#but still trying to keep majority of canon luka

[carpetbug]

Okay so I just saw your post about your FBAU and I’m intrigued! Please do share all of your favorite things about it! 🥰 Looking forward to reading it when the time comes!

HEHEHEEHE THANK U FOR INDULGING ME

i have so. many. favorite things about this au it’s so hard to think of all of them but i’d say marinettes dynamic with the kwamis, fbau love square OF COURSE, feline being a menace <3, beetles beautiful mullet <3, and soooooo so so so much more

i know i do keep saying i have so much stuff planned but GUYS. i have a huge note in my phone, like five google docs, and a fuck ton of drawings i’m just sitting on and waiting for the right time to post

(special mention for luka and kagami, i’ve got some big plans in store for them >:3)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Hi! I think Season 5 was a really weird time to invert the love square - it just kind of happens, and the reasons don’t feel very organic, to say the least - I think fandom already has enough to say about it (and hey, you’ve probably talked about it too!)

So if you had to do it (keeping in mind 5 seasons, and canon’s overall structure), where would you invert it? I’ve had this question for a while, and recently arrived to, I’d do it in Miracle Queen, possibly show Marinette or Adrien reconsidering in a post credit scene (or in general, after the scene where they’re all sitting and Marinette goes for Luka). Main reason for me is, Miracle Queen is pretty inconclusive on the shipping aspect - it opens with Adrien being uncertain of his relationship with Kagami, and ends with Adrien still unsure, and Marinette finally accepting Luka.

On the Marinette side, that last part might seem pretty conclusive, but after she suffered a major loss (going with canon’s “Marinette lost Fu” here despite the many problems I have with the way Fu was written), I think the emotional void really couldn’t be properly filled with Luka, and had Chat Noir’s character not gone down the drain after the season finale, he’d be the only real option Marinette can consider even talking to - temp heroes outed, kwamis being glorified toys, barely anyone even knowing Fu and all that. In my ideal world, she would’ve at least moved on from Adrien (wherein canon of course has to insist on the OTP), and I feel Chat Noir fills the void very naturally.

On the Adrien side, I think him interrupting the kiss was a sign of him not knowing what he wants out of a relationship in general - he seemed to be moving on from Ladybug in Hearthunter, and the Ladynoir in Miracle Queen to me felt much closer to them being together against the world (which is… exactly what the episode says out loud), not falling in love. I don’t think Kagami would want a relationship with Adrien after that whole mess (and that did end up being the case), so the closest non Ladybug option would be Marinette. So not a random “I love Marinette because she’s so nice and she kissed me after I pranked her” (canon please 🙄), but more of a “Marinette has always been so nice to me, instead of bothering Ladybug even more I’ll at least try getting a little closer to Marinette” and things develop from there on out.

But Season 4 threw my hope and dreams onto a burning landfill so that was cool. Anyways, how would you structure it? This got a bit long haha

Don't apologize, that was an interesting and quite good argument for flipping the crushes at Miracle Queen. I hadn't really thought about it before, but that would have been a much more satisfying way to shake things up in season four instead of waiting until season five and then speed running the flip only to immediately undo Marinette's side of the flip all within six episodes. I think that your alternate season four could have worked, though it would require season four to really lean into the ending of season three instead of largely ignoring it.

Since you asked where I'd do it if I had to flip the crushes, I'll give you my thoughts, but first I want it put on the record that I hate the idea of both crushes flipping mid-show. One crush flipping feels reasonable, but both? At the same time? That's really hard for me to buy, especially since you'd have to do it pretty quickly given the way canon is structured. You can't drag things out for episodes at a time. Most things take, at most, two episodes.

I'm also not sure what the point of flipping the crushes is. It feels less like narrative progression and more like a stalling tactic since the love square will only get together if one crush flips. Both crushes? Same square, different angle (I jokingly call it the love diamond.)

And yet, canon actually managed to pull off a very solid reverse crush setup. If season five had started off with the crushes flipped, then I would have totally believed it. Marinette just had her crush on Adrien cost her all of the miraculous. That's a very good way to kill a crush just like finding out Chat Noir's identity is a very good way to banish her fears from that event, allowing her to have the confidence to stay with Adrien post-reveal.

Similarly, Adrien just spent a whole season being sad about Ladybug not giving him enough attention, leading up to an episode where Marinette saw that he was suffering and reached out (if only because of magic). I absolutely believe that he'd start falling for Marinette and be less upset with Ladybug post-reveal now that he knows that she has been supporting him all along. He was just looking for support on the wrong side of the mask.

Instead of taking advantage of that setup, canon delayed the flip a few episodes and made it wholly unbelievable. They really give us an episode where Ladynoir got married and had children, followed it up with the episode where the crushes flipped, and then tried to convince us that Marinette was the one who hadn't really fallen in love with Chat Noir. Marinette. The girl whose deepest desire is apparently marriage and children with Chat Noir. But her love isn't real? Really? Yet Adrien is really over Ladybug?

Bull. Shit.

Jubilation is not that setup you go with if Adrienette is your goal. It's the setup for Ladynoir.

Anyway, back to your question! As I detailed above, season five's intro episodes feel like the most obvious place to flip the square. I'd also be interested to see someone do it at Miracle Queen like you discussed, though it would be much less straight forward than season five, making it a better fit for a fanfic than canon in my opinion as I think you'd be hard pressed to do it well within the confines of canon's structure.

My other top choice is Origins because I am a love diamond purist. I think that it's the easiest way to fix a lot of canon's issues. For example: Marinette hanging magazine clippings of her friend/crush all over her walls for all to see with the full knowledge that she actually knows this guy? Kinda weird. Why are you writing it like she has a celebrity crush and not a "real person" crush?

Marinette hanging magazine clippings of her secret hero partner all over her walls? Totally understandable. It's not like she can act like it's a "real person" crush without giving herself away or looking unhinged. Plus how else is she supposed to get pictures of him? It's not like she can take some of her own. That would lead to a lot of awkward questions! She'd also have no reason to think that he'd ever see her shrine. 😈

[goggles-mcgee]

For the tattle tail au: so the rest of the school, students and teachers are going to take some measures with all these truth bombs?

How will the guilty party, try to sweet it under the rug but fail?

I'm eager to know more about it when you post more about it.

PS: about the Marinette stone Au, do things get better for her? Any friends still loyal?

Yes, as best they can. The reason most of the kids are recording is so they can send the videos to their parents because you know they want to help but they don't know what to do given their principal just admitted to being corrupt. He admits to a lot more than just not letting Marinette get away from her bully, but he admits to everyone that he throws out bullying reports and anything that can paint Collège Françoise Dupont in a negative light. He also admits to embezzling a little money that should have gone towards locks for students lockers and updated security equipment for his Owlman collection and his wannabe Owl Headquarters.

The teachers are disgusted and are already calling the school board because this is frankly horrifying and too much. While they do that Mlle Mendeleiev goes down to try and help get Marinette away from everyone and to her parents who she had spotted from her previous position upstairs. Tattle-Tail is so overwhelmed with anger and guilt and sadness for Marinette that her hair lashes out at anyone who gets close.

Mendeleiev's truth is just that she worries about Marinette and wishes she was her student because she knows she was Multimouse (in my version of MLB she is called Mouseketeer) but Mendeleiev is able to just say she knows Marinette was a great mouse hero and she knows that despite Marinette accidentally showing her identity that she was an amazing hero so there was no way Ladybug didn't go to her for help anymore. And she wished she did more to get Marinette in her class so the teenager wouldn't be as stressed.

The school is going nuts at this info, Tom and Sabine are absolutely bewildered and feeling guilty because they knew Marinette was stressed but they just figured their daughter could handle it because she could handle anything right?

Marinette may also find out that a good majority of the school has a crush on her.

All the guilty parties do what everyone usually does after an akuma, they act like nothing happened but the school isn't having it and it's hard to act normal when you're homeroom teacher is fired for her incompetence, one classmate is being deported and sent to juvenile detention for working with a terrorist and a long list of other offenses, and another student went from teen heartthrob to Paris’s biggest jerk, and another classmate just doesn't show up for class when all you want to do is apologize to her.

The school doesn't bully them or anything but they do shun them, they basically just don't want to interact with them because they are fake people in their eyes.

Of course the ones who are spared all this are Rose, Juleka, Nathaniel, Nino, and Sabrina.

Rose's truth is that she only pushed so hard for Adrien and Marinette to be together because she was lonely and wanted romance but since she didn't have anyone she wanted to live out romance through Marinette. So she pushed even when Marinette was uncomfortable and she felt so guilty everytime.

Juleka’s truth is that she hates when girl time turned into a scheme to get Marinette and Adrien together because she can see how much happier and calmer Marinette is with her brother and how much happier Luka is meeting her. But she also misdirected her anger on Marinette each scheme because she knew it would hurt her brother, and she knew her anger was misplaced but she still acted out on it. Which resulted in Juleka ignoring her messages and just small things like that. She was also sorry that she couldn't be like Marinette and stand up for her friend when she saw Marinette getting mistreated, she was scared. She was scared of becoming friendless and shunned but she knew it was wrong.

Nathaniel's truth is that he didn't quite believe Lila but he didn't really check her lies out himself when he did Lila saw and the look she gave him before smiling and asking what he was doing scared him so much that he never attempted to look up her stories again. He was overloaded with guilt and shame and fear.

Nino's truth is that he knew Lila's tales were false but he never said anything because he didn't want to lose Alya but once he decided he had enough and told Alya about her "new best friend" that Alya didn't care until he said they had to tell the class. They had to apologize to Marinette. She basically said it was her or Marinette and he loved Alya and didn't want to lose her so he just stood there like a coward.

Sabrina’s truth is that she hates how Chloe treats her but she puts up with it for her dad's sake. She felt like she had to stay Chloe's friend so her dad could keep his job. When Lila came around and her and Chloe found out she was a liar, Sabrina basically acted like she believed her because she really feared for her father's position more given that Lila's mom is a diplomat. She also confesses that Marinette was the best friend she had ever had no matter how short it was and she really regrets not sticking with her even if it was her and Marinette against the world.

Marinette basically clears things up with them with her own "truths." I put that in quotes not because they are not the truth it's just she does leave out a lot to do with being Ladybug. But she forgives these ones because they are the only ones who have shown remorse.

Now I won't say the remaining others aren't remorseful, they are, they're just remorseful Marinette found out and other's did too but in time they do genuinely reflect and feel bad. Like some can and will get redemption but that doesn't mean they will be in Marinette’s life again and that's something I really want to show is that people can grow and they can apologize and you still don't have to allow them back in your life.

You can accept their apology and that's it. And of they are grown they will accept your wishes which the class will do. Sans Lila and Adrien.

♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧

For Marinette, the Rolling Stone I will say in that story Jagged is not canonically Luka and Juleka’s dad. For one the new episodes did that whole reveal wack, and two if Jagged was an absent father i feel like it wouldn't be because of his own doing. It would be because he wasn't aware of the pregnancy.

Anywho that being said the one's loyal to Marinette in that story are Kitty Section + Alix!

[imthepunchlord]

Hey punchie, do you ever feel stuck when it comes to Kagami, Luka and Marinette meeting? With Luka, it depends on how close she is to Juleka and with Kagami, is basically because of her crush in Adrien (with Animaestro making it vague if she would've come otherwise). Ikari Gozen is also because of Adrien, so... I'm trying to think of them meeting, but if she defeated HM before "Riposte", they don’t.

For me it's only really Luka.

He's a stagnant character through and through. Not just him largely seen always on that damn boat, but also in personality. He's not one to really actively go out and interact with others. He interacts with those who come to him for the most part. When the finale has him having a job and initiating on his own to see Marinette, it's a fact that just comes a little too late.

And then they don't really keep it up as he's still largely on that boat and not exactly going out of his way to interact with others. So for me, he's not an easy character to include.

Kagami though I don't see needing a crush on Adrien to be included. Biggest factor is that Kagami herself is not stagnant. She takes initiative. She goes on the move. She involves herself. She has active goals. Adrien is not a must for her to meet with Marinette.

They can still meet through Marinette being in fencing depending on her reasons. They can also meet through the art class as we learn they are both artistic.

They also could've even met in Style Queen, having Tomoe invited as Gabriel's guest and Kagami and her mother having an interest in meeting the upcoming designer that Gabriel is sharing this show with.

They can also meet on the battle field. Given who Kagami is, what should've been done with her is that she decides to vigilante. She owes a debt to the heroes for helping her, and it's also a means to test her capability in a real fight. Big bonus of setting her up as Adrien's rival, not just for Ladybug but also as a partner as he has a big tendency to goof off and not take things seriously, which Kagami would do so.

So between the two, Kagami is the easier character to write and include. She's not typically content in one place. She's a character who will go out and do things. She has goals. She will go out and interact with people. She is very active and I don't see Adrien being a must for her involvement.

Unfortunately, same can't be said for Luka as majority of the time, he doesn't do anything on his own. He's not involved until Marinette comes his way. The best thing for him could've been the bakery's delivery boy, which would set him up to naturally meet up with Marinette and show him more active and about; but with how they went about in canon, he just doesn't click for me. Even with that thought I still don't know what to do with him.

