#and tell me that man doesn't look like gabriel agreste

[bamimilyt6]

new senate majority leader looks like he's itching to akumatize somebody

[flightfoot]

Could you rec some love square #protect Adrien# (without Lila or Chloe salt)?<3

So I'm assuming from the "#protect adrien" that you're wanting Love Square fic where Adrien gets comfort and protection from Gabriel's abuse? Hopefully these fics scratch your itch!

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No Mistakes, No Pressure by ChaoticAce2005

Mlss gift for @nagisa_Chan Perfect. That’s what Adrien Agreste is supposed to be. The perfect model. The perfect son. The perfect student. But there’s one major flaw in all of this: Adrien himself isn’t. How can you constantly play roles demanding perfection without fault? The answer is you can’t. Eventually something has to give. And everyone is starting to get worried that the thing that will give is Adrien himself. Or: Basically Adrien starts to crumble because of all the expectations people put on him, and it’s starting to affect every aspect of his life. This is his journey of acknowledging the fact that perfection isn’t possible and that it’s okay to lean on others.

I really love the emphasis on how Adrien thinks of himself as a product here, that he has different "modes" or "editions" that he becomes, like a doll having different versions, and then slowly beginning to get better with the help of his friends. It really captures how he's been objectified, and how, thankfully, his friends are able to help him with that.

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A Child's Love by jaron5

This takes place post-Hack-San. Ladybug hands Chat Noir a potion she brewed which accidentally turns him into a kid without any of his memories. How is she going to keep an eye on a miniature Chat Noir while trying to keep their secret identities intact? Or the more pressing concern- how will she preserve her sanity when faced with the overwhelming cuteness and innocence that is her now de-aged partner?

I loved this fic, it's adorable and heart-wrenching. Adrien doesn't understand what's going on, but he still enjoys being around Marinette and the rest of his friends, and they just keep on hearing more and more little things that make them increasingly worried about Chat Noir's childhood.

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The Man of Mind Alone by @nemaliwrites

Underneath the taste of ingredients — the chocolate, the lemon, the butter — there’s something hidden, something larger and darker. As though his mouth is filling with the taste of smallness, the sensation of pain, of shrinking, of upset. A taste that he somehow knows is connected to his mother. -- Seven defining foods of Adrien Agreste's life.

So this was a fascinating fic. Basically, Adrien has this ability to taste the emotions people feel while they cook whenever he eats their food, gets to know them a lot better. Which can be a problem if the person cooking is really sad or angry or hateful. I love seeing how he navigates his ability, since it can cause a lot of problems - if he eats something by someone who was feeling nasty things, it can be traumatizing to him, and there's a bit of an invasion of privacy aspect as well.

Of course, he could cook for himself, but then he'd have to confront his own feelings, his own self, and he's scared.

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A Body Without Spirit by @nemaliwrites

“Look, I don’t know much about you guys, but I always hear other humans whining about how they have to listen to their parents or their teachers or bosses or whatever.” “Yes,” says Marinette, “but that’s…that’s different. Usually, when someone tells me to do something, I only do it if I want to. I can think about it, make a real decision. But this…it was like I didn’t even have time to think about it. Like I couldn’t resist, even if I wanted to. And if I did, it would have killed me.” -- Adrien and Marinette swap bodies. Marinette does not have a good time.

I love how this examined how it feels to be controlled by an Amok, especially by someone who's never felt it before, who knows something's not right, that this isn't just psychological, but doesn't know what's causing the inability to disobey orders. And it means that Marinette really, truly understands why Adrien can't disobey now, not just on a mental level, but through experience.

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with this ring by @thelibraryloser

She thought “you and me against the world” had sounded like lopsided odds before, when she hadn’t even dreamed “you against me” was a possibility. Or maybe she had dreamed it, but at least in those dreams he’d had cold blue eyes and a stark white mask. The villain she’d fought today had looked at her through her partner’s own bright green eyes. It wasn’t meant to be this way.

Short and sweet Sentiadrien enemies canon divergence fic here! I adored Marinette finding out why her kitty seemed to have “betrayed” her, and the righteous anger on his behalf once she figured out that it wasn’t of his own free will. Her comforting Adrien about it was just… really good. It’s a Hawkmoth Defeat fic too, so the immediate aftermath gets covered as well. Adrien needs a hug.

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what makes a human (am I?) by GraceM_TheStoriedLife

Adrien comes to Marinette’s out of nowhere. Usually Chat is her rock. Tonight, it’s her turn. (Or, in which Adrien discovers some secrets he’s not prepared for and Marinette is as Marinette-y as always.

So Adrien discovers he’s a sentimonster and immediately runs to Marinette for support. It’s as cute and angsty as you’d expect. She is, of course, very supportive of him. Also some discussion of Gabriel being abusive, since both she and Nino had been trying to get Adrien to see that. Especially with how, exactly, Adrien found out he’s a sentimonster. He can relate a little better to Felix’s experiences now than is healthy, I’ll just say.

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The Parable of the Caller by @nemaliwrites

A week after Hawk Moth’s identity has been revealed, Adrien finds himself with nowhere to go, nothing he can do, and worst of all, strange gaps in his memory he can’t explain. In a stroke of luck, he stumbles upon a burner phone filled with voicemails from one of the Saviors of Paris: Chat Noir himself, who disappeared following Hawk Moth’s arrest.

But with each new voicemail Adrien listens to, he’s forced to confront the fact that there might be some kind of connection between himself and Chat Noir — and discovering it might leave him more broken than before.

I absolutely adore this fic, it’s a fantastic character study for Adrien! Basically in this universe, Ladybug and Chat Noir talked about who should be Guardian, with Chat eventually convincing her that he should be the one to take it on, primarily due to the whole “the Guardian gets amnesia about Miraculous-related matters” situation, and wanting to protect Ladybug from that. Then he finds out Gabriel is Hawk Moth, they take him down, and he relinquishes the Miracle Box and his guardianship to Su Han - all without having a Reveal with Ladybug, since well, he’s not in the greatest shape mentally at the time.

It’s a real treat to see Adrien’s thoughts and feelings about one of the Heroes of Paris leaving him all these voicemails, treating him like this close friend for reasons he doesn’t understand, and just seeing Chat Noir as this outside person. He’s got a very different viewpoint on Chat when looking from the outside than he would from the inside, with being able to see his heroic and good qualities far more easily when he doesn’t know that he is Chat.

Also Marinette’s struggling in the background of the fic with the loss of her partner and guilt over sending Adrien’s father to prison. It gets touched on at various points, and you can tell that she’s having her own story off to the side that we’re just not entirely privy to, what with this tale being told entirely from Adrien’s perspective.

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drowning (in plain sight) by @buggachat

Everybody had expected Monarch's defeat to be a moment of triumph. Nobody had expected Gabriel Agreste, unmasked and mind frayed from continual abuse of the miraculous, crying out to all who would listen and making Paris certain of one thing:

His son, Adrien Agreste, is one of his sentimonsters.

And now he's missing.

Nobody can find him— not even the superheroes, and not even his closest friends. But Marinette, Nino, and Alya aren't ones to give up so easily. They'll find him, no matter what it takes.

(But, geez, would it kill Chat Noir to lend a hand?)

I’m sure everyone saw this one coming. If there’s one thing buggachat’s good at, storywise, it’s capturing raw, tumultuous emotions, frantic breakdowns as the characters desperately try to navigate bad situations. This was a real treat to read, as I’m betting most people reading this will agree, given just how popular the fic has been. It also has a ton of fanart, both by buggachat and by random fans, if you go looking for it (there’s a drowning in plain sight tag which I’d advise perusing). 

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Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

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Stealing Freedom by @rosie-b

Adrien Agreste was a good person. Marinette knew this to be true, of course; she wouldn’t be marrying him if he were some irredeemable villain. No, her fiancé was practically the opposite of evil. He cooed over babies and kittens, literally stopped to smell the roses and always brought large bouquets of them to dates. He had trouble killing spiders and bugs, begging his partner to take on the task whenever she was around to save him. Adrien was the sweetest person Marinette knew, the most kindhearted, the most forgiving; he was almost too perfect for her sometimes. But now, Marinette knew that the same Adrien who still blushed when his fiancée kissed him was also the well-known terror of Paris, Cat Walker.

Now, this fic really SHOULD have been in my top fics for 2022 post. I’m a sucker for enemies au and I love a good Sentiadrien fic, so combining the two of them here is great! I feel so bad for Adrien, and I love that the heroes know from early on that Cat Walker isn’t really the enemy here. It’s short, but it’s sweet.

[eddo-tensei]

The Power of Love according to Season 5 of Miraculous

Something disturbing dawned on me concerning...a lot of the development in Season 5 and it comes down to one thing: Love.

At first, Andre and Felix getting redeemed while Chloe gets sent off to the worst fate the show would allow didn't make a lot of sense. The only thing I could get from the writers was just that "Chloe bad, so everyone else good." It was stupid, but it wasn't insidious. At least, not that insidious at first. And then the finale with Gabriel happened and while it took me a while to process my frustrations with this, something finally clicked. Not only concerning that, but some of the other developments I've seen.

Felix getting another chance to the point of JOINING the heroes in the new universe seemed like nonsense until you look at what happened before that. He was someone who Astruc went out of his way to bury in the narrative and was exclusively causing trouble for everyone up to and including GENOCIDE...until he showed his love to Kagami. Suddenly, his actions are seen as righteous and his backstory of being abused by his father was justification for his actions. You see, he loved Kagami and he also apparently loved Adrien too because they were "the same."

Andre was basically just some corrupt politician who was also a pathetic snob. Then when Zoe came in, we suddenly get all of these humanizing bits about how Chloe totally mistreated him (because apparently, not having the guts to say no to your daughter is mistreatment) and when he divorced Audrey, he gets Zoe because he's someone he could be happy with. A true familial love unlike the one he had with Chloe.

Chloe, meanwhile, doesn't love anyone as far as the writers are concerned. Any genuine connection she might have in either the platonic, familial, or the romantic sense, whether it'd be to Adrien, Sabrina, Zoe or Ladybug, are shown to be either fake or so utterly shallow, it doesn't count as "love." With that, everything she does is absolutely reprehensible and doesn't deserve a shred of forgiveness even if it's clear she's a neglected child who needed help. BUT, because she "doesn't love anyone", she doesn't get redemption and deserves to be sent away with a parent who doesn't love her either. Same with Lila, she doesn't love anyone at all and in fact, just jumps from family to family purely to keep up her manipulations.

Finally, we have Gabriel, who had done nothing but sheltered, belittled, and outright ABUSED Adrien as well as commit a multitude of horrid crimes throughout the series. His actions constantly escalated in awfulness throughout the series, even showing that he doesn't care if he destroys the universe to get what he wants. Yet there was always this trait he possessed. His love for Emilie and that ended up coming to the forefront in the finale. Marinette, who had Gabriel dead to rights, decided at the last moment to try and appeal to his humanity because she knows he loved Emilie and in her mind, that love is enough grounds for her to offer him one chance to step up and help. Then when Gabriel opts to betray Marinette and starts the wish, he tells her at the last moment to try and help Adrien remember all of the times he "tried to be a good father," which is apparently an indicator that he actually LOVED Adrien too. THAT ended up being why Marinette decided to lie about Gabriel by saying he died fighting Monarch and went as far as to try and tell Adrien to remember him as a good man. All because she knew Gabriel "loved" him.

This tells me something distressing. Now, the concept of "Love Redeems" is something I'm not at all against and is in fact common in a lot of stories I like. However, it's what Miraculous does with this concept in Season 5 that angers me. The message of Miraculous ends up giving in its grand finale for the Agreste arc isn't that love can help people find the way to kindness. It's that anything you do can be justified as long as you do it for "love." It doesn't matter if you purposely get a cab driver in trouble, attempt to sabotage a date that your crush is in, put together a project that tries to commercialize air, betray someone to help a terrorist, commit genocide, cause untold amounts of damage to your town and beyond, or even destroy the universe! As long as you love someone, everything you do can be justified. Except when we decide that you don't love ANYONE, then we'll do everything in our power to show that all of your connections don't count as love so you can have the worst punishment we could possibly muster. Regardless of intent, that's how the writers ended up describing the Power of Love in Season Five of Miraculous and that's wretched to me.

[kasienda]

A Miraculous Reveal - Rings True

Post Season Five - Angst w/ a very happy ending

Summary: Ladybug hits send on her text to Chat Noir, telling him who Monarch is. She tells Adrien a very different story. Adrien doesn't know what to make of it, but he thinks he deserves the truth. Thanks to @coffeebanana, @wackus-bonkus-maximus, and @nemaliwrites for the beta read. This hits just a bit harder because of your input.

Read on Ao3

A Miraculous Reveal - Rings True

I figured out who Monarch is. He’s Gabriel Agreste. Meet me at the Agreste Mansion . 

Chat Noir stares at the text and then glances up once again at the imposing statue erected in his father’s honor. Because his father apparently sacrificed himself to help Ladybug defeat Monarch. 

He shivers in the winter morning air. 

Both of those realities can’t be true. 

Chat Noir falls to the ground, his father’s oversized form blocking out the sun’s glare. He has no idea what he was feeling, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. He just sits there, gravel from the pavement digging through his suit, barely aware of the passersby chattering about his unexpected presence. He can’t hear what they’re saying with his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest. His stomach is so sour he thinks he might throw up, and his hands shake hard enough he’s not certain he will keep hold of  his baton.

His father’s gone. 

He wished for this. Adrien wanted the man who wouldn’t let him make his own choices or live his life gone. And him being Monarch made all of that worse somehow. 

How many times had Adrien wished Monarch dead? 

Well, now he was. 

But Ladybug told him to his face, as Adrien, that his father gave up everything so he could be happy. 

Adrien can’t believe it. His father had never cared about Adrien’s happiness. That had never been more clear than when he shipped Adrien off to London to be the poster child alongside Kagami for the Alliance rings or whatever else his father had in mind. 

It’s far, far easier to believe his father had been Monarch. 

But why did Ladybug lie?

He doesn’t have to contemplate the question long. She lands next to him and he scrambles to his feet, his shoulders tense as he turns to her. She asked to meet him this morning, it’s the first time he’s seen her since he failed to show up to fight Monarch. Is she angry with him? She doesn’t look angry, but she doesn’t look happy either.  

She very noticeably does not look at the monument. 

“Can we talk anywhere but here?” Her voice shakes. And it’s amazing how just that small sign of anxiety from her makes his own turmoil abate. 

For the moment, at least. 

He clears his throat. “Lead the way.” His voice sounds like gravel. 

She takes off, and he launches himself in pursuit, not paying any attention to where they’re going. He just follows the flash of red as he always does.

They eventually settle on an ordinary rooftop away from prying eyes. She doesn’t speak. She stares at the blank brick wall in front of them as if it holds all the answers of the universe. 

Every moment of silence eats at him, bringing back the clammy feeling in his neck and the sour churn in his stomach. He can’t stand it. 

“M’lady?”

She glances at him and visibly swallows. 

“Are you okay?”

Her hands grip the edge of the roof and her gaze drops. She shakes her head and her eyes well with tears.

