#i DO love ladybug and chat i PROMISE

[eyepatchdate]

i enjoy the main characters of miraculous too, i promise, and the plotlines etc.  i just only post about gabriel. hes my brand.

[carpetbug]

ml sketch dump ft my poor attempt to draw plagg and another au i may have in the works

[soullessjack]

im probably never going to get into miraculous but i truly think jack and adrien could bond over being objectively interesting characters who are constantly reduced to cannon fodder slash prize money for another character because the writing sucks and the fandom sucks harder

[dumbass-brunette]

Is anyone interested in writing a fic? Hit me up if it becomes a fic guys

online enemies to lovers adrino au. theyre both in the SharkTank VS MechaTiger fandom. Adrien is a salter who is there for some reason and Nino is an unironic enjoyer. Adrien writes fix-it fics where SharkTank and MechaTiger DO NOT KISS and it pissed Nino off and makes him think Adrien is just anti-love or something. In actuality Adrien is just really bothered by these robots being forced to show physical affection (WITHOUT LIPS!!) when in fact he believes their love transcends the need to mimic human sexual intimacy. they eventually come to an understanding and fall in love w each other. is this anything do any of you understand

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Pick One: Magical Girl Show or Rom-com. You cannot be both.

Early in season four we get the episode Gang of Secrets. An episode that ends with Marinette outing her secret identity to Alya. A touching moment that sparked outrage across the fandom because it meant that Marinette had made the choice to reveal her identity to her best friend while keeping her hero partner in the dark.

This choice spat in the face of the exceptions that many fans had for the series. Thousands of pre-season-four fanfics feature moments where Ladybug and Chat Noir promise each other that they'll be the first to know each other's identities. After the Alya reveal, scores of fanfics were written to salt on Marinette's choice to tell the "wrong" person.

Most of these fics feature a betrayed Chat Noir quitting or otherwise punishing Ladybug for breaking their promise to be each other's first, thereby destroying his faith in their partnership. But that promise was never made on screen. It only existed in the realms of fanfic and, when Chat Noir finally found out in canon, his reaction was largely neutral. He never once blamed Ladybug for her choice or pushed for a reveal or even asked for the right to tell one of his friends.

So what happened here? Why did the fans have such wildly unrealistic expectations of canon? Were their expectations even unrealistic or did canon betray them? The answer to that is not as straight forward as you might think because it all comes back to one of Miraculous' many, many, many writing problems: Miraculous is trying to be both a Magical Girl Show and a romantic comedy, but those are not genres that mesh. You can only be one (or you can be a third thing that we'll get to at the end as it's the easiest way to fix this mess, but I want to mostly focus on where the anger is coming from and why the writing is to blame.)

To discuss this mismatch, we're going to do something that breaks my heart and talk about some of Origins flaws. While I love that episode and unironically refer to it as the best writing the show ever gave us, it's not perfect and its flaws are all focused around trying to set up both genres. Do note that I'm going to use a lot of gender binary language here as magical girl shows have a strong focus on gender segregation and rarely if ever acknowledge gender diversity.

Let's Talk Magical Girls

Magical girl shows are shows that center on young women and their friendships. While male love interests are often present in these shows, the boys tend to take a backseat and function primarily as arm candy while the girls save the day and carry the narrative.

A great example of this is the show Winx Club. This show features a large cast of teenage girls who save the magical universe from various threats with their magical powers. Each girl has a love interest, but the boys are usually off doing their own thing and only occasionally show up for a date or to give the girls a ride on their cool bikes or magical spaceship. I don't even think that we see the guys fight or, if we do, it's a rare thing. They are not there to save the day. They are there to be shipping fodder.

Like most magical girl shows, Winx Club starts with the main character making friends with one of the girls who will eventually become part of her magical girl squad. This brings us back to Miraculous.

Did you ever find it weird that Origins implies that Marinette has no friends? She doesn't even have a backbone until new girl Alya shows up to become Marinette's First Real Friend:

Marinette: I so wish I can handle Chloé the way you do. Alya: You mean the way Majestia does it. She says all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. (pointing at Chloé) Well, that girl over there is evil, and we are the good people. We can't let her get away with it.

This is a bizarre opening because Miraculous is not about Marinette making friends or learning to stand up for herself. If you skipped Origins and just watched the rest of the show, then you'd have no clue that Marinette wasn't close with her classmates before this year. You also wouldn't know that Alya was new in town and you definitely wouldn't know that Marinette had never stood up to Chloé before this year. So why is this here? Why waste screen time setting up elements that aren't actually important to canon?

Miraculous did it for the same reason that Winx Club did it: magical girl shows traditionally start with the main character making friends with at least one of her eventual female teammates because Magical Girl shows are all about the girls and their relationships. The boys are just arm candy.

But Miraculous isn't a magical girl show. The writers have explicitly stated that it's a rom-com and romantic comedies aren't about female friendship. They might have female friendships in them, but that's not where the focus is. The focus of a rom-com is on the romance and Origins is very clearly all about the romance.

Origins as a Rom-com

Origins has a lot on its plate. It has to establish the villain's motivation for the first time, show us how the heroes got their miraculous, show us how the heroes first met on both sides of the mask, show us how they met their respective best friends, and show us how the heroes dealt with their first akuma. It would be perfectly understandable if this 40 minute two-parter didn't do anything with the romance. They have a full show to give us that!

In spite of this, Origins has some incredibly touching moments for both Ladynoir and Adrienette because romance is the heart of Miraculous. It is the main focus of the show. The driving motivation for both of our leads and the majority of the show's episodes. To tell the story of how their journey started without at least one of them falling in love would feel wrong. That's why we see both of them fall in love!

First we get Chat Noir giving his heart to his bold and brilliant lady, then we get Marinette's heart being stolen by the shy sweet boy who never once thought to blame her for her snap judgement of his character. We even get a touching moment where Chat Noir inspires his lady to accept her role and be Ladybug, leading her to boldly face their enemy and call him out:

Roger: I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You've already failed once! Ladybug: …He's right, you know. If I'd captured Stoneheart's akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn't the right one for this job… Cat Noir: No. He's wrong, because without you, she'd no longer be here. (they look at Chloe) And because without us, they won't make it, and we'll prove that to 'em. Trust me on this. Okay? Ladybug: Okay.

I love this moment, but it does lose a little of its power when you remember that we had an Alya-driven variation of this exact same thing five minutes prior:

Alya: HELP!! (Marinette suddenly gets filled with courage. She gets the case out of Alya's bag and puts on the Miraculous. Then, Tikki appears, happy to see Marinette again.) Tikki:(raising her arms) Mmmm! Marinette: I think I need Ladybug! Tikki: I knew you'd come around! Marinette: Well, I'm still not sure I'm up for this, but Alya's in danger. I can't sit back and do nothing.

This scene initially confused me because - if Miraculous is a rom-com - then why would you make Alya the reason that Marinette became Ladybug? Why wouldn't you have Chat Noir be the one in danger so that Marinette chose to fight because of her love interest and then encourage that bond with the later scene of him encouraging her? Why split the focus like this? Why give Alya so much attention?

In case you haven't figured it out, it's because Origins is trying to establish two different genres of show. Two genres that will continue to fight for the rest of the series (or at least the first five seasons).

Magical Girls Vs Rom-com

Why is Alya the one to shake off the nightmare dust and inspire the others during the season five finale? Why is Alya the one that Marinette trusts with all of her plans while Chat Noir is kept in the dark? Why does Alya and Marinette's friendship get so much more focus than Adrien and Nino's? Why was Alya the only temp hero who got upgraded to full time hero?

It's because Alya is Marinette's second in command in a magical girl show and magical girl shows focus on female friendships while the boys are just there to be cute and support the girls.

Why do most of Marinette's talks with Alya focus on Adrien? Why is Chat Noir the only other full time holder of a Miraculous for the first three seasons and then again for the final season? Why do Marinette's friends become more and more obsessed with Adrienentte as the show goes on? Why is the love square's identity reveal given so much more narrative weight than any other identity reveal?

