#pre-relationship adrienette

[awholelotofladybug]

Random AU Moment #19: The Very First Meeting

*Flashback to Marinette and Adrien's very first meeting in the Stammering Adrien AU* Adrien: *sits down* Marinette: Uh, excuse me. Adrien: *timidly looks up* Marinette: Hi. Um, Adrien, is it? I don't mean to bother you, but that's my seat. Adrien: *is terrified and rushes to get up* Marinette: W-Wait, it's okay, I'm not mad. I just... Adrien: *gets up to reveal he had sat in gum* *other students snicker and giggle* Adrien: *hangs his head* Marinette: *immediately glares at Chloé* That was you, wasn't it, Chloé? Chloé: Don't play the hero, baker-girl. That gum was meant for you. *turns to the class* And you peasants better stop laughing or I'll have you and your families thrown out into the streets with the rest of the trash! *whips out her phone* *everyone shuts up* Juleka: *whispering to Rose* If Chloe's defending him, this guy must be a stuck-up snob. Rose: *whispering back* Don't say that. He's probably just shy. Marinette: *looks at the new boy with concern*

This all takes place during the same day as The Incident and The First Day

[saytr]

[xcatmo]

finally get to share my piece for @adrinettezine! they're my silly little guys I'm so glad I got to draw them 🥺

[theluckiestlb]

as a self-identified adrienette girlie....kinda miss them, ngl.

[just-another-oikawa-kinnie]

Marinette is feeling a little bit confused guys! Help her out won’t you??

[aalissy]

Boyfriend and Girlfriend

Whoohoo!! We are done with chapter 24! I really hope you like it <3. If you do, lemme know what you think!

AO3

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was his girlfriend. He was her boyfriend. Even just that thought had a thrill running up Adrien’s spine. 

It had been a whirlwind of emotions when he realized his feelings for her. Suddenly, he had begun sneaking quick, shy glances back at her from his seat in front of her in class, wondering if it was still possible for her to feel the same. Eventually, though, with his heart pounding Adrien confessed just how much he adored her that fateful day in her room. And, though he had been terrified at her initial rejection, they managed to figure out that they both did have feelings for the other and began dating. 

And, now, as they walked hand in hand through the bustling streets of Paris, Adrien couldn’t help but to squeeze Marinette’s hand, who was practically glowing with happiness. She looked absolutely gorgeous and not for the first time did he end up wondering how it could have possibly taken him as long as it did to realize his true feelings for her.

They had planned a picnic in the park, a simple yet meaningful date to celebrate their newfound relationship. Marinette had packed some of their favorite sandwiches and pastries from the bakery, knowing his love for all of the sweet, delicious baked goods her family made. As they settled on a cozy blanket under a blooming cherry blossom tree, Adrien couldn't contain his excitement.

"Marinette," he began, his voice filled with warmth and affection, "I never knew that being with you could make every moment feel like magic."

Marinette blushed, her eyes sparkling with love. "Adrien, you make even the simplest things feel extraordinary," she replied, reaching for his hand.

They spent the afternoon laughing, sharing stories, and stealing sweet kisses under the pink petals that danced in the breeze. Adrien couldn't help but feel grateful for every twist of fate that had led him to Marinette. She was not just his girlfriend; she was his soulmate in laughter, in dreams, and in love.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the city, Adrien knew that this moment would be etched in his heart forever. With a smile that mirrored the setting sun, he whispered, "I love you, Marinette."

And in that moment, surrounded by the beauty of Paris and the warmth of their love, Marinette whispered back, "I love you too, Adrien. Always and forever."

They both giggled, their eyes sparkling at each other. Slowly, their laughter subsided into a comfortable silence as they watched the sun's descent, painting the sky pretty shades of orange and pink. Adrien leaned closer to Marinette, his heart beating in sync with hers. He could feel the warmth of her presence, the softness of her breath mingling with his.

"Adrien," Marinette whispered, her voice barely audible over the gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze.

Adrien turned to her, their eyes meeting in a moment that felt suspended in time. Without a word, he cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing lightly against her cheeks. Marinette's eyes fluttered closed as she leaned into his touch, a contented sigh escaping her lips.

And then, as if drawn by an invisible force, their lips met in a tender kiss. It was a kiss filled with all the love, passion, and longing that they had both kept hidden for so long. Adrien felt as if the world around them had faded away, leaving only Marinette and the overwhelming sensation of feeling completely and utterly in love.

The cherry blossoms above them seemed to whisper secrets of romance, their petals falling like confetti as they scattered around them. Adrien deepened the kiss, his heart overflowing with joy and gratitude as he tilted his head.

When they finally parted, their eyes met once again, conveying everything they couldn't put into words. Marinette's cheeks were flushed with a rosy hue, her gaze filled with unspoken affection.

"I never want this moment to end," Adrien confessed, his voice soft yet full of conviction.

"Me neither," Marinette replied, her fingers intertwining with his. "Being with you feels like a dream."

As they watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon, Adrien knew that their love was as timeless as the city of Paris itself. Hand in hand, they stayed embraced in each other's warmth, knowing that they had found something truly special in each other's hearts.

[mysticraven20]

@adrinetteapril

Excerpt: Chapter Two (Best Friends)

Adrien smiled and placed his phone down on the desk beside him. Slowly, he turned back to the script and continued to read. He was down to the last callbacks for the up and coming movie ‘Without Hope’, and boy what a role it would be if he got it. Not only would it put him into serious acting roles away from the love interest in cheesy rom coms, it would also project him into the Oscar-worthy performance category and finally lose that label of ‘a model who can act half decently’.

He’d had a couple of weeks off, so had taken the opportunity (as always) to visit Paris, mostly to check in with his most favourite person, Marinette.

Adrien picked up his phone again. No reply, which meant she had almost certainly updated the app and would now be looking at different ways to torture him within the game. Her favourite pastime, whether she liked to admit it or not.

Moving away from Marinette’s name, he started to scroll through his phone, thinking if there was anyone else he needed to check in with whilst he was in the city. Nino was away at university and wouldn’t be back until next week (when he was back in London) and he’d managed to catch up with the other guys at Luka’s a couple of nights ago. Everyone else in his contact list wasn’t a priority, especially since the news about his father had broken a couple of months ago. News which had almost cost him his career.

His friends knew the truth, though, and he was growing increasingly grateful for such a tightly knit group. Their shared items of jewellery also made it all beautifully unique.

Continue reading here

[chatonnoir]

Adrienette stans wanna gaslight Ladynoir stans who don’t like this plot point and act like Ladynoir was always meant to be platonic from the start and Adrienette was obviously always meant to be the side that would start dating .... No.

