#but she always says it’ll keep them from getting akumatized. then they get akumatized and it breaks. then she makes a fucking nother one

[carpetbug]

hey guys. do the magical charms ladybug gives out bother the fuck out of anyone else.

[bugaboi38]

Akumatized

Miraculous Ladybug, Adrinette, 4.9K words

Um, hi. This was written back in 2018. So keep that in mind. This is an secret-identity-reveal story that involves Marinette getting Akumatized, something we still haven’t really seen in the show yet. This basically just takes the form of a typical episode in the show, but with those twists! It also has some Tikki x Plagg (Plagki?) So yeah! Sending this out into the void. Enjoy!

“Marinette, you have to tell him!”

“No,” the blue-haired girl sighed. “You know I can’t, Tikki. It’ll… it’ll only make it worse.”

“You keep saying that, but… Marinette, listen to me, please… not telling him is eating you up, it’s only making everything worse! You’ve barely been eating, you’re ditching school to get away from him, and worst of all, you’ve been refusing to transform. This isn’t just about you! You’re lucky Cat Noir managed to handle Computer Wizard on his own and catch the akuma with his bare hands using his Cataclysm! But what happens when Hawk Moth creates another supervillain? Cat won’t be able to pull it off alone again! The people of Paris need you! Everyone believes in you! But you’re putting them all in danger!”

“Then find. Another. Ladybug.”

“Marinette, it has to be you!”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“But Mari--”

“I said stop!” Marinette grabbed her earrings off and threw them on the ground, smashing them with her foot. Then, as the rage in her eyes cleared and she realized what she’d just done, she fell to her knees and sobbed. “Tikki… no. Tikki, I’m so sorry….” She stayed there, crying, for what felt like an eternity.

“Marinette!” called the voice of her mother. “Come down; dinner’s ready!”

Marinette sighed, wiping away her tears and trying to maintain a neutral expression. She came down from her attic bedroom and took her place at the table.

“Are you all right, Marinette?” asked her father. He must have seen the redness in her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, of course, I’m… fine,” she replied weakly.

“Remember Marinette,” said her mother concernedly, “you can tell us everything.”

Marinette took a bite of her food. It was her favorite meal, but somehow it didn’t seem all that appetizing. “I’m not very hungry. I’m… gonna go back to my room.” As she went up, her parents threw each other concerned glances.

When she stepped back into the room, she immediately eyed the spot where she’d destroyed her miraculous, only to find its remains had vanished. Did that mean…? She tentatively approached her vanity, pulling out the middle drawer. Inside was the box in which she’d first received her miraculous. She lay it in the palm of her hand. She closed her eyes, not able to look, and opened the box. When she snapped her eyes open, she was so relieved to find the miraculous undamaged and good as new that she let out audible sounds of joy. She quickly fastened them to her ears, and Tikki reappeared. “I’m so sorry, Tikki. I thought I’d lost you!”

Tikki smiled. “The miraculouses have been around for millennia upon millennia. They’ve endured worse that a little bit of stomping.”

“All I care about is that you’re okay.” Marinette hugged Tikki close to her.

Tikki wriggled out. “So, are you going to do it?”

Marinette’s face fell. “I’ll try.”

Tikki smiled widely. “That’s the spirit!”

“But Tikki, how am I possibly supposed to tell him?”

“I understand your difficulties, Marinette. Maybe you can start with telling a friend.”

“Easy for you to say; you’re not the one with a crush on someone. I bet if you did, then you wouldn’t even tell—”

Tikki giggled. “I have a crush on Plagg.”

Marinette just stared at her, shell-shocked.

“You know, Cat Noir’s kwami. The Black Cat of Destruction.” If it was possible to say Black Cat of Destruction dreamily, Tikki definitely did it.

“Y-yeah, Cat’s told me about him. And… not good things, either.”

“Oh, you mean his laziness and his sarcasm and his strange addiction to Camembert cheese? I think it’s all so adorable. He always manages to make me laugh and smile, even when the Guardian caused the temple of the Order of the Guardians to be destroyed, and Nooroo and Duusu to be lost. I thought I would never smile or laugh again. But Plagg was there for me, with his sarcasm and cat puns and Camembert. He dug me out of a deep trench I had fallen into. He’s the imperfection to my perfection. Marinette, I think you need to find yours.”

“Have you told Plagg?”

Tikki sighed. “No, not for over a hundred years.”

Marinette raised her fist in triumph. “See! It’s not that easy!”

“But I did tell you, and that wasn’t so hard, right? So go tell a friend. And if you do confess to Adrien…” her kwami let out a breath. “Then I’ll confess to Plagg.”

“Deal?” Marinette extended her hand.

Tikki shook it. “Deal.”

Tikki suddenly began to buzz and vibrate. “I-i-i-i-it’s C-c-c-c-cat N-n-n-n-noir! H-h-h-h-he n-n-n-n-needs y-y-y-y-you!”

Marinette let out a deep breath. “Tikki, spots… on.”

As her kwami was sucked into her miraculous earrings, Marinette swiped her hands across her face, and a mask appeared. She outstretched her left arm, and red with black spots began to creep up it.

And then it stopped.

“Marinette,” called out a voice. Marinette quickly turned around, ready to flip the person behind her over her head. There were only two problems. One, there was no one there. Two, she hadn’t transformed into Ladybug, not all the way, meaning she was still a klutz. She tripped over her feet, landing smack on her stomach. She groaned. “Marinette, it’s me, Tikki! In your earring!”

Since it’s often quite difficult to look at one’s ear unassisted, Marinette rushed to her vanity. She saw Tikki’s head sticking out of her miraculous, the rest of her body stuck inside.

“Too many negative emotions,” Tikki wheezed. “I can’t get in. I can’t transform you.”

“Try to push in; Cat needs me!”

“No, Marinette! That’s what Hawkmoth did! You don’t want to turn yourself evil!”

Marinette sighed. “Spots off.”

Just as her mask faded off, her mother peeked up the hatch in her room, making Marinette jump back. She immediately grabbed Tikki and shoved her behind her back. “Oh, hi Mom!” She said quickly, trying to cover Tikki.

“I was just making sure you’re all right, dear. We heard a loud thunk.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s just me being… me! I ah… tripped. Clumsy me.” She swung her arm.

“What are you hiding behind your back?” her mother questioned.

“Oh, it’s… uh… a squeaky toy that Manon left over!” She held out Tikki and squeezed her.

“Squeak,” said Tikki weakly.

“Okay Marinette, just let us know if you need anything.”

As her mother disappeared down the hatch in her floor, Marinette let out a deep breath. But then she remembered their current dilemma. She grabbed a half-eaten macaron from her vanity and gave it to Tikki. “So what happened?” She asked.

“Your feelings toward Adrien are still so bitter. You must have positive emotions to transform.”

“What about when the Bubbler captured my parents? I wasn’t happy then.”

“But you had the love for your parents and resolve to fight, which is a positive thing. But now you don’t have much resolve to do anything but sit in your room and hate Adrien.”

“I don’t hate Adrien! I love him! Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it’s true, whether you want it to be or not.”

Marinette didn’t respond, just thinking about what Tikki said. She climbed to the roof and stared at the horizon. All of a sudden, she saw a giant purple monster, Cat trailing behind it. “You’re right, Tikki, I need to go find Adrien.”

“Wait, wait, wait.”

“What is it Tikki? Don’t you want me to talk with him?”

“You won’t find Adrien.”

“W-why not? Where is he? Is he kidnapped? Or hurt? Or akumatized?”

“He’s… under a disguise. What matters is that you won’t find him until that monster is de-akumatized. Talk to your friend Alya.”

“Okay.” She dialed Alya’s number and hit call.

It ringed once.

Twice.

Three ti—

“Why are you answering that now? Aren’t we in the middle of something?” Marinette frowned. That wasn’t Alya; it was Nino.

“Nino, it’s Marinette! I think we can put this on hold for just a minute!” Finally, Alya seemed to start talking to Marinette. “Hey girl, sorry about that! I’m here with Nino making—um, making, uh, cookies! Yeah, we’re… uh… doing that.”

Marinette’s eyes widened, and she smacked her forehead. “Look, Alya, I need to meet with you. In private. Okay? The rooftop.”

“Okay! On my way!”

Marinette’s thumb hovered over the end call button, but before she pressed it, she heard Nino in the background: “Really, Alya? You couldn’t have waited?”

“Marinette’s depressed, boy! This is the first time she’s talked to me in like a month! I’ve gotta talk to her. Oh, I forgot to hang up!”

Depressed? Was she really depressed? If she had so much negative emotion that she couldn’t transform, maybe she was.

Before she could think about it any more, Alya was already there, breathing heavily. “Girl, I’m so glad to see you! What did you want to talk about?”

“It’s… well, I um, you see…”

“Adrien!” whispered Tikki.

“Adrien!” Marinette repeated.

Alya gave her a concerned look. “You’re incoherent again. What about Adrien?”

“I… I…”

“Just spit it out, Marinette. Even if you make no sense, I think I know you well enough to figure out what you’re trying to say.”

Okay, I can do this, she thought. She thought back to her conversation with Tikki, and how easily her Kwami had told her about her crush on Plagg. About how she’d thought it was cute how he loved Camembert.

Three.

Two.

One.

Go.

“I’m in love with camembert!”

“What?!” shouted both Alya and Tikki. Luckily, Alya didn’t hear Tikki over the sound of her own voice.

“I mean Plagg is in love with Camembert! I mean, I’m in love with Plagg! No! I mean Adrien! Plagg is in love with Adrien!”

She groaned and heard Tikki let out an “Uck!”

Alya just laughed. “Even I couldn’t understand that! Who’s this Plagg dude anyway?”

Marinette’s eyes darted to everywhere but her best friend. “Just… ah… no one?” She laughed nervously. Alya was giving her the look, the look she gave her whenever she was trying to cover her identity as Ladybug.

“Plagg, I feel like I’ve heard that before somewhere…”

Uh oh. If she didn’t change the subject fast, Alya could find out who she was. She needed to do it. Now. “I’m… in love with Adrien.”

“And…?”

“You’re not surprised?”

“Of course not! Everyone in the school knows you like Adrien, even Chloé! It’s not exactly a secret.”

Marinette’s face turned beet red. She sat and pulled her knees up to her chest. “E-everyone?”

“Well, just about everyone but Adrien. Unless Nino told him.” She shook her head, sighing.

“Um, uh, speaking of Nino, you should… probably go hang out with him some more. He seemed pretty annoyed with you.”

“Oh, you heard that? Oops. I guess you’re right. But are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Alya, just go.”

“But—”

“Go.”

At long last, Alya disappeared down the hatch. Tikki took the precise moment to float out with a disgusted look on her face. “If you say that Plagg likes Adrien one more time—”

“GRRRRRAUGH!” Marinette let out, covering her face with her hands.

“Oh, sorry!” Tikki apologized, visibly sinking. “Bad time. I didn’t mean it, I promise!”

Back behind a large circular window with a butterfly design, a tall purple-clad man stood. “Heartbroken by the boy she loves, then humiliated by her best friend. The perfect recipe for disaster.” He trapped a white butterfly in his hands, turning its color to purple. “Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize her!

Back on the roof of Marinette’s bakery/house, Marinette cried between her fingers while Tikki tried to comfort her: “Marinette, I’m sorry. But it’ll get better, I promise.”

Marinette’s face flushed red beneath her tears, from anger this time. “It was YOUR idea to tell Alya!”

“Marinette, I’m so sorry. All I can do is--akuma!”

Sure enough, a purple akuma fluttered behind her, coming nearer with every flap.

“Marinette! I think I can get you your yoyo! Use it to capture the akuma!”

“What does it matter,” she grumbled beneath her breath unintelligibly. However, she did mutter, “Spots on.”

Tikki was sucked into the miraculous but didn’t get far past her feet. Despite this, the yoyo appeared. Marinette took a deep breath. “No evildoing for you this time, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!” she opened her yoyo and threw it at the akuma.

Then something strange happened. She missed. The yoyo whizzed past its target, missing by a good foot. Before Marinette could think about what had just happened, the akuma flew into the other side of the yoyo, and her vision clouded over. She heard the voice of Hawk Moth: “Amnesia, I am Hawk Moth. You have been the victim of a rumor. Rumors can be nasty things. Once it gets out, it cannot be forgotten. But I can help you. I will give you the power to make people forget whatever you wish, in return for one thing: bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir’s miraculous!”

Another voice was heard. Tikki. “Don’t give in, Marinette!”

Marinette turned around, still with the trace of purple in the shape of Hawk Moth’s mask covering her face. “I already have.”

It all started a few weeks ago when Cat Noir was working with Ladybug. She’d just de-evilized the akuma and had only few minutes before she changed back when he had casually asked her out to the movies. It wasn’t the first time.

But this time was different. “Cat…” she responded, softly but firmly, if that was possible, “how many times do I have to tell you, it’s never going to happen!” Her voice began to rise, slowly but steadily, “I love a different boy. And besides, I don’t even know who you are! How could I possibly love you?”

“Right,” Cat said quietly, “I get it. Forget I said anything.” He turned away and jumped off the building.

“Cat, wait!” she grabbed for his tail, but too late. He was already gone, disappearing into the horizon.

He made his way back to the Agreste mansion, slipping through the open window. Normally he would just wait for his time to run out, but at the moment he didn’t feel much like being Cat.

“Claws in,” he said, and his superhero outfit faded, replaced by his kwami, Plagg, staring at him. Plagg opened his mouth to make some stupid complaint about camembert, but Adrien slipped his ring off before he could say anything, causing him to vanish.

Pure silence.

For a moment, it was nice to just be Adrien again: the perfect, prestigious teen model who everyone loved, at least on the outside.

But all too soon, his thoughts drifted back to the imperfect, goofy black-cat-themed superhero who wasn’t loved. Ladybug’s words came back to him.

It’s never going to happen.

I love another boy.

How could I possibly love you?

It’s NEVER going to happen.

How could I POSSIBLY love you?

Never.

Never.

Never.

Explainably, Adrien wasn’t very happy the next day. He barely spoke the entire day. When Nino asked if something was bothering him after lunch, he just shook his head and walked off.

It sucked. It really did.

Suitably, it was raining by the time school got out. He was walking down the staircase, on his way to get picked up, when he noticed Marinette standing there, holding a black umbrella. His umbrella. The one he had given to her on the first day of school.

He didn’t know why he did it. When he tried to recall it, he couldn’t even remember what he was thinking. The best explanation was that Marinette… almost reminded him of Ladybug. Maybe it was her unique dark-blue hair, or the incident with [her names]’s music video. He knew that he shouldn’t have let out his anger on her, but it was already done.

He’d walked up to her, wrenched the umbrella out of her hands, and said, “That’s my umbrella, thank you very much,” then walked away, leaving her standing in the rain.

It was a huge jerk move to make. Maybe it could’ve been justified if he’d done it to Ladybug. Then he could’ve at least called them even. But to Marinette, it was just wrong.

He was sitting on the couch back in his room when his phone buzzed. It was Marinette.

Adrien looked away. He couldn’t bring himself to think about her right now.

But just as the buzzing stopped, it started again.

Groaning, Adrien turned off his phone.

Adrien could barely focus on anything the next few days. All he could think about was the ring on his finger as he twisted it back and forth. With just a phrase, it could turn him into Cat Noir. It could turn him into himself.

He was itching to stretch his claws. But without Ladybug this time.

After all, there didn’t have to be a villain for Adrien to transform. He could transform whenever he wanted. Now that he thought about it, he wondered why he didn’t do it more often.

So as soon as Adrien got back into his room, he retrieved his ring and slipped it on.

“What are you doing?” Plagg asked him.

“Transforming,” Adrien stated simply.

“But why?”

Adrien shrugged. “To get out.”

“You know, you shouldn’t use the miraculous for personal reasons…”

“Well… are you gonna stop me?”

“No, I’m just obligated to say that. Now let’s go!”

Taking the invitation, Adrien chanted, “Okay Plagg, claws out!”

As the mask, cat ears, belt, and black bodysuit appeared around him, he finally felt like himself again. So he slipped out of his window and used his rod to launch himself as far away as he could.

But as he made his third jump, he noticed something odd.

A couple was on the sidewalk, looking in every direction as if confused. The man said to the woman, “Honey, what’s my name?”

“I don’t know,” she responded. “What’s mine?”

Cat knew a strange situation like this must be the sign of another villain. He sighed to himself, “Really? I just wanted to be alone for a while! Why do villains always appear at the worst times? Well, who knows, maybe Ladybug won’t show up again!”

But he found out he was wrong when he came face-to-face with the villain on top of the next building he jumped to.

Ladybug hadn’t just shown up.

She had been akumatized.

Her spotted red suit had turned to a sickly shade of green, and her hair had darkened and fallen down over her eyes.

At first Adrien thought it must have been an Akumatized fan of Ladybug, like when Chloé had turned into Anti-Bug, but when he saw the flawless way she slung her yoyo, he knew it had to be the real thing. “Ladybug?”

“There is no more Ladybug! Now I’m Amnesia!” she snarled. “I’ve already erased the memories of everyone in my class. Now I just need to find Adrien, so I can make him forget about Kagami!”

Cat Noir flinched at hearing his real name. What? Was this about him? And how did Ladybug know about him and Kagami?

“I’ll make him forget about her, and Lyla, and anyone else! I’ll make him love me!”

Love her? Ladybug wanted Cat—Adrien—to love her? If only she knew that he and Adrien were the same person…

But then who was she? And what had caused her to be akumatized?

Before Cat could think about it any more, Amnesia continued, “But first, Hawk Moth wants me to bring him the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses. Of course, I already have my own…” she held out her palm, which held her two earrings in it. “Now, I just need yours. So it’s time for you to forget!”

Cat jumped to the side as Amnesia threw her yoyo at him, which sprayed green fumes. Cat backed away further to avoid breathing them in.

Cat began scanning Amnesia’s figure, searching for where the akuma might be, when the outline of Hawk Moth’s mask appeared on Amnesia’s face. She murmured, “Take the Ladybug Miraculous back to you? But you said to get both…. Okay. I’ll come back for the Black Cat Miraculous later.”

Since Hawk Moth was so insistent upon getting both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, Cat Noir figured that Hawk Moth needed both miraculouses for his plan. Still, Cat couldn’t let Hawk Moth get the Ladybug Miraculous—Hawk Moth could still do all sorts of things with it, and without Ladybug it was only a matter of time before he got Cat Noir’s miraculous too.

He couldn’t let Amnesia get away, and he had to get those earrings back.

“Cataclysm!” he shouted, and darkness gathered above his right palm. Now, where to use it…?

What would Ladybug do? What would Ladybug do?

As Cat saw Amnesia running toward the edge of the building, he got an idea. He slapped his fist onto the roof, and it began to decay, cracks running out from where he touched it. The cracks spread to where Amnesia was running, and she tripped as the roof separated beneath her feet. The earrings flew out of her hand and skittered off the edge of the roof.

Cat dove off the roof after them, catching them in midair and breaking his fall with his rod. He quickly put on the earrings, and Tikki popped out.

“Cat Noir?” she said in her squeaky little voice. “What are you doing with the Ladybug Miraculous?”

“No time to explain! Plagg, Tikki, unify!!”

The scaly material that usually covered Ladybug’s outfit mixed with the one he was already wearing, creating black scales that covered Cat’s body, replacing his belt, ears, and bell, but leaving him still with his rod and claws and adding a yoyo.

“Black Scarab, let’s do this!” he said to himself.

Black Scarab used his rod to raise him back up to the top of the building, where Amnesia was just getting up from her fall. In midair, he threw his black yoyo, wrapping it around his victim and pulling her to him. He started looking for an akuma, but Amnesia twisted in his grasp and held her green yoyo up to Black Scarab’s face, about to spray him with the forgetting gas. Black Scarab jumped away to avoid the blast, freeing Amnesia in the process.

Black Scarab tried the same technique, but again he had to jump back to avoid getting sprayed. He couldn’t get close to her. They were at a stalemate, which meant it was time to change up the game.

“Lucky charm!” Black Scarab shouted, and a red-with-black-polka-dots object appeared in the sky.

“A spray bottle?” Black Scarab asked when the item dropped into his hands.

As he jumped away from another puff of gas, he looked around. A plan began to form as he noticed three things:

The spray bottle.

His yoyo.

The cloud of gas.

He quickly unscrewed the top of the spray bottle and tied the bottom part to his yoyo string.

“C’mon, come and get me!” he catcalled.

“Oh, I will!” Amnesia protested, releasing another puff of gas.

Black Scarab threw the yoyo with the spray bottle attached into the cloud of gas, then pulled it back to him. He slapped the lid on the spray bottle before any gas could escape.

“Ha, you missed me!” Black Scarab taunted. “You’ll never hit me from that far away!”

“Fine, I’ll just have to get in closer!” Amnesia shouted. She ran toward him, but at the same moment, she threw her yoyo, Black Scarab threw his too, and they collided in midair. Amnesia lost her balance, falling right into Black Scarab as he raised the spray bottle to her face and squeezed the handle.

Amnesia’s eyes went unfocused, and she dropped her yoyo. She looked at Black Scarab with a confused expression and said, “Who are you?”

“Your savior, of course!” Black Scarab joked as he brought his rod down on the green yoyo, breaking it in half and releasing the akuma inside.

“No more evil-doing for you, little akuma! Time to de-evilize!” Black Scarab shouted as he opened his yoyo and flung it at the akuma, catching it inside.

“Gotcha!”

He flicked his yoyo back and reopened it, releasing the de-evilized akuma. “Goodbye, little butterfly!”

Then he threw his spray bottle into the sky and shouted, “Miraculous Black Scarab!”

Thousands of magical ladybugs appared, swarming the entire city and returning everyone’s memories.

Amnesia’s green-and-black suit began to dissolve around her, and Black Scarab nervously watched on as he witnessed the reveal of Ladybug’s identity.

It was…

Marinette!?

Oh.

OH!

That was why she had been akumatized: because Adrien had been mean to her earlier. And that affected her so much because she was in love with Adrien, which he had already suspected.

But she was also Ladybug. And that changed everything.

Ladybug ignored Cat Noir because she loved Adrien instead, and Adrien had ignored Marinette because he loved Ladybug. But the whole time…

They had both been in love with the same person.

Black Scarab was pulled out of his thoughts by a frantic beeping coming from his ring. He was about to change back.

“Plagg, claws in.”

The cat suit faded away, leaving just Mister Bug in his red and black polka dots.

Marinette, who had fallen to the ground, looked up at him in confusion. “Cat Noir? Is that you? Why are you wearing the Ladybug Miraculous?”

“Don’t worry, you can have your miraculous back, Milady,” Mister Bug assured her.

“M-Milady? My miraculous? I’m… I’m just Marinette…” She seemed to realize it was no use. “Wait, how did you find out?”

“You were akumatized,” Mister Bug explained as he removed his earrings, extending them toward Marinette and transforming back into Adrien in the process.

“A-Adrien? You’re Cat Noir?”

Adrien grinned. “The one and only, Bugaboo.”

Marinette put her hand to her temples. “Agh, this is so weird!”

Before Adrien could respond, Tikki jumped in: “Oh… so you found out.”

“I told you it was only a matter of time,” Plagg commented lazily. “Now, c’mon Adrien, where’s the cheese? I’m hungry!”

“Could you calm your eternal hunger for just a moment, please?” Adrien asked him.

Marinette just looked between Adrien and Plagg uncomprehendingly.

“You… do know what this means, right?” Adrien said, turning back to Marinette.

“Ah… I…”

Adrien finished it for her. “I’ve been in love with you all along, Marinette. And you’ve been in love with Cat Noir this whole time.”

Adrien could see the realization dawning in Marinette’s eyes, a grin spreading across her face. “I mean… I… ah…”

Then her grin fell. “Wait, how did you know I was in love with you? Did Nino—”

“Um, actually, I didn’t really know until you rampaged all over the city erasing everybody’s memories and declaring your undying love for Adrien.”

Marinetter covered her mouth with her hands. “I… I did that?”

Adrien shrugged. “Yeah, but everything is fine now. I stole your Ladybug Miraculous from you and fused it with mine to become Black Scarab. Then I defeated you easily.”

“‘Black Scarab’? Really?”

“Hey, I thought it was pretty creative!”

Marinette shook her head. “This is so weird. We’re talking like Ladybug and Cat Noir!”

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

In the silence that followed, Tikki spoke up, shooting a wink at Marinette. “Um, Plagg… I have something to tell you.”

“Does it have something to do with cheese? ‘Cause I still haven’t gotten any,” he complained.

“Well, no, but—”

“Sorry, no deal.”

“It… could include cheese?”

“Hmm, what kind?”

“I could get you all kinds! Brie, parmesan… camembert...”

“Okay! What is it?”

“Well, I don’t want this to sound rushed or anything, because we’ve only known each other for two million years or so, and it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, there’s no pressure, but…”

Marinette smiled at Tikki and gave her a thumbs up.

“...I think I’m in love with you.”

Tikki’s cheeks turned a darker shade, but the blush was especially apparent on Plagg’s black cheeks. “Well… if you come through with that promise of cheese, I just might be too,” he joked.

“Oh, Plagg!” Tikki gushed, flying over to him and wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Tikki,” he murmured, returning the hug.

Adrien and Marinette eventually turned away from watching their kwamis and back to each other.

“So… I don’t know how much my father would allow it, but would you like to… um… date?”

“I—yeah. Yeah, definitely. One hundred percent, totally, spectacularly—”

“Miraculously,” Adrien finished for her.

They both grinned at that.

“Well, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Bugaboo!”

Marinette failed to hide her blush as she said, “You know you can’t call me that at school, right?”

“Of course, Marinette.”

“I’ll… see you tomorrow, then.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Adrien’s remark came with a smirk.

“What?”

Adrien bumped her fist, and they both said together, “Pound it!”

“See you soon, Plagg,” Tikki said, finally releasing her hug.

“You’d better come with some camembert,” he warned.

“Oh, you know I will! Come on Marinette, let’s go home.

Marinette gave her a macaron, and once Tikki finished it, Marinette transformed into Ladybug and swung away.

Adrien gave Plagg a piece of the cheese Plagg always made him carry. A few seconds later, he transformed and leaped away in the opposite direction.

And when Adrien, Marinette, Tikki, and Plagg settled down to go to sleep that night, one thought kept coursing through their heads: WE DID IT!

[miraculouscontent]

Marinette was officially done with Hawk Moth interfering in her life. She could take him interrupting school, or her time out with friends (which had become increasingly awkward as of late anyway), or even her moments of being bogged down with projects.

But interrupting her one-on-one time with Luka? First their movie date and now their moment of getting ice cream together? Absolutely not.

As far as she was concerned, this meant war. If Hawk Moth wanted to shove himself into her life like a nosy busybody who couldn’t go five seconds without trying to take away her means of happiness, then fine.

Two could play at that game, and she was feeling petty enough to make the next move. She’d had to mull over the subject for a while to figure anything out, not to stop him for good exactly, but at least put an annoying dent in his plans, much like he always did with her.

She had an idea by evening, and got to put it into action right after school. She was saying good-bye to a few of her friends, and had hopped onto the back of Luka’s bike afterwards, her hands carefully on his waist while he rode off along the sidewalk.

