#hawk moth wins this time

[billiejean485]

... Look.

Since all of you are having trouble piecing this together, I will bring this up:

... I REPEAT:

I doubt this is the final ending.

Maybe the new Hawk Moth won't win and we won't see Gabriel ever again - but I truly believe that this message was meant for the ending of S5, not S4.

... I hope that LB will manage to undo this cursed wish somehow, and that the ORIGINAL Hawk Moth will be back to get his butt kicked properly - but even if he doesn't....

This stays.

[scooterpengie]

Blonde-boy-heroes-with-evil-dads gang!!

Sorry but the LEGO Ninjago Movie did this trope the best, evil father/son bonding is my favourite thing! (Star Wars and Miraculous, take notes 👀)

Disclaimer: I actually don't watch Miraculous (or LEGO Ninjago for that matter, I've only seen the movie)

[flightfoot]

ML Fanfic Recs for 2023: 5K - 10K words

So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!

Plagg eats Destruction while Tikki eats Creation. They choose not to tell their Holders exactly what that means.

Ladybug’s partner joins with Hawk Moth and she can’t figure out why. Not at first, anyway.

Adrien had started expecting the family breakfasts. He had NOT been expecting his father to collapse in the middle of one.

Adrien and Marinette both vaguely remember young playmates from when they were kids. Their first friend. Shame they didn’t remember each other’s names.

Marinette’s itching to win a prize for beating a merfolk in a race. Thankfully, a merman, Chat Noir, decides to challenge her. Pity that Adrien was busy that day.

Adrien finds a tiny, mousy guest in his new home, and makes a new friend.

Marinette helps lead a revolution to overthrow King Adrien with the help of her most trusted ally, Chat Noir. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir find a toddler wandering around during an akuma attack. Who could her parents be?

Chat Noir wrote a tweet mocking himself as Adrien. This totally does not come back to bite him in any way.

An akuma swapped Marinette’s and Chat Noir’s bodies. Marinette AS Marinette, not as Ladybug. This causes some problems.

All this and more below the break!

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you don’t even know me at all (but I was made for loving you) by @ladyofthenoodle

They didn’t remember each other. The hospital told them there’d been an accident—brain damage—but Alya had told them the truth, later. Who’d they’d been to each other. What they’d given up, and why.

But even with their memories of each other gone, Adrien and Marinette are still inextricably tied together—by law, by their social circles, and by their hearts.

And in the apartment they share, there's only one bed.

Yep, it’s the “there was only one bed” trope XD! I especially love how it was used here, how Adrien and Marinette are strangers now but they had a whole life together, and they pine for each other even without remembering, and how Marinette just can’t believe how in love with her Adrien is even though he doesn’t remember her. I loved the emotional turmoil the two of them went through together in the fic, and the resolution, it’s great!

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Experimental Feeding by Machina_Fun_T

Plagg eats Destruction*. Tikki eats Creation*.

They don't explain that to their holders.

*Warning - This diet has side effects.

I just found the whole idea here fascinating. Basically, Plagg and Tikki prefer to eat things that align with their concept somehow, and even get boosts from them. They decide not to explain the details to their Holders though (just to mess with them I think) which prompts Adrien and Marinette to both do a lot of experimentation to figure out what their kwami likes to eat the most.

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Until I Found You by @linnieluna

Working their way up to a settled adulthood, Marinette and Adrien, now 23, gain a reason to believe that they are expecting—way earlier than they ever planned. Still unwed, it evokes a revelation on Adrien’s behalf.

Was it time to take the next step forward?

I loved the emotions here, how Adrien and Marinette reacted to the results of the pregnancy test, how complicated their feelings about it were - and how it prompted Adrien to take action. It’s a really sweet fic!

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From school bells to wedding bells by @linnieluna

When the superhero duo takes on another exhausting fight against an akuma, Chat Noir does what he never hesitates to do and takes a hit for his partner. The problem being: neither of them knew what power the akuma possessed.

That is... until he is transported into the future. More specifically, to his friend Marinette's wedding.

Ah I love time travel fics! Older!Marinette’s surprised, Younger!Adrien’s bewildered, and Older!Adrien is off knowing exactly what happened and giving his younger self some subtle heads-up. 

It gives Adrien something to look forward to, to cling onto, through bad days in the future at least!

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u + me = love by @xiueryn

Marinette has a massive crush on Adrien. He has a crush on the superhero, Ladybug. When he says the only person he'll invite as his plus one to an event is Ladybug, Marinette takes her chance to romance him for the night. AU.

(a fanboy and fangirl start to date.)

This is just a fun Ladrien story. Ladybug is happy to oblige in Adrien’s fantasies, and no one else believes that he’s actually dating Ladybug.

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Disintegrated Pancakes by @scribeofrhapsody

Adrien had started expecting the family breakfasts. He had NOT been expecting his father to collapse in the middle of one.

I’m shocked I haven’t seen more of this sort of thing, with Adrien finding out his father’s Monarch via seeing the Cataclysm wound. I love that Alya gets involved in this, being the person Adrien runs into after fleeing the room, and then Adrien getting to talk things out with Gabriel and Nathalie. Thankfully Gabriel is at least not completely incapable of being reasoned with here, or things could have gone worse than they did. It’s a nice little read, though with an ambiguous ending (at least at the time when I write this).

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Like Smoke From A Furnace by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

Marinette and Adrien give up their Miraculous. Ladybug and Chat Noir never meet again.

This one’s an angsty fic with a happy ending (though there is a little fluff in there as well.) Adrien and Marinette get together and have a family together, while Scarabella and Kitty Noire continue to fight Monarch for the next decade. But it still eats at Marinette that she never found out what happened to Chat Noir, that he never said anything before they both vanished, and Chat reappearing during an akuma attack when Kitty Noire was taken out of commission doesn’t help with that - especially since he won’t leave her head and she needs to commit herself to her family, doesn’t want to be torn by his presence. She cares about her family too much. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir never meet again... but there are other ways for them to meet up and talk things out.

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with this ring by @thelibraryloser

She thought “you and me against the world” had sounded like lopsided odds before, when she hadn’t even dreamed “you against me” was a possibility. Or maybe she had dreamed it, but at least in those dreams he’d had cold blue eyes and a stark white mask.

The villain she’d fought today had looked at her through her partner’s own bright green eyes.

It wasn’t meant to be this way.

Short and sweet Sentiadrien enemies canon divergence fic here! I adored Marinette finding out why her kitty seemed to have “betrayed” her, and the righteous anger on his behalf once she figured out that it wasn’t of his own free will. Her comforting Adrien about it was just... really good. It’s a Hawkmoth Defeat fic too, so the immediate aftermath gets covered as well. Adrien needs a hug.

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Miracoffee by @pauliestorylover

Ever since the last Mr Pigeon attack over nine months ago, Hawkmoth has fallen off the face of the earth, seemingly for good. There’s never been a better chance for an identity reveal—but after keeping her identity a secret for so many years, Marinette feels incredibly nervous about one.

When Chat Noir accidentally finds Ladybug working at a café, Alya comes up with a brilliant idea. If Ladybug and Chat Noir interact regularly in a civilian setting, surely they’ll move towards an identity reveal without outside interference?

Adrien Never Goes To Public School Coffee Shop AU here! It’s funny how he clocks Marinette as being Ladybug IMMEDIATELY. And then after discussing it for awhile, decide to make a bit of a game of the identity reveal, having Chat come in on pre-determined days and seeing whether Ladybug can figure out who she is, all while they get to know each other, even if in passing. 

Love the other Miraculous heroes making cameos as well, Marinette seems annoyed that Nino cosplaying as Carapace actually doesn’t tip anyone off XD.

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Nothing Else Matters by LiquefiedStars

Marinette couldn’t figure out Chat Noir. He was supposed to be her partner, but instead ended up working for Hawk Moth. Still, her heart betrayed her and when a strong connection forms between them, Ladybug goes to Chat looking for answers, finding out more than she bargained for.

Sentiadrien enemies AU fic! He never wanted to fight against her, but Gabriel caught him before he could transform for the first time, and with his father using his Amoks against him, he had no choice. 

I like that there’s a solid explanation for why Fu let Adrien keep his Miraculous even though he’s been working against Ladybug, I don’t often see explanations for that that I’m satisfied with.

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For the Sake of a Ring by @rosie-b

An akuma that transfers people's consciousnesses into other universes hits Ladybug, sending her into a world where everything is the same... but instead of earrings, she's wearing a ring on one hand! She's only just arrived in this universe, but already Plagg seems to have gone missing. It's up to Marinette to figure out what happened before she's sent back home!

This fic takes place in the future, after Season 5, but it does not contain any leaks or major spoilers. Please keep the comment section spoiler-free, too!

This is really cute, Marinette gets transported into a world where she’s married to Adrien and is really confused as to why and how they got married at sixteen. Adrien’s just an adorable puppy who thinks his wife is the most amazing person in the world! 

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His Princess and Her Knight by @seas-of-silver

Adrien, Marinette, Nino and Alya have a group assignment about how the past has shaped them into the people they are today, but they’ll make a discovery that’ll send them searching for answers.

This fic is adorable, Adrien, Marinette, and Nino uncover that they all went to the same preschool together, with Adrien and Marinette immediately latching onto each other, Adrien being the knight to Marinette’s princess, and also making friends with Nino. Sadly he was pulled after two weeks, but it made quite an impression on him.

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A Friendship Not Abandoned (Just Delayed) by @nomolosk

Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste first met as tiny little kids, but then Adrien had to move away. When they finally meet again, will they even remember each other, much less become friends again?

Poor Adrien keeps on saying or doing just the wrong thing to give Marinette the impression that he’s a bully like Chloe when he’s not, and he keeps desperately trying to fix it. So a bit of an enemies au in that way, since Marinette doesn’t like him much. He does gradually manage to convince her that he’s a good person though.

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as luck would have it by @silver-hibiscus

It's Adrien's birthday, and there's an akuma attack. Luckily, Ladybug and Chat Noir are there to save the day! Even if they're not the heroes that we're familiar with...

Not so much a kwami swap as an another au entirely.

Same title as one of my own fics, funnily enough! Though entirely different premise. This is a Gabenath fic, with Gabriel as Chat Noir and Nathalie as Ladybug, complete with a lovesquare and some unspecified other person as Hawk Moth. In this version, Gabriel and Emilie had some terrible fights and were separated, with Gabriel realizing along the way that he’d been a distant father and working to rectify that, he’s a pretty decent person here. I could actually kind of see this being a feasible path Gabriel could have gone down, if he wasn’t so desperate to revive Emilie and hadn’t gone so far to try to distance himself from who he was and where he came from back before he met Emilie and started changing to fit in with the upper class.

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The Price by @clawsoutspotsoff  

He clutched his chest, feeling his lungs burn  as his body started to give out beneath him. No. Not now. Not this time, when he was so close.

He wrenched his arm back, striking with the other as he called his sword to his hand, fire and lightning and ice tearing through his nerves as he did, but finally, finally, the resistance gave way and he stumbled backwards.

Without looking, he turned and ran, calling a portal to appear before him. He fell through it, landing on a cold, hard floor in utter darkness. He could still hear shouting over the rushing in his ears, every part of his body failing at once, and before he could be pursued, before he could collapse any further, he forced raspy words through his torn, aching throat.

"Plagg, Tikki, unify!"

The world went blessedly, eerily silent.

---

Written for MiraculousFanworks' fanfic wars 2022

Will that be cash, credit, or memories?

This was a great look at how the Wish could potentially happen, what the kwamis might do to help mitigate the worst aspects of it on the people they care about... and what the price would be for it.

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Emotional Mountain Ranges by @liiinerle

After Zoé's attempted romantic confession to Marinette is interrupted by an incensed Chloé and Audrey Bourgeois, she's left distraught and adrift, a crying mess in an alleyway far from home. Ladybug saves her from the incoming akuma, and tries to help her back on her feet - and Zoé wonders what she could possibly have done to earn this much attention from a superhero...

Lovely Zoenette fic here! I especially like how Marinette talks to Zoe, reassures her that she’s good enough, that she (as Ladybug) isn’t as perfect and composed as she thinks, and just... tries to get Zoe to have more confidence in herself. It’s mostly from Zoe’s perspective too, which I like since there aren’t a lot of Zoe POV fics.

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The Mer-Human Race by @rosie-b

Bringing her hand closer to his lips, Adrien tried to plant a kiss on it, but Marinette pulled away before his lips could touch her.

“Save it for your girlfriend,” she said teasingly. “Or do you still not have one yet?”

Adrien smirked and crossed his arms.

“It’s a girl,” he said. “And I know her in real life. That’s all you get. Now, let’s get back to planning, shall we? We have a mermaid to beat.”

Lovely world-building here! Merfolk and humans have had a treaty for a long time, so there’s a tradition where merfolk can challenge humans to a race, and whoever wins gets to ask for a reasonable sort of reward (in Marinette’s case, she wants to be allowed to captain a ship at a younger age than is usually allowed). Alya, Nino, and Adrien are naturally very encouraging towards Marinette, and luckily for her, a nice merman going by the name of Chat Noir shows up and challenges her to a race...

Yeah you can see where this is going XD. It’s fun, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Late Bloomer by @generalluxun

On what might very well be the last night of her life, Sabrina Raincomprix pulls out a very special scrapbook, pressed between the pages is the past, the past she has never shared with anyone. She relives how she got to this moment one page at a time, preparing herself for the end. A phone call interrupts her self-imposed exile and brings news that could change her life forever.

Even if it does though the question looms... change it how?

Sabrina-centric Hanahaki AU here! I love how it goes into Sabrina’s relationship with Chloe over the years, the good and the bad - and even what happens post Revolution. 

I love the description of some of the plants involved, and what they mean, what they represent. If you want a fic that delves more in Sabrina’s character and her relationship with Chloe, this is a solid choice.

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Slowly Fading (from my misery) by @wehadabondingmoment

“You’re looking awfully deep in thought today, minou.” Ladybug’s gloved hand stroked over his hair and Chat Noir closed his eyes with an unstable breath.

He got like this sometimes. Lately, it had been getting worse.

Or: Gabriel likes using the rings to order his son around. After a while, it starts having effects on Chat Noir as well. (The more often Gabriel commands Adrien to act a certain way, the more it gets ingrained in his mentality. He suffers because of it.)

This is a gorgeous fic. Adrien’s been puppeted around, forced to obey orders for reasons he doesn’t understand, for so long, so often that a lot of times his own body doesn’t even feel like his. A lot of residual orders keep on bubbling up and stopping him from doing what he wants to do, and he just... doesn’t understand why. Considering how Adrien looked in Pretension when Gabriel forced him to go to his room so he could talk to Marinette alone, and how desperately Adrien tried to head back there but couldn’t make himself open the door, how terrified and confused he’d seemed, I think his feelings here, his mindset, is pretty close to canon.

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Spread Your Wings by @myladynoire

Set before the Finale. Félix uses his Kwagatama to summon his father's memory and has a talk with him.

I love Colt’s characterization here, how we see his mindset, his beliefs, and even what made him the way he is. We have a limited amount of knowledge about him in canon, only having the play Felix and Kagami put on to go off of, but myladynoire made good use of it! I’m glad Felix got some closure here as well.

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Cheating Cat by @11jj11

When Emma and Isaac Dupain-Cheng realize that Adrien is Chat Noir, that can only mean one thing... that he's cheating on Marinette with Ladybug, and they're the only ones that know!

This is really cute, with Emma and Isaac being worried about Adrien supposedly cheating on Marinette and wanting to talk to Ladybug to stop her from dating Chat Noir. That’s not all that’s going on here, though - Isaac’s actually adopted, but he and Adrien are still related, which puts an interesting twist on the tale. There’s a reason he’s especially sympathetic to the fact that Adrien being Chat Noir means he would have had to fight his own father...

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A Mousey guest by charliepoet13

Adrien Agreste has finally managed to break away from his father and make his way out into the world. One faithful night, after settling down in his new home, he spots a strange guest.

Adrien X Multimouse fic here! So this is inspired by the Borrowers, with little people the size of mice living amongst ordinary-sized humans, and Marinette got a little careless here XD. But soon finds that Adrien’s friendly and not a threat. It’s adorable and reminds me of the The Littles book series that I read when I was a kid!

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Three Crazy Days by @lea-panthera

In which Marinette's mind is forced to stretch a mile.

So Bunnix drops off Marinette’s future daughter for her to take care of, who blabs that her grandfather is Hawk Moth, and then things quickly spin out of control XD.

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all of your flaws and all of my flaws (are laid out one-by-one) by @coffeebanana

Ladybug and Marinette have both been acting strangely since Monarch's defeat, and Chat Noir would give anything to know why—to be able to help them. He just...didn't expect his answers to come when Ladybug drags him to his father's statue in the middle of the night along with a bag full of spray paint.

