#me: i will make a fun post about the songs i project onto adrien!

[peachcitt]

peach's top songs to project adrien agreste onto: waterparks edition

(disclaimer: the title is not to say that there will ever be other editions, but i did want to specify that this list is entirely comprised of songs made by the band waterparks. thank you)

ive been experiencing adrien agreste brain worms in relation specifically to waterparks, which is one of my favorite bands, and since ive been going insane over the adrien-specific feelings these songs have been giving me, i decided to make a master list of exactly how i project adrien onto these songs. this is going to be a long one

structure:

Intro

Airplane Conversations

Black Light

Cluster

Double Dare

Entertainment

Fandom

Greatest Hits

Conclusion

1. intro

it should be mentioned that i originally started hardcore projecting adrien onto waterparks songs after i started making my mlb radio rebel au in which adrien is a pop singer for his dad/in a band for fun with his best friends. i was trying to figure out what adrien's music might sound like, or what vibe his music would give off, and my mind immediately went to waterparks because they're one of my favorite bands and also because im insane.

in my head, for the au specifically, waterparks' earlier garage-band sounds from their EPs (airplane conversations, black light, cluster) would've matched up to adrien's band for fun in the au, and their later more pop-leaning songs from later albums (mostly fandom but also double dare and entertainment) would've matched up to the pop songs he released under his father's label. so that's how it started, which is, like, the most absurd origin story ever, but such is how it goes.

it should also be mentioned that i don't project adrien onto EVERY song, and the songs i do project him on aren't like. the most perfect fit, but there are always certain lines that scream adrien, and if it's like that, then i will include the song on the list.

with that explained, let's actually talk about the songs i project adrien onto and why:

2. airplane conversations

like i mentioned earlier, waterparks has a couple of garage-band sounding EPs, and this is for sure one of them. airplane conversations is the first EP they released, and the main themes are: feeling stuck, recognizing the fact that you are Growing Up, and being in love

5/5 songs on this EP can be considered adrien songs

silver

the song starts with:

"i’ll be the silver lining around your fence used to protect yourself from all the world and its sharp teeth 'cause my open hand and heart think you belong with me"

which is very ladynoir-esque. the beginning line of wanting to be "the silver lining" around the other person's protective fence against the rest of the world reminds me so strongly of chat's place as ladybug's partner; she wanted so badly to guard herself against the rest of the world after she became the guardian, and chat saw that and wanted to be her bright side to all the stress of being the guardian/a superhero. he stayed beside her and joked around because he loved her but also because he recognized that he needed something bright - a silver lining - to balance out all her stress. and "my open hand and heart think you belong with me" is pretty self explanatory, but chat's heart is always open for ladybug - as a partner, as a friend, as a potential lover. he supports her, in any and every way she might need.

in the second verse, we get:

"I was the one who kept myself standing tall You were the light at the end of the hall"

which relates to adrien enduring his dismal home life. his father and the work his father imposes on him isn't easy, but adrien was and still is able to stand tall beneath it all - partly because of what he wants for himself (he ran away to public school entirely on his own, after all), but also because ladybug is there to mark and signify the freedom and love he feels with her as chat noir.

bones of '92

so bones of '92 isn't. like a super adrien song, mostly because it's very much about the struggles waterparks was having as a new band, however the outro is. well. it's:

"i won’t let you down just promise that you won’t forget about me can’t stop the future from settling but i can change the way it feels just promise that you won’t forget about me"

this feels like adrien is speaking to his father in the first couple of lines ("i won't let you down / just promise you won't forget about me") because of how much of a strict and absent father gabriel is. i think adrien, at least in part, believes that the only way he is able to gain affection from his father is by doing exactly as he says and going along with what his father wants.

the next couple of lines ("can't stop the future from settling / but i can change the way it feels") is adrien's hopeful call to the future. he's stuck right now with his father, and he maybe even thinks that he'll always be stuck doing what his father wants, but he can change how he feels by being chat noir. by being chat noir, adrien is taking hold of his own future and his own feelings, shining a positive light on the future that he may not have had before.

the last line, a repetition of "just promise that you won't forget about me" could again be talking to his father, another plea after expressing his own desire, like he thinks that his father won't approve of him wanting his own things. or it could be adrien talking to ladybug or even the city itself; adrien loves being chat noir, but he's not really as popular as ladybug, and he also fears his relationship with ladybug. he needs frequent reminders from her that he's valuable and important to her, and so this fear of being forgotten - by her or Paris - tracks well with his character.

i was hiding under your porch because i love you

also not a huge adrien song BUT the line "it's just you and me / through all these inconsistencies" screams ladynoir

they all float

again, not a huge adrien song but my powers of projecting are unmatched and the line "this time i'll do things the way you wanted / it's not right, but it's just the way you wanted / lay it all on me, 'cause i'm all ears" is another adrien to gabriel line.

fantastic

i did not really consider this an adrien song until i looked up the lyrics and realized it was. im right. we have the chorus:

"i can't imagine fast enough to settle on a dream but i've spent this winter wondering when they're gonna settle on me and there's some things i've just gotta know but one thing's for sure"

which is another inscription of adrien's hopelessness in regards to his position with his father; he's never been given the opportunity to truly figure out what he wants for himself, and so he doesn't even really know where to start. the "one thing" that's for sure can be interpreted as the controlling hand gabriel has on his life, or it can take a more hopeful tone, considering that we have seen adrien take those first steps to move out of gabriel's control - by going to public school and by becoming chat noir. the "one thing" for sure could be gabriel, but it can also be that, for sure, adrien will always find ways to escape gabriel.

in the post chorus, we get:

"and i can't wait to go outside and spend my summers contemplating what I'm gonna do with my life"

which lends hope to adrien's "one thing" being him able to escape because of the excited tone of the lines. he "can't wait to go outside" as chat noir, outside of the mansion, and take time to contemplate what he wants from his own life, for himself.

3. black light

black light is the second EP waterparks released, and it's another garage-band sounding EP. the main themes of this EP are: being frustrated with your situation and the people in it, and wanting to carve out a better future for yourself

4/6 songs on this EP can be considered adrien songs

christmas

this is!!!!such an adrien song!!!!!! this is one of the songs that i picture adrien's band playing in my au i mentioned earlier. we start the song with:

"i fell asleep last winter woke up and it was august not much has changed, yeah, i still feel the same but i’m slowly making progress"

which fits into the themes of adrien's character i talked about during airplane conversations of adrien going through the motions of what his father tells him to, but slowly trying to break out of that control and make progress for his own goals.

in the chorus we get:

"i’m just waiting and i’m just saying maybe the end is near but all that means is a new beginning"

this isn't like. super adrien related but i still think it deserves mentioning because of how it progresses through the song (which i will mention in a second), but i think it relates well to the "growing up/fearing the future" stuff we've talked about.

we get a featured singer sing this part (which in my au nino sings, it doesn't matter):

"i’m just waiting for my chance to put a picture of me, put a picture of me in the dream scenes of dream scenes of dream scenes of dream scenes of my ideal future"

which, again, relates to adrien wanting to be able to call his future his own, outside of his father.

and in the outro, we get the lyrics from the chorus changed up a little, so that we get:

"i was waiting and i was saying the end wasn’t ours to fear and all it meant was a new beginning"

in my head, because of the way the tenses change from present to past, this would be adrien's perspective after the events of his childhood and teenage years. but because his youth is also so tied up with being chat noir and defeating hawkmoth (who is his father) i think this is such. this is such an emotional and hopeful line, looking at this from adrien's point of view. after defeating hawkmoth, despite how truly grueling that might be for him, he becomes free from gabriel's control. growing up, defeating hawkmoth, facing the end of childhood means adrien can have a new beginning. he can have his ideal future.

american history

american history isn't fully adriencore but the line "the action's a fraction of how much this hurts" is very much "we're teenage superheroes fighting supervillains every day and somehow the action of the fights is not the worst thing that's happening in my life"

new wave

i actually named my au after this song because it's such a bright, upbeat song against adults who try to tell you the way the things you do isn't right. it fits right in with the theme of the au, and it can also be applied to ladybug and chat noir's fight against hawkmoth.

in the first verse we get:

"call it new wave say it like you should because a call to arms is a calling card and i’m calling soon hoping i can get through to you"

which is like. hawkmoth is "calling to arms" his akumas, which in turn acts as a calling card for ladybug and chat noir. the "i'm calling soon / hoping i can get through to you" is chat noir specific because of the fact that hawkmoth is his father; instead of just defeating him, adrien will probably feel some empathy towards his father and want to get through to him.

in the pre-chorus, we get:

"every single time you throw your white flag down and surrender like every single second's just another second spent to lose but this is something i can’t lose"

which translates to hawkmoth akumatizing a new person nearly every day but still pulling back and "surrendering" after the akuma is defeated. he's playing the long game; he's confident that, eventually, he'll defeat ladybug and chat, and so he doesn't really care if he loses another day. but for ladybug and chat noir, this is life or death. they can't afford to lose to an akuma even once or else they lose the miraculous, maybe their lives, and definitely paris. they can't lose.

the outro is a variation on the intro and it's:

"call it new wave until it's all washed up because we'll be crashing soon but before we do i hope i get through through to you"

which refers to ladybug, chat noir, and hawkmoth "crashing" together in their final battle, but, before they do, adrien hopes to get through to his father, connect with him. and maybe that might make the "crashing into each other" less severe.

night maps

night maps is another song that fit into my au; it starts with:

"i couldn’t keep up with watering myself down and so all that grew was the high tide until i drowned the oxygen had all run out and now i’m left dried up and standing here"

which translates to adrien being drained and watered down to be the image his father wants him to be. the rest of the song, however, is about finding a place for yourself and beginning the process of being yourself again, which, for adrien means being chat noir.

4. cluster

cluster rounds out the early garage-band EPs as the third and final EP. the main themes of this EP are: being separated from someone you love and feeling frustrated about your situation.

4/5 songs on this EP can be considered adrien songs

crave

this is a very bittersweet song about being in love, which makes it, for my intents and purposes, a very bittersweet song about being in love with ladybug. at the beginning of the song, we get:

"i wish i could forget you but it's out of hand i wish i was aggressive and had a plan"

in canon, adrien dated kagami, but still obviously had feelings for ladybug. he did, however, like kagami a lot, and so he might've wished that he could forget his feelings for ladybug, especially knowing she can't reciprocate and he had an amazing girl right in front of him. he wants a plan to get out of feeling for her and for feeling for kagami.

in the chorus, we get:

"i'm cravin', a getaway from the smooth talk, that's keeping me grounded to the, carpet in my room my quiet blue tomb of you"

as chat, adrien can't resist flirting with ladybug because that's the friendship they've established with themselves, and ladybug is always smoothly replying back to him with jokes of her own. her banter, as much as he loves it and values it, keeps him thinking about her when he's alone in his room instead of thinking about kagami. his love for ladybug shouldn't be - she can't love him back and he is in a relationship with someone else - and so his bedroom where his innermost desires come to light becomes a guilty sort of place.

territory

territory is so ladynoir it hurts. in the intro we get the lines:

"i wear my game face in your headspace where it's storming at least most days we are both like that we are both the same"

which translates to ladybug and chat meeting, at most points in time, in order to fight akumas - hence, they always have to have their "game faces" on. ladybug's headspace is "storming" most days because of her stress with being the guardian and fighting akumas - and they find solace in each other's company because they're both teenagers burdened with way more than they should be.

the bridge gives us:

"i'm gonna hunt you down cause i'm a handful i'm gonna freak you out but it's all substantial so bring me bad news anything you have to just to keep me on my toes"

which is how chat views the way he tells his feelings to ladybug; he knows she'll probably "bring him bad news" by rejecting him, but he wants to continue being around her in her territory - he wants to be her friend, and he also wants to keep loving her.

pink

pink can also be a song about adrien loving ladybug, especially with the chorus lyric of "you're one of my favorite few" which is just. SO sweet and romantic but anyway. in the pre-chorus we get the lines:

"i'll watch you from my telescope; my eyes stuck to my favorite show i barely get more than a glimpse but it's better than nothing, yeah, i know"

which is like. adrien doesn't really get to see ladybug often, at least not in a relaxed setting like he really wants to. he feels far away from her, but when he does get the chance to be near her, he tries to absorb as much from the interaction as he can, throwing out dumb puns, flirting, and generally trying to get to know her in between akuma fights. it's not the ideal way he'd choose to spend time with her, but it's better than nothing.

no capes

no capes is another song about adrien wanting to be different that what he should be (with lines like "the anything slash everything that i should be / but i don't want to be like that") but this one takes a more somber and scared tone, which could relate to the fears he feels as chat noir.

the pre-chorus is literally just the line "no one will ever love us the way that i do." for adrien, being chat noir is so important to him, considering his home life, and he knows ladybug likes him, but she doesn't love him. he loves their partnership, he loves her - he fears he'll be in a position where he's wanting this (being a superhero, being friends) more than she does.

in the bridge, we get the lines:

"i hope you watch me through the letdown 'cause no one will be here, be here forever"

which could translate to any anxieties he feels about what happens after they achieve their goal of defeating hawkmoth. adrien has a lot of issues - issues about adults in his life disappearing/dying or emotionally leaving him behind - and he doesn't want ladybug to be another person to leave him behind after everything is over. he wants to still be able to be friends with her, maybe even learn her true name. but he fears that won't happen.

