#emo marinette or some shit

[nobodynotbymitski]

as much as i like gaby-bois intro i wouldve liked to see the alternate dimension world.

like is master fu "the supreme"? cause seeing him be evil and shit wouldve made my day. what are the mecanisms of this world since its apparently ruled by some all powerful miraculous holder? if chloé is the same does that apply to most of the other characters? why was max inside markov? is nathalie still the hottest character ever? is everyone living in fear and despair or do they just dont know what is happening? are the kwamis always muted? did toxinelle have to change her cool superhero form to prove that she was nice now( cuz it sucks)? what is adrien and gabriels dynamic irl? WHERE ARE THE OTHERS I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEYRE DOING!

[familyagrestefanblog]

Hot take: Toxinelle's design for the most part isnt as great as everyone makes it out to be, much less it being groundbreaking or the best emo design, since it's barely anything new at all:

it's just her head that's amazingly designed and the fact that Ladybug's regular suit honestly couldn't set the bar any lower.

Griffe Noire on the other hand is actually punk through and through. Not giving a single shit what you think of his look and being the punkest bitch by even going with a feminine-coded name in the french original bc he doesn't care about your single-minded bs when you for some reason automatically think he MUST be female just because he has two "e"s in his name:

One of these two got one hell of a save design where barely a single risk was taken so she remains universally pretty for every viewer

And the other one actually was allowed to embody a whole new fashion style and life style, that fits perfectly as an extension of his OG character, merely things went south.

In my opinion there is no competition who got the better character design.

It's the one that actually does something for the character besides looking pretty, cool and being inoffensively save.

I'll give you a hint: it ain't Toxinelle.

edit:

Just to clarify this, I'm not saying I fell out of love for Toxinelle's design to be a b*tch. I'm saying it from the stands of me wanting the show to put the same amount on effort into Marinette's designs as Adrien's.

Griffe Noire is allowed to be straight up punk and yet the most I can give Toxinelle is that her design is Gothic-INSPIRED:

Again, her head is the most well designed part and especially the mask going underneath her chin, the amazing hair style and the conveniently fitting red-black color scheme works perfectly for Gothic.

As are her already incorporated gloves, the fact that she's wearing a mask in the first place and her dark makeup. Especially her vampire red eyes (like Monarque Bug, I love that detail) and I'll also give credit to how the upper red part of her body suit looks like a sleeveless dress and the little Ladybug symbol looking like a necklace.

All that combiened with her overall Gothic-elegance shows how AMAZING Toxinelle could have looked if they had for once taken an actual risk with her and prioritized what the fashion style is actually supposed to be over her looking universally pretty for every viewer.

I'm being nitpicky here because of how frustrating I find it that Griffe Noire has such a phenomenal character design, straight up one of the best in the show, and yet Marinette is still stuck with the same one-layer body suits a la "just this time the stripes go to the left"

Character design is not decided by if EVERYONE thinks they look great. The priority is what the character design does for the character. It's visual story telling.

I personally dress much more like Juleka or Emo Marinette in real life and yet in my opinion it's still crystal clear that Rose as Pigella has one of the best hero character designs because of how unapologetically ROSE it is:

I personally don't have to want to wear it or even like it at all to think it's one of the best ones because of the simple fact that this design embodies Rose's PERSONALITY (as does her whole transformation) and tells me more about her.

Especially in direct comparison with Griffe Noire, or even civilian emo Adrien probably wearing his dead mother's jacket while Adrien HAS TO keep dressing more low-key, Toxinelle barely tells me a thing about this Marinette's personality besides "slay Queen"

Because there IS no personality. The most you can get out of this is her being even more uptight and closed off because of how her collar directly blends into her mask, keeping her in a visual choke hold.

But that's mostly it. For Griffe Noire they explicitly went with punk fashion, meaning everything punk stands for can now be put into new context with Adrien.

But Toxinelle barely embodies a fashion style, she's just Gothic-INSPIRED (at most). And that's such a shame because Gothic, especially if you wanna use it in a darker way, was a PERFECT fashion style to utilize here.

The most common Gothic styles are inspired by Victorian funeral wear and give off an aura of authority, seriousness and melancholic detachment, being kept in the past (this is in no way meant as generalization, fashion is complex)

In what reality COULDN'T we have gone with that for Toxinelle? She would have been the perfect complimentary style for Griffe Noire by her side.

And we don't even need to go with a dress. Gothic women wear pants too:

Can you imagine how amazing she could have looked as an actual goth? How much visual story telling through FASHION they could have put into her design when the evil Ladybug is a vampire goth whose fashion is inspired by funeral wear??

Yes, I AM pissed.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[artzychic27]

While I do love the outfits, I really do…

… Why the fuck do goths/punks/emos have to be associated with evil? Can’t Adrien look like some teen cultist in all white clothing and slick back hair? He pretends to be this good guy to hide his cruel personality, but occasionally there are slip-ups. And, I don’t know, maybe a rockabilly theme for Marinette? (The jacket and ascot are giving me some serious rockabilly vibes right now) And if not that, then like a ‘mini evil CEO’

If goths are so evil, then why wasn’t Juleka made into a surprise villain? Nathaniel has emo bangs and I don’t see him being made into Hawkmoth’s lackey. And Marc’s obviously punk, so let’s just have him try to steal the Miraculous

Also, Shadybug and Claw Noir…Obviously punk-inspired, though Shadybug is giving me more emo vibes. But, would it kill the artists to put Claw Noir in a hooded trench coat, or something? Just… Not every person in a leather jacket is evil. There are just idiots who put on leather coats to look intimidating so they can get away with doing stupid stuff. And you know what? Fuck them

He can just stand on top of a building, his eyes and smile are the only things seen as the hood casts a shadow on his face, and the coat is just bowing in the wind all mysterious and shit. Now, Shadybug… I don’t know, I hear that the brightly-colored ladybugs are poison, so there’s that. No complaints about the hair, I love the hair. Maybe a crop jacket with tally marks on the back to show how many people she had Claw Noir cataclysm

And if she’s an evil badass, she’ll need steel-toed boots to kick peoples’ brains out

That’s my two cents… For now

[coralpaperthoughts]

Info Dumping Abt The Au:

Alya still runs the Ladyblog, but it is now called the Scarletblog

she is still as obsessed with SB as she was with LB, not a crush (coz Dj Wifi ftw) and Nino isn’t insecure/doesn’t mind her obsession coz he’s the exact same about Scarlet - I mean who wouldn’t have a celeb crush on him ???

