#marinette calling him adrien tWICE

[rainbow-arrow]

god i can't wait for luka's first on screen kiss to be with adrien in season six

[wisteriasymphony]

I want to hear about the mlb asylum au sooo bad

SPRING 1993

"Sweetheart," Nathalie frowned. "You have your whole life ahead of you. …Let's forget for a moment who I am. I'm not saying this as M. Agreste's secretary, I'm saying it as a fellow woman."

The Girl found it disgusting that Mme. Sancoeur would switch between the two: treating her like a child and calling her a woman. She kept the blue hood of her jacket over her head, hiding that short mess of curls on her head in its shadow.

"We're doing this because we want to help you."

The Girl knew completely well that M. Agreste would shoot her dead if he could get away with it. That didn't seem like it would help her at all.

"…I appreicate the sentiment, Mme. Sancoeur," The Girl responded. "But I want to go home."

Nathalie's gaze lost its facade of warmth.

SPRING 1995

In a place where Saint-Lupien once stood, a convent had turned into an asylum. Pyschiatric ward, asylum, looney bin—The difference didn't entirely matter, not to the Hospital Sainte-Marie-de-Dieu. The second you walked through those doors, you were crazy, and everyone was much more focused on proving that than they ever were on anything else.

By all accounts, Adrien Agreste was the shining example of this.

Marinette first got herself acquianted with Adrien not by learning his name, or seeing his face… but by hearing a loud, repeated thudding noise from maybe a few hallways down. Three seconds of silence, thud. Three more seconds of silence, thud.

"The Agreste kid is trying to break his door down again," the doctor watching her had said, with the exact same tone she'd use to describe the weather outside. "Don't worry about it. Better than him lighting shit on fire for once."

Marinette was starting to get anxious—She checked her pulse twice with her two fingers, added and divided by two. Floating pulse: Feng excess. She had that feeling in her gut that her yang energy was deficient, too. She needed to drink some hot water.

"…Can I have some tea, Dr. Martin?" "Not right now, Marianne." If she had to spend another day in this shithole, Marinette would start setting shit on fire, too. And to think Adrien Agreste had been here for two years...

@sillysiluriforme look omg I wrote stuff <3

[starsfic]

AU where for a short, brief while Chloe was best friends with Nino and Marinette in elementary school. Adrien did not like this because his best and only friend would talk just about her two besties and prefer to spend time with them over him, even if he wasn't the biggest fan of Chloe.

Of course, that did not last long as Chloe's entitlement grew and eventually she decided to just focus her friendship on Adrien and bully Marinette, leading to Marinette and Nino drifting apart.

Then Origins. Twice, Fu walks into traffic. Twice, he's saved. Once by Marinette and once by Nino.

The same day, Adrien meets Chloe's so called "besties" and decides to make them pay. Unfortunately, he's not a very good villain. Fortunately, he's a very good manipulator.

So you have Cat Marinette and Ladybug Nino doing Hawkmoth stuff and you have a plot of Nino and Marinette rebuilding their friendship and dragging the rest of the class with them and you have Adrien serving as both's rivals for "stealing" Chloe.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Something I found really neat about Season 3 is that they have the mini arc where Adrien initially trusts Lila to eventually come around, but little by little she starts taking more and more advantage of how lenient he is - and when he notices how detrimental this is to Marinette, he calls Lila out himself. Despite the… writing blunders of Lila’s character, I found it kind of compelling.

Which makes me question why he’s more than happy to tolerate Chloé for almost two whole seasons more than Lila? I always found it odd, even if Chloé’s been his only friend for who knows how long, surely he would’ve noticed a pattern after Miracle Queen went down? I think Season 3 would’ve benefited from fleshing out only one of those stories and leaving the other for later, or cutting one of them entirely - it’s basically the same Adrien arc, with two different bully characters.

Me, I would fix it by having the Queen Bee matter stay in the air for most of Season 3, and Chat Noir specifically lending the bee - so the conflict doesn’t come from “Marinette NEEDS to break up the Adrigami date”, it’s an actual tough decision for him to make, and have him explain the situation to Chloé right in the season finale. Perhaps it’s too much of a shock, or Chat Noir’s too harsh, or Chloé feels lost without Pollen, or everyone else already drifted away from Chloé and she’s clinging to her Queen Bee identity only to have it snatched from her (which also goes with the theme of loss Miracle Queen wants to convey), literally anything that counts as a valid akumatization reason because “waaah Ladybug didn’t pick me” doesn’t do it for me.

Then the Lila thing, I’m still not fully sure, maybe I’d have Marinette be the lenient one that eventually realizes how much Lila’s affecting Adrien, and somehow puts a stop to it - maybe Lila’s being sympathetic to Marinette, and only really wants to use Adrien to her advantage, so Marinette lets Gabriel know after uncovering some particularly nasty stuff, and he cuts her out. Now Lila has a better (IMO) reason to start a rivalry with Marinette, Marinette can grow closer to the Agrestes even if just a little, Adrien has a good point of reference to realize Chloé’s being out of line (without writing the same arc for the same character twice), and you don’t have an explicit Lila & Gabriel alliance (which is great, because I always disliked that part of the plot - unnecessary extra complexity that only really takes away from every character involved IMO).

How would you model the two arcs?

My stance has pretty much always been that Chloe should have been Adrien's problem. Why make Marinette try to fix her bully when Adrien is right there with none of that baggage? I'm still baffled that they made Adrien and Chloe friends because that plot point went nowhere so why make it a thing? You don't introduce a juicy tidbit like "the female lead's bully is the male lead's only childhood friend" unless you're going to do something big with it!

There's a lot of ways you could take Adrien and Chloe, but no matter which path you pick, it should be used to set Adrien up to be more mentally ready to accept all the messed up elements of his home life when he finally grasps that he's a victim on multiple levels. It's much easier for him to learn those lessons of when to forgive and when to give second chances from a peer and not his parent who still has full power over him. I like this leading to a "redeemed" Chloe because I think you need an example of when to give a second chance to make the example of when to not give a second chance really pop, but that's just my preference. Chloe teaching Adrien how to set boundaries and cut someone off so that he can do that again on a much larger scale is also perfectly valid.

I think the Lila thing should have been used to develop Alya and Nino, not Marinette and Adrien. The show writes all the teen characters as pretty terrible at navigating or even identifying things like abuse. We see that in their constant love of confronting Gabriel, never once stopping to think, "Huh, will this actually be a good thing for Adrien or are we putting him in danger?"

You could include Marinette in this arc, too, but I think that she should take a backseat and let Alya and Nino take the lead since they're the ones who see Lila as a good person. Learning to be a little less trusting and a little more thoughtful is a good lesson for the way both of them have been characterized. Alya needs to learn to be a little less willing to trust sources and season-four-and-five Nino needs to learn to be a little more focused on the feelings of those around him over his own goals. Plus Marinette already has so much going on! The writers really need to let others have the spotlight for a bit so the poor girl can rest and stop looking terrible as the plot twists itself into a pretzel to always make her the one who needs to learn a lesson.

[imultimouse]

I never come on here, but I wanted to discuss something since I've seen a couple of salt posts discussing Adrien's "sudden" shift of feelings towards Marinette in season 5, and I don't think some of you are understanding the whole lovesquare arc. Adrien has ALWAYS loved Marinette, ever since the umbrella scene. His feelings gradually grew more and more, but since he had already taken interest in Ladybug, he suppressed those feelings. This was the whole point of the "just a friend" phase. It was DENIAL, not genuine disinterest. If you go back and rewatch the show from the beginning, you'd notice that Adrien unconsciously behaves in a way that makes his crush on Marinette obvious. Ex:

Feeling uncomfortable kissing Chloé in season 1, but feeling perfectly comfortable with Marinette.

The constant heart eyes we got throughout the show.

He carries her lucky charm with him all the time, and he even made a gift especially for her

He called her his "everyday Ladybug", which we all know how much that means coming from him.

Effortlessly dancing romantically with her, TWICE.

Etc, etc. Keeping all that in mind, what happened in Puppeteer 2 isn't when he started DEVELOPING feelings, it's when he started REALIZING those feelings. He said it himself, the way he reacted to her going ahead and kissing him shocked him. Not to mention that in Chat Blanc, he straight up told her in his confession that he had always felt this way, he just didn't understand what he felt.

All their interactions thus far had Marinette somehow friendzone their encounters, so Adrien never had the chance to think about his own feelings, except in Weredad, but he was too preoccupied with his intense feelings for Ladybug to notice. And it's because of that, that after Marinette kissed him, he started noticing the similarities between her and Ladybug, causing his feelings to grow even further.

"You remind me of the girl I love."

Then, he started paying more attention to her, and noticed how she always cheers him up and makes him laugh, and is always there for him when he needs her.

