#guess I could draw Ladybug's new suit then?

[amarilke]

What? Another Ladynoir? I wouldn't dare... ¬‿¬

This is actually still a work in progress because I can't get the lighting right (something in me keeps setting it at dusk), but today was a rough day and I need a bit of love, so sharing these two will do it for now 💕 I hope they will brighten up your day as well 🐞🐾

Disclaimer: I’m sharing my art as fan work, with no commercial use or agenda. All credits for Miraculous’ characters go to the original creators and trademark owners.

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

FranticFanfic with @alypink!✍️🫨💦

So two days ago, Aly suggested to play a game of FranticFanfic with me! It's basically a fic writing game where we take turns writing the parts of the fic. We decided to go with AlyPrice and Ladybug 😂

I choose AlyPrice and the game chose 'Sugar' theme, while Aly chose LadyGaz and the game chose 'Bonding' theme. Here's what we came up with! (❁´◡`❁)

Text Version 👇 + Aly's cute chibi drawings!! 💗💗

(texts written in italic means written by Sleepy)

---

Title : "Sunday Morning" Characters : Aly, Price Writers : Aly, Sleepy, Aly Theme : 'Sugar'

Captain price was sitting down on a kitchen table when suddenly Aly’s cat dropped the sugar container on his head, he was so pissed if he started chasing him until he heard the door bell ring “who is it this early in the morning?!” He scoffed and opened the door.

The person in front of him is the last person he expected on his door. "Hello, kind Sir! I'm selling this lemonade I just made myself! Do you want some?" A girl in a yellow suit with lemon said to him. She barely reached his hip, but the way the kid looked up was so angelic.

Price pinched the bridge of his nose, forgetting that it's covered in sugar, making him squint his eyes. Nevertheless, he continued "Look, little lady. I'm sure you've spent a lot of time making that lemonade, but I've got no money. Now go along your way."

The SAS captain was about to slam the door on the kid's face, but Lily's presence made him stop abruptly, avoiding hurting his child.

"Wait!! Who are you?!" The young Price girl asked in excitement.

The little girl smiled at Lily. “hi! I’m new in the neighborhood! My name is Sarah! She said cheerfully.

Lily grinned “I’m Lily, can I go play with you?” She was thrilled to have met a girl his age as she had no friends around her neighborhood yet, Ghost and Jades kids’ which were Lily’s friends, lived not to far but not on the same neighborhood. She look at her dad “Can I dad?!” Price looks at her and sigh putting a semi stern look and when he was about to speak his wife abruptly interrupted.

“Yes honey, go on” Aly smiled at her and Lily rushed outside to play with the little girl she just met. Aly turned to John “You might as well be a little bit nicer during mornings okay? And clean this mess” she smiled and left.

Captain Price sighed and muttered to himself “might as well have gone to base this morning instead…” he then started picking up the mess he didn’t even make while the cat happily meowed at him looking as he cleaned up.

---

Title : "Shit-Ship" Characters : Gaz, Ladybug Writers : Sleepy, Aly, Sleepy Theme : 'Bonding'

On a cloudy English spring, Lady and Gaz met at a ranch. Yep, a countryside ranch -- or farm, rather -- where Price and Ghost had sent them both. Lady and Gaz had been having a little argument about how each other were so busy and had little to no time for bonding. So the Captain and Lieutenant sent them both�� to work on a farm. A cow farm, that is. After they met with Gary, the owner of the farm, they were immediately tasked with, you guessed it: poop-cleaning duty.

Gaz sighed at the task as he wasn’t to happy he had to do poop-cleaning duty. Ladybug noticed and chuckled “come on, it’s not to bad! We could have fun!” She did as she patted his back quite to strong. Gaz gasped and then look at her “hey hey okay I get it… might be fun after all, so how do we start?” They started getting the tools their need and Gaz glanced at ladybug, at least he was happy he could bond with her even if it was doing this task. So they begin to work

Shit duty took quiet longer than expected, mainly because they spent 15 minutes laughing as Gaz slipped on a shit and fell on his butt. Gaz, not accepting this, lightly nudged her feet with his own feet, intending for her to fall on her butt as well. But she fell forward, and fell on Gaz's firm chest.

Both of them are used to dirty stuff. Blood, vomit, shit-- it's just a thing to them. But blushing inside a barn with 25 cows moo-ing at them while laying down in a dirty floor, surrounded by shit, is not really romantic.

He'd helped Lady stand up, and Lady sucked her lips in happiness. Turns out all they need is just a bit of skinship (or should it be shitship?) Either way, they continued with their work, and when Gary came in, all the shitpile are already cleaned and set aside for Gary to use as a fertilizer for his crops.

After the tiring day of scooping shit, milking the cow, and Lady somehow had to aid a female cow give birth, it was a very, very long day of bonding.

They've rented an inn near the ranch, and cleaned themselves up. Lady and Gaz had forgot the reason they were there, but they knew that Price and Ghost has a knack for bonding suggestions.

---

Those are the fics!! This is such a fun crazy activity hahahah 😂😂😂 We're pretty loose on the craziness here but we're aiming for angst on the next one 👁️👄👁️. Again, thank you so so so much to @alypink for drawing the chibi arts!! I was at my cousin's house and I didn't have my drawing equipment with me 😭.

Hope y'all enjoy it! 💗💗

[rel312]

My thoughts on Miraculous Representation (SPOILERS!!!):

Right off the bat you have “God save the Queen”… guess that didn’t age well

He was forced to call Kagami his love I hate it here

Lol Plagg with the processed cheese

Felix really just made a heart in the fog from her window he’s so sappy I can’t

He was so ready to just tell her he’s Cat Noir so he could see her he’s so whipped

KAGAMI KNOWS SHES LADYBUG????

Why is Marinette the only one dressed up for this dance? Did they forget they had to make outfits for everybody else?

Canon Marc and Nathaniel CANON MARC AND NATHANIEL

The London Trio (idk what people are calling them) are so chaotic I love them

“All I want is for Adrien to be free” hnnnnnnnnnn

Nathalie got so sick oh my god

“The farther away he is from you, the better” truer words have never been spoken

Give said it before and I’ll say it again, gabriel is such a manipulative bitch

Adrien looked terrified to find out the akuma was his dad

He’s really treating Cat Noir like his own son… who is his son…

Adrien is so pressed, as he should be

“You really can’t be trusted. What kind of father are you?” Finally you see Adrien, get away from that man

“It’s time you learn to let your son live his own life, Father” YAY! Now say that to his face

The little anime drawing I can’t he’s so cute

“I think you need someone to give you parenting lessons. It doesn’t seem to be your strong suit” Adrien is really going OFF this episode

His little smile at seeing the picture of them together my heart

This is terrifying, why would they think this would work instead of just TALKING TO HER???

Are… are Felix and Adrien actually twins???

“You don’t seem like a nice father” he’s really just letting everything out isn’t he

Never thought of Kagami as a theater kid but… I guess?

Ohhhhh the twins are Emilie and Amilie, not Adrien and Felix lol

“I don’t think I’d like having a father like you” keep them coming baby

He’s really going ham on gabe, I’m so happy he gets to do this he really deserves it

HE WAS ABOUT TO CATACLYSM HIS FATHER YESSSS

The peacock feathers… I fucking hate it here

HOS WORST FEAR HIS CHAT BLANC NOOOOOOOOOO

So we finally learn about Felix’s dad holy shit

Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIT HOLY-

Kim running over to check on Chat and all of them helping him break free I love them

So… does that reveal that gabe is monarch? Or does she still not know? Please you can’t leave me like this

DID THEY LOCK THEM UP??????? This is a new low, even for them

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Gabriel Agreste

So, according to Astruc, I guess rich fourteen year blonds can change their ways for the better, as long as they look like Adrien.

Let's get into the twentieth (chronologically the ninth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Gabriel Agreste

We start off with—oh for the love of—WHY DOES EVERY EPISODE FOCUSING ON GABRIEL NEED TO HAVE HIM TALK TO HIS WIFE'S BODY?!

We get it, Emilie may or may not be dead, but is the only way we can see Gabriel in his civilian life? It's just a cheap way to get exposition out of the way.

So like Gabriel just said, Adrien's aunt Amelie and his cousin Felix, as in that evil son of a bitch who had the balls to be angry at him for daring to not come to his dad's funeral when he needed emotional support from his family, are coming over for some event Gabriel is hosting. Felix is watching a video on Alya's superhero blog, the Ladyblog, all about what a Miraculous is (obviously neglecting to share the information she knows from being Ladybug's confidant because she's not an idiot), all while providing this picture of Hawkmoth and Mayura.

They look like they're about to drop the sickest supervillain rap album in history.

I also love the picture the animators use of all the heroes, where half of Vesperia is cut out.

It's like even they realized how nonexistent Zoe is as a character.

Cut to Adrien giving a bedridden Nathalie some lunch while talking about how Gabriel won't let him invite any of his friends to the event because I guess it's just for the 1%.

Sure wish we could see how important they are to him given he hasn't made a single attempt to hang out with any of his friends all season. I can get what the writers are going for, but this Angstdrien Depreste moment just doesn't work.

In one of the most haphazard ways of forcing her into the plot, we simply cut to Marinette being surrounded by her friends where Alya got writing duo Marc and Nathaniel to help her confess her feelings to Adrien. Because yeah, obviously two people who are skilled at writing know all about how to help Marinette get together with Adrien in an unscripted way, right? And they draw up a little visual for how they can help Marinette.

Okay, this is a problem I have with shows and movies that do these kinds of things in general. Why does switching the genders in a damsel in distress situation automatically make it okay? The entire situation where a princess is saved by a handsome prince has become such a cliche in storytelling, you can't just change one minor detail like the roles and expect praise to come from it. It's like getting a new paintjob for your cheap car and expecting it to work better. Yeah, it looks cool, but the car won't automatically stop breaking down at random.

Compare this to Tangled and Frozen, two movies that focus on the standard damsel in distress but still change certain things about it to make them seem different and subvert several fairy tale and Disney cliches. Tangled focused more on how mentally stunted Rapunzel can be with how unadjusted she is to the outside world thanks to the mental conditioning from her emotionally manipulative “Mother” who only wanted to use her for her magic hair, while the main conflict in Frozen revolved around Anna, the supposed damsel needing to be saved by an act of true love, but even though they built up Kristoff as the love interest to Anna, it was ultimately an act of sisterly love from Elsa that saved her life. While the basic formula could be seen in both of those movies, there was enough changed there to make them seem unique in their own ways. Here, all the writers really do is stick Marinette in a suit of armor and Adrien in a dress and expect to be praised for breaking boundaries.

And why did Marc and Nathaniel even draw those pictures in the first place? Yeah, I get that it's a visual for Marinette “saving” Adrien, and yes, they are very detailed, but why exactly did Marc and Natheniel need to draw them in the first place where all they had to do was tell Marinette they were willing to help? Wouldn't it make more sense if this was an actual plan they were drawing visuals out for, which would better justify what happens later on? And why are they meeting in the art room at school?  If You'd think seeing Gabriel is hosting an important event where several of the rich kids will be there that it'd be on the weekend, so why are they at school? Wouldn't it make more sense to discuss top secret plans about Adrien with Marinette in private? And wouldn't you know it, Chloe is here to spy on them. Why? Other than to advance the plot, I have no idea.

So yeah, Chloe got a video of the pointless fantasy drawings that Marc and Nathaniel drew, so obviously, she can just upload it to the internet and wait for it to rack up views so Gabriel can notice it and take Adrien out of school after seeing how weird Marinette is even though she didn't even actually do anything, much less commission the drawings.

Or she could do that, because otherwise, the other characters can't stop her and we wouldn't have a B-plot in this episode. But hey, it’s nice of the writers to let Plaggandadrienbondingisthebest write a scene for them, because this isn’t out of place in the salt fics she’s written about Marinette.

Now I could talk about how the writers are once again ramping up all of Chloe's negative traits to the point where she and several characters remind the audience that she's always been evil, heart blacker than Don Cheedle in this episode by constantly insulting her to her face and behind her back, but instead, I'm going to focus on something else for her appearance this episode, because this is easily the biggest problem I have with her this season. Even as a villain with no excuses to give her any sympathetic moments, the writers have no idea what they want to do with Chloe.

Say what you will about how Chloe was portrayed in Seasons 2 and 3, or whether you thought she deserved to be a hero or not, but at least she was somewhat consistent. She still acted like the same bully while occasionally helping others and going on about how awesome she is as Queen Bee, and generally felt like the same character. This season, the writers keep changing her personality and evil plans in every episode she has a major appearance in. In “Sole Crusher”, she goes on about her family ideology about using their expensive shoes to step on the weak while selfishly throwing innocent civilians into harm's way to save herself, in “Queen Banana”, she's back to using her influence to get what she wants before cutting off all ties with Adrien, and in this episode, she and Sabrina are using technology and cheap gadgets like bungee jumping gear to spy on Marinette and her friends, and gloats about how devious she is while getting dirty laundry on Marinette because she wants to ruin her chances with Adrien. Yeah, she's the same mean girl throughout, but the writers can't seem to make up her mind on how she tries to get what she wants. Even in Season 1, she mainly used her influence to get ahead in the world while occasionally lying to soak up attention, and she was still more consistent there. It honestly feels like the writers had no idea where to take Chloe's character after “Miracle Queen”, so they decided to have her go back to her Season 1 self because they thought that's when people liked her best just like how they recycled the umbrella scene to reignite interest in the Love Square.

And once again, despite it serving as the crux of a lot of this season's conflicts and is one of the reasons Marinette is Guardian in the first place, the writers are ignoring what Chloe did in “Miracle Queen”. If you want to confirm Chloe is evil and a traitor, why not focus more on that instead of petty squabbles like what's happening in this episode?! You would think for all Astruc talks about how irredeemable she is, his team would make a big deal about her betraying Ladybug, and by extension, all of Paris. This is one of the biggest problems I had with “Miracle Queen” and Chloe's “damnation arc” that was supposedly planned from the beginning as a whole: Even though it could have been a big moment, it's treated more like a joke than an actual betrayal, and doesn't even have any lasting consequences for Chloe to deal with this season. In fact, does anyone even know Chloe sided with Hawkmoth?

If Astruc wanted Chloe to be a villain who sided with the big bad, they should obviously do something about it. I don't think I'd be nearly as angry at the writing if anything meaningful came from this turn of events other than replacing Chloe with her sister who everyone loves. Just this episode had Gabriel mention how tough it is doing stuff on his own, in his civilian life and as Shadowmoth, so why not groom Chloe to be his new assistant to parallel Marinette trusting Alya with the knowledge of her identity? She already hates Ladybug, so why can't the writers take advantage of that and have Gabriel capitalize on this opportunity? They already dumped Lila in favor of making Chloe the bigger threat (until the season finale where the writers remind the audience Lila exists), so why can't they actually commit to making Chloe a full-blown villain?

And one more gripe I have is that it makes no sense for Chloe to be back to tormenting Marinette when “Sole Crusher” and “Queen Banana” obviously built up her as an antagonist to Zoe instead. With how many scenes Chloe got expressing her hatred for her sister for getting more attention than her in those episodes to the point “Queen Banana” ended with Chloe saying she'll get her revenge on Zoe, you would think her next major appearance would capitalize on that setup. Not only is this just a wasted opportunity, it still makes no sense why Chloe would even do this when Zoe is in the room with Marinette and doesn't say a damn thing.

Chloe managed to convince Audrey to not let Zoe go to the party for some reason, so she can't stop Chloe, but Marc and Nathaniel come up with a plan to dress Marinette up like a butler to sneak in. Okay, why does Marinette have to be the one to go incognito, when once again, she didn't even do anything? Again, It was Alya's idea to recruit Marc and Nathaniel to the cause of the Love Square, so why aren't any of them taking responsibility? Better yet, seeing how Zoe has proven herself to be a great actress in the last scene by convincing a butler to not go to the party so Marinette can take her place, wouldn't it make more sense for Zoe to dress up like a butler and try to get Chloe's phone to delete the video, and actually give Zoe something important to do? Between Marinette not even doing anything to cause this, Chloe not just putting the video on social media, and Marc and Nathaniel's stupid plan, this entire B-plot is the very definition of the writers doing whatever they can just so Marinette is at the party to transform into Ladybug.

So at the party, the robotic staff gets to work while Gabriel welcomes his guests, who proceed to put on white and gold masks.

Damnit, Astruc's going to go on about how Squid Game somehow ripped off his show on Twitter, isn't he?

Chloe tries to show Gabriel the video as she enters, so Marinette responds by throwing back the box she was carrying at her, which could have hurt her unless Adrien caught it. Well, Marinette's already trespassing on private property, so I guess wouldn't be too far of a stretch to add attempted murder to her rap sheet. Gabriel ignores Chloe, and because the episode can't work if Chloe remembers texting/email is a thing, she's thwarted for the time being. But before she takes her phone's SD card out with the video's data on it, she talks with Felix.

Look, writers, you can make all the jokes you want about the subject at Chloe's expense (even if all the time spent insulting Chloe this episode is overkill even by Astruc's standards), it doesn't change the fact that you're obviously reusing Adrien's character model and voice actor for Felix.

Speaking of, while Gabriel sends Adrien to his room to spend time with Chloe and Kagami, he asks to talk with Felix. He asks why Felix stole his ring in the first place like he forgot how important it was to his mom, but Felix seemingly gives it back while making a copy for himself... only for Gabriel to immediately figure out it's a fake.

“I've stared at her corpse more than enough times to recognize her ring from a cheap copy!”

