#i am very very VERY happy with how the adrienette one turned out

[tears-of-xion]

If you would could you do Emile with #28 and marinette + Adrien with #29?

The way I gasped when I saw what the color palette you requested for Emilie was called....

Anyways, here ya go! An Emilie with color palette #28 (Au Revoir), and an Adrien and Marinette with color plaette #29 (Feel The Love)!

I had so much fun drawing these! I've been wanting to draw the thumbs-up/heart meme with Adrienette for a while, so I leaped onto the chance to do so here!

Color palettes used are from this post !

-

Please do not use or re-post my artwork without my permission. Thank you!   (reblogs, however, are welcome and appreciated)

I do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, nor it’s characters. All rights to their owners.

[folkloristico]

2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12 and 13 👀

2. What is your least favorite trope to write?

Cheating. Whenever I’m writing about a non-canon pairing—that would be, most of the time—I prefer breaking up the canon pairing(s) or even glossing over them altogether. I do enjoy toxic relationships in fiction, but only when it brings interesting conflicts to the story and not for the sake of shipping drama.

5. The fic you’re most proud of writing?

As for now it must be All the Old Places. I’m still on chapter 6 (of… I don’t even know anymore), but I’ve already written most of it already and outlined the rest, and I’m very proud of it for all the work I did, and because it’s the first long thing I’ve ever written that actually feels good to me. (I do have some old long-ish fics, but they’re quite terrible to say the least.) 

7. Favorite ship to write? 

I’m very much enjoying writing Gen fics lately, but ofc I love shipping as much as the next person. It heavily depends on the spirit of the moment, but I think I can safely say Shinichi and Shiho because of how long I’ve been a fan of them, and writing about them feels like going back to my roots. At the moment, however, I’m having lots of fun with Cassunzel, so honorable mention to them. 

8. Least favorite ship to write? 

How much am I exposing myself here if I say Ran and Shinichi? I just can’t get a knack for them, Idk.

10. Best/funniest comment you’ve ever gotten on a fic? 

‘Not enough gay sex for me.’ I guess some people might find it rude, but I straight up snorted lol. 

12. First fic ever written? 

I don’t remember if it was my first ever because I’ve been writing fanfiction since before I knew what it was, but the first I ever posted was a Pokémon/Naruto crossover lmao. Zero plot, just self-insert OCs and vibes.  

13. Latest fic written/latest WIP?

An Adult Adrienette OS which is a half-rewrite of Duetto spaccato—that it because that’s one of my favorite MLB ideas, but I’m not quite happy with how that fic turned out, especially the last chapter, and because I’ve matured a lot as a writer, I want to give it another try. 

Thank youuu for the ask <3

[whenimgoodandready]

Being born in the Year of the Horse, I for one am proud to be representing confidence, endurance and triumph under this star sign. Max embraced all that when he took those specs and became Pegasus to save his class, passengers and mother when their train was transformed into a rocket (“Startrain”). This power is used to get from Point A to Point B for easy travel. It can also be used as a chasing move for adversaries if they were to hold onto a specific important item that can reveal some very shocking secrets. Just who and what is that exactly. Let’s find out:

*Migration-Now that Marinette has learned to listen to her friends about how to tell them about her failed attempts to say, “I love you” to Adrien, she goes to none other than her good old ex-boyfriend, Luka Coffaine, after all, he did help bring Adrienette closer (“Determination”), being a good sport about the Lukanette break-up (“Truth”) and keeping “hush hush” about who the dynamic duo is! (“Wishmaker”). Shhh🤫. They still don’t know.

Everyone! Dr.Coffaine is in and ready to hear all your troubles. Wether it’s your love troubles like why your “not-yet girlfriend” can’t say three magic words (“Perfection”), or why you feel you’re not being a good father cuz of your rock star career (“Crocoduel”) or even why you’re in love with your unlicensed teen therapists rock star father (“Troublemaker”). (disclaimer voice over) NO EXCUSES OR SCHEDULED APPOINTMENTS NEEDED. PLEASE BE HONEST AND SINCERE IN YOUR ENDEAVORS. ALL SESSIONS ARE FREE.

Anybody else got problems? Bob Roth!? That a**hole!? He wants to talk to “Dr.” Luka too!? Oh! Well, this should be nice. Does he wanna talk about why he fails at understanding rock culture for his client (“Guitar Villain”), or why he cheats aspiring young musicians for a chance at stardom just to steal their work and pass them off to his “talentless” son (“Silencer”) or how ‘bout the fact that he doesn’t listen to compromise on movie theme ideas to make everyone happy (“Psychomedian”). Nevermind, the bastard just realized that the pseudo psychologist is the son of his most famous client and wants to sign a record deal with him and his band.

Oh wait! He already did that, but never followed through. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Yup, the greedy bastard forgot all about Kitty Section. However, now that he knows Luka is Jagged Stones son, he’s serious about it and wants to go through with it. Luka convinced his band to sign since he believes even the most vile people can be good only to sadly sign their souls away to the devil himself! Great! Now Bastard Bob owns Kitty Section and can control it however he wants using only Luka! You’d think after what happened before, these kids would be smart not to listen to this guy. Is there another ep where someone emphasizes how they fail to see the good in people cuz their irredeemable beyond reason!? (remembers being spoiled by “Revelation”) OH SH*T!

Luka is so horrified by his false judgement of character that he becomes akumatized as-WAIT! Oh no! Monarch just found out Luka knows the heroes identities! WE’RE DOOMED! Don! Don! Don! Oh wait! Luka broke free! Like a rock star! (mimes air guitar as guitar noises are heard) Phew! We’re safe! Oh no! Wait! Now the megakuma’s goin’ to Bob Roth! Don! Don! Don! Sh*t! He becomes Gold Record! An all gold themed villain with a gold record weapon that he uses by turning everything he hits it with into a floating record that sings out their deepest darkest secrets while also giving him the powers of the Horse Miraculous to find his targets!…….RUN! LUKA! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Bobs second akumatized form and it’s a perfect representation of how shady the music industry really is. (squints eyes and speaks in a serious tone) They’re the real evil in this world. His first was a flying gold safe with his face on it that collected money which fit his greedy nature and showed how difficult it was for Ladybug and Team Miraculous to defeat him without Cat Noir (“Ephemeral”). Now it’s this and it’s just a tool to be used to expose Luka with him knowing the heroes identities as a plot drivin’ storyline that fans thought the writers forgot about! I always thought if Bob were to get akumatized he’d be like a King Midas type of villain that turned everything he touched to gold. It would suit his sin. His Gold Record look was actually that except it was just more music producing related with a clever way to get people to confess their secrets. I’ll give it that, yeah. The Tom and Jerry act he did with Cat was pretty funny too using the Horse Miraculous.

Much like Alix (“Evolution”), Luka stepped into a bus and was forced to leave for the safety of Paris and away from Monarch. Guy knew too much! He even told Ladybug about it! But not who Cat was cuz that’s for her to come by on later. Luka even “mentioned” to Adrien that he knew as well, but not who Ladybug was cuz that’s also for him to figure out. It’s about time this issue came to be addressed cuz we’re now in the middle of the season and Luka would’ve been a big help in a lot more eps before this had he told the heroes sooner. Sure with this knowledge he helped with stopping the apocalypse when Marinette needed him in her most desperate hour (“Ephemeral”), but if the baddie were to know this info, everyone would be dead! I get it, Ladybug already has a lot goin’ for her and she doesn’t need this to further complicate things until it was brought up for a big emergency like this ep right here. Goodbye Luka, we’ll miss you🥲. Say! Since Luka is globe trotting with Jagged and Penny, you think since the Miraculous World specials are about traveling to other countries, the heroes will cross paths with him? I’d like that! Bobby here was continuing to be his worst faking a “redemption” just to profit off Kitty Section with the purpose of only relying on Luka due to him being Jagged’s son which will make him more money. That’s all he cares about! He never cares about what his clients actually want and only forces them to do the things he says just to make himself rich(er). I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even care about his own son, XY, either and only uses him to make more money :P. He deserved every bit of Anarka throwing him overboard (with or without the wet suit). Least in the end Luka ripped the contract and Jagged decided he was done with Bob too to focus more on Luka and being a dad. Bob does make a point though, you should read the fine prints in contracts before signing! Even if you falsely believe a person can change. Read👏the👏fine👏print!👏He also mentions how those “anti-akumatizing�� charms don’t work cuz people still get akumatized after receiving one. Guess they’re useless🤷‍♀️…….or do they!?😏

[gamma-squad]

The Ultimate Gamma Squad Fic Rec List

From Angst to Fluff to Reveals, fanfiction will make you cry :D

Adrinette

Double Blind Date -  Alya knows Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, and now that they're finally in the same city at the same time, she is determined to get them to meet.

The Bravery of Adrien Agreste -  adrien ends up living on the streets for a while, it's extremely well written and has also adrien marrying marinette to emancipate from his father.  There's also a sequel, the Bravery of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, which the author is currently writing. 

Lovelace -  Convinced that he's unlovable, Adrien is quickly thrown for a loop when Marinette confesses her love for him out of the blue. An akumatization and reveal later, he changes his mind about being unlovable.

The Bravery of Marinette Dupain-Cheng -  After the defeat of Hawkmoth, Adrien and Marinette are strangers to each other, but somehow… married? - Sequel to The Bravery of Adrien Agreste

Soulmate Survey -  A brand new dating app hits the scene, giving you a percentage of how well you match with someone else. And it is taking the world, and certain teenagers, by storm.

Cats are Colorblind! - Reverse Crush AU - Ladynoir/Adrinette - Adrien is blind but he can... feel Marinette’s features? Which happen to be the same ones as Ladybugs (Reveal)

have the stars blotted out in a brilliant morse code - Fluffy Adrinette moments and reveal? beautiful

Strength - Crack/Fluff oneshot with a reveal

Marry That Girl -  Adrien finds Marinette’s plans for their wedding and just falls

League of Losers - Slightly Different Superhero AU with crack angst and fluff

You, Me & A Little Bit of the Future - future ladynoir asks adrinette to babysit and everythings cute

Practice Makes Purr-fect - Adrinette/Ladynoir + Reveal and kisses (all you need in life <3)

wish you were here - demon au, adrien is just really confused

The Moving Statue - AKDJSSD - Adrinette + Reveal

Operation Mega-Sleepover - Adrinette Sleepover Shenanigans

Butt Dial - Marinette butt dials Adrien and all his plans for a normal afternoon jumped out the window (Reveal)

The Wedding Plans of Marinette Dupain-Cheng - Adrien finds Marinette’s wedding guest list for their future wedding and he’s like ‘WHERE AM I?’ (boy you’re the groom)

Plagg Meets Marinette

i hope that fate will forgive us (for tempting the sea) - mermaid royalty au and arranged marriages - Felix x Bridgette and Adrinette - also the author is v nice <33

The Player and the Princess - Childhood friends turned enemies turned lovers <3

take me back- By marvelousmsmol

By Design - By marvelousmsmol (Still going!)

Graine de toi - By komorebirei (Still going? I’m not sure)

Smoulder - By midnightstarlightwrites (this is adorable and full of ships! Also, finished 36/36).

Lucky Us - By PrincessKitty1 (Sigh, it’s too cute! Finished 30/30).

Facades -   AU with dark!Adrien. Has even a short sequel (lovesquare but mainly centered around the two main ships)

 Kiss shy - By emsylcatac (This is a great one-shot!)

i don't have a latte but give me a shot - By marvelousmsmol (The one-shot, i wish was a series).

 Under Lock and Key - By EdenDaphne, Maerynn (the antics! Finish 10/10)

The Woman With Blue Eyes - By ghostgirl19 (One-shot!)

 Friends By Day, Enemies By Night - By Dristi5683 (This is 49/49, there’s also marichat and angst ladynoir)

A Bride for the Prince - by ChocoluckChipz (Totally_lucky) and TheNovelArtist

Penumbra - Adrienette hurt comfort, rated M for serious topics like implied noncon as a minor

keep me in your thoughts - adrienette soulmate au

Passionfruit- Adrienette soulmate au series with 3 parts

a chat in disneyland - pretty self explanatory, chat noir antics and slightly traumatized workers, everythings great

Finding Diamonds in the Rough -  A prince escaping the confines of his castle. A girl who saves a naive visitor. The connection built between these two of different worlds. Welcome to another Arabian night.

Out of Your Hair -  Adrien wants to support Kitty Section during their first large concert in the park, but dad says no. So of course there’s only one way this can go

Infatuation - Adrinette childhood enemies to ‘I hate you but i seriously want to kiss you’

Blindsided - Adrinette/Ladynoir - Ladybug gets hit by an akuma and goes blind but hey! Adrien/Chat Noir is literally the most amazing person ever and that helps (Reveal)

Just a Friendly Game Night -  The four teenagers arrange a game night at Marinette’s house. What could go wrong

Just Best Friends -  The sequel to ‘Just a Friendly Game Night’ where the teenagers deal with what went wrong

We’ve Got It Covered -  Marinette needs to create a concept album cover design for Jagged Stone, but when she can’t get anything, the stress builds…

Le Prix du Silence -   this is in French, by Etoile-lead-Sama, but it's so worth google translating! Especially her inverted umbrella scene where Marinette gives the umbrella back to Adrien because she wants to rid her feelings for him and in that moment he realises that he's in love with her…  *heartbreak* but it's all wonderful and her slow burn is exceptional

Shop, Bake, Eat... - Crack, mature humor and content

Having a Ball - Adrien and Marinette attend a Victorian ball without recognizing each other.

In Which Adrien Agreste Butt Dials Ladybug - Based on NY Special, what if Adrien kept the remote to the cat toy in his back pocket?

The Jacket - Marinette gives a black jacket to Adrien and he thinks she's figured him out. 

Stuck In A Bakery (With You) -  during the pandemic, Adrien gets stuck in the bakery with Marinette and family. 

MariChat:

Chat Got Your Back - Lila I don’t like you and neither does Chat

Burgundy and Blush -  Marinette needs a date for the dance, and Chat Noir is happy to help. But can the two teens in denial make it through the night without catching feelings?

The Trouble With Kissing Boys -  When an akuma handcuffs Chat Noir and Marinette together, true feelings are revealed… but only to get the cuffs off. Really

double jeu -  An injured Chat Noir leads to a frantic Marinette and frequent midnight visits neither of them had expected to get used to.

Lace or Leather - Sequel to Burgundy and Blush

Stand-In Journalist - MariChat being besties

spark - marichat dating app shenanigans

Forget-Me-Not  -  Marinette looses her memories a little bit (unfinished)

Jealousy - Onesided reveal and then it turns into a love confession and a reveal

When Duty and Desire Meet - By EdenDaphne, midnightstarlightwrites. (Still going! Its so romantic, the yellow rose hits me the most)

Selfless - By ghostgirl19 ( I wish this fic was still going but it’s not! It’s discontinued!! T~T)

The Cat, the Bell, and the Wardrobe (Malfunction) - ChocoluckChipz (Totally_lucky), Eizabet, KryallaOrchid, Maerynn, midnightstarlightwrites. (I know the embracement... It’s also a one-shot!)

The Wingman Visits - By NiuNiu. (This is completed with 16/16 and rated mature!).

I Won’t Hold You Back - THE BEST PROM FIC YOU’LL EVER READ. Adrien invites Mari to prom. In which Adrien Awkward Awkward Awkward Athanase  Agreste makes an appearance. 

A Gamer’s Pride - No miraculous but they’re video game partners and they hate each other but they like each other and HHHHHHHH

Diamonds never leave you... men do! - Marinette the cop and Chat Noir the criminal (they’re dating <3)

Kiss and Dash -  It starts of when Marinette kisses Adrien on a dare and runs off but it really spirals out of control when Chat Noir takes revenge with his own kiss and dash. Do all people kiss the same way? Adrienette/Marichat/Ladynoir/Ladrien. - I THINK I ASCENDED WHILE READING THE FIRST CHAPTER

No Longer Running From -  After an Akuma attack, Marinette runs off in order to avoid Chat Noir, but she didn’t count on him being so willing to come after her.

Chat Blanc - Chat Blanc fights with reveals and Adrien being a good person even when akumatized

Worries - Chat is very concerned for the well-being of Marinette who he has noticed, decides to run into akuma battles in a very much not safe way

Rooftop Tears and Gentle Hugs [Vent] -  Marinette goes mute for a week, and everybody is worried. It seems only a concerned Chat is the one to finally reach her.

Tendencies - (series) lots of good writing starting out as marichat and then a reveal

Just Chatting -  Chat crashes onto Marinette's balcony and continues to visit. Marinette finds herself impulsively getting closer to him, and then everything goes to shit.

Reves de Noir et Blanc - LISTEN. MARICHAT HURT/COMFORT AFTER A NIGHTMARE MAKES ME FEEL CERTAIN THINGS

Physical Touch - Chat Noir, my amazing child, is touch starved. Marinette is happy to help with some cuddles

It’s Okay to Cry - THE SUMMARY ALONE GOT ME FEELING SOME STUFF LET MARINETTE SHOW EMOTION -  Marinette feels the burden of not letting her negative emotions show, since Ladybug cannot let herself be akumatized, no matter what. A cat is there to let her vent.

heartstrings - HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - they frggin kiss and its dramatic and teenage drama and romace 

Crushed - Stuck under a collapsed building together, Chat Noir and Marinette have a heart to heart.  (Reveal)

Every Heartbeat: A Marichat May 2021 Story:  -   Reeling from a brutally difficult day, Marinette finds her life becomes amazingly complicated after impulsively inviting Chat Noir to spend the evening with her. But when the suave feline begins to weave his way into her heart, she realizes rather quickly just how conflicted her feelings for her partner truly are.

A Roll of the Dice - AVERT YOUR EYES INNOCENT CHILDREN - mature (obviously) Alya gives Marinette an adult dice set and at night time, Chat Noir dares her to use it. 

tell me something i don’t know - the infamous marichat soulmate au by the beloved carpisuns

Trading (Momentary) Burdens - UM. YOU HAD ON RIGHT?? I AM SAD??- Ladybug gets hurt mid-fight and Chat has to turn into Misterbug to save her

Miraculous Dupont -  Marinette finds herself attacked by Chat Blanc, an akuma at the orders of Hawkmoth. But before the akuma can do any damage, she's saved by Chat Noir, a superhero who is fighting the akumas. Chat Noir senses something in her and takes her to the magical school he attends, Miraculous Dupont, where Master Fu, the head teacher, agrees that she has potential to be a Miraculous holder. So Marinette is thrown into a world of hidden identities, akuma fights and mysteries and ends up by discovering that this whole world wasn't that unknown to her to start with, that the boy behind the mask, of whom she desperately falls in love, wasn't a stranger from her too, and it's all connected to two lucky charms, a seal and a mysterious magical potion she (and her friends) should never have been exposed to...

Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright -  chat noir gives the tiger miraculous to marinette. I love her concept of the tiger miraculous, so cool!

Terror on La Seine - Villains weren't supposed to help when there are others in need. But can Hawk Moth truly stand aside and do nothing? Especially when a young woman he knows personally is in danger? TW: implied trafficking

Madness Within -  If you want slowburn, feral Chat Noir and dark themes this is a great place to start and I’m super excited for what’s to come. Very highly recommend

you came to me with gold and i mended the pieces -  Adrien gets into a really ugly argument with his father, and as a result the poor boy gets a slap right across the face. In a daze, he runs away from home, transforms, and decides to seek comfort in a really close friend of his.

I’ll Be Your (Wing)Man -  When Chat Noir finds Marinette sighing over her failed love life, he decides to help her get the boy of her dreams. Nothing can go wrong here. Absolutely nothing.

The Tendencies Series -  HIGHLY RECOMMEND and will sure to keep you busy for a while

LadyNoir:

A Summer Treat - LadyNoir Icecream date in Shanghai and lovestruck adrien

TKO - LadyNoir workouts and they KISS

Doctor, Doctor, Give me The News (Your Lips Is The Only Cure I Could Use) -   Plagg’s sick, Adrien’s in love, Shit Happens™ 

 Of Yellows, Pinks and Blues - New York Special LadyNoir but with ROSES 

Long Live - LadyNoir based on the song <3

Letters of Lovers - LadyNoir writing down all their feelings on letters BUT THEN AT THE END THEY READ IT + Reveal

A Bad Dream - Ladybug tells Chat about a ‘dream’ where he was Chat Blanc (spoiler alert: it wasn’t a dream)

The Bug and Cat Show - ADKLJSASD READ THIS

You’re My Sight - Adrien is blind but with the miraculous, he can see and this is very much a wonderful thing to happen to him. One day he tells Ladybug.

United - OMFG - ladynoir established relationship (+Reveal)

a nine-year-old - i havent met anyone that hasn’t read this fic but still (im still sorry emsy, i believed you were 9 with my entire heart ����)

Death By Ladybug - Flirty Ladybug and Flustered Chat Noir

Chat Noir’s White French Man Hitlist For Feminist Purposes - (THIS HAS A PODFIC NOW)

Liquid Luck - LadyNoir Banter + Reveal

Symphony - Adrinette/LadyNoir + Reveal (with the best ending ever omg)

 The Miraculous Tweets of @luckylady and @chatnoir - Internet Shenanigans

Problems - ladynoir fluff

Only a beat a cat can hear - Ladybug tells Chat when he finds out about her blindness that she scared about him leaving her. He’s having none of this self deprecating stuff and reassures her that he loves her a lot and nothing changes that. 

M’Lady - THEIR LAST DAYS AS SUPERHEROES :’’’’))) (Reveal)

It was just a cheek kiss! - Ladybug slowly falling for Chat and them finally getting together (my friends thought I was getting murdered when I readthis. So many screams)

Discordant Sonata - EdenDaphne (Still going!)

like poles of a magnet - By maketea (8/8! It's finished!)

From the Ashes - By MiniMinou (Finish! Btw this is angst and mature rated)

Ladybug and Chat Noir's Guide to the Rooftops of Paris - PipTheMagnificent (One-shot!)

 in the dead of night, your eyes so green - this ones by miraculouslycool so you know its good 

 Day 7: Interview - Chat Noir being cute with kids

Misunderstanding - LadyNoir Identity Shenanigans <3

Not Kitten Around, Badylug - the road to reveal, integrating parts of S4, all in mobile texts. Sweet, funny. The kind of pick-me up you need after an angsty ep.

Two Seconds -  perfect for a light morning read.

i think it’s time i told you (im a fan of your universe) - LadyNoir (AND THEY GET MARRIED)

It’s Not PDA If You’re Just Friends - They’re just friends! Friends can kiss each others shoulders and spin each other around, right?

I Guess That Makes Us Even - Chat Noir dying = REALLY SAD LADYBUG AND COMFORT - its by buggchat so you already know its simply superior

Red Strings and Markers - Soulmate AU my beloved

little kitty on the rood, wearing his lady’s boxers - Adrien in Ladybug boxers, Marinette in the pool with her pjamas, Adrien uses his one braincell and realizes some pretty shocking things (Reveal)

dont let me die alone - okay so you may get a lil sad but you know

Return to Base - LadyNoir laser tag baby, Adrienette laser tag with LadyNoir dynamic, reveal

The Ladyblog Comment Section - they like to annoy alya in the comments. and flirt. but they dont realize the last part yet

Irreplaceable -  Adrien is insecure. Marinette doesn't let anyone talk bad about her partner.

Where are you Chat Noir? -  As the final battle unfolds to their defeat, Hawkmoth and Mayura use plan b and withdraw in a 'Sentiworld', a parallel reality created with an Amok. What's worse, they drag Chat Noir with them. What's even worse, Ladybug can't say goodbye, or I love you. Guilty and desperate, what will she be ready to sacrifice to get her partner back? (Rated R for mature content)

Kitty Chat Kisses -  Give Chat more kisses please, this was so sweet and cute and sad and just...someone give Chat some hugs and kisses and tell him he did a good job

i’ll marry you - Chat Noir talks to his sleepy girlfriend about their future.

Upon the Eiffel Tower, They Reveal it All. -  Chat Noir spots Ladybug heading towards the Eiffel tower without telling him, and when he checks on her, finds out more than he thought he would.

Two Hundred and Fifty Four -  aspik angst :’)

Ladrien:

bang bang - KISSES

whose woods these are (I think I know) - FIRST OF ALL, its a cinderella au and its MAGNIFICENT - Four years after his future turns to cinders, Adrien is a servant in the house he was meant to inherit. Disowned by his father and abused by his stepmother, his days are filled with drudgery until he meets a masked huntress in the forest behind his father's chateau.As his friendship with Ladybug turns to first love, he dreams of a future spent at her side.Then, on the eve of the Princess's masquerade, he meets his guardian—and is granted a wish.

The Tell-Tale Kiss - Adrien gets discouraged when Ladybug turns down Paris’ favorite cat every time. But what if Paris’ favorite model asks her?

The Cat and His Daffodils -  I adore Hanahaki AU’s and this was one was really good and wonderfully angsty.

Post/One Sided Reveal: 

Serendipitous Fate -  With Hawkmoth growing stronger, Chat Noir and Ladybug need to practice. And get teammates. And grow stronger together. Which means learning each other’s identity, no matter the risks. Unfinished, but worth it. Also, there is some smut near the end, but the author warns the reader on the exact chapter and it is very skippable

switch it up - Adrien uses the Ladybug miraculous and everyone simps even harder

Remember That Time When... - Marinette is ready to enjoy her wedding anniversary with her wondrful husband. Except when she wakes up, she’s not going to be able to celebrate her anniversary. In fact, she’s seventeen again.

Divide By Infinity - Post-Reveal Adrinette being adorable and looking at LadyNoir moments

Bad Day - Adrien finds out Marinette’s Ladybug on the toilet and everything just does downhill from there

Get Agrekt - Post Reveal + Drunk Adrien my beloved

Under The Stars - PROPOSAL

Do You Hear That, Love? - Post-Reveal angst and babies

Side Effects of Paw-esome Merch: Model Chokes on Air - Post Reveal Marinette making my poor boy adrien consciously try not to die by wearing Chat Noir merch

Serotonin Boosts - ADRIEN LOVES HIS GIRLFRIEND OKAY?

When the Wedding Bells Toll - Post Reveal Adrinette pretend to date to get free food at a wedding (ha ha guess who fell in love againnnn)

All You Had to Do Was Stay - first of all, OOF - Marinette and Adrien reveal their identities and he panics and Marinette, three years later, sees him again for Alya’s wedding with the urge to both kiss him and punch him in the face

Adrinette April Day 23: Sunset - CUTE FLUFFY PEOPLE (its by sketchy-panda)

Forget-Me-Not - written way before oblivio but basically, oblivio

The Wall Between Us -  Lukanette, Adrigami, Alya finding out, lovesquare reveal, Adrien finding out Gabe is Hawkmoth, then theres Adrinette being in love and MarcNath walking in them making out. Its a whole vibe. Two Seconds was written in response to this :D

Mari Me - CHRISTMAS PROPOSALS AND CHILDREN ARE BEAUTIFUL OKAY?

Trolling Alya -  After Adrien and Marinette reveal their identities to each other, instead of going right into dating, they agree to just be friends and take their time. Alya is not having it.

The Biological Imperative - excellent explicit story with an interesting concept about tikki being able to freeze the power of all miraculouses in her box in case of marinette's pregnancy. Adrienette of course. 

The Closest Thing to Love - god i love a good fake dating story - post reveal Aged Up - adrien decides that the best way to gain independence from his dad was to get married. To who you ask? Of course its his lady, Marinette Dupain Cheng. Nothing could go wrong! They’re just friends after all.

Not A Ship But Hella good Stories

Papa Bear -  In which Tom is the one to figure out Adrien’s home life is putting him in danger and helps Adrien escape.

