#cop!adrien

[art-the-f-up]

i updated my sad little webtoon

read Episode 7 of Him & Her, a miraculous ladybug Cop!adrien and criminal!ladybug AU

[thingfromanoutherworld]

LOOK AT THEMMM.... :(((

characters by @ghost--hands (is this really a suprise anymore? double A single handedly killed my artblock)

[thewanderersminuet]

yeah

[atlasshrugd]

SPOILERS FOR MLB S5 FINALE

 bruh, if adrien doesn’t know that gabriel was monarch, but gabriel died and his mum is SUDDENLY LIVE???? does he not ask any questions?? how can he not figure it out??? 

[kawaiichibiart]

Senti★Mentality Member introduction pt.1 of 4

Adrien Agreste:

Age: 14

Gender: Genderfluid

Pronouns: Changes, but except for it/its/it's, any is fine

School: College Françoise Dupont

Class: Miss Bustier 's aka the Akuma Class

Hobbies: Playing video games, crafting

Specialties: Fencing, playing the piano, multilingual (French, Chinese, Japanese, English, has an understanding of Morse Code), Miraculous wielder (black cat)

Favorite Food: anything flavored like passion fruit

Least Favorite Food: Unknown

Dislikes: Being alone/locked up (autophobia/cleithrophobia), being excluded (includes secrets being kept from him, rejection and not being able to be helpful)

Birthday: Oct 19

Height: 150cm

Shy, intelligent and naive, Adrien is a previously homeschooled student. He's learning new things and experiencing the world around him.

She is the sole creator of the Ballroom Sekai, and while it is confused to be a representation of where they comes from (wealth), it's true symbolism is that of a fairytale.

The Ballroom Sekai was created from Adrien's feeling of wanting at least one day of freedom, a day he could enjoy herself before she had to go back to the norm. They're Cinderella going to the ball.

When he first enters her SEKAI he's met by his SEKAI's version of Hatsune Miku and MEIKO. Where she finds a friend in Miku, they end up finding a maternal figure in MEIKO.

Adrien tends to hide in her SEKAI during times of distress and discomfort. Of the three remaining members of Senti★Mentality, Chloe is the first to enter his SEKAI, being granted access to it by them shortly after the incident where she helped him and LB defeat Malediktator. Kagami and Felix would be granted access later on. As the creator of the SEKAI, Adrien can also kick and lock his fellow unit members out, something she ends up doing later on in the story.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Representation

Oh, so NOW child abuse is bad. Could have fooled me last episode!

Let's get into the twenty-fifth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Representation

We start off with an English news report recapping the ending of “Revolution”, stating that Ms. Bustier is going to run for mayor, conveniently ignoring her attempted coup in “Collusion”. We also see that Gabriel and Tomoe are still uncomfortably focused on making Adrien and Kagami appear to be a couple in public, much to their dismay. While Kagami is visited by Argos (who once again sneaks up on her, like he usually does), Adrien realizes he can transform into his space form and see Marinette whenever he wants and transforms into Cat Noir, planning to reveal his identity to Marinette. Hey, did he even tell Ladybug about his sudden departure? Because it didn't go well the last time he left Paris without telling her (New York Special).

We then cut to Marinette right after the events of “Revolution”, going to the end of the year dance... even though when we saw Adrien and Kagami in London, the sun was still setting, and France's time zone is only about an hour later, meaning Adrien and Kagami must have flown there at ludicrous speed.

Meanwile, Argos and Kagami somehow got from London to Paris offscreen, and watch Marinette from afar, with Kagami revealing she knows she's Ladybug. They decide to tell Marinette that Felix knows who Monarch is in order to ensure his downfall. Nah, I'm just kidding. Here's the real reason they're coming to Marinette for help.

Kagami: My mother and Gabriel Agreste will never allow us to love each other freely. Only Ladybug can help us.

Yep, rather than prioritize the fact that Gabriel is endangering the citizens of Paris on a daily basis, Kagami is seriously more concerned about her relationship with her boyfriend being tampered with. This is like saying Lex Luthor is evil because he cheats on his taxes. Argos transforms back into Felix, and... oh, for the love of God... he disguises himself as Adrien in order to get closer to Marinette. You can't keep portraying Felix as this master of disguise if he only has ONE disguise!

Marinette sees “Adrien” and assumes he came back from London from her, assuming her boyfriend is much more active that the writers actually believe he is, so she tries to follow him while avoiding the guests at the party. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Tomoe learn their children are gone, so he goes to talk with Nathalie and—why the hell is she like that?

Seriously, this has never been established as something that happens when someone uses the broken Peacock Miraculous. Why didn't this happen to Emilie? She looks pretty healthy in her little coffin, and I doubt Gabriel is an embalmer.

Anyway, after Nathalie once again reminds us that she hates Gabriel, but not enough to call the cops on him, Gabriel transforms into Monarch and immediately detransforms back in order to akumatize himself into Nightormentor.

Nightormentor is a pretty average recolor of the Collector's design, which kind of makes sense, considering that Gabriel himself intended the Akuma for himself. The star pattern is okay, but there's not much I can really say. As for his powers, he's just another Sandboy, being able to force people to hallucinate their worse nightmares, only instead of a pillow, his weapon is a staff created from a pen containing the Akuma, with the Horse Miraculous' Voyage to boot. Why he didn't just give himself the same powers he gave Truth when he's trying to find Adrien is anyone's guess.

Cat Noir arrives at the Eiffel Tower to talk with Marinette, just as Nightormentor appears. The two fight, and after a few civilians get caught in the crossfire, Nightormentor escapes through Voyage. As Cat Noir heads to the Dupain-Cheng bakery at the advising of Max, Alya and Nino decide that the totally not useless Resistance should get involved.

While Marinette gives chase, Felix leads her into the school's art classroom, where he transforms into Argos and creates a Sentimonster using Kagami's ring. Felix and Kagami use the Sentimonster's power to do... uh... whatever the hell this is.

Yeah, this is basically a flashback, but the animators probably blew their budget needed for the new models on Ms. Bustier's baby bump, so we're getting this instead, thanks to the Sentimonster Argos created. There are several scenes of Cat Noir and Nightormentor interspersed, but like what I did with Marinette's flashback in “Derision”, I'll give you the summary before I talk about my problems with this.

When Adrien's mother and aunt, Emilie and Amelie, were born, Emilie (who was born seven seconds early) was trusted with the family heirlooms, the two rings we first saw all the way back in “Felix”. Even though this meant she would inherit the family name, Emilie didn't really like doing... whatever the Graham de Vanily family wanted her to do, but Amelie did. Eventually, while studying abroad, Emilie met Gabriel, and the two fell in love. Before marrying Gabriel, Emilie gave up her role as the sole inheritor of the Graham de Vanily family's vague legacy, while Amelie married a man named Colt to please her parents. Both couples wanted children, but it's heavily implied that Emilie and Amelie were infertile, so their wishes weren't able to come true. Emilie finally managed to get a bun in the oven thanks to the Peacock Miraculous, but this made Colt jealous that he couldn't have a child. Out of the goodness of her heart, Emilie asked Gabriel to give the Peacock Miraculous to Colt, in exchange for letting the Gorilla guard Adrien in the future. Using his own jealousy as a source of power, Colt got Amelie pregnant, though at the cost of his health. Colt figured this was the price he had to pay for using “sorcery”, and used this as an excuse to treat Felix like a monster and ordered him around using the ring containing his Amok. Felix himself was unaware that he wasn't human until Colt accidentally broke the ring (which wasn't one of the two wedding rings used to control Adrien and was an entirely different ring containing Felix's Amok), which he stole as soon as Colt died. This is meant to explain why Felix decided to steal back the Peacock Miraculous, in order to save his life. Felix later met Kagami, and the two explain that they need “Someone like Ladybug” to help them.

Now if your only information about this episode is through my summary, it seems simple enough. For everyone else who actually saw this sequence in the episode itself, I'm guessing your thoughts were about the same as mine.

Let's go over every problem I have with this scene, starting with...

#1: The Way Kagami and Felix Explain This

Let me just ask something: Why can't Felix just talk to Marinette about what he knows since he now knows she's Ladybug instead of telling her everything through this weird play? You can still tell Marinette all of this without your two-man show. In fact, why did Felix have to wait until he knew Marinette was Ladybug instead of just talking to her the next time he saw her? Yeah, you could argue it's easier this way, but like I've been saying since Season 4, Felix has had no excuse to wait this long to tell Ladybug about the fact that he knows who her greatest enemy is.

