#team marichat

[sillychatonnoir]

As someone who has been watching since 2015-2016... Yeah, life was good when marichat was canon

me, a person who literally just watched all of miraculous ladybug for the first time a month ago: “man life was good when marichat was canon”

[princessnoire69]

Team marichat regardless which universe

[jennagrinsoverml]

Any good fics featuring Marinette or Adrien akumatized?

There sure are! (And wow did I ever get a lot of asks for this!) Now, to be clear, I won't be reccing any Chat Blanc fics, since that's a category in and of itself (and as a result this list favours akumanette). But let's have some akumanette and akumadrien!

Confessions by @spuk-goodness

S04 Alternative beginning where Marinette shares her biggest secret with her partner and where 'We are a team' means 'I love you'.

Or the one where Hawk Moth notices that Marinette is a bit overwhelmed and decides to take advantage. A new akuma appears in Paris the very next day and Chat Noir has to fight by himself. Where could his Lady possibly be?

One-shot. Akumanette. This is a different take on akumanette than we usually see, which I loved. I absolutely think it makes sense for an akuma to target Marinette with how overwhelmed she is, especially in early season 4, and I love the way that it was handled here.

when you weren’t mine to lose by @bugsandchatons

Change is a scary thing, especially when it feels like nothing has stayed the same.

It’s been a year since Marinette became the Guardian of the Miracle Box - a year of struggling beneath a burden she never asked for, a weight that has her leaning on her partner more and more as the hours fly by, of letting him come to her, too, when he needs a soft place to land. A year of falling for the boy who takes on the world by her side with a smile made of sunlight, and fighting the growing urge to tell him what he means to her.

After all, they’ll have time enough for that when Paris is safe.

But when the unthinkable happens, Marinette learns the tragedy of loving someone quietly, and the lines she’ll cross to save him.

Multi-chapter. Akumanette (Akuma!Ladybug, really). This is what happens when Ladybug loses Chat Noir. It hurts in all the best ways and the writing is absolutely gorgeous and somehow we still get a happy ending!

Lovelace by @p-artsypants

Convinced that he's unlovable, Adrien is quickly thrown for a loop when Marinette confesses her love for him out of the blue. An akumatization and reveal later, he changes his mind about being unlovable.

One-shot. Akumadrien. I love when Gabriel is a horrible bastard and that results in Adrien being akumatized, and this fic is aboslutely perfect for that! It's also an original take on akumadrien, which I love.

Echoes of You by @kittinoir

In the day time, she’s Marinette - a normal girl, with a normal life. A normal girl, with a normal life. A normal girl, with…

Multi-chapter. Akumanette. Marinette gives up the miracle box and her memories, and Chat is frantic trying to figure out what happened to his Lady. (And the love square content, including a lot of Marichat, is fantastic!) Meanwhile, Chloe is trying to do better following the events of Miracle Queen.

A Different Approach by ShawnaCanon

Adrien finds out Ladybug's true identity. Since Cat Noir has been thoroughly friend-zoned, he figures maybe he can woo her as Adrien. But that means doing it without his mask. And that's scarier than any supervillain Hawk Moth could throw at him.

Multi-chapter. Akumadrien. It takes a while to get to the akumadrien, but I really enjoyed the journey. This poor boy is so romantically inept, but ultimately that's not what leads to his akumatization. This is a different take than we usually see and it's very much Adrien that is akumatized, rather than Chat (or any kind of Chat Blanc variation).

A Sound of Thunder by Tempomental

“Bye-bye, little… actually, that’s your line, isn’t it? Sorry.”

Ladybug stared at the man in front of her. Tall. Shaggy, but not unkempt blond hair. Oh yeah, and he was wearing a Ladybug costume.

“Who - who are you?”

“Oh, right, sorry.” He drew himself up to his full height and proudly announced, “My name is Adrien Agreste, and I’ve come from the future to rescue you!”

