#aspec Adrien

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Aspec Adrien

I was asked to elaborate on why I view (and always write) Adrien as some flavor of aspec (asexual spectrum) and I am happy to do so! It's part of what drew me to the character in the first place as I am also aspec. This does mean that my read is going to be biased as we tend to treat ourselves as the default, meaning that we're inclined to see similarities that may not be intentional. In fact, I don't think Adrien was intended to be aspec, a topic I'll touch on more at the end. First, let's talk about why I read him as aspec.

There are certain elements that feel more like "vibes" than hard evidence. Things like the fact that Adrien developed his crush after getting to know Ladybug instead of just immediately liking her because she's cute. That's not a uniquely aspec experience. It happens to those who identify as allosexuals too. In fact, I read Marinette as allosexual even though her crush on Adrien also only came about after getting to know him a bit.

The thing that really makes me feel like Adrien is out of character when he's is written as non-aspec is the way the love square's secondary romantic relationships have been handled as well as the writing around their main crushes.

Marinette has several crushes over the course of the show: Luka, Catwalker, Adrien, and Chat Noir. Yes, three of those are the same guy, but she doesn't know that, so we're treating them as separate characters. The Luka and Catwalker crushes are the main ones I want to talk about.

When Marinette meets Luka, we get this:

Anarka: ...could you go and tell Luka that we're waiting for him to start rehearsals? Marinette: Of course. Uh, but who's Luka? And where is he? Anarka: Luka's my son, you'll find him in his cabin. Scene: Below deck in Luka's cabin Marinette: (sees Luka) Uh! (Luka looks up at her) Hey, my name's Ma-ma uh Mamamarinette! Your mom sent me down here. The groove...uh... the group's waiting for you.

In this scene, Marinette starts stuttering and blushing before Luka even says a word. And when Marinette is joined by Catwalker in season four? She's so distracted by this cute new boy that she can't fight properly. Which was a weird choice, but it's what happened so let's run with it.

These are foreign concepts to me. I have never been nervous around a cute boy because - for me - cute is an ascetic thing, not an element of attraction. Before I learned about the ace spectrum, I legitimately thought this sort of thing was something made up by Hollywood as a lazy shortcut for writing romances. This is why I say Marinette reads as allosexual and why Adrien feels distinctly aspec because the writing around him and Kagami could not be more different.

Their first interaction is a fencing match, leading to an akumatization, leading to this:

Adrien: I personally think the point was yours. Kagami: That's not what your friend saw. Adrien: Marinette can get flustered easily. She's kind and means well. She'd never cheat. Today was her first-ever experience with fencing. Kagami:(she looks surprised for a moment, then smiles.) You like her a lot, huh? Adrien: Marinette? Yeah, of course! She's a very good friend, and you'll really like her too, once you get to know her.

There's no blushing or flirting or any of the things that characterize Adrien's behavior when he's in love. This trend continues through all of the Adrigami sub plot. It never feels like he's actually into her even when they're dating. His heart remains fixed on Ladybug who still receives lots of flirting and pet names even though he's off the market. It really reads like he's only dating Kagami out of a want to be loved and not because he actually feels anything for her.

To be clear, he was in the wrong there. He should never have agreed to date Kagami if he wasn't willing to fully commit to their relationship, but I also can't ignore what this implies about his sexuality given that Marinette is such a stark contrast. While I think the writer's actual intent was more, "oh, Adrien was only ever destined for Marinette" or some other BS, the fact that the same cannot be said for Marinette means that this comes across as a difference in sexuality. Marinette can easily crush on people based on pure physical attraction while Adrien either doesn't experience physical attraction or he only experiences it under heavily limited circumstances, two options that are highly characteristic of aspec people.

If Marinette and Adrien were only able to crush on each other, then I wouldn't read into this so much. It would just be your standard romance plot as a lot of romance-focused media avoids complications like love triangles once an endgame couple has been chosen. But that's not what the show gives us. Marinette crushes on many people practically at the drop of a hat while Adrien has a much harder time falling in love. But once he is in love? He's all in! Ride or die!

This was probably done to subvert the gendered stereotype that boys are the thirsty ones and girls are the ones whose hearts remain "true." A stereotype that's bullshit! It was another reason it took me so long to understand the sexuality spectrum. Before I understood the various ways a person could experience attraction, I thought it was just a male vs female thing where guys experienced a thing that girls like me just didn't (my christian upbringing did not help to dispel these notions). Because I've done so much work to get rid of these harmful stereotypes in my own worldview, the stereotype idea didn't even occur to me until late in the game. And even if that was the intent? It doesn't change the fact that sexualities are a thing and Adrien reads super aspec.

