#maybe the cat and ladybug can never be together

[miraculousisalright]

Listen, I know we all talk about how long it's taking for Adrien and Marinette date each other, but what if they never end up together? What if they're destined to dance around, never quite confessing or acting on confessions? When they do, it's erased with the cycle going on forever.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So, the Miraculous Ladybug TV Tropes page recently added this under the Broken Aesop section on the YMMV page:

Adrien/Cat Noir had many instances where he could have discovered the identity of Ladybug/Marinette, but always respected the private life of his beloved, despite knowing that learning it would bring them closer (The only time when he learned it accidentally, Adrien was punished with the apocalypse, no less, and a Retcon.) His attitude was presented as the right thing to do. In the meantime, Alya has been akumatized on the fact she wanted to know Ladybug/Marinette's secrets. Both times, she tried to violently force the issue with her powers and the second time was after she tried pressuring her into revealing them. But, as a reward for her pushy behavior, Alya has been entrusted with Ladybug's identity and the secrets of the Miracle Box. And Adrien's reward for respecting her privacy? He's still (and more and more) left in the dark, and will very likely be the last one to know.

Any thoughts?

I don't fully agree, but it's also not exactly wrong.

I love Alya, but I've never been a fan of the fact that she learned Marinette's secret identity, especially because the episode where it happens - Gang of Secrets - really failed to make the confession feel like a wise move. It's one of the many episodes with a wacky moral.

For those who don't remember, the episode has most of Marinette's female friends worrying about her. They know that she's keeping secrets because, for some reason, Marinette didn't tell anyone about her breakup with Luka:

Rose: They were so cute together! Alya: Yeah, except they broke up. Juleka: He was like super sad when they did. Alya: But the real problem here is that Marinette never told us anything. If Luka hadn't told Juleka, who told Rose, who told Mylène, who then told Alix, who finally told me. Then I, her BF in the whole world would still be in the dark! Yesterday I was in the restroom and I heard her crying.

This is... really weird. Why didn't Marinette tell them? The episode never explains and I can't figure out her logic because they'd obviously learn the truth. There's no way that Juleka wouldn't know!

My best guess is that the writers wanted a conflict over secrets, but they didn't want to have Marinette's girl friends pick up on her Ladybug-based lies as that would invite a level of complexity that they really can't resolve. But that's a meta reason. As far as the actual text goes, there's nothing to explain this baffling choice.

What's even more weird is that making it about the Ladybug secrets would have worked if Alya was the only one worried because the episode ends with Alya learning the truth. Having the episode only be about Marinette and Alya would make a lot of sense. Instead, it's about the whole, rarely-seen girl group so we're stuck with the Luka conflict. Yay.

Either way, I'm not wild about the actions Alya and Co take. Their first choice is to call Marinette. When she doesn't pick up, they leave a very sweet message. If things ended there, then we'd be fine, but right after that, we get this:

Alya: Maybe we should go to her house. What do you think? Mylène: We'll give her an eternal friendship bracelet so she never forgets that friends can tell each other anything and that we'll always be there for her.

This isn't a terrible idea. Checking on a friend when you're worried about them is a reasonable thing. The problem is the way that check up goes down. The girls basically invade Marinette's room and start messing with her stuff like this is some fun little hangout session, almost discovering the miracle box in the process:

Marinette: What are you doing here? Alya: We're just checkin' in on you, girl. Rose: Aw, it looks just like a real house, look how the roof comes off to show the inside! Marinette:(frantically) No! No, don't touch that! Move away! (As Rose opens the roof, Marinette gets down, pushing past through her friends and Rose as she hides what is inside of the dollhouse, while Rose accidentally drops the roof, which cracks. The girls gasp in shock.) Rose:(kneels to pick up the cracks) Sorry, Marinette! Marinette:(angrily) Will you please leave my room?! Alya: Chill out Marinette, it's just a doll house. We'll totally help. Marinette: No you won't, please go! Alya: Okay Marinette, there's clearly something wrong and we're not leaving you like this till you tell us what it is.

The scene goes on like this until Marinette lashes out and tells them to get out even if it means ending her friendship with them, which is a response that I find totally justified. Marinette is quite obviously very distressed by her friends' presence and they are refusing to listen to her pleas to leave. They're also giving that refusal in a highly confrontational manner, which is the completely wrong tone for conveying concern. They do not come across as caring. They come across as demanding.

Marinette has every right to be upset by that. It's okay to not want people to invade your room, touch your stuff, and demand to know you're secrets. It's also okay to get upset when people keep ignoring your clearly stated and perfectly reasonable boundaries.

While I fully support wellness checks, this is not how you do them. It's like a variation on the scenes where people confront Gabriel in Adrien's name. They're all impressively terrible examples of how you handle a very complex situation. Worst possible way you could go about it. Children, do not try this at home!

Of course, Marinette's justified reaction leads to the girls getting akumatized, leading to a fight, leading to Ladybug saving the day, leading to everyone being friends again even though the girls never apologize for how they went about their wellness check. Rose's quick sorry for breaking Marinette's doll house is the only one we get in the entire episode. Then we get this:

Alya: You go ahead girls, I just have one last thing to say to Marinette. (closes the door to Marinette's room) You didn't tell us everything, did you? A journalist and a BFF can tell these things. I won't try to figure it out or force it out of you. (sits beside Marinette) If you can't tell me what's in your heart, it's your right. Marinette: Will we still be friends? Alya: Marinette. I'm your best friend, and I'll always be. That's why it kills me that I can't help you with whatever's making you feel so alone. (Alya sighs, and is about to leave Marinette's room when Marinette grabs her hand.) Marinette: Alya, wait! Stay. You're right, I am alone. (grows increasingly emotional) More than ever before. I can barely take it anymore! You know why I broke up with Luka? Not because I don't like him, he's amazing! It's 'cause there's something that I can't tell him. You know why I have to forget Adrien? For the exact same reason! You're right, I keep secrets, I lie all the time! I lie to my friends, to my parents, to everyone and the worst thing is, I can't do it any other way! Alya: There's always another way. Marinette: No, not this time. I have no choice. All this is bigger than us, Alya. Way too big. Alya: If it's too big, two of us can handle it better than one. Marinette: If I tell you, things will never be the same between us again. (shakes her head) It'll mess up everything, maybe even destroy it. Alya:(voice breaking) Marinette, I'm your very best friend. Marinette: And I… I'm Ladybug.

Maybe this is just me, but this doesn't feel like Alya respecting Marinette's boundaries. It's certainly not as bad as the earlier scene. In fact, I like a lot of this in a vacuum, but because of that earlier scene, this one feels uncomfortable. Once again, Alya is so sure that she knows what she's talking about even though she really doesn't.

In the first scene, Marinette was right that they all needed to get out so that she could protect the Kwamis and in this scene she was right that the Ladybug reveal wasn't the kind of thing where sharing was the clear right choice. This would all play so much better if Alya said her first few lines and then actually left, only to be called back by Marinette several hours later. Then we'd really feel like Marinette was making an informed choice instead of revealing her identity in a panic.

Another option would be to have Alya offer comfort without needing to know what is upsetting Marinette, maintaining the secret identities while also giving Marinette some much needed support. Saying she'll support Marinette no matter what and then getting up to leave just doesn't feel super supportive to me. It feels like Alya is (unintentionally) making Marinette panic by saying one thing while technically doing another.

Remember, Marinette just had a really stressful day where she almost lost all of her friends, making this an incredibly charged moment that ends with Alya leaving while clearly disappointed. Of course Marinette would try to salvage that! Her brain isn't focusing on Alya's genuine words. It just sees Alya leaving and panics. It doesn't help that this opening line would put a lot of people on edge:

You didn't tell us everything, did you? A journalist and a BFF can tell these things.

"I know you're still keeping secrets, but I respect that" is not the best way to start a conversation with someone who is clearly struggling.

Because of these issues, I don't feel like Marinette truly decided to make this serious choice. I feel like she blurted it out in the middle of a panic attack, so this scene never gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. This is especially true because we never get to truly see the fallout of Alya processing the reveal and comforting Marinette. The scene just ends and the next episode has them back to their usual dynamic, just with the bonus element of Alya knowing the whole Ladybug thing.

To be fair to Alya, a lot of this comes back to our oft-discussed issue of Miraculous trying to speed run major story lines in 20 minutes because it's a formula show so it can't let things play out properly. That doesn't change the fact that this feels rushed and unsatisfying. It's not the natural conclusion to an episode where Alya learns to respect Marinette's boundaries, but I don't think that's actually the lesson here. The lesson seems to be that Marinette should share her secrets with her friends to lessen her mental burden.

Once again, that's a lovely lesson in a vacuum, but a really weird one for the show that gave us Chat Blanc and Miracle Queen in the previous season and that will include Sentibubbler, Ephemeral, and Nino accidentally outing Alya to Gabriel in the exact same season. Season five will even see Luka leave the country because he knows the secret identities!

Writers, when it comes to secret identities, you really need to pick a lane. Are they good or bad? Is sharing them a No Good Very Bad Thing, an act of trust, or no big deal? The inconsistency around this topic is a major issue for the show as the Alya reveal really undermines everything going on with Ladynoir. While there's solid logic for Ladynoir not sharing, similar logic applies to Alya at this point because Gabriel literally knows her secret identity! Through no fault of her own, Alya is not a safe person and that makes it really hard to watch Alya get the reveal while Adrien stays in the dark. I can justify him not knowing. I can't justify Alya knowing.

I'll wrap this up by saying that I don't agree that Adrien has respected Ladybug's boundaries to the point where it feels like he should have been rewarded (narratively speaking, of course. This is a story after all). He may not be all that pushy about an identity reveal, but he's pretty freaking pushy about Ladynoir becoming a thing, so Ladybug not being ready to trust him does feel earned. Plus, as I said above, it's not like there's no logic behind them keeping their identities a secret. We know that they're dating on the civilian side, but as far as they know, they're total strangers.

If you look at it from that perspective and ask, "what are the benefits of a reveal," you'll find that they're not overwhelming, especially when compared to the risks that come with a mind-controlling super villain on the loose. I totally get why Marinette isn't telling him a thing, I'm just not really sure why she needed to tell Alya. The more logical route here is for Marinette to keep her secrets and look for support on the Ladybug side of things. Ideally that support should be Chat Noir or Su-Han, but it could be Alya, too. I still think that's a bad call since Alya's identity is in the villain's hands, but it would still make more sense than Marinette telling Alya all of her secrets. Another route would be for Alya to learn by accident. She walks in at the wrong time and, ooops, no taking that back. That's the only way I'd personally write Alya learning at this point in the story.

Sorry if this one was a bit of a ramble, the writing around the topic of secret identities is one of the elements I truly don't understand. I have no idea what the writers are doing here. It's not even a "you didn't think this through" thing like the sentimonster stuff. It's a "you spent all of last season telling us that identity reveals are bad and you're about to spend all of this season also telling us that, so why do we randomly get an identity reveal that's magically okay? Rena Furtive doesn't even do anything useful for the plot, why make her a thing?? Are you even trying to tell a coherent story???"

[thequietkid-moonie]

Can you do Adrien agreste x y/n who is a childhood friend romantic headcanons?

Childhood friend to loves w/ Adrien Agreste

[ HEADCANONS ] [ Miraculous Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir ]

Hehe ~ I like this prompt quite a lot, I just find it pretty cute 🤭 thanks for requesting it! Hope you like it

Want to know something interesting? My bestie is living her own childhood friends to lovers in real life (me envy)

To be friends with Adrien since he was a child it has to be because your family is influential or part of the fashion world, or even has to have a really good relationship with his own, otherwise Gabriel won't allow you to be friend of his son (unless is while Emily is still alive since she is more willing to let you two be friends)

Is probably that you were friends with Cloe too, however she will either don't like you much or think really high of you and think you are above everyone else (like she does with Adrien)

Adrien will appreciate a lot if you treat him as just a friend and not as the son of a famous fashion designer and, later, a model (and, actually, that is when his feelings for you start to grow), he likes just being your friend, for him it doesn't matter much if you are more the shy or introvert type, or if you are more extrovert and energetic he will be more than happy to spend time with you and, at the end, is more likely that he just get used to your own rhythm

As he grows up Adrien tries to stay with you and Cloe as much as posible since you two are his only friends, however once his feelings start to grow as an innocent crush he will just mistook them as enjoying a lot your company and tries to be even more close to you (and it could easily go unnoticed for you two being friends for so long)

Is probably that Emily would notice but decided to don't say anything and just cheerish for you two. Is also probably that Natalie notice his growing feelings for you too, but she doesn't say anything about it neither, mostly because she isn't sure about what to do in that case

As time pass his desire to go to school grows more, one of the reasons is also because he wants to be able to go to school with you (specially if you tell him stories about what you and/or your classmates have done or what you do in school, even if for you is boring for him it isn't). Adrien wants to go to the same school as you and constantly express that to you but is probably that he won't tell you when he finally tries to sneak to go to school since it could be a good surprised (although his excitement won't allow him to hide it for too long)

Once in school he is pretty excited for everything and to make new friend and yet he can't help but be a little clingy with you (as long as you allow him to)

After a while of being in the school and with his new friends it could become more obvious his interest on you, and depending in how you are (how affectionate or just by how comfortable you are around him) people could even start thinking that there is something between you two. Nino, being his closest friend, will probably the one bringing the topic, asking him to already spit it out and say if you two are together or not (followed by Alya and all the rest of his friends if they heard), Adrien insist that there is nothing between you two since in his mind is actually like that, maybe knowing that your friendship is really stronge but he thinks is because is for how long you two had been friends

After that, and since Adrien don't seem to fully identify his feelings, his friends will make their personal goal to push you two together (what doesn't seem too difficult according to them), by trying to help him understand his true feelings and trying to put you two together

From his part, once Adrien finally undestand and accept his feelings he will try to win your heart in the right way, he won't asume that you feel the same and will never dare to force his feeling on you, so, for him, the only right thing to do is court you and try to win your heart (even if his friends insist that you feel the same). He tries to be romantic and affectionate (even if he was already affectionate now it goes with a new meaning)

At the end, for him it doesn't matter much who confess to who, what matter is that you reciprocate his feelings and being able to be in a relationship with you make him feel like when he was a child, like when you used to play together and forgeting about the rest of the world, he feel incredibly happy

[mostmagical]

writing year in review

one excerpt from each month of the year. tagged by @bittersweetresilience. hehe. I can post this now that I shared pitfall.

