#prpr energy

[art-the-f-up]

Here's part 2. added some True Crime elements too since someone asked.

part 1 of the BuzzFeed Unsolved AU part 3 of the Buzzfeed Unsolved AU part 4 of the Buzzfeed Unsolved AU part 5 of the Buzzfeed Unsolved AU

[into-september]

WIP reblog game

tagged by @chaos-has-theories and @ladyofthenoodle, thanks~

If you're like me and you have a million WIPs and are anxious about updating them, play this game!

List the titles your top five priorities for WIP updates (link your fics for new readers!)

An upcoming scene, event, or detail in each fic that you're looking forward to writing

Bonus: make a poll for your followers to vote on which top 5 WIP they are most excited to see an update on!

Then tag 10 writer friends!

After the War (the most long-winded Love Square get together post Hawkmoth defeat ever and not in the fun misunderstandings-and-pining way)

Bread and Roses (no powers LS never met soulmate AU)

If You Read This Line, Remember Not The Hand That Wrote It (I think the human sentimonster storyline was a choice and made it everyone's problem. fic predates S5 though and isn't at all about where canon ended up going)

Five Things Apollo Justice Let Go When Staying In Khura'in (self-explanatory, with complimentary klapollo)

The one about the Reveal that happened before Radio Silence and/or That Conversation between Adrien and Marinette at the end of chapter 2 (alyanette friendship with background LS)

WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT:

...so. There were parts of this story that caused me trouble like you wouldn't believe, but the final chapter is essentially just smut and I spent enough of my twenties hanging around kink memes to know that PWP comes easy to me. So this was not the part I was stressing about while trying to keep the deadline for finishing the fic. And the irony is that life literally happened and I have not had the energy to write, far less get into the headspace for this one, for the last few months. There's no one part of it I'm more excited to write than the rest; it's two virgins trying to figure out sex together while carrying the story's theme of having to hide except from the one person who shares the same secret. I mostly just want to get it off my to do list.

There are only two future parts of it I have a clear vision of, so I'll guess my answer will be Adrien modelling the winner of Gabriel's bowler hat competition!

FELIX. You better believe he's here to make life difficult for Alya, have carefully concealed Feelings about both the Adriens, and do something undignified on Gabriel Agreste's grave

The reason it took me ten years to post this was that I really wanted Apollo's first Christmas in Khura'in and Klavier just happens to have a layover there.

It was very important for me that Adrien is enough of a weabo to have the OP of a certain 2002 anime about quirky schoolgirls as his ringtone ("HELLO EVERYNYAN", that's all I'm saying)

POLL TIME!

No pressure tags: @trainsinanime, @generalluxun and @galahadwilder who I think are the only fic-writing mutuals who haven't been tagged

[coffeebanana]

In honour of today being the one-year anniversary of when I posted the first chapter of Say Something, I wanted to--ahem--say something about this fic. And I thought about sharing the beginning of the next chapter, but 1. it's still the first draft so it's fairly rough, and 2. it's not very representative of the fic as a whole.

Instead, I thought I'd pick short passage I like from each chapter I've posted so far, because what is my tumblr for if not a little shameless self-promo, and I'm proud of the writing (read: neverending rewriting) I've done for this fic!! Plus this gives me an excuse to list all of my chapter titles which I really love as well ahaha.

(And for anyone who hasn't had a chance to read yet, I'll drop the link to chapter 1 here!! If you're interested in ladrien and/or prpr hurt/comfort featuring sentiadrien angst, then this is the fic for you!!)

Snippets are under the cut!

from chapter 1: Maybe They Sell Amok Chains at the Hospital Gift Shop

Ladybug faced away from him now, her stance rigid as she stared out the window. She kept one hand wrapped around the ring, which hung from a chain around her neck. Adrien wondered for a moment where she’d found the chain—she hadn’t left his side for long yesterday. Maybe her yo-yo had a secret stash of Amok chains. Maybe they were sold at the hospital gift shop. She could have fetched one when the doctors took him for scans. When they’d ensured he wasn’t quite bleeding to death by his father’s hand—only almost. Was a gift shop trinket really strong enough to entrust with the ring responsible for Adrien’s life? Hard to tell—that wasn’t the sort of thing people included on promotional signage. And that was…just about right. Adrien’s very existence was false advertising.

from chapter 2: Failure Sounds Like a Dripping Tap

The bathroom sink had been dripping the entire time, but suddenly it was all Marinette could hear. Suddenly it made her skin crawl. She knew there was a way to make it stop—a particular way to twist the handle—but she couldn’t find the energy for that. So the tap kept dripping, each drop serving as a reminder of the mess she'd made. Drip. She let Gabriel get away. Drip. She was failing her team. Drip. Adrien wouldn’t even look her in the eyes.

from chapter 3: Popcorn Ceilings Are No Substitute For Cloud Watching

This time when she sighed, Adrien felt her breath against the back of his neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Would those bumps make patterns like the ceiling? If Ladybug could read their warnings, would she back down? “Please,” Adrien whispered. He didn’t have words to explain, but he needed this. Panic sank its claws into him, tearing through old scars that never had a proper chance to heal. The chain bearing his Amok grew heavier. Would he ever get to make his own decisions?

from chapter 4: The Stars Don’t Always Lie 

Outside had been about…existing, mostly. About casual touches and errant thoughts. Inside expected a certain something. Words. Interaction. Progress. Adrien had no idea how to go about any of that. He didn’t even realize Ladybug had spoken until she placed a hand on his arm. “Chaton? You okay?” “Fine.” He couldn’t be terrible if he wasn’t entirely present, right? If some part of him seemed to have remained up on the roof, still longing for that freedom he’d barely gotten a taste of?

from chapter 5: Still A Mere Facade

Adrien was curled up on his side, sliding his phone lethargically back and forth across the blanket. He’d been listless all morning, answering her questions a beat too late or not at all. It wasn’t quite the same as the past few days’ silent treatment, but he was still a far cry from the Adrien—and the Chat Noir—that she knew. Marinette just wished she could think of something to say. But the longer she sat there, the more pressure she felt to speak, which in turn made it even harder to cobble together coherent thoughts. And she really had tried everything—there were shockingly few internet resources for how to help your partner come out as a sentibeing. In a last ditch attempt at finding some guidance, she was about to check the copy of the Guardians’ Grimoire she kept on her phone when Adrien froze, inhaling sharply. It took her a moment to figure out why, a moment to process that the other sound she’d heard was that of his phone rolling over the chain bearing his Amok. It always came back to the ring.

from chapter 6: As The World Flickers In Slow Motion

“It’s not stupid.” Nino assured him. “Your feelings aren’t stupid. They’re just… they’re you.” Adrien bit his lip. “Are they, though?” “What do you mean?” Adrien hooked a thumb under the chain around his neck, watching as his Amok hung in the space between him and Nino. “My father had this. The man who never wanted me to go anywhere or do anything. You really think he didn’t use it?”

from chapter 7: Believing in Moments To Come

Nino and Adrien sat side by side against the headboard, Nino smiling at Alya who stood beside him. She was still pulling out folders, stacking them on the bedside table while her eyes lingered on the pizza boxes stacked between the boys. Adrien paid them no attention—his eyes were glued to the spot where Marinette entered the room. He smiled when he saw her. Marinette would have done anything to freeze that moment—finally, a moment where his smile felt real. Where his eyes sparkled the way they had for years whenever he saw her, where his lips curved softly like every time he’d caught her before she could fall. Maybe Alya was right. Maybe she hadn’t screwed everything up.

