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unoriginalmess · 3 years

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A Second Mask: Chapter 4

Did that just happen?

Hello guys! It's me. I'm finally writing again. Sorry about the delay. I'm going to explain more at the end of the chapter, but I'm just going to keep the beginning short. So here is chapter 4:

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To say Adrien was concerned would be a huge understatement. He was downright disturbed. Its been weeks and still Marinette hadn't changed back to the happy, peppy, nice girl that he knew. AND SHE WOULDN'T EVEN TALK TO HIM ABOUT IT!

He tried to talk to her for a whole week after her original trasformation, but after the repeated firm rejections, he stopped altogether. He figured that maybe with some space, she might be able to work through whatever she was going through, but at this point, he's losing hope.

When he is feeling this distressed about something, he usually turns to his lady, but she has been acting weird too. Ever since she suggested they start sparring, she's started to show that she is going through kinda a rough time as well. She is the same ladybug when everyone is watching, but when it's just the two of them, she looks sad and tired. She has also started saying some concerning things while they are sparring. She has started talking about how she has started taking being Ladybug and the Guardian more seriously, and how she has less distractions now, which would be a good thing if she didn't say them so sadly.

The good thing is, the sparring has given him a chance to get out his aggression because of the whole Marinette-situation and his anger at his father in a safe environment. He didn't like the idea of hitting Ladybug at first (especially in the face) but with her not holding back on her hits, he felt more comfortable doing the same. It has helped them fight better too. He hopes that whatever Ladybug is going through in her civillian life will work itself out soon, but until then he will be there for her. He just needs to figure out how to be there for Marinette.

•••

Felix was making good progress with Marinette. After they first asked marinette about (insert fashion question of your choice here, I legit know nothing and I didn't have time to research anything for this chapter), she had started answering their questions on a daily basis. After a couple of days of that, she had started to rant to them about different things in the fashion world that were bothering her, exciting her, or confusing her that particular day. In response to that, they had started to respond to her rants with their own opinions on the subjects and even start their own rants.

It had gotten to the point where Felix would now consider them to be friends, though they know that Marinette would never call them as such, it was fine with them. They know she has trust issues, and they can understand why, so they are fine with being friends in everything but a name.

Felix was looking forward to their daily banter as they waited in their seat for Marinette to arrive. When she did, she was followed by a very pissed-looking Alya. Felix turned to look at her and noticed that she had what looked to be tears forming in her eyes. What they didn't notice was the little black butterfly that had entered through the window in the back of the room, and was making a beeline towards her.

•••

Marinette walked to school in yet another one of her newest fashion creations: a pair of oversized grey ripped jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt. She was actually really liking her new look, and the comfort that it offered was just an added plus.

She was actually feeling excited to talk to Felix about Gabriel Agreste's newest fashion flop. They were the only person that she had met that actually cared about fashion as much as her. It made her happy to talk to them. It kind of scared her how excited she was. Shouldn't she be distancing herself from everyone? she thought to herself. No. Felix isn't my friend, they aren't close to me, they are just someone I talk fashion with. Like a coworker, yeah. Totally. Felix is just a coworker. ("Liar" says the inner voice in her head)

She was shocked out of her thoughts when she was pulled to the side by someone as she entered the courtyard. Her mind immediately thought of an akuma, when the person spoke.

"Marinette! Girl," Oh it's just Alya. Wait Alya? "How long are you gonna keep up this cry for attention? Are you really THAT jealous of Lila? I know that Adrien likes her, but that doesn't give you the right to act like this! And you are hanging out with Felix, who accused her of sexually harrassing Adrien on their first day here-?" She looked absolutely furious at her, but Marinette had heard enough. She cut Alya off in the middle of her presumably long rant.

"ALYA!" Said girl jumped at both the inturruption and the tone of voice used, "First of all, this isn't a cry for attention, if anything its a cry for leaving me the fuck alone. Second of all, I'm not jealous of Lila. I'm not in love with Adrien anymore, and haven't been for a while. You knew that I was dating Luka right? Why would I care who Adrien likes? Lastly, I am allowed to hang out with whoever I choose, whether you like them or not. It's none of your fucking business Alya, and if you think that I'm just some jealous, attention-seeker why do you even care?" With that last question she stormed off to the classroom, leaving a speechless Alya behind her.

When marinette sat down in her seat, she just kept thinking about how Alya was just talking to her. How could she think that about her? They used to be best friends, and Alya wasn't even concerned about her not talking to her anymore, she was just concerned about her being "jealous of Lila". It made her so furious that she could feel tears trickling down her face. She sees the black butterfly out of the corner of her eye and without hesitation grabs it out of the air.

(Next part is taken from this post by @bigfatbreak)

"Go ahead and akumatize me- See what happens, Hawkmoth!" She screamed the words with a slight madness that the energy of the akuma was giving her, "Every leash has two ends! I just have to pull until I find where you're holding it!"

At this point, the entire class was frozen in place watching her and listening to her crazed-sounding voice threaten an actual terrorist. Marinette felt Hawkmoth's confusion and terror through the bond. What in the- She's sensing me through the Akuma?! The akuma then started to fly away, and when it couldn't it zapped her hand like it was made of lightning and fluttered through the same window it came from. Marinette felt like she had failed yet again and collapsed down on her desk, muttering, "Uuuuggghh. It escaped anyway... What a waste. I didn't realize that Hawkmoth was such a coward. He usually likes grandstand..."

She was startled when her hand was picked up by Felix's, "You likely scared him off by managing to locate him like that... A risky move, I should mention. I would ask that you not attempt that a second time. No one knows what his akuma is truly capable of. You'll want to keep off of this hand for a while, too."

"Oh, are those the doctor's orders? Why, Felix, it almost sounds like you care about meeee." Marinette was all too amused by Felix's concern for her. She also liked to tease them... AS COWORKERS DO.

"I have an investment in your presence. Now don't be cheeky and let's get you to the nurse's office," They said while holding her wrist and gently pulling her in that direction.

Marinette scoffed, "'An investment in my presence'??"

Felix chuckled while still semi-dragging her by the wrist towards the front of the room, being careful not to hurt her injury even worse, "What did I just say about being cheeky?"

On their way out of the door they passed a VERY distressed-looking Adrien. He seemed to be sharing the sentiment with the entire class of: Did that just happen?

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And thats chapter 4. It is VERY LATE! I know. I've been swamped with work, and when I went to write it, I had zero ideas on how to write this chapter. I never ended up getting those ideas. I just went where my writing took me, so if it doesn't really match the characters that's why. I will try to be better at updating regularly, but it probably won't happen. Sorry to everyone with a normal sleep schedule, but this is the time that I write things. Also I didn't have my outline with me while writing this chapter, so it might not have everything I planned to write in it.

I would like to thank you all for all of the support I've been getting on this fic. Despite all of the chapter delays, you guys have stuck with me through all of it, so thank each and every one of you. I love seeing so many people loving this au as much as I do. Without you guys this story wouldn't exist, and I would've stopped writing it after the first chapter.

As always, constructive criticism is always accepted. I love being able to improve my writing whenever possible.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day/night/whenever you are reading this. See ya next time guys, gals, and non-binary pals.

Taglist

@queer-illusion @apasponsor @heckinggremlin @1-ahiro-1 @hewantedbeefintheparkinglot @sassakitty @lennauts @rianoel @dorkus-minimus @khneltea @welp-that-was-unexpected @mlnchlymrshmllw @lovelyautumnsunflower @chariphrasis @lovesbooks @komatsuna-yuki @polyvirnl @innocentlyguiltyfrenchfry @qhobias @ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole @hammalammadamdam @cloudydaysomewhere @alcoholic-barney @basenikon @xxbehindthemaskxx @corporeal-terrestrial @shadowymemoirs @moonlight-densetsuu

#a second mask #feralnette #feralnette au #felinette #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #adrien agreste #felix culpa #marinette dupain cheng #here it finally is #idk why some of the tags arent working

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arlakos · 3 years

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Why the show should add Lukadrien and Kagaminette (or why making Miraculous more queer would make it more fun)

I’ve long since given up the idea that the writers would ever try to make Miraculous Ladybug an interesting show to watch.

Time and time again I have been let down by some of the ridiculous plot decisions made in this show. The whole reason the an ancient magic order fell because some incompetent twat was hangry and made a sentimonster because of it. The events of miracle queen exposes a bunch of heroes' identities?

Nah, lets keep them on a temp heroes no worries, hell lets even make one permanent because she’s Ladybug’s best friend! (Even though the whole reason one member was kicked of the team was soley for the reason that Hawkmoth knew who she was, but lets ignore that ;) ).

Marinette can’t directly confess to Adrien and so makes stupid plans for 3 seasons to try and woo him, only to act like she’s given up when Kagami actually makes progress with Adrien as a proper relationship should. Hell, for the sake of the Love Square not concluding until the ultimate dramatic season 25 finale (tm), lets make an episode showing why Adrien and Marinette can’t fall in love!

Even though Chat could have told Ladybug who he was after he was deakumatized and end the show right then and there but FUCK IT. IDIOCY REIGNS SUPREME!!!

So yeah I've given up on an interesting miraculous show, but frick it! I still think it could still be fuuuuuuuun >:) .

Despite some of the outrageous writing this season, I still got a laugh out of a couple of things, such as Chloe cutting Hawkmoth off when he does his usual spiel of “get me the miraculous” in Queen Banana. And I think the show could use more fun stuff.

And I think that the best way to do that would be to replace the more “ahem” controversial love ships that cause wars, known as Lukanette and Adrigami, and instead replace them with some fresh takes!

Hi this is Arlakos, welcome to my TED Talk, and today I’ll be discussing why Lukadrien and Kagaminette would not only be better ships for the show, but also make it much more fun!

Lukanette and Adrigami and why these ships are a mega FAIL (in show, fanon’s still cool)

When Luka and Kagami first came out, they were kind of introduced as characters that were new, and that’s it. I mean you could say there was some hinting towards them being romantic partners it but at first I didn’t see it. All I really saw were new people introduced that served to flesh out the show, with Adrien having a new friend with a similar background to him and Luka being Juleka’s older bro (at least until the retcon) which Marinette found a friend in.

The only thing I could really say about either of the new characters was that both had elements that contrasted yet were similar to each other, Like how Kagami and Marinette both were bluenettes that were determined in their goals, but unlike Marinette Kagami came off as more antisocial, only talking to people that genuinely interested her.

The same could also be said for Luka, who was a kind and soft spoken person like Adrien, but unlike Adrien’s obliviousness to people’s feelings, Luka was the type of person to accurately guess peoples emotions, and could be there for people more due to his life having more freedom unlike Adrien's. At this point both characters were just people who were new and served as foils/complements to the characters they had similarity to, and the remained that way for most of season 2.

But then Astruc saw the ship rumours and realized he could create more “drama” by having the main characters have alternate love interests. And oh boy did shit went south hard.

What was once peace in the realms of the miraculous fandom had devolved into all out war as these new and enigmatic races (known in their archaic tongues as “Lukanette” and “Adrigami” shippers) declared wars on the races of the Lovesquare kingdom. Artillery was fired in forms of text posts that explained why “Lukanette was better because Luka is better than Adrien”, which were fired back with posts that declared “Luka is the physical embodiment of that wonder wall song and bland as bricks”. Meanwhile propaganda was made in the form of shipping pictures showing romance in the desired ships, as well as filtered pictures of scenes from episodes, sometimes showing with music lyrics on the pictures. The two sides would put aside their differences when the Tragedy of the Shapeshifting Lizard occurred, creating a race of horrifying mutants and sodium chloride filled abominations that threatened the realm known as “The Salters” (also known by their pseudonym designed to disguise their vile appearance: “Maribat shippers”). However, once these abominations were pushed back into the dark abyss known as the “Miraculous salt” tag, the two warring factions would eventually return back to fighting, which is said to continue to this very day.... War....War never changes.... wait wrong show-

But if you were to ask a dumb bitch like me what I think of this whole mess, I think that both the Lukanette and Adrigami ships were full of problems from the get go:

At least regarding Lukanette, the trope of a girl falling for soft spoken rival is as bland as a pile of bricks, and if Luka’s hair wasn’t dyed and was blonde, it would be more obvious, buts its “fine” because “hur dur Luka plays music” and “Luka is now a hero so that gives him character”.

Both ships neither had time to properly develop, both due to a lack of episodes and the fact that when they were on screen, it was overtaken by the forced addition of Akumas in these episodes, which are part of the show for the hero stuff, but it honestly meant that less time allowed for the ships to develop meaning both ships were rushed instead of allowing for scenes where both ships interacted as actual couples. I’ll say it once and say it again, some episodes need to be just civilian only episodes, while others could work better if they focused on the hero stuff.

However, that isn’t to say I personally hated either ship, and despite them hooking up at the end of season 3, and I was genuinely excited for where these new relationships would take the show! Perhaps the two heroes dating other people would allow for more character building and help make the story more better!

...Except not really because both these ships were ruined in the first two fucking canonically episodes and both were grounded into dirt, because Astruc and the writers realized that the ships would mean actual relationships would have to occur and that would include actual writing, so instead they hit the reset button, all in the name of adding more ship teases!

So yeah that went to shit. Honestly I would have preferred if neither ship actually occurred if it meant they were to be immediately ditched first two episodes into the season. I would get it if the breakups occurred somewhere near the finale, but it was LITERALLY THE. FIRST. TWO. EPISODES. OF. SEASON. FOUR. AND WE DIDNT EVEN HAVE EITHER SHIP KISS! That was unfair, and I genuinely felt sorry for the people who wanted that moment for their ships, only to be copped out of their OTP being proper for a season, and having what little was given being literally blocked by the unending curse that is the Love Square.

So... it was bad. It was underdeveloped, ham-fisted in for the sake of drama and was ditched not even two episodes into season 4 because haha ship teasing is so good after the 5000th time.

Anyways... here’s why Lukadrien and Kagaminette would be better ships!

Lukadrien

Ok I'm not gonna lie, Luka does be having that energy that screams secretly hot and suave. Like he’s the type of guy that would woo girls with a smile, make guys question their sexuality and make women that swing for the other team suddenly wander if they want to switch back (at the very least for him).

But I reckon that Luka, for all the people he could woo over, would only have one person that he has sights for, and for me the answer was clear when I saw this end card screen.

So yeah, that made me realize Lukadrien would be more fun.

So hear me out - at the end of Hardrock, Adrien finally comes onto the ship, Luka raises his hand in order to shake with Adrien’s, Marinette is blushing at seeing her crush finally appearing...

- When all of a sudden Luka takes Adrien’s hand and kisses the back of it, elicting gasps from all the girls on the boat. Luka tells Adrien that he’s glad to meet him and hopes they can get along more, and while Adrien is glancing down at his hand in confusion, Luka turns his head to Marinette and gives her an evil looking wink.

And this is when Marinette realizes... that this means war!

So yeah, this is how i see the ship would go, with two bluenettes fighting over the sexy and hot yet lovingly oblivious blonde boy. Marinette determined to win her crush’s heart while the smirking guitar playing gremlin tries to serenade Adrien with his music.

Because seeing the age old story of a girl choosing over two pretty boys? I sleep.

Seeing a story about a clumsy fashion girl and a guitar playing boy who is secretly a cheeky gremlin fighting over an oblivious blonde sunshine boy? Real Shit.

So aside from that plot change forcing Marinette to get her shit together and actually ask her crush out, I could see so many fun moments on Luka’s end doing anything to flirt with Adrien. Perhaps he invites him over for some “private” guitar sessions where he woos Adrien with his favorite song (WONDERWALL! XD jk, but for real though imagined he played this version instead XD). Perhaps the next Kitty Section concert has a song Luka made specifically for Adrien, to Mari’s simmering jealousy. Just imagining Luka and Marinette fighting over who’s helping Adrien with his costume preparation brings me a giddy glee I haven't felt since this scene in Party Crasher.

AND THATS NOT EVEN INCLUDING VIPERION! God there are so many scenes that I could include with Viperion. Perhaps just a scene of Viperion saving Adrien while flirting with him afterwards while Ladybug is getting fed up of Luka and his BS. Not to mention what would happen if Luka knew that Adrien was Chat Noir! Though it would probably lead to this amazing picture (art belongs to the amazing Calamity Fortune!)

(Nothing says “plot” like watching the most punny hero and the most suave hero staring into each others eyes while a heroine watches with a deadpan glance not realising her plan of 3 kids and a hamster are going up in smoke. Reckon Viperion would make some good flirty puns?)

Kagaminette

Regardless of what you think of either Adrien or Kagami, you can’t deny their lives are very similar. Both are individuals who haven’t had many friends until recently, have led very strict lives controlled by their parents, and both are good at fencing.

So if they have to many similarities, I thought to myself, then surely they have similar taste in people. Namely bluenettes that are strong, skilled, and are also superheroes.

Now, am I completely biased because I wrote a fanfic about Kagaminette? Yes

And did I just now self-advertise by linking said fanfic in this post. Yes

I admit to both and I don’t care. :3

Now, when it comes to this ship, I wholeheartedly think that due to Adrien liking Marinette, I have no doubt in my mind that Kagami would also be someone to fall for Marinette. The only difference between the two is that Adrien would probably be in denial saying that she is just a friend, while Kagami would immediately go for what she wants.

So when Kagami would request a rematch with Adrien, It would definitely be for a chance to win Marinette. And even though Marinette is just a friend, you all know that Adrien would be compelled to accept this challenge.

Wait, I just basically referenced my favorite comic dub. Oh well, gotta give credit where Credit is due:

youtube

(Adrien’s VA saying “what” in this scene at 0:06 gets me laughing, the way he says it so dark and grizzly after his first line being so smooth gets me laughing every single time.)

Now back on topic, I have a good belief that aside from Kagaminette being my guilty ship, it would also be a fun thing to watch. You know that Kagami and Adrien would be having duels every week to see who would have the honour of hanging out with Marinette for the rest of the day, only for them to probably end up in a draw each time and all of them awkwardly hanging out together after the match. All the while Kagami is “trying” to woo a confused Marinette with her trademark smile (you know the one, from Ikari Gozen) while Adrien is having an existential crisis with Nino later on about whether Marinette is just a friend or not, all the while his best friend is seething because he can’t just say that Marinette likes him and that the two should finally KISS ALREADY because ALYA SAID SO. (I can imagine Adrien would do this while watching anime together that Adrien likes and Nino just watches because it makes him happy.)

Adrien late at night in a onesie: SHE’S JUST A FRIEND! A FRIEND IS ALLOWED TO HANG OUT WITH OTHER FRIENDS, RIGHT?! But why do I get upset when she hangs out with Kagami?! What do I do Nino?!

Nino in pyjamas: *Internal screaming*

Going back to Kagami however, that's not to say that they wouldn’t have their cute moments together. After all, Marinette always did have a thing for rich people who don’t have many friends, are somewhat socially dumb and occasionally moonlight as heroes in spandex, so who’s to say that she wouldn’t fall for her Bluenette friend, especially with her award winning smile that she has!

(Sigh, truly a smile that 10/10 dentists recommend. You wonder if her fencing career is sponsored by Colgate? XD)

Also, If I didn’t make it clear before....

Two girls romantically fighting over a boy? I sleep

A boy and girl viciously fencing with each other to the death every week over the chance to be with a girl while said girl is confused as to what is going on? Real Shit. You could make an anime out of this and I would watch it for 5 seasons.

Also, imagine Lila trying to pull that threat stunt on Marinette in Chameleon only to turn around and see two pissed off love interests who also are expert fencers? She’d be a pin cushion before Hawkmoth’s Akuma could even reach her, and that's the real victory here.

Also just like our previously mentioned ship, Kagami going hero mode just to save Marinette would be something I would die for and would be too cute for this world. Especially if there was a moment in the show where Multimouse and Ryuko could interact. Maybe not as flirty as Viperion and Chat would be in the pic above, but having two heroes interact that must pretend to not know each other but also that one of them is crushing hard over our fashion making bluenette would be mega adorkable and allow for some cute scenes.

Also, since I haven’t added as many images in this part, enjoy my low quality meme of how Kagami would flirt with Marinette.

(Don’t underestimate the importance of... Body Language! - Ursula, The Little Mermaid)

And with that, I have given my reasons on why Lukadrien and Kagaminette would be great ships that would make this show much more fun to watch!

No wait.... I actually have one more.

Adrien x Marinette/Kagami/Luka (Otherwise known as Adrien’s Bisexual Harem Of Bluenettes, or BHOB for short)

Its no surprise that Adrien likes Bluenettes. What would be better than one bluenette? A harem of 3 bluenettes. I have ascended the fandom and found the ultimate miraculous ship.

And with that, I have declared my reasons on why Miraculous needs more gay ships and why they would be more fun than the canon show. Now, if you excuse me, I have to run from the Lukanette and Adrigami fans who have now declared eternal war on me and my newfound followers.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk!