His hand covers hers immediately. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

She leans into his shoulder and his arm comes around her immediately.

She breaks down into tears immediately, and he just holds her as she cries herself out. 

“I wish you were there,” she whispers, and his chest tightens in guilt. “I don’t know that it would have made any difference, but–” her head nuzzles further into his shoulder, “–I would have felt better with you there.” 

“I’m sorry,” he croaks again. He shouldn’t have given into his nightmare. He could have broken out of his father’s prison. It apparently wouldn’t have even mattered that it would have revealed his identity.

Monarch was dead. 

She shakes her head. “You couldn’t have known. I didn’t know either. I was there for another reason entirely.” 

He wants to ask what that reason was, but now that she’s talking, he’s unwilling to interrupt. 

“Discovering his identity was an accident. The miraculized robots were everywhere. They were tracking my active miraculous somehow. I had to detransform. He had me cornered. Thank god you sent Plagg. The tides shifted then! And I had him!”

Her face falls and she buries her eyes in her closed fists. 

“I was so stupid! I thought I could convince him to give it up for Adrien.” 

His throat tightens. It isn’t surprising that his father wouldn’t. But hearing her say it still somehow hurts. 

Adrien had never been enough, not for his father.

He blinks furiously to fend off the unwanted tears.

“So why is there a statue of Monarch in the middle of Paris?” he croaks. “Why did you lie to Adrien?” 

He doesn’t mean for it to be an accusation. He needs to know. 

But she recoils violently. “It wasn’t a lie!” 

He frowns. “But—“

Her face crumples and her body shakes like an earthquake. She breaks down into wracking sobs all over again. “I lost , Chaton. I trusted him. I wanted to be able to heal their relationship. He took all the miraculouses - including the Ladybug and the Black Cat. He made a wish.”

Adrien sucks in a breath. 

“But something I said must have gotten through because he changed his wish. He didn’t wish for his wife to be revived. He joined her in death instead. Then all the miraculouses minus the butterfly were returned to me. Before he did it, he asked me to make sure Adrien remembered him fondly.”

Adrien tastes bile. Seriously? His father wanted Adrien to think well of him? 

“So I only told Adrien the good parts. But I didn’t lie . Gabriel did sacrifice himself for his son’s happiness in the end. He did help me defeat Monarch.”

Adrien’s claws dig into his knee. His father may have said he did it for Adrien, but that’s what he always said. That’s what he said when he wouldn’t let Adrien have a birthday party, or go play music with his friends, what he said when he had forbidden Adrien from being with Marinette and when he had Adrien shipped off to London. 

But none of it was ever actually for Adrien. It never was. 

His father hadn’t needed to make a wish at all. He didn’t have to leave. If he wanted Adrien to be happy, he could have come back and done things differently. “But it’s a lie.”

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter?!” he echoes hotly. “That’s what Gabriel did to his son all the time. Lied to him, made choices for him about what he was allowed to know and do, what Adrien was allowed to feel . He locked him up and sent him away from the people he loved most!”

His heart rises to his throat, his chest heaves up and down. 

Ladybug stares at him, her eyes wide. “How do you know all that?”

He tries to meet her gaze, but he can’t do it. He feels exposed. 

“And now you want Adrien to remember that man fondly?! Want him to think that his pain and frustration and anger are all something he imagined?!”

She cries harder. “But he deserves better than Gabriel,” she sobs. 

Chat Noir took both her shoulders and squeezed them gently. “He deserves the truth. You need to tell him, M’lady.” 

And he’s being ridiculous. He already knows, so what does it matter? 

He just wants her to be the one to tell him.

“But how do I do that?” Her words are barely louder than the wind. Tears slipdown her face. 

“He deserves to know,” he says again.

She leans back into Chat’s chest. “You’re right. I just— I wish he didn’t have to go through all this.” 

“He won’t be alone.” 

He has Marinette, Nino, and Plagg.

He has her .

… 

Ladybug doesn’t show up that night. Or the next. Adrien spends each evening pacing back and forth in front of his stupidly large glass window. He purposely kept his evenings clear - sending Marinette home early and begging Nathalie to let him eat alone in his room. 

He was trying to make it easier for Ladybug to approach him. 

But still, she hasn’t come. He doesn’t understand it. What is she waiting for? Does she not trust him as Chat Noir? Does she think Adrien can’t handle the truth? 

Adrien throws himself backwards onto his bed. Each day he proves more irritable than the last, prone to snapping at everyone around him — even Marinette, who’s the absolutely last person who deserves his ire.

Five excruciating days later, she stands before him, wringing her gloved hands and all the tension that had been building up inside him like water against a dam for days, releases. 

She’s here. She’s going to tell him.

He smiles at her. “What can I do for you, Ladybug?” he asks.

She doesn’t meet his gaze. She’s so worked up, he almost feels bad that he pushed her into this. He could have just volunteered as Chat Noir to talk to Adrien himself. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. 

She laughs darkly, and looks at him. “You should not be asking me that. I just… I have some things that I need to tell you, things I should have told you before. C-can we sit down for this?” 

“Of course!” he says, walking her to the couch. “Can I get you anything?” 

“No, no! I’m fine,” she says. “You should sit too.” 

He sits next to her. She’s vibrating in her seat. Her legs are bouncing, her hands are fidgeting, she looks at him only to look away immediately. 

She bolts to her feet and starts pacing in front of him. His eyes follow her. 

“So umm…” Her hands flail around her. “You know how I told the city that your father helped me defeat Monarch?” The words come out of her in a rush, like she’s afraid if she stops she won’t get them out. 

“Yes?” 

“Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Your father—” she looks at him now. “Well, he was Monarch.” 

And there it is. The words are out. He almost wants to laugh. Instead, he lets out a heavy sigh.

“Are you okay?” she asks, kneeling down in front of him, and taking his hands. 

He smiles again, and nods. “I… okay is not the word, but maybe? Thank you for telling me. It’s relieving in a way.”

“Relieving?” she repeats, her eyebrows arching in disbelief.  

“Yeah, thinking of him as a hero after everything he had done to me… it didn’t feel right, but being angry with the person who helped Ladybug save all of Paris— well, that didn’t feel right either.” 

“I— I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

He squeezes her hand. 

“Why are you letting the whole city believe he was a hero?” he asks. It’s still the one bit that doesn’t make sense. 

She offers him a pained smile. “Because I didn’t want anyone to know you had any association with the villains.”

He frowns. “You don’t need to do—“ 

She shakes her head sharply, cutting him off. “There’s more to it than that. This next part, Adrien. I…” she bites her lower lip. “I haven’t told anyone. Not even my partner.”

Every muscle in his body locks up. 

“This is too sensitive, too personal. I feel like I shouldn’t even know.” 

Her hands tremble, and he shivers.  What could be so awful that it was worth letting all of Paris believe Monarch was a hero?  

Ladybug’s finger taps the rings on his left hand - and he glances down at his parents’ wedding rings. 

“These aren’t ordinary rings. They’re amoks.”

“Amoks?” he repeats. “Like for a sentimonster?”

“Sentibeings,” she corrects. “These are your amoks.” 

Did his father leave sentimonsters running around? Ones that Adrien is now responsible for? How awful was—

Ladybug watches him carefully. She’s biting her lip again, her eyes wide, clearly bracing herself for his reaction. 

He missed the mark. The rings are suddenly all he can see. These are his amoks. 

He hunches forward, his shoulders feeling like lead. He gasps for air that won’t fill his lungs. It feels like the ground has opened up underneath him and swallowed him whole.

Ladybug’s arms wrap around him, she cradles his head against her chest. She strokes his hair like he’s a small child needing to be soothed.

“I’m a… sentimonster.” 

She shakes her head violently. “Senti- being. ” 

He laughs, the sound hysterical and unbelieving even in his own ears. 

“But yes, you were created with the peacock miraculous.” 

He’s a sentimonster. 

His whole life is stored in a pair of rings . 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you this,” Ladybug says, tears slipping over her mask. “I wish you didn’t have to know.” 

His eyes fly up to her face. Ladybug almost didn’t tell him. If Chat Noir hadn’t convinced her, would he have ever known?

Suddenly, he’s furious. “You weren’t going to tell me.” 

“Adrien, I swear I returned the rings to you the second I understood what they were.” 

“What if I had taken them off or given them away?!”

Then her words catch up to him. 

“Wait. You didn’t give me these rings. It was… Marinette?” 

Her eyes flood with tears. It’s confirmation enough. 

He scuttles backward so fast the couch tips over. He shoves himself across the floor further, needing to be away from her. 

“Adrien! Please!” she begs, reaching for him on her knees. 

She’s Marinette. 

He sobs brokenly, shaking his head. “I don’t understand! Why would you keep this from me?! I thought Ladybug, at least, had no idea what my father was like. But you? Marinette! You stood against him time and again. And now you cave to him?! To lie to me?!” 

“I didn’t want to hurt you! I wanted you to be as happy as possible given everything that has happened.” 

He caves in on himself - he cradles his neck, and buries his head between his knees, rocking back and forth. 

“Adrien?” she asks, her hand hovering over his shoulder. He flinches from her, and she backs away. 

“I’m sorry!” she cries. 

“You know, when I read your text the first time, I felt relief . My father was Monarch. That sucked, but it also felt like a puzzle piece had snapped into place. Something that made sense .” 

“What text?” 

“Then you showed up to talk to me, and you fed me a completely different story! My father, a hero?“ he laughs bitterly. 

“Adrien—“

“When I told you that you needed to tell me, I didn’t think it mattered because I already knew. I wanted to hear it from you.”

Her eyes blow open wide and her mouth falls open into a horrified “oh”. 

“Chaton?” she asks, her voice cracking.

“If I hadn’t done that, would you have ever told me?” 

Her cries only intensify and she doesn’t answer him, but for once, he’s unmoved by her tears. He can’t ever remember being so angry with her. 

“You’re just like him.”

The look on her face is pure devastation. He can’t bring himself to care. 

“I’m so sorry,” she sobs. 

“Why didn’t you just use the rings?” 

“What do you mean?” Her voice is so quiet he barely hears her. 

“If you wanted me to be happy, couldn’t you have just ordered me to be happy?”

“Adrien! That’s horrible!” 

“Is it?! How is it any different than what you did?! You told me lies to manipulate my feelings! Made me believe in something that you knew wasn’t true. The rings just would have made it easier.” 

“I would never do that to you!”

“But you did!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t understand! I never wanted to hurt you. I love you.” 

“That just makes it worse.”

“Adrien, please.” She reaches for him again. And he pulls away. 

“I can’t do this right now.” 

She stares at him, her eyes glassy. “Adrien–”

“Just go!” he shouts. 

And she does. And he’s not entirely certain that he wants her to come back. 

…

She keeps calling him. She calls him so many times that first night he loses track. She leaves him messages almost every time. He listens to every single one the second it comes in. 

She apologizes profusely again and again. She cries until her voice is sandpaper, and then she cries more. She understands why he’s angry and she knows what she did wrong. 

He wants to forgive her. He does. 

But he doesn’t know how.

Two days go by, and he still doesn’t take any of her calls. But he continues to listen to every message. 

His phone rings again, but it’s Alya. 

“Hey, what’s up?” he answers cautiously. 

“How are you doing?” And it’s definitely Alya talking — not Marinette and he relaxes. 

“That depends.” 

“On?”

“Are you asking because you want to know, or because Marinette does?”

“I won’t tell Marinette anything if you don’t want me to, but whatever happened between the two of you, know that she has always loved you.” 

He squeezes his eyes closed. He doesn’t even doubt that. But his parents had loved him too. He twists his amoks around his finger. That hadn’t stopped either of them from controlling and manipulating him. 

“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” he says. 

Alya’s silent for a moment. “You don’t really believe that, do you?” she asks softly.

“I didn’t used to,” he admits. “But now… now, I don’t know where I stand with anyone.” 

“I can only imagine how hard it must be to process everything about your father.” 

“Yeah, everything about my father,” he echoes dully. Alya doesn’t know even half of it— 

“It’s so messed up,” she commiserates. “Especially given who you all turned out to be.” 

Unless she already knows all of it. Because she’s Ladybug’s best friend! 

“How long have you known?” he asks, trying to keep his tone even, but it probably just comes out cold. 

“Known what?”

“That I’m Chat Noir, she’s Ladybug, and my father was fucking Monarch?!”

“Adrien, listen—“

Adrien’s tired of listening. 

“—she had a total meltdown.” 

“She told you before she told me, didn’t she?” 

“Adrien–” 

He’s shaking his head even though she can’t see him. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because I thought it should come from her! ” 

“Did she also tell you I’m a sentimonster and she wasn’t going to tell me?!”

“A what?! Adrien!—“

He hangs up. He tries to take solace from the fact that Marinette hadn’t told Alya or Chat Noir about Adrien being a sentimonster. She had some lines she wouldn’t cross at least. 

But it’s not enough. She hadn’t planned on telling him either. 

He twists the rings on his finger. What if he had taken them off? 

It’s the thought he can’t shake.

He calls Nino.

“Hey mec! What’s up?” 

“Tell me you didn’t know.” 

“Know what?” 

“Did Marinette or Alya tell you about me?” 

“Umm… I thought you already knew that Marinette liked you since you guys have been dating.” 

And despite everything Adrien bursts out laughing. Nino definitely didn’t know anything. 

“Dude! What is going on?”

“Can I come over?”

“Anytime, mec!” Nino exclaims enthusiastically! “You never have to ask.”

…

Adrien barely has time to knock before Nino whips the door open and yanks him inside and into a hug. 

Adrien lets himself relax. Nino didn’t know anything. Nino never lied to him. If anything, Nino was stupidly forthcoming about his own secrets. 

He can trust Nino. 

Which gives him an idea. A terrible idea. 

“Dude! How’ve you been holding up?” 

Adrien shrugs. Before he can overthink it, he slips both of his amoks off his finger and presses them into Nino’s hands. 

“Put these on,” he says.

Nino looks at the rings. “Are these wedding rings?” Nino asks. 

“Technically, yes.”

“You proposing, mec? You could at least buy me dinner first.” 

Adrien doesn’t laugh. “Just put them on. I want to try something. I’ll explain after.” 

Nino slips the rings on without any hesitation. “Okay. Now what?” 

Because Nino trusts him. 

“Tell me to do something weird.” 

“Weird like what?”

“I don’t know, something I wouldn’t normally do.” 

Nino pulls out his phone and puts on a dance remix. “Alright dude. Dance like you’ve never danced before.” 

Adrien throws himself into the moves, rolls with the music Nino’s music, he tells himself. It doesn’t feel like a compulsion. It feels like he wants to do it - almost like it’s his own idea. But he can’t stop either. And he wants to cry. 

How many times had he tried to stand up to his father only to immediately fold once standing before him?

Even his maman! How many times had she sweet talked him into cooperating? She had always said he was an easy child. All he had ever wanted was to make them proud. Was any of it him? 

Nino stops the music.

“Dude! You’re crying.” 

He is, and yet, he’s still dancing. Another sob tears from his throat. 

He’s not human. He’s a sentimonster, a puppet on strings, a plaything for his parents’ amusement.