Nathalie makes the obvious suggestion to just akumatize Felix to force him to confess, but Gabriel, having one of his rare moments of competence, points out Felix would realize he's Shadowmoth if he did that. Instead, Gabriel transforms into Shadowmoth and creates a Sentimonster copy of his civilian self to confront Felix.

We cut to Adrien's room where Chloe demands to get a phone to put her SD card into, and once again forgets how far technology has come by not even considering the option to upload the video onto Adrien's computer because the only thing keeping this plot from falling apart is scotch tape and a lot of prayer. Instead, Chloe uses a box to pretend to be one of the robotic help in an attempt to get her phone back, with Marinette in hot pursuit.

Just... what is even the point of this? We have an episode focusing on the main villain of the series, and we're wasting time on what looks like a scrapped Season 1 B-plot. Why not use this episode as an opportunity to dive into the origins of how Emile fell into her coma and why Gabriel became Hawkmoth in the first place, like what so many people thought would happen as soon as the episode title was revealed? We're four seasons in, we know next to nothing about Gabriel as a character other than who he knows, and they're sitting on a chance to help the audience get to know him more.

One thing of note does come from this scene. Adrien offers Kagami a drink... and Kagami scowls at Adrien.

Oh my God, it's almost like Kagami should be pissed at Adrien because he was a terrible boyfriend to her. It's brief, but after almost an entire season where she just bowed down to the Love Square for no reason, it's nice to see Kagami actually having a little resentment for Adrien after how poorly he treated her in “Lies”.

We cut over to the actually interesting stuff where Felix is close to figuring out the entrance to Shadowmoth's lair, but is caught by Sentigabriel. Felix initially plays dumb, but Sentigabriel says he knows the ring is a fake, demanding Felix give him the real one, which is in a safe place. Felix also tells Sentigabriel he knows he's Shadowmoth after seeing the Peacock Miraculous under his tie earlier in the episode, and must have some real balls to stand up to him, until...

Yep, it's not enough that Adrien is all but said to be a Sentimonster, but now Felix may be one too. Was he created by the ring, and that's why Gabriel wants it back, so he can control Felix again? The dialogue implies that even Amelie doesn't know, and that just raises even more questions. I just don't get why the show is acting like this is a huge mystery when we all know Gabriel has snapped his fingers to get rid of Sentimonsters in other episodes like “Optigami” and “Sentibubbler”. I don't think the audience is going to assume if Gabriel snaps his fingers, he'll get his bodyguard to run in and beat the crap out of Felix.

So while Felix is distracted by Sentigabriel, Shadowmoth tries to akumatize Felix, yet for some reason, he is able to resist the Akuma easily. It's funny how Shadowmoth is supposed to be the new and improved form for Gabriel, yet it's been three times this season that his victims have broken free of his control. Hell, at least Alya and Chloe looked like they were struggling, but all Felix says is that he doesn't need Shadowmoth's power, and just resists the Akuma and runs away. In response, Shadowmoth akumatizes Sentigabriel into the Collector.

I talked about him briefly in my Top 10 Favorite Episodes list, but I really love the Collector's design. The jet-black suit with the shoulderpads and touches of red and white looks so awesome, and the eccentric personality Gabriel comes up with to make it look like he doesn't have a lot of control just makes him all the more memorable. His powers are to capture people and objects into his book, but here, it's updated for his tablet and also forces people to tell their deepest secrets, obviously meant for Felix. Overall, a solid set of powers that makes him honestly far more formidable than Shadowmoth in combat in my opinion,

So while Kagami gets Adrien to a safe place so she can fight off the Collector with the help of the butler and Adrien's bodyguard, Adrien and Marinette transform into Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively. The two think about how to stop the upgraded Collector while getting Felix to a safe place. Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, a trampoline, which she and Cat Noir use to bounce several plates from the catering van off of so Cat Noir can throw his staff to knock the tablet off the Collector's hands, which Ladybug immediately breaks with her yo-yo. What, no Cataclysm needed to break something as delicate as that?

Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the stuff the Collector collected with his tablet, Sentigabriel pretends to apologize and gives Felix the real ring, and Ladybug gives him a Magical Charm. Also, Bob Both deletes Chloe's video from his phone because she was too stupid to back it up onto her computer because the writers know nothing about what we can do with modern technology. Aren't you glad that B-plot was resolved in such a satisfying way?

While Gabriel plans to study the Magical Charm (leading to the Megakuma in “Dearest Family”), We find out that Felix realized Gabriel was lying because he cut Sentigabriel's pants earlier, and didn't see the cut in the real deal's pants, hinting that he'll return again. And so the episode ends with the revelation that Marc and Nathaniel deciding to make a comic all about what Marinette had to go through because of them without even apologizing.

Woooooow, you two really suck, don't you? This whole B-plot happened because of your stupid drawings, and you two have the balls to make a manga about what she had to do to clean up her mess? If Marinette was the one to ask for their help, I'd understand, but Alya recruited them off-screen and just told Marinette they were going to help, so once again, she had no reason to risk doing any of this. If Gabriel actually saw the video, all she could have said was that she had nothing to do with their stupid plan and point out she didn't even agree to let them write the next Love Square D&D campaign or whatever. Suddenly, I don't feel as bad that Marc is probably going to be written off in Season 5 because of real life stuff.

In case you can't tell, this episode really got dragged down because of the B-plot. As usual, none of Marinette's friends apologized for forcing her into this situation, and even compared to the other B-plots this season, was just pointless.

This really could have been more of an origins episode for Gabriel that gave him some much needed focus and backstory. But instead, we got a pointless B-plot where Marinette dressed up and snuck around without actually doing for the plot. Seriously, you could cut out all of Marinette and Chloe's scenes in this episode, and nothing would really change. Honestly, it would make the pacing a lot better and less tonally jarring. Hell, an easy way to improve the episode is to keep the stuff with Gabriel and Felix the same, but instead of the scenes with Marinette and Chloe, pull an Arrow by having flashbacks to when Emilie was still around and focus on how her condition got worse to give Gabriel talking about her ring more weight.

I'm also not entirely sure how I'm supposed to feel about Felix in this episode. I joked about him being more sympathetic at the beginning, but he didn't really change. Yeah, he still had a reasonable motivation to find out more about Gabriel being Shadowmoth, but the narrative never made it clear if he was going to use this information as leverage against Gabriel, steal his Miraculous from him, or just alert the authorities that his uncle is a crazy magical terrorist. The only reason he was more heroic was because he was actively opposing Gabriel instead of working with him as Shadowmoth, and was scared of Gabriel potentially killing him. If they're trying to make him more of an anti-hero, I can understand that, but it feels jarring to go from making him out to be a real asshole, to giving him more sympathy in his second appearance.

According to Astruc, this episode was supposed to be about making the audience like Felix.

And I'm just here reading this, thinking to myself... WHAT?! How and why is Astruc suddenly okay with Felix now when he spent SIX YEARS insulting fans for liking him, and by extension, the PV? What caused this sudden change of heart? Was it an executive mandate? Did some of the other writers on his team come up with this? Was he seriously playing a long con this whole time? And again, what makes him more sympathetic than Chloe when in his last appearance, he also worked with Hawkmoth? How is he any different from her by Astruc's logic?

Other than those parts, the episode was just okay. The fight with the Collector was rushed (only lasting a little over a minute), but the battle of wits between Gabriel and Felix was pretty interesting to watch, and I think if there was more focus on the latter, I'd like this episode a lot more. But I guess compared to “Glaciator 2” and “Ephemeral”, I'd still take this episode over those two.

[thr-333]

Drastic Measures- Part 5

@daminette-december2019-2020

~Sweater~

Shoves romance to the side and shoves friendship in your face!!!

Ao3

First< Previous > Next

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“Marinette,” Adrien whines as she opens the curtain the second they get back, “Sleep,”

“Just a minute, I want to design Damian something,” Marinette takes up residence at the desk, throwing open her sketchbook, “I will be friends with him!”

“Wasn't he kind of a jerk to you?” Adrien flops onto the bed, Plagg rig after him, "I think we should go back to that point, maybe sleep on it,"

“You were a jerk too~” Marinette sing-songs finishing up a rough sketch of a sweater.

“I was trying to get the gum off your seat!” Adrien slams his hands down.

“Sure you were~”

“Mariiiiiii,” Adrien collapses back into the bed covers, muffling his whining.

“Come on you,” Marinette collects her sketchbook, “Come get material with me,”

“No, it’s time to sleep,”

“It’s midday,”

“Your point?”

"Ok, Plagg 2.0 should I get you some camembert while I'm out too?"

"I'm up!" Adrien sits bolt upright, "Never call me that again,"

Marinette ends up dragging Adrien out of the mansion he pouts as Alfred delivers them into the city she thanks him profusely.

“We were just in the city why didn’t you pick up fabric then?” Adrien walks by her side down the street.

“Because I’m stuck between 2 concepts and I need to see the fabric before going forward,” Marinette bounces along looking through the windows there are quite a few craft shops in the area which suits her just fine.

“Please don’t run off,” Adrien gently holds her sleeve, “Marinette this city…”

“It’s filled with a dark energy,” Marinette agrees, even in this nicer area had something ominous hanging over it, “It’s like it’s seeped into the city’s very bones,”

“And the Akuma aren’t helping things,” A child across the street starts crying and they both instinctively lookout.

“On the plus side at least hawkmoth doesn't send Akuma after every little thing,” Marinette forces herself to relax, moving on as the kids parents comfort them.

“On the downside, he sends them after emotions that are a lot worse,” Adrien follows along into a store as Marinette filters through the shelves.

“Maybe but we can handle this,” Marinette absent-mindedly raises her fist, meeting Adreins, “Do you think I should make something for everyone, you know as a thank you?”

“I haven't gotten them anything,” Adrien takes the armful of fabric Marinette passes him as she brings out her sketchbook to select old designs.

“I’ll handle the making,” Marinette ticks off a vest she thinks with be perfect for Bruce, “And you handle the finances,”

“I stole my father's credit card,” Adrien says with a grin, “He’ll probably find out where I am soon anyway so might as well start using it,”

“In that case,” Marinette pulls out a roll of incredibly expensive fabric, “We also need new phones,”

“And we should go out for lunch,”

“Get our hair done?” Marinette adds, looking at her half hacked off hair “I still need to fix mine from this,”

“I was thinking our room could use a chair?”

“And the bookshelf is looking a bit empty,”

“A nice expensive rug would really liven up the room,”

“Would it be completely inappropriate to get a motorcycle?”

“Yes,” Adrien agrees, “Let's do it,”

They stop to get new phones first, having destroyed their old ones when they ran away. Adrien finds the most expensive restaurant in town, but it's on the far end so they stop to get a motorcycle first.

“I didn’t know you could ride,” Adrien gestures for the waiter in their private room, “Yes can I please have the duck?”

“My Nona taught me,” Marinette sips at the most expensive drink she can legally buy, “I thought you hated duck?”

“Oh I do,” Adrien grins, which drops when his phone starts ringing, “How did he even get this number?”

Marinette looks over his shoulder to see Gabriel trying to call. Adrien purposefully hangs up rolling his eyes.

“We should go do our hair next,” Adrien leans over the table with a manic grin, ”I was thinking of dying it hot pink,”

“Love the concept,” Marinette cringes at the very thought, “But the execution is flawed, you need to dye it a color you actually like not one just to spite your father otherwise he's still just controlling your life, just in a different way,”

“You're right,” Adrien sighs leaning back examining his blonde locks, “What do you think?”

“A nice pastel or cherry blossom pink would look amazing,” Adrien perks up at the suggestion he can still keep the pink, “Actually I might do that too- oh wait! Will that affect our transformation?”

“Not unless you really want to deep down,” Tikki explains, her and Plagg gorging themselves on expensive cheese and treats.

“Well deep down I really don't want to give away our identities like this,”

“It’s a plan then,” Adrien smiles, “Now do you want to order anything else?”

“Thanks but I’m full,”

“What's that got to do with anything?”

 ---

 “Looks great Nette,” Adrien gives her a side hug, the hairdresser shooing him away while he does the final touch-ups.

“Are you talking to me or yourself?” Marinette smiles at the new and improved shock of pink hair.

“Well obviously I look fabulous, but you look great too,” Marinette rolls her eyes at him looking back in the mirror. Instead of evening out her hair, they had made it look like her little episode was actually intentional giving it nice layers and even doing an undercut on the other side. Unlike Adrien, she didn't go all pink, instead the tips being white ombre up to pink and then her natural hair color.

“Thanks, you have to send a picture of your hair to Nino he's more invested in your teenage rebellion than you are, he’s probably also hurt you left him out of the running away part,”

“He has suggested, more than once, running away together,”

“Why what's wrong with Nino's family?”

“Nothing at all,” Adrien quickly covers, “I think he just really wanted me to run away, his mum offered to pack us lunches,”

“Well, maybe we could have used the turtle,” Marinette sighs, “But I could do that to Nino, you already had to leave Kagami behind, have you given her a call yet?”

“Oh um, about that-" Adrien points at her tapping his chin thoughtfully, "Never mention it again,”

“Adrien,” Marinette scowls, “Call your girlfriend,”

“She’ll kill me,” Adrien hides partly behind a seat looking meek, “Also you don't get to lecture me, you haven't called your parents,”

“That's different,” Marinette groans sinking into the seat, only to get told off for moving, “They’ll want me to come home, how am I supposed to explain that I can’t,”

“They’re your parents,” Adrien stresses, “I’m sure they’ll be happy enough to know your ok,”

“Maybe,” Marinette hums, the cloth being removed from her shoulders letting her get up, “I just feel so bad for putting them through this,”

“Maybe one day they’ll understand,” Adrien walks with her to the front to pay.

“Maybe,” Marinette looks down at the bill, “Wow this is a lot more expensive than the usual dye job,”

Made sense because they were in the higher income distinct of the city.

“Why Marinette,” Adrien grins swiping the card, “That's the point,”

Ten minutes later they were laughing as calls kept pouring in one after the other. They are only interrupted when they get the distinct feeling of an Akuma.

“Duty calls,” Adrien sighs putting his phone on silent.

“Seems so, at least we can call out skills multiple times," Marinette walks casually into an alley with him, “What are you up to?”

“About three,” Adrien shrugs transforming, “It takes about double the time for the transformation to drop now,”

“Same, wish I could say that gives us the edge but really it only keeps us from falling off the cliff,” Marinette also transforms, her new costume bringing a smile to her face.

“How eloquent my lady,” Marinette playfully pushes him, Chat catches himself catapulting over the building, she quickly follows behind.

The Akuma is standard, Marinette guesses the akumatized item is the wrist watch. The problem comes with their recurring thorn in her side.

“Ladybug-”

“Get out of the city,” She cuts Batman off, “Yeah, yeah let us handle this first,”

Marinette throws her yoyo out just in time to deflect an attack headed at Chat.

“Do you need any help?” Robin asks, Marinette smiles, partly at the aghast face Batman makes.

“Do you think you could tag-team it with me?” She asks formulating a plan, with the extra help she might not need the lucky charm, “Make your attacks big and draw his attention, grab the wristwatch if you can,”

“On it,” Robin gives her a nod jumping into the fray, Ladybug doesn't give batman a chance to object running after.

Robin does a good job they work in perfect sync falling back when the other moves to make an attack. When the Akuma focuses on them too much Chat swoops in and gets their attention giving them the chance to swipe at the wristwatch. It goes on she sees Robin get thrown back after another failed swipe at the wristwatch. Ladybug takes the chance to move forward grabbing for the wrist, she isn't watching out for the other arm, the impact hitting and sending her flying back.

“I got you,” Her momentum is stopped by a hand bracing at her back, saving her from crashing into the adjacent building.

“Thanks, Robin,” He helps steady her as she finds her footing again, “I’ll move in you follow me up,”

“No need,” He smirks brandishing the watch.

“You did it,” Ladybug beams, taking the watch and smashing it to the ground, “Great job!”

“Ah, thanks,” Ladybug doesn't pay attention to how Robin brushes, focusing on purifying the Akuma and fixing the damage.

“We made a pretty good team,” Ladybug turns to Robin when everything is settled, “Pound it,”

Robin meets her fist with some hesitance, which disappears when she smiles at him again.

“Ladybug!” Batman yells heading their way.

“Ops sorry,” Ladybug cringes, “Sorry! Cant stop gotta go, bye bye!”

They run from the scene faster than Batman can hope to catch them. They end up back at her newly brought bike stacked with fabric and protected by a bit of luck. Marinette races home to make everyone's gifts, knowing just who she wanted to start with.

 ---

 “There you are!” Marinette exclaims, having spent the past half hour searching the manor for him.

“What do you want?” Damian snaps as if he wasn't just playing with the cat on the floor half a second ago.

“Nothing, I made something for you~” He continues to scowl but Marinette doesn't let it discourage her, “Here, I didn’t know your size so I made a baggier style, do you like it?”

Damian takes the sweater holding it up to where she put it on him looking down a little shocked. Marinette almost wants to laugh at the expressions trying to shift back from awe to disinterest, it’s cute. She smiles wondering what his face would look like if she made a matching one for the cat, and maybe Titus too.

“.... It’s well made,” Damian eventually allows, folding it over his arm, Marinette notices how his fingers linger on the soft fabric.

“Good to know,” She smiles, bidding him goodbye before the moment can be ruined. She bounces down the hall humming to herself.

“Someone's happy,” Tikki flies out of her bag.

“He liked it, why wouldn't I be happy?”

“Someones really happy,”

“Stop it Tikki,” Marinette giggles, making the kwami laugh in turn.

“Just like adrien~” Tikki sing songs floating down the hall ahead of her.