from chapter 8: Like Molecules In A Gas

He flinched when Ladybug touched his shoulder. “Are you ready?” Midway through her question, an air vent whirred to life overhead, almost seeming to trap her words inside. It would explain why they sounded so far away. Adrien felt just like the air forced through the tube—it didn’t matter what trajectory its individual molecules took, how many times they collided with each other or the walls throughout their journey. In the end, they had no choice but to follow an overarching path, and he had no choice but to keep moving forward either. If only he could remember how to reply.

from chapter 9: A Colour of Wanting More

[...] “The point is, you have strengths and flaws. You make mistakes. You learn. You…you’re human.” His gut plummeted. “Am I, though?” “Yes,” she insisted. “I don’t know how to convince you, but—well, okay, how about this? They took a blood sample, when you were in the hospital. In case…” She shuddered. “Obviously they didn’t find anything strange, or they would have said something. And I’m sure if they did a DNA test, that would come back normal too. If you wanted, I could figure out how to get one done. I’m sure it’s easy.” “I…maybe. But—” “But what? You have a blood type, and…a heartbeat—probably all your organs in the right place too, because they never said anything about that either. And you just…you have this incredible capacity to love people, and you have—” “Existential crises?” “I—well,” she spluttered. “That’s not exactly what I was going for, but…yeah.” She gave a huff of amusement. “I suppose that’s pretty human of you.”

💜 💜 💜

Thank you to everyone who's been reading and interacting with this fic so far! I appreciate you all so much!!

[nedjsmlfavs]

the wonderful part of the mess that we made by heresie_irisee

They knew.

They knew, and there would be no magical reset button for the memories they'd made today. She'd have to see him at school every day, and she'd see the Chat in him, as surely as he'd see the Ladybug in her.

Word: 13,567 Rating: T

This is the best match for the ask and also a personal favorite. It's an oblivio fix it that has two heart-to-heart scenes broken up by some much-needed self reflection time for Marinette. There are two others that might scratch the itch, though:

Bad Week by miraculousunflower (ominousunflower)

Adrien's long and horrible week ends with a stinging rejection--until he sneaks out as Aspik and runs into an unexpected face.

“Hey!” a voice yells from behind him. “What are you doing—I—I mean, who are you?”

Aspik whirls around and finds himself face-to-face with…Multimouse?

With a frown, Multimouse glances at the jump rope wrapped around her waist. Untying it, she grips one end and weakly whips it toward Aspik. It flops on the ground in front of him like a wet noodle.

“AH,” she says. It somehow sounds like a question. “Um. An akuma?”

Words: 9,821 Rating: G

This one is pre-reveal and doesn't have a Ladynoir identity reveal, but it somehow still has strong PRPR energy and is mostly Aspik and Multimouse having a heart-to-heart. If you like the first rec, then you'll probably like this one, too.

Double Entendre by speaks

When Nino and Alya discover the secret phones Marinette and Adrien use to keep in contact with each other as Lady and Chat outside of costume, they assume their friends have discovered their secrets. But there is a chance that Nino and Alya have connected all the wrong dots, here. A chance which leads to the most awkward and terrifying date in the history of humanity.

Words: 10,063 Rating: T

This one is probably the furthest from the ask since Alya and Nino are along for the ride, but it does feature a really cute heart-to-heart and a lot of Adrien and Marinette finally seeing the full picture when it comes to each other, so I included it in the list.

Hii! I'm always itching for fics that are about post reveal pre relationship where Adrien and Mari are alone in a room or some place like that and as the night goes down they start talking and confessing their feelings and finally kiss. Your recs are excellent, could you help me with this? 🥺💞

Hi anon, I'm sorry that's super specific and I can't think of any fics like that.

Can any of my followers help anon out?

[chatonnoir]

Is this the end of Ladynoir? :( or do you think that we will still get some simpbug moments ;D

well considering this is how they behave when they're being "friends"

real talk idk, if the show is headed towards pre-reveal romantic adrienette and platonic ladynoir instead of the double simping ladynoir/adrienette conflicted feelings clownery i asked for i'll eat the food but i'm going to be real disgruntled about it bc i asked for chocolate cake and they're giving me green beans first

BUT ladynoir is also incapable of being 'platonic' and ladybug has been a simp since episode 1 so maybe we'll get more of the energy in Evolution where there's just a lot of tender looks and gazing in to each others eyes lovingly while being like 'we're very good friends'. Clownbug AND Clown Noir

BUT ALSO I think thematically an identity reveal in the next episode (the Kwami’s Choice two-parter) would also make a lot of sense and since the feelings within lovesquare have become such a big ?????? for both of them, we may get a PRPR phase where Adrien is ready to love Marinette but Marinette is still holding herself back, before we finally get to post-reveal established relationship with Adrienette and Ladynoir being unabashedly gross

so .......... who knows. I’m keeping my prpr clown makeup on until the very end

[carpisuns]

Hello :)

You always give the best recommendations.

Do you have some Adrinette and Marichat recs (art and writing)?

Fluff and happy endings are very appreciated.

Thank you! (I hope you are well) 🤍

Oh thank you 😌 I pride myself on enjoying good things djdjdk

i've recced a lot of these before so sorry alksdfja they're just so good! also sorry i aways go overboard with recs lol I CANT HELP IT, PEOPLE MAKE SUCH GOOD THINGS THAT I LOVE

this list ended up very long so I’m putting it under a cut fjdjdm

adrienette fics:

golden (like daylight) by @anna-scribbles — FAV FAV FAV literally so exquisitely written, gorgeous prose, lots of nuance and it all ties together to perfectly at the end HNNNG it has some Angst but it’s also very soft and the end is so fluffy💜💜

more than words by @zimtlein — another current fav, ongoing wip!! adrienette fake dating, angst but also lots of humor and shenangians (pre reveal pre relationship)

Operation Mega Sleepover by @smellerbeee — literally the purest sweetest adrienette friendship ever 😭(pre reveal pre relationship)

Comfort Food by Reiaji — GORGEOUSLY written adrienette bonding thru cooking lessons 🥺(ft. reveal)

the right side of his face by @hamsternamedmarinette — i just really love this, it's well written and i think it shows their relationship in a beautifully nuanced way 💜(pre reveal pre relationship)

new marinette by @rosekasa — this is a marinette memory loss fic so it's so sad but it has a perfect happy ending, dw! (alizeh also has tons of fluffy adrienette oneshots so check them out too!)

the roses still bloom by @botherkupo — this one is sad but so sweet and pure i just 🥺🥺🥺 platonic hurt/comfort, pre-reveal

Make It True by @ominousunflower — prpr closet makeout alkjdfasf

Plaggatouille by @gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights — peak adrienette shenanigans + cute reveal!

Short-Circuited by @mikachu-chu — this fic has such cute chaotic energy hdjdjd I love it. ft that one Electric Love tiktok trend 👀

Photograph by @sha-nwa — this one makes me cry but it's still fluffy just like.......bittersweet 😭(post reveal, established relationship)

marichat fics:

the way i loved you by @sha-nwa — FAV, ongoing wip that owns my entire mind!!!!! painful but so so good and beautifully written 😭

a lie for a lie by @botherkupo — I always gotta rec this one, Kim’s a fantastic writer and this is one of the first things I read in the fandom and it’s still on of my favs! Marichat fake dating (kim also has tons of other amazing marichat, check out all of it lol but Glad We’re Friends is so sweet and I’ll Be Your (Wing)Man is hilarious)

spark by @zimtlein — marichat tinder fic that starts out silly but evolves to be more angsty and it's like a delicious slow reveal aaa

home is where your wifi connects automatically by @zimtlein — cute marichat reveal!

