#i dont want it to just be ladybug but i cant think of anything else alsnsksjks

[tacochippy]

LADYBUG SONA :D

@theknightinslippers @ambersky0319 @mhep24601 @what-when-where-and-y @firefox2215 @astronomical-bagel

[bridgyrose]

Ladybug week day 6: Childhood AU

Ruby quietly climbed out of her bedroom window, careful to make as little noise as she could as she dropped to the ground. She fussed with the pins that kept her ears down in her hair to make sure they were hidden before pulling the hood of her cloak over. Then, she checked the bag that hung on her shoulder to make sure her White Fang mask was with her and safe. Tonight was going to be her first dust raid and she wanted to make sure she had everything she needed for it. 

She took a deep breath, turned to look at the house one last time, and then started to make her way to take the last ferry of the night. If everything went well, she’d be back on the first ferry to Patch and be home just before her dad woke up. Though, if he found out she was out-

“So you did decide to come,” Blake said with a smile as she dropped out of a tree. “Adam was thinking you were gonna chicken out.” 

“I wasnt going to chicken out,” Ruby lied as she looked away. The thought of staying home did cross her mind more than once, though the idea of disappointing Blake seemed worse than disappointing her dad. “I-I just… needed to..  wait until I wasnt going to get caught sneaking out.” 

“You could always run away,” Adam said as he walked over, almost glaring at Ruby from under his mask. “Then we wont have to be late waiting for you.” 

“And now she’s here so we can go.” Blake sighed and started to make her way to the ferry. “And then we can fill her in with the plan.” 

“Fine. But if she slows us down, she’s out.” 

Ruby slowly followed behind Adam and Blake as she tried to listen to them. Most of the words almost seemed muffled to her as she lost focus on what was being said, only able to focus on Blake. She couldnt help but wonder what life would’ve been like if Blake hadnt saved her, given her a reason to join the White Fang. She was tired of being beat for being a faunus, angry that her dad made her hide her trait anytime she went out, always treated like she was destined for nothing more than a life of hard labor. And yet, when she was with Blake, everything felt like it was going to work out. That no matter what they did, it’ll all be worth it.

“Are you going to answer him?” Blake asked. 

Ruby nearly stopped in her tracks when she realized that Blake had gotten right next to her. “I-I didnt… what was the question?” 

“I asked if you’re sure you want to do this,” Adam repeated, annoyed. “Once you step onto the ferry, there’s no turning back.” 

Ruby nodded, her heart almost thumping in her chest when she saw Blake give her a smile. “Yes! I want to do this more than anything!” 

Adam smirked and motioned for Ruby and Blake to follow him. “Then dont slow us down.” 

Ruby stepped onto the ferry with Blake and Adam, straying towards the edge as she looked back towards her home. Her dad and Yang still hadnt noticed she’d left for the night, which meant she was almost in the clear. Once she reached Vale, as long as she got back before either of them woke up, then she wouldnt have to come up with some sort of excuse as to why she was out. 

“Everything okay?” Blake asked as she moved next to her. “You’ve been quiet ever since you boarded.” 

“Just trying to figure out what to tell Dad and Yang if they ask.” 

“You’re planning on going back to them?” 

“Of course. Why wouldnt I?” 

Blake gently pulled Ruby’s hood down and frowned. “Because they make you hide who you are. I thought you wanted to be yourself.” 

Ruby wanted to pull her hood back up, but she knew Blake was right. Of course she wanted to be more herself, seeing Blake keep her own ears out made her long to be able to do the same. She slowly pulled the pins that held her ears down to let them up. “Where else would I go?” 

“You can come home with us,” Blake suggested. “Its just a small camp right now-” 

“We cant afford to bring another kid along!” Adam snapped. “We’re running low on supplies as it is, another mouth to feed is only going to cause us problems.” 

“I-I’ve been training to be a huntress.” Ruby fidgeted with the pins she held as she tried to look more confident. “I dont have my own weapon yet, Dad wont let me have one for another year, but I can make myself useful!” 

Adam paused for a moment as if he was thinking about it. “If you survive the raid tonight, then we’ll take you back.” 

Ruby let out a silent breath as Adam turned and walked to the other side of the ferry. She wasnt sure why her heart felt like it was pounding in her chest or why her stomach suddenly felt like it was in knots about being herself. But if Blake was sure this was the best way, then she had to know what she was talking about. 

Blake gave Ruby a playful hit on her shoulder and smiled. “Stay close to me and I’ll make sure you’re safe.” 

[wiihtigo]

11, 16, 22, 25, 31 HE NEEDS CASEY BITES TO LIVE

ask game

11. How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

haha (imagines casey confused and scared pretending she understands whats happening when she doesnt) ahh....

but yes she would 100% lie and nod along pretending she gets whats going on. and then i think she'd try to just brush it off and forget about it rather than try to piece things together and figure anything out. she doesnt mind living in blissful ignorance..its blissful

16. What makes their stomach turn?

hmmmm...shes not weak to bugs or rodents (she wouldnt go out of her way to play with rats but she wouldnt gaf about picking up a dead mouse to throw it outside if she found one), and i think she has a pretty good tolerance for movie-gore and body horror, but hmmm. real life injury i suppose, shes not good with pain. she hates pain! this is not a unique trait since ..everyone hates pain. but its true. heights make her stomach hurt too lol. so if you want to make her throw up, dangle her over a deep pit and punch her in the stomach 10000 times

22. How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?

(smiles) possessive ..which is CRAZYYY cuz if you ask casey if she even cares about nell she'd say helll no and she'd mean it..i think its not so much that shes actually afraid nell is going to leave her for another girl, its just annoyance seeing anyone else cozy up to HER bodyguard. its kind of cute to me that her internal opinion of nell goes up when shes using her to show off to other people. even though its insulting to nell.

on most days: nell is an evil jerk who cut off my ubereats privileges after i tried telling the same place the food never came for a refund 3 times and got banned

if any hussy breathes near ladybug: my handsome and brave superhero roommate who i live with and who protects me from everything and we're best friends and you should be jealous i know her secret identity and you dont kyahhhh~~

shes a difficult person

25. What are their thoughts on marriage?

she doesnt want to get married and she doesnt plan on dating anyone

its extremely low on her list of priorities not even for any forced "i have to focus on my goals" repression, it just coincidentally coincides with what she already feels, that she doesnt care about romance and stuff like that.

casey operates on a system where if there are enough pros to a situation that outweigh the cons to justify something she doesnt like or doesnt want to do, she'll do it. there are way too many cons to the idea of dating and marriage 1. she doesnt gaf in the first place so she doesnt see a point 2. she doesnt want children 3. she doesnt want the added financial burden of another person in her life 4. she doesnt want to spend her entire life forcing herself to make small talk with someone inside her house that just lives there forever now 5. she wants to focus on her goals of becoming a super awesome famous actor and the pros are............. 1. ?????

obviously her tune changes in new york ending where casey and nell get married because there are more nell specific pros and less cons. and even though she pulls out 'im literally your girlfriend!!!!!!" when its funny or convenient i think she mostly doesnt even see it that shes 'dating' nell, she just wants to be with her forever and nell can never date anyone or be in love with anyone but her for the rest of their lives

its cute though, when they do get married she does cozy up to the concept of being nells WIFE very quickly. you cant throw that shoe at me im your wiiiiiiiifeuhhhhhh eueueuuueee (crying ugly)

she also realizes the value of her wedding ring when she learns she can use it to instantly get out of any social obligation. hm no i cant go to drinks after work my partner doesnt like me being out so late. yes theyre a real BITCH haha you know how it is

31. Who are they the most glad to have met?

oh you....YOU KNOW WHO!!!!!!!

of course its nell bishop aka ladybug

she doesnt KNOW how happy she is to have nell in her life until way later because shes a stupid stupid girl, but nell is without a doubt the best and worst thing to ever happen to her

for 1, shes the most fulfilled and happiest and most alive she has ever felt with nell, but for 2, she fucking dies and it hurts her more than she ever thought something could emotionally effect her. so she hates nell for making her feel like that when one of the things she was so proud of herself for was her ability to trudge through anything and come out okay, to always get up and keep moving no matter the rejection or failure. but she is sooooooo so sad when nell dies it just puts a stop to her heart totally. and she HATES HER FOR IT!

this answer is kind of double edged because if she was asked if shed just prefer that she never met nell at all to avoid all this, she'd answer yes instantly, but deep inside that thought is really upsetting and scary.

the memory of nell doesnt make her a stronger or better person. she doesnt get up in the morning because nell would want her to take care of herself. she doesnt 'do it for her' or do anything kind or charitable in her memory. nells deaths caused nothing but negatives and she hates her so much for fucking up the direction of her life but if there was a button that would magically bring her back to life completely ok she'd break her finger spam pressing it

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

Another little essay on the mls5 finale

Tl;dr Gabriel Agreste Was Not Redeemed but it Makes Sense to feel weird and gross about it! And i think it was definitely Designed that way and did a very cool job of showing some complicated things

(Under a cut for ml s5 finale spoilers and also She-Ra spoilers because i’m comparing arcs, you dont have to have seen she-ra for this to make sense just, you will get spoilers)

Gabriel Agreste’s death reminded me IMMENSELY of shadow weaver’s death in she-ra. it left me with the same emotions. and i think they’re both Clearly trying to show the same thing

In both, there is this, almost *parody* of a heroic sacrifice??? There is a villain/abusive parent who is SHOWN repeatedly to be evil and to Cause Repeated Harm to their child/main character. But the main character can never quite renounce them because they’re always thrown the tiniest scraps at the very last minute. And this main character is trapped in a never ending cycle of needing to crawl back for help because despite it all they WANT to believe that there is some Pure Underlying Motive behind it all and that actually their parent DOES love them and IS good. Because who WOULDN’T want to believe that, especially in moments of terror and lonliness and the world falling to pieces???

And BOTH of these villains die by a “heroic sacrifice” that THEY think redeems them. They both die as a sacrifice ONLY when it’s a last resort and they’re going to die ANYWAYS if they DONT do anything. and they both make SURE that a child they’ve traumatized On Purpose is Watching Them Die Heroically. For both of them there’s this element of… their death is one last act of traumatizing the person they’re saving and ALSO one last act of making them feel Trapped and like they are In Debt and Have To Stay Loyal to their abusive parent?????

Like???? Gabriel LITERALLY does those tears that may or may not have been fake but were Definitely weaponized to play with marinette’s moral compass and catch her off guard. followed by the like… cackling evil villain act. Istg he was like Playing with marinette like a little ragdoll and Relishing in how Helpless she was as he made the wish. He KNEW he had her trapped, not just By The Miraculous but also Emotionally. He KNEW she had no one else to turn to. He KNEW he held the cards and he could say “make sure adrien remembers me as a hero” and that she’d HAVE to do it. Because he was about to die in front of her and she was going to be messed up by the whole thing and all these secrets and she wasn’t gonna have much choice other than to just Believe He Was Right And Good. As a coping mechanism.

And i think,,, there’s this aura of… he Genuinely thinks he has won. He thinks that he has succeeded in being a Good Father. He thinks that he has Manipulated and Snared his way into being a Hero and Right because he thinks that’s a thing you can do!!!! He doesn’t even consider changing his ways, not when natalie AND adrien AND ladybug all BEG him to listen. He doesnt consider treating anyone else as a person or admitting he could be wrong????? He just doubles down Harder and goes “hahaaaa i have manipulated and traumatized this teenager into continuing my lies and making up a narrative for me where im the hero… this is the same as being a genuienly good parent.”

And i GET the feelings of grossness bc that was a gross thing he did!!!! I agree!!!

But i DONT think he got to get away free or be redeemed????

If anything, it gave me the same gut feeling as shadow weaver’s death in she ra????? Like????? This is the Final Proof that he’s beyond saving because he cant even DIE without using it as one last opportunity to hurt someone he should be protecting????? And he doesnt even Realize that’s messed up he’s just like “heehee i win at tricking those stupid little teenagers into thinking im a hero” with no sense of self reflection.

After watching through that scene a few times i am CONFIDENT it was meant to come off that way and im not actually Sure how much they’ll address it??????

(And im also a teensy bit confused because??? I dont know who the target audience is at this point??? If it really is little kids as the target i am Sure they’ll address it blatantly but the show’s been getting darker and more Nuanced lately. But this is a different point)

but even if they DON’T!!!!! This is just!!! So similar to shadow weaver’s death in she-ra, another cartoon theoretically aimed at children and they DIDNT even address that one at all because it was just,,,,,, SO obvious that even if she DID save the main characters with her death she also used it as a way to twist the knife?????

And so far ive just been talking about Recreation Specifically???? But the REASON gane was dying was bc he literally CATACLYSMED HIMSELF with chat’s hand as a way to trauamtize ladynoir because he thought it would catch them off guard and screw with them!!!!!!!!!!

This is not the narrative saying “oh he had good intentions and was right all along uwu” to me, this was very clearly the narrative saying “sometimes people are so far convinced that theyre the only one that matters that they cant even DIE without using it as a way to hurt and manipulate everyone they should be supporting and wow can that screw people up when they’re left to pick up those pieces and leave them with a complicated mess of emotions.”

and also its saying that it is in fact okay to hate your dead parents if they sucked . And its okay to be have complicated feelings about it, u dont have to be able to make an opinion immediately or seperate yourself from the situation. Sometimes it hurts and you mourn what you shouldve had Anyway.

And i think just like she ra, this is a very Mature and Complicated take and its Okay to have mixed feelings about it, but i just wanted to reassure people that the ending absolutely did not say that gabe was a good person.

It MIGHT have said that the wish actually helped make the world better!!! We don’t know that part yet!!!!

