#even though chloe is way meaner than him

[delicious-p4ncakes]

Them

But as this book:

Please tell me you guys are picking up what I'm putting down

[ilikelookingatthings]

I like this view because I actually thought chloe's spiral actually had a strong parallel wih how both marinette and adrien spiraled a bit after the loss of fu...falling back on old behaviors to try to feel in control or pretend like they are fine to distract from the fact they were not doing okay and that they were pushing people away...unable to articulate or face those feelings directly. mari going back to her crush on adrien to try to pretend like she was a normal girl while also trying to get hyper busy with being a guardian and acting like she was opening up with alya when in fact it was a cover to distract from her deep guilt from losing master fu, the breakup with luka and her trying to feel in control to cover up the fact she felts out of control and not addressing why she wasn't relying on chat properly and was pushing people away even if on the surface it looked like she was opening up.

Adrien relying on his old crush on LB to try to pretend like he was normal to hide his problems from LB because he didn't want to be a burden when he knew she as having problems...trying to throw himself into being chat to distract himself from nathalie getting sick, his helplessness in able to reach chloe, his dad, his breakup and loss of friendship with kagami and then the fact he sensed LB is shutting him out and is changing the rules without telling him and wondering if he should adress it but being told he shouldn't by plagg and wanting to help but suddenly unable to make it to akuma attacks ror not being used or barley used so he tries to pretend his focus is the crush(then using his crush on mari) to distract himself even though he was clearly distracted by his bigger issues.

Chloe notably acted way meaner than she ever did back in the earlier seasons with less reason behind it which is why lots of people feel like she got turned into a one note villain to sabotage her arc...but it actually makes sense that chloe afetr trying SO hard to be good and doing babysteps of some progress and then having burned that bridge with siding with hawkmoth would double down on being mean to cope. it doesn't hurt unlike trying to be good aand failing since being mean comes more naturally and its a attempt to double down/control the narrative. she is telling herself SHE chose to be mean and be bad again and is in control to distract herself from her guilt and how upset she is at siding with hawkmoth and burning her bridge with LB. Chloe shifting the blame to LB makes sense as a coping mechanism because it HURTS and hawkmoth planted that idea in her head with his words and how chloe had been targeted and pollen hadn't been safe even thou LB said she couldn't be queen bee so chloe and pollen would be safe from hawkmoth..and they were attacked directly anyway with no way to defend themselves.

Chloe acting out by being meaner made sense to me as her lashing out and trying to distract herself at the same time..trying to pretend it was before she ever tried to be good which would explain why alot of her being mean seemed worse and yet made less sense...much like the way mari and adrien had lashed out at times or acted a bit oddly...only CHloe was able to entirely push everyone away and no one tried hard to confront chloe about it.

I always thought it made sense that Marinette would see Chloe as irredeemable as Mari was bullied by her a long time and had only just started to see the complexities due to being more open due to Adrien caring about chloe and mari going along with it due to liking Adrien...mari having a more shallow motive when it came to chloe I actually REALLY liked...but WE the audience literally knows chloe had been strong enough to fight off a butterfly before...something difficult to do and that Chloe really did struggle to understand kindness with her best motive being adrien, a bear and a hero who didn't really like her....even more we the audience knows chloe had literally been set up by having her family targeted, her signal cut and deliberately isolated on a rooftop where the master manipulator dug into her personality and insecurities and how she only agreed when he took her parents hostage and to release them and how if she hadn't agreed he still would have had pollen. and how the personal bias about the rules gabe hawkmoth that last pebble to overflow the cup. That chloe didn't just agree because she was feeling entitled...but for him to release her family and everything set against her.

even more when Chloe's better sister appeared who seemed to naturally understand kindness which chloe struggles with, who everyone seems to actually like, who had gotten to live with the mom who chloe had always wanted love from all these years...chloe was in the wrong for trying to assert power over chloe and others again through zoey... but I also completely understood why she w as jealous and insecure and why Adrien might have been right to not enable chloe trying to lash out at Zoey again but that the misstep was Chloe had needed to feel listened to where someone understood where her hurt was coming from first before talking her down...Adrien trying to use his friendship which he had assured chloe she'd have earlier as a bargaining chip triggered chloe feeling like she was going to be abandoned easily again so left him first...and we know she cried in the car despite her choice. and how Zoey got chosen for the Bee while despite Zoey mentioning how it seems kind of insensitive...LB brushed that aside because Chloe wasn't going to know.

I actually though Chloe was a great example of how one of Mari;s weaknesses(patience, accurate empathy, not being the best listener and not understanding her impact on others) kicks in...just like mari fumbling with chat noir, julieka, felix even alya and nino happened at times.

I thought it was tragic because the show has made a point that akuma villians are in fact victims...people in the throes of negative emotions and hurt who get taken advantaged off and led down dark paths where they need someone to both stop the damage and find the source of their issue....they need to feel listened to...to then have that source metaphorically and literally found and broken...to then have a chance to talk it out and address properly...where the real villains are those who take advantage. Chloe was literally led astray by both hawkmoth and Lila(let alone her parents) but no one realizes she is a victim because chloe pushed everyone away. and she can't blame it all on a butterfly even though real life emotional manipulation is just as real and damaging. where alot of real life victims get tricked into thinking the best option is to be the villian much like the akuma victims.

With the tragedy being that others never really realize that even without a butterfly they can be victims.

Like I feel mixed because as the bully victim(and one of many) it shouldn't be marinette's job to fix chloe and mari didn't owe giving chloe chances...but the show also made sure chloe was losing almost every episode there was some of karma or clear lesson Chloe was losing at life due to her bullying and how she handled things...so it honestly felt overkill to have her get stuck with her abusive mom and abandoned and replaced by her dad where none of the adults take responsibility for how she turned out. and Mari HAD genuinely started to vibe with chloe after a while before the turn which is unfortunate.

i realized the other day that i haven’t really talked all that much about the last handful of episodes of season 5 and haven’t really touched on the ending of chloe’s story at all. and i really only see people who are upset about it talk about her last few scenes so i do want to offer an alternative take on it, which is basically: to me, chloe’s story ended in tragedy. i don’t really care what astruc has said on twitter or what was leaked in bibles or scripts. i’m looking at the story we actually got, the one that ended with this moment.

does marinette tell her off right before this? yes. and this should be a moment of victory for marinette, right? she’s finally free from chloe, in every way.

but we don’t see marinette after this. this is the last shot of marinette in the episode before it cuts to chloe’s reaction. marinette’s face is still there, but only as the contact image on chloe’s phone. marinette herself is gone. the rest of the episode only shows us chloe and lila. from here on out, we are not in marinette’s story. we’re in theirs.

and it’s here, when we move out of marinette’s story, that we see chloe’s is tragedy. chloe is the villain in marinette’s story and the victim in her own. this is not just about protagonist centered morality, though that plays a role. it’s about not just whose side the story takes but also what marinette is allowed to know and see. marinette only ever gets the smallest glimpse of chloe’s home life and family, but as the viewers we get to see more. and it is after marinette dismisses her and hangs up in revolution that chloe stops being a part of marinette’s story, and, in that moment, loses the role of the villain. freed from marinette’s story, we see her alone, sobbing, because she’s left with only her own story, where she is the victim.

and it’s notable that chloe tried to reject that story. she chooses marinette’s story, again and again. that’s why she called marinette in the end. chloe would rather play the villain. calling sabrina, asking for comfort, would be accepting that she’s a victim, which chloe isn’t ready for. unfortunately, marinette doesn’t give her a choice: marinette’s story doesn’t have room for chloe anymore. she’s fought her demons and has new ones to face. the only role left for chloe to play in marinette’s story is the girl ladybug couldn’t save.

so yeah, this ending is tragic. and i genuinely hurt for chloe in that moment. but i never once thought we were supposed to see her as unredeemable or celebrate her being sent off to her mother. i don’t know what the story plans to do with chloe next - whether she’s gone for good or she’ll come back worse or come back better. but i know this moment, by taking us out of marinette’s perspective, asked us to sympathize with a girl suffering at the end of her downward spiral.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

The Chloe-Saga

Regarding the whole Chloe-situation: I don’t get it. Just what exactly makes Astruc not only hate a character of his creation to this extent but also makes him not stop giving her more and more prominence in the actual show? Like, in S1 she was the quintessential high school bully. Hates the main character, has the same love interest, causes a lot of “problems/villain of the week”. And guess what? That’s perfectly fine as an archetype. She fulfilled her purpose and it was fun whenever she got put down a notch. That some fans latched onto her and her being redeemed? That’s what a fandom does. It takes characters and gives them a new spin – that does not mean they like what a character in canon does, it means they want to explore those characters outside their bubble. With the identity-shenanigans going on, there even was a pre-build reason for why Chloe might question herself. In S2 we then got the full package of explanations for why Chloe’s Chloe. And while some of them were a bit much and Chloe still did a lot of bad things that might even exceed the “justifications”, Chloe became more than an archetype and more like a character with a clearer background and needs and wishes. What did Astruc expect? Even when we don’t buy her background AND think she went far beyond moral boundaries, there still is a lot more to latch onto. And in S3 and in S4 she got more focus and excuses. Fought of an Akuma. Was explicitly targeted by the big bad and more than once hurt by her idol. Got more family drama and focus on how her family affects people. If we are truly meant to hate Chloe and see not one bit of goodness (which Astruc tells us too) just why are we getting all that focus and excuses? As a one-dimensional schoolyard bully it would have been a lot easier to simply hate her. But that role is apparently Lila’s turf now… The way I see her character and development: One of her traits from the very beginning was how much she liked Ladybug and how much it hurt her whenever LB rejected or renounced her in a way she could not wave aside. She even literally dressed up as Ladybug! In S2 when her mother was introduced, what was one of the first things Chloe did? She sat besides her and mimicked every single movement. For me these were the defining moments of Chloe’s potential to be good. A girl who just really craves the attention of powerful female role models that she can model herself after. A girl who is way more insecure than her bratty face lets on. A girl who has not yet really found herself. Audrey’s entire character essentially is a grown-up Chloe. Petty and nasty and kicking down at every opportunity. Seeing how Chloe reacted to her, mimicked her, and just wanted to be recognized by her, I see most of Chloe’s character essentially as her modelling herself after her. Which is not helped by her father essentially being a rubberstamp with authority, Sabrina being an extended arm, and the butler…being a butler. Ladybug was the counter-weight. It was obvious Chloe cared about her and her opinion of her. She was still flawed and at times outright cruel but there was a hint of progress. Be it her later appearances as Queen Bee where she was either willing to listen (Maledictator) or act as part of the team (Heroe’s Day) or the entire “rejected an Akuma”-saga complete with shielding Sabrina without anything to gain from it. For me the most hurtful moment was when Marinette in her endless goodness reconciled mother and daughter. Because ultimately that was part of what made Chloe continue to model herself after Audrey and what made her stop questioning if Audrey truly is a woman to be emulated. Double hurtful because with Ladybug off her pedestal she was back as the sole role model and because this is yet another thing that can be construed as ultimately being Marinette’s fault (which I don’t believe in and absolutely hate!). We had all these things. Neglectful mother she wanted to emulate in the hopes to be recognized. Secondary role model that cast her out for reasons pertaining to her sins of the past and even before often rejected her for reasons Chloe couldn’t know about. A lot of enablers who either can’t or won’t tell her ‘no’ or 'stop that’ [and we know Chloe at least listens when the few people she cares about tell her]. This is not a condemnation story, that is a tragedy! Which is another thing I am weirded out about. How can Chloe be an irredeemable demon who has not a semblance of goodness in her and yet we are expected to feel stabbed in the heart by the S3-finale? Either she had the potential to be good and it was a tragedy it was not meant to be, or she is an obvious devil who nobody should feel for or with. We can’t have both! Should I feel betrayed or should I feel like that was just Chloe upping her Chloeness?

---------------------------------------------------------------

According to what Astruc said, we were all supposed to feel betrayed by the Season 3 finale.

Chloe’s relationship with her mother is a real missed opportunity, as she was set up as a completely despicable person everyone hates, and of course, she reconciles with her while the writers never acknowledge the abuse. Seriously, Astruc doesn’t think Chloe being emotionally neglected by her mother for years to the point where she can’t even get her name right and developing a slight inferiority complex as a result counts as abuse.

THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES

Like you said, there have been plenty of plenty of irredeemable villains the audience still felt bad for when they were defeated because of how tragic their stories were.

Tai Lung from the original Kung Fu Panda is a good example. He was trained by Master Shifu, someone he saw as a father, and his skills grew, so did his desire for power. He saw not being granted the title of the Dragon Warrior as if he was denied something that was rightfully his. There’s also the fact that his desire to become the Dragon Warrior stemmed from his desire to make his father proud of him by achieving the greatest honor in Kung Fu.