I'll end with a brief note as to why I don't think the writers intended to make Adrien read as ace. It's mostly due to the fact that they've claimed Twitter credit for Max being ace and Alix being aro. This means that the writing team is at least aware of the sexuality and romance spectrums, but instead of claiming that Adrien is intended to read aspec - credit I would give them as I don't think rep needs to be explicit to count - they claim rep through two background characters who you could slap almost any label on without contradicting canon because canon never even touches on how these two feel about sex and romance. A lack of expressed interest is not the same as a straight up statement of disinterest. Based on what is in the show, you could write Max and Alix as fully allo and still have them be show loyal. And, to be clear, you're allowed to write these characters with any sexuality you want even if canon says they have a specific type of romantic and/or sexual attraction. They're fictional characters, not real people. This was specifically a discussion of my read on canon and what the writing staff has explicitly confirmed about their intended rep or lack thereof.

[ninadove]

You grow up fascinated by fairy tales, stories about princes and princesses and knights and damsels in distress. You are enthralled by happy endings, by the fantasy of rescuing and being rescued in return: trapped in a tower of your own, you desperately wait to be saved, to be freed.

Your cousin is much more interested in heroes and villains and dragons and witches. This fascination for romance (“The least interesting part of the story, Adrien!”) earns you many judgemental looks: so, you overuse the powers vested in you by virtue of being the eldest (“Only by three months!”) and tell him that he’ll understand when he gets older.

Turns out you were right: Felix gets the masquerade ball, the whirlwind romance, the kisses in front of the sunrise. His smiles have grown rarer and rarer through the years, but suddenly he’s grinning all the time; there is something new in his gaze, something soft, and it’s exactly what Kagami craves — what you couldn’t give her. As for you? You’ve been saved, but it still doesn’t feel right.

You’ve got something to tell your cousin. You just hope he won’t brush you off like you did.

[wehadabondingmoment]

Okay but if I ever made an aspec Adrien week would anyone be interested👉👈

[marsti]

this pride month i am sitting you down and forcing you all to check what people actually identify as when talking about queer artists. like if i have to see another person confidently state alice oseman (author of heartstopper) is bisexual im gonna have to stop being polite. bro theyre aroace thats literally the opposite. dont you think them writing a book called "loveless" in 2020 would give you a hint. wikipedia is right there.

[cookiedough77]

i forgot i can make normal text posts so im gonna do this more often because i think about miraculous daily:

when marinette and adrien play minecraft, marinette is the PRO at many aspecs of the game, while adrien WANTS/THINKS he can do well and then he ends up gathering flowers, chopping down trees for marinette, grows the crops, and then he sobs uncontrollably when he has to kill an animal

[anna-scribbles]

does anyone have good aroace/aspec adrien fic recs 🤲

[artzychic27]

More DuPont Cheer Squad Stuff Because This AU Is My New Baby

They did a challenge to see who could wear pigtails the best

Nino and Ivan bought wigs for such an occasion, but Austin A ended up winning

They're ALWAYS turning down people asking them out. Their responses range from-

Denise: I happen to be very happy with my boyfriend.

Cosette: Yeah, see, I don't want Zoé to be charged with your murder, so... Yeah.

Nathaniel: I'd step away nice and slow before my boyfriend, who is the captain of the soccer team, catches you flirting with me.

Ismael: Nope.

Ivan: My girlfriend will find a way to punt you.

Juleka: My girlfriend's been looking up ways to file her teeth into fangs to live out a certain fantasy of mine.

Austin A: Oh, honey, in your dreams.

Spinelli: You can't handle this.

Nino: Hey, if you want my girlfriend to kick your ass in a dark alley, okay.

Jean: Austin, mon amour! There are some people trying to flirt with your songbird!

The squad shares a TikTok

Austin A spams it with cringe posts

When the school was putting on Bring It On for the spring musical, they were immediately called to teach the actors a few routines… Only to have one of them break their leg

So now they’re in the musical, yay!

Spinelli and Austin A are just two dudes standing five feet apart because they’re not not queer

Cosette and Nath are just two bisexuals standing a foot apart and fist bumping because they are absolutely bi

Cosette and Nathaniel wear Zoé and Marc's letterman jackets. (Zoé plays volleyball)

Myléne cannot stop checking out Ivan in his uniform

Kim constantly dares Ivan to throw him… He just wants to see what it feels like

Rose is always playing with Juleka’s pigtails. They’re just so pretty!