A flicker of black and purple caught her eye, and instead of the usual dread or panic, she grinned to herself.

“Luka! Stop!”

He stiffened, but obeyed, putting full force on the brakes and screeching the bike to a sudden halt.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in concern.

Hurriedly getting off the bike, she took off her helmet and handed it to him. “I’m sorry, will you wait here for a few minutes? I promise I’ll be right back!”

Knowing she had to be quick, she didn’t wait for him to reply. She placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning in to place a long, meaningful kiss on his cheek.

If he had prepared a reply, the kiss stopped it, and she ran off to the nearest hiding place while he stared blankly ahead at nothing.

After ducking into an alley and taking a quick look around to ensure it was safe, Marinette opened her purse to let out Tikki, as well with the other kwami necessary for her plans: Kaalki.

“Let’s do this!”

— — — — —

Soon after Pegabug had entered the scene, giving chase to the akuma, Chat Noir wasn’t far behind. Part of her questioned how he’d gotten there so soon, but she squashed the thought just as quickly as it’d come so as to not dwell on the potential identity questions.

“Love the new look, m’lady. What’s the occasion?” he asked in his usual flirtatious tone. “Or did you dress up just for me?”

“Not now, Chat,” she replied shortly, adjusting her sunglasses as she neared the butterfly in question. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Of course! Anything.”

“When I give the command, grab the akuma.”

“I—” He blanked. “Grab it?”

“I’ll explain later,” she assured. Squinting at the butterfly, which seemed to be on a straight path, she felt the moment hit like the epiphany of her Lucky Charm. “Now!”

Slightly panicked, but not asking anything more, Chat Noir sped forward. He dropped to all fours to pick up speed, then leapt for the butterfly. In a swift motion, he trapped the akuma between his hands, and Pegabug reeled her hand back as she felt the charge of her power.

“Voyage!”

The portal launched from her hands, manifesting right in front of Chat Noir. He went through and she followed behind him.

On the side of the portal, she landed politely on her feet while he crashed onto the floor, though he managed to keep the akuma contained in his hands.

A startled Wang Cheng stood up from his chair, looking between the two in surprise, but he calmed himself soon after. “It is time?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, walking over and helping Chat up due to his inability to use his hands.

He shook himself of the impact, then glanced at Wang, Pegabug, and finally the night sky out the window. “M’lady, if he means time to explain why you catapulted us to China, then I’m all ears.” His fake cat ears twitched in emphasis.

“Not exactly, but we can do that too,” she assured. Closing her eyes, she whispered a quick, “Kaalki, divide,” to allow the horse part of her transformation to drop. Pulling out her yoyo to grab a treat, she offered it to Kaalki to let her recharge before addressing the issue properly.

“Chat, you remember Wang,” she stated, walking alongside Wang as they traversed the rooms of the house. Hearing Chat’s footsteps behind her, she continued, “We saved him after he was akumatized into Kung Food.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Chat confirmed, still just as puzzled as before.

“Well, he’s the only one I know who’s out of the country.” She grinned slyly. “And out of Hawk Moth’s radius.”

Chat tilted his head. “Radius?”

Ladybug waited to answer until she saw the little habitat that had been set up, exactly as she’d asked for. Wang opened it for her and stepped aside, then gestured to it, which gave Chat enough of a hint to approach and outstretch his arms so they were inside the mini enclosure.

He hesitated, but released the akuma and recoiled quick enough for Ladybug to snap the habitat shut, thus sealing the butterfly inside.

“The butterfly miraculous has limits,” she explained, pointing to the trapped akuma, “and this is one of them. Hawk Moth can’t sense or do anything with this akuma from this distance, and he’s only allowed one at a time.”

“Meaning...?”

“Meaning that he can’t make another until this one breathes its last breath.” She tossed a grateful smile Wang’s way. “So please take good care of it, sir.”

Wang bowed his head in respect. Chat, meanwhile, was gaping.

“Wait, so that means—?”

“It might not be long,” she admitted, “because we don’t know how old this butterfly is, but—” She raised a finger as she made her point. “—as long as it lives and kept in that habitat, he can’t akumatize anyone.”

With a confident walk, she made her way back to the room they’d originally come from.

Chat, still in a state of shock, followed after and kept pace with her. “What about sentimonsters?”

Ladybug shrugged. “Mayura can still send them if she wants, but it’ll go just as badly.”

“Why?”

“For one, sentimonsters follow the orders of the one with the object, and no akuma means that Hawk Moth doesn’t have any control. For two, if I can teleport the feather away before Mayura can de-power it herself, then she’s stuck with no sentimonster for even longer than the akuma. Feathers take a few months to wear out, and I think they know that. Once they realize the risks, I don’t think we’ll be seeing any sentimonsters all by themselves.”

Stopping at the spot where she’d made the portal originally, she tossed a smile Kaalki’s way and outstretched her hands accordingly, calling upon her transformation once again with, “Tikki, Kaalki, unify!”

Chat didn’t even flinch at the flash of light, staring at the floor instead as he scratched his head. “But—uh—” He paused, needing a moment to come up with more questions. “what if Mayura makes her own sentimonster again?”

“Then I’m sending it to the moon,” she answered nonchalantly. “If they want to waste my time like this, then I’m not messing around anymore. Either they come fight me themselves or I’m keeping every akuma and feather I can here, where they can’t do anything with them.”

He opened his mouth, perhaps to throw out another argument, but she’s stumped him. His lips pursed as he seemed deep in thought, which evolved into a pout as he asked, “So, I guess we won’t be spending as much time together?”

“What?” Pegabug raised a brow, thrown off by that being his concern.

“A-ah—” He seemed to catch himself, waving his hands in defense. “Nothing, m’lady! You’re a genius, as always, and we still have patrols!”

“...Thanks,” she said neutrally, her mind on anything but him even as he tried to flirt.

After all, there was someone waiting for her back in Paris.

— — — — —

“Luka!”

Marinette beamed in both gratefulness and relief as she saw Luka still in the same spot as before, and even in the same position as well. She ran up to him, grabbing his shoulder again with one hand while she took her helmet back with the other.

She kissed his cheek again, a little more lightly than before but with just as much affection. The contact seemed to bring him back to life, his smile returning to his face as he settled his hands back on the bike’s handles.

“Did everything work out alright?” he asked.

“Mhm. I was just—” She paused, a lie almost reflexively coming out of her mouth before she settled on the closest thing to the truth she could, deciding that he deserved as much. “—taking care of something. Hopefully it works out.”

“Knowing you, I bet it will,” he assured with a fond look.

She beamed at him and put her helmet back on, settling herself behind him on his bike so her hands could rest on his waist again. She heard the ‘clink’ of the kickstand as Luka nudged it up with his heel, and then they were off again.

Happy thoughts of Hawk Moth screaming in his lair as he discovered her plan slowly transitioned into blissful imaginings of all the uninterrupted dates she could go on now. Out of sight, out of mind, just as Hawk Moth deserved to be.

[nobodyfamousposts]

My-Crack-ulous: Aku-Maid

In which I am a horrible person...

No seriously. Don’t read this.

For @mermain123, for bringing up the cursed image that started this mess in the first place.

Mermain: i said i was suffering

Mermain: i didn't want you to make the internet suffer

Me: That sounds like the internet’s problem.

Also for @bloody-writes. You know why...   ; )

_________________________

Hawk Moth was a supervillain who had been terrorizing Paris for the better part of two years.

But no one could really argue that not all of his ideas have been good. Or well thought out. Or in any way sensible even.

Like the time he akumatized a baby.

Or the time he akumatized a girl to transform people into exact replicas of herself.

Or the fact he keeps akumatizing Mr. Ramier for going on 29 times at this point…

Or the other time he akumatized a baby…

Times that he destroyed Paris. Times that he nearly destroyed the world. Times that he gave people powers that were completely contradictory to the goals of getting the Miraculous he was after by erasing the heroes from existence or transforming them in ways that made the Miraculous inaccessible.

But none of his akumatizations had ever gotten him as much hate, caused as much misery, were were ultimately as pointless as this most recent incident.

Aku-maid.

It was known the instant she was akumatized. As soon as she was transformed, a wave of power enveloped the city. And within that wave, half of the people of Paris were transformed as well. 

…the male half.

Her power was to transform all the men of Paris. She didn’t even have a weapon or attack that did it, it just happened almost instantaneously. All men suddenly found themselves changed.

Or rather, their outfits…

“Ah!”

“What the hell—!?”

“I can’t get it off!”

One by one, every male in Paris suddenly found themselves in a much different state of attire. What had just been a normal day full of various styles and appearances had all suddenly become very…frilly.

“WHY AM I A MAID?!”

Much as implied her namesake, the akuma’s power involved transforming whatever any man was wearing into some variation of a maid outfit.

Every man.

All over Paris.

From Andre Bourgeois, who has refused to leave his office to make an official statement…

“ANDRE!” Audrey shouted, banging on the door. “Get out here this instant!”

“But, honey, I can’t be seen like this!”

To Roger Raincomprix, who has tried to continue his normal duties despite the…change of uniform…

“Stop in the name of the law!” Roger shouted, reaching into his pockets in an automatic reaction to try to get his handcuffs. While the dress he was wearing did still have pockets, the only item they procured was a cleaning rag, which was notably less threatening as the suspect in question stared for a moment before deciding to take off.

“HEY!”

And yes, even to…

“I’m a Macrophage!” Adrien gushed happily as he lifted his lengthy skirt to give a twirl.

…even to Adrien Agreste, who was apparently the only one to find anything pleasant about the current crisis.

Nino stared.

“Dude. Seriously?”

“I’ve always wanted to cosplay!”

Nino, having been long-since exposed to his friend’s deep love for anime in its many forms, at least knew what a Macrophage was. But even so, he couldn’t help but feel there was something odd about the way Adrien took to the long pale dress and cap.

Kim rested a hand on Nino’s shoulder. “Just let the guy enjoy this.”

“At least somebody is.” Nathaniel muttered bitterly as he tried to hide as behind his sketchbook. It was a futile attempt, of course, as he at most only covered his face, leaving the red dress, white apron with pockets, and knee-high boots on full display.

“I don’t understand how he can.” Max complained. He tugged at his own skirt in vain, looking at Adrien’s ankle-length ensemble enviously. The skirt was much shorter than he would have liked—reaching a couple inches above his thigh and almost seemed to be defying gravity to stay that way despite his attempts to get it to either flatten or otherwise lower. “I question the design choices.”

“But you look just like Misaki from Maid Sama! And Nathaniel looks like Lizbeth!” Adrien insisted. “It’s totally a cosplay!”

Max just stared incredulously. He was wearing a black dress with puffy sleeves that tapered off just shy of his elbow, white apron, a cap, and thigh-high black stockings and knee-high boots, it seemed Adrien did have a point.

Max, in all fairness, didn’t particularly care in favor of the problems that came with suddenly finding himself in a short dress, heels, and a corset.

“I just can’t peg where Kim or Nino’s outfits are from.” He continued, studying the outfits in question contemplatively. “But give me a little time! It’ll come to me!”

The boys had been having an afternoon hangout session in the park. No girls. No teachers. No Gabriel Agreste or bodyguards to whisk certain teen models away. It was supposed to be a normal non-drama-filled day.

…which was naturally when it became something less than normal and certainly more than drama-filled.

“I think I get why girls complain about this sort of thing now.” Kim said, looking at his shoes. “These heels are kind of uncomfortable…”

“Are you sure it’s the heels and not the flippers?” Nino asked, annoyed.

Sure enough, Kim was wearing flipper-heels. They were black and also had black ankle straps with a little bow on each. This strange footwear did seem to go with Kim’s talent in swimming, which was also emphasized by the ruffle maid swimsuit they matched with.

“Nah, it’s definitely the heels.” Kim insisted.

So this was what their all-boys’ afternoon had come to.

Kim was wobbling on unsteady heels.

Nathaniel groaned and kept his ever reddening face covered.

Max was questioning where they could procure jackets. Long jackets.

Adrien was giggling to himself and asking if they could do a full Cells at Work group cosplay.

And Nino paled, suddenly realizing something.

"Guys. Guys, we have to hide!"

"Why?" Kim asked. "It's annoying, but this akuma doesn't seem really dangerous."

"No, you don't get it!" Nino hissed. "If Alya catches us, we will NEVER live this down!"

Nathaniel looked over the edge of his sketchbook. “Alya wouldn’t actually post pictures of us to the Ladyblog, would she?”

A long pause followed.

The boys paled.

Except for Adrien, who turned to them with a gasp of excitement. “Do you think she would? We could do a group picture!”

All the other boys paled even more, looking downright ill.

And immediately took off running.

Or at least as well as they could with heels. None of them made it very far without tripping, stumbling, or simply struggling to stay upright as they still tried to move away from the area as quickly as the heels would allow.

“But what’s wrong with—?”

“JUST RUN, ADRIEN!”

“Who thought maid outfits with high heels was a good idea?! How can anyone be expected to clean in these things?

“I will never draw high heels on a super heroine again.”

“I can’t breathe! Who created corsets?! What objective does this achieve besides crushing one’s lungs?”

Nino groaned, still running. “I hope Hawk Moth is suffering as much as we are!”

_____________________

If Nino Lahiffe had the ability to break the fourth wall and peer into the events happening outside of his immediate vicinity, he would be happy to find this was actually the case.

And he would laugh.

Oh, how he would laugh.

“Sir…?”

“Don’t.” Came the dark growl from a very unhappy supervillain. “Don’t say anything, Nathalie..."

This was an akuma that impacted every male in Paris. Every male.

…even to Hawk Moth, himself.

“Why did this happen?”

It would appear that even Hawk Moth was not immune to Aku-Maid’s power as he had been similarly transformed. And unfortunately, due to the change, he could no longer access his Miraculous. The Butterfly broach had disappeared, having been transformed along with his outfit.

And his outfit had…actually left much to be desired.

Which was truthfully just a nice way of saying it was ugly.

Really, really ugly.

Normally the picture of stoicism, Nathalie had to pretend to cough to avoid reacting.

“Can’t you order the akuma to undo it?” She eventually was able to ask.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes in concentration. “No. It’s no good. I’ve lost the link!”

His eyes widened and he clutched his chest in a panic.

“Where is the Miraculous?!” Hawk Moth demanded, trying—and failing to pull at the tasteless dress. But as others across the city had already discovered, the clothes were magic and would not be removed or displaced. Not even the frock or the cap he now wore.

“Sir, you were transformed when you changed. It looks like the Butterfly Miraculous was transformed along with you.”

He froze, eyes widening in horror. “But that’s—”

He grasped at the empty place on his chest. Where once had been his lapel and pin now only had ruffles and a leathery texture. His mask remained in place, though it was now fully black except for the openings around his eyes and mouth, which were bordered with a lighter grey color. The material and outfit overall had a shine to it that could be found on any wetsuit.

To put it nicely: he looked atrocious.

To put it bluntly: he looked like some sort of BDSM role-player with a maid kink.

So it was fortunate, perhaps, that no one else in Paris would have to be subject to the sight.

Except Nathalie. Who was probably going to have nightmares.

Or a coronary from the laughter she was trying to hold back.

It was admittedly a bit hard to tell.

But it seemed she was handling the situation a bit better than Hawk Moth, despite the fact that the man was currently unable to see himself or the full extent of the monstrosity he now wore.

…this was probably for the best. Given the man’s fashion sense, there was really no telling whether he would be horrified or inspired, and nobody would want to find out.

“I can’t contact the akuma! And I can’t call it back!”

He moaned, covering his…already covered face with his hands. “I’ll never be taken seriously again!”

Nathalie resolutely held back from pointing out he was barely being taken seriously now.

“It’s…not that bad?” She tried. Not very well, but she tried.

Hawk Moth clutched his head in horror. “Unless Ladybug and Chat Noir can stop this akuma, we’re doomed!”

“Sir, it’s just an akuma that puts men in maid outfits. It’s really not that bad.”

“DOOOOOOMED!!!”

__________________________

The akuma, for her part, was unaware of her benefactor’s misery, too busy enjoying the abject misery of everyone else around her.

Nobody knew just what had set the girl off to get her akumatized in the first place. Her comments about men being “the eye-candy now” suggested an argument. The maid outfits involved suggested what the topic of the argument had been regarding.

To be honest, nobody had actually realized she was the akuma responsible. She did appear fairly normal by akuma terms, dressed in a seemingly authentic Victorian era dress more befitting as an authentic Lady’s Maid compared the frillier, lacier varieties that the men around her had suddenly found themselves in. What would normally have gotten her a few odds looks was mostly ignored in the face of the sudden change. Few even took notice of her dark purple skin or black hair. Or the fan in her hand.

“THAT’S RIGHT! SEE HOW YOU LIKE BEING OBJECTIFIED!”

The yelling…was a bit harder to miss.

It was the first thing that drew the attention of the three girls settled at the cafe.

The second thing was the various cries of horror as several of the men around them suddenly discovered their state of dress transformed into…well…dresses. Of a variety that made the little cafe appear more like a maid cafe than anything.

The third thing was the appearance of a familiar face running down the road, holding up his long white dress to make running easier as he looked for a place to hide.

Marinette stared.

“ADRIEN?!”

Adrien Agreste was running around in a long white and pale cream Victorian-era dress and cap, looking like Cinderella running from the ball. Except a maid.

A quick glance to her companions showed that both Alya and Kagami were similarly staring in befuddlement, so this was neither her imagination or a fever dream.

“Adrien? What’s going on?” Alya asked for everyone.

“It’s an akuma!” He replied, quickly. “She’s putting everybody into cosplay!”

“…cosplay?”

“Yeah!”

“…everybody?”

He paused, glancing around. “Well…all the guys, I think?”

Marinette stared.

“…Just that?” Alya asked, thankfully taking over while Marinette’s brain started to become aware that this WAS Adrien she was talking to. “She’s not doing anything else besides putting guys into…‘cosplays’?”

He blinked in confusion. “I…think so?”

“She isn’t…I don’t know…commanding you or anything?”

“Well, she hasn’t yet. Which, really, isn’t so bad for an akuma if you think about it.” He said with a frown before he noticed the strange look on Kagami’s face. “Kagami, are you okay?”

Kagami made a strangled sound.

“Marinette?”

Marinette pretended to choke on a drink from an empty glass to avoid speaking.

“Can I add to your order?” The waiter came by, seeming unconcerned by the ruckus or the act that he was now wearing a rather cutesy maid outfit the likes of which would be seen in a maid cafe in Japan.

“You don’t seem put off by this.” Alya pointed out, noting his relatively unfazed attitude compared to the panicking of the other men around them…or the gushing from Adrien.

The waiter took it in stride.

“It’s okay.” He replied blankly. “I’m already dead inside.”

“Oh.”

He turned to Kagami. “Do you need anything else, Miss?”

Kagami was still staring at Adrien, blushing furiously.

“I think I have a problem.”

“You mean a kink?”

“A. Problem.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

“Story of my life.” The waiter replied as he refilled her glass of water, either unaware or uncaring of the specific nature of her trouble.

Alya gasped in sudden realization. “Wait! If this is happening here then…” She turned to Adrien. “Where were Nino and the boys?” He blinked, curious. “Oh, they decided to head home. Why?”

An almost sinister smirk formed on Alya’s face. One that would have anyone it was directed at cowering in fear. And strong enough to be felt from several blocks away.

Unbeknownst to them, Nino felt that smirk like a trail of cold fingers down his back, and promptly threw himself into his room and slammed the door shut behind him.

As if she sensed this, Alya slammed several bills on the table and dashed out the door.

“GOTTA GO!”

Realizing an akuma was about, Marinette was right on her heels. She found a nearby alleyway and immediately prepared to transform and face this latest threat.

“Oh my god. OH MY GOD.” She broke down, letting out the laughter she’d been trying so hard to hold in. “He’s a dork! The boy I’m crushing on is a complete DORK who is in to cosplaying! He thinks maid outfits are COSPLAY!”

…or she would be.

“And here I’ve been driving myself nuts with anxiety over just asking him out and he doesn’t even—”

Any minute now…

“Marinette!” Tikki hissed. “You need to stop the akuma!”

“Can’t I just take a picture first?”

“MARINETTE!”

“Oh fine…”

_____________________

Luka didn’t realize anything had happened. He felt a bit off balanced for a moment, and a bit colder, but attributed that to being on the Liberty. So he simply shifted his stance to be a bit more steady and continued playing. It wasn’t until the drum stopped that he realized something was actually wrong.

The look of shock from Mylene and the following shriek from Ivan cemented it.

He spun around, not sure what could have elicited such a cry from his fellow bandmate. And at first, he couldn’t really tell what had happened. Ivan was crouched behind the drum set, covering his face with his hands and trembling in what appeared to be mortification.

Then he noticed the mobcap on Ivan’s head, which he was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. And Ivan’s shirt seemed distinctly…fluffier and frillier than he remembered seeing a few minutes ago. He tried to move closer to offer help, only for his own balance to be off. And when he looked down…

Oh.

The dress was new.

As were the stockings.

And the notably thinner and sleeker heels on his boots.

He hummed to himself, considering the change.

“Akuma?” Juleka asked him.

“Most likely.” He replied.

Mylene had rushed up to their practice stage and to Ivan’s side, even as he moaned for her to not look at him. The poor guy was completely red in embarrassment. Seeing how upset he was, the other three had backed away, leaving Mylene to try to help her boyfriend.

“Luka, are you okay?” Rose asked worriedly, trying to respect Ivan’s need for space while also checking in on their other effected bandmate.

“I’m fine. It was just a surprise at first.” He replied.

It wasn’t every day that you suddenly found yourself in a maid outfit, after all. It was a simple outfit. White off the shoulder puffy sleeves with black frills. A black tube skirt. White apron. And…he reached to his neck where a weight was, feeling a choker.

Huh…

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Honestly, he could be in worse.

Rose seemed surprised at that. “Really? Even with those shoes?”

He looked down at the shoes in question. The boots were his style—surprisingly, given it was an akuma. The higher heels were definitely different from his norm, and clearly what Rose was referring to. In any other circumstances, she would be right.

But...

Luka smiled, shifting his stance and resting a hand on his hip. “Well, someone had to teach Jules to walk in heels. And I couldn’t show her if I didn’t know how myself.

Juleka huffed. “Don’t say that like you didn’t enjoy playing dress up.”

Luka merely curtsied, not only showing off more of his slightly ripped and punk-looking fishnet stockings, but almost proudly displaying his ability to move fluently in heels.

Rose appropriately “oo-ed” and “aah-ed” at his display. Juleka merely shook her head and smiled. Ivan was still recovering from his panic attack and had resolutely refused to come out from behind the drums, despite Mylene’s reassurances.

“So it has to be an akuma, right?” Rose asked.

“If it is, I want a picture or two, at least.” Juleka muttered as she admired Luka’s outfit, mumbling about commissioning Marinette to recreate it in her size. She hadn’t known maids could come in this style.

Mylene nodded from her place at Ivan’s side. “Though it seems rather fortunate if this is all the akuma is doing.”

“We don’t know if that is it, though.” Luka warned. “For all we know, there could be some other ability she has if she catches us. It would probably be safer if we hid out inside until this is over.”

The others agreed. And Anarka, bless her soul, actually came up with a large blanket for Ivan to wrap himself in to preserve his dignity. Then she and Mylene helped the taller teen to safely relocate to inside. Much like Luka, Ivan’s shoes had changed, but he was substantially less able to maneuver in them. And no amount of effort or force on his part could seem to separate the heels from his feet.

Once he and the others were inside, Luka moved to follow. He hesitated, however, at the sound of something landing behind him.

“Viperion? We’ll need your help.”

He turned to see Ladybug standing tall. And was that perhaps a hint of blush on her face?

Oh. 

A shame.

It looked like Juleka wouldn’t be getting her pictures, after all...

_____________________

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

He shuddered, backing away from the door as far as possible.

“Ninoooooo…”

It was a fight for survival.

“C’mon, Nino. Just open the door.”

The survival of his dignity, but still!

He’d lost track of the others and immediately rushed home and to the safety of his room. His room, which he could lock and hide away in until this all blew over.

“I have a key!” Came Chris’s voice. “Somewhere…”

“Give it and I won’t take any pictures of you.”

“Deal!”

His room, which his traitorous little brother was willing to allow the enemy entry into.

Under any normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be this desperate. But if Alya caught him like this…

Black dress. Puffy at the shoulder, sleeves that extended to his wrists and were bound by white cuffs. A white smock tied back with a white ribbon. White bow at the neck and white frills along the bottom of the dress?

Oh yeah…Alya would never let this go…

He knew he shouldn’t have gotten into all those anime Adrien pushed him into! So what if the maids were cute? And sure, he’d admit he's had a thought or two of Alya in such attire...

But how was he supposed to know Alya had such thoughts as well? And in the complete opposite direction! Clearly this was the akuma’s magic punishing him!

Nino looked to his window.

It would be a long fall, but it was his only escape.

But would the broken legs be worth it when Alya would soon figure out what he did and be able to catch up to him easily?

Maybe he could try to climb up instead…but in these heels? It was suicide!

“Fufufu!”

…screw it. 

He opened up his window, only to meet a new pair of eyes.

Ladybug stared in surprise from her place at his windowsill, a certain box in hand.

“…hi?”

“Oh thank god!” He exclaimed. He took her by her shoulders, half leaning out and half pulling her in. “Alya’s insisting on taking pictures! Please tell me you have my Miraculous with you!”

“Actually, about that—”

“I don’t care! I’ll do anything! Just please—SAVE ME!”

Ladybug looked back behind her to a distant rooftop and the other allies she’d left behind.

The sound of a key jingling could be heard and Nino stared up at her, pleadingly.

Well, she could never resist the eyes…

By the time they’d gotten the door open, the room was empty.

Nino was gone.

_____________________

Six heroes stood assembled.

Ladybug.

Chat Noir.

Carapace.

Viperion.

King Monkey.

Pegasus.

Six heroes.

Five of whom were male.

And…still wearing some semblance of feminine maid-like outfits.

Ladybug wasn’t sure if she should be impressed or worried.

“What the hell?! I thought the Miraculous were supposed to change us into our hero suits?” Nino groused.

Contrary to his hopes and expectations, using the Miraculous had not transformed him into his normal Carapace look, but had rather simply given him a different outfit. The dress itself was green and had a turtle shell pattern, while the apron and waist belts were a brown color. The bowknot around his neck was a dark green and a brown to match the apron. He wore stockings. And to his very limited relief, his shoes were flats instead of heels.

“Well, at least this skirt is longer.” Pegasus said, now wearing a dark brown blouse and bicycle skirt. The skirt went to just above his ankles, for which he was grateful. But this seemed to be countered by the increase of height to his heels.

Plus no corset. The outfit was still fit tightly and not very comfortable, but at least he could breathe now.

“Though I believe we’re getting away from maid-wear now.” Chat said, conversationally.

Pegasus gave him a flat look. “I’m not complaining.”

If Chat had witnessed his earlier ensemble, surely he would understand.

King Monkey, for his part, seemed somewhat appeased with his Miraculous suit. It was a notably more Eastern style of dress, appearing more like robes worn by palace servants. He wore a light brown waistcoat with wide sleeves over a blouse and a wrap-around skirt. It looked heavy, but Kim seemed to have no trouble with it. Maybe it was made of a lighter material…?