“Well then, keep Kagami far away from this one,”

“Don’t turn into a stuttering mess and we have a deal,” Tikki agrees.

“Please Tikki I’m not thirteen anymore,” Marinette brushes her off, ready to go make the others gifts, if she spent the whole time humming to herself Tikki wasn't going to explain why to Adrien.

---------

Taglist? nope don’t have one, horrible at keeping track of them sorry~

[miraculouscontent]

Gonna deal with all of the asks about the male bodysuits versus female bodysuits in one post:

Anonymous said:

To paraphrase a quote from Doctor Doofenshmirtz, "She's 13/14!"

The age of consent in France is 15, you storyboarding weirdos, and that still wouldn’t make it right.

Anonymous said:

the whole ‘skin tight body suit’ is practical is the sense that you can just draw the anatomy and color in without adding stuff but in that aspect it’s also cheap

Anonymous said:

I always thought the reason why every hero wears a skintight jumpsuit was so it'd be easier for them to be animated. Still doesn't explain all the closeups of Ladybug's ass.

Oh, I fully understand the need to keep things not... “flowy.” That’s why you won’t see me asking for more complex things like wings/capes and just talk about very basic armor/padding. I’ve made 3D models before so I understand that having a lot of physics going on can be a hassle, and thus I avoid designs like that unless I’m just having fun.

But yeah, definitely doesn’t explain the close-up shots.

Anonymous said:

I love the spider marinette design but yeah I didn’t really get why they went with such a basic design either but then again they made hawk moth a fashion designer has created Akumas like the bubbler.

Thanks! I’m glad people like my redesign! (well, more like “me just using Spider-man as a reference”)

And yeah, they really don’t keep in mind the characters personalities in most of the designs or names.

Anonymous said:

This is a really dark idea, but I'm just imagining whenever Marinette detransforms, she takes a few deep breaths because of how constricting her supersuit is.

Okay, so Alya is basically dead then.

Anonymous said:

I guess they didn’t want Natalie exposed like the other girls because I might make the weirdness of the skin tight bodysuits apparent.

Agreed. It’d be even more obvious on the body of an adult woman. Nathalie’s also another person who gets slimmed down in her transformed state soooo, yeah.

libralizard said:

Is it odd that (now that you’ve put them next to each other) I’ve only   just noticed that MisterBug had a waaaay better design than Ladybug? With the black accents to make the dotted red parts pop more - Just like you showed with your spider man comparaison. If they can give Adrien a good Ladybug herosuit, why can't Mari get that sort of treatment with hers?

The difference between Mister Bug and Lady Noire is insane, honestly. Mister Bug gets all that padding and the more complex Ladybug design while you can literally see where Lady Noire’s ribcage is and she just gets this all gray bodysuit with none of the cool stuff that Chat Noir had (like, I legitimately don’t understand what they were doing with her design).

Anonymous said:

I saw someone online say that they liked the simplicity of Ladybug's costume because they thought it sent the message of "I'm here to save Paris, I don't need a fancy costume." Ignoring the fact that she didn't expect the transformation in Origins, it's clear that person forgot that Marinette is a FASHION DESIGNER! By all means, she should have a fancier outfit than the one she's given. Maybe a frilly Lolita dress and a new hairstyle(this IS Magical girl after all)? But no, femininity is bad.

I could see the argument against a dress - not because of the “it’d be harder to work with” argument - but because of the physics issue I mentioned above (a few asks ago).

...I guess an argument could be made considering Mayura has one though.

They could have more feminine outfits and such if they really wanted, but instead they just do bodysuits that end up looking really generic.

Anonymous said:

Could you show us an edit of what the girls would look like with padding/the boys would look like without padding? I just want to see the difference for myself. ;) And yeah, the tight, sexualized outfits of the ladies always irritated me, it's why I like Mayura's the best, since it looks more individualistic and her dress makes her resemble a magical girl more than the others, who just look like generic comic book superheroes. The poses only make it worse, especially Ladybug and Rena Rouge.

I don’t think I would have the skills to edit/remove padding is the only thing. I’m also not great at design so I wouldn’t know where to put padding if it was there.

The other thing is that it isn’t just padding. In the post with the edited Ladybug using Spider-man as a reference. I point out that it’s not totally about the padding; it’s also the colors and where they’re used, as well as the complexity of the design (like, Chat Noir VS Lady Noire is both a padding issue and a complexity issue, not a color issue, among other things).

This basically means that adding padding doesn’t automatically solve the problem. It helps, but doesn’t solve the problem.

[2manyfandoms2count]

Alix's rom-com night

The June event of the @mlwritersguild was to create bonus content for one of our fics - I decided to seize the opportunity to finally sit down and write one of the bonus scenes of You can count on me (I will be there for you), and to do draw a bit of fanart to go with it (4 panels, including a Marichat piece)! Let me tell you that the Burrow is a pain to draw, but I'm actually quite proud of the result :)

About YCCOM: It's an aged-up, one-sided reveal with "fake" wedding fic, based on Sallteas' art. The fic is 9 chapters and 20k words long. It was written before season 4, so it's no longer canon compliant in terms of who knows who's identities at the beginning.

Synopsis: Ladybug's identity is compromised, and somebody is after her. After a lot of pondering, she and Chat Noir come to the conclusion that her best bet is for her to marry Adrien Agreste. It breaks her heart that she is not marrying Chat Noir, but she knows that she's buying them time to figure out who is behind the anonymous letters she's been receiving, and hopefully to find Hawkmoth. Whatever the situation might be, her wedding day should provide a moment of respite. And maybe it would have, had Chat Noir refrained from coming to visit her just before the ceremony...

About Alix's rom-com night: it's a one shot that's chronologically set before the main fic, but I recommend reading it after reading the latter since it contains spoilers for it. It follows Alix (obviously), and includes Ladybug revealing her identity to Chat Noir and the set up of their "fake wedding" plan.

Hope you enjoy!

---

Alix opened her door and dropped her keys in the bowl as she kicked off her shoes with a satisfied sigh. Home, sweet home.

Her studio apartment wasn’t very big, but then again, she didn’t need a huge surface when she had a whole extension waiting for her just a transformation phrase away. She’d mentally thanked Marinette more than once for choosing her to wield the Rabbit Miraculous, rather than somebody else, just for the savings she made in rent.

She whistled happily as she made her way to her kitchen area, grabbing a bag of popcorn out of a cupboard and shoving it in her microwave.

She deserved the treat. She’d been running around all week, trying to slide letters to her targets without being spotted, spending hours on end to find the perfect stationary, and then staying up at night to get the wording exactly right, a delicate mix of subtlety and threat to elicit some sort of response from them. It had taken a lot of trial and error, especially for Ladybug. Her friend had always been surprisingly oblivious on many fronts, and it seemed that her honeymoon phase with Chat Noir reinforced her optimistic ability to brush ominous details aside. It had taken three letters for her to start freaking out and to promise Tikki she would talk to her partner about them, whereas Hawkmoth had started the analysis phase upon the first one he’d received.

Alix had only been mildly surprised by the identity of their nemesis when she’d decided it was high time she knew who they were facing; it was all too fitting that the man who leached off Paris’ most intense negative emotions should be the most embittered person she knew, and the one who, in retrospect, had been the cause of many an Akuma (she still shuddered at the what-could-have-been of Chat Noir’s akumatisation).

The microwave dinged, bringing her thoughts back to her timeline. She took the bowl out and called for her Kwami.

“Fluff, clockwise! Burrow!”

A white portal appeared in the middle of her living space and she walked through it, emerging in the ovoid room covered in screens. She made her way to the furthest point, hung her umbrella up on the coathanger she kept in there, and grabbed a folding chair. It was a director’s seat which supposedly had belonged to a rising name in the cinema world before their career had been shot down for obscure reasons, but she didn’t really care about its story; she’d bought it for a very low price at a yard sale, and that was all that mattered to her.

“Right, where are you…” She muttered, scrutinising her surroundings, until she found the screen she was looking for.

She unfolded the chair, zoomed in on the empty (for now) rooftop, propped down in her seat and threw a fistful of popcorn into her mouth, waiting for the show to start.

Unsurprisingly, Ladybug was the first to arrive on the scene. She paced around, mumbling to herself as she wrung her hands together. Alix felt a pang of guilt as she watched her rehearse how she would break the news to her partner, but reassured herself that the ordeal would soon be over.

Finally, Chat Noir landed beside Ladybug, and she flung herself at him, holding him so tight he had to untangle himself from her arms to breathe.

“Well, well, well, my Lady, I know I couldn’t make it to patrol last night, but I didn’t think you’d miss me this much,” he chuckled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Alix rolled her eyes at just how lovestruck he looked as he did so. How could her friends be so sappy, and yet still be at square one in terms of knowing who the other was?

Some might have said that it was romantic, that they loved each other regardless of who they were; but those people did not have to deal with the constant end of the world threat.

“What was so important that you couldn’t just text me?”

Ladybug took a deep breath. Her fingers slid along his arms as she relaxed her embrace, taking his hands in hers at the end of the line. “Somebody knows my identity,” she said quietly, looking down. “And I don’t know who they are.”

“What?!” Chat’s voice detonated in the previously peaceful quiet of the evening, making a couple of pigeons take off in a loud flutter of wings.

“I’m so sorry, I must have been careless when I got home one night, they must have seen me, I bet it was last week when I was tired and I-”

“My Lady, no offence, but I don’t care about the when and why, just... are you okay?” He tilted her chin up, gently turning her head to each side, checking for any signs of injury.

She placed her hand on his, making him stop, and gave him a soft, sad smile. “Yes, Chaton. Just a little rattled; you know you were the first person I wanted to reveal my identity to. Not including Bunnyx, although technically I never told her who I am.”

“And technically, I’m still the only person who knows who you are,” Bunnyx smugly commented between two handfuls of popcorn. “Now come on, I want to see how you react when you reveal your identities to each other.”

“How do you know somebody knows, though? And do you have any idea what their intentions are?”

Ladybug’s expression darkened. “I received some letters. They’re not signed, but they’ve got enough butterflies on them to make me think that even if they’re not from the biggest pest in Paris, then they’re probably from somebody who’s up to no good.”

Chat Noir swore under his breath, then regained his countenance. “So, what do we do now? Do you think we can hunt down the bugger?”

“We definitely will, but…” Ladybug bit her lip, and Alix leaned forward in her seat. This had to be it. “Chaton, I think the time has come for me to tell you who I am.”

“YES! Finally!” Alix cheered, almost spilling her popcorn bowl.

“Are you sure, my Lady?” Alix didn’t have to be on site to tell that Chat Noir’s heart was beating faster than usual; the corners of his mouth twitched as he repressed a smile, as though his excitement could make her change her mind.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I really want you to know.” In case something happens to me, Alix was pretty sure her friend had left unsaid.

“Okay, okay.” Chat Noir took a deep breath, buzzing with anticipation, so much so that he apparently missed the whole subtext of her previous words. “Do you want to do this now? And how do you want to do it? Do you want me to close my eyes? Are you going to write it on a piece of paper for me to read? Are you going to detransform? Should-”

“I was thinking the latter, and yes, now,” Ladybug said timidly. “Up to you if you want to look or not.”

“For some reason, I feel like I shouldn’t.” He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles without breaking their eye contact, then took another deep breath and closed his eyes, a blissful smile on his lips. “Ready when you are, my Lady.”

“Ok, here goes.” She let out a shaky breath and called off her transformation. The soft pink glow engulfed her and receded, her suit melting away to reveal her true appearance.

“Wow, Marinette, you actually broke out your favourite dress for this? Glad to see all of this isn’t affecting your ability to think straight.” Alix smirked. If her friend had gone home after a long, stressful work day, and found it in her to change and doll herself up to make a good impression on Chat Noir, things couldn’t be that bad. She had to agree that her dress, simple, white, with little red hearts embroidered on it, was perfect for the occasion, though.

“You can open your eyes now, Chaton.” Marinette gave his hands a squeeze.

Chat Noir obliged, blinking slowly as he took in her appearance, her identity, her. Marinette squirmed under his gaze, his expression not giving away any of his thoughts.

“H-Hi,” she stammered when she couldn’t take it anymore. “I, erm, I guess I should introduce myself? We’ve run into each other before, when we were younger, and even if you actually had lunch with my family that one time, I guess it’s been a while… My name is-”

“Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chat’s smile finally broke free, spread from ear to ear, almost literally illuminating his face. Alix wondered if anything could ever wipe it off. Love and admiration twinkled in his eyes as he picked her up and started spinning her. Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling giddily, before Chat Noir closed the gap between their lips.

Bunnyx modestly looked away, allowing them to have their moment. Her eyes landed on a rerun of Plagg putting an end to the dinosaurs’ reign.

“I should have known that it was you, Princess.” Chat panted slightly as he carefully set Marinette back on the roof. “Everything makes so much more sense now, I-”

“Before you finish that thought, I can’t know your identity.” She placed her index finger on his lips. “Yet, of course.”

“What?” Chat froze, and so did Bunnyx, her hand pausing midway between the popcorn bowl and her mouth. “But why?”

“I don’t know what might happen to me, but I don’t want to put you in any danger.” Marinette cupped his cheek. “And I don’t want to lose my memories of you. Of us.”

“Oh for Kwami’s sake.” Alix rolled her eyes. “Boo!” She threw a fistful of popcorn at the screen as her friend continued to list all the reasons Chat couldn’t reveal his identity.

“My Lady, Marinette, if you’re worried about your safety, maybe we should do something about it. I could move in with you, or in a flat nearby, maybe, stay transformed or wear a mask at all times so you don’t know who I am, we can figure it out… Of course I know you can protect yourself, but I could stand guard while you sleep, or...” Chat raked his hand through his hair as he thought.

“You know I love you, Chaton, and that’s why I can’t let you do that! You can’t live like that, I can’t ask that of you. Not to mention how difficult it would be for me, do you really think I could resist having you so close, and not trying to get a glimpse of who you are?” She joked, trying to diffuse the sudden tension.

“Then we need to get you a bodyguard,” he insisted.

“I thought about it, but… Well, I can’t really afford it, and how could I justify suddenly needing personal security? I’m just a designer, and nothing I’ve ever done has been avant-garde enough that I should be worried about my safety.” She shook her head.

“Damn, I knew I should have targeted Chat Noir,” Alix swore under her breath. “He would’ve had to reveal his identity, and she definitely wouldn’t have been a pushover on her kitty’s protection matter. Come on Adrien, do something.”

She could tell that he was up to something just by looking at him. He’d been silent for a little too long for it to be natural. Cogs turned in his head, making him squint. He let go of her completely and paced around the roof, almost pulling his hair out as he did so. Alix sensed that whatever was on his mind was going to be big. She leaned forwards in anticipation.

Finally, Chat Noir came to a halt in front of Marinette, the fever in his eyes and his dishevelled hair making him look slightly unhinged.

“Buguinette, I think I’ve got a solution,” he whispered.

“You do?” Marinette’s voice was full of hope, although she looked slightly concerned about him.

“You’re probably not going to like it,” he warned her, lifting a finger.

“Beggars can’t be choosers.” She shrugged, taking a step forward.

“Right.” He gave her one last look, an opportunity to stop him before the words tumbled out. She nodded encouragingly. “Okay, here’s the thing. I have it on very good authority that Adrien Agreste is being pressured into getting married by his father.”

“I see Gabriel’s just as delightful as always,” Marinette shook her head.

“Unlike good cheese, he definitely doesn’t get better with time.” Chat smiled bitterly, eyes losing focus a little.

“What’s it got to do with us, though?” Marinette prompted, placing a hand on his arm.

“Oh, Agreste, you absolute genius, I think I know where this is going.” Alix took another handful of popcorn.

“Oh, yes, right.” He cleared his throat. “See, Adrien’s not dating anyone at the moment…” Right, Alix snorted. “And he’s not really planning on starting a relationship with his father breathing down his neck, but, well, he happens to owe me a favour, and I’m sure that he’d be more than happy to put his security detail to good use…”

“So you’re suggesting that I marry Adrien.” Marinette deadpanned.

“Well, er, I actually thought you could just date, but thinking about it… It would be less strange for you to request a bodyguard if your relationship was more serious…” He trailed off.

Alix was impressed by how well he concealed his emotions. His poker face was truly exceptional.

“And you think Adrien would be ready to marry me because of a favour he owes you?” Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips and squinting at him as she tried to pick at his lie.

Alix winced for Chat. Maybe he should have waited a bit before blurting out the (as it turned out) probably only sane option in that situation so he could work out all of the details for himself. Marinette was very good at trying to shake plans to see how solid their foundations were.

“Please. Adrien had a crush on you when you were younger, if anything I could probably smuggle it as another favour, given how perfect the fake scenario would be. Although I guess that since you also liked him… It might just cancel out.” He tapped his lip pensively.

“Adrien had a crush on me?” Marinette frowned. “Oh, you must mean Ladybug. I think Nino mentioned it once.”

“Well, yes, but he also had one on you, Marinette.” Chat stepped forward, mischief twinkling in his eyes as he poked her on the nose.

“Really, now,” she muttered to herself.

“The main reason he didn’t act on it was that he thought you loved somebody else.” Chat smiled ironically.

“Wow, what a pair of idiots.” Marinette chuckled.

“You don’t know the half of it.” He kissed her forehead.

“But you know what?” Marinette didn’t pick up on her partner’s comment. “I’m actually glad we didn’t get together. It probably would have delayed us getting together.” She pressed a peck to his lips. “If we’d gotten together at all in that timeline.” She smirked.