Madame Snare by @jettiebettie — possibly my fav marichat fic ever aaaa such a good, in-character, canon-compatible exploration ft adrien (detransformed) acting as chat who is pretending to be a female model asflkadsjf i cry it's perf

Loopholes by @gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights — I don't think I've recced this before but it's such a cute and sweet marichat reveal! (also check out Tali's other marichats bc they're the best,,,I will mention Charcoal Lines but literally they're all my fav haha. ok also read Tastes Like Dirt. And Your Kitty. And The Wrong Balcony. Screw it all of them!!! dhsjsm)

Ladies’ Choice by @smellerbeee — this has been a fav for a long time, she just gets them and I love Kim’s writing 😌

where timing is kind to us by @deinde-prandium — this one is so sweet I just really like it 🥺 they’re nerds and they’re in love

A Breath of Fresh Air by @trashcatontherooftop — I’ve reces this a bunch before but it’s such a perfect wholesome brand of marichat dancing that like bt platonic and romantic!! wip

these are more like drabbles but they're so delicious i wanted to include them as some Tasty Tidybits

and i never saw you coming by @bugabisous — marichat fluff

i feel you holding me (tighter, i cannot see) by @botherkupo — marichat angst

This one is adrienette and marichat so it deserves its own category haha but How to Be a Hot Mess by @botherkupo is so cute and fun!

as for art!!!! here are some of my fav adrienette and marichat pieces :) these artists all have tons more amazing content so I highly recommend checking them out!

umbrella scene by @jascurka

adrienette sleepover by @anna-scribbles

post-reveal adrienette by @sweet-childhood-dreams

ML Amalie by @shishitsunari

Adrienette Phinbella by @inkshila

adrienette cuddles by @leviaana

umbrella adrienette by @nokkiart

Weredad animation by @bugaboo-n-bananoir

cute marichats by @thechatsmeow

marichat movie night by @queenlypirate

marichat sketch dump by @eona-art

midnight spaghetti by @cat-saturn

reverse crush animation by @miraculouslylazybug

marichat dating by @sabertoothwalrus

grocery store marichat by @matchalaatte

marichat cooking by @zivazivc

comfy marichat by @secondlina

[freakinggiddie]

So I was rewatching Frightningale and..

ngl these shots really have prpr energy and i'm loving it.

[frostedpuffs]

sjfjgjgjshdkgskgjghkd i have um. an EMBARRASSING amount of songs that remind me of ml and you have now given me the excuse to dump it ALL in this ask ty <3

anyways I attempted to categorize them so it'd easier to comprehend

Songs that remind me of ml solely bcos they're in french:

requieme - alma

derniere danse - indila (tho it does give me like,, apocalyptic hawkmoth-destroys-the-world-as-we-know-it vibes)

les champs elysees - joe dassin (I am imagining slightly drunken adrienette meeting each other as strangers for the first time and hanging out at midnight and stuff)

fever - dua lipa & angele

Songs that remind me of ml SAD edition:

skyfall - adele (LITERALLY THE CHAT BLANC EPISODE)

once apon a december - anastasia the movie (1997) (augh,, it gives me such lost memories marinette energy,, I just can already see her dancing and seeing this faceless boi with blonde hair and just not knowing who he is)

wrecked - imagine dragons (I listened to this while reading a deadrien fic so yeah I think ita fitting)

someone like you - adele (THIS GIVES ME SUCH BITTERSWEET MARINETTE SEEING ADRIGAMI VIBES)

pompeii - bastille (again Hawkmoth destroys the world vibes / chat blanc)

wrecking ball - miley cyrus (KAGAMI AFTER SHE BREAKS UP WITH ADRIEN)

Songs that remind me of ml CUTE and HAPPY edition:

dandelions - ruth b. (I think I saw it in your ss playlist so yeah glad we think the same <3)

dont blame me - taylor swift (immense LADRIEN vibes, rough kisses, being addicted to each other, stolen kisses etc)

bad habits - ed sheeran (again huge ladrien vibes same as above)

i think i love you - partridge family (adrien realizing his feelings for marinette prpr!!!!)

physical - dua lipa (ladynoir energy, esp the line ''i know youve got my back and you know ive got yours'')

genie - alicia daydreams (idk i once saw fanart of genie ladybug and now thats just what i picture whenever i listen to this song)

enchanted - taylor swift

love grows - edison lightbulb (ADRIENETTE AND LADRIEN VIBES,, i just see adrien half-chasing maribug through this garden of rosemary with these warm brick buildings and maribug playfully swings away)

everybody talks - neon trees (ladynoir and the line ''everybody talks too much'' is when theyre discovered kissing by the papparazzi)

<3

WOW!! HECK!! I APPRECIATE THIS SO MUCH!!! i know some of these songs and I AGREE!! lots of them i dont know so im rly excited to give them a listen! THANK YOU SO MUCH WOWIE!!!!!! i especially love that little descriptions u gave each. so perfect,.

[ladyofthenoodle]

thinking about how my best friend growing up used to introduce me to people are the funniest person she knows and then tell a story about a horrifyingly embarrassing event that i’d previously repressed all memory of. she was completely sincere. adrinette prpr energy.

[valiantlyjollynightmare]

Passengers - Day 1

Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time Never Happens

Read on ao3 Next | Masterpost

Rating: T

Archive Warning: No Archive Warning Apply

Category: F/M

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Relationships: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, background DjWifi

Characters: Adrien Agreste, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Tikki, Plagg, Alya Cesaire, Nino Lahiffe Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng

Aditional Tags: Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Aged Up, university aged, post Final Battle, post-reveal, Pre-Relationship, everyone knows who they are, prpr, Happy Ending, Sharing a Bed, and there was only one bed, Nightmares, Pining, Slow Burn, but just because the author likes to write many words, the whole action actually doesn't span such a long period of time, Fluff, hurt-comfort, Guilt, Introspection, tipsy shenanigans, Lavender Fields, Flower Crowns, author overusing google maps, Provence, Makeovers, glasses adrien, identity shenanigans, Inspired by Music, france is an amazing country, Canon-Compliant, Like, I did my best so it doesn't directly disagree with the canon but this is still aged up, Angst, at the beginning, @mlbigbang

Betas: @miabrown007, @silvmoonsky, myimaginationflows

Art by: @vivifx (instagram, twitter) and @lukalunar (instagram).

Thank you so much, guys!!!! You've been an absolute wonder to work with!!! I appreciate you so so so much!!! Your input and feedback always always made my day and definitely definitely made this fic better!!!

And special thanks to Mia and @fragileizy without whom this fic would definitely not be as good! Thank you so much for listening to me and helping me whenever I got stuck! You're the best!

Playlist: YouTube, Spotify (I recommend the YouTube one, because certain songs might not be available everywhere)

Work Title Song: Passenger by Noah Kahan (YT, Spotify) (please at least listen to this one!!!!)

Chapter Title Song: Eyes Wide by Magic Giant (YT, Spotify)

When all was said and done, Marinette saw Adrien break down and she let herself cry with him. His father was behind bars, his mother was in a hospital bed, and he was left picking up the pieces.

Marinette was right there with him.

It took them a couple of days to settle down and make sure Emilie was well cared for. For her to make sure Adrien left the hospital every once in a while, and that he knew he didn't have to ever step foot into the mansion again if he didn’t want to — that he knew her home was also his.

He insisted on going back to the mansion every night.

To make sure it was ready to welcome his mother, he'd said.

“Make sure I'm not even more of a burden”, Marinette understood.

She’d resolved to try harder then, but Gabriel — Hawk Moth — had turned Adrien’s self-esteem and confidence into crumbs of what should've been, broken pieces making up a puzzle Marinette had decided to glue back together with love, care, and patience.

She didn't want to force love onto him, but she kept her arms wide open so he knew she could always share a bit of her warmth when his life felt too cold.