My dudes there is a reason Ladynoir has always been more popular than Adrienette among the online fandom. There is a reason the bulk of the fancontent when the show first came out focused on romantic Ladynoir. Hell there is a reason Zag chose for their expensive piece of ship merch to be a $300+ Ladynoir statue. They’re even using romantic Ladynoir scenes to advertise their movie now. Stormy Weather, the pilot episode, the episode meant to introduce us to and sell the show to us and networks, was 99% Ladynoir. Every “Valentine’s” episode (Dark Cupid/Glaciator) has been heavily Ladynoir-centric. Chat Blanc, despite starting with Ladrien followed by an Adrienette dating montage, was heavily Ladynoir centric. “Our love did this to the world" came through Ladynoir. We were shown Ladybug getting upset any time Chat Noir seemed to show interest in another girl. We were given “maybe if Adrien didn’t exist, I’d feel differently about Chat Noir...” in s1. We were given Ladybug explicitly dodging Chat Noir’s question of if things would be different between them if her “other boy” wasn’t a factor. We were given “maybe if I show Ladybug my true self, she’ll fall in love with me,” followed by that very thing happening. We were given a second coup de foudre in Strike Back. The first kiss in this show happened through Ladynoir. The first kiss they were both conscious of happened through Ladynoir in Jubilation. We were shown Ladybug blushing after Chat Noir kissed her cheek in Glaciator. We were shown Ladybug progressively learning that Chat Noir is more sensitive than she thought and not the kind of guy she thought he was and growing closer to and more fond of him over the course of the series -- the plot of like every good romance worth reading (Pride and Prejudice anyone??).

Everyone picked up on the romantic vibes and the depth of their relationship over the past 7 years and now y’all wanna pretend we were hallucinating all along just because your fav side is canon and y’all don’t want to acknowledge the fact that cutting out Ladybug’s feelings for Chat Noir after 4 seasons of development and literally /3 episodes/ of actual visible feelings is an insane choice because it gets in the way of said side being canon. We all picked up on the fact that Chat Blanc and Ephemeral both told us explicitly that Adrienette can’t safely be together as civilians because Gabriel can and will use it to his advantage even without knowing their identities and now y’all want to pretend we’re the ones who weren’t paying attention when even the show was telling us that Adrienette is the side that can’t happen. Apparently the payoff of the 7-year-buildup of Ladybug realizing her romantic feelings for Chat Noir was ... three whole episodes. Followed by her ditching him entirely. Y’all are okay with completely ignoring the insane choice of having Marinette and Adrien not at all worried about abandoning their partners and spitting on “I’ll never abandon you” and every time they’ve ever said “you and me against the entire world” because all you see is weee cute Adrienette scenes <3333.

Like I said I and many others did not watch this show for a generic school romance we watched this show for a Love Square with identity shenanigans because that’s what was being sold to us yet apparently it was never about the "falling in love twice” and the parallels between the two relationships and two loves even though that’s what the past 4 seasons told us it was because it was actually just “adrienette with some obstacles” all along and oBvIoUsLy it was always just meant to be about romantic Adrienette!!!1!!1 I did not watch 7 years worth of romantic development on the Ladynoir side just for Adrienette stans to decide to tell me that I was actually hallucinating that whole time and that Ladynoir was always meant to be platonic

[di-daynamic]

Part 1 of 3

Adrinette April: Day 8

“And the winner of the first prize is. . .” The anchor paused, and everyone in the auditorium collectively held a breath. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

Marinette smoothed her skirt down as she stood up to head to the stage. Her heart burst with excitement. Alya whistled, and her parents and Juleka applauded enthusiastically.

The trophy was heavy in her hand as she held it up to rousing cheers. Two months of mind-bending work now felt absolutely worth it.

“As you all know, the prizes include a cash sum as well as an internship opportunity. . .” The anchor continued. “And we are proud to announce that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng will get the chance to intern at Gabriel!”

Marinette gaped in amazement. She heard the four other winners gasp and mutter in envy. Gabriel was notoriously exclusive with its internship opportunities. Marinette wouldn’t have any trouble getting into an art school after an internship there. She hadn’t even finished lycée. This was something out of a dream.

“Way to go, girl!” Alya laughed, hugging her as she stepped off. “Gabriel! That’s ridiculous!”

“Also a callback to our college days,” Juleka muttered, and then smiled at her. “Congrats, Marinette.”

Marinette couldn’t pretend her mind didn’t jump to Adrien every time Gabriel or the name Agreste was mentioned. A mix of nervousness and excitement caused her stomach to turn as she considered the prospect that she might be seeing Adrien more regularly. Then she shook herself out of it. Adrien had always hated being associated with his father’s company back in college, and there was no indication that that had changed.

“Thanks, Jule,” she said mildly as her parents swept her up.

“We’re so, so proud of you Marinette!” Papa said, beaming.

“Congratulations! Gabriel is such a prestigious posting! You certainly deserve this after all your hard work,” Maman said, taking up her hands.

“Thank you!” She laughed.

“Hey, Mari, I see some people you’ll be wanting to talk to,” Alya said, pointing at the stage. Marinette turned and gasped. Alya was right. There were several CEOs and fashion business and modeling agency representatives.

“Right! I’ll see you later. Come on, Juleka.” She dragged her protesting friend over to the people laughing and chatting by the stage.

“Ah! Mlle. Dupain-Cheng!” Alessandro Lesatz smiled at her, and Marinette just about died on the inside. “Congratulations on your win. I saw your portfolio, and I must say I wish to steal you from the Agrestes.” He noticed Juleka as Marinette blushed and thanked him. “Ah. Your model?”

“Yes,” Marinette nodded, “This is Juleka Couffaine.”

“Luka Couffaine’s sister!” Mlle. Rivera scrutinized the girl. “Well, you do good as a model. Would you like an interview some time?”

As Juleka stammered out a stunned answer, Marinette began to schmooze. She got half a dozen business cards and scores of compliments on her work, and even a few critiques. She hoped she took them all with a grace befitting someone about to intern at the most famous fashion company in the city. A couple actually gave her constructive feedback about something to improve on rather than just derision, which was useful even though disheartening.

“I’m so happy for you Marinette!” Tikki giggled, zooming out of her purse as she climbed up the trapdoor to her room after a celebratory dessert with her parents.

“Did she win? Did she win?” Pollen demanded.

“Right here, Poll,” Marinette smiled at the kwami. “And yes, I did. First prize!”

“Yipppppeeeeee!” Mullo and Kaalki screamed.

“Congratulations, Master Marinette,” Wayzz said sagely. “Didn’t you say an internship was also part of your prize?”

“Not just any internship, an internship at Gabriel!” Tikki said excitedly.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” Xuppu squealed.

“And romantic!” Added Ziggy.

“What? Why is that a big deal?” asked Longg.

“Aren’t in-interm-internships unpaid work?” Sass asked irritably. “It’s unfair and degrading – why are we celebrating this?”

Marinette laughed as several of the kwamis began to explain over one another, over the squeals and the begging for details Tikki was happy to provide. She was used to this chaos now.

She leaned back in her chair, considering her trophy. When would the internship begin? According to the anchor, the winners would receive emails near instantly. And Gabriel Agreste – or Nathalie Sancoeur rather – had always been scarily efficient.

Sure enough, when she clicked on her unread emails, she caught one from the Gabriel company, titled CONGRATULATIONS.

There was a list of instructions and rules after the typical congratulatory message and the attachment of the Non-Disclosure Agreement and Internship Contract she and her parents would have to sign. Marinette read through them carefully. To her immense shock, they said that if she managed to create a piece or a portfolio of pieces in the duration of her internship, whether for school or for competition or – she supposed – one of Jagged’s commissions, they would help and possibly put forth a model of their own and release it as part of the brand, with her name attached!

Marinette was speechless. These were excellent terms for an internship. Then again, the competition she had won was rather prestigious.

She began on Monday, right after lycée.