Alix snorted. Out of all the timelines she’d watched unfold in an attempt to keep things in check, there wasn’t a single one where Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Chat Noir, didn’t end up together, and not just because of her interventions to help them, and the rest of the planet, stay alive.

Marinette’s face fell at Chat Noir’s lack of response. Alix knew her friend didn’t particularly believe in soulmates, but she understood that she would have liked a sappy Chat Noir special comment on how he’d told her he’d grow onto her anyway, and that she would have soon discovered that the Agreste boy had nothing on him. She assumed that he was too busy restraining himself from saying the wrong thing.

“Actually… What about us, then?” Marinette cleared her throat and looked up at him, eyes glistening slightly in the half light.

“My Lady… If you really think that you being a divorcée will spur me away…” Chat Noir looked down at their entwined hands, locks of blond hair falling in front of his eyes, concealing his giddy smile from her. You sneaky cat, Alix thought.

Marinette followed his gaze, letting out a long sigh as she watched their hands sway lightly. Alix knew her brain was probably trying to find all the flaws in the plan. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it would be enough for her friend to accept. It was perfect, whether they got their act together and figured everything out before the event, or not.

“Fine,” Marinette finally said with resolve, making Alix mentally thank whoever was out there. “I’ll do it on two conditions.”

“Anything, my love.” Chat let out a sigh of relief.

“Firstly, we’re honest with Adrien from the get go. No lying about anything.” Chat nodded along. “Secondly, we get cracking on finding Hawkmoth, and after we do and the divorce is settled, if we even get that far with Adrien because obviously if everything is settled before the wedding we won’t be going through the whole plan…” Chat smiled fondly as she took a deep breath. “After all that, we are getting married.” She gestured between the both of them.

“My Lady, are you proposing to me right meow?” Chat Noir all but purred.

“I guess so.” Marinette shrugged, a smile and a blush spreading on her cheeks.

“Wow, then, I’m definitely putting Adrien in charge of the proposal planning,” he replied with a smirk.

“Chaton!” She stomped her foot, her mildly amused smile cancelling out her frown.

“What?” He teased her.

“Will you? Marry me?” She held his gaze.

“Do you even have to ask?” He chuckled. “You know, my Lady, I’m pretty sure that, in my head, we’ve been married since that speech you gave on the Eiffel Tower during our very first fight. Well, I’ve been married to you; you do whatever you please.”

“You’re such a dork,” Marinette laughed, brushing her nose against his and throwing her arms around his neck.

“And yet you still love me.” He pulled her closer.

“Unfortunately, I do,” she sighed dramatically before pressing a kiss to his lips.

Alix dismissed the screen. She’d seen what she wanted, and it seemed like a good place to stop; a happy, sappy ending. Also, she’d finished all of her popcorn.

Everything was on track, her friends would start their Hawkmoth hunt, and soon everybody in Paris would be able to live without fear of their own negative emotions.

(Of course, that was the theory; she’d soon find out that she’d underestimated Adrien’s will to organise the perfect wedding for Marinette, and that, my friends, was no small oversight.)

[graysmiles-world]

Swapped: A Switching Realities AU

Based off an earlier post I made. All Scarlet Lady credits go to: @zoe-oneesama

Summary: When Chat Noir is hit by a beam from an akuma, he is transported to another reality where Ladybug isn’t...Ladybug. Instead, he’s partnered up with the infuriating Scarlet Lady in his quest to find his way home. 

Here’s Chapter One! Hope you enjoy :)

“Chat, on your left!” Ladybug’s voice echoed on the other side of the street. He ducked to his right, a blue beam missing him by a hair. 

“Thanks, m’lady!” he cried as he flipped up and over another beam. 

The akuma was standing before City Hall, her dress made up of different fabrics and shades of blue. The Shifter, she had called herself. 

Ladybug and he didn’t exactly know what her power was yet, all they knew was not to get hit by one of her beams. The civilians that she had hit before they arrived didn’t look hurt, but they ran around crying in confusion. Their best guess was memory loss. Not great for when you’re a superhero. 

Ladybug was in the middle of the street, drawing all of Shifter’s attacks as Chat propelled himself onto the rooftops. 

With Ladybug holding Shifter’s attention, Chat dropped from above. He landed right behind her, immediately grabbing her right arm and holding it tight against her back. 

Shifter screamed in anger, pausing her attack on Ladybug to try and grab Chat with her free hand. Still holding her arm against her back, Chat Noir jumped and ducked at the right moments, leaving her immobile. This worked for a minute or so as Ladybug ran towards them, trying to see where Shifter’s akuma might be hiding. 

A minute more, and they would have won. Even 20 seconds could have been enough. But that was not what they got. Instead, Shifter grabbed Chat’s shoulder with her left hand and - in a bout of akuma strength - threw him over her shoulder. He landed on his back, her pointed palm right at his head.

“Bye, bye, kitty,” Shifter grinned, her gloved hand glowing with blue light. “Enjoy your new reality.”

“Chat!” Ladybug called out, too far to stop it. But it was too late.

“Chat!” Ladybug’s voice sounded.

Chat groaned, grabbing his aching head. 

“What happened?” he moaned, using his baton to help him stand. He looked around, wondering if Ladybug had defeated the akuma. But the city still looked like it was under attack. So what happened?

“Chat!” Labybug screamed again, coming from behind him. He turned and immediately jumped back. 

The girl in front of him definitely wasn’t Ladybug. Instead of dark pigtails and almond eyes, there was a large blonde ponytail and large blue ones. Her outfit was different, the dots stopping at mid-thigh, it transforming into - were those heels? No, this certainly wasn’t Ladybug.

“What?” Not-Ladybug snapped, grabbing her yo-yo and opening it to reveal a mirror. Chat just stared at her as she fixed her cherry-red lipstick.

“Who are - ” he stumbled over his words, his gaze moving away from the girl and to the world around them. It looked the same as his but it obviously wasn’t because of the Not-Ladybug standing before him. “Where am I?” he asked.

“Uh, Paris,” Not-Ladybug said, looking at him like he was dumb. His anger flared and in a moment, the girl was pressed against a brick wall with his baton at her throat.

“Who are you?” he growled.

“Scarlet Lady, and who are you?” 

“Chat Noir,” he answered - loosening his grip slightly. 

“Obviously not,” she said with distaste dripping from every word. “My Chat Noir wouldn’t treat me like this.” 

At that, Chat stepped back, dropping his baton.

“There was an akuma..” he muttered, trying to remember exactly what happened. Whatever the akuma caused - it wasn’t memory loss. He turned away from Scarlet Lady to look out onto the city. 

There, right in front of the Eiffel Tower was a figure clad in purple. He turned his head slightly to talk to Scarlet Lady, still watching the akuma. “Do you know the akuma’s name?”

“I think it started with an S,” she replied, checking out her nails. Which is completely useless since her suit covered them up. 

“Was it Shifter?”

She stared at her nails for another moment, “No, I don’t think it was that.”

“Weren’t you paying attention?”

Scarlet Lady looked up, her brow furrowed and her nose wrinkled. “No, why would I?”

He completely turned around. “You’re the holder of the ladybug miraculous, right?” 

Scarlet Lady nodded. “Duh.”

“Then it’s your job to fight akumas!” He said, throwing up his hands in the air. 

Scarlet Lady stalked up to him, sticking a sharp claw-like nail into his chest. “Listen here, alley cat! I’m the leader, and you’re the sidekick -  so you take orders from me! Got it?” 

Chat just rolled his eyes, grabbing her wrist and pulling her finger off his chest before dropping it with a sigh. “Great, I have no idea where I am and the only person who can help me is a narcissist.” 

Scarlet Lady stomped her foot, her hands curled into fists. “Then go ask Maritrash!”

Chat Noir furrowed his brow. “Do you Marinette, as in Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

Scarlet Lady stuck her nose up into the air with a huff, which gave him all the answers he needed. He grinned. Marinette was smart, and if Scarlet Lady hated her - that meant that she had still been somewhat like the one where he is from. And that’s enough. 

Chat grabbed his baton and extended it, letting it carry him to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. 

He landed on Marinette’s balcony, knocking on her trapdoor. Immediately, it opened - causing him to jump back in surprise.

“Uh, Chat Noir?” Marinette asked, poking her head out. “What are you doing here?”

“Marinette, you have to help me,” Chat said, kneeling down to her level. “I’m stuck in the wrong reality.” 

[story-collector]

The Family We Chose

Part 5

So I just realized I fucked up the ages...like I didn’t calculate something correctly because Damian is 9 when he leaves them...and he’s supposed to be 13 when they see him again but they were 16 when he left and they are supposed to be 17/18 and it doesn’t line up....

Change Damian to 10 when he leaves, they will stay 16....they will be 18 when he sees them next and he will be 12 almost 13.Fixed

???....timeskip I guess

Two years ago I left them, leaving Wayzz behind with Marinette. I glanced to the sketchbook on my desk, almost full, of drawings of my old...and new family.

When I was first brought to my father I hated every single one of his sons and him. I wanted nothing to do with them, I wanted my family, the one I chose.

Unfortunately I knew that wasn’t possible. I knew that the league wouldn’t attack them anymore with my grandfather being dead but I had no idea what my father would try to do. So I left them alone, I stayed away. They had wonderful and successful lives, they didn’t need me to get in the way.

When I became Robin I felt like I was betraying my family, like I was betraying Marinette. They had kept me from the fighting, despite how I had been raised, but they had kept me occupied and gave me things to do. My father didn’t seem like he really cared what happened and he had swept us all into his little mission against crime.

Now two years later I could see he really did love us but he just didn’t know how to express that at all. My brothers were surprisingly better at it than him and I had grown fairly close to them. Now I held them to almost the same esteem as the miraculous team. In the end I think, if given the choice, I would still chose to follow Ladybug. She was the first person that really showed me real love and real care. She had treated me as my age but still as an equal. She had been a big sister, almost like a mother to me.

I missed all of them. Sparring with the boys and patrolling with the girls. I missed their cuddles, their hugs. I missed when Max would show me things on his laptop, whether it was a funny cat video or when he taught me how to hack I still enjoyed my time with him. Adrien had taught me fencing. It had been very similar to a katana but it was more for show. He also taught me a lot about modeling. Kim loved to soar with me and taught me how to really push my personal limits in training, I still used his techniques today. Nathaniel was a fellow artists and they could have spent hours drawing together. Nath had shown him plenty of tips for drawing and I had become better with them. He had also shown me how to fully operate our tech system, from the communication system to the cameras that he had hacked into. The Batcave was actually fairly similar and I had learned the computer functions easily.

Chloe had been someone I had become suprisingly close to. Our personalities were very system but I had learned that she cared deeply from the bottom of her heart about people. When she was hurt, she would be broken for days untill she pulled herself together. I felt especially bad for leaving when I thought of her. She had taught me how to find all the good gossip and how to seem almost all knowing. I still used her technics today and because of that I was always the most informed person in the manor. Kagami really was like an older sister. She taught me sword technics I didn’t know and would spar with me. Secretly she was also a genius about animals. We bonded over that. I still carried that live for animals now. Alix was crazy. I had loved skating with her. Together we had figured out I was a natural skateboarder and she had gotten me one. Unfortunately I had to leave it behind but when I came here I got another one and had designed it similar to her hero uniform.

The two people I was probably closest to had been Luka and Marinette. Luka had taught me how to sing and play guitar. Other times he had just let me curl up next to him and he would play the guitar and sing to me for hours. He was a big brother to me and I missed him so much. I still played the guitar, but very rarely and only in private. No one in my new family knew I could play.

Marinette had been mom, or big sister. She had always been there for me. As I had lived alone in the base we had grown close. She had been the one to find me, the one to help heal me, and she was the one who came every day in the morning to see me and the one who would tuck me in at night. She had always been on call for me whenever I needed her. She was more reliable than my new family all together. I felt the worst about leaving her.

I stared out my window to the manor grounds. They were empty and it was dark, my one night off patrol a week. The sky was clear and as I looked at the moon I imagined my family was looking at it to.

In Paris

In the two years that Damian had been gone we had worked harder to finish Hawkmoth off for good but we couldn’t find out who he was. We spent hours pouring over ever single scrap of what could even be slightly considered evidence and we found nothing. Some days I found myself looking for Damian to see if he wanted to help.

Damian was brilliant, he was probably even smarter now in the years he had been away. Two years...it seemed like yesterday where he would be at the table with me as I looked over the Akumas map. I sighed and looked over it again. Still nothing.

A rattle in the ceiling made me look up to see me partner in crime, the one who was there with me when this it all started. He came down to my level and purred into the hug he gave me.

“We’ll find him one day”

I couldn’t tell If he was talking about Damian or Hawkmoth but I agreed with him fully. Chat Noir returning meant that Alix and Kim would be coming by soon to start the night patrol. That meant it was time for me to go home.

I groaned thinking about the essays I had to write and the math I needed to do at home...and the two dresses I need to make for Penny and the suit for Jagged. Oh well, coffee was a hero’s best friend after all. I said goodbye to the other hero’s, my family, and sent my yo-yo out to a nearby chimney. The sound of Chat Noirs staffed extending joined me moments later.

We traveled in silence till we made it to my parents bakery. We landed on my balcony and detransformed. We sat on the chair and just talked for another hour. We had been partners for almost 5 years now. I had just turned 18 and the others were close behind me. My business had skyrocketed and I was already looking at new places to live in and colleges to got to....after I defeated Hawkmoth.

We also talked about the school trip that we had won recently. I remember the countless hours slaving away to win this opportunity for a class who didn’t even know that I had done it. Lie-la was the apparent savior of the class for this. Whatever.

Luka would be the only one staying behind, Kagami having grabbed a spot with our class for the trip. So much planning would need to be done for this trip. We need to figure out patrols with the time difference. We had the app to alert us but other than that and Luka we would be completely blind to Paris, the news of Hawkmoth having been blocked from the rest of the world.

We had a long few months ahead of us.

Taglist:

@buginetye @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @dood-space @silvergold-swirl @toodaloo-kangaroo @moonlightstar64 @greatcatblaze



[black-streak]

Little Pistol - Daisy

Chapter 1

Previous Next

I'm trying to keep this in line with her canon personality to an extent here. Determined, focused, conniving and scheming. A little obsessive. But also needs to give herself a little pep talk to go through with things. Let me know how I'm doing?

Btw, title is by Brand New.

LP Taglist

@zalladane @moonlightstar64 @amayakans @elmokingkong @queen-in-a-flower-crown

Permanent list

@naoryllis @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @my-name-is-michell @maribat-is-lifeblood @dast218 @novicevoice @shizukiryuu @princess-of-fangirls @bigpicklebananatree @pirats-pizzacanninibles @abrx2002 @breemeister @darkthunder1589 @thestressmademedoit @severelyenchantedwonderland @isabellemasen @multi-fandom-freak0221 @fantasyloversblog @bzz75 @cloudiedraws @jardimazul @orbitsvt @gingerdaile @sotheresthatthought @kadmeread @novaloptr @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @crazylittlemunchkin @18-fandoms-unite-08 @tiny-goddess-of-chaos

~---~

Convincing a miniaturized pocket god that your intentions are sound came surprisingly easy to her.

That could be in part due to all the prior planning. Considering every possible argument the goddess could come up with and creating contingencies to match. Really though, taking out Tikki's own advice and laying it out as a perfect reasoning quieted her down quite nicely. Not that Tikki agreed with her, but the logic was too sound to push back on and the little bug never expected Marinette to come up with such thoughts without getting emotional. It just wasn't the way the girl was as far as Tikki was concerned. So it could only be taken at face value without the usual accusations of her being overdramatic.

It was an early Saturday when she voiced her thoughts.

"Hey Tikki?"

"Yes, Marinette?" the red bug looked up from her perch.

"Our biggest priority is to stop akumas and find Hawkmoth, correct?"

"Of course. You know that," she dismissed.

"So is it reasonable to say that Chat has been a hinderance to our duty?"

"How do you mean?"

"He distracts me or sits out on important battles. Threatens to quit if details that don't pertain to our purpose are withheld. He refuses to remain professional in the face of an attack."

"Well yes, he has been rather unhelpful lately, but then again, you are teenagers. It's to be expected, I suppose. Though I do wish he'd be a bit more focused," she easily agreed.

Marinette bit back a victorious smile and kept her expression closed off but for the determined, calculating expression she saved for important moments. Like now.

"In that case, it would be a good idea to make him focus any way I can. To make it easier. To hurry along the hunt for Hawkmoth."

Tikki's expression became weary as she stared at her welder, taken off guard by the open statement, "I don't know, Marinette...What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing yet, but I think I'm going to start brainstorming some ideas. Maybe do a little research. Something needs to change though," she emphasized, staring down her kwami with a hopeful, prodding look until she hesitantly nodded her agreement.

With the god's blessing, she turned to her tablet, pulling up everything she could on different heroes and their methods. Down the rabbit hole she fell.

… 

Some thirteen hours had passed and she felt the strain of her eyes and the bright burn to her retinas for the effort of her work. She refused to believe that no inspiration would come from this effort, though she'd moved on from conventional heroes and into a more sketchy territory by now, having been let down by the uptight views of others who'd obviously never been harassed or neglected by their partner and therefore wouldn't understand her need for a more, let's say, gray solution.

She'd seen the ideals of Superman and the Lanterns and the generalized view of both the Teen Titans and Justice League alike. Many worked with partners, many had betrayals or interpersonal problems. The solution they always took was for one or both parties to leave the team and travel to opposite sides of their country. Or world. Or separate worlds. Either way, avoidance was key. That didn't really work for her though. She had to stay in close contact with her partner while not truly working together. Remain civil within the same city limits. Fight side by side even. And it's not like she could just leave her responsibility here or allow Chat to go unchecked with a miraculous on his own. 