And why the hell is it presented this way? Why does Felix have to recontextualize the story of his family's history in the form of a play? Why turn it into a stereotypical fairy tale that leaves out the names of all the important people, like Emilie, Amelie, Colt (whose name I only learned through the transcript of this episode), and Gabriel? If it was like a hidden message Felix and Kagami wanted to convey to Marinette, that would make sense, but why do they have to be so cryptic when they're only putting this show on for one person? You could easily avoid a good chunk of the questions this raises if this was a show Felix and Kagami put on for the public that Marinette was able to learn the information from. Yeah, it still wouldn't explain why Felix can't just tell Marinette about who Gabriel really is, but at least it's something.

The way it all happens kind of reminds me of this scene from this old Halloween special I saw a lot as a kid, Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular. In that scene, some of the kids act out a scene of this little girl's parents entrusting her with a flashlight to explain why she carries it around, in order to scare off any monsters she runs into, using the graveyard they were in as a makeshift set. This scene works a lot more because it's done in more of a tongue-in-cheek way, with some of the kids breaking character to boost their own egos (for example, the kid playing the mom comments about how responsible she is), and how one kid in particular gradually gets fed up with the whole thing. The scene does its job at delivering exposition in a way that isn't meant to be taken too seriously, and it's clear this is being done by some kids goofing around in-universe.

With this episode, it's clear that the writers want the audience to take this whole backstory seriously in spite of how absurd it all is. Seriously look at this.

We are seriously expected to take this backstory seriously when it looks like some theater major's midterm project. The animators want it to look artsy and unique for the sake of making it look artsy and unique. Why does it look like a play these two put together themselves if they're supposedly using a Sentimonster's power to do it? If the unnamed Sentimonster's powers is how Marinette is seeing all this, why can't it actually be seen as a flashback? Was it always intended to be a handmade play that was changed to the product of a Sentimonster at the last minute?

I get that the animators probably wanted kids to pick up on the visuals of the play, but even then, it makes it hard to really stomach the serious themes this backstory brings up, like infertility and child abuse, with the way they're presented. Not only do Felix and Kagami all play the characters using these white jumpsuits and masks, they also do all the voices, meaning that the only “dialogue” we hear from Colt is delivered by Kagami putting on a deeper voice. Let me repeat that: the only times we hear Colt, the abusive parent and all around garbage human being, talk, it's done by a teenage girl trying to make her voice sound deeper.

But hey, maybe the goofy voice will be overshadowed by the nuanced depiction of child abuse, right? Right?

#2: The Portrayal of Colt and the Double Standards Regarding His Treatment of Felix

I have never seen a single show struggle this much to convey a lesson as simple as “Child abuse is bad”.

When it comes to the parents in this show, terrible parents like Gabriel, Audrey, and Tomoe are almost never held accountable for the way they treated their children. If the writers aren't claiming they really love their children deep down, they're either downplaying how cruel they are at best or playing their behavior for laughs at worst. But here we are, the penultimate episode of the fifth season, and we finally have a parent who is unambiguously treated as a terrible human being with no redeeming qualities... and I still have problems with this.

This flashback really goes out of its way to let the audience that Colt was a real piece of scum in life. He only wanted a child out of jealousy, used his Amok to force Felix to do whatever he wanted, was heavily implied to have physically beat him at times, and blamed him for his poor health on his deathbed when he was the one who wanted to use the Peacock in the first place. Now that I think about it, why did Colt even use the Peacock to create Felix instead of Emelie? Was the episode so determined to paint Colt as a bastard that he wanted to be the one to create Felix himself?

The point I'm trying to make is that the show doesn't really explain why Colt was like this. Why was he such an angry man who treated his only child like crap? I don't know, because all the show's telling me is that he was just a dick. He honestly feels more like a caricature than anything else. He's only as terrible of a person he is in order to make the audience sympathize with Felix. I'm not saying that what Felix went through was okay, but it has the same energy as scenes of Gabriel talking to Emilie's body. It's mostly there to make the audience sympathize with an antagonistic character in spite of all the things they've done.

What's really weird is that even though the whole point of this play is so Felix can tell Marinette Gabriel is Monarch, so what does Colt have to do with this? I'm not saying he's not worth mentioning, but it makes no sense for Felix to tell Marinette about his abusive father before he tells her about Gabriel. It feels more like Felix wants to find a way to excuse his actions before telling Marinette about Gabriel being Monarch. And remember when “Derision” made a big deal about Chloe's terrible parents not excusing her actions? Funny how that conveniently doesn't apply to Felix in this episode.

In fact, let's talk about the elephant in the room: The fact that this episode aired right after “Revolution”, an episode that literally said a character living under an abusive and controlling parent was a fitting punishment for her. HOW THE HELL IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT FROM THAT? If anything, this episode really shows the double standards this show has about child abuse, how the only way your situation can be taken seriously is if you're a “good victim”. Chloe's a “bad victim”, so she doesn't get any sympathy when her mother outright says she's going to take control of her life, yet when Colt actually takes control of Felix's life, we're supposed to sympathize with him now. Why am I supposed to feel bad for Felix now when you just told me I shouldn't feel bad for someone in a similar situation last episode?

In fact, one theory I have about this backstory is that it was intended to kill two birds with one stone, no pun intended. I believe that this episode wasn't just written to give us more insight into who Felix is as a character, but also to show the audience what “real” child abuse is like. As far as the show is concerned with Gabriel, Audrey, and Tomoe? They're not actually abusive parents, Colt is, so you should condemn his actions, and not those three. It's blatant double standards, which is nothing new for this show.

#3: The Way Amelie Just... Lets This All Happen

In my “Derision” review, I discussed how strange it was that so many people in Marinette's life did nothing to help her against Chloe, and the same thing applies here with Amelie.

This episode never really explains where Amelie was when Colt was abusing Felix, much less if she was even aware of it. At least with Marinette's parents, they didn't know because most of Marinette's suffering was at school. Amelie lives with Felix and Colt, so what's her excuse? She seriously didn't overhear Colt yelling at Felix or notice the orders Colt gave Felix? Was she just that ignorant to her child's suffering? Remember, this is supposed to be Felix's good parent.

In fact, does Amelie even know Felix is a Sentimonster? Yeah, “Emotion” established that Amelie knows Felix is Argos, but this episode doesn't really make it clear if she knows Felix is a Sentimonster or not. If it was clear Amelie knew nothing about what Felix really was, it would arguably make things easier to stomach, as she wouldn't know the power Colt had over him.

Instead, even though she's Felix's mother, the show doesn't really explain what she actually did when Colt was making Felix's life a living hell, especially since the flashback says that Amelie was forced to marry Colt, so you can't even say she was blinded by love here. Hell, I'm not even sure if Amelie knew the cause of Colt's untimely passing.

#4:This Doesn’t Really Do Much to Explain Felix’s Actions

Now before you say I'm being insensitive, let me make one thing clear: My issue isn't with the fact that this was done to get the audience to sympathize with Felix. The problem I have is that the backstory doesn't do enough to explain why Felix did the things he did.

Okay, Felix wants the Peacock Miraculous. Understandable, he doesn't want to die, so he has to do morally questionable things to preserve his life like betraying the only person capable of stopping the man who can kill him. What's less understandable is his plan to get the Peacock Miraculous from Gabriel. You'll notice that the backstory didn't mention Felix's first appearance, where he only stole the rings belonging to Amelie's family, and he didn't even think to look for the Peacock. Instead, it cuts from Felix realizing he's a Sentimonster to him striking a deal with Gabriel, not even mentioning that he gave Gabriel back one of the rings as part of the deal, which still makes no sense.

If Felix's goal from the start was to get the Peacock Miraculous, why did he bother stealing all of Marinette's Miraculous as a bargaining chip for the deal instead of the family ring? In fact, why did Felix even steal the ring and wait an entire season to trade it back to Gabriel for the Peacock a season later? And for someone who claims to care about Adrien, he really didn't see anything wrong with giving Gabriel one of the two rings capable of overriding his free will.

As a matter of fact, why the hell is Felix even so hostile towards Adrien? Why did he go out of his way to smear his reputation in his debut episode if all he wanted to do was make a bargain with Hawkmoth? In “Risk”, he mocked Adrien for how he talked, while Adrien himself was aware of how he made him look bad in front of his friends, and that's not even getting into how he made himself look like Adrien as part of his plan to betray Ladybug, which would have screwed him even more if Adrien wasn't already Cat Noir. For someone who claims he wants to protect him from Gabriel, Felix really doesn't care about his cousin all that much.

In fact, why does Felix even hate Gabriel at all? The show hinted that the two had a history, yet during the backstory, which I need to remind you, was told from Felix's perspective on the events, has a surprisingly generous portrayal of Gabriel. Did Felix know Gabriel was Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch during his first appearance? Does Felix blame Gabriel for how Colt treated him growing up? Does Felix hate Gabriel for how he treats Adrien? Did Gabriel intend to get Colt sick in the first place? Seriously, what is Felix's deal with Gabriel?!

