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mochinek0 · 1 year ago

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Reunion

No one from Françoise Dupont High School expected Marinette Dupain-Cheng to walk into the ten year reunion. As far as they knew, she hadn't been invited. Marinette strode in, with her head held high, and walked right up to Lila Rossi.

"I want to thank you for being such a bitch to me, Lila." Mari smiled, "You changed my life for the better."

"E-Excuse me?" Lila questioned.

'There' no way that forcing her out of school and isolating her gave her an amazing life!'

"That whole shit about telling people what they wanted to hear." Marinette began to explain, "I got really tired of defending myself and being told that I had to 'love you' to make you a better person by the staff. I got tired of being stacked with doing shit for free: all that babysitting I never said I would do, the banners, uniforms, clothes, fundraisers! It was exhausting for a fifteen year old."

Mari smiled, "Once you turned everyone against me, I realized how much free time I had! I signed up for homeschooling and worked extremely hard to graduate early. I even skipped a couple grades. It turned out that my husband's family were huge fans of my designs, so they offered to pay for my schooling if I moved."

"Husband?" Lila asked, concerned, "I didn't realize you had gotten married."

"Yeah." Marinette stated, "We met when I was seventeen and got married when I was nineteen; we have two kids."

Lila looked up and down at her arch-rival. Aside from a growth spurt and a larger chest, Marinette didn't look like she had changed at all. She looked like she was in her early twenties!

"So, thank you for bullying me." Marinette continued with a smile, "It was the best thing that could have happened to me."

Lila stayed silent. She didn't know what to say to that. None of her other victims had ever thanked her. She could feel eyes on them. She knew people were listneing in on their conversation. If she started to make a scene, it wouldn't end well.

"We'll, I'm married too!" Announced Lila.

"Oh, congrats." Marinette smiled, "Where is the lucky person?"

Lila spotted a tall, dark, and handsome man walk into the venue.

"There he is." Lila smiled.

Lila watched as her prey came towards them.

'Just a few more feet and I'll be able grab him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind playing along for a few minutes.'

Lila reached out a hand to grab him, when he put his arm around Marinette's waist and kissed her.

"Hello, Habibiti." he spoke.

"Everything okay without us at the company?" Mari asked.

He sighed, "Yes. It was just Grayson being himself."

Marinette giggled, "I'm sorry, Lila. This is my husband, Damian Wayne. Where were you saying your spouse is?"

Lila plastered a smile on her face, "They just stepped out. They had their cellphone out. It must be an important client. We're both models."

'There's no way she is married to this guy! The sooner she leaves, the sooner I can tell everyone I recognize him as an actor.'

Lila couldn't believe her luck. Adrien had just walked though the doors.

'Marinette was obsessed with him for years! Her fake marriage will be exposed and I can get the guy to stay with me. It doesn’t matter how much she paid him. I'm sure I could pay him more.'

"Marinette!" Adrien shouted.

He was quick to run over and hug her, pulling her away from her husband.

"Agreste, put my wife down." Damian growled.

Adrien turned his attention to Damian and froze.

"Hey, Wayne." He smiled, before looking around, "Where are the kids? Where's my neice and nephew?"

'Kids? They're really married and have kids?'

"They're with my parents, Adrien." Mari answered, "I'm sure they're being fed sugar and will pass out soon."

"So, is that an invite?" the model asked.

"To my parent's place for sweets?" Mrs. Wayne questioned, "You live here! They call me like once a week saying you were at the bakery!"

Adrien chuckled, "No. What about my time with the kids?"

Marinette looked to Damian, who shrugged. She turned to Adrien and shot him a look.

"Tell you what, you can see them in two days." she replied, "A whole day with Uncle Adrien."

'Uncle Adrien?'

"Really?" Adrien cried out, happily.

"But, you got to plan it." she answered.

"Disneyland Paris?" the Agreste heir suggested.

"Fine." Marinette growled, "But if you lose one of my kids, again, I will hurt you."

Adrien glanced towards Damian.

"Adrien, if you think my husband is scarier, just because you have seen his sword collection, you're wrong." Marinette Wayne declared, "You lose one of my children, I will hurt you worse than my husband could ever imagine."

"Got it." Adrien smiled, "Plan awesome VIP experience for the kids!"

"Great!" Mari smiled back.

"Man, you moving really toughened you up." the model winced.

"I punched my brother-in-law the first day there because I thought he grabbed my ass." Mrs. Wayne spoke.

"That is still one of my best days ever. No one has underestimated you since." Damian stated, before kissing her head.

"So, what are you doing here?" Adrien questioned, "Didn't you graduate like two years before us?"

"Oh, I just wanted to thank Lila for bullying me and getting me homeschooled." Marinette smiled, "It sucked that she bullied me, at the time, but if she hadn't done that, I wouldn't be with Damian and we wouldn't have our kids."

Adrien quickly turned to Lila, "Thank you for being a bitch to my best friend. I love my niece and nephew. Marinette, do you think we should get her like a fruit basket or something?"

Mari laughed, "We have dinner plans so we're gonna head out. Enjoy the reunion, Adrien."

Adrien took a step back and eyed Marinette's dress. It was a short black bodycon dress with puffy transparent sleeves. He eyed the black heels, warily.

"Dressed like that?" he questioned.

"Eyes on my wife's face, Agreste." Damian growled.

Adrien rolled his eyes, "She's all yours. I don't think I've ever seen you dressed like this, is all. You think you'll be able to take care of the kids dressed like that?"

Marinette answered, "They are staying with my parents tonight." before walking away.

Adrien watched as Damian placed his hand at Marinette's waist, likely making sure she didn't fall in those heels.

Adrien smiled, evilly, "Hey, Marinette!"

The designer turned to look back at her friend.

"I want another neice or nephew!" he shouted.

Marinette's face morphed from shock to embarassment, before she quickly glared at her best friend. She squeaked as she was quickly lifted into her husband's arms.

"Damian, you put me down!" she snapped at him.

"No." her husband responded.

"Why not?" she growled.

"Adrien won't get his wish if you're in jail for harming him." Damian smirked.

Marinette buried her face in her husband's chest and remained silent.

Adrien laughed as Marinette was carried out of the reunion. Nino walked up to him, confused.

"You….You kept in touch with Mari?" he questioned.

"Of course!" Adrien smiled, brightly, "I helped her with her math sometimes and she talks with Father about designing. She's my best friend."

"Designs?" Rose asked.

"Marinette is a fashion designer in the states." he answered, "Her husband's family runs an international company. She occasionally designs for their clothing line, but they do other stuff, too. Marinette has an office in their building, but she mostly does custom work. I think last year someone asked for a wedding dress. It was around $25,000."

"Seriously?" Alya asked, full of surprise.

"Oh yeah!" Adrien smiled, "She's an amazing deisgner. A lot of her dresses and suits have been coming out on runways and red carpet events."

"You're forgetting that she bullied Lila!" cried Sabrina, "She was mean to her! How can you be friends with her?"

"Actually, it was the other way around." Adrien stated, "Lila once claimed that Mari pushed her, after school, so hard that she injured her knee and was forced to walk home with a limp. I tried to tell you that Marinette couldn't have done it; Marinette had been with me the day before. You told me I was just confused. You never let me speak. You just decided Lila was right."

The class just stared at him.

'Had they really done that? Had they ignored Adrien when he tried to defend Marinette?'

"You never listened to me or Marinette when we told you about Lila being a lying bitch." he shrugged.

"But you're married!" Kim shouted, "How can you choose Marinette over a model?"

"I didn't. I'm bi and dating a male model from my father's company." Adrien announced, "Lila was fired when she was sixteen. Wasn't Lila held back a grade? Why is she even here? You didn't graduate with us or even from this school."

"It was a computer error!" Max spoke up, "Lila said that-

Adrien rolled his eyes, "Her mother called Natalie and declared she was owed a meeting with my father. She said we ruined Lila's future by forcing her to model. She threatened to sue the Gabriel brand until we showed her the 'signatures' on the forms. Turns out, Lila forged those so her mother's hands were tied. Her mother started shouting how she should send her to boot camp, back in Italy, as the left the house."

One by one they turned to look at Lila.

"i-I wanted to see everyone." she whispered, weakly, "I missed my friends."

"Thank for stopping by." Adrien stated, "You can leave now."

"Adrikins!" Chloe shouted.

"Chloe!" Adrien called back, "I missed you. We loved that spa treatment. You're the best!"

Chloe smiled and pulled Adrien away from the rest of the group to socialize with the other students.

"You still talk to that trash?" they heard Chloe ask.

"Rossi?" Adrien questioned, "Nah. You missed Marinette by a couple minutes. She came here and thanked Lila for being a raging bitch. The rest of them were still trying to kiss ass."

"The queen, herself, and I missed it." the Bourgeois heiress teased.

"Date night." Adrien quipped, "She brought Damian and the demon brigade."

"I missed the little ones?" she screeched.

Adrien laughed, "They're with her parents. Better book your time with them before they leave again. Oh, and Mari is already threatening bodily harm if anything happens to them."

"You lost one last time!" Chloe cried.

"I said I was sorry!" Adrien rebutted.

Chloe scoffed, "You're lucky you didn't die that day."

"I know." Adrien sighed, "Would it be weird if I put them on one of those kid leashes? I feel like they would fuck with me and purposely try to get lost to see me sweat, again. Honestly, I don't know if it's a mini Damian or mini Marinette. Don't get me wrong, Damian is frightening and he could probably work in the CIA torture room, but seeing Marinette pissed off, scares the living crap out of me. She's creative and could probably make something specifically to hurt me."

Chloe looked up from her phone, "I bought you the leashes. They'll be here tomorrow. You're welcome."

"Chloe." Adrien replied, "You didn't answer me."