“Stop it! What’s wrong?” Nino asks, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Adrien’s limbs still, and he falls to his knees, sobbing.

Nino is on the ground right next to him an instant later. “Talk to me, please.”

Adrien knows with that command, he can technically talk about anything, but he had come here to talk about one thing in particular.

“I’m a sentimonster,” he gasps. “I’ve been a sentimonster my whole life. Those,” he points to the rings on Nino’s pinky and ring finger, “are my amoks.” 

Nino’s expression falls off his face. Then he tears the rings off his hands and slams them up against Adrien’s chest. 

“Why would you ever give these to me?! Why would you give them to anyone?!”

“I just… wanted to know how they worked, what it felt like. I didn’t think you would use them if you knew.”

“Damn right, I wouldn’t!” Nino roared, his chest visibly heaving. “Please don’t put me in that position again!”

Adrien nods. “I’m sorry.”

“What the hell is going on? What do you mean you’re a sentimonster? They haven’t been around that long. Are you some kind of copy of my best friend?” 

Adrien shakes his head. “I’m the original, one and only, Adrien Agreste. My father had the butterfly and the peacock since before I was born, and apparently for some reason —“ that Adrien hadn’t had time to even think about, let alone figure out. “—they raised a sentimonster instead of having a child using more natural methods.” 

“Wait! Your father had the butterfly?! But that means—“

“He was Monarch,” Adrien says before Nino can. 

“But Ladybug said—“

“Yeah well, Ladybug doesn’t have the best relationship with the truth,” he says bitterly. “She’s just like my father.” 

Nino looks more shocked by that than anything else Adrien has said. 

“What?” Adrien asks, unable to interpret Nino’s silence. 

“Dude!” Nino exclaims like that explains everything. “You’ve always been Ladybug’s biggest fan!” 

“That was before she tried to lie to me about my father! She wasn’t even going to tell me about being a sentimonster! She gave me back these rings without saying anything! What if I had lost one or taken them off? Or gave her one when I proposed?!”

“When you proposed?” Nino echoes. “To Ladybug?” 

Adrien thunks his head against the wall. He hadn’t lasted twenty-four hours with her identity. She’s going to kill him.

“Can we pretend I didn’t say that?” 

Nino’s head cocks to the side. “Marinette is Ladybug. Huh.” 

“That doesn’t surprise you?” 

“That’s definitely the least surprising thing you’ve said today. Not surprising at all really,” Nino says. “Okay, so we’re pissed at Maribug—“

“Cute.” 

“—because she didn’t tell you about your father being an even worse dick than we already knew. And she didn’t tell you were a sentimonster. But then, how did you find out?” 

“She told me.” 

“But—“

Adrien sighs. He’s already screwed as it is. “She told me as Chat Noir.”

Nino is silent again. “You’re Chat Noir.” 

“Yup.” 

“And your dad was Monarch.” 

“Unfortunately.” 

“Mec! That’s so messed up.” 

“Tell me about it.” 

“So Maribug told Adrien the same thing she told the city?”

“Yeah, that he died a hero helping her defeat Monarch.” 

“Gross,” Nino says. “Why would she want you to remember him with rose colored glasses?” 

“I don’t know!” 

“Do you think she killed him?” 

Adrien freezes. The thought had never occurred to him because it’s incomprehensible. “No. There’s no way.” 

“And she told Chat Noir - not knowing that she was talking to you - that you’re a sentimonster?” 

“No, she only told Chat Noir that my father was Monarch.”

Nino hums. 

“Just say it,” Adrien says. 

“Well, I get that you’re pissed. I think I am too on your behalf. But I don’t think Marinette is anything like your father.” 

“Go on.” Adrien wants to forgive her. He just needed a way to get there in his own head. 

“The difference is Marinette did tell you.” 

“She wasn’t going to. I had to talk her into it.” 

Nino nods. “ Exactly. She wasn’t going to, and then you explained your perspective and she changed her mind. She recognized that she was wrong, that you were right and she did what Marinette always does. She tried to fix it. Your dad would have only doubled down.” 

“Or tried to akumatize someone over it,” Adrien adds darkly. 

“Dude! He’s akumatized like every single one of your friends.” 

His father hadn't wanted him to have any friends. Had his father ever seen him as a real person? 

“Nino, do you still care about me knowing that I’m not real?” 

“What the fuck kinda question is that? One, yes! I care about you more than almost anyone on this planet. And two, you are most definitely real .” 

Adrien’s crying again, but Nino quickly seizes him in a hug. Adrien buries himself in Nino’s solid embrace, and he knows he’s going to be okay even if he’s not there yet. 

…

It’s been four days since he shouted at Marinette to get out of his room. 

She’s still calling him, and he covets every message, as a sign that she loves him despite what he is, that she hasn’t given up on him, or on them. He listens to them the second they show up, though he still hasn’t been able to bring himself to respond, though he thinks he might be getting close. He did send a message through Alya that he just wants some space and he’ll let her know when he’s ready to talk.

Most of her messages are similar in nature. She apologizes over and over, tells him that she loves him, and that she’ll do anything to make it up to him. She just doesn’t know what that is. 

He thought that he might feel vindicated or something hearing her so small and contrite, but he doesn’t. He feels awful because as much as he was hurt, he doesn’t want her to hurt either. 

He loves her. 

Then her last two messages were drastically different in content. 

“I learned that you were a Senti from Felix.” Her voice is subdued, like she’s narrating from a script. “He and Kagami are both sentis as well. They asked Ladybug for help.” 

Figured that Felix told Ladybug without even telling him .

“I’m not sure they want anyone to know that, but I guess… even if you—“ her voice cracks and his chest clenches at the pain in her voice. “—even if you can’t forgive me, I-I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.”

She’s openly sobbing now. “I love you.” 

The message abruptly ends.

The second message that day comes in hours later. 

“I got Kagami to bully Felix into letting me talk to Dusuu!” Her voice is so different from the previous call. She sounds excited. She sounds like Ladybug with an idea. “The original amoks didn’t have a mind control feature. That was something the Guardians added at the same time they added it to the miraculouses to be able to control the Kwamis. If they added it, there’s gotta be a way to take it away, right?” 

“I have a plan to free you all from your amoks. But there’s a hiccup. We’ll need the butterfly so I can give you the power to see your spiritual connection to the ring so you can cataclysm only the part that can control you. I know it’s dangerous. And we don’t have to do it if you’re not comfortable, and we don’t have the butterfly right now anyway—“ 

Adrien smiles as Marinette rambles on. How had he never realized Ladybug and Marinette were the same? They think out loud in the exact same way. 

Even though he asked for space, even though he wasn’t talking to her, even though she wasn’t certain they were going to remain a couple, she was still fighting for him. 

He transforms immediately and lands just outside the bakery. He’s not sure if she’s even home, but he hopes that she is. 

He takes the stairs two at a time. He hesitates before knocking. And before he can bridge the gap, the door flies open of its own accord. 

Marinette drops her purse and stares at him. Her eyes are red and her usually neat pigtails are half falling out and completely uneven. She’s still in her pajamas though she had thrown a coat and a scarf over them. 

She has never looked more beautiful. 

He offers her a wobbly smile. “I’m sorry. You’re on your way out. I can— I can come back.” He starts to turn around. 

She grabs his wrist. “No! Please don’t go.” Her voice is hoarse, and faint, like she’s afraid if she’s too loud he’ll bolt. “Wh-what do you wan— I mean, need? What do you need?” 

He eyes her grip on his wrist, and she instantly lets go, and suddenly can’t meet his eyes. 

“Can we talk?” he asks. 

She nods. Her eyes are downcast, her shoulders are hunched in, and her arms are wrapped around her stomach. She’s been tearing herself up for all the days he didn’t speak to her. 

“Hey,” he says softly. “Can you look at me?” 

She does, but her eyes water immediately, and he yanks her into his arms.

“It’s going to be okay,” he assures. 

She falls to pieces in his arms. He rocks her harder, kisses her hair, and continues to hold her. 

“I’m so sorry,” she sobs. 

“It’s… o—“ he cuts himself off before he can say it’s okay. Nino told him that was the one sentence he wasn’t allowed to say. “It’s going to be okay,” he says again. 

She shakes her head. “No, I’m awful. I don’t know what I was thinking! You’re right to be so angry. You’re right to hate me!” 

He laughs, and then cups either side of her face. Her blue eyes fill with tears and he aches for her. “M’lady, I could never ever hate you. I was hurt.” 

“Of course you were!” 

“And I needed some space.” 

She nods against his hands. 

“But I’ve been thinking, and Nino made me realize that I actually should be thanking you.” 

“Thanking me?! For what?!”

“Because you told me.” 

“But I wasn’t going to. Not until you convinced me to.” 

“But then you did. You listened to me, and you trusted me as Chat Noir, and then you told me as Adrien. And I’m glad that I know now. I needed to know. No one else was ever going to tell me. And so, I’m really glad I have you, that you respected me enough to tell me this hard truth about my own life. My parents didn’t tell me. Nathalie never did, though she had to have known. And I don’t think she ever would have. Even Felix, and apparently Kagami, didn’t tell me though you think they’d get it better than anyone.”

“But I should have told you right away. I never should have lied.” 

He shrugs. “Yeah, that’s true, but we all make mistakes. And when you realized you were wrong, you tried to fix it.” He held up his phone. “And you’re still trying to fix it. Even though it’s hard, even though I didn’t take it well. You still told me the truth when no one else did. And I just— I love you.”

He presses his forehead to hers. “Even when you make mistakes, even when you really piss me off, even when you’re not perfect, I love you. And I don’t think that will ever not be the case. Thank you for telling me, thank you for giving me some space to figure stuff out on my own, and if you’ll still have me, may I still be yours?”

“If I’ll still have you?” she repeats, aghast. “Shouldn’t it be if you’ll still have me?”

He shrugs again. “I’ve already said I still want to be your partner in every sense of the word, but I’ve had time to think about it while you were sending me message after message that you loved me. Even though I’m not even human.” 

Her face contorts into pure rage. “Adrien Agreste! You are the most beautiful human being I have ever met in my life! You are kind. You give people second chances. You are persistent, and brave, and you have the dorkiest sense of humor. You drive me absolutely insane both with and without a mask, and I am so stupidly in love with you, I will absolutely still have you! And if you think—“

He cuts her off with a kiss. He’s going to spend the rest of his life with this girl if he has anything to say about it. 

[thenaphantoms]

An AU in which Zoé finds out she's Adrien's half-sister. She and Adrien don't find out about it until Zoé's bio mother dies, and Gabriel reluctantly has to take her in. Even still, Gabriel is hoping to force her on Adrien and forget she exists.

But what he didn't count on was what a doting big brother Adrien would end up being upon their introduction.

Zoé tosses her honey blonde hair over her shoulder as she steps out of the limo, a confidence in each stride as she approaches the front gates.

She pushes the doorbell.

"Hey, tell the old man I'm here," she drawls, a strong american accent rolling off her tongue.

"You're late, Miss Lee."

The girl ignores the light reprimand, instead watching patiently as the large metal gates creak and groan open. She knows how they feel. They don't want to be here any more than she does.

Head held high, she takes a breath and strides inside, ice blue gaze steely with resolve.

The man that greets her at the door needs no introduction.

Gabriel Agreste, the renowned, the awe-inspiring, the ice cold head of the Agreste household, looks down at her like a bug on his brogues, lips curled in disgust

"What time do you call this?"

Perhaps 'greets' is a stretch. Gabriel never was good at pleasantries.

"I don't understand the question," she replies, blinking up at him innocently. "Isn't it called seven thirty?"

He tucks his arms behind his back, jaw tightening. "Don't make me regret agreeing to this, Miss Lee. I will not put up with your disrespect. Do you understand?"

"Oh, what? You'll, like, kick me out onto the street?"

"Perhaps. I've done far worse things for far less." His cold eyes narrow, gaze so sharp it almost hurts to have it trained on her.

"I know," she replies stiffly, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I think I'm what you would refer to as the far less."

He doesn't reply, unless you consider a disinterested hum a reply.

There's a sudden sound, footsteps trotting down the staircase that sits behind them.

"Father, Nathalie said you wanted to see me?" The intruder, a blond boy not much older than the girl herself, steps off the stairs and turns to her with a polite smile.

She stares at him, wide eyed. "You're the guy on all the posters! There's a GIANT billboard with your face on it at the airport!"

"My son," Gabriel greets flatly, gesturing at the boy like a tired car salesman. "He helps the family by modelling for my brand."

The girl bares her teeth at the implied, you've never done anything to help the family. But she doesn't rise to it. Not yet.

"Hey. Adrien Agreste. Enchanté." His smile widens and he offers his hand to her.

She stares down at it, then at Gabriel, something shaken in her eyes that she isn't quite able to force down. "You...have a son." A statement, not a question.

The man frowns at her for a second, then all at once, it disappears, replaced by a roll to his eyes.

"Oh. I suppose this makes the two of you siblings." A scoff pushes from his lips. "Alright. Adrien, this is Miss Zoé Lee. She's your...sister." He says the word like it's tainted, a word he would never use if he had the choice. "She grew up in America, hence the accent." His expression turns frosty again. "Keep an eye on her."

Adrien's eyes grow wide, and he takes a startled step back. "S-sister?! But how--"

Mischief twinkles in her eyes, despite her own feelings on this growing harder to mask. "Yeah, Gabriel. You wanna explain to him how?"

"Irrelevant," he replies, unphased. "Adrien. I trust you'll keep an eye on her? I'm far too busy right now to deal with this."

"O-oh! Um! Of course!" He can't seem to stop staring at her, green eyes bright and eager. He grabs her hands excitedly. "Hi! I'm Adrien! But you knew that! Uh." He laughs, the sound a little fractured, eyes pinched a bit too much for there not to be tears forming. "I'm fifteen, and I like videogames! Oh, and cats! Do you like cats?"

"I'm Zoé," she greets quietly, taking his hands in return, ducking away from his eyes. "I'm thirteen. I like cats too. Mom never...she never let me have one. But I always wanted one."

Adrien gasps suddenly, hold on her hands growing tighter. "Father! We should--"

"We aren't getting a cat, Adrien." He sounds tired. They've had that conversation before. Probably more than once. "I'll leave her in your hands. Do not let me down."

He straightens up quickly, dropping her hands. "Of course not, father! I'll look after her! She can have the room next to mine."

Gabriel nods and turns away, disappearing down the hall. Not even a goodbye.

As soon as he's gone, Adrien's enthusiasm returns with full force. "This is so exciting! I've never had a sibling before! Your french is so good!"

"Thanks." She manages a little smile, tucking a section of hair behind her ear. "Sorry about...all that. He doesn't like me very much."

"Oh, that's just the way he is sometimes. It's not usually personal." He steps forward, arms outstretched, then hesitates. "Could I...? I mean, it's okay if you don't, but uh..."

"Not a hugger," she says immediately, shifting her backpack further up her shoulders. "You mentioned a room?"

"Oh! Right!" He perks up again and turns to the stairs. "I'll give you a real tour tomorrow, but for now, this leads to the second floor!"