Nerves began to take over the excitement as Monday approached. Alya greeted her cheerfully after dragging her out of bed as they headed to school. “Internship first day today, huh?” Her friend asked. “Are you nervous?”

“No,” Marinette denied. Alya raised an eyebrow and she relented. “Fine. Maybe a little.” It wasn’t much more than the anxiety always swirling in her stomach – just the feeling of pins and needles, clamminess and a deep sense of dread.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Alright. Want to rehearse what you’ll say to Adrien if you run into him?”

“Alya!” Marinette exclaimed, and the girl tossed her head back and laughed. “That was years ago! I’m fine around him now.”

“Just joking, girl,” Alya smirked, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Did you finish the English homework?”

The day seemed to speed by and yet crawl inexorably. Practically before she knew it, she was standing in front of the Gabriel office – a building spanning twenty-two floors.

“ID?” Asked a bored voice.

Marinette jumped. “Er. .  .” She started tentatively. “I – I don’t have one.”

The security guard frowned. “You don’t—”

“She’s our new intern,” interrupted someone Marinette knew very well. She turned to see Adrien smiling, walking forward with a purpose he hadn’t had back in college. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng? She should be on the notice given out to you.”

“Y-Yes, Monsieur Agreste,” the guard said, fumbling with papers. “You can go up, Mademoiselle. Please visit the office to get your ID and submit the signed papers and meet your supervisor.”

“Great!” Adrien beamed. “By the way, how is your daughter? Recovered from the flu?”

“Yes, she’s well now, thank you for asking,” The guard replied, clearly put at ease by Adrien’s easy demeanour.

“That’s good,” Adrien said, “Come on, Marinette. I’ll show you to the office.” Thanking the guard, she hurried after him. “Congratulations on the win! I’m glad you’re the one who’s going to work with us.”

“Us?” Marinette interrupted. “Last I heard, you weren’t at all interested in your dad’s company?”

And that had been only three weeks ago, at Luka’s concert. She didn’t see how things could have changed so quickly.

Adrien turned sheepish, ruffling his hair. Marinette pushed down the flutter of her heart at the motion. “Well, two weeks ago the winners of your competition were announced to the industries, so that they could say if and whom they wanted as an intern. And as much as I’m pleased you won and Father actually decided picking an intern was worth it, the lecture I received about deciding my path and focusing on my career now itself wasn’t very fun. He knows we’re friends, see, so he thinks I should be following your example.”

“Sorry about that,” Marinette laughed.

“Helping out in the business side of things made Father decide my modelling engagements are cancelled for the time being, so please, don’t be,” Adrien insisted.

“I remember you really hated modelling,” her voice softened with sympathy. “I’m glad you don’t have to do it anymore.”

Adrien smiled at her, and it was like sunshine. “I am too! It gives me some free time, too. At least business has a fixed number of hours. Modelling doesn’t. I’ll be able to attend Rose’s birthday party after all.”

“Oh, she’ll be so happy!” Marinette exclaimed. “She was hoping that all our old classmates could make it.”

“It’ll be fun to get together,” he agreed, and pressed an arm to hold the elevator. “After you, mademoiselle.”

Marinette giggled as she stepped in. “Such a gentleman.”

He smirked. “Glad my manners haven’t faded since college.” The elevator closed with a ding. Marinette felt a blush rising. She’d imagined various scenarios in college that included this: her and Adrien alone in an elevator. The only thing needed to complete the fantasy was the elevator to get stuck.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Gabriel had higher standards in elevators.

“The office is just to the left,” he stepped out of the elevator, pointing at the sign that listed various locations on the floor, including the office.  “M. Ducasse should be there. He’ll probably be the one to do intern orientation.”

“Alright,” Marinette smiled up at him. “Thanks so much, Adrien. I’ll see you at Rose’s party?”

He hesitated, looking for a moment younger like he’d been in college. “I’m – uh, I’m hoping before that?” She could only blink at him, taken aback. “C’mon, Marinette, this place and the business is boring enough. Really boring, if you promise never to tell my father or Nathalie I said that. Having a friend around would be fun. You always make things better.”

Marinette felt heat pool in her cheeks. In an effort to remain nonchalant, she turned away from him, towards the sign, “Well, I’m certainly not opposed to having one of my best friends keep me company in my first internship. I’m sure us running into one another would be complete coincidences.”

Adrien grinned. “See you around, then. I have to go, I’m already late.” With a wave, he strode to the staircase.

Marinette waved back until he was out of sight, sighing in hopeless, unfading love.

“You are Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” M. Ducasse asked as she stepped inside the office. 

“Yes, M. Ducasse.” She replied, taking out the documents signed by her and her parents.

“Very well,” he said, comparing her profile to the photo on the ID. “Please hand over the NDA and employment contract, and take the ID card. This will give you access till the fifteenth floor. Your supervisor is Mme. Oppenord. She will decide the days and timings of your internship, as well as discuss other details.”

“Okay. Thank you,” she took the ID card and pinned it to her blouse. “Where can I find Mme. Oppenord?”

“She should be here any minute now,” he responded. “Have a seat. There’s some orange juice in the jug.”

She did so, marveling at the décor and the professional hospitality. Then again, there was a reason Gabriel was the most popular company in the design industry. The receptionist was right; her supervisor arrived within three minutes, and took a seat opposite and briskly introduced herself.

The next half an hour was a discussion regarding the responsibilities, duties, duration and timings of the internship. Marinette would apparently be mostly working in the clothes design and PR departments, which pleased her. She asked if she could help out in jewellery department as well, and was warned that going beyond coffee and typing jobs would perhaps be regarded as rudely overstepping by some, but that she was welcome to try.

“Onto the final matter,” Mme. Oppenord seemed like the type of efficient which got things accomplished in the snap of a fingers and left disorganized messes like Marinette staring after them in awe. “The unusual portion of the contract, if I may say so. You are promised help in any ongoing or future projects, including but not limited to a reasonable amount of resources, publishing, selling, modelling, wardrobe. . .?” She trailed off in a question mark.

“Er, yes,” Marinette answered, not sure what the woman was looking for.

“Very well. Do you have anything ongoing?” She couldn’t read Mme. Oppenord’s tone. Tired of this, or just the methodical need to move on to the next thing?

“Well, Jagged Stone has commissioned a few designs that I’ve only just completed,” she said slowly. “And usually, I post them on my website so my followers can get the ‘scoop’ of sorts – the things that the famous rockstar will probably, you know, start a trend with.” She finished weakly and winced.

“If your name is going to be associated with the Gabriel brand, you will have to make a few modifications to the process,” she commented, furrowing her eyebrows. Marinette bristled at that, but had to concede that she had a point. “And – Jagged Stone is okay with you publicizing his commissions like this?” She asked severely.

Marinette wasn’t sure if Mme. Oppenord actually hoped she was committing a crime. “He’s … known me since I was a child, and hence I think was rather indulgent when it came to contracts. He says it’s my designs, so I can do as I wish.” Jagged had always been like the brash, spoiling uncle to her. There was also the fact that Penny had a soft spot for her.