If you felt unsatisfied with Adrien being left in the dark about Monarch, with Ladybug lying about Gabriel being a hero, this is a great fic to read. Marinette’s breaking down keeping this secret, seeing people treat Gabriel as the hero she told people he was, until she finally snaps and has to do SOMETHING, has to tell SOMEONE the truth. 

Which Chat takes pretty well! He knows how persuasive his father could be, and he’s mostly just relieved at finally hearing someone say that Gabriel wasn’t a hero. It’s still a lot to cope with though.

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@ ladybug by @hefoundme

Trending in Paris

1 · Trending #JusticeForPapillombre

2 · Technology · Trending Tsurugi Corp Trending with Tomoe Tsurugi

3 · Trending #LadynoirStrong

So this is a multimedia type fic showing various online conversations and things that would likely be going on in Miraculous Paris. It doesn’t really have a coherent narrative per se, and is more like a series of vignettes. It’s a lot of fun, like there’s a section going over Andre’s ice cream reviews, Alix talking with Max about how she’s worried about Alim falling down conspiracy rabbit holes, an image of the most popular google search terms for Adrien, all sorts of things! It must’ve taken a lot of work and I think it’s worth a look. 

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Don’t be a Stranger by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

Chat Noir has been fighting Chrysalide alone for years when one day, Ladybug appears. She seems to already know him, and is a little too eager to be friends. But the more she pushes for her and Chat Noir to reveal their identities, the harder she is to trust.

Written for Ladynoir July Prompt 31 - “In Every Universe”

This is an intriguing story, with a somewhat open ending. I don’t want to spoil too much about it - the plot hook in the summary should already give you a pretty good idea of the premise. It is a little strange seeing LADYBUG pushing for an identity reveal and making jokes during akuma fights, but given what’s happened, I could see why she’d try to do things that made her think of Chat.

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hands red series by katrinette

Summary for the first fic in the series, a serpent in these still waters:

Marinette's on her knees before her new king, preparing to swear the oath that binds her to serve him to the best of her ability.

To the man whose father had her parents killed.

Every word tastes like ash in her mouth.

Marinette’s plotting to overthrow the corrupt monarch, as the French tend to do. She doesn’t know King Adrien all that well, since he just ascended to the throne recently, but she’s certain that he’s just as bad as his father.

Of course, rebellion’s aren’t very effective without help, so after biting her tongue with the new king, she rants to her partner in crime, a man whose true name and face she does not know, but who she deeply trusts nonetheless: Chat Noir.

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Falling (sick) with you by @chocoluckchipz

Nothing would be easier than taking a pair of earrings off an unconscious Ladybug. Doing so would bring his mother back and end their decade-long strife. He shouldn't be hesitating when a chance of a life time presented itself to him. He should not be looking for excuses and reasonings as to why spending another twenty or so years fighting this woman rather than pleasing his father and giving his mother another chance at life was not such a bad idea after all.

Ah, I love a good enemies au! Even when they’re enemies, Chat is unwilling to hurt Ladybug. Though honestly, he makes himself out to be more of a villain than he actually is, it’s pretty obvious to everyone that he’s not trying as hard as he could to get her earrings. There’s very good reason for that.

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Lost Little Kitten by soliea0death

Monarch hasn't been seen for a while, but that doesn't mean that Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't still needed as the heroes of Paris. Also, the new holder of the rabbit miraculous may need some more practice when dealing with time travel. One-shot Ladynoir ;);)

This is adorable. Ladybug and Chat Noir find a toddler wandering around and try to find her parents, to no avail, so they decide to take care of her (well Ladybug said she was gonna leave her with Marinette, but you know what that really means). Of course Bunnix had to come to collect her since she was displaced from time, but neglected to say who her parents were...

Anyway this was adorable, and I loved the explanation for how, exactly, the little girl ended up in the wrong time period.

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Eat, Pray, Duck by @trishacollins

Gabriel Agreste split his twin sons apart when his wife died, keeping one with him and sending one to London with his sister. Unfortunately, the Supreme was not willing to let this be.

He wanted a matched set.

Felix is a weapon, a servant of the Supreme. On a mission to retrieve the stolen Miraculous.

In a world that has outlawed kindness, sometimes the most dangerous person is the one who chooses it anyway.

I love this glimpse at what might have been going on with Felix back in Shadybug and Claw Noir’s world, I did wonder what might have been going on with him. Poor kid, he managed to have it even worse than he did in canon. I really loved seeing his interactions with Luka, the Couffaines rebel through kindness it seems!

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Front Page News by @tiredfloridianbutverygay

Nadja couldn't sleep at night, not when there were still so many unanswered questions about the final battle. How did the Alliance rings seem to have the exact answer, to know exactly what to say?

Why did they turn everyone into a Miraculous-powered army? Why was Gabriel asking everyone to join with Monarch to help capture Ladybug and Cat Noir?

It was time to get to the bottom of this, and Paris' best investigative journalist was on the case! No stone would be left unturned and Paris would never be the same.

This one’s a pretty unique follow-up to the season 5 finale! I love Alya and Nadja investigating to try and figure out what happened with Monarch and exposing the truth, people deserve to know.

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Friends who kiss by @kuromori4

It’s been about a week since Shadybug and Claw Noir’s goody-two shoes alternate universe counterparts convinced them to betray the Supreme and join the Resistance. And while they are determined to be better… It hasn’t been easy. While both Shadybug and Claw Noir have a lifetime of problems to untangle if they want to be good people, they realize a new look doesn’t magically make you a nice person. As if that weren’t hard enough to deal with, the two ex-Villains struggle with defining what their new relationship might be.

I love the two of them talking things out, and struggling. Shadybug in particular is still very prickly and prone to making snide comments about Adrien, even though she doesn’t really know him, and she still hasn’t totally come to terms with her own true feelings about Claw Noir. Though by the end they um. Figure that out, I guess you could say XD.

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Dragon by @liiinerle

Tomoe keeps telling Kagami about the importance of her heritage, but refuses to tell her what that heritage is. When Kagami looks it up for herself, she finds a lot of interesting information, a lot of frustration, and a deep and burning question - which Tomoe refuses to help her answer.

This is a Kagami character study, with Kagami questioning her mother’s actions, but knowing that standing up to her is a no-win proposition. It doesn’t help that D’Argencourt’s mirroring some aspects of her mother’s behavior, with being upset if she doesn’t fight well, but also being upset if she beats him. There’s no right answer here, which leads her to take out her frustration on others. Luckily, Marinette’s there to calm her down, to talk things out with her.

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adrien agreste and the consequences of tweets making fun of yourself by Anonymous

Well, Adrien thinks, what’s the worst that could come from a few poorly thought-out tweets lightly ribbing his own civilian identity?

I love the focus here on how people just assume what Adrien’s thinking and feeling and act on his behalf, without actually waiting to see what HE wants, and Adrien’s growing frustration. How they create a version of him in their heads, but don’t care to check with reality to see whether he actually wants their “defense”. 

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Spin the Bottle by @kasienda

When the bottle cap comes to a stop dead center on Nino, Adrien’s both relieved and somehow more anxious.

His first kiss - not his actual first kiss, but still kinda his first kiss - the first kiss he will remember, will be with someone he deeply cares about.

But Adrien also cares what Nino thinks of him, so what if he’s a terrible kisser?

Nino offers him a reassuring smile, and he relaxes. Adrien glances at Alya for permission, and she just shoos him towards Nino.

Adrien turns to Nino, leaning closer. If his stomach had been squirming before, it now feels like a half dozen Kwamis have taken up residence in his gut. But Adrien doesn’t hesitate. He blocks out the presence of all of his friends watching, and instead focuses on Nino - like Nino is a stage partner in a photoshoot.

Except kissing Nino is nothing like a photoshoot.

...

Adrien kisses Nino in a game of Spin the Bottle, and then neither can stop thinking about it. Alya really likes how flustered her boyfriend is by all this. Marinette though, can't handle it and keeps running away.

This is a great Alya X Adrien X Nino X Marinette poly fic! I love them all talking out their feelings and realizing new things about themselves. Alya’s instrumental and bringing everyone together, though she, herself, is also nervous about confessing to her longstanding crush XD

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a rose by any other name by @asukiess

Adrien's scared Loveybug only loves Catwalker.

Loveybug's scared Chat Noir only loves her, and not Ladybug.

How does the rest of the saying go again?

So obviously, this is part of the Loveybug AU, where Marinette gets stressed by her responsibilities as Ladybug and wanting to get away from that persona, and adopts a new persona as Loveybug, complete with a new transformation. This is a really good glimpse of this AU, I really love the Ladrien (Lovedrien?) especially, with her talking out her conundrum with Adrien.

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The Two-Body Problem by @mixelation

Good news: they now knew how the akuma’s power worked, and the akuma had run off and given them time to regroup.

Bad news: the akuma’s power meant she was now in Chat Noir’s body, and Chat Noir was in her body. Her body, which was currently still Marinette.

Ah, I love a good body swap. This is set while Adrien and Marinette are dating, so he can’t help flirting with Marinette a little, even in these circumstances - which is a bit of a problem since Marinette doesn’t realize he’s her boyfriend. And also they’re in each other’s bodies, which makes it feel weird.

And then there’s the whole “someone is gonna need to use the Ladybug Miraculous” problem. It’s not as if Chat KNOWS that he currently has her Miraculous in his earlobes...

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Windows 5 + 1 by @dadplagg-mamatikki

A bet between Kim and Alix trigger a chain reactions of events where Adrien jumps out of windows.

I love this. Adrien needs very little prompting to jump out of windows, heck he’ll do it with NO prompting, it’s hilarious XD. Heck he even asked whether Kim would prefer a normal jump or a theatrical one! It’s really not that surprising though, considering how we’ve seen Adrien dive from the top of his rock-climbing wall onto his couch.

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I know there’s been pain this year (But it’s time to let it go) by @ninadove

“What? Nooo! Adrien doesn’t hate Christmas.”

“Are you absolutely certain? What was he like last year?”

“Well, he —”

Marinette furrowed her brow, scanning her own memories. Of course she was absolutely certain. At least, she thought she was.

Okay — she could not ignore that Adrien had run away from home that night, wandering the snow-covered streets to escape the freezing cold of his own home. Nor could she brush away the disintegrated Morris column, cataclysmed for the crime of bearing his own face.

Oh, and the shaky videos circulating on YouTube. That musical number was… Concerning, to say the least. Still, it was no smoking gun.

Right?

“Oh my god,” she squeaked, plopping down against the counter. “Adrien hates Christmas.”

I love Marinette and Felix doing their best to cheer Adrien up, it’s adorable. Especially Marinette’s attempt. It’s very Marinette, I laughed out loud XD. There’s a lot of senticousin bonding here, so if you like that, this is a good one to check out!

---

A Shadyverse Holiday by @lucid-ao3

The duo's curiosity grew after the encounter with their alternate selves from the Shadyverse. What was this other world like, and how were Shadybug and Claw Noir doing in the aftermath of their visit?

It's the polite thing to do, after all, for a superhero team to check in on their parallel universe counterparts and wish them happy holidays.

That is, if there's any happiness to find...

[In which Ladybug and Chat Noir take a holiday trip to the Shadyverse.]

I love this glimpse of the Reverse World, and how it makes Ladybug and Chat Noir question whether their own is really so different, if things could have turned out in their own world the way they did in the Reverse World - for better or worse.

---

what makes a human (am I?) by GraceM_TheStoriedLife

Adrien comes to Marinette's out of nowhere. Usually Chat is her rock. Tonight, it's her turn. (Or, in which Adrien discovers some secrets he's not prepared for and Marinette is as Marinette-y as always.

So Adrien discovers he’s a sentimonster and immediately runs to Marinette for support. It’s as cute and angsty as you’d expect. She is, of course, very supportive of him. Also some discussion of Gabriel being abusive, since both she and Nino had been trying to get Adrien to see that. Especially with how, exactly, Adrien found out he’s a sentimonster. He can relate a little better to Felix’s experiences now than is healthy, I’ll just say.

---

Caught In A Multimouse Trap by @a-flaming-idiot

Adrien was having a rather slow morning. That was until he discovered a tiny superhero trapped in his home and decides to be a bit of a hero even out of his suit.

This was adorable! Adrien does his best to care for the little miniature superhero caught in a mousetrap, bandaging her up as best as he can (thankfully only her tail got caught so it’s more of a phantom pain than an actual injury) and just... it’s really cute.

---

fine line by @bbutterflies

“Catwalker?” Loveybug asks.

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember… what happened before us?”

“What do you mean?”

“Before we were heroes. Was there someone else?”

Catwalker goes quiet for a moment. “I don’t know,” he finally says.

This is a surprisingly angsty take on the Loveybug AU. Here, since the Loveybug and Cat Walker transformations are so unnatural, they’re having negative side effects on Marinette and Adrien, causing them to be constantly exhausted and even to get amnesia the longer they continue using them.

---

You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess by @mexicancat-girl

With Team Miraculous now full-time holders, Ladybug has them patrolling in pairs like her and Chat Noir.

New partners Pigella and Purple Tigress get along phenomenally, their easy banter and similar wavelengths making working with each other a joy in and out of combat.

But sometimes Tigress is surprised just how close she is with her partner. Sometimes she tries not to feel too guilty thinking about it.

There’s some nice Julerose here! I love them kinda getting into a lovesquare with each other, though it’s not as much of a problem as it is in canon since it’s reciprocal in every relationship and they’re both down for a poly. It’s fun, and I love the “Luka attempting to woo some of his love interests” plot going on in the background XD.

---

Plans Aren’t Everything by BeeRye

Feeling a bit fed up with constantly having her dates with Marinette cut short, Kagami sets aside some time in order to plan the perfect outing for the two of them. Despite being the holder of the Miraculous of the Black Cat, she believes one day of romance isn't too much to ask for. As long as she treats it all like she does everything else in her life, the results she wants should come to pass.

She doesn't quite know what to do if that ends up not being the case.

This was adorable and captured Kagami’s mindset well, she decided, rather optimistically that she could just brute force the date into going well. Unfortunately, that’s not gonna stop Hawk Moth. Fortunately, Marinette has her own back-up plans...

[ilikekidsshows]

Okay, so... I just realized something. No one told Marinette to keep information from Cat Noir until Syren. She was the one who didn't think to tell him about the spellbook, and she was the one who showed up to Fu's without him. In Volpina, The Collector, Robostus, and Sapotis, the idea of Cat Noir knowing is never brought up, mostly because Marinette and Fu don't talk about him. This makes Syren look really weird when you think about it. We suddenly have Fu saying that it isn't the right time and the episode acts like those aren't Marinette's secrets to tell, when this wasn't a factor in any of Fu's previous appearances.

Now, I'm not trying to defend Fu here. He's supposed to be the mentor here—even if Marinette doesn't think about Cat Noir, he has the responsibility to. It certainly is a writing choice is what I'm saying.

---

Considering the priorities of the writers, they most likely didn't think of it either. They tended to ignore Cat Noir's role in things even before the retool. It could be they totally forgot that Cat Noir was also a factor in the team dynamics. I'm guessing, depending on the writing order, ‘Syren’ could be the justification to keep him in the dark after they realized that Marinette keeping him in the dark of her own volition would make her look bad if anyone thought more deeply on it, and supposedly they figured the audience just wouldn’t question Fu’s authority in the matter, since he’s the “wise, old mentor” archetype. The writers tend to think giving some throwaway excuse is enough to justify everything they pull in the show.

That's why the show is so quick to give excuses every time Marinette does something hurtful towards others instead of just, you know, having her learn to not do it. The idea that people watching could disapprove of Marinette’s actions is too horrifying to them, she couldn't possibly do something actually wrong, so they try to explain everything away to justify her, either right away or retroactively when they realize fans actually have issues with something Marinette has done instead of just accepting that the hero protagonist can do no wrong by virtue of being the protagonist.

Miraculous, I feel, moralizes secret-keeping way too much. Alya and Marinette have a big debate on whether they’d reveal they were a hero to their respective bestie or not in ‘Sapotis’, where Marinette “wins” by virtue of Alya, under Ladybug's orders, not telling Marinette in her civilian persona that she’d become a hero by the end of the episode. The debate was “I’d tell you because I tell you everything” versus “I’d not tell you to keep you safe”, with Marinette acting kinda smug about it, like the writers considered this the ultimate “gotcha!” that the fandom is using for all secrets Marinette chooses to keep now.