Nooroo Uses a Swear Word -  He really, really does. But he has a very good reason, so... let's hear him out, shall we? Crackfic, one-shot.

Move to Safety - Sort of a longer take on the ‘ Adrien runs away and seeks shelter with the Dupain-Chengs’. Involves the final battle and Adrien knowing Gabe is Hawkmoth. 

I Know, Kid - Plagg has a very important conversation with his holder when they return home after defeating Guiltrip.

Chat Noir is My Science Teacher - When Mattheu Magan witnesses his chemistry teacher, Adrien Dupain-Cheng, transform into his favorite superhero Chat Noir, he becomes the Monkey Miraculous holder Monkid, going on adventures and learning what it means to be a hero alongside under his new meow-ntor. (OC, Adventure, Aged-up - Yall ive only known Mattheu for like, a month BUT I LOVE HIM WITH ALL MY HEART)

Won’t Tell a Soul - Nino finds out that Marinette is Ladybug and keeps the secret. Kind of. 

Motherfucking Superheroes - Directly following the events of the season 3 finale, Alya Cesaire decides to create a groupchat with all the known Miraculous holders, which sets off an investigation into Ladybug’s identity. (Crack, Groupchat/Text fic)

My Boy - Gabriel creates a sentimonster copy of himself to free himself from unimportant matters, but he didn’t expect it to become more human than himself. (Angst, Mentions of torture)

The Malicious Pavilin - Evil gay Emilie is a whole ass mood

Never Sing At Home - Based on that ‘hey, bad news and good news. Bad news, Hawkmoth knows my identity, good news, I know his!’ prompt on tumblr

Bite off more than you can chew and you’ll choke - Lila gets exposed fics my beloved

ouef, ouch, owie - Chat and Rena plan some Aspik-related shenanigans to cover up Chat’s secret identity when Ladybug decides to have all the Miraculous heroes train together. (Crack)

What the Cat Dragged In - MCU Crossover

the last day on earth - Chat Blanc angst is top-tier

Air Miraculous - Miraculous but with Basketball and Shoes

how the strings intertwine - MDC Fic - UNFINISHED BUT AMAZING

Nine Lives - Hurt/Comfort, Adrien Centric

In Good Hands -  in which Ladybug tells Chat Noir about her new confidant and Chat chooses his own.

How Nino Waged War with Gabriel Agreste - By ChocolateXMyMouth (Still going!)

The Inappropriate Touching Talk -  this is another pure crack. Gabriel finds out that Adrien "touches inappropriately" Marinette and decides to have "the talk" (or rather have someone else have the talk with him)

Broken - Cop AU with lots of angst :D

Informant - miracuclass group chat au with identity shenanigans 

Lucky Fox Paradox - Marinette gives succeeds in giving Alya the ladybug miraculous. And regrets it. Enter, the fox miraculous.

“I have plan” - based on the ‘Ladybug joins the fight as multimous and she and rena rouge won’t let adrien leave to transform and its just crack’

Sting -  Chat Noir mysteriously vanished, and as much as Ladybug hates it, she can’t do her job alone. Which is why she decides to give Adrien to bee miraculous until her partner returns!

Accidental Dates - The four friends make a group chat to plan game nights. Some people tend to take it further

Leave for Mendeleiev -  Marinette is in Mendeleiev’s class instead of Bustier’s, meaning new friends and different relationships

Ridiculous, Utterly Ridiculous - rejected one time too many, Chat Noir ends in tears on someone's balcony. No, not Marinette's. Chloé's. And no, it doesn't end with an adrikloe (or how it's called). Chloé actually ends up being a good friend (*insert ohhhh of surprise*)

I’ll Handle This - Adrien accepts a deal with Plagg for the black kwami to resolve his problems. And Plagg succeeds. 

let’s get covered in flames and play some games with the smoke -  1920s enemies to lovers soulmates au that makes me want to jump off a building in a good way

Ruffled -  Harry Potter AU

Passionfruit -  Adrienette soulmate au series with 3 parts

Repetition -  One day adrien stumbles upon hawkmoth’s lair. In response, Gabe wipes his memory and is done with it. until it happens again, and again, and again…

Bite Me. -  Vampire!Alya one-shot. Really good world-building in this one chapter alone!

“I have a plan.” -  Really funny one-shot where Marinette’s idea of going in as Multimouse doesn’t exactly pan out how she wanted it to.

Back to Us -  After a reveal so shocking it rocks the core of Paris itself, the villain Hawk Moth is finally defeated...at a great personal cost to heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir. With the city safe, they go their separate ways, returning to the lives they were forced to put on hold since receiving their Miraculous.

Free Falling - Fantastic story with amazing and well written themes that I really just adored reading. Beautifully written and wonderful plot/story

Other Ships (outside of Love Square):

The Worst and Best Thing - GabeNath, drama and angst with a happy ending

Operation Lovebirds -  DJWifi - Alya and Nino try and get Adrien and Marinette together, and get more than they thought they would

Phase Eight - Sequel to Operaton Lovebirds -  Three years after the failure of Operation Lovebirds, Alya and Nino’s relationship is tested when Alya comes across a startling secret.

Cola Date - DJWifi -  When Alya finds herself on a date with the wrong guy she searches for unconventional help to get her out of this. Luckily, the cute waiter doesn't mind to help her out with a favor.

Soundless - Lukadrien - Luka has the Ladybug Miraculous and can pretty much tell who’s Chat Noir

Hotdogs and Icecream - Lukagami - Luka and Kagami hanging out while Adrinette are being in love during the NY Special

[miraculouscontent]

Kagami and Marinette deserve so much better.

Anyway, let’s just start literally where this episode starts, because it makes no sense. Remember back in my “Truth” critique where I basically said that the episode seemed like it’d been shoved through multiple drafts and no one checked the final one?

Same applies here.

Like--okay, ”Truth” and “Lies” take place at roughly the same time, which means that the same filler akuma/sentimonsters appear to interrupt Adrimi’s moments just as they did with Lukanette’s, giving its audience a clear timeline of how the episodes line up. The reason this is important is because the writers can’t even keep consistency within singular episodes and then honestly thought that they could do it within two.

“Lies” begins with Marinette talking to Tikki about the grimoire, because apparently she has the non-translated version and there’s a secret to figuring out the code that Tikki believes Marinette will discover eventually.

...Alright, I’m derailing here but I have to add how absolutely stupid Fu was when dealing with translating the grimoire. He was supposed to teach Marinette how to be guardian, yet he didn’t teach her how to read the grimoire (if there’s supposedly a “secret” to it, is he really going to bank on Marinette figuring it out herself eventually instead of just giving it to her and avoid the risk altogether??), kept the translated pages on his tablet without sending them to Marinette as he deciphered them, and took time to write a letter to her in “Miracle Queen” but left no guardian-centric advice for her to work off of, meaning that Tikki had to explain how the Miracle Box worked to Marinette back in “Truth.”

The show goes out of its way constantly to turn everything against Marinette even if it makes all the characters around her look either incompetent or cruel. It’s not that I’m not used to this by now but it’s just infuriating that it keeps trying to raise the stakes and tension when Marinette made such a tiny mistake to cause the issue in the first place, and now we find out that Fu had no back-up plan or strategy, apparently expecting this 14-year-old girl to act perfectly and cover for him.

And of course, instead of leaving the scene off on Marinette being encouraged by Tikki and Marinette showing confidence in herself (i.e: what would’ve been a nice scene), the kwami accidentally fumble with the keyboard in such a way to have Marinette’s computer bring up  a news story about Adrien, which leads to Marinette leaning towards her computer and sighing over Adrien and his “amazing life.”

Can I just point out how annoying it is that all the Adrienette moments so far on Marinette’s end have been forced, not just in general (because we’re used to that), but literally forced by the plot so Marinette would talk about him or other characters would bring Adrien up?

“Truth” had Alya insult Marinette to her face over her Adrien crush because Marinette was freaking over something non-Adrien related that they couldn’t have known about, Luka was sent a no-context picture of Marinette’s Adrien wall which led to him lowkey teasing her about it, and then Truth was forced to listen to Marinette’s friends and Tom babble about Marinette’s supposed crush on Adrien even when Truth points out that it’s not a secret, making the “joke” fall absolutely flat.

And now “Lies” comes along and has the kwami drop things and step on the keyboard in the exact way to pull up Adrien stuff for Marinette to fawn over. It’s at this point I’m realizing that - had the kwami stayed inside the box or just not been around in general - Marinette literally wouldn’t have brought up Adrien at all in either “Truth” or “Lies” and now I’m sad. I really don’t want to have a counter for “episodes where Marinette wouldn’t have so much as breathed Adrien’s name if the kwami/someone else wasn’t there to force it.”

So yeah, the episode had to force Adrienette into its Adrimi episode because the show can’t go five minutes without reminding the audience that Adrien exists even though this episode is primarily from his point of view, made worse by this scene’s lack of ability to exist.

See, from the timeline in “Lies” lining up with “Truth,” there is no possible way for this opening scene with Marinette talking about guardian stuff and then fawning over Adrien to happen. There’s an akuma scene in “Lies” that literally is just copy-pasted from “Truth” (it actually does this again with another scene later but that’s not important right now), so that means anything that takes place before said scene in both “Truth” and “Lies” have to line up.

Except they can’t. The akuma scene in question interrupts Marinette’s movie date with Luka in “Truth,” and before that, she had just opened the Miracle Box, wrangled up the kwami, talked to the girl squad over video call, talked to Luka, and then immediately had to leave. There are no cuts or wiggle room anywhere in there.

Therefore, the scene in “Lies” is impossible. Either the scene is supposed to go elsewhere in the episode (we don’t actually know how many days it takes up so it’s hard to say on that front) which just makes the episode even more convoluted, or this means that one would have to pick between the scene in “Truth” and the scene in “Lies” because they literally cannot co-exist.

“Lies” was supposed to coincide with “Truth” and they messed it up in the first scene of the episode.

Then comes Adrien himself, who really shows the series’ clunkiness in focusing on other characters. It’s not that I’m against the show moving away from Marinette to show other people’s point-of-view (I definitely didn’t complain during the Couffaine sibling scene in “Reflekdoll”), but Adrien cannot carry his own episode.

In Marinette’s opening scene, we immediately got details on the grimoire and lore about how reading it actually worked. I didn’t like it and it wasn’t good, but it was new information.

Adrien, meanwhile, spends a large portion of the episode being sad (a very grand and unique plot, my dudes) and giving us information we already know. “Truth” has to come first because “Lies” is half of a follow-up on it, meaning that the audience is already aware that Ladybug has been forgetful and has had to miss out on patrols. It’s just that now we get to see Chat Noir sulking about it and--okay, I am just going to go off, alright?

Firstly, Chat Noir tells Ladybug later on that he “understands” her guardian duties, but he previously mocked her behind her back by using air quotes when he was talking to her answering machine (since she obviously wouldn’t see that). We saw in “Truth” where he admitted that he doesn’t mind her being guardian “as long as it doesn’t change their relationship,” and that’s on display right here with his comments.

Not only is it extremely disrespectful, but for someone who claims to be so loyal and understanding to Ladybug, he sure doesn’t show it.

Secondly, he leaves her a message about how he’ll take care of patrol, then proceeds to slack off because she’s not there to keep him in check. He sulks around Paris, mumbling about how Ladybug isn’t around and constantly checking his messages to see if she’s replied to him. Chat Noir has shown his “priorities” in terms of heroism before, but patrol isn’t supposed to be about getting time with “““his lady”““ yet that is clearly all he cares about. He even ends the patrol unprompted, either giving up or just generally having not finished, because I don’t believe that the “end” of patrol just happened to be at the place Kagami was.

Patrol is about protecting Paris and scoping things out. Ladybug is trusting him to pick up the slack when she’s not around and he should be picking up slack, yet he has completely failed on that front. This is made worse when considering that the Season 3 finale had Ladybug breaking down to him from guilt and we know that Marinette had a breakdown before that to Luka, yet Chat is doing nothing to lighten Ladybug’s burden, putting up a falsehood on Ladybug’s answering machine to make him look better than he actually is.

Then, thirdly and most importantly/infuriatingly, Chat Noir knows that Ladybug is busy and he knows that she’s taking on a new responsibility, yet he not only jabs at her for “how hurtful it is when she leaves him to patrol alone” (one, cry me a river, and two, I don’t care if it’s a joke, it’s insensitive), but before that scene, he was actively hoping for people to get akumatized so Ladybug would be forced to show up and he could spend time with her. He egged Xavier Ramier on, even asking him if he “missed being Mister Pigeon,” and then looked on with glee as Chloe bullied Sabrina because he thought that an akumatization might happen.

And this is on top of so many other issues with this whole scene. Adrien complains all the time about his schedule and how restrictive his father is, but suddenly - in the episode right after Marinette had to break up with her boyfriend due to her cramped schedule - is lounging around and wasting time. It hurts to see Marinette suffering from all of her responsibilities while Chat’s biggest problem is how little time he gets with Ladybug.

Also, another point on Mister Pigeon is that that’s the akuma that had interrupted Marinette’s movie date and kiss with Luka. I’m not suggesting that Chat egging Xavier on led to him getting akumatized, but I am saying that Chat wanting akuma to happen with no regard for Ladybug’s happiness is yet another point on the list of why I hate the love square. Marinette genuinely forgot about patrol with him - genuinely was forgetting about everything, really - and as a “punishment,” her own partner whined, didn’t patrol properly, and egged on an akumatization that eventually ended up happening which then broke up the little bit of happiness that the universe was allowing her to have.

Oh, and did I mention that he’s also dating Kagami at the time as well because here we freaking go.

Now, I did not get on Marinette’s case for her Adrien wall and stammering because Luka is largely aware of where she stands in the relationship and she only brought Adrien up when someone else did, even when Luka wasn’t around or being mentioned. Adrien, however, I have multiple bones to pick with, starting with how utterly needy he is for Ladybug’s attention.

This guy has tons of friends, all these fans, and could get people to flock to him whether in or out of the mask, but he wants Ladybug, and anyone not Ladybug isn’t good enough. There’s a scene later in the episode where Kagami - his girlfriend, mind you - is pouring her heart out to him, and he gets distracted by Ladybug instead of listening to her. Even when he excuses the distraction, he then gets distracted again even though Ladybug is no longer in the background.

Lying to protect his identity is one thing, but what Adrien does to Kagami goes beyond that. He’s pining after and flirting with another girl and Kagami has no idea. She’s speculated before that Adrien likes Marinette, but she’s mostly left in the dark because Adrien hasn’t told her anything, nor has he confirmed with her whether it’s okay or not for him to flirt with other girls so long as he’s not pursuing them. He could’ve admitted that he was in love with Ladybug but that he wants to try things with Kagami, but he refuses to open up to her or put himself out there.

Except, he technically does, once, when Kagami tells him to pose for her and he strikes his transformation stance, but he caught her completely off-guard and it’s no wonder why she was put off by it or thought it was unnatural. Not only that, but when Kagami tells him that he’s acting like a clown in that scene, we can see by jumping back to “Truth” that Chat Noir fished for Ladybug’s compliments which then led to a line about him talking about how Ladybug enjoyed him acting like a clown; a direct connection.

Kagami didn’t validate him, so he fished for Ladybug to do so because Ladybug was both forced to answer the question and wasn’t able to lie to him. The show has Ladybug state that her most preferred trait of his is his humor but I am certainly not laughing.

Chat Noir even goes further after the fight with Truth (so another copy-pasted scene) by saying that he has the most fun with Ladybug specifically, and this is all while he’s still dating.

Then this guy has the gall to talk during his break-up about how his fun times with Kagami weren’t lies after apologizing to her for his constant lying, as if he’s trying to earn her sympathy when we know that he’s been pining after Ladybug and flirting with her like she were his number one when he already had a girlfriend waiting for him (and who, by the way, had covered for him earlier and was sitting sadly on a staircase outside, feeling abandoned). The episode presents the break-up as if Adrien’s problem was the fact that he had to constantly lie to Kagami due to being busy with hero work (which is already dumb when we also saw him lounging around and complaining about how nothing was happening, meaning he was inadvertently supportive of the idea of having less time with Kagami and more time with Ladybug even if that means Paris is in danger), but the real problem ends up being that Adrien neglected Kagami emotionally and wasn’t able to give her the attention she wanted.

It’s both sad and annoying that Adrien has always sulked about his dad not paying attention to him and then we get Adrien not paying attention to Kagami, looking for Ladybug when Ladybug had already left and Kagami is trying to tell him something very important.

This is what I mean when I say that Adrien can’t carry an episode on his own. He’s incredibly selfish and most of his dialog just involves him complaining about Ladybug or making excuses. Kagami carried the episode more than he did because more details were revealed about her - specifically the fact that she likes drawing - and she’s active in making things happen (being the one to make the excuse to set up their fencing lessons, deciding what they’ll do with their hour of free time, etcetera).

And regardless of what girl he’s interacting with, Adrien can’t respect either of them. I just talked about Kagami and I’ve already talked about how he treats Ladybug when she’s not even around, but now we get to how he treats Ladybug when she is around.

During the climax of the fight with Lies, where Ladybug requires a distraction to safely pull off her lucky charm, Chat Noir decides - without Ladybug’s input - to sacrifice himself yet again.

I have to stress that Ladybug is stressed and Chat has always talked about her plans and listening to her, yet he has a horrible habit of making decisions all on his own and letting Ladybug deal with the fallout. Whenever he has the chance, he’ll throw himself in front of her and take the big hit, presumably with the mindset that Miraculous Ladybug will fix everything so it’s not like it matters.

Ladybug even shouts at him when he hints at what he’s about to do and there was absolutely time for them to talk about it, but Chat Noir just lets himself fall and be bait, even throwing out what is a clear confession (again, while he’s still dating someone else) before he’s knocked unconscious by Lies’ power.

And when Ladybug yells at him for it when everything’s said and done, pounding at his chest and looking absolutely upset over the whole thing? He not only brushes her off, but he boops her nose and talks about how “irresistable” her “angry little pout” is.

He might as well have just said, “you’re cute when you’re angry,” because that’s exactly what he’s implying; that Ladybug’s anger is something “amusing” to him and not something he takes seriously. We’ve already seen it before in “Reflekdoll” and “Oblivio” as well, so this is just a continuation of already-annoying behavior.

Then, instead of Ladybug getting even angrier for it, the episode has her smile at him, which not only isn’t a normal reaction compared to how she’s reacted before, but now gives the impression that she’s being conditioned by the narrative to accept Chat Noir’s behavior in whatever shape or form it takes.

Because think about it: regardless of how upset Ladybug gets over Chat Noir, it never works out for her and she’s forced to either make up with him quickly or just get over it because she can’t be fighting with her partner (meanwhile, like in “Glaciator,” Chat Noir can be as upset as he wants and she’ll apologize first). She presumably would now have the authority to take away his ring by virtue of being guardian, but he’s also been her partner from the beginning and he’s had so much time to get used to the cat. Most likely, she would sooner blame herself for failing to reign him in than blame him for failing as an adequate partner.

There’s nothing she can do. She has to deal with the hand that she’s been dealt and getting angry at him has done nothing; rejecting him has done nothing.

And of course the episode throws everything under the rug in the ending with an insulting LadyNoir scene where Ladybug and Chat Noir talk about the secrets their forced to keep but also how they can trust each other.

Meanwhile, Ladybug has no idea of all the things Chat Noir has done behind her back. She still has no clue about “Copycat,” nor “Syren,” nor any of the stuff he did in this episode that she’ll probably never know about. Factor it in with “Miraculous New York” (whether one considers it canon or not) where she rightfully shouted at him because he betrayed her trust, and here we are one and a half episodes later (since “Truth” and “Lies” take place at similar times) where suddenly they’re all buddy-buddy and Chat Noir doesn’t have to deal with any consequences to his selfishness.

I’m glad that Kagami didn’t forgive Adrien in the end (even if I’m upset that she doesn’t know how bad it really was) because she had every right to walk away and not want to be friends with him. I only wish that Ladybug could do the same thing and never look back, but due to the love square’s status as endgame, we know that can’t happen, and Ladybug will eventually be forced to fall in love with a guy who mocked her responsibilities behind her back, disrespected her authority by opting to tease/flirt with her, continued pursuing her despite her rejections, and hoped for Paris to be in danger just so he could see her.

And... yeah, that hurts. It really does.

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to Guiltrip!

Alright, so this one is a bit more of a serious one for me. But I'll be going in order of the episode so the more serious talk will be a bit further down! First thing we get is this lovely moment:

I've already addressed it in a post, but I'll say it again here. Guiltrip is episode 11, several episodes take place before Guiltrip that we haven't seen yet, so this is awhile after Marinette and Luka broke up. We also know that Marinette has always had feelings for Adrien, even when she was with Luka. Luka always knew that fact too. None of this is new and is to be expected, obviously, when Love Square is endgame. But! I also want to point out here that this is just a soft look. Very gentle, very common. I see people looking at each other both in real life and in other shows all the time. A look that says "I adore you". And I think it's sweet! Very subtle, but enough. Something's wrong with Rose. We never get told (in this episode anyway) what it is, but it's a chronic illness that's a worry in Rose's life, ever since she was young. I feel really bad for Juleka, knowing that her friend's been struggling with an illness, and whenever something happens she has to worry about it alone. Also that really sucks when you try to cheer somebody up and make a joke, that because you were mislead about a situation you end up making things worse. Poor Marinette. :c Adrien when he realizes he's bumped into someone (and the pink bubbles to remind us of Marinette's feelings for him):

Adrien when he realizes just who it was he bumped into!:

Scroll up now and look at how Marinette was looking at Adrien earlier that day. It's the exact same look. Yet, something feels different from usual to me, idk. But continuing on. Marinette gets slightly jumbled with her words, but manages to give herself a kick and says nope not now! Good for her! You can't expect to change overnight, but she's working on it.

She looks to the side, gathering her surroundings for a split second and she misses the top step. I'd like to say that this is just a joke for the show but well, this kind of thing has happened to me a lot because I'm that much of a klutz so I feel for her here. (On Halloween I forgot that there was another step as I was walking down as I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't walk on my foot for 2 weeks. It's a serious problem, guys. Really. xDD) Marinette had told Adrien she's concerned it was something she said that upset Juleka and Adrien tells her while sometimes she doesn't make sense, what she says is never mean. This scene reminds me of when Ladybug's worried about something and Chat Noir's there to keep her grounded and remind her of how things really are. I very much appreciate seeing such a scene with Adrienette! Makes the Love Square much more rounded. Also the way he stops her and says let him go talk to her to try to help the situation and any possible misunderstandings from taking place. ;-;

Can I just say... oh my gosh. He went from determined, to hearing Marinette trying to comfort her, to looking with confidence "This girl is amazing." and the whole Ladynoir vibe I'm getting from this scene makes me happy. The thing that's unrealistic about this scene though is you expect to tell me that 8 kids went down those stairs and came up behind them and Marinette, Adrien, and Juleka didn't hear? XD Now here's where the serious comes in. Rose is hospitalized with an illness we don't know about, but has been a long-term thing that has Juleka really worried a lot. That must be so stressful :c I'm going to be honest and say I never really saw Julerose romantically. Like I can see how people do, but to me, I could see that their bond was really unique. It didn't really fit completely in the "BFF" category either. But if felt like there was more to them that I didn't really understand. I think the best example off the top of my head was during Zombizou, when Rose was going to help Chloe after she slid down Chat's stick and she went too fast for him to catch her. Juleka seemed especially worried and concerned for her. Rose never seemed to get concerned about Juleka in the same way Juleka was about Rose. Juleka's always been more protective and worried and it was always one of those things that made me go "hmm, interesting". Now this episode finally explains why and I'm honestly super glad for it. Because this kind of a relationship is not a common one in media, especially kids media. Partially because having such serious illnesses in young people is not particularly common, and having someone who's so caring and protective of that person is even less common. And most people probably don't realize how amazing it is to have health problems and then have someone in their life who acts like Juleka does for Rose. I had a life-threatening illness as a kid, one that still affects me greatly today. When in school, my friends knew about it without me having to say anything unfortunately, and while they didn't usually treat me differently, sometimes they were pretty ignorant and didn't understand why I wasn't "normal" like them. They asked questions that were harder ones to answer, and tended to forget my answers. I got a lot of "I know you have X problem but I still don't see why you can't..." as well as thinking I was lying if I said I wasn't well and couldn't go to a party, and that was hard to deal with, being limited in what you can do which makes you different and being judged for things out of your control. So seeing these kids who only know something's wrong with her, but are willing to do so much to make her life better and happier, not judging her at all, wanting to take care of her no questions asked was really heart-warming for me. I only had one friend during that time that was anything close to this. I never had to explain anything to him if I didn't want to. He never asked me personal questions I didn't want to answer. And he seemed to know what he could do to make things for me easier if I was having a hard time without me ever saying so. And this is another reminder to me that this show is aimed at kids. To show kids that they'll likely encounter someone around their age that's going through something serious like a health problem, and what that kid needs most is kindness and not to be made to feel like they're even more different from the other kids than they already feel. The way they handled that aspect of it for such a short, limited intro to it, I think they did good. I discussed this next bit with a friend. She mentioned it first, the trope where those with chronic or serious illnesses are usually an "inspiration". With this episode, you kind of get the feeling that because Rose's been through so much, she's therefore a really positive and bubbly person and it kind of gives off the vibe that if you don't view things the way she does, then you're not doing it right. "What matters isn't the problem, but how you handle it." While I agree with this, and that when you come out of or regularly deal with

such hard times, automatically trying to see the world better and brighter can easily happen, but it's not exactly realistic either, at least not to the extent Rose and other people the media has portrayed. For one, I think you have to have always been more of that kind of person from the start to realistically be so positive. As my friend said and I agree, positivity is just who Rose is, she's not who she is just for the sake of a trope. But honestly, when you've gone through something so difficult, and if life continues to throw you more difficulties on top of it, being positive so much can sometimes turn into a negative and be harmful too. When you've been through a lot, it's important to allow yourself to feel the negative too because it's part of dealing with such problems. And if you've been through a lot in life and you haven't come out of it being all sunshine and rainbows, always looking on the brighter side of things, that's perfectly okay. Life's hard and tends not to work out how we'd like, or even for the better sometimes. If being positive and hopeful after struggling is hard to do, you're not bad or wrong for feeling that way, everybody handles things differently. c: ANYWAY, moving on to the rest of the episode! Juleka being all irritated and worried that the class was going to expose her spilling Rose's secret xD While the situation isn't ideal, it's nice that this is the most involved she's seemed with everyone in the entire duration of the show. But Rose knows something's up, and I love that she talks to her about it and realizes that she should've told everyone herself instead of Juleka being the only one who knew. Which has been such a burden on her. (Oh no, what if this is a reflection of Alya knowing Marinette's Ladybug later on? I'm hoping not.) Ugh these children and how much they care about Rose! These kids are the absolute best. But then they kind of ruin it a little with going overboard. Which, frankly, I think is just ignorance of her situation really. I mean, we don't know what exactly is wrong with Rose. Just that she ends up in the hospital. If they knew about her condition, what causes her to get sick, what to look out for, etc, they'd be much more informed and much less likely to be frantic whenever something's not perfectly "normal" with her. All of these kids are going to be overprotective parents someday, aren't they?