"I was frenemies with her for years, Adrikins." Chloe answered, "Mari will find some way to hurt you and she wouldn't need her godly husband to do it. You have every right to fear for your life for pissing her off. Look at what happened to the idiot brigade: they believed a liar and bullied her. None of their dreams came true. The Waynes own half the companies those idiots wanted to work for. I wouldn't put it past Damian to rat those losers out to his family and have them blacklisted. You have seen how overprotective he is of their kids; he's the same way with her."

"True." Adrine sighed, "He still yells at me when I hug her."

"Idiot." Chloe declared, rolling her eyes.

The class looked at each other before pulling out their phones. They looked up Marinette and the Wayne family. The class shifted nervously as they realized what Chloe had said was true. The Waynes and Marinette owned their jobs. They were all comfortable with their jobs, but they weren't anything to brag about. They had all wanted bigger and better things at thirteen.

None of them were the doctors, rock stars, DJs, journalists, environmentalists, or the Olympians they thought they would be. They worked desk jobs or became something close to what they wanted. Lila knew she would never model again when Gabriel told her that he was going to blacklist her. The Waynes owned everything from food to biolabs to steel to shipbuilding and aerospace. Lila silently left the reunion as everyone came to terms that their dreams ended long ago.

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descendant-of-truth · 26 days ago

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If I may throw my hat into the ring here, I think the source of a lot of problems in the writing of Miraculous can be boiled down to its confusion over its target demographic.

There are two very clear audiences the show is trying to cater to:

Grade school girls around 5-10

Teens/young adults around 15-20

And this results in some. unique conflicts in the show's internal logic.

Because it's a superhero show for little kids, it's full of fun, bright colors, wacky villain-of-the-week designs, and the characters are all very straightforward with exaggerated personality traits. The cheerful, clumsy, scatterbrained girl protagonist, her utterly charming and goofy (but slightly clueless) love interest, her cool best friend, her mean bully, etc.

This extends to the romance; the show is so comedic that Marinette's nervous crush and Cat Noir's flirting are played up for laughs. Their more "problematic" behaviors read as cartoon shenanigans first and foremost, which I do think was the intention - they're both shown as being more than a little ridiculous for acting this way, so they're not exactly trying to encourage people to emulate them. They're allowed to be genuinely wholesome, too, because it's nice to give the kids something to go "aww!" at, but it's not meant to be more complicated or deep than that.

And of course, it's gotta follow a sweet and simple episodic formula! A conflict in Marinette's civilian life, an inciting incident to get a side character upset enough for Hawk Moth to turn into a villain, Ladybug and Cat Noir show up, there's fun banter, Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm to figure out a wacky solution to the problem, and boom! The day is saved, Marinette and/or someone else learns a moral, and we get a cute little end screen showing all the key players of the episode.

The one aspect of the show's setup that's a little more serious is the fact that Adrien has a super controlling and distant father, but even this is something that doesn't necessarily break the kid-friendly tone for the first season or two. Superhero shows in particular like to put in some stuff that's a little more emotionally challenging for the viewers, even when they're mostly comedic, so it's not totally out of place here.

For example, while they tend to have more grounded tones overall, Spider-Man cartoons are aimed at kids and regularly keep the conflict between Harry Osborn and his father, Norman, intact; often including the plot point of Norman being the Green Goblin, a notorious villain. It's a similar deal with Adrien, and his dad secretly being Hawk Moth.

You can easily anticipate drama coming from this, but the show primes you to expect it to work out fine in the end because every other conflict so far has been wrapped up in a nice little bow once the episode's over. Though I will say, the choice to have Hawk Moth be Gabriel instead of his own, separate character is perhaps the first sign of the tone shift to come.

And, uh. it sure is a shift.

See, Miraculous does not start out with what you'd call a... plot. It vaguely alludes to there being more going on behind the scenes, but the only thing it really tries to get you invested in is the Love Square dynamic. Marinette and Adrien dancing around each other while fighting crime IS the plot, and it's clearly going to end with a cool final confrontation with Hawk Moth.

You expect it to end like... well, like the movie. Identities are revealed, Gabriel realizes the error of his ways when he finds out he's been fighting his son this whole time, and they may or may not make up but he almost definitely gets arrested. Marinette and Adrien kiss, roll credits.

This is not what happens, because the plot the writers actually had in mind is complex in a way that I would argue is meant for the same audience as YA novels. And with that plot comes a lot of darker, weightier traits to these otherwise silly characters.

Marinette isn't just scatterbrained and nervous, she has debilitating anxiety and an increasing need to be in control of everything due to the stress she's under. She has panic attacks on-screen. She's not just great at strategizing, she also knows how to manipulate people, and does so with increasing frequency - and to Cat Noir at times, no less. Her positive traits haven't gone anywhere, she's still loving and creative and sweet and doing her best to help everyone she can, she just. has all of that other stuff going on, now.

Adrien isn't just a charming, goofy, clueless love interest with a gazillion skills and a controlling father, he's like. actively being abused, and in some cases straight-up mind controlled. His tendency to heroically sacrifice himself so that Ladybug can do her Cool Protagonist Thing is gradually but unmistakably reframed as being a sign of suicidal inclinations. He has identity issues out the wazoo and he doesn't even know he's an artificially created human yet, because everyone in his life is keeping secrets from him and/or lying to his face about crucial information.

Information like, uh. how his dad died???

Yeah, so we're at a point in the story now where there was no satisfying conclusion to the Gabriel plot, no team-up, no moment where he realizes he's been fighting his son, none of that. He still has something akin to a change of heart, but he also still kind of gets what he wants - the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat, which he uses to rewrite the universe with a wish. It's just that instead of reviving his wife, he trades his life for Natalie's. Of course, he was already dying anyway, which was his own fault but he did force Cat Noir's Cataclysm onto himself, so, that's another thing poor Adrien is going to have to deal with at some point.

And because there's all these astronomically messed up things in Adrien's life, and Marinette's the one who got to learn about all of it before him, she decides that maybe it would be better if he just. didn't know about it. Which is understandable, if I was 14 and had all this information about my boyfriend's life that he didn't, I wouldn't know how to begin telling him about it, either.

But. can you see how we've maybe lost the plot, here?

Here's the thing: starting with a simple framework and gradually getting more complex and subverting the audience's expectations for how the main villain is going to be dealt with is not a bad thing. The fact that it gets darker over time is not an issue. I actually think that all these developments are, themselves, pretty cool! I'm a sucker for angst and complex character dynamics and the show is absolutely giving me those things.

The problem is that it didn't just start with a simple framework, it started with the framework for a different demographic entirely, and perhaps just as importantly, it never actually... stopped.

For as much complexity and intensity they're injecting this story with, they're still working under the logic of it being "for young kids." We still get goofy villain-of-the-week designs with equally goofy motivations, and the supporting cast is stuck remaining two-dimensional no matter their circumstances. Chloe is the most blatant example of this - she was made to be a simple bully first, so no matter what else they do with her, she has to remain straightforwardly evil.

This, I think, is the reason that Gabriel is a more nuanced and "sympathetic" antagonist than her, and why so much care goes into Adrien's character as a victim of abuse while Chloe is just a Problem Child despite suffering similar neglect; she wasn't made to be interesting, and so the show is resistant to changing that. Gabriel and Adrien, however, were already made with nuance in mind, and so they're allowed to develop as characters. And at the same time, it's a kid's show! We need to teach the kids what kind of behavior is acceptable, and Chloe's home life isn't an excuse to treat people badly, so--!

...Oh crap we're supposed to be teaching kids about acceptable behavior. Uh. Um. Quick, bring back the ice cream akuma who cares way too much about his ships so that Cat Noir can learn about consent! Uhh, but don't change his character too much afterwards, he's only marketable because of his silly flirting, and we can't lose that.

Yeah, remember when I said that the romance having problematic elements to it used to work well enough because it was clearly just exaggerated cartooniness? It wasn't free from criticism or anything, but you could see how it was intended to be endearing and silly, right? You were supposed to point and laugh at Marinette's convoluted plans to spend time with Adrien, at Cat Noir's dramatic flirting attempts that Ladybug herself fondly rolled her eyes at.

The tonal shift into deep character exploration kinda paints the previous stuff in a worse light, and to an extent, I think the writers know that. It's hard to laugh at Cat Noir being flirty all the time when he's also supposed to be taken completely seriously, and the more Ladybug rejects him, the more it turns into harassment, and it. kinda just stops being funny, even with the comedic framing.

It's also hard to laugh at Marinette's crush being so all-consuming when they try to tell us (in what I can only assume was an attempt to get people to stop complaining) that she's like this because it's fueled by an event in her past, one that made her so scared of loving the wrong person that she now needs to know Everything about them before asking them out. Her cartoon antics aren't funny under that light, it's just concerning, but they're dedicated to keeping it up anyway.

The show runs on straightforward cartoon logic where you're not supposed to think about it too hard just as much as it runs on grounded, closer-to-real-life logic where people are messy and complicated and actions have consequences. It's so divided that you can hand-pick parts of the story that are influenced by one or the other pretty easily, and depending on the episode you can find instances of both in the same 20-minute time span. Maybe even multiple times!

Neither thing they're trying to go for is bad, and neither is a better approach than the other, but forcing them into the same show makes both sides suffer.

It's not just hard to laugh at the parts I mentioned earlier, it's hard to take Gabriel seriously as a villain whenever you rewatch an episode and remember that he has a once-per-episode pun-based speech that he says so self-seriously that you can't help but laugh at. It's hard to take him seriously when you remember that he repeatedly akumatized a Literal Baby and practically threw a tantrum every time it didn't work, or when he randomly steals (and enthusiastically performs) his nephew's musical dance number, or something similar that you would only do for a cartoon villain aimed at five-year-olds.

And I can only imagine this whole show is a marketing nightmare, too. Hey, little girls, here's your cool role model! She's cute and smart and talented and powerful and can fix anything by shouting the title of the show! Hope you're having fun watching her tell her boyfriend that his newly-deceased father (who used deepfakes of him to sell merchandise that's built to enslave the population and then locked him in a solitary confinement chamber in another country) was actually a hero who sacrificed himself to stop the main villain instead of, y'know, being the main villain! Aren't you excited to watch her wrestle with the guilt of this lie for the next season or so? Doesn't it just make you want to buy her merchandise??