“She’s keeping people safe,” she maybe thinks that, but how does that work in practise? Generally, the idea of not telling a loved one about your heroics is to keep them from getting involved and getting hurt, but Marinette is the one getting her friends involved by giving them Miraculouses. She breaks that safety justification herself. The show also raises the possibility of Hawk Moth lifting this information from their mind if they ever got Akumatized, but Marinette herself has almost gotten Akumatized but could avoid the butterfly with Tikki’s encouragement. The solution to getting Akumatized is to not leave your secret-keeper alone when they’re upset. Also, the show later reveals that this is a nonissue, because Kagami, who knew Ladybug’s identity, got Akumatized with Hawk Moth being none the wiser she knew, meaning Hawk Moth can’t read minds to that degree, but, to be fair, the heroes probably didn’t know that. I think most Miraculous holders' decision to reveal or hide their identity from their loved ones is one that's based on what they consider most functional and is, in fact, not based on morality at all.

So, here’s the question we should actually ask about Marinette’s secret-keeping: when you keep  a secret that “isn’t yours to tell”, is it really a moral choice or simply a choice? The thing about keeping secrets in real life is that it, by itself, isn’t a moral or immoral act. It’s what your secret-keeping accomplishes that determines whether you made a moral choice. Of course you're not gonna tell your friend your other friend is planning to throw them a birthday party if you want it to be a surprise, but, if the birthday hero just told you they're planning to go out on that date and time, it's just practical to let them know your shared friend has something planned for that time. It's not a moral choice what you do here, simply a practical one.

If your friend comes out to you about their sexual or gender identity, this secret deals with your friend’s personal life and really is no one else’s business. Keeping that secret is, of course, good. If your friend has queerphobic parents, revealing the secret to them would put your friend in danger, so it would be bad to tell.

If your friend told you they’d murdered one of your classmates in cold blood and had hidden the body, you keeping that secret makes you an accessory to murder and you could face legal charges. However, your personal moral code also applies here. Would you be cool with murder if the victim was also a murderer and killed your best friend’s sister? Would you be against murdering but even more against betraying your friend by getting them caught for a crime they committed? What if your friend murdered an innocent person and you both know this and your friend tells you they plan to kill again because they’re actually a serial killer and keeping their secret means more innocent people will die? Then it would undeniably be bad if you chose to keep that secret.

There are more important things to consider than whether or not a secret is “someone’s to tell”, like actual harm coming to people because of secrets that should be kept or revealed.

The matter of secrets is that we need to take into account who they affect. The things Marinette keeps from Cat Noir: the grimoire, Fu, her training, Rena Furtive becoming a permanent member, are all things that affect Cat Noir. I’m sure Cat Noir would like to know the history of the power he wields. I’m sure Cat Noir would appreciate some guidance and training too instead of being left to flounder and try to figure things out alone. I’m sure Cat Noir would like to know what backup is available in tight situations, especially if Ladybug herself isn’t available to be Rena Furtive’s sole contact. The excuse that these aren’t Marinette’s secrets to tell, because they’re Fu’s or Alya’s, are just excuses. These are Marinette’s secrets, because she’s benefiting from something she’s actively denying Cat Noir access to.

Her secret-keeping is even more questionable in the season five finale with Gabriel’s evil deeds, Hawk Moth’s identity and Adrien’s status as a Sentimonster. These secrets directly influence Adrien, his ability to recover from how his father treated him and his ability to keep himself safe when his free will can be easily hijacked. This information doesn’t just affect Adrien, it’s information he needs. And the stans are justifying Marinette keeping this information from him with “it’s not Marinette’s secret to tell”, implying the responsibility should be shifted to anyone else but their precious idol. Well, here’s what I think of that: these secrets are also not Marinette’s to keep.

[seas-of-silver]

"Alya, we've talked about this hundreds of times - in all our lives we and our friends have never met someone called Marinette Dupain - Cheng - she is just a figment of your twisted imagination!"

‘Alya, we've talked about this hundreds of times - in all our lives we and our friends have never met someone called Marinette Dupain-Cheng - she is just a figment of your twisted imagination!’

Alya barely suppressed a growl as she glared at Nathaniel. ‘“Twisted imagination?” Seriously?’

Chloé scoffed. ‘Yeah, twisted. I mean, honestly - super-powered villains? Magical terrorists and superheroes? Who, by the way, are all animal themed and get their powers from tiny gods in jewellery? Alternate universes and time travel? Ugh! And the bit you’re flipping out about is some chick that supposedly meant to be in this class? Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.’

‘Alya, we’re worried about you,’ Rose said, her wide blue eyes swimming in genuine concern. ‘You’ve been so different this past week; you look and sound and behave like our Alya, but what you’ve been saying is just so unlike yourself!’

‘It’s kinda like you’re living a nightmare in real time, or something,’ Juleka muttered, and the whole class nodded in agreement.

The whole class bar Adrien and Marinette.

Alya was smart. She had figured out something was seriously wrong when she woke up last week and found herself in her room instead of Marinette’s, where she had been sleeping over. It became even more concerning when she arrived at school and Marinette was nowhere in sight. Then she had started to panic when the seating arrangement was different, Adrien wasn’t at school either, and worst of all - Nino barely knew her.

She spent the first class trying to casually enquire about Adrien and Marinette, which led to confused responses and almost getting reprimanded by Ms Bustier, who was still their teacher and had apparently never had a child, and Chloé’s father was still Mayor of Paris.

One reassuring discovery Alya had made before lunchtime was that Adrien Agreste still existed in this weird world, but had apparently never been to their school. She also discovered that Lila Rossi had also never been to their school, but that good news was quickly soured when she found out that Lila now has strong ties to the Agreste family, and was frequently seen with them. But that didn’t stop Alya from trying to contact Adrien, though she had no success.

Alya had then started to research, and kept researching throughout the week. This weird world had no mention of recent Miraculous use; no Hawk Moth, Mayura, Ladybug or Chat Noir, and nothing of note in Shanghai or New York. Her Ladyblog was also non-existent, which was discomforting in and of itself. And there was no Marinette.

That was the part Alya was struggling to grasp. No Marinette? A world without Miraculouses was something Alya could wrap her head around, as was a reality where Adrien never went to their school, but no Marinette? So she had researched that too. Everything Alya had expected to exist were also missing - the sunglasses and album cover (and subsequent magazine article) Marinette made for Jagged Stone; Marinette’s winning submission in the derby hat competition held by Gabriel Agreste and the runway show it was displayed in; her fashion photoshoot she did with Adrien and Juleka… none of it could be found.

Alya knew this was no dream that she had found herself in - this felt more like some sort of akuma attack-related displacement… but Alya couldn’t remember there being an akuma attack while she was in Marinette’s room. The last thing Alya had remembered before waking up in this weird world was setting up for a girl’s night in while Marinette went on patrol with Chat Noir, as the new Butterfly villain, Malachite, had been annoyingly active as of recent. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

And now all her friends and classmates were looking at her like she was the weird one. Perhaps she was, at least to them.

‘You’re right, Juleka,’ Alya said sombrely, ‘this is a nightmare. Either I’ve somehow ended up in an alternate universe, or something god-awful must’ve happened for the whole world to forget about the Miraculouses in Paris, for Adrien to never have come to school here, for my own boyfriend to barely know me apart from just being one of his classmates, and for my best friend - a girl who meant so much to nearly everyone in this room - to completely vanish off the face of the earth!’

Everyone flinched at her raised voice, but she didn’t care. She was too angry, too confused, and too hurt to care about something as minor as that.

‘I- ugh! I feel like I’m going insane!’ Alya cried out, her eyes starting to sting. ‘I know what has happened here - I’ve lived it! I was a part of it! You all were part of it! But why don’t you remember? Why does no one remember? Ugh, it’s like, I don’t know, like someone’s messed with reality and gotten rid of any trace of Marinette and the Mira…cu…lou…ses…’

Alya felt violently ill. How could she have not thought of that? It all made perfect sense. But if that was really true, then Malachite must have…

‘Oh, God,’ Alya whimpered, sinking to the ground unsteadily.

The class bin suddenly appeared in front of her, just in the nick of time, and a kind, familiar hand held her hair back.

‘Can someone get the nurse or Ms Bustier?’ Nino’s voice came from right beside her. ‘She’s not doing good.’

People moved around her, but Alya could barely take it in. Her mind was overloaded with fear and horror. She needed to prove this horrific theory wrong.

‘Shh,’ came Nino’s voice again, his other hand starting to rub soothing circles on her back. ‘You’re not well, dude, and you’re shaking.’

She couldn’t dwell on that for long, as a loud commotion was happening outside and getting closer. Fear spiking within her, Alya forced herself to stand and get into a fighting position, ignoring Nino’s protests. She wasn’t going to lose anyone else, not without a fight.

The door slammed open, and Alya hesitated.

‘Alya? Thank goodness!’ Adrien cried, looking disheveled and winded. ‘I got your letters - you remember too?’

Her hands wavered. ‘Yeah. What do you remember?’

‘Oh, finally!’ Adrien exclaimed, relieved. ‘I thought I was going insane when I woke up to find Mother and Father alive and Lila-‘ he growled out, as if saying the name was like ash on his tongue, ‘-of all people was now a long-time family friend, which is revolting. But no one knows about the Miraculouses or Ladybug and Chat Noir or Hawk Moth or Malachite or akumas or anything!’ 

Alya wanted to cry - out of relief or grief, she wasn’t sure.

‘And you!’ Adrien said, pointing at Nino. ‘You hung up on me!’

Nino blinked. ‘So… that wasn’t a prank call?’

Adrien looked mortified. ‘You’ve… you’ve forgotten me? For real?’

Nino opened and closed his mouth, looking entirely uncertain about anything that was going on.

‘I was sure that you would remember me,’ Adrien continued, shaken, before looking back at Alya. ‘I tried to call everyone that I could remember the numbers of, but even Marinette isn’t picking up!’

Alya felt sick again at the mention of her name.

‘Surely you were able to get in contact with her,’ Adrien pleaded, putting his hands on her shoulders. ‘I’ve been stuck under Father’s and Lila’s thumbs for this past week, and I was only able to escape just now.’

With Adrien so close, she could see the anxiety, desperation and fear that was threatening to consume him.

‘Please, Alya,’ he begged, ‘please tell me you found her and she’s okay. She’s in danger, and I need to ensure she’s safe.’

All Alya could do was shake her head. She felt Adrien’s hands tremble and saw his eyes fill with tears as he began to hyperventilate, before he crumbled to the floor and let out a soul-crushing cry that shattered her heart.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ended up musing on that "Chloe Knows & think Marinette as Ladybug sabotaged her life in purpose" angle. Specifically with a divergence set in Queen Banana that I discussed before but this one has a fresh new, feline like spin!

So, Chloe knows Marinette is Ladybug and has since around Style Queen, with meeting Pollen having reminded her of Tikki from Princess Fragrance.

Chloe "deduces" that Marinette has used her position as Ladybug & Class rep ETC, to string Chloe along and sabotage her life and steal everything she loves.

So she determines to defeat Marinette but to do it the "proper" way!

IE she wants to become a more beloved hero than her, defeat Hawk Moth, & win back everything Marinette took from her but by being "better" than her.

So she goes and steals several Miraculous.

She was going to steal them all but Sass was out and like:

"Yeah no, I'm not letting you do that, buuuut using my power to rewind time on you has consequences so I'll let you take some volunteers who want to explore and keep this secret unless you piss me off."

She gets horse (Cos Kaalki wants to live fancy), Trixx (Who wants to fuck around) and Roarr (Who wants to break shit)

I initially figured Trixx would go to Lila, but then had the thought.

What if Chloe tries to bring Adrien in on her scheme, thinking him manipulated by Marinette & pressured into betraying her?

He'd play along, not wanting to lsoe Chloe but obviously planning to go and tell Marinette that he now knows se is Ladybug and where the Miraculous are so they can sort everything out!

But the fact she told Alya her ID, (Which he deduces) and then lies to his face about losing the Miraculous, along with Chloe's rather… Fragile state (In the way broken glass is fragile) and relative benign goals; as be a better hero than Ladybug isn't exactly evil.

& well, his natural pretension to avoid conflict flares up and he decides to try and thread the needle of these social interactions with the intent of getting the ideal good ending for everyone!

I think he'd actually get Kaalki, claiming his schedule and controlling father mean he can't easily participate in battles, but he can serve as Chloe & Sabrina's exit and entry point. This lets him continue operating as Chat Noir, at least at first.

How well this all works out in the end is anyone's guess XD

GOD one of these days I gotta go back to writing Forged lmao

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

This is more of a rant, but something that still baffles me about the show is, The Collector being the ONLY episode besides the last few S5 episodes where the main heroes get ANY significant leads on who the main villain might be (ignoring Chat Blanc and Ephemeral, because those were more Gabriel’s luck strike than anything).

I understand why they lifted suspicion from Gabriel initially, but Master Fu should’ve 100% doubted the “he can’t akumatize himself” claim at some point later on (seriously, Gabriel only had to make an akuma, detransform, and renounce Nooro), but with how incompetent he was as a Guardian, I’m surprised he could even make the “Grimoire owner = Hawk Moth” guess. And the MULTIPLE TIMES he went into the Agreste mansion, no progress. The LEAST he should’ve done is ask Adrien about the whole ordeal with the Grimoire - Adrien stealing it from his own father should at the very least raise some questions.

(A bit tangential, but a headcanon I have is, the suspicion falling on his father back then is what made him want to know what Ladybug is up to at all times - it doesn’t excuse his romantic advances towards Ladybug or his S4 behavior, but I think it did contribute heavily to the whole Syren fallout, even if some of it was just Adrien being grumpy for no good reason. Of course, this wasn’t Ladybug’s fault, and Adrien didn’t have the full context for the accusation when the audience did… so that’s another thing I blame on Master Fu, he seemingly never clarified anything to Adrien about the suspicion of Gabriel being a genocidal maniac)

And after that… the one to make progress is Mr. Plot Device Felix. In SEASON 4!!! And the only thing they could come up with was Felix seeing the miraculous because Gabriel’s tie slipped - a gigantic win button handed to him on a silver plate (though admittedly, his plan of tearing Gabriel’s pants was pretty cool).

Just remember, the main drama of Season 5 was the romance between Marinette and Adrien, and trying to stop the psychopath from recreating the world.

Really shows that our heroes have their priorities straight.

[imsparky2002]

How I Would've Written Lila: Part 2

Lila would focus on molding Marinette into her follower and ally. She'd endlessly praise Marinette, really gas her up about her talent and kindness. Marinette accidentally vents to Lila about her classmates Lila will encourage it! If Marinette says it, it must be true. After all, she's "their Ladybug". Chloe being a bully? Find out dirty secrets of hers! It's ok, she deserves it! In this rewrite, Alya would be the one who's suspicious of Lila, and Marinette would be the one writing her off as "jealous". Doesn't it make more sense for someone like Alya, a journalist-in-training, to be able to spot a liar when she sees one?

Lila would begin to try and convince Marinette that Alya wasn't a good friend. After all, Lila would help her put Chloe out of power, Lila would be the one to help her finally win Adrien's heart. Alya was trying to stop Marinette from having new friends. So Alya is getting more and more frustrated with Marinette brushing her off and finally when Marinette says that Lila was right about being a better friend, she loses it. She's about to be akumatized when Lila jumps in front of her, taking the akuma instead of Alya. Hawk Moth is surprised by this, and Lila mentally tells him that she'll do whatever he asks, including taking the miraculous. Lila doesn't actually want to help destroy the world or whatever, she's fine with getting her butt kicked by the superheroes. No, what she wants is for Alya to believe that Lila is truly good-at-heart and sacrificed herself so that she could be trusted. In reality, Lila knows that if she's akumatized like this, it allows her to get Cesaire off her back. Hawk Moth agrees, and so we get Volpina.

Ladybug in particular seems to struggle in fighting Volpina, since in this universe she sees Lila as her new best friend. Still, they eventually de-evilize her. When Lila "comes to", lots of kids praise her for being so selfless, and Alya reluctantly thanks her, despite still thinking she's up to something.

Next time, I'll talk about Season 2, which will basically be "Lila manipulates Marinette into becoming mean before Alya eventually snaps her out of it". Hope you enjoy! Lemme know your thoughts in the reblogs and replies

@artzychic27 @msweebyness @nerd-chocolate

[nobodyfamousposts]

Chloe’s Lament: Ripping Apart

Chloe’s attempts to improve her situation…didn’t work out, to say the least.

Mostly because in her mind, improving things for herself had to involve tearing down others to build up herself by comparison. Something she was easily able to do in the previous world when she was the ‘Princess of Paris’ with the power of her father and her social status to push her demands.

Here…she didn’t have that. At all. Which to Chloe’s ever-growing frustration, made her efforts entirely uphill battles.

She didn’t even have the Ladybug Miraculous to either set things right or to use to her advantage. She didn’t know who the new Ladybug or sidekick were, either. And unfortunately for her, her disregard for people unless she needed something immediately meant that she hadn’t paid attention to the old man Hawk Moth was attacking and thus didn’t know where to start looking for the Guardian or the Miracle Box to at least get the Bee again. Even worse, she hadn’t thought to bother with Hawk Moth or his sidekick once they had been stung, meaning she was just as clueless as everyone else was on the villain’s identity, so she couldn’t try to target him for his Miraculous either!