Then she stumbled upon Batman's history. The infamous bat had many a partner or sidekick with their own rough history and seemed to be operating with them regularly still. His solution to a lost or dead partner seemed to be a steady stream of replacements. Unfortunately, unlike a vigilante suit, a miraculous has to resonate with the wearer and no one she knew and trusted would fit the black cat. So she was stuck with the one.

Still though, Batman apparently had a falling out with his first Robin who became Nightwing. Those two were seen together regularly now so something must have happened to fix their issues. Gods, she was so lucky the internet seemed to stalk these people hardcore enough to have so much information on them so readily available. However, looking deeper, the resulting theories and knowledge did not bode well for her. It seems Nightwing had been in much the same state as her and with zero apologies from the Bat, had forgiven the man and resumed operations as usual. Well she was done with forgiving and forgetting. She wanted a real solution, not just rolling over and letting Chat do as he pleased! 

Alright, so Batman was the Chat Noir to the Robin's Ladybug. Maybe the others fared better?

Nope, second one died.

Current one seems to be a literal feral child out to bleed Gotham dry. Not sure how that helped, though maybe she could go just psycho enough to force Chat to be the responsible one? No, he'd just try and quit again.

Huh.

There was a third and fourth one apparently? Between the murder baby and the dead one. What happened to them?

The fourth was a blonde girl with a short stint. Seems she just moved departments since many speculated she might be a batgirl or working with a few others in the city. Not much more.

But what about the other one?

The third Robin, who worked with the Teen Titans for a stint. Who worked many years under the Bat, who gave away the title to the blonde only to return after and disappear once more with the coming of the blood toddler. What happened? Where'd he go?

…

Thousands had apparently asked the same question themselves. All signs seemed to point towards a betrayal. Something went wrong. The first resigned, the second died, the third just seemed to drop off the face of the planet. Did Batman kick him out? Replace him? For child's play, sword addition? She couldn't be sure, but it seemed the most likely guess. Much more believable than alien kidnapping or a quest for a dead man or his predecessor coming to life to end him.

But what after that? 

Surely, Marinette could've stopped there. Obviously, this wasn't the same as her situation, but she couldn't help but be so very intrigued. She watched videos of the boy in his Robin suit (much more practical than the first two if you asked her, though still slightly shameful) fighting and flying across rooftops and working with his team. He was so. So. Efficient. So clean. Ruthless when he decided to be. Calculated. Everything she ever wanted to be. 

He was amazing.

And then he disappeared.

Where did he go, that perfect Robin. How could anyone ever think the position needed an upgrade when the perfect bird was already there? It made no sense. And then she found him. Hunting through the rogues and heroes and inbetweens of Gotham, hidden in his own layerings of cover stories and identities. Her new aspiration of what a hero should be, mixed into the Anti-heroes of the city.

The vigilante of the more morally ambiguous variety, manipulating the world to the way he saw fit, using whatever method he wished. And the way he seemed to bend the city to his whim, well it matched quite well with how she wished her own city would be. She found her solution. Now it was showtime.

…

"Are you ready to apologize, m'lady?" Chat dropped down at her side, the akuma of the week tied up below them. It was a relatively easy battle, with no need for special abilities for once.

"Whatever for, Chatton?" Marinette asked, already tensing at the response she knew she'd receive. She hated when he tried to coerce her into apologizing for things that aren't her fault.

"For your neglect of your kitten, obviously."

"I don't have a kitten," she stated plainly.

"What? You wound me, to disown me so abruptly," he put a clawed hand to his chest, offense and hurt in spades marking his features.

"I can't disown what I never adopted," she went along with the analogy so he wouldn't complain about her ruining his fun again. The last thing she needed was his whining.

He perked up with this, "Well we can draw up some adoption papers right now if you wish? I'd love to be yours," he smarmed, leaning into her space further. 

This was it. Time to turn the tables. To make this work in her favor. She just needed to play it right, the way her Robin did. By manipulating the enemy into doing her bidding. She could do this.

"That's just it, though. I don't believe you would," she frowned, letting her eyes soften the way she'd seen Lila do so often. Might as well learn something from the girl.

"What? I would," he insisted, eyebrows furrowing.

"See you say that, but where's the proof? You've done nothing but pester and punish me over these weeks. You say you love me, but then watch me get hurt by akumas and make me fight all alone and threaten to leave me. That's not the actions of a loving partner. It feels like you hate me."

That had him panicking.

"No no, I don't hate you, you're my sun and my moon. My everything. Surely you know your worth in my life. I only did those things to show you how much you hurt me." He attempted to reason with her.

"See, but I've never intentionally hurt you. And always apologized to you when I realized I had. Whereas you just admitted to causing me distress as a form of punishment. It seems to me that I'm far more attached to you than you are to me and I'm just not willing to hurt myself by getting involved with someone who so obviously dislikes me."

"I- no- that's not- I love you! I didn't mean to do that, I shouldn't have. Please believe me? I love you, Ladybug," he begged, ears dropping and body tensed in fear.

"I'm sorry, but until I see some proof, I can't do that," she shook her head before taking off home without a backward glance, leaving the cat to his misery.

…

That night, Tikki went straight to bed and refused to speak to her for the next two days.

[aalissy]

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I hope you enjoy the Ladrien fluff! I love writing these two dorks being in love with each other hahah. It’s a lil shorter today bc I had a longgg day but I hope you guys still like it! Lemme know what you think <3

AO3

Ladybug sighed dreamily, staring up at the billboard in front of her. Her hands cupped her chin as a dazed smile lit up her face. She was staring directly up at a giant photo of Adrien. Gabriel had released a new collection of clothing and her crush was modeling in it. The latest advertisements featured Adrien in a suit, looking so professional and handsome that she was almost entirely distracted from the clothes.

With another quiet sigh, Ladybug dragged her eyes away from his brilliantly gleaming emerald green eyes down to the suit he was currently wearing. It fit him well and she carefully examined it, mentally taking notes for her next designs. Nibbling on her lip, she also thought about what she could change to make it look even better.

She was thrust out of her thoughts, however, when someone tapped on her shoulder. With a loud screech, she whirled around, meeting a pair of startled green eyes. Freezing in shock, her mouth fell open as she realized she was staring directly at Adrien.

“Sorry,” he gave her a crooked smile, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“No, no!” Ladybug quickly tried to reassure him, waving a hand in the air. “That was my fault! I just hadn’t realized that you were there! I was a little distracted.”

Her gaze slowly and rather guiltily slid over to the billboard once again. Did Adrien know that she had been staring at him? His gaze followed hers and she tensed up again, feeling her cheeks turn a light shade of pink as she realized that she had gotten caught. Instinctively, her hand reached for her yo-yo, ready to whip out of there faster than he could blink.

“Was that what you were distracted by?” Adrien’s smile got wider and looked more mischievous. He gestured at his latest advertisement and Ladybug’s face turned an even darker red. 

Her palms itched to scrub at her face, wishing that she really could leave. With a nervous chuckle, she glanced away from his teasing expression to murmur, “Y-yeah, actually.”

“Really?!” Adrien asked almost in shock. Ladybug flicked her eyes back to him, noting that he really did seem surprised that he had guessed correctly. 

He opened his mouth to say something and she tensed again, certain that he was about to berate or scold her. In a rush, she blurted out, “Yeah! I love Gabriel so I’m always excited whenever a new collection comes out! And I thought that this one was fantastic! You did a great job.”

He seemed to deflate a little bit and Ladybug once again wondered if she had said something wrong. His smile weakened and she practically gnawed at her lower lip, replaying what she had just said in her mind, hoping to find the issue. Shifting on her feet uncomfortably when she couldn’t figure it out, she gave him a grateful look when Adrien spoke up again, “Thanks, Ladybug. I’m glad to know that a literal superhero is a fan of my work! That’s amazing!”

His grin had brightened once again and Ladybug couldn’t stop her own smile from spreading across her face in response. “Of course, Adrien. You’re very talented and you always make the clothes you wear look phenomenal!”

Instead of answering, he simply gave her a shy smile, running a hand through his hair as he looked down at her. Another few moments of silence passed where she and Adrien both continued to stare into each other’s eyes. Eventually, his lips twitched in amusement and he said, “You know, you really remind me of a friend of mine. She likes fashion and she’s a big fan of Gabriel, too. I think you two would really get along, actually.”

“O-oh, really?” Ladybug stuttered, almost choking on air when she realized that he must also be talking about her. Feeling slightly panicked that he might accidentally stumble onto the right conclusion, she stiffly pulled out her yo-yo. “W-well, it was really great talking with you, Adrien but I should probably get home before we draw too much attention to us.”

Gesturing over to a pair of curious people that had stopped to look at them, she watched as his eyes lit up with realization. He quickly turned back to her, giving her a sheepish smile. “Right as always, Ladybug! Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, though.”

“Of course,” she smiled softly back at him, feeling rather giddy that she had managed to have a rather long conversation with Adrien without completely making a fool of herself. “I’m glad that I saw you.”

She blinked in shock as his cheeks seemed to turn pink. He bit his lip before nodding, stuttering slightly, “Y-yeah, you too.”

With one last, final giggle and wave to him, Ladybug twirled her yo-yo in one hand before pulling herself out of the street corner they were on. She couldn’t wait to squeal all about this conversation to Tikki later on. 

[hanaasbananas]

100 Ways to say I Love You Chapter 51

I like your laugh (Ladynoir)

AO3

Chat Noir didn’t laugh much. Oh, he cracked jokes and told terrible puns all the time, but it wasn’t often that he actually laughed. She hadn’t noticed at first, not when she was groaning at the puns, or rolling her eyes because, really-how could one person have such a constant supply of bad jokes?

So she’d seen the way he grinned whenever his puns elicited a reaction from her, and did not notice the lack of laughter.

Until she did.

The first time Ladybug heard Chat laugh- heard him really, properly throw his head back and laugh without inhibition, she knew she was a goner. She also then realised that she had never heard him laugh so freely before.

It was then, as she watched, entranced at the way his green eyes sparkled with mirth and his shoulders shook; as her heart faltered in her chest when Chat’s smile lit up his entire face, that she made a promise to herself.

She would make Chat laugh again.

***

Ladybug started with gag gifts

She practically bought out the entire joke shop, trying out each prank toy on Chat one after another, but it didn’t work. He’d grin, or snort as he discovered the pranks, snickering to himself before asking if he could keep the toy.

Dejected at her failure, she’d always say yes.

Then, it was puns.

No matter how much it pained her to do so, Ladybug went to the library and borrowed as many books as she could on the subject-thanking her lucky stars that her local library had self checkout machines so that she did not have to be judged by the librarians on the twelve joke books she’d taken from the children's area.

(Extensive research-or, long hours spent watching Chat Noir pun or battle compilations on youtube-had shown that her partner favoured jokes that were a little more on the childish side. Ladybug found that she was quite glad for that-she didn’t think she could deliver even the slightest adult joke without blushing as red as her suit and ruining the punchline.)

Chat loved her sudden interest in jokes, and though they never did bring out the reaction she wanted, he often tried to get the two of them to compete to see who had the best ones. Every time, he would emerge victorious from such verbal battles, and Ladybug would return home afterwards to scour her books for more material.

***

Predictably, when Ladybug finally succeeded in her mission, she wasn’t even trying.

It was Chat’s turn to bring drinks to patrol, and he’d apparently been fascinated by a new flavour their regular coffee shop was testing out.

It was disgusting.

Ladybug almost spat out the drink on her first sip, but forced herself to swallow the foul drink as Chat watched, though she couldn’t help the face she made, shuddering rather dramatically at the taste. She was completely caught off guard then, when Chat snorted at her expression, which then turned into a full bellied laugh at her expense. “Y- your face!” he exclaimed, slapping a hand over his mouth to muffle the laughter that spilled out of him. “Oh, you should have seen it. Oh, god, I’m not even sorry for the drink anymore-”

Pausing in her attempts to wipe the taste from her mouth, Ladybug could only stare. This? This was what it took? She was almost offended.

Almost, but not quite. Chat had yet to notice her staring, and she was struck with the sudden desire to just....

Ladybug leaned forward slowly, and before she could second guess herself, she kissed him. She felt Chat still for half a second, and then his lips were moving against hers slowly, his hand coming up to bury in her hair as he tilted his head for a better angle, drawing her closer.

When they pulled away, Chat’s eyes had darkened, his cheeks flushed, and Ladybug knew she must look the same. “What was that for?” He asked

“I like your laugh.” She said simply, leaning in to kiss him again.

“Wait-” Chat drew back, comprehension dawning in his eyes. “Is that what all that stuff was last month? You were trying to make me laugh?” he sounded incredulous, and Ladybug nodded, feeling suddenly self conscious.

“Don’t make fun of me” she whined, sitting back and swatting at his chest. In all her plans, she’d never factored in the possibility of him finding out why she’d been acting so strangely, and her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. Chat caught her hand, twining his fingers with her own before dipping his head down to capture her lips in another kiss.

“I could never make fun of you” he said, laughter in his voice as he pecked her on the lips again before pulling back with a cheeky grin.

“We definitely need to work on your jokes though.”

[emu-lumberjack]

A Quick Meeting pt. 2

Damian is an exchange student in Paris, and Marinette doesn’t know too much about him, till a chance encounter provides an opportunity 

I finally figured out what was going on and am finally able to post part two here, finally. I’m not gonna retag those who wanted to be tagged, (tell me if you want to be) but I will put on the post that I figured it out. Thanks for sticking with me during the technical difficulties

Read part one here

Part 3 here 

part 4 here

They looked at each other vibrant blue eyes meeting piercing green. The entire class which minutes before were laughing and jeering had quieted to little more than a faint buzz. The two hadn’t said anything after they introduced themselves, both too startled to say anything else. They were left there in peace until a brunette slid between the two blocking Marinette's view of Damian.

“You must be the exchange student, I’m Lila. Don’t worry, I'll introduce you to the rest of the class and give you the tour later.” The liar herself took Damian by the elbow and dragged him off before he could say anything, still caught off guard by Marinette’s blue eyes.

There goes my chance at a friend. Marinette thought to herself fully knowing how much Lila could worm her way into anyones head. The bluenette with the sketchbook in hand went back up to her desk. She sank into her chair glad to be ignored by her former friends. Looking down she saw that most of the pages were pretty ripped up but still salvageable and right on top was the picture she had begun drawing of Damian’s eye. Grabbing her pen she started drawing the second one resolving to make it a matching pair. She was beginning to shade the second eye when a small tap on her shoulder made her jump three feet out of her chair.

“Is there someone sitting next to you?” The familiarly cold voice said.

“What? Right! No one is sitting next to me, except if you want to then I guess there is someone sitting next to me and…” Marinette tapered off as she saw Lila glaring at her. Even though she was Ladybug Marinette still wanted to avoid Lila’s ire, it was a pain to deal with at school.

Damian let out a quiet chuckle, “I guess there’s gonna be someone sitting next to you then.” He quietly sat himself down in the chair next to Marinette and started getting his books out. “Nice drawing by the way.” Marinette blushed slightly.

“Ok class time to start.” Madame Bustier said walking into the room, the conversation ceased from there, yet both parties knew they had just found a new ally.

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

“What’s up Buginette.” Chat Noir said hopping down next to Ladybug. His bell made a soft little chime.

“Ya know, just the fifth night up in a row, I have three sewing projects to do.” She paused a beat, “Hey do you know anything about that new kid in class?” It had been a few weeks after Marinette gained guardianship when they decided to reveal their identities. With Adrien dating Kagami and Marinette thoroughly over her crush they both laughed at the situation and came out as good friends, and even though Damian had been in class for a week she still knew barely anything about him.

“Same as you, exchange student from Gotham. Cold, calm, and about to murder Lila.” Chat replied. He must’ve seen Damian’s face when Lila claimed she knew the Waynes. “Why? Do you like him?” Ladybug looked over to see Chat Noir’s face was filled with mocking innocence. Ladybug blushed under her mask.

“I will push you off the Eiffel Tower, or worse yet, sick Auroroe on your and Kagami’s relationship. I can see the headline now ‘Superhero Chat Noir dating girlfriend of Adrien Agreste! What will the model do when he finds out?’” Chat gave her a half-hearted punch in the arm for that, and they both had a laugh.

A few minutes later Ladybug noticed a quick blur ducking between alleyways. She gave Chat a nudge, “Did you see that?”

“See what?” He responded groggily.

“I thought I saw something ducking between the allies. It’s nothing”

“Ladybug, I know you, if you thought you saw something you saw something. I’d say go check it out. If it’s nothing, no big deal.”

“Alright, I’ll be back so don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” she smirked back at him, without looking she threw her yoyo in the direction of the blur and swung herself out.

“That happened one time!” He yelled after her.

Ladybug swung through the alleys looking for the blur when she spotted a small light out of the corner of her eye. There it is. She stopped her approach when she heard a low voice murmur

“Yes Kent I will get you those pastries you can pick them up tomorrow?” It was Damian, Ladybug would have known the voice anywhere. She opened up her yoyo to call Chat “Hey meet me at the eiffel tower in five minutes.” Now all she had to figure out how she would get Damian up to the tower.

It didn’t take the superheroine to think up an idea. Sorry. She thought to herself before throwing her yoyo his way.

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

Damian had just disconnected the call when he felt a cool wire wrap around his body. I do not need this right now he thought to himself as he was whipped up from the ground and into the arms of a familiar red and black clad superheroine.

“Ya know you could have just asked.” He said annoyed.