“Hmm.” That apparently garnered a raised eyebrow. “Very well. Bring me your finished designs – I’m your supervisor, dear, I can assure you I won’t be blabbing or copying,” she added when Marinette opened her mouth in instinctive indignation. She blushed, and the woman continued. “And I’ll see what I can do with regards to modelling and publicizing. I’ll have your contact with Jagged Stone as well, and your usual model—”

“I … don’t really have a contact?” Marinette said sheepishly. “I usually just call Penny.”

“As in Jagged Stone’s personal assistant?” Mme. Oppenord seemed a woman of few reactions, and Marinette wondered what it meant that she was giving so many only in their first meeting.

“Erm. Yes.”

“I suppose you’ll have to be there when I call then. . . And your model?”

“Juleka Couffaine.”

Mme. Oppenord stared at her. “The famous Luka Couffaine’s sister? Jagged Stone’s daughter?”

“. . . That’s the one,” Marinette said feebly. It really was a start to remember how well-connected she was. She certainly hadn’t though much of it back in college.

The older woman shook her head with – again, Marinette couldn’t read her expression. Which was frustrating. As Ladybug, she was used to dealing with akumas by reading their emotions and body language.

She was sent off to work soon enough. She spent the next couple hours brewing coffee and typing and sending e-mails, with one exciting excursion to the wardrobe department to help in an ongoing shoot. Mme. Oppenord told her that when she came on Thursday she would be helping organize the wardrobes used by the designers with the other interns, and that she could eat in the cafeteria before she left.

She sat down with two girls only a couple years older than her called Juliet and Andy, who were very friendly. She’d texted her parents that she would be home by eight-thirty, so she had half an hour before she had to leave. The girls were amazing sources about future schooling: Juliet went to university while Andy pursued jewellery making in a specialized school. Marinette had to consider her own options after lycée, so it was helpful.

“Oh my God,” came a squeal, “Oh, God, look! Everyone, look!”

 There were instantly several other screeches and a hushed, “It’s Adrien Agreste!”

Sure enough, the blond was at the door, frowning as he looked around. When he caught her eye, she waved tentatively. His face brightened and he headed straight there.

“Why is he coming here?” Andy asked, voice reaching a previously undiscovered pitch. “Marinette, did you just wave ADRIEN AGRESTE over to our table?”

“You know him?” Juliet asked, sounding impressed but not as slavish as the others. Marinette had barely nodded when Adrien beamed at her, sitting next to Juliet.

“Hi, Marinette! How was your first day of work?”

“Good,” Marinette smiled back at him – it was pretty much impossible not to. Adrien always had a way of making her fluster and smile. “How was your day? As boring as you expected?”

“Pretty much,” he replied, making a face. “Except I had the prospect of seeing you to tide me over.” His eyes sparkled and her face burned. Adrien flirted with everyone, apparently having gained confidence after he entered lycée. Thankfully more lowkey than Chat Noir, though her partner had stopped declaiming his love to her recently.

“What exactly do you do here anyway?” She asked, putting her head on her chin to consider him. “Oh, and this is Juliet and Andy by the way.”

“I remember you helped in the jewellery in my last shoot,” Adrien said in recognition to Andy. She gulped, looking like she was about to faint, and nodded wildly. “Nice to meet you, Juliet.”

“You as well,” Juliet replied politely.

“As for your question,” he turned to Marinette. “I usually just shadow Nathalie, though Father has been coming here to show me the ropes.”

“Gabriel Agreste is outside the mansion?” Andy gasped, dropping her fork. “Here?”

“Right?” Adrien said enthusiastically, clearly not understanding the fangirling. “It’s a miracle! The last time he came out was nearly five years ago, during that fashion show. . . The one where I wore the hat you designed, Marinette.”

“Oh right,” she laughed sheepishly. “The one inspired by Mr. Pigeon.”

“That was inspired by Mr. Pigeon?” Adrien laughed too. “Right, the feather in the hat. Literally,” he winked. She giggled. “My father really did admire your work, especially the signature. I remember he called it ‘masterful’.”

“That’s a feather in the cap of any designer,” Juliet said, smiling, looking between Marinette and Adrien with shrewd eyes.

“Definitely,” Marinette agreed. “I think that competition was around the time when Mr. Ramier was first Akumatized.”

“You … know his actual name?” Adrien blinked in surprise.

“Well. . . The poor man’s been Akumatized enough times,” she joked. “I help him feed the pigeons sometimes.” She felt sorry for the man, as Ladybug and as herself. It was a bit of a joke, but loving pigeons that much to get Akumatized even with the charm she gave out? That was some commitment. Adrien’s face softened, looking at her.

“Nearly seventy, I believe,” Andy laughed.

“Seventy-three,” Both Marinette and Adrien corrected together. They grinned at one another.

“If you’ve already had a Gabriel model,” Juliet gestured to Adrien, “Then doing it again shouldn’t be much of a problem, should it?” Marinette hadn’t known her long, but she was fairly certain that wicked glint in her eye meant nothing good.

“What do you mean?” He frowned.

 Marinette cleared her throat. “There was a clause in the internship contract that any ongoing or future projects while I’m interning here will be supported by Gabriel, including but not limited to—”

“Modelling,” he finished.

“Right. And she has one now,” Andy said, nodding. “Mme. Oppenord told you to bring your sketches in next time you’re here for deciding the model and everything?” She and Juliet exchanged a glance and then looked at Adrien. . . expectantly?

“I can do the modelling for you,” Adrien offered instantly.

“What?” Marinette gaped unflatteringly at him. “Adrien – you hate modelling! You really don’t need to do something like this for me!”

“No, really, it’s no problem. I’ll talk to my father about it. He knows we’re friends. He’ll probably be glad I want to model at all. In fact, he may thank you on bended knee,” he said, smiling crookedly.

“Well, that’ll be the day,” Marinette joked. “And a sight worth seeing. But you don’t have to.” She said again, feeling speechless at how unhesitatingly he offered to do something he hated for her sake.

“I’m happy to,” he replied. “Mme. Oppenord’s your supervisor? I’ll get Nathalie to tell her—” his phone rang. “Speaking of which. I have to go. I’ll see you?” He added hopefully.

Marinette wasn’t sure why he wanted to, but she would never object to seeing Adrien. If she did, the people around her ought to check for Akumatization or something of the sort. “Of course.”

Juliet and Andy pounced on her the moment Adrien left the table. “You didn’t tell us you were dating Adrien Agreste!” Andy cried.

“I’m not,” she protested. “We went to college together, and our best friends are dating. We’re just friends.” The words didn’t give her pain as they had back in college. Yes, she still loved Adrien, but he didn’t have to return her feelings. She liked being friends. It was fine.

“Didn’t look like it,” Juliet said, her eyes glittering. “But okay. Looks like we have a matchmaking job, Andy.”

Marinette crossed her arms. “Don’t you dare,” she scolded.

They dared.

When the son of the owner of the company requested something, things apparently moved rather fast. The very next time she went to her internship with her designs, Mme. Oppenord had frostily declared that an appointment with Adrien Agreste for modelling her designs had been set. She’d been rather hurtful about the fact that she clearly thought it was nepotism and not talent until she took a look at Marinette’s designs. Then she gaped, and behaved much nicer.

She was also pretty supportive. Marinette had stocked and organized the wardrobe, making friends with a couple of the interns helping, though some had looked down on her, all of them obviously being out of lycée. Mme. Oppenord had also let her select the colour palette of decoration of somebody’s party (with plenty of criticism, of course, but it was the thought that counted).