Tai Lung: All I ever did, I did to make you PROUD! Tell me how proud you are, Shifu! Tell me! TELL ME! 

Shifu: (quietly) I have always been proud of you. From the first moment, I've been... proud of you. And it was my pride that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming... what I was turning you into. I'm s... I'm sorry. 

Tai Lung: (hesitates for a moment before grabbing the injured Shifu) I don’t want your apology. I want my scroll!

Even though he stops for a second, Tai Lung still wants his power, ultimately shooting down the last chance he had at reconciling with his father. Both him and Shifu had problems that led to Tai Lung’s descent into villainy, but while one recognized his part, the other simply couldn’t comprehend he did anything wrong in the first place. THAT is how you do a tragic villain, not what we got with Chloe.

If Astruc wanted Chloe to be an irredeemable monster, he needed to show her meaner moments weren’t something to laugh at (something the show Kevin Can F**k Himself is doing a great job at in regards to the titular character by deconstructing sitcom cliches), and have the audience take her seriously as a threat, not a joke villain like in “Queen Banana”. If Chloe actually was a “deep character” like what Astruc obviously planned from the start, she should have been more than comic relief after betraying Ladybug.

[volperion-moved]

anyway i love luka and the reason i want to see him turn bad isn't because i think he's boring and he needs to be 'improved' it's just because if handled well it could be a really good plot twist and his feelings for marinette would make it tragic. I'm imagining an evil luka who doesn't know marinette is ladybug, he still loves marinette and he's probably a 'well-intended extremist' villain with a goal he thinks will benefit her. I'm imagining a conflict starting because both him and marinette are flawed and miss the signs in each other to prevent things getting to this point before it happens - again luka doesn't know that marinette is ladybug, and probably marinette doesn't know luka has an evil alter ego now either.

i can kind of see the same thing happening with kagami. I don't think she'll have any more patience for being prioritised after petty love drama any more than chloe did. even though she herself admits that she prioritises her feelings for adrien over her friendship with marinette and doesn't really care about fame like chloe, there could be conflict around that that has her turn bad.

evil kagami isn't as interesting to me as evil luka though, because kagami was introduced as being kinda rude to marinette and we've gotten episodes that show her trying to be nicer and explaining that she's not mean, she just has bad social skills and is learning. she does have a temper and oni chan showed that she's got a jealous side that isn't really addressed again afterward (she got angry at a picture of lila and adrien together, she has no idea who lila is so it's not because lila's a liar, it's just jealousy and she may react to seeing images of adrien and marinette together in the same way?) so I wouldn't mind it being expanded on but

evil luka is just more interesting to me because he was designed for the audience to fall for him and he's able to pick up on people's feelings, similar to the current big villain hawkmoth. kagami was kinda rude at first but then episodes showed her being better, we haven't got a similar subversion for luka yet. unlike kagami he doesn't seem to have a jealous side, instead encourages marinette to pursue adrien - but silencer showed us that he felt powerless when he couldn't speak up against bob roth and gave into hawkmoth offering him the chance to get justice. maybe he DOES have a jealous side, or just a darker side in general, and he doesn't voice it because he doesn't have the power to, and it'd be a different story if he did.

i do really love the idea of lila opening pandora's box here, questioning luka's doormat tendancies and encouraging him to be a bit more selfish. maybe she wants lukanette to happen so there's one less rival for adrien, maybe she wants to recruit him to hawkmoth's side. but it backfires on her, maybe he's a better minion for hawkmoth and she's cast aside, maybe he takes the butterfly miraculous that she wanted, maybe he decides she's exactly the kind of person he needs to defeat, or maybe she becomes nicer and is horrified she created a monster. maybe she's on board with his villainy until she hears what his wish is going to be when he gets the miraculouses and it prompts her to change sides. there's plenty that could be done with the idea other than just sinking lukanette for the lovesqu.are, I don't want it to completely sink even if he turns evil cuz we could get an epic tragic love story out of that. i do ship lukloe & liluka and wouldn't mind seeing them happen w/ evil luka but his feelings for marinette are an important aspect of those ships to me anyway, him choosing a girl who's very different to (meaner than) her and dealing with all the conflicting feelings around that.

[mysticprofessoralienhumanoid]

Turning down the akuma pt. 3

@mikantsume @starwindmaden @gimme-more-caffeine @unmaskedagain

Here you go...

Marinette thought the whispers and looks couldn't get any worse.

Oh, how she was wrong.

The day after the interview the amount of those increased dramatically, with even bigger fear and even more guilt in her classmates' eyes.

But now it wasn't only her class.

Oh no, it was the whole school. Every student, every teacher, hell, whole Paris. Each one of them looked at her and stared in fear at her cold eyes sending them look of boredom and aggravation.

And Marinette didn't like the attention to say the least. She hated it with her whole heart, but knew she couldn't do anything to stop it.

On one side, her interview was a big succes. People recognizing her and some brave ones even asking for her autograph and thanking her for giving them something to hold onto. It gave Parisians a feeling of hope and insurance, knowing they all are able to stop the process of the akumazination and it's not only Ladybug and Chat Noit, who can stop Hawkmoth.

But on the other side, it also worsened the situation. Her class' acquaintances got looks of hatred, disgust and disappointment from everyone around them, some even openly blaming them and/or calling them out and it didn't help, that they already felt shitty and blamed themselves they well damn should.

Nathaniel had problems with painting; drawing in general. The one time he let himself paint whatever his soul wanted (his words, not mine), he made a painting of Marinette back to evillustrator times, huh? with icy eyes, but still with a hint of a disappointment in them, piercing right throught him, glaring at him, getting all the bad emotions he kept in himself out, to the point he fell on his knees, crying. Later, he burned the painting and swore to himself to never let the emotions 'draw' for him. He was terrified of his own mind. And it was just after the almost akumazination.

But he wasn't the only one.

When Rose came home that day, instead of texting Prince Ali or singing, doing anything productive in general, she threw herself onto her bed, face in pillow, screaming, crying, saying Marinette's name over and over again. She was so ashamed in herself. She was so naive, so blind, she chose a new classmate over her friend. How could she ever doubt Marinette? She was the most honest and fair-minded person Rose had ever got the luck to meet.

Max didn't want to play any video game. Even Ultra Mecha Strike III. Especially Ultra Mecha Strike III. Every time he took his controller, an image of Marinette dancing that little, ridiculous dance of hers each time she won a game, her bluebell eyes shining at everyone with happiness, sharing her energy and kindness with them. Oh, how he wished to see those sky-blue eyes again. But wanted them to be a sky with sun shining and not a sky just before the storm. He felt like giving up.

Ivan didn't eat as much as he usually do. He was more aggressive and unpredictable. Everyone was afraid to be closer than few feet near him.

Nino didn't say 'dude', 'dudette' or 'bro' anymore. Nothing. Nada. He wasn't that chill and friendly version, everyone knew anymore, now he was... Sad. Depressed.

Juleka was now showing even less emotions. She was emotionless. Luka was worried, but knew he couldn't do anything, so he just watched her from his room, guitar in his hands, mindlessly letting his hands play sad tunes and melodies.

Even Chloe changed. I know, shocker. She blamed herself a little too. She knew Lila was liar, she could do something about it. Now she was even meaner and once when ms. Bustier was calling the roll, Chloe bursted out and threatened to call the mayor. The stress was just too much. I mean, her mother, her father, her lack of friends, therefore she couldn't really talk to anyone about her feelings, and now Marinette. It was all too much. Just stop, she wanted it all to stop.

Rose wasn't quirky anymore, her smile wasn't as bright as it used to be.

Mylene also didn't smile. Now she didn't talk with anyone. Even Ivan.

Sabrina was ashamed in her. Her father was a cop, for god's sake, she should've done someyhing! She was also mad at herself for accusing Marinette for using her just like Chloe, even though she knew the young designer was trying to help her.

Kim almost got thrown out from swimming team and wasn't so energetic. He wasn't as competitive as usual. To hell with it, he didn't even want to compete with anyone.

Alix, well, on the outside she hasn't changed that much, but she was blaming herself too. She wished she could punched Lila so hard, the chick would hit the Moon and hopefully die due the lack of oxygen. I wish i could do it too, Alix.

Every single one of them felt the consequences of their mistake and each one of them took the blame in their own way. Sure, they were sad, angry and blamed themselves.

But Alya?

Oh, Alya was devastated. She was so stupid, so blind, so so naive. How could she do this to her best friend? When she came from school, after this 'Marinette's almost akumazination' incident, she went to her room, not saying a word to anyone. Actually, since Marinette'd gone to the back of the class, after sending them an emotionless look, Alya hasn't said a word to anyone. She just sat expresionless at her desk, now all alone, and stared blankly at the wall.

But after she came home? Oh, it was a whole different story.

She cried. She screamed. For hours. She was saying her best friend's name over and over again. She was saying sorry, begging Marinette to forgive her. At some point she even broke her phone.

And all this time she had an image of Marinette's cold eyes piercing right through hers. Staring right at her, showing her how sad Marinette was at Alya. It wasn't even an image of angry Marinette. Oh no, Alya knew Marinette wasn't angry at them, she accepted that her friends and best friend left her for someone more interesting than her, someone who could offer them more than Marinette possibly could. And that's what made Alya devastated.

But the worst thing about Marinette's eyes was that, they were full of disappointment in her former friends. Especially in her. And she knew why. She abandoned her best friend for some random chick, who claimed she knew Ladybug and some other famous celebrities, even though Alya knew the chances for Liela to actually know these people were lower than Kim's IQ... Let's be honest, he's not that smart. He wanted to race with black panther, that's kinda stupid.

Alya didn't eat that much, if at all. She hasn't been on Ladyblog, since she had deleted interview with Liela. She didn't talk that much. She wasn't her old self. She was heartbroken, to say the least.

And as for Liela, I'm happy to say that she got expelled from school and came back to Italy. So luckily/unfortunately for her , she got away before hate got to her and the whole Paris knew what a filthy liar she is.

And as to Adrien... I don't even know if he was there. But if he was, he probably tried to stop them from this whole drama before Mari came to classroom, knowing damn well what kind of psycho Li(e)la is. So when he saw Marinette being akumatized, he just stared at her, he didn't try to stop it nor did he run out to transform into our friendly Chat Noir.

He was shocked to watch THE Marinette Dupain-Cheng getting akumatized. His sweet, kind friend that he secretly had a little tiny crush on but was too blind to see it himself.

But what scared him the most was her eyes. They were so cold, so emotionless, so elusive, so sweetness and kindness deprived Matinette was known for. Those weren't Marinette's eyes, those were Marinette's shadow eyes; her little dark side he wished to never see.

And as he watched the illuminating, purple aureole around her eyes, he felt like someone sucked out his happiness and live. Wow, now that sounds dramatic. It was just so heartbreaking to watch a girl, who never gives up, finally come to the point where she's done pretending she's fine. He finally saw, that under her bright smile are a whole lot things, responsibilities, problems she has to deal with every day and worries she tries to hide for sake of everyone around her, and Li(e)la thing was just a final straw to make bluenette break down.

And he was so relieved, when she said no, he released a breath he had no idea, he was holding. And when the akuma left the room and Marinette sat down at the back at the class, he shook his head at his ex-friends, shot them a glance full of disappointment and a hint of 'i told you so' and sat at the back of the class too, but in the other desk; he knew Marinette needed some peace and time for herself.

But if he wasn't there when this scene had place, i am sure he refused to talk to his classmates, even Nino, saying that they shouldn't have done that, maybe even telling them he'd known Liela was a liar before this shit has happened. And then again, sat at the back of the class in the other desk.

Either way, he saw the interview and was pissed even more. How did they dare to call my best friend a bully!? (I am so sorry for this 'friend' thing). Even Plagg got a little scared at the sight of his furrowed eyebrows, lips shut in a tight line and eyes with raging anger in them.

So later, he decided to see how she was doing and maybe talk a little- i mean, see if she's in danger of getting akumatized again since it's one of his Chat Noir's duties.

And that's how he and Marinette ended up on her balcony, leaning against its railing, both with a cup of hot cocoa in their hands.

"So..." Chat awkwardly asked. He hasn't really thought it through, he just transformed and came to Marinette's house, tapped on the window and asked to meet at the balcony. She did it and also brought two cups of delicious cocoa.

'Get a grip, Adrien!' The superhero thought. 'You save people's lives, yet here you are not able to talk to your best friend!'

He cleared his throat. "How have you been? Since, you know, this almost akumazination thing's happened?" Oh, god, Adrien, you're so awkward.

Marinette giggled a little "I'm doing fine, thank you." She sent him a warm smile and he felt his insides melt.

