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aidanchaser · 5 months

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Regardless of Perfection: An Adrinette Fic, featuring Félix 4.5K Words; Rated G for General Audiences

Adrien is dumbfounded. His knee is glued to the floor and his hands poised in front of him, as still and unmoving as his heart, stopped in his chest and aching as it fails to function. He can feel the eyes of every patron in the restaurant, staring with the same shock and confusion he feels.

“No?” he manages to squeak out, not even believing the word as it leaves his lips.

But Marinette has aggressively slammed the velvet box closed. Her face is already pink, hastily turning red, and Adrien can see tears in her eyes as she shoves his hands away with so much aggression that she near topples him over.

“Don’t—” she manages to say, and, “You can’t—” but she can’t seem to find words anymore easily than he can. She stands up and runs from the restaurant, linen napkin falling to the floor.

Adrien is only vaguely aware of the waiter helping him stand, a murmured apology as he’s settled back into his seat. A bottle of wine is placed in front of him, “Condolences from the guests over there,” but Adrien doesn’t even see the gesture, doesn’t know who to thank for the wine he’s meant to drown his heartbreak in. The waiter clears Marinette’s plate and glass without a word.

Adrien had planned tonight perfectly—at least, he thought he had. Everything about today had gone so right, like Ladybug’s own Lucky Charm had made it happen. He and Marinette had seen a movie together that afternoon, had a lovely walk along the Seine, and then she’d gone home to put on a brand new dress for their dinner on the Eiffel Tower. Adrien Agreste, even famous as he was, had waited months for this reservation to come up. Even though he’d carried the ring on him for the last several weeks—just in case the moment felt right—he’d known that this was the plan. That tonight was going to be the night. It was truly perfect.

He’d carefully steered the conversation over dinner to their future together, to the plans they’d talked about over the years amidst dreamy sighs and giggles. She’d seemed excited—had he misread her entirely? He didn’t think so. He’d known Marinette for nearly a decade. Surely he knew the difference between excitement and panic and he was sure that she had been excited—nervous, maybe, because of course she must have guessed how special today was—but he hadn’t seen any panic in her, not until the moment he had opened the ring box.

Her face had dropped. True horror had filled her eyes. And she had said, “No.”

Actually, she had practically shrieked it as she shoved the ring box away.

Adrien still didn’t understand it. Marinette certainly wasn’t the sort of person to be upset about a diamond being too small or a ring being inexpensive. So the rejection had to be about him, and Adrien couldn’t fathom why, couldn’t identify what clue he had missed along the way.

He’d been nervous to propose, naturally, but he had never thought that Marinette would reject him, certainly not so dramatically. He didn’t think anyone had expected it. Even her parents and their friends were all waiting back at the bakery, ready to celebrate, convinced she would have said yes.

A new panic climbed Adrien’s throat as he imagined Marinette arriving back at her parents’ place, greeted with a congratulatory cake and champagne. He needs to call them, tell them the devastating news before Marinette reaches them.

But as his fingers alight on his phone, it begins to buzz. Adrien swallows and draws it out, unable to tamp down the desperate hope that it’s Marinette telling him she’s changed her mind—but instead it’s Nino.

Adrien answers and says nothing.

“Adrien, where are you?” Nino asks, voice thick with concern.

Adrien tips his head back against the chair and stares up at the ceiling. The warm yellow rings of lights glare down at him and he swallows down the mixture of shame and despair that begin to coil in his chest, familiar friends that have known him far longer than Nino has.

“Adrien?” Nino asks.

“I’m still here,” Adrien says, but with no more strength than he had managed to repeat Marinette’s rejection with.

“Where are you?” Nino asks again.

“I’m still at the restaurant,” Adrien clarifies. He doesn’t know where he’s going to go after this. Certainly not home. He considers the possibility of transforming into Astro Chat and disappearing into space.

“Listen, Marinette just called Alya, and Alya called me, and I really think you should—”

“It’s fine, Nino,” Adrien says.

“I know that’s not true. Do you want me to meet you somewhere?”

Adrien considers the prospect of company. He knows even if he does go home alone, Plagg will still be with him. He can’t truly be alone, unless he does decide to transform. Maybe he does need to spend some time on top of the Eiffel Tower, cloaked in Chat Noir’s magic and the silence of being so far above the world. Maybe he needs to spend a few days on top of the Eiffel Tower.

“I just want to be alone,” he says, fidgeting with the miraculous around his finger.

“If you need anything—”

But his phone buzzes against his ear, and Adrien loses the rest of Nino’s offer as he checks to see his cousin is calling him.

Adrien wonders how many phone calls he’s going to receive tonight. He wonders how many of them he’ll take and how many he’ll ignore.

He doesn’t think he should ignore this one.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he says to Nino, unsure exactly when later will be, and switches to the incoming call.

“Félix,” Adrien manages dismally. He wonders how fast word is spreading amongst their friends. He wonders if the news has already gone viral through a restaurant patron’s video footage.

“Kagami says I can’t kill her,” is all Félix says for a greeting, “but I will if you give me the okay.”

Adrien isn’t in the mood for Félix’s sense of humor. “Félix, I don’t—”

“I’m not joking,” Félix says.

Adrien rubs his eyes and runs his hand through his hair. “I’m going to hang up,” he says, wholly uninterested in Félix’s brand of comfort.

But Félix ignores this threat, and Adrien makes no move to follow through it it.

“Is there a possibility that she didn’t mean it?” Félix asks, voice turning from cold to cautious.

But Adrien doesn’t know how he could have misunderstood a loud, desperate shriek of, “No!” that seems to grow more violent as he turns the memory over and over again.

“She shoved me away and stormed out. I don’t think she could have communicated her feelings any clearer than that.”

Félix is quiet for a moment, and Adrien can picture him evaluating the evidence and trying to draw a picture of the event.

“Where are you?” Félix asks.

Adrien doesn’t answer.

He doesn’t consider himself a liar or even duplicitous in any way. He’s always genuine with his feelings—except when he isn’t.

Anger and heartbreak are too much for him, and he buries them deep, terrified that he’ll use them as weapons against others. He’s glimpsed, as much as the rest of Paris has, how hurt can be weaponized. He knows, too, the way that grief and heartbreak can make someone undesirable. He grew up in a home that treated sadness like a sickness, like rot that needed to be carved out. The last thing Adrien wants is for his friends and loved ones to see him at a low like this.

“I’ll be home soon,” Adrien finally says, avoiding Félix’s question.

“I’ll meet you there,” Félix says.

“Please don’t,” he says.

“You don’t enjoy being alone.”

And how could Adrien not cry at that? He’s been in shock—the rejection hurts, but he hasn’t truly felt it yet—until Félix trods on the roots of Adrien’s aching heart. He doesn’t enjoy being alone, and he wasn’t supposed to ever be alone again. He was supposed to have Marinette with him forever, but now…

He tries desperately to bite down the tears, but they swell up regardless. “I don’t understand,” Adrien chokes out, and his tears drip down his cheeks, like water through a crack in a levy. “I don’t understand what went wrong or why—” But his words fail him as his throat is suddenly consumed with a gasping sob.

He doubles over, one hand still clinging to Félix on the other end of the line and the other tightening in his hair like he can tear it out and his heartache with it. He leans against the table, unable to hold up his own weight as the burden of Marinette’s rejection bears down on him and an empty, lonely future spirals out before him.

“Tell me where you are,” Félix says, voice strangely tender.

Adrien screws his eyes shut, like he might be able to seal up his mess of tears or keep out Félix’s uncharacteristic kindness.

He knows the other restaurant patrons have to be watching, and all Adrien can think is how nice it would be to disappear. He thinks of how Marinette managed to flee the restaurant in her panic, and he wishes his legs would work and carry him out, too. He thinks if he hangs up the phone, he’ll be able to gather himself together just long enough to get out of here and find a place to become Chat Noir.

“Ah,” Félix says, “Nino just texted back. I’ll be right there.”

And Adrien can’t even protest, can’t warn him not to. Adrien certainly doesn’t want Félix to see him like this, doesn’t want anyone he loves to glimpse how utterly broken and devastated he is, but the words stick in his throat, drowned by the sobs he can’t fight down.

Adrien drops his phone onto the table, aware the call has gone dead and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes in an effort to stem his tears. He wonders how long he has until Félix arrives. Perhaps he can leave before his cousin gets here—

But there’s a gasp from the guests of the restaurant, a sudden rise of tension and fear that swells around him. Adrien’s skin prickles, familiar with the way a crowd’s mood changes before an akuma attack, but when he opens his eyes he sees no monster nor black butterfly searching for a victim. Instead, it is his cousin, dressed in the purple and blue hooded uniform of Argos.

Adrien should have guessed that Félix would manage to make a bigger scene than Marinette had.

As he reaches the table, his hand goes for Adrien’s shoulder, but Adrien shrugs him off.

“Please don’t,” he begs, unsure how he can bear Félix’s offer of comfort—unsure how Félix can bear his misery. Already, he can feel another swell of tears burgeoning. He curls into himself, burying his head in his hands, hiding what he can of his heartbreak.

Argos drops into the chair that Marinette had sat in not thirty minutes ago, and as he does, drops his transformation.

“I’ll stay until you’re ready to leave,” Félix says, voice still tinged with tenderness, and it only makes Adrien’s chest ache more.

Adrien is not used to people standing with him when he makes a mistake. He’s used to sharp critique and deathly silent meals. Marinette and Nino alike have been so gentle in their attempts to draw him out, to allow him to misstep without flinching, but this particular misstep feels so monumental. He doesn’t know how he could have read Marinette so wrong; he doesn’t know how anyone would want to sit with him through this.

Félix, at least, knows what it’s like to bury heartbreak and mistakes well out of sight and well out of reach. Félix knows the way perfection is not an achievement but an expectation, and he understands that something as ugly as grief is not fit for public consumption nor private indulgence.

Adrien draws in two shaky breaths, but they’re whole and uninterrupted by wild sobs. He thinks he has enough composure to speak again and asks, “Do you know where I went wrong?” He doesn’t care for how raw and ragged his voice sounds, and he reaches for his glass of water.

Félix picks up the wine that Adrien has left untouched and sniffs the uncorked bottle curious. He pours a little, swirls and sips it, then wrinkles his nose, and checks the bottle. His upper lip curls in disgust and finally, he turns his eyes back to Adrien. “Have you considered that you may have made no mistakes at all?”

Adrien shakes his head. “No—I must have done something—or said something—” he feels the tears threaten to crawl out of his chest again, and he presses his thumb and forefinger against his eyes to hold them back. “Alya might know. I can text her.” But when he reaches for his phone, he finds that Félix has already snatched it out of reach.

“Adrien,” Félix murmurs, “you cannot charm the world to your will by following a dance step diagram. There is no pattern to unlock, no measure of perfection that will make everything turn out right.”

Adrien grits his teeth, certain that what Félix says is true, but unable to accept it. If he could just be better, then things wouldn’t have turned out this way.

“I’m sure you did everything right,” Félix continues. “The date, the dinner, the tie, the ring…” Félix’s hand closes over the blue velvet box. “But sometimes, Adrien, things simply—” He stops as he flicks the box open.

Adrien’s heart sinks. The ring was the problem after all, wasn’t it? He should have bought something expensive, something that glittered. He had just thought that Marinette would have preferred something sentimental, so he had chosen to propose with his mother’s wedding band. Apparently it had ben the wrong choice.

Félix snaps the box closed and slides it back to Adrien. “I’m going to find Ladybug,” he says, and Adrien’s heart pounds with new concern.

“Ladybug?” he asks weakly.

Félix gets to his feet, but he hesitates as he eyes Adrien and his disheveled hair and tear-stained cheeks. Something in his tight shoulders sags ever so slightly.

“No, not Ladybug,” he says. “Adrien, I’m going to take you to Marinette.”

“Félix, I can’t—”

“I don’t think she meant to turn you down.”

Though Adrien is reluctant to believe Félix, his heart pounds with hope. “What’s wrong with proposing with my mother’s ring? I thought she’d think it was romantic.”

Félix scrubs a hand over his face. “Well, she didn’t.” His voice is once again flat and cold, void of the care he’d been displaying moments ago. His words, at least, show an awareness of feeling. “I’m going to take you to Marinette, and the three of us are going to have a very difficult conversation, and it is going to hurt, but it will be all right. Can you trust me on that?”

Adrien isn’t sure how he can, but Félix doesn’t make it sound like he has any choice in the matter. “How do you know it will be okay?”

Félix draws his mouth into a tight line. When he does speak again, it’s painstaking and slow, like poison being drawn from a wound. “Because you have people who will love you regardless.”

There is not much more room for discussion. Félix pauses only to call Alya—on Adrien’s phone, certain it’s the only way she’ll answer—and merely says, “Where’s Marinette?” before engaging in tense negotiations with Alya for Marinette’s whereabouts. He wins the interrogation, or at least Adrien thinks he must have, because as soon as he ends the call, he transforms back into Argos and scoops Adrien up in his arms.

Adrien decides that he prefers when Ladybug carries him, but he doesn’t have much choice in the matter, unless he were to suddenly tell his cousin the truth about the ring he wears on his middle finger. But Félix is clearly in a hurry to reach Marinette, and is uninterested in mortal means of travel. Leaping across rooftops with the power of the Peacock Miraculous is the best the two of them can manage.