It's because Miraculous is a rom-com and the love square is our end game couple, so of course the story focuses on their relationship above all else!

Are you starting to see the problem?

Circling back to our original question: no, it was not unreasonable for the fans to expect that the Alya reveal would have massive negative consequences for Ladynoir. That is what should happen in a rom-com and Miraculous is mainly written like a rom-com. But the writers are also trying to write a magical girl show and, in a magical girl show, Alya and Marinette's friendship should be the most important relationship in the show, so it makes perfect sense that the show treats the Alya reveal as perfectly fine because the Alya reveal was written from the magical girl show perspective.

When it comes to Miraculous, if you ever feel like a writing choice makes no sense for genre A, re-frame it as a thing from genre B and it suddenly makes perfect sense which is fascinatingly terrible writing! It's no wonder there are people who hate the Alya reveal and people who will defend it with their life. It all depends on which genre elements you've picked up on and clung to. Neither side is right, they've both been set up to have perfectly valid expectations. Whether those expectations are valid for a given episode is entirely up to the mercurial whims of the writers!

How Do We Fix This Mess

At this point, I don't think that we can, the show is too far gone, but if someone gave me the power to change one element of Miraculous, that element would be this: scrap both the magical girl stuff and the rom-com stuff and turn Miraculous into a team show where the friendships transcend gender.

At this point, I've written over a quarter of a million words of fanfic focused on these characters (the brain rot is real) and one thing I've discovered is that it is damn near impossible to keep Adrien and Alya from becoming friends. They're both new to their school while Marinette and Nino have gone to the same school for at least a few years. Alya and Adrien are both obsessed with Ladybug plus Adrien is a natural hype man who loves to support his friends and Alya loves to talk about her blog. Alya is dating Adrien's best friend. On top of that, Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Marinette are all in the same class, meaning that they pretty much have to be spending time together five days a week unless French school don't give kids a chance to socialize or do group projects. If so, then judging them for the first issue, but super jealous of the latter.

Given all of that, why in the world is does it feel like Alya is Marinette's close friend while Adrien is just some guy who goes to Alya's school? Along similar lines, while canon Marinette barely talks to Nino, I've found that Marinette and Nino tend to get along smashingly, especially if you embrace the fact that they have to have known each other for at least a few years.

If you embrace this wider friendship dynamic and scrap the girl squad, replacing it with Alya, Adrien, Marinette, and Nino, then the fight for narrative importance quickly goes away. It's no longer a question of is this episode trying to be a magical girl show or a rom-com? Instead, the question is: which element of the friend group is getting focused on today? The romance or the friendship?

A lot of hero shows do this and do it well. I think that one of the most well known examples is Teen Titans. That show has five main characters and the focus is usually on their friendships, but there is a very clear running romantic tension between the characters Robin and Starfire with several episodes giving a good deal of focus to their romance. I'd say that this element really starts in the show's the 19th episode - Date with Destiny - and it all culminates in the movie that capstones the series: Trouble in Tokyo. The character Beast Boy also gets a romance arc and, while it's more short lived, it's further evidence that you can have strong romances and strong friendships in the same show and even the same episode. You just have to own the fact that boys and girls can be friends with each other, a very logical thing to embrace when your show has decided to have a diverse cast of heroes instead of imposing arbitrary gender limitations on its magical powers.

I couldn't figure out a way to work this into the main essay, but it's relevant so I wanted to quickly point it out and give you more to think about re Origins. Have you ever found it weird how Origins gives both Adrien AND Marinette the "I've never had friends before" backstory and yet wider canon acts like Marinette has this strong amazing friend group while Adrien doesn't seem to care about making friends and instead focuses all his energy on romance? Why give both the protagonist and the supposed deuteragonist this kind of origin if it's not going to be a major element of the show? It makes so much more sense to only give one of them this backstory and then focus that person's character arc on learning about friendship.

[chocostrwberry]

Sentimaggedon!!

Sentimonster designs I came up with bc I was thinking about Argos’s debut in my AU! Bc I’m dumb and I haven’t thought too deep about him as a character to the story yet-

They were originally suppose to all be based on the seven deadly sins, especially Gasumptious (gluttony) and Elvy (envy). But I also wanted to branch into maybe Felix’s other hidden emotions, like his deep love for Kagami and his fear of being replaced by Adrien (Bride and Athazagora).

Argos becomes an official enemy when Dragonbug tells him they need to be destroyed. He defends them, saying they’re just “infants” and can learn how to behave properly with time. But a frustrated and exhausted Dragonbug she tells him they aren’t like humans and are created for one purpose: to serve and destroy. This hits home with Argos, and he develops a fear and hatred for Ladybug and swears his loyalty to Madame Morphisa afterwards in order to take her down and prove just how monstrous he can be.

I’m still kinda trying to find a way to make this concept work in my au. He promised to serve her in exchange for the peacock miraculous, and she wants him to use it to take Ladybug’s miraculous. In a novice attempt, he might have just starting creating multiple sentimonsters that he thought were harmless enough (something she did NOT expect), but they quickly spiraled out of control. It’s much easier to make sentimonsters based on others emotions, because you can predict which one you will create it off of. But instead, he chose his own, which makes it more difficult to tell how the sentimonster will act. I think it would show the aspect that these creatures do have a mind of their own, compared to previous Mayura sentimonsters who were easily controlled by their akumas!!

Red Moon

Red Moon is obviously already canon, but her power is instead hypnosis. If you get caught in her light, you stop whatever you are doing to stare at her. The streets of Paris become like a statue exhibit: countless of unlucky citizens are bathing in her glow, staring at the beauty of the red moon.

Gasumptious

As he devours, Gasumptious grows bigger and bigger. He’ll eat anything, so beware! After finishing most of the city, Gasumptious sits atop the Eiffel Tower and gnaws on its metal posts.

Elvy

Elvy lives in the sewers. She can control water and uses it to drain you of happy memories, which she keeps in floating green orbs and guards for herself.

It’s so silly to me how the manifestation of Felix’s jealousy of Adrien is fought and defeated by Chat Noir, who is Adrien ehehehheeh.

She also sounds like a Pokémon!! Probably like a Lapras, or the one that trills really pretty

Athazagora

A timid creature, Athazagora took over the catacombs, and hides in the shadows. You can hear the creaking and rattling of its wooden limbs in the dark as it stalk you. If you can’t escape, it envelops you in its cloak of darkness, never to be seen again.

Bride

The supposed advisor of Argos. She never leaves his side, and is always whispering something in his ear. To protect Argos, she showcases her ability to turn her arm into a long spear/sword, incredible strength and mobility, and that her body is made of an indestructible crystal.

Plus, he can make multiple sentimonsters bc he’s a sentihuman himself (Other people can’t. You can only make one, kind of like how the Butterfly miraculous can only Akumatize one person at a time, unless they share an object. Current excuse I’m going with that makes semi-sense HEHEHE) . So Lila totally wants to use that to her own advantage!

Ofc he fails, but she’s impressed with his resolve (and the lengths he was willing to go, albeit unintentionally), especially after sharing her goal of destroying Ladybug. Lila was feeling the effects of unification and now has a willing minion to do her bidding whenever she pleases.

If I decide to go with this plot, Lila has to end up forgetting Felix because of the curse. But she doesn’t care: all she really needs is Argos. I might need to retcon her revenge against Felix because of this but idm! It wasn’t very important to the plot anyways!

I was considering having Dragonbug in this episode, since she could use Perfection to snipe Red Moon out of the sky! The lucky charm would be like a wand that creates a sticky translucent web to keep the sentimonsters secure so they can go find their amoks.

And a sentimonster I never ended up including, Ava. I just didn’t have a reason to put her in there but I liked the yin and yang style of her design!!