He was hesitant, always so hesitant. But with every passing day, he spent more time with her rather than alone in the mansion or running over rooftops — too fast for anyone to keep up — burning away an energy that fed on stress, and pain, and overthinking.

But the more weeks passed, the more Marinette felt herself go insane. After dealing with the university, the media, the public, the authorities, the Guardians, and everything in-between, studying the grimoire should’ve been the easiest task. Especially since now she had Adrien right beside her. But he was too quiet, the world too loud, and the tiredness too heavy.

Whenever she tried to imagine how much worse it was for him, her mind drew to a painful blank. It’d slowly made her priorities shift to an upside-down kind of mess that had him at the top and his mother somewhere second, her own well-being coming as a natural consequence to his own.

Pushing away the plethora of notes she'd made, she turned her eyes to the boy she so desperately wanted to help but didn't quite know how to yet. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, in the middle of too many papers and notes, looking back and forth between a copied page from the grimoire and a file with the decoded script. He didn't seem to realize — or to care about — how tired he looked, how frail and small.

Marinette was grateful he'd finally moved most of his study materials at her place. She was glad he spent less time cooped alone in his too big room, battling both the grimoire's secrets and his monsters.

But she also realized they'd both go insane if they kept going like that.

She rose up and went to sit in front of him, though the papers were an uncrossable barrier between them. So Marinette started putting them away, carefully, paying attention to keep them in the same order he'd arranged them into.

Her slow progress didn’t lessen her determination.

"Let's take a break," she said, eyes on the organized mess in front of her. Adrien didn't protest as she kept picking them up and stacking them neatly, one above another.

"I can't figure out this page," he said instead, his voice a breath away from trembling with frustration and exhaustion.

He hadn't been sleeping well, he hadn't been eating well, he hadn't been feeling well. Adrien hadn't been well and she couldn't let that go on any longer.

"We will," she said, finally raising her eyes to look at him and trying a small smile. "But we're both too tired and stressed out to solve anything right now."

She spotted Plagg behind Adrien, looking at her with a serious expression, but the nod he gave her told Marinette she was right. They were in no condition to be heroes at the moment.

The second everything had settled into an illusion of peace after Hawk Moth’s downfall, the two of them had started pouring themselves into finding a solution for the one problem justice couldn't solve. Adrien's mother didn't need Gabriel and Nathalie behind bars to be fine; Paris did. Emilie needed magic, but magic was too tricky to simply get rid of a problem.

Hawk Moth had been dead set on wishing the problem away. That wasn't going to work. But Marinette and Adrien were dead set on creating a cure anyway.

Although, with the way everything had gone down, they barely had the energy to find solutions. The doctors were too eager for clarifications, the media too eager for answers, and even Marinette's parents — too eager to help.

And their professors hadn’t quite cared about their personal problems when the time for final exams came around.

A reveal — a final battle — had not been in their plans, but it happened. And they had to deal with it even though they wished they could leave it all behind to just breathe for a second.

"Let's get away from this for a few days," she finally continued, eyes never leaving Adrien's red-rimmed ones. She saw him drawing in a breath to refute her idea, but didn't give him the chance to.

"Let's get away, let’s leave. We’ve been taking care of everything but us lately. We’re not doing anyone any service if we go on like this."

"But mother needs—”

"She’s in a stable condition," Marinette interrupted him, resisting the urge to grab him and shake some sense into him. He had to take care of himself too, not just everyone else. "She's stable and she's not going anywhere. She's been like that for the past few years, a couple more days won't make any difference for her. But we could use them, Chaton." She almost begged him to understand. "We're dead on our feet, we're not even seeing the words on these papers anymore. We aren't of any help like this."

"If we get Alya and the rest to help—"

"We still won't be of any help. Not even Alya knows as much as we do; imagine gathering everyone and explaining everything. It’d take us too long. Alya is at least familiar with my old notes, and she’d been here pretty often. She knows how we went about the Wish and the Peacock, she’ll be able to notice if we missed something or got anything wrong. Every time she’s come here to help, she ended up fixing our messes, anyway, rather than finding anything new. Yesterday, she saw I'd translated the same page twice. Differently," she emphasized, dragging a hand over her face, only to let it fall back into her lap and start fiddling with her fingers. "You put your good notes in the trash and she only noticed because you were about to throw some more in there. We can't go on like this."

“We wouldn’t be having as many problems if the Guardians helped,” he said bitterly.

Marinette understood his frustration. She’d fought tooth and nail for their help, right beside him, but they were too set on respecting their old rules. Risking the delicate balance that’d been created — especially for someone who’d played with the powers of the Miraculouses and now had to bear the consequences — was not permitted.

The most she and Adrien got was the recognition of her authority as a Guardian herself and the permission to carry on their search for a cure on their own.

Thinking any more about it wasn’t worth more energy than they’d already wasted, so Marinette

only shrugged in response, resigned.

"People will talk. This would blow out of proportions," he insisted with a frown, and Marinette shook her head.

"People don’t need to know. We still don’t owe them anything about our private lives — not when the reveal happened, and definitely not now. We aren’t celebrities, we’re public servants,” she spat, but the fervour in her voice wasn’t fueled by bitterness. “They’re finally starting to get that; they aren’t hunting us like they did at the beginning anymore. They’ve finally calmed down a bit, so we can slip away for a couple of days."

“We have that interview soon,” he insisted, as if that proved his point.

“And we’re not going there to talk about our personal plans. We go, we tell our piece and then we leave.”

Since the reveal, they’d worked effortlessly to make everyone understand that they had certain boundaries they expected not to be crossed, especially involving their civilian identities. In the beginning, no one seemed to make any difference between their civilian-selves and their hero-selves anymore. Not only paparazzi, but respectable news stations kept breathing down their necks at any given moment, and fans didn’t hesitate to flock to them whenever they saw them in public. It’d been a nightmare.

And now, months later, it was still a work in progress, but they’d been trying to make sure it was clear what kind of journalists they’d be working with. Though, simply asking for respect seemed to be a bit too much for a bit too many.

He watched her with tired eyes, but he wasn't protesting anymore.

"Hear me out,” she tried again. “We let Alya come here, we let her look through everything we have, but we take a break. And when we come back, we dive right back in and fix this."

Adrien leaned forward and let his head fall on her shoulder. He was a little too far away for it to be even remotely comfortable for either of them, but neither cared.

"Where would we even go?" His voice was small and as tired as his eyes.

"Away. I don't know. We hop in the car and drive out of Paris. We know where to return."

He tried to protest longer, but Marinette had too many arguments and too few fucks left to give about anything other than him, him, always him. When he finally nodded, Marinette counted it as a small victory.

***

"I'll be careful," Alya promised the night before they were to leave, expression serious as Marinette and Adrien showed her how they'd organized their small progresses.

Alya already knew.

She let them talk their frustration and worries away, anyway.

Marinette was grateful for that.

***

“Where should we go?” Adrien asked after Alya left.

Side by side, they were on her balcony, leaning against its railing and watching the world below live.

They hadn’t quite talked about it. “We’d leave”, they’d agreed, and for two days straight, focused on arranging matters with the team and the press.

Their teammates had been even more supportive than Marinette had expected. They’d promised to take care of anything that might arise and keep the media as unaware as possible of their trip.

The news station was even more eager to work with them. The press didn’t need to know that having to pour more energy than usual into organizing an interview was a welcomed distraction. Thinking about how to deal with an onslaught of questions meant not thinking about breaking free — and everything that involved.