But we DO know that it said,,,,, even IF gabe made One Good Decision, he did it at the cost of everyone he should have been supporting and died with everyone he loved hating him for Good Reason and he used his last seconds of life to traumatize and manipulate a scared little kid into telling everyone he was A Hero . And he was not above beating up and hurting said little kid (ladybug) for funsies. I think even IF his wish IS proven to be A Good Thing (big if) there will STILL be a very valid question of “was it worth it.” There will still be tons of trauma on adrien and marinette’s part that Isnt going away. And that is on him and him alone

[literaphobe]

no but SPEAK YOUR TRUTH re: fandom Marichat... I see so much of Angsty Forbidden Lovers Pining Sexily and I am confused??? Why make Chat Noir a strong dark brooding dude (I mean yeah he is brooding but he also is goofy af about it) and Marinette a damsel in distress (she IS dramatic BUT she is also a Disaster Baby Girl and Everyday Ladybug and Literal Ladybug, she can handle herself). It seems like some people need this 'romantic' hetero dynamic so badly to work that they change characterizations that are well established in canon. and like, no shame for that, but I feel like it takes away what is so precious about their relationship/s and the whole love square dynamic. IMO the truth is that Marichat are silly bisexual friends that bicker and go to the movies and sometimes they fake date or practice love confessions. Marinette gives Chat Noir shit but in a friendly way because she doesn't have to be 'professional' and Chat Noir wants to impress Marinette because... you know. Even as Chat Noir he thinks Marinette is brilliant and the funniest person ever. And they are in love (see Elation) but so are ALL sides of the love square so duh. thanks for coming to my TED talk let me know what you think!!!

chat noir is so dark brooding and strong but hes ALSO got a serious case of the SILLIES!!!!! he's got all this repressed fury and rage but he's also full of love and tender care. sweetness. he is a complex character that the Larger Fandom Space likes to hack away and throw archetypes onto. similarly, marinette is a one-woman wrecking crew. whether she's transformed or not. she IS constantly in distress and god help her someone save her. but NOT in the way that Larger Fandom Space thinks. those people saw chat carry marinette away from danger and run away Once and decided thats all they were and that they are the only side of the love square that does that. dsghs

marichat actually contains multitudes and is so fun to work with, think about, and analyze. but they get hit with the no fun straight people beam and suddenly All She Is is some weak helpless girl who can't do anything and needs to be saved and All He Is is some guy who won't stop calling her Princess and like idk growling and. whatever else they want. and then they say stuff like True Selves and act like the other sides are unhealthy and only marichat is healthy or whatever. and then depict them unhealthily. i just dont know man. im like everywhere bro except for like wattpad and i do not wanna know how they depict marichat THERE

in all honesty, marichat AREN'T by default their 'true selves' around each other. obviously this is due to the fact that all sides of the love square have stuff to hide from each other. but i would even go so far as to ascertain that (especially in) Early Stages of marichat interactions, they are trying to portray their most INAUTHENTIC selves and that makes them BRILLIANT

okay so marinette -> she knows chat noir right? very well. but at the same time she CANT show that she knows him well. she has to pretend that hes just some guy. or that shes a bit of a fangirl. very much Expert Pretending To Be Novice vibes. similarly with chat noir -> he totallyyyyy doesn't know this girl all that well either. she CAN'T know that this super cool superhero is actually one of her Good Friends at school. so its like they're both actors in a play but they BOTH think they're the only ones acting. but at the same time, for marinette, the facade starts to fall because she can only pretend this isnt her best friend for so long. the best example of this for me is glaciator 2, where she just starts yelling at chat noir like he's HER chat noir, like she's the one who knows him. the chance of him arguing back drops bc it likely throws him off but is also refreshing bc whoaaa marinette can yell at him like that? only its not the him SHE knows. marinette can yell at him bc she's a little bit insane and also bc he isn't in love with THIS her so he'll be fine!! and he likes it bc he can sense her comfort and also be entertained by it at the same time and its fun getting close to her without her like freaking out and escaping from him. blah blah blah they r in love!!!!!!! but the point is inevitably there are feelings on all sides

i feel as though when the reveal happens none of the sides should be dating tbh. bc that would be too easy. oh yay my gf/bf is also another person i know and love! epic! but imagine if there was pain on every side. some form of feelings, some form of love, some form of heartbreak. thats where we get the part where they have to reconcile that all this pain and failures happened because of all the identities and secrets and their inherent connection and chemistry. they SHOULD feel doubt over whether they were meant to be together at all. and then realize that this couldn't be any more perfect. because they were never meant to choose. and after finding out, they'll never have to

yeah idk where im going anymore LETS KISS ANON UR SO WOKE THANK U FOR SENDING ME A JUICY ASK :D

[tsumugismaster]

it doesn’t surprise me that you are a neutral person.. not that I think you would do anything bad!! ^^’ i just see you as very cool and collected.. someone who thinks with their head. but i also wouldn’t be surprised if at times, your heart does take control.. but obviously i don’t really know anything so im just talking to talk haha…..

yeah, i was a.. “pick me” as a child. it doesn’t surprise me.. with parents that wanted me a certain way, i kind of felt like i needed to be perfect for everyone around me. now im a people pleaser.. how shocking. i absolutely love nature.. though i absolutely abhor mosquitoes. excuse my language.. i fucking hate them. for some reason, they just love my blood.. so in the summer, i always get like, 40 mosquito bites every time i go outside. the wonders of the midwest… also including the millions of ticks always lurking around.. but either way, i love nature. to think that all of the things around us were created from one little thing.. one chain reaction led to our world.. its absolutely marvelous. the smells, the sights, the feelings.. everything is beautifully unique in its own way. i love just going outside and feeling sun on my skin, hearing birds chirping, feeling the slight breeze and hearing it push past the leaves on the trees.. i love it so much. i.. would love to hike with you, if you’d give me the chance. if i could have any pet, i would want a bernese, a chow chow or a squirrel.. OR A CAT! my family doesn’t like cats, so we can’t have one.. :(

i played clarinet for a very long time but recently quit, and i played piano then quit, but im trying to learn again.. playing the viola is extremely difficult, thats incredible! i have trouble trusting people, but i usually show my imperfections quickly after becoming obsessed with someone.. i wish i could keep it in easier, but i cant. ive known pain and fear and sorrow for a long time.. i cant imagine a moment without it. its much easier to pretend to be something, than to be yourself.. but yes, i really love to sing. its my life, its my safe space. i wouldn’t be sane without it.. obviously i dont think i have much talent, but some may agree with you. either way.. the compliment feels nice, even if i dont fully believe it.

my mom is a good person at heart, for sure.. we’ve had our moments, but she’s a good mom. that’s what matters. trust me, there are certain bugs that i cannot deal with. flying bugs, and big bugs specifically.. its so silly to me that we have something like that in common. how interesting.

you don’t have to apologize.. im just glad you’re here now. talking with you is a gift. thank you so much. im sorry if i seem slightly off.. i have some things going on in my personal life making me feel certain ways. but talking with you has made me feel less alone.

your ladybug waits 🐞

Ah! I don’t mind, I enjoy listening to people’s assumptions of me. Gives me a good idea of what people really think of me. I do mostly use my heart though, it got to me where I am. A fairly enjoyable life but very busy. I think I trust it more than my brain, of course I’ll use my brain if needed.

REAL!! Mosquitoes are my literal nightmare during the summer, even during night those stupid pests start biting my feet.. it’s quite the hellhole when it starts itching in multiple places. They adore you don’t they? Aha! Your language is fine! You are free to say mostly whatever you want. You’re quite the imaginative person, There’s something magical about nature, isn’t there? It’s like every little detail, from the way the sunlight filters through the leaves to the sound of the wind, is its own quiet masterpiece. It makes you feel small but in a comforting way, like you’re part of something so much bigger, at least for me.

Of course! I’d love going on walks or hikes with other people! There’s something special about sharing that kind of peace with someone else—just walking, talking, or even just being quiet together while soaking in everything around us. It’s a way to connect not just with nature but with each other too. I think it would be amazing to experience that with you.

Ah! I also want a pet cat, my cousin has an orange one and she’s so cute! But sometimes she scratches and bites my ankles.. I’ll sill love her forever no matter how much she hurts me. I need to search up all the other animals you said cause damn I do not know what any of the rest are..

Mm interesting, though I have nothing to comment on for your instruments, hope you learning to play the piano again goes smoothly! Ahaha we are pretty different in that since I absolutely hate singing, it was never for me. Maybe it’s because I never felt like my voice was good enough, or maybe I just didn’t connect with it the way others seem to. Alas, I found myself to connect through writing. I definitely completely admire and look up to people like you though! You’re quite the inspiration without realizing it

That’s good! I can’t say anything since I rather just not talk about my mom.. I’m not in the best situation with her but still love her. Please.. flying bugs will be the death of me, the most embarrassing part of me is seeing how I react to a bigass bug, also rats are very scary to me.. eugh it gives me the shivers..

Ah thank you, I’m glad to ease you on whatever is going on. No worries! I’m here for anything really, even if we haven’t known eachother for long. I’ll plan on sleeping now though. Goodnight my dear ladybug! You are free to send me whatever you want while I sleep

[megamind2010]

3 4 5 34 35

i love you

3. How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

nell is one of those freaks of nature that can just kind of Go To Sleep at will 😅 she doesn't do much aside from lie down and close her eyes and grab onto a pillow or casey (cant sleep without holding onto a motherfucker syndrome) if theyre having trouble sleeping then they might sit up reading or something... stuff like white noise or sleep podcasts either annoy them or just dont work

4. How easy is it to earn their trust?

despite everything about her relationship with casey, nell is not quick to trust and has a very short list of people she genuinely trusts (ted, michelle, her brothers... casey... IN A STRANGE WAY) she is very reserved and judgemental and tends to assume incompetence in those around her so you really have to stick around if you want to get past her walls to the beautiful loving ladybug inside

5. How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

kind of a complex one here because nell tends to start from a default of not trusting people, so the answer could technically be "infinitely easy", but in terms of LOSING trust it comes down to nell rrrreeeeeally hating admitting that he was wrong or made an incorrect judgement in things... so being betrayed by one of the few people he truly believes in would be really difficult to square with his general worldview. how could she have been Wrong about this thing she put so much time into cultivating... etc etc. but once youve fucked that up youre locked out of the good ending forever lol

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

unfortunately as a very neurotic and obsessive person if nell feels GENUINELY guilty about something its unlikely shes going to get over it anytime soon -_- most of the time she can let mild infractions slide off her back like water off a duck (harking back to the way she doesnt like admitting she can be wrong about things... if she doesnt want to think she did anything wrong then she simply didnt. It never happened) but things like... for example in the au where casey dies... nell is very much haunted for like. Ever and ever and ever. either she finds a way to blame it on someone else or she carries the weight of it until she dies. Lol

35.  How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

nell isnt very outwardly enthusiastic about most things, but if youre in her inner circle (particularly if its ted) then theyre an attentive listener and do tend to engage with things like that particularly if they align with their own interests... which works out well with ted bc nell can get sufficiently into the same kind of niche technical stuff that he likes (unlike booster, who simply doesnt have the mind for science that nell and ted do 😢) contrary to her demeanor nell does actually care about her friends and will pay attention to the things they like and care about... but she does it in her own reserved way. Like a kitty cat

[king-of-a-kingless-world]

orv miraculous au because i can do whatever the fuck i want. (miraculous' dont equal character roles in the story im giving them based on vibes)

yjh gets black cat bc destruction, hsy gets ladybug cuz creation, kdj gets either snake or rabbit. second chance would be like...metaphorical but so would time travel. i like both cant decide right now. maybe he just had two.

hyunsung would prob have the turtle, heewon would have bee, sangah would have the pig. no way sangah doesnt get jubilation.

jihye gets the tiger, gilyoung im gonna give the rooster(dont ask why im not sure), yoosung gets mouse.

i cant think of anything else rn but if you want me to assign more characters kwamis i will :3

also i might do smthn w this later

[piromina]

OK OK GUYS ONE PIROMINA ANALYSIS COMING RIGHT UP!!!

*proceeds to put everything in the tags again*

JK JK ummm gimme some time to look at their costumes.

Got it!!! ok so basically what we gotta do first is see what exactly they wanted whenever they transformed.

*looks up transcripts*

Ok I think I'm on to something......

DESPERDADA:

adrien: she thinks im the perfect guy for this mission!!!! plagg: u cant be chat noir and another superhero at the same time! which means that ur NOT the perfect guy for this mission. adrien: the lucky charm told her I am!!!

REFLEKDOLL:

chat noir: do u know why master fu gave u the ladybug miraculous instead of me? ladybug: bc it requires someone w/ a sense of responsibility????

alright so what we have here is: in desperada, adrien wants to be the 'perfect' partner for ladybug. in reflekdoll, adrien wants to be a 'responsible' partner for ladybug.

BASICALLY, adrien wants to prove himself to ladybug.

aspik wants to be the Perfect Adrien. mister bug wants to be the Responsible Chat Noir.

(and when i say chat noir, I mean the black cat to the ladybug. the partner. the person who she can trust, and who he can trust back, no matter what miraculous. someone she can rely on. someone RESPONSIBLE.)

Aspik is him crafting a persona that he thinks ladybug would love (kinda like catwalker) so he makes it based off of what his FATHER would love (kinda like catwalker) bc his father is also someones opinion that adrien very much cares about.

HENCE this costume looking VERY MUCH like ephemerals. but ofc in the tags for that post I did say that it means that Adriens Dad Doesnt Care Abt His Safety but here it means something else!!! HERE it means that adrien is NOT a coward, he is a BRAVE person who Doesnt Need Protection From Bad Guys.

aspik designed his costume after a diamondback rattlesnake, which represent Dangerous Things! surely he can protect ladybug from desperada!!! diamondbacks r super venomous!!! he can do this!!!! desperada should be cowering in fear rn!!! dont worry ladybug!

aspik, as the wielder of the snake miraculous, cannot AFFORD to die like he does as chat noir (which is why he has the very little protection that he has). aspik is brave (which he thinks ladybug would like) and doesnt need protection (which ladybug would like very much) and will in fact protect ladybug from desperada WITHOUT protection for himself because She Goes First just like Father Goes First (which surely ladybug would kiss him for protecting her like that) and if hes living up to his FATHERS expectations and if hes living up to LADYBUGS expectations and if the lucky charm even TOLD HER that hes the perfect guy, then obviously he is the perfect guy!!!!