[frickingnerd]

i hate loving you as much as i do

pairing: luka couffaine x gn!reader

summary: left heartbroken by a missunderstanding, you end up getting akumatized. but luka seeks you out and clears up any missunderstandings by confessing his love to you!

tags: angst to fluff, missunderstandings, happy ending, mentions of marinette/lukanette, luka × reader endgame, wholesome fluff

everything would've been different, if luka had been by your side, like he promised. you never would've gotten akumatized if he had been there. luka would've been able to get through to you with his words and save you. but you were all by yourself when that akuma took over your body. and nobody could prevent what was about to happen…

luka couldn't believe his own eyes when he saw you on the ladyblog, as an akumatized villain. he was late to meet you, when he got an akuma alert and checked the news. and that's when he saw you.

without even thinking about it, luka rushed to the spot you were last seen, knowing he needed to talk to you. as much as he trusted chat noir and ladybug, he knew you better than they did. they'd only hurt you by trying to restrain you. but luka was convinced that if he was there, things would be different! but he was wrong…

“you are the worst thing that happened to me, luka. why would you think your words would do anything to convince me to stop this? i despise you! acting like you care about me, just to forget all about me when she wants to see you–!”

your words were cruel and your voice was different than what luka knew. it was much deeper, almost twisted. the akuma had done more than just change your appearance.

but while your words sounded too mean to truly belong to you, something caught luka's attention. that girl you mentioned, that made him forget about you…

“do you mean marinette…?”

“ha, so you do know what i'm talking about! did you grow tired of playing dumb? of course i mean her! you're always with her! and you can't even see how much you hurt me when you're with her…”

luka's heart sunk. he never knew you were this hurt by him spending time with marinette. but there was no reason to be jealous of marinette!

“marinette is just a friend! you're the one i love!”

for a short moment, your facade seemed to crack. that mean glare on your face vanished and you looked genuinely surprised. but quickly, you grew bitter again and a sad expression covered your face, that made luka's heart ache.

“stop giving me hope. it hurts so much more than if you'd just tell me the truth…”

“it's the truth!” luka sighed. “i've been spending a lot of time with marinette recently, but she was just helping me with a song i wrote for you! i wanted it to be perfect before you heard it and i knew she'd keep it a secret…”

“l-liar… y-you… you have to be… lying–!”

you shook your head, tears streaming down your cheeks. you couldn't even look at luka, as you heard hawkmoth's voice in your head, trying to convince you all he said was a lie. that luka merely was afraid of you and wanted to weaken you with his words. but was that really true?

“please, look at me…”

you hadn't even noticed that luka had closed the distance between the two of you, gently placing a hand on your cheeks. as your eyes inevitably darted towards him, luka surprised you with a sudden kiss. and as you gave into the kiss, hawkmoth's control over you weakened…

“if my words couldn't convince you, was this kiss able to do it?”

luka looked at you with such fondness. you had said terrible things to him, had accepted hawkmoth's villainous powers and yet he looked at you with such fondness. as if there was nothing you could say or do that would make him hate you.

“i thought you didn't care about me…”

as those words left your lips, you finally regained control over yourself again. hawkmoth lost all power over you and you detransformed back into yourself, as luka quickly wrapped his arms around you. almost as if he was worried you'd slip away again if he didn't hold you close.

“i'm sorry i couldn't show you just how important you are to me. i should've never kept secrets from you, not even to surprise you. i've hurt you so much… can you forgive me?”

you only began to tear up more at luka's words.

“of course i can forgive you! but i'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness instead…”

“don't.” luka brushed it off with a smile. “there's nothing you need to apologize for. what you said earlier, those weren't your words. i know that you were just trying to push me away, because you were hurt…”

“still!” you insisted. “i'm sorry for what i said. i could never hate you. in fact, i… i love you!”

luka's thumb gently stroked your cheek, as he smiled at you. he slowly closed the distance between you, whispering out four little words, before his lips finally met yours again:

“i love you too…”

[flightfoot]

Isn't the target audience for the show little kids? Why is the heroic mc gaslighting? Why was THAT chosen to be her decision? Idk I feel like the fandom excusing this is focusing solely on the fanfiction side of things lol. I can't really see a conversation about boundaries like you've mentioned happening, for example. Marinette will cry about it for one scene, hugged by the guy she gaslighted, then the show will move on. All the implications of her actions, how toxic the love square is- those are not things that can be adressed respectfully in an episodic kids show. Especially not by these writers. We've seen the twitter takes. So just- idk, I wouldn't want a ten-year-old to watch this ngl. Especially because the kid watching might be an abuse victim themselves.

We have had some conversations about boundaries before, in Glaciator 2, when Ladybug was upset at Chat for keeping on hinting at wanting to be a couple, which means that such a conversation IS in the show's wheelhouse of what it can do.

Cat Noir: I guess I'm not your favorite cat at the moment, am I? (walks towards Ladybug) Can I take you to a movie to make up for it? Or how about a restaurant to celebrate our nomination as Couple of the Year? Ladybug: (yelling) We're not "Couple of the Year", we're not a couple at all! Cat Noir: Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to make you so mad. (Ladybug simply looks away from him, still mad.) I get it. You're sick of me. I might sound like a broken record expressing my affection for you over and over. I know I should stop but... I can't help it, you know? I have so many feelings welled up in this heart, and I don't know how to control them. Ladybug: (sighs) I know your heart's in the right place and that you don't mean any harm but— Cat Noir: (dejectedly) You're right. You shouldn't have to put up with this. I'll stop. I don't know how yet, but I'll figure it out. I promise. Ladybug: (smiles) I'm counting on you. Cat Noir: (frowns) I'll see you later. (vaults away, and Ladybug eventually to the other direction)

(Later)

Cat Noir: Nice to see you again, my... dear friend whom I respect and for whom I have no other feelings than true platonic friendship. Ladybug: Are you making fun of me? Cat Noir: Not at all! I'm... just getting my bearings. Ladybug: Lucky Charm! (uses her power as a car drops in front of them) Cat Noir: Oh, yeah! That lucky charm really revs my engine! (Ladybug closes her eyes, coming up with a plan to use her lucky charm. The scene zooms to the big exhaust in front of Gare du Nord.) Ladybug: Okay! Take the wheel. I got a plan. Glaciator: There you are! You think you can escape me like that? (Ladybug and Cat Noir step in the car. Cat Noir starts the car engine and drives away, escaping Glaciator as the villain comtinues to chase them.) Glaciator: (sing-song) I'm Glaciator, the mean ice-cream man, and I am your number 1 fan! Cat Noir: (while driving) That's enough! We're just friends! Ladybug: Okay. Let's go! (hurls her yo-yo, tying it around Glaciator and on her car seat) Pass me the wheel. Glaciator: You think you can escape me by attaching me to you? Cat Noir: Where are we going with this—? I mean, not the two of us. Just... where are we going, like, a direction? Ladybug: I got it. We're heading to the Gare du Nord. We'll stay in touch. (She continues to drive, escaping Glaciator.) Cat Noir, now! (Cat Noir jumps out of the car.) Ladybug: (through the ear-piece) You know what to do. I'll come back as soon as you're ready! Cat Noir: Drive safe. (He leaps to rooftop where a billboard of him and Ladybug is located. He drops it to the ground to use it as a ramp for Ladybug's car.) Ready, m'lady! Uh, do you mind me calling you "m'lady"? Ladybug: No, that's okay. (performs a drift) It's not that complicated, you know? If I tell you that something's annoying, you stop doing it, that's all!

I don't know that the show could go over all the implications of some of the things Marinette's done with Adrien, in all the identity versions, but it having Adrien lay down some boundaries and Marinette doing her best to abide by them so she doesn't accidentally hurt him is within the realm of what it can do, since it's done it before. Granted, there's more variance and a bigger scale with some of the lies Marinette's told Adrien and the secrets she's kept from him, but it's a similar idea at least.