Sometimes it was useful that people wanted to know more. They’d been catching glimpses of their life and tried to arrange the pieces in an image bigger than they made. After revealed identities, and screams, and fury, came broken hugs and blank faces, and outsiders couldn’t always make sense of everything. When they turned to the heroes for answers, Ladybug and Chat Noir’s professionalism never quite cut it either. So the questions always came pouring in.

It hadn’t helped that until they’d been done with their exams, they’d barely had time for more than an official statement and a few short interviews. School had made for a good excuse to use on the journalists that insisted too much.

This time, the interview was an excuse in itself, so they didn’t have to think about a destination, or an itinerary, or backing down.

Then, there was also the visit they’d arranged at the hospital.

Adrien couldn’t accept that he’d leave his mother behind in order to have fun. It felt wrong even to Marinette, though she couldn’t really imagine the pain he was going through. But she knew that, in the long run, a break could help more than however many other hours spent hunched over the grimoire or hiding in their houses.

A quick call was enough to set up an early check-in with Emilie Agreste and her doctor between their interview and their departure. Adrien checked in on his mother weekly, but seeing her unchanged state didn’t make him less worried. Marinette hoped it’d at least ease his mind enough so that he could allow himself some freedom.

She was fairly certain Adrien hadn’t even fully processed the idea of their going away until it came so close that he had to make himself think about it.

He had yet to back down, though. She liked to think it was a good sign.

“We could go anywhere,” Marinette said instead of answering his initial question. She tried to gauge his openness to a longer trip. The only thing they actually knew about it was that they were supposed to leave the next afternoon.

He seemed to think about what she said for a pretty long time.

“I don’t know where to go,” he finally responded.

Marinette chanced a look at him. He was still looking down, at the people walking from shadow to shadow, from streetlight to streetlight; he wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t frowning, he was just looking.

She had the vague sensation he was talking about more than the trip.

The bags under his eyes cast deep shadows on his face in the poor light.

“How much have you been sleeping?”

He shrugged and finally looked at her with a curious expression. It must’ve seemed unrelated to their trip.

“I don’t know. Enough.”

She shook her head at him.

“Definitely not enough.”

“Well, that’s why we’re doing this, right? So we can relax for a bit.”

“Yeah,” Marinette answered with a nod, turning her head back to the street below. She bit her lip and hesitated. Then, voiced the idea she’d been playing with ever since she’d suggested going for a trip. “How do you feel about going to Provence? Maybe all that lavender will help us get a good night’s sleep.” She laughed, but she was only half joking.

She was stressed too, but Adrien wasn’t taking care of himself. She hoped that going far, far away would let him forget a bit about everything; the lavender she kept on her balcony had given her the idea. After all, lavender was supposed to help — at least with the sleeping. She was ready to take anything into consideration.

He didn’t take her idea as well as she would’ve liked.

“That’s way too far, Marinette,” he said, frowning at her. Then, Turning his eyes back over the railing, he started playing with his fingers. “Maybe we should go East instead. Or North. Spend a day or two on the beach and come back.”

“That could barely be called a get-away. Don’t you want a real road trip? Going far, far away, and finding a remote village, and getting lost because we can’t read maps?”

That got a small laugh out of him; Marinette was proud of her achievement.

“Everyone can read the line on the GPS.”

“No,” Marinette protested vehemently, drawing the ‘o’ out. “Where’s the fun in that? We’re not using that; we’re having the real road trip experience, no GPS, no google maps. But I was just kidding, we won’t get lost. You were too good at Geography in high school.”

“Do you even have a real map?”

She beamed at him like a little kid. “I bought one today.”

“Then let’s just wait and see when we’re in the car. Take that map out, point somewhere, and go there.” He smiled at her, but his face fell pretty quickly as a new thought dawned on him. “But we need to book a hotel or something, right?”

Marinette didn't want to worry about that, so she waved a hand to dismiss his worries, too. “Neh,” she said. “We can’t not find a place to sleep. It’s just the two of us after all.”

She’d thought about booking somewhere too. She had been half-trying to think up all sorts of plans about itineraries and hotels. But then she’d realized booking would involve people knowing they were coming. And people knew about them now; they knew who they were and what they looked like. That was hard to get used to.

They just had to wing it.

But it was okay, Marinette had reassured herself, and she’d even started to get excited about it. It added to the true road trip experience.

“Plus, the less people know where we’re going, the better,” she added, as if in an afterthought, and he snickered.

“Good thing we don’t know either.”

***

The interview hadn’t been all that different from all the other interviews they’d given since the big reveal, though it always surprised Marinette what some people could understand from their interviews. Chat Noir had spent too much time disentangling the threads of conspiracies woven through his family tree.

Marinette truly admired his patience.

They were both grateful to see that the day’s interview didn’t hide more conspiracy theories, and responding to the pertinent questions from before and after wasn’t more of an emotional strain than it usually was. They understood where they were coming from, especially when most of the questions were related to Gabriel’s trial.

Everyone was doing their best, in some way or another — the heroes to give the public the assurance that the injustice done to them wasn’t being overlooked, and the reporters to ensure everyone knew as much as possible — whether Ladybug and Chat Noir liked it or not.

The only difference was in the way Chat Noir acted.

After the reveal, he’d become a lot more like Adrien in front of the cameras — subdued, calm and collected. His face was almost blank sometimes.

This time, however, he’d fidgeted more; his nervousness showed. Marinette knew that in spite of his patience, he couldn’t wait for the interview to be over so he could go to the hospital.

And when it was over, he didn’t even wait to detransform to leave for the hospital, knowing Ladybug would follow.

It was his turn to ask a myriad of questions.

Marinette truly admired the doctor’s patience, too.

***

"Don't worry about the kwamis, we'll take care of them," her mother reassured Marinette as they hugged.

She didn’t worry too much. Alya and Nino were also supposed to visit daily to make sure nothing went wrong, and if worse came to worst, Alya knew where to find the Horse Miraculous.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Adrien come out of the car he’d just brought closer from where he’d initially parked it. The chimes at the door jingled as he walked in.

With the doctor having reassured him that everything was still unchanged but as okay as it could be, they briefly parted ways so he could go get his car, and after getting a quick late lunch with her parents, they were all set to leave.

Marinette moved to hug her father too as Adrien stepped forward and picked up her luggage to bring it to his car.

“Take care, kids,” her father said, letting her go and catching Adrien right before he went back out the door with Marinette’s bag in tow. With the way he held the bag, her father couldn't quite get the hug she knew he wanted to go for, so he settled for an awkward pat on the back that Adrien received with a shy smile.

Her mother didn't let such a small thing as Marinette’s luggage stop her from showing Adrien all the love she could shower him in. She gave him a hug that looked even warmer than the one she gave Marinette.

“Don’t forget to call us every now and then,” her father said, turning to get a bag full of pastries he'd prepared for both of them and handing it to Marinette.

With a quick wave and a hurried reassurance that they wouldn't forget, Marinette made sure she was out the door before Adrien. Almost throwing the bag of pastries on the backseat of his car, she waited patiently beside the passenger's door until he was too distracted putting in her luggage in the trunk to pay attention to her. Then, she moved quickly and claimed the driver's seat instead.

Adrien only noticed when he came to claim the seat for himself. She saw him watching her with an exaggerated pout and she gave him the smuggest smile she could muster. Then, she turned around to pull her seat forward and fastened her seatbelt, making herself more comfortable and making it clear she wouldn't move too soon.

“I thought I was going to drive,” he said, taking the seat to her right and fastening his own seatbelt. The corner of his lips was raised in a half smile that told her he didn’t mind the change of plans all that much.

“Yeah, but last night we established you’re better at the Geography thing than I am,” she responded, going for the purse at her side. It felt quite uncomfortable, so with a groan, she undid her seatbelt and took the purse off.

