#there COULD be ladynoir too. like identity reveal right before the end. and then...

[coffeebanana]

nobody: me: adrinette "They Both Die At The End" AU

[ilikekidsshows]

About you being harassed by Marinette fans. I don't know if me doing this is weird, but you being open bout that makes me want to open up more too. I've send you 4 anons by now (u probably could already tell they were from one person) because I don't have a miraculous Blog anymore since the hiatus before Destruction because Marinette fans found one of my posts criticizing Marinette's treatment of Cat Noir and her leadership and they went after me for i think almost an entire week. I ended up deleting my blog in panic and fear of it getting worse the more traffic it got amongst Mari stans.

I followed the show and Fandom til now from afar to see if any of my Marinette problems were getting the fixes everyone screamed about season 5 would deliver but I can't say that happened. I wholeheartedly agree that with alot of other people that it only got worse with the doubling down and her gettin less heroic underneath the surface.

So I'm still here and upset that I was bullied out of this fandom for things I was apparently right about to degrees I didn't even knew back then how right I'd end up being....

I found a couple of blogs to follow that share my opinions and you guys have been interwoven alot now so I thought sending anons to dip my toe back into being part of the discourse is a good idea. I hope I didn't cause any Mari stans getting angry at you for it, I've been worried bout that ngl.

I would like to ask bout one of the topics Marinette fans cyberbullied me for but I still think I'm right for questioning:

How much value does Marinette see in being friends with her love interests?

Oc im not doubting that she sees at least some worth in it, but it feels very shallow. Fandom is working the lion's share to take what little canon gives and run with it til they think their fanon is real.

Marinette values friendship, sure, but Zoe is the only love interest of hers for whom that feels right to say

Marinette in Canon has said many times that for her being friends with the one she loves is the worst thing she could possibly imagine. E. g. Psycomedian. And she was rewarded with Adrien being her devoted and desperate prince for her doing probably the most friendship related thing she did in all season 4. She had a basic little convo with him about understanding to have problems and that's where it ended. Where did Marinette ever even try to be rlly Adrien's friend? She said 500x that she's finally gonna put her romance feelings aside for a bit to focus on her job (which I hoped would mean she'd work on her weaknesses in the platonic Ladynoir team dynamic too... Silly me... )

But that never goes anywhere? Weren't Adrien and Kagami the ones literally having been created out of the feeling love or to love someone in particular and even THEY could overwrite their senti programming better than Marinette ever could get over her normal ass feelings for a week? Adrien and Kagami value the friendship with the one they love deeply, is that the difference? That Marinette can't ever move one from loving someone because friendship feels like an awful downgrade and torture to her so she stays the same? What does that say bout her?

Or that Luka and Cat Noir never caused her stalker paranoia to break out that Derision claims she does to protect herself. Why does it only apply to Adrien? And not even Cat Noir, too? In my other anons I brought up how awful I think it is that Marinette seemingly has no interest in leaning anything rlly about the boy underneath Cat Noir's mask, now she barely acts like she remembers that he's real and that they'll one day reveal where he'll then find out how many times she deliberately deceived him with her civilian identity in very hurtful ways.

How does that correspond to her being in love and more important for my question, what does that level of refusal to treat someone like a real person say about her willingness to be Cat's friend? Cause I can't see friendship in Ladynoir anymore. Marinette was the one who killed that in season 4 and then season 5 didn't improve her in much. Friends don't treat each other the way Marinette so easily uses, hurts ignores, silences and deceives Cat Noir without batting an eye.

The only effort she really made was before Kwamis choice. When she thought he was still in love with her and expected that s4 magically caused no damage to his feelings for her. she seemingly thought she could just allow him to dedicate himself to her for an overall easy way to sweep everything under the rug and make him "happy" again without her ever having to really try and do better herself because that was the comfort she was seeking at that time (shoutout to Familyagrestefanblog and erisluna35. I've been paraphrasing them alot and wanted mention that too. Didn't get to write out my own opinion in a while and I agree with them x})

This refusal to face her hurtful actions of s4 quickly developed into her craving for him to give her his easy love and not wanting to take anything less than precisely the endless devotion she wanted from him now. No matter what the price. No matter how much it put him too in danger (what even meant Cat Blanc?), and yet, still no interest in him as a person.