How does a flashback organized by Felix himself do nothing to really explain why he did the things he did?

#5: The Fact That There Are STILL Several Unanswered Questions Here

For something meant to fill the audience in on several important topics, there are still so many questions about the history of the Agreste and Graham de Vanily families.

Other than the vague backstory about them being rich, we still know nothing about Emilie and Amelie other than them being rich and possibly infertile. We don't know if Amelie ever loved Colt, if she knew he was abusing Felix, or if she even knew if he used the Peacock to play god.

On a related note, why did Emilie and Gabriel decide to use the Peacock Miraculous to create a son instead of adopting? Scratch that, why did she specifically create a Sentimonster to give birth to like a normal baby? Was there some kind of Macbeth-esque guideline that Emilie had to give birth to a child in order for said child to get the inheritance? Did she use the ring to control Adrien like Gabriel does now? Seriously, this is the character the show's conflict is all based around, and we still know nothing about her other than the fact that she was nice.

This flashback just makes no sense, and is such a stupid and confusing way to deliver exposition.

Anyway, during all this, Cat Noir and Nightormentor are fighting, and for the third time this season, Cat Noir attempts to Cataclysm him someone, even when he had Nightormentor pinned down. Nightormentor breaks free and hits Cat Noir with his magic dust, causing him to hallucinate... Cat Blanc?

Yeah, the script calls this form “Anticat”, but given how it looks like a reused Cat Blanc model coupled with the petrified people of Paris, this is clearly meant to bring Cat Blanc to mind. The problem is that NEITHER CAT NOIR OR NIGHTORMENTOR KNOW ABOUT THAT. Why would you remind audiences about an Akuma that technically never existed?

Better yet, is this what Cat Noir trying to his Cataclysm on people this past season (Destruction, Jubilation, Derision) has been building up to? The fear that he'll lose control? You could have fooled me, as he never really showed that much remorse for almost hurting people other than Monarch. Yeah, you could argue that because Nightormentor based his hallucinations off his victims' worst fears, but again, this fear had little to no buildup this season because Cat Noir never felt any guilt for Cataclysming Monarch after “Destruction”, and whenever tried to use his Cataclysm on other people, Cat Noir never really realized the weight of his actions. If you want to make a character arc about Cat Noir worrying about hurting people with his powers, go more into the guilt he feels for hurting Monarch and using that guilt to affect his actions. Don't just use some “Cat Blanc” nostalgia bait to convince the audience that there's been a character arc.

Nightormentor takes advantage of Cat Noir's emotional state to get his Miraculous, only for the Resistance to save Cat Noir by... throwing stuff at him. And this is how they defeat him. While Nino, Alya, Ivan, and Zoe distract Nightormentor, Kim and Max help Cat Noir focus, Cat Noir Cataclysms Nightormentor's baton.

Zoe traps the Akuma in a jar, Cat Noir doesn't take it, he heads off to detransform and confess to Marinette, only for the hallucination to still affect him since Ladybug didn't use Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, and even though he knows it's just a hallucination, he still uses it as a reason to not reveal his identity to Marinette, even after Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma herself.

The episode ends with Gabriel and Tomoe locking Adrien and Kagami in these white rooms while under heavy surveillance to ensure they won't escape, vowing to start “Operation: Perfect Alliance”. Because these two like using the word “perfect” more than they like subjecting their children to what one of my anons referred to as “white torture”.

Because that's a good way to keep your children under control: psychological torment.

Other than the stuff with Felix and Kagami, this episode was pretty dull.

There's just not much I can really say here. The plot was barebones, all Marinette did was listen to Felix and Kagami's story so the writers didn't have to involve any of them in the main conflict, and even Cat Noir confronting his akumatized father doesn't have a lot of weight to it because towards the end, it focuses more on Adrien's nightmare instead of his relationship with his father.

This episode is nothing more than a prologue for the final battle. It's only here to establish Adrien and Kagami's presence in London, Marinette learning Gabriel is Monarch, and even more setup for Gabriel and Tomoe's final plan. And trust me, the buildup will be far from worth it.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... FELIX

It's amazing. The only time this season Felix goes out of his way to actually help Ladybug, and he still screws it up. He abducted Kagami from her hotel in London without thinking of Tomoe hunting him down again when that was the entire plot of “Pretension”, only decided to tell Marinette he knows who Monarch is because he's getting in the way of his relationship with his girlfriend, did so in an unnecessarily convoluted way, and even though he made a big deal about not wanting to use Sentimonsters in his last appearance, he still used one to tell Marinette his life story instead of just saying “My uncle is Monarch”.

And if you think Felix will get a chance to truly redeem himself in the finale, think again, bucko. Other than a brief cameo, this is the last thing he'll do this season. Aren't you glad the writers made this character prominent for seven episodes over three seasons and did nothing else with him?

[mochegato]

Thank You, But No

“Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!” Marinette uttered in a combination of mutters under her breath and exasperated groans. She was running late to meet Tim for dinner, which admittedly, wasn’t new or surprising, for either of them.  It had become so common for one of them to be late, they had a punishment for it, whoever was late had to pay for the meal, or the next one if they missed the meal entirely.  Which was fine for M. Co-CEO of a billion-dollar company, but she could NOT afford another dinner.  Not even a Batburger dinner.

Not that Tim would force her to pay.  He’d brush it off and pay with a smile, but she didn’t want him to have to because he was being generous, which of course he always was.  He was the single most generous, thoughtful, considerate man she’d ever met, and she’d met Adrien, Luka, Nino, and her dad, so that was saying something.  He was brilliant and funny and understanding.  He was an absolutely amazing person and even better boyfriend.

Which isn’t to say they didn’t have issues… such as their propensity for getting wrapped up in whatever they were working on and being late for dates or missing them entirely, as mentioned previously.  But they always made it up to each other and made sure the other knew how important they were.  Or at least they tried.  Maybe they weren’t as successful as Marinette had thought.  That would explain why there was still an underlying feeling that something was off.  It was tiny but niggling.

That feeling always stopped her from feeling too secure in their relationship and her actions.  She wanted nothing more than to build a life with Tim, but that niggling was holding them back.  They were just short of fully trusting each other.  She knew why she was holding some things back.  She wasn’t ready to tell a man she didn’t fully trust about the nineteen little gods and innumerable troublesome monks that came with being with her.  But she couldn’t figure out what was holding him back if it wasn’t that her constantly being late made him doubt her commitment.

So she needed to get to the restaurant before him, but everything that afternoon seemed to be colluding against her.  She’d narrowly avoided having to go to the warehouse or to a customer to handle random issues several times throughout the day, the issues seemingly getting increasingly significant as the day went on.  She’d spent the entire day putting out fires and now was running late.

But!  She was only a block from the restaurant.  She could see the awning as she ran and although she was late, she was still earlier than Tim typically was, so there was a very good chance she would be able to beat him. She grinned as she picked up speed, weaving between people as she flew toward the crosswalk.

However, that is when Gotham struck.  Just as she reached the street corner, a car exploded in front of her.  Everyone immediately backed away and lowered themselves closer to the ground as they edged away from the explosion.  Marinette, however, froze after crouching down rather than backing away.

She studied the scene taking in every detail, searching for anyone in need of immediate help and calculating where her help would most be needed.  But nothing appeared to need attention.  The explosion was controlled and concise.  Only the car itself was damaged.  She couldn’t even see any bodies, not even the driver.

She cautiously moved closer to the exploded car waiting for the rogue’s next move.  But nothing happened.  She stood warily and moved slowly toward the restaurant.  In all likelihood, it would still operate as normal.  The incident wasn’t large enough to garner Bat attention.  The cops would appear eventually.  Nothing that any Gothamite would take note of the next day, really.

She kept her movements tentative as she crossed the street.  Something seemed off, something she couldn’t quite identify and it was disconcerting.  It almost came as no surprise when she felt herself suddenly drifting off into a black void mid-step.

><><><><><><><>< 

Sensation flooded back to Marinette with a drawn-out groan.  Her head was fuzzy.  Her limbs were weighed down.  She snuggled into the luxurious sheets wrapped around her.  She loved these sheets.  They were silky and soft and… she shot up into a seated position, eyes wide… and they were definitely not something she would be able to afford.

She instantly fell back onto the bed with a whimper, clutching her now throbbing head, and looked around through her fingers.  It took a few seconds for the scene around her to register.  She was in a grand room.  Her entire apartment could fit in this one room.  She eyed one of the paintings on the wall.  Just that painting alone was worth more than everything in her apartment combined.

There was only one family she knew personally who could possibly have a room like this.  She sat back up slowly to examine the room again.  It had to be Wayne Manor… some hidden, supremely pretentious room in Wayne Manor.  Oh no!  Did she pass out and Tim found her and took her home to Wayne Manor!  Instead of his own flat for some reason…  Oh, this was a catastrophe.  It was so embarrassing.