Like. what is even happening right now. what am I watching. how did we get here and why did we start where we did if this was what the story was going to be about

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml s5 spoilers #ml s5 finale #analysis #meta #Does this warrant going under the salt tag?? I don't actually post about this series much #ml salt #just in case #'Who is this show supposed to be for' is a question that haunts me constantly #You can't even say it's a family show because family shows are NOT this conflicted about themselves #It's not just 'for everyone' because it's very specifically For Little Kids and For Young Adults SEPARATELY and AT THE SAME TIME #<-Stuff I couldn't fit in the main analysis but is relevant anyway #To be clear I DO like this show quite a lot and I'm absolutely looking forward to season 6 #I just needed to get this out there because it was driving me crazy

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 6 months ago

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How to Build a Team, Fixing the Recruitment of the Temp Heroes

I've had a few people ask me questions about Miraculous rewrites, so I wanted to quickly touch on something that doesn't get discussed much. Namely that the recruitment of the temp heroes failed at a fundamental level IF the end goal was to make a team. If the end goal was to have one-off episodes where the temp hero of the day shows up and is then forgotten, then the way canon did it is fine. But I think most rewrites that include the temp heroes want to actual give Marinette a larger team, so let's talk about how you do that.

The issue with the temp heroes lies in WHY they're recruited. To demonstrate what I mean, let's quickly talk about Rose's recruitment in Guiltrip.

In Guiltrip, Juleka tells the class that Rose suffers from a random, unnamed chronic illness. This leads to Juleka getting akumatized because she feels so guilty about outing Rose's secret. In order to save Juleka, Rose gets the pig miraculous, becomes Pigella, and gives her girlfriend a look into a fake world where everything is happy and perfect! (The pig is weird.)

The problem with this setup is that Rose is functionally nothing more than a random power up that Ladybug needed to help fight the akuma of the day. The episode would have worked just as well if Ladybug dual wielded and, after the episode is done, there's no need for Rose to stick around because Juleka has been helped and Juleka is an outsider to the team. Let's look at how you rewrite this setup to make it feel like Rose is being recruited for the good of Ladybug's team.

Instead of the episode being about Juleka exposing Rose's illness, we're going to have the episode start with Marinette getting upset about something. What that thing is really doesn't matter, but for ease, let's say that she gets a bad grade and is feeling down. Alya tries to cheer Marinette up, but it doesn't work because Alya's not good at that kind of pep talk. Marinette asks to be alone and wanders off, going to sit alone in the courtyard or something. Enter Rose, who overheard Marinette and Alya talking. Rose will manage to do what Alya can't and cheer Marinette up. Once the pep talk is over and Rose is long gone, Tikki will comment on Rose's ability and Marinette will say something about how Rose is good at knowing what to say/keeping a positive attitude in the darkest times.

Cue the akuma of the day coming in. For the sake of this hypothetical, let's say that Ladybug has built up her team already, so Alya and Nino are both full time heroes. This means that we have Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, and Carapace charging into battle, but it's a tough one. The akuma is crazy strong and, the longer the fight goes, the more they all lose hope. They try to encourage each other, but it's not working. The words feel empty.

Then Ladybug remembers Rose.

Ladybug rushes from the battlefield and recruits Rose, who joins the team and changes the tide by restoring the team's hope with her encouraging words and dauntless spirit. The episode ends with Rose joining the team because they clearly need someone there to keep their spirits up when it feels like hope is lost.

Do you see how that simple shift changes everything? How Rose is no longer a one-off, easily-forgotten power-up?

Now, as much as I love Rose, I personally wouldn't recruit her to any team I make because the role she's most suited to feels too close to the role I think Adrien should have, but this was just an example so that doesn't matter. What matters is that this is how you should approach the temp heroes IF you want to create a strong team dynamic. They shouldn't be recruited just because a random loved one is in need. They should be recruited because team miraculous is missing something it needs and that person fills the gap.

This is what I mean when I say that a small team works because you can center them around Marinette and Adrien. I don't mean canon's creepy shipping thing, I mean that you can focus on what abilities Ladybug and Chat Noir lack and build a team around filling in those gaps. For example, Marinette is really good at thinking up creative physical solutions, but her creativity doesn't extend to thinking up stories. And Adrien may be an actor, but his improv skills are focused on word play and romance, not crafting stories via pure imagination or a mix of imagination and putting together subtle verbal clues. Meanwhile, Alya comes up with stories all the time, so it makes sense that they'd recruit her to be the person who wields illusions, which is all about storytelling.

#ml writing critical #My dream team is 90% based on filling in the gaps #And 10% on which characters I like most

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aliensunflower-fics · 1 year ago

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Dating ‘Prince Charming’ Part 2/3

[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]

[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]

Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.

As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something.

Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been.

So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career.

As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.

Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions.

What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.

Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.

And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen.

Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.

“Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.”

Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.

“Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”

Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.

“Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!”

“W-Well I just thought-”

“Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?”

Oof Kim going straight for the throat.

“B-But shes the class president!”

“So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”

Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.

“Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”

“But I’m sure if you just-”

The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.

A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal.

Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.

Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.

However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.

Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.

As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.

The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.

Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.

However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.

And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?

The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.

Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.

Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious.

Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.

Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes.

Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same.

After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band.

Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.

And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.

Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it.

Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.

The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid.

She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!?

None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max.

Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates.

It was perfect. Genius really.

So then why did it fail immediately?

Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?

It was Alya who broke the silence first.

“You want to run that by us again? Lila.”

The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.

“I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”

“He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”

The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.

Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention.

“You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.

Instead she was met with even harsher glares.

“Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.”

Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.

“T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!”

“Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”

Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.

Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.

Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.

They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share.

Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it.

The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.

Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.

She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.

“Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”

“Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”

The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen.

Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.

“Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?”

“Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.”

Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.

“Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.”

The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.

“By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”

The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.

“Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”

Marinette snorted at that.

“Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?”

The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.

“You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.”

If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist.

“Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.”

Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them.

Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.

Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.

The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them.

Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.

Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue.

But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.

Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.

Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.

“Marinette?” - “Damian?”

They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out.

“Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”

“No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”

“So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”

After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well.

The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him.

But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.

But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.

But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.

A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.

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sturchling · 2 years ago

Note

I have a request. How about Lila’s mom comes to school because Lila forgot something. And she comes to class only to see them screaming at marinette to stop being “jealous” and stop “bullying” because of another lie Lila told. Lila’s mom also sees mrs. Bustier not doing anything to stop it. So she steps in and Lila pales at the sight of her mom. Then she sets things straight and goes off on Lila for lying again. In the end Lila and the class get punished. And lila gets held back a year.

Mrs. Rossi was already in an annoyed mood. She had already been running late this morning, and needed to get to work. But right as she went to leave, she saw that Lila had left her homework binder on the counter.

She was irritated with her daughter for being so irresponsible. Part of her considered just leaving it there and letting Lila face the consequences. She left it, she can take the bad grade. But then Mrs Rossi remembered that this assignment was worth a lot and if Lila got a bad grade, it would really affect her overall grade.

Mrs Rossi decided to just take it to the school, and she would deal with her daughter later. Little did Mrs Rossi know, Lila would wish her mother had left it alone. She had left the binder on purpose. Lila had planned to blame Marinette for the missing assignment, saying that the girl had wanted Lila to fail so she stole the assignment from her on the way to school.

Mrs Rossi strode into the school and up the stairs to her daughters class, texting on her phone to try and explain to her boss why she is late. Her focus was glued to her phone, that is until she heard the yelling. When she looked up, Mrs Rossi saw the entirety of her daughter’s class, standing and yelling at one girl in the back of the class. They were yelling at her for “bullying Lila” and “stealing her homework” so this girl would have a better than Lila.

But none of this made sense. Lila’s homework wasn’t stolen, Mrs Rossi had it in her hand. Why did the class think this girl stole it? And why wasn’t her daughter correcting them? Surely she knew about her homework, so this girl couldn’t have stolen it. Mrs Rossi felt her stomach twist. She had seen her daughter finally, and she was smiling maliciously.

Then Mrs Rossi understood. Her daughter was lying again. She had done this at every school in Italy. She always lied to everyone, about everything. Fake conditions, fake achievements, anything she could think of. And she had also previously used those lies to target specific students and make them miserable. She had been expelled from several schools for this behavior, but Lila had seemed better since moving to Paris. Reticently, Mrs Rossi realized that Lila had seemed better, because Mrs Rossi had been willfully ignoring it. Now the lack of the communication from the school, and several “school closures” seemed way more troubling.

She glanced at the teacher, Bustier, but Bustier wasn’t doing anything. She was just watching the chaos, like it was some twisted show. Mrs Rossi couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Well, if she wasn’t going to stop this, Mrs Rossi absolutely would. Her daughter wasn’t going to ruin another girl’s life.

Mrs Rossi stormed into the classroom, yelling, “LILA ROSSI”. The entire class whipped around at the sudden intrusion and stared at her. Most looked confused, but Lila didn’t. She looked terrified, and paled almost instantly upon seeing her mother.

“Mom… what are you doing here?” Lila glanced around the room, completely panicked. Especially when she spotted a certain binder in her mother’s arms.

“It doesn’t matter why I’m here. What matters is you are lying again! You told your class that this girl stole your homework? You know good and well that you left it at the house. It’s right here! I thought you had gotten over this lying phase of yours, but clearly not!” Mrs Rossi threw down the binder on the sad excuse of a teacher’s desk, angry beyond measure.

Lila was stuttering, trying to think of someway out of this, as she felt the stares of her class on her. This was very bad, Lila had intended for this lie to fully turn the class against Marinette. She hadn’t expected her mother to see the binder and bring it to the school. “Mom it’s not what you think, Marinette, she… she threatened me. Told me not to bring my homework or I’d be sorr-”

Lila couldn’t even finish her lie, her mother’s anger growing with every word until she exploded. “ENOUGH! You did this in every school you went to in Italy, and I thought I got the lesson through your head this time! Clearly not! I didn’t warn this school because you seemed to understand it this time, I guess that was my own naivety. Get up, you are coming with me to the principals office! I’m willing to bet he has some interesting stories to tell me of what you’ve been up to! I wonder if you have that lying disease again, or the one about saving some random celebrity pet. It’s the same nonsense every time and I’m sick of it!”