And Viperion’s dress was different in style as well. Whereas his maid outfit as Luka had been more punk, this was more sleek. Wearing a green sleeveless dress and white smock, as well as what appeared to be a green corset. The dress had a slit at the sides, giving more maneuverability for his legs…as well as more show, given the appearance of a garter belt and stockings. His shoes were high heeled but including a beautiful snake design that wrapped around his ankles. To finish it off, rather than remain bare, his arms were covered in what appeared to be loose green sleeves that started at his elbows and extended to his wrists.

…maybe a picture or two wouldn’t hurt? Or three? Because the amount of details on these outfits were amazing and she was just brimming with ideas now…

Ladybug broke out of her musings when someone tugged on her shoulder to get her attention.

It was Chat. Chat who, much like the other heroes, as dressed in a fantastical outfit. Though a maid outfit, it was definitely more cat-themed with a giant paw-like gloves covering his hands, a paw print on his apron, and bow and bell on his tail which rang as he shifted.

What material was that made of, anyway? She kind of wanted to give it a feel and see if she could find something to compare it to. Maybe a quick sketch?

Oh. Right.

Akuma.

Maybe if she was lucky, they could finish this quickly so she could rush back home and take notes while she still had the ideas bouncing in her brain.

…maybe someone would have gotten pictures by then…?

“Ladybug?” Chat whispered, snapping her back to reality.

“Yes?”

Chat frowned in concern. “Is the Guardian okay with this?”

Ladybug froze.

“PSST! Ladybug!” Came a voice from a nearby rooftop, drawing her attention.

“Master Fu?”

“Ladybug! Here’s the Miracle Box. Take as many allies as you can and resolve this as soon as possible!”

“Master? Are…you hiding in a box?”

“No questions! Just go!”

“…he’s fine.”

Chat seemed uncertain, but decided not to pry.

“Let’s just split up and find the akuma.” Ladybug said. “But don’t engage until we’re all together!”

With that, the six split into three groups, with Chat and Carapace going one way and King Monkey and Pegasus going another, leaving Ladybug and Viperion searching together with the former trying not to get caught stealing peeks at the latter.

“Is something wrong?” He asked with a smile.

…trying. The key word was trying not to get caught.

“No! Nothing!” She replied quickly. “I’m just…surprised that you can still move so quickly in those heels.”

“I’ve had practice.” He explained, still smiling. He even lifted one leg behind him, managing to stand perfectly balanced even on one leg in heels.

“I…see.”

Part of her wanted very much to laugh. It was the same part that had found this entire day ridiculous. The other part of her was her inner artist at work and really wanted to make a few sketches inspired from the presented outfits. Like Viperion’s sleeves…and those shoes with a snake coil wrapping around the ankle…

“Ladybug!”

Gaah! Focus!

She turned towards the shout to find King Monkey and Pegasus stumbling towards her.

Her fingers twitched. She ignored it.

“We found the akuma.” King Monkey reported. “She doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Just…kind or roaming around.”

“And laughing.” Pegasus added bitterly. “She appears to be doing a lot of that.”

“How’s THAT for ‘doll them up’?” Came a shout from street level. “HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?!”

As if on cue…

Ladybug and the others peeked over the edge of the roof.

“Has she displayed any other powers?” She asked.

“No.” Pegasus replied. “From what we could see, her power has already been activated to…obvious effect.” He hesitated, resolutely avoiding mentioning his new outfit or the indignity he’d already suffered. “She has only been laughing. And tripping the occasional person while searching for someone in particular—possibly the one responsible for her ire.”

Ladybug nodded. “At least she’s distracted and doesn’t know we’re here. We just need a plan of attack before we try to fight her.”

“No problem!” King Monkey said with a grin as he reached for his weapon. “We can just do a head on attack with our weapons and—”

They stared.

In place of his staff was a broom. A normal cleaning broom.

They sent cautious glances to each other before they checked their own inventory.

Said inventory consisted of a broom, a bucket, and a feather duster.

“I believe that constitutes as a problem.” Pegasus stated worriedly.

“That’s no fair!” King Monkey exclaimed. “Adrien was able to summon a machete!”

Ladybug blanched at that. “A what?!”

Pegasus pushed up his glasses. “I believe it’s a component of his…‘cosplay’?”

“Pfft!” Ladybug covered her mouth with her hand.

“Ladybug?”

“I-it’s nothing!” She replied hurriedly.

Viperion raised his eyebrow at her but didn’t comment.

King Monkey at least seemed to take it in stride.

“Now we just need a plan for attack!”

“With what?!” Pegasus questioned, waving the feather duster in frustration. “Our weapons don’t work!”

“More like our weapons aren’t actually weapons.” Viperion said, considering his bucket.

“I could smack her.” King Monkey offered, holding up his broom. “Maybe your feather duster has dust on it and could make her sneeze?”

Pegasus gave him a flat look.

“I think the broom is the best weapon we have right now.”

“Don’t knock a bucket!” King Monkey commanded, resolutely. “I got one stick on my head one time and it took hours to get it off! Buckets are evil, man!”

Pegasus sighed and rubbed his head. “It concerns me that you’re the second person I know whom that has happened to.”

Ladybug coughed, discretely trying to draw attention off that particular subject lest identities be at risk. “Anyway, I think I have a plan...”

______________________

To be honest, it wasn’t that difficult of an akuma. Especially not with six of them teaming up against it.

Akumaid truly see to have no ability other than the initial one of transforming what any male in Paris was wearing into something embarrassing...unless you were Adrien, apparently. Aside from that, she showed no other power—neither over the clothes themselves or the people wearing them. Well, she wasn’t controlling any of the victims or shrinking the clothing to choke them at any rate...which if you think about it, was rather lame for an akuma in the power department.

The only real disadvantage in battle came in the difficulty the boys had moving freely in their current outfits. And the afore noted lack of proper weaponry.

Their advantage of surprising was ruined by Chat’s bell ringing before they could ambush her, and both Carapace and Pegasus losing balance with their heels and falling over. King Monkey’s outfit, while longer, also meant more fabric to flap about and resist his movements regardless of how light it may have been, so he wasn’t able to get a hit in fast enough before the akuma turned on him and knocked him away.

Chat was able to get a hit in though.

With his…Kitty Wand…

“THIS IS MAGICAL PUNISHMENT!” He shouted as he smacked the akuma over the head.

“Chat. Chat no. Chat why?”

And Ladybug had hopelessly lost her composure by this point and was laughing. Just laughing. Laughing so hard she was crying actual tears as she smacked her own thigh in her struggle to breathe. Viperion was trying to help her stay standing, keeping an arm around her to support her as she half leaned and half chuckled tears into his chest.

“What’s going on? Does the akuma have some power over Ladybug, too?” King Monkey asked.

…

Viperion sighed.

“Sure. Something to that effect.”

Ladybug wheezed.

“LADYBUG!”

“Lu-haha-lucky haha-charm!”

It said something when her own Lucky Charm magicked up a paper bag. With Ladybug still victim to her fit of giggles, Viperion simply put the bag over her face and had her try to breathe.

“A paper bag doesn’t help with out of control laughing.” Pegasus noted as he forced himself to his feet.

“Do you want to try to figure out the Lucky Charm?” Viperion bit out in annoyance, Ladybug still shaking in his arms.

Pegasus coughed and backed away. “No, thank you.”

Ladybug let out another giggle.

“All right, enough! I’ll stop her!” Carapace shouted, reaching for his back. “With my…serving plate.”

His shield.

His precious shield was gone.

“…Carapace?” Ladybug asked.

The newly rendered Turtle Maid sighed and simply threw the plate as he had his shield, not expecting much.

…the plate slice flew through the air at a surprising speed, but missed the akuma entirely. Instead, it sailed past her, hitting a light post.

Ladybug had expected it to bounce, but instead there was a sound of shredding metal as the serving plate actually tore through the lamp post and into the concrete itself.

The lamp post, now detached, tilted and fell over—conveniently on top of the akuma before she had the time to realize what was happening and move out of the way.

SLAM!

It fell on top of her and she hit the ground.

“Huzzah?” Kim asked.

“Well…that’s one way to defeat an akuma.” Pegasus marveled.

“Great. Now can we fix this already?” Carapace asked impatiently. If they took too much longer, someone was bound to catch them.

That someone would probably be Alya.

And that was the last thing he wanted at this point.

“But I kind of wanted to make a sketch at least…” Ladybug muttered to herself, holding the paper bag Charm to her chest.

“LADYBUG!”

She waved her hands insistently. “I’m on it!”

But she could dream…

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!”

It was with some disappointment that the Miraculous Cure wiped away the outfits of the other heroes, returning them to their original costumes.

“OH THANK GOD!”

“That was…horrible…”

“Corsets were invented as a torture method, I swear…”

“Shieldy!” Carapace exclaimed, hugging the shield in relief. “Never leave me again!”

“You okay now, Ladybug?” Chat asked her in worry.

“I’m fine.” She said, even though she wasn’t really. She felt like she’d missed a chance, even if it was for the greater good. But it would have been an abuse of her power to be taking pictures of the guys in that state and she already felt bad enough for breaking down laughing in the middle of the fight.

In that moment, however, the loveliness of ladybugs that made up the Cure returned from their task of restoring Paris to flow over Ladybug herself before vanishing, leaving her holding an envelope in their wake. Curious, she opened the envelope…

She gasped.

Inside were a multitude of photos of the other heroes. From different angles. In different positions. All of them in their new outfits.

Ladybug bit the inside of her cheek to keep from responding and drawing attention to herself.

…Thank you, Tikki.

Best. Kwami. Ever. “Ladybug…” Carapace said in growing wariness. “What is that?”

“Nothing!”

“Ladybug. That better not be what I think it is…”

She shoved the photos back in the envelope.

“It’s nothing at all!”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

Noticing the stand off, the others approached as well.

“It was just something I was missing, yeah.”

“Then let us see it.”

“Can’t.” She replied, clutching the envelope to her chest. “It’s…Ladybug stuff.”

“Hand it over. Right now!”

"NOOO! THESE ARE FOR THE FUTURE OF FASHIOOOON!”

“GIVE US THE PHOTOS!”

“Wait—did she get any of all of us in a group cosplay pic?”

“NOT NOW, CHAT!”

Unfortunately, that small distraction was all she needed to get away.

Viperion, the only one having been pretty nonchalant this whole time, simply watched her leave and the others shout after her.

“…isn’t she going to take our Miraculous back?”

_________________________

Angela sighed, already dreading what was to come.

It was a humiliating end to an already humiliating week as the former akuma victim had been forced to return to her job to go over the updates for the new Ladybug game with the rest of her team.

Said updates were apparently to include maid outfits for the female heroes thanks to one particular coworker who had decided to work on maid outfits for the female heroes instead of the level he was assigned. It had been part of the reason she had been angry enough to be akumatized.

The fact that he was insistent on shoving his maid fetish into the game for no good reason other than having them be eye candy was the other part.

The images in question that he insisted on bringing featured the three female super heroes of the city: Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee.

But not as anyone had ever seen them.

Instead of their usual hero suits, the three girls were portrayed in sultry, even provocative poses. And most notably, all three were wearing some mockery of a French Maid outfit…as what would be believed by Americans, no less.

They might as well have been the initial sketches of pinup posters.

“You can’t still be serious!”

“Hey, I’m not the one who got akumatized just because I was jealous that someone else had a good idea.” He said bitingly and giving her a pointed look, perhaps still a bit bitter of the aforementioned experience that her akumatization had caused.

“It’s not a good idea, John.” Angela countered. “There was no reason to have the girls be running in maid outfits.”

He shrugged. “We could just say an akuma did it. After all, we did just get an akuma who did exactly that.” He said, giving her another look.

She clenched her fists and was about to retort when their team lead entered the room.

The meeting commenced and she’d been forced to bite her tongue. Each of the team members went over their progress and updates for their contribution to the game. Level design. Enemies. Testing.

And then came his grand achievement. Instead of the level he was assigned, he gave scantily clad designs for three of the eight known heroes.

What effort.

“I was thinking we really need to include something to make our game stand out, so I made some extra skins for the heroes.” He bragged, sending her a smug look. “The appeal would sell plenty of copies.”

“Or the controversy.” Angela muttered back before turning to the team lead and hoping that the man leading their group had more empathy…or sense.

The team lead looked over the designs with an analyzing gaze. Tiffeny, despite the initial impression his name would give, was a rather buff man who took no shit. But was also a guy. Who liked guy things. But did those things include young women in maid costumes?

After a moment, Tiffeny dropped the pictures on the table and looked at John incredulously. “You know, if you were going to base skins off recent events, you could at least have been authentic.”

John stared. “What?”

“It was the guys who were affected by Akumaid. Not the girls. If we’re going to do maids, we need to keep it true to life, just like the rest of the designs we’ve included. We talked about this when we started this project.”

“But it’s what the audience wants!” John argued.

“Do you know who comprises the majority of our audience?” Tiffeny asked. “Girls. Girls, gay guys, and those who are exploring their interests. Guys in the outfits would sell leagues more than the girls.” He started ticking his fingers “It’s different. It’s original. And it’s based in actual events. People would love it.”

“But…they’ll love this!”

“Man, if people wanted to see sexy girls in skimpy clothing, they’d play literally any other game! Or watch porn.” Tiffeny explained. “But what game do you know of has had guys in maid outfits?”

“Well...”

“Exactly. We want to stand out. And we even have recent events as justification. So if you’re going to be wasting time you should be spending on level-making to put people in maid skins, then get those male heroes some maid costumes.”

“But that’s not fair!” John exclaimed.

Tiffeny paused at that. “Hmm…you’re right.”

With that, he turned to her. “You’re good at designing. Make some butler outfits for the girls. Something dashing to serve as a counter for the guys.”

Angela blinked in surprise for a moment before smiling.

“Sure thing!”

“You know…” one of the other workers noted. “While we’re on the subject, I WAS thinking of some medieval armor designs for the girls and princess dresses for the guys.”

“Hey yeah! Like a light green for Viperion!”

“Maybe teal might be better?”

“Ooo! How about…”

Soon enough, everyone seemed to be invested in the new plan.

Everyone that is, except John.

“Lovely!” Tiffeny said cheerfully. “Plan it out and bring the concepts to me later.”

With a new task in hand and John’s pouting to forever be a memory to hold onto, it seemed her day was looking up…

_________________________

“That was some akuma battle.” Marinette said as she slid into her seat next to Alya.

The reporter, however, only looked annoyed. “Ladybug had apparently called all the male heroes and I completely missed it!” She groaned and leaned back in her seat, bemoaning the lost opportunity.

If she’d hadn’t been so focused on tracking Nino for the purpose of collecting blackmail ensuring his safety, she would have been able to catch all of the male heroes in their maid outfits.

Marinette smiled. “You know…I may have a connection…”

Alya gasped.

“No.”

Marinette giggled and slid over her phone with a picture showing.

“NO WAY!” She cried out before staring up at Marinette in shock. “Girl, you have to send me these!”

“Wait—you have what now?” Nino had arrived, initially hopeful that he had avoided the worst of that day only to have those hopes immediately dashed upon arriving to see the two girls sharing what could only have been one thing…

“I have pictures of the heroes in their new outfits.” Marinette replied cheerfully as she swiped through her phone. “Oh look, Nino! You’re in here, too!”

“WHAT?! NO!” He shouted, rushing forward.

Marinette quickly grabbed back her phone and hid it in her pocket with an overly sweet and not at all innocent grin.

“Mari, come on, no! Don’t do this to me!” He begged.

“Don’t do this to ME!” Alya cut in. “You can’t just show me that and take it away! That’s just not fair!”

“Don’t worry.” Marinette assured them. “It’s going where all my blackmail material goes.”

“Wait what?”

“Since when do you have blackmail material?”

“Since somebody started a game of ‘let’s take pictures of Marinette while she’s asleep and post them online’.” Marinette replied dryly.

Nino groaned. “Come on! I said I was sorry!”

“And now I can be just as sorry.” She replied blithely.

Which was to say: not sorry at all.

“Come on! Alya made me do it!”

“It was just in fun! Marinette! Please!”

“Do you want me to beg? Cry? I’ll cry.”

“I’ll pay you! Pretty please! At least the heroes if nothing else!”

“Oh no you don’t!”

“My blog NEEDS this!”

Marinette smiled at the minor chaos she had caused as the normally happy couple bickered with each other.

Sweet sweet music.

“Hey, Marinette!”

And speaking of sweet…

She turned to look up at a certain blond-haired model as he arrived at his own desk. Though he seemed to be a bit distracted by the arguing couple.

“Hey, Adrien!” She greeted, for once with no stutter to speak of.

“Hey, um…are they okay?” He asked, gesturing to the two.

“Oh, they’re fine.” She said, waving them off. “Just…a bit excited over the recent akuma.”

At that, Adrien brightened. “Wasn’t it awesome?”

She nodded, trying to keep her laughter inside.

“You…ah…enjoyed yourself then?”

Adrien shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. “Well, it’s not often I get to dress up in a way that’s ‘silly’. Or in anything that isn’t promoting Father’s brand. And I’ve never gotten to cosplay. So it was…really fun.”

Oh. Ouch. Okay, that one kind of hurt. The poor Sunshine Child…

“You know…” Marinette said, leaning over her desk and smiling at him. “I’ve seen a bit of that one anime you mentioned.”

“Cells at Work?” He asked, brightening up.

She nodded. “Mmhmm. I could make you a jacket based off the lead Red Blood Cell. And if you like, I can keep it so you can wear it whenever we hang out.”

He gasped. “Really?”

“Sure! Maybe you can come over sometime so we can try a fitting. We could even play Mecha Strike.”

Adrien beamed. “That sounds great! Thanks, Marinette!”

She waved him off and went back to full sitting in her seat.

Alya and Nino both became distracted from their arguing by the miracle they had just witnessed.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had just spoken to Adrien Agreste…and not a stutter to be heard!

“What the heck, girl?” Alya whispered, sliding into her seat beside her friend. “Since when could you do THAT and why haven’t you done it sooner? I could swear I saw hearts in his eyes!”

Marinette shrugged, grinning sheepishly. “After seeing Adrien Agreste in a maid dress, I kind of wondered why I was so scared of talking to him to begin with.”

Alya laughed. “Well, at least something good came out of this, then.”

“You know...more good WOULD come out of this if I had pics of those heroes..." 

“Really, Alya?”

“You’re pretty much the only one who managed to get any shots of the male heroes!” Alya exclaimed. “Seriously, how?!”

Marinette giggled.

“Just lucky, I guess.”

________________________

OMAKE 1:

Knock! Knock!

“Felix?” His mother called on the other side of the locked and barricaded door. “Will you be coming out?”

“That depends. Do you have a camera?”

A pause. Which was all the answer he needed.

“Then no.”

OMAKE 2:

Fortunately, in the midst of their searching, the team had managed to find the akuma and her primary target, getting between the two.

“So what happened?” Ladybug asked him.

John gripped his skirt, nervously. “She’s my coworker in developing a new video game and she didn’t like my input.”

“What set her off?”

The guy rolled his eyes. “She’s one of those types who wants to take the fun out of video games.”

“What?” Ladybug blinked.

“Okay, so I wanted to put some maid costumes in the game! It was just for fun! Besides, it would have added a bit of pizazz! Something for the players to enjoy!”

“You could just try making a good game.” Pegasus pointed out. “If you have to rely on a cheap gimmick to get buyers, it may not be a good product.”

"I'm sorry, really! I mean, sure, I'm still going to put it in the game, because who wouldn't want hot maids, but still! That doesn't mean I deserve this!"

The akuma raised her fist and shouted at him. “THEY ARE HEROES, DAMMIT! THEY DESERVE BETTER THAN MAID SKINS JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE GIRLS!”

Ladybug blanched. “Wait…is the game about me?”

Pegasus coughed and looked away. “There have been…rumors, yes.”

Viperion tilted his head. “That seems like a double standard though…since we’re the ones in maid outfits...”

“Not the point, Viperion!”

Ladybug frowned.

“I don’t think I want to help now.”

“Ladybug!”

[dakotacrisis]

Trust Me, Trust Me

Because for some reason the writers will not give the Lukanette shippers what they deserve, we must take matters into our own hands. If you have not seen the latest ML episode this will contain major spoilers! You have been warned!

But other than that please enjoy this quick little fix-it fic for all you Lukanette lovers.

---

If Hawkmoth could get a new hobby that would be great. It really would be. Maybe he can take up bird watching or stamp collecting or origami. You know, just a little something that can take up his time so he isn’t interrupting one of Marinette’s dates for once in her life! She swore, if she had to miss another date because the butterfly man wanted some earrings she was going to hunt him down and skin him alive.

Marinette had made the decision to let go of her crush on Adrien and start dating Luka shortly after their trip to New York. She cared for him, loved him, but he was always just out of reach. Upon coming back to Paris and seeing how happy he was with Kagami, Marinette understood where his heart truly lies. It was the confirmation she needed.

It was hard at first given how long she had been pining after Adrien. He still held a precious place in her heart but every time she was with Luka it blended into platonic love a bit more. Her first step was to get rid of all the pictures of Adrien she had pinned up in her room until all that remained were some catalog snapshots in her inspiration book and a couple friendly group shots on her wall.

She was ready to move forward with Luka. She really was. Now if only she could get through a date without Hawkmoth interrupting it. The man had an uncanny ability to start something the second she was alone with Luka or when they had plans. The movies, ice cream dates, bike rides, concerts, she was missing it all and it tore her apart. She could tell it was starting to wear on Luka too. Not that she blamed him in the least. Marinette left because it was her duty but Luka had to watch her runaway from him dozens of times with little to no explanation.

Lies were becoming as easy to her as breathing and it sickened her. Luka deserved so much better than that. A few times she thought that maybe she should end both their suffering and call things off but then he would smile at her, play her a song, and kiss her forehead and everything would be right again. She couldn’t think of leaving him when he always welcomed her back into his arms with a smile. It was like his faith in her was unshakeable.

At least that’s what Marinette had thought. Luka was very trusting and understanding but everyone has a breaking point. Even someone as patient as Luka. Watching her boyfriend get akumatized because she couldn’t tell him the truth of why she always disappeared broke her heart. Having to fight him hurt even worse. Learning that the father he never knew was actually their favorite singer was jarring. Poor boy woke up in Marinette’s room not remembering anything about his akumatization or what he learned about his family.

That evening after Luka went home Marinette sat in her room debating what to do. The real truth was out of the question. Telling him that she was Ladybug would only put him and everyone she cares about in danger. But she had to tell him something!

She also needed to have a conversation with her friends because apparently, even after dating Luka for weeks, they still think she is madly in love with Adrien. Even if she was, so many people know about it at this point that she hesitates to call it a secret. The only person who never knew was Adrien himself! But that’s a problem for another day.

What she needed to do was talk to Luka. She called him up and they agreed to meet up under the bridge. He smiled when he saw her and it broke her heart all the more, that even after today he could still greet her with that warm smile.

“Hi, thanks for meeting me so late,” Marinette said.

“We did leave things kinda unresolved earlier, didn’t we?” Luka sighed, “A lot happened today and even though I don’t remember any of it I was filled in later. When I went home my mom was waiting for me and asked if I remembered anything from being akumatized. When I said no she told me who my dad is.”

“She did?” Marinette wasn’t surprised, if she didn’t tell him then someone else on the boat surely would have.

“Turns out it’s Jagged Stone.” He shook his head, “ My idol is also my dad. I don’t know how to feel about that. All these years I felt a connection to him but I thought it was just because we were both musicians. Turns it out it runs a lot deeper than that.”

“I can’t imagine what that must be like.” Marinette said, “Do you think you’ll talk to him after this?”

“I feel like I have to. I still have so many questions.” He looked back at Marinette and his smile returned, “Enough about all that though. What did you want to talk about?”

“Well now I don’t know if this is the best conversation to have considering what all you’ve already gone through today.” Marinette suddenly felt like an idiot. She shouldn’t be pushing more onto him when he’s already clearly going through a lot.

“Are you breaking up with me?” He asked, eyes full of careful trepidation.

“What? No! Of course not!” Marinette clasped his hands with hers. “Is that what you want?”

“Never. I just know that you’ve been missing out on a lot of our dates and…” He glanced down at their clasped hands, “I thought it might be because you were unsure about us. I miss you, Marinette.”

“I miss you too.” Marinette squeezed his hands tighter, “I want to tell you the truth so badly, Luka. It would clear up everything and then you’d understand why I do the things I do but I can’t tell you. It’s not because I don’t trust you but because it’s something that I know will only cause problems for you if I do.”

“Does this have anything to do with Adrien?”

“Absolutely not. This is in no way related to Adrien or my feelings or anything like that. It’s a lot more complicated than all that.”

“Can you explain it then? You don’t have to go into details if it is really that precious a secret but you need to give me something here, Marinette. I feel like you’re drifting further and further away from me and I can’t figure out what’s causing it.”

“The truth...the truth is…” Marinette swallowed back all the lies and looked into her boyfriend’s eyes. He had so much faith in her. He trusted her so much, she owed him at least this. “The truth is that I have a certain responsibility that I cannot neglect. I get called to take care of it sporadically and no matter how much I wish that I could take a day off I can’t.”

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she willed them back, “It feels like my life has been uprooted because of it but I can’t just back out of it either. I enjoy what I do but it always ends up hurting me and those around me in ways that I didn’t think it would when I took on this responsibility. Is any of what I’m saying making sense?”

“Marinette,” Luke pulled her closer, enveloping her in a warm hug, “It’s okay.”

“No it’s not! Because I can’t control what’s going on and it’s not fair to you and I just wish that we could have normal dates and be together like normal people.” She hiccuped, “I really like you, Luka. I want to be your girlfriend and go out on dates and have fun together but my responsibilities keep getting in the way. Everything is falling apart around me and I don’t know how to fix it. I feel like I’m way in over my head trying to keep everything from crumbling.”

“Hush now,” He rubbed a hand across her back, “It’ll be alright. I don’t know what pressure you must be under but you are doing the best you can. Even if the best you can is struggling that doesn’t mean you are doing nothing. You are doing everything you can at the capacity you are capable of doing it. That is all that can be expected of you so if a few things slip through the cracks it is not your fault. You were not being neglectful of your duties, you tried your very best. If you did nothing then that would be even worse, right?”

“But--”

Luka pulled back, grasping at her shoulders and stared hard into her eyes, “You are doing the best you can! Are you listening to me? You are doing all you can and that is enough! You are doing enough!”

Marinette started sobbing. The tears she had so desperately tried to keep away ran hot and wet down her face. Her throat was making an ugly croaking noise as she wailed and clung tightly onto Luka. She could barely breathe with how hard she started crying. Years of pent up sorrow, anger, and fear was flooding out of her and she couldn’t get it to stop even if her life depended on it.

Luka held her close and let her cry. He didn’t try to say anything to make her feel better. He just held her and hummed a peaceful melody in her ear. She wasn’t sure how long they stood there while she cried but when it was over Luka still did not let her go. Not until her hiccuping sobs quieted down into manageable sniffles.