She collapsed back onto the bed with an embarrassed groan, her eyes clamped shut.  There was a lot more gold than she had ever seen in Wayne Manor before.  Why would he have taken her to Wayne Manor and this room?  What was she supposed to get from this?  There had to be a message in this bizarre behavior, right?

“Finally awake I see.”  Marinette’s eyes shot open.  That was not Tim’s voice.  That wasn’t even a male voice, so it definitely wasn’t Alfred’s voice or one of Tim’s brothers either.  She sat up warily, eyes darting around rapidly to find the source of the voice, which was considerably more difficult than it should have been in the cavernous room.  She froze when she finally located it.

A tall, lithe, impeccably put together woman sitting in a shadowy corner leaned forward, but didn’t say anything, choosing instead to stand gracefully and observe Marinette impassively.  After a few long seconds under her scrutiny, Marinette shifted uncomfortably in the bed, pulling the opulent sheets tighter around herself.  Her gaze broke away, nervously taking in the room around them in greater detail, now knowing with certainty that they were not in Wayne Manor.  “Where am I?”

The woman stalked closer to Marinette, her movements intimidating in their precision and control.  “Somewhere far away from any heroes.  Somewhere nobody can find without a guide.  Somewhere not even your dear Detective would be able to find you.”  Her voice was without the cruelty Marinette would have expected considering the content of her statement.

It was that contrast more than anything that made her register her words.  “Who’s ‘my detective’?  Do you mean Sabrina’s dad!  He’s not a detective!  He’s just an officer.  And he can’t even find his badge half the time.  Sabrina has to stop over and find it for him most mornings.  Saying I’m somewhere he can’t find doesn’t narrow it down.  It could be his guest room… except for the whole,” she motioned to the gilded room.

The woman studied Marinette with a complete lack of emotion on her face except for a single brow arching.  The effect was like being completely transparent before her, which was a feeling Marinette was familiar with from that glass akuma.  But this was worse.  This felt more invasive, more revealing.  “Interesting.”

“I’ve never had someone creepy say that to me and not have it mean something bad,” Marinette observed petulantly.

The woman’s lips seemed to strain to stay in their perfect pout.  “You may want to keep your mouth closed if you value your tongue.”  Despite the war on her lips, her voice was even and commanding, bordering on cold.

“You guys may have kidnapped the wrong person then,” Marinette grumbled.

“Oh no, no, I don’t believe we did,” she hummed, her eyes twinkled with something Marinette couldn’t identify.

The urge to reach up and feel for her earrings was overwhelming, but Marinette refused to give in.  If they didn’t know who she was already, the movement would signal the truth.  It was a clue Marinette was not willing to give.  A blank façade fell across her face.  “And I would recommend speaking clearly and sparsely when you are brought to the throne room,” the woman advised.

Marinette’s façade immediately dropped as her brows furrowed.  “The what now?”

“My father is not known for looking kindly upon fools,” she continued as if Marinette hadn’t spoken.

Marinette blinked at her.  “Did you just sa…”

“You will put those on,” the woman interrupted sharply and motioned toward the clothes laid out on the bed.  “There are no cameras or microphones in here, so you don’t need to worry about that, if my word means anything to you.”

“It doesn’t,” Marinette answered instantly but did turn in the direction indicated, noticing the clothes for the first time.  Even without touching them, she could tell they were extremely high quality both in the fabric and in production.  It would easily be the nicest, most ornate outfit she had ever worn.  It was truly an inspiration for her.  However, it would also easily be the skimpiest thing she’d worn in public other than her bikini.  It was so tight and skimpy, it looked like something a comic book artist designed for a female superhero.  It was most definitely not what she wanted to wear when she was brought to face whoever was behind all this.  “Thank you, but no.  No, I would prefer not to.”

“You will put it on, or you will wear nothing,” the woman warned firmly, “which I’m sure my father will also enjoy, both the result and the process of stripping your current clothes from your body scrap by scrap.”

Marinette’s eyes widened with every word, absolutely confident in the honesty of her words.  She looked back at the clothes that she would be wearing.  “Right… I will… put those on.”

“Wise choice, you may yet survive the night,” the woman nodded and turned.  “The dressers will be in soon.”

“I know how to…” Marinette ripped her eyes from the clothes to the woman, but she was already gone, “… dress myself,” she finished lamely to the empty room.  She finally allowed herself to reach up to her ears with a groan at the lack of earrings.  She was going to have to do this, whatever this ended up being, without her powers and then somehow search what she was positive was a ridiculously large complex for her earrings.

She let out a long, deep breath and started putting the clothes on by herself.  “It’s not like I’m a designer or anything,” she grumbled.  “Not like it’s my entire job to come up with an outfit, accessories, hair, and makeup.  What would I know.”

><><><><><><><>< 

Okay, so maybe she didn’t know what was expected for this particular occasion, because just like the room, there was considerably more gold involved in her outfit, accessories, and even makeup than she would have ever used on her own.  And in all honestly, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to get the hair accessories actually stay in their artfully styled placement, especially with all the sharp movements she kept making around the women helping style her and the guards escorting her to their destination, the throne room, if the woman was to be believed, which Marinette was inclined to do, about that fact at least.

As soon as she entered the room, pushed at the end of a few very sharp swords was actually a far better description, she had to fight her jaw dropping.  She’d thought the last room was ostentatious, but this new room made the last room look like a cheap, roadside motel that hadn’t been updated since the 70’s.  The room was covered in gold details and ornately carved, deeply stained woodwork.  The ceiling was far above her like the grand entryway of Wayne Enterprises.  Operas could be properly sung in this room.  Centered against the back wall, a raised platform towered, demanding attention in its size and ostentatiousness.

A single chair sat at the apex with an ancient man seated, just as impeccably dressed as the woman earlier had been.  A step down and behind the chair was a line of other chairs, a few fille empty.  One of the seated figures was the woman she had seen earlier.  As before, the woman gazed impassively upon her, like Marinette’s discomfort and fear was beneath her consideration.  The two others in line only vaguely resembled one another, some not at all, but Marinette surmised they were all his children and the empty chairs for even more of his children.

She stopped at the bottom of the short staircase to what must have been considered the throne and waited to be acknowledged.  The man, who had to be the father the woman had spoken of earlier, stared at her with a similarly intense gaze as his daughter, but significantly more sinister and creepier.  She had to stop herself from fidgeting under it. 

The longer it went on, the more uncomfortable it became until she had to say something.  “Um… hi,” she offered uncertainly, adding to her discomfort with a small, awkward wave.

“Hello…” he responded.  His voice was exactly what she had expected from his appearance, bold but empty and dripping with smarm.  “… Guardian.”

Marinette lifted her head slowly, eyes wide in horror.  “Oh no,” she gasped, barely louder than a breath.

“Welcome to my throne room,” he stated with no indication of warmth or welcome in his voice.  “You, my dear, you have the immense honor of becoming my bride.”

Her eyes somehow managed to widen even further at his words despite her actions being sluggish, the world around her not quite registering as real.  “Oh… no.  No, no, no, no… no.  No, thank you, no.  No, no.  Thank you but no.  No, no, no, no…” she shook her head woodenly then looked back up at him and pursed her lips.  “Noooo.”

“You will join me, and I will make you my queen.”  The sinister glint in his eye and eerie curl to his lips suggested he believed this was an incredible honor.  Marinette could not quite see what proof he had to back that up, but she suspected he was one of those men who based their personal value on delusion rather than evidence.

She was sure a statement like the one he had just uttered was supposed to be a request, but it was stated like a command.  A statement of fact, like ‘the sky is blue’, ‘water is wet’, ‘this situation is messed up.’  “Que…Oh, no.  No, I’m not really the royalty type.  Queen?  I wouldn’t be…  I hate velvet!” she finally exclaimed.  She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest to accentuate her point.

His vile smile dropped, his lips instead forming into a hard, thin line.  “I realize you may believe you are unworthy of me.  Your ability to realize your inferior status is one of the reasons you will become a perfect wife.”

“Oh… no,” she muttered, shaking her head, her eyes unfocusing.  “Adrien warned me something like this would happen if I moved to Gotham.”

“But I assure you,” he continued, completely oblivious that she had said anything, or that she was no longer listening, “you are not as far beneath me as you may believe, Guardian.  With your given powers and my natural strength and intelligence, we will have many strong brilliant children.”

Marinette’s eyebrows disappeared under her bangs.  “Oh… no.  No, thank you.  No.  I think we should reevaluate that decision… maybe tweak it… just a bit.  I can’t… I’m already dat...” She stopped short, offering a strained smile instead.  It was a decidedly terrible idea to mention Tim to a madman.