"Are you sure? After this 'almost akumazination' you seemed pretty exhausted." It was true, after she woke up from trance, she was so tired she almost fell on the floor if she didn't catch herself in time and then she plopped down on her seat looking like she was about to collapse.

She looked at him suspiciously "How can you know? You weren't there."

Shit. "Uhm, you see, I've watched the video! And the interview! Yeah." Chat tried to get himself out of the trap he made himself.

Marinette eyed him again, but decided not to pry. "I'm fine, Chat, really. Ladybug was already here and i told her the same. I really am fine."

The superhero still felt like she wasn't telling him everything, but he decided to let her be and say it when she'll be ready. Instead they fell into a silence. And just as he was about to bid his goodbye, she spoke up again, not lifting her eyes from her Chat Noir cup:

"It just really hurts."

"What?"

"It hurts to know they chose her in the end." she still didn't spare him a glance. "It hurts to know they chose someone, who wasn't there as long as i was, someone they barely knew." At this point she had tears in her eyes, and they were slowly coming up on her rosy cheeks. She finally looked up at him, tears finally cascading down down her face. Her icy eyes finally thawing a little, to show Chat Noir that his everyday Ladybug was still there, just hiding. "It hurts to know they chose her, when i was there always ready to help them."

He hugged her and that was pretty much how they spent the rest of the night.

"It just hurts so fucking much."

[full-course-identity]

Give me your thoughts on uuuh Jake

wew boy

okay. gonna word dump this, and probably other interpretation asks, so I can get the words out there.

from my POV, there’s 3 types of canon Jake + 1 fanon vers + my personal interpretation. lemme explain what they are;

Book Jake, who I don’t have enough experience with bc I STILL haven’t finished the book… >_>;

2River Jake, who is kinda oblivious and very in-the-moment impulsive (not so bad he’s jumping place to place ADHD like Rich, but like, not considering that maybe dropping everything to seduce Madeline or Christine is a bad idea when he clearly really likes Chloe). these are debatably survival mechanisms bc of his family (and wealth, if you want to go into the “being rich actually traumatizes you and locks you into dissociation” theory–but to be fair, this is partially reliant on thinking Jake is Genuinely Rich. … well, not Rich as in… yeah); ignoring any pain he feels in favor of getting dicked down and forgetting about everything for a while. very “I’m not sad, I’m busy!!!!!” 

Bway (possibly the new canon general for all Jakes since it sounds like London’s is modeled after him but just… toned down), who is still oblivious, but towards other people’s emotions instead of himself; he’s manipulative, a little impulsive but a lot more malicious about it, and he knows exactly how hurt he is about his parents. this jake’s awareness of himself makes him act worse because he knows this is the only thing that seems to help and it’s basically the only thing he actually has control of. his wealthiness is undeniably present and Bad here because the reason taking what he wants and not caring that it hurts people is his main coping skill is pretty much only because he’s been allowed that privilege all his life. i tend to think this version of him should be done by a white cishet dude (despite jake’s actor on bway being genuinely FANTASTIC) bc being marginalized in a high school should’ve curved a lot of the “endless power and privilege” he gets for being rich (Not That One). 

[i… think this jake has ‘better’/more nuanced writing in BWay… but i don’t think it fits the musical nor is it the overall direction i think it should’ve gone. BMC feels best to me when there’s a heavier element of Dark Humor that briefly nods to a Larger and more Fucked Up world behind the bit we see in the musical. making it largely a twisted comedy, maybe even ramping that up further with more whiplash lines like jake’s “which means the house is empty, so that’s fun”]

Fanon Jake is… like most of the fanon characters in BMC, a bit… “bipolar” (like, radically shifting depending on the situation). the BMC fandom has been born with heavy engagement from minors in the current fascist climate of fandom as a whole. as a result, you have three general uses of jake that as “approved of” by somehow the exact same people despite being conflicting in a lot of ways. THIS IS NOT ME SHITTING ON FANON, i actually think most of this fandom is just a casual romp for most people and that shouldn’t be snatched away from them nor mocked nor treated like you HAVE to be logically consistent when this is just a fun hobby for most… but there are still trends i notice:

1: Jake the sweet bi disaster who loves their significant other and is just a little bit hopeless in their silliness and Down For Whatever-esque personality. this is often used for shippy pictures and memes and cute little oneshots, plus, of course, fluff.

2: Jake the tragic abuse victim who is extremely sad and has to learn to love again and has always been selfless, plus or minus a permanent disability post-fire. this is of course used for hurt/comfort, plus in combination kinda with michael in the bathroom-esque posts and tragic art, often also used as an example of the squip being the worst for jeremy or rich guilt trauma. also: aesthetic and moodboard posts.

3: the one I have the least good will towards: Jake the “why does everybody woobify mlm? You can’t portray him without flaws! queer boys aren’t your fetish!!!” with an attached, clunkily written reasons why he was an asshole that is also simultaneously watered down so you don’t think he’s a Monster bc then you’d be vilifying queer men (well, more like they’d feel bad about their cutesy-er ‘emotional support’ art and writing which is Totally Different from all the other cutesy emotional support art and writing). 

basically, Meta Trying To Make Jake Reasonably Flawed But Not Evil in this fandom is RARELY genuine–it’s more often than not moralistic hand-wringing made so that they can wash themselves of the guilt for actually enjoying something with a character they portray as mlm, or otherwise the guilt of enjoying anything romantic or sexual involving men or queer people period when we’re apparently not supposed to do that anymore, as decreed by the radfems infesting our spaces. 

and, well, or you’re an mlm writing this post, you’re probably young and still feeling extremely sensitive and scared about your identity. i once saw a very wise post by a trans person who had been trans for a long time, who said that when you first come out as trans (or queer in general, but especially trans people who are beginning social or physical transition and coming to terms with themselves) you are obvs on High Fucking Alert and so you’re insecure and scared of anything, ranging from “obvious transphobia” to “just trans people enjoying themselves and exploring transphobia in fiction or else their own sexuality”. again, this can relate to a lot of identities tbh, and as such young mlm either cis or trans can get very Itchy about people enjoying mlm content.

anyway.

wrapping it back around to me: i edit jake on a case by case basis (sometimes i even make him eviler or meaner based on what’s set up during Bway, he’s just not my usual go-to villain), but i tend to think of him as a tragic Mr. Peanutbutter-y sweetheart who kinda knows he feels like shit yet also knows that if he stops to assess it, it would make his life a lot harder in a time where he can’t afford that. his relationship with chloe is extremely toxic (chloe abuses him horribly, specifically), and so he tries to claw his way out of it only to be continually back in by chloe and her bullshit. 

this is why he doesn’t really get... well. he genuinely thought the thing with christine was going to be permanent; he wasn’t jerking her around, he thought he was over chloe and wanted a girl as cool and fun and genuinely nice as her. afterward he Gets It, and so feels Really Bad--at a time where he doesn’t have his house, his legs are broken (i don’t tend to put him in a perma-wheelchair), his parents have abandoned him, and he best friend is in the hospital. guilt crashes in on him from all sides, and he just has to... pretend it isn’t, even as he can no longer stop himself from thinking about it.

if i was to do a jake focused story, it’d probably be a dating sim where you play as him and watch his life change in conjunction with his attempts to find happiness again; you can either choose decisions that help him greatly or ruin his life so ver much... hmm. lets file that under hashtag “story ideas i’ll never use even though they could be great”

to wrap this up: i like jake. i don’t... really enjoy most of the written content (fanfic, meta, sometimes even the storylines on ask blogs) in this fandom about him or... really, most of the characters, which i feel bad about--i’d enjoy it more if it was every in conjunction with my usual Wants in a fic, which is, like. extreme angst.

BUT

i do still like jake, and i can super enjoy his portrayal in memes and visual art

he’s just not my total fave, but like, the reason he tends not to come up a lot in my content is more what i’m focusing on and why. i’d be happy to use him in stories if his presence fit.

as a bonus

here’s the ships i’m happy to use him for, generally: deere, michael/jake, brooke/jake, toxic chloe/jake, and of course, different ocs/jake

his identities/labels: cis, bisexual/romantic... tho sometimes i actually go for bisexual and aromantic! outside bway and eviler jakes, i’m good with him being any race, and even then it’s just a matter of suspending disbelief re: privilege theory. also, PTSD probably, and maybe generalized anxiety as a result. maaaaaybe autistic too? adhd would be a hard sell for me since he seems super put together in a way that’d be extremely difficult for every form of adhd, but i can see him being neurodivergent on the spectrum + like dyslexia maybe. oh, and i sorta-kinda think he may be color blind? but really i’d drop that at a moment’s notice if it’d be easier to write him without it lol.

his interests: one is more or less sports in general, tho i think that, unless he went straight for track or swimming or something Olympics (which he probably can’t do now...), that’s a high school or some college only focus for him. so, besides sports, i think he’d kinda like the satisfaction and steady growth of Collecting Rare Things That You Have To Look For, like cool rocks, bugs, etc. 

as for careers... some form of doctor something, maybe a businessman of some sort but he’d likely try to curve his power in that field as much as possible; he inherits his parents' assets and company or whatever, but he probably takes a backseat to that and only really has it out of a sense of ‘it’s my job as my parent’s kid to keep the company going--without engaging in the same awful legal issues they did--for as long as i can’. one of my fave jake-is-there stories, vanceypant’s spicy bis-focused fic 1999, has him owning a restaurant, and that was cool as hell.

also jake loves dogs. especially golden retrievers. yes.

[cheeseeatingtrashmonster]

Roses

Nelix day 6: Misunderstanding.

Read the whole month on AO3

Misunderstanding

It was stupid. He was stupid. This was not a new conclusion for Felix, but this time the bite of the thought was a little deeper, with a little more weight behind it.

Of course he was stupid. Not only had he brought flowers to a club of all places, but they had been red roses. Not only did he horrify Nino, but he had embarrassed himself in front of half the club full of people. Statistically, with how popular that club was, with how popular Nino's DJ act was, more than a few people in the crowd knew who Felix was.

In what universe did Felix Agreste bring someone flowers and not thoroughly embarrass himself?

Felix had left the club after seeing the look on Nino's face and just started walking, the bouquet hanging from his hand, occasionally dropping petals. He knew the area fairly well, even if his usual vantage point was a story or two up from the sidewalk so he wasn't worried about getting lost as he let his legs carry him wherever. He found a bench eventually and sat, holding the flowers, staring at the blood red hue under the harsh orange streetlight.

What kind of person brings flowers to a "first time DJing at a major club" like it's a ballet recital or theater opening night?

Who tries to take a functional frenemies-with-benefits arrangement and add feelings?

Felix slid a rose from the bouquet and set the rest down next to him. He spun the flower in his fingers, marveling at the strength, the history, the exquisite form of the rose. There was a reason it was such a frequently used symbol, but sometimes the beauty of the object was lost behind the weight of the ideas it represents. He brushed his finger over the petals, trying to focus on only what was in front of him and not how stupid he was going to be feeling for a long time to come. One of the petals was dislodged and fell to the ground.

On an impulse Felix plucked another petal and dropped it to the sidewalk. He thought of the first time he realized the attraction wasn’t one sided. He had caught Nino staring through the door to the dance studio where he was practicing alone. Felix had smirked and Nino had blushed and pulled his hat down to cover it and that was confirmation enough.

He plucked two petals and dropped them, thinking of how bickering and sarcasm had taken on a flirtatious edge after that. Snide comments with a side of innuendo had become their thing.

Another few petals fell as he remembered the first time they had kissed (locked in the basement of the school during an akuma attack, of course). They had both confessed a minute later that they had planned on waiting for the other to break first and make a move. Nino had been the one to kiss him, and while Felix was kind enough not to mention it, he was secretly very smug about that fact.

He ripped out a clump of petals all together as he remembered how quickly things had heated up from there. Sneaking off in the library. Stealing moments when Adrien was called away while Nino was visiting. Leaving parties, concerts, recitals early together. They had both asked for and immediately agreed to secrecy, and from what they could tell, no one was on to them yet.

The flower in his hands was bare, so he dropped the stem and grabbed another. He pulled out petals as he tried to pinpoint the moment lust and loathing had turned into love. Was it when Felix had fallen in a broom cupboard and smacked his head hard and Nino insisted on getting him ice for his head, watching him for signs of concussion the rest of the day? When he saw Nino notice that Chloe was making Adrien uncomfortable so he stubbornly distracted and antagonized her until she gave Adrien space? Was it when Nino started stopping by to watch him practice ballet without expecting even a kiss afterwards?

He ripped off the head of the next flower and tossed it into the street.

Maybe it was the first time they kissed.

