#or for Marinette to finally put her feelings aside

[nahblubunny]

‼️‼️MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE LATEST EPISODES OF SEASON 5‼️‼️

Sorry to be THAT person… the miraculous are no longer their former form, they’re now rings that Monarch keeps hidden under his gloves during his civilian self so he can ✨Magically✨transfer the essence of the Kwamii to each and every Alliance Ring that was helped created with Kagamii’s mother. Another reason he created those rings was to pinpoint exactly who Ladybug and Cat Noir were because if they’re forced to fight an akuma, and they’re wearing those rings(which they don’t anyways seeing as they saw that danger of if they wore them) then Gabriel would be notified about who took their rings off, the unusual patterns of a normal civilian during A Megakuma Alert.

There are so many stupid aspects of the "the miracuclass gets to keep their miraculouses full time after Monarch is defeated" thing it's a little ridiculous but I suppose they're all just going to ignore that all their friends suddenly have new jewelry that they inexplicably can't take off right after Ladybug gets the miraculouses back. Is Kim going to wear the monkey headpiece in the pool. Can the horse disguise itself as prescription lenses or does Max just have to wear 2 sets of glasses now

Someone with artistic skills pls draw the madness

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously: Unearned Defeat

Maybe it's the bitter Chloe Stan in me, but I genuinely do hate how her (And Lila's, frankly) "Downfall" in S5 was never actually about her bullying victims coming together as a community/group to finally stand up for themselves, but about the writers taking every opportunity possible to mock her (and her fans indirectly) because they were that desperate to get the audience onboard with her constant on-screen ridicule. Marinette wasn't allowed to actually stand up for herself against her, to get others to stand up for themselves, to get the class and their teachers to put their feet down in face of her cruelty and commands and finally say "No. I don't care if you're going to call your dad down to have me fired/expelled/exiled. I'm noting doing what you asked. I refuse to buckle under your threats anymore. The answer is no."

Instead, it's 27 episodes (and two specials) of "Isn't Chloe so stupid and dumb? Look at how stupid and dumb she is! She's too dumb to tell Felix and Adrien apart despite being their friend for years. She's too dumb to hide the fact that she hasn't been doing her own homework since Primary. She's too dumb to know Gabriel's tricking her into taking over Paris. She can't even spell 'Democracy' or scheme without Lila needing to hold her hand! What a moron, am I right?". Her friendship with Adrien gets ended over a randomly inserted event from a year ago rather than her steadily growing toxicity that's clearly changed her from the girl he befriended years before, just so Chloe can rant and rave about how evil (and stupid) she is, too much so to even apologize. Sabrina gets downgraded from friend/lackey to punchingbag/slave with nearly zero explanation on how the transition happened, before suddenly being inserted with morals during a scheme (when the upset's clearly more about her being upstaged by Lila) when she barely showed any remorse/reluctance before now and throwing Chloe under the bus to save herself under the excuse of "redeeming herself" to prove further that Chloe is too dumb and stupid to appreciate her friends. Her father, who constantly indulged her whims and turned the whole city upsidedown in her name even when unasked, calls her "Selfish and heartless" to a close friend, and barely reflects on how he might of had a hand in how that came to be, before tossing her to her neglectful mother as a "they deserve each other" punishment for her stupidity and evil. An entirely new character is introduced specifically to talk about how evil and stupid Chloe is and blaming her for her expulsion before getting casually tossed aside. An evil version of Marinette's existence is all but directly blamed on Chloe's bullying rather than the post-apocalyptic villainous dictatorship she lives under that forbids helping people, and even then, nothing comes of the mention as it just exist to remind the audience that Chloe is evil and stupid - even in alternate universes. We dedicated a section of the London special on how Chloe's too evil and stupid to change just to have it there (instead of actual being in London so the episode name would make some sense). Her defeat doesn't come from a clever plan, or the power of cooperation, or even love in the face of difficulty - instead, it comes from spyware and the heroes deciding "Nuhuh" as their transformation timers run out and the narrative shrugging before giving them a freebie by claiming they've "Grown up" without explaining how.

Even when Marinette is finally given the chance to shut Chloe down, it just...rings hollow, because it more about making Chloe look foolish and letting us laugh at her tears than making Marinette seem strong for finally standing up to the girl who's apparently tormented her since they were in diapers and yet somehow she's been beating the blonde down for the past 2-4 seasons with minimum effort. And even, it feels unearned because not only has Marinette not been allowed to build up to her defeat of Chloe to this point, she isn't the one who took her down anyways - convenience did the job for her and she just showed up at the right time to reap the benefits.

Marinette and all the people Chloe hurt should have been given this chance to grow and finally get back their agency from her, to finally defeat Chloe on their own - but instead, they're made passive players and props to the writers personal hit pieces against the loud fan minority on twitter, because a group of adults decided their personal hateboner against the fictional child antagonist they created was far more important than the story they were supposed to tell

[geekgirles]

Liar Revealed

So Marinette and Sabrina worked together to lure Lila into a false sense of security that eventually led up to her spilling everything in front of an audience she was unaware of. Now everyone knows she’s been lying about everything, she’s a horrible person, and she and Chloé are about to be expelled for good... After 7 years, the fandom finally got what it wanted.

...then why do I feel like I’ve actually wasted those 7 years of my life? 

Buckle up, ‘cause this is going to be a long ride.

As someone who’s been eagerly awaiting for Lila to be exposed since Volpina, a feeling that only grew with each passing episode she’s been featured in, I honestly find this development wholly underwhelming, highly disappointing, even. 

Maybe I’m too vindictive, who knows, but this in no way feels like proper comeuppance for a character who’s been maliciously manipulating everyone around her and relishing in other people’s misery since she was first introduced.

First and foremost, because having Lila accidentally reveal herself while gloating is too much of a cliché. I’ve seen people before mentioning how Lila exposing herself seemed to be the only way this could go, seeing as Marinette’s best attempts always seemed to fail. But if we ignore for a second this was actually set up by Marinette and Sabrina, with the way it’s handled it just feels like a kick in the gut, not the overwhelming catharsis I’m sure most of us were expecting. 

Because, and this is actually my main problem with the execution, by having Lila expose herself by spouting a self-satisfied tirade of every single lie she’s ever told and people have believed without question as she disparages Sabrina’s attempts to take her down, saying how she could easily turn everyone against her, the narrative is actually framing Lila in the right.

When we as the audience know it shouldn’t be like that. 

Lila only really upped her game in season 5 (and even then the writers still rely too much on the characters being dumbed down around her for it to work), up until then all her lies would have been easily discreditable if the writers didn’t need the class and everyone in Paris to believe her for her schemes to work!

From our perspective, Lila is nowhere near as formidable as she presents herself to be. Which, admittedly, goes in line with her consistent characterisation (about her only consistent trait aside from being hateful and a liar) that she believes and presents herself to be more special than she actually is. But the problem is no character other than Marinette, Adrien, and now Sabrina ever learnt of this fact! Maybe now that she’s exposed herself, but with the way she gloated about all her plans going off without a hitch...

Which leads us to another reason this was the worst possible execution of Lila being exposed they could have come up with:

It was a stroke of luck.

That’s it. That’s unquestionably what it was. Because hadn’t Sabrina finally grown a spine and drawn the line with the actions she was willing to commit for Chloé’s sake, Marinette would have had no way of knowing of Lila’s plan and preparing accordingly. 

Really, the only positive thing I can say about it is that it could maybe count as character development for Marinette since she finally learned she needed to be as sneaky as Lila if she wanted to take her down. And there’s of course the fact that Sabrina finally broke away from Chloé. Other than that? It’s a fairly sombre scenario, really. 

Because, again, Marinette didn’t manage to finally beat Lila because she had a strong support network (which would have painted a very symbolic and meaningful picture showcasing how, for all the superficial attention her lies can get her, in reality, Lila will always be alone as long as she doesn’t put in the genuine effort to reach out to others like Marinette does), but because she had outside help. Again, help she couldn’t have accounted for until Sabrina herself reached out to her. 

Relating to my previous point, Marinette never got Alya to even believe her about Lila or at the very least question how genuine she was until Lila spelled it out for her. Even though she’s known her best friend is Ladybug for months, which brings forth the question if letting Alya in on Marinette’s secret ended up being even worth it if the writers refuse to have her help her out where it matters (I’ll be sure to go back to this point in a minute, just you wait). 

What else? Oh, I know! How about the fact that, for a season that was supposed to be all about Adrienette winning, the writers purposely robbed us of that Adrienette vs Lila alliance we were promised back in Chameleon, huh? Because Adrien was completely left out of the plan. In fact, ever since Ladybug back in season 3, he hasn’t been allowed to do anything to help Marinette against Lila. As with the Ladynoir conflict in season 4, his relevance all but vanished even though he was a central part of the conflict from seasons 1-3. 

Even better! When he finally spoke up about Lila to Nino and Alya, arguably his best friends besides Ladybug, they completely brushed his concerns off as him just agreeing with Marinette out of boyfriend obligation! I didn’t know intangible things could slap me in the face, but boy was I wrong!

And the best part? This complete disregard of his feelings, lack of communication, and their assuming they know better than him (which disturbingly parallels to his own relationship with Gabriel...) is certainly never going to be explored, let alone resolved. 

What do I mean with all this?

Well, basically that for a show that’s supposed to promote the power of love, friendship, and teamwork, when it comes to Lila Marinette is all alone. Has been since Volpina. 

But at least that’s done with, Lila got her just desserts, and we’re never going to have to deal with her ever again...

SIGH

Except, not really. Not at all, in fact. 

Because just as she and Chloé were finally being reprimanded for their actions, Mr. Damocles had to choose that of all moments to realise he failed as a principal, attract an akuma, cause a racket, and provide Lila with the perfect distraction to just...walk away unscathed. 

And with the reveal that she actually has more identities, social circles, and opportunities to lie and manipulate to fall back to after being expelled from the Françoise-Dupont...Let’s just say it implies that while Marinette (and the audience) had to endure nothing short of psychological torture, Lila never really had anything to lose.