Finally, we reach the season 4 finale, and he realizes that Marinette truly understands him for who he is, not the image he kept up, and it's THEN that he fully realizes there is something there, but he is too confused to know for sure, which is directly supported by his confession in Chat Blanc.

That is when Determination comes into play, and Adrien finally realizes what the butterflies in his stomach meant this entire time. This is also why that every time he discovers Marinette is Ladybug, he is instantly relieved and overwhelmed with joy, because that makes the two people he loves the most one person, and there is no more dilemma in his heart.

So this is it, a summary of Adrien's development of his feelings towards Marinette, which also explains why it's so sincere from his end. It's not sudden for sure. Yeah, it could have been written a lot better, but what do we expect from MLB writers anyway? If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, and let me know what you think.

[coffeebanana]

pre-reveal, established adrinette fic where they're just goofing off one day and adrien says something so ridiculous that marinette's automatically like "stooooop, mon chaton"

adrien's wondering how the heck she figured him out and marinette's trying to figure out how she's supposed to 1. convince him she's NOT actually ladybug. it was totally just role play! which--oh no, what if adrien isn't into that sort of thing?! what if he thinks she's so totally weird and--, 2. if step one fails, how to explain that yes, she calls her partner pet names, but no it doesn't mean anything, even if she has kissed him once--twice--um, several times...

[jayphoenic]

MLB Alya Cesaire Salt Prompts/Fics Recommendations

A Bakers Daughter by @ladyanput

This doesn't actually have a title

“You’re not walking away from this, Marinette! If you need harrassing Lila like this, you’ll get arrested! Get it in your head! Adrien doesn’t want you! He would never want a baker’s daughter, someone so useless and uninspiring! You’ll never reach great heights, Lila does! Lila has more talent grace in one pinky, than you have in your entire being! You’ll always be a nobody and you need to learn to deal with that.”

All This After a Monkey Tries to Steal Marinette’s Purse by @cornholio4

“Dad, I can explain…” Alya replied while trying to think of an explanation that sounded somewhat believable.

“I sent Marinette to our house to wait for either of us, I want you home within half an hour to take over for the babysitting duties that you were supposed to be doing anyway! I will try and be home shortly to have a talk with you!” Otis told him sternly and Alya looked down sadly having to tell Nino and Adrien that she has to get home with them looking concerned.

FACT CHECK by @spooky-z

“Marinette, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Act like nothing is wrong. I didn’t know you could be that cold and calculating.” She caught everyone’s attention again, especially Marinette.

Marinette sighed, her elbow resting on the table, she laid her head on her palm. There was an air of boredom around her. Chloe, Sabrina and Nathaniel with unimpressed looks on their faces.

New York Special Salt: Confrontation by @nobodyfamousposts

Adrien was shaking at this point, but forcing himself to remain steady.

“You both knew Marinette liked me. Fine. Sure. Apparently she was having trouble telling me this. That’s okay. You knew she felt this way and was having trouble telling me. I get that.”

He glared.

“What I don’t get is why it was necessary to go THIS far instead of just TELLING me what was going on yourselves?!”

Exposed by @miraculousbelladonna

She is still absolutely going to have words with her bestie later, but she doesn’t think twice about posting the life changing video onto her blog.

All she’s thinking about is how it’s so cool that she’s the one who found Ladybugs identity. It’s so cool that she’s the one who’s revealing it. It’s so cool that her best friend, Marinette, is Ladybug. Her views are going to go through the roof. Television channels are going to be talking about this, they’re going to be calling her and asking to use her footage.

[miharuki]

hello!!! may i request second part of "once upon a time there a blue love"? thank you

(i think it would be cute if you included small moments between reader and Felix because they're cousins and I'm curious about how their relationships are and if reader told him about her and luka and their separation yk in episode where he was introduced as Argos. I'm also happy that you wrote moment from season 5 about Luka moving away because i can barely find any Luka x reader that catched up to season 5)

feel free to ignore this request and this suggestion. i just wanted to say that i appreciate your work and that you're doing great writings. take care!!!

I'm replying to these two messages, this one took a lot of work Thank you for liking my content, I worked hard on part 2 (3864 Words ) Again remembering that my English is not the best, it is not my original language ;P

Your requests are an order!

(angst, fluff at the end, Gabriel is still the worst person, Félix already knowing things without you needing to say it, Marinete and Adrien dating, season 5 spoiler)

(Part 1:)

𝕺𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖀𝖕𝖔𝖓 𝖆 𝕿𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖆 𝕭𝖑𝖚𝖊 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝕻𝖙 2

Once upon a time...

There was an elegant house with noble people They lived rich, rich in black hearts At the top of that mansion, there was a room, a room with a window, a window with a marvelous view, but it belonged to a lifeless room, a room where a person who loved too much was imprisoned, you, Oh, poor girl, she saw from her window everyone else being free, while she stayed and lamented not being good enough for her beloved, who is far away and with whom you can no longer converse, And all because her father is concerned about her status, so concerned that he didn't think twice before imprisoning his daughter, like Rapunzel in her tower.

"—And how is she doing?" Nino asked as he placed his hand on Adrien's shoulder, who was approaching the circle of friends.

—My father still says she's sick, and she doesn't seem to leave her room when I'm around," Adrien said, sighing sadly as he remembered how, after the events and Luka's trip, she was practically "isolated" in her room, which according to her father, claims she's too ill to leave. This raised suspicions among some friends, especially Marinette and Ayla.

"But we haven't seen her in a week!" Rose said, hugging Juleka, causing Adrien to sigh.

"I know, but from what my father told me, she got sick during one of the rehearsals and now needs to rest, especially because he doesn't want me to get sick too."

Now, this seemed even more suspicious to her friends. Marinette looked at her phone, seeing her friend's list of unanswered calls. She then glanced at Adrien, noticing how he seemed a bit down, and approached him. Despite her feelings for him, she placed her hand on his shoulder, making him look at her.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine," Adrien smiled at her, while everyone else agreed, not wanting to make the situation sadder."Have you tried calling her?" Ayla suggested, looking at her friend Marinette, who was frantically using her phone as if trying desperately to get in touch with you."No, my father told me she dropped her phone in one of the fountains while landing, and that's why she got sick"Something is definitely wrong.

Meanwhile, you were locked in your room, unable to leave your eternal "punishment," still not understanding why things were this way. You realized that your father was making you feel lonely again as you looked around the messy room. You got up from the bed and looked under it, spotting a decorated and locked box. Pulling it out, you removed a key that was attached to your necklace, along with another one that Luka had given you in the past. You used the key to unlock the box, and you smiled upon seeing the various items it held—a small Viperion plushie that Luka had won and gifted you during one of your encounters, numerous song lyrics, and a few other objects given by your friends, the ones your father hadn't confiscated.

You realized how much you resembled your past self, feeling empty, lonely, and above all, with no one to talk to or confide in. You closed the box and locked it again, tucking the key inside your shirt as you climbed back onto the bed. You clutched your blouse and felt the other necklace Luka had given you, hearing the door open behind you without even looking back.

"Your father told you that you will return to modeling again, and this time he expects you to comply," Nathalie said as she fiddled with her tablet."By the way, your dinner will be delivered to your room again. I hope you eat this time," Nathalie turned to leave without waiting for your response, closing the door behind her, and you could hear the door being locked. You sighed sadly, then walked over to the window, looking out at the landscape that thankfully hadn't been taken from you. You gazed at the distant Eiffel Tower and the starry night that adorned its background, thinking about how beautiful the night was despite being alone in your locked room. You prayed that Luka was okay.

"I've already talked to Luka about the situation," Juleka said as she joined her group of friends. Marinette, being the great planner she was, was trying everything to make things calmer. "He told me to send his regards to her and that as soon as she can, she should call him."

"I still find this very strange!" Marinette said as she got up from the sofa in her room and started pacing in circles. "I mean, after Luka's sudden departure, a few days later, Adrien says that (name) is sick? There's something wrong here."

"Look, this time I even agree, but it could also be true. Don't you guys remember it rained last week? And do you remember the photo in the magazine that day, right? It's clearly (name) in the rain posing, so obviously, she would get sick!" Ayla said as she tried to ease the situation.

"Yes, true, I saw it!" Rose said while standing beside Juleka, making her nod in agreement too.

"But still!" Marinette said before a hand was placed on her shoulder, making her look back to see her friend Ayla.

"Look, that's enough, Marinette. I think you should put this aside, especially since you have a date with Adrien tomorrow."

"Yes, that's true!" the girls said, making their friend Marinette blush, while she tried to speak but gave up.

Meanwhile, (name) put on her fakest smile as she continued to pose at certain locations. "Yes, perfect! Very good!" the photographer exclaimed as he continued taking photos, with you striking every pose and wearing a cute outfit. Finally, the photo shoot was over. "Break time," he said, and you sat down, your smile fading, returning to your sad expression. You spotted Nathalie approaching with her tablet.

