#he absolutely stabbed Adrien in the back

[frigidlyauthorial]

so sleepy tired so to keep myself awake I’m mentally picking apart every plot hole one miraculous ladybug.

[runawaycatwalker]

Part 28. Prevaricators' Procession

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Description below the cut

Astrowalker flies above a copse of trees.

Astrowalker (internally): I wish I could have said 'yes.'  But with how little I can trust any of my friends right now?  And with Mayura searching for any sign of Adrien?  I can't risk going home.

Astrowalker’s eyes widen and his mouth pulls into a long, thin grimace as Cosmobug flies up behind him and throws her yo-yo at him.

Cosmobug: YOU!

Astrowalker (internally): Oh no.

Astrowalker, wrapped tightly in yo-yo string (even his wings have been folded in on themselves and bound), hangs upside-down as Cosmobug points angrily at his face.

Astrowalker: Hello, Cosmobug.  I was trying to stay out of your way as requested, but I thought I should be on-hand in case you needed—

Cosmobug: Where. Is. Adrien?

Astrowalker: I'm not sure why you think I can answer that question...

Cosmobug: He disappears and then you appear just moments later?  I don't think that's a coincidence.

Astrowalker, still upside-down, tries to avert his gaze by looking down (which is up).

Cosmobug: Where did you hide him?

Astrowalker: I only followed you here, I am quite unfamiliar with the terrain of this place.  Unless you think I stuffed him inside my baton, I fail to see where I could have put him that was beyond your reach.

Cosmobug: You could have used Cataclysm to make a bottomless pit and dropped him in!

Astrowalker: Or Adrien might have wandered off on his own.

Cosmobug: When he was so close to going home?  Never!

Astrowalker: It wouldn't be the first time he avoided the mansion...

Cosmobug turns away and rubs her forehead in frustration.

Cosmobug: GAAAHHHH!  Talking to you is just a waste of time!  Adrien might be getting into an even worse situation with every moment that passes!  I need to switch tactics...

Cut to Cosmobug flying back to where she left Kagami, towing Astrowalker behind her as he flings around like a ragdoll.

Cosmobug: Kagami!  I need a favor: guard Catwalker while I search for Adrien.

Kagami: Are you sure Adrien is nearby?  I cannot justify staying here indefinitely to my mother.

Cosmobug: Then we'll make him carry you home while you guard him!  Better to keep him far away anyway so he can't interfere again!

Astrowalker lets out a ‘meep!’ as Cosmobug points Rolland’s knife in his face.

Cosmobug: And if Catwalker tries anything, strike swiftly.

Cut to Astrowalker flying while carrying Kagami in his arms.

Astrowalker: Let me know if you're uncomfortable.  I'll fly low and slow since it can get cold without a powered-up suit.

Kagami: What did you do to make Ladybug mad at you?

Astrowalker: Who said she was mad at me?

Close up of Kagami holding up the knife with confidence beaming.

Kagami: She authorized me to stab you repeatedly.

Astrowalker: Fair point.

Astrowalker looks away evasively.

Astrowalker: But it’s hero business.  I’m not at liberty to explain it to you.

Kagami gestures to herself nonchalantly.  Astrowalker absolutely bristles as he loses his composure.

Kagami: I’m Ryuko.  You can explain everything to me freely.

Astrowalker: You’re not supposed to reveal your secret identity!

Kagami folds her arms and looks away, annoyed that she has to justify herself.

Kagami: Shadowmoth already knows who I am.  You knowing isn’t any more dangerous.

Astrowalker: I highly doubt Ladybug would agree with that assessment.

Kagami: Ladybug herself said I was talented enough to stay a hero despite the identity issue.

Full-body shot of them flying from the side, Astrowalker looks ahead as he explains.

Astrowalker: No, I mean that if Ladybug doesn’t trust me, you shouldn’t either.

Kagami: Did you have something to do with Adrien going missing again?

Astrowalker: Ladybug seems to think so.

Kagami: Why?

Astrowalker: Proximity, mostly.  And she knows I've lied to her before, so I'm the most likely to be guilty.

Kagami: And if you're not guilty?  Not defending yourself means that Ladybug punishes you instead of the person responsible.

Astrowalker: What's done is done.  Ladybug has already made up her mind about me.  In any case, Adrien's business is his alone and we should leave it be.

Kagami points the knife at Astrowalker’s face as he tries to look innocently upwards.

Kagami: You know more than you're letting on, don't you?

Astrowalker: Wh-What gave you that idea?

Close-up of Kagami’s face as she argues.

Kagami: When I don’t want my mother to know that something matters to me, I try to convince her it means nothing.  If she believes I don't care, she won't try to interfere.  You are trying to keep people away from Adrien through your 'indifference'.

Astrowalker: Or I might just be indifferent?

Kagami closes her eyes and waves her hand dismissively.

Kagami: I suppose I won't be able to convince you to reveal your true intentions.  If you're lying to Ladybug, you're probably lying to me too.

Astrowalker looks away with regret.

Astrowalker: There may not be much I can really say, but... For whatever it's worth, I didn't kidnap Adrien.

Kagami: Of course not.  He kidnapped himself.

Astrowalker looks at Kagami in shocked confusion.  Kagami looks aside, unconcerned, as she explains.

Astrowalker: Huh?  I thought you were akumatized to hunt down whoever kidnapped him?

Kagami: The ransom message Gabriel Agreste received must have been a fake.  If Adrien had been kidnapped for ransom, he wouldn't have been left alone on a mountain.  He's clearly up to something big that he doesn't want anyone to know.

Astrowalker: But what secrets could a teen model even have to justify vanishing entirely?

Cut to the image of Kagami and Adrien in “Lies,” when Adrien cheerfully gives her a thumbs-up while she holds the lucky charm Marinette gave him behind her back.

Kagami (voiceover): I'm not sure, but Adrien is far more secretive than most people realize.  His affable demeanor hides his deceit well.  You wouldn't even know he was lying to your face unless you held contradictory proof.

Cut back to Astrowalker looking away while Kagami looks at the knife in thought.

Astrowalker: Do you hate him?  For all the lies?

Kagami: No.  I'm a liar too.  His lies just proved we weren't right for each other.  He's... too much of a people pleaser.

Astrowalker: What's so wrong with wanting to please people?

Kagami: It demonstrates a lack of mutual respect.  If he did something I might judge him for, I would rather he told me the truth so we could deal with it head-on.  Instead, he just made up easy to-swallow excuses so he could pretend his ditching me didn't have consequences.  I was willing to show him things I've never shared with anyone.  But he refused to reciprocate with his own vulnerability.

Astrowalker looks over his shoulder.

Astrowalker: What if he couldn't tell you the truth due circumstances beyond his control?  Maybe he wanted to open up, but he couldn't tell anyone what was really happening?

Kagami opens her arms to the side and Astrowalker finally meets her gaze.

Kagami: Then he should have explained what he could about the situation and asked me for privacy.

Astrowalker: Would that really have been enough to salvage your relationship?  Knowing that someone is keeping things from you can be a heavy burden all on its own.

Kagami: Maybe not.  But it would have been possible.  I might have still been disappointed to be excluded, but at least I wouldn't have been disappointed in him.

Kagami waves her hand towards Astrowalker, who looks down towards her in regretful contemplation.

Kagami: But why are you so interested in why Adrien lied to me?  Did you end up discovering the secrets Adrien kept from me?

Astrowalker: No, of course not.  But... I suppose your perspective sheds light on the trouble I've been for Ladybug.  We heroes are supposed to keep everything secret.  But there's still a limit to what I should withhold from my partner.  Even if I can't give Ladybug all the answers, I need to be more honest with her if I'm to regain her trust.

Astrowalker flies with Kagami towards the horizon.

Kagami: Assuming she doesn’t simply take back your miraculous once she gets back to Paris.

Astrowalker: Right.  There’s that.

Below is the same image as above, only without text:

[theerurishipper]

Agreed, Marinette absolutely did not win. She (and Emilie) wanted Gabriel to not make a wish (he did) and work with Mari to find a way to save him so he can be a good father to Adrien (he would literally rather die). Credit to Mari, without her actions, there would be 3 dead (Nathalie + 2 sacrifices to save Gabe + Emilie) instead of just Gabe, but Gabriel's choice won over hers, and he chose his wishes over Emilie's, and chose being with Emilie over parenting Adrien.

Yeah, this. She didn't win, her words just made Gabriel change his mind about what his wish was. She just got lucky that it happened to not have any devastating consequences (as far as we know anyway). He didn't do what she wanted from him, he just stabbed her in the back, and it just so happened that whatever he wanted ended up being convenient for her. It's not a win as far as I can tell, it's just a stroke of luck.

Thank you for your ask!

[artzychic27]

Ooh! What are the other students of Dupont like in the Shadyverse? What are their crimes and personalities, and do they also cause trouble in costumes?

Marinette

Poisoned a few customers with her “special” pastries, which sent many to the hospital

No reason other than she found rat poison and wanted to see if it worked on humans

She’s just a tad bit paranoid and always makes people eat her food before her to see if it’s poisoned or not as payback for her crimes

She still likes to sew, but a lot of her designs are based off well known toxins

Alya

Spread rumors that got several people arrested and sent to psych wards

She wants people to hang off of her every word and if she needs to make some of her rumors true to do that, so be it

If there’s an outlandish rumor flying around, Alya probably started it

Incredibly annoyed by her sisters and his not above starting a few rumors about Nora taking supplements and lying about Ella and Etta ruining their mother’s dishes

Nino

Stole and plagiarized music from young musicians and passed them all off as his own while making hundred of euros a week by selling CDs

He’s also known to be quite violent when the right buttons are pushed. Don’t cross him

He hates to do any work for himself and relies on empty promises and gullible morons

He’s got a soft spot for Chris and makes sure to teach him everything he knows

Adrien

Used his connections to have each of his fans stupid enough to put the return address on their fan letters stalked for months

It gets boring as a young model and he needs something to keep him entertained

So, what better way than by seeing how far he can push some poor sap before they eventually break

He even does this to his own parents

Ivan

A bit of physical assault here, some intimidation there

Uses his stature against others to keep people out of his way and give him what he wants

He’s got a soft spot for his sister and will take down anyone who poses as a threat to her

Before you try to get back at him, ask yourselves, “Do I want to die today?”