What she did have, however, was future knowledge of events—or at least what she bothered to notice outside of her own activities in the previous timeline. And one in particular stood out the most:

The hat contest.

Dupain-Cheng was still very much a fashion enthusiast despite the changes in this reality. That meant if nothing else, she would still take part in the contest once it came around.

And Chloe knew it would. She even checked to make sure! Even if Adrien despised her, she was still his ‘friend’ as far as Gabriel was concerned. Thus, she was still allowed to visit the Agreste Mansion. Sure, she had to make an appointment and didn’t have as much freedom to go about as she pleased, but she was able to slip away and confirm Gabriel’s intention to hold the contest.

So that meant she already knew what was coming! And with her foreknowledge, she was sure to win!

The plan was simple: recreate the famous feather derby hat for the contest before Marinette could. 

Without the signature this time.

This way, when the would-be designer tried to reveal Chloe as the thief, Chloe would have the upper hand. With no signature to prove Marinette’s claim and more than enough time to build proof that she had created the design first, Chloe would succeed in gaining fame and simultaneously crush Marinette’s dreams of being a professional designer. She would be branded as a cheater and blacklisted from any further design competitions. Gabriel would certainly never trust her again. And Adrien—poor Adrien would obviously need Chloe’s shoulder to cry on once he learned that Miss Perfect Marinette was only using him!

But as it turned out, there were three problems with this plan that Chloe had not accounted for…

Originally, Chloe was able to send Marinette’s hat design sketch to a professional hat maker to bring to life within the deadline.

This time, Chloe had neither the influence nor the funds to get any decent professional to make her design. Her attempts to use her mother’s channels didn’t work either when she couldn’t replicate the original design for them to use as a base.

“They’re feathers! What’s so complicated about it?!”

She also didn’t have the original sketch this go around.

And her less than eloquent efforts to explain the appearance, make, or materials of the desired hat to the interns only got everyone involved both frustrated enough to set off an argument that quickly got her mother’s attention.

Audrey Bourgeois was still very much the famed Style Queen and had no patience for Chloe or her tantrums. And without Andre’s position as Mayor or hotel owner to at least make him a business associate that could exert influence, it wasn’t like Chloe was in a position to make demands. And with only so much time to Paris Fashion Week and not to mention the other shows in the meantime, Audrey didn’t have the people or the patience to spare.

Audrey promptly told her to leave the workers alone unless she had something revolutionary. And despite her insistence to the contrary, a half-formed idea of a hat made with feathers of all things did not count.

As such, there was no one Chloe could get to make the hat for her.

This meant that if she wanted to create this hat and crush Marinette, she would have to make it herself.

Which led to the second problem with Chloe’s plan: for all that she prided herself in knowing and wearing fashion, she had no idea how to actually make it.

Sure, Chloe had a head start on the contest, but that was a very limited advantage for someone with little to no experience in sewing and an unwillingness to learn. Instead of taking the time to plot out a process, figure appropriate fabric, and learn the steps to make a hat, Chloe decided to jump into trying to just make the hat from her memory.

It couldn’t be that hard, right?

As such, by the time the competition actually started, what Chloe had was not so much a hat as…

“What is that? A gaudy balloon?”

“It looks like someone tarred and feathered a plastic bag.”

“I thought it was a deflated football?”

Yeah…that.

It was a sad-looking thing that could hardly be called a hat. Sunken and lumpy with a few feathers sticking out in odd directions. Chloe’s attempts to make her hat by hand resulted in a complete mess, and she had only a number of burns from the hot glue gun and bandages over her fingers from pricking herself to show for it.

“It’s…definitely unique.” Bustier said, clearly trying to be supportive.

Okay. Fine. So her hat was a failure. But she had wasted no effort in building proof that it at least was solely her creation. She could at least still get Marinette on theft of the idea. Maybe she could even claim sabotage if she spins it well enough!

And maybe she could have, except that there was still the final problem with her plan…

She had been assuming all this time that Marinette would be entering the contest with the same hat as before. That she would experience the same lack of inspiration and go to the same place and thus gain the same idea to enter into the contest.

All of which were very vital steps that Marinette would have to go through to reach the desired outcome Chloe had intended to achieve. All were steps that Chloe could not ensure Marinette would follow.

…all were steps which would be completely pointless when Marinette didn’t even compete.

“Wait—what is she doing in the stands?!” Chloe demanded, pointing to Marinette in outrage.

Marinette, for her part, had been sitting in the stands with a notebook in hand and surveying the various entries. She had been taking notes or drawing or who knew what until she looked up in confusion at the yelling.

“Chill out, Chloe. It’s an open contest.” Nino said, frowning at her.

“Yeah. People are allowed to watch.” Alix added.

“No!” Chloe shook her head furiously. She spun on Marinette. “I mean why are you THERE instead of HERE? It’s a hat competition! Aren’t you supposed to be competing?! Where is your entry?!” She demanded.

Marinette blinked in surprise.

“Well, I’m not competing. I’m just here to cheer the others on. And maybe observe. The officials said it was okay.”

And just like that, all of Chloe’s less than carefully laid plans were thrown out the window.

“What do you MEAN you’re not competing?!”

Because Marinette HAD to be competing! That was the entire point of Chloe even wasting her time with this stupid contest!

Marinette shook her head. “I’m friends with Adrien, and he’s the son of the man holding the contest. And the one who will be modeling the hat. While I don’t doubt Mr. Agreste would be impartial, there are rules against this sort of thing for a reason. It would reflect poorly on his integrity. And I don’t want people to question anything I create because of any potential bias.”

But…

That…

That was—!

“Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!”

What was even the point of having connections if you didn’t use them? What kind of socialite was Dupain-Cheng supposed to be, anyway?! It was like she didn’t even know anything!

Marinette was an idiot! She had this amazing position and the world at her fingertips and she couldn’t even use it right!

Chloe stormed out of the auditorium, ignoring the voices and attempts to call her back.

It was…

That was so…

It wasn’t fair!

Marinette was just being lazy! Not using her position or appreciating what it gives her! Not doing anything to prove herself to anyone and show just why she deserved her role! And yet everyone just loved her anyway!

And that…that was the worst part!

Previously, Chloe had to fight tooth and nail just to get people to so much as acknowledge her greatness. She had stayed on top of trends, learned how to navigate the world of the elite, and dealt with anyone and everyone to show why she was not one to cross. She showed why being the “Mayor’s Daughter” was such a pivotal role and why she most deserved it. She had learned to take advantage of any mistake to use to her own ends and end up on top. From Daughter of the Mayor to Queen Bee to Miracle Queen, Chloe had earned her kingdom.

And yet Marinette Dupain-Cheng…she wasn’t doing any of that! She was rich and didn’t use it. She had the power of the Mayor’s Daughter and she didn’t defend it.

She…she was doing nothing and people loved her.

It wasn’t fair!

It wasn’t FAIR!

It wasn’t fair it wasn’t fair it wasn’t fair it wasn’t fair 

IT WASN’T—

“Chloe?”

Chloe jerked up at the voice and immediately wiped her eyes.

Bad enough her plan had been such a failure, she didn’t need people knowing she was crying over it, too. She had nothing left in this world but her dignity. She couldn’t be seen as weak to anyone.

Even if it was Bustier.

“Chloe, I’m sorry. Were you upset?” The teacher asked as she approached cautiously.

“No.” She denied immediately. Because she wasn’t upset! That would suggest her plans had gone completely wrong. And they hadn’t! Because she hadn’t lost yet! She could still find some way to turn things around!

“Chloe, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Chloe refused to look at her.

It wasn’t like Bustier could understand. It was more than just the hat. It was more than a single contest. How could she even begin to explain it all? Everything she’d had? Everything she’d lost?

Bustier—in true ignorance, smiled kindly and rested a hand on Chloe’s shoulder.

“Your hat was your first attempt, wasn’t it? It clearly had a lot of effort put into it.” She said, soothingly. “I think I could see what you were trying to do with the design. You must have felt rushed with the limited time to work with.”

The words didn’t help. They did the exact opposite of help. Because Chloe had known the contest was coming. She’d had more time than anyone to put her entry together. And she still failed.

“With a bit more practice, it would have been a very beautiful hat. I’m sure it would have won.”

It would have won. In another world, it did win. She hadn’t expected it to be so hard to put a hat together. Why was it so hard?

“Oh! Here’s an idea!”

Chloe blinked as Bustier clapped her hands together, smiling brightly at the sudden thought.

“If you’re interested in fashion, maybe we can ask Marinette can help you?” 

And.

Chloe.

Froze.

“It’s hard when you’re first starting out and trying something new—”

It was like she was underwater. Bustier’s words washed over her, but she could barely hear them. Just sound. Just noise. Somewhere above her but its meaning unable to reach her.

“—maybe with a bit of guidance, you can make your hat even better—”

It was like she was falling. No ground beneath her—no stability. Free falling, but fully aware of her own weight dragging her ever downward, not knowing just how far the hole went…

Chloe gripped her creation harshly. Her ugly, pathetic imitation of a masterpiece that even her mother had praised.

“—Marinette loves fashion and knows a lot—”

Marinette must have cheated. There was no way she could do something like that in a few hours without help!

Neither of them noticed as the seams began to unravel and tear in the force of Chloe’s hold.

“—perhaps what you need is a mentor?”

Stretch.

“—volunteer to tutor you—”

Pull.

“—very talented—”

Unraveling.

“—a lot of love to give—”

Unraveling apart.

“—always willing to lend a hand—”

Just like her world.

“—I’m sure she’d be happy to help you improve—”

Just like her life.

“—don’t we try to ask her? I can even go with you and—”

Until it all ripped apart—

“SHUT UP!”

Bustier jerked back in shock at the outburst. She was actually acting as though Chloe had hit her or something—which was ridiculous! Because Chloe was the one in pain right now and nobody would see or try to help her!

“I’m sick of hearing about Dupain-Cheng and how special she is! I don’t need her help! I don’t need anything from her!”

Her teacher frowned, looking confused. Like she didn’t understand. Because she couldn’t see it.

No one could see it!

“Chloe, what are you—”

“She’s a thief!” Chloe yelled. “She knows what she’s doing! I’ll bet she planned this! She must have!”

“What are you talking about?”

She stomped her foot in rage. “This isn’t hers! None of this is hers! She only has it this good because she stole it from me first!”

“Chloe, you’re not making any sense!”

“I didn’t Wish big enough the first time! Why did I even bother with taking everything from her? I should have just Wished for her to disappear!”

“Chloe!”

But she just stormed away.

Out of the hall. Out of the building. Out of the school altogether.

But no amount of walking would take her out of this life she’d Wished herself in to.

All she left behind were the torn remains of an amateurish hat and fragments of her idealized hopes that were just as broken as her plan for revenge.

The only witnesses were her own teacher.

…and a classmate who had seen the whole thing.

[rosekasa]

“I was going for the cheek/forehead and I missed 😳” kiss for any side of the square ❤️

AHHH ANON THANK U!!!

92. “I was going for the cheek/forehead and I missed 😳” kiss - from this amazing list by @kisspromptsforthelovesquare !

Ladybug hates Hawk Moth for a lot of reasons. But interrupting the first date she's had with her boyfriend after his month away in Verona truly takes the cake.

Coming to a halt at Champs de Mars, she sets Adrien down on his feet. The power still hasn't come back on after the attack; the safety announcement hasn't been broadcasted yet, and no one has been brave enough to come back out and return to their picnic blankets.

"Thanks, Ladybug." He dusts himself off once he's out of her arms. Despite being cornered in an alleyway for two hours, he still looks gorgeous -- brand new white shirt perfectly pressed, not a strand of hair out of place. "You really didn't have to trouble yourself, though. I could've just walked."

She knows that very well -- but she wasn't about to let Hawk Moth win. He can interrupt all her dates as much as he wants, but he cannot stop her from exercising her God-given right of enjoying how attractive her boyfriend is up-close and personal.

"What are superheroes for?" she says with a smile. "I mean, I know Chat Noir is your favourite, but unfortunately you were stuck with me today."

He laughs awkwardly. "Chat Noir? My favourite?" he says. "I'd like to have a word with some of your sources. I've been a Ladybug fanboy since day one."

She rolls her eyes. "Your flirting is even as bad as his."

"You should meet my girlfriend. No one thinks my flirting is as bad as she does."

She can't help but laugh. Of course he wears that like a badge of pride. The thing he'd lamented the most while in Verona was how text messages 'didn't do justice' to his awful lines.

"Maybe you should follow her example more often and I won't have to save you from akumas all the time," she says.

He smiles. "But it's always nice to see an old friend."

She goes in for a casual, habitual side-hug. As if he's just a regular-schmegular civilian she's been saving for months and not the guy she was close to building a shrine for to get him to come back to Paris early.

Just as they begin to pull away, Ladybug leans in and presses a polite kiss to his cheek.

Except Adrien, about to say something, turns his head at the last second, and her lips land squarely on his.

They both freeze.

A beat passes, then two. He hasn't moved yet. Neither has she. One of them probably should, though.

But also... she hasn't kissed Adrien in a very long time.

No. Maybe enjoying how attractive her boyfriend is is her God-given right, but Hawk Moth would definitely have a field day if he found out Ladybug was kissing supermodel Adrien Agreste while his girlfriend was nowhere to be found after an akuma attack.

She leaps back, lips smarting. "I am so sorry."

He blinks a few times, as if she'd just hit him with her yo-yo. "No, I mean-- it's fine."

She opens her mouth to speak. Before she can, he reaches up and wipes a thumb over his chin. Pink gloss comes off. He looks at her, nonplussed. Blush shoots up to her hairline.

"You're not wearing your passion fruit lip balm?" he asks.

Silence passes over them for many seconds.

"...What?" she says.

He rubs his fingers together, pouting. "This is sparkly," he says, as if that's any kind of explanation.

"...What?"

He looks up, and his expression shifts. "Do you not... know?"

Eyes wide, she shakes her head.

More silence ensues.

"...How?" he finally says.

She stares at him. "What do you mean, 'how'?"

"I've seen you de-transform before almost every single one of our dates," he says. "You got to the airport five minutes after class ended to see me off. I thought you wanted me to know you were Ladybug."

Before, at least, she might've been able to convince herself they were talking about different things. Not after that.

"But you-- you said I'm an old friend!" she says. "You referred to your girlfriend!"

"I thought we were doing a bit!"

She sighs deeply, scrubbing her hands down her face. This is Hawk Moth's fault. She doesn't know how, but it is.

"Why were you shocked when I kissed you?" she asks quietly.

His face turns sheepish. He rubs the back of his neck, looking at the grass.

"I missed you," he says. "We haven't kissed in a long time."

Ladybug's heart leaps in her ribcage. No, she's not giving Hawk Moth credit for this.

Flying forward, she wraps her arms around him and brings her mouth to his, kissing him entirely on purpose.

The power comes back on after two minutes. While she's not sure about Hawk Moth, Twitter, at least, certainly has a field day.

[imthepunchlord]

With the winners of the zodiac polls until now,how you imagine the relashionship between them, their power and their kwami?

Multimouse

Marinette with Mouse is a mixed bag. It's both helpful and unhelpful. Given the busy body multitasker that Marinette is, she is delighted to find that this Miraculous can make her the ultimate multitasker! She can get so much done at the same time! Which is great in opening up her schedule more. But it clicks for her that she can get even more done too, and she starts to pile more onto her plate, doing more and more, spreading herself out more and more, embracing the productivity, the concept of taking a break far from her mind, she can't stop now when there's so much she can now do... expect this to be a for sure lesson focus for Marinette to learn.

In the field, Multimouse is the resourceful planner. Having only numbers on her side (which are delicate), she works off her surroundings and make elaborate traps. If she can, she would try to talk and appeal to akumas, especially when by herself. With the team, she often takes the planner roles and steps up as leader as needed but doesn't aim for it. It was a bit of a struggle to find her footing as some of her comrades had a tendency to rush and power through fights, so plans and traps weren't as needed. But she does bring perspective to her allies, pointing out details they miss, and can help direct them to perform at their best.

Out of the current team so far, she works best with Senushi, Hollyhop, and Oudragon; two of them being a brawn to Multimouse's brain, though Hollyhop echoes and works off Multimouse's compassion. Purple Tigress is a little harder to work with as she's more elusive and act on their own, and Python occasionally just competes with her on intellect.

With Mullo, Marinette finds her to be exhausting. Given this kwami is a gremlin who likes to prank humans, Mullo loves to throw curve balls in Marinette's life. She likes to try and startle Marinette, she'll stash away things Marinette needs or will look for and not bring them out no matter how much Marinette asks or demands it. Mullo claims that usually it's to get Marinette to take breaks, but since Marinette doesn't get what she wants after a break, she's certain it's more Mullo's little games to mess with her. But Marinette is resilient, long has she been able to roll with life's punches, she can roll with this gremlin, and seeks solutions to entertain Mullo so she can get work done (like making her a maze). Mullo can also be the devil on her shoulder, playing into Marinette's perfectionism, especially with competition, to aim to win, to get a leg up over others. She actively tries to get Marinette to cheat to secure an easy win, but Marinette's got too strong a sense of integrity to do so. But she will aim to put her best foot forward.

