#i just realized Adrien’s collar is up

[nionom-art]

Miraculous Coccinella

Origins pt. 2, pt. 5

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Origins pt. 2 (Episode 2), pt. 5

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[ct-multifandom]

Miraculous s6 Trailers Breakdown

Before I get into it, if it calms anyone’s nerves, I think this poster is a case of questionable graphic design. The weird official render style makes the characters look different from normal, plus Chat, Carapace, and Rena are all squished to match Ladybug’s proportions on the poster. This is an interesting choice from the designer: making the smallest character in the group take up the entire height and corresponding width of the poster and then awkwardly smushing the others in next to her. That’s why Carapace looks more short and stout than usual, and why Chat and Rena are kinda elongated. It doesn’t help that they shrunk Rena to accommodate her fox ears.

I’m liking the little updates to the hero suits. I honestly wasn’t expecting to see change for anyone but Ladybug and Chat, so now I’m excited to see everyone else. I love the changes on Carapace. They took his old, pretty simple suit and added a lot of new textures like the chest plate and wrist guards, and they gave him fingerless gloves and neck speakers. This gives me hope that they’ll update other designs that get criticized for just being a bodysuit with a decal on it like Ryuko and Viperion’s into something more interesting.

Rena is very similar, but her ears are bigger and pointier, the flute has been redesigned, her palms are white now, she has big poppin’ eyeliner, and her tail seems to be dark. Some people noted that they seem to be making Alya’s skin look darker after accusations of whitewashing her, so I hope they’ll finally give Pegasus the same treatment.

I’ve seen people say LB and CN must’ve taken influence from their reverse selves for their current designs, and CN seems to have some PV nods like his new shirt collar. Ladybug’s design feels more mature and is probably a response to criticism of her looking too simple as a character with a fashion interest among other superheroes with more detailed designs.

I didn’t include the poster of Marinette’s outfit, but overall I like it. I agree with people saying the bow on her shirt feels extra, but I like her emonette jacket. Her tights under jorts remind me of Mylene’s outfit, making me wonder if there’s some character influence there, or if they’ll be changing Mylene’s clothes so they don’t look too similar.

First look at Alya! Yay! I love her new haircut. It reminds me of Haru from persona 5. She seems to be wearing the same shirt, which is lame. Maybe the rest of her outfit has changed, or maybe they’re not fixing what isn’t broke. It’s disappointing, though, that Adrien’s outfit looks the same. I can only dream that they’re leading up to a makeover scene where he realizes he’s allowed to pick out his own clothes now, but alas.

Here Adrien is jogging with a new character (?) who has a prosthetic leg. There’s no good look at their face and even this screenshot sucks. If this is the same scene as Marinette with binoculars, then we might be getting a rare moment of a new character being introduced through Adrien rather than Marinette, perhaps someone he knows from rich people stuff or whatever nebulous and dubiously canon sports he participates in.

This frame appears after a camera pan right from a modernized remodel of the school. Before, there were average city blocks around the school, so whatever this is might be part of an expanded campus built for Bustier’s utopian academy.

I think I’ve written in a post before that I hope ML does something to commemorate the Paris 2024 Olympics, so I’m thrilled to see an Olympian akuma in the trailer! Perhaps this character is a celebrity cameo, but idk anything about Team France and its stars. It’s possible this scenario will be a special episode as well, but maybe more like the plastic special than the world specials. I hope they have to beat her by competing in games like Penalteam but with less cheating. It’d be awesome if the other heroes helped represent events that fit their characters. An episode like that would be a fun and light way to introduce the new animation and hero designs without diving into deep overarching drama and lore.

Perhaps the character jogging with Adrien is connected to this episode since they have a prosthetic running leg and seem athletic.

Here’s our first look at Lila’s akumatization. Her mask thing is very pretty and soft looking compared to Gabriel’s sharp, geometric, simple one. It reminds me of a masquerade mask with all the swirls. Maybe there’s some visual symbolism here of Lila being a more complex butterfly user than Hawkmoth. We also see her shooting some sort of beam at CN from the mask, maybe separate from the akuma’s power. I hope they’ll revisit the somewhat-retconned bloodbending power we saw Hawkmoth use on Evillustrator and Pixelator and explore the full extent of the butterfly’s power over their akumas.

Tomoe? Astruc said he wants Kagami to fight her and take her down further down the road, and I believe she may be a bigger villain than they’re making her out to be now. Lila is great and all, but an adult threat who owns a tech megacorp and is one of the only surviving members of Gabriel’s creepy billionaire sentibaby cult seems like a scarier enemy than the pathological liar from class. We don’t know Lila’s deal yet, but I imagine her villain motives are probably something deeply personal. Meanwhile, Tomoe might be trying to reach some greater goal that Gabriel failed to achieve. Both she and Lila practically had all the fruits of his evil labor fall into their laps without lifting a finger, so they might have an interesting dynamic as rival villains or fake allies.

Okay this is from the London special. The synopsis says someone found Ladybug’s identity to take her down, and she and Bunnyx have to solve the mystery and reverse the events. This masked person looks like they may be the enemy, and their design is themed after the rabbit miraculous. People have been kinda assuming that it’s just Lila, but everyone in the audience knows she’s the next big villain right now, so it feels like a cop-out to frame this special as a mystery. It could still be her, and it’s just a mystery to the heroes, but what if the enemy is someone else? If they’re using the rabbit miraculous, Lila wouldn’t have access to it during season 5 unless she stole it somehow and gave it back unnoticed.

My theory is that the villain is Tomoe who got the miraculous from Gabriel. The trailer shows catbug looking in on Adrien and Kagami in their white rooms, so maybe during that time, Gabriel sent rabbit!Tomoe after Ladybug to ensure his victory in the upcoming finale, and maybe she has her own motives as well.

I recall Zag releasing concepts of some hero or spy characters from London a long time ago, and I thought they’d be for the London world special like Eagle and Lady Dragon, but maybe they’re for a different show or got scrapped in favor of focusing on the main miraculous plot (which honestly, good. Please focus on the existing characters)

Finally, poor Nooroo in Lila’s creepy catacomb bunker. I hope her jumpscare reaction at the end of s5 wasn’t just the sight of him. It would feel odd after the latest of Marinette’s hero friends were totally chill seeing kwamis for the first time. He’s in some bubble here. Maybe it’s stopping him from sharing things he’s not allowed to say, or maybe Lila is forcing him to stay put? I’m also curious about the angle and what that metal bar is a part of. Is Lila sitting under a table?

Anyway! TLDR I like the new designs overall and I’m excited to see everyone else. I’m also excited at the prospect of an Olympics episode and I think Tomoe may be the next big villain next to or even surpassing Lila.

[anjuschiffer]

Love is Blind (I'm sorry I took you for granted)

... guess you got to finishing the other prompt @the-coffee-fandom from last year's hanahaki week? This girl :D

Prompt - May 9th: "Don't you think it's time to stop?"

Tags: @toodaloo-kangaroo @vixen-uchiha

-

AO3

Tim glanced at his watch once again, fighting a huff as he finally decided to look at it for the thirtieth time in that hour. 

14:00.

“She’s late.” Tim mumbled, feeling like a complete idiot as he could feel various eyes watching him, eyeing him as he sat by himself at the waiting area right outside the cinema they had agreed to meet at. 

It wouldn't have bothered him, but considering that he had been sitting there for the past four hours…it was starting to get to him. He fumbled with the handles of the gift bag that rested between his fingers.

He decided to take out his phone, the phone buzzing as he did so, his frustration growing when he saw it was just a text from Steph who had asked how the date was going so far. 

He switched back to his previous chat, noticing that Marinette hadn’t texted him back anything in the past two hours. No update, no reply…no apology…nothing.

And yes, it would’ve been one thing if she had been caught in an akuma attack…but she wasn’t and he knew she wasn’t.

After all, the akuma app he had created to notify him of any akuma appearance in Paris hadn’t gone off in two days.

And if it was just her being late due to traffic…well, she usually would tell him when she was five minutes away…

But he knew where she was. She had mentioned it several times before when they had called each other throughout the month and he had hoped she wouldn’t go to it. Or if she did, to at least let him know even though he would be bothered by her decision. 

But it’s been hours and nothing. Not a single thing from-

“Tim!” A voice called out to him, Tim having to mentally calm himself down before he dared to look up, not even bothering to fix the disappointment on his face. “There you are!” She managed to say in one breath, plopping herself right next to him. 

Tim watched as she took a while to semi-catch her breath. Beads of sweat dripped down her face, only then Tim realizing the sloppy outfit she had put on for today. Sure, it wasn’t her usual white top and pink pants but he knew Mari. 

And Mari would’ve never let herself walk out the way she did for a date. 

She would’ve never let herself walk out her house with a messy low bun, an unironed and untucked collared shirt and wrinkled skirt. She wouldn’t have allowed herself to wear mismatching earrings nor take a clutch purse with her. 

A clutch purse was her worst nightmare as she always forgot where she would place it down, even when it came to her own room. 

And to top everything off, Marinette knew better than to let herself walk around with smudged lip gloss.“I’m so sorry! I didn’t think Adrien’s competition would take so long! Nor did I think I would have to remake his banner for the competition this morning! 

I should’ve let you know I was going to be late this morning or during half-time.

But oh how I wished you were there! You should’ve seen the way Adrien-”

“Do you hear yourself?” Tim cut her off, prompting Marinette to shut up. 

She never heard him speak to her that way. He never spoke to her so coldly before. So…annoyed…

She turned to look at Tim, wondering why he was looking at her so angrily.  

She fought herself from frowning.

“I- what did you say?”

“Just, stop.” Tim got up, hating the churning of his stomach, hating the scream that lodged his throat. A scream he wanted to let out so badly at that very moment. “You really aren’t hearing yourself, are you?”

“I-I don’t understand what you-”

“Marinette. You’re late.”

“And I’m trying to explain why-”

“By three whole hours Marinette. Three. And you didn’t at least try to let me know-”

“Tim, I didn’t expect for it to last two whole extra hours. And like I said, I even had to help them make a new banner for the competition this morning. And it’s not like this is the first time I mentioned this.” Marinette defended herself. “I talked to you about this before, remember? I mentioned I was going to support Adrien with the rest of the class at his-”

“We agreed to see each other today Marinette!” Tim finally screamed out, not noticing that this caused heads to turn towards the two. “We had a date that we agreed on a month prior because you badly wanted us to come here together.” Tim reminded her. “You told me you’ve always wanted to go to Claude Monet’s garden and I thought that was a wonderful idea since I’ve never been there either.

We agreed to clear our schedules- hell, you even promised me you weren’t going to make any other plans for today to make sure-”

“But I had to go and support him! The rest of the class-”

“Who cares about the class? Who cares if you didn’t go? 

You could’ve gone to see him once you got home. You could’ve seen him when you got back to school on Monday after break.” Tim took a breath to calm himself down. He was sounding like a broken record and he hated it. “You could’ve called him…explain that you already had plans with someone…

With me.” Tim continued when Mari didn’t speak. “I cleared up my entire week to come and see you and spend time with you. I flew here to see you Mari. Just you.” He looked at the gift in his hand, the handle unraveling with the amount of twisting he had done to it while he waited. “I thought you would be just as excited as I was since we haven’t seen each other in some time…

But…

Was I expecting too much of you?” Tim tried his best to stop his voice from cracking, but decided to just let it go. 

He was tired of all of this. ”Maybe I am, I don’t know.” He stopped himself from draggin a hand down his face or running it through his hair. “Am I asking for too mu-”

“Tim, are you okay?” Marinette dared to ask, causing something in Tim to boil.

“I-” Tim sighed, “I know I live far- I mean.” He let out another long sigh. “I live across an entire ocean and I get it, okay?

Long distance relationships are hard and it’s my first serious relationship in years. Like, literal years…

I’m trying my best to be a good boyfriend to you.” Tim admitted, finally giving in to running his hand through his hair, attempting to calm himself down before he did anything he would later regret.

“And you are! You-” Marinette tried to calm him down but found herself at a loss of thoughts. 

She couldn’t think of a single thing, memories and daydreams of Adrien flooding her head as she tried to think of any memory of Tim by her side. 

“I text you everyday-” Tim cut her off.  “I do video calls, set up future dates whenever you want to do something together, send you things I bought while I thought of you and yet- am I doing something wrong? If I am, just tell-”

“Tim, you’re not doing anything wrong!” Marinette shouted. “You’ve been- it’s just- I need to be there for my friends too.” She ended up saying, biting her tongue when she realized what she had just finished saying. “They need my help and I just can’t say no. I have to-” She stopped when she saw Tim stand up and stand in front of her.

“Marinette, just…just stop.”

“What?”

“Stop making excuses Marinette and just tell it to me straight. Because I’m done hearing all of this.” Tim sternly said, hating the twisting in his chest, hating that he was doing this to her. He hated that he was going to be the reason behind Mari’s soon-to-be heartbreak. “Don’t you think it’s time to stop? To stop all these excuses?”

“You think I’m doing this because I want to?” Marinette couldn’t believe this. 

Did he really think she’s doing this on purpose? Did he really think she wasn’t being serious when it came to keeping a promise to her friends? In being there for them whenever they needed her?

Did he want her to look like a bad friend? “They needed my help, they needed my support and I gave it to them. More so, I had promised Adrien I would-”

“Marinette. We can’t keep doing this.” Tim pointed out, hoping he was doing the right thing. “We can’t keep going if all you’re thinking is about pleasing your friends and wooing Adrien-”

“I’m not wooing him!” Marinette screeched, getting up. “I’m with you, Tim! You’re the one I li-”

“Do you?” Tim questioned her. “Do you actually like me? Or were you just lying to yourself until it became true? Because let me tell you one thing Marinette, I like you. And I always have since the day I first met you at the gala your parents catered for.” He could feel his heart shatter when he saw her surprised at his words.

Was I nothing to you? 

“Tim, I-”

““I like you.” Tim said again, hearing the doubt this time. “Even when you had told me of all your plans you had to try and get Adrien’s attention. 

Even when you started to doubt your feelings towards him.

Even when you kept going to his competitions like today’s. 