Tikki had slipped out of it the moment they got inside the car and she was now watching her with an amused expression that Marinete very much did not appreciate. A quick glance at Adrien confirmed that he was sporting the very same expression. She showed him her tongue and took a map out of the purse. Then, she smacked him with it.

“Stop laughing at me. Both of you,” she pouted, starting the car. “And better start looking at that map. Or make a list with what we need to buy for the road.”

“You gonna stop somewhere first?”

“Yeah, get ourselves some snacks and stuff. Those pastries won’t last us once you get your hands on them.”

“Is that why you made me put them on the backseat?”

She grinned at him and turned the key in the contact. “Of course.”

The engine purred to life, but before Marinette could leave, Adrien stopped her.

“Wait a second then,” he said, and when Marinette turned to him with a raised eyebrow, he mirrored her earlier grin and handed her the map as he unfastened his seatbelt. Then, he rose from his seat and stretched back all the way to the bag of pastries.

When he settled back in, he held the pastries in his lap like a trophy and threw her the most childishly satisfied expression he could make.

“I’m good now,” he chirped and peaked inside the bag, wiggling his fingers like he hadn’t eaten Dupain-Cheng pastries in months. All the movement woke Plagg up, and he immediately went between their seats to peek into the bag for a cheese pastry, as eagerly as Adrien. Marinette rolled her eyes but she couldn’t help her smile.

“Seatbelt,” she told Adrien, smacking him with the map again instead of just handing it back. He hurried to grab a croissant, put it in his mouth, and only then grabbed back the map and put the seatbelt on.

And as he tried to unfold the map, Marinette realized she’d never checked how big it was.

She hadn’t expected it to be so huge when she bought it, although it made sense for it to be. It was extremely detailed and it seemed clear enough, but its size made it difficult to use in the cramped space of the car, especially since they needed to see France in all its glory to pick a destination.

They agreed quickly enough that dealing with it while the car wasn’t moving — and he wasn’t eating anything — would be a much better idea. So, as he finished his first croissant, Adrien picked up a pen and some paper he had in the glove compartment and tried, instead, to focus on the shopping list Marinette had mentioned.

By the time they parked in front of a supermarket, Adrien, Plagg, and Tikki finished three croissants, two cookies, and a danish made with camembert specifically for Plagg. The bag with the rest of the pastries had been thrown back on the backseat at Marinette’s insistence that they had to save some for later, and all they’d managed to put on the shopping list was peanuts and more cookies. And cheese. Plagg had made sure to repeat ‘cheese’ so much, he made them give up on making the list altogether.

The interview had taken more time then they’d expected. That, combined with their visit at the hospital and the quick lunch at her parents’, meant they couldn’t really afford to deal with over—enthusiastic fans if they wanted to arrive somewhere — anywhere — at a decent hour. Especially since Marinette still hoped Adrien would agree to go as far away from Paris as possible.

So before getting out of the car, they tried to conceal who they were as much as possible.

The facemasks covering the lower halves of their faces only slightly made them look like they were getting ready for a robbery. Adrien’s bucket hat helped; it hid his hair well, but it made him look absolutely ridiculous. And as Marinette let her hair fall on her back and frame her face for a final touch, they entered the supermarket already brainstorming ideas for places to go and what snacks to buy.

In the sweets aisle, they stopped to argue over the pros and cons of going to a Northern beach, and to take as many cookies and Kinders as possible.

“Beach equals vacation, right? And Normandy’s what? Two hours away? Three?” Adrien said, picking up some Buenos and moving on the next sweets he liked.

Marinette didn’t fail to notice how he wasn’t quite looking at her, choosing instead to inspect the selection of sweets, like he didn’t already know exactly what he wanted.

She threw different boxes of cookies in the cart, trying to seem as indifferent as him. “I never liked it there, too cold for a beach.”

“We can just visit around.” He shrugged and she bit her lip.

She remembered the few times she visited the area with her parents. The beach wasn't that cold, and the walks they took around still made her heart squeeze with nostalgia. But she remembered the stories her father used to tell her whenever they'd be there. And they made her heart squeeze with dread instead.

“Those parts are way too connected to wars," she finally admitted, looking at him to gauge his reaction. "I don’t really like the idea.”

Her voice was small but it made him falter as he reached for some biscuits.

“We could just visit some beaches that aren’t related to any wars. We don’t have to visit any beaches at all.”

He kept away from her and his cap was tugged low, but she could still spy a frown on his face. It mirrored her own.

“Do you really want that idea at the back of your mind, though? I don’t think that’d be too relaxing for us.”

He turned to her. Even with the mask on, his expression seemed a bit defeated.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he conceded, and, grabbing some madeleines too, he moved on with a disgruntled mumble about how he wasn’t really in the mood for sunbathing anyway.

In the beverages section, they picked up a bottle of water and went over the idea of seeing the Loire Valley.

"Too many castles," Adrien said, dropping the water in their cart. "I'm tired of luxury."

Both came to a tacit understanding that the idea would be dropped in favour of another, whichever it’d be.

And as they moved to the bakery area, Marinette took a deep breath and suggested, once again, going South.

“It’s peak lavender season,” she said while dragging Adrien away from the pastries. He was eyeing them as if he didn’t have two more left in the car.

He looked at her with sad, kitten eyes, and Marinette let him go wild.

“But the lavender is ten hours away,” he said, picking up some more croissants and dropping them in the cart with a satisfied expression.

“Only eight.”

She moved on to the section right across and crouched down to inspect a lower shelf, but her attention remained focused on him as he followed her. He leaned against the shopping cart, and neither his mask, nor his hat hid the eyebrow he raised at her.

“I thought you said no Google Maps,” he said.

It prompted a smile out of her and taking advantage of the way they were positioned, she pulled her mask down, a bit. She hoped she could still win him over — and she hoped her smile would help her case.

“Okay, one Google Maps, but I checked before we left, technically, so that shouldn’t count.”

But smile or no smile — mask or no mask, it didn’t seem to work.

“It’s still too far,” he grumbled, slightly shaking his head, and Marinette deflated.

In the brief second of silence she barely afforded, she considered insisting. But she didn’t want to make Adrien feel worse instead of better. So she pulled her mask back on properly and stood up, puting into the cart a package of biscuits she’d been to busy to look at properly.

“The farther away, the less they’d expect us there,” she chirped — tone a bit too forced — as they moved on to inspect the cheese selection. She saw Adrien already eye the camembert and she tried not to think how much a single slice would stink up their car.

He didn’t let her continue. “They’ll still see our faces and recognize us. Our faces have been on the news for weeks.”

“And I doubt anyone that’s not Parisian cared too much to remember them. I don’t think they’ll recognize us in some remote village on the other side of the country when everyone expects us to be in Paris.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think they’d pass up on free advertising. They could recognize us, and that’d be a free ticket to getting more tourists. If even Ladybug and Chat Noir like it there…” he shot back, trailing off with a sarcastic note in his voice.

He put the camembert in the cart, and left towards the next aisle while she was still looking at the less stinky cheeses. Anything to bribe Plagg into sparing them the pain of drowning in the smell for at least a little while.

She hurried to pick up something other than camembert and went after him.

Adrien was right, but she couldn’t quite tell him outright that what she wanted was to take him as far away from Paris as possible and make him forget — for a day, two, however long he was willing to — what happened in that city, and why he’d lost nights and days to stress and worry.

She knew she couldn’t make him forget about his mother, but she could try and make him see he didn’t have to waste himself away to bring her back when patience and self care could do half of their work for them.

They were still talking about it while picking up salty crackers and peanuts when someone finally recognized them. It didn’t take long for a crowd to form.