Senushi

For Kagami, Willpower feels natural. As someone who is direct, bold, and charge at challenges, this power is right of Kagami's alley. It's just so satisfying being able to punch an annoying akuma in the face and see them go flying across Paris. All the better when it's that infuriating brat Chloe or the liar Lila.

In the field, Senushi will just power through fights, especially when by herself, often winning through brute force. And as it worked for her, she wasn't one to really work with others initially. She rather just handle things on her own and felt the others would just slow her down. That is, until Hawk Moth started making akumas that couldn't be solved with brawls. It was then that Multimouse's perspective, direction, and plans started to help Senushi win in fights.

Out of the current team so far, Multimouse is the only one Senushi doesn't mind working with. Purple Tigress she's put off by her elusive nature, sometimes feels like she's cheating. Hollyhop she does think is useful but is too much of a pacifist for her liking. Oudragon is arrogant. Python has a similar appeal as Multimouse, but doesn't work off her strengths as well.

Kagami gets along well with Stompp. He's equally direct and to the point, he backs her preference to charge into challenges, to never shy away, backing that she has the power and she can throw that weight around. The only thing they ever butt heads about is Kagami being dismissive towards others while Stompp wants her to stop and help others in need.

Purple Tigress

Juleka finds Prowl to be a natural power, being able to slip into shadows, go where she pleases. As fun and cool as it is, it was a bit of a lonely power.

Initially, Purple Tigress was an uncommon sight to see for the heroes, as she was a more stealth and ambush hero. She actually didn't really connect with any heroes at first, with Oudragon being the first she connects with (at least for now), with the Dragon hero seeing use for her elusive nature. Now they have a little too much fun outsmarting and scaring akumas.

With Roaar, Juleka is gradually finding her voice. Despite having a stealthy power, Roaar ironically is very bossy, and she directs that to trying to get Juleka to speak up and stand up for herself, for a tiger should never cower or be held back by anxiety! Which early on, really overwhelmed Juleka with pressure and distress. At some point, she will snap and "roar" like her kwami wants, and revealing a lot of withheld frustration, though she's not quite there yet in having a voice, or entirely is where she wants to be publicly.

Hollyhop

Rose works well with Blue Moon, it gives her a chance to take in her surroundings, to rush to others and help as needed.

As a pacifist, Hollyhop actually spends her time clearing out civilians than focusing on the akuma and fights, which has frustrated some of her allies as she can easily just go and grab the item and end a fight there. Hollyhop does do so, but if she sees someone in danger, she'll prioritize them first. For this reason, Multimouse is the one Hollyhop gets along with the most, sharing her sense of empathy, and offering the more reactive Hollyhop some direction when there are details she missed.

With Fluff, holder and kwami seem like a very ditzy pair between Fluff's rambles and Rose's daydreaming. They actually wind up feeding into each other a lot, but do kinda balance each other out as Fluff is very observant, catching details that Rose misses, and Rose is more grounded, able to slow Fluff down when the kwami is spiraling.

Oudragon

Aurore loves Sky's Limit. She's an aspiring weather girl, who gets to control the weather! And having a bit of an ego, she has used this at least once to get carried away talking about the weather and what happens (expect this to be a focus lesson at some point).

In the field, Oudragon thrives on just overwhelming her opponents with weather and elements. Even limited to 5 minutes to do so, she can be an absolute powerhouse. Until Hawk Moth gets a little more clever with his akumas, and she needs to adjust how she goes about fights.

This is where Multimouse and Python comes to be a big help, being more thinkers and planners to her. She also enjoys working with Purple Tigress, and like to tag team messing with akumas as they can both be ambushers.

With Longg, Aurore is delighted to find that he's a meteorologist at heart, and is eager to learn his knowledge. He is very quick to disapprove of her trying to use this power to boost her popularity for perfectly predicting the weather, pushing for integrity instead. Longg does try to try push Aurore to be more humble and patient, but this is a harder task to achieve. But he is there to offer a different perspective when Aurore has her head in the clouds.

Python

Max is fascinated with Recoil and it's possibilities, and is very explorative with it. He somewhat approaches it like it's a bit of a game, to see how he can solve issues on his own.

Which does largely have him dealing with akumas on his own initially, and he struggles to work with others or his plans get carried away. He does find he can work off Multimouse's own intellect well enough, but can turn it into a bit of a competition. He can work well with Senushi, but she doesn't always have the patience for his plans. He so far works best with Oudragon, able to use his power to send enemies back into her storm or help do damage control when she gets going. Unlike Senushi, she's also more patient and willing to listen to what he's thinking.

With Sass, Max gets along with him very well. Being sharp, Sass likes to be intellectually engaging, and often pushes trying to get Max to look upon things with different perspective, to be open to making adjustments, like working with others more. If needed, Sass will allow consequences to be a teacher, then offer the advise when he knows Max will listen.

[sairenharia]

Fic Prompt: “It’s a wonderful life” plot where Marinette enters a world where “Miracle Queen” never happened because she asked Chloe for help, and it turns out to be a better world.

Another night where the effects of Ladybiquity have caused Marinette's dreams to show her another world, another life.

Its a sight Marinette recognizes from a distance. She sees herself go to Fu. However, instead of the hesitation Marinette had felt that day with thoughts of Kagami, she had instead picked up the Bee without hesitation. It was the plan she had. The first plan. The plan that made the most sense, and she was off.

Chloe would be Queen Bee for her parents.

Fu was still found, still captured.

Chat Noir arrived later, while Queen Bee and Ladybug were fighting Heart Hunter. Who was determined to go for Ladybug with the most love. What Marinette didn't understand was Heart Hunter's lack of interest in Chat Noir compared to her. Chat Noir was always such a romantic, but he had seemed distracted this time around.

But they win once Chloe gets close enough for a Venom. Ladybug dropped her off at home and this time, Chloe hands over the Bee without being asked. And thanked Ladybug for the chance, even if her identity was a problem. Ladybug admits if her parents were in danger, it did seem silly not to.

Marinette can see she's still worried about Kagami and Adrien.

Ladybug tells Chloe to check on her parents, even though Queen Bee looks uncertain at first, but she's off before Ladybug can decide to ask anything.

Of course, this time, Hawk Moth's plan is interrupted. He had been counting on Chloe, with her need for control to either get him paralysis of Paris, to potential mind control if he could push her. But Ladybug had decided to depend on her, which messed up his manipulation attempts.

Its not the total victory Hawk Moth wanted, but he has the box and the guardian and if he can break the shield, perhaps Ladybug and Chat Noir's identity.

And unfortunately without the show, Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't as quick to act.

Marinette breaks down on Luka, takes comfort in him for a while, but then her concern for Fu finally takes precedent and she asks to be alone. She tries for a Lucky Charm to find Fu. What she gets is a key.

She searches for him until she finds the locker and the note inside. To protect Marinette and Adrien, Fu gave up his memories. He lost the Miracle Box, but he trusted them to find a way to figure things out.

Marinette does find Fu eventually, wandering the park, since Gabriel didn't have a use for him without his memories and he's not quite cold blooded killer yet, just takes away the turtle.

Its a defeat before the heroes even knew it.

Hawk Moth makes his announcement of victory. The feeling of dread. Ladybug and Chat Noir are on their own...

And the Bee Miraculous.

Marinette goes to Alya at first, because of course she does. Unfortunately, while Alya is a fantastic fox, she's not as good with a Bee. The Bee needs someone who gets into the fray and fast, can make a decisive action. And while Alya is good, she isn't as decisive. She needs too much direction from Ladybug.

Ladybug needs another like Chat Noir. Chat Noir is great with orders, but the reason Chat Noir is her partner is because he is good at intuiting what she needs and can act longterm on his own. He doesn't need extensive explanation. He doesn't need handholding.

Marinette sees Chat Noir make the suggestion. Chloe is many things, but everytime they have fought with her, she's never needed much direction. Told the goal and she went.

But her compromised identity is too great a danger now.

Until Chat Noir points out that Plagg says its possible too change the outfit, the person just needs to decide on a new persona.

Ladybug has such doubts. Marinette gets why. Trusting Chloe once and a while was one thing, but trusting her bully longterm with something so precious?

Chat Noir points out she wasn't akumatized when another bee showed up.

Ladybug gives her a chance.

And much to Marinette's surprise, Chloe declares she knew Ladybug would come. She TOLD Hawk Moth she would, goes on about how of course Ladybug would trust her, and he really should have stopped trying to akumatize her after the third time.

Its the first time Ladybug in the timeline, and Marinette who was Ladybiquity learns Chloe is able to reject Akumas even before akumatization.

Marinette does see Chloe deflate a bit when Ladybug explains the changed identity, how Chloe HAD to keep it secret this time, there wouldn't be another chance after it. At first, Marinette figures of course. Of course Chloe would want the glory. She's going to refuse now that she can't claim it for herself-

"I understand," Chloe said. Then she sighs dramatically. "But Queen Bee was such a good name? What am I going to use now?"

They decide on Honey Bee.

And...and its such an odd thing to watch.

Because she knew Chloe was a competent hero, train incident aside, but seeing her work with Chat Noir and herself...

Its like a second Chat Noir. Honey Bee is decisive. She's active. There are some fights she pulls a Chat Noir, leading hordes on a merry chase through town. She is quick to defend. Quick get into the action. She doesn't get underfoot. She slots into place like a well oiled machine between their partnership. She is good at provocation, if in a different way than Chat Noir. She puts on a sweet persona, until she throws in a bite. The hero of honey and vinegar, apparently. Chloe's overly sweet persona back by her ruthlessness.

Things are dire for a while, because Hawk Moth became Monarch so fast, but with Chat Noir and Honey Bee, Ladybug is able to keep things together.

...okay, she also had to admit, seeing Honey Bee versus Su Han was kind of satisfying, though it had taken him weeks more to find their transformed selves without tracking the Miracle Box. She respected the man had a job to do, but while Chat Noir was willing to listen to Ladybug, Honey Bee was quick to point out they were experienced and they were fighting a villain with over a dozen Miraculous and the man wanted to send either inexperienced fighters, or people who had been out of time for a CENTURY? It was ridiculous. It clearly threw him off until an akumatized Fu showed up.

Unfortunately, Monarch had ditched the box itself. So they had found it, saw it changed and saw that Fu had intended Ladybug to be the new Guardian, but there were no Miraculous. Su Han wasn't really for this, but he did have to admit, sending the inexperienced or lost may prove more detrimental, so he will be watching them as he speaks with the other Guardians to figure out a plan.

The real change, however, was explaining things to Honey Bee. As she proved herself a capable teammate, they explained things about Fu, and about the power ups, and why they came later and Honey Bee wondered about where they got the book so suddenly.

"Actually, I'm curious about that too, My Lady," Chat Noir commented. "You were talking to the Master for weeks before that."

"Oh." Ladybug hesitated.

"Why are you so secretive about it? If its another guardian secret, you can just say that," Honey Bee said.

"I mean...not really," Ladybug said, rubbing the back of her neck. She never liked outright lying if she didn't have to, but she also knew Chloe would have a reaction about it. At least, Marinette imagines that's the conflict.

But things were different now. As Honey Bee was acting longer and longer, Marinette saw it. Chloe wasn't exactly nice, but she saw that Chloe's bite was less about attacking people to make them feel bad and more biting commentary about the situation. She would do things like help people up and get things for them as more mindless actions. The way she would act to help to save people seemed to effect her in her day to day life.

Chloe was feeling the effects of being a hero. And that was likely what made Ladybug finally speak.

(And perhaps a warning about the danger of Lila.)

"My kwami saw it when this girl, Lila I think her name was, throw it away after she apparently stole it from Adrien Agreste. That was why I thought Gabriel Agreste was Monarch," Ladybug said to Chat Noir. "If he had the book, it made him suspicious. Even if we know now that his wife was a collector, it seemed reasonable," she said.

"Oh!" Chat Noir said with surprise, before nodding. "I could see why you thought he might be Monarch then. I had wondered..." He said, scratching the back of his head.

Honey Bee gasped, offended. "She's the reason why Adrien was almost banned from school?!"

Ladybug had to play dumb. (Chat Noir also had to play dumb.) "What about Adrien getting banned?" She asked.

"She-oh, forget it! Don't worry about it," Honey Bee said. "I can deal with the thief later," she muttered under her breath.

"Honey Bee, please don't fight a student," Chat Noir asked.

"Honey Bee isn't fighting anyone," she said. "Chloe is another matter."

"How would you even explain learning abou-" Chat Noir started.

"Wait. How do you know Gabriel's not Monarch?" Honey Bee interrupted. "Just because Auntie Emilie found it doesn't mean it can't be where he got the Miraculous?"

"Because he got akumatized. He can't akumatize himself," Chat Noir said.

"Why not?" Honey Bee asked.

They both paused. "Why else wouldn't he do it all the time then?" Ladybug finally said.

Honey Bee snorted. "Because being an akuma messes with your head. I might not remember being a full akuma, but I can remember the process of his failed attempts. I said no, but I really wanted to say yes. It was like...like..." Honey Bee paused, rolling a hand in the air. "It was like if Adrien asked me for a hug," she said. "I'd do it in a heartbeat. I wanted to trust him. I wanted to believe him. Everything he said sounded so reasonable and easy to do. I was holding on by the idea alone that superheroes don't work for supervillains. The logic had to be ironclad."

She picked leaned back on her hands. "And with how out of control Akumas are? No way Gabriel would volunteer for losing THAT much control on a regular basis," she said with a scoff.

Silence stretched between them.

"I mean...there's still no proof the butterfly CAN akumatize themselves..." Chat Noir said.

Honey Bee shrugged. "There's also Mayura," she pointed out. "Why couldn't she use the Butterfly?"

And suddenly, the notion that had been dismissed months ago was back on the table.

Marinette watched as they investigated the possibility, knowing what was coming. That whatever way it happened, Honey Bee had been right. Gabriel had akumatized himself.

Marinette realizes that she hadn't told anyone all the things from before. Even showing Alya the grimoire, she hadn't told her how she found it, hadn't told her about the Collector, had never told Chat Noir where she got the book.

...and isn't that the problem of it?

Marinette didn't tell people things. Rarely everything. Even when she opens up, she keeps secrets. Edits so much of herself that no one else knows all she does. Not Chat Noir. Not Alya. Tikki is the only one.

Would they have revisited the idea of Gabriel being Monarch when they learned of Mayura, would they have learned the truth earlier? Would he had ever gotten the Miraculous? Would she have been able to spare Chat Noir killing the man by mistake?

Zoe arrived to a Chloe who was on speaking terms with the class. With Zoe's nicer attitude, she was able to help repair the bridge that Chloe had incidentally patched up. The two don't fall out, bond as sister's. Zoe is a little more sarcastic, but she's bolder. Chloe's edges turn to a harsh humor, but more often, she uses her fire to deal with other bullies.

Chloe is a terror to Lila. Namely by throwing a party and getting Jagged Stone and several other musicians Lila bragged about knowing to perform there and didn't tell anyone in advance. Lila was scrambling to recover when none of them knew Lila, a point Chloe made obvious, and once the lie was discovered once, more doubt was easy enough to sew.

Marinette sees her other self less isolated at school, with her friends having often chosen to hang out with Lila over her. But even more, she sees Zoe and Chloe step up when she's struggling to keep up with her class representative duties and help out, with Zoe's fondness for Marinette pulling Chloe in to use her own experience.

The other Marinette and Chloe aren't friends. But after Zoe arrived and bonded with Chloe...

Its clear how much less anger Chloe had for Marinette for reasons she didn't understand.

(Chloe had family who loved her unconditionally. A jealousy quelled.)

A week and a half before Monarch would steal the Miraculous in her time, Chat Noir asks for a meeting, looking haunted.

He says he found proof Monarch is Gabriel Agreste. He had found a secret lair in the house. Found a body of Emilie preserved. Nathalie had been weak for weeks, and Mayura had been suffering fainting spells before she vanished, and the timelines matched up.

Ladybug wants to go confront Gabriel right away.

Honey Bee is the one who noticed Chat Noir was unsteady. Chloe's emotional awareness wasn't great, but she was very good at judging her partner's abilities to handle a fight. She saw Chat Noir wasn't ready to fight.

And that's when Marinette realizes the grave mistake she has made in her world in trying to pain Gabriel as a hero.

Chat Noir didn't need much pushing. He had been on the edge of break down. He falls at Honey Bee's prodding.

"I can't do this," Chat Noir said, curled up on the rooftop below him. "I can't fight him."