What she wouldn’t give to have Tim there with her.  She wanted nothing more than to be able to bury her face in his chest and have him wrap his strong arms around her.  But at the same time, she couldn’t imagine anything worse.  He was safe where he was, far away from what was happening to her.  No, she didn’t want Tim with her.  What she wanted was to get out of that room, find her earrings, and get back to Tim’s embrace and not leave it for a week.

She shook her head to try to concentrate back on where she was.  “How about…” she forced air out of her lungs, “no.  No, no, no.  You have kids!”  She motioned toward the seats behind him.  “You already have MANY kids.  You do not need me to have ‘many.’”

“I need better,” he bellowed.

Marinette gasped and straightened up to her full height, which granted, even if the man had been on the same level as her and standing, would not have been much against the towering man, but she refused to accept his statement unmatched.  “Okay, rude.  I think maybe they need a better father.”

“Silence!” he thundered.  His voice echoed throughout the chamber with a ferocity and strength, she was surprised nobody except her flinched.

The woman from earlier almost imperceptibly shook her head, just enough to catch Marinette’s eye but not enough to catch anyone else’s.  “Right.  Silence.  Shutting up, sir,” Marinette grumbled grudgingly.

“Start the ceremony,” he commanded.

In the blink of an eye, Marinette was shoved forward and up the stairs, tripping frequently on her skirt she hadn’t been given time to gather up, a skirt that managed to cover almost nothing of her legs but still drag under her feet, until she was next to the ancient man while another man in a significantly less ornate outfit was ushered into the room in front of them.  “Wait, now?” she exclaimed, looking around frantically.  She could not get married!  Not like this.  Not to him.  It was supposed to be Tim.  They were supposed to build their relationship, develop their trust, then get married.

No, this couldn’t happen.  “Oh, no.  No, this is all happening a bit f…” the word died in her throat when quicker than she could track, a dagger dug into her throat, hard enough for beads of blood to appear at the knife’s edge, but only that much.  She wasn’t sure if the restraint was luck or because he didn’t want his ‘wife’ to bear visible scars, and she was not willing to find out.  Especially considering he was able to do it without standing and she still had no clues where her earrings were.

The new man cleared his throat and looked between the two of them anxiously, his eyes begging Marinette for forgiveness she was too dazed to be able to give.  He cleared his throat when she didn’t respond and continued anyway.  “We are…”

“Skip to the important part,” the ancient man growled.  Marinette tried to back away from him but the guards behind her must have anticipated the response as before she could move a millimeter, she could feel the points of their swords digging into her bare shoulder blades.

The man offered a strained smile.  “Isn’t the entire ceremony the imp…” he froze as the dagger that had been at her neck, suddenly appeared at his, drawing rivulets of blood.

“Do you wish to continue your insolence?” her soon-to-be-husband hissed.  He waited a few beats while he stared down the petrified man.  “Do you?” he demanded louder.  When the man shook his head sloppily, the dagger disappeared so quickly Marinette couldn’t say where it went.

The other man’s eyes darted between the two of them again, sweat mixing with the blood running down his neck and staining his collar.  “Do you…”

“I do,” the ancient man barked impatiently.

“Right…”  The other man nodded anxiously and turned to Marinette.  “Do yo…”

She shook her head so rapidly the man in front of her blurred.  “Oh… n…”

“She does,” her betrothed cut in loudly.

“Okay, yeah, I suppose that can… can count,” the other man stammered.  He was slowly inching away from the couple, putting as much space between him and them as he could before he was able to sprint out of the room, and Marinette had never been more jealous of anyone in her life.  “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

“What?” she exclaimed.  No.  No, no, no, no.  No.  She could not be married.  Not to this man.  This was not the future she planned.  Her heart sank as the man’s lips puckered and he pulled her closer against his body.

His predatory grin dropped when an explosion sounded nearby.  “What,” he seethed.  He glared at the wall closest to the explosion like it was solely responsible for the disruption and hissed when the sounds of fighting carried into the room.  “Impossible!”

The sounds increased in volume until it was so loud, they could almost make out the words being screamed in the fight.  It quickly became apparent the fight would breach the throne room in moments.  The ancient man shoved Marinette away with such force, she sprawled on the floor and scrambled to keep from falling off the stage, but his eyes never left the door to check on her, not that she would have expected him to.  He pulled out his sword from wherever he had secured it, she still wasn’t sure where that was, and wielded it in preparation.

“Father,” the woman from earlier said quietly but forcefully, “we must leave before he comes.”

“I am not afraid of him,” he hissed, his eyes still glaring at the door in anticipation.

“No,” she agreed, but Marinette could see the roll of her eyes behind her father’s back.  “But a battle that need not be fought is a foolish one.”

He hissed and tucked his sword away as he whirled toward the back of the room, rushing with his daughter toward a hidden door, his other children already long gone.  “How did he know?”  His voice was lower than it had been since she met him, but still managed to carry through the room.

The woman pointedly ignored Marinette as she moved behind her father.  “Likely a tracker.  Did you check her for a tracker?”

“Of course I checked for a tracker!” he thundered and turned on her, attempting to stare her down.

The woman raised an eyebrow but refused to cower at his vitriol.  “Then I suggest having your men do a better job next time.”

The man growled but moved through the door his daughter had been urging him toward with a final flourish of his cape.  And just like that, he was gone and the room empty as his guards had all disappeared without a sound and through some mysterious, possibly magical means, because they certainly hadn’t gone through the door at the front of the room or the door the man and his daughter had disappeared through.

She searched the room for their escape route, hoping to follow their lead.  Following that man and his family seemed like an absolutely terrible idea.  The last thing she needed was him remembering she existed and trying to take her with him.  Going out the front door would lead her straight into the fight, which without her earrings, seemed like a worse idea.  But she needed to get to her earrings and she needed to get them now, before anyone else found them.  And that was all assuming the man didn’t realize she was Ladybug as well as the guardian and take the earrings with him.

She started down the stairs swiftly, intensely inspecting every centimeter of the side wall as she moved.  She had just caught a slight irregularity in the wall when the front door slammed open and several figures rushed in.  She squawked and attempted to find a place to hide, but she had managed to position herself directly in front of the stairs when the door opened.  She could not have selected a more exposed location in the room if she tried.  Even if she’d been at the top of the stairs, she would have been closer to the back door and would have had the chance to get to it before they could get to her.

It took a full few seconds for her to register that the figures rushing toward her were not a threat.  In fact, she recognized them.  The Teen Titans were there.  The Teen Titans had come to rescue her.  She furrowed her brow.  No, that couldn’t be right.  There was no way they’d come just for her.  There had to have been something else going on and she was just a collateral bonus.

Red Robin rushed ahead of the rest of the team, directly toward her.  He reached her in mere moments and reached out for her like he was afraid she would disappear if he didn’t, but he stopped just short of touching her, his hands hovering over her body as though he would be able to sense any damage that way.  “Marinette!  Marinette, are you okay?”  She blinked at him and nodded numbly.  Maybe she was wrong.  There was no way for them to know her name if she wasn’t the objective.  “Are you sure?” he asked again.

She quirked her head to the side to consider his voice, his lips, his expression as he examined her.  The way his brow furrowed just slightly and his lips pursed a touch, like he was afraid of showing too much emotion and giving away his hand.  She wished she could see his eyes.  She could almost picture the frantic darting of his panicked blue eyes hidden behind the white lenses of his mask.

Her eyes widened as her subconscious realization became fully conscious.  “Oh my… Oh no.  No, no, no.  Really?” she exclaimed, taking a step back to get a better look at him and yep, there was definitely protective padding built into the suit, but she knew those arms, she’d spent a good half an hour tracing her fingers over the edges of those biceps, triceps, and deltoids just the night before.

“Mar… Mademoiselle?” he asked cautiously.

She closed her eyes and dropped her head back with a heavy sigh.  “I’m never going to live this down.”

He raised an eyebrow at her response, but his eyes quickly zeroed in on her newly exposed neck, almost reaching toward her neck, but diverting his hand to run through the hair she’d brushed out of his face that morning.  “Are you sure you’re okay, Mademoiselle?”

“Mademoiselle?  Really?”  She righted her head to look him in the eye, raising an incredulous eyebrow at him until his shoulders fell slightly and he smiled sheepishly.

He finally allowed himself to reach out and touch her, starting by tenderly tracing the skin around the cut on her neck, his touch so tender and cautious, she almost couldn’t feel it.  She slowly stretched her neck to give him a better view without ever taking her eyes off his, waiting for him to satisfy his fears and assure himself of her safety, knowing he wouldn’t be able to move on until he had.

His eyes slowly moved from her neck to her clavicle, arms, stomach, and legs, his fingers trailing the path his eyes forged.  His brow furrowed at the goosebumps that trailed his fingers.  His eyes jumped up to meet hers, realization dawning.  He quickly removed his cape and draped it over her shoulders.  “It’s insulated,” he murmured.  “I know how cold you get.”