I THOUGHT I filled every month using my drabbles, despite my two mass effect playthroughs-sized gap, but I forgot May. which is, yeah. yeah. the month I played ME3 for the first time. head in my hands.

01 JANUARY

Consequences of Dating Blindly (Miraculous Ladybug - 4,078 words)

A chorus of giggles broke her concentration, drawing her eyes to a gaggle of girls a couple tables over. They were whispering excitedly and pointing in the direction of the same mop of blond hair, all with cell phones raised. A sudden wave of heat ran up Marinette’s spine as she realized they were ogling him. She wasn’t surprised that girls were looking at him. Chat Noir was the cutest, most handsomest boy in the world, so of course they would. But that was her cutest and most handsomest boy in the world.

02 FEBRUARY

tear-stained (Miraculous Ladybug - 100 words)

Marinette shot up from her bed with her heart in her throat. Bile threatened to make its way up, up, and out, but she pushed it down against the klaxon blaring in her head.

03 MARCH

magical (Miraculous Ladybug - 100 words) my favorite drabble btw

Her throat grew tight as she realized where they were standing. Their rooftop. It was shielded well from the street, providing asylum, but it drained poorly due to the raised gutters. Chat Noir was always apologizing, always covering it with torn blankets and tarps. She never cared, of course. He was there, and they were together, and they were safe.

04 APRIL

Can I Just Kiss You (Miraculous Ladybug - 4,218 words)

The liquid in his delicate cocktail glass was dyed pinker by the spotlight he stood under, so she couldn’t tell if he was actually drinking anything as passion fruit-flavored as the color, or if it was just straight liquor. Her breath caught as he removed his hand from the water-beaded surface, lifting it to adjust the thick-rimmed specs he wore and reminding her of the sparkling green eyes she’d spied earlier. Blond hair. Green eyes.  She wondered if it was some cosmic joke that this always happened to her. Even the cat ears were suspect, but she was trying her best not to acknowledge that.

05 MAY

*loud sobbing*

06 JUNE

Bridges (Miraculous Ladybug - 430 words)

Adrien glanced over his shoulder only briefly, quickly turning his gaze back to the skyline. “I like watching the moonrise,” he answered, shrugging. “I usually– well, I usually don’t have the opportunity to see it from down here.” Félix cast a slow step closer. “Moonrise?” he repeated. “Not the sunset?” The corner of Adrien’s lip twitched in secret humor. “I’ve become a bit of a night person.”

07 JULY

crescendo (Miraculous Ladybug - 100 words)

Chat Noir’s laughter reaches crescendo as Ladybug reaches the end of the block. It echoes off the walls and traces the smile on her face.

08 AUGUST

Get A Little Lonely (Miraculous Ladybug - 2,422 words) technically... this was a zine piece posted on the 1st... so I did not write any of it in August... but shhh

Adrien had once gone on a hike in the French Alps with his mother and Nathalie—before the illness had riddled Maman bedridden. He had marveled at the way Nathalie had used nothing but a compass and a map to chart their course as they went, carefully noting landmarks and any elevation. He had watched with curious eyes, hanging onto every word as she’d explained how she did it. Watching Loveybug fall apart felt like trekking over that terrain with a broken compass. Everything was uncharted territory. Cat Walker hoped he could figure out how to cover it.

09 SEPTEMBER

Heartbeating (Mass Effect Trilogy - 3,600 words)

She fit into Garrus’s angles like a puzzle piece, twisting and turning until they lined up, just right. Maybe the edges had to be folded over a little, but they always fit, eventually. “You know, you humans are bonier than you look,” Garrus commented, wincing as her elbow pressed against an unarmored hip. A smile curled her lips. “Just trying to make you feel more at home,” she teased, a playful lilt to her tone as she finally found her previous position against his chest.

10 OCTOBER

waiting room (Mass Effect Trilogy - 6,565 words. to be cont.)

Shepard watches Kahlee’s rounded fingernails trace over the grooves in the book’s cover. They’re neat. Clean. No trace of dried blood in the nail beds like she knows her own do. The leather must be well-loved, soundlessly absorbing every scratch.

11 NOVEMBER

can't breathe (Mass Effect Trilogy - 629 words)

“Garrus!” he thinks he hears, somewhere over the ringing in his ears It’s hope, he knows—but he shouldn’t have let himself hope He didn’t deserve to get that second chance Why, when they can’t? His lungs’d filled with hope, now he can’t breathe

12 DECEMBER

pitfall (Mass Effect Trilogy - 805 words)

“Wish you’d stop looking,” Garrus sighs, but she can’t stop; she never could. His eyes ask the words he still won’t: Please, Shepard, doesn’t it hurt? Of course it hurts; that’s the point. She’s earned each and every prick, for every unit’s soul she couldn’t save, and for EDI, lain in an imaginary crypt.

if you opened my read more and you're reading this right now, 🫵 you're tagged. gotcha.

[ilikekidsshows]

What do you think of the argument that Marinette keeps secret to benefit others while Adrien keeps secrets out of selfishness?

---

I think Adrien salters are so infected by bad faith criticism that Adrien could sneeze and they would claim he was just trying to get sympathy by faking an illness. Adrien can't do anything without them taking the worst possible interpretation and running with it. I also think that they have Adrien and Marinette confused. Adrien is the abuse victim who has been taught that his feelings don't matter while Marinette is the control freak in pigtails. Adrien lies because he has been taught to lie, while Marinette lies because her biggest fear is feeling uncomfortable for the 10 minutes it would take to explain the truth. 

But, let's play a game of pretend. Let's pretend Marinette is a pure saint who only ever lies to bring happiness to others and never for her own gain. It still wouldn't matter. The argument has never been: “did Marinette lie for the right reasons?” It's always been: “did she have a right to lie?” and the answer is, unless you're a victim-blaming ghoul, a resounding “Fuck no!” Marinette’s good intentions don’t actually help any of the people she lies to, because things they have a right to know and that they need to know so that they can make informed decisions are being kept from them, by Marinette. The people defending her can’t even give any reasons for why the “logic” of her lies is sound, because they just make vague comments about the secrecy being “more secure” without giving any examples why Cat Noir knowing the two-man team is now a three-man team, there’s a potential backup Ladybug and who their allies are is such a security risk.

As I said, there is no point in arguing over selfless or selfish lies because that's not what the discussion is about. It's about lying about things the other person has a right to know. Marinette is not entitled to Adrien's personal life, any of the conversations he’s ever had about her or every thought he’s ever had, even if they’re negative thoughts about her, but Adrien, however, is entitled to know what the fuck is happening in the team he’s in. He’s entitled to know his father was a supervillain. And he’s definitely entitled to know that he's a remote control robot and his cousin can now snap him out of existence whenever he wants. Marinette causes problems by lying and no amount of good intentions will fix that. In fact, the good intentions make it worse, because now her victims feel like they have to give her a free pass because “she didn’t mean to hurt anybody”. Maybe people should get mad at her for once and maybe she’d stop being like this. Because Marinette lies constantly over the most inconsequential shit, so it’s not surprising she lies about the actually important shit too.

Because, like, let's not kid ourselves here; Marinette’s lies aren't within spitting distance of selfless. Marinette lies to avoid feeling uncomfortable, because the truth makes her uncomfortable or makes her look bad. This is consistent with her lies as both a hero and a civilian. Her reasons for lying include not wanting to deal with Chloé's reaction to being told she was off the hero team, not wanting to explain to Cat Noir that she isn’t the independent, perfect leader she portrays and actually buckled under the pressure and made Rena a permanent team member to take off some of the load, wanting to sabotage a girl who has a crush on Adrien so that they don't get to spend time together, lying about deleting the most important video Alya had filmed in her career as an amateur journalist so far because she didn't want her to be upset at her, and trying to avoid a preschooler thinking she's cringe. There is no greater good here. If there's a pattern to Marinette's lies, it's not selflessness, it's her fragile ego.

[artzee-bee]

Forever my love | Adrien Agreste x reader

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Requested by @oyasumimosura

Summary: friends to strangers to lovers with a no-so-happy ending

Genre: some fluff, angst

Warnings: canon typical violence (maybe tuned up a notch tho), death

A/N: my google doc for this piece is 10 pages long and it’s went through at least 4 alternate endings before getting here. I got this request months ago and have been working on it since, whenever I can. I hope this is alright because it’s been a journey...

~~~

There was no ‘first memory’ with you. Not one that would come to Adrien’s mind anyways. It felt like you had simply always been in his life. The only thing he remembered was you and your mother, entering the Agreste mansion as if it was your own, almost every Sunday. His mom would welcome both of you with wide arms and offer you tea, and biscuits, which you would snuck to Adrien’s room. Your favorite have always been the ones with strawberry jam filling.

And then you’d play for hours! Building fortresses out of chairs and pillows, racing toy cars around the room, saving plush animals from the imminent danger of Adrien’s rocketship and so on. Not a single moment spent with you felt boring! Your presence was addictive, the joy, the excitement you brought with yourself every time was something Adrien couldn’t understand at the time but now, as an adult looking back, he could easily recognise it as love.

But the world has its own way of never quite letting you be happy enough. The memory of your last playdate, as well as the day his parents told him you were moving away, were very hazy and unclear. For years he refused to revisit them, the sorrow too great for his young, immature self to know how to handle. Now, there was only one sentence he could remember you saying, clear as day. One promise that gave him more hope than he could put in words. “We’ll keep in touch”.

You exchanged letters the whole time you were away!! Of course, they could never be a substitute for the time spent together but Adrien learned to appreciate them deeply. He took his time responding to each of them and always nervously awaited your response. Years went on like that! Every summer you’d promise to visit and every time Adrien would have the displeasure of having to read, in your flawless and delicate handwriting, that your parents canceled the trip for whatever reason.

Eventually, he decided it was best to move on. In the time you had been gone many things changed: he grew up, got big in the fashion industry, started school, became the new black cat miraculous holder, made friends! His life became overwhelmingly busy and the precious memories you made together faded away without notice. He found joy in other things and in his new friends! Your letters no longer brought the excitement they once did and consequently, he always postponed replying until eventually, it all stopped.

Much to Adrien’s shock, almost exactly a year after losing contact, he saw you! He had been transformed at the time, having just finished defeating an akuma when he saw you exiting a coffee shop down the street. He couldn’t believe his eyes and had it not been for the alarming beeping of his miraculous, he probably would have stayed petrified on top of that roof much longer. Once detransformed, he tried to go looking for you but to no avail.

It wasn’t until a week later that he finally got to talk to you again. Natalie reached out to your family and arranged for you two to meet. That Friday afternoon, you had lunch at a pizza place that you didn’t recognise. He looked the same. Same innocent glimmer in his eyes and ecstatic voice. It almost weirded you out how much it seemed this boy never changed. But of course, you weren’t right. Many things have changed.

Adrien tried his best to be open and friendly. To him, it felt like no time had passed at all, but you were so quiet and shy. A subtle frown was visible on your face from the moment you arrived and you barely looked him in the eyes. The air around you felt thick with discomfort, which was extremely frustrating to Adrien. He wanted to ask what’s wrong but found it so difficult to speak his mind until, eventually, you opened up yourself.

“Why did you stop writing?” your voice didn’t betray any feeling of anger or sadness and yet, Adrien was instantly washed over with guilt

“I’m sorry. I wanted to but…”

“Was I not worth it?”

“What?” Adrien couldn’t believe the words coming out of your mouth, but you were just as still and cold as before

“Because, you see, when we were kids you were one of the most important people in my life. You were my best friend and I honestly thought we would never ever be apart! No one could ever break us up! And I put everything I had into not losing that, convinced that you’d do the same for me! Because your friendship was worth more to me than any number of kilometers between us!” your words fell out quickly and stung him “Was I not worth fighting for, Adrien?”

He didn’t know what to say! He wanted to tell you he was just stupid and made a grave mistake. That you were more than worth it, but the words were stuck in his throat.

You didn’t speak after that. Adrien was heartbroken but figured you were already so mad at him, it would only make it worse if he kept pestering you on.

Eventually, one night, after patrol, he saw you! It was already way after dark and you were just strolling down the street all alone. A sense of anxiety overtook him and he knew he couldn’t go home just yet

“Good evening pretty lady!” he greeted you, full of glee. “The streets can get pretty nasty this late at night, y’know? Hope you don’t mind if this street cat walks alongside you for a while.”

“Hello Chat Noir!” your voice was so smooth and warm “ I’d really love that. I was actually quite uncomfortable walking alone.” “Well then, fear not!The bravest and strongest hero in all of Paris is right here at your service! Did I also mention the most charming?” you giggled to his silliness

Adrien was ecstatic to get to talk to you again, like old times. He finally felt like he got his friend back! He didn’t even realize how big of a hole your absence had left in his life. After that night, he would accompany you everyday on your evening walks and, soon enough, you began hanging out at your house. Oftentimes he would knock on your bedroom window shortly after you got home from school and more often than not, he would spend hours at your place. You did almost everything together from playing video games to watching movies, cooking, gossiping. He would tell you all the fun stories he had with Ladybug from their patrols and would blush a little when you began laughing uncontrollably. It was just too cute.

With all this joy, still there was an ounce of pain at the idea that you didn’t know who you were really talking to. Almost every time you called him Chat, his heart would sting a little. He liked being Chat Noir. He loved it even. With you however, it just felt like one big lie he could do nothing about. He wanted you to look at him and see the boy from all those years ago. To look at him and call him by his name. To rejoice in old memories, instead of him having to pretend he hears the story for the first time. Adrien couldn’t help but feel like he was betraying you by simply being here, knowing how mad you were with his civilian self. When those thoughts got to him, he felt more alone than ever, but you almost always picked up on it

“What’s wrong?” you would ask and the sweetness of your voice ran like ice down his body. You would not be this kind if you knew

“Absolutely nothing, I am doing wonderful” he’d say through gritted teeth

“Sit down and talk to me!”

“I can’t. It’s personal” which you knew really meant “It would put my identity in danger”

So you would shut up. You’d make tea or let him have the last cookie as a sign of solidarity. To let him know you still cared. Sometimes he would ask you for hugs, which you would indulge him in. You’d wrap your arms around his shoulders and hug him tight to your chest, trying to convey all the love and care you had for him in that one gesture. Almost always, the hero would melt into your embrace as if he’d never been held before. His head would rest on your shoulder and his blonde locks tickled your neck and cheek.

Confessing to you was the biggest risk he ever took, which meant a lot considering his occupation. It happened after yet another game of cards lost by Chat. It had been what felt like his 15th loss of the night and in a futile attempt to protect his remaining dignity, he slipped

“You’re only winning cause I love you too much to let you lose!” the cocky attitude dropped instantly as he processed his choice of words. You were just looking at him, a little quizzingly, unsure if you heard him right.

“Do you mean that?”

“I do”

The brightest smile overtook your features instantly “Good. I love you too!”

It was difficult for a long time. The secret identity issue became even greater with the new level of intimacy that was expected with the start of a romantic relationship. On top of that, Adrien was pretty clueless. You were his first girlfriend, the first girl he ever fell in love with, the pressure was high. He wanted to be the best boyfriend there was! He brought you many gifts, big and small. He spent as much time with you as he could, he always told you just how much you actually meant to him. The blush on your cheeks and the witty comebacks made him melt through his seat every time and with every happy memory he made with you came the unmistakable pain of never really being completely honest with you. On one of your sleepovers, the feelings were overwhelming Chat more than he thought was possible

“What’s going on Chat?”

“Nothing darling. Just tired”

“Come on, you know you can’t fool me! You’ve been quiet all night, it’s really unlike you”

Adrien’s mind went empty when you sat on the floor in front of him, lightly running your fingers over his leather clad ones. The trust and love in your eyes was so mesmerizing. No one had ever looked at him like that and for a split second he imagined your reaction if you knew who he was. He wondered if you’d kick him out. Break up with him here and now and never want anything to do with him ever again. He imagined the anger in your voice, the betrayal. And then, he considered, briefly, a different option. A scenario in which you’d hug him tight and kiss the top of his head, and there’d be no more lies. No more secrets, no more of these impossible feelings that were tormenting him. That smile, that bliss, engulfed his mind and he felt powerless in the face of hope.

“I’m sorry” he said weakly

“For what?” and before he could think for another second, talk himself out or consider the consequences of his actions, he did the only thing he felt was logical

“Plagg, claws in”

When the green light vanished and Adrien found himself back in his normal clothes, he didn’t muster to look at your face

“Chat, what are you doing?” finally, he glanced up, only to find you curled up on the ground, with your hands over your eyes. You hadn’t seen him

“It’s ok.”

“You detransformed?”

“Yes…”

“Chat you can’t do that.”

“I want you to see me” he tried to sound confident, but it came out almost as a plea.

“What about Ladybug?”

“I’ll deal with her later. It’s ok. I swear”

“Chat…”

“Please”

Adriean reached out to pull your hands away from your face, but your eyes were still closed

“Chat?”

“Yes?”

“Before I look, I want you to know that I love you regardless of who you are. If you’re doing this because you think I can’t love you fully without knowing your identity, if you’re doing this for me, please know that this won’t change anything. I want you to be comfortable with this, ok?” Adrien blushed, feeling tears well up in his eyes

“I want to do this” he kissed your knuckles “if that’s ok with you”

Slowly, you opened your eyes and Adrien felt his heart beating out of his chest. Your face went soft and your eyes welled up with tears and you looked at eachother. You couldn’t muster a word and neither could he. He took this as you being disappointed and let go of your hand, only for you to grab it once more, much harder than before. Finally, tears came rolling down your cheeks, as you whispered a simple “I love you”

That night, neither of you could stop crying. The liberation of all secrets and all lies felt divine and finally, Adrien felt like he was 100% safe for the first time in his life.

Many things changed after that. Adrien got a serious scolding from Ladybug, since he couldn’t lie to her about what he’s done. She wasn’t as mad as he expected her to be, so in the end it was all worth it when you began showing up to the Agreste mansion to hang out. It was hard for Adrien to find time to spend with her during the day but Natalie was always so understanding of their relationship and tried her best to squeeze in an hour or two here and there for you! Now, Adrien could hold your hand and take you to his photoshoots. You facetimed more often and it finally felt like you got the relationship you were always meant to have.