Lila tried to stammer out protests, she really did not want her mom to talk to Damocles. But deep down, she knew it was pointless, her mom was furious and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She felt the betrayed looks from the class on her back, as they realized Marinette had been telling the truth. Lila was a habitual liar, and her own mother was confirming it right in front of them, even referencing specific stories Lila had told them.

Lila reluctantly left the classroom with her mother, dreading this conversation and the after effects to come.

And man the after effects were more brutal than Lila expected. She wasn’t expelled exactly, but she almost wishes she was. But her mother had advocated against expulsion, but not for the sake of her daughter. She did it so her daughter couldn’t pull this again at another school.

Instead, Lila was suspended for the rest of the year and as a result would be held back a year and need to repeat it. When she was allowed back, she would be closely monitored by teachers, to make sure she couldn’t get away with anything or trying to bully any students. And a note was placed in her permanent record, so that if she ever did have to transfer for some reason, her next school would be warned.

As for the rest of the class and Bustier, they didn’t escape unscathed either. Most of the class was suspended as well, just for shorter periods of time. The school was a bit more lenient with them, since their actions were based on manipulation and lies, so they wouldn’t be suspended long enough that they would need to repeat the year, but they would be suspended for a few weeks and when they got back, they would have detention for the remainder of the year.

Finally, Bustier was also given an unpaid suspension. To come back to work, she had to complete several hours of retraining on class management, anti bullying tactics, and a wide range of other subjects. Her class got a long term sub in the meantime.

Mrs Rossi may have been annoyed about bringing that binder, but she is glad she did. It opened her eyes to her daughters continuing lies. She was able to put a stop to it this time, and she would make sure her daughter would never be able to pull this nonsense again.

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flightfoot · 2 months ago

Note

There really should be a word for that kind of behavior and the effect it has.It's not enabling (like Nathalie is) because it's not done with intention and knowledge, but it's somewhere close and I think its effects are actually close to being the same as gaslighting but it is done unintentionally.

It reminds me for example of my experience in 4th grade where I was being bullied but everyone insisted that He was a good boy, just a little naughty. It was mostly mean comments he made to me when no adults were around, but talking about the situation made the behavior diminish and deviant and made me feel like I was exaggerating. And a friend at university had a classmate who followed him everywhere and turned to look at him during classes, but when he tried to talk about it the response was to ignore him because it only made him feel uncomfortable but it wasn't really doing anything and this stalker was known as a "quiet boy".

LB, the heroine Adrien admires and loved, and Marinette, the girlfriend he trusts, both knowing that Gabriel was at least controlling (I don't think she knew the actual degree of abuse) decided to tell him that he was a hero. That is not meant to gaslitgh Adrien But certainly here he is forcing Gabriel's reputation (a good man) to compete against Adrien's personal experience (who only now seems to be understanding that what was happening was not normal and could be abuse) And from personal experience in these situations one tends to defer to the opinion of the majority because what is happening does not seem like a big deal and you are probably the one who is wrong.

Marinette may not be psychologically manipulating Adrien but there is no denying that her lie has a serious and damaging effect on his psyche with an effect similar to gaslight Because now Adrien has to believe that he was wrong in his conclusions and that in fact his perception of reality is wrong.

Yeah that's the tricky thing, Marinette is not intending to hurt Adrien, she's lying in an attempt to spare his feelings, in fact. But it still has the same effect as gaslighting, even though her intentions are better.

#ask #miraculous ladybug #ml analysis

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wackus-bonkus-maximus · 1 year ago

Text

princess & the goose girl au

for @paracosmicat in the anarchist gang gift exchange!

summary

After discovering his lady’s identity, all Prince Adrien wants is to spend time with Marinette (and win back her heart). He gets his chance to put all royal duties on hold—including his engagement to Princess Kagami—when his long-lost twin, Félix, offers to trade places. The only problem, it turns out, is switching back.

excerpt

“Wait,” Chat Noir said, green eyes gleaming as he tipped his head back to look at Ladybug. His grin was wide, brimming with intrigue. “What do you mean you had a thing for Prince Adrien?” Ladybug stepped around a cracked marble column and slung her yo-yo toward him, the wire zipping as it wrapped around his ankle. She tugged hard, and he slammed to the polished floor, the beam from Neutralizer’s ray leaving the marble smoking where it hit. “Just, you know, a thing!” Ladybug said, retracting her yo-yo and reeling it back into her hand. Neutralizer stumbled, weight tipping on his machine-heavy side, then slammed into the wall, rattling a few gold-framed portraits and antique vases as he went. “What kind of thing?” “Oh, you know—a stupid crush! Can we focus, please? I have an exam to study for.” Chat Noir showed no pity as he chortled, picking himself up off the floor, absolutely unconcerned for her French History grade. Ladybug gripped the spotted umbrella her Lucky Charm had given her and, cheeks flushed, smacked him on the arm. “What?” she demanded. The wall shook and groaned as Neutralizer climbed out from the gaping hole he’d left, knocking a decorative sword and shield to the floor. At Chat Noir’s responding smirk, she bristled. “Like you didn’t have a celebrity crush growing up!” “I did,” he said, eyes crinkling as he grinned at her. “On you.” She scoffed and waved him off, though the heat in her cheeks spread fast to her belly. “That doesn’t count.”

#ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #prpr #royalty au #senti-twins #twin switch #love square #core 4 #core 6 #djwifi #feligami #princess and the pauper retelling #goose girl retelling

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carpetbug · 10 months ago

Text

ML Feline Blue AU Chapter Two: The Pont des Arts

1 • 2 [tw: blood and slightly gory imagery] • 3

ao3

The last time Marinette had felt such paralyzing anxiety as she traveled towards the Pont de Arts was middle school. It was the day she realized she had a crush on Kim, and Socqueline - her best friend at the time, who left Francois’s Dupont at the end of 8th grade - had almost immediately shut down the immature day dream that was their future together. Still, Marinette had made her way to the bridge after school to stare at the locks of all the couples that had been here before her and conjure up sickeningly sweet fake scenarios of her new heartthrob. The craziest thing she had done that day was silently wish that Kim would magically reciprocate her romantic feelings, and still it had felt like she was walking some invisible tightrope, putting her life on the line for some spectacular balancing act she knew she could never pull off. She can still remember the way her hands shook and stomach churned while she perused the locks that decorated the bridge's walls. The fear she felt that day, that heavy stone of discomfort that lodged itself in her stomach, she felt it now all the same. Only this time, instead of feeling like she was merely risking her life, she could have sworn she was marching straight to death's door. And the miniature ladybug creature, this ‘kwami’, was doing little to put her unease to bed.

“You’re not listening, are you Marinette?” the alien-like red bug questioned delicately with a slight inflection to her already syrupy voice. Her eyes softened with guilt when Marinette met her expression with a lost look, lips parted slightly as she struggled to respond.

“I-I’m sorry.. uh.. Tek…?”

“Tikki” the small bug smiled patiently.

“Right. Tikki. I’m sorry Tikki” Marinette sighed and adjusted her hold on the miracle box. What a guardian she would be, she couldn’t even remember this kwamis name. How was she supposed to do.. well, everything else?

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“I died. That old man pushed me into the seine and I died.” Marinette stammered in disbelief as her limbs pushed her away from these freaks of nature without waiting for her brain's command.

“Don’t be scared, Marinette! We’re your friends!” The ladybug themed creature said reassuringly, dropping the intense tone with which she was speaking seconds prior. She, along with all the other small beings, floated effortlessly in the air. “I am Tikki, the kwami of creation. We aren’t going to hurt you, Master”

“Master?” Marinettes throat went bone dry as the words rattled her brain. She was their master? “Oh my god I’ve actually lost my mind.” She chuckled under her breath. The chuckle morphed to a steady laughter, and soon enough she was doubled over in hysterics, hands clutching her sides so tightly she could feel her nails digging into her ribcage. “That OLD man PUSHED me into the SEINE and I DIED!” She shouted in a side-splitting roar of laughter.

“Good job Sugarcube, now she’s having a breakdown.” Marinette heard a much more sour voice taunt. Suddenly what seemed like a million more voices chirped in, each unique in its pitch and pronunciation, and each more desperate to be heard than the last. She could only hear broken sentences and words through the plethora of noise from the kwamis and her own uncontrollable laughter, an occasional ‘We’re doomed!’ and ‘Master Fu!’ catching her ear.

“Just hush, Plagg!” the ladybug scoffed in annoyance. She darted closer to Marinette, small fin-like arm extending to pat her shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Tune them out Marinette, you simply need time. Your bravery will surface soon.” She tried to soothe the frantic girl before returning her attention to the other beings. “Everyone, please listen! We can’t do this now, not to her.” Tikki spoke sternly, yet the words hung in the air like a plea. “I.. I’m certain none of us are ready to speak about Master Fu," a dejected tone began to cling to her small voice as she continued “But he wants us to go forward. And he needs us to guide the new guardian”. Marinette looked up as her voice began to catch in her throat, a pang of pity shooting through her unstable heart at the sight of the tears beginning to pool in the small beings eyes.

“Master Fu?” Marinette repeated softly, peeling her hands off her body and standing up from the rough cement platform that offered her safety. With a powerful shudder she became painfully aware that she was still soaked from the seine. Her hands traveled up to her hair, removing the smooth ribbon that held together her right pigtail - the left had come undone in the water. “Is that... was that the old man?” She asked the kwamis with a weary tone, eyes trained on her soggy shoes as her hands wrung out her dark hair of the water still wearing it down. “Why did he-?”