Myléne

Committed charity fraud and stole over two millions euros to buy herself clothes from companies that everyone knows makes money off of child labor

She’s apathetic towards charity cases and sees them as nothing more than an annoyance

Any time an opportunity to do some good comes up, she looks the other way

Extremely vain and only obsessed with having the best clothes

Rose

May or may not have poisoned a few IV bags in while posing as an intern at a hospital

Rose is a bit like Adrien and Marinette. She likes to conduct “experiments” on others

She doesn’t see the people outside of DuPont as people, just test subjects for her to try her toxin-laced perfumes on

She holds a place in her heart for Juleka, the only one smart enough to known if she’s poisoned her drink or not

Juleka

Stabbed several people at random with makeshift knives

Just to see how quickly they bleed out

Juleka’s always had a fascination with morbid stuff and gets a thrill out of traumatizing people

Luka’s her right hand, posing as the scared good twin looking for help before she strikes

Alix

Sold items in the museum to wealthy buyers for months until the eventually got caught

Alix and Nino share a love for get rich quick schemes and occasionally conspire with each other

She’s never above blaming others for her crimes, including her own brother

If you wordly possession has gone missing, it was likely that Alix stole and sold it

Nathaniel

He used fear and blackmail to make the student body obey him and grovel at the ground he walked on

Back at his last school, he possessed the Butterfly Miraculous and looked through students memories in their sleep to dig up dirt on them

Nathaniel absolutely HATES being seen as second rate and makes sure to let everyone know he’s the one who holds the power

Uses the Butterfly Miraculous for no reason other than to get his way

Kim

Physical assault charges that never stuck becuase everyone was afraid of him

There’s no telling what this guy will do. He’s unpredictable and gets a thrill out of seeing people flinch when he walks by

Makes a show of seeming like a nice guy to people who don’t know him before he does a 180

It’s how he got the Ladybug Miraculous

Max

Hacked into the grade books and ruined everyone’s GPAs just for the hell of it

He enjoys being the best and likes to tear people down in order for that to happen

Is always a step ahead of others. To him, life is only a video game where he knows all the codes

He saw the box sticking out of the old man’s pocket. So, he helped him up and swiped it right while he wasn’t looking

Chloé

Basically what canon Chloé does before season 4 and minus the Akumas

… So, not going into detail, other than she’s not the worst person at DuPint

Sabrina

Framed several teachers she didn’t like so her dad would arrest them

Sabrina got a sick thrill out of using her dad’s positions to gain fear and respect

She’s played the role of the good lieutenant’s daughter actively pointing out horrible crimes, when really, she just wants certain people out of her life

He tricks won’t work anymore, but she can always count on a few suckers

Lila:

Canon Lila but without the… You know

She and Alya are the main rumor mills at school and are actively turning people against one another for the thrill of it

She doesn’t lie to get people to do what she wants out of pity. She just does it to ruin lives

Besides, it’s like a game for her

Marc

Psychologically tortured his classmates and actively threatened just about everyone for the smallest incidents

Marc thrives off of fear from others, even his own family

He’s been Kiran’s main caretaker since he was born, not that he gave his mothers much of a choice and constantly warns him about the dangers of going outside so he can keep his “precious baby brother” all to himself

Now that he’s at DuPont, he can no longer protect Kiran and fills the void with his Senticreatures

Aurore

Kept her family under her thumb for years with all sorts of threats before they finally sent her to DuPont

A bit unhinged, but plays it off as the stressed out “little miss perfect”

No one had any reason to suspect Aurore since she seemed like perfection incarnate, but they never saw what else she did

Aurore can easily get into peoples heads, so watch out for that

Mireille

Was caught cheating in one of Alec’s contests and many others before that by rigging the votes

Extremely confident and selfish, Mireille does whatever it takes to win in life

Similar to Max, she sees life as only a chessboard where everyone is a pawn

Mireille can make even the most confident people question themselves

Cosette

Manipulated her siblings into committing crimes for her and put on the facade of the innocent younger sibling when they try to blame her

One of the school’s master manipulators, they get a thrill out of making others do their dirty work

For years, they made Yvette and Jordyn look like the bad siblings while they were a perfect Angel

Its manipulation won’t work at DuPont, but Cosette has many other tricks

Lacey

Broke into people’s homes with her rock climbing gear and stole any money or jewelry they had lying around

Prone to violence when questioned, Lacey is one of the people you don’t want to mess with

She has a place in her heart for her brothers, and it crushed her to see the hurt in their eyes when she was caught

Dubbed, “Queen of Thieves” by members of her small but active gang of others sent to DuPont for thievery. They look up to her

Jean

Used his looks to get the male students to do as he pleased- Steal, do his homework, take out anyone who poses as a threat to him

Jean is incredibly vain and obsessed with his looks. Becuase when you’re gorgeous, people do whatever you want

His tactics still work at DuPont, and he’s getting away with it all

The only person he’ll ever love is Austin Tomassian, his boyfriend and the leader of the most notorious gang at DuPont

Denise

Beat up just about anyone weaker than them… So pretty much everyone, for no reason other than they could

Denise ruled their other school with an iron fist, constantly hustling students out of their money, starting fist fights, and making no empty threats

They, Kim, Ivan, and any other muscular students are one of the most feared gangs at DuPont

Simon, of course, is safe from any sort of torment unless a certain someone wants to meet Denise’s fist

Simon

Filmed people at out of context moments and posted them on all of his social media accounts to have their lives ruined

Why? Becuase they can.

He’s pretty close with Lila and Alya, but wishes they’d step up their game just a little bit

Lords it over peoples heads that he’s dating one of the most feared students at DuPont

Reshma

Used her family name and bribery to always have her way at school, and made any lower income students do as she pleased

Reshma is a nightmare version of Regina George

She’s in with the gang of rich kids who bribe the other students to entertain them

Still close with Ismael and is not above getting physical with anyone who disrespects him

Ismael

Tried to burn his own house down with his mother still inside

He told everyone she had it coming, but his dad insisted on sending him to DuPont to avoid prison

Ismael has trust issues, and only puts his faith in Reshma, the one who helped him find unscented kerosene

It’s best not to mess with him since he’s got backup from the wealthiest gang at DuPont

Zoé

Used threats and occasional blackmail to make everyone at her last school fear her

Like Nathaniel, Zoé ruled over her school at New York with an iron fist before she was eventually sent to DuPont

Zoé HATES anyone who poses as competition, which is why she made herself the unquestioned leader of the gang of rich kids

Often funds most of Cosette’s crimes. They CANNOT say no to her

As for any of them having the Miraculous, Blood Beetle and Ikati Bleak are working to hunt down the old man they got their Miraculous from, knowing he has more

Thanks to Max’s intellect, they’re able to sneak out of DuPont undetected to cause chaos

While the four of them could easily destroy DuPont and free their associates, special forces will be called in and they’ll all just be shipped to some maximum security prison that’s countries away, so they need to find the Miraculous to give them all powers and even the odds

Plus, Prince Pain refuses to send his babies into battle

[jacquesthepigeon]

The funniest part of Felix's arc is that he is VERY OBVIOUSLY AWARE he did multiple things wrong, he just doesn't regret it and/or refuses to apologize to Marinette of all people. He'll apologize to Amelie, Adrien, Kagami, and the kwamis and other sentis but he literally could not care less about anyone else.

He refuses to apologize to Ladybug because he dislikes her personally. He's told by Adrien and Kagami that he needs to make amends with her so he just emotionally manipulates her into forming a truce with him and then continues to emotionally manipulate her into trying to kill Gabriel. I don't understand why people are calling it a redemption when Felix was VERY clear about all of this: he will absolutely stab Maribug in the back again and continue to feel no remorse if he decides that being her ally no longer benefits his family.

S5 Felix doesn’t exist

To me

[miraculous-magicalconnections]

Magical Bodysuits?

Okay, so in-universe, there's no explanation for why every character has a bodysuit with an addition to it here or there (With the exception of Eagle but she's an outlier)

Out of universe, the reason is because it was a rule the designers had so they'd be easier to animate

But... why? Like from a technical standpoint, I get it, I'd hate to animate anything too fancy but in-universe it makes no sense

Maybe at first Marinette would, thinking she's not fit to be a hero, but post-origins Marinette? The one who jumped into the mouth of a dino because she got a random car jack? Yeah, no, absolutely not

Not to mention these things are magic but what about their exposed skin? Sure it's only on their face but they get hit in the face a lot, especially if they fall or Ladybug's earrings are being grabbed

Also it was established in Lady Wifi that the suits CANT come off and even reiterated in Evolution when Monarch goes back in time to that moment and it plays out again but then HE TAKES OFF HIS GLOVE?!?!

The rules of the suits are so convoluted and I honestly hate them

I rewrote them and go into detail about it fairly early on in the story but basically in my version the suits can only come off if the user wants them too and not all the heroes will keep their full bodied suits like Chat Noir having exposed skin

As for that part though, I imagine that even for "exposed" skin, it's not technically exposed as it has a protection on it that basically makes it as durable as the suit itself

Which reminds me that the suits CAN and WILL be damaged throughout the rewrite, because 1. I like the story telling that comes with Mari/Adrien seeing the other with injuries from the Akumas and 2. I want it to feel more realistic because what to you mean Chat Noir can get flung across Paris or stabbed or whatever and then he's just fine?!

[sillyangstfic]

Woke up and got to thinking again! First off, I think that Felix would at least appreciate becoming human because staying a sentimonster would mean outliving everyone he loves and I don't think he's emotionally stable enough for that. Neither is Adrien. But I've taken your input and have reworked it: instead of making them fully human, the potion just makes their human side more dominant. This makes it so that they're less durable than a sentimonster but more than the average human + them no longer being tied to an amok (or their own heart/soul/brain becomes the amok). Why do I want this? Just for the sake of one fucking scene:

Gabriel, paranoid that Felix was onto him, stole the ring that used to be his amok. Adrien and Felix confront Gabriel in his Hawkmoth lair for everything, all the pain and suffering he caused. When Gabriel's usual bullshit doesn't work, he tries to use to amoks to force the pair into obedience. Except it doesn't work and he bluescreens at his loss of control. Adrien and Felix transform and Gabriel fucking loses it. Cue super awesome emotional battle between Chat Noir & Argos VS Hawkmoth while they wait for the rest of team miraculous to show up.

Also, hot take: Amélie should be the one to kill off Gabriel. The bastard spent years neglecting her nephew, deprived her sister of a good death sorrounded by loved ones, tried to kill her nephew on multiple occasions, and tried to kill her son. There's also an element of FINALLY having a competant adult in the room because all of team miraculous are CHILDREN and Fu did jack shit for them. They need a competant adult to take care of them and handle the problem's they never should've had in the first place.

Seriously just let her casually walk up to Gabriel and stab him and just leave him for dead as she moves on to care for her kids.

Bonus: You are absolutely right, we should've had a PeaDragonSnake (PDS) trio. Be it platonically, a polycule, or just a Golden Trio scenario where only two are dating but the three are so inseparable that you can't tell who's dating who. Personally I'm partial to the final option with FeLuka + Bi Kagami desperately pining for Zoé. Zoé is pining just as hard but is too much of a gay disaster to approach and Chloé is making Kagami travel to The Lands of fucking Morder and retrieve the Sword from the Stone just to prove herself worthy of even considering dating her sister. Here are the fics that converted me: FeLuka & ZoeGami.

I have a particular scene in mind where the trio is just blackout drunk. Kagami is serenading really bad poetry to describe Zoé's beauty while Felix & Luka are just making out in the background. Amelie picks them up before clothes start flying. Cut to another bar where its Chloe, Sabrina, and Adrien blackout drunk. Chloe is smugly recording Adrien being pathecially whiny that Marinette isn't picking up (it's like 2 am) and is starting to cry while Zoe is having gay panic at how pretty Kagami is in that photo. She shares it with the whole class.

In addition, Kagami's confrontation with her mother should've been a sword fight on top of a skyscraper in the middle of a storm. There's a barrier preventing Chat Noir and Ladybug from entering, on one side ya got Kagami (no miraculous, just a cool sword blessed by Longg) and on the other ya got (willingly) akumatized Tomoe. Tomoe is spouting her usual controlling bullshit while Kagami is silent and glaring daggers at her mother. The only other people in the dome are Luka and Felix who refuse to leave Kagami without backup. Cue epic fight scene that ends with Tomoe losing both her arms and a leg. Kagami also loses a few chunks of skin. It ends with Kagami taking away her mother's ring and disowning her as a traitor to the Tsurugi clan unworthy of the name (oh how the turns have tabled). Meanwhile Tomoe is absolutely terrified of how beastial her daughter became and backs off. Both stubborn bitches refuse Ladybug's miracle cure cause they need the scars to remember. (inspiration)

After that, conversation at the Tsurugi household is practically dead. Tomoe is ashamed at her loss and breaks just thinking about her prosthetics. Meanwhile, Kagami healed rather nicely (curtesy of the side effects) and is thriving while she switches between the Couffaine boathouse and the Graham de Vanily penthouse.

