the likes of which Oreimo throws down! Thank you for calling it out though, Ruby.

Oh my gosh, this looks like the Rhongomynaid (Detective Waver) and Excalibur (or whatever Saber’s Noble Phantasm is called) summoning beam! LOL!

Ruby, you lech! Don’t go praising the angles! *shakes fist* (Seriously, what if magical girl mascots were paedophiles…? *blank face* Welp, considering what’s out there on the internet, I wouldn’t be surprised if a hentai or something had such a concept.)

Hmm? Turns out the word for Servant means something like “celestial hero”. Makes sense.

Nice callback to Saber and Shiro!

Illya 2

I thought Illya would say that her parents are dead…turns out the show’s not that grimdark (to the point where it wouldn’t set the show after Kiritsugu and Iri’s deaths), huh?

Do the sticks have a gender? The subs said “she” for Ruby…

LOL, it’s Rider. I thought Lancer was gonna get his butt kicked all over again (thinking more along the lines of CCS).

It’s Gay Bul-I mean, Gae Bolg! (I’ve been reading TV Tropes again…can you tell?)

This episode was pretty pedestrian. I like it more than the first one.

What’s up with the CGI…?

Oh! Bunbun, who does Yuki Yuna! Update: They only did the illustrations for some of the series. They also did SAO illustrations, although that’s of less significance to me.

Illya 3

The sticks do have genders!!! That’s like claiming Jesus for kakera with Mudae! (Yes, that’s possible. I got him in one server.)

The power of fujoshi…is amazing! How did it get to a girl who’s so young?!

These angles are a bit disturbing…

“Casao”, LOL.

Magical girl nakama, huh?

Illya 4

MST3K mantra!

Whose quote is that again…? “Don’t think, imagine”? Update: It turns out to not be anyone’s quote at all, if Google results are to be believed.

Uh-oh! Saber Alter!

Illya 5

Padding the episode already…?

The mist is a quality of a Berserker, right?

Geez the angles piss me off…

These sticks have brains???

Can you call it teamwork if they’re always complaining about each other?

Illya 6

More padding…

Illya’s UBW!

Geesh, that last-minute shot of Rin and Luvia popping out of the ground scared me for a bit…

Illya 7

*sigh* It’s the sick episode…

I recognise the vacuum cleaner. I have the same one at home.

*sigh* Random fanservice of elementary school girls. This is what gives anime a bad name.

*Sapphire pulls out a USB port* - Ohhkay, is that stick fanservice, in a sense…? Because that’s awkward too.

Maids went out of fashion years ago…

“Lyrical Radical Genocide” - I think this Lyrical Radical things is parodying Nanoha.

Based on the cloak, it’s an Assassin.

“Listen, if you aren’t careful, you’ll die!” – Yep, because people die when they are killed. I almost missed that meme for a bit.

Illya 8

Illya’s still reeling from Miyu’s talk, huh?

I noticed it said tomoda(chi) in the background at one point.

Does Miyu exist in any of the alternate universes?

Ah, there’s yuujou (friendship) in the background as calligraphy.

I think the video got encoded funny again…

Geez, complaining about boobs? The series got worse…oh, I forgot Shiro was around in this series.

…who’s left? There’s been Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Caster and…who? Berserker, that’s who.

Illya 9

Ohhhhhhhh brother, not more bath scenes…

Iri looks almost exactly like she does in the Eiznbern Consultation Rooms! (I found those around and watched them today.)

Thank goodness the fanservice is censored…

I never realised Berseker had heterochromia until now…

One thing that I assume makes Saber’s outfit look nice to thos that like girls is the window in the top…but it goes to waste on Miyu, LOL.

I find it interesting Illya has all these concerns – the ones (or similar ones) Iri harbourd in F/Z.

Hey, the bridge! This is the bridge where Rider dies inn F/Z, yeah?

The ED looks different this time…  

Illya 10 (FINAL)

E-Eep…loli fanservice…

Now Miyu is basically what Waver is to Rider, no doubt about it.

