#doesn't have to do with miraculous ladybug but it hurts

[miabrown007]

post-Representation reveal for @ladyofthenoodle and @asukiess <3

Time stops when Chat Noir plummets from Marinette’s skylight. She stops in her tracks and stares at him, eyes blown wide behind the polka-dotted mask that sits snug over the mascara streaks on her face. Her heart skips to her throat, because she doesn’t understand. She doesn’t understand what Chat Noir is doing at Marinette’s right now, in this break of dawn, when she was just about to head out to purify the Akuma he and Alya captured. He has even left her a voicemail to cheer her up—he always had an innate talent to know when she needed some cheering up—and he sounded so calm and collected then— Face buried in her mattress, he sniffles now. And Marinette knows that her identity is at stake here, that she’s incapable of explaining away Ladybug’s puffy eyes staring at him from the end of Marinette’s bed, but Chat Noir’s crying. He came to her because something so devastating happened to him that he’s crying.  If there’s one thing Marinette knows, it’s that they have sacrificed enough. She gave up love and gave up her friends for the mighty cause, and in the end, it was her friends and their love that saved the world.  She won’t give up her partner. Never again.

She reaches out, stroking her fingers through his hair gently. “Marinette, I need to tell you that—” he starts, then looks up and his eyes go wide. She smiles down at him. “It’s okay, Chaton. I’m here for you.” His bottom lip trembles, and several beats pass until he finds the voice to whisper, “I love you, Marinette. I’ll never let anyone separate us.” And maybe that should feel like a surprise. Maybe his arms around her and his lips on hers should wreck her world. Maybe, once, they would have.  Now, they feel like a small sound of ‘oh’ at the back of her mind.  Of course, it’s him.  Of course, he’s hers.  Of course, it’s them until the end of the world. She cups his face and smooths the messy hair out of his eyes, kissing away the tears spilling over his black mask. “I love you, too, Adrien. I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again.” And if he cries harder and buries his face in the crook of her neck, that’s alright too. She hugs him, rubbing his back and peppering kisses all over his face—his nose, his forehead, his crown and his little cat ears—and holds him until he needs her to. She would be his Atlas and hold him until the end of the world, but slowly, his breathing calms and Adrien draws away, wiping at his eye with the palm of his hand. “I need to— I’ll need to go back,” he stutters over a swallow. Marinette shakes her head firmly and holds him tighter. “You are not going back.” His face softens. “My lady,” he begs, and she thinks her heart might give in from the way he says her name alone. “You know I have to before he discovers I’m missing, otherwise—” She cuts him off with a kiss before he gets to finish that train of thought. It’s an option she isn’t willing to entertain. “Your cousin owes me big time. You are not going back. Never ever,” she confirms.  If the surprised fervour and gratitude he dives back in for a kiss with is of any indication, he believes her. Marinette isn’t delusional enough to think Félix would do her a solid as an apology for his theater kid nonsense, but she suspects a chance to be closer to Kagami in place of Adrien will do it. She laces her fingers with Adrien’s, as if gluing them together, but he doesn’t seem to mind. She smiles against his lips with confidence only his support can grant her. “Okay, Chaton. Here’s the plan.”

[katzebruh]

Yo, hey man!

Accident Swap, does Marinette even *care* about Lila in your AU, or is she just another nuisance she can brush off?

Does Lila try to say Ladynoir is evil because of all the destruction, or does she go Canon Route with "Ladybug/Ladynoir and me? We're best friends!"?

Hey!

Marinette does care about Lila but not in the same way, she doesn't want her lies hurting her friends. In my AU they don't believe the bad things she says about Mari cause like- they know her. But like people often are, they give her the benefit of the doubt, and Lila is smart, she realizes she can't just lie about anything, especially since the class does actually know celebrities. She plays the long con game, having to take a different more subtle approach, she blames Marinette for making it harder for her to get what she wants. Marinette tries to keep tabs on her but there's only so much she can do, especially with her responsibilities, so there are people who fall on Lila's side, but none of them are Marinette's friends. (Kagami would never believe this girl over Marinette. I'm sorry, but no)

Lila pretends she's close with Mr. Bug in this AU, she has seen how Lady Noire isn't publicly loved as much and jumps on that, this is what gets her more popularity, since Adrien is a sweet boy, he doesn't want to publicly humiliate Lila, especially since it might draw Hawkmoths attention to her. In this AU Alya of course is start struck with the idea of Lila knowing Mr. Bug, but isn't irrational enough to place that in her blog to make her a target. So it just remains in their group that Lila told, Adrien coming as Mr. Bug to prove her wrong might end up causing more problems in his head. She does start spreading rumours to gain more interest from their friend group, jumping on the narrative that Mr. Bug had told her he doesn't really like Lady Noire, the public isn't really aware how much she does because it's the miraculous ladybugs that fix everything, so he must be the one in charge. Lila also spreads rumours that she has actually talked with Lady Noire and just insults her character, lying about how she doesn't care about Paris and that she generally was really rude. Lila doesn't actually care about the heroes, but she realized it was an easy way to get attention and trust from the classmates as long as she was careful about it, people are easily swayed by gossip and fear. Alya was on her side up until she was Rena Rouge, quickly deleted all the old theories Lila helped her come up with from her blog after that. (She becomes Rena after Lila is introduced in my AU).

I hope that answered the questions! I got a bit sidetracked while typing this, on the phone it's hard to scroll up and down without it glitching akdnlaf

[pigeonentity]

au where gabriel uses the peacock instead of emilie, and she's the one left with two miraculous and a child

she inherits the gabriel brand. it's her brand now, ppl have to know it or it doesnt count, but changing name and logo isnt great for business-- people want to buy gabriel, not emilie, so the g is now for graham de vanily. she and adrien change their last names to match, and soon she is cleaning them from gabriel entirely, before his death can stain her as gabriel's emilie, rather than just emilie. she needs them to love her. she cared for gabriel, but she has no use for a husband who can't love anything anymore

she starts dating nathalie to finish cutting all ties with him. it isnt really fair on her, emilie just needs her to tell ppl she's moved on. but it's good to know she's beaten gabriel in one more bid for devotion

its funny. she never resented him much in life. in death, she notes he has more billboards than her up in the city. her billboards now, but theyre his. in death, she sees him over her shoulder in her mirror. she gets cast as a grieving widower in her next performance. she gets the hint. she seizes the hint and throws it out the window. she takes the role and pushes for more agency for her character. she cannot be truly loved without her agency

speaking of. adrien doesnt get to go to school. he follows her around most days, and he smiles when she asks. he never took to the stage, but he's an actor in his own right, in his own way. and he's hers.

and it's not enough. nathalie's love grows lazy as emilie breaks up to cause a scandal. they script it out themselves. nathalie watches adrien out the window. emilie kisses her to turn her gaze back. adrien is always in the garden. she tells him to come inside. she tells him to love her. it used to feel less hollow.

she wishes she could be sure it was all true

she wishes.

she wishes, and nathalie is warmer when they have a mission, so emilie know this is the right thing to do. they know what they have, and what they need, for a wish

emilie transforms, and makes a monster of someone's love

suddenly, the whole world is watching

two girls come out with the cat and ladybug. adrien is safe at home. two girls come out and they're heroes and they're here for her. for her!

nooroo loves her. nooroo says that, at least. she could care less, busy in the glory of her enemies' company, drunk on magic, having the time of her life with a purpose reborn. this is where she is meant to be-- centre stage, on every screen. they set their phones to notify them of her presence. it's always a surprise and they're always quick to know. the news loves to see what she makes. nathalie says she's straying from her goal, if she cares. the people say she's a monster. they just don't understand love

in the end-- in the end the heroes practically offer themselves up to her. there are more of them by then. she wasnt expecting it to be so soon, or she would have dressed for the occasion. would have made a spectacle of it. adrien had been dragged into their circle. they chose a bad miraculous for him. she shouldn't have let him stray from his mother

they're just tired of her. it's been a year and emilie graham de vanily is a recluse. butterfly attacks are constant and emilie barely exists anymore. it was beautiful, though. but they're tired of her. they're sick and they hurt and it's her fault, they say. they're breaking and it's her fault. that's love, isn't it? isn't it? it tastes beautiful. she built this all out of love, do they know that? the feelings just look so heavy and pretty and she's so good at making them hurt.

we're tired, they say, again

she takes their miraculous. she gets to her wish. what did she want to wish for again? love. she wanted love.

she sees gabriel again. it's been too long. she didn't like that love. when it left she had nothing. he was everywhere, and-- he was nowhere. she doesn't think about that often. but it hurt. she didn't like that love

does she want real love? she had a family and one's dead and one's a traitor and one's torn and one's in england and who the fuck knows what happened to the rest of them

the spotlights were good, though. she danced so well. the heroes are all still watching. they want to know what she wants. they're interested.

in her.

she wishes. she wishes for it to never end

so it never does.