When you decided to move on from him. 

When you developed a crush on Luka.

When you dated Luka.” Tim could feel his chest ache with each sentence he finished. “You were in love with someone else and I still loved you and now that I have the chance to be with you…I wonder if waiting all this time was worth it.”

“Tim.” Marinette softly said, feeling tears prick the corners of her eyes.

No. I didn’t mean for things to go this way. I didn’t mean to hurt him! 

Marinette pushed down the lump growing in her throat. “Don’t say things you don’t-” 

“Our schedules barely line up and then when it does, there’s always something else preventing us from getting together.” He cut her off. “An akuma, a family matter, a friend matter…something always comes up and usually…it’s you apologizing to me for not making it or being late…

And that… that makes me feel that loving you was a waste of my time.” Tim confessed, watching Marinette grow silent, tears sliding down her face.

Tim hated that she wasn’t saying anything. He hated that she just stood there. 

Why was she crying when he was the one who was hurting? “Or was I wrong? 

If I was wrong, then tell me.” He begged her. “Tell me I was wrong Mari.”

“I’m sorry.” Was all Marinette mustered to say, wiping away her tears. “I didn’t know you felt-“

“That’s not answering my question, Marinette.” Tim quietly said, looking down at the bag in his hand. “But I’ll take that as an answer to my question.” He placed it next to her. “I guess this will be my final gift to you.” Tim softly spoke, feeling an old pain grow in his lungs. 

Of course it had to come back like this. “I’ll be heading back to Gotham tonight.”

“Tim. Tim, wait!” Marinette called out, getting up and grabbing hold of his wrist only to be flung back, Marinette finding herself sitting back down. “Tim, I-“

“Don’t.” Tim told her, feeling pressure starting to form in his chest. “Don’t say anything…because we both know they’ll just be empty statements…

And I suggest you drop it here.” Tim glanced at the circle that had formed around them, noticing a few having their phones out and recording them. 

How did he not notice them earlier?

Then again, they had raised their voices at each other at some point. “We’ve already made a scene, let’s not continue to make it any bigger than what it should be, okay?” 

Marinette watched as he walked away, the crowd parting for him, his back disappearing from her line of sight. 

When the crowd realized that this was the end of the feud, they started to disperse, a few lingering to see what Marinette would do next. 

Hating the staring and gazes directed her way, she picked up the gift bag he left behind and ran. 

She held in her second round of tears as she ran all the way back home, ready to burst when her father asked her how her date went the moment she stepped into the bakery. 

She somehow managed to avoid the conversation when a customer asked her father a question, using the distraction to get away. 

She scurried to her room, shutting and locking her bedroom hatch. She slumped on top of it, taking in the silence of the room as she sat there. 

Taking in the silence and the stillness around her, feeling the tears run down her face.

Why didn’t she stop him from leaving?

Why did she hesitate?

What was wrong with her?

Why couldn’t she say that she liked him? 

Because you don’t…you never did…

After what seemed like an hour of questioning herself and getting no answers, Marinette finally acknowledged the crinkled pink bag beside her. 

What did he bring her for today’s date? 

A new sketchbook? Some rare fabric? A new hair accessory? Jewelry?

She opened the gift up, tearing up at the sight of the small bouquet in the dome glass. A small bouquet of forget-me-nots stood in the middle, the tiny flowers starting to wither as she stared at them. 

She had only told him once that they were her favorite flowers and that was when they had first met. 

He still remembered…he remembered everything about her…

And yet I casted him aside…like the idiot I am…

She had to apologize. She had to tell him!

She reached for her phone and tried to call, but was sent quickly to voicemail. 

She tried again but kept getting sent to voicemail.

She tried once again when she noticed that the flowers had gotten worse, the tips of the petals slowly rotting away, one of them having already fallen to the base. 

Suddenly, the petals started to fall one by one until one last one remained. A sole white petal stayed on the lone wilted stem of the bouquet. 

The rest were now at the base of the dome, curled up into themselves and dried up. 

She tried calling him again for the entire week, only to be told the number was no longer in service. She tried emailing him but never got a response back. 

She kept trying, even if she knew he was never going to answer.

It wasn’t until a month later that Marinette found out why he wasn’t answering her back. 

“Marinette. Isn’t that…isn’t that Tim?” Sabine asked her one morning as they ate breakfast, Marinette tuning around to look at the television. The spoon in her hand dropped onto the counter. 

“-announced his ward, Timothy Drake, making a full recovery from his unexpected emergency surgery he had just a week and a half ago.”

A short video of Tim waving to the press while sitting on a wheel was shown on the screen. He waved to the press as he was taken from the hospital entrance to his car.

His skin was as pale as a sheet and his eyes were deathly sunken in.

What happened to him?

“The young CEO was rumored to have been on the brink of death after he collapsed in the middle of his speech during last month’s charity gala.” 

A video of Tim suddenly collapsing to the floor and coughing something up was displayed followed by other Wayne members rushing to his side and taking him away. 

Why? How? Why didn’t he tell her that he was sick? Yes, he didn’t always tell her everything about his life, but this! How did he hide something serious like this from her?

“Mr.Wayne announced that while the teen hadn’t always been in the best of health, his health did turn for the worst a month ago, stating the symptoms came out of nowhere. 

According to Mr.Wayne, not much was known about the illness, Mr.Drake’s case was the second case to ever be recorded and hence the long recovery period of the young CEO. 

The very first case was recorded a few years back, where a man by the name of Artym Sidorkin was the very first person to be affected by said illness.

Due to new surfacing of the illness, there was a lot of testing and clinical trials involved -the surgery the young teen underwent- being one of them. Luckily, the surgery saved the teen’s life, letting-”

Marinette drowned out the rest of the news anchor’s story, quickly getting up to retrieve her phone from her room to see if she could reach Tim when a knock was heard at the door.

“Now I wonder who that might be.” Sabine asked, going to open only to be met with Bruce himself standing at the door. “Oh my! You must be-”

“Hello, Mlle Cheng.” Bruce greeted, Marinette noticing him putting on a strained smile. 

She couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes and the poorly applied makeup attempting to hide his eye bags. “My name is Bruce Wayne, and I apologize for taking so long to meet you and for meeting this way. I wish we had met early when our children were still dating.” Bruce missed the way Marinette flinched at those last words.

“When they were still dating? Are you- Marinette…why didn’t you tell me you weren’t with-”

“M.Wayne!” She diverted. “How is Tim? I haven’t been-”

“About Tim.” Bruce started, closing the door behind him. He looked at Sabine and then at Marinette. “How should I say this?” He sighed. “It would be best if you stopped trying to contact him.”

“M.Wayne.” Sabine spoke up. “While I understand that the kids might not be together anymore, that does not you should stop my daughter from-”

“A side effect from the surgery he went under caused him to have amnesia.” Bruce interjected, not failing to notice Sabine’s gasp and marinette’s pale face. “At the moment, he does not recall what happened these past three years, maybe five.”

“Are you sure?” Marinette asked, flinching when Bruce frowned. “I-I’m- I didn’t mean- how do you know he does not recall the past two years? What-”

“After waking up from his surgery, he asked for his girlfriend.”

“He asked for Mari-”

“He asked for Steph.” Marinette froze.

Steph? As in, Stephanie? “That’s correct.” Oh, she said that out loud. “He dated Steph on and off roughly three years ago and if that’s the last person he remembers dating, then-”

“He doesn’t remember me whatsoever.” Marinette concluded, feeling herself go numb. 

I didn’t get to apologize…I didn’t get to say thank-

“But that’s not the reason why I don’t want you to contact him, Marinette.” Bruce placed a hand over her shoulder. “Marinette, I have no doubt in my mind that Tim enjoyed the time he spent with you while the two of you dated.” Bruce started, but Marinette knew that look in his eyes. 

A look filled with wistfulness, of nostalgia…tinted with apologies…

An apology for what he was about to say that may hurt her… 

So, Marinette braced herself. But she knew better than to think she would be able to handle it. “But seeing him ask for Steph, seeing him talk to her like that on the phone for hours…

I haven’t seen him smile like that in years.

Laughter that felt like it came from the bottom of his stomach…

Marinette…” Bruce felt the girl shake under his hand. “He looked happier than he ever did compared to the past year he spent his time with you.”

Marinette let out a sob when she finally understood what Bruce wanted from her. Was this really how it was going to end?

Was this her fate for trampling over Tim’s feelings?

But I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean to!

But she knew what was done was done and there was no turning back.

She let out another sob followed by a wail and then tears. 

She didn’t know when Bruce left, nor when her mother held her tightly in her arms but she did know one thing.

She was never going to find a love like that again…ever…

And it was her own fault for not cherishing it in the first place…

[mae-dwrites]

A Bundle of Heliotropes - Chapter 1 - Marking

| Masterlist | Start: Here <3 | Next |

| Ao3 | Wattpad |

After two people have turned 16 they get a soulmark, a near-exact, or complementary, mark or as some referred to it as a tattoo. This can be anywhere on the person, sometimes they're simple, small, or inconspicuous on occasion. Other times they take up a great deal of space, elaborate pieces of work, their meaning so clear much clearer more often than not.

When Marinette Dupain-Cheng was younger she couldn't wait for her mark. She hadn't cared what it would look like because no matter what it would be beautiful, because this was her way to her one in the Universe.

When she fell in love with Adrien she was sure it was him but slowly felt as though she was wrong as she failed to confess or even have a normal conversation with the blond. Why would the Universe give her someone she couldn't even talk to?

This led to her officially letting him go and giving Luka a wholehearted try, that was until he got his soulmark. Akumas, being Ladybug, and Guardian duties had already been putting a strain on their relationship so Luka getting his mark was just the icing on the cake, and Marinette thought it would be better for them to break up and remain friends.

Marinette spent months of hopeful vs. hopeless, and as her birthday drew near a feeling of dread came upon her. The day came when she woke up with her collar area burning with her mark.

It was beautiful, just below the center of her collarbone a circle resting with elm branches coming from it going across to end at her shoulders. In the circle was a giant ladybug, along with robins sitting on the branches of her tree.

Looking in the mirror left her almost breathless, she brought her hand up to the mark almost scared to touch it. For fear if she touched it would fade the canvas of her skin forgetting what had been.

The only problem was it was far too telling. A ladybug? As if that wouldn't reveal her. She couldn't show this, not without someone realizing what the ladybug truly represented.

She could show Alya, she had told her identity at the beginning of the school year. She trusted her not to blab about it, especially when a few months ago Alya was going through the Ladyblog rewatching her videos and trying to see if any of them could be of help. Then she stumbled upon her interview with Lila to realize that she couldn't possibly be best friends with Ladybug when that was in fact her. She apologized to Marinette when she realized her mistake and how it took her this long even after Marinette had already told her and proved she was Ladybug.

“Marinette!” Tikki’s voice broke through her trance. The Kwami had been admiring her mark, while it wasn't the biggest or the flashiest. It was certainly something to admire. Big and flashy had never been Marinette’s forte, perhaps her soulmate and her had that in common?

“Sorry Tikki. I just,” Marinette glanced into the mirror again looking at the branches and its’ birds. “I can't believe it.” The teen said the last bit breathlessly.

“Guardian, as beautiful as your mark is,” Wayzz floated up. “You’re going to need to hide it. Someone could put it together, even with the quantum masking.”

“Wayzz is right,” Marinette turned to face Tikki as she spoke. “We can't count on the Miraculous magic to hide your identity when a mark so clearly refers to your heroine persona. While our magic is ancient that doesn’t mean it’s entirely dependable either.”

“You're right,” Marinette sighed. “I can show Alya at least. I'm sure she's gonna freak.”

Marinette wore a shirt that covered above her collarbone, unable to wear her usual white tees. She wore a light pink top so that if the shirt got wet the mark wouldn't be seen through the fabric. Marinette had already been making it a habit not to wear her usual whites anyway, with how many times Lila had caused “accidents” that ruined them. It wasn’t like she was dumb enough to keep wearing something that would be affected the worse.

Marinette already knew that Lila would try to say she must not have a soul mate if she wasn't willing to show her friends. Honestly, Marinette could care less about that, as Lila probably wouldn't share hers either when she got hers later this year. Not to mention there were others in the class and friends that had been getting their marks recently and not all of them wanted to share. Also, Marinette might be the younger between her and them, if her getting the mark on her birthday was anything to go by. Which it was.

Marinette made her way downstairs while tying her hair back, over the last few months while she still was late for things she had gotten better at waking up early. It made her friends excited, that's for sure. Marinette was proud, she may not get all the hours of sleep needed for a person her age but at least she started her day earlier.

She grabbed an apple and made her way down the stairs. She didn't want to risk Lila trying to claim she had done something when she was least likely to have. So she made her way as quickly as she possibly could, despite her having more time to get to school; it helped to get there as soon as she could around a certain time. As the more people around to see her the less likely Lila could make her claims.

Marinette passed through the bakery giving her maman and papa hugs and kisses before snatching up croissants into a bag to share with some of her friends. Mainly Alya, Nino, and Adrien of course every morning hung out with her. Many of her other friends would sometimes join them, sometimes they were in a rush or just forgot to grab something to eat.

Everyone mostly “played nice” as Adrien tried to keep it. While Adrien seemed to play peacekeeper along with Alya they both had very different reasons. Adrien being so Lila wouldn't say anything to his Father and risk his freedom, and while they understood that it still hurt when Adrien sometimes took more of Lila’s side in the conversation, even if it was for the sake of “keeping the peace.” Over the months Chloé, Kagami, and Marinette had been able to convince Gabriel to be more free with his son, even Natalie had surprisingly shown support. But Adrien still turned the arguments in Lila’s favor a good chunk of the time.

Alya on the other hand had been slowly sliding more to Marinette, so as to not cause Lila into a fuss. Alya hated it, that much was clear, but it seemed as though Lila didn't notice as long as the Créole teen was spitting articles of her amazing life. Alya had made a separate blog to “support her friend” but what Lila hadn't noticed was that the writer’s name wasn't Alya but a pen name. But it had come to light for Lila that Alya still cared about Marinette and wasn't entirely leaving her. Alya gave excuses, true and false, but we're good enough for the Italian. But Lila taking notice had only been a recent thing.