MISTER BUG's costume on the other hand. mister bug is very different looking from aspik, ephemeral, and cat walker, bc mister bug is not adrien, he is chat noir. mister bug is the responsible partner that ladybug can trust. ladybug knows that mister bug is chat noir. he still needs to act like chat noir. he still needs to be like chat noir. he is still ladybugs partner.

just.......more responsible. ladybug is responsible. he should try being more like her. but as u might notice, mister bugs costume literally looks nothing! like ladybugs! and thats bc hes trying to be not EXACTLY like ladybug. ladybug is a good enough ladybug. he still needs to add the chat noir-ness to the team. just...more responsible.

hence the cat ears were not replaced by ladybug antennae :(

so when adriens subconscious was designing him a costume, it decided: hmmm, what does ladybug NOT like about chat noir? wellll, she teases him abt the bell a lot, like flicks it and stuff. thats kinda childish of him, dont u think? father wouldn't approve. SCRAP THE BELL (or anything ladybug-related that would fit for it) and.....what else? ladybugs costume is super simple. maybe get rid of anything thats a bit too over-the-top and won't rly help with the mission. OKAY FOLKS WERE GETTING RID OF THE POCKETS AND ZIPPER we have literally Never Used Those during a fight and Why Would We Start Now. erm, also! ladybug doesnt have gloves so why should we. GET RID!!!

and then, he was left with almost Nothing Else. he has on the shoulder pads for protection and he has on the boots for also protection and the black is just to deviate from ladybug's costume and add a sense of chat noir to the whole look. and unlike scarabella, the yoyo is in the same place as ladybugs. adrien designed his suit sorta like ladybugs by using the bare minimum of what he could, but also trying to impress his father by adding in some fashion choices using the scraps he had left.

and both of their outfits are actually rly good despite what everyone says✨

I don't think we talk enough about the similarities of Cat Walker's and Ephemeral's costumes enough and the implications it raises.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Adrien: Marinette, can I ask you for some advice?

Marinette: Y-yea. I think I can do that.

Adrien: So I have this friend that has been super stressed out, she just got a lot of responsibility lately and I think its starting to get to her.

Marinette: Mood.

Adrien: Huh?

Marinette: (Flustered) I said Continue.

Adrien: Right, so she got busy so she started missing pa- Hang outs, and I of course I tried to be understanding, it is a lot she has to do now. But then she starts going the opposite way, doing her best to avoid going back, trying to stay out as much as possible, but she doesnt want to talk about anything personal.

Marinette: (Whispers) This girl sounds so relatable.

Adrien: So, I try to be a good friend and take her to a place where we could hang out and not talk. The movies.

Marinette: Reasonable, did you take her to see a superhero flick?

Adrien: No, I took her to see a romantic comedy. She was not thrilled, cause it apparently reminded her of a break up she had recently, which i had no idea about. Admittedly it hurt to find out about, but I was concerned with her well being more.

Marinette: Ouch, so I am guessing you tried talking to her about it? Showing her that you are there is she wants to talk.

Adrien: Well after escorting her out of the theater, I did do that. But she was never one to talk about her personal problems and then insisted we go somewhere else before I could do anything else.

Marinette: Well clearly she has issues she needs to work out.

Adrien: I want to help her, and she says she trusts me, but she keeps me at such a distance. Like there are things I cant talk with her about, but I am worried about all the stress she is under.

Marinette: I think you need to be upfront with your friend about all of this. She sounds so twofaced, saying she trusts you but then doesnt talk with you about the problems.

Adrien: Its a bit more complicated then that, she doesnt really know me either.

Marinette: Well have you tried opening up to her?

Adrien: She insists I never her tell her and vice versa.

Marinette: Adrien, she doesnt sound like someone that trusts you, and you are making excuses for her. You need to put your foot down, even if she is mad about it.

Adrien: Okay, I trust you on this. I'll let you know how it goes.

___________________________________________________

Ladybug: Well the person who gave you that advice CLEARLY doesnt understand the situation. She sounds very judgemental.

Chat noir: She is a very trusted friend, and I tried to give as much details as I could without revealing anything.

Ladybug: Well you are grossly misrepresenting our Dynamic. Us knowing things about the other could put Paris in danger. Maybe remember that!

Chat noir: Right, sorry Ladybug.

___________________________________________________

Marinette: Judgemental!?

Adrien: Well yea, I told her that she was wrong about her assessment.

Marinette: Adrien, I think your friend is using you for her own selfish means and I think you deserve better treatment.

Adrien: I think I made her seem worse then she actually is. My friend is a good person.

Marinette: What is this friend's name?

Adrien: What?

Marinette: What is her name? I want to give her a piece of my mind!

Adrien: I really cant do that.

Marinette: Fine, give me your phone. I will give her a message you can play for her. You can edit the audio or whatever.

Adrien: Marinette you dont need to...

Marinette: And you better play it for her.

Adrien: (Intimidated yet dazzled) o-okay.

___________________________________________________

Ladybug: Is she for real?!

Chat noir: That is what she said. (stops the recording) She wanted to confront you in person.

Ladybug: Well I dont know what this girl's deal is, but She needs a talking to. Record THIS message for her.

Chat noir: I am getting a weird feeling of De ja vu.

___________________________________________________

Marinette: So she recorded a message for me?

Adrien: Y-yea but I dont think I should...

Marinette: Play it.

(Adrien played the message)

Marinette: Oh that is it! I am showing this to alya, she will figure out who this girl is and we are going to have words.

Adrien: Wait Marinette you dont under...

(Leaves)

Adrien: I think she took my phone.

[miraculousladyblogsthings]

JUST SAW THE EPHEMERAL TRAILER AND GUYS IM SCREAMING AND SOBBING IRL

I saw the trailer like seven times to confirm it was legit also saw it in 0.25x speed and what my brain translated for me- i- VHJCSGFYFDXCHGFCELNMNBCVHEWH

It definitely is as huge as i thought it would be when i posted in the afternoon today (rn its like 1am here so..)

LETS JUST START DISCUSSIN

The trailer starts with Adrien and his dad going out somewhere BUT WAIT A DAMN MINUTE……GABRIEL NEVER GOES OUT-but he never comes out of the car so..( Adrien looks sad ugh i- cant- )

I am thinking that the Gabriel agreste brand has completed 100 something (the banners bruh) and Adrien is attending a press meeting..? Looks like that

Then we see Ladybug talking to Su Han and according to the synopsis he wants to know the true identity of cat noir…

AND THEN THE MOST IMPORTANT PART AND YES IM DOING IT IN ALL CAPS>>> WE SEE ADRIEN NEAR THE SKETCHY POSTER OF EMILIE AND i dont know IF HE SAW GABRIEL DO IT OR BY ACCIDENT, ADRIEN GETS INTO THE SECRET LIFT< INSIDE HAWKIE DADDYS LAIR, ALSO SEES EMILY!!!!! ADRIEN SEES HIS MOM!!! I REPEAT ADRIEN SEES HIS MOM IN HIS OWN BASEMENT!!!! DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR ENOUGH?? I WASN’T PREPARED FOR THIS…PROBABLY SEES THE UNNATURAL AMOUNTS OF BUTTERFLIES. I TOLD YALL IT WAS GAME CHANGING GOSHHHHHH

Then we see a ladynoir scene where Cat Noir is holding an umbrella out to his lady and I DONT KNOW IF ITS DÉJÀ VU OR ANYTHING ELSE BUT LADYBUG SEES ADRIEN IN CAT NOIR OR SOMETHING LIKE THATR GAHH JUST SEE FOR YOURSELF!!!!

then we see the “multiple heroes fighting” when all they needed was cataclysm- according to the synopsis. Also this is the first time we’re seeing luka after Wishmaker so HUGE. And apparently one of Ladybugs lucky charms (I’ll get to the multiple part later) is a FIRE BRIGADE from the looks of it.

Okay lets continue- then we see ladybug and cat noir emerge from the sewers because what could be more iconic? And BAM THERE ARE MULTIPLE VILLIANS OUT THERE (the Gamer, Gorizilla, someone else) Then Cat Noir and Ladybug transform to Astrocat and Cosmo Bug (this is insanely huge) and it looks like they’re escaping something and then a huge red light emerges

AND THEN WE SEE POST ”MIRACULOUS LADYBUG” version of ladybug, WHO WILL PROBABLY DETRANSFORM ANY MINUTE? ITS DEFINATELY AT THE CINEMAS!! THEN OMG WE SEE LADYBUG DETRANSFORM AT THE CINEMAS IN FRONT OF SOMEONE. WHO IS THAT SOMEONE. IS IT ASTROCAT. IS IT SHADOW MOTH. WHO THE HELL IS IT. LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE TWO PEOPLE NOT JUST ONE.

That’s it. That’s all they give to us. Until 7th of November which is the French release date of Ephemeral. I am excited and mad at the same fkin time. Watch this slowed and edited teaser and get anxious with me ;-;

Istg if they forget all of this slash bunnyx shows up then I’m gonna hunt down Thomas astruc ;-;

[sturchling]

So I dont know if your taking prompts. But I have a salty idea. Alya and lila salt. In most Marinette is class rep stories Alya is her dupety, so Alya wanting to get Marinette to resign but the class like her. Non salt class please. So she stops doing her job and says lila,would be better at it. Only Lila knows of the change. They want to prove marinette cant do the job. Lila doesnt do the job at all. When the class talk to Alya as they had to step in and stop Marinette from running herself down

Here you go @vixen-uchiha

Hope this is what you were wanting. Let me know what you think! Hope you like it!

Alya had been class deputy for a while now. She had originally taken the position to help Marinette defeat Chloe. At the time Alya had thought that Marinette was the best person for the job. She had seemed so kind and down to earth. But ever since Lila had come to the class, Marinette had changed. Alya was shocked that Marinette could be so cruel. Especially to someone as sweet as Lila. The more Lila told Alya about what Marinette had been doing, the less Alya wanted to work with the girl. But the class kept electing Marinette every time the class had an election. Alya couldn’t understand how the class could support her, after what Marinette had been doing to poor Lila. The class had even started treating Alya and Lila rather coldly. They weren’t outright rude, but they weren’t as friendly as they used to be. Now when Lila told everyone about her adventures, the class seems less interested and some even roll their eyes when Lila isn’t looking. While Alya didn’t like Marinette much anymore, she was fine with Marinette staying as the class representative because she did a pretty good job. Their fundraisers always met the goals and they had really cool trips for the class. But when Alya heard what Marinette had done to Lila, she knew it was time to end Marinette’s time as class rep.

 Lila had come to class early that morning and Alya saw that she looked really glum. She looked like she was about to cry. Alya rushed over to the girl and asked her what was wrong and Lila told her, “Oh Alya. I’m not sure I should say. Marinette would be mad…” Alya was already growing angry, about whatever Marinette had done. “Girl, tell me. Whatever she did, you know I’m on your side.” Lila still seemed hesitant, but she eventually told Alya that Marinette had only been able to do all these amazing things as class rep because Lila had been making all the plans and Marinette had been taking all the credit. She had threatened Lila to make her keep quiet about the whole thing. Alya was furious. The only reason she had been ok with Marinette as class rep was because she thought that Marinette was at least doing a good job. But apparently, she was just cheating her way through the job! Alya knew now that she had to get Marinette out of the class representative position. But the class clearly wasn’t going to vote her out, so Alya had to get Marinette to resign from the position. Then suddenly Alya had an idea. “Hey Lila, I have an idea to get Marinette out of the class representative position. What if you take over my class deputy position? We could still have good fundraisers and trips, and you would get credit since you would be the deputy. And since Marinette apparently doesn’t like you, we can use that against you. She won’t want to work with you, so she will be forced to resign. What do you think?” Lila had to hide her smirk. Her plan was working well. She had already taken Marinette’s best friend, now she would be taking away her spot as class rep. And it would be easy, Alya didn’t seem to do anything as class rep except handle details. Lila knew that if she took the position, she could leave all the work to Marinette. It would make her stressed and miserable. Then she would resign and that would be one more thing Lila had taken from Marinette. Lila agreed to Alya’s plan and said, “Let’s do it. But let’s not tell the class what is going on. I don’t want to take away Marinette’s friends in the class and make her hate me anymore.” Alya smiles at Lila and replies, “You seriously are too kind. That girl doesn’t deserve your kindness, but I won’t say anything if that is what you want.” And with that their plan began.

 Their plan had been going on for a few weeks. As far as the class knew, Alya was still the deputy and everything was going smooth. And Alya thought that Lila had been doing the deputy responsibilities. But Lila hadn’t been doing any work and Marinette had been left with all the work. Marinette was becoming more and more stressed out. She wasn’t sure why Alya had stopped helping her all of a sudden. But Marinette was determined not to let the class down. She had noticed that Alya had been a lot more distant lately, but she never thought that Alya would leave her with all the work. Between her Ladybug duties, work in the bakery, her commission work, and now all of this extra class representative work, Marinette had hardly slept in weeks. She barely even had time to eat anymore. But her class had trusted her to be there representative, and she would make sure that she lived up to their expectations.