#Miraculous Ladybug #long post #Like REEEEEEEEAAAALY LONG post #be warned mobile users.#no salt this time #just gay fun stuff #Move aside Lukanette and Adrigami #these are the new ships in town!#Lukadrien #is best ship #Kagaminette #is also great #I love both these ships #if this long post wasn't already an indication of that #I'm pretty sure I was high on life while making this #Especially after my recent posts which were huge salt fests.

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miraculouscontent · 4 years

Note

I say Miraculous AU where Luka comes on the trip as a chaperone.

- Marinette stressing over what happened with Fu and now being guardian. Tom and Sabine are actually concerned about their daughter and want to do something about it, so when Luka visits the bakery to say “hi” to Marinette, they recognize him (he’s been in Marinette’s room in “Silencer” so they’ve almost definitely seen him before) and ask him to go along on the trip with Marinette, with them pulling all the strings to find a way for him to join. Luka isn’t a fool, so he happily agrees. Tom and Sabine like, “oh don’t forget to ask your parents if it’s okay,” and Luka’s just, “trust me, she’s fine with it.”

(optional bonus that, since the whole class but Lila went, there is actually an extra seat that they’d reserved for her before she backed out when she thought Adrien was going to stay behind)

- During the scene where Ms. Mendeleiev offers Marinette her seat, Luka moves in after the switch has been made, chiming in to offer Marinette his seat so she’s not uncomfortably crammed in between two adult men. She’s surprised at the offer, but thanks him and swaps with him, earning a nice window seat in return.

- At nighttime, Marinette wakes up (her head probably slipped and it hit the wall; didn’t hurt but she’s awake now) and slips out of her seat to go check on Luka to see how he’s doing. She giggles at the popcorn Mr. Damocles has dropped on him, finding it cute, then carefully reaches over to wipe off the pieces. She turns to leave, but her earlier motion brushing the popcorn off wakes Luka up. He gently calls her name and slips out of his seat to join her; she tries to apologize but he just smiles and assures her that it’s fine.

- While on their way to the back of the plane, Marinette trips slightly on Alya’s foot (as Alya is sleeping on Nino and her foot was partly in the aisle; Marinette didn’t bump into it earlier because she didn’t have to move to the side for Luka back then). Luka steadies her and Marinette covers her mouth to suppress a yelp, then they keep walking to the back.

- Still, the movement woke Alya up and she glances back to look at Luka and Marinette watching the sunrise together. Confused, she nudges Nino so the both of them can look together. Alya comments that she’s seen Marinette making “lovey eyes” at Luka (referencing “Captain Hardrock” and “Frozer”), but Marinette is so OBVIOUSLY into Adrien and “can’t be honest about her feelings.” Nino chimes in that he’s having “best bud struggles” too because Adrien is still as sheltered as ever and “won’t come out of his shell.” They get the idea to perform “Operation New York” as in the original and think that it’ll be totally easy with no roadblocks whatsoever!

- Meanwhile, Marinette and Luka have their talk about her getting her “clarity.” Marinette sighs and admits that it feels like people are going to talk about her and Adrien no matter what she says/does (which tips Luka off that something’s wrong), to which Luka replies with a smile that he promises not to bring up Adrien for the rest of the trip unless Marinette does so first. She agrees to that, even giving him a “thank you” hug that he eagerly returns.

- On the ride to the place everyone’s staying at, Alya tries to engage Marinette in conversation about Adrien, clearly smug and feeling confident that it will be easy, but then she realizes that Marinette isn’t paying attention and is idling on her phone. Alya nudges Marinette, earning her attention, but when Alya starts talking about Adrien again, Marinette’s phone goes off and she looks back down at it, now giggling. Alya, now annoyed, asks Marinette if she’s even listening, which gets Marinette to look up and really give Alya her attention. “Oh, sorry about that. I was texting Luka.”

- Alya is just, “?????”

- Yes, this special is very much going to be Alya and Nino suffering to try to get Adrien and Marinette alone together and constantly failing. You’re welcome.

- No sliding door lock-ins because that’s dumb and the special is dumb for thinking it. Also, when Alya goes to mock “tease” Marinette about her Adrien crush in front of Sabrina, she turns to realize that Marinette is with Luka talking to Miss Mendeleiev about where he’ll be staying since he’s not technically with the class, and/or Luka is talking to some of the New York people about how amazing Marinette is ala Jagged Stone.

- Later in the night, everyone sneaks out to the party (bonus if someone comments that they “never took Luka for the type to sneak out” and Luka just grins like, “You clearly haven’t met my mom.”; double bonus if Luka stumbled into Aeon and Jess’ room with Marinette and Adrien, so Aeon was all “those two are--!” before seeing Luka and being confused) and a few party-goers ask Marinette and Luka if they want to dance to the energetic music. Marinette grins nervously and insists that she’s clumsy and will just end up falling all over people (a few pout and complain that “it would’ve been fun” but drop the subject).

- Cue the superhero hot dog vendor (a description I never thought I would say but here we are) handing out hot dogs. Aeon (foreseeing what will happen; it does pain me to still put her in the roll of “love square shipper” but I’m trying not to change what characters do or how they act unless I’m specifically adding things, meaning the main change is just that Luka’s here) and knowing that Luka interfered earlier, sees the guitar case on his back and quickly requests that he play some music alongside Jess since they both play guitar. Luka agrees, assuring Marinette that it’s alright and he’s not interested in having hot dogs since he’d just get crumbs on his guitar.

- Alya and Nino grin because they’re finally going to do something here!! As in the original, the hot dog vendor only has two hot dogs left and Alya and Nino split them in half, handing two halves of the same hot dog to Adrien and Marinette, who eat their respective half.

- Marinette yelps as her feet leave the ground and Luka’s head darts up on alert. He immediately abandons his guitar, his hand reaching out and catching hers as pulls her back down (or at least as down as she’ll go while still floating). He looks up at Adrien - as if to consider helping - but Adrien doesn’t want it and seems to be having fun trying to figure out how to fly, even muttering to himself about how he wish Kagami were there because they could’ve done “air fencing.”

- Luka looks back at Marinette, ensuring that she’s okay. She’s staring up at Adrien, expression mixed, then looks back at Luka, his presence grounding her as she calms down. She almost seems to forget that Adrien is there, focusing on her current flying capabilities and how light on (off?) her feet she is.

- “Oh...oh!” She gasps, realizing with a grin. “I can’t fall over if I’m floating! Luka, dance with me!”

- He’s caught off-guard by the enthusiastic request, then chuckles and nods in agreement, happily taking her other hand as well as he guides her to the other people dancing.

- Cut to the next day when the group is going to the museum. Alya and Nino are absolutely exhausted because Luka has consistently gotten in her and Nino’s way, which leads to them coming up with the new scheme with Aeon and Jess.

- Nino sends Adrien to the planned room and Alya goes to send Marinette, but Luka catches on and casually asks Marinette if he can go with her. Alya cuts in to “playfully” dismiss Luka and tell him to stop “hovering over Marinette,” leading Marinette to slowly walk off with one longing look back at Luka.

- Luka intentionally waits for Alya to not be watching anymore, then follows after Marinette.

- Episode plays out mostly as normal, though because Marinette has to carry Luka off to somewhere safe, she’s not as easily able to go off after Chat until later since she had time to cool down. Aeon doesn’t die but Paris is still a wreck because Chat Noir didn’t show up, leading to the same Chat Noir quitting scene (just with Ladybug calling out Chat here instead of mid-battle) as before. Adrien still ends up having to leave and Alya still snaps at Marinette, which leads to Marinette chasing after Adrien (mostly due to just mounting stress and pressure and the loss of her partner).

- As Marinette lies on the pavement, Luka shows up, soaking wet because he had actually never gone back with the rest of the class; he’d run off when Ms. Mendeleiev explained to him that Marinette was missing. He panics when he sees Marinette lying motionless there, running up and quickly checking her for injuries and to ensure that she’s breathing. She just leans forward and hugs him without warning, defeated but happy to have him with her.

- Marinette slowly explains the situation, Luka looking horrified when she starts talking about what Alya was shouting at her about, and he listens all the way up until the end before pointing out, “You didn’t have to like him that way to want him to stay.” “W-what?” “Marinette, you can be Adrien’s friend and still want him to stay in New York with us. It didn’t have to be any deeper than that.”

- His words cause Marinette to realize something; she - and definitely her friends as well - had put so much weight to everything she did for Adrien just because of her silly crush that of course she couldn’t see him as a friend. With all the insistence that getting him permission to go to New York and wanting him to stay was due to her crush, it was all she could focus on. She can want things for Adrien and want to do things with him regardless of her feelings for him, and she doesn’t have to put a name to those feelings either; she’ll never be able to truly move on if she keeps equating any good feeling towards Adrien with crushing on him.

- That done, Luka helps her up and they slowly walk back to go inside, though stopping as they see that Ms. Mendeleiev is at the front of the building chewing out Alya and Nino; both of them for sending Marinette and Adrien away from the group for fake tasks at the museum, and Alya specifically for sending Marinette after a car in the rain. Ms. Mendeleiev states that they’ll talk about it more inside but everyone should get back to their rooms for now.

- Marinette heads back to her room alone (as she shared a room with Alya but Alya’s getting a talking to at the moment) and is later visited by Uncanny Valley, who explains that she’s needed. Marinette - now with renewed confidence in how she feels thanks to her revelation - doesn’t say that she “can’t imagine Ladybug without him” and instead states that she and Chat Noir are partners, and a partner doesn’t abandon the other. She did it once herself, a long time ago, but she was ready to face her mistakes afterwards and she hopes that Chat Noir is too.

- Cue return of Chat Noir (no LadyNoir hug because no Chat, you have to earn that back) and the battle plays out as usual. Adrien still has to go home and Marinette sends him a text for later saying, “I wish you could’ve stayed,” but with a smile on her face, confident that this really is a friend thing and that’s all it needs to be.

- Marinette and Luka end up sitting together on the plane ride back to Paris, right behind Juleka and Rose. It’s nighttime, but neither can sleep and Marinette decides to use the private time to thank Luka for what he said (really, all the things he said), but Luka assures her that any improvement is all on her and he’s just happy to be around for it. She chides him for his modesty and tells him to take the compliment because he deserves it (they’re just flirting at this point), then slips out of her seat and into Luka’s, lightly jabbing at his chest with a finger while insisting that he accept everything’s he’s done for her. He laughs and replies that he’s happy to do that and is just glad seeing her smile.

- Eventually, the subject shifts to Juleka and Rose, who are once again sitting in the same seat, all cuddled up and sleeping together. Marinette asks playfully if Juleka and Rose are like that back on the Liberty, to which Luka nods and answers that they are, all the time. They have a good giggle about it, with Luka explaining that they’re very close (possibly giving some exposition on how long they’ve been “together” which is obviously referring to dating but could be seen as friendship by writers who are chickens).

- Marinette thinks about that for a moment, fingers briefly twitching, then she settles a little closer to Luka, asking quietly, “Do you think we’re that close?”

- Luka gapes at her in response, needing a moment to study her expression - which is more confidence than he’s ever seen her show before - and make sure that she means what he thinks it might. Once he’s certain, he gives her an almost shy smile, replying, “I’d like us to be. What about you, Marinette?”

- Marinette turns more towards him, one of her hands falling upon his. She leans up, and the camera then cuts away to Juleka and Rose in the seat in front of them, smiling and cuddling closer to each other (a very obvious hint that Luka and Marinette kissed because the show is allergic to people kissing if it’s not the love square so fine, I’ll get creative)

- Just as the screen fades out, Marinette’s voice can be heard, saying, “Luka, I think I found my clarity after all.”

#category: salt #special: Miraculous New York #MC's Adjustments #adjustment: plotlines #adjusment: romance #other: ask and answer #Pro LukaMari #Lukanette

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amberwild420 · 3 years

Text

OSB, TSF (pt. 57)

masterlist

Mutual respect

What do you know about the heroes?

Damian was quick to ask the question bluntly. Jon awkwardly looked at his best friend, feeling as if he was too obvious in his interrogation. But the group of five wasn’t that affected.

Well, in the beginning it was only Ladybug and Chat Noir. Than they would call in some temporary heroes if they need help with a particularly strong akuma and a senti-monster.

They are retired Mari-bear. Ladybug permanently benched them. They were simply ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

Chloe…… Marinette glared at her but the blond simply flipped her hair and looked away. Kaylan leaned against the blond who gladly took her in her arms.

…as I was saying, ladybug has the ladybug miraculous and she has a yo-yo as her weapon, she calls for an item to help in the battle and then she purifies the akuma and cast her cure that fixes every damage in the battle.

Every damage?

…..every damage including destroyed building, injuries and…..death.

A weird glint passed through their eyes. Damian was certain he had seen that in the eyes of his father and brother. It was a mix of emotion like sadness, furry and determination. Something only he knows.

A moment of stillness and then Luka strung her guitar; a relaxing tone filled the air before Marinette started telling them again.

So Chat Noir has the cat miraculous and he is Ladybug’s partner……

You mean was.

Marinette ignored the comment. He uses cataclysm and turns anything he touches into dust. So he is opposite of ladybug.

Then we had temporary heroes but now they are all replaced, something about them being compromised and not good enough outside the mask. Ladybug said something like that.

Does she still have other heroes?

Damian was persistent. He wanted as much information as possible. This group of five is a good source and he was content even if he didn’t get everything he wanted to know.

He tried to use local news and blog and he certainly wanted to destroy a liar blog but he forced down his intention. This was an emotionally hostage city, he can’t get compromised.

She does. She has Python, Ryu, Luna and Honeybee. I think she said that they were permanent heroes.

They are. She said that in Nadja’s interview, when she introduced Luna.

Kaylan said casually before looking at her watch.

We better get to school. If that liar did some trick, I need some time to get rid of that.

The two American’s raised their eyebrows but was ignored and were just pulled towards the school.

Kaylan was the first one to enter the class with an umbrella. (Damian and Jon were completely baffled when she pulled the umbrella out of her bag and went in like she was on an undercover mission.)

It happened too fast. Kaylan opened the umbrella with a snap and whole bucket of dirty water fell on her. The four outside the room were shocked, two more than the others. Luckily, Kaylan was under the umbrella and thus was safe.

She closed the umbrella before hitting the incoming chalk duster. Jon was sure that he had never seen something like this.

Sure he heard about bullying in his school here and there but for most parts the teachers had a good control over them. But here……

If not for Kaylan’s quick response, she would be drowning in dirty paint water and would have been slapped with a chalk duster.

Damian looked at the two girls who stood outside. Instead of shock, they looked rather concerned. It was clear that they were rather used to such treatment and knew how to handle.

Kaylan spins the umbrella and stood like she was on a runway. The smile she gave was not reaching her eyes at all.

It seems like you had thrown my warning out of the window. That’s fine, let’s walk on my threat.

Kaylan stepped towards them dangerously while smiling.

Hmm. What should I do first? The shy and nervous one looked like they were so close to tears.

I can cut off the hands which put the bucket and threw the duster.

Kim and Ivan paled and grabbed their hands as if trying to protect them.

I can tear off the mouths that said words and enabled them.

Alya, Lila and Alix paled and shivered.

Or I can just tear off the brain and spine of those who had the idea.

Max and Markov shrunk in the background.

Or….. She grinned with a bloodthirsty look. …I can simply strip all of you off your skin while I hear those lovely screams that would come out of your mouth.

The whole class shivered under her gaze. Damian looked at the bluenette who was rubbing her forehead. With a sigh she looked up and opened her mouth.

Kaylan, your dark side is showing.

Oops!

Suddenly the suffocating air disappeared from the class and Kaylan smiled at the blunette and hugged her acting coy.

But M we need to teach them a lesson. They are all bullying me. Did you not see the water and the chalk? Let me get rid of them permanently. Pretty please!

She looked at her with puppy dog eyes. Marinette cursed in the back of her mind. Despite being a cold person, Kaylan knew how to pull those eyes and she was certain she could see the wagging tail and dog ears flopped against her head.

But Marinette was persistent making her whine. Chloe cackled and pulled her against her and got to her seat.

On the other hand, both Damian and Jon looked baffled, one more than other. But they had to admit that it was pretty badass. By the end of the day, the pair was able to get a general understanding of the whole class dynamic and were inclined to join the trio.

After all there was a slight sense of mutual respect between them.

#One Step Back #two steps forward #miraculous ladybug #Miraculous Team #Miraculous Friends #maribat #paris heroes #akuma class #lila the liar #kaylan can kill

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starshine583 · 4 years

Text

New Girl on the Block (6)

(the next chapter is heeeeeeeeeeeere!!! hope you guys like it!! there’s also a mini series connected to this called Journal Entries, though I don’t know how long I’m going to be continuing it. Check it out if you feel like it!)

Ch.1 / Ch.5 / Ch.7

Chapter 6: Don’t Be Suspicious

Marinette tilted her head from side to side, doing a subtle dance to the music that played through her earbuds. She tapped her pencil on the desk with the beat and mouthed Jagged Stone’s lyrics as they came, thoroughly enjoying the electric guitar in the background. At Dupont, listening to music with earbuds was a ‘no-no’ despite her efforts. Principle Damocles, along with a few of the teachers, insisted that it hindered their drive to focus and work on school. The thought wasn’t entirely misguided- Marinette was already re-reading this textbook page for the third time with no hope of comprehension in sight -but she enjoyed the liberties that came with her new school nonetheless.

In all honesty, Rosemary didn’t allow headphones either, but the librarian wasn’t a snitch, and Marinette wasn’t a saint. So, during her assigned study halls, she would hop over to the school’s library and jam out to Jagged Stone. It was a nice reprieve from the strict guidelines that Rosemary held for their students and gave her time to unwind before her next round of overly-complicated classes.

She was about ready to start banging her head to the song- the lyrics were just too good -when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Her gaze flicked upwards towards Claude, who was sitting beside her. He’d suggested that they study together during the one study hall they shared, and Marinette, being friends with him and genuinely enjoying his company, agreed. He was actually the one who told her about the lax librarian in the first place.

Once Claude was certain that he had her attention, he tapped a finger to his ear, silently requesting her to take out an earbud. Marinette gladly obliged and paused her Jagged Stone music to hear him better.

“What are you listening to? You look like you’re really jamming out.” He asked curiously.

Marinette held up her phone for him to see the song cover. “Just Jagged Stone. He normally helps me think, but I’m starting to wonder if that only works for design sketches.”

Claude gasped so hard that she thought he was going to choke, and an ear-splitting grin spread across his lips.

“You listen to Jagged Stone too? He’s one of my favorites!” The brunette said enthusiastically.

Marinette straightened with delight. “Seriously? He’s been a favorite of mine since I was twelve!��

“Ten!” Claude trilled.

Elation bubbled up in Marinette’s chest. Finally! Someone to talk to about Jagged Stone! She hadn’t found a kindred spirit since Luka and.. well.. She hasn’t met another Jagged Stone fan in a while.

“Did you hear the new album that just came out?” She asked, folding her arms across the table and leaning onto them. When she first came to Rosemary, she’d naturally assumed that no one there listened to rock. Everyone was prepped and poised and rich. Their tastes were bound to be much ‘finer’ than hers.

Looking at it now, though, it made perfect sense for Claude to listen to Jagged Stone. He was an energetic and passionate person, and that’s what Rock n’ Roll was all about. She also had to remind herself that she was now a Rosemary student. If she listened to rock music, it was possible that her other classmates did as well. The school wasn’t a complete hive mind, after all.

Claude scoffed playfully. “Did I? I was the first in line for the cd! The songs were a total masterpiece!”

Before Marinette could reply, another scoff interrupted their conversation, one that wasn’t nearly as playful. She glanced across the table to Felix, who had looked up from his book. He’d shared the same study hall hour that they did, and Claude, being who he was, coaxed the blond into joining them in the library.

Well.. ‘coax’ probably wasn’t the right word. It was more of Claude dragging Marinette to the table that Felix was already sitting at and convincing Felix to stay seated once they got there.

Felix’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and the corners of his lips twitched in a scowl, the same way they always did when he was about to criticize something.

“No type of rock music could ever be considered a ‘masterpiece’,” He stated matter-of-factly, “especially not that man’s noise.”

Marinette gasped, slapping a hand to her chest in offense. “Jagged Stone’s music is not ‘noise’.”

“Forget it, Mari.” Claude cut in, putting a hand on her shoulder as he shot Felix a glare. “This guy will never understand Jagged’s art.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “I’d hardly call throwing a bunch of instruments together and screaming into the microphone ‘art’.”

Marinette crossed her arms and huffed. Jagged Stone didn’t scream. His voice was just rough, but even if he did scream, that shouldn’t give Felix the right to be rude. Everyone had their own tastes. Marinette didn’t go around bashing XY fans, now, did she?

“Have you even listened to him?” She asked indignantly.

“I’ve had the unfortunate experience of listening to rock, yes. That’s how I know it’s in bad taste.”

Marinette’s fingers dug into her skin. “But have you listened to Jagged Stone?”