Ykw that scene’s pretty good human!senticousins propaganda

Also hello? How is this the first I’m hearing of this. Amelie should absolutely get to murder Gabe

Thank you for the fics also, Ima go read those

Okokok while I am a Feligami shipper, Zogami hits like hello? Oh yeah. Up there with Kagaminette for me

I think Kagami should get to write bad poetry about whoever her love interest is, and also anything and anything. I think she should be our Martin Blackwood and write horrible poetry for us

Chole getting blackmail material I see

Kagami sword fight?! Kagami sword fight?! Hell yes

Here’s my idea for that: I like the storm bit, and the showdown, top of a building is peak, but instead of Felix and Luka being there, them trying to be there, to support Kagami, but like LB and CN being unable to due to the storm

Hear me out: Kagami’s mother figures out that she’s the dragon miraculous user and uses that to get her alone on the roof, and then confronting her by handing Kagami (still transformed) her sword. Kagami, knowing she’s caught, decides to detransform and fight her mother like that, as her daughter. They battle and eventually Kagami wins, and her mother rejects the akuma on her own, accepting the loss

As a foil to Gabe, I’d have her mother learn from her mistakes. She cuts off her deals with Gabe and grows closer with her daughter. She listens to her wants more, and while she’s still strict and has high expectations, she also becomes more lenient about letting Kagami do what she wants and enjoys

[uptoolateart]

Dreaming Wide Awake

It’s okay, guys - I’m fixing this mess.

Prologue:

It was perfect. Everything about this day…absolute perfection.

The sun blazed high overhead, so bright that the world seemed to glow at the edges with an almost otherworldly light. His friends swarmed the pool in the back garden, laughing and splashing each other. And after so long yearning to heal the rift that had sprung up between him and his cousin, even Felix was there, with Kagami.

It had been hard, learning the news of his father’s death – especially because they hadn’t left things on a good note. Though…it was hard to remember just what they had fought about, the last time he’d seen his father. Just…there had been something…something he’d been angry about….

But if he could no longer call it to mind, it probably didn’t matter. After all, it didn’t do to speak ill of the dead.

They said time was the great healer, and that seemed to be true. Because here they were, two months later, finally able to celebrate the life of the man who had sacrificed himself for Paris – for the world. The time for tears was over. His father would have wanted him to move on with his life. That was the kind of loving, selfless father Gabriel was.

Perhaps sensing his thoughts, his mother looked up at him, over the pool, her eyes locking onto his. She cast him a warm smile, the kind that always made him feel instantly better, no matter how hard things got. He felt a stab of guilt at the relief he felt that it had been his father and not her. One was bad enough. But if anything ever happened to his mother….

He swallowed and smiled back. Best not dwelling on ‘what ifs’. Best to focus on what was.

Marinette pressed his hand, drawing his attention back to her, at his side on the stone bench. She was the best thing about this day, surrounded by a trellis of roses, her blue eyes sparkling.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

‘Better than okay.’ He kissed her again, hard and hungrily, unable to help himself.

Laughing, she pushed him away just enough to look at him. ‘Slow down. Sometimes it’s like you think you’re going to get dragged away from me. You know I’m right here. No one’s taking me from you.’

He stared at her, his chest heaving.

He knew. Of course he knew. Even if some strange paranoid part of his brain told him this wasn’t true. Someone wanted to keep them apart, but…he couldn’t think who.

For some reason, his eyes were drawn down to his finger, where he now wore his father’s old wedding band. It was hard to remember just when or how this was given to him. But it was there now and….

Freedom.

The word flashed in his head.

That was the beauty of this day. The magic. He’d never felt so free.

But…did that mean he’d once been trapped? That…didn’t make sense….

Maybe he was just feeling guilty – for not being there in the end. For leaving Ladybug to find another partner, in his moment of weakness, when the most he could do was remove his miraculous and send Plagg to find a new holder. There was some irony in that holder turning out to be his own father. Or maybe some poetry.

The world worked in mysterious ways. All that mattered was that he was here, in this moment, with the girl he loved. There had been pain and sadness but…somehow things had worked out. They had all got their happy ending.

Yes, it truly was perfect.

So what was that niggling feeling at the back of his mind, as if there were something he’d once known but had now forgotten? What was this sense of dread creeping through him at the idea of turning around and staring at the stone wall behind him? That sense that he might look and see something else – something other than a plain stone slab – a carving, perhaps, of a figure that was no longer there….

Full fic at Ao3

Tags:

Follow-up to Season 5

I already had enough long fics to write

Then the season finale made me angry

And now I'm writing this to make myself feel better

The perfect resolution is not perfect after all

Adrien is troubled by flashes of an alternative reality no one is talking about

He's going to get the closure he deserves

Damn the writers for adding more to my plate when I already have enough to do

psychological confusion

[miraculousalamode]

cake decorators, we need your help! our bakers (writers) have been working hard in the kitchen preparing something delicious, but now we need your help to make it look as good as it tastes!

throughout the week, we will be posting snippets and summaries from our bakers with a fic ID attached to them in order to keep the writer anonymous. please write down the fic IDs of the fics that you would be willing to work with, as well as the fic IDs of the fics you would absolutely not under any circumstance want to collaborate with.

at the end of all of these posts, we will post the artist applications for you to submit your answers!

FIC ID: S06

Pairing: Chloe Bourgeois/Felix Fathom

Rating: G

No Warnings Apply

Trigger Warnings: None I can think of. Not a Trigger warning but like, point of interest? Aro/Ace Felix.

Summary: Felix prides himself on his skill and self control. When he forgoes the perfect chance to obtain the peacock miraculous out of pride, he must redouble his efforts to obtain it another way. An unexpected encounter with Chloé Bourgeois upends his world, disrupting his neatly ordered emotions and self-image all in a go. While plotting against Gabriel Felix must come to grips with both life and himself being more complex than he had thought. A brat becomes an ally, then a friend in need, and finally a... partner... associate? A something. Life comes with many labels, and yet sometimes none of them fit.

Snippit: Gold- He found it. He found her. She froze as he burst from the stairwell, her keycard still clutched in one hand. Felix skidded to a halt before her, fists clenched, blurred vision coalescing. The words broke free. “I am not Adrien.”

He was hunched over, gulping the cold conditioned air. It burned worse than the sewer fug had. There was more.

These words were a defiant growl, “I am Felix!"

Chloé's deep blue eyes were saucers. A protracted silence grew between them; no motion and the only sound in the hallway was Felix's panting breaths.

After an eternity her head snapped to the side. With eye contact broken her posture shifted into that easy aristocratic dismissiveness. Yet her first response was something mumbled and sincere, "Of course you are."

The spring unwound.

She, too, was not done. She looked back at him with her chin up and her smirk restored, "You're also filthy! Where have you been, playing in the sewers? Eewww. I always knew you were strange, Felix, but this is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous."

Relief; relief more acute than freeing himself from death's grip below. Felix very nearly collapsed on suddenly shaking legs. No- he did. Down on one knee, he gritted his teeth around a taunting smile of his own. "It's called work, Chloé. You might have heard of it."

"Of course I've heard of it. Plenty of little people do-" she paused, craning her neck to look around him. "Felix, you're bleeding. Ewww- all over the marble, and the rugs!"

He hadn't even regained his feet when she had his arm. His exhaustion made him weak and she yanked him along, keycard opening the door to her suite. She didn't even slow down, pulling then pushing him into her bathroom. Felix stumbled, still mentally reeling from so much contact. His hackles were up but she didn't give him time to bite back.

"Clean yourself up! Oh my God, you're such a mess. Wash! Wash everything! No, forget it. We'll burn those clothes." She swept around to her vanity and opening it pulled out bottles, boxes, and scissors, throwing them in his general direction. "That's something- hold on-"

She pulled out her phone, pacing.

"Daddy! I want the doctor up in my suite right now! Yes, now!" Chloe stabbed hang up and glanced back at Felix. "Why are you just standing there?"

[taldigi]

What do you consider the moment where you stopped enjoying Miraculous Ladybug?

Mind you, i was introduced to ML via the PV being recced on YT.

After I finished watching it on netflix. That would have been my first step out the door. It was a sheer shock of the absolute abysmal quality of the show vs. the PV and what a downgrade it was, but I couldn't shake it because the PV struck a huge chord in me and I was basically attached right away. I stuck around cause, at the time, fandom content still felt good. That's when I delved into precanon and concept art and fell in love with that instead.

my other foot out the door was Kuro Neko. What little I loved about canon- with Plagg and Adrien's bond being the best and all, was absolutely shattered after Adrien threw that tantrum at Ladybug for what is essentially peanuts, and treated Plagg- who did NOTHING WRONG but dared to love after the show implies that he has been nothing but abused- like shit, like a tool to GET BACK at Ladybug for.. what?? Being BUSY..? Before that, I tolerated Adrien. I chalked it up to bad writing- but Kuro Neko made me loathe him as a character. Not to mention Plagg's total character assassination. I kept an eye on the series though, since it was fun to point and laugh at it and watch it tumble downhill. Shit had been bothing me, anyway. Alya's character was getting stabbed to death long before then and Nino's character got assimilated by Luka, so they felt free to fuck him up too.

But honestly? What made me slam the door on Canon was when they reintroduced Felix Fathom back into the story and how s4 ended up panning out. I know some friends of mine love Fathom to death- but he ended up being the biggest fuck you to my face I could have ever received and I can't quite get over it.

When people hear Felix? They think of Fathom. They cannot separate the catboy from the birdboy- and at this rate, whenever I see any fiction that has Adrien and Felix as cousins, I just drop the whole thing because the whole thing sets off my anxiety. But you know what? I dont blame them, Fathom's narrative is irresistible. I see why my friends love him and I so desperately want to love him too, and be part of that but I can't see past how Fathom exists to snuff out precanon and it sucks.

It sucks because it's working. My corner of the fandom is dead quiet. A few friends speak sometimes, and they are so special to me because of it. Other friends tell me I've missed the glory days and that it's not worth sticking around. That alone is hard to hear because I so dearly love precanon and the PV. It's so special and wonderful, and the people i've met here are just as special and wonderful.

But arriving after the party has ended, picking up scraps and imagining what it's like.. it's very lonely sometimes.

[trustmeifyoudare]

My Wife: The Murderer

After hearing his wife threaten to kill someone, Adrien comes to the (extremely wrong) conclusion that Marinette and Alya are murderers.

The married life was everything that Adrien thought it would be. He got to wake up every day next to Marinette, the love of his life. He had a partner who understood him better than anyone else in the world. He was in a space where he would not be judged for who he is.

Ah yes, he was living the dream.

Well, not everything was as perfect as he thought it would be, one of those times being now.

Adrien was just getting home from work when he heard Marinette say ‘I will kill you” from the kitchen. Adrien froze. What the frig? Why was Marinette threatening someone? Did someone break into their house? Was there a new supervillain? He grabbed an umbrella and held it up like a sword, slowly walking into the living room, expecting to find a fight in there.

What he was not expecting, however, was for nothing to be happening. All he could see was Marinette and Alya chilling on the couch, playing a game of Ultimate Mecha Strike IV. There was no sign of a fight or that anything had happened.

“What’s wrong?” Adrien asked, searching the room for anything out of place.

The two girls just stared at him in confusion. “Nothing? We are just playing a game. Wanna join?”

Adrien shook his head. He knew what was happening here. How could he be so blind.

Marinette and Alya were murderers. That was the only reasonable explanation. They had just killed someone and hid the body before Adrien came back. Who knew who their next victim was going to be.