[curseofbunny]

things on my miraculous rewatch that i am noticing that are just. funny and help make things make sense in my brain

chloe and alya are both reaaaaally big into superheroes, alya with majestia as we all know and chloe not seeming to have had a favorite until ladybug/replacing her previous favorite entirely with ladybug if she had one, and chloe and sabrina being cosplayers.

it also seems like chloe is really good at making props and pretty passable at video editing, given malediktator and her 'lair' up on the roof/balcony. all of that background props for her little documentary (which is as endearing to me as it is lightly cringe-worthy, i love chloe so so much) were handmade and honestly looked really good, they must have taken aaaaages to make. me and my friend were also noticing that max looked upset during the 'making fun of chloe' scene in malediktator after chloe got hurt by sabrina laughing at her, and we were joking that he was disappointed it got turned off because the editing was good

kim really liked the alec cataldi's show 'alternative truth' in kwamibuster. him liking and looking up to alec cataldi makes so much sense for why his character is the way it is, why he does the dares and the teasing. it's really interesting seeing how the childhood bullying/harassment alec went through shaped his life, and then he in turn continued the cycle on a massive scale to the point where it could be said that he influenced more people to act just like him. i am not even coming into this from a salt perspective, it's entirely just fascinating that in that little bit from a s3 episode we can see part of why he is the way he is

chloe watching the news is such a common experience she's a news girliieeee i love that for herrr

accidentally got a fixation on how the tv studio in universe works. alec cataldi is a catty gay guy who runs a bunch of random slot-filler garbage tv. nadja chamack is a (seemingly single) mother, friend of sabine's, who is the primary news anchor. clara contard is her primary correspondent, who according to the wiki has an unnamed boyfriend/husband (i'm going to go with boyfriend) and unnamed son. obsessed with these three they're so good i love the ~vibes~ of the station crew

all problems in the later few seasons of the show would be lessened greatly if we let Luka Murder Bob Roth!!!

psychomedian should have been a season 2 episode. the plot, the vibes, the marinette characterization. everything besides the flashbacks in the beginning scream earlier actions. also they used flashbacks from the puppeteer 2 in that episode. which makes me confused. so the end lesson for mari in that ep was that adrien isn't good with jokes, and kind of wants to try being more serious because the girl he liked wasn't into funny guys. by using a clip from that episode, and specifically the clip where they're talking from the end of it from that same conversation where he says he doesn't get jokes very well, mari in psychomedian then extrapolates from a single video mention that nino showed adrien that clearly adrien is a huge huge superfan of harry's, and proceeded to hype herself up to try and do a comedy routine that is so specific and embarrassing that i physically couldn't watch that. girl do you even listen to the words from his mouthhh. i would have had less issues with this if that flashback didn't make me go "huh whats that from i've never seen that episode" and paused in the first minute of psychomedian to go watch the puppeter 2, then circled back to psychomedian, and only one of those episodes felt like they deserved to take place in the latter half of the show. on god.

back to the news crew tee em but this retroactively gives a lot of insight to me on how chloe and kim could have been friends and how their friend group was structured before a combination of marinette/ladybug and rampant akumatizations and teenage hormones destroyed the friend group over the course of season one and beginning of season two, but like. chloe and sabrina long term friends with their own particular dynamic and sabrina's crush on chloe. chloe is a news girlie and a superhero fan but keeps her cosplays on the low, only sharing that part of her life with sabrina. kim likes watching tv, specifically the more gossipy/gameshow type things. max is glued to kim's side and is his very close friend, and probably also liked working on nerd stuff with sabrina. alix was probably lumped in because she's athletic and friends with kim, and even if she isn't chloe's biggest fan they can still commiserate about being rich girls together. i know i'm extrapolating and halfway just wishing this was how it was, but it really did feel like that was the it group until they started slowly breaking off and chlobrina got isolated and then chloe got further isolated. in a perfect world this friend group would have stuck together and lila just joined the fold as a baby it girl trying to show off.

i'll shush for now but those are some babbles thank you for letting me refuse to shut the fuck up *bows* *bows*

[aphroditelovesu]

Yandere Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste Headcanons (Poly!Romantic)

❝🐞 — lady l: hi!! I finally wrote this and it's set in an au where they eventually discover each other's identities to make more sense. I hope you like it and forgive me for any mistakes! ❤️

❝tw: obsessive and possessive behavior, stalking, polyamorous and unhealthy relationships.

❝���pairing: yandere!adrinette/ladynoir x gender neutral!reader.

Everything was always very complicated between them. Marinette in love with Adrien and Adrien in love with Ladybug, both unaware of each other's identities and feelings.

Marinette always remained hiding her feelings for Adrien, too embarrassed to say anything and Adrien continued to yearn for Ladybug. This continued for a long time, until your arrival in their lives.

You were a new student and felt out of place after leaving your old school and your friends. You hoped to make friends at this new school, but you were afraid you wouldn't be able to do so. But luckily, or unluckily, you met Marinette first and she introduced you to her friends, who immediately liked you.

Marinette liked you, at first sight, you were so kind and sweet. She almost fell right there and it confused her, but she couldn't help but admire you.

Adrien became interested in you after a few conversations, and you caught his interest and attraction. He had something about you that made him attracted, and curious, an unknown feeling that he wanted to feel more of.

It wasn't difficult to notice their interest in you, Marinette constantly stuttering and blushing when you were around and Adrien, although shy, loved flirting with you and seeing you blush.

It wasn't easy to admit their interest in you, Marinette was still in love with Adrien but she really was in love with you, therefore, she didn't know what to do. Adrien was more resolute and acted in the way he knew how wanting to declare himself because he could no longer keep his feelings to himself.

Adrien was the one who first noticed Marinette's interest in you and he was surprised to notice that he didn't have a problem with it. If it were anyone else, he would have, but not with her. Because Marinette had a habit of stalking you incessantly, it didn't take long for her to realize that Adrien liked you. She was curious and excited, not jealous like she thought she would be.

They talked and decided to act quickly, both confessing to you. You were surprised and flattered and accepted, and finally, a romance happening.

Marinette is very jealous and overprotective, always wanting to know where you are and she will be very worried if she doesn't know. She will go so far as to use her Miraculous to look for you, even knowing the consequences.

Adrien is possessive, getting jealous very easily, and doesn't react well to it. He doesn't like it when you're with someone other than him and Marinette and will use intimidation to make someone stay away from you, whether with money or even his Miraculous.

They have always been very protective of you and at any sign of danger you will be quickly hidden and protected. They already talked about giving you a Miraculous, but Adrien considered it too dangerous. There was always a chance you could get hurt and he wasn't going to allow it.

You are spoiled intensely, clothes made by Marinette and bought by Adrien, jewelry, food, expensive and extravagant gifts to the simplest ones, like roses. You will never lack for anything as long as they are by your side.

They want to see you happy more than anything and will do everything to make that happen. They can't even think about the idea of ​​you being akumatized, the idea alone sends them into a frenzy at the thought of it happening to you. No, they have to be sure that this will never happen.

Marinette is very kind and soft, a mask of her true stalker and extremely jealous side. Adrien is kind and calm, always with a smile on his face and ready to make you smile, but he acts very strangely when you don't do what he asks.

They know they shouldn't use Miraculous for selfish reasons but when it comes to you, they won't care. Marinette doesn't care about ruining herself for you and Adrien has been ruined for a long time.

You are theirs and anyone who tries to get in the way will suffer the consequences. After all, you didn't just belong to Marinette and Adrien, but also to Ladybug and Cat Noir.

[ponytailzuko]

"adrien jr is aware of chat noir because he gets brought back in the middle of mayhem when gabriel just made the wish and marinette & adrien are obviously freaking out. i can go into that more but tldr: he needs an explanation on why it is 6 years in the future, why everything has changed, and how he was possibly cloned. i imagine he finds out eventually just because its so fucking complicated it would be harder to keep it a secret."

CAN. can we have the. Not long enough; PLEASE let me read Explanation of this?

HI!!! okay so context: i made this au at the end of season 3. we had nooo idea how the agreste arc would end at all. this was purely me speculating + building off of information given in season 3.

i assume by the ask, longer is better. i will assume this, because i don't know how to cut off my thoughts and i LOVE yapping. under a read more because it gets kind of long?

so basically, this was me speculating how the story might end after season 3 and they defeated hawkmoth. sometimes id be like "is this too dark for a kids show" and then i remember they added the magic slave baby plotline so im allowed to do whatever i want.

i had basically a season built in my mind before the wish ever happened: adrien starts getting hints that there's something seriously off about his father, and he starts investigating. he eventually gets caught in the basement pilfering around in there, and gabriel tries to appeal to adrien by showing him the dead body of his mother. there's a very long manipulative spiel, but adrien is very insistent that his father being hawkmoth is wrong. gabriel, needing adrien to keep quiet but not wanting to hurt him or get rid of the last thing his wife ever left him, gives him a gag order not to tell about this to anyone. adrien, a sentimonster, can't disobey.

he goes to school like normal. he talks to ladybug like normal. but he can't tell her what he knows. adrien gets more and more desperate. as adrien is more monitored because gabriel is paranoid about adrien telling others and somehow breaking the order, it becomes more apparent that chat noir doesn't show up when adrien is being watched. gabriel figures out adrien has the ring, asks him for it, then doesn't ask so nicely. there's a whole exchange here, but it eventually ends up with chat blanc.

the akuma is in his miraculous, and he's the only one with the cataclysm to be able to break the ring at all. (this is an english dub rule apparently but i did not know that when i made this au so forgive me?) gabriel says this is his "final akuma" and that he'll reverse his mistakes with the wish. he promises he won't fail this time. sunken cost fallacy etc. it'll all be fine. (it will not all be fine)

chat blanc, instead of destroying the world, is scouring the paris skyline for ladybug. other heroes try to help, but chat blanc destroys almost all the other miraculous BESIDES the ladybug. gabriel keeps asking adrien for any info on ladybug, but adrien responds by simply destroying any memories before he has to fulfill the order.

marinette keeps getting strange dreams, and ladybug keeps finding hints about adrien's identity left behind by chat blanc. eventually, she figures out that if she really tries, through the miraculous and their close partnership, maybe she can share dreams with chat noir and unakumatize him that way. there's a whole mindscape episode where ladybug restores a lot of adrien's destroyed memories and adrien uses the black cat miraculous to destroy the link between him and his amok that makes him have to follow orders - and he's unakumatized.

they both detransform, unable to transform again after using the powers so long. gabriel tries to order adrien to give him the miraculous, but commands no longer work. gabriel, realizing that adrien exists outside of the amok, goes "oh shit my son is an individual. thats my SON." he goes "i can fix it" and finally gets the miraculous from the both of them exhausted and unable to fight back. of course, gabriel is still gabriel, even confronted with all the damage hes done. so gabriel gives up his own life to bring his first son back, instead of doing what he originally planned which was adrien for adrien. when he uses the wish, the ladybug and black cat miraculous break too.

adrien jr wakes up to paris in ruins, all the miraculous besides the butterfly/peacock destroyed, and no miracle cure. marinette and adrien sr are fucking EXHAUSTED and just staring gawking. adrien jr is like "whuh." and then you know. also passes out.

the only miraculous left are the butterfly + the peacock.

in the original plan, i had emilie also brought back in exchange for nathalie. emilie would want the miraculous herself in a "i have not learned my lesson from my husband at all, i'll continue where he failed. he must have fucked something up but i'm built different" because i love the agrestes and how they do the same stupid bullshit because they can't help themselves from repeating patterns over and over. and she attempts to try to restore the ladybug and black cat miraculous before marinette and adrien can. so adrien jr would be a part of that plotline where he's torn between clinging onto his mom and helping marinette & adrien with defeating her. i see him stealing the butterfly from emilie and akumatizing one of them and going "u-um!!! hi!!! how does this thing work-" LOL.