He lands on Marinette’s rooftop, and Adrien stumbles out of his cousin’s arms, unsure he has ever dropped onto this rooftop as himself.

He does his best to scrub his cheeks free of any tearstains. His hair, he’s sure, is unsalvageable after their flight across the rooftops, and he does not even want to know the state of his suit.

Argos lifts the trap door without knocking and drops down inside. Adrien, suddenly aware that he has this brief moment alone, considers the risk of simply leaving.

But before he can quite manage a whispered, “Plagg, claws out,” Alya’s head appears from below. She gives him a sad smile and climbs out to meet him.

Adrien backs into the balcony railing, but Alya approaches anyway. She puts a tender hand on his shoulder and ignores the way he flinches. Even as he tries to shrug her off, she squeezes tighter.

“I’m really sorry,” she says.

Adrien refuses to meet her eyes. He can’t let her see the tears that are springing up all of a sudden. He doesn’t know why his cousin has insisted on this.

“For what it’s worth,” Alya says, “I don’t think she meant to turn you down. She’s… she’s really embarrassed, but she won’t say anything more to me than just that she panicked.”

Adrien doesn’t think that quite matches with his memory of the event, but his heart is racing again, brought back to life by the hope Alya is offering him.

“You should go talk to her. Félix won’t let me in there for whatever it is he wants to say, and I don’t know that I trust the two of them alone together for very long.”

Adrien isn’t entirely sure if that Alya’s fears are about mistrusting Félix—distantly, he remembers Félix’s offer of murder—or if they’re about mistrusting Marinette and her own scheming.

“I’ll go down there,” Adrien concedes, “but I’m not sure I’ll have much more to say.”

“Then just listen. And, hey, you know that no matter what happens, you and I are still friends, right?”

His chest swells and Adrien thinks this alone might break him. He isn’t sure how to accept this offer of kindness, of unconditional trust.

“Okay,” he manages, voice strangled with a whirl of emotions he can’t begin to name.

Adrien climbs down the ladder into Marinette’s bedroom and finds that Félix is once again without his magical costume. He has settled into Marinette’s desk chair as easily as if it was his own, while Marinette sits on the edge of her bed, head between her knees and hands locked behind her neck as if she is preparing for an earthquake or a tornado. Adrien considers mirroring her posture, but chooses not to, only because he is unsure where he would sit. So he stands, leaning against her windowsill, unsure how to begin this conversation.

“If you don’t tell him, Marinette,” Félix says, “then I will.”

Marinette’s whine is muffled by her knees and whatever she murmurs into her leg is fully unintelligible.

Félix sighs in exasperation. He takes his own ring—his father’s ring—between his thumb and finger and yanks it off. He turns it over between his fingers. “Adrien, have you ever wondered how you and I are so terribly alike in appearance even though we are only cousins?”

“Our mothers are twins,” Adrien says, almost automatically. He distantly remembers asking his mother about it once, and she’d said the same. She had said to never bring it up again, so he had done as she asked and never questioned her answer. Even now, it seems impossible to think otherwise.

“My mother can’t have children,” Félix says, and there is nothing in his tone nor expression that indicates how absurd the statement is.

Adrien glances to Marinette for some sort of clue or help, but she is still in a panic. His heart aches to see her like this, and all he wants is to sit down next to her and hold her. But he remembers how she pushed him away just an hour ago, and he remains by the window.

“Félix, that doesn’t make sense.”

“My mother can’t have children and neither could her twin sister.”

Adrien does not have the patience for this conversation. He rubs his eyes, aching and tired from the tears they have spilled. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“My father created me, and your mother created you, using the Peacock Miraculous.”

Marinette moans like a seasick sailor whose ship has made a sudden lurch beneath her feet. Adrien can only stare at Félix, stunned.

“Why would you say something like that?”

“Because it’s the truth,” Félix says, “and because I told Marinette.”

Adrien’s gut twists. He isn’t sure which part is harder to swallow: the idea that he’s a Sentimonster or the idea that Marinette rejected him because of it. His entire reality shifts before him, and he clings to the window’s ledge to make sure he stays on his feet.

“But you… you can’t be serious.” But even as Adrien says it, he can’t imagine Félix would be anything less than serious. His next concern, then, is that Félix has simply been horribly misinformed.

He looks to Marinette again, and he knows by the white in her knuckles and the half-formed sob that bursts out of her chest that she believes it.

“My father used this ring as the object to bind me to life,” Félix says. “Your mother chose hers and your fathers’ wedding rings.”

Adrien shakes his head, still unable to see truth in Félix’s words, but finally—finally—Marinette says something intelligible.

“I’m sorry,” she says, and hiccups on another sob. She lifts her head and looks at Adrien. Her face is flushed, cheeks tear-streaked and eyes puffy, red, and streaked with mascara. Though she’s still wearing the dress she had put on for their formal dinner date, the satin is wrinkled like she’s the one who took a journey across Paris’ rooftops in a superhero’s arms. “I didn’t mean it, Adrien, I swear.”

Adrien pulls the velvet box out from his jacket and looks at the ring inside. He still can’t wrap his head around the idea that this ring and his father’s ring, still attached to the necklace fastened beneath his shirt, are tethers that hold him to this world. He still can’t believe that he isn’t human. He feels human. He imagines that this night wouldn’t hurt so much if he were otherwise.

But more urgent than this absurdity that Félix has laid at his feet is Marinette’s apology. He stumbles over to Marinette and collapses onto the bed beside her. “Which part didn’t you mean?” he whispers.

Marinette hiccups again and tries to rub her eyes dry, but she only succeeds in smearing her mascara. The black streak bleeds into her hairline and her tears continue to fall regardless.

“The part where I pushed you,” she says, and chokes on another sob. “The part where I said no.”

Adrien plucks the ring out from the velvet box. “Marinette—”

“No!” she yelps again, and closes her hands over his. She falls off the bed, knees hitting the hardwood floor with a thud and she winces, but does not lose her grip on Adrien’s hand. He’s afraid she’s going to break his fingers

“Adrien, don’t,” she says. “I can’t take this.”

“But Marinette—”

“Please,” she sobs. She buries her face into his knees, tears and makeup soaking into his suit. Without looking up at him, she pries the ring out of his hand and slides it onto his own finger. “Adrien, I love you,” she chokes on another gasping sob, “and I cannot love you and wear this ring.”

Something new inside Adrien breaks, something he can’t name. He stares down at the top of Marinette’s head, and her hands holding onto his like he’s the only tether she has to this world. New tears fall from his cheeks, unattached to sobs. They aren’t sad tears, not at all.

Human or not, Marinette loves him. He’s not sure anything else matters.

He sinks to the floor beside Marinette, takes her face in his hands, and kisses her.

She doesn’t push him away. She doesn’t shriek and reject him. It’s the kiss he had expected, long and deep and perhaps a bit more wet than he had been prepared for. Even her hiccups, he thinks, ought to have been expected.

The chair beneath Félix creaks as he stands, and he coughs.

Marinette and Adrien politely pause their kiss, but they keep their hands intertwined and their foreheads pressed together.

“I’ll let Alya know we’re finished, then.”

Marinette tries again to wipe her eyes dry. “I’ll go—” She pauses for a sniff and a hiccup. “I’ll go tell my parents the good news.”

Adrien squeezes her hand. “Wait, one more thing.” He turns to his cousin, already halfway up the ladder steps. He supposes that Félix has given a lot of emotion today, and he shouldn’t be surprised his cousin is trying to slip away. “Why did you tell Marinette about the rings before you told me.”

Marinette sucks in a sharp, sudden breath of air and her hiccups vanish. Félix freezes on the ladder, but it’s brief. He shrugs and says, “I’ll let Marinette tell you that one.” And he leaves.

Adrien looks at Marinette, watches her worry her bottom lip and flick her eyes between her sewing machine, the box that he knows her diary is hidden in, and the dollhouse perched on her desk.

“Marinette?” he asks.

“Well—I—I mean—I can’t—I mean you can’t—” Marinette fumbles for the right words, but Adrien is used to this. He waits patiently.

“I’m Buglady,” she finally spits out, “I mean Luggybady. I mean—”

Adrien’s eyebrows lift. “You’re Ladybug?”

She swallows and nods.

He glances at the plain black earrings fastened in her ears. He thinks about the last several years of interrupted dates and how he hadn’t even noticed her terrible excuses for lateness because he was too busy thinking about his own.

Adrien works his ring off of his finger. He never removes it, and it requires a bit of doing, but once its off, he slides it onto Marinette’s finger.

“Adrien, I said I can’t—”

He leans in close, whispers, “It’s just my miraculous,” and kisses her cheek.

She swallows and looks down at the band, clearly thicker than the wedding band and with an unadorned place for a stone setting—a space perfectly sized for a glowing pawprint—and begins to hyperventilate all over again.

“But you can’t—I can’t—but Adrien—Chat—”

Adrien kisses her, and she sinks into it, panicked words and breath forgotten. There’s nothing more to be said between them.

Nothing about today went perfectly; nothing about this kiss is picturesque or even truly romantic. But Adrien wouldn’t trade today and all of its mess for anything in the world. He loves his lady, panic and stuttering and all, and he’s willing to admit that maybe it’s okay if she loves his mistakes and his secrets too.

#adrinette #adrinette fic #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #felix fathom #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml fic #ml #did i do anything i was supposed to with my day no but i did this

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rosie-b · 6 months

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Follow the Red Wooly String

A soulmate story written for day 6 of @adrinetteapril, "Red String" (with art!!!)

The art is a commission from the talented @sinkdraws! Her commissions are still open, so consider getting some of her art for yourself, and reblog the non-png version of this image from her, too!!

Without further ado, you can read the fic on AO3 or just below! I hope you enjoy :D

The first time Marinette saw the strings, she thought she was hallucinating.

Everyone knew about the Seers, the few people capable of seeing soul-binding strings, but it was exceptionally rare to meet one, let alone develop the Seers’ ability oneself. And, well, Marinette knew herself well enough to know she couldn’t fully trust herself after pulling an anxiety-and-ADHD-fueled all-nighter. Last time it’d happened, she’d been fully convinced that Nino had grown his hair out into a mohawk and loudly complimented him on it several times before passing out in the middle of class. In the aftermath, Nino had sworn to never wear a new hat without telling Marinette about it first again.

So, Marinette had been more dubious than shocked when she closed her eyes for a second too long on her walk to class in the morning and opened them to see a mess of red, white, black, and yellow strings tangling and shifting around on the pavement in front of her. It was a cool hallucination, she knew it was, but Marinette wasn’t about to celebrate having a new power that she’d most likely daydreamed up.

Her heart still did a happy, nervous dance when she saw the deep red string that had just appeared on her finger, though, and Marinette really didn’t want to quash the hope that her vision was coaxing to new life in her chest! She’d wanted to know who her soulmate was for so long, before becoming Ladybug and meeting Master Fu, anyway. What if she finally had a chance to find them?

On the other hand, though, it was probably safer for her not to find out who they were.

Chat Noir had always believed that they were soulmates. He’d asked Master Fu, the day they’d been invited to his home and the turtle kwami had revealed that Master Fu was a Seer, if he’d chosen them because he could tell their strings were connected.

Master Fu had only chuckled and said that he’d chosen them because he knew they would work well with Plagg and Tikki, not for any other reason. Besides, if Ladybug and Chat Noir really were soulmates, and if Master Fu told them that now, he’d claimed, that would add to the risk of another Seer seeing the string while they were detransformed and telling them each about it, thus revealing their secret identities.

They both knew what that meant— they’d have to give up their Miraculous, even if they were platonic, not romantic, soulmates. Their secret identities were crucial in the fight against Hawk Moth. So, Chat Noir had given up his hope of confirming their bond, and Ladybug had reluctantly given up her dream of finding her own soulmate (or soulmates). After all, if a Seer did take an interest in finding out whose string connected to hers, wasn’t there a risk that the same Seer might find out Ladybug’s identity, or at least who Ladybug’s soulmate was?

She didn’t want to put herself or her soulmate in danger like that, so she’d suppressed her childhood dream of being brought to her soulmate by a kind Seer and a little red string.

But sometimes, Marinette couldn’t help but stare at Adrien’s pinky finger during class and imagine a scarlet red string there, connecting his soul to hers. Love was a foolish thing, but Marinette wished she could afford its risk for the sake of being with Adrien. As Ladybug, though, she’d never be able to, so even after Master Fu handed over the Guardianship to her, she ignored her dream of being connected to Adrien as much as she could. Because she loved him, she didn’t want to put him in danger with her foolish hopes.

Today, though, as she approached Ms. Bustier’s classroom (only five minutes late!) and watched as the string trailing down from her finger seemed to grow taught, Marinette couldn’t help but hope that maybe, the universe was making an exception for her. Maybe, if she really was becoming a Seer, that meant she could finally find her soulmate without needing to worry about her secret identity!

Maybe this was a sign… if it wasn’t just an exhaustion-fueled hallucination, that was.