The grated words caused Felix to pause.

“..I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

Marinette sighed and tugged out one of her earbuds to hand it to him. “Here.”

Felix rose a brow, not moving an inch. “What do you expect me to do with that?”

“You’re going to listen to at least one of Jagged Stone’s songs.” She told him. “Then you can tell me what you think.”

Felix was an extremely opinionated person. He tended to say exactly what he thought without considering how it would affect others around him. At first, his snaps and snide remarks put her on edge. She would worry about angering him and making him dislike her from the things she’d say or do. But after spending more time around him, Marinette realized that he wasn’t angry as much as he was easily irritated. He would get annoyed at things that he viewed as out of place or illogical, then, after fixing the problem or telling someone else to fix it, he would move on. It just so happened that Allegra, Allan, and Claude were constantly doing things that were ‘illogical’, ‘unnecessary’, and- her personal favorite -‘downright preposterous’.

That being said, Marinette still didn’t enjoy challenging Felix when she disagreed with him. His words were sharp and blunt, whether he meant them to be or not, and arguing was never her strong suit, anyway. Therefore, she found it best to merely listen and watch as the rest of the group continued to push Felix’s buttons relentlessly.

Right now, however, was a different story. Right now he was denouncing an incredibly talented artist who he hadn’t even bothered to listen to before condemning, and Marinette wouldn’t stand for it.

Felix’s gaze shifted to the earbud. She could see the command turning in his mind, could see him deciding between being difficult and resisting or simply being nice for once.

“..Fine,” He relented, taking the offered headphone, “but don’t be upset when my opinion doesn’t change.”

Marinette tried not to smile too much and quickly started scrolling through her playlist to choose a song. If she only had one shot to convince Felix of Jagged’s greatness, she needed to play one of his best works.

“Wow..” Claude remarked. “You actually got him to listen to a song. That’s farther than I’ve ever gotten.”

Felix rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting. Marinette didn’t reply either. She didn’t want to waste the opportunity she’d been given by joking with Claude.

She found a song a few seconds later and eagerly set the phone between them as it began to play. This had been a song that she’d listened to for at least a week or two before moving on to the next one. She knew the lyrics inside out and could quite possibly sing them in her sleep. If anything was going to convince Felix that rock was also a musical art, it would be this song.

Felix’s expression twisted with annoyance as the drums kicked up to join the electric base.

“See, this is what I’m talking about.” He sighed. “The notes are overbearing and chaotic. How can you enjoy it?”

“Because they’re not chaotic.” Marinette replied, gathering all the patience she could. “It might get loud sometimes, but the drums and guitar create a steady beat for Jagged Stone to sing to.”

Just then, Jagged Stone’s voice rang through the headphones, gruff and strong. Marinette’s lips quirked up into an involuntary smile, but Felix, unsurprisingly, wasn’t as thrilled as she was.

“He doesn’t even sing about anything important.” He said. “The words are completely random.”

Marinette resisted the urge to groan. How could someone be so smart yet so stupid at the same time?

“The lyrics aren’t random. And they might not be important to you, but they are to him.” She tried to explain. “Jagged writes about the things he loves and tells it to the world through song. His music is full of passion, and it drives others to be more passionate too. Myself included.”

Felix glanced up at her for a moment, no doubt scrutinizing her claims, and tisked. He then put a hand over his borrowed earbud and closed his eyes to try to listen to the music better.

Although it was a small, begrudging act, Marinette couldn’t help grinning. He didn’t like rock music, didn’t even want to entertain the idea of liking it, yet here he was, listening to Jagged Stone’s music because she asked him to. He was trying hard to understand something she enjoyed, and that meant a lot, especially when one considers how stubborn he can be.

“I suppose I can understand what you mean..” Felix mumbled a few seconds later. “The notes aren’t nearly as melodic as what I’m used to, but it must take some form of talent to mash banging instruments together and make it sound decent.”

Marinette beamed. It was a backhanded comment, but she could accept it.

“Okay, my turn.” She said, extending her hand towards him.

Felix frowned. “Pardon?”

“You said that Jagged Stone isn’t what you’re used to, right? I wanna know what you’re used to.” She replied matter-of-factly. “Let me listen to one of your songs.”

Felix’s frown deepened, but he pulled out his earbuds to hand one to her.

“I suppose I could show you the one I’ve been listening to recently..” He muttered to himself. “Just be careful with these. They’re expensive.”

Marinette happily plucked one of the earbuds out of Felix’s hands and put it on. The cord between the earbuds was shorter than hers, so they both had lean across the table to share. She didn’t mind the closeness, though. They’d only be there for a moment.

When the music finally began, all Marinette could really do was snort. Classical music. Of course Felix would listen to classical music. Each note had a purpose, place, and expression in the song. Yes, other music had that too, but most of the time, there were words that people sang to excuse repetitiveness of the beat. Classical music had to carry its own weight, and that made all the difference.

“What?” Felix asked, referring to her laugh.

Marinette put a hand to her mouth with an apologetic smile. “Oh, nothing. It just makes sense for you to listen to classical music.”

Felix rose a brow, but she waved him off. There was no point explaining it.

“Anyway, I can see why you would like this, because it’s really pretty, but I, personally, find it a little boring.” She said honestly. “The notes are too slow. I would fall asleep before I could finish a song.”

“It’s not just a song, though.” Felix argued. “It’s a story. Listen closer.”

Marinette did as she was told and closed her eyes, putting a hand over her earbud like Felix had done earlier. The piano and violin mingled together in a soft symphony, lulling up and down as the symphony progressed. A lone guitar played a joyful tune in the background.

“The protagonist is admiring their lover.” Felix explained. “They’re making promises of being together always.”

Drums bubbled up behind the piano and violin as the guitar faded, causing the music to shift into a tense atmosphere.

“The father of the lover is coming between them, forcing a separation.”

Violin strings shake with the drums, and the piano gradually grows louder to emphasize the ominous presence. Once the tension is drawn out to its absolute limit, the music breaks with bursts of violins and trumpets, signifying the beginning of a fight.

“The protagonist refuses to back down, and although they are worried, they stand up to fight for their love anyway.”

Marinette cracked an eye open to look at Felix. His eyes were now closed as well, and a soft smile ghosted his lips. She hadn’t taken him to be a romantic, but he appeared to be deeply engrossed in the ‘story’. Did he read romance novels often? She assumed all of the books he carried around were about historical facts or intricate philosophies, not trials of love or daring confessions.

“Do you hear it?” Felix asked, his eyes abruptly opening. Their heads were already close from sharing headphones, but his looking up only brought them closer. It was a miracle their noses didn’t bump together.

Marinette froze, her eyes widening at being caught. Was it weird that she was staring at him before he opened his eyes? It shouldn’t be, right? Staring at your friend wasn’t a crime.

Say something. Marinette’s mind screamed. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t say anything. She could hardly even think straight. She was too lost in the roundness of his eyes or how long his eyelashes were or whether she was too close to him and have his eyes always had those little specks of blue in them?

Marinette squeaked, finally gaining enough sense to lurch backwards. Felix’s earbud was tugged out of her ear, but she didn’t care. Right now she needed distance.

“S-sorry!” She blurted out. “I-I mean- uhm -the music was fine, or- great. I-.. I could really hear the- the story.”

Her hands covered her face in a vain attempt to hide her blush. Her cheeks were absolutely burning from embarrassment. How could she get so flustered? Wasn’t it her idea to share the earbuds?

Felix was strangely quiet as he picked up the abandoned earbud and paused the song. Oh gosh, he probably thought she was a total weirdo now. (If he hadn’t thought that already.)

Marinette peeked through her fingers, searching his face for judgement, but he simply wrapped the cord of the earbuds around his phone. Although his eyebrows were furrowed slightly, the rest of his expression was neutral. Was that a good sign or no?

“Yes, that’s why I enjoy it.” He finally said once his phone was put away. His tone was graciously composed, not acknowledging her humiliating outburst. “The composers put real effort and work into their music. They carefully aligned each note to make sure it portrays their story and theme correctly. That’s what I consider to be a masterpiece.”

Marinette nodded. “Y-Yeah.. That makes sense.. I still think Jagged Stone’s music is also a work of art, though.”

She settled back into her original seat, as did Felix.

“Agree to disagree, I suppose.” Felix shrugged.

An astounded laugh came from the left of them, and the two turned back to Claude. Marinette had admittedly forgotten that he was there.

“I, for one, am impressed.” The brunette announced. “You actually got Felix to entertain a different opinion. He never says ‘agree to disagree’! It’s always just ‘you’re wrong’.”

Felix scoffed. “Don��t act like I’m unreasonable. I’m stubborn in my opinions because they’re logical and sound, while your arguments against them are hardly either.”

Claude rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you think you guys can argue about cephalopods now? I’m supposed to be doing a report on them for science.”

Marinette chuckled, finally relaxing in her chair again. “Sorry, Claude. I don’t have any strong opinions about cephalopods.”

“Maybe if you read a book every once in a while, you’d find something to write about.” Felix added, being ever the supportive one.

“Hey! I do read!” Claude defended. “I just don’t know what to write about. Should I argue a random point about cephalopods or should I just write about a bunch of facts? Am I supposed to list my sources or can I say whatever I want? What does the school board want from me?”

“Claude, you’re a sophomore.” Felix stated bluntly. “If you don’t know how to write papers now, I can’t help you.”

Claude groaned and sunk into his chair, and Marinette offered a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“Anyway,” He grumbled, rubbing his hands over his face, “speaking of cephalopods, have you guys heard about the new aquarium exhibit that they just opened at Aquarium de Paris?”

Marinette perked up. “Wait, really? I didn’t know about that!”

“Yeah, I think it’s something to do with the sharks.” Claude smiled. “They’ve got this new tank and everything.”

Marinette wiggled in her seat with delight. She always loved aquariums. “That’s so cool! I’ll have to ask Maman and Papa about going to see it.”

“Oh, why don’t we all go together?” Claude suggested. “I wanna see the new exhibit too, and I’m sure Allegra and Allan will want to go.”

“Sure! When do you think you’ll be free to go see it?”

Claude leaned back in his chair as he thought about it. “Uh.. maybe this Sunday? I don’t think I have anything going on then. Does that work for you?”

“I’ll have to check with my parents, but that should be okay. Do you want me to tell Allan about it during our next class?”

Claude nodded. “Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll tell Allegra.”

Marinette smiled and turned to Felix. “Are you gonna come with us, Felix?”

A part of her felt awkward asking, as Felix didn’t normally enjoy the group outings, but a bigger part of her would feel guilty if she didn’t invite him when they were inviting everyone else.

Felix glanced up from his book with a questioning gaze. He.. hadn’t been listening.

“We’re going to Aquarium de Paris this Sunday. Are you coming?” Claude asked again.

Felix shrugged. “I suppose Allegra will drag me along either way, so why not?”