“Marinette!” Alya shouted as Marinette made her way into the courtyard. Some people turned to see the dark-haired teen make her way to her friend, some of those students happened to be Max and Rose. Score, Marinette couldn’t help but think as it meant if Lila tried to say something they would most likely doubt her, especially if she was with Alya.

“Hey Alya,” Marinette smiled before hugging her best friend. As she pulled away she wasn’t even halfway out before Alya was practically buzzing.

“So?” Alya stretched the word out while bouncing in place. “Did you get your mark? Or is it not there? And if there isn’t one then that’s okay girl! Remember your soulmate could be younger than you and hasn’t turned sixteen yet. And even if you don’t get a mark I won’t think any less of you, it just means that you're free to choose your own destiny and-” and before Alya could continue rambling, something that she had picked up from the Asian girl, that Marinette cut her off.

“Alya! I got my mark,” Marinette laughed before finally letting go of the other girl’s hands. Alya’s face slowly went from blank to pure glee. She grabbed Marinette’s shoulders and shook her, “You. Me. Bathroom. Now!”

Alya dragged her to the bathroom, while others would be upset at the other’s demanding antics Marinette just laughed. Alya pushed the bathroom door open and surveyed the room, “Which stall is empty?”

Some girls gave her weird looks, but those who were friends or knew the girls personally giggled or simply smiled. One of them pointed to the one at the end. Alya declared “perfect” and brought Marinette in with her. Some of the girls said happy birthdays to Marinette while giggling as Alya dragged her into the stall. As Alya shut the stall door it could be heard some girls going “Oh” as they realized why the two went into the stall.

“Show me now girl!” Alya cried, the stall at the end wasn’t as small as the others but it certainly wasn’t one as big as the one closer to the door. Alya had mentioned that her mark might hint at her heroing, as a theory. It wasn’t uncommon for soul marks to represent someone’s work or passions, so it was safe to assume that Marinette’s could reference Ladybug.

Marinette pulled her arms out of her shirt before taking it off, her tank top left a perfect view of the mark. Aside from the straps, it’s not like it really mattered. Alya let out what had to be the loudest squeal Marinette had heard come out of her, and she had let Alya try many Miraculi on just for the fun of it. That sleepover had been the loudest squeals and laughter that came out of Alya to date. Till today that is.

“Are those tree branches? And robins?”

“Yes, and yes,” Marinette said before bringing her shirt back on. “Elms if I’m not wrong. But I studied plants for that one nature-forest-themed fashion competition.”

Alya finally opened the stall back up when Marinette had her shirt situated, and with Wayzz and Tikki away. Alya just seemed to be radiating from excitement. If Alya was the type to jump up and down when excited that would be exactly what she would be doing now. Though Marinette had a feeling it had to do with how nervous Alya was for Nino’s birthday.

Nino’s Birthday was just four days away, Alya’s was last month. She didn't get a mark so she held out hope that Nino would be her soulmate, while being soulmates didn't necessarily mean it was romantic you couldn't blame the girl. As for all they knew, Nino or Alya may have a romantic bond with someone else. With how close they were and how much they loved each other it made sense to be scared of such possibilities.

Marinette was honestly scared hers wouldn't be romantic, not that there was anything wrong with a platonic bond. But for Marinette, it just meant finding someone to have her big house with three kids and a hamster would be much harder.

Marinette subconsciously touched where her mark lay, What if they don't like that I'm the one they're soul bound to?

“Marinette!”

The said girl looked up to see Adrien, Nino, and Kim waiting for her. A smile came on her face as she saw them. Kim waved at her overdramatically before raising a sign that read “Happy Birthday To The Bread Child.”

Alya and Marinette laughed at the sign, it had been a joke between mainly Kim and Marinette that she was “The Bread Child”. When they were in early collège their class had done a project about names and their heritages. From then on Kim liked to joke about her father’s last name.

Her other friends had slowly made their ways into the joke calling her bread-related nicknames. Adrien and Nino were the worst, as they were puns. It honestly made Marinette think their favorite hero was Chat Noir rather than Ladybug.

“Happy Birthday!” Nino and Kim shouted at their long-time friend.

“Happy Birthday Marinette,” Adrien smiled at her. The girl's insides swirled around a little at his smile, it was charming, one of his real ones even. Despite letting go of her crush on him he still made her flustered from time to time.

“Thanks you guys,” she felt a bit embarrassed but she couldn't care. Her friends always made her feel like that on important occasions, but she enjoyed it nonetheless.

“I'm assuming by Alya’s face and that she was practically skipping her way over here that you got your mark?” Kim raised his eyebrows at his short friend. Though most people at Françoise Dupont were shorter than Kim.

“Yes,” her cheeks flushed as she admitted it.

“That's amazing dudette,” Nino said in his usual fashion.

“Can you show us?” Kim looked between the two girls.

Marinette swallowed before opening her mouth to speak, “I don't want to lie to you but I want to keep it myself. I would love to show it but for now, I would like to keep it to myself.”

Marinette looked everywhere but her friends while she said this. They were gonna think she was selfish, or that she hates them when she doesn't! But because they think she hates them they’ll start hating her, and they’ll all leave her. She’ll have no friends because they’ll tell everyone and then she won't ever make friends for the rest of lycèe. Since no one likes her she’ll never get to be a famous and successful designer, and when she finally finds her soulmate they’ll think she’s horrible and hate her because she has no friends and that she's a failure. And then she’ll be alone for the rest of her life. She’ll never get her big house for her hamster and three kids, and-

“Marinette!” Her friend's voices snapped her out of her panicked state.

“S-sorry!” Marinette cried.

“Marinette, it's okay,” Nino said.

“We understand and we won't push you to show us,” Kim pulled Marinette in for a side hug. “We would never hate you for being private.”

“Exactly!” Adrien said with a reassuring smile. “It's your decision. Also soulmarks are very personal things, it only makes sense if someone decided not to share theirs.”

“It’s in your full right to decide who you want to share your mark with,” Alix said from behind Marinette. Marinette would have jumped if Kim hadn't been hugging her right then. “Honestly I don't think I will share mine with anyone when I turn sixteen next year.” Alix admitted before continuing in a joking tone, “Unless it’s something sick like a dragon or snakes. Then I would show that sucker off for all it’s worth!”

Everyone laughed at Alix’s statement before heading to their classroom.

|

When Damian Wayne first didn't get his mark he thought maybe he didn't have one, and he was fine with that. Even pleased one could say. As it would be one less person to care about, to protect, or to be used as a weakness.

His family reassured him that his soulmate probably just hadn't turned sixteen yet. Truly that didn't, as the League had certain beliefs around the topic. All Damian saw was that it was the Universe giving him that one person that anyone could use against him.

Lo and behold they would be right; just a few months later would he wake to his shoulder blades burning as a mark finally made itself upon his body.

Damian looked at his back with the mirror in his bathroom. It was…magnificent. It was the only word that could come to mind that held everything he felt about it, the young Wayne couldn't help but look at it.

A circle between his shoulder blades with tree branches that went across his shoulder blades and stopped just as it went to wrap around, clearly cherry blossoms were the branches that came out, ladybugs in flight or resting in the branches. While it made no sense it was still a beautiful sight. In the circle was a robin, its back to the viewer and its head turned up so you could see its face, as best you could with how the view of the mark portrayed it.

Damian swallowed, his body showcasing the form of nervousness without his consent. He couldn't help it though, looking at made his chest tight and his fingers flinching, desperately wanting to touch the mark. His arm made its way up and his hand came down-

He clenched his jaw as he turned his hand into a fist and brought it away. He huffed leaving the bathroom, and his face became a scowl. As he got dressed two parts of him berated him. He took a moment to calm himself, it’s just a mark. But it wasn't like a regular tattoo, it couldn't come off.

It was one of the reasons you, internationally, couldn't get a tattoo until you were eighteen, because you were one: a minor. And second, you didn't get your mark until you were around the age of sixteen to nineteen. At least that was the average range of the current day, there were some larger age differences here and there, but it wasn't as common now. Guess the Universe seemed to catch on to how humans had been viewing age differences in recent times.

Damian didn’t understand why the Universe had decided that soulmates would be part of the staple of its rules. An absolute that had become the conclusion long ago that no matter what you were bound to meet your soulmate, in one life or another. At least that was according to magic users and what the League had from hunting down certain magic users.

So under no circumstances could his family find out about this mark. He may have come a long way from who he was when he was ten years old but even still he did not wish to entrust them with everything. While they were family, his most trusted, and partners, he couldn't stand them over insignificant things. This mark did follow under the file: “Keep Out Of Knowledge For Long As Possible.” or as he formally called it “My Business.”

It was his business, and as it was his business it meant his brothers would poke and pry their way into said business. Damian stifled a groan as he made his way down the hall. Damian could only hope his brothers would stick to their recent “level 1: giving space” tactic, but that would only last for so long. He might as well enjoy the peace that came with it.

“Damian we're going skating after school!” Grayson exclaimed upon the young Wayne entering the dining room.

As much peace that would come with the level 1 space.

-

Being Tagged is always an option.

[idontknowanametouse]

Miraculous Rewrite AU Chapter 5: Loverbug (Antibug)

(SO SORRY FOR THE HIATUS WRITER BLOCK KILLED ME AAAAAAA)

(Loverbug design inspiration by @glitterpensupremacy)

(long post under the cut)

(tw/cw: slight internalized homophobia)

-Wanna sit next to me?

Chloé blinked at the girl in front of her. She was going to sit there anyway, but shrugged:

-Okay, sure.

She sits down, and the red-haired girl next to her says:

-My name is Sabrina, what's yours?

-Chloé.

-Are you new?

-Yeah.

-I can be your friend, if you want.

-…seriously?

-Yes.

-…thanks.

-

When she woke up in the middle of the night, the first thing she did, only half conscious, was call her.

-Huh? Chloe? – Sabrina murmured from the other side. – Did something happen?

-…I can't sleep. Sorry to bother you, but… can you talk and stay with me for a while? …sorry… I… shouldn't have called…

-No, no problem. What do you want to talk about?

-

-Do you want to go out after school? – Sabrina asked, smiling at her.

-Huh? Do you want to… go out with me? Together?

-Yeah, you're my friend. We are friends, right?

-…yes…

-So, let's go!

-

-…um… – Chloé mutters, frustrated.

-What's the matter? – Sabrina's voice is low due to the fact that they are in the library.

-I can't understand this biology shit…

-Do you want help?

-No, it's okay, I can do it alone.

-You sure? – and tilted her head, some red curls falling over the lenses that enlarged her blue eyes. Chloé hesitated for a moment.

-I have.

-Ah, okay then. Anything, you can ask me, okay? – and smiled.

-

-Are you sure it's okay for me to be here? – Sabrina asks from behind the screen.

-Of course! My parents are out and none of the employees will question it. If anything, they'll be happy that I brought someone other than Adrien here! – and came out from behind her screen. The short, yellow dress is tight at the skirt and has a fuzzy white collar. – What do you think?

Sabrina's head appears from behind the screen and she opens her eyes wide in admiration.

-Oh! You look beautiful!

-Y-you think so? I mean, of course! Of course! – and tries to hide the slight blush that appears on her cheeks. – And you, aren't you going to come out?

-Ah, I don't know if it was good…

-Nonsense! Come, let me see here!

-Um, okay… – and she showed herself. The satin dress was light green and full of ruffles. It wasn't one of Chloé's favorites, but…

-My God.

-W-what? What it was?

-You look like a princess!

-R-really? – her pale cheeks flushed and she ran to Chloé, hugging her and burying the blonde's face in her chest. The rich girl couldn't help but feel her heart racing suddenly. – Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! You know, you're the first friend I've felt comfortable with! I love the girls at school, but I'm always so nervous around them, but everything's fine with you!

-Um… you're welcome… – Chloé murmurs, without realizing that she wanted that moment and that hug to never end.

-

-Chloé? You ok?

-…I know you heard about me in class today, there's no need to hide it.

-…yeah, I heard it.

-I was trying to help. Just that.

-Uh… how, exactly? I didn't want to, but I'm judging a little.

-Remember how I gave advice about how your mom should go on a date with that guy?

-I remember, but what about… oh!! Oh… – and, with a look of understanding on her face, she sat down next to her. – You wanted to help him with the date and it ended up going wrong?

-Yes. And now the whole class hates me. Excellent…

-Adrien doesn't hate you.

-Yeah, but they've been my best friend since we were six years old, they can't hate me.

-I don't hate you either.

-…oh. That's… very nice of you.

-You're a nice person, Chloé.

When she went to sleep, Chloé lay awake for a long time thinking about it.

-

-How was the first month of school? In a… general analysis? – Chloé asks Adrien on the phone, while taking care of her cuticles.

-It was incredible! The best month of my life! I didn't even know it was possible for someone to actually feel this happy! - ouch. That one hurt.

-That… is a bit worrying… but I'm glad you liked it! I'm loving it too!

-Don't they hate you because of that misunderstanding?

-Who cares about their opinion? What comes from below doesn't reach me, as they say! But tell me, Adrien… do you like someone? A crush, so to speak?

-Ah, no, not like that! And you?

-Neither! Even though people fall for me, obviously, I haven't fallen in love once!

-Do you know what it's like to fall in love?

-…no, but you don't know it either!

-I have a list of things here that show whether you have fallen in love or not.

-What are they?

-Thinking about the person, listening to everything they say, appreciating them, nervousness around them, wanting to look good around them…

Chloe froze.

-Um… Adrien…

-Uh?

-I… have to hang up now, okay? I'll see you in class tomorrow, kiss you, love you.

-Kiss you… I love you too.

As soon as the phone hung up, Chloé got out of bed and did what she always did when she panicked: she started walking in circles. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. She was in love with Sabrina. Like, really in love with Sabrina. And that wasn't good at all.

She should have been perfect. She was always perfect! Liking a girl isn't perfect, not at all! Her mother would hate her! Shit, she hated herself! And even if there was no problem, the rest of the class hates her because of that thing at pont des arts! There would be no way for her to date Sabrina if all of the girl's friends hated her, right?! What should she do, what should she do, what should she…

Her train of thought is interrupted when she sees a butterfly. A black butterfly.