[princess-of-the-corner]

So, I haven’t seen the London Special, just seen the reactions, but it is really hammering home to me how much of the plot could be … not “fixed”, but at least “untangled” if Mari had literally ANY CONNECTION to Gabriel that didn’t involve Adrien. Like, her mentor, an old family friend, her godfather, her dad’s old college buddy, just … ANYTHING that made Marinette connected to Gabe on a personal level. It still wouldn’t make her lying to Adrien ok, but it at least would make it more sympathetic. Cause then she isn’t just lying to Adrien, she’s lying to HERSELF, because if she tells Adrien, then she has to acknowledge that actually, Gabe kind of sucked. Like, “cool motive, still murder” - yeah, you tried to revive your wife, and you loved your kid, but you were a dick, man. Marinette having ANY connection to Gabriel that is more personal than “my crush’s dad” would make the entire thing at least a little easier to understand. As it is, it comes across as Marinette, I’m not sure this is the right word, but almost “infantilizing” Adrien. She’s making decisions for him, denying him agency in his own life, because she’s decided she knows what’s best for him.

And like, Mari’s a kid who had a hell of a lot heaped on her shoulders, I get where the mindset probably came from, but Marinette’s only major connection to Gabriel in canon is that he’s Hawk Moth and she’s Ladybug. And while yes, that is a big connection, it also isn’t personal? Like. Gabe’s relationship with Marinette is basically nothing, if you take out the Miraculous stuff. Marinette is just some girl who goes to the same school as his son, is a rather promising designer, and … that’s kind of the extent of their interaction. Without the Miraculous, they barely qualify as acquaintances. If Marinette isn’t Ladybug, or Gabriel wasn’t Hawk Moth, there would be basically nothing there. And while I can make an argument that Ladybug absolutely has a say in what to tell the PUBLIC, that keeping up the ruse with them MIGHT be … not GOOD, but the lesser of two evils, I don’t think Ladybug/Marinette has any right in denying that info to Adrien. It’s his damn dad, he has a right to know what happened. Hell, even just about his mom! He has a right to know what happened to her!

And on a quick swerve, it actually annoys me that Ladybug hasn’t told Chat Noir. Like, the guy is your partner, you’ve been fighting this thing since day one together, on the superhero side of things, he ALSO deserves to know who the hell the pair of them have been duking it out with. Like, I’m aware identity shenanigans are afoot, but if Ladybug has the right to make this kind of call, then Chat should also get that right, which means LADYBUG SHOULD TELL HIM.

(… I will admit, this might all be bothering me less if my dad hadn’t been playing Hallmark movies all day, and I hadn’t been forced to sit through at least 12 separate scenarios where literally TALKING TO A PERSON would solve all the problems. But like … 8 times out of 10, when someone says, “don’t tell anyone I did this thing”, it is A) something you should PROBABLY tell someone, or B) something that is going to blow up later if you keep it a secret.)

-

Yeah no like!

On top of wanting some acknowledgement that this is well-intentioned but fucked up to do

the whole thing about Mari having no investment in the identity reveal past ‘ah that’s my bf’s dad’ has bothered me for a while because REALLY she should have some connection and they already set it up but never did anything with it.

But Marinette lying to herself and trying to convince herself that her mentor/friend is a Good Person despite the fucked up things he did would be a lot better than ‘uwu I don’t want to tell Adrien that his father fucking sucked despite the fact that Adrien is already VERY aware that his father fucking sucks’.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML What if:

(What if Emilie, was Betterfly/Hesperia in the Paris special?)

-The theme song at the start would be different, with it speaking from Emilie’s perspective. Allowing the viewer to hear Emilie outside of memories and videos for the first time.

-Aside from that, the begining events are the same, except with Emilie/Betterfly

-Betterfly ends up in Ladybug’s dimension, but instead of being freaked out that it might be monarch, Marinette is simply more confused on who this mysterious holder is.

-Betterfly takes Marinette and goes. Saying that she is safe and she will go handle Shadybug and Claw noir.

-Ladybug of course joins in, after learning about the multiverse from Tikki. (Somewhat)

-Chat noir arrives and is confused on who this butterfly woman is, but feels that something familiar about her.

-chat noir gets Kamikotized and becomes Celestecat. They fly off and escape.

-Now we start to have Ladybug and chat noir think that Shadybug and Claw noir are similar to them (their alt versions) but aren’t sure since this butterfly user is different.

-Betterfly tells them about the supreme, and how her husband took two of the miraculous from the supreme… but instead of her death, Gabriel died protecting her.

-Chat noir hears the name, and feels a twinge… Gabriel?

-Ladybug doesn’t think much about the name, but Chat noir does. But realizes now is not the time for that.

-Shadybug and Claw noir still do what they’re doing before, even finding out about the wish. They meet and make a deal with Monarch.

-the heroes moved to London so that Monarch couldn’t spy on them to make a plan.

-Unlike in canon where Betterfly goes out of view, this Betterfly doesn’t see the need to hide her identity. As she detransforms, Chat noir freezes. Ladybug does believe the woman looks kind of Familar.

-Emilie assures them that they will have time for pleasantries later. And they go forward with the plan. Chat noir does ask that they talk when the matter is settled.

-the plan ends up going the exact same way as it does in canon.

-With the heroes split off fighting their alternate counterparts, but while Ladybug’s is being handled the same. Chat noir is slightly different.

-With Chat noir saying that he lost his mother, not his father… which causes claw noir to stumble. Chat noir tells him that he understands the pain of losing a parent, how distant they can be, but that they aren’t alone. They can be happy once again.

-“Your mother does love you, she may seem distant, but she is also hurting too. Reach out to her, I promise she understands your pain.”

-this helped stop claw noir. Ending with his redemption.

-Shadybug and claw noir eventually go and change to Ladybug and Paw noir.

-Monarch tries to pull the multiverse bs But Ladybuquity kicks his butt in every universe he visits.

-Paw noir and Ladybug head back to their own dimensions,

-before Betterfly leaves, chat noir hugs her.

-“I know you aren’t my dimensions mom… but I really miss you.”

-Emilie felt her heart ache at that. She understood. Hugging the boy back.

-“I love you in every dimension. Always remember that.” She says softly.

-Chat noir smiles as tears roll down his eyes. Betterfly leaves.

-Ladybug asks what he told Betterfly.

-“I’ll tell you one day.”

[familyagrestefanblog]

Throwing a disclaimer out because I think it's time I say it again just to be sure:

Me having fallen so much out of love with Marinette by now isn't because I hate that her side of the conflicts was given more weight than Adrien's or that I "don't understand that she's the main character"

My problem lies in HYPOCRISY. Marinette's writing ever since season 4 has been going out of its way to be as hypocritical as possible in basically every aspect of the story, but especially the love square, and then it was sold as "justified and totally morally sound feminism" just because it's a girl doing it.

The amount of harmful messages Maribug was retooled into teaching as "empowerment" without any genuine accountability on her part - beside some vagueness sometimes that stops meaning anything the next moment it actually matters - are insane and inherently on child abuse victims expense to the point where I don't actually trust alot of Marinette stans opinions on child abuse and leadership anymore which is the worst thing Marinette's character could have been made to cause.

I hate that sexist HYPOCRISY was declared EMPOWERING as long as the girl benefits from it. I stand under no obligation to support a harmfully hypocritical main character of a female empowerment kids cartoon, and if you think I do, learn what actual feminism is.

I repeat: my problem lies in the deeply interwoven and glorified hypocrisy

NOT in the fact that Marinette's side of the narrative was covered at all.

I was and AM perfectly fine and supportive of that, but what I don't support is the show ever since season 4 hardcore retooling the narrative into ONLY Marinette's side and benefit mattering and in some of the worst and most hypocritical ways possible to the point where Marinette never even made a single effort in finding Hawkmoth to actually DO HER JOB and take a fraction of interest in the man underneath his mask because that wouldn't have been about HERSELF.