Bulls***! Speak of the devil! I was wondering what Waver looked like in the Illya style, because I read on the wiki he makes a cameo in season 2, and…here he is. Didn’t expect him in season 1, though.

Another new ED animation. I find it interesting they’ve never once had to recast any VAs throughout the entire existence of Fate/ anime…not that I know of, anyway.

Hiroyama Hiroshi is the original Illya creator.

Okay, that’s the end of one season. I feel kind of fatigued since I finished the Eiznbern Consultation Rooms today as well, so I’m going to take a break from watching more Illya until it’s necessary to watch again in a few posts’ time.

Now that they’ve collected the cards, I’m wondering what the series intends to do next…

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 1

They clearly skimped on the budget when Shiro was leaving the house…

I keep forgetting Illya is meant to be German…

That bad English…is actually there in the ep. title…

Oh great…schoolgirls talking about erotic swimsuits…

This s*** is what you call “Class-S”! I have no interest in it, because I don’t swing that way! (Sorry, yuri fans…)

The problem with series that aren’t 100% made with you in mind is that your favourite characters might look ugly…that’s especially the case with En, Jakurai and Waver.

Ryudou Temple, eh? Let’s hope Assassin still looks good.

I don’t think I’ve seen that before…namely, being able to hear what’s going on outside the transformation while it’s happening.

Now this 2 Illyas thing…this is new, alright.

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 2

LOL, what a horoscope.

Truck-kun! I don’t think Illya would make a good isekai protag, come to think of it.

Who is this nurse? I feel like she’s from some other part of the Nasuverse… Update: My guess was right. That’s Caren Hortensia, protagonist of Fate/hollow ataraxia and Kirei’s…uh, daughter. I know he had a wife. We never met said wife, but seeing the daughter really drove that fact home.  

Uhhhhhhhh…okay, now the lesbian loli scene just made things go off a cliff for me. I’m not against lesbians or yuri – to each their own – but that scene was clearly meant to be pleasing to a certain audience.

How does anyone kill anything gently…?

Ohhhhhhkay, strike 2 for loli fanservice.

I seem to remember…that’s right, Alice from the [something] no Kuni no Alice series was evaluated on her coffee-making skills (by Julius, I think it was). That’s why I’m thinking of Alice when I see Luvia praising Miyu on something similar.

Wa-hey! It’s Rin’s Azoth dagger!

Well, the mechanics of the transformation are also something you have to think about. I’ll give the show kudos for that.  

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 3

Can we not with the whole “Onii-chan, daisuki!” thing?! That’s it! That’s the last straw! I’m finishing this episode and aborting early so that I can preserve my dignity…and get some proper sleep for once.

The fact Miyu thinks Shiro resembles her brother must not be a coincidence…(I’ve become far too Fate/ savvy, haven’t I?) Update: It seems I was right. Apparently, Miyu was taken in by Kiritsugu in a certain universe, but apparently this is a bunch of spoilers.

Genki na aisatsu was in the back.

This is just getting worse and worse…

So now Kuro’s name is Kuroe (Chloe), huh? Anyways, good riddance, loli fanservice! So long! I won’t miss you one bit!

[komorebirei]

The Water Was Never Afraid - Chapter 18: Foster

(AO3)

Adrien raked a hand through his hair, feeling the heat rise from his scalp, and surveyed the room. He could have asked the staff for help, but this was a labor of love.

He had just finished relocating all the storage boxes, and the room was finally clear of junk, leaving only furniture. The walls didn’t look right, though. They were painted in shades of blue, and while his mother loved blue… the feeling wasn’t right. Blue was a sad color.

“Plagg… what color should I paint the walls?”

“I don’t know, kid. The only colors I care about are black, and cheese.” The kwami floated in front of Adrien’s face, nibbling on his ever-present wedge of Camembert. “Why don’t you ask your designer girlfriend?—Oh, yeah! She’s not your girlfriend, because you’re a spineless scaredy-cat who couldn’t say no to a pretty face.”