“Feel better?” He asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. Marinette nodded. “Good. Don’t ever feel like you need to hide your struggles from me, Marinette. If you need to run off and do what you need to do then just tell me. I won’t get angry, I won’t try to stop you, I just want to know that at the end of the day that you’re okay. Dates can be rescheduled easily enough. I’m just happy to spend any time I can with you.”

“I feel like you’re being way nicer to me than I probably deserve.”

“And I think you’ve been denying yourself a lot more than you should. No matter what is going on in your life, Marinette, it doesn’t mean that you need to miss out on everything else. You can be upset and selfish. You should be. Bottling all of that up will only hurt you worse in the end.”

Marinette took a deep breath. “Well, I don’t have any other plans for tonight, did you want to do something?”

Luka smiled and kissed her forehead, “Anything you want, my melody.”

“Is it too late to go back to the boat and have a movie night?”

“Not at all,” He threaded his fingers through hers and they started the walk back to Luka’s house.

They were smiling and laughing the whole walk back. At the ramp to the boathouse though was an unexpected visitor. Luka froze, his grip on Marinette’s hand getting tighter.

“Luka,” Jagged Stone nodded to him.

“Jagged.” Luka said. His expression was unreadable.

“I’m sorry,” Jagged said, “Rock star or not I should have been around for you and your mother and your sister. I guess I felt too inadequate to be a proper father like you deserved. That’s not an excuse but--”

“Hey,” Juleka appeared on the ramp startling everyone. The girl was like a freaking ghost. “Are you my dad too or just Luka?”

“I’m your dad too.” Jagged answered.

“Awesome.” Juleka smiled and returned to inside the ship.

“Wait! Do you not have any questions?” Jagged called after her but Juleka didn’t seem all that concerned with the information. Luka wasn’t surprised. She never worried herself about who her dad was like Luka always had. She figured that she had the family she did and that was that.

“Jagged,” Luka said, “I’m glad I know the truth now and I appreciate you coming out here but it has been a long day. Right now all I want to do is sit down, watch a movie, cuddle with my girlfriend and process what all I’ve learned today. You are more than welcome to come by later this week but I really just need some time to myself to sort through all this first.”

“Yes, of course,” Jagged glanced at Marinette and his face lit up like the Eiffel Tower, “And are you dating Marinette? That is awesome! I knew you must have had great taste in women, just like your old man!”

“Jagged!” Luka’s mom shouted from the boat, “That’s enough out of you tonight! The boy wants to be left alone!”

“It’s alright, mom!” Luka shouted back. “Go back inside, I got this handled.”

Mrs. Couffaine sighed and went back inside, all the while still glaring at Jagged. “She’s right,” Jagged said, “I should be going. Enjoy your evening. And Luka, whenever you’re ready to talk I’ll be here.”

“Thanks,” Luka said, “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

With that Jagged dug his hands deep in his pockets and wandered down the street and out of sight. “You okay?” Marinette asked after he was gone.

“Still taking it all in but I’m fine. Now come here, I promised you a movie night.” Luka pulled her onto the boat. They settled down in the living room area. Marinette picked out a movie while Luka made some popcorn for them to munch on.

The opening credits began to roll and Marinette tucked herself into Luka’s side. One of his hands played idly with the ends of her hair. She sunk into his touch like a puppet whose strings had been cut. “Luka,” she whispered, lifting her head up to look at him.

“Hm?” Luka gazed down at her, “Need something?”

“Can I kiss you?” The questioned breathed past her lips.

“Yes you can,” He pulled her up closer. Their eyes drifted shut as his lips brushed against one another in the gentlest of kisses. Marinette’s insides fluttered happily as she met his soft lips again, kissing him deeper. He held her close tilting her head just so, so he could access her mouth better.

She giggled into the kiss. Her happiness unable to contain itself for even a moment. Luka chuckled too at her giggling so it rumbled against her lips. “What’s so funny?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“I’m just...happy.” She sighed, “I’m really happy here with you. And that’s the truth.”

[tryingmydarndest]

Thank You (Luka Couffaine x Reader)

Summary (Part 1/probably 3): The author goes on a bit of a tangent about how Y/N goes on a bit of a tangent about Viperion. Who may just have a little, big ol' crush on them?

Tags: -not enough actual relationship -fluff -but like, a weird sprinkling of angst that I didn't plan on right at the end???

Word count: 1.6k

A/N: Inspired by this fic by @seriously-sirius-black <3. Luka? OOC? Idk, probably, I don’t write fanfic. But I am actually kinda proud of how well Alya turned out. Writing this made me realize how much of a mom friend I apparently headcanon her as. I wrote this gender-and-as-everything-else-neutral as I can make it (lemme know if you see ways I can improve, tho idk how much more fanfic I'll even be writing). Also, I freakin' RAMBLE and overuse italics, but ya get what ya get and ya don't gotta fret. Ooh, important note for future parts (if i write them) - this is a kinda!au where the miraculous users keep their miraculous. also if I had a nickel for every time I get awkwardly specific about the placement of both of a character’s hands I’d have TWO nickels. Happy reading!! <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Part I - Paris's Cutiest Heroes

The look currently on Marinette’s face as she sputtered out a response was priceless, “Cat Noir? Cat Noir!? What makes you think I’d find Cat Noir attractive at all? And- and- HIM- the cutest superhero! Ridiculous!”

“Utterly ridiculous?”

“Nice one, Alya”

“Thank you so much, Y/N,” you gave Alya a high five on your way to your seat next to Juleka and Rose on the couch facing Marinette and Alya. A sunny Friday after school was the perfect place for Kitty Section and their entourage to hang out. Unfortunately without Ivan and Mylène, seeing as their anniversary called for a private celebration. After pushing a couple couches onto the deck of The Liberty, Alya had predictably started talking about Paris's resident hero team. Today, she chose to ask everyone who they deemed the cutest, and she made sure to jump on Marinette's... interesting response, “And girl, he has the same silky golden hair and dreamy emerald eyes as Adrien Agreste. What’s utterly ridiculous is you freaking out and dodging every time we bring up superheroes!”

The designated snack-boy, Luka, walked out precariously carrying three bowls of goodies for everyone, “Alright, I got more popcorn. Sorry, but looks like we’re out of cheese flavoring, Y/N”

“Oh... that’s fine. I honestly wasn’t expecting it since I forgot to ask,” your free hand not reaching for the bowl rubbed the back of your neck, “but thanks for remembering.”

“Oh, um yeah- Always," is it creepy to remember something so specific? Someone as nice as Y/N wouldn't be interested in some creep. Ugh. Luka took a seat with his own bowl after passing Alya and Marinette theirs. He ended up next to you on the floor, leaning against the arm of the couch, dangerously close to touching your legs.

Rose reached for the popcorn as she interjected, “You know, Alya does have a point. So Marinette, why don’t you just tell us who you think the cutest superhero is, if you don’t like us guessing?”

Somehow Marinette’s face went even paler as she spoke, “What- I mean, I don’t- I haven’t thought- Wha- what about Y/N? Why aren’t you interrogating them?”

Alya crossed her arms, “Because Y/N says the same thing about the same hero every day. Just watch. Ahem, Y/N, care to weigh in on the cuteness level of our lovely Parisian superheroes?”

You looked up from the bowl you had stolen back from Rose with wide eyes, "Hey! Okay, no, that is not fair! Besides, what is our criteria for 'cute'? I mean... Are we going just by physical characteristics? Is costume a factor? What about the animal they're representing, could our opinion of that make this whole thing unfair? And cuteness is so subjective anyway... Why are we even reducing these amazing and honorable superheroes to just their looks? I mean we could be talking about skill, or their powers or power lev-"

"-And your answer would be exactly the same. Seriously, are you done trying- and might I add, failing- to talk yourself out of this one yet? Or should I just read the article you wrote for the Ladyblog?"

"You said you deleted that!"

Luka had perked his head up at your initial fumbling response and turned to you when he spoke, "You wrote an article? That's pretty cool."

You rubbed your face to try and distract yourself from the burning embarrassment, "Umm, yeah. But it was terrible and extremely not. worth. publishing." You hoped the glare you sent the girl in question was enough to scare her into deleting it on the spot, or to at least lie about it, "So Alya kindly deleted it, right?"

Sitting up with a smug look and crossed arms severely lowered your faith that she'd keep quiet. "A good journalist archives everything. Especially something as juicy as one of her besties going on for five thousand words about how dreamy the great Viperion is," dramatically fake-fainting into Marinette's lap, Alya could barely finish before bursting out in laughter. Of course, quickly followed by the others joining in to varying degrees. Juleka and Rose happily giggled to themselves, Marinette looked more relieved that the heat was off her, and Luka seemed to be shocked, or maybe just holding back to see how you were taking this.

Horribly. Horribly embarrassed would describe how you were taking this conversation. You sat there stock-still as you hoped that none of the others could hear your heart's desperate attempts to pound its way out of your chest. That's certainly all you could hear, at least until Alya's voice brought you out of it, "Hey, it's fine," she made her way over to sit next to you as she continued, "We all have our little hero crushes. That's why I bring it up all the time, to show you that it's totally normal! I mean, we all know how I could go on about Carapace for days," Alya gestured for the others to continue, and used her other hand to try and comfort you.

"Well, I find Ladybug to be just absolutely adorable and so kind.... oh it just makes me so happy knowing she's keeping all of Paris safe," Rose added softly.

Juleka brushed a strand of hair aside as she spoke, "Rena Rouge is super mysterious, pretty rad in my opinion."

Alya was rubbing your back like the mom friend she is to try and help encourage you, "See? Super normal, so go ahead and release all this pent up Viperion energy that I know you have. Maybe it'll encourage Marinette here to finally join in the fun!" Alya stuck her tongue out at her best friend, who responded promptly by smashing her face into a pillow.

You just sighed, "I mean- it’s- it can't just-'' were you supposed to just get over it all just like that? Well, at least the embarrassment was wearing off, maybe you could just entertain her for a bit, "Well- um, you see.... HisHairJustLooksReallySoftAnd- you know what. Nope. Can't do anymore of this. Yep- that's all you're getting out of me!" This time when everyone started giggling, you were able to comfortably join them. It was a nice feeling.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A nice evening chilling out with your friends was always welcome, especially with the rising number of akumatizations making that less possible. But the night had come to a close. Alya and Marinette went home, Juleka was walking Rose back herself, and Luka and you had volunteered to clean up. Luka stopped drying the cup in his hand for a minute as he looked at you, “Um, I know it might not be my place, but I want you to know that you don’t have to be embarrassed about the whole... Viperion thing.” God, how am I supposed to take the news that MY crush has a crush on.... Sort of me? Am I supposed to count it as me at all?

“Oh, um. Yeah, thanks. I think I’m over the embarrassment now that it’s out. I don’t know, it’s just that a lot of people think it’s weird since he’s kind of a new hero,” how are you supposed to explain this to him? That you kept such a non-issue secret from him, especially without getting suspiciously defensive about it. “And then people use that to try and say that I only like him for his looks..... And that’s not it! I don’t know, it’s kind of.... A lot? To explain, that is.” This was not going well.

“Oh... Well, what is it? That you like about him, I guess.”

This was so not going well. But he was waiting for a response so... “Uh, well I guess it did kinda start..... that way.... but then I started doing research. I learned about his power and saw videos of his fights. He’s really good! Especially for being so new, which kinda goes into why his power makes me like him so much.” Shit. Rambling, I’m just talking and talking and I need to stop. But how am I supposed to change the subject now? And now Luka’s sitting down, and he seems so invested. Why does this have to happen to me?

“What do you mean by that?”

Luka’s voice kindly shuts your little thought-spiral in its tracks. What were you saying? Oh, Viperion’s powers! You can talk about this, you know this. Just keep talking, at least he seems interested in it, “Well, you know how he can go back and redo the last couple of minutes?” Luka nodded, “Well, we always see the time that worked out. Us civilians get to keep going from the one time it all went right. Just imagine all the times he failed, all the times he couldn’t get it right. It could be dozens, maybe even hundreds of times! He must get so discouraged at some point, I mean I know I would.... I guess I didn’t really think about it at first, but.... but, I doubt I could keep that determination, and I’m so glad Paris has a hero who can, and does.”

Silence. Why was it so quiet? Oh no, he thinks I’m weird. He must think-

“All of this from ‘his hair looks soft’?”

“Hey! You can’t tell me not to be embarrassed, then make fun of me! That’s against the rules!”

Luka chuckled as he said, “Against what rules, exactly?”

“The Rules Of Best Friendship, duh!”

“And who exactly said you were my best friend?”

“Well... your loss, I guess. Now you won’t get an invitation when I plan Rose and Juleka’s wedding,” you brushed off his offended glare as you took the seat next to him.

“She’s my sister.”

“She’d take my side.”

I’d take your side, too. I will always take your side. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

A/N the sequel: I am super bad at finishing things, but I really wanna keep motivated to finish this (like I have a full, probably 3 part, plan for this). If you guys want to help, shoot me a message and I'll send you a link to the google doc I'm writing this on. Feel free to leave a little comment (pls be kind, obviously) and see my writing process! Idk, would any of you guys be interested in that? Would you just get annoyed at having already read the thing before I post it?

[infinitysgrace]

Adrien and Lila mirror meta

ok fine 

Alright, let’s do this. Let’s talk about Adrien and Lila’s weird as fuck chess game that was Season 3. 

With Lila and Adrien mirroring each other, Season 3′s arc with Lila goes from “Adrien learning how dangerous Lila is” to “Adrien just not being threatened by her and he and Lila are just playing the weirdest game of chess ever, and Lila got outsmarted.”

Chameleon. Something’s different from the last time they’ve interacted back in Volpina. Now he can tell when she’s lying to him, and she knows that he knows as well because he flat out tells her as much. At this point, he knows that making giant angry call out scenes about her lying will make her upset and get her akumatized. So what does he do? He tries being nice about it. He gives her an out with no consequences and the only condition was “please don’t lie to me,” and what does she do? Gets akumatized and goes after him in particular. 

He learned three things by the end of this episode from all of this. He learned that direct confrontation doesn’t work with her at all. he learned that she lied to Ladybug earlier that episode when she said that she wouldn’t lie and pretend to be someone she isn’t to get people to like her. He gives the first part of this to Marinette to help her, she takes the advice and what happens? Lila gets caught in one of her lies, her hold on Marinette was shaken, and uh... this meme:

anyway I digress 

The third thing he learned was that she will play into her own self destruction if she keeps this up, which is something he warned her about earlier in the episode but actually saw in the classroom scene at the end. 

With Lila and Adrien being mirrors this episode becomes less about Marinette battling against Lila while the whole class is blind to what’s happening, and it turns more into the set up of these two setting up their pieces up. Lila chooses to keep lying, and for the first time it blows up in her face while Adrien chooses the truth, stands by Marinette, and gets his seat next to Nino in class back. This is the point where they’ve started the game, but neither of them know how it’ll go. At this point, Lila doesn’t know that he’s playing at all, and Adrien doesn’t know how far she’s willing to go yet, but that changes in... 

Oni-chan. I don’t have nearly as much to say about this episode as I did with Chameleon (that’s a lie). 

We start this episode with Lila for once, we see that she’s alone in the morning and her mother won’t be home until late while her mother’s voicemail tells her everything she needs while she’s gone. This is different than usual because normally when we see a kid being alone while their parent more accurately their parent’s mouth piece to them is relaying information about their day in the beginning of episodes, it’s Adrien. And then, it only makes sense that when Nino sees her down he asks her what’s up because he’s seen this before, and giving Adrien someone to talk to helped him so there isn’t a reason for him to think it wouldn’t work with her. But, Lila already chose her course back in Chameleon. She chose to lie, and it’s cemented here when she lies to Nino instead of opening up about it. 

Moving on, Adrien at this point hasn’t realized how far she’s willing to go to get what she wants, and still hasn’t by the time she lies herself into the hell house by potentially putting him in a situation where he’ll get scolded by his father and Nathalie. He lets it go (for now), but keeps in mind that Nathalie and Gorilla got in trouble because of it. He’s going to use that later.

Now we’re getting to Kagami’s akumatization, and what Adrien says to her when she shows up at his window. With mirrors in mind, Adrien’s excuses for what she does “she’s not dangerous she just craves attention” and “Maybe she’s just looking to be less lonely” before with Plagg aren’t just excuses anymore, they also serve as an view of how he genuinely views the situation with her. That’s why it’s important that he NEVER retracts those statements even after he has a better understanding of her. Suddenly it goes from “Adrien being naive and oblivious to the damage she’s doing” to “He's figured it out and he still genuinely does not view her as a threat despite everything she’s done up to this point” by the end of the episode.

From his perspective, he’s not dealing with anyone that he hasn’t dealt with before, and that makes sense. He was raised with Felix and Chloe, and his father is Garbage Agreste, and that man eats gaslighting for breakfast. Why would a more obvious and less experienced version of him be a threat to his son?

We end this episode with Adrien scolding her at Cat Noir, and warning her as Adrien not to mess with people he cares about, and it’s a warning that Lila blatantly ignores and doesn’t take seriously. She messes with Chloe, which Adrien never finds out about and then...

We get to Ladybug (the episode).  

Putting the episode right up next to Chameleon, you can really see how they match up and how very different the circumstances are. Ladybug is the episode we find out why he doesn’t consider her dangerous. We go from Adrien having a vague understanding of how she operates and trying to keep others from her crossfire to him actively knowing what she’s doing and figuring out how to successfully work around it. 

Like, really think about the fact that she is so not a threat that he confidently tells Plagg that he’ll help Marinette later meaning he already knows what he’s going to do at this point, it’s only a matter of when. They’ve been playing the game this whole time, and at this point Lila still doesn’t know he’s playing it. She still thinks she’s in control, and hasn’t realized that she made a mistake. She still doesn’t realize that he isn’t a pawn in her game, but is actually the person she’s been playing against this whole time, and Adrien uses that to figuratively back her in a corner by the end of the episode.

I’ve made SO many posts about Adrien’s threat at this point that I’m just gonna summarize it if you don’t mind. 

Adrien threatening Lila was just as much a surprise to Lila as it was to a lot of the people seeing this episode for the first time, and the same thing applies in both cases: it shouldn’t have been. Ladybug (the episode) is Lila realizing that he understands how she works and understands how to manipulate that if she steps out of line again. The episode is her realizing she has to be more careful if she doesn’t want Angrien over here ruining everything because his word has more weight than hers, and it always will, and now she has to consider that he will use it against her if she fucks up. She was once again the player of her own self destruction from keeping up on her path of lies and Adrien once again watches it happen just like in Chameleon but this time he’s actively making sure it happens instead of just watching it from the back of the room.

Anyway, idk how to end this, but uh... yeah. That’s all I’ve got.

[oniongentleman]

Lilanette Week Day 1 Prompt: Trapped Together (quite literally) 

Marinette helps Lila fix her jacket. They get to talking while she sewing and, too involved in the conversation to focus on her needle, Marinette stitches the two of them together.

Maybe Marinette is inviting Lila out after she’s exposed as as liar and the backlash hits hard. Maybe Lila’s heart flutters in the chest (the first it has in a long while) at this clumsy girl with two left feet but quick clever hands and stars in her eyes. She’ll accept the invite, hiding a smile (but never her reddening cheeks) at Marinette’s antics. Perhaps Lila learns to charm the world with her quick wit and sharp smile instead of extravagant stories and flashy adventures. Lila will learn value of creating and living her own stories where she doesn’t need an endless cast of celebrities to make it worth hearing. 

Or perhaps Lila is never exposed but she learns to play the field more cautiously. Marinette and Adrien never say a word. Adrien because for all his reckless preening and prancing as Chat Noir, he is a boy who thinks twice before he speaks. And when he looks at Lila Rossi, he sees a girl who is all too much like Chloe and he softens. Lila’s lies are not his to expose and especially not when he considers how they might reflect on Ladybug. Marinette can not hold back the bitter tang of regret when she looks at Lila. She doesn’t know this girl and she created the tiniest of rifts in her heart for Hawkmoth to squirm into. Her classmates who have been akumatized said it felt like they were sinking into a bog of sickening sweet syrup. Their limbs were heavy, their eyes fogged, but every one of their senses alive and thrumming with anger. There was a giddy, nauseous joy in seeing the city burn and hearing screams in their wake. Marinette doesn’t know if Lila felt the same but she knows that if she did, and if she lies awake at night reliving those feelings, she, Ladybug, Marinette, is the reason behind it. So Marinette tries to pry own Lila’s wall of lies. Bit by bit, she chips away at their foundation, and finds that she and Lila are more alike than she thought.

Lila weaves a complicated pattern of half-truths, lies and honesty, so thickly meshed into one another that it’s hard to pick out what is and isn’t real. But this is how she grew up, watching her parents’ pretty lies and fake smiles, and Lila learns that this is how the world is. She moves from one country to another, an endless parade of changing schools, changing faces, and soon there’s no point in trying to make a real connection when no one is there long enough to listen. Lila is used to people tripping their feet for a taste of her stories and is she really to blame if others are gullible? When she lies, it’s always what people want to hear and she’s learned long ago that few care for the humdrum mundance reality of truth when a well-crafted lie can provide so much more fuel for the imagination.  Try as she might, Lila can’t see why that might be a problem.

Marinette likes to think she’s never lied before and maybe she’s right by some standards. She’s never spent hours and hours crafting together a perfect lie, a story that has just enough truth behind it that no one can fully expose it as a falsehood. Neither has she ever tried to decimate someone’s hard work and reputation because they stumbled into her path to success. Marinette’s lies are clumsy things and she thinks that perhaps, just perhaps, if she had Lila’s polished smooth smile and quick flowing way with words, or Chloe’s arrogant confidence and vicious streak, she might also lie. But she has neither and it’s a thought she isn’t entirely comfortable to linger on. If Marinette is entirely honest with herself, she needs to admit her hatred of liars comes from a place where her truth, the part that is truly amazing and miraculous, isn’t something she can expose, and when she can’t, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the baker’s daughter, isn’t something that belongs to the same rank as those dazzling golden lies. 

It takes time. It takes days, weeks, maybe even months for Lila to let her guard down for this strange girl who reaches for her with friendly hands and a guileless smile, but eyes that are incomprehensibly guarded and wary. When Marinette finally admits why in an attempt to come clean (and maybe in a desperate bid for Lila to open up to her), Lila smiles and teaches Marinette to hold a better poker face. 

They are not friends, not really, not yet. 

Lila needs to learn the value of the truth, not just as a foundation to build lies upon, but as something with inherent value in and of itself. Marinette needs to pull back the reins on her immediate dislike of anything posing as something other than itself. They both need to grow and understand what they’re worth without a mask.

At the end though, Lila will know who Ladybug is sooner or later and it’ll be a rough ride. 

In one world, Lila doesn’t need Marinette. She has lived a life of lies with only herself for support and there would have been many more years before she eventually collapsed on that solitary path. But in this life, she has Marinette, and with Marinette came others. The road to friendship (and maybe more) is a slow grueling experience but the day Ladybug stands before her and off comes the mask to expose Marinette, Lila exhales slow and hard through her nose before pinching her friend’s cheeks so hard that tears leap to the superhero’s eyes. 

“That’s for ruining my chances with a cute boy and turning me into an akuma,” Lila says, a grin belying her stern tone. “Now we’re even.” 

Marinette hugs her so hard Lila swears her ribs groaned upon the pressure.

In another world, Marinette can never find the right time to tell Lila her truth and Lila worries, and frets, and grows suspicious. When Marinette finally works up the courage to take off the mask, Lila shatters.

On this route, Lila is taken for a villain and Marinette is a lifesaver she clings desperately onto. Here Marinette is a saviour and Lila loves her for being able to see past the lies she told, for being able to know what she did and still be the first to come up to her with open arms and an extension of friendship that blossoms into more. 

Marinette wants Lila to understand. She wants her to know that none of what she did was a lie (but she can’t fully convince herself it came from a genuine place either). 

“Was it fun for you? Playing me for a fool?”

Lila storms away and Marinette isn’t sure if she should follow or not (she does anyway). Whenever an akuma attacks, Ladybug’s first item of business is to find Lila and whisk her away to the safest location. The top of the Rossi’s apartment is often decorated with a superhero, dangling her legs off the edge of their roof, casting frequent glances at the sliver of light gleaming through tightly shut curtains. Marinette has apologized for many things in her life but she’s never had to apologize for breaking, then mending, then breaking someone again. She isn’t sure she knows how.

It isn’t an easy road to recovery. Lila maintains a chilly contact with Marinette, for the sake of keeping the peace if nothing else. Marinette waits and watches and lets her heart break when she hears Lila muffled sobs through her apartment window. 

When Lila cracks, it’s after months of frosty silence and hearing the softest thump of feet landing on her roof. It happens after she is whisked away, stiff and uncompromising, in arms that seem to be trying their best to be both secure yet politely distanced. The changes are small but to the peope who matter, they’re significant. A pair of curtains, cracked open, and muttered thanks when she’s being carefully set on her feet to safety during an attack. On cold and rainy days, there is a window open for her to enter, though there isn’t any conversation (that will take time). When Lila flinches during a thunderstorm and Ladybug reaches cautiously over to brush a hand over hers, Lila doesn’t move away and they both think that it’ll be okay. 

[moonlitceleste]

I’m a warrior (now I’ve got thicker skin) Pt. 1

Part 1          Part 2          Part 3          Part 4          Part 5

I’ve toyed with this idea for a while, but I never posted it because I couldn’t think of the right song to go with it (that part comes in later). Thankfully, the idea came to me and I get to write it out!! It’ll probably be long, so I’ll split it into separate parts.

It’s three years since Hawkmoth started attacking Paris. By this time, the class has long turned on Marinette; however, she found solace in Adrien, Chloe, Kagami, and Luka. Together, they make up the permanent Miraculous Team.

They’ve finally defeated Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agreste, Nathalie Sancoeur, and Lila Rossi have been arrested. It’s made very public knowledge that Lila initiated contact with Hawkmoth out of pure spite and that her sole purpose was to target Marinette-Dupain Cheng and get her akumatized.

Lila is unable to lie her way out, because ever since Lila had gotten Marinette expelled, the latter had been keeping detailed notes on everything she had lied about and done. The only reason Lila hadn’t been exposed earlier was because Marinette was actively preventing it. She had deduced that Lila was working with Hawkmoth and knew she was a valuable connection.

Alya had also been posting Lila’s lies on her blog consistently, and there were quite a few blatant jabs towards Marinette in there.

Anyways, it’s been three weeks since that all went down. And people were still following Marinette around, from reporters to random citizens. The public was curious as to why Hawkmoth decided one girl was special enough as to be his target.

Tired of having to evade everyone, Marinette decides to give them what they want. She has an adequately large Twitter following since she was best friends with Adrien, Chloe, and had previously worked with big names such as Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale.

She shoots a one-take video and explains everything, but not before a quick disclaimer.

“I didn’t know whether or not to, but I realized that telling this story could raise awareness, or maybe just help someone feel less alone. But before I start, please don’t send hate to anyone mentioned in this video. Whether or not they deserve it, and no matter what they did to me, no one deserves to be bullied.”

“I’ve never really told anyone the full story before, and as counter-intuitive as it may seem, telling it to a camera is a lot less scary than it is to an audience.”