Multi-chapter. Akumadrien. In our time, Adrien and Marinette use their traditional miraculous. However, Adrien also comes back from the future to help out with the ladybug miraculous. It’s extremely intense and well written and every time I thought I had spotted a problem in the writing, it turned out to be a plot element but holy shit I thought I was going to die with how intense this is. If you like plot, you will absolutely LOVE this fic.

some truths are as loyal (as the shadows we lead) by @carpisuns

When Marinette wins a design contest hosted by Gabriel Agreste, it seems like a dream come true. Until everything goes wrong. (A Marichat akumanette fic)

Multi-chapter. Akumanette. This was actually the first akumanette fic I ever read and it gave me a bit of a taste for it! @carpisuns is an amazing writer, and I always enjoy everything she gifts us. This is no exception! My favourite part of this was seeing just how much it took to break Marinette, as well as Gabriel being The Worst.

too little, too late. by @madibug

“Ladybug.” Chat’s voice cuts in like molten steel. It’s a tone that Ladybug hasn’t heard him use with her before and so it surprises her into turning to him and - It feels like smacking into a wall. Chat is no more than a foot away from her but when their eyes meet, it hits her just how much distance has grown between them. Her heart hiccups out of rhythm, as hearts often do when something feels… wrong.

Multi-chapter. Akumanette. I really enjoyed this one, especially all of the different plans and how the crew adapted. This is @madibug's answer to the Ladybug version of Chat Blanc, and it's really creepy and interesting!

fleeting. by @agnes-writes

e·phem·er·al (/əˈfem(ə)rəl/), adj. - lasting for a very short time. But no matter how fleeting Ephemeral's powers may make things, the damage has already been done. And Ladybug pays the price. OR: A drabble based on what I want to happen in Episode 100: Ephemeral.

One-shot. Akumadrien. I really enjoyed this alternate imagining of Ephmeral! It was written before the episode aired, so it's not entirely consistent, but it's still really interesting and well done.

And, for a bit of a self-rec, The Closest Thing to Love features akumanette, if you're interested in fake dating and PRPR 😊

[thelibraryloser]

stargazing

@lordclover i am your ashville secret santa! i hope you like your late night marichat hangout (by the light of a croissant moon)

and thanks to @frostedpuffs and mod team for hosting!

[rise-deepseamonster]

I'm so glad you liked it, here are some more:

this one is if hawkmoth stole the cat noir miraculous before Adrien could get it himself from the miraculous master keeper granpa and gave it to Adrien to help him and the akumas get ladybug's miraculous back

So cat noir is the enemy and Adrien willingly does it cuz a. he wants his mom back and b. he thinks ladybug stole her miraculous and is just cruel

This one is just angst and finding it each other's identities while falling in love as Marichat.

I'm begging every person out there to please please read this fanfic (not written by me) about Marichat. It's for your own mental health, I promise.

[ramen8008]

I don't know if most of you know this or not but I've been a marichat stan for 5+ years (around as long as I've been miraculous ladybug and Chat noir obsessed) so since I did a Ladynoir head canon post I want to do one for marichat. Because this was what kept me up at night at 12 years old reading fanfiction omg so much fanfiction (and writing some too but we don't talk about that).

I think just like Ladynoir I prefer an older more mature head canon with them.

They don't meet on purpose. Like they hardly ever meet on purpose especially as adults. Maybe they had a few of those nights on the balcony when they were 14-15 or one too many missions where they teamed up but as adults it's hardly ever on purpose.

That doesn't mean they aren't friends or that they don't meet. Every once in a while Marinette would be chased by a akuma and chat will save her. Within those dragged out a couple of minutes where he gets her somewhere save they chat, they insult each other, exchange funny stories, make jokes. And after the akuma he checks on her where he left her, hardly ever expecting her to be there but always finding her.

They have the kind of friendship which is just EASY. It's fun, there's no expectations, they never have to wonder whether they need to call the other or if it's weird the other hasn't reached out. It's mostly coincidence (that at times doesn't seem like it)

They don't talk about their feelings, they talk shit about people that piss them off, situations that make them wanna commit crimes, jokes around. Chat knows Marinette has more to her life than she tells him but it's okay because so does he.