I think I have decided on Marinette and Adrien being besties as civilians, rather than having them being rivals as both superheroes and civilians, and Marinette and Nino are dudebros (they grew up together along with Kim) so i think i’m gonna scrap the “Nino had a crush on Marinette and that lead to Alya and Nino falling in love” coz i think that narrative is stupid asf

Instead that whole episode was Adrien coaching Nino to ask out his crush (Alya) and Marinette using Alya to get info about Nino’s crush who he hasn’t told her about because when she asked, he didn’t spill (Alya was there and he was too nervous) which she obviously found suspicious coz they're supposed to tell each other everything??

Adrien and Marinette get closer after Dj Wifi both had a date planned but their parents want them to babysit their younger siblings so Adrien and Marinette offered to babysit for them

The pair were friends before the evening started, but they left that night as besties due to their similar interests and likes (anime, games, fashion etc)

Julerose canon + power couple + everyone’s otp + lesbians queens (rose is pan tho)

Adrien confirmed emo gay boi (he’s actually bi but he got called this by his friends when he came out as gay to them and told them abt his family, he finds it funny)

He gets called emo bicycle after he comes out as bi (because it’s okay to think ur one label and then realise ur not later on and come out again !!!)

Luka doesn’t care about labelling himself, he just loves who he loves but has his preferences (totally not the author projecting onto him)

Marinette is also bi and she’s known for soooo long - although at one point she was convinced she was lesbian because she thought she should have a crush on either Nino or Kim (coz that’s what society tells her) so young tween Mari came to the conclusion that she must therefore be gay, but then realised that she just thought of Nino and Kim as brothers and couldn’t possibly imagine them in that way (I’m writing this too deep fr, it was never that deep bro)

Gabriel and Tomoe tried to force Adrien and Kagami to be together but when Adrien first met Kagami, and they were alone, he was straight (hah) up with her and told her he had no interests in girls and couldn’t be her boyfriend

Kagami immediately relaxed and told Adrien that she was not interested either, she’s demi- bi/lesbian (idk if i want feigami or not helppp)

So basically from then on they were just a pair of rich kids who hated their capitalist parents and treated every forced date as a hangout between friends to just chat shit and have some fun for once, and Adrien introduced Kagami to his school friends and she and Mari still get close - the three are inseperable

Luka is obviously there from day 1, unlike how he was in the show, and very quickly into the school year his and Juleka’s houseboat became the designated hangout spot for the class

Anarka does not mind, she loves the chaos that these teens bring to her house and she makes it clear to them all that they can come hang out on the boat at any time of the day or night if they need or want

Marinette is often at the boat, Adrien is constantly at the boat after he meets Luka (like 2 weeks into the year) - the difference is tho, Marinette is there for her friend Juleka and Adrien is there for his crush friend Luka

Adrien and Marinette constantly also visit the boat late at night as superheroes because Adrien wants to get away from his house and Marinette finds Luka's guitar playing soothing to her busy whirring mind - they also just want an excuse to chat to Luka

[byyliss]

Yesterday i saw the new MLB special, bc everyone was praising it, and man, its actually good. Not the awesome sauce ppl are saying, but good. Here are my opinions on it:

The positives

They actually made a good design for Gabe which holy shit fucking finally. Seriously why did it took this long for them to make a good outfit for this man, dude is a fashion designer, he has more sense of asthetic than most.

I finally liked Marinette (evil version), the special made her have more depth than the 5 seasons of the show. Although i dont get why the always put the same accent(?) When making a villain girl. Just wish they kept her evil outfit to the end.

Adrien finally has some emotion towards his parents. Like, Adrien is a good character idea, but him being written as just a "nice boy" is annoying, we dont really see the effect of his mom's death and father's abuse that much. Im glad they showed not only that but why Adrien acts that way in the show (even if the show portrays it like trash)

The negatives

Why the poorly portrayed emo looks? Like i get it, our protags have to be more evil looking, but c'mon...Adrien looks so goofy. They could have portrayed evilness and trauma some other way, one that didnt look so stupid. Like, emo doesnt mean evil...

The alternative reality looks better and more developed than the original, maybe bc thomas and co didnt have more episodes to fuck it up. But they stablished SO much more interesting lore in smth that was barely shown and just spoke about in one special than they did in a 6 season cartoon. It just shows how trash the pacing and writing of the show is.

Why couldnt they be bothered to develop their characters in the show? Like, the development in the special was so good, so they CAN in fact write smth decent, but how come they cant do that in the main show??

They still gave more attention to mari then Adrien, even in the evil version she got more moments

Overall, if they ever turn it into a series, please for the love of god dont let Thomas and his posse in the writing room, in fact, don't let them near the studio. Someone needs to make him give up his creative rights for the show bc I know many fans far younger than him can do this so much better

[bellzsad]

i hate it when i’m reading a fanfic that makes our sweet cinnamon roll adrien agreste a “bad boy” “playboy” or “bully”. like in some aspects, i get it. i’m a lover of the enemies to lovers trope. but let me run through the things that don’t make sense.

1) bad boy

okay so “bad boy” is just like weird, first of all. the writers usually make it so adrien has slept with all the girls at school or some shit. like why?? i get that you’re trying to make him emo and bad and cool, but you don’t have to make him do that.

2) playboy

same as a bad boy, but they make it even more exaggerated. plus, they (sometimes) make adrien say shit that’s totally out of character. like there will be sentences of dialogue where he literally is looking at a girl and says something about sex. or sexualizes them in some way.

3) bully

so obviously, they have adrien be a big ass bully and like physically push marinette to the ground and beat her up. and then they somehow change it to them like fucking or something. what? how the fuck. idk. guys.

anyway i feel like this post is not exactly directed to fanfic writers with miraculous, but just everyone who writes this kind of stuff. i get that you’re trying to create an enemies to lovers trope, i LOVE that, but there are better ways you can do this.

you can have them argue, create tension, bicker, miscommunication, just stuff that is actually excusable when they end up together.

i guess that im not even talking about miraculous anymore. i’m just confused because i’ve seen so many stories where the couples say the most FOUL things and do the most FOUL things to each other and just move past it and end up falling in love. how does that work?

i’m sorry if this post hurts anyone’s opinion. it should, but i hope it does not. i’m really confused. it’s like 1am and idk what i’m doing. i might delete this. might not. idk. but i need some true enemies to lovers. just stop romanticizing abuse, please??

this is low key controversial as fuck so sorry. as long as no one sends me death threats and shit i’m good

[taviokapudding]

Miraculous Ladybug depicted the baby emo/goth/punk experience accurately

Only 5% of baby emos/goths/punks pre-2015 looked good; everyone else didn't because they were kiddos at the time or couldn't fully commit for financial/social reasons as adults

I look at Marinette in her lil emo pigtails and see myself in 2007 in middle school doing the same shit with clip on hair extensions and side parted bangs

And Chat Noir is giving Jack Septiceye x Dan Howell tbh, it's terrible but I remember that shade of green hair being popular.