He heads upstairs like an eager puppy, two steps at a time. Zoé follows with a frown. She hadn't counted on Gabriel having any other family. This...might make things difficult. Not to mention awkward.

"So, is it okay to ask how we're related?" Adrien asks curiously. "Is it on Dad's side or--"

"No."

"Oh! So it's on Mom's side?" He stops and turns to her with a big grin. "That's so--"

"No, I meant no. As in, it's not okay to ask."

"Oh." He chuckles awkwardly and resumes climbing the stairs, stopping once they reach the upstairs hall. "That's okay. You're my family either way, and I love my family."

Oh brother. Literally.

"Look, I just wanna know where I can drop my stuff," she practically pleads. "Can we do all this kumbayah, happily families stuff tomorrow?"

"Oh, well--" He tries for another chuckle, but the light has dimmed from his eyes somewhat. "Sure, Zoé. I know this must be weird for you." He pulls open a door to the left to reveal a rather modest guest room with a bed and a wardrobe.

He plants a heavy hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes with more sincerity than she thought an Agreste was capable of. "I know moving to a new country is hard, and I don't think either of us was prepared to make a sibling today. But I'm here for you. My room is right next door, stop by anytime."

She nods, looking away with a scowl she can't hide. "Cool. Will do. Can I unpack now?"

Adrien sighs and retracts his hand. "Okay. I'll leave you alone. Dinner is in an hour, I'll show you where to go."

With that, he heads down the hall, and disappears into his massive bedroom.

---

[maestro04yayyy]

Spare antivillain!chloe rage?

This is prerelationship amd prereveal

"The hen ia coming your way chat, be ready, we have hided mr agreste but whatever he did made her very angry" ladybug said over the intercom

"Don't worry milady, i have got this" chat said seriously before looking at tigress, " I will try to talk her out of this but if things go South you are the only one that can overpower her so be ready"

Tigress nodded, swallowing her fears, she had never been able to actually do much agaisnt her, just make her escape with Pound.

That's when they heard the hens voice, it was loud like usual but completely devoid of her usually cherrynes and teasing tone, it was cold, full of hate and it made tigress's skin crawl and her limbs tremple.

"WHERE IS HE?"

Chat runned to her and stopped a few meters away, even he was scared, juleka realized, he had never been before.

"Hey Hen! Fancy seeing you here i-" he tried to joke but is voice was brittle and his tail was lashing around for the nervousness.

"I am not in the mood chat! Tell me where is gabriel! Now" she cut him off, staring at him so intesely that tigress was sure chat would burn alive.

"I am sorry hen, i know you are angry and what he did was wrong, but-"

Wait chat knew what that man did? Juleka tought but the hen interrupted him again before he finished.

"If you aren't telling me then move aside, I don't won't to hurt you chat" at that something softer enetered her voice, but it quickly disappeared from her next words" but I will, if necessary"

Chat gulped and looked at tigress and they both nodded.

"Pound!" She yelled and charged, a good it would be enought hopefully, to make go away or use her power.

Strangely the hen didn't move to dodge, just stared her down, uninpressed and whispered "berserk".

In an instant her blonde hair and blue eyes turned a deep blood red and so did the feathers of the cape, claws grew where her nails once were.

Then tigress punch connected.

And the hen was still there, standing like nothing happened.

Juleka looked up at her as fear filled her heart and dropped to her knees.

The hen stared angryly at her before harshly grapping her hair and thorwing her against the agreste manor.

"Out of my way, useles piece of trsh" she yelled after her as tigress impacted and completely destroyed the manor, amd all she could feel was pain amd despearation.

Tigress was barelly able to stand when chat found her, she was sure every bone of her body was broken and she doesn't want to think about when the traaformation will drop, hopefully ladybug can fix her of the hen doesn't find her first.

"Where is she?" She asked weakly, hoping the answer was: she is far far away.

"I don't know, she said she would search everywhere until she found gabriel, we can pnly hope her transformation drop before she does".

[elionwriter]

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG: AWAKENING

SPOILER REVIEW

Since my last post on Miraculous Ladybug was so vitriolic, I feel like now I have to give my two cents on the film. In my opinion? It was great! It reminded me why I like the concept of the story to begin with. I think sincerely that the movie did a by far better job at telling this story in under two hours than the series did in over 5 seasons.

It's not perfect, mind you, but it is a really good time! The animation is gorgeous, the action sequences were amazing, the story is straightforward and it doesn't make you feel like everyone except for Marinette is an idiot. It does help boost enjoyability not having Thomas Austruc mansplaining at every chance what a perfect society looks like, what the ideal man and woman act like, and what a perfect and healthy romance appears like.

Marinette is lovely! Her characterization is so on point. This time round, you can truly believe that she is a normal girl, with a normal life, just down on her luck. And her character arch is linear and fairly well structured. I really liked that they showed that her failings and clumsiness mostly boil down to uncertainty and self-doubt. It's not the Ladybug powers granting her agily and resilience, the mask just help bring what was already there to surface (something I did not always see in the series especially in the earlier seasons). Adrien/Chat Noir is one of the two characters that most benefits from the adaptation, IMO. He is ever kind and caring but he's not a door mat or a prize to be won. The scene in which he lashes out on his father, calling him out on his neglect: that was just beautiful to witness. And Gabriel Agreste! Oh, Gabriel! Finally, finally this character makes sense and acts like you would expect and hope he would. Surprise, surprise, he actually makes a compelling villain when written right and manages to look competent and threatening. As for everyone else...everyone else mostly disappear in the background and act as their tv counterparts (except for Cloe in the end *cough* *cough*).

While it's a big jarring every time they start singing, the songs 'Better Together' and 'Courage in me' are really catchy and nice. Heck, even the rendition of the main theme 'You are Ladybug' is fun and enjoyable.

The romance is obviously the main aspect of the story and I think it plays out really nicely here! While there obviously isn't much time to fully delve into the love square and you are left a bit wondering why Marinette is so hung up on Adrien when her relationship with Chat Noir absolutely steals the show by being romantic, heartfelt and wholesome, I still enjoyed it. Emphasis on Ladynoir stealing the show, especially when the two spar on the roof, duet in a scene that reminded me of the Moulin Rouge and face the final threat.

The side story of Marinette feeling slightly embarrassed by her dad was unnecessary, but whatever, I guess.

Plag isn't especially great here, but Tikki, oh my gosh, Tikki is a SAVAGE! 🤩 Ten seconds after meeting Marinette and is already about to kick the girl's ass!

Anyway, that is to say, I had a great time watching this, and I hope you all do to.

[wackus-bonkus-maximus]

I am enjoying your book even more on my reread- every good book should be reread to have the context lacking the first time through- Lila is so gross.

So my question was and is: how is she controlling Gabriel? Actually, I’m wondering how she’s controlling all of them besides Adrien. I’d guessing for Gabriel and maybe Felix, it’s the threat of what she can do to Adrien with the Amok? I don’t have a good guess for why Chloe seems to have sold her soul to the devil for a piece of the wish…

🥺💘 and here i thought i couldn't be more grateful and honored to have my writing liked to such a degree! thank you for coming back for a re-read 💗 and thank you also for enjoying!

you kinda hit the nail on the head already. lila controls gabriel, and all of her teammates by extension, with adrien's amok. it's like a remote that she could make him do anything with. and they all go along with what she says for fear of her hurting adrien.

her control over gabriel (chapter 27):

Gabriel looked at him, and then at Lila. She raised her brows coolly, toying with the chain around her neck, and something in Gabriel’s expression hardened.  “It’s already done,” he said heavily, and twisted the ring on his finger.

he's wearing a fake ring in this scene, and has been for years. she's hidden the real amok on her person, and when she wants adrien to do something, she makes it look like gabriel is giving the orders when really it's her.

her control over felix (chapter 31):

She had Adrien’s Amok, which meant she as good as had Félix’s, too. He doubted Gabriel had simply handed it over. The man was capable of many things, but not of that. He would not have relinquished his power with such ease. He would not have relinquished Adrien.

felix and adrien's amoks are a package deal in this au. if lila breaks adrien's amok, both felix and adrien will die. so basically felix sticks around to make sure lila doesn't force adrien into anything he wouldn't want to do under the influence of his amok, AND to make sure nothing happens to the amok itself. bc then they're both goners.

control over chloe (chapter 10)

chloe was afraid that, if she didn't help gabriel, lila, and felix, they would hurt her and her family. she pretended to be on their side out of a survival instinct - her own form of manipulation, coming from a sense of self-preservation.

There were a lot of things in Chloé’s life she knew she shouldn’t have done, but did anyway. Like turning to look as the fox and peacock Kwamis phased through the wall, or standing her ground as Félix, Lila, and Gabriel darted out of the office in hot pursuit. They all stared at her, and she stared back, refusing to let them know how hard her heart was pounding, or how much her palms were sweating.  Pretend! said a voice in her head. It’s what you’re best at. “Bonjour, M. Agreste,” Chloé said, rather proud of how calm she sounded. She set her shoes on the ugly carpeted floor and stepped back into them, holding her head high and balling her shaking fists as she approached.  She would not be afraid. She could not be afraid. She could never let them know.  “I’ve come for my interview.”

but of course lila found out, and, well. you see the consequences chloe had to face! (chapter 19)

“Besides,” said Volpina, coming forward to slide an arm around Kagami’s shoulders. “We’d like to offer you a demonstration. An example, if you please, of what will happen if you break our trust.”  “An example,” Kagami repeated, trying to shove down the sick lurch in her stomach. “I don’t need—” “Oh, I think you do.” Volpina winked at her, then inclined her head toward Mellona, letting her hair fall softly over her shoulder. “I think you've met her, too. Tell me, Ryuko, what do you know about Zoé Lee?”

not to mention lila headed straight over to kill chloe after she realized chloe had betrayed the team (chapter 30) 🤣

i hope this helps clarify! thank you again so much for reading 💗

[temporalbystander]

Okay then. Less than two minutes on the clock, we are back in the Agreste Mansion for what appears to be a family dinner. How long before Gabriel pushes me to violence? Taking all bets here, taking all bets!

And we're starting off with the acting like a decent human being talking about Marinette? How quickly will this go south and will Nathalie react at all to the complete load of manure that's about to come out of her boss and one time love interest's mouth? Hang on to your tickets folks you're about to see.

And we've got a new record ladies and gentlemen! 15 seconds on the dot and this man is just asking to get the crap beat out of him! Taking him away from his love and his friends all because Marinette couldn't be intimidated, he really is the worse of the worse! Would all those who had 15 seconds please present your tickets to claim your prize!... Okay but seriously, screw this guy. He can go straight to hell.

Woah. Adrien looks about as pissed as I feel. When it comes to this man there are some things you just don't do. Threatening to take him away from his lady, even if he doesn't know it's her, and his friends? Not something you do if you want to remain in his good books. Unfortunately it's not like Adrien can vent any of that frustration on his father. Me on the other hand? I can come up with all types of plans that involve Gabriel's suffering.

Okay. He is actively trying to get his son upset enough to akumatise him. I had thought as much before, I had mentioned it when I burned any bridge in could have had with the man, boy that was a fun time, but I always thought that if he wanted to akumatise his son that he'd just do it. No offence to Adrien but he clearly spends a lot of his time unhappy. Now though? Now it's like he's trying to push Adrien as far as he can, get him to his breaking point so the Akuma will just be that much more powerful. Whatever happened to his happy family plan? He clearly doesn't expect it to be with this Adrien that's for sure.

You know... I'm surrounded by kids the majority of my day. So I try to keep my language sensible. It's why I flick the beeper on at times. But what the ACTUAL FUCK DUDE! Since when were you this much of an asshole! What? Did Nathalie countermanding your order on Adrien's love life get your panties in a bunch? Or was it when she pinned you to the table like an absolute bitch that made you want to lash out at her like an absolute child?

Plagg is as upset as I am after Adrien just tells Marinette he's fine. Of course I had a moment of worry about why he was so calm just sitting next to Adrien's head before I remembered that Kwami's don't appear on technology. Then that made me wonder why Plagg was so content to just sit back and look at Marinette instead of just sitting on top of the screen looking at Adrien? All of this leading up to Plagg being as invested in Adrien and Marinette being together as the rest of us are. Can't say I blame him though, him and Tikki did remove themselves from their holders so it could happen.

Okay these two can just go straight to hell. Straight there. Hate them both and... Wait there's more?

Oh. Go Felix. Clever little magician after all. Least that's one less thing to worry about... So then...

Why do I still feel so hurt?... Well time for that early night like I said...

[coralcatsea]

My Miraculous Facebook posts before the finale:

-

Gabriel Agreste better not die, because he deserves to deal with the consequences of his actions.

I think it would be great and hilarious if he revived Emilie just for her to be horrified with him, divorce him, and take Adrien away for good. Then he can rot in jail.

I'm worried he'll get some stupid excuses and a redemption, though, because of all characters, Astruc seems to believe CHLOE is the worst. Yeah, the privileged bratty teen who keeps getting manipulated by the other antagonists is the most evil, irredeemable character in this universe...sure.

-

Gabriel Agreste was always abusive, but the extremes to which he's gone in the past few episodes are wild.

I just...this man can't even be satisfied with using technology to manipulate his son's likeness into doing and saying whatever he wants, he literally has to TRAP Adrien in some white room (it looks like a padded asylum room) just because he doesn't want to date and be forced to breed with Kagami?

I swear, Astruc better not try to redeem him.

-

Me now, after the finale:

A STATUE. They gave him a STATUE. The man not only gets to bring his wife back (assuming that's not Amelie), he's seen as a hero who made a sacrifice to help save everyone. Uh, yeah, from himself?? And Adrien doesn't get to know or react to anything, because it's not like this entire arc was about his family or anything...

Also, what about Kagami? Is she really okay keeping secrets from Adrien? She was upset when he kept secrets from her, after all, that was a huge thing. I hope she'll consider telling him next season, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Adrien's possible feelings on the situation were just never mentioned, knowing Astruc loves teasing potentially interesting possibilities only to never do anything with them.

Also, is Kagami fine with her mother getting off scot free? She knows a ton of information thanks to Felix, doesn't she? And how is Felix feeling about what happened with with Gabriel? With Madame Tsurugi? In fact, how is Madame Tsurugi feeling about everything? She's no closer to any of HER goals. Will she team up with Lila? So many loose ends, and while not ALL of them need to be addressed, I feel like almost none of them were. We weren't told anything that mattered. We weren't given a satisfying conclusion to anything.

But hey, in more positive news, the new movie trailer looks great. Let's hope it actually is. 😂

[natedogx15]

Miraculous Descendent Chapter 44: Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

Previous Chapter

"I'm sorry about this. When Gabriel makes up his mind about something, it can be difficult to get him to change it." Nathalie apologizes as she leads Nino out the gate of the mansion.

Nino doesn't say anything and glares at the ground as Nathalie leads him out.

"Try to have a nice day. I'm sure you and Adrien can still do something else later." Nathalie tries to reassure the teen before leaving him out front.

"Sure, if his old man allows that," Nino angrily mutters as he walks off.