They can tell each other things they don't think they can ever say out loud, not because they're their "true selves" but because who's going to hear the hopes and dreams that might never be accomplished? A boy who she doesn't even know the name of? A girl who'll probably never know who he is?

They don't imagine their life with each other in it, it's the kind of friendship you have with an exchange student in your school, a person just visiting town, they talk about their future but never imagine each other in it, because that'll break down the comfort they feel knowing that they have no major significant with another. (At least that's what they tell themselves)

It's always "I'll tell my friends I used to know the famous fashion designer before she was famous"

"I'll tell my kids I used to be friends with the great Chat noir"

And that's okay, it's what gives them the freedom to say whatever they think, say out loud the things they would never have anyways because that's the core of their friendship. It's not the kind where you plan hangouts, where you know each other's favorite colours, where you fear that saying something will affect your next conversation. Not one where you even know the others birthday, one where to get each other serious or any gifts at all

Sure Marinette gives him a sweater for winter patrol once only for him to find out that the back has a paragraph not so different to the "no protection, no lube..." comment when ladybug starts laughing uncontrollably.

They both have an addiction to murder podcasts. They plan the most precise murders in the middle of the night and switch to talking shit about murderers because they got caught.

They don't see each other as a life long friend but definitely one they don't plan to forget. They don't spend many nights together but the ones spend are all they will remember.

Their meeting aren't always the most convenient but they are also never boring. They don't have a normal friendship but that's also what's so special about their friendship. They might not know everything about one another or even close but they will be each other's murder alibi and that's what matters.

[toxinoire]

Adrienette

Adrien: Hey Marinette! (≧∇≦)/

Marinette: Hi Adrien! (◍•ᴗ•◍)

Ladynoir

Chat Noir: Bet ya ten cents you can't throw me to the top of the Eiffel Tower. ( ͡^ ͜ʖ ͡^)

Ladybug: bITCH BET. 凸( •̀_•́ )凸

Ladrien

Ladybug: Oh uh hi (-ω-；)

Adrien: Hey! Σ(゜゜)

Marichat

Marinette: Okay so this movie sucks.

Chat Noir: Right? The graphics are terrible.

Marinette: The plot could've been normal but they just shoved an unnecessary romance plot. I'm all for romance but it had zero relevance to the point.

Chat Noir: Exactly, no one gets together that quickly. (- _ -)

Marinette: Bitches had two interactions and now they're kissing. Hello, dickwad your teammates are dying. （-""-；)

Chat Noir: "I'd die for you" Asshole she won't be dating anyone if you're dead. (￣へ ￣ 凸

Marinette: Right?! Fucker stop making out and help your team survive the damn battle! ヽ(`д´；)/

Chat Noir: H-

Everyone at the cinema: PLEASE SHUT UP

[lostuntothisworld]

A List of ML Crack Theories I Am Considering

The moon represents Adrichat, and not the Love Square or LadyNoir like the fandom theorizes

Anne-Jeanne Theoxanne du Bocquale is a time traveling adopted daughter of Lukadrien Adrienette

Bob Roth is gonna make good on his promise that Luka is going to sing for him no matter what.

Adrien's bedroom in the Agreste Mansion was originally the Master Suite

Adrien is going to intern at the Dupain-Cheng bakery. It will not end well.

Luka is going to work for the new flower shop next door, by doing flower deliveries. This will end better because of... reasons.

Felix was created out of jealousy over Gabe and Emilie's conception of Adrien, which means it's possible he doesn't love Kagami for herself or the fact they "are the same," but because Kagami was meant for Adrien.

The ring Felix gave Kagami isn't actually her amok, but an identical copy.

Felix's character arc of villain-to-antihero-to-hero will take another twist. He might even team up with Lilamoth. Either way, his character arc is that he is still being controlled by his father, even though he has his amok, and his father is dead. This will be a direct parallel to Adrien's character arc.