~~~

Paris looked beautiful from the top of the Eiffel tower. Chat took you here many times before. It felt so romantic being up there with your best friend, the boy of your dreams! You felt so powerful looking down at all the lights and cars passing by and at the same time so protected by his tight grip around your waist. Nothing could hurt you if he was there, with or without the costume! But the arms holding you now were much slimmer and much less concerned with your safety. You knew you shouldn’t look down from the edge you were standing on but it was so hard not to. Lila was manic next to you, laughing and shouting about her imminent victory, taunting the two superheroes that were struggling to catch up.The tiny robots Lila could control with her powers had kept Ladybug and Chat Noir busy for just enough time to allow the akumatized girl to take you with her, away from the scene and up here.

“Be careful with what you do next Ladybug, otherwise the girl gets it!” the taunting manner in which she spoke felt hardly like Lila. You never found her to be a particularly pleasant person to be around but the malice with which she spoke now was so unusual!

She kicked your shin, making one of your legs drop off the edge. Had it not been for her holding onto your forearm, you would have dropped. You could see Ladybug and Chat approaching but they were so far away and it felt like they were moving so slowly. A cry ripped through your chest as you hung there, your life in the hands of this girl you couldn’t even recognise anymore.You were trying to pull yourself back on the ledge with your other foot before she kicked that one too, swinging you in the air by your arm.

“Oh oh, but you’re so far away little Bug? Whatever are you gonna do if my hand …slips?” she let go with a chuckle.

Chat couldn’t see anything around him anymore, all he saw was your helpless body falling from the sky! He screamed your name but he was still so far! Ladybug threw her yoyo, trying to form a net below you, but the speed at which you were falling was much greater than anybody expected. You fell right through the net, breaking it to pieces and hit the ground with a hard thud. Chat screamed, Ladybug was speechless, all the while Lila was laughing on her way down!

“Chat, get her! I’ll handle Lila!”

That’s all it took. Chat was looking down at your unconscious form before he knew it. You were so bloody and so limp in his arms.

“Don’t!” you whispered when he tried to pick you up

“It’s not safe for you here, I need to hide you away!” he almost screamed, too relieved to see you alive to be able to control himself

“It’s over Chat!”

“Don’t talk like that! You will be ok! I will make you ok!”

“I’m tired…”

“No, don’t do it! Focus on me, focus on my voice! Can you see me?”

“You have to protect the people…”

“You are the only one I have to protect! I’m sorry I wasn’t there to catch you, I’m sorry! Please! Please let me protect you!” tears were streaming down his face and he found himself thinking that he would sell his soul to switch places with you

“Chat, I love you” you said through your own tears

“Don’t say goodbye!”

“I’m not”

“I love you Y/N! I love you so much, please don’t leave me alone! I can still save you!” he laid his head on your chest, not believing his own words