He quickly texts everyone about what happened and what Mr. Agreste told him before heading to the park by himself, where he sits on a park bench and pulls out a bottle of bubbles.

"Ugh, this sucks. I can't believe there's a parent who doesn't want to celebrate their kid's birthday." Nino says as he uses the bubble wand to blow some bubbles.

While doing so, he suddenly hears crying and scans the area to see a parent dragging their kid away.

"But I want to keep playing!" The kid cries as they struggle to get free.

"Not until you finish your chores." The dad says while pulling them.

Nino sees this and scowls further, still upset about what happened earlier, and seeing this seems to be making his mood worse.

"Ugh, adults are the worst. They ruin everything." Nino mutters to himself.

Unknown to him, he's just reached a point that someone's been waiting for.

"Your anger toward me is appreciated. It makes you a perfect candidate for today's Akuma. It'll be a special one, too, since it's someone with a relationship with my son." Hawkmoth says as he creates a butterfly and sends it after Nino.

"Fly, my little butterfly, and make him into a powerful Akuma to celebrate today." Hawkmoth orders as he watches the butterfly fly away toward its intended target.

Nino continues to blow bubbles in the park to try and calm down. Unfortunately, he's so focused on trying to calm down; he doesn't notice the butterfly heading toward him until it lands on his bottle of bubbles and Hawkmoth enters his mind.

"Bubbler, my name is Hawkmoth, and I'm here to offer you the chance to celebrate your friend's birthday by ridding the world of all those who'd stop you," Hawkmoth explains in a confident and assuring tone.

Nino immediately falls under Hawkmoth's influence and smiles at his words.

"Let's party, Hawkmoth," Nino says before he's covered in the magical black substance.

Hawkmoth smirks until the transformation ends. When it does, it causes him to comically drop his jaw before angrily saying.

"Nooroo, dark wings fall."

The transformation is undone, and Gabriel is met with the sight of a smirking Nooroo.

"Did you have to take over the transformation to try and prove a point?" Gabriel asks his Kwami through gritted teeth.

"Yes, this is what you get for insulting my tastes," Nooroo tells him before turning away from Gabriel with crossed arms.

"All you're doing is proving my point!" Gabriel shouts in anger.

Gabriel's anger stems from how Nino's Akuma form looks. Bubbler looks far different from any other Akumas Hawkmoth made due to Nooroo's influence.

The Bubbler is wearing a black bodysuit; over Bubbler's upper torso, lower legs, and shoulders is red bubble-like armor. Under the red bubbles are two smaller blue and yellow bubbles. On The Bubbler's back is a giant bubble wand. The wand seemed to be connected by two wires to the Akuma's chest.

That's not including Nino's head, which doesn't look much better. The red chest armor expands into a skintight cover on his head with a bulb-tipped antenna on the top. His face is cyan blue with black dots above and below his eyes, with black circles around his brown eyes.

"Well, we'll have to see the rest of Paris' reaction. For all you know, this look could be in style. After all, I saw one of your human shows with a similar outfit on the main characters." Nooroo explains.

Gabriel sighs in frustration before saying.

"Fine. Nooroo, dark wings rise." Gabriel orders as he re-transforms into Hawkmoth.

When his connection with Bubbler returns, he sees the Akuma flying around Paris via a bubble-powered jetpack. The bubbles released from his jetpack expand to capture any adults within the city and send them into space.

With Nate and Adrien. The two watch their classmates spar as they wait for their turns. As they observe, Adrien hears some of his classmates talk about Nino.

"I can't believe that guy was trying to set up a party without Gabriel Agreste's permission. Talk about an idiot." One says, causing their friend to narrow their eyes.

"Don't you think that's a bit rude? All the guy wanted to do was throw a party for his friend." They tell the other one.

Adrien looks at them in confusion, anger, and worry, and Nate sees this.

"Are you okay?" He asks his friend.

"Uh yeah. Did Nino do something?" Adrien asks Nate to see if he knows anything.

Nate gains an awkward expression before explaining the situation. He tells Adrien about how Nino had texted everyone he invited about how Gabriel refused to let him stay out after fencing classes despite Nino wanting to throw him a party in the park.

Adrien looks shocked and sad when Nate explains the whole situation to him. However, before they can go over everything, a bubble appears in the courtyard, heading toward Armand D'Argencourt. Armand glares at it in confusion and moves to pop it with his fencing saber. To his surprise, the bubble doesn't pop and instead engulfs the weapon before soon doing the same to him.

"What is happening? Help! Quickly!" Mr. D'Argencourt shouts toward his students as the bubble floats upwards with him.

Some of his students quickly rush to help him and try to pierce the bubble with their equipment. However, D'Argencourt's prison merely bends when stabbed with the sabers and doesn't pop or look damaged.

The students hear another scream and see Mr. Damocles and a few other teachers, who stayed around the school, also being captured by bubbles before being lifted toward the sky.

"It looks like it's only going after adults," Nate observes in shock before pulling out his phone and dialing his dad's phone number.

Sadly for him, it doesn't seem like his dad's picking up.

"Shit, no, no, no. I need to call Marinette." Nate begins to panic as he changes who he's trying to call to warn Marinette.

While this happens, Marinette is relaxing in her room, working on her designs with headphones over her ears. Luckily for Nate, she has the foresight to put her phone somewhere where she can see it in case she gets a call and sees Nate trying to get in touch with her. Taking off her headphones and answering, Marinette says.

"Why are you calling? Did something happen? Is Nino's party back on?" Marinette asks.

"No, there's an Akuma trapping adults in bubbles. We need you over at the school now. While you're at the hotel, can you check if Dad and your mom are okay?" Nate asks the last part with a pleading tone.

Marinette's eyes widen, and she quickly jumps out of her chair and looks toward Tikki.

"It would seem there's no rest for you still. Hopefully, Hawkmoth won't use that power he did to make two Akumas like last time." Tikki says.

"Hopefully. Tikki, spots on." Marinette orders as Tikki flies into her earrings, and she transforms into Ladybug.

She exits her room in a hurry and runs down the stairwell to see if there are any bubbles in the hotel. Sadly, it seems like that's the case as bubbles fly out of different hotel rooms with various occupants inside.

"Help!" Some occupants shout in a panic as they bang on the bubbles to try and free themselves.

Ladybug quickly springs into action by throwing her yo-yo at one of the bubbles to either pop it or pull one of the trapped occupants out. Sadly, it has neither of the desired effects. The yo-yo bounces off the bubble, unable to pierce through it.

Ladybug pulls it back in shock as the bubbles fly through the hallway toward anywhere they can leave the hotel and float off toward the sky. Refusing to give up, Ladybug tries a few more times, but nothing seems to change. Ladybug begins to panic at her inability to do anything, but that's nothing compared to what she feels when she hears a familiar scream.

"Ahh!" Sabine screams as she and the other staff are pulled out of the kitchen.

"MOM!" Ladybug shouts in alarm, not realizing what she just said as she quickly takes action to save her mother.

"Seamstress!" She shouts as her costume transforms into Winter Seams.

Acting quickly, Ladybug uses her temperature-controlling powers to lower the temperature within the room. While doing so, she rushes toward the bubble imprisoning Sabine and touches it with the palm of her hand. The transparent orb freezes over before breaking apart to free Ladybug's mother. It takes Sabine a few seconds to process her surroundings and what happened to her. When it registers, she immediately jumps up and looks for someone.

"Marinette! Where are you!? Are you still here!?" Sabine shouts in worry for her daughter as she looks around the room, having heard her daughter's worried shout.

Ladybug looks at her mother in relief before pulling herself together.

"Don't worry, mam. Your daughter is safe. You need to get out of here and find somewhere to hide." Ladybug implores her mother to find somewhere to hide.

"Not without my daughter. I know I heard her shout." Sabine tells Ladybug with a glare as she continues to search for her daughter, calling for Marinette constantly.

Ladybug bites her lower lip when she sees her mom like this. However, the shouts around her from the others trapped in bubbles cause her to focus on freeing them. She quickly focuses on freezing the bubbles and manages to release everyone trapped. As everyone recovers, Sabine runs out the door toward a hallway while calling for her daughter.

"Marinette!" Sabine shouts.

Ladybug quickly follows after Sabine, only to see her get trapped in another bubble.

"Help!" Sabine shouts.

Wasting no time, Ladybug rushes toward Sabine and frees her from the bubble. She quickly grabs Sabine's shoulders and says.

"Mam, you need to get out of here and hide until Cat Noir and I have taken care of the Akuma. I promise your daughter is fine. I had her run off and hide so she's safe in case the Akuma shows up." Ladybug tells Sabine in a faux firm tone.

Sabine looks into Ladybug's eyes for a second before nodding.

"Alright. Please hurry and stop this madness, Ladybug. I don't want any harm coming to my daughter or husband." Sabine begs the girl.

Ladybug nods to her with a smile.

"Don't worry. We can handle this easily." Ladybug reassures her.

As Ladybug deals with the situation in the hotel, Adrien is simultaneously dealing with a problem at school. Unfortunately, not a problem with the bubbles themselves.

As Nate finishes his call to Marinette, Bubbler lands in the courtyard before Adrien, causing everyone in the area to back up and some to raise their fencing sabers defensively in case things take a turn for the worse and they have to defend themselves. Adrien and Nate especially take this action as Bubbler gives Adrien a good-natured grin.

"Dude! I'm so glad you're still here. Come on, I've got your party all setup." Bubbler says as he casually walks toward Adrien to grab him.

"N-Nino, i-is that y-you?" Adrien cautiously asks as he backs away for every step Bubbler takes forward while keeping his fencing saber between them.

Bubbler doesn't seem affected by Adrien's actions toward him and only grins at his friend.

"Not anymore, dude. You can call me, The Bubbler. And I'm here to give you the rocking party you deserve for your birthday. You don't have to worry about your old man either since I sent him and every other adult packing on a one-way trip to space." Bubbler says with a smirk. His words cause Nate to shout furiously.

"You did fucking what!" Nate shouts as he marches toward Bubbler with a furious and worried expression as he thinks about his family being in space.

Bubbler turns toward Nate with a raised eyebrow as Nate's fellow fencing students look at him in worry while others shake their heads while mouthing for him to stop.

"I sent the adults to space. That way, we can have fun and party without anyone breathing down our necks. Come on, it'll be awesome." Bubbler grins toward Nate. However, the glint in his eyes is dark as Nate continues to march toward him with a furious expression.

"Are you kidding me!? You sent my father and every other adult in Paris to space for a PARTY! A PARTY, NINO!" Nate angrily shouts as he swings his weapon into the ground while glaring into Bubbler's eyes without a hint of fear, only anger and worry for his father and others.

"It's Bubbler. And what's wrong with wanting to be sure our party isn't interrupted? Do you have a problem with parties?" Bubbler asks the last part in a dangerous tone.

"I have a damn problem with it when you send people to space to have it. Do you not realize how dangerous that is? What if they implode from lack of air? What if they freeze to death? What are kids unable to take care of themselves supposed to do while their parents are gone? Have you actually thought this through?" Nate angrily shouts at Bubbler, furious at their reckless plan for something as insignificant as a party.

Nate is furious. His father and some hotel staff have taught him so much to ensure he doesn't turn out arrogant because he comes from money, and they have a deep connection. So, hearing that his father may be in space along with the parents of every kid in Paris does nothing but anger him. Unfortunately, it's not helping his hindsight. 

If it did, he'd realize why confronting an Akuma like this was a bad idea. Or what had happened with Stoneheart.

"So you're on the adults' side then, huh? That's too bad. You were a cool dude. I was so excited to have you at the party for Adrien. But if you're on the adults' side. You can join them in space." Bubbler says as he pulls out his bubble sword and glares at Nate, who finally realizes the situation he's put himself in and loses his bravado.

As Nate realizes he's put his foot in his mouth again, Plagg claws at Adrien's leg to make him look at him. Adrien looks down at his Kwami to see them motioning toward the bathroom with his eyes. Widening his eyes, Adrien looks between the confrontation and his chance to escape, and Adrien doesn't know what to do.

"Ah, crud. Wait, wait, wait. Let's not do anything hasty. Nino, I'm serious. This isn't funny." Nate begs for Bubbler to stop as he raises his hand between them while keeping the sword down at his side and backing away from the Akuma.

"This isn't a joke, dude. You wanna be on the adults' side; you can join them in space while the rest of us enjoy our freedom. And I told you, it's The Bubbler." Bubbler says as he menacingly walks toward Nate.

"Come on, seriously. You can't blame me for reacting the way I did. What about your parents?" Nate asks in desperation.

Bubbler pauses slightly when Nate asks that before shaking his head and continuing to walk toward the panicking teen. Somewhat luckily for Nate, someone finally steps in to help him.

Clément rushes between the two and raises her weapon defensively toward Bubbler while keeping Nate behind her.

"Let's calm down. He just got a little emotional. We're teenagers; it happens. We're supposed to get emotional." Clément says as she comes to Nate's defense.

"So, you're taking his side too? Fine, you both can join the adults then." Bubbler says as he unsheaths his bubble sword and fires two bubbles toward the two.

Clément tries to stab the bubble with her sword, but it only ends up trapping the weapon inside. Luckily, she lets go of it in time to keep her arm, and she and Nate quickly back away to try and escape. They watch in fear as the bubbles close in toward them. Fortuitously, the two find themselves being pulled to the safety of the school roof by Cat Noir.

"Are you two okay?" Cat Noir asks them in worry.

It takes a second for them to realize what happened. When they do, Nate sighs in relief while Clément looks at Cat Noir with stars in her eyes.

"Thanks, Cat No-" Nate starts before getting cut off by Clément shoving him out of the way and grabbing Cat Noir's hand. She vigorously shakes it while saying.

"Cat Noir! I'm such a big fan. Thank you for saving me. Can I get an autograph? A selfie?" Clément baggers Cat Noir with rapid questions as she fangirls over meeting him.

"Uh, sorry, I've got to take care of this guy." Cat Noir awkwardly says as he points toward an angry Bubbler with his thumb.

"Oh, right, cool. Good luck." Clément says while giving him two thumbs up.

Cat Noir quickly turns to leap down, only to get tackled by a bubble jetpack-propelled Bubbler before being dropped on a car.

"Ow." Cat Noir groans as he gets off the car.

The Bubbler lands behind Cat Noir's prone position and glares at the hero.

"What's your deal, dude? I was just trying to get rid of a couple party poopers so we could have some fun. Why you gotta get in my way when I'm trying to throw my friend a party?" He asks the hero in anger as he prepares to attack.

"Maybe because you sent thousands to millions of people into space to do it. Look, I get it. It would be nice to throw your friend a party, but you went too far trying to do it by sending people off to do it." Cat Noir tells the Akuma to try and reason with him since Nino is his friend.

"No, you don't get it. I'm trying to give everyone a day where they can have fun. To do that, I need to send anyone stopping that away. Including you, now hand over your Miraculous!" Bubbler snaps at Cat Noir as he swings his bubble sword at the hero, creating a giant red bubble.

Cat Noir notices the color and tenses as the fast-approaching red bubble nears him. Before he can try jumping out of the way, the bubble explodes, and the force sends him backward. Luckily he is quickly able to regain his footing. Bubbler isn't done, though. He sends out multiple large red bubbles after Cat Noir to try and take the hero down.