 But Marinette was fighting a losing battle. It became physically apparent that she was beyond stressed. The class began to notice the change in Marinette. First, she just got quiet. Then, she withdrew and never had any free time anymore. Then they noticed the physical changes. Marinette had dark circles under her eyes and just looked exhausted. One day the class noticed that they hadn’t seen Marinette eating at lunch. She just stayed in the classroom and worked. The only people in the class that didn’t seem concerned were Alya and Lila. One day, enough was enough and the class stayed behind during lunch to talk to Marinette and see if she was ok. When they went into the classroom, they saw Marinette sitting at the back. She was pouring over a binder that was full to bursting with papers and forms. Nino took the lead and walked up to Marinette asking, “Hey dudette. You ok? You seem really stressed lately.” Marinette jumped when she heard him and looked up at Nino. She seemed to hesitate but said, “Oh, hey Nino. Yeah, I’m fine. Nothing is wrong.” Marinette kind of laughed but it sounded very forced. Marinette knew that she was very stressed and should say something, but she didn’t want to blame Alya and get her in any trouble. But Nino would not stop asking her. The rest of the class was also pushing Marinette to say something. Eventually, Marinette caved and admitted, “Well, it is just all the additional work as class rep. It is just making me very busy.” The class looked confused for a moment and Alix asked, “If it is to much, why don’t you ask Alya for some help. She is your deputy after all.” Marinette didn’t want to say anything, but eventually she admitted, “Well, I guess Alya has been really busy lately. She hasn’t been coming to help out lately. But it’s fine. I can handle it. I’m sure she is just busy and will help out again when she can. Now you guys go enjoy lunch, I need to finish these forms for the next fundraiser.” The class was shocked to hear all of this.  They turned and left the classroom in silence. They had no idea why Alya hadn’t been helping Marinette lately, but they would find out.

 The class walked into the lunchroom and saw Alya and Lila chatting at a near by table. They walked over and Nino asked, “Alya why haven’t you been helping Marinette and leaving her with all the class deputy work on top of her work as class representative?” Alya stared at the class, at a loss for words. She had promised Lila she wouldn’t say anything, but the class seemed pretty mad. They had to tell them now. Alya responded, “Well, I haven’t been helping. But Lila has been doing my portion of the work.” Alix seemed angrier and more said, “No. We just talked with Marinette and she said she hasn’t had any help for weeks. She has been doing it all by herself. Alya was furious. How could Marinette lie to her classmates like this. Lila realized she was in a very dangerous position. She didn’t think Ms. Goody-two-shoes Marinette would actually tell anyone about what had been happening. She had expected Marinette to shoulder all the responsibility and then epically fail or resign. And then Alya just had to mention that Lila was the one who was supposed to be helping Marinette. This was a problem. Alya had always been a bit of a loose cannon, but her blog was a good resource to Alya. However, Alya had just become a liability and it was time to cut ties with her. So, the liar did what she does best. She lied. She turned to Alya and said, “Alya! Why would you try to blame this on me? I’m not the deputy! Shame on you!” Alya stared at Lila in shock. The class began to yell at Alya for leaving Marinette with this work. The class knew Lila was probably lying, but even if Lila was supposed to help Marinette, Alya was the deputy. She shouldn’t have been passing off her job to Lila. But all Alya could think about was how could Lila say that? They had agreed on the plan. And if Marinette was telling the truth about having no help, had Lila lied to Alya when she told her that she would take over the deputy responsibilities?

 The fallout from all of this was swift. The class asked Mrs. Bustier for a new election so they could replace Alya as deputy. Of course, this meant that class representative also had to be reelected since the two positions are elected as a pair. Lila tried to seize the opportunity and run to be class representative. But after she had thrown Alya under the bus, Alya wouldn’t be her deputy and no one else agreed either. So, Lila’s attempt was shut down before the election even happened. After the election, Marinette was made the class representative again and this time Nino was made Marinette’s deputy. Alya eventually realized what had happened and tried to smooth things over with Marinette. She gave Marinette a half-hearted apology and tried to pretend like nothing happened. Marinette did forgive Alya, but they were never as close as they once were. The class pretty much ignored Lila’s ramblings now, much to the liar’s irritation. Things eventually got back to normal in Mrs. Bustier’s class, and Marinette was not nearly as stressed as she had been. Thanks to her classmates noticing the problem and helping her fix it. Lila eventually switched schools, since she couldn’t manipulate Mrs. Bustier’s class, and there weren’t any open classrooms and she never bothered Marinette again.

[bridgyrose]

Shippy drabbles for Ladybug:

One accidentally runs into the other(s) while…

33. In a police holding cell (they’ve both been arrested for separate reasons?)

(In this case, lets let them meet for a first time accidentally)

Blake paused for a moment as she watched the police escort a girl that couldnt be much more than a couple years younger than her to the same holding cell she was in. And while she didnt mind the company, it was a bit surprising to see someone else get brought in only a mere hour after she was. Still, the longer she watched the girl, the more curious she became as to why she was brought in in the first place. 

The office shoved the girl in and shut the door. “Stay here while we do your paperwork.” 

“I told you it wasnt my fault!” the girl yelled as she gripped the bars of the holding cell. “I was framed!” 

Blake sighed and leaned against the wall. “Dont waste your breath, they’re not going to listen to you.” 

“I know, but its about the principle of the matter.” 

“You say that like it matters.” 

“It does. Especially when a few laws arent as just as they could be.” 

Blake nodded and watched as the girl made her way to the other side of the cell and sat down. As much as she had wanted to ignore the girl, something about her just wouldnt let her look away. “What’s your name?”

“Ruby,” Ruby answered. “And yours?” 

“Blake.” Blake moved a little closer. “What exactly did you do? You dont seem like someone who’d break the law.” 

“Why do you care?” 

“Because everyone’s got a story. And I want to hear yours.” 

Ruby let out a sigh and pulled her knees to her chest. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sorta. I was told Roman Torchwick was going to be at the docks and I figured it’d be the best way to get my huntress license reinstated. But when I got there, Roman wasnt and I was found with the docks in a mess and marks that could’ve only been made with a scythe.” 

“Sounds like someone wants you out of the way.” 

“Wouldnt surprise me with the target I put on my back. What about you?” 

“I was… protesting,” Blake lied as she pulled her sleeve down to hide the little bit of the White Fang tattoo that showed on her arm. A frown started to cross her lips for a moment as she thought back what she had done the night before, her fingers shook a bit as she clutched her sleeve. “Things got… violent. The police arrived, everyone scattered, and I was the one who got caught once the dust settled.” 

“Sounds rough.” 

“It could be worse. I’ll be out of here in no time after a quick court date.” 

“That doesnt sound so quick.” 

Blake shrugged. “I consider a week or two as quick all things considered. But, when we’re both out of here, I think I can help you with your Roman problem.” 

Ruby looked a bit curious at her. “And what exactly do you have in mind?” 

“I know a couple of people he’s been working with and things are only going to get worse if he’s involved. I can help get him somewhere for you to arrest him. Assuming you dont get yourself back in jail.” 

“How do I know I cant trust you?” 

“You dont know.” Blake sighed and looked at a scar on her leg. “But I dont exactly have anything to gain by deceiving you. Besides, I think our goals align more than you know.”

[chat-noir-always-here]

I Rewatch Miraculous—Stormy Weather

This post is 90% me gushing over Ladynoir flirting.

• “Aurore Boreal!” Cant tell if that name is creative or lazy...

•anybody else think the talk show host dude (forget his name) kinda looks like Mr. Clean???

• “Oh gosh! W-what am i gonna say to [Adrien?]” uhhhhh how about “hey Adrien how’s the weather?” Or like literally anything. Passing conversations and small talk are only hard if you overthink it.

• “No problem! I’ll look after your little detail for you!” Yeah we’re talking about a child here not a guinea pig. Has Nadja ever even met Alya???

• “She’s an absolute angel!”////heavy sarcasm. Yes most children are.

•Alya that little chin flick you did to Mari had some HEAVY bisexual energy 🎵 🎵🎵

• “Whats the big deal? You only lost by half a million votes.” Lol fucking rude Miraculous Mr. Clean.

•Hawk Moth taps his staff on the ground but says nothing instead of saying “fLy AwAy mY aKuMa AnD eViLiZe hIm” Lol they muted Hawk Moth. Now if only we can borrow some of Miraculous Mr. Clean’s magic erasers and wipe him right out of existence. 

•Aurore getting akumatized is actually kinda intimidating. Compared to most people she saw the akuma coming, tried to fight it off, dark lighting, creepy music etc.

•Stormy Weather’s powers are chilling teehee

• MARINETTE SHUT UP. Cats are paw-esome, you should adopt one. Specifically the hot kitty boi who is constantly making bedroom eyes at you.

•kiddo she didnt promise nothing you just suddenly wanted to go on the marry go round dont lie 🤣🤣🤣

•spaghetti aint that exciting Vincent, you gotta show Adrien pics of Ladybug. (Vincent is Adrien’s photographer’s name. Different from the creepy stalker i’m not looking forward to seeing in a few episodes)

• “the fuck you doing casually eating fruit you’re allergic to?” —Vincent probably. Alya gives zero fucks, Vincent.

• “Is that boy your boyfriend?” Oh Manon thats a loaded question. Besides they are just “friends.” We use the term friend very loosely in this show

•Marinette: looks for an inconspicuous place to transform

Also Marinette: hops behind a park bench with spaces between the planks and openings on all sides. Isn’t even hiding directly behind it, she lands a stone’s throw away

MARINETTTTTTTTE

•Adrien: is puuuuuurfectly concealed in the shade of some trees behind some cases that arent stacked higher than his shins.

Also Adrien: hey HERE’s a great place to transform!!!

This should be included in whatever Miraculous drinking game you play: take a sip every time they transform/de-transform somewhere COMPLETELY VISIBLE

• “Why did I leave Manon? I should have NEVER done that.” Welp you right except if you hadn’t you’d be encased in ice right now and unable to help. 

• “how did you know my name?” Hmm, Manon. That’s an EXCELLENT question. You wanna answer that Ladybug?

• THIS

•THIIIS

•ice queen’s face when she blasts Chat Noir away is me at all the people who dont want to wear their damn masks out in public and get mad when asked to do so

•Chat Noir pinball lol

•chat Noir pancake pttttbbbttt

•hand kisses are lovely and Ladybug be into it

•Giiiiiirl you be flirting! High-key flirting, don’t deny it. Dat sultry look you be making reveals the truuuuth

•  LB your expression does not match what you’re saying😏

(Yeah the gif up there is the French dub translated by the good people over at Miraculous subs tumblr--I like the french dub, fight meeeee)

•LB is no damsel in distress but i need more of kitty boi being her seeing eye cat

•This whole scene ptttbbbttpppt

CN: “Why does she look mad?”

CN: “Oh I still have her hand.”

CN: “Aw she took her hand back. I was enjoying that...”

Ice Queen: exists

CN: “Oh you’re still here?”

• Why the fuck was Mari passed up for Manon??? Manon shouldn’t even be in the photo shoot without someone asking her mom, she’s like what? four? Mari is under age too but she’s at least in high school good grief...

In conclusion: Mari isn’t the best babysitter (just goes to show she isn’t a Mary Sue but a flawed person) and ladynoir has been high key flirting since season one, spread the word. I didn’t want to go through all the trouble of adding screenshots and gifs to this sort of post but it’s essential for this episode. 

[familyagrestefanblog]

Mini Theory to injured Hawkmoth after Mayura used an Amok on him in “Mayura” + How Chat Noirs Cataclysm works

I finally had a little time off again and managed to get this mini theory done. I wanted to do this for a while now and I'm happy to finally post something again. ^^

Now with Season 3 over and a couple of Mayuras “featherruptions” (as I like to call them) on screen I wanted to pick up this occurrence from the second season finale once more. In s3, after accepting the featherruption, every victim always stayed healthy whereas Hawkmoth in s2 became increasingly weak and hurt. I want to elaborate on this again and state my Mini theory and my reasons.

Some people might already know this theory because I already posted it on this post a while ago. I’m kinda reposting it again because I updated it and I think it’s a bit wasted at the end of another theory.

So here it is again and lets go!

Before “Miraculer” came out I thought people getting hurt by the featherruption would be the normal effect because of the peacocks brokenness. So the victims would get hurt alongside Mayura for at least s3 (cuz before his featherruption Gabriel was completely fine and fighting) but no, every other victim is perfectly fine. Only HAWKMOTH got seriously hurt!

This means that there is a distinct difference between Hawkmoths featherruption and everyone elses. A difference that normally wouldnt be the case. And I think I got it.

The one detail that DEFINITELY is different with Hawkmoth and big enough to be relevant is that Hawkmoths control-object was CATACLYSMED!

To understand why I think the control-object being cataclysmed beforehand would have such an effect I need to clearify that even though I’m often saying that Hawkmoth and Mayura “corrupt” their butterflies, feathers and the victims, its frankly nowhere true at all. I just like saying it like that. What they do is basically just filling the butterflies/feathers with power and let them find a fitting person so they can 1. build the connection between them and the chosen and 2. then manipulate the chosen people so they join them. There is no corruption going on here. Neither do they break or control either the butterflies/feathers nor the people themselves. They power up and manipulate, thats what they do.

The cats power of destruction on the other hand is a whole different story here.

To explain my point in an easier fashion I’ll start with Ladybugs power as a direct contrast to Chat Noirs.

The Ladybug is capable of purifying the akumas and the feathers. “Purifying” IS the right word to use here because something doesnt have to be explicitly “corrupted” to be purified. As I said, Hawkmoth and Mayura power up, that means even if they dont corrupt them they still change the nature of the feather/butterfly and victims and that is what the Ladybug reverses.

So Ladybugs purifying (and the Miraculous Ladybug for that matter) is basically her taking back all the changes other people did to something. Thats whats happening every episode up to “Miracle Queen” and thats why shes once more the one dealing with the feathers. She reverses what has been changed, no other power does that.