Alya has no problem bragging that she’s dating a “totally hot cheerleader”. She drops into into conversations

Alya: This is Alya Césaire, here, live at the latest Akuma attack! Did I mention I am dating a totally hot cheerleader?

Austin T is like that, too… But louder. He has carried Jean on his shoulder

Austin T: To those who said it wouldn’t happen… Pucker your lips and kiss my thicc behind, because I am dating a cheerleader, and he is gorgeous, and can do the splits like a boss!

Reshma and Ismael are just two Aspecs chilling with cake because they’re Aro

They frequently get people (Chloé, Marinette, Lila) trying to join the squad for the wrong reasons

Chloé wants Jean’s position as captain, to get more popular students to join, boss people around, and get designer uniforms that will take forever to raise money for

Lila just wants to get on the squad, not do any of the work, flirt with athletes, and the moment she trips and falls because she didn’t stretch, shell just blame one of the other squad members

Marinette only wants to join so she can keep an eye on Lila, but she’ll get so distracted, mess up routines, eventually land someone she was supposed to catch in the hospital, and all so she can impress and flirt with Adrien since he’s on the basketball team

The squads answers to all of them after tryouts were…

Denise: No.

Cosette: I don’t think so.

Nathaniel: Never gonna happen.

Ismael: Come on, no.

Ivan: Uh… No… No.

Juleka: Sorry, but no.

Austin A: Ha! No!

Spinelli: Not a chance in hell.

Nino: Dude, no.

Jean: Away with you!

Damocles (Under threat from the mayor) forces them to let Chloé on the team, folded when Lila turned on the water works, and got greedy when Marinette offers to cater every school event for the rest of the year… For free.

But there’s no way in hell Jean is letting Chloé take his spot as captain! The HBIC crop top belongs to him!

Well, if they wanna join… They’ll let them join

Cue Elsy Vestures!

Elsy: These girls think they can just invade my squad, expecting what? Popularity? Guys? Attention? Whatever the hell blue hair wants? Ha! Well, then. If they wanna be cheerleaders, I’m gonna run them ragged all the way to hell and back.

So, before allowing them to become full time members of the squad, Elsy puts them through the wringer. Trust throws, trust catches, back breaking stretches, five mile runs at five in the morning, spontaneous backflips!… They don’t survive, and are turned away

Cue Mayor cutting funding

Cue Nath’s rich mobster grandparents providing all the funding they need and blackmailing the mayor

[asexual-throwdown-at-dennys]

Do we nominate characters via inbox? (if not please tell me where to go :'3)

I nominate Adrien Agreste from Miraculous (season 5 has me converted to the aspec adrien hc)

You're in the right place my friend! Gotcha

[boom-fanfic-a-latta]

Tbh even before this like. I still don't get how people think he'd be like some pushy sexual harasser, like the worst he ever was was dumb and flirty or jealous that ladybug was pushing him to the sidelines/kinda leaving him behind and not really treating him like an equal partner in season 4 (and that gets resolved with the finale going into season 5). And like for the latter: bruh he's like 14 sometimes kids are stupid and jealous, it happens, people aren't perfect and people have emotional needs and-

(also I'm like 99% sure Adrien is aspec/asexual after seeing how he acts about his crush in Season 5, especially in contrast to Marinette-)

Yeah it wasn't perfect but still the worst he got was just. Stupidity that was honestly realistic for a kid to have-

It's just that the show isn't the best written in general -_-

[mirmirma]

Miraculous Ladybug is a superhero romance sitcom cartoon. The whole point of the show is that the two main characters are gonna end up in a relationship together. Despite this, both of them are aspec, and you cannot convince me otherwise. The female lead, Marinette, is demisexual, and the male lead, Adrien, is asexual demiromantic. In this essay, I will...

Actually we can headcanon any character as a-spec as long as they don't reveal their orientation in the story.

"But they had sex!": clearly a sex-favorable ace 🤷🏻

"But they've find true love!": after not having feelings for anyone else, so it's a Demiromantic 🤷🏻

I could go on with this list forever...

[sorryicantquitequeeryou]

I know Miraculous is a kids show and has some distinct LGBTQIA+ rep

BUT

I headcanon everyone to be hella queer anyway. Like, no one is straight. Anyone has the potential to fall for anyone else while also simultaneously having the possibility of being aspec.