Okay so like... are Adrien and Marinette going to question at all how Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up immediately after Juleka was akumatized, and no damage had happened outside of the school for it to be known to the public? Literally the only ones that could've possibly known were the class to have shown up that fast. ??? I am confusion. "I can't help my best friend face his father." "No, Nino..." Two things: The fact that THIS is what he's feeling guilty about? My poor Nino! Dx I just love him, he really doesn't get enough love and appreciation imo. Also, um, isn't Ladybug like right by Chat? Didn't she hear that? What? Idk but I feel like we're really missing something here. Usually we get things that are kind of hints, that make us wonder if they know right, but this? This is a bit too blaring-in-your-face, and there's two major things so close together. Really strange. Chat about to use Cataclysm on himself. Good grief that was not expected. Chat Blanc threatened to destroy himself along with everything else. Now Chat Noir while affected with negative emotions from an akuma almost Cataclysmed himself. This show really is getting deep and dark isn't it. o.o Also is there something Adrien needs to work out with someone...? Daizzi and Rose saying the other's so cute, ugh they're both so cute! And Pigella's costume and transformation is so adorable omg. Okay so Pigella's power allows people to see their biggest wish, the thing that'd make them the most happy and feel positive emotions. I know some people probably think "That's it?" Considering that Shadow Moth preys on people's negative emotions, such a power is actually extremely useful facing Shadow Moth. (And let's not forget, that while that's her power, she has the ability to fight and make a difference just from being transformed too) BUT AWWW Juleka's wish! And her face when Pigella said it aloud. ;-; Am I the only one wondering if Pigella may someday use her power on Shadow Moth and that's how they learn his motive? I'm so impressed with how Rose knew how to handle everything. She knew she can't slip up with Juleka. She knew to sneak away to detransform and come back as Rose. She knew to subtly give the Miraculous back so nobody would ever know she had it. Even Chat Noir had no idea! I don't know why, I'm just so very proud of that. "She doesn't need a Miraculous to be a superhero." She really has the characteristics of one, and I can't wait to see more of Pigella. Also I'm really wondering. This scene here:

All the kids that are part of that friend group are there...except Marinette and Adrien, of course. Alya knows why Marinette isn't there. But is she wondering about why Adrien isn't there too? LOL Marinette being like "I'm taking your pillow back, sorry! Gotta wait for it like everyone else." and the boys being like LE GASP. Marinette's right, she's not fragile! The fact Rose jokes with her and makes everyone laugh, and Chloe saying "Hey, why doesn't everyone laugh when I say something like that?!" Adrien: Because in your case, it's never a joke. Chloe: Hm, that's true. Which is super funny, especially how he just so casually says it. But also it really shows again how Chloe wants to be liked. She wishes the kids would laugh when she makes comments, but it's because they're said in a serious/obnoxious way, instead of making light of something like in Rose's case here, that they don't. I know she talked about it with Ladybug in an episode, but it again shows that that's what she'd like. All that needs to happen is someone helping her get there. Maybe Zoe and Luka will somehow help with that later on. Anyway, this was a really great episode! I feel like some things might not make quite as much sense as they should if we got it in order, but what can you do when Gloob has to air them? Even a friend of mine who's been doing what she can to avoid spoilers, still got spoiled. She's having to delete tumblr to avoid future spoilers because people can't help themselves and tag things properly. So thanks Gloob. :P All we wanted was the episodes in order. We've waited this long for S4, we can wait a bit longer. But they gotta make money I guess. I'm glad other countries are trying their best to keep it in order anyway. c: Guiltrip also has some really great Adrienette moments, and covered a more serious topic which was really interesting and shows how much the show's changing. Especially with some of the choice of camera angles and movements! Like the zoom-in on the door with Adrien and Marinette, the boys LE GASP scene. Very cool artistic choices! Looking forward to the episodes that come before this one to try to help fill in some of the gaps! And apologies to those that frequently read these posts from me, I started writing it up late and couldn't finish so you get it the day after instead. xD

[graaythekwami]

Am I allowed to do a slam dunk of sentence prompts? Oh well, here’s my prompt: situation 18; sentence 24, 21, & 27; pre-reveal Adrienette

Adrinette (pre-reveal) 18 - Someone’s birthday 24 - “I never want you to feel like you’re not good enough.” 21 - “They’re wrong about you.” 27 - “Sorry. You’re just…really adorable.”

-------

“I’m surprised to see you here.”

Marinette flinched slightly in surprise, looking up, only to find herself fumbling again in an attempt to keep her cup of punch from falling from her hands. She felt her cheeks flushing red as she found Adrien standing in front of her, a small smile on his face.

“W-well, um, Alya just really wanted me to come, and–” Marinette stuttered out.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, you know,” Adrien said. “Especially coming to Lila’s birthday party.”

“...It just would have added more fuel to the fire if I hadn’t come,” Marinette said softly. “Lila would have put on a big show that I didn’t come, ‘even though I invited her despite our rough past’ or ‘I guess that means I won’t be coming to her birthday’, or... I don’t know.”

Adrien looked worried. “You’re not going to invite her to yours, right?”

“Of course not!” Marinette said, before shaking her head. “That’s a long ways off anyways... but I’m sure she’ll make a big deal about that when the time comes.”

She jumped when Adrien put his hand on her shoulder, and he was looking down at her with the most gentle of eyes. “Don’t you dare feel pressured when the time comes.” Adrien said. “You’re very kind, Marinette, but don’t you dare feel like everything has to fall on you.”

“W-well, I am class president, so I do kinda have to make sure I’m on top of everything. I dunno how well I’ve been doing that though–”

“Marinette,” Adrien said, his gaze turning serious. “Don’t talk like that, please. You do so much.”

“I...”

“I never want you to feel like you’re not good enough.” Adrien whispered. “And if anyone says otherwise... then they’re wrong about you.”

“I–“ Marinette was sure her face was bright red. “Sweet Adrien, are you– I mean you’re sweet very–, no wait–”

He chuckled. “Thank you, Marinette, but you’re the sweet one.”

“Eep!” Marinette yelped, instinctively drawing back at the sudden compliment. She stumbled back over her feet, trying to keep her drink from spilling everywhere. This resulted in her arms basically flailing about. She bumped into the wall, managing to regain her balance, arms held out wide like she was on a tightrope.

Adrien started laughing, and Marinette flushed even deeper. Of course she managed to embarrass herself in front of him, of course she couldn’t have a conversation without making a fool of herself. She just hoped that no one at the party had been paying attention to her in the moment...

Then Adrien grabbed her elbows, helping her stand up straight, an apologetic smile on his face. “Sorry,” he said, smiling softy. “You’re just…really adorable.”

This time Marinette wasn’t able to keep her composure, her cup of punch being thrown up into the air. The red juice covered the both of them, and this time everyone’s attention was on them as the two of them stood there, their clothes stained red. Her eyes widened in horror, watching as punch dripped from Adrien’s hair.

“I’m sorry!” She blurted out. “Adrien, I’m so sorry–“

“It’s okay,” Adrien said swiftly, and of course he smiled at her. “We should probably go get cleaned up– do you want me to walk you home?”

“Huh–?“ Marinette began, but then he winked at her. She stood there for a moment, before giving a shaky nod. “Um, yes?”

Adrien didn’t hesitate to grab her hand, dragging her to the door before anyone could question them.

They were both happy to get out of Lila’s party. 

[artxyra]

Hi, could you please write a miraculous ladybug salt with Damianette where Marinette and Damian have been dating since before the show starts. Alya believes Marinette has a crush on Adrian even though Marinette is in a relationship with Damian. Alya then tries to break Damianette up in order to get adrianette together. Also Marinette and Adrian met when they were younger due to the dupain-cheng and Wayne's being friends and the Argeste and Wayne's being business friends. Maybe make it Class salt

Pretending to like Adrien may have been the worst decision of her life. Of course, Adrien agreed to it wanting to pretend to be the oblivious just a friend kind of guy. Marinette and Adrien shared laughs at the thought of their classmates trying to get them together not knowing the extent of their relationship prior to meet them.

Let’s rewind a bit.

It started with Sabine and Emilie went to University to together. They were roommates and the bests of friends. From there, Sabine went into dating the baker’s son while Emilie touch interest in a fashion mogul. Everything was perfect for their little group until business started to grow on international levels. Sabine and Tom jumped to stardom after participating in a baking contest in English and became one of Europe’s celebrities in the food industry. Emilie had grown to be loved on the big screen as Gabriel expanded on the family business taking on building the biggest fashion empire in Paris.

Soon the family of twos welcomes new members: Adrien and Marinette.

The children would send the day at each other’s home when their parents were on business trips. They grew to love each other as brothers and sisters. It was Marinette who asked her parents to send her to big brother's house to show him something she had made. Sabine and Emilie cried together when they realize that their children had taken to calling each other siblings.

When Adrien and Marinette were five, the family was welcomed to a Wayne Gala. Sabine and Tom were quick to become friends with a certain Mr. Wayne. Marinette had expanded who siblings to include Dickie and Tim Tam. Adrien was jealous of the competition regarding Mari’s favorite brother.

All was perfect until Mari meet the latest addition to the Wayne family around the age of ten.  Damian Wayne.

He wasn’t like the others, and she had met plenty of the adopted and non-adopted Wayne over the years. He was rude, always looking like he was out to get the world. She at the utmost pleasure in breaking through to the older boy. Her challenge every time she visits was to get him to laugh. She didn’t exceed.

 When Adrien went the young Wayne, he screamed and hid behind Marinette, who at the time was taller than the two boys. Adrien hugged Mr. Kitten, his stuff black cat, like a lifeline until Alfred had called the three kids for lunch.

As they have gotten older, Damian took a liking to Marinette and had developed a crush on her. His older siblings found it hilarious when they found the demon lightly brushing at any mention of the Parisian girl.

Unfortunately, a loss entered the Agreste household. Emilie had fallen sick and had disappeared from the face of the earth. Gabriel didn’t know how to deal with the loss, he ended up giving the Dupain-Cheng temporary custody of his son until he figures out his next move. That was the last time anyone had seen M. Agreste in public. Adrien plenty of surrogate siblings to help him through the loss of his mother, but he also ended up losing his father in the process.

Months before they were to enter college, Damian had asked Marinette on a date. Marinette smiles and wrapped her arms the taller boy’s neck. Her boys had grown to be taller than the girl even if it was by a couple of centimeters. Everyone around them suspects that they’ll be at least 5’9” to 6” while Marinette would grow to be Sabine’s height at best.

Celebrations were made at the announcement of the Dupain-Cheng heiress and Wayne heir becoming a couple. Their parents promise their kids a normal relationship despite media interference. The Dupain-Cheng moved into their smaller bakery as it had an apartment upstairs. The perfect front and it was close to the school that they were sending Marinette to for college.

It was all fine and dandy until Marinette and Adrien received their miraculous. Not even a day after they started college. Marinette had taken a liking to the reporter, but she quickly realizes that she is determined, and that kind of determination can last for a long time.

“I’m fine, Dami,” Marinette says to Damian over video chat. She was working on a commission for a client and Adrien was being no help despite being in the same room with her. Damian raises an eyebrow. “I’m serious, they cannot bring me down.”

“She’s lying.” Adrien sings from his position on the chaise. Marinette turns to the blonde model and glares at him.

“Stay sane, Angel. I’m sure she’ll come to her senses.”

“I doubt it, we’re about to graduate lycée and she's still headset of getting Adrien and me together. I’m pretty sure Luka would hate that.” Marinette begins to stitch together the pieces of fabric in front of her.   

“In that case, I will gladly put a sword through her if she doesn’t stop.” Marinette smiles and laughs at the thought of Damian putting a sword through Alya.

“Well your lunch is ending soon, we’ll talk later?” Marinette says pulling her focus away from the outfit and to the clock.

“Father will understand if I ditch the other half a day.”

“Dami…”

“I’ll go Angel.” Damian folded. “Are you still on for date night tomorrow?”

“I would be crazy if I said it wasn’t.” Marinette waves goodbye to the small screen. The screen goes black signaling the end of the call.

“So, what are we going to do about Alya?” Adrien asks and before Marinette could reply, both of their phones go off. “It’s Nino. Asking if I want to hang out with him and Alya.”

Marinette sighs and sends a quick reply. “Alya texted me about wanting to hang out with her rather than Nino.”

A beat past. “She’s setting us up again.” Groans follow through.

With Alya, she is determined, to get Adrienette together by the end of the school year. This was their final year and Marinette never once managed to work up the confidence to ask the blonde model out.

Today, she was staging an “Operation Adrienette” at the Place des Vosges. Everyone that is a part of the akuma class was there. Alya, standing front and center with Lila, points to the easel with a large poster board.

“Here’s the plan. We all know that graduation is coming up soon, and I tend to make it my legacy to ensure Adrienette becomes canon. They have ditched us for the last time and I planned to end that this week.” Alya states pretending to be heartbroken.

Lila couldn’t help but notice how Chloe and Juleka were missing from the meeting. She doesn’t want Adrienette to happen but when she tried to get Marinette expelled in college, during a photoshoot Adrien had to threaten for her to back off and stop messing with his sister. Their other brothers wouldn’t like that. Since that encounter, she made a deal with the duo and learned very quickly how there was no romantic attraction between them, just mischief. The reason for Lila being her is because Alya and the rest of them are still her puppets and she has to play the supportive friend.

“I’m still salty about the last plan. They were supposed to have a romantic time at the ice rink, and nothing came of it. This time I’m planning a romantic dinner where Nino and I would ditch the two for another booth. That way they are forced to interact with each other.”

“What are we going to do if that backfires?” Rose raised her hand inputting her concerns.

“We don’t expect it to.” Alya confidently states.

It was Friday night when the plan went into fruition. Adrien had agreed to meet up with Nino and Alya for whatever they have planned. He ended up dressing up at the request Alya of blowing up his phone under Nino’s contact name.

Alya was hanging off Nino’s arms smiling at the model. It was creeping him out.

“So why am I here?” He finally asks even though he knew the answer already.

“We’re waiting for Marinette; she’d promised that she’ll be here in a moment.” Alya deflects the question, she looks elsewhere, no doubt to find Marinette. “There she is.”

Marinette walks over to the group. Adrien gasps causing Alya and Nino to smugly smile at each other. Marinette was wearing a red and black T-shirt dress with the icon of Robin in the center.

“Hey gurl, glad you can join us.” Alya pulls away from Nino, giving the poor teen his arm back and formerly greets Adrien.

“Not like a had a choice, Alya.” Marinette murmurs under her breath.

“Of course, you did, look you’re already here and let’s go get to our seats.” Alya pushes Marinette towards the door and gestures for Adrien and Nino to follow.

Before they were event seated, Marinette notices the two-seat table. Like that didn’t raise any red flags about this evening. Adrien and Marinette took to the table first while Alya made up an excuse for her and Nino. They took the seats on the opposite side of the restaurant to spy on the couple.

Marinette stares down at Adrien both looking very comfortable with one another. The waiter came to their table asking if they need anything to which Marinette orders water and Adrien saying that he’s just a stand-in. The waiter didn’t question it.

Alya and Nino had ordered their meals and she was getting fed up with the lack of communication between the two. She would have stalked over there if it hadn’t been for Nino holding her back.

Just then, a tall, sleek dark hair, gentlemen walk over to the table. Adrien immediately gives up his seat to the gentlemen, but Marinette got out from her seat to hug the man. Alya was in shock. Marinette even gave the male a kiss on the lips before wishing Adrien out.

Adrien had the nerve to turn to Alya and smirk before walking back to the entrance and out of the restaurant. Marinette and the male happy hold hands across the table and chatted. When the waiter had returned with Marinette’s glass of water, he doesn’t seem surprised to see the new face. Instead, he takes their order and doesn’t return until the order is ready.

Alya watch as the couple happily eat. Anger could not describe what she was feeling. Who was this gut and how dare he hijacks a date she had been planning for weeks? When Nino finally gave his okay, it was after Marinette and her mystery date disappeared out of the restaurant. Alya wanted to scream and shout. Scream to the heavens to let out all the anguish she was suffering from Adrienette and shout at Marinette for daring to bring another dude in while she has a crush on Adrien.

She must break them up. If that is the last thing she does.

Alya didn’t see Marinette nor Adrien for the rest of the weekend. She tried to go to the bakery, but the girl’s parents informed her that Marinette was not home. Everything was a mess.

When she returned to the classroom that following Monday, the class was all wondering how the date went. Did they finally get together? Alya was near a breakdown.

“You, how could you. Do you have any idea what I had to go through?” Alya shouts at the teen at fault for all her problems.

“Look Alya, I didn’t ask to be set up with Adrien. At first, it was hilarious but now it’s affecting both our love life.” Marinette counters taking her seat in the back. Adrien enters the classroom not long after she sat down.

“Excuse you, but you are destined to be with Adrien.” Alya screeches but her cries go unheard by the two siblings.

The teacher walks in and demands the class to sit down. Alya turns to Marinette and mouths, “This is not over” to which Marinette raises an eyebrow.

Another meeting in the Place des Vosges.

“I have called you all here to take incriminated photos of Marinette. I need to gather as much evidence to break up Mari and this supposed boyfriend of hers. Any suggestions?” Alya asks standing in front of the remains of the class that supports her.

“Oh, I’ve been seeing Marinette a lot lately with these two boys. They’re clearly more than a thing.” Lila lies through her teeth. She already knows that wasn’t the truth but Alya didn’t know that.

“Someone that wasn’t her boyfriend?” Alya raises an eyebrow. Lila nods. “Good, that is excellent news.”

It wasn’t excellent news.

The first attempt was a fail. Marinette was hanging out with Nathaniel and they all knew he was in a relationship with Marc. Apparently, the artist was commissioning a scarf as an anniversary gift.

The second attempt was also a fail. Marinette was with this boyfriend of hers getting ice cream together. They were having a romantic evening.

The third attempt was nearly a success until Juleka rained on their parade saying that Luka was in a happy relationship with some dude and Marinette and he was just friends.

It wasn’t until they were on the fourth attempt that they struck gold. Marinette was spending time with two unknown boys. The designer was out and about in the park throwing frisbees. One of the guys picked her up and spun her around before placing a kiss on her cheek. The class cheered at the thought of finally getting Marinette and Adrien together.

Alya was waiting for the opportunity. She didn’t have to wait long. Marinette and the dude were sitting underneath the tree at Place des Vosges.

“Your girlfriend here is a cheating bitch.” Alya states confidently.

Marinette turns to her boyfriend then back to Alya.

“What makes you think that of my beloved.” The guy asks raising an eyebrow. Marinette was still in his lap.

“I got evidence.”

“Pray tell.”

Alya pulls out a stack of photos. She gave them to the boy who examines the photos. He hid his smirk in Marinette’s neck who was hiding her laughter.

“So that’s why they were here. I really need to place boundaries on those idiots.” He says thoughtfully.

“Don’t you dare.” Marinette counters playfully hitting the male’s chest.

“It seems that you have caught my beloved with my imbecile’s brothers. Those photos that you have of them are without consent. I could press charges against you on their behalf.”

Alya was losing every ounce of confidence she had.

Adding oil to the fuel, Adrien walks over to them hand-in-hand with Luka. He greets them and kisses Luka’s lips. Alya wanted to scream. How could all this go so wrong?

“If you need any indication as to how long I’ve been with Marinette, we have been together since she turned thirteen.” He states kissing Marinette’s cheek in the process.

“But…but,” Alya stutters her brain could not comprehend the situation.

“Alya, dating Adrien would be like dating my brother. We’ve been friends since we were in diapers.” Marinette then adds more fuel to the fire, “You and the class would have noticed had you not been set on this Adrienette ship.”

“Yeah, a simple search online and you would see photos of Mari and me at galas, movie premieres, fashion shows. She and Damian have been in news coverage from the first time they announce their relationship to the recent engagement announcement.” Marinette blush at the thought of the giant ring on her ring finger.

“Alya, in a different universe I would proudly be Adrien’s girlfriend but it’s not this universe.”

“Let’s go, future Mrs. Wayne.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Mr. Wayne.”

Marinette and Damian walk out of the park and head to the bakery.

“Better luck next time Alya,” Adrien smiles before he and Luka follows the two.

Alya was lost for words, she would never get her ship canon. She fell on the green pastures and contemplate life decisions.   

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[writtenvisionary]

Rooftop Riddles

Read on Ao3

WC: 5.1k

Summary: One riddle changes everything. Dramatic identity reveal, oneshot, ladynoir/adrienette | trigger warning - depression, self-harm, abuse/neglect

The breeze was nothing short of refreshing as she sat next to her partner in crime. He was silent for the time being, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he would start saying something stupid. So she took in her surroundings while there was still silence between them.

It was dark; street lights illuminated all of Paris. Shadows bounced from wall to wall as civilians took their nightly walks, either from work or just around the block to get some fresh, cool air before they go to sleep. There are also those pathetically trudging toward their place of employment for their overnight shifts, and Marinette felt for them. Being Ladybug was all too taxing on her, and she often felt like she worked 24 hours, but in reality it was just all of the extra exercise that made her so exhausted every day.

Looking over at Chat Noir, she takes in his appearance. His hunched back, drooped cat ears, slow breaths. He’s looking straight ahead, seemingly lost in his own train of thought. Her eyebrows furrow.

She opens her mouth to speak, but her partner beats her to it.

“Wanna hear a riddle?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Okay. What do you call a sad watermelon?”

Ladybug had to think. Biting her bottom lip, she pondered an answer.

“Um... I don’t know, what?”

“Melon-choly.”

A smile lit up her face.

“Oh!” She laughed.

“Here’s another. It’s kinda long, so get ready.”

She nods, shifting in her seat.

“A single father took care of his baby, and he was rich so the baby had a lot. Food, clothes, excessive stuff. What didn’tthe baby have?”

Marinette frowns, some weird feeling rushing through her veins. She sits up, narrowing her eyes at the boy clad in a black leather suit. He sits with his legs pulled up to his chest, looking straight forward. Not even a tiny upward lift of his lips, making her worry.

Something about the way he delivered that riddle was… ominous. It didn’t seem like he was disconnected from the story he was telling. It’s almost like he could relate.

She gulps.

“A mother?”

He nods, then hangs his head for a moment before pulling it back up and flashing an obviously fake smile in her direction.

“Bingo,” he says dryly.

Her frown deepens.

Why did that riddle sound like something personal? Is he rich?

That sounds like someone she knows. And the riddle boy’s mother was gone… that sounded like him too.

No, there’s no correlation. It’s just a random riddle.

“Alright, last one.”

“Okay,” she nods.

“I am twisted from what I was, to hold the weight of others. Yet tie a knot, and my use to this world is gone.”

Her heart plummets down into her stomach. She loses her breath and has to look back at the city of Paris to think.

If it was possible, this riddle sounded scarier than the last. Chat Noir must really be in a bad mood because normally he puns, not riddles, and the jokes he tells are stupid and funny. These are just... depressing. Her concern is growing by the minute.

She needs to give an answer.

Twisted… Hold the weight of others… Tie a knot… My use to this world is gone.

Tie a knot? What?

“I—“ she licks her lips and shakes her head.

“I’m at a loss. I don’t know.”

Chat hesitates before whispering the answer.

“A noose.”

Her eyes widen and she suddenly feels like she’s been punched in the face.

“Just kidding, it’s a paperclip.”

But he didn’t seem like he was kidding. She was officially scared.

“Chat, you’re worrying me.”

“What do you call a dead pine tree?”

“Chat.”

“A never-green.”

“Minou, I —“

“What do you call a broken pencil?”

“Chat Noir.”

“Pointless,” he laughs darkly.

“Chat Noir!”

Finally, he looks over at her and her mouth falls agape.

His complexion is so pale, lips are pressed into a thin line, and his eyes are glistening.

“What?” He asks, voice breaking on the word.

Carefully, she places her hands on either side of his face. She stares directly into his eyes.

“You’re worrying me,” her voice shakes. “Please tell me whatever’s making you upset so I can help.”

“… I-I’m not upset.”

“Kitty. You just told me a riddle about a noose.”

He shakes his head, scrunching his eyebrows.

“It was a paperclip, milady. Can’t you appreciate a good joke?”

“Chat, all of the jokes you’ve cracked tonight have been nothing short of depressing.”

Frowning, he pulls away from her hold, avoiding her gaze.

“So? New to dark humor?”

“No,” she shakes her head. “But that’s not normally the humor you have, Chaton.”

He’s quiet for a couple seconds before responding.

“Just wanted to try something different—“

“I’m not going to take these bullshit excuses, you know?”

Chat Noir raises an eyebrow, not used to such language coming from his lady.

“They’re not excuses—“

“YES they are!”

She softens her voice.

“Please,” she begs. “Talk to me.”

It’s almost as if she didn’t say anything, how he continues to stare into the distance, silently appreciating the view of Paris. She follows suit, not knowing what else to say. Instead, she decides to wait it out. Hopefully he’ll talk. Eventually.

And he does.

“My mother died about a year ago.”

Her jaw slackens, but she stays silent.

“Father has always been very… strict. But lately he’s been putting a lot on me. Stuff that… stuff that a normal, average sixteen-year old shouldn’t have to put up with,” he sighs.

He calls his dad father? The only other person who does that is…

Alarms go off in her head.

“He makes me take so many lessons beyond school. Chinese, fencing, piano— and he didn’t even let me go to public school until four months ago. I was homeschooled by my father’s assistant, I mean she’s a good family friend—“

Wait.

“And the only friend that was ever allowed over was the mayor’s daughter, and she’s snobby and hangs off of me like I’m her fucking property when I’m NOT and—“

Chloé?

“Father doesn’t even have dinner with me. I mean, maybe once every two months if I get lucky—“

Her eyes widen. He couldn’t be…

“But most of the time it’s just me and the family friend, and she’s not even eating! She’s looking over my schedule to make sure it’s as jam-packed as it was the day before. I swear I never get a break.

“Sometimes it feels like Father is always disappointed in me, no matter what I do. I feel like I’m trapped in his bubble, like I can’t get out. My house is like a fortress. Or a prison. Being Chat Noir is my escape but I just… It’s getting to be too much, milady.

“I don’t know how much more I can take.”

She feels like she lost her voice. Her brain is on overdrive.

If all the pieces are adding up, my akuma-fighting partner is also my crush who is also a world famous model and—

Focus, Marinette.

“It sounds stressful, A— uh, Chat.”

He intakes a sharp breath.

“Did I say too much?”

She bites her lip. Yes.

“No?”

It comes out as a question. He must suspect that she’s lying.

He tilts his head in admission, then looks down.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Um… I’ll always be here for you. You know that, right?”

Slowly, Chat Noir—Adrien—meets her gaze once again.

His response was hesitant. “Yeah.”

She has to sigh; she doesn’t seem to be getting through to him.

“Minou, you are loved and wanted and I want to make sure you know that.”

Chat Noir chews his bottom lip.

“Thanks, bugaboo.”

They fall into a comfortable silence, just peering down at the streets of their city. She wants to ask him more questions because it seems like there’s more he’s not telling her, but decides against it. She doesn’t expect him to tell her everything, especially since opening up that much was already hard enough for him (and she really shouldn’t have been able to figure out his identity because danger! but she supposes she’ll forgive him since he’s literally the love of her life and he needs someone to be there for him either way).

A small movement in the corner of her eye catches her attention. She looks in Chat’s direction, noting how he’s holding a hand over his left wrist. Her frown deepens. It’s not like she wants him to notice that she’s staring, but she can’t look away. Warily, she watches his face twist in pain.

“Does your wrist hurt, kitty?”

He startles, but shakes his head.

“It’s good.”

“But,” she challenges, “you’re holding it. Looks like it hurts…”

Chat Noir clenches his teeth, turning to look at his lady with fire in his eyes.

“I said it’s good, Ladybug. Leave it.”

Marinette flinches at the use of her superhero name instead of one of his usual nicknames for her. His tone is uncharacteristically harsh, as well.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

The last thing she wants to do is upset him more.

She clears her throat, at a loss for words. The atmosphere had suddenly turned tense and she wasn’t fully enjoying his presence anymore. Of course, he wasn’t dangerous or anything, but she really didn’t want him to snap at her again.

Ladybug likes a happy kitten, not a bitter one.