Adrien had to stop this, so he did the only thing he could do: He grabbed all the knives that they owned and he hid them. Marinette wouldn’t be able to stab anyone now. The only thing he had to do now was hide the ones that Alya owned and then Paris would be safe.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Adrien, buddy, why didn’t you tell the police what was happening? Well that’s because it is illegal to tell the cops about anything your spouse is doing. His hands were tied. 

–

Marinette was having an amazing day. She absolutely destroyed Alya at Ultimate Mecha Strike IV, despite Alya insisting that she was going to win. Get rekted Loser. The only thing she needed now was a nice juicy carrot cake and everything would be perfect.

There was one problem with the plan though.

Someone had broken in and stolen all of their knives.

Marinette had an already mixed cake batter in front of her and no knives to shred the carrot into pieces. She wasn’t able to go to the store to get more knives because doing so would leave her batter unattended, and she absolutely refused to use a potato peeler. She wasn’t even sure she had that abomination.

So she did the only thing she could do. She went upstairs to get her sewing scissors. Afterall  it couldn’t be that hard to shred a carrot with sewing scissors, since scissors were just knives with a friend.

She practically skipped down the stairs, happy that she could finish her cake. Everything was good and going her way!

Well, it was. She tried on the last step and fell right into her aloe vera plant. It fell over, dirt spilling all over the floor, and…

One of Marinette’s good knives fell out.

Attached to it was a note. Dear Marinette, if you are reading this I didn’t do my job properly, but please, don’t kill anyone today. The police will eventually find out. Love, Adrien <3

Marinette read it over, insanely confused. 

That was when Adrien walked in, holding several plastic bags, seeing Marinette covered in dirt and holding a knife. He just stared for a second before backing up and saying “Please make sure that the body is hidden in a good spot.” He hesitantly went outside and closed the door behind him. 

What the frig?

–

Adrien sighed. 

He looked down at the bags he was carrying, inside being the knives that he confiscated from Alya. He would have to get rid of these the normal way, just like Mother taught him to do.

[ilikekidsshows]

Hey can you talk about the Agreste family. Four seasons have passed by and still we don't know anything about them. Why did Emilie use the Peacock Miraculous? How did Gabriel and Emilie find the Miraculous? What's the deal with the Graham de Vanilys? What about Nathalie and Gorilla? And how do the Bourgeois' and Tsurigis fit into this?

You know what's really interesting about the Parent Generation of Miraculous? How so many of them are connected. There's a reason people have hypothetically wondered if maybe Sabine or Tom could be connected to the rest as well, because so many Parent Generation characters are connected to another Parent Generation character in fictional version of the Six Degrees of Separation. Audrey was the one who kickstarted Gabriel's fashion career. Gabriel makes business deals with Tomoe. Emilie acted in André's film debut. André works closely with Roger. Roger is familiar with Anarka. Anarka is Jagged's ex. It's a very interwoven web and it also establishes that the kids' parents have pasts. They had lives before they were just Parental Units.

The Agreste/DeVanilly family is an interesting target of speculation, but a lot of the theorizing I've seen has focused on merely very surface level stuff. This is mostly because the Miraculous fandom in general has a preoccupation with treating pretty obvious facts as mysteries to be solved. For example, people are so focused on asking "Does Chloé deserve a redemption?" (it doesn’t matter, her arc will be what the plot requires) that they rarely wonder what’s up between Audrey and André even when we got blatant confirmation that Audrey cheated on André. Similarly, people are so busy asking "Does Gabriel love Adrien?" (yes, but selfishly) that they don't wonder what part Emilie played in Adrien's upbringing, even though Adrien’s abuse was going on even before she disappeared.

Emilie, Audrey and Tomoe all have suspicious things to them in the show. Audrey is away so much she could have been getting away with anything off screen, including cheating on her husband. She and Tomoe both got cutaways in the scene in 'Feast' where the Guardian Temple made the news. Tomoe's car Tatsu's symbol looks a lot like the symbol on Ryuko and the car is even named "dragon" (these Tomoe details have actually been noticed before but seemed to stop being discussed after season four started airing). Emilie is a nonentity and the only people who speak in her favor are Adrien and Gabriel, both of whom are Unreliable Narrators. Adrien also defends Gabriel, and Gabriel himself is absolutely convinced Adrien is some fragile, demure flower who must be protected specifically from other people, instead of a lonely boy in desperate need of friends. Adrien has been conditioned to excuse his abusers because they love him while abusing him, while Gabriel only sees what he can use to justify acting the ways he does. Of course Adrien would focus on Emilie being a loving mother and of course Gabriel would focus on the things that would confirm her to deserve the things he does in her name in his mind.

Actually, with Audrey's connection to Gabriel and André's to Emilie, in addition to the theory that one of the other actresses for 'Solitude' was Tomoe, my brother theorizes that Audrey, Tomoe and Emilie might all be connected, perhaps some type of villainous trio, like an evil Totally Spies. We have no idea what Gabriel’s role in such a setup would be, but his villainy would probably be entirely separate from theirs.

Then we get to the extremely limited Agreste household staff. Nathalie is blindly loyal. She'd literally do anything for Gabriel, including risking her life and committing acts of supervillainy. However, it's implied she only fell in love with Gabriel after seeing just how far he'd go to get Emilie back, meaning it's a new development, but Nathalie has been around for a while, or Gabriel wouldn't trust her with his secrets. What was her loyalty originally based on?

The Gorilla, on the other hand, is more of a symbol than a character. He mostly functions as a way to disrupt or unwittingly aid Adrien’s attempts to sneak off to turn into Cat Noir. Even his Akumatization revolved around this role. If he is in fact mute, he is very similar to guards in fairytales, who'd be struck blind so that they wouldn't view the beauty of whatever they're guiding and be tempted to steal it. I'm saying Gabriel, a man with a whole lot of secrets, hired a man who couldn't tell any tales. It's more a symbolic thing in terms of character design rather than Gabriel's actual in-universe reasoning specifically because other forms of communication also exist, as do languages that don't require spoken words. I mean, four seasons in and the closest thing he has to a name is his job descriptor. He might as well be called The Bodyguard. He’s a symbol.

As for the Graham de Vanilys, hooboy, where do I begin? Amelie’s "I'd smile while I stab you in the back and drink tea while you bleed out on the floor" manner is suspicious enough even without the blatant clues that she taught her son to be a manipulative thief and is proud of him for palming Gabriel's ring based on both his dishonest skills and getting the family heirloom back. Then we add the fact that Félix is, in fact, a master thief in the making, capable of robbing both Adrien and Gabriel without them noticing until they realize they're missing items. Then he moves like a rubberband man while avoiding three Akumas out to end him. Finally, he's fully willing to make a pact with Hawk Moth. He's utterly immoral, has almost superhuman abilities and he's clearly dedicated to the Graham de Vanily heritage. He has his mother's last name, implying his father did as well. The Graham de Vanilys have a family legacy that he's willing to maintain, with his focus on the family rings. And, considering how proud his mother was of his thievery, the family business might indeed be something criminal, most likely related to relieving people of their valuables.

To sum this essay up, we know very few actual facts about any of these characters, but one thing is certain: They All Are Suspicious as Hell.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Ch. 13: To the Death (Death)

AO3

Prev

Their last few days in Gotham went by smoothly. No rogue attacks, no akuma tacks. The only negative was Mr. Wayne refusing to allow her on patrol again because she was “injured” and “could have died.” Gotham has been nice for the most part and was full of surprises, but Marinette was relieved when the plane landed in Paris. The entire trip moved to the back of her mind, almost like a dream. Like it hadn’t really happened. Until Hawkmoth sent out his next akuma.

---

Taking in a shaky breath, Marinette blinks back tears. Everything was suddenly real. Hawkmoth might win.

She despised akumas with weapons. Specifically, the lethal weapons. Creative weapons or blasters she could handle. No problem. Legitimate swords or guns? Not so much. Instead she was left with a feeling of dread and uncertainty.

Pushing forward, she’s just about to call her lucky charm when she feels it. Choking slightly on the blood- why is there blood- she looks down at the sword sticking out of her chest. Oh. That’s why there’s blood. Blood. She coughs, wincing as she watches the blood pour out of her mouth. Huh. That’s not right. She almost hears Chat screaming. But why? Why does he sound so upset? Why- Oh. OH. She’s dying. She realizes this with a start as the world around her darkens and she begins to sway. She’s dying, and Hawkmoth is going to get her Miraculous. Hawkmoth is going to win. Oh, no- please-

“Chat.” She manages to say, watching as he runs towards her and scoops her up, carrying her out of the way of cameras and prying eyes. A place she can stay. A place where Hawkmoth won’t take her Miraculous. He won’t. He can’t. She frowns, black spots covering her vision, but not enough to hide his tears.

“Take them. Save them.” She manages to say, shaky hands reaching for her earrings. His lips move, so she knows he’s saying something. She wishes she could hear it. Wishes she’d thought of this possibility. She thinks Chat will win. But it’ll be so hard. She should’ve wrote a will. Should’ve planned ahead. Should’ve been more like her father. She blinks at Chat- Adrien- and realizes he’s still talking. She hopes it’s not important, that maybe he could tell her later. Her thoughts continue to jumble, just like her vision. Shifting into one incoherent mess. Words become shapes, pain dulls until she’s numb. Until she can’t feel it. Until she closes her eyes and lets the darkness carry her away.

---

Immediately after finding out about his Parisian daughter, Bruce Wayne had installed the akuma alert system in the Batcave. And on his phone. He wanted to be absolutely certain that he would know what was happening when, and maybe even find some way to help. Do something. Stop the emotional terrorist that had taken over his daughter’s childhood.

Sitting in his study, he takes a swig of coffee, thankful for a relaxing Saturday. He wanted to avoid WE, stay as far away as possible. They’d been bombarding him with questions about Marinette and the (true) rumor that started when her class first arrived in Gotham. Wanted to know if it was true, what they could say, what the official statement was. He wasn’t sure. He wanted Marinette to be able to make that decision. But it wasn’t something you could just ask after only a week of knowing each other.

A shrill ring breaks him out of his thoughts and he glances at his phone. That’s odd, he thinks, looking at the screen. Until he reads closer and realizes why it looks different. The Parisian news stations, who had never seemed too distressed by attacks before, were urging people to hide. Not just shelter in place. But hide. Making up his mind quickly, Bruce makes his way to the Bat Cave. Sure he couldn’t jump over to Paris to assist his daughter in battle, but he had to know that she was safe. He had to know Marinette would be okay. Miraculous cure or not. Walking into the cave, he’s unsurprised to see Tim already there, the news feed pulled up on the largest screen.

“It’s not looking good B. Casualties have already passed fifteen hundred. LB and Chat both look exhausted and the fight just started.” Tim informs him, frowning into his unnecessarily large cup of coffee. Bruce simply nods, trying to ignore the sudden tension in his jaw.

“How’s she holding up?” Dick asks, arms crossed as he walks in, Damian trailing in behind him.

“She’s giving ‘em hell but she also took a coupla good hits.” Jason says, watching his phone as he walks in through another entrance. Bruce’ chest feels warm at the obvious concern and care his sons have for their sister. He had no doubt that Cass (who had returned to Hong Kong before Marinette returned to Paris) was also watching the stream. Although not necessary, it was still nice of them to check. To care. As the fight goes on though, Bruce becomes antsy. The cameras are too far away to pick up the conversation between the heroes and the akuma, but it doesn’t look good. Marinette looks anxious, nervous, almost frenzied. All emotions he’d never seen on her (as Ladybug).