Marinette bit her lip to hold back a giddy squeal. This was going to be great! Getting to see all of the new fish and getting to spend time with her new friends? What could be better than that?

~~~~~~

Felix drew in a deep breath as he made his way towards the school exit. Aside from the soft chattering and echoing footsteps of the students around him, it was quiet, and he reveled in the silence while he could. Leaving school alone was a rarity now, especially since Marinette joined their group. Allegra, Claude, and Allan had always been insistent on smothering him with activities, but with the new ‘recruit’, the time they spent together has doubled. The trio wanted everyone to be together constantly. That included Felix.

He sighed, shifting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. The numerous study dates, get-togethers, and group lunches had pushed his social battery to its absolute limit. So the small reprieve was greatly appreciated.

It did feel strange, though, not hearing Claude’s rambling or Allegra’s scolding or Marinette’s laughter. They’d become a steady background noise to the rest of his daily life, and now that they were absent, Felix found himself glancing over his shoulder, waiting for one of them to pop up.

Of course, no one came, and Felix forced his eyes forward to push away the growing anticipation. There was no need to mull over it. He would see them tomorrow at school, and on top of that, they had another outing scheduled for this Sunday to visit the aquarium. By the end of the week, Felix would certainly have his fill of seeing their faces or hearing their voices.

The sun beat down on Felix as he stepped outside, and he welcomed it whole-heartedly. The biting cold of January was never something he fancied, save for the fact that it kept everyone else indoors.

He started down the front stairs, letting his mind wander back to the conversation he’d had with Marinette during their shared study hall. Her boldness during their discussion of musical preferences had surprised him, since she usually steered clear of any confrontations. He couldn’t blame her for her sudden tenacity, though. People tended to be extremely attached to their music, and Felix had criticized her tastes. It only made sense for her to defend herself.

On that note, Jagged Stone? Really? He’d assumed Claude was the only one to have such bizarre tastes. Nevertheless, if Marinette approved of the man, Felix wasn’t going to question too much. She still created those phenomenal designs, after all, meaning she must have a good eye for things.

Bits and pieces of the song that Marinette had requested him to listen to resurfaced in his mind. If he was being honest, it wasn’t as horrible as he’d claimed, but blaring drums and pounding beats simply didn’t help him relax like classical music did.

Felix closed his eyes briefly as he recalled the piano piece he’d shown Marinette a few minutes later. It was a favorite of his, one that he listened to often while reading alone in his room, and he did his best to explain the mastery of the artwork. The passion, the yearning, the love- it can be difficult to express, especially when he hadn’t experienced those things first hand. That’s the main reason he found the piece so interesting.

The image of Marinette’s delicate features flicked through his mind. He’d looked up at her to gawk her reaction, to see if she understood what he was trying to say, but he’d found her staring right back at him instead. Her almond-shaped eyes were round with shock, and he couldn’t help thinking about the first time they met, when he first realized how blue her irises were. They almost reminded him of tiny, swirling oceans, deep and mesmerizing.

When she jerked back a few seconds later, something akin to disappointment had laced through Felix’s stomach, and even now, he wasn’t sure why that was. Perhaps he wanted to admire the color a tad longer.

Either way, Marinette plopped into her seat, her cheeks flushing a dark scarlet, and it was only then that Felix noticed his own racing heartbeat. Again, he was at a loss for the cause. Was it because she startled him by lurching backwards? He didn’t remember flinching.

The screeching of tires pulled Felix from his thoughts, and his gaze turned to the road in front of him. A silver car had parked on the curb.

A frown tugged at the corner of Felix’s lips. That was odd. Parking on the curbs near Rosemary wasn’t allowed unless someone was being picked up or dropped off, yet no students were waving the car down or exiting the vehicle.

The back door to the car swung open, causing Felix to raise a brow. Spoke too soon.

A boy jumped out of the car, his golden blonde hair shining in the sunlight as he ran towards the front steps. Something about him seemed familiar, but Felix couldn’t place his finger on what.

The boy slowed to a stop in front of him and offered a friendly smile. Yeah, Felix has definitely seen this guy before. But where?

“Hey!” The stranger greeted. “Sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for a girl. Her name is Marinette?”

Felix narrowed his eyes at the name. Marinette as in Marinette Dupain-Cheng? As in, the girl who was inside talking to Allegra right now? Why would he be looking for her?

“She’s about this tall.” The boy continued, holding his hand just above his shoulder for reference. “She’s got raven-colored hair that she normally puts into pigtails, and wears pink capris and a black jacket. She would have started attending this school about two weeks ago?”

The more he spoke, the more suspicious Felix became. This guy knew a lot about Marinette, but Felix didn’t know a thing about him. Was he a friend? An enemy? Marinette didn’t mention meeting someone after school. Not that she was obligated to share her personal connections and schedules, but what if this was the person that’s been wanting to ‘talk’ with her? The stalker?

Don’t overreact. Felix told himself. This could be a perfectly harmless visit from an old friend of hers. Just because I wasn’t aware of him coming doesn’t mean he has ill intentions.

...but just in case..

“Apologies, but have we met?” Felix asked, dodging the blonde’s question. He didn’t want to disclose Marinette’s location unless he had her permission. There were too many cases where an unknowing co-worker blabbed about the victim’s schedule to the stalker, and he refused to be one of those idiots.

The boy pulled a sheepish expression and rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, no, we haven’t, but I can see why you would think that. My face is kind of everywhere with all of the ads Father’s had me model in recently.”

Felix blinked, the mix of familiarity and the boy’s words clicking together in his mind. Of course! This was that same, obnoxious face that Paris has been obsessed with for the better half of five years. The amount of billboards and posters of this guy that were plastered around the city was enough to make Felix gag. He couldn’t look in any direction without seeing him!

“You’re Adrien Agreste.” He stated, a hint of irritation accidentally rising to his tone. Not only has this ‘sunshine child’- or so Paris called him -been plaguing his eyes for at least two years since Gabriel upped his campaigning game, he also happens to have the same name that was scribbled on Marinette’s birthday cards, the ones she’d offered to give away. Was that a coincidence?

Felix was leaning towards ‘no’.

“Yep.” Adrien chuckled. “That’s me. Anyway, is she here? I really need to talk with her.”

“He really just wants to ‘talk’.”

Marinette’s bitter words resurfaced in his mind, and Felix narrowed his eyes. The chances of Adrien Agreste being an enemy were steadily rising.

“I’m afraid I don’t know a girl by that name or description,” he lied, “and there hasn’t been a new student here since last year.”

If Adrien turned out to truly be one of Marinette’s friends, he would apologize, but Felix wasn’t going to risk compromising her if his suspicions were correct.

Confusion etched its way onto the blond’s features, and he glanced down at the ground as he muttered, “I could have sworn she said ‘Rosemary’..”

Felix rose a brow. Marinette told him which school she was attending? Or did another girl give him the information?

Before either could say anything more, a car horn sounded in front of them, and Adrien glanced over his shoulder to the driver of the silver car.

“Ah, I gotta go. Thanks for your help!”

Felix didn’t bother returning Adrien’s wave, instead watching him hop down the front steps. Although it would annoy him, he hoped that the blond actually was a friend of Marinette’s, for her sake. He can’t imagine her being happy with the news that someone had followed her to school.

“Oh, hey, Felix! I thought you were leaving.”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear..

The silver car had just disappeared around the corner when the girl in question skipped down the front steps next to him. She flashed him a bright smile, making his insides churn with guilt. Should he tell her? She needed to know, right?

“I was,” He said, choosing his next words carefully, “but I got held up.”

Marinette chuckled. “I know how that goes.”

Felix nodded, his gaze shifting to the side. He didn’t want to worry her, but he couldn’t let her be ignorant of a possibly dangerous situation either.

“.. Were you, by chance, expecting anyone at the school today?”

Marinette frowned and shook her head, unfortunately confirming Felix’s concerns. “No, why?”

“Well..” He hesitated. “Someone stopped by and asked for you. A man by the name Adrien Agreste.”

Marinette’s entire body went rigid, and the blood drained from her face. Felix held back a grimace at the sight. She looked more frightened than two weeks ago when she first ran into the school to hide.

“D-Did you-”

“No.” Felix cut her off, already knowing what she was going to ask. “I told him you didn’t attend this school.”

Her shoulders slumped with relief, but he could still see the nervousness in her eyes. “Oh, thank goodness.. Thank you so much, Felix.”

“Is he the one who wanted to talk to you two weeks ago?”

Marinette faltered at the question, but nodded. “He went to my old school..”

Felix frowned. If he remembered his mother’s ramblings correctly, Adrien Agreste started attending Dupont not too long ago. Was that Marinette’s old school then?

“His father’s a powerful man.” He said. “You need to be careful.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Oh no! I mean- Thank you for the warning.. But Adrien isn’t like that. He’s persistent, but he doesn’t threaten people.”

Felix wasn’t entirely sure that he believed that, but he wouldn’t argue. Marinette was dealing with enough already. “I believe he said something about a girl telling him that you’re attending Rosemary, but he didn’t mention the name of her.”

Marinette’s eyebrows knitted together. “A girl?”

“Yes, something like ‘I could have sworn she said Rosemary’.”

Marinette chewed on her bottom lip, obviously troubled by the news. Felix didn’t blame her. Stalking can be a serious matter. (even if she didn’t quite consider it stalking.)

“Would you like me to drive you home?” He offered, yet again.

And again, Marinette refused by shaking her head.

“Thanks, but it’s only two blocks. I’ll be fine.” She assured.

The decision didn’t sit well with him, but Felix nodded anyway. It wasn’t his place to tell her what she could or couldn’t do, or what precautions he personally thought she should take.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He said, finally continuing his descent down the stairs.

“Yep, see you tomorrow.” Marinette smiled.

They parted ways after that, Marinette heading down the sidewalk and Felix going to find his driver, but the urge to watch her didn’t leave his mind until she completely vanished around the corner.

Felix sighed, tapping his finger against the car door as he settled into the backseat of his car. Why did he want to follow her so badly?

Tag List: @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything @magnificentcrapposts @moonnette

#Felix Culpa #Marinette #New Girl on the Block #Rosemary AU #Quantic Kids #felinette

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me4ml · 4 years

Note

Why don't you like Maribat? Why do you think it's a spite or salt ship?

This is presumably because of my Adrigaminette post or the whole Maribat being on the ship list thing.

Quick disclaimer: if you read/ship/write/like Maribat, cool! This is not an attack. This is me answering why I, personally, do not like it. It’s tagged anti, and salt, so it should be filtered. Please don’t harass me over it.

Another note before we start: a lot of what I’m about to write is based on what I’ve read, fic wise or meta, and I blocked off the Maribat tag and fandom a long time ago. It may have changed over there-I doubt it, and I have zero desire to go and look-but this is based on what I’ve seen and read about.

There are, principally, three reasons I can’t stand Maribat, why I think it’s a spite/salt ship.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written in Maribat.

3). Maribat is a mutated salt fic.

If you want to see my reasons why, the rest is under the read more.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

Damian’s not just my least favorite Robin, ranking behind any of the others who have born the name. He’s my least favorite Batfam sidekick overall.

Part of this is his introduction, where he’s a violent, murderous, arrogant, entitled, snotty little brat of a thug. Lest we forget, one of his first acts is to go out, kill a guy, cut off his head, stuff a grenade into the decapitated head’s mouth, and try to blow up Tim. This is his introduction! There are a number of other occasions, including how he treats Jon, his best friend, and the rest of his siblings.

Another part is that he believes that he deserves to be Robin simply because he’s Bruce’s son, and therefore has the blood right to be Robin, to become Batman, and damn anyone else, who are all pretenders. Doesn’t matter that those characters might have a right to become Robin, or the future Batman, he’s the bio son, he deserves it!

Additionally, Damian feels.....not unnecessary, but repetitive, in his actions/characterization. There are other characters who can perform pretty much the same way for whatever storyline is necessary, without including Damian.

Trained by an abusive family to be the best, as an assassin and warrior? Cassandra.

A killer who breaks the main rule of his mentor, which causes tension and strain in the family? Jason.

Incredibly intelligent and talented? Tim.

Damian isn’t unique in what he does, and while that can make him an interesting character, it can also make the focus on him unnecessary.

As well, so much of Damian’s actions and motivations feels like he gets away with stuff, in-universe, because he’s Bruce’s biological son, and so Bruce gives him too much slack, and out-universe, because the writers let him/the fans will defend him. He gets woobified, or leather pantsed. Which leads to:

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written for Maribat.

For all his (numerous) faults, when written well, Damian can be an interesting character. For example: How does he deal with being deeply insecure? By putting on a mask of arrogance and overconfidence.

Some more examples: How does Damian act like an actual child, when he’s never had a childhood? How can he be a hero, if he’s been trained to be a killer? Can he ever catch up to his siblings, or will he feel like they’re always better than him?

Damian’s sense of being Batman’s son, of being the heir to the Cowl, slams right up against the idea of the Batfam: that there are people who have just as much of a right to call Batman their father/father figure, people who are just as talented and skilled and capable as Damian himself is, if not more. Watching Damian develop, when he’s written right, is actually enjoyable; mainly because when it’s done right, it shows Damian actually progressing and growing, becoming more of a person, with friends and interests. Most times, seeing Damian with his pets can be adorable, same with when he hangs out with Jon.

Is he still a brat? Still sometimes a bit too much of a Demon, an al-Ghul? Yes, but that’s always going to be part of him, and as long as he’s shown to try and grow, or gets called out on that, it’s less of an issue (There’s a completely different rant to be written about how DC likes to chuck character development or backstory into the trash when it suits them for a new run. Damian gets hit with this, as does Tim, or they get handed the idiot/conflict ball, but not the space for it).

Maribat hurls this all out the window. Damian’s bad traits are all “fixed” offscreen-he’s developed, matured, gotten better, whatever you want to call it. It’s basically a writer’s hand wave to make Damian into the character who will be the lead of the story, perfectly suited for his main role of being Marinette’s boyfriend and utterly devoted to her every whim and will. He’s enchanted by her at first glimpse, and defends her against everyone who hates her, because no one can understand her like he can!

Uh, what? This is not Damian Wayne. Even at his best, he’s no broody boy, pulled from his “dark path” by the love of a gentle girl. He’s a Jerk with a Heart of Gold-emphasis on the Jerk. There’s a reason his nickname usually involves “Demon.” Is Damian trying to get better? Yes. But even then, he’s not the type to immediately fall in love. He takes a while to warm up to people, for them to earn his trust, and Marinette would not be like that?

Let’s say that Robin is in Paris for a case, he runs into Ladybug and Chat, and after they explains what’s going on, Robin gives them a stare over his mask, and goes “TT! What a worthless hero, I would have caught him already.” LB and Chat would probably want to deck him, and that’s before he keeps talking.

Same with if Damian transfers to the class, or they meet on a field trip to Gotham. Damian’s not gonna care about some random French teenagers on a tour, or if he was transferred he’s gonna be trying to figure out why his father sent him to Paris, and be focused on the mission, not making friends.

Of all of the Robins, the ones that would be the most likely to capture Marinette’s interest would be Dick or Tim, not Damian. He would remind her too much of Chloe, as Damian, and as Robin, he would be dismissive of Ladybug’s abilities, which would absolutely piss her, and Chat Noir, off.

In characters that aren’t Damian, no one seems to be written properly over in Maribatland. One huge example is that Marinette is so beloved, so pure, that she can make any character fall in love with her, and reform by her pure goodness, including a fic where the Joker-THE JOKER!-becomes her “Uncle J,” and pranks Lila on her behalf.

Uh-huh. Sure. Completely and totally something that one of the biggest, most sadistic twisted, notorious villains in pop culture would do. Maribat winds up worshipping the ground that Marinette walks on, cause she’s “Teh best evar!”

Which then leads to my third and final point:

3). The whole Maribat concept is a mutated salt fic.

Most of the themes you’ll find in Maribat? You will find in nearly every salt fic.

Maybe my biggest issue with the whole Maribat idea is that it doesn’t feel like a proper crossover, which, at their best, explore how characters from one universe and their rules would interact with characters from another universe, and the rules of that one. Putting ML and DC together is a rich opportunity to play with concepts in both worlds!

And yet, it’s mainly used to bash ML characters who the writers despise, predominantly Adrien, Alya, and Lila, with members of the class thrown in depending on feeling, and potentially even Marinette’s parents! The only “good” ML characters are the ones who are on Marinette’s side, usually Luka, Kagami, a Chloe who for some reason has been redeemed and is now Marinette’s best friend, and whatever members of the class the writer decides to throw in there.

You’ll notice it’s not called “MiracuBat”, or LadyBat and Bat Noir-it’s MariBat. It’s meant as a focus on Marinette, making her-the hero of the Miraculous Ladybug franchise, someone in-story in story who is incredibly smart and talented and the leader of her team, future Guardian-even more awesome.....by beating down everyone else around her.

Marinette is simultaneously treated as an beaten-up, beaten-down walked-on carpet, and the best person to ever exist ever, go who only needs a group of new, different, better people to recognize that and save her from the clutches of those greedy and ungrateful assholes! That doesn’t include the fics where she’s the unknown child of a superhero or supervillain, making her even more special.

It’s Chameleon salt, class salt, with pointy ears and a cape on.

Some specific examples.

Adrien: Adrien is a spineless doormat who prioritizes Lila over Marinette, or an entitled bastard sexual harasser, only fixated on Ladybug, or even both. Sometimes it’ll get worse, as Adrien will threaten or abandon Marinette if she steps off of his “high road,” and Chat will be a budding rapist, stalking or capturing Marinette after he’s learned she’s Ladybug, while ignoring her prior to that. He will, of course, have his ring stripped and handed off to Damian, who is the “true” soul of Destruction and so therefore a “perfect match” to Marinette’s Creation soul. Occasionally it will be Jason, or Tim, or Dick, but the key thing is that it’s not Adrien!

While Damian’s issues are magically fixed, Adrien gets no such courtesy. Adrien has been abused, just like Damian, and while Damian’s abuse is more extensive and extreme, abuse is abuse. If anything, if Damian met Adrien, he would probably see another abused kid, and want to be his friend/have his “adopt stray person!” Instincts go off. I can much more imagine Damian dragging a bewildered Adrien into the Batcave and yelling “Father I’ve found another one for you to adopt!” than I can Damian immediately hating Adrien, or Chat, simply for breathing.

We never see Clark taking Adrien under his wing, or Bruce, or any of the other Batfam; nor any of the other Justice Leaguers. We never see Selina try to fight Bruce over the kid, because he’s cat-themed, and Selina can train him, this one’s hers Bat, get off!

Adrien’s never treated as a kid, or given actual development. A major complaint among salters is that Adrien is treated as perfect and never develops, and in fic, rather than developing him, Adrien either remains static, with his flaws narratively exploded, or is developed negatively. He’s there to be beaten up on and punished by the writers, if not actually physically beaten up by characters in the fic.

Alya: the not-so-good friend, the cheap excuse for a journalist, the awful person who abandons Marinette for Lila and her “connections.” Never mind that Alya was Marinette’s friend from the beginning, or that Marinette’s chosen her multiple times for a Miraculous. One instance of questioning Marinette about Lila, and Alya’s a backstabbing bitch.

Maribat treats Alya as neglectful, bossy, domineering and submissive at the same time to Marinette and Lila respectively, and as a journalist, the worst of the worst. She’s played as a two-bit paparazzo, and once again, the DCU is used to punish her. We don’t see Alya get mentored by Lois or Clark-indeed, if they notice her, it’s with disdain or disappointment. Often, they’re crushing her under their heel, calling her not only a bad journalist, but a bad friend/person. This forgetting, of course, that Alya runs her blog as a hobby so far, she’s only a teenager, and that she’s had Marinette’s back against Chloe and Lila.

The Class: the dupes or allies as needed. Class salt levels depend on what the writer needs. If they’re pro-class, they’re all on Marinette’s side, aside from Alya Adrien and Lila. Chloe, for some ungodly reason, is “redeemed” nigh instantaneously, and often will become Marinette’s best friend, if that isn’t Kagami already. Kagami will drop Adrien like a wet tissue, never trying to reconcile him with the clas, or encourage him to stand up for himself, or if she does, Adrien, of course, will not listen.

If the writer is anti-class, whoo boy. Openly mentally, emotionally, physically abusive to Marinette, the worst gang of people you would ever have the displeasure of meeting, they all need to be in Arkham.

We never see any of the class make friends with the Batfam, the Titans, Young Justice-unless they’re on Marinette’s side, of course. There’s no Alix stopping Selina at the Louvre, for instance, or Max hanging out with Babs. It’s all based on how Marinette is treated as to whether or not the class is portrayed as being worse than the worst of the Rogues Gallery.

Wrapping it all up, Maribat has made me dislike the entire concept of a DC/ML crossover.

Even if someone had written an non-salt, in-character crossover, I don’t know if I would read it, simply because the well has been that poisoned.

#anti maribat #anti maridami #anti daminette #maribat salt #daminette salt #maridami salt #anti damian wayne #Damian Wayne salt #ml fandom salt #anonymous #ask answered #long post

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lala-ladybug · 3 years

Text

Healing Hands: Chapter 1

Hello hello! First fic here, it’s a Maribat AU with a side of Sword Art Online. Or what I remember from having watched the show once about five years ago. We’ve got Marinette and minimal class salt, Young Justice but only the good parts, and primarily Jasonette. Please spread the word (I am a tiny sideblog) and let me know what you think <3

Read here on AO3

Chapter 1: You have no idea how many baddies I’m going to blow up because of you

Friday, at long last. Marinette could not have exhaled a bigger sigh of relief. It was mid-way through the school term, her commissions were ramping up, and Hawkmoth had become frustratingly active. Her duties as class president had only increased as she and her friends neared the end of lycée, not to mention all the studying she was doing for the baccalauréat on top of her regular school work. Commissions were booming now that her popularity as the anonymous designer MDC was soaring worldwide. She wouldn’t give any of it up for the world, but she might enjoy getting more than three or four hours of sleep for once.

There was only part of her life that had gotten easier since that day three years ago when she was entrusted with a pair of spotted earrings and an old god to match. Ladybug started out with one partner, but she now had a whole team to share the responsibilities of keeping their city safe. Ryuko and Viperion became permanent fixtures of the Parisian rooftops, and Bourdonne replaced Queen Bee after the infamous (albeit self-inflicted) unmasking of Chloe Bourgeois. The people of Paris looked to these heroes with pride and trust.

And Marinette Dupain-Cheng, now the Guardian of the Miraculous, looked to her partners with trust as well. She had decided that with her in charge, she could no longer keep secrets from her friends, from her new Order of the Guardians. She discussed it with Chat Noir, and he had smiled and agreed that it was time. And one day, when Ladybug gathered her teammates on a remote rooftop in the dead of night, she said only “I trust you,” before allowing her transformation to fall.

She wasn’t nervous, not really. She knew Kagami and Luka had good hearts, and she had seen firsthand how much Chloe had grown. Those three accepted her civilian self, her true self, without half a thought, and followed their leader in dropping their transformations as well. Chloe got her quips in while Ladybug looked to Chat Noir.

He passed his gaze over the faces of their friends and smirked like he was holding in a laugh. As he said “Claws in,” Marinette could hear the laugh in his voice, an intonation that sounded so very familiar, and oh. Of course.

Adrien Agreste beamed at his friends, both in the mask and out, and said fondly, “I’m so glad it’s you.”

The rest, of course, was history. For the year and a half since then, the five heroes of Paris had kept the city safe from threats magical and mundane alike. Hawkmoth had, of course, gotten craftier and more vicious with his attacks, sometimes choosing to send bursts of weaker akumas over the span of a week, sometimes waiting a month before sending an especially brutal villain their way.

But it was nothing that the Order of the Guardians couldn’t handle. Even though it could get exhausting after a while, which is why the incoming weekend was a welcome reprieve. There was another reason why this particular weekend was so exciting, which was that a new video game, Mindscape, was debuting. It would be released at midnight EST, which was 6:00 in the morning for Paris.

“Today’s the day, girl!” Alya squealed as she flagged Marinette down on their way to the classroom. “We are so lucky that our class won that raffle to get these exclusive passes. I bet I’ll be the first blog to get the scoop on this new tech they’re using!”

Marinette giggled and started to reply, “Super lucky, right? I’m excited too, I heard--”

“You know,” Lila cut her off as she sidled up to Alya. “I’m not saying that I didn’t enter us to get those downloads, but I was a big help with beta testing.”

How she managed to time that comment just as the three girls crossed the threshold of the classroom, and how she managed to know that nearly the whole class would already be there to hear it, Marinette would never understand. She only had to wait a moment before the rest of their friends rushed to the door to thank Lila.

“This opportunity is amazing, we are incredibly grateful!” Max was first in line, ever the technology-enthusiast.

Kim pushed his shorter friend out of the way and vigorously shook Lila’s hand. “You have no idea how many baddies I’m going to blow up because of you.” Lila looked a little overwhelmed as he continued to shake her hand all the while, and she gave him a nervous smile.

He was soon pushed out of the way as Alix muscled her way to the front next. “I definitely owe you for giving me the chance to kick his ass in a brand new way!” She jerked her head to where Kim had landed on the floor, pouting at her.

As the rest of the class who would be joining them in the game’s premiere expressed their thanks, Alya looked on with an affectionate smile. She was so very happy that she now had two kind, selfless best friends. Her smile fell a little as she noticed Marinette stoically edging her way around the crowd and up to her seat, not having said a word to Lila. Alya just wished that her two besties would get along.

Alya put a hand on Lila’s shoulder and smiled her thanks before following Marinette to what was once their shared desk. “You really should thank her, you know,” Alya implored hopefully.

Without turning around to face Alya, Marinette paused and shared an incredulous look with Adrien, who was already seated at his shared desk with Nino. She then shrugged and replied, “Lila never actually said that she got us the passes,” before continuing up the steps to her seat at the back of the class. Alya shook her head and sat down. It was always like this, a cool indifference from Marinette whenever Lila came up. They were both such incredible people, Alya couldn’t understand why they didn’t get along.

As for Marinette, she was semi-content to let Lila be as long as her lies didn’t hurt anybody. Her unrealistic promise to take away all of Marinette’s friends was never fulfilled, and honestly the amount of emotional energy it used to sap from her just wasn’t worth it anymore. Marinette had no idea how Lila was going to get her hands on a copy of the game when Mari was, of course, the one who had won the raffle. She distributed the special access passes herself, and Lila certainly hadn’t gotten one. If this was the way that she wanted to make friends, she would eventually have to face the consequences.

But for now, Lila was basking in her praise. That is, until she glanced at her phone and gave a small gasp of dismay.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, concern already etched on her face.

Lila covered her mouth with one hand and started rapidly blinking back tears. “It’s my VIP copy of the game. There was a mixup in the mail and it won’t get here in time for tomorrow morning! I’m so sorry everyone, it looks like you’ll have to do it without me....” She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders trembled with barely restrained sobs.

The class shared a worried look, and Sabrina piped up, “It’s okay Lila, you can borrow my copy.” Lila immediately looked up and surged forward to clasp the hands of her friend.

“Really? But won’t it have the same problem?” Sabrina smiled and shook her head. “Nope, it’s a digital download! I don’t mind, you can always trade it back when your VIP pass arrives later.”