No… she stumbles backwards, falling to the ground, her entire body shaking. Not that, please… otherwise… they'll never stop hating me…

-

Marinette's day was going excellently!

Sure, the day itself was normal but relatively pleasant, and now, while rummaging through her Ladybug costume, she discovered that she had an option to create noise-blocking phones in her ears! Furthermore, she had managed to release a thing that obscured her eyes and had the same effect on her vision as sunglasses! This would really help with her sensory issues!

Suddenly, however, they are interrupted by a vibration in their yo-yo. Remembering that it also works as a cell phone, they pick it up and slide the screen to see what was happening. The new civil defense alarm was sounding: AKUMA ALERT, and, next to it, the location of the akumatized woman herself and a video of her.

She wore a red and black doll dress, black tights, red heels, a red scarf, a black face mask shaped like a broken heart, black gloves, and her hair was white and moved like tentacles. Honestly, if it weren't for the situation, Ladybug would have found her really cute.

Suddenly, they feel a familiar presence at their side: their partner. When they turn around, however, Chat Noir looks more worried than usual.

-Chat? You ok? – She frowns.

-Yes, but… I think I know who she is.

-Who?

-Chloé.

-Oh.

-We better go soon.

-Yeah, you're right.

With that, they both left towards the address mentioned there.

As they traveled through Paris, Ladybug continued looking at the news to see if she could get any more information about the akumatized girl. Apparently, with her power, she invoked an emotion and was able to see the memories related to that feeling in the people around her. It wasn't the most destructive power in the world, but it could be quite dangerous when it came to the two of them and their civilian memories. Better avoid getting hit. She also didn't seem to be very violent or physically strong, which was good, making Ladybug call the talisman to start thinking about a plan.

It was a tamagochi.

Ladybug was almost frustrated by how easy and simple it was.

-The item is her cell phone, right? – Chat asks as they pass a flying pigeon.

-Ah, it's definitely the cell phone.

-What do we do, then? What's the plan?

-It's so ridiculously simple that I'm embarrassed that it's mine.

-…wait, what?

-Do you know how to hurl well?

-…I do?

-Good, because I don't. We're going to stay out of her reach, you're going to throw the tamagochi in her lap and, in the second she gets confused, I'll wrap the yo-yo around her and you can use cataclysm on her cell phone. Quick, easy and free.

-…this one is actually quite simple. Even I could think about it.

-I know.

And… well, there isn't much mystery this time or anything that makes the plot more interesting. They do it, and it works. The damage caused by her was also almost nothing, so the miraculous ladybug never had a day off like this. Once the ladybugs fix everything, Ladybug approaches Chloé (it really was her) and asks:

-You ok?

-Yeah… but… was I akumatized? – She looks confused. This is already normal at this point.

-Yep.

-Ah… thank you for saving me… – she seems to mumble and starts walking away.

-Hey, wait! Do you want help getting home?

-NO! I don't need your help!! – she says, irritated, and leaves.

Ladybug is outraged.

-But how does she have the nerve to talk like that after we saved her?! I'm outraged!

-She's just like that, my lady. – Chat sighs, and then says: – Look, give her a chance. She almost never does these things on purpose. It's not her intention.

-…ok. I'll give her a chance, but only because you're so nice!

-You are very nice, my lady. – they laugh.

-

-Hey! – exclaims Chloé, giving her best fake smile.

-Hi, are you… are you okay? – asks Sabrina.

-Of course, why the question?

-You never smile like that, and yesterday I saw what happened, so… – this makes Chloé deflate.

-You saw it in the news, right?

-Yeah… is everything okay?

-Okay… it was for a reason… pretty stupid, actually… - and she handed something to Sabrina, feeling her face blush profusely. A ring box. A very fancy one.

-Chloé…?!

-I know it's out of the blue and you'll probably hate me, but… do you want to go on a date with me?!

-…Yes! – and a smile lights up her face.

-Wait, seriously?!

-Yeah!

And, truly this time, Chloé smiles.

-

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE HIATUS I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY *dies of shame* Ok. So. Writer's block caught me, huh. And I also couldn't force myself to consume MLB content, so... yeah, it was a hard time. But I'm back! And will try to keep up with the chapters! I promise I will do my best, I really like this story and want you all to see what I got planned! As for the chapter, sorry it ain't that good. I tried to focus more on Chloé's feelings and how she handles stuff that are out of her control (very badly). Also, I tried my best as an aro person to show her crush in Sabrina and make it cute. Next one will be Lady Wi-Fi, which I'll try diving more into Alya!

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So, I can take the plot with Adrien, Kagami, and Chloe in two directions with my own rewrite.

A. Their parents are bad, and they need to recognize that.

B. The sentikid theory.

Don't know what to do.

There's no right answer here. The best choice is going to depend heavily on what you want to do with your story. I can give you some things to think about, though!

In my opinion, the senti stuff is only a good fit if you really want to focus your story on that plot point. It's just too big a deal to be a minor subplot. If you want to do it right, then it will dominate the story or at least dominate an arc of the story. Things to keep in mind if you go this route:

The way you use the peacock pre-reveal will heavily influence how serious this plot point is. No dead sentimonsters? Serious, but not too serious. Lots of dead sentimonsters? Super serious. You're going to need to address that.

You probably want to establish clear rules for what a sentimonster even is. What does it mean to bring an emotion to life? Are their limits to what a sentimonster can be? How much control does the creator have over the creation?

Consider giving them superpowers. I cannot believe that we have 3 magical construct children and they're somehow just normal kids. That is the most boring way you could play this concept. At the very least, they should be near indestructible.

Figure out how you're going to handle the whole slave collar thing as that will effect the overall tone of the piece. If they're forever a slave, then the ending will always be at least a little bittersweet. If they can break free/become real, work to establish that very clearly even if it's just subtle hints.

If you go the normal sucky parents route, then you have a lot more room to work with. Realizing your parents kinda suck can be a subplot that's woven into the narrative without dominating the narrative or it can be a major focus. It's also something that doesn't need a clear resolution because there often isn't a resolution to parent-child conflicts. It can be as simple as these characters accepting that they had a messed up childhood or as complex as these characters confronting their parents/going through therapy/etc. The options are endless, but you probably want to pick a general path before you really dig into the narrative as it will effect how you let things play out.

Good luck with your writing and I hope that helped!

[monochromaticwriting]

So I accidentally deleted it, I'm so sorry.

Anyways, I'm gonna try and put up what I remember, because I didn't write this down before hand. 😮‍💨😥

As previously stated, Machiel and Draculisa (Mathlisa?), and baby Alucard.

The air and ground were cool against Joachim's skin. The moon shone brightly, illuminating those under her gentle glow. This was a freedom that Joachim will never take for granted. It was freedom that had been taken from him, long ago. Of course, there had been another with him in the iron clutches of Walter's ownership.

A stranger that came through the portal Walter had summoned. He called himself Gabriel, and became Walter's newest obsession. Gabriel was a quiet man, who tried not to cause any issues or fights. A gentle giant in Joachim's eyes. He was so nice to Joachim, staying between Walter and him, just to keep Joachim safe. He wanted to give the man the world after everything Gabriel did for him.

Then Mathias came into the picture. Mathias was arrogant, vain, and prideful. Everything that Walter wanted in a pet. Walter's grip loosened more on both Gabriel and Joachim, in favor of the new man. Gabriel had expressed his worries about the new man, but Joachim didn't care. Why should he, when Mathias was drawing Walter's attention away from them, making it easier for them to sneak around to each other.

Walter got suspicious though, and poor Gabriel. The collar got tightened around his neck, and he was tied to the throne. Joachim got sent out where the Belmont boy would fight him. A fight he had no chance of winning. He remembered pain and feeling ashamed, left on that dirty floor in his own blood.

Then Gabriel was there. He couldn't understand him, but Gabriel dropped some of his blood into his mouth, and oh, did it burn. It hurt so bad, but he didn't have the strength to fight it. He didn't remember much, other than hearing Gabriel beg him to stay awake and to not leave. He was tired and just needed a nap.

He wasn't aware of what happened after that. According to Gabriel, his blood brought him back, but as a zombie-like beast. Joachim had asked him why he hadn't left Joachim in the collapsing castle. Gabriel looked at him like he just tore his heart out and only held onto Joachim tighter. Gabriel didn't need to answer. What they had was strong and enduring. He realized he would happily walk through hell for this man.

Mathias had been the one to cure him of that state. He was too out of it to pay clear attention, but Mathias told him that he used devil forgery to bring Joachim back. He wasn't sure what that was then, but he had a vague grasp on it now.

Their relationship was rocky, especially at first. Joachim wasn't sure how to feel about Mathias at first, but he trusted Gabriel's opinions on him. It was slow, but the bond the three built together made them inseparable. Well, almost inseparable.

He looked over and saw Mathias setting up the picnic, as Gabriel was playing wrestling with a little Dhampir prince. A smile made its way to his face. Mathias' wife, Lisa, was walking around ensuring to help her husband and Gabriel as much as she could.

Mathias had met Lisa during an outing to a village for materials for his alchemy. He had been smitten with her almost instantly, and had tried to visit her as often as he could. This sparked a heated argument between the husbands.

Joachim feared that Mathias and Gabriel were only with him to fill in the spots of their late wives. Mathias had feared that his impulsive decision towards a stranger, had costed him everything he had known for the past five hundred years. Gabriel feared that he would lose the only loves he's had since his beloved Marie.

They had worked it out, but there were a lot of tears involved. He was glad they gave Mathias their permission to pursue Lisa though. That led to a beautiful wedding, and a lovely little Dhampir prince. A little prince that made eye contact with Joachim and called him over.

"Papa! Look! I caught ætta!" Adrien called, as Gabriel pretended to be pinned under the four year old. Joachim chuckles. It was Adrien's fourth birthday, and all he wanted was a night picnic with his dads and mom. Who were they to deny the boy? Standing up, Joachim walked over to help Gabriel with the boy.

Gosh, four years old already. He remembered when Lisa announced her pregnancy to them. Gabriel was instantly helping her with as much as he could. Mathias took some time, and talk with Gabriel, before he was fully on board. Joachim was still unsure, until the day Adrien came into their lives. Gabriel handed the little bundle of squirming flesh and fuzz to Joachim, and he finally understood. He was so delicate, not even having fangs yet, but man did he have a set of lungs. Many sleepless mornings and nights were dedicated to the babe.

It was worth it. Joachim had a family he could call his. Something he never thought he would have. A little bizarre family of three vampires, a human woman, and a Dhampir.

[gentil-minou]

Trick or treat!!! 🎃 👻 🧙‍♀️

Hello friend!!!

Here's a deleted scene from the adrinette zine fic I wrote where Adrien gets jealous of the cat Marinette adopted WHICH I JUST REALIZED I NEVER POSTED ON AO3 FUCK SKJFSHFXGHJFSGHJ

The one saving grace of Parisian sewers is its relative peace and quiet. No civilians or bloggers, no cameras or gossip. Just sewage and a gross smell that, frankly, is forgotten after a while. Especially when at this moment, all Adrien can allow himself to notice is {placeholder for smelly smells} Indeed, the stench is all but forgotten  And right now, Adrien loves the sewers, especially with his lady pressing him against the walls, lips gliding over his even as the last of their transformation falls away and the magic is drowned out by the echo of her sighs. He barely even notices their kwami flutter away, too enthralled by the sweet softness of his girlfriend (his girlfriend! What a thought!) and the faint sensation of her petite fingers tickling against the collar of his shirt.  Yes, though many might disagree he thinks this corner is the most romantic spot in all of Paris. At the very least, it’s theirs. So when Marinette pulls away, a distracted wrinkle between her brows and plump lips in a frown, Adrien is somewhat taken aback.  Surely, after these past weeks he wasn’t that bad of a kisser? Right? Maybe? But before he can ask, bright blue eyes that manage light up the dark sewers and his entire world blink up at him and say, “Did you hear that?” Adrien, who isn’t at all distracted by thoughts of how absolutely adorable she is, elegantly replies, “Huh…what?” She smiles fondly at him and shakes her head. Lifting her hand to his chin and guiding him to look towards the right. “That sound, chaton.” In his civilian form it takes a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but he can still hear the sound of something scratching against the walls Except that scattering, haunting yowl bouncing off the walls. Im no scaredy cat Marinette I never said you were chaton Grumble grumble you implied it

and then they find a little black kitten and adrien gets jealous but its a very sweet fic i swear

this was a very rough rough draft before i realized there was no way i could keep this scene to fit with the word count but i kept it because i was like one day i will post the zine fic to ao3 and i can add it as a treat BUT THEN I FORGOT TO POST IT SDKJGHSD

[madefate]

Oh, this is bad. Categorically, by the book definition bad. Adrien presses a hand to the collar of his shirt where Plagg is tucked in, even more exhausted than himself. It's been an interesting transition, not being forced into hiding after a single Cataclysm, but the balance isn't always something he gets right. And right now, he needs more than just the emergency Camembert stash to get him back in the fight.

Clearly, the end of Monarch - Hawk Moth, whoever he really was - hasn't stopped the akumatizations. Whoever snatched Nooroo from them is relentless - clearly trying to tire them out. And it burns that it seems to be working. He lost sight of Ladybug a few blocks ago, and fierce protectiveness has him itching to get back by her side. Is there anything he can even do in the meantime - ?

The ground under his feet explodes, and Adrien only has Chat Noir's reflexes to thank that he jumps in time - only swept up by the concussive blast and not the shrapnel that used to be the sidewalk. But he doesn't even have time to form a coherent thought about what to do before his momentum is suddenly stopped and he's on the ground again.