[familyagrestefanblog]

I finally got around to watch "The Ruler" and, man, when it comes to Nathaniel and Marc, this episode is simply PHENOMENAL. But it's honestly heartbreaking to see that the show is giving more and more plot lines we longed to see for the love square for over a decade now to side characters. Sure, the comic was a Ladynoir parallel, but it's an outdated one and has now been given to Nathaniel and Marc instead.

It can even be seen in the way Marinette and Adrien have no real reaction to the comic of which the story SHOULD have hit them very close to home because of their hero partner. But they don't. Especially Marinette who the episode wrote as so excited and invested in the story that she wanted to keep a printed test version of it and hang it up in her room.

As nice as the wishful thinking is that she did this because it reminded her of her partnership with Chat Noir, there is nothing in the episode to actually back that up. Marinette is emotionally invested in the story, but there is no real indication that this is anything else but her simply being an invested fan like everyone else.

But not just that. The episode also pretty much goes out of its way to reinforce how dead Ladynoir is by now by giving yet another prime example of how Marinette since season 4 has demanded and 100% established that she'll drag her entire civilian life into her hero work - and fully on Chat's expense bc for her to drag 100% of her life in she had to first forbid him from existing under the mask AT ALL in season 4 & 5 - cause she'll neither humour waiting for him and will just pick another main partner for her in any given battle she likes while still not letting Chat know anything about it. Chat Noir may as well not have shown up here at all, Marinette would have literally not noticed it. She already replaced him as her partner for the battle, she wouldn't have cared for a single second.

It used to be normal that they WAIT for each other, btw. But here in "The Ruler" the episode at least didn't hide that one of the two main reasons for why Chat Noir got immediately screwed over was because Ladybug just completely forgot about him again as leader and "partner" who still acts like she hasnt paid any attention yet in 5 seasons that leaving Chat Noir out of the plan, not waiting, and not informing him of what the plan is before going about executing it increases the likelihood of him getting hurt as well as him becoming reckless when he enters the field because of his insecurities which she has been made well WELL aware of by now. And this wasn't some city destroying akuma, so no excuse here (Same as Werepapas. There was no excuse for not taking your time to avoid risking to kill Adrien, the akuma was a non-threat to the city).

Say however you like that Adrien should be more careful and not act out on his insecurities like this (even though i know exactly that this is a standard you will NEVER apply to Marinette who's causing way more damage by taking her insecurities out on others), but this is on Maribug too. Shes the leader and DEMANDS that Chat Noir always shows up on his own bc she declared caring about the Black Cat Miraculous to not be a job a professional leader should ever be asked of to do.

Those were HER self-serving terms she set on Chat's expense in season 4, so now it still absolutely IS her obligation as leader to consider how things will affect him when he then later enters the battle field. She can't just write his existence off, pick another partner rooted in her civilian life, and already get into the real battle before he arrives when that has continously proven itself to screw him over. That's ABYSMAL leadership.

And if Marinette by now STILL doesn't know yet that this will put Chat in danger, then she's honestly just an awful leader to him, too. How many seasons, incidents, and bonding moments does this girl need to finally pay attention as leader and not forget about him the second she feels guilty about something from her civilian life and wants to solve it by giving her friends Miraculous powers? We've had this 500 times already, this is nothing new.

Again, at least this episode had it come with the appropriate consequences. Brainwashed Chat Noir chases Ladybug and tries cataclysming her, where she then continues writing him off, thinking he'll just not show up again after she got away, which then logically resulted in Chat pushing her into the brainwashing weapon too from which Caprikid then had to save them BOTH from and defeat the akuma by himself.

All of this wouldn't have happened if Ladybug still in any way acted like Chat Noir is her actual PARTNER like the comic said. But this girl will just pick someone else over him on a whim and writes off his entire existence, only to then continue acting surprised when that backfires. She literally does it TWICE in this very episode and it's the main reason for both of their brainwashings. Marinette, STOP WRITING OFF CHAT NOIR'S EXISTENCE!!!

And sure, that may sound like I'm contracting myself when I initially complained about this showcasing that Ladynoir is dead by now, because "clearly" this episode (as well as Daddycop for example or Revelator) acknowledges in its writing that Marinette's treatment of Chat Noir is bad and causes problems.

But here is the thing. Theoretically speaking, yes, that's how it COULD be used, but clearly isn't. Same as Adrinette ( and especially MARINETTE) not reacting to the Ladynoir coded comic story, Marinette is now for the third season in a row not written to acknowledge at any point that her ever-on-going problematic treatment of Chat Noir is something that she should STOP doing because it fundamentally puts him in danger and therefore causes problems.

You can absolutely watch this episode and not acknowledge that Marinette's leadership and her just randomly picking a new main partner for the battle on a whim is the primary reason for why Chat Noir got screwed over again (you know, the way the show always does. If you don't want Marinette to ever be at fault for anything, the writing will make sure that you won't be asked to face that). Season 4-6 writing are indeed writing in the logical consequences of her bad leadership decisions on his expense, but at no point is Marinette HERSELF written to then learn the lesson and stop it. She's right back to her Season 4 bullshit the way she still does it over and over and OVER again. But she NEVER actually learns. Quite the opposite, her problem-causing leadership only gets further cemented as the new status quo and she NEVER does anything about it for the third season in a row! That's why I'm saying it's the primary factor at fault here. Adrichat absolutely isn't blameless, but Maribug's faults and bad leadership decisions have remained unchallenged for over 2 seasons now while Adrien is always blamed and held accountable for anything awful that happens to him under her leadership. It's Maribug's side that is the root of it by now thanks to that development, so it's the one that has to be called out and held accountable to solve the problem for good.

But season 6 too seems to have no interest in finally asking Marinette to improve her leadership system she established fully on Chat's expense. She just keeps going, no matter what.

And that's how we end up with episodes like this where, yes, the Nathaniel and Marc comic is Ladynoir coded, but it's painfully outdated partnership wise and Marinette herself literally acts like Chat Noir is still non-existent in her head and barely means anything to her. She has hero (best) friends she can and will replace him with at any moment and she a devoted boyfriend who will worship and take care of her the way Chat was once set up to do.

Chat Noir is pretty much irrelevant in Marinette's head and life now, the way we already saw it in season 4 & 5, but especially Kwamis Choice. And this being episode 15 (so one of the mid-season finales) really tells you alot about what direction Ladynoir will still continue to go. And its one that was 100% predictable and most importantly AVOIDABLE ever since season God damn 4.

If / when Chrysalis gets her hands on Chat Noir, I honestly don't know how I'm supposed to feel bad for Marinette in this anymore. Maribug losing Chat Noir to the Butterfly is just painfully earned at this point. Just do it already.

[echo-has-queries]

Miraculous Ladybug Marigami AU where Adrien and Felix are literally just cats:

They are both rescues, of course. Adrien is a little shy at first but once he gets to know a person he is the cuddliest, most affectionate, most adorable little bean. He never misbehaves and he learns tricks happily and quickly. His owner, Marinette, loves him so much she is fully delusional about all cats surely being like this as well and Alya regularly has to stop her from getting more.

Now Felix on the other hand is a menace. A gremlin of epic proportion, he is constantly doing exactly what he knows he isn't supposed to and uncannily good at it. He won't just get into the stash of cat food, he'll get into the whole fridge somehow. Simultaneously he is completely unwilling to perform tricks no matter how you try to motivate him and he will scratch the fuck out of anyone who tries to touch him except for his owner: Kagami. Inexplicably he loves Kagami and Kagami only. For her he's cuddly and cute and loves riding on her shoulders or being carried by her but she need only point him at someone else and he starts hissing.

This is all well and good until Marinette and Kagami's relationship goes to the next level and they move in together.

Thinking Felix is like Adrien (they do look identical after all) Marinette tries to befriend him and gets shredded for her troubles. Kagami tells her to be careful with Felix: He just doesn't like anyone, it's not about her and she doesn't want Marinette getting hurt. Marinette says: "Of course, of course! Don't even worry about it!" But secretly she is determined to befriend that cat. That cat is her girlfriend's cat and it is going to love her too or clearly she is a terrible girlfriend and not worthy of Kagami. She goes through her typical Marinettesque schemes to befriend him: Food bribary, catnip perfume, stealing Kagami's perfume and clothes, buying him toys, letting him get away with his mischief - nothing works. He stays aloof and hostile, Marinette ending up with more scratches than healthy skin. She excuses them as sewing misshaps, but Kagami isn't stupid.

Eventually Kagami catches on to her girlfriend's suffering and asks her what's going on. Marinette breaks down and admits what she's been trying to do but that she's failed. That Felix still hated her and so inevitably Kagami would come to hate her too because if she doesn't get along with her cat then how could Kagami ever love her? Kagami tells her she's being stupid, shocking Marinette out of her anxiety attack. Kagami reassures her that Felix hates everyone and Kagami knows this. She would never require for a girlfriend of hers to befriend him because that would be impossible. Yes, Felix is important to her but Marinette is too. She wants to stay her girlfriend and the only thing she needs Marinette to do in regards to Felix is live comfortably in the same flat as him. If she can do that without constantly being attacked, without suffering - which Kagami is willing to help with, she doesn't want to put Marinette alone through trouble to make this work - then that's all that matters.

Marinette apologises for going behind her back with this whole thing and not just being honest from the start and they finally settle into cohabitation. Marinette loves Kagami so much it's easy for her to put up with needing to avoid Felix and simply ignore the cat. Adrien and Felix get along fine with each other, surprisingly. They don't cuddle often but Felix does seem to take some form of liking to the other cat, often mirroring with him and sometimes even playing. It takes a few more instances of getting scratched or hissed at until Marinette can tell Adrien and Felix apart on sight and from then on she simply enjoys having her own cuddly kitty and her wonderful girlfriend.