Luka's nightmare (which we never find out in the season 5 finale, oddly enough) is that his actions reveal Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, Monarque finds out, takes advantage of this and secures the Miraculous and makes his wish... Somehow Luka finds out about Ephemeral, and is horrified that his actions caused the end of the world. He goes to Marinette and she tells him that "the timeline doesn't exist anymore," so he shouldn't feel bad that his actions caused the wish to occur. "Everyone makes mistakes." We as the audience know she is trying to make herself feel better about her choices in the season 5 finale. She begins a word salad about how even Chat Noir flooded the entire planet and nearly destroyed the universe in Chat Blanc, but the timeline no longer exists and it's all okay now! So now both boys know they ended the world in deleted timelines.

The main conflict of season 6 will be the reveal of Ephemeral and Chat Blanc. Season 7 will end in revealing The Truth to Adrien. Season 8 will be about figuring out how to sever Adrien's connection to his amoks, and the Peacock Miraculous.

Luka will be the one to reveal The Truth to Adrichat

Luka will help Adrien sever his connection to his amoks and the Peacock Miraculous. The Miraculous Ladybugs can't bring back a sentimonster after the amok has been destroyed, but Second Chance can give them infinite tries to figure out how to sever the connections.

Human sentimonsters can do and be anything a normally created person can do EXCEPT reproduce. Sentimonsters cannot create life.

The Peacock Miraculous broke because Emilie tried to create two sentimonsters at the same time: Adrien's and his twin sister's embryos. Adrien was created second, and thus the reason the miraculous broke.

Adrien is his own dead twin sister, which is why he has two amoks

Adrien was not his original planned name. He was actually named after his dead twin sister Adrienne, once his parents learned he was connected to both amoks. I'm partial to his original planned name being Celeste, which is a unisex name in France.

Emilie and Amelie (identical twins) are both sentimonsters who share one amok (The moonstone star brooch that Emelie wears)

The actual moon is a sentimonster, and Adrien will time-travel 4 billion years into the past to recreate the Theia Impact in a future season after a long character arc of personal growth, healing, and accepting The Truth. (I'll admit this one is more wishful hoping than anything else lmao)

The light that Lila/Iris saw at the end of the finale is her time traveling future self (I messed up the exact details of how she gets ahold of the Rabbit Miraculous in my original post, but I still think it's plausible)

Ladynoir is dead. Marichat is dead. Ladrien is dead. I think they're going to kill Adrienette sooner rather than later.

Adrien falls in love (or thinks he falls in love) with Marinette due to an amok order by a time traveling Lilamoth. (Adrienette getting together pretty much opened the way for Gabe to get his wish, and thus Lilamoth's acquisition of the Butterfly Miraculous.)

After a rewatch, and studying the transcript, I think there's a possibility Maribug would have kept The Truth from Adrien even if Gabe never asked her to.

Gabe failed his redemption character arc of moving on and letting go of Emilie. Emilie's dying wish was for Gabe to move on, properly parent Adrien, and allow him to choose his own happiness. Instead, Gabe made his own wish in order to be with her in death, abandoning Adrien. But before he did that, he gave Marinette his blessing to be with his son, with stipulations that she never tell him The Truth. I think Gabe ALSO passed on his failed character arc to Marinette. She is going to have to learn to let Adrien go.

AND THE FINAL MOST CRACK OF ALL THEORIES:

25. Lukadrien is Endgame

[macknshift]

THE ONE WHERE . . . I INTRODUCE Y'ALL TO LEO!

SOOOO…i have mentioned leo in like, 90 different posts atp and never actually made a "leo intro" (mainly bc i have weird feelings ab sharing him heavily to the rest of the world lol) but! i figured now would be the best time to get into explaining him to y'all.

LEO , commonly given the last name SCOTT (depends on the dr!) is actually originally the main character's love interest in a hockey romance book i've been in the process of writing. after getting #sickandtired of annoying ass book men i gave up and began drafting one of my own. the main character is literally me (i mean, for christ's sake her name is sloane mackintosh,) and eventually, i began thinking of him in other "au"s (i used to do this a lot on wattpad - i mean DRs but the term AU is usually more digestible to ppl that may not be aware of reality shifting. Anyways.) and began kind of placing him in everything. a list of the drs he is my love interest in is follows;

BETTER CR : (fc silasj2004*) the hockey romance book pretty much as a dr. small changes occur but basically he's the exact same as leo in the book lol