Marinette doesn’t hold back. She starts from the very beginning, from when Lila came in. I don’t like the Marinette-creepily-follows-them-because-of-jealousy thing, so I HC that in Volpina she followed them because she got bad vibes from Lila and was worried for Adrien’s safety. She says she saw Ladybug calling her out and that’s how she knew she was a liar.

She continues telling the story about how when Lila came back, everyone believed her immediately. She repeated the lies that Lila said and tore into the ridiculousness of them--the tinnitus she got from saving Jagged Stone’s cat from an airplane runway, how her arthritis flared up after saving Max’s eye from getting gouged out by a napkin and seemingly switched wrists constantly. How her classmates glared at her for being the cause of Lila’s pain and how the teacher didn’t even check for a doctor’s note or blink when they moved her to the back of the classroom.

She talked briefly about Lila’s threat, and how an akuma went after her but she managed to calm down in time, and that Lila was akumatized immediately after.

And then she talked about the expulsion. In great detail. But not before a little backstory about how her principal was quick to ignore anything her childhood bully did because he was easily swayed by money and influence. How her teacher had always told her to be the bigger person. Set a good example. Show people what the Marinette’s of the world are like.

And despite her being the “example”--the perfect student and class president, he expelled her without a second thought or even proof if what Lila accused her of was true. Lila’s parents weren’t even at the meeting, but hers had to be.

She wasn’t un-expelled until Lila herself claimed that she had a “lying disease,” which she later figured out was because Adrien helped her out.

She mentions how ironic it is that “my classmates who I’ve known since childhood and my best friend all turned their back on me in an instant. The four friends who stuck with me were all very new, and I had a dislike for 3/4 of them at some point in time.”

After explaining the beginning in detail, she summarized the rest of what they did--it started with glares and small jabs, then escalated to tripping her in hallways. Most weren’t outright malicious, but the more bull-headed like Alya, Alix, and Kim did the worse stuff like “accidentally” pouring water on her. After all, she was bullying Lila even after Lila had been so nice to her!

And then the Hawkmoth part. Emotions and akumatizations.

“Even though I know I didn’t do anything wrong, it was hard for me to remember that since the whole world seemed to be conspiring against me. But my true friend were there for me, and if they weren’t I’d have long succumbed to Hawkmoth’s influence.

I didn’t actually think Lila would turn my friends against me; I trusted them. Every time I was almost akumatized, it was because of injustice. I just had to remember that in due time, justice would come for her too.

I think my greatest fear was that even once Hawkmoth was gone, Lila would be able to lie her way out of it and somehow, she would convince everyone that I was in the wrong again. But that didn’t happen, and I’m glad that I didn’t give in to my negative emotions.

Part of that is because after a while, I just became numb. I haven’t let myself feel anything after all these years--at this point, my automatic response is to click and delete my negative emotions. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I don’t have to do that anymore. The reason I never talked about what happened was because I was scared once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop, and I couldn’t risk getting akumatized.

My knee-jerk reaction right now is to say I’m fine, but I’m not. I don’t know when I will be. I still have thoughts of what I did to make everyone leave me so easily--why they were so quick to turn. But hopefully, letting all this out is a step towards healing. It’s made me stronger, but I’m ready to close this chapter of my life and move on”

She ends the video after a brief end note and a reminder to not send hate to her classmates (but it ends up happening anyways).

“Maybe this could have been all prevented if my classmates had at least tried to listen to me, or if my teacher or principal had done their job. Everything may have worked out in the end, and I’m very grateful for that, but maybe it could have been stopped earlier if anyone had stepped in to help. If you see someone struggling, don’t stay silent. My true friends stuck by me, and they gave me the hope that there really was light at the end of the tunnel. You can give someone hope too.”

(There’s more said in the video, but those are just snippets I have right now.)

Parisians are horrified at the full story, and it spreads like wildfire. People add English subtitles, and it spreads even more.

A girl being targeted by an emotional terrorist for three years, having to suppress her emotions while actively being targeted by said terrorist or else the world would end?! Yeah, people ate it up.

And then Adrien and Chloe tweeted something, and then Bruce Wayne got involved, and soon enough, Marinette became known as the Girl Who Saved Paris.

TAGLIST

@2confused-2doanything @abrx2002 @alenee13 @animegirlweeb  @anonymously-odd  @buginetye @catthhay @certifiedbidisaster @dreamykitty25   @ertyzeta @fishandnoodles  *@how-to-function-properly  @iamablinkmarvelarmy  @ihavehomeworkbutistillhere @i-wanna-be-a-ninja @kris-pines04  @miracleofadisaster @momothefemur  @nach0 @nathleigh *@our-preciousss  @starpony999 @swiftie-miraculer13 @t1dwarrior-of-earth @thatonecroc  @theg0ddesspersephone  @thenillabean  @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @tired-butterfly @trippingovermyfeet @user00000003 @velvetterabby

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 17

First

Previous

Next

Carapace frowned as he patrolled with someone at his side.

It was weird to go on patrols with someone else, if he was being honest. It wasn’t unheard of or anything, Chloe and Rena were both perfectly happy to go on patrols with others, but it wasn’t something that Carapace found himself doing unless Master Fu made him.

That wasn’t what had happened, though. Ladybug had missed her patrols for the previous night because Chloe had turned off all her alarms and neither of them had any nights off until the next week…

So they were going out together.

It was kind of awkward, if he was being honest. He didn’t know how to talk to her, not really. He’d already been kind of unsure what to talk about when he had known her persona because they were so different… but now that he knew that that wasn’t her actual personality, somehow, it was even harder to talk to her.

He glanced at Ladybug out of the corner of his eyes as they hopped from roof to roof.

This was a mistake, he ended up missing his footing and it was only thanks to his plates that he didn’t fall four stories.

(He still fell an entire story before he caught himself and his plates weren’t exactly soft, but it was still better than splattering on the pavement.)

Ladybug hovered over him with a slight smile threatening to make its way onto her face.

“You alright?” She asked, offering him a hand up.

The green glow of his plates made her look like a ghost in the nighttime darkness, and the flying didn’t help, but he forced himself to ignore this as he took her hand.

She carried him up to the roof. He could have technically made the jump, but if she was offering the help he wouldn’t say no. Besides, everything still kind of hurt.

“I think I’m dying,” he joked, getting rid of the floating plates with a vague wave of his hand.

The smile widened slightly and he couldn’t tell for sure but he was pretty sure she rolled her eyes. “Mhmm. Seriously, though, do you need a minute?”

He flexed his shoulders and decided that, yes, maybe he should give himself a few seconds to rest. They sat down together on the edge of the rooftop, their legs dangling over the side. After a whispered ‘Lucky Charm’, he was handed a water bottle.

He looked down at the water bottle in his hand and raised his eyebrows at the spotted red and black water.

“Is this safe to drink?”

“Yeah, it’ll just feel a little funny in your throat,” she said.

He gave her an incredulous look and she clicked her tongue, taking the water bottle from his hand and taking a mouthful of water.

He watched to make sure she swallowed and then drank it as well… and, wow, the words ‘feel a little funny’ were a fucking understatement. He may as well have been drinking glue for how it seemed determined to stick to the lining of his throat.

But, hey, it was technically still water. It tasted like nothing, at least. He managed to get it down.

He sent her a grimace and she brought up a hand to try and stifle her giggles.

“What? Have I been poisoned?” He asked, anxiety and whatever the hell he just drank gnawing at his stomach.

“N-no.” She cleared her throat and forced herself to relax. “It’s just… sorry. I forgot how bad the first time is.”

“How often do you eat and drink your lucky charms?” He asked, a little horrified. He could understand trying to drink it one time out of curiosity, but continuously doing that was just… insane.

“When I want to,” she said nonchalantly. “You get used to the consistency. Everything tastes like the food I ask for, so I can get any food I want for free.”

He swirled the remains of the ‘water’ in the bottle with interest. “Is there anything you can’t make?”

“It looks like I can only make things I… can conceptualize, if that makes sense? Like… I can’t make sci-fi stuff or a living thing because they’re complicated, but I can make a car and stuff like that.”

He stared at her. “You’ve made a car?”

“I had to see if I could!” She said defensively, her face doing it’s best to match the red of her mask (and succeeding).

He was about to make her prove it, because he couldn’t imagine a car coming out of her yoyo, but there was a flash of bright light in the distance.

Their slight smiles dropped at the sight of it and they scrambled to their feet, wordlessly taking off in the direction of the explosion.

~

They watched the right wing of the Agreste mansion erupt with almost white light before it was blown to smithereens. He made a wall of plates in front of them to block them from the debris.

“... sucks to be him,” said Ladybug.

Well, that wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting from Ladybug of all people. Sure, Rena had warned them that Ladybug was going to start showing her actual personality, but it was just so… different than he was used to her being.

Still, he couldn’t help but agree. He may not know why exactly she didn’t like Gabriel Agreste, but he had his reasons. On top of being a terrible employer to Marinette, which was already a giant red flag, Carapace had also met Adrien Agreste. After Paris’s resident sunshine child had been akumatized he’d vented to Carapace about his father (and it seemed like Adrien was even holding some stuff back) and, well, let’s just say Carapace thought that Gabriel deserved way worse for what he did to him --.

“Wait, fuck, Adrien. We should probably help him,” said Carapace.

Ladybug didn’t move. “No, he’s fine. He’s in Tibet at some rich kid private school.”

“Oh. Good for him.”

They watched another room explode in silence. It wasn’t a problem, really. It seemed that whoever was akumatized (the assistant or bodyguard, he assumed) was only really concerned with destroying the mansion. They could just leave, really, it would be a shame if no one got there on time…

He sighed. “We’re going to have to do the right thing, huh?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah…”

He dropped his plates and they made their way inside carefully. The house was eerily silent for a place that had just been exploding every few seconds, and he wasn’t sure if the prickling feeling on his skin was the dust in the air attempting to settle or if they were being watched.

They came upon the akuma and both of them relaxed instantly. It was just Gabriel.

Well, Carapace didn’t think Gabriel really had any right to be angry about anything, but at least he’d be taken down quickly.

“Who’s going to be bait?” Asked Ladybug.

“… I can probably take a few more hits,” admitted Carapace, however reluctantly.

She considered this before shaking her head. “I’m feeling lucky.”

Should he argue this point? Yes. Was he going to? No. He wasn’t fond of the idea of getting blown up, thanks.

The fight was over in less than five minutes. Carapace had snuck up behind not-Gabriel (he was pretty sure that he called himself Homme D’Affeure or something like that?) while he was distracted attempting to blow up a flying Ladybug and hit him as hard as he could with a plate.

Carapace grabbed the horrid candy cane tie off of him and tore it apart. Yep, there was the akuma. Why was Gabriel’s akuma always in his tie? Who knew.

Whatever. He tossed the plate like a frisbee at the akuma and smiled when it was crushed against the nearby wall. This smile lessened when the Agreste mansion rapidly started rebuilding itself. What a shame.

Ladybug landed next to him, a little winded but otherwise fine.

(The pair of them watched Gabriel Agreste scramble for his tie. Carapace looked at the pin on his suit and wondered for the millionth time why it was hidden. It was probably the nicest looking part of his outfit (not that that was saying much, his friend could have a field day talking about just what was so bad about his outfit -- and had, on many occasions). He guessed it didn’t go with the red and white theme he had going on, but then why wear it? Sentiment?)

Now for the only bad part of deakumatizing Gabriel: listening to his rich person problems.

Carapace and Ladybug started debating about who should listen to them. Damn their personas, making it so they had to be the ‘noble’ and ‘nice’ ones of the group. This conversation would never end.

Gabriel must have figured this out, too, because -- after ten whole minutes of them arguing -- he’d said that he was fine and that he was just missing his son.

Carapace nearly punched him.

His fingers dug into the skin of his palm as he fought to keep his expression in a friendly smile. “If you say so, sir,” he said.

Ladybug gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I hope you have a pleasant evening.”

They ran out and didn’t stop running until the building was just a white and gray speck in the distance.

She face planted on a rooftop, which could not have been a fun experience, and didn’t move. He came to a stop when he noticed she wasn’t getting back up and walked over. He prodded her limp body with his foot. He was tired, too, but he wasn’t ‘collapse on concrete’ tired.

“You need to do more cardio.”

There was a beat before she raised a hand and made a rude hand gesture.

He raised his eyebrow, a grin fighting its way onto his face. Huh. He thought he liked Ladybug’s actual personality way more than her persona.

He took a seat beside her and crossed his legs, waiting for her to catch her breath. They didn’t need to continue patrols for the day because an akuma had been summoned and he wasn’t in a huge rush to get home.

There was a beat before she pushed herself up to a sitting position and summoned a new water bottle. She downed half of it in one go and then offered him the rest. He only hesitated slightly before taking it. If he got used to the consistency like she had he’d be able to eat anything he wanted as long as Ladybug was around, and there was no way he was going to miss out on that kind of opportunity.

For a while there was no sound other than their heavy breathing, their water bottles, and her occasional mumbles to summon more drinks.

She was the one to speak first: “So, you hate Gabriel Agreste, too?”

He looked at her over the rim of what must have been his millionth water bottle and he couldn’t help the smile making its way across his face as he set the drink down. “Of course. He’s Gabriel Agreste, is there anyone who actually likes him?”

“His assistant, apparently,” said Ladybug, her nose scrunching a tiny bit.

“No way! Really?”

She shrugged. “I don’t get it. He’s got nothing going for him but his money, and even then I hear his business is starting to fail.”

“Think that’s why he actually got akumatized?”

She pointed a finger at him. “You might be onto something.”

He snickered. “I wonder if Hawkmoth is tired of him, too. I mean, he gets akumatized, what, once a month? And he’s always beaten really easily. Why does he even bother with him anymore?”

“Right? You think he sends out his akumas and sees it’s Mr. Pigeon and he goes ‘aw, not THIS guy again’?”

“Nonono. See, Mr. Pigeon at least means that Chat Noir can’t show up to help so we’re at a disadvantage. Mr. Pigeon makes sense. But Gabriel Agreste? Not at all.”

She considered this and then smiled. “Maybe it’s because they’re both rich assholes.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How do you know Hawkmoth is rich?”

“There’s no way he’s any lower than upper middle class. He just has this vibe, y’know?”

He had to give it to her. She wasn’t wrong.

She summoned him a bag of what he assumed were chips and he opened them, inspecting them for a moment… ah, yes, chip-shaped. He didn’t know why he was expecting to be able to figure out what type they were. He bit into one and smiled. She knew his favorite chip flavor? It still had that weird texture, but it tasted good and it was free, so he was happy to eat.

She summoned herself a plate of cookies and nibbled at a few.

They detransformed and continued to eat the summoned foods in silence. It was nice, though.

~

He was the one to push himself to his feet first.

“We need to get back. Something bad had to have happened while we were gone.”

She looked at his outstretched hand for a minute before semi-reluctantly taking it. He pulled her to her feet.

“I hate being impulse control. When do WE get to do dumb things?”

“It’s our duty to be the sane ones, Ladybug.”

“Don’t use my persona against me,” she said, giving his shoulder a tiny shove.

He smiled. “We’d all be dead by now if we didn’t parent those idiots.”

“Yeah.” She winked at him. “I think I’m the family dad, though.”

“No way, the kids aren’t scared enough of me for me to be the mom.”

“They won’t be scared of me for long,” said Ladybug.

Based on what he’d seen of the real Ladybug so far? “Yeah…”

There was a beat as this registered and then horror dawned across their faces.

“... our kids are going to walk all over us, aren’t they?”

“We’ll be dead within the year,” she whispered.

“We need a mom!”

They considered for a moment. Whatever person they recruited to be the mom, there was no doubt in either of their minds that Chat was going to be one of the kids of this metaphorical family. Out of Rena and Chloe...

“Maybe we can get Chloe to be the mom?”

He pointed a finger at her. “You might be onto something.”

~

It was… suspiciously calm when they got home.

They looked at the three people in the living room. Chloe and Chat were playing a video game (Chat was pulling the team). Rena was watching with a gleam in her eyes as she attempted to pit them against each other.

Carapace and Ladybug gave each other wary looks. Something had happened...

Ladybug clicked her tongue. She grabbed a blanket and took a seat by Chloe, wrapping it around them and starting to teach her to play.

She had the right idea, he decided. He dropped down by Chat to watch.

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @mialuvscats @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0 @ladybug-182 @cas-and-their-refusal-to-write

[artzychic27]

Pure Knight/Blood Knight

As he put his books in his locker, Nathaniel kept staring lovingly at the photo of Marc he kept inside. A few months after the Reverser incident, he and the writer started dating, and Nathaniel couldn’t be happier.

Marc was so sweet, cute, and just thinking about him always left Nathaniel a blushing mess. Especially when he saw that beautiful smile.

And hopefully, he’d be seeing that smile today. Nathaniel had been noticing something off about Marc- he’s more quiet than usual, he’s been wearing his hood over his head more often, and whenever Nathaniel asked if he wanted to hang out with his friends from class, Marc would either change the subject or say he had plans that day.

—

“Hey, Rainbow-“

He pauses when he sees his boyfriend, clearly upset. Marc was just lying on his bed, and looking up at the ceiling while listening to music on his headphones- Now Nathaniel was concerned. Marc would only do this whenever he was upset.

He walks over to Marc, pauses the music, and Marc turns his attention to him “Marc? Is something wrong?”

“... No, I just...” He sits up “... It’s just something that someone said.” Nathaniel sits down next to him and kisses him on the cheek.

“C’mon, tell me what happened.” He urges “I’m really worried about you.”

Marc smiled at his boyfriend’s concern, “Well, you know Lila?” Nathaniel frowns at the mention of the She-Demon’s name. She’s wronged the redhead too many times to count. Marc notices his expression “Nath?”

Snapped out of his thoughts, Nathaniel focuses back on Marc “Sorry. What about her?”

“I posted a story on Tumblr that I was proud of, but I guess Lila copied and pasted it on her Tumblr, then she told everyone she wrote it.” A few tears stream down his face “And they all believed her!”

“Oh, Rainbow.” Nathaniel cooed, then kissed him on his forehead “It’ll be okay.”

“No, it won’t. When I tried to tell everyone, they didn’t believe me, and Alya said I was jealous!” He wipes a few tears away. “Only Mari, Alix, Rose, and Juleka believe me.”

“And so do I.” He reminded, then wipes a tear off of Marc’s cheek using his thumb “It’ll get better, okay?”

Marc smiles “Okay.”

“Come on. Let’s work on the comic.”

After three hours of coming up with a storyline and character designs, Nathaniel went home, glad that his boyfriend is happy now. But he wasn’t. That lying fox had wronged him so many times, all because he doesn’t believe her damn lies!

“Accidentally” spilling drinks on his sketchbook, claiming to know a writer who could help improve the Ladybug comics, trying to frame him for stealing art she claimed was hers.

He could forget all of that, all of it, but making Marc cry was something he would not tolerate. He wanted Rossi to perish, not just her though, all of her followers. He just wanted them all to...

Nathaniel remembers he’s in Paris right now. A place where having negative emotions would turn you into a monster. So, he breathed in and out a few times and thought about positive things.

Being with Marc

People loving their comics

Mari having people on her side

Alix, Rose, and Juleka

...

From where he’s standing, Nathaniel glared at the sausage-haired girl sitting on the bench as she told more stories to her clueless followers flocking around her. He almost pitied them... Almost.

Alix sees what he’s looking at, and rolls her eyes “Just let it go, Nath. They’re all lost causes.”

“Yeah, I’ve done everything I could to help them, but they won’t listen.” Marinette says “If they wanna believe that I’m a jealous bully, let them. No more free clothes and food for them.” She folds her arms

He groans “Fine. But if she says one more thing about Marc again, I’m gonna-“ Rose interrupts him and asks “What’d she say about Marc?”

Answering her question, the Akuma class made comments such as:

“I still can’t believe he tried to steal my story!” The Italian whined

“He’s a fake!”

“He wishes he could write like you!”

“As if you could even call that writing!”

Marinette, Juleka, and Rose stared with their mouths hung open.

“Oh. My. Fucking- Ugh!” Alix exasperated “What the hell is wrong with them? That bitch doesn’t even write!”

Nathaniel continued to glare at the Italian, still trying to think about positive things so he won’t get Akumatized again

Being with Marc

People loving their comics

Mari having people on her side

Alix, Rose, and Juleka

“You should give that fake some lessons.”

... Lila getting what she deserves

“I bet that’s not even his work.”

Alya’s tabloid blog getting blacklisted

That lying bitch getting killed by an Akuma.

Those assholes falling off a big cliff!

His anger diminished when he saw Marc, halfway down the stairs. He was visibly crying, meaning he had heard everything they said. Nathaniel wanted to be angry right now, he did, but seeing Marc like that just made the redhead want to comfort him and tell him he loves him

His anger returned once again when Marc ran upstairs in tears.

It was probably enough to attract an Akuma, but he didn’t care. Those idiots deserved what was coming to them... But he didn’t want Marc to get akumatized...

Before Alix, Juleka, Rose, or Marinette could go over and tell them off, Nathaniel grabbed an apple out of Marinette’s lunch bag, silently thanked his parents for making him participate in two years of baseball, and chucked it at Lila while she wasn’t looking, hitting her right in her fat forehead, and ran out the courtyard while his classmates looked for the culprit.

—

Nathaniel could hear the wings flapping as he ran, and knew an Akuma was after him. The flapping got louder, and Nathaniel prepared to get akumatized once again, but the butterfly flew right past him... Marc!

He picked up more speed and ran right past the Akuma. After about a minute of running, Nathaniel found Marc crying in the art room and ran in to comfort him.

“Don’t cry, Marc, please don’t cry.” He whispers to Marc, hoping to calm him down before the Akuma would sense his negativity. “They’re wrong! You’re an amazing writer! I love you, Rainbow.”

The sound of the flapping of butterfly wings got closer. Nathaniel and Marc saw that the Akuma was in the room with them, and trying to pick which out of the two it would Akumatize. It was so hard for it to choose. Nathaniel’s anger and frustration were tempting, but it has originally been sent to go after Marc.

Being with Marc

People loving their comics

Mari having people on her side

Alix, Rose, and Juleka

“You should give that fake some lessons.”

“I know a way better writer.”

“As if you could even call that writing!”

Nathaniel pushed those thoughts in the back of his mind, got up, and stood between his boyfriend and the Akuma.

“Stay away from him!”

He couldn’t let Marc get akumatized again, he just couldn’t! He tried to keep his negative emotions down, but they were too strong. He kept thinking about his classmates. How they’ve hurt his friends, his boyfriend. How Lie-La made Marinette and Marc’s lives a living hell. The rage consumed him, that was enough for the Akuma to finally chose its target, and go in Nathaniel’s yin-yang necklace.

“Nath!” Marc cried as he saw Hawkmoth’s symbol appear on the face of his boyfriend. “Don’t listen to him, please!”

“What you did for the one you love was very noble of you. Almost like a Knight. I’m giving you the power to protect your love at all costs from those who dare try to hurt him.”

“Get out of my head!”

“You will go by two names. Blood Knight, a rage-filled seeker of vengeance. An unstoppable force to be reckoned with. The other, Pure Knight, protector of the innocent, and the defenseless.”

Nathaniel thought about Lila and Alya. Their smug faces whenever Marinette looked miserable, and the lies they spread about his friends. They would all pay...

“You yearn for justice, and to protect the one you love. In return for this power, you must give me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous’. Do we have a deal?”

“I will protect him with my life.” He swore as the black and purple mist bubbles up from his necklace and surrounded him. When it lifted, Nathaniel was replaced by an armored figure, about a foot taller than him. The armor he was wearing was pure white with blue highlights. The helmet’s visor has a blue butterfly-shaped mark, and the helmet’s comb is a light blue. In his hand is a golden shield with a red and white yin-yang symbol. And around his neck was a necklace with a light blue orb.

Pure Knight heard shuffling from behind him and turned to see Marc has backed himself into a corner. He walks over to the crying boy and kneels before him as if he were royalty.

“Nath?” Marc whispered in horror.

He shook his head “I am Pure Knight. Your protector. I vow to be your shield, and smite those who have wronged you.” He takes Marc’s hand in his armored one

“They all will pay for their transgressions. No one shall ever harm you again, my prince.”

—

Marinette, Rose, and Juleka were trying to hold Alix back from knocking some sense into their idiot classmates.

“Alix, you said it yourself! They’re lost causes!” Marinette said as she pulled Alix by her arms

“Fuck that! They can mess with us all they want, but when they talk trash about Marc, I get crazy!” She argued, still trying to pull her limbs free, but stumbled when the sound of something metallic rang through the air.

Everyone looked to the middle of the courtyard and saw a large broadsword drop down, the point embedding itself on the floor. Holding the sword was Blood Knight. Unlike Pure Knight, his armor was black with blood-red highlights. The orb on the necklace was black. The same yin-yang symbol that was on the shield is now in the middle of the cross-guard of the sword.

Everyone took a step back as Blood Knight pulled his sword out from the floor. He looked at the Akuma class before his eyes settled on Lila. Then, something overcame him, and he surged forwards, pushing away the others to grab Lila by the front of her shirt and hold her up

“Put me down” She wailed “I didn’t do anything!”

“LIES!” He yelled, “Every word you say is nothing but a lie!”

“Nath?” Alix asked as she slowly walked over to the red knight “O-okay. Look, just put Lila down-“

“I have no quarrels with you, Alix. And unless you wish to meet the business end of my sword, you will let me do what should have been done long ago.”

CLANG!

“OW!” Everyone turned their heads to see Kim, clutching his fist in pain, possibly caused by trying to punch the Akuma.

Blood Knight throws Lila to the floor, then faces Kim. The athlete tries to look intimidating, but fails due to the height difference “...You weak, disposable maggot.” He said as he pointed the broadsword to Kim’s neck “You claim to be a defender of the bullied, and yet you aid one.”

Kim frowned “Lila’s not a-!”

In a split second, Blood Knight’s broadsword cleaved right through Kim. Everyone watched in horror as Kim’s figure disappeared in a puff of red smoke. Many students fled the courtyard, not wanting to be next.

“One down...” He turns to the rest of the class, who are still in shock “So many more to go.” He points his sword to Lila, who’s being held protectively by Alya “You are a danger to my Prince!”

Lila once again brought out the crocodile tears “But he’s the one bullying me!” She added a lip quiver for effect “He steals my stories and claim they’re his!”

Blood Knight growled under his helmet “Speak the truth now, or I will show you no mercy!” He pulled Lila out of Alya’s hold

Bring her reign to an end!

“I’m not lying!” She insists

“... Fine.” Thinking she’s won, Lila sighs with relief “Then your dark soul shall perish!” He raises his sword, the metal gleams in the light. Lila pales, knowing she, for once, won’t be able to lie her way out of danger.

Students look away, not wanting to see this again.

A second before he could bring this lying fox to justice, he felt something wrap around his armored wrist. ‘Who dares to defend this lying witch?’, he thought

“Nath, please!”

Hearing the cry of his prince, he turns his head to see that he’s the one holding onto his wrist. He takes a look at Marc’s face and sees the look of distress.

Kill her. Do it now!

He’s upset. Protect Marc! Keep him safe!

Blood Knight’s armor fades from red to white, and a bright light consumes the sword. When it dims, the shield is in its place.

“I know you’re still in there, Nath. You’d never want to hurt anyone...”

“My prince... I... I...”