Felix is not happy about this. He does not like sharing his owners attention and the at first only annoying new human in his territory becomes his enemy. He lingers and watches at first, always a far too clever cat. Her room is locked to keep him out but doors have never stopped him for long. He has a secret way outside that the goodie-two-paws Adrien never uses but Felix is braver than him and so he waits for his opportunity. One day Marinette leaves her bedroom window open while she's rushing to buy another stretch of fabric, the deadline of her newest and most complex project yet looming, and Felix strikes.

Marinette comes home to find the dress she was sewing in tatters, her room in utter disarray and having been stressed out of her mind already completely breaks down. Kagami comes home to find her girlfriend crying curled up on the floor, surrounded by the evidence of Felix's crime. Now Kagami would see how useless this human was and go back to paying attention to only him.

Except that's not what happens. When Kagami goes to him and picks him up it's to drop and lock him in the bathroom. It's trivial for him to escape but that she put him there in the first place is irreconcilable. And freed all he can do is watch as Kagami holds and comforts the other human, petting her head the way he should be getting petted. No! This is wrong! He has to do something! He tries to go to Kagami pretending to be Adrien but the other cat is already curled supportively in Marinette's lap and Kagami would have recognised him anyway and she says: "Felix, no! Bad cat!" He is sent away, out of the room. Away from his beloved owner. And just like that Felix's world crumbles. He was a bad cat? His Kagami had called him a bad cat?? All because of that girl!? It was all her fault! Except, no. Felix was a smarter cat than that. He knew that it was his own fault.

Kagami asks for an extension on Marinette's project for her and the client is only too happy to allow it. Marinette's work is so excellent, they say, that any wait is worth it. "See?", Kagami tells her. "It's going to be alright. I'm sorry about Felix I don't understand what's gotten into him. I'll take him to the vet tomorrow." Marinette asks her what if he just hates her? What if he will always hate her? "He won't", Kagami promises her. "Nobody could ever hate you forever, Marinette. Not even Chloé Bourgeois did, remember?" And that did cheer Marinette up because it was funny to think of a cat as a bigger diva than Chloé Bourgeois. "I love you", Marinette tells Kagami. "I love you too", Kagami responds. And in Marinette's lap Adrien meows his own agreement.

The next day Felix is taken to the vet but other than extreme grumpyness nothing seems to be wrong with him. The vet says if he had a few more symptoms like lack of appetite he would say he's depressed but it is likely he is simply acting out because he does not like a recent change in his environment. Kagami is down her whole way back home and so is Felix. "I don't want to give you up", she tells the cat, having always felt that he could understand her. He is such a smart cat, sometimes to his own detriment. "But I'm not giving up her either. Please don't cleave my heart in two, Felix." And Felix responds with a miserable little mewel.

Things are calm at the flat for the next few days. Marinette is busy with her project and Kagami takes Felix to her room most days, still worried he'll act out again. This is what Felix wanted but somehow it doesn't feel like a victory. He doesn't like it when Kagami is sad like this and he doesn't like that he is the cause of that sadness.

When Marinette is finally done with the dress she collapses into Kagami's arms for the next few days. She's overworked herself as usual to make up for the therefore minimal delay. Kagami thinks it's admirable and cute but since meeting Marinette and falling for her she's also realised the toll of excellence and recognising that in Marinette made her rethink those values. Now she takes it easy from time to time and wishes Marinette would push herself less as well. But that is a problem she can adress another time. For now she is happy to cuddle and comfort her girlfriend as long as she needs it and longer. Adrien comes walking up then, meowing politely as he always does before jumping up onto the couch with them to support his Marinette. Kagami adores Felix but she has to admit Adrien's more generous affection has grown on her. He cuddles up to Marinette and is happy with Kagami's headscratches, purring contently as Marinette stroked his back and held him close.

Then Adrien walks into the room, meowing politely as he always does before hesitating as he sees there is already a cat on the sofa with his owner. Marinette and Kagami both look at him in wonder, then down at the cat they were already petting, then at each other, then back at the cat. "Felix?", Kagami asks and he meows, seeming to still as if anticipating trouble. Marinette has frozen up too, hand hovering over his back. He'd never let her pet him before. Not even a little bit. Carefully Marinette resumes her strokes and after another moment Felix resumes his purring, seeming to never break eye contact with Kagami. Kagami looks at her cat and her girlfriend and can't help but smile. When Marinette looks back up to her it is with tears and glee in her eyes. With the hand not petting Felix she pulls Kagami into a soft kiss. Adrien, finally seeming to decide that any lap will do, jumps up and cuddles into Kagami, prompting a bit of a chuckle from Marinette. She scratches him under his chin with her free hand which requires some contortion as she avoids having to move Felix. Then she contently leans into Kagami, feeling entirely at home for the first time.

Felix is still a beast, still more likely to misbehave than to not. But he knows to leave Marinette's room alone and doesn't scratch her anymore. The degree of affection from that one night stays a novelty, but Marinette can give him a pet or two without him fleeing or complaining. Now the only ones at risk of falling into the trap of thinking they are approaching Adrien and instead get four sets of claws of Felix are Marinette and Kagami's guests. Alya simply learns not to approach and let Adrien approach her instead. Juleka gently stops Rose from trying to cuddle Felix despite his protests. Alix makes it a challenge for herself to pet him and retreat fast enough so he can't scratch her in time. Kim launches little balls of paper at both cats until Marinette and Kagami tell him to stop, despite neither cat exactly hating the experience. Chloé was never interested in pets, saying she hates to get fur on her expensive clothes, though one day Marinette catches Chloé petting Felix anyway and Felix letting himself be pet by her. Marinette can't decide if it's a miracle or an omen but either way, Chloé doesn't hear the end of it for weeks. Max just has Makov pet Felix which also works, somehow. Nino is far too busy playing with Adrien every time he comes over to even notice Felix glaring from one of his high perches around the house.

Marinette wants to build him a cat wall. Kagami wants to buy them all a whole house before they drill into a rented apartment wall. Marinette doesn't want to ask for such a huge investment from just Kagami until they're married. Kagami's response of: "Alright, then let's get married", leaves Marinette bright red and in a state of mania for three days.

They compromise on some renter friendly cat accomodations for now.

[mlbigbang2024]

ML Big Bang 2024 Fic Recs

Romance Category

This collection of fics were recommended by the contributors of the @mlbigbang2024 for their favourite fics of 2024 (posted in between Nov 2023 to Dec 2024).

General and Teen and Up Fics

The Cap and Bells (Rated: G)

By @cardiac-agreste (KPG)

Main relationship: Adrien/Marinette

Tags: Loveybug AU, loveywalker, implied Ladynoir

Summary: Catwalker meets up with Loveybug after a difficult day in his civilian life.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: How can you express joy and love in 600 words or less, in all its poetic glory? 

Off Pointe (Rated: T)

By @mysticraven20

Main relationship: Adrien/Marinette

Tags: AU - No Miraculous, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, AU - Ballet

Summary: To Adrien, dance was just a selection of movements. A well rehearsed transition from one gesture to the next; the brush of a hand, the closeness of bodies, a well-timed duet between two people to entertain. His mother had encouraged him to dance from his heart and love his music — a metaphor he never understood, until that one day when they stopped. The pregnant pause in the combination of fluidity, finally making everything clear.

It wasn’t the quality of the choreography or the characters they were playing, it was the girl twirling effortlessly around in his arms. For, when Adrien finally found the right partner, that’s when the music truly began.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: This is a beautiful holiday fic. I loved the newspaper articles as a narrative device and the author conveys a love of dance in between all the fluff and angst.

The Devil Wears Gabriel (Rated: T)

By @jigglypuff1994

Main relationship: Luka/Marinette

Tags: Inspired by The Devil Wears Prada, Fashion Designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Turtle Nino Lahiffe | Carapace

Summary: Being Ladybug is no easy task; she is the leader of Team Miraculous and keeps peace throughout Paris. Other than the weekly akuma attacks, her main problem is keeping Chat Noir and Viperion under control and out of each other’s jealous hairs. Sometimes, she misses the old days when it was just her and her kitty.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has recently graduated university and lives in Paris with her steady boyfriend of a few years, Luka Couffaine. After interviewing for a position she doesn't want in the first place, she ends up working as Gabriel Agreste’s assistant.

Between akumas, a narcassistic boss, and the men fighting for her attention, how will she survive the next year of her life?

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: It is a retelling of the movie the devil wears Prada, (also, Natalie is a bit younger in this) I really like it because I love that movie. The characters fit pretty seamlessly in these roles. In this fic Adrian/ Chloe never met Marinette and the others. Oh and at the start of the fic is Lukanette still a thing, but if you know the movie, then you also know there is some angst ahead. :’D (Oh and I personally love the relationship between Chloe and marinette, it’s to die for!! <3)

Cookie Cutter (Rated: T)

By @rosekasa (alizeh, maketea)

Main Relationship: Adrien/Marinette

Tags: Friends to lovers, baking, identity reveal

Summary: after the start of their government-issued break, ladybug and chat noir realise that their christmas vacations are not going the way they expected.

but when ladybug, lonely and partner-less for her favourite baking competition, accidentally stumbles across chat noir's secret apartment, they realise there are more ways than one to work as a team.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: Ladybug and Chat Noir bake together!!!! Gosh I am a sucker for fics where they have to cooperate on non-akuma things! AHHHHHHHH!!!

The Only Love We Keep (Rated: G)

By @nemaliwrites

Main Relationship: Audrey & Zoe, Chloe & Zoe, Marinette & Zoe, Alya/Zoe

Tags: 5+1 Things, Self-Esteem Issues, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: Zoé is used to wanting things she can’t have — loving people who do not love her back. She’s made peace with that.

But as soon as she meets Scarabella, she’s a goner.

Or, five times Zoé’s love wasn’t reciprocated, and one time it was.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: It's a 5+1 prompt about an oft-derided character, looks at Zoe’s American life, and explores her budding romantic feelings. Even if you don’t care about Zoe, this is a must-read.

A Contact Named Kevin (Rated: T)

By @mysticraven20

Main Relationship: Adrien/Marinette

Tags: Scapegoat, anonymous caller, idiots in love

Summary: Marinette doesn’t know his real name, but her contact known as ‘Kevin’ has helped her out of many sticky situations.