Now understanding what the red bubbles can do and what he has to do to avoid them, Cat Noir extends his baton toward a building and latches onto the wall to escape the first wave of red bubbles.

"You're doing it wrong. Cats are supposed to chase after the bubbles." Bubbler quips with a smirk as he swings his bubble sword toward Cat Noir to send more red bubbles after the hero.

"Well, this cat is afraid of them. Especially when they explode on him." Cat Noir says as he jumps off the building to avoid the next barrage.

Realizing he can't keep at a distance, Cat Noir chooses to try and close the distance between him and the Akuma. Aiming his baton to the ground behind him at an angle, Cat Noir propels himself forward to close in on The Bubbler. Unfortunately, as Cat Noir nears him, The Bubbler quickly uses his bubble-powered jetpack to gain some distance in the air to avoid the hero.

"Nice try, dude. But no prize for you." Bubbler laughs while creating a bubble and standing on it like a platform to suspend himself in the air.

Cat Noir glares at him and is about to use his baton to launch after his controlled friend again. However, before he can, The Bubbler sends multiple red-tinted bubbles toward him to obstruct his path.

Cat Noir quickly focuses on avoiding the incoming explosives while Bubbler is laughing down at him. Sadly, for him, at least, his joy ends when a yo-yo wraps around his waist and pulls him off his bubble platform and onto the roof of a building, where he is met with the sight of a glaring Ladybug.

"Not cool. What kind of hero attacks someone from behind." Bubbler says as he gets up. Only for Ladybug to use her powers to freeze his legs and jetpack to the ground.

"The kind that likes to play things smart," Ladybug says as she cautiously walks toward him to find the object the butterfly is in.

Luckily for The Bubbler, he had kept a tight hold on his sword when he was pulled onto the roof and lifted it before Ladybug could completely freeze his arm. So, he manages to create a red-tinted bubble and make it head toward Ladybug.

As the bubble heads toward them, Cat Noir lands on the roof and sees the bubble heading toward Ladybug, who reaches out to freeze it like the ones she'd dealt with at the hotel.

"Ladybug! That one explodes!" Cat Noir exclaims as he rushes toward his partner in a panic.

Ladybug's eyes widen at that, and she tries to retract herself away from the bubble. Sadly, she's already too close and takes the brunt of the explosion, almost sending her off the roof if it weren't for her partner catching her.

"Thanks," Ladybug says to him after spending a few seconds recovering.

Cat Noir grins at her and says.

"No problem. The red bubbles can explode, while the green ones will capture you. So, be careful."

Ladybug nods in understanding before the two stare at The Bubbler. As Ladybug recovers from the shock, Bubbler takes advantage of it by blowing up the ice and building roof to free himself. He then quickly uses his bubble-powered jetpack to fly into the air while making a trail of red bubbles to attack the heroes.

Understanding her mistake from last time, Ladybug doesn't try to get close to freeze the bubbles. Instead, she tries to create a freezing wind and sends it toward the bubbles to freeze and shatter them.

The Bubbler looks down in shock when he sees this before getting angry.

"Seriously? What's your damage? Why do you keep getting in my way?" The Bubbler asks in frustration as he sees he's at a disadvantage.

"Probably because you tried to send my family into space." Ladybug snaps at the villain with a heated glare.

"You too. Why can't you see I'm trying to do everyone a favor?" Bubbler grouses.

Ladybug glares at him before getting an idea and looking toward Cat Noir.

"I have a plan. Get your Blackhole ready while I try and freeze his jetpack. We'll freeze him and hold him down." She whispers to her partner, who subtly nods in understanding.

Ladybug then puts her hands together and creates an orb of icy wind before firing it upward to try and hit The Bubbler. It expands into a far larger attack and manages to hit The Bubbler's leg and weigh him down slightly.

"Not cool. Well, cool, but not that kind of cool." The Bubbler says as he tries to break the ice with his sword.

Ladybug isn't letting him off that easy, though. She fires beams of ice from her palms to try and hit his slowed-down state. One of her attacks manages to scrape Bubbler's jetpack and cause it to freeze.

"Not Cool!" The Bubbler shouts as he starts falling.

Bubble quickly makes another bubble platform and climbs onto it with considerable effort since one of his legs is frozen. Cat Noir sees this and pulls out his baton before launching it at the bubble. The force from the weapon hitting it causes The Bubbler to fall off, and Cat Noir takes advantage by following Ladybug's plan.

"Black Hole!" He announces as he places a black hole near where The Bubbler would land, causing them to be pulled in and have half their body stuck within it.

The Bubbler tries to escape but can't, and Ladybug takes the chance to take his bubble sword from him and break it. She then quickly captures the butterfly and shouts.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The magic ladybugs fly around the city and into the sky. The heroes quickly look to the streets below to see if the adults are safe. To their relief, Miraculous Ladybug is bringing all the adults back.

Next Chapter

[itsawritblr]

I mean

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK is the point to this scene?????

What is this supposed to tell us about Gabriel Agreste and his state of mind in this moment of the story arc/plot?

What point does this bizarreness serve?

He's become some sort of James Bond villain, a Marvel Cinematic Universe Insane Genius Villain.

This Gabriel has absolutely NO connection with Gabriel of Seasons 1 and 2.

What do the lyrics add to the story?

Ohhh, bah! bah! bah! bah! All that takes shape is not what you see, All that combines is not what you think, All that I desire I get from you, Snapping my fingers! Like the beating of light wings, I rise to solitary heights And from up there I look down! Snapping my fingers! Buh ba ruh bah ba dubadub

To me it's just the writers wanting to do something completely off-kilter to make fans' jaws drop with confusion and to showcase their animation.

Which to me is bad writing. This is self-indulgent shit. It doesn't add anything to the plot or to my understanding of Gabriel. It doesn't foreshadow.

The test of a scene is if you can remove it and nothing is lost to the episode, then it has no reason to be there. That's exactly the case here.

God, I hate what they did to my man Gabe.

.

I love when cartoons disappear on hiatus for a few months after a heartbreaking revelation only to return with the most deranged silliness you've ever seen

[auspicious-lilana]

Two Cats, One Heart (Chat Noir x Reader)

Summary: Y/n Ross and Adrian Agreste are childhood best friends, they’ve been through thick and thin, including losing their mom, and dad. Since then Y/n's mom made her live with Adrian at his mansion and forever leaving her life. Watch as their lives Change as they become the new heroes of Paris alongside Ladybug and see how Romance sprouts between the two models. 

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7  | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

here's the long-awaited (and overdue) chapter! Enjoy! 

"Yes, I'm busy. I was right in the middle of something very important. What do you want?" Gabriel spoke on his phone as he was standing by a painting of his wife, holding the book containing records of the miraculous holders.

Adrian and Y/n who were about to head out overheard the phone call and decided to snoop on the man, watching him as he placed the book in a safe. 

" What?! This is unacceptable! The sample garment doesn't match at all! All you had to do was follow a pattern. . . Imbeciles! What am I supposed to do? The show is in three days!" He closed the painting, noticing it was one of Adrien's mom. " No, don't use him, he's completely useless. Call my assistant, She'll give you some other names." 

"He hides stuff behind the painting of mom?" Adrian whispered to Y/n. As his father left the room, their Kawamis peeked out to watch with them. 

"I love dirty secrets!" Plagg exclaimed as they walked over to the painting. 

"Right?" Alpha nodded. "adds spice to life." Adrien opened the painting to see the safe that was hidden behind it. 

"Ooh! Go on! Open it! Open it!" The two kawamis urged on. 

" I can't do it. My dad wouldn't like me going through his stuff. Besides, I don't even know the code, and my fencing class is about to start." 

"Not to mention how much trouble we'll be in if we got caught." Y/n agreed. 

"You're such a party pooper," Plagg said as the two phased through the safe door. 

"Plagg/Alpha, No!" The teens exclaimed. 

" My, my, what have we got here?" Plagg's muffled voice was heard. 

"A book on Tibet, an old flyer from a hotel, a load of junk," Alpha was heard after. 

"Come on! Where's the good stuff?" The safe door was cracked open as the two glanced at each other before opening it to see the two kawamis looking through a paper before knocking over a book, Adrien quickly catching it as they looked at the cover.

"I've seen this book somewhere before," Plagg said. "But who cares? I'm famished! I need Camembert!" 

"Why is my dad keeping this locked in a safe?" Adrien questioned, flipping through before stopping at a page with Hawkmoth on it. "Hawkmoth? What's this monster doing in a book about superheroes?" 

"We aren't sure if it's the Kawami's fault for the user's evildoings though," Y/n said. 

"Cheese!" Plagg interrupted. "Didn't you hear me?" The two gasped at the sounds of footsteps and Adrian stuffed the book in his bag as Y/n closed the picture just as Natalie and their bodyguard entered the room. 

"Adrien? Y/n? You're going to be late." Natalie scolded. 

"We were. . . looking for my homework." Adrien nervously chuckled, Y/n quickly nodding with the lie. 

"Gosh, I keep telling you to stop misplacing it so much." Y/n laughed along. 

***

"Can you believe Lila knows Prince Ali?" Rose exclaimed, Marinette passing by at Juleka and her conversation before looking at Chloé make her next tantrum as she passed her. 

"Why did Jagged Stone write a song about Lila when he could've written about me?" She grumbled, walking off with Sabrina trailing behind her with both their things in her arms. 

Nino soon passed by her talking to a few people from class, "Lila knows all of the Hollywood directors. She promised she'd mention me to Steven Basielberg himself!" 

"Lila?" Marinette asked, after catching up with Alya. 

"Yeah, she just started at our school." Alya pointed to Lila, who was on the second floor with Adrian. "She even gave me an exclusive interview for the Ladybug 'cause Ladybug saved her life once! Watch!" She showed Marinette the video of Lila in her blog. 

"She also said she's been friends with Lady Wolf too," Maya said, overhearing them and joining their side. "She offered to try and get an interview of Lady Wolf for me, how cool is she?" 

"Why is she with Adrien alone? I thought Y/n usually walks with him to class?" Marinette questioned. 

"Y/n was just with me, she had to go to talk with her biology teacher before class." 

Alya and Maya soon walked off to talk about some future collaboration as Marinette stood in suspicion, watching Adrien and Lila go in somewhere alone. 

"What's going on? I mean has this Lila girl hypnotized everyone or something? What if she's trying to steal Y/n's boyfriend now!" 

Marinette ran after the two to be led inside the library to see Adrian sitting alone at a table as she headed behind a nearby bookshelf. 

"Where is she?" She mumbled. Adrien took the book from his dad's safe out of his bag and Tikki gasps and left Marinette's purse. 

"Marinette, Adrien's book! I need to get a closer look at it." 

"Why are you so concerned about his book?" Marinette stopped talking to see Lila head to the table. "Hide, Tikki!" Tikki flew over to a bookcase right next to Adrian. 

"Now were can get going on our history homework. it's so much more fun doing it together, don't you think?" Lila noticed Adrien's book and grabs it under the book he was using to hide it. "What's that?" 

"Uh, nothing! Just stories about superheroes." Lila then put her hand on Adrien's. 

"I love superheroes!" 

Marinette gasps, "I knew it, she is trying to steal Y/n's boyfriend—   " She accidentally bumped into a book cart, pushing it by accident. Tikki watches Lila as she flips through the book turning to the page on Lady Wolf. 

"Lady Wolf!" 

"She's amazing." Adrien smiled, thinking back to their last date night.

"A girl doesn't need to wear a costume to be amazing, you know." She said, scooting her seat closer to Adrien who broke out of his daydreams from the sudden uncomfortable feelings. 

"Uh, I don't know—I mean, I— " 

"So you got a little soft spot for the wolf, huh?" 

"Me? I mean she's great, but no-no-no." 

"You know I happen to be very close friends with Lady Wolf." 

"Really?" Adrien asked, slightly confused. He'd have to ask Y/n about this later. 

"We can chat about it if you want. Not here though. Why don't we meet up at the park after school and I'll tell you everything." 

Adrian soon got an alert on his phone, "I gotta go! I've got a lesson in 58 seconds." Amid his rush, Lila caused him to drop his bag. 

"So the park?" Lila asked, pushing the book on superheroes away from Adrien's bag with her foot. 

"Uh, Sure!" He ran out before another word could be said as Lila picked up the book, opening it to a page on a fox-related heroine. 

"A vixen superheroine? Hmmm, interesting. . . " She left the library with a scheme in mind. 

"Marinette!" Tikki ran back to her. 

"I know. I gotta talk to Adrien before he meets up with Lila in the park. He has to know that she's a total thief." 

"No! You can't say anything to Adrien. I need a chance to check out the book first. If it's the one I think it is we have to get out hands on it!" 

"I don't get it? Exactly why would we need it?" 

"I'll explain to you once I know for sure. Please, we mustn't let Lila out of our sight."

***

"Lady Wolf and me?"  Lila grinned, Marinette watching the latest video on the Wolf Blog Maya hosts. "We're like this." 

"I bet she's lying about that."  Marinette huffed, "Does Lady Wolf even know about this?"  

"Lady Wolf know about what?"  Marinette let out an 'ah!' and jumped to the side frightened by the sudden arrival of her dear friend Y/n who was peeking over her shoulder.  

"Y/n! hey!"  

"Well. . .?"  

"What's Lady Wolf got to know?"  

"You haven't seen the video yet?"  

"Video? Oh, you mean Maya's blog. I saw the notification but I hadn't seen it yet."  Marinette handed over her phone to Y/n, playing back 10 seconds. ". . .wow."  

"She's been lying all over the place!"  Marinette let out her fusterations. "Do you actually  think she's like this?"  Marinette crossed her fingers. "With Lady Wolf?"  

{Y/n's POV} 

I haven't even met this girl as Y/n. How would Lady Wolf know her? This I gotta investigate. Marinette started looking back nervously as I glanced, realizing she must be following her. 

"oh wow I'm real late, I uh, gotta go."  Marinette sheepishly smiled pointing forward. "See you tomorrow!"  

"Wai- " She ran off before I could stop. I sighed as Alpha peeked out from my bag. 

"Didn't know you had a new BFF. Who's gonna tell Ladybug you're already cheating on her?" 

"Oh, hush. Nobody's cheating. What I'm more curious about, is why she wants to lie about this?"  

"Humans do things for popularity. That's something that hasn't changed about humans for centuries. Like that one time in the 9th century in Europe, there was this one criminal who had- " I stuffed a brownie in his tiny mouth before he can go on a long 2-hour rant about who knows what. 

"Let's just go find a place to transform."  I ran to the nearby park and went straight toward the portable bathrooms. 

"Oh c'mon, isn't this a tad dramatic? I mean there isn't even an Akuma. This is just an abuse of pow- " 

"Alpha tails out!" 

I peeked out the door in case anyone was there before sprinting out and climbing up a nearby building and bringing out my baton. If I could remember  Marinette was headed to the park, so that girl must be here too. The top of my baton slid open to reveal a screen as I used the telescoping feature to zoom in and look around the small park to see Adrien walking toward the girl. What's he doing there? I looked closer at the girl to see her through away- isn't that the miraculous book? They chatted for a while before she showed a necklace that looked awfully like the one that one superheroine had in the book. Does she plan to fake an identity? Or. . .is that real? 