Now I ask you...how the Hell am I supposed to consider that a satisfying, cathartic resolution to that particular arc?!?!?!?

And if you permit me, there is one more thing I’d like to get off my chest. 

Alya’s reaction to this.

After learning the truth she rushes to hug Marinette and apologise, being a clear wreck about it. And while Marinette getting an apology once in a blue moon is always a welcomed thing, once again the writers aim and completely miss their shot. Because Alya apologises for being gullible. 

Look, back in seasons 1 and 2, Hell, even back in season 3, I could have overlooked this. Yes, she never listened to Marinette, could be a tad hypocritical, and the whole jealous thing got old and annoying fast, but at least she couldn’t know for certain Lila was bad news. But from season 4 onwards Alya no longer has such an excuse. No, from season 4 onwards Alya’s problem isn’t that she’s gullible, it’s that she willingly and repeatedly chose to blatantly ignore all of Marinette’s suspicions and warnings regarding Lila. Even after Adrienette finally became canon and Marinette had realistically no reason to feel jealous of Lila in any way, shape or form, Alya still couldn’t fathom that, perhaps, her best friend had her reasons for disliking Lila besides a love triangle. 

The moment Alya learned Marinette is Ladybug, the two should have been allowed to talk about Lila, about the real reason Marinette hates her, and to work together to overcome this issue and bring her down. How do you expect me to be okay with season 5 opening to these two having daily sleepovers to talk about Marinette’s love life, but not a single second could be spared after Illusion to have Alya question why Marinette hates her so much, if not connect the dots herself since she is Ladybug’s best friend, not Lila, and Ladybug hates her?

I’ve seen people justify this saying it’s been a long time since Lila lied about being Ladybug’s best friend, and while I’ll argue the last time it was mentioned was actually Chameleon, not Volpina, I could see your point. Except that is not just another lie, like her claiming she knows Jagged Stone or Prince Ali. No, that is the lie that started everything.

It was because Lila lied about knowing Ladybug to impress everyone, especially Adrien, that Marinette completely lost it and chewed her out for it in front of him. It’s because of that lie and the consequent reaction it got from Ladybug that Lila even developed a grudge in the first place. It’s because of that lie that Marinette ever found out about Lila being a liar, because before she first lied to Adrien about being close to Ladybug, Marinette was panicking because she had no chance against someone as incredible as her. If she hadn’t lied about knowing Ladybug, Marinette would have been as fooled by her as everyone else and the two might have never really come to blows.

So don’t tell me it was never brought up because it was so long ago and it doesn’t matter anymore, when that particular lie carries so much weight and we all know the real reason they couldn’t have Alya in Marinette’s corner is because the writers know Lila needs everyone around her to follow her blindly for her lies to work and everything to always work out in her favour because otherwise she just doesn’t work as a villain.

TL;DR: If you want a good resolution to the Lila Gets Exposed plot, pick literally any fanfic dealing with this exact premise. It’ll be better, I promise.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Do you think that Ms. Bustier is overhated?

Not particularly. I don't have any strong feelings about her, but she's clearly a terrible teacher who is in way over her head. I totally understand why she sets some people off. If she was a real person that I actually had to deal with, then she'd probably set me off, too, because she so perfectly encapsulates toxic positivity. If you're not familiar with that term, then here's a quick definition:

Toxic positivity is the act of avoiding, suppressing, or rejecting negative emotions or experiences. This may take the form of denying your own emotions or someone else denying your emotions, insisting on positive thinking instead. Although setting aside difficult emotions is sometimes necessary temporarily, denying negative feelings long term is harmful because it can prevent people from processing their emotions and overcoming their distress.

Read that definition and then look at this scene from Zombiezou:

Marinette: But Miss Bustier, it's so not fair! It was Chloé, pulling another...Chloé! And...I'm the one who's getting in trouble?! Miss Bustier: Of course you're not in trouble, don't worry! As the class representative, I want you to set a good example for your classmates. Don't give into feelings of anger. Try to forgive Chloé instead. Marinette: I don't get it... Chloé is the meanest person I've ever known. Miss Bustier: Come on... There are much worse people in Paris right now than Chloé Bourgeois. I'm sure people like Chloé are capable of great things. The problem is, they only think of themselves. They don't understand the meaning of love, and we can't force them to change. But perhaps we can show them by setting a good example. That's why Marinettes are so important in today's world; because they have a lot of love to give. I'm counting on you. Marinette: Yes, Miss Bustier.

This is toxic positivity in action. Marinette is told to set aside her extremely valid feelings as if anger is a terrible thing, but it isn't. All emotions have their place and ignoring them can do real harm, a lesson that Miraculous really struggles with. It seems to see "negative" emotions as bad and they're really not. What matters is how we express and address our emotions, not that we experience them. If you want to see a family friendly piece of media do this topic right, then go watch Pixar's Inside Out.

There's also the fact that Chloé is never punished for her actions in this episode. She ruined a gift that probably took Marinette hours and yet Miss Bustier puts the onus to fix things on Marinette, blaming the victim and doing nothing to actually fix the situation. Canon mildly complicates this with Chloé's father's willingness to meddle, making punishing her apparently impossible, but Miss Bustier doesn't even acknowledge that here. The stated logic is that you need to be nice to your bully and that will hopefully magically fix things, which is a terrible lesson that I don't want any kid to learn! What kind of logic is that?

I'll admit that I'm a big fan of "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind," but that doesn't mean that you should never acknowledge harm or fight back. It just means that you need to be measured in your responses and pick your battles wisely. If this episode was about that, then I'd be fine with it, but that's not the lesson here. There is no point where the wrong done to Marinette is even mildly acknowledged. Miss Bustier's initial reaction to seeing Marinette's ruined gift is:

Miss Bustier: Well, I think this present is wonderful. It'll be my new cosmetics bag! Then I'll be able to think of both of you every time I use it.

And we go straight from that to the toxic positivity.

Something is wrong with this woman. You shouldn't even take this approach with preschoolers! While I could see this being a good final solution to something like Chloé scribbling on Marinette's drawing, Chloé's behavior still needs to be addressed. She is still the one in the wrong here. The one whose behavior needs to change.

This is one of many cases where there are two paths to take with this character. The writers clearly want Miss Bustier to be a wonderful teacher, but they wrote a victim-blaming disaster who shouldn't be in charge of anyone. If you're ever adapting her, then it's up to you if you want to redesign her into her intended self or if you want to lean into the bad writing. I think both paths have merit because the writing is so bad that there is no way to make canon Caline work as a good teacher. She's too fundamentally flawed so you either acknowledge how awful she is or do a major overhaul where she's much less forgiving and actually acknowledges things like the Chloé problem.

[baenyth]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Rewrite: The Romance Subplot for the Planned Seasons

One of my goals for my rewrite is to make the romance subplot of the series less drawn-out, more cathartic, feature more of the side ships of Lukanette, Adrigami, and even Marichat, and also get more gay. So without further ado, here's the romance subplot for the first five seasons:

Season 1 (Equivalent to seasons 1 and 2, twice the length of a normal season): Basic lovesquare antics. Marinette loves Adrien, but not Chat Noir. Adrien loves Ladybug, but not Marinette. They're also both fucked-up. Marinette knows Adrien's schedule and far too many personal details about him. Adrien as Chat acts entitled to Ladybug's love and even causes an akuma with his entitlement. He does get raked over the coals for that and after Glaciator/the Ice Cream akuma becomes far more respectful towards Ladybug, but still harbors love for her. He starts to move on from her after Frozer/the Ice Skating akuma, however.

Season 2 (Equivalent to season 3): The love square reversal happens a few episodes in. Yes, really. Adrien gets over Ladybug in favor of Marinette, while Marinette tries to put her feelings of Adrien aside to prove to her class that she isn't just jealous of Lila and targets Chat Noir instead. She does act salty at Kagami for a few episodes, however. During the kwamiswap Lady Noire is utterly down bad for Mister Bug as they fight All Eyes on Mecha. Desperada's arc of Ladybug picking Adrien in favor of Luka is replaced with picking Chat in favor of Luka. The season 5 episode where Marinette and Chat Noir go on a date and gets the ice cream man akumatized occurs here. Alya has doubts about Marinette's crush. She's right, and eventually Marinette realizes that and goes back to Adrien. Since the two are in love with eachother, things work out quickly and easily and they get together and kiss by the season finale.

Season 3 (Equivalent to seasons 3 and 4): On the first episode of Season 3 Adrienette has a horrific messy breakup after Adrien discovers the Schedule and similar things. I was thinking of putting it four episodes in, but I decided 1. it would be better if it was the beginning of the season and 2. I want Adrienette fans to feel the same despair I felt as a Lukanette and Adrigami fan at the start of season 4. The rest of the season focuses on the aftermath of this nightmare breakup. Ladybug and Chat Noir comfort and give advice to each other about the breakup and coalesce into a queerplatonic couple. They still don't figure out their identities because they're dumb teens. Marinette and Adrien start dating Luka and Kagami respectively halfway through the season and their relationships get plenty of time to shine. Marinette genuinely falls in love with Luka. Same with Adrien and Kagami. The love square is dead. Good riddance. Thankfully, Marinette does apologize to Adrien, and they make up and become just friends.

Season 4 (Equivalent to season 4): Here's some context: in the Season 3 finale, Hawkmoth was finally defeated but not Coeur, the woman behind Hawkmoth. What's worse is 1. Master Fu had to abdicate guardianship to Ladybug and 2. Coeur managed to discover multiple hero identities. So now Ladybug is working overtime creating guardian potions and doing nightly patrols to check up on everyone who got exposed. She's getting stressed, she's burning herself out, and so her parents start helping her with her guardian duties (they've known since season 1,) giving Ladybug a support group that she's not telling Chat Noir about. And kittycat's getting suspicious. He knows Ladybug's not telling him information and in general he feels like he's on the level of the side heroes rather than one of the main two, causing relationship troubles in their queerplatonic couple. Chat Noir starts training to compensate for this, to the point where he awakening his fullest Miraculous powers (infinite cataclysms!). All of this hard work for both of them causes strain in their civilian relationships, and they unfortunately have to break up because of it and because they can't tell Luka/Kagami their secret identities. And then Luka accidentally finds out both heroes' identities while Kagami manages to figure them out on her own. As for the stuff between Ladybug and Chat Noir, it gets resolved by Cat Walker, although here Ladybug is more unnerved by Cat Walker, and she apologizes to Chat Noir and lets him as much in the loop as she can without compromising her identity.