Or the one where Chat Noir is Marinette's scapegoat.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: A sweet fic about Marinette using Chat Noir as the person she calls to get her out of sticky social situations. It’s cute and fun and original. Author is one of the most dedicated Adrienette writers in the fandom.

Phantom Pains (and other hints of you) (Rated: T)

By @buggachat

Main relationship: Adrien/Marinette

Tags: AU - Ghosts, Child Abuse, Implied Sexual Content

Summary: She couldn't remember anything. Not where she was going, where she'd been, why she was in this stairwell, or even her own name. But as she watched the blood pool at the base of the steps, she at least knew one thing for certain: the corpse was hers.

Getting used to being dead was going to have its growing pains.

—

“Well, unlucky lady,” Chat Noir greeted with a bow, “Can I get your name?”

“Didn’t we just talk about this? I told you, I don’t remember it.”

“And I told you,” he reminded, “that you can just pick whatever fits you best.”

—

Ladybug and Chat Noir may not remember who they once were, but at least the two lost souls can find comfort in each other's company. But as Ladybug starts uncovering more and more memories of her life, letting the past go doesn't seem as easy as Chat Noir claims it to be.

Read on Ao3

Why we liked it: Marinette DIES. Now she's a ghost. But not everyone is sad! A wonderful story with inventive lore.

Mature and Explicit Fics

Hold My Hand (I want to show you off) (Rated: E)

By @burntwaffle12

Main relationship: Adrien x Marinette

Tags: workplace sex, semi-public sex

Summary: Working at Gabriel was as easy as breathing, until she was required to sit on top of Adrien and kiss him all over.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: A story about hot mess Marinette helping Adrien during an awkward photoshoot.

Requiem for a Dream (Rated: E)

By @akumatisedhamster

Main relationship: Adrien/Luka/Marinette

Tags: Lukadrienette Endgame, Primary School teacher Adrien, Jubilation powers used for evil

Summary: Six years ago, the Supreme was defeated with the help of Shadybug and Claw Noir. But not without its consequences. Trapped in a magical coma using the power of jubilation, they were slowly tortured, reliving nightmares of their own design.

In an act of desperation, Hesperia wiped the memories of Shadybug and Claw Noir so that they could live the rest of their lives as normal teenagers.

What he didn’t know was that Shadybug was pregnant at the time. ——————————————— Newly single and broke, Marinette moves back to Paris with her six year old daughter.

She was doing just fine, mending her broken relationship with her parents and finding her feet again in her hometown. Working as a porn star had its advantages. Good money, flexible hours. Things got more complicated when she started dating her co-star, Luka. On top of that, she didn’t expect to get feelings for her daughter’s primary school teacher, Mr Agreste.

Her new boyfriend couldn’t stop noticing how her daughter bore a striking resemblance to Adrien. But he wasn’t the girl’s father… or was he?

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: I love the post-Supreme reverse world and the whole memory wipe element!

A Bump in the Road (Rated: E)

By @talkstoself

Main Relationship: Adrien/Luka/Marinette

Tags: No Powers AU, Established Relationship, Unplanned Pregnancy

Summary: Four years. Four years they’d been together when their relationship hit a fork in the road - Luka wanted a baby, Adrien did not. After going their separate ways Adrien spends a fantastic night with a down-on-her-luck stranger named Marinette and realises he does want forever. He’s ready to commit to Luka.

Slight problem, the one night stand left Marinette pregnant…

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: The relationship that slowly grew between Luka Adrien and Marinette was wonderful!

It's Hard to Overstate my Satisfaction (Rated: E)

By katrinette_afterdark

Main Relationship: Ladynoir

Tags: Porn, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously

Summary: "Have you ever thought about what would happen if you put my baton in your yo-yo?"

She squints at him. "Is that supposed to be a euphemism?"

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: This is crack smut at its finest! Hilarious concept, excellent execution.

Two Virgin Losers (Rated: E)

By @literaphobe

Main relationship: Ladynoir

Tags: Virginity Loss, Aged-up Character(s), Sexual Humor

Summary:

kittykittymeowmeow: My superhero partner (23F) recently asked me (23M) to take her virginity. I’m guessing she thought I was some type of sex god whore, but I’m actually also a huge virgin. For some reason, my lack of sexual prowess made her double down on her decision? She got kind of excited for us to platonically lose our virginities to each other and that made me panic. I mayyyy have told her I don’t want to be deflowered by another virgin, just in case she sucks at sex and I wind up hating it. The truth is, I think she’d be great at sex (she also thinks this). I think she’s amazing at everything she tries. I’ve also fallen in love with her multiple times and I will almost definitely get obsessed with her again if I sleep with her. Unfortunately, even though she’s really mad at me right now, I want her so bad I think I might die. Um… AITA?

Read on Ao3

What we liked about tit ( <- serendipitous typo): Ladybug asks Chat Noir to take her virginity. Then they tap-dance around each other, and inside each other, with alacrity, angst, passion, and idiocy.

Queen Marinette: A Royal Engagement (Rated: M)

By @hamsteriffic

Main Relationship: Adrien/Marinette

Tags: Arranged Marriage, AU - Royalty, Georgian Period

Summary: Princess Marinette had always known she would marry for duty, but she had never even heard of King Adrien until her betrothal (she would know, because she had looked up all the crown Princes within a hundred mile radius).

Nevertheless, her parents were delighted at the offer of marriage and her uncle was given the privilege of escorting her to England for her wedding and the whole thing felt wrong.

Read on Ao3

What we liked about it: Period pieces can be so fun, can’t they? I spent a long time with my wife playing Queen Charlotte in the background of my life. She may have Netflix, but I have Ao3 and this! I win! The sex, when it comes, is perfectly written, plot-centered intimacy.

[maddascanbe-blog]

Nice to see you again Ma'am. This is the only redesign I'm going to both posting new for and not just update the original picture. Some of this was simple changes in style, and due to resizing issues Chloé's line art got really grainy. But more importantly I want to change Chloé in terms of my re-write, and I want to acknowledge my improvment.

Before we get to that lets talk small design changes. I likes my Anti-bug design originally but it waned on me over time. Recently I did a doodle of Chloé with the actual Ladybug miraculous (a hypothetical heroic) if you would. And translating that to Anti-bug made me much more satisfied with her.

I gave Queen Bee rounded stripes on her OG-redesign, but after looking at cannon again, she just is better suited for sharper shapes. So I changed her legs to something closer to her cannon design, the thigh-high boots feel much more Chloé.

Similar with Queen Wasp, just small changes, this time with her leg stripes just getting wider. I also decided to change her wings back to blue albeit a much darker color than Queen Bee's

Civilian Chloé and Zoé are the same, I already updated kid Zoé a bit for her page so I was able to just keep that asset and move it here.

Re-write. I've changed my opinion on Chloé a bit since I initially planned her re-write. Put simply, the only way I could think to redeem Chloé before was to make her an entirely different person.

Well not anymore. We're gonna rebuild her story from the ground up. First and foremost, Chloé is still a bully. She wants what she wants and doesn't care who gets hurt to help her get it. Now, she's not a full blown villain, because she doesn't need to be. But she does need to be selfish.

Chloé has a very short list of people she cares about. At the moment that includes Adrien, her Father, and Sabrina. Specifically she needs to care about Sabrina for the sake of her downfall and turn around, and later this list would include Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Zoé. She cares about them, and shows it, but everyone else isn't worth her time. This Chloé wouldn't insult Sabrina for not wanting to go through with a plot but she would still go and steal Marinette's diary.

But she also isn't oblivious, Chloé knows the class doesn't like her, he just doesn't care. She can still get what she wants, Marinette's seat, the Class Rep position, Ms. Bustier's favoritism, without the class liking her. Oh uh- small change her though, Chloé was bad at the student complaints and suggestions on day to day school stuff but I head cannon she was good at event organizing. As much of a pain as she was to work with, the school dances 'til now were spectacular. Mostly because I think Chloé needs to be good at something, and event planning is probable.

The first time she realizes her actions may have consequences (at least ones she cares about) is when she gets akumatized. She likes Ladybug, and Chat Noir if not as much. Her actions, her tantrum, not only didn't get her what she wanted but actively hurt two people she actually likes. This doesn't super change her behavior, but it does trigger the realization that she can't get everything she wants, and will in fact do things she doesnt want and cant fix in her wake.

The next is Lila showing up. Because she's spent her whole life around businessmen and politicians. She knows a liar when she sees one. But hey, if her class are idiots its not her business to educate them, its a little frustrating that Sabrina doesn't believe her. She just makes sure Adrien knows, and is surprised to know Marinette also already figured it out.

Then Zombizou happens, and everyone in the class are refusing to leave her alone and are protecting her. On one hand, no she doesn't want to be a zombie. But two, she thinks their idiots for sacrificing themselves over and over. They aren't friends, so why would they care? Then in a split second decision, Chloé gets between the zombies and the heroes. At this point she's acknowledged she's more a burden than a help, and that the heroes will be able to work better if she's out of their way. It's fine, they'll save her anyway. And they do.

This is where her character arc is actually going to start. Not with just with Bustier, but with her just gradually getting less antagonistic. She has her low moments of course. Since she hasn't exactly gotten better, just quieter the incident with the fire department causes Adrien to break off their friendship. And Lila successfully pulls Sabrina away from her. Now Chloé has no one.

And this is when she meets Pollen. Unintentional, but Chloé still loves Ladybug, so of course she wants to help. She doesn't give Pollen back at first, but she wasn't stupid enough to reveal her identity. Chloé is specifically not an idiot. She's actually one of the few who seems to regard Hawkmoth with as much fear as the heroes. She isn't expecting Marinette to turn down the opportunity and for the first time, Chloé see's her mother the way everyone else does. Flighty and Vicious, and uncapable of loving anyone but herself. And at the same moment she realizes that's the direction she's going.

Chloé realizes she's got to change. And she'd going to have to do it alone. Ladybug can support her, but not carry her. Marinette still doesn't trust her has far as she can throw her, and Adrien has his own stuff to worry about.

Then Zoé happens.

[marinettesaltprompts]

I don't really have an official prompt with this post, but I have had this idea for a while involving Adrien losing his ring because Ladybug doesn't think he's a good holder. It doesn't matter what is the reason, all that matters is that Ladybug never learns who Chat Noir actually is when she comes for the ring.