“Call your lucky charm.” Damian hisses, glaring up at the screen. Bruce silently agrees. As odd as the power was, it hadn’t failed her yet. There’s no- his blood freezes. The world shuts down as he tries to remember how to breathe. To remember that it’s okay to breathe. Because standing in front of the akuma is his daughter. With a sword protruding from her chest. The entire cave is silent, everyone waiting. Trying to process. The sword is pulled back and Bruce watches, sick to his stomach as blood falls out her mouth. As she sputters, more blood falling out. The dazed look on her face as she sways on her feet, not quite seeing her surroundings breaks his heart. She stumbles, her legs giving out, and he stares, unable to look away as Chat Noir manages to grab her and swing away.

“Shit.”

“She did not even dodge! She could have-”

“She’s not- she’s okay, right?”

“Is she-?” Bruce is barely able to hear the chaos around him. Barely able to focus on the video in front of him. He lets out a shuddering breath, turning his complete focus to watch for her to come back. Surely someone would heal her. The Miraculous cure could heal her. It had to. He desperately watches the screen, waiting for her spotted costume to come back. She had to come back. He sees spots, but squints. Something’s wrong with the spotted costume swinging towards the fight. The colors are right, but the flash of blonde hair and distinct male figure- it’s not...it’s not her. Not Marinette.

“It appears Mr. Bug is on the scene. Ladybug is down. I repeat, Ladybug is down.” The news anchor reports, a distraught look on her face. But the look on her face is nothing in comparison to the agony that shoots through Bruce. How? Why isn’t she up? Why would Adrien use her Miraculous? Why not heal her now, let her finish her battle? Unless...could she not be healed? Was the Miraculous cure unable to bring the Ladybug holder back? No. No, he couldn’t think that. Couldn’t accept that. She had to be okay. He couldn’t lose a child. Not again. Never again.

“The Cure will save her.” Damian says stiffly, tugging Bruce from his thoughts. He looks over to his youngest, torn by how young Damian suddenly looks. How broken he looks, staring at the screen in front of them. Braving a glance at his other sons, Bruce suddenly feels sick. His phone rings suddenly, and Bruce jumps, hoping the name- but no. It’s Cass, requesting a facetime. He answers, giving his daughter (is Marinette okay? Will she be okay? What if he loses her right after finding her?) a quizzical look.

“Little sister is okay, right?” She signs furiously, a frown on her face. Bruce grits his teeth, trying hard to push down the emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

“I’m not sure.” He answers, leaving his tone flat and without emotion. He couldn’t break. Not right now, not when his children looked so scared. Not when they all looked horrified. He couldn’t afford to be scared or horrified too. He had to hold it together. Even if he was screaming on the inside. Screaming and begging and pleading with whatever powers there were. Pleading for his daughter’s life. For her to wake up. For the Cure to work on her. He watches and waits. Wincing as Adrien is thrown around even more than usual. His hands twitch, wanting to do something, anything to help. Bruce finally stands, ready to put on his suit and just take the damn Zeta tubes to Paris. Who gives a damn about Hawkmoth, his daughter needs him. He’s just about to walk away when he sees it. The pure white butterfly flying out of Mr. Bug’s yoyo. Bruce inhales sharply, watching the wave of light and tiny ladybugs sweep across the city. He watches as Adrien slides the victim a card before swinging away. Watches as he doesn’t reappear. The camera zooms in to the area he’d flown off to, but there was nothing. Zooming back out, the camera focuses back on the news anchor.

“And that’s another akuma, taken down by our brave heroes. Back to you, Jean Marc.” She says with a tense smile. And the footage cuts out. It’s no more. No one moves. No one speaks. Everyone just stares at the blank screen. The screen where they’d watched Marinette be stabbed. Where they’d seen a sword go through her chest. Bruce clenches his jaw, trying desperately to stop himself from crying.

“I’ll be back.” He says gruffly, leaving his seat to go and put on his suit. There was no way she was gone. He wouldn’t accept it. So, he was going to go to Paris. He’d find her and wrap her up in some goddamned bubble wrap and make sure that his daughter didn’t get stabbed again. God, she has to be okay. His thoughts are frantic as he moves swiftly towards his suit, his thoughts only of getting to Paris. Getting to Paris, and finding Marinette. A sudden flash of light brightens the cave and Bruce instantly gets into a fighting position, watching the light turn into a circle. A portal, right in the middle of the Bat Cave. His breath catches as he watches two figures fall through the portal. Adrien, obviously still in spots. And the girl next to him….he frowns, not quite recognizing her.

“Kaalki, dismount.” The girl says, a soft light flashing over her. Bruce freezes, eyes scanning his daughter as she smiles awkwardly. Glancing over her, reminding himself that she’s there. She’s alive. He crosses to her in three large steps and drops to his knees in front of her so that they’re on eye level.

“Never do that again.” He begs, voice breaking slightly as he wraps his arms around her, pulling her close. She’s alive. She’s okay. She’s alive.

---

Marinette buries her face in her father’s shoulder, tightening her hold on him. He was the only parent that knew she was Ladybug. The only one who would be affected by seeing her stabbed on live tv. Coming to see him directly after the battle was all she could think of when she woke up. She knew she had to see her dad and her brothers. Reassure them that she was still there.

“I’m so sorry Dad.” She chokes out, tears running down her face as she remembers the pain of being stabbed in the chest. The way her vision went dark. The way the blood felt as she choked on it. She squeezes her eyes shut, breathing shakily as she holds onto him for dear life, barely registering when more warmth surrounds her. She doesn’t have to open her eyes to know what it is. Her brothers, all hugging her. Surrounding her, making sure she’s there. She sighs in relief, glad that they’re all there. Glad that she’s able to hug them again.

Next

Master list

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82 @imarisvers8 @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks

[howhow326]

I'm back after 4ish days!

Everyone is a monster but Alya AU

Gabriel/Hawk Moth - Vampire

Gabriel is actually Count Dracula (Prince Dracul of Walluchia?). After losing his kingdom and becoming a vampire, he has been periodically disappearing and returning to (human) society with a new identity. His current identity is his 100th one.

As one of the first vampires, he holds incredible sway over their society and is basically the vampire king of France. He uses that power to moonlight as Hawkmoth without vampires from other countries catching on to him. Even if they did figure things out, it's not like they could do anything to stop him.

Emile is Gabriel's 100th human lover. The pair found the miraculous when they were archeologists in China (the Emile lore expands).

Gabriel is absolutely overpowerd as Hawk Moth. Without a miraculous, he has all the powers and weaknesses of an old school vampire (sunlight only depowers them instead of hurting them, he can control the weather, he can control animals like rats and wolves, he needs to be invited into a house in order to enter) and is at the same power level of an akumatized supervillain. With a miraculous, he is just as strong as Witch!Ladybug.

Also, in this au Hawk Moth uses his vampiric hypnotism to make people accept his akumas. I only thought of this change because one of the writers made that stupid twitter post that "aKuMaS ArEn'T bRaInWaShEd" so decided to make a better justification for it.

Nathalie/Mayura - Ghoul

Nathalie became Gabriel's assistant/Ghoul about 40 years before the start of the show. During that time, Gabriel needed a more personal assistant that was loyal to him and decided to turn the first person that showed up to the job interview.

Okay so if a Vampire bites someone and uses their weird black magic it makes a ghoul. If a vampire shares blood with a ghoul/human then it makes a full vampire. If a vampire bites someone and dosen't use their weird magic then it dosen't do anything. I should totally be hired to worldbuild someone's show lol.

Emile was having an affair with Nathalie because woman bonding over protecting themselves from the man that thinks he owns them and because I said so!

More specifically, Nathalie's end goal is to stab Gabriel in the back and take Awake!Emile/Adrien far away from Paris. However, after seeing how devoted Gabriel is to Emile, Nathalie started developing feelings for him too (the plot thickens)

Nathalie has a special bond with Dusuu because she thinks their situations are similar. Just that.

Lila - Demigoddess

Lila is the half-human child of Mendacius, the Roman version of Dolos (the Greek god of Lies).

Basically, the gods are real and having still having kids like Percy Jackson's Olympians. But unlike Percy Jackson's Olympians, they got a lot (more) weaker from the majority of people not believing they exist anymore. So while they are still dangerous, the witch society/ vampire society poses a real threat to them which forces them to stay hidden and lay low.

Lila started using her powers to brainwash her mother with Lies ever since she was 12 years old. She does this so she can basically do whatever she wants. Lila's main powers are (obviously) making people believe everything she lies about, but she can also use the Evil Eye curse (like a real witch).

Lila came to France so she could find a way to steal the miraculous and use them for herself. Additionally, because her father's domain is falsehoods and deceptions, Lila immediately figured out Ladybug/Chat Noir/Hawk Moth's identities after seeing pictures of their civilian selves and superhero selves. She uses this information to manipulate all three of them; she makes an alliance with Gabriel/Hawk Moth; she uses her connections to get closer and closer with Adrien; and she manipulates the school to turn on Marinette because Lila considers her the only real obstacle to her true plan, stealing three miraculous! Lila is playing a game of chess with everyone, meanwhile Gabriel and Nathalie are playing checkers, and Marinette is playing chutes and ladders (and Adrien is just off to the side watching eveyone play).

In this AU, Alya originally believes Lila's lies, but since Marinette revealed her identity to Alya, it broke the effect Lila's powers had on Alya. Basically, a lot of the stuff Lila pulls happens way earlier, but this time Alya is aware of whats going on and exposes her lies (which should have happened in the show)

And that's that! Coming up with a bunch of ideas on the fly and writing them down was a lot more fun then I thought it would be, so if I make another original post it will either be me dragging a certain fandom for it's decades worth of racism (not miraculous, Harriyanna has her work cut out already doing that. Also the fandom I am talking about is way more blatant about it) or it will be me posting more unhinged ideas about this AU!!!

Thank you all for liking this!

[artzychic27]

If the Art Club was basically the Addams Family

They’re morbid, have a dark sense of humor, are never seen without black, and spiders hide in their hair

Nathaniel: Gomez Addams

Always has this sinister smirk that screams, ‘I will murder you in your sleep.’

Gets excited when his boyfriend speaks Spanish

Marc: Normal people. Tan extraño.

Nathaniel: Monochrome, you know how I get when you speak Spanish! *Kisses his arm*

Never seen without his black blazer

Sharpens the ends of his paintbrushes so they can be used as knives... No reason, just does it

Blood Red and Death Row Black are his favorite colors

A true romantic

Makes passionate love with Marc at least four times a day

Nathaniel: My monochromic nightmare. Stab my heart a thousand times and I will be yours until death do we part!

Marc: I’ll got get my dagger.

Nathaniel: Will it be painful?

Marc: So much.

Marc: Morticia Addams

Wears tight black outfits

Cuts the buds off of flowers

Marc: Ugh. *Cutting up roses* Who in their right mind would plant these?

Weirded out by normal people

Marc: Nathan. That child is smiling at me. Almost as if he were... Happy.

Nathaniel: Monochrome, look away. *Shields Marc’s eyes*

Writes morbid poetry and eulogies

When Mendelive asked him to a say a prayer for their dead class hamster, this is what he said-

Marc: Come, sorrow; we welcome thee. Let us join in grief, rejoice in despair, and honor the fortunate dead.

Cut to the students and teacher backed into a corner far away from him

Encourages his friends torturing people they despise

Marc: Alix, what are you doing with that bow and arrow?

Alix: I’m gonna shoot Kim when he’s not looking.

Marc: Well that one is much too old and worn out. *Hands Alix a crossbow* There you go.

Marinette: Wednesday Addams

Marinette: I'm just like any modern girl trying to have it all. It's just, I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.