PARENT DR : (fc jack schlossberg. yes. i am one of those girlies. i am not ashamed! at least he has morals + a backbone y'all this could be much worse) the "backstory" is my better cr dr. i'm now a mother of 3 (amelia or mimi, aged 5, giselle or gigi, aged 4 and i'm pregnant with vincenzo, our final kid,) and it follows our life after what would be the events of the book. i sort-of made it also as like a WAG dr in a sense bc leo is a professional hockey player! (but he retires 2 years before this point in time so idk where my thought process is w this lol)

FORMULA 1 DRIVER DR : (fc pato o'ward MY!!!! mclaren man ln4 U ARE NOTHINGGGGGGG) leonardo dempsey, son of actor patrick dempsey (my forever celebrity crush ugh he's so fine) and driver for aston martin aramco f1 team under #99. i essentially took l*nce str*ll's daddy's boy backstory and gave it to leo bc he is indeed a daddy's boy. the only dr leo and i are enemies to lovers bc i'm too obsessed w him otherwise LMFAO

MARVEL DR : (fc marcello hernandez (MY MAAANNNN)) leo scott, secretly the speedster superhero 'comet'. hired by my dad as essentially a bodyguard (leo's not intimidating AT ALL idek how the hell this is supposed to work LMFAO) as comet and knows me out of costume as his sister's roommate (mj is also in every dr ever and actually is here in this cr. i can never leave her out i love her DOWN) basically marichat vibes (god i miss marichat)

POP STAR DR : (fc marcello hernandez, again) leo sinatra, nepo baby great-grandson of frank sinatra (there's a whole, incredibly large bit of lore ab this LMFAO + he's also a great-grandson in my better cr dr too bc i need my man RICH!) and Saturday Night Live cast member. basically i go on snl and immediately fall in love. i've stolen the 'unlikely couple' weekend update sketch for us & he does domingo, which is my song lol we're funny for it idk

THE FCS, in color photos:

i'm missing like, 18 other drs that i can think of but some important info about him;

he's half oaxacan mexican. i've tried my damnedness to find a way to make it obvious but when i was 'designing' him (aka drawing him out) i used jack, silas (*NOTE: he is leo's typical fc if i don't have an designated one for him) and marcello as references to make him look the most like him as i can. the fcs are kind of loose for him but i need a way to like fully visualize him. so. yeah. his 'color palette' (weird way to put it but idk how else) makes him tanner than all three of them i fear. all of the fcs i use (other than jack schlossberg but like. idk his main celebrity lookalike in the better cr is him so i kind of had to) are latino, but i feel like it never ever properly translates when i talk about him bc his name is fucking leopold scott. like. huh.

he's also tall AS FUCK lol and built like a tank lowkey (think tom welling clark kent GOOD GOOGLY MOOGLY) but it's mainly bc he's a hockey player. in every vers he's like. 6'3. shortest he is is w marcello as his fc and even then he's 5'11. (note in pop star dr he gets a lot of comparisons to jacob elordi for some reason??? idk my fans are weird)

he's got big brown baby cow eyes. every. single. time. like that is this man's defining trait and you know what? i would not change that for the world lol

his position in hockey is a goalie! he uses the number #29 and plays for our college and later for the new jersey devils before being traded to the anaheim ducks. after he retires he becomes a firefighter!!!! (which is sooo hot btw)

[aalissy]

Rescue

Andddd here is chapter 2 for today! I hope you like it <3. If you do, lemme know your thoughts! I love writing marichat banter hehe.

AO3

On a quiet evening in Paris, Marinette and Chat found themselves playfully bantering on the top of her rooftop. He had begun coming over more and more often lately and she had to admit, she certainly loved his company. It was nice talking to him. Especially when they were teasing each other.

Chat leaned back against her railing, his cat-like grin playful. "You know, Marinette, for a civilian, you handle yourself pretty well in sticky situations."

Not one to back down, Marinette smirked back at him. "Well, I learned from the best.”

“Of course you did.” He flexed his arms, his green eyes gleaming with pride.