The Cat and the Ladybug are equals and since they are also Yin and Yang for each other it also means that not only do they as individuals and the nature of their miraculouses complete each other, their powers too complete the circle.

So if Ladybug can purify (again, meaning that she reverses every damage and everything that other people do to something) the Cat should be able to corrupt everything with his destruction as her direct opposite.

To keep this paragraph shorter lets just explain this with the example from the Heros day.

The Cats destruction and “corruption” is showing itself here with something Chat Noir is doing all the time but on a grander scale: He isnt completely pulverizing the cane to dust, hes damaging and weakening it to the point were it cant be used for neither its original purposes nor properly for anything else anymore and is easily breakable.

In my theory when Chat Noir uses Cataclysm on the cane he not only does the above, he also inflicts the still existing object with some kind of…lets call it a virus.

Now you may ask yourself “Why? Why should Chat Noirs cataclysm destroy something so hard that it loses basically every usage it had + infecting it with an destructive virus but NOT actually destroying it out of existence?”

And frankly, Thomas Astruc already gave an explanation for this after “Reflectdoll” because people were confused by the effect Ladynoires cataclysm had but instead of believing the CREATOR people rather just shrugged off the explanation as nonsense. Again.

If I remember correctly (and please correct me if I’m wrong) it only happened one other time that the cataclysmed object didn’t turn discolored and destroyed after being hit. That being the bus in “Animan”.

But even this can easily be explained with Thomas’ answer.

Because also another answer for the episode “Reflectdoll” was this reply to the question why the lucky charm gave Mr Bug what he wanted when this never happens with Marinette.

Meaning the power of creation adapts to its wearers mindset and when this is the case for Creation I see no reason why Destruction should be any different.

MEANING the bus didn’t turn discolored and destroyed (only lost its original usages) because Adrien was very much aware that it still had to function as a cage (normally the cataclysmed objects serve no further purpose), so the destruction/corruption only spread so far as its wearer pictured it.

With Hawkmoths cane on the other hand you can bet good money that Adrien INTENDED on fucking that cane up. I mean LOOK at him

Yeah no, that cane just became victim of Adriens hatred for Hawkmoth. RIP Cane.

So the default of Cataclysm isnt “destroying it out of existence” because that is not what “Destruction” is. That is “Annihilation”. Destruction and annihilation are two very different concepts that shouldnt be mixed up but everybody is doing it because of how we use the word “destruction/destroy” in our daily vocabulary. That is why probably almost every one of us at least once asked themselves why Chats cataclysm is portrayed so “oddly” in the show. “He’s not really destroying it, hes just fucking it up!” And thats exactly what hes doing because thats exactly what his power is. He’s destroying it so fucking hard that the cataclysmed object could lose every usage it could possibly have (the usages verify with different objects of course)

He’s not messing with it like Roi Singe either, the object could turn completely fucking worthless. 100%. Even the very MATERIAL its made of! But what hes NOT doing is taking it out of existence because THAT is Annihiliation. Not the concept of his power.

Now working with the actual “destruction” concept the destructive “virus” in the destroyed object seems alot more plausible. Because when Chat Noir uses the power of pure destruction on something, really every usage it could possibly have should be able to be affected by it depending on how much Chat Noir wants to screw the object over (and we already covered that Adrien wanted to see that cane dead which I completely understand, Gabriel beat him up with it in “Chat Blanc” so yeah, screw that cane) and THAT also includes the possibility of it being used as a long distance object for Akumatizations or featherruptions for example.

Without the “Virus” Hawkmoths cane would still have had a consequence free use but WITH the “virus” spreading through it the featherruption got corrupted by Chats destruction and hurt and weakened Hawkmoth so much that a limping Gabriel collapsed still nearby and had to detransform out of exhaustion.

And frankly, Mayura only powered up the cane for a really short amount of time. Imagine how Gabriel would have ended up if this had gone longer. He probably wouldnt have been able to recover so quickly afterwards.

[consumeconstantly]

SBGS ch 6

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ao3 

2:00AM | CoffeeVamp: marinette dupain cheng could step on me and i would thank her

CoffeeVamp: did you all see how bad ass that girl was

CoffeeVamp: she was just like demon spawn is robin? Well fuck you for being in paris

CoffeeVamp: and her file oml this girl does so much for paris and he classmates treat her like CRAP

Daddy: How do you know her Damian? Clearly you guys have met before. Can you really trust her with your identity?

Jesus: this girl has been keeping her own secret identitieS under wraps for years I doubt she’ll rat 

CoffeeVamp: DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MDC 

CoffeeVamp: all i ever wanted was for MDC to design smth for me but u ruined ALL my chances demon spawn !!!!

2:15 AM | TheOG: I think we can trust her

TheOG: Don’t think she trusts us tho

CoffeeVamp: yea what was with the zip ties 

CoffeeVamp: do you have smth to tell us ;))) 

CoffeeVamp: have u been getting spicy in paris ;))) 

CoffeeVamp: remember to use protection we don’t need any mini yous around

LadyLady: she’s good. I can see why Ladybug trusts her

DemonSpawn: She’s a friend I met in Paris. She can keep a secret.

2:20 AM | DemonSpawn: I regret not trusting her. 

CoffeeVamp: i cant believe that u thought someone who was nice enough to spend time wu willingly could be a supervillain

Jesus: that’s pretty fucked up man

Jesus: Surprised she didn’t rail on you more for that. I would’ve given you a beat down

LadyLady: u need a game plan to get her on your side. She doesn’t have a good reason to trust u anymore and id like it if we were on good terms with the one person that can contact lb

The OG: ^^ babs is always right

TheOG: you only have two weeks

DemonSpawn: How do I get on her good side?

Jesus: you better hope and pray because girls like that do not forgive easy

TheOG: try being her friend again

Jesus: like she wants to be his friend anymore

LadyLady: Apologize to her.

#

Jason is right.

It’s clear that Marinette does not want to be involved with him any longer. Marinette comes in right as the bell rings, then faces firmly ahead and doesn’t spare him a single glance. Notes that he slips to her are ignored. She doesn’t check her phone for his texts except for once, when she texts him: anything related to last night will be discussed out of school.

Instead of going home for lunch, she willingly sits with Lila, just so she can avoid him cornering her in the bakery. Damian watches them from a distance, but he’s close enough to hear most of the conversations. Most of their other classmates are taken in by some video on Alya’s. There’s a quick exclamation from the Ladyblogger, saying something about being able to meet some American celebrity, and she and the rest of the class run off to somewhere else, though not before inviting Lila and Adrien. They’re turned down, and Marinette continues to sit with the two of them.

“We’ve got a photo shoot together later today.” Adrien sounds tired. Like he’s giving up, almost. 

“Would you like to come, Marinette?” 

Damian can’t make out Marinette’s reply, but she must say yes, because Lila’s calculated facade slips away to reveal shock and interest. Lila entwines her fingers with Adrien’s, an act Adrien clearly isn’t expecting, as he flinches. 

Marinette levels a glance at Lila, who looks surprised at Adrien’s reaction, not that Damian can blame her; she practically hangs off Adrien every day, playing up their couple relationship for the media, and Adrien never reacts like this. He inches closer. Lila reaches out to touch Adrien on the shoulder, in a gesture of soothing, but Adrien flinches again, this time gaining a distant look in his eyes and starting to breath hard. Lila goes to kneel--it’s clear that Adrien is on the verge of a full blown panic attack-- but Marinette holds Lila by her arm and shakes her head, gesturing for her to wait off to the side. 

Adrien’s reactions are trademarks of an abuse victim. His reactions are rather dramatic in comparison to the clenched jaw and distant eyes that he normally sees in kids in Gotham, which leads Damian to the conclusion that this is either a more recent thing, or when he is abused, he emphasizes his weakness in attempt to get the attacker to stop. The question of who seems rather redundant; everyone knows that Adrien Agreste is the sheltered, sunshine boy who never stepped a foot out of his mansion before turning twelve. Though he models, his actions are still highly restricted. There’s not really much of a chance for Adrien’s abuser to be anyone other than the people within his immediate vicinity, so the suspects were his father, the personal assistant, his drive, or someone he works with.

He’ll have to keep this information in mind moving forward. Though Damian ordered extensive background checks on each and every student at Francois Dupont, he only read the profiles of the people in his class, and only keeps tabs on the people that are of interest.nIn Mlle. Bustier’s class, the only people who Damian is interested in are Marinette, for obvious reasons, Lila Rossi, for the sheer number of times she was akumatized during year two of Hawkmoth’s presence, Chloe Bourgeois, who may not be Francois Dupont student, let alone in France at the moment, but has a parent who currently sits at the top of his family’s Hawkmoth suspect list and has gotten countless people akumatized, and Adrien Agreste, the only person other than Marinette who hasn’t been akumatized in the akuma class. If Adrien really is being abused-- and he doesn’t really see any reason for Adrien to fake the symptoms, given that there’s really nothing for him to gain out of this situation-- that knocks him up a space on the list of Hawkmoth suspects. Victims of abuse, especially in a high profile situation, are often likely to either lash out or coop themselves up. Since he isn’t purposely excluding himself from activities, given that he converses with Marinette, Lila, and two other classmates named Nino and Alya, it’s possible that he has adopted Hawkmoth as an alter ego to pursue revenge. 

All this, of course, is mere speculation. Before making any abrupt jumps in his logic, like he did with Marinette-- though he defends himself with the fact that his thoughts on her being Hawkmoth were mere speculation, and that it was merely coincidence or a case of extremely bad luck that Marinette… what, thought he was Hawkmoth as well and then passed the information onto Ladybug? Now that he thinks about it, the whole situation seems ridiculous, and he finds that Ladybug’s lack of tact when coming face to face with her supposed arch-nemesis doesn’t befit a hero of her caliber. She seemed oddly emotional about the whole thing, like his existence as Hawkmoth was a personal betrayal. But Ladybug and Damian never met before that. Why did Ladybug take Marinette’s personal vendetta upon herself? His head hurts.

Damian finds himself walking over to their table, where Marinette is speaking in soothing tones, careful not to touch Adrien at all. He calms down enough to start breathing regularly. Even though his eyes are still watery, he looks up at Marinette with a tentative smile. Marinette looks back at him with such pure, unadulterated love, that Damian blinks slowly to make sure he’s not seeing things. There aren’t many people who show emotions that don’t have some hidden barb underneath, or an undercurrent of a different emotion alongside it. 

Then, Marinette sends a calculating look at Damian, and a briefer one at Lila and Adrien. 

“Lila, can I talk to you in private for a moment?” Although Marinette’s tone keeps to a pleasant range, Damian finds it rather familiar. Like when Alfred pulls him or one of his brothers to the side to politely tell them what they’re doing wrong and how to remedy it. But there’s a bit of genuine ferocity in Marinette’s tone, and the Italian girl steps back. 

“Adrien, I’m going to leave you here with Damian just for a second, okay? I’ll be right back, and if you need me for anything, just call.” She gives Damian a look that says if you hurt this boy, I will end you and heads off with Lila. 

“Damian,” Adrien says. He’s trying to come off as calm and cheery. He misses the mark terribly. Somehow, Damian gets the feeling that the boy isn’t very good at bottling up his emotions, odd, considering that he’s grown up partially in the limelight. “I see you’re well acquainted with our everyday Ladybug. She really is amazing.”

There’s a touch of awe, and it makes Damian uncomfortable for no good reason. 

He’s not sure how to deal with people who look like they’re about to cry. Damian doesn’t have to deal with that. Dick’s in charge of any emotional clean up that’s necessary in the public; Alfred helps his family manage their emotions in the manor. He decides that going with the flow is the best option in this situation. An everyday Ladybug. What an interesting piece of terminology.

“She is.” Damian admits,  “We’re not currently on the best of terms.” 

Damian will be surprised if Marinette even manages to civilly work with him for the rest of the week. He wasn’t expecting their subsequent interactions after last night to be the same as they were prior to her finding out that he was Robin and thinking that she was Hawkmoth, but he thought she would just interact coolly with him. Not this silent treatment. She refuses to talk to him and only looks at him with some combination of disdain and ill intent. 

He can’t manage to give her the same treatment, both because he is on a mission and because he can’t fault her for thinking that he was Hawkmoth. The situation is really, rather comical, but he spent enough time ruminating on his actions the previous night to pick up on all of the red flags that made her come to that conclusion, and even is she was a hero for a short period of time, he can’t expect someone who is, by and large, a civilian to have the same investigative capabilities his family does. If anything, he is ashamed of himself for jumping to the conclusion that she was Hawkmoth, when instead, it turned out she is working for Ladybug. 

However, the Marinette he’s seen so far doesn’t seem the type to hold grudges, especially not when it comes to any pressing issue, and he finds that all of the decisions she makes are heavily logic-based and influenced by Sabine’s values, who is definitely an upright woman if he’s ever seen one. Marinette has too strong of a work ethic to actually ignore Damian when it comes down to it, but he has to wonder why she acted so blatantly hostile to him. Her character combined with her actions just don’t match up, which means there's another reason why she’s acting this way. 

While Damian excels at extracting raw data and testimonies from people due to brute force, and is decent enough at getting people to do what he desires, determining the source of a person’s frustration, what drives a person-- he needs more work with that. He’s much better at getting people mad. And Damian doesn’t think he’s seen Marinette mad at anyone except for Celia DeVries. She has nerves made of steel and patience carved from diamond.

“I hope you figure it out.” Adrien says with such sincerity that it’s frightening. He’s surprisingly pure-hearted for a model entrenched in a mega corporation like Gabriel. The entertainment industry, particularly the fashion side of business, is a very cut throat world. Adrien doesn’t seem like a person who’s been in the public eyes for years. “Please be a better friend to her than I am. I really wanted to do more for her, but my hands are... tied.”

Lila is subdued when she and Marinette return. Her eyes dart to Adrien, and she frowns and bites her bottom lip. Then she looks away and crosses her arms. 