"You're doing well, because of that, you can choose what you'd like to eat," she said, looking at her tablet without leaving your side.

"I-I think... I'd like some (your preferred food) from Dupain-Cheng Bakery, please," you said, looking at the ground before turning to Nathalie.

Nathalie gave you a quizzical look before sighing and going to her driver, who then got into the car. Nathalie returned to your side, looking at her tablet and tapping away. You let out a tired sigh, sitting down, swinging your legs and looking around to try to pass the eternal boring time. In the meantime, you glanced up at the blue sky, watching the birds fly by and catching a glimpse of a red and black blur streaking across the sky, heading somewhere. "Here you go, eat while you still have time," Nathalie said as her bodyguard and driver handed her the Dupain-Cheng Bakery bag containing the food you had requested.

"Thank you..." you said in a low tone, almost like a whisper, looking at the school and smelling the sweet scent of the bakery where your friend lived.

"Tomorrow is the Diamond Ball, so after your session today, we'll take you to the studio to order your dress. Your father wants you to look good," you only nodded, listening to Nathalie go over your schedule.

Since you returned to modeling, your father refused to let you be alone, so you were always accompanied by Nathalie, who, although she seemed fine, you couldn't help but glance at the equipment on her legs, wondering if something had happened to her.

"Come on, show me a look of comfort! A look of longing, as if you were reminiscing about seeing these flowers!" the photographer said as he asked you to hold a bouquet of red roses, sitting on a picnic blanket with flowers all around. "Not like that!" he said, looking at your expression. "Show more emotion! A little happiness! See how beautiful these flowers are!" he pointed at the bouquet. Looking at the bouquet, you saw a blue dragonfly land on a rose, and a faint memory of a garden you went to with Luka came back to your mind, making you miss him. You gave a small smile as you buried your face in the roses, inhaling their sweet and fragrant scent, smiling at the memory of the day he asked you out.

"Yes! Perfect! Very good! Keep going!"

"Would you like any roses? A ribbon or some colorful embellishment?" asked the seamstress as she took your measurements. "No need for color, just white will do. The outfit Mr. Agreste designed only requires adjustments elsewhere," Nathalie replied as she tapped on her tablet. You watched as the seamstress took your measurements to add to the dress. And of course, you were also looking at the shoes, which your father had also designed, but for some reason, he wanted everything to be perfect.

"Welcome, Mrs. Agreste," the guard said as he allowed you and your father to pass. Your gaze remained melancholic, though not enough for anyone to notice that you were sad; it simply showed that you didn't want to be there, which clearly you had no choice in. Sitting on a sofa, you waited and watched everyone there enjoy themselves, not letting on as some tried to talk to you or somehow get your attention. All you did was divert your gaze until you reached the soft white couch.

"You look sad, did something happen?" a voice asked, and you looked to see what appeared to be your brother."Hello to you too, Félix," you said as you closed your eyes and leaned back on the couch."You always know how to identify me no matter what," he said, almost laughing if he didn't see your tired expression. He approached and sat beside you."What happened? You're usually more lively," he said as he looked at you, prompting you to release a tired sigh.

"My father..." Félix sighed with his words, but before he could say anything more, looking at Gabriel in the distance, a voice came to your rescue.

"Hello, (name)!" You opened your eyes, seeing Kagami. You blinked as she sat down on your other side, and you straightened up. It had been a while since you talked to any of your friends."You haven't been to school anymore. I heard you were sick. Are you feeling better now?" You looked away, glancing at Gabriel in the distance, almost choking."Yeah, of course, I was kind of, you know, sick... you know, now I'm better!" You said, not wanting to know what kind of lie Gabriel had told Adrien for him to be able to tell the others like this.

Before Kagami could ask another question or say anything else, you suddenly got up.

"You know, I'm going to grab a drink or something to eat, be right back!" you said as you almost ran away. You didn't want to talk about anything, but what could you say? Tell them that your father didn't approve of relationships and that he had put you on indefinite punishment for lying, running away, and breaking the one rule he gave you? How could you talk about this situation?

Near the food area, you grabbed some sweets to try to occupy your thoughts and emotions. As you looked at the dance floor, you saw your cousin, who resembled your brother, dancing with someone. Not wanting to say anything, you simply ignored it.

You entered the bathroom after eating some sweets and looked in the mirror, observing your well-groomed and elegant figure, your perfectly done hair, and your fancy dress. This wasn't you. The only thing you saw that truly belonged to you was your necklace, which you had hidden under the dress. Pulling it out, you looked lovingly at your reflection in the mirror, seeing the necklace that Luka had given you.

"Luka..." You never stopped loving him, even though your father had locked you in your room. You never stopped missing him. Crouching in the bathroom while looking at your necklace, you caressed it, hoping that someday you would find him again.

"Adrien!" you heard someone shout, looking out of the plane window. You saw Marinette running towards the airplane stairs with Adrien following behind.

Ah yes, it seems you weren't the only one with a forbidden affair. You watched Marinette and Adrien kiss before the bodyguards separated them. A wave of déjà vu came over you when you saw this scene, which felt so familiar. You saw Adrien being dragged onto the plane and placed in his seat, looking out the window while crying.

You averted your gaze and saw the plane starting to move to take off. You lay down, holding your blouse and feeling the necklace underneath it. You prayed and wished that you could find Luka.

"This will be your room," Nathalie showed you the hotel room. You saw that the view was nice, but it wasn't anything special. It was just another room where you would be confined. You leaned on the balcony railing, looking at the horizon and feeling the wind tussle your hair.

"It's only for a few days..." you commented, resigning yourself to the situation, holding the necklace that Luka had given you once again. You sighed with sadness.

"Can I stay in the park for a while, please?" you asked your bodyguard, who was currently looking after you while you posed for photos since Nathalie had fallen ill and couldn't make it. You looked at him, waiting for a response, and he saw the sadness and emptiness in your eyes, so he nodded in sympathy. You smiled weakly as you hugged your bodyguard. "Thank you..." He just patted your head and pointed to a bakery nearby, and you nodded. He would be in the bakery while you stayed in the park.

You watched your bodyguard's back disappear as he entered the bakery, and you smiled as you sat on the park bench, feeling a sense of freedom being away from supervision. However, a sad sigh still hung on your face, as if you were feeling trapped.

"A smile suits you better," you choked when you heard someone speaking, a familiar voice. Looking at the owner of the voice, you couldn't believe what you were seeing.

"Luka..." you said softly in a whisper, getting up from the bench. Your hands trembled. The boy with blue-tipped hair smiled as he approached slowly. He was nervous, hoping it wasn't a dream. He hugged you when he was close enough, burying his head in your neck.

"I missed you so much!" he said as you returned the hug, feeling the tears you had held back for so long, also feeling the boy's tears staining your clothes.

"Luka!"

"You didn't call me anymore, I had no sign from you. I thought something had happened. But then Juleka told me you had gotten sick, but that's not true, is it?" Luka looked at you, asking for confirmation, but all you did was bite your lip and turn your face away. "Why are you hiding, love?" Luka asked as he placed his hand on your cheek, caressing it.

"I..." You didn't want to talk. You didn't want to burden Luka. He wasn't at fault. You didn't want to speak; all you wanted was to be with him now.

"Please, (name), you can tell me," he said as he hugged you, stroking your hair.

"It was him, wasn't it?" You lifted your gaze to Luka before turning away again.

"I won't force you if you don't want to..."

"Someone told my father about our relationship. He doesn't accept the fact that I'm dating someone who isn't 'famous' or a friend of my father's. He took away all my technology so I couldn't talk to you or our friends. He thinks me leaving was a terrible idea. I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault... it never was..." Luka placed his hands on both your shoulders.

"B-but! It was my fault. I didn't follow my responsibilities; I was careless, and I couldn't talk to you either... It's my fault... I just... my father, he just...!" Suddenly, an irritated expression crossed Luka's face.

"It doesn't matter!" You looked shocked at the boy as he wiped away your tears and put on a gentle smile.

"No matter what your father says or what the media wants, you've made me the happiest boy on the planet, and I've missed you so much since we were apart. You keep being the song that plays in my mind. I don't care if others see; I love you, (name)!" With that, Luka put his hand on your cheek, pulling your face closer to his, and finally kissed you. Not a peck or just any kiss—it was a kiss of love, one that showed how much you both loved each other. Amid that romantic moment, several people stopped to look at both of you.

"(Name) Agreste, Adrien Agreste's twin sister and Gabriel Agreste's daughter, kissing a boy in a public park." That's what people thought as they passed through the park, and some took photos.

"I love you, (name)," Luka said as he rested his forehead against yours.

"I love you too, Luka..."

"It seems that it wasn't enough," Mrs. Tsurugi commented as she listened to the latest news report that Gabriel was speaking in.