Marinette slid into her seat with a quiet apology to her teacher, who sighed but didn’t act surprised, since this kind of behavior wasn’t really that uncommon for Marinette. As Ms. Bustier resumed her lecture, Marinette found herself staring down at the string on her finger again.

It’s still there. What if it is real? She wondered.

Marinette looked around quickly, to make sure no one was watching her, and then gently poked the place where the string seemed to be. If the stories were true, only Seers could physically touch the strings. Everyone else phased through them or avoided them, as though by instinct, but the Seers could follow a string to its owner by sight and touch, and they were even capable of untying the string, releasing the bond between soulmates. That only happened rarely, Marinette remembered as she grasped the thick, red string tied around her little finger.

As it turned out, her string was soft, like it was made with fluffy wool. She touched it again, marveling at the texture under her fingertips. It felt so real!

In front of her, Adrien shivered.

“You okay, dude? Classroom too chilly for you today?” Nino’s whisper barely reached Marinette’s ears.

Adrien hesitated and then shook his head in response as Ms. Bustier shot Nino a meaningful look. There was no escaping the teacher’s attention for students in the front row.

Marinette turned her attention back to the string for another moment before leaving it alone to at least pretend to take notes. In her sleep-deprived state, her notes usually left something to be desired (legibility, for one), and she shot a nervous glance at Alya, who caught her gaze and offered a smile and nod in return.

“I got you, girl,” she mouthed, and Marinette smiled and mouthed a sincere thank you back.

Class moved on, and Marinette lost herself in trying to pay attention, and then in the way the light from outside fell on Adrien’s hair, and then in several doodles serious notes until lunch. At that point, she decided it would be okay to sneak another peek at her soul-string, if it was still there.

It was, trailing down from her finger to a small, coiled pile on the floor between her and Adrien. Marinette traced it with her eyes as she slowly began to pack up.

Then, Adrien got up to leave, saying something to Nino about lunch at the mansion today, and the pile of Marinette’s soul-string began to unwind itself. Some of it began to follow Adrien, and Marinette jumped up in a panic.

Her heart rate spiked as she worried about what this could mean; was this part of the hallucination? Was the universe telling her that Adrien was taking her heart away for good? That she’d never have him, but never be able to move on from him? No! She couldn’t accept that!

Marinette knew there was only one thing to do: she had to get her string back from Adrien before he stole it all away!

Alya, who was giving Marinette a concerned look, snapped in front of her face. “Girl, are you okay?” she asked, sounding worried. “What is it?”

Marinette gave Alya a serious, determined look.

“He’s taking my string away,” she declared with a frown, and Alya’s face pinched.

“Who’s doing what? Sorry, Marinette, but what do you mean?”

Marinette began speed-walking out of the door, leaving her things at the bench. “My string is following him, but I’m not gonna let him steal it from me!” she exclaimed, and hurried off in the direction of her string. She stared intently at the ground, watching as the string tangled and weaved through a mess of other ones. She couldn’t let it escape her sight!

Alya sighed and stayed behind. “Oh, no, don’t worry. I’ll get your stuff for you, Marinette!” she called. “And then you’re taking a nice long nap,” she muttered. Marinette ignored her as she hurried along until she caught up with the culprit, the thief of her treasured string.

Stopping in front of him, Marinette posed dramatically, sticking her hand out and demanding, “Adrien, give me my string back!”

The students in the hallway muttered to each other as Adrien stared at her with a completely perplexed look on his face.

“Give you what? Marinette, what’s going on?” he asked, sounding concerned. “Is everything okay?”

Marinette frowned, and her face went red in the usual fashion even as she stuttered out her defense. She couldn’t let herself be distracted by a pretty face, even if it was Adrien’s!

“String, you keep, uh, thief, uh, give it back!” She launched herself toward the string, grabbing it and pulling until she reached some invisible knot near Adrien’s finger. He flinched in response, looking hurt and surprised.

Nino, who was standing beside Adrien, looking confused, suddenly lit up. He reached out, stopping Marinette before she could untie the string and take it back.

“Marinette, wait! You said Adrien has your string?”

Marinette paused, looking at Nino suspiciously.

“Yes,” she said slowly. “He’s stealing it; I saw it follow him when he left class!”

Nino nodded, furrowing his brows as he came up with a response. “So, is the string still attached to your finger, too?”

Marinette blinked. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of checking!

She peered down at her own hand, stepping back from Adrien as she did so, and noticed a familiar red string still tied around her finger.

“Yes,” she answered as the gears in her head began spinning, “Yes, it is.”

Adrien choked, and Nino nodded, relaxing. “Cool. So, dude, it sounds like Adrien’s not stealing it, then, right? Since it’s tying you two together,” he said, elbowing Adrien with a small grin.

Adrien’s face turned bright pink. “Nino,” he hissed, looking embarrassed. Nino kept going, though.

“And if it’s your string, and it’s still attached to you, and it’s attached to Adrien, then that sounds like a soul-string to me. This must mean you guys are soulmates!”

Marinette stared at Nino, then at Adrien, and then at the red string still connecting her finger to Adrien’s.

“Oh, no,” she whimpered, the horror of what she’d almost done hitting her. She’d almost untied the string binding her soul to Adrien’s! What kind of half-rate, half-witted Seer was she? “Oh, no, Adrien, I’m so sorry! I—”

Just then, Alya came out of the classroom, walking up behind Marinette and offering her the backpack she’d forgotten inside.

“Girl, you are a mess today! Are you sure you— wait. What’s going on?”

Alya looked around at the huddle of students in the hall, who were still staring at Marinette, Nino, and Adrien.

It was all a little too much for Marinette, who’d had a very long day for someone who hadn’t gotten any sleep that past night.

She reached out and grabbed the bag from Alya. “Thanks-see-you-later-bye!”

Before anyone could say anything (before she could embarrass herself further), Marinette took off running towards her home.

It was, without a doubt, the worst morning of her life.

__*__*__*__*__

Finding out who her soulmate was by trying to untie the string binding them together was possibly the most embarrassing thing that had happened to her, Marinette reflected. It hadn’t even been the weirdest thing she’d done — jumping into a dinosaur’s mouth was definitely higher on that list — but she knew the morning’s events would be featuring in her nightmares for years.

She’d almost rejected Adrien, her true love, as her soulmate— by accident, but still! It was hard to fathom a more awkward situation.

Still, after a short lunch and a semi-refreshing nap, she shouldered her backpack and headed back to afternoon class, full of resolve. She couldn’t run away from the mess she’d made! She had to make sure Adrien knew she wasn’t upset that they were soulmates, and that she hadn’t meant to hurt him earlier.

She’d only tell him the color of their string if he wanted her to, though. After all, just finding your soulmate was a big enough occurrence; being told whether the soul bond was romantic or platonic might be too much to find out in one day, especially considering how the reveal had happened.

Marinette hoped Adrien hadn’t decided to stay home to avoid her after what she’d done. He’d seemed pretty overwhelmed by her sudden attack on the soul-string earlier, but not unhappy when Nino had figured out that Marinette and Adrien were soulmates, so maybe that was a good sign. He had seemed really embarrassed, though, about as much as she’d been, herself, so maybe he’d choose to stay home, after all. Goodness knew his father would be only too happy to keep him there.

She didn’t have to worry, though; as she walked onto the school campus, Marinette could already see Adrien standing by the stairs. He looked nervous, she noticed as she walked closer, and if she concentrated, she could feel a kind of tension in their soul-string. She swallowed, mustered up a smile, and waved somewhat awkwardly as she approached him.

Marinette paused there, not quite sure what to do or say, and her eyes flitted over to Nino, who was standing beside his friend again, in hopes of some hint or encouragement. Before Nino could react, though, Adrien stepped forward. He opened his mouth, but hesitated, flushing, and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

Then Marinette felt a slight push at her side from inside her purse. Tikki had encouraged her to tell the truth earlier, at home, and she knew the little kwami was counting on her to set things right.

So, Marinette mustered up all her courage and reached out for Adrien’s hand, the one with the string attached to it. Adrien looked up sharply, nervous and hopeful at the same time, if the emotions Marinette could lightly sense through their soul-string were correct.

“Hi, Adrien,” she said, smiling lightly as she shook his hand as if to introduce herself. “I’m Marinette, and it’s nice to finally meet you, soulmate.”

A brilliant smile broke out on Adrien’s face, and he pulled her into a hug as their classmates cheered around them. Marinette felt her face heat up, but the butterflies she felt in her stomach were happy ones, for once. After a long moment, Adrien finally stepped back, and Marinette noticed that his face was a bit pink, and it looked like he was crying. A spike of alarm shot through her, and she gripped his hands tightly.

“Are you okay?” she asked, feeling worried.

He squeezed her hands back, and Marinette felt a powerful thrum run through their soul-string.

“I’m more than okay, Marinette,” he told her, “I’m just so happy! You’re not upset you’re my soulmate?”

Marinette’s face hardened. “Never,” she vowed. “I could never be upset about that, Adrien! I’m glad you’re my soulmate.”

Adrien wiped a tear away from his eye, smiling. “This is the best day of my life,” he choked out.

Nino grinned and clapped his back. “I’m really happy for you, dude,” he said, and Alya, who’d come to stand by him and was holding her phone suspiciously like she did to take pictures of the heroes, nodded in excited agreement.

“I feel like a proud mother duck watching my babies swim for the first time,” she joked. “We need a better picture. Pick a pose, sunshines!”

Adrien’s eyes widened, and he hastily dried the rest of his tears away. “A picture? I can’t even think of any poses right now, I’m too excited!”

Alya hummed. “The model can’t think of any poses? Well, that’s fine, I can! How about you dance with him, Marinette? Use up that excited energy before you have to sit still in class!”

Marinette flushed, looking up at Adrien. “A-are you sure, Alya? I can’t even dance, not really, I’m so clumsy!”

“You weren’t clumsy at Chloe’s party, Marinette,” Adrien said shyly. “I thought you were perfect.”

He offered his hands to her, smiling shyly, and she slowly reached out to take them. Nino pressed a button on his phone, and the two of them began swaying to the gentle beat of the music that started to play.

Alya exclaimed and cooed over them, and as the final minutes before class ticked away, Marinette relaxed as she and Adrien began dancing more naturally. She fell into the lead almost by accident, and Adrien grinned up at her as she dipped him while the music swelled.

“Got your perfect picture, Alya?” she asked with a cocky smile as she spun Adrien around one more time.

“I think I do,” Alya confirmed, grinning at the two soulmates. “Should we head into class? I’m sure Nino can trade Marinette seats so you lovebirds can sit together.”

Adrien blushed and Marinette stuttered, but in the end, they slid into the first row together happily, smiling so brightly that even Ms. Mendeleiev seemed affected by the adorable scene, not mentioning the fact that they were a few seconds late to class the way she usually would.

As she sat in class, Marinette reflected on her crazy day. She’d gone to school after pulling an all-nighter, discovered her soulmate, almost untied their soul-string, and gone back to school and made it up to him. And her soulmate really was Adrien! Her day could hardly get any better, and now she realized that maybe the universe had been sending her a sign, after all.

If another Seer was going to find out her identity because of the soul-strings, it had probably happened by now. She was no more at risk than she’d ever been, and she’d have to get used to the new feeling of freedom and fear that knowledge brought.

But it was a good feeling overall, a really good one. Maybe she’d even offer to find Chat Noir’s soulmate for him and spread the joy she felt over to him, too! Marinette smiled at the thought of her partner gushing about his new-found soulmate to her. He’d be so happy when he found out about hers, too!

For now, though, she was happy just sitting next to her soulmate, holding hands under the table and taking pride in the happiness radiating from his end of the string. Today had been a good day, after all!

#and yes the title is inspired by 'follow the yellow brick road' XD #adrinetteapril2024 #ml fanfic #soulmates #adrinette #lovesquare #rosie-b writing #crack and fluff

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starsfic · 3 months

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Hollow Wedding

The wedding could've come from a magazine spread, it was so perfect.

Notre Dame was decorated in white, the only pops of color being red here and there and the stained glass window cast shimmering pops of color on the couple. On either side of them were the groomsmen and bridesmaids, three each, all dressed in matching outfits. It was a wedding straight out of a movie.

It was beautiful. Perfect.

Hollow.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng could practically feel the hollowness in the air. Despite what Alya claimed, that she still had deep feelings for Adrien, it wasn't that made her feel hollow. It was just too perfect. The way Adrien held his bride's hand, how he placed the ring on her finger, how they kissed. Each motion was perfectly rehearsed and bare of any real emotion.

The only thing that made it imperfect was that Alya kept glancing at her. Ever since Adrien had announced his engagement, she had pushed Marinette to do something about it. She still didn't seem to understand that Marinette no longer wanted Adrien. Since her break up with Luka, of course she would want to rebound with the guy who made her feel shame for her own emotions.

Of course.

Marinette didn't do anything and Alya finally settled with a sigh. She was almost like Chat Noir, who announced he was engaged out of the blue and kept glancing at her ever since the news, probably hoping she would react more than her congratulations.

She hoped his wedding was more real than this.

The reception carried the hollowness as well. It was all perfectly decorated and such as well, but there was nothing that could hide that feeling. And, as she sat down with Alya and Nino, she could see other guests look around, weirdly unsettled.