Not much longer Ladybug swooped in, surprising me further. Whatever Ladybug went on about left Lila in tears before Ladybug left. I closed my baton and leaped after her. 

"Ladybug!" I called out, making her stop in confusion. 

"Lady Wolf? What are you doing out here?- Did you come out because of that blog video?" 

"Yeah, but you seemed to have handled it, a bit harshly too,"  

"I don't put up with lies." Ladybug frowned. 

"Yeah but, you left her crying. I don't think she deserved to be stomped on like that. You could have gone softer. After all. Aren't we supposed to preserve positivity in Paris? With Hawkmoth out there, a broken heart is dangerous." 

". . You're right."  Ladybug sighed. "I have to go now. See you next time." 

"Try to soften things up next time you have a run-in,"  I suggested as she swung off. I watched her before turning around to head home myself. Right before I could reach my room a meteor suddenly came in, closing in. "A meteor!?"  I exclaimed. Quickly made my way towards it only to see a flash of orange go by, a girl grabbing the meteor and sending it back out of the atmosphere. What strength. . . 

"I am Volpina!" The girl in a fox suit proclaimed out to the crowd. "The only superhero Paris needs!" 

"Volpina?" Ladybug questioned, landing next to me. 

"Looks like we've got a new partner."  Chat said, dropping on my other side. 

"Don't you think it's weird this superhero just appeared out of nowhere?"  

"Well, at least she got the job done." 

"I could have easily stopped that meteorite myself." Ladybug crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Chat. 

"Volpina is giving me very. . . odd vibes. She doesn't seem like a team player either." 

"Hey, guys." Volpina suddenly intruded, standing before us. "Glad you dropped in. I need a hand. Come on."  She suddenly ran ahead, the three of us exchanging confused looks before following after her. Only to lead us to a shock. 

"I can't believe it." Chat Noir stared amazed. "It's Hawkmoth, in the flesh." 

"He never shows up. Something big is going on." Ladybug said. 

"We can take him down, but it'll take all of us."  Volpina encouraged. This whole thing seems a bit rushed to me. a meteorite suddenly almost crashes, Hawkmoth is standing right there! Something tells me this little fox has something to do with it. "We better make the most of our individual talents."  

"Count on us." Chat nodded, I love him. I do. But he's too trusting. 

"Very nice to meet you, Chat Noir." Volpina suddenly got close to him, ticking me. "Cool outfit."  

"Why thanks." Chat rubbed his head bashfully. "You too." 

"Why thanks, you too."  I quietly mocked under my breath, Ladybug gagging in response. 

"First the meteorite, now Hawkmoth appearing." Ladybug listed out. "Both on the same day? Isn't that unusual?" 

"That's what I was thinking."  I agreed. 

"Why would you say that?" Volpina chortled. 

"I was asking my partners." 

"I'm finding you unusual today, everything okay?" Chat Noir asked. 

"I don't know kitty." I stepped by Ladybug's side. "Everything seems a little suspicious." Especially how that girl should be akumatized, she was crying. Hawkmoth wouldn't give up that prime chance.

"I'm fine." Ladybug reassured, before going up on Volpina. "Say Volpina, what's your miraculous?" 

"My necklace,"  Volpina answered. 

"What power does it give you?" 

"Flight and super-strength." Volpina looked over our shoulder and gasped. "He's getting away!"  Volpina flew after Hawkmoth, us catching up to see him on top of the Mayor's mansion. "Ladybug go left. Chat Noir goes right. Lady Wolf keep an eye on Hawkmoth from here, I'll come from behind." 

"No! I'll go right." Ladybug corrected. "Chat Noir and Lady Wolf from behind, and you. . . go left." 

"Fine." Volpina smiled. "No difference to me." 

"Good." Volpina leaped off to engage from the left. 

"Can you chill out?" Chat asked. "She's one of us." He left, I offered an apologetic smile before following after him. We snuck up from the right only for him not to be there. "Where did he go?" 

"There,"  I whispered, pointing to the building across from where he was. 

"I'll take him."  Chat extended his baton to go after him. 

"Wait- ugh."  I jumped after him, both of us chasing Hawkmoth. Suddenly Ladybug rang us, and we both answered into a three-way facetime. 

"Is Volpina with you guys?"  Ladybug asked. 

"No, we can't find Hawkmoth either."  Chat answered. 

"Forget him, he was never there in the first place."

"What? But we saw him?" 

"Unless it was an illusion,"  I answered. "It makes sense. The meteorite starts crashing, miss hero swoops in, and then suddenly Hawkmoth shows his face? It's too good to be true."  

"That's right. Volpina creates illusions. The Hawkmoth you saw wasn't real." 

"What are you saying?" Chat Noir looked confused. 

"She's not a real superhero, she was akumatised by Hawkmoth." We both clarified at the same time.  

"I don't get it. Why?" 

"I think it's my fault." Ladybug looked away guilty. "I humiliated her in front of a guy she liked."  

"Lila?"  

"Like?"  I raised an eyebrow, side glancing at Chat Noir who swung his arm as if trying to express he could explain. 

"She is going to his house." Ladybug cut in. "I'll send the address, meet me there."  

"You got it." Chat said as I nodded. 

"So you were spending time with a girl who likes you?" I questioned as we started heading over to the Agreste Mansion. 

"I swear I didn't know! I mean yeah I thought it was a bit weird she was getting a little close and stuff- " 

"A bit?" 

"Okay, a lot. but you know I only have eyes for you."  I sighed, I can't blame him. He's too trusting after all. 

"I'll overlook it, this time." 

We jumped into the open window in Adrien's bathroom as he changed back. 

"Wouldn't Chat Noir be more useful in this situation?" Plagg questioned. 

"If Volpina's got a thing for me, I can make her see sense."  He reasoned. 

"What, you going to do true love kiss or something," I mumbled. 

"Aw, jealous?"  Adrien started petting my ears, my tail starting to swag before I swat his hand, embarrassed. "I'm just gonna try to talk her out of it, nothing past that. Promise." 

"You really think you can take down Volpina without your powers?" Plagg doubted, "Without me?"  

"Hide, Plagg. She's coming." Adrien opened his unbuttoned shirt to let Plagg hide inside. "You too, mon chéri." I felt my cheeks start to warm at the nickname before going to hide in the bathroom to overhear and come out if I had to. 

"Adrien!" Volpina exclaimed. 

"Hey,"  Adrien awkwardly waved. "Who are you?"

"Do you remember this necklace?" Volpina lifted the pendant. I didn't know how to tell you the truth but at least this way you can see for yourself that I'm not lying. I am a superhero." 

"Lila!?" Adrien faked his surprise. 

"You can call me Volpina." 

"I'm sorry about the scene in the park earlier. Ladybug's jealous because she's not as powerful as me."  I continued to listen before my baton started to ring from my waist I hastily went to answer it before it gave me away. I moved far from the door. 

"Yeah?" I whispered. 

"Where's Chat? He's not answering?"  

"Oh um. I don't know. He disappeared on me. He'll show up soon probably." 

"Well, I'm going in the Agreste Mansion and Volpina is in here, get here now." 

"Well, actually I'm already- " Ladybug already cut off before I heard her voice in the room. 

"See what I mean?" Volpina glared. "She's jealous of me, of you, of us!" I irked at the obvious flirtation in her words. Doesn't she know he's taken? I left through the bathroom window and circled to the open window to join Ladybug. "But this time you won't ruin our date, Ladybug. And neither are you, Lady Wolf!" 

"Excuse me but it wasn't really a date. . ."  Adrien tried to correct, noticing my visible annoyance. Adrian got more nervous when Volpina turned to him. "I mean what I meant was you know I have a girlfriend and not a cheater, no need to get angry we all have miscommunications right?" Adrien finished his nervous rambles trying to keep her from pointing her staff at him. 

"Excuse us," Ladybug interrupted. "We need a chat with Super-Liar."  With Volpina distracted Adrien ran into the bathroom. "You! Stop thinking your illusions are reality!" 

"Being a homewrecker is frowned upon you know?"  I retorted. Ladybug swung her yoyo at her as Volpina jumped out of the way, sliding down Adrian's skateboard ramp. 

"Sorry, I'm late." Chat was heard behind us as he jumped in. "I had trouble finding the place." Volpina played her flute before making multiple illusions of herself. Ladybug swung her yoyo to realize they were all fake. 

"Illusions." Chat awed, seeing it first hand. 

"Chat Noir, she's taken, Adrian!" Ladybug pointed to the window. 

"That's an illusion too." Chat and I said. 

"How are you so sure?"  

"Uh, My feline sixth sense." Chat made up. "It's legendary."  

"Canine instinct, we're emotionally intelligent. Can sniff out a lie from a mile."  

"Really? You don't say."  Ladybug threw sarcasm as she opened the bathroom door. "Adrian's gone!" Ladybug rushed out as Chat sagged his shoulders with a defeated look. 

"I'm not gonna try to get outta this." 

"At least I believe you." I comforted, patting his back before going to follow after Ladybug. We found Volpina on top of the Eiffel tower, holding 'Adrien' with one hand, ready to let him fall to his doom. 

"Give me your Miraculous now, or I will."  Volpina swung up around as 'Adrien' yelled out of fright. 

"I thought you loved him!" Ladybug questioned. 

"Not as much as seeing you three defeated. No hard feelings, right?" 

"You're bluffing." Chat shouted. "It's another illusion."  

"You wanna bet on that?"  Volpina slowly let go of two fingers as Ladybug shouted, 

"NO!"  

It almost felt like an over-dramatic soap drama with how fake everything was. Not to mention the comedic point that the Adrien she thinks she has is right here as Chat Noir. And yet Ladybug was the only one agonizing over this whole ordeal. 

"Don't do it!" I shouted, stopping her before she can take off her miraculous. Chat threw his baton, making the illusion of Adrien disappear. 

"There she is!" Ladybug pointed. We climbed up to the top of the tower after her as she blew her flute, making more illusions of herself. "Lucky Charm!" A chocolate ice lolly fell into her hands, she unwrapped it wincing at the brightness of the silver inner wrap. "I've got an idea to take down Volpina."  

"With a chocolate ice lolly?" 

"Trust me." Ladybug said, she nodded at Chat. 

"Cataclysm!"  He shouted, jumping up to touch some parts of the metal tower as Ladybug lifted the wrapper open for one of the Volpina to wince, enough time to trap her in the deteriorated metal pieces. 

"Trapped, like a fox." Ladybug taunted as I grabbed the pendant from Volpina. 

"The honors?" I held it out for her. 

"Thank you."  She took it and smashed it on the ground. "Your days are over, Akuma." I stepped back to watch Ladybug open the yoyo to do her thing with a grin. "Time to de-evilise!" She captured the Akuma. "Gotcha! Bye-bye, little butterfly." We watched the pure butterfly fly away. "Miraculous Ladybug!"  Everything turned back to how it was before. 

I gestured towards the recovered Lila, letting Ladybug take the hint as she nodded. 

"Lila?" She called out. 

"Ladybug?"  

"I totally overreacted." Ladybug kneeled, touching Lila's shoulder. "And never should have spoken to you like that, I'm sorry." 

"Forget it Ladybug, you were right. We'll never be friends."  Lila shoved her hand away and picked up the repaired pendant, leaving. 

"Ouch."  Chat frowned.

"There's one problem we still have to solve." Ladybug said. "Where's Adrien?"  

"Ehh, everything's been put back to normal, so he must be back at home!" Chat tried to explain. 

"I should check to make sure!"  

"Uh no!"  I stepped in. "You both are about to change back soon, I still have time. I'll check on him and let you know."  I offered. 

". . . Okay." Ladybug sighed as her earring gave a warning beep. "I trust you."  She swung off in a different direction as the two relaxed. 

"Let's get home before you change back."  I said, "Hate to have to carry you home."  

"I don't know, I might like that." 

"And smell like rotting cheese? Please."  I extended my baton to leap off the tower, heading home. 

"It's not me, it's Plagg!" 

*** {Third POV}*** 

"I'm not going to be returning this, am I?" Marinette sighed, the book opened on her lap as Tikki looked through it. 

"I'm really sorry, Marinette. But its information is invaluable."  Tikki apologized. 

"Information? But it's all written in code."  

"Someone's been looking for it for a long time. He knows how to decipher the codes." 

"So what exactly is so special about this book?"  

"It contains all the secrets of the Miraculous powers. Sacred, and extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. He needs it back." 

"I don't get it, Tikki. Tell me what's going on. Who is he?" 

"The Great Guardian. And I think the time has come for you to finally meet him."  

***

"Did you take my father's book, Plagg?" Adrien turned to Plagg who was enjoying the mountain of cheese on the coach. While Adrien on the other hand was dumping out his bag. 

"Of course not."  

"If he finds out it's missing, we'll have a lot worse than Hawkmoth to deal with."  

"I'm sure we'll find it,"  Y/n reassured, helping him look around. Mostly because they'd both be in trouble. They did break in together after all. She was about to keep searching before it hit her. "Wait, I think Lila threw it in the trash back at the park." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah."  

"How do you know for sure?"

"Miss girly was getting all jealous about your date and decided to spy on you from afar!" Alpha replied from the armchair as he gobbled down another brownie. 

"I was not spying! I was just. . . concerned."  

"Let's just hope it's still there."  Adrien groaned.

***

Marinette stood at a door nervously, holding the book tightly to her chest before opening the door to see an old man, wearing a red Hawaiian shirt, a man she recognized to be the one she helped all that time ago.

"Hello, Ladybug."   

A/n: 

and that concludes the first season of the show! This one took some time for me to bring out due to unforeseen circumstances. But I haven't given up on you all yet! You must have noticed I skipped episodes here and there. I plan to cut off parts that aren't important to the main plot of this book. 

Now that the main couple is together. They have new problems to face. I have been coming up with plans and such, and I'm excited to introduce Luka and build into the other superheroes that appear in the future seasons. 

What would be your favorite moment thus far and why? How do you all feel about Alpha? And what are something you look forward to in this book? I love hearing from you all. 

TAGLIST: (crossed out if the tag wasn't working, please let me know.)

@laic2299 , @oddobbessionbutotay

[paintball169]

Commissioner Gordon to the Rescue!

Paris, Eiffel Tower, 4:34 AM

" Ladybug we can't keep this going! We need help! " a bee -striped heroine's voice is heard from a distance. Abeille .

" While that is true, who is going to help us? The justice league already called us a joke." someone says followed by a sharpening sound. Tatsu .

" Why don't don't we ask Batman? He's the most reasonable one" a calm voice reasons supporting his girlfriend's idea. Serpent .

" Yes, but how are we going to call Batman without ending up in asylum? Bailing ya outta there is hard work ya know?" the spotted armoured heroin asks. Ladybug.

" She's right guys" the quick witted fox hero chimes in. Reynard.