Adrien scowled, despite the butterflies in his stomach that accompanied the teasing mention of Marinette as his girlfriend. “Plagg, can you drop it already? I already told you why I couldn’t go through with it.”

“Yeah, yeah. You didn’t want to hurt her. Well, guess what, kid? Breakups hurt, so unless you’re okay with hurting her, you better get used to the idea of marrying sword girl.”

“That wasn’t all, Plagg.” Adrien took out his phone to make note of what to purchase for the room. He paused before jotting anything down, stuck on the Kagami train of thought. “Didn’t you hear what she was saying? If I had broken up with her last night, she would have taken it the wrong way, and I would have lost her completely—even as a friend. She made it seem like, if I broke up with her, it would mean I couldn’t stand her, or didn’t care about her. None of that is true.”

“Isn’t it normal to stop being friends when you humans break up?”

“Where did you learn that? TV?”

“C’mon, kid, you’re not my first Chat Noir. I know I don’t usually give you love advice, but I feel so bad for you that I’m actually trying to share my infinite wisdom with you.” Plagg lunged at Adrien’s hair and tousled his bangs affectionately, earning a chuckle out of the blond.

“Maybe you’re right,” Adrien admitted, “but I don’t want it to be like that. Kagami is really important to me. I might see and talk to a lot of people every day, but I’m not close to anyone except her… and Marinette.” Pain shot through his chest at the mention of the latter, because how close were they really, when he couldn’t spend time with her without a mask? “And my father and Nathalie I guess, but they don’t count as ‘friends’…”

The fact that he could list four people didn’t make him feel much better about the situation. He realized he missed Nino and resolved to give him a call later.

Now, though, he had something to do, and a limited amount of time in which to accomplish it. He tried to wrestle his mind back onto the task at hand instead of waiting for Plagg to respond.

There was a good bookshelf, but the rest of the furniture wasn’t suitable. He’d move it out next time.

Desk.

Comfortable armchair.

Laptop.

Webcam.

Decorations??

Adrien pressed his index knuckle into his bottom lip, narrowing his eyes at his phone screen. What kind of decorations? Paintings? Flowers? This was not his forte. He’d have to hit up Pinterest later.

Plagg interrupted his deliberations. “So, what are you gonna do now?”

“Now?” Adrien paused to carefully consider his answer. “Now, I need to make sure Kagami understands that I do care about her, regardless of whether I want to be her boyfriend. I can't just dump her coldly without caring how things turn out between us. Her friendship is most important to me.”

“More important than bakery girl?”

“… I don’t know, Plagg.” He sighed wistfully, heart twisting with longing. “I love her, but things are complicated between us. Kagami, on the other hand—it’s not just hypothetical with her. We have something real, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to just… be alone…” His voice died down to a mumble as he finished the thought.

“You’ll never be alone.” Plagg tunneled in his collar and gave him a nuzzle. “I’m here! Don’t I count?” His playful, toothy grin faded when Adrien didn’t respond. “Hey, cheer up, kid. So you’re gonna find a way to break up with her without losing her as a friend?”

Adrien sighed, frustrated to be forced to air out the thoughts that had been tormenting him nonstop for the past day—well, no, even longer than that, since he’d started to realize how he felt about Marinette. “Yes? But also, I don’t know. I like Kagami, and I enjoy her company. I like what we have. We actually have a relationship. Maybe I’m being unfair.”

“Unfair? How?”

“Maybe it’s not right for me to love Marinette. Maybe I should try to make things work with Kagami. What she was saying made sense.”

Still inside Adrien’s collar, Plagg poked him in the neck with a very sharp claw.

“Ow! What was that for?!”

“You’re being an idiot. Don’t listen to sword girl, she was just saying things to make you stay. She knows you don’t hate her, and you don’t have to stay with someone you’re not in love with.”