“Throw you in a river?” the sour voice chimed in again. It belonged to the black cat, who was now floating leisurely on his back with a yawn. Marinette was almost certain she could see sharp teeth in the kwamis mouth. Tikki shot him a deathly glare, but he went on. “I’m Plagg, kwami of destruction, lover of cheese” He stated with casual disinterest, as if nothing traumatic had just occurred. “Not his smartest move, I’ll agree. But-” he sat upright and narrowed his eyes, voice taking a more serious tone “-he did what he had to do to keep us all safe.” his long tail flicked, motioning to the other kwamis. “That includes you.”

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“I was telling you about the kwamis, '' Tikki chirped, following by her guardian's side while levitating in the air. Marinette nodded, quickly glancing up to check what street they had reached, then darting her eyes back down to the wooden box she had hugged to her chest. It was getting harder and harder to focus on the bugs' words, her mind occupied only with thoughts of Master Fu. Despite the kwamis, and the freezing water that seems to have seeped into her bones, and the distressed voices in her head yelling at her that she was alone in this, Marinette couldn’t shake the idea that this man was still alive. He would be waiting at the Pont de Arts, ready to retrieve his miracle box and kwamis, and he'd reassure her that she would never have to worry about any of this miraculous nonsense ever again. Marinette wasn’t going to find his body. She wouldn’t.

“There's nineteen kwamis in all, but two of us are missing. Nooro and Duusu are the kwamis of transmi-”

“Tikki, I’m- I can’t-” Marinette bit her tongue as she fought to find the right words.

“What is it Marinette?”

“I’m sorry but I just can’t talk about this with you. It’s just… too much” Marinette mumbled, wishing the earth would open up beneath her and swallow her whole. “Can’t this Master Fu just explain things to me when we find him?”

Tikki blinked in surprise and remained silent for a few seconds. Then, she nodded and feigned a weak smile. “Of course Marinette. If we find Master Fu he will explain everything” she reassured.

Marinette nodded absentmindedly, taking another brief glimpse at the street signs and sighing in relief at seeing they were close to their destination. Suddenly this all felt like some sort of fever dream, like she would go home and sleep tonight then wake up in the morning with nothing changed. Except maybe she would always think about being thrown in the seine, the cold and brutal water that had seeped through her skin, leaving her fingertips wrinkled and pruny against the wood of the miracle box. And sure, it might feel real enough that her knees still wobble a bit as she walks, but everyone has horrible nightmares sometimes - right?

“Marinette”

“One second, Tikki” she stopped the kwami, still stuck in her train of thought.

“Marinette!” Tikki had paused, and Marinette turned her head to see the small red kwami floating, arm extended to point at the bridge that suddenly seemed to appear in front of them. When had they gotten here?

“Oh. Great, we’re here! Let’s find this Fu-Man and let me get home so I can go to bed and forget all about this.” She adjusted her hold on the box and began to cross the wide bridge when Tikki darted in front of her with urgency.

“Wait! Master, I must tell you, thi-”

“Sorry, but please just call me Marinette.”

Tikki smiled and continued “Marinette, I have to quickly warn you that- even we kwamis are not sure of the lengths this villain is willing to go. We do not know if he acts with mercy, so this may be something you don’t want to see. If you’d like, I can go ahead without you and see for myself then come back?”

Marinette scrunched her nose as she thought for a few moments. Eventually she shook her head and smiled- a genuine and kind smile that made Tikkis heart ache. “No need, I’ll come with you. You’ve been here for me during all this, so I want to be here for you until you’re back in good hands” she promised.

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“He was being chased?” Marinette questioned, reeling from the information the cat kwami had just dumped over her head like cold water. Fu had been pursued by some unknown antagonist for several weeks, until they eventually found and attacked the guardian. Marinette had only been an innocent bystander, a stranger in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a helping hand when Fu was at his most desperate for any kind of savior. She was the only way to get the miracle box out of the villains' reach in such a short amount of time. And the seine had been the only way to get her out of danger.

“More like hunted” Plagg sneered in response and crossed his arms

“Plagg, you're scaring her!”

“She should be scared!”

While the black and red kwami hissed at each other, the girl's head was spinning, overwhelmed with this new world she was suddenly a part of. There were so many questions running through her mind, all begging to be answered. But the most desperate one came first “Can we go back to the Pont des Arts?” She asked softly, interrupting their argument.

Plaggs expression widened in shock, and he was about to protest when Tikki stopped him. “Good idea, I’ll have all the kwamis return to the miracle box.”

“Well, wait-” she stopped her “Will you stay with me? I would feel a bit better if I had someone more informed by my side”

The red bug smiled and nodded, still ignoring the bewildered look from the cat. Before he could say anymore, she turned back to the kwamis, leaving him grumbling and following after her.

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“God. It’s already three a.m, papa is going to be awake and getting started in the bakery soon.” Marinette muttered to herself while checking the time, her and Tikki moving at a slow pace across the bridge. It was dark, the moon providing the majority of the lighting cast down on them. And, it was almost entirely silent. Save for the constant rushing of the water beneath the bridge -the sound was making her hands begin to shake all over again-, and the occasional distant hum of a car passing nearby.

“A bakery?” Tikki whispered in response.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “My parents own a bakery. ‘Tom and Sabines’.” Her hands came together then spread like she was forming a rainbow in the air as she spoke, adding a loving touch to the simple name. Tikki gave a light giggle.

“Sounds amazing! What kind of sweets do they make?” the red bug questioned before suddenly gasping, “Do they make cookies?! I haven’t had a chocolate chip cookie in so long!”

Marinette was taken back by the kwamis sudden eagerness for one of the simplest sweets their bakery had to offer, but she couldn’t help but give an entertained laugh. “We make all kinds of cookies. Snickerdoodle, peanut butter, red velvet, oatmeal raisin, -”

“Yuck.”

“Don’t you dare say that about oatmeal raisin cookies.”

“Get to the good stuff!”

She stuck her tongue out teasingly at the kwami before continuing, “chocolate chip, chocolate chunks, and like a billion other ones I'm forgetting. Give or take seasonal and custom flavors my dad makes from time to time, too.” When she looked up, Marinette swore a line of drool was trailing from Tikkis mouth, but as soon as she had noticed it the bug was in her face in excitement once again.

“Wow!” Tikki exclaimed. “I can’t wait to try them.”

“How long has it been since you last had a cookie?” she asked. Marinette wondered what parts of human life the kwamis knew of and took part in, given the ‘secrecy’ about their existence. They were familiar enough to have opinions on cookie flavors, apparently.

“Oh, I'm not sure. I haven’t had a holder in a few decades, though I have left the miracle box during that time, - Marinette? Are you not listening again?”

Almost as soon as the kwami had started talking, Marinette had frozen her stare on something ahead of them, and she seemed a million worlds away. Tikki turned to look and her heart dropped.

Blood soaked into the wood underfoot, leaving a dark stain that seemed pure black in the night time. More sat in small pools and splatters, some spraying across the lock decorations and steadily drip-drip-dripping into the surface below. The longer she stared the more she realized the Pont des Arts would now always feel like it had been smeared with death. It was all too fresh, like someone had drained the old man of all his blood and used it like paint, spreading the viscous liquid on any surface they could. It seemed like both an introduction, and parting gift. The display was left with intent, the predator that had gotten Fu was leaving a warning for whoever tried to come to his rescue. It said ‘I’m here, look what I am capable of. Look at everything I did. Look at what I’m willing to do.’

Marinette took a step back, mouth agape as she realized breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. Her blood pounded in her ears, droning out the seemingly fraught help Tikki was trying to provide the panicked girl. Another step back and her legs buckled, dropping her directly into the glistening pools of gore. Her hands clenched into fists, now stained a dark red as she kneeled in the blood, and she panted in desperate need for air. It seemed to hang in the air now, the metallic tang filling her mouth and nose.

“Marinette!”

The screech - almost directly in her ear - snapped her attention back to the ladybug creature, whose voice was feverish with alarm. “Tikki..” she breathed, still struggling to keep from hyperventilating. “Tikki, this is him, isn’t it?” Marinette brought her hands up, now holding them raised in the air to shine in the moonlight. The crimson liquid trickled from her palm to her wrist, then down her elbow and back to the bridge. “This is Master Fu?” the tears began to fall down her cheeks now, the reality setting in. She was the guardian. She was alone.

“You need to get home.”

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Marinette gets home, soaked (though no longer bloody, thanks to an alley hose she passed on her walk), and exhausted. Her breathing still awkward and unbalanced, lungs aching from whatever water she took in from the seine. Her emotions bubble inside her, threatening to spill over from her eyes once again. It was bad enough you could tell she had been crying already, she didn’t need her parents to see her in the act. Tikki rested on her shoulder, tucked neatly into her hair as they approached the bakery.

“Home sweet home” she said, waving her hands with pretend enthusiasm as she tried to revive the playful energy they had earlier. Instead her voice felt deflated and hollow. Her hands reached for the doorknob, shaking slightly as they hovered above it.

“Do you not want to go in?”

“Its not that.”

“Marinette. You can talk to me”

Marinette took a deep breath. “I can’t hide all this from my parents. Not yet, at least. If I go inside now and they’re awake, they'll know I was outside then they’ll see I was crying and I’m terrible at hiding things from my maman so one word from her and I’ll instantly spill everything that happened and then they-”

“Slow, Marinette. Is there any way you can sneak in?”

“Only through a window or my balcony, both of which I definitely can't reach from down here” she huffed, the puff of breath blowing through her still damp bangs that hung across her face. She was about to grit her teeth and accept the inevitable interrogation her parents would give when Tikki spoke again.

“I can fix that.” the kwami gave a sweet smile before phasing seamlessly through the wood of the miracle box and returning with a small case in her arms. “These are the miraculous of the ladybug. If you put on these earrings and say ‘Spots On’, you'll transform and be able to get to your balcony undetected.”