I love how horrendously yet awfully accurate it is to being an alt-dressing middle schooler. Also idk if it's explicitly goth, emo, or punk which is also very spot on to the baby's first time dressing alternative- you may modify your appearance and get accessories but still wear some of your old clothes as you figure out whar sub genre of alt you like the most

I keep seeing people assume some of the color combos are possibly bad design or animation errors and no, I remember pre-2015 tumblr, it's pretty accurate.

[jennrypan]

holy shit they make marinette emo and she look good

Literally she's so cringe and cute I love her 😭

I wanna see her animated!!! Finally some good food!!

[wooawi]

Take Two Chapter 8

preview under the cut

After two full days of deliberating with Alya and Chloe over how to make sure Adrien’s emo attitude was dealt with promptly and respectfully (something Marinette had to stress to Chloe on more than one occasion), Marinette was sure they had, at least, half a plan fleshed out.

Maybe if Alya had spent more time actually planning with her and Chloe rather than making sure they ate, took naps, and showered, they would have gotten much further. But, it was in the past as of now.

Now as in ten minutes before school was due to start.

Marinette’s eyes bulged wide and she hurriedly jumped up from her bed. Instinctively, she winced, fully expecting her ceiling to remind her of its existence, but there was no pain. Just a light chill across her bare skin and some stifled laughter from more than one source in the room.

“Are you this ridiculous every morning?” She looked over to where the voice had come from and found none other than Chloe in her bedroom putting the finishing touches on clothing that was definitely neither of theirs. Or… not Marinette’s bedroom. Alya’s.

Shit, she wasn’t planning on staying the entire night! She closed her eyes and tried to think back to what made her stay, but she was met with a throbbing headache and flashes of blurry images. Random places along her neck and collarbone twitched in response, and she brought a hand up to rub at the locations.

Damn her overworked life to hell, she was even starting to get stress amnesia.

[kehannii]

The way I loved you adrienette. Them being so comfortable with eachother that they do not hold back anything. At all. Like they get together when they’re younger and they’re still growing and figuring shit out and sometimes, a lot of the time, that doesn’t go smoothly and can outright contradict another persons like journey I guess? Like it won’t be smooth sailing at all and they scream at eachother and they poise their words to cut deep but they always come back from it. Adrien has some issues tm and he needs to sort that shit out and as he does he goes through some emo phase or whatever and marinette isn’t gonna just put up with his shittiness and yeah. “Screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain, too in love to think straight..” all that stuff and yeah but they love each-other. Both of them are certain of that, they’re in each others blood and nothing can ever remove them from each other. It’s borderline toxic but oh hejejsksoaosbahajns

[willow-lark]

ml paris liveblog

why is good!gabriel actually so scary 😭 holy shit that’s terrifying wtf is that haircut

miraculous🎶 fear is a cage 🎶 TURN THAT SHIT UPPPP 📢📢📢 no but actually wtffffff

i appreciate the news lady giving a brief overview of what’s happened since i last watched this show idk what’s going on thank u miss girl

PLAGG I LOVE YOU I MISSED YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOD I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM HOLY SHITTTTTT

is it still a thing in the fandom to talk about ladybug and chat noir as dual/opposities bc i’m obsessed w that you can’t have one without the other. CREATION AND DESTRUCTION BABEYYYY

alya and marinette i see u

no i’m actually so glad hawkmoth’s got the other kwamis tbh it was better when it was just the two of them as heroes i don’t give a shit about the other heroes lb and cn are best as a duo this show got worse when they brought the other guys in i am Always thinking of 2016 when we only knew of the other 5 miraculouses that’s all there should be. should i make a post about this

not emo chat beng homophobic 😭 but ladybug’s design slaps omg

it’s actually really interesting to see good!hawkmoth’s powers like how the miraculous is actually supposed to be used

i watched some video back in 2016 that commented on how the ml animation always looks so good in night scenes and tbh that holds true

i love emo chat just going ham on the cataclysm that’s such a slay OMG HE MADE A DESTRUCTION BALL

come on marinette transform u have a duty to do

wait how come chat can do cataclysms multiple times without detransforming when did that become a thing

tikki dropping knowledge a queen as always. thank you for explaining but that explanation is also dumb as shit. wdym there’s a failsafe for being young and being evil overrides that

EMO CHAT HAS NUNCHUCKS?????????

emo lb’s lucky charm being a car why is that actually hysterical

ADRUEN HIIII BABY it’s so nice to see a chat who has actually good hair. like what is that green floof i’m sorry that’s ugly as shit. it’s not growing on me

WAIT did normal lb get a suit makeover??? it slaps ngl omg. n evil lb is so cute

A ROCKET LAUNCHER 😭😭😭 WHAT IS GOING ONNNNNN

not adrien w the akuma!trauma omg turning into angel chat blanc i bet mari’s having so much trauma rn too

i love evil lb and chat’s love hate relationship

powered up hawk moth is so effing ugly why did they make the decision to do that

ITS A GOOD THING I STILL HAVE A BRAIN AND A LEAD HAHAHAAA GIRLY EVIL LB IS HYSTERICAL

is the supreme evil!master fu then

awww shadybug getting sad over marinette having a good life that’s so depressing i’m tearing up omg

wait does good gabriel think evil adrien is dead or something is he a runaway or something

ok if claw noir was ugly then emo adrien was a JUMPSCAREEEEEEEE WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

HOLY SHIT POWERED UP TIKKI AND PLAGG LOOK SO COOL

i was not expecting to get that for a while but ok damn

“get to work mouser” LOL

oh now she’s crying though :( so sad :(

wait how come in the alterntae universe their powers are destroying them how dos that work

chat pulling out the m’lady I SWOONED OH I LOVE THIS BOY

why are they telling us the plan right now instead of just letting it play out

ladyfly’s outfit is SO CUTE THOUHG I LOVE THAT

claw noir calling him your majesty is so funny i love his sass AND CHAT UJUST PUNTING HIM HAHAHAHAAAAA

battle of the puns

HE CUT OFF HIS EAR??????

awww shadybug’s trauma :(((((((

the chats’ fight is the best thing ever omg i love them

CLAW NOIR’S TRAUMA OMG :(((((((((

marinette’s eyes are so fucking big

AW OMG THE ADRIENS BONDING OMG ADRIEN BABY I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MY BLORBO I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM

HAHA him talking about nino omg this is so sweet

oh!! i love how shadybug was the one to do the miraculous cure that’s so nice omg wait i’m tearing up

wait why does reformed!claw noir have an even worse outfit than he had before how did that happen

oh no now hawk moth realizes he has the ability to go across universes that’s unfortunate

i loveeee that montage omg ARE THOSE LESBIANS

WAS THAT A PV SHOUTOUT W THE ANIME OR AM I GOING INSANE MIRACULOUS LADYBUG PV MY BELOVED

THE POUND IT AHH HOW I MISSED YOU I MISS WHEN IT WAS JUST THE TWO OF THEM WHO DID IT

alyanette canon i know it i trust ✊

omg that was actually so good wait wtf

@booksandpaperss has me watching a show i haven’t regularly caught up w since 2018 what a time to be alive

[nobodynotbymitski]

WAIT NOBODY WAS GONNA TELL ME ABOUT THE MLB PARIS SPECIAL???? I HAD TO FIND OUT BY IT TRENDING ON TUMBLR WTF.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Into The Unknown, Part 12

First

Previous

Tim may have made an oversight.