Years ago, 2x01 "The collector" promised me a main character who will actually show initiative to end the war in more regards than herself first and foremost becoming the Queen of the world. I signed up for Marinette as main character who will actually SAVE Gabriel's victims with her compassion and drive to help people

I didn't get that beyond the most surface level way possible because Marinette and the narrative were written to prioritizing her being entirely in control of everything, girlbossing her love interest into being her submissive care taker for which she hardly took any accountability for, and looking cool hitting stuff including her love interest and the remains of her Villain's wife who never wanted this, but Marinette threw a fucking LIFT on her body to get a strategic advantage over Gabriel by taking advantage of Gabriel's remaining humanity and love for the very woman at the core of all this.

Emilie, who was fridged and silenced beyond anything resembling to feminism, but it HAD to happen because Emilie's story isn't about Marinette and the narrative had to make sure Marinette will be celebrated "as such a cool girlboss!" for throwing a fucking LIFT on the remains of the villain's loved one while she simultaneously failed Emilie's son - Marinette's own "partner" - so MUCH as partner and leader that he had literally no way to possibly make it out of this partnership because Marinette teached Chat Noir that she's all that matters, he gets no support, help, resources, or a voice when it isn't to her benefit.

When the chips are down, he has to die quietly and give up his ring because Ladybug couldn't be asked to look beyond her personal experience, benefit and comfort in this "partnership" while simultaneously needing to be taken care of, as good as worshipped, and celebrated by him like a mind reader for EVERYTHING because she wasn't "ill-intentioned"

Which she is explicitly written to prioritize people understanding that about her than actually working on herself in ways that truly matter.

I once signed up for Marinette being the main hero and savior of Paris and Gabriel's victims, but all I got is glorified hypocrisy thats sold as "empowerment" and a worshipped girlboss main heroine who postponed doing her job so fucking much that the main villain shaped the entire in-universe world already BEFORE he won and made his wish, as well as several characters being damned and irreversibly negatively affected by his power and influence over and on them by the time Marinette was finally spoon-feed into being able to face Hawkmoth at literally 11:59 pm.

But hey, I suppose all that mattered was Marinette BENEFITTING from that to sweep her own big flaws under the rug, as well as her looking cool hitting stuff in different super hero suits to she can become the Queen of the world.

I would apologize for having thought that Marinette's hero's journey was about more than that, but that's literally nothing I have to apologize for.

[siderealsandman]

just finished reading mending warped designs and im so sorry bc you probably heart this a lot so i mean it in the most respectful way possible but... are you abandoning that fic? 😭 or are you just on an undefinite hiatus?

i NEVER read fics that are unfinished, but after finishing T&C, i simply HAD to venture into that alley. and im not disappointed. as much as i hate angst, your writing and world builiding is simply miraculous, for lack of a better word. the work you've done is a masterpiece, and i mean it. might be the best work of fiction ive ever read. it would be a real shame to abandon it, but i understand if you have things that are more important :) your health and happiness should be your utmost priority ❤️

that being said, i really do hope you choose to continue writing it. masterpieces don't just appear, they take a lot of work and dedication and im so, SO glad you took the time to put in the effort to create something so beautiful.

best of wishes xx

Thank you so much! I appreciate all the love and feedback I've gotten on my ML fics over the years.

With Miraculous I feel like I kinda grew out of the setting/fandom (doesn't help that most of my friends I met in it moved on) but overall T&C came from a place of frustration with canon I no longer feel. That and MWD had me with the worst case of writer's block that I resolved by writing something else (two something else's).

I have the last scene of MWD written but need to put together the connective tissue which I find it hard to get in a headspace to write. When I have time to write, I typically want to tend to The Games of Divinity or Devil Summoner: Akechi Goro. I do plan on finishing it...but can't promise when.

If you're interested, however, I do have the final scene below

Context: Marinette and Adrien are at a party with the rest of the heroes when Dr. Oliver attacks again, leading the pair of them to leave and take down their enemy while Team Paris rests.

Despite the crowds of people fleeing for their safety, Marinette was in a better mood than she had been in for a long time. 

"Now this feels familiar," Adrien mused, tugging Marinette out of the way of a pack of panicked tourists. "Everybody in their right minds is running away from danger, and here we are running towards it." 

"Must be something wrong with us," Marinette chuckled. 

"Of course there is," Adrien said, tugging her into an empty cafe. "If we were normal, we wouldn't have volunteered." 

Two flashes of light later and Ladybug led her partner out the other entrance and onto the rapidly emptying street. "I wonder what the venn diagram of lunatics and superheros looks like." 

"It's basically a circle," Chat Noir said as some of the people fleeing for their lives slowed down to take a picture.

"Go get em Ladybug!" One person yelled as they ran to safety. 

"Kick his ass Ladybug!" 

"Good to see you're back Ladybug!" 

"Oh my god Ladybug!" 

"Ladybug, can I have your number-" 

"Hey, you know what's cooler than Ladybug? Not being destroyed by dinosaurs; get to safety before someone T-Wrecks you," Chat Noir said, shooing a small crowd of pedestrians towards a bunker. "Go on, get! Jeez, you need to have a word with your fan club about personal safety." 

"Don't tell me you're jealous of all the attention I'm getting," Ladybug chuckled. 

"I've spent the last four years deliberately trying to avoid attention," Chat Noir sniffed. "Besides, Paris is kinda slow to forget; I'm sure most of these people still think I was up to something fishy with Hawky." 

"I get the crowds of screaming fans, you get all the superhero clout," Ladybug said, awkwardly waving at a crowd of passing tourists all delaying their escape to snap pictures of the newly returned heroes. "Somehow I think you got the better deal." 

"Now who's jealous?" Chat Noir asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "They'll come around…I'll make sure of it." 

Ladybug nodded, noticing the furtive glances sent Chat Noir's direction. "Yeah…ditto." 

Ladybug stopped in the middle of the street, watching Chat Noir's back as he stepped past her. "Hey…are you sure about this?" 

"What, running solo against a guy with some lab-grown dinosaurs?" Chat Noir chuckled. "What's there to worry about?" 

"No, I meant…" Ladybug trailed off with a shake of her head. "Forget it." 

"I know what you meant," Chat Noir said, glancing over his shoulder. Somehow, the spectral eye that looked her over didn't seem as threatening as it used to be. There were glimmers of Adrien, her Adrien, under the overwhelming mantle of Chat Noir. Enough for Ladybug to latch on to as he smiled. 

"I'm here because I want to be," Chat Noir said, turning around and leaning on his staff. "Because I want to try…I don't need to be sure about anything else." 

That doesn't scare you? Ladybug thought. 

Who says it doesn't? Chat Noir thought back with a wink. "You should spend a little less brain power worrying about me, Ladybug; we're gonna need those smarts to send these creeps back to the Jurassic period." 

"I thought I'd let you take the lead on this one," Ladybug said, falling back into step beside Chat Noir. "Give you a chance to flex your own brainpower." 

"And I thought I told you I have one strategy," Chat Noir said. "Everything else is just tactics. Besides, what is the correct strategy to deal with a man who has living fossils at his beck and-" 

A pterodactyl shaped drone swooped low overhead, launching an electromagnetic rocket at the door of a nearby bank and blowing it clean off its hinges. 

"Wait…those are the dinosaurs we're supposed to be fighting?!" Chat Noir huffed, glaring at the drone as it zipped away. 

"Yyyyyeah?" Ladybug said. "What's wrong?" 

"They're…they're robots!" Chat Noir said. "Just…just some stupid robots!"

 "What did you think he had actual dinosaurs for us to-" Ladybug stopped short as she saw the almost heartbroken look on Chat Noir's face. "Oh…oh my god, you actually thought we were fighting real dinosaurs?!" 

"I've seen weirder stuff than that!" Chat Noir said, huffing as Ladybug doubled over, clutching her stomach as uncontrollable peals of laughter echoed off the mostly empty street. "I was told this was a professor who uses dinosaurs to rob banks but apparently he's just a nerd with a Transformers fetish!" 

"Oh…Oh, I'm sorry, is this beneath you?" Ladybug laughed. "What, you fight dragons for a couple of years and suddenly you're too good for robot dinosaurs?" 

"I'm the apex predator; not some…some…ugh, I'm so disappointed I can't even metaphor correctly!" Chat Noir growled. 