Adrien bit his lip and scrunched his brow. “Right. I’m not in love with her.” He could feel tears of frustration starting to well up. “Plagg, you know this is my first ever relationship, right? I don’t know how things are supposed to work. When I started dating her, I figured since I like her and all, I could end up falling for her eventually. But then—Marinette.” With a lovesick sigh, he sank into a rocking chair that was sitting haphazardly in the middle of the floor.

“Why are you confused, kid? You seem pretty sure you’re in love with bakery girl.”

“That’s the thing, Plagg… I only realized last week that I was in love with Marinette.” His cheeks burned as he said the words. “I mean, I don’t know. She was always special, but… if I loved her before, I didn’t think of it that way. It’s all still… really new, and I—what is love, anyway?”

“Don’t get all philosophical on me, kid.”

“I mean, the way she makes me feel—I think I love her. But maybe I need to get to know her better first before I make any rash decisions?”

“So you’re gonna keep visiting her as Chat Noir?”

“I—uh—yeah?” Adrien looked at his kwami. “Is… that weird?”

“Kid.” Plagg stopped right in front of his charge, arms crossed, and Adrien wrinkled his nose as a puff of cheesy breath hit his nostrils. “You’re not free to date her as Adrien, so you’re catfishing her as Chat Noir. How is that not weird?”

“Catfishing?! What the heck, Plagg?” Adrien swatted at his kwami, who nonchalantly phased through his hand.

“Face it, kid. That’s what you’re doing.”

Adrien glared at Plagg. “You’re supposed to be supportive. Anyway, it’s not like I’m going to try to woo her or anything. I just want to be friends and get to know her… and, you know, be sure that I love her.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I mean…” Adrien fished for words to explain what he was feeling. “I feel like I have a huge crush on her, and I’m intrigued by her, but I don’t know if that’s love, you know? We just started talking again after four years. And she doesn’t even know it’s me.” His face fell miserably.

Plagg shrugged. “Fair enough. Good point.”

“Plus, Kagami was right. We couldn’t be together now, anyway… maybe not even for a few years until she establishes her career on her own. The last thing I’d want is to put a mark on her reputation, and it’s just naïve to think that I can get away with doing whatever I want. I just feel like I need to be more mature about this before I start messing everything up. I mean, look where running after Ladybug for eight years got me.”

“Yeah, nowhere,” Plagg drawled, obnoxiously voicing what was implied. “And then, a rebound relationship.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Thanks for your insight, Plagg. My point is, I don’t know if I’m ready to start pining after someone I can’t have again. This is really starting to feel like Ladybug all over again…”

A miniscule frown crossed Plagg’s face. “Okay, so apparently, you have put some thought into this. But why don’t you just get to know her as Adrien?”

Adrien shook his head emphatically. “Too risky.”

“What’s the risk?”

Adrien frowned, thinking. “I don’t want to draw any unwanted attention to her, that’s all. Especially when I’m still officially with Kagami. I wouldn’t even be able to have a conversation with her without people noticing. There’s no reason for me to be hanging around the studios talking to the interns. People love to gossip at the office, and all it takes is one picture from a mobile phone or one stray rumor to have this blow up into a huge scandal that could ruin her career.” He shuddered at the thought. “No way, I can’t do that to her.”

Plagg circled his charge, inspecting him in a way that reminded Adrien the kwami was thousands of years old. “Alright, kid. I get it.”

“Thanks for understanding me, Plagg,” Adrien smiled wryly. He checked his phone for the time, and cursed, springing to his feet. “Twenty minutes until Nathalie and Father get back from the opera. Help me move these books.”

—

“Y’know, kid… I just remembered something very interesting…”

Adrien brought a forkful of baked lemon-butter salmon and spinach to his mouth and raised an eyebrow at Plagg.

“Didn’t bakery girl have a crush on Chat Noir in collège?”

Adrien momentarily forgot to chew as he realized this was true. Not that he had forgotten, but the physically taxing akuma battle loomed so much larger in his memory, it had practically slipped his mind that Marinette had technically confessed to him.