Lila gave her a brilliant smile, any tears long-since dried. “Oh, thank you so much Sabrina! I’ll see what I can do about getting you a VIP pass too once mine gets here.”

At that moment, Chloe walked in, and one look at the scene displayed in front of her had her rolling her eyes at her former best friend. She gracefully swept up the steps to join Marinette at the back of the classroom and whispered to her, “Aren’t they all digital downloads?”

Marinette, who had started unpacking her bag to prepare for class, inclined her head and gave the blonde a meaningful look that indicated yes, they were indeed all digital downloads. Chloe snickered and started preparing her own side of the desk.

After the fiasco of outing herself as Queen Bee, Chloe had lost the minimal support and tolerances she had been allowed before. It gave her time to truly reflect on how she acted and treated other people. She had since been quietly making amends with those she’d wronged, and the person on the top of that list was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It took time and a lot of effort on Chloe’s part, but she mellowed out and did a lot of growing up. She still spoke her mind, though.

“Huh that’s strange, I got the VIP package too, but mine was a digital pass,” Chloe loudly proclaimed, studying her nails nonchalantly as the rest of the class turned to look up at her.

Lila grit her teeth into a forced smile and replied sweetly, “Well that’s because mine was an original beta testing copy that they had to update for the full game.” She turned her attention to Marinette and a note of false concern crept into her voice. “Oh Marinette, I hope you’ll still have time to come too! I know you’ll be busy this weekend with planning the spring class field trip. It would be such a shame if it didn’t happen because you were too busy playing a video game.”

Marinette suddenly felt very warm under the gazes of the entire class. She stammered out, “Oh-of course we’ll get to go! Don’t worry, I have a meeting with the school board on Monday.” Trust Lila to sniff out the one thing that had slipped below her radar.

Lila’s eyes lit up with an opportunistic gleam. “That’s great! Where will it be?”

“Well, uh, the school board has to review the location, so I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I can tell you that it will be in, um,” her eyes flicked around wildly and landed on the posterboard of different flags from the prior week’s lessons. “America!”

The class burst into excited chatter moments before Madame Bustier arrived and the late bell rang. Marinette released a breath and sagged in her seat. Saved by the bell.

Chloe gave her a sidelong glance and murmured, “America, huh?”

“Shut up,” Marinette shot back.

* * *

Madame Bustier tried to get the class to pay attention, she really did. They struggled through their lessons before lunch, the volume of side conversations between deskmates swelling all the while. The moment the bell for lunch dismissal rang, the students exploded into conversation as they left the classroom.

Marinette waved as Chloe and Adrien walked off to go meet Kagami and Luka at a nearby cafe. She breezed into the patisserie across the street from Francois Dupont and gave her surprised Maman a kiss on the cheek.

“I thought you were going out with your friends for lunch?” Sabine asked, balancing a tray of eclairs on her hip. “I forgot I have to plan our class trip!” Marinette replied cheerfully as she hurried into the kitchen to quickly fix herself a croque-monsieur. She gave her Papa a hug as she finished preparing her meal. He shouted up at her to not make a mess as she retreated into her room to eat at her desk.

She gave a small snort at that. It was nearly impossible for her to make a mess of food when she had over a dozen Kwami there to clean up after her, but he didn’t know that. She greeted said Kwami with a delighted grin and a wave as she set her plate down by her desktop computer.

“Marinette, why are you back so early?” Tikki asked, “is everything okay?” The other Kwami swarmed around her as she woke her computer up and logged in.

The girl waved one hand nonchalantly and opened up a web browser with the other. “Everything’s fine, I just forgot about planning the class trip!” She took a huge bite of the sandwich and started typing furiously. Several Kwami dove after the crumbs that sprayed everywhere.

“Ohhh, I see! Do you have an idea of where to start?” Tikki zoomed around Marinette’s shoulder to hover next to the monitor screen.

Marinette had the same determined gleam in her eye as when she finally found the perfect fabric for a design. She said confidently around a mouth full of ham, “America.”

* * *

By the time the lunch break had finished, Marinette had a preliminary list of cities on the East Coast of the United States. She had researched Gotham first, but it looked far too dangerous and gloomy. Next was New York City, which she determined was too big. Philadelphia was historic, but in a way that would definitely bore her classmates. Boston was too cold despite its excitement. Which left Metropolis as the perfect candidate. It was also protected by the perfect superheroes, Superman and his family, so she was absolutely confident the school board would approve of the city.

Of course, the meeting on Monday would need more specifics than just the city, but she was pleased with her progress so far. Marinette shut down her monitor, grabbed her backpack and plate from lunch, and went downstairs to the kitchen. She quickly scrubbed and dried her plate in the sink before waving to her parents as they bustled around, accommodating the tail end of the mid-day rush.

Marinette walked across the street with a spring in her step and, spotting a tall flash of blue hair, half-jogged up to her group of friends.

“Hey guys, sorry I couldn’t make it to lunch!” She grinned apologetically at Kagami and Luka.

“That’s alright Melody,” Luka gave her a side hug, “Chloe told us you were busy planning your class trip.”

Adrien slung an arm around Kagami’s shoulder and pulled his girlfriend closer to whisper conspiratorially to her, “I hear we’re going to America.” She laughed softly at his antics and at Marinette who stuck her tongue out at him. Kagami then said to Marinette, “That sounds delightful, Marihime. I trust you will still be joining us tomorrow morning?”

Marinette’s eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of playing the game with her friends all weekend long. “Definitely! I’m going to finish preparing for the school board meeting tonight so that we can play the second it comes out.”

“If you can wake up on time,” Chloe teased.

Marinette crossed her arms defensively and stated with pride, “I already set three alarms, thank you very much!”

Adrien burst out laughing at that. “Leave it to our everyday Ladybug,” he winked. Her face flushed as she pouted. He chuckled again and kissed Kagami on the top of her head. “See you later, mon coeur.”

She and Luka waved to the rest of the group as they left to return to their own schools. The three Francois Dupont students watched them go for a moment before returning inside.

“So, you and Kagami have plans?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah! Our parents gave special permission for a sleepover at my place tonight so we can play the game right when it comes out tomorrow.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had never quite abandoned. “But I’m not sure how often we’ll be able to be online with you guys after this weekend. You know how busy our schedules are....”

Marinette elbowed him lightly as they walked. “It’s a blessing you both managed to convince your dad and her mom to let you come to the launch at all! We’ll play together when we can, it’s no big deal.”

Adrien smiled gratefully at her and held the door open for both Marinette and Chloe as they entered the classroom. Alya was already there, and once she spotted her best friend (well, one of them), she skidded down the steps with a huge grin and held an invisible microphone up to Marinette.

“Thank you Nadja, and good afternoon Paris! This is Alya Cesaire, and today I am joined by young fashion designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, can you give us an exclusive scoop on the trip you’re planning for your class?”

“Good afternoon Mlle. Cesaire,” Marinette giggled, “Unfortunately, the trip has yet to be approved by the school board so no details just yet. But I can tell you with certainty that we will be visiting the resident city of some popular American superheroes.” She winked as she finished in her best interview voice.

Alya gasped and dropped her pretend microphone as she hugged her best friend. “Really!? Oh my gosh girl, you are the best!”

Marinette laughed and hugged her back as Alya jumped and spun them around. Once they pulled apart, she told the brunette, “As soon as the school board gives me the green light, you’ll be the first to know.”

The late bell rang and the girls practically skipped to their respective seats as Madame Bustier called the class to attention. Well, “attention” in the loosest sense of the word. They struggled once more through the majority of their lessons, but Madame Bustier seemed to sense defeat and she let them chatter excitedly for the last twenty minutes before dismissal.

Kim and Alix were boasting about how they were going to stay up all night, while Max encouraged them to maximize the time they would be able to play the next day by getting a full night’s sleep in before the launch time.

Lila bragged about her role in the creation of the game from its conception to even having suggested the highly anticipated date of release. Adrien pointedly ignored Lila in the row behind his and discussed the music they had recorded and mixed for the game with a very enthusiastic Nino.

Sabrina looked on a little sadly until Mylene, Ivan, Rose, and Juleka invited her to join their Disney movie marathon double-date instead. Mylene was too nervous to play the game so Ivan chose to sit out to support her, and video games weren’t really Rose and Juleka’s style. Sabrina’s face softened as she gratefully accepted their invitation.

Nathaniel turned around in his seat to talk to Marinette about the art rendering and the programs they used while Chloe scrolled aimlessly on her phone.

By the time the bell finally rang, the class was beyond excited to go prepare for the launch the next morning.

Marinette, to her credit, swallowed her enthusiasm and sat down to fully plan out their trip to Metropolis. It was grueling work, researching the safest hotel that was still in a central location. It had to be affordable but not shabby, too, because they had a limited budget. She eventually settled on the reputable Wayne Hotel, apparently part of an enormous corporation called Wayne Enterprises, and then began to build an itinerary with different events from there.

She worked nonstop the rest of the night, with the exception of a brief dinner break, and it was nearly 11:00 at night by the time she finished. Marinette sat up from her desk chair and stretched, then double-checked that her alarms were set before finally heading to bed.

#marinette dupain cheng #jasonette #sword art online au #virtual reality #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #maribat #maribat fic #healing hands

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boldlyanxious · 4 years

Text

None the Wiser 6

Masterlist

All fic masterlist

Bio-dad Bruce prompt-Fashion show

Marinette was not expecting her day to go well when Rochelle stepped in front of her before they left the locker room. She had spent a few minutes reorganizing her things before heading off to lunch so she could have what she needed ready for the afternoon and now they were alone in there with not even the sound of others in the hallway.

"I need to talk to you," Rochelle said.

Her arms were crossed over her chest and she looked unhappy. Marinette tried to smile even though she was apprehensive.

"What can I do for you?" Marinette responded.

Rochelle pulled out an envelope that Marinette recognised as a response from the fashion competition, but it wasn't like the fancy envelope she received.

"I didn't do very well. I was in the lowest rank."

"I didn't know you entered."

"I didn't tell anyone. I've only been sewing for a couple years and not often."

"Are you wanting pointers?"

"I really want to model. I'll model my own but probably not be noticed. Are you modeling your design?"

Marinette was shocked. She didn't think of using another person as a model mostly because she would usually use Alya but she hadn't made it to fit Alya.

"I don't actually want to. I'm a bit clumsy and it's worse when I get nervous but I made it my size."

"I could do it for you."

Rochelle looked like she wanted to add something but she stopped herself. She stood still while Marinette eyed her then walked around her.

"I think it should work," she said tapping her chin. "I need to touch you for a moment."

She waited for a nod before she pinched a bit at Rochelle's outfit in a few places nodding.

"I don't have a measuring tape with me today. I think our measurements are similar enough aside from the obvious height difference but your additional height is definitely helpful. Can you come over after school today?"

She nodded slowly, "Are you serious? You'll let me model for you?"

"Oh yeah. I was dreading having to do it but you want to and probably already have an idea of what to do if you want to model."

"We aren't really friends though and I haven't been very friendly."

"Well I either missed it or you aren't very good at being unfriendly," she said with a smile.

After they finished with classes they met back at the lockers to walk out together. Marinette took her through the bakery and up through to her room. She was happy with her decision to change her style over the summer so she didn't have an embarrassing amount of Adrien's modeling pictures cut out and plastered everywhere.

She adjusted things so the fold-away screen was set up for changing and pulled out the dress for the fashion show.

"This should work really well. They are good colors for you."

"It's so nice. You are really talented."

"Thank you. I've been working at it a long time."

When Rochelle had the dress on, Marinette checked the fit and made notes for the changes needed. There were no drastic changes and Marinette looked how it looked on the other girl's taller frame. Marinette figured how long it would take to make the alterations and set up a time to do a fitting after that so it would be ready for the show.

---

The day of the show arrived and Marinette feeling like she might not make it. Time kept slowing down so she would dread what was coming and then speeding so fast she couldn't keep up. Her parents didn't know how to get her to sit still and eat something. Bruce would be there as well as Damian and Dick and a couple of Damian's friends. Tim hadn't been able to get away from work and from what they said about Jason she thought maybe they were hiding him until she was more comfortable.

She still hadn't told anyone but Luka about this new family she might have but she was so nervous about the show and him being there that she pulled Alya to the side and told her about meeting him when she went to change during Alya's party.

"Wait, what? That was weeks ago. Is that why you've been acting weird?" Alya asked.

"Well I wasn't sure what was going to happen. My parents thought he might get a lawyer and try to get custody."

"Can he do that?"

"I don't know. We think he probably has more money. His suits are designer and he has made several trips. He will be there today."

"I can't believe you kept this from me! It's so wild. How did he even find out?"

Marinette explained how biology class had given her the wrong results so she took the DNA test. Then relayed what had happened after.

"The boy from school is his son. I guess he's technically my brother. But neither of us are very happy about that." Marinette said.

Alya started with her the rest of the time and they went together to meet Rochelle before going to the location of the fashion show. By the time they arrived the first group was about to go on. They had multiple runways set up with seating and some standing area. The stages would be used one at a time but to keep the flow going they would move to the next stage to have time for the many entrants and to make it easier to find the information.

There was still a lot of time before the final show. After each set there would be a long break to give time to arrange everything again and allow people to come and go as needed. Many would only be there to support the person they knew who entered but for the final show everything would be set up for the big stage similar to a major Fashion show and the seats would all be there. A lot of fashion related figures and publications would be there for only that main event.

Sooner than Marinette could have imagined Marinette was hugging her parents before she headed back to check on Rochelle. Her older sister, Charlotte, was a makeup artist and had done her hair and makeup. Marinette had fashioned a coordinating hair ornament with a necklace, arm cuff and high heel covers.

Charlotte finished with Rochelle and pulled Marinette over so she could do her hair and makeup as well. Diane wanted to know more about covers for the high heels. Marinette told her all about how she loved to make jewelry and accessories. The high heel covers saved money since shoes were expensive and took up a lot of space so she started making covers to go with her neutral heels so they would be more versatile.

She didn't see Bruce and his family before the show but several people peeked out to see the crowd excited when some of the more famous people entered. She was a bit surprised to see someone taking a picture of him while Damian stood further away with his arms crossed. She wasn't sure who they thought he was. Fashion was an area she was pretty confident in her knowledge of all the major players and even a fair bit of the less known designers.

The lights all turned to the stage and the crowd hushed significantly as the music started. Rather than ranking it by type of clothing the organizers had decided the pieces by color starting with white and going through the rainbow and ending with black. Marinette's storm inspired greys and blues with a shock of bright violet put her near the end. Each model walked alone but quickly while the featured designer was named and the outfit was described.

It was over very quickly. For all the work that went into them fashion shows were not typically very long. Even with 50 featured models and designs the beginning had not even been half an hour ago. The smaller runways had already been dismantled to make space for the audience. After all the models and designers headed out the backstage area was being out away to leave only main stage for the announcement once the judges finished deliberating.

As Marinette headed towards the crowd where she could see her parents making awkward conversation with Bruce and the 4 boys with him. She took a moment to tell Rochelle to stay in the dress if she wanted for now. Hopefully it would get a little more buzz for both of them unlike the models or designers who had changed already to preserve their designs.

Marinette approached the group but she was not up for making conversation. She kept peeking nervously at the judges as they were making their final decision. She could never have told anyone what was being discussed but she knew every move the judges made until they all began to stand. Marinette watched as an envelope was walked over to the presenter and she slowly walked to the stage. Her microphone picked up the gentle swish of her skirt and the click of her heels.

Marinette couldn't hear what she was saying she focused on the hands as they worked on opening the envelope with a crinkle of paper as the seal pulled apart. She removed the 12 cards, each printed with the name of a contestant. As she told them they would be read in no particular order she demonstrated the point by shuffling and mixing the cards before restacking them to read the names of the winners.

As each name was called the winner would walk up to the stage and stand to face the crowd. They were handed a packet containing the information about the prize as the cheers died down before the next name was read. As each person walked forward to join the incomplete dozen Marinette became more and more desperate to be called.

She didn't actually think she could win. It was a large contest and she was only in her first year of lycée so many of the contestants were older. She supposed that was why they decided the groups to have all of them be able to publicly share their designs. She took a deep breath to calm herself but she just held it there as she watched the ten people being joined by one more after he was handed his packet.

The woman looked down at the last card and continued smiling as she waited for the hush to fall over the crowd before she read the last name.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Her parents were cheering what she looked at them and then she saw Bruce and Dick were as well. Alya was bouncing up and down holding her hands while screaming and cheering. She started pulling Marinette towards the aisle and then shoved her forward to propel her to the stage. She joined the line of other winners but she was still in shock. The crowd was cheering again, her section was definitely the loudest even though the presenter had called for another round of applause for all the winners.

Taglist

@theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf

#maribat #bio dad bruce wayne #bio!dad bruce wayne month 2020 #boldlyanxious

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justanotherpersonsuniverse · 4 years

Text

How I’d rewrite/reboot Miraculous Season 1/2/3

And I mean, like, if I got handed Miraculous and I was allowed to direct an entirely new show.

These are just a few notes, maybe I’ll write more on just character stuff, but that’d just be me complaining about how the writers write their characters and you’ve heard me complain about that already.

Anyways though, I’d give Chat Noir more powers definitely. I always thought that little black hole thing in the concept art was cool.

Also god almighty I’d make the show have an actual timeline

I always thought the “watch it in any order” thing was BS.

Anyways, my main change though would be the episodes in general, and this is why the timeline is important:

First season wise, I’d cut a few akuma episodes (maybe move Puppeteer from season 1 to 2 as well as Numeric and Guitar Villain), but make sure every classmate gets their own episode. (I’d also give Vanisher her own fucking episode cause she deserved one)

The kicker would be that the akuma episodes would be almost ENTIRELY character driven, and not on Mari and Adrien no no- About 50% of the episode would be about the akumatized character. Their motivations, their past, their personal goals and ideals. About 15% is just Marinette, the other 15% is just Adrien, because they’re BOTH main characters here, the twenty percent is both of them, and the rest is the akuma

There would be a moment in every episode where the akuma would mutter “What am I doing?” As they wonder why they’re so angry, justifying it or cementing the fact that they are in the wrong, before continuing the fight.

This can become a moment to Volpina as Lila asks herself “What am I doing?”, only to shake her head- a short flashback goes across her, very brief and very close curtained to give mystery as she corrects herself and says “No, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Volpina would be more about Adrien and Marinette, especially because this episode is testing them and is a season finale.

Then. There would be episodes that are entirely unrelated to the akumas. About the kids. About the class. About Marinette and Adrien.

Then, in Volpina, which is put on its head because Lila’s put in more mystery as a potential villain with a secluded past- we get the cliffhanger that is Chat Noir and Ladybug meeting Master Fu, but with more build up as he drops the damn mic.

But how I’d end the season isn’t a cliffhanger of meeting Master Fu, no no, that’s not the cliffhanger I’m ending it on, here’s a.. I guess screen play on what i’d write:

...

Master Fu: Ladybug and Chat Noir..

[The akuma alert rings out on three new people’s phones that you cannot see, as Master Fu’s voice continues to speak over]

Master Fu: the powers of the miraculous is a tricky thing children. You two..

[Chat Noir and Ladybug rush through the city to see a giant roaring Kaiju like Akuma breaking through the streaks.]

Master Fu: ..are the mirrors of each other. The yin and yang to this world. The Creation and Destruction. You hold the balance of good and evil, and the future of whether we shall fall or rise.

[Chat Noir looks softly at Ladybug who looks back, as they’re standing on the edge of a building, their hands intertwined tightly as they share a determined gaze]

Master Fu: But you are still children. With the weight of the world on their backs, and it is a terrifying battle you both face, and though I shall guide you on this journey- My shield has long been shattered. [The camera pans back to his Parlor as he grips tightly to his cane, however his wrist is barren. No bracelet attached.]

Master Fu: But..

[It snaps back to Ladybug and Chat Noir, as a foot steps into frame, the two turning around in confusion, before it clicks back to Master Fu one last time as he smiles] Master Fu: You are no longer alone.

[The music rises as looking towards the hero’s with glowing eyes of their respective colors are three new figures. One with a fox pendent, one with a turtle bracelet, and one with a Bee Comb]

[End]

And then with the start of Season 2, we would be introduced to our three new Permanent heroes and Main Characters! Rena Rouge; the slightly bullheaded but well meaning fox hero who’s stubbornness and idolizing of Ladybug occasionally gets in the way of her true brilliance. Carapace; the laid back protector, who’s overwhelming passion to keep his friends safe is challenged by his insecurities and fears. And Queen Bee; the snarky lancer to Ladybug despite her clear admiration to the red hero, who has much to learn and much to do.

While our two centric disaster kids are still the main POV characters who we’ll see every episode, Season 2 would feature Alya, Nino, and Chloe in their own special and unique to themself episodes, as we travel in their shoes now as heroics are placed into their lives as people.

Like the show, Mayura would show up by the end of Season 2, just when the new hero team just got used to being a team and felt confident for like five minutes. It only gets worse with the return of Lila Rossi.

Season 3′s conflict would be less about Love and more about the theme of Trust and Support.

Lila’s battle of minds against Marinette as the trust of the class and support wavers from these two; Master Fu grows old and maybe even senile as the years catch up to him and his trust in the other users besides Ladybug starts to become fragile; Adrien’s growing paranoia on whether or not Ladybug trusts him anymore grows more and more; Alya is split between two of her good friends and isn’t sure what to do; Nino does his best to support everyone, and Chloe has to learn to trust herself to make the right decision with the return of Audrey.

Also, how Kagami and Luka’s different acts of support for Marinette and Adrien affect them. Meaning their impact isn’t just because they’re love interests, it’s because during this stressful season, they bring peace to Marinette and Adrien, which throws around the Love Square not for plot sake, but because the characters genuinely like Kagami and Luka.

Instead of Miracle Queen, it’s actually Marinette who snaps. I’ve written this akumanette season finale idea before here’s the link to it: https://justanotherpersonsuniverse.tumblr.com/post/629706086227771393/i-feel-like-if-she-was-going-to-snap-itd-be

ANYWAYS

That’s just some main things I would do if I rebooted miraculous, save Chat Blanc for a finale. Uh. Hope you liked this? Send me feedback I could be fun to talk about these ideas I guess?

#Miraculous ladybug #writing #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #rewrite #miraculous rewrite #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #chloe bourgeois

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erekiosuncreativeideas · 3 years

Text

The Part-Time Puppeteer - Chapter 05

<= Chapter 4

Summary : Lukas gets a once in a lifetime chance. Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/23828971/chapters/77002538

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I'M SO SORRY FOR THE HUGE HIATUS PEOPLE, AAAAAH ANYWAY, NEW CHAPTER, I HOPE YOU'LL LIKE IT (and yeah, I'm getting back to work on this fanfic full time now, expect updates from time to time).

You'll notice my writing style has improved since then, so don't be too surprised.

Happy reading ! Thank you for waiting all this time, it really means a lot!

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Chapter 5 - Wait. What?

It would be an understatement to say that the young man was confused to no end. He wasn’t just unsettled by the whole thing– he was absolutely bewildered. Him, taking the role of an actor? And, more than that, taking MJ’s role out of everyone’s ? Man, this couldn’t be real, this just couldn’t be. Yet… Here he was, in front of everyone, holding a script with shaking hands, and his heart pounding like crazy in his chest. Fuck, fuck, fuck, there was no way he was going to do that, no fucking way–

-“I, uh… I don’t think it’s a very good idea…” he mumbled, his eyes looking away while a deep blush crept its way onto his cheeks. He wasn’t an actor, he had no experience in this, oh, why, why did he laugh so loud?

His weak statement and his trembling stance made the Conductor scoff, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips for the first time since the latter had entered the room. The man lied back against his chair and gave his colleague a playful yet strong nudge:

-“Would you look at that,” cackled the old man with his Scottish accent: “Someone’s having stage fright!”

The other man rubbed at the place the Conductor had touched him, not really liking sudden touches coming from the other apparently:

-“Yes, darling, I’ve noticed,” he replied with an unimpressed expression. Grooves’s eyes then fell on the young stagehand again and he tried to reassure him with a warm smile. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t help in the slightest.

-“Is this your first acting experience?” the man asked the student, putting his chin into the palm of his hand.

-“… Yeah,” Lukas answered trustfully. As much as he hated MJ’s guts, it was still undeniable that the latter knew how to play a role perfectly. Whether it was from the gestures, the stance, the tone of his voice, or his confidence in front of a camera… It was all so different with Lukas. He gulped down and tried to voice his concerns once more: “I really think that you shouldn’t-”

However, he was soon cut short by the Conductor’s voice. The movie maker had picked up his cone and had shouted a loud “action!” inside, showing his impatience and making Lukas pale instantly at the same time. Oh shit, shit, wait, no– He didn’t want to do this, this was way out of his comfort zone…! And he could hear people giggling at him in the distance, among the stagehands watching him fiddling with the script! Oh this was so humiliating, so humiliating, he couldn’t do this…!

-“Just read the bad guy’s line,” Grooves’s suave voice interrupted his thoughts, most likely in an attempt to calm him down, though it wasn’t helping: “We know you haven’t learnt them like the young lady here, so don’t worry about stammering,” Next to him, the little girl was staring at him with a mix of compassion and second-hand embarrassment. This experience kinda reminded him of the school projects he had had to do in the past, and still did as of today… But like, a hardcore version of them, for a topic he had no prior knowledge in. Oh, sure, if this had been a law-related project, he wouldn’t be so terrified right now. But it wasn’t. In any case, his eyes fell on the papers he was holding and he tried taking a deep breath, gulping down his saliva again with a lot of troubles.

He wasn’t going to get out of this until he actually tried it, was he? God, what did he get himself into…

-“Y-you… You reached my h-home, little one,” he read, his voice shaking. Right before he could start the next line, a loud “cut!” interrupted him: the Conductor. Lukas’s face paled up once again. Oh fuck, he had just said a single sentence and it was already that bad, he knew he wasn’t an actor, he knew he was terrible at playing a role, he had never done that before!