"His Majesty only deigns to sully his little kitty paws with real monsters, thank you very much," Ladybug wheezed. "Theeeeee Apex Predator needs worthwhile prey; none of this toy-aisle garbage."

"Shut up," Chat Noir laughed, completely oblivious to the dinobot stomping down the street behind him until the hot gust of steam from its nostrils washed over the back of his head. Something about the way Ladybug laughed had a funny habit of making him forget the kind of danger he was in, even after so much time apart. 

"No, don't even bother!" Chat Noir said, ignoring the robotic snarl that came from the dinobot. "It's ruined! This whole day is totally ruined! I thought we were going up against someone worth our time but all we got is a model kit builder and his army of toys!"

"Hey!" A booming voice shouted as a large pterodactyl drone descended, powered by hovering jets that only seemed to piss Chat Noir off more. The top opened and out stepped an equally angry looking professor in a black lab coat and goggles. 

"And I'm guessing that's our target," Ladybug said, flicking the gigantic T-Rex in the nose as it leaned in closer to her and leaving a divot in the machine's steel frame. 

"Who dares question the paleontological engineering genius of-" Dr. Oliver stopped as he spotted Chat Noir. "...Chat Noir?" 

"No, I'm a very disappointed kitty who wanted to chase lizards today," Chat Noir said. 

"And…" Dr. Oliver pointed at Ladybug. "Wait, when did you get back?" 

"Three days ago; haven't you heard?" Ladybug said, bumping her shoulder into Chat Noir's. 

"I was in jail on bank robbing charges," Dr. Oliver said. "They only played football and reruns of terrible BBC baking shows." 

"Well, here's the only news story you need," Ladybug said. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are back in Paris." 

"And more than ready to stick our Little-foots up your tin can tailpipe, you tacky old veloci-loser!" Chat Noir spat, cracking his knuckles. "Get my hopes up, will you…" 

"You got your hopes up," Ladybug pointed. 

"And I'm taking it out on him!" Chat Noir said, brandishing his baton in the perturbed professor's face. "Come out of the Zord with your hands in the air and I'll see if we can get you some Land Before Time DVD's to entertain you in prison." 

"But…how?!" Dr. Oliver stammered. "How are you…I-I thought you two were finished!" 

"We were, but…" Ladybug spared a smile for her partner. "Life…finds a way." 

The hiss of dozens of whirring servos drew her attention to the small pack of robotic velociraptors that closed in around them. At the far end of the street, a large mechanical triceratops angled three cannons in their direction while a small pack of pterodactyl drones whirred overhead. 

"So…little guys are worth one point?" 

"Big suckers are at least five," Ladybug agreed. 

"And the big guy has to be a dime," Chat Noir said, teeth flashing as he snapped his staff out to full length. "No cheating now." 

"I trust you'll keep me honest," Ladybug said, springing into the air alongside her partner. They hung for a moment in mid air, suspended above the encroaching crowd of mechanical monsters, before diving like twin falling stars into the melee, back to back as it always should have been. 

[sariahsue]

Wherefore Art Thou My(stery) Lady

When a failed attempt to let Chat Noir down easy ends with Ladybug learning his name, she does what any lovesick teenager would do: teases him mercilessly. Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6

Chapter Seven (Final)

Adrien – Good morning. I love you.

After sending that message first thing every morning for a week, Adrien knew better than to expect an answer for another hour, probably two because it was a Saturday. No school to look forward to, but he did have a group brunch date. Nino and Alya had organized it and invited Adrien and Marinette along, and Adrien was left to wonder if that had been part of a plan to set the two of them up. 

He took his time showering and getting ready. He knew it was silly, but he wanted to make sure he looked his best.

By the time he got back, Ladybug had sent him a text. 

My Lady – Love you too. ❤️ Figure me out yet? Adrien – Actually, maybe.  My Lady – Really?! Adrien – It's still just a theory, but I know how I'm going to test it later.  My Lady – I look forward to it!

If he was right, she would. It involved a lot of sappy staring at Marinette. 

Brunch wasn’t for another half hour, but he told Nathalie and the Gorilla to drop him off earlier than he needed to be there. It was something he often did, a way to get as much time out of the house as possible. They hadn't caught on yet. (Or if they had, they'd never said anything about it.)

The place they had chosen was small, but Alya swore they had the best pancakes this side of the Alps. Adrien planned on having everything with way too much syrup. 

He found a good seat near the center of the room and texted Ladybug while he waited. Was she getting ready to come to the same spot? If she was, she gave no indication that she'd be seeing him later, just asked what his plans were for the day, as if she honestly had no idea. He leaned back in his chair as he waited for the others. 

Waiters passed with steaming plates of eggs and croissants and coffee. People bustled in and out around him, saying good morning to friends, enjoying the weekend. Adrien hardly noticed any of them until one of them yanked the back of his chair, almost pulling him down. 

“You gotta be careful, dude. You could fall if you lean too far.”

Chairs scraped on the hardwood floors as Nino and Alya took the seats opposite him. It made sense that they would sit together, but was part of the reason to force Marinette to take the seat next to him?

“Lean over a little bit in that chair, Nino.” Adrien reached across the table to grab his hat, but Nino jerked out of the way. “Just so I know how far back I can go. That's all. I promise I won't knock you over.”

“You know, for some reason, I don't really trust you.”

“Marinette says she's coming.” Alya looked up from her phone.

“Did she sleep in or something?” Adrien asked. Knowing when she woke up would help him decide if he was right, though at this point he couldn't imagine how he could be wrong.

“No, she told me she's been awake for a while.”

One hour, he guessed, based on when she had started texting him back. He drummed his fingers, waiting for her to arrive. He needed to see Marinette. Once he saw her, he was sure he would be able to tell for certain. 

Their server came a few minutes later, taking orders. Alya placed for Marinette after getting an assurance over text that she’d be there soon.

“She’s really excited about this,” Alya continued. “Like, texting me nonstop about it since she got up.”

“My condolences,” Nino said.

“Did she say what got her so excited?” Adrien asked. 

“No,” Alya said, eyeing him. “Why? You think you know?”

Adrien just shrugged, pretending to look down to check his phone, though it was really to hide his face. Ladybug hadn’t sent him anything in ages, and the agonizing wait until he knew who she was was even more unbearable now that he had hope it was almost over. 

Marinette came in, pulling out the seat next to his and scooting in until, probably on purpose, her knee brushed his.

“Good morning!” she said, face shining with excitement. She didn't look directly at him, letting him study her profile. The style of her hair was just right. Her freckles were the same. The curve of her lips. (He’d know those lips anywhere.) And he could see the corner of one blue eye. Exactly the right shade.

Marinette glanced over and caught him looking. The corner of her eye crinkled in amusement, then looked down as she slipped her phone into her coat pocket, her hand lingering out of view.

Adrien’s phone pinged with an incoming message. He looked at it reflexively as Marinette pulled her phone out again and laid it face up on the table in front of her.

“What's that, Adrien?” she asked. “Another text from your mysterious girlfriend?”

It was another picture of him, sent by Ladybug, taken just seconds ago. He whipped around while Nino and Alya laughed at him. People were coming in and out of the doorway, but no one that looked like her. He kept looking anyway because it kept him from looking at Marinette. It had been a picture of him and his friends at the table. Marinette had been sitting next to him when the picture had been sent. Ladybug couldn't have been her. 

He'd been so certain... He'd been hoping it was her. He'd had such a streak of luck lately that he'd actually believed that he’d been fortunate enough to be partnered with Marinette. For a moment, he’d been able to believe that the two best girls he knew were one, and she loved him. Disappointment tasted terrible.

Ladybug probably wasn't going to be in the shot, but he held up his phone and took a picture anyway. He glumly turned back to the table and sent it. 

Marinette's phone buzzed enthusiastically, and she swept it out of sight before Adrien could get a good look at it. All he caught was a glimpse of a room, filled with people and tables and an empty doorway. 