Adrien had met her at the cafeteria once more, this time walking her down to the gate. Andy had giggled and pushed her at him once.

After all these years, you’d think she’d be used to pushy friends shoving her at him. But nope.

He caught her by the waist, and just laughed while she stammered in apology and embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it, Marinette. After all these years, I’ve kind of grown used to it.”

“I really am madly clumsy,” Marinette tried to laugh it off. An odd look passed over his face.

“That can be an endearing quality,” he said softly. She nearly had a heart attack. Did he mean to call her endearing? Did he--? But no, he couldn’t. “I’ll see you Saturday evening for the shoot?”

“Why is it so soon?” She frowned, glad to get off-topic from her ‘endearing’ clumsiness.

Adrien smiled ruefully. “Father’s overjoyed, like I said he would be. He’s taking the opportunity to start the new advertising campaign he wanted me to star in. He wasn’t very happy with cutting down my modelling, even if it was for learning about the business instead.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, unable to think of anything else. At this point, as bad as it sounded, she was used to the way Adrien’s father acted with him.

He ruffled his hair. “Well, at least it’s for a good cause. Can’t wait to wear something of your design again,” he winked and headed back to the building, leaving her blushing.

“And she says there’s nothing romantic between them,” Juliet giggled.

Marinette scolded her all the way to the train station where they were leaving Andy and walking home.

Somehow, Juliet and Andy weaseled their way into the photoshoot. Andy was there helping with the jewellery anyway, but Juliet winked at her, rushing after the photographer in an effort to ‘assist’.

Marinette loved her new friends, but really.

Adrien had been right that one time: photoshoots and modelling were long and boring. Although assisting with the wardrobe, and exchanging glances and smiles with Adrien, and making sure her pieces were done justice and were right for Jagged and her website and glaring at Andy and Juliet made them less so.

The photoshoot went well enough, despite a couple hiccups and Vincent’s despairing that Adrien had had such a long break from modelling (exactly two weeks) and would continue taking a break after this (indefinitely).

What Juliet and Andy did afterwards though? The. Last. Straw.

She was going to kill them. Painfully. Despite Tikki’s admonishments about Ladybug having to be a model for good behaviour.

And now she was facing a celebratory dinner date with Adrien.

Great.

[seas-of-silver]

I was making cookies the other whenever and saw this on the box...

...and so I had to drabble something, didn't I? XD

Adrien was barely containing his excitement as he walked with Nino up and down the aisles of the supermarket. Adrien had never been to one, and when, on a rare afternoon free to spend as he wished, he asked Nino if they could hang out after school and his best mate said he needed to do groceries, Adrien excitedly exclaimed that he would love to go grocery shopping. Nino was bewildered at Adrien bouncing on the balls of his feet, but Adrien didn't mind - his father never let him go before, so this mundane task was thrilling and new to him. When Nino heard that, he was all for Adrien joining him - he even let Adrien push the trolley! Who knew trolleys seemed to have wonky wheels that demanded they go in strange directions? They even have baby seats built into them - how cute! When he had his own kids, he was definitely going to bring them to the supermarket! Nino thankfully walked slowly up and down the aisles as Adrien marvelled at the different products and their packaging and how there were specials and deals for things that Adrien had no clue about but wanted to buy - Nino had to stop him from putting things into the basket several times over. Adrien was most curious at the packet cakes and cookies with their premixed dry ingredients to make the baked goods at home; he had never realised they were a thing that existed. "Yeah, before we found out about Marinette's bakery, this is what we always used to get," said Nino, picking up a box of Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie mix. "Mum, Chris and I are suckers for cookies, so we made these all the time, and they were easy to make, too." Adrien loved getting insight into his friends lives, but when Nino turned the box over, something caught his eye. "What is it?" Nino asked as Adrien took the box from his hands. "It claims that this mix has been 'loved by bakers since 1921'," Adrien said before turning to Nino with a grin. "Can we test that?" "Huh? You wanna give these cookies to Mr Dupain?" "No, bro, to Marinette," Adrien corrected, looking at the box with a fond smile, "I want make these cookies for Marinette and see if they get her approval." "So you want to impress Marinette?" Nino asked, before adding on, "With the cookies?" Adrien nodded absentmindedly, his mind half-dreaming of her reaction to the cookies. "She's always so amazing and making things for everyone, and I want to make something for her, you know?" He pulled his gaze away from the box to look at Nino, who was smiling at him as though Adrien had finally come to the conclusion Nino had been patiently waiting for - what that conclusion was, Adrien had no idea. "Okay, bro, put it in the cart. I'll help you make cookies for Marinette."

I'm imagining that Marinette finds out the claim Adrien was testing, and says something along the lines of "I love these cookies because you made them for me, Adrien." and Adrien is just beaming

[mickeljewel]

Adrien glanced over at Alya, “You know, don’t you?”

Alya played innocent, “Know what?”

“That I like her.”

Alya smirked, “You said it not me.”

“You already knew though. Didn’t you?”

“You can’t hide things like that from me, Sunshine.”

“It’s complicated… right? With all the… secrets that have come up?”

“Yes.”

“So can I implore you not to… meddle? And not to say anything?”

Alya leveled, “You can ask, but remember she’s my bestie. I won’t go running and say “Marinette…… Adrien’s totally in love with you and wants to marry you, get a hamster with you, and have children with you….” But don’t you think that’s a little late considering the many love confessions that have already been said?”

“Yes, but she rejected me. And I’m not re-confessing. Her friendship is too important to me.”

Alya raised an eyebrow. Nino looked between the two.

“It’s not my place to tell you what to do.” However, when she saw Adrien’s gaze drift to the door that Marinette walked out of, she gave a meaningful glance to Nino as if to say “but you and I are talking later”.

Adrien’s eyes hovered at the exit of his love, sad and mopey.

“Alya… what’s going on with her?”

Alya sighed, “You know. Everything is complicated.”

His eyes never wavered, but pouted at her response. Then he wondered, Wait… how did Alya know that I wanted a hamster…?

Meanwhile Alya shook her head and mumbled to herself, “These two are going to be the death of me.”

[nirby-wirby]

AN: This work is for @maridotnet! I was your @mlsecretsanta :) I hope you enjoy this fluffy Adrienette fic! I really enjoyed working on it. Summary: Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino have a sleepover at Marinette’s house. Will Marinette and Adrien finally confess their feelings? Title: I loved you then and I love you now

Adrien stared into his reflection in his bathroom mirror, determined. He was having a friendly sleepover with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. He was going to have a nice time and when Alya and Nino fell asleep, he’d confess his feelings to Marinette. Maybe. Hopefully.

His previous attempts hadn’t been so great. After waiting for a couple months to see if Marinette had ever confessed to buttercup and gotten a boyfriend, he’d realized that he was paying attention because he didn’t want her to get with the mysterious boy. Of course he wanted Marinette to be happy— she was one of his closest friends— but he wanted her to be happy with him.

Then, the reveal happened. They’d both rushed into an alley to transform and hadn’t noticed each other until bright green and pink lights illuminated the small space and they’d almost been blinded. They hadn’t had time to talk about it at the moment because an akuma was wreaking havoc in the city, and they hadn���t really had time in the past few weeks.