She wishes she knew what to do.

“Well,” Chat speaks. “I gotta head out; get back home before my father’s assistant notices I’m gone and I get taken out of school.”

He stands, getting ready to extend his baton and hop from building to building for as long as possible in order to procrastinate his return to the large, lonely mansion where he resides.

Ladybug hops up so quickly that her head spins, but she ignores it in hope of saying one last thing before he leaves.

“Hey, Chaton?”

Said cat boy looks in her direction, letting her know that he’s listening.

Instead of speaking, she just leans forward to press her lips onto his cheek. When she pulls away, she offers a smile.

“You and me against the world.”

He plasters a (fake) grin onto his face, “Thanks, bugaboo. See you later.”

Then he bolts away, leaving his Lady alone on a rooftop.

Life had gone on as normal for both Adrien and Marinette. For the next two weeks, the superhero pair had not spoken about Chat’s home life or his internal struggles. She wanted to give him some space and he simply wanted to forget that he even showed so much vulnerability around her.

Granted, Adrien didn’t care that she knew. In fact, he was pretty happy that she had been willing to listen. Usually she never allowed rants from the either of them because she knew that it was easy to slip up and say something that could lead an unwarranted identity reveal.

Marinette wanted to talk to him, come to a mutual agreement, and then officially tell each other who they were. She knew it was unfair that she knew and wasn’t telling him, but in all honesty, she wasn’t even sure her suspicions are right.

(She’s ninety-nine percent sure).

Her eyes had been on Adrien for those two weeks, subtly checking to make sure that there weren’t bags under his eyes (there were), that his smiles weren’t forced (they were), and that he was eating enough (she had no way of knowing, but he hadn’t asked for a macaron in a few days and she was starting to get worried).

He was doing somewhat alright, from what she could tell. She didn’t expect to see anything different today.

Boy, was she wrong.

She had been passing out papers to the class regarding their next class trip, explaining that they needed a parent signature, as well as forty-two Euros by next Monday, in order to attend. When she reached Adrien, she paused.

He was rubbing at his left wrist — the same wrist that Chat had been holding in pain that night two weeks ago. His face was contorted painfully; familiarly. This brought about her worries.

Subtly, she placed down the papers in front of him, to which he looked up at her and sent an oh so fake smile in thanks.

As she walked away, Marinette just barely caught a glimpse of some red, scratch-like marks on his skin as he picked the paper up.

Her heart dropped.

She hadn’t realized that him holding his wrist earlier was a sign of self-harm. Apparently he was worse off than she thought. Now, it’s a whole different ball game — one that can’t have secret identities interfering with. She has no choice; she needs to stay in contact with him.

He needs to be okay.

Marinette tried to wait until patrol that night. Really, she did. But she couldn’t resist zipping over to his house and knocking at his window right after his fencing practice had ended.

He jumps at the sound, quickly ushering Plagg to hide in his shirt, before turning around to look at the super-heroine.

“Hi, Ladybug!” He greets with a smile. “Anything I can help you with today?”

She takes that as an invitation to leap into his room, then she allows her yoyo to snap close as she lands in front of him.

Her hands stay in fists as she brings them up to rest at either side of her waist. She grins brightly in his direction.

“Hi, kitty!”

It’s almost comical how his smile drops.

“What?”

In lieu of a response, she drops her arms to rest at her side. Then she takes a few steps forward so that she’s standing much closer to him.

“Your father is strict… he has an assistant… he makes you take piano, fencing, Chinese lessons…”

His eyes widen slowly as she speaks, his heart beating erratically.

Ladybug scoffs, “Honestly, Adrien? You couldn’t have been more obvious.”

He gulps in horror.

Then he narrows his eyes.

“How did you know that Adrien Agreste takes Chinese lessons? I’ve never once mentioned that in an interview…”

She stiffens.

“Uh. B-because you told me before.”

He raises an eyebrow.

“As Chat,” she supplies.

The model scoffs, “I’m not Chat Noir.”

Ladybug shrugs, beginning to stroll around his room.

“Okay. So why did I see you rub your wrist in class today, hm?”

Now it’s Adrien’s turn to stiffen.

“Y-y-you’re in my class? What?” He asks incredulously.

“Yes. I’m the class president.”

She says it so confidently that it scares her. He’s sure to figure it out by now. She can’t look at him as he comes to the realization.

“But my class president is Marinette— wait.”

He huffs, smirking.

“Are you Marinette?”

Finally she casts her gaze in his direction.

“In the flesh.”

She watches as his eyes light up. He approaches her with a smile.

“Oh my god. Wait, then I’m totally okay admitting I’m Chat Noir.”

Her eyebrow raises, “Oh yeah? And if I was, say, Chloé… would you have admitted it?”

He immediately shakes his head.

Ladybug doesn’t even try to stifle her laugh.

“Spots off.”

Adrien watches in amazement as a magical, pink light engulfs her entire body, leaving Marinette Dupain-Cheng standing in his bedroom.

When she’s out of the Miraculous, the first thing Tikki does is call Plagg.

“Plagg, get out here! I need to talk to you!”

Plagg phases through Adrien’s over-shirt and glares at his counterpart.

“Well hello to you too, Sugarcube!”

The other side of the room is then occupied by two magical creatures, allowing for Adrien and Marinette to have some time alone.

An awkward tension fills the air for the first couple moments, as the two recently-outed superheroes stare at each other, letting everything sink in.

Adrien is the first to speak.

“Wow, uh… wow.”

Marinette only nods, unable to comment on his reaction as she is overflowing with concern.

“Adrien, we have to talk.”

His eyes dim and his lips curve downwards. He nods, hanging his head.

“Yeah,” he whispers, “we do.”

He leads her over to the couch and gestures for her to sit down. Then he gets situated right next to her, positioning his hands on his knees. Marinette takes a deep breath.

“So… I saw the scars in class today.”

She shifts her eyes to his left wrist, uncovered and visibly scarred. He follows her eyes, frowning when he meets their destination.

Adrien simply hums, staring at the abused skin but not saying a word.

“Why?” Marinette whispers.

He shrugs.

“I’m fine. It’s just… Chat Noir gives me freedom, but sometimes it’s not enough. I promise I don’t do it that often.”

“The amount of times you do it doesn’t matter, kitty, it’s the fact that you do.”

“What do you care anyway?” He scoffs. “You weren’t paying me much attention before I was in a sour mood that day.”

“I’ve always cared, Adrien. Always. Just because I’m super level-headed doesn’t mean that I don’t pay attention. I notice when you’re sad. I do. This time you were really worrying me, though, so I spoke up.”

Adrien rolls his eyes, “And it didn’t occur to you that maybe I wanted you to ask how I was feeling all those other times I was sad?”

She quiets at that.

“I mean, I understand that you don’t want to get in my way, but I appreciate people caring, Marinette. It means a lot to me. I feel like, if I never gave away too much information, you would still be assuming things about me. Things like, oh he’s okay because he’s loud and cocky and cracks jokes all the time — maybe it’s just a bad day.”

He shakes his head, allowing a bitter laugh to escape his raw throat.

“Every day is a bad day, Mari. I’m just a good fucking actor.”

Marinette soaks in every word like a sponge, letting each and every one hit her right where it hurts, because it’s true. He is a good actor; she’s not good at understanding the script.

I’m sorry, she wants to say. The words dance on the tip of her tongue.

He’s not finished, though.

“I want the world to suffer some days, you know? I want everyone to feel just as pressured and exploited as I have been for basically my entire life. I want all my friends with a good family to see what it’s like to live in this large mansion, with their father closed away in his room, never to be seen again by his own son who just wants him to say I love you.”

When had he started crying?

Well, the tears are flowing and he can’t stop the river now. Not when he has more to say.

“I have the power of destruction wrapped around my finger, Marinette.”

His lip trembles.

“You should be glad that I haven’t tried to Cataclysm any houses, or street lights, or cars, or busses, or-or-or—“

He breaks.

He meant to keep going — to finish his sentence — but he breaks.

There’s not much more that Marinette can do, other than pull him into her arms and whisper soothing words of reassurance as he sobs uncontrollably.

She rubs his back, softly shh-ing him as he lets it all out of his system. She allows him to drown for the time being, all while reassuring that she’ll be there to pull him back to shore.

Each one of his sniffles was a subtle reminder that she was there for him; that no matter if his father comes around to finally paying him some attention, or not, he will always have her shoulder to cry on. Simultaneously, though, her heart twists at how unhealthily he’s been dealing with the trauma.

She had heard stories upon stories of teenagers resorting to self-harm because they had no other outlet, and she had been so thankful that no one she knew had taken those measures. Now, a statistic has become personal. She would be lying if she said that she knew how to handle it.

But she knew that no matter the circumstance, it had to be dealt with.

That meant getting her crush some professional help. A therapist, some medication, and plenty of cuddles. (Cuddles arescientifically proven to relieve anxiety, right? It’s a professional technique).

A quiet sniffle breaks her out of her thoughts. She glances down at Adrien as he slightly pulls away from her hold, eyes red and puffy.

Maybe that can all be dealt with later.

She ruffles his hair.

“Let’s go get some ice cream, yeah?”

Adrien peers up at her in confusion.

She just smiles and wriggles out of their position on his couch, then stands up with her hands on her hips.

“Ice cream always cheers me up. We definitely have to talk more about this later, among other things, but I can’t bear to see you sad any longer. So let’s go!”

The left corner of his mouth perks up, albeit only for a mere second.

“My father—“

“To hell with you father,” Marinette reaches down to grab his hand and hoists him up from the couch.

“We are going to get ice cream whether he likes it or not. You need to do what makes YOU happy, ‘kay?”

He concedes.

After ice cream, they return to the bakery and consult with Tom and Sabine. It had taken a lot of convincing on Marinette’s part to get Adrien to agree, but from there began the journey of his recovery.

They explained his home situation and mental health struggles in full, only leaving out the part about them fighting akumas. Both adults had immediately started searching for a good therapist (and lawyer) that would help Adrien get on the right track.

In the end, Adrien was glad that they had told her parents. Their concern for him and dedication to his cause filled his heart with long lost hope and parental love. It had been so long since he felt cared for. And now that he’s felt it once again, he’s not ready to let it go.

Thank goodness the Dupain-Chengs’ weren’t going to let him go so easily.

It was a unanimous decision that, until he feels comfortable going back to the mansion, he would stay. He didn’t want to burden them, but they insisted. So he had no choice but to accept the offer.

Before he even knew it, another two weeks had passed. A new routine was broken in by the members of the D.C. household — Marinette was getting real annoyed with Adrien’s constant comparisons of her last name initials to Marvel (her father had taken a liking to his puns, however, so now she just lived in constant pain) — and suddenly it was like he had always been there.

His first therapy session wasn’t great. He was riddled with anxiety (no pun intended) and Doctor Benson was too nice for his liking. Well, it wasn’t that he didn’t like it. It was just so off-putting, considering he wasn’t used to being treated with such kindness even by his own father.

Doctor Benson told him that a lot of the things he’s been experiencing aren’t normal, but his response to that trauma is. At first he had been confused when he was told that his father was emotionally neglectful and verbally abusive. He didn’t understand what his father was doing wrong. Once Doctor Benson explained that, “Abuse is a violent, repetitive behavior that has a negative mental, emotional, and/or physical impact on the victim,” it became more clear.

It’s still a concept that he’s getting used to — that he’s a victim of abuse. The thought makes his skin crawl and a shiver run up his spine because he never considered himself to be part of a statistic. Now that he knows he is, he’s not sure what to do.

Marinette keeps telling him, “Even agreeing to go to therapy is a huge step in the right direction, and I’m so proud of you.” Then she goes on to tell him just how special he is to her and how important him and his life is and all of this crap about how he’s worth more than he thinks.

He has to believe her, too, because she’s the one that found him at his worst and instead of judging him, picked him off the ground and took initiative. She’s the one that brought him to her parents, helped him hide from his father, and even got him a part-time job at the bakery. It’s only temporary until he is able to access his earnings, but he will admit that he likes it way better than modeling; that had just been because his father wanted him to, anyways.

Everyone tells him time and time again that he should not be living for his father. He wants to disagree, because that’s what he’s been conditioned to do for so long, but he ultimately chooses not to. Because they’re right; he’s a young adult who should have the freedom to make his own decisions.

In the end, if he’s not happy, there’s always more opportunities. He knows that now.

And there’s no better way to figure out what he wants than to explore, and reach out for help.

A black cat and a ladybug sat atop a roof.

Marinette has her head tucked into the crook of her partner’s neck, eyes closed as she feels the wind blow past her. Adrien’s head lays on top of hers’ and eyes are trained on the full moon above them.

It had been a long day; one akuma attack and three tests, plus their friends wanted to hang out. Exhaustion had taken over hours before, and sleep was creeping up on them. They cherish the view of Paris at night while it lasts, before they have to go home and do it all again the next day.

When she lifts her head to look at her favorite kitty, she’s relieved to see a soft smile resting on his features.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

He glances at her before turning back to the stars, then hesitates.

“Can I tell you a riddle?”

Her face pales and stomach plummets.

“N-no, I don’t want to play this game again.”

“I promise its a good one, nothing too sad.”

They lock eyes. She can tell there is sincerity within those dark green orbs, so she reluctantly nods.

Adrien licks his lips, not breaking his gaze.

“I visit you every night, even if you don’t call me. I’m lost every day. What am I?”

Jokingly, she wants to say “Chat Noir” but their identities are known now, and she sees him every day (so, admittedly, it wouldn’t be that good of a joke). Then she looks up at the sky and she has her answer.

“The stars,” she whispers.

She’s not looking at him, but she can almost hear his smile widen. So she looks back to him, because she loves to see her kitty happy.

Sure enough, a grin — genuine, not forced — is playing on his lips. It’s human nature to copy social expressions, so she lets her mouth curve into a matching grin.

Then she leans in.

Their smiles fade as they inch closer, focused on the next task at hand. His gaze drops to her pink lips, and she stares into his eyes. She can see the thirst, the want, but she can also see his hesitance.

Experimentally, she pauses to see if he’ll close the gap, but he simply stops in accordance with her. She wants this so bad, but he’s very shy when it comes to romance; despite being so outwardly confident as Chat Noir.

He had told her that it was a mask to hide how scared he truly was. His advances towards her were genuine, although deep down, he was afraid of rejection (to which she will forever feel guilty for putting him through). He wanted to break his façade sometimes, but he chose not to for the sake of not worrying her. The media might have noticed his change in behavior, too; granted, he never cared what the public thought of him anyways.

So, to save them both the trouble, she takes the leap and closes the gap, capturing his lips in a fluid movement.

It’s pure ecstasy; electricity pulses through his veins, but at the same time… he’s calm. He’s not sure how to describe the feeling, in all honesty. It’s just perfect.

Well, not perfect, he corrects himself. Enjoyable, but not perfect.

They don’t move in perfect sync and his lips are chapped so she’s probably wondering why the heck are his lips so dry?and her mouth keeps opening and he isn’t sure if it’s a mistake or if he should do something but he’s not ready for the tongue yet, and so their heads are tilting at an awkward angle trying to make sense of the situation —

— but she smells like pastries and her lips are so soft and he can’t help but crack his eyes open because she is so beautiful in every single way oh my god I love her and nothing makes this better than cupping her face with his right hand and feeling just how smooth her skin is which calms him immensely and he just doesn’t want this to end.

When they finally pull away, with heavy breaths and big smiles, little giggles and red cheeks… he’s happy.

Maybe he’s not perfect. Neither is she. Nobody is, and Adrien is just starting to understand that.

Years of conditioning is hard to unlearn, but he is so grateful to have a support system he can count on. Marinette’s parents honorarily adopting him as one of their own, Doctor Benson offering coping mechanisms he hadn’t even known existed, his bodyguard protecting him from the  father  sperm donor he’s still afraid to talk to (one day soon, he’ll have to, but he’s planning on crossing that bridge when he gets there), Ms. Bustier’s unwavering faith in his abilities, and his friends’ insistence that he is more than enough — all of this support is overwhelming, to say the least, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Most importantly, there’s Marinette. She has been his rock for the past three years and it’s more true now than it ever was. She is family, in every sense of the word.

“Hey, Mari?” He says quietly, breaking the silence.

“Yes, Chaton?”

The nickname rolls off her tongue in a teasing manner, and he has to laugh.

“Thank you.”

“Always.”

[rosekasa]

thank u for tagging me @anna-scribbles !! i loved looking through the art you picked out for yours they were BEAUTIFUL and i LOVE YOU

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work!

fic

new marinette - this!!! was my baby!! new marinette was my baby and i was so proud of it and i loved writing it so much!!! this was one of those fics that just felt so natural to write. it’s literally 12k+ words long and not a single word of it felt forced or difficult for me to write, and i wrote this with so much LOVE. it’s also the fic that a bunch of mutuals of mine read and commented on in the google doc and actually brought me closer to a lot of people which is ;___; so sweet. i adore this fic so much

a happy ending - i’ve always wanted to write a fic based around chat blanc and i was so proud of how this one turned out. before this fic, i’d only ever felt comfortable describing emotions and stuff on very few occasions, but i feel like this fic was the one that really helped me get better at it (not that im great at it now but. IT WAS A POINT OF IMPROVEMENT). i loved this line so much:

“This is my ending, Marinette,” he whispered. “And I’m spending it with you. I’m the happiest that I could be.”

it made me so sad but i uh. Snapped TM, if you will

the sky is more blue - aka 5.8k Words I Wrote While Pulling An All-Nighter. i literally had school the next day and decided to stay up all night and write this fic while listening to malibu by miley cyrus on repeat. i literally felt like i transcended the realm of reality while writing this fic. i love it but i was Not Alive while writing it DSKFJHSDFD but i think that’s what makes it so special?? i got it all out in a very short time and was SO invested in it while i was writing. i love adrienette so much and i wrote their dynamic in a way im quite proud of in this hehe,, also i really like my descriptions of the beach and the sea. imo my writing was quite good here

like poles of a magnet - THIS FIC. THIS MOTHERFUCKER. I BAWLED MY EYES OUT WHILE WRITING CHAPTER 6. i wrote the first 2k words of this wayyy back in may and then suddenly got REALLY invested in december and pounded out 10k words in, like, three days. i also did not shut up about it for three days because it felt like my brain had pushed out everything else to focus on this fic. writing this made me realise how gotdamn BEAUTIFUL enemies to lovers is and how i really do want to write some more at some point. also ladybug spitting blood at chat noir was the best thing i’ve ever written ever and i think about it everyday

art

original post

look at him. i love him so much. this was the first Proper yoosung i’ve drawn since i was 14 and i remember looking at it and thinking “if i showed this to 14 yo alizeh and told her this is how her art is gonna look in 3 years she wouldn’t believe me.” the process i used for this was. Weird. and i dont think i’m ever gonna use it again DFHDSJKSD but it turned out?? really nice?? i love the shading sooo much AAAAH 

original post

this was actually a birthday gift for @macaronsforchat but omg i. was so proud of this. i still am. it’s currently my lockscreen photo for my laptop FSSDSFKJ... this piece happened so. Easily? i’d been feeling really good about my art around this time and trying new things and i was so proud of the colouring and the pose and just ?? how i drew this in general. i really love it so much hehe. also the best boys are here so. how can i not love it.

original post / full comic

i drew this because i felt myself hitting an art block and getting frustrated and really needed something to relax and have fun with. AND I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS. i drew most of this while sitting on @renisalittlecrazy  ‘s floor and as soon as it was done i literally put my head in my hands and yelled about how much i loved ladynoir. i love them so much man. i would die for ladynoir and this comic was so soft. i really liked this black and white colouring style i used and i wanna use it more often with my comics !!

original post 

this is. very recent. but listen im so happy with this and im so happy with my art at the moment. i’m breaking out of the limitations ive put on myself to follow certain ‘rules’ (e.g., forcing myself to draw using a certain ‘’’’’’’formula’’’’’’’ to try and maintain my art style) and am instead treating every illustration like a puzzle i have to try and solve using my creativity, not a rulebook. it’s so liberating and so fun and i’ve really fallen back in love with drawing again. i experimented so much with this piece and i’m just so happy with how it turned out, and like. isn’t it nice that on the last day of 2020 i drew something i was so happy with, and had such a good relationship with art?

ANYWAYS THIS WAS FUN AND IM PROUD OF MYSELF SDJDFSFDS im tagging @macaronsforchat @jattendschaton @emsylcatac @hanaasbananas @aerequets @itsnabychan​ and @ladynoirist if u guys havent done it already!!

[mikauzoran]

Lila Fake-Dating/Emotional Blackmail Adrienette: Betting Against the House: Chapter Five

Read it on AO3: Betting Against the House: Chapter Five: Parental Support

“I’ll call you when I’m ready to be picked up,” Adrien advised as he climbed out of the car ten minutes later. “Thank you so much for this.”

The Gorilla gave another grunt coupled with a soft smile. He watched to make sure that Adrien made it inside the bakery and then drove off.

Tom was inside, bustling around and cleaning up for the day. He looked up at the sound of the bell above the door ringing and raised a meaty hand in greeting when he spotted his guest.

“Hello there, Son!” he chuckled, smiling with such authentic pleasure at seeing Adrien that it made Adrien want to cry.

His own father was never that happy to see him.

Adrien waved sheepishly. “Good evening, Monsieur Dupain.”

Tom’s eyebrow quirked, and he crossed his arms with an affectionate sigh. The look on his face asked, “How many times have I told you that you don’t have to call me ‘Monsieur’?”

“—er—I mean Tom,” Adrien hastily corrected and had to suppress a laugh as Tom’s face burst back into a pleased grin.

“That’s more like it,” Tom praised, waving Adrien in. “I’m actually shutting down for the night, but take your time and let me know what I can get for you.” He tipped his head towards the tray of unsold baked goods sitting on the counter next to the register. “The selection’s a little slim, but there’re still some worthy pastries left.”

“Oh, thank you, but I’m not here for the pastries,” Adrien assured.

Tom’s smile turned knowing. “Oh? Here for my daughter, then?”

Adrien’s cheeks flooded with vermillion, giving him away. He looked down at his feet, lips pulling into a smitten smile as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Actually, Nino, Alya, Marinette, and I were supposed to be having game night, but I got held up with something, so I’m running a little late.”

Tom nodded, going back to wiping down the glass cases. “Unfortunately, Marinette came home from school not feeling too good. She wouldn’t see Alya and Nino when they came by earlier, so I think game night is off. Sorry no one let you know.”

“Oh,” Adrien gulped, wilting as his face abruptly lost colour. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Marinette wasn’t feeling well.”

He wondered if Tom was privy to the cause of Marinette’s sudden malaise.

“She’ll be okay after a good night’s rest. No need to worry,” Tom reassured, waving away his concern.

“That’s good,” Adrien sighed in relief, hoping Tom was right. “…Well… Is there anything I can do to help while I’m here?” he offered nervously, not sure he could truly be of any use but willing to try.

“Sure,” Tom responded jollily, happy of the assistance. “Thank you very much, Adrien. Much appreciated. If you don’t mind, could you put the chairs up and sweep the seating area? Broom’s behind you to the left, propped up against the case.”

Adrien turned and spotted the broom. “Uh…yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

He’d seen brooms used before. He was pretty sure he had the theory down, so it was all a matter of practical application.

“I just need to finish wiping down the cases,” Tom advised. “After that, if you like, we could head upstairs and play some games together. I’m sure Sabine would join in too. I know we’re not much of a substitute for Marinette, but…”

Adrien paused to stare back at Tom, dumbstruck. “Really? Would that…would that really be okay?”

Tom nodded earnestly, looking like he’d be giving Adrien a clap on the back if he were in range. “Yeah, of course. You’re always welcome here, Adrien. If you don’t mind hanging out with a bunch of old-timers, we’d be happy to have you.”

“That sounds great, actually,” Adrien confessed. “My father’s usually busy, so it can get a little lonely at home.”

“Yeah…I’ll bet,” Tom murmured softly, his heart going out to the young man before him as he remembered the distance between himself and his own father for many years. “I think about you sometimes, all alone in that big mansion…. You should come over more. Maybe come eat with us when your father’s busy with work.”

“I don’t think my father would let me,” Adrien chuckled forlornly. “But thank you so much for the offer. I really appreciate the fact that you even care.”

“Of course I care,” Tom scoffed. “There are a lot of people who care about you, Adrien.”

“Thanks, Tom,” Adrien replied, shooting a grateful smile Tom’s way. “It’s easy to get caught up in what I’m doing and forget sometimes. I appreciate the reminder.”

“Any time,” Tom promised, and then a teasing lilt came into his voice as he added, “But, you know, soon, you’ll officially be my son-in-law, and your father won’t have a say in you coming over for family dinner.”

Adrien burst out laughing at the outlandish thought. “Oh, I wish. Unfortunately, Marinette would have to be a fool to marry me, so I think I’m out of luck there.”

“Nah,” Tom insisted. “You’re a good catch, Son. Don’t be so down on yourself.”

Adrien looked up from the chair he’d just put up and studied Tom intently. “Be straight with me for a second. Do you actually think I have a chance?”

Tom shrugged. “I think it’s fifty-fifty between you and Chat Noir, but don’t quote me on that because I am the father of a seventeen-year-old girl. Seventeen-year-old girls don’t tell their papas anything.”

“So long as I’m in the race,” Adrien replied, trying to keep his effulgent grin under control. He failed pretty miserably and ended up smiling like a loon as he finished putting up the rest of the chairs and won a very close match against the broom.

Maybe, if he could just hold on until university, Lila would lose interest in him, and he could explain everything to Marinette. Perhaps she’d forgive him and let him make amends.

Who knew? Maybe his rotten luck would have mercy on him for once, and she wouldn’t stay mad at him for long. Maybe they could even patch things up by the end of the week.

 “Thanks again for your help, Son.” Tom gave Adrien a pat on the shoulder as they made their way upstairs to the apartment after closing down the bakery for the night.

“I don’t know if I was much help,” Adrien laughed at himself.

Tom rolled his eyes and waved off Adrien’s self-deprecating response. “Sure, you were. You eventually figured out the broom, and you picking up the chairs saved my back the trouble. I’m getting old, Adrien, so every bit helps.”

“You’re not that old,” Adrien snorted. “You’re only in your forties.”

“Still,” Tom laughed, a big, round, boisterous sound that reminded Adrien of his childhood, when things weren’t so lonely and cold. “You helped, so I’m grateful, and I’m proud of you for taking on something new. You kicked that broom’s butt.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Adrien joined in on the laughter, following Tom into the apartment.

“Sabine, look who’s here!” Tom called to his wife.

Adrien couldn’t see her from the doorway, but the simmering and popping sounds coming from the kitchen gave away her location.

Sabine poked her head around the corner, and her eyes widened in alarm when she spotted Adrien.

“Good evening, Madame Cheng,” Adrien greeted tentatively, getting the sinking feeling that Sabine thought she knew exactly of what Adrien was guilty.

“Oh. Adrien…Honey…. I’m afraid that Marinette’s not feeling well, so game night’s been cancelled,” Sabine informed him awkwardly, visibly warring with her dual instincts to be a good host and to get him to leave as soon as possible so that Marinette never had to know that he’d been there.

“Yeah, I let him know,” Tom explained. “I said he could come hang out with us, if he didn’t mind the company of old folks.”

He turned back to Adrien. “Have you eaten yet? You should join us for dinner.”

Adrien looked back and forth between Sabine’s pained expression and Tom’s eager one. “Oh. I…uh—”

“—I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Sabine interrupted urgently. “With Marinette being sick and everything.”

Tom turned to his wife, confusion carving deep trenches into his brow. “Yes, but, Sabine—”

“—I’m sorry, Adrien, but could I please speak with my husband privately for a minute?” Sabine cast Adrien a pleading smile that was a muddled jumble of embarrassment, guilt, and pity.