“What?” Marinette asked when he turned to look at her. Alya and Nino both waited quietly for once, eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them.

Pulling the picture Ladybug had just sent, Adrien looked over it carefully. He was sitting with his friends, but only two of them. Marinette's seat was still empty. The picture had been taken before she'd sat down. And really, there were hundreds of places to eat brunch in Paris. What were the chances Ladybug just happened to be going to the same one as him this morning?

Found you.

Adrien stared Marinette down. She stared back with the same practiced innocence Ladybug had given him a week ago when they'd first talked about the texting. There was no way they weren't the same person. Her mouth quirked the same way. Her eyes twinkled, whether in civilian clothes or in a red-spotted suit. 

She was right. It was so obvious now that he knew what - who - he was looking at. 

Marinette stayed silent through his whole examination, not raising a question until he pulled away and opened his texting app.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Her phone was face down on her lap.

Adrien – Hi 

The buzz that Marinette's phone gave was much quieter, but he was still able to pick it out over the din of the crowd. 

She clenched her hand around it but didn't look away from him. 

Adrien – I Adrien – Love Adrien – You Adrien – My Adrien – Lady

With each message he sent, Marinette's phone buzzed again. The neutral look on her face started to crack. 

“Aren't you going to answer those?”

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked, grinning. “They could be important. Could be from your boyfriend or something.”

“Seeing as I don't have a boyfriend, Adrien,” she put extra emphasis on his name, making sure he knew it was his fault that she didn't, “that would be kind of impossible.” She pressed the phone into her leg to muffle the vibrations.

“Maybe we can fix that?”

He held up his phone right to her face and snapped a picture. 

Another photo message flashed across her screen, and Adrien could see how it lit up the cloth around it. 

“Admit it,” he said. “I figured you out, My Lady.”

“You did, Kitten. Good job.” Marinette held out her phone to him. The screen was full of a picture of her face. Sender: Future Husband. 

Nino was offering his congratulations. Alya was sighing dramatically and saying “finally!” over and over, but Adrien had all but tuned them out. Marinette was Ladybug. He knew who she was. 

And he still couldn’t kiss her. Not the way he wanted to with their friends watching. 

Instead, he grabbed her hand and slowly turned it palm down, placing a long, slow kiss on the back, a promise of things to come.

When he looked up, Marinette’s cheeks were tinged with pink, but she quirked her eyes with a questioning look. That’s it? she silently asked.

He winked at her, and her blush deepened. “Later,” he mouthed. 

---

“I have one question about all of this,” Adrien asked as they walked down the street. “What was the obvious hint that I missed? I know I talked to you a few times that day, and I can't figure out what it was. The offer of help?”

Nino and Alya had completely ditched them the moment brunch was over. Alya said normally they’d make up some excuse to manipulate them into being alone together. She’d paused dramatically to look at their intertwined hands before claiming she didn’t think she’d be needing schemes anymore, then told them to take advantage of the alone time. Adrien had promised her he would, all while Marinette sputtered in embarrassment.

“I made a cat pun,” she said. “A terrible, awful, bad cat pun. And I am ashamed.”

“What was it?”

“No way! I am not saying it again!” Her emphatic arm movements were hampered by his grip on her hand, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Marinette.” He slowed, and pulled on her arm until she stood facing him. They’d started their relationship hidden from everyone, with secrets and texts and masks coming between them. Now they were in public, where anyone could see them. “Can I kiss you?”

“I think I’ve waited long enough,” she said, tilting her head and closing her eyes.

“You?”

Her eyes snapped back open, though her head remained at the perfect kissing angle. “Yes, me. I didn’t think it was going to take you that long. I was dying!”

He took a step back, grinning. “I’m not sure if I want to kiss you now after all. Middle of the sidewalk’s probably not the best place for–”

Marinette pulled him down and planted her mouth on his, and his teasing argument died. Adrien felt like he was melting, being molded into a shape that fit her better. 

She pulled away too quickly, resting her forehead against his. People walked around them, just two regular teenagers kissing in public.

“Technically,” he said after catching his breath, “I think that was just you kissing me again.”

“You were kissing me back. It counts.”

“No.” He let go of her waist to cup her face. “This is me kissing you.” And he lowered himself to meet her.

The End

---

Tag list: @eclipsesmoonshine14 @maribugette @delectablycoolscientist @mlbigbang

If you’ve stuck around for the whole thing, thank you! If you’re interested, I’ve got over 70 other Miraculous stories of varying lengths for you to check out. And I’ve got a bunch more planned. Next up is a one-shot featuring half-reveal, pre-relationship Ladynoir, and an akuma whose power is to throw them into fanfiction tropes. Super fun! Plus a project that’s going to feature a lot of love square kisses! (Okay, well, actually two future projects fit that description, haha!) I hope you stick around! Thanks for reading and for all the comments!

I don't think I ever directly linked the artwork that goes along with this story, so here they are! Cover Ch 5 scene

[kyber-crystal]

For requests, maybe something with rooster where you like to play little tiktok pranks on him. like imagine telling him you paid $200 for premium air in your tires or supergluing a jar and he can't open it lol 😭😭 I just think he would have the best reactions to all of them

HAIJHSOJNSOJXN I JUST BUST OUT LAUGHING READING THIS (also despite being on tiktok i’m not super up to date on all the pranks bc they haven’t shown up a lot on my fyp. but i HAVE seen some stuff here and there so i will mostly be going off that haha). anyway i’m so sorry this was genuinely so cringe bc i haven’t done headcanons in a while but i hope it makes u laugh anyway :)) i have a better one shot coming your way i promise

rooster is the prankster of the group

but there’s only one person that can outdo him: you

this man practically falls to his feet when he sees you and worships the ground you walk on and somehow YOU CANT SEE IT

what this basically means is he will literally drop whatever he’s doing to listen to you

miraculously, cyclone is in a good mood, and thus decides to grant everyone three days off

this is the perfect time for you to mess with little rooster’s head :)

you know you go to the beach to play volleyball every friday. and this friday is supposed to be the hottest day of the month

this means that rooster will burn almost as quickly as he tans

while he’s busy chatting up some “game plan” with coyote, you swap out the sunscreen spray in his jacket pocket for baby oil

SO THEN he comes over to put it on, and not even ten seconds later he’s all shiny and sparkly and you try your hardest not to laugh (and gawk a little bc holy that man is TONED)

you’re able to get about 2 rounds in when he notices

“why do i smell like i just waltzed through a lavender field.”

“hmmmmmmmmm no idea” you smiled at him innocently

“it was you, wasn’t it” and he goes chasing after you as you shriek at the top of your lungs

(he managed to tackle you down and although you get a bit sand in your mouth and hair you count it as a win because you took him completely by surprise AND you got to see his bare chest but you wouldn’t fucking dare admit that to him, his ego is big enough as it is. rooster 0-you 1)

ok later that evening @ the hard deck, he’s on a phone call with one of his old college friends. for this one, you team up with hangman to hand him some of the most random things while he’s talking

you start off normal at first, like with a beer, then your hair tie (he always wears at least 3-4 of these on his wrist bc you always end up needing one at some point in the week.)

then hangman hands him a cube of ice. literally a cube of ice. but rooster barely reacts to this and just pops it into his mouth

then a lightbulb goes off in your head

knowing that rooster has an irrational fear of ladybugs, you quickly go out to the back to find one

then you come back and hold your hand out to him

and rooster, being rooster, LOVES physical contact (especially if it’s from you), and takes your hand in his as he continues talking

but then the bright red ladybug crawls onto his wrist and he almost immediately hangs up, drops the phone, and SCREAMS in the middle of the bar

you and hangman share a secret high five at this

but ALSOOO you kind of feel bad for scaring the shit out of the poor guy

that night you’re too lazy to walk back to your place so rooster offers to let you stay with him

and duh you say yes (it’s def bc you’re getting extra opportunities to pull pranks on him and not bc you have a fat crush on him and are hoping he’ll notice even though you’re the least obvious lil shit and prefer to show you care ab him by asking if he wants anything from costco or his fav restaurant down the street)

he ends up sleeping in the next morning, and you’re up pretty early, so you decide to make breakfast

you make a mental note to yourself to go on a grocery run together next week bc you were almost out of strawberry jam

he comes downstairs w/ messy hair and sits down at the counter

and he tries to open the jar of jam

but it won’t budge

he keeps trying for a minute straight but then gives up

so his eyes immediately go over to you and you play dumb

“i didn’t do anything i swear!”