At first Adrien is both angry and upset about the situation, but eventually he manages to heal from it. He's eventually able to get over losing Plagg and finds himself having more free time without having to deal with akumas or patrols. He's able to connect with others again due to the lack of a secret identity, including Kagami (whom he previously messed up with due to said secrets).

On the flip side however, Ladybug can't find anyone to wear the Black Cat Miraculous for more than a few battles. Outside of those who simply didn't have the combat experience needed to use a miraculous, the few that Ladybug was able to last on the battlefield eventually quit, either because they couldn't handle Ladybug's "strategies" or because they had gotten traumatised after one of Hawkmoth's akuma effectively killed them.

However, despite all her failures, she never once attempts to find or get in contact with whoever was Chat Noir. Despite everything she has gone through, he was obviously still a bad choice!

Eventually, another Hawkmoth attack leaves Ladybug without anyone willing or capable to use the ring of the Black Cat, so when the next akuma appears, she tries a gamble.

Adrien is running away from the akuma battle with Kagami when Ladybug lands in front of them both. Adrien is calm (though inwardly still hurt), when Ladybug gives Kagami the Dragon Miraculous, but any calm he has is shattered when Ladybug turns to him, carrying an all too familiar miraculous.

Apparently Ladybug wants Adrien to be the next Cat Hero. Who would've thunk it?

To Ladybug (and Kagami's) shock, Adrien refuses the ring outright. At first Ladybug tries to butter him up with the opportunity to use the power to help others as well as save his friends, but Adrien still refuses. Eventually, whatever composure Ladybug has vanishes, as she all but begs Adrien to take the ring and help, to the point even Kagami is semi-helping, wondering why Adrien doesn't fight given his own physical skills.

Eventually, the akuma approaches their location, and Ladybug is all but screaming for Adrien to take the ring.

Adrien: I don't care! There's other people who would be more than happy to have superpowers! Go after them instead.

Ladybug (half crying): I-I don't have anyone else! (Adrien and Kagami are shocked at learning this) I've already tried finding other people to wield the Cat Miraculous and none of them worked out. E-either they couldn't handle the miraculous or they couldn't work as a partner. You've already shown that you are strong as a fighter and I don't have anyone else to ask! You are literally the last person I can ask that to take the ring so please take it!

Adrien: ... always the last person you want to talk to? Right Ladybug?

Ladybug is confused by this statement, but then lets it pass when he see's Adrien nod and takes the box. However, that smile fades when Adrien speaks again.

Adrien: ... just to be clear, I'm only doing this once, and that's because the akuma is close by. Once we are done here, don't ask me to come back again.

Adrien opens the box to find Plagg coming out of the box. Ladybug attempts to explain the power to him, but he doesn't listen, merely putting on the ring.

Plagg: Don't suppose this is a reunion?

Adrien: Not for long. Sorry.

Plagg: I figured. Bridge is too burnt huh?

Adrien sighs, then transforms.

He could have chosen another outfit or an alias, but Adrien is too fed up to care anymore. In this moment, the only thing he wants to do is show Ladybug WHY he's angry, and why he doesn't want the ring.

Kagami and (especially) Ladybug both can only stare in shock as Adrien transforms, as a million thoughts rush through their minds and both girls finally realise why Adrien didn't want the ring back.

In Adrien's place stands none other than Chat Noir.

And he's not smiling.

"...Well, you got what you wanted. Lets save the city then. One last time, right partner?

(That's all for now, please let me know if you want this prompt continued. Happy new year.)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The fandom can't make up its mind on what's supposed to be a joke and what's supposed to be serious because the show can't either half the time. It's a tonally disjointed mess that wants to have absurd over-the-top humor as well as a plot and moments of drama, romance, and angst that demand you see the characters as people and feel for what they're going through. Except you can't do that without also treating the dumb bullshit in a somewhat grounded way. Like, you're still dealing with the same characters. You can't just go "Oh, that? Let's ignore that!" the moment it's no longer convenient to you. You've opened this can of worms and now you have to sleep in it. So, every character flip-flops between two different versions of themselves depending on what the writers need in any particular scene.

This is not to say surreal humor can't be used right alongside characters you're supposed to empathize with, Teen Titans (not Go) did that and it worked. It's just that the absurdity can only come from the setting (Mad Mod, Mother Mae-Eye, pretty much anything Control Freak is in) or from designated joke characters (Date With Destiny). Teen Titans never had the main characters acting in clearly absurd ways as the butt of a joke unless those characters were brainwashed somehow, because the writers knew that would ruin any of the more grounded moments they wanted to write. The writers of Miraculous missed the memo on that one.

I don't disagree. A perfect example is Derision where the show takes all of the bad jokes about Marinette's crush and decides to take them seriously as if you can possible take them seriously without making Marinette come across as unhinged and dangerous. You can't, which brings us to the topic at hand: how do you even begin to understand these characters when the show is constantly making character-breaking choices?

My approach - and the approach I recommend others take if they're going to keep watching the show - is to focus on the characters' cores and reject anything canon does to violate those cores. I don't argue for this stance because I love the characters so much that I only want the good things to count. I take this stance because, if you don't, then the characters fall apart. There is no way to make them work as fully realized characters while embracing every choice canon has made. Miraculous has massive characterization issues that go well beyond the humor.

For example, Adrien has multiple moments of terrible behavior that are played in a serious manner such as the moment in the episode Frozer where he tries to start a fight with Ladybug in the middle of an akuma attack because she wouldn't accept a rose from him earlier:

Setup

Ladybug: I can't accept this rose from you. I told you already. I'm in love with someone else. Cat Noir: I know, M'lady. But if he weren't here, would things be different between us? Ladybug: Well, you know, I can't even begin to imagine him not being here. I'm sorry, Cat Noir. I really gotta get going, and you better do the same. (Swings her yo-yo to head back home; Cat Noir is sad, looking downwards, with one petal of the rose falling.)

Payoff

Ladyice: Cat Noir. We need to set up a trap for whoever turned the city into a giant ice rink. (throws yo-yo) Icecat: (bitterly) My feline instincts prefer to track and observe before I attack. You go your way, I'll go mine. Ladyice: Please don't tell me you're mad at me about the rose. Icecat: There may be a certain chill now between us. Ladyice: I get it, but we should really focus on saving Paris right now. Icecat: We don't always have to do everything together, after all. It's not like we're a couple. (skates away)

There's no way to argue this off as a bad joke. While Adrien has every right to feel hurt, those feelings don't excuse him acting like a pouting child in the middle of an akuma fight. It doesn't excuse him acting like this at any point! Ladybug is not a villain for telling him no. She wasn't even mean about it!

I clearly fully agree that Adrien looks awful and selfish here, but I'd still argue that it's not something that should be used to define Adrien's character if your goal is to tell the "ideal" version of Miraculous. "Ideal" being the version that canon seems to be going for based on the overall picture we can sort of make out if we back way, way, way up and look at the extremely abstract picture canon is clumsily painting.

Unless canon is going to do something monumentally stupid, Adrien is Marinette's endgame romantic interest. It's also clear that there is no plan to cut him from the team. He's going to be Chat Noir for the rest of his life or at least well into his adulthood. This means that he is supposed to be a good hero who deserves his miraculous just like he's supposed to be a charming and cute romantic lead. These are the two things I keep in mind when trying to shift through canon to figure out what writing choices I should fully embrace and what writing choices I have to either ignore or treat as true flaws that get an actual character arc. In my book, either approach is fine because most of the characters are deeply flawed at this point and you can't give them all arcs without bloating the story to nonsense levels.

My goal with this approach is never to say, "oh, that moment shouldn't count in terms of how people feel about the character." It's more, "that moment goes so hard against who this character is very clearly supposed to be that I can't take it into account if I want to tell the kind of story that Miraculous is trying (and clearly failing) to tell."

As an example, let's list off Adrien's worst behaviors. The things that make him look terrible:

He sucks at communicating his needs and feelings, leading to multiple moments where he gets mad at Ladybug for things she's totally unaware of

He has quit or considered quitting without warning multiple times and only one of those was because of something he did "wrong" (NYC Special)

He puts his feelings before the safety of Paris on multiple occasions, even going so far to purposely miss akuma fights to see what happens

He is incredibly pushy about his crush, often ignoring Ladybug's feelings on the topic by continuing to bring it up even after she asked him to stop

There have been multiple instances where he almost cataclysmed multiple people in a fit of anger

His love for Ladynette isn't strong enough to let him break free of things like akumas and nightmare dust even when he's looking her in the eyes making him a pretty crappy romantic lead

People will argue that some of this behavior makes sense for his character because of the abuse that canon has technically introduced, but that the writers seem blissfully unaware of. I don't disagree with that argument, but that doesn't change the fact that none of this is acceptable behavior for a hero and Adrien is a hero who keeps doing these things. A sad backstory doesn't give you the right to behave poorly without consequences.

At the same time, if I fully embrace these elements of canon, what I get is an Adrien salt fic where he loses his miraculous for good while Marinette finds her real true love or even just a non-salty fic where Adrien leaves for his own meatal health and gets replaced by someone who can handle being a hero right now. Canon's not writing either of those, so the only way to engage with these flaws while enjoying canon or aiming for the same end goals as canon is to say, "I guess this doesn't count" or "I guess I need to tone this way down and work through it via a character arc" or even "I guess that was just a bad joke maybe?"

That is the essence of what I mean when I call myself a writing salt, character sugar blog. It comes from looking at canon and seeing that there's simply no way to embrace the worst moments and the best at the same time. We're not dealing with a coherent plot and/or complex characters. We're dealing with a nonsense plot that will warp the characters to bizarre shapes to make random ideas work even if those idea go wildly against canon's end goals.

As an example, Glaciator and Frozer should not exist in the same universe or, at the very least, something should explain why Chat Noir randomly changed his stance on Ladybug's crush from acceptance to pushiness. As is, the pieces don't fit together. The behavior is too contradictory. Remember, this is how Glaciator ends:

Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like, I love her. I have to believe. In the meantime, her friendship is the best gift of all.