[mc-lukanette]

I love ml to death and i am never going to give up on it (mainly because i like to see marinette, she is just so cute) but one thing that bothers me is how ml treats its characters. None of the characters ever have to face consequences for their action except marinette and luka. Like, the show punishes anyone who makes the good decision and praises the one who makes a bad decision. I can even give examples. When luka found out marinette loves adrien, he immediately thinks about her happiness and lets go of her. And what does he get? More sadness. Marinette chooses to take the high road and shipped adrigami, and she also gets sadness and punishment in return. And then we get adrien. He never has to face consequences! He chose not to let lb go and what did he get, praise, the fandom supported him and bashed on luka by calling him lazy. And when adrigami and lukanette were canon for one ep, marinette and luka were actually affected by the break up. Marinette felt remorse for her actions even though it was not her fault at all. She tried her best, listened to luka, gave him gifts and also tried to be with him, yet it is luka and her that have to be sad. Luka was sad and also missed mari so much. But in adrigami, adrien was not trying at all and kagami was handling everything. Like, he was not even paying attention to kagami, at least listen to her! But, it seems that adrien was not sad or affected at all while kagami was drowning in remorse. Kagami deserves better. And he actually was flirting with lb while he was already in a relationship. But instead of punishment like mari got, he was praised. And the fandom actually had the nerve to bash on mari and kagami. Mari was still sad in mr pigeon 72 because she was way more jumpy than usual. Clearly she was trying to hide her feelings and that is why she was so jumpy and overacting. But the moment adrien saw kagami, he didn't react in any way. The show does not respect lb's feelings at all. Whenever she rejects cn, she is portrayed as the wrong one because TheY Are MaDe FoR EaCh OtHeR. This is what made me ship lukanette in the first place. Luka and marinette both deserve each other because they both are good people. Sorry for my rant and bothering you. I needed to get this off my chest.

No no no, thank you for sending this! I’m glad that you guys feel comfortable venting to me!

I’m in full agreement with you. I’ve shipped Lukanette since its debut and I’ve only shipped it harder and harder as time went on. The more the show tries to trash the ship, I just end up adoring it even more, and the opposite occurs with the love square.

It just hurts seeing Luka and Marinette love each other and Marinette actually finding someone that she’s comfortable around (not to mention the benefits they could offer each other), only for the show to say “no” because then she’d actually have support and someone who makes her happy without a thousand asterisks attached.

And it’s tiring seeing her punished for everything, like “Miracle Queen” punishing her for getting distracted/sad by seeing Adrimi together after she’d had it in her to let them go (it wouldn’t matter what miraculous she picked, so that’s irrelevant to any punishment; in fact, Kagami was the right choice because she needed the dragon to fight Miracle Queen), as you’d said. She’s punished for trying to confess (and characters keep pretending like she’s never confessed when she’s successfully given Adrien a confession multiple times but there was a slight error; at that point you’d think that’d be good enough to say she did it and Adrien could just be told by someone else that Marinette likes him), and then she’s punished for trying to move on. If they can’t find a way to punish/embarrass her, the show will either make up or retcon things (like the Adrien pictures that haven’t been there for all of Season 3) in order to get the plot they want.

I genuinely don’t know why they keep bashing Marinette for her crush on Adrien and then continue supporting and enabling it at the same time (it sounds like a contradiction but I imagine this anon knows what I mean). If her Adrien crush is supposedly causing her so many problems and a majority of her flaws, why are we expected to ship it? She could’ve had a warm, loving relationship with someone who loves and pays attention to her, but instead the “Marinette rule” dictates that she must suffer for her endgame ship.

[miraculouscontent]

Always.

“Truth” is just... I mean, I want to say “garbage” but that doesn’t even do how bad it is justice? Like, okay, I take four major issues with it (my followers be like: just four? :P):

First is the writing in general and the continuity of it all. This episode looks like it’s been through multiple drafts and the final product is an amalgamation of a bunch of them with no coherency between any of them. I already could kind of guess it from the Adrimi kiss that the finale removed, but it’s obvious that there were going to be Adrimi/Lukanette arcs in Season 4 but then stuff happened (i.e: the staff being cowards) and they got cut. It’s totally possible that the plot with Jagged Stone being the father and Marinette having to keep secrets from Luka were still the same episode even in the original draft, but I imagine it at least wasn’t episode one.

There are other, more subtle hints as well, like the episode giving no time to Luka learning that Jagged is his father (making the fandom wonder if Luka remembered when he was Truth) and Ladybug being shocked when she realizes that the akuma is Luka as if she didn’t already see him be akumatized. Juleka also gets weirdly sidelined in the episode despite being Luka’s twin (Astruc has stated that both Luka and Juleka are older and Juleka got held back, which is why she’s in Marinette’s grade but Luka isn’t), so she’s Jagged’s offspring as well. One might presume that Juleka just never cared at all but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be allowed to interact directly with the guy or have any involvement at all. All it would’ve taken is for Luka to mention that Juleka never cared about who their father was but he did, thereby implying that Juleka’s reaction to Jagged would probably be more like, “oh okay.”

You know, if they didn’t reduce her to incoherent mumbling.

Second is the timing of this episode. We had the New York special with Paris being destroyed, but it’s clearly fine here (so I guess it isn’t canon now; thank God honestly), and while it’s technically possible that enough time has passed (supported by the vague implication that Marinette having to miss out on dates with Luka has gone on for a while, given Tom and Sabine’s lack of reaction to them dating), it’s not supported by Marinette examining the Miracle Box as if she’s only just gotten it.

There’s also Shadow Moth, where we’re shown an extended version of the scene from the end of “Miracle Queen” where Gabriel repairs the peacock miraculous, giving the episode a “Volpina”->”The Collector” vibe but then why are the events lining up the way they do???

The narrative also does a really bad job at showing us why Marinette is so strapped for time. She has guardian duties now but you’d think it’d balance out with her not having to go to Fu anymore for guardian training (you know, that thing we never saw but was said to be happening or at least that it was Fu’s intent to have it happen). You could argue that maybe Shadow Moth is more active, but then Chat Noir should be affected by this too; Ladybug states outright that she’s been busy and Chat Noir responds with something akin to, “oh I know, because you’re guardian,” which implies that it’s her guardian duties keeping her busy and Shadow Moth is just interrupting her dates specifically.

But we don’t even see what responsibilities she has added on as guardian. I knew the writers would make it so her being guardian was a hassle, but it’s the first episode of the series and we’ve gotten next to no answers for what being guardian actually adds.

It’s almost like this was a rushed first episode to break up the only thing that unambiguously made Marinette happy for the sake of bringing the love square back and needlessly making her suffer because the writers think it’s hilarious.

Speaking of which, the third thing thing is the comedy because--just--I hate the comedy in this show.

Like, just to start, there’s the kwami, who clearly begin with their mob mentality from the later episode of “Furious Fu” and all proceed to act like children. No, I didn’t expect them to all be wise (I mean, Xuppu exists and is very much not that, having been implied to be a fit for Kim who is known for being a total himbo), but I don’t expect them to all scatter like they do. Kaalki in particular, who was shown to be more poised and refined, blatantly reveals herself to a bunch of civilians just for the sake of Marinette freaking out and needing to make up an excuse.

Same with Alya and her friends. Marinette is panicking because of the kwami and Alya “deduces” (while shading Marinette so blatantly that it’s insulting) that Adrien must be there in her house which--maybe don’t SAY THAT OUT LOUD in case Adrien is literally in her room???). Then Marinette gets a call from Luka, shouts his name, and the girls do a complete 180 in support of Lukentte. It’s not like I’m not for them supporting whatever Marinette wants to do, but the shift is so sudden (and contradicts “Frozer”) that it gave me whiplash and the entire scene ends up being pointless since the girls still go with the “Marinette is in love with Adrien” thing when Truth asks them what Marinette’s secret is. Like, we could’ve gotten small, stupid secrets that everyone thought only they knew about Marinette, but instead it’s just the same thing over and over again (which makes no sense since, by the time Alya blabs the secret - which Alya has already told Nino before anyway - it’s no longer a secret therefore making the answer invalid).

Heck, the whole “secret” thing could’ve even been the people Truth shoots finding ways of answering his questions in a way that is technically telling the truth but also not really, such as if Anarka had answered the, “Who’s my father?” question with, “someone you know/someone famous,” so as to avoid saying that it’s Jagged Stone. It’s just boring seeing characters answer with whatever the asker wants to hear instead of being able to find a way around it.

And then there’s Chat Noir, who’s just--ugh.

Like--okay, I’m going to be extremely petty for a moment and just go off because I hate Chat Noir’s role in this entire episode. The Season 3 finale went out of its way to have Chat Noir be all like, “I have a girlfriend,” when it was a lie, and then Season 4 just parkours around Ladybug telling him that she’s dating (Ladybug clearly took no issue with Chat Noir telling her he’s dating so it’s not like she’s worried about issues there; she’s gotten on his case before in episodes like “Startrain” so there are exceptions) because they want to keep having him flirt and not be sAd because this is Marinette’s episode of suffering and Chat Noir actually having to face the reality that Ladybug is dating (not just in love with someone else) would’ve actually been interesting. Chat Noir gets tons of unnecessary screentime in the episode - mostly for the show to shove in LadyNoir shipping fuel - and then actively avoids telling him the obvious thing because he would’ve actually been forced to grow/develop/stop flirting.

It would’ve been so cute and sweet to see him awkwardly trying to flirt without overstepping boundaries (so more like banter than flirt) or - you know - actually try to support Ladybug and want her to be able to finish her dates by him offering to keep akuma/sentimonsters busy, but no, he’s just left in the dark.

The finale had Chat Noir supporting her (terribly but I digress) and then doesn’t do anything with it at the start of Season 4, meaning his support of her was completely meaningless and just there.

His first appearance is him pranking Ladybug when she’s already overstressed and busy, which comes off as super poor taste and I’m both glad he got splatted into that window for it but also upset because it’s screentime completely gone to waste, and of course it’s just a lead up to him guilting her by being like, “nooo the only thing that hurts me is when you leave me alone during patrol!”

I know he’s teasing (...probably) but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth because we know (well, I knew because I know how this show works) that Luka and Marinette were going to break up because of Marinette’s hectic schedule, so it just comes off as insensitive to joke about it, especially when Ladybug’s busy guardian status just serves as a reminder that Fu is gone.

Even when he’s protecting Ladybug from Truth’s questions by cutting in and asking a question of his own, of course he asks about himself to forcibly fish compliments out of Ladybug because she can’t lie to him, and of course they have Ladybug compliment his humor most of all as if that trait hasn’t nearly gotten them in danger multiple times and she’s been repeatedly annoyed when he decides to joke during the worst possible times. It’s as if the writers wanted to pat themselves on the back for their own comedy, so they had Ladybug be a mouthpiece to stroke Chat Noir’s ego.

He claims he won’t force a truth out of her and then literally forces her to say what her favorite things about him are. I acknowledge that this can be seen as me nitpicking but we went from the finale where Chat Noir actually stepped up and took charge (because Ladybug was stressed but I guess him doing anything useful is just whenever it serves the plot) to this where he’s back to flirting constantly and jamming in as much LadyNoir shipping fuel as physically possible. It’s not that he’s useless but he’s annoying and takes up space in an episode that’s supposed to be about Luka and Marinette.

And that leads us into the fourth thing, which is the break-up and just the treatment of Luka and Marinette in general. I could go on and on about how the Season 3 finale built up their relationship just to tear it down in the first episode of Season 4, but that’s not the main issue here.

Luka brought Marinette comfort. He made her happy. He never judged her. He was happy to just date her regardless of any conflicted feelings she might have because hey, who is he to complain if she wants to give him a try and who knows what’ll happen?

And the season couldn’t even give one moment of them being unambiguously happy without ruining or interrupting it. I was ready for the break-up and I was even ready for it to be the first episode but I wasn’t ready for it to be so bad.

Marinette’s Adrien pictures appear out of nowhere (again, makes no sense for the timeline) when they’ve been gone for basically all of Season 3 and even “The Puppeteer 2″ specifically which makes a direct reference to “Troublemaker,” the episode that purposefully overdid it with her pictures (”Truth” has more hanging up and clearly used “Troublemaker” as a reference, by the way). They’re just there for force the love square and Adrien into the episode as much as possible to remind the audience that Adrien breathes. There is literally no purpose to any mention of Adrien and bringing him up isn’t even relevant to Marinette and Luka’s break-up.

It’s just upsetting to know that the umbrella scene from “Origins” (which is already flawed in and of itself) kickstarts this whole thing. Adrien did basically nothing there except for clear up a misunderstanding and give Marinette an umbrella when his ride was a few meters away and Marinette’s house was just across the street, but that actives Marinette’s absolutely crippling crush on him that lasts for 3-4 seasons. Marinette is in this eternal struggle of not being allowed to grow and change because the writers think her stammering/crushing on Adrien is funny while actively punishing her for having this crush in the first place (again, like in the scene with Alya, which insults Marinette for her crush when she wasn’t even panicking over her crush).

It’s the same with Luka, and I can’t believe that it took me until this episode to realize that he and Marinette are both treated the same way: tormented by episodes for having a crush on someone. Episodes will go out of their way to forcibly insert Adrien into the plot to both humiliate Marinette and make Luka feel awkward when the episode isn’t supposed to be about Adrien at all. “Truth” is just “Desperada 2.0″ except Adrien is barely on screen at all and they still felt the need to name drop him constantly. The writers are so sensitive to the idea of people jumping onto another ship or forgetting that Adrien exists that they’ll find any possible way to include him.

“Silencer” knew better. “Silencer” knew that Marinette’s life didn’t have to revolve around the mere mention of Adrien’s name and that she had other interests/desires/traits outside of him. Adrien isn’t brought up once and it was great because the show didn’t feel the need (for once) to throw Adrien into an episode that he had nothing to do with.

Even if I was a love square shipper, I would feel insulted by “Truth” because one half of my ship kept getting name dropped and used as a tool to humiliate the other half, which makes it all the more eyeroll-worthy when the love square stans of the fandom praise this episode for breaking Lukanette up when--oh, wait, they didn’t even break up “because Adrien.”

And that ends up being the real thing here. The writers had to invent a reason for Marinette and Luka to break up. We already know that Jagged Stone being Luka’s dad is a retcon (not technically in the show’s canon but in information we heard about outside of it), so they shoved in Luka having issues about not knowing his father specifically so that he would be pushed over the edge when Marinette couldn’t tell him about her being Ladybug.