Marinette hesitated, then reached for the box and opened the lid to peek at the miraculous. Inside were two round, red earrings each with five small spots, which she carefully plucked from their resting places. They went through her ears effortlessly and lacked the weight that many earrings came with. “Please don’t tell me this is going to hurt” she wheezed, eyes drooping with sleep.

“Definitely not.” Tikki reassured quickly. “When you’re inside just say ‘Spots Off’ to drop the transformation.”

“Well… spots on?”

Tikki flew through the air, this time as if she was being pulled by some invisible force - one coming from the earrings. Her vision exploded with pink as bubbling, glowing masses appeared out of thin air and swarmed onto her body. She held her breath and pressed her eyes closed, still awaiting a sting or ache to overtake her body despite Tikkis reassurance. Instead the magical clouds felt light and tingly on her skin as they passed over her from head to toe.

The buzz came to a stop in a few moments which Marinette took as a cue to open her eyes. Nothing around her had changed, she was still standing outside the bakery clutching the miracle box, only now she was dressed in a sleek red and black spotted suit from neck to toe. She was a ladybug.

Marinettes breathing hitched in her chest as she ran her gloved hand across the material, then up to her face where she felt the grooves of a mask across her eyes. Built in secret identity, cool. She felt refreshed, the soreness in her legs was now just a weak discomfort. She took a relieved breath, and slowly stretched her limbs as she gathered her bearings. A yoyo rested on her hip, also a solid red with five black spots like the earrings, but with the same honeycomb texturing of her suit.

“A yoyo? I’m going to… yoyo to my room?” she mumbled to herself as she gave it a few experimental tosses. Looking up, she took a few breaths and prepared herself. She took a step back and threw the yo-yo towards a neighboring roof, then gave a slight tug when it had wrapped around some solid object. It pulled her effortlessly from the ground, propelling her upwards while she struggled, airborne, like a fish out of water. In moments she landed, almost entirely flat on her face, on the spine of the rooftop.

It took a minute for Marinette to figure out her next step, which ended up being just to drop from the roof to her balcony. It had seemed much more complicated in her head, like she would have to be some ninja, hiding in the shadows. But she had left the trapdoor to her room unlocked, so it had required no more effort than opening a door. She landed softly on her bed, and subsequently threw herself back onto her blankets with an exasperated sigh.

“Spots off” she mumbled, already fighting the alluring call of sleep. Another flash of the magic light and the suit was gone, leaving Tikki in its place. She looked around, observing her new environment before turning back to Marinette.

“Home sweet home” She echoed the previous statement, then burrowed into the crook of Marinettes elbow as the girl groggily put herself to bed. With the miracle box held firmly in her grip, and the deep ache slowly returning to her muscles as the magic of the miraculous wore off, she mumbled a barely coherent goodnight to Tikki and let herself fall into the comfort of sleep.

#ml feline blue au #ml fbau #carpetbug writes #carpetbug art #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #marinette #miraculous fanart #ml au #tikki #ml fic #YIPPEEEEEE FELINE BLUE #still very excited about this story lmao #next up is origins!! i’ll try to update weekly but i make no promises #wasn’t too sure what to put for the trigger warning so i hope that’s good! please let me know if it is not

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marinettesaltprompts · 2 months ago

Text

Cat in the Belfry (Part 3)

Adrien x Gotham City Sirens

Prompt by @somereaderinblue . Grammer edits by your’s truly.

Selina hates kicking kittens but sadly, she has to tell Chat Noir the bad news: that she’s figured out HM’s secret ID. To no one’s surprise, it’s Gabriel.

S: …..he’s your dad, isn’t he?

CN: How-

S: Takes one to know one.

Chat doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He really is a criminal now, or at the very least, the son of one. Plagg tries to comfort him, then glares at Selina with the full force of destruction.

S: I won’t tell anyone. I have standards.

P: Good, because if you do, you won’t have a tangible presence in this mortal plane anymore.

... As far as father figures go, Selina supposes a chibi eldritch creature isn’t too bad.

Adrien can’t go back to the manor, so Selina lets him hide in the penthouse she rented. She, Ivy & Harley soothe him with cats, ice cream, movies, facial masks & offers of arson/murder. Eventually, they plan.

HM’s end goes out with….another whimper. Catwoman steals the brooch & drops evidence of Gabriel’s other crimes (i.e. violating child labour laws, child abuse, possessing literal military grade weapons) to the police. Adrien Agreste is written off as missing, likely having run away in fear of his father. CN shows the police the brooch & vouches for his innocence but as expected the seed of doubt has been planted.

Ladybug confronts him, once again enraged that he made such a heavy decision without her & secretly envious of how effective the Cat duo were in a month compared to her in an entire year. Paris was starting to talk about her incompetency & the distance between her and CN.

She tries to manipulate his old feelings for her & brings up revealing their secret IDs to one another. CN flat out refuses. So she orders him to hand over his miraculous. He also refuses because he doesn’t trust her or the Order with Plagg.

She tries to take it by force. Except Harley & Catwoman have taught CN how to fight dirtier, harder, sharper. He doesn’t hold back & this time, there’s no mind control akuma LB can target or temps to back her up. His new trick, Black Hole, keeps her on the ropes.

Eventually, Ivy arrives to bind LB & CN snatches the earrings. Because life’s full of disappointments, it’s Marinette. Ignoring her tantrum, Ivy gags her so he can undo all the commands Fu & Mari put Tikki under.

Once freed, Plagg teaches Adrien a spell he concocted. A spell he kept close to his chest because god forbid the Order/Fu find out he can think of something other than cheese & chaos. The spell ‘destroys’ Mari’s connection to everything Miraculous-related, meaning she can’t mention & will barely remember CN himself, both in and out of the mask.

While waiting for the spell to settle, Adrien snatches the Miracle Box & frees the other kwamis which opens cans of worms abt the Order’s corruption. One thing’s for sure: there’s no way in hell Adrien is letting them go back.

Adrien says his goodbyes to Alya & Nino and tells Marinette’s parents everything. They’re heartbroken at how far their daughter has sunk but swear that they’ll transfer her to another school & enroll her into therapy. The others also find out about her crimes (minus the LB part) but at this point, Mari made it clear she wants nothing to do with them so all anyone can do is move on.

Mari is forced to live with a gap in her memories & the sudden tension on her parents and ex-classmates. Why are her parents stricter? Why is the class shunning her? She just wanted to protect….someone! (but who?) And Lila’s to blame, not her! Why is no one fawning over (their everyday LB) her anymore?

Days later, he quietly gathers what little he has left from the penthouse.

A: I guess this is goodbye.

H: Where you heading?

A: Anywhere. Always wanted to travel the world.

S: Alone?

A: I have the power of mini gods & destruction on my side.

S: I don’t think they count as a chaperone, kit.

A: My aunt & cousin won’t want anything to do with me thanks to Gabriel and I can’t stay here. Not now.

S: …..interested in touring the rest of Europe?

A: I can’t-

S: No strings attached. Well, except your charming company.

H: It’ll be fun!

I: Someone has to teach you proper biology.

Adrien cries & group hugs ensue.

Sometimes, family is a teen hero, his mini god of destruction dad & his 3 gay criminal aunts.

#Marinette salt #Adrien sugar #Adrien salters can stay mad #Marinette Salt Prompt #submission #adribat #Crossover salt prompt

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ilikekidsshows · 4 months ago

Note

Do you think that Adrien has low empathy?

---

I don't even need to know what this is referencing to guess it's Adrien salters being weird again. I always get very suspicious of “X has low empathy” statements, because it almost always feels like a misleading statement meant to make a character look bad because of common misconceptions about low empathy people. It's leaning on this idea of “purity of intent”, where people think that, unless you can literally feel another person's emotional pain, any attempt to help others is going to fail or be “manipulative” if it succeeds. In reality, your level of empathy has nothing to do with your level of compassion, aka your willingness to help others. The person who sits with you while you're upset about losing a job opportunity is committing an act of compassion even when they can't really relate to the emotion you're having, while the person who cries at home about how sad they are that you’re having a hard time isn't.

Word-for-word, saying Adrien has low empathy is saying that he simply lacks an aptitude (a natural inclination towards an ability), but what this implies is that Adrien is fundamentally a bad person for lacking this specific aptitude. It's ableist as fuck because many people manage to be kind, caring people despite not having the ability to empathize or having a hard time with it. It's extra disgusting to say this shit about Adrien especially because he's a trauma victim and trauma victims already respond to others’ emotions differently from nontraumatized people, so trying to grade trauma victims on their level of empathy is ableist.

What is far less ableist to discuss is how good I think a character is at empathy skills. "Empathy" as a general concept is made up of both the aptitude towards empathy and empathy skills. Empathy skills are different from level of empathy because they can be learnt, while your level of empathy is related to how your brain and emotions work. Having high empathy makes learning empathy skills easier and having low empathy makes them harder, yes, but your skills affect your ability to act far more than your aptitude. Empathy skills are basically the ability to relate to others through imagining yourself in their situation, which allows you to understand their state of mind, like what they want or need.

Now, do I think Adrien is good at this skill? Comparatively to whom? In the cast of Miraculous, there are few characters as in tune with other people’s emotions as Adrien. Adrien is the only character in the cast who seems to actually understand what Lila is after, for example, outside of Gabriel, who has supernatural help from Nooroo. He’s the one member in the cast with the highest count of times he’s gotten Marinette out of a mental breakdown after possibly Tikki. Adrien has incredibly good empathy skills. I have actually made this assessment earlier on the blog how Adrien is capable of both putting himself in someone else's shoes and making logical assumptions on how someone is feeling based on the clues he has, and using this information to help others. I don’t know if that means he has high empathy or not, but it sure does mean he’s kind and compassionate, which is what really matters.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fandom salt

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mochinek0 · 1 year ago

Text

Daminette December 2023:9-Gremlin

"So there is a list for each of them." Marinette explained, "Allergy information, bedtime schedule, food they avoid, and emergency phone numbers."

"We are the emergency phone numbers." Jason interjected.