Reading the atmosphere, Adrien politely bowed out. “Yes, of course. I’ll just step out into the hall.”

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop as Tom and Sabine held their conversation in whispers. His hearing was just uncannily good nowadays since taking up the mantle of Chat Noir.

“What was that about?” Tom demanded, voice dripping hurt and indignance.

“Tom, we can’t have Adrien over right now,” Sabine whispered regretfully, sounding like she really was sorry to turn Adrien away. “Marinette’s mad at him because he started dating Lila Rossi today.”

Tom let out an incredulous snort. “Oh, come on. It’s probably just a publicity stunt that that rotten excuse for a man who calls himself his father is making him do.”

Adrien winced, a ferocious wave of shame crashing down on him at the fact that Tom thought so poorly of Adrien’s father. Adrien knew that Gabriel didn’t always get passing marks in the father of the year competition, but it hurt to know that things were bad enough that even other people could tell that Adrien didn’t have a good home life.

“Adrien doesn’t have feelings for Lila,” Tom continued, oblivious to Adrien’s pain. “He’s over the moon for our Marinette. If she ever asked him out, he’d die of happiness.”

The pallor of Adrien’s face was quickly replaced by a rampant blush. Apparently, Adrien was completely transparent.

Sabine held up her hands, shaking her head. “You know how Marinette feels about Lila. She feels like Adrien’s betrayed her, and she won’t listen to reason, so we can’t have him over until Marinette cools off a little. We need to be on her side in this.”

Adrien’s heart dropped down into his stomach to be corroded away by acid.

He didn’t know what he’d been thinking coming there, and now he was regretting it immensely.

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Tom challenged. “Just send Adrien away? Back to that empty mansion where they keep him prisoner so he can sit around alone until they let him out for school or work?”

“Tom…” Sabine sighed. “I know. I get it. My heart breaks for him too, but…whose parents are we?”

Chastened, Tom’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“I know,” he muttered wearily. “I know you’re right. It’s just…I’m not convinced he has a single person in this world in his corner, Sabine.”

Adrien’s heart cracked.

It felt like his ears were bleeding, and his skin burned.

“Didn’t you just tell me that plenty of people cared about me?” he thought bitterly and then, more sullenly, “It serves me right for listening in.”

Plagg stirred, yanking Adrien out of his dark thoughts.

Without a word, the kwami gave Adrien a look so full of love and support and compassion.

Plagg floated up to nuzzle Adrien’s cheek, and Adrien nuzzled back.

“Thanks,” he whispered, on the edge of tears. “I may not have any people in my corner, but at least I’ve got you, and that’s even better than people, right?”

“You’d better believe it,” Plagg snorted fiercely.

Back in the apartment, Tom kept going: “There’s no one looking out for him, and I just think of when I was young and my mother went away for years at a time and my father stopped talking to me… If I hadn’t had you, Sabine…”

Tom shook his head sadly, and Sabine went over to him, resting supportive hands on his arm and chest.

“I know,” she cooed, patting his arm comfortingly. “I feel for him too. It’s not like we can’t ever be there for him, Tom. Just not right now. We need to focus on Marinette at the moment, and, once things settle down, we can go back to trying to support Adrien. Okay?”

It was quiet for a stretch, and then Tom nodded, heaving a grave sigh. “…Okay. But what are we going to tell him?”

“I will tell him that we’re very sorry, but you didn’t realize how sick Marinette is because you were busy with the bakery when she came home,” Sabine volunteered. “Since she needs her rest, it wouldn’t be a good idea to have people over to play video games right now. I’ll let him know he’s more than welcome to come back some other day once Marinette is feeling better.”

“Okay,” Tom sighed again, raking a hand through his hair. “Tell him I’m really sorry.”

“I will,” Sabine promised.

“And can we at least send him home with some pastries?” Tom pressed, his voice leaking guilt.

“Of course!” Sabine assured, clicking her tongue. “They don’t feed that poor boy enough.”

Adrien quietly slipped away, descending the staircases quickly on cat’s feet. He couldn’t bear to face them. He didn’t think he could get through it without breaking down in tears of shame, so he snuck out of the bakery, locking the side door behind him.

As he executed his escape, he formulated a plan: go to the park next to the bakery and wait there until a suitable amount of time had passed so that he could call Victor to pick him up without having to admit to being kicked out.

The plan didn’t have a very long shelf life.

As he crossed the street to the park, he happened to look back and spotted Marinette up on her balcony, leaning dejectedly on the railing, fiddling with a rose she’d likely clipped from her flowerbox.

He stood there for an eternal moment, just taking in the sight of her, backlit by the nascent moon.

She sighed heavily enough to make her shoulders lift and drop with the force of it, and then her gaze meandered his way.

She gave a little jolt and straightened up in her surprise when she spotted him.

He lifted a hand in tentative greeting, hoping he didn’t spook her.

She huffed and tossed her head, seemingly offended by the gesture.

She dropped the rose, letting it plummet four stories to the dusty Paris street, and turned on her heel, disappearing back down into her room.

He whipped out his phone and hastily typed, “I can explain”, mentally pleading for mercy.

He waited a few seconds, and, when there was no sign of a reply, he added, “By which I mean that I have an explanation, and it’s a good explanation, but I’m not at liberty to share it with you at the moment.”

He pressed send and looked back up at the balcony, bouncing on the balls of his feet in agitated anticipation, holding his breath as he waited for a response.

Still more seconds ticked by without a reply, so he sent, “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. Please” as he prayed for clemency.

Finally, three ellipsis points appeared on his screen, signaling that she was typing.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his heart fluttering around his ribcage, making him dizzy.

“leave me alone”

“i don’t want to hear your excuses”

“the last thing i need is to get akumatized and let Lila win so just leave me alone”

Adrien was positive that he looked absolutely crushed because he felt like he’d been gutted.

Shuffling his feet like a zombie, he made his way back across the street to scoop up the battered rose Marinette had dropped.

Cradling it carefully to his chest, he sighed, feeling hopeless.

“Don’t throw in the towel yet, Kid,” Plagg encouraged in a whisper from his hiding spot inside of Adrien’s left shoulder.

“What else can I do?” Adrien scoffed ruefully.

“Maybe not much as Adrien,” Plagg conceded, “but your sweetheart isn’t mad at Chat Noir, is she?”

An ember flickered back to life in Adrien’s eyes, and an impish grin rippled across his lips.

“No,” he chuckled. “She’s not, is she?”

[aalissy]

Sunset

Day 23 is doneee!! And I have another special surprise today hehe. I hope you guys like that and this haha. Anywho, lemme know what you think of this chapter bc it’s just pureee Adrienette fluff my faveeee haha <3

AO3

Marinette yawned, finally feeling content for the first time in a while. She had finally found the time to be with all her friends. They were all sat by the Seine, eating ice cream as they slowly watched the sunset. It was a beautiful sight and it was made even better because Adrien was there with her. 

Quickly, she peeked at him from where he sat next to her, not expecting him to turn and give her a bright smile. Giving him an awkward smile, she raised her hand up in a small wave. Adrien chuckled before leaning his head back to soak in the last remaining beams of sunlight. Marinette flushed faintly as the light made him look even more handsome than usual. 

Whipping back around, she watched the pinks and oranges dance across the sky as the sun slowly sank, trying to keep her gaze away from the boy next to her. That was made impossible when he spoke up, however, a contented sigh leaving him, “I’m so glad I was able to come hang out with you guys today. I really needed this today.”

“Y-yeah,” Marinette murmured, “Me too.”

Adrien turned to look at her and she looked away from the setting sun to meet his gaze. He gave her a soft smile as he said, “I’ve noticed that you’ve been pretty busy lately, Marinette. I hope everything’s going well, though.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest slightly. Adrien had noticed her. The butterflies quelled slightly as Marinette was suddenly reminded of her duties as both the guardian and Ladybug. Sighing slowly, she nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“If you’re sure...” Adrien said, sounding almost hesitant. “Remember, I’m always here if you need to talk, Marinette. Or even if you just want to call so we can play some video games together or something. We’re your friends and I’m sure I’m speaking for all of us when I say we want you to be happy.”

Marinette sniffled quietly before throwing her arms around him, not allowing herself to second-guess the movement. Squeezing him tightly, she whispered, “Thank you, Adrien. I really am fine but that’s great to know!”

Slowly, his own arms came up to hold her to him. Blushing faintly, she slowly pulled herself back as butterflies roared to life in her chest. His shimmering, emerald green eyes peered back at her happily and Marinette bit her lip. If only she could lean in and kiss him. 

Wondering if his lips were as soft as they looked, she was startled from her daydreams as Alya called her name. Scrambling away from him, she grimaced before turning to look at her best friend who was looking very sheepish. Alya gave the two of them a small, almost embarrassed grin before muttering, “Sorry. It’s just that Nino and I wanted a picture of us with the sunset, would either of you mind?”

“That’s fine!” Marinette practically shouted, jumping to her feet to grab the phone from Alya. She missed the small furrow that formed on Adrien’s brow as she walked away from him. Marinette slowly blew out a breath of relief as she began setting up the perfect picture of them. That was too close. She was meant to be getting over him not trying to kiss him for no reason. 

Taking a few snapshots of the happy couple, she then handed the phone back to Alya. Her best friend smiled down at the pictures before giving Marinette an amused smirk. “So... you and Adrien, huh?”

She turned bright red before shaking her head furiously, her pigtails swaying in the evening breeze. “No, no, no! I-I didn’t mean to almost kiss him or anything. “

Alya chuckled, patting her on the shoulder. “Relax, Marinette, I was just teasing. Besides, it looked like he was into it too.”

“Really?” Marinette instantly perked up, hope shining in her eyes before she glared at Alya. “I mean no! He wouldn’t do that because we’re just friends.”

“If you say so,” her best friend chuckled before pointing over Marinette’s shoulder. “But I think someone’s missing you.” 

Turning around rather stiffly, she spotted Adrien who was still sitting in the same spot except there was a bright grin on his face as he waved her over. Squeaking slightly, Marinette tried to calm her racing heart as she walked back over to him. 

When she took her seat beside him, he handed her the ice cream cone she had left behind with a proud grin. “Here you go, Marinette! I kept it safe just for you.”

She practically melted at those words, taking the dessert from him as a soft smile played around the edges of her lips. “Thank you, Adrien.”

“No problem,” he chirped, “Did you manage to get the perfect picture for Alya and Nino.”

Marinette laughed, taking another bite from the ice cream. “I hope so. Alya is usually super picky about pictures with being a reporter and all.”

Adrien nodded before he turned back to gaze at the last few minutes of the sunset. She turned back too, breathing out in awe as the pretty colors danced across the sky. Placing the ice cream back down, she leaned back on her hands with a happy smile. 

Engrossed in the sky as she was, Marinette barely noticed when Adrien copied her position. It was only when his pinky finger brushed lightly against hers that she realized how close he was. Biting down on her lower lip, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. When he didn’t seem to notice, she relaxed, letting her finger nudge against his lightly.

With one last sidelong glance at Adrien, Marinette let herself sink into the beauty of the setting sun. It was nice having one truly peaceful day. Especially with the stress of being the guardian and Ladybug. Just a few more minutes, she thought to herself, I’ll get up soon and then I’ll get rid of any last butterflies. With one final glance down at their hands, Marinette smiled shyly to herself. 

[gryffindorcls]

A New Light

This is a birthday fic for my wonderful friend, @hermionemonica​!   HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY, MY AMAZING FRIEND!!!  I hope you enjoy this little bit of Adrienette!

---

AO3

Fanfiction

Word Count:  11,203

“What are you smiling at?” Kagami took a long sip from her drink.

Adrien shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“You have been staring at the wall and smiling for the past five minutes. You are either in great pain or are thinking about something that makes you happy.”

“Great pain?”

“Yes, whenever you get hurt, you smile and brush it off.”

“When have I ever done something like that?”

“Last week when you got distracted and tripped at fencing practice. As I recall, you bruised your arm.”

“I was waving to a friend, and I didn’t want her to worry.”

“It was a pretty bad bruise. Is that what is hurting you now?”

“What?” Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, Kagami, I’m not in pain.”

She took another sip. “Then why are you smiling?”

“I was just thinking back on my day at school.”

“I take it you had a good day then?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “I did.”

“So, what happened today that made you smile like that?” Kagami set down her drink. “I would love to hear about it.”

“Well, Marinette came into school on crutches today. She sprained her ankle, and the doctor told her that she had to stay off of it for a few days.”

“And her being hurt is what’s making you happy? I do not understand.”

“No! It’s nothing like that. Seeing her in pain is the worst. But Alya was on a field trip to the tv studio with the school newspaper, and Marinette needed someone to help carry her belongings. I offered, and she and I got to talk a lot today.”

“I see. Anything else?”

“At the end of the school day, I walked her home, and her mom gave me a whole bag of pastries!” Adrien reached into his backpack and pulled out a brown paper bag. “Would you like one?”

Kagami shook her head. “No.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, taking a large bite out of a chocolate croissant. “They are delicious.”

“I’m sure they are.” She took a deep breath. “I think we should see other people.”

Adrien choked on the pastry. “Excuse me, what?”

“I’m breaking up with you.”

“But...why? What did I do?”

“Tell me, who were you waving to when you fell down at fencing practice?”

“Marinette, but I don’t see how…”

She held her hand up in the air, effectively silencing him. “That’s why.”

“I don’t understand.” Adrien’s chest began to tighten. “What does Marinette have to do with any of this?”

“You’re in love with her. Everyone can see it.”

“I’m not in love with Marinette. She’s just a friend.”

“And apparently, everyone can see it but you.”

“Kagami, I don’t understand what’s happening right now. Nothing is going on between me and Marinette.”

She sighed and shrugged. “I know. It’s because I’m in the way.”

He did his best to control his breathing. “You don’t love me anymore?”

“Adrien, I will always love you. You have been an amazing boyfriend, but the longer that we are together, the more I come to realize that we are not meant to be. Honestly, I’ve been waiting to have this conversation with you for a while. It’s okay for you to be in love with Marinette. I see that now.”

“Kagami…”

“I am not mad.” She paused and scrunched her face. “Well, I’m not mad at you. I am upset with myself for not thinking about things logically before we started going out. I was blinded by the idea of dating you, and I did not take the time to see how much better your life would be if you were with Marinette instead. She makes you happy.”

Adrien groaned with frustration. “Yes, because she’s my friend, and even if I did have a crush on her, she’s not in love with me.”

“There was a time when I thought you were perfect, but it turns out I was wrong. You’re a wonderful person, Adrien, but you are very oblivious.”

“I’m not oblivious.”

“Then that means you are refusing to admit your feelings for her because you’re scared.” Kagami shook her head, reached across the table, and took his hand. “There’s no need to be afraid. You two are perfect for each other.”

He took back his hand and hung his head. “But she’s only ever been my friend.”

“And we were friends before we started dating, and I hope to continue being your friend after today. Things change, and I have learned that it is okay when they do.”

“How did you even come to the conclusion that I’m in love with Marinette?”

“Well, your face gets brighter whenever you see her or talk about her, you’re always leaning in her direction, and you’ve told me at least three dozen times how amazing and incredible she is. The list goes on, Adrien.”

“I can’t love her.”

“But you do.”

“Even if I did, I can’t. We’re just friends. She's not interested in being my girlfriend.”

“Excuse me for sounding like Chloe when I say this, but that is ridiculous.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. Deep down, he knew that Kagami was right. Adrien had always harbored feelings for the girl who sat behind him in class. While he enjoyed hanging out with Kagami, spending time with Marinette was different.

Marinette was magnetic. Adrien was naturally drawn to her energy, and he was enamored by her kindness. He’d always felt like she could be more than just a friend, but his love for his partner had prevented him from exploring those feelings.

Had he thought about asking her out when he moved on from his crush on Ladybug? Yes, but he’d assumed that she wasn’t interested after she disappeared halfway through their escape from the Bourgious’ mind-numbing anniversary party. Besides, she had Luka.

Asking out Kagami had been his way of letting go of the unattainable love interests in his life. Kagami was cool, and he was definitely attracted to her. He desperately wanted to love her the same way he loved Ladybug and Marinette, so he did his best to make their relationship thrive.

For months, he took her on dates, bought her flowers, and celebrated their milestones, but his heart refused to cooperate. He never felt the same dizzying adoration for Kagami, and this was something that racked his mind with guilt. Nonetheless, Adrien had worked hard to move on from his former crushes, and he didn’t know if he was ready to once again embrace his feelings for Marinette.

“I don’t know what else to say.”

“Say that you will think about it. I want us both to be happy, and neither of us will be truly happy if we stay in this relationship.”

“I guess,” he whispered. She stood up and walked around the table. “Good, now I must get going.”

“Already?”

“We have nothing else to talk about.”

“And what am I supposed to do now?”

“Go home and think. Find your happiness.”

“How can I be happy when you’re the second girl who’s rejected me? I really wanted us to work out.”

“I know.” Kagami knelt down and cupped his cheek. “And I’m not rejecting you. I’m setting you free.”

“As long as I am Adrien Agreste, I will never be free,” he mumbled.

It was a truth that had been woven into every fiber of his being. Chat Noir was his only escape, and his civilian life was bound not only by his father’s rules and expectations but by his life in the public eye. He longed for freedom outside the mask, but it was a dream that seemed woefully out of reach.

“You have the power to change that. It is all about how you look at the world, and perhaps it is time for you to start looking at things in a new light.” Adrien’s broken spirit began to mend under Kagami’s unwavering stare.

He sat up straight. “I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try.”

“You need to be honest about your feelings.” She smiled. “Once you do that, everything will fall into place.”

Ladybug’s final rejection played in his mind. “I already tried doing that with...someone else, and it didn’t work.”

Kagami removed her hand from his cheek and rose to her feet. “Think about it this way, if Marinette had been the one to tell you that she loved you the day Miracle Queen showed up, would you have kissed her, or would you have pulled away at the last second like you did with me?”

“I...I don’t know.”

Why are you lying, his mind screamed, Of course, you know.

“Yes, you do. Goodbye, Adrien. I’ll see you at our next fencing practice.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the cafe.

Even though he was surrounded by people, when Kagami disappeared from sight, Adrien became painfully aware that he was sitting by himself. It was a sensation that he knew all too well.

He pulled out his phone and texted his bodyguard. His phone chimed with a response a few seconds later.

Gorilla: 5 minutes

Adrien groaned. He had five whole minutes to sit by himself and think. At least when he was alone in his room, he had the luxury of talking to Plagg. There were too many people in the cafe for his Kwami to safely come out of hiding, so he sighed, rested his head on the table, and waited for the Gorilla to arrive.

He felt empty, but he was surprised to find that he wasn’t sad. Being rejected by Ladybug had hurt infinitely worse than hearing his now ex-girlfriend say that she wanted to break up with him. By the time his phone chimed a second time, he had concluded that it was the absence of Kagami's presence that upset him more than the actual break-up.

After hastily grabbing his belongings, he walked out of the cafe and hopped into the backseat of his family’s car. On the way home, he stared at the passing scenery. When they drove past the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery, a dull ache thudded against his chest.

It doesn’t matter what Kagami says, I can’t ask out Marinette. She doesn’t love me like that, and it would ruin our friendship.

He turned his head away from the window.

And I can’t lose her as a friend.

The car pulled up to his house.

I almost lost Ladybug’s friendship by being too forward.

Adrien hopped out of the car, walked into his house, and made his way to his room.

Marinette can never know how I feel.

Upon reaching his room, he closed the door behind him, sat down at his desk, and turned on his computer. His Kwami flew out of his backpack and landed in his lap.

“You okay, kid? Plagg asked, sympathy lacing his tone.

“Yup.” Adrien nodded. “I was just about to do my homework before I have to get ready for bed.”

“And you don’t want to talk about what happened at all?”

“Nope.”

“Then something must be really wrong. Talking about your love life is your cheese.”

“My cheese?”

“Yes.” Plagg flew into his cheese cabinet and emerged with a large wedge of camembert. “You love telling me about your crushes almost as much as I love eating cheese.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I guess I’m just not in the mood for it tonight.”

“I don’t want you bottling this up and getting Akumatized. That would be apocalypse-level bad.”

“I promise that I’m fine.”

“Your girlfriend broke up with you. You moped for weeks after Ladybug rejected you.”

“This is different. I was in love with Ladybug, and as much as I love spending time with Kagami, I never actually fell in love with her.”

“You were pretty upset in that cafe.” Plagg crossed his arms. “You can’t tell me that you weren’t.”

Adrien shrugged. “I think I was just shocked, but then I realized that Kagami was right. Yeah, I’ll miss her company, but we really are better off as friends.”

“Look, kid, I didn't say anything when you started dating sword girl because I wanted you to be happy, but I knew it wouldn't last forever. I’ve been preparing for this moment for a while. A break-up is a big deal, and it's okay to be a little upset.”

“What do you mean that you ‘knew it wouldn't last forever’?”

“I always thought you’d wind up with pigtails. Kagami was right about that, too. Your whole face lights up when you talk about Marinette...and you talk about her all the time.”

“No, Marinette is just a friend, and I intend to keep it that way.”

“Are you serious? Adrien, I…”

He cut off his Kwami. “Do you remember when Kagami asked me if I would have kissed Marinette if she’d been the one to confess her love first?”

“I hear everything...all the time.” Plagg shuddered dramatically, prompting Adrien to roll his eyes.

“Then you heard me tell her that I didn’t know, but that was a lie.” He paused and released a heavy sigh before continuing. “My answer to that question will always be ‘yes’. I remember wishing that Marinette had been the one to stay that day. I would have kissed her in a heartbeat.”

“A-ha! So, you do love Marinette!” A smug grin settled on Plagg’s face. “I knew it.”

He threw his hands into the air. “Of course I do! I would be an idiot not to, and honestly, I was an idiot for not realizing it sooner. Remember the time she tried to kiss me when I pretended to be a statue?”

“Yeah, I do. That was one of the most painful things I’ve ever had to watch, and I’ve been alive since the beginning of time.”

“Once I started to move on from Ladybug, I realized that I’ve had a crush on Marinette for months. Since then, not a day has gone by that I don’t regret that moment in the wax museum.”

“Then just tell that to Marinette so everyone can be happy and move on!”

“I can't! No one can know how I feel about her. It would ruin everything.”

Plagg shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that Marinette walked away!” A lump started to form in his throat. “Yes, I would have kissed her if she’d stayed and told me that she loved me, but she didn’t. Kagami did. Then two days later I saw her eating ice cream with Luka. Do you know how hard it was to be okay with that?”

“Maybe it’s not what you think.”

“She walked away, Plagg. Marinette isn't in love with me. Was there a time that asking her out was a possibility? Sure, but I missed my chance...and she’s in love with Luka now. If she knew that I liked her, she wouldn't want to be my friend anymore.”

“I see where you’re coming from, but I really think you may have misread the situation.”

“I learned my lesson after Ladybug. I will not pursue another girl who is interested in someone else. I refuse to set myself up for heartbreak again. Getting rejected by Marinette would earn me a visit from a purple butterfly.”

“But what if she is interested in you?”

“Whenever I’ve asked her if she sees me as more than a friend, she’s always said ‘no’. I would ask her out on the spot if she told me that she loved me, but it’s not going to happen.” Tears started to pool in the corners of his eyes.

Plagg poked Adrien’s cheek. “No, don’t do that. I didn’t mean to push. Please don’t get upset.”

“I’m fine. I’m not going to get Akumatized. Not this time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Adrien picked up his textbook and waved it through the air. “I have my homework to distract me, remember?”

“Fine, but I’m still going to watch out for purple butterflies.” Plagg punched the air. “Nothing will get past me.”

He scratched his Kwami behind the ears. “Thank you for caring.”

“For you, kid, always.” Plagg nuzzled his cheek before flying off to the other side of the room.

For the rest of the evening, Adrien did his best to focus on his schoolwork. Every time his mind conjured up an image of a raven-haired girl with pigtails, he pushed the thought away.

After doing a sub-par job on his physics homework, he took a shower and climbed into bed. He tossed and turned for two hours before falling into a restless sleep. When he awoke the next morning, his mind was filled with fog.

Still doing his best to not think about his love life, he got ready, ate breakfast, and hopped into the car. When he arrived at school, he noticed Marinette struggling to simultaneously carry a box and juggle her crutches, and without a second thought, he sprang into action.

Seeing that the light was green, he sprinted across the street, grabbed the box from her hands, and placed a steadying hand on her back.

“Thank you, Adrien.” She smiled, and the emptiness he’d felt the previous night melted away.

Maybe asking her out wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

“You’re welcome.” Adrien’s heart pounded in his chest. “Next time, text me if you need help carrying something to school.”

“I appreciate the offer, but hopefully there won’t be a next time. If the doctor gives me the all-clear today, I won’t have to use the brace anymore.” Balancing herself on one crutch, Marinette gave him a thumbs up.

No, she’s your friend, Adrien. Don’t mess this up.

“T-that’s good!” He swallowed against a dry throat. “So, your ankle is feeling better?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, it’s a little weak, but I can walk on it as long as I sit down and take breaks.”

Why does she have to be so cute?

“I’m really happy to hear that.” Adrien reached out and touched her arm.

“I...oh...um...we should probably use our feet now.” She shook her head and groaned. “No, wait, that sounded weird. Sorry, We should go to school...um...using our feet. WALKING! THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL IT.”

“So cute.”

“What?”

Oh, God, I said that out loud!

“I...uh…”

“Did you just call me cute?” Her voice sounded strained. “Unless that’s not what you said! Of course, that’s not what you said! What did you just say?”

Change the subject, Agreste!

“I said, um...oh, shoot! Yup! That’s it. Oh, shoot! We’ll be late if we don’t leave right now!” He chuckled nervously as he shot a finger gun in her direction.

She pinched her lips together and looked away. “Uh, yeah, okay. I guess you’re right.”

Adrien could feel the tension in the air as they slowly made their way across the street, up the stairs, and into the school’s courtyard. With each passing step, the desire to move past their previous conversation grew, but every time he opened his mouth to speak, he choked on his words.

“So,” Marinette said, cutting through the silence, “how was your date with Kagami last night? I remember you telling me that you were taking her to that cafe she and I love going to.”

Knowing that his answer would usher in more awkwardness between them, he stifled a groan. He opened and closed his mouth several times before slumping his shoulders and hanging his head.

She leaned in. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath through his nose and nodded. “It’s just a little uncomfortable to talk about my relationship with Kagami at the moment.”

Marinette’s cheeks grew bright red. “Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry! You’re right. It was very rude of me to pry. It won’t happen again.”

“No! No! It’s nothing like that!” He paused and shifted the box onto his hip. “She kind of...broke up with me.”

She gasped. “Oh, Adrien! I’m so sorry! Are you doing alright?”

“Surprisingly, yes. I’m actually not that upset.

“You’re not?”

“Really, I’m fine. Kagami and I weren’t right for each other. It’s better this way.”

“You really think that?”

“Yes, I do.”

An unreadable expression passed over her face before she turned her head away and looked at the ground. “That’s too bad. You both seemed like a good match for each other. You both have so much in common.”

Adrien swallowed. “Sometimes it’s the opposites that work best together. Almost like two halves of a whole.”

Someone like you.

“Y-yeah, um, maybe.” She cleared her throat. “We should go in. I need to drop off that box of supplies in the artroom before we head to Miss Bustier’s class.”

He forced a smile. “Lead the way.”

As they made their way into the school, his mind chanted the same phrase on repeat. She’s just a friend. She’s just a friend. She’s just a friend.

When they finally arrived at their first class, he tried to not think about the fact that she was sitting right behind him.

She’s just a friend.