5. double dare

with double dare, we've breached album territory: double dare was waterparks' first official album, and it started branching into more polished, pop-leaning songs. the main themes of this album are: being tired and frustrated with something that you should like and loving someone who may not love you back

5/13 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

stupid for you

stupid for you is ladynoir. it's ladynoir so hard. i mean, we have lines like:

"you're yellow, i'm natural blue let's get together and be green like my insides"

which. okay i know adrien is generally seen as the yellow golden boy and he is! but like, looking at him in comparison to marinette/ladybug and actual color theory, he's more of a natural blue. he's more likely to fall victim to negative thoughts than marinette is; she's generally more positive, more 'yellow.' (also, when you consider that their character design colors are each other's colors when inversed, this also makes sense - adrien is 'blue' beneath his appearance and marinette is 'yellow') and the "let's get together and be green like my insides" relates because green is a chat noir color. he wants them, in their 'yellow' and 'blue' contrasting moods to get together and be green, like chat noir, who is generally silly and joking around. he wants them to be able to be silly together.

in the chorus, we get:

"hey, tell me what you want me to say you know i'm stupid for you hey, can you come and come out and play? you know i'm stupid for you"

which is like how he is after he's been rejected; he doesn't know what to say after she tries to get him to stop flirting. he wants her to give him blueprints of how to act so that she'll like him (i.e. what color rose he gives her), but he still wants to be around her and and joke around with her.

in the bridge, we get:

"Just double dare me And I promise now that I'll stay It's not like you're married but I still got carried away"

which further develops his insecurities in regards on how to interact with her - he knows she didn't like when he confessed to her, that it made her feel guilty and a little upset because she couldn't return her feelings, and he got carried away with his over-the-top methods. but if she were to ask him to stay with her, in any sense of the word, he would do it in a heartbeat.

in the second chorus, we get:

"you're playing ring around my head i wear you like a halo you're a symphony, i'm just a sour note i'll take what i can get the best is hard to grip when everybody wants you and everybody wants you"

which conveys how ladybug is always on his mind ("you're playing ring around my head") but he likes this fact - or at the very least he doesn't mind it ("i wear you like a halo"). he sees her as someone who is so good and so out of reach for him ("you're a symphony, i'm just a sour note") but he still wants to be around her as much as he can. he'll take what he can get in terms of her time and attention, because he knows how the entire city is vying for her attention - she's the face of paris and she's the guardian and she has her own life to attend to - he thinks that maybe to her, he's just another person in her life who wants her.

royal

royal is only kind of an adrien song with lines like "i'm two faced from your double exposure" about his conflicting personas between what his father wants from him and what he himself wants to be, and this is especially poignant because of the "double exposure" metaphor, like the cameras adrien is behind for his modelling jobs are what make him "two faced"

royal is also about working so hard but not knowing if the pay off is worth it, which also relates to adrien's job with his father.

take her to the moon

take her to the moon is a "adrien loving ladybug song" with lines such as:

"i wanna make my way into your kiss i wanna live inside your mind next to your favorite songs i won't slow my pace until your walkway i wanna lose my mood inside a late night phone call with you"

which such a sweet lovesick yearning idea that adrien has 100% thought about ladybug before. i rest my case

powerless

powerless is a ladynoir song. in the first verse we get:

"you know i'd make the time i'm just waiting on your green light yeah, i'll be at your porch by this time tomorrow 'cause i'm almost not fine, but i'd never let you know"

which is like. adrien is SO down to be anything ladybug needs - he has almost no time at all what with his father's schedule, but he will always make time for ladybug. he's literally just waiting for her to call, and he'll be there. but in terms of actually letting her know how important she is to him in his life, as both a friend and as someone he loves romantically, he can never tell her because he doesn't really want to worry her.

in the chorus we get:

"you're the only one that makes me powerless tonight all i am is losing track of time tell me why oh, oh you never really missed me back"

which leads us into the bridge:

"i want you to need me like i need you i need you to see me when I'm see-through it's sad but it's true: no one's waiting for you but i was thinking we could get away sometime yeah, let's call it a date and you can devastate my personal space i never liked it anyway"

and that tells us how strong his feelings are for her; they're so powerful that he's effectively powerless against her. but he feels as though he's the only one that feels that way - she never seems to miss him back. but he wants her to want him in the same way he wants her - he wants her to be able to see him, in all his details, and still like him. and he wants her to go on a date with him and actually get close to him - get up his personal space because with her, he doesn't actually want personal space.

i'll always be around

i'll always be around is guess what!!! another ladynoir song!!! the chorus gives us:

"you know i'll always be around i'd never never never leave you hanging out to dry because the world's gonna pass me by but if you wanted, i'd never never never leave your leave your side i'd never never never leave you out to dry i'd never never never get you off my mind"

which is so!!! relates to the previously mentioned ideas of adrien being willing to drop everything to do what ladybug asked. he's devoted and loyal to her - he always wants to be someone that she can rely on as both a friend and a partner, and, potentially, as a lover.

we also get the line:

"you stopped me in my tracks you caught me in a gaze"

which relates to the moment he fell in love with her when she stood up to hawkmoth in front of all of paris: in that single moment she'd caught him up into having feelings for her, even if she didn't know it.

and in the bridge we get:

"if there ever came a dark day (if there ever came a dark day) that crushed us out and took you away i'd chase you to the end i'd chase you to the end of the world"

which is so. so ladynoir. their relationship and friendship is constantly haunted by the threat of hawkmoth, and so this consideration of the terrible "what ifs" and the insistence that no matter what, he'd find a way to get back to her is like. yeah that's ladynoir.

6. entertainment

entertainment is the second album, and it continues leaning into the pop-alternative sound while still somehow sticking to the punk sound. the main themes of this album are: loving someone, loving someone who hurts you and isn't good for you, and feeling trapped in your circumstances

4/10 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

11:11

this song is so!!!! adrien loving marinette core!!!!!! i actually wrote a fic that had one of the lyrics of this song as a title (my favorite set of stairs is the one up to your room)

the pre-chorus actually gives us this line here:

"my favorite set of stairs is the one up to your room and my heavy set of cares evaporates all around you evil comes in pairs and we like what we do you've got me feeling like a walking love song"

which just makes me think of the way adrien will be after the identity reveal happens. he already wants marinette to be ladybug (based off the sheer amount of times he's referred to her as 'the everyday ladybug' + every time he's gotten so close to discovering ladybug's identity and his brain has always gone, without fail, to marinette), and so when he realizes that she is ladybug, she'll quickly become the person he most wants to be around and the person he feels most comfortable around. because of how dismal his home life is, he'll probably spend a lot of time at her house, and he'll come to associate the stairs of her room with walking into love and comfort. he'll be absolutely smitten with her.

in the chorus, we get:

"i must've caught you from 11:11 the lucky number seven i try to hide with my words but you just find me clever i found a million places you'd be worth the chases to go-oh-oh"

which again just inscribes how strongly he would feel for marinette - and it's also kind of a pun because of how "lucky" he would be to have her. like. get it. lucky charm. anyway, his "hiding with his words" would refer to the way he disguises his feelings with humor, but she would be able to see past that - they would know each other so well. and, just like how i've said adrien is with ladybug, he would totally be willing to go anywhere and everywhere for marinette. this song is post-reveal adrinettecore.

lucky people

guess what fellas we have another song about adrien loving ladybug/marinette. after looking closely, it seems like we might have a post-reveal relationship sort of vibe here, but it doesn't really matter because bare bones? this song is about adrien loving ladybug who is also marinette.

we start with the verse:

"light us up until we pop i wanna burn bright 'til we're not let's keep each other safe from the world i'll be your optimistic black hole full of love i can't control let's keep each other safe from the world from the world"

which falls into the previously-discussed themes of adrien wanting to be around ladybug as much as he possibly can before they defeat hawkmoth and inevitable Something Different happens, and he also wants the both of them to stick together. the "i'll be your optimistic black hole / full of love i can't control" also relates to previously-discussed adrien themes where we know adrien is actually someone who is prone to negative thoughts, but he comes off as someone who is really optimistic, and also that he loves ladybug something fierce - it's a love that he knows has already scared her, but it's also a love that he feel like he can't help but feel.

in the chorus, we get:

"i know you said to mind my business but cupid sent me on a mission that's got me sitting, wishing, waiting for your call"

which plays into adrien's romantic nature conflicting with ladybug wanting to keep their feelings out of superhero work. regardless, because of his romantic nature, he will always be sitting and waiting for her to call him so that they can be together, even if it's just to fight akumas.

we also have the line:

"you've got me more than clumsy but you're my yellow, lovely"

which (SEASON 4 SPOILERS) after mr. pigeon 72 is like. adrien literally was so busy looking at marinette that he bumped his head against a car door. but he won't even mind!! because marinette/ladybug is a spot of brightness in his world that he absolutely adores.

rare

i am once again telling you that this song is about adrien loving ladybug. hear me out. i'm right. in the chorus we get:

"i just hope it's nicer where you are 'cause i only want to lift you up i guess i never really said enough for you to hear me where you are 'cause i only want to lift you up i guess i never really said enough so let me tell you now"

this is adrien hoping that, wherever and whoever ladybug is, she's living happily - at least more happily than him. he only wants to lift her up and support her, not only because he loves her, but also because he values her as a friend. but he feels like she doesn't know how much she truly cares about him - he feels like she brushes off when he tells her he loves her, so he wants to say it loud enough for her to truly understand.

and in the other half of the chorus, we get:

"my tired thoughts don't take vacations, oh no you float up in conversations, oh no you're my final destination, i know you're probably fine there just know i think you're rare"

which is where he tells her how he truly feels; he's always thinking about her, and when she comes up in conversation (which she does, she's ladybug after all), he feels some stress because he has all these feelings for her that his civilian self isn't supposed to have. and yet he feels like she's it for him - he loves her so much and can't imagine loving anyone else. she's his "final destination." and he thinks that she is so good and powerful and beautiful that she's rare in comparison to the rest of the world - which tells her how happy he is to have found her. (and, thinking about this line as if he's speaking to ladybug, it's funny for him to say that he thinks she's rare but refer to marinette as "the everyday ladybug." which really just tells you how highly he thinks of marinette)

sleep alone

we're rounding out this album with, you guessed it, another song about adrien loving ladybug. like. "i feel dead and a half but you're making me laugh" ?? which relates to adrien being overworked by his father but meeting ladybug in his spare time and managing to feel truly light hearted around her??

in the chorus we get:

"my face feels hot and blue my hands still count on you to let me down articulate and lonely enough for the two of us but if you want, if you want, if you want to you can call me on my phone, i'll run to you you won't ever have to sleep alone you can call me on my phone, i'll come to you you won't ever have to sleep, sleep, sleep alone"

which hints at how adrien knows that ladybug will continue to turn him down, but he can't deny his feelings for her ("my hands still count on you to let me down"). and he's lonely - isolated by his father - which he feels like he has enough to loneliness to cover the both of them, which is why he proposes that they stay together; he'll take on her loneliness, too. and, just like in all the adrien-loves-ladybug songs, we see that he is only a single call away from doing anything ladybug asks him too.

we also get the line "but if you want it you can have it, you can have me in full" which tells us that he respects her wishes to keep their identities a secret, and he understands that she doesn't have romantic feelings for him, but if she ever changed her mind - about either thing - all she would have to do is ask, and she would have him, entirely.

7. fandom

fandom is the third album, and it leans into not only pop-alternative sounds, but also rap and almost r&b alternative sounds. the main themes of this album are: wanting to be able to express yourself in the way you want, feeling separated from someone you love, and getting out of a bad relationship

7/15 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

cherry red

starting off strong with the album's opener (which also starts with the ending music of the last song on the album which is- okay. this album's art. continuing on) which is - i'm thinking you're sensing the pattern - at least partly about adrien loving ladybug. cherry red is super short, and the only line that really applies is:

"cherry red you know i'd die for you"

which. cherry red refers to ladybug because of, you know, cherry red suit, etc. and the "you know i'd die for you" is. well. adrien has made it very clear that he will go out of his way during akuma fights to protect ladybug. it's not exactly dying, but it's close enough.

dream boy

dream boy is!!!!!!!! dream boy is THE adrien song!!!!! dream boy was the song that made me mold au adrien's band after waterparks, dream boy is the song that semi-inspired this post, dream boy is the reason i project adrien onto so much of waterparks' discography.

dream boy sounds a lot like a love song. but dream boy is, at it's core, a commentary on the way that media and fanbases treat conventionally attractive boys in the spotlight, and it's a commentary in the form of a bright, bubbly pop song. it's brilliant. it's adrien

the chorus, which is also the intro gives us:

"am i the boy you dreamed of? oh living in your subconscious, oh do you believe in love? oh and is it because of me?"

which is like. from the very start of this song, we get the idea that adrien (since we're supplementing the speaker as adrien, you get it) exists only as a the dream of a boy his fans have of the perfect boy. they believe in love because they love him, but they don't love the real him, they love the 'adrien' that they've constructed in their minds

in the verse, we get:

"build your expectations saturated and inflated 'cause i was born to be your favorite make me complicated i'm modern and i'm dated because i was born to be your favorite"

which builds on the manufactured feeling of adrien agreste. his public persona as a model was built by gabriel to make money - he was literally constructed as a teenage heartthrob "born to be your favorite" so that his father could profit.

and in the pre-chorus, we get:

"build-a-boy, pick my pieces overjoyed‚ never leave your heart destroyed, i'm your boy custom-made your beloved getaway i'm your favorite holiday you'll never be alone with me"

which is like. adrien is constantly rebuilding himself to fit the ideals other people want from him, and other people are constantly rebuilding him in their minds to fit the ideals they have for him. he isn't his own person - he's always belonged to other people, custom-made, depending on their preferences, to be the most likable he could possibly be.