When Luka and Marinette were just together and hanging out, Adrien wasn’t mentioned once. Say whatever about the Adrien pictures being on the wall and Marinette’s stammering (she always says stupid stuff when she panics - especially stuff she doesn’t mean - so I’m not upset with her so much as the writing for having her mess up in that specific way), but the only time Marinette talks about Adrien at all in the episode is when someone else brings him up.

She goes on a date with Luka to the cinema and they were having a great time without Adrien involved at all. I know I already stressed this point in a previous post, but one of the reasons that I find Lukanette to be so amazing is because the show actually focuses on Marinette’s interests and doesn’t force her to be the writer’s mouthpiece for gushing about their sunshine boy a punching bag for comedy. In every Lukanette scene that doesn’t bring up Adrien/before Adrien shows up, Marinette is either praised, able to be happy, or is showing one of her interests that isn’t aDrIeN, and whereas Adrien being on-screen around Marinette usually just means that she’s gushing about/stammering around him with no development, Lukanette features us actually learning more about Luka or other characters.

“Captain Hardrock” - lets her bond with Luka over a shared interest in Jagged Stone, and Luka is established as a sort of empath who uses music as a way to speak for himself

“Frozer” - gets to practice ice skating with Luka, who is actually good at ice skating and also can tie laces despite not tying his own because he’s a rebel

“Desperada” - gets to try out guitar with Luka and we learn that Luka has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember

“Silencer” - showcases Marinette’s interest in fashion and properly introduces Kitty Section; has a plot featuring all of them together doing something not even remotely love-related and we get actual confirmation of Luka’s crush on Marinette, along with Marinette’s reaction (blushy+happy; just saying, idk how anyone could watch “Silencer” and not think that Marinette was crushing on Luka)

“Heart Hunter” - Marinette gets a song written for/about her and Luka is established to have a job

“Truth” - brings up Lukanette’s shared interest in Jagged Stone, features Marinette’s interest in fashion when she gives him a gift she made + had Jagged Stone sign, and shows her raising her voice but not being judged by Luka for it, who’s happy with her just the way he is

When the show focuses on Lukanette, it’s all about lifting Marinette up, praising her, and making her feel good. When Adrien is involved or it’s hyper-fixating on Marinette’s crush on him, it’s about bringing her down and making her feel bad for a crush they keep forcing her to hold onto and humiliating her for.

Point being, the writers had to force their way into getting Lukanette broken up because of their precious love square and the fact that Marinette and Luka being happy is the opposite of what they want.

It’s embarrassing to watch a team full of old white guys (I’m convinced at this point that they just hang their female writer on a coat hanger so they can point to her whenever someone says that their staff is too male-dominated) treat their female biracial lead with such disrespect, and I can only presume that the mistreatment of Luka is because he’s supportive of her and they don’t like that, meaning that the way she’s treated ends up rubbing off on him.

It doesn’t come off as a fun or interesting plot; it comes off as cruel. When Adrien is sad, he usually gets people rushing to comfort him (”Party Crasher,” “Gamer”), but “Truth” has Marinette in tears over the fact that she can’t have a boyfriend due to being Ladybug and the writing has the gall to crack jokes about Kaalki not knowing what tears are, and then Marinette has to ask for the kwami to hug her for comfort.

When Luka gets akumatized into Truth, the episode doesn’t even hesitate at bashing away at him, from everyone saying that Marinette’s secret is that she “loves Adrien” (which, as Truth points out, isn’t a secret, and they could’ve had this somehow lead up to a twist ending where Marinette actually isn’t into Adrien anymore and the Adrien pictures were genuinely for reference, but she stammered about it because it was embarrassing that her boyfriend got sent it with no context) to one of Luka’s favorite songs actually being about how Jagged abandoned him to go on tour. Luka has to deal with Marinette ditching him constantly (not that I blame her) and not knowing who his father is despite wanting to know, and the episode treats him like trash for... what? Having a crush on a girl who’s secretly Ladybug? Because that’s all it seems to come down to in the end.

I also have serious gripes with the fact that Marinette has this huge schedule established in “Gamer 2.0″ and they don’t even try to explain why she can’t use it to keep track of her obligations. The episode has her say (in a roundabout way but still) that she’s forgetting stuff constantly because of all of her emergencies (the emergencies of which are not stated and I hate the subtle implication that forgetting something means you don’t care about it when that’s clearly not how things work and also not what Marinette comes off as because - again - they establish that she’s overworked) but fails to properly explain it. The episode hammers away at Marinette having all these issues and even has Tikki chide Marinette by asking her about leaving Luka alone while apparently neglecting the fact that Marinette HAS to go be Ladybug right now and what else is there to even do??

Both Luka and Marinette are punished for just having a crush and wanting to be together and I hate that the episode forces a break-up instead of coming up with a solution to the problem. Instead of “Marinette isn’t ready for a romantic relationship,” it feels more like she’s just not allowed to be happy.

Long-distance relationships are a thing. Relationships where people don’t get to go on dates frequently are a thing. Instead of forcing a break-up, the episode could’ve had a lesson/development where Marinette is told that she’s allowed to pursue a relationship and just needs to plan accordingly. but they just didn’t want to.

For example: instead of planning dates, Marinette could wait until an akuma/sentimonster is defeated to call Luka and ask him out, because Hawk Moth usually doesn’t strike immediately after one is dealt with. I’m positive that Luka would happily take impromptu/sudden dates over planned-but-inconsclusive ones. Heck, they don’t even have to date specifically and can just stick to phone calls (kwami can’t be picked up on technology) or hanging out in Marinette’s room/on Marinette’s balcony while they do their thing.

Relationships are a commitment, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a burden, and the episode absolutely drags Marinette over it. The whole thing with the kwami being released and stressing her out when they’re not supposed to be able to just come out normally is explained away by, “oh, the new box must be like you, Marinette; full of surprises!” when the reality is just that the show wants to take away everything that’s sacred to Marinette. The Season 3 finale had Fu’s letter telling Marinette that “life doesn’t always give you what you want, but the real gift is life itself,” then proceeds to turn Marinette’s life into a living hell.

Her room? She has to say good-bye to her privacy because now the kwami are always going to be around. The first thing one of them (Trixx) did was start reading her diary, showing that they have absolutely no shame or regard for Marinette’s feelings.

Her schedule? Conveniently pops away into the realm of non-existence so she can look bad for ditching Chat Noir on patrol and neglecting dates with Luka due to her responsibilities/stress.

Her boyfriend, the one person in the entire show who loved her, respected her agency, never judged her, actually apologized when he made her sad, and who she was genuinely in love with rather than just having the equivalent of a celebrity crush for? She had to break up with him because plot and needing to force her to go back to fawning over the guy who has only made her life worse by her crushing on him.

When I say the universe hates Marinette, this is what I mean. It created random akuma to attack Paris all for the sake of forcing Marinette away from Luka, and apparently didn’t realize what they were doing in the scene where Marinette hurries back to the Liberty when Kitty Section and Adrien are playing together when Adrien is Chat Noir so he should’ve been late too.

(Oh, and Marinette completely ignores Adrien in favor of waving at Luka and even tells Luka outright that Adrien isn’t even a factor in their relationship issues, further proving the “multiple drafts smashed together” and “the Adrien name drops are pointless” points.)

The whole thing in “Backwarder” where it was basically outright stated that Marianne could’ve been Fu’s confidant had Marianne not been outed by Ladybug’s mistake? Completely forgotten and left to the wayside. Marinette could’ve told Luka that she was watching the Miracle Box in Ladybug’s place (for any number of reasons, really: either Ladybug thinks it’s too dangerous to keep with her, or if the public doesn’t know that Ladybug is guardian, then Marinette can just say that she’s guardian) and that she has to run off to keep guard of the Miracle Box when an akuma/sentimonster happens in case Ladybug needs a miraculous.

Boom, done, episode solved. Luka gets to help Marinette with the kwami, Marinette is less stressed because someone knows half of her secret, and Luka and Marinette continue to date but are able to plan around akuma attacks.

But no. That whole thing in “Backwarder” where guardians (or at least Fu) can have a confidant was just there so Marinette could feel guilty about screwing it all up, because she’s not able to take advantage of that perk herself.

How convenient.

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

TOtMiS (But If It Started In Other Seasons)

S1: This one was difficult to decide at first, but I decided that we’re going to utliize the “Couffaine twins” thing that was never really settled upon, canon-wise. Well, they’re twins here. And Luka is in the same class as Marinette. I might make this a first meeting scenario, Definitely a chapter centered around Kitty Section forming. Adrien would still be Chat Noir, but Marinette wouldn’t fall in love with Adrien here. Between Luka’s assurance and Alya standing up for her, Marinette wouldn’t see Adrien’s kindness as anything special (or at least, more special than the other two). 

S2: S1 was hard because there were no Luka episodes to pull from, but S2 was hard because there were two major Luka episodes to pull from. I decided that Frozer would be the point. Marinette would fully commit to giving up on Adrien, and goes home with Luka, rather than try and chase after Adrien. She still struggles with it a bit though, so I would utilize that “Puppeteer 2″ take of mine, where she would leave the friendship bracelet in front of his “statue”. 

S4: Marinette breaks down and tells Luka the truth - she’s Ladybug AND the Guardian of the Miraculouses. Luka would work more behind the scenes to keep Marinette supported, refusing to take a miraculous until he’s certain it won’t endanger her or himself. He’d probably swap between miraculouses that play a support role, such as the fox or mouse. “Gang of Secrets” may or may not still happen, but if it does, Alya learns to respect Marinette’s boundaries (she won’t learn though that Marinette is Ladybug, because Marinette would no longer be on the verge of a breakdown). I’d probably cut Zoe out to focus on other characters, such as Lila or Chloe. I also like the storyline of Marinette having nightmares of Chat Blanc, and would focus more on the deteriorating relationship between Maribug and Adrichat. Haven’t decided if Adrien and Kagami would still break up though. 

[pftones3482]

Commission for @extrasensorious-zoroark, who asked for a Luca and Lance fic. Gotta admit, this one was a little tougher for me, just because we have less than an episode of content with Luca, but overall I think it turned out well.

Set post-Voltron, is otherwise canon compliant (sorry, couldn't think of a good excuse to keep Allura alive within the word limit). Under a cut for length.

~~

When word reached the paladins that Luka hadn’t, in fact, been lost to them like they had thought, it was a stampede to make it to the med bay, with Romelle at the head of the group.

Lance thought Romelle might have felt a bit responsible for Luka’s death – she was, after all, the last one who had spoken to her before Honerva had done…whatever it was she had done to kill her. She’d spent the majority of their time in space looking guilty, and nothing anyone said could snap her out of it.

After Allura’s death, of course, Lance had sat down with her, and they’d done nothing more than just sit silently and cling to each other.

Now, as they gathered outside the med wing in the Garrison, Lance leaned over to Shiro. “How-?”

Shiro shook his head. “No idea,” he murmured. “Doctors didn’t say what changed, just that she suddenly revived right after we left for space.”

“And they didn’t tell us?” Romelle snapped.

Shiro’s hand fell on her shoulder and squeezed. “We had to have our focus elsewhere,” he said, and Lance watched her expression relax.

The doctor appeared at the door, looking weary. “Thank you all for coming,” she said. “I’m Dr. Reynolds. Luka is stable, has been for several weeks, but she still refuses to speak to anyone. With Honerva gone, we don’t believe her at risk for relapsing and suffering as she did prior. We still think it best if familiar faces be let in.”

Her gaze turned to Romelle and then to Lance and he blinked, lifting his hands in front of his chest instantly. “She doesn’t know me, she-”

He remembered, then, the marks on his face, and his gut twisted. “N-No, I’m not-”

Romelle’s hand gripped his elbow. “Please, Lance,” she murmured, her voice cracking. “I need an ally in there. Just in case.”

He slumped, offering a weak smile. “Sure. Sure, I’ll go.”

He glanced back at his teammates as Dr. Reynolds led them inside, and they all gave him sad smiles that did nothing to quell the churning in his stomach.

When Luka laid eyes on the pair, she scowled and flung her pillow at them. Romelle and Lance both dodged easily, and the other Altean hissed at the doctor. “No. Anyone but them,” she spat.

Dr. Reynolds nodded quickly. “Of course. Another time, then.”

Despite not wanting to come inside in the first place, Lance felt his gut sink. He’d been feeling pretty useless since Allura, uncertain, and despite their history, he’d been hoping that maybe, just maybe Luka could’ve been helped. To see that she wouldn’t even try? That hurt.

He hesitated to follow Romelle out the door, setting his hand on the frame as he looked back to her and searched her stony expression. “Well. We’re here, if you need.”

She flipped him off.

~~

He went back two days later, some of Hunk’s fresh gumbo cradled in his hands, and hesitated outside her door. Lance hadn’t told anyone he was planning to come here, so if he got the steaming stew thrown back in his face, he’d have a lot of explaining to do.

Luka was reading something on a tablet when he leaned in the door, tapping his knuckles on the frame and offering her a weak smile as she looked up. “Um. Hey. I brought you some not-hospital food, if you want it?” he offered, holding up the bowl and spoon. “Fresh from my teammate Hunk.”

Luka sneered. “Oh, you mean from the people who only destroyed my home planet? The ones who now keep me imprisoned here? No thank you.”

Lance shifted on his feet. “W-Well if you decide you want it, I’ll just…”

He set it down on the dresser at the end of her bed and gave her what he knew was more of a grimace than a smile before bolting back to the hallway.

When he walked by later, the gumbo was gone and the bowl was outside waiting for pickup with the rest of her dishes.

Lance didn’t know if she’d eaten it or thrown it away, but something like hope lifted in his chest.

~~ “Dr. Reynolds said you liked reading,” Lance said, standing in the doorway of Luka’s hospital room with his arms piled high with Earth books that had survived the war. “I brought some of my favorites from…from before.”

Luka lowered her tablet and frowned. “You keep coming here. Stop.”