Or that she smelled like vanilla and cinnamon.

She’s just a friend.

Or that all he wanted to do was sweep her off her feet and kiss her until they both ran out of air.

She’s just a friend.

By the end of class, he was ready to scream. When Miss Bustier dismissed everyone, he ran into the hallway and sprinted down to the locker room.

She’s just a friend. She’s not in love with you.

Adrien groaned. “Why me?”

“Bro, are you okay?” Nino rested a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been kind of out of it all morning.”

“I told myself that I would stop chasing after things I can never have, yet here I am. Alone and miserable.” He thumped his head against his locker.

Nino took off his hat and scratched the top of his head. “I gotta be honest, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Did your dad do something?”

He shook his head. “No, this time it was all me. I have no one to blame but myself.”

“You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“Maybe another time. Let’s just get ready for whatever Mr. D’Argencourt has in store for us today.”

“Whatever you say, dude. I’m here if you need me.”

“Thanks, Nino.”

Not wanting to be late for class, Adrien changed into his gym clothes and did his best to compose himself before walking with the rest of the boys to the courtyard. When they arrived, Mr. D'Argencourt instructed them to stretch while he retrieved a bag of rubber playground balls from a storage closet.

Adrien never understood why Mr. D'Argencourt insisted on having his gym class play kickball in the school courtyard. They played plenty of other games in the stadium, but never kickball. Even after three incidents in which windows had been broken or cracked, he still refused to move the game to a larger venue. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone got seriously hurt. Nonetheless, despite the safety concerns, he was grateful for the distraction that the game would provide. He was looking forward to spending the next hour away from the all-consuming thoughts that made his heart ache.

Today, Mr. D'Argencourt decided to have the boys play against the girls. Adrien stifled a groan. Gym classes were always infinitely more competitive when Alix and Kim were on opposing teams.

After a coin toss, the girls chose to kick first. Adrien took his place on the field and watched as each girl took their turn. He did his best to keep his eyes glued on the kicker, but the familiar clink of crutches behind him pried his focus away from the game.

The ache in his heart came creeping back when Marinette took her seat on a bench, shot him a smile, and waved in his direction. For a moment, he forgot where he was, and he returned her gesture with a timid wave.

She’s so beautiful. Does she even know how beautiful she is? Someone should tell her. I should...no, she’s just a friend. She’s just a...

A rush of moving air breezed past his arm, pulling him away from his thoughts, and a cacophony of groans sounded across the field. Adrien spun his head towards home base just in time to see Alix score a point for the girls’ team.

“Stop flirting, Agreste!” Kim called out from the pitcher’s mound, “You can talk to your girlfriend later.”

“My Adrikins is not dating Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe said as she sauntered towards home base, “He’s dating that rude fencing girl. Not that she’s any better, but still, he has standards.”

Don’t you dare talk about my girl that way,” Alya yelled from the sidelines, “And by the way, it’s kind of hypocritical to call someone rude when you’re also saying mean things about other people.”

“Ugh, whatever.”

A flash of anger surged through his body, and Adrien did his best to remain calm and collected. He and Marinette were just friends, and as much as he wanted to change that, he could not.

Thoughts of his conversation with Kagami and Plagg the night before sent an unpleasant pang through his chest. “Can we just get on with the game? Marinette and I are great friends, nothing more.”

Chloe turned towards Kim. “You heard him. Are you going to pitch the ball or what?”

Kim rolled his eyes and looked at Adrien. “Just keep your mind on the game, Mr. Model. Some of us are trying to take this seriously.”

Adrien took a deep breath, looked at Marinette, and shrugged. She shot him a sympathetic look and mouthed a quick “sorry” before looking down at the sketchbook sitting on her lap.

He nodded, smiled, and turned towards home base.

She’s just a friend.

He watched as Lila walked up to the plate.

She’s just a friend.

His eyes tracked the ball as it shot across the courtyard.

She’s just a friend.

Everything stopped when the ball hit Marinette on the side of the head, causing her to fall off the bench.

Adrien bolted. Within seconds, he was kneeling next to Marinette, cradling her in his arms.

“Oops!” Lila said with a sickening sweetness in her voice, “I guess I’m not very good at this game. Is Marinette going to be okay?”

Ignorning the urge to scream at Lila, Adrien brushed Marinette’s bangs away from her face, revealing a large bump. “You’re hurt.”

She turned her head. “No, I’m fine. Really, I am.”

“No, you’re not. You need to go to the nurse so she can call your parents.”

“I don’t need to go home. I have a group project in art, and…”

He cut her off. “And they will understand that you getting medical attention comes first.”

“But I already missed a day because of my stupid ankle. I can’t let them down again!”

“Marinette, go with Adrien to the nurse.” Nathaniel stepped out of the crowd that had begun to surround them. “It’s okay. You’re not letting us down.”

“Are you sure?” She bit her lip. “It doesn’t really hurt that bad.”

Adrien pulled her even closer. “But it’s going to hurt a lot later.”

“I guess you’re right. Let me just get my things.” She pulled away from his grip, attempted to stand up, and stumbled.

Without hesitation, Adrien snaked one arm around her back and the other under the bend of her knees. She squeaked when he stood and lifted her into a bridal carry. Disregarding his classmate’s gasps, he met Marinette’s startled gaze.

“Don’t worry about your stuff,” he whispered, “I don’t want you to get hurt again. Hold on tight, okay?”

She looped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. “Okay.”

Not wanting to jostle the girl in his arms, he slowly made his way to the nurse’s office. “Sorry about the smell. These gym clothes have to get washed. I know they probably stink right now.”

She giggled. “Don’t worry. I love you.”

He stopped in his tracks.

It was only three words, but coming from her lips, they were the most beautiful three words in the universe. They were a patch of sunlight on a dreary day, wrapping him in the warmth his soul longed to feel. They were a million shooting stars, granting the wishes of all who gazed upon their wonder. They were so simple, yet they were everything. She was everything.

All too soon, the crippling fear set in. They were the words he’d wanted to hear Marinette say more than anything. What if his exhaustion induced haze made him hallucinate the last 30 seconds of his life? What if he was actually in the middle of an elaborate dream? What if it was all a cruel trick that his mind had decided to play on him?

 “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?” He held his breath as he awaited her response.

She giggled. “Repeat what?”

“What you just said.”

“I said that I love the way that you smell. You don’t stink.”

Adrien shook his head. “Marinette, that’s not what you said.”

A befuddled expression overtook her features. “Then, what did I say?”

“I love you.” The words tasted sweet on his lips. “You said ‘I love you’.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Did you mean it?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “No! Of course not!”

His heart sank. “You don’t love me?”

“Well, it’s not that I don’t not love you. People are allowed to love their friends as friends. Right?”

“So, you don’t see me as more than just a friend?”

“Adrien, I...I…I can’t do this anymore!”

She didn’t say no.

“What?” A flutter of hope washed away the disappointment.

“Some things are better left unsaid.” She mumbled, turning her head away from his.

SHE DIDN’T SAY NO.

He swallowed. “It’s okay. You can tell me. I promise it’ll be okay.”

“No!” She hopped out of his arms and covered her face with her hands. “I don’t want to hurt even more! I’m so confused!”

“Your ankle!” He reached out his hand, and she backed away from him.

“I’m fine. I have to go.” She rushed into the nurse’s office and slammed the door behind her, leaving Adrien alone in the hallway.

 “She didn’t say no.” He said to himself, unable to believe what had just happened. “She may actually love me!”

Adrien grabbed his hair and laughed. He spun in place as he resisted the urge to run down the hallway screaming the wonderful news.

I may actually have a chance! She didn’t say no! She...she ran away.

His joy evaporated like water falling onto a hot stove. Disappointment washed over him, forcing him to face the reality of his situation.

Sitting down on the cold, hard floor, Adrien put his head in his hands. For the first time, Marinette did not deny that she had feelings for him. But if she had a crush on him, why would she run away? More than anything, he wanted to be overjoyed. But maybe his assumption was wrong. Perhaps she didn’t like him romantically.

Or worse.

Maybe she did have a crush on him, but she resented having those feelings. After all, she had Luka.

Even though he knew it was going to happen, when Marinette didn’t return to school after lunch, he once again wanted to scream. His need to talk to her consumed his every thought.

Adrien spent the rest of the school day in an energetic haze. His body wanted to run a mile while his mind wandered in and out of daydreams.

He did his best to pay attention in class, but it was no use. The more he attempted to listen, the more his teachers’ words sounded like incoherent babble. His leg bounced under the table throughout every lecture, and he wrung his hands in his lap whenever Marinette’s slip of the tongue ran through his mind.

“I have to talk to her again. Maybe if she knew that I loved her, too, she wouldn’t feel so bad.”

Ten minutes before his last class of the day was scheduled to end, Adrien finally snapped. Waiting to see Marinette was proving to be a torturous task. He groaned and slammed his head onto the desk.

“Dude, what’s going on?” Nino whispered, tapping him on the shoulder, “You’ve been acting weird all day.”

Adrien lifted his head off the desk. “She told me that she loves me.”

“Who?”

“Marinette.”

“She did what?” Nino asked loudly, prompting the teacher to shush him.

Not wanting to get in any more trouble, Adrien began to scribble his response in a notebook.

Adrien: When I carried Marinette to the nurse, she accidentally said that she loves me. At first, she tried to tell me that she meant something else, but when I asked her again, she ran away.

Nino’s expression changed several times while he read Adrien’s note. He then took a deep breath and began to compose a response. When he was finished, he surreptitiously slid the notebook back.

Nino: She’s probably super embarrassed. You should give her the night to calm down before you talk to her again.

Adrien: I can’t do that. I have to talk to her tonight. There’s a chance that she may actually be in love with me. I have to know how she feels.

Class came to an end before Nino had the chance to write back. As everyone began filing out of the classroom, Adrien leaned over, grabbed his backpack, and began to pack up his belongings.

Nino grabbed his arm. “Don’t do it, bro. You’ll only make her more upset.”

Adrien cocked his head to the side. “Why would telling her that I love her back make her upset?”

“I’m sorry, what? You love her?”

“I know she ran away, but if she knew...I don’t know. Maybe we could be more than friends. I think I’ve loved her since the day we met, and I have to tell her. It’s killing me, Nino.”

“You already have a girlfriend, dude.” Nino crossed his arms. “And she’ll be the one doing the killing if she finds out about this.”

He shook his head. “No, she won’t. Kagami broke up with me.”

“She what? When?”

“Last night.”

“Bro…”

He did not want to dwell on his break-up when there were more important matters to attend to. “It’s fine. Kagami actually told me to go ask out Marinette, but I didn’t want to.”

Nino took off his hat and scratched his head. “Okay, now I’m lost. You love Marinette, but you don’t want to ask her out?”

Adrien waved his hands in front of him. “No, that’s not it at all! You see, I realized a while ago that I had a crush on Marinette, but she’s in love with Luka. When Kagami told me she loved me, I tried to move on. But Marinette just told me that she loves me, and she didn’t completely deny it. I think I might have a chance, Nino!”

“My dude, you have more than just a chance, and I can tell you for a fact that she’s not in love with Luka.”

“You think?”

“No, I know.” Nino’s eyes darted around the room before he leaned in and continued. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but Marinette has been crushing on you for months.”

His friend’s words were like music to his ears. “Really?”

“Yeah, and when you started dating Kagami, she told us that she moved on. She even went on a few dates with Luka, but Alya told me that Marinette turned down the chance to be his girlfriend like two weeks ago. She still insists that she doesn’t have a crush on you anymore, but between you and me, I can tell that she still likes you. I think she was just saying that to make herself feel better.”

“She loves me?”

“Yeah, bro. Like, a lot.”

“But when she ran away from me today, she told me that she didn’t want to hurt anymore. Does she hate being in love with me?”

“Not exactly. The dudette was massively bummed when you started dating Kagami, but she wanted to respect your choice. Alya was over at her house every day for a while because of it.”

A prickling sensation formed behind his eyes as a pit formed in his stomach. “I broke her heart.”

“Yeah.” Nino lowered his head. “But you never knew about her feelings, so it’s really no one’s fault.”

The emotional whiplash of the last five minutes began to wear on Adrien’s mind. With a heavy heart, he closed his eyes and sat down.

She loved him, but he’d hurt her. His fists clenched when he recalled the pain that had consumed him after Ladybug’s final rejection. While he harbored no ill will against his partner for making him experience this heartbreak, he kicked himself for knowing that he’d made someone else feel that way. Not only had he broken someone’s heart, but he’d broken Marinette’s heart. Sweet, beautiful, and kind Marinette.

She deserved better.

She deserved to know the truth.

“I have to fix this.” He turned to his friend, his heart full of determination. “I have to go talk to her right now.”

“Finally!” Nino cheered, holding out his fist, “I wish you all the luck in the world, my dude!”

Adrien laughed and tapped his fist against Nino’s. “Thanks! I’ll tell you how it goes!”

“Trust me, I’ll hear all about it from Alya first.”

“Yeah, probably. Okay, I’ll see you la…”

A distant crash cut him off.

“Oh no,” he groaned as an Akuma Alert popped up on his phone.

“That’s the second one this week.” Nino shook his head. “Maybe you could ride out the attack at Marinette’s place.”

“No, my dad wants me home during attacks.”

“Same.”

Another crash shook the ground and almost knocked both boys to the floor.

“Jeez. That sounds close.” Nino looked out the window. “Looks like the Akuma is in the park. I better go check to make sure that Alya isn’t making any stupid decisions before I head home.”

Seeing the worry in his best friend’s eyes sent a paralyzing thought crashing into his brain. Marinette doesn’t have a Miraculous. She’s unprotected.

He gripped the strap on his backpack. “I hope Marinette stays safe during the attack.”

Nino placed a hand on his shoulder. “Bro, don’t sweat. Marinette’s strong. I’ve seen her go face to face with a few Akumas before. Didn’t you call her our everyday Ladybug once? She’ll be fine.”

“But what if she’s not?”

“Then text her.”

With a nod, he dismissed the alert on his phone and hastily typed out a message.

Adrien: There’s an Akuma super close to your house. Are you okay?

He waited for a response with bated breath. “She’s not typing anything back.”

“Maybe she’s taking a nap?” Nino grabbed his backpack off the floor.

“The ground literally just shook. How would someone stay asleep through something like that?”

“I don’t know. Alya told me that Marinette sleeps like a rock. Apparently, she can sleep through anything.”

“I’m still worried.”

“I feel you, but Marinette’s gonna be okay.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because we have Ladybug and Chat Noir! They always get the job done! And my hero obsessed girlfriend is probably chasing after them as we speak. I gotta go! Stay safe, dude!”

As Nino rushed out the door, Adrien looked at his empty notification screen and gritted his teeth.

“I hate Hawkmoth,” he grumbled, opening his shirt collar for his Kwami to fly out, “Let’s get this over with. I have things to do.”

“Do we have to? I’m hungry,” Plagg whined.

“You’re always hungry. Besides, I need to transform now so I can make sure that Marinette is okay before I meet up with Ladybug.”

“Wait, no. That’s not such a great…”

Not wanting to deal with his Kwami’s pre-transformation protests, Adrien cut him off. “Plagg, CLAWS OUT!”

He closed his eyes and waited for the light from his transformation to fade. Usually, he loved the sensation of the Miraculous magic washing over him. For the first time in a long time, he was excited to get back to being Adrien.

Kagami had been right. Marinette was the key to finding the freedom that he longed for in his civilian life. With her, he could find the same kind of happiness outside of the mask that he had when he was running across the rooftops with his partner. He knew that now, all he had to do was tell her that he felt the same way.

But first, he needed to make sure that she was safe.

He opened the classroom window, unsheathed his baton, and vaulted onto the rooftop. He quickly leaped across the street and landed on Marinette’s balcony. The hatch leading to her bedroom had been propped open.

“Princess,” he began, kneeling down next to the windowed hatch and peering into the bedroom, “it’s not really safe to have your window wide open during an Akuma…”

The rest of his words got stuck in the back of his throat when his eyes landed on an empty bed with rumpled blankets. Hopping onto her bed, he peeked over the ledge and scanned the darkened room below.

“Marinette? Are you here?” His heart rate quickened when he didn’t receive a response.

He returned to a sitting position and did his best to control the panic that was starting to overtake his senses. A persistent ring grew louder in his ears as his hands began to shake. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the side of the hatch, hoisted himself onto the balcony, stood up, and ran his fingers through his hair.

What if something happened?

The Akuma roared in the distance.

What if it took her?

He closed his eyes and gripped his baton.

I have to find her.

“Chat Noir!” A familiar voice sounded behind him, breaking his train of thought. “What are you doing?”

Thank God, she’s safe!

He whipped around. “I was looking for you, Princess!”

When he opened his eyes, he was met with an angry-looking Ladybug. “Chat, stop messing around. We have an Akuma tearing up the park and putting people in weird sticky nests.”

“You’re not her.” He choked back tears. “I could have sworn you were her.”

“Who?”

“Marinette! She’s not here.”

Ladybug slowly made her way towards him. “And...uh...how do you know that she’s not here?”

He turned back around and looked at the open hatch. “When I saw that she wasn’t in bed, I went inside. Her room is dark, and she didn’t answer me.”

“You went inside?”

“I had to! She got hurt today and got sent home from school. When the Akuma showed up, I texted her, and she didn’t answer. I thought she might be asleep, but she’s not! She’s not here!” Tears started to flow freely down his face.

“That’s a lot of personal information.” Ladybug rested her hand on his forearm. “Maybe you should stop.”

“But I have to find her! I have to make sure she’s safe!”

“She’s fine. Come on. We have to go.”

“No, you don’t understand! What if she’s trapped in one of those sticky nests the Akuma is making?”

“Then, when I use the Miraculous Cure, everything will go back to normal.”

“But...I can’t just...I have to...I love her, and I know she loves me, too! She loves me, Ladybug! I was going to talk to her about it after school.”

Ladybug dropped her hand and took a step back. “You...love her?”

“And she loves me! I was an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. My feelings for her were always there, I just didn’t want to admit that I had them.” He wiped his face with the back of his hand. “I didn’t get to tell her.”

She shook her head, grabbed his hand, and dragged him to the edge of the balcony. “We don’t have time for this right now. If you really care about Marinette, you’ll help me defeat this Akuma and make the city safe again...just like we always do.”

The logic behind his partner’s words began to seep into his brain and level his senses. “You’re right.”

She nodded. “Yes, I am, and if we don’t take care of the Akuma now, the whole city will be covered in nests.”

“I guess you could say that we’d be in a sticky situation.” He shot her his best grin.

“Not now, Chat!” she yelled before tossing her yo-yo and swinging into the chaos.

Unsheathing his baton, he vaulted into the park; however, before he could land, a long translucent strip flew past him, causing him to lose control and land in the fountain. He groaned and stood up. His long hair clung to his face after he attempted to shake the wetness off of his head.

The Akuma pointed its weapon and released another strip in his direction. Before he could react, the strip hit him, slid off of his suit, and fell unceremoniously into the water where it lay like freshly shed skin from a snake.

“Pay attention!” Ladybug called from the other side of the park. “Don’t get stuck in its webs, kitty!”

“They’re not webs!” screamed the Akuma. “Sticky Fingers doesn’t make webs.”

“Great, an Akuma that talks about itself in the third person.” Ladybug sighed. “First, a distracted partner, and now this.”

“I will steal your Miraculous just like I stole those office supplies, and no one will be able to stop me this time! No one can escape Sticky Finger’s tape!” The Akuma howled with laughter.

“Wait, you’re trapping people in tape nests because you stole office supplies? Wow, Hawkmoth is really getting desperate.”

Chat climbed out of the fountain. “Bold of you to assume that Hawkmoth wasn’t desperate all along.”

“While true, you still need to work on your timing.” Ladybug shook her head. “I thought you wanted to end this fight quickly.”

“I do.” He pointed to her yo-yo. “I’m just waiting for your grand plan.”

“Right.” She threw her yo-yo into the air. “LUCKY CHARM!”

A spotted bucket landed in her hands. She held it up and scratched her head.

“That Lucky Charm’s got you looking a little pail, LB.” He crossed his arms. “I’m guessing that means that you don’t have any ideas.”

“Just give me a second.” Her eyes darted around the park. “That’s it!”

“You have a plan?”

“Oh, I have a plan.”

“Awesome! Lay it on me.”

She shoved the bucket into his hands. “Go fill this up with water, and dump it onto the Akuma’s head.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Isn’t that just going to make him even madder than he already is?”

“Yes, but it will also take the stickiness away from his tape. Why do you think the tape didn’t stick to you after you fell into the fountain? Whenever I try to put tape on something that isn’t completely dry, it falls right off!”

“Oh! I’m on it!” He gave her a little salute before filling up the bucket, jumping onto the Akuma’s head, and dousing Sticky Fingers with water.

The Akuma roared when all of its once sticky strands fell into useless piles around the park. Without skipping a beat, Ladybug tossed her yo-yo around Sticky Fingers, wrapping the indestructible wire around its form. The Akuma fell to the ground with a crash.

Keeping the wire taut, Ladybug called out her next command. “Use your Cataclysm on the thing all the tape came out of! I think that’s where the Akuma is!”

After calling for his power, he slammed his hand down on the weapon and watched as it crumbled to pieces, releasing a cursed butterfly into the air. Ladybug then cleansed the Akuma and called for the Miraculous Cure.

Chat turned to the dazed man sitting in the middle of the park. “Maybe try asking for the office supplies next time.”

The man slumped. “It wasn’t just office supplies. Yes, I was stealing those, and I got caught, but that was only after my partner found out that I embezzled one-hundred thousand dollars of the company’s money.”

“Uhhh, yeah, maybe don’t do that either. That definitely doesn’t sound like the right thing to do.”

“I got fired. I ruined my life, and I lost my best friend.”

Before he could respond, Officer Raincomprix placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll take it from here. Thanks for helping out.”

“What’s going to happen to him?” he asked quietly.

“He’s going to prison for a very long time.” The officer turned towards the man. “Mr. Morel, you’re under arrest.”

The man stood up and clenched his fists. “Is it really so bad to want to be rich and happy?”

“Being rich doesn’t make you happy,” Chat snapped back, “It’s having people you love that brings true happiness.”

“And how would you know something like that?”

“Trust me, I just do.”

A loud groan behind him forced his attention away from the man. He whipped his head around to find his partner holding her head with a pained expression plastered across her features.

He rushed to her side. “Ladybug, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Her voice was strained. “I just bumped my head earlier. It’s no big deal.”

“Let me take a look.” He reached up and brushed her bangs out of the way, revealing a fresh bruise. “That looks...just like Marinette’s bump. She really got hurt today. Did you get hit during the Akuma battle? Why didn’t your Miraculous Cure work on it?”

She shooed his hand and turned her head away. “It’s nothing, Chat. Let it go. I’ll go home and rest. I promise.”

“Good. I care about you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Thank you for watching out for me.”

“Always, LB. And I’m going to hold you to that purr-omise. If you show up to patrol tonight, I’ll be purr-etty mad.”

Ladybug laughed. “Two cat puns using ‘purr’? You’re slipping, kitty.”

Seeing her reaction warmed his heart. They had come so far over the past few months, and he cherished his friendship with Ladybug. While he couldn’t be with her romantically, he would always love her.

There was a time when he resented her rejection, but he now knew that the experience helped him grow as a person and accept that there were different kinds of love that someone could feel. Without it, he never would have been able to move on from his crush on her.

Oh, no...Marinette.

As his worry for his partner began to fade, thoughts of Marinette flooded his mind, restarting the nervous flurry in his gut. “Ladybug, I have to go! I hope you feel better, but I need to go see Marinette!”

“Wait!” Ladybug chased after him. “Maybe give her a few minutes before you go bursting into her room.”

He didn’t stop. “No, she didn’t answer my text. I have to go see her right now!”

After running out of the park, he used his baton to vault back to Françoise Dupont. He jumped through the window he’d opened at the school and called off his transformation. He grabbed his backpack, pulled his phone out of his bag, and cringed upon seeing the thirteen voicemail notifications from his bodyguard.

He’d forgotten about the Gorilla, and while he knew that the man cared about him, he had the tendency to be a little overprotective. Nonetheless, Adrien was on a mission.

He had to go see Marinette.

He had to make sure she was safe.

He just hoped that his bodyguard could still be swayed to let him go to the Dupain-Cheng’s before whisking him back to the mansion.

With a quickened pace, Adrien made his way out of the school, but seeing the Gorilla frantically pacing in front of the car stopped him in his tracks. Gathering all his courage and summoning his best kitten eyes, he descended the stairs and walked onto the sidewalk.

He cleared his throat, causing his bodyguard to whip around and visibly relax. “Uh, sorry to keep you waiting. When the attack started, a few of us got kind of scared and hid in a closet, and I left my phone in the classroom. I would have gone back for it, but the ground was shaking.”

His only response was a sympathetic grunt.

“So, I know my dad probably wants me to get home now, but I need a few minutes to...um...drop off notes for Marinette! Yeah, she...uhhh...got sent home early because she got hurt during gym class.” Adrien scratched the back of his head and did his best to smile.

The Gorilla sighed and nodded.

“Thank you!” Taking advantage of the green light, Adrien began to cross the street. “I’ll only be a few minutes!”

When he reached the bakery door, he paused. Thinking back to the empty bed he saw through her windowed hatch, his mouth went dry and his heart pounded against his chest.

Ladybug used the Miraculous Cure. She’s okay. She has to be okay.

He shook his head and attempted to brush away the feeling of dread that weighed on his thoughts. Logically, Adrien knew that Marinette was fine, but worry consumed him nonetheless.

I must see her.

With a determined nod, he grasped the handle, swung open the door, and crossed over the threshold. Adrien immediately lost himself in the aroma of freshly baked bread and vanilla. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air smelled like his sweet, beautiful Marinette, and he relished the way the air clung to him like a cozy blanket on a cold winter’s night.

“Adrien! What a pleasant surprise!” Sabine said cheerfully from behind the counter, breaking him out of his reverie, “Is there something I can do for you, sweetheart?”

“Oh, uh, is Marinette here?” He gripped the strap on his bag. “I wanted to check and make sure that she was okay after the whole ball incident in gym class.”

She clapped her hands together and smiled. “That’s very thoughtful of you. She’s upstairs. Feel free to head on up! I’m sure Marinette will be thrilled to see you.”

“Thanks!” He rushed through the bakery and bounded up the stairs.

His body buzzed with anticipation as he made his way up to the apartment. Before finally making it to the hatch that led to Marinette’s room, he was greeted by an enthusiastic Tom who ruffled Adrien’s hair before sending him on his way.

With as much confidence as he could muster, he knocked on the trapdoor. When he didn’t get a response, the panic from before started to settle in his stomach. Determined to see Marinette, he lifted the trapdoor a few inches and peeked inside the room.

“Marinette! It’s me, Adrien! I’m coming in. I hope that’s okay. I was really worried, and I wanted to…” The sound of soft sobs stopped him in his tracks.

Adrien thrust open the hatch and ran across the room. He found Marinette kneeling on the ground, clutching her phone against her chest while tears streamed down her rosy cheeks. He dropped to the floor and tentatively reached out his hand.

“What’s wrong?” He wiped the tears from her face using his thumb. “Is it your ankle?”

Marinette shook her head. “No, the doctor took off the brace when he checked the bump on my head.”

“Are you feeling sick?”

“No.”

“Did someone hurt you?”

“No.”

“I’m out of guesses. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

Choking back a sob, she turned her phone around, revealing the screen with the message he’d sent. “Chat Noir told Ladybug that he texted Marinette because he worried about her.”

Adrien drew back his hand. Her words were like a needle, piercing through the bubble of secrecy that surrounded his double-life.