high definition

high definition falls into the category of "songs about adrien loving ladybug while trying to be in a relationship with kagami." in my mind, i hear adrien in this song talking to two separate 'you's - both kagami and ladybug.

when the song starts, giving us the chorus we get:

"i'd love to be in love with you enough to write a love song, mmh i need to feel needed and i need it more than i let on"

which is adrien speaking to kagami. he wants to love her because he knows she deserves it and she's an amazing girl, but he can't. but he still needs that affection she gives him because he's lacking it in other parts of his life.

in the second half of the chorus, we get:

"i'll be home just thinking about it, maybe call like i used to but i'll just stay alone because alone is safer than with you"

which, in my head, is where he transitions to talking to ladybug. he still thinks about her and he wants to be with her, but he recognizes that those wants aren't responsible while in a relationship with someone else.

in a verse, we get:

"i know i'm not around enough to make me worth the wait it's like who wants to be close with someone who always goes away? and even when they're here it's like where's your fucking head at? why's it take so long to text back? you're so bad at loving people back"

which is where we see his relationship with kagami devolve. (SEASON 4 SPOILERS) i mean, this is almost literally why kagami breaks up with him; he's always running off for seemingly no reason, and even when he was around, he was emotionally distant because of his feelings for ladybug.

telephone

telephone is a HUGE ladynoir song. this is a song about how much chat wants to be able to get to know ladybug, which gives us lines like:

"i'd like to know your middle name let's talk about your parents and your future dreams i'm interested but distant to a fault and i'd never want to complicate your heart"

which is just like!! he wants to know all the little information about her like her middle name and her parents, but he also wants to talk about her and her dreams. he wants to know her, outside of the mask, but he knows that's not something she wants, so he tries to keep these wants tamped down.

the second verse gives us:

"i talk a lot, but we could fill your frames with pictures of our faces 'til we share a name i'm living on a target and you shot it with an arrow now i lost my self-control, i can't stop thinking and i'm thinking that i lost it all these aisles feel like miles where you go, i'll follow"

which, again, expresses his desire to be with her in her civilian life, even fantasies about marrying her. he is so stupidly in love with her - and, as i've talked about before, he is absolutely devoted to her. wherever she goes, he'll follow.

never bloom again

never bloom again is a little too sad for my to comfortably label it a ladynoir song but this line:

"now all the girls in los angeles look like you from a distance i tried to give you space until i stepped away from your brain and now i just miss it"

is very adrien-loving-ladybug-esque. replace 'los angeles' with 'paris' and you get adrien trying to find ladybug's features in every girl he meets while still trying to give ladybug space on their secret identities.

[reboot]

[reboot] isn't a really an adrien song, but it does reference dream boy, which is worth mentioning. in the chorus, we get the line:

"i never promised you your dream boy i'm better as your chew toy"

which could be like adrien's actual thoughts on his placement as paris' and his father's manufactured dream boy persona. he's not actually everyone's dream boy, he's just a toy for them to use a destroy.

zone out

zone out is a huge adrien song because it is literally just dream boy. zone out acts as a break before the last song in the album, and it is the lyrics to dream boy set to a softer, more lullaby-esque tempo and instrumental sound. it's a lot sadder than the normal dream boy, and you can really feel the fact here that dream boy is not a love song.

with zone out, we have adrien's actual quiet, sad feelings about dream boy. he wants to fill the dream boy role for his father, but he can't, really, because he can never live up to that level of perfection. he will always fall short.

8. greatest hits

and with that we have reached the most recent waterparks album. this album plays with experimental genre sounds even more so than the previous two, but is still unmistakably the "waterparks" sound. the themes of this album are: strange dreams and nightmares, struggling with being in the spotlight, and wanting to feel loved

7/17 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

lowkey as hell

lowkey as hell isn't overtly an adrien song but the chorus plays on the common themes we've seen before:

"if you need me now i'll be there somehow i'll pick you up, we can ride i'll fly away like i bought my own airline i'll take you with me, we can ride"

which is basically that adrien will always be around to do anything ladybug needs - if she ever has the need to call to him, he'll always find a way to be there for her.

violet!

i won't go too in depth about it, but violet! is about a stalker and their victim, who is the speaker, and you cannot tell me adrien does not have any stalkers at all with the way the show portrays his fame. he's probably had to deal with his fair share of crazy fans, so i thought i'd mention violet! here.

snow globe

also not an overtly adrien song, but we get these lines in one of the verses:

"’cause all i hear is 'i love you so much' but it starts to mean nothing when my heart is shut from you my heart is shut from you my little tiny world is in your hands so shake it like a snow globe fuck my plans"

which talks about how the love adrien experiences as a famous model isn't the kind of love he wants - he wants feel loved by his father. but gabriel just uses him for the company - he holds adrien's tiny world in his hands, and uses that grasp to shake up adrien's world and disrupt the relationships adrien has with the outside world.

the secret life of me

this song is about fantasizing about running away to a new life, or to a secret life away from responsibilities, so like. adrien about how he's chat noir.

in the chorus, we get:

"sunbathe looking like a sunday wishing for a someday i could run away like that now i think i need a life or maybe 9 'cause i feel like i’m running out of time, yea

which plays on the ideas of running away. it's really fitting, i think, because of the reference to wanting 9 lives, which is definitely a pun adrien would make as chat noir

american graffiti

this is another song about struggling with being in the spotlight, which relates to adrien. in the chorus, we get:

"yeah, you've been reading all about me and you're loving what you found i'm like american graffiti you want some glitter, drink it down yeah, you've been seeing all about me taking notes, yeah, write it down i'm like american graffiti if you need me, i'm here now if you need me, i'm here now"

which relates to the themes brought up during dream boy: we have this circumstance of people finding adrien, learning all there is to possibly know about him, and deciding that they love this version of him they see in the media. the "if you need me, i'm here now" also refers to the dream boy theme because of how this version of adrien that exists in most people's heads will always be there to comfort them and "love" them in a parasocial relationship.

fruit roll ups

fruit roll ups is yet another adrien-loving-ladybug song in which he talks about wanting to invite her over so they can watch movies together and also how much he feels for her.

in the first verse, we get the lines:

"when you talk it's in cursive to me and it's nicer than anything i'd believe about me it's like that shit was written in gel pen and i love those"

which is not. super important but it's cute! also the line "and it's nicer than anything i'd believe about me" also might refer to the way ladybug reassures him of his placement as a hero and a friend in her life, which are things he continually finds hard to believe. so it's also sad!

crying over it all

speaking of sad this last song is another adrien-loving-ladybug song and it is. sad.

the pre-chorus is:

"so practice your passion on me give me your 100 degrees i'll die off whenever you need an afternoon just to breathe soon everyone will be gone they'll forget my albums, i hope you'll be here when it's done and i'm crying over it all, yeah"

first of all. i go insane every time i hear the line "so practice your passion on me." now that we've gotten that out of the way let's continue on. we have the line "I'll die off whenever you need" which refers to chat's tendency to sacrifice himself for ladybug during akuma fights, and these lines also express that familiar desire he has of wanting ladybug to stay beside him after the events of whatever will happen next actually happen.

and in the chorus, we have:

"and all i think about is where you might be and when i'm swallowed down i'd say it's for you, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, oh i'd say it's for you, yeah, yeah, yeah"

which refers to how adrien wonders about ladybug when they're apart - he wants to know about her and how she spends her free time, but he can't know these things, not yet. and the line "and when i'm swallowed down / i'd say it's for you" would refer metaphorically (maybe sometimes literally) to the things he does during akuma fights for her to make sure they succeed.

and in another verse, we get:

"cherry red's your touch a touch i'm failing to feel, or feel enough to love you safely “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, and “why?” all drive me crazy please make me sane for you"

again using the phrase "cherry red" to refer to ladybug, her touch something that adrien can't feel enough of because their relationship is strictly platonic, but he wants more. he wants to know the 'who, what, when, where, and why's of her life, but he can't, and it drives him a little crazy. in contrast to being "stupid for her" back in double dare, he wants to be "made sane for her" so that he can have some feeling of peace in their relationship after getting rejected.

9. conclusion

the biggest conclusion we have here is that im insane. the second biggest conclusion we have here is that i have the amazing ability to project adrien onto a very large portion of waterparks' discography, and i'm right in doing so. an equally important takeaway is that adrien needs a hug and also that he loves ladybug. thank you for your time

[wannajointhecrabcult]

Masks and Music

(Part 1)

Part 2

I didn't think that my last post would've gotten ANY notes at all, so imagine my surprise when I find out that people actually liked it. After that suprise I thought why not and make another one so here we go! This is a Miraculous/Batfam crossover.

Imagine that Damian gets sent to Paris because the fam doesn't want him to become an emotionally constipated sad boi like Bruce and think that a change in scenery would help.

They don't know about the whole Hawkmoth situation because SOMEONE from the justice league decided that the while thing was a prank DESPITE that it was an ENTIRE CITY calling instead of a single person.

Like, aren't you guys supposed to be the world's greatest heros or something?

Who hired you?

Damian being the grumpy lil kid that he is holds a grudge and decides to not accept any calls or video chats from his family or tell them about Hawkmoth because that's what you get when you send someone across the world against their will.

(and because of plot convenience shhh)

Anyways, Damian goes to school as instantly adds Lila onto his mental list of people he needs to get rid of.

I mean, seriously, he's only been is the room for what, 15 seconds and he's already getting a migraine?

Great. Juusssttt great.

He sits in the back of the class with what seems to be the only person with brain cells in this room.

The dark haired girl just looks over and sees the disgust at Lila written all over his face and gives him a silent empathetic nod.

'This is unfortunately normal here.' she tries to convey through the small action.

He just nods back to show his understanding before turning around to observe the others.

In a few minutes Ms. Bustier walks in the room and asks him to introduce himself to the class.

It looks like the teacher never told the class that they were getting a new student because they all have to do double takes when they realize that there's a new face in the room.

He gives them the bare basics, telling them that his name is Damian Grayson, he's from America, and that he doesn't want any of them to talk to him before sitting down.

Clearly the teacher wanted him to say more or scold him for being so rude but a glare shut her up.

Later during a break period Lila tries to flirt with him and brags all about how she's met so many different celebrities and her achievements.

He tells her off and tries to move away but her nails are digging into his arms as she tries to convince him that he should stay away from Marinette.

Before he can maim her, the dark haired girl comes out from behind him and starts spraying Lila down like an unruly cat with some sort of strong smelling liquid from a spray bottle.

Lila screeches and stomps away.

When he turns to his hero the girl explains.

"It's a mixture of shredded lemon, expired maple syrup, vinegar, and pomegranate juice. I call it People Repellant but Thot Begone works too. Oh, and I'm Marinette by the way."

He eyes her hand before shaking it.

"Damian, though I assume you already know that. Can I get some of that by the way? I know a couple insufferable annoyances that would benefit from a spray down.

Marinette just blinks for a second before she bursts out laughing and that was the start of a great friendship.

Together they:

Make fun of Lila in the back of class.

Help eachother with homework (they only cheat off eachother when they REALLY need help)

Prank Lila in odd ways (Hey, just because she found hundreds of furbies hidden around her house that turn on one by one in the middle of the night effectively scaring the crap out of her when she's trying to sleep doesn't mean that it's their fault. She had it coming.)

Break a couple laws (shhhhhhh. Those toy stores don't need those furbies anyways).

Dare eachother over stupid things (they still insist that the cereal incident was caused by the other).

And overall become closer as friends.

They bring out the overdramatic chaotic gremlin child in eachother.

One time when Damian goes over to Marinette's place to work on a project he finds her singing a Disney song to herself on her balcony.

This isn't the first time they've caught eachother singing.

One time Marinette caught Damian in the art room at school humming one of the many annoyingly cheesy and catchy songs that Dick likes to listen to.

Despite him explaining the embarrassing situation to her she still teased him for weeks after.

He'll never get to live it down.

Damian shakes his head to get rid of the flashback when a devious smirk spreads across his face as a revenge plan comes to mind.

After carefully placing his stuff on the floor he sneakily makes his way across the space until he's right behind her.

That's when he joins in.

Screaming at the top of his lungs at first, effectively giving her a mini heart attack before eventually quieting down to a normal singing volume.

She glares at him, annoyed by his loud and obnoxious entrance before she starts singing again.

They eventually end up full Disney movie dramatically performing around her balcony with dance moves and over dramatic acting.

Is it bad that actual birds and other animals are appearing and joining in?

Damian totally kept one of the pigeons.

He named it Dolores.

(He later trained Dolores to attack Rossi on sight.)

When they're finished they end up on the floor out of breath.

They stay like that for a few minutes before Damian sits up.

"That. That was fun. I don't think I've actually ever sang before."

Marinette jolts up in suprise and turns to face him.

"Really? I never would've guessed. You have a really nice singing voice."

He would deny till his dying breath that he blushed when she said that but he covers it up with a smirk.

"Well I guess that's just because yours is so terrible in comparison."

He squawks when she jabs a finger in his side.

"Pshh. As if. Besides, my singing skills can't be worse then your gaming skills." She challenges with a cheeky smile.

"ExCuSe mE?!"

And that's how they spend the rest of the day playing video games, leaving the unfinished project to be completed on a later day.

Good thing it isn't due until 2 weeks time.

After a couple of hours playing video games, creating many possible Lila murder plans, eating pastries, and joking around, it's time for him to leave.

As Damian left for his place he got a feeling that something big was gonna happen.

Marinette also got the feeling but they both ignored it.

Little did they know, someone just happened to walk by and starstruck by the amazing singing they recorded the performance before posting it on the internet.

Imagine the duo's suprise when they wake up the next day to find themselves trending on the internet.