"Ugh, that was the creepiest ceremony I've ever sat through," Nino said in a whisper. "Like, I thought the bride was about to drop dead."

Marinette nodded. "I noticed it too." She glanced at the stage before Alya could comment any more on "her true feelings". "Aren't you gonna give a speech?"

Nino shook his head. "Nah, dudette. Gabriel made Adrien make his cousin his best man, so he's giving the speech."

"I didn't even know he had a cousin," Alya said as the cousin in question, Felix or something, started talking. "Who was the other guy?"

"I don't know, some model Adrien knows? From what I heard, the bride doesn't even know the bridesmaids, they're all related to Adrien or Emilie somehow."

"Huh? Seriously?"

Alya's eyes went wide. "Oh boy," she said. "Suddenly, I'm glad you never confessed your feelings, Mari."

"I'm glad you finally realized," she couldn't help but snark. Honestly, she would have rather died than have a wedding like this. She would've wanted to be married at the little temple her parents did, blending Chinese and French customs together and even having her parents make her wedding cake. With how Gabriel and Emilie this all felt, she wouldn't be surprised if Adrien's wedding had always been planned to be a wedding do-over. She pushed that thought aside to focus on the issue. "But, the bride didn't know any of them?"

Nino nodded. "Yeah. I asked if...uh..." He paused, trying to think. "I can't remember her name- Akane? I think that's her name, I asked if something had happened so they had to step in, but Adrien kinda just said that she didn't have any friends."

"She could've," Alya snarked, "If she actually bothered to show up to the hang-outs like you invited her to."

The wedding reception, thankfully, grew more lively after dinner was served after that comment. Marinette couldn't help but dance with Alya as Nino DJed, his music providing a spark of life to the hollowness of everything.

Soon, however, she had to pull away. "Getting some air!" she called so Alya could hear, receiving a nod. Marinette walked away from the huddle, stepping out of the reception entirely. The reception had been held in Chloe's hotel with doors leading to the roof.

And, up on the roof, was the bride.

Marinette, the moment she saw the white gown, was tempted to just turn and head back inside. But something in her paused, made her just look at the woman who married her lycee crush.

She was startlingly pretty, with short dark hair and eyes, even with the frostiness that always seemed to follow her, that had a hint of sweetness. The dress looked lovely, but it seemed washed out against her. If Marinette had designed the wedding dress, she would've chosen a more bold color, like red.

And then she realized that the bride was staring at her.

"Uh, hi, sorry-" Marinette said, stepping back. "I didn't know anyone was up here, I can just-"

"It's fine." Short and to the point.

Marinette nodded, walking up to stand next to the bride. They stood in silence together, just watching the city. No akumas had come today, despite her fears of Adrien's fan club reacting badly to him getting married. (Chloe's akuma in reaction to the news was enough.) It was another perfect moment for the movie that was this wedding.

"Akane, right?"

"Kagami, actually." The moment the correction hit her ears, Marinette wanted to shrivel up. Fuck, hadn't that been the name on the invite? She was so dumb! "Although that might as well be my name for how much Adrien cares about me."

"Huh?"

"It's Marinette, correct?" Kagami said, no explanation for her statement.

"Uh, yeah." Marinette cleared her throat. "I'm glad I could finally meet you. We tried to schedule stuff, but-"

"But you guys had to cancel. I understand."

Huh. Wait. What? "What, no? Adrien and you cancelled. He kept texting Nino that his dad suddenly changed his mind or you guys had a really important event."

"No. We would leave to meet with you and then he would get a text saying that stuff had to be cancelled so I always went home." She expected anger or maybe relief. Instead, Kagami's face seemed to crumple. "I bet he was with her," she said. A tear rolled down her cheek and she reached up, looking startled.

With the whiplash of Adrien supposedly lying to Kagami and maybe, possibly, lying to Nino and them, Marinette could only ask "Who?"

"The girl he's in love with," Kagami admitted, voice thick with tears. More tears rolled down her cheeks and it was heartbreaking. "You know, I should've taken it as a hint that, right after our first date, he admitted he wasn't over this girl. I pushed past it, I thought I could-" A sob welled up and Kagami let it out. Marinette couldn't help it. She wrapped her arms around her, hoping she could provide some comfort. The other woman froze, just for a second, before arms wrapped stiffly around her. "I thought I could change his mind. I thought we were so perfect together."

"Perfection isn't a thing," Marinette admitted. "No matter how hard Gabriel tries to think it is."

"I should've left him after we got engaged and he admitted that I was just a placeholder for this other girl," Kagami said, sending a hot wave of rage through Marinette. "I saw him while we were preparing. He kept checking his phone..."

I'll check my messages if you have any last-minute objections, my lady.

Marinette shook her head. No. Adrien wasn't like that. Except, as it turned out, he was. She pushed away those thoughts to focus on Kagami. A ridiculous thought came up, except in the face of all this, it probably wasn't that ridiculous. "...it's not too late to walk away." Sure, it would probably hurt Adrien to have his wife annul their marriage the day of their wedding, but what about Kagami?

"It is," Kagami sounded so calm about this, even with the tears rolling down her face. "Tsurugis don't back down from anything."

"Tsurugis should also be respected and be in relationships that respect them." It was snarky but true.

There was a moment of silence. Marinette almost pulled away from how still Kagami suddenly seemed.

Then the other woman pulled away, a cold glint freezing her face over, even as her eyes were puffy and pink. Marinette almost apologized when she spoke. "I'll meet you downstairs in ten minutes," she said.

"...Okay."

Kagami smiled and nodded before walking through the door. Marinette, left on the roof, blinked and then pulled out her phone. In an old group chat, she left one message.

PinkFlower: Get the car ready the marriage's getting annulled.

By the time she arrived at the parking lot, Alya and Nino, plus Juleka, Rose, Alix, Mylene and Ivan, were waiting at Nino's van. "What the heck did you do, girl?!" she said. "Adrien's already married one day and you become a homewrecker?"

"Not on that side," Marinette corrected. She turned her head at what sounded like a furious shriek and the music from the back-up DJ screeching to a stop. In the next minute, the doors opened, revealing Kagami.

Marinette's guess was right. She did look good in red, especially in the jumpsuit she had changed into.

"What did you do?" Marinette asked, just a little frightened and a lot swooning. Alya gaped, glancing from her to Kagami. Alix and Juleka, based on the noises, were stifling laughter.

"I did what I should've done a long time ago," Kagami said, holding out her arm. Marinette, still a little bit flustered, took it. "I told my mother about Adrien and his other lady. She's contacting our family lawyer now."

Damn. If her mother was anything like Gabriel...

"I also looked up some restaurants nearby. There's one with very good orange juice, if you would like?" She leaned in close, as if worried that someone would overhear and take offense. "The catering was not my choice."

...the food hadn't been great.

"Yeah," Marinette said as Nino opened the door to his van. "Yeah, I would like that."

Kagami's smile was beautiful, perfect, and full of life.

#Kagaminette #Marigami #my writing #MLB #ML #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Kagami Tsurugi #Nino Lahiffe #Alya Cesaire #fic #fanfic #fanfiction

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aihoshiino · 19 days

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chapter 159 thoughts!

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 16

Aqua Hoshigan Status: White

Surprise! As predicted by literally everyone in the fandom, the stab was a fakeout! To the shock of perhaps three people, no, one of the titular Kos of Oshi No fame was not, in fact, dying in an unceremonious cliffhanger stabbing - the only real question was exactly what sort of fakeout it was going to be. I did see quite a few folks suggest 'Akane in a wig and a stabproof vest' even in jest so congrats on calling it! Admittedly this is kind of silly but I would take 'silly' over the character assassination massacre that last chapter's apparent twist would've been any day of the week.

I guess if anything about this reveal surprised me it's that Kana wasn't involved at all…? Unless this is a double fakeout and something's going to happen at her graduation (which is not impossible for reasons we'll get into). Whereas all the buildup for Ruby (seemingly) getting stabbed basically only came in the same chapter it happened in, we've been getting some pretty heavy handed hints that something might happen to Kana for over 60 chapters now if my mental math is right - her parallels to not just Ai and Yura (i.e, our two on-screen victims), language associating her with the "type" we see targeted and that huge "Kana Arima will always protect Ruby Hoshino" red flag dropped by Gotanda, among other things. Kana is also the character who has the most actual direct parallels with Ai, where Ruby is defined mostly in how she differs from Ai… Or at least she does when the story makes sense lol. But I guess we'll see.

Either way, I personally have mixed feelings on Akane's involvement here, in this moment. On the one hand, I like what it represents about Aqua's development - the reason he and Akane broke up was over her 'endangering herself' but really it was because of Aqua's mortal terror over the people he loves being hurt in association with him. Letting Akane get involved here is an expression of growth and trust on his part and I do like that.

On the other… this is super Akane just being treated like a convenient device for the plot, as has happened to her before. It really feels like Akasaka has realized he made her way too competent as a character so he only busts her out to use as a blunt force tool to patch up his story. Hate that shit! Akane deserves better.

THAT SAID… Ichigo's involvement here is something I do straightforwardly like even if the execution isn't perfect. Now we're past the fakeout, I can say that my worst case scenario for The Stabbening was the "Aqua uses his 1337 surg30n ski11z to save the stabbing victim and make up for not saving Ai" because people have been predicting that Literally since volume 2 and I'm gonna be real with you, I've fucking hated it no matter the configuration of characters or events involved lol. It would, even if only subtextually, frame Aqua's self-loathing and suicidal ideation in relation to the incident as justified and that he somehow needs to 'redeem' himself for his failure of not stopping a grown man with a knife from stabbing his mother to death when he was literally four years old.

Ichigo, by contrast, actually is at least partially responsible for Ai's death. He is a literal agent of the system that abused and exploited her, he failed to support her properly as both her manager and her father and it's ultimately his commodification of Ai and B-Komachi as a whole that created the kind of fan attitude that gives birth to a person like Ryosuke. He's the person who actually needs to make up for failing Ai, so having him literally reenact that failing and getting able to do it right this time for the purposes of protecting Ai's beloved children is a direction for his character that I really like.

^_^ However! I do not feel anywhere near as positively about this retcon to Ryosuke and Nino's characters!!!!

like. come on, man. do i even need to explain why this is bad. even outside of how utterly transparent a retcon this is, these kinds of 'everyone is connected!!!' surprise twists are really not suited to a story like Oshi no Ko. They make the world of the story feel much smaller

In addition… it really feels like lately, Akasaka has this problem where he tries to make things more dramatic and complex by adding twists and reveals about Secret Additional Context like this to a character's behaviour but ends up just flattening them by way of making them more cartoonish as a result. Ironically, Nino and Ryosuke are both victims of this with this new retconned in connection and it cheapens not only their own arcs but their relationships with Ai (and how her own arc is informed by her relationship with them in turn) as a result. It's a cascade failure that wrenches everything else down along with it.

The other big reason this retcon frustrates me as much as it does is not just because it entirely shatters the logic of Ryosuke as a character but because one additional picrosecond of thought put into his could not only have prevented it, but even added to the story in some really meaningful and interesting ways. As other people are surely going to point out, this is an insane level of hypocrisy, so - lean into it! Make that hypocrisy explicit and textual!

Parasociality is already inherently illogical and the types of misogynistic hostile masculinity Ryosuke expresses towards Ai are already internally contradictory ideologies. Idol fan culture, too, is built on hypocrisy, especially in a gachikoi group like gen 1 B-Komachi. The girls are expected to roleplay as being romantically (and implicitly, sexually) available to their fans while also being pure and virginal to the point of farce. None of this shit makes sense! So leaning into that by explicitly acknowledging Ryosuke as a hypocrite and acknowledging these contradictory expectations could only have done the story well.

As it stands, this retcon just doesn't work. Like, look at the Ryosuke we see in those flashbacks - happy, healthy and functional enough to be close to at least two B-Komachi members. Are we really expected to believe that Ai rizzed him so hard she mindbroke him into being a Phantom of the Opera tier basement dwelling incel? Or are we supposed to believe Ryosuke was Like That simultaneously with him dating Nino? Literally no direction you come at this from makes any sense whatsoever lol

Ichigo supposedly knowing about them dating at the time also raises approximately one hundred billion questions. Primarily: DID NO ONE THINK TO TELL THE COPS AT THE TIME??? The guy who brutally murdered Ai in her own home just happened to be banging one of her coworkers who was known to have a bad relationship with her and this just… never came up?? Even though the news report on the incident explicitly says the police were investigating the possibility of an accomplice being involved?? AGAIN, NO MATTER HOW YOU APPROACH THIS TWIST IT JUST DOESN'T WORK…

I will say. For all my complaints, that final exchange between Akane and Nino, about how badly Ai and Nino ultimately just wanted to be regular friends… that really hit. It felt like a little flash of the messed up but deeply, achingly human Nino from 45510 I'd been missing so much every since she was turned into this weird caricature of herself. I'm still incredibly dissatisfied with the majority of her handling after the Movie Arc but if this is the note she gets to go out on, I'll take that W.

Concert time! Congrats to AkaMengo for creating a concert scene that annoyed me even more than the last one!