Where did this version of Adrien go? Why did he regress in Frozer? There's no in-universe reason. It happened because the writers weren't ready to let the love square date or grow close, but they also wanted the love square to cause drama, so Adrien ends up looking terrible just like Marinette ends up looking terrible when it's her turn to cause love square drama. Her terribleness takes a different flavor so it can be hard to realize that this is a systemic issue, but that's what it is. It's deeply frustrating, but it also clearly stems from cheap writing and not quality characterization.

This is also why my stance is that canon as a whole only supports my Doyalistic core-character analysis style of approach. The writing is too poor quality to do Watsonian analysis where you embrace the full picture and try to put it all together. The closest I'll get to Watsonian analysis is pointing out how much the writing botches a Watsonian take by showing you all the way the writing contradicts itself, twisting into a nonsense pretzel of frustration where the payoffs never satisfy! (See the season four rant for an example or anything where I talked about Chloe's supposed damnation arc.)

There are even characters where canon is such a total mess that you can Doyalistically argue for two separate takes! Gabriel is a perfect example. He is all over the place and his ending was so poorly handled that you can make strong arguments for writing him as a cold-hearted villain or a sympathetic villain without the end result feeling like it spits in the face of canon because both takes maintain his one core element: villain.

That's the big thing I keep in mind when I look at the characters and the lore and the plots and try to come up with versions that the average fan would like. I don't think that there's one true version of any of these things, but I do feel comfortable saying that there are versions that will very clearly only appeal to people who are salty about a specific thing that canon did poorly. That's not who I want to appeal to in my adaptions, so while I'm not going to argue that those takes have no backing in canon, I will argue that those takes are not supported by canon as a whole. Embracing them requires you to take the worst parts of canon at face value while ignoring what canon is clearly trying to do with the overall story.

I get the appeal of that, but it's not fun for me because that approach feels like rolling around in the mud with the pigs. I don't want to sink to canon's level! I want to have fun! That's why I talk about how to make canon into its best self, not its worst self. If you want its worst self, just go watch the actual show. I will be shocked it if disappoints you.

[ilikekidsshows]

Chameleon is such a Marinette salt episode, I thought yall were joking but it actually is O.o

Marinette gets upset that her being late means she has to sit alone in the back, but is perfectly content with asking Bustier to just force someone else to be placed there instead as long as it isn't her.

She's ableist as hell with no proof and goes about everything the worst way. Her friends are being blamed for not liking that Marinette constantly goes around harassing the new girl.

She doesn't actually tell anyone about Lila's lies, she only says she eavesdropped on her and Adrien after she followed them, and then never tries again to say something truly convincing because Alya and Nino pushed back on her

She uses her Ladybug knowledge against Lila to the point where even Lila was confused what the hell Marinette was ON about. And between Lila and her, it was MARINETTE who cornered the former first in the bathroom, but I guess I'm supposed to see Marinette as the poor little victim because Lila ended up being better at cornering her back? Girl, that's not how it works. You still cornered first!

That's like attacking a person and then crying and pouting about getting hurt when said person turned out to be stronger than you. Girl, you're intention was to be the one doing the hurting, that's a BALLSY thing to then act like you were an innocent little daisy over who was "totally attacked out of nowhere". I get what they were trying to do, but they can't just ignore Marinette's own actions. At least have her stand to what she did instead of having her cry and act like she did nothing wrong and had no agency in what happened.

Then later in the akuma fight, she just leaves an unconscious Chat Noir behind (who saved her ass), putting his safety and life on the line for the mere assumption that the akuma only cares about her even though she had no reason to assume so. Or that Hawkmoth wouldn't demand that the akuma gets Chat's Miraculous first.

Like, she saw Chat Noir unconscious and just turned around and left. How caring of her ♡

And then, of course, her being written to be quite giddy to have the civilian break Lila as a clam even though that literally kills them. I wouldn't call that out if the episode didn't had Adrien stand besides her with a disturbed face. Back in the days, I wrote this off as Marinette not knowing that this kills clams, but knowing the writers now, nah, Marinette knew.

---

It’s really ironic how the episode where Marinette is only the hero by technicality got the fandom frothing at the mouth to punish everybody else involved. And the more I look at the early Lila episodes, the more I see how the writers just utterly messed up their point. Like, I get the basic concept behind these episodes, but the execution makes you question what the actual plan was.

Like, there’s this basic plot in kids’ cartoons where a new girl character is introduced and the main girl is instantly suspicious of them, but also jealous of their popularity/skills. This blurs the line of if they’re wrong about the new girl or not until the action scene of the episode reveals to the characters either that the girl was good all along but only visiting and they part as friends, or that the girl was evil all along and the main girl’s suspicions were right.

Miraculous is trying to do the latter plot with Lila, but they forgot to include the part where the characters learn the suspicions were correct, mostly because they intended to use Lila repeatedly for that same plot. They also forgot that the characters don't know what the audience does. Not even Marinette knows how bad Lila can be, but the narrative that she’s right relies on her knowing this.

Let’s look at this. Because Marinette doesn’t know that Lila got willingly Akumatized to get back at her, her insistence that Lila is a dangerous, evil person is based on:

She lied about knowing Ladybug (and possibly other celebrities, Marinette didn’t check)

She stole a book to figure out how to hit on Adrien and hid the evidence

She talked very mild shit about the local celebrity

She might be lying about being disabled (Marinette just decided she was lying, she didn’t check)

She threatened Marinette back when Marinette cornered to threaten her in the bathroom

Only two things on this list are something that would make you sceptical of any other person’s morality on the level we're meant to be sceptical of Lila. We’re just predisposed to think badly of Lila because we know she got willingly Akumatized. Lying to get popular is not evil or even bad. It’s weird. Similarly, talking down the accomplishments of a “love rival” is more weird than actually morally questionable. Also, like, maybe Lila was just thinking about how The Owl was doing more to help the community outside of Akuma battles than Ladybug. Her shit-talking isn’t completely inaccurate is what I’m saying. As for the "faking a disability" bit, I'm much faster to side-eye a person whose first reaction to hearing about someone else being disabled is to insist it's faked and try to "out" them. Furthermore, sprained wrists and tinnitus happen constantly and don't even count as the kinds of disabilities that would require a doctor's note.

So, to sum up, Marinette felt that Lila was so evil that she reveled in (temporarily) killing her in ‘Chameleon’, because Lila stole a book and didn’t let Marinette walk all over her.

[generalluxun]

Marinette and Clumsiness

So I reblogged the snarky 'clumsy in fiction' post and tagged it ML, but I don't think I've ever posted about it before and I want to, because my take isn't just skin deep on this. It goes all the way to the S5 finale.

Marinette *should* have been Clumsy in ML, not 'fiction clumsy' where she drops things and the laugh track plays, but actually bad at agility. Give her dexterity. The girl sews and crafts relentlessly. Give her nimble fingers, but terrible feet.

Why?

Well the obvious is 'Then it's a real trait and not your 'get out of Mary Sue free' card, but it goes into more than that.

Adrien is agile. He's a top tier fencer. If she is not it is a way they can complete each other. Allow Adrien to be not the best at dexterity based things. Marinette beats him at video games. The last time he tried to thread a needle, Nathalie had to cut his hands free.

Romcom gold, and narrative elements that are useful- because they can carry over to superhero mode.

Sure the Miraculous can compensate to a degree, but have this divide matter because the degree of precision needed is also more. There are tasks they need each other for, let this stand out. Notably- Ladybug should never be much of a fighter.(good vs humans/thugs/wacky monsters but not in a straight up fight) She's the thinker! She plans things, punching is a big part of Cat Noir's role.

The show kind of falls into these roles, but it also subverts them whenever push comes to shove. Reflektdol was a perfect opportunity for Lady Noire to actually struggle defending Mr. Bug as much as he had to struggle planning. Instead she just does everything better. 😩

So I mentioned the S5 finalé and why is this relevant? Because if we let this clumsiness/weakness stand it can reframe the finale fight into something actually much more sympathetic to Marinette/Ladybug.

The decision was already made not to have a clean 'happy ending', so we could skip the girlbossing and up the dramatic tension. Marinette isn't going in with a plan. She's responding to a chance encounter she really can't escape. She may have more power but she doesn't have her partner -Her shield.

The battle with Monarch could have been a struggle-in-retreat for Bugganoire. Every exchange Monarch throwing overwhelming power at her and Bugganoire using her wits and lucky charms to narrowly escape only for Monarch to throw something new at her.

Have taking the fight down to the lair be Monarch's doing. Have it symbolize in the moment how his own carelessness opens up the ones he loves to hurt.

When Bugganoire drops an elevator on Emilie this time, we've established she's overwhelmed, cornered, and desperate. She's at her wits end (and considering all she's been put through, zero people can blame her)

Begging Gabe to stop(he still has half the Miraculous) and trying to reach out to him can be framed a trying to normalize a world that has just gone insane from her point of view. Marinette ~~before the end of season 5~~ believes in people. Clinging to that in a desperate hour makes sense. Letting her guard down makes sense because she *has to* in order for the world to still make sense to her.

And so when she's betrayed and all else happens... her cavalcade of poor choices ALSO make more sense. She's making them not as a top-of-her-game girlboss but as a hero who just faced insanity and hasn't had time to pick up the pieces because the world(and her loved ones) need her.

All this- from just letting Marinette be clumsy.

[theerurishipper]

Shadybug and Claw Noir's relationship is so interesting to me. It's just a lot of small things that add up so well to form one great picture. It's like... they don't like each other, but they also need each other. Despite their glaring differences, their relationship is characterized by mutual support. Shadyclaw are partners in a world where mutual aid is a crime.

There are so many scenes in the special that show this really well. Shadybug and Claw Noir are always snapping at each other, and they're almost constantly fighting each other. But they're also such a well-oiled team, and they actually do work really well together. Like in the first fight with Ladybug. Claw Noir took the first strike to force Ladybug to dodge and Shadybug grabbed her when she was off balance. Or when they attacked Monarch at the same time and came at him from different sides. They function well as a team despite their differences.

They can't win on their own, and despite what they say, the episode proves them wrong immediately. Shadybug says she doesn't need Claw Noir, but the very next scene is her hiding behind him as he cataclysms the Akuma. And Claw Noir also needs Shadybug, because he asks her what they should do next, proving that he does rely on her plans. And I think they do know this, even if they don't want to admit that they depend on each other.