“How did you…” He swallowed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Marinette, you can’t tell anyone. I trust you, but you have to promise…”

Before he could finish, she placed a gentle hand on his cheek and shot him a watery smile. “My partner told me that he sent me a text, and apparently he’s in love with me.”

“Y-your...partner?”

“Yes, Chaton. My wonderful, goofy, yet lovable partner who puns way too much at all the wrong times.”

Adrien searched Marinette’s face for the solution to a puzzle that he’d been trying to solve since he’d received his Miraculous, and he found every answer behind her shining bluebell eyes. They were the same eyes that had looked to him for reassurance in the heat of battle. They were the same eyes that sparkled every time he saw them under a moonlit sky. They were the same eyes that glowed with fiery passion whenever their owner found the solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem.

They were his lady’s eyes.

“You’re…” The rest of his words never came.

As if able to read his mind, Marinette nodded and laughed. “Yes, I am.”

“All this time you were right behind me?”

“Yes, and apparently we’ve been dancing around each other for a while.”

“Of course I fell in love with you twice! It only makes sense for our everyday Ladybug to be the actual Ladybug.”

“I’m so happy that it’s you.” She pulled him into a tight embrace. “Everything makes so much more sense now.”

He snaked his arms around Marinette and felt all the tension from before leave his body as she rested her cheek against his shirt. All felt right with the world until a second revelation slammed into the forefront of his mind.

Ladybug told Chat she loves another boy.

Marinette loves Adrien.

And Marinette and Ladybug are the same person.

Adrien pulled away. “I was the other boy.”

She laughed. “You caught that?”

“You turned me down because you were in love with me. Like, me me.”

“Yes.”

“All this time I thought you were in love with Luka. Nino told me you weren’t, but hearing it from you...wow. Just, wow.”

She grabbed his hand and held it against her chest. “Do you feel that? Every beat sings your name. It has since the day you gave me that umbrella, and it always will. It broke when I thought I had to let you go, but it never stopped wanting you. My mind tried to move on, but my heart never did.”

He closed his eyes and became lost in the steady thrum under his palm. He tried to speak, but no words came. Adrien was lost in the sea that was Marinette. The waves of her love pulled him in, and he never wanted to return to shore; however, a sobering thought extinguished his elation.

“Adrien, say something.” Desperation clung to her words.

“You don’t love Chat the same way you love Adrien,” he whispered, pulling his hand away and clutching it against his body, “He’s just a friend to you.”

“Yeah, he is my friend.” She brushed her fingers against his cheek. “He’s my best friend...and I fell in love with him, too.”

He looked up. “What?”

“Every time I turned down my partner, a piece of me broke. My heart was conflicted, but my wonderful Chaton grew on me more and more with each passing day.”

“But…”

“Adrien I love every single part of you. I love your smile. I love the way your eyes light up when you laugh. I love the way you stand up for others in and out of the mask. I love how brave and loyal you are. I love you and only you. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. Finding out that you’re Chat Noir is…” Her tears fell onto the floor. “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

He lunged forward and pulled her into a tight embrace. His heart pounded against his chest while he became dizzy from the sweet smell of her hair and her breath against his neck. Holding Marinette was better than a dream come true, and he never wanted to let go.

“I love you, too.” He nuzzled the top of her head with his cheek. “There are not enough words to express how much I love you.”

“Then maybe we don’t have to say it.” His eyes fluttered shut as her words tickled against his skin. “Kiss me, Adrien.”

Removing a hand from her back, he pulled away, placed his fingers on her chin, and lifted her head. “Are you sure?”

Marinette’s eyes and nose crinkled as she released a subtle laugh. “Yes, I’m asking you to kiss me.”

He tentatively closed the gap between them until their lips brushed. Wanting more, he tilted his head and leaned into the kiss. He immediately found himself addicted to the sensation. Her breath became his oxygen, leaving him wanting more with each passing second.

Not wanting to stop, he shifted her closer to him, and she responded with vigor. However, all too soon, their need for air forced them apart, and Adrien lamented the loss.

“Can we do that again?” he asked between heavy breaths.

She rested her forehead against his. “We can do that whenever you want.”

“My lady, if we were to kiss whenever I wanted, we would never do anything else. What kind of heroes would that make us?”

“Silly kitty.”

Her fingers laced through his hair as he continued to hold her. Adrien melted under her touch and became putty in her hands.

“I could stay like this forever,” he said, sighing contentedly.

“Oh?” Adrien could hear the teasing lilt in her voice. “Does that mean that you don’t want to eat leftover pastries and cuddle on my chaise while we watch a movie?”

He pulled away. “Wait, that’s an option?”

“And maybe half-way through the movie, we could try kissing again?” She bit her lip and looked up at him through her eyelashes.

“Oh, God, yes.” He swept her into his arms. “Shall we go, my lady?”

She squeaked when he rose to his feet. “Is this whole ‘carrying me around’ thing going to become a habit.”

Adrien leaned in and nuzzled her nose. “I hope so. Well, as long as you’re okay with it.”

“Always, kitty.” She put her arms around her neck and rested against his chest. “Okay, I’m ready.”

He carried her over to the chaise and gently rested her against the pillows. He sat down next to her and brushed her bangs away from her eyes. The purple edges of her bruise peeked out from behind the loose tendrils.

Adrien cupped her face in his hand and ran his thumb over her cheek. “Does your head still hurt? It seemed like you were in a lot of pain at the end of the Akuma battle.”

She placed a feathery kiss on his palm, sending a warm shiver through his body. “I’m fine, kitty. It hurts, but I’ll live.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Actually, yes! Could you get the painkillers for me? There’s a bottle on my desk.”

He hopped up and gave her a playful salute. “On it, my lady. While I’m up, did you want ice?”

“No, that’s okay. I’m kind of cold right now, and I had ice on it earlier today.” She smiled. “Just the painkillers and some water. Oh, and if you wanted to grab the pastries from downstairs, that’d be awesome.”

“You got it.” Adrien threw open the trapdoor and hurried down the stairs.

Before he made it to the kitchen, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled out the device and looked at the screen.

Gorilla: ETA

Without responding to his bodyguard, Adrien called Nathalie and begged for permission to stay at Marinette’s house. He silently cheered when he received a positive response a few minutes later.

His phone buzzed again.

Gorilla: Pick you up at 9

Adrien smiled.

Gorilla: Have fun

Triumphantly, Adrien walked into the kitchen. Even though he knew that Tom was a much warmer father than his own, he still found himself surprised by the older man’s desire to help. Within minutes, he had a tray full of snacks and two glasses of water ready to take upstairs.

“Thank you.” Adrien picked up the tray. “I really appreciate it.”

Tom chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Anytime, son. I’m just happy to see that Marinette has someone like you in her life.”

Son. He mulled over the word in his mind. He called me son.

“Sir.” Adrien looked down. “Would it be okay if I took Marinette on a date this weekend?”

Tom clapped his hands together and beamed. “Finally! Of course, you can! Just as long as you never call me ‘sir’ again. Tom will do just fine.”

“Okay, si...I mean, Tom!” He could barely contain his joy. “I’m going to take these up to Marinette.”

“Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you!”

As Adrien walked out of the kitchen, a surge of warmth blossomed in his chest. When his mother left, his house stopped feeling like a home but seeing Tom’s reaction made him realize that a home didn’t have to be where you lived. It was a place that was filled with love, and every inch of the Dupain-Cheng’s apartment was dripping with love.

For too long, he’d been trapped in his gilded cage, forced to accept his solitude without complaint, but with Marinette in his life, he didn’t have to anymore. He finally had a place where he belonged. He finally had a place that felt like home.

With a skip in his step, Adrien brought the food and drinks up to Marinette’s room. Before taking a seat on the chaise he grabbed the medicine bottle and set it on the tray.

He then settled himself next to Marinette who rested her head against his chest and draped her arm around his torso. Adrien looped his arm around her back and pulled her closer. He nearly combusted upon feeling her body wiggle as she snuggled against his side. At a loss for words, he kissed the crown of her head and became lost in her essence.

“You’re so warm,” she said with her face buried in his cotton t-shirt, “I could stay like this forever.”

“Me, too, princess.” He kissed her again. “Me, too.”

For the rest of the evening, they watched movies, ate food, and held each other. Eventually, Marinette’s breathing became slow and steady. Even though his arm had fallen asleep, Adrien didn’t dare wake the sleeping girl in his arms.

She trusts me, his mind sang, Maybe I’m her home, too.

A tear escaped and trickled down his cheek. He wasn’t alone anymore, and he never had to be alone again. He had Marinette, and she had him.

He was complete.

He was home.

He was loved.

He was free.

[p-artsypants]

One Win, So Many Losses

This is my gift for @flashflashitsash​ in the @mlsecretsanta​ exchange! I was so excited when I got your name, because we were already mutuals! You seem like a really fun and silly person, so... I hope you like a nice helping of angst, with a dollop of fluff on top!

—

This is an alternate ending of Chat Blanc, starting where Marinette is forced to break up with Adrien.

Ao3 | FF.net

—

“Marinette? Why won’t you come inside?”

His voice was so wonderful. What a romantic scene this would have made. The rain pouring down, her standing just at the gate.

If only Gabriel hadn’t been so heartless. ‘The Brand.’ What a joke. Couldn’t he see his son was happy with her?

Apparently, happiness wasn’t something the Senior Agreste was familiar with.

“I’m sorry, Adrien.” She said softly.

“Sorry for what?”

“We…we aren’t good for each other.” The tears welled up in her eyes, despite how many times she had told herself that she wasn’t going to cry.

“What are you talking about? Of course we are! We love each other!”

She swallowed. “No…I don’t—I don’t love you anymore.” And that was as much as she could say. She hated liars. She hated lying. And she had already lied to him enough by hiding her identity. So she ran. She ran across the street and into the entrance of the Subway.

Tikki came out of her purse the moment they were cleared.

“Oh Marinette…” said she, her voice thick.

“No. Don’t talk to me like that.” She said, gathering herself. She sighed, pushing her despair away. “This isn’t over. I still love Adrien, and he loves me. I…I’m going to find a way to work this out.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m Ladybug. I always have a solution.” She smiled at that, briefly. “I…I don’t know what that is right now. And the thought of breaking Adrien’s heart—“ She clenched her eyes shut, willing away the tide of anguish. She would not get upset. Not over this. Mr. Agreste had won, but Hawkmoth wouldn’t.

“Marinette!”

Oh god, he sounded so broken. Adrien was running towards her, desperation pouring from him. He stopped on the top of the stairs. “Marinette…you don’t really mean…?”

Oh, he was crying. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he looked absolutely broken.

She took a shuttering breath. “You should go back inside, Adrien. You’re getting wet.”

“I don’t care. I just want you. Please, Marinette…what did I do? Why don’t you love me anymore?”

She wiped the tear that gathered at the corner of her eye. “Adrien. Listen to me very carefully. Things are going to be okay. It hurts right now, but you need to hold onto hope. We’re kids. It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s the end of my world!” He cried. “Why can’t I be upset about this?!”

“That’s why.” She pointed above them.

He turned, and saw the black butterfly only a few feet above his head. He gasped.

“Adrien, please calm yourself.” She begged.

Meeting her eyes, he saw her plead as something more. ‘I don’t want to fight you’

Although it was hard, Adrien took a deep breath and forced himself to think about something else. Ladybug was his usual happy place, so it took a little extra digging, but finally found peace in a joke that Plagg told him earlier in the day.

Things are going to be okay.

That’s what she said. That’s what Ladybug said. And he trusted her completely.

Although it was hard for him to take her at her word, especially when things seemed so bleak. But as he glanced up at the akuma, it  was higher up now, farther from them, but still lingering.

“Go home, Adrien.” Marinette commanded. “Please.”

He looked to her, and then to the akuma, “what about you?”

“I’ll watch it.”

He got the code. Once he left, she’d transform and purify it. So he really wasn’t doing them any good by standing here. “O-okay…” He swallowed again, looking at her. She was so beautiful with her hair down. It was so hard to leave.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah.” His voice was flat, and he finally pulled himself back to the house.

Inside, he glanced out the window, only to see a yo-yo fly out of the subway entrance, and capture the akuma.

Without a word to anyone, he went upstairs to his room. As he closed the door, he leaned against it and slid down to sit.

“You okay, kid?” Asked Plagg.

“No,” Adrien answered miserably. “I thought—I thought we were made for each other! First she doesn’t want Chat Noir, now she doesn’t want Adrien?! What did I do?! Am I that unloveable?!”

Plagg nuzzled his face with a purr. “I love you, Adrien. I don’t say that very often, but I mean it.”

“Thanks Plagg...that means a lot.”

“And...About Marinette,” Plagg continued. “Pigtails isn’t the type of person to break up with someone without talking out their issues. Something must of happened.”

“Yeah…like she found out I’m Chat Noir! Or she found out I know her identity and didn’t tell her!”

“Again, I think she’d want to talk it out. Just…give it some time, Adrien. If she said everything is going to be fine, then it will be.”

Adrien wiped his face with his shirt. “Sure…whatever you say. How am I supposed to face her tomorrow at school? Or tomorrow night during patrol?”

“Chat isn’t dating Ladybug, so act normal. And at school…just be friendly, and try to reassure her that she didn’t totally snap your heart over her knee and pulverize it under her heel.”

Adrien teared up again. “That’s totally what she did!”

“Okay okay…you know Ladybug, right? You know she didn’t want to do this. She was crying too.”

“Yeah well…good.”

“Don’t get bitter.”

Adrien pushed away from the door and flopped face first onto his bed. “I just wish…she had given me something else to work with. She just said ‘I don’t love you anymore’ and ran off.”

“Why don’t you play some video games or watch that anime you like so much? Get your mind off of it. Ladybug might have stopped that akuma, but who knows if Hawkmoth will send more?”

Adrien sat up, looked flatly at the TV, and sat at his desk instead. “Homework.” He gave by way of explanation. “I wish we lived in a world where I could cry and not worry about getting possessed by the Mothman.”

“Well, then I wouldn’t be here, so deal with it.”

—

Marinette dragged herself back to the bakery, dropping her umbrella—Adrien’s umbrella— on the floor.

“Oh darling…” Tom sighed, seeing her despair. “Did you…did you do it?”

She sighed right back, determined not to cry. “What if we were to have a secret relationship?”

“Oh cupcake. Mr. Agreste may know fashion, but he doesn’t know love. He’ll see the mistake he made. If not…you’ll only have to wait until Adrien’s 18.”

She started bawling at that.

“It was a joke! I’m sorry!”

—

During the last month of Adrien and Marinette dating, it had become a sort of ritual to watch them meet up at school. The girls from the class gathered at the top of the stairs, and waited, because it was always a spectacle. It was like being apart for the night was agonizing for the couple, and they reunited like they had been apart for weeks.  

“I think Marinette’s going to run to Adrien today.” Said Rose.

“I bet you five bucks that Adrien is going to run and pick her up.” Alya pointed back.

“Ugh, they’re so flashy. ‘Oh I’m in love! And not dead inside.’ I hate them.” Drawled Alix.

“Oh oh! Here comes Marinette!” Rose pointed down the sidewalk.

“And here comes Adrien, right on time.” Alya nodded to the car pulling up.

Adrien got out, and looked right to Marinette on habit.

They looked at each other. A thousand words unspoken between them. Marinette gave a quirk of a smile, and Adrien waved.

But then Marinette turned from him and ran into the school, stunning everyone.

Adrien looked like he was going to run after, but deflated, and trudged up the stairs at a slower pace.

“Uh oh, honeymoon’s over.” Alix joked, only to get elbowed by Mylene.

Alya stopped Adrien with an iron grip on his arm. “What. Did. You. Do?” She spat with venom.

Miserably, he turned to look at the girls, who were all very cross with him. “I…I don’t know. Did she say anything to you? Any of you?”

“No, we just found out something was wrong now. What is wrong?”

“I don’t know…she came to my house yesterday, and said…that it was over, and she didn’t love me anymore.” As he talked, his voice raised, and he swallowed back a sob.

“What?!” The girls shouted in unison.

“I’m going to murder her!” Screamed Rose. “All that time! All those plans! For a month! A measly month! I subscribed to Adrienette for a lifetime!”

Adrien shuttered again, his shoulders shaking. “I-I did too.”

Alya reached out and hugged him. “Oh Sunshine…there has to be a misunderstanding somewhere. Just yesterday she was showing me the binder with all of her wedding plans in it.”

“She planned our wedding? Was it beautiful?” He croaked.

“Shh. You know how Marinette gets. Sometimes she overthinks, and she comes up with the worst case scenario. I’ll talk to her, and we’ll get this all figured out.”

He nodded, desperate for a fix.

Meanwhile, someone else overheard the whole conversation, and went to confront Marinette in the locker room.

“Dupain-Cheng!” Chloe shouted, startling those lingering around.

Marinette groaned. “Not today, Chloe.”

But Chloe wouldn’t have that. She slammed the locker door closed, nearly taking Marinette’s fingers off. “You want to explain to me what you’re doing, breaking Adrien’s heart like that?”

Marinette looked away, unable to reply. But she was keenly aware of all the other students around.

“I saw him out there with the other girls. He was crying, Marinette. Crying. He hasn’t cried since his mother died! And if you don’t explain to me what the hell you’re thinking, I swear to God I will exile your whole family to Easter Island!”

“Chloe…” Marinette sniffed.

“Nah uh! Don’t you cry to get sympathy from me! It’s not gonna work!”

Marinette looked around, the other students still watching conspicuously. She debated with herself. Actually, if anyone would understand, it would be Chloe.

She shuttered and grabbed Chloe by the arm. “Not here.”

They made their way over to a janitors closet, and flicked on the light. Marinette made sure they weren’t followed and then closed the door.

Chloe crossed her arms, giving Marinette a look. “Alright, spill. I thought you liked Adrien?”

“I do. I love him…”

“That’s not what he said! He said you showed up, called it off, said you didn’t love him anymore, and ran off!”

Marinette was thankful he hadn’t mentioned the akuma. That was already complicated.

“So what? Is he not good enough for you?”

“He is!”

“Not rich enough!?”

“Chloe…” Marinette started to cry. This was so hard to talk about in the first place, and she wasn’t making it any easier. “I didn’t want to…”

“Did want to what? Break his heart? Because you did. And I’m five seconds from breaking your face!” She raised a fist.

“Okay! I’ll tell you! Just—don’t tell Adrien, okay?”

“No promises!”

“Gabriel told me to!” She blurted.

And just like that, Chloe’s anger was redirected. “What?”

“Gabriel…well, Nathalie with an iPad, came to the bakery yesterday. He said…he said me dating Adrien was ruining the Gabriel brand…and I had to break up with him or—“ She sobbed. “—Or he’d pull Adrien out of school and he’d never see his friends again! And I—I know how important school, you, Nino, and all the others are to him…so I…I let him go.”

Chloe dropped her fist and her jaw. “Marinette…”

“You can’t tell anyone! Not even Adrien!”

“But why not?! He deserves to know!”

“He—He should be angry at me! His relationship with his father is already unstable…I don’t want to be the reason it falls apart completely…and if anyone was to find out I was blackmailed…it would look really bad on Adrien.”

Chloe groaned. “Ugh, you are such a good person!”

“I’m not though…I hurt the person I love the most in the whole world…in the most painful way. I made him cry…” She barely managed to whisper.

“This is so ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! As much as I hate to admit it, Adrien was really happy with you! Happier than I’ve seen in a long time…and for Gabriel to ruin that for…for what? I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. If you were a bad kid or an attention whore, maybe…but you’re not. This is so stupid.”

“It is,” Marinette whispered. “And I’m trying to find the loophole.”

Chloe crossed her arms. “Well. I’m telling Sabrina. And we’re going to figure out a plan to fix this mess. Because as much I dislike you, I dislike seeing Adrien upset even more. So I’m willing to put our differences behind us, and kick Gabriel’s ass.”

“Thanks Chloe. That means a lot.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

Marinette managed a smile. “I know Adrien will appreciate it too.”

“Yeah, well he better. Anyways, go out and have the most awkward day of your life.”

—

It truly was, the most awkward day.

As far as explanation, she hadn’t offered more than a shrug and ‘feelings change’ as an answer.

That wasn’t good enough, by the death glares she was receiving from her classmates. It seemed the story had made its way over to the boys side as well. Everyone was angry, except for Chloe and Adrien.

But boy, did he look heartbroken.

They didn’t talk at all. And she couldn’t stand to look at him. Marinette knew the atmosphere they had created was volatile and potent, but she didn’t know how to clear the air.

Sometime after lunch, she couldn’t take it any longer. So she stood in front of the room, took a deep breath, and cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.

Well, she got it. And she was almost crushed under the weight of their anger.

Gabriel had no idea what he messed with.

“Hi,” she said, her heart in her throat. “I guess…everyone knows now. And I know you all want an explanation…and…I’m sorry. I can’t give it to you. I know that’s even more frustrating. But…I’m begging all of you…to let it go.”

“After all you put us through to help you get him, you’re stupid to think we’d just ‘let this go’!” Alix shouted. “I hate mushy stuff, but you guys were so annoying before! I think we all deserve an explanation!”

“You do,” Marinette confirmed with a whisper. She clenched her eyes shut tight, trying not to cry. “But I can’t. I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’m asking you to let go of your anger. For Ladybug and Chat Noir’s sake. They’ve fought almost everyone in this room. Don’t make them do it again.”

With that, she took her seat again.

Adrien turned around, and gave her his soft eyes. “That was really brave, Marinette.”

She blushed, and found herself leaning towards him. “Thank you, Adrien.” But she stopped herself, and sat back, looking away from him.

—

After school, she was quick to run from school before questions could be asked, or before Alya could corner her. She ran home, greeting her mother in the bakery with a kiss.

“Survive alright?” she asked.

Marinette sighed. “Just barely. If anyone comes, I don’t want to talk. I didn’t tell anyone what Mr. Agreste did, so they all think I’m a monster for breaking Adrien’s heart.”

“Alright darling,” Sabine said, kissing her head. “I’ll tell anyone that you’re grounded, and that we’ve taken your phone. We’ll fix this mess.”

Marinette wasn’t quite sure how that was going to happen now, now that everyone knew and was mad at her. Short of throwing Gabriel under the bus, which was looking increasingly tempting, she wasn’t sure what to do to make this all better. The damage had been done. And even if she took it back, she’d be seen as fickle. It was a lose-lose situation.

“I think I’ll tell Chat tonight.” She mused aloud.

“Chat? Are you sure thats a good idea?”

“I’ve got to tell someone! Someone who isn’t Chloe! I’ll spare some details, for identity sake, but he’s my best friend and I trust him with my life. If there’s anyone I can talk to, it’s him.”

Tikki didn’t look so sure. Although she didn’t know that Adrien knew Marinette’s identity, she did know who he was. And he’d probably figure her out if she gave a few clues.

“But…you know Chat’s still pretty in love with you. Do you think that’s fair to him?”

“Yes, Chat loves me. But he’s there when I need a friend, and he’s pretty clever. He’ll at least be someone I can bounce ideas off of.”

Tikki winced, realizing she was losing the argument. “If you’re sure…”

Marinette spent the next several hours doing homework, or at least trying to. Her phone sat nearby on her desk, and buzzed with several messages from classmates. She was just lucky that she could only read the first few words.

Alya: Lila was right about you…

Nino: You’re my friend, but…

Sabrina: Chloe gave me the low-down…

Rose: How could you do this to…

Alya: So this was a giant waste…

Nino: He’s just really upset…

Alya: I think I deserve some closure…

Rose: You’re better than this…

Alya: You’re not even going…

Adrien: I’m sorry.

Adrien: I love you.

Adrien: I always will.

Tikki took Marinette’s phone away, and turned it off. “You’re torturing yourself. This isn’t your fault, Marinette.”

“I can’t help but feel like it is.” Marinette shrugged.

“Sure. With everyone telling you it is, that’s only natural. But I’m telling you, this isn’t your fault. Not at all. I’m older than everyone, and I’ve been in your purse through it all. You didn’t do anything wrong. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Marinette took a deep breath, and agreed. “Okay. I believe you.”

—

Patrol came too soon for Adrien, and not soon enough for Marinette.

Friday night patrol started at a rooftop overlooking Place de la Concorde, a busy plaza during the day, and a pick pocket haven at night.

Though in the cold mist, there wasn’t that many people out anyway.

Chat was already there when Ladybug arrived. He sat at the edge of the roof, his shoulders hunched up in the cold. His ears were flat to his head, and his tail lifeless on the rooftop.

“Alright,” said Ladybug with a sigh. “I know why I’m bummed, but what’s got you upset?”

Chat hunched more, in a shrug, but didn’t look at her. “Life.”

She sat next to him with a sigh. They were almost touching, but just enough space to breathe. “Not gonna elaborate?”

He was quiet before finally confessing, “I broke up with my girlfriend. Or…she broke up with me.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened. “You had a girlfriend? I thought you were still tragically in love with me.”

“I am. Tragically.”

“Oh…” she sighed.

“Look, I don’t really want to talk about it. What…what about you? You said you’re bummed?”

She grimaced. “Well…if you’re upset, I don’t really want to dump on you.”

“No My Lady, I’d rather think about someone else’s problems for a while.” Because her problems were hopefully his problems, and he’d finally get some answers. “Hit me with your best shot.”

She let out a massive sigh, then laid back, her fingers intwined on her stomach. “Well…ironically. I broke up with my boyfriend.”

“Mr. Perfect? Why? Did you find out he’s not so perfect after all?” There was true melancholy in his voice, that he hoped she wouldn’t pick up on.

“That’s not it at all…he’s…he’s so perfect…” Her voice wavered. “…I love him so much.”

Chat watched with a twisting heart as his Lady unraveled. It started out as sniffles, and then she brought her hands up to cover her face as tears started to roll. Then more fell, until she was a sobbing wreck.

A sick part of Adrien wanted to be pleased seeing her upset. She broke his heart!

But he didn’t feel any satisfaction at all. He felt worse. Because he still loved her abundantly.

“All I ever wanted--…he was my weakness, Chat. I loved him more than I ever loved someone. I worked so hard to get him to notice me. Every second we were together…I felt like I was home. I felt…completely at ease, and still incredibly nervous. I was always afraid I’d say something wrong…but then he’d smile at me, and my heart would feel so full.” She wiped her cheeks in vain, and pushed off the ground. “I hurt him…so severely, Chat. I made him cry…even if I could take it all back, even if I could explain it all…I could never undo the hurt I caused him.” She hugged herself. “He would forever wonder if I’d just up and leave him again.” Then she added with a whisper, “he’s lost enough.”

Chat watched with a hole in his chest, as tears gathered in his own eyes. “So…what did happen? If you love him so much…was it because you’re Ladybug?”

“No,” her voice was just a whisper, as she sniffed again, desperate to get ahold of herself. “By that logic, I would have cut all ties to everyone in my life…” she shook her head. “It’s…it’s so stupid Chat.”

He just waited patiently for her to explain. Explain that she thought they were incompatible, too different, or something like that.

“His father came to my house.” She began.

With just that much, Adrien’s stomach dropped into his shoes.

“He came to say…that I was a bad influence on him, and I was a…an affront to the family name. He demanded that I stop seeing him, or…or he’d pull his son from school and he’d never see his friends again.”

Chat’s jaw dropped as he stared at her, unable to say a word.

“And he…he made me do the dirty work! He made me break up with Ad-…er, my boyfriend. He didn’t forbid him himself! He blackmailed me! And…” She gave up trying to fight the tears wetting her face. “And I can’t tell him about any of this, because his father is all the family he has left and I can’t ruin that for him!” She clapped her hands over her face as emotion took control.

Chat was crying too, for other reasons.

“You really love me that much?” He whispered.

She still heard it. She turned to look at him. “W-what?”