Felix looked at the stem in his hands, trying to decide if he wanted to keep ripping the flowers or just go home. He threw the rest of the bouquet in the trash.

Whether or not Nino loved Felix, Felix loved Nino. And love hurt worse than any damage he had taken from an akuma over the years.

Felix brushed himself off and started walking towards home. He wondered if Nathalie had told his father that he was missing yet. He pulled out his phone to check the time and saw he had missed quite a few texts. Unlocking his phone, they were from four people. Nathalie, Chloe, Bridgette, and Nino.

Bridgette: Did you bring Nino flowers? That's the most romantic thing I've ever seen! I'm so proud of you for putting yourself out there!

Bridgette: WHY DID YOU LEAVE? COME BACK. SWEEP HIM OFF HIS FEET. YOU TWO ARE MY OTP

There were six more messages from Bridgette with various threats of what she would do to him if he didn't return and romance Nino immediately. Okay, either they had not been as subtle as they'd hoped, or Bridgette thought they would make a good couple for other reasons. He would figure that out later.

Chloe: Uh please tell me you didn't show up at a *club* with a *bouquet* like some dork?

Nathalie: We're having a talk about what "I'm just stepping out for a minute, Nathalie" means when you get home.

There was a new calendar notification titled "Defining 'stepping out for a minute'" on the agenda for Monday.

Felix took a deep breath and opened Nino's text

Nino: Shit. I'm sorry, I think you got the wrong idea. Come back and let me explain?

Felix didn't want to let him explain. He didn't want to give Nino another chance to smash his heart to bits. But it was apparent that the foolish, hopeful bit of him hadn't had enough disappointment tonight. He walked back to the club, paid to get back in, and stood, the picture of awkward, off to the side of the DJ booth near a wall. He didn't expect Nino to be able to pick him out of the crowd, so he texted him.

Felix: Do you get a break during this or what?

It took less than a minute for Nino to respond, even as Felix watched how busy he was with his various DJing doodads.

Nino: In about 15, 20 mins I have a short break, meet me by the men's room?

Felix: Fine.

Felix waited by the exit, trying to decide if he was sticking around to hear Nino's explanation or not. The meaner parts of him wanted to leave now that Nino knew he was here. That would serve him right for crushing him with a single look. At the last second, seeing Nino descend from the booth, Felix pushed his way through the crowd.

"I get it, I screwed up," Felix said over the pounding music. "I got it wrong, you don't want more. That's fine. I just look like an idiot now."

"My family doesn't know about you, or that I'm involved with anyone," Nino said. "I want more. I want anything and everything you're willing to give me. But my family needs to find out from me, not from me falling to pieces and not being able to work my first big gig in front of them because of a hot guy with flowers. They're big on trust and open communication. Like, tell each other everything level of open. You're the only important thing I've ever kept from them in my life.”

"I... didn't even consider that your parents would be here," Felix said, crossing his arms. He hadn't had a parent at any of his performances since he was thirteen. "Did they say anything?"

"They thought I was freaking out from stage fright. My brother might have caught on though, he saw you leaving. He wouldn't say anything though, I don't think."

"I'm sorry."

The silence bothered Felix, especially not knowing how much longer Nino had until he had to return.

"What happened to the flowers?" Nino asked, smirking but unable to look at Felix fully.

"I slowly destroyed a few of them before chucking the rest in the trash."

"Too bad," Nino said. "I've never been given flowers before."

"Are we okay?" Felix asked. "You're not mad?"

“I mean, you jumped to conclusions and didn't think through coming here and risked our entire thing we have going- all apparently without much forethought- and almost made my relationship with my parents incredibly interesting.”

“I'm sorry,” Felix said, looking miserable.

Nino cupped Felix's face and kissed him with a gentleness that made Felix melt.

“It's the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for me.”

Something shifted (possibly the music but Felix didn't know it well enough to say for sure) and Nino pulled away with a sigh.

“I have to go. Can we talk tomorrow?”

Some of the residue of “I was so stupid” washed over the front of Felix's mind again and he suppressed a cringe. “Of course. Whenever you're available.”

Nino rolled his eyes and Felix almost flinched. Nino looked over the pathetic sight of confused and emotionally overburdened Felix and had to suppress a smile. He would never admit it, but Felix caring about him enough to be this affected, after months of emotionless private encounters felt good. But he wouldn't gloat. Felix had never gloated about Nino kissing him first.

“Stop overthinking. We'll talk tomorrow, but I've got a good feeling. I want this to work.”

“Me, too.”

Nino was gone less than a minute before a small ball of energy flung herself at Felix, her feet leaving the floor as she latched her arms around his shoulders.

“You came back! You guys have a shot at something real! You're gonna be so happy! I'm so happy!"

"For crying out loud, Bridgette, get off of me!"

[royalfoxfics]

Art by Twin Doodle

Ao3

FF.net

Chapter 1 The 14th of May

In which Chloe cries a lot, Adrien has an identity crisis, and Plagg is there.

 Despite what most of her classmates would assume, Chloe Bourgeois adhered to a very strict schedule.  Every Tuesday she had her nails done at her favorite salon.  Every Friday, after she was given her generous allowance, spent the afternoon going to the same expensive stores, in the same order, to ensure that her wardrobe was stocked with the latest fashions, even though her white blouse and yellow cardigan never went out of style.  Every Sunday afternoon was spent with Sabrina, either playing superheroes or making plans to keep their “peers” in line.   Every second Thursday of the month she attended her father’s staff meeting so that she knew what to say and how to act at the next public address.   And every year on the fourteenth of May, she cried.

 No matter what day of the week it was, no matter what obligations she had scheduled, Chloe Bourgeois disappeared from the eyes of the world on May fourteenth, and was not see again by anyone, until the next day when she would back to her normal, self-centered, intolerable self.  She always made sure to fake some generic illness building up the day prior, in case she had class or some important function she was supposed to attend as the mayor’s daughter that day.  So far, no one seemed to have caught on that she always got food poisoning on the same day every year, but anyone that knew Chloe Bourgeois knew better than to be anywhere near her when she was feeling ill and even more irritable than usual, so she was always left alone.  

 Completely alone.    

 She spent those long twenty-four hours sitting in her room and crying until she had no tears left. She didn’t put on makeup.  She didn’t shower.  She didn’t see or speak to anyone.  Even on the rare occasion that her father came to see her, her personal butler would tell him that she was asleep and not to be disturbed before he had even reached the elevator.  She only ate at the end of the evening right before she fell asleep from emotional exhaustion, and even then, it was only some simple bread and expensive mineral water. She couldn’t stomach anything more than that with the guilt and anger churning in her stomach.  

 All she did was cry and think.  She thought about all the unnecessarily horrible things she had done to random people that year.  She thought about all the completely necessary horrible things she had done to Marinette that year, though she almost felt a little bad for some of the meaner stuff. She thought about how horrible a daughter she was, about how she couldn’t really be the perfect little political asset her father needed her to be.  She thought about Adrien, and how they had gone from being practically family, to rarely speaking unless she was throwing herself at him to convince the world she was smitten with him.  And most of all, she thought about how disgusted Sophia Agreste would be with the monster she had become, and how much of a complete coward she was for not doing something to change it.

 In fact, despite all the monsters, bad guys, superheroes, and all-around magic that had forced its way into Chloe’s daily life, she had stubbornly done her best to keep to her regularly scheduled life of being a rich and vindictive brat.  She forcibly ignored any hint of magical consequence that may have flared up from time to time, despite the innumerable chances she had had to change her ways.  Only once a year did she allow herself to even consider doing something that could upset her life of luxurious monotony.  

 On May 14th, at around four o’clock, Chloe’s hand hovered over her phone for a good five to ten minutes.  She spent that entire time trying to will herself to pick it up and make a call that she had been trying to make for the past 10 years.  A call she hoped might finally be the start of her finally turning her life around.  But every year, fear and her own obstinace would ultimately win out over her guilt, and she’d give up in disgust.  

 Or her arm would get tired from hanging in the air for so long and then she’d give up in disgust.  

 It was just another part of her strictly scheduled life.  But a schedule was a good thing.  It meant safety and predictability.  It meant control, and she needed control.  If she didn’t have control then the carefully maintained lie that was “Chloe Bourgeois” would collapse.  Even when she was facing near certain death at the hands of some punily named super villain, she always kept control.  Whether she was whining about how the worst her would be murderer was doing was ruining her hair as she hung suspended over a pool of boiling soup, or complaining that she was going to be late for a spa appointment while she was being chased around by a dozen mind controlled minions, she always kept up the uncaring rich girl persona.  

 Granted, most of what she complained about really did get under her skin to a degree, so it was easy to just play it up a little.  

 However, on one particular May fourteenth, over a year after the first Akuma attack and the appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir, Chloe had finally picked up the phone.  She had even gotten as far as opening her contacts list and finding the name she wanted.  It was the closest she had ever come to making the call, but even though her finger was trembling less than an inch above the screen, she knew she wouldn’t do it.  She could already feel her courage drain as she looked at smiling face of Adrien Agreste.  

 What would he even think of her calling him on the anniversary of his mother’s death?  He probably didn’t even have his phone on anyway. He was probably with his father placing flowers on her grave, something she should have done years ago.  

 She curled her finger back into her fist and closed her eyes in defeat.  There would be no call this year either.  No heartfelt apology and tearful reunion with the only real friend she had ever had.  

 But there is a saying that fate helps those who help themselves, and while Chloe’s courage had failed at the last second it seemed that the world had either taken pity on her, or simply had enough of her attitude and was willing to provide that little bit of help she needed to get started.  

And it started, fittingly enough, with a bit of sarcasm.  

 “You know, as advanced as those things are, I think you still have to push the buttons to make them work.”

 Chloe’s head jerked up in surprise.  The phone slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor as she stared at what, impossibly, seemed to be Adrien Agreste himself leaning against the satin draped archway leading into her bedroom.  Her jaw fell open and she stared bewilderedly at him from her seat on the bed.  She blinked several times as Adrien, or at least what looked like Adrien, smiled casually and waved at her.  The two stared at each other a long time until Chloe finally closed her eyes and took a deep, collective breath.  

 “You are not Adrien,” she said finally.  

[kw1] 

“Really?” the not Adrien asked in surprise, looking down at himself.  “I certainly look like him.”  

 “You are not Adrien,” Chloe insisted, keeping her eyes shut. “Because Adrien isn’t here.”  

 “Ah, I see.”  Not Adrien said.  “Although the evidence would seem to say otherwise.”  

 “On the contrary,” Chloe said coolly, opening her eyes and fixing him with her best look of daunting bravado.  “I know Adrien isn’t here because it is impossible for anyone to be here.  Nobody could open my door without the key, and nobody has a key except for my butler and he would have announced you if he had let Adrien in, which he wouldn’t because he’s not supposed to let anyone in. So, you are not here.”

 “Fascinating,” the person who logically wasn’t there replied.  “So if I can’t be here, even though I obviously am, then that can only mean…”

 Chloe took another steadying breath and finished, “You’re a hallucination.  I’ve finally lost my mind, and I’m hallucinating Adrien Agreste in my bedroom.”  

 “Well, technically I think I’m still in the hall leading to your bedroom,” the hallucination corrected, looking down and adjusting his feet so they were completely behind the potted plants.  “And how do you know I’m not the real Adrien Agreste just coming to visit my oldest, dearest friend?”

 Chloe glared harder at whatever or whoever was with her and growled back, “Adrien doesn’t want to see me. Not after the way I’ve treated him.  Especially not today…”

 The anger left her voice at the end and she had to look away.  She felt the tears coming again and she let them fall, not caring if she had imaginary company.  

 “So you do remember.” The fake Adrien said softly.  He sounded slightly surprised, and she scoffed at him.  

 “Of course, I remember,” she said. “I was there.”  

 Silence hung in the air and Chloe began to wonder if the hallucination had disappeared.  Turning around, she saw that he had simply moved. He was now sitting in profile on the loveseat at the foot of her bed.  He looked at her and gave her a quick uncertain smile.  

 “Well, all the more reason for me to be here,” he said brightly.  Then his face fell and he added, “Maybe I’d like to spend her anniversary with someone who loved her too, for a change…”

 “You,” Chloe shook her head, “Adrien has his father.  I know he always complains about Uncle Gabriel being heartless but he couldn’t just leave his son alone on… on today. I’m sure they’re….  having dinner or…  visiting her or…  something…”

 It was the hallucination’s turn to scoff at her.  “You have no idea what he’s like, Chloe.”

 “Shut up!”  She snapped, turning away to face the wall again. “I don’t have to listen to someone who doesn’t even exist make me feel even worse about today!”  

  There was another long silence as Chloe felt the hot tears building up again.  Beating up on herself was one thing, but hallucinating Adrien to make her feel even worse about leaving him alone like this, that was really crossing a line with herself, she thought.  