Lance licked his lips and set the books down, refusing to be swayed. “This one here is about the Greek gods? They were these ancient gods that people used to worship, a-and the book is about their kids. And this book is about a girl who is a necromancer – that’s like, a person who can raise the dead. And she gets sent to a group home cause people think she’s insane, but actually the whole group home is just teenagers with powers. A-And this one is-”

“Paladin,” Luka snapped, and Lance jumped in surprise. She softened, setting her tablet on her lap. “Stop. I don’t…”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Her marks glowed faintly. “Your team…destroyed my home. It doesn’t matter how kind you act towards me, you will always be the people who killed my family. Just…stop. Please.”

Lance winced, thumbing the cover of The Hunger Games absentmindedly. “Luka, I’m sorry. We didn’t do that, though. We never hurt your home. Honerva brainwashed you to-”

The tablet shattered against the wall next to his face with a sickening sound and Lance jolted away, the book smacking the floor next to the broken glass. Luka’s cheeks were bright red and her eyes were filled with tears, the sight of which made Lance's chest ache. “Don’t you ever speak her name, you little-”

Lance threw his hands up, backpedaling out of the room before she could say more. His heart was beating fast, too fast, too hard, and he was back to their paladin wing by the time he realized he was crying too.

~~

Despite Dr. Reynolds advising against it, Lance kept bringing her food. Kept bringing her books, especially when he noticed the slightly dog-eared pages of the ones she claimed to have never touched. He never spoke to her, just dropped off Hunk’s latest cooking endeavor and a new set of books, and then took the read ones back to the library.

His teammates noticed, of course they did, and eventually Lance found Keith at his side, pulling down books at the library and handing them over silently, Pidge knocking on his door late at night with a novel she’d just finished in her hands, Hunk approaching him with more Altean themed dishes. He appreciated the efforts more than they could ever know, more than he could tell them.

Luka was lost, just like he was. She’d lost so much, in such a short span of time, and Lance understood that pain. He just wanted her to realize that there were others in the Garrison who understood what she was feeling. Needed her to realize it.

He’d be damned if he let her spend her whole life locked up here. Not after getting it back.

~~

“Your friend is a good cook,” Luka said as Lance set down the Mexican food Hunk had made that day. He blinked, not having expected her to talk, and looked up. Luka offered him what could only be called a grimace. “He um…knows his way around the kitchen. The Fineom he made the other day…that was an Altean dish.”

Lance nodded, turning to face her. “Yeah. Coran showed him how.”

She pursed her lips. “Coran is…the orange haired Altean, yes?”

“Yes,” Lance confirmed. “Hunk wanted to broaden his cooking horizons, and Coran knows some of the oldest recipes. He’s awful in the kitchen though,” he said with a chuckle.

Luka’s lips twitched in what look suspiciously like a smile, and she looked down at the book on her lap – To Kill a Mockingbird. She’d long since stopped hiding that she was reading the books Lance was bringing her. “Your world is so young,” she murmured, which was a shift in topic Lance wasn’t expecting. “You have dealt with so much that Alteans had forgotten ever happened on our world.”

Lance looked back to the book and hummed. “Yeah. We’ve come a long way. Got a long way to go. Cleaning up after the war is helping with that, shockingly,” he laughed. “Humans were pretty blind to everything outside our solar system – I think finally being able to interact with other planets made us realize how stupid and petty we all were.”

“Pettiness and stupidity occur no matter how old the planet,” Luka said, and her tone was bitter.

When she looked up, her eyes searched Lance’s with a depth he couldn’t fathom. His mouth went dry, and she shut the book. “May I…join you for lunch today? In the canteen? W-With you and your friends? I think…”

She put the book down and clasped her hands together. “I think I’m tired. Of eating alone and being stupid.”

Lance felt his face relax into a smile, and he held out an arm for her to cling to. “You were never stupid. But you’re welcome to join us – I and my teammates would really enjoy that.”

She reached out with a tentative smile and took his elbow.

[lucky-charming-cat]

With all the LoveSquare flip, Lukanette, Adrigami etc discussions happening, I think we need to remember and emphasise that it's only been a few months in the show. We don't know how mamy exactly, but definitely less than a year

Yes, it's been 5 years for us

But for the 14-year-old characters, it's only been, idk, 7? 8? 10? months.

And let me tell you - I was a 14-year-old with a very strong crush (started when I was almost 13, got together when I was 14 1/2 - basically 1st and 2nd grade of middle school, an equivalent of the French collège). It was chaotic, messy and wild, but one thing it was not was quick.

Some important things to remember:

yes, you can experience both a Major Crush That You Constantly Dream About and a minor one at the same time, it's not cheating, it's your stupid teenage brain noticing that you find people attractive

Marinette has only been obsessing about Adrien for less than a year

yes, Marinette decided to get over Adrien in s3 finale, but she didn't, because getting over your first Major Crush™ isn't something you just decide to do. she's clearly trying, but these things aren't black and white and IT'S ONLY BEEN A PERIOD OF A FEW MONTHS for her OVERALL, and between the s3 finale and s4 - idk, weeks, tops?

DJWiFi have also only been a thing for just a few months btw, even though it seems like forever to us

a few months is not enough time to ultimately give up on your Major Crush, ESPECIALLY if you're a hopeless romantic like Adrien and me-I've waited 2 freaking years for that stupid guy... which is why Cat Noir keeps trying with Ladybug

yes, some 14-year-olds get super quick, short, painless crushes but NOT ALL OF THEM and it is clearly not the case in the show (an example of this would be Nathaniel with Mari or Kim with Chloe though)

Adrien totally gets a major part of his perception of love from pop culture (he canonically watches anime!), and let me tell you, that makes the crushes even more dramatic and serious

Ladybug and Cat Noir have only known each other for less than a year, however painful that sounds, they still have a lot of time for the reveal to happen...

Marinette learned a lot about kwamis in a very short period of time

Adrien can start to notice Marinette WITHOUT giving up on Ladybug

same goes for Marinette with Cat Noir

Basically, we should stop expecting the characters to be 100% mature and rational about their relationships. Is Luka theoretically objectively better for Marinette at the moment (caring, sweet, not blind)? Maybe. But when has love ever been calculated and rational? Especially teenage love, in which you kinda live the moment instead of carefully analysing the pros and cons of every possible choice. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you do something really stupid, sometimes you choose to do something you know is stupid. That's just the way humans are.

They're just kids who only started to have more serious romantic feelings for anyone less than a year ago. Give them a break, they're not 20-something-year-olds with inappropriate crushes on their co-workes that they should get over quickly...

Tl;dr : 4 seasons for us has been a year or LESS for the characters, so the characters should be allowed to not get over things quickly just because we want them to

[sidsinning]

Baker x Prince AU! Strap in, because this was a process to come up with.

P.S. I was really self-indulgent with the cheesy shoujo aspects I put into this please forgive me. Also, as I said before in a previous post, I made Adrien just the teensy-tiniest bit of a yan. What can I say? I’m sort of weak for that type.😩👌

-Adrien is a prince and Marinette is a baker’s daughter.

-She tags along with her dad on one of his deliveries to the castle and wanders into the gardens, where she meets Adrien.

-The two hit it off right away and become the best of friends.

-Marinette visits the castle as often as she can to see Adrien, and because she loves seeing all the different types of clothing the upper classes wore (she wants to be a modiste (dressmaker) when she grows up, though she is also interested in mens clothing).

-The two fall in love throughout the years, but don’t know about the other’s feelings. Marinette knows she’s in love with Adrien, while he doesn’t realize he’s in love with her. All he knows is that she’s an “irreplaceable existence” to him.

-Marinette starts visiting the castle less and less, due to their respective responsibilities only growing. He is always super happy to see her though.

-Adrien is engaged to marry a woman from the higher class, Kagami Tsurugi, who he chose himself. Marinette visits even less. Adrien misses her a lot.

-Because Adrien has no freedom as a prince, he dons a mask and becomes “Chat Noir” at night. Plagg, his fighting teacher, helps him with this, but only if he agrees to keep his identity a secret because of rumors, scandal, dirtying the crown’s name, etc.

-Somehow he’s become a renowned vigilante because wow are the streets filled with crime and he’s not just going to sit back and watch while criminals go wild.

-While he’s on the run from a group of men he “handled”, he unknowingly happens upon Marinette’s balcony. Marinette sees him and is about to scream but sees that he’s injured. She helps him hide from the men and patches him up.

-MARICHAT BALCONY HANGOUTS FTW

-Adrien takes full advantage of his identity as “Chat Noir” in order to spend more time with her, and unsurprisingly, falls even more in love with her.

-He flirts with her constantly, but much like in canon, she never takes him seriously.

~More under the cut because this is a j o u r n ey~

-Adrien Agreste is someone who is used to not getting what he wants. His mother died when he was young, leaving only his cold father as his source of parental affection. All he does is listen to his father’s commands, and all the activities he does are solely to live up to people’s expectations for a princes’ talents and accomplishments.

-He does not have many social interactions other than formal gatherings to discuss politics and superficial fluff with aristocrats. Aside from Marinette, his closest friends and companions are Nino, a castle servant, and Plagg, his fighting teacher. 

-Adrien has long accepted his fate as a puppet to the crown and to his father. He only has one thing, one person he will never give up; Marinette Dupain-Cheng. As long as she was by his side, he was content.

-Adrien knew he would be arranged to marry someone someday. He sees marriage as nothing more than a lifetime transaction. Out of all the candidates he is presented with, he chooses Kagami.

-Kagami has all the makings of a perfect wife. She’s multi-talented, competent, loyal, beautiful, and genuinely got along with him. These were the main factors that made him choose her out of all the others, but what really stood out to him was how similar she looked to/reminded him of Marinette.

-Marinette Dupain-Cheng has known that she’s been in love with Adrien Agreste for a majority of her life.

-Since she was little, she’s dreamed of being with him forever. It didn’t help that he was literally a prince in a castle. Although it fueled her childhood fantasies, as she matured, she grew to resent that part of him more, because it is what kept them apart, and showed how impossibly different they were.

-She lost more and more hope as the years went by, and visited the castle less, though there was never a moment when she didn’t long to see him.

-She hears of his engagement to Kagami, and knows he chose her himself. She is heartbroken, and decides to move on once and for all, losing any hope she had left.

-While trying to sort out her conflicting feelings, she walks to a nearby river where she meets Luka. He sees how sad she is and plays her a tune on his mandolin to lift her spirits up. It works to calm her down a little.

-Luka is a traveling musician and the brother of her friend Juleka. She’s only heard of him in passing in their conversations.

-She visits the stream more and more to see him. He in turn visits her bakery as often as he can. They grow feelings for one another, though Luka’s feelings for her are stronger.

-While talking with Chat Noir, she tells him she is trying to move on from her first love. He is taken aback by this information and feels as if a rock was just placed on his stomach.

-She tells him she has something going on with a local musician, and soon plans to take the first step forward. She is still not over her first love, but wants to give herself a shot at happiness. The feeling in his chest only grows darker and deeper with every word.

-Oddly enough, it never occurred to him that Marinette could be by anybody’s side other than his own. She was a constant in his life that he never thought would change no matter how far apart they were from each other. He can’t comprehend a future without her.

-Imagining her future with someone else, holding hands, kissing, getting married, having kids, leaving him- he hated it. He hated all of it.

-Adrien is not allowed to be selfish. So naturally, that feeling manifests itself here, because the one thing he truly wants in his life is about to slip between his fingers. Just the thought of her leaving him forever remains. Whatever actions he takes next are to solely stop that from happening.

-Adrien doesn’t understand how to work through his emotions in a healthy way because of how much he’s had to shut off and disassociate from them his entire life. They only come out when he’s around his friends, especially Marinette.

-What Marinette is to him cannot really be explained in words. Just saying romantic partner or friend didn’t seem to be enough. Both categories seem unfulfilling to him.

-He decides to pursue her as Chat Noir.

This became so much more dramatic than I intended it to be but at least it’s out now asdfghjklkjhgf

[heizerux]

IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW— Hero :3

My ML NY Special review/thoughts

First things first, I love this whole intro sequence they had going for the special. Really takes me in for the ride that they’re going International. Anywhoosies, the following are majority of my thoughts as I chronologically had them as I watched the special.

Starting off: SPACE POWERS SPACE POWER SPACE POWERS :o

I know they’re just friends, but im just saying Chat, not everyone goes out of their way to research rose colors to give to their “friends” ;3

CONGRATS ON THE BABY MS. BUSTIER!!!!!!!! May we meet your baby in ANY of the next two seasons. :3

Sock Washington Adrien and Marinette’s growth :’3 I love the analogies for her good FRIEND she uses.

Nathalie in bed rest from the peacock miraculous low key makes me wonder if Emílie started there first before. . . Well, ending up out.

I LOVE that this is an ACTUAL post S3 film. Most special films are made with that “description” to be inserted in any season, but they always feel off with continuity in the main series. Here we carry on that that although Adrigami and Lukanette are in the steps of “building” towards something from S3. . . We see that Adrienette/Ladynoir is just . . . Not going away anytime soon :3

The Ladybug kitty beeper 🥺 I want one. Gimme

Plagg: See any supervillains around??

(Idk. Try below the house 😬)

I love to see Kagami. I see she’s supportive of Adrien and his feelings with toughness lol.

Not gonna lie I low key actually think it’s sweet that Luka is so supportive of Marinette in general? He’s such a secure and good guy. I really could never (I actually forgot about the salt and comments about how he’s bland while watching him in this minute he had lol) He wasn’t bad. He was just here.