“But where’s the fun in that, and anyway I’ve got some questions for you.” her voice was lighter than it had been the other day, probably because there was no villain to fight.

She carried him up to a part of the Eiffel tower not easily seen by the public, where she proceeded to tie him dangling upside down by her yoyo.

“Whyyy.” he grumbled to himself, if he wanted this kind of treatment he would have stayed in Gotham with Todd.

“Ok first question, big one here. Do you know who I am?” She said sitting down.

“I don’t know your hero name, although I think your partner said Ladybug the other day, right after his terrible pun.”

“Rude.” A black clad boy said coming out of the shadows. A tail swished behind him.

“Well it’s true, you’re almost as bad as Grayson.” Damian was getting tired of this, he tried to feel into his pockets for his knife, before remembering he had left it back at his apartment.

“Everyone knows I’m Ladybug, I’m asking if you know who I am outside of the mask.” Damian turned towards the girl when she spoke.

“Well yeah. It’s rather hard to hide the blue hair.” And I’d never forget those blue eyes. The thought surprised even him.

She said something under her breath before looking at him, “This could be an issue, but if you already know then I guess there’s no use in trying to tell you off. I’m surprised, but I guess despite your looks you’re actually rather smart.”

The boy next to her let out a small laugh. “Are you going to introduce us Buginette, or am I going to have to guess.”

“Chat Noir, meet Damian. Damian meet Chat Noir.”

“So you’re the new exchange student. Ya know, put you in a fancy suit and add a little more scowl I’d think you were the Damian Wayne.” This warranted a rare laugh from Damian who after a few moments said,

“Because I am.” Chat Noir and Ladybug went pale. Damian took advantage of them being dumbstruck to feel into his pocket, There it is! He felt his phone, with a few taps he was able to hopefully get Jon’s contact up after all it was the last one he texted. He typed:

Eiffel Tower. Get here now.

“Oh. Shit.” the soft expletive dragged him from the texting. Marinette. No Ladybug in this costume, looked at him. “Lila’s new lie. Oh, my Kwamii. She’s gonna get it.”

“What’s the lie?” Chat Noir and Damian said at the same time.

“She said she’s dating, well, you.” She looked at Damian, after a beat the costume clad heroes burst into laughing, Damian looked horrified. He knew about her lying about knowing his family but this was new.

The giggling of the two heroes was interrupted when a blue blur came out of nowhere a few minutes later, and a moment after that the blur solidified into the form of a boy who had a too familiar blue suit. Damian who had just been swinging upside down was now being carried bridal style by the boy.

“We never speak of this to anyone.” He said in a low voice to Jon. “If my brothers find out I will personally end you.”

“Yeah, yeah. You say that every time I have to come save you.” The boys southern twang was more prominent than usual, probably because Damian had been spending so much time around the French. A soft “Ahem” broke the two out of their talking..

“Hello, who are you, what are you doing here…”

“And would you mind putting down the angry child.” Chat interrupted Ladybug.

“I am your age cat boy.” Damian responded, his voice may have been cool but there was a slight blush to his cheeks.

“Oh yeah. Sorry, I just got a text from Damian here saying ‘Rival them get here now.’ I had to ask Con to help, but we figured Damian meant the Eiffel Tower.” Jon put Damian down and handed the yoyo back to Ladybug. “Anyway I figured if Damian was asking for help then he actually needed it. Also my names J-”

“Superboy.” Damian interrupted before Jon could give away his secret identity. Again. Ladybug was looking at Damian, probably wondering why he had Superboys phone number, she’d hopefully come to the same conclusion everyone else did. That the youngest Wayne got into enough trouble he needed a fast way to contact the supers.

“Good to meet you superboy, I’m Ladybug and this is Chat Noir.” She took her gaze off Damian to focus it on Superboy. “Will you be in Paris long?”

“I’ll probably stay the night, make sure no one else tries to hurt Damian. Plus there's a bakery I really want to go to when it opens, the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.” Ladybug paled a little bit and looked at Damian.

“He doesn’t know, he’s just focused on his stomach.” Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hey that's rude.” Jon said to Damian.

“It’s me, you expect anything different.”

“Ladybug gave a snort, “Well as funny as this is I need to talk to Damian alone, Chat can you handle patrol for a little bit? Maybe take Superboy show him around Paris for a bit.”

“Yeah I’ve got it.” with a mock bow he motioned for Superboy to follow him. Jon recognizing a fellow weeb on sight asked him about anime, and the two went off singing some theme song from their favorite anime.

“I’m suddenly very glad I’m not on patrol.” Ladybug said quietly to Damian.

“Agreed.”

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

It had been a long night for Marinette, first finding out Damian was a Wayne then meeting Superboy, she had to get him alone before she exploded.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Damian turned his green eyes towards her.

“I have several questions, but is there somewhere more private we could talk?” The Paris night grew colder as the stood still.

“Yeah, we can talk at my place.”  Which is how Marinette Dupain-Cheng wound up drinking hot coco sitting on the couch at Damian Wayne's apartment.

“I can’t believe that your father lets you stay in the apartment on your own.”

“Well I’m seventeen, he knows I can take care of myself. Plus he either has one of my brothers videochat me, or pop in for a ‘quick visit’ which is their version of making sure I haven’t done some irreparable damage to anything.” He said, pouring himself a cup of tea.

“Fair enough, now do you want to tell me why you were slinking in the alleys?” She said.

“Well I needed some air. And I was maybe… looking for you.” He begrudgingly said the last part.

Marinette blushed a little bit, “And why were you looking for me?”

“Well learning that Paris has heroes, plus getting saved by one makes me a little curious. Plus after class the other day I wanted to talk.” He took a sip of his tea.

“Alright. Also  since you apparently know superboy,” Marinette was still surprised about that fact, “there’s something I wanted to ask you about.”

“Ok, shoot.”

“I noticed that ever since you came here a week ago Robin, usually right next to Batman, hasn’t been seen. Red Robin has been popping up, but no Robin. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?” Although she tried to make her voice as non confrontational as possible, she still saw Damian pale. He tried to mask it by drinking his tea but Marinette still saw how he hesitated before he said,

“I don’t know Robin, I know Superboy because he is freakishly friendly and helps out around Gotham a lot.” Marinette noticed how he stared at his drink the entire time he was explaining it to her. She was debating about pushing the point further before he interrupted saying, “It wouldn’t matter if I knew him or not, the Bats all keep their identities close to their chests. No one knows who any of them are.” When he was done he looked up at Marinette, she noticed how his eyes were pleading with her to just go with it, so she did.

“Ok, so what did you want to talk about regarding Paris’ heroes.” He looked relieved, finally able to change the topic.

“Well, how did you get your powers? How long have you been active? Who are you facing? And why haven’t you called the Justice League for help?” He fired off the questions, not giving her a chance to respond.

“One at a time,” she laughed, “We get our powers from our kwamis, little gods who reside in the miraculous jewel, my kwami is named Tikki.” At mention of her name the Kwami came out and gave a little hello. “We’ve been active for about 3 years, we’re facing a villain named Hawkmoth who can use people's emotions and turn them into villains. And we did call the Justice League for help when we first started.. Green Lantern told us not to prank call him again.”  When Marinette finished Damian looked angry. Mainly at the Green Lantern bit she mentioned.

“I’ll have to talk to Superboy about it.” His voice which had been warming up suddenly felt icy.

“Speaking of which I should get back to Chat, before he and superboy decide to test their powers on each other.” Setting her cup down on the coffee table she stood up. “Thanks for the hot chocolate, and the conversation Damian, I’ll make sure to send Superboy your way. See you in class.” She said her transformation words followed by a quick “bug-out” before leaping through the window.

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

Damian sat in the suddenly empty room which smelled like freshly baked bread. Marinette was true to her promise and a few minutes later Supreboy came crashing through the window. After he changed he spent the next ten minutes telling Damian about how he and Chat went around the city just talking about anime, and the differences between English and French dubs. Both eventually agreeing subbed was the best. Damian wasn’t listening instead thinking about Marinette. Smarter than she seems he thought to himself, afterall she came very close to figuring out who he was. He made a mental note to his father that they need a Robin appearance soon.

“Damian. Damian! Are you even listening to me?” Jon’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Sorry Kent I was thinking about someone else.” Jon looked at Damian incredulously.

“I might need to get my ears cleaned. Did you just say you were thinking about someone else?! Was it that superhero Ladybug? Do you like her?” Damian’s fury was undercut by the blush that appeared on his face.

“I don’t like anyone Kent you know that, and anyway she’s a hero with a mask. I can’t like anyone who is still wearing a mask around me.” Damian set his cup down a little harder than he needed to.

“I’m sure the great detective can figure out who's behind that mask pretty easily.”

“Keep it up Kent and I’ll be sending you back to Metropolis tonight. The hard way.”

Jon held his hands up in defeat. “Fine. Fine, but you and I are going to that bakery tomorrow.”

Damian looked at Jon, “The Dupain-Cheng Bakery?” A plan was forming in his head.

“That’s the one.”

“Not a bad idea.” It was time to talk to Marinette outside of class, and outside of the mask.

[maribatshipper]

Jiminette String Part 3

I’M BACK BABY! I know you’ve been waiting for this, here it is, everyone!

Part 1 Part 2

Adrien looks at his fingers, seeing strings on his fingers, confused about them.

“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! A new Akuma, going by the name, “Soulfinder” is walking through Paris, making everyone see Soulmate strings. Oh, it seems he has an announcement to Paris.”

Adrien looks towards the TV to see the supervillain smirking at the Camera near the Lourve.

“People of Paris, I am Soulfinder. I’ve been called crazy for years, insane because I saw that some people just aren’t meant to be together. They said I was just trying to break up all the good couples, but now you all get to see who your soulmates are! Let me explain the strings. Thumbs are like the pointer, but the thumb is your soul sibling. Those that are too close to be friends, but are not romantic. Pointers are strictly platonic. They can move to the middle finger, which is Soul enemies. The ring finger is romantic, and pinkie is the soul parent or child. It depends on your age. But be warned, if you grab your romantic soulmate string and you aren’t in the same place as them, something weird could happen. It could be you lose sight in one eye and so does your soulmate, but your soulmates would be seeing from your sightless eye. You could switch bodies with your soulmate. It’s random. Enjoy knowing who your soulmate is!” Soulfinder smiles.

Adrien looks at his finger where Plagg’s ring is residing, seeing a dark blue string on his finger.

“What do you think you’re doing, Adrien? You need to go out there and help Ladybug take down the villain!” Plagg exclaims.

Adrien protests, “But I could finally prove that Ladybug and I are soulmates!”

Plagg growls, “Didn’t you hear the Akuma? There are side effects! You could swap bodies with your soulmate, which will drive both you and them insane and you won’t be able to help Ladybug! You could lose sight in one eye, making it extremely hard to fight!”

Adrien frowns, “It’s a risk I have to take.” reaching for his string.

“Adrien, NO!”

***

Kagami frowns, quite confused at this turn of events. She ignores her romantic string, quickly realising that isn’t important, and grabs her thumb string, seeing Marinette in her mind's eye after she grabs it. But what surprises her is seeing Marinette transform into Multimouse, which Kagami approves of Ladybug’s choice, but then drops the string in shock at something else.

“What are you doing, Kagami?” Longg asks.

Kagami frowns, “I don’t care who I belong with. I care for Marinette. We need to help Ladybug. Longg, bring the storm!”

Kagami transforms into Ryuko, only to look at her hands and see her thumb and pointer strings haven’t disappeared from her sight. She looks up to see where her thumb is leading and follows it.

***

Marinette hides in an alleyway and frowns, “We have to save Liam!”

Tikki nods, “Just say the words, Marinette!”

“Tikki, Spots on!” Marinette exclaims, transforming.

The suit appears to have been upgraded, getting more armour around the chest area, on her legs and shoulders. (I’m horrible at describing this. I just want her to have a better suit.) Ladybug then looks at her hand to realise that the pointer and thumb strings haven’t disappeared. She ignores that because she can ask Liam once he’s been de-akumatised. She throws her yoyo and swings away, looking for Soulfinder.

***

Claire and Jim jump out of a Shadow portal onto a roof. They see Soulfinder walking away from the Lourve.

“How can we do this?” Claire asks.

Jim exclaims, “Wait, look!”

Ladybug lands in front of them, quite surprised.

“How’d you get up here?” She asks.

Jim sighs, “That’s not important right now, Ladybug. What is important is that we can help!”

Ladybug pulls them out of Soulfinder’s field of vision and asks, “How can you help?”

Claire grabs Ladybug’s shoulder and answers, “I use shadow magic. I can make portals quite easily and quickly and can move shadows. Literally.”

“I’m gonna need more than your word for that.” Ladybug frowns.

Claire puts her hand to her left, opening a portal to a few feet away and sticks her hand in, causing it to come out the other side. Ladybug’s eyes widen.

“We can help!” Claire frowns.

Ladybug puts her hand to her chin in thought.

“You can’t help like this. If Hawk Moth new about your power, he’d try and take it from you, either by kidnapping or some other way. But- Of course!” Ladybug snaps her fingers. “You stay right here. I’ll be back.”

Ladybug swings away, leaving the two on the rooftop.

“Do you think we should’ve told her what weapons we prefer?” Jim asks.

Claire shrugs, “Probably.”

***

Ladybug jumps into her room and detransforms, walking over to the Miracle Box she’s hidden underneath her pillow.

“Are you sure about this, Marinette?” Tikki asks.

Marinette nods, “Trust me, Tikki. We can trust them. They offered to help, and if Hawk Moth assumes Claire’s power is from a Miraculous, she’d be so much safer than if he knew the truth.”

She opens the Miracle Box and looks at the Miraculous inside, reaching towards it, trying to figure out which to use this time.

“Of course!” Marinette exclaims as she grabs two.

She quickly transforms and runs back, hoping they’re still there. On her way, she bumps into Ryuko.

“Ladybug, do you know where the akuma is?” Ryuko asks.

Ladybug nods, “It’s in a chain bracelet. We’ll probably need some help, though.”

Ryuko nods, “I trust you to pick worthy holders. But, Ladybug, after the battle, I need to talk to you.”

***

Downstairs, Sabine and Tom look at their ring-fingers to find they are attached to each other, and they are relieved.

“At least we were meant to be together, Tom.” Sabine smiles.

Tom replies, “I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be my soulmate.”

“He’s such a sweetheart. I’m glad we’re soulmates.”

“She can kick anyone’s butt. That’s what I fell in love with.”

(I am so sorry, I had to put this in.)

***

Claire and Jim watch as Soulfinder looks at people’s worried faces as he passes by them.

“How can we turn him back to Liam?” Jim frowns.

“We can help with that.” Ladybug smiles.

The two teenagers turn to Ladybug to see Ryuko with her. She swipes her yoyo, causing it to open and a glowing white light appearing inside. Ladybug puts her hand in, pulling out a box. She holds it towards Jim.

“Jim Lake Jr, this is the Miraculous of the Tiger, which grants the power of the hunt. You will use it for the greater good. Once the mission is completed, you will return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you, Jim?” Ladybug asks.

Jim nods, “Of course you can.”

He picks up the box and opens it, causing a small glowing orb to fly around him, giving him deja vu. When the light dies down, a small tiger-like creature appears.

“Hello, young cub, I am Roaar! I’m your kwami for today. All you have to say it Roaar, time to hunt!” Roaar smiles.

Jim smiles as he puts on the Panjas bracelet, “Roaar, time to hunt!”

Roaar goes into the Panjas bracelet. Instead of the usual feeling of Armour surrounding him, he feels fabric forming on his skin, including on his face. When it’s finished, Jim stands with a bit of dark purple in his hair, a mask with black and purple stripes on it, and a purple bodysuit with black stripes, and a tail attached to his back. Claws protrude from his fingers and two swords lay on his back. Ladybug’s face almost turns as red as her mask seeing how attractive he is. She quickly pulls out another box and holds it to Claire.

“Claire Nunez, this is the Miraculous of the Horse, which grants the power of teleportation. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return the miraculous to me. Can I trust you?” Ladybug asks.

Claire smirks, “Yep. Not that I needed it.”

Ladybug explains, “Yes, but Hawk Moth won’t know that. He’ll just assume you’re old enough to make more than one portal.”

Claire opens the box to reveal glasses. Another glowing orb appears, and it flies around Claire. As the light dissipates, a little horse kwami appears.

“Oh, hello. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” The kwami asks.

“Claire Nunez.” Claire answers.

The kwami asks, “Are you glorious and famous?”

Ladybug rolls her eyes and goes to say something when Claire answers, “I’m the daughter of a Councilwoman back in Arcadia, so I’m a little famous. What do I have to do?”

“All you have to say is, “Kaalki, full gallop!” Kaalki smiles.

Claire puts on the glasses and smirks, “Kaalki, full gallop!”

Kaalki goes into the glasses, and Claire transforms. Her white patch in her hair grows, covering all her hair, which has grown and is pulled into a high ponytail. A horseshoe appears on her waist. (If anyone can do fanart, I would love that, please. I can’t figure out how to describe her transformation.)

“You have a gaggletack?” Jim asks.

Ladybug asks, “What? It’s just a magical horseshoe. Like my yoyo. Oh, and what are your names?”

A/N: I’m baaaaack! Damn, you’ve been waiting a while, haven’t you? Admittedly, not as long as for other fics, but gah! Oh, this was fun to write. I had to make a nod towards the Gaggletacks because come on! Oh, and I have no clue for names for the heroes. I mean, Claire’s Spanish, so we can give her a Spanish name, and she can suggest something for Jim! Please, though, I need your opinions and FANART! I am terrible at drawing, and editing pictures, so I need YOURS! Please! I’m begging on my knees.