“Marinette…”

Her eyes widened as she started to scoot away from him. “No…no you can’t…I said too much! I said too much and now I—I’ve messed this all up! All I do is make mistakes!” She wailed.

Chat was quick to follow her, reaching out to take hold of her wrist. “No My Lady…shh it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay Chat! You know who I am! I’ll have to give up my Miraculous!”

His hold was gentle, as he lightly tugged on her to keep her from running from him. “Marinette…I knew a while ago.”

She swallowed. “How…how long?”

“About a month. You left me a gift in my room, and you signed it as yourself.”

“But you weren’t—“ Her eyes blew wide as she frantically pulled her arm away. “No no no! Chat! You can’t tell me who you are! I’m not supposed to know!”

“And Master Fu is going to take them back now?” He demanded. “After all of this? All of our training? He’d start from scratch?”

Ladybug didn’t know the answer to that question, so she just sat there, trembling. “I…I don’t know what to do. I’m supposed to have a solution for everything, but I just keep messing things up.”

“Plagg, Claws in.”

Ladybug shielded her eyes against the flash of green.

And then when she opened them, she was greeted with the beautiful sight of her ex-boyfriend. Clad in pajamas, with dark bags around his eyes…crying. Again.

“My Lady…”

“Adrien…I’m so sorry I hurt you. I never wanted to, but—he twisted my arm and I—“

“I want to see you.” He whispered back. “Please Bugaboo.”

That name was so jarring coming from his mouth. But none the less, she dropped her transformation. It was hard to say no to him. The night breeze was a lot cooler without the suit, and she shivered.

“Come here,” he beckoned, opening his arms.

She shook her head. “No. I don’t deserve a hug. I broke your heart, I revealed my identity, I ruined your relationship with your father—“

He pressed a finger to her lips. “Okay, stop. Shut up.” He said, his tone harsher.

She did as he asked, staring in shock and a little curiosity.

“Marinette, my relationship with my father has pretty much always been bad. Especially since my mom disappeared. You could have told me, I would have understood. But still, you made the best choice with what you had, and yeah…it hurt, but knowing that you…you knew how important being with everyone was for me, and put that above your own happiness?” He closed his eyes, letting the tears just fall, as he was overwhelmed with emotion. “It floors me Marinette. I…I always thought you were amazing. Even before I found out who you were. Knowing that you were Ladybug was just…the final piece clicking together. This month has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time, and every day I fell deeper and deeper in love with you.” He took hold of her hands, feeling the softness of her skin against his own. He brought one up to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. “Marinette, you’re it for me. I know I still have a lot to learn about love and life…but I want to learn it all with you by my side.”

Her heart was melting, and she could barely speak. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, Bugaboo!” He pulled her in, silencing her anxieties and self doubts with a kiss. Lips warm and soft on each other, with salted tears tasted between. He wrapped his arms around her, his fingers clawing into her back, desperately clinging to her.

It took only a half a second for Marinette to melt into the kiss. She missed him. Just as she did every night when they said goodbye. Seeing each other at school, and for the briefest of chaperoned dates was just not enough. They couldn’t be affectionate like this. A prolonged hug here, a chaste kiss there.

But this was different. This was pure raw emotion. Propriety be damned!

Marinette wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her fingers running through his hair. She eagerly caught up to his kisses, meeting him with an open mouth and a bleeding heart.

They pulled away for a moment, just staring at each other, before breaking into a fresh round of tears and kissing again.

Plagg, who had watched the display with some sort of disgust, opened his moth to speak. But thankfully, Tikki shushed him and led him away to give them privacy.

Adrien ran his hands down her sides, admiring her curves.

She hummed into the kiss, making him respond with a moan of his own.

His tongue darted out shyly, just to tease her lips. She shivered, and responded in kind.

He pushed on, capturing her tongue and sucking on it, sending goosebumps down both of their spines.

“Mari…” he whispered, before going back for another sinful kiss.

“Now I’m hooked.” She giggled, racing to match his lips. “I’ll never…be able…to stop…”

“My plan worked then.” He grinned back. “You’re mine again.”

She pulled him in for a fierce kiss and then pulled away with a smack. “Then what do we do about your father? He said he was going to pull you out of school…”

“Oh my lady, don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.” He kissed her cheek.

“What if just Ladybug and Chat Noir dated?”

“Im-paw-isble, I can’t keep my hands off of you now!” He purred, giving a gentle pat to her rear.

She squeaked, and returned the favor a little harsher. “You better!”

“Hmm…I’ll think about it.” Then he kissed her again.

—

The next day was Saturday, thankfully. And Adrien stood outside his fathers office, with an armful of ammunition (selflessly provided by Sabrina and Chloe, of all people.)

“You ready?” Asked Plagg, playing hype man.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I believe in you.” The Kwami stated, before swooping into his shirt.

Adrien took a deep breath of courage and opened the door with gusto.

Maybe a little too much gusto, considering it slammed against the wall.

“Adrien!?” Gabriel barked, startled.

“Father,” Adrien said calmly.

“Where are your manners? I’m busy. Please check with Nathalie if you need to speak with me.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Adrien said, practicing his father’s own behavior. “I’m just here to let you know that I’m going over to my girlfriend’s house to play video games and eat cookies.”

Gabriel frowned, his lip twitching in a dangerous way. A way that sent a shiver down Adrien’s spine. This man would blow up at any second.

“Interesting. I thought you and Miss Dupain-Cheng were broken up.” He kept his tone neutral.

“Interesting indeed, considering I never mentioned that to you.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened slightly, acknowledging he had been caught.

Adrien attempted to stroll casually into the room, coming closer to his father’s work station. “You see, I have from a reliable source, which is not Marinette or her family, that you told her she was a blight on the brand.”

Gabriel was not dissuaded. “That is correct, Adrien. However fond you are of Miss Dupain-Cheng, your behavior with her has been inappropriate and against what Gabriel stands for. More so, you are the face of Gabriel, and your relationship is a turn off of all the young women who like to pretend you’re eligible. You are getting bad publicity.”

“Oh, you mean like this?” Adrien took out the first article, from Vogue, titled ‘Adrienette sweetest couple of the year’. “Or perhaps this one?” One from People ‘Adrien Agreste and his new girlfriend are the couple we want our kids to be’.

“Those are two. There’s been stories all over the Internet.”

“Of course. I thought you might say that, so that’s why I have these.” And he dropped a stack of papers into Gabriel’s hands. Hundreds of articles, from nobody publications, to household names. Credible sources and even some questionable magazines. The results were in.

Adrienette was ‘cute’.

Gabriel didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything to argue against it.

Then he flipped the script. “Well, profits have been down this quarter—“

“Actually, they haven’t.” Corrected Adrien, a bit too smugly. “They’re actually up.” He dug out another picture. “You remember this jacket, right?” He held up a design. A silk bomber jacket with teal and blue lining, with a peacock feather embroidered on the back.

“Ugh, yes. We barely broke even with that one. Apparently it was an ‘insensitive’ design in the wake of Mayura.”

“Well, two weeks ago, I wore that jacket out on a date, and Marinette got cold, so I let her borrow it. The tabloids got a picture of us together and…it sold out in 48 hours.”

Gabriel’s jaw dropped “What?”

“Yeah. Apparently, girls wanted to look like her. Imagine that. The same thing happened with a blouse I got her for our two weekaversary. Over all, people love her…the only one who doesn’t, is you.”

Gabriel fell silent.

“Which I’m having a hard time understanding. You thought she was talented, right? Audrey Bourgeois thought so too. So…can we talk about this? Why don’t you like her?”

How to answer that question? Because truly, he did like Marinette. Everyone liked her, that’s why she would be such a good akuma. She was a very nice, polite, reserved girl. The kind of girl that he didn’t mind Adrien dating. She came from good stock, since he had met Tom and Sabine in person for several events they catered for. She was also extremely talented for being so young.

Gabriel decided to take the easy way out and blame someone else. “It seems that my intel was incorrect. Very well, I see no further reason that you and Miss Dupain-Cheng shouldn’t date. You may go.”

“Ahem.” Adrien said, crossing his arms.

“What is it? I already gave you permission—“

“You owe Marinette an apology.”

Gabriel blinked. “Are you serious?”

“Completely. She was absolutely heartbroken. If you want a good relationship with your future daughter in law, you better apologize.”

“Future daughter—“ he scoffed. “Fine. Nathalie, if you would escort Adrien to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery?”

“Nuh-Uh,” Adrien protested. “You’re coming and doing it in person.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just being dramatic.”

“Oh, am I? Fine. Then I quit modeling.”

“What!?” Barked Gabriel.

“You heard me. Apologize to Marinette in person, or I quit modeling.”

“Now be reasonable! You’d throw your career away for a girl?!”

“For this girl? In a heartbeat.”

Gabriel blinked at the response, then sighed massively. “You know what? Fine. I will go apologize in person. If that will make you happy.”

“It would, father.”

“And when you inevitably break up with her, I expect you to apologize to me.”

“I bet you 50 dollars I marry her.”

Gabriel looked at him flatly. “You think I’m the kind of man to gamble?”

“Either you are, or you’re a chicken.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Since you’re so taken with this flight of immaturity, I’ll see your bet. If you are still seeing Miss Dupain-Cheng in 4 years, I will give you 50,000 dollars to put towards your wedding. But if you break up, you never quit modeling, and you date the girl I pick for you.”

“Deal!”  

“Then let’s get this over with.” Gabriel saved his document and walked out of the office.

A part of Adrien wondered if this was real life, but the rest of him was too excited to contemplate it.

The ride to the bakery was awkward. Gabriel was the silent type, and so he said nothing, just looked out the window. In most things, he considered Adrien too young to understand what was good for him.

But with Marinette, he did seem very enamored. Gabriel considered their relationship if it were to be permanent. How would it factor into his plans? Would she ruin anything?

What would Emilie think of her?

Gabriel smiled as he imagined his wife awake again, and gushing over the girl. “Oh Adrien!” she’d say, “She’s so cute! You’ve picked a great girl!”

“What are you smiling about, Father?” Adrien asked innocently.

Gabriel considered lying, but he blurted out instead, “just thinking about how your mother would react to finding out you had a girlfriend.”

Adrien smiled too, though it was sad. “Mom would love Marinette.”

Then they arrived at the bakery, and Gabriel got out of the car, standing tall.

The Gorilla opened the door, and ushered them in.

Tom and Sabine looked up at the sound of the door opening, but at the sight of Gabriel, they both frowned. Tom slammed down a baking sheet, making a large rattling noise. “I thought I told you to never come back!”

Adrien flinched at Tom’s shout, never hearing the man so angry before (except when he was akumatized, that is.)

“You did.” Gabriel nodded, unperturbed. “And I will leave and never come back. But I made a mistake, and I’m here to correct it. May I have a word with your daughter?”

“I’ll go get her!” Adrien chirped, scampering off up the stairs.

Tom took off his apron, and slammed it in the waste bin. He wasn’t hiding his displeasure at all.

Sabine was silent, just crossing her arms and staring at Gabriel.

Gabriel himself just stood patiently, impassive.

Finally, Adrien dragged Marinette back downstairs by the hand, and then pushed her to stand in front of his father.

“A-Adrien said…you had something you wanted to tell me?” She said shyly.

“Yes,” Gabriel cleared his throat. “You know how protective I am of Adrien, correct?”

“Yes sir…”

“An anonymous party came to me with false information and told me you and Adrien were taken to inappropriate behavior in public. I took them at their word instead of doing my own research. More so, I was extremely upset to hear this, because I admire you so much, Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette’s eyes blew wide and her jaw went slack.

“I’m sorry for what I said. And even if the information I had was true, the way I went about forbidding you to date Adrien was wrong. I shouldn’t have made you responsible for breaking up with him. It was unfair to both of you. I give you my full blessing to be in a relationship with my son, if you’ll have him.”

Marinette continued to stare slack-jawed.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, I hope you can forgive me too. I acted impulsively and hurt your family, as well as my own.”

Tom spoke up first, a soft smile replacing his sour frown. “Mr. Agreste, I can understand doing crazy things to protect our kids. I accept your apology.”

Sabine breathed a sigh of relief. “Would you like to stay for lunch?”

“I’m afraid I must get back to work. But Adrien would love to join you.”

“Really?!” Beamed Adrien.

“Yes, I expect you home by 10.”

“Yes! Okay! Deal!”

He looked back at Marinette who seemed to be coming out of her shock. “I expect great things from you, Marinette.” And with a final nod, he left.

Marinette finally snapped out of it when Adrien grabbed her around the waist and spun her around. “My Princess!” He laughed.

Marinette giggled freely as Tom scooped them both up into his arms and squeezed them.

“Adrienette is alive!!”

—

Monday morning, the girl squad assembled at the top of the stairs. Although their ship had sunk, it seemed that old habits die hard.  

“Well, here comes Adrien,” Alix noted glumly, pointing to the car.

“And here comes Marinette.” Alya gestured to the girl walking up the sidewalk.

“Oh I can’t bare to watch!” Cried Rose, burying her face in Juleka’s shoulder.

But they were all stunned when the unexpected happened.

Adrien stepped out of the car and spotted Marinette. He beamed and opened his arms wide. “My Lady!”

“My Prince!” Marinette shouted, dropping her backpack to the ground. Then she ran at full speed and launched at him, leaping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. They laughed as everyone around them gaped in shock.

“Well…I guess everything worked out.” Alix shrugged.

Alya sighed. “I don’t have the emotional stamina to be invested in this ship anymore.”

Rose sighed too, though it was more happy as she rested her hands on her heart. “I think they’re precious.”

Marinette stole a smooch before detangling herself from her boy. She grabbed her backpack, and hand in hand, they walked up the stairs.

Alya barred their entrance, arms crossed. “I demand answers. Now. What happened?”

Adrien shrugged. “My dad’s a jerk and Marinette took the fall to try to help with our relationship. In the end, she confessed what happened, I talked to my dad, he apologized, and he’s going to pay for our wedding in 4 years.”

Alya blinked, trying to understand all the information he dumped out.

“Wait so…you’re all good? You still love each other?”

Adrien placed his cheek on Marinette’s, gathering her close to him. “Doesn’t it look like we’re in loooovvveeeee?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. But this better not become a thing. I don’t think my heart could take it.”

He kissed Marinette’s cheek. “Oh I couldn’t take it either.”

—

4 years later

Hawkmoth’s plans had gone to shit. All his hard work, his strategy, his sacrifices…it had all been for naught.

All because of his son and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Never before did he regret an apology as much as the one he gave to her.

But…Adrien was happy. So there was at least a little silver lining in all of this.

Prison wasn’t so bad. Far from a 5 star hotel, at least he was able to relax now. Ladybug had found a way to wake Emilie up…not that she would talk to him ever again.

In ten years, he’d try to talk to them all. Maybe they would be calmed down enough by then. Maybe they’d see how sad and lonely he’d been. How lost he was without her.

But today was visiting day, and Adrien said he was coming. Something important he needed to talk about. So Gabriel sat at the table, surrounded by guards, and anxiously waited.

Soon enough, Adrien came in, a smug smile on his lips, with Marinette in tow.

Gabriel offered a half-smile by way of greeting.

“Marinette and I have been dating for 4 years.” Adrien said proudly.

“Congratulations.” Gabriel furrowed his brows, sensing there was more to this.

Marinette held out her hand, which sported a gorgeous diamond ring.

Adrien gave a malicious smirk. “Time to pony up, Butterfly boy!”

[solarheiress]

Literally all of the lovesquare is trash not just ladrien lmao

I personally don’t think of it as trash, but I appreciate your input?

Don’t get me wrong I do like the lovesquare, so these kind of messages kind of lose their impact on me. It’s more that, some ways they interact are better than others to me.

To sum up my opinion on the lovesquare dynamics and ranking them from best to nah here:

1) adrinette

2)marichat

3)ladynoir

4) that thing I’m trying not to accidentally put this post on the dash of people who like it. And am hoping that anon not blocking out the word won’t put it there if it does I’m sorry

I obviously prefer marichat more than tumblr does, everything else lines up and I still feel pretty vaild and plenty petty. If you want an explanation behind my reasoning, click below!

Starting with la/////drien, my point is that “cute flustered” bit never came through for me, I never liked it, they always just seemed awkward and distracted and the situation was uncomfortable. That side is my least favorite mostly because of two things.

1) how it started. As the show goes on, they’re obviously acknowledging that the other person involved has flaws, but at first they were really just putting the other person up on a pedestal and that mentally lasted a lot longer than I’m comfortable with. I’ve see the “all crushes are like that” argument going around and I just.... they aren’t? Maybe for the first little while, or, certain crushes, but it’s just weird to me in this case.

2) in this situation the masks actually bother me more. With lady noir, they’re both wearing masks and if I’m being honest that’s one step above lad////rien for me anyways, but, there is equal anonymity.

On the other hand, I think I like marichat because, in my opinion, adrien would f**k up the whole secret identity thing pretty fast in that scenario while Marinette wouldn’t? Or at least, adrien would do it sooner.

What I mean is that, in my opinion, Adrien’s behavior towards Marinette would change noticeabley and faster. I mean, we already saw this with evillustrator, the first thing he tried was asking her about his super self lmao? It’s going to take a lot for Marinette to be less flustered and awkward around Adrien, even being in her superhero persona didn’t really help all the way, plus secret identity keeping is really her thing at this point. Plus I believe they have a better chance of really getting to know the sides of one another that they don’t usually see. No awkward flustering or dumb distractions, they’re best buddies who know each other too well and can’t be best buddies at first and have to try very hard to not let on how well they know each other.

Adrien has to fight his way around not mentioning school and Marinette can’t remember their superheroing to well, friend running the ladyblog or not. Plus the whole concept of Adrien supporting Marinette’s crush on who he presumed is luka/Nathaniel/whoever is hilarious, and the chaos that would ensue if she followed Chat’s suggestions around Adrien would be hilarious too. (There’s an amazing fancomic where he comes across her upset after another failed confession and wants to know who the asshole is and she tells him and his brain stalls at “I’m the asshole?”) it’s just perfect to me lol.

But back to the masks! For one, whether you like it or not, they do act differently when they are and aren’t wearing them, specifically towards eachother! Marinette being so awkward and flustered almost solely around Adrien isn’t really her whole personality, it’s a consequence of her crush. When Adrien isn’t chat noir, he’s more.... well behaved and proper are the best words that come to mind. I’m not saying that these things aren’t apart of their personalities, but when the masks shift in certain ways they’re amplified in such a way that it sells the dichotomy perfectly. To Marinette, Chat is fun and goofy, and Adrien, although similar, is more reserved and polite. To Adrien, Marinette is shy, nervous and endearingly clumsy, with moments of confidence to be proud of while ladybug is confident and capable after a few bumps in the road. This does affect how they see the other person (ie, as two distinct people) and change how they act towards one another, as well as how they react to what they’ve perceived as a different person. Marinette obviously doesn’t fluster as easily and can be sarcastic and serious around Chat, and even though it isn’t quite as simple as I’m going to phrase it, Adrien is almost more... gentle, in the way he interacts with Marinette vs ladybug, almost like he’s seen her freak out so much that he feels a potential freak out is around the corner if he missteps.

(Back to Marichat lol) Another reason marichat bothers me less is that romance isn’t the goal from the outset. Befriending someone you don’t know a lot about is no big deal. Even though it’s a bit ironic for them, wanting to meet/befriend a superhero is a realistic goal for not hero people, and chat noir has interacted with Marinette a lot, so it’s not surprising he’d want to get to know her better. And they aren’t obsessed with dating/marrying each other, so they get to be goofy and also run the gambit of emotion when they realized they f**ked up and fell for each other by accident.

It’s simultaneously a cute friendship, a budding attraction towards one another and a somewhat stressful and unknowingly mutual game of cat and mouse as they’re both trying not to screw up identity stuff. With Lad///rien it’s just.... dramatic sigh and swooning nonsense.

(One last thing, the idea that chat noir would start paying more attention to where Marinette is and accidentally f**k up her chances for transformation by trying to make sure she’s safe is hilarious because unlike Adrien to ladybug, Marinette would appreciate the concern but start to get annoyed at some point and maybe even attempt to talk to him about it as ladybug, to get him to focus on fighting and not “some girl” which chat can easily misinterpret as jealous could you imagine)

Back to where we started, Ladr////ien just doesn’t work for me in a way that Marichat does. But beyond just the hero/civilian self sides, ladynoir works better in my opinion because again, equal anonymity, and second, Marinette would be consciously choosing chat noir instead of Adrien, not just getting an accidental 2 for 1 deal. I know they’d probably end up happy eventually, but I have a feeling that finding out Chat Noir, who ladybug turned down, kind of used the fact that she didn’t know his identity to date her anyways wouldn’t sit well with Marinette. And even though Marinette hasn’t really confessed, adrien might get the same feeling of, almost a betrayal in a sense.

(Marichat is also like ladynoir because they’re consciously choosing not ladybug and not Adrien, even though they get a surprise 2 for 1 anyways, and in that circumstance, finding out that they accidentally fell in love with the same person twice would probably smooth things over).

Adrienette will always be the part of the lovesquare that is the best because it’s.... it’s just them. It’s what the ship would be called if not for the secret identity complication. It’s probably where they’d pretty quickly land in the event of a reveal. Obviously, the dynamic would be something different if they revealed themselves, but in my opinion it’s also the most..... stable, I suppose, and equal, in the sense that, while, yes, they’re both hiding superhero secrets, I doubt they wouldn’t tell eachother eventually. They could meet each others friends and parents (if Gabriel didn’t suck so badly). It works in a way that ladynoir, lad////rien and even marichat doesn’t because even though they are hiding something from one another, it’s not a massive factor in how they interact. Ladynoir can’t happen without the constant reminder that they don’t even know each others names. Marinette would probably start to get frustrated with the idea that she’s dating Adrien but can’t hold his hand at school because she’s the wrong her. Adrien, well, as I said my theory is he’d flirt with Marinette by accident as himself rather than chat and complicate matters, but not like Marinette will “oh no two boys I like like me back what now”, instead she’d “two boys who like me look and act very similar and I’m starting to connect dots I’m not supposed to connect”

[trainsinanime]

I think in retrospect, my post bitching about Ladrien was a mistake. It was written out of frustration, in response to a post that I perceived as trying to push Ladrien as morally superior to Marichat. That was probably not the right way to read this post. And even if it had been, the correct response would certainly not have been to vague-tumble (sub-tumble?) about it. I should just delete it.

…or I can double down and post more controversial Miraculous Ladybug shipping hot takes. Which one of these would be more fun? Difficult, difficult…

Adrigami vs Lukanette

I have seen more than one post argue that people prefer Lukanette over Adrigami because of racism, or because Kagami is too pushy, or similar. Now, for the record, I prefer anything above Lukanette and I personally love to ship Adrigaminette (specifically the version where everyone involved is really stupid about it). But I don’t think the moralistic argument can explain all of why Lukanette is so popular.

The problem is that we all love our point of view character Marinette and want good things to happen to her. Yes, there are exceptions in the fandom, but those are a small minority, no matter how loud they are. Adrigami is fun, interesting, engaging, they have both common points and interesting conflicts, and I’d absolutely love to watch a show about it… but Adrigami has one key drawback: It makes Marinette sad. And nobody wants that.

Lukanette, on the other hand, doesn’t make anyone (in universe) sad. Adrien and Kagami are okay with it, and it doesn't seem to affect Marinette's emotional state at all. (Yeah, sorry, not a fan of Luka, but I'll try not to dwell on it because my reasons for not liking him are not interesting, much like he is.)

Lukanette also works really well if you want to be salty about stuff but aren’t willing to go full Batman. The main salt objection to Adrien is that Chat Noir can be too pushy with his romantic feelings, which is arguably true, and that this means he is a horrible person, which I don’t exactly agree with. That cannot be said about Luka, who has no flaws, wishes, character motivation or similar nasty things that could get in the way.

All of these factors have nothing to do with Kagami whatsoever. Now, if you’re wondering why Lukanette is more popular than Kagaminette, then we’re getting somewhere.

Next up, more controversial opinions about other pairings:

Adrienette

Horrible, awful. Adrinette is king.

Marichat

Just to reiterate: I love Marichat moments. I don’t think regular Marichat dates, whether that is romantic dates or friend dates, works at all. Marichat lives from the fact that they’re both friends, yes, but also from the low-key spy vs spy antics where they try to convince each other that they’re not actually best friends yet. (Ladrien could do the same but they’re too busy awkwardly blushing at each other to get any sustained antics going)

Ladynoir

These two do not go on patrols in canon. I know every fan claims so, but there’s no canon evidence, except for Dark Owl/Hibou Noir, where the regular patrols are clearly established as something unusual that both of them want to end soon. Yes, I know there’s one instagram post, and supposedly one tweet (not that I’ve ever seen it), but it’s not in the show. And let’s be real, why would they go on patrols? Hawkmoth canonically creates Akumas whenever, including frequently during school hours. Patrols can’t help against that. That’s why our heroes canonically use alerting apps.

The reason why people love patrols is because it gets Ladynoir together without having to invent an Akuma. I can see the appeal behind that… but honestly, isn’t that just lazy? The show generally makes sure to show us the tail end of the adventure that brought them together this time, and I think that is more fun. Alternatively, sometimes, the show just doesn’t bother to explain why they’re together in costume at all (e.g. the end of Chat Blanc), and it turns out that this is also a thing you can do and nobody will hate you for it.

Adrinette

This may be my most controversial opinion yet, but I want these two crazy kids to kiss and hold hands and grow old together.

Adrigaminette

Yes, I know it'll never be canon. But I refuse to believe that they didn't realise people would ship it when they wrote the beginning of Heart Hunter. That whole sequence seems like it was designed to get me to ship it, and you know what? It succeeded.

Maribat aka Daminette

Kill it with fire.

Alyanette

We don’t have enough of this.

Alyadrien

People, including Zag, are sleeping on what a great platonic friendship pairing this could be. Just those two geeking out about how great Ladybug, Marinette, Nino and Carapace are.

Kagaminette

I have nothing but love for this pairing; I'm just including it here for completeness.

GabeNath

The problem with that ship is that I don’t want good things to happen to either of these people. Which means I'm perfectly okay with the canon version of this ship, where it's clear that both of them are emotionally stunted, callous and immoral and are never going to find happiness. The fact that it’s technically cheating only adds to that. I am not fond of fan versions where these two and Adrien are one happy family, though.

DJWifi

The pairing is perfect, but I have to say: Lady WiFi is cooler and fits better for Alya than Rena Rouge. Who ever thought to give the journalist the Miraculous that is all about lying and deception?

I’m very okay with Nino not being the Bubbler, though.

JuleRose

Come on Zag, they deserve to be unambiguously canon.

MarcNath

See JuleRose. Actually, I think when directly compared to JuleRose, they could really do with some more development, some more scenes of them together. I do ship it, but they seemed to have gotten the “official unacknowledged gay boys couple” almost out of nowhere.

MarcNath where Nath means Nathalie

I don’t think it would be a good idea at all, but the troll part in me (which is responsible for this post existing in the first place) thinks it might be worth exploring.

MariLila

We need more of this ultimate crack ship.

Adrigamilukanette

Get rid of Luka and then we’re talking.

Chloegami

I used to think it was a stupid idea but I’ve read a number of very well written slow-burn stories about them, so now I ship it.

Felinette

I don’t get it at all. I feel like I should write more about it in a post like this, but I'm mostly just baffled by its existence.

Lukagami

Kagami deserves better.

Juleka/Lila

I just saw that this tag exists, on a "here are my drabbles" fic that was last updated in 2018, before it got to the Juleka/Lila part, and now I’m both intrigued and frustrated.

Adrichat

Hah, you had almost forgotten about that, hadn’t you?