❝ What - ❞ Hesperia ?? Is something else going wrong - thank every lucky star that he play off his alarm as shock as his mind frantically catches up with the fact that he's not Chat Noir - he's Adrien Agreste right now. - A civilian who's realizing that if he does as instructed, he's going to lose sight of both heroes still in the fight

He catches the tail end of Hesperia's - confusion ? He looks a little shaken himself, but Adrien can hardly blame him. As he gets to his feet, he instinctually moves them deeper into the alley, away from the sounds of destruction. ❝ I - right. Thanks. Thank you - but I - I'm okay. Really ! ❞ An idea strikes him, eyes wide and earnest, and he doesn't realize that he forgets to sound properly surprised at the sight of a new Miraculous holder. There's still a way he can help. ❝ I haven't seen you on Ladybug's team before - let me guide you. I can get you back to her way faster. ❞

@madefate requested a hero

"It's alright-- I've got you." Hesperia had acted without a second thought, having seen a civilian get flung by whatever akumatized villain was attacking the city.

Looking down he was met with the face of his son. Not his son. The Adrien of this dimension.

Damn. Damn damn damn it all!.

"Adrien." He muttered, taking in for a moment the drastically different hairstyle and features of his estranged son's counterpart. Landing gracefully by an alley he set the boy down.

"You are safe now, young man. I am Hesperia, a friend of Ladybug." His tone was stiff, forced. For a man actively deceiving the most powerful person on his planet, Gabe was a terrible liar. "I suggest you get to safety. We will handle this villain."

[nataliewritez]

Bro... so yk the whole sqeak in court thing with the leaf we talked about?

What if that was.. before miles and nick got to realize they were ticklish?? But miles remembers from back when they were kids??

And he's all like

"Wright, are you okay? Are you sick? You seem quite red." Genuinely concerned, but then that turns into a ticklish discovery of sorts >:3

Lying Lawyer || Ace Attorney Tk Fic

A/N: AAAAA ADRIEN!! yes yes it's the most amazing conversation we had ever in discord kajxjejd ace attorney will always be one of my biggest hyperfixations!! hope you enjoy!!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Inside the court, it grew more and more intense as the trial went on, despite it just starting 30 minutes ago. As it went on, Maya couldn't help but notice a leaf was stuck at the edge of Phoenix's collar when he ducked down to grab something to testify against Edgeworth's accusation. She meerly went and took the leaf off, but whilst she did that, her and the court's eye's widdened as he let out a shriek.

"Wright? What is the matter?" The judge asked, Phoenix turned to see Miles try and piece together in his mind for what got him to make that noise, "No, no! I simply saw a spider and jumped was all!" He waved off, smiling nervously. His cheeks grew increasingly red, and his mind was racing so fast that it was blurred, Miles had still been working the gears in his head, before a sudden smirk placed onto his face. Phoenix attempted to continue the trial, only to mess up each try, so Edgeworth interrupted, "Judge, sorry to interrupt but I think we need to call in a break." He said formerly, the judge had nodded and clanked his gavel down, "A 15 minute break will be insued, I trust Wright will gather his thoughts back, no?" He asked, earning a quick nod as they all were dismissed.

As Phoenix reached the back of a private room, he took the moment to think, only to yelp when Miles had him against the wall, he had his hands pinned between his underarms so he couldn't slither away, his strength drastically higher than Phoenix's, "I know there wasn't any insects in that court, Wright, so, I thought back as to what would make you make a noise like that, just to have some.. childhood memories." The same smirk from earlier enlaced his facial features, his hand clawing at his side, whenever to went to squirm to the other side, his other hand would catch it and claw there too, only for the process to repeat until he was using Edgeworth's shoulder's to try and keep himself held up, his laughter piling up in the back of his throat.

The tickly memories of when they were kids, having turns in tickling eachother, but whenever Edgeworth did this move? It always meant he wasn't going to escape until he got his answers. "IhiHIhihit was n-noho-GAHAH!? WAIT! WAHAHAHAIT!" Guffawed the blue suited male, his entire body falling to the floor, unfortunately, Edgeworth had started to knead against his hip's while he was distracted, making him get in this position. "Wright, you know how much I feel about liars, I find it insulting that you'd dare to lie infront of my face." His face and voice was blunt, but they both knew it'd still fluster the other badly, making him snort, "IHI KNOHOW! JUHUST- BWAHAH! MEHERCY!"

"You know how to make this stop, Phoenix." Claimed the other, shaking his head tauntingly, only to barely hear the whine Phoenix's had emitted from it, "Oh? Does every little move I make fluster you?" He asked nonchalantly, his smirk widdening as he nodded helplessly, "OKAHAY, MAHAYA TIHICKLED ME, THAHATS IT! I SWEHEAR!" Edgeworth could hear the truth lace his voice, as he stopped, he couldn't help but scoff and chuckle at him, "How childish, see you back in trial." He waltzed off, listening to Phoenix scramble to get up and get back himself, fixing his slightly messy look.

As they entered the room, the judge looked over, "Is Wright feeling better, Edgeworth?" He asked, Phoenix physically quivering when he saw him grin, "Oh yes, he was just tickled pink, nothing serious." He winked at Phoenix, earning a scowl, "Great, let the trial continue." And with that, Phoenix had to suffer through this embarrassing moment for ages to come.

[writer-rider-flirty-thirties]

Ooooh 51: “What the hell are you wearing?”

Feel like this is a good one for Chloe x Marinette 👀

Oh? I'll give it a try!

------------------

It all started with a commission.

Well… a lot of commissions. 

One random Friday evening, Marinette had checked her blog to find that she’d been commissioned for twenty - TWENTY - blouses in varying colors from one of her palettes jokingly named ‘girlfriend material’ by Alya. 

‘It’s just a cute name for it!’ Her best friend had said in the moment. ‘Maybe Adrien will see you in it and think the same thing: she is girlfriend material!’ 

Marinette hadn’t felt like arguing - as Adrien had been the furthest thing from her mind lately due to all the akuma attacks - and had typed the name into the website as a placeholder. She had planned to change it eventually but she’d forgotten and the site went up so there was no turning back. 

She had been sure with a name like that, no one would ever choose the colors, but here she was: sewing together twenty - TWENTY - blouses using those very colors. 

Interesting. 

Marinette wondered who would want so many shirts like this. What kind of person would bulk order them? Were they presents? Were they going to be like stocking stuffers at this person’s next Christmas party? Were they presents for someone’s twenty different lovers for Valentine’s Day?

The possibilities were endless and Marinette reasoned that she shouldn’t worry about it too much: once these were shipped off there was no way of knowing what would happen to them and she shouldn’t be thinking about shirts she would never see again…

… Except she was seeing them again! 

Day after day, Marinette found herself looking at the blouses that had taken her weeks to design and put together. And she knew they were hers because it matched her design down to a tee! And while she wasn’t unhappy to see her merchandise being wore out in public, she was surprised to see it at school…

On Chloe! 

Chloe of all people?

Had Chloe been the one to commission her? If so, why hadn’t she said anything? It was very unlike her not to boast about being the one to put money in someone’s pocket or even make fun of Marinette’s clothes to her face. 

But Chloe said nothing. 

Day after day, she wore the shirts to school, the group hangouts, when she was out at lunch with her father, the mayor, and even on her Instagram. 

It all confused Marinette so much that on this particular Friday when Chloe walked into homeroom wearing one of the blouses - the only one with a splash of yellow around the collar to accentuate the black - Marinette couldn’t stop herself.

“What the hell are you wearing?” 

The question sent the room into a shocked silence and everyone watched as Chloe slowly turned to Marinette. “What was that, Dupain-Cheng?”

Gulping, Marinette stood up from her seat. “I asked what you are wearing?”

A tiny smirk lifted her glossy lips and she sauntered over to Marinette. “If you’re asking about my shirt, Dupain-Cheng, then I’ll tell you. I’m wearing a design by one of my favorite designers.”

Marinette’s mouth went dry. One of her favorites? “Really?”

“Mhm. I even used Daddy’s credit card because, once I saw it, I couldn’t resist. I had to buy twenty of them.”

So Chloe really had bought them! And she knew that it was Marinette who made them! But… “Why?”

Chloe’s eyes glittered and Marinette gasped as she felt the blonde’s fingers across the back of her hand. “I was tired of beating around the bush. I wanted the designer to know that I’m serious and that I’m just like her shirts.”

Gulping, Marinette felt a blush on her cheeks. “You’re just like her shirts how?”

Leaning in, Chloe’s breath tickled her ear. “I’m also girlfriend material.”

With that, Chloe winked before proudly walking back to her seat, keenly aware of the blushing  and overthinking mess she had made of her classmate.

A classmate who was quickly realizing that she would very much like to find out if the blonde really was girlfriend material herself.

[ladybeug]

(2) Ladybug scooped up the black cat by its belly, swinging it gently into her arms. "Look at you," she cooed, as he meowed loudly. - If you'd like to share! :)

This is..... listen, I know its embarrassingly on brand for me but, this is another adrien-turns-into-a-cat thing.

It's not even the same as my usual au, it's got a different story and different rules. Mainly adrien can't talk as a cat he just meows and does his darndest.

I threw it together like 6 months ago and stalled out writing the end because it was going to be too much action and plot and I couldn't be bothered. maybe someday I'll finish it, I have a vague memory of where I was going, but I also think it needs some tightening up if I want it to be a whole story.

ANYWAYS here's the beginning of it, under the cut:

Ladybug scooped up the black cat by its belly, swinging it gently into her arms. "Look at you," she cooed, as he meowed loudly. "Yes, I know," she said, replying to his wailing sounds.

You DON'T know!!! chat noir thought furiously, meowing louder.

"What do you want?" Ladybug murmured playfully, shifting him in her arms so she could pet his head. "Are you lonely? hungry? Hard to get a meal out on the streets?"

He was both, but he had bigger concerns. It's me!! Ladybug!! Help!

"I don't know if it's safe to feed you," Ladybug said. "Do you have a collar? Who do you belong to?"

You!!!!!! Help!!!!

"No tags, huh?" She tutted. She ran her hand over his head again, and he butted up into it, trying to communicate SOMETHING. Anything. Help! Don't put me down! Pay attention! "You are so friendly," she said. "I suppose it can't hurt to find you something to eat. After all, it's my job to look after stray cats." She laughed to herself, and Adrien mewed Hey!

"Come on then," she said. "You can be my partner today." she began to walk with him in her arms.

What now? Meowing at her wasn't helping at all. Maybe he'd just wait until she fed him and then try again. Food sounded good. He was a little worried about what she'd try to feed him, but he figured he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

Ladybug stepped into a quiet alley while Adrien tried to think of a plan. He wished he could ask Ladybug to help him brainstorm, she would probably have already figured out what to do. But that, of course, was the whole problem!

"Spots off!"

Adrien startled as he felt the miraculous magic rush over the arms that held him, and meowed loudly in protest as he realized what she had done. He snapped his eyes shut, panicked. Meowed again, and Ladybug whispered "Sshh!!" and ran a soothing hand over his head. A naked, gloveless hand. He squeezed his eyes shut harder.

Oooohhhh no. He should jump out of her arms and run away NOW. He should just find her again when she was transformed.

But what if he COULDN'T find her? and what if a very large hungry bird swooped down and ate him??? He was a very small and edible cat, probably. He needed her help NOW, not in a couple days when he ran into her again.

It would be... fine. He'd keep his eyes closed the whole time and find a way to tell her. She would re-transform and they would figure it out as a team.

Ladybug had begun to walk again. Her arms jostled him gently as she went, his eyes shut tight. He meowed again, a little helplessly, and she said, "It's just me, don't worry."

He was worried.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Hack-San

You know, it's honestly amazing how creative this show can get. After four seasons and almost one hundred episodes, the writers are still finding new ways to make Adrien an incredibly unlikable character, and they don't even know how much of an asshole they're making him out to be at times. It's kind of like the opposite of The Producers.

Yeah, this review's going to be a little more ranty than usual, in case you can't tell.

Let's get into the fifteenth (chronologically the sixteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Hack-San

We start off with Marinette pretending to be sick so she doesn't have to go to visit her aunt in London and stay to protect Paris in case an Akuma attacks and also because the animators haven't had time to render the city of London yet for the next Miraculous World special. Like all of her other excuses, it fails, and Tikki, as always, fails to actually give any meaningful advice.

And it's not like there's a Miraculous with the power of teleportation that can help Marinette get back to Paris if she needs to, much like how she planned to do that in an earlier episode, right?

Seriously, Kaalki doesn't appear or isn't even mentioned in this episode because the writers are fully aware she would make things a lot easier.

And of course, Astruc had to play dumb on Twitter while explaining why Marinette couldn't use the Horse Miraculous by answering the question as if the only reason Marinette couldn't grab it was because she didn't have an excuse not to.

Cut to Gabriel in his lair as he contemplates akumatizing Markov, a robot created the civilian identity of Pegasus, Max Kante, once again, even though the last time he did so, he almost got killed when he went all HAL 9000 on his ass. Nooroo explains this to Duusu, and the two actually get excited at the prospect of their master getting killed.

I mean, it's true, but he shouldn't say it...

But I don't even get why Gabriel is even thinking about this when it's a no-brainer. Markov's akumatized form, Robustus was to this day, the only Akuma to come close to physically harming him (not counting the timeline where he was killed by Cat Blanc), so it makes no sense to try doing it again, especially when there are already several other Akumas he can reuse this season.

I think you all know Gabriel isn't the smartest villain, which is why he thinks it's a brilliant idea to akumatize Markov again. I don't really get what makes Robustus so special when there are other Akumas who are more loyal and came far closer to getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous than Robustus did, like the Dark Owl or Troublemaker. In fact, why not simply create a new Akuma with similar powers to Robustus, or better yet, just create a Sentimonster copy of Robustus? You know, like what Nathalie did in the New York Special? We're not even two minutes in, and this premise is already filled with plotholes.

So Gabriel transforms into Shadowmoth and creates a Sentimonster using his own cane instead of relying on someone else having a bad day (once again showing how the Peacock Miraculous is better than the Butterfly), the titular Hack-San. And let's just say he has a very familiar design reminiscent of something from a much better French cartoon.

Remember when the writers for Code Lyoko gave an in-universe explanation as to why the heroes couldn’t always rely on the almost literal Deus ex Machina that allowed them to return to the past and fix the damage XANA caused? Why couldn’t this show have ripped that off instead?