Season 5 (Equivalent to season 5 except not really): Ladybug and Chat Noir are back as a queerplatonic couple, baby! The two of them against the world! And also the other heroes! The fun parts come from their civilian relationships. Luka and Kagami, now that they know our heroes' identities, start dating them again, but the other way around. Lukadrien and Marigami. These relationships are arguably better than the other ones, too. Luka and Adrien share so much in common that they really get eachother, while Marinette is more comfortable with her sexuality and has a girlfriend that pushes her to be more, and Kagami has a loving relationship with little-to-no secrets! Rose is ecstatic. Tomoe is pissed because no Adrigami. Also, at the end of the season, after Coeur fucking dies and Felix, her last minion, is arrested for being a butt, we finally get an identity reveal between Ladybug and Chat Noir! And if this ends up as the series finale, Lukadrien and Marigami converge into the polycule of the gods, Lukadrigaminette!

[ilikekidsshows]

Often I see "Any time Adrien feels awful the writers put Marinette through the emotional wringer so he puts his needs aside to help her" used to explain what is happening in the show, but tbh, I wouldn't call that entirely accurate

What happens is that Marinette cries louder and in more destructive ways, that doesn't make what she goes through worse. Marinette by now becomes an emotional wreck any moment she feels discomfort or is challenged in some way.

Just because she always has huge reactions to anything that doesn't go her way doesn't it mean it's actually THAT bad when you put it into perspective with other characters.

That's what I already felt was the case in season 4. The amount of times Marinette lost her mind at any little challenge she faced made her rather seem like a questionable protagonists since her priorities never lead to anything worthwhile. They just have her panic as a cheap way to have her brute force her way through the narrative because that's supposed to excuse all the victims of her actions and behaviour.

But having her 24/7 panic and cry is just not enough to change the fact that most of her "problems" aren't real problems, they just always have her go about everything in the worst possible way and then story blames everyone else for her shit priorities.

Yes, she had no guidance, but 1) Suhan was yet another character girlbossed into submission bc he wasn't allowed to have any point whatsoever cause "how else can Marinette be the true Queen of the Miraculous?". Doesn't mean he wasn't THERE. Adrien in Furious Fu even asked Suhan to fucking HELP them with his experience, that's more willingness to be reasonable about the guardian situation and learn than Marinette EVER was. It was her either entirely HER way or entirely SUHANS way.

And 2) does she need to have her hand held that much that she cant be expected to know that making any kind of effort to FIND Hawkmoth is more important than making her useless team of yes men? but I guess we all know why they had her prioritize the yes men.

If Marinette really is so emotionally instable and confused that she can't possibly be asked to do her job and look for the villain she was chosen to defeat then how is that not clear proof that Marinette is a shit guardian choice. Ironically, if Suhan had actually taken LB's and CN's Miraculous and the Miracle Box and given them to adults, then the new heros might have even CARED to end this fight.

In hindsight, pretty much everything reflects even worse on Marinette when it already didn't look too well for her in season 4. But damn, Marinette is all around a pretty fatal failure. The team was a waste of time, all the privileges Alya got on Adrien's expense proved themselves entirely wasted on her in season 5 too (dgmw, I truly like her, but that's just objectively the case. Everything Alya got that Cat Noir got denied was entirely wasted on her), Marinette never even tried finding Hawkmoth and only did so when Feligami did her entire job and made it possible for her to be present in the finale herself that hurt the entire word's population bc our main character put any little problem in her life before ever caring about the villain she was supposed to defeat.

If Kagami hadn't made Felix tell Marinette, Marinette would have spend the finale crying in her bed bc her boyfriend is gone. I always thought it was too harsh to say that Marinette is a badly chosen protagonist, but the show itself sure made that statement true. She just doesn't care about anything tat ever happens beyond how it affects herself. So we got nowhere.

---

I think this is a case of “how it started” versus “how it's going”, although the underlining theme of “Marinette cries harder over smaller problems than other characters have” has been there since the start. Like, I’m pretty sure I’ve said that almost word-for-word, I started off viewing Marinette’s emotional breakdowns as more justified, until I started to notice how many cases were just her blubbering because she was caught up in her own mistakes. Like, the New York Special and season four finale are understandable, she went through some shit anyone would need a cry over there. The problem was that even then Cat Noir also had justified or even bigger reasons to be upset, but he was forced to be fine for Marinette's sake but the same is never asked from Marinette. In addition, once I actually forced myself to watch the NY special again, I realized that, between “collateral damage in Paris she can't fix” and “Adrien has to leave a school trip early”, the school trip thing is the thing she cries about the hardest. Our heroine cares more about not seeing her crush for a few days than the supposed failure that made her turn her back on her partner.

That made me realize that it really was all about Marinette's own screwed up priorities. It's all about her love quest with only the minimum consideration given to her duties as a superhero and the Guardian of the Miraculous. Like, every time she makes some kind of effort in superheroics, it's way too late into the game and almost always some kind of nonsense that brings her no closer to actually stopping Hawk Moth. Like, she tracks where Akumas show up as late as season 5, when we already know Hawk Moth’s pattern by heart by then. Also the fucking Miraculous trick box she tinkered with and showed off that then ended up being pointless because she made it so convoluted she decided to put the Miraculouses up in cloud to make calling backup heroes easier. Making Alya her confidant led to more time being spent on making sure that Alya doesn't do anything Marinette doesn't approve than doing anything useful in the long term 

Félix and Kagami told her who Hawk Moth was and she did nothing with that info. She wasn't worried about what this would mean for Adrien, she was only worried that Gabriel was against their romantic relationship. Maybe, if Marinette had spared a single thought to her heroic duty outside of what's right in front of her nose, she wouldn't have had to quickly decide what to do and might not have ended up covering for Gabriel and feeling so bad about it. Like, I already know our protagonist can't be arsed to think about others, but she could have made things easier for herself, at least.

The only contest Marinette is winning is the Who Can Cry the Hardest contest. She's a fucking champ at blowing things out of proportion.

[findingdory9022]

─────── Almost Midnight ⋆｡𖦹°‧★

Prompt : It's 11:43 pm and your birthday is almost over. Sure your parents threw you a quick party but the person you wanted to see the most wasn't there. Adrien. With only 17 minutes left, does he wish you a happy birthday?

Pairings : Adrien x Reader, Genderneutral!reader

Warning : Some Angst (reader cries a bit). Mini-reveal (but we kinda gloss over it). Use of y/n.

A/N : I felt the need to write an x reader for some reason lol. How do you guys feel about my writing???

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Birthdays were supposed to be special. At least, that’s what Y/N always believed. They had imagined waking up to Adrien’s warm smile, a quick kiss on the cheek, and some adorably over-the-top gesture he’d definitely have planned. After all, Adrien was nothing if not thoughtful.

But the day had come and gone, and Adrien hadn’t so much as texted. Friends had remembered. Family had called. Even Marinette had dropped off some of her freshly baked macarons as a gift, which ended up being the best things they’d eaten today. But Adrien? Nothing.

Y/N sat on their bed, knees drawn to their chest, staring blankly at the clock on the wall. The bright red numbers glared back at them: 11:43 PM. The day was almost over, and the one person they wanted most hadn’t shown up. Tears welled up in their eyes as they sniffled quietly, the weight of disappointment finally crashing down.

Then came the knock.

Soft at first, like pebbles against glass. Y/N frowned, brushing away tears as they turned toward the window. Who could it possibly be at this hour? Slowly, they approached and pulled the curtains aside.

There, perched on their window ledge, was none other than Chat Noir.

“Mind letting me in, princess/prince?” he said with his usual cheeky grin, but something in his tone was softer than usual, almost... nervous.

Y/N hesitated, confused, but unlatched the window, stepping back as Chat Noir gracefully landed in their room. “What are you doing here?” they asked, their voice cracking slightly from the tears they tried to suppress.

Chat Noir didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. “I owe you an explanation,” he said, his grin faltering. 

Before Y/N could respond, a flash of green light filled the room. Their eyes widened in shock as the transformation dissolved, revealing none other than Adrien Agreste standing before them.

“Adrien...?” Y/N’s voice was barely above a whisper. She couldn’t believe it.

“I’m so sorry,” Adrien blurted, his green eyes filled with guilt. “I didn’t forget your birthday, I swear. I had everything planned. But then—” He gestured helplessly to the room, as if that explained everything.

“You were out fighting akumas,” Y/N realized, their heart sinking as the pieces began to click together.

Adrien nodded. “Three attacks. Back-to-back. Every time I thought I could slip away, something else happened. I didn’t want to cancel your surprise, but I couldn’t leave people in danger, either.”

Tears spilled down Y/N’s cheeks again, but this time, they weren’t out of sadness but worry. “You could’ve just told me,” they said softly, stepping closer.

Adrien’s shoulders sagged, his guilt plain as day. “I wanted to, but…” He hesitated, his hands fidgeting nervously. “Ladybug was already upset with me for being distracted lately, and I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t focused on being a good partner.” He sighed, a hand running through his messy hair, “Besides, I know how dangerous it is out there. If I told you and something happened because I couldn’t keep my head straight... I’d never forgive myself.”

Y/N’s heart ached at the vulnerability in his voice. “Adrien, you don’t have to carry all of that alone,” they said, stepping closer. “You’re allowed to have a life outside of being Chat Noir. I’d never want you to put yourself at risk just to make me happy.”

Adrien gave a small, bittersweet smile. “But you do make me happy. You’re the most important part of my life, and I didn’t want you to think I didn’t care about today. I care about you more than anything, I promise.”