Marinette lights up Adrien’s thoughts/problems and he doesn’t even know it lol Boy can go from “Oh no, Ladybug is gonna be so pissed” to “OMG Marinette is here :D”

In regards to Alya: I didn’t know NYC was a “romantic” city. I just thought it was “flashy” lol

The SUNSETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT VIEWEWWWW and the HUGHGGGGGGGGKVDXHHXHXEEEEEEEERRDUURUTXITCTICTCITUTXOCOHVURSUZIFDIEURJJUSDIFIAWEKVMMVVFJHSHTYETIFJCHgshjfjdufii—

Nino FINALLY said it 👁👄👁 “Adrien is a baby chick coming out of his shell”. He straight up called out his own bro on his absentness. . . #wokenino

Ok, Majestia’s badass. I like her in this a lot and she’s a MOTHERRERFVHDYSYHFJYSIRKG GC DFUKGJG—

Sorry. Better luck next year, Domacles 🥺

“IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW MAN!!!”

Alya’s pointing XD . . . Annnnd Adrien missing the sign U_U

“The croissants are en route” BITCH I—

But Adrien, dear, PLEASE catch a hint :’3

No, Chloe! Don’t throw the mini Lafayette D:

I LOVE the new girls, Jess and Aeon so much

💕Sabrina x American Boy💕 that’s all. This matters to me

Kim found a buff friend to do buff things with🥺

We need a Hot Dog Dave in our real lives. A hero that brings free food. Hmmmm

Flying Adrienette . . . Dancing, together 🥺 UGH THEYRE SO IN LOVEEEEEEEE

Marinette AND Adrien’s Worst Continous ENEMY: Automatic Doors still

I’m trying SO HARD not to make anymore Hamilton references in this special 👁👄👁

American villains have the “common sense” Hawkmoth lacks. Technopirate:“Why do you want jewels? Don’t you want a bomb? No? Umm, okay?”

Chat Noir blowing his cover because Marichat!!!!!! Not gonna lie I found myself yelling a lot in excitement

. . . And THEN I found myself crying because seeing Ladybug being ACTUALLY LEVEL 9,000 mad at Chat Noir made my heart hurt. Ladybug chill 🥺

Lafayette was an American miraculous holder!!! 👁👄👁

These entire scenes. . . I don’t EVER wanna see them like hurt this again.

Oh yeah, Hawkmoth does stuff. The girls work to seek LB and CN as all adult heroes are going mad.

And the reunion 💕💕💕💕💕🥺🥺🥺💕💕

I just really love to see that even though they’re both “moved on” from their “love”, they keep coming back to and caring for each other. . . Those fist bumps are now equal to passionate Ladynoir kisses to me 🥺

LOOK AT THE AMERICAN HOLDER!!!!!!! I didn’t see this coming at alll and I’m fucking PLEASED with what we got. A Native American girl being a holder. *chefs kiss* I’m so freaking happy guys.

(Rip Paris but NY has bigger problems lol)

Omg Justicia and Knight Owl are together💕 I’m pretty sure that’s canon if you catch my drift 👀

Kind of an afterthought but I was a bit surprised to see the space powers shown kind of secondhand in this. I still hope to se them more in action within the show. Chat’s space costume looks gorgeous mimicking a night sky.

This special brought loves square fluff, hurt, super gays, more people of color, good insight on what the US is doing with their heroes, and a posible birth of more American holders? This isn’t even past the tip of the iceberg but this episode brought good stuff!!!!

10/10!!!!

[beholdme]

All the Many Shades of Gerry - Chapter 19

Chapters: 19/19

Fandom: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Gerard Keay/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood/Gerard Keay, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist

Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Sasha James, Gertrude Robinson, Elias Bouchard

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Library AU, Librarian Jon, Artist Gerry, Trans Male Character, Trans Martin Blackwood, Canon Asexual Character, Asexual Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Ace Subtype - Sex Positive, Polyamory, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Romantic Fluff, Falling In Love, Boys in Skirts, Kissing, Demisexual Gerard Keay, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, Canon-Typical Child Neglect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Flirting, Minor Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker, Adventures in Hair Dying, Happy Ending, Banter, Gerry has a lot of sass, Gerard Keay is Morticia Adams, Jon is a very grumpy Librarian, Martin adores them anyway.

Summary: In which Gerry is a kaleidoscope and Jon and Martin can’t help falling in love with him.

He happens to love them back.

Find it on Ao3

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

"It’s skew.”

“Come and straighten it, then.”

“I’m spotting, you’re hanging.”

Gerry growls at him. Jon looks rather pleased about it.

Martin, who doesn’t want Gerry to hit their infuriating lover with a hammer, goes over to where he’s hanging the massive painting and tilts it minutely to the left. “Better?”

“Perfect!” Jon pronounces, clapping his hands.

Through some sort of witchcraft, the artist has hung the painting in such a position that it emulates where a window would be in a traditional room. It opens up the space in such a way that it seems less like a store room, and far more like a creative space that someone would actually enjoy spending time in.

The lightning helps too, warm light filtering from the ceiling and corner lamps, and LCD strips illuminating the bookshelves from inside.

All in all, considering this was a utilitarian storage space just a few weeks ago, it seems like a downright miracle.

The three of them lean back against Jon's desk, free of clutter for the first and only time in its life. The bookshelves are empty, and except for his new painting, so are the walls.

The piano occupies one wall, and Gerry hopes to hear it being played often.

Jon reaches out and takes Gerry's hand, drawing them close together affectionately. "How long have you been planning for us to move in?"

"Well, I wasn't planning, per se. Only considering the possibility." Gerry smirks confidently. "I know we're all a little bizarre, but this is the course of most relationships, and we could only spend so much time sleeping over before paying for three flats became superfluous."

"Besides," Martin continues for him. "There's no harm in planning for something you hope will happen eventually. Especially when your new flatmates will be this wildly good looking."

He gestures to himself dramatically, doing a small turn in place. Gerry and Jon laugh with him happily, until he stumbles back into Gerry's side, where he gets wrapped up under an arm.

"So do you like your new space, Jon?" Gerry cuddles around him, twisting the three of them into an odd sort of snuggle pretzel.

"I absolutely adore it." Jon utters happily, sighing in contentment as they all lean there together.

***

At the end of June, Jon hands over his keys and the three of them officially live together.

There's still a lot of settling to be done, even though they've been moving in together for almost six weeks by that point. The boxes are unpacked, but they still need to make it a comfortable home for all of them, a certainty that comes only with time.

Martin and Jon both love their studies, a matching pair that look and feel completely opposite.

Martin opts for a small bedroom, keeping the bed from his old flat, his painting hung opposite. He finds an antique writing desk at a charity store, and installs it for writing poetry or working on his laptop in the evenings.

He adorns the walls with pictures and posters, and random pieces of poetry and music that he loves.

It's a cozy space that he adores, even though he opts to sleep in the master bedroom almost always. The option makes him feel like he has his own breathing room, even if he rarely needs it.

Jon's is more of a true study, with a large desk taking up the majority of the space. His walls are lined with shelves, and he promptly fills them with books and knickknacks. The odd collection includes first edition classics, next to mass market paperbacks and music books, with non-fiction nature and animal books scattered throughout. These are interwoven with seashells, tiny mechanical statues and several flowers preserved in resin, gifts from Martin throughout their relationship.

On the wall above the piano, he hangs framed photos of his parents, himself with Gerry as a teen, and all three of them together as adults. The photo he once took of Martin, Gerry and Tim hangs right in the centre, all his favorite humans in one frame. He hangs the sketch of him and Martin in the park from when they were all courting, as well as the others he has stolen from Gerry over time.

Gerry embraces the chaos and upheaval as if it's all he ever wanted, and really, it is. A home, with the people he loves, noisy and frenetic, loving and comfortable.

In the middle of July, he quits his job at the bar in the middle of a shift, with very little contemplation or preamble.

He smiles at his lovers radiantly when he comes through the door several hours early to find them watching a movie.

"What happened?" Martin queries, clear concern lining his expressive face.

"I quit." Gerry flops down between them, snuggling down immediately.

"But why?" Presses a sleepy Jon, trying to hide a yawn behind his hand.

Gerry shrugs. "I got the job because I was bored, essentially. I wanted to interact with interesting people and I didn't know anyone in London anymore. But tonight I realized how badly I wanted to be right here, with you two." He smiles at them, trying to explain without conveying too many of his sappy emotions. "l honestly couldn't think of one reason to be working at midnight on a Saturday, instead of at home, or out on a date, or literally anything else we could be doing together. So I quit."

"Oh Gerry." Jon whispers, both of them carefully tuned to his moods, regardless of his attempts at seeming unconcerned.

"I don't feel the need to fill my time and chase inspiration anymore. I just want to be with you. Both of you." He kisses first Martin's hand, then Jon's, grinning at them all the way.

"I love you. I'm happy you're home." Jon whispers to him, sleepy and content.

Martin hums an agreement, squeezing his hand and smiling down at him lovingly.

They watch their movie and then go to bed all together, and Gerry knows he's made the best choice of his life.

***

Gerry finds himself with an odd amount of time on his hands while his partners go to work during the day, like normal people.

He decides to take on several art commissions from clients he's actually interested in working for, which thrills Gertrude. He doesn't think it entirely makes up for his boyfriend hitting Peter Lukas in the middle of a showcase, but it's a start.

He also indulges himself and buys a new tattoo machine.

He's not really interested in taking clients again, but… well, he wants it and so he gets it. If it's only to use on himself or the occasional visitor, then that's fine by him.

"You have everything you need to give tattoos now, right?" Martin asks him one early morning.

Gerry is still mostly asleep, clutching a cup of tea and petting Saturn where he perches on his lap. He blinks at Martin, confused.

"I think so. I mean, I haven't used my machine yet, but there's really only one way to test it out." Gerry tilts his head curiously, sunlight glittering in his hair, dyed back to its original black. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you want to give me one?" Martin grins at him a bit shyly.

Gerry sits up straight, instantly wide awake. "Yes. So much."

Martin laughs warmly. "You have the same look on your face that Luna gets when we take out the catnip toys."

Uncaring about how eager he might look, Gerry shoos Saturn to go over and kneel by Martin. "I would be honored to have your tattoo virginity. Do you want me to draw something?"

"Yes," Martin tells him with a grin, "that's exactly what I want. A Gerry Delano original, right on my skin."

"What do you want it to be?" Gerry's teal eyes are bright and slightly manic, and Martin glories in the sensation of producing a new reaction in his lover.

"It's entirely up to you." He responds, pressing a firm kiss to Gerry's mouth. "I want to see what makes you think of me."

"Oh, I like it." He declares, jumping up and going off to find a sketchbook.

Martin sips his tea and smiles to himself, very pleased indeed.

***

"You're just going to let him give you whatever he wants to?" Jon blanches when Martin tells him.

"Relax Jon, it's Gerry, not some evil mastermind. He'll draw something I like. And if I don't, it's not hard, I just tell him no."

Jon, who rather considers that Gerry is an evil mastermind, does not look convinced. "But…"

"Hush, love." Martin tells him firmly.

Gerry, drawing under the window nearby, takes no notice of them. He has a focused frown on his face as he concentrates on the careful lines appearing on his page.

Martin considers it a rare pleasure to just watch him draw, and tries to guess what might be forming on the page before him.

He completely trusts that Gerry knows him exactly well enough to draw him the perfect tattoo. And then he can have his own piece of Gerry, inked right into his skin.

When he sits back down with Jon and Martin a little later, he has a smudge of charcoal above his eyebrow, and Martin gently rubs it away before Gerry has a chance to start talking. He blushes quite uncharacteristically, and Martin knows it means he's been swirling in the frantic rush of his own creativity.

"So I have a proposal for you." Gerry starts, body humming with excitement. "A tattoo in two parts, if you will."

"Yeah?" Martin encourages him, just as interested.

Gerry collects Martin's hand in both of his own, running a thumb over a spot on his wrist. It's the same place that Jon has his own tattoo, which immediately makes Martin pleased. "A small crescent moon, right here. The placement to match with Jon, the symbol for Luna."

Gerry pushes a scrap of paper forward, an elegant crescent moon filling space.

"For the other…" Gerry turns over the larger page, handing it to Martin.

There's an immeasurable beat of silence as Martin contemplates the design before him. A set of waxing and waning moons, connected by a series of dots, lines and more dots making a background of geometric shapes.

He… feels it. He understands now, what Jon had meant, when he described seeing the inspiration for his own tattoo for the first time. It's a representation of some inner part of himself, normally hidden from the world, but carefully unearthed for his lovers, over the course of many months and endless intimacy.

"Martin?" Gerry entreats, leaning minutely closer to him.

"I love it." He whispers, pulling the goth over to kiss him fiercely. They tangle together pleasantly, for several moments, everything else falling away as they get absorbed in each other.

"Not that anyone asked me, but I like it as well." Jon informs them pertly.

"Your opinion is as important to us as ever, baby." Gerry replies, grinning proudly. He turns back to Martin. "Where do you want it?"

Martin considers for a moment, before getting up and pulling off his shirt and jumper, leaving himself bare from the waist up. He still feels a small pang of shyness to be naked in any way, but confidence born of time and perspective drown most of it away now.

He and Gerry stand facing each other. Martin lifts the other man's hand, placing it on his sternum, over his softly pounding heart.

"Right here?" Gerry asks, voice soft.

"Right here." Martin affirms.

***

In the end, Gerry takes them over to Melanie's tattoo shop to work on Martin. He lists a number of reasons, but really, he finds a certain amount of comfort working under the stark lights and amid the buzzing of other machines.

They do the small tattoo first, and Martin sits for it exceptionally well.

Before Gerry starts the sternum piece, an endeavor of several hours, Georgie arrives and drags Jon off to drink coffee and catch up in a nearby coffee shop. Melanie goes into the next room to take another client, and Gerry and Martin are left alone together.

"Ready, love?" Gerry asks as he finishes placing the stencil, bisecting his chest.

"I'm nervous," Martin confesses softly.

Gerry doesn't move his gloved hands, not wanting to contaminate them, but he does press their foreheads together gently, taking a moment to sooth Martin with his companionship.