"Wha-what the heck, alley cat?!" Honey Bee demanded. "We can finally take care of this guy!"

"Chat Noir?! Are you okay?" Ladybug asked, concerned.

Chat Noir sobs and he looks at Honey Bee. "Chloe, its my father."

"What?" Ladybug and Honey Bee said in unison.

"It's my father. Its my father and...and his wish has to be to bring back mom, what else would he wish for and its...its my parents!"

"Oh my god," Ladybug breathed.

"Adrien," Honey Bee said, voice small. "Oh....oh, Adrien."

And like a switch, the ready to fight Honey Bee was kneeling beside him and pulling him to her, hugging him tight. "Chloe, I can't-" Chat Noir gasped.

"Shhh," Honey Bee hushed, holding him close. "Cry. Scream. You let everything out," she said, with a familiarity of someone who has done this before.

Marinette watched as the dread grows in her chest. Chloe had been Adrien's only friend. Who was there for him after his mother, but Chloe?

"I'll be here. I'll stay. I won't leave you," Honey Bee said, voice softer than Marinette has ever heard her speak.

And Chat Noir?

Wails. He cries and clings onto Honey Bee as if it was the only thing he could to keep from falling apart.

Ladybug watches in silent horror. Marinette can understand because she's going through the same emotions. Adrien was Chat Noir. Hawk Moth was his father. He had catacalysmed his own father. His father had chosen villainy than being a father and he knew it. Everytime Chat Noir had almost died because of his own father.

It had taken a minute before Ladybug moved to join the hug, to offer Chat Noir was comfort he could.

Luckily they were high on the Eiffel tower, too far for anyone to hear them.

They don't fight Monarch that night.

Chloe makes up as many excuses as she can to get Adrien out of his house, gets her father to ask Gabriel for an assortment of advertisements for political things and his hotel, to get Adrien outside of the house and allow Chloe to pull him away to spend time together.

The other Marinette watches from the distance. For about a week and Marinette decides this was it.

Ladybug tells them who she is.

"I had a crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng this whole time?!" Chloe had wailed.

Not the most shocking revelation for Marinette this trip.

But still certainly another thing to add to the list.

Then Risk happened.

Despite Lila's shaky grounds in the school, Gabriel still had her as a model and the world tour was announced. Marinette doesn't see Adrien relent to Gabriel's face and immediately run away. Didn't see Felix being surprised at Adrien's actions. Didn't see Felix follow him to Chloe's home to look normal. Doesn't see the confrontation where Felix sneaks up pretending to be Adrien who had to run back to the car. Doesn't see him eavesdrop and hear them talk about Monarch.

Marinette does see when her other self is called and asked that Ladybug meets at Chloe's place and learns there's a time limit.

Because Adrien is a Sentimonster and Gabriel still had half of his amok, split between two objects. Felix could give half to Adrien, but it would just give him the ability to resist, it meant he couldn't fight. They needed the other ring.

Adrien knows where it is, but Gabriel likely still had the peacock on him.

"If I could offer him something for the peacock, I can keep him distracted as you get the ring," Felix said.

"But we don't have anything to offer him," Ladybug said.

"You have the Miraculous," Felix said.

"Absolutely no-" Ladybug started.

"Pollen, do you trust me?" Chloe, who had been quiet for most of the discussion, finally spoke up, looking to the bee kwami.

"Of course, my Queen," Pollen said.

Chloe nodded, reaching up for her hair comb.

"Chloe, you can't be serious! I've only met Felix and as far as I could tell, he was trying to make things worse for Adrien!" Ladybug protested.

"Oh, I don't trust Felix to be a good person," Chloe said, pulling off her comb. "But he wants the peacock to protect himself," she said, giving him a hard look. "The best way to do that is to get the peacock. He won't let Gabriel leave his sight until he has it. And I'm going to guess Gabriel isn't going to give in easily. He is a stubborn man," she said.

Felix raised an eyebrow. "A fair assessment."

"You don't let Gabriel leave until you have the peacock. Adrien will go with Ladybug to get his Amok. And I'm going to do the back up plan in case Felix outs Plagg following Gabriel to wherever he's storing his Miraculous," she said. "Pollen, I renounce you."

"Wait, you don't trust him?!" Adrien asked.

"Absolutely not," Chloe said as she held out the comb to Felix.

Felix stared a moment, and then he chuckled. "You did always know what my dark thought was," he said. "Not that I was going to this time."

"Sure," Chloe said, heading for the door. "Call me when you have the plan going," she said.

Chloe left and Felix looked at Adrien and Ladybug. "Adrien, I understand, but I'm surprised you took her on," he said.

Ladybug stared after the door. "...Adrien had a good point about her," he said. Someone who could act without her.

So the plan was Adrien would get the ring back from Nathalie, first with seeming curiosity about the heirloom. If that didn't work, Ladybug could force the issue. Felix, meanwhile, would use the comb to get Gabriel in a dealing mood along with a fake ring as extra leverage. He would draw it out until Adrien texted him they were good, in hopes Gabriel would go to where the rest of the Miraculous were with Plagg following behind.

The plan...well, it isn't entirely on the rails because Adrien has Risk on him. He pushes too far too soon, and Nathalie puts together the goal and Adrien isn't careful when she tries to escape.

Nearly goes over the balcony and Adrien, in a Risk mindset, calls for Plagg anyway to save her. Outing his own identity to save Nathalie, but he was able to grab his amok. The leash was gone, but Gabriel was a free agent and while Adrien found his mother, he hadn't found the Miraculous.

The fight breaks out.

Marinette is terrified. Is this going to be another Chat Blanc? Will Gabriel break Adrien like Marinette's love had done?

Nathalie is Akumatized, and with a prototype alliance ring, given the power to multiple along with the tiger's power and bull's immunity. Nathalie outs Adrien and Chat Noir demands to face his father and Monarch decides that find. If his son wants to fight, then he'll need to take him down for his own good and he turns to get the rest of the kwami's power.

Only to see Chloe holding the comb from where he put it down, and Markov having opened and released the rest of the kwami. Without the kwami in the capsules, the modified Miraculous aren't strong enough to pull them in. The sacrifice for making the remote effect of granting power.

With an insult to his outfit, Chloe jumps down the elevator that leads to the lair, kwami flying off behind her as she transforms with Pollen to regroup with the others. Nathalie still has a lot of powers and Monarch as a few, but there is Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Honey Bee to fight.

Along with Argos. He wasn't going to say NO to fighting his uncle.

The fight wrecks Adrien's house, but with Argos granting sentimonster aids, they have the ability to fight back and bring Gabriel to his knees.

"I could bring her back. To us. To you." Gabriel said, looking to Adrien.

Because while Adrien wasn't being compelled, there was no doubt he wasn't fighting as hard as he wanted. There have been missteps that Honey Bee and Ladybug had to make up, along with the sentimonster aids. Adrien had his will, but that didn't mean he was without his love and his wanting to be a good son.

"This...father, you have to realize this is...this is..." Chat Noir starts, gripping his staff.

"I did this all for you. Don't you miss her?" Gabriel pleaded, his one avenue for success, and his desperate wish.

"Of course, but-"

"You think she wanted this?!" Honey Bee shouted, stepping up beside Chat Noir, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Auntie Emilie was protective, the both of you kept Adrien locked up way too long, but you think she would have EVER approved of you hurting Adrien?! How many Akumas attacked him?! Attacked him ON PURPOSE?!"

"I-I didn't want-"

"Bullshit!" Honey Bee shouted, to the shock of Ladybug and Chat Noir and even Gabriel a little bit.

Argos just looked amused.

"Who do you think was there for Adrien when you were locking yourself away?! Nathalie was more concerned for you, and Gorilla just wanted to keep him safe, but who was there when he cried?! Me! I was! I watched him mourn his mother! I watched him wish you would be there! I'm the one who blackmailed the principal to get him into school because he was withering away because you were too selfish to be there for him!" Honey Bee shouted.

"Honey Bee-" Ladybug started and Marinette understands. This can't be helping Adrien. He's already suffering.

Honey Bee squeezes Chat Noir's shoulder and she steps forward. "You say this is all for Adrien?! That you did all this for him! Don't make me laugh! He might not see it, but I know who you are Gabriel. You wanted a perfect son, one who acted just as you wanted, to the point he twisted and morphed himself into what YOU wanted! Do you know he likes puns? Do you know his favorite stories are the ones where the power of friendship is what saves the day? That his favorite flavor is passionfruit, that he actually really hates cheese, but of course no one bats an eye when he's asking for it by the truckload. Do you know how lonely he was? Do you know how many times he wiped his face clean because he thought he was going to meet you for dinner?!"

Honey Bee closes the distance between him, a fire in her eyes. "Do you know the reason why Adrien and I love each other is partly because we get it, we understand that even though our parents are terrible, awful, horrible people who make us feel small, who make us feel less than nothing, we still love them!" She shouted, tears in her own eyes. "That even as she want to rebel and scream and tell you enough, we can't because we love you too much. But guess what?! Adrien can call my mother a bitch because he can just hate her and I can call you out for your hypocrisy because I don't care what you think about me!"

That actually startles Chat Noir out of his curling, vulnerable state with a surprised laugh.

"You attacked Adrien! You sent the girl he wondered if he could date after him with a sword! You had his stalker show up at his party! You targeted all his new classmates! You can't even throw him a birthday party so you akumatize his new friend to do it, its fine, its just a little mass kidnapping! You attacked his best friend and almost killed me more times than I can count and you tried to groom me into your little minion! Not to mention whatever is going on with Lila the Liar! You talk about how you have to protect him from people who would use him, so yeah, go on a world tour with a girl who does NOTHING, but use people, you can read people's emotions and akumatized her, you had to know she was a little psycho!" Honey Bee reaches out, grabbing his scarf.

"This. Was never about Adrien. This is about what you wanted the world to be, and it didn't matter if Adrien was hurt or miserable. As long as you. Got. Your. Wish," Honey Bee snarled.

Before snatching away the Butterfly and letting him go and turning to Ladybug.

There was silence as everyone tried to think of the best way to move forward. The fight was done. The good guys had won. The villains were there, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"And...it didn't have to be that way," Honey Bee finally said. She looked to Ladybug and then to Adrien. "When people hurt, when they are willing or...or want to hurt things because they can't deal with the pain...having other people around, to tell them its okay...it can make a world of difference."

Marinette sees the scene and she understand then, why Chloe is like this. Why Adrien had meant so much to her.

How lonely had Chloe been? How much had the pain of it made her the villain she had acted?

How much had Gabriel taken advantage of that and how much had Marinette enabled it?

Chat Noir met Honey Bee's gaze. Then he looked to Ladybug, face questioning. Looking for permission. Ladybug hesitates, before she nods.

Chat Noir takes a deep breath, and lets it out, looking to Gabriel. "We...we have to tell the police," he said, voice soft.

"Adrien-"

"Stop." Chat Noir's tone is firm, straightening his shoulders. "If you turn yourself in, then...then we can talk. We can talk and try to work things out. We can still be a family. Get some therapy. Let's be fair, we're...we're rich enough that you can probably get a cushy place in jail," Chat Noir said, some of his humor slipping in to try and deal.

Gabriel opens his mouth, closes it again.

"...please. Dad. I don't want to fight you anymore."

"But who will take care of you?" Gabriel finally asked.

"Nathalie and Gorilla. She's already sick. She won't be able to do any villainy on her own, and Mayura was only involved in a few incidents. She can keep our affairs in order. Gorilla will keep me safe," Adrien said. "To be honest, father, it wouldn't be very different."

Gabriel opens his mouth, looks like he wants to fight.

Before he deflates. He can't. He can't with Adrien looking at him like that.

The fight ends. Gabriel is arrested. Nathalie says she was coerced and given a sentencing as a mix of fines and community service.

The fight ended, Marinette was able to fix the Miraculous, and Su-Han congratulates them on solving the problem. Time passes.

Adrien mourns. He had bad days. But he has his friends. He has Marinette and Chloe. He has Plagg. He is given support, allowed to recover, and work with Felix to understand what it means to be a sentimonster.

But after a while, he is able to visit his father. The process is slow, but they start to talk.

Emilie is put to rest.

Marinette brings a cake to Chloe.

"What is this for?" Chloe demanded.

"To thank you. For everything," Marinette said. "You know, I wasn't sure if Honey Bee would really work out..."

"I guess it makes more sense why you were so stingy," Chloe muttered.

"But I'm glad Adrien talked me into it," she said, smiling at Chloe. "You had some rough patches, but...we wouldn't have gotten to the end without you," she said.

Chloe preened at that. "Well, of course! I knew I would be a fantastic hero!" She said. "Even if I...was...admittedly not so good at being a good person," she said. Something she wouldn't have admitted months ago. But she had grown a lot.

"No. But there was good there," Marinette said. "I also wanted to thank you, for letting me meet Adrien. For being there for him when no one else was. I think you always had the ability to be a hero. YOu just needed...a chance to shine."

Chloe blushes at that. "Well...I mean...it did make it easier. To shine. With you and alley cat," she said.

"You're really still going to call him that?" Marinette asked.

"You can't tell me the pout he does isn't cute!" Chloe shot back.

Marinette laughed. "Well...maybe a little."

A chance to shine.

Marinette sees the dream end and she wonders if maybe that's what she really needed to do.

Let people shine instead of trying to light up the world on her own.

[uptoolateart]

I have so much I want to say about Emotion. I want to analyse Marinette/Ladybug and Felix here, because this episode showed so much character progression, especially for her. In my opinion, we had a kind of Cat Blanc 2.0.

So - when Felix makes the red moon, he makes it out of anger. The moon symbolises feelings, the unconscious illuminated, while red represents his rage. He's allowed his negative emotions to take over - he is literally seeing red.

When Ladybug first battles him in the street, she sees red, too - and her costume is conveniently red. That confrontation with Argos is her facing up to her fears - her regrets - her mistakes. She really lets him have it, and I don't think it's just about him taking away the miraculous. I think she was letting out old pain related to Cat Blanc, too - emphasised by the parallel imagery between the two episodes.

Example 1 - same pose as Cat Noir when he got akumatised:

Example 2 - Ladybug on the ground, scrambling away backwards while her attacker comes for her...just like Cat did, to get away from Hawk Moth:

Example 3 - Very similar hand gestures and posturing between Argos and Cat Blanc:

There's also the fact that a moon plays such a part in the story (because the moon is emotions)...and some things I'll touch on later.

With that in mind, this was a crucial scene for Ladybug. What we can see is:

After so long being a quivering mess, in the episode just before, she finally told Adrien she loved him, without caring (too much) how he responded

At the start of 'Emotion', she lost track of Adrien's schedule and stated that she 'doesn't control Adrien' and 'he's free to do what he wants' (which is darkly ironic after we just saw the way Gabriel controlled Adrien in 'Adoration', and sets things up perfectly for Felix to try to free him)

She gatecrashes the Diamonds Dance without caring what anyone thinks (we've seen her do this in disguise before, but never as brazen as this)

Then she lets Felix have it, in the street

After this, she will tell Gabriel where he can shove his pancakes

She's come so far. Go, Marinette!

And then....

Argos threatens to wipe out the whole population if she doesn't hand over her earrings. She's been here before. Cat Blanc parallels, remember? It's her worst nightmare come true, in a form she didn't expect - and she doesn't cave.

What I love is that her Ladybug vision shows us him - not a zoomed in part of him to use, but his whole figure, like he himself is the key to solving the puzzle. She sees that anger isn't going to win this. Fear won't win this. Felix isn't 'evil' - he's hurting. She hears it in his words and his voice. Cat Blanc was hurting, too.

When he sees that she's not going to give in to his ultimatum, Argos looks thrown - panicked, even - and gives her one last chance, letting her know what's coming. 'All of Paris will be gone...are you willing to pay that price?' He screams it and looks tortured, like he really doesn't want to go through with his threat. He thought she'd give in and he could avoid this scenario, but she calls his bluff.

'You're the only one who can answer that question,' she says - then she smiles and closes her eyes. It's such an act of trust, not even looking at him as she puts her fate in his hands - like she has faith that even if he vanishes her, he'll somehow do the right thing, in the end.

Maribug pulled an Adrichat. How many times have we seen him sacrifice himself, trusting that she would bring him back? Not just as Cat Noir but even as vulnerable human Adrien. And now, she's done the same. But she put that trust in Felix, of all people - in her 'enemy'. And she does this even believing he's vanished people she loves. It's a huge act of forgiveness.

The old Ladybug would have never had such faith that things would turn out okay. She would never have trusted in the moment like that. Cat Blanc accused her of not listening to a word he was saying. She saved him by taking advantage of his feelings for her and pretending she would kiss him. In Emotion, facing off with Felix, all of Paris gone...she listens.