Marc smiles, believing he’s getting through to him.

“I should’ve known!” Lila wailed, “You got Nathaniel akumatized so he could hurt me!”

The Akuma class, sans Alix, Rose, and Juleka, start hurling insults at the boy.

Kill them! All of them!

They hurt the prince!

Do you want to protect the prince? Kill them!

Rage consumes Pure Knight, and he becomes Blood Knight once again. Instead of the liar and her posse, he turns to Alix, Juleka, and Rose. In a flash, the blade sliced through them. But instead of them disappearing into smoke, their clothing transformed into pure white and gold armor, and in their hands were gold shields with yin-yang symbols

“Shieldmaidens, dispose of this lying fox!” Blood Knight commanded

“Yes, Blood Knight.” Alix, Juleka, and Rose responded in emotionless voices, then turned to the Akuma class. Before they could strike, Ladybug’s yoyo wraps around Lila’s waist and pulls her towards the spotted and leather-clad heroes, who are at the top of the steps

“I didn’t need your help! I could’ve taken them on myself!” Lila complains

Instead of Ladybug rolling her eyes, she just says, “You know, maybe I’ll just let Blood Knight take care of you, make our jobs a whole lot easier.”

Chat Noir plays along “Yeah, you get akumatized a lot, so this would be a win.”

“Okay! Just get rid of them!”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Ladybug says as she retracts her yoyo. Then she and Chat jump down in front of Blood Knight. Ladybug addresses the rest of the students still in the courtyard “Everyone, get out of here!” The students either took cover in the classrooms or run out of the school.

Marc is about to run but he was suddenly pushed into Blood Knight’s chest, his arm around him in a protective hold

He sighs, “And here I was thinking you two defended the weak!” He turned to the shieldmaidens “Don’t let them leave!” He hoisted Marc in his arms and jumped to the roof of the school as the writer screamed for dear life.

“FOR THE PRINCE!” The three shieldmaidens let out battle cries and surged forward to duel Ladybug and Chat Noir.

--

One short battle later, and the shieldmaidens are trapped in the lockers with no way of getting out, thanks to Chat Noir put a broomstick through the handles.

They make their way outside where many students and teachers are gathered

“Is everyone alright?” They all nod and say that they’re okay.

Aurore walks up to the two heroes

“Two more students were turned into shieldmaidens, and kidnapped Alya and Lila!” She explained frantically

“This is their fault!” One male student yelled as he pointed to the Akuma class. “If it weren’t for that lying bitch and that damn tabloid writer, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“She’s right.” A blonde girl agreed “I heard the shit you guys said about Marc, that’s why Nathaniel got akumatized! All because you believed some lying skeeze!”

“You’re all idiots!”

“Why don’t we just let Nath kill you right here, right now?!”

The students of the Akuma class who were on Lila’s side got into a verbal brawl with the other students over if Lila is a liar or not, and whose fault this was. As the commotion gets louder, a loud whistle sounds out. Everyone turns to see Chat Noir with his thumb and pointer finger in his mouth.

“You can all this discuss this later! Right now, does anyone have an idea where Nathaniel took Marc, Alya, and Lila?”

“Alya might be live-streaming for the Ladyblog.” A boy calls out “You can see where they’re going.”

“Of course! Someone bring up the Ladyblog!” Ladybug ordered

Aurore did so, and the live-stream was running, showing Alya in the clutches of one of the shieldmaidens jumping on the rooftops

“Hey, viewers! Once again, I’ve been kidnapped by a supervillain!” She said while blowing out some of her hair that was getting in her face “At least this one is less handsy!”

“She’s not the best journalist, but you gotta admire this girl’s commitment.” Chat Noir commented, to which Aurore rolled her eyes.

Alya then panned her phone around to show Marc, now in Pure Knight’s arms, looking terrified from being up so high and flinching every time Pure Knight landed on a roof.

“If this faker hadn’t stolen Lila’s story, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

She phone pans to show Lila, also terrified as she’s hoisted over a shieldmaiden’s shoulder

“Lila, care to comment?”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir, get off your fat lazy butts and HELP ME, YOU IDIOTS!” Lila screamed in response

Alta pointed the camera back to her. Confusion is visible on her face. The superheroes scowled. That girl had some nerve. The Akuma class also looks confused. Wasn’t Lila supposed to be Ladybug’s best friend?

“It looks like he’s heading for the Tower. And before he left, I think I heard him say something about the perfect kingdom for his prince.” Aurore says

—

We’ll have our kingdom, my prince.

It will be perfect like you.

What about our revenge?!

Justice will be brought shortly.

Pure Knight turned his attention to Marc, still cradled in his arms with his eyes shut tight. Ever since he became Reverser and almost plummeted to his death, Marc had a terrible fear of heights. Pure Knight gently put Marc down, and when he opened his eyes, he found that they were at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Noticing his uneasiness, Pure Knight pulls Marc closer to his chest “It will all be over soon, my prince.” He turns to the shield maidens and gives a small nod. At that, they drop Lila and Alya with an audible thunk

“You clumsy idiots!” Lila screeched

“I’ve had just about enough of you.” His armor becomes blood-red, and the broadsword returns, much to the two girls’ horror

“S-so, Blood Knight. Any reason you brought us to the Eiffel Tower?” Alya asked, pointing her phone to the Akuma

“So all of Paris can witness the downfall of this liar! She’s going to tell everyone who she really is!”

Alya was becoming frustrated “Lila is not a liar! Why does everyone-“

“SILENCE!” He is about to silence the reporter with his sword but froze when he felt Marc hold onto his arm. He looked into the boy’s pleading eyes and sighed in defeat, “You should be grateful my Prince is merciful, otherwise, I would not hesitate to slice both your necks open.”

The sword starts to glow a bright red

“It is time for you to tell the truth once and for all, Rossi!” He yelled

Lila was about to get up and run, but the two shieldmaidens held her by her wrists. Blood Knight approached her with his sword still aglow. He points the tip of it to her forehead, and Lila began to glow red.

The light dimmed, and the shieldmaidens released her. Lila fell to her knees, clutching her head in pain. Alya was about to help her, but she was met with the sharp tip of Blood Knight’s sword and went back to recording.

“Now tell all of Paris, Rossi. What have you lied about?”

“I... I... I HATE LADYBUG! I WANT HER DEAD! I CAN'T STAND HER!” Lila screamed against her will

Blood Knight nearly dropped his sword out of shock, clearly not expecting that.

“When Adrien’s friend got akumatized into Oni-Chan, I tricked Chat Noir into leaving Ladybug so she would face the Akuma alone. That sword should’ve killed her!” Lila snarled “And I’ve been working with Hawkmoth ever since so I could finally get rid of her!”

Alya and Marc’s jaws hung open. Seeing just how dangerous this girl really was, Blood Knight transformed into Pure Knight and held his shield in front of Marc

“Continue.” He ordered

“That bitch ruined my chance with Adrien! So what if I lied about being some stupid fox hero? She should’ve minded her own fucking business!”

Alya scowled and watched as the comments rolled in on the Ladyblog. A few were jabs at her, but almost all of them were aimed towards the Italian

“Then there’s Maribrat! She’s just as worse as Ladybug! I tried to get her expelled, but look how that turned out! God, I just want those two idiots dead!”

Alya shuddered at that statement. She was now starting to regret how she treated Marinette for so long.

“All she had to do was fall in line like the rest of that dumbasses! But she decided to start a war, same for that skater girl, the pink idiot, the freak, that loser artist, and that f*g!” She pointed to Marc, whose eyes widened in shock at what he had just been called

Pure Knight’s armor began to fade from white to red “What. Else?” He growled

“I’ve never been to Achu! Jagged Stone never wrote a song about me, Clara Nightingale didn’t steal my dance moves, I never saved Jagged Stone’s cat!” She yelled

Alya’s confusion and horror morphed into rage. If her grip around her phone got any tighter, the screen would probably crack.

Back at the school, everyone is watching the live stream on their phones. Every student gives the Akuma class smug looks while they just look away, embarrassed and ashamed for believing the Italian’s lies

“And Adrien’s dad hired me to spy on him in exchange for a modeling contract! He wanted me to keep Adrien away from bad influences, and I was trying to isolate him away from those losers so he’d only have me!”

Chat Noir, who was vaulting from rooftop to rooftop scowled as he heard the live-streams from people’s phones. He knew his father was an ass, but this was just sick.

“Then I stole that sissy’s story and claimed it was mine!” She glared at Marc, who was still in Pure Knight’s protective hold “He had the nerve to call me out when I said I wrote his dumb Ladybug fanfiction! If I could, I’d push him off the railing right now!”

MURDER HER!

Pure Knight let out a yell, and Blood Knight was back in his place, somehow appearing more menacing than before. He’d gotten what he wanted- For all of Paris to know the truth about this wretched girl. Now to do everyone a favor, and deliver a final blow, then his prince would be safe from her lies.

The sound of Ladybug’s yo-yo whizzing by is heard. Before Blood Knight could react, the end of the spotted hero’s weapon wrapped around his wrist, refraining him from using his sword. The heroes land between him and Marc. In Ladybug’s other hand is a tube of lipstick

“You dare to stand in the way of justice?!”

“Nathaniel, this isn’t justice! It’s revenge! Ladybug tried to reason, but to no avail

“Don’t call me that! I am Blood Knight! And as long as I’m here, no one will harm my prince ever again!”

Blood Knight pulls on his sword and flings Ladybug over the railing. She manages to hold on by one hand

“Shieldmaidens, advance!”

The two shieldmaidens surge towards Chat Noir who uses his staff like a sword against their shields. Alya rushes towards Ladybug, making sure to keep an eye on Lila in case she tries anything, and pulls her up

“Thanks, Alya.” Ladybug looks around for any way to use her Lucky Charm

Chat Noir Cataclysms the sword so Blood Knight will be forced to be defensive

Have Marc distract Pure Knight

Take the necklace while Pure Knight is distracted

“That’s it! Chat, cataclysm his sword!” She ordered

“On it, m’lady!” Chat nodded and called out “CATACLYSM!” He maneuvered past the shieldmaidens, knocking them down with his staff along the way, then ran over to Blood Knight and touched his sword just before he could swing it at the hero. The sword disappeared in his hands into black ash.

Ladybug looked over at Marc, yelled, “Heads up!” then threw her yoyo at him. Pure Knight rushed in front of him with his shield up and deflected the weapon. Repeatedly, Ladybug threw the yoyo at the shield, making Pure Knight keep it up.

While Ladybug does this, she tosses the lipstick over to Marc. He looks confused for a moment until Ladybug winks. He gets the message.

Protect him!

They won’t take him away!

“Pure Knight?”

Is the Prince okay?

Help him!

Pure Knight kept his shield steady as he turned his head towards his prince. Marc couldn’t see it, but he was blushing under that helmet. How could he not when his prince looked so... So innocent. He was clinging to his arm for safety, he had dough eyes, and... Were his lips always that shade of pink? He looked so beautiful...

Pure Knight felt the writer’s hand reach up to the visor of his helmet, and lift it to reveal his red face. Marc smiles, relieved to see Nathaniel under the cold armor. He tenderly strokes his cheek and stood on his toes so he could reach his lips.

Pure Knight’s grip on his shield loosened as he kissed the soft lips of his prince. The shield fell to the floor with a thunk as he wrapped his arms around his Prince’s waist, and lifted him to his face so Marc wouldn’t have to crane his neck up.

They were so oblivious to the world around them. They didn’t notice Alya was still live streaming, Chat Noir trying not to squeal, and Ladybug, sneaking up behind Pure Knight, grabbing the necklace, and throwing it to the floor.

The Akuma flew out, only to be caught by Ladybug’s yo-yo.

“No more evil-doing for you little Akuma. Time to de-evilize!”

The purified butterfly fluttered out of the yoyo

“Bye-bye, little butterfly.” Ladybug told it, then threw the lipstick into the air “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!”

 The thousands of ladybugs flew around the town, fixing any damage caused by the Akuma. Alix, Juleka, and Rose returned to normal and were standing outside with the other students. Kim was brought back. The other two shieldmaidens reverted back to their former selves. And the truth curse on Lila was lifted.

Black and purple mist engulfed Pure Knight, then lifted to reveal Nathaniel, his head resting on Marc’s shoulder. He looks around, confused

“Rainbow? Where am I?” He asked, but then noticed his yin-yang necklace on the floor, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and realized what happened “Oh my God.“ he looked to Marc, concerned “I didn’t hurt you, did-“ He didn’t finish as Marc hugged him tightly

“Don’t you ever do that again.” He whispered

“I... I didn’t want you to get akumatized again.” Nathaniel said as he ran his fingers through Marc’s hair “I love you, Rainbow.”

”I love you too, Nath.”

“You could’ve gotten here sooner, you know!” Lila screeched “I HATE YOU LADYBUG! HATE YOU!”

“WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU LITTLE FUCKING CUNT?!” Ladybug cursed, much to everyone’s shock “I AM SO FUCKING DONE WITH YOU! I can live with you getting akumatized five dame times, hurting an innocent student, but I will not tolerate homophobia! Don’t think I didn’t hear what you said about Marc on the live-stream!”

Lila backed away, actually afraid, but bumped into Chat Noir who was snarling

“I should’ve cataclysmed you instead.”

Lila scoffed “Like you’d hurt me! Imagine everyone’s reactions when they see Ladybug and Chat Noir hurting an innocent civilian!”

“You’re just a little dumbass, aren’t you?” Ladybug asked coldly “Did you seriously forget that Alya has been live-streaming this whole time?” Lila paled as she saw the phone in Alya’s hands, and the news-choppers recording the scene “All of Paris heard every. Fucking. Thing.”

Chat Noir places a hand on her shoulder, and dug his claws in “And I’m sure the feds would love to hear how you’ve been working with a terrorist for the past three months.”

Lila tries to lie her way out of this once again “Th-they were all lies!” She claimed as she brought out the crocodile tears “The Akuma made me say them! He was just doing what Marc told him to because he’s jealous-“ She’s finally silence when a fist collided with her face. She falls to the floor with a thud.

Everyone looked at Alya, shocked.

“That’s for turning me against my best friend!” She yelled. No one noticed the touched look on Ladybug’s face

—

The police arrested Lila, and she was sent to life in prison for working with a terrorist, forging signatures, stealing money from students that were meant for charities, and many more. She went to a prison in Italy, because she was still kinda pissed about being exposed, and Hawkmoth could easily send an Akuma and allow her to break out.

Alya was the first to apologize to Marinette. The bluenette accepted her apology, but it would be a while before she could forgive Alya and the rest of her classmates. Adrien also apologized for giving her such stupid advice. It would also be a while before Marinette could forgive him.

Nevertheless, she still hung out with them, and their friendship slowly rekindled.

Marc and Nathaniel also received apologies, same for Alix, Rose, and Juleka for being treated as outcasts and badmouthed for months. Like Marinette, it would take time for them to forgive the Akuma class.

And Marc made Nathaniel swear to never be stupid and take an Akuma like that again. If the redhead weren’t so cute, Marc would gladly knock some sense into him.

[nerdypanda3126]

15: “I don’t want to get up — you’re too comfy.” Adrienette or Marichat. Congrats on 100 followers! 🥳

Both? Both. Both is good. lol Hope you like it! ^^

Five Times Marinette Snuggled with Chat Noir (And One Time with Adrien)

Read on Ao3

I.

“Marinette, look! I beat your high…” Chat’s triumphant crow was cut off when he noticed that Marinette had fallen asleep slumped over her textbook.

When he’d gotten there a little earlier, she’d yawned as she told him he was welcome to hang out as long as he kept her awake so she could study. Oops. As he watched, she slumped further over and was in danger of falling out of her chair. He jumped to her side to catch her before she slid to the floor.

“Okay, I think it’s time for bed, Marinette.”

He chuckled as her full body weight fell into him. Yep, she was out cold. Thank goodness he was suited up, or struggling to get her dead weight out of her chair and up to her loft would’ve been a much bigger challenge. He set her down on her bed as gently as he could and she settled onto her side with a contented sigh. He smiled fondly at her. She was always working so hard. He was actually relieved he’d failed at keeping her awake. She deserved some rest.

He shifted on her bed to position himself below the skylight so he could pull himself up without waking her. But before he could, an arm wrapped around his waist and—with a surprising amount of strength—pulled him backwards. His face flamed when she pressed her chest against his back and nuzzled into him before she mumbled something incoherent and sighed again. She was still asleep, then. He breathed a sigh of relief. But until she shifted, or loosened her iron grip on him, he wasn’t going anywhere.

He didn’t intend to fall asleep. But her bed was so much warmer than his, and her breathing was rising and falling so steadily, and her arm was so snugly wrapped around him… his eyes had fluttered closed before he could help it.

II.

He knew instantly something was wrong when his boots hit her balcony and she was out in her chair with a blanket wrapped around her. Before he could say anything, she hid her face and wiped at her eyes hurriedly, sniffling. When she turned back to him, her eyes were red and her smile wobbled.

“Chat, hi.” She wiped at her cheeks again. “Um, what’s up?”

“I think I should be asking you,” he said. “Why were you crying?”

“Crying? No, I wasn’t—this is, well I mean, okay, I was crying, but not because of anything…”

Her eyes met his and he watched her smile falter. He rushed to her side before she broke and gathered her into an awkward sideways hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and he felt her shaking when she started crying silently. He kept watch over her for purple butterflies and smoothed his claws through her hair in what he hoped was a comforting movement.

When her tears finally died down, she shifted sideways and he perched on the side of her chair with her, cradling her against his chest.

“Can I do anything to help?” he asked quietly.

She shook her head against him. “This is enough.”

“Okay.” He squeezed her shoulders and looked up to watch the stars instead. It didn’t take long for her breathing to even out.

When he was sure she was deeply asleep, he carried her inside and tucked her in again, this time making sure to avoid her cuddle reflex. Although he wouldn’t have minded being caught again, if he was honest. When he was back on her balcony, he looked back and noticed she was frowning slightly in her sleep and reaching out to the spot he’d occupied last time. That shouldn’t have made his heart flutter in his chest, and he couldn’t have explained why it most certainly did.

III.

“Chat Noir, you’re not going home like that,” Marinette admonished him.

“I’ll be fine, princess, my house is like a… it’s a hop, skip, and a jump from here.” He waved in the general direction of his house and tried to give her a devilish grin, but in his sleep-deprived state, he was pretty sure it ended up looking more like a woozy half-smile.

“The fact that you just told me that means you’re definitely not okay to go home.”

He would’ve been offended that she was laughing at him if his eyelids weren’t so unbearably heavy. A late night akuma and an early morning photoshoot on top of his already full day wasn’t a great combination, now that he thought about it. Whose idea was that, anyways?

“Pff. Hawkmoth,” he mumbled. “What the heck kind of name is that, anyways? Hawk. Moth. Are you a… are you a hawk or a moth?” He yawned. “Make up your mind, am I right?”

“You’re right.” Marinette was still chuckling at him as she pushed him down to her chaise. His legs gave out surprisingly easy and he fell backwards.

“Whoa. You’re strong.”

“And you’re staying here.” She pushed him back down when he tried to sit up. He didn’t have enough strength to pull himself up again.

“Mmm. Cat nap sounds nice,” he heard himself say, then he smiled as he felt a blanket get draped across him. “You’re nice, too.”

He thought he saw her smiling before his eyelids fluttered decidedly closed.

When he woke up, a little less loopy and a little more well rested, Marinette was snuggled up against him on the chaise. He’d turned to his side while he slept and his arm was wrapped around her waist while she nuzzled into his chest. Her hands were curled up around her chin and she was smiling in her sleep. He let himself relax again and tucked the blanket a little more securely over them both. Best cat nap ever.

IV.

The slick rain on the rooftop, combined with his blurry vision, made him slip and fumble a landing as he ran over the rooftops of Paris. His ankle had twisted; he knew it from the sharp sting he felt every time his left foot landed. But he couldn’t stop. He didn’t know where he was going. Didn’t care. As long as it was away from the mansion. Away from his father and… away from what he’d seen. He’d have to tell Ladybug. They’d have to go after him. But tonight. Tonight he could barely breathe. Could barely see straight.

The hazy lights of Marinette’s balcony registered a minute after he crash landed. He dragged himself over to the corner and curled into a ball, hoping she wasn’t home. Hoping he hadn’t woken her from whatever pleasant dream she’d been having. He hoped it was pleasant. He curled tighter into himself and let himself weep.

The light from her skylight fell across him and he groaned. Of course she was here. Of course she’d heard him as he’d clattered to her roof.

“Chat Noir?” He didn’t miss the note of panic in her voice, but he didn’t move to acknowledge her. Maybe she didn’t know for sure. Maybe she just came to check.

Her hand touched his shoulder, then she was leaning over him, blocking the rain.

“Are you hurt? What’s going on?”

He watched her eyes glance over him, checking for injuries, before they finally fell on his face.

“Oh, kitty,” she whispered. She reached out to touch her fingers to his cheek, and without thinking about it, he leaned into her touch. She blew out a breath and her mood shifted. Became gently authoritative. It flickered something in the back of his mind. A memory. But he didn’t care to try to place it.

“Okay. Come on. Inside. Out of the rain.” She tugged at him, and his hand fell limply from hers. She sighed. “Chat, I’ll carry you if I have to, but we need to get you inside and dried off, okay?”

He sniffed and pulled himself up to sit against her railing. For a moment, he raised his face to the sky and let the rain wash over him. Felt nice. Cold. It ran rivulets through his hair and he realized he was soaked. His ankle was starting to throb. Inside. Right.

He let Marinette pull him to his feet and usher him inside, leaning heavily on her and wincing as the pain of his ankle set in. She sat him on the edge of her bed and disappeared to find towels for him. He hung his head between his knees and clasped his hands around his neck. Deep breaths. Marinette couldn’t protect him if he got akumatized right now. He wasn’t sure he could protect Marinette, either.

When she came back, he sat up and let her fuss over him. Let her fluff his hair with the towel and wipe his face and neck. Her bed where he’d been sitting was soaked through from the runoff of his suit, but she didn’t even seem to notice.

"I shouldn't be here," he whispered. "Marinette, if I'm akumatized…"

"Don't worry about it."

She sounded so sure. So firm. He didn't bother protesting anymore. Instead he fell back onto her bed and stared through the skylight. Watched the rain streak across the glass. At some point she crawled into the bed next to him and he wrapped his arm around her automatically.

She didn't say anything else, or ask him to talk about it. Having her weight against him was comfort enough, and he drifted off along with her.

V.

"Pound it?" Ladybug held out her fist for him and smiled. He bumped his knuckles against hers and turned to vault away. Her hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Chat, what's the rush? It's over. We won. Don't you want to celebrate?"

His eyes slid over to Hawkmoth, revealed to the world to be his own father, and bile rose to his throat.

"Not really, no." He winced as her face fell. "I mean, I do, or at least I will. There's just someone I want to check on first. Make sure she's okay."

Ladybug's head quirked sideways and her brow furrowed as she tried to understand. "The Miraculous Ladybugs fixed everything."

"I know." He looked away, towards Marinette's balcony. "I just don't think it'll feel real until I see her."

Ladybug's hand fell from his shoulder in silent understanding and she let him vault away.

When he dropped to Marinette's balcony, she was there to meet him. Before she could say anything, he swept her into his arms. Into a bone-crushing bear hug that knocked the breath out of them both. He buried his face in her hair and breathed her in.

"You okay, kitty?" She laughed and the way she held him back almost made him believe she'd been just as worried about him.

"Purrfect," he purred before he sighed. All the tension and adrenaline of the battle left him. It was real. It was over. "And exhausted," he admitted.

"Me, too." She was smiling as she pulled away and led him over to her skylight. When they reached her bed, they collapsed into a sprawl of limbs, and he fell instantly asleep with her scent surrounding him, his arms wrapped entirely around her, happy and home.

VI.

He woke up first. Plagg flew into his vision and they shared the familiar panic. Leave. Hide. The small sleeping form of Marinette practically on top of him was both a blessing and a curse. He didn't want to wake her. But he shook her shoulders gently anyways.

"Marinette, keep your eyes closed. I have to go."

“Nooo…" she groaned as she nuzzled into his neck. "I don’t want to get up—you’re too comfy.”

He chuckled and ran his thumb along her bare arm, delighting in the goosebumps that sprang up under his touch.

"Unless you want me to let the cat out of the bag…"

She paused and he felt her face scrunch against him as she screwed her eyes shut. "It's okay now, though, right?"

Well, that was a loaded question. Yes, he supposed the identity rule was nullified by Hawkmoth's defeat. But he hadn't talked about it yet with Ladybug. And he always thought she'd be the first to know. He shared another look with Plagg, but his kwami just shrugged. Adrien’s choice, then.

As he ran his thumb back up Marinette's arm, he realized that more than anything he wanted this. To touch her without the gloves and run his fingers through her hair. He wanted her to look into his eyes, not the ones covered by Plagg's magic. Hawkmoth was gone. His father was gone. Ladybug would understand.

"Okay.” He blew out a breath. “You can open your eyes."

Her grip around his waist tightened, and she curled into him before she took a deep breath and turned her face towards his. Her eyes were still shut. He chuckled and ran his thumb across her furrowed brow, smoothing out the worried crease that had formed, before he ducked down to press a kiss to her forehead.

"Marinette. It's okay."

She shook her head against him. "Me first." She sighed and clutched his shirt. "Chat, I'm--" she paused and took another deep breath. "I'm Ladybug."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she opened one eye, then the next. Her breath seemed to leave her in a short gasp as her bluebell eyes met his.

"And you're Adrien," she whispered.

[miraculouscontent]

Based on your tags there's apparently a new episode called 'Lies.' Do I even WANT to know what its about?

No, but I’m here to provide anyway. :’3

(note that the episode takes place at the same time as “Truth,” with Lies as an akuma coming in right after; funnily enough, this means the scene below with Marinette and the kwami literally can’t exist in the placement that it is; keep that in mind when you realize what they use the end of the scene for because clearly the priority wasn’t on the grimoire, it was to reassure its audience of “something”)

- The episode opens with Marinette in her room and the kwami flying around, complaining to Tikki about how the grimoire doesn’t make any sense (as she apparently does not have the translated version). Tikki insists that it’s normal and that its meanings are hidden on purpose to protect the secret of their powers. Marinette points out that she - a guardian - still can’t understand it, and Tikki assures her that she’ll discover the secret soon like Master Fu did; after all, she helped with the aqua power-up. Marinette is now filled with confidence, but gets distracted when the kwami drop an apple on the keyboard, causing the news to pop up on Marinette’s monitor (how does Marinette’s computer work at this point anyway???).

- Nadja is talking about Paris celebrating Prince Ali’s birthday, but the kwami who dropped the apple swoop down and retrieve the fruit, stepping on the keyboard a bit more in the process. The news swaps to Alec, who is talking about Aaaaaadrien (there it is) and an exclusive report about his life. Marinette chimes in with Adrien’s name and watches as a couple clips are shown where some reporters apparently followed Adrien’s daily life. Marinette sighs about how amazing Adrien’s life is.

- Cut to Adrien coming home. He sets up his phone up as usual to fake that he’s playing piano, then cheers that he’s finally free and says his transformation phrase, much to Plagg’s dismay as he was about to eat some cheese.