Once she had to take the no, she left and then she never again made a genuine effort in Ladynoir. Any effort to better herself was romance related. Determination may have been the episode where she rlly noticed her changed feelings for him, but she did try earlier than that. But it fully stopped with his no as did her changed feelings vanish as quickly as they showed up. So what does that say about her and how she views their "friendship"?

Season 4 has her already show that she doesn't want Ladynoir to be an actual friendship since she treats him barely better than a magical pet she rarely ever thinks about, which caught her off guard over and over that she isn't being the kindest and adoring person of all time to him. She treats him so much worse than her actual friends and in s5 she isn't trying to build a real connection beyond wanting him to shower her in his devotion and love.

What season 5 shows bout Marinette's view of the Ladynoir friendship is in my most generous reading her not getting to hide behind any romantic feelings from either side that she doesn't know how to be his friend, after she had to learn in season 4 that she was a really really bad one. But even with that generous reading, it would still mean that Marinette then went on prioritizing not having to feel any further discomfort or having to owe up for her actual mistakes in their bond over her finally being the friend she SHOULD think Cat Noir deserves. A friend he desperately needed but never got cause she called it a day with her personal needs being met my having her best friend Alya with her.

Friends don't do that. Marinette denied him any genuine friendship he obviously truly needed as Cat Noir because she personally didn't need it from him anymore cause of Alya. And he rejected her desire to now be adored by him so there was no purpose left anymore for him to fulfill in her life besides the easy partner she made clear cant ask shit from her.

That is so unbelievably selfish... How on earth is that supposed to be FRIENDSHIP?

Srry, for this being long. Last point.

Luka of course needs to be mentioned too. Sure, the show says they are friends. But are they really? Their friendship is built on him being her platonic therapist back-up boyfriend who doesn't ask shit of her either. This is still the same pattern as with Catrien. Luka does all the emotional labor and Marinette just takes and takes and that's what makes her so comfortable around him but she isn't interested in him either beyond what she sees day to day in front of her.

That doesn't count as friendship in my book. For Adrigami you can still feel their friendship after their breakup. But Lukanette is Luka being a platonic therapist boyfriend and Marinette being just as disinterested in him as with Cat Noir while being just as comfortable getting showered in emotional labor that she's unwilling to work on giving back the way she should.

How is that friendship? What value has friendship for Marinette once any romantic feelings are involved from either side and it isn't Zoé (feels like a homophobic backhanded compliment lmao)

That was very long, I apologize. But thanks to writing in anon I started becoming more comfortable with the idea of joining the Fandom discourse again. I've got alot I wanna say after all that time in silence but I'm not sure yet if I should put myself out there again with a blog. With how season 5 ended Marinette stans are gonna be vicious beasts to any criticism they come across and I don't want that to happen again :(

---

I hope this isn't a case of speak of the devil and he shall appear but lately things have been really quiet on the Marinette stan front. The worst I’ve gotten was this really unhinged one, but they were so unpleasant they didn't have any friends so the harassment was very one-note and stopped pretty quickly since they had to run it alone. It could be that now that season 5 confirmed that season 4 wasn't an outlier, that the show’s writing has gotten incredibly sloppy and nasty, the critical side of the fandom has become unified and we add to each other’s posts and kind of back each other up. It's harder for Marinette stans to target us one by one, and their preferred tactic is dogpiling a single blog. A lot of the Marinette stans protesting my posts now shut up right quick when they see more people agreeing with me adding to the reblog chain.