And all this is so interesting! But what's really more interesting to me is the emotional element of their relationship.

Like, Emonette has spent her life without any support or help from anyone, without anyone to depend on. She doesn't have friends; she doesn't have "a boyfriend who doesn't think she's a total loser," and she doesn't have a mom she can depend on (for whatever reason that may be). She's all alone in the world. She can't trust or rely on anyone.

Except Claw Noir.

Because whether she likes him or not, he's there. He works with her, he follows her plans, he's always there. Maybe he mocks her, maybe he tries to take her Miraculous (like she does to him), but he's a constant presence by her side, and she is aware that he's not going away anytime soon. And it's not like the bullying she suffered, because here, she's on equal terms with him. She can give as good as she gets.

And she does rely on him! Like I said before, she needs him. For the powers he brings to the table, at least, she needs him. And I think for someone as lonely as Emonette, the assurance that he'll stick by her no matter what, even if he's annoying and rude, is comforting in its own way. She doesn't like him, she's angry that he keeps trying to take her Miraculous. But she trusts him. Maybe not deeply, but for someone as lonely and hurt as Emonette is, having even that much trust in someone is hard.

Her reaction to him trying to take her Miraculous is also so interesting to me. She's actually angry that he does it. She confronts him angrily about it. And when he accuses her of the same thing, she goes on the defensive. And yeah, this could be her just being angry about what he tried to do. But it doesn't really add up in the context of what we know about their partnership.

You'd think that after all this time, she'd know why. That she'd be used to it. But no, she's angry about it. She takes the time to confront him about it. And the thing is, she knows what he's going to say, because it's going to be the same reason she gives him. I kinda feel like this isn't her just being angry about him trying to take her Miraculous. I think it upsets her when he does it. Because, despite claiming she'd be better on her own, she doesn't like that he wants to get rid of her. So, she goes on the defensive and asserts that she wants to do the same thing to him as a way of hiding her own vulnerability.

And we all know that the both of them are very good at denial (after 5 seasons of the Love Square, how could we not), and that's so true here too. Shadybug is in serious denial when she suggests that she'd be better off alone. We know she depends on him, and on some level, she knows it too. And yet, she says all that. It's not hard to read her reaction to his actions and his accusations as being defensive out of a sense of fear and denial.

Cause Emonette has had a very rough life. No one has supported her, no one has ever stood up for her or stood by her. She's afraid of being hurt and of being vulnerable. She's built up walls as high as a skyscraper and refuses to put them down out of a fear of being hurt again. She doesn't believe that anyone would stand by her and support her.

But Claw Noir has done that, even if their relationship is tenuous. He may not be nice to her, and he may not like her, but in some sense of the word, he has stuck by her, and he has supported her. And it hurts her that he would try to do this after all that.

Their partnership is important to her. When she's reading Marinette's diary and reads the part where Marinette is talking about her partner Chat Noir, she looks over at Claw Noir, indicating that that's how she feels about him. That she does associate the word "partner" with him. And then she rolls her eyes at him, but you know. Denial. Maybe I'm just being crazy, but that's really how it comes off to me after everything we know about them.

And one person rolling their eyes at the other is a common romantic trope sooooo

And we can't not talk about Emodrien! Because it's the same for him. Watching the special, it comes off to me that Gabriel isn't that great of a dad here either. Emodrien has been left to deal with his mom's death all alone because Gabriel is off playing hero and is pretty much neglecting his son. And Emodrien doesn't seem to go to school either, and apparently, he's still a famous person with fans of his own (he's wearing Gabriel fashion, which I don't think he would if he was so mad at his dad), so I think his relationship with Gabriel isn't that much different, except for the lack of manipulation and gaslighting (and arranged marriages and white rooms). So, I think that he also is like our Adrien in that he has pressure on him to be perfect (I think Claw Noir even says something along the lines of Adrien being perfect, implying that he does have to perform that role).

And honestly, Emodrien is just like our Adrien, a master at compartmentalizing. Adrien Agreste doesn't say a word in this special to anyone. He says his transformation phrase, and he exclaims about Shadybug being revealed to be Emonette, but he doesn't speak otherwise. And she did tell him to be quiet, but we've seen that he doesn't really listen to her, like when he didn't help her search Marinette's room and chose to take a catnap instead (sorry). He could have said something in the few minutes he was on screen, but he didn't. But he's so drastically different as Claw Noir. He's expressive and talkative and in your face about everything. Adrien Agreste having pressure on him to be perfect would explain why Claw Noir is so different. This is the part of himself that he's hidden away and can only express as Claw Noir (like our Adrien).

And the only person he can do this with is Shadybug. She's the only one around whom he can share this part of himself. And she doesn't leave. She's still around, and she may not like him, but she accepts it. He needs her too, not only for her plans and her own skills, but because he acknowledges him. She largely fights back whenever he does or says something, and often she is the one who starts an argument. And for someone whose life is characterized by a lack of attention from a parent and a recent loss, having someone who does acknowledge him must feel important. He can only be "himself" around her. And for this boy, whose only happiness in life till this point seems to come from staring at this one girl from the bakery, I think it does mean a lot, in some way, that Shadybug is around and ready to engage with him.

And I think his reactions to her and his rivalry/enmity towards her are also like her: stemming from a fear of vulnerability. We see that he's so unwilling to be perceived as weak that he's ready to tank a cataclysm to the chest that he inflicted on himself on purpose. He doesn't want to let anyone in either. And yet, Shadybug is someone that he relies on, and he may not like her, but he does need her, and she is important to him, in some way.

So, they are important to each other, and subconsciously, they both do value and need each other. What prevents them from accepting and sharing those feelings is their fear of vulnerability and their awful situation. They are pretty much stuck in a rivalry and a state of perpetual competition which entails that the one who gets the Butterfly Miraculous will be the one to survive. That's enough for anyone to try and hide their feelings of sentimentality for someone else. It's literally a matter of survival. Add this to their respective lives of suffering and loneliness, and it's easy to see why they can't show those feelings to each other. Their supposed hatred for each other is just a defense mechanism.

Is their relationship perfect or healthy? Not really. But their feelings are real. And it's so telling that when they do start to overcome their fears and start to take the steps towards forming connections with others, they instantly fall into a friendly, even loving dynamic. They literally leave our world holding hands. These feelings didn't come out of nowhere, they've always been there. Shadybug and Claw Noir were just too afraid of their own vulnerability and were stuck in an awful, forced rivalry to be able to express them. But once they take the first step towards accepting their feelings and start to overcome their issues, they instantly start flirting and their teasing goes from being cruel to being friendly.

They are still the same! Emonette still calls him fleabag, Emodrien still makes fun of her, but it's their approach that has changed. Instead of being veiled in cruelty stemming from their respective fears, they are embracing their true feelings. This whole special has been about them understanding themselves, their true feelings and what they truly need, and it led to them understanding their feelings for each other. They've always cared. Even in the middle of the special, when they hadn't had their resolutions yet, we have that touching scene of Claw Noir trying to comfort Shadybug.

Because their masks had dropped at that point. They were tired of hiding their vulnerability. Shadybug is crying openly and not making the slightest effort to hide it behind any excuse or mean comment. And if he truly hated her, Claw Noir could have just hit her with a cataclysm and taken her earrings. But he chose to try and comfort her instead. And it's interesting that they do not insult or argue with each other after that scene. They aren't fully open with each other yet, which is why she rejects his comfort, but it does speak volumes about their relationship, that the only thing between them is their fear and hurt.

In the scene where Emonette is yelling at Sabine that she's fine and to get off her back, there's a moment where she looks at Emodrien, and sees the look of sorrow and understanding on his face. And that leads her to admit the truth, that she's damaged. Before she saw him looking at her like that, she was being defensive and yelling for Sabine to get off her back, but after that, her tone changes. She opens herself up despite herself and cries before him. That scene was pivotal, I think, for them to completely understand each other, when they saw their own feelings reflected in the other's eyes without any masks covering them. It was a scene of mutual understanding. The feeling that the other person understood them, which led to them dropping their fronts and showing their true feelings.

They are the only ones who can truly understand each other. They are in this together, whether they like it or not. They know what it's like to be alone, and to feel hopeless. Both Shadybug and Claw Noir are dying from their misuse of the Miraculous (obligatory fuck The Supreme), and only they understand the fear, the hopelessness and the despair that comes with that. Only they know the feeling of being up against the world, of being alone and having no one. And they became that person for each other, the person who would stick by them no matter what, even if neither of them could see it yet.

[into-september]

The textbook on ethics in journalism gave me the MLB plotbunnies nobody wanted, but listen:

a) Alya aspires towards journalism

b) Blogging Is A Questionable Form Of Journalism, particularly as it stands in opposition to what we call "editorial media" around here, particularly in its proximity to social media and that smörgåsbord for doing the opposite of the journalistic ideal

c) As of "Gang of Secrets", The Ladyblog went from unofficial fan channel to secret PR agency. This might have been the case already from "Sapotis", but we never see Ladybug instruct Alya in what goes on the blog until she reveals her identity. In "Oblivio" it certainly doesn't seem like Alya pays any regard to Ladybug's opinions on what she publishes, but when the same photo resurfaces in "Glaciator 2", she carries out Marinette's cencorship with only a token protest

d) There are some transparency issues here

e) verily, there were conflicts of interest before, but the main weight of them were not on Alya. She didn't know that Ladybug never was a neutral third party, and her occasional stint as Rena Rouge hardly brought her any closer to Ladybug, at least not by the action deemed important enough to put it on screen

f) but at this point? Alya is deceiving her audience into believing that she is an independent reporter when in reality she is a personal friend of Ladybug and her only confidant in superhero business, is a hero herself, lets Ladybug dictate the content of The Ladyblog while she herself is regularly strategising with Ladybug

g) and I haven't even touched onto the fact that Alya's place in Ladybug's life means that any critical reporting she might've done about Ladybug is suddenly a lot harder to do because Alya knows exactly whoes feelings she'd be hurting

h) Alya's journalistic integrity is nil

i) So how about the miraculous of illusions and deception, huh