He pulled a small basket from behind him, setting it on the bed. “I know it’s not much, but I brought your favorite snacks, the Zoro and Nami funko pop you wanted, and...” He held up a velvet box, opening it to reveal two matching necklaces. One had a tiny black cat charm, the other a delicate golden heart.

“They’re... beautiful,” Y/N said, their voice trembling.

Adrien smiled, unclasping the necklace with the heart charm. “May I?”

Y/N nodded, turning around so he could fasten it around their neck. The cool metal settled against their skin as Adrien’s hands lingered briefly on their shoulders.

“Happy birthday,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to their temple.

Y/N turned to face him, a small smile finally breaking through their tears. “Thank you,” they said, wrapping their arms around him tightly.

The two of them settled onto the bed, the basket forgotten for now. Adrien held Y/N close, their matching necklaces glinting faintly in the moonlight.

“It’s still your birthday for a few more minutes,” Adrien murmured, his voice laced with exhaustion.

“It doesn’t matter,” Y/N replied, resting their head against his chest. “You’re here now. That’s all I wanted.”

As the clock struck midnight, they drifted off to sleep, tangled together in a warm, peaceful embrace.

Borders From : @kimjiho1

[theerurishipper]

This is just an unstructured, incoherent vent post, but I've seen a few posts recently about how Adrien would definitely forgive Marinette for keeping secrets from him because he loves her, or that he would blame himself for not noticing what was going on and not her. And those aren't wrong, per se, but this is what I mean by the show taking away Adrien's agency. Ultimately his choices are allowed only as far as they do not inconvenience Marinette or anyone else the narrative cares about, like Felix or Nathalie. Which is why Adrien is not allowed to grow, he is not allowed to prioritize his own feelings and emotional needs. Any wrong done to him is resolved by him putting aside his own feelings to forgive the people who wronged him. And yes, he has been taught that his feelings don't matter by Gabriel and that he should bend over to the whims of everybody around him. And that kind of makes it worse, how the effect of Gabriel's abuse is used to convenience everyone around him. I think it's gross.

Just look at the Ladynoir conflict from Season 4. Adrien brings up his grievances with Ladybug's treatment of him a few times, but ultimately, he ends up putting it aside to focus on her emotional needs when she is at her lowest. Kuro Neko gave us the message that it wasn't that Ladybug was treating Chat Noir unfairly, but that Chat Noir should stop expecting to be treated with respect and should stop having emotional needs. And at the end of Strikeback, nothing is resolved, Ladybug hasn't apologized to him or resolved to do better by him, but he still shows up to her side to comfort her. No, she didn't apologize to him. She admitted her mistakes but did little to correct them even after the fact. That whole arc ended with Chat Noir being treated poorly over and over, and yet coming back to Ladybug's side because he's such a good partner and he loves her so much.

And Adrien, a character who has been forced his whole life to bend to the whims of others to please them at his expense is doing the same thing to Ladybug. Adrien exhibiting this behavior is 100% a trauma response. Ladybug is supposed to be his escape from his abusive homelife. And yet, the show writes him falling back into his trauma responses with her (Kuro Neko) and does jack shit to portray it as a bad thing. And the Season 4 finale is once again Adrien putting aside his feelings and showing up to support her. Adrien's emotions are not validated, they are tossed aside. Ladybug admitted her mistakes as she did several times through Season 4, but she still did little to correct them. That admission in Strikeback doesn't do much, because we never see her do anything to fix her mistakes after that. What happened was that Chat Noir saw her in distress and decided his feelings were unimportant because she needed support.

This is not healthy. Adrien should not be invalidating his own feelings so that he can offer comfort to others. He shouldn't forget and forgive so quickly without the other person doing anything to correct their behavior towards him. Once again, this is how Gabriel has taught him to behave, to stop "being so emotional" and to conform to his expectations. And Adrien continuously downplays his own issues for others' sake. And obviously, we would understand that he can heal from this, that he can learn to take care of his own emotional needs first.

And quite frankly, all the posts about how we shouldn't want Adrien and Marinette to break up, or how we shouldn't be so hard on Marinette, or that she is just a child in tough situation, or that she is doing it out of love and that Adrien would forgive her kinda make my point. Because let's be real. What Marinette did is a serious breach of trust. I do not understand how anyone could forgive something like that quickly. And I understand why she did it. I don't think she is a bad person or anything like that. But it's still an awful thing to do. And frankly, I don't see how Adrien could just... instantaneously forgive her without invalidating and downplaying his own pain and hurt. If he did, I would seriously question his self-worth. And while I don't think Adrien would never forgive Marinette or that he would stop loving her, frankly, I would like to see more acknowledgement of his feelings and his emotional needs both from the fandom and the show. I would like to see that his feelings matter, that he is allowed to be angry and that he is allowed to hold people accountable and call them out. I would like for him to not forgive some people. I would like for him to require distance and space from them. That would be development for Adrien, to let himself be emotional and not feel the need to put his own needs aside for others.

But for Adrien to prioritize himself, it would mean acknowledging the harmful things characters like Marinette have done to him. And that can't happen, because all the purpose Adrien serves is as a plot device to connect Marinette to Gabriel, and actually having her be held accountable by the narrative for her choices is a big no no. Growth for Adrien would mean that he lets himself be angry at Marinette for how she kept secrets from him, never apologized for it, and ultimately ended up keeping the greatest secret of all from him about his father and the fact that he is a Sentimonster. But as the writing to this point shows, Marinette isn't a safe space for him where he is allowed to be himself. She is someone who also elicits his trauma responses from him. He doesn't let himself be angry with her, he always puts himself last when it comes to her.

I am not saying Marinette is in any way comparable to Gabriel. She is nowhere as bad as him, she does not come close to that in any way. Marinette is a good person. But what she did in the finale, is explicitly something that Gabriel wanted her to do. Gabriel wanted to continue to dictate his son's emotions and perceptions, and Marinette helped him do it. That's not a healthy relationship. And looking at all the Marinette-Gabriel parallels in Season 5... it's not a good look at all. The show portrays Adrien as someone who has been denied autonomy his whole life, and as someone who is expected to cater to the desires of the people around him and be perfect for them while neglecting his emotional needs, and made his arc one of finding independence and his own identity and learning that his feelings and desires matter. But also, they only matter as far as they don't inconvenience Marinette. Adrien shouldn't downplay his feelings, but if doing so would help Marinette, then he should do it actually. And it's hard for me not to see it as Ladybug benefitting from his trauma from his abusive home. It sounds harsh, but that's how it feels.

And all the talk of how Adrien would never hate Marinette and that he would forgive her is... disappointing to me. Because I don't necessarily disagree, but it still is about prioritizing Marinette's feelings over Adrien's. What is focused on is not how Adrien might feel betrayed, but how Marinette might feel sad about Adrien feeling betrayed by her, and reinforces that Adrien is so good because he would not hold it against her. Even though he should, even though it means he would be downplaying his pain massively if he didn't blame her for that. If Adrien's character should develop, he should be allowed to realize that he has the right to get angry and that he doesn't have to downplay his emotions or feel like it's all his fault. He should be allowed to do that without people jumping to Marinette's defense and excusing her of blame.

Throughout the series, Adrien has been the person to help Ladybug through her problems, and the narrative has never allowed her to do the same for him. And I want to see focus on Adrien for a change. I want to see someone other than Plagg reassuring him and supporting him, especially his partner. I want to see the narrative be less about "oh, Adrien would never hold anything against Marinette because he loves her and would understand her always," and be more "actually Adrien is allowed to prioritize his feelings and want distance from Marinette after she betrayed him in such a personal way." That would be development. That would be reclaiming his agency. That would be free will and autonomy. I would like to see focus on this in the show and the fandom.

Adrien is not obligated to forgive Marinette. He is not obligated to understand her reasonings for why she did what she did. He is allowed to be angry at her and express his hurt because of her actions. Seasons 4 and 5 have regrettably established Marinette as someone else who denies Adrien's agency and around whom he reverts back to his fawning trauma response, and quite frankly the best thing for him to do would be to break up with her and go find himself on his own terms. I want his character to develop and grow, and unfortunately, Seasons 4 and 5 proved to me that it would not be possible as long as he is around Marinette, both from a character and narrative standpoint.

I just wish people would acknowledge and validate Adrien's perspective and feelings more. Even if it means calling out Marinette. Gabe is Adrien's abuser but he isn't the only one who has hurt Adrien in the story. Marinette is an incredible and amazing person but as far as we've reached in the show, she is hurting Adrien. And she has done many things across these two seasons that violate Adrien's trust. It's not even that this is a mistake she could learn from, but that she has done several such things over and over. From keeping secrets about the Miraculous holders' identities even though Hawkmoth himself knew, to Rena Furtive, to trying to trick him into an identity reveal in Ephemeral, and now keeping the fact that he is a Sentimonster and that Gabe is Monarch from him. It's gone from secret keeping to outright lying to him. It is not healthy. And it is a sign of stagnation and regression in Adrien's growth if he continues to keep forgiving her over and over again despite her never fixing her behavior.

If Adrien's arc is about finding autonomy, then he cannot be with someone who is complicit in denying him the ability to make his own choices. If Marinette was supposed to be the knight in shining armor, they shouldn't have given her the key to the tower and have her hide it away. If she was supposed to save him, they shouldn't have had her condemn him further. If Marinette was supposed to be the one who helped Adrien regain his self worth, the person whom he could trust and rely on the most, they shouldn't have made her side with Gabe, deny Adrien his agency, and violate his trust so many times.

It didn't have to be written this way, but these were the decisions made by the writers. They chose to portray Marinette like this for no discernable reason and refused to acknowledge it or deal with it meaningfully. Adrienette is so profoundly unhealthy now that if Adrien's character is to grow, the only way for him to do that is to break up with Marinette. But the show has also made it very clear that Adrien is only a plot device and a trophy for Marinette at the end. So I have no doubt that all will be forgiven in a matter of minutes, and the narrative will praise Adrien for being traumatized and denying his own emotional needs to comfort Marinette as she feels bad for hurting him. And it's sad, but I guess it is what it is.