Says many “disturbing” things about how to kill people

Marinette: When burrying someone alive, it’s best to staple the casket shut. They still might have the strength to try and escape

Mme. Bustier won’t call on her during class anymore

Marinette: We should be learning more important things, like how many people were decapitated during the French Revolution.

Adrien developed a small crush on her after she held a crossbow to his face

After learning that from Alya, she started leaving spiders and dead roses in his backpack

Nino: Dude! She put spiders and dead flowers in your bag!

Adrien: *Sighs* Yeah, isn’t she sweet?

Chloé or Lila: Why are you dressed like someone died?

Marinette: No one I know died today, but I’m sure I can make arrangements for your two

Still sews. Her outfits are just more gothic

Adrien: *Staring at Marinette as she walks into class wearing a black dress with red bats and skulls embroidered on the hem* She’s an absolute angel.

Enjoys torturing people she doesn’t like.

Marinette: Lila, I’m not stuck in here with you. You’re stuck in here with me.

Alix: Pugsley Addams

When she first started school: So these are the gates of hell.

Has a habit of pranking her classmates

Often, her pranks need correcting to make sure she gets a much better effect

Marinette: Alix, if you wanna make someone fall down the stairs, you gotta oil the stairs first so there’s no chance of them regaining their composure.

Alix: *Facepalms* Damn it! Of course!

Has broken the law more than ten times. Now she’s no longer welcome in Germany.

Steals street signs to hang in her room and records the sound of cars crashing on her phone

Watches emergency room mishaps at max volume so everyone can hear the cries of anguish

Myléne: What are you watching?

Alix: A doctor cut out the wrong organ! Haha!

Juleka: Grandma Addams

Training to be a witch

Trying to mix magic with music

Juleka: *Writing in her spell/song book* What rhymes with disaster?

Doesn’t show up on film at all. She’s not a vampire, because she was seen eating garlic pizza

Like Marc, she’s also disgusted by normal people

Juleka: Why must there be a fair today? All of these happy people filled with excitement and *shudders* cotton candy.

Once tried to curse Chloé. The next day, she came to school with horrible acne.

Drinks a nice tall glass of snake venom every day with her brother.

Luka is currently dueling with Adrien for Marinette’s future hand in marriage... Her actual hand.

Always trying to buy people’s souls

Rose: Fester Addams

Behind that smile, she’s wondering how and when you’ll die

Has a purse full of explosives

Hides land mines all around the school and often forgets where she hides them

Luckily manages to avoid them

Rose: *Hears an explosion* Oh. I forgot I put one there.

Prefers Grimm’s Fairytales over Disney for many reasons

Marc: *As Rose plants a land mine in the courtyard* Rose, what’s wrong? You usually plant your mines with more vigor.

Nathaniel: Oh, Monochrome, it was dreadful. Mme. Bustier made us watch Sleeping Beauty. And that awful prince slayed the dragon.

Marc: What?! How could that woman force underage children to watch such violence?!

She and Juleka aren’t as affectionate as Marc and Nathaniel, but they’re always showing their love by carving romantic messages into skulls

Alya: Where’d you even find those?

Rose: Graveyard. No one was using them

[e-milieeee]

hey cutea

Summary: In which Marinette brings Adrien to a bubble tea shop only to witness him order the most unappetizing flavour on the menu.

All’s well until Chat Noir does the exact same, and Ladybug makes an unsuspecting connection.

Tikki is also very unamused. If only they’d stop dancing around each other.

Notes: a month of procrastinating, the boba reveal,,, is finally here for day 1: cafe of @auyeahaugust! also for @buggachat because kelly started this with a drawing of an adrienette boba date and i spiralled :’) 

Word Count: 6.2k

AO3

The shop is called Thirstea, a pun which makes Adrien laugh for a whole thirty seconds as he stares at the storefront.

“Seriously,” Marinette is saying as he pushes the door open for her. “You’ve seriously never had boba? At all?”

Adrien shifts his backpack. He’s hit with the smell of something sweet—foreign, as well, but it’s pleasant enough—and the sight of a bustling interior. A small line has already formed, so Marinette tugs him aside and points at the large menu displayed on a colorful board behind the cashier.

“You can decide on which flavour you want,” she tells him.

Adrien peers up at the board. There’s so many to choose from—hundreds, even—from milk tea to fruit tea to mixed flavours and smoothies and…

His head is spinning when he turns back to Marinette. “Do you have any recommendations?” Because I have absolutely no clue. “What do you usually get?”

She tilts her head. “I have five go-tos. Roasted milk tea is a classic, but the honeydew milk tea is pretty good as well if I want something fruity. If I want something lighter, I’ll get a fruit tea—I like lychee black tea. Uh… there’s also the real fruit bobas, and I usually get taro. Oh! And the matcha latte is one of their best. And I usually get it with tapioca, but if you want to be healthier, grass jelly or aloe vera both taste pretty good. But I mean, it is your first time here and you should probably try getting tapioca just to see if you like it. And brown sugar milk tea, but they said they ran out today…”

The words go in one ear and out another, because Adrien is too busy staring at the way she talks: enthusiasm shining in her eyes, the way she waves her hands in the smallest, cutest gestures to make her point, and…

“Adrien?” Marinette tilts her head. “Um, have you decided? Or do you need more time? Because that’s completely alright too.”

In a panic, he nods and blurts, “I’ve decided!”

She nods sagely, and they enter the line. Adrien has not yet in fact decided.

He continues to stare at the menu from the corner of his eyes, going through all the categories until he settles on real fruit smoothie. Adrien goes through the list: watermelon, strawberry, mango, peach, blueberry, raspberry, winter melon—

“What would you like to order?”

Adrien snaps back into reality. He is not ready to order.

Oblivious to his conundrum, Marinette smiles at the cashier and fetches her wallet out of her backup. “I’m paying for us both!” she tells the girl cheerily. “I’ll have a peach green tea with half ice and thirty percent sugar. With tapioca.”

Adrien gawks at her order. She’d lost him after peach green tea—is he supposed to order like that too?

“Adrien?” Marinette prompts, now waiting for the order that he does not have.

He squints at the menu again, hoping his panic isn’t visible on his face. He scans them. Watermelon. Strawberry. Mango. Peach. Blueberry. Raspberry. Winter melon. Durian.

Durian.

“Durian,” he settles.

Marinette’s mouth quite literally drops open.

He’s not too certain what’s that surprising about his order—is it the wrong thing to order? Perhaps it doesn’t exist on the menu and he’d hallucinated it. A double-check later and the word is still clearly imprinted underneath winter melon. “Marinette?” Adrien asks carefully. “Um, I’m not too sure about the sugar and ice—which do you usually choose?”

She finally snaps her mouth shut.  “Durian?” Marinette echoes at last, ignoring his question.“Ah, are you certain about that?”

Adrien nods. “I can still add the pearls—the tapioca in, right?”

“Yeah,” she agrees absentmindedly, “but—durian?”

Adrien takes another peek at the menu. “The real fruit smoothie, right?”

“Have you… tried durian?” “When I was younger, once. Have you?”

Marinette swallows, and Adrien waits for her verdict, concerned. He’s honestly baffled why she’s so confused about his choice, but a moment later, Marinette squares her shoulders and gives the cashier a smile, this time slightly shaky. “And a durian smoothie with tapioca for him. Um, sugar and ice levels?”

Adrien has no clue what to ask for, so he tries, “The standard one for both...?”

Apparently that’s an acceptable answer because the cashier nods and jots down his order on a small notepad. Marinette pays, and they wait at the side for their order.

Marinette has gone quiet. She sorts through her bag for a little while, and Adrien waits in apprehensive silence. There’s quiet jazz music playing in the background and it makes him feel like he’s in an elevator. It’s becoming unbearably awkward.

Finally, Marinette lifts her eyes to look at him. “Sorry about that,” she apologizes. “I just… didn’t know you liked durian.”

“Oh.” He sounds equally awkward. “I liked the fruit the last time I had it which was about two years ago. Do you not like it?”

Her nose wrinkles. It’s cute. Wait, what?

“My mom really likes durian,” Marinette is explaining, and she motions with her hands again. “Apparently her hometown back in China had a dessert store that sold durian pastries and she had this brilliant idea of making them for Chinese New Year a couple months ago and the whole bakery reeked of durian and I could smell it all the way up into my room—” She clamps a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I forgot you liked it.”

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry,” he replies, flustered. Marinette has a habit of saying a lot in very little time and it doesn’t help that he gets easily distracted by her movements. “I didn’t realize durian was so… controversial. I hope it won’t make you uncomfortable or something with the smell.”

“I guess it’s not that popular here,” she replies with a shrug. “But my mom did say that people either hate or love durian. And the smell’s fine. I don’t like it, but once you spend a week with it stinking up your room, you kind of develop immunity.”

Just then, the waitress behind the counter sets down their two drinks. “For Marinette?” she calls.

Marinette takes the bag with a quick thank you, grabs two straws, and then returns to Adrien. She holds up their drinks.

Adrien takes the cup from her extended hand. The durian smoothie is a creamy white, and the black tapioca bubbles sit at the very bottom. He follows her movements as she shakes her cup then stabs a straw into it.

He can see Marinette eying him in his periphery as he raises the straw to his lips and takes a sip. The drink is cold and sweet and has a rich taste that explodes on his tongue in a plethora of flavours, and Adrien decides he likes it. He really likes it.

“So?” Marinette asks. Adrien wonders if she knows how skeptical her expression is. “Do you… like it?”

He chews on one of the pieces of tapioca. “Yes. Yeah, this is really great.”

The skepticism doesn’t disappear from her face, but she raises her boba to his. “Cheers,” Marinette says weakly.

***

On a good day, a cup of boba has two hundred fifty calories when the tapioca is replaced by grass jelly and the sugar level is brought to less than half. On a bad day, if her sweet tooth demands regular sweetness and tapioca, it can be driven up to seven hundred calories.

It’s why Marinette has begrudgingly limited herself—for the sake of her wallet and health—to only drink boba once a week.

And it’s why she and Chat Noir, decked in hoodies and track pants in an attempt to look normal, are lined up underneath the blazing sun at Thirstea.

Their disguises don’t do much, because a crowd has formed around them. First there are whispers of is that Ladybug and Chat Noir, then a girl summons up her courage to ask for a selfie, and finally, the press starts driving in. By the time that happens, they have luckily made it inside the shop, where the air-conditioning blasts out on the highest setting.

Another snap of the camera. Chat Noir is staring pensively at the menu when a thought hits Ladybug. “Have you ever had boba before?” she asks him.

He nods absentmindedly, still looking. Everyone in line is whispering or peering at them, and Ladybug sees a phone held up in the back, most likely recording.

They make it to the counter when Nadja Chamack and her team, armed with cameras and microphones, invades the shop. The girl at the register looks slightly overwhelmed and a little alarmed, but she doesn’t tell the press to leave.

“Ladybug!” Nadja calls. “You’ve been photographed once or twice coming to this shop in the past month—is this your favourite bubble tea shop?”

“Yup!” she replies.

“What’s your go-to order?”

“Depends on the day.” Ladybug turns back to the cashier, leaving Chat to deal with the press. He has the uncanny ability to drag on a brief topic for an unsolicitedly long amount of time. “I’ll have an original milk tea with tapioca,” she tells the cashier. “Regular ice and seventy percent sugar.”

The girl looks a little starstruck, but she jots down the order. With a tug on Chat’s tail, he turns around from entertaining the press to place his own order.

“One durian smoothie, please!” he chirps, chipper as always.

Ladybug chokes on air.