As for the question, I agree with your assessment. It really does appear that Marinette hates the idea of being friends with a love interest. She whined about Adrien seeing her as just a friend all the way back in Riposte. Adrien sung her praises to Kagami, while she spied on them, and she had the gall to whine that the boy she “loves” thinks so highly of her because it wasn't the kind of thinking she wanted.

There was this one thing I said in a previous post that I think is accurate: Marinette part-times being Cat Noir's friend. Even the part of time she acts as his friend, she ignores his feelings, insults him, pushes him away, refuses to give him emotional support in any way and lies to him about anything she possibly can. She only approaches him as Marinette when she wants to complain about Adrien not coming to the date he didn't know was a date, when she thinks she can score a date with him or so that she can practice confessing to Adrien on him. Marinette's “friendship” with Cat Noir is all take with no give when she isn't outright ignoring his existence.

She also ignores boys who have feelings for her in her civilian life. Nathaniel is very suspicious of her in Reverser, having to be convinced that she wasn't planning to humiliate him, implying he isn't part of her friend group since he doesn't know her well enough to know she only humiliates people when they're in her way of getting at Adrien. (Alix makes it sound like she wouldn't do that period, but we know the truth by now.) She also refused to come to Juleka and Luka's shared birthday party if Luka was present after they broke up. I bet if you tried to tell Marinette, or her writers, that your romantic partner should also be your best friend to make a healthy relationship, they just wouldn't compute. 

I don't want to say Marinette doesn't hold friendship in high regard period, because the amount of exceptions she makes for Alya shows that she at least values Alya’s friendship. I think she just doesn't value friendship with boys. I feel like Marinette is the kind of person who doesn't think boys and girls can really be friends, which would explain why she thinks Adrien considering her a friend is worse than anything else. If boys can't really be friends with girls, Adrien using the word “friends” means they aren't even that.

Consider this: how often does Marinette hang out with her guy classmates when it isn't 1) a whole-class outing or 2) more likely that Marinette just wanted to hang out with his girlfriend? Like, in Animan, Marinette had no idea Nino had a crush on her, but she still acted like an outing with him at the zoo was the worst thing ever. I get that she was disappointed Adrien wasn't there, but Nino is one of Marinette’s oldest classmates, yet she doesn't want to spend time with him, unless she's planning to use him to get closer to Adrien, since he's Adrien’s best friend.

Of course, she doesn't really value the time with her other friends for its own sake outside of Alya either. It seems like the only times they hang out together is to plot or participate in her get Adrien quick schemes. The only times the girls do something not Marinette related is when Marinette hasn't called them together, like when they were going to the pool in Gorizilla, something Marinette completely forgot until Alya called her. Marinette has poor memory but, despite her knowing she has poor memory, she apparently gave herself no reminder to hang out with her friends. You bet I write down every occasion I’ve agreed to see my friends specifically because I have bad memory as well.

It seems like, unless you're Alya, Marinette only cares about you for how able and willing you are to help her catch Adrien's attention. I keep saying Marinette treats her Adrien romancing problems as the most important thing going on at any given moment, and it's true for all areas of her life. Maybe that's the reason we didn't see Socqueline for four seasons despite her supposedly being such an important friend to Marinette, and why she never joined the friend group proper; Socqueline couldn't help her get with Adrien so she wasn't worth Marinette’s time.

This is a yet another thing where Miraculous is actually pretty sexist; girls and boys can't ever just be friends and girls care more about getting guys than they do about their friends. Another thing of course is this idea that boys just don't have as in-depth feelings as girls or should bury their feelings and never ask for emotional support, which is why all of Marinette's love interests are her emotional support dispensers whose opinions on anything don’t matter when their job is to simply mindlessly worship Marinette while their feelings are devalued by the narrative every time they dare to try to ask Marinette for some support back. Luka gets Akumatized which convinces him to break up with Marinette when he had emotional needs she wasn't willing to fulfill. Meanwhile Adrien goes through the travesty that is Kuro Neko

“Power of love always so strong” but only when it's Marinette's toxic idea of love and when it isn't platonic love. Unless you're Alya, I guess.