“I’ll always love you Adrian!” you whispered in his ear, kissing his temple with the last of your powers

~~~

“You need to hurry up, Adrian needs to be at a press conference across town in one hour and we’re already behind schedule because of you!”

“Nathalie, stop that! Everyone is doing their best here.”

“This photoshoot was supposed to be over already!”

“Maybe you should go have some water while you wait, yeah?” Adrien was trying to be nice but he felt really bad about the way Nathalie was speaking to the makeup artist. He knew they were very busy and Nath was under a great deal of stress but still, he felt it wasn’t fair to the girls working hard to get him ready.

“I’m sorry about that! She’s a lovely person, it’s just the last couple of days have been really hard for her”

“Oh, it’s alright, sir. Trust me I’ve seen much worse before” the young girl replied “Plus, I would imagine that making the switch to become a full time model would bring on a lot more responsibilities on her side.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Adrien chuckled. “If you would have told me last year, when I was still in school, that my schedule would be even more packed as a graduate, I would have probably given up modeling then and there. Now I just deal with it.”

Adrien observed himself in the mirror, thinking back to his high school days. He tried to remember what he looked like, although that was very difficult. He knew his hair was much longer now, reaching just below his chin. He thought his face was a bit slimmer and many people told him he put on a healthy amount of muscle in the last couple of months, but  he was still himself, just 20.

“If you don’t mind sir, we need the first couple of buttons of your shirt undone for the next set. I will add a little contour to the collarbones and then we’re done”

Said and done, with the first few buttons open he looked even more manly than before.

“Um, I think we should take the necklace off if you don’t mind…”

Eyes shot down to his chest, where a tiny silver ring on a chain hung, barely glistening in the lights around.

“Yes, that’s alright” he said, although he never liked taking it off. There was always a worry in the back of his hand about misplacing it or something and the thought was simply unbearable, but he understood.

“That’s a very beautiful piece of jewelry”

“Thank you!” he looked down at the ring twirling it between his fingers. It was so simple, he wasn’t used to receiving compliments on it, even from the select few that got to see it. A simple golden band with a round diamond in the middle. It was so small for him, he could never get it more than halfway down his ring finger. “It belonged to somebody I cared a lot about.” He remembered how hard he worked to get your ring size, all those years ago. It was difficult to do it behind your back, since you had always been so good at reading his body language, you always knew when he was up to something. He remembered all those nights spent on the internet, looking for the perfect ring for you! He knew it needed to be simple but sometimes it was so hard to talk himself out of buying one of the big and glamorous ones. He just wanted to spoil you rotten and if he didn’t take the chance to do that when he was buying your engagement ring, then when would he? Finally, after weeks, he finally found this one and fell in love. It was perfect for you and you were gonna love it. The day it arrived was one of the most exciting times he experienced in the last decade, he could still feel his heart pumping now, at the memory.

“They can’t wear it anymore so I just keep it!” in fact, you had never even gotten the chance to try it on, but those details don’t need to be shared. Still, thinking about the incident, taking place only 2 weeks after he got the ring, hurts him to no end. He was planning the perfect engagement, a grand romantic gesture to make all your dreams come true but now he felt sorrow and regret, wishing he would have simply ran to your door the same day that package was delivered to ask you. At least then you would have known, you would have had the chance to say yes.

“I’m sure they were an incredible person” Adrien only nodded to that “Well, you’re all done, you can head to the set now”

“Thank you, I’ll just drop this off to Nathalie and go”

The pain of not having you around would never go away, Adian had accepted that as a fact! You would always be there for any anniversary or birthday, achievement or simply on lazy days when his mind would wonder. Nothing made the sting of not being able to hold your hand go away but at least the ring, your ring, would comfort him in those moments.

[mc-lukanette]

"You want me to patrol?" Luka asked, staring down at the snake miraculous being held out to him.

Ladybug nodded. "Yeah! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be great at it!"

That wasn't what he'd been thinking about, actually. Taking the miraculous from her hand and putting it on - something she looked oddly pleased about - he pressed, "I don't mind, but why do you want me to do it?"

The miraculous shifted into its disguised state, a light coming off to bring Sass back into existence. The kwami reclined back like he was lounging in an invisible chair, then waved a paw and replied, "Public opinion."

Luka stared, still feeling lost.

Ladybug tilted her head in Sass's direction, continuing, "It's hard for snake heroes to gain any favor from the public. Real snakes are scary for people and no one can understand your power more than you can."

He vaguely understood that. To everyone else, the snake's powers weren't particularly flashy and the only one who got to experience the reset timelines was him. He'd never particularly considered how people thought about it as he didn't really care, but he acknowledged that the two were making sense.

"I care about all my heroes," Ladybug added, putting her hands on her hips, "and I want the public to care about them too. I'm sure all you need to do is go out there, put on a little snake charm, maybe tell a few stories about your timelines, and everyone will get that Viperion does great work just like everyone else, if not greater."

He couldn't be sure if she'd added on the end because she meant it, or because she could only gauge his success rather than his time and effort. The thought that she considered him a hard enough worker that he could outpace others made him smile.

"I'll do it. Thank you, Ladybug."

She beamed. "No, thank you." She took his wrist with the bangle in both hands and lifted it to her chest level, as if reciting a prayer to it. "I have my own things to do, but I know you'll do a good job with or without me!"

He nodded obediently. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"No! Or—" She paused, pursing her lips. It was the face of someone who felt like they were forgetting something. "Mm, not know, but..."

She pulled out her yoyo, popping it open and slipping her hand inside. Her tongue stuck out to the side as she searched for whatever she was looking for, at one point putting her whole forearm in. When the movement stopped, she lit up with a delighted, "Aha!" and lifted out a folded sheet of paper. She unfolded it to give it a quick check, then happily handed it over to him.

It was a map of Paris, lines snaking across with numbered indicators and circled locations. He would've assumed it was Ladybug's that she was letting him borrow if not for the "Property of Viperion" written in the corner, both 'i's dotted with hearts.

It was cute.

Ladybug sidled up next to him, pointing to the various parts of the map to explain, "This is the quickest way to get around the city while still making sure you're being thorough. The circled spots are where you can meet with a lot of people at once; great for public image. Even Chat doesn't know these."

"Really?" Despite the teasing tone in her voice, he knew she wasn't lying.

"He doesn't need it. He's a cat and people love cats." She rolled her eyes in faux exasperation, then nudged him with a playful smile. "We snakes and ladybugs have to stick together, right?"

He smiled back. He had no idea where this whole conversation of hers had come from, but he nodded and agreed, "Right."

And with that, she was ready to go, stepping away and waving him goodbye before heading off. Luka waved back, but felt eyes on him and turned his head to see Sass staring at him with a knowing expression.

"...What?"

He learned that day that Sass hissed when chuckling.

——

Patrolling was entirely different from fighting akuma, Viperion learned. There wasn't any real tension so long as he didn't find anything, and it felt like it served a nice role in getting him further acclimated to his hero self. He could jump and travel around easily enough when he was called upon, but it didn't escape him how his jumps grew more confident and his landings more solid as time went on.

Whenever he came across a circled area on the map, he would do as Ladybug had recommended and talk to the various civilians he'd find there. Unlike what he imagined would happen with Ladybug or Chat Noir, he had to check on them first rather than being called over for pictures or comments. It didn't bother him beyond the concern that he wasn't doing as much as Ladybug asked, but he couldn't verify until he went back to her.

Time passed smoothly enough, Viperion mentally checking off the map's numbers as he went. Near the end of the patrolling path happened to be around Marinette's house too, so he was in a good mood.

He was within eyesight of the place when someone suddenly called out, "Hey, Viperion~!"

He almost faltered, looking out towards the familiar voice to see Marinette on her balcony and excitedly trying to wave him down. He smiled unconsciously, feeling the natural pull she always had on him that urged him closer, but snapped out of it when he remembered that he was Viperion at the moment. He was supposed to be a stranger to her.

Taking one more look at his map, he noted the circle - oddly enough - right around the bakery. He supposed it could've been referring to the park nearby, but regardless, he was meant to be talking to civilians and Marinette was indeed a civilian.

If it wasn't what Ladybug had in mind, he'd twist the rules just this once.

Giving Marinette a look to convey his intent, he waited for her to step back before leaping towards her, allowing him enough space on the balcony to safely land. It was equally helpful that some of the various things on the surface had been moved in such a way that he'd had a clear place to drop onto.

"Hey... citizen." Wow, that sounded bizarre. "Can I help you?"

She giggled - cute - and nodded at him. Beckoning to him, she stepped back towards the entrance to her bedroom. "Yeah. Come with me for a minute."

She was so forward about it that Viperion genuinely wondered if this was just something that happened with heroes, or only with Marinette specifically. Perhaps Ladybug had even been invited inside before?

He couldn't bring himself to refuse her, so he followed her down onto her bed, then down the stairs to the main part of her room. He watched her walk across and bend down to the chest near her chaise lounge, her hands fiddling with the latch to open it. She reached inside and pulled out something teal, but he couldn't quite see what it was with her body obscuring it.

Marinette, careful not to show him what was in her arms, walked over to a full-body mirror nearby. Finally turning to him, she held up the object and asked, "What do you think?"

Viperion's jaw dropped. There in her arms was a Viperion plush and, judging from his own reflection in the mirror, she'd even gotten the smaller details right. He got the distinct feeling that she had looked at him more than he'd looked at himself just to ensure that the plush was accurate.

"Wow, it's..." He approached, reaching out but not feeling able to touch the plush, as if he wasn't worthy of it. At Marinette's encouragement, he gingerly held one of the little arms and gave it a squish to test its softness. "This is incredible work."

"Thanks." She beamed, swaying her hips and looking pleased with herself. "I try to make one of everyone, but this one's my favorite."

He looked at her questioningly, touched yet confused, but she wasn't meeting his eyes anymore. Her gaze turning back at the chest, she gently placed the plush in his arms and returned to her collection to start pulling more of her work out.

Viperion glanced at the stuffed imitation of him, unsure of how to handle it but doing his best to give it support. Marinette must've seen him at some point while setting out plushies, given the otherwise random giggle she'd let out.

After roughly a minute, she'd finished, sitting in the middle of the two groups she'd set out and spreading her arms out above them. Indeed, there was a group of plush superheroes to one side of her and even a group of plush akuma to the other. If he really eyed their details, he could tell which had been made when she was just starting out and which she'd done recently once she had experience, but it was all equally impressive to him.

Bringing the plush with him, he sat down in front of her and let it sit on his lap. He couldn't care less what he'd looked like, too busy admiring her work. His face must've shown it without him saying anything, as she puffed her chest out like she was basking in the unspoken praise.

Then, his eyes locked on something purple, black, and out of place amongst the heroes. In any other circumstance, he probably wouldn't have focused or commented on it, but it was also of him: specifically, Silencer, his akumatized self who had relentlessly chased down Bob Roth and stolen the voices of multiple people, including Ladybug herself. Bitter memories rushed back to him of waking up after the fact and fearing what might've happened while he'd been under someone else's control, the worst being if he'd hurt Marinette in some way

"That's an akuma," he said flatly. His own tone caught him off guard, but Marinette either didn't notice or didn't mind his disdain for that particular plush.

She followed his gaze to the mini Silencer in question. Rather than realizing that she'd made a mistake, she smiled, picking up the plush and setting it on her lap. Hand resting on the soft helmet on its head, she looked at him and explained, "Yeah, but... he's a hero to me."

She couldn't keep saying things like that to him without elaboration. He could only take so much without letting his civilian self show.

Thankfully, she elaborated this time, "People at my school get akumatized all the time; sometimes right in front of me. I have to run away from them as fast as I can, because even if they're not after me, I'm still another potential target for them." She turned the plush so she could look at its face, her eyes going soft as she continued, "Silencer was the first time someone got akumatized to protect me; when I felt honored to be protected. He didn't want my attention either, he wanted to get revenge because of what Bob Roth did."

Viperion hadn't known that. He'd had a brief discussion with Marinette about something he'd apparently said, but he'd been needed on stage and couldn't finish any sort of conversation with her. It warmed him greatly, knowing that she appreciated him even as an akuma.

"Sure, he was still another one of Hawk Moth's akuma, so Ladybug had to take care of him," she acknowledged, "but I think he's a little misunderstood, like you."

"Like me?"

She nodded, bringing back her point from earlier. "That's why the Viperion plush is my favorite. You're the least popular out of everyone, but I bet you do so much work during your Second Chances. Even though you should be getting more credit for it, no one notices until you're going around—" She gestured between them, indicating their current situation. "—like this."

He grew quiet, already seeing the connection. His heart sank at the thought.

"...It's relatable," she whispered with a sad smile, her fingertips trailing across the top ridge of the plush Silencer's helmet, "not being noticed for what you can do, people seeing you at your surface level..."

Shifting, Viperion held his plush self to his chest and moved within arm's reach of her. With his free hand, he reached out, cupping her cheek to tilt her face up to him.

Quietly, but firmly, he told her, "For what it's worth, I think you deserve to be noticed for all of you, not just the part that people decide to see."

It was definitely pushing the boundaries of what he should be "allowed" to do as a hero, but at its core, Viperion thought that that's what a hero was meant to do. Saving Paris was only the surface level of what people saw heroism as: the deeper, more important part was to care for the emotional well-being of the civilians.

He'd already gone through akumatization once and he'd never wish such an experience on Marinette. Keeping her happy was a top priority for him, both before and now, regardless of how she felt about him.

Her mouth curving back into the smile he'd missed in its short time away, Marinette reached up and placed her hand over his. "Thank you. Sorry if I brought the mood down."

"This is my job—" It wasn't, not in the way she'd be thinking of anyway. "—and it's not much compared to what you did. Thanks for appreciating me."

She nodded, eyes shining with her own gratefulness. There seemed to be more that she wanted to say, but she dropped his hand and shook her head to rid herself of it. Regretfully, she admitted, "I shouldn't keep you any longer."

He nearly blurted out that she could keep him forever if she wanted, but he held back. Equally as regretful as her, he returned the Viperion plush to her waiting hands.

Marinette took it, taking the plush in her free hand and scooting out of the way. The movement left a Marinette-sized space where she'd been, which is where she decided to set the plush down. Putting the Silencer plush back where he was before, she also took the Ladybug plush and let it settle next to the Viperion one.

It left the two as the only ones in the once-empty spot.

"They look good together," she commented, looking over her shoulder at him.

He stared, not sure how to feel about his crush having an opinion on his relationship with someone else, but he didn't express it. She clearly thought highly of his partnership with Ladybug in a way no one else did, which he considered a positive.

"...Yeah." He grinned at her. "I think so too."

——

"So?" Ladybug clasped her hands together, curiosity in her eyes. "How'd it go?"

"I got to talk to people," Luka replied vaguely as he handed the miraculous back to her. His visit with Marinette had made everything else fuzzy by comparison. "There was no trouble, but there was only one person who wanted to see Viperion."

"I'm sure that'll change!" she assured, her blinding confidence thoroughly astounding him. Leaning in and grasping his shoulders, she insisted, "You deserve to be appreciated, whether that's as a civilian, a hero, or an akuma."

He went to thank her, practically overflowing with all the affection he'd received at that point, but he paused when her words truly registered with him.

Ladybug, however, didn't give him a chance to respond. She stepped away, stashing the snake miraculous into her yoyo and making her escape back out into the city with her usual wave of good-bye.

Luka was certain that he'd heard properly: she'd said akuma. He supposed it could just be a coincidence that Marinette and Ladybug had both happened to reference his akumatized self, but Ladybug's expression had hinted to him that it was more than that. It had been strange to him that Marinette's balcony had been open for him, and even more so that Marinette happened to be there like she was waiting for him. If both she and Ladybug had wanted him to feel appreciated (mission accomplished on that one, obviously), then it was possible that they'd teamed up to give him a double dose of gratitude.