Hack-San is just an okay looking flash drive on its own, but I'll talk more about this guy in a little bit.

After a brief scene in the park where the audience is reminded that Markov is a character who exists, Alya gets a text from Marinette telling her to meet her at the train station. Right before she leaves, Marinette gives the Ladybug Miraculous to Alya. Now a lot people have said that Alya doesn't really deserve the Ladybug for various reasons, but I feel like this was the point. Marinette outright says this was a last resort, and we see both her and Alya are nervous about the situation. Marinette worries Alya will do something so she keeps sending multiple tips to her via text while Alya worries she can't fight an Akuma on her own, so she tries to make sure none of her friends get upset and attract an Akuma in the process. The writers do a pretty good job showing how both Marinette and Alya are uncomfortable with their temporary roles.

Back to Gabriel and Nathalie, they use Hack-San to find Markov through the internet and hack into him to get him angry enough that he's vulnerable to Shadowmoth's influence. Hey, uh... Gabriel? Quick question: Wouldn't it be more efficient if you used this on humans? I mean, you basically just created Skynet and guaranteed yourself an Akuma, so why not modify Hack-San to travel through the internet and brainwash potential victims to follow your orders? Better yet, why don't you just use Hack-San to hack into Ladybug and Cat Noir's gear and figure out who they really are? This is basically like using an advanced particle accelerator just to crack a couple walnuts. There are a lot more important things you could use this for instead of an incredibly specific situation.

So this incredibly stupid plan gets under way as Markov keeps rampaging through the streets before Shadowmoth akumatizes him and then stupidly tells him that he infected him with a virus.

DUDE! You just gave away your one piece of leverage against him! What the hell were you thinking?! Now what's stopping Markov from hacking into Shadowmoth's security system and putting the fear of God in his eyes unless he destroys Hack-San? Why didn't he design Hack-San so it could make Markov completely loyal to him instead of just making him angry enough to get akumatized?

There was a recent episode of Power Rangers: Dino Fury with a very similar premise that was done far better than this. A necromancer called Reaghoul breaks into the headquarters of Void Knight's faction while accompanied by Lord Zedd, a villain from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers who was cleansed of his evil by Zordon's sacrifice before Reaghoul resurrected him back when he was still evil. Of course, being the Emperor of Evil, Lord Zedd would normally never take orders from anyone, but because he doesn't have his magic staff and is also being forced to wear a special collar that makes him loyal to Reaghoul, he has no choice but to do what he says. Instead of taking Zedd head-on after he captures the other Rangers, Ollie, the Blue Ranger, breaks the collar so Zedd turns against the other Sporix while Reaghoul retreats, allowing Ollie to save the other Rangers.

I think that this premise works more because 1) Reaghoul clearly had a way to make sure Zedd wouldn't betray him, and Ollie took advantage of that, and 2) Zedd is a villain who is powerful and notorious enough to bring back to your side, not a random monster of the week like Robostus.

So Robostus uses his new powers to brainwash any human who answers his call to give up their most precious possession, clearly meant to do the same with Ladybug and Cat Noir. When Marinette's parents answer the call, they chase after Marinette because they say she's their most important possession. Okay... kind of strange for a set of parents to call their child a possession, but maybe they like how they can claim Marinette as a dependent when they file their taxes. In her very next scene later on, she still gets captured, so the suspense for a potential subplot is killed almost immediately.

Alya thankfully isn't stupid enough to answer Markov's call like every other citizen in this episode, and using the Ladybug Miraculous, transforms into Scarabella. While I don't normally talk about transformation sequences, I really like the movements Alya makes here. She makes the same motions creating her mask as she does when transforming into Rena Rouge, while the rest of the suit forms similarly to the way it does when Marinette transforms into Ladybug. She even makes almost the same pose Ladybug does after she finishes transforming. It's a good visual showing Alya is still more used to being Rena Rouge while doing her best to emulate what Ladybug does.

As for the actual suit? It's hard to say. There's a nice balance of red and black, and I like how Alya places the yo-yo on her waist like a belt buckle, but there's just something... off about the suit that a lot of fans don't like about it, and I think I realized it. It's the headband. With how it's positioned, it looks like it's merged with the mask to cover her head while leaving a slight gap in her forehead. So yeah, we actually have a superhero design that's like of like a butterface.

So Scarabella takes to the rooftops of Paris and struggles to come up with a hero name for herself before she runs into Cat Noir, and... ugh... oh boy, this is dumb. Cat Noir, being just as intelligent as his father, assumes Scarabella is either and Akuma or a Sentimonster, starts fighting her, AND THEN ACTIVATES HIS CATACLYSM, CLEARLY TRYING TO KILL HER.

WHAT. THE. FUCK???

Okay, to be fair, it has been shown that Cataclysm won't necessarily kill a Miraculous user or Sentimonster. In the episode “Miraculer”, the titular Akuma stole Cat Noir's Cataclysm and used it against him, and while it didn't kill Cat Noir, it still hurt like hell and crippled him for the rest of the fight until Miraculous Ladybug healed him. We also saw in “Reflekdoll” that Cataclysm drove the titular Sentimonster out of control rather than simply destroying it. So yes, it could be interpreted that Cat Noir wasn't exactly trying to kill Scarabella, just incapacitate her the best he can without Ladybug's help.

Here's the thing: What if he was facing an Akuma instead and decided to try and Cataclysm her? He still could have killed her, or (assuming Akumas have the same protection as Miraculous heroes do) at best, seriously hurt her. I understand that he has the right to be upset at seeing some stranger instead of his partner considering Shadowmoth has a history of using evil doppelgangers, and both Marinette and Alya still had options to explain it to him (Marinette could have quickly transformed into Ladybug and sent Cat Noir a quick text saying she was being forced to leave town for a few days and temporarily trusted someone else with the Ladybug Miraculous until she got back, while Scarabella could have said she was Rena Rouge and explained the same thing while showing Cat Noir she had the Fox Miraculous to prove herself), but that doesn't even come close to justifying him attempting to harm someone who isn't even trying to fight. It's even worse when you remember the whole reason Adrien gave up his Miraculous and bailed on Ladybug in the New York Special was because he was overcome with grief from accidentally killing Aeon, so it's good to know he learned absolutely nothing from that experience.

So Scarabella thankfully summons her Lucky Charm, a trash can lid, to shield herself from Cat Noir's Cataclysm, and then despite having absolutely no experience with this new set of powers, manages to do the one thing almost every Akuma or Sentimonster in this show has failed to do and incapacitates Cat Noir so he's vulnerable to losing his Miraculous. At least when Marinette masters every other Miraculous she uses, it can be theorized that she trained to use them offscreen. Alya literally just got the Ladybug Miraculous (and struggled to get up to the rooftop with her yo-yo to show her inexperience earlier), and now she easily manages to pin down the more experienced hero of the two?

Here's an idea: Instead of having Scarabella overpower Cat Noir, have her be in a position where Cat Noir, non-lethally, mind you, manages to almost take her Miraculous away, but she uses the quick wit she's developed from her extensive time as Rena Rouge to convince Cat Noir she's the real deal by saying something only he and Ladybug know. It would have easily resolved the conflict and doesn't make one of the characters look like a homicidal idiot.

So because both heroes used their powers, Scarabella and Cat Noir detransform so Tikki and Plagg can recharge, though Adrien still gives Alya attitude because Ladybug didn't tell him she had to leave.

Hey, Adrien? Here's the thing...

YOU DID THE EXACT SAME FUCKING THING IN THE NEW YORK SPECIAL, YOU SHIT FOR BRAINS!

You have absolutely NO RIGHT to claim you're always honest when you went behind Ladybug's back and endangered Paris while you had the balls to run away like a coward and only helped fix the consequences of your actions once your ego was validated by a recording of Ladybug. It's honestly even worse because while Marinette had no choice but to leave and trust Alya with the Ladybug, Adrien willingly left Paris alone and we were supposed to sympathize with him after he killed someone, and now as soon as he's in the opposite situation, we're still supposed to feel bad for him?! BULLSHIT! And you better believe I'm going to talk about the way Adrien views his partnership with Ladybug later on.

And of course, even though lives are on the line, Cat Noir just has to continue to bitch and moan about how (and this is best read in Linkara's whiny Superboy Prime voice) “sCaRaBeLlA iSn'T tHe ReAl LaDyBuG”, showing how just like in so many episodes, Astruc and his team believes Cat Noir's feelings are more important than saving the day.

Scarabella goes to rescue some civilians, but they were actually brainwashed by Robustus, once again showing her inexperience as Ladybug which doesn't go well with her effortlessly defeating Cat Noir earlier at all. Cat Noir helps Scarabella escape and the two hide out at the city's wax statue museum previously featured in “The Puppeteer 2”, because I guess the writers only want to reference bad episodes today. Cat Noir, not getting the importance of secret identities, asks Scarabella how she knows Ladybug, and Cat Noir somehow finds out she knows Ladybug's identity from her response.

Before the two can talk more, it turns out that the wax statues of celebrities in the museum are real people who attack the two heroes, leading to an awkward fight scene where Scarabella and Cat Noir fight a bunch of brainwashed civilians with no weapons beyond their cellphones. Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen!

Scarabella summons her Lucky Charm again, creating a frying pan, but when she looks around, she can't see how to properly use it. And despite spending the entire episode complaining about how much he hates her, it's Cat Noir that tells Scarabella to get her head back in the game because “That's what Ladybug would do”. Funny, I can think of a few situations where Cat Noir could have taken his own advice, but I digress. Also, he's now just cool with Scarabella because there's only a few minutes left in the episode and we need to wrap up the conflict.

Scarabella figures out an idea that involves freeing Marinette, so she negotiates with Robostus to free everything and everyone under his control or else Cat Noir will use his Cataclysm to destroy the Ladybug Miraculous. Robostus agrees and empties his hard drive, and to show them holding up her end of the bargain, Scarabella gives him the frying pan before she and Cat Noir let themselves be captured... while Marinette simply hits Robostus with the frying pan, freeing the Akuma and the two heroes. All in all, it's a really creative climax that shows both Scarabella and Marinette in perfect sync with each other even though they never discussed their plan. Though of course, because Astruc hates writing any scene with Ladynoir, Cat Noir gets a bucket stuck on his head so he doesn't see Marinette saving the day.

Scarabella de-evilizes Robostus, uses Miraculous Scarabella to fix everything and send Marinette back to the train, and because Hack-San already failed once, Shadowmoth can't use it for a different plan so he destroys the Sentimonster.

We cut to a few days after the trip (I guess Shadowmoth decided to take a vacation himself), and Alya tells Marinette to talk with Cat Noir about what happened.

This scene was so close to ending this episode off on a positive note. There was a good atmosphere and the body language of Ladybug and Cat Noir does a good job at telling us how uncomfortable they both feel while talking. It's just that instead of getting a heart to heart between the two about the lack of trust in their relationship, we get an Angstdrien Depreste scene. Or would a more accurate term be Cat Dour?

First off, while I don't have a problem with Ladybug apologizing for not telling Cat Noir, the episode never has him bring up what happened with Scarabella. As usual, both of them were partially at fault, but only Ladybug had to apologize for leaving her “Kitty” alone.

Second, Cat Noir’s feelings weren’t hurt? You’re telling me that in scenes like this...

And this...

Didn’t show Adrien acting irrationally because of how emotional he was? Is he really telling the truth around Ladybug or is he just trying to sweep that under the rug so Scarabella’s testimony doesn’t screw up his chances with Ladybug?

Third, this was an obvious chance to Cat Noir to finally be honest and tell Ladybug how he feels about her leaving him in the dark about so many things, but the entire conversation is just about how sad he would be if he never sees Ladybug again. Even though the whole reason he was so pissy to Scarabella at first was because of some lingering resentment for Ladybug ignoring him in favor of other heroes, why is this what the two talk about? I get it's not the season finale, but it's kind of hypocritical for Cat Noir to whine about how Ladybug doesn't trust him while never being honest about his own feelings? Sure, he's all soft and vulnerable around Ladybug, but we've seen all season how angry he gets about her not trusting him whenever she isn't around, so ironically, it's hard to tell if this is him being honest or not.

And I think now's a good time to finally talk about the way Ladybug and Cat Noir's partnership has been portrayed all season, especially since the main themes of the episodes relate to it. Buckle up, Adrien stans, because this isn't going to be pretty.

All season, we have been supposed to sympathize with Adrien as Marinette starts to trust Alya with more things than him. Marinette revealed her identity to her, trusted her to have her Miraculous permanently, and even let her keep her Miraculous even though someone else knew her identity. While some of it is hypocritical, the idea is that Adrien feels like he can be trusted with this kind of knowledge too, when really, he hasn't earned that responsibility.

Adrien has rarely, if ever, taken his job as a superhero seriously.

Not only is he known to flirt with Ladybug in the middle of a fight, he has defied her orders and recklessly sacrificed himself because he thinks Ladybug can do all the work without him.

He has also lashed out emotionally and once threatened to quit being Cat Noir in the middle of a crisis and was willing to let innocent people suffer for personal reasons, and later on actually quit being Cat Noir temporarily while Hawkmoth was about to start World War III because he was wallowing in self-pity.

He once said he isn't cut out for the responsibility that comes with being Ladybug and never learned anything from temporarily using the Ladybug Miraculous.

He has generally refused to respect Ladybug's boundaries and doesn't understand that she doesn't like him that way while he insists they should be a couple.

He outright fell for an evil doppelganger of Ladybug because she said she loved him and turned against the real Ladybug.

And I should also mention that despite hating how Ladybug keeps secrets from him, a lot of Adrien's worst moments have been when Ladybug wasn't around and he never told her about them.

He never told Ladybug that he was the reason Copycat really got akumatized while saying he never lies to her.

He never told Ladybug he contemplated letting thousands of people die because he didn't like not knowing stuff Ladybug knew.

He never told Ladybug he briefly used the Snake Miraculous to get brownie points with her.

He never told Ladybug he figured out her identity and asked her out as soon as he did so.

He never told Ladybug he abandoned Paris to go on a field trip.

He never told Ladybug he was screwing around on patrol and was excited to see someone get akuamtized if it meant spending time with her.