[flightfoot]

Tbh I'm mostly convinced that Adrien feeling doesn't matter for the writers or mostly the character in universe because ISTG WHY NO ONE TELL HIM ANYTHING???

Felix is the most random thing that ever introduced in the series, because he's exist solely for plot convenience. He has things that Adrien actually could have but writer forbid it because he'd be too broken and probably overshadow Marinette or other characters.

WHY KAGAMI TELL FELIX LADYBUG IDENTITY?????? If she tell him because "oh yeah he's my bf now and he deserves to know" then she deserve to be snapped hard on the forehead. As of right now I want to believe it's because Felix programed her to tell him everything she know when he ask for her ring back then.

No seriously WTF IS HAPPENED IN THIS EPISODE I CANT EVEN

I swear s5 is a flip flop season because INCONSISTENCY IS GONE TO THE ABYSS

Yeah people not telling Adrien things for very little reason is unfortunately a series mainstay, whether intentional or not. That's been going on pretty consistently since season 2, when Marinette got brought into the fold on being the Guardian and other Miraculous, and Adrien was left out of the loop. And then there was everything that happened in season 4 with the Ladynoir conflict. Looks like it's continuing with season 5, though I really hope someone thinks to tell him he's a senti. I mean, there ARE arguments that could be made about why they don't want to tell him just yet - like being afraid that Gabriel might command Adrien in such a way that he ends up spilling the beans about knowing he's a senti, and thus endangering himself even more - and that they'd tell him once they got Adrien's amoks back from Gabriel and that was no longer a worry.

I'd want that to actually be stated out loud as reasoning by the characters though, otherwise it just comes off as "not telling Adrien in order to prevent him from having his own opinion and making his own decisions on what to do with the information", which has been stated in the past as reasoning for not telling Adrien (well, Chat at the time) about things that undeniably concern himself, back when Ladybug decided to trick Chat into revealing his secret identity to a third party in order to prevent the possibility of Chat refusing to do so if she just asked him to outright.

As for Felix... okay yeah he does seem to get some OP plot conveniences (especially with that special glass that let him see hidden items, where did he get that?) and I'd love for Adrien to be given more of the ability to affect things, but dammit I do enjoy watching a lot of Felix's shenanigans.

Kagami telling Felix Ladybug's identity... yeah I don't think she should have done that. That wasn't her secret to tell, and it's a very dangerous secret on top of that. When Alya told Nino about her still helping Ladybug, that was HER secret to tell, primarily, it mostly concerned her and she was the one most in danger if it got out, plus it'd already caused a schism between her and Nino before this, so she had reason for it. When Nino revealed his and Alya's secret identities to Adrien and later to Marinette... well he still shouldn't have done that, Alya's identity wasn't his secret to tell, but he was right about it being a very low-value secret at that point, since Monarch already knew their identities, and Adrien and Marinette being trustworthy.

I don't think Felix commanded her to do that though, it just doesn't fit with the image of Feligami that the show is selling. I think it's more just a matter of Kagami being an emotionally vulnerable teenager who has someone who's there JUST for her, for the first time in her life, someone who's very devoted to her immediately, and who's willing to act on it - she's jumping into that relationship headfirst without a safety net, in order to meet her emotional needs. And thus, since she sympathizes with Felix so heavily, she tells him any information that she thinks will help fulfill the goal of freeing her and Adrien from their parents.

Do I think this was the right choice? No. It would have been better if, after Felix tells her everything he knows, she then privately went to Marinette, revealed that she knows she's Ladybug, and tried to recruit her help, maybe even trying to get her to reveal her identity to Felix (though I don't think this would have been necessary).

Do I think it makes sense for a girl in Kagami's position though? Yes. Especially with how much she and Felix are in the honeymoon phase of a relationship.