Or at least, that must've been the reason, because the only other option was—

Ah.

Just like that, Luka blushed a deep shade of red, the memory of Marinette placing the Ladybug and Viperion plushies together burning itself permanently into his mind.

[miabrown007]

post-Representation reveal for @ladyofthenoodle and @asukiess <3

Time stops when Chat Noir plummets from Marinette’s skylight. She stops in her tracks and stares at him, eyes blown wide behind the polka-dotted mask that sits snug over the mascara streaks on her face. Her heart skips to her throat, because she doesn’t understand. She doesn’t understand what Chat Noir is doing at Marinette’s right now, in this break of dawn, when she was just about to head out to purify the Akuma he and Alya captured. He has even left her a voicemail to cheer her up—he always had an innate talent to know when she needed some cheering up—and he sounded so calm and collected then— Face buried in her mattress, he sniffles now. And Marinette knows that her identity is at stake here, that she’s incapable of explaining away Ladybug’s puffy eyes staring at him from the end of Marinette’s bed, but Chat Noir’s crying. He came to her because something so devastating happened to him that he’s crying.  If there’s one thing Marinette knows, it’s that they have sacrificed enough. She gave up love and gave up her friends for the mighty cause, and in the end, it was her friends and their love that saved the world.  She won’t give up her partner. Never again.

She reaches out, stroking her fingers through his hair gently. “Marinette, I need to tell you that—” he starts, then looks up and his eyes go wide. She smiles down at him. “It’s okay, Chaton. I’m here for you.” His bottom lip trembles, and several beats pass until he finds the voice to whisper, “I love you, Marinette. I’ll never let anyone separate us.” And maybe that should feel like a surprise. Maybe his arms around her and his lips on hers should wreck her world. Maybe, once, they would have.  Now, they feel like a small sound of ‘oh’ at the back of her mind.  Of course, it’s him.  Of course, he’s hers.  Of course, it’s them until the end of the world. She cups his face and smooths the messy hair out of his eyes, kissing away the tears spilling over his black mask. “I love you, too, Adrien. I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again.” And if he cries harder and buries his face in the crook of her neck, that’s alright too. She hugs him, rubbing his back and peppering kisses all over his face—his nose, his forehead, his crown and his little cat ears—and holds him until he needs her to. She would be his Atlas and hold him until the end of the world, but slowly, his breathing calms and Adrien draws away, wiping at his eye with the palm of his hand. “I need to— I’ll need to go back,” he stutters over a swallow. Marinette shakes her head firmly and holds him tighter. “You are not going back.” His face softens. “My lady,” he begs, and she thinks her heart might give in from the way he says her name alone. “You know I have to before he discovers I’m missing, otherwise—” She cuts him off with a kiss before he gets to finish that train of thought. It’s an option she isn’t willing to entertain. “Your cousin owes me big time. You are not going back. Never ever,” she confirms.  If the surprised fervour and gratitude he dives back in for a kiss with is of any indication, he believes her. Marinette isn’t delusional enough to think Félix would do her a solid as an apology for his theater kid nonsense, but she suspects a chance to be closer to Kagami in place of Adrien will do it. She laces her fingers with Adrien’s, as if gluing them together, but he doesn’t seem to mind. She smiles against his lips with confidence only his support can grant her. “Okay, Chaton. Here’s the plan.”

[dansconcepts]

Pink-Tipped Locks And Guitarists Rock

Or Adrien gets his hair dyed by everyone's fav guitarist (this is shamelessly Lukadrien fluff).

|◁ II ▷|

"Are you sure about this, Adrien?" The blonde nods. Luka continues to strum his hands through his (soon to not fully be!) blond hair, humming his acknowledgement. He chuckles under his breath.

“What’s so funny?” Adrien asks, but his smile is wide. It’s silent for a few minutes, with Luka grabbing a fistful of his hair gently, before replying, “I was pretty surprised by how soft your hair was.” He confesses. 

Adrien shrugs. “I’m a model. Not that it’s a requirement, but too many ads seem to emphasize how soft my hair is or whatever, so it is what it is.” 

The musician hums once more before he feels the bristles of a comb being moved up and down rhythmically. 

“I think it’s kind of strange...?” Adrien continues, “I don’t mind though. I do like my hair looking and feeling nice. But…” He motions his hand in a circle around his face. “I think it would look nicer if it was a little messier, you know?” 

He can’t help but grin a little evilly at that one. An inside joke only he and his kwami would have. 

A soft pat on his head is his only warning before his head shakes under the weight of Luka’s hand. He can feel the laughter welling inside him as he chuckles loudly, feeling light even as his product-filled hair is un-modelfied. Hell, if anything, that’s probably his favourite fact about all this. 

“Lu-ka!”  He yelps, but he’s grinning wildly. 

At the sound of his name, he’s suddenly turned around by the shoulders and held under the scrutiny of Luka’s gaze and his calloused hands. 

Blue eyes meet green. “...Interesting.” Luka murmurs. 

His hands rub his neck almost instinctively under the sudden spotlight. “Is that a good thing?”

Luka’s serene smile widens. “It’s different.”

“I ask one question and get an unrelated answer.” He teases playfully. “What, chat got your tongue?” He almost purrs, lips spilled out in a manner almost vindictive, if it weren’t for the creases along his eyes. 

He gets a surprised expression as a response, and he pulls away immediately. 

Sorry. Is ready to spill from his mouth. 

Why did he think he could get away with acting like that? 

“You know,” Luka interrupts. He looks more pensive than upset, but he can never be too sure. His pale lips are pressed together in this way he’s sure meant something. Impatience, maybe? 

“You sounded almost exactly like Chat Noir there.” Teal eyes roam over his body from head to toe. Luka nods to himself, affirming something with the quick check. “Look like him, even.”

He can say does that mean I look pawsitively handsome? 

Instead- because unlike Ladybug thinks, he’s not entirely impulsive- he spits out, “What can I say? I’m a fan.” which, okay, not that much better, but better than nothing. 

Luka seems to step out of his stupor and nods at him. He takes a few seconds to just blink at him, for another reason he doesn't know yet. 

“I am too.” 

And Adrien's cognizance has left the station. He laughs nervously, and he hopes the half-baked "ha. Ha. Ha." doesn't show through, but he does sound like he's uncomfortable. He instinctively winces. Luka seems to take pity on him and softens. Gently, he twists Adrien back around before chiming, "Now time to get your hair tipped and you can tell me all about being such a Chat Noir fan, Adrien."

He could not be any more glad he wasn't facing the musician anymore. 

It would've been too dist-cat-ing. 

He could hear Ladybug's familiar groan in his head and even he could concede that one was pretty clawful. 

"What's there to talk about? I just think he's the cat's meow. Wouldn't you agree?"

Luka gently massaged his hair and if he were Chat, he swears he would've started purring. Instead, he leans into the soft touch. 

"Adrien." Luka calls out, soft, but firm. "I'll need you to be a little more still than that so I can apply the bleach." 

The boy in question turns around slowly to notice black-painted nails dangling a brush a few centimetres away from a dish. He chuckles, embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry."

Luka chuckles. "It's cute. You're like an affectionate kitten. But do try to keep your head facing the front, hm?" 

He nods a little too enthusiastically on his part, and the chk-chk-trk of the foil around him gave him all the warning he needed not to melt. He did want to get that tipped hair, after all.

Even if father won't approve. 

But he trusts Luka. It’s only temporary, even if it lasts a while. At least he could do his own hints of rebellion the Adrien Agreste way (since he certainly won't be telling his father about Chat Noir’s way...). 

Almost too soon, it’s over. His hair was painted and it was left to dry after a whole blow drying session. And good riddance, he's gotta admit. He was kind of getting a little antsy, because even with modelling he can at least have some sense of mobility, but really, one hour compared to a few and a cool new look? Definitely one of the better trade offs he's ever gotten out of sitting still. 

"There. It's not completely dry yet, but what do you think of it so far?" His temporary hairstylist of the day asks.

"Hmm. I don't know. Think you have a mirror I could use to actually see it?" He replies snarkily with a shit-eating grin. It just came out, but he doesn't try to hide it anymore. He catches Luka's eye briefly as Luka steps around him, his lips pulled into a smirk. 

"Gotcha. Just give me a sec!" The musician yells out as he rummages through his cupboards, before finally pulling out a quaint mirror with a black cat-themed rim.

"Huh. You really are a Chat Noir fan." Adrien muses nonchalantly, but internally preens at the sight.

Luka laughs it off easily with a fond look at the object (or at least, he's pretty sure that was what it was) before explaining, "Heh. Juleka got it for me as a joke." 

"Do you treat it as a joke?" He replies. He swallows, hoping to ignore how his voice sounded like a kicked puppy just then and the thought of the object being used to make fun of his superhero persona. 

"Of course not. It's probably one of the silliest gifts, but not meaningless to me." The mainly-black haired boy defends immediately. The now-partly blond boy's shoulders relax at the quick admission. "Although, the green doesn't match my aesthetic nearly as well as the black does."

"I don't know, I think black, blue and green could go really well together." 

He thinks of Viperion's costume, and despite the blazing face he gets whenever he thinks about it, it's an image that supports his argument well.

"I suppose you're right. But pink and yellow make a beautiful combination too, Adrien. You were right to pick it." 

Jade eyes dart toward the mirror. His eyes settle on the foreign colour in his hair and his heart stutters.

"Whoa..." He exclaims, openly admiring how his yellow locks are complimented nicely by the soft, strawberry pink Luka picked out.

"This is awesome, thanks Luka!"

"No trouble at all, Adrien. This was… calming... to do."

[gale-gentlepenguin]

What if Ladybug had managed to recover the luckycharm when Monarch escaped from the trap set by her and Cat Noir?

So this is actually kind of an interesting Since this would change the trajectory of the show.

(What if Ladybug cast Miraculous Healing in Destruction?)

-So the events that occur in Destruction Still happen. Ladybug set the trap. The Lucky charm rope is in Place. And Monarch still has himself get cataclysmed.

-But after that occured, he uses Orikko (rooster miraculous) To Phase through the rope. Then used Kaalki to make a portal and escape.

-With that, Ladybug is mad that she couldnt bet the kwami back. But they cast Miraculous Healing. Which undoes the damage done to Monarch.

-After Monarch's escape, he comments how close he cut it with that trick. And he would need to be careful in the future. He was fortunate.

-The Paris special with the multiverse occurs. Nothing changes there.

-But without being Cataclysmed, Monarch isnt in such a rush. He still has time. But he does realize Nathalie is still sick.

-I think Gabriel would not make Alliance. The only reason he made it was because he was desperate. So I think he wouldn't have that made yet.

-He would be attacking the city. He wouldn't have been taking a break like he did in Multiplication

-Though he is learning the consequences of using this many Miraculous so often and is thinking about a potential work around.

-The akuma wouldnt be having the additional effects of the miraculous. Since he hasnt figured out how to transfer it yet. But he is learning all the tricks with the OTHER miraculous. Including how to best utilize their powers.

-And with the snake miraculous he can retry with Zero limits now thanks to not having a timer from the cataclysm.

-But even still Ladybug and Chat noir are still succeeding.

-I imagine the episodes are still similar but with less powerful akuma.

-Monarch would also not be working towards his big finale plan. So that would be different. And without the Alliance... Monarch never realizes the identities of the new miraculous holders when Kwami's choice happens.

-So Scarabella and Kitty Noire stay as the ladybug and Cat hero of Paris a lot longer. I would even say like 3 or 4 episodes. Until Monarch appears to fight the more inexpreienced heroes. Marinett and Adrien working together with La Resistance to stop him.

-Monarch retreats, and Ladybug and Chat noir return.

-Monarch's Final play of the season would be akumatizing himself and then putting on all of the miraculous. Maybe calling himself Miracle Monarch. And him using ALL the powers at once.

-Giving himself Near godlike power in which Ladybug and Chat noir using their full power (now matured) are able to finally defeat him. BUT the Butterfly miraculous still vanishes.

-Now without the desperation or need to send Adrien away, Marinette never feels the need to confront Gabriel.

-Or maybe Felix does reveal Monarch as Gabriel, But there wouldnt be the need. Alliance likely didnt happen. Or if it did not at such a speed.

-In the end, Gabriel probably ended up arrested or maybe sacrificing himself to make sure Nathalie is cured or something

[flightfoot]

Hello! By any chance, do you have any outsider pov ml fics to rec? As in, fics focusing on a side character being like "damn these guys are acting WEIRD and i'm mildly worried about that." Or maybe identity reveal fics where the reveal is for someone who isn't marinette or adrien?

Hmmm... let me see what I've got...

Also I'm a little confused about you asking for "the reveal is for someone who isn't marinette or adrien?" Do you mean for it to be TO someone who isn't Marinette or Adrien, or are you actually asking for someone who isn't Marinette or Adrien to reveal their identity? I'm tossing Hawkmoth in there as well, because if I included Hawkmoth reveal fics, there'd be way too many. (..okay so I might have included a Hawkmoth Reveal as well, the Markov Alliance is too good to pass up)

Anyway, I'll see what I can come up with!

So after looking through, I have a lot that fit at least some of the criteria, including a lot of older fics. I hope you enjoy! I've got 22 fics for you to peruse, all completed.

---

Shellter Chat by Bridgetinerabbit

A peek inside Adrien's school bag gives Nino some very unexpected insight as to what makes his good friend tick, but leaves him in a very delicate position. He never expected to strike a deal with the Kwami of Destruction, but now he and Plagg are working together to relieve some of Adrien's (and Chat Noir's) burdens for his own good. But being Adrien's guardian angel isn't as easy as it seems; other secret identities start falling apart, and there's no telling where the falling dominoes will stop.

---

Just Act Normal by hazel562

After a body-swap akuma sees the return of Lady Noire and Mister Bug, Alya can't work out why Adrien, and particularly Marinette, are behaving so strangely…

---

Chasing a Dream by @generalluxun

Things don't quite go Felix's way at the end of S4, leading to a second attempt of the 'First Love' Tour. Lila plans to use the tour to wheedle her way into Gabriel's confidences and secure Adrien's hand. Marinette overhears Lila's plan. Marinette reacts in a calm and rational manner. Who am I kidding? She stokes Chloé's bruised ego to enlist her help to chase after the tour, in the hopes of foiling Lila's plans. Akumas spring up along their path, texts with Adrien grow more deep, Cat Noir appears where he should not be, and through it all Marinette is forced to interact with a girl who has been a huge part of her life in all the worst ways up until now. What truths can be discovered though, halfway around the world and away from prying eyes?

---

A Small but Stubborn Fire by @cardiac-agreste

What if you were the parent of a teenage superhero, but didn't know they were? All you know is the nightmares, the panic attacks, and the bruises. She's missing school, she's disappearing on you, and she's not telling you anything. So you assume the worst: Assault. Depression. A permanent rift in the family. And what do you do when you realize you weren't thinking dark enough? Because your fourteen-year old daughter is the hero who flirts with death on the nightly news. -- Come inside and read about one mother's struggles to raise her daughter in a dangerous world while avoiding the mistakes her own mother made with her.

This is a more serious take on the consequences of Hawk Moth's war on Paris, with actual bloody, painful deaths as a consequence of many akumas, and Parisians developing PTSD because of what they've gone through. Ladybug can fix all the physical scars, but not the mental ones, including her own.

I love the focus on Sabine here. She's not just presented as being a mom - though of course that IS an important role she has. But she's explored as a character in her own right, one with a lot of emotional baggage as a result of her abusive mother, and trying to not fall into her mistakes, but sometimes doing so anyway out of fear for Marinette's safety. She's a really fleshed out, humanly flawed character, sometimes admitting that she would do something selfish if it means protecting the people she cares most about, like her daughter, even if its at others expense. She grows and changes a lot throughout the course of the story, her perspective on many matters changing multiple times as a result of getting new information or seeing the consequences of her previous approaches, and adjusting as a result.

If you want a fic that more realistically explores the dark consequences of Miraculous's setting, that fleshes out Sabine, or just develops a character in a complex way, then I highly recommend you check "A Small but Stubborn Fire" out!

---

theory bored by @14muffinz

You’re not supposed to theorise about who your partner is, Tikki had scolded, glaring at Luka as he continued to map out his entire theory, abbreviating as many miraculous-related names as he could feasibly remember. To be fair, it’s a lot, so it’s not like this would be much if anyone were to get their hands on it. He’d sighed, capped his marker, and turned around as though he was going to clean up the board. And then, because Tikki unfortunately taught him just how stubborn he could get if he really wanted to, he calls for his transformation while facing the other way. [OR: Ladybug Luka, Black Cat Juleka, and a reveal.]

---

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess by @mexicancat-girl

With Team Miraculous now full-time holders, Ladybug has them patrolling in pairs like her and Chat Noir. New partners Pigella and Purple Tigress get along phenomenally, their easy banter and similar wavelengths making working with each other a joy in and out of combat. But sometimes Tigress is surprised just how close she is with her partner. Sometimes she tries not to feel too guilty thinking about it.

There’s some nice Julerose here! I love them kinda getting into a lovesquare with each other, though it’s not as much of a problem as it is in canon since it’s reciprocal in every relationship and they’re both down for a poly. It’s fun, and I love the “Luka attempting to woo some of his love interests” plot going on in the background XD.