“Let’s get back to class. I’m excited to go to the photoshoot after school! I haven’t spent any time with you in so long, Adrien.” Marinette doesn’t sound like she’s faking it. She sounds so genuinely happy, and Damian wonders if he can make her sound like that again. If he ever made her sound like that. 

Adrien looks at Marinette, then asks Damian, “Would you like to come too?”

The look that Adrien gives him tells him to say yes, even though he can feel the cold that radiates off Marinette. Damian agrees; it’s time to try Barbara’s suggestion and apologize, and since he doubts that he’ll get a word in edgewise when they’re working together at night, he has to try apologizing sooner.

The rest of the school day slips by in a blur. 

Then, the four of them are out on the streets, and Damian finds their combination unnerving, to say the least. He’s still on bad terms with Marinette, and Marinette has never been on the best terms with Lila. She’s going to this shoot solely for the opportunity to be with Adrien, and something about that unsettles Damian. Still, regardless of how Damian feels, the photographer on the set of Adrien and Lila’s shoot loves all four of them.

“Fantastico! Adrien’s friends are rare finds. It’s true about what they say; beautiful people, they associate with beautiful people.” The photographer flits around Damian and Marinette, getting uncomfortably close. Damian shoots him a glare, but the photographer simply takes it in stride.

“Yes, yes, the most beautiful eyes, so passionate. The perfect measurements, too! Lara,” he calls to one of his assistants, “Get them all to makeup. These four are who I’ve been waiting for to fulfil my vision of envy. Gabriel will have to wait on his magazine spread. I’ve been inspired!” The photographer circles the four of them, like a hunter and his prey. 

Out of nowhere, the photographer grasps Marinette’s chin, and despite the initial flinch she gives-- he’s not sure whether she was going to kick or punch him, but the sudden spitfire in her eyes said she was going to do something-- she settles into a locked jaw and curled fingers. Damian sees a slight jump from Adrien as well, which seems unusual; on the way over, he talked about how he worked with this photographer before and was very comfortable with him. He regaled them with funny stories of how he tended to reference spaghetti in shoots that were less pleasant to make the models laugh. 

“Ah, Adrien, you have truly delivered the favor of Fortuna upon me. I cannot believe I never saw this earlier. You have brought this girl to shoots before, have you not? I never forget a beautiful face, even when I am focused on other things.” 

Marinette calmly displaces Vincent’s hand from her face. “Thank you for the kind words, Monsieur, but I think it best that we just watch the originally planned shoot. I am no model and have no interest in being one.”

Vincent gives Marinette a once over, like he’s not used to people disagreeing with whatever vision he has for the day. “From one artist to the next-- this project is important to me. I’ve had the idea for years, but have yet to come across the perfect models to portray it. What will it take to convince you? ”

At this, nearly all the tension that Marinette has coiled up in her shoulders dissipates. Vincent has said the right thing. “I see. Really, Vincent, I think it’s best that you continue with the Gabriel shoot. M. Agreste wouldn’t be happy if he found out that his spread was delayed.”

“But the Muse, Mademoiselle! She runs away so quickly. And the four of you are perfect.” Vincent turns to the other three. 

“Surely, you understand. Mlle. Rossi, M. Agreste, you must have felt an urge to do something so strongly that it pulls you in. And you,” he looks more closely at Damian. “You are an artist as well, aren’t you Monsieur? I can tell. It’s in the hands and eyes. Art, she comes, but she is fickle. If I don’t do this now, it will be gone forever. And the pursuit of true art means more than any Gabriel spread.”

Surprisingly, it is Adrien who responds first. “I might not understand art, Vincent, but I know what you’re talking about. The feeling of wanting to do something badly, to set yourself free…”

He twists his ring. Marinette looks at him sadly again, hands twitching like she wants to hold him to provide comfort. 

“Besides, I don’t really want to do a Gabriel spread today. I haven’t spent time with friends in a long time, and I don’t think anything could make me happier than doing a photoshoot with you three right now.”

This makes Lila look at Adrien in a curious sort of way. Not the sad look that Marinette is giving him, but one of a slowly dawning realization. When Adrien references her as a friend, she looks happy. Proud, almost. Then, she looks like she’s connecting dots in her head, and she doesn’t look happy with the conclusion that she’s drawn. As soon as the frown  touches her lips, Lila shifts back to an impeccably crafted mask. 

Damian doesn’t agree with the sentiment that they are friends. He has barely had a full conversation with the blond, though he will admit that Adrien does have more of a brain than the rest of his classmates. He looks at the ill-concealed shadows beneath Adrien’s eyes and sees Tim.

Lila agrees almost immediately after Adrien finishes speaking. “Inspiration is fleeting. Art waits for no one.”

Marinette purses her lips. She asks Vincent, “You won’t get in any trouble for this?”

“I can handle any backlash Gabriel throws at me. Heaven knows that man has pissed off one too many photographers before.”

“You can, but what about everybody else involved?” She looks at Adrien, specifically. He fidgets with his ring again, and sends Marinette a look so pleading that she sighs. “Fine. I don’t mind doing the shoot.”

“Fantastico!” He turns his gaze to Damian.

“I’ll do it.” He’s never been particularly fond of photographers, given that the invasiveness of the media has led his family to various unpleasant situations, but Cass went through a photography phase, and out of all of his ‘sibling’ relationships, he is the most willing to indulge her. 

“Will you tell us what the subject of the shoot is?” Marinette has inched closer to Adrien. Adrien pauses, stops fidgeting with his ring, and looks at Marinette. A world weary smile creeps onto his face, and his hand reaches out for Marinette’s like he wasn’t expecting himself to do that. He looks surprised when he finds his hand in hers, tenses for a moment. But Marinette doesn’t say anything, and rubs soothing circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. This seems to relax him more than fidgeting with his ring. He sags, and Damian can’t bring himself to feel anything but pity for Adrien. Lila looks curious, but not jealous. 

Vincent surveys the four of them again, a growing smile on his face. “No, I think the four of you are already perfetto. A little direction here and there, but yes, yes, this is very good.”

“Lara, bring them to makeup. You know what to do. I must set up! Don’t call Gabriel; we will most likely be taking this to a second location at sunset.” Then, Vincent is off, muttering something in Italian under his breath. 

“Thank you so much for agreeing to do this shoot,” Adrien rambles as soon as they get into makeup. “Vincent is such a great photographer and he’s taken really good care of me over the years. He’ll take good care of all of you as well.”

He continues, a little softer. “I really wanted to spend time with the three of you, together. I--I think it would be really nice if we could all be friends.”

Damian has his eyes closed because eyeshadow is being applied, but he can practically feel the surprise rolling off Marinette.

“Adrien, we are friends already.” 

“We are, but we’re not really close. The only person I talked to often was Nino, and recently, father has-- ” he breaks off, looking exceedingly uncomfortable, before speaking quickly in an attempt to speak up before losing his nerve. “But I don’t just mean friends with me, I mean the four of us. I want the four of us to be friends.”

The makeup artist who is working on Adrien shushes him, but Damian gets to open his eyes. Adrien is clearly nervous. He’s not shaking-- he is bred far too well for that-- but he has reverted back to fidgeting with his ring. He tries to bite his lip, but the makeup artist shakes her head and tuts.

The girls are both silent, and Adrien looks so nervous that he has to do something. He doesn’t think he’s interacted like this with anyone as nervous as Adrien before; his brothers were all big personalities, as were the Teen Titans. He may have come across nervous or anxious civilians as Robin, but those situations were more straight and cut, involving little to no talking. Damian decides to that a cross between how he interacts with Dick and how he interacts with the people he saves is the best bet for this situation, though his tone comes out more condescending than he planned.

“Why the four of us?” Damian can’t really see why Adrien has singled out the four of them. As far as he can tell, there’s no good blood between them. Adrien, Marinette, and Damian all harbor varying levels of dislike or discomfort towards Lila; Adrien, Lila, and Damian have all fucked over Marinette in various ways (or so he Damian assumes on Adrien’s part-- he is sure they would have been closer, otherwise); Lila, Marinette and Damian haven't talked to Adrien in any capacity that implies that they're more than mere acquaintances; Damian has done nothing that would put himself in the favor of the three. 

Adrien fidgets even more, and the makeup artist smacks him and says that she doesn’t want to have to redo his eyeliner. “I think we all have a lot in common. And, I might not be good at showing it, but I like the three of you.”

Marinette makes some noise in disbelief and Lila narrows her eyes. 

“Hear me out on this, guys. All of us try to help people when we can,”

“That’s basic human decency, Adrien,” Marinette says.

“Me, helping people?” Lila scoffs.

“We help people out more than most people do-- and Lila, you really do help people. Sure, you might not have been telling the truth about all of the celebrities or all of the charities you worked with, but you’ve helped a lot of charities throughout the years.”

Damian quirks an eyebrow. “And me?”

“I’ve heard about Silverstein and Company.” Adrien says, then continues on with his list of Reasons Why They Should Be Friends. 

“None of us like telling people about our problems.”

This is met with no resistance.

“And we’re also all lonely.”

Silence. 

Marinette’s makeup artist breaks up the oppressive silence, “And all good looking to boot!”

“It’s true what they say about the most beautiful,” Lila’s makeup artist says, “They’re always so troubled.”

Marinette laughs, but it’s strained. “Don’t worry Mademoiselle. We’re just being teens.”

“Loneliness isn’t a good reason to form relationships.” Lila says. Her voice is quiet. She looks off to some fixed point in the distance.

“It’s not the worst reason there ever was,” Adrien shrugs, satisfied now that he’s said his piece. His shoulders are back a little more now. Whatever happens next is up to them, not him. “And I like all of you. I think we all have very unique personalities that could work well together.”

Marinette shrugs her shoulders. “If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about relationships, it’s that initial compatibility means very little in the grand scheme of things. Relationships can work as long as you work for them. They might not be the fairy tale storyline that people chase after, but relationships that are worked on last longer. Adrien could be right. We might be able to all be good friends.”

Lila fixes Marinette with a stare. “You’re willing to be my friend? After what I did to you?”

Marinette shouldn’t be willing to be friends with Lila after what she did. In fact, after reading multiple books on healthy relationships when trying to cope with Chloe way back when, she shouldn’t be willing to be friends with any of them. It feels fucked up, but Marinette realizes that Damian, who believed she was a super villain, has the least strikes against a healthy relationship currently. 

Even though Marinette knows that circumstance doesn’t excuse any of them-- Marinette doesn’t excuse her stalkerish tendencies back when she first met Adrien, either-- she knows that the three of them are just teens who have too many responsibilities and problems on their shoulders. They’re capable of change, and as both Ladybug and Marinette, she wants to believe that someone’s past actions doesn’t mean they can’t move forward. Perhaps their current actions should be taken with a healthy dose of cynicism, and perhaps their past colors how much Marinette will be able to trust them in certain areas, but throughout her years of existence she’s seen that there is no person who has only done good in their life.

“You’ve been better lately. I respect someone who changes themselves for the better.” What Marinette doesn’t say; she’s mostly willing to try this tentative friendship out for Adrien’s sake, because Lila seems to be the only one who can get Gabriel Agreste on her side and Marinette needs her help if she and Adrien’s trust if she can ever dream of emancipating Adrien. 

Marinette is also confident that Lila is currently coming into her own, and knows that Lila didn’t have any good example to model herself after during her formative years. The fact that she’s changing now? It’s honestly pretty impressive, and even more so considering the people that are in Mme. Bustier’s class aren’t exactly cut from the most inspirational cloth. Why Lila is trying to change is something Marinette is curious about, but they’re definitely not close enough for Marinette to ask Lila that. There is also the very important fact that Lila has not been akumatized this entire year, nor has she gone out of her way to encourage someone else’s akumatization.

A small smile settles on Lila’s face. “Thank you. For what it’s worth, I am … sorry for what I did to you back then.”

Marinette hums with her eyes closed as a light layer of shadows placed on her crease. “I accept your apology. While we’re on this topic, I’d like to apologize to Adrien. I’m sorry that I haven’t been a very good friend to you. You’re an amazing person, and I want you to know that. Your self-worth should never be degraded by other people, and I really hope that you can come to rely on me.”

A watery, affectionate smile from Adrien. “Marinette, you’ve always been one of my best friends.”

“I regret what I said to you yesterday,” Damian cannot muster an apology-- he does not apologize, certainly not for doing his job, but Marinette is… useful. He needs her to accomplish her mission, and she’s kind. 

There is no verbal response from Marinette, but she’s looking at him, at least. She hasn’t looked at him all day besides the one glare she gave him that told him to take care of Adrien. 

Lila looks between the two of them. “What are you sorry for? I was under the impression that the two of you were great friends.”

He is sorry, if only slightly, but it takes a lot for him to get an apology. If anything, Marinette should be apologizing to him, for mistaking him as Hawkmoth, right? “Last night was--”

Marinette cuts him off with a sharp laugh. “Damian here thought I was Hawkmoth.”

Adrien bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, you thought Marinette was Hawkmoth? Out of all the Parisians you could choose! You know she goes around the city saving random people, right? She’s our everyday Ladybug. Doesn’t sound very supervillainy to me.”

Lila laughs too, and the tension in the preparation room finally breaks. “Please, if Marinette were Hawkmoth, she would have gotten Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous already. Have you seen what a planner she is?”

This gets Adrien to fake shudder. “It’s true. If Marinette really were Hawkmoth, she’d be so powerful. She knows everybody’s deepest fears, can kick ass and take names, and can come up with the weirdest plans that solve everybody’s problems in an instant. Imagine if she went to the dark side.”

“She would make an awful akuma.” Lila agrees. “How powerful you are as an akuma is linked to how strong you are mentally and how strong your emotions are when the butterfly lands on you. Whatever makes Marinette upset enough to have an akuma after her would probably be the result of some very strong emotions.”