 “Why not just call me and find out?”

 Chloe sighed and she wiped her eyes.

 “Because you hate me,” she said quietly.

 “I don’t hate you, Chloe,” the hallucination argued but Chloe spun back to face him and stood up yelling,

 “The real Adrien hates me! And if he doesn’t hate me he should! All I do is throw myself at him and creep him out like some kind of creepy stalker creep!  He’s the nicest boy in the world and I take advantage of him nearly every chance I get!  He used to be my brother, and I nearly kissed him at his own birthday party! Ech!”  

 Chloe nearly wretched and sat back down on the bed, burying her face in her hands to try to hide from the memory.  

 “Yeah, about that…” the hallucination said, also sounding quite uncomfortable.  “Glad to hear you don’t think of me that way, but why did you suddenly start acting like I was your boyfriend once I started going to school?”

 “Because I’m a Lesbian and I knew I could use you as cover without you ever wanting to actually go out with me,” Chloe replied, still distracted from the horrific and shameful memory.  

 “Well, you could have at least asked me about it first,” the hallucination replied rolling his eyes in annoyance.  

 There was another pause and then Chloe slowly straightened up and quietly repeated,

 “I’m a lesbian.”  

 She looked almost bewildered by her own statement and she said it again, though this time with more confidence.  

 “I am a lesbian.”

 “Yeeessss, I heard you the first time Chloe.” the hallucination said slowly, arching an eyebrow at her.

 Chloe smiled and ducked her head back down to her hands.  She her body began to shudder and it became apparent that she was giggling.

 “Uh… Chloe?”

 “I’m GAY!” Chloe exclaimed, throwing her arms and legs out and falling back onto the bed in a fit of laughter.  

 “Yes.  Yes, you are.”  The hallucination agreed, awkwardly watching as the girl on the bed continued to laugh and laugh until fresh tears began for form in her eyes.  

 As she lay there completely oblivious to everything but herself, a small back creature with lime green eyes flew out from the hallucination’s shirt to stare at her as well.

 “Uh, you sure this is the one you want to pick?” it asked, looking at Chloe uncertainly.  Hallucination Adrien gave it a warning look and shoved it back into his shirt pocket.  

 Eventually, Chloe’s laughter ran its course and she simply laid on the bed, still smiling and giggling every so often as she tried to catch her breath.

 “Enjoy your new discovery?” the hallucination asked, but Chloe just dismissively waved him off.  

 “Please, I’ve know I was gay since I went to the Agreste swimsuit fashion show when I was eight.  I just… I’ve never said it out loud before.”  She gave another contented giggle and smiled.  “It feels… nice.”

 The hallucination smiled back too.  “Well I’m happy to be the first one you’ve said it too.”  

 “Please, you don’t count,” Chloe countered.  “You’re not even real.”  

 The hallucination huffed, and crawled forward onto the bed, the mattress sagging under his weight.

 “Chloe.”

 “Hmm?”

 The hallucination reached forward and flicked her sharply on the nose.  

 “OW!”  Chloe sat up rubbing her nose and glared at Adrien. “What the hell was that fo-”  Her voice faded out as she stared at the satisfied smile of the boy sitting next to her.  

 She looked him up and down several times and then reached out and poked him.  He let himself lean back a little with the poke.  Still smiling he said,  

 “Hello, Chloe.”

 Her face went as white as the silk sheets they were sitting on.  

 “You can’t tell anyone!” She screamed, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.  “I’ll give you whatever you want!  How much do you- Shit!  You’re richer than me.  I’ll, Ah, Uhm.  I’ll destroy your- um.  No one will ever- crap.  My father will hear of- NO!!”

 Chloe was hyperventilating and panicking so much she seemed to be terrifying herself with her own threats. Her eyes were unfocused and she was shaking badly as she held on to Adrien with all her strength.  Scared that she might hurt herself, or at least traumatize herself, Adrien did his best to calm her down before she passed out.

 It took several minutes of rubbing her arms and pleading with her to just breath before Chloe seemed to come back to reality again.  She was still crying and trembling, but he had gotten her to let go of his shoulders and take one of his hands instead.   He used his other arm to pull her into a slightly awkward one armed hug.  She continued to tremble, but he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze every so often and eventually she started to squeeze his hand back and nod when he talked to her.  Her tears began to slow, and he breath evened out a little.

 “Just breath Chloe,” he asked again, giving her hand another squeeze.  That was what you were supposed to do to comfort someone wasn’t it?  It was what he had always done for his mother when she was in the hospital.  “It’s going to be all right.  Okay?”

 Chloe sniffed, and tried to dry her eyes.  “I’m just… I’m sorry, I…  Please don’t tell anyone about me.  If my father ever found out I could be disowned and have to live off the streets in a box and… and have to eat pizza or starve or… something I don’t know, just please Adrien, you have to keep this a secret!“  She looked at him such sincere fear, although it was hard for him not to grin at some of her more specific fears.

 “Chloe, I…  Look, I promise I won’t tell anyone,” Adrien assured her.

 “Really?” she asked. He had never seen her look so vulnerable before.  Her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying, and her face was completely bare of all make up.  She didn’t look like Chloe Bourgeois anymore, just a terrified girl who was in dire need of a hug and a fresh box of tissues.  

 He squeezed her hand again and gave her a comforting smile.  “Come on Chloe, am I the kind of guy who would out anybody like that? Much less my oldest, dearest, most gayest friend ever?”  He added, jokingly grabbing her around the shoulders with both arms and very awkwardly hugging her in mock plaintiveness.   Despite her recent panic attack, she laughed at his overly dramatic theatrics.

 “Okay I believe you!” she tittered, putting her hand on his face and shoving him off when he tried to jokingly rub their cheeks together.  He laughed and let go, leaning back to give her space and look her over.  She stuck out her tongue and then began fixing her hair so she could pretend to ignore him.  He chuckled.  They were both being childish, and it felt wonderful.

 “It’s not like this news to me anyway,” he said, sitting up and straightening out his shirt.  

 Chloe stopped part way through redoing her pony tail and looked at him quizzically.  “...What?”

 He gave her a deadpan look. “You’ve never been exactly ‘subtle’ about your love of other women, Chloe.”  

 Chloe scoffed in mild outrage and looked at him with her mouth agape.  “Excuse me?  I have never once let even the slightest hint slip, to anyone, that I was anything less than straight.  In all of my sixteen years never once have I so much as let my gaze linger to long on another female.”

 “When we were kids you always insisted that you were the one who got a kiss from the princess whenever we played superheroes.”  Adrien countered flatly.  Chloe just scoffed again.

 “I was the hero, you were the side kick.  Everyone knows the hero is the one who gets the kiss.”

 “You pestered dad constantly if he could design matching wedding dresses instead of a dress and tux after you saw him designing the autumn wedding line one year.”

 “That could have been for a double wedding!  They were… quite popular at the time I remember.  Anyway he drew it up for me didn’t he?  So, he couldn’t have thought it was a bad idea.”

 “You had him wrapped around your little finger the same as mom did.”  

 “Oh, what-ever.”  

 “And then there’s your oh so well hidden crush on Ladybug-“

 Here Chloe actually put up her hand to stop him.  “Okay, Ladybug doesn’t count.  There isn’t a man, woman, or cat in Paris that isn’t in love with Ladybug.”

 Adrien opened his mouth to argue, but upon reflection simply said, “…touché.”

 Chloe gave him a victorious smirk and lowered her hand.  They both savored the nostalgic feeling of bickering with each other for a minute or two.

 “I’m glad you came here today.”  Chloe said quietly.  “It’s… I just miss her a lot, you know? And I really missed you too, even if I’m the reason we…”  She started to cry again, and Adrien pulled her into a hug without a second thought. She wrapped her arms around him too and buried her face in his shoulder.  

 “I missed you too, Chloe.” He whispered, tears forming in his eyes too.  

 The two of them hugged and cried for a long time.  After they finished they reminisced about their times together, about their memories of Aunt Sophia and, to a lesser extent, Uncle Gabriel.  He had never been the most attentive parental figure to either of them, spending most of his time in his office working on designs until Aunt Sophia drug him out to spend time with his family, but Chloe was still shocked when she heard the extent to which he had distanced himself from his son.  

 “I’m so sorry, Adrien. If I had known I…”  

 “It’s okay.” He said, after taking a deep breath.  “You had your own problems to deal with.  It can’t have been easy growing up alone in here either.”  He said, looking around the luxurious, but coldly impersonal looking penthouse.  Aside from a few stuffed animals on the bed, there wasn’t much visible in the apartment that showed off any actual personality.  

 “It’s not that bad.” Chloe said, following his gaze around the room.  “I’ve got everything a girl could ask for, literally.”

 “Except freedom to be yourself.”  He argued. Chloe looked away.  

 “Everything has a price…”

 “Chloe,-’

 “So how did you get here?”  she asked suddenly.  “I was serious, nobody is supposed to be allowed up here.  Serge’s not even supposed to let my father up here today.”  

 Adrien looked unhappy about her defensive change of topic for a second, but then he seemed to change his mind and gave her a mischievous smile. “Well, you should probably lock your terrace door if you don’t want visitors.”  

 Chloe blinked and looked at him as if she hadn’t heard him correctly.  “…huh?”

 “The terrace.”  He repeated, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “Or veranda or whatever you call it in a hotel.  You really should put a lock on it or something.  Any half decent cat burglar can just walk right in.”

 Chloe looked from him to the glass doors just visible through the large windows of her bedroom.

 “I guess, but what does that have to do with… Wait… do you mean you?”  She laughed.  “Adrien, please.  There is no way you climbed up five stories to my balcony.”  

 “It’s easier than you think,” he said with a smile.  Her laughter died a little but she still looked at him skeptically.   He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.  “I actually, uh…  I didn’t come here to talk about mom.  Though I’m really glad we did.”  

 Her expression softened.

 “Me too,” she told him. She gave him a grateful smile. “So what did you come here to talk about?  However you came here, anyway.”

 He didn’t answer at first, but instead he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small wooden box. The wood was so darkly varnished it looked almost black, but it was streaked with bits of deep red highlighting along the sides.  On top was an almost oriental looking design painted, no, carved in to the wood and given that same blood red color.  On one side were two hinges that she could tell at a glance were made of real gold.  

 From the size and hexagonal shape, she quickly guessed it was some kind of jewelry box, but while design looked antique, the shine of the varnish and the dark rich color of the red paint made it look new.  She was sure of three things however:  

 First: old or new, it was definitely handcrafted, and very expensive.  

 Second: it was part of a set.  The design and craftmanship was exquisite but not overly ornate.  The creator could have gone into far more detail but chose not to.  The only time Chloe had seen such restraint used on something as ornamental as a jewelry box was when it was part of a set and all the pieces had to be identical.  Going by the level of detail, she guessed there were around six, at most seven boxes like this in existence.  

 And third: it wouldn’t go with a thing in her wardrobe.  

 She looked from him to the odd box with a questioning eyebrow.  Adrien just gave her an apologetic smile for some reason.  

 “Since your trusting me with your big secret I guess it’s only fair if I tell you mine?”

 He didn’t sound entirely sure of himself, so Chloe gently put one hand over the box.  

 “Adrien, it’s okay.  I trust you.”  Even she was surprised by how sincere she sounded, but it was true. It was a little scary actually, trusting someone not because she had paid them off or had threatened them to keep quiet, but simply because she believed that they wouldn’t hurt her if given the chance.  

 “Besides,” she added with a shrug.  “I doubt you could be involved in anything even remotely scandalous.”

 Adrien looked honestly offended.    “What?  I’ll have you know I have one of the most scandalous secrets in Paris.  Something everyone in the world is just dying to know!”

 “In this little box?” she asked, plucking it from his hand and holding it up for closer inspection. “What’s in here, the designs for your father’s fall line?”  She made to open the lid but Adrien quickly stopped her.

 “Actually, that’s for later,” he replied, carefully taking the box from her and setting it on the bed behind them.  “But I think you’re going to want to try on what’s inside way more than any of my dad’s designs.”

 “Oooo,” Chloe said, reaching for the box again.  “Now I have to know what’s inside.”  

 Adrien caught her wrist again and tutted at her.  “First things first Chloe, there’s someone I want you to meet.”  

 He stood up, pulling her attention away from the tempting box and standing in front of her as he reached into his inner shirt pocket again.  At least, that’s what she thought he was going to do.  Instead he just held his shirt open slightly and a small black… thing flew out of his shirt and did a few quick loops in the air before saying,

 “Finally!  If I had to listen to you two be all ‘happy family’ any longer I was gonna start throwing up rainbows.”  