---

the funniest coincidence of them all by shireith

“I wore it just for you,” Adrien told Alya. “So you don’t have any trouble telling me apart from Chat Noir.” “You’re so annoying right now you might just have convinced me you’re Chat Noir.” “I am Chat Noir.” “And I’m Rena Rouge.” What the hell was happening and why did it look so familiar? ---

Or, in which Marinette, Adrien and Alya share several brain cells, problem is they’re all Alya’s.

---

Alya Cesaire Should Be Allowed To Swear by stripesandblossoms

Akuma attacks don't stop just because Alya is no longer a Hero, but that's fine, because she can still help clear civilians from the danger zone. Even celebrity-friends like Adrien Agreste.

Hey guys this is an amazing one-shot, even with as short as it is. I love how it goes into Alya’s thoughts and feelings about why she doesn’t swear (because you can’t do that on-air as a journalist and she has little sisters that she can’t swear around anyway) and her coming up with ways to suppress her swears when she’s tempted.

Then of course, she finds out a secret that makes all of that go out the window…

Seriously this is really funny, please read it!

---

You Don't Have to Pretend with Me by @kasienda

Nino didn’t not like Chat Noir. He thought the dude was cool and hilarious. His sense of humor reminded him of Adrien. Things hadn’t always been tense between them. When they fought back to back during Heroes’ Day it had felt like they were brothers. But it was clear to him that Chat Noir wasn’t his biggest fan. The other hero was always welcoming and kind to Rena Rouge when she joined the team, but he had always been somewhat aloof with Carapace. And Chat Noir had been especially different around him after Rocketear. but it wasn’t like Chat Noir knew that Nino and Carapace were the same person, so why had he started avoiding Carapace? … Adrien couldn’t figure out why things between Adrien and Nino had always been so easy when things between Chat Noir and Carapace felt so hard. Like, he knew he was different as Chat, but he was far less different as Adrien with Nino than anyone else. Or he had been before… Rocketear. And now? Now, he had no idea how he was supposed to act. Had no idea what Nino wanted from Chat Noir, but it was very clear he wasn’t measuring up.

---

The Markov Alliance by CrochetJellybean

Slight spoilers for season 5! Markov was excited to use Max's class time to learn more about the AI system within the Alliance rings. In his exploration, he accidentally discovers a chat room of 14 non-humans connected to the Alliance network, so he decides to join it.

This was hilarious and fun and heartwarming. Markov accidentally stumbling across the kwamis and them hinting as best they could about what to do and who to tell about them (as best they could without spewing out bubbles) was great, along with the Miracuclass’s reaction to finding out about them.

Also their groupchat name is “plagg is oblivious” due to Plagg not figuring out that Nooroo was in the same house as him all this time, which is just perfect XD. I’ve reread this fic several times, it’s so good and bite-sized!

---

The Investigation by @11jj11

Adrien and Marinette are finally dating-- which is what Alya has always wanted... but yet this sudden transformation in their relationship overnight? Things aren't adding up. They are suddenly so much closer than they ever have been before, Adrien is apparently a flirt, Marinette is no longer a stuttering mess, and not to mention the nicknames that came out of no where. Alya is happy for her friends, but she knows there's something more going on, and the reporter in her is going to get to the bottom of it.

---

I Know, You Know by @mirrankei

They weren't technically a couple, but Alya knew one day they would be. Ladybug loved Chat Noir, but they had a job to do, and relationships could be dangerous. Alya could accept that. She knew in her heart that on the day the five of them (eight, ten, twelve of them) defeated Hawkmoth once and for all, Chat Noir would take Ladybug in his arms - no, wait, Ladybug would take Chat Noir in her arms - and finally share that romantic kiss all of Paris was waiting for. They would tell each other who they are and fall in love all over again, safe in their victory. Then it turned out Ladybug was Marinette, so that went out the window. Because Marinette only had eyes for Adrien, and Alya was way more invested in that ship than any superhero stuff.  --- for prompt "Lovesquare"

---

caline bustier and the heroes' awful mental health by lollyposp

Caline liked to think she was a good teacher - she’d adapted well to the systems put in place by the akuma attacks, she’d adapted to the various incidents within her classroom, and learned the best way to seat her students, in order to minimise the risk of arguments within the classroom that could potentially draw Papillon to her room once again. Sometimes, though, she felt powerless to help her students. OR: in which madame bustier tries to help her students, but she's missing a key part of the puzzle (hint: it's their identities)

---

Everything I Need by @coffeebanana

When Ladybug asks Pigella to care for her injured teammate, she wants to refuse. She's not the best person for the job, and she's not sure if Purple Tigress even likes her. But Ladybug insists, so Pigella fights through her fear and tends to Tigress' injury. It doesn't make things any easier that Tigress keeps reminding her of Juleka.

---

Walking That Mile by @nomolosk

Nino and Alya wake up in the wrong bodies. Several things result from this, including, but not limited to, identity reveals and a better understanding of what their respective best friends are going through.

Never knew I needed Nino!Plagg and Alya!Tikki in my life, but there you go XD. It’s not all fun and games though, this is a Hawkmoth Takedown fic as well, and dealing with the effects of that.

---

Off the Mark by @buggachat

Ever since Nino's (frankly embarrassing) akumatization into Rocketear, Chat Noir's behavior had taken a strange and sudden turn in the presence of Carapace, and Nino could only think of one possible explanation: Chat Noir hated him. Somehow, Adrien didn't seem to agree.

---

Markov Knows All by @11jj11

Markov has a few questions.

---

Shipping Status: In Transit by @katieykat513

Shipping wars, they get the best of us, don't they? Even these four friends....

---

Aspik Hate Club by MyImaginationFlows

Ladybug just cannot get over how horrible Aspik looked like with the snake miraculous. Frustrated by unmet expectations, she decides to rant to Chat Noir about it. Suddenly, he’s being accused of being a terrorist and is strapped to a chair surrounded by Carapace, Ladybug, and Rena Rouge. How did a conversation about himself end up with him being put on trial for being Hawkmoth?

---

A Reveal of Necessity by alexanderxbetsey

Alya walks in on Chat kissing Marinette

---

Strategic Missteps by Platonic_Ideals

Sabine wanted to plan a spa trip for her daughter, but it ended with her hiding from an akuma with her daughter's crush. Now Sabine has the responsibility of supporting Adrien's alter ego while managing her fear for his future.

---

questions she knows by finleyblue

Carapace laughs uneasily. This is bad. “Sorry, I’ve really got to skip.” He jabs a finger behind him, making no move to leave. Alya folds her arms and raises one eyebrow. “Nino. I am not that dumb.” _____ Alya interviews Carapace for the Ladyblog, and Nino panics.

[fandom-thoughts389]

Miraculous Ladybug Critiques (Rant)

I followed along with the show pretty much since its debut, but I fell off on caring for it somewhere in the middle of the fourth season. I still kept tabs on it though cause by that point it was like a dumpster fire and I had to know what dumb decision they made next.

I will acknowledge though that looking back I now realize the show and its creators never had any intentions of making something compelling or with any depth to it. It was just show to be made and they'd continue it for however long they could.

So, I felt like listing out the various problems I have with the show and what I personally thought would've created a better narrative/story.

1. Powers

I can really appreciate the lore and origins of the miraculous/kwamis being concepts of the universe, but beyond that there's too much going on. Having way more miraculous exist beyond the 19 the show originated loads the show with too much going on.

-The Zodiac

Heck, the 12 zodiac miraculous overcomplicates the number of powers the show has to juggle. Not to mention that the concepts and powers some of them weald are either too broken or too redundant. The rabbit can just freely time travel with seemingly no limitations. Plus time travel just always complicates things in any media. Meanwhile, the dog just allows you to retrieve an object back to your person. There's no balance here.

There should've been a hierarchy to their powers, or at the very least the zodiac could've individually been weaker in some sense. Maybe there could've been combinations that form greater powers. The snake allows you to rewind a short window of time into the past, but another miraculous could've been about prediction or seeing the future, so when used together they could've allowed for some level of controlled time travel. Like how creation and destruction come together to form reality the zodiac could've been other concepts broken into pairs (or heck maybe even trios?).

-Power-ups

These were completely redundant. They alluded to 7 power but have only ever used 3 of them (2 of which are very situational with water and ice). The zodiac could've been better used in place of there since they were more about adding additional transformation sequences, that's really all they were.

-Other Heroes

The New York special feels so stupid introducing a justice league knock-off roster of superheroes. They make no sense existing cause why the hell wouldn't the come help Paris when they're literally dealing with a domestic terrorist with superpowers daily. By that point I knew the creators didn't care what they added to the world they made.

-The main 7

I just think these guys needed some balancing to fit alongside each other.

The ladybug and cat do well for their main powers of creation and destruction, but the extra powers of the ladybug needed to be mirrored by the cat. To restore/fix any damages should've been a combined power of the two used in unison. As for dealing with the akumas maybe only the wielder of the cat can break/destroy whatever they're in.

As for the other 5 I feel like they all should've functioned the same. Like all of them imbue their power into something then bind it to an object and manipulate it from there. The fox would have a focal point for its illusion. The bee's stinger could be what's implanted and I think they should have control over the person's actions. As for the Turtle, idk? a protective charm of sorts?

The butterfly and peacock a little much though. The butterfly can just bestow ANY sort of power, I fell like it should be limited in someway. And the peacock can apparently just straight up create fully functional, living beings/humans as well as monsters? Probably should just stick to actual monsters.

I'll also say that I think they were suppose to the 'five Chinese elements' (Wuxing)? Given their number and arrangement(?) in the original box. So maybe there could've been a flow/balance amongst each other where they can either boost or counteract the others.

2. Love Square

Marinette and Adrian's relationship just became another trait to drag on and perpetually extend the show's life. They did everything to keep them from starting a relationship and when they finally shoved them together (halfway through the 5th season?) they didn't do anything meaningful with them afterward.

I think the initial set up of who they love is good. Marinette only loves Adrian, while Chatnoir loves Ladybug. Creating a cycle of them pining for each other. However, that cycle should've been broken at some point way earlier to progress their dynamic.

I honestly think they should've had Marinette and Chatnoir start a relationship. Its an inverse of their crushed and to me they feel/act most like their real selves. Marinette isn't under the responsibility of being Ladybug and she's not falling over herself and stuttering like when she's around Adrian. Meanwhile, Adrian is expressive and outgoing as Chatnoir and uses that time as an escape from his restrictive life.

I could see this relationship starting after they confess to their respective crushes, but of course get rejected. Afterwards though they fine solace in the one they rejected and decide to give that person a chance, maybe thinking along the lines of: "Hey, this person liked my other identity, why don't I give them a chance".

I also think that the dynamic of Ladybug and Adrian should've been used as a 'Superman&Lois Lane' or 'Spiderman&Mary Jane' sort of situation. Ladybug saves him every now and then and the media blows it out of proportions. It’d be cute and funny and a nice nod to comics/heroes before them.

As for Kagami and Luka, I could see them dating the protagonists for a bit of time. An alternate choice to get their minds off their crushes that don’t work out and breakup later. Just not LITERALLY THE NEXT COUPLE OF EPISODES AFTER STARTING TO “DATE”. Geez.

3. Characters

I really don't care for how this show handled most of its characters, especially Chloe and Gabriel. I'll also say it's annoying that they inflated the roster of heroes/important characters with the rest of the class with the zodiac miraculous.

Marinette

My main problem with her is that the show is solely fixated on her. They never really divide the attention with Adrian's side of things, so the narrative weight of everything is always dependent on Marinette. She's always the crux of every situation with the Ladybug's powers being so inflated on their role/importance.

Also, I think everyone can agree with me on this one: They needed to turn down the creepy, obsessive stalker behavior of her towards Adrian. I could understand learning the times of some of his afterschool activities to watch/fawn over him, but how the hell does she know his entire monthly schedule?! It's all way too much.

Adrian

Like I said, they hardly ever do anything narratively with him. Heck, they give him no role in the main finally of everything! More episodes should've been centered on and followed him to give some balance between him and Marinette.

Also, I think it might've been a better idea to keep him as his original concept of Felix. Or at the very least lean towards it with a bit of a reclusive and abrasive personality. I think it could've involved him a lot more in the story if he was the cause of more akumatizations. It could've lead to a lot more character growth with him bettering himself after each experience. It also could've aligned him more with Chloe as friends and let them develop together.

Chloe

I still don't understand why they had her better herself so much just to turn around and regress her back to her stubborn self in an instant. I understand the idea of a "failed redemption arc", but somehow they failed at doing that. There just wasn't any proper build-up to it.

Honestly, I would've had Chloe be used vigilante/anti-hero if they didn't have her out herself immediately in the show. She's doesn't want to give up the bee miraculous, but she wants to prove herself as a hero.

She could've been a novice that inserted herself into every situation and got in the heroes' way or complicated things, but eventually got better at heroics. She could've learned that not every situation calls for her immediately and she could stay on the sidelines watching over the heroes in case they needed a save/backup.

All that development could build up to her making the tough call of her losing her miraculous to Hawkmoth in order to save Ladybug and Chatnoir. Then with the Bee miraculous in Hawkmoth's possession, fights with future villains could be harder if their perfectly under his control with the bee's venom ability.

Gabriel

Dear God this man should've been written as a father first and foremost. He's too much of a 'Saturday morning cartoon villain' when there should be a lot more depth into the weight of his actions.

The man wants to revive his wife and restore their family but he throws his son under the bus any chance he gets to use/manipulate him. In the end though they want him to be seen a sympathetic but flawed villain? They actively ruined and perception of sympathy.

I would have loved for him to actually be a sympathetic villain given his motivations and him being one of the heroes' parents, but they actively had him choose the most malicious and batshit ideas. They could've made him immediately concerned for Adrian's safety if he saw he was around one of his villains, ordering them to stay clear of him.

Him succeeding in the end isn't even that bad of an idea too. Maybe he should've been unaware/ignorant of the wish's price though. Like he brings back Emilie but at the cost of Marinette or Adrian's life. Ultimately encouraging him to reverse his wish, let go and move on. Also, there was no need to make it look like the world was ending when a wish is made. Felt a little over dramatic.

Also the tech rings were way too random for the narrative in my opinion for a fashion designer to have made?

4. Fashion

What ever happened to the show's fashion emphasis? Wasn't their school an arts school? or am I just misremembering that?

Anyways, there should've been more (and a better use) of fashion in this series. Like come on, the main villain is a renown designer, and the main leads are an aspiring designer and model.

The villains Gabriel created should've looked like they were designed by him. I can understand/appreciate the occasional abstract one but most of them just looked ridiculous (utterly ridiculous). Plus the superheroes' outfits are just mostly spandex suits, barely anything unique or involving their animal motifs. Not to mention the combos between a few of them are either bland or clunky.

I also think they could've had their outfits change occasionally, like after every season. If its suppose to be like sentai/magical girl transformations then new outfits over time is the norm.

Rant. Done.

[thequietkid-moonie]

Cupid!Moonie is here to match up Val 🩷 ( @frickingnerd )

For Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir I match you up with Luka Couffaine !

Despite being more calm and lay back Luka is actually really affectionate and caring, somehow you became one of his top priorities without even forgeting about himself or his friends

Luka quickly become one of your biggests supporters for everything honestly, he isn't the best with words but he can be really good at times so he can help you to win more self confidence (and if is not him he can ask help to his friends to help to by simply helping you to feel more comfortable)

Overall he prefers to spend quality time with only you, wich means that he is always up to share any hobbie you have, he is passionate about music so he will always be playing music for you but he wouldn't mind put his guitar aside for a moment to share time with you by giving a try to any hobbie you have, if he can help you in whatever you are doing he wouldn't doubt on doing so, besides he will be more than happy to play videogames with you

Just as supportive as he is he will always be there to see the results of your projects, he is always objetive if he has to give you feed back but is never harsh with his words, he loves quility time and loves getting invested on what are you doing if he can, but he doesn't do it much because he things that all of that you do it may be personal and doesn't want you to feel forced to include him or him forcing himself doing something he is not that interested on