Luckily the video quality was pretty trash so their faces weren't identifiable but the audio was loud and clear.

The world was talking about the cute couple singing to their hearts desire on a balcony. If that's not cliche and adorable then the world doesn't know what is.

The assumption about their relationship status left them looking like tomatos but that didn't stop them from wonder why they didn't notice a creep recording them.

Damn Disney songs and their unnatural ability to distract people.

Of course Lila took advantage of the rising popularity of the video and talked about how she taught the two people in the video how to sing and gave them tips.

The two just walked past the idiot squad and sat down in their seats, making a mental note to come up with a prank later, when the akuma alarms came on.

They fall into their normal routine of Marinette running out to find a place to transform as Damian covers for her.

Oops did I forget to mention that Damian found out her identity because she crashed through his window in the middle of the night still transformed and asked him what's the answer to question 24 in their science homework because she just defeated an akuma by herself and was running on 20 minutes of sleep?

My bad.

Anyways it turns out today was the day Marinette had officially had enough of Chat's bullcrap.

It was gonna be a normal akuma situation.

Ladybug trying to fight the poor butterfly victim while chat noir either doesn't show up, tries to do everything on his own to impress her and ruins the whole plan, or just watches and complains about how she needs to get over her denial and date him BUT

This time he decided to actively try to push her in the akuma's way therefore putting her in SO MUCH MORE DANGER than she was already in.

Now she had to dodge out of the akuma's way AND CHAT'S!

WhAt ThE fUdGe?!?!

You think possibly killing Ladybug and trying to force her to beg for you to save her is gonna make her like you?!?

Just how hard did you hit your head when Gabriel dropped you on the floor when you were 2?

After the akuma was eventually defeated Ladybug told Chat to meet her on an abandoned rooftop that night because they needed to talk.

Chat being the oblivious person that he is (I swear I don't actually hate chat noir, this is for the plot I'm sorry) thought that it was for a love confession and became overly smug before leaving.

Making sure that he isn't following her, Marinette meets up with Damian at his place (school's over because of the attack) and asks him to help.

Later that day when the two miraculous holders meet up Ladybug distracts the Catboy by flirting with him while Damian uses his ninja skills for something other than sneaking up on her and giving Marinette mini heart attacks.

From behind he quickly hits a pressure point causing the other boy to fall unconscious.

Using her ALMIGHTY GUARDIAN OF THE MIRACULOUS powers, Ladybug takes Adrien's ring away and places a spell on him that makes it so he will never be able to use another miraculous ever again.

After they take Adrien home Marinette gives Damian the ring and Night Prowler is born.

He promises to do everything in his power to make sure that Selina and his family doesn't find out for the sake of his pride.

We'll see how that goes.

Night Prowler first officially appeared during an akuma named 'Break Dancer'.

Ironically, she was a ballerina that had to drop out of the finals in a competition because she broke her right leg the day before the show.

She could turn civilians into back up dancers and forced them to perform against their will.

They also worked as minions who would attack the duo for her while she stayed a safe distance away.

It was pretty obvious that the akumatized item was the music box held inside the bag that Break Dancer had slung around her shoulders but the real question was how could they get to it without becoming attacked by the backup dancer or becoming one of them.

Luckily (eheheh), a car with an open window playing music just happened to pass by before driving off.

Before it drove off, the music coming from the car was loud enough to play over the music box which caused some of the minions to become free again and run off.

Ladybug called her lucky charm and a Bobby pin landed in her hand.

As she looked around she noticed a store a couple blocks away that had a couple radios.

Unfortunately, the store was locked and closed.

Fortunately, she knew how to pick locks and a Bobby pin did come from her lucky charm soooo......

Who is she to deny literal gods.

They break into the store and grab a radio, and a speaker and rush over to where the akuma was causing chaos.

They turn on the radio, connect the speaker and turn the volume on as loud as it can go before flipping through the stations for a good song.

If they're gonna fight with music in the background they're gonna be picky about it and wont settle for anything other than epic.

While fighting they eventually get swept up in the music and end up singing along.

It's nothing less than full on majestic.

When the fight is over and the akuma is purified they find out that someone recorded it and posted it on the internet as well.

Now everyone knows that the beloved hero of Paris and her new partner were the two people singing on that balcony.

Ummmmm.....

Good thing that the video quality was trash right?

If it weren't for that their identities would've been busted the moment they started singing in hero form.

Luckily there aren't many people other than Damian that know what Marinette's singing voice sounds like so they're okay.

Well.... They WERE okay,

Until a certain rockstar and his agent came across the two videos and put two and two together.

So now King Sting (bee!jagged) and Peridot (turtle!penny) have joined the team.

Poor Penny, now she has to deal with two gremlin children and a some sort of bizarre man-child.

The next akuma confused the group quite a bit.

He didn't really do anything but sit on a rooftop waiting for the miracle team to show up.

They were all suspicious of him at first but when they did reveal themselves to him he explained his situation.

He was akumatized because his favorite rock band broke up but he didn't really want to take their miraculouses away.

He just asked if they could perform another song for him and he would give his akumatized item to them.

They all sorta looked at eachother and collectively went 'screw it why not' and sang another song.

If they were great before, they are absolutely AMAZING now.

Well that's what happens when you add a famous rockstar to a team of singing superheros I guess.

The akuma was blown away and true to his word handed over the rolled up picture in his pocket and was purified despite of Hawkmoth's nagging.

Haha screw you Hawky.

This time the ordeal was recorded by a news station and the 'hand over the akuma in exchange for a song' thing became a trend.

There were still normal akuma's that didn't follow follow it but those were far flung between.

It seems like Hawkmoth was getting annoyed by this so there started being less akuma attacks over the months.

Because of this some people were actively trying to get upset to attract one of the purple butterflies.

They traded one good thing for another I guess.

To stop that from happening the group started performing in public as superheros during concerts and festivals.

Because of this they became quite well known outside of Paris as well.

Is it ironic that more people know them as a band rather than a superhero team now?

When Marinette learned that they could change what their superhero costumes looked like if they put enough will into it she squealed.

Marinette designs superhero performance costumes for them whenever they have a festival to play at.

Whenever asked about their outfits they always reply with MDC.

Marinette's business gets really popular after that.

And since no one knows who MDC really is, she doesn't have to worry about the whole "Oh no me and my family are gonna be in danger!" thing

It's a win win!

Overtime they basically become a second (or third for some people) family to eachother.

Damian becomes more 'kid like' and open to others,

Marinette becomes more confident and overall happier,

Jagged gets to hang out with his awesome niece and her 'maybe more than just a friend',

And Penny gets a new outlet for stress and has so many more crazy stories to tell people.

One day while she's in the living room on the sofa watching 'The AristoCats' Damian just barges into the room and dramatically flops over onto of her.

He just lays there with his head in her lap and the rest of his body sprawled on the couch.

After everything that has happened this is normal for them now.

Without asking any questions or talking at all they just watch the movie together with the occasional remark or quip between them.

Around half way through the movie Jagged kicks down the door, effectively scaring the crap out of the two teens, while Penny follows behind him with an apologetic look on her face.

At first Jagged was yelling about something having to do with'Fang' and 'Dragon' and 'Miraculous' but after taking in the domestic atmosphere of the room he just sits down on the floor and joins in on watching the movie.

Penny, shaking her head in both amusement and exasperation, sits down on another chair and does the same.

While combing through Damian's hair with her fingers Marinette looks around the room.

'My life can't get any more complicated, can it?'

Oh boy, she just jinxed it.

This is just an idea I've had bouncing around in my head for awhile and I couldn't resist the urge to write it out. I AM planning on making a part 2 so if you like this keep an eye out for that. I'm by no means a fast writer though so it will take a while. But then again not many people will probably read this soo.... Yeah.

[mikauzoran]

Interview with a Fanfic Author Tag!

This game was originally posted by @goldenavenger02. I was tagged by @purplerose244. Thanks so much for the tag! I’m so honoured that you want to know more about me. ^w^ <3

1. Your favorite fic that you’ve written (or just one you want to give a shout out to).

Phantasmagoria (Lukadrien) is always going to be one of my favourites. XD 

I’m really proud of Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses, though. I thought that story was going to kill me, but I finished it. 

Shout out to The Secrets and Rooftop Picnics Society (Lady Noir)!

2. Your favorite fic title that you’ve come up with.

Honestly, I suck at titles and summaries. XD Isn’t it enough that I wrote the story? No? XD I genuinely thought that Paw de Deux (Marichat) was clever, and I was surprised it hadn’t been used yet. 

I thought The Adventures of Off-Brand Ladybug and Chat Noir (Adrienette) was kind of cheeky and cute too. ^.^

Drunk Ladybug on My Balcony? Yeah. This is Fine. (Love Square, Platonic Alyanette, Platonic AlyAdrien) was a low point in my life. XD I couldn’t come up with anything, so I was like, “Yeah. Fine. Whatever. It’s just a one-shot”. But then it turned into a multi-chapter story, and I was stuck with the name. XD It was bad.

3.  How do you get inspiration to write?

How do I come up with story ideas or how do I make myself sit down and write? If the latter, I just do it. I really enjoy writing, so I regularly make time for it. It’s how I process emotions and things that happen in my life.

If you’re asking how I come up with story ideas...I’m not sure. They just come to me. A good way to get inspiration is to go for a walk outside. Somewhere with greenery is best. I also get inspired by listening to music, looking at art, seeing theatre performances, and reading. Learning new things is also a source of inspiration. I find inspiration almost everywhere.

4.  Your favorite genre/subgenre of fic to write.

I think I like hurt/comfort with a fluffy ending best. I like empathizing with characters who are hurting so long as they get a happy ending. It’s a bonus if there’s mutual pining and platonic bed sharing.

5.  Do you have other hobbies?

I read a lot, and I like studying. Like, I love learning about a wide variety of subjects from astronomy to art history to music theory to philosophy. It’s really interesting to learn a little bit about a lot of different things. ^.^

6.  A fun fact about you that a lot of people may not know.

I was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes (Type I) when I was in high school. I had to be rushed to the hospital because my blood sugar was in the nine hundreds, and I almost died. My anniversary is March first, so every year I celebrate my diagnosis because that’s another year that I’ve survived thanks to the doctors who saved me.

(Is that a fun fact? ^.^; I think I have a weird sense of what’s fun and or interesting.)

7.  Pick one character to self project onto, go!

Adrien Agreste all the way. XD

8.  Favorite genre of music.

Mostly, I like Japanese popular music. I’m not much of a fan of the super popular boy and girl groups, but I like Japanese punk, rock, and alternative. I also really like “classical” instrumental music. My favourite period is the Romantic Period in the eighteen hundreds.

9.  Your favorite singer/band.

I don’t usually have a particular band whose music I like. My phone is full of one or two songs from a bunch of different artists. In general, I do seem to like UVERworld, Fall Out Boy, and Vocaloid, though. Panic! At the Disco also has some cool music, and I like video game music by Toby Fox (Undertale) and Kondo Koji (The Legend of Zelda). Kajiura Yuki also makes gorgeous music.

10.  And finally, how has your experience in fandom been?

You know, I’ve been lucky, and I’ve had a largely positive experience with the fandom. Everyone’s been very supportive of me and my work. <3 ^.^

Tagging: @thewritewolf, @zekroudon, @galahadwilder, @alexseanchai, @kasienda, @dot-dotdots, @theriveroflight, @trashcatontherooftop, @freedom-shamrock

[lycorogue]

Hey girl! For your "Ask about WIPs" game, I'm interested in "I Don't Care" and/or "Seduce with Caution." Hope you're well, stay safe!!

Hey right back! I am doing well. Hope the same for you and yours.

[WIP tag game: my list]

Ya know what, no one else has played yet, so I'll go ahead and indulge. 😀

I Don't Care

This story actually started life as a "tumblr exclusive" one-shot called Stranger in a White Dress (published here May 2018). It was actually one of the first fanfics I posted to Tumblr. It was inspired by the song "Play Me Like a Violin" by Stephen (*warning: the music video has flashing bits, so those with photosensitivity, please be careful if you watch instead of just listen).

I don't know why specifically I latched onto Gabriel Agreste and Emilie Graham de Vanily, but it seemed appropriate somehow. The story was them having a meet cute in college. Emilie would have blown into Gabriel's life for a few minutes, stole a kiss unexpectedly, and then blew back out of his life just as abruptly.

The story stayed like that for quite some time. Then, August 2019, I heard the acoustic version of Ed Sheeran's song "I Don't Care". At first blush, the song sounded like something my husband would sing, but the more I listened the more I realized it could be Gabriel singing about/to Emilie. This song was kind of the theme of the Agrestes' relationship, in my opinion. Hence stealing the song title for the story's title. I took the first verse about being at a party, and continued my story. Gabriel was dragged to a party by his flatmate, and Emilie coincidentally was there. The two reconnected, and Gabriel turned a one-time chance encounter at a club into a potential relationship.

I'm not entirely sure where else to go with this story, aside from knowing I want it to be the love story between these two. Possibly ending with Adrien's birth. Possibly continuing until Emilie's "disappearance." Not sure which yet. However, this whole story is a bit of a slow process while I wait for inspiration to strike again, mostly by way of new music. I have been a touch obsessed for the past year with the songs "2AM" by MK (feat Carla Monroe) and "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur as a back and forth between Emilie and Gabriel respectively (the fact that "2AM" has a female vocalist and "Say You Won't Let Go" has a male vocalist just makes it all the better). The only snafu there is that this would be a chapter about them drinking too much while out, and/or Emilie drunk calling Gabriel and asking for him to spend the night with her. As spontaneous as I like making Emilie, it seems a bit abrupt considering where their relationship stands at the end of the 2nd chapter. So I want to come up with a buffer one showing their first official date as my 3rd chapter. I'm just not sure what said date should look like yet. Thus this WIP sits in waiting.