The girl taking their order also seems taken aback, but her recovery time is much quicker than Ladybug’s. Instead, offering him a quick, slightly strained smile, she jots his order down. “Is that all, then?”

Chat takes the chance to pay for both of their orders while she’s caught in her confusion. By the time Ladybug snaps back to her senses, it’s too late—Chat is already pulling aside to wait for their bobas to finish. Nadja and her crew take the chance to start their questions again.

“Chat Noir,” Nadja addresses when it’s clear Ladybug’s still out of commission. “If I heard you right, you chose a durian smoothie?”

He gives a nod so proud that Ladybug swears she dies a little inside.

“Could you tell us why? From what I know, durian is a well-debated fruit. Many people love it, but many also cannot stand the smell.”

Chat ponders the question thoughtfully. “The smell is rather funny,” he finally replies. “But I like the flavour! It has a very rich texture as well, and tastes pretty different from the smell, so it doesn’t actually taste bad.”

“Ladybug?” Nadja gestures for the cameras to face her. “What are your thoughts on durian?”

She’s too busy thinking about Adrien Agreste raising his cup of boba to bump against hers—a durian smoothie—and his casual enthusiasm for the fruit that Nadja’s words don’t even click in her brain. Who would’ve expected Chat Noir to have the same (terrible) taste as her crush? The coincidence leaves her feeling disjointed.

“Uh… Ladybug?” Chat waves his hand in front of her. “Are you okay?”

She finally snaps out of her reverie long enough to scramble for a response. Ladybug manages a sheepish smile in Nadja’s direction. “I’m doing fine, thank you.”

Chat frowns. “Ladybug, that wasn’t her question—”

Before either of them can say anything more, the girl making the drinks pops her head out from the counter. “Your drinks!” she says, then beams at both of them. “Here’s a buy-one-get-one free coupon! Please come by often!”

Chat’s eyes glimmer when he accepts his durian smoothie. Ladybug takes her own with much less enthusiasm. Focus is hard enough with the snap of Nadja’s cameras and the chaos all around them—the fact that an even larger crowd has gathered outside Thirstea in order to catch a glimpse of their favourite superheroes makes it worse. It’s all too much to take in, and Ladybug’s brain is still stuck on Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir and durian smoothies.

“We’re going to take off,” Chat tells Nadja, then waves at the camera. “See you guys around! Come on, LB.”

She allows him to drag her out of the store, then with a flick of his baton and a snap of her yo-yo they’re swinging off, bobas in hand and the rest of Paris watching them go.

But Ladybug isn’t thinking about them at all.

When they finally settle down somewhere secluded, Chat immediately stabs his straw through the top of his drink and takes an obnoxiously loud slurp. Ladybug can smell the scent of durian from where she’s sitting, and instinctively, she wrinkles her nose and shifts away. She pokes her straw into her own drink, still staring off at the distance.

A coincidence, yeah. Her crush and her partner both have awful taste in bubble tea flavours. It’s nothing but a coincidence.

“Are you going to drink yours?” Chat is asking, still slurping obliviously. “I wanna try your flavour.”

He makes a grab for her drink, and Ladybug ducks away. “Your breath smells like durian. You can’t drink from my straw.”

“Hey! Let me try!”

For a little while Chat wrestles for her drink, nearly spilling his own in the process. In the end he snatches out from her fingers, laughing raucously. Ladybug is giggling as well, forgetting about her predicament for the moment. This is what she’s used to; their routine of banter and playfulness that’s easy—it’s straightforward. Not confusing.

That snaps her right back to the problem. Chat sips her drink, smacking his lips in a purposefully annoying way, and makes his verdict. “Not bad. I like mine better. Wanna try?”

Ladybug shakes her head and reclaims her drink. As casually as possible, she asks, “Do you get boba often?”

“Mm, no. This is actually the second time I’ve gotten the drink.” He swirls his straw around. “Honestly, with all the percentages you give for the sugar and the ice, I’m not too sure what to say. My friend took me to get boba a little while ago, so…durian is actually the only flavour I’ve ever tried.”

A casual dump of information, information that really wouldn’t have meant anything. It’s vague enough that any other person wouldn’t have made any sort of connection; it’s the information they often share between each other.

Except for the fact that she—Ladybug, Marinette—might be the friend in question. And Chat Noir—Chat Noir is…

She stares across the building, where an ad of Adrien, the Fragrance is displayed.

No way.

“Um,” Ladybug stammers. “Your friend took you out for boba because you’ve never had it before?”

He’s painfully oblivious to her panic. “Yeah, about a week ago. You know, it’s pretty funny because she had a similar reaction to you when I ordered the durian smoothie. Apparently she hates the smell too.”

“Your friend?” Ladybug echoes.

“Yeah, my friend. Are you okay, m’lady?”

Can’t really breathe properly, so I’m not really okay, but youcan’tknowandIdon’treallyknowwhat’sgoingonrightnow—

“I, um, just realized I have something to do,” Ladybug stammers out, because it’s the only thing she can think of saying. She flails, but somehow manages to get to her feet. “Uh—uh, do you want my milk tea? I can’t swing around very well if I’m holding it because it might get on my suit and my hair—oh my God, my hair! I got ice cream once and tried to eat it while going around Paris on my yo-yo and it went so badly and honestly I feel like the bubble tea will do the same so you can drink mine too since I can just get another one by myself soon but I really gotta run—”

She all but shoves the cup into his confused hands. It’s a whole miracle Chat doesn’t drop it then and there, just like it’s a miracle Ladybug hasn’t screamed or slipped up or promptly tripped over air and simply… lay there crying.

“Ladybug–” she hears him call, but it’s interrupted by the zing of her yo-yo.

She takes off as fast as possible.

Marinette has never been so hasty in detransforming, but as she slips through the rooftop back into her room, she’s already calling Tikki out before she touches down onto her bed. She slams onto pillows and the soft mattress in her regular clothing, buries her face into the nearest cushion, and screams.

She really doesn’t deserve Tikki’s patience, but her kwami stays beside her and pats her with tiny paws until Marinette’s throat is hoarse and she has more or less yelled the remaining cinders of her panic and confusion into her pillow.

When Marinette finally raises her head to look at Tikki, her kwami has her hands on her hips. “Well?” she asks. “I didn’t want to interrupt your breakdown, but now that you’re through, can you tell me what it’s about?”

Marinette thinks about the cup of boba and the boy she’d left back on the roof. Then the one that sits in front of her in class, with the same shade of blonde hair and emerald eyes, both ordering durian boba.

“I think Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste,” she tells Tikki weakly.

Tikki has a scarily-good poker face. “Have you now,” she replies with calmness Marinette is incapable of. “And why do you think so?”

“Because—because—because they both like durian!” It comes out as a distressed wail.

Tikki ponders the question. Then replies, “I see.”

It’s such an awfully vague response that Marinette is tempted to bury her face into her pillow to scream some more. But she doesn’t, instead pulling out her notebook from the stand and a pencil. “I’m going to draw a venn diagram,” she announces with newfound determination. “I might just be jumping to a conclusion too quickly. And—and there was that one time when Chat was there but Adrien was too, right? When Gorizilla attacked?”

“Right,” Tikki agrees. “But you also did a similar trick with Multimouse and the fox Miraculous, so…”

“Chat didn’t have the fox or mouse Miraculous. Anyway… they both have blonde hair and green eyes.”

She puts that in the similar column. She thinks about it for a couple seconds more, and writes “composed” in Adrien’s column and “a mess” in Chat’s.

“Oh, come on.” Tikki flits closer. “You know very well Adrien isn’t as composed as you make him out to be. The only reason you don’t recognize it is because you’re even worse around him.”

Marinette stubbornly keeps those two where they are, even if she knows deep down that Tikki is right. For a while, she goes on making her list, with Tikki criticizing almost every decision she makes. Adrien Agreste has neat hair, a polite smile, the best grades in class and manners that would woo anyone’s parents. Chat Noir’s hair is messy and untamed, his smile is almost always accompanied with a raucous laugh and shutting up isn’t in his vocabulary. He steals food and drinks and everything he can from her whenever she brings it.

She scribbles and erases and thinks and stresses, getting a week’s worth of confusion down and then some.

“Marinette,” Tikki finally advises when Marinette has run out of ink. “Why don’t you just ask Adrien tomorrow at school subtly about it? If he didn’t mind telling Ladybug he went out for boba with Marinette, he probably wouldn't have qualms telling Marinette about getting boba with Ladybug. It’s not as if your identities need to remain a secret anymore.”

Ask Adrien.

Ask Adrien.

Sure, they’re on good terms now. They’re friends. Marinette’s crush has faded into a more manageable level, and she can talk to him without her voice rising an octave higher than its usual key. She hasn’t tripped and fallen on her face in front of him for at least two weeks.

But this—with the possibility that Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir? To think she’d waxed poetic about Chat Noir to Tikki every night for months? It’s unspeakably insane to think about, and she doesn’t have the courage and probably never will but Marinette thinks she’s genuinely going to die if she doesn’t get closure—

“Okay,” she agrees at last, because it’s the only logical answer.

***

Adrien is the one who comes to find Marinette before she can go find him.

“Hey!” he calls from behind her.

In a quite frankly astonishing display of improvement, Marinette doesn’t scream or fall on her face, even if she does freeze for a good couple seconds too long.

“Uh… Marinette?” Adrien taps her shoulder. “I wanted to return the physics notes to you. You gave me your notebook from last time because I missed the class. Here.”

She takes the notes from him, movements stiff. A million words to say come piling from her throat, but they stick to the top of her mouth drily and none make it past her lips.

Adrien Agreste. Chat Noir. They’re the same person? How can they be the same person? Is it just a huge coincidence? Who is Chat Noir? Who am I, even?

Before she can work herself into more of a panic, Marinette gives him a forced smile, hugging her notebook to her chest. “Thanks!” she shrieks. “I gotta—I gotta run. See you around!”

She trips over air on her way out, face beetroot.

***

“Listen,” Tikki whispers to her, munching on her cookie as Marinette locks herself in a stall of the girls’ washroom. “You gotta do it. Just… just don’t think that he’s Adrien Agreste. I heard imagining people as potatoes helps with stage fright?”

Marinette lets out a distressed noise. “Stage fright isn’t my problem, though!”

“Adrien fright? If you ask me, it’s pretty similar. Anyway, just ask him if he’s had bubble tea recently or something! You don’t know until you try. It won’t be that bad. What’s the worst case scenario?”

“That you-know-who turns out to be you-know-who!”

“We did not decide on these codenames.”

“Yeah, but what if someone hears—”

Tikki interrupts her by giving her a little pinch. “Calm down, Marinette! It’ll be fine. Besides, is it really that big of a problem if it’s true?”

No, it isn’t. Marinette has thought long and hard about it last night, lying awake on her bed, unable to sleep because of the heat and turbulent thoughts and theories all mixing together. Would it be a bad thing, if Chat turned out to be Adrien? No—she could think of a thousand more worse people for Chat to be, and if she were to be perfectly honest, no better person than Adrien. But at the same time, it’s overwhelming in the strangest way: the sort that sends her heartbeat spiking, thoughts scattering, stomach turning in a not-quite-unpleasant way.

Marinette really doesn’t know what to think about it, and that’s the scariest part.

“Okay.” Tikki interrupts her train of thought. “We should probably get going before you’re late for class. If you hurry, you can probably ask Adrien about it before the bell goes off.”

Marinette steels her back. “Okay,” she grinds out with wavering determination. “Okay, I’m gonna do it.”

Tikki lets out a squeak of Attagirl! before diving back into her purse. Marinette marches out of the stall, down the hallway, and into the classroom.