 Under normal circumstances Chloe would probably have screamed and begun throwing the closest object within reach at the site of any strange, black, flying, and potentially magically corruptible creature, regardless of whether it seemed to be literal bosom buddies with Adrien or not.  But between wallowing in her grief most of the day, her accidental step out of the closet, and her long awaited reconciliation with Adrien, she was just too emotionally drained make such a dramatic reaction so she instead settled for,

 “…oh.”

 “Chloe, I would like to introduce you to Plagg, my Kwami.”

 “Cool,” she said, watching the little creature give her a dismissive wave as it looked around.  “…What’s a commie?”  

 “Kwami,” Adrien corrected, watching Plagg as he ignored Chloe and flew about to room, probably looking for something to eat.  “And he’s kind of a…  guardian spirit sort of thing?”  

 “Oh…”  Chloe said again, watching Plagg fly around.  “You know, I’m starting to think I’m hallucinating again.”

 “Well could you hallucinate me up some Camembert,” Plagg asked as he checked under the bed.  “I’m starving here!”  

 “Camembert?”  Chloe repeated, looking from Plagg to Adrien in confusion, and slight disgust.  Adrien put his hand to his own face in embarrassment.  

 “Plagg, would you cut it out already!  There is no cheese here so could you please just join the conversation?”  Plagg grumbled at him, but flew back to hover next to Adrien.

 “Thank you.”  Adrien said, exasperatedly.  He turned back to Chloe.  “Chloe, you are not hallucinating, but you are about to see something amazingly unbelievable.” He added with a grin.  

 Chloe just frowned at him pityingly in response and looked over at Plagg.  Plagg looked back at her before looking at Adrien and also gave him a befuddled look.  

 “…What?” Adrien asked.

 “Kid, how exactly are you going to convince her that she isn’t hallucinating, if you’re about to show her something unbelievable?”  

 “Yeah, sorry Adrikins, but you’re not really helping your case here.”  

 He looked at her flatly before reaching out to flick her on the nose again.  

 “Okay okay already!” she yelped, scooting back on the bed and covering her smarting nose with her hand. “You’re real I get it!  Now stop hurting your poor oldest dearest friend already.”  

 He smiled and held up his hands in a show of peace while Plagg very animatedly rolled his eyes at them.

 “Alright, let’s get a move on already.  The soon we finish here the sooner we get to the food!”  

 “Fine,” Adrien conceded. He and Plagg moved around to the foot off the bed and made sure he had ample space.  “Now watch closely.  You are the only person to ever see this.”

 “Well, aren’t I the lucky one?” Chloe said, rolling her eyes.  Then her brain caught up with her snark instinct.  “Wait, see what?  Plague isn’t your big secret?”  

 “Plagg,” Adrien corrected.  “And kind of, he’s only part of it.”  

 “Will you just show her already!”  

 Adrien grumbled something about no one appreciating a proper build up and finally proclaimed,

 “Plagg, claws out!”

 Chat Noir always loved the transformation process.  Putting on the ears and mask with a swish of his hand, directing the sparkling energy from his chest outward to form his suit, and finally feeling his tail burst into being to complete the ensemble.  He felt unbelievably cool nearly every time he transformed.  He expected his first audience to be stunned into silence, or perhaps gasping and stammering in shock and confusion.  He certainly didn’t expect laughter.  

 And yet, that was exactly what Chloe was doing.  Laughing. She saw his confused and slightly hurt look and tried to stifle her laughter.  

 “Sorry,” she said unconvincingly, still smiling from behind her hand. “Sorry just… you actually choreographed a whole transformation sequence for Chat Noir?  You even stuck a pose at the end and everything.  I just… wow.  No honestly, it’s super impressive how dedicated you are.  I should totally come up with one for Ladybug too!  Of course, I actually have to put on my suit.”  

 Chat Noir let his arms fall to his sides and stared at her.  “Uh, Chloe?  You do understand what’s going on, right?”  

 “Of course, I do Adrien. I understand completely,” she replied earnestly.  “And really it isn’t that big a deal.  I mean, yeah you went way more into it than most, but that kind of dedication is something to be admired.”  

 “Chloe, I think you’re missing something here,” Chat said carefully.  “I mean, you did see the whole thing, right?  Plagg sucked into the ring, magic sparks, Adrien Agreste turning into Chat Noir right before your eyes?”

 “And an excellent performance it was.”  Chloe replied, smiling encouragingly.  “Seriously, I’m blown away.  You’ve gone just all out on this.  It’s almost like I’m looking at the real Chat Noir.”

 Enhanced senses or not, Chat Noir couldn’t believe his ears.  Stammering he frantically gestured at himself and exclaimed,

 “You are looking at the real Chat Noir!”

 Chloe gave him a patient look.  “Adrien, I’ve spent quite a bit of time around the real Chat Noir and can know for a fact that you aren’t him.  It’s a very good costume, and I’m not quite sure how you did the actually change, but I can tell it’s you under that mask.  I mean it only covers your cheek bones.”  

 Chat Noir continued to gape at her in disbelief.  With a sigh of pity, she stood up and walked over to him.  

 “Look, mask aside there are a couple other little details you missed.  Just a couple little things.”

 “Like what!?”  Chat Noir screamed.  Chloe pursed her lips and gave him a look that said she did not appreciate his attitude.

 “Well, for a start, your hair’s all wrong,” she snapped, reaching up to take one of his stray locks between her thumb and forefinger.  “Chat Noir’s hair looks like a bunch of bananas turned into a wig.  Yours is much to…  uhm…” She faltered, blinking at the “banana” styled bundle of hair she was holding as if she only just realized it was there.  

 She quickly let go of it and shook her head dismissively.  “Never mind.  You’re off on the eyes too of course.  Chat’s eyes are much more…  uhm…”  

 As she looked into his eyes she blinked again, as if suddenly able to see them properly for the first time.  “Well, er… Chat Noir is much Taller than…” She paused, holding a hand level with the top of Chat’s head.  

 “…Shorter?” she tried again, moving her hand up so it was level with the tips of his ears.  She faltered there too.  And on the next correction she tried to make.  And the next.  And the next.  

 Chat Noir’s confidence began to come back as Chloe began circling him, pointing out a flaw, and then trailing off when she realized it wasn’t a flaw at all.  After the twentieth time, where she tried almost desperately to say that his bell was crooked, she stopped and just stared at him in wonder.  

 ‘About time,’ he thought.

 “What’s the matter” he asked, giving her his best Cheshire grin.  “Chat got your tongue?”  

 The pun seemed to be the last straw, as Chloe took a step back, clutching at her head and said, “But you can’t be… Adrien?”  

 His triumph was short lived as Chloe stared at him in shock just a moment longer before suddenly wincing in a contorted grimace and clutching her head with both hands.  Her knees buckled and she would have collapsed on the floor had Chat Noir not cried out in alarm and bolted to her side to catch her.  As he steadied her, she put one hand on his shoulder, while the other remained clutched to her head in pain.  He helped her back to the side of the bed again and let her sit down.  She refused to lay down completely when he tried to make her, but after a few seconds she was able to open her eyes again.  

 “Are you okay?”  Chat Noir asked.  He felt stupid the moment the words left his lips.  

 “No.” Chloe spat, rubbing her temples and keeping her eyes pointedly fixed on her own lap.  “I feel like someone just cataclysmed my head.”

 “Sorry,” he said meekly. He sat next to her awkwardly, unsure of what to do or if he was even still welcome in her company.  Chloe stopped rubbing her head and looked up at him. Her eyes looked frustrated, then confused, then amazed.  

 “It really is you,” she said, sitting up and staring at him in awe.  “You’re Chat Noir.”  

 “The one and only,” he said, masking his anxiety with his signature charm.  She gave him a single scoff and shook her head, smiling.  

 “How did I not see it? How did I not recognize you immediately! You don’t even change your voice!”

 Chat Noir Shrugged. “Ehe, it’s all in the attitude.” This only made her look more worried and confused so he added, “I think there must be some magic that keeps people from recognizing me.  I mean, both of my faces are on TV nearly every day, but no one’s ever put them together. I should probably ask Plagg about it actually...”

 “Well, thanks for using me as your guinea pig,” Chloe grumbled, going back to rubbing her temples.

 Chat winced at her tone. “Chloe, I’m sorry.   I swear, I had no idea it would hurt like that!”

 Chloe took a deep sigh and put her hand back in her lap.  “It’s alright.  I’m not mad at you, I just…  I feel so…  blonde right now.  It’s like there was wall separating Adrien and Chat Noir in my brain. They just couldn’t have any correlation with one another at all.  But when I started looking for reasons why they couldn’t, when you were right in front of me, it was like that wall just… broke.  I’m fine now, but… wow.”  

 Chat Noir hummed in response as he thought about her description.  It certainly sounded like magic alright.  

 After a while Chloe broke the silence.

 “So…”  she said, innocently looking around and casually swinging her feet. “Chat Noir huh?”

 “Yep.”  Chat confirmed.  

 “Hmmm.”  Her eyes slid over to him with a hopeful glint in them. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me who Ladybug is too, huh?”  

 Chat gave her a playfully chiding look.  

 “Hey,”  She said with a shrug, “a girl’s got to have her priorities.”

 “…touché,” he conceded with a nod, then added with a sigh, “and between you and me I’d love to know too.”

 “Wait.”  Chloe blinked in surprise.  “You mean you don’t know who your own partner is?”  

 Chat Noir shook his head sadly.  “Our kwamis are pretty big on us keeping total secrecy, even among other miraculous bearers.”  

 Chloe gaped at him.  

 “Hold on, you two protect your secret identities so much you don’t even know who each other is?  But you’re telling me?”  

 “Because I have a very important reason to,” Adrien said excitedly.  He adjusted himself so his entire body was facing toward her.  “Chloe, do you know why I became Chat Noir?”

 “…So you could hit on Ladybug?” she ventured.

 “No.  Though being close to my lady was an unexpected perk,” he admitted.  “I got my miraculous the same day I tried to go to school the first time.  My dad wouldn’t let me though, and he made Gorilla and Nathalie bring me back.  I felt like a prisoner!  Then I found my Miraculous and met Plagg.   Becoming Chat Noir gave me the freedom I wanted for so long!  I can do anything like this!  Be anyone!  Adrien Agreste has to be Paris’s poster child and be a perfect little gentleman twenty four seven, but Chat Noir can do anything he wants!”

 “As long as he’s being a hero,” Chloe reminded him.  Chat smiled.

 “Everything has a price,” he parroted.  “But it’s so worth it, Chloe.  I get to be dashing, charming, funny, and most of all free!  All I have to do in return is fight some bad guys once in a while and hang out with the most wonderful woman in Paris.”

 “While nearly getting killed in the process,” Chloe added while rolling her eyes.  Still, there was a wistful look in her eyes as they settled on his ring, and that was all the encouragement Chat needed.  He grabbed the ornate wooden box from behind them on the bed.  She looked from him to the box curiously.  

 “It is amazing, Chloe. And I can’t think of anyone else in Paris who would appreciate that freedom as much as I do.”  He offered her the box.

 Chloe looked confused a second longer before her eyes went so wide they seemed in danger of popping out of her face.

  “You mean this is a…”

 “Uh hu,” he said, grinning.

 “You want me to…”

 “Yeah!”  He nodded enthusiastically.

 “Are you…”

 “I am,” he cut her off again, looking her in the eye and letting his excitement give way to certainty.

 Truth be told, he hadn’t come there expecting to offer it to her that night.  He had just meant to see if he could lay some ground work with her, maybe test her to see if she really was as bad as she made out to be with their classmates, find out why she acted so flirty with him.  She had far exceeded all far his expectations and he was certain she was the one for the job now.  He just knew it in his gut.  Now all he had to do was wait for her to accept.

 “Are you out of your mind!” she yelled furiously, standing up and staring at him in horror.

 Of course, Chloe always had a way of surprising him.  

 “…What?” he asked, completely lost as to where he had gone wrong.

 “I’m Chloe Bourgeois!” she said in way of answer, gesturing to herself franticly.  

 “Yes,” Chat said slowly, not seeing the problem.  Chloe groaned and slapped her face.  

 “Chloe Bourgeois, the queen bitch of Paris!”

 “language,” Chat chided, but Chloe was in no mood for it.  

 “I am the single most horrible person in Paris, Adrien!  I have bribed, blackmailed, and bullied every man, woman, child, and retail worker to ever cross my path.  I publicly humiliated a boy for asking me out with a jeweled broach!  Then I had a girl locked in a bathroom so that I could stand next to you in a picture to prove how straight I was!   I’ve gotten other students suspended by threatening the principle, Hawkmoth should give me a medal for the amount of Akumas I’ve made for him!  There isn’t a person in Paris who hasn’t wished that Chloe Bourgeois was dead.”