“She’d be strong enough to level the entire city.”

Marinette is bright red, and if it were not for the fact that mascara is being applied to her lashes, she’d probably have her face buried in her hands. “Okay, okay, I would be an awful akuma. But I won’t ever be akumatized, so it’s fine.”

Adrien thinks of Marinette being an akuma more, and his face goes pale. “She really would be able to steal Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses successfully.”

“No, she’s too morally righteous to do that. She’d probably go after Hawkmoth and win while she was akumatized.” Lila looks pensive. “All akumas retain most of their original personality traits, just exaggerated. Some even have some semblance of control over their actions.”

“If that wouldn’t be one of Anime’s top 10 betrayals, I don’t know what is. Hawkmoth akumatizes Marinette and then she rightfully kicks his ass.”

“Guys,” Marinette hisses. “I won’t ever become an akuma. Never.”

“You say that like you can refuse Hawkmoth,” Lila laughs. “You can certainly go after akumas, but refuse them? No way.”

Adrien zeroes in on Marinette’s hesitance. “Have you?”

Marinette shifts in her seat, her mouth set into a grim line.

“You have,” Adrien says with a touch of awe. Damian is impressed too; no reports of people being able to refuse an akuma have passed through the many hours of research he’s spent scouring the internet. He understands why Ladybug put so much trust in Marinette. “When?”

This sets Marinette on edge. Her back straightens into a board. 

Lila picks at her fingernails in shame. “Did I?”

Marinette doesn’t respond, but the tremble of her mouth and her silence answers the question well enough. 

Damian doubts he’ll ever get the full story of what happened that first year when Lila arrived. Marinette isn’t one to snitch, and Lila is both unwilling and tentatively ashamed of the past. Adrien won’t answer out of courtesy. Damian will never go to any of the other classmates to hear a bastardized version of what went down. He supposes he’ll never find out the whole truth.

Marinette’s stylist claps her hand. “Okay, enough teenage angst for today. All of your makeup is done, so it’s time to get into your outfits. Let’s go, kids.”

They’re silent as they dress.

#

The shoot is a flurry of excitement. There are many whispered conversations, but Marinette can’t keep track of half of them. Whenever she isn’t in a shot-- which is fairly rare as she seems to be the main subject of whatever Vincent is shooting for-- Marinette focuses on what needs to happen next. Though she’s still not currently the biggest fan of Damian or the Justice League, she will give them a fair chance, because as much as she hates to admit it, she needs the help. Batman is right. Even though she wasn’t actively working on the case for the first year, she still had plenty of time to gather evidence to back up her main suspects. Her lack of expertise in technology hinders progress greatly.

Not to mention that because Marinette was so wary about hurting Adrien and so swamped trying to keep a balanced schedule, she wasn’t able to find enough evidence to feel safe in her convictions. Master Fu warned her of incorrectly accusing Gabriel in the eye of the public, and he hasn’t come out to fight since the Scarlet Moth incident. She’s tried to investigate Gabriel in his own house, but any evidence slips through her fingers. He’s a very careful man.

 Now that the promise of college is coming up, Marinette needs to take Hawkmoth down. Marinette doesn’t want to continue her schooling in France. Not anymore. She wants to go to a foreign college, where dreams of akumas won’t plague her at every step. Half the reason she finds herself on the streets as a civilian constantly is to erase the gory imagery of death and blood that linger in her mind eye from akuma battles. Seeing happy and alive citizens in all of the areas where Hawkmoth attacked make her feel better, but aren’t enough to chase away her nightmares entirely.

Marinette moves through the rest of the photoshoot in a haze. When she is in shot, she focuses on whoever she’s shooting with. Lila, with sharp green eyes, barely begins to lower her guard when Marinette directs the conversation towards past modelling shoots she’s been involved with. They interact unnaturally at first, but after starting to talk about Dior’s Spring/Summer ready to wear line, they find that they have similar tastes in silhouettes, though not in color. 

She forces herself to ignore the fiasco that was last night, and talks to Damian about small nothings that don’t touch on anything important. When she runs out of topics, she begins to talk about Renee, and his gaze shifts to something resembling regret and some other emotion she can’t read. Dealing with whatever issues Damian has is not ideal. He’ll have to sort out his feelings on his own.

Adrien’s expressions are the easiest to read. Whenever he’s in a shot with Marinette, he is happy, plain and simple. There is less weight on his shoulders, and as Marinette attempts to cheer him up with poorly thought out puns, he looks like a kid again. He even starts punning back, and Marinette can’t believe how much she missed that. Chat Noir stopped punning a while ago, and it hurt in unexpected ways. 

Really, Marinette just wants Adrien to be happy. Adrien is Chat Noir. Her best friend. Her partner. Marinette thinks Adrien deserves the world. She wants to pave a path for him so that his entrance into the adult world is easier, because the facade Gabriel has built of a picture perfect family attempting to cope with the loss of a mother and wife isn’t what Adrien needs.

Maybe Marinette wants him to have the childhood he wasn’t afforded. Marinette clings to warm memories of her own childhood, where Maman trained her in self defense and Papa taught her how to bake when things get particularly hard nowadays. Her heart warms when she sees Adrien give shy smiles to Damian and Lila. She’s proud when he strikes up conversations with them.

In all honesty, the only part of the shoot Marinette remembers is the last section of group photos they take when they move to a second location. It’s a cold day in Spring, which means Parisian tourists are more likely to be found inside an art museum, rather than on the beach. Adrien convinces them all that they should run around the beach, and somehow, they end up playing some extremely difficult version of capture the flag, but without the flags. 

Somehow, Marinette ends up on a team of her own, for the sole reason that she’s the only one wearing white, and the person who holds the opposing team’s flag is Damian. She tackles him onto the sand, but not before both Lila and Adrien are hot on her tail. They end up in a pile, and Adrien’s laughter rings so sweet and true, that Marinette’s heart fills with love. She shifts, so her body is facing skywards instead of into Damian’s arm, and she reaches one arm across Damian’s body to grab Lila’s hand, who flinches at first touch, but relaxes. Marinette’s other hand finds itself tangled in Adrien’s hair, and despite the cold weather, Marinette is content. 

She looks towards the horizon, where the sun is setting in a million different colors, and finds herself longing for a time where every day can be just like this moment.Where there is nothing filling her head except thoughts of the people who make her happy. Her eyes shift straight up.

Where morning fades into night, the sky is so very, very, blue.

#

Marinette’s room turns into an organized warzone at night.

The area of her room that was previously used to hold up various sketches and mood boards for designs in progress turns out not to be an upholstered wall, but a curtain that hides two whiteboards and a small library of books on the psychology of emotional manipulation, manuals of martial arts, and various books on strategy. The shelf above her desk space holds a projector that Marinette uses to project images from her computer onto the left white board. 

“I’ll catch you up on my previous attempts and what you have to know in order for this partnership to work.” She takes her tablet out, flips through several screens, then uses her fingerprint to unlock a folder of notes. “This is a chronological list of things that Ladybug and I have attempted in order to find Hawkmoth’s location. There is a separate folder with suspects for identity that’s alphabetized. If you’re interested in more in depth analyses of past akumas, I can send that to you and your team’s emails now, as most of the information is readily available online. I’m assuming that you have a team, correct?”

“Yes, I can send their email addresses to your number.”

“No, for any information regarding Hawkmoth or superheroes in Paris, you can contact me through this number and email address. Ladybug and I both check it regularly; it’s a safer, more encrypted way of communication.” Marinettte taps her Miraculous communicator and connects it to her computer, so she can work on a bigger screen. “Which person is your main point of contact?”

“Oracle.” 

Marinette contacts Oracle through video call. She doesn’t want to have to explain everything twice even if their partnership turns out to be nonviable. It takes a few moments to get through, but a woman’s face pops up on the screen. She’s a redhead and doesn’t wear a mask. Her coloring is obviously different from the rest of Batman’s affiliates, and despite her initial grievances with the white films over the vigilante’s eyes, she understand why it’s necessary; their suits aren’t magic, and there’s nothing stopping people from running facial recognition software and matching them up to people who reside in Gotham. 

“How did you get this number?” Oracle asks warily. 

Marinette moves her chair slightly so that Oracle can see Damian, who's currently looking at her tablet on her chaise. “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, your point of contact in Paris and the one who will be working with you for the next week. As you can see, Damian’s already viewing some information that Ladybug and I have compiled over the years. Please get the rest of your team on this call. I’d like to get all of the basic information out of the way now.”

“Damian?” The girl on her screen is a dead ringer for the girl they compiled multiple files on yesterday, but she can’t get a trace on where they’re calling from, which makes her suspicious.

Damian shoots her a text, confirming that it is actually him in the room, then goes back to scrolling through the tablet.

Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood, and Batman all appear on the screen shortly. 

“Great, the gang's all here,” Marinette says unenthusiastically. “I’ll say it one more time. I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I will be your primary point of contact during your two weeks trial period here in Paris. I’m assuming that your team has been brought up on the events that occurred last night. In order for this attempted partnership to go more smoothly, I will provide you lists of suspects, past attempts at revealing Hawkmoth’s location, and more detailed information about all of the past akumas that have appeared. These files will only be available to you for the week unless the collaboration goes successfully. Damian has already given me your contact information.”

As an afterthought, Marinette adds, “Don’t bother trying to copy any of the files. You won’t be able to. You also won’t be able to pick up on my location through this video call; I’m using a Miraculous Communicator. The magic makes it so that any technology other than another Miraculous will be unable to find any identifying location.”

Marinette knows about this thanks to Max’s brief stint as Pegasus. Though Marinette had not yet learned spells that would allow her to materialize her communicator outside of the time that she was suited up, she had Max try to find Ladybug’s location after sending him a text. He and Markov were both unable to. 

“Since the Justice League insists on sticking their nose where it does not belong,” Marinette can’t help but be bitter about this whole situation, despite the fact that her frustration with Damian has decreased. “Ladybug and I have created a plan to make full use of your resources while you’re still butting in. I’ve sent a list of which organizations need monetary support. Most are affiliated with mental health.”

“Let’s move onto how you guys as a team can help us. As far as I understand, Batman’s team is proficient in technology and investigation. For the past two years that we’ve actively been on the case, nobody has had those skill sets and been in the long term possession of a Miraculous. The police attempted investigation for the first year, but their evidence and information was largely unhelpful. I will give Damian the Miraculous Communicator that I am in possession of to use his skills with so long as he tells me what he’s doing with it and he uses it while I’m in his immediate vicinity. He can try to find out Hawkmoth’s location on it, perhaps with a greater degree of success that we have been able to.”

She goes through the checklist she made one more time, just to make sure that she didn’t miss anything. She doesn’t really expect anything much to come out of this collaboration, except for the reassurance that the Justice League won’t interfere at the end of the week. Speaking of: “One more thing. I want a notarized agreement that the Justice League will not interfere in Paris, nor will any of their agents of affiliates be sent here if this collaboration doesn’t yield information that is already known.”

“Got a lotta spark in you, don’t you, little mouse?” The vigilante called Red Hood-- the one with a helmet instead of a stupid domino mask-- laughs. 

Marinette scowls. So far, the Justice League-- particularly the vigilantes of Gotham-- have not left her with a stunning first impression. Maybe she’s a little biased,  but they certainly don’t seem to have any respect for her. Still, she only has to work with them for two weeks. “My name is Marinette, but clearly your helmet hasn’t shielded you from the memory loss that frequent concussions have clearly given you.”

“She got you there, dumb ass,” says Red Robin, a grin a mile wide on his face.

“Hood,” sighs Oracle, sounding highly stressed. Marinette decides that she is the most likeable. “Like I said earlier, we want to be on good terms with Marinette.”

“I’ll get you the documents and funds by tomorrow.” Batman’s voice is just as gravelly as the first time she contacted him. She finds that the more she hears him speak, the more pleasant she finds his voice. An acquired taste. “Even if this week is unsuccessful, the Justice League will be more than happy to continue to fund these organizations. Is there anything that Ladybug, Chat Noir, or you need personally?”

“None of us are going to use the Justice League’s funds for personal gain, Batman.” The accusations grates on her. 

“Batman means,” Nightwing shoots a look to the side of his screen. Interesting, Marinette thinks. All of Gotham’s vigilantes are in one location, judging by their backgrounds and the location tags that her communicator provides her. Perhaps they have a headquarters of some sort. Back when there were extra heroes on the Miraculous team, Marinette sometimes wished that they had a location that they could all reliably gather at without revealing someone’s identity. It certainly would have made strategy easier. “That being a hero without any support is difficult. It must have taken a toll on your personal lives. If we can aid in any way, we will. We can excuse absences or hire tutors as necessary.”

“I’m no hero.” But Nightwing’s proposal may actually be helpful. Even though Marinette is making the grades necessary to go to the colleges that she wants, her continual absence and tardies aren’t very flattering. 

Then her mind flashes to Adrien. Can she use this offer to get him out from underneath Gabriel’s thumb? Marinette doesn’t know if she can do that. He’s already in a delicate position-- and already at risk, thanks to the photoshoot earlier today-- and she’s not sure that Gabriel won’t move towards drastic measures if anything changes on Adrien’s end. If she wants to get him away from Gabriel, she may have to reveal his secret identity.

“Ladybug will make the decision for herself; she has access to everything that is said during our meetings. Chat Noir isn’t in the loop about our communications or any of the investigations that Ladybug and I have done. Ladybug says that he’s stressed in his civilian life, which is why his appearances have been decreasing,” Marinette admits. “I’ll leave it up to Ladybug to give your offer to Chat Noir. If I can get a reliable excuse to get out of class or get to class late, that would be greatly appreciated.”

“Chat Noir doesn’t know?” Red Robin sounds horrified. 

“He’s currently a high risk for being akumatized. Ladybug didn’t want to risk it.” 