Somehow he knows whenever you are being harsh on yourself and demand more from yourself and he is always worried about it but his way to helps you with that is by offering you to have a break or simply making you company, playing music in an attempt to easy your mind or making small chat to make you relax, he doesn't want to step on the problem if you aren't searching for help but he is always up to give reasuring words, just reminding you that he is always there for you

Also, your fashion style can be quite similar wich he finds somewhat cute even if he doesn't say it, he has the habit to always tell you that you look beautiful and cute (specially whenever you go out in a date) but he thinks more of that, sometimes he even tries to wear an outfit that could match your usual style, he just things it would be adorable and funny!

Being affectionate for him is something completely natural, he isn't shy when it comes to be physicaly affectionate and he even likes calling you by cute nicknames, when it comes to him dates normally are calm and mostly hanging out, but from time to time he has bigger gestures, like planing a complete surprise romantic dinner (mainly for special dates, but sometimes the special event is simply to celebrate that you two are together)

For Danganronpa I match you up with Shuichi Saihara !

Shuichi feels a little bit intimidated and insecure when compared to you, he already thinks that he isn't someone great but when he looks at you he feels even less, however that doesn't stop him from developing a crush and when you two start an actual relasionship that only gives him a big motivation to work on himself, to win more confidence and stop comparing himself

Shuichi already admires you a lot but knowing that you also want to work on yourself to become better he feels like he admires you even more, he is not afraid of telling you that! besides, since he is also working on his self confidence maybe you two can work together, going step by step, recognizing each other efforts and celebrating together your improvements (honestly he is quite excited by the idea but he tries to don't show it much for his shyness)

Despite being the ultimate detective he doesn't really take too serious that title because he feels like he doesn't do much, but since now he is with you he slowly start to realice how much efforts he actually he has to do whenever he talks to you about it, it doesn't have to be his real cases (wich he prefers to keep as secret because he doesn't want to scare you with the details) but whenever you play any game that has to be with invetigations and invite him over to help or simply tell him about it for fun he can actually realice how much he actually does to solve the cases when talking to you about it

Speaking of it, he doesn't really think he would be good at anything, specially videogames but he gather the courage to give a try whenever you invite him over to do anything you like or are interested on and he honestly always gives 100% to do it right, even if is a videogames he just has a hard time not taking things too serious (he end up getting really invested in some videogames, maybe as much as you do so you two will have a great time by simply talking about the story and your theories)

Thats also why he can understand perfectly fine your perfeccionism because he can be pretty critical and harsh on himself too, he feels like it would be a little hypocrite on his part to ask you to stop so he prefers to just ask you to be kinder on yourself, trying to remind you how amazing you are, as time pass he grows more comfortable to speak his mind off and at the end he may just end up proposing to work on that together since is something it affect him too

Shuichi isn't really the romantic type just because he doesn't know how to do it and get flustered easily by it so whenever he has a romatc gesture like planning a date or even bringing you flowers is thanks to his friends (mainly for being bugged by either Kaito or Kokichi), but he does have the tendency to say incredibly meaningful things without even realicing it, sincere and honest compliments, nicknames that are related to something you or both like, mentioning things that reminded him of you during the day, unconsciously searching your comfort whenever he finish a harsh or too shocking case along with thanking you for being in his life, he preferce to being affectionate indirectly by taking care of you or showing how much you mean to him!

For My Hero Academia I match you up with Mirio Togata !

Mirio is totally the type that will be your boyfriend and your best friend, he wants to see your smile at all times so he is always making sure you have reasons to smile! besides, with the inmense love he has for you that just lead him to always be incredibly affectionate and supportive

Mirio doesn't really had a filter when talking not he sees any reason why he shouldn't not show his love so he is always complimenting you and reminding you how much he loves you, calling you cute nicknames and surprising you with hugs and kisses, he just can't help it, besides, if it makes you happy then he has no reasons to stop. He can be incredibly romantic because it comes natural to him, however he isn't exactly the best at planing dates, he has some problem to properly make a plan but he can do it, he just think somewhere to go where you two could have lots of fun! but aside from that he isn't good at planning much after that, he is a little embarrassed by it but just laugh at it and promise to make it up by making sure you have a lot of fun (also, he may not have much time due being a hero but his free time is always yours!)

Honestly, Mirio admires you quite a lot for your passion and determination, he considere you someone really smart and brave for following your heart and do whatever you want to do, seeing you get a new interest or even starting a new project never fails to make him feel proud of having such an amazing girlfriend! it also make him flattered because you seem so full of life and energy, he swears that everytime he sees you you are even more beautiful! And, of course, no matter what you will always have his full support

Also, if you offer to share any of your interest with him, like sharing your stories or simply playing videogames together he will accept without a second thought, if you wish he can invite over Nejire and Tamaki too because the more the better! He would be ecstatic if you get along with them (and with Eri too, that would just melt his heart and will just make him wish to marry you in a future), besides if you get along with them it just mean more for everyone!

Mirio feels his heart melting whenever he thinks on you because you are so beautiful inside and out, he feels so special whenever you show care for him that he just can't help but call you an angel, your kind heart is one of the things he like the most from you and one of the reasons why he wants to become your hero, it isn't that he underestimate you is just that you are someone worthy of being protected, now you are one of his motivations to become a hero!

Also, thanks for this he is always looking after you, he wants to take care of you and make sure you are happy and safe, so once he find out how perfeccionist you can be that protective side of him just increased, he just gets the habit to remind you how much value you already hold, that even if you don't get the most perfect results that doesn't make you less than before nor less than anyone else, and, of course, that he already loves you just the way you are

For NieR Automata I match you up with 9S !

When 9S is interested on something there is really nothing that will stop him from investigate in whatever have catched his interest, and when it comes to love he is pretty much the same, he may be easily flustered at the start of the relasionship but as time pass he grows more comfortable and affectionate

9S most of the time speak without thinking twice so he is constantly complimenting you and telling you how amazing he thinks you truly are, no matter if you are android or human, not even how simple you think you are he will always see you are someone beautiful and amazing (but whenever he understand what he have said he quickly gets flustered and stutters a little)

9S doesn't considere himself as someone romantic but now that he has you in his life he wants to do every thing that a couple would do, he is fascinanted by the humans so he will want to do anything romantic humans used to do, dates, matching clothes or accessories, dedicating songs and poems, nicknames, anything he can think on he want to try it with you and he does from his heart, everything is sincere and with a lots of love (if you end up pointing it out he will get a little embarrassed but will no deny it)

9S is really passionate when it comes to the humans and all the old buldings he find, as a scanner mode he can do his job while satisfying his curiousity and as your boyfriend he is always talking to you about everything he knows and taking you to amazing places he find as dates, besides since he know you always have the passion and energy to try new things he always tries to find new information about the human culture that you could find interesting just hoping that he can help you find new things that you would want to try (9S goes out of his way to find anything you could like but he is too embarrassed and flustered by it to admit it out loud)

Also, he is always up to heard you talk about your most new hobbie or project and always will be willing to see your progress/results, most of the time he is distracted by how happy and proud you look of what you have done and always gets embarrassed when he catch himself staring at you instead of actually listening what were you saying, and he is even more embarrassed by having to ask you if you could repeat yourself

9S swears that whenever you are around things are more funny than usual, he never gets tired of your company, besides, he is completely in love with you so of course he is always happy when you are around, besides sometimes when exploring you are able to point out new things he haven't notice or even giving another point of view wich only increase his interest on any discovery

But whenever you are being a little too harsh he gets worried, he understand your perfeccionism and how you want to always do your best, specially because he works for YorHa, but that doesn't mean he will just let yourself treat you like this, he always tried to come up with a positive comment about how he thinks you have done a really good job and remind you to don't be too harsh on yourself, dont forget your own limits and that you do have to rest

For The Legend of Zelda I match you up with Link from Skyword Sword !

Link is the type of being best friends with his partner but thats also because he gets easily flustered by romantic stuff, still he tries everything in his power for you to never forget how much you mean to him!

Link admires you a lot and look up at you, he think you are really amazing and even if he doesn't express it directly it is quite obvious by his expression, he not only love how active you can be but your caring and gentle side never fails to make him blush, he gets incredibly flustered by it and is even constantly tease by Zelda for it but he just can't not love whenever you are being caring towards him, it make him feel incredibly loved and special, and he wants to do the same for you because he want you to never forget that you are loved too

Link doesn't think he is more than others or overly special so he can understand if you feel pretty simple or normal, he may just end up doing jokes about it honeslty

He doesn't feel insecure nor intimidated by your amount of energy and hobbies you have, if something he admires you and love seeing you so happy and determited, he may feel a little bad about not being able to keep your pace but seeing you happy is the most important part, he will be happy if you invite him over to share any of your hobbies or interest, even if it is just talking to him about it he happily heard you rant

From his part he isn't easy to get so interested on something on something but when he does he puts his 100% on it, he become incredibly determinated and unstopable, and yet he will always have time to come and check on you or even won't have much troubles to ask for help if he need it, he knows how smart you are so he may just ask you if he needs a second opinion. However, while he is the only one who can go under the sea of clouds everytime he come back he always has new things to share with you that he things you may like, if things are calmer now the he will personally drag you around

Link actually has quite the romantic side, he just feels like being nice and affectionate and can't stop himself, he is shy with words but he always calls you by a cute nickname, besides bringing you flowers or any kind of gift doesn't need much words so he doesn't get too shy, other times he just gets flustered as the words leave his lips, like whenever he give you compliments or say anything that could show how much he loves you (but it isn't that he will retract from his words)

Other things Link does a lot is taking care of you and worring for you, he doesn't want to underestimate you but he is always instinctively stepping in front of you if there is any kind of danger, but when it comes to you being harsh on yourself he doesn't really know much how to react, he is sadden but he doesn't know exactly what to do so he end up just speaking his heart out to tell you how, in his eyes, you are perfect just the way you are, whatever you do is always amazing, you are more than enough and he would never change your for anything in this world

For Honkai Star Rail I match you up with Robin !

Robin is idol admired across all the cosmos, her songs and actions are well know in all the universe and yet she isn't egocentric in the slighest, she is incredibly caring and kind and since she loves you all of that now is directed to you!

The fact that you are trying to grow as a person and become more extrovert, but more important, to love yourself more is something Robin finds completely admirable and since then she have become your biggest supporter!

Robin doesn't judge others for anything really, so even if you seem to have the complete opposite taste in fashion she simply loves it, she even may get inspired to her next costumes for her next concerts, still she is always up to give you tips about make up or how to style your hair as well as trying new clothes, just for pure fun honestly

Robin is one of the most caring people you could find, as a follower of the eon of harmony she wants to do her best to bring peace across the universe, and of course, she is always there to help you too! Robin is really smart and perceptive, somehow she always gets right in time to tell you how an amazing work you have done and debate with your own critique about yourself, she always find a way to refute your harsh coments about yourself and your work even if she end up saying the most silliest thing ever, and when is not about that she simply reminds you how much you have done and achive! Somehow she always knows what to say

Robin is someone that will totally admire your hard work, for her you having so much interests and hobbies is something admirable and she totally support it, always takes time to heard about your most recent interest and even sometimes she gets ideas of new things that you may like that you two could try to together. No matter what you do she is always up to see it and even help you if you need, she can sing along with you or pose for your photos, or even simply being there to hand you your suplies, she just loves the quality time (if she ever catch you singing her songs she can feel her heart melting, and she may end up going with you to sing along)

As well, if you tent to overwork yourself or simply get too invested on anything you are doing Robin always takes time to take care of you, she likes reminding you how much she loves by taking care of you, as well by giving you gifts that thing that can be useful or simply of things you like (who knows, maybe one day she will make a song to be part of the soundtrack of a game she knows you will play just to surprise you)

She isn't shy when it comes to physical affectionate because you are his beloved girlfriend and she has a way with words that can be incredibly romantic (she definetly will gently grab your cheeks out of nowhere and call you her universe), but since she is an idol having secret dates and having to disguise to go out it isn't rare, but she always find it incredibly funny

For A Condition Called Love I match you up with Saki Hananoi !

Saki is completely in love with you! He swears that you are the most beautiful and perfect girl he has ever met and is not afraid of saying it, since he isn't good at relating to others his feelings at first were as only admiration but quickly scaled to love, and once he was sure of his own feelings he was straight forward when telling you about his feelings

Honestly, he admires everything about you! But the fact that you are changing for the better, to grow more confidence and open is something that not only admires but also inspire him a lot! He have changed in the past to become more confidence too but he feels like your change is more sincere and admirable, so he may be inspired by your own bravery to try to start to relating to others too, to don't focus his whole world only on you since you want to stop being so close and become more extrovert (although, he may not say it out loud because he gets a little shy about it)

The fact that you have so much hobbies and interest is a double-edged sword for him, while in his eyes just makes you even more beautiful and perfect it makes him feel less and insecure, while you are living your life at its fullest he barely has anything that inteterest him that much, still he loves hearing about anything you are into, rant all you want because he will heard you with a smile, if you allow him he will even be happy to accompany you whenever you are doing anything you like! At the end he will try to get more hobbies himself to help his insecurities a little bit, but is more likely he end up choosing something you like too so you two can do it together

Just like that, Saki is so in love that if you invite him over to do any of your hobbies with you he will accept without a second thought, wich means he also will be willing to play videogames with you! He honeslty wasn't used to be that interested but seeing you so invested on the stories and the gameplay will convince him to give a try and who knows? Maybe he end up being as passionate as you are for the games (well, as long as he gets to play with you he will be happy to learn to play anything, and I bet he will try to get into the most dificult modes just to impress you, but he will not admit it)

It won't take him long to notice your perfeccionism and how you tend to be a little bit too harsh on yourself, and he is hurt by it! In his eyes you are the most perfect person he have ever meet and the mact that you constantly demand more and more from yourself it hurts him, he try to talk about it and make you stop being so harsh but most of the time he directly stops you, taking your hands on his or hugging you gently but clearly worried, asking you to please don't be so harsh on yourself

He considere himself not so romantic but he is and a lot, it just comes so natural for him to be affectionate and romantic! Most of the time he waits for you to plan the dates and the affection because he doesn't want to overstep your bounduries but if you give him explicit permision to be affectionate then you will not be able to stop him from hugging you and kissing you all day, along with words of undying love!