- Chat Noir leaps out of his house and across rooftops until he gets to his apparent designated spot for patrol. He calls Ladybug, but she’s not picking up due to not being transformed, so it goes to her answering machine. Chat leaves her a message and tells her that he’s there on time “as usual,” then reminds her that it’s time for patrol and asks if she forgot.

- The scene speeds through Chat Noir idling on the rooftop in various positions until he decides to check his baton for new messages. He has none. He lays back and calls Ladybug again but gets no answer, leaving her a message saying that maybe she has “more important things to do now that she’s the guardian” (intentionally using air quotes on that one). He cheers back up to say that “it’s okay” because he’s the cat for the job and he’ll just start patrol without her, adding that he’ll “see her soon” and to “let him know.”

- Chat Noir leaps elsewhere and sees some kids shouting his name. He hops down, ready for a fight, but it turns out that they just wanted to take his picture. He checks his baton again, but still no messages. The scene then to Chat Noir idling on a bench in the park between “Mister Banana” and Xavier Ramier (”Mister Pigeon”). Chat Noir gives some one-sided banter to Mister Banana, then suddenly turns to Xavier and points out that he hasn’t been akuamtized for a while. Chat Noir then proceeds to egg on a potential akumatization, asking if Xavier misses being Mister Pigeon and then going on to question if he feels any negative emotions. Xavier thanks Chat Noir for worrying but assures him that he’s in an excellent mood that day. Chat Noir, saddened by this, gets up to leave, and Xavier asks him to say “hello” to Ladybug for him. Chat Noir says that he will... “if he sees her one day.” He checks his baton to see that he has no new messages still.

- Cut to Chat Noir idly in a hotel with Chloe’s butler offering him a glass of milk. He asks about Ladybug and points out that she hasn’t shown up a lot lately, to which Chat Noir admits that things have been calm. After drinking his glass of milk, Chat Noir hears shouting and looks over to see Chloe arguing with Sabrina about a bag she’d apparently lost. Sabrina tries to tell Chloe that the bag is still hanging around Chloe’s shoulder, but Chloe cuts Sabrina off and tells her to not to speak to her nor look at her. Chat Noir gets excited at the prospect of an akumatization happening, but Chloe finally notices her bag and gets all happy again. She asks Sabrina why she didn’t say anything and Sabrina tries to point out that Chloe forbade her from speaking, but Chloe insinuates that that’s always the case anyway, again telling Sabrina to hush up. Chat Noir slumps back onto the counter and asks for a larger glass of milk instead.

- Cut to Chat Noir back on a rooftop, having still gotten no messages from Ladybug. Chat Noir calls her and she doesn’t pick up, so he leaves her a message and refers to himself as “the one she stood up,” but cuts himself off when he hears something going on. He peeks over the rooftop to see Kagami fencing with Tomoe. They go back and forth a bit, vagely talking about her becoming better than Adrien, and Kagami assures her mother not to worry because she has what she needs to succeed. Chat Noir smiles and leaves a message for Ladybug that it’s the end of patrol, then leaves.

- Adrien returns home, sad, pulling out his phone and staring sadly at Ladybug’s picture on his lock-screen. Plagg makes an idle comment about “variety” and hovers over Adrien’s picture of the fencing team with him next to Kagami. The scene then cuts to Adrien staring sadly down at two chunks of cheese, one with a red rind and one with a brownish-white rind. Adrien then gets a call from Nathalie informing him that Kagami had called to say that the fencing class schedule had changed again and it’ll be an hour early. Adrien brightens a little and thanks her, then ponders to himself what Kagami is hiding.

- Cut to Kagami in her car listening to Tomoe ramble about how the schedule changes the Agrestes “imposed” are exhausting, then tells Kagami to make the most of it by doing an extra hour of Russian. Kagami agrees and the scene cuts to Adrien listening to Gabriel rambling about how the schedule changes the Tsurugis “imposed” are exhausting, then tells Adrien to not forget to try on an outfit he’d finished for his next photoshoot, which Adrien agrees to.

- Kagami and Adrien enter school together and Fred Haprele is confused, pointing out that their fencing class starts in one hour and D’Argencourt isn’t there yet. Kagami feigns surprise and says that she thought she had the right schedule this time. Fred apologize and starts to say that they can’t stay alone in school, but Kagami finishes the sentence for him and then tells him that it’s no problem and they’ll come back in an hour. As Fred turns back around to continue sweeping the school grounds, Adrien asks Kagami what she’s going to do and Kagami drags him off into the art room.

- Kagami pulls a sketchpad out of her bag and admits that she’s always been passionate about drawing but never told anyone. She talks about how “art never lies” and how poses people do reflect their personalities. She flips through a few pages and Adrien is amazing. Kagami solemnly says that her mother doesn’t let her draw, thinking she’s not good enough, but Adrien chimes in that he thinks Kagami is incredibly talented.

- Kagami pulls Adrien onto the raised platform in the artroom and requests that he pose for her, because she wants to draw him. Adrien asks how she wants him to pose and she tells him to pose with whatever he feels comfortable with. Kagami talks about an artist she admires and adds that she’d liked to draw him like the characters she used to paint, asking idly if Adrien knew that he used to sign his drawings with a Japanese ideogram. She then gets frustrated with her drawing and decides to redo it because it’s “not Adrien.” Adrien asks to see it, but she’s already crumpled it up. Skilling tossing the paper in the garbage without looking, she asks him to make a different pose. She states that it’s easy to make beautiful art of him since he’s beautiful, but she wants to draw the real him; who he is inside.

- Adrien tries a few different poses, with Kagami getting progressively more frustrated and telling him to change each time. She points out that they’re his model poses and reqeusts that he try something more natural. Adrien confidently strikes his Chat Noir transformation pose and Kagami looks unamused. Adrien backpedals and tries to ask what she thinks, but Kagami insists that it’s still not natural. Adrien sadly states that he promises that it’s really him, but Kagami interjects that it’s him when he’s “acting like a clown.” Adrien tries to go on that maybe that’s the real him, to which Kagami approaches, grabs his hand and puts it to his chest, then starts pressing him against the wall (the shot weirdly has a cut when she’s pushing him where his hand is back at his side even though both of her hands are on him, so I have no idea what happened). Kagami insists that this is the real him and Adrien asks if she’s sure, to which Kagami states that she is and that he’s perfect, promptly leaning in for a kiss.

- Their phones then go off, interrupting the one-sided kiss from happening, and Adrien hurried states that it’s actually time for fencing now. He’s seen smiling on the way out and Kagami as well.

- Cut to fencing practice. At one point, Kagami lifts her helmet to kiss Adrien’s helmet, then Adrien raises his helmet for them to kiss (mutually this time). However, Adrien hears birds and looks over to see Ladybug chasing a flock of clearly-controlled pigeons from beyond the school doors (i.e: Mister Pigeon is back, who Chat Noir had hoped to get akumatized earlier; the one who is now interrupting Marinette and Luka’s movie date+kiss since “Lies” takes place at roughly the same time). He makes a quick excuse about forgetting something in the locker room and leaves, though Kagami just smiles at it for now.

- Cut to Chat Noir leaping up a building and seeing Ladybug, at which point we get a reused clip from Truth, so I’m just going to copy from my episode summary of that:

- Ladybug is listening to a message from Chat Noir that she presumably got earlier, stating that he’s ready for patrol. While she’s listening, Chat Noir sneaks up and pranks/surprises her, to which she grabs his wrist and yeets him off into the distance. Realizing what she did, she yoyos him back and he slams into the window. She scolds him because she could’ve hurt him and Chat Noir states that “the only thing that hurts him is when she leaves him alone for patrols” and how he “even missed her angry looks.” She reminds him that she’s been busy and he says that he knows because she’s guardian now. Ladybug promises not to forget patrol again and they go off to fight Mister Pigeon.

- The scene cuts away to Adrien rushing to Kagami at Andre’s ice cream stand (Luka has just walked away). Adrien and Kagami are about to enjoy their ice cream when Adrien sees a sentimonster that Ladybug is in the middle of fighting. Adrien tells Kagami that he has to go home because his father must be worried, then rushes off. Kagami stares sadly down at her ice cream.

- The scene cuts to Adrien, Alya, and Nino leaving school while Marinette is riding away with Luka on his bike. Marinette waves good-bye to them and they wave back, but Luka gets a message from Kagami and quickly hurries into his car before reading the message. Kagami’s car pulls up beside his and they both put their windows down to kiss, but Adrien sees Ladybug chasing an akuma and hurriedly tells Kagami that he forgot something in class, assuring that he’d call her later. Kagami looks upset and tells her driver to drive off.

- The scene then cuts to Kitty Section and Adrien playing together with Kagami, Marinette, and the others watching. They finish and get cheered for, after which Nino approaches Adrien and says that he filmed it all and the concert was great. Adrien rejects the compliment because he missed the intro, but Ivan and Rose reassure him that they can just play again. Kagami interrupts to say that it’s time to go, then shakes her head when Adrien asks for a few more minutes. Adrien promises Nino that he’ll do better next time, then walks off with Kagami.

- While going across the gangplank together, Kagami takes Adrien’s hand, which surprises him and causes him to drop his belongings. They pick them up together and smile at each other, but Marinette’s lucky charm bracelet slips out of Adrien’s pocket when he goes to get up. Kagami sees it as they’re leaving and picks it up.

- Adrien notices that their rides aren’t here yet and laments that they could’ve played one more song. Kagami comments that they at least get to spend more time together, but Adrien tells her not to worry because they’ll have enough time together when they go to Prince Ali’s birthday party. Kagami grabs his hand and corrects that she meant time where it’s only the two off them, then starts talking about how happy she is with him and how she thinks they’re very similar. However, Adrien sees Ladybug off in the distance and gets distracted, meaning that - when Kagami asks him if he feels the same - he’s not paying attention. Kagami realizes this and turns to look at what Adrien is looking at, but there’s nothing there. Adrien apologizes and claims that he saw a wasp. Kagami tries again to ask him if he loves her back, but Adrien still isn’t paying attention, asking what she was saying. Kagami asks him what’s the matter and Adrien claims that he lost something on the boat when his bag fell, telling Kagami not to wait for him. Kagmai, disappointed, gets into her car that’s just arrived and requests to be taken to the town hall.

- Adrien goes in front of a building and lets Plagg come out. Plagg talks about how he hopes they’re still going to the prince’s birthday since the best cheese is served when there are big ceremonies, but Adrien states that Ladybug needs him right now and transforms. He checks his messages and is told by Ladybug that Hawk Moth merged his powers with the peacock to become Shadow Moth. He then goes to the Liberty, where Truth is there asking Ladybug what her identity is, having already shot Ladybug and captured her under Pharo’s spotlight. Chat Noir cuts in and takes Ladybug into the water with him.

- Meanwhile, Kagami arrives at the town hall, where Andre (the mayor) is wishing Prince Ali a happy brithday. Tomoe reminds Kagami that she agreed with Gabriel that Kagami would come with Adrien and Kagami covers for him, stating that Adrien is answering questions from journalists. Kagami is then seen sitting on the stairs outside, staring sadly at the lucky charm in her hand.

- Cut to nighttime and a reused scene from “Truth:”

- Ladybug and Chat Noir hop up to a roof and Chat comments on how much fun he had. Ladybug describes what just happened and is like if that’s fun for you then yeah. Chat idles on Shadow Moth’s name and Ladybug shows confidence that they’ll catch him in the end, after which they banter a bit and Chat Noir tells her that it’s “only with her that he can have so much fun.”

- Adrien returns and tells Kagmai that he hopes he didn’t make her wait too long. Kagami, the lucky charm behind her back, says that she hopes that Adrien found what he was looking for. Adrien is confused and Kagami reminds him of what he’d said. Adrien hurriedly states that he found it and thanks her. Kagami asks him what it was and Adrien says that it was a lucky charm that Marinette gave to him, but when he goes to pull it out, realizes that he’d actually lost it. He tries to claim that he lost it “again,” but Kagami finally pulls out the lucky charm and shows it to him. Dread washes over Adrien’s face as he realizes the lie he’s been caught in.

- Kagami confesses that she’s lied to, having lied to her mother so they could see each other, even lied that he came with her tonight, and lied during their fencing classes so she can spend more time with him. Hurt, she points out that they’re both liars, but that the difference is that she lies to be with him and he lies to get away from her. She turns away and opens the town hall door to leave, and when Adrien tries to call out to her, she states that she’d rather be alone and shuts the door behind her.

- Shadow Moth appears and summons his akuma, sending it out to the sad Kagami. He offers her the power to rid the world of liars in exchange for the miraculouses, to which Kagami agrees. Adrien opens the door just in time to see the new akuma, Lies, and see her start to form an orb of light around her. Adrien shuts the door and lets out Plagg, stating that this is his fault and he has to save Kagami.

- Meanwhile, Jagged Stone is playing for Prince Ali while Penny is trying to stop Fang from eating the cake on the table. Lies’ orb of light then shines through the door, shocking everyone as they step back in fear. Roger pulls out his taser and demands to know what’s going on, to which Lies asks if he’s ever lied. Roger claims that a policeman never lies, but Lies states that he’s lying and Roger gets engulfed in the light, making him freeze in place. Lies then refers to Tomoe as “Mother” and asks if she’s ever lied. Tomoe realizes it’s Kagami and starts to say that she didn’t permit her to--then Tomoe gets engulfed and also frozen. The others start to get engulfed as well and Chat Noir enters, almost calling Lies “Kagami” before catching himself and telling her to stop. Lies comments that Chat is a new candidate for a lie detector test, and Chat Noir tells her that he’s not lying when he tells her that he’ll free her from Shadow Moth.

- Jagged chimes in to say that he’ll help. Chat tells him to go hide but Jagged insists that he fears nothing. Bob Roth pops into view to say that Jagged lies about his age, at which point Jagged is shocked and tells him that it’s not very rock n’ roll to--then he gets engulfed too.

- Chat Noir escapes through a window and Lies goes on about a world without lies wouldn’t need superheroes like Chat Noir. Chat Noir considers Cataclysming the sphere, but Ladybug shows up, yoyoing his hand and stating that touching the phere will paralyze him. Chat Noir tells her that it won’t if you’ve never lied, to which Ladybug asks him if he never has. Chat admits that it’s not the case and they back away from the light together. Chat asks if Ladybug has never lied and she tells him that she obviously has because they have to lie at least to keep their identities a secret, adding that if they touch the sphere, nothing will stop it from taking over Paris.

- Ladybug uses Lucky Charm and gets a box with an entire drone inside. She states that they can’t go inside, but a drone can’t lie so it can. She tells Chat Noir to be a distraction while she sends in the drone, and they take out their earpiece communication devices to keep in touch.

- Chat Noir goes to distact Lies, shouting a bunch of things that clearly aren’t true. Ladybug sends her drone inside while Shadow Moth tells Lies to go after Chat Noir and retrieve his miraculous, to which Lies says that she won’t go back on her word and liars always pay for their mistakes.

- Ladybug saw the bracelet and tells Chat that she knows that the akumatized object is. Chat Noir tells her to break it but Ladybug states that she doesn’t know how to without touching it. Chat Noir admits that only a person who’s never lied can enter the sphere and such a person doesn’t exist, but Ladybug sees that Fang is still moving and gets an idea, her Lucky Vision highlighting the cake, Fang, and the device she’s seeing the drone’s vision through. She tells Chat Noir that Fang is an animal, so it doesn’t know how to lie. Chat Noir says it’s great thinking and Ladybug uses the drone to pick up each individual slice of cake, using one of the cakes to coax Fang and make him free himself from Penny’s leash.

- Ladybug lures Fang all across Paris while Chat Noir flees from Lies’ orb of light. Chat Noir climbs up a building and uses his baton to hoist himself even higher, but he’s trapped himself now. Ladybug states that, if Lies sees the drone coming, the plan goes bust, to which Chat Noir says that there are only two liars left in Paris and only one of them can turn her attention. Ladybug immediately catches onto what he’s about to do and tells him not to, asking what they’ll do if she’s wrong. Chat Noir simply states that he trusts her, letting go of his baton and falling towards the orb of light. Ladybug states that he’s crazy and he simply states that he’s “crazy for her,” promptly falling into the orb of light. Ladybug laments his unconsciousness and the scene cuts to inside the orb, where Lies finds Chat Noir on the ground. Ladybug urges the drone to hurry and sends it inside the orb of light alongside Fang.

- Lies starts removing Chat Noir’s ring and is halfway there when a slice of cake drops next to her. She’s confused and Fang enters, chomping down on the cake and the bracelet in the process. The akuma is freed and Kagami gets de-akumatized, Shadow Moth shouting in dismay at the loss. Ladybug purifies the akuma and casts Miraculous Ladybug, leading to Chat Noir waking up to Fang licking the side of his face. He recoils and Ladybug charges at him, slamming her fists against his chest and yelling at him, stating that he needs to stop doing these sorts of things. Chat Noir boops her and states that, yeah, but he does it because he finds that “angry little pout” of hers absolutely irresistable. Ladybug squints/glares at him, but is smiling.

- The two fist bump and the scene cuts away to Adrien de-transforming in an alley, leading against a wall and sighing out Ladybug’s name. Plagg states that he understands the romance of it as - even though he loves every type of cheese - he always comes back to his favorite, camembert. Adrien gives Plagg a slice in response and Plagg eats it.

- Cut to the next day, where Kagami and Adrien are fencing. Kagami fences him off the mat and against a pole, getting a little violent in the process, but D’Argencourt cuts in to say that they’re there for fencing, not solving personal problems. The scene then cuts to Adrien and Kagami in the locker room, where Adrien apologizes for hurting her, but adds that all the good times they shared weren’t lies. Kagami states that she knows he’s hiding something, but that there’s also sincerity in him. Adrien asks if they can’t be friends anymore and Kagami cuts in to ask how she could trust someone who lied to her. She gives Adrien back Marinette’s lucky charm, then picks up her bag, stating that she’ll let him know when she’s ready to see him again. Adrien stares sadly at the lucky charm in his hand and the scene cuts away to Chat Noir and Ladybug on the rooftops.

- Chat Noir tells Ladybug that the difference between them and the rest of the world is that they can’t be completely honest; that they have their secrets and have to lie. They both look solemn at this, then suddenly brighten and turn to each other, stating that they know they can at least trust each other.

- They fist bump and the episode ends.

[mc-lukanette]

42 Lukanette Thoughts

Marinette waiting until Luka’s birthday to give him a response to his confession. He’s absolutely “offended” and she’s just grinning at him.

Luka not being able to swim despite living on a boat. Bonus if Marinette invites him and Juleka out to the swimming pool one day and the absolute love-struck dork finds himself unable to say “no” to her. Juleka thinks it’s hilarious that he can’t just admit to Marinette that he can’t swim, so she has a blast constantly making everything worse, like telling Marinette that Luka doesn’t have a swimsuit so Marinette’ll end up making one for him.

Marinette thinking about the whole “LadyNoir” situation while she’s sketching in her notebook. She finds that she doesn’t even like the way her name meshes with Chat’s. One thought leads to another and she - while not even thinking - ends up writing “Lukanette” in her sketchbook. Cut to her hanging out with Luka later and showing him the designs she came up with that day, meaning that Luka ends up seeing “Lukanette” so casually written in her sketchbook.

Luka Knows™️ but also has to hide it because he can’t have Marinette thinking that he’s crushing on Ladybug. This eventually leads to him telling Ladybug that she can come to him at any time, which leads to nights of Ladybug giving him the snake so he can go on patrol with her. He’s not ready for her lowkey flirting and has to keep reminding himself that he’s not supposed to react since she doesn’t know that he Knows™️.

AU where Kitty Section never became a thing, but it turns out that Marinette’s good at writing lyrics. She actually ends up singing along to a song that Luka never had lyrics for and that’s how she becomes his lyricist.

A concept: switching around “Frozer” and “Captain Hardrock,” meaning that, when Luka goes to comfort this “stranger” walking onto deck, he might not even hear about the ice rink. If he does, they’re not close enough for her to ask him to come with her but he offers her some quick ice skating lessons before the “third-wheeling date.” If he doesn’t and thus gives Marinette no lessons, Adrimi ends up happening due to Marinette staying mostly off the ice due to clumsiness and constantly feeling bad over seeing Adrien and Kagami there, which leads into “Captain Hardrock” where she meets Luka again without any sort of Adrien influence (outside of her getting over him).

Marinette always being made fun of and called “funny” due to her clumsiness when she was little. Likewise, Luka was always considered too “soft” so he began to see it as an insult. Once they’re older, they end up calling each other “funny”/“soft” and suddenly find that it hits very different when it’s THEM saying it to each other because they can tell that there’s no maliciousness there.

Post-reveal friendly shenanigans where Luka is somewhere, idling on his phone, when a flash of red and black swoops down and snatches it out of his hand. He looks around, confused, then manages to catch the sight of Ladybug this time as she swoops back the other way and hands his phone back. He sees that she took a picture of herself winking + sticking her tongue out with his phone and now he can’t stop grinning stupidly to himself.

Marinette waking up after a stressful/exhausting day, then seeing the time and frantically calling Luka, worried that she’d missed an event or something. There’s a light chuckle on the other line as Luka reminds her that it’s Sunday and nothing’s going on so she should get back to sleep.

Post-Guardian Marinette things where Luka is her confidant who she told about her guardian status. Marinette occasionally lets the kwami free whenever she knows that Tom and Sabine won’t come up to disturb them, but it leads to a “problem” of sorts. Pollen, of course, calls Marinette her “queen,” but now that Luka is there also, Pollen calls him her “king” and Marinette and Luka are collectively dying.

Silly thing: snakes of all kinds being attached to Marinette. She’ll go to pet stores and they’ll boop their noses against the glass, wanting her attention. Luka feels unnecessarily smug post-dating because he’s her snake and no one else is.

Luka Knows™️ and finds a way for Marinette to vent about her Ladybug duties without her having to tell him her identity, like mentioning things that happened with Ladybug that day and giving her an opening to talk about them, if only from a faux-outsider’s perspective.

Luka having a terrible day, to the point where he’s legitimately worried about being akumatized. He decides to call Marinette as an akuma starts flying past the window, and just hearing Marinette’s voice alone fills Luka with such positive energy that the akuma is immediately repelled like wow ok i’m out. He watches the akuma leave with a smile and whispers, ”You’re amazing, Marinette.” “W-what?? Did you call just to tell me that?” “No, but it’s true.”

Marinette decides that she wants a challenge and asks Luka if she can make a full guitar for him. He knows he’d be stupid not to agree, but then Marinette shyly adds a condition: he has to name the guitar after her. Luka has no idea how to explain to her that he’s already named a guitar after her so she might have to settle for her guitar being “Marinette 2.”

Luka Knowing™️ and it makes him legitimately upset at how much stress and responsibility has been placed on her. He ends up getting akumatized so he can take her earrings, not to bring them to Hawk Moth, but to “save” her.

Viperion in a particularly tough akuma-related battle. Ladybug legitimately doesn’t know if they’re going to make it out okay, so she ends up finding a moment to confess to him. Cut to later when he ends up having to go back with Second Chance, erasing the moment from time, and apparently he’s just supposed to focus and pretend like he’s okay and he is SO getting her back when this fight is over.

Marinette being afraid to confess to Luka directly, so she’s constantly dropping hints that she likes him and Luka is picking up on none of them because he’s convinced that she still likes Adrien. The rest of Kitty Section is constantly getting on his case for not pursuing Marinette and he’s just like, “But she likes Adrien?” while having like 3984723748234 texts from Marinette just from that day alone.

Marinette deciding to use her Instagram to ramble, leading her to post some pictures of Luka and talk about how nice/sweet/handsome he is because surely he doesn’t follow her account so it’ll be fine (spoiler alert: he follows her account very much and Juleka makes a game out of trying to catch his reaction every time Marinette posts about him).

Post-dating, Marinette insisting to Luka that she “doesn’t want to mess up their first kiss,” and therefore they have to practice kissing each other first, apparently missing the point that it won’t be their first kiss if they’ve kissed each other before. Luka tries to explain the fault in logic but she’s not backing down and, really, who is he to refuse if she wants to kiss him a bunch?

Adulthood Lukanette “cruelty” on Marinette’s part where she decides that she wants to propose to Luka and puts the box with the wedding ring inside one of his guitars with the excuse that she was replacing the strings for him, then leaving Luka to realize what she did later.

Juleka asking Marinette who her favorite hero is because she was getting into a debate with Luka about it and they couldn’t agree. Marinette shyly peeks up because Luka is right there, but nonetheless admits that her favorite is Viperion.

Marinette visiting the Liberty and noticing Luka not playing his guitar and just staring off into space, a soft, loving look on his face. She asks Juleka about it, who casually brushes it off as, “Oh, he always does that when he’s thinking of you.” “When he’s thinking of WHO now????”

Post-dating in which Marinette freaks out over even the smallest contact with Luka just because she’s on a happy emotional high. (”You wanna hold hands??? Like--my hand??? Holding yours??? And our fingers will be intertwining and everything?? And we--stop laughing, Luka, these are important questions!!!”) Bonus if what gets her to take a huge step forward and just passionately kiss Luka is someone mocking their relationship and her proving them otherwise thusly.

Marinette gets a pet snake, names it “Viperion,” and happily uses it as an opportunity to gush about Viperion the second Luka questions why she chose a snake as a pet.

Marinette complains sometimes about Luka being “too tall” but really, it’s perfect for hugs, so-- (even if she still pouts about the fact that she can’t kiss him simply by being on her tip-toes).

Lowkey headcanon that Juleka and Rose purposefully set Marinette up with Luka since they’re like, “Luka’s missing!” in “Captain Hardrock” when Luka is in his room that Juleka shares with him and it would’ve been the first place to go look for him.

Luka being so used to messes and just leaving them alone thanks to living on the Liberty for so long and being around his mother. It’s a really hard habit to break when he starts living with Marinette and he’s extremely apologetic about it.

Luka posting a lot about Marinette/him and Marinette on Instagram and Marinette “fighting back” (bonus if she doesn’t do it intentionally) with posts about Luka/her and Luka/Kitty Section.

Why limit oneself to balcony scenes when you can have houseboat scenes too???

Marinette being offended by any polls where Ladybug wins over Viperion except Luka is offended by her opinion and it’s just them going back and forth about why Ladybug/Viperion should be more popular.

Tikki agreeing with Master Fu that Marinette and Adrien are “made for each other” but being a closet Lukanette fan in secret. That tiny Kitty Section shirt that Marinette made on Instagram is hers.

Pre-”Captain Hardrock,” Luka thinking he’s subtle asking for details about “the girl who broke his sister’s photo curse.” He’s not.

Marinette taking a music class and of course she asks Luka to help with things that she doesn’t understand. Bonus if she’s so into trying to learn that she doesn’t notice when she’s making him blush, like her casually sitting on his lap and asking him to physically instruct her on where her hands should be.

Post-dating, Marinette “bribing” Luka to do things using kisses. Bold of her to assume he wouldn’t have done it anyway, though he won’t say “no” to kisses either.

Marinette, being carried/protected by Viperion, knowing that she needs to leave to transform but also he’s very warm and nice so maybe just a little longer, this akuma isn’t that dangerous/disruptive anyway. (Viperion may also be indulging himself too but she’ll never know.)