"Your children are being disobedient, unlike my daughter. Yours are out of control," Gabriel groaned in frustration as he looked at the screen, seeing the photo someone had posted. The photo itself wasn't particularly striking, just a girl taking a selfie with you and Luka kissing in the background. Similar photos like this ended up in some local newspapers, especially in the fashion industry, which only added to Gabriel's irritation. As if it wasn't enough to have to punish you, Adrien followed suit, and now just when it seemed like you were behaving, you go and kiss some random boy...

"It's not working... I think I'll have to proceed with the plan," Gabriel said as he looked at another screen, watching the cameras showing you, Adrien, and Kagami lying in white beds in a room that resembled a sanitarium.

"Let's begin..."

"(Name)!" Luka called out, running to you. You looked at him sadly, and he stopped, now concerned, as you turned.

"(Name), my love, what happened?" He placed a hand on your shoulder, seeing your back.

"Let's break up..." The boy's expression was shocked when he looked at you.

"What do you mean, (name)?" He seemed to want it to be a lie, hoping it was a lie. You had met again just a few days ago, and now you wanted to break up. Didn't you love him?

"(Name)?" You pulled away from the boy.

"Let's break up! I don't want to see you anymore!"

"(Name), if you can explain to me what's wrong, I'm sure we can find a way..." he said, trying to hold onto some hope.

"I don't like you, Luka. Why can't you understand that? I don't want this anymore!" You said angrily to the boy, who looked at you with sadness. He tried to reach out to you, but you simply pulled away until another random boy appeared, taking you away, leaving Luka shocked.

"(Name)....?"

Upon waking up, Luka realized it was just a dream. He brought his hand to his face, wiping away the tears, and sighed, feeling his heart calm down. He reached for his phone, checked the time, and saw his wallpaper—a happy photo of both him and you. He smiled, knowing it was just a nightmare, and that as much as it seemed real, it wasn't. You loved each other too much for something like that to happen.

He held onto the necklace you had given him on his birthday and looked at the ring on his finger—a ring that symbolized your relationship.

That is until...

"Bring back Adrien and Kagami!" Luka didn't know what had happened, but suddenly, everyone started getting akumatized. He knew it had something to do with the nightmare he had because his father and the secretary had reported having extremely heavy nightmares and couldn't stop thinking about them.

"Let's go! We need you!" Bunnix said, opening a portal for them to pass through.

"Thank you, Luka," you said as you leaned against him, watching your friends having fun in the pool at your house. You couldn't remember anything, and all Luka remembered was that suddenly, while fighting to break the akumatized rings, there was an explosion in the sky, and then he woke up, noticing you beside him. He wished it wasn't a dream now, and that you could be together.The look Marinette gave him was enough for him to know that you were now by his side, to stay.

"I should be the one thanking you," you looked at him confused, while he chuckled and gently kissed your lips, leaving both of your faces blushing and happy. "I'm lucky to be dating an amazing girl like you, (name)!"

"I love you, (name)!"

"I love you more, Luka!"

Applause came from some friends who were nearby, watching as you kissed again, but this time, it was to confirm something you both already knew— that you loved each other.

It took me 2 days to finish!!! And I finally finished!!!! Amen! I hope you liked it, if you want I can do another part :)

@midzuuumi

@famouschopshopgalaxy

[marinettesaltprompts]

In Brightest Day (Part 1)

Adrien Sugar x Green Lantern the Animated Series 

Prompt by @somereaderinblue

After HM’s identity is revealed after his defeat, we know the drill. LB takes CN’s ring because he’s a ‘useless hero’ (tho she & Fu never included him), rips him a new one TWICE (tho she never told him abt Lila threatening her or doing anything to disprove the liar herself), drags the rest of her class through the mud & she becomes Paris’s darling.

Before leaving Adrien, Plagg gives him some genuinely helpful advice: his determination is fine & all but it’s only effective when some thought is put into it. Plagg’s words stay with Adrien as he packs up what little he has left & uses the trust fund his mom set up to run away to a new place.

Coast City.

He gets himself a small, rundown apartment & takes online classes. When that isn’t happening, he volunteers at soup kitchens, helps his old lady neighbour who sometimes feeds him, & does what Plagg told him to do: thoughtful baby steps. He talks to the ppl at the soup kitchen, hear their stories & in turn, is listened to and finds community there.

One day, there’s a fire. Adrien rushes in to help. He’s surprisingly still used to carrying adult bodies around & even as his hands burn and his lungs scream, he’s determined to give back to these people everything they gave him when he was Paris’s disgraced golden boy. 

And that’s when it arrives. A familiar jewelry, minus a talking black cat & fancy box.

Of course, once the fire’s put out, Adrien does the smart thing: leave, hide the ring & try to track down Green Lantern so he can return this to him before he’s kicked out of town, again.

Hal is shocked to see such a young Lantern, but he honestly tells Adrien that the ring chose him for a reason & giving it to Hal won’t stop it from going back to him. Adrien is so conflicted. On one hand, he missed being a hero, not just for the freedom but for helping people. On the other, CN’s botched legacy still stings.

Hal takes him under his wing. It’s bumpy. Viridian (Adrien’s GL name) swings between timid & obedient to outgoing & witty. But Hal’s no quitter & slowly, they warm up to each other. Hal’s wisecracks & Adrien’s puns are a deadly combo, he shows him the city’s sights on patrol & sprinkles details abt his civilian life, on the field he guides Adrien instead of bossing him around & is always, always there for him before and after the situation. Yes, he scolds Adrien when he’s impulsive but the first time Adrien calls him out when he made a similarly reckless move…..he owns up to it.

He also begins to notice how skilled Viridian is. A little emotionally/socially stunted sure but what teen isn’t? He knows how to calm someone down, how to cause a distraction (sometimes too well) & every anime weapon he constructs is scarily detailed.

He also notices how Viridian is a little too thin, flinches whenever Hal raises his voice too much, how he’s ready to run despite his eyes screaming that he wants more.

After a rough day where he’s struggling to pay rent & pass his classes, Adrien breaks down & tells Hal everything. His life in Paris, supermodel & superhero both, his sucky dad, the Lila situation & how LB/Marinette abandoned him. Hysterical, he then begs Hal not to send him away & that he’s serious about this, he’ll try, just please don’t leave him-

Hal asks Carol to pull a few strings, adopts Adrien, changes his name & enrolls him into school.

Slowly, Adrien gains back his confidence. Coast City accepts Viridian as GL’s sidekick even though Hal never calls him that (not after doing his own research). At first, Hal was more like a cool uncle/big brother figure but one day, Adrien calls him ‘dad’. 

They got matching bomber jackets & Adrien Jordan dyed his hair brown.

[sariahsue]

Wherefore Art Thou My(stery) Lady

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

Chapter Six

Two hours later, Adrien swept his phone off his pillow, certain for sure that this time he’d really heard it buzzing with an incoming message from Ladybug. There was still no message, and he flopped back onto the bed, despairing, one arm falling over his face. 

It was evening, and long shadows were slowly stretching across his floor. Still, he couldn’t bring himself enough to care enough to get up and turn the light on. Maybe he should bribe Plagg to do it for him. Or he could just wallow in darkness some more. It was a metaphor for his life. Always being in the dark about Ladybug’s true name.

He’d taken Marinette’s advice and worded his questions perfectly. His Lady would have no way to know that he was fishing for hints. And yet, it had been 20 minutes, and she still hadn’t gotten back to him. Just left him on read.

As much as he tried to convince himself that she had gotten busy, or taken a sudden nap, or been called to help wash the dinner dishes, a part of him knew that he’d been discovered. Maybe she was mad at him, and this was the silent treatment. Want more information? Well, here’s none! How do you like that, Kitten?

Something knocked against his window. Adrien flopped his face to the side, only to bolt upright on the bed and fling himself toward the window when he saw who was there waiting for him, one hand hanging from her yoyo string, the other in a tight fist, holding something. Her expression was steely.

“Nice try,” she said as she dropped onto his floor, “but you were being too obvious.” Her light tone was at odds with the seriousness in her face. She retracted and hooked the yoyo around her waist, then put both hands behind her back. 

“It was worth a shot,” he said with an apologetic smile.

“Let’s see if you still think it was worth it when I’m done with you. Pick a hand.” 

“Uh.” He still wasn’t sure if he was in trouble or not. He pointed to the hand that had been holding the yoyo, the one he hoped was still empty.

She brought it forward, stretching out her fingers to show an empty palm, then took a step forward until they were nose to nose, and cupped his cheek with her hand. 

“O-other one?” he asked, tripping over his own breath. He didn’t watch her movements, only stared at her face, her intense look, as she brought her hand forward and rested it on his other cheek. She hadn’t been holding anything.

“This,” she said, “is revenge. Remember, you’re not allowed to kiss me.” And she guided his face down to her level. His skin tingled where her fingertips pressed against him, turning his face so she could kiss her way across his forehead and up to his hairline, then again back down, between his eyes, the bridge of his nose, the tip. 