If you want to read the first two chapters, you can find them over on AO3, FFN, or DA.

Seduce with Caution

This one is actually my current WIP. It's also my first foray into Miraculous Ladybug smut (aged-up, of course).

For some reason, August brings out the smut in me (is it the warm weather?), and I've written other smutty fics during that month in the past. Most have never seen the light of day. I've written a couple using the X-Men OCs created for my husband's play-by-post role-play game. I've written one using my D&D character and one of her partymates. The only smut I've officially published though was my interpretation of a handwaved sex scene in the book Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (mostly because the series was fairly unknown and that book had been published 7 years prior, so I figured not many would even find my smut).

I have never tried ML smut before though, despite enjoying a lot of the ones I've found. I just couldn't get past the mental image of the Love Square as 14-year-olds.

Last year, however, while reading Dressed to Confess by @zenmisery , she had a bit where Chat Noir's costume acted as a bit of a magical chastity belt. For some reason, that gave me this fantastic concept for a MariChat sex scene. I started working on it, but I realized that it seemed too abrupt of an interaction between these two characters without also having the story be post-reveal and the two of them being in a relationship. The concept, though, would have been how MariChat could spend a night together without Marinette finding out who Chat Noir is under the mask first. The whole premise crumbles if they're already in a relationship and/or it's post-reveal.

I just couldn't get the balance right, and so I abandoned the story. Right around December, I tried again by backtracking a touch to include the seduction and foreplay leading into the sex scene. That too seemed a bit left-field. It felt like glorious crack, and I was tempted to just run with it because crack is a fantastic story "genre" but I... just can't find it within myself to do so. So the story was abandoned again.

This past August I revisited the story once more. After 3 or 4 false starts, I tried backing up even further with my story's starting point. Now this story has become a slow-burn, sexual tension, blushfest. There's implied masturbation, and later chapters will include make-out sessions with heavy petting, but the actual true-blue smut won't show up until the final chapter or so. So my "Porn without Plot" has become "so much pining with a sprinkle of smut thrown in for flavor". 😅

I still don't have a concrete story figured out, but the working summary is: "While 19yo Chat Noir tries to demonstrate to Marinette his new 'moves' to try to win Ladybug over, he accidentally seduces Marinette. Now she has to come to terms with the knowledge that she finds him sexy and highly desirable, all while still holding a flame for Adrien. Meanwhile, Adrien has to wrestle with the knowledge that he found Marinette getting hot and bothered over him a major turn-on. Chaos ensues."

Considering it kept me over a year to write just the first chapter (but only 3 days to write the second one), I want this story complete before unleashing it onto the world. I also need to build up the confidence to let the rest of the fandom read my first ever MariChat smut soooooooooooooooooo..........

ANYWAY, yup. That's what's up with I Don't Care and Seduce with Caution.

A romance story between young Gabriel and Emilie where I humanize Gabriel....

And a slow-burn MariChat smut story that will only really include anything explicit in the last chapter or so.

Thanks so much for the ask! This was fun. Feel free to ask me more!

I've also talked about my original WIP Glitches here, here, and here, as well as talk about my other Gabriel-humanizing project When Love Matters here.

[angelofthequeers]

If canon!Luka is too much of a blank slate, and fanon!Luka is basically Adrien-lite, what would you fo if you had to fix his character? Not a stan or anything like that, I agree with you on Luka, it's just I saw many posts like like yours about him but not a single one that said: "This is what I would do if I had to give him depth:", please correct me if I'm wrong and just didn't look hard enough. (I'm on mobile and English isn't my native language, please be gentle (._.))

Just have him not revolve around Marinette. That’s literally it. More detail and an analysis of a few scenes below the cut, because that’s the simple answer to your question but I have to go in-depth to really explain where I’m coming from. And your English is just fine! I’ll kick the kneecaps of anyone who makes fun of you for it, because heck if I can speak anything other than English. All the quotes I use are from the transcripts on this site here.

Luka’s got a few basic traits and some hints of flaws but because his screen time revolves solely around his love interest - with the exception of that one scene in ‘Reflekdoll’ with Juleka - they haven’t been developed nearly as much as they could have been, and so we haven’t seen him developing independently of Marinette because any character development is tied directly to her. For example, it could be a double-edged flaw slash core personality trait that he doesn’t get too angry on behalf of himself but he gets furious when someone he loves is threatened. It would be a nice parallel to Adrien and serve to further show how they’re foils. But since we’ve only seen him getting angry on behalf of Marinette, it’s not nearly as fleshed-out a trait as it could have been. If we’d even had just one scene of him reacting to Juleka’s akumatisation, it would’ve expanded him so much further than as just a love interest.

Whether Kagami is objectively more developed is an argument I don’t want to get into, even if I’m going to analyse her below, but she definitely comes across as a lot more fleshed out because she doesn’t exist to revolve around Adrien. Her debut episode involves Adrien but isn’t focused on him and her (first) akumatisation isn’t due to her role as Adrien’s love interest, whereas Luka’s akumatisation episode focused very pointedly on his role as Marinette’s love interest. He only got mad enough to attract an akuma once Bob Roth threatened Marinette, not when the music of his entire band was threatened - because it’s not just him in Kitty Section, and one of the other members is his sister. I can quote the scene and put bold emphasis on how his anger only really flares when it’s Marinette he’s talking about.

Luka: That’s not true! You copied Marinette’s costumes!

Marinette: And it’s the exact same song. You stole Luka’s music!

XY: Oh, come on. Let’s not exaggerate now. We may have just been a little bit… inspired, that’s all.

Luka: Inspired? You flat out stole! You didn’t design this mask! (rips mask from XY’s head) Marinette did!

Marinette: Listen, it’s not too late to do the right thing. Just tell the truth and let Kitty Section appear on the show. That’s all we’re asking.

Bob: Yeah. First they’ll wanna be in the show. Then they’ll be asking for a cut of the profits. No way! Never saw or heard of Kitten Division.

Luka: Forget it, Marinette. It’s no big deal. Let’s just go.

Marinette: No! It’s not fair! I won’t stand by and let my friends’ work get stolen. (to Bob) If you won’t tell the truth, then I will! Right now, on the air, live! (walks up to the camera)

Bob: (grabs Marinette’s arm) If you do that, I’ll tell them you’re the copycats, not me. I’ve got all the music biz eating out of my hand. So who do you think they’re gonna believe? Me, or a group of nobodies?

Luka: Grrr…

Bob: You’ll never have a future in this business. You’ll never make another costume. And there’ll be no more music for your buddies because as far as everyone’s concerned, you’ll be the rip-off artists.

Luka: Grrr…

.

(The akuma enters the mask Luka is holding)

(’Silencer’)

Luka’s primary concern in this scene is that Marinette was cheated. Marinette is the one bringing up Kitty Section and how their music was stolen, but Luka is laser-focused on how Marinette’s designs were stolen. Even when they first see the stolen music video as a group, he’s focused on Marinette.

Ivan: But that’s our original style!

Luka: (to Marinette) Your unicorn, and your mask!

Marinette: (to Luka) That’s your melody. (to Rose) It’s your music. That’s not fair! That should be you guys up there on TV. There better be a good explanation. We have to have it out with Bob Roth and XY.

Again, Marinette is the one to bring up how Kitty Section was cheated. Marinette and Ivan. And again, Luka was focused on how Marinette was cheated. This episode could have been a great way to flesh out Luka, to show his dedication to his band and his furious desire to protect his loved ones, but it ends up being just a whole 22 minutes of him revolving around Marinette. This is literally the episode of him being The Perfect Boyfriend, for people to project their ideals onto and squee about how he’s so perfect and romantic for Marinette. Leaving out that Adrien and, arguably, Chat haven’t needed flowery speeches and a laser focus on only Marinette/Ladybug to win her heart, and she constantly goes back to him whereas, like I mentioned in my last post about Luka, she seems to kind of just…blush and then move on from Luka’s confession.

Now let’s compare the scene before Kagami’s akumatisation and bold her focus:

Kagami: (She sighs in defeat, then walks up to Adrien, offering her hand for a shake, which Adrien takes. Kagami calmly walks out of the room.)

.

Adrien: I’m going to offer him a decisive match. (He goes running after Kagami, grabbing her saber from the ground as he goes. Kagami is about to get into her car when Adrien catches up to her) Hey! Wait! Your saber!

(Kagami throws her glove into the car and removes her helmet, turning to look at Adrien expectantly. As she does so, Marinette runs up to the school entrance.)

Adrien: (Momentarily stunned by her appearance.) Let’s do a… decisive match? (As he speaks, he notices Kagami’s ring.)

Kagami: What’s the point? You won. There’s no such thing as a second chance in my family. Goodbye. (She gets into her car, which drives off.)

.

Kagami’s mother’s: (Voicemail) I’m not available at the moment. Leave a message. (Beep!)

Kagami: Mother, you thought I was good enough, but… I lost. I won’t be joining the D'Argencourt Academy. (she hangs up and sits back in her seat. The akuma flies into her ring.)

Hawk Moth: Riposte! I am Hawk Moth. I’m giving you a second chance to prove that you are the best fencer of all, but in return, you must bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous.

Kagami: On my honor, Hawk Moth, I shall be victorious! (She transforms into Riposte, slicing open a new sun roof into her car and leaving.)

(’Riposte’)

Even the locations of the akumas give that little extra boost of characterisation. Kagami’s is in her ring, showing the audience that her drive is to be the best and make the Tsurugi family proud and she and her mother don’t tolerate failure, because they stake their honour on success. Luka’s is in the mask that Marinette made, which just shows that…he’s angry because Marinette was wronged. And yes, Hawkmoth’s speech includes the line of “The anger of a creator whose work has been stolen” but considering that every bit of Luka’s anger up to this point has been focused on Marinette, it just…rings hollow. The Lukanette stans noticed this too, but they took it as a positive and used it to shout about how much Luka loved Marinette and how sweet it was that she was the reason he was akumatised - and believe me, I used to be there, I’ve seen it.

And yes, I know that ‘Oni-Chan’ exists. I know that Kagami’s reason for akumatisation revolved around Adrien and that her akumatised object was the rose that he gave her. But I’m focusing on debut akumas and even then, it shows that there’s a jealous, possessive side to her. It works with her previous appearances to round her out, to show that she’s driven and ambitious but also jealous and possessive. ‘Ikari Gozen’ takes this even further and shows that she’s awkward and wants to make friends but doesn’t know how to interact with other people, and it furthers her focus on honour and worthiness and shows that she ties her self-worth with her success:

Hawk Moth: How tragic it is to feel unloved. Alone, deprived of friendship. (turns a butterfly into an akuma) Fly away, my little akuma, and evilise her!

.

Kagami: I guess I’m not worthy of our friendship; our bloodtypes must be too incompatible.

(’Ikari Gozen’)

Although each episode that she’s in does feel like a totally different portrayal of her, and a lot of criticism/dislike for her came from how she felt all over the place, they’ve also come back together to tie her together as a multifaceted character: someone who’s ambitious and must be the best (’Riposte’), who sees romance as a competition like she does fencing (the whole “change your target” to Adrien and “I never hesitate” to Marinette in ‘Frozer’ and her admission that she has to win Adrien’s heart in ‘Heart Hunter’) - which further adds to her lack of ability to navigate social situations that’s expanded upon in ‘Ikari Gozen’, an episode that also emphasises her fatal flaw of never hesitating. Yes, she’s right to say that hesitation can cost you, but this episode shows that some hesitation is necessary, and jumping into things without thinking and expecting everyone else to do so will definitely lead to some stumbles.

Every time Luka’s on the screen, I don’t really learn anything new about him. All I know is that he’s romantic and likes Marinette and only gets angry on behalf of his loved ones. His first meeting with Marinette focused on how he found her cute and how she was flustered, whereas Kagami’s first meeting with Adrien wasn’t focused on the Adrigami ship outside of Adrien’s Pink Bubble Love Stupor. And first meetings tend to set the tone of how characters are going to interact. Marinette/Adrien and Marinette/Kagami’s first meetings focused on misjudgement and how someone’s impression of another person isn’t necessarily correct, and we see this with how Marinette goes gaga over Adrien and has her moments of seeing him as a perfect Greek god (which isn’t to say that she worships him like a fangirl, but rather that her crush is acting as major rose-tinted glasses) and how she blows Kagami up as an evil villain in her mind until she pops her own bubble and makes herself see Kagami as another person instead of an evil rival. And Ladybug/Chat Noir’s first meeting focused on having to build a partnership on the spot and showed how Chat didn’t fall for her until after she’d stood up to Hawkmoth and declared that they would protect Paris. But Marinette/Luka’s first meeting shows that Marinette gets flustered around pretty boys and Luka just…up and decided that he liked her. It shows that Luka’s focus is going to be Marinette and that’s it.

I’ll cut Luka a little slack and admit that yes, ‘Desperada’ did have him become Viperion because “Desperada attacked my friends and my family”, just as Kagami became Ryuuko to save her mother, and this scene wasn’t specifically focused on how Marinette and only Marinette might have been affected. But the starting scene of the episode once more shows us something else about Kagami - that she’s got a mischievous side and is starting to be rebellious and sneak around behind Tomoe’s back - while showing us nothing about Luka except that he’s…got a crush on Marinette, which appears to be reciprocated, and that he’s good at guitar. Which we already knew.

Marinette: You’re so talented, Luka. How long have you been playing for?

Luka: Since I was in diapers. (strums guitar)(Marinette giggles.)