He pulled the cape closed around her and ran his hands down her arms a few times, his eyes never leaving hers.  He took a breath and slowly reached up to remove his mask.  The look in his eyes took her breath away.  There was such a depth to them, almost boundless with emotion, almost limitless with devotion.  “How did you know?” he asked softly, close to a whisper.

Marinette cupped his face tenderly.  She gently traced the skin around his eyes where his mask had sat.  “I’d know you anywhere,” she answered in the same breathless tone.

He searched her eyes, hoping it conveyed all the relief he felt at finally having her in front of him.  “I’d find you anywhere,” he whispered.  Her eyes suddenly watered and she collapsed into his arms, body shaking as she cried and digging in deeper when he wound his arms around her.

“It’s okay.  It’s okay.  I’m here.  You’re safe,” he repeated over and over in her ear like a mantra.  He kept repeating it until her tears eased.  He pulled back just far enough to meet her eyes.  “I’m here and you’re safe.  I’ll always rescue you.  I’d tear the world apart to protect you.”

She was no longer crying but her eyes were red rimmed and broken.  He suddenly felt overwhelmed again and pulled her to him to reassure himself she was still there.  “I’m so sorry.  I’m so sorry he took you,” he muttered into her hair.

She shook her head.  She could feel his lips rub against her hair with each shake.  “It’s okay.  It’s not like it was your fault.”

He pulled away to meet her eyes again so he could convey how earnest he was.  “It… Marinette it was,” he affirmed, regret and guilt bleeding from his voice.  “He knows who I am and… has a bit of an obsession with me.  He took you because of me.”

She met his eyes firmly.  “He didn’t.  It wasn’t about you.  He thought I would produce good kids for him.”

Tim jerked his head back and wrinkled his nose at the thought.  “Ew.”

“Right?” she exclaimed with a false lightness.

“But Marinette…”  He groaned and removed a hand just so he could run it through his hair and immediately settle it back at her waist. “…you have to know, you came to his attention because of me.  It really was my…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” she repeated more forcefully.  “It wasn’t Tim.  I can’t exp…” she let out a frustrated groan and met his eyes with renewed determination.  “It wasn’t your fault.  I need you to believe me even if I can’t say why.  Not yet.  Not here.  But soon.”

He shook his head, his lips pursed unconvinced.  But, instead of focusing who to blame, obviously him, he focused on her; her safety, her health, her emotions, her in his arms when he was terrified he might never see her alive again.  His eyes traced her face, his fingers trailed after in a tender embrace until he slid them over to tuck her bangs behind her ear.  “How are you?  Really?” he whispered.

Marinette dropped her head onto his chest again and nuzzled into his arms, letting his warmth and security seep through her skin and into her bones.  “It was horrible.  I didn’t know when I would see you again.”

He tightened his arms around her as if it would protect her against that possibility.  “I’ll always come for you,” he reassured, his voice just loud enough for her to hear… and Superboy, but that was irrelevant.  “Are you hurt anywhere else?  Was it just your neck?”

She shook her head against his chest, refusing to reduce any contact between them.  “No, nowhere else.”  She suddenly jerked back and looked up with wide eyes.  “But he… we’re married.”

Tim blinked at her.  “Wait, what?”

She shook her head blankly as her mind started running through the repercussions.  “He… there was a ceremony,” she rushed out.  Her words were coming out so quickly, they almost merged into a single word.  “There was a ceremony and a holy person, I think, that didn’t want to but he did…”

“Did you say I do?” Tim cut in before she could spiral too deep.

She shook her head as she blinked, her mind still racing but on a different track now.  It was all a bit cloudy, but her mind ran through all the events of the past hour as well as she could remember it.  “I didn’t… it didn’t seem to be an important factor.”

“Then you’re not,” he assured her confidently.

“But…”

“She married?” he asked over her shoulder.  Marinette whipped around but Tim kept her in his arms, pulling her closer when Marinette squeaked and tried to jump away from the figure behind her.

“No,” the woman from earlier confirmed.  “Father skipped through that part.  Don’t worry my dear.  You’re not my stepmother.  You are uncorrupted.”

“Uh…”  Marinette tried to edge away from her, unsure how to respond.  But Tim held her tight, which had to mean he didn’t think she was a threat; Marinette however still wasn’t convinced.

“And I’ll keep him away.  I’ll convince him he is wrong about you… though we both know he’s not, don’t we?  Speaking of, here are your things,” she handed Marinette a Hermès bag filled with her clothes, “all of your things,” she said pointedly.  Marinette took the bag and looked in warily to find her clothes, but more importantly, her earrings at the very top.

“Thank you,” Marinette gushed, offering the woman a smile for the first time.

The woman nodded.  “Keep the bag and the outfit.  You’ve earned it.”

“Oh… no,” Marinette deferred and held the bag out away from her.  “No, thank you.”

The woman scoffed.  “The bag is mine, go ahead and keep that for yourself.  No association with my father.  Used Bruce’s money, actually, so no guilt.”  Marinette was so overwhelmed by everything happening she almost didn’t register Tim’s snort at the woman’s comment.  “Sell the gold from the accessories or donate it.  I suspect that’s the kind of thing you would like.  Father won’t notice.”

“Thank you, Talia,” Tim offered with a nod.

“You’re welcome, Tim,” the woman, Talia apparently, nodded back.  “Keep her safe.  She’s more valuable than you know.”

Tim looked down at Marinette, his gaze swimming in adoration.  “I intend to.”  When he looked back up the woman had disappeared again.  “Should I be worried about that?  About her interest in you?” he asked Marinette lowly.

“I am,” Marinette grumbled.  “It’s probably the smart move.”  She leaned her head back on his shoulder and let out a relieved sigh when he tightened his embrace and guided her out of the compound and toward their plane.

“She’s the one that told you where I was?”  He nodded without looking at her, his eyes scanning the area to ensure all threats had been removed.  His team seemed to have fallen into step behind them, keeping a bit of a distance to give them privacy, but Marinette could feel their eyes darting to her frequently.  “She mentioned Bruce.  You know each other well?”

He nodded.  “A bit too well sometimes.  Other times…” he kissed her temple letting his lips linger and pulling her closer when she melted into it, “other times I couldn’t be more thankful for her.”

Marinette cocked her head to the side with a hum.  “She’s a bit creepy.  Sexy!” she added quickly.  “But creepy… which is usually a combination I hear about from booktok men, not real women.”

Tim snorted “Booktok, huh?”

“Zoé,” Marinette shrugged.  “I know far more than I want to.”

“Ah, yeah, I can see that,” he snickered.  He urged her on ahead of him up the plane’s rear ramp, following close behind her, making sure he had at least one hand on her at all times.  He waited until she was at the top before speaking again.  “She’s Damian’s mom.”

Marinette whirled on him instantly.  “She’s what!”

“Yep,” he answered, popping the p.

“With Bruce?” she clarified.

He let out a deep sigh.  “My family is a bit of a mess.  This is really just the tip of the iceberg.”  He shook his head and motioned toward some seats, finally removing his hand to pull out a strapped in container, pulling out a few blankets and pillow.  “Ready to go home?”

She nodded tiredly and collapsed back against him, sagging against him until she would have fallen down if he hadn’t wrapped his arms around her waist.  He sat down, pulling her down into the seat next to him and wrapped the blankets around her with tender, gentle movements.

She watched him move, her affection for him growing with each soft pat and caring rub.  “Will you stay with me?”

Tim looked up from the blankets to meet her eyes with a fond, understanding gaze.  He brushed her cheek softly and opened his mouth to respond but closed it quickly with a furrow of his brow.  “Why don’t you stay with me?  Forever?” he added hesitantly.

She blinked at him.  “Tim!  Are you…”

“Yeah, yeah, I am.  Asking you to move into my home, I mean.  Well, no, it would be our home,” he rambled.  “I’ve wanted to ask you for so long.  The only thing holding me back was,” he motioned toward his suit and then around them.  “And now that you know…”

Marinette stared at him; mouth slightly ajar in shock.  Her mind tried to process all the possible implications, the benefits and dangers.  Was it too soon?  They hadn’t been dating too long, but they’d been dating long enough for her to know him and know that she loved him and that’s what mattered, wasn’t it?  The emotion, not the time.

Was it too dangerous?  If she moved in with him, it was going to be difficult to hide the kwami, and yeah, he was probably in a better position than most to understand what it meant to be a Guardian, but it still wasn’t a secret she was willing to share.  He would only be the third person she’d ever told.  Alya and Adrien were the only people she’d told and the prospect of adding another person to that list was terrifying.