My favorite ship will never come to fruition and I'm okay with that because I doubt Miraculous is gonna be the cartoon to take the first step into showing polyamory. Luka, Adrien, and Marinette. Kagami was in there too for a long while, but she and Felix are too cute and doesn't give off the same energy around Adrien and Marinette since meeting him. I'm so happy for them. :')

But I feel like the exact same tension and compassion that exists between Luka and Marinette is also displayed between Adrien and Luka. The glances that Adrien takes and the expressions he makes from the back of the crowd when it comes to Luka. I also see not much difference in how Luka interacts with the two. He views them as special and values them as human beings, wanting what's best for them.

Of course Adrien and Marinette are destined for one another but who says that Luka can't join in too?

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think about the handling of the LGTBQ+ representation in ML (assuming you're comfortable talking about this subject) ?

There's not much to discuss since Miraculous is doing that thing where all the rep is small moments and lines that are easy to cut/change when airing in countries that aren't queer friendly. The little we do get seems fine. I'm especially a fan of the two adult couples as it's nice to see loving families where the parents are clearly queer.

I will not give Miraculous any credit for rep that only comes from Twitter. "Max is ace and Alix is aro" or "Marc and Nathaniel are totally dating!" Then put it in the show, you cowards. Nothing grinds my gears more than this BS where creators try to claim rep they didn't actually give. It's just another form of queer baiting. "You're totally represented in this show! I know we didn't say it, but it's there. I promise! Please give us money, views, and love!"

If you don't want to include "meaningful" rep in your show so that you can make as much money as possible by having a product that's viable in all markets, that's fine. I get it. TV Shows are incredibly expensive to make, but it's 2024, not 2014 (the year of Korrasamai via hand holding). Ambiguous and background rep is no longer the best anyone can do in mainstream TV. If anything, it's become the standard. The token effort done to appear progressive and appease those who want it without turning away larger audiences by being too progressive.

That's not to say that the little rep we see isn't noteworthy, progress is progress! The fact that they can include any sort of explicit rep is great and I'm pleased that they put something in as it makes background rep more standard. I want it to be the standard. I just wouldn't put Miraculous on a list of "great shows for queer kids" since all of the rep is ambiguous at best or of the blink-if-you-miss-it variety, which is what I meant by the term "meaningful" up above. I don't think the given rep has no value, I just don't think it's going to make anyone feel seen in the way shows like The Owl House did.

If they really wanted to get full marks from me, they would have done something to acknowledge that Adrien is aspec since he reads super aspec. It would have been an easy thing to add to the Adrigami arc, too, since it was pretty clear that he didn't actually have feelings for Kagami. At least, that was my read of that whole mess, but I am ace so it's my default. I have to actively remember allos are a thing when writing or else everyone will read as some flavor of aspec.

[ninadove]

Lukadrinette kids

Because I can. Enjoy these silly little thoughts.

📝 General notes:

Marinette, aka Maman, started out as a very successful and very stressed out fashion designer. She ends up retiring at 35 to take over the bakery and finally learn to chill (it’s going… better than expected).

Luka, aka Papa, is a guitarist with a very niche following and is perfectly happy with that. He’s very present in his kids’ lives and the easiest parent to open up to, because of course he is.

Adrien, aka Dad, is the stay-at-home parent and could not be more stoked. And scared. Someone help them

Emma and Hugo are twins, but look nothing like each other, which baffled Adrien and Felix when they were born; Adrien will never admit it, but he was a tiny bit disappointed they weren’t identical.

To help the kids connect with their heritage, their parents speak French, English and Mandarin Chinese at home. Despite it all, Louis’ first words were a full sentence in Japanese — more on that later.

It’s very common for French kids to have two “middle names” (deuxième et troisième prénoms), so I have planned accordingly. Enjoy!

🐍 Emma

Her full name is Emma Sentibug Alya Dupain-Cheng. Adrien would not have it any other way.

She’s the oldest by five minutes and she takes it very seriously. Too seriously, even.

Emma inherited Gabriel’s grey eyes, which will have no influence on her perception of herself at all, no sir.

Like Marinette, she feels responsible for protecting everyone and everything around her, which is why she was blacklisted from using the Ladybug Miraculous before she reached the tender age of five.

As luck would have it, she ended up with the Snake, which is even worse for her mental health. For maximum dramatic irony, I think I’ll call her superheroine persona Aspik.