Marinette glared at him as Damian put down the duffel bag with the kids clothes and a diaper bag.

"Marinette, everything will be fine." Dick spoke calmly, "You both deserve a night out with out your kids."

"Yeah." Tim stated, "How long was your last date night that didn't involve a diaper change intermission or passing out on the couch?"

Marinette frowned, but Damian placed a kiss on top of her head.

"Angel, don't worry so much. Amaya, Jun, and Malik are in capable hands." Damian stated.

"Aw." Dick cooed.

"If anything happens to our children, I'll kill them in their sleep." Damian declared.

Jason sighed, "You both are making such a big deal about this! You are leaving them in Wayne Manor, one of the safest places in Gotham. We take care of a whole city; we can take care of our nieces and nephew. You're only going to be gone three hours max, depending on traffic and resturant service. You're not even leaving Gotham!"

"Jason's right." Tim explained, "Look, there's three of them and three of us. We can conquer and divide this. If you two can do it, us three can, too."

Marinette sighed, "Fine. Have fun."

Once they got into the car, Damian turned to her.

"You think they will call us?" He questioned.

Mari smiled, "No. They would have to put their pride aside for that. I'm sure they will do everything wrong."

Damian chuckled, "Well, Habibiti, let's go and enjoy our dinner."

"Man, it's like she doesn't trust us!" Jason complained.

"To be fair," Tim interjected, "we have never watched them by ourselves. Damian and Marinette are usually in the same room with us when we spend time with them."

Dick looked over Amaya, Jun, and Malik. They looked so different, but appeared so angelic. Suffice to say the Waynes freaked out when Amaya was born was an understatement. Amaya looked just like Talia, but Tom also had brown hair and green eyes, so he took the credit for his granddaughter having his appearance with Damian's skin tone. Jun looked just like Damian and Malik looked just like his mother. Dick's only worry was Malik. Malik was still only a years old. Amaya was six and was already in the first grade and Jun was in preschool, but he was sure that Amaya and Jun could help with tiny things.

"I'll take care of Malik." Dick offered, "Divide and conquer, just like you said."

"Have you read these lists?" Jason laughed, "Don't let Jun eat after 7PM and her bedtime is 7:30PM. Don't get Malik wet; not even a drop. Don't expect him to sleep when the others go to bed. Amaya's says to supervise when she color and her bed time is at 8PM."

"No water?" Dick questioned.

"Not to spill water on him." Tim sighed, "Just be careful when you bottle feed him. At least there's no bath time on there. I'll watch Jun and Jason can watch Amaya. He can read and she can color. Simple."

Damian and Marinette entered Wayne Manor to find the living room in chaos. It was 10PM and all three of their kids were still awake.

"What is going on here?" Marinette shouted.

Everyone froze.

"Maman! Baba!" Amaya and Jun shouted, running up to their parents.

Damian glared at his older brothers, "Why aren't they asleep? Marinette gave you specific instructions."

"Why is Malik wearing different socks and different clothes?" Marinette questioned.

"He spilled a drop, a drop, of water on his sock!" Dick complained, "He freaked out and wouldn't stop crying until I changed him. By that point, he was thirsty and then he spilled on his shirt. I changed him immiediately after that."

"That's why I said not to get water on him." Marinette sighed.

"I can see Amaya wasn't supervised." Damian declared, "I wonder how Father will feel about his new colorful mural at hip height."

"Blame Jason!" Tim cried out, "He was suppose to watch her, but he got too wrapped up in his book."

"Why aren't you asleep, Amaya?" Marinette asked their eldest daughter.

"Not comfy." she pouted.

Jason sighed, "She kept saying how the couch wasn't as comfy as her bed."

"Why didn't you let her sleep in your bed?" Damian growled.

"You want me to leave my neice in my room?" Jason shouted, "You know what I keep in there!"

Damian rubbed his forehead in frustration. He spotted Jun running laps around the living room.

"And Jun?" he questioned.

"Tim helped me with Malik when he was flailing around and I was trying to change him." the eldest Wayne admitted.

"And?" Mari snarled.

"We thought it would be okay to leave them alone for a moment." Tim whispered, "Amaya and Jun were watching a movie."

"What happned?" Damian demanded.

"She snuck into the kitchen and ate four cookies." Tim answered, "She's been burning off the sugar ever since."

"Sorry." the Wayne boys declared.

"Amaya, Jun." Mari called out, "I want all of your things put away in the bag, "Damian make sure everything is in there. I'm going to get Malik in his car seat and meet you outside. Both of you are going to bed when we get home. Jun, no cookies for you for a week."

Jun stomped her foot and began to pick up her toys in a sour mood.

"A week?" Dick whined, "It was a mistake that we made."

"No, Richard." Mari declared, "Jun knew she wasn't suppose to have any cookies before we got here. I spoke to her about it before we left."

Mari walked out the front door with Malik in her arms. Amaya and Jun made quick work of their belongings. Amaya waved to her uncles as she yawned and walked out the door. Damian held his second daughter's hand and the duffel bag. Jun sadly waved and walked out the door, pouting.

"Those three are gremlins." Jason stated.

"Sweet like their mother and a Hellraiser like their father?" Tim answered.

"Nope." Jason replied, "Like actual Gremlins, like the movie. Don't get them wet. Don't feed them after dark."

"It was don't get them wet, avoid bright lights, and don't feed them after midnight." Dick rebutted, "Those three love the park. Damian and Marinette take them all the time with Titus."

"And the other two?" Tim questioned.

"We should have listened to Marinette rules." Dick answered.

The three sighed.

Damian and Marinette smiled as their kids slept in the back of their car.

"You were right, Habibiti." Damian spoke, "They are asleep and likely my brothers' will be trying to get back in our favor. How about we go out for dinner same time next month?"

Marinette giggled, "I'd love too."

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events@animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218

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starwarsmum · 4 months ago

Text

Chapter 2 is up!

Dick sighed and leaned back into the first class plane seat. Jason had been bugging him to come to Paris with him since the end of the year, and had even bought him plane tickets as part of his Christmas present. He had also insisted on accompanying him, which was…suspicious. He was confident it wasn't a matter for their alter egos or they would have just taken the tubes over.

He glanced over at Jason, trying to scrutinise him in the dim light of the cabin. They had begun their flight in the early hours of the evening in Gotham which meant that the sky was only just beginning to lighten in the early morning of Paris. The broad man was snoring comfortably in the seat next to his, the white tuft in his hair almost glowing in the darkness.

As the plane landed, Jason stretched and bolted upright, practically springing to collect his luggage. Dick was concerned - Jason never got excited over a holiday, unless it was a cover for one of their ‘nightly activities’. But Jason had promised him that there would be no need for Nightwing or Red Hood to make an appearance.

“Hell, Paris apparently has its own heroes, I'd hate to tread on their toes, ya know?” Jason said, apparently in good humour as they waited for their car to be available. Ever since the…disagreement, Dick and Jason had avoided using any of Bruce's resources. “Besides, it's all magical bullshit around here. Way above my pay grade.”

“You really did your research before we came, huh,” Dick marveled, sliding into the passenger seat as Jason took charge. He had apparently made an itinerary, starting with a trip to a famous pastry shop. “Are you sure I can't just look at what you have planned?”

“Nope,” Jason grinned, the car smoothly moving away from the lot. “I hope you've been brushing up on your French, Dickie. You're gonna need it.”

As they approached the corner that housed that patisserie, Dick saw a bustle of activity. Checking the time, he saw that it was just before 8:30, meaning that the school across the street was a hive of activity. There was less of a queue in the bakery thanks to the time and they waited patiently, eyeing up the various goods.

“Bonjour, ” came the jaunty welcome from the petite Asian woman. She was older and had a motherly look, smiling pleasantly as she waited for their order. Dick smiled back at her before ordering.

“Bonjour, madame, nous voudrions deux croissants chocolats et douze macarons, s'il vous plaît.” The woman smiled and rang them up before moving around to collect their order. As she did, Jason stepped forward as well.

“Pardonnez-moi, vous êtes Sabine?” Dick looked at Jason, bewildered, even as the woman - Sabine, apparently - responded cautiously yes. “Awesome, uh, nous sommes ici pour visiter Marinette, ou est elle?” Sabine nodded in understanding, brightening as she handed over their goods. She let them know that Marinette was over at the park nearby. Thanking her for the baked goods and her time, the pair made their way out of the bakery.

“Jason, what on earth was that about?” Dick demanded, as soon as they were out of earshot of the woman. He let out a noise of frustration at Jason's shrug and secretive smile. “Seriously, is Marinette a new girlfriend or something? Is that why you insisted on coming and dragging me all the way to Paris?”

“Listen, all good things come to those who wait, Dickie-bird. Look, there she is now. Marinette!” He hollered the last part, waving and grinning broadly at a small woman, similar but younger to the woman at the bakery. Dick saw her look up and smile, balancing something on her lap. Something that looked suspiciously like a small child, with dark hair

“Jason, why do you know a French woman with a baby ?” Dick was panicking, he could feel it. Had Jason somehow fathered a child in France? Was this a trip so that Dick could meet his new niece or nephew? “Jason, I swear to God, if you had a kid and didn't tell any of us, I will disown you .”

“Bonjour, vous êtes Monsieur Grayson, non?” Dick's eyes were huge as the woman approached, and they were glued to the bundle in her arms. When he didn't say anything, she cleared her throat and tried again. “ Pardon, I am Marinette, and this is Penélope. It is a pleasure, Monsieur Grayson. ”

“I- I think I'm going to pass out,” he whispered, feeling overwhelmed. “Jay, seriously, how could you not tell us? I'm not sure I can actually disown you, but this is big.”

“Penny's not my kid, Dick,” he said, but he did reach out for the wriggly bundle when Marinette held her out. “Marinette is more like…a little sister. Don't worry, little one,” he cooed down at the baby girl, eyes full of wonder. “Uncle Jason is here now.”