Letting him enjoy the moment for a brief second longer, she nodded her head, her lips twitching. “Yep! Watching Ladybug summon a random lucky charm and figure out how to save the day with it is very enlightening. I think it’s helped me come up with even more plans.” Rocking back on her heels, Marinette couldn’t help but giggle as his face dropped.

“Hey! What about me?!” Chat pouted.

“Oh, but of course,” she sighed. “How could I forget about you? Watching you prance around and make puns has also been quite the help," Marinette’s voice dropped teasingly.

Chat chuckled, twirling his baton between his fingers. "Ah, but my puns are a crucial part of my hero persona. Can you imagine Chat Noir without his charming wit?"

Marinette pretended to ponder, a playful glint in her eyes. "Hmm, I suppose you'd just be a stray tom cat then."

Chat Noir gasped dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. "Ouch, Marinette! That's cold!"

Marinette couldn't contain her laughter at his dramatic reaction. "Don't worry, Chat. I'm sure you'd find a way to charm your way back into everyone's hearts. Including my own."

"That's more like it.” He grinned, before his voice turned more thoughtful, a small frown creasing his mask. “But you know, Marinette, I don't think I've ever needed to rescue you. You're always so resourceful and quick on your feet."

She swallowed harshly. Well, that wasn’t good. She couldn’t have him going around getting ideas. Her secret identity was meant to be secret, thank you very much. She had to do something. And quickly.

Marinette raised an eyebrow, a playful challenge in her eyes, hoping to stop wherever his train of thought was heading. "Are you implying that I don't need saving?"

Chat leaned closer, a mischievous glint in his eyes and she relaxed slightly. "I'm just saying, you're more than capable of handling yourself. Although, I wouldn't mind being your knight in shining leather if you ever needed one."

Marinette felt her cheeks redden slightly at his words, a mixture of amusement and warmth flooding her. "Oh really? And what would my distress signal be? A call for puns?"

He grinned at her, his tail swishing behind him. "Exactly! If you ever find yourself in trouble, just shout 'Chat, puns needed!' and I'll come running."

“Good to know," Marinette replied with a playful wink. "But let's hope I never need to use that signal. I'd hate to see you exhausted from all that pun-making."

Chat chuckled. "I'll take my chances. After all, what's a hero without a damsel in distress to rescue?"

Marinette rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm not a damsel in distress, Chaton. I'm a damsel with a plan."

He laughed, enjoying their banter as always. "Fair enough, Marinette. But remember, even damsels with plans can use a little help from time to time."

As they continued to tease each other and enjoy the peaceful evening, Marinette couldn't help but feel grateful for Chat Noir's presence in her life. Whether it was fighting villains or just exchanging playful banter, they certainly made a great team, always ready to support and uplift each other.

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s2ep3 glaciator

ah an episode for the marichat shippers. actually, i guess for all the love square shippers except for ladybug and adrien (whatever that ship name is called, i've forgotten--no wait, is it ladrien?)

anyway it was a dumb episode. but andre is the most french character i have ever seen lol. i unironically love how he mostly talks in rhymes. i'd sure like to see what kind of ice cream he'd give me, an aroace.

but anyway, the fact that adrien lies to his friends and ditches them to plan a "romantic dinner" with ladybug, showing that chat noir doesn't listen to ladybug really annoyed me. like plagg is right! she said she had other plans, she was letting him down gently. and he completely ignores her!! and then he's hurt by her???

like i guess i'm okay with him putting his feelings aside to be able to deal with glaciator, bc that's the most mature thing chat noir has ever done to date, but it feels hollow bc chat noir doesn't listen to ladybug. and adrien is convinced that he still has a chance--that she'll just change her mind about him despite telling him outright that she loves another boy and only sees him as a friend. it gets extremely weird after a while, and steers far too close into very worrying behaviors.

and his heel-face-turn doesn't feel earned. like i was annoyed at first that he just put his feelings aside so quickly.

but i was also annoyed with the whole set-up of why he was annoyed. i had a reason i didn't like his sudden shift, but it's gone from my brain, so i'll move on.