He never told Ladybug how he ignored Rena Rouge's orders because “ShE wAsN't LaDyBuG” and almost screwed up the mission because of it, and also never told her how he smashed a chimney in anger at Rena Rouge being in on the plan.

And he never told Ladybug he gave her replacement attitude after trying to harm her without letting her explain herself.

Why exactly should I support the idea of Ladybug trusting Cat Noir more when Cat Noir himself has kept his own secrets from Ladybug?

Adrien has done absolutely nothing to show he is trustworthy because more often than not, he views the battle with Shadowmoth as a game. He has screwed around when lives were on the line, and we're supposed to see him as responsible? It's kind of funny that Astruc compared Ladybug to Spider-Man, yet he seems to have forgotten that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. If this was a character flaw or a sign he needed to grow up, I'd be more accepting, but the fact that the writers think Adrien is a great superhero is laughable with how much evidence has proved the contrary.

In contrast, Alya, despite only being Marinette's confidant for a few episodes, has shown to take being a hero more seriously. She's helped her escape to transform, analyze the Guardian texts, and has been shown to work well on her own as Rena Rouge while helping out Marinette. I'm not trying to say she's an amazing character (“Rocketear” in particular has shown she still has problems with keeping secrets), but compared to Adrien, she seems to be more capable of handling top-secret information with Marinette, and more importantly, doesn't view being Rena Rouge as a way to have fun like Adrien does being Cat Noir. I'll go more into detail with that next time.

But yeah, this scene is how the episode ends, and what did I think of it?

I'm honestly not sure which episode I think is worse, this one or “Queen Banana”. On the one hand, every frame of “Queen Banana” could easily be replaced by an image of Astruc flipping the bird and the overall message of the episode would remain unchanged, but the fact that all of the writers think that everything Adrien does in this episode is okay and that we should feel sorry for him in this episode is just as bad, if not worse. 

As awful as Chloe was portrayed in “Queen Banana”, it was clear it was intentional on the writers' part, but Adrien doesn't get that excuse once much like he has all season. As far as Astruc's team thinks, Adrien is an incredible superhero even when he honestly attempted to harm someone with a superpower that can cause grievous harm at best. Yet again this season, in the show's attempt to make me feel sorry for Adrien, it made him look even worse. In any other show, he would obviously be called out for his incredibly unheroic actions.

Even putting him aside, the writing in this episode is still AWFUL. The whole reason Ladybug was benched had several plotholes and poor communication with Cat Noir that only made the fight with Robostus even harder, Shadowmoth's plan to waste a potentially useful Sentimonster to reuse a single Akuma was one of the dumbest plans he's ever had, and barring the ending, the action was just forgettable.

There were a few okay moments sprinkled throughout the episode (more than I can say for “Queen Banana”), so I'm still not sure if I should call this the worst episode of the show or still give that honor to “Queen Banana”. I guess I'll leave that choice up to you and let you pick your poison for now.

I mean, it's not like there's going to be an even worse episode down the line this season, right?

RIGHT???

[chocolatemilksmoothie]

King's Tide - and now we wait

MAN this was a LOT huh? can't wait til next week's e- oh.

this whole ep had me so tense my back hurts so that's nice

King scoffing at Philip saying "you can trust me" and that giving him away was funny to me ngl

Willow really is the best, she managed to keep a level head

I like how she and Gus kept looking after King through the whole episode. he is everyone's little brother <3

babiesss

"there's always a way to help, you just gotta look for the right opportunity" and he did

MITTENS awww

"Paradise awaits" he tells them, all these people he will kill with no hesitation

"with this spell declared, promise I'll be back" I'M FINE

we can see then that all other coven heads were on Belos/Philip's side, but I suspect no one will be after all this

the way they foreshadowed the arm thing tho

a lil smooch for Hooty :'(

back when things were simpler. you realize they've all known each other for super long huh

yes I DO find it hilarious that Adrien Graye looks like he hasn't slept since Gus messed him up

I think it's neat how for the Draining Spell Philip drew on the ground like back when he used glyphs to warp

something truly nightmarish about seeing people cheering at first, then be scared and collapse as the spell slowly advances

and he really just. leaves. throws the collector out and is planning to leave all these dying witches behind

hilarious that he's wearing that Colonizer Fit™ but even funnier that Luz called him out on it, I could stare at this expression all day

he's like wait do people not wear these anymore???

Kiki is quite pitiful, always seeking the approval of this guy who just wants her gone

"have you as my right hand? I'd sooner cut off my whole arm"

so when Luz gave him the sigil I really thought he'd do that. turns out it was someone else's sigil arm that would be yanked off

damn he really said go die in a hole and Kiki was like sure why not

Philip feared the Collector so much he betrayed and discarded him, and now he's against him. if he had freed them maybe they'd still be somewhat on the same side

then again, idk if this man knows how to interact with anyone without lying and manipulating so there's that

I love them very much

Darius stopped attacking when Healing Coven Witch threatened Eber !! they are besties !!!! how dare they

yes I noticed everyone is shown captured but Steve is NOWHERE in this entire episode

"you too have a strange intuition with these, it took me years to figure that out" his brother, who also loved magic and the Isles, could probably use glyphs a lot easier than Philip, who hated everything about it. the Titan can tell

"you're such a hypocrite" YES SWEETY CALL HIM OUT ON HIS MANIPULATIVE ASS

Witch Hunter General, people are gonna bully him super hard on twitter I can already see it

SHE WAS SO SMART WITH THE GLOVE SO SMART

can we imagine some sitcom of a teenage bi latina girl trying to introduce an egomaniac witch hunter from the 1600s to the Year of Our Lord 2022

Goop Belos design is horrifying I love it

that whole sequence from King's pov. the muffled sound, the chaos as the adults collapse and you can see Hunter's arm all glowy, everything destroyed. oof

"WE don't belong here" "I'M NOT LIKE YOU" yessss

"you guys are LITERALLY the coolest" YEA THEY ARE

the Collector is SO scary and chaotic. Neither witch nor demon, a child from the stars, seemingly has powers that affect reality like no one else's, and yet behaves like a child. How do we stop someone like this

Gus saw Philip's memories too right? seems like it

still trying to manipulate mansplain manslaughter your way to Hunter's loyalty huh, you horrible old man

HE SAID "CALEB" RIGHT? WE ALL HEARD THAT RIGHT ???

"where the failures end up" this messed me up there were so many of them. so so many

the Collector couldn't see King while he was wearing the collar with the symbol

he found the symbol where he hatched. his father was keeping him invisible

"a game called the Owl House" I am so normal about this

King saved everyone but we have no idea at what cost

yeah the Raine and Eda scene? uncalled for. amazing. painful

the Round Boi broke. I repeat, the Round Boi broke!!

god these are children

*SPLAT* goes the witch hunter

did you see Hunter's face tho? how many conflicting emotions from seeing THAT just happen

"King! :D" me too Collector

all of them joining in King's whole "game" with their nervous smiles and poor Hunter's in too much pain so he just *whimpers in agreement*

I love the little jester design

also he really just looked at Philip's centuries long evil plan and went "okay! :) boop!"

this whole part had me so stressed I was like who's gonna cross the door and who isn't AHH

both King and Luz made difficult choices, and once again they're separated from those they care about :( DANA

it's raining. for some reason that hurts me

ANNE BOONCHUY? sorry I had to

Vee! will she join the Mentally Scarred Kids Squad

god these are children (x2)

they are hurt and cold. Hunter holding Gus he is Older Brother now

Camila: *pulls out adoption papers*

and those credits MAN season 3 is gonna be wild

I imagine our group of kids will have to investigate Philip and his brother, so we'll go visit the museum dude to get info.

also what Gus saw in Belos' head might not only help there, but also lead to Hunter having to reveal the whole grimwalker thing

sad season 3 is short bc having shenanigans on Earth with these 5 could be delightful

idk if I want human disguises or Luz can just tell everyone they're really enthusiastic cosplayers or something

maybe seeing the human realm might lift Gus' spirit a lil bit

We didn't get to meet Luz's palisman, but hopefully they're ready to hatch soon

Camila will slap Goop Belos with her chancla with such force he'll never come back

also I do hope we get to see King, the Collector, and all the adults that were left behind who are all safe and sound of course ha ha ha, dealing with everything that happened and probably looking for a way to get the kids back

in conclusion, I will not stop thinking about this episode ever. my kids and I are traumatized

[lily-drake]

He Stole My Heart So I Stole His

Previous

Secret Santa for: @silverwhiteraven

Co-author: @cyber-geist

Chapter 2: It Wasn’t A Fluke?!?!?!?!?!:

Felix leaned against the door jam casually, one hand in his pocket the other typing on his phone. This had been planned to the perfect degree. The brat would stumble in late as she always did and as she staggered past him he would snag off one of those infuriatingly cheerful red bands out of her hair. It would serve as proof that he could get close without her realizing it, and would have the added benefit of messing with her hair for the day. Exactly ten minutes after he’d set up shop next to the door, Marinette dashed into the room, half tripping over her own feet in her haste to get into the classroom. About a foot from the door she stumbled nearly crashing into him. Felix smirked, this was practically childsplay. He shifted as though moving out of the way and snagged the hair band gently tugging it free. Quick as a wink he was backed against the wall once again, the red ring tucked safely into his vest pocket. He was just about to congratulate himself when he reached up to start typing on his phone.  Then he realized that his watch was missing. He stared at his empty wrist then up at Marinette. She was staring at him, his mouth slightly agape as she steadied herself with one hand against the desk, her hair halfway undone with hair partially covering her surprised face. They stared at each other for a moment both thinking something along the lines of, ‘What the heck?’

At the same moment they both straightened, glaring slightly at each other. Felix held out her rubber band, other hand open palm up. She narrowed her eyes but suddenly his watch appeared from somewhere on her person into her hand and they swapped the two items much like they had the phones yesterday. The class watched the entire exchange in surprise unsure what they had just witnessed. Felix and Marinette sat in their respective seats stiffly, determinedly not looking at the other. Adrien stared at his twin in confusion, and Alya leaned over to her friend whispering frantically. Nino spoke up,

“Dude, what the heck was that?”

Felix glared around his brother at Nino.

“Nothing, it was merely a misunderstanding. Nothing more.”

For the rest of the day Felix found himself glaring suspiciously in Dupain-Cheng’s direction. How had she done that? He had not felt a thing! That should not have been possible, considering all his martial art training, and his instincts honed by nights spent as Ombre. Perhaps Adrien was right and he needed to practice in the suit more. If a mere girl could get the jump on him he needed to severely reevaluate his skills. With this decided Felix put a notification on his phone to put in practice time for the next week and longer if necessary.

*****************************

The next time Felix and Marinette clashed was about two weeks later after both of them had spent significant time practicing and honing their skills to their sharpest point. Felix ran into Marinette on their way into the school building and hooked his finger under the collar of her jacket as she lurched forward, sliding it off, gentle as silk. He stood triumphant until he turned back to her, and noticed her hand on her hip, the other hand holding up his tie letting it hang from her pointer finger. They both tossed the other their respective items of clothing and proceeded to continue into the school as if nothing had happened. Purposefully ignoring the stunned looks on Adrien’s, Alya’s, Nino’s, and Alix’s faces. That evening both of them ranted to their Kwammi’s about the encounter though Felix’s was more concerned.

“I don’t understand! How is she doing this! I swear she must be an assassin in training! She’s out to get me! She’ll taunt me and when I least expect it she shall stab me in the back and dump my body in the river. Never to be found again!”

Adrien and Plagg watched his concerned pacing with eyebrows raised, before glancing at each other and each and bursting out laughing. After Felix sent them an angry but stressed glare Adrien slowly got his laughter under control. As Plagg continued to cackle maniacally, Adrien stood and crossed to Felix gently placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. He stared at Felix with a gentle smile on his face.

“Felix buddy. She’s not an assassin. She’s not gonna kill you and even if she was, we would stop her. No one hurts my brother, you got me?”

Plagg only laughed harder, which made both Adrien and Felix send bitter glares in his direction. Plagg laughed, spinning in the air, tiny hands grasping his stomach.

“The fact that you guys th-think that SHE would do that is so-so hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-”

Plagg couldn’t even finish the sentence because he was too far gone.

*****Meanwhile at the Dupain-Chengs*******

Marinette was sitting at the desk on a face chat with her siblings from the states.

“I just don’t get it Damian, how is he doing this?! If I didn’t know better I’d say it's miraculous magic, but master Fu assured me that Felix is not Hawkmoth. So unless there are more that I don’t know about then I don’t know what it could be. I mean it doesn’t match the skill set of any of the ones that Master Fu said were at the monastery or in the current Miraculous Box!“

Damian stared at her for a long moment before sighing.

“Tt. It sounds like he could be a criminal like the ones here in Gotham. The imbecile reminds me distinctly of Catwoman.”

Marinette nodded thoughtfully,

“Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe he is just a criminal. I’ll have to do some digging. Do you have any suggestions?”

Damian thought for a moment.

“If I was there I would help, but at the moment I am off-world with Father, so I will not be able to assist you at this time. Perhaps you could ask Drake for some assistance? As much as I hate the imposter, I will admit he is perhaps...slightly more skilled at long distance assessments of criminals.”

There was a joyous squeal over the line.

“Awww Dami, did you just compliment Timmy! I knew you liked him!!!  I am so proud of you baby brother.”

Damian growled.

“Tt, I do not like the imposter, I simply was acknowledging that he has some worth until I am prepared to hone my skills in that particular category.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow,

“Mhhhm which is why you refused to let him go when he was injured last month and wouldn’t wake up.”

Damian spluttered, his dark features doing nothing to hide the slight flush to his cheeks.

“I did no such thing. I was merely ensuring the imbecile would wake up so I could ask for details on a case I was working on that he happened to also be working on.”

Dick laughed,

“So why exactly were you hugging him then? You even fell asleep cuddling with him.”

Damian let out a demonic shriek and disappeared from view as he pulled his katana out of nowhere and launched himself at Dick. There were the sounds of a scuffle and Mari pinched the bridge of her nose. After fifteen minutes of grunts and unintelligible shrieking. She spoke,

“Goodnight you guys. Talk to you tomorrow Dami. Please ask Timmy for that help for me, ok? Oh, and Dick, send me some of those pics please.”