Oh, and Adrien’s soulmate, can anyone guess who it is? Dark blue because the character I picked out of nowhere seems to where that the most. Seriously, she seems like she doesn’t have any flavour in her closet. Just stripes. I apologise for giving you such heartache. And, what should happen to Adrien when he grabs the string? Blind in one eye, soulmate teleports into his room, swap bodies, what do you think should happen? I do have a plan, but if I’m given a better idea, I might do it.

Tagging: @itspetitfantomestuff @belleyells 

[ladylynse]

Chapter 12 [FF | AO3] of Whirlwind (SQ fic): Jake should be used to ominous predictions by now. Randy should know better than to blindly follow McFist. Adrien should think twice before sneaking away. And Danny should’ve expected something like this when he got that phone call.

Previous | Timeline post

-|-

7:46 PM

“Don’t come here,” Gabriel hissed. “If you’ve captured Chat Noir, simply take his Miraculous! I want that ring.”

“Bringing him to you while he wears his ring is the same as bringing his ring to you,” was her infuriatingly mild response. “Unless you care to revise the terms of our agreement and specify that you would like only his ring?”

Gabriel ground his teeth. He knew what she was trying to do. “Take his Miraculous,” he repeated. “I have no use for the boy. If you bring him here, his fate is on your head.”

He thought that would give her pause. Instead, she asked, “Are you so afraid of him?”

“I know you don’t like needless death, Dracona,” he snapped. “If you believe bringing him to me will save him, you are sorely mistaken.”

“You don’t want to know who he is?” she asked lightly. “For the next time he foils your plans?”

“There won’t be a next time if you give me his Miraculous this time.”

“How can you be so sure of that when he could face you using a different Miraculous?”

Gabriel stilled. How did she know that? He had never told her of the Miraculous beyond asking her to fetch Chat Noir’s, and he didn’t recall naming the ring as a Miraculous until now.

She must be guessing. She couldn’t know more.

He wasn’t willing to bet on that, though. She’d surprised him by having that blood magic of hers; he wasn’t about to assume she was ignorant of other magics. “We’ll meet on the rooftops, then. The former venue.” He didn’t want to make this concession, but she’d use a refusal against him. It was far better to meet her away from prying eyes than to have her find him where he stood now. Besides, he knew to be careful. She’d only captured Chat Noir; the other heroes he’d seen acting earlier were still out there, as was her son.

He suspected this was her new way of opposing him. She was still trying to bargain with him, trying to find loopholes in their agreement. Still thinking she could get the upper hand. No matter; he’d prove her wrong soon enough.

“No.”

“I beg your pardon?” He spoke slowly, letting his threat soak through the words at her audacity of trying to dictate more terms.

“Go to the roof of your hotel. I’ll find you.”

“I’m afraid—”

“You’re not from here, and this is hardly a residential district. You’re staying at a hotel nearby. Your first choice tells me that much.”

Gabriel let out a growl, and Dracona added, “Or would you prefer I come straight to your room?”

The cane in Gabriel’s grip trembled slightly, and he forced himself to relax. He didn’t want to let her know how much her insubordination irked him. “Very well.” Once he had Chat Noir’s ring, he could recall her akuma and be done with this. She may have inside knowledge of other magical artefacts that might be useful to him, but it was abundantly clear that she wouldn’t part with that knowledge if he didn���t have some leverage. He’d hoped Nooroo’s magic would be enough to keep her on a short leash, but if she could push back this much, he was better off declawing her.

Fortunately, while she wouldn’t remember the incident, he’d know everything she’d told him. That would have to be enough for him when he found his next target.

“Dark wings fall, Nooroo,” he said, letting the magic wash over him.

Nooroo appeared in front of him. “Is this wise, Master?”

“Are you questioning my judgement?”

“No, Master.”

“Then what more can you tell me of her magic? How she could possibly know about the Miraculous?”

Nooroo hesitated.

“Answer me.”

“These things are not meant to be spoken of, Master.”

“Consider this an exception.”

Nooroo swallowed. “Dragons believe themselves to be the protectors of the magical world. While the Order of the Guardians have striven for utmost secrecy themselves, it is likely the dragons are aware of the Miraculous.”

Dragons.

“And you did not think to mention this before?” Nooroo would have known that from the beginning. It was highly unlikely he’d known she possessed blood magic without recognizing its kind, especially after Dracona had unlocked her own power. Gabriel did not appreciate being taken for a fool, yet they all seemed intent to try it—though it did make Dracona’s protection of her family make so much more sense. Her son, especially; as she’d said he’d fought and won his own battles despite still learning, Gabriel had no doubt that her son also considered himself a protector of the magical world.

“You forbade me from speaking, Master.”

A convenient excuse but not likely the real reason. Nooroo’s reluctance to speak of this at all would have been obvious even if he had met Gabriel’s eyes. “Then speak now. What can you tell me about the others? The ghost, the ninja?”

“I do not know specifics,” Nooroo admitted in a whisper. “I believe the Ninja is using magical artefacts to achieve his powers—”

“Then we shall have to see if we can take those away from him.”

Nooroo flinched. “That would not be an easy thing to do, Master. I do not know what the artefacts might be or if they are connected and must be used together. I cannot even guess if they are bound by magic my own cannot unravel. I would have to see them to discern that, as was your plan for any other artefacts we find here.”

“Then we shall see if you can properly evaluate those artefacts once we crush the Ninja. What of this Phantom?”

“Spirits are not uncommon but rarely pose a serious threat to the living realm. They…. The strongest are capable of possession, but—”

“Possession?” That was not a threat that should have gone undisclosed. “Can you counter it?” When Nooroo didn’t answer, Gabriel repeated himself slowly, letting his anger at Nooroo’s delayed response simmer in every word. “Can you counter it?”

“It’s not the same as when my magic is used to overtake another Miraculous Holder. The spirit magic—”

“I don’t want an explanation. I want an answer. Can you counter it or not?”

“I-I don’t know, Master. I can try.”

He couldn’t afford to expose himself if Nooroo wasn’t certain. “You can shield me from other threats,” he said, keeping his voice deliberately mild. “You said it’s not the same as when other Miraculous Holders are overcome by your magic, but unlike Ladybug and Chat Noir, there are no constraints on how much of your power I can safely access. If you used all your power to fight a threat such as this, could you not protect me?”

“I don’t—”

“Could you not protect me?”

“I could,” Nooroo breathed, not meeting his eyes.

“Then I command you to do so. Protect me regardless of the cost to yourself.”

The kwami nodded and had the sense to hide in Gabriel’s breast pocket instead of arguing.

Gabriel reached up to touch his earpiece. “Nathalie, I’ll be delayed further. Relay to the security team that everyone is to stay off the rooftops for their own protection.” Enough people had seen Dracona that such an order wouldn’t be questioned, and with any luck, Dracona’s presence would be enough incentive for the other buildings where he had no influence to follow suit.

“Of course, sir. Would you like me to see if I can have a lockdown instituted?”

Gabriel considered the idea and then dismissed it; if worst came to worst, he’d need to blend into the crowd quickly—and that would require there to be a crowd in the first place. “Not within the building. I want people to be free to move about inside, but talk to security about getting the streets cleared. There’s no benefit in stalling that any longer.”

“I’ll see to it right away, sir.”

He didn’t need to ask how her negotiations were going. She would be doing an exemplary job; he didn’t pay her for anything less. She knew what he wanted and she’d find a way to get it—most likely while making others think they were doing precisely what they wanted.

As Adrien knew better than to leave his room, Gabriel had no need to check the adjoining suite to know that everything was in order.

Much as he hated letting Dracona choose their meeting ground, he wasn’t going to argue with results. With Chat Noir out of the picture, Ladybug would be easy enough to defeat in the future, even without any other magical artefacts.

-|-

7:47 PM

This was not going according to plan. Clearly, there was a reason that Ladybug was the one to come up with their plans. Adrien didn’t even have the room to squirm in Dracona’s talons. The suit protected him from being sliced to bits, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the amount of pressure she was using to keep him in her grip.

The suit also protected him from the cold wind, and he hoped that wind wasn’t going to rip away his words. He needed Dracona to hear this. Even if he could only get her to hesitate, it would give the others time to catch up. “You’re worried about your family, aren’t you?” he asked, thinking that was a fair assumption when they were clearly involved in the magical world and Hawk Moth wanted something from that world enough to put in an appearance. “I’ve met your son. And your daughter. They love you very much.”

Dracona said nothing.

Maybe she couldn’t hear him; he wasn’t whispering, but he couldn’t draw enough breath to shout over the wind.

Or maybe she was just ignoring him.

“I’m someone’s son, too. And if you give my Miraculous to Hawk Moth, you’ll be endangering so many more kids just like your own. You’ll be endangering everyone. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants, and he doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process. It won’t just be your family or mine; it’ll be anyone who’s even remotely in his way.”

Everyone was insisting that Dracona was different because she was part of a family of dragons, but she was still akumatized. Most akumatized people couldn’t be reasoned with, but some of them— Some of them fought back. And from what he’d heard of the dragon earlier—of how no one had been hurt—he was pretty sure that she was one of those people who was fighting back.

She might be like Nathaniel had been as the Evillustrator. From what he’d seen and what he’d heard from Marinette, Nathaniel had tried to resist Hawk Moth more than once. If Susan could keep doing that….

“I heard what happened earlier at the fashion show,” he continued. If he hadn’t begged off shadowing Nathalie, chances were very good he’d have been caught in the middle of it. As it was, everyone seemed to have assumed that he’d never left his room. Perhaps they’d left a message for him and told him to remain there; he hadn’t looked in the brief time he’d been back there, too focused on other things, monitoring Plagg’s cheese consumption included. He could always claim to have been in the washroom when the message came, maybe say he’d needed a shower to wake up.

As it was, too much had happened for Adrien to feel tired. More likely than not, he’d crash once this was over. They had to get this sorted out tonight. Soon. Now. He couldn’t afford to give Hawk Moth more time to find what he was looking for, especially when he had a connection to someone who would know exactly where to procure what he wanted, providing he could convince her to do that.

“I know this night didn’t go like you’d hoped, and I can’t fix that—” Not like Ladybug could have, anyway. “—but that doesn’t mean we can’t begin to make it better now. And better includes keeping your family safe, doesn’t it? You might think that will happen if you give me over to Hawk Moth, but it won’t. Your son and I….” Adrien hesitated, not sure if he could call this a proper partnership, let alone a friendship, when he hadn’t told them his real name. “We’re working together. Sacrificing me—and sacrificing my Miraculous is sacrificing me—won’t make him give up; it’ll make him fight harder.”

“I know.”

Adrien blinked, not expecting to get a response. At least, he hadn’t been expecting that response. An argument, maybe, if not continued silence, but an acknowledgement? It was going to be a lot harder to sway her to his side if she already knew what he was going to say.

“Then why are you doing this?”

“It’s the only choice I have.”

His heart sank at her words, and as she banked towards the site of the gala, he thought it might have skipped a beat entirely. There was a figure on one of the rooftops—and unless he was completely disoriented, it was the rooftop of his hotel. Hawk Moth was staying at this hotel? Surely he wouldn’t have had time to go to a different one. But if it was this one, then if Plagg could get a look at the registry so Adrien could check names once he got back to Paris—

He could discover Hawk Moth’s identity. At the very least, he could narrow it down.

He just needed to get out of this first.

-|-

7:49 PM

“Why are you slowing down?” Randy asked. “They’re there! We can see them! We need to go!”

“Danny’s gotta get Chat Noir out of there before we completely lose the element of surprise,” Jake reminded him. “If he can do that without Hawk Moth realizing, all the better.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”

“I like to be optimistic sometimes.”

“Really didn’t seem like that earlier.”

“I said sometimes. Besides, it’s better if I drop you here and we hit them from different angles.” He wheeled towards the same rooftop where he’d talked to Randy earlier that day. “I wanna check on Trixie and Spud, too. Make sure they caught up to Haley. If I tell you the number, can you call them for me?”

Randy snorted. “With what, my broken phone that you left in pieces somewhere? Or did you give them one of those earphone things?”

Oh. Right. Jake had used his cell phone as a dragon before, difficult as that was when it came to precise handling and not, well, accidentally gouging out buttons or scratching the screen or completely smashing it, but if he didn’t specifically try to keep the phone with him when he transformed, it stayed safely with his human clothes.

“Sorry,” Jake mumbled as he landed and crouched so Randy could slide off.

Randy flipped onto the rooftop instead, missing Jake’s transformation but turning back in time to watch him dig his cell phone out of his pocket. “You didn’t talk angles with Danny,” he said as Jake started dialling. “Shouldn’t you have done that if you wanted to hit them from all fronts? And, I mean, not to say I don’t have some pretty bruce moves, but is it wise to pretty much divide and conquer ourselves against someone we know is strong, especially when she’s with the shoob who’s manipulating her?”

“Now you’re questioning me? Really?”

“You decided to stop before fighting. That means I get to criticize, doesn’t it? Since I’m not doing anything else. I mean, I don’t usually get the luxury of a breather in a fight. You seriously do?”

Jake rolled his eyes and was about to retort when Spud picked up his phone. “Hello?”

That wasn’t Spud.

“Trixie? What’s going on? What happened to Spud?”

“He’s fine. We’re both fine. Don’t worry about us.”

Jake frowned and turned away from Randy, who had pulled off his mask in order to make increasingly silly faces at Jake in what was undoubtedly an attempt to get a reaction out of him. “Then you guys found Haley already? Have you dealt with Rotwood? And, um, McFist?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean, ‘not exactly’? Where are you guys?”

“Cool it, Jakey. Spud had an idea. I’m helping.”

“Wh—? I need you here! Haley needs you here!”

“We’re trying to save your butt. And Haley’s. Let us do this.”

“Yo, do you have any idea how crazy you sound right now? Spud doesn’t have time to build another thermos if he can’t find the first one!”

Trixie let out a low whistle. “You would be surprised what ya boy can do under pressure.”

“But—”

“Just trust us. We got this. I think. And Haley can hold her own. Chill.”

Jake just groaned as Trixie hung up on him. He turned back to Randy, about to explain Trixie’s side of the conversation, and then realized that Randy wasn’t there. Jake spun and finally spotted a flash of Randy’s red scarf the next building over. He was steadily making his way towards the building—hotel, Jake realized—where Hawk Moth stood with Susan, who was still in her dragon form and using it to very effectively pin Nino to the rooftop.

Evidently, Randy’s suit had repaired itself just fine.

Jake hoped that wasn’t the only bit of luck they’d have tonight.

-|-

7:48 PM

“Magic exists,” Haley said. The words were a bitter betrayal. It didn’t matter that Rotwood already knew about the magical world or that McFist had to be aware of it if he fought the Ninja; the point was that she was never supposed to confirm that knowledge, and now she was.

“Of course magic exists,” sniffed Rotwood. “You are a dragon. I know you are a dragon. Therefore, magic exists.”

Haley glanced at McFist, who shrugged. “I work with a sorcerer. It’s not news to me.”

“Still,” she whispered, “that’s not the same. This magic isn’t like that.”

“We do not have time for games,” Rotwood said. “If you think we do, perhaps I should just phone one of the news channels?”

Ordinarily, Haley would think Rotwood had cried wolf too many times for that threat to hold any water, but after tonight?

She wasn’t willing to make that bet after tonight.

“You have to swear that you won’t tell anyone if I explain this,” she said. Jake and Rotwood had called truces in the past, so he might keep his word, but she had no idea about McFist. Frankly, she didn’t trust either of them as far as Fu could throw them. But, hopefully, if she made this sound important—and told them a little bit of what was important—they might not realize what she left out.

Or how much.

McFist frowned at her. “Any of this going to blow up in our faces?”

“Not if I tell you,” she said carefully, “so you’re warned.”

“Good enough for me.” McFist hesitated. “Except I don’t want to lie to my wife. I don’t lie to her. I’ll have to be able to tell her enough so she knows she can’t push me on this. You good with that?”

Haley blinked.

“And Viceroy sometimes just knows things. Man’s not a mind reader, but he’s good at tricking you into saying things. Not sure I can make any promises with him, either, and expect to keep them. But if you’re worried about this whole magic thing, he knows it’s real, too. Helps me help the Sorcerer. And I can’t keep anything from the Sorcerer. I think he really is a mind reader. Maybe. Hard to say. He hasn’t caught the Ninja yet, either. But he knows things. The existence of magic included, obviously. So you okay with me promising not to tell anyone but with the caveat that those people might find out?”

“You have our word,” Rotwood said. “He won’t intentionally tell anyone, and I won’t tell anyone who doesn’t already know—unless you try to trick us.”

She wasn’t going to get a better deal than that, and it was as much as she’d expected anyway. Rotwood has given himself the out he wanted—he could claim trickery and tell the media—and given McFist the out he’d wanted, and she was left with little more than she’d started with.

“Okay.” What was the best way for her to put this? “The dragon you saw earlier was created with magic.”

“How?” McFist demanded. “Can it be replicated?”

“Not by any of us. It’s not a magic I understand. The person doing this…. They’re not from here. And that dragon? She’s not much more than a distraction.” That wasn’t exactly true, but they wouldn’t know that. Besides, it wasn’t entirely a lie, either. Things would be simpler if it were. “If you—if anyone—kicks up a fuss over the dragon, you’ll be playing right into their hands.”

Rotwood frowned. “This other person, what game are they playing?”

Haley shrugged. “We figured it was better if we could cut them off before they could set any more rules.”

“So you, what, saw me talking to him and figured you had to get us out of there before we messed with your big plan?” McFist crossed his arms. “Gotta be more to it than that.”