Red Hood crosses his arms. “So you have more of a job than Chat Noir does in all of these Paris heroics, huh?”

Even if Chat Noir did know, Marinette would have her hand in the pie at least twice as much as him. 

“I wouldn’t say that. I’m just more available than he is.”

“And more trusted than he is,” Red Hood insists. 

It’s not that Ladybug trusts Marinette more than she trusts Chat Noir, it’s that Ladybug is Marinette. But she’s not going to admit that. Not to them, and certainly not until Hawkmoth is taken down. Maybe not even then. She can only imagine the looks of devastation that she’ll get if she does admit that she’s been Ladybug all these years. Her parents will freak out, Adrien will probably feel heart broken and betrayed, and Alya and the rest of her classmates will inevitably rail on either her or Lila or both of them. It just doesn’t sound appealing to her anymore, though she can certainly remember a time not so long ago where she so desperately wanted to expose her identity. 

“You’d have to ask Ladybug that,”  Marinette settles on. She copies and pastes one of the many messages that she has pre drafted and schedules it to send a few minutes later, so Batman’s team receives a communication from Ladybug while Marinette is at the white board. She spent all of last night preparing for this meeting, imagining so many scenarios that she barely slept. The email she’s sending will suggest what Damian should attempt to do with the Miraculous communicator that Marinette has. She adds in an extra comment that she trusts Chat Noir with her life, and that she’ll talk to him about offering him help in his civilian life, but won’t mention anything about the Justice League. 

“Why doesn’t Ladybug just use her own communicator to join in on these calls?” Red Robin asks after receiving her email.

Marinette turns from the white board, where she is listing the past three akuma attacks and where her top three suspects were at each of the times. “There may be magic surrounding her identity, but that doesn’t mean Ladybug wants more time for all of you to try to figure out her identity.”

“Sounds irresponsible of her,” says Red Hood. “Leaving a civilian to do all of the dirty work. Who are those people you have listed on the board?”

Marinette decides to let the comment about Ladybug slide. Red Hood is currently her least favorite out of all of Gotham’s vigilantes, but she has to remind herself that respect is mutual, and Ladybug hasn’t really given them much to go on.

“The top three suspects for Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agreste, the CEO and head designer of Gabriel. Nathalie Sancouer, Gabriel Agreste’s personal assistant of over twenty years. Mikael Bordeaux, CFO of Silverstein and Company's French holdings.”

Oracle takes off her glasses and wipes them. “Sounds like your top candidates are all people in pretty high positions.”

“Agreste,” repeats Nightwing. “Agreste, as in Adrien Agreste? The boy that’s in Damian’s class?”

“The same,” Marinette says, not sure she likes where he’s taking this conversation.

“Hold up,” Red Robin says after a few moments. “Why is it that Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancouer are on your list? Both Gabriel and Nathalie have been akumatized before. That should automatically take them out of the running.”

Marinette shakes her head. “That’s what I thought in the beginning, while the police were still in charge of the case. But based on my understanding of akumas, it’s very possible that Hawkmoth can transform, send out an akuma, then detransform and let themself be akumatized.”

The whole Collector incident was a deliberate ploy to throw her off. She spent at least half a year convinced that Gabriel and Hawkmoth couldn’t possibly be one in the same, despite the fact that he had the Miraculous Tome.

“What about Adrien, then? He’s the only one in your class that hasn’t been akumatized, sans yourselves, he hangs out with the people most likely to cause and become akumas, and has caused a fair number of akumas himself. Besides, he must know it if his dad’s Hawkmoth, which means he could be Mayura or even Hawkmoth himself.” Even if Red Robin presented her this theory before Marinette knew Adrien was Chat Noir, she wouldn’t have believed it. 

“Adrien is not Hawkmoth.” Marinette isn’t sure how to explain how she knows without revealing his alter ego. She can’t tell them that he wielded the snake Miraculous either, because that contradicts her earlier statement that she didn’t know any of the other holders.

“Demon Spawn,” Red Hood says. “What do you think about Adrien? You’ve been in a class with him for the past month.”

Damian finally looks up from Marinette’s tablet, blinking to bring himself back into the situation at hand. “What?”

Marinette scoffs, remembering that he thought that she was Hawkmoth. She’s not upset about it, but she doesn’t trust his ability to discern alter egos-- at least not magical alter egos. “I wouldn’t trust Damian’s ability to read people as reliable evidence to tell whether someone is Hawkmoth or not.

This causes a myriad of reactions from Batman’s team and most of them are surprisingly loud. Red Hood whoops, “Roasted,” while Red Robin laughs and pounds the desk in front of them. Oracle smiles wide, her eyes crinkling. Even Batman manages to draw a smile to his face. 

This makes Damian put down her tablet on the chaise and flush slightly. “I said I was sorry for that.”

Marinette thinks about brushing him off in annoyance but decides against it. Just based on the evidence that he gathered, it wasn't an awful assumption, and the Miraculous magic probably prevented him from even thinking about the possibility that she could be Ladybug, leading him to the next most possible conclusion. “It’s fine.”

In fact, even if Marinette can’t trust Batman and his affiliates with Chat Noir’s civilian identity, she should still try to maneuver Adrien away from his current situation. She can call it in as a personal favor to Marinette, and as long as they have human decency, they should agree to her request. She’s been gathering receipts that detail Gabriel’s systemic abuse of Adrien for years. This is a good opportunity to begin Adrien’s emancipation process. She’s currently on her way to a better friendship with Adrien, and since Batman insists the Justice League has all the resources that she wants, there’s no reason not to take advantage of them. She turns back to the camera. 

“Adrien is not Hawkmoth and wouldn’t know whether his father or personal assistant are. In fact, it would be preferable to remove Adrien from Gabriel’s care; Adrien is in danger of being akumatized because of how awfully Gabriel treats him, and I have the evidence necessary to take him to court. I just need a legal team that’s good enough to go against a billion dollar company.” And time to convince Adrien that he needs to leave. That may be a more difficult task, considering the unending love and forgiveness he’s displayed for matters concerning his father so far. Honestly, sometimes Marinette thinks that he never learned how to hold a grudge. 

“Noted. Let’s come back to that later, though. I want to talk about some other suspects you have on this list you gave us.” Oracle readjusts her headpiece and shoots a glare over her shoulder, presumably to tell the rest of her team to quiet down and get back on task. They certainly have an interesting team dynamic. They’re much warmer to each other than Marinette first expected them to be. They’re certainly closer than she and the Miraculous Team had been, when there still was a team, at least.

Oracle shares her screen. On it is a picture of Andre Bourgeois. “If Hawkmoth is able to be akumatized, then Mayor Bourgeois is one of our top suspects. The Justice League has compiled multiple lists of suspects before we sent Damian to Paris. He stopped a lot of international press for akuma attacks and has caused multiple akumas.”

Marinette frowns. Mayor Bourgeois being Hawkmoth crossed her mind a few times, but she always decided that he was largely incapable and had little motivation. “What are your criteria for deciding who might be Hawkmoth? I highly doubt Mayor Bourgeois is Hawkmoth, despite him stopping the press.”

“We determine how many akumas a person has caused, how much damage the akuma caused to the person’s primary residence and workplace, and how well they’re connected to the people being akumatized. Andre Bourgeois has been involved in the akumatization of slightly more than half of all the akumas that have occurred, so long as we include his relation to his daughter and wife and there has been extraordinary little damage done to the arrondissements that he frequents.”

“Interesting. Share the list with the contact information I sent you earlier. You share some of the same criteria as we have come up with, but you’re drawing the wrong information from what you have. Akumas caused is also one of our criteria, as well as the damage that has been done to the person’s residence. I don’t think that a person’s personal relations play much into who ends up being akumatized, however, there’s good reason to believe that Hawkmoth is in a position of power, or at least well connected. They seem to know what’s happening in the city before it ever hits the news.” Marinette opens a program on her computer, then turns on the projector to display a map with pins. 

“We’ve been interested in the location of primary suspects at the time of akumatization; Ladybug believes that Hawkmoth’s Miraculous power is restricted to Paris. Which means that Hawkmoth needs to be in or close to Paris at the times of all akumas, which crossed Mayor Bourgeois of my list a while ago. He’s been absent for multiple akumas when he needed to go to conferences outside of Paris. The purple dots are Gabriel, the red ones are Nathalie, and the blue ones are Michael. You can see that they’ve all been in Paris every time an akuma occurred and within a ten mile radius of where the akuma was first spotted. That’s quite unusual, considering they’re all in high positions of companies that should typically have them travelling.”

 There is also the little detail that Marinette found the Miraculous Tome in the hands of Gabriel Agreste, but Marinette doesn’t feel safe indulging them with that information yet. If she tells them, they will want to see pictures of the book. 

“How haven’t you cracked this case wide open yet?” Red Robin looks at the screen appreciatively. It’s clear that Marinette spent a lot of time on this.

Marinette bristles. She may have a good amount of information, but her proficiency with technology leaves much to be desired. It took her an unnecessarily long time in order to get the map up and running. “Well, Red Robin, that might have something to do with the fact that neither Ladybug nor I knew anything about how to use technology in the way that was necessary to track him once the police handed over the case in the second year. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that falsely accusing someone as Hawkmoth could ruin their entire life.”

Master Fu warned her against direct actions against anyone on her suspect list. In fact, he outright forbade her from doing anything, and although she no longer takes his words at face value after the many bumps in their relationship, she’s not going to try to ruin any of these people without evidence. Especially not Gabriel, not when he’s Adrien’s father. 

Red Robin frowns. 

Marinette takes a deep breath. She’s too tense. She’s been taking every word that these vigilantes say as something they don’t actually mean. Marinette needs to relax. Jumping to conclusions helps no one. 

Damian’s eyes are on her, and she’s sure he’s passing judgment. She needs to get out of this situation, get out of this headspace. It’s not productive or healthy. 

“I think we should end this meeting now,” Damian says, and Marinette begrudgingly agrees with him. She knows this is his olive branch.

“You were the one who was upset at the lack of time,” Oracle points out. “We don’t have much time. We need every minute we can get.” 

“Marinette has given us plenty of information to digest for one night. We’ll regroup tomorrow and start on coding the programs to determine Hawkmoth’s location.” Damian reaches over Marinette to end the call. 

Obstinately, Marinette refuses to look him in the eyes. She’s been flip-flopping this entire day, and it’s not doing any great wonders for her mental health. Everything’s been coming to a head in these past few days, and it isn’t a good feeling. She can feel the pressure on her shoulders, the expectant gazes of all of Paris to do her duty and expose Hawkmoth, but she feels the weight of the inevitable backlash Adrien will face if her theories are true. 

The past few days feel like three years compressed. People she’s never interacted with have inserted themselves into the fray, and the big leagues have pulled out all the stops. She just talked to Batman and his team. He’s been in the hero game for decades, and she’s in the room with his son, Robin. 

Everything is just too much.

Marinette feels like she’s been a bad Ladybug. Like she hasn’t done enough to find concrete evidence of her primary suspects because she is afraid of what will happen after. She’s half surprised she hasn’t gone into hysterics yet, but then again, she’s gotten very good at holding herself together when everything around her falls apart. The added touch of an outsider makes the fragile balance she’s achieved teeter.

Damian takes her distressed appearance personally and heaves a sigh. “Look, I --I didn’t think that you were Hawkmoth all along, only for a day before everything went down. I don’t know what I wanted out of you, but your friendship was nice. I did genuinely want to be friends with you, and I still do.”

This makes Marinette feel even worse. She’s trying so hard to find fault with Damian-- which is surprisingly easy-- in order to distance herself. She can’t afford to get attached to someone who can hurt her and is likely to hurt her, because an akumatized Ladybug is the last thing Paris needs. But hearing him apologize so genuinely means that Marinette can’t summon up a negative response. She may not be able to say that she truly knows Damian, but she knows that he is a very prideful person. It can’t have been easy for him to apologize to her so openly. An acidic response rests on her tongue for a moment before she pushes it back.

“You were just trying to follow up on a lead. I shouldn't blame you.” 

“But you do.”

He hit the nail on the head. Marinette grimaces, letting her eyes flick over Damian’s hunched shoulders and set jaw. She doesn’t blame him for thinking that she’s Hawkmoth, but she does blame him for getting the Justice League more involved, which makes exactly zero sense if she evaluates the situation logically. Her heart feels like Damian is the element of change; if he never arrived in Paris, Marinette would still have everything under a better semblance of control. It doesn’t matter that Batman said the JLA had been looking into Paris for half a year, and that even if Damian weren’t sent, there would have been someone else.

It’s fitting that in order to move forward, they must break down whatever security that Marinette has built into her life, because life is just cruel enough to mess her up like that. Right now, she’s a wreck mentally, emotionally, and even physically. Marinette can feel her throat closing up. 

“It’s not your fault,” she offers. “And maybe if we get out of our current situation, we can try being friends again. But right now? I-- there’s just too much stress on me, right now.”

Damian understands this, but as he descends the steps of her ladder, Damian can’t help but wish that she felt otherwise.

Omake

“How is it that Mayor Bourgeois is not in your top three suspects for Hawkmoth? He’s stopped a lot of international press about the akuma for the first year!”

Marintte deadpans. “Honestly? The man is way too stupid to ever be Hawkmoth.”

“Haven’t we come to the conclusion that Hawkmoth is stupid though? He couldn’t steal jewelry from two untrained teenagers for years!”

Marinette decides not to take offense at that, and concedes. “Fine, maybe he should be on the list. I’d certainly akumatize Chloe and Audrey Bourgeois if I had to interact with them on a daily basis.”

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will these be regularly scheduled? absolutely not, even though i have the whole thing finished because i get the feeling that i am going to Change Things sooner or later (somebody please smack some sense into me everything in this story goes awfully very soon and the plot goes wonky and AHHHH)