Of course, he’d tried to talk to her. He’d wanted to talk about the reveal and confess his feelings for her. But every time he got to the point where he’d say he really cared about her, she’d say something like, “Right! Because we’re very good friends!” then laugh nervously and run away with an excuse.

But tonight would be different. Possibly.

He smacked his cheeks lightly, trying to psyche himself up. He could do this! He’d just correct her before she could run away. And where would she even run? The sleepover was at her house. It would be after the bakery closed. If she made an excuse this time, then maybe she just wasn’t comfortable being near him. He frowned. He thought they’d gotten past this. 

Adrien shook the thoughts away as he checked the time. “Plagg?” The kwami appeared beside him, popping a triangle of camembert into his mouth and swallowing it whole. “It’s time to go. Don’t you think you have too much cheese for one night?”

The kwami looked at the bag he’d filled with seven camembert wheels. “No? Why would this be too much?”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He’d just make sure the bag was sealed completely so Marinette’s room wouldn’t stink.

A knock came from his door. “Adrien,” Nathalie called, “your driver is ready.”

“Coming!” He grabbed his overnight bag as Plagg hid in his shirt pocket.

He could do this, he reminded himself as he stepped out of his room. Tonight he’d confess his love for Marinette and, hopefully, everything would be fine. 

————

“I can’t do this!” Marinette exclaimed, hands pulling at her hair. She was pacing in her room as Alya watched her from the chaise lounge she reclined on. “Why did I think this was a good idea? A sleepover? At my house? In my room? With Adrien?” The girl whirled around to face her best friend, “Why didn’t you talk me out of it?”

Alya laughed, “Relax, girl. I’ll be here and so will Nino. If you need anything, we’ll be here for you. There’s nothing you need to worry about.”

Marinette frowned. That was easy for Alya to say. Somehow she always managed to be calm, cool, and confident. And Marinette was cool and confident, too! …Just not so much around Adrien. And definitely not calm. If she was Ladybug, then yeah, she could be calm. Sometimes.

Which Adrien knew. Because he was Chat Noir. Her partner, her best friend, and her kitty. Marinette blushed, she still couldn’t believe they were the same person. Silly, flirty, easy going Chat Noir that she could always be herself around was the same boy she could barely hold a normal conversation with. It also meant that it was Adrien who kissed her hand and winked at her and called her his lady. Oh god. She was not going to survive the night with that knowledge.

Marinette groaned, pulling her hands down her face as she sat down next to Alya. Alya put an arm around her shoulders, rubbing one in a comforting manner. Marinette placed her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I don’t know if I can confess tonight. I’ve never been able to, so why’s tonight any different?”

Alya gently nudged Marinette off her shoulder and placed both her hands on Marinette’s shoulders. “Hey, look at me.” Marinette slowly looked up at her. “You don’t have to if you’re not ready. But I know you can do this! If you just can’t get the words out, then have fun tonight. It’s a sleepover with your best friends! We were able to get Garba— I mean, Gabriel Agreste to let his son leave the house. That’s something to celebrate! Right?”

Marinette smiled. She was so lucky to have such great friends. “Okay…thanks, Alya.”

Alya grinned, hugging her. “Anytime.”

“Marinette?” Her mother called. “Can you get the door please?”

Marinette pulled away from Alya, nervousness creeping back into her. Alya patted her shoulder reassuringly. Marinette nodded, taking a deep breath. She could do this. She was going to survive the sleepover.

As she walked down the stairs, Marinette hyped herself up. It was just one night. Just a normal sleepover with her friends.

(And the love of her life. But if she thought about that, then she wouldn’t survive the night. And she couldn’t let Adrien have a bad sleepover experience. And if she died at a sleepover, then what would her tombstone say? “Died from being too close to Sunshine Child who also happened to be Charming, Flirty Kitty”? And—)

She was at the door. Ok, Marinette, she told herself, just open the door. You can do it.

Her hand closed on the handle. She turned the knob, then—

“Hey, dude!” Nino smiled as he waved at Marinette.

Oh, it was just Nino. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. She could deal with Nino. “Hi! Come on in,” she grinned. As Nino walked in, Marinette caught sight of blond hair. Oh no.

“Hi, Marinette,” Adrien said, his smile dreamy as ever. Marinette’s heart picked up speed and she felt her cheeks heat up. Did she really just call his smile dreamy?

“Heeeyyy, Adrien,” she replied.

Two seconds. Two seconds was all it took for her to be a jumbled mess around him. How was that even possible? Did he put some sort of spell on her? No, he wouldn’t do that. Adrien was too nice.

Marinette stepped aside to let him in her house. “You guys can go upstairs,” she told the boys, “Alya’s already there.” She closed the door as they headed up to her room.

Her mom smiled at her as Marinette reached for the tray of snacks she’d prepared for them. “Good luck,” she said.

Marinette’s face burned with embarrassment. “Thanks,” she muttered. But, really, she did need the good luck wishes. She needed all the luck in the world if she was going to survive the night. 

Marinette stopped at the bottom of the stairs, staring up at them. They’d never seemed like much of a challenge, but in that moment, they seemed like the longest hike. 

Marinette shook her head to clear her thoughts. She was Ladybug! She could handle a sleepover with her crush and her best friends! It wasn’t the end of the world. Right?

————

Adrien didn’t think he’d ever had so much fun, or sugar, in his life. (Which was kind of sad, but he wasn’t going to think about it.)

Marinette and her parents had a steady supply of delicious pasteries that seemed to never end. Alya and Nino had also brought soda, chips, and candy. They’d played truth or dare, they’d taken random online quizzes, they’d challenged each other to eat sour candies without making faces — which had been hilarious — they’d had a pillow fight, then they’d built a pillow fort. (Adrien didn’t think he’d ever made a pillow fort before.)

Now, in the comfort of their small pillow fort and some warm blankets, they watched a movie on Marinette’s computer. But Adrien couldn’t really pay attention to it. Not when Marinette’s hand was centimeters away from his. They’d had to squeeze in close to all fit in the pillow fort, and of course Alya and Nino wanted to be next to each other. Naturally, Marinette sat beside Alya, which had left just enough room for Adrien to squeeze in next to her.

He wanted to hold her hand. So badly. He wanted to so much that he was actively holding himself back from closing the tiny distance between their hands. They’d held hands before, of course, but that was when they were running away from danger or his fans. He wanted to hold her hand in a romantic sense, like when they were cuddled in a pillow fort and enjoying small moments or walking along the Seine at the end of a wonderful date. And he really, really wanted to hold her hand in that very moment.

Instead, he moved his attention to Alya and Nino who’d fallen asleep. It was the perfect chance to get Marinette alone and tell her his feelings. He glanced at Marinette as she idly chewed on the popcorn they’d made for the movie.

Gosh, she looked so pretty. Her hair had come undone from the usual pigtails in the pillow fight and she’d just left it like that. Did she know what it did to him? Did she know that it only strengthened the yearning to play with her hair as she falls asleep? (Maybe one day he’d get the chance.)

Marinette’s eyes caught his and he quickly looked away, face burning. She’d caught him staring. Oh, no. What if she thought he was weird for staring? No, no, he just had to play it cool. Yeah. He could do that.

He cleared his throat and looked at her again. She looked back at him and — oh, why was he so nervous? He’d confessed so many times to her before, so why did he suddenly feel so anxious?