Was she in the right place mentally to make the decision?  And if she wasn’t and if she made the wrong choice, would it destroy their relationship?  If she said yes just because she was in need of some stability in that moment, but then after a few weeks needed space, would going backward in their relationship harm it?  But then, it really wasn’t an in the moment decision.  She’d wanted to take the next step in their relationship for a while but had been too afraid.  It felt like Tim was hiding something and now she knew what it was.

But all the processing meant Marinette was dead silent for a while too long.  Tim’s arms loosened around her, not dropping, but not as tight as he started backtracking frantically.  “I mean, if you need some time… This was probably the wrong time.  I shouldn’t have…”

The uncertainty in his voice kicked Marinette into action.  “Tim?”

“Yeah?” he asked tentatively.  She could feel his hands clench almost like he was fighting pulling them back.

She pushed forward and placed a firm kiss on his lips, pulling away after a moment just far enough to whisper against his lips.  “Shut up.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” he grinned moments before he pulled her closer to kiss her deeper.  He wound his fingers into her hair as hers found his shoulders to hold him against her, reveling in the feel of him, the assurance that he was there, it was him and not someone else.  He seemed to need the same assurance, his hands running over her and squeezing her frequently.  They didn’t part until one of his teammates passed them and cleared their throat to remind them they were not alone.

Marinette settled back into her seat with a giggle and rested her head on his chest with a contented sigh.  “Please take me home… to our home.”

He grinned and dipped down to place a tender kiss against her forehead.  “Are you sure?”

She smiled brilliantly.  “Oh, yes.  Yes, please.”

[coffeebanana]

Today's warm-up ficlet brought to you by me wanting to experiment with writing broken ribs. And it's complete enough to share as a tumblr snippet, so...enjoy!

“We’re almost there,” Marinette said, gently squeezing his arm. As if Adrien didn’t recognize the staircase up to his own apartment. Then again, nothing in his life really seemed the same anymore. Even this trip upstairs was more than he could handle. Each step jostled his broken ribs, and every breath was a fiery spike in his chest. The pillow he clutched to his chest did little to help. And not even his mind offered any distraction; his father’s betrayal was a whole other kind of pain.  If it weren’t for his friends—Marinette at his side, Nino following behind, and Alya waiting for all of them at the top—Adrien was sure he wouldn’t have made it. He would have given up halfway up the first flight of stairs. Or he’d still be at the hospital, struggling to put on his shoes. “You’re doing great, mec,” Nino encouraged, like a broken record. Adrien didn’t think he’d heard his friend say anything else all day.  You’re doing great—when Adrien could barely stand up on his own. You’re doing great—when he was seconds from bursting into tears. You’re doing great—after he almost snapped at Marinette for fluffing his pillow one too many times, and was tempted to do snap at Nino for daring to repeat the same lie over and over. Now, at least he was grateful for the words—how had Nino had the patience to put up with him all day? Tears sprang to the corners of his eyes, but he couldn’t let them fall. If he started crying, he wouldn’t know how to stop, and crying was another thing that hurt too much. He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself.  He’d forgotten that breathing to deeply was the worst pain of all. Adrien gasped midway up the next step, clutching the pillow closer to his chest. It was no use; the damage was done. The pain ripped out like a stone dropping into a pond—each wave was a little weaker than the last, but there was nothing he could do to hurry it along. “Let’s rest here for a minute,” Marinette suggested. Adrien wanted to argue—they were three steps from the top. What was the point?—but he couldn’t manage to speak. Instead, he succumbed to the tears slipping down his cheeks, doing damage control by means of taking shallow, steady breaths, trying not to feel anything that would spur the tears on. That became near impossible when gentle fingers wiped away his tears and delicate lips pressed against his cheek. Marinette too had been ridiculously patient. Impossibly tender. And she was Ladybug—that truth hadn’t had a chance to sank in, but it barely needed one. It just felt right. “Come on,” Alya said. Her words weren’t impatient, but they didn’t coddle him either. And that felt right too. It felt good—to know that at least one person wasn’t treating him like he’d break. “Three more steps,” she encouraged. “Then you can rest as much as you want.” That wasn’t really true. The pain didn’t go away even when he was sitting, and he doubted he’d be able to get much sleep. Plus, there were a hundred things he knew he’d have to deal with in the coming days—cops, lawyers, and the weight of Paris’ opinion, to name a few. But when he opened his eyes, Alya met his gaze with a friendly challenge. Marinette rubbed his arm, and Nino squeezed his shoulder. Three more steps.  He’d take one for each of them.

[chocostrwberry]

hey I'm the anon who suggested Marinette's relieves remembering her, & I just want to say your welcome for that accidental tragedy of only family members remembering one girl who saved the world.

Also, does a part of Marinette live on in baby lila? Like her love for Adrian & her friends, her love of designing clothes, or any other bits of her personality?

I DIDN’T MEAN FOR IT TO BE SO DEPRESSING,,

YOU MADE ME REALIZE HOW AWFUL IT IS FOR HER FAMILY- I might do a plot cop out just so that her family isn’t THAT traumatized I FEEL REALLY BAD

Also yes!! The most defining aspect would ofc be Marinette’s kind nature, baby Lila would totally be the kind of person to help injured baby birds and carry heavy things for strangers.

Her relationship with Adrien would be like an uncle to her! She also totally cares about him, he is the first person she ever met anyways!

Plus she’s SUPER lucky. Like she finds 100 dollar bills stuck in vents, hasn’t ever gotten sick or a serious injury, and just good things seem to come to her all the time.

[unfortunately-a-miraculous-fan]

I think the worst part about Miraculous' decline in quality is that I can't even enjoy it.

I want to love the bad writing so badly, but I can't do that when the bad writing in question is:

Marinette literally stalks Adrien and this is seen as a strange, albeit romantic quirk of hers.

The show's lore takes much "inspiration" from Chinese mythology and philosophy, but nobody on the writing team seems to have any knowledge or respect for Chinese people.

A cop is blatantly racist toward Marinette's mother and Marinette ends up apologizing to HIM. Thomas 100% backs this creative decision. (Not even acknowledging the fact that one of his main arguments against Chloe stans that he loves to use is that she made an ignorant remark about Chinese food.(Also that same episode, they based Marinette's uncle's akuma design off Dragon Ball Z despite him being Chinese rather than Japanese.))

[EXTREMELY MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5 IMMEDIATELY UNDER THE CUT.]

After Gabriel's death, Marinette never tells Adrien that his father was Hawkmoth, and instead leaves him to believe that he was a good father. Adrien literally never gets justice or closure for all the abuse and neglect.

And more!!! :)

[i-like-anything-water]

AU where Marinette is a detective and Chloé is a killer except Marinette is obsessed and instead of arresting her lover she simply finds ways to make it easier for her to cover her tracks. A slip up? Nothing a random 'bust' in the city can't distract. Getting too close because Marinette hasn't made much progress? Woops, suddenly there's new 'evidence'. And it's not like Chloé is killing innocent people either.

Because, she too, is obsessed with her wife. She kills anyone who's tried to make her sweet wife a target just because their asses got caught.

Basically just them being smitten with each other in ways that are toxic but they're wifey goals and take care of each other. And Sabrina is somehow the head cop or something, married to local cheese owner Adrien Agreste.

[jacquesthepigeon]

Genuinely we could have had Adrien be like genuinely awkward as fuck who's season 1 arc is basically LB coaching him on how normal people friendships work. They copped out with having Nino extend a hand! Adrien should be STRUGGLING for friends! He should have something that isnt Generic Magical Girl love interest vibes is all im saying

I’m gonna have to kinda disagree with u on that front bc I think a big problem with adrichat is that he doesn’t seem to care about any relationship outside of his romantic interests so having Nino be a present and important part of Adrien learning how to socialize past S1 would’ve definitely helped with that

[yusuke-of-valla]

Makoto tragically suffers from what I call "Adrien Agreste Syndrome" where the writers assume you like a character as much as they do and then they forget to justify it why you should like them.

"Oh Makoto's the smart one!" (Never mind that the rest of the team is able to gather info to track down Kaneshiro without her, that she doesn't actually improve our infiltration strategy, and that her advice just tells you things the players already know)

"Of course Makoto becoming a cop is fine! Why wouldn't it be?" (never mind the dozens of instances in this game alone that the police for a corrupt from the top down and everything bad that happen to her family was related to the criminal Justice system also literally the entirety of strikers)

Makoto can do no wrong as far as the game is concerned, and it constantly tells you that without showing you it, and that translates to some pretty undeserved hate for her as a character as opposed to the writing surrounding her

[rose022]

hi~ im rose! (among other names lol, ask for them or find them) welcome to my intro!