Her lips traced their way across his face, around his mouth twice, down the center of his throat. 

Not wanting to hinder the movement of her mouth over him, he didn’t cup her face the way he wanted to. Instead, his hands found their way to her waist, and he rubbed his thumbs in small circles over her hip bones in time with his breathing, trying to keep himself from panting under her onslaught.

“How is this revenge?” he asked. His voice was a wheeze, and he cleared his throat, ready to try again, but Ladybug was kissing her way back up his jaw, below his ear. His circling thumbs slowed, and his breathing completely stopped, when she pressed his earlobe in between her lips, held it there for just a second, before turning away, tracing her nose across his cheekbone, doubling back to follow the same path with a line of kisses. 

“Don’t–” he gasped out. Swallowed. Remembered to breathe. Tried again. “Don’t you hate this? That I can’t kiss you back?” He definitely did.

Ladybug growled in annoyance, pulling the neck of his shirt down so she could place an open-mouthed kiss on his shoulder, but her grumbling ruined the effect, and the brush of air tickled. In spite of himself, Adrien laughed. 

He swallowed it when she stepped backward. Not far enough to escape his arms, but far enough that her mouth couldn’t reach him. “Maybe I’m not very good at this kissing thing yet,” she said. “I’m still new at it.”

“No,” he said, dropping his arms and stepping back. “You’re very good at kissing.” He needed the distance from her before his face literally caught fire or he melted through the floor. (Or he did something stupid, like break her rule and kiss her back.) “Would you like to know how good at kissing I am? Because I’ve never done it before but I bet I’m phenomenal.”

She smiled and tilted her head. “Yes, I would very much like to find out about that, so you better figure me out quickly.”

“Ugh, I just wanna kiss my girlfriend.” 

Ladybug, who’d been stepping closer, froze. Adrien felt his face going red. They’d only talked about it over text, what their relationship really was. Hearing it out in the open like that was different.

She crossed her arms. “Well, that’s your problem, not mine. Until then, you need to make it up to me.”

“How?” 

“Compliment me.”

---

“I thought for sure that was going to work.” Adrien said. Marinette had made her idea sound so foolproof. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't think there was a way for him to figure it out without more. 

“My poor Kitten,” Ladybug said. Adrien was lying on his back on his couch, his Lady in his arms. One gloved hand had snuck under his shirt, and he was sliding one finger up and down her spine. It would take a long, long time for him to get used to this.

“Can I have another hint?” he said. “I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't know what it is.”

“One more hint,” she said. “But that's it.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Your hint is that I've already given you a hint today.”

“You did?”

“A pretty heavy-handed one, actually. I was surprised you didn't… cat-ch it.” She cocked her head, resting her chin on his chest to look at him, one eyebrow quirked upward. 

She was so beautiful, and it was so unfair that he wasn't allowed to kiss her just because he couldn't guess her name.

“Wait, did I talk to you today?” 

“Purr-haps.”

That really narrowed it down. Who did he talk to today?

Ladybug snuggled closer to him, sliding her hand along his stomach. “Please figure it out soon, Adrien. I want you to kiss me.” 

He could have asked her to change the rule again. He almost did. He could have asked her to explain what he’d done to deserve her onslaught when she’d arrived. Retribution for asking about the assembly didn’t make sense. He’d been much more direct just now and she hadn’t minded, just surrendered one without a second thought. But what else could it have been? What had he done to upset her?

He almost asked.

But Ladybug turned, humming into his neck, her lips vibrating against his skin, before peppering him with feather-light kisses. 

And he kept his mouth shut.

--- 

That night, laid stretched on on his stomach under his sheets, he flipped through his contacts like Nino had suggested. The screen was blindingly bright, but he didn’t have the energy to change it. He just scrolled up and down, up and down. 

Whose number should he have had that he didn't? He already knew he had everyone in class. Plus everyone from work, not that it mattered. None of his coworkers went to school with him. 

He'd gone through the lists of the other homeroom classes in his grade. There wasn't anyone in there he felt comfortable giving his number to who didn’t already have it. Then through the other grades. He’d come up empty on each pass through the entire student body. Desperation started to flood him again. 

Maybe he should just text Marinette and beg for another idea. She’d seemed eager to help him out that morning. She’d probably laugh at him, but there were worse fates than Marinette’s laughter. 

Yeah, he should ask her. He couldn’t remember her phone number, or even the last time he'd texted her, so he started scrolling through his contacts with a purpose.

“Nathalie, Nino, Max,” he muttered, reading down the list. “My Lady, Mylene.”

He smiled at Ladybug’s entry. As much as he loved the pet name placeholder, it would be nice to have her real name there instead. He could imagine accidentally hitting Mylene's name and starting a conversation. That would be… interesting.

Distracted by the thought of trying to explain to Mylene why he’d sent her a bunch of heart-eyed cat emojis in the middle of the night, he didn’t immediately realize that Marinette's name wasn't there with the other M’s. 

He hadn't set it to “Princess,” had he? That would have been embarrassing (and not to mention potentially secret-revealing) if anyone had gotten ahold of his phone. But there was no contact for Princess. There wasn't even one for “Purr-incess.” His breathing became uneven as he searched his entire contact list. He didn’t have any other nicknames for her. He ran through the whole list again anyway. 

He didn't have her number.

Anywhere.

And he definitely should have had it.

Marinette was about the right height. She liked video games. Her hair was the same style, but that wasn't saying much. Lots of girls wore their hair in pigtails these days. His Lady was quite the trendsetter. 

Marinette was confident and creative. And he had talked to her today. Had she given him a hint when she’d spoken to him? He couldn't put his finger on anything odd that she had said.

Could it be that civilian Ladybug got flustered and tongue-tied whenever she talked to him? But that would mean that Marinette had had a crush on him since his second day at school. That... would explain a lot actually.

Could Marinette be Ladybug? 

Marinette was always ready to defend anyone that Chloe or another bully was pushing around, just like he'd expect from Ladybug. She definitely wasn't a morning person. There were just too many coincidences.

She was simultaneously silk and steel. Sweet vanilla and fiery pepper. She was cool under pressure and ready with a cheer for your successes or a shoulder to cry on. 

Adrien wasn’t even sure which girl he was referring to anymore. They were already blending into one person. 

Marinette’s eyes... he couldn't remember what they looked like. 

“Hey, Plagg?”

The kwami grunted with a start. “I was having the cheese dream again, Adrien. This better be good.”

“What color are Marinette's eyes?”

“The princess?” Plagg stretched out, back arched, just like a real cat. “How should I know? I have to stay hidden all day.”

Adrien's gaze narrowed.

“Is Ladybug or isn't Ladybug really Marinette?”

“Maybe.”

“You know the answer.”

“Yes.”

“And now you're being deliberately unhelpful.”

“Yes.”

Adrien turned his phone screen off with a click and sent the entire room into darkness. “I bet Ladybug's kwami is nicer than you are.”

“Hmm,” Plagg said sleepily. “Debatable. Why don't you just text Ladybug about it?” He curled back up into a little ball, almost invisible in the darkness, and started snoring immediately. 

Marinette. That would explain why she'd been so eager to help him that morning. Marinette. Had he really been in love with Marinette this whole time? Marinette, who was so willing to help out those around her, with her ready smile and fierce love for anyone lucky enough to be near her?

He really hoped so.

Chapter 6

---

Author's note: One chapter to go!

Tag: @eclipsesmoonshine14, @delectablycoolscientist, @mlbigbang

[rainbow-arrow]

i hope luka gets a boyfriend in season six

bonus points if it's adrien but i don't think i can afford to be picky rn

[zi-o3]

mha rant#8 (and mlb rant #1): izuku vs Marinette: what makes a stalker

Stalker-a person who harasses or persecutes someone with unwanted and obsessive attention.

Now why am I typing the definition of this word, you may ask? It's quite simple, the characters mentioned here have personality traits that are treated as creepy while the other is outright ignored. Let me explain. There are three keys pieces for izuku being a 'stalker' (sarcasm). One his notes, two his muttering, and three bakugo. Yeah that's it it's just bakugo being treated as the best thing since sliced bread. (If anything bakugo is the stalker)

Marinette dupain-cheng on there other hand, is the textbook definition of an obsessed fan. She has pictures of Adrien all over her room. Has planned gifts for the fifty years. Not only that but she has abused her powers twice. First time it was to break into adrien's house and sniffed his goddamn pillow (wtf). The second time, was when she transformed into ladybug, to expose Lila in front of Adrien.

I do have a theory for why this is and it is going to make me sound sexist. It is gender, let me explain. Marinette is a girl, but her stalking is seen as cute. Now I'm not saying girl cannot be harassers because the certainly can be. While izuku's, being a boy, 'stalking' is treated as creepy. I'm willing to bet if izuku was a girl, the people who call him a stalker would be singing a whole different tune.