“ Oui, par mariage, ” Marinette snorted, rolling her eyes at the man. “Sorry, Monsieur Grayson, I'm sure you are very confused but I had to meet you before we could discuss anything in more detail. Mon mari , he is just being cautious.”

“Someone is being cautious…by sending you to meet me with your kid?”

“Because, I am not the one in danger of being hurt, oiseau, ” she said firmly. At his look of further confusion, she sighed and stepped towards him. “My husband, he has come very far in the years I have known him but he is worried that you will be angry with him. Il est fragile, and I will not allow you to hurt him if it can be avoided.”

“Pfft, fragile, sure,” Jason snorted, although he looked apologetic when Marinette glared at him. “Sorry Mari, but he hasn't changed enough for me to say he's fragile . Look, Dick's getting riled up and he is supposed to be here on holiday, I promise that he's not going to hurt him. He is the very last person in the world that Dick would hurt.”

Dick's eyes snapped up at that, widening as he gazed at Penélope, noting her slightly darker skin and just how dark her hair was. “No,” he whispered, looking up hopefully at Jason. “You found him?”

“Yes, Grayson, he did,” came a deep voice from behind him and Dick span so fast he almost pirouetted. He drank in the sight of his brother, tears springing to his eyes before he stepped forward and grabbed him into a hug. Damian sighed and patted his back, eyes suspiciously bright.

“ Mon dieu, you brothers are so emotional,” Marinette said cheekily, taking Penélope back from Jason. Damian gave her a mock glare before pulling back from Dick and giving him a smile. “ Parfait, maintenant, can we go back to our home? I am sure Penny would like to have her breakfast and a nap.”

Damian relieved Marinette of the job of carrying Penélope and she fell into step beside Jason, chattering about their Christmases. Dick felt his nerves come back with a vengeance. Damian seemed at ease, bouncing his daughter as he stepped.

“I am sorry for the cloak and dagger, Grayson. Marinette is, understandably, wary of our family. She only knows what I have told her, and what she has gathered during our time together. She also knows that nobody has come to see us in that time, and it makes her nervous that you have now come.”

“We didn't know where you were, lil D,” Dick said softly. He had always been gentle with Damian and it stayed true, even now. “I swear to you, we looked. We spent a solid month trying to find you, and even after that we kept trying. You didn't take the…usual transport for going abroad, none of your aliases were in use, and Jon said he didn't know where you had gone, only that you had told him you needed to go. I didn't even know you were gone until I returned from my case, and I'd lost 3 weeks alone to that.”

“Tt, Jason told us. He has assured us that it was a random piece of luck that led to him finding us, and has promised that we may reconnect with whom we choose at our own pace. But he did ask that he be able to tell you first. Now, let us go inside and we can settle Penny. Marinette, mon amour, will you start the coffee?”

“Bien sûr, tu veux un thé, mon chéri? ” She replied, setting up a highchair at a dining table towards the back of the room. He confirmed and she twisted her way into the kitchen, humming softly. They could hear her clattering in the kitchen, making Penélope gurgle and clap. Damian smiled at the child indulgently and placed her in the chair. “ Son petit déjeuner, Damian, elle a très faim. Tu en veux?"

Dick was in awe. The little family was clearly practiced in their morning routine, Damian taking charge of feeding his daughter - his daughter, Dick's baby brother had a kid - whilst Marinette made coffee and tea. When had his brother become so domestic? Just how much had changed when he had left home? He wanted to know everything.

“Dames, I'm so happy for you,” Dick burst out, brimming with pride, tempered by his sadness at having missed it. “You have a beautiful family but how…when did you meet? Where did you go after everything with…I just wish I had been there for you.”

Damian shrugged, although his shoulders tightened slightly. “I cannot say what would have been better, but I am happy with my life here, Grayson. Marinette has been a blessing, in many ways. She has helped me heal from things I did not know were hurting me, and she has blessed me with my own family. I would not change where I have come to.”

“Such a serious talk,” Marinette said, bustling into the room with a tea tray, weighed down with coffee, tea, milk sugar and some baked confectionaries. Jason whooped and took a seat at the table, leaving both the seat next to Damian, and the one next to Penny, free. “ Monsieur Grayson, you cannot change what Damian has been through and I would not want you to have stopped him coming to me. It is natural to want him to have never been hurt, mais if he had never left, I would never have found l’amour de ma vie. ”

“ Un conversation serieux, elle a dit, ” Damian said mockingly, making Marinette flush prettily. “Marinette, my love, you cannot say that and then follow up with an even more serious conversation.”

“ Silence, mon coeur,” she said severely. “Anyway, you wanted to know how we met, non ? Would you like to tell the story, or shall I?” Damian snorted and waved a hand to indicate that she should continue. “ D’accord , so I met Damian perhaps a month after he arrived in Paris…”

* Flashback

It was getting dark, the summer day bleeding into a warm summer night. Marinette had been walking down a side street after meeting with Adrien. She had been prepared for the day to run longer than he had promised but it was still later than she had hoped to be walking home. She kept her head down and scurried across the next alley.

She heard a sound, a fleshy thud and a grunt, and she automatically turned towards it, hand coming up to touch her earrings. She saw the shapes of 2 men grappling and sprinted towards them, calling out as she did. As she reached them, she forced her way between them, shoving back the larger of the two as she stood over the prone form of the second.

“ Arrêtez, quoi tu fais? ” She demanded, meeting the man's eye. He let out an impatient noise before gesturing to a woman who was cowering behind a large bin. Her eyes widened and she looked back at the man on the floor, who was groaning and trying to get up. “ Merde, un voleur? Désolée, je ne savais pas. Ca va? ”

“Tt, je suis bien ,” the man said, his voice deep and annoyed. “ Il ne m’a pas vu avant je lui ai frappé. Il n’a pas utilisé son couteau .”

Marinette gave the man a long look, wondering whether she could turn her back on him long enough to use the restraints she carried with her. She decided that he had already helped one woman, she might as well put a little trust his way. She pulled out her phone and called the police, securing the other man's hands as she did so, speaking in rapid fire French.

And then she went to the woman and spoke softly, reassuring her that all was well and that she could relax. The man continued to watch her, eyes sharp.

*End flashback

“...and after that, we exchanged numbers. He clearly knew what he was doing, the man had hardly a scratch other than being passed out. He seemed surprised by how I handled the problem, but not unhappy. Running into that alley was the best choice I have made, pour ma vie entier ” she beamed, turning her bright eyes back towards her husband.

“Tt, I think you could have done slightly better than a man who had scarcely a penny to his name and none to call a friend. And I know many of your friends agree,” Damian added grumpily, beginning to clean Penélope as she had finished her meal.

“Well, I cannot help you, and other people, being wrong, Damian,” Marinette shrugged, standing and taking hold of Penélope. “ Maintenant, please excuse me, I must try to get her to sleep. She is unbearable sans her nap.”

“She will be several minutes, Penny struggles to sleep when we have guests,” Damian mused, the corners of his lips turning up slightly as he watched her go. His finger began turning one of his rings before he stilled and turned back to Jason and Dick.

“She's wonderful, baby bird,” Dick said softly, seeing the love she had for his brother. He ached to have missed so much - his first real relationship, how he had grown, his wedding - but he was relieved that Damian had had the chance to experience it all. He was grateful that someone as loving as Marinette had seen something in Damian and then stayed with him. “I can tell you love her very much, and she loves you too.”

“Oh, yeah, these two are disgustingly sappy. Even just through video chat they could rot teeth,” Jason joked, looking around instead of at either of his brothers. They passed more of the time, catching up on the changes in Dick and Damian's lives. They talked about Mar’i and Kor’i, Damian's job, their weddings…Dick had squealed when Damian pulled out his wedding album to show them.

“Holy shit, is that Jagged Stone?” Jason's voice was hushed but undeniably excited. “No way no way no way , you did not have Jagged Stone at your wedding .”

“He was not my guest, Todd. My wife has many connections, and Jagged insisted on providing the entertainment for the evening portion of the celebration.” At Dick and Jason's slack jaws, he snorted. “Marinette is a world acclaimed fashion designer, she is notable for making pieces for the eccentric musician, and when he heard that his ‘niece’ would be married, he insisted.”

“Hold up, Jagged Stone’s niece…famous designer…are you saying that you married MDC?! But…but Timmy has a contract with you! He is forever rubbing it in our faces that he gets to commission MDC originals, I'm pretty sure it's his only joy at this point, and you're telling me that your wife is the reason he gets to do that? That's so unfair! We've been in touch for nearly 2 months and you didn't think to tell me?”

“This is why he couldn't get you to relocate, isn't it?” Dick said to Marinette as she stepped lightly back into the room. “He's been so upset that he couldn't get you to move to Gotham but you wouldn't, because Damian would never.”

“Non , it was not Damian's decision. I think that he would go anywhere with me if I thought it would be good for us, but I would never wish to hurt him like that. Besides,” she added, in an attempt to lighten the mood, “I have the feeling that Monsieur Drake would monopolise my time if I was that close, and oncle Jagged would never forgive me.”

It was many hours later, and several giant yawns from Dick, that they admitted they needed to get to their hotel. Marinette said goodbye warmly, promising that Damian and Penélope would be available for the rest of their trip, even though she had work to do.

“There will be other visits where I can spend time with you all, but I think it best that Damian be allowed time with ses frères without me worrying over you all. I only ask, Dick, that you respect our decision not to involve Monsieur Wayne . I would never ask you to lie to him, but I must insist that you only give him information that he specifically asks for.”

Dick swore that he would keep the information to himself, although he begged to be able to tell Kor’i, which Marinette readily agreed to.

“Thank you, Jay,” Dick said, on the drive to their hotel. “No, seriously, this is the best Christmas present I have ever received.”

“So you're not mad that I didn't tell you sooner? Good,” he sighed when Dick shook his head, “because Mari straight up terrifies me.”

#ao3 #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #damian x marinette #daminette #daminette fanfic #damianette #lostinparis #chapter 2

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