With trembling lips, he glanced to the directors with fear. Would they fire him? No, how could they? This wasn’t even the main purpose of his job! His job was to lift things and repair broken stuff! Not this!

A moment of silent passed in which the student couldn’t move, completely paralyzed. What were they going to tell him? Would they make fun of him? Was everyone going to? While the stagehands looked amused, it wasn’t really the case for the directors, which did nothing to help Lukas to feel better at all. And when he thought they were about to tell him to drop the script and go back to what he could do, he was taken aback when he heard a “EVERYONE, OUT” from the Conductor. The student couldn’t help but be startled by the other’s volume. Wait, what-

He looked around, confused. As he saw the stagehands leaving the room, he started to walk away- but Grooves stopped him in his momentum:

-“Not you, darling, you stay here,” instructed the eccentric man, a smirk visible on his lips. Oh fuck, what, what was going on…?

Soon enough, everyone left the room… Except for the directors, the kid, her dad, and him. Oh shit, it was one thing to read a script in public, but now, it felt even more… Official!

-“B-but, I’m not…” he tried to interject, but wasn’t allowed to continue:

-“If being watched is making you scared, then there you go,” shrugged the Conductor, as if he hadn’t yelled a minute ago: “Problem solved,” he then pointed to the papers in Lukas’ hands and gave him an look that clearly meant ‘hurry up’: “Now, eyes on the script and read.”

The young man still tried to protest, but the old producer shouted yet another “action!”, making him jump out of surprise and nervousness. He really… Didn’t have any choice, apparently. Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath. After all, he couldn’t get fired for this, right? And there were considerably less people watching him… Surely this wouldn’t be worse than before! And, hell, even if he did fail, then who cared? No one (or almost no one) was watching him now, and there weren’t going to be consequences for it anyway.

So why the hell not, after all? He still found it stupid how his laughter had caught the men’s attention, but yeah: he didn’t have anything to lose. So, after another deep breath… The stagehand straightened up and tried to appear more confident.

Ha. What a joke.

-“You reached my home, little one,” he repeated his first line, trying to sound as creepy as that fucking puppet MJ had been holding earlier: “F-fear not, my dear, for I will not hurt you. I don’t- I do not harm my friends,” he stammered, wondering how he had managed to go that far. Well, at least, he wasn’t being interrupted this time… So this was good, he supposed?

-“Who are you?” the little girl replied, going back in character so fast that Lukas wouldn’t even believe she was acting. Damn, she was good. Way better than him, without a doubt. She had tilted her head to the side, a fake confused expression painted on her face as she approached him curiously. Yeah, she looked way more experienced than he was. But the directors still remained silent, watching them with great interest.

Yeah, no, this was definitely not intimidating Lukas. Ha.

-“I am the M-Moonjumper,” he replied, forcing an awkward smile on his lips, still attempting to appear scary. Well, he probably looked more ridiculous than anything, really, but he was trying: “I am the guardian of the Hori- Horizon, but also its prisoner for eternity. I… I have seen the birth of the universe and its end I will witness.”

-“The Horizon?” repeated the little girl, faking looking around: “Is that where we are?” she then frowned, as if she had just realized something terrible: “Wait… Does that mean I’m trapped here too?”

Oh cool, the character he was playing at was a kidnapper, fucking great. He tried not to let this thought appear on his features and continued his part of the text. Okay, so his character was a bad guy, right? Maybe… Maybe he had to sound more like one rather than just reading the lines out loud like he had done so far. He threw an anxious glance to the directors, wondering if this was a good idea- but, hell, why the fuck not? If he was forced to do this thing, then he might as well give his all! Even if just to piss MJ off, even if the latter couldn’t see him– although, this wasn’t such a bad thing, considering their skill gap. He didn’t want to be laughed at.

But this wasn’t the time for this kind of thoughts. Now was time for either impressing people… Or just utterly ridiculing himself.

Lukas approached the child with a threatening pose, looming over her and using his free hand as a claw floating above her. He did his best to keep a somewhat “sadistic” expression and continued his line, this time with more motivation and more confidence.

-“Oh, do not worry, little one… I know what it’s like to be all alone, left to rot in this place for centuries, with no one to talk to. Rest assured, you won’t suffer the same fate as I did,” he paused, leaning forward, his smile widening dangerously, and a dark chuckle leaving his mouth: “I will be there with you forever, my child. You will never, ever, be alone again…”

The girl gave him an incredulous look, and he couldn’t tell if it was faked or genuine. However, this was soon replaced by the expected fearful expression. Yeah, he would be scared if he were in that kid’s shoes…

-“You can’t trap me here!” she retorted, stepping back. The child seemed to grab an invisible object and using it to keep him at a safe distance- a weapon probably. Kinda looked like a sword, from the way she was holding it. The student followed the script and approached her again. Had he not been so insecure about his laughter, he would have probably improvised one, but, yeah, no. This was not happening.

In any case, Lukas’ “sadistic” expression disappeared as the little girl charged at him, and it was his turn to step back. Sure, it was in the script, but it was one thing to read it. It was another to actually experience it, even if it was all fake.

Breaking character seemed to be enough for the directors to put an end to the audition. The new “cut!” that echoed in the room reminded him of the current situation and an uncontrollable blush rose to his cheeks- oh fuck, he had been really carried away, what the hell… He and the little girl turned to the producers, both looking rather nervous, though for completely different reasons. Well, while he hoped this child would get the role, he wasn’t so uncertain about his own fate in that regard. Even if MJ’s personality was absolutely terrible, it was clear that the other was more experienced and more famous than he was. It would be a real mistake to keep him, a stagehand, over a skilled actor– and, anyway, why was he even thinking about that possibility? There was no way this was going to happen!

He waited with the little girl, and the two directors started to whisper with one another, giving them sideways glances that made him even more insecure. Wait, why would there be anything to discuss? He would go back to being a stagehand and the kid was going to get the role! And, if she wasn’t, then… Then he wouldn’t understand. She had everything a young actor could offer: talent, spontaneity, expressiveness…

Eventually, after what seemed to be an eternity, the two directors turned back to them. Grooves was smiling warmly to the kid and proudly announced, all while clasping his hands:

-“Good job, darling,” he praised her, a sincere impressed look in his eyes: “You got the role.”

As soon as she heard these words, the child’s lips turned into a bright smile. Pure joy could be seen on her face as she started to jump around and giggle, celebrating the announcement with great excitement. She dashed to her father and hugged him tightly, squealing with delight against him. At the sight, Lukas couldn’t help but smile, touched by the little girl’s happiness. Oh, he was glad for her, and even more so to know he had been able to help her get the job. Even if he was going to get laughed at for his poor performance, it still had some use in the end.

-“Hey, you,” his attention was caught back by the Conductor and his eyes went back to them. Oh. Right.

-“Uh, do I… Do you want me to go tell the others they can come back?” he suggested, his previous confidence flying through the window, miles and miles away. He couldn’t help but look away, not managing to keep eye contact. God, this was so stressful… His mess of a mind was silenced as he saw Grooves nudging his counterpart, a smug smile on his lips.

-“I’ll let you do the honors,” he chuckled with his deep voice, and Lukas tilted his head to the side, getting more and more confused by the whole situation. Wait, what…? No, no, no, wait…

The Conductor moved away from the other, as if disgusted by the sudden and unwanted contact- they really were alike on a lot of points, it was kind of funny to watch, though Lukas’ mind was not focused on this at the moment.

-“Fine, DJ Peckneck,” groaned the other, rubbing the place where Grooves had touched him like he was trying to get some dirt off him. His head turned back to the student and he stood up, visibly wanting to get this over with:

-“You get the role,” he merely told him, barely paying attention to him anymore: “Learn your text by tomorrow,” and just like that, the man walked with a fast pace to the door, opening it and calling everyone back inside with his loud and authoritative voice.

In the meantime, Lukas was just… Frozen, unable to process what he had just been told.

Wait.

What?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Ahahaha, Lukas gets so fucking confused in this fanfic, this is so funny to write.

=> Chapter 06

#a hat in time #hat kid #hailey #snatcher #lukas #the conductor #conductor #dj grooves #grooves #puppet au #the part-time puppeteer #fanfiction #erekio #erekiosuncreativeideas

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adrinoir · 4 years

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Who will be the next Hawk Moth?

Alright, well there’s a lot of different theories on who will be “the next Hawk Moth”. So I wanted to do a break down on some possibilities (warning: this analysis is REALLY long lol)

Lila

I feel like Lila is very likely to be the next one. She already has a leg up in working with Gabriel (despite not knowing he’s Hawk Moth).

Even though Hawk Moth hasn’t reached his goal of getting Ladybug and Cat Noir’s miraculouses, he’s made good progress. With Lila’s help, he’s gotten PRETTY damn close to getting them since she has that deep hatred of Ladybug. Without her, he wouldn’t have had his invasion of scarlet moths possessing Paris.

Additionally, Lila is pretty full of herself and does just about everything for her own benefit. She could easily grow a bigger hatred towards Ladybug and find out about the benefits of their miraculouses to have her own wish granted.

It’s really difficult to see her as a redeemable character since she has yet to show any redeemable qualities. But, hey, maybe there will be a plot twist where she’ll change her ways.

Chloe

As much as I’d LOVE to see Chloe develop into a better person since we see she is the way she is, I don’t have too much faith in Thomas Astruc’s writing.

Thomas initially started Chloe off as the annoying and conceited bully, then she started seeing the error of her ways, and finally...she was pulled back to square one.

It’s obvious that Chloe is pretty strong. She knows Hawk Moth is evil and has fought off an akuma even when she was super angry with Ladybug. However, Hawk Moth IS a rather powerful man and was able to akumatize Chloe on many occasions. She became his most successful akumatized victim as Miracle Queen. I feel like the fandom doesn’t talk enough about how Chloe managed to get almost ALL the miraculous holders to reveal their identities. (Don’t come for Hawk Moth in saying he hasn’t made a lot of progress - he HAS.)

The main issue with Chloe is that she can easily be manipulated into doing things for Hawk Moth because she has that disliking for Ladybug, deep down. She doesn’t want to hate Ladybug but obviously it’s been tough since she won’t let Chloe have her bee miraculous, and being Queen Bee is very important to her. Chloe wants to be powerful and heroic to feel good about herself since her mom doesn’t see her as something special (which is awful, I feel so bad for Chloe, honestly.)

Even though the likelihood is there, I really don’t want Chloe to become the next Hawk Moth. In season 4, it’d be nice to see some of her character development come back, and hopefully her and her mom build a stronger relationship now that Audrey has decided to stay in Paris with the family. Thomas Astruc needs to make Chloe better but KEEP it that way. She’s shown redeemable qualities and we know why she acts the way that she does. There’s a ridiculous amount of potential for her to be a wonderful, well-rounded character instead of just the evil bully Thomas makes her out to be.

Felix

So far, we’ve only seen Felix in one episode, but we already have a good idea of what he’s like. He’s very manipulative as a form of coping with his father’s death.

Felix already has a bit of a vendetta against Gabriel for keeping Emilie’s family heirlooms, and managed to steal them from Gabriel. He also wasn’t very nice to Adrien in pretending to be him and attempting to hurt his friendships. All of those things Felix did just prove he’d make a *good* villain.

My theory is that he’ll come back for at least one more episode, since he took the wedding rings that were very precious to Gabriel. However, it’s kind of strange to me that Felix hasn’t even been mentioned since his debut episode. So, we will see if this devilish boy makes a comeback.

Adrien

People have had this theory a while back, but it’s just incredibly unlikely at this point.

Adrien cares deeply about his mom and wants her back, of course. However, we see in Cat Blanc that he tried to cataclysm his own father for what he’s done. He was so hurt by his father’s motives, he triggered the end of the world.

There could potentially be an episode where Adrien hears his father out and tries the butterfly miraculous out for himself, but Bunnyx would come out of her burrow and shut that shit down.

OR, we know Gabriel is an awful father and he could somehow manipulate his own son to take his spot as Hawk Moth. (But again, Bunnyx could easily shut this down, too.)

Adrien loves being Cat Noir; he’s shown to be the Cat Noir in the future. He has an extremely good heart. So they’ve pretty much denied Adrien becoming the new Hawk Moth, at this point.

Luka

I think this is the most interesting idea I’ve seen on who the next Hawk Moth will be. (I recommend watching Cat Blanc x Princess Justice’s YouTube video analysis on this. It’s really good! I mention some of her points in here.)

Luka is almost too nice of a character. He cares a lot about other people and just sort of lets Marinette take advantage of his kindness, which is really sad, BUT there could easily be a motive we don’t know behind that, or he’s secretly bothered by it deep down.

There’s that theory that Luka knows Marinette is Ladybug. He could be trying to get closer to her to take the miraculous from her since he might know the power the ladybug and black cat miraculous hold.

Or, like I mentioned before, if Luka is bothered deep down by Marinette’s romantic feelings for Adrien, there could be something that happens that pushes him over the edge. We’ve even seen that Luka makes a terrifying villain as Silencer. He was super manipulative and had a lot of good tactics. Ladybug and Cat Noir DID in fact have a really hard time fighting him. Luka is also not the type of person to get angry like that, but Hawk Moth needs STRONG emotion to feed off of. So, considering how powerful of a villain Luka was, there’s clearly some anger boiling within him.

We also don’t have that much of a backstory to work off of. We’re slowly learning more, but think about it, for instance, we don’t know who his father is. Some people have theorized it’s Jagged Stone but we’re REALLY not sure. So, maybe it’s a motive of his to find his father.

Thomas Astruc made Luka a very likable character, enough so to get most of the fandom to actually like the Lukanette ship. Luka could have been made purposely likable so that the fandom won’t believe that he will be the next villain.

Another good point Cat Blanc x Princess Justice had made was that Miraculous World made a tweet that Miraculous will be introducing a new villain in season 4 - but it’s a character we already know. Lila and Felix are already known BUT they’re also already well-established villains....

Kagami

If Luka is a possibility, so is Kagami. Half the fandom thinks Kagami is great, the other half thinks she’s awful.

Kagami is shown to have a very strong personality (that sometimes comes off as a bit threatening). She’s very blunt about everything, very uptight, doesn’t beat around the bush. Those three characteristics are similar to Gabriel, HOWEVER Kagami has a caring soul and she really wants to be good to Adrien and Marinette.

So, it’s possible, but unlikely and definitely hard to pinpoint what intentions she could possibly have of becoming a villain. Maybe her mother pinches a certain nerve, or she can’t understand why Adrien doesn’t love her.

Additionally, Thomas Astruc doesn’t cut Adrien a lot of slack, let’s be real here. Adrien’s father is already Hawk Moth, he could switch it to his “girlfriend” being Hawk Moth.

Alya

So, I have a bit of an interesting theory on this since I haven’t really seen anyone else mention anything about Alya potentially becoming bad.

Despite Alya/Rena Rouge having a strong bond and trust with Ladybug, there’s that possibility she still wants to unveil who Ladybug really is - she still runs The Ladyblog, after all. And of course, unveiling Ladybug’s identity is extremely dangerous. She even posted the museum exhibit to her blog in Feast, which she didn’t realize was dangerous. It shows that she might slip and reveal something that she shouldn’t have.

Or, maybe Alya manages to lose Ladybug’s trust. Something monumental could happen. There’s already that bit of danger surrounding Ladybug and Rena Rouge since they’re such close friends in real life and know nearly everything about each other.

Hawk Moth also now knows that Alya is Rena, and could do something to push her to reveal something on The Ladyblog, therefore turning her into a villain.

Also, Alya already knows SO much of the Ladybug lore. She’s dedicated so much time to researching the lore behind the miraculouses. Also pretty dangerous and suspicious.

Nino

Like Alya, there’s a chance Nino also loses Ladybug and/or Cat Noir’s trust. When Nino first got his miraculous, he wasn’t very good at acting like a different person in his superhero persona. He could easily slip and reveal an something he isn’t supposed to.

He is the least likely possibility, but not completely impossible.

Tom or Sabine

I put these two in the same excerpt because they have about the same amount of likeliness to be the next Hawk Moth (or maybe one is Hawk Moth and the other is Mayura 👀)

Tom and Sabine are both super sweet, but also, we don’t know a whole lot about them. Since Gabriel - father of sweet cinnamon roll hero Cat Noir - is Hawk Moth, who’s to say superhero Ladybug’s own parents couldn’t become evil? It’d create a super interesting dynamic in the plot because it’s like how would Marinette react if one of her parents was Hawk Moth?

I have a stronger theory that Tom and Sabine used to be the old Ladybug and Cat Noir, but still. Don’t put it past Thomas Astruc to trick us somehow.

How would Gabriel fail (or lose his miraculous)?

One last thing I’d also like to analyze relating to this is this question.

Does Gabriel NOT end up ever getting Ladybug and Cat Noir’s miraculouses? Let’s look over some possibilities:

1) One of the villains he creates or senti-monsters Nathalie creates becomes too powerful and doesn’t give him the miraculouses once they’re captured.

2) He gives up and realizes all he needs is his dearest son Adrien.

3) He gets sickly and can’t fight anymore and passes on his miraculous for someone else to do the job.

4) Simplest answer: His miraculous is stolen.

#miraculous ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #miraculers #miraculous #hawk moth #hawkmoth #gabriel agreste #lila rossi #adrien agreste #luka couffaine #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #miraculous kagami #kagami tsurugi

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chrwrites · 4 years

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Bad Ideas - Chapter 1: “I'm his girlfriend”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I wrote this for @astronavigatrix for the @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers Secret Admirer Exchange! The prompt was Fake Dating and I decided to write '5 Times Luka and Marinette pretended to be dating and one time they didn't need to'. I had a lot of ideas for this and I ended up splitting it in chapters. I hope you like it! 💖

read on ao3

Marinette's mouth twisted at the scene in front of her, an unpleasant feeling making her stomach twist.

Luka was standing in front of his locker, nodding at a girl Marinette had never seen, a polite smile on his face as she got way too close. She was tilting her head, one finger twirling around a strand of platinum blonde hair as she raised her free hand to his arm. Her long fake nails danced slowly up and down his bicep.

His expression twisted in annoyance and he tried to shrug her off and put some distance between them, but yet again she leaned in and all Luka could do was roll his eyes at whatever she was saying.

Marinette grit her teeth. Didn't that girl notice how uncomfortable she was making him? Or how he wasn’t really enjoying her presence at all? Damn, Luka wasn’t even the type of person to show his annoyance like that. He was usually calm and collected. What had she done to make him act like that?

Marinette couldn’t just stand there and watch without doing anything. She had to do something before that girl, whoever she was, made Luka feel more and more uneasy. She watched him look down, his fingers twisting the spinner ring on his thumb, before deciding to take action.

“Lu!” she called, sliding her arm into his as soon as she was close and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as a greeting. She felt Luka stiffen before he relaxed into her, his eyes wide in surprise at her unexpected display of affection. “Marinette?”

The girl in front of them finally took a step back, a startled expression forming on her face while she studied them. She blinked before speaking. “And you are..?” she asked, her eyes narrowing as she focused on Marinette.

Marinette frowned, but her mouth twisted in a sweet smile as soon as she looked back at Luka, “I'm his girlfriend,” she chirped.

Fortunately, her voice didn't betray her. She slid her hand to hold Luka's and squeezed tight, looking up at him.

His eyes were wide, and a strangled sound escaped his lips before he shut it close. Marinette giggled and gave him a confident smile in the hopes that it would reassure him. She leaned her head to his shoulder and Luka didn't flinch away, but all he managed to let out as his thumb brushed the back of her hand and tried to keep himself grounded was a choked out “Yeah…” that got him to clear his throat.

“You have a girlfriend? Since when?” the girl asked, feigning innocence in a way that sounded so familiar that made Marinette's blood boil.

Luka opened his mouth to speak, but Marinette cut him off, “That's none of your business,” she snarled. The girl huffed in annoyance, and Marinette glared at her. Luka next to her straightened up and took a deep breath, and Marinette gave a comforting squeeze to his hand.

She then turned her attention back at the girl, who had crossed her arms as her eyes went up and down to study her.

Marinette held her gaze and didn't flinch at the disgusted expression forming in front of her. If she was going to come up with a hurtful comment, Marinette was ready to snap back. It’s not like she hadn’t dealt with disrespectful brats over time, and she wasn’t letting some cheap dollar store Barbie imitation — okay no, actually, she was pretty, but that couldn’t make up for her personality — put her down or harass her best friend. She was Marinette, she was strong and—

“But aren't you a seconde ? Such a shame Luka here's into little girls… you could do so much better,” the girl said in a saccharine voice while fluttering her fake lashes at Luka.

Marinette felt Luka's hold on her hand tightening. She raised her free hand to his chest and gave him a reassuring look, trying to wordlessly tell him that she could handle it, but his jaw was still clenched when she spoke.

“Yeah, I know, a 16-year-old dating a 17-year-old. Shocking,” Marinette gritted through her teeth and pulled Luka towards her, making the girl scoff and check her nails. Good, now they could leave.

“Come on, I don't want us to be late for class,” Marinette said, holding Luka’s hand tighter and walking past the girl. She didn’t miss the chilling glare Luka sent her way.

When they were far enough from Luka’s locker, Marinette started walking faster, as Luka didn't have trouble following her nervous pace with his long legs. The closed doors of the classrooms and the colorful posters on the walls passed through her eyes in a blur even as she tried to focus on them instead of the anger that was building inside her. Marinette didn't want to let some stupid Barbie wannabe ruin her day, but all she could think about were the girl’s words. The deprecative tone in her voice when she called her a seconde and told Luka that he could do much better. She didn’t know what she was talking about.

That was stupid, Luka never failed to remind her how extraordinary she was. Even now as she led him through the school and he followed her quietly, he took the first chance he had to shake her from her thoughts.“Marinette, that's not where your class is…”

“I don't care,” she said, looking for an empty classroom she could calm down in. Luka squeezed her hand reassuringly, and his thumb slowly brushed the back of her hand. Marinette took a deep breath, but his action didn't help her forget about long nails moving on his arm and the words still ringing in her head. It actually made her think about it more.

Who the hell did she think she was?

She had no right to belittle her, to imply that she wasn't worth enough for Luka to spend time with. It didn't matter if it was only because she was trying to hit on him and Marinette was rightfully putting herself between them. She was being disrespectful towards him, invading his personal space, and Marinette couldn't just stand there and watch, right?

No, Luka was her friend and she had every right to rescue him from unwanted attention. It's not like anyone cared about who they were da—

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she realized what she had done, and how Luka had just silently rolled with it and was still holding her hand. Why would she even say something like that?

She picked a turn, opting for the art classroom that was always empty in the early hours of the morning and, when she finally found it, she slammed the door closed behind them.

“Marinette, what the fuck ?” Luka said. His bewildered expression made Marinette’s stomach twist unpleasantly.

She groaned, letting his hand go to hide her face and lean to an empty desk. “I’m so, so sorry. I know I shouldn’t have said it, but she was making you uncomfortable and I wanted to help you get rid of her.”

Luka let out a breathless laugh. “By saying that you’re my girlfriend?”

“I couldn’t come up with anything better, I’m sorry! And if you think she’ll spread the rumor, we can just say that we broke up or something. We’re not even together in the first place and I know I was stupid and I understand if you’re mad at me, but I did it because—”

“Marinette,” Luka interrupted her, his hands reaching for her wrists to gently pull her hands down and reveal her face. As he looked her in the eyes, he held a soft expression that made her feel incredibly better. “I don’t care about the rumors. Honestly, I should thank you for stepping in. I’ve been trying to let her down gently, but it didn’t work. I’m sorry you had to deal with her, too,” he said, his voice tense.

She reached for his hand and squeezed it gently before speaking. “It’s alright, Lu. I’ve learned to deal with that,” she said.

“I know, but you shouldn’t have bothered...” he sighed.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “I’m your friend Luka, and friends help each other out,” she said. Luka nodded, but something about him seemed off. She knew Luka was the type of person to handle things by himself, but he never rejected Marinette’s help when she offered it.

“Are you sure you’re not mad at me for saying that I’m your girlfriend?” she asked hesitantly.

Luka looked up at her and gave her a small smile. “I’m not mad at you, Mari,” he reassured. “You’re fine. Just… don’t catch me off guard with stuff like that.”

Marinette nodded and leaned to wrap her arms around him. She felt his chuckle rumble through his chest as he held her, and when she pulled away, she could finally see the easygoing smile she liked so much.

“Who was she, by the way?” Marinette asked.

“Just some girl from Terminale D. We met at a party last weekend and she got a bit clingy,” Luka said sheepishly, one hand going up to rub his neck.

“That's putting it nicely,” Marinette chuckled.

“Well,” Luka sighed, “I did tell her I wasn't interested in her, so having her still trying to catch my attention was kinda frustrating.”

“Just a little bit,” Marinette teased, pinching her thumb and index together.

Luka chuckled. “Yeah, okay. Thank you for coming at the right time.”

Marinette giggled, and the uneasiness she felt from making up a lie to rescue him from someone's hold disappeared. “I'll be your fake girlfriend whenever you need.”

You could be my real one.

Luka shook the thought out of his mind. Sometimes the feelings he hid deep down in his stomach made their way back up to his heart, and all he could do was push them down again. They'd already been through this, and Luka was happy with being close with Marinette without wanting more. It was only in times like this, when she was careless and maybe made some stupid choices to help him out (like, for example, saying that she was his girlfriend) that they would resurface.

But he learned how to deal with that. A few deep breaths, thinking about the smell of the Seine, and he would be fine. No more thoughts about being more than friends with Marinette.

They had known each other for years and, now that they went to school together and grew closer, he was happy that Marinette had found he was someone to count on. It was the same for him, even if sometimes it meant that he had to control the impulse to kiss her on the spot or scold himself for staring at her for too long.

The sound of the first bell rang, making Luka wince and Marinette giggle in response. He shook his head, taking a moment to recollect himself and clear his throat before speaking. “Can I walk you to class?”

“Don’t you always do that?” Marinette teased before walking to the door.

There was only easy chatter after that, and Luka took a breath of relief as he realized he was listening to Marinette without focusing on the way her lips moved or the feeling of her shoulder brushing against his. She was complaining about some group project she had to work on in the afternoon when they reached the door of her class.

“Well, let me know if you need to be rescued again from some overly-clingy girl,” Marinette said.

Luka shook his head, letting out a small laugh. “Of course, I will.”

Marinette smiled at him but, before she could reply, the second bell rang.

Luka's hand ruffled the hair on top of her head, making Marinette wince, and his mouth moved before he could even realize what he was saying.

“See you at lunch, girlfriend.”

#lukanette #LBSC Exchange 2021 #endgame lukanette #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #my writing

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bungamawar001 · 3 years

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Murder Mystery

this is supposed to be for Cubetober day one, but my mind blanked out in the middle of it, so i finished it late. also i wrote this in three different times of day with three different states of mind, so if it's inconsistant that's why.

anyway, this is set in my au that i made when i was 13, so i apologize to anyone reading this if it's scuffed, but it still holds a very special place in my heart, so here it is.