Or, well, many oversights.

Two and a half months' worth of oversights.

But, to be completely fair to him, having a child does tend to take up a lot of mental energy.

And, though it was kind of stupid, he had found himself thinking ‘I haven’t been sick in ages so, clearly, I don’t need the pills anymore’.

… well, it turns out the reason that he hadn’t been sick in ages is because of the pills. Because that’s what they’re designed to do. What a surprising development that no one could have ever seen coming.

(It probably didn’t help that he switched realities. Things other than brand names had to have been affected, he shouldn’t have been surprised that the chemical makeup of viruses and bacteria might have changed, too.)

He groaned and carefully pushed the blankets off of himself. He shifted around in bed until he could slide off of it gracefully. It was not graceful, though, because the second his toes touched the ground he was hit with a wave of nausea. He screwed his eyes shut tight.

He had been shot before, he was not going to get taken out by a cold, thank you very much.

(He could practically hear Steph teasing him from another reality: “Damn, a cold? Have you tried, maybe, not getting sick? Lame.”)

Tim wanted a shower, at the very least.

Oooh. Maybe a bath. He hadn’t had a bath in forever. He’d never really had time before. Now that he was living in a completely new reality where none of his responsibilities could touch him, he apparently had nothing but time. He… didn’t know what to do about this. Normally, he would just clean to keep busy but, unfortunately, his current physical state wasn’t allowing for that.

Shit. What was he going to do with his life for the next fifteen years? What even could he do?

Yikes. Emotions. Where’s Marinette when you need her? He wanted to spar.

He looked around and saw the cup of tea sitting on the bedside table. The events of that morning came rushing back to him as he picked it up.

… she was at work. Right. That thing people do to live.

He groaned to himself and slowly trudged through the apartment, blanket shrouding him like a cape, quickly cooling cup of tea in hand.

Whatever. He was out of ways to avoid his emotions, so he was forced to come up with a new one:

He drew himself a bath and promptly fell asleep.

~

Marinette returned home and looked around. The place was still pretty dark but, at the very least, Tim wasn’t still in bed. That was promising. He, at the very least, could still move around when need be. Probably not a deadly disease, then.

And, besides, the house was often dark. Marinette was pretty sure that he had somehow developed night vision. Maybe it was because of how often he had been out in the dark as a vigilante?

Or he could just be emo. Who knows, honestly.

Whatever.

She looked down at Damian and smiled. The kid was squirming in her arms and she was happy to let him down. Babies are heavy.

He crawled around, a determined look on his face as he yelled for ‘Nano’.

Marinette absently went to the fridge and taped up the little scribble Damian had drawn because she thought his excitement about it was cute.

And then she walked over to the bathroom. Damian, it seemed, had used the process of elimination to determine that Tim was there. Or, maybe, he was just lucky.

Either way, she knocked lightly on the door.

Tim groaned from inside. It sounded like it might have been some form of the word ‘occupied’.

“Is your stomach okay enough for proper food or should I make you soup?”

“I’ll deal,” he called through the door. “Don’t worry.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. ‘Don’t worry’ because clearly you have everything handled,” she said sarcastically. She slid a hand into her bag and opened the door just slightly to toss a bottle of pills in his general direction. It rattled around a bit but she didn’t hear it hit the floor, so he must have caught it.

“How did you…? I don’t have a prescription...”

“It’s Gotham,” she said simply, leg out to prevent Damian from crawling into the bathroom and scarring himself for life.

Because it would scar him for life, of that she was certain.

Marinette certainly would have been scarred for life if she had to go in to get Damian, at least.

She yawned a little into her hand. “Anyways, we got stuff for miso soup and chicken noodle soup, which do you want?”

There was a few seconds before he sighed and mumbled a defeated: “Miso, please.”

“Gotcha.” She picked up Damian despite the kid’s whines and carried him over to the counter. “Give Tim just a little bit longer, okay?”

Damian pouted and crossed his little arms. “Tt.”

“Oh, you’re going to be a handful when you get older, aren’t you?” She cooed as she pulled out some pots and pans. Tikki zipped out of her purse to gather ingredients. “I can already tell you’re going to be the absolute worst,” she said, reaching out and giving him a little pat on the head.

Damian grabbed her hand before she could pull it back and held it on his head. She did not know what to do with this but he seemed happy so she just let the hand rest there. She may as well use the knife she got out for the tofu to cut off her hand as well, it was his now.

“Try and sound less excited,” Tim said as he shuffled over, still toweling off his hair.

She barely even glanced back at him as he threw his hair into one of the towel-hats that he had begged her to teach him how to do. His hair was still too short, though, so, much to his dismay, the towel just kind of awkwardly slid off his head. His shoulders slumped a little.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I would never encourage bad behavior in the kid I’m raising.”

“Oh, yeah, I believe you,” he said sarcastically. His chin came to rest on her shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

She might have thought it was cute or something if she didn’t feel how heavily he was leaning against her. She barely tipped her head back so he could see her exasperated expression. “Having trouble standing on your own there, bud?”

“I can’t believe you would ‘bud-zone’ your husband,” he said, eyes wide with mock offense. “I thought we got past that when we got married in Paris.”

“I think you lost the right to a cute nickname when you had us getting married in Paris, Texas.”

He grinned. “Noticed that, did you?”

“Yeah. Really loved the picture of you proposing to me in front of an electrical tower. Thought that tied everything together pretty nicely.”

He looked so proud of himself, it was hard to keep her own smile off of her face.

She turned back to all the ingredients laid out in front of her. “Now, go away. I have to make some soup.”

“I mean… you don’t have to.”

“Then starve,” she said, rolling her eyes. She took her hand off of Damian’s head to chop some green onions and the kid whined, reaching for her again.

Tim chuckled softly and took the hand, almost literally pulling his attention away. “Hey, kiddo, want to hang out with me?”

Damian lit up. “Nano!”