(also as I was typing this I came to the realization that hori and Astruc are two sides of the same coin. Hori has to shit on his MC to every other character look good, and Astruc has to shit on every other character to make his MC look good.)

[starsfic]

Summaries:

Eros and Psyche AU: Lunar New Year this year is both tense and exciting- Xiaotian's pregnancy will soon be over and Red and DBK are rebuilding a rocky relationship. Both become issues when Spider Queen attacks.

There is a thirst account for Qi Xiaotian, the Monkie Kid, and there is a thirst account for Red Son. Both men run the other account secretly, admitting their dirtiest fantasies about their rival to Twitter. And then Xiaotian slips up. Smut.

AU where for a short, brief while Chloe was best friends with Nino and Marinette in elementary school. Adrien did not like this because his best and only friend would talk just about her two besties and prefer to spend time with them over him, even if he wasn’t the biggest fan of Chloe. Of course, that did not last long as Chloe’s entitlement grew and eventually she decided to just focus her friendship on Adrien and bully Marinette, leading to Marinette and Nino drifting apart. Then Origins. Twice, Fu walks into traffic. Twice, he’s saved. Once by Marinette and once by Nino. The same day, Adrien meets Chloe’s so called “besties” and decides to make them pay. Unfortunately, he’s not a very good villain. Fortunately, he’s a very good manipulator.

Chloe successfully crashes and saves a train, with the only casualty being Maribrat's leg. Lila is climbing up the social ladder with her lies, trampling Marinette underfoot. Both queen bees see an opportunity when the school announces its first prom and prom queen contest.

Long Xiaojiao and Qi Xiaotian do everything together. This includes being deflowered by Red Son. (Smut.)

AU: After his courting attempt of Prince Qi Xiaotian is blocked by Azure Lion, Prince Red decides that the best way to make his courtship known is by becoming the prince's knight.

AU: Engaged since birth, the time has come for Princes Qi Xiaotian and Red Son to be wed. Xiaotian, having not seen Red since they were toddlers, decides to secretly meet the prince. Unfortunately, he doesn't meet him. But he does meet the prince's hot bull bodyguard.

Spicynoodles get a cat, naming her after the similarities of a certain princess. One day, PIF Jr. refuses to leave Xiaotian alone.

LMK/PP: Due to a misread address, a missent letter, and some poor decisions, Qi Xiaotian finds himself trapped in the depths of the Playtime Co. factory. But he’s not gonna let DogDay be stuck too.

Based on this post, the gang is hired to investigate the rumors of a bunny animatronic ghost overnight. The truth is a little more tricky.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What are your full thoughts and opinions on Marinette’s extended family members that make full appearances (Gina Bianchi, Wang Cheng, Roland Dupain) as people in their own right as well as in each of their relationships with Sabine, Tom, and Marinette individually as well as a nuclear family group?

Gina Bianchi

I love Gina. I have so many headcanons for this woman. My personal favorite is that she's the one who got Marinette into fashion and taught her how to sew. Look at this woman:

There is no way that she's satisfied by what she can get off the rack and Marinette is really freaking young to have strong sewing talents. Gina is the obvious explanation. I will fight you on this.

Outside of headcanon land, there's not much for me to say. Gina isn't really around a lot and we don't get a clear look at her relationship with her son and his family. There's an interesting implication that Gina was around more when Marinette was young - thus her knowing all of Marinette's favorite childhood things - which gives me the headcanon that Gina may have been free daycare when Marinette was born so that Sabine could work, but that's still a headcanon. Nothing is confirmed in canon. We just know that Gina is a bit of a free spirit who isn't around much.

Wang Cheng

It seems like Sabine's parents are dead and when that happened is anyone's guess. If Sabine was young, then it's possible that Wang raised her? It's impossible to know, I just think that would be an interesting way to explain Sabine being into cooking and better tie her to the bakery as something that she wanted and not just a thing that she does for her husband. Yeah, I'm giving you more headcanons, sorry! I don't know what else to say! We just don't know enough for me to give more meaningful commentary. Wang appears all of twice and we don't see him interact with Sabine or Tom, which is kind of sad when you think about it because he so clearly loves his family! He shut down his freaking restaurant so that he could hang out with Marinette!

Wang: I have worked hard so it will be easier to communicate with you. (Marinette's phone receives a notification; Marinette checks it.) And now I can tell you all about your ancestors, (Marinette's phone shows a picture of Adrien) and show you every family photo! (Marinette looks at the skyscrapers.) Next time, I'll take you to visit the wonders of Shanghai, and teach you all the Chengs' traditional songs!

Give this man more family time, damn it! His treatment in the Shanghai special made me so sad...

Roland Dupain

I think we have to start this one by addressing the elephant in the room: a lot of people view Roland as a racist. I didn't get why at first until someone finally told me that this read comes from his reason for cutting Tom off:

Rolland: Oh! She likes pizza! Oh! But that's not how it's done! You don't put cheese and tomatoes on bread dough! It's just like my son, and his wife, who got it into their heads that adding rice to the dough, would make the inside of the bread lighter! That's not how it's done!

Confession time, my only experience working with rice flour is gluten-free baking, so the fact that this could be read as a slight against Sabine's heritage flew right over my head! I just read it as an old man being upset that you changed the family recipe. I think that is what the writers intended the read to be since Roland also gets mad about pizza and he never seems to have any issues with Sabine or Marinette, but I'm not going to call the racist read wrong. I don't feel like I'm informed enough to make that argument. Instead, I'll just say that the racist read seems to be completely unintentional and so I'm going to approach him as if he isn't supposed to be a racist and this was just the writers being dumb.

Even without the racism, Roland's character is weird. He's supposed to be a set-in-his-ways old man who resists change at all costs, but almost every time he appears he's willing to change his ways, so I think it's just a joke gone wrong?

Then there's the fact that he and Tom get along fine even though - prior to Bakerix - they hadn't spoken in over 15 years, which was certainly a choice... Yet another failure father who is written as being welcome to the family with no problems. Why do the writers keep doing that? It would be so easy to remove the estrangement and just have Marinette need to run over to see her grandfather who insists that the traditional family recipes are the best ones and she's just like, "Okay grandpa, that's nice. How are you?"

It's much more cute and funny if Tom and his family have a generally good relationship with Roland, they just know to not bother making bread when grandpa comes over because he always brings his own insisting that it's the best because he doesn't use stand mixers or something.

If we ignore the estrangement issue and go that route, I actually like the concept of Roland. He's a nice contrast to Gina's free spirit and I like the idea that baking runs in Marinette's family. It's a good way to explain how Tom became a baker and also why he started his own shop. The son wanting to branch out while the father wants to keep things how they've always been is a classic struggle.

[lukaslosteyelashes]

I really wanted to post this before the London Special, also I’m sorry in advance if anything is incoherent or not grammarly correct. I had a bit of a trouble collecting my thoughts and write this but I tried my best.

Anyways, let’s go!

*Edit: I was wrong lol

Tomoe Tsurugi was the main reason why people now view Gabriel Agreste as a hero of Paris

At first I haven’t thought much about the season 5 finale, overall I liked it, but then it started to bug me: why was it necessary to make Gabriel Agreste the hero of Paris, how did it happen and whose idea was it, who would benefit from it?

Ladybug/Marinette

She probably had to make a public announcement to the media at some point that Monarch was defeated, that’s a topic that cannot be avoided after all, and there is also the fact that Gabriel Agreste died at the end of that fight.

Gabriel is a famous fashion designer, a public figure who, even though spent the last bit of his life basically isolated, is known far and wide. His death would be something that shakes the rich and the poor alike. So what would happen if Marinette would reveal that their adored fashion designer was also the villain that kept the entire population of Paris in terror? Nothing good and his son, Adrien would suffer the most because of it.

If we’re at Adrien. There is also Gabriel’s final wish, which was to keep this a secret from his son, so Adrien could only remember the times when he was trying to be a good father to him [which happened like once or twice during the 5 seasons].

Would Ladybug call Gabriel a hero to the press?

I don’t think so, maybe not intentionally, the press could put a lot of pressure on people. I can imagine that Ladybug being confused of what happened and also distressed that she couldn’t find the butterfly miraculous, so she might said something that she didn’t meant or the press made her say things.

Marinette probably fulfilled Gabriel’s final wish because she wants Adrien to be happy and free and spilling the beans about everything would achieve the opposite. With Gabriel’s death there’s no Monarch anymore either, that’s what matters no one really needs to know that the two were the same (not even his son). It’s an end of an era and the beginning of a (not so promising) new one.

Side note: Do you remember that in "Conformation" Ladybug sent a message to Chat Noir that Gabriel Agreste is Monarch? Adrien still can learn about the truth from her IF the message came through.