This is the sort of thing I mean when I talk about the ways in which the narrative has excessively favoured Ruby makes her come off as excessively self-centered in a way that is clearly not intentional. Not only does the story frame her as seemingly taking over the concert but she's also portrayed as the center every time she's on panel - even though that's Kana's position, that she only took in the first place because Ruby pressured her into it. This isn't something that happens by accident - in-universe, this can only have happened because the Strawberry Productions staff pushed Ruby into the center AT KANA'S GRADUATION CONCERT and instead of saying "hey, this is KANA'S GRADUATION CONCERT maybe she should be center", Ruby just went along with it. This is not my girl!!! This is not the Ruby of the First Concert arc!!!

No wonder there are in-universe fans getting pissed off. B-Komachi isn't even real and I'm getting pissed off. Like, can you imagine going to your favourite idol's graduation and her nepo baby coworker who's already constantly upstaging her is hogging the spotlight at her last ever idol performance? I would be physically incapable of not starting to throw rocks.

To make matters worse, the story is continuing to try and push what it flopped out last chapter of Ruby supposedly surpassing Ai as an idol. Like I said last chapter, I didn't buy it then and I extra don't buy it now!

Not only is the story still failing to do the work necessary to believably sell this, but the only way it seems to be able to try is to lean so heavily on Ai associated imagery that the whole thing is at risk of buckling under the weight - the double hoshigans, her outfit and even her popping Ai's iconic volume 1 pose. Not only does this feel generally unearned, it also falls flat as a moment where Ruby is supposed to be strutting her stuff as an idol because she is literally, explicitly, just imitating her mom.

Like… Remember when Aqua and Ruby had that big moment of Aqua telling Ruby not to try and be like Ai anymore and to get out of her shadow? Remember when Ruby and Kana had that heart to heart where Ruby said she'd be a star in her own way and she wouldn't be like Ai? How does that remotely cohere with the story relying so heavily on these callbacks? How am I supposed to believe Ruby has surpassed Ai and is shining in her own way when the seemingly only measure of success in this regard is how much she resembles Ai in the process of doing so?

Ruby has been catching strays left and right pretty much the entire time I've been doing these chapter reviews so let me be clear: I think this sucks because I think this sucks for Ruby. It completely undermines everything the story has previously set up regarding Ruby finding her own way of being an idol and it also cheapens the relationship she previously had with Ai's memory. Instead of the love and reverence she once had for her mother's legacy and efforts, now it feels like Ai has been used as a stepping stone to prop up Ruby's success story. The narrative is fighting for its fucking life to sell us on the idea that Ruby has surpassed Ai, but the execution is so ham-fisted that it ends up doing the opposite. By relying so heavily the imagery of Ai's radiance and her idolhood, it’s clear that the story doesn’t trust Ruby to stand on her own merits.

Like… fuck, man. Maybe this is a lot to read into four splash pages with no dialogue and maybe there's more to come from this concert - Kamiki is watching a live broadcast, after all, so the show is still ongoing. Maybe there'll be something in the concert to come that resolves some of my frustrations here. But this is all so consistent with the way the story has framed B-Komachi for almost 100 chapters now that it's hard for me to imagine it even recognizing that this is an issue, let alone taking the steps necessary to fix it.

And speaking of Hikaru………. man, what even is there to say about that ending lol

Much like last chapter, anything I could say about it necessarily relies on context and info we don't have yet. This is such an obviously deliberately provocative cliffhanger like last chapters that I don't see the point in trying to speculate too much about what it could all mean when Aka has historically gone hard on fakeouts. All I'll say is that like with last chapter's apparent twist, if the story is straightforwardly going to follow through on what is being presented right now with no additional twist, it will be much worse off for it.

At leas we'll find out next week whether or not that's the case. I ain't gonna lie I fully expected us to be on break again…

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #chapter review #chapter reviews

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fl3shm4id3n · 1 year

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Bᵤₑₙₐₛ ₜₐᵣdₑₛ! ₍Gₒₒd ₐfₜₑᵣₙₒₒₙ₎

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐮𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴘᴀᴠɪᴛʀ ᴘʀᴀʙʜᴀᴋᴀʀ x ʟᴀᴛɪɴᴀ! ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀɢɪʀʟ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Tw: None ♡

A/N: I haven't done any thing with Pavitr, it's short, but its something.

Masterlist

"Okay, repeat after me, 'Buenas Tardes'" Good afternoon, you sad slowly for your boyfriend to understand. "Buenas Tardes?" he said slowly as well, repeating what you said. "Hm, that's good, you're getting the hang of it!" you said, as you and Pavitr were swigging around the city while in your spider suits, trying to get to your apartment complex. "What does that mean again?" he asked, swinging right next to you. "t means 'Good Afternoon' in Spanish, my mom and aunt like it when you're respectful, specially if you know Spanish." You explained.

Finally you got to your building, then both you quickly slipped on your regular clothes over your spider suits. "Do you remember what I told you?" you asked your boyfriend as you zipped up your red spider web jacket. "Um... to Say Buenas Tardes and be respectful?" he asked as he button up his white shirt on. "Yeah, but what else?" you asked while lacing up your shoes.

Pavitr thought for a moment, but he couldn't remember. You then reminded him. "When you get face to face with both my mom and aunt, you lean in as if you're going to give them a handshake, but instead you're going to lean forward and press your cheek on the opposite cheek and you let a small kiss like sound" you said "Oh! Okay!" while following behind you, walking in the building.

Now you were face to face at your apartment door, before you opened it, you turned to Pavitr. "Remember our story of how we met?" you asked him and he only nodded. Then you opened your door and walked in. "Mama! Tia! I'm back!" you said, while walking in your house and letting your boyfriend in. You lead him to where your mom and aunt were, which was the living room, they were on the couch waiting for the both of you.

"Buenas Tardes" Pavitr said, then he went over to where both your mom and aunt were, greeting them both with a 'kiss' on the opposite cheek. This surprised both your mom and aunt. "Mira que bien educado" Look how well mannered he is, your mom said towards your aunt, who was also suprised. You then sat down on the opposite couch and gestures to him to sit next to you.

"Eres de por aqua?" your from around here?, your mom asked Pavitr, who had a look of surpised, not sure on what to say. "She's asking if your from around here" you told your boyfriend who did a small 'Oh' then answered your mom. "No, Mrs. L/n, I'm an exchanged student from India" he said, making your mom nod in understanding, then your aunt leaned over to her. "Y te dise senora" and he called you Mrs, she chimed in near your mother's ear. "Que buen nino trajo mi sobrina" What a good boy my niece brought, your aunt said to your mom, as if they were just talking to one another, while you gave Pavitr a thumbs up.

Taglist: @sorryi-mtrash, @call-me-nev

#pavitr prabhakar x reader #pavitr prabhakar x you #pavitr prabhakar x y/n #pavitr prabhakar x fem reader #pavitr prabhakar fic #pavitr prabhakar x spidergirl reader #female reader #female y/n #latina reader #latina y/n #spider girl reader #spider girl y/n #aphrodite's writing

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purplecatghostposts · 27 days

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Miraculous Ladybug characters and what character in Mario Kart 8 I think they choose as well as if they’re good at the game, based on the vibes I get from them!

Marinette: Used to play Peach but now is purely loyal to Toadette and Toadette ONLY! Canonically great at video games, so Mario Kart is naturally included.

Adrien: CAT PEACH. If anyone else chooses Cat Peach, he immediately gives them a DEVASTATED look and they swap immediately. Very good at the game, he has three stars on every cup!

Alya: Daisy. She will FIGHT anyone else trying to pick Daisy. Nobody is taking Daisy from her. She’s pretty decent at the game but is mostly just here to have fun and maybe kick some ass.

Nino: Strikes me as either a Yoshi guy or Shy Guy guy, though he’s chill if other people wanna pick them. Also decent but has a grudge against certain NPC opponents.

Chloé: Pink. Gold. Peach. Threatens to sue if anyone else takes her. She’s actually pretty good at the game and tends to be VERY agro. No mercy, she needs to WIN.

Kagami: Has swapped between a lot of different people but settled on Link. Incredibly intense in-game. She’s willing to battle to the death.

Félix: Isabelle from Animal Crossing. Do not let it fool you. He wants to WIN and he will red shell you at the worst time to do it.

Luka: Claims he’ll ‘Choose anybody’ but he’ll go for Rosalina if given the choice. He’s just trying to have fun and is 90% of the reason why controllers are not thrown at the TV. Juleka claims he’s “Going easy” on everyone so less feelings will be hurt. (She’s right, he loses on purpose a lot.)

Juleka: Dry Bones or Dry Bowser, she thinks they’re both cool. Doesn’t usually get top 5 if everyone is playing but consistently gets 6-7th! Hitting people with red and blue shells is kinda cathartic for her.

Rose: Sometimes picks one of the baby versions of the characters, but other times chooses one of Bowser’s kids, like Wendy or Roy. The former is for when she’s playing to have fun, the latter is for when she’s gunning for top 3.

Zoé: Pretended to be bad at the game until she realized she didn’t need to spare anyone’s feelings. Very good at the game, knows a lot of the techniques to give herself mini boosts. She LOVES Boswer Jr., especially after becoming Kitty Noire.

Sabrina: Genuinely one of the best players… When she’s not playing with Chloé. Otherwise she’s always letting her win, aiding her the best she can, and pretty much always gets whatever rank is directly behind hers. Claims her favorite character is Baby Peach (it’s actually King Boo).

Kim: DONKEY KONG. Also occasionally Wario. He’s actually kinda terrible at the game but he tends to spams items and makes that everyone else’s problem.

Max: Chooses one of the Inkling Kids (he strikes me as someone who also probably loves Splatoon). He’s good at the game but with how many other people are also good at the game, sometimes he gets overshined. He’s better at fighting games.

Alix: Waluigi 100%. She thinks he’s hilarious and while she doesn’t actually care, she WILL bring up ‘Waluigi should’ve been in Smash Ultimate’ At some point, because she thinks it’s funny. Not great at the game, is here purely to spam items and fuck over as many people as possible.

Myléne: Terrible at the game but plays to have fun! Likes to play Boswer because Ivan has cosplayed as him before.

Ivan: Also terrible at the game but likes losing alongside Myléne. Likes to play as Luigi, though occasionally chooses Dry Boswer if no one else has.

Nathaniel: Rarely plays but will choose Rosalina or Lemmy if he does. Likes to play against other casual people but usually dips if too many competitive people are playing at once.

Marc: Surprisingly really good though isn’t always good about asking if he can have a turn or not. Loves to pick the animal crossing villagers if they haven’t been chosen.

Lila: Claims she’s won a championship before. Is actually terrible at the game with the worst luck and very rarely plays. The first time she was gonna play with the class, she selected Cat Peach. Everyone stared at her as Adrien gave her the most devastated look. She panicked and faked an injury to stop playing altogether.

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pannaginip · 6 months

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Located 62km north-east of the capital Manila, Daraitan village in Rizal province is home to about 5,700 residents, a majority of whom are members of the Dumagat-Remontado indigenous people who consider vast hectares of the mountain range as part of their ancestral domain.

But the village may soon disappear under the same waters that give it life, once the Philippine government finishes building the Kaliwa Dam – one of 16 flagship infrastructure projects of former president Rodrigo Duterte that is being funded by China.

The new dam is expected to provide Metro Manila with an additional 600 million litres of water daily once it is finished by end-2026. Officials said building the 60m-high reservoir is even more necessary now that the country is starting to feel the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

But it was only in 2021 under Mr Duterte that construction finally broke ground, three years after Manila and Beijing signed the 12 billion peso (S$288 million) loan agreement.

Of the 119 on the list [of flagship projects of the "Build, Build, Build” infrastructure programme], Mr Duterte turned to China to finance 16 big-ticket projects in a bid to cement his legacy by the time his presidency ended in 2022. He embraced Beijing during his term and even downplayed Manila’s claims in the disputed South China Sea in favour of securing loans and grants from China.

Analysts have criticised Mr Duterte’s infrastructure programme as ambitious. Perennial domestic issues like local politics, right-of-way acquisition problems, lack of technology and red tape in bureaucracy led to severe delays in the projects.

The same issues hound the China-funded projects – which come under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to build infrastructure in developing nations – with the problems made more severe by Beijing’s high interest rates in its loan agreements and local backlash due to displacement of residents or potential environmental damage.

Critics say the BRI has been detrimental in the long run to some recipient countries, especially those that have been unable to repay their loans, like Sri Lanka and Zambia.

The Duterte government’s failure to take advantage of its BRI loans was a “missed opportunity” for the Philippines, said infrastructure governance specialist Jerik Cruz, a graduate research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The four completed China-funded projects under Mr Duterte were controversial too. But they came to fruition because they had the support of local politicians allied with Mr Duterte and therefore increased his political capital, said Dr Camba.

Tribal leaders said they were not properly consulted regarding the project that threatens their traditional way of life. Environmentalists from the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network also say the project would destroy 126 species of flora and fauna in the Sierra Madre.

The Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act states that the government must first secure a tribe’s free, prior and informed consent before building on its ancestral lands.

But Ms Clara Dullas, one of the leaders of the Dumagat-Remontado in Rizal, alleged that the Duterte government had either misinformed or pressured other tribe members into giving their consent.