The more people gathered into the aisle, the more Marinette felt her shoulders sag. She exchanged a look with Adrien and heard him let out a subtle sigh as he took off his mask in resignation. He couldn’t quite hide how forced the smile underneath was, and she knew hers wasn’t much different as she followed his example.

They tried to make quick work of the fans while remaining as polite as possible, but taking off the masks felt almost as much a crushing defeat as it did during the battle with Hawk Moth.

It didn’t last as long as that battle, but it still took too long. Every new fan asked for another autograph, or another picture, or another answer neither Marinette, nor Adrien were all that eager to provide.

When the agitation died down and they were finally able to move, they didn’t even check to see if there was anything else they would’ve needed on the road. Instead, they made a beeline for the cashier. They took some more pictures while waiting in the queue, but hurried to put the masks back on the moment they were out the door, praying no more people would recognize them on the way to the car.

Marinette considered it good luck that no one did; Adrien instead kept saying how it was only his bad luck that made anyone recognize them in the first place. She made sure to mention he was so lucky, she didn’t even stop to fight with him over his paying for everything. It shut him up so quickly, she had the faint impression they’d have that talk again.

“Do you think they heard us talking about where to go?” he said when they finally found themselves in the car.

Marinette had been thinking about that too, but she’d convinced herself that the fans in the store hadn’t figured them out.

“They asked us everything from how the team is doing to why we like camembert so much. If anyone had caught on to the trip, I think they would’ve asked us about it too,” she responded after another second of pondering.

Adrien nodded and let his head hit the headrest. His voice was small when he spoke again, after a few seconds of silence. “Far away sounds really good right now,” he said, turning his head towards her; he hadn’t taken off his mask yet, but his eyes weren’t shining as bright as they did before entering the supermarket. “You really want to go to Provence, don’t you?”

She hesitated, but gave a small nod in the end. She imagined them walking aimlessly along empty fields of lavender and sunflower, so far from Paris the problems there would start looking smaller. She imagined Adrien, tired because of the sun and the long walks and the road, not because he couldn’t sleep in a house that reminded him of everything that had gone wrong in his life.

“A bit, yeah,” she conceded. “But I don’t want you to just go along with me. I want you to agree because you want to go there too.”

He grabbed his seatbelt and fastened it. Then, taking off his mask, he gave Marinette a small smile.

“I’ve never seen the lavender fields around there,” he said.

She arched an eyebrow at him and tried to contain a face-splitting smile. She saw Tikki sitting down on the dashboard, and Marinette took her eyes off Adrien’s only for the brief second she needed to exchange a quick look with the kwami.

“So, Provence?” she asked, fumbling with her own seatbelt and almost vibrating in her seat with enthusiasm.

His eyes sparkled, alive not with worry and the frenzy of panic, but with the promise and the thrill of an adventure he hadn’t let himself consider until then. “Yeah, but if you plan on driving there all the way today, I’m taking over planning.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

He rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. “We’ll end up sleeping in a ditch.”

Marinette’s laughter was giddy, and even Adrien seemed excited as he picked up the map again and finally unfolded it with the intent to actually study it. After fighting with its size for longer than either of them wanted to admit, they managed to fold it in such a way that only the part they were interested in showed.

Marinette leaned towards his seat trying to peek at it too, but after a few moments of silence, only Plagg spoke.

“That’s a lot of roads,” he deadpanned, floating over Adrien’s shoulder beside a curious Tikki. Marinette couldn’t help but agree.

Adrien looked at her, a glint of amusement in his eyes. He raised an eyebrow and held her gaze as he tried to fold the map back to how it was before, without looking at it at all. She didn’t bother to refrain from throwing amused looks at his hands and the increasingly wrinkled map.

“Two Google Maps?” he asked, trying to make it seem like he wasn’t putting up a losing fight against the piece of paper on his lap.

She pouted,but it was clear it was fake by the way her lips pulled into a smile. She didn’t complain as she took out her phone and opened Maps. “Two Google Maps, but just until we figure out how to get on the right highway.”

She readied her fingers to type in a destination.

Instead, she proceeded to just stare blankly at the blinking cursor.

It gave Adrien the false impression he’d won their staring contest. He turned to the map to fold it properly and threw it back on the dashboard.

“What city do I put in?” she asked, turning her head to him. He gave her a shrug.

“I thought you said you checked already. Put in whatever you did then.”

“Yeah, but now we’re actually doing this, it has to be accurate.” She felt a bit lost as she stared at her phone, but she didn’t want to let the slight setback discourage her.

“Put in 'Provence' and see what comes up.”

“Some random spot, that’s what I tried last night too.”

He rolled his eyes playfully and, in less than a second, took it upon himself to do the hard work himself. Taking out his own phone, he turned it on and opened Maps too.

“Well, it’s a random spot in Provence, we’ll figure out the finer details wherever it is that we stop for the night,” he said as he typed ‘Provence’ in the search bar and waited for the line that showed them the way.

When it finally showed, Marinette looked at the time displayed below and did the math. “If we take turns, we could still drive all the way there tonight.”

“All the way to that random spot?” he teased, and Marinette swatted at him. He took her hit laughing.

“Just put your finger on the map and see what city’s closer.”

“You really want to see what sleeping in a ditch is like? We’ll find a city, but let’s decide on the way if we want to stop anywhere in between or not. It’s already been a long day, I bet it’ll catch up with us before we even make it halfway through.”

“Sounds good to me.” Marinette nodded with a laugh and Adrien turned his eyes back to the phone, zooming in on Paris.

“Seems like we won’t have too much trouble getting out of the city,” he mused, following the bits of orange that indicated busier roads. Then, handing Marinette the phone, he tried to turn around to the backseat. The seatbelt was his enemy of the day.

“I won’t put this back on,” he grumbled, undoing it again and stretching to get his backpack from the backseat.

“You will absolutely put it back on.”

Adrien plopped back down in his seat with the backpack held clumsily by only a couple of fingers, and as he rummaged through it, Marinette looked at his phone.

“Why is your battery at twenty percent already?”

He raised his head to her and gave a half-shrug, arm buried to his shoulder in the layers of clothes in his bag. “I couldn’t really sleep last night. I woke up early and killed some time playing games.”

Marinette wondered if that was particularly because of the day ahead, or just because he never really could. She couldn’t tell which was worse.

His expression turned triumphant as he fished out a wire and took his phone from her to connect it to the GPS.

“See?” he said, handing her his phone so she could see his achievement for herself. “Two birds,one stone. My phone is charging, and we have a way to get out of Paris.”

Marinette shook her head, and, with his phone in hand, leaned to his side to pick up the map again and give it to him. A fair trade — his phone for her map.

“So, any random spots you want to point at?” She nodded to it, prompting another eyeroll out of him. He gave an overexaggerated sigh as he unfolded it again and looked over the Southern part of France.

“Do you think they have orange trees everywhere in Orange?” he asked, still looking at the map, not at her, but Marinette let her grin grow wider anyway, already putting in the new destination.

“Wanna find out?” Next | Masterpost | Ko-fi

[crocojagged]

Tell Her (from 13 the Musical) has such good prpr love square energy.

Imagine there has been a reveal, but it wasn't under the best circumstances, so everything's awkward between them, and they haven't had a proper chance to talk about it yet. Meanwhile, Nino and Alya are going through their own rough patch, and he goes to Adrien and Marinette for advice on how to fix things. They advise Nino on what to say to Alya, but they realize what they're saying also applies to their relationship too. Since Nino doesn't know about the reveal and they can't say anything, they just keep talking in this code, but they understand each other now. By the end they're fully making heart eyes at each other because they love each other so so much. Also Nino takes their advice and works things out with Alya, and they're all stronger on the other side.