[chloe-carrie]

Fic: “Maybe, it's fate”

Chapter 1: “But he wanted another”

In the evening, after school, Marinette was sitting by the window, looking at the city lights. She was feeling so alone, so unwanted. Suddenly she heard the familiar feline mew.

“Cat Noir?” She whispered, looking at him in surprise.

“Hey, Marinette,” Cat Noir replied, easily climbing onto the balcony.

“What are you doing here?” Marinette asked, trying to hide her excitement.

“I came to check on you,” he said and saw her with care. “How are you?”

“I don't know, to be honest,” she whispered and shrugged her shoulders. — Such a confusing day.

“Tell me?”

Marinette looked at him as if he was her own. She has loved him for several years after she realized that loving Adrian no longer made sense. After all, in fact, because of her love for him, she always made catastrophic mistakes. The most important of all is the loss of the miraculouses. Quite recently, she confined the Dog miraculous to Felix, Adrian's brother, thinking that he was Adrian. He took away Lady Bug's yo-yo and gave it to the Shadow Moth. That was able to use this yo-yo to get all the other miraculouses, except for Lady Bug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring.

“Nothing special happened. It's just that every day I come across the boy I used to love.”

“Oh, I'm sorry.”

“Everything is okay, it's just unpleasant.”

“But why you loved? Now you don't?”

“No longer…” she drooped.

“But why?” Cat Noir was really surprised that because of some asshole, her relationship wasn't functioning. “What he did?”

“Nothing bad,” Marinette waved her hands, making clearly that everything was fine. “Just because of this love...” she looked into the distance and realized how hard it was to remember the past. “I've failed.”

At that moment, the Cat immediately realized how similar her situation was to Lady Bug — he still couldn't forget how he comforted his partner and said all good words if only to calm her down. After hearing this, he began to sympathize with Marinette even more. “Oh, I wish I could introduce her to Lady Bug...” he thought, briefly lost in his memories.

He loves Marinette for a long time, because it became clear that Lady Bug'd never look at him anyway, and he saw Marinette from the other side. She's wonderful, talented, kind, beautiful, generous!

“I'm sorry to bother you... I must have hurt you...” Cat even pushed his eyes aside.

“What? No!” Marinette was so shocked by Cat's words that she started screaming at him not to think badly about himself. “It's not your fault!”

“I don't know, I see how you are feeling…”

Cat Noir sighed, and Marinette started shaming herself in her mind.

“But not so that you blame yourself.” She clamped down, ‘hugging herself’ with her arms.

“You're right, sorry.” He decided to not avert his eyes and look directly at his luv.

“Okay,” Marinette smiled, then suggested an impulse idea: “Should we go get an ice cream?”

“Yeah,” Cat inspired, “and you will tell me everything.”

Marinette giggled.

“Would you mind?..” He didn't ask when he approached her.

“No, no,” she smiled: finally, she will in full force be close to her Cat.

Cat Noir picked her up, jumped off the balcony and climbed on the pole very high from the ground, looking for Andre.

“Do you see him?” Marinette peered into every crevice of the city from above, but due to her poor eyesight, she couldn't watch anything. “I don't.”

Cat was also peering, but unlike Marinette, he was a superhero and had great eyesight, even for a cat. “Yeah!” He pointed a finger at Amsterdam. “It looks like Andre will now walk near the sights to attract more attention,” he laughed.

Marinette found this joke very funny, and she laughed too — partly because of the good humor of her lover, and partly because of some kind of imitation.

They landed on the ground, right in front of Andre.

“Thank you,” Marinette said, when he put her down.

“No problem.” He even smiled.

They came to the ice cream man, and Marinette asked:

“Hey, Andre! How are you feeling?”

“My greetings, Marinette and Chat Noir! Very good! What about you?” Of course, he was very surprised by the unexpected appearance of the very beautiful couple, though unofficial…

“We're feeling adorable!” Cat laughed again, and Marinette laughed along with him.

“That's great! And in honor of this, I'm giving you the most special ice cream…” Andre put blueberry and orange balls on the cone, as if anticipating the common essence of the two lovers. “Blueberry for the beautiful and charming lady, and orange for the good-natured and frivolous mister!” After these words, he handed them the love shared between them.

“Thank you,” Cat Noir said and took the ice cream. “Have a nice day!”

“And you…” he wished them well, and when they went, he finished, “young lovers.”

After leaving, they began to walk along the bridge. Cat decided to not beat around the bush and asked directly:

“Tell me, what happened to you with that guy?”

Marinette, to be honest, didn't wanna discuss this theme, but she understood that sooner or later she would have to return, and she didn't wish to discuss it with herself, so she decided to dot the i's and cross the t's with her luv.

“Nothing special… I just used to love him, but… there was no way I could tell him what I felt” She was uncomfortable again and clamped down a little. “But recently I found out that he loves someone else, and I stopped feeling something like love for him…” and immediately looked away.

“Is it the only one reason you don't wanna be with him?”

At that moment he looked into her eyes and realized how hard it was to experience nonreciprocity.

“No… because of this love, I make mistakes that hurt all my dears…”

Marinette was sad. She understood she was unlikely to receive support from Cat Noir, because he, in fact, didn't know her at all, although she'd so much like his love for her. She's had feelings for him for a long time, but she's been hiding it for his sake.

“Don't worry,” he hugged her. “You can handle it, and if something happens, I'm here for you.”

Only then Marinette looked at him, realizing that she was able to completely trust her Cat, no matter what happened. They both smiled at each other and hugged stronger.

“Thank you.” In her eyes, there was the caring gratitude. “You're always very good friend.”

“You're welcome,” Cat Noir tried to say it without any emotion, although inside he understood he couldn't be more than a friend to Marinette, but he'd so like to… “Well, let's go,” he decided to dilute the atmosphere before everything got really bad, “tell me his name?”

“What for?” She felt awkward, but she got the thing if she didn't tell him, then trust could be destroyed, and after all, how can she be friends with him later when he feels distrust? “Is it… so important?” Choosing her words carefully, she tried to not offend him.

“Just interesting.” He shrugged his shoulders.” No, if you don't want, you don't have to tell.

“It's okay, I can.” She sighed. “It… It is…”

Cat looked at her and wasn't surprised at all by her indecision. But when he's Adrian, he sees how she sometimes messes up. He even smiled at those memories in his mind.

“It is Adrian Agreste,” she said finally and looked at Cat for some hope.

After hearing that, Cat's world collapsed. Inside, he loved Marinette and wanted to tell her about his love every second, but he knew that something bad could happen. So he even decided to tell her as Adrian, but when he heard that name, he hesitated. “Doesn't he love me anymore?.. And w-what sh-hould-d I d-do?” he thought and sighed heavily.

“Adrian Agreste?” He repeated cautiously. “Well, maybe she mistook?” He was still hoping, hoping that Marinette misspoke. And it'd be very weird, but Cat Noir, who had Adrian inside, didn't wanna realize the bitter truth.

“Yes…” «'Cause you're loved by me, my dear Cat, but Adrian, who hadn't loved me and thought I'm just a friend to him, isn't for a long time.»

The words of his beloved girl hurt him very much, and he felt his mind becoming clouded. Even if the pain inside was growing and it was hard for him, he only showed it for a second.

“Oh, it's… your classmate?” He asked, though he knew everything perfectly well.

“Yeah…” at this time she giggled: it was unusual for her to discuss past ‘relationships’ with current ones.

“Well, this is…” Cat Noir tried to pull himself together, and he was very good at it, but the realization wouldn't let him rest, “very interesting.”

“Maybe it is,” Marinette shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, I will never see him as a girlfriend, so what's the point?”

“Probably you're right, but are you sure he loves someone else?” He wanted to exhaust Marinette's thoughts so that she'd think only good things about him.

“Yes, 'cause he said it by himself.”

“But you might be wrong.”

“That's right, but anyway, I'm transferring to another school and I'm unlikely to be able to see him.”

“What?” Cat rather shouted it. “Are you transferring to another school?!”

“Yeah…”

“Why?! Only because of that asshole?!”

“Not only because of him,” she mused, “Because I'm moving in soon and…”

“Are you moving?!” Not knowing why, he interrupted her. “Sorry for interrupting.” Cat lowered his eyes.

“It's okay,” she calmed him. “And yes, I'm moving.”

“Where to? And why?” He showed by his whole appearance that he didn't want she to do this, but he couldn't do anything.

“To the closest area. It's 'cause my parents opened a new bakery there, and this one was sold very profitably.” Marinette sighed heavily. “So now we're unlikely to see each other.”

“No way!” He shouted again. “We will see each other! I'll come to you every day…” he promised, and immediately thought, «Hmm, you won't be able to come every day, because of the school,» and corrected his words, “or rather, not just every day, but almost…”

Marinette giggled.

“I got you,” and smiled.

“That's good.” Everything inside him has become very colorful and meaningful to live in. To live in for her. “And don't worry about this egoist, he's not worth you.” For the sake of realism, he even hugged Marinette, and he shrank in his soul: «Fuck, don't you understand?! You're turning her against yourself!» “And if you need any support, then contact me, I'll come to you right away!”

“Thank you,” she smiled again. “You're much better,” «That's why I love you so much...» she added to herself.

“Well, I really like helping and being with that… I mean, I really like helping people!” He blushed because of the fact he almost told about his love to Marinette, although he was a little happy about it.

And she laughed again.

“I don't know who you're helping there, but your advices and jokes are very soothed.”

“Idiot, you just told her that you flirt with other girls!” Inside, Cat Noir reproached himself for the aforementioned and even wanted to hide somewhere, but stayed because of two reasons: first, Marinette would consider him crazy and definitely wouldn't accept him as a boyfriend; and second, he'd not be able to hide from himself, ‘cause Adrian would always follow him wherever he wasn't there.

“No, no, Marinette, I didn't mean it at all!” He started to prove he said some bullshit that wasn't related to the truth. “I got it all wrong again! I was thinking about something else that…” it was after that he realized he had stymied, and either he'd confess the truth or lie completely. “Eh, it seems I'm a jerk.”