Nathalie

She was Gabriel’s accomplice from the start who would have helped him as Mayura until the end if he didn’t went off from his original plan. But as Gabriel went more and more crazy and the videos about Emilie waked her up. Also during the time she was bedridden she had plenty of time reflecting on her wrong doings as well.

Although, she wasn’t able to do much to stop Gabriel because of the state that she was in near the end and if she revealed the truth about Monarch then she would also get found out.

Natalie was definitely shocked and confused but also happy to learn about Gabriel’s final choice, still she wouldn’t declare him as a hero after everything that he did, and she definitely feels guilty of what she did as well, but would play along for the sake of Adrien’s happiness.

Lila (or whatever her real name)

Since we yet to learn what her true motives are, I don’t have much of an idea what she would do and why, but she’d definitely benefit form this situation.

Lila figured out Hawkmoth's true identity much earlier than Marinette and she was also able to collect informations about him and his past and most certainly knows that Adrien is a sentimonster as well. And let's not forget that she was able to seize the butterfly miraculous and rumored to be the next Hawkmoth. Because of these she has some advantage and could reveal the truth to Adrien, to Paris and to the World at any moment. And for this reason, Gabriel being a celebrated hero, comes in handy for her.

Just imagine this situation: Lila wants Marinette to loose everything and become pitiful. And what would make Marinette more distressed than seeing her beloved boyfriend being miserable? So Lila would reveal the truth to Adrien with showing all of the information that she collected as a proof, Adrien starts to loose all trust in his late father and Nathalie, maybe even in his late mother as well. He had already shown signs of being emotionally unstable before and this would be the last straw, not even Marinette would be able to comfort him. Lila, of course would observe the situation carefully from afar, waiting for the right opportunity. Adrien because of all of this, became so careless that he transforms into Chat Noir which Lila saw and akumatize him. Then BOOM... Chat Blanc became the future that Ladybug wanted to avoided at all cost...

That’s one hell of a scenario, but seeing how Lila became so obsessed with completely destroying Marinette, I think she’d do something like that. Also with having an as powerful akumatized ally as Chat Blanc on her side she'd be unstoppable.

So what’s the deal with Tomoe Tsurugi?

At first I thought that she would be furious about Gabriel messing up their whole plan about gaining Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s miraculouses to create a new world with a wish, but Tomoe likely realized that she could very well use this to her advantage and created this image about Gabriel as the hero of Paris. But why would she needed to do that?

The Alliance rings

The Alliance rings basically were one of the biggest main issues in the 5th season. They were created by Gabriel and Tomoe which was known all across the Globe, there was a whole marketing campaign about it, featuring Adrien and Lila, later Kagami.

When the Alliance rings started to turn almost every users into a Ladybug and Chat Noir hunting robot, every sane person instantly thought about Monarch making all the mess. But how come no one seems to connect the whole ruckus to Gabriel and Tomoe? [It shouldn’t be a surprise since the majority of the characters are blind.] Even if no one suspects either to be Monarch, the happenings should connect Gabriel and Tomoe to him in some way.

So I think, Tomoe wanted to avert suspicion by creating this hero image.

The head of the Tsurugi Industries probably wasn’t pleased that her partner in crime changed his mind last minute, had a different wish than they agreed on and Ladybug was able to get back all the miraculouses (except Nooroo). Now she also has to face the possiblity of getting caught, that people would slowly [really slowly] start to realize that she also had something to do with all of this. So how could she be able to avert the suspicion?

By playing the victim.

Deceiving the public by saying that her and Gabriel were both used by Monarch and that they couldn’t do anything because they were threatened with Adrien’s and Kagami’s life, so their only choice was to help him hijack the Alliance rings. With that it was easy to see Gabriel’s action as heroic because in the eyes of the people he just wanted to save his son by sacrificing himself, and Tomoe is also able to continue her pursue for the miraculouses without people suspecting anything.

To make things worse, she’s now taken over the Agreste brand, and it also looks like all those inventions, to make Paris more eco friendly [you can see them at the end of the season 5 finale] are also products of the Tsurugi Industries. And let's be real, I'm certain that she wants to control Paris from the background by swamping the city with her machines. The statue of Gabriel, which was created from the remaining Alliance rings, looks suspicious as well.

I hope it's not a complete bs theory

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Illusion

You know, It's really sad how this is a Lila episode, and she somehow isn't the most annoying character to come out of it.

Let's get into the fifth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Illusion

We start off with a news broadcast where several people are interviewed about the recent developments this season. There's an attempt made to show differing perspectives, but while half are recurring characters who are confident Ladybug and Cat Noir will beat Monarch (Xavier, Mr. Damocles, and Alec), the other half are antagonistic characters who either blame Ladybug for everything going wrong or are too stupid to care about the bigger picture (XY, Chloe, and Bob Roth).

This is one of the overarching problems with the show, its refusal to show any nuance in its arguments. We already know how easy it is for the writers to blame Marinette for things whenever there's a conflict, but whenever there's an argument where both sides make interesting points, the opposing side is almost always represented by an antagonist or jerk who frames their view in either a condescending or idiotic way so it's easy for the viewer to brush them off, and the same can be applied to their side of the argument as well. Hell, it's already happened twice this season with Lila and Chloe (Multiplication, Determination). It just comes across like the show is pretending to act like its conflict is deeper without actually showing any real nuance with it. I get that some arguments aren't morally gray, but if you're trying to discuss Ladybug's past failures, put more effort into showing how the people of Paris would see something like this without knowing the full context.

Also, this is a minor thing, but I actually like how when we see Alec on the talk show, he's wearing a wig like the one he had in “Wishmaker”, and has the same positive outlook on life he had at the end of that episode. For a show that usually plays loosey-goosey with its continuity, it's surprising to see the writers actually acknowledge the character growth of someone as insignificant as Alec.

Congratulations, Miraculous Ladybug. You managed to give a very minor side character a consistent arc. Now if only you could put the same amount of effort into writing your main cast.

We cut to Adrien's room where, shock of all shocks, he isn't exactly a fan of his image being used for a high-tech ring without his consent. He storms off to see his father, but it turns out that Gabriel is experimenting with the idea of not being such a terrible father for once. He's making breakfast, saying that Adrien can call him “Dad” now, and even admits that he's been very neglectful towards his son ever since Emilie “disappeared”. Yeah, he's cooking breakfast in his white suit and haircut that makes him look like a grandpa for some reason, but hey, at least the kitchen isn't on fire.

Of course, Gabriel still isn't really good at comforting his son, as seen with his response to Adrien's concerns about Alliance.

Adrien: Speaking of which, Dad, I'm not really comfortable with having my face on all these rings. That's actually why I didn't want to be a model anymore, to avoid that. Do you understand?

Gabriel: Of course, I understand, my son. But that's the point; it's just an image, it's not you! And since this image frees you from your obligations, we, the Agrestes, are able to spend more time together. But if you'd rather everything went back to the way it was before, just say the word.

Adrien: You're probably right.

Gabriel: You'll see, my son. Alliance will bring us closer.

“I know you're concerned about me using your image for something that I could have hired literally anyone else for, but if you would rather go back to being a model on a strict schedule, just say the word.”

Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen.

We get a decent interaction between Marinette and Alya where they discuss ways that Monarch could be giving Miraculous to his Akumas, unaware of what the Alliance rings do. Alya comes up with an interesting hypothesis that Monarch is using the Dog Miraculous to swipe them back, and honestly, that sounds like a much better plan than “develop a cutting-edge AI ring and hope whoever I akumatize had enough money to buy one”. I like this bit, as it shows the two thinking of ways to stop Monarch beyond beating whatever Akuma he sends out next. It honestly could have been a really interesting story arc to see Marinette, Cat Noir, and Alya learn more about how Monarch is using the new Miraculous he got instead of having us know what he's doing already.

After class ends, Nino talks to Adrien about an underground resistance he's forming with his friends, deciding to give each member a condiment-themed title.

Alya: What's up with the sauces?

Nino: What's up is Ladybug and Cat Noir don't have us to help them anymore.

Alya: (nervously) Um... uh... what do you mean, “us”?

Nino: Well, us, you Rena Rouge, me Carapace! (Alya kicks Nino's leg underneath the table) Ouch! What's the big deal? We can tell Marinette and Adrien we used to be superheroes. It's not like we have any Miraculous that Monarch could steal from us. The only ones who need to protect their secret identities are Ladybug and Cat Noir, not us. And anyway, I already told Adrien about Carapace.

Adrien: (chuckles nervously)

Marinette: Adrien knew?! Alya, did you know that he knew?!

Alya: What, no, I swear I didn't know at all! (kicks Nino's leg again)

Nino: Ow! Come on! He's my best bud, I can tell him stuff! You and Marinette tell each other stuff, don't you?

Alya and Marinette: No we don't!