“Yeah, it’s been forever since we last watched any shows together,” Tim cooed, detaching himself from Marinette to pick him up.

“You did it last night at the latest,” she said.

(She glanced over at Tikki and tipped her head slightly towards the two as a kind of ‘make sure Damian doesn’t get dropped because Tim is weaker than normal’. The kwami nodded and zipped over to hover by Tim as he made his way across the apartment.)

“Forever,” he said again.

Damian nodded decidedly. “Fo’ev’.”

Marinette let her hair fall in her face to hide the fond smile threatening to poke through.

~

Tim gave her a grateful smile as she traded the baby for the soup, sitting Damian on her lap and letting the kid lean against her heavily as he slowly nodded off to the sound of his new favorite TV show. There were kids in pajamas that fought crime. Tim didn’t want to know more than that, he was already mildly offended by the concept alone. Is this what people thought of vigilantes in this world? That they were just idiots in themed costumes?

… actually, he didn’t really want the answer to that.

He leaned against Marinette as well, head resting against her shoulder as he ate the soup.

“Wow, I can really see what you like about watching movies with Dami, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Marinette joked as she nibbled at her own food. It looked like it was just leftovers from the day before.

“You should have made yourself something, too,” he mumbled.

She shrugged just slightly. It displaced Tim, much to his dismay, and he had to reposition himself on her shoulder.

“Honestly, I was just too tired to make something else after making your soup,” she said.

He narrowed his eyes. “I know for a fact that you said Miso is easy to make last time you made it.”

“It is,” she said. Her head came to rest against his. “I meant that this day has just been really long for me.”

He frowned. “Want to talk about it?”

“Uh… sure, I guess.” She sighed. “It wasn’t even that bad, really. Damian just held me up this morning because he didn’t want to go to daycare and I didn’t want to risk my potential future job so I stayed after to make up the time and then I missed my stop on the train home… I don’t know, I’m just… tired, y’know?”

He cringed a little. “Sorry.”

For a second, it seemed like she was going to argue. But then she sighed and settled for: “If you’re sorry then maybe you should take your meds like you’re supposed to.”

“I forgot,” he said, completely aware that he sounded whiney.

She snorted. “Oh, yeah, we all know the completely normal thing that is forgetting the pills we need to live. What a relatable struggle you have.”

“It’s totally a normal thing!”

“Hm. Well, I’m going to bully you until it isn’t,” she decided.

He rolled his eyes. “Real mature of you.”

“I don’t need to be mature. If you die --.” She cut herself off and then continued in a slightly different tone: “If you die I’m going to bring you back from hell just so I can kill you again. I’m not dealing with a baby by myself.”

“Ah. Well. If my death will inconvenience you then I guess I won’t do it,” he said, more softly.

“Good. I’m holding you to that,” she said, sending him something between her normal grin and a genuine smile before quickly turning back to her food. “Finish your food, it’s going to get cold.”

“Ah, but consider, I want something as cold as my soul.”

“Oh, shut up,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You’re not a bat anymore, stop being so emo.”

“I am not emo,” he complained.

“You wear nothing but black, hang out in the dark regularly, and have the tendency to ignore your health and emotions... what about that isn’t emo?”

He opened his mouth to respond. He didn’t have a response to give, though, so he closed it and settled for sending her a glare.

And then he angrily ate his soup. Quite difficult, considering it was pretty good and, y’know, soup.

So, he gave up the act, just settling down and closing his eyes.

“Thanks for everything, Mari,” he said.

“Ugh, I hope Sick!Tim is gone by tomorrow. You’re too nice to be mean to,” she said.

“You could try just being nice to me.”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

“Hm,” he hummed. “Worth a shot.”

“Was it, though?”