“Why?”

“You will think I'm crazy, ‘cause I told you such nonsense!”

“Not at all,” Marinette turned her hands in different sides. “I agree I didn't understand you, but you don't have to explain every word you say. And if you meant that you talk to other girls, that's fine.”

“What?! But I don't talk to other girls!”

“Okay,” she nodded. “Then, what were you telling about?”

Cat Noir was very tight, he didn't wanna talk about his feelings at that moment, ‘cause it was too early. Yes, he might miss the chance, but he wasn't going to talk. Or he was?..

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

I can see the inconsistency of Felix character is because he actually a character for there "Fans demand" :

Sooo you prefer 2D-Catnoir/Felix rather than our angel Adrien ? Here Felix ! He official debut in "Felix" ! He is Adrien cousin and a big jerk ! Hate him just like how I hate him too !

Wh- What ? You like him ? Fuck ! So you feel he is more competent that our pure evulz bitch teenagers ? Fine ! Here's Felix who manage to trick Gabriel in "Gabriel Agreste" ! Now He is as dangerous as Gabe

Oh Fuck ! You still like him and feel he is more "relevant" than our angel Adrien and my sweetie Marinette ? Here's I present YOU Felix join Miracuclass as "Dog Hero" and then sell all the Miraclouses to Gabe ! He is Evil ! EVil ! EVIIIIL !

What ? You asking me why he want Peacock Miraculous so much ?! Here I present you Felix as Argos ! He wiped humanity out-of-spite and try to create the Utopia for his own freedom ! He is misanthrope !

What A second ? Why... You... STILL.... EXPECTED... CHLOE... TO BE REDEEMED.... why she already... has many traits... to be put in "Complete Monster" territory ? Why YOU keep want her to be redeem like Zuzu and Pacifica just because having shitty parents ? FINE ! Here's Felix to be our Zuzu ! He is tragic little peacock... has tragic backstory.... shitty dad... and a handsome teenager.... pretty much like Zuzu right ? Now shut up and Go simp on him and Feligami already !

Proper redemption arc ? Who hell need redemption arc as long as he is "tragic and handsome" ? Don't worry... we will make Kagami as "senti" out-of-nowhere aside she wear different ring as excuse and a "horny possessive girl" who still can't move on from Adrien and make her Simp felix because he smell and looks like Adrien RIIIIIIIIIIIGHHT LOL

Honestly, it is pretty hilarious that Felix was meant to be seen as the actual character who went through a serious redemption arc compared to Chloe, when the writers pretty much speedran through every major part of it in time for the finale.

Like, say what you will about Chloe and whether or not you think she deserved to be redeemed, but at least the arc leading to her betrayal was spread across three seasons. Felix's redemption arc only lasted three episodes.

Because of the poor pacing, this is the character journey Felix goes through during the latter half of Season 5.

Emotion: "I'm going to wipe out all of humanity and create a better world! Wait, you think I'm insane for erasing your friends and family from existance while essentially committing mass genocide? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

Pretension: "Even though I've spent almost no time with you, I think I'm falling in love with you because you may be a Sentimonster person with strict parents like me. Of course, I don't love you enough to break my new moral code against using Sentimonsters or even answering for my betrayal of Ladybug."

Representation: "I'm finally going to do something to help Ladybug because her arch-enemy is getting in the way with my week-old relationship, and that moral code against Sentimonsters? I don't want to use Sentimonsters to fight, but using Sentimonsters to put on a play to convey information I could easily tell Ladybug myself, since my new girlfriend conviently learned her identity over ten episodes ago? Perfectly okay. And since I have a personal stake by wanting to protect both my cousin and girlfriend, surely, this means I'll get to play a big part in the season finale instead of just letting Ladybug do all the work, right?"

Conformation and Re-Creation:

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

I feel like the fandom is ignoring the fact that Adrien is under no obligation to forgive Marinette.

Regardless of her reasons for lying to him what the finale establishes is that Marinette as a character is not trustworthy to Adrien specifically.

In that Adrien trusted her and she failed. Not failed to defeat Monarch but, much more importantly, failed his trust in her.

To the point where the best thing Adrien's narrative can do for his character is break up with her.

The writers established so many parallels between Marinette and Gabriel that at this point Adrien extending forgiveness wouldn't be a sign of his own development as a person but a return to his fawning trauma response.

Said parallels ignorantly reinforced by the writers constantly forcing Adrien to put aside his own needs and emotions in favor of supporting his "partner". (Syren, Kuro Neko, Risk)

Support the writers never allow Marinette to return.

So yeah, I think they should break up.

I'm so serious.

Ephemeral's whole premise is Marinette taking advantage of Adrien's trust in order to learn his identity so she can tell it to Su Han.

Catwalker is literally just Adrien fawning in a vain attempt to be trustworthy. The inciting incident being Ladybug not trusting Chat Noir when he asks to take on more responsibilities. Kuro Neko ending with nothing resolved and the idea that Adrien as a hero is superfluous reinforced in his head.

It's not just Marinette's pattern of behavior that contributes to this.

Adrien's relationships with those around him are frayed specifically because of the Guardians' rules. He values Ladybug's trust in him so much that Adrien is willing to hurt himself to follow what is expected of him as the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous.

But no one else is.

I mean that from a writing perspective not a character one.

Nino and Alya are revealed to each other due to necessity. Marinette breaks down and reveals herself to Alya.

And Adrien is still alone. Still expected to follow the rules that keep him isolated from his meager support network. Still expected to just be okay.

He has a girlfriend now! That means everything is fixed! No need to worry about his best friend calling him annoying to his face!

It's long been a fandom theory that Marinette doesn't see Chat Noir as "real".

And this is reinforced several times when she learns that Chat Noir found out something she kept from him, apologized, and then... changed nothing about how they function as a "team".

After meeting Scarabella and learning that someone knows Ladybug's identity Adrien is mad sure. But he goes right back to fawning. To saying that "it's okay" because he has so little self worth. Because the writers reinforced the fact that he is unnecessary.

And that's because the writers don't see Adrien as his own character. Don't see him as a "human" character least of all after literally dehumanizing him.

[disaster-biraven]

coffee (if i didn't love you, it would be fine)

Masterlist

Ao3 Dedicated to @the-coffee-fandom

The streets of Gotham stayed frozen as pedestrians hurried to their destinations. Marinette made her way through the currents of people, pulling her scarf higher up on her face. Even though she would rather be doing anything else, she didn’t dare walk at a slower pace than the crowd around her. A wave of familiar scents hit her nose as she shouldered past one of her old favorite restaurants, Luigi’s.

Can’t meet you for dinner at the Italian place It’s where I met your family, some words were exchanged

Marinette’s face-off with Bruce Wayne had not been a pretty sight. Bruce Wayne’s paranoia was one of the main things that had led to the end of Tim and Marinette. He couldn’t look past everything and realize that, although imperfect, the relationship had made Tim happier. During one of their many fights, Marinette had accused Tim of being more like Bruce than he realized. All the paranoia and obsession that came with being a vigilante were things he couldn’t put aside.

I’ll meet you for coffee ‘cause if we have wine You’ll say that you want me, I know that’s a lie

A bad habit of theirs had been to drink wine and look over case files. They would always make progress but inevitably get distracted. Without fail, Marinette felt like Tim’s words were empty, like they were an obligation. She hadn’t been able to help feeling like Tim was going through the motions of trying to be a good boyfriend.

You said let’s do the park ‘cause I love the park Here come the excuses that fuel the illusions But I’d rather feel something than nothing at all, so

The moments in the park were what Marinette remembered as the better parts of their relationship. It was impossible to work, so fewer arguments happened. Marinette would stretch out on the picnic blanket and sketch anything from designs to Tim napping beside her. They’d come home smelling like the sun and laughing over insignificant things. Now, those memories left a bitter taste in her mouth; the happiness turning into a sharp pain at what used to be. She took the shortcut through the park anyway.

Nowhere else is safe, every place leads back to your-

Marinette refused to look at the towering building she had to pass to get to the coffee shop. Ever since they had broken up, it felt like every path led to the Waynes- like now. The case she was working on needed resources only the Bats could get. It had taken nearly a month for her to admit that, and another week to finally reach out. She sat in front of Tim, accepted her usual order, and handed over the file. It had been a year since the breakup but this was the second time they needed to work together.

We’ve done this before And I don’t need it anymore

“After this case, never again.” The lie tasted like copper on her tongue. Tim looked up from the case file, a wry smile on his face. “You said that last time too.” Marinette didn’t respond.

It’s better we leave it and give it some time If I didn’t love you, it would be fine It’s never just coffee

author's note: I hope you enjoyed! If you like Timari, feel free to join the Discord Server below!

[blueberrypancakesworld]

What if ? - Adrien becoming a big brother

warning : angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, no use of Y/n

Gabriel Agreste x fem!reader

Info : So I needed to wrote another idea of @iamallthingsasian of what could have been when Betterfly's wife (adriens stepmother) got pregnant. Have fun reading this little thing ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

°What could be?

°It could have been that in one of the many parallel universes Adrien was not an only child. That his father, who found hope and love in Hesperia or Betterfly, and his two former enemies Shadybug and Clawnoir, the latter being his own son Adrien, found hope and became good.

°They all saw hope and love in a new future Adrien with his Marinette finally came together and his father eventually found love. A stroke of fate that the blonde could not immediately cope with. He fled to his girlfriend and the two together in drawings, music and concerts tried to process the fear that they felt.

°But after Adrien realized how happy his father was with his new girlfriend. How kind she was to Gabriel, Nathalie, Marinette and himself, his resentment against her had slowly subsided and together they were all the good that now fought against evil.

°A team that one year later had a message to announce. Adrien would have a half-sister and become a big brother. Is it true?" murmured the blond, looking at the ultrasound image as they sat together at the table. Gabriel nodded and Y/n put a hand on her belly.

°Yet you couldn't see anything, but in a few months you would start to see something. They both feared that Adrien would get angry or even run away. The reaction was understandable. To their surprise and relief, the blond stood up and hugged his parents. He had finally taken his stepmother more than just into his heart.