What she gives him is a choice, after all those years of feeling controlled. And this was key because earlier in the episode, we saw Amelie telling Nathalie, 'There's always a choice.' Throughout the season, we've also seen Chloe and Gabriel have choices between paths. It's a crucial theme to the story, and the message is clear: whatever happened in your past, it's in your hands to decide what to do about it. You're accountable for your future.

When Felix realises he screwed up and lost Marinette, all of it becomes too much for him and he makes his choice - to snap away the red moon, against his ideology, and bring everyone else back. He's conflicted but acknowledges that his mistake was letting his anger control him. We've never seen Felix akumatised. He's already in that state, even without the magic.

When we move onto Pretension, he hasn't given up his goals, but he's decided to try a different tactic, which forces our heroes to reconsider his role in the story - who's the real villain here?

What we're seeing in both Marinette and Felix is evolution as people...and it's interesting that the first episode of the season was called Evolution, like it was setting the theme.

I was so excited to see all this because we watched Marinette grow loads in the first few seasons, while Adrien was stuck. Then she got stuck after Cat Blanc, pushing him out, which forced him to find himself without leaning on her. We saw his growth, then in season 5 he's been helping her meet him on a similar page. They're now perfectly positioned to find out their secret identities. And because we have this more mature Ladybug, I think if she faced off with Cat Blanc again, she'd know the fastest solution is to listen - and to trust that he can break the akumatisation though sheer will, knowing how much she loves him.

Please no post-Revelation spoilers in the comments :)

[flightfoot]

Adrien Angst Fics and Series that finished in 2023

So I love some good Adrien angst and hurt/comfort, and I figure a bunch of other people do as well! Hopefully these fics scratch that itch! They're all from the collection I set up earlier for the fics from 2023 that I recommend! I've got 31 fics in here. It's a popular genre that I like a lot, there are a lot of fics for it!

home is where the fight is by @rosie-b

Nadja Chamack’s voice greeted Adrien as he sat up straight, wiping his clammy hands on his pants and ignoring the black kwami floating by his shoulder. “—shocked to see our heroine fall in battle today, taking a direct hit from the akuma just as she detransformed. Parisians are torn between blaming Hawk Moth and Cat Walker for their roles in this tragedy, which ultimately revealed the civilian identity of Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Adrien turned off the TV and lowered his head as his vision blurred. Written for Ladrien June Day 7: Injured

I adore this fic! Which shouldn’t be a a surprise, it’s no secret that I love Sentiadrien Enemies AU. Adrien’s so worried about Marinette getting hurt, and wishes that he could help keep her safer, could tell her what’s really going on or get rid of the ring or something, but he can’t. Still, he IS able to find clever ways around some of his father’s more problematic orders. Loopholes for the win!

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Guilty by Association by @rosie-b

Marinette respected Adrien’s strength and courage more and more every day. No matter how many times people threw nasty words or literal tomatoes at him; no matter how many companies refused to work with him anymore; no matter how clear it was becoming that he would never be forgiven for his father’s crimes, he chose to greet new people with a smile and hope that this time, someone would recognize the kind heart hidden behind his hated name. She wished she’d had the chance to meet him before she’d accidentally ruined his life. Written for the Ml Writers Guild September event ‘back to school’

I love how Marinette keeps reaching out to Adrien, trying to protect him, even if it doesn’t always work. To let him know that she’s in his corner at least. Hawk Moth had to be taken down, but the consequences for Adrien… she never wanted anyone to get hurt in the process. 

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oh, look now, there you go with hope again by @ladyofthenoodle

After the defeat of Hawkmoth and his accomplice, Chat Noir, Marinette is ready to return to her normal life, but she can’t escape Adrien Agreste, who was sentenced to a fate many consider worse than prison: public school. Specifically, her public school. Still, that doesn’t mean she has to interact with him, does it? Except, if she doesn’t… who will?

I love a good enemies au, and seeing the aftermath of an enemies au… that’s rare. She’s wary of Adrien, but with how he’s being bullied, and how he’s just taking it in the hopes of being accepted, she can’t help but reach out to him.

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Disintegrated Pancakes by @scribeofrhapsody

Adrien had started expecting the family breakfasts. He had NOT been expecting his father to collapse in the middle of one.

I’m shocked I haven’t seen more of this sort of thing, with Adrien finding out his father’s Monarch via seeing the Cataclysm wound. I love that Alya gets involved in this, being the person Adrien runs into after fleeing the room, and then Adrien getting to talk things out with Gabriel and Nathalie. Thankfully Gabriel is at least not completely incapable of being reasoned with here, or things could have gone worse than they did. It’s a nice little read, though with an ambiguous ending (at least at the time when I write this).

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with this ring by @thelibraryloser

She thought “you and me against the world” had sounded like lopsided odds before, when she hadn’t even dreamed “you against me” was a possibility. Or maybe she had dreamed it, but at least in those dreams he’d had cold blue eyes and a stark white mask. The villain she’d fought today had looked at her through her partner’s own bright green eyes. It wasn’t meant to be this way.

Short and sweet Sentiadrien enemies canon divergence fic here! I adored Marinette finding out why her kitty seemed to have “betrayed” her, and the righteous anger on his behalf once she figured out that it wasn’t of his own free will. Her comforting Adrien about it was just… really good. It’s a Hawkmoth Defeat fic too, so the immediate aftermath gets covered as well. Adrien needs a hug.

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Nothing Else Matters by LiquefiedStars

Marinette couldn’t figure out Chat Noir. He was supposed to be her partner, but instead ended up working for Hawk Moth. Still, her heart betrayed her and when a strong connection forms between them, Ladybug goes to Chat looking for answers, finding out more than she bargained for.

Sentiadrien enemies AU fic! He never wanted to fight against her, but Gabriel caught him before he could transform for the first time, and with his father using his Amoks against him, he had no choice. 

I like that there’s a solid explanation for why Fu let Adrien keep his Miraculous even though he’s been working against Ladybug, I don’t often see explanations for that that I’m satisfied with.

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Slowly Fading (from my misery) by @wehadabondingmoment

“You’re looking awfully deep in thought today, minou.” Ladybug’s gloved hand stroked over his hair and Chat Noir closed his eyes with an unstable breath. He got like this sometimes. Lately, it had been getting worse. Or: Gabriel likes using the rings to order his son around. After a while, it starts having effects on Chat Noir as well. (The more often Gabriel commands Adrien to act a certain way, the more it gets ingrained in his mentality. He suffers because of it.)

This is a gorgeous fic. Adrien’s been puppeted around, forced to obey orders for reasons he doesn’t understand, for so long, so often that a lot of times his own body doesn’t even feel like his. A lot of residual orders keep on bubbling up and stopping him from doing what he wants to do, and he just… doesn’t understand why. Considering how Adrien looked in Pretension when Gabriel forced him to go to his room so he could talk to Marinette alone, and how desperately Adrien tried to head back there but couldn’t make himself open the door, how terrified and confused he’d seemed, I think his feelings here, his mindset, is pretty close to canon.

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all of your flaws and all of my flaws (are laid out one-by-one) by @coffeebanana

Ladybug and Marinette have both been acting strangely since Monarch’s defeat, and Chat Noir would give anything to know why—to be able to help them. He just…didn’t expect his answers to come when Ladybug drags him to his father’s statue in the middle of the night along with a bag full of spray paint.

If you felt unsatisfied with Adrien being left in the dark about Monarch, with Ladybug lying about Gabriel being a hero, this is a great fic to read. Marinette’s breaking down keeping this secret, seeing people treat Gabriel as the hero she told people he was, until she finally snaps and has to do SOMETHING, has to tell SOMEONE the truth. 

Which Chat takes pretty well! He knows how persuasive his father could be, and he’s mostly just relieved at finally hearing someone say that Gabriel wasn’t a hero. It’s still a lot to cope with though.

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Falling (sick) with you by @chocoluckchipz

Nothing would be easier than taking a pair of earrings off an unconscious Ladybug. Doing so would bring his mother back and end their decade-long strife. He shouldn’t be hesitating when a chance of a life time presented itself to him. He should not be looking for excuses and reasonings as to why spending another twenty or so years fighting this woman rather than pleasing his father and giving his mother another chance at life was not such a bad idea after all.

Ah, I love a good enemies au! Even when they’re enemies, Chat is unwilling to hurt Ladybug. Though honestly, he makes himself out to be more of a villain than he actually is, it’s pretty obvious to everyone that he’s not trying as hard as he could to get her earrings. There’s very good reason for that.

---

adrien agreste and the consequences of tweets making fun of yourself by Anonymous

Well, Adrien thinks, what’s the worst that could come from a few poorly thought-out tweets lightly ribbing his own civilian identity?

I love the focus here on how people just assume what Adrien’s thinking and feeling and act on his behalf, without actually waiting to see what HE wants, and Adrien’s growing frustration. How they create a version of him in their heads, but don’t care to check with reality to see whether he actually wants their “defense”. 

---

what makes a human (am I?) by GraceM_TheStoriedLife

Adrien comes to Marinette’s out of nowhere. Usually Chat is her rock. Tonight, it’s her turn. (Or, in which Adrien discovers some secrets he’s not prepared for and Marinette is as Marinette-y as always.

So Adrien discovers he’s a sentimonster and immediately runs to Marinette for support. It’s as cute and angsty as you’d expect. She is, of course, very supportive of him. Also some discussion of Gabriel being abusive, since both she and Nino had been trying to get Adrien to see that. Especially with how, exactly, Adrien found out he’s a sentimonster. He can relate a little better to Felix’s experiences now than is healthy, I’ll just say.

---

Vengeance Noire by @phiellydinyia

After a horrific argument with his father, Adrien escaped from the mansion with his heart in pieces. In hindsight, it made sense why an akuma was sent his way. He shouldn’t have let his emotions get the better of him. But he never expected Plagg to be even more upset than he was. He never expected his own kwami to be akumatized. To become the threat of a city he swore to protect. And what’s worse is the fact that Chat Noir can’t jump in to save this one. But Ladybug can. And that’s why he has to find her as quickly as possible, suit or no suit.

I love some good Adrien angst, especially with a delicious side order of Plagg and Adrien’s bond with each other. Even as Adrien’s barely functional, though, he’ll do everything in his power to save Plagg, even if Plagg wishes he wouldn’t go quite that far. 

---

This Distance Between Us by @coffeebanana

After defeating Monarch, the search for the Peacock Miraculous brings Ladybug and Chat Noir to a hotel room in London. But it’s hard to enjoy the victory when Ladybug can’t figure out why Chat’s been so quiet, why he seems so sad. How’s she supposed to help if she has no idea what’s wrong?

This is a great Sentiadrien fic, with Chat freaking out about it and feeling like he’s not worthy of Ladybug’s affections, but not telling her what’s actually wrong because he thinks she won’t want him anymore if she knows. Of course, he’s wrong about that.

Also there’s a pretty intense confrontation with Felix, pissing Chat Noir off is a bad idea.

---

Rocking the Cat-Eyes by @buggachat

“I like being a girl.” “That’s the alcohol talking,” Marinette snorted. “I’ve always been a li’l jealous,” Adrien admitted. “… Of what?” “That you get to be a girl,” Adrien murmured, “and I don’t.” — When Marinette and Adrien host Girls’ Night at their apartment, Adrien is easily welcomed to attend as “one of the girls”… but has a bit too much to drink. Some drunken confessions are spilt, some assumptions are made, and most of all… Adrien is confused.

This is a great Genderfluid!Adrien fic. Marinette actually figures out that Adrien’s not entirely cis before he does, and tries to let him know she’s supportive… but unfortunately Adrien comes to some incorrect conclusions…

Anyway it’s a lot of fun, and Adrien rocks a dress and makeup!

---

Family by @unecoccinellenoire

“You know,” Nino grins, “if you need advice on being a big brother in a year or two I’m sure I could help.” The bottom of Adrien’s stomach dropped out. — Adrien struggles with the concept of his father and Nathalie having children.

So this is a world where Adrien and Marinette managed to defeat Gabriel, taking his Miraculous, with them giving him an ultimatum: they won’t out him as being Hawk Moth so long as he doesn’t cause any more trouble and does right by Adrien. Gabriel does, in fact, move on finally to Nathalie, giving Adrien a lot of mixed feelings to deal with. He still loves them both despite everything, but he’s also angry at them and he definitely does NOT want them to have children, both because he thinks they’d like any biological child they had more (he’s also harboring guilt from indirectly being the cause of his mom’s death), and because frankly, they screwed up too much with Adrien for him to want them to inflict that on another child.

And then there’s also Adrien dealing with the realization that he’s a Senti on top of that and wondering why he and Felix look the way they do, what Emilie’s reasons were.

It’s mostly just Adrien getting to talk things out, navigating this emotionally fraught situation he finds himself in now that the dust is settled.

---

When Secrets Come Undone by SortaArtsy

Ladybug promised not to tell Adrien… but she never promised not to confide in Cat Noir. What happens when Ladybug unintentionally vents to the one person who wasn’t meant to know any of it? ****MAJOR SEASON 5 SPOILERS WARNING! **** May not be season 6 compliant when it comes out.

This is a “Adrien finds out what everyone’s been keeping from him post-S5″ fic, and I think it’s handled really well! He feels very hurt, betrayed, and disbelieving initially about being a Senti and his father being Monarch (…mostly being a Senti, it ain’t that hard to believe that Gabriel was a supervillain), and is angry at everyone who kept it secret from him, but he still handles it well, going and talking to the people involved, getting their reasoning and perspective. 

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Wanted: Catnap by SortaArtsy

Adrien Agreste has barely been sleeping, trying to be everything expected of him. What happens when he spreads himself too thin? Sick!Adrien/ Cat Noir

Adrien’s just pushing himself so hard, trying to do his regular duties, until his illness forces him to rest. I love how concerned everyone is over him - even GABRIEL eventually relents and wants him to rest. It’s just cute and nice and fluffy.

---

a winter so warm by @rosekasa

winters were hard for even the best of vampires, but at least adrien had marinette to keep him warm with her cuddles. december was going to suck without her. so it was only to be expected to get extra cuddles in before she left, right? (well, not really, considering those heating supplements he was taking, but she didn’t need to know about that).

This one’s mostly just cute cuddly adorableness! It’s basically like all those “Marinette gets the Ladybug trait of needing to cuddle up to someone for warmth”, but with Adrien instead. And of course featuring Marinette being a very talented witch who just wants to help Adrien stay warm when she isn’t there XD.

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and I thought I heard you sing by @into-september

When Hawkmoth has been defeated and unmasked, Marinette is left with two problems and no solutions. First, that Adrien is further out of her reach than ever before, and no-one can tell her how to get to him. Second, that Cat Noir is far more troubled than she knew, and the only thing she can do is wait for him at the place they agreed to meet.

It’s your classic “Hawkmoth’s defeated and taken into custody but that means Adrien’s in for a rough time” sort of fic. Everyone’s worried about Adrien and wants to give him what comfort and support that they can, but he’s being hidden away from everyone (which I mean, honestly that’s a good move), so that’s not really possible. Plus, Ladybug’s noticed that Chat’s having a tough time in his civilian life, which worries her.

---

Betrayal by @jennagrinsoverml

MAJOR EPHEMERAL SPOILERS!! Ladybug planned to use Viperion’s power of Second Chance to get Chat’s identity to Su-han without Chat knowing or agreeing. Of course, then the world went crazy, and she didn’t go through with it. But when an akuma exposes Ladybug’s plan to Chat, he doesn’t know that. He just knows that his Lady betrayed him. He deals with his feelings in the best, most mature way he can think of. He disappears.

So I, like a lot of others, wanted more follow-up on Ephemeral, and particularly on the betrayal of trust it was for Marinette to try to trick Chat Noir into giving up his identity to a third party without his knowledge or consent (I wrote my own take on that at the time, called Transcient, that I’m proud of). This fic did a good job of exploring that, with Adrien reacting in a manner that made sense to me (repressing his negative feelings about the situation as much as possible and trying to justify it to himself, but still feeling terrible despite his own best efforts), and how Marinette realized that she messed up, since Luka keeping it secret that he knows hers and Chat’s secret identities caused her to be upset as well. It did a great job of exploring those negative feelings and letting everyone talk things out, explain their viewpoints, and rebuild their relationships afterwards, which is something I really value.

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I’ll give myself a name (something stupid and pretentious) by @bbutterflies

Nino looked at the number and didn’t recognize it. Usually he wouldn’t answer, but he had nothing better to do – and could still really use a distraction – so he did. “Hello?”

“Hey, Nino.”

Nino stood up quickly, chest tightening. He knew that voice. He’d been waiting to hear it again for over two years. “Adrien?” he whispered.

“Yeah. It’s me."

-

When Monarch is defeated (and revealed to be Gabriel Agreste), Chat Noir immediately goes missing. Adrien disappears not long after. When Adrien finally shows up in Paris again, Nino would do anything to make sure he doesn't disappear again.