She could not bear to hold grudges, though, noting that the Dumagat-Remontado organisations that eventually agreed to the Kaliwa Dam were each given 80 million pesos, or $1.9 million, in “disturbance” fees.

“The Kaliwa Dam is the reason why our tribe is divided now. There is a crack in our relationships even if we all come from the same family,” said Ms Dullas. “I can’t blame the others because we lack money. I believe there was bribery involved.”

The government requires them to present identification documents, and only those given passes may enter. Mr Dizon said this is to ensure that no unidentified personnel enter the area [close to the construction zone].

“We feel like we are foreigners in our own home because the Chinese and the people in our own government are now preventing us from entering the lands where we grew up,” said tribe leader Renato Ibanez, 48.

Mr Ibanez also accuses the Philippine authorities of harassing tribe members who are vocal against Kaliwa Dam. Some of them have been accused of working with communist rebels, a charge the tribe vehemently denies.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr Marcos is more aggressive in defending Manila’s overlapping claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, but still fosters economic ties with it.

Geopolitical tensions between the two nations and Mr Marcos’ stance towards Beijing are going to dictate the fate of the pending China-funded projects the President inherited from Mr Duterte, said Mr Cruz.

Tribe members said they would be more amenable if Mr Marcos would revisit Japan’s proposed Kaliwa Intake Weir project that Mr Duterte had set aside.

“We like Japan’s proposal. It would not destroy our forests. It would not affect residents here. The Philippines would not be buried in debt,” said Ms Dullas.

This was among the alternatives the Dumagat-Remontados offered during their nine-day march in February 2023, when some 300 members walked 150km from Quezon and Rizal all the way to Manila to protest against the Kaliwa Dam.

But they failed to secure an audience with Mr Marcos. They remain wary of the President’s position on the Kaliwa Dam and other controversial China-funded deals.

“As much as we want to fully pin our hopes on him, we don’t. We’ve learnt from past efforts to trick us, make us believe a project is about to end, only for it to be resurrected again years later,” said Ms Dullas.

2024 Mar. 3

#philippines #indigenous rights #dumagat-remontado #state violence #red tagging #infrastructure #environmental issues #afp-pnp

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mochegato · 1 year

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Scarlet Polka Dot Bikini

Marinette poked her head around the changing room wall, cursing Alya for forcing her to wear these scraps of fabric that barely counted as a swimsuit. Starfire might call it conservative, but it was more risqué than anything Marinette had ever worn in public before. And, yes, Marinette knew it was her own fault for making the bet in the first place, but this was unnecessarily cruel, because now here she was in a triangle string red polka dot bikini, and not just any triangle string red polka dot bikini, an itsy bitsy teenie weenie scarlet polka dot bikini in front of all of her friends.

Well, some of her friends. The friends with the most killer bodies. Her superhero friends who all had washboard abs and defined pectorals or perky breasts. And she was supposed to prance around the beach with essentially nothing on. Not a single one of them would say anything negative, she knew that. Hell, she could almost guarantee they would all say something encouraging. But that fact only slightly reduced her mortification.

“Marinette! I saw you!” Alya called. She stormed toward the changing room. “Get your pert, little butt out here. You can’t hide all day.”

Marinette glared at her. “I bet I could,” she huffed.

“Marinette,” Alya sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “just come out here, girl. It’ll be fine.”

“It would be better if I had a little more…” she motioned toward her body as she tried to figure out the right word, “more, on.”

“You just need to get over your self-consciousness. You look hot, girl! And the rest of these idiots need to respect. Hell, I might consider switching sides for you!” she cheered. “Now come on, you’re missing all the fun.”

Marinette grumbled but obliged, taking her first timid steps past the wall only to immediately be met with Alya’s exasperated sigh. “Really?” Alya’s voice was as flat as a board but still dripped with incredulity at the large towel Marinette had draped over her body. “Marinette. Girl. My Bestest Bestie. My most annoying sister…”

“Hey!” Marinette objected. “There’s no way I’m more annoying than Ella and Etta after they went to that concert and had caffeine for the first time.”

Alya raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Yes, congratulations, they were annoying once…”

“Once,” Marinette scoffed.

“… you’re annoying all the time,” Alya finished. She motioned pointedly to Marinette’s body. “You need to have more confidence, Mari! It doesn’t even matter what your body looks like. You need to have confidence in yourself. You’re sexy. Even in that towel, you’re sexy. You’re sexy because you’re you. Now, drop that stupidly fluffy, massive towel, and come have fun! We were just about to play chicken. How about it? Me and Nino, you and…” she scanned the beach, “Wally!”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “No! I am not playing chicken in this. It’s one strong wave away from washing away.” Alya smirked and waggled her eyebrows. “No! No.” Marinette let her arm escape her towel cocoon to point warningly at Alya.

“Well, that would be one way to get Jason’s attention,” Alya laughed.

“Alya!” Marinette gasped. She jumped at Alya to cover her mouth, scanning the area for anyone who might have heard. The towel almost dropped in the process and would have if she hadn’t backed off of Alya at the last second, valuing her modesty more than silencing Alya… for the moment. “Someone could have heard you,” she hissed with a slap to Alya’s shoulder. “And that is not how I want to get his attention.”

The sheer idiocy of the statement caused Alya to roll her eyes harder than she had ever rolled them before. As though Marinette didn’t have his attention already. As though Jason didn’t gravitate to her in every interaction. As though Jason didn’t get even more hostile whenever Marinette volunteered for a particularly dangerous mission. As though he didn’t start growling at anyone who indicated they might hit on her.

“Marinette, sweetheart, I didn’t want to have to do this but, by the… Look out!” Alya yelled as she dove out of the way.

Marinette whipped around to see a volleyball hurtling toward her. There was no dodging it. She had a split second to choose whether to just let it hit her or drop the towel. She almost chose to let it hit her but gave in at the last second and released her strangle hold on the towel to hit the ball at just the right angle to have it bounce up and fall back to her much more gently.

Jason and Roy jogged up to her, Roy sporting a brilliant grin. Jason followed a few paces behind him at a much more subdued pace, staring intently at Marinette. Marinette almost lost the ability to breathe. The sun kissed his body and hair, making him look like he was a dark-haired Apollo… until he tripped over a slight lift in the sand and had to cartwheel his hands to keep from falling face first. He took a second to steady himself before shooting up straight, dusting himself off, and continuing his path as though nothing had happened.

Marinette reached for him but pulled her hand back at the last second and instead used it to secure the ball in front of her now exposed stomach. She smiled awkwardly at Roy and Jason as they approached, but with each step closer, she hunched her shoulders and bent one of her knees, trying subconsciously to make herself into a ball that could be entirely hidden by the volleyball.

“Looking good,” Roy complimented with a wink. He held his hand out for the ball, but Marinette clutched it closer to her, her knuckles almost turning white with the force, which he pretended not to notice. He turned toward the rest of the group instead and motioned toward them. “You’re welcome to take the next game once we finish crushing Dick and Adrien, or you can get in on Wally’s frisbee game he’s playing with himself, or Tim, Steph, and Kon are playing in the water.” He suddenly turned to her with a very serious look and leaned closer. “Do not play any games in the water with Garth. He cheats and doesn’t even realize it.”

Jason clocked Roy on the back of the head, feeling a bit better after getting it out. “Stop scaring her, dumbass. You’re being a creep.” He smiled at Marinette, struggling to make it seem as easygoing as possible. It seemed to have worked because while she didn’t let go of the ball, she did ease her death grip on it. “Glad you could make it, Pixie. Come cheer me and Roy on when you’re ready. Dick and Adrien have Nino and Alya, which gives them a bit of an unfair advantage.”

Roy shot a knowing look at Alya, both fighting a snort at their oblivious idiots. “Yeah, that’s why,” Roy muttered.

“Okay, honey,” Alya cut in with more than a hint of patronization, “let’s return their ball.” She grunted as she wrested it from Marinette’s hands and tossed it to them with only a weak whimper from Marinette, who jumped behind Alya as soon as her shield was removed. “We’ll be over in a few minutes,” she assured them.

Alya and Marinette watched them walk away, Marinette staring undisguisedly at Jason’s behind as it flexed under his trunks with each step. She waited until they were at the court before smacking Alya’s shoulder. “This is terrible! He’s walking around looking like,” she motioned toward Jason with a groan and threw her head back in frustration.

“Yeah,” Alya answered. “And you’re looking like,” she motioned toward Marinette. “Perfect match. Now come on. Cheer for your man.”

“He’s not my man,” Marinette grumbled, but let Alya drag her.

“Yet,” Alya corrected, her eyebrows waggling yet again. Marinette was starting to hate that waggle.

Marinette took a seat in the sand near the court, or what she thought were the bounds of the court. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. It was far too hot to be balled up like she was and completely negated sunning herself, but even sweating like she was, she was more comfortable than she would be if she were showing off her swimsuit.

She and Alya cheered the players on for several rounds, laughing and joking with the players, just about everyone joining them at some point to choose sides and cheer. Marinette relaxed a bit but kept her legs firmly set in front of her chest, until she couldn’t take it any longer. She was too hot. The sweat had worked into every crevasse, most of which also got sand into them, making even sitting still extremely uncomfortable, and she was sure she looked like a hot mess at this point.

She waited until people seemed distracted by some story Stephanie was telling and anxiously stood up. She checked that nobody was looking and jogged to the surf, her arms crossed in front of her chest until she’d passed almost everyone, then moving to hang loosely behind her to shield her behind until she hit the water. Her focus remained on the water as she moved, her sanctuary, her armor, missing the ball striking the sand mere inches from Jason, who’s focus was also on the water, or more precisely, the woman wading into the water, her bikini getting soaked as she moved.

Roy picked up the ball with an exasperated huff and lightly bounced it off of Jason’s head. “Hey! Head in the game.”

“Right,” Jason agreed instantly. He shook his head and nodded to Roy as he got back into position. His eyes darted back over to Marinette but snapped to Dick when he heard the slap of his serve. He managed to keep his focus on the game with only the occasional glance toward Marinette until a massive wave came in and drew the water away from Marinette as the water surged to fill back up.

The movement left him with a clear view of Marinette, sopping wet in her itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie scarlet polka dot bikini clinging to every curve, and he thought he might not be able to breathe any longer. He continued to stare, mouth agape, completely unaware of anything else around him, until his focus was jarred by a ball smacking him in the side of his head. He blinked in the direction the ball came from but instantly returned his focus to Marinette.

“Come on,” Roy groaned, “what the Hell, man?”

Jason didn’t bother to look away from the water to acknowledge him. “Think it’s time for a dip,” he said blankly. “You guys continue without me.”

“Continue without… It’s two on two!” Roy yelled after him. He turned back to Dick and Adrien with an exasperated huff. “I know I asked for him to get off his ass and actually go for her, but this is not what I meant.”

“Yes, it was,” Adrien snarked.

“Yeah, it was,” he agreed reluctantly. “Wally, stop playing with yourself and get over here. You’re on my team now!”

“You’re going to turn blue if you stay here much longer,” Jason teased, easily wading closer, the water that covered Marinette up to her shoulders only coming to mid chest on him. Even through the water, he could see her covering her chest with her arms crossed across her chest. He furrowed his brow at her reticence.

He had been more than happy about her walking around in her swimsuit, well, no, he hadn’t been thrilled with everyone checking her out throughout the day, but he was okay with it because she was fine with it, and if she felt good who cared what anyone else thought. It was clear now that she wasn’t. Even after a few hours, she wasn’t comfortable in the swimsuit.

“Why don’t we get out of here?” he asked casually, looking off into the distance, squinting at the sun shining in his eyes. “We can go get food or something, which would of course require getting dressed…” he let the sentence trail off, the picture of innocence.

Marinette blinked at him, timid hope appearing in her eyes. Her eyes darted to the beach, the people wandering around between them and the car, and back. “I don’t know. I might… wait,” she said uncertainly. “You know, until everyone is distracted.”

Jason narrowed his eyes at the people on the beach. “Nah. I’m hungry now. Give me just a second. Wait right here.” Marinette snorted. As if she was going to go anywhere. Jason dashed out of the water and across the sand to his bike. She could see him rummaging around and grabbing something out of a compartment. He then made his way over to Roy, whispering something in his ear and making a sharp movement with his arm, before moving back to Marinette.

He shot her a confident grin and motioned toward the beach. “Okay, Pixie, let’s go.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “No! I’m not… They aren’t…” Her sentence got cut off by a small explosion on the beach just beyond where everyone was playing.

“I saw two people over there!” Roy yelled at the top of his lungs. He pointed toward the other side of the beach from Jason and Marinette and charged, the others following him significantly more cautiously.

“That’s my boy,” Jason grinned. He urged Marinette out of the water and across the sand to the changing rooms.

“Jason,” she exclaimed. “We have to…” she froze and stared at him incredulously as realization hit him. “I know I asked you for a distraction, but that was not what I had in mind.”

“I know, genius, right?” he grinned, pulling her behind him until they reached his bike.

“That was not what…”

“Did you want to change before we leave or after? I can let you borrow my shirt if you want to wait.” He held out his shirt to Marinette, but his grin morphed into a smirk after a second. “Honestly might be safer if you go without the shirt though.”