Alix: I get the feeling Marinette likes Luka a lot.

.

Alix: Your father let you out?!

Adrien: We’re officially at fencing practice right now, but - oh, no, Kagami. Isn’t this the wrong address?

Kagami: Oh, dear, I think you’re right.(Adrien and Kagami chuckle.)

(’Desperada’)

Even the ending scenes of Luka and Kagami’s debut episodes set the tone for them. In Luka’s debut of ‘Captain Hardrock’, the ending is focused on his role as Marinette’s new love interest and as a rival of Adrien’s, even if they don’t actually see each other as rivals.

Adrien: Thanks, uh…

Luka: Luka.

Adrien: Thanks, Luka.

Alya: (To Marinette): Is the compass going crazy?

(’Captain Hardrock’)

On the other hand, Kagami’s debut episode ending focuses on how she craves friends and would love to get to know a friend of Adrien’s, along with her competitiveness and desire to win in a now-friendly rivalry that grows into a friendship and then romance, rather than love at first sight. Just like the meetings between Marinette/Adrien and Ladybug/Chat Noir, it sets the scene and promises more to come, rather than laying all the cards on the table and basically just stating “yeah, this character’s just gonna be a love interest and just be chill and co-exist with their love rival” like the Marinette/Luka and Adrien/Luka ones do.

Adrien: Please, take it. (He again holds out Kagami’s saber to her.)

Kagami: (She glances between Adrien and her saber for a moment before taking it back) I’ll be happy to get to know your friend Marinette! (She and Adrien bow to each other. She and Adrien look at each other for a moment before Adrien holds out his hand.)

Adrien: My name’s Adrien. What’s yours?

Kagami: Kagami. (She takes Adrien’s proffered hand and shakes it, then walks to her car. She looks back at Adrien.) Get ready for that decisive match!

Adrien: I can’t wait, Kagami.

So basically, to give him depth, I wouldn’t focus so much on his guitar. I’d maybe show someone getting annoyed that he defaults to his guitar, because we got one line in ‘Captain Hardrock’ that he finds it easier to speak through music but it doesn’t really flesh him out since no one else comments on it or gets annoyed by it. It’s a trait that’s got nothing else to work off, whereas Kagami’s awkward attempts to socialise with Marinette and her abrasive manner clash with Marinette’s misconceptions of her and create that scene in ‘Ikari Gozen’ where Marinette realises that she’s treated Kagami awfully and Kagami said that she wasn’t worthy of Marinette’s friendship. Like Luka’s guitar, Kagami’s awkwardness and bluntness aren’t inherently a flaw, but they act as one in certain circumstances and end up fleshing her out just that little bit more.

I’d focus a little more on his relationships with everyone else. At least with Kagami, we know that she’s awkward and has no friends outside of Adrien (and later Marinette), so it makes sense that she wouldn’t have very many other relationships. We’ve even seen her relationship with her mother and how her few friendships - Adrien and Marinette - are influencing her to change and become more rebellious, such as the escape scene in ‘Heart Hunter’. I’m not counting Instagram posts, otherwise I’d point out Kagami spending time with Marinette’s friends as well and bonding with them as more evidence. But Luka’s part of a band and canonically hangs out with Marinette and her friends, so to break him free of just being a satellite love interest to orbit around Marinette, just show him interacting with others independent of Marinette. Show more of him being a big brother to Juleka; show how he interacts with Rose, as Juleka’s best friend; show the relationship between him and his mother, because they seem to be more like house(boat)mates at this point, and Anarka and Tomoe have had roughly the same amount of screen time, especially with their kids.

I’d also make him a little more of a rival to Adrien. He doesn’t have to be mean and antagonistic like how the Marinette/Kagami rivalry started - a rivalry doesn’t necessarily have to be negative - but he does have to show some reaction to losing Marinette to Adrien. All he ever does is push her into Adrien’s arms, which is all well and good to show how selfless he is, but he’s never visibly upset. His smile never wavers. He never shows any sign of being upset at losing the girl he supposedly loves to someone else; he’s basically just The Perfect Boyfriend who’s willing to let Marinette go if it means her happiness with no hurt feelings on his part, and the only force of rivalry that he exerts on Adrien is just making Adrien think that Marinette’s into him and therefore isn’t available, which isn’t even anything that Luka himself does, so I can’t even give that credit to him. He just…exists. While Marinette pushes Adrien and Kagami together for Adrien’s happiness, she shows outward signs of distress. She still gets jealous even though this is a decision she made. She’s sad over it. She’s human. But Luka? You could probably replace him with a pot plant and nothing would change.

[simplejjs]

Chapter 3 of My Reveal story

Finally a kiss!  Hee hee hee!!  

I have been told that I should say, “I won’t post the next until I get one thousand likes,” but I replied that that is mean.  :-)

My Reveal Story   Chapter 3   by JJ Sprinkle

Adrien woke up with a song in his heart.  Last night had gone even better than he had hoped, and today he would get to spend all day close to the person he loved and admired.  Before leaving the sanctuary of his bedroom, Adrien flicked through favorite photos of his mom saved on his phone and murmured, “You’d really like her, Mom.”

In the corner, Adrien heard Plagg waking up with a loud stretch.  He usually waited until just before Adrien headed down to breakfast to rouse himself.  “Breakfast time?” Plagg confirmed as the flitted over to Adrien.  Seeing what Adrien was doing, Plagg placed one paw delicately on Adrien’s shoulder while he too looked at the phone screen.

With a quick swipe and click, Adrien closed his photos app and turned off his phone.  Pocketing it, he turned and said unemotionally, “Let’s get you some cheese.”  Plagg silently zoomed next to Adrien, unwilling to voice the sadness he knew Adrien was covering up.

Changing the mood, Plagg intentionally mocked Adrien, “Are you going to speed through breakfast again, so you can *stare* at Marinette?”

“Sure thing, Plagg.  Other than fighting akumas, it’s the best part of my day.  Now c’mon and hide.”  Adrien held open his white shirt for Plagg to fly into.

A hot breakfast was waiting on the table for him, and as Adrien helped himself to juice, Nathalie walked in.  “Good morning,” Nathalie said, cool as a cucumber.  Adrien returned her greeting as she pulled up his schedule for the day.  “You have a fitting during lunch for your shoot tomorrow.  Immediately after school you will return home for Chinese.”

Adrien interrupted her, “Nathalie, we were given group projects in History yesterday, “ he lied.  “My group wants to meet directly after school in the library.  It’s not like I can meet at lunch, so please can you push the Chinese off for an hour?”

Nathalie flicked her eyes off of the tablet to evaluate Adrien. He tried to look sincere and appealing.  Returning to the tablet, Nathalie swiped her fingers rapidly across its screen and then announced, “Fine.  You’ll have one hour.”

Adrien exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“After Chinese, your father has arranged an art history tour at the Louvre.  You will then have dinner out.  Then, obviously, homework.”  Nathalie cleared her screen, and reached for an empty glass.  A servant in a black and white uniform efficiently filled it with juice.  While Nathalie was distracted, Adrien smuggled two thick slices of camembert to Plagg.

As he tried calmly to eat his breakfast, he coyly dropped slices of cheese into the linen napkin spread on his lap. Gathering its corners together, Adrien pushed his empty plate to the side, rose, and declared, “I would like to leave for school now.”

Nathalie immediately tapped her tablet’s screen, and said, “Marceau will be waiting for you.”

Adrien’s footsteps echoed loudly on the marble floor of the entry hall.  He grabbed his backpack, tossed the stinky napkin full of cheese into its outer pocket, and then walked directly towards the imposing front doors.  Placing one hand on the doorknob, Adrien offered to the empty space, “Bye, Dad.”  Then he pulled open the door and walked out into the morning sun.

His bodyguard was waiting for him in the car.  As soon as Adrien slammed the car door behind him, the bodyguard took off.

Again Adrien found himself tapping the leather armrest of the plush sedan.  To give himself something else to do, Adrien pulled the linen napkin back out of his backpack and offered a slice of cheese to his breast pocket.  Plagg needed no persuasion, and grabbed the cheese from his hand.  Muffled sounds of satisfied chewing brought a grin to Adrien’s face, followed by a whispered demand, “More!”  For the entire drive, Adrien passed sticky, stinky slices of cheese to Plagg, and wondered that Plagg didn’t get sick of them.

Arriving at the school, Adrien finally let himself smile in anticipation.  “Thanks,” he said, hopping out, and Marceau grunted.  Adrien raced up the stairs of the school, dashed through the courtyard, and made a beeline for the corner in the locker room where he had positioned himself the day before.  

It was not long before Marinette entered, alone.  She glanced quickly around the locker room, overlooking Adrien, then started removing books from her bag.  Adrien watched her, remembering how she had teased him about losing the computer games, and remembering how red she had gone when he had mentioned kissing the night before  He gazed at her face, teased his imagination with her lips, and wished he knew just what to say to get his entire Ladybug to love him.

Alya and Nino entered together, in close conversation.  Nino was talking with his hands.  Alya immediately saw Marinette, and then closely scanned the rest of the room until her eyes came to rest on Adrien.  Raising her arm high to wave, she called out loudly, “Hi Adrien!”  Marinette jumped, and looked around again panicked.  She too saw Adrien, and saw that he was watching her, and then turned and tried to escape into her locker.  

Adrien grabbed his book bag and stood up.  “Hey!” Plagg complained about the jolting movement from his shirt pocket.

With his model smile, Adrien walked directly over to Marinette.  “Good morning, Marinette.”

Marinette peeked over her shoulder, “M- Morning Adrien!”  Her eyes shone.

“Did you get all of your homework done last night?” he asked.

Marinette had stayed up quite late struggling to finish the second half of her Math.  Thoughts of Cat Noir and Adrien had chased each other around in her brain all night long.  “Um, no,” she answered honestly.  “I didn’t even start History.  Um, how ‘bout you?”

‘She’s still nervous,’ Adrien thought, then answered aloud, “Mostly.  I had double Latin, so that took awhile.” ‘But it was worth it,’ he added to himself.  Alya wandered casually up and stood just inside the peripheral vision of both of them.  “Do you want to meet in the library after class, and work on History together?”

“Really?” Marinette asked, “Are you sure?”

“Sweetie, of course he’s sure,” Alya broke in, patting Marinette’s shoulder.  While Marinette stared at Adrien, Alya turned to him and replied, “Of course she does.  She was already asking me if I would work on History with her but I have my Ladyblog to work on.”

“I did?” Marinette turned a surprised look to Alya, who raised her eyebrows meaningfully at Marinette.  “Oh!  I did!” Marinette said to Adrien, then added a little shyly, “Of course I’d like to.”

Not a single second of this interaction was missed by Chloe, who took the opportunity to sail up and drape her arm around Adrien, effectively turning him away from Marinette and Alya.  “Adrien! How fun!” she exclaimed loudly, “Daddy says you and I have a *private* tour of the Louvre this evening!  Just you and me!” She looked significantly over her shoulder at Marinette.

“Uh, right,” Adrien replied, nervously, “I didn’t know you would be there…”

“Daddikins arranged it, and I *knew* you would want *me* there, so of course I’m coming!  I wouldn’t miss it for the world…” she purred.  Then, she tugged on Adrien to lead him away.

Adrien did not wish to cause a scene, so he went, but first he looked over his shoulder and mouthed, “The library!” and smiled.  But his smile faded at the upset look on Marinette’s face, and the glower darkening Alya’s.  When they finally got to class, and Nino slipped in beside him, Nino simply looked Adrien up and down, shaking his head, “You’ve got a lot to learn about women, my man!”  Glumly, Adrien sighed.

Despite Chloe’s interference, Adrien felt that the morning went well.  Midterms were coming up, so their classes were intense enough that there was very little chatting while the teachers were lecturing, but between bells Adrien tried hard to smooth over the rough patch that Chloe had sowed.  At first, Alya watched him hawkishly, dubiously, but after a while she relaxed enough to suggest that Nino and Adrien join Marinette and her for lunch.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” Adrien said, “I have a fitting for a photo shoot at lunchtime.”

“Heh heh!” Nino laughed, “The life of a model, dude!”

Adrien saw his opportunity and took it, “I’m not just a pretty face, Nino.  I bet I could beat you at an armwrestle!”

“You’re on!” Nino exclaimed, pushing up his sleeve and resting his elbow on the desk.  Adrien glanced to his left to make sure that Marinette and Alya were watching.  He noticed with satisfaction that Marinette’s eyes were narrowed attentively.

Within a second of starting, Adrien knew that Nino did not stand a chance against him.  Still, he drew out the match, so that when he finally won it looked like he had had to work at it.  As the rows around them applauded, Adrien grinned up at Marinette and suggested, “Care to try?”

He could see Ladybug’s mind clicking away behind Marinette’s eyes, and was not surprised when she said, “Yes, okay.”

Rising, Adrien slipped onto the bench next to her and held out his arm.

Marinette placed her hand in his, and Adrien folded his fingers over hers.  Her hand almost disappeared.  They both extended their other hands to hold them against the desk between them.  Nino counted down, “Two, One, Go!” and they began to wrestle.

In fact, Adrien flicked his eyes up to Marinette’s face, surprised by her strength.  He would not win this competition as easily as he had won against Nino, but he knew he could indeed have won.  However, struggling back and forth, Adrien slowly allowed Marinette to push his hand down, down, down to the desk.

Nino slapped the desk and grabbed Marinette’s hand, holding it in the air and announcing, “Marinette wins!”

As everyone cheered, Adrien opened his eyes innocently and remarked, “Wow, Marinette, I guess you’re stronger than me!”