“y/n.”

“i’m innocent!”

“y/n.”

he suddenly brushes your cheek with his thumb and you find this a bit strange since it’s so sudden. and still, your heart does that annoying thing where it skips a beat every time he touches you

“superglue…” he murmured. “i wonder how that got here?”

hahahahahahahaha you sure wonder. it’s not like you stole it while he was sleeping one night

anyway

later that night you ask him if he wants to go for a drive down by the coastline and he says yes.

“yknow, i paid $200 to get premium air for these bad boys!” you told him as you started the engine.

“you…what…”

“for my tires!”

he looks flabbergasted

“y/n, i think you got scammed”

“ok”

you keep driving anyway, the car did NOT feel any different like the mechanic promised it would

but you were no way in hell about to admit that to an already smug looking bradley bradshaw

rooster has finally, FINALLY started to catch onto your antics

so he starts scheming all week to figure out how to get back at you

during this week you’re extremely busy flying back and forth with payback, lessons with maverick, and staying up way too late with phoenix to talk about the latest season of your favorite show

so you don’t even notice that he hasn’t been around for a hot min

then one thursday afternoon right after you got out of the shower, you get a text from him that tells you he’s grabbing some fancy dinner with the guys in an hour and to dress fancy

this has you SCRAMBLING to change bc the place he’s referring to is absolutely legendary

so you show up to the restaurant all polished up and find him in a private booth in the back

“hey…”

rooster is suddenly speechless bc when he told you to dress nice, he didn’t expect you to look like an actual angel

“y/n…you look beautiful”

“thank you…but hey, where is everyone?”

“running a bit late, they should be here soon”

so you order first and wait. and wait. but nobody else shows up

and suddenly the space between you two felt like it had been chopped in half and now you were sitting a lot closer than you remembered

“okay i lied, i’m sorry” he says all of a sudden and you’re like huh tf u talkin ab “i never asked them to come. this is a date. we’re on a date.”

“we are?”

“yes”

so in the end…it’s ultimately you who gets pranked :)

:) :) :) :) :)

…

taglist (add yourself here!): @uwiuwi @queenbbarnes @cosm1cfae @ellabellabus07 @vitanileon @criminalyetminimal @whatlovegattado @and-claudia @bittergomez @julia-marshal @elenavampire21 @totomoshi @lyn-lc @lunamoonbby @paintballkid711 @yeehawnana @hazelgirl355 @spawn0fsatan @teacactusworld @icemansgirl1999 @cherry-waved @littlebadariell @tallrock35 @hoedameronsworld @aerangi

also quick PSA: my taglist spreadsheet hasn’t been updated in a while so this list may not be completely accurate, sorry for any inconveniences : ‘/

[ebiartics]

Chat glanced at her yoyo. "Why do you only get recommended those kinds of videos?"

"I like hot people."

"Oh? Well, for your information, I was named the second hottest French bachelor three years ago."

"Uh-huh, second," she teased. That was all their relationship was now—just playful banter. He wasn’t serious with her anymore. He couldn’t be, not after she had left him for so long.

"My Lady! Are you dismissing my achievements just because I came in second?"

She poked his shoulder. "Yes, because you lost to Adrien Agreste. Sorry, kitty, but I have eyes."

"Eyes for me, or for Agreste?"

Her heart fluttered. Of course, she had eyes for Chat. More than just eyes—he had her heart. But Ladybug masked it. If she was good at anything, it was putting on a mask. "Neither. Not in that way"

"Oh? Your cheeks seem to say otherwise"

Okay, maybe she wasn't so great at masking.

Preview for Chapter 10 of Set to Love I just wrote. I did promise Ladynoir, after all.

(hoping to complete before my mock exams!! ahhhh)

[chocostrwberry]

Okay does anyone else find it strange that you can be Akumatized against your will??

Like once Hawkmoth has you as his target it’s pretty much game over because it takes A LOT to fight the control of an akuma.

Idk non-consensual akumatization is like?? Strangely overpowered and it’s also super uncomfortable for me.

SO IN THIS PRESENTATION I WILL EXPLAIN HOW IT CHANGES IN CHOCOAU-

If Hawkmoth wants to akumatize you, he has to convince you to let him do it. It would kind of have the holder be more persuasive.

Hawkmoth’s main technique is using promises. He would try and convince you that there is nothing that can be done about the way you are feeling or what had happened WITHOUT his help. He’s the only one who can cure your despair, and he’ll do it if you take Chat Noir and Ladybug’s miraculous.

Madame Morphosis (Butterfly Lila) uses your own emotions. She would try and “hype you up” if that makes sense. She’ll tell you how unfair your life is, or how awful you feel, and say how it’s too much for you to bear. Then, she’ll tell you if you bring her Ladybug’s miraculous, you’ll have the power to never feel this way again, or get back at whoever wronged you, etc.

Even though it takes persuasion to Akumatized, that doesn’t make it easier for the person to resist.

When a butterfly enters your Akumatized object, the emotions you’re feeling in the moment basically double. It’s all you can feel, all you can think about.

So if you were sad about losing someone close to you, the grief and pain is amplified. In top of that, you have a voice that isn’t yours telling you he can make it go away if you bring him these two teens miraculous lmaooo.

I think that might also be a reason why Hawkmoth would target people feeling negative emotions. It’s easier to manipulate them since they’re vulnerable, and their akuma powers would be stronger the more intense they feel (Kagami and Chloe). More emotional people make stronger akumas, but harder to control.

So when Lila offers to help him get akumas by essentially tormenting people in her class and around her to break down their psyche, he happily welcomes the help.

ALSO: (kind of important for the AU)

Ladybug cannot cure akumas.

The only way an akuma can be cured is if

1. The Akumatized person gives up their object willingly.

This means that they let go of the akuma and their emotions themselves. Then, when the object is destroyed, the butterfly is white and that person cannot become Akumatized again.

2. The object is destroyed forcefully.

If an object is torn/destroyed and the akuma is freed without their consent, the butterfly still remains that cracked black/purple and person is at risk of becoming Akumatized again. It becomes their “personal butterfly” that is eager to take control again.

This is why Marinette’s kindness and compassion is so important as Ladybug. Most of the time, she needs to find a way to empathize with the Akumatized person in order to protect them from becoming Akumatized again! Take Hanabira. In that “episode”, she was able to talk with Kagami at the risk of her taking over the Louvre. Because her compassion worked, she surrendered her object to Ladybug, and from then on Kagami could no longer become Akumatized.

This is a method Ladybug definitely prefers, but of course it doesn’t work on everyone, which is why there are some repeat villains.

P.S.: Akumas can also be cured by loved ones, not always Ladybug. When Sabrina was Akumatized, Chloe was the one to cure her, and vice versa. Also when Alya was Akumatized, Nino talked her out of it. It’s dangerous for civilians to talk with akumas, but on the rare occasion it does work!

PLUS, Marinette being Akumatized early on would help with her being sympathetic towards other akumas. Like she KNOWS how Hawkmoth is using their emotions against them, like he did with her. She’s hecking LADYBUG and he got her.

She knows how easy it is to fall into the trap of being Akumatized. So she doesn’t view them as “weak” for getting Akumatized. People do things they otherwise wouldn’t have when they’re overwhelmed by what they feel in the moment. (Marinette was cured by Chat Noir btw, so she cannot become Akumatized again.)

And Sentimonsters cannot be Akumatized.

This is mainly directed towards Felix ofc, because he’s the only sentihuman in the AU!