He felt lips press against his temple. He was lucky that the house was dark because, while he knew that kissing was different between cultures and that it had likely been more of a reflex than anything, he felt his face reddening.

~~~~~

Next

@unoriginalmess @hammalammadamdam @astrynyx @laurcad123 @927roses-and-stuff @toodaloo-kangaroo

[artzychic27]

The Artist Family- The Malevolent Miraculous

No Master Fu, no Chat Noir, yes Hawkmoth and Mayura.

One night, the Artist Family went to the cemetery to play a game of Funeral. They just find roadkill, put it in a small coffin, and bury it

Marc: Come, sorrow. We welcome thee. Let us rejoice in despair, misery, tragedy, and honor the fortunate dead.

While Alix digs the grave, she finds something in the dirt. It’s a weird box

Alix: What is this?

Juleka: Hand it over. *She takes the box and closes her eyes for a few seconds* ...It’s cursed.

Nathaniel: Oh, maybe it’s Pandora’s box!

Juleka opens the box. The Artist Family expects tortured souls to fly out a wreak havoc all over Paris, but to their disappointment, there’s nothing but six pieces of jewelry

Rose: Aaw. No chaos and human suffering?

Marc: No chaos and human suffering.

Marinette: Only in our nightmares. At least we get free jewelry out of it.

Marinette takes the bat-wing earrings, Nathaniel- Shark Tooth Necklace, Marc- Ankle bracelet, Alix- Choker necklace, Rose-Wrap bracelet, Juleka- Belt

Once they put them on, an eerie black fog surrounds them

Alix: Alright, bring on the chaos!

Again, to their disappointment, small fairy-demon-bug-rat things appear in front of them

Bat- Screech, Spider- Fangg, Shark- Chompp, Hydra- Duuo, Kraken- Oarr, Tasmanian Devil- Rabbid

Screech introduces them as Kwamis, gods and goddesses who grant powers to those wearing the Miraculous

Juleka: We accept and shall do your bidding, creatures of darkness.

Screech: ... We’re not imps.

A week after getting acquainted with their Kwamis, Hawkmoth strikes and creates his first Akuma- A preppy, spoiled cheerleader whose boyfriend broke with her after how she treated his gothic sister

She’s called Princess Perfect, and has the power to turn people into her rose-gold armored knights using a beam shot from her phone

The Malevolent Miraculous team have some fun watching that puff Princess suffer

Nathaniel (Jaws) bit through the swords and shield wielded by the knights, leaving her without defense

Rose (Sinker) grossed her out by making magic tentacles wrap around her

Princess Perfect was horrified when Alix’s (Lerna) head grew back after her knights who still had swords sliced it off

Juleka (Sarcophilus) created a tornado that ruined her once flawless hair

Marc (Black Widower) may have given her nightmares after entangling her in a huge web that attracted some of his spider friends

And Marinette (Nocturna) made her regret ever speaking ill of goths/punks/emos (Anyone not all preppy and shit) by making her believe she went blind

Break object, catch Akuma, MIRACULOUS NOCTURNA! Black and Grey bats fix the damage

The citizens are hesitant to trust them due to their threatening demeanors, but soon warm up to them after they defeat three more Akuma

Nocturna: Only we may bring about discord and chaos, not some man in a butterfly costume.

Nadja: ... Right. Well, viewers, you heard it today! Paris has heroes!

Lerna: Nah, we just wanna-

Nadja: Yes! We have heroes!

Alya creates a blog- Miraculous Media

People immediately ship Jaws and Black Widower after seeing their interactions

Jaws: Do you plan to ensnare me in one of your webs, love?

Black Widower: Perhaps after you bite my arm off.

Same goes for Sinker and Sarcophilus

Thomas Astruc makes a movie, but does it right out of fear of enraging the team and having them watch him while he sleeps for the rest of his life. (They’re doing it to Chloé)

Adrien develops a crush on Nocturna after she slung him over his shoulder like a sack of flour to get him away from an Akuma

Now he’s conflicted, because he likes Marinette, too.

The Bluenette facepalms every time she sees him

Cue Lila. The Artist Family buys none of her lies

Marinette doesn’t bother trying to expose her. She just ignores her and allows her classmates to dig their graves and lie in them

Lila tries to impress them by saying she could introduce them to the Malevolent Miraculous Team. They just walk away and silently curse her

Steals book, park, pulls out fox necklace, claims it’s a lost Miraculous that’s way more powerful, Marc’s spiders ruin her chance of impressing Adrien by revealing its a Gabriel necklace

Cue Volpina. She tries to make the Malevolent Miraculous Team look like Villains due to how they look and their name

Big mistake

Nocturna summons darkness, Black Widower and Sinker trap her, and Jaws threatens her with his sharpened teeth

She immediately gives up her Akuma and stops telling lies... About the Malevolent Miraculous Team

Cue Mayura creating a giant Spider Sentimonster using Lila’s hatred towards Marinette for “Bewitching Adrien”

Black Widower is somehow able to tame the sentimonster and treats it like it’s a puppy

Wanna add on? Go right ahead.

P.S. I’m currently working on chapter 2 for the Artist Family. They’re going to school

[beetlebugdash]

My thoughts during Kuro Neko (it gets insane)

- Brazil cant understand

- Again, the baby

- Angry Adrien had my heart

- Stull don’t understand rose’s power

- NOT THE POUND IT WITHOIT LADYBUG

- I just know ladybug is talking shit about ladybug

- Camembert is not as stinky as the show makes it seem

- Robocop again?

- Excited to hear max doing the dub of this

- OI CAT NOIR!

- Even depressed he makes cat puns

- HES DEPRESSED STOP

- RUDE

- No

- Poor plagg, he’s having a worse day then Adrien

- Kim’s left hanging rip

- What if somebody didn’t get there before ladybug?

- Chibi 2d drawings beloved

- Pissed off plagg my beloved

- “what did I do” YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID

- All the other quamis just getting tea

- DETRANSFORM I WANT SOME TIKKI PLAGG INTERACTION

- (it was now I got a follow request on Instagram from my high school teacher)

- NOT THE SOCK PLAGG

- AND THE SOCK SQUEAKS

- Smart but dumb idea ladybug

- Evil laugh hawkmoth my beloved

- I have too many beloveds in this

- Why do you individually delete the pics bro

- Marinette pulled her first all nigher! Proud of her!

- Hairstyle suits her

- YES, TIKI AND PLAG

- GET NATALIE SOME REST

- AND WHATS WITH THE THINGS ON HER LEGS

- Rip marinette’s pen after this

- THE BAGS UNDER HER EYES

- Cheesecake ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

- Marinette before finding another cat noir, brush your hair first

- HOW MANY TIMES ARE THEY GONNA SHOW THE HAWKMOTH PIC

- AND PLAGG PULLING IT AWAY IS PEAK MIRACULOUS COMEDY

- Plagg reminds me of a mermaid idk why

- Tikki’s like “uh huh yea”

- MARIO CANNON

- Statue Adrien 2.0?

- Cheese looks tempting but I like the determination

- Bat noir

- Plagg is an artist

- HAPPY ADRIEN IS BACK

- CMON THE LOOK IS A CLASSIC

- Where did plagg get the mini ladybug mask?

- We need marinettes help re designing a costume

- Think think think think

- COMMERICAL BREAK DARN IT

- The fact I cant understand anything is peak miraculous for me tbh

- Remember the days with the red text in season one?

- OH WERE BACk

- 10/10 land

- mEoW?

- Ugh now for the miraculous rules

- THE CAT IS ADORABLE

- “cat would know what to do”

- Angry kitty, would be better having real cat noises

- Hi hawkmoth!

- Bye hawkmoth

- Confusion

- My landry alarm went off at this time but idc

- A HAIRBALL PFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTT

- I LOVE THIS SENTIMONSTER

- LEMME ADOPT THE CAT PLEASE

- THE BLUSH

- THE CAT IN THE BACKGROUND

- Stuttering marinette is back folks

- A noodle or a blanket? I can’t tell

- A blanket

- Why is the ladybug sense going off on cat walker????????

- HE BROKE FREE?

- That’s what you get for cataclysm

- “she doesn’t understand my emo side”

- I need this translated idk what happened

- Maybe ladybug realized she needs cat noir???

- OOOOOOOO THE HAIRBALL

- THE CHILD IS ADORABLE

- MIRACULOUS LADYBUG

- Fitting how the kid got upset bc of a cat

- Now time for cheese!

- ADORABLE PLAGG AND ADRIEN MOMENTS

- LADYNOIR CONTENT HAVENT SEEN THAT IN EONS

- I thought felix was showing up

- Welp

- Overall expected something better than what I got 6/10

[quixotin]

come get ya miraculous juice