For My Dress-Up Darling I match you up with Marin Kitawaga !

Marin is someone who isn't discreet with her love, she just can't be discreet, she is loud about anything she likes so now that she is in love she just start talking a lot about you and how much she loves you and everything she loves about you

Marin is someone who puts a lot of attention in her apparience because she likes it, it makes her feel even more pretty, but if you don't like using make up or even if your fashion taste is quite the opposite she doesn't think is something bad, she thinks you are perfect and cute just the way you are and dont have to change! (also, she may or may not have the habit to stealing some of your clothes and using them with proud, even showing off to her friends), but if you do want to give a try to use some make up Marin is already ready to help you with that

Also, Marin always speak with a lot of pride of you! she is unable to don't speak about you so whenever you tell her anything you have tried on the past or your new hobbies and projects her friends quickly get to know too because she just can't stop herself, she just loves you and admire you so much that she simply can't not express that love

Marin loves is quite pure so she doesn't really anything bad on your personality, she mistakes your perfectionism as simple hard work, but after a while (and probably will be thanks to her friends) she will see that you are actually being harsh and demanding on yourself so she gets the habit on reminding you form time to time to be kind to yourself and that the simply okay is completely fine too, and if she has to take your mind out of it she will do it! (she knows exactly what you like so for her is quite easy to drag convince you to take a break)

Marin is completely caring and loving, if there is anything she can do to help you she happily does it so now that you are trying to be more confidence and become more extrovert she happily introduce you to her friends to help you open up a little more and even take you in more outside dates to help you be more at ease despite being with others, giving you a lot of reasuring words in an attempt to help you

Speaking of it Marin is always up to talk about animes and video games with you, she herself is a big fan of them and even if she is more into anime that doesn't mean she isn't willing to accept your recomendation for other games or simply hearing you talk about them, she easily gets invested on the stories you are telling her!

Also, one of Marin's biggests dreams is to cosplay and she is always talking to you about her next plan of wich characters she will cosplay, she will invite you to join her and if you actually accept then she will be incredibly ecstatic, already planing on a million more characters she will love to cosplay and she will even do couple cosplay with you! (she passes from the excitment to the flustered really quick but she is not backing off)

Here it isss my dear V-chan!!! I put a lot of efforts on doing it so i really hope you liked it 🩷 don't worry, i didn't overworked myself

[shiftingtomydrs]

MLB DR

Alright so same as with some other drs my personal stuff like name and everything is the same soo wont go into that a lot tbh

then backstory, i originally wanted to be like an exchange student in france but then like i cant very well be ladybug if im only there for a year so i switched it to i move to france for some reason i dont know yet and i live there with my aunt or smth bcs she lives near paris yk? then basically i just kinda take marinettes place but not completely, like shes still there and stuff but im there too yk? my love interest is adrien and marinette will get together (and stay together) with luca cos theyre cute and im not sure yet if i should script her crush on adrien out or just say it disappears at some point

changes in plot: i dont like anything after season 2, dont ask me why, i just dont like it idk why either, so im gonna script seasons 3-5 out with some exceptions (e.g. i kinda really like cat blanc so i might leave that in with some other stuff but the whole shadow moth and all that shit no) also lila isnt the next supervillain shes just a regular mean girl cos it doesnt make any frickin sense that a 15 year old is able to manipulate every single person she meets. like shell still be able to lie and manipulate people her age but not adults cos thats just stupid imo. Also i havent even watched season 5 yet so im going off spoilers i saw for the next part: none of the miraculous will have permanent holders except ladybug and chat noir (aka me and adrien) cos i like to be special :) also i wont be guardian of the miraculous until much later like college or smth cos thats a ton of pressure and it went sideways for marinette so i dont want it going sideways for me. oh and a big one: ill be taking the whole sentimonster plot out cos i hate it and i think ive never hated a plot as much as that one. like sentimonsters can exist okay but felix and adrien and kagami etc arent one. cos just no. oh and ofc i wont know adrien is chat noir haha

now a bit more about myself: idk yet if i just wanna kinda steal marinettes interests and do the whole design thing cos i am a sucker for parallels and the parallel of adriens parents and adrinette is there but then again why would i wanna be like gabriel? so i might just do what i do in 90% of my drs and be a songwriter (well ill be that anyway question is do i add the designing part on top or not?), otherwise i like baking, ill do figure skating or gymnastics or ballet prolly like all the things i wanna do here but cant for this or that reason. my nationality will be german prolly cos i like having the german passport and also i dont think i need a visa for france cos its in the eu. i wont really script much more about like me and adrien except that we end up together but in my head its kinda similar to the adrien and marinette situation cos im a sucker for slowburn and idk it just fits i think also with my issues with trusting people have good intentions and not just spend time with me bcs of a bet or shit like that.

Physical looks, i might change my hair color cos idk i think itll fit and yeah but ill still have my eye color and height and stuff just be a bit fitter cos with my endurance theres no way ill be able to be a superhero (ik theres magic and shit but still)

im not sure yet if i should leave the dr as a cartoon or do it like this reality (leaning towards this reality bcs i think cartoon would freak me out a bit for my first shift and id overcomplicate it) or maybe ill just do two drs, one cartoon and one not.

anyway, if you have any questions, id love to talk more about this dr so pls ask them <3

@ningsols here it is :)

[ulquichaan]

Miraculous Ladybug - my thoughts.

Hello!

It's been a while, I know. But I come back to rant yet again! I'm sorry for any mistakes in advance - its 2am and the thoughts won't let me sleep so I have to get them out there somewhere. If you don't want to waste your time - skip it. If you actually want to read it, I'll have a cookie waiting for you at the end of this. :3

My journey with MLB.

Miraculous was that one show that I got to know about through a parody of it on polish yt channel called Surreactor. I didn't know what it was about but it looked interesting and that was a point in time when season 3 was just starting to come out. Sooo, as the curious child I was - I gave it a go. And it captured me very easily.

At first all I wanted is for Adrien and Mari to finally get together. I never had big thoughts about it. Then I got bored between new episodes and just... forgot about it.

After some time however I came back to it. It was somewhere around 4th season airing. I returned to it, watched it all over again and it captured me yet again. I completely fell in love with Adrien as character and started to read loads of fanfiction about the two main heroes. I got invested, started to draw the characters in different settings and what not. I started even posting here on tumblr the rants that blew out about Adrien and about Black Cat holders as a whole just because I was frustrated on how little love he got or that I couldn't find any theories that would make sense.

I made new friend, started to plan stories more than I did before, returned to RP with my old friend through messenger and more.

It was a blow of creativity of mine at that time. You maybe you know of "Sky Is The Limit"? That was the point for me where I had so many ideas that I had to do something with at least one of them. Talking about an overload, right?

Season 4 finale - the best finale in this show in my honest opinion. Though I am based so who cares.

The point is - I deeply fell in love with this fandom for the most part.

And then... season 5 happened.

At first I was hooked. Really. I felt that it was going in the right direction and I even wanted to watch it later so I could see it in order.

Oh boy, did I get disappointed. Very disappointed.

I was never a Senti-Adrien fan, let's be real. But the execution? Even worse.

The finale? The fight yea, fun. But why cut out Adrien out of it???

Chloe as mayor? ARE YOU FOR FUCKING REAL? It's losing braincells more and more.

And I know the plot armor was always evident in this show and all.... but i feel like it was knocked up 10 times or more in season 5 to the point it could beat Game of Thrones seasons 7 and 8. (Yeah, I know what should compare two shows where one is fenomenal and the other has always been trash, but you can't argue with me that seasons 7 and 8 weren't rushed and had very poor execution)

To say that I was angry is an understatement. I HATED season 5 with every fiber of my existence. I still do, but I'm far more calm about it than I was originally. Believe it or not.

I saw all the drama in the fandom. When people complained about the show and other people came in to defend it. And I have to say - I can see where both sides are coming from.

To the people who enjoy it, all of it - I'm glad you do! I really am!

However.

I can clearly see where the hate is coming from and anytime I saw a valid critique I couldn't help but agree with it. There were some awesome responses to that critique even from people who do enjoy the show still, but there were always people who I'll call "white knights".

Aka people who will ride-or-die for the show and always say there is nothing wrong with it!

Oh how I hate this way of thinking....

Little message to those white knights - yes there are pure haters that hate just to hate, but in the spectrum of people who are critiquing the show are also people who loved it and got disappointed. When people are angry/dissapointed they usually feel the need to express themselves and forums like Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, are just perfect for ranting. I have spent fair share in the horse gaming community to know that every flop will have a retaliation and shutting up people will make them only more angry. :|

I stopped liking the show. Why am I coming back to it?

That's a question that started to bother me just as I was going to sleep.

I have watched Hazbin Hotel (Lucifer my beloved) and fell deeply in love with it. I always liked Vivzie's Hellaverse being it Helluva Boss and now Hazbin, but there is something that just came back to me.

I started yet again imagining Adrien and Marinette but in the helllaverse. Or what if I merged hellaverse and Miraculous together in some way. Or other crazy ideas that will never see the light of day.

It's always those two characters for the most part. But the moment those two show up, the rest of Miraculous cast does too.

I fell put of the show. I don't like it. Why do I keep coming back?

My thought is - the fandom and the work it did for the characters.

I have always loved to read fanfiction even it came to miraculous. And it's always SO MANY! With many different variants of the world or entirely different settings. Ofc there are some bad fics, but the good ones are those that captured my heart and made me love the characters even more.

Let's put in some examples (and recommendations if you want to check them out):

Happiness by Somewhere_Out_Here

Once a Thief, always a Thief by @saijspellhart

Bakery Enemies by @buggachat

Heaven in hiding by @livinglittlelie

I'll guess your heart, if you guess mine by PurpleHeartsOne

Chat Blanc's Moon Waltz by @rileyclaw

The comic dubs by PhantomSavage

The little comics like "Passionate Kiss" by @edendaphne

All of these are just very few examples from multitude of content I devoured when I was in the love stage for MLB. And those things are STILL SO GOOD. (You have to check it out if you haven't already)

The point is - the fandom fell in love with the concept and if not that, then the characters. Yes, they aren't perfect. Some would say they are very much Mary Sue-ish. Some would say they are badly written. While the fact is - the characters themselves aren't badly written, the plot is just badly handled.

I can see why people love Marinette, she is quirky, funny and her ideas, while absurd most of the time, they work. And that's fine! She is supposed to be creative and what not. A great friend to have in corner, that for sure :3

Adrien on the other hand is supposed to be a bundle of issues that come with living a sheltered life and the want to be free.

(The movie handled Marinette much better than the show, let's be real here)

Sad fact - the writers of the show couldn't handle all of the potential they set up. But the fandom could and that's what's beautiful in my opinion.

The show may not be a masterpiece but they made some aspects of it so enjoyable and investing (love-square) that other people decided to execute those good things in their own stories and create something else.

The characters are just so easy to put into other stories too. Because they are written in the way they are (even if poorly handled at times) the aspects of them are very flexible, which in turn makes them easy to incorporate into other AUs.

For me it proves that you don't need a very complicated and deep character to make your story memorable. Even tho that certainly helps depending on your story. Miraculous was really lucky it got that creative fandom in the first place.

And this is what is beautiful.

Ending, some plans of mine that who knows if they will see the light of day. :]

This is only for those who are interested what I have been up to and what do i plan with this blog:

I am not quitting tumblr, oh no. I'll be probably reposting some stuff that I like from time to time.

I am returning to write "Sky Is The Limit", however I am completely rewriting it for the.... 7th time? Something like that. I doubt I'll finish it anytime soon at this rate and if I get the need to draw I might draw few characters from there or designs I have planned.

I have a very big project in mind that I might probably make a new blog for. It's still just an idea but I getting closer to actually being made so stay tuned.

I will start posting stuff from Hazbin Hotel. I fell deeply in love with Lucifer's character and you can't unglue me from that duck man!!

Other than that I went to university and I'm enjoying my time here so yeah.

And here is your cookie for reading all that! You're a legend!

(I'm open for any discussions as long as they stay respectful. Feel free to DM me :>)

[uptoolateart]

Having now seen the finale three times, details have popped out. I still hate hate hate that Adrien was not there in the final battle...but I think I see what the writers were trying to do.

As we know, there is so much fairytale imagery / allusion in the show, like Rapunzel, Bluebeard, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Pinocchio in a way, Cinderella, etc.

At the start of Conformation, Adrien has been removed from Paris and the mansion - effectively, his kingdom.

He's locked in that room, plagued with his own worst thoughts. He only has his painful unconscious to keep him company. This mirrors Snow White being cast into the woods, running in terror from shadows, the woods and shadows being a classic symbol for parts of our unconscious we are afraid to acknowledge.

He is then tempted with the Alliance and eventually gives in, in mimicry of Snow White accepting the poisoned apple offered by the witch. The apple puts her to sleep. The ring seems to hypnotise Adrien, dulling his senses like sleep.

The action then happens without him, just as in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty the action is all done by the prince.

I said in a previous post (non-ml, just looking at fairytales) that there have been psychoanalytical studies of fairytales to show that they work like dreams - every character is an aspect of one person, so the prince is another part of the princess taking over, to help her break free and mature beyond the child stage. The witch is also the princess, but the part tentative about growing up - and also represents all the adults in her life, afraid to let go of their child.

In Miraculous, though, it really is just Marinette being the prince saving the unconscious princess, and this is what irks me. We will come back to this.

After the Wish, we see Adrien asleep. Marinette leans over to kiss him and he wakes up. It's an odd little moment at a noisy pool party, which is what made it stand out to me. It's the kiss of true love waking him from the spell after the witch / dragon has been defeated. And really, this is where it becomes more like Sleeping Beauty, because that involved a real battle.

And if that's Emilie by the pool, she too is a Sleeping Beauty figure who's just been brought back.

The implication is supposed to be that Adrien has grown up a lot through this, and the demons in his life and mind have been vanquished..although I guess time will tell if this is true.

There was also a lot in the finale about nightmares, like think of this as a nightmare and the Alliance will free you from it, etc etc. When Adrien wakes, it's like everything before it was a bad dream.

But, as my husband commented, all that bad dream stuff is what MADE Ladybug and Cat Noir's relationship. It's what led to them being chosen. It's what changed their lives and helped them grow, so arguably it's what brought them together as Adrien and Marinette.

These bad experiences shape us. We can use them to become better people. Without them, we change.

Adrien cannot be the same person, if his mother is alive...especially if they all believe she's been there the whole time. I guess we will see about that, too. His mother's absence was the initial catalyst for all his growth as a person. He actually needed the dragons. He needs to KNOW about those dragons.

I said ages back that we had a classic Bluebeard scenario, where we were waiting for the princess to open the forbidden door and find all the skeletons in the evil husband's closet. By keeping Adrien out of the basement, he never opened that door.

In some way, he needs to be the prince who vanquishes the monster. Otherwise, he hasn't truly woken up. I don't care how good Marinette's kisses are. He is stuck in an infantile state and unable to grow.

Okay, I...managed to talk myself back round to finding his absence in the battle seriously irritating. But listen - maybe it's frustrating on purpose because they are using this as a plot point for the next stage of the story. I have no idea. But this is why it is so frustrating and doesn't hit the emotional mark. This is what needs to be addressed.

Because right now...Marinette has taken over the Bluebeard story. She is the one with the locked secret room containing all the skeletons of HIS past. We NEED him to open this door and have a genuine awakening. She is taking the Guardian thing too far, watching over rather than simply supporting. She is doing to Adrien what he accuses her of as Ladybug - forgetting he's her partner and leaving him out of vital information.