“What if she still likes you? Wouldn’t it be a bad idea to be visiting her as Chat Noir?” Plagg landed on Adrien’s knife. “Things could get messy.”

“Plagg, I don’t know where your little rump has been. Get off my silverware.”

“Kwamis are always clean,” Plagg preened, refusing to get up. “You’re avoiding the issue.”

“No I’m not, because it’s a non-issue. There’s no way Marinette would hold onto a crush on a superhero for eight years.”

“Right, because no one has a crush on a superhero for eight years.” Plagg leered at Adrien.

Adrien grabbed the knife, but Plagg remained sitting in the same spot in the air, his little legs crossed. “There’s no comparison. Ladybug is my partner, and I see her regularly.”

Plagg stifled a laugh, and Adrien shot him a look. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing, kid. So you’re still going to visit her?”

“Of course! How else am I going to be sure if I’m doing the right thing? I told you, I can’t talk to her at the office. Get off my case.”

Plagg held up his paws. “All right, all right, kid. Ignore this gentle warning from a wise and ancient being.”

“Yeah, a wise and ancient being who caused the destruction of the entire living population of the earth and several ancient civilizations. I’m soooo going to regret not taking your advice.” Adrien rolled his eyes and took another bite.

—

As if unable to resist the inexorable pull of the undertow, Chat Noir found himself on that same, sturdy branch again, gazing longingly at Marinette’s French doors. He didn’t throw anything this time. Just a few more seconds of harmless pining, and he’d leave.

Just as he was detaching his staff to vault away, the door clicked and slid open. Marinette peeked out, her hair loose and a little tousled, cheeks pink. When she spotted Chat Noir, she smirked, tucking her hair behind an ear. “So you were out here. Hey, Minou.”

“Hey, Princess.” He managed a weak smile, feeling caught red-handed and unsure how to act around her. He couldn’t help but stare at how charming she looked, her bluebell eyes looking even bluer in contrast to her flushed cheeks, framed prettily by her bangs. “How did you know?”

Marinette shrugged and grinned. “Spidey senses?”

“You would look good in red spandex,” Chat blurted out before he could stop himself.

He mentally cursed and kicked himself. It was bad enough to be visiting her and talking to her. No. More. Flirting.

Meanwhile, Marinette was cracking up. She wiped tears from her eyes.

Chat pouted, from the depths of his self-torment. “It wasn’t that funny.”

“Sorry, Chaton.” Calming down, she fully emerged from the doors and, shutting them behind her, came to sit at her bamboo table. She was dressed in baggy sweatpants and a form-fitting black tank top. She must have seen him look down and added, “Don’t judge my outfit, I was doing a dance workout. Aren’t you coming?”

His heart thumped at the invitation, but he shook his head. “I shouldn’t, Princess. I just happened to be passing by and thought of saying hello.”

“… Okay.”

He didn’t have to leave right away, though. The air was still, and they were talking comfortably despite the slight distance. “How was your day, Princess?”

“Oh, it was okay. A little stressful.”

“What happened?”

“It’s been tense at the office since yesterday. We were waiting for a release and never got it, so everyone’s griping about how we’re not going to meet our deadlines.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I think it’ll all be fine. Everyone just loves a reason to complain.” She rolled her eyes.

“It’s nice that you can be positive about it.” Chat looked at her adoringly. “I hope things settle down soon.”

Marinette smiled ruefully. “The one I really feel bad for is Gabriel Agreste’s son.”

Chat’s eyes widened, and he fought a blush at the news that she had been paying attention to him. “Oh? Why?”

“Since he’s so approachable, everyone’s been going off on him about their drama. All things they’d never dare to say to Gabriel, of course. I think he’s handling it beautifully, though.” Her face brightened with a smile.

“… Ah.” Chat didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say, Thank you. He wanted to launch himself at her balcony and tackle her in a hug. He wanted to cry.

He turned his face to avoid her seeing just that.