Yeah, remember how shocking it was for Nino to reveal that he and Alya were Rena Rouge and Carapace to Adrien in “Rocketear”, and how we thought this reveal would play into something big like the Season 4 finale, possibly splintering the trust several characters had with each other? This is what it culminates in. Wasn't waiting over a year since that plotpoint was established totally worth it for that gag that once again ignores the secret identity rule?

Also, just because you don't have a Miraculous, it doesn't mean Monarch can't target you like he did last season (Optigami, Sentibubbler), you dumbass.

For the first time in God knows how long, Lila actually becomes relevant when she asks to sit with the four, only to be rebuffed by Marinette and Nino. Using some more condiments and food as props, Nino explains his plan.

Nino: We're gonna film an akumatization.

Alya: And how are you, Comrade Ketchup, gonna be in the know when and where this akumatization takes place?

Nino: Easy, Comrade Beurre Maître d'Hôtel. I'm gonna make it happen.

Yep, this is the plot of the episode, people. Nino's going to try and get someone akumatized. Now I know what you're all obviously thinking: Isn't this cruel?

Adrien: Isn't that cruel?

Alya: Totally! To make someone suffer just to discover Monarch's technique? Super cruel!

Nino: No, it's not! You forget Ladybug always fixes everything in the end with her magic ladybugs! The akumatized victims forget what happened to them.

Oh yeah, this is totally ethical, you guys. Who cares about the emotional trauma an Akuma victim would go through, much less any civilians endangered by their rampage?

To make things even better, guess who Nino wants to get akumatized?

Okay, putting aside what we, the audience, already know about Gabriel that Nino doesn't, why would he think pissing off one of the most influential fashion designers in the city of Paris is a good idea? He says he's targeting him because it's easy to do so during parent-teacher conferences, but why not target someone else who has been akumatized more often than him, like Xavier/Mr. Pigeon? I don't think the idea of a more morally gray plan to stop Monarch is a bad one, it's just that this plan is so stupid, and the writers only go over the ethical implications, and that said plan is so ludicrous, Nino is basically asking for a restraining order.

While Adrien and Marinette agree to Nino's plan, Alya only hesitantly goes along with it, but unbeknownst to any of them, Lila was overhearing their conversation, so she goes to tell Gabriel what they're doing. During the conferences, Marinette barges in and pretends to trip and drop some pizza onto Gabriel's clothes, and I'm going to assume that either the pizza was cold of Gabriel is really good at keeping a cool head because there's no way taking a hot pizza to the chest wouldn't hurt like hell. Adrien and Alya come in with more food, and we get the one funny joke of the episode with Alya half-assing her performance as the half-heartedly throws some cake onto Gabriel's suit. Pretty funny how Nino is conveniently the only one who isn't taking the risk by attacking Gabriel in front of his teacher by filming the whole thing, isn't it?

Gabriel has had enough and does a 180, planning to take Adrien out of school and somehow, Marinette blames herself for going along with the plan... even though she was the only one to not approve of it, while Adrien and Alya did, and even then, the latter two were very hesitant. It turns out this was all part of Gabriel's plan, as we see him transform into Monarch as soon as he gets to his lair and uses Trixx's power to create a Mirage of his civilian form, having a breakdown so dramatic, I'm surprised he didn't end it by saying, “YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, MARINETTE!”.

The illusion of Gabriel turns into the Collector again, and now he supposedly has the Horse Miraculous' Voyage as a power. Adrien and Marinette transform into Cat Noir and Ladybug respectively, and try to fend off the “Akuma”. Back in Monarch's lair, we learn that he somehow has the ability to unify with five different Miraculous at once, choosing to do so with the Bee, Mouse, Horse, and Rooster Miraculous. Why is he able to do this now?

Monarch uses Voyage and heads to the sewers, activating Venom before using Multiplication to create eight smaller clones of himself, finally using Sublimination to give the copies the power of invisibility. Strange, wouldn't wanting to be invisible count as a wish? While looking for “the Collector”, Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm, getting a bag of shredded cheese. The two chase after the illusion, only to fall through a Voyage portal into the sewers, where Cat Noir is almost immediately stunned by one of the clones. Hey, it took five whole episodes this season for him to be incapacitated by an Akuma to pointlessly raise the stakes this time! It's a new record! Ladybug throws the cheese to reveal the clones, who are then chased off by some nearby rats.

Monarch goes back to his normal form, and after a small pep talk, the illusion pretends to reject the Akuma entirely before falling into the water. The real Gabriel detransforms and then pretends to have gotten out. So Gabriel tricked the heroes with his foolproof plan... except for the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir should have recognized the use of Venom, the hidden clones of the Collector when the video Nino got only said he had the Horse Miraculous' power, the akuma somehow purifying itself when Ladybug still needed to de-evilize it in “Rocketear” and “Penalteam”, the fact that Gabriel should be soaking wet from falling into the water, and the—okay, you all know where this is going.

Meanwhile, Nino sees the footage of the illusion and sees what he believes to be the way Monarch gave the Collector the Horse Miraculous' powers. Nino then apologizes to Gabriel for attacking him, Gabriel forgives him, and Nino invites him into the Resistance, with a bunch of new members. The final scene reveals that in addition to Nino, Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Gabriel, the Resistance now has Max, Kim, Rose, Juleka, Ivan, Mylene, and to Marinette's horror, Lila. Also, there's a post-credits scene where Gabriel explains what he did to Tomoe when literally everyone watching was able to figure it out.

Okay, so let's summarize. The first mission for Nino's resistance involved assaulting a private civilian, was easily discovered before it could even be implemented, was just as easily foiled by an illusion, now Monarch and one of his allies have infiltrated the alliance as moles, and Nino isn't even aware that his plan was a colossal failure. This resistance isn't exactly going to be like the Rebel Alliance, is it?

Yeah, this episode sucked. It's easily the worst one so far in my opinion. There were a handful of decent moments and ideas here, but my God, the story was just terrible. Morally gray subject or not, it's hard to get behind the heroes when they try to intentionally piss someone off for a plan that the audience knows is going to fail, especially a plan as stupid as Nino's. This episode features Nino at his most obnoxious and unlike Alya, Marinette, and especially Adrien, he doesn't even feel bad for what he did to Gabriel when it ended up being (as far as we know) completely pointless. It feels like the writers wanted to gloss over the ethics of Nino's plan by making Gabriel the victim, because if it was anyone else, it would have made him look like a colossal prick. The fact that he learns nothing and thinks his moronic scheme was a success really doesn't help.

The other characters thankfully weren't as bad. It seemed like the writers were trying to show some self-awareness by having Alya, Marinette, and Adrien object to the plan in one way or another, but it never really went much other than them begrudgingly going along with it, much less calling him out for his actions. At the same time, they all got some decent moments, like Alya and Marinette's discussion about Monarch and Adrien struggling to convey his feelings about the Alliance rings to Gabriel.

It's also kind of weird that it took us about five episode into the season for Lila to finally be relevant again after she did absolutely nothing for the last three episodes of Season 4 and the first four episodes of this season. It was only three and a half years since “Ladybug”, the last major Lila episode premiered, right? But hey, at least the writers didn't overindulge in the dumb Lila lies like her other episodes, and was used more as an informant to kick off Gabriel's counter to Nino's plan.

Putting aside how terrible Nino's plan was, Gabriel's plan still had a lot of problems to it. Like I already mentioned, it's a little strange that Ladybug and Cat Noir never talk about the tiny clones they fought, or the fact that Cat Noir was stung by Venom. I can kind of suspend my disbelief by saying Ladybug was too focused on the battle to think, but why the hell didn't Cat Noir say anything? You would think after working alongside Queen Bee and Vesperia, he would recognize what being stung by Venom must look like. Yeah, Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't know Monarch can now use more powers for some reason, but it still really bothers me, because they should know the Collector can't multiply himself. It's also strange that he made his trick so hard to find when you would think it would be more obvious to see

But overall, this one was just a chore to get through. It feels like the writers saw how much some people didn't like Nino in “Rocketear”, and were like, “You call THAT character assassination?” And speaking of...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... NINO

Was there ever any doubt? The dude talked about his identity in a public place, nonchalantly blew him and his girlfriend's cover when he had no reason to for his Resistance, tried to get his best friend's dad akumatized while not caring about any potential damage, showed no remorse for what he did when his plan blew up in his face, tried to tell Ladybug and Cat Noir about what he learned while they were fighting the Collector, and all that was for a plan that didn't even work because the intel was discovered with ease, to say nothing about how he unintentionally let two enemies into his own Resistance. I've seen a lot of stupid decisions in this show, but never have I seen a single episode where a character makes screw-up after screw-up and doesn't even realize how much of a colossal moron he's being. With the past five episodes I covered and awarded Biggest Idiot Awards to (Ladybug, Alya, Xuppu, Mr. Damocles, and Luka), it was more them not seeing the bigger picture. Here, Nino is honestly trying to help Ladybug and Cat Noir, yet he failed at his job in every way.