"Do you want to take a break? You can just sit with the stencil for a while." Gerry leans forward and places a swift kiss on Martin's nose, before retreating from his personal space.

"No, I'm ready." He smiles, biting his lip a little. "I just- I feel like this is a big moment, you know?"

"It is. You're embracing who you really are." Gerry runs a finger along one of Martin's chest scars, considering. "You're choosing to love yourself instead of just tolerating him."

"How can you always tell?" Martin whispers the words, voice heavy with emotion. "How can you put things into words like that, so simply."

"I know you. You think I don't see when you avoid looking in the mirror. You hope I don't notice that you used to hate being naked, even with Jon and I." Gerry pauses, tripping Martin's head up with the tip of a finger, minimizing contact still. "But I see you, Martin. I love you just the way you are. And I want you to love yourself just the same. I'll tell you everyday, show you constantly, if I need to."

Martin is crying for real now, tears streaming down his face. Gerry abandons his sterility, pulling Martin into his arms. He rocks his lover gently, and they are just together for a moment, no need to rush, no distractions. Just them, and the comfort they find in each other.

"I love you too." Martin tells him simply, when they pull apart.

"Good," Gerry grins, kissing him thoroughly, the taste of salty tears on his lips. He stands, pulling off his ruined gloves and going to wash his hands again.

Martin takes a sip of the tea Jon made him before he left, smiling because Jon always makes it with a little more sugar than he allows himself. "I'm ready."

When Jon returns, they're just finished up, the last few moments of buzzing filling the air. He watches them together, artist and canvas, and loves them fiercely.

"How was coffee with Georgie?" Martin queries, taking his offered hand.

Jon relays the details as Gerry finishes, and then cleans up.

Jon and Gerry stand on either side of Martin in the mirror as he looks at it for the first time. Martin nods wildly, when Jon asks if he likes it, and they hug him from either side as he sheds a few more tears.

Jon had once thought that tattoos seemed very boring in comparison to Gerry's normal work, but seeing the design come alive on Martin's skin, full of feeling and depth, he can't help but think of it as the best thing his lover has ever done. Gerry can't help but agree.

"Let's go to the park!" Martin exclaims as they leave, after saying their goodbyes to Georgie and Melanie.

"The park?" Jon asks, laughing. "It's so windy."

"I don't care, I want to feed the ducks and eat ice cream with my boyfriends." He insists, giddy with happiness and adrenaline.

"Okay, but you're picking the flavours this time." Gerry says, taking one of Martin's hands. Jon takes the other.

"Deal."

***

Jon and Gerry find themselves watching Martin once again feed ducks as they sit beneath a tree, more than a year after the very first time.

"Why don't we come to the park more often?" Jon asks from where he reclines between Gerry's long legs.

His arms snake around his waist, and Jon feels very content and comfortable, despite the cutting wind.

"Because," Gerry kisses under an ear softly, "we live in England and it rains more than 100 days a year."

"He looks so happy here." They watch as Martin stoops to offer a piece of bread to a curious toddler. The child is inordinately pleased, and her mother watches on gratefully from nearby as they feed the rowdy birds together.

"Are you happy?" Gerry asks him, unexpectedly serious. "With your life, with me?"

"Gerry! Of course I'm happy with you." Jon sits up, turning in the tangle of Gerry's limbs to face him.

"I'm only checking on you." He runs a gentle finger down Jon's face, then cups his cheek affectionately. "I know how much stress work puts you under and I hate that for you."

Jon looks away from his intent gaze, fiddling with his fingers nervously. "Well, yeah. My job sucks. The worst part is, I love being a librarian! Being surrounded by books, helping people choose something to read or guiding them with their research. But that's so little of my job now, and Elias just finds new and interesting ways to put pressure on me. But I'm not qualified and I know I probably won't get another job in a library, especially not without a glowing recommendation from Elias-"

"And we both know that's never going to happen." Gerry finishes for him.

Jon nods and they just sit together a moment. Gerry lifts one of his hands and kisses each of his fingers and then his palm, until Jon blushes and smiles at him.

"I know you think it's annoying, so you keep your feelings about work inside, a lot of the time. I don't want you to do that anymore, okay? If you have a terrible job, then we all carry that."

"But-"

"Nope, no buts. We are all partners. That means more then dinner dates and living together and sex."

"And punching rich fuckers who hurt our Martin."

Gerry laughs, still reveling in Jon's unexpected protectiveness- and the violent manifestation of it. "Yes, that too. There will be other jobs, for all of us, probably. But our relationship, the three of us. We're forever."

"Like those tattoos that you gave Martin today?" Jon asks, pert glint in his eye.

"Yes, much like that." He smirks brazenly back. "And the one I gave you, and the ones I've given myself, over the years."

Gerry continues, squeezing Jon's hand, "I know that the idea of not being able to provide for yourself scares you, but we're in this together now. You don't have to cling to a job that you hate in case you're left without one at all."

"I-" Jon looks away, uncomfortable to be so well understood. Gerry stits with him, energy easy between them, just holding his hand, loving and supportive.

"I have been considering, that is, maybe becoming a school teacher." The confession is halting, and he offers it with a small shy smile.

"I think that's a wonderful idea." Gerry responds, gentle encouragement colouring his voice.

"I would probably have to go back to school for a year. Get a post-grad in Education. I wouldn't be working for most of that time, and my savings will only go so far, even without having to pay rent." Jon whispers, as if the words will be any less offensive to him if they are quiet.

"You know I can float you, especially for just a year. And Martin too."

"It just doesn't seem fair to burden you with that."

"It's not a burden, it's a part of life. You think you're so old, that you should be settled, but you're barely 30, Jon. You still have time to make new life choices occasionally, and the point of being in a relationship is that you let us support you every now and then." Gerry is earnest and focused, and Jon can't help but believe him, long fingers cupping his face and teal eyes holding his gaze.

Martin arrives then, plonking down next to Jon and giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"What are we talking about then? Such serious faces."

Gerry nudges Jon, who haltingly offers Martin the same idea he told Gerry.

“Oh, I think that’s a great idea.” He says, eyes alight. “Like, high schoolers, right?”

“Yes, of course. Anyone under 10 is an alien and I don’t want to hear any arguments.”

They laugh at him, their contentment surrounding him warmly.

"You don't have to quit right away." Martin offers. "There are plenty of part time degree programs, and you have to apply first. It all takes time."

"You seem pretty clued up about it." Jon observes, narrowing his eyes at Martin suspiciously.

"Well, if you must know. I've been thinking about getting a business degree."

"Oh my God! Martin, how is this the first we're hearing about this?" Gerry demands, sitting up straight.

"I didn't want it to be a thing until I was sure, and the move was over." He confesses, "It's gonna take a lot of my free time and I wanted to discuss that with you both carefully."

"I'm gonna be living with two thirty year old students." Gerry mutters, shocked. He leans back against the tree again, running his fingers through his long hair.

"I haven't agreed yet-" Jon starts.

Martin speaks up at the same time. "You could get a degree too. We could all be students together."

"No, but thanks anyway." Gerry shudders, grimacing. He perks right back up. "I'll be your sexy study partner though."

"Gerard!" Jon cries, scandalised.

Gerry shakes his head. "As if I've never felt you up while you were trying to study for a test."

"Exactly!" Even Jon struggles to keep up his prim expression at that, and they tumble into pleasant laughter together.

"So," Martin hazards, "are we gonna do this?"

"Well, if you're going to. I suppose we should both get it done at the same time." Jon responds, still hesitant but clearly warming to the idea. "You're really okay with this, Gerry?"

Gerry beams at them both, a soft, special look in his eyes. "I'm more than okay with anything you want to do with your lives. In case you haven't noticed, I'm really very fond of you both."

Jon leans forward in the circle of Gerry's legs, pressing their lips together in a gentle kiss, before turning back to lay against his chest.

Martin shifts around to lean into his side, and Gerry tucks one arm around him, the other around Jon. Jon reaches out to take one of Martin's hands, and the three of them sit wrapped up together.

As ever, their own mutual magnetism draws them forever closer and closer, binding them to one another in an inexplicable tangle of love and affection.

"Do you think it will always be like this, between us?" Martin whispers gently, as the sun begins to set and the landscape sets ablaze before them.

"Probably not," Jon responds, voice warm and content. "Life will keep shifting like a tide, and we'll move with it, but the great thing about us is- we're moored together. Nothing can keep us apart, because what we have is stronger than whatever shifts and eddies might try to take us away."

"The gravity between us is fiercer than any storm, any disaster that might try to shake us." Gerry picks up Jon's train of thought, pulling them both minutely closer.

"Good," Martin says simply, fiercely in love and the happiest he's ever felt.

They watch the sun as it drops below the horizon, sometimes quiet and occasionally sharing some errant thought or another.

They eat ice cream on the way home, holding hands and laughing.

It's warm, and soft and peaceful.

And they're all, finally, home.

[wulved]

i feel like a tl;dr on some of my lore is needed because i essentially built it from the ground up, and the show only gives us like 10% and i had to fill everything else in and i also rewrote a lot .  this will be temporary until i get my ass together to put it all up on a google doc.  hopefully i got everything, but if i missed something i will go back and add to it as i remember

first some of the vocab from the show that i use that’s probably confusing:

zweilt’s / zweilt guardians :  “god’s warriors.” a group of individuals who are continuously reincarnated and gifted with different supernatural powers that aid them in fighting demons and keeping the balance of the world in order

duras :  the word for “demon”

niedertracht :  lowest ranking demons, normally appear in the form of animal like beings ,  with red glowing eyes    &    black crystalline skin

mid-villain :  mid ranking demon, as the name suggests. appear humanoid, but closely resemble sprites or fae. they do have the ability to gain more power and rank up to opast over time

opast :  the most high ranking type of demon, just below the demon king himself. known to be deceptively and strikingly beautiful, usually spotted by their tell tale fangs, claw like nails, and slitted pupils

the demon king :  their ruler of hell, the highest ranking and most powerful demon

infernus :  their version of hell / the underworld. the home of the demon king    &    all demons

the black lake :  a lake that takes up a vast majority of infernus. its waters are pitch black and deep, reflecting only the starlight above. it is said that any who try to journey through it have never returned

lore changes from the show that i personally made    (  if you’ve never heard of the show or read anything about it, you probably don’t need to read this part  )

luze does not exist. the idea of him is stupid im so sorry

the demon king is not “lucifer,” but an entirely separate entity named alcmena

the “bloody cross” is both a branding and a contract / blood pact made between luka and alcmena. this does not make luka his servent as the show suggests, but instead makes luka unwaveringly loyal :  i.e. he cannot directly harm or usurp alcmena’s throne. he can still hold distasteful feelings, and downright hate him, but he cannot commit any acts to betray him. this contract also placed luka as the leader of alcmena’s demon army, and binds him to stay in that position eternally

the zweilt’s know luka’s real name. for the love of god i don’t know why he used the codename zess, that just doesn’t happen. what a weird idea

since the zweilt’s usually retain their memories with each reincarnation, that means they KNOW luka, and he’s close with at least some of them, specifically touko and tsukumo. they consider one another family

luka is the most powerful demon to exist to date

luka has jet black angel wings, we see them in the intro and then never again. he has them. they are hidden most of the time, only visible and tangible to others when he wills it

now luka’s backstory / lore in as short as i can get it

luka is the son of alcmena, the demon king, and an angel named mora crosszeria

from his very birth alcmena was wary of the power luka could possess. the combination of the most powerful demon in existence, and an actual angel was potent, having both divine and demonic blood in his veins

mora noted this, and became afraid of what alcmena would do if left with their son, and she ran away with luka to the mortal world, where she hoped to raise him on her own. 

despite this alcmena still sent demons to watch luka as he began to grow, and after noticing severe power spikes that lead him to believe luka would grow to be more powerful than him, he had mora killed and brought luka back to infernus as a young child

alcmena treated him decently, not well, but not horrible. he never acted as a father, and often passed him off onto a demon named elya to care for him. elya, secretly an old friend of mora’s, tried her best to shelter luka from alcmena while raising him. alcmena mostly just wanted to keep tabs on his growing power, and other than that left him alone

once luka became an adult, alcmena banned elya from seeing him any longer, after gathering that she had spoken ill against him and told luka to follow in his mother’s footsteps. at this point alcmena was well aware that luka had become more powerful than him, and that if he so choose it he could very well usurp the throne. he was lucky, however, because luka himself was not aware of the full extext of his power

now an adult, luka began to speak out against alcmena and defy him, often starting fights wherein his untrained powers would explode and injure alcmena. to stop this, he forced luka into a contract of loyalty. luka did not yet known the full extent of how cruel alcmena was, and did not bother reading the contract. luka was then branded with two blood red x’s on his upper forearm, and the deal was sealed with blood. 

luka was now unwaveringly loyal to alcmena, and would therefore be unable to cause him any physical harm, or to start any sort of uprising against him. along with this, to keep luka busy and exhausted, he put him in sole charge of the demon army. he was to watch after, train, and lead them into battle day in and day out without rest. it was only then luka began to see the full extent of his father’s cruelty. tricked into an eternal contract, and constantly battle torn and exhausted. and because he could not strike alcmena due to the contract, any form of speaking out against him or disobeying commands would result in punishment

eventually exhausted by this ordeal, luka takes his familiar and decides to try to look for the path out of infernus. he single handedly crosses the black lake, and finds a cave that leads to the mortal world

there, he meets yuki giou. a zweilt guardian, and someone he had seen briefly on battlefields fighting against his armies. 

luka and yuki begin to sneak off together to meet, with luka traversing the deadly lake in infernus to see her. eventually luka tells her of the contract binding him to alcmena, and she offers him a deal. instead, he could make a contract with her. a contract bound by heaven, and the divine, would overrule anything alcmena had done. and because of the angelic blood in luka, this contract would be especially binding. in return he would swear to protect her, and to stay by her side. luka agrees. the contract with alcmena is broken, and he never returns to infernus again

luka remains bound to yuki and the other zweilt’s, fighting against other demons to protect them. he is known as a traitor, or betrayer to his kind

npc’s of my creation

alcmena :  luka’s father, the demon king

mora crosszeria :  luka’s mother, an angel 

elya :  one of the first demons created, sister of laelia and phaedrian, represents “speak no evil.” caretaker / adoptive mother of luka. mute, speaks strictly telepathically, lives at the far edge of infernus, deep within a thick woods, exiled

laelia :  one of the first demons created, sister of elya and phaedrian, represents “hear no evil” deaf, resides both in the castle and on the shores of the black lake

phaedrian :  one of the first demons created, brother of elya and laelia, represents “see no evil” blind, the gatekeeper of infernus

wolf mrithun :  the first of death’s reapers, often appeared around luka when he was in infernus, andreas’ love interest

andreas :  a mortal prophet who foretells of luka’s eventual overthrow of alcmena

canon characters

sodom :  luka’s familiar, a giant dragon that often takes the form of a large wolf. found shivering and abandoned as a baby on the shore of the black lake by luka

yuki giou :  “god’s light,” the most important member of the zweilt’s, luka’s love interest and the focus of the show

touko, tsukumo, hotsuma, and shusei :  the other zweilt guardians

takashiro giou :  leader of the zweilt’s ,  immortal ,  in an eternal dogfight with reiga because he killed his girlfriend like 500 years ago

cadenza and elegy :  two high ranking opasts that torment luka, very powerful, ranking just below luka and alcmena. cadenza took over leading the army once luka abandonded infernus

reiga :  basically just the bad guy, hates takashiro which i think is understandable

[imthepunchlord]

How would the story go if Lila was in the class from the start and Adrien arrived later?