~~~~~~~

Sparklez was talking. Jesse wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying, but it probably wasn’t anything he didn’t already know. What he was more interested in were the rest of the people seated in front of him. Their bubbles (or auras as was the proper term, apparently) to be exact.

Because the ones surrounding these people were strange. They were denser than the average person’s back in his home dimension, which usually meant they were physically stronger, but none of them looked like they could lift more than any other average person. A likely explanation was just that was how people were in this world, and that was all fine and dandy, but the one that concerned him the most was, ironically, the most normal of their group.

Alright, not normal, but her gold blinking aura was familiar, and to top it off, it was dense and had range. The only times he’d ever felt a bubble like this was with the members of the Order of the Stone. And even if they couldn’t lift more than their own body weight in the best of days, they still had their abilities. Which Jesse found out was the reason for the density and range.

This girl, however, (Cassie Rose, his mind supplied for him) was supposedly from this world. And yet, she had the aura of a person with the same sort of abilities as the old Order of the Stone and himself. Which, if that wasn’t suspicious-

He snapped his attention to where Dan’s fizzling started leaning more towards curiosity than anxiety. It could be something Sparklez had said, but no one else’s mood had shifted quite like his… also, he was looking under the table. Interesting.

“-whoever invited us-”

“Whatcha got there, Dan?”

Sparklez started as Jesse abruptly cut him off, and the entire table turned their attention towards him. Jesse nearly staggered at the weight of the scrutiny, but he managed to keep his gaze on the dual-colored aura.

“O-oh, um, it’s just this button, see?” Dan pushed his chair back and stood up to reveal that there was indeed a button under the table. “I was just thinking that it was an odd place to put one…”

“Dan!” Lizzie looked at her friend incredulously, her swirls now had a hint of exasperation, but the anxiety seemed to multiply tenfold, “Don’t tell us you were about to press it!”

“What?” He was quick to defend himself as his fizzling shifted to fear and embarrassment. It was mostly the fear, though. “No! No, of course not-”

A quick glance around the table to the rest of his friends seemed to drain his resolve, “W-well, I-I mean - “

He stumbled around his words for another second before he threw his hands up and covered his face, “You guys know how I am with buttons! Give me a break!”

Surprisingly, despite how wound up they looked, they did stop glaring at him. And yet…

‘They’re all suspicious of him now’, Jesse thinks to himself as he glances around at the rest of the auras around him. ‘Well, all of them. Except for one.’

Cassie’s gold blinked in anticipation, satisfaction, and a hint of regret that kept coming and going. Which, combined with her odd aura was a dead giveaway that she was the culprit, one hundred percent. At least, that’s what Jesse thought, in any case-

“Oh, hey. I have one too.” Everyone turned their heads towards StampyCat just in time to see him press the button on his side of the table.

“Stampy, DON’T-!”

Jesse wasn’t sure who yelled, but it didn’t matter. Because one second, Sparklez was standing right beside him, and then the next his chair tipped backwards towards a gaping hole that had opened up in the floor.

His reflexes had gotten better ever since a year ago, when they were still in that treehouse, but even then, he could do nothing but watch as his fingers brushed against Sparklez’s sleeve before he dropped into the abyss down below. He thought he felt someone whizz by him as he watched Sparklez fall, but there wasn’t any time to think about it before sand fell from the ceiling and filled up the hole.

At this point, everybody’s auras were swirling, fizzing, popping with fear, anxiety, grief. It was getting harder and harder to keep the forigen emotions at bay along with his own. It didn’t help that Cassie Rose (because she was a damn good actor, but she sure as hell can’t mask her inner self), aka White Pumpkin, aka the current literal bane of his existence, decided to put on a show right after the goddamn murder.

So when the lights turned on again, Jesse found himself kneeling on the floor and clutching his head. It took all of his power to not hurl his guts right then and there. Petra and Lukas, the godsends, seemed to be hoarding everyone out of the room, while Ivor had somehow ended up beside him with his hand on his head. He hadn’t been able to sense Gabriel anywhere since the sand fell, and he would’ve been more concerned over it if he were in any better shape.

As it was, he felt his nausea gradually receding as he felt the effects of Regeneration wash over him. Or maybe it was Health. He vaguely remembered Ivor trying to teach him something about that, although he can’t quite remember at the moment.

“Jesse? How do you feel?” Ivor’s voice cut through the fog in his brain, and he mentally thanked the man for keeping his volume down.

“I’m- I think I’m okay now.” He stayed on the floor for a second. Just to try and fill in the gaps in his memory after Sparklez…

He was instantly overcome with guilt at that thought. So much so that Ivor’s hand left his head as he recoiled from the intensity of it. It came back a second later, and Jesse could feel the other’s concern from where Ivor was sitting next to him.

“Jesse?”

“It- the- the sand- Sparklez…”

Ivor’s royal blue aura shimmered with relief, and Jesse looked at him in confusion as the older man lightly shook his head.

“Sparklez is fine, Jesse. I activated Speed and caught him before he fell.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. It’ll be a pain to try and explain that to the newcomers, however.”

Well. That’s a relief. Not the explaining part. But at least no one died this time. He’ll probably still have nightmares about this incident though. Bummer.

~~~~~~~~~

When Jesse and Ivor finally stepped out into the main hall, they took a double take at the scene in front of them.

Stampy was hiding behind Gabriel and Petra; Dan and Lizzie were in an argument against Stacy and Cassie; and Sparklez and Lukas seemed to be stuck in the middle failing to act as mediator between the groups.

“This is Stampy we’re talking about, guys! He didn’t do it on purpose!” Lizzie’s pink was swirling with anxiety and it seemed like her resolve was faltering.

“He still pressed the button! After all the grief we gave Dan for thinking about it, he still pressed it!” Stacy’s navy was the opposite. There was fear there, sure. But her anger and betrayal was burning much stronger and more decisively than Lizzie’s.

It would probably be a smart idea to diffuse this situation sooner rather than later.

“Hey! Hey, guys?” Jesse tried. They seemed to be too caught up in yelling at each other to have noticed the new arrivals.

“I would’ve pressed it! If Jesse hadn’t stopped me I would’ve! I was curious about it, and Stampy was too!” Dan’s blue and white aura was a sight to behold. Not because of the dual colors, Jesse's gotten over that while he’d been questioning him. His anger was making his bubble fizzle and spark, and his desperation was thick in the air.

“What Dan said!” Stampy’s aura was chilly with fear and betrayal. Which was valid, since two of his friends were vehemently against him..

“So you admit to being the White Pumpkin?” Cassie Rose. Her gold aura was bleeding with victory and even more regret. There was also a sort of desperate relief much closer to her core that almost had Jesse wondering why she was doing this..

Almost.

“Guys, I have-”

“Allll right! Let’s not start accusing people with doubtful evidence-”

Stacy whipped around to face her friend, “You were the one who fell because of him, Sparklez!”

“Yes, I know that, just- just hear me out, okay?” CaptainSparklez’ bright red aura had been calm, for the entire time that Jesse had been around him. Even now, after his brush of death, and the layers of anxiousness and fear within him, his aura didn’t send wave after wave of emotions like Jesse expected.

He didn’t know if that was the reason everybody settled, or because Sparklez was the one who nearly died this time, but finally, Stacy’s angry burning mellowed down to a smaller flame, and Dan’s sparks grew less intense, although his anger was still fizzling quickly and quietly in his own bubble.

“I- I know this has been a very stressful evening for all of us, but Stampy’s our friend. I know we haven’t known him as long as Lizzie and Dan have, Stacy, Cassie, but I know him well enough to be positive that he wouldn’t do something like this on purpose.”

“...fine,” With that, Stacy’s anger disappeared, and in its place was a mix of doubt and regret. Maybe she wasn’t really angry at Stampy in the end? There were only so many people to blame, after all. “But if you’re so sure he didn’t do it, then who did?”

Cassie’s bubble started to blink rapidly in desperation, and Jesse rushed to interject before she could say anything, “I know who it is.”

Before anyone could react and without missing a beat, Cassie responded, “Is it you?”

“Wha- No! I’m not going to say names without any further proof, but it’s not me!”

“That sounds like something a suspicious person would say.”

Jesse’s had just about enough of this ginger, honestly, “And how would you know what a suspicious person sounds like?”

“Like you, clearly.”

“I am not-!”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Gabriel grabbed Jesse’s arm and pulled him away. “We have more important things to worry about.”

Right. Finding proof.

~~~~~~~

It was a hassle, trying to get everyone to agree to stay in the same room while Jesse, Ivor, and Petra took a look around. Eventually, they reached a compromise when it was brought up that Ivor was the one who saved Sparklez. Unfortunately, part of that compromise was they had to bring Cassie with them.

He risked a glance at the golden bubble blinking rapidly with determination and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

#if i manage to do the rest of cubetober it's going to be in this au #hopefully #mcsm #cubetober 2021 #day 1

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lovesquareshippingtrash · 3 years

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Season 4 reaction

So I’ve just watched season 4. Like, all of it in one day. I decided to wait until I could get all episodes in English before watching any of it.

So let’s talk about it! Spoilers for the whole season below the cut, naturally.

So a big part of why I didn’t start watching was because of spoilers I had seen that sounded like the show was doing stuff I didn’t want to see until I could see the resolution. Stuff like Marinette telling Alya. As well as just any parts of the relationships with Kagami and Luka.

The majority of the season was a breath of fresh air, frankly. It felt like all of the nonsense excuses from the first few seasons to justify the bizarre continuity were finally gone, as episode after episode kept having an impact on what came next. There were arcs and everything! The way the subplots flowed together, with everything involving Alya acting as Marinette’s support flowing really well. Gabriel recognising the connection between Ladybug and Rena Rouge (which he would have caught onto even if Alya hadn’t given SentiNino his Miraculous, because Optigami would have fused with her Miraculous instead, and gone back with her, revealing that she kept her Miraculous), going into Hawk Moth targeting her and Alya taking on the Rena Furtive role, leading into Nino growing suspicious, and then Nino revealing his and Alya’s secret identities to Adrien, which... disappointingly lead nowhere. Like, with all of Adrien’s bitterness over Team Miraculous and being left out of the loop, he never even mentioned to Ladybug that he knew? I mean, I get that it’s Adrien who found out, but he could have covered that. I guess Adrien is just better at keeping the secrets ignoring Ephemeral. The Luka/Jagged subplot was also super fun, and again, flowed really well episode to episode in the early parts of the season in particular.

Episodes: I knew Truth and Lies were going to be connected, the titles alone made that clear, but the overlapping time frame was a fun touch. Especially as it meant we got an episode that followed Adrien’s perspective pretty much the whole time. Felt a little like Gabriel ran out of ideas for akumatising Kagami though. Like, he gave Luka a truth exposing power, and then finding Kagami in very much the same position immediately after he just... lets her freeze anyone who has ever lied? Kinda weak sauce.

Cat Noir making the plan to fend of Truth was so good to see, and hearing Ladybug express what she likes about Cat Noir was heartwarming.

But I’m glad the relationships were ended, to be honest. I’m not gonna salt on them or whatever, but this blog is titled Love Square Shipping Trash. If you came here hoping to see positive takes on alternate Marinette & Adrien ships, that’s on you. It’s hard to tell how much of this was the writers wanting to differentiate the root problems in the relationships, how much is misogyny that the show has real issues with, and how much is just my own reading, but the relationships felt super unhealthy for Luka and Adrien. Luka just being completely okay with Marinette being unable to get over Adrien... that’s not healthy for him. Having him as a supportive friend is better. When she broke up with him, he finished spoke to help her through it, but it would have been far better for him if he’d ended it, saying that he still has feelings, and would love to try again some day, but not whilst she both can’t talk to him and more importantly can’t get over Adrien.

And then there’s either Adrien not feeling comfortable enough to act natural around Kagami, or else Kagami interpreting Adrien’s behaviour as unnatural. Either way, not great. It was better that she was the one to end things, but I’d have preferred it if it were simply her recognising that Adrien wasn’t comfortable in the relationship, and not holding that against him.

Then Gang of Secrets followed up on this! Marinette is clearly stressed, understandably, and I think it’s reasonable that a stressed teenager could lash out like that without meaning to. Sometimes you just need a little space.

Now, Alya being allowed to become Rena Rouge again - and later other past team members returning. I guess I misunderstood the season 3 finale, because I thought their identities were exposed to the general public, but I guess just to Gabriel and Nathalie? Like, Chloé didn’t remember and Adrien didn’t realise... I guess?? Which is whatever, and I suppose that’s why Chloé wasn’t arrested for aiding a terrorist without any external influence. But the issue with Chloé becoming Queen Bee was never about her identity being known publicly, it was about Hawk Moth being able to target her family as a result. In Miraculer, Chloé became the first person to fully reject Hawk Moth because of her loyalty to Ladybug, but even that wasn’t enough to let her back on the team. In Heart Hunter, Chloé’s parents were already akumatised, and she wasn’t emotionally compromised, she was ready to support Ladybug. But she was denied. Yet in this season, everyone else gets to keep going - even when Hawk Moth blatantly targets them based on their personal lives! And okay, Alya handled it, largely because she already had her Miraculous and Gabriel didn’t know that, but he could have then started targeting all of the others?? But it’s fine, just let them all stay involved, nbd. The hypocrisy of it to justify making Chloé more awful than ever before because Astruc decided the character who went through more character growth and redemption than any other was incapable of change is aggravating.