- dont feel bad about blocking or unfollowing me, just wanna say this. i may make posts abt being confused when i see people leave but curate ur own experience idc be happy

- you can call me whatever you want idc, just lemme know. like genuinely any nickname. i do have two others tbh but ehh

- yeah yeah im an adult so dont block me if i like ur post and u say mdni ight? also for any minors if that makes u uncomfortable u can leave. i dont tend to post anything nsfw here, just sometimes suggestive stuff and both nsfw and suggestive are tagged just like that

- pronouns are whatever is funniest in the moment. or just use your own. neos are ok

- asks and dms always open for anything. i won't really reach out first but i promise you can always talk to me about anything. if you don't have anyone else or just want to talk about a particular thing or want to vent, etc. like genuinely pretty please talk to me about your interests i will gladly listen!!! <3

- also you can always tag me in anything!! i love tag games (i may take a bit) and if theres anything you think id like or reminds you of me id love to see it!!

- don't really have a dni but like i will block you if you're a bigot. im a fag and autistic if you don't like that go away idc. also if you are pro cop or military stuff fuck off

- if we're mutuals please tag stuff with cw rose for anything with touya or akito being shipped with anyone else or TBHK nene and tsukasa as a ship, self harm images, stuff about spiders (or any bugs kinda) mostly pictures of them or them on someone (bees moths and butterflies exempt), needles if theyre detailed not cartoony, real life gore of animals or humans (not sfx or art just real stuff), sa, stiff about veins, and please use tone tags but mostly just for joking or sarcasm as i tend to assume everything is serious.

- MUTUALS PLEASE TELL ME STUFF TO TAG FOR YOU!!! i do my best to read carrds and intros and stuff but i might forget please remind me please. gore and sexual stuff will get tagged as gore and nsfw but it's mostly explicit stuff. things are tagged as what it is, not with cw or tw.

- !!current things i tag are agere, homestuck, eye strain, saiouma, bsd, religion, body dysmorphia, religion, marlo dont look (for nsfw stuff, tbh im not sure what counts but anything with mentions of sexual stuff that isn't just like a joke), elie shoo (csm saiouma gore), suggestive (anything relating to anything nsfw like jokes or anything else), adrien no look (alcohol, crickets, girl interrupted, hospital innuendos), clowns

- tags

#rose rambles - my posts

#rose tagged ramblings - i made a separate one for when i talk a lot in tags

#rose art - quite simply rose's art

#rose ocs - the sillies from my brain

#ask rose! - asks

#rose pics - look i don't get creative with naming these i think you can tell

#rose cosplay - ^^^ yeah

#helpful - things that could be helpful to anyone

#save - similar to above but more so personal things

#important - maybe not technically helpful but i think people should see

#favs - self explanatory, i believe

#sillies - similar to above but not really

#luv - mutual appreciation mostly

#heart! - things made by mutuals!

#liebe - things made for me!

#mecore - woah thats so me frfr

#rose writing - idk man take a guess

(i wanna like fix all my posts to have tags but i reblog so much and itll take me a million years to get back to the start of my account atp. maybe one day.)

- commission info

art:

writing: $2 per 100 words (?)

i also take requests for these!! or other stuff but like it will almost definitely take me a bajillion years to finish so if you wanna make sure i do something, gimme money. but u dont gotta its ok ily anyways

i have a k-fi rose226 and dm for p-ypal

- sideblogs

@nightcord-luka-official

@luka-spotted most active

@daily-akiyama-mizuki hiatus!

@daily-asahina-mafuyu hiatus!

@kokomi-sangonomiya-official

@mafuyu-asahina-official

@wansho-luka-official

@junior-high-enanan-official

@fischl-official

@rosemusictime lol no followers

@oz-the-bird-official (to translate my Fischl)

@ako-udagawa-official this and above in progress

@daily-purple-character send reqs

@rose-poll-account

@aoi-shirosaki-official pjsk oc rp blog

@hikari-itsuki-official ^

@yuki-jigoku-official ^

@kei-makura-official ^

@roseswonderland things i make

@yuki-spotted

@niigo-va-updates

(i may remove u as a follower depending on if i trust you enough for these next few but if we're mutuals ur pretty much safe)

@moonlit-thoughts22 vent

@selfless-lvr selfship/kin

@softrosebud agere

@shhh-its-rose moots only one mentioned at the top of this

and ask for the nsfw one... cus im too scared to just add it

(guys i think I have too many sideblogs help)

im not active on many other social media but if we're mutuals you can ask for like anything and ill probably have an account. somehow im most active here tho (and in one discord server but u guys cant join)

[servicpop]

to-do list !! (In order)

Cole fic

New oc fic ! — thief x cop

Another oc fic — grumpy reader x sunshine character

Adrien fic(s)

More cole !!

Racer oc

[artzychic27]

Here's an idea for the Arkham AU

Could we have some notes about Miss Bustier as their teacher? I assume she works at the Asylum.

Caline Bustier is one of the top psychiatrists at L’asile d’Arkham, specializing in children and teenagers. She soon meets fifteen villainous teenagers

While she may seem unassuming, she knows how to dodge a bullet, knife, and acid hurled at her. That’s why she got hired

Mlle. Bustier: Hello, I’m Caline Bustier, and I’m your psychiatrist. *Dodge’s Adrien’s sledgehammer, Rose’s vine, Juleka’s knife, and throws one of Myléne’s fear gas grenades out of the window before it can explode* Now, let’s all go around and share our names, pronouns, and why we’re here.

She has access to very detailed files on each of the young villains, listing things such as their past home lives, psychological history, any emotional trauma, etc. to get a feel on why they’re all the way they are

For some like Marinette, Adrien, and Kim, it’s pretty obvious- chemicals warped their minds or society was just being a little bitch

She’d like to pick Nino’s brain a bit more to find out what went wrong when his mothers created him

After reading up on Sabrina, Nathaniel, Myléne, Kim, and Ivan’s files, she’s wondering if there’s any way to press charges against their respective abusers

She really wants to have a few words with Audrey Bourgeois. She just wants to talk, that’s it.

Alya has high levels of intelligence, but uses it in a destructive and rather disturbing manner when she’s bored

Also, Max clearly has some sort of superiority complex that went undiagnosed for years, leading to his robot uprising at school

When she’s not giving therapy, she’s making sure her kids patients are treated like humans by the guards. That means making sure they aren’t all doped up, getting Kim out of the basement, making sure Alya has access to twelve-sided rubix cubes, letting Juleka and Rose spend time together, helping Ivan with his ptsd, and helping Nathaniel with his anger problems

So, she doesn’t care for this Lionel Bolton character (Brownie points for whoever can guess this reference)

Bruce Wayne himself felt Bolton was right for the job, but it seems he doesn’t know what’s going on behind closed doors

When going to check the security footage, Mlle. Bustier became suspicious when she saw that any footage of Bolton was gone

So, she goes to the villains one by one to get their sides of the story

Adrien: … I got nothin’ to say.

Mlle. Bustier: But, surely, you must have something-

Adrien: Ya got a hearing problem or somethin’?! NO! Nada! Ixnay! Zero! Zilch! Bupkis! Nothing! Okay?!

—

Kim: I told you for the tenth time! He didn’t do anything! You think I can’t take care of myself?!

Mlle. Bustier: … Then, would you care to explain how you got that scratch on your arm, Kim? It doesn’t look much like an accident.

Kim: … Happened before I got arrested. Just some kids from school, alright?

—

Marinette: I ain’t. Saying. Nothing.

Mlle. Bustier: Marinette if you’re afraid of M. Bolton-

Marinette: What’s there to be scared of?! I’m the Harlequin of Hate! The Clown Princess of Crime! I scare people! Not the other way around! Got it?! He’s just some lousy do-good cop you chuckles hired! Nothing else! OKAY?!

—

Mlle. Bustier: Myléne, you’ve been sitting there quietly for ten minutes. Surely, you must have something to say, dear.

Myléne: … No.

Mlle. Bustier: And yet, yours’ was the loudest voice of protest. You must have some misgivings about his methods.

Myléne: I-I was mistaken.

When they aren’t talking, she decides to pull a page out of Batman’s book and do a gambit

Mlle. Bustier: Well, then, based on your testimonies, I suppose I’ll send M. Wayne a letter of recommendation on M. Bolton’s behalf, proposing an extension of M. Bolton’s contract for an additional eighteen months.

Alya: NO! You can’t! You don’t know what he’s doing to us!

Lila: *Slaps a hand over Alya’s mouth* Shut up! Just shut up! Don’t listen to her, she’s delusional! We’re fine!

Adrien: No, it’s all true! If we don’t speak up now, we’ll never get another chance! He threatens us, takes away our privileges even when we’re good!

Max: He says scum like us must be kept in line!That’s why he chains us down in our cells at night and electrifies the door!

Lila: He threatened to send me away to get a lobotomy!

Nathaniel: HE’S AN ANIMAL!

Ivan: A monster!

Juleka: Keep him away from us!

So, yeah. No one messes with her kids patients