 She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor.  There was a glow of light and a crackling sound and she turned to see Adrien Agreste standing in front of her again.    

 “I never did,” he told her.

 Chloe actually gasped. She was sure that if she had any tears left she would have started crying again, but they had been spent. He walked over to her and took her hands gently.

 “You’re family Chloe. I could never wish you were… We’ve lost to much of our family already.”  He wiped his eyes.  “But you’re right.  You are pretty terrible to people.  I’m the one who has to clean up your mess you know.  I’ve fought every Akuma of every person you hurt.  I’ve heard every one of our classmates talk about how you ruined their life.  I watched the caring girl I used to love like a sister and play super heroes with be called pure evil by my friends!  It broke my heart every time I heard someone try to say your name, because your right, Chloe Bourgeois is the most hated person in Paris. I can’t even argue that anymore!”

 Chloe looked down at the floor between them, ashamed.  “I can see why you’d think I’d make a good superhero,” she quipped, bitterly.

 Adrien looked at her carefully for a moment and then said, “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you something for a long time, Chloe.”

 “Are my sunglasses prescription?”  

 He actually was curious about that, but Adrien refused to let her changer the subject this time.  

 “Why?  Why do you act like this, Chloe?  What happened to you?”

 “…Why shouldn’t I act like this?  I’m rich, I’m beautiful, I’m the Mayor’s daughter.  Why not enjoy it?”  

 Chloe tried to crossed her arms again but Adrien kept his grip on her hands.  She wriggled awkwardly for a second but still refused to look him.

 “Is it because if me?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.  “Is it because I left you alone for so long?”

 Her heart nearly stopped when she heard the anguish in his voice.  “What?  No! Adrien no, I left you alone after she died, remember?  I’m the one who stopped visiting and left you alone in that house!”  

 “But I could have gone after you!”  He argued desperately.  “Something happened to you to make you like this, and I should have been there to help you after mom…”  

 “…Life happened to me, Adrian.”  Her voice was mournful as she turned and looked out the window and gazed out over Paris. “There’s nothing you could have done to protect me from that.  Most kids get normal families and like the people their supposed to, but they have to work till they’re eighty just to afford a carboard box to live in.  I get a penthouse and some magic words that get me whatever I want, but I have to be the person I’m told to be.  That’s how life works.  You read your lines off the teleprompter, or you sit in the audience.”

 Adrien watched her and the city for a minute before asking, “Did you ever want the box and the family instead?”

 “No.”  Chloe’s expression hardened.  “I wanted it all. The family, the penthouse, the girlfriend, even the box too just so it’s mine.  I wanted all of it, Adrien.”  She scowled. “But you’re not supposed to have it all. So, I make do with what I have and hate the people who have what I don’t.”

 “Chloe,”

 “I hate them, Adrien! I hate all our stupid perfect classmates with their perfect little families.  I hate all those stupid peasants who don’t have to worry about their father disowning them because having a gay daughter might hurt their chances of becoming prime minister someday.  I hate Marinette for being such the perfectly perfect back stabbing bitch that everyone thinks is so wonderful!  I hate you and Ladybug for saving me all the time when I don’t deserve it!  I hate everything!”

 She practically screamed the last words before collapsing onto the floor.  Her body was wracked with dry sobs and her mind was dizzy with hate, pain, and dehydration.  Adrien looked at her helplessly.  He had no idea what to say, or what to do.  Fortunately for both of them, there was still one person left in the room.  

 “So the world sucks and it’s not fair.”  Plagg said, floating off from his spot on the bed where he had been watching them. “Congratulations, you’ve already figured out what takes most of you humans’ half your life span.”  He landed in front of Chloe, who looked down at him with a tired, and angry expression.  

 “Look,” he told her seriously, which came as quite a surprise to Adrian.  “I’m the Kwami of destruction, so I’m not really good the comforting thing but here goes.  You’re going to die.”

 To his credit, that did get Chloe to stop sobbing.  All she could do was stare at him, then look over at Adrien, who looked like he wanted to die too now rather than be affiliated with Plagg in anyway.  

 “Just hear me out here.” Plagg insisted.  “You are going to die right?  You’re human, that’s what humans do.  They live for a little while, and then they die.  We Kwami’s have pretty long life spans, but we spend most it asleep in our miraculous until some human needs us, and even then we usually only stay awake until their done with us.  So you know what I do when I wake up?  I enjoy it. Every second of it.  No matter who owns me, if we’re on the good side or bad, I try to enjoy it, cause my time is limited, and so’s yours!  

 “I’ll be honest, cause life is too short to beat around the bush you know, I thought Adrien’s brain had gone overripe when he said he wanted you to have the miraculous.  But after gettin’ to know you better tonight, he’s right.  You should have it.  Because you’re miserable.  You get what life’s all about, having fun, and you can’t join the party so you gotta make it miserable for the folks that can.  I can respect that.  But,”

 Plagg flew back to the bed quickly and returned carrying the box.  He placed it on the floor between them and continued.  

 “What the kid tried to explain before is this is your ticket in.  Everybody hate’s Chloe Bourgeois right?  From the sound of things, you want a break from her more than anyone. Well with this you’ll get a second life! Sure you’ll have to risk it fighting a few monsters, but Ladybug’s magic fixes everything anyway.  But for a little bit of work, you get a clean slate. No, fathers, no expectations, you really do get to be whoever you want.  And trust me, the ladies love the mask.”  

 “You should know,” Adrien added to Chloe, giving her a knowing smile.  

 She was stunned however. Clean slate?  It was impossible.  Everyone in Paris knew who she was, she’d be recognized instantly. But then, she hadn’t known who Adrien was even after he showed her, so maybe no one would know who she was too. Still, what Plagg really suggesting what that she could be…

 “A gay super hero?” Even when she said it out loud it sounded ridiculous.  

 “Why not?” Adrien asked excitedly.  

 “Seriously, not the first time it’s been done.”  Plagg told her.

 “Yeah, but not in Paris?” Chloe chided him.  “Being gay isn’t illegal but they aren’t openly welcomed either.”  

 “It’s the city of love,” Adrien said, making a dramatic swoon.  “Nobody really cares.  Besides, what better way to meet the ladies of our fair city then by swooping them off their feet to safety.”  

 “Yeah because that’s worked so well for you, hasn’t it lover boy?”  Chloe replied, rolling her eyes at him again.  Adrien wilted somewhat.  

 “Well… It’s kind of hard to sweep a girl to safety when she’s actively fighting the danger”  

 “The point is,” Plagg said, trying to keep them from getting side tracked again.  “If freedom to flirt is what you want, this is how you get it.” He tapped on the box again.  

 Chloe looked from him to the box and bit her lip.  She looked to Adrien but he just smiled and nodded. Nervously, she reached down, and picked up the box.  Slowly, she began to open it.  

 “I am a cat!  Just hanging out!”

 Everybody jumped as the second verse to Jagged Stone’s number one hit began blaring through the air. Chloe nearly dropped the box on Plagg and had to clutch at her racing heart while she glared at Adrien as he frantically searched his pockets for his phone to silence the alarm.  

 “Seriously Adrien?”  

 “Hey, it’s a good song” he said, finally fishing the phone out and silencing it.  “We gotta go.  Nathalie will be calling me for down for dinner soon.”

 Plagg made his enthusiasm for the evening meal well known as shook her head Chloe stood up to escort them out.  A few minutes later, Chat Noir was strolling out onto the terrace with Chloe following behind with an amused expression.

 “So, you do the whole dance every time?”

 Chat Noir looked up at the sky and sighed exasperatedly.  

 “It’s not a dance it’s… You know what, forget it.  You’ll understand soon enough.”  

 Chloe hummed in agreement and looked at the box she was still carrying.  

 “You know I’m still not sure about this, right?”

 “It’s worth it Chloe.” Chat told her, hopping up onto the railing.  “Look, why don’t spend tonight just relaxing and taking it easy.  Just hold on to the box for now and we can get started on teaching you the ropes tomorrow after school?”  

 Knowing it was Adrien under that mask, Chloe suddenly felt very uneasy seeing him balancing precariously over a five-story drop.  She knew Chat Noir never fell, but she still reached up and grabbed his arm anyway.  

 “You know you could just walk across the street.  We can literally see your front door from here,” she suggested.  He smiled at her and squatted down on the rail to look her eye to eye.  

 He carefully removed her hand from his arm and held it between his.  

 “True, but remember what Plagg said.  Our time is limited, so enjoy it.”  And with that he let go of her hand and launched himself backwards into the air. Chloe almost screamed out his name, but caught herself before she did.  Instead she just huffed and shook her head as she watched Paris’s favorite cat pole-vault and backflip his way to the back of the Agreste Mansion.  

 “Show off.”  

 With an affectionate smile she turned and went back inside.  Chat was right, it was nearly dinner time, and for the first time she was ending Sophia Agreste’s anniversary without her stomach churning with bad butterflies.  She grabbed her mineral water and drained the whole bottle in one go.  Not very lady like, but then, who cared really? Catching site of herself in the reflection off one of her windows she cringed.  Had she really spent the entire afternoon with Adrien looking like that? It was a good thing he was family, anyone else would have to be killed for seeing her in such a state.  Making her way to the bathroom grabbed another bottle of mineral water and put the box in a place of honor atop her Ladybug pillow, before stepping into the bathroom to freshen up.  

 She thought about what she would like Serge to bring her for dinner as she ran herself a bath and tried to keep herself from dry sobbing again after getting a good look at her swollen red eyes.   She didn’t notice the heavily varnished box begin to slip from atop the round and fuzzy ladybug pillow.  No sooner had she closed the door than the box fell off the pillow and the bed and bounced off the stairs, popping open and releasing an orb of golden light.  

     Author’s Notes:

 Regarding the lateness of this chapter:  As you can tell, this chapter took a lot longer to write than was anticipated.  I blame Chloe.  Entire pages were deleted and completely rewritten several times because the girl would just not stop talking I kept losing the plot thread.  I think I must have written another chapter’s worth of just rambling between Chloe and Adrien.  Several times I’d have to stop writing the conversation I was working on and go back to see if I have already written it somewhere else in that draft.  There was a lot of Chloe’s character that had to be gone into, or at least touched upon in this chapter, and I’m still worried that too much was crammed in at once.

 Regarding Adrien: Adrien is a cinnamon roll.  He’s got a bit more of a lip on him now after spending a year with Plagg, but he is still a cinnamon roll.  Just to clarify, he knows which Kwami is in the box, although he hasn’t met them personally.  A bit more about this will be gone into in later chapters, but that is one of the key reasons he picked Chloe over, say, Nino or Alya.  The moment he heard “Queen” he thought Chloe.

 Regarding Plagg:  Plagg is a really fun character to write once I figured out how I wanted to write him.  I can summarize my take on him in one word, nihilistic.   In two words, positively nihilistic.  As he said, he’s the Kwami of destruction.  He understands better than anyone how fragile and fleeting life is, and rather than despair at it, he embraces all the time he has and encourages those around him to do the same.  I think this maybe a fairly cannon interpretation of him too, though I’m ashamed to say that he only clicked with me as I was writing the final draft of the ending.  Originally, I just had him complain that they kids were wasting time and he sped of the process so he could go eat finally.  

 Regarding Chloe’s hatred of Marinette and her fears of being disowned and of Pizza:  Two of these will be gone into in detail in later chapters, one not so much.  I leave it to you to guess which.  

[moonshroooms]

Hey, let’s talk about the awesome kids I have as neighbors :D

So there are a few kids in my building who like to come over and play video games. Them, along with my friend/their older brother Tay, all roast each other and play video games on the weekends (though it has been sans Tay, since he’s off in the army for a while ; w ;). The kids still come over on occasion regardless. I tend to refer to them as “my kids,” to my friends. Most of these kids are siblings, except for two, who aren’t related to the other like, 5 or so, but are cousins to each other.

First up is

Nyla: She’s a cute little, six or so?, year old. For her age, she’s pretty good a smash bros, though obviously she’s not great, cuz she’s only six. She doesn’t come around as often anymore (mostly because I grew very tired of essentially babysitting. Smash isn’t quite as fun when one of your opponents has a hard time getting back on stage, and interrupts the FITE you’re trying to have with someone else, as well as getting pouty and crying when she loses a lot. Not fun at all). When she is here and plays though, we have realized she is not good enough to be an opponent (obviously), but dangerous enough to not be ignored (Little Mac is her favorite and that sucker hits hard). We call her the Stage Hazard.