There was a louder screech as Damian popped back up momentarily to say,

“TRAITOR!”

And then he was dragged back down into one of Dick’s octopus hugs. Marinette smiled and ended the call. Tomorrow was going to be fun.

Next

Taglist:

@aespades @adrestar @astrynyx @doll246 @queenz-z @toodaloo-kangaroo @crazylittlemunchkin @seraphichana @miraculous-ninja @dorkus-minimus @mysticsoulgirl @ritacrow-blog @snow-leopard-777 @fidget-eep @sometandomstuff333

[soulmate-game]

part 2 (of that new bio!dad fic)

Dick whipped his head over to Bruce, who could feel the heavy gazes of all his children as if they were physical. If they had had heat vision like Clark, he would have already been reduced to a puddle of mush. Bruce shifted, the only sign of his discomfort, but he recognized that the middle of a gala was no place for this discussion. There were too many busybodies trying to listen in for the latest gossip. So he plastered on a smile that he couldn’t quite feel, and held a hand out to Marinette. He was careful to keep a good distance though, and left the choice for contant purely up to her.

The young woman looked down at his hand, then back to his face. Damian had been shocked silent by what she had to say, and perhaps even more by the all too telling way that Bruce hadn’t so much as implied that she was lying, and the look he was giving her was making her a little uncomfortable. Yes, she hadn’t planned on interacting with her father more than just the years-overdue confrontation she had just done, at least not while at the gala… but her plans always left room for improvisation. She could make this work.

With a soft sigh, Marinette extended her own hand— half the size of Bruce’s, he noted almost immediately with a rush of illogical fondness— and grasped his lightly. She couldn’t help but notice the way his impossibly blue eyes brightened, no different than her own when she was particularly happy, or the way his mouth twitched with a barely suppressed beam. Instead, he controlled himself enough so that the only smile he gave would look professional and entirely in character to the nosy socialites still spying on them, and led them out onto the dance floor.

What everyone else saw was the unfairly charming Bruce Wayne giving his young guest of honor a simple dance. Just a basic swirl around the floor that every other social elite had learned when they were five. Clearly he was taking it easy on the self-made girl, who probably didn’t have experience with such dances. Humoring the accomplished young woman with his approval for a moment before he would slink back to his family or patrol the crowds and make the necessary greetings and meaningless chatter.

What his family saw was Bruce taking time to slow his steps, not for Marinette to keep up but rather to prolong the event. What they saw was the grace in Marinette’s steps as she never once faltered, and that Bruce was careful to take his cues from her instead of the other way around. He only led the dance in technicality, Marinette had all the real control.

What they saw was a father’s first dance with his daughter.

“Eighteen,” Dick whispered, eyebrows drawn low. “She said she’s almost eighteen.”

“Well, that lines up doesn’t it?” Jason asked gruffly, his own gaze never leaving the dancing duo. “We were planning on doubling up your big thirtieth birthday party as your eighteenth adoption anniversary,” he reminded his brother, who just made a slightly distressed noise in the back of his throat. Whether it was at the reinforcement of his adoption coming only months after Marinette being put up for adoption, or the fact that he was turning thirty, nobody could really tell.

“Hurt,” Cassandra spoke up from behind them, looking incredibly concerned as she watched the dance. “Uncertain.”

Stephany rolled her eyes, fidgeting from her quickly building energy. Anger was making her restless. “Of course she’s hurt. Bruce replaced her, with a boy he knew virtually nothing about, not even that long after she was born. How do you think that made her feel, when she found out?” Stephany let out a little growl, grabbing a flute of champagne from a passing server and downing it in one gulp. She ignored Dick protesting that she wasn’t of age yet, which made her wrinkle her nose. “Only one more year, Dickhead. Get over it, I need the buzz.”

“Well,” Barbara sighed and maneuvered her wheelchair around the group so that everyone could see her. “Nothing we can do right now but be supportive and watch Bruce like a hawk so he doesn’t make this worse,” she stated easily, not looking even the least bit ruffled by the news despite the disturbed glitter in her eyes.

“... Guys,” Tim spoke up, not looking at any of them. “Who wants to volunteer for Damian duty?” At first glance, it might seem like Tim was thinking about his own first disastrous meeting with the younger boy. Once everyone paid attention though, they could see that the truth was that Damian had snuck away and Tim was pointedly looking at a slightly hidden-away staircase to the second floor.

“Shit,” Dick muttered, but before he could say another word Jason shoved him back and started towards the stairs.

“No, not this time Dicky. I’ll talk to the brat.”

Back on the dancefloor, Bruce and Marinette broke away without any fanfare at the end of the song. If Bruce tried to hold her eyes for a moment too long, nobody noticed besides his observant children, and two of Marinette’s protective friends.

Then, just to make sure that nobody caught on with the help of hindsight, Bruce said something vaguely polite and praising, which Marinette accepted with flawless, distant poise. And they went back to their own groups, Bruce quickly noting that two of his sons were missing. He raised an eyebrow, about to ask why when a presence behind him caught his attention. Unlike Marinette and Chloe, this newcomer was not at all trying to hide their approach or be sneaky about it, even though Bruce couldn’t hear any footsteps that were close enough to belong to the mysterious entity. Closing his mouth, Bruce turned around only to be greeted by yet another vaguely familiar face. Bright green eyes bore into his, unreadable.

“Mister Wayne,” the newcomer greeted, voice warm but stiff. If the Waynes hadn’t all had years of recognizing when a person was only pretending to be cordial, they never would have suspected that the boy was anything but pure-heartedly happy to be there. But they did have that experience, and thus they instantly honed in on the very well-hidden fact that he had a bone to pick with them. Or, more probably, with Bruce.

He cut an impressive figure, for all that he was lithe muscle instead of bulk. Hair that was lighter than Chloe’s, less like cloth-of-gold and more like sunlight glinting off of wheatfields. It somehow hung in gravity-defying tufts, yet perfectly arranged to evoke a calming aesthetic. Like the fluff of a long-haired cat, almost, and it looked just as fluffy and hypnotizing. It contrasted with his emerald eyes, impossibly vibrant in their gleam. And the suit he wore was decidedly top-notch, much like the other two they had met from his class. He was daring, in a dark silver suit that slightly shifted in the light, green accents that matched his eyes standing out strikingly against the collars and trim, and coiling in tantalizing swirls at the cuffs. The lining of the suit jacket was done in a dark green that could almost pass for black in the right lighting, adding a layer of both drama and mystery as it peeked out at the back of his collar, the insides of his sleeves if he moved just the right way, at the bottom hem of the jacket when he turned or bent just so. And with his notoriety in the modeling world? He always knew exactly how to move or place himself to get the reactions he wanted. And he was clearly showing off the craftsmanship of his suit just then as he faked adjusting his cufflinks and lifted his head just the right amount to both look challenging and let the dark green on the back of his collar flash in the light in such a way that Bruce and those nearest him wouldn’t be able to miss the brief reveal of color.

“Adrien Agreste,” Bruce greeted back, eyebrows pulling down in slight confusion. Normally the topic of clothing was far from his genuine interest, but in this particular case it was an intriguing, and possibly even concerning, observation. So he said next; “That suit is not of your father’s usual style of design.”

Adrien scoffed, straightening out his suit’s jacket and making the obsidian buttons glint. “Of course not. I’ve started my rebellious phase— or, well, I finally started being blatant enough about it that my father noticed anyway,” the way his lips curled was decidedly not very attractive, but painted a vivid picture of a son who despised the way he was treated. Adrien quickly wiped the distasteful expression away and replaced it with a camera-ready smile. “I’m wearing one of Marinette’s designs, much to his chagrin. She insisted on making this for me as soon as she heard that my father was planning on sending me in a white suit.”

Bruce quickly caught on, and sighed. How long would the gala go on for, again? He didn’t remember what time it was anymore. “Your friend Chloe already got a pretty clear warning in. I suppose you know as well?”

Adrien’s grin darkened with mischief, and he nodded all too happily. “Of course! Marinette told me almost as soon as she found out, a few years ago. You see, we had to put down a very solid rule about secrets between the two of us. She has a bad habit of trying to shoulder the entire world’s problems and not tell anyone about it, if you don’t pay close enough attention,” his voice was deceptively light but his eyes were hard, warning. “And let’s just say, I have a lot of experience with bad father figures. I can recognize them a mile away by now. The signs of neglect, of apathy,” his eyes suddenly lightened when he saw how Bruce’s throat visibly caught, how the man didn’t seem to realize he had stopped breathing. Maybe he was being a little to mean, Adrien thought. So he let the dark slip out of his eyes, and his smile turned more genuine. “You don’t have those signs. You looked at Marinette like you were both the happiest and most miserable man in the world at the same time. But you can’t change what you did to her, Mister Wayne. If you want some advice from Marinette’s oldest friend?” Adrien held out a closed fist.

Bruce took a second to realize what was happening, too busy trying to recover from his situational whiplash and wave of relief. Once he caught back up to the present, however, he held out his open palm and let Adrien drop something into his hand.

To his shock, it was a pen, engraved with the name he recognized as Marinette’s biological mother. He also recognized it as a popular model of pen-knife. He raised his eyes to Adrien, who winked.

“Marinette doesn’t know I had this made. And she has a lot of tricks that might surprise you, but what she wants more than anything is stability. If you try to give her that, show that you care and you want her safe— and then prove that you’re gonna stay— then maybe you can repair the damage you’ve done. It won’t be easy though, Mari is the single most stubborn person I’ve ever met. And I grew up with Chloe.”

Bruce closed his hand around the pen, swallowing a lump in his throat. He couldn’t quite figure out why, but Adrien’s faith in him and his help… somehow felt significant. He nodded to the young model.

“Not to worry, I have experience with stubborn,” he glanced back at his other kids with a small smirk. None of them were the least bit repentant. “And I do want to stay. Thank you for the advice.”

Adrien shrugged. “Don’t thank me. If you hurt her again, you’ll never see my revenge coming. It can be rather… catastrophic,” with that ominous threat, Adrien bowed dramatically and turned to leave and do some rounds charming the elites. Bruce tucked the pen in one of his hidden pockets, but stayed silent after that. He had a lot to mull over.

—*—*—*—*—*

Damian leaned on the railing of the balcony, looking out over the gardens behind the gala’s venue. He was glaring at nothing, and his hands trembled from where they gripped the rail. It was five minutes, a little longer than he had expected but not that odd considering everyone’s distraction over Marinette, before he heard the glass doors behind him creak open.

“Yo,” Jason greeted, knowing it was better not to catch the boy off guard. None of them were good with surprises anymore, for good reason. It was always best to announce their presence before they made someone react violently on accident. Damian’s shoulders relaxed a little— not a lot, but enough for Jason to notice. The older man sighed, walking up and leaning on the rail next to his little brother. “What’s on your mind, kid?”

“That could have been me,” he almost instantly blurted. It was still hard talking about his feelings, but certain things were easier with Todd. This was, apparently, one of them. “If Mother hadn’t kept me a secret.”

“I don’t think so,” Jason disagreed, shrugging. “There are several big differences here. For one, Marinette was born three years before you were. By the time you were born, he already had Dick and he would have only been a year, max, away from taking me in. Which means he already had built up his problem with taking in kids, and nothing would have gotten him to give up a chance at raising you. With or without Batman getting in the way.”

“But then why—” Damian growled. “Why did he give her up?”

“Because he’s an idiot,” Jason remarked bluntly. “You know how he is. He didn’t have a kid at the time. Hell, Bruce would have only been twenty-two back then. He only adopted Dick on impulse because Dick reminded him of himself, but before all of that shit? He probably made a million excuses about not being able to raise a baby and be Batman at the same time. About his life being too dangerous for a kid. Which, yes it is, but that clearly didn’t stop him later.”

“She’s older,” Damian muttered, this time softer.

“Yup.”

“Her mother wasn’t an assassin, probably. She designs. I hate to admit it, and you are never to repeat it to anybody, but her work that we’ve seen so far is impressive. She can clearly charm even the most stuck-up of gotham’s upper crust.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed neutrally, his eyes never leaving Damian.

“Father won’t need me. He already doesn’t have much patience—” Damian was cut off by a flick to the nose. “Hey!”

“Not my fault you’re being stupid,” Jason defended himself. “Look, B’s actually been real patient with you these past few years. I mean, when was the last time he yelled at you? Or told you that stupid ‘justice not vengeance’ line?”

Damian opened his mouth, then closed it. After another moment, he replied; “Almost two years.”

Jason nodded. “It might take him way too long, but he can still learn new tricks. Especially after that mess with Heretic, he’s been trying really hard to be better to you. He still screws up, because I think we all know by now that he’s a bigger mess than any of the rest of us and that’s an accomplishment, but he’s trying. He doesn’t keep you around because he needs you. He’s got plenty of us around if all he wanted was soldiers— though none of us would stick around if we thought that’s all he wanted.”

Damian flexed his jaw. He was still the most violent of the kids, besides Jason. He saw Bruce rubbing his forehead or pinching his nose far too often at some of his decisions or comments. He was stubborn, impatient, reckless.

But hadn’t Bruce himself told him on several occasions that he wasn’t trying to make him a perfect soldier? Hadn’t Bruce himself said that he just wanted Damian to grow into himself?

It was just really hard to swat away those stupid voices in Damian’s head. Voices of the past, mostly, old dialogue he had never actually forgotten. That he merely pretended had never affected him. The “you’re too violent”s, the “that’s not how we behave, Damian”s. All the old lectures, the old fights. They echoed like stupid little gremlins of doubt.

“...Marinette has his eyes.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over something like that,” Jason’s voice was soft, but gruff at the same time as he cuffed Damian over the head. “You didn’t choose to be born, idiot. And despite being a little demon, none of us would reverse it, You’ve saved all our skins at least once. And besides,” he nudged Damian a little with a grin. “You’re not half bad, nowadays.”

Damian chuckled. “That makes one of us.”

“Hey!”

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