“Sorry, Princess, I think I’d better go,” he said in a rush, moving toward the trunk of the tree.

Then, he almost lost his balance when the branch bounced unexpectedly.

“Get back here, you! I saw that face.”

As soon as he turned, something hit his forehead with the sound of crinkling plastic. He caught it and looked down, finding a neatly wrapped macaron in a familiar shade of pale orange. “Passion fruit?”

“You’ll love it, Minou. Come tell me what’s wrong,” Marinette’s cajoling voice called out from closer than he expected.

He looked up and nearly screamed when he saw her, knees up on the balcony rail, one foot on a large flower pot to steady herself, one hand gripping the rail and the other outstretched to grasp the branch with her fingertips. She gave it another bounce.

“Get down!” He yelled in terror, afraid to move in case he made the branch tug her hand and throw off her balance. He’d seen Marinette meet too many disastrous fates not to imagine the worst case scenario.

She climbed down gracefully. “Relax, Chaton! I’m fine!” She frowned. “But you’re not. Come on, get down here. I owe you something. I doubt you’re as pressed for time as you make it seem.”

He obliged, ears drooping, wondering what she thought she owed him.

As soon as his boots touched the balcony, Marinette sprang on him, jabbing his ribs with her skinny fingers until he burst out laughing. “Cheer up, Minou! Why the long face?” she giggled, then with two fingers, tickled a spot on his neck that was especially sensitive. He shrieked and grabbed her wrist with his free hand, careful not to scratch or hurt her. Despite her exuberance, she still felt fragile in comparison to his miraculous suit.

Finally, she stopped tickling him and, when he let go of her, slipped her arms under his, embracing him warmly. She lay her ear on his chest and stroked his back with both hands. “I hope you like your hug of the day, Chat Noir. Now you can be on your way, if you feel better.”

Chat Noir sighed, trying not to purr. He was certain she could hear how she was affecting him from his heartbeat alone. He loved this girl. “Do I have to?” he whined, nuzzling his cheek against her hair.

“I’m not kicking you out. You’re the one who wanted to go.” She pulled away and gave him a sidelong glance, her eyes twinkling with teasing charm.

“Who said I wanted to go?” I should, though.

“What made you so sad when I mentioned Adrien?”

She peered at him intently, and his brain groped for a response.

“Why, my Princess,” he bluffed, “purrrhaps this gentlecat wasn’t too happy about you paying attention to another dashing young man.”

He hoped she couldn’t see that he was blushing. He hoped the act was extravagant enough to make her certain he was joking. He hoped she’d be distracted enough not to ask again.

He didn’t expect her to look away, suddenly deflating, and murmur, “Silly Minou. I know you’re joking, but even if you weren’t, you don’t have to worry about Adrien. There’s nothing between us.”

Those words hurt more than he was ready for, so much that his attention skipped over her abrupt change in behavior.

Her words were a harsh reminder that she didn’t really know with whom she was doing all this. These moments on her balcony were inconsequential. He couldn’t build a relationship with her like this. And Adrien couldn’t build a relationship with her now, period. The thought was depressing, and his desire to stay withered.

“Thanks for risking your life to cheer me up, Marinette,” he said with a pained smile, kissing her hand and reveling in the feel of her smooth skin against his lips, since he couldn’t feel anything through his gloves. “Please don’t do that again, though. I really have to go now.”

“Oh. Okay…” Marinette gave him a soft smile as she took her hand back. Did she seem disappointed, or was that his wishful thinking? “See you another time, Chaton?”

“Another time,” he returned, and tore himself away. As he bounded away from her apartment, he caught sight of her small, white face, framed with dark locks, resting on her palm on the balcony as she watched him leave. The most precious sight—her eyes watching him.

He cradled the plastic-wrapped macaron against his chest like a baby bird. He should eat it while it was fresh, but part of him wanted to treasure the gift forever.

Inside him, a bubbling thought warmed and consumed him, resounding in his heart and mind.

I love her.