"Why don't we broadcast worldwide news that if Justice League doesn't show up in Paris within 24 hours we'll destroy the world" the usually quiet turtle cladded hero asks. Shellder.

"Yeah right! That way we'll have even more charges." Serpent says glaring at Shellder.

"Hey LB don't you know a police officer there? Afterall you are from there." Abeille asks the once street kid.

"Yes, Bug. You know the old guy. Maybe we can ask for his help." Tatsu asks her girlfriend.

"That's a nice idea. The Commissioner does have contact with Batman! Oooh then we might get to use the Bat Signal! Oh my Kwami, what if he doesn't recognise me?" Ladybug asks.

"He will recognise you Bug!" Shellder chimes in.

"The Bat Signal is real!" Reynard exclaims.

"That's out of the point. Don't get distracted!" Tatsu scolds.

"Ladybug, do you trust him enough to reveal your identity? Cause if you don't he won't believe you either." Serpent reasons.

"I guess. After all he saved my life multiple times." Ladybug answers unsurely.

"Ladybug there's no 'I guess' it's either Yes or No." Serpent says sternly.

"Then I do. I trust him." Ladybug answers firmly.

"Alright then, Yes it is." Abeille says.

"To Gotham we go!" and Reynard jumps off. Returns a minute later. "So, when exactly are we going and where?" he then asks.

"Now, Luks call Jagged and inform him. I'm sure he'll cover for us. Kalki if you may?" Ladybug asks.

"Of course Great guardian, but till Serpent finishes the call can you tell how and when have you been to Gotham?"

"Oh that, I was a street kid with my brother back then. We used to steal for a living. Jason took care of both of us. I was just three when we started living on the streets. Jay was eight. There were a few warehouses where all the street kids lived together. Commissioner Gordon came disguised as an old man and gave the kids blankets. He also anonymously left food for kids. When I figured out that was him I asked him why he didn't report us to the CPS. He answered Kid I know the CPS gives you Pipsqueaks shitty homes. Don't think about it. When I was seven I was kidnapped by Scarecrow. For testing some toxins. He threw me out saying I wasn't good enough. So somehow I found myself in Paris. Without my brother." Ladybug says with tears in her eyes.

"I called Dad and he said Okay because the Sandboy akuma was hard. Five hours particularly, all of your guardians think we're having a sleepover." Serpent says breaking everyone out of their stupor.

"LB, Can I use Kalki this time? Please?" Reynard asks.

"Fine, Here." She says giggling.

Gotham, Police station, 10:52 PM

Gordon POV

The shift is almost over yet I can't help but feel something interesting is about to happen.

Suddenly a blue portal appears. I take out my gun for defence.

"Woah, Woah no need for a gun. We come in peace." The one dressed like a fox answers.

"Who are you? Clarify your purpose!"

"We're heroes of Paris. We come to ask for your help." The one with a katana answers.

"Heroes? In Paris? Since when? I'd say it was a joke, But the portal proves it. Why wasn't the Justice league informed?"

"Slow down a bit, 3 years, Justice league laughed on us, to specify Green Lantern." Striped one? Answers.

"A...Alright, But how can I trust you, For all you could be joker's goons."

"You can trust us, If you don't, you know her you can trust us." The one with harp points to a spotted Ladybug?..

"Okaay, What're your names?"

"Official Introduction Time!" The flute one answers.

"The name's Reynard, Paris's Residential Fox Hero! Fox to meet you!"

"Or Nathaniel Kutzberg"

"The name's Abeille, Bow down Peasants!"

"AKA Chloe Bourgeois"

"I am Serpent, The most Responsible one."

"Or Luka Stone."

"I'm Shellder, Pleasure to meet you."

"Or Marc Anciel"

"Tatsu, Nice to meet you Commissioner, Kagami Trusugi"

"I... I'm Marinette Todd, Hi Commissioner"

"Dear Lord Mari is that really you? What do need my help for?"

"We need to come in Contact with the bats, And can you help me find my brother?"

"Sure Mari, But about your brother you see, He's a Bat too..."

"What?! Seriously?"

Bat Signal, Gotham, 11:13 PM

Red Hood's POV

"Alright we're here Gordon, What's the problem?" Big B asks in his Batman voice.

"We have visitors Batman, They're looking for you." Commiss says. Who in the world would look for Batman?

One by one Teens dressed as animals come out from dark. Drat everyone's just as confused as me.

"Alright who're you playing dress up? Ya know that's dangerous." I ask voicing everyone's curiosity. Suddenly a blue blob attaches to me and starts Giggling.

"Jay-Jay it's me" My eyes start to sting. Only one person calls me that.

"P-Pixie?" I ask unsurely. Pixie nods her head.

"Pixie-Pop it's really you!" I say once i register what's going on.

"I'm never leaving you again Squirt. You're alright! Remind me not to let you alone on streets again, Leave it to Mari for a recipe for trouble!" I tighten my hold on her.

"Hood who's this? Why are they all dressed up?" B. Yeah I forgot he was there as well.

"B, This is Marinette, my little sister. Although I do not know why she and those kids are dressed up."

"Allow me to explain, There's been a super villian in Paris for three years now. These kids are the Heroes there. They came to me First cause they didn't want to get arrested. Green Lantern called them a joke. I know you'd shoo them off, but Bats I saw a Portal open. They came through it. And Jason, Your sister's the team leader!" Gordon explains.

"What! That bitch let me at him! troubling my sister for no good !I, Jason Todd will Skin him"

"Hood! No names at the Field!" Demon Spawn says.

"Relax, She knows."

"Elaborate" B says.

Batcave, Gotham, 8:56 AM

"Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth!" Red robin exclaims.

"Ha! Take that Chat! I was right!" Ladybug says.

"Red robin can you do research on one Lila Rossi? She's probably working for him." Abeille says.

Batcave, Gotham, 11:12 AM

"Guys! Emergency meeting!" Red Robin Shouts.

"Lila Rossi wanted psycopath in 3 different countries!"

College Dupont, Paris, 11: 34 AM (Next Day)

"You bitch why did you file a fake report against Lila!" Alya barks out at Marinette.

"My daughter did no such thing." That wasn't Tom Dupain. There stood in all Glory Bruce Wayne himself.

"Yo-Your Daughter?" Alya asks

"Yes, my adoptive daughter, Jason todd-wayne's biological sister."

"Hey Alya don't shoot the messenger, I filed the evidence on behalf of ladybug and her team!"

"What do you mean? Multimouse isn't supposed to be active!" Agreste says.

"Oh, I didn't know that! I mean how do you think your miraculous was taken Chat Noir?"

Gasps were heard.

"It was you!"

"Yes. Now son of a bitch outta my way!"

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth."

Andre's Ice Cream, Paris, 12:13 PM

"Well that went better than we thought, right Babe?" Kagami asks her girlfriend.

"Sure did Gami!" Marinette repies.

[xhanisai]

3, 9, 13 (👀) for the writer ask game!

Love how I just saw this ask now lol! Anyways, let's go~

3 - What’s a fic idea that you have but haven’t written yet?

I have already designed prototype designs for this idea years ago and am hoping to start writing it this year. It's where Adrien ends up with the butterfly miraculous and Gabriel with the black cat miraculous.

In this AU, Marinette is an orphan who lost her family as a newborn and doesn't know her real family name thanks to the horrible guardian she has. She is given the Ladybug miraculous and becomes a heroine that fights against the peacock holder.

Adrien is currently adopted by Nathalie and Gorilla (the former is a lawyer and the latter is a bodyguard). He ended up with them after an incident between Gabriel and Emilie which caused the demise of the woman. He at first is a bit of an antihero with the butterfly miraculous, looking for Gabriel for revenge because he believes the man killed his mother.

Gabriel Agreste is currently a taxi driver in Paris, using a pseudonym and trying his best to live the humble life he has. Once he receives the black cat miraculous, he reluctantly becomes a hero. He just wants to be left alone.

9 - What’s your favourite line(s) or scene(s) that you have written?

I have so many, to be honest. I've written so much crap it's hard to think which ones are my favourites. Here's a bunch:

'If she thought that it was hard enough to keep her composure around her partner whilst he was trying to woo her (unaware that he already has her completely wrapped around his finger along with his name branded on her beating heart) then she was an absolute idiot. 

 The minute that Nino Fucking-Can't-Keep-A-Secret Lahiffe opened his big mouth and casually let slip towards his best friend that her feelings towards the feline in disguise was one hundred percent mutual...Marinette was fucked. '

^ Let me show you 'cause talk is cheap

"Oh! A-A-Adrien!?"

 "M-M-Marinette! You there- I mean hey there! Hahah...longtimenosee-"

 Not too far away, Alya and Nino watched the scene before them with exasperation as Marinette and Adrien started their daily stammering ritual for the umpteenth time. The model being the new addition. Sure, the first few times watching the two of them become a flustered mess when coming across one another was an entertaining prospect.

 Now it was absolutely painful seeing the two beloved idiots so stupidly in love with one another, blinding them from the fact that it's in fact requited. 

 And what answers were they given when they attempted to convince said idiots that they should ask each other out?

 "Ah! Alya-aaa! You know I can't do that yet. Adrien still sees me as a friend so don't get my hopes up. But that doesn't mean operation secret garden is finished. I will get him to fall in love with me!"

 "Nino!? How many times do I have to tell you? Marinette's more interested in my clothes than in me! She's yet to fall for my suave, meow-tastic self~ Also, operation Marry-Nette is now a go-go. You, Agent Best Man have to make sure that the rose petals are ready as soon as she steps into the art room."

 Needless to say, Adrien's scheme failed catastrophically. So bad that not even the nerdy model took the opportunity to make a pun about it since they ended up jamming the large fans for a 'wind' effect with the rose petals and thus causing a fire. All the boys from the class ended up with a week's worth of detention much to their dismay and the girls' curiosities.

^ Wo Ai Ni

13 - Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh yes. Back in my Sonic days I got quite a lot of lovely ones like the ones below.

I made this lad stop by telling him that I have family in the cyber police and that the next time he hears sirens, they're after him lol. Thankfully, other than the occasional silly anon that roleplays as Lila, I don't get hate on my stories.

[flightfoot]

I've read several of the fics on ladybeug's list, and everything on bittersweetresilience's list, and yeah I can vouch that these are good. I've got my own rec lists that I'm gonna publish at the end of the year, but there are a few I think I'll list right now.

If you like Adrino, then @bbutterflies fics are great to check out! My favorite so far has to be "The moment I knew (I had no choice but to love you)". It's a classic fake-dating/pining scenario, where Nino fake-dates Adrien in order to get his fangirls off of his back, not realizing that Adrien's had a crush on him for ages - or that his own feelings for Adrien may not be entirely platonic...

“He’s dating me,” Nino said, taking Adrien’s hand in his own. Adrien could only stare back at him in shock. “How dare you all force him to come out?” Nino continued, glaring at the reporters. “That was disgusting.” He pulled Adrien over to the car, guided him in, and shut the door behind them. In the relative quiet and privacy of the backseat, Adrien finally processed what had just happened. “So… when were you going to tell me we were dating?”

---

Love at Last Sight by ClaraOswald16 is an M-rated fic, though so far I think it's only M-rated because Marinette's seriously injured at the beginning of the fic after Gabriel knocks her off a building, leaving her with brain damage that causes her to go blind. I'd say it's fine for most teens, unless something happens later to make it deserve the M rating.

Anyway, most of the fic centers around helping Marinette adjust and cope with her new circumstances, and adjust to life as a blind person, training to figure out how to do things without sight. Adrien's not having a great time either though, with his father exposed as Monarch, and finding out that he's a Senti, so neither of them are doing totally well. They manage as best they can though.

The final battle against Monarch has arrived, but things do not go as planned for our favorite superheroes. The battle leaves Marinette blind. Marinette and Adrien must come to terms with their new realities, but finding a new normal turns out to be harder than expected. This is a story of love, loss, and finding strength in each other.

---

True Blue by @rosie-b is as fantastic as always, I adore a good enemies au, and finding one that is able to believably have MARINETTE be the one on Gabriel's side is rare, but man, does rosie manage it! I especially love how manipulative Gabriel is, how you can see how he arranges things, how he words things, the actions he takes to manipulate Marinette into doing what he wants, it's chilling.

Golden Bug and Chat Grise are the heroes of Paris, fighting to protect civilians from Hawk Moth and his akumas. Marinette is Gabriel Agreste’s young apprentice, training under the famous designer to become the next big name in fashion. But one day, Marinette finds an open safe with a beautiful peacock brooch in it... and suddenly, she’s not sure who the villain is anymore.

---

Between the Heavens and the Embers by @readersmoon is M-rated for a reason, so mind the tags. It's a chilling scenario, with everyone thinking Marinette was dead, and then later seeing her crop up, but not seeming to know any of them - and then the deeper Adrien, Alya, and Nino look, the darker things get.

I'd especially recommend this fic to fans of @wackus-bonkus-maximus's "one does not love breathing", it has some similar vibes and themes, though Marinette's the one who'd been thought dead and was in the enemy's clutches the whole time instead of Adrien.

Everyone in Paris remembers the fateful night of January 16, when the city was attacked by the most powerful and destructive akuma ever created. The assault, which lasted for hours, resulted in the death of 439 people. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was among the casualties. Years later, Adrien hasn't been able to move on, haunted by the memories of her broken body. So, when the opportunity to leave Paris for a while presents itself, he doesn't hesitate. But this trip might end up giving him more than he ever dreamt of.

do you have any fanfic recs?

YEAH i do!

And also can people put fanfic recs in the comments of this ask?? So we get even more recs. THANKS!

here's some of mine:

Metamorphosis by @peachcitt - Its been a couple years since they defeated hawkmoth, chat noir is gone. I read this earlier this year and it was SO good, just deliciously dramatic, and it destroyed me. but like in a fun way :)

Tell me something I don't know by @marimbles - it's marichat. do you want to have fun? don't lie to me, I know you do. this one is so funny and sweet

Final Girl by @picayunearts - AU where marinette turns down the ladybug role. this one got to me deeply. listen im unlikely to ever tattoo a quote on my body but if i DID im not saying it WOULDNT be from this fic.

As time goes by, by @redundant-lava - its like if casablanca was even MORE dramatic and romantic and also starred your blorbos.

Under Oath by @eoscenes - Gabriel is unmasked and everyone is dealing with the aftermath. This one takes some of the season 4 drama between ladybug and chat noir and gives it a real play-out, I read this one when it was half-finished and just loved it, I haven't caught up but it looks like its finished so i WILL be going back. join me :)

Happy Anniversary Surprises by @ming85 - short and so so so sweet!!

Double Entendre by speaks, I don't know their tumblr - no intro, just go check it out. man I just love this one, so fun and such a good reveal.

Sting by KryallaOrchid, I don't know their tumblr - Adrien loses the cat miraculous and gets ahold of the bee miraculous so he can keep helping - but ladybug is NOT having it with the new partner. an oldie and a romp!! lovesquare identity shenanigans galore. have some fun.

anything @buggachat has written is good, and i've loved so many of @coffeebananas works, so go browse both of those authors.

A bunch of others but i cant list them all so im leaving off here!! Tell your favs in the comments. whats good out there?