Oooh an arrival swap between Adrien and Lila.

Man I am loving this au idea.

This one has a few options that all comes down to Adrien himself. 1. Is he traveling? 2. Is he in Paris and still tries to come to school? 3. Is he in Paris and in this scenario he doesn't bother and instead spend his time trying to appeal/reason with his father?

Option 1 and 3 would set up:

Chloe potentially doesn't bother uprooting Marinette as Adrien isn't coming, meaning no Alya immediately noticing Marinette's issue and comes to the assistance.

Adrien is not picked for a miraculous. Initial picks on alternatives could be Alya, Lila, or Nino. Though if you have Fu still doing that test around the same time, Luka is also viable (playing off the idea that he's running late to school).

Lila would also aim for more of the front, so she may sit with Alya, Nino, or Marinette.

Alya and Lila would hit off quickly as friends. They may unwittingly uproot Nino who then goes to sit next to Marinette and you got a Marinette and Nino friendship going instead. Bustier allows the change as Nino is still much closer to the front and Marinette is hardworking and helpful.

Option 2 with Adrien still trying and failing but doesn't try again.

Chloe still tries to uproot Marinette. This time Alya AND Lila step up and together, they get Chloe to leave Marinette alone. And then they immediately hit it off and bond over their heroic intervention. They keep the front row, Chloe bullies Nino into moving and he gives up without a fight. A seat isn't worth it for him, and he goes to sit with Marinette. You also get the Ninette friendship here.

Adrien for sure gets the ring this time.

Both sets up, on Adrien's end, has him coming in and needing to sit in the back with Nathaniel or with Ivan. He's technically fitting in as he's friendly and Lila is really happy he's there, but is also the odd one out there as he wants to be friends with Chloe which isn't entirely easy to do here. For sure, he's not fast friends with Nino and maybe not become his best friend as Marinette fills that role now. He may be pressured to cut Chloe out of his life entirely.

He might also just have to transfer to Mendeleiev's class instead and click with them there without Chloe hovering over him or Lila to sway all attention to her (though she does try, and Alya takes up the important role of wingman, much to Lila's distress as Alya causes more problems than help; this happens with both options).

For the sake of this, not going to cover who is Marinette's partner as Option 1 and 3 has too many variables. Marinette for sure is one of two heroes.

For Chloe has a bad time. Lila grows in popularity and feeds into Alya's heroic drive so Alya is more on top of Chloe than she is in canon. Socially, Chloe's quite limited in power and in means of what she can do. Lila is able to make use of Rogorcop to twist things to get Sabrina away from Chloe, leaving her alone. Sabrina may transfer out or go to sit with Nathaniel or Ivan. If Ivan really can't have a seatmate due to his size, it's Nathaniel and Adrien will have to go to Mendeleiev's class.

Cue your Chloe redemption as she can't be mean for her own amusement and officially lost power and functionality without Sabrina and just has no social support at the school.

Marinette and Nino both start out being apart of that flock around Lila, with her promising introducing them to big names. If Marinette has Plagg, he will mention that what Lila says does seem a little farfetched to him but who knows. He doesn't press his concerns too much so long as there are no issues for his holder. Tikki though gives Lila quite the eyeball and would try to stir up any suspicion in Marinette as the self-righteous kwami that she is who cares more for the majority than the individual. Marinette herself doesn't think too much of it, she doesn't have much reason to doubt Lila. Yes, Lila does like to declare that she's best friends with her hero self, but Marinette humors as Lila does join Alya for the reporting and does get to talk with her a lot. If she can humor Alya doing this, she can humor this.

A lot of canon goes the same. Marinette goes out of her way to help classmates herself, sometimes its recognized, sometimes it isn't. She has a lot less stress in her life as she has no crush on Adrien and can just vibe with Nino. There's also less stress as Chloe has less power and can't easily cause mayhem for fun anymore.

The issues start when Marinette starts meeting celebrities on her own without Lila's promised help.

She impresses THE Gabriel Agreste in a hat competition.

She catches the eye of THE Jagged Stone and he's practically spouting that Marinette is his go to designer now.

She's picked to star in a music video with THE Clara Nightingale.

Marinette's not going out of her way to brag about any of this, but there's no denying that she is rising as a public icon. And Lila is feeling threatened. Here is someone actually accomplishing things before her, who can actually deliver on promises that Lila has made and will make Lila look bad as she rises up in fame and generosity. And there's also undeniable jealousy. Making use of Alya, Marinette starts to get questioned for everything.

Marinette is offended and on offense.

Nino is quick to stand by her.

The class gets divided who to stand for.

If Marinette has Tikki, it can largley go the same as canon as Tikki urges her to endure and the truth will always come forward. Marinette is in the right, it should be enough to stand for it. If Marinette has Plagg, he urges her to fight dirty, dig up what she can on Lila, and Lila is exposed sooner. The latter has angry akuma Alya coming after Lila.

And this is the extent of what I can think of on an arrival swap between Adrien and Lila.

Not to say this would be for sure, as this is a take that has a lot of variables to consider, this is why Marinette's partner isn't brought up as depending on who can change some things. And that partner will depend on what's going on with Adrien and what's changed up with him in this scenario.

I do think for sure that Alya and Lila would hit it off immediately as best friends here, based on what's seen in canon, and that by contrast, Marinette and Nino would click as best friends.

[astranne]

Miraculous and The Light (HC)

Ok, so. This HC is based on this idea. It’s a miraculous x dc crossover and one of the best ideas, I’ve read recently. I really liked it and this is why I’m forcing myself to write my ideas down. 

Before we start the HC, I need to clear some things. Marinette becomes the guardian in age of 13, the kwami are teaching her as good as they can. Luka has the snake miraculous, Chloé the bee (but new costume), Kagami the dragon (again new costume) and Adrien is Chat Noir. Alix has the bunny and Kim the ape miraculous. (The two are chaos and they smelled Lila’s bullshit before she came back the second time). They deal with Hawkmoth as good as they can and they do good. Until Lila does her shit again. She manipulates Alya, which leads also Nino to be one of her followers and since Adrien is his best friend, he starts to listen to Lila. He becomes obsessed with Ladybug and her identity. The team doesn’t really notice, since it’s subtle and slowly becoming worse. So, now let’s start with the HC.

The Team protects Paris, Marinette is the leader

The situation becomes worse, the akumas take longer to defeat

They try to contact the JL, but nobody listens

And Chat Noir comes lesser to the fights, claiming his privat life is stressfull

At first, everybody understands, but it doesn’t stop and Chat becomes like a bad behaved child/brat 

Lila causes another Hero Day, the Team almost looses. Chat Noir didn’t show up and the Team is angry. Chloé is ready to skin a cat

After the Hero Day, they accidentally reveal their idtities. Their group becomes closer, everybody can see, they work even better now. 

Chat is envy

And Tikki is angry. No, scratch that. She’s mad. This boy could’ve been such a good cat, and now this?! 

Since Plagg is her opposite, and she’s the one of Plagg, they keep each other in balance. And they aren’t in balance at all. She takes over Marinette (while she is Ladybug) and starts to rip Chat/Adrien in shreds

Whole Paris witness this and is terrified. Who knew Ladybug had such power? 

Chat tries to save his face/life/’hero’ persona, but since Marinette is the guardian, she stripps him of his Miraculous, while Tikki wipes out his memories. Adrien’s former friends are sad, but also glad, they have one problem less

But now. Since Tikki used her more of her powers, some people notice, such as Klarion. He’s the server of chaos, but keeps in balance with creation. And the two aren’t balanced at all.

He talks to the Light, and surprise, surprise. Ra’s al Ghul and Vendal Savage felt it too

They begin to search and are surprised, that so many miraculous are active. The Light digs deeper and Vendal is very close getting up and burn Paris down. And take Hawkmoth with it

The inner circle of the Light (Vendal Savage, Klarion, Ra’s al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke (there are still more members, but I will explain shortly))

Now, their primar goal is not to take over the world, or make everyone ‘see the light’. That’s what the ‘lesser’ members think (the ones, who are not in the inner circle) They want to keep the balance in the world, keep ‘peace’. But they know, it can’t be always peace, with creation there comes always destruction (Tikki and Plagg are totally their inspiration and mentors or whatever you could call that) And for this, they don’t always do ‘good’ things, like heroes do

Bc of this, every hero, every other villian thinks, that the light is bad. It’s a very good cover and so they can hide their true plans. So, the inner circle sends Black Manta after the Young Justice (the season 2 happens here) and go to Paris. 

They find the miraculous users while fighting an amok and an akuma and are impressed. Clearly, most of them have no training and they hold themself formidable. 

The inner circle talks with the team, which is wary. But then the kwamis recognize them and the teenagers (probably 15?) are so glad, that they finally have help. Not the one they expected, but still help

Vendal was one the first guardian, a simple man and then blessed by Tikki and Plagg. He trained other guardians and miraculous users until he almost died

Ra’s al Ghul was once a dragon, but also used the cat miraculous. This is the reason, why he can use the lazarus pit and isn’t mad

Klarion knows about the kwamis, the first gods, often makes rituals and such stuff. But he never saw a miraculous before

Deathstroke knows about the miraculous, but never knew, what power they truly hold

Lex Luthor knew about them too

The team is offered a traditional training with the League and since they are all true holders, they will master it faster than anyone before. Vendal wants to train Marinette as the guardian, after she finished hers with Ra’s. Deathstroke will be their mentor and Klarion will teach them in magic. 

Lex takes them under his wing, teaching them about buisness, money, politics and manipulating

They train and fight Hawkmoth for two years. Sometimes, Vendal takes over as Chat Noir, sometimes Ra’s, to keep Marinette and Tikki balanced. But they need to find her true holder, which isn’t that easy, while they are still in training and fighting

The team is around 17/18, when they finally defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura. The major of Paris and the president of France tell the world finally the truth about the situation (world is shocked (especially when they hear, that the Justice League didn’t help))

Now, the heroes want to help, after Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Dr. Fate, as well Zatanna, kicked their asses for being dumb bitches. When Batman doesn’t stop (he’s an ass sometimes, but I don’t hate him) they threaten to leave the JL. He doesn’t belive it and suddendly he has 4 members less. 

The four go to Paris, even when there is a heroes ban. They offer their alliance, but keep their distance, which everyone is glad. 

Since Hawkmoth and his sidechick have been defeated, the Miraculous Team retires. Or so everybody thinks. 

They all leave Paris, letting their friends and family think they have a job/go on vacation (Kagami and Luka fake their death, Marinette too) 

Lila is smug, bc she thinks, she won, since Alix and Kim just leave and Chloé is a weeping mess

The six go to the League, where they learn new/more things and become the elite squad of Ra’s. 

(Ra’s is totally a proud parent, who shows, how much his kids are better than anyones. Well, as good as he can with his stoic face)

The six still use their miraculous, but have new costumes (darker colors, mostly black) 

And so life goes on, until the JL and the YJ attack the light. They take many hits, loose many bases and the first time, the heroes meet the squad

The six are just called ‘the squad’. They switch miraculous, so the heroes don’t make connections. 

(Marinette is White (rabbit), while Chloé is Red (dragon), Kagami is Brown (monkey), Alix is Blue (snake), Kim is Scarlett (ladybug), Luka is Black (cat)) Over their costumes, they wear a typical League uniform. 

They totally rip the heroes apart

Anyway. The JL and YJ are wary about the sqaud, they all know, they are deadly. Some think, even deadlier than Deathstroke. 

After the attack, the squad meets Lady Shiva and Talia al Ghul

And her new pet project

You already know it. Jason Todd

His mind is fucked up, he doesn’t remember much until this woman in red smiles at him and just hugs him? Girl, this is the league?! 

Jason is totally Marinette’s black cat. 

He’s suddenly being trained (can you imagine a confused Jason Todd, trained by Vendal, Klarion and the rest of the team? Bc I do) and partnered with Plagg, who absolutly loves his new holder. There is so much chaos in him, he even survived the pit!