“It’s my job to protect people from the magical world, including those who go poking their noses into trouble,” Haley shot back. Rotwood sniffed, maybe because he knew that was supposed to be more on Jake and Gramps and Sun than her at the moment, but she ignored him. “The Ninja’s heard of you,” she said, looking at McFist, “and what’s happening in Norrisville. He gave me some weaponry to help me, um, convince you to leave. If I can figure out how to use it to distract more than just you, all the better.”

“Wait, are you asking us to help you?”

She wasn’t, but Haley nodded anyway. If McFist was going to offer, she wasn’t going to turn him down. She didn’t have a plan—not anymore, anyway—and she doubted Jake had come up with anything yet.

“And what are we supposed to get in return? Are you willing to take me back to the Magus Bazaar?”

“The what?”

“Magical market,” Rotwood said to McFist. “Filled with magical creatures and magical things.”

“Could I get something to take down the Ninja there?”

“I can promise to ask if someone will take you,” Haley said, “and I can promise that you’ll remember this when it’s over.”

“Why wouldn’t we remember this once it’s over?” McFist asked.

Haley cocked her head. “Why do you think so many people don’t believe in magic anymore?”

“If you could do that, Jake would have already done this to me. To Brock. You are stretching the truth, little girl.”

“Ordinary humans aren’t supposed to know about the magical world,” Haley said. “You might know it exists and keep looking for solid proof to share with others, but that doesn’t mean you remember every encounter you’ve had with it. Even Jake knows how suspicious it would be if you suddenly stopped poking around until you saw something that made you suspect the truth again.”

“But…but your brother’s friends—!”

“I don’t know,” admitted Haley. “I think Jake defied direct orders and Gramps smoothed it over. You’ve met my family, Rotwood. If it were perfectly fine for humans to know about the magical world, don’t you think our lives would be easier?”

Rotwood opened his mouth but paused as her words sunk in. McFist raised his eyebrows at him, and Rotwood’s expression sunk into a glower. “It’s Professor Rotwood. But very well. I see your point. However, if you are not able to get me entrance to the Magus Bazaar again, you must do something else for me in the future. I am not going to give up on an opportunity like this without good reason. There is footage of a dragon out there now. Proof. Which means redemption for me as all those who have mocked me realize they were the ones who were wrong. You must think me a fool if you believe I would give this up for nothing.”

She did think him a fool, but she shook her head anyway. “I can’t make an open promise like that.”

“Then I will add the caveat that, whatever I decide, it will not directly endanger the magical world or your family. Or directly expose them. Is that satisfactory, Miss Long?”

Haley bit her lip. She knew this wasn’t what anyone had intended when they’d asked her to distract Rotwood and McFist. It might very well be the opposite of what had been intended. Still, they needed help. And Jake had struck deals with Rotwood before. She wasn’t sure about Randy and McFist, but….

“Okay. Yes. I agree. Help me protect the magical world now and don’t ever tell anyone the truth about what’s going on, and I’ll do something for you later if I can’t get you into the Magus Bazaar.” She looked at McFist, waiting to see what he’d ask for; he didn’t strike her as someone who would let Rotwood take a better deal than him.

“You don’t have anything that’ll grant me the superpower of my choice, do you?”

She shook her head. “There are some potions that grant temporary effects for something specific, but—”

“Like what?”

Haley swallowed. “Invisibility. Flight. Shapeshifting. There are a lot of—”

“Could you get me a bottle of something?”

She wanted to say no. Giving magic to a human, especially one with questionable intentions, was just asking for another situation like they one they were already facing. And if McFist intended to misuse magic and she gave him the opportunity to do so, chances were good Randy would pay the price for her decision later. Still, if she warned Randy and gave him something to allow him to counter whatever she gave McFist, then maybe—?

“No, wait— Have you got anything that will stop magic from affecting me?”

“You’re worried about that sorcerer you mentioned?” she guessed. “I might—”

“No, he’s going to give me a superpower when I destroy the Ninja for him,” McFist said, “and if you can’t give me one, too, then I want something that’ll stop swamp magic in case Booray gets any ideas.”

“Swamp magic?”

“It’s, y’know, swamp magic,” McFist said, waving his hands in vague motions as if that made his point any clearer. “Little pouches of mind-controlly stuff. Freaky. Don’t want it anywhere near me.”

A protection spell, then, or something that would cancel out this other magic. Gramps and Fu would have an idea of what would be best, but she was sure there was something. “All right.”

“And you have to tell me about the NYC Ninja.”

Haley agreed to that condition immediately. If McFist had just said the Ninja, she would’ve had more trouble justifying that grey area, but as he’d specified, she felt no qualms about agreeing at all. It was hardly her fault that he wanted to know about a Ninja that didn’t exist—at least, not to her knowledge.

She wasn’t going to tell him that until he asked, though.

McFist grinned and stuck out his hand. She shook it, then shook Rotwood’s. “You want us to find a way to convince everyone that things are not as they seem, yes?” he asked. “That this new dragon is a hoax? As everyone has always believed of my proof?”

McFist grunted. “People were already muttering about it being some kind of publicity stunt. Better to lean into that. I can even sponsor something if I need to.” He glanced at the bulging pocket of her hoodie again and said, “Let’s have a look at what the Ninja gave you first and see what we can come up with.”

(next | see more fics)

[alrighttevans]

invisible strings

chapter 2: well I wonder

Ao3 link

chapter 3: dancing with our hands tied

Nothing out of the ordinary, except he was not expecting to glimpse his own green eyes looking back at him from Marinette’s notebook. He was not expecting that Marinette would have been drawing Chat Noir; that she would have been drawing him.

When Adrien woke up, he was certain he would have a happy day. His father would be out of town for the day; Nathalie had said something about an urgent matter to be solved in the English main branch of the Gabriel Agreste brand, meaning he didn’t have to worry as much as usual about following the carefully made agenda his father had for him. He also didn’t have to attend any photoshoots early that week, so he would have the extra free time he always eagerly waited for to expend with his friends, hence the long due lunch between the four of them that Nino offered to host. 

Therefore, it was settled that Alya and Nino, who had their last period in next door classrooms, would leave their classes and wait for him and Marinette, who happened to share their last period on Mondays, to join them as soon as their French class ended. Nothing out of the ordinary, except he was not expecting to glimpse his own green eyes looking back at him from Marinette’s notebook. He was not expecting that Marinette would have been drawing Chat Noir; that she would have been drawing him.

Marinette, the sweetest and most adorable girl he was ever so lucky to know had taken a soft spot for Chat Noir (for him!) and was so worried about his unusual posture in the photos running online, that she must have seen sometime during her morning — a photo that he was embarrassed for existing; he shouldn't have been that telling — or, perhaps, she even saw them herself, since he knew she was a late sleeper and her room was close from the place they had met —, that she had sketched Paris’s favourite kitten during class, for she was the most caring person to walk on earth. It filled his heart with such fondness; fondness that he already knew he held for her, but that only seemed to grow overtime, for such a remarkable girl cared so deeply not only about his Adrien persona, but about his alter ego, with the same amount of consideration as well. 

Adrien could see all the compassion she hold on her golden heart through her lovely bluebell eyes as she blushed and hid the notebook from his eyes, a bit taken back about him finding out about her worries, or as she nodded intently at him, while they made their way to their other two friends, or as she gave him her adorable smile multiple times during their lunchtime. 

And, furthermore, she showed herself as a protecting figure for him, defending his privacy from everything she dared to imagine could disturb him in any way whatsoever — and people did listen; after Alya made the post she promised to do, mentioning how Marinette had brought up the matter to her, most people deleted their own and apologized to him. He was ecstatic to see her fighting for him with such fervor. She had a very familiar fierce stare as she argued to rid Chat Noir of any inconveniences that may happen to upset him. She was so thoughtful, so sympathetic, so marvellous.

“You’re doing it again.” Plagg grumbled from his desk, where he laid on top of the remaining piece of his camembert. 

“What?” Adrien, who was lying down on his bed; his hands unconsciously placed over his heart, sat up to question his kwami with a puzzled expression, half offended that Plagg had the audacity to interrupt his track of thought when they were heading in such a pleasant direction. 

“Smiling like an idiot, that’s what. It’s annoying.”

“I am not!” He protested, throwing a scowl at the kwami’s direction.  

“Yes you are. You do that too often for me not to recognize it.”

Adrien huffed, before he allowed his softened expression to return to his face with the memory of the reason he was previously smiling “But she was drawing me!” He cried “And defended me from prying eyes! She cares about me! She’s just so lovely and she likes Chat Noir! How could I not be happy about that?” 

“Well, you don’t have to be so lovey-dovey about it.”

Adrien’s stare slipped to the group photograph he had framed over his desk, in which Alya took the photo, while Nino hugged her from behind; standing beside him, Adrien grinned, placing one hand over Marinette’s shoulder, who stood in front of him with a light blush creeping through her face — probably due to the sun; it was a hot day. He went back to the way she gave him her cute, shy smile just before they took the photo, accompanied by her bluebell eyes, so full of love, that shone just like Ladybug’s did — maybe he had a thing for blue eyes.

He snapped back from his little travel in time after hearing a long and dramatic sigh from his kwami, with wide green eyes, to look back at Plagg, who rolled his eyes at him, probably guessing where his mind had led him to. 

“Lovey-dovey? What? No! It’s just friendly. A friendly smile, that’s all.” He insisted with a nervous smile, gesticulating throughout his speech. “In fact, I should thank her. Yes, she deserves to be thanked for being so kind to me. Would she mind if I stopped by? Would she appreciate it? Would it be too much? Or would it be better if I left her a note? I'll do it, I’ll leave her a note.” 

In a quick jump, he rose from the bed and started searching for those fancy papers his father had given him to use to ‘write proper notes’ to ‘important people’, as Gabriel Agreste himself had put it. As soon as he found the familiar parcel that held what he was looking for, he took a sheet of paper and the best pen he could find on his desk. 

What should he write? He should probably keep it simple. If he said too much, he’d  probably jeopardize his secret identity. Besides, she was very intelligent. She would understand what he meant, he was sure of it.

“Time to go, Plagg.” Adrien called, as he wrapped the note inside the black envelope he had found inside his drawers, thankfully not marked with the Gabriel Agreste logo. 

From the now empty plate of cheese, Plagg groaned in discontent, theatrically placing his tiny paws over his tiny heart — it would be cute, if Adrien wasn’t so familiar with the kwami’s chaotic nature. “Why can't we stay here with good ol’ camembert instead of going out to chase girls?” 

“We’re not chasing anyone. We’re just showing our appreciation to Marinette.” He argued, as the little god sighed dramatically. “Come on, Plagg. I’ll buy you some stinky cheese on the way back.”

At the mention of his much beloved camembert, the kwami rose his head, clearly interested. Adrien smirked, he was getting through him. 

“Fine”, he finally agreed, floating to Adrien’s eye line with his arms crossed, “but just because you know I can't resist an offer like that, lover boy.”

“Plagg, claws out.”

Chat Noir leapt into his opened window, just after guarding his envelope inside his suit’s pockets, where he sat in a cat-like position, watching the parisian beautiful night sky that looked back at him with some kind of earnestness, whilst the stars sparkled just for him and the light breeze of the city of lights danced around him, bringing him the comforting sense of calmness and peacefulness.

Before he could expand his baton and fly through his city’s rooftops, his eyesight dropped to the Agreste’s garden, lying just below him. He could see the high gates and walls that guarded the mansion, the nice little path drawn between the grass and the beautiful and carefully tended rose bush.

The rose bush. 

Of course.

As quietly as he could, Chat Noir vaulted to the ground, making use of his knowledge of the mansion’s security system to carefully avoid any cameras that may spot him on his way to the rose bush. The flowers looked back at him, waiting for him to make his pick, whilst he searched for the prettiest rose he could find, for she only deserved the best, cropping said rose as soon as he found it. The scent of the flower soon reached his amplified senses, filling Chat’s surrounds with its delightful smell. It should do it. 

So, with the assistance of his staff, Chat Noir leapt into the parisian sky, cautious not to hurt the rose. 

It was like the light of the stars energized him, the night gave him strength, and the own city guided him to the Boulangerie Patisserie as he crossed all the streets and avenues that would lead him to her and soon landed on Marinette’s balcony, just above the bakery. 

Watchful not to attract unwanted attention, Chat pulled his envelope from his pocket and glanced around the environment, seeking the best place to set his note — on the door? the chair? the white box? the wall? — until he finally made the decision of placing the envelope over the small table in the center of the space, under the rose.

Smiling to his work, Chat Noir gave his back to his little treat, extending his baton to exit the Dupain-Cheng’s house, when the cry of his name had his head snapping to the floor below him, where Marinette stood, half way through her trap door, staring him in bewilderment.

With wide eyes, he froze right in the spot, hoping that his black suit could blend in with the night and make him invisible to human eyes, or that a new power of his would decided to manifest itself now, gathering the shadows to hide him or allowing him to travel between them and pretend he was never there. 

Perhaps, if he kept still, it would work. It had to work. She wasn’t supposed to see him! The plan was for her to find his note on the next day and know he appreciated her, when she connected the dots, without him having to explain himself for her! Ladybug would kill him if he ended up revealing his secret identity. He bit back a groan. So much for being stealthy.  

“You know, even though you’re not moving, I can still see you.” She pointed out matter-of-factly, almost as if she was reading his mind, when she stood on her full height on the balcony floor, folding her arms over her chest.

Shit. 

He wished Plagg would take pity on him and cataclysm him right there, but he knew his kwami all too well for that to happen.

Well, now all that was left for him was to play along and hope for the best.

Chat cleared his throat, pretending he wasn’t looking pawsitively stupid just a few seconds prior. “Good night, Mademoiselle.” He greeted her with a theatrical bow. 

She narrowed her eyes, watching him warily. “Is everything okay?” She inquired, before her baby blue eyes widened with realisation. Shit. She had figured him out. She totally knew he was Adrien Agreste and none of the lies that would slip through his tongue would convince her otherwise. “Oh, my God, is there an akuma?!” 

He didn’t think he had ever let out such a relieved sigh.

Wait.

An akuma?

Great, Agreste, he scolded, you got spotted and scared the girl. 

God, his whole existence was a catastrophe.

“No!” He was quick to deny, waving his hands frantically before her. “No worries, Princess, this cat’s got everything handled.” Chat reassured, pointing at his chest with one thumb in a familiar cocky pose, attempting to regain his composure. “Or should I say pawled?”

It was fast, and he would have lost it, if his reflexes hadn’t been heightened, but her lips quirked up very subtly in amusement, which was gone as fast as it arrived, giving place to an intrigued raised brow. “Oh, then why are you here?”

“I… I was just passing by, doing my paw-trol duties, that’s all.” Chat explained and she frowned, as if she was trailing her way into his actual reasons by looking at the holes of his story and uncovering the truth from his poor excuses. He absently scratched the back of his neck, nervously. Was he that much of a bad liar? “You know, a superhero’s work’s never done.” He was quick to add, trying to distract her with his theatricals, as he raised his hand to her eyesight and put a finger down for each item he mentioned. “Damsels in distress, ladies in waiting, I’ve got a lot of saving to do.”

“Oh, I can only imagine.” Marinette nodded, using an yet foreigner tone for him, that almost sounded teasingly, that he would sometimes catch her giving to some of their friends, before they fell into an awkward silence that hung hesitation, uncertainty and some stiffness into the air for the seconds that dreaded like hours, making Chat to unconsciously wag his tail, anxiously, before she decided to break it. 

“I… I saw the pictures.” The concern on her sparkling eyes and pressed pink lips was so pure, filled with only the best of intentions and wishes, just for him, and yet she gave him such a soft look, which almost sounded like an invitation to be loved by her. Marinette had made room for him in her heart with only the few encounters they’d had throughout the years and Chat couldn’t feel more exhilarated at the kindness she showed him. “Are you… Are you okay?” She held a lot of caution in her tone, a bit afraid to ask him the question that had been bothering her, reminding him of how shy she used to be around Adrien years back, but what caught his attention wasn’t the emotion on her voice, nor the nostalgia hanging in the air, but a detail he hadn’t paid any attention to before: her hair was not up.  

Marinette’s dark strands fell over her shoulder, like the night sky itself had decided to kiss her a blessing; like it had been so struck by her beauty that it prayed to become part of her. Adrien didn't usually see her hair down; it generally was up on a ponytail that let a few strands run free to contorn her delicate features, or a messy bun, when her usual lateness got in the way and she couldn’t afford the time to do her hair calmly — or even the ever so familiar twin pigtails, that had danced around her face throughout their younger years —, always to prevent it from falling over her face and interrupting her flying thoughts, poking her tongue out in concentration with narrowed bluebell eyes, trying (and managing) to solve all the problems that she faced. It suited her, the hair down. 

Feeling his face warming up by remembering he had yet to give her his answer instead of being enchanted by her locks, Chat looked away, sheepishly. “It’s really sweet that you’re concerned about me. You are very sweet.” At his second sentence, he peered up, too curious, too anxious, too engrossed in catching her reaction.

Through his night vision, Chat Noir managed to see signs of a light blush creeping over her own cheeks, accompanied by a light, warm smile that suited her perfectly. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I’m purrfectly fine, I promise.” 

“Well, if you think of something, you know where to find me.” She offered kindly, tilting her head to her trap door. 

“Yeah, I do.” Chat Noir waved at her, which she responded with an encouraging smile, before leaping into the city with the assistance of his baton, feeling his heart even warmer than when he first arrived. 

chapter 4: like it was the first time