“It's amazing how you can be so composed all the time, Luka! It feels like it's impossible to know what you're thinking!“ “Really? But I just think about you all the time, Marinette.“ “*DOESN’T KNOW WHETHER TO BE FLUSTERED OR OFFENDED BECAUSE HOW DARE--*”

Whenever Marinette does that thing where she closes her eyes and raises her head proudly... I feel like Luka gets the sudden urge to either kiss her or cup her cheeks.

Marinette and Luka having “silence challenges” in adulthood where they give each other affection and the first one to make a noise loses. The challenge never lasts long.

I just presume that Luka has sixth senses that go off the second Marinette is completely over Adrien.

Post-reveal and post-dating where Luka expresses concern to Marinette about the whole “destiny” nonsense with Adrien being Chat Noir and Marinette lets Luka know how she feels about that by showering Luka with lots of kisses.

Luka not realizing what he said to Marinette in “Silencer” until he goes home and Juleka asks him what they’d been talking about. His face turns progressively redder as he makes the realization.

Post-dating, Marinette not being used to the abundance of affection that Luka’s going to give her due to how many times she failed with Adrien.

[whenimgoodandready]

Wasn’t Cat Noir great in that “Optigami” ep when he helped Ladybug with that sentimonster and-Oh no, wait, he didn’t really do much but destroy a miraculous. Well, how ‘bout that time he went through that “2 Person Plan” to stop Sentibubbler with Ladybug and-Oh no, wait, that was actually Rena Rouge (“Sentibubbler”). Uuuuuuh, well um, how ‘bout that time he was a part of Team Miraculous stoping Moolak with everyone el-Ah crap! He wasn’t there either! (“Ephemeral”) Yet, Ladybug still managed to defeat the villain! With so little he’s been around lately, does Cat really need to be involved at this point!? Let’s see:

*Kuro Neko-Look at that, two villains had showed up this ep and everyone, but Cat Noir was there. Odd, wasn’t the point of “Desperada” supposed to show that there should always be a Ladybug and Cat Noir to save the day and not just one or the other? Cuz they’re supposed to balance each other out! Guess that’s not the case anymore now that we have other miraculous holders with more useful powers. This doesn’t sit well with Adrien and at one point he didn’t even bother with showing up, but did so anyway cuz it’s his job.

When he tries to be of help with Ladybug getting the miraculouses back from their teammates, Ladybug says she’s already set up a routine on where to find them and retrieve their miraculouses and when Cat keeps holding Ladybug back to insist on helping, with her almost about to detransform, she yells at him to “F*ck off” and leaves. This was the last straw that broke the cats back. If Ladybug truly doesn’t need Cat Noir anymore then “for reals” he quits! Don! Don! Don! That’s right! No more Ladybug pics on his phone, no more cheese in his room and no more Kwami as a guide in life! He’s just plain old Adrien Agreste now (it’s just for dramatic effect, he’ll be back of course. It’s not the first time he’s quit something and come back *cough*NewYorkSpecialandGlaciator2*cough).

With no black cat holder to balance out her ladybug powers, Marinette is left without her most important partner and Plagg even calls her out for sidelining him a lot making him upset enough to quit since she barely took his feelings into account. This guardianship is really stressing out Marinette and now she has to think carefully on which new holder she should find. More importantly, this new black cat holder can’t know who she is and vice versa otherwise, it’s the end of the world (“Ephemeral”) and they can not be in love with her as it’ll be too much of a distraction and a possible repeat of Cats actions with quitting if the feelings aren’t mutual.

Plagg comes up with a plan and convinces Marinette that he should choose the new black cat holder and brings it to Adrien, but trains him into a third persona! That means new look, new name (like Alya did as Rena Furtive “Rocketear”) and new personality! As such, he has to be serious, direct, but still polite and no puns! Also, no lovey-doveyness with Ladybug!🚫❤️. Everyone, this is “Cat Walker”! (trumpeters sound). Not bad, his new look was alright and he stayed focused on the mission most of the time and treated Ladybug like a strictly platonic friend. She was even “impressed”😏. Oh yeah! The villain was this giant living kitty bank that you would see in souvenir shops and fun fact, the character was based on a little girl from a Make-A-Wish Foundation! Yeah! I remember seeing that long ago on Jeremyzags insta and was wondering when she’d show up! Interesting, she looked entirely different from her akumatized look! She was supposed look all purple/black and alien like with mind control powers, but in here, she was a cat!? Huh, concept art I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Oh well, Congrats kid!

Bomb #23, Adrien temporarily gets a new alias! Course he’d go back as Cat Noir since we’re all so used to him that way. Lesson here is, just cuz someone doesn’t need you all the time, doesn’t mean you’re not important. Just trust that your partner knows what they’re doing. I still wonder what would have happened had Cat Walker stuck around longer or even permanently! The thing is, Ladybug didn’t mean to exclude Cat, she just didn’t need him at the moment, couldn’t contact him cuz she doesn’t know who he is outside of the mask and thought she was giving Cat Noir a break with his superhero life not realizing that he actually likes being a superhero cuz unknown to her he has a neglectful home life and wants to get away and also cuz he’s in love with her. This was the third time that Marinette/Ladybug fell for the same guy! She was always in love with Adrien, she still loved him as Cat Noir when she found out (“Ephemeral”) and now, she did it again when he was not his “clown-ish” self as a “new guy”. Although, when you think about it, Plagg told Adrien to be more of his “Adrien” self when being Cat Walker (aka more “perfect”) and that’s what made Marinette/Ladybug fall for him once again. Which by the way, made her distracted during the mission instead of Cat Walker and she had to do everything by herself cuz of that! Oh the irony! That’s why Cat Noir came back. Sad to think she likes the “idea” of Adrien and not his true Cat Noir self, but remember folks! She’ll still end up loving both sides of him when the time comes and even Plagg pointed out he’s the best of both guys cuz that’s who he is:successful as Adrien and carefree as Cat Noir!😁. Did the writers forget that it’s important that a ladybug and black cat need to be together or else the bad guys would win and we’d be all doomed!? Now that we’ve seen a few times how Ladybug can defeat a villain without Cat Noir and just use other miraculous holders, it’s not so much a big issue anymore even though it was established to be a major priority! WTF!? What was the point of that when they were just gonna brush it off as nothing!? That’s bullsh*t! Also, Cat Noir had a point with wanting to get involved with retrieving the miraculouses from their team since he knows who most of ‘em are from past episodes and Ladybug should’ve had him do so, but since it was all in poor timing with her almost detransforming, she got frustrated and lashed out at him and with that, he got pissed off and just impulsively quit. Hopefully, in the future, Ladybug will clue Cat Noir in on retrieving miraculouses and he can not be so overdramatic too. Both are very flawed people that cause a lot of trouble for themselves all because Ladybugs working herself to death with being guardian and Cat Noirs crippling depression not to mention their complicated love square. God save these dumba** children!

[p-artsypants]

I’ll Handle This (2)

OMG! Part 2 is here!!

I'm still finishing up two other fics, and this one's on the back burner for a little while. I apologize for pauses between uploads. I hope that makes it worth it!

Ao3 | FF.net

--

Plagg arrived at school on foot, which startled several people.

Of course, his choice of dress could have influenced that as well.

"Dude, what are you wearing? And…did you walk to school?"

Plagg held out a second coffee to Nino. "Yep. And as for what I'm wearing, I picked what I thought would make my father the angriest."

"Did it?"

Plagg turned around. "I'm not bleeding am I? I had to break a window to get out of the house."

"Dude!"

"So am I bleeding or what?"

"N-no, you're not. But what's gotten into you? You usually fold like a paper crane when it comes to your dad."

"Ooh, nice analogy. I'm usually pretty partial to Jello left out on the counter at room temperature, when it gets all melty and chunky."

Nino blinked. "I repeat, what's gotten into you?"

"Just tired of being a doormat."

Nino gave a little punch to his shoulder. "Hell yeah, stick it to the man!"

"But my dad's not the only problem I'm trying to fix."

"Oh?"

"You know Lila's a pathological liar, right? And that she's been sexually harassing me for the better part of a year?"

"WHAT?!" Nino shouted.

"Yeah, she's really good at manipulating people to get what she wants. Like how she got herself invited to my photoshoots. Don't know how that happened but it's super unprofessional. Also, she got Marinette expelled. Remember when she said Marinette pushed her down the stairs and garbage? Total lies. She only backed out of it when I threatened our 'friendship'."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?! Lila's been babysitting Chris! And Ella and Etta! She said she was a certified babysitter!"

"I mean, Marinette's been telling everyone she's a liar for a while. So…"

"Well…" Nino rubbed the back of his head.

"Well what? What reason did Marinette give you to doubt her?"

Nino winced. "…I can't really tell you…it's not my place, and Alya will kill me."

Plagg threw his arms up in the air with a groan, nearly splashing coffee on his crop top. "Is there no communication with you people!? Just talk! Enough with the secrets!"

Nino blinked. "Uh…what other secrets are you talking about?"

Plagg shook his head, realizing he'd spilt a few beans. And some things really did need to remain secret. "Ugh, whatever. Doesn't matter. You just…spill!"

"No way dude! Marinette's my friend, and I won't tell her secrets without her permission!"

Plagg rested a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good dude, you know?"

"Oh so now it's a good thing that I'm hiding stuff from you? Pick a mood."

Instead, Plagg took a sip from his coffee. Having a human tongue again was so weird. It was a complexed organ with equal taste buds, instead of the 'smelly savory' he was used to as a kwami.

And if Adrien didn't like cheese, it wouldn't be likely that Plagg would still enjoy it in his body. His eyes glanced around the entrance of the school, taking notice of all the people who were side-eyeing him. Nearly everyone had their attention on him and Nino, though they were trying to be sneaky about it.

Humans were so funny.

And then he noticed Marinette approaching. She looked awful. Big bags under her eyes, dragging her feet, slouched shoulders. The look of a guardian who was downtrodden and exhausted.

"Hey Nino, wanna see something hilarious?"

"Absolutely."

"Here, hold this." He handed him his coffee. Then he tighten the sleeves of the flannel around his waist and ran full speed at Marinette, his arms out at his sides. "MAAAARRRRIIIINNEEETTTEEE!" He shouted.

Hearing her name being shouted startled the poor girl, and she seized up, holding her arms to her chest. Plagg collided with her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug and lifting to spin her around several times.

"Ad-d-d-rrrriiieennn!" She exclaimed, as she was rag dolled around.

Finally, he set her back on her feet and patted her on the head. "Sorry, you looked like you needed an extreme hug."

A big smile emerged on her face, accompanied by a very endearing blush. "Thanks Adrien. I did! I feel better now!"

Plagg knew it would take more than an intense hug to fix everything on Marinette's plate. There was likely more bothering her than just the loss of Master Fu, too. But he was out to fix Adrien's problems, not hers. But hopefully, one of his problems would directly help her.

"Um…" Marinette started, looking him up and down. "Your father let you out of the house like that?"

"Oh, absolutely not. I snuck out."

"Adrien!" She gawked.

"It'll be fine." He waved her off.

Alya approached them, her jaw on the floor. "Adrien, what was that?"

Nino was just a step behind her, giggling.

"Have you never seen an epic hug before? Nino, you need to step up your game."

"I guess I do!" Nino chuckled. "Here's your coffee back, dude."

"Thanks." Plagg took the coffee with one hand while the other stayed firmly over Marinette's shoulder.

"You're being kind of friendly with Marinette this morning, aren't you?"

Plagg shrugged. "I just happen to think her shoulder is a really nice arm rest."

"Did you ask her permission?"

"Oh, you know, I didn't. Can I put my arm around you, Marinette?"

Marinette's giant panicked grin and a high pitch squeal was the only response he got.

"I'll take that as a yes." He squeezed her.

"Oh!" Alya chirped, taking out her phone. "Lila had an akuma in her room last night! Ladybug and Chat Noir stayed afterwards and hung out with her afterwards to make sure she was okay! She gave me this interview for my blog—"

"FAKE NEWS!" Plagg shouted, startling everyone around him. Alya almost dropped her phone.

"What?" She asked.

"I said, Fake News. There was no akuma last night."

"How do you know?" Alya got defensive. "The akuma alarm only goes off when someone sees the akuma. It happened so late last night, that no one was awake."

"I have an akuma sixth sense." Plagg explained, ignoring Adrien pinching his thigh inside his shirt. "But besides that, Lila is a big, bold-faced liar."

Alya sighed, rolling her eyes. "I expect that from Marinette, but you too now?"

"I've always known Lila was a liar, but I tried to play nice because she's super destructive when she wants to be. Just look at what she did to Marinette!"

Alya gave Marinette a once over, looking for injuries. "I don't follow."

Plagg huffed. "The expulsion? Surely you're not dumb enough to believe that Lila has some sort of disease that makes her…what did she say? Periodically lie? Misremember? I can't even remember what she said, but she revoked her evidence to get Marinette back into school."

Alya frowned. "She told me she was taking the heat for whoever this real person is. Someone wanted Marinette out of school, and Lila retracted her evidence because she knows Marinette wouldn't do that stuff."

Plagg blew a loud raspberry at her, making spittle fly into her face. "Of course she told you that, because she can't possibly be seen as the villain."

"What are you getting at, Adrien?"

"I'm the reason Lila retracted her evidence. She targeted Marinette. She's been targeting Marinette. I gave her an ultimatum. She could stop lying about Marinette, or I would retract our supposed 'friendship' and get her removed from modeling with me."

Alya and Nino just blinked at him several times, before Alya shouted, "WHAT?!"

"Yeah, like I said, I didn't say anything because I didn't want her to get akumatized, she may have turned on me, and I assumed eventually she'd lie herself into a hole and everyone would figure her out. But I guess everyone is denser than I expected."

"Harsh, bro."

"Nah. You'll thank me for this. Especially you, Alya. You want a reputable blog, right? What am I saying? You, of course, double check all of your sources! And if someone makes any outlandish claims that could get someone in trouble, you don't just post them willy-nilly. That's why I like you, Alya, you're discerning and thorough!"

Alya opened her mouth to retort, but shut it right after. "Yeah. Thanks." She finally said.

Marinette groaned. "Here comes the devil herself."

Lila sashayed up to the group, wrapping her arms around Plagg and yanking him free from Marinette. "Adrien! It's so good to see you this morning! I had such a fun time at the shoot—"

Plagg didn't let her finish before he forcefully ripped himself out of her grasp. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

His shout drew attention from everyone else around.

Lila laughed it off awkwardly. "Oh Adrien, you scared me! I'm not going to hurt you." And she reached for him again.

But Plagg danced away from her, behind Marinette and shouted. "HEY DON'T TOUCH ME THERE! THIS IS MY NO-NO SQUARE!"

Marinette was the only one that laughed, but it was mostly just a choked snort.

"What are you talking about?" Lila asked, pouting, "I wasn't touching you anywhere bad."

"R-A-P-E! GET YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM ME!"

"I think maybe you should keep your hands to yourself," Marinette said gently.

The flittering rage on Lila's face went ignored by Alya and Nino. "I'm not sure what's going on. Adrien's just being kind of goofy today."

"I agree," said Nino. "You break out of your house, now this? This is more than not being a doormat."

Plagg realized he may have taken things a bit too far too fast, and that his cover was in danger of being blown.

"Well! Would you look at the time! I gotta piss! See you in class!" And he took off running into the school.

Being inside a pocket meant that he didn't always see what direction Adrien went. But the bathroom was easy enough to find once he double backed on himself.

Thankfully, the bathroom was empty. And Adrien emerged the second the stall closed. "What did I say!? You wouldn't last five minutes! Everyone is suspicious of you! And what was that thing with Marinette? I thought you were going to fix my problems with Ladybug!"

Plagg held up his hands in defense. "Relax. I just got a little ahead of myself. You know, taking advantage of the situation?"

"What situation?"

"Alya brought up Lila, not me! I couldn't pretend to care! I can't even pretend to care about your problems and I love you!"

"Aw, Plagg. You love me?"

"That's what you got out of that?"

"I knew you were a big softy."

"You know who's actually soft? You." He poked his stomach. "That's what's got you in the situation in the first place!"

"Um, I'd argue it was your trickery."

"So you're soft and gullible. Got it."

"Hey!"

"Like I said last night, kid: You've only been on this planet for 15 years, and social for one. You're bound to be a little naïve. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Tikki would say it's honorable."

"And what would you call it?"

Plagg put a finger to his mouth in mock thought. "Unfortunate."

Adrien sighed, losing altitude. "You still didn't answer my question about Marinette."

"Trust me, getting cosy with Marinette is the key to solving your Ladybug trouble."

"You better not flirt with her! I don't like her that way, and I don't want to break her heart."

"You say that now…"

The bathroom door opened, so Plagg was quick to usher Adrien back into the pocket. "I'll roll it back a little, happy?"

"Not in the slightest."

—

Plagg appeared in the classroom just in time for class to start.

"YO, WHAT IS UP MY DUDES!?" He called, walking into the room with a beat in his step.

The scoff from his pocket went unnoticed by everyone else.

"Adrien, you know I'm not a fan of yelling in my classroom." Miss Bustier warned, patiently.

"Sorry Teach."

"And your outfit is outside of the dress code. Do you have something that covers your mid-drift?"

"No problems there, baby." He untied the flannel from around his waist, and slipped it over his shoulders, then buttoned the bottom few buttons, unaligned. "There, Gucci right?"

She raised an eyebrow, "And the sunglasses?"

"Sorry teach, I've got a major migraine and, low-key, kind of want to die. Glasses stay on, or I will cry."

Miss Bustier just sighed. "As long as you're not disrupting my class, I suppose that's fine."

"Sick." And he slid into his desk, propping his shoes up on the table.

"Sit in your chair like a normal person, please."

Plagg had to glance around to see how everyone else was sitting before he corrected his posture.

Now that he was wearing the flannel, it was a lot less comfortable for Adrien to be in the pocket. He poked and prodded at Plagg's chest to be moved. Thankfully, Plagg had mercy on him and scooped him from his pocket and deposited him into his bag.

From the bag, Adrien tried to watch Plagg, but he seemed to settle down once Miss Bustier started the lesson. Was he even taking notes?

"Plagg!" A sharp hiss came from his side, before a red kwami appeared.

"Tikki?" He choked.

"What the heck is going on with your holder?! He's acting really really weird!"

"Um…"

"My holder is worried about him!"

"She is? She saw all that?"

Tikki huffed. "How could she not?! She's right there!" And she made the fatal mistake of pointing at Marinette.

In hindsight, it was pretty obvious. He had guessed before, and he had hunches, but she had very cleverly removed herself from suspicion during Kwami Buster with Multimouse.

"Oh…that's why he said buttering up to Marinette would solve my Ladybug problem."

Tikki frowned. "What are you talking about? Who said what?"

Adrien awkwardly scratched his ear. "Heh…it seems there's been a tiny mix up. I'm not—" but a bunch of bubbles came out of his mouth. "Ugh. I'm Adrien."

Tikki's eyes grew impossibly large. "YOU'RE—" she grabbed him and yanked him down, phasing into the steps below.

It was an odd sensation, one that he didn't get to think about before Tikki was yelling at him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE ADRIEN?! You're supposed to be Plagg! And only Plagg!"

"I don't know! It all happened so fast! Last night we had an argument about my problems and he said it wasn't that big of a deal and I said he wouldn't be able to handle it and he said he'd fix it right away and then he made some pact and then I woke up like this and he was like that and I don't know what to do!"

"Okay, first, take a breath." She instructed, calmly.

He did so, taking another, and another, "okay...okay...I'm calm."

"Okay. Good. Now, what were the conditions of the pact?"

"I...I'm not sure? He said he was going to fix three big problems of mine."

"Which are?"

"Repairing my relationship with my father."

"Yikes. Okay, and?"

"Getting Lila to stop bothering me."

"Okay, what else?"

"And get Ladybug to love me back."

"That dirty rotten cheater!" She scowled.

"What?"

"Ugh," she rubbed her nubs over her head. "Promise you won't get mad?"

"Um...sure."

"Plagg and I both knew how you felt about..her. We had a running bet who would fall for who first, Adrien for Marinette, or Ladybug for Chat Noir."

He frowned at her. "I thought you were the mature one."

"I am. But I'm also thousands of years old. Teenager's love lives are like…corny TV shows for me. Besides, we're not supposed to meddle in the affairs of the human world." She glanced up towards the stairs, where Plagg was sitting on the other side.

"Does he do this a lot?"

"Not every wielder, but many."

"And…does it always work out?"

She was quiet a long time. "More often than not."

"But he has failed before?"

"There was one time where the contract was too difficult and he and his holder switched bodies until the holder's body died. At which point, Plagg's consciousness expelled the human's soul from the kwami's body and they perished."

"Jesus actual Christ."

"No, it wasn't him. Nice guy though! Very wise!"

"That's not what I—" He sighed. "Look, is there anyway to undo this? He's ruining so much!"

"I'm really sorry Adrien, but the only way to get switched back into your body is to complete the pact."

Adrien growled. "He could have at least given me a heads up! He just said he'd 'handle it'. I didn't know we'd switch bodies!" He slammed his paws into his face.

"Look, I'll tell Marinette as soon as possible, maybe she'll know what to do."

"No! Tikki you can't tell her!"

"I have too. As guardian, she must be aware of all the shenanigans that the Kwami's are getting into. She has to know about this."

"But she can't!" He begged. "This is all my fault! I was naïve and dumb and I didn't think things through—" He moaned. "She's going to be so disappointed with me!"

Tikki poked him hard. "Adrien. This is not your fault! This is Plagg's doing. He's tricky, and can be very selfish sometimes. She can't blame you."

"Please Tikki, I know she's going to figure me out sooner or later. Plagg's doing a really bad job."

"I'll say."

"But when that happens, I'll come clean and explain everything myself. But until then, can you just…pretend like nothing is wrong?"

Tikki sighed. "I hate keeping secrets from her. But, fine. Since you asked so nicely. Maybe you'll get your body switched back before she suspects."

He winced. "Ugh, except one of the conditions of the pact is to get Ladybug to fall in love with me. And if he's trying to get Lady-nette to fall in love with him, then if we switch back, she'll be in love with Plagg-me and not me-me!"

"Um…I don't think that's going to be a problem…"

"Wait, what?"

"You remember that TV show where they went into her room and your photos were everywhere?"

"She said she just liked fashion…and she promised she wasn't lying…"

"It was a half truth, at least. She does like fashion, and you are her favorite model. But…that other boy she keeps rejecting Chat for? That's you."

If a blush could be seen on black fur, he'd be the same color as Tikki. "What? Really? How come she never told me!?"

"Oh, she tried. Remember when you brought her medicine back from England?"

"Yeah?"

"That prescription she gave you was for Master Fu. She gave the pharmacist the love letter she was supposed to give you after you got on the train."

"Oh no!"

"The wax statue incident? That was her practicing. That beret from a 'brazilian fan'? That was from her. That blue scarf your father got you for your birthday? That was also from her. She's tried, Adrien. But she's either chickened out, or something's gone horrendously wrong."

"Oh Marinette…" His ears went flat, his heart breaking for her. "All this time?"

"Since you gave her your umbrella in the rain when you first met."

"Oh no! That long!? My poor lady!"

"And she's been trying to get over you since she thinks you're in love with Kagami. So I'm assuming Plagg's trying to convince her that you like her instead."

Since he awoke in this strange little useless body, Adrien was pissed at Plagg. But now he was beginning to realize how big of a favor this was. How close he had been to losing her, and hopefully it wasn't too late.

Still sucked though.

"Oh god…he's going to have to talk to Kagami too! I don't know if I can bear to watch this!"

"Well, you don't really have a choice. And you stand a pretty good chance of getting your body back soon. I…think Plagg knows what he's doing."

"You think?"

"I hope."

"Ugh…"

"Look, if you need help, you know where to find me. I'll be in my holder's bag here at school. Though, today, unless there's an akuma, I'll sit with you in your bag and tell you whatever you need to know about being a Kwami."

"Oh yeah! How is superheroing going to work? How do I transform?"

"It'll probably be the same. He'll say your name instead of his own. Then you'll get to see what he sees and hear what he hears. Cataclysm draws from this body's form, so he'll call on it when he needs it, as well as your other powers."

"Other powers?"

"Sure. There's more than just Cataclysm. But I'm sure he's waiting to teach you them until you're ready."

"To be honest...he never really taught me Cata—"

Tikki was quick to slap a paw over his mouth. "DON'T SAY IT!"

"Oh, is it like transformed rules? You say it, you activate it?"

"Yes, but in this form it's incredibly powerful, and you don't know how to dismiss it! You activate it and bump into something, and you nuke Paris! That is a forbidden word!"

"Okay! I'll take your word for it."

"We should probably get back up top, no telling what trouble Plagg's gotten into already."

"But we're in class. He should just be sitting there."

"You're underestimating Plagg's attention span."

Phasing back up through the floor and into Adrien's bag, they could hear Adrien's voice.

"...and of course you're not even going to talk about the ramifications of Phillip the V's denial of his niece on the throne."

"Louis X's daughter? She never took the french throne."

"Oh, yes she did! She held it for 6 years in 1316, Phillip only recanted her name after her rule was revoked. Furthermore, after she died, her legitimacy as Louis' blood relative was called into question. Her mother was branded as an adulterer."

Miss Bustier hummed. "I never heard of this. Where did you read this, Adrien?"

"Oh I didn't read it, I saw it—in a documentary! That's right! On the Hundred Year War! That's right!"

"You'll have to tell me what that documentary is, I'm very interested to see that! But you were saying something about Louis X's daughter on the throne?"

Adrien had to refrain from smacking himself in the face. Not 15 minutes into class, and Plagg was already rewriting history.

Had they even gotten to the Hundred Years War?

A knock saved Adrien from second hand embarrassment.

"Come in," called Miss Bustier.

Adrien couldn't see who was at the door, but they were being silent.

"Um…can I help you?"

There was a grunt.

"You're here for Adrien?"

Adrien, in kwami form, peered out ever so carefully from his bag, only to see the Gorilla standing in the front of the room.

Uh oh.

"...hey big guy..." Plagg tried to greet as enthusiastically as he could.

Another grunt, and the Gorilla motioned towards the door with his head.

"Sorry, but I'm in the middle of class. We were just discussing the conditions that led up to the Hundred Years War. I know dad's pissed that I left this morning, but I'll be home after school..."

The Gorilla shook his head and started to advance on him, his hands open and making to grab him.

Plagg however, was not above evasive maneuvers. He hopped up on the desk.

"You'll never take me alive!"

The Gorilla never stopped advancing and shot his arms out to grab Plagg by the waist.

But Plagg leapt from the table and landed on the Gorilla's shoulders, riding him like a bull.

The Gorilla swung around, flailing his arms trying to dislodge Plagg from where he was mounted, but Plagg dug his heels in and held fast.

"YEEEEEEEEEE—HAW!"

The Gorilla bucked and swung, making Plagg rag doll around, but he still would not let go!

Finally, starting to get dizzy, Plagg twisted in place and pinched the bodyguard in a particular place on the shoulder, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, unconscious, on the floor.

Plagg simply climbed off of him, dusted himself off, and took his seat. "Now...where were we?"

"Principal's office. Now."

--

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