Adrien then realized he hadn’t said anything for a while after clearing his throat. “Uh.” Wow, what a great start, a voice that sounded a lot like Plagg said in his head. Maybe he was spending too much time around the sarcastic little guy. He tried again. “Do you…wanna get some fresh air outside?”

Marinette smiled and his heart stuttered. She was so pretty, and for what? To kill him? Probably. “Sure.”

Quietly, they tiptoed across Marinette’s room and out to her balcony. It was somewhat chilly, and Marinette was smart enough to grab a blanket on her way out. Adrien was grateful for his warm pajamas.

They stood side by side, leaning on her balcony railing and watching the streets below. It was late, but it was also the weekend, so people were still out and about. Adrien watched as a couple laughed, swinging their joined hands with much enthusiasm. Their wildly swinging hands came back to a normal swing as their laughing subsided. Adrien wished he could do that with Marinette. Maybe he would if he’d just confess.

Adrien looked at Marinette, grasping her blanket in one hand to keep it in place around her shoulders. She was smiling serenely as she watched the street below them. Her twinkling balcony lights cast a golden glow over her face. She looked breathtaking.

Ok, he told himself, you can do this! You’ve done it before and she looked just as gorgeous then. You can do this!

“Marinette,” he murmured, stepping in a little closer, “for a while now, I’ve been wanting to tell you this. You know you’re very important to me—“

“Right! Because we’re very close friends!” Marinette interrupted loudly, a nervous laugh escaping her. She turned on her heel to leave, but he couldn’t let her go yet again.

Gently, he grasped her hand, sighing, “Yes, we arevery close friends, but…” He looked her in the eye, mesmerized by the sea of blue that met him. “I want to be more than that. I love you, Marinette. I always have, whether I realized it or not, and knowing that you were the girl under the mask only made my feelings stronger.” It felt good to get it off his chest. “It’s ok if you don’t feel the sa—“

“I love you too!” Marinette blurted, her words leaving her so fast it took him a moment to register what she’d said.

“You…love me, too?” She nodded, tears in her eyes. Adrien laughed, picking her up at spinning her around in his arms. “You love me, too!” He exclaimed as Marinette giggled, cheeks flushed from joy.

He paused, his heart beat thundering in his ears. He wanted to kiss her so badly. But would it be too soon? They stared at each other, love in their eyes.

Then, Marinette blushed and whispered, “Can I kiss you?”

Adrien grinned, leaning in and meeting her half way. Her lips were soft and warm, and her lipgloss tasted like passion fruit. When they pulled apart, he asked, “Did you wear that lipgloss on purpose?”

Her cheeks got even more red. “Maybe.” They giggled as he twirled her around again. “I’m so happy,” Marinette murmured.

“Me, too, Marinette, me too,” he replied softly, leaning in for another kiss.

————

Alya opened her eyes and grinned up at Nino. Nino grinned back. The two of them knew their friends were having trouble getting together so they made yet another plan. They’d encourage the two to confess as they always did, but also give them the opportunity to do so.

Obviously, Adrien and Marinette weren’t going to confess with her and Nino being right there, even though they both knew they liked each other. It was understandable that they’d want to be alone for that. The best way for them to be alone was if they thought she and Nino were asleep.

So, Nino suggested they watch a movie, then the two of them pretended to fall asleep within the first twenty minutes. It was hard not to smile when Adrien asked Marinette if she wanted to get some fresh air. Now, they just had to hope they finally confessed.

“Do you think it worked?” Nino whispered.

“I don’t know why it wouldn’t,” Alya replied. But then again, that’s what they’d thought about other attempts. “I’ll go check.”

Alya crept up the ladder to Marinette’s bed loft and carefully opened the trapdoor just enough to see Adrien’s feet on the ground, and Marinette’s in the air. He was twirling her around. Then Alya heard her giggle and say, “I’m so happy.” With a giant grin, Alya quietly closed the trapdoor and hurried over to Nino.

“They did it!” She whisper-yelled as she hugged him tightly.

“Finally!” When they pulled away, he kissed her cheek, softly. “Now, we can go on double dates without them complaining about being the third wheels.”

“But you know they’re going to be insufferable in their first month or so of dating.” The honeymoon period for those two would be as if honey was poured on cotton candy — sickeningly sweet.

Nino shrugged, “I think it’ll be better than hearing them pine over each other.”

“Good point.” The trapdoor opened. Alya and Nino tried to be casual as they turned to watch Adrien and Marinette move back to the pillow fort. “There you guys are.”

“Needed some fresh air?” Nino asked.

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other. “Yeah.” Adrien lightly swung their joined hands.

“Oh, and what’s this?” Alya asked as though she didn’t already know what was going on.

Adrien smiled softly at Marinette. “We’ve decided to start dating.”

“That’s great! I’m so happy for you guys!” Nino nodded in agreement.

The two squeezed back into the pillow fort. “So,” Nino clapped his hands together, “who wants to try some more sour candies?”

The others cheered. Soon, they abandoned their movie and continued with their sleepover shenanigans. As Alya looked at the happy new couple, she grinned. This was surely a night to remember.

[inner-sakura]

Pancakes For Dinner

Rating: General Audiences Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/M Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Relationships: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste & Marinette Dupain-Cheng Status: Completed

Summary:

After an uncomfortably close call in battle, Marinette comes to a series of rather startling conclusions.

Namely, that she is in love with Adrien Agreste, and he's in love with her, and it's high time that she screws her courage to the sticking place and actually does something about it.

(“Reasons to date me, a presentation by Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” Chat’s voice rises incredulously, teetering on the edge of a crack. “Mari, wait, what is this?”

Marinette holds up a hand to stop him.

“Please save all of your questions for the allotted question and answer period at the end,” she says, biting her tongue to keep from blurting out anything too embarrassingly telling like 'if I don’t get through this right now, I’m pretty sure I never will,' or 'I want to kiss you on the mouth. With my mouth.')

[post-reveal, pre-relationship. set sometime after season 5. canon up until s5e09 exaltation/elation.]

Read it here

[monarch-maelstrom]

Uh so sorry to everyone who enjoyed the first chapter of my Post Reveal story. I actually completely forgot that I had posted that. But here is the second chapter!

If anyone has any name suggestions for this story please tell me. I don’t think Post Reveal Love-square feel good story is going to work XD

[steelblaidd]

I want to pick them all😓

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Idk if you already discussed this but how do you feel about Adrinette being canon when there wasn‘t a reveal yet? Because I think the show just took all the exciting aspects of the love square away by making one side canon and the others strictly platonic.

Sure, they‘re cute and whatnot, but I don‘t think they‘re exactly interesting without the identity shenanigans and stuff? Especially because (to me at least) Adrinette always felt like the weakest side. It‘s a school crush romcom type of love, which is great and all, but like…. You have superheroes in your show?? Hello??? Why not combine the two elements more effectively???The others are either badass superhero couple (I loved the Ladynoir dynamic in the movie for example) or one superhero hangs out with the civilian and they bond. That‘s literally all of fanon Marichat, and I personally think it works with Ladrien too. There‘s different aspects of those relationships that can be explored and create problems that they have to overcome (like the power imbalance with the civilian x hero ships, how do you handle that while dating?)