Marinette wanting to help Kagami and Adrien so much in Mr Pigeon 72 was adorable, even if it was clearly what she really wanted for herself, and she just needed to listen to Kagami.

Psycomedian felt like a much older episode, like early season 2, in a good way. Marinette trying to win Adrien through laughter - not knowing that she was already the best at making him laugh - was precious. I’m very happy that they talked it out at the end and she got to realise that he found her naturally funny. Also, angy Ladybug was incredible, and it made me SO happy that Cat Noir was able to take the lead, and came up with a brilliant plan himself. It was a much simpler, standalone episode, but it did what it needed to do in a delightful way. Oh, and the show FINALLY acknowledging through Rose - BEST character to do it with - that not only is friendship a step, but that’s REALLY FREAKING IMPORTANT to be friends with someone with whom you want to pursue a long term relationship felt SO cathartic. And man, they’re all but outright stating that Rose and Juleka are in a relationship now, huh? MORE PLEASE.

So Furious Fu... like, Su-Han was a jerk about it, but he was absolutely right. It was entirely unreasonable to put all the pressure and responsibility he did on two children. Making them heroes was bad enough, making Marinette Guardian was so much worse. It’s kind of annoying that the show would bring it up, though, because it removes some suspension of disbelief. Plenty of media, particularly children’s of family media, puts the kids in charge for whatever reason. When it’s a fate/destiny deal, the adults can absolutely question it and say the kids shouldn’t, but they have to be the ones to save the day. Here, though, it could have been anyone, and we suspend the disbelief that it wouldn’t be adults because everyone just accepts that this is fine for kids. Having an authority figure regarding the powers point out how messed up this is pulls the audience out in a way that can’t then just be ignored. But uh, hey, maybe instead of just skulking all season you could actually BE USEFUL and try to stop Shadow Moth? Like, if he’s supposed to be watching the heroes at all times, maybe when Gabriel is out publicly during Sentibubbler Sun Han could show up, neutralise him, and reclaim the stolen Miraculous! Blah.

Next up is the Zoé arc. It would have been so easy for her to say to her family at the end that she was only pretending to be nice to pull the long con. I’m glad they didn’t though, there are more than enough double-crossing characters. I love that André stood up for her and helped her out though! I hope that Zoé can continue to help him stand up to Chloé and Audrey. They’ve got a great dynamic, and it’s SO good for the show to have the step-parent be the positive influence like this. Glad to see Adrien finally follow up on what he said to Chloé in Despair Bear, even if it’s a full two seasons later.

Gabriel Agreste was such a strong episode. There was so much going on at that party! Marinette & Chloé’s deal was the weakest part for sure - and it’s insane that Chloé has now gone full blown supervillain in her public life. Although it being some bizarre masquerade ball, but with everyone only getting a mask on arrival, and then otherwise dressed like it’s a freaking funeral... very weird energy.

The focus episodes introducing new heroes were great. I particularly enjoyed Guiltrip. First, the focused highlight of the whole class banding together and comforting Juleka such that she isn’t akumatised, and doing this repeatedly throughout the episode - and the season - is wonderful. Second, excellent twist to have Reflekta IMMEDIATELY surrender to her guilt. She doesn’t blame anyone but herself, so it’s great that she doesn’t just rage against her friends blindly. And then Rose - ROSE. Absolute light. I love that the episode does good character work justifying her acting more childish than the others in a very real way. I love that she just wants her friends to treat her the same. Marinette initially leading the battle stations when Rose sneezes, then later yanking her cushion back, was excellent. And the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir really couldn’t keep going without that absolutely beacon of positivity was perfect. I love that, as Ladybug said, there was no big battle to save the day. The only thing missing was to FINALLY let Rose and Juleka kiss. But, I mean, the show still hasn’t even shown Alya and Nino kiss, so what are the odds of that, really.

My main thought on Glaciator 2 is just that it’s nice that Cat Noir is trying to be more respectful of Ladybug’s feelings, and that they have the conversation about boundaries, that she actually enjoys the playful banter and even him calling her “my lady” is fine. Having the conversation is so healthy! We need that so much more, even if it has to take place during an action scene to fit it in.

Hack-San was a little frustrating. Cat Noir’s concerns were entirely justified. I was pleased to see that, in Ladybug’s absence and with a pretty cocky new partner, he was immediately ready to take the lead and be the serious hero, showing that he’s always capable of that, but that he knows he and Ladybug work better with one person taking the lead, and it makes more sense when it’s her Lucky Charm that needs to be used. Really, Alya should have just explained that she was Rena Rouge - since Hawk Moth wouldn’t hear that - and he would probably have been fine much quicker. Alya telling Marinette to talk to Cat Noir was VERY good, and I’m glad they talked. Cat Noir forgiving Ladybug was nice, although he’s not entirely right to say she did nothing wrong - she DOES need a way to let him know about situations like this, so that he doesn’t have to fear that her Miraculous was stolen, or that the new hero is a villain.

Wishmaker was a delight. Alec FINALLY getting to grow and stop being so awful, stop getting people akumatised all the time. Luka’s advice to Marinette and Adrien should have just been we are FOURTEEN, y’all need to chill, people double your age still don’t know what to do with their lives. Luka learning both heroes’ identity’s is wild, and it’s so strange that nothing has been done with that. It’ll obviously pay off later, but still. Feels bad for Luka, now knowing what Marinette’s secret was, but being unable to say anything. Also, most importantly, Crocojagged was just wonderful. So contended and chill.

Simpleman was just plain fun, especially with the heroes and even Shadow Moth affected. Running through the streets screaming to fight him, and he’s just like “I will stay hidden!”, very fun.

Qilin, like Psycomedian, felt like a much earlier episode, but in not such a great way. It felt like it was doing the season 1 thing of introducing us to a character through a focus episode - except this is season 4, we know who Sabine is. The ticket collector was absolutely insane, like, aside from going way too hard about all of this, does he seriously not know where he lives? He has to realise that just bullying this woman is going to make her a target. Another reason it felt like season 1. Apparently he was also racially profiling her?? I think that must have largely been removed from the dub. So many of the scenes felt uncomfortable to watch, and it seems like the only thing this episode added to the show overall was an akumatised form for Sabine for the following episode.

Tikki’s whole deal in Dearest Family was just weird. Seems like rounding Tikki up could have been solved by Marinette renouncing her, though, forcing her back into the earrings. Also, like, it seems like they were trying to present various nuanced perspectives, except that Sabine was very clearly in the right? She wanted to talk it through with Marinette.

Ephemeral... why are we just doing Cat Blanc again? It felt like a MUCH weaker version of that episode, and with none of the characters remembering anything from the other timeline, we don’t gain anything from this - Cat Blanc has contributed to the show by showing that Marinette is still traumatised from the event. Like, it’s interesting to see the perspective of Marinette learning Adrien’s identity first, and how different that is for her - I have to assume this was addressed here because by the time of the actual reveal her relationship will have grown with both boys such that she knows all sides better and can more easily see that they’re the same.

Luka’s whole role made no sense. Instead of the convoluted plan, he just had to tell Ladybug that he already knew who Cat Noir was and could tell the Su Han himself. Then when he’s sent into find the kwamis, he points out that Second Chance can only go back 5 minutes, and Sass is just like yeah but not for me, I can just risk tearing the timeline apart, when Fluff is RIGHT THERE. Luka should have just used Fluff for safer time travel. Like, this was literally the solution when they set up this same problem a season ago. Fluff could have ALSO helped deal with the Su Han situation, by just leaving a note that Bunnyx needed to come back to that moment and tell Su Han herself, since she knows their identities in the future.

When I first heard that Cat Noir would be giving up his Miraculous in Kuro Neko, based on the little spoilers I’d heard about the season, I assumed I would be entirely on his side in the moment. But... no, not really. He didn’t actually bring up any of the points from the season where he justifiably felt left out, like Scarabella, or Alya & Nino. He just pouted that Ladybug didn’t need him, when she was clearly busy retrieving the other Miraculouses instead of waiting FIVE MINUTES for her to finish that, at which point they could probably talk - all because HE didn’t turn up for a fight that she ABSOLUTELY wanted him at, and he knows that she tried to contact him. The idea that he’s “just another holder” now doesn’t hold water since she still won’t let him reveal his identity, which puts him in a very different position to the rest. It’s just odd that the past few seasons, starting back in Syren, have built up Cat Noir’s justification for feeling left out, but when it culminates in this episode, none of that is used, and instead he’s just being petulant. The episode also SHOULD have ended with Ladybug filling Cat Noir on some details that he’s missed, like Cat Blanc, and, frankly, filling him in about Rena Furtive, but of course that would mean missing out in finale drama.

Penalteam... happened. The episodes this season that introduced each new hero were solid, so it’s a let down to just have these all crammed in here. Also weird was calling in Kagami and Luka when they weren’t involved or anything. They had enough for a full team without them. Major eyeroll at Alya and Alix being the first ones captured, since they couldn’t be given their Miraculouses without more questions. But now more than ever, we’re supposed to believe that these kids can’t figure out that their group happens to include someone with the exact body type of each of their classmates who ran to hide? It was a nice touch though, following Kuro Neko, for Ladybug to be ready to battle with just herself and Cat Noir, until he said that they might want help on this one - and then her bringing in an extra THIRTEEN people to help, essentially saying she felt that to adequately make up for him, she needed that many more people involved. I was right with Chloé at the end though, asking what Lila’s name is. When was the last time she had a line of dialogue??

And now the finale... Honestly, my only thoughts on Risk are just the same as back in Chameleon. Marinette told the table that Adrien had directly said he didn’t want to go, and should have also pointed out how obviously miserable Adrien looked in the video. Everyone was projecting themselves onto Adrien - Kim saying everyone wants to be a model, Nino assuming Adrien would want to go on the trip like he hasn’t made it clear time after time he wants to be a normal kid and be with his friends. But Alya still insisting that Marinette is just jealous of Lila is just the worst of it all, and has to be why they didn’t use Lila throughout the season - because if she had been involved in any previous episode, then maybe Alya would have stopped to think for a second that maybe LADYBUG knew more about the person who had claimed to be LADYBUG’S BEST FRIEND. The season was set up to exclude a major character just to have a weak justification for Alya being against Marinette in this scene. The worst part is they could have addressed this far more logically by just not having Alya there - they could have given any old reason for her absence, or even none at all - there was no reason given for Rose and Kim to be hanging out without their closer friends in the scene.

Then in Strike Back... the plan to find the akumatised object... was for Marinette to fuse three Miraculouses to go get Adrien, travel back in time, and for Adrien... to throw a ball. None of that even needed her to use the Ladybug Miraculous, if it’s a concern about using too many powers she could have dropped that one. And she didn’t get Adrien, she didn’t need to use the Horse either. The given reason for recruiting Adrien is that he wasn’t affected by Risk. But he doesn’t make any decisions in the plan anyway, so Ladybug didn’t avoid any risks by including him. I get that she’s still affected by Risk, but the fact is that every other risk we saw taken made... some level of sense. Okay, the kid’s parents letting him go was a bit odd, but that's small scale, and they weren’t actively aware of the situation. Ladybug, at that time, was thinking carefully about what risks were involved, and trying to avoid them... but ends up taking a way bigger risk that didn’t make any sense for her to even consider.

The final moments... the INSTANT she realised that Félix had tricked her she should have dropped her transformation. Adrien learning her identity is a FAR better solution than letting anything get taken from her, and it was reasonable to assume he’d look away anyway. Then her yoyo gets taken - AGAIN her immediate response should be to detransform. There is no reason whatsoever that her yoyo shouldn’t dematerialise when she’s no longer Ladybug. It felt contrived for the drama and the following season’s set up.

Finally... got to address SentiAdrien. The theory that Adrien has, in fact, always been a sentimonster. I don’t like the idea, it’s never sat right with me, even if I can’t quite explain why. But the season makes it abundantly clear that that is what’s happening. Same is true of Félix. The Amok is in Gabriel’s ring, and/or Emilie’s ring... maybe one each? It’s a little unclear. But throughout the season, whenever Adrien is about to defy Gabriel, he fiddles with his ring and Gabriel instantly meekly obeys. Most notably in Ephemeral - Adrien was absolutely going to fight akumatisation off entirely, if Gabriel couldn’t force him to accept. In Kuro Neko, he placidly remained in place at the press conference instead of making an excuse to leave because of a direct order to stay there. In Risk, the moment Gabriel gives Nathalie his ring, Adrien stops listening to Gabriel, but Nathalie is able to order him around. The season has made it clear - it’s just weird that previous seasons don’t hold up. In Cat Blanc, he knew that was Adrien. There is no reason he couldn’t have used the Amok to entirely control him, as he does with Ephemeral. It honestly feels like the found a fan theory online and just incorporated it into the show.

To sum up the season as a whole, it started off incredibly strong, with numerous interesting interwoven plot threads and really good character development - the potential to easily be the best season, not close. Even aspects that I didn’t personally care for, such as Marinette’s relationship with Luka, Adrien’s with Kagami, and Alya learning Ladybug’s identity, were really solid plot points that built the season up well. The season was let down by a couple of stand alone episodes, but those are no big deal - and then royally messed up with a convoluted finale that just didn’t hold up to what had previously been established, for the sake of establishing the following season. Overall, it’s still probably the strongest season of the show, but its flaws are far from negligible.

#Miraculous #Ladybug #Cat Noir #Hawk Moth #Shadow Moth #season 4 #ml #reaction #Luka Couffaine #Kagami Tsurugi #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrien Agreste #Alya Césaire #Rena Furtive

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aalissy · 3 years

Text

Rain

Day 1 of Marichat May is hereee!! Yayaya!! I love this dynamic and I’m excited to write more for it :). Lemme know what you guys think of this lil chapter haha. I loved writing it :D

AO3

“I hate the rain,” Chat grumbled, glaring out Marinette’s bedroom window as the storm raged outside. Lightning streaked the night sky as she blinked over at him. His blonde hair was dripping with small droplets of rainwater and she huffed at the mess he was making of her floor.

Suddenly, he shook his head viciously, rubbing the water off of him with a scowl. Marinette spluttered, holding her hands up as it all fell onto her. With a shriek, she laughed, “Chat, stop! You’re getting water everywhere! Oh my god, you are such a cat.”

“Sorry, purrincess.” He gave her an ashamed smile, his hands pausing in his hair.

Rolling her eyes, she quickly pulled open one of her drawers. Grabbing a small towel, she threw it at him, feeling somewhat satisfied when it hit him squarely in the face. “Here. Use this to dry off instead so you don’t get water all over.”

Chat took it gratefully, quickly drying off his hair. Marinette sighed quietly, walking over to her window to stare out at the rainstorm. She watched the water fall with a small, delicate smile. She had no idea what Chat was talking about. Rain was gorgeous. Closing her eyes, she listened to the sounds, drifting back to another day where she stood in the rain. She mumbled softly, “I really can’t believe you don’t like rain. I absolutely adore it.”

He hummed lightly, moving his head from side to side as he considered her words. “Well, it’s not that I usually hate it, I just got caught in it tonight. Let me tell you, that was not fun. Especially when I was looking furward to a nice, easy night run.”

Marinette gave him an amused look as he pouted, crossing his arms as he continued to glare out the window. He looked like the weather had personally offended him in some way. Shaking her head fondly, she laughed. “So, instead of going home and grabbing an umbrella or going back to bed, you decided to come here?”

Chat turned to look down at her, his lower lip jutting out into an even bigger pout. “Marinette, I was cold and wet. It came out of nowhere and I needed to find somewhere warm to stay and your home is pawsitively the warmest,” he whined at her rather pathetically.

She giggled again, patting his arm lightly. A smirk then twitched at her lips as she raised an amused eyebrow at him. “Maybe so, but I don’t typically make a habit of picking up strays.”

“So, you’d have let me freeze to death in the rain instead. How cruel,” Chat moaned at her dramatically.

“Oh quit being such a baby,” Marinette swatted him playfully, ignoring his indignant shout. “It’s not that cold.”

“It most definitely is,” he huffed, “Were you the one outside getting drenched?”

She couldn’t hold back another fond laugh, rolling her eyes at him. Her partner was such a dork. He risked his life every day during akuma attacks but as soon as a little rain hits and he turns into a scaredy-cat.

Chat slid into her desk chair as he scrutinized her. “Actually, I was wrong earlier. I do hate the rain. How do you like it?”

A nostalgic grin lit up her face as she gazed outside. Once again, she was transported to another day in the rain. God, it felt so long ago now. Marinette whispered before she could fully register what she was even saying, “I fell in love in the rain.”

“Ooh,” Chat gave her a mischievous smirk and her eyes jolted over to stare at him, realizing what she had just said. “You and Luka met in the rain?”

Marinette’s cheeks flushed faintly. Her head ducked down and she shook it quickly. “No, no, no, no! This was a completely different boy and it was before I even met Luka.”

He tilted his head, giving her an eager look as he asked, “Who’s the boy then?”

“No one,” she waved her hand in the air before sighing sadly. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m trying to get over him.”

“Meowch,” Chat said, pouting at her. “You wound me, purrincess. You can trust me. I am purrety good at keeping a secret, you know.”

Marinette rolled her eyes at him as he gave her a playful wink. Glancing away, she muttered, “He’s just a classmate of mine. He gave me his umbrella after we got off to a rough start, so whenever it rains I can’t help but think about him. Like I said, though, I’m trying to get over him because he only sees me as a friend.”

She blew out a harsh breath, her bangs swaying slightly as she collapsed into her chaise. Pursing her lips up at the ceiling, she tried to shove away any thoughts of Adrien. With her eyes trained on the ceiling, she missed Chat’s own eyes practically bulge out of his head. Marinette did hear him splutter and cough and she turned her head to look at him as he almost fell out of the desk chair. Sitting up, she gave him a concerned look. “Are you alright, Chat?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” he spluttered before looking at her with something she couldn’t quite identify in his eyes. “T-this classmate of yours, d-do you still have his umbrella?”

A faint smile twitched at her lips as her gaze was drawn over to the treasure chest that she kept it in. Nodding her head, Marinette said, “Yeah. He never asked for it back, so I kept it. Now that you mention it, though, I should probably find a way to return it.”

“No!” Chat nearly shouted before grimacing. Her eyes snapped over to connect with his as she frowned at him in confusion. What had caused that little outburst? Opening her mouth to ask him just that, he cut her off by speaking again, his cheeks suspiciously pink, “W-what I mean is... if he hasn’t asked for it back yet, you can probably keep it. I-I’m sure he doesn’t mind.”

This was very unlike the superhero. He rarely stuttered and almost never had a sentence that didn’t include a pun of some kind. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him suspiciously. “What’s wrong, Chaton? You’re acting very jittery all of a sudden.”

“Nothing’s wrong!” he squeaked in a rather high-pitched voice, his eyes darting around her room. “I just... are you sure he only sees you as a friend?”

Marinette threw her head back in a laugh. Adrien had only said it about a million times. Her eyes glimmered mischievously as she looked back over at him, crossing her arms with a smirk. Getting off of her chaise, she walked over to him and flicked his bell playfully. “Why? Are you jealous?”

“Huh?” Chat frowned at her in genuine confusion for a brief moment before his face lit up in realization. He waved his hand in the air as he chuckled awkwardly. “No, no, not at all! Why would I be jealous of a boy I don’t know? At all.”

Now it was her turn to frown at him. Even her attempt to lighten the mood hadn’t worked. Chat was still very tense as he continued to fidget and look everywhere but at her. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “Relax, I was just kidding, kitty. But... why are you acting so strange then?”

“I’m not!” he cleared his throat before he stood up out of her chair quickly. Her shocked eyes met his determined ones as he asked, “Are you sure getting over him is the best plan, though?”

What was Chat even talking about? How did his mood shift so suddenly? With a small gulp, Marinette glanced away from his knowing gaze. “W-well, I mean, yeah, I do. Like I said, Chat, we’re friends and that’s all he wants us to be, and I’m okay with that.”

He nodded solemnly, his eyes looking dejected and she wondered what she had said to cause that kind of a reaction. Slowly, he spoke up, “So, if he did realize that he had feelings for you too, it’d be too late?”

Marinette jolted in shock, the idea too unbelievable that it didn’t even seem realistic. With a quick snort, she said, “That would never happen. But if by some miracle, he woke up and suddenly had feelings for me, I don’t think I would ever be able to turn him down.”

Chat’s face brightened and he turned to look out the window with a bright smile. “Well, purrincess, it looks like the rain has stopped now, so this stray can get out of your fur.”

“I do not have fur!” She scrunched her nose at him in disgust.

Chat simply chuckled before bounding up onto her bed. He gave her a quick wink and a salute as he looked down at her softly. “I’ll see you soon, Marinette.”

“Good night,” Marinette said, giving him a wave as he leaped out of her hatch and took off into the night. Shaking her head, she muttered, “What a strange cat.”

#marichatmay2021 #marichatmay #marichat #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #fic #fanfic #ml #mlb

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