I'm not gonna paste all of the lyrics here (even though I'm tempted), but the bridge where they sing together is just so powerful?? And so true to their love for each other and the insecurities they would be feeling post-reveal:

Tell her that people get things wrong

'Cause people are afraid

They won't fit in your world

Or in your life

But things will work out fine

If she will only listen

[ao3feed-ladynoir]

No Matter Where You Go (Know You're Not Alone)

no matter where you go (know you're not alone) by EnigmaticEllipsis, SilverMoonSky

Marinette blinks at the world around her. One moment, it's vibrant and full of energy. The next, it's empty and quiet, almost completely devoid of life.

Almost.

“Come on, princess,” a voice sings out. “This kitty wants to play!”

No.

Words: 1000, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 28 of so much, in so little (snippet july)

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Post-Reveal Pre-Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, prpr, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Phone Calls & Telephones

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32889430

[rosekasa]

ive been listening to ghagra on repeat lately and Listen. listen.

the part where ranbir jokingly lifts madhuri's skirt*. prpr adrienette energy

@hanaasbananas back me up on this

*(if anyone reading this hasnt seen the mv this isnt as bad as it sounds SJDJDJD the skirt is very long and she's wearing calf-length pants underneath)

[carpisuns]

fanfic year in review: 2020

thanks for the tag @gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights and @peachcitt !!

this is lowkey embarrassing tho bc both of you wrote so much and i only wrote like 2 words alksdfjsf

1. List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

1/1: XYZ — marichat. also happy bday 2 this fic lol

2/3: Second Chance — lukagami

2/13: lucky (we’re in love in every way) — love square (onesided adrien reveal and then full reveal)

5/24: Right Now and Always — PRPR

5/25: Why Are You Like This? — time travel shenanigans, adrienette date

7/31: you’re stuck with me (no homo) — luxy (luka x xy)

10/8: Pizza and Orange — lukagami

10/11: Dirt-y Little Secret — marichat

12/2: it’s a small world after all — adrienette

12/14: holding hands (and stuff) — marichat

total: 10

2. Number of words written:

68,218

3. Your most popular fic:

Why Are You Like This?

4. Your personal fav:

lucky (we’re in love in every way) cause it was just 3000% self-indulgence :) and i enjoyed the disaster energy haha

5. Your fav scene:

the kwami argument/embarrass-your-holder contest in lucky was a blast to write!

7. A line of writing you’re proud of:

from tell me something i don’t know (marichat soulmate au). i really like how this whole scene turned out so it’s another fav, heh

It was the same thing she’d said to him years ago, on a night like this one, in the glow of the candles, with his rose-shaped love wilting in his hands.

8. A comment that touched you:

omgsh so many 😭😭😭 people are so kind and i appreciate it so much!

shout out to @deadlycosmetix for binge reading my multichaps as well some oneshots and leaving lovely comments on every chapter aaaa that made my day 🥺

also someone told me they would buy a physical copy of “lucky” and asked me if they could print it out kslfjaslkdfajks that blew me away

9. Something that inspired your writing:

i’m inspired by so many writers and artists in the fandom every day! but a few of my fics this year had direct inspiration :)

 @gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights fic Tastes Like Dirt inspired Dirt-y Little Secret

@yunyin art here inspired Why Are You Like This?

@gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights, @bugaboo-n-bananoir, and @janaikam’s amazing luxy content inspired you’re stuck with me (no homo)

and @shishitsunari​’s animation here partially inspired the click scene from ch. 2 of tell me something i don’t know. i pictured his reaction exactly like this :’)

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

it’s still a wip so idk if it counts as an accomplishment but i’m proud of the progress i’ve made so far on tell me something bc i’m usually too much of a coward to commit to a multichap haha

also, i got to write something for the Kagami Zine and the ML Writer Zine, which was really cool! i’d never been in a zine before

11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

write more in general lol. and finish tell me something 😤

Tagging: @botherkupo, @jattendschaton, @amiraculousplatypus, @jarl-deathwolf, @bugabisous —if you feel like it :)

[valiantlyjollynightmare]

I'm back, sorry for spamming you, but I love so much to find mysic for specific scenarios!!! And sorry, I've got a lot of indie here, sorry if that's not exactly your jam oop

What you do to my soul is still my top choice, but there are a couple more I wanted to mention.

Monsters of the North by The National Parks - such amazing lyrics and such a nice viiiiiibe. Like, it's got these lyrics like I've seen monsters chasing dreams/ and that's where I saw me/ I was chasing too/ You /Cause I wanna be like the wind/ I wanna run with you and more, more, more - spotify, youtube

Ti volevo dedicare by Rocco Hunt - which is in Italian so I'm not sure if the lyrics i found are translated correctly but if anything, it DEFINITELY HAS A PRPR VIBE where they're just. Bursting to confess. Imagine theeeem they're pretty sure the other likes them back and they're planning a grand gesture to confess but in the end it's just the two of them and it's night and there are a lot of lights around -like, fairy lights, caught in trees and urghhhh god is music inspiring. anyway - youtube, spotify

Carry on by Young Rising Sons - spotify, youtube

Cherry Street - Icarus Account - youtube, spotify

Synesthesia by Andrew McMahon - DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THIS SONG BECAUSE I'LL NEVER STOP IT'S JUST SO AMAZING HOW CAN SO MUCH LOVE FIT INTO A 3 MINS SONG HOW "I see colors when I hear your voice" PLEASE SO MUCH SIMP ENERGY PLEAAAAASE Plus it's not just about love and uhhh my heart - spotify, youtube

Promises by Handsome Ghost - do you know that ladynoir "i'll shout it to the whole world" comic from like 2016 where chat goes to Ladybug and whispers I love you to her instead because she's his whole world? That. Spotify, youtube.

Outta My Head by Magic Giant - "i want you out of my head and into my heart" that says it all XD- spotify, youtube

Honey - Magic Man - THIS SONG KILLS ME EVERY TIME THERE'S SO MUUUUUUCH LOOOOOOVE IN IT SO MUCH - "break me open like the sky/ in the sunrise" is my favourite line in this one. Just. Just imegine the pining but like, towards the end of the pre relationship phase, they're at their breaking point - spotify, youtube

Now this, is not technically prpr. Likez there's nothing in it that really makes you think of it as such from the get go, but this is how i see it because it's about changes and dealibg with them and it's painful and it always puts me on edge in a way. Anyway, Used to Be by Arrows to Athens - spotify, youtube

Hurt Somebody by Noah Kahan - THE MELODY GIVES ME SUCH PRPR VIBES ISTG NOAH KAHAN IN GENERAL GIVES ME PRPR VIBES EVEN THOUGH HIS SONGS AREN.T TECHNICALLY ROMANTIC. spotify, youtube

I'll only give the instrumental to this song because it feels so dreamy, it makes me want to dream a lot and it feels really prpr to me. Like, it's like, i'm imagining them in this in between state where they're trying really hard not to think about a life together with the other because they don't know if the other lives them back, and like, they hope but they're afraid, but they hooooope - Snow Shovels by Droloe - youtube

C'mon by Panic at the Disco and Fun. Like. LIKE. Imagine a really angsty scenario. Prpr but their identies have been revealed to the world and they feel a bit lost and they're stressed out of their minds and SAD and it's angsty angsty angsty BUT THEY LOVE EACH OTHEEEEEER. Anyway, "may we stay lost on our way home" kills me every time. Youtube (it's not available on spotify in my country which i'll forever be angry about)

Sorry for spamming you. Again. I hope you like these and that they prove as inspiring to you as they are to me kwsjksjekskw

Anyone got prpr specific love square songs to recommend?