I wish the writers would use the square more effectively

I'm not against pre-reveal dating, but I agree that Adrienette is the worst side to chose from a story telling perspective because - as you so rightly pointed out - it's arguably the side with the least identity shenanigans and the side that has the least ties to the superhero stuff that's supposed to be the show's main focus. Adrienette is the side you chose if you're focusing on civilian drama which, to be fair, was season five's main focus even though Gabriel had stolen the miraculous and we were all expecting that complication to be the focus of the season five plot.

Instead the focus was "will Marinette ever have the courage to say a kind word to Adrien's face instead of just telling others how much she loves him even though she knows that he explicitly returns her feelings, making this plot kind painful on every level" which was... a choice.... Five seasons and we're still doing this shit? Really?

This may mean that the writer's plan in season six is to continue to focus on civilian drama or it could mean that they didn't think further than season five and we're about to get a lot of awkward writing. Who knows? I have no idea how they're going to handle civilian dating plus secret identities for long since the writers chose the only side of the square where running off to fight akumas isn't a given thing that the couple-in-question knows will happen. My best guess is that the writers will probably just avoid putting Adrienette in the type of situations Adrigami and Lukanette were put in, I guess?

No matter how they handle it, I don't expect major identity shenanigans because the show has never done much with identity shenanigans probably because quality identity shenanigans require you to be able to draw out plots over multiple episodes and then resolve those plots. This show cannot have that kind of plot progression given it's formulaic nature and the "there must always be a secret between Adrien and Marinette" rule, thus the identity shenanigans being so limited.

This means that the side best suited to the show's writing is probably Ladynoir. Still room for the minor identity shenanigans that the show limits itself to, baked-in-yet-low-stakes tension from having to keep the relationship a complete secret, and a much more logical result of the writing in the first four seasons. While Adrien is far from perfect and has issues to rival Marinette's, his crush always felt like the stronger one given that he actually spent time with Ladybug and had a true relationship with her.

Marinette, on the other hand, barely talked to Adrien because the show literally has a rule that she can never successfully confess her crush, so they needed to keep her and Adrien from becoming close to make those continued failed confessions somewhat plausible. Given all that, it's hard for me to buy that Adrien's crush flipped to this girl that he barely knows. Meanwhile Ladybug's crush flipping had a pretty strong setup given that Chat Noir has been her loyal support in her darkest hours.

But that's not what they went with! Instead of having the secret be the low-stakes identities secret, the secret between them is, "Your father was a super villain whose minions killed you on multiple occasions and whose death you were arguably involved with. While were on the topic of your messed up family, you're an artificial being whose creation killed you mother. Oh, and we're also hero partners, which feels like a minor thing compared to all of that, but we might as well mention that, too."

...choice were made folks. Choices were made. This is so not how you write a formula show! You never go this serious!

Since you mentioned the Civilian/hero pairings, let's talk about those both to end on a lighter note and because that's where my personal favorite lies as I am here for identity shenanigans. That's right, folks, I am once again here to sell you on my Ladrien supremacy agenda.

While I have nothing against Marichat, it is not a good fit for canon. It's simply too limiting because Marinette is not a celebrity. There's a reason that of Marinette's canon hangouts with Chat Noir (and almost all Marichat fics) start on her balcony. That's really the only place they can meet up without drawing attention, which should be a major concern for them.

I physically cringed when the show had them go to the movies and on an ice cream date because Chat Noir was being so irresponsible! He cannot be shown to have a close relationship with a civilian, which is the excuse he should have given at the end Elation since that the episode included Gabriel discovering their relationship. The excuse Chat Noir actually gave feels pretty dismissive of his canon relationship with Marinette. She has canonically spent more time talking to Chat Noir then she's spent talking to Adrien and the same actually goes for the amount of time Ladynoir spends talking about non-hero things, so this feels off:

Cat Noir: I’m sorry about what happened, Marinette. You’re right, you have the right to love anyone you want. Even a superhero. But it’s easy for a person to mistake idolization of a superhero for love. So, even if I like this person very much, I could be taking advantage of the situation, and I just can’t do that. It would be wrong.

Evil Illustrator, their heartfelt talk in Glaciator, the movie date in Glaciator 2, and a bunch of other little moments add up to somehow make Marichat the deepest side of the square, which is painfully bad writing given how little screen time this side gets, but it's still what canon gave us. Marinette is not just a fan who only knows him from a distance. They are friends and even occasional teammates. The only reason this pairing doesn't work in canon is because there's nowhere for the relationship to go until a partial or total reveal happens.

Prior to that, it's just these two hanging out on her balcony or maybe going on secret dates around the city. Cute, but not suited to a silly superhero romcom aimed at kids where every story needs to be told in about 20 minutes. It's best left to long form fan content that is allowed to be more about drama and romance than the actual show and also a little more spicy than the actual show because - let's be real here - those rooftop dates would not just be talking. I don't know how you'd write this pairing in a way that's both genuine and well suited to the intended audience. It's simply way more suited to a teen drama than a kid's show.

Ladrien, on the other hand, could work if canon wanted to go there. I don't think it would be a good fit for more than a season*, so Ladynoir is still the better pick for canon's format, but Ladrien could be a nice bit of pre-reveal padding to draw out the reveal and add some fun comedy if the show were allowed to have a reveal.

Because Ladybug and Adrien are both celebrities, you can have them interact in diverse settings without anyone thinking twice. This allows for a good amount of hijinks where Ladybug is trying to protect her boyfriend at public events without revealing their relationship while Adrien is trying to get her to let him run off and transform.

You can also do things like the public seeing them together, thinking they're a couple, and having them both deny it because they aren't, leading to Ladynoir comedy where Ladybug cries because she wishes they were and Chat Noir is like, "Wait, what? You what? ...My Lady, as your loyal partner who is here to support you in all things, I will get you your man even if it kills me!" The thinking-they're-a-couple thing could also be solved via Ladynoir by Ladynoir going public while Adrien remains "single". There's just a lot of potential for the show's style of absurdist humor here.

*Ladrien does eventually fall into the same issues as Marichat where it feels like the reveal needs to happen otherwise you're just repeating the same plots or going too spicy for a kids show via bedroom-based meetups, thus me saying that it's only good for about a season. There's also the problem that Akuma fights and supervillains are endless fodder for Ladynoir issues, but the only issue Ladrien could possibly address is Gabriel and Marichat's got nothing save for maybe Lila? So if you don't want to let a reveal happen, Ladynoir really is the best pick by far. Adrienette can work, but it's way less fun since they have to keep all these secrets while Ladynoir really only has one major secret or, at least, Ladynoir should only have one major secret (the identities). Canon has really dropped the ball on this one.

Now that I've written all this out, maybe the spicy issue is why canon went Adrienette? It's a lot easier to limit their alone time than it is to limit the alone time of any other side. I maintain that you could get away with it in pre-reveal Ladynoir by just ignoring the issue and giving them things to fight any time they try to have a date. You could also end episodes on them starting their date, leaving everything to the imagination but also keeping the setting relatively public (rooftops and the like) unlike the civilian/hero sides whose dates are going to be way more private. I fully understand why a show aimed at 5-to-12-year-olds wouldn't want to go there. That is far more suited to the teen drama Miraculous so desperately wants to be based on the ill-suited plots the writers keep going with.