the thing is, what really frustrates me about the love square is how much it doesn't work. adrien doesn't listen to marinette. chat noir doesn't listen to ladybug. and marinette gets too flustered around adrien to properly pay attention to what he's saying. like maybe it's just me being an adult, and this being a kids' show, but it is annoying that they're "meant to be" when they can't even communicate. communication is key to a good and strong relationship. not feelings. not destiny. communication!

i hate to say this, but there is a universe where i could see the love square working in a way that doesn't feel contrived and hinges on the fact that they always talk past each other. but under better writers. in a show with a solid writing team, i could actually see the set-up working really well. bc miscommunication is a common trope used to create drama. i don't prefer it, but that doesn't mean it can't work under the right--or write, get it?--circumstances.

likewise, marinette being a dick sometimes is fine narratively speaking. that's allowed, that's fine. it creates conflict and shows that she's flawed. but under this set of circumstances, i found it really frustrating that 1) she doesn't want anyone knowing she has a huge crush on adrien even tho everyone knows and 2) that's the set-up to her being a dick.

and listen, under better writers, i don't think it would've bothered me that much. points 1 or 2. bc ppl do do weird, irrational, and downright mean things when they're stressed or scared. but again, adrien doesn't listen to marinette, and everyone knows she likes adrien anyway. why try to hide it?

i mean i know why. i saw the post about the creator apparently stating somewhere that the reason she gets so flustered about adrien is because she confessed her crush to kim once (wow, real original, put the two asian people together bc they're both asian) and apparently got embarrassed by chloe. but, and i cannot stress this enough, the audience doesn't know that at this point. so we have no idea why she acts the way she acts, nor why she doesn't want ppl to know (even tho they already know!!).

i don't know, i just feel like i'm criticizing things that can't actually be criticized, bc in a better written show, i could see them working. unfortunately for me, this is not a better written show. it's barely a show.

[actually-factually-anonymous]

Making this its own thing because I don't want to go off-topic on someone else's post, but I wanted to talk about that thing with rival love interests contrasting each other.

The Love Square was perfectly set up to do that all by itself, making Luka's inclusion even weirder.

It's really easy to see why Marinette is so obsessed with Adrien—she's got a saviour complex the size of Russia and he's the perfect vessel for it. Sweet, sad, burdened, kept in a gilded cage by his tyrannical father, he's just the guy for Marinette to cast as her fragile damsel in distress. Except, he's anything but fragile. He's strong and deadly and doesn't need anyone's coddling.

Same thing with Adrien and Ladybug. She stood up to a powerful villain and won. She's strong and tough and capable, and might one day sweep him off his feet and save him from the problems in his life. Except, no, she's just a girl who's in way over her head, and who needs help just as much as she helps others.

What made the Love Square interesting was that because of their warped ideas about both each other and themselves, Adrien and Marinette ended up competing with their own alter-egos. And then the writers spent one and a half seasons teasing Lukanette and Adrigami, only to break them up immediately.

Indeed. The whole thing seems like a pointless waste and quite baffling considering that the seasons are supposed to be written well in advance and supposedly plotted to fit together: so what was the point with setting up the alternative LI's for a season if the writing team was always planning to immediately drop them in the next one?

(I will however say that Kagami for her part does actually fulfill the role of contrasting Marinette as a Love Interest for Adrien. Even with Ladybug becoming more... job-focused, direct and brusque in the later seasons and Kagami softening somewhat.)

Indeed as you say: it would have made more sense if the writing team had instead focused on the Love Square and its various sides instead. The great draw for Miraculous was the ironic romantic rivalry between the two (alleged) main characters' personas, and as you also said: how each's relationship with the other was contrasted by how their counterparts (in whatever combination) saw and treated them.