The squad goes on mission, mostly to mess with the JL, who notice, there is a new member. And oh shit- he destroys everything. And there Superman curmbles to ash... (no worries, he’s brought back)

Jason isn’t trying to kill Bruce, well, he still fights against Batman, but he doesn’t want him dead (the heroes think, the squad tries to kill them)

Some years pass (I have no idea, what happens in season 3 (Young Justice) since I didn’t have the time to watch it) the miraculous slowly become balanced again and the team is doing great

Until Talia snitches Bruce (bc she’s a little bitch) that Jason is alive. Not only that, he’s a part of the squad. Ra’s personally tries to kill his daughter- bc no Talia! You can’t just go and tell secrets! (silently crusing in many languages about the balance and how his own daughter betrayes him) He’s so angry, that he disowns his daughter and claims 7 year old Damian as his heir.

Bruce tries to hunt Jason down, but no success

Marinette takes Damian under her wing and gives him the miraculous of the tiger (Damian is so proud, that he’s a true holder). She and Jason become somewhat his parents, just like the rest of the team

Alix and Kim are totally together, as well Cloé and Kagami, while Luka has a on/off relationship with Lady Shiva, who is the true holder to the fox miraculous

Talia attacks the league, when Damian is 10 and takes him to his father

Damian hides the miraculous and Roarr, but Alfred knows. He always knows. (Totally cliche, but he’s the true holder to the peacock)

Damian acts like a brat like in canon, but can be such a softy

But only with his true family

Jason moves to Gotham, becomes the Red Hood, while Marinette becomes Scarlett (his partner) 

The rest of the squad starts to recruit new holders and start to train them, often visited by Jason and Marinette

One tragic night, Batman fights against Red Hood, almost kills him, when Scarlett breaks his arm. Robin (Damian) comes to help, freezes, when he sees his family. He stops fighting, takes a deep breath and turns to his father.

Batman is confused, but then Robin says, that this is Jason, the second Robin and that he will not fight family

Batman lashes out, being an idiot, talking some nonsense about Jason being a criminal and suddenly Robin disapears. The big bat thinks, his kid went home 

Well, he does, but not the Manor. He follows Jason and Marinette and sleeps a night there. 

Then his father starts to search him (Damian) and finds him with Jason

Totally a fight there

Until Alfred comes and makes them to sit down and talk

Jason explains everything, telling Bruce, that the squad doesn’t exist anymore, bc of Talia.

He causally says, that Marinette is his girlfriend, that they somewhat adopted Damian, after Talia was banned.

Bruce tries to wrap his head around this, but slowly accept this new part of his family

It takes some time, but Jason (Red Hood) and Marinette (Scarlett) become a part of the Batfam

They lead the new Miraculous Team in secret, keep in contact with the inner circle of the light

This goes well, until Tim finds out. 

Bruce lashes out again, bc what the fuck- his own child and his wife (they married) are spying for the light?! He tought they destroyes that damned organisation

Damian runs with them

They go to Nanda Parbat, where they meet the new recruits. 

Now, every kwami has a true holder

Balance is perfect as it can be 

Two years later, Bruce still tries to find Damian, in the hope, he isn’t with his older brother and his wife

He still is

Then Ra’s has enough of this drama, talks with the inner circle of the light and the kwamis

Kidnaps the batfam

Explains everything

Like everything

Slowly the batfam understands

Bruce is so proud that two of his sons are true holders, one of them literally can control chaos

The batfam starts to help the inner circle of the light, the other members think, this heroes finally saw the light

I can totally see the lesser memebers dumbfounded faces, when the whole Batfam shows up

Vendal starts to explain

“Batman was trained under Ra’s al Ghul himself, Batwoman followed.”

“Nightwing was trained by Deathstroke.”

“Red Hood was trained by Lady Shiva, Deathstroke and Ra’s al Ghul and is a former member of the squad.”

“Scarlett was trained by myself, Ra’s al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Deathstroke and Batman. She was the leader of the squad.”

“Red Robin was trained, like all the other Robins, by Batman. Lady Shiva took him under his wing for some time.”

“Signal was trained by Batman, Red Hood and Scarlett.”

“Batgirl was trained under Batman, Nightwing and Scarlett.”

“Black Bat grew up in the League and is the daughter of Lady Shiva.”

“Robin is my grandson and the son of Batman. He was trained under Scarlett and Red Hood, when they still were in the squad.”

(Did I forget someone?)

Gaping villians

But when Vendal says, that Batman will be part of the inner circle, as well Red Hood and Scarlett. they loose their absolute shit. 

They fought the whole time with their allies??

Vendal then also says, that this will be the last meeting and they will all forget, that the Batfam is a part of the light

“Well... we can’t take risks, can’t we? We don’t want to repeat an incident with the Young Justice again... because of this, only the members of the inner circle will remember our prupose and the light itself.” 

Batman then says to the JL, that he will leave the League, since this is going nowhere

The Batfamily is now officially a hero group and more loved than the JL, bc they don’t destroy much in their fights and if they do, Bruce Wayne pays. They keep in the shadows, which means, no civilians hurt AND many villians retire, when they hear, that Batman will fully remain in Gotham. They don’t try anything, bc he always seems to know

Okay... this is much more, than I acutally wanted to write and in the end, it didn’t came out as I first thought. But I hope you still like it, bc I like this version better

And it’s in the middle of the night, so if there are any mistakes... I don’t care :)

Masterlist

[haberdashing]

What A Tangled Web We Weave (12/?)

TMA AU diverging from canon at the end of episode 92. Jon is forced into an arranged marriage by Elias; Martin does what he can to help.

on AO3

A few more days came and went without much happening. Martin kept waiting for the fallout from what he’d shared with Melanie, whether that was an emotional reunion with Tim or (much more likely) Tim cornering him in the hallway and insisting that they would never be friends again, but Tim just kept half-assing his archival work and taking every opportunity to leave the room and never actually talking through things.

Not the best possible outcome there, certainly, but perhaps not the worst, either.

Melanie and Basira kept to themselves for the most part, too, and Jon kept spending all his time tucked away in his office, though Martin made sure to bring him tea every day, partly in the hopes of improving his mood and partly just as an excuse to go in and see Jon again. Most days he was dismissed with a soft “Thank you” or a simple hand gesture, but that was enough.

Hyperaware as he was of any changes in this fragile status quo they’d established, Martin noticed that on this particular day Jon went up the stairs to the rest of the Institute and didn’t reappear down in the Archives for some time afterwards, but he tried not to think too much about it, didn’t breathe a word of what thoughts he’d had on the subject as he arrived in Jon’s office with tea in hand (hands, plural, really, as he held one mug off to the side for himself as he carefully placed the other onto Jon’s desk).

“Penny for your thoughts?” Martin tried his best to keep his voice upbeat and calm, to make it sound like just a casual inquiry that Jon could reject if he didn’t feel like talking through things with Martin.

Jon looked up at Martin and let out a low sigh, and for a moment Martin thought that that was all he was going to get out of Jon, and while that wasn’t ideal, he could live with that, just as he’d lived with similar dismissals for the past several days...

“Apparently they’ve decided who my future spouse will be.”

Martin was suddenly very glad that he had yet to touch his own mug of tea, because otherwise he most certainly would have spit it out at that comment.

Then he realized what it meant that not only had the decision been made, but Jon had been told about it, and Martin’s blood ran cold.

He’d thought he had more time, was the thing. Martin thought that in time maybe he could try to drop subtle hints here and there about his new alignment, perhaps soften up Jon’s opinion of spiders a bit while he was at it, but now all those plans went out the window.

And yet Jon was looking at Martin as he always did, with an expression that was difficult to read but seemed to fall somewhere between curiosity and annoyance. Not disgust, not horror, not betrayal.

“And?” Martin did his best to keep his voice level, to sound calm and collected, to stop his hand from shaking too badly as it held a still-full mug of tea he hadn’t really wanted in the first place.

“And Elias won’t tell me who it is.”

Martin let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He still had time, then. It wasn’t over just yet. “Ah, I- I see.”

“Rather frustrating that he called a meeting just to not tell me the most important bit of information, but then, what else is new...” Jon shook his head and Martin tried not to stare, tried not to look too closely at the long strands of hair now scattered across Jon’s face, black and silver intermingled. “He did say he thought I would be ‘pleasantly surprised’, though. And then gave me that smirk he has where he knows something you don’t and he’s just lording it over you, you know the one...”

“Y-yeah, I know the one.” Martin’s head was reeling. Did Elias really think Jon would be pleasantly surprised by finding out that he’d be marrying Martin? Was he right in thinking that it’d be better for Jon to marry a spider person he knew than a spider person he didn’t? Or perhaps that was sarcasm on Elias’ part, sarcasm that had flown over Jon’s head because he didn’t know any better...

Martin didn’t plan on speaking up again, really, but he found himself doing it just the same.

“Well, think about it. Who would you be pleasantly surprised to have as a marriage partner?”

“I... I don’t know.” Jon closed his eyes briefly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just stopped being wanted for murder, it’s not like I have a blossoming social life outside of this place...”

There was a conversation to be had there about how Jon had adapted to life on the run, who he had lived with (was still living with) when his own flat was suddenly off-limits, but it wasn’t one Martin especially wanted to have right now.

“Well, what about here at the Institute, then?” Martin scrambled to add more. “Tim, maybe? You two were always such good friends...”

“‘Were’ is the operative word there, I’m afraid. I think Tim might actually kill me if the alternative was us having to get married now.” Jon paused for a moment before adding, “Besides, I rather doubt Tim’s got any connection to the Web.”

“Right, well, uh...”

Two other options to ask about then, if he was sticking to Institute staff Jon interacted with regularly (Elias himself was not an option in Martin’s mind). Martin wasn’t exactly the best judge regarding women’s attractiveness, but he figured it was probably a safe bet to go with the one who could actually carry on a conversation with Jon without it inevitably turning into an argument.

“What about Basira? She seems nice enough...”

“I’m not- why does everybody seem to think...” Jon massaged his temple for a moment as his speech trailed off before looking back up at Martin with a strange expression on his face. “Wait... is this about what I think it is?”

Martin’s stomach lurched. It was probably a miracle that he had managed to avoid spilling his tea during this whole conversation, that his hands hadn’t shaken enough to send the mug’s contents flying. “What d’you mean?”

“Martin, are... are you jealous of my future spouse?”

There was no compulsion to the question, but Martin wasn’t actually sure whether that was a good thing. Part of him wanted to explain, to spill his guts without even having to think twice about it, but instead he just stood there, trying to muster up the courage to respond as he felt his face rapidly heating up.

“What? N-no, that’s, that’s not-”

“You are!” Jon made it sound like this was some sort of epiphany, using the sort of tone he usually only employed after a major research breakthrough. “Look, Martin, you don’t have to- to be jealous of the person I’m getting married to-”

“I’m not jealous! I-” Martin took a breath and tried to keep his voice steady as he spoke again, though he wasn’t sure that it worked. “I am not jealous of your future spouse.”

“If you say so.” Jon didn’t sound convinced; apparently, Martin was better at lying than at telling the truth these days. “Either way, Elias did tell me a bit more about what to expect with all of this. Did you know he’s married to Peter Lukas?”

Martin blinked a few times, the urge to further deny his jealousy fading as he parsed what Jon had to say. “Peter Lukas, the- the guy who runs the Tundra?”

“That’s the one.”

“No, I, I didn’t know that.”

“Apparently it was a similar situation, more about connecting their patrons than about them specifically--and also Institute funding, maybe? They’re married, but they barely interact with one another, and whatever deal required them getting married in the first place must not have stopped them from getting divorced... several times over, in fact...”

“Elias said all that?”

“Well, the marriage and divorce part I already knew, actually, but... the point is, I don’t know what my relationship will be like. Maybe it’ll be like Elias and Lukas, where one of them’s not even around the other one most of the time... or maybe that’s because Lukas’ god is big on isolation, it’s hard to say. But it probably won’t be quite like a normal marriage, at any rate.”

Martin knew that Jon was trying to comfort him, in a weird, roundabout way.

Martin wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about Jon being so nonchalant in discussing his upcoming marriage (their upcoming marriage), but it was pretty far off the mark from comforted.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Martin. We’ll see how things go soon enough. If we’re lucky, it won’t be long before...” Martin waited for Jon to finish the sentence, but instead, Jon just let it trail off into nothingness.

“Jon?” Martin prompted.

“Sorry, I... I was going to say ‘before things are back to normal,’ but what even is normal here? Is dealing with Prentiss normal? Is having a monster as an assistant and not knowing it normal? Things haven’t really been normal for a while now, have they?”

“R-right.” Martin’s stomach lurched at the mention of Prentiss, and lurched again at the mention of one of Jon’s assistants being a monster. He meant the thing that replaced Sasha, Martin knew that, but... “J-Jon, I-”

“Yes, Martin?”

Martin looked at Jon for a moment that seemed to last for an eternity, took in the bags under his eyes, the scars both old and new, and the way he was looking up at Martin with interest, his dark eyes wide as he waited to hear what Martin had to say next...

Martin gulped. He couldn’t do it. Damn his cowardice, but he couldn’t make himself follow through with what he had meant to say, not when Jon was looking up at him like that, clinging to his every word.

“I, er, think it’s probably time I get back to work. Hope your tea hasn’t gone cold yet after all my yammering...”

Jon nodded. “Of course, of course. And I wouldn’t worry about that, though if it’ll make you feel better-” Jon paused and picked up the mug of tea that Martin had deposited on his desk, took a sip in a motion that Martin couldn’t tell if it was actually exaggerated on Jon’s part or if he was just imagining things. “It’s still fine. Thank you, Martin.”

“N-no problem. Any time.”

When Martin closed the door behind himself, still holding his own mug of tea that he hadn’t even wanted to begin with, he felt the mad urge to chuck the mug at some piece of furniture nearby, watch it shatter against a file cabinet or see its contents slowly stain the contents of a bookshelf.

Instead, though, Martin just sighed, clutched his mug even harder, and went back to work as if nothing had happened.