Marinette’s hand, which was just centimeters from his shirt froze, it dropped to her side as her head cocked to the side. “Oh? Why’s that?” she asked innocently.

He took a breath to fortify himself and stepped closer to Marinette. “Because, if I have you in my shirt hanging on to me while I’m driving, I’m going to have a lot of trouble watching the road,” he admitted quietly.

Marinette’s lips split into a brilliant grin. This was the first time Jason had given a definitive sign of interest. There had been signs before but they always could be written off as innocent. This was the first time, there was no way it could be innocent. “Me in a shirt would be more distracting than me in this itsy bitsy teenie weenie scarlet polka dot bikini?” Her voice had changed from the innocent tones a few moments ago to something more sultry and it was setting Jason’s body on fire.

“You’re distracting either way,” Jason corrected. “But knowing you’re in my shirt? Holding tight to me? With just that underneath?” He let out a long breath and shook his head. “I’ll be honest we’ll be lucky if we don’t crash.”

Marinette giggled and looked him over slowly. She closed the distance until her chest was almost brushing his, close enough that if he inhaled deeply, they would touch, and looked up at him from under her lashes. “Just keep your eyes on the road and remember if you crash, you won’t get to kiss me tonight.”

A growl sounded deep in Jason’s chest as he wrapped his shirt around her shoulders. “That is a very compelling argument. No crashing, but food and kissing later.”

Marinette nodded, her eyes finally glinting with the happiness he was used to seeing in her eyes. “Glad you agree. But maybe…” She cut off when they heard their friends start yelling. They met each other’s eyes in mutual understanding, both jumping onto the bike at the same moment. Marinette shoved her arms through the sleeves and wrapped them around his toned waist, barely able to contain the groan at the feeling of her arms on his bare skin. Her ocean-chilled skin heated up instantly where they touched like a fire flooding her system.

She had to admit, she might never wear this bikini in public again. But maybe, just maybe, if she would get the same results, she’d be willing to give Jason a private showing.

@maribatserver

#maribat #jasonette #Jasonette July #Jasonette July 2023 #prompt - Sunshine

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runawaycatwalker · 9 months

Text

Part 25. Best Friend Erasure (Oni-Chan 2.0, part B)

< First | < Previous | Next >

Description below the cut

Catwalker approaches Ladybug as she stands on a roof. She points off in a far away direction.

Catwalker: Ladybug! Oni-Chan is back, and this time her powers are—

Ladybug: I need you to go to one of the rooftops way over there and stay right there.

Catwalker: Are you sure? I could do more here if I—

Ladybug: Just. Go.

Catwalker: ...Yes, Ladybug.

Ladybug swings towards a rooftop where the other heroes have congregated near a Find Adrien billboard. Viperion looks up at Ladybug.

Viperion: Ladybug! Why isn't Catwalker with you? Did you talk to him about... that thing I told you?

Ladybug: We talked. He wasn't hiding what you thought he was.

Viperion: Oh.

Ladybug stands in a ‘take charge’ pose right in front of the billboard with Adrien’s face. Most of the heroes gather in to look towards her, but Carapace looks off towards the direction Catwalker took instead.

Ladybug: And everybody, gather around! You should all know this. Catwalker is on probation until further notice.

Viperion: Probation? Isn't that kind of extreme?

Ladybug: I have my reasons. He's keeping his miraculous, but you're the people I'm going to rely on to beat the akumas. For now, consider him an observer and just ignore him.

Carapace starts using his shield as a phone to text his girlfriend.

Carapace (texting): Rena, why is Catwalker allowed to keep his miraculous? We *have* to stop him from causing more damage.

Rena Furtive (texting): I'm watching him, don't worry.

Cut to Rena hiding on a rooftop as she uses her flute simultaneously as a telescope to spy on Catwalker and a phone to tap out a reply to her boyfriend.

Rena Furtive (texting): But if you want to try to get more info out of him as Carapace...? I'm sure Ladybug wouldn't mind...

Carapace leaps towards Catwalker, who looks at him suspiciously.

Catwalker: Carapace? What are you doing here?

Carapace: Ladybug said you were alone, and I thought you shouldn't be.

Catwalker: You should go back. Ladybug needs every hero she can get.

Catwalker perches himself on the ledge of the building he’s atop of.

Carapace: Then why did Ladybug send you all the way out here?

Catwalker: She needs me. I just... need to wait here. Until she comes up with a plan for how she can use me.

Carapace: If you want to help, we can always work to protect Adrien Agreste.

Carapace opens his arms wide and tries to give a disarming smile, but he can’t help but show his underlying malice.

Carapace: If you know anything at all, I'm all ears! Even if it's something you need to keep on the down low, I can be your confidant. I'm a hero, after all! You can trust me to keep secrets.

Catwalker, completely uninterested in going through another round of ‘my best friend pretends to like me when I know he’s secretly mad at me’ points his finger in accusation.

Catwalker: I see what you're trying to do and I'm not going to fall for it.

Carapace: Whaaat? I'm not trying anything!

Catwalker: Nino.

Carapace: How did—I mean, who's Nino?

Catwalker: You forgot to tell Adrien that he shouldn't reveal secret identities to anyone.

Carapace, completely off put, tries to make this new bit of information add up.

Carapace: He told you about me? Why would that even come up? Unless... Did he tell you he had a superhero for a best friend to try and convince you he didn't need you?

Carapace points an accusatory finger at Catwalker. Catwalker tries to placate, but he’s distracted by a burst of red light in the distance in the direction of the other heroes.

Carapace: And then you forced him to leave when he didn't want to and—

Catwalker: You have it all wr—Oh no.

Oni-Chan rapidly teleports between temporary heroes (all of whom had just been staring towards the giant face of Adrien) and hits them with her sword in quick succession: Vesperia, Viperion, King Monkey, Purple Tigress, Polymouse, Pegasus, and Pigella are all frozen before they can do anything to fight back.

Oni-Chan: You! Won't! Get! In! My! Way! Anymore!

Oni-Chan lunges for Ladybug, but she manages to swing out of the way with her yo-yo and escape, unable to be tracked because she was the only member of the group who hadn’t been staring at Adrien’s face.

Catwalker: Come on! Ladybug needs our hel—

Catwalker leaps into the sky to follow Ladybug, but as he is in midair, a green sphere forms around him.

Carapace: Shell-ter!

After the sphere hits the ground, Catwalker looks up at Carapace, who stands at the edge on top of the nearest building tauntingly.

Catwalker: I don't want to fight you.

Carapace: Good! Because you won't be able to fight anyone!

Catwalker: Look, we're both heroes right now. We need to be able to work together to help Ladybug.

Inside the sphere, Catwalker kneels and looks down dejectedly.

Carapace: Ladybug doesn't want your help!

Catwalker: Maybe not right now, but—

Carapace: Why did you think she sent you so far out of her way? She can't even stand to look at you! No one needs you. No one wants you. You should just give up your miraculous and save us the troub—

Carapace’s attention is caught by something happening across the skyline of Paris: with the Agreste mansion at the epicenter, a flurry of black ribbons launches into the sky, each one racing toward a Find Adrien billboard. Where each ribbon touches, the place where Adrien’s picture should be has been replaced by an empty white void.

Carapace (to himself): What the...? ...the Adrien billboards... All the pictures of Adrien... He's gone.

Carapace points down at Catwalker accusingly and brings his shield in close.

Carapace: Why couldn't you have just done nothing and let his real friends help him? Some magic ribbons just wiped Adrien from existence!

Catwalker: That's impossible. A sentimonster probably just got rid of the Adrien ads.

Carapace: You don't get it! He exists nowhere! And I'll prove it!

Carapace uses his shield to navigate to the pictures on his phone. His hand touches at the shield when it displays a picture of Nino and Adrien smiling together, nothing erased.

Carapace: I'll show you how this picture of the two of us is—

Catwalker: Wait. Carapace, you need to drop it. Now.

Carapace (to himself): Huh...?

Catwalker: Adrien is alive, I promise—

Carapace (to himself): He's still here with me...?

Catwalker: —but she's going to find you if you keep looking—

Oni-Chan pops in and out of existence just long enough to stab Carapace in the back, sending his body off the edge of the building. Below them, Catwalker looks up and destroys the sphere around him.

Oni-Chan: Begone!

Carapace: Ack!

Catwalker: No! Cataclysm!

Catwalker leaps into the air, arms reaching towards Carapace’s petrified body, all while the shield Carapace dropped in the commotion falls next to them.

Catwalker: I've got you!

Catwalker tearfully embraces the frozen Carapace from behind.

Catwalker: I am so sorry. For everything.

Catwalker continues to hug Carapace tight as a flood of emotions spews forth.

Catwalker: I never wanted to hide behind a mask, especially not with you, Nino. You've always encouraged me to be myself. Even though I've never been able to fully show you everything I am, you accepted the 'me' I could give. It meant so much to know that you cared, not just about the idea of me, but the real me. And now I'm less 'me' than I've ever been. Maybe it would have been better if I did nothing. But when she tried to kill me, I just... ran. Ran and insisted I was fine like I always do. And now you're the one paying for my rash decisions and I feel so powerless to stop it. I hope one day you'll forgive me.

Catwalker places Carapace’s body upright and touches his back in a gesture of farewell.

Catwalker: I wish I could talk to you for real. But I can't. I can't leave when I might be needed. Even if everyone hates that I'm here, I've got to help however I can.

Catwalker gives Carapace a fist bump in one final promise of their friendship.

Catwalker: I'll come home as soon as it's safe again. I don't know how long it'll take, but I promise I will come back.

Below is the same image as above, only without text:

#runaway catwalker #catwalker #carapace #oni-chan #akuma #ladybug #viperion #happy new year y'all #you have no idea how many obstacles got in the way of finishing this page #but finally it's done #now onto the *next* part of this akuma fight...

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yelenasdiary · 7 months

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How about Yelena teaching us some self defense but we're getting distracted by her

Drabble || Focus

Pairing: Yelena Belova x GN! Reader

Summary: Yelena wants to teach you self defence but it's a little hard when she makes it look so, so good.

Fluff

Translations: Detka (baby)

Warnings: This isn't proof read or corrected, suggestive themes! | 0.5K

AC: Thank you for sending this Drabble idea!! I loved writing it! I hope you enjoy! x

"Assuming you're getting attacked by a useless man, knee him in the groin like this" Yelena spoke as she gave a harsh knee to the dummy's groin area, "then when they are bend down, knee them to the face" she added before she turned to face you.

"Got it!" you nodded, taking a mental note.

"You could also do the classic arm pull and choke method" the blonde went on as she show you a demonstration on the dummy. You watched carefully as she pulled the fake arm, she moved so smoothly it was hard not to get lost in the moment. The second her hand wrapped around the dolls neck, you knew that was it for today's session.

"Make sure you apply pressure to their pressure point!" Yelena added, looking over her shoulder at you. "Detka, focus, this is important" her thick Russian accent brought you back from the unholy thoughts your mind was racing with.

"Uh? I am, do you mind showing me that move again? I j-just want to make sure I apply pressure in the right spot" you replied, blushing cheeks of red.

Yelena took a step back from the dummy, "I think I've shown you enough, why don't you give it a try" she replied.

"O-okay" you nodded trying to shake the thoughts from your mind. Yelena could tell you were barely playing attention but she had to prove a point. Self defence is important and she'll be damed if her partner doesn't know how to take care of themselves if she isn't around to protect them.

You walked up to the dummy while racking your brain to remember some of the moves Yelena had taught you. The one that was able to come to mind was to palm the doll in the face with your palm and you did so as Yelena watched with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Very good detka, now, try the last one I just showed you" She spoke as you looked at her. Your cheeks grew red once again as the image of Yelena's hand wrapped around the doll's neck entered your mind once again. "Well?" she added with a cocked brow.

"I think I missed that one" you replied, pressing your lips together.

Yelena took a few steps towards to you to close the gap between the two of you, placing her hands softly on your hips, "maybe you'll focus better if I taught you that move elsewhere" she spoke, letting her thick accent really show.

"Well, it, uh, it is very distracting in here...you know wi-with how loud the air con is" you struggled to reply as Yelena looked you deeply in your eyes, nodding at every word that came out of your mouth.

"Or maybe you're just too distracted by me" Yelena said seductively causing you to blush even harder. "Snap out of it" Yelena suddenly snapped her fingers in front of your face, "detka, I won't always be there to keep you safe and I need you to know the basics of self defence!" she added.

"I'm sorry, but how on earth do you expect me to learn anything from you when you make it look so...you know"

Yelena playfully shook her head, "you're lucky I find you very cute" she added before kissing you a gently kiss on the lips.

If you want to be on the taglist for my work, please click HERE.

#yelenasdiary asks #anon #fanfiction #marvel #yelena belova #yelena belova x reader

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toxinellebug · 9 months

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Shadybug/ClawNoir and the Resistance headcanons

Obviously Adrien is the type who knows how to put on the smooth model persona for his fans… but in front of the girl he legit has feelings for, he becomes a blushing mess who is at a loss for words because what if he says the wrong thing and she thinks he’s an idiot?!

Reformed Ladybug taking reformed Paw Noir by the hand as they went through the portal back to their universe turned his brain to mush just like when Adrien took Marinette’s hand during the protest in the Mega Leech episode of s4 and her brain went bye-bye.