If your thirst for lukanette and slow burn adrinette cannot possibly wait for season 4, Chapter 10 of The Wall Between Us is up on AO3! 

Or read in Tumblr below the cut

Chapter 10

“Aw, come on Luka, don’t be like this,” Albin said, swinging an arm around his neck.

“I’m not being like anything,” Luka protested as he and his group of friends made their way out of the metro station and towards Place de la Concorde. “I’m just saying I don’t feel like coming to a demonstration.”

“So, what would you rather be doing today instead, hm? Stay locked up in your room like an emo kid? Besides, the weather is great today and you know Margot will hang us by our heads if we don’t show up.”

Luka sighed and remitted to walk along, which pleased Albin.

Luka’s friends had been very adamant on helping him out of the house as often as possible since his breakup with Marinette. They knew that, left to his own devices, Luka would close up and keep to himself. He wasn’t the kind of guy that readily shared when something bothered him, he was more the type that had to be squeezed like an orange for him to share his mind when he was feeling low. However, this was not the reason why Luka had put up more of a fight than it was usually his style. It had been almost a week since the breakup and he had managed to keep out of trouble with Hawkmoth, but he attributed his success to a lot of calm evenings and just processing everything his own way.

As much as he supported the cause and his friend Margot, he could see how participating in a demonstration could get him riled up, especially if some asshole showed up. And he’d attended enough demonstrations during his lifetime to know that there was always some asshole showing up.

The trio of boys made their way to the organizers’ tent, where Margo kept busy readying cardboard signs. Without as much as a quick glance upwards and a smile, she said, “Oh good, you’re here. Help me with these, please. Paint is on the table over there.” She handed a couple of cardboard pieces to each of the boys and left them to their own devices.

Luka wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with these. His creativity didn’t exactly lie in the visual department. That was always more a thing for...

He shook his head and proceeded to grab some random paint and brushes for Albin, Noe, and himself. As he turned around, he accidentally knocked a container of black paint on the person behind him waiting their turn.

“What the heck! Watch it!” the girl exclaimed.

“Shit,” he hissed. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Let me help you clean-- Kagami?”

It took him a couple seconds to recognize who she was. It had been almost a year since he had last seen her. There was an air to her that made it evident she had changed a lot during that time, but it was also obvious in her appearance. She had cut her hair shorter than before and she had now several piercings on her ears. She seemed to have also shed her preppy outfits in favor of high-waisted mom jeans and a black crop top. Besides her appearance, Luka could  just tell this was the type of girl who wouldn’t take crap from anyone, even more than before. It was a bit… daunting. He did always wonder how someone as intimidatingly sure of herself ended up with someone like Adrien.

“Luka,” she said deadpan.

“You... look very different.”

She gave him a dirty look. “Really? You come to a feminist demonstration and the first thing you do is comment on my appearance?”

Luka blushed with embarrassment. “No, no, no! Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! You just-- in general. You look different in general.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Thanks for ruining my pants, by the way. They weren't my favorite or anything,” she said sarcastically, then stopped, looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Marinette, anyway? Maybe she knows some way to take the stain off.”

Luka clutched his painting utensils and gulped. He had tried to steer away from the subject as much as possible to reduce his risk of getting akumatized, but he supposed there wasn’t much of a way to evade it right now.

“We, uh... we broke up a few days ago.”

“Oh.” Kagami perked up, suddenly aware how her question might have been a little insensitive. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah.”

“Not that it’s my business, but how are you doing? After your akumatization and so on?”

“I didn’t get akumatized,” he said, suddenly defensive, as an urge to get back to his friends built up.

“Really?” Kagami said, a bit surprised.

“Yes, really.”

“I always had the impression you were super into her,” she commented, but mostly to herself.

“I am--I was,” he said, getting angry.

“I got akumatized into this nightmarish monster when Adrien and I broke up and it turned out it didn’t take me so much to get over him.”

“That has absolutely nothing to do with it,” he retorted, evidently irked.

“No, no. Of course not,” she hurried to say, realizing she had unintentionally pushed his buttons. “I just meant to say props to you. Lesser people get akumatized for the weather or something like that. Sorry for the stupid comparison.

“Sure. Whatever…”

“... Anyway,” Kagami said, sighing. “I guess we’ve made this sufficiently awkward, right? So, I’ll get going.”

Luka marched back to his friends and unceremoniously dumped the materials at the center of their little circle as tried to calm himself down.

He tried to focus on getting something into his sign but the fact he was stuck doing something Marinette usually loved to do was not helping in the slightest.

He breathed heavily, his eyes prickling him as hot, angry tears pooled and then fell onto the cardboard.

“I need some fresh air,” he announced to his friends, who had noticed his mood but had not said anything yet and watched as he stormed outside.

He paced around, taking deep breaths. The anxiety of not being able to calm down mixed with the fear of getting akumatized, was like kindling soaked in gasoline being thrown into a starting fire. And, as wildfires do, it burst out of control.

Luka gasped for air and then, with horror saw as the black butterfly approached him. He sprinted back to the tent where his friends were but by the time he got there, the butterfly had already lodged in the paintbrush he was holding.

The voice of his friends urging him not to give into the spell was faint and distant in his ears, but enough to keep him steady.

The first thing he noticed is that this akumatization felt different. He's was still aware of everything. He hadn’t been completely akumatized yet. Hawkmoth held him in his petrifying grasp but stalled, as if deciding what to turn him into.

Suddenly, his grave voice echoed inside his head.

“What is it that you want, Luka Couffaine?”

“Get out of my head,” Luka hissed, focusing as hard as he could on not thinking of anything that would reveal the secrets he knew.

Hawkmoth laughed. “But you called me here. Your emotions... I can tell you’re a soul in pain. You lost something. I can relate to that pain.” Luka felt how Hawkmoth snaked through his thoughts, looking for something to convince him. A flash of a thought, and Hawkmoth knew he was hiding something.

“GET OUT!” he screamed in his head.

He laughed again. “Oh? And what secrets might you be keeping? Hm?”

Luka winced, straining to keep thinking of random things: music, the weather, that weird bench at school that wobbles when he sits and how he hates it. Anything.

“I can help you recover what you lost...” he whispered softly. “Your girlfriend… Don’t you want her back? What is her name? I can help you. I promise I won’t hurt her.”

He felt himself slipping, turning.

“No!” he said, reverting back into his human form. “Let me go!”

“Maybe what you want is revenge on him? The reason she abandoned you? You’re not worthy like him, are you? That’s why she left you… But I can make you worthy… Wouldn't you want to be in his place, hm? Wouldn’t everything be better with that pesky boy of the way?”

Again, Luka felt himself morph and forced himself to think of other things. He tried reciting stupid facts he knew about ship maintenance.

“Get out of my head!” he exclaimed, sounding much weaker.

“Your power of will is very commendable,” Hawkmoth said. “But if I’m overstaying my welcome all you need to do is tell me what you want.”

“N-no!” Luka said, straining and screaming. “GET OUT!”

“If you--”

Suddenly the contact broke, and he collapsed onto the ground. The world went dark.