°The family would grow before a little girl was born months later. ,,Adrien your little sister Emelie" said Gabriel and stepped aside. He put a hand on his son's shoulder before Adrien saw his sister in his stepmother's arms. The little baby looked at him curiously and gurgled before taking a finger from him.

°,,Emelie...like mother" he said and his voice became brittle Marinette took his hand and Gabrielle put a hand on his shoulder and stroked his head. The family seemed to have finally found peace...at least in this universe.

°But they wanted to share the happiness with Ladybug and Catnoir from the other universe. They traveled there with the help of Alyas and had a meeting. Ladybug was completely enraptured by little Emelie and Gabriel held his wife supportively while Adrien held the baby. ,,Emelie...she's so cute...you're lucky" the only child murmured and his friend held his hand. Before he gave the baby back to its mother and she rocked it slightly.

°They all knew about the pain, the mistreatment of his father and fine Hawkmoth. They knew that Adrien was suffering until Hesperia had an idea. ,,How about we visit more often and train together and you could see Emelie" he suggested and saw the blond's look turn from disbelief to gratitude.

°He fell into his "father's" arms and stroked the baby's head one last time, knowing that in this pain he was feeling there was also hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[awakefor48hours]

Do you have any LGBTQ+ black clover headcanons? Talk about them!

I sure do have LGBT+ headcanons for Black Clover characters so let's go over them.

Black Bulls

Vanessa - Bisexual

I headcanon Vanessa as bi (leans more towards women) because her backstory feels very similar to a queer allegory.

Vanessa is has pink hair and pronouns, grew up with a strict maternal figure (who does have Catholic imagery), who forbade her from having relationships with people of a certain gender. Then as soon as she leaves and finally joins the outside world, she starts to dress in more revealing clothes and drinks a lot.

All of that together, it just feels very similar to the way that people who have grown up with overly religious and strict parents behave when they leave to go to college.

Also this haircut

The certified bisexual haircut.

Finral - Bisexual

I headcanon Finral as bi (leans more to women) for pretty similar reasons to Vanessa. They're parallels to each other after all, older siblings to abusive parents that didn't treat them right only to leave to help themselves while also choosing to be the older sibling that the Black Bulls deserve.

He also reminds me of my bi friends, he does finger guns a lot, and is very comfortable when it comes to complimenting men.

Magna - Bisexual

I ship magluck so my opinion is definitely going to be skewed but I fully think he's bi (no gender preference). The way he talks about being a man and masculinity, it just feels like a bit more than just appreciation, to me at least.

Luck - Pansexual

Like with Magna, my opinion on this is skewed because I ship magluck but I headcanon Luck as pan (no gender preference). His design is nearly the pan flag (just missing the pink) and he hasn't shown any real preference to anyone when it comes to forming a romantic and/or sexual relationship. When it comes to Luck's relationship with dating, it's a bit muddy because he's never been shown to be explicitly in love with anyone but from what we've seen he's not against dating women and the only person he's blushed around was Magna. Also when the Black Bulls share the type of people they like, Luck doesn't specify his preferred partner by gender (source: chapter 103).

As you can see, save for Gordon, everyone else uses gendered terms (or just say the person's name) to describe their preferred partner, expect for Luck.

I will say, I do know that when the captains answer, they use more gendered neutral terms (source: chapter 167)

but here's the fun thing about fanon, I can pick and chose when I want to stick my fingers in ears and go "lalalalalalalala! I can't hear you!"

Noelle - Biromantic/Asexual

This is a headcanon that's a bit skewed because Noelle reminds me a lot of Marinette from ML so I share a lot of headcanons between them. Putting that aside Noelle is bi (leans more to men)/ace (sex neutral).

First of all, I'd like to look at her upbringing. Even though it doesn't seem like homophobia exists in the BC universe (basing this off of the devil worshiper arc) I wouldn't put it past the royals to be queerphobic or have amanormative/heteronormative views.

With that in mind, it wouldn't be too strange to believe that Noelle would pick up some comphet beliefs. She definitely like Asta but I also feel like her relationship with Kahono is also a bit romantic.

Let's also not forget that Noelle has a hard time with her emotions, Kahono even notes this herself. (Source: chapter 103)

With that, I think that she struggles to understand her romantic feelings so it makes sense to me that she wouldn't realize that she does like girls.

I headcanon her as asexual because when it comes to being physical, Noelle seems a bit finicky, in a word. We see that does like intimacy but when it comes to Asta, her love interest, grabbing her or any time of physical contact, suddenly she's very uncomfortable and it just feels pretty asexual.

Grey - Genderfluid

When it comes to shape shifters, I pretty much always headcanon them as genderfluid or trans and Grey is no exception.

Throughout most of her time in the Black Bulls, everyone saw her as a man. She chose to present herself as a man an never corrected anyone when they used he/him pronouns for her, it was also the form she was more comfortable with. She also doesn't seem too uncomfortable when she's presenting as anyone, male or female.

Also, it's no secret that Grey's backstory is based on Cinderella and I once saw a tumblr thread talk about how Cinderella being trans ties the story together (points such as, the slipper only fitting on her foot, the reason why the prince charming didn't even know she existed, it's also why her step mother hated her a lot, etc) and since that stuck with me, I ended up seeing Grey in a similar way.

Nero - Aromantic/Heterosexual

When it comes to Nero's relationships with other people she is a bit closed off, especially since she was a royal that lost her status early on in life. Then you look at her relationship with Lumiere and their relationship never really felt romantic. It was emotional, they were together, but it wasn't romantic at all, to me at least. Then you have the times when she was a bird. I don't ship Asta and Nero but it does seem like she prefers physical relationships than emotional relationships seeing as how she liked Asta the most and was always found on his head.

Nacht - Aro/Ace

Can't get into this too much without dipping into the manga so I'm just gonna say ✨vibes✨

Golden Dawn

Yuno - Aro/Ace

I headcanon Yuno as romance-neutral aromantic/sex repulsed asexual. I feel that Tabata wrote Yuno to be aromantic-spec and/or asexual-spec because Yuno absolutely does not vibe with sexual or romantic relationships in the slightest.

He's called handsome by everyone around him, the male and female characters, and has tons of girls flaunting over him. In fact, in universe, he is literally the hottest guy (source: chapter 105)

Despite everything playing in Yuno's favor to have a romantic partner, he doesn't bat an eye to anyone ever nor does he have a single major character as a love interest.

(I know that Charmy technically has a crush on him but I personally refuse to acknowledge it because as someone who's been both 15 and 19, it makes me very uncomfortable that Charmy was 19 when she fell in love with a whole ass 15 year old.)

Additionally, he just seems so uninterested in any type of physical/sexual relationship and I think the biggest example of this comes from the hot springs arc. even though Yami got all the men hyped up to peep at the women, Yuno could not be more unbothered by the idea. Just look at him. (Source: Chapter 111)

This kid would not care about peeping if his life depended on it. He says that he's "not this kind of character" (which feels like a way of explaining asexuality without knowing the exact wording for it) and Asta even adds onto this by saying that Yuno has been this way since birth. With all of that I just really cannot help but think of Yuno as an asexual or ace-spec.

When you combine his complete disinterest in romance and in anything sexual, it really feels like he's supposed to be somewhere on the aro or ace spectrum. If he's not, he is in my mind.

Mimosa - Lesbian

I know I'm like one of three people to headcanon Mimosa as a lesbian but hear me out. Yes in canon she has a crush on Asta but in my fanon, she's comphet.

This is my headcanon for a few reasons. First of all, like Noelle, Mimosa grew up basically in the household with the same expectations put on them. So as mentioned with Noelle, I wouldn't put it past the royals to have queerphobic beliefs.

Also, Mimosa is an airhead. When it comes to other people's emotions, she cannot understand them to save her life. This is the main reason why Noelle had a hard time seeing her when Mimosa in the dungeon arc. If she's this bad with emotions, it's not hard to believe she would struggle to navigate her own emotions.

Then that takes us to her crush on Asta and I'm still holding onto the comphet lesbian headcanon. Mimosa is trying to go through life her own way, this is why she's in Golden Dawn and not the Crimson Lions, meaning I wouldn't put it past her that this is the first time ever she's really interacted with people outside of her family.

At the end of the dungeon arc, Asta happily smiled and thanked Mimosa for what she did. That was the moment Mimosa fell for him but due to my headcanons/warped perception of the show, I don't see it that way. Even if she was straight, it just feels very comphet to fall for the first boy outside of your family that was nice to you more than once (it's important to remember that Klaus kinda sucked at this time and that Yuno struggles to show affection). In fact, I've personally experienced this and have siblings who've also been there.

Also here's the difference between how Mimosa looked at Asta, after falling for him, and Lolopechka dressed as a queen.

She is just taken aback completely by Lolopechka's beauty but when it comes to Asta, she's just timid. All the moments when Mimosa is blushing around Asta, to my heavily biased POV, it feels more performative than actual attraction.

To even bring Yuno into this, Mimosa hasn't developed feelings for him at all. Throughout the whole series, girls are constantly throwing themselves at Yuno's feet to get his attention and is, once again, he is the most attractive male character in Black Clover. Despite this, Mimosa, the girl who is constantly near him, gets to see him when he's vulnerable, just doesn't develop even a twinge of romantic feelings towards him. She sees him as only a friend.

Lastly, I feel like Mimosa being a lesbian works well with her crush on Asta because it's pretty obvious it's not gonna work out in the end. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Astelle is going to be canon and when that happens, I think Mimosa taking time to separate her feelings from Asta and move on is something I think is bound to happen, if that happens, I think it'd be really cool if while she's sorting through feelings, she comes to a lesbian realization and pursues relationships with other people, (if I had to be honest, I'd say Rebecca because then you'd have two girls who were heartbroken by the same guy, bonding over that, getting together in the end, and Rebecca finally gets to live a life where she doesn't have to worry about money.)