Marienette remains Oblivious to Adrien’s crush because he is so awkward and quiet around her out of the mask, and in the mask he’s an idiot who switches between a guy trying and failing not to fall into his old habits of mocking her and calling her Cockroach, then smacking himself for it, and some weirdo flirting with cat-puns and the cheesiest one-liners she’s ever heard, while inwardly he curses himself for being stupid because that is no way to impress a girl! (Daring feats of heroism is!)

She wants to try and work with him but this bi-polar personality of his really grates on her nerves sometimes.

suddenly being treated like a damsel in distress is also annoying… But at the same time, having a partner who cares for her safety and goes out of his stupid way to try to keep her from harm actually feels kinda nice and maybe makes her feel a little special and she can’t hate him for that.

And okay yeah, blood red roses with thorny stems ARE her favorite flower, but she can’t let it go to that cat’s head!

The first time that she genuinely praises him for doing something right/not screwing up, he actually purrs and she can’t help it- she bursts out laughing and secretly admits to herself that ok; this blonde dork is lowkey adorable.

Any awkward tackling out of danger, rolling on the ground and then ending up on top of the other moments lead to him blushing because oh-crap-we’re-touching-this-is-both-awesome-and-terrifying, and her glaring at him with murderous rage.

But the first time she actually hugs him out of relief/concern, his brain decides he could die at that moment with no regrets and she has to yank on his cat ears to get that goofy grin off his face because they have a job to do, darn it! (Stop being cute! She refuses to catch feelings so stop making things difficult!)

The new “only use powers once then you have a time limit” thing sucks, but at least their bodies no longer hurt.

They are on the run immediately because it becomes obvious they have switched sides due to her use of her Miraculous cure that Shadybug never used because the Supreme always warned them about discretion and things don’t magically get fixed by a loveliness of ladybugs.

Because remember, the Supreme does not want the world to know of the existence of magic.

BUT IT ALSO BRINGS ATTENTION TO A NEW ALY!

Someone who KNOWS The Supreme’s true identity and about all the powers of the Miraculous. Someone who lost hope and went into hiding a long time ago.

Someone who, upon seeing not only Miracles happening in Paris, but the healing power of the Ladybug as well, realizes it is time to return to France and dare to hope to regain the freedom that had been lost to the world since the war.

Marrianne.

Fu’s old love.

She returns to Paris and seeks out others who wish to join a resistance to fight against the control of The Supreme.

People like Mylene, a man who dreamed of going by the name of Jagged Stone, Mr. Ramier, Alex, and she finds Nino and Alya, who introduce her to Betterfly, Ladybug, and Paw Noir.

#miraculous paris #miraculous ladybug #shadybug #miraculous fandom #miraculous world #paw noir #claw noir #griffe noire #toxinelle #adrien agreste #adrien x marinette #adrienette #marinette #miraculous paris special #mlb s5 #hesperia #betterfly

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starsfic · 3 months

Text

Summaries:

Eros and Psyche AU: Lunar New Year this year is both tense and exciting- Xiaotian's pregnancy will soon be over and Red and DBK are rebuilding a rocky relationship. Both become issues when Spider Queen attacks.

There is a thirst account for Qi Xiaotian, the Monkie Kid, and there is a thirst account for Red Son. Both men run the other account secretly, admitting their dirtiest fantasies about their rival to Twitter. And then Xiaotian slips up. Smut.

AU where for a short, brief while Chloe was best friends with Nino and Marinette in elementary school. Adrien did not like this because his best and only friend would talk just about her two besties and prefer to spend time with them over him, even if he wasn’t the biggest fan of Chloe. Of course, that did not last long as Chloe’s entitlement grew and eventually she decided to just focus her friendship on Adrien and bully Marinette, leading to Marinette and Nino drifting apart. Then Origins. Twice, Fu walks into traffic. Twice, he’s saved. Once by Marinette and once by Nino. The same day, Adrien meets Chloe’s so called “besties” and decides to make them pay. Unfortunately, he’s not a very good villain. Fortunately, he’s a very good manipulator.

Chloe successfully crashes and saves a train, with the only casualty being Maribrat's leg. Lila is climbing up the social ladder with her lies, trampling Marinette underfoot. Both queen bees see an opportunity when the school announces its first prom and prom queen contest.

Long Xiaojiao and Qi Xiaotian do everything together. This includes being deflowered by Red Son. (Smut.)

AU: After his courting attempt of Prince Qi Xiaotian is blocked by Azure Lion, Prince Red decides that the best way to make his courtship known is by becoming the prince's knight.

AU: Engaged since birth, the time has come for Princes Qi Xiaotian and Red Son to be wed. Xiaotian, having not seen Red since they were toddlers, decides to secretly meet the prince. Unfortunately, he doesn't meet him. But he does meet the prince's hot bull bodyguard.

Spicynoodles get a cat, naming her after the similarities of a certain princess. One day, PIF Jr. refuses to leave Xiaotian alone.

LMK/PP: Due to a misread address, a missent letter, and some poor decisions, Qi Xiaotian finds himself trapped in the depths of the Playtime Co. factory. But he’s not gonna let DogDay be stuck too.

Based on this post, the gang is hired to investigate the rumors of a bunny animatronic ghost overnight. The truth is a little more tricky.

#next year planning #LMK #Monkie Kid #LEGO Monkie Kid #Poppy Playtime #PP #FNAF #Five Nights at Freddy's #ML #MLB #Miraculous #Miraculous Ladybug #poll

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emsylcatac · 1 year

Text

I told myself I wouldn't write anymore but guess I lied and made an exception for tonight oop-

(no beta so sorry if some grammar's weird. also no leaks please I haven't read any & I'd like for it to stay that way)

I might add a 2nd chapter to fix that mess but when will this happen? will this actually happen?? who knows certainly not me

*****

“And then I had lunch with Nino,” Adrien said. “That was nice. We hadn’t managed to eat together for at least a week.”

Ladybug smiled. “I’m glad. I can’t picture you two being separated for too long.”

“Well, we don’t really have a choice this year. He picked literature, and I picked scientific. We’re not in the same class anymore,” he shrugged with half a smile, before brightening up. “But we still see each other during the breaks!”

Adrien then launched into an explanation of the rules of the latest board game he and Nino had played during the afternoon break. He kept looking into Ladybug’s eyes all the while, delighting in the way they lit up at his enthusiasm, and taking pride in the small chuckles that escaped her lips when he retold a particularly funny joke he’d made.

Ladybug loved hearing about his day. He knew she did because she always asked about it, every day when they reunited, sitting cross-legged face-to-face on the floor. And every day, she nodded along his stories and encouraged him to tell her more.

And Adrien loved telling her about his day. It had taken some time before he allowed himself to fully recount every detail that had happened, having never really been used to talking about himself at all with his father. But unlike his father who would cut him with a stern look or – he later realised – a twist of his ring, Ladybug never seemed tired to hear him talk.

Once he finished telling her about how Tom Dupain had insisted –again– on giving him free chouquettes when he stopped by the bakery, Adrien asked: “And you, my Lady, how was your day?”

She smiled sadly, in a way he was now too familiar with, and his heart dropped.

Of course.

“Oh. Right. You can’t tell me. I forgot.”

Like every single day.

He looked away from her, not wanting to see the pity nor the apology he was sure to find in her eyes. The red kwagatama on his neck suddenly felt too heavy.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and he knew she was. It hurt nonetheless.

“That’s okay,” he whispered back, knowing well that it very much wasn’t. Adrien was scared it never would be.

“You’re allowed to be angry at me, you know,” Ladybug said, not for the first time since he’d started meeting her in secret.

“It’s not your fault. It’s my father’s,” he spat out the word. “And I’m…” he sighed, and with it let all his energy leave his body. “Ladybug, I’m so tired of being angry at people. I can’t… I can’t be angry with you on top of it.”

It wasn’t entirely true. A small part of him was angry with her, but he knew that she was suffering from the consequences just as much if not more than he did. And he truly was exhausted of feeling angry all the time, at his father, at Nathalie, at his mother, everyone who pretended they wanted the best for him but ended up destroying themselves instead; at Félix for keeping him in the dark, at himself for being too stupid to see what had been right under his nose. The list was long enough as it was and didn’t need to include Ladybug, who was a victim of his father's power hunt just as much as he was.

“But you’re allowed to be,” Ladybug said softly.

He felt a tear prickling at the corner of his eye.

“Oh, Adrien” Ladybug breathed, and he hated himself for how sad he’d made her sound. She extended a hand towards him. “I really want to grab your hand.”

He sniffed, and whipped his stray tear away before a stream could run on his cheek. “I really want you to grab my hand, too. And kiss it.” He reached for hers back but stopped millimeters away.

Ladybug smiled shyly, and he could guess the ghost of a blush creeping up her cheeks. “I want you to kiss my hand, Chaton. I always loved when you did it.”

This time, he felt his own cheeks lit up. They got lost in each other’s eyes, hands never quite touching, lulling Adrien further into the illusion that what they were sharing now was real.

But as it always did, reality found a way to crash down on him like the cold in the night right before dawn. Except unlike dawn that promised warmth and light, Adrien’s world stayed cold and dark as his phone rang. He glared at the traitorous device until he saw the name of the caller.

“Who is it?” Ladybug asked.

Adrien smiled bitterly. “Marinette.”

“Oh. Um…” Ladybug wriggled awkwardly. “Are you going to answer her?”

Adrien wasn’t sure he felt strong enough for that. But he had promised her and himself that he’d be there for her, no matter what.

So he took a deep breath, and picked up the phone.

“Hey. What’s up?”

Sniffles greeted him on the other side, and he instantly felt bad for guiltily spending time with Ladybug when he could have been supporting her.

“He made me another strawberry tartlet. Tom– I mean, my dad. He…he told me again how much ‘she’ used to love them. He told me again how ‘she’d’ always steal some from the bakery counter as a kid. He thinks because ‘she’ loved strawberries that I would too.” Marinette let out a sob. “Well, you know what? I don’t love strawberries. I’m tired of strawberry tartlets. They’re fine, but they’re not my favourites, they’re her favourites. And I’m so sick of pretending they are to not hurt him.”

Adrien listened as she caught her breath, feeling at a loss for words.

“I loved my dad’s strawberry tartlets,” Ladybug interrupted sadly. “It reminded me of the picnics we shared on holidays in the countryside when I was a kid. We’d always eat some by the river.”

Adrien nodded in acknowledgement. It made sense that Marinette couldn’t understand what made this pastry so special.

“I’m so sorry, Marinette,” he whispered so quietly he wasn’t sure she heard him.

“Everyone…everyone expects me to be just like her and I keep disappointing them because I can’t satisfy the expectations they have of me,” Marinette choked. “They want me to like sewing, they want me to wear pink… I can’t with pink anymore, all my bedroom walls are pink, everywhere I look there’s pink, it’s too much! I feel like… I feel like I’m suffocating.”

Adrien squeezed his eyes shut, fighting against tears that were threatening to take over him. She sounded so broken. He knew she was, of course he did, but he hadn’t realised how much she’d been holding in all this time. How much she’d been pretending for their sake – and as someone who’d mastered the skill for most of his life, he couldn’t let her suffer from it.

And holding onto her ghost that he wasn’t quite ready to let go just yet wasn’t going to help her. It wasn’t fair to either of them. He knew all too well how to grieve someone he’d lost. But how did he grieve for someone who was still there?

Adrien took a deep breath, trying to get his voice under control. “I’m coming over, okay Marinette ? And then, I’m taking you to the store.”

Ladybug nodded in encouragement.

“And…and you’ll pick whatever colour you like. And I’ll… I’ll help you repaint your room with it, okay? How does that sound?”

Marinette sniffled. “Any colour I want? What if it’s something she hated?”

Adrien’s voice quivered. “What matters is what you want. I think she’d…I think she’d want you to feel good.” Ladybug smiled softly, nodding. “I want you to feel good.”

“Thank you, Adrien,” Marinette whispered. “I really…I really appreciate it. I’ll get ready,” and she hung up.

Adrien stared at his phone silently for a long time, before snapping his gaze back at Ladybug.

“My Lady, I’m so–”

“Don’t,” she lifted a finger that went through his lips. “Don’t apologise. Especially not if it’s to take care of me,” she smiled. “Thank you for that. I really admire you, you know.”

“I really admire you too,” he said quietly.

“You should tell her that,” she replied. “She’d appreciate it.”

“I will,” he vowed.

He didn’t want to leave Ladybug just yet. But he knew it wasn’t reasonable to drag this on, and Plagg or Tikki would be coming back soon anyways. He really didn’t need to go through another lecture of how him meeting Ladybug hurt him more than it did him good, and that Marinette hadn’t given him her kwagatama for that.

Adrien spared one last glance at Ladybug, took a deep breath, and let his eyes flutter shut.

“End of reunion,” he whispered.

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone in the quiet of the room.

#def not my best writing but I've had that idea in mind for a while so guess it's out of the way now #I wrote that with Lisa & Amanda in mind cause they looooove that trope 🙄#sorry Ashley I did us both dirty #ladrien #adrinette #angst #hurt maybe comfort later who knowsssss #ml fanfic #myshitwriting

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