Just imagine if seasons three onwards had focused on different sides of the Love Square. Marinette's crush on Adrien was tired by season three, but so long as the show contrived reasons why one side of the square lost interest in the identity that was now pursuing the other there was no reason that the ironic shenanigans that made up the core of the early seasons couldn't continue with fresh perspectives. Imagine if the Marichat Arc in S5 occurred seasons earlier, with Adrien pursuing a now skittish Marinette while Chat Noir got the chance to "enjoy" a tryhard Ladybug's best efforts to outdo his earlier antics. Perhaps later Marinette would return to courting Adrien, but this time as Ladybug (feed those poor starving Ladrien fans!)- only for Adrien to still only have eyes for someone else in pigtails who he's given up on but hasn't moved on from.

And all the while offering a new way for the duo to learn about each other;

I've gone over the ideas before about how the development could have gone, but suffice it to say that some actual focus on Marinette and Adrien learning about their partner's other side and coming to know each other fully would have been a far better way to advance any proper romance between the two. A true unmasking to meet their partner as a whole person.

But back to the point; the Love Square already had contrast within it. "The Perfect Hero" Ladybug against Marinette the "ordinary girl" (at least in the early seasons) and Adrien the "Prince" against the "rogue" (for a given value thereof) Chat Noir. There was never a need to bring in Kagami and certainly not Luka into the mix. Especially if Luka was just going to double-up on Marinette's "perfect nice boy" quota instead of bringing something new.

As much as I despise the many fanfics where Felix replaces Adrien as a Love Interest (what's this, Felinette fic? Wow, I wonder how long the author will take before demonizing Adrien to justify taking Plagg from him!), bringing him in as the Rival Love Interest instead of Luka would have actually served a purpose in providing variety to Marinette's options;

Felix is a dick. He's a merciless, petty, smarmy and sadistic little prick. But he's also reasonably clever (if you don't look twice at his plans) and effective. He also (as of season five) has a soft spot for those he cares for. With a little work, he fits the archetype of a "shoujo bad boy" and he'd have actually served the role of Rival Love Interest to contrast Adrien/Chat Noir far, far more effectively than Luka ever could.

(Granted he'd probably suffer that declawing in the long run, but the initial point stands)

But instead the writing team made up a relationship sue with the depth of one of his own inane music metaphors, created Kagami who actually did have depth and a character arc of her own, spent a season setting them up as the Rival Love Interests and then... promptly disposed of them.

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

Ladybug’s Day Off

Pairing: adrinette, mentioned marichat, miraculous team friendship

Word Count: 4k

Summary: Monarch is defeated, Paris is safe, and Ladybug is desperately in need of a break, so the Miraculous team convinces Ladybug to let Scarabella and Kitty Noire handle things for a day. Marinette is handling it about as well as you would expect.

[flightfoot]

I had a sort of 'aha' moment about felgami and why it feels off. I liked the idea of Felgami back from Gabriel Agreste, and yeah it's rushed as heck but in theory it should still be Felgami.

But it's not. This isn't unique to Felgami, it just stands out more with them. There only seems to be one flavor of 'in love' the writing team is comfortable with(the standard cute/schmoopy teen type) and they plug it into all ships.

The argos window scene made it stand out on rewatch. Close your eyes and imagine it Marichat. It works perfectly despite these couples being extremely different.

Felgami should have had Argos sneaking in to try and surprise her, and Kagami holding him at bay with a pencil while they both smirked at the other... Then they get schmoopy :)

No hate for anyone who likes it as is. I just thought if anyone else like me was kind of on the fence, this might help explain the dissonance.

Yeah that's fair, I like your version better. I generally prefer more rivallish ships for Kagami anyway, I think she'd like a challenge.

[allovertheplaceficrecs]

THE MASTERLIST GUIDE

The doc that started it all (here) in case anyone was interested, its an ever expanding list so anything that's not here or in my bookmarks is there. Feel free to have a look around! my main blog is adeceasedtulip so come hang out with me there too!

BBC Merlin (Merlin/Arthur)

Merlin AUs

Teen wolf (Stiles/Derek)

AUs

Magic Stiles

Post-canon era

Marvel

AUs

Crack fics

Spider-Man centric (Multi-ships)

Team Red (DD, SM & DP)

The Avengers

Miraculous

AUs

Crack fics

MariChat

LadyNoir

Supernatural (Dean/Castiel)

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Keith/Lance)

(this post is a work in progress)