Alecdora - Gay

This man is madly in love with William with bad coping mechanisms for it, and I refuse to hear anything about it. Fellas, is it gay to devote your entire life to a man to the point that when his attention is diverted to someone else, just a little bit, it gives you so much anxiety that you lose weight because it?

Crimson Lions

Fuegoleon - Bigender

This literally has nothing to do with anything Fuegoleon has done in canon, the reason why I headcanon him as bigender comes from this thread and I wasn't able to stop myself from seeing him as bigender. I think about it so much that I genuinely forget at times that's he's not bigender in canon.

Mereoleona - Lesbian

Originally, this did just start from ✨vibes✨and the fact that she does fall kinda fall into the cliche of lesbians that live alone and scare off the men in their lives. Then Sword of the Wizard King came out and that solidified the lesbian Mereoleona headcanon to me.

I know that Mereoleona said her preferred partner was a "man" but once again, this is fanon so my fingers are in my ears. When it comes to Mereoleona's romantic/sexual life, the one and only character I can see her working with is Princia, Mereoleona did mention she wanted a partner that wouldn't die in mortal combat and Princia didn't. In fact, they were evenly matched, and they're sun and moon coded (methinks soulmates).

I also started shipping them because I'm me but can you really blame me this time? Mereoleona and Princia had a fight in which they very physical with each other, had their clothes get constantly torn off, and kept asking to keep going at it for another round. I feel like I'm describing a fanfiction but I'm just describing what happened on screen.

She's never really had this relationship with anyone else. Everyone, even Yami, is scared of her. So to have a partner that's able to not only handle her energy but able to dish it back to her just feels fitting.

Grey/Aqua Deers

Rill - Asexual

Part of this comes from the fact that I've never met a single cishet artist in my life. Every artist I've ever known has been queer in one way or another.

But to actually look at his character, Rill just seems completely uninterested in any sexual relationships. His one and only romance blossomed when Charmy kicked his ass and it feels a lot like he's admiring her beauty and strength but not in a sexual way.

Blue Rose Knights

Sol - Lesbian

She pretty much fits the lesbian stereotype to a T

Princia - Lesbian

Along with a lot of the reasons that I headcanon Mereoleona as a lesbian and she did become the captain of an all girl squad so I'm already doubting any straight behavior.

Coral Peacocks

Kirsch - Queer

When it comes to Kirsch, I feel like no other description is better than he's himself. I don't think he'd use any label for himself (I can, however, see him picking his favorite pride flag and saying that it's his).

Other characters

Kahono - Lesbian

Kahono definitely likes Noelle, I just interpret it as romantic. They were able to bond so much over their short time and the first thing that Kahono does after getting her voice back is hug Noelle, this is to saw she barely acknowledges Asta's existence. Then after going on the double date, Kahono just immediately suggests that she and Noelle go on date (Source: chapter 103).

We don't get to see what happens next but Kahono did start these dates to get Noelle to realize her feelings and seeing as how Noelle just sent Asta flying, my headcanon is that Kahono saw this as a way to shoot her shot to get Noelle to notice her.

You also have the fact that Kahono grew up in the Seabed Temple, meaning that her experiences with being queer are probably going to be different than the other characters and she's probably more open to it.

Sister Lily - AroAce

I headcanon Lily as a romance and sex repulsed aroace for two reasons. The first reason is how she views Asta's crush on her. Sure, Asta is annoying about his crush on her I also think that part of her disinterest comes from being aroace.

The other reason comes from the fact that she became a nun pretty early in her life. If I remember correctly, Lily became a nun when she was 16, that's a pretty young age to swear yourself to celibacy and I know people do it but there's a part of me that can't help but think it's because she's aroace and saw an out to any potential relationships.

Vanica - Lesbian

Vanica has men constantly falling over themselves to be with her, yet she doesn't really care too much about them. When it comes to the women, however, she's pretty open when talking about their beauty. Also, once again, because I'm me (and because of my moots), I do ship her with Noelle.

I know I have more but that's all I got at the moment

+ As a bonus

The characters who I think would be over the top with their allyship: Asta, Leopold, Klaus, Lumiere.

[folkloristico]

As an Adrien stan who used to defend his writing back during season 3, I take everything back. I feel so sorry about the way he’s been treated by the writers—always put aside, always unaware of what’s happening even when it specifically concerns him.

“It’s better that he doesn’t know that his father was a villain.”

No, it isn’t. Marinette doesn’t get to decide that, Adrien does. He deserves to know that his father was an abuser. Gabriel doesn’t deserve to be remembered as a hero. I wasn’t expecting, nor did I want it, that Gabriel was going to be exposed to everyone because that would’ve reflected badly on Adrien, so I would understand if Marinette wanted to protect him from that. What it’s not fair is keeping him in the dark.

“But Adrienette is finally canon, aren’t you happy?”

As a hardcore Lovesquare fan since season 1, I absolutely am not. I wanted their relationship to be about honesty and trust. Why would I, as an Adrien stan, want him next to a person who’s lying to him? Who will likely be lying to him for the rest of their lives? Mind you, I’m not blaming Marinette (I love her even more than I love Adrien); I’m blaming the writing. For having us believe that any sort of criticism of the show comes from a place of misunderstanding of the canon material, because God forbid someone has an opinion that doesn’t align with the writers’ idea.

Anyways, Marinette and Adrien deserved so much better. Everyone did.

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously: No Victory For The Simple Soul

(Full disclosure - this is a vent post more than analysis so don’t expect anything deep)

I feel the S5 finale highlights the biggest and most glaring issue that this and the last three seasons have had - Marinette (and by extension Adrien and the rest) not being allowed meaningful victories.

The entire point of a finale battle (specifically one that has your main villain giving his Swan Song) is that the character gains something at the end of it. Even if the battle ends with the loss of a friend or the MC no longer having access to their extra helpful powerup/superform, it’s not supposed to be a complete defeat - they’re supposed to learn something and resolve themselves to do better, or gain a new insight into the villain and go investigate their new lead, or promise to never allow another loss like what they faced again.

Miraculous doesn’t have that in their finale battles. All of them always end with Mari and co taking the bigger loss compared to Gabemoth, and it’s never in a way that’s used to either foster character growth or drive towards a meaningful story development. In fact, the loss only seems to happen because the writers need them to lose so Gabe looks like a bigger threat than he is, and then do nothing with it. They do it all the time -

Miracle Queen - Fu’s removal causes Mari considerable stress over having to do Guardian work solo now and needed to reach out to the temps more often as she unconsciously pushes Chat away. Aside from Alya and the Anti-Akuma charms (which are then rendered worthless by the introduction of Mega-Akuma), Mari gets nothing out of his departure except having to accept she can’t date while being a superhero (unless it’s Adrien, and even that still has issues the show won’t address) and constantly having to babysit the Kwami. She doesn’t even get help in the form of backup mentor!Su Han.There’s nothing positive gained out of having to deal with no longer having a mentor to guide her, and eventually, the loss of him is forgotten all together.

Risk/Strikeback - Marinette losing all the Kwami after getting tricked by Felix gets her a mental breakdown, a broken heart after trying to pursue Chat, and even more stress as she basically has the lives and freedom of three characters shoved into her hands with no one able to help her. She doesn’t gain a new power or new ally like last time either, which just serves to further put her against the wall. Hell, her eventual “life saving powerup” doesn’t even come from being directly cornered by the main villain, but from being faced by the spoiled brat bully he’s manipulating and deciding “Actually we aren’t detransforming anymore”. Meanwhile, the peak of her “character arc” for her civilian life is highly reliant on a newly introduced character that wasn’t even built up to and a recton episode that just serves to put every questionable act the writers had her engage in in a bad light just so they can foist responsibility of whatever flaws the fans complained about onto another character (as opposed to just going “yeah, but I got better” and moving on). She lost so much, but got very little out of it in the end.

Even when taking down her minor antags, Marinette gets nothing out of the deal - “Revolution” had her finally get the chance shut down Chloe for good and show she had no power over her, but by that point Chloe had become kind of pathetic in terms of villainy (not to mention her being the pawn of a bigger scheme that allowed the real masterminds to flee judgement) and Mari’s been dunking on her since episode 1 anyways, so it really wasn’t all that satisfying from a cathartic standpoint, nor does she gain anything character wise. Meanwhile, Lila getting exposed did nothing to really impede or harm her, and now she’s out in the wild with her 800+ fake families and the Butterfly miraculous, so what was really even the point of Marinette’s bathroom plan?

And then there’s “Recreation” and Gabriel - who gets to have his wish, his comatose wife alive, his son no longer (rightfully) hating his guts, the city adoring him, a goddamn statue, being credited for the city turning into a “utopia”, and all sorts of praises and perks he didn’t even earn/deserve, all at the small cost of his death and the plot forcing Marinette to keep her mouth shut for him. Gabriel gets to have everything he’s been throwing a tantrum over for 5 full seasons, while Marinette once again gets nothing (actually no, she did gain something - tons and tons of fandom salt aimed at her for the writers choices) as she’s forced to take on the burden of hiding his crimes.

and it just makes me feel we wasted our time with the story because seriously, what was the point? Why have Marinette lose when this should have been the point where all her losses so far helped her achieve victory when it matters most? Why let Gabriel win and reward him for all his abuses and crimes when the entire story seemed to be building up to getting him to either accept Emilie’s death or be forced to face the consequences of his choices? Why be building up that conflict between Adrien and his father about his wants and needs vs Gabriel’s constantly escalating expectations and not have them confront eachother in the end? Why focus so much on the idea of Mari finally getting the butterfly away from Gabriel if you’re just going to just give it to a new (old) villain and render the entire 5 season long battle for it pointless?

What was even the point in Marinette suffering all those defeats if you weren’t even going to let her win at the end, or at least stop Gabriel from getting what he wanted?

I’ll admit the leaks didn’t raise my expectations for this season but DAMNIT, after seeing them actually change stuff like Andre terrible dialogue in “Collusion” (though what he ends up saying is worse somehow), I expected something to prove it was going to be worth it in the end - and yet just like Mari, I’m venomed in the back by the show for daring having some expectation for them to actually care about making their Heroine’s suffering actually matter!