Marinette opened her mouth as if to say something, and then pressed it closed again, instead giving Adrien a weak smile. At that point the teacher walked in, and all attention was turned to class.  

Except… Marinette found herself staring out the window and silently cursing Cat Noir.

After the day’s classes were done, Marinette was at her locker wondering uncertainly if Adrien still remembered about the library.  Chloe had been pushy and self-important throughout the day, frequently mentioning how close Adrien’s father and her own were.  Marinette could not imagine that after all, Adrien really wanted to study with her in the library, yet she didn’t want to completely give up hope, but she could not figure out how to mention it to Adrien without looking like a love-sick cow.  She sighed.

“Hey, Mari,” Adrien’s voice whispered in her ear, “Are you still up for working on History together?”

Marinette turned quickly, giddiness overcoming her, and nodded.  She opened her mouth to speak but Adrien put his finger to his lips to shush her.  “Grab your stuff and follow me,” he whispered.

Marinette did as he asked, quietly closing her locker door and following Adrien’s lead.  When he got to the hallway, he first peeked right and left before stepping out.  Marinette followed him in a direction away from the library.  They took a set of back stairs, traversed a couple of smaller hallways, and finally stopped in front of a closed door.  Again checking left and right, Adrien opened the door and ushered Marinette inside.  She saw that his bookbag was already placed on the table that took up almost half of the small room.  A window looked out onto the back street of the school, with a small park beyond.  The room was sunny but intimate.

Adrien closed the door and leaned against it.  In his normal voice he apologized, “I hope this is okay?  We can go to the library if you want, but I think Chloe was planning to study there as well, and I - uh - I just thought it might be a little quieter in here.”  He smiled a little nervously, obviously waiting for her agreement.

“No, no, this is fine!” Marinette felt funny.  Her heart was racing, and her thoughts were scattered.  She had to lecture herself not to read too much into Adrien’s behavior, but a large part of her felt complimented and relieved.

Adrien walked over to his bookbag and started pulling out his work.  “This is where I have my Latin lessons, and sometimes my Chinese.  I don’t think they use it much after school hours.”

“It’s really great,” Marinette offered, then thought she ought to pull out her books just like Adrien.  “I don’t need any of the books in the library, I think, so we can stay here as long as you want.”  When Adrien glanced at her, amused, Marinette added, “To study…”

Adrien could almost feel the shadow of his Cat Noir ears flicking as he teased her, “To study.”  A blush stained Marinette’s cheeks.

“So, what’s your essay on?” Adrien asked, holding out the chair next to his for Marinette to sit.

“Umm, I’m writing about Napoleon’s march into Russia and the role the soldiers’ uniforms played in their defeat.”

Adrien nodded, impressed.  “That sounds interesting.  I’m just writing about the Napoleonic Code.”

The two chatted back and forth about their subjects, and why they had chosen them.

“So ultimately it’s your interest in fashion that led you to the French uniforms?” Adrien asked.

Talking about her favorite subject, Marinette’s eyes glowed, “Well, yes, but it’s really about the materials that go into fashion.  Well,” she giggled, “you should know, of anyone!  But the materials can play an enormous role in the functionality of a design, like the tin buttons on the uniforms that crumbled in the cold.”  Marinette realized that she was blathering, and let herself peter out, “Well, anyway, that’s all.”

Adrien remarked with sincerity, “I’d like to read it when you’re done.”

“Um, sure…” Marinette answered, awkwardly.  She wasn’t sure she believed him.  “Well, I guess we ought to work…”

“Right,” Adrien agreed.  They worked companionably for almost ten minutes, when Adrien broke the silence.

“So what material do you think Ladybug and Cat Noir’s outfits are made of?”

Marinette’s head popped up, and searching Adrien’s face she said, “What?”

“You know,” he explained, “you’ve seen Cat Noir up close, and I’ve seen Ladybug a couple of times.  I’ve wondered about the material in their suits.  Like, are they just superheroes anyway, or is it the suits that give them extra power, or what?  Haven’t you wondered that?”

Marinette was very careful how she answered, “Uh, I guess.  I didn’t really examine Cat Noir’s outfit…”

“I don’t know if I could ever do what they do,” Adrien said, innocently changing tack.  “They must be incredibly brave.”

“Um… yah.”  Marinette agreed, but then added, “Or maybe they’re just normal people, like, like you or me, and then sometimes they can change.”

“C’mon,” scoffed Adrien, “you can’t really believe that!”  He snickered, and Marinette frowned down at her paper.  “I mean, I can’t even stand up to my father most of the time.  Can you imagine me standing up to the bad guys they fight?”  Adrien sniggered.

Marinette was silent.  She felt her heart constrict a little, and she remembered the words she had used with Cat Noir to describe Adrien, ‘He’s just a regular guy, okay?  He’s just a nice, smart, kind guy.’  Suddenly, Marinette felt a longing to be sitting next to Cat Noir.  For all of the deception between them, in many ways Marinette realized she could be more honest with Cat Noir about her true person, than with anyone else in the world.  She sighed.

Next to her, Adrien seemed to be diligently working on his essay.  However, inside he was panicking, wondering if by downplaying his civilian self in Marinette’s eyes he was really pushing her towards his Cat Noir side, or if he was just merely pushing her away.

After about twenty minutes of fast scribbling and desultory chatting between the two of them, Adrien checked his watch and knew he had to get going.  “My father has scheduled Chinese for me this afternoon, and then there's the Louvre tour.”  He snorted as he pushed his books into his bag.

Closing her notebook, Marinette asked, “Is he really as demanding as all that?”

“You have no idea,” was all that Adrien would say.

“Well,” Marinette offered charitably, “at least you’ll have Chloe with you at the Louvre, so it won’t be all academic.”  She did not add that, knowing Chloe, it was likely to be the opposite of academic.

Adrien placed his hand under Marinette’s elbow and, like an old fashioned gentleman, helped her to rise.  “Yes, well, Chloe is… Chloe.  I wish *you* could come to the Louvre with me instead, Marinette.  I know I would enjoy it much more.”  He still had his hand under Marinette’s elbow.

Marinette’s heart flip flopped, and she smiled up into Adrien’s eyes.  He ran his hand along her arm until he held her hand between them, and looking down, he played gently with her fingers.  Little frissons of electricity zipped through Marinette, landing somewhere near her stomach.

“I really wish you could come with me,” he repeated.  They gazed at each other, and Marinette’s mouth went dry.

Adrien knew he shouldn’t.  He had put so much thought into how to get Marinette thinking of both sides of him as potential boyfriend material, and kissing Marinette right now was not part of the plan.  It might skew her against Cat Noir again.  But he was still panicking a little, fearful that he had overplayed his hand, fearful that he might not get another chance to kiss his Ladybug.

Adrien’s gaze flicked down to Marinette’s soft, pink lips, and his resolve crumbled.  Raising his right hand, still holding Marinette’s hand with his left, Adrien used one finger to gently trace her jawline.  Coming to rest beneath her bottom lip, Adrien asked hesitantly, “Marinette, may I kiss you?”

Marinette’s cheeks glowed an enchanting pink, and unable to speak, she merely nodded her head.

Slowly, tentatively, Adrien lowered his lips to hers.  Marinette’s eyes drifted closed, as Adrien’s hand snaked behind her neck to cradle the back of her head.  At first, Adrien’s kisses were like soft butterflies, but soon he deepened the kiss into something more than romantic.  

Letting go of Marinette’s hand, Adrien wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her entire body against his.  Of their own volition, Marinette’s arms found their way up to his shoulders, and she wove her fingers into his silky golden hair.  Slanting his head, Adrien deepened the kiss even more, and Marinette quickly lost herself in an explosion of emotions.  Adrien poured all of the love, admiration, and tenderness he felt into his kiss, and Marinette’s natural shyness disappeared as she rose on her tiptoes, pushed her lithe body even more against his solid frame, and met him kiss for kiss.  As in everything else, they were equal partners.

Both were lost in a world of sensation, and both were jarred back to reality by the sudden ringing of Adrien's phone.

They pulled apart, not yet letting go of the other, still half drunk and panting for breath.  Green eyes drowned in blue, but finally Adrien said, “I have to go.  That’s my driver calling.”  He did not make a move to let Marinette go.

Marinette lowered her gaze, her shyness returning, and slowly she pulled her hands down to his shoulders.  She couldn’t quite let go of him, because her head was still spinning and she wasn’t sure she was up to standing.

The phone went quiet for a moment, and then started ringing incessantly again.  

Finally letting go of Marinette’s waist, Adrien placed his hands over Marinette’s and pulled them from his shoulders.  They held hands between their bodies, and when Marinette looked back up into Adrien’s eyes, he could see that her lips were swollen and red from his kisses.

“Oh my God, Mari-” he said, but bit off the rest.  She was not ready to hear it; she would not believe it.

The phone started ringing again.  Finally letting her go, Adrien grabbed his bookbag and phone, and dropping a kiss on the tip of her nose, he said again, “I’ve got to go.”  Moving to the door, he gazed one more time back at Marinette.  She was standing where he had left her, with two fingers pressed to her rosy lips.  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Adrien promised, and then left.

Racing down the hall to the front of the school, Adrien almost tripped when Plagg zoomed out in front of him.  “So how was it, Loverboy?” Plagg teased.

“Shut up, Plagg,” Adrien said.  His head was still too full to manage anything more.

     To Be Continued.....!    by JJ Sprinkle

Up Next:  https://simplejjs.tumblr.com/post/166714124815/chapter-4-of-my-reveal-story

[swiftrevived]

The Duo’s Performance

A/N: Hello All! Before you begin to read this one shot, please visit the owner of the idea where is came from at http://sugar-coated-reject.tumblr.com/.

Original Inspiration Post: http://sugar-coated-reject.tumblr.com/post/159282566856/via-httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv-ghhwhzfau

“Excellently done, My Lady, as purr-usual,” Chat Noir smirked as he approached Ladybug from behind, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She grabbed one of his fingers and peeled his hand away. “Oh, mon Chaton, your puns are going to be the death of me.”

“But what a good death will be, no?”

“If you say so, Chat,” she groaned. “Now, would you be a good kitty and deal with the cameras?”

Chat Noir looked past the back of Ladybug’s radiant head to the sea of reporters, cameras, and civilians behind a thin line of police officers. “Don’t tell me that the famous Ladybug is camera shy.”

“Chat, you know you have the better face for television,” she sarcastically confessed, “it only makes sense that you-”

Ladybug felt something metal slam into the back of her shoulder, pushing her forward into the prepared arms of her partner. “Ladybug, Ladybug,” several reporters called out in unison. The flashes from cameras invaded her eyes as Chat noir helped her back upright.

She smiled and waved at the crowd, barely keeping her eyes fully open. “How do you deal with this?”

Chat Noir lowered his head to be beside Ladybug’s ear. “Practice, my lady, lots of practice.”

“Ladybug, Chat Noir, are you two dating yet?” The loudest voice flew above the rest.

“Not yet-” he placed his hand back onto Ladybug’s shoulder “-but the option is always available to her.”

A wave of laughter rippled through the crowd as Ladybug knocked Chat Noir’s hand off for a second time. “Ladybug,” an undistracted reporter crawled her way forward through the sea of news people, “what’s your message to all the little girls at home who look up to you for inspiration?”

“Message?”

“Yes, do you have one for all the underrepresented people watching at home?”

“Oh, well,” Ladybug stuttered, “I guess that I would have to say… um… anything’s possible if yo-”

“Ladybug, Chat noir,” a third reporter cried, clawing his way to the front and dragging his cameraman closely behind, “you’ve yet to comment on your invitation to the 20th annual children’s charity event tomorrow.”

Every microphone and person stood perfectly still in a moment of serene bliss from the noise, before the wall of noise returned, burying Ladybug and Chat Noir in questions about the event. Ladybug stepped back and brought her hand up next to her chin, her fingers slowly twitching. Chat Noir quietly noticed her murmuring stutter and returned his hand to its position on Ladybug’s shoulder. “Ladybug and I would be delighted to attend the charity event.”

“What song will you be singing?”

The serenity returned as the barricade of microphones awaited patiently for the hero’s response. “We’ll… uh,” Chat Noir tried to speak. “We’ll… be… keeping it a secret. It will be a surprise for the crowd.”

The many disappointed “Aw’s” ran past Chat Noir as he felt his fingers being crushed by a small, red and black hand. With every bone he felt snap, the smile he wore on his face became harder and harder to maintain. “We really should be going,” Ladybug excused the pair, “we really need to practice.”

Ladybug continued to grip onto Chat Noir’s fingers as she used her free hand to yo-yo them up onto the roof of a nearby building, out of view of the reporters below. She released her hold on the boy’s fingers and he quickly put them against his mouth, covering them with his other hand.

“Not that I mind holding your hand, but I never expected my lad-”

Before the last words left his mouth, he felt Ladybug’s hand push his own hand against it. She looked him in the eyes and sighed deeply. “Why did you accept that invitation?”

“Well,” he spoke, pushing his hand out and giving himself a small pocket of air, “I didn’t feel like it was right to reject an invitation to a charity event that helps children.”

“Did you know we would have to sing?”

“No, is that a problem?”

“Yes,” Ladybug exploded, “I can’t sing at all.”

Chat noir leaned one hand against a nearby wall and brushed the other through his hair. “It’s hard to imagine someone with a voice as beautiful as yours can’t sing.”

Ladybug sighed again and slid herself down a wall. “I guess there’s nothing I can do now. Unless there’s some magical way I can learn to sing by tomorrow.

Chat sauntered over to the defeated Ladybug and extended out a hand. “I’d be happy to teach you.”