Aroace and sad. It’s already hard enough to be aspec as it is, but given the importance romance played in her parents’ lives… you get the point.

🦋 Hugo

Aka Hugo Felix Tom Dupain-Cheng. Yes, Felix cried upon learning his name. A lot.

🎶 Bi bi bi bi BI 🎶

Inherited Mari’s talent for arts and crafts and Adrien’s dramatics. Despite being very similar to them both, he often finds it difficult to talk to them.

Uncle Felix, however, is his absolute favourite adult in the world, and regularly knocks some sense into him.

Adrien and Nino were so excited for their sons to be besties! So naturally they hate each other’s guts

They end up kissing about it, though, so it’s fine.

Butterfly holder. Very purple 💜

🐈‍⬛ Louis

Aka Louis Nino Jules (after Juleka)

Because twins were a lot to handle, Louis only came along six years later.

When he doesn’t get his way, he turns petulant and grumpy, which makes him Plagg’s absolute favourite. Luka finds it endearing and jokes that they rub off on each other. This stresses Adrien out, though, as he fears it might be an early sign of Gabriel Behaviour.

The truth is that Louis just has these huge feelings that he doesn’t know how to handle… and you know who relates to this? KAGAMI. She’s the only one who can get him to calm down once he starts crying. She will pick him up, he will cling to her jacket and suck on his thumb, and she will carry on with the conversation as if nothing happened.

Originally Very Small, he gets a HUGE growth spurt and ends up built like Tom, which is very unusual for Cat holders.

🐞 Sabine

Aka Sabine Amelie Rose

The surprise baby of the bunch. She looks just like her grandma Sabine!

A total ray of sunshine. Also very gay.

As the youngest and eventual holder of the Ladybug Miraculous, she triggers Mari’s overprotective tendencies the most. Adrien actually had to step up and get her to back off as it was starting to stir up bad memories.

Because Rose was very ill when the twins and Louis were young, she and Juleka didn’t get to watch them as much as she would have liked. They made up for it by spoiling their younger niece beyond reason.

The most musically inclined of the kids. Her love for punk rock and metal clashes hard with her cutesy vibes. Rose couldn’t be prouder. 💖

[goldensmilingbird]

I'm aspec and I'm not very upset by that unless the shippers try to insist the character isn't actually aspec in canon or that romantic relationships are better/superior to friendship. I can enjoy some ship content but usually don't actively ship them with anybody I think (I'm thinking of Alastor from Hazbin Hotel and Lilith from The Owl House).

With Alix specifically, since you mentioned her in the tags, I have an au in my head where she's in a sort of queerplatonic polycule with two girls, and I read a qpp fic with her and Adrien that was cute, but when I see romantic stuff I mostly just go "nice art!"

Anyway, that's just my feelings on it

(Idk, maybe if I found an aspec character I really strongly identified with, like "that's me!", then my feelings could change. Like how I can get annoyed when my favourite character gets mischaracterised for the purpose of a ship)

How do other aspecs feel about aspec characters, specifically aromantic characters, being shipped in a romantic way with either allos or other aspec characters? To make things easier I'm talking about characters that all though not stated in the media itself to be aspec, the creator did confirm they were aspec.

[dear-yellow-legal-pad]

Miraculous ladybug queer headcannons cuz I said so

Adrien is straight? Haha I don’t think so!! He’s Demiromantic and demisexual and pansexual and panromantic. It would make sense why mari is “just a friend”!!

Marinette is a chaotic bisexual.

Alya is bisexual as well but she’s a functional bisexual.

Nino is omnisexual. He liked adrien but now he loves alya.

Kagami is a lesbian with compulsory heterosexuality.

Max is non binary and his robot is 100% programmed to be an ally.

Kim is a clueless polysexual on par with my boy, adrien.

Rose and juleka are lesbians!

Nathaniel is queer and Marc is a trans gay man.

Adrien also give me gender fluid vibes. He gives me gender envy.

Gabriel is a straight ally and a terrible father.

Natalie is pan cuz I want to date her.

Ivan is omnisexual and Mylene is polysexual and she is a demigirl.

Luka is the artistic bisexual and he wrote a song for all his queer besties.

Kagami and Mari and adrien are dating and they all love each other.

I will do this again because I love being queer!!! For more pieces of media (probably over and over again) probably🏳️‍🌈💖💜💙🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Adrien from A Nightmare’s Trip is asexual!