Ah this is lovely, Adrien’s been in a lot of emotional turmoil since Monarch’s defeat, convinced that everyone would hate him, SHOULD hate him, for not realizing that his father was the villain, and should hate him even more for disappearing like he does. But slowly Marinette and Nino get through to him, convince him that they just want him back. 

And also Adrien and Nino smooch. Multiple times. So that’s a bonus XD.

---

Two Steps Back (One Step Forward) by @buggachat

Sure, Adrien hadn't been texting her as often as he used to. And sure, Nino noticed it too. But just because Adrien had struggled with depression in the past, didn't mean he was struggling now. Surely, he'd tell her if something was wrong. Right?

Marinette just missed him, and she had a tendency to catastrophize. Surely, he was fine.

But if he wasn't... well, she wasn't above hopping on a flight back to Paris to make sure.

—————

Marinette's at an internship in New York, and Adrien has a depression relapse.

Once again buggachat comes out swinging with a fic centered around Adrien being super depressed and his friends charging in to help him, despite him not wanting them to because he feels like a burden. It’s not easy and Marinette goes through a lot of emotional turmoil, especially since his apartment is in bad enough shape that it can’t be changed to something that a human should be living in without also going shopping, but gradually she helps drag Adrien out of the hole he’s gotten himself stuck in. The emotions are on point and just... if you want to read a hurt/comfort fic with Found Family helping one of their own who’s struggling and doesn’t think they deserve it, this is a great fic to read.

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If only I could break free by megetstoread

It started with Adrien being upset about going away, but led to a lot of revelations.  

Another Sentiadrien fic here! After telling Adrien that he’s being sent to London, Gabriel takes advantage of Adrien being distraught to akumatize him. Luckily Ladybug’s right there and deakumatizes him before he can even do anything, but it shakes both her and Chat, leading to her allowing him to tell her a lot more about his home life than usual, and for her and Adrien to investigate to see whether there might be more to Adrien’s inability to stand against his father than just psychological abuse.

---

Dr. Walker & Kitty Hyde series by @pearl484-blog

Summary of the first fic, Rain Falls, Everybody Lies:

Chat Noir loves the rain. He loves the danger. He loves the excitement, and he especially loves how much Catwalker hates it. 

Jekyll and Hyde AU

Adrien AUGreste Entry 3: Rain

So like the summary says, and the title indicates, this series is inspired by the popular conception of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - not how the book actually goes, but how it’s portrayed in popular media, with Jekyll splitting himself in two, with a “good” side and a “bad” side. 

During Kuro Neko, instead of just changing his appearance through changing his mindset, Adrien took more extreme measures, sealing off his “undesirable” characteristics, his anger and sadness and all his sharp edges, into the ring so he could assume a more placid, genial persona that’d be more accepted - Cat Walker. 

But Chat Noir’s still there, taking over whenever Adrien gets too testy, and desperately trying not to be pressed out of existence entirely. With embodying Adrien’s sealed anger and snappishness and rebelliousness, he’s not too kind to the other heroes - he already felt looked down upon and ignored before this, and seeing them accept Cat Walker while he’s fighting for his life doesn’t endear them to him either.

The series isn’t unfair to them - this isn’t a case where one party is entirely in the wrong and another’s entirely in the right. Marinette, Zoe, Nino, and all the others - they did wonder about what was going on with Chat, but he wasn’t in a position where he could see it, and he did have legitimate questions about how much Ladybug would budge on things, if he’d told her what he was going through. It’s a series that emphasizes characters hurting and lashing out in some terrible ways, but that hurt still being respected, and working things out, trying to get everything to a better place.

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The Parable of the Caller by @nemaliwrites

A week after Hawk Moth’s identity has been revealed, Adrien finds himself with nowhere to go, nothing he can do, and worst of all, strange gaps in his memory he can’t explain. In a stroke of luck, he stumbles upon a burner phone filled with voicemails from one of the Saviors of Paris: Chat Noir himself, who disappeared following Hawk Moth’s arrest.

But with each new voicemail Adrien listens to, he’s forced to confront the fact that there might be some kind of connection between himself and Chat Noir — and discovering it might leave him more broken than before.

I absolutely adore this fic, it’s a fantastic character study for Adrien! Basically in this universe, Ladybug and Chat Noir talked about who should be Guardian, with Chat eventually convincing her that he should be the one to take it on, primarily due to the whole “the Guardian gets amnesia about Miraculous-related matters” situation, and wanting to protect Ladybug from that. Then he finds out Gabriel is Hawk Moth, they take him down, and he relinquishes the Miracle Box and his guardianship to Su Han - all without having a Reveal with Ladybug, since well, he’s not in the greatest shape mentally at the time.

It’s a real treat to see Adrien’s thoughts and feelings about one of the Heroes of Paris leaving him all these voicemails, treating him like this close friend for reasons he doesn’t understand, and just seeing Chat Noir as this outside person. He’s got a very different viewpoint on Chat when looking from the outside than he would from the inside, with being able to see his heroic and good qualities far more easily when he doesn’t know that he is Chat.

Also Marinette’s struggling in the background of the fic with the loss of her partner and guilt over sending Adrien’s father to prison. It gets touched on at various points, and you can tell that she’s having her own story off to the side that we’re just not entirely privy to, what with this tale being told entirely from Adrien’s perspective.

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call it even by @anna-scribbles and @sha-nwa

After a year of dating, there is one thing Marinette knows for certain: it's her and Adrien against the world. Through it all, Adrien is kind, patient, and endlessly understanding—even as she tries her best to keep her secret superhero identity hidden from him along with the rest of the world.

Nothing could ruin it, not even the supervillains of Paris: Hawkmoth and Chat Noir.

(adrinette dating // ladynoir enemies au)

This is one of those fics where Adrien and Marinette are REALLY going through it emotionally, with them starting off with wildly different perceptions of each other when untransformed, and then reckoning with the person they love the most being someone they think of as a villain, with all the betrayal and doubt that involves. Especially with Adrien having been lied to extensively by his father, and not knowing who or what to believe.

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drowning (in plain sight) by @buggachat

Everybody had expected Monarch's defeat to be a moment of triumph. Nobody had expected Gabriel Agreste, unmasked and mind frayed from continual abuse of the miraculous, crying out to all who would listen and making Paris certain of one thing:

His son, Adrien Agreste, is one of his sentimonsters.

And now he's missing.

Nobody can find him— not even the superheroes, and not even his closest friends. But Marinette, Nino, and Alya aren't ones to give up so easily. They'll find him, no matter what it takes.

(But, geez, would it kill Chat Noir to lend a hand?)

I’m sure everyone saw this one coming. If there’s one thing buggachat’s good at, storywise, it’s capturing raw, tumultuous emotions, frantic breakdowns as the characters desperately try to navigate bad situations. This was a real treat to read, as I’m betting most people reading this will agree, given just how popular the fic has been. It also has a ton of fanart, both by buggachat and by random fans, if you go looking for it (there’s a drowning in plain sight tag which I’d advise perusing). 

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Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

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Not a Monster at All by @book-sandwich

Adrien Agreste overhears a conversation he shouldn't, and a revelation sends him falling onto the terrace of the only person he can trust: his good friend (?) Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Takes place sometime after the first two episodes of season 5!

As you can probably guess from the title, this is a Sentimonster Adrien, Monarch takedown fic. Adrien’s going through a tough time, and Marinette’s just trying to be there for him as his whole world’s collapsing around him. Unfrotunately, they still don’t know what the object is, or how likely Gabriel would be to control Adrien if he hinted that he knew the truth, which leaves Adrien in a precarious position - still not having done an identity reveal doesn’t help matters.

It’s a really solid fic for the genre, though since it started up before the later parts of season 5, there are a few things that don’t match up with the canon information we obtained later on. 

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Awaken by InkyIbis

The previously white butterfly, now oozing black and purple as a conduit of the butterfly miraculous powers, flutters softly within the silvered-gloved hand.

It sits there for a long time.

"Go, my akuma," The soft sigh pushes the butterfly, the akuma, out towards the despair of a love not returned. The same ache within his chest. On a level so great that he's willing to sacrifice the city to mend it.

It's okay if he's the villain for now. He'll force the miraculous of creation and destruction to be revealed, and once he gets his hands on them, none of this pain, none of his loss, will ever happen.

This is essentially a canon rewrite for Miraculous (specifically seasons 1 and 2, with a bunch of the events mixed around) that focuses primarily on Adrien, with his relationship with Nino being the main driving relationship of the fic. (Don’t worry, Marinette’s still treated fine, she’s just not the focus). This is the best “rewrite Miraculous with more of a focus on Adrien” type fic I’ve seen, with it reworking the plots of the episodes so that they’re different enough to be their own distinct thing - it’s not trying to just rewrite the canon episodes but from Adrien’s POV, there’s a lot of lore changes going on as well, and things occur in different orders.

Like lorewise, Chat’s given a more important role in cleaning up the mess the akumas leave, with his power helping to cleanse akuma victims and he and Ladybug needing to use their powers in tandem in order to cast Miraculous Ladybug. There’s also no Miracle Box holding the kwamis. Instead, Chat sometimes surpasses his limits and ends up summoning kwamis, which is dangerous to him, but very useful.

What really makes this fic great though, is its focus on Adrien’s emotions. You really get a feel for Adrien’s insecurities, especially when it comes to not feeling like he’s good enough for Nino, with not wanting to bother him when he absolutely should, with feeling like he’s not a good enough friend to him, and then there’s dealing with all of Gabriel’s usual abuse on top of that.

Speaking of Nino, this is an Adrino fic (though several characters get crushes on Adrien, Nino’s the one who matters most for this), though a slowburn one. Nino’s clearly head-over-heels for Adrien, but Adrien has like, no context for what a romantic crush feels like and is basically viewing Nino the way he viewed Marinette in canon prior to season 5. He clearly cares for him a lot, including romantically, he just... doesn’t get it.

Anyway, if you want an interesting canon rewrite fic from Adrien’s perspective with Adrino as the main pairing, this is a good story to pick up!

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one does not love breathing by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

All of Paris watched as Hawkmoth murdered Chat Noir, taking the Black Cat Miraculous for himself. Ladybug swears revenge, but her enemy—and every miraculous in his possession—disappear without a trace.

Six years later, a new team of villains launches an attack for the last remaining Miraculous: Volpina, armed with new powers; Queen Bee, with questionable loyalty; Argos, the new holder of the Peacock Miraculous; and Cat Walker, who Ladybug hates the most.

Takes place after S4 - Strike Back.

This is a simply phenomenal fic. You get to explore a lot of different perspectives, like Felix, Kagami, Marinette, and Adrien’s, just to name a few, and see their different thought processes and plans and priorities, and how it can cause their plans to collide with each other, even when they all ultimately are aiming for a good outcome for everyone. The characters are pretty complex and can mess up at times, even when they’re doing things (or not doing things, looking at you Luka) with the best of intentions. It was a joy to read and a real nail-biter the whole time, I actually wrote a fic for it halfway through just to resolve some of the tension for myself, One Does Not Love Shadows.

It also features the version of Luka I’ve connected best with to date, as he feels like Luka, but also is a lot more fleshed out, and can make some major errors while simply trying to avoid missteps. It’s helped me get a better handle on a character who I’ve generally had a lot of problems with really understanding.

It is an M-rated fic, though I think Wackus is being overly cautious on that front. There’s no sexual content and I wouldn’t put the violence or gore above a T-rating, so I wouldn’t let the rating scare you off.

[miraculous-multiverse]

hey if you were to make a team vas win various AU who would it be and with what members.

That’s an hard question to answer… I did have some plans for the Miraculous Multiverse to have at one point various Miraculous users from multiple dimensions team up, but nothing too concrete.

There are some characters however that I was sure on using in it:

Future Bunnyx, or at least an alternate version of her. She would be the one that created the team and their leader.

An alternate version of Marinette (I was interested in using a version of Loveybug from the Loveybug AU where she appears to be fun personified, but behind her façade she probably was a sad and lonely girl that threw away her life as Marinette in order to permanently become Paris’ beloved heroine and came to regret it)

An alternate version of Adrien (since I was interested in using Loveybug, I think that Cat Walker is a good fit for the team because he’s the one that keeps Loveybug in check but also makes the best plans. Just as Loveybug, this Adrien had a rather sad backstory and is in a constant identity crisis, not knowing who he truly is under the mask but compared to Loveybug he’s much better at hiding it)

Guardian Chloe by @luluy33art was a strong choice for the team because I like the character a lot (plus it would be fun having a version of Chloe that wan't only a Miraculous user but also an expert of them and a Guardian)

Vigilanteverse!Alya from a prompt by @natedogx15. Essentially an Alya from an universe where the presence of Ladybug and Chat Noir led to a rise of vigilantes which eventually banded together in a team to fight crime and Hawk Moth. This version of Alya started her superhero career as Kid Anansi (the sidekick of her older sister, whose secret identity is Anansi), but later received the Fox Miraculous by Ladybug who felt that they needed more help in fighting Hawk Moth (and definitively not because she felt that Alya would have probably jumped at the chance of becoming a vigilante and she didn't want her to get injured or killed). Now she has two secret identities (Rena Rouge and Kid Anansi) and neither teams know the other one. As you can imagine, juggling three different lives at the same time is slowly driving her nuts but she's too stubborn to give up.

Now, this is a VEEERY weird choice... Pipistrello from the fanfic series Miraculous Alliance. She's a version of Lila Rossi that didn't become a villain but instead had the luck of meeting Jinxx, the Kwami of Randomness, who prevented her from going down a dark path and eventually let her become the weirdest and craziest hero in Paris (and probably in the entire Universe). She's essentially a Looney Tunes character, has a giant mallet as a weapon, an assortment of weird objects and characters that she can summon at any moment to help her and the power of Randomness in her hands. In the AU she would have been an anti-Lila weapon because she's one of the very few Lilas in the multiverse that are firmly on the side of good and so the rest of them hate her a lot and try to kill her, only to regret it immediately once they have a taste of the maddening power of randomness.

This is more or less what I was planning to do... If you have other ideas feel free to tel me! If I like them I might make a sequel to this post with them in and maybe also create an origin story for this team!

[into-september]

Probably the most important thing that got lost somewhere in the MLB film trying to adress some three or four different themes and somehow not getting any of them across:

"Who saves a life, saves the world" is the one that is literally spelled out on screen in the scene where Marinette becomes Ladybug, immediately after she without hesitation risked her life to save Master Fu.

So she becomes Ladybug and spends the entirity of the first battle being literally dragged along when Cat Noir gets into trouble. Her only active part in the battle is at the very end, when she finally gets her yo-yo under control and saves Cat Noir from being hit by the train.

The film doesn't make much of a point out of it, but take note: this battle doesn't end by Ladybug and Cat Noir winning, but by the akuma leaving its victim seconds before lives are lost. It's not made clear why this happened; possibly this Gabriel, who has the ability to feel empathy, called it back last moment, but the only shot we get is of him passed out and de-transformed. An equally plausible explanation is that without his active will, the akuma simply left.

I think one change that'd help this story a lot would've been to make that reason explicit, because this un-won battle isn't important just because it introduces our two heroes and sets the love square in motion. The whole sorry story - from Cat Noir going solo and failing, to the battle ending not by the heroes' victory but by the akuma leaving its victim - is exactly what happens in the film's climax. Whether Gabriel's conscience made him hesitate at the beginning or if it finally won out only in the end, it'd strengthen his character to have that conflict made explicit, which would serve as a badly needed reminder to the audience that the first battle is significant for other reasons than Ladybug and Cat Noir's first meeting.

Because there is another thing that happens in both these battles, in fact the only thing Marintte contributes to both of them:

She saves Cat Noir's life.

It is absurdly underplayed and disappears beneath the memetic saxophone solo the first time it happens, but fact is: it happened, and it happened again when the story ended. And in the final battle, her saving him - however fleeting it was - gave Gabriel the chance to discover that it was his own son he nearly killed. Without Ladybug, Marinette couldn't do much, but she could save Cat Noir again. And by doing so, she stopped Hawk Moth. Not by being a kick-ass heroine, but by being just a normal girl who is extraordinarily brave even without superpowers, and who let him see the truth, and to make his hown choice to stop the madness.

In fact, this is the fulfillment of what I think was supposed to be Marinette's character arc: to realise that Ladybug was her all along; that it wasn't the earrings that made her stop being clumsy and get the confidence to talk back to Chloé, but that she had those powers all along. The first time, she only masters her powers when Cat Noir is in danger; the second time, she has to face her fears without the powers - and that is how she passes the test, and (probably) finds her true powers, and can fix all the things Gabriel destroyed.

Except for some reason Mr. Zagtoons didn't think to emphasise those things happening at all and so both Marinette's character arc and the film's climax come across as hella anticlimatic because it's not at all obvious that oh, yeah, those things were in fact established at the very beginning.