 Next we have Young, about 10 or 11 or something like that. Young’s kind of a spazzy kid. And I feel like I might be making bad assumptions or something, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was autistic or something of that nature (keeping in mind that I don’t know, and it certainly doesn’t make a difference to me if he is, just something I’ve thought might be possible). I also have no idea what signs of autism are, nor do I know any common behaviors beyond the extremely stereotyped “bad social skills, likes trains” stereotype (which I’m sure is an incredibly over-generalization).

His social skills aren’t fantastic and he just kinda says random things sometimes? He’s a good kid though, but he’s certainly not good at playing nice with the other kids, y’know? But then, the other kids are also not very nice to him either (it’s kind of a back and forth thing. They’d be nicer if he was nicer, but he’s not, so then they’re meaner to him, and then he’s meaner back and just endless circle of boo). If he’s over by himself he’s perfectly content just playing Super Mario Bros. for wii (his favorite one. He always restarts it for some reason every time he picks it up again), and talking to himself. He gets real salty real fast is smash though, and him and his brother usually slap each other at least once when they’re playing smash. If he’s getting pouty it’s pretty easy to cheer him up by making him laugh (usually by way of threatening to tickle him). His other favorite game to play is Life is Strange, which obviously isn’t really the most appropriate game for a kid, but I didn’t feel like it was bad enough to say no. He really likes it, and it was interesting to sit and watch him think about what decisions to choose and why. He was pretty introspective with it tbh. He choose to have Chloe and Max kiss, and then acted like it was so scandalous, but he didn’t rewind and change it at all XD

At first I was 100% sure he only ever came over to play video games, but I have learned that he does indeed like me and think I’m nice. (At some point he made a grand exit to go play with some of his friends and he stopped at the door, turned to us and pointed at each one going “you suck, you suck, you suck,” *points at me* “you’re cool,” *points at last kid* “and you really suck, PEACE.” And just left XD Then again, one time he did promise me he’d beat me in smash over and over again so much that I’d get really mad and cry about it (to which I told him “kiddo, if you get good enough at smash that I lose multiple times in a row I will be the happiest person and super proud of you”). He seemed a bit confused and sad that I wasn’t gonna be salty about it XD One time his family went to Chuck-E-Cheese and he brought me back vampire teeth, like what a sweetheart?? I mean, they were too small for my adult teeth but I appreciate that he spent some tickets on me. Young’s favorite Smash characters are Cloud, Captain Falcon, and Ike (sometimes he picks up Little Mac).

 Next up is Leeniel (or LeeLee, as we call him. Also I have no idea how to spell his actual name): I think he’s maybe 12 or so? Lee’s actually not around very much. When he is here he’s usually quiet (though he does talk during the match and all that. We all gotta trash talk in this group). He likes to draw (in fact, for my birthday last month he drew me a very adorable picture of Toon Link, one of my smash mains. Like how sweet and awesome are my kids? I love them). I can’t really say much about Lee, other than he’s pretty cocky about his Smash Bros. skills (he’s better than Young, but still not better than Trell, who I’ll talk about in a bit). Lee’s favorite fighters are Link, Cloud, and Little Mac.

 Neeeext up is Solomon (or Solo, as we call him): Solo is a 16-year-old giraffe. Like I mean it, he’s fricking huge. He has to bend down to get through my doorway. I think he’s somewhere past 6”5, I believe? I don’t even know man. I do know that the best thing is when he comes by to visit after being gone a long while, he always picks me up. Being 5”2 and suddenly being hoisted way past your own height is great. Solomon is energetic, loud, funny, and a little immature. I know for a fact that he’s autistic, as his mother has randomly mentioned it to me (she was lamenting that it was hard for him to have friends his age, since he tends to be less mature than them). Solo doesn’t come around much, as he’s often living with his dad, and it seems he’s lost a lot of interest in smash. He’s tried to get me to buy Pokken Tournament, but like, I played it and it’s pretty meh? It’s okay, I just like Smash better (probably cuz I already put in the work for that one and I’m pretty good at it. I ain’t wanna start at ground zero again). I worry that if I buy it the other kids won’t play it with me as much (though they are children, if we’re being honest: if you build it, they will come, if I buy it, they will play lol). Solo I know for a fact hates Undertale, though he hasn’t played it for himself. It’s just the Undertale explosion he hates I figure, so sad, cuz it really is a great game that should be at least tried out once. He did surprise me by spotting my Journey game was like “muthafucker that game is beautiful.” XD So he’s got a short attention span and is pretty immature, but loves Journey. It’s fantastic honestly. Solo was actually the person who inspired me and Trell to get really good at the game, cuz we were on top until Solo came along and we realized “wait we actually have no idea how the FAKC to play this game.” I can proudly say I am now smash queen and Trell and Solo are about par with each other. Solo’s favorite characters are Little Mac and Samus (but mostly Little Mac).

 Next is Charni (Shar-nay), who I love and call her my Protégé. I think she’s around Young’s age, maybe a couple months older. I first met her when I was at Solomon’s house (another kid I’ll bring up in a sec). She’s his little cousin, I believe, and she was kinda shy and bored. I plopped down next to her and started showing her how to play Smash so she could play with us. She had quite the steep learning curve since none of the other kids would go easy on her for being new, but I made sure to praise her when she got a good hit, and show her what to do so she wouldn’t get discouraged. I’m proud to say she quickly adored smash and is a regular part of our game weekends when she’s in town :D She’s at about an equal level with Young (not surprising, since they’re the same age), though she tends to play a bit smarter than he does and is less predictable.

I made it my mission to try and make sure she ended up liking nerd things, and I’m happy to say it ended up that she did XD She’s reading some Legend of Zelda manga last time I saw her, and she knows a little about Undertale from some fan things, though she’s never actually played the game? I tried to get her to play it, but she got bored, so meh. She likes Steven Universe and Gravity Falls too! I let her wear my Dipper hat whenever she sees it. Sometimes I’ll come home from work or school and she’ll just be there, chillin’ with my mom and watching an old black and white movie. I’ll usually have to put my foot down like “hell naw it’s a weekday I ain’t dealing with you snots come back Friday.” It’s pretty obvious she looks up to me a lot, and gets really happy when I praise her. Sometimes the boys pick on her (like saying she’s fat in a derogatory manor or saying she sucks at the game. She’s not fantastic at Smash obviously, she’s still just a kid, but she’s certainly not as bad as they make her seem. And she’s not fat at all really? She’s not basically bones like I am, but she doesn’t look like she has serious weight on her? She’s like, 120lb or something and quite a few inches taller than me. Not ThaT theRE’S a pROoBlem if shE WaSS, just she’s really not fat, and I don’t like the other kids to be using the word fat in a derogatory manner. Body shaming is not okay in my house).

I love her hair to, it’s fantastic. I believe she’s black and Hawaiian, and my god that Polynesian wavy hair is so fantastic I wish it was mine. I’ve gotten her to play Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Phantom Hourglass (not that it took much convincing, lol), and she’s pretty good at them honestly! :D Sometimes she doesn’t want to play games though and she’ll just plop next to me while I’m on my computer and read funny Tumblr posts or webcomics with me, she’s adorbs. She’s a tough cookie, and she can get salty about Smash sometimes, but she’s usually a pretty good sport. Sometimes when it’s just us practicing, she’ll tell me to go at her 100%, and then quickly start yelling for me to stop when I do XD. For my birthday she made like, typography of Link’s name and colored it. So sweet. Her favorite fighters are Corrin, Dark Pit, and recently her brawler Mii that she made.

 Next up is my favorite child (but don’t tell the others) Latrell (or just Trell): Trell’s a fantastic kid honestly. I think he’s like, 13/14 or so? I always say he’s 12 though, just cuz it ticks him off. Trell is easily my biggest rival in smash, as we’re just about at the same level (though I’m still reigning champ). He tells me that I’m a sore winner (I mean, I celebrate when I win, but it’s not like I jump up and dance and sing about what a loser everyone is. So that’s the salt talking ;3), but then he’s actually a sore winner/loser. If he loses enough time he’ll start trying to slap me or get pouty enough to need a break, and if he wins (or god forbid starts winning a few times in a row), he’ll start rubbing it in my face. And when I lose I tend to laugh and be like ‘dangnabit that suck, next time I got this’, but obviously losing starts to suck when some little twerp starts acting like he’s hot shit cuz he won the last 4 rounds and cuts you off with proclamations about what a loser you are – like, not even in a joking way either XD At some point I had to stop playing against him one day cuz he was getting really mean about me winning. Like, tone it down child we’re all friends here.

Most of the time he’s a great kid, though like most children he’ll have his moments. He likes to help me cook and bake and likes to sing. One of my favorite things is that I think he sort of came out to me last month or so, but in like the lamest way possible. Keeping in mind I knew he wasn’t straight (I figured he was either gay or bisexual, but I wasn’t sure), waaaaaaay long time ago. Like, I think before he knew kind of a thing? There were obvious stereotypical signs, but I don’t really like to assume, so I figured until I had confirmation that he did like boys or girls or both, I’d just use gender-neutral terms and stuff. He likes a lot of musicals, celebrity gossip, RuPal’s Drag Race, y’know the totally-not-stereotypical interests of gay culture – it’s really a miracle I picked up on it at all it was so subtle. He’d also made mention to several boys being cute, or that a few of his male classmates had a crush on him (or vice versa), so I knew he was interested in boys at least. Girls were yet to be seen (though I knew he’d had a girlfriend or something in the past, but I didn’t know if it was because he was interested in both, or if it was a ‘I didn’t know I was interested in boys, so I had a girlfriend’, kind of thing).

There was this one conversation that I still look back on and laugh. He was talking about his crush, and that he was worried about them cuz they were getting wisdom teeth pulled out and (since I work part time at an oral surgeon’s place), I just said “wisdom teeth? Oh he’ll be fine calm down.”

And he looks at me all mock-offended and goes “Did you just assume my crush’s gender??”

“That depends – was I right?”

“Listen that’s not the point here”

Anyways I official learned he was bisexual when he made me watch a movie called GBF (Gay Best Friend, which, I don’t know if this movie is revolutionary in the gay community or anything, but I’m sorry it’s an awful fucking movie. This kid gets forcefully outed by some app, and then the popular girls were all clamoring to get him to be their best friend, because a gay best friend was the hot new commodity they just had to have like he’s a new fricking purse for them to customize so they could win their petty popular girl war. And then there was like, a prom war/prom sabotage thing? Either way it’s a dumb-ass movie. Also waaaaaay too inappropriate for this 13/14 year old to have watched? Like, in one scene a Mormon dude in it was being all bi-curious and 100% starts trying to rub off our Main Character in a truck, and another scene of one of the popular girls is like dry humping one of the dude characters in a bed and like omg I wasn’t expecting it to get that inappropriate + my mom walked in right at the truck scene and I died inside. Like you are too young for this go watch some Duck Tales fool what are you doing).

Anyways, at the end of the movie he just goes “guess I already got you you’re GBF, haha lloloeeleolol :D ;D XDDD.”

And I just gave him this fed-up look like “did you just come out to me with the worst movie I’ve ever seen??? Even though I clearly already knew?????”

“Yes. Also it’s actually BBF.”

And I was just like “Trell you’re hilarious and everything, but if you ever show me a movie as bad as GBF ever again I will punch you in the throat.” And then I shoved him off the couch.

Since the GBF movie I swear he’s been making 10x more LBGT jokes. We have a tube of muscle relaxer or whatever called Bengay, and anytime he happens to see it he’ll pick it up and loudly announce “heh, yeah, I’ve been-gay before lelel” which usually ends up with my snatching the Bengay and launching it across the room.

And he’s like, 14, so I wouldn’t be surprised if his sexuality changed at all in the future, but for now at least he’s stated he’s bisexual. Either way, he’s the sweetest and funniest kid, and I do my best to know he’s more than accepted in my home.

Anyways, Trell is absolute incapable of playing single player games. I tried to get him to play Mario Odyssey and he got as far as pressing the jump button before he melted off the couch and complained that it was torture. He loves to challenge me to Pikmin, but won’t play the single player campaign (I got him to play like, halfway through the first level and that’s it). His favorite characters in smash are aaaaaall of them. He’s more of an all-arounder for the characters, and sometimes he’ll switch and have a new main for a while. Sometimes he’ll get butthurt about being beaten by Pikachu and Toon Link, cuz he says they were his mains first and he only stopped cuz I used them (which for some reason all the kids feel like they need to ask me to use Pikachu or Toon Link, and I have NO IDEA why. Like the fuck use whoever you want it’s a fricken game I don’t own them). The characters he goes back to most though are: Peach, Zero Suit Samus, and Villager (usually the girl skins).

And while he’s not child, why don’t I bring up the older bro Tay: Tay is really bad at smash but he keeps on trying and I’m proud of him XD His favorite characters are Samus and Ganondorf.

Aaaaand that’s all I wanted to say bye