“You,” Ladybug laughed as she looked up from the resting place on her arms, “sing?”

“Don’t act so surprised, I’ll have you know my friends tell me I sing rather well.”

“Well now I know you’re lying, but it’s not like I have much of a choice.”

Ladybug grabbed onto her partner's hand and let him lift her onto her feet. “First thing’s first,” she commanded, “we need a song, know any good ones?”

Chat noir placed a hand against his chin for a moment, continuing to make eye contact with Ladybug. “How about our song?”

“Our song?”

“Yea, our theme song. You know, the one Jagged Stone wrote in our honor.”

“Doesn’t that mean on of us needs to play the guitar?”

“If we played the original, yes, but there’s a version that someone made where they play the piano.”

“You know how to play the piano?”

“There are many things you do not know about me, my lady.”

Chat Noir pulled out his baton and clicked it open. He pressed down on several buttons before tossing it to Ladybug. On the screen displayed the lyrics to the suggested song under the subtitles “Soloist 1” and “Soloist 2”

Ladybug scrolled through the lyrics. “Which soloist am I?”

“Number 1, of course.”

“You say that like it’s obvious.”

“Isn’t it? Soloist two sings about their undying love for soloist one, so that should obviously be me.”

“Wha-”

“And soloist one sings about the handsome guy they’re pining after-” Chat flexed the muscles on his arms “-doesn’t that remind you of someone?”

Ladybug giggled and slapped Chat noir with his baton. “You’re unbearable.”

“It’s all a part of the Chat Noir charm.”

The next day came faster than either hero was expecting, Marinette had only gotten an hour of so of practice with Chat Noir in before she had to leave. In his defense, he really wasn’t that bad of a singer, but she was still going to flop on stage. “Hello, earth to Marinette?”

Her friend’s voice broke Marinette out of her distressing thoughts. “Sorry, Alya, my mind was gone.”

“Probably dreaming about Adrien again. Anyway, I asked if you were going to the charity event at the Eiffel tower tonight.”

“I don’t know, Alya.”

“Ladybug and Chat noir will be there and they’re going to sing.”

“I think-”

“Sing, Marinette, sing.”

“I think I’m going to sit this one out, but make sure to have enough fun for the both of us.”

“Girl,” Alya lightly pushed Marinette, “you know I do that even when you’re with me.”

The two girls entered the small pastry shop and the warmth and smell of heaven rushed over them. “Alright, girl, I’ll catch you tomorrow,” Alya hugged Marinette goodbye before she disappeared out of the doorway.

Marinette flopped down on her bed. “What am I going to do, Tikki?”

Tikki flew out of her purse and in front of Marinette’s face. “Do you think you’re ready for the show?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to sing in front of anyone, ever.”

“You sounded fine in front of Chat Noir yesterday.” “But that was only one person, what do I do when there’s thousands of them?”

“Well, do you think Chat Noir would be willing to help?”

“Maybe, it’s probably worth a shot. Alright, Tikki, transform me.”

A sudden flash of light projected from Marinette’s room and Ladybug now stood in its center. She whipped her yo-yo off her belt and opened it up. She dialed in Chat noir’s number and hit call. It only took a second of ringing before Chat Noir picked up.

“Hello, my lady,” he spoke, with the sound of wind rushing past in the background.

“Chat, where are you?”

“Just getting in my daily exercise before the big event.”

“That isn’t for another couple hours.”

“We’re supposed to show up in an hour.”

“An hour?”

“Yes, something about sound levels and accommodating for our ‘superhero needs’. Do you know what that means?”

“Listen, Chat, do you think you could help me out.”

“With?”

“With my singing.”

“Don’t tell me the famous Ladybug is also nervous.”

“I… ugh… alright, you caught me. I just want to sound my best in front of everybody.”

“Oh, Bugaboo, you already sound wonderful. But, if you want me to make you sound even better, I’m at your service. Where shall we meet?”

“You remember that statue of us?”

“How could I ever forget.”

Ladybug landed behind the baton twirling cat and placed a hand on his shoulder, causing an audible gasp. “My Lady,” he spoke between deep breaths, “you startled me.”

“I thought you were supposed to be the more observant one?”

“I guess cute little ladybugs can slip under my radar.”

Chat’s flirt didn't seem to faze Ladybug’s intense concentration, there was something on her mind. “What... what happens if I mess up,” she muttered, her eyes still locked on the ground in front of her, “what if they laugh at me?”

“Ladybug,” Chat spoke with an almost scornful manner, “the only thing you have to worry about is your worrying.”

Ladybug looked back at her partner. His face had transformed from his sly grin to a genuine smile. He placed his hands on both her shoulders and stared deeply into her big blue eyes as they gazed back. “I know that you sound amazing, like heaven itself sent down its most talented angel. Trust me, even if you do forget a word or miss your cue, everyone will be too distracted by your angelic voice.”

She sighed deeply. “Thanks, Chat, but I still don't feel like I can perform in front of that many people. It's just so overwhelming, how do you deal with it.”

“Well-” he pulled both his hands away from Ladybug “-do you me to answer honestly?”

“Yes.”

“I kind of… maybe… imagine that they're all you.”

Chat cringed with anticipation of Ladybug’s remark of the creepiness of what he just said. He didn't dare open his eyes.

“What?” She asked quietly.

“What?”

“Why?”

“Well… you're my partner, so I know that even if I do screw up or do something bad, you'll still be there.”

Chat watched as Ladybug’s face turned from confusion to admiration and continued, “I just imagine that they're someone I can trust, someone who will be there to catch me when I trip on my baton and not criticize me for my clumsiness.”

“Thanks, Chat, I'll try to imagine them as someone I trust.”

“Good to hear, My lady. Still up for some last minute practice?”

“You didn't think I'd call you all the way out here for a little pep talk, did you?”

Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived almost half an hour after their allotted practice time began. The crew members of the show didn't look too pleased to see the two superheroes of Paris, instead, they hooked two black boxes that connected to microphones up to whatever thing was closest to a belt on each costume. The mic that ran over Ladybug’s ear rubbed uncomfortably against it, and she kept moving it around. The two were shoved onto the stage and given a thumbs up by a man behind a board with many buttons and sliders.

Chat took a deep breath before opening up with his rendition of ‘Ave Maria’, he applied a strained look to his face as each note left his mouth. A few moments later, the man behind the board gave another thumbs up and glanced to Ladybug. She looked over to Chat, her eyes begging for help.

He covered his mic. “Just do some warm ups.”

Ladybug nodded and began to sing whatever note came to her mind. Her voice flowed in every direction as she pushed herself to keep singing. She moved her eyes to get a view of anyone in audible range. Chat seemed to glow as he watched her sing. The man behind the board was listening to a pair of headphones and adjusting the sliders. The other crew members who were setting up banners and tables stopped to listen, they didn't seem to hate it. When she stopped singing, Chat Noir was the one to give her a thumbs up.

“Alright,” the man behind the board approached the two heroes, “you two should be all set up for the show, we'll do a quick check up with the equipment before we start. This stage can only support up to three thousand pounds, so try not to stomp on it too hard. That should be everything, but if there's something we can do to help, come find someone with ‘Crew’ written on their shirts. Okay?”

“Alright, thank you.”

“No problem.”

For next two and a half hours, Ladybug and Chat Noir sat in their provided chairs behind the stage and practiced their song one more time. A few crew members came by to check if they had everything they needed and another asked Chat Noir if their piano was to his liking.

Ten minutes before the show was due to begin, a man in a suit approached the two heroes. “Hello, Ladybug and Chat Noir, I'm glad we've gotten this opportunity to work together.”

“This is exciting for all of us,” Chat Noir responded, almost bouncing in his seat, “Monsieur?”

“Monsieur Moreau.”

A crew member ran up to Moreau and shoved a microphone into his hands and ushered him onto the steps to the stage. Even when he was pushed, Moreau seemed to maintain his gentlemanly swagger.

“Good Evening, Paris,” Ladybug could hear every word spoken through a speaker pointed out the back of the stage, “how are you all doing tonight?”

“Good, good. Ladies and Gentleman, I want to thank you all for coming out tonight for this amazing charity event. I just want to say, isn't today just the most gorgeous day ever? I mean, the sun's gone and it's still too hot for this tuxedo.”

Ladybug couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny, but there was only one laugh that could be heard amid the sea of faces. “Anyway, we have an amazing show for you tonight, full of some of the best performers. Our first performance needs no introduction from me…”

Moreau’s voice trailed off as Chat Noir grabbed onto Ladybug’s hand and dragged her to the stairs leading up to the stage. Moreau continued, “Please put your hands together for Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

The sound wave of the claps rocketed into Ladybug’s body and her feet sunk deeper into the ground. Chat Noir gripped tighter knot her hand and walked up on stage, Ladybug’s feet dragging against the floor.

The familiar wall of light that came from cameras blinded Ladybug once more and as the vision returned, the crowd was revealed. In front of her stood an ocean of thousands of smiling and cheering faces, all staring at directly at her. The cheers of the crowd fell silent and the only sound Ladybug could her was that of her own heart. I'm not ready

Chat Noir leaned over to his stationary partner. “You ready?”

Chat Noir took a step forward and all the eyes were drawn to him. “Good Evening, Paris!”

The crowd responded with a large cheer that only made Chat Noir’s smile larger and Ladybug’s heart sink. 

“Ladies and Gentleman,” Chat Noir continued, “are you ready for a show?”

The screaming became even more intense as Chat Noir began to play their song. Ladybug stepped forward, letting the spotlight fall onto her. A silence fell over the crowd. Just imagine they're all Alya… or Chat.

“Another day,” she began to sing, her body still motionless and stuff, “I’m back at school. I think about him, he’s so cool. He looks at me, I look away. But does he see me anyway?”

Chat Noir continued to play the piano and slowly moving it closer to Ladybug. Before her next cue, Chat Noir grabbed her hand and spun her like a top.

The backup vocals kicked in through the speakers.“Oh-oh-oh!”

“He’s got me spinning around,” Ladybug sang with her voice shaking as she recreated her words with her action.

“Oh-oh-oh!”

Ladybug grabbed onto Chat Noir’s shoulders and swung her feet upwards until she was completely upside down. “My feet are off the ground.”

“Oh-oh-oh!”

Ladybug landed on one knee and one hand slamming onto the stage “And when the sun goes down. That’s what I become…”

“Miraculous,” several dim lights shot up with intensity as Ladybug hit the chorus, “Simply the best! Up to the test when things go wrong! Miraculous, the luckiest! The power of love, always so strong!”

Chat Noir watched with admiration as Ladybug became more comfortable with the millions of eyes watching them. He became mesmerized by the fluid like movements of her body as she elegantly danced around the stage. He could feel his own smile show itself every time Ladybug would look back at him. As she sung her last note, she looked back to Chat Noir, who pushed away his keyboard and let the speaker system play the music.

“I am a cat,” he began his verse, “just chillin’ out.”

He tried to place an arm around Ladybug, but she slipped underneath, causing him to fall onto the floor of the stage with one leg in the air and resting his head on his hand. “But in the night,” he fell onto his stomach, resting his head in both his hands and looking up at Ladybug, “she’s all that I think about. I feel so strong when she’s around.”

Ladybug threw her yo-yo up into the supports and back down around Chat Noir. “She picks me up,” as he sang, the yo-yo around him pulled him back onto his feet, “when I am down.”

“Oh-oh-oh,” the backup vocals return.

Chat waved his finger back and forth, “Oh no you’ll never know.”

“Oh-oh-oh!”

He shaped his hands into a heart and pounded it against his chest, “My love can only grow.”

“Oh-oh-oh!”

Ladybug watched as her partner poorly danced his way over to her, what she first thought to be his sly grinned seemed to turn more genuine with each step closer. He placed the tips of his fingers and his thumb against her cheek. She felt the leather of his suit glide across her skin as suggestive noises arose from the crowd. The beat that her heart seemed to skip stopped her from hearing his line, but before she knew it, Chat Noir transferred the singing back to ladybug with a flick of her nose.

“Miraculous! Simply the best,” as Ladybug sang, her mind wandered to her partner while he danced with the moves belonging to a man three times his age. “Up to the test when things go wrong!”

Ladybug reached out her hand, not expecting the pull into her partner’s chest. She looked up to her partner’s blushing face and he looked away from the audience. She stole his smirk and looked right into the audience. “Miraculous, the luckiest! The power of love always so strong!”

Ladybug felt the rise of her partner's chest as both of them hit the long note. She could feel herself losing air and her sound started to become strained. Chat Noir glanced down at his struggling partner and braced himself.

He spun Ladybug around, letting her catch her breath as her head moved, and dipped her. As the note ended, Chat Noir felt his eyes being pulled into the two deep blue seas in Ladybug's head. The music died down and the two heroes stood stationary, looking at each other. Ladybug mimicked Chat’s hand movement from earlier against his cheek.

“My Lady,” Chat whispered, “that was purr-”

She removed her hand from his face and shot him a face of disgust.

“Perfect.”

“Kiss, Kiss, Kiss,” the crowd began.

As the words of the crowd entered Chat’s ears, his face began to flush with red color and he gripped tighter onto Ladybug’s sides. “Well,” his voice cracked, “we can’t disappoint the crowd.”

Ladybug looked away from Chat’s eyes, taking away the smile from her face. “Uhh,” he quietly tried to correct himself, “we… we don’t have to if you-”

Ladybug swung her arms around Chat’s neck and pulled herself up and ran her lips against his. It was only for a brief moment, but Chat could still feel the softness of her lips run along his and the taste of the lip gloss she wore. Chat closed his eyes and pushed himself harder into Ladybug, craving the feeling of her silky lips against his own.