When Luka regained consciousness, he did so with a jolt. He was surrounded by his friends, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and surprisingly enough, Kagami.

He had an ungodly headache and realized blood had dried on his upper lip. His nose must have bled.

“Give him some space,” Ladybug ordered the crowd, seeing as Luka was struggling to gather his bearings. He didn’t know what particular panic to tackle first.

“What happened?” he asked, noticing they were not under the tent anymore and the gathering crowd that was preparing for the demonstration had dissipated.

“You got akumatized,” Ladybug explained, a bit surprised she had to fill him in on that particular point.

“Or rather, were about to akumatized,” Chat Noir said, trying to help his confused expression.

“You kept changing into different things. Like, you were getting akumatized on and off again,” Albin explained. “It was pretty scary.”

He turned to Ladybug with horror realizing what that meant. “You need to take me out of here,” he urged.

“Please!”

“Just take it easy for a second, okay?” Ladybug said, trying her best not to share Luka’s worry. “We’ll take you home in a minute.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir had not been present for most of the incident, so they stayed to talk to the people that had seen the attack, mainly Luka’s friends and Kagami.

Chat Noir was the one to interview them while Ladybug found some water for Luka to drink. Once everyone had calmed down and gave Chat Noir their testimony, they took Luka away to a secluded place to talk. It was the abandoned industrial section where Chat usually led Akumas.

“He knows,” he said, with absolute terror in his voice, Luka said pacing around, trying his best to contain his tears. “He knows that I know something! He saw that I was hiding something. I’m so sorry, Ladybug. I tried but he--he was in my mind and saw--.” His voice broke down.

For a reason unknown to Chat, Ladybug suddenly assumed the same urgency as Luka.

“Did he see?” she asked as Luka cried. “Luka, did he see?”

“See what?” Chat Noir asked, with escalating worry. “What is going on?”

“He didn’t. That’s why I kept changing, he tried to convince me several times,” said Luka. “But he knows that I’m keeping a secret.”

Ladybug covered her mouth with her hands.

“Would somebody please just care to explain what is going on?” Chat demanded.

“You didn’t tell him?” Luka said with disbelief.

“Luka, I need you to tell me exactly everything you remember. What happened?” Ladybug said, ignoring the question.

“Nothing. He just… he figured that I… lost someone. And he was trying to get me to tell him who it was, and to convince me to try to get them back, or to get revenge. I managed to focus my thoughts, but what if he tries again,” Luka said fearfully. “You were right,” he sobbed. “I shouldn’t have—I should’ve just looked away that day! I wish I never knew about this.”

Despite Chat’s presence, Ladybug could only comfort Luka with a hug, not knowing what else to do. Chat, on the other hand, seemed to have put two and two together. Luka knew Marinette’s identity.

“Oh my god…” Chat muttered with disbelief as he leaned against the metal sliding door of one of the warehouse buildings and fell to the floor. He grabbed chunks of his hair just to process what all of this meant, what to feel first. His father was only an akumatization away from figuring out Marinette.

“Luka, I promise you I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? We will come up with a plan, Chat Noir and me. But for now, I need to you to lay as low as possible. We cannot be seen together anymore. At all. If Hawkmoth is the person Chat and I suspect he is, he could be very close to finding out who I am if he makes the connection that we were together. Erase everything. Everything we ever posted on our social media, messages, calls, anything that might be public evidence. Try to have Juleka do the same.”

Luka contemplated the prospect for a moment. Ladybug knew she was thinking exactly the same thing as him: how devastating it will be to have to pretend that nothing ever happened. To actively destroy their memories together.

“Okay,” he said after a while. “And what if I get akumatized again? I don’t think I’ll be able to hold him off for any longer than I did today.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ladybug said. “That’s for us to figure out. Your only task is to pretend like you don’t know us, for your own sake.”

They sent Luka back home on a cab that Marinette called through her burner phone, leaving a heavy sense of danger looming between Chat and Ladybug. He was still on his spot on the ground, with his head on his hands as he supported his arms on his knees.

Ladybug sighed and slid down to sit next to him.

“You told him?”

“I’ve only ever told Alya. He found out by accident,” she said, already defensive and prepared for the argument that was bubbling up between them. “He also knows who you are.”

Chat’s stomach dropped. “Come again?”

“He was hiding in the same alley you transformed in one day.”

Chat let out a heavy sigh and swore loudly.

“You knew about this and you didn’t think to tell me?” he asked Ladybug.

Ladybug was in complete silence. She didn’t know what to say. “I—“

“You what?” Chat demanded.

“I— I meant to tell you next time we met,” she said. “I didn’t think—“

“You didn’t think to tell me that the boyfriend you just broke up with and was very much at risk of being akumatized knows who we are?” he exclaimed with frustration.

“I just—“ Ladybug tried to come up with an explanation, but the words kept getting stuck on her throat. Chat was right to be mad. She should have told him as soon as she found out. But everything had been so much, with him disappearing and Luka suddenly breaking up with her that, in a moment of weakness, him knowing her identity had been the least of her worries.

“What were you thinking?” Chat demanded. “Ladybug, I told you I’m close to the Agreste family!”

“I’m sorry!” she yelled. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think—I was… I was so distracted by everything going on that I never thought… I meant to tell you! But then all this stupid teenage drama got in the way! He broke up with me literally the day after you and I talked. That’s when he told me. I meant to tell you Chat Noir, I swear. I just...” she sighed. “I’m so stupid!”

She knocked the back of her head on the metal wall that they were leaning against. “This was the kind of mistake I wanted to evade by telling someone! And it still happened… No matter what I do, nothing ever seems to be enough.”

She was angry at herself, at the situation, at the fact that no matter how hard she tried, she was still not a good enough Guardian.

“We still have time to fix this,” he said, a lot calmer and even with hints of reassurance in his voice. “We need to use our upper hand before Hawkmoth gets a chance to get his,” said Chat. “I can get a hold of his personal calendar. We can attack when he least expects it.”

“How are you going to do that, Chat? Let me go with you,” Ladybug said, worried.

Chat shook his head. “I’ll do it as a civilian.”

“The more reason!”

“No, Ladybug. If anything goes wrong and he sees you there, he’ll be able to figure everything out. Trust me. I promise I will be careful.”

“But--”

“Marinette, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you,” Chat Noir said, his voice cracking and evidencing the whirlwind of emotions he had been trying to hide from her. “Please, just let me do this. Please, my lady.”

“Okay,” she said quietly. “But promise me you’ll be careful. And you’ll tell me when you do it. Please, promise me you’ll tell me.”

“I will.”

The clicking of Natalie’s heels as she entered the office disturbed the soft classical music playing in the background.

“Here’s the schedule for tomorrow, sir,” she said, placing a thin stack of papers on Gabriel’s desk. “Your flight to Helsinki is expected to arrive at nine a.m. and your first meeting is at ten, as you requested.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Natalie,” Gabriel said, without taking his sight off his screen.

Natalie nodded, heading to her desk.

“One more thing while I am absent, Natalie.”

“Yes, sir?”

Gabriel zoomed into the picture of the article he had been reading. The photographer had managed to capture the teenager he had akumatized looking urgently at Ladybug, who seemed to reciprocate his concern.

“Make sure to find out everything you can about this... Luka Couffaine.”