She really hates the way her throat still closes up when she scans the room and her eyes land on Adrien. All of a sudden, she’s reverted to herself months ago, when her crush on him had reached its peak; when she’d been a jumble of frayed nerves and blabbering and hand motions violent enough to whack any bystander that wandered too close.

No, Marinette tells herself firmly. No freaking out. No stuttering. I’m past that.

“Adrien,” she calls, and he turns away from his conversation with Nino.

“Hey!” his smile is a thousand watts too bright. “We were just talking about you. Nino said he’s never tried boba as well.”

The word boba nearly has her choking on spit. “Cool,” Marinette manages out. “That’s very… cool.”

Nino’s eyebrows furrow. “You okay?”

“Fine! Th-that’s great you want to introduce Nino to boba as well! I’m glad to hear you liked the drink.”

Marinette’s well aware that she sounds like a buffering tape-recorder right now. She marches to her desk, sits down just as stiffly, and pinches herself on the arm, out of Adrien and Nino’s sight. Alya has yet to arrive—it’s now or never, Marinette knows. The longer she waits, the more nervous she’ll make herself, and the harder it’ll be. So…

“Adrien!” she blurts out again, voice too loud. Even Rose and Juleka leave their conversation briefly to glance at her.

He’s good-natured as ever when he turns to her, and Marinette is struck with another wave of trepidation. It’s all too sudden. It’s all too much. She takes a deep breath, mind turning to absolute mush, and somehow stammers out, “Have you gotten boba since that one time?”

She really can’t blame him for looking so confused at her question, but to Adrien’s credit, he regains his composure rather quickly. The bewilderment on his face quickly shifts to mild curiosity.

“Yeah,” he replies. “I actually went yesterday with a friend. Thank you for introducing me! I’ll probably go more often now if I find the time.”

Marinette’s mouth is dry. Her hands are sweaty. Her head feels like it’s going to explode. Her heart has moved to her throat and she’s positive that it’s going to stop beating any moment now.

“Oh.” It’s the only noise Marinette feels mentally capable of forming. Sentences are hard. Speaking is impossible. “Um, yesterday?”

“Yeah, it was pretty hot yesterday. I went to Thirstea, actually!” He scratches the back of his neck. “I mean, it’s the only boba shop I know at the moment so it doesn’t really mean anything, but… my friend who I went with really liked it too, so I think I’ll stick to Thirstea for now. Until I try all the flavours I want.”

Amidst her own confusion, Marinette somehow manages to think, if you wanted to try all the flavours you wanted why did you get durian again yesterday? It’s second nature: if the boy in front of her is Chat Noir—a fact that, despite the inconclusive results given by her venn diagram, is becoming more and more clear—then Marinette can’t help but want to tease him back.

Except if Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir and Chat Noir is Adrien… God. She’s just going in circles and getting nowhere closer to the final destination.

It doesn’t even hit Marinette that she hasn’t responded to Adrien and that’s why he’s staring at her so apprehensively. The shrill ringing of the bell startles all the class back into their seats, Adrien included, who shoots her a small smile before turning back around.

The rest of the period finds Marinette unable to pay the slightest bit attention. Mme. Bustier’s words travel in one ear, out the other, all muted static compared to the main problem at hand.

And a problem it is. She looks at Adrien’s golden head in front of her, imagining the flicker of black ears. If she reached down and mussed his hair up, it would look like Chat’s. They’re the same height too, to think of it. All the differences she had listed on her venn diagram seem to melt away, until Marinette is faced with one terrible, wonderful, conclusion.

***

She doesn’t confront Adrien about anything after the first period ends, nor does she at lunch, nor after. It’s too overwhelming to think of, but it hardly seems fair to keep him in the dark. When she asks Tikki to confirm at lunch, the only thing her kwami does is shrug with an indecipherable expression on her face—Marinette takes it as a verification.

But it’s a different story after school. By then, Marinette has made up her mind.

Her first stop is Thirstea. It’s not as sweltering as it were the day before, even if she has to wipe the sweat from her forehead after waiting fifteen minutes outside. The store isn’t as bustling now that Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t there, so Marinette takes advantage of the peace to calm her thoughts. They have patrol in thirty minutes; she has thirty minutes to gather her thoughts and figure out how she’s going to come through with this. But is thirty minutes really going to help? She’s had the whole day alone to her thoughts, and, like it or not, she’s barely gotten anywhere.

When she finally gets her order—a fruit tea for herself, a durian smoothie for Chat Noir—Adrien Agreste—there’s only twenty three minutes to go.

Marinette transforms into Ladybug, hidden in an alley, and goes to wait for her partner to show up on the rooftop they agreed to. Then, once she’s reached the rooftop, she calls off her transformation.

The boba is still cold in her bag, so she wraps her hand around them to fend off the blistering heat from the sun. It’s uncomfortable, waiting like this, but physical discomfort is still better than working up a storm in her own thoughts, which Marinette is trying to distance herself from. They come in waves of stress, anxiousness, uncertainty, and fear. But she has to do this.

Her mood must’ve been evident enough for Tikki to feel, even though her kwami has slipped inside her purse to give her thoughts some space. She pokes her head out.

“Marinette,” Tikki says, a hint of concern in her tone. “You don’t have to do this now if you’re not ready, you know. Chat Noir will understand.”

Marinette, having resorted to biting her nails—she must be really nervous, because that’s a habit she’d gotten rid of years ago—shakes her head. “I can’t keep pushing it back. It’s one thing not revealing each other’s identities, but now that I know… I can’t just… not tell him. It’s not possibly fair, not when he’s waited for so long.”

“...are you happy that it’s Adrien?” This question is more tentative, quieter.

Marinette props her chin in her hands and stares at the skyline. Is she happy that it’s Adrien?

“Yeah,” she replies. “Yeah, I am.”

***

Chat Noir vaults over onto the roof, and he’s six minutes early. Marinette sees him before he sees her; she watches him look around for a couple of seconds, slightly confused.

She takes a deep breath and steps out of the shade of the door. “Chat Noir!” she calls.

He jumps around. “M’lady, you—”

His voice trails off. “M-marinette? I—uh, hi! I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I was actually going to find Ladybug but I might’ve gotten the wrong building! What—what, uh, are you doing up here?”

After a day of planning out the words to say, it’s rather funny how she can’t even form a semblance of the sentences she’s thought up.

It’s also a miracle in and of itself that she doesn’t stutter, panic, or go absolutely speechless. Even if her script lays lost and forgotten in the back of her head, Marinette says in a surprisingly steady voice, “I was actually waiting for you.”

Chat Noir doesn’t move from where he’s standing, so she heads towards him. “Did… Ladybug tell you I was going to be here?”

“Uhmh,” is the noise that makes its way out of Marinette’s mouth. She clears her throat and tries again. “I brought you boba because it’s hot today,” she explains. “I also wanted to talk to you.”

She sees it behind his eyes; questions, confusion, but most importantly, the beginning notes of a realization.

“Wait.” He doesn’t budge from his spot, eying her cautiously. “What do you want to talk about?”

“About the fact that you’re probably Adrien Agreste?”

Even the air, laden with the heat of the day, seems to still between them. Marinette looks up at him, and his reaction is the only confirmation she needs that she is indeed right.

Chat Noir’s reaction is less loud than she had expected. It’s shock, probably, the stage that Marinette has been stuck in for the good part of the day, because he still remains frozen. Then, in a shaky uncertain voice, he asks, “Ladybug?”

Her next breath escapes her in the form of a huff, a half-choked laugh. “We’re idiots.”

His lips lift into a wavering smile. “What.”

And then Marinette is laughing, because it’s so stupid. All the pent-up emotions come tumbling out uncontrollably and she’s laughing and laughing, doubling over and clutching at her stomach and nearly dropping her bag of their boba drinks.

Through her own giggles, she hears Chat mumble, “Oh my God,” and the way he says it makes everything all the more hilarious.

When Marinette finally gathers herself enough to straighten, she’s wiping tears from her eyes. Chat Noir is watching her, although his expression has softened into something that looks suspiciously close to fondness.

“Is this why you asked me about boba this morning?” he questions. “If I’d gone to get it with a friend?”

Marinette gives her eyes one last wipe. “Yeah. I just—when you ordered durian boba yesterday and all that you said—it was too suspicious for me to ignore.”

“Oh.” He tugs his hands through his hair—messy golden hair, how hadn’t she noticed how similar Chat and Adrien always were?—and lets out another groan. “Oh. I’m dumb.”

“You could’ve been any other person if I hadn’t been, well, me,” Marinette points out. “Tikki told me it’s due time, anyway. But yes, you’re dumb. So am I.”

“My identity got exposed because I ordered a durian smoothie?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“Oh my God.”

She’s beginning to see why Tikki had found it endlessly amusing watching her panic. Instead of further antagonizing Chat, Marinette reaches into her bag to take out his durian smoothie. She stuffs it into his arms, and he’s too confused to do anything but accept the drink and the straw it comes with.

“Don’t worry,” she reassures him before she can stop herself. “I won’t tell anyone that number one model Adrien Agreste runs around Paris in a leather catsuit. My lips are sealed.”

The moment the words leave Marineette’s mouth, she feels her face heat up. It’s one thing to tease him before, now it feels like she’s treading on the edge of a cliff with a long, long drop. He’s still her partner, but there’s another aspect that they will figure out—with time, undoubtedly—and now is too soon to push it so much.

To her relief, Chat Noir’s face lights up, and a much wider smile slips across his face. “I’m still in shock, you know,” he tells her. If that’s his in-shock voice, then Marinette is thoroughly impressed. “But thank you. My father might have a bone to pick with this outfit if he ever found out.”

Relief is cool against the heat. “Your father won’t be the only one with the bone to pick with you,” she replies. “The bell is quite a… bold statement.”

He laughs once more. “I happen to like the bell the best, so I don’t know what your problem is.”

He has no business to smile so brightly like that, Marinette thinks to herself. In front of her is the boy she’s turned down countless times—the same one she would wax lyrical to Tikki every night before bed. God, what a coincidence. Or really, what a stroke of luck.

She’s jolted from her thoughts when Chat stabs his straw into his durian smoothie with a loud pop.

“Do you want to talk?” Marinette offers. “Somewhere shadier, that is? You probably have a lot of questions. I know I do.”

Chat nods. “Yeah. Yeah, that would work.”

She starts towards the small door on the rooftop, then stops when she realizes that Chat hasn’t been following her. Instead, his gaze is fixed thoughtfully on his drink, like he’s contemplating something important.

“Chat?” Marinette prompts. “Hey, are you okay?”

Then his face brightens. “I’m taro-bly sorry,” he says. “I just got distracted because you’re such a cu-tea.”

Marinette’s jaw drops open. It’s not that she’s particularly surprised by the pun, given his penchant for dropping them at the most terrible (taro-ble?) of moments, but she had half the mind to believe she’d permanently shocked the humour out of Chat Noir. Moreover, the fact that it’s Adrien Agreste saying these so casually is still new to her.

The grin he gives her is absolutely shit-eating, yet somehow, it works perfectly in her mind on Chat’s face as it does on Adrien’s. It also snaps her out of her reverie.

“Now my head is going to explode,” Marinette grumbles. “C’mon, cat-boy. We have a lot to discuss.”

He catches up with her with a quick jog, still slurping out of his boba. “I’m glad it’s you,” he tells her when they fall side-by-side. “In case you didn’t know.”

Marinette hides her grin behind her own drink, but she thinks Chat catches it nonetheless. “Me too,” she tells him. “Even if you have terrible taste in boba.”

“We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have terrible taste,” he points out, and they both share a laugh. 

Notes: Here’s my fics masterlist!