[passionfruitbowls]

a shoulder to lean on

After the shocking discovery of Hawkmoth’s true identity, only one person can offer Adrien the support he needs.

rated: t | pairing(s): ladrien with a dash of ladynoir | word count: 1.4k

read on ao3

—————

When Adrien regains consciousness, and once the incessant ringing in his ears has died down, the first thing he hears is sirens. The sound is muffled thanks to the closed doors of the ambulance he’s currently sitting in, but he still wishes that they would stop. He glances around the room, then tries to breathe in and out slowly, desperate to take his mind off everything that’s happened in the past few hours. 

This time yesterday he’d been sitting on a rooftop with Ladybug by his side - something he normally loved doing, since neither of them had anywhere else to be and it gave them a rare moment of peace. They could talk about how their day had been (provided that they didn’t say anything too revealing), comfort each other if they needed some support and do all kinds of silly things together. Tickle fights, ranking every Gabriel Agreste design by ugliness (his idea), seeing who could get to the Eiffel Tower the quickest (Ladybug’s idea - she won by a long shot too, but he didn't mind). Sometimes it was the only thing that kept Adrien going, particularly on those days when his schedule was jam packed and his time with his school friends had been cut short. The days when he never saw his father at all. 

Adrien lets out a quiet, bitter chuckle, fighting back tears. His stomach churns as he thinks about what Gabriel had actually been doing all those times he claimed he was busy with work: he was waiting, alone, in a dimly lit lair for someone to have a stroke of bad luck, or lose their temper, or become upset, someone worthy of being akumatized. All that suffering, just so he could change the past and bring back his wife with little regard for what she actually wanted or what Adrien, their son, wanted. 

How many close calls had there been? Could Adrien have put an end to all of this sooner if he hadn’t been so caught up in his own problems, if he had watched his father more closely, hung back for a few more seconds when listening in on his conversations behind closed doors? The guilt and the what-ifs continue to eat away at Adrien until the world around him ceases to exist. He feels alone, stranded. The only thing that’s familiar is Plagg, who sits quietly on Adrien’s shoulder, unsure of what to say. 

Suddenly they hear someone opening the back door of the ambulance; Adrien flinches, clutches the blanket that’s been draped over his shoulders and stares down at the floor. He can’t bring himself to look whoever it is in the eye. It’s probably a police officer, and they’re bound to have questions for him. The mystery person slams the door shut, making Adrien jump, and hurries over to where he’s sitting. He starts to feel faint, so he closes his eyes in the hope that he won’t pass out again. 

“Adrien…are you okay?”

He gasps softly - he knows that voice, he would recognise it anywhere. 

Sure enough, when Adrien has the confidence to open his eyes he sees Ladybug kneeling in front of him, with a look of concern on her face. 

Realising that he hasn’t answered her question, Adrien nods slowly before reaching out and gently taking her hand in his. 

“I think…yeah, I think I’m feeling a little bit better.” He says, his voice hoarse from crying. A part of him wishes that his answer could be Yes, now that you’re here, but this doesn’t feel like the time to be affectionate. Ladybug probably won’t want anything to do with him after today anyway. 

For a minute or two they’re both quiet, until eventually Ladybug decides to sit down next to him, nodding in Plagg’s direction to let him know that he can stay. Adrien spends what feels like an eternity searching for the right thing to say to her, but all he can come up with is a quiet, shaky laugh. 

Glancing over at Ladybug, he notices that the worried expression on her face hasn’t gone away, and that she never seems to take her eyes off him. She carefully observes every little movement he makes, as if she wants to say or do something but just can’t, while twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers. She must be nervous, Adrien figures, and he doesn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t be nervous sitting alone in a vehicle with the son of a terrorist? 

To his surprise, she’s the one who breaks the silence. 

“So…what’s going to happen now?” 

The tremor in Ladybug’s voice tells Adrien everything he needs to know: she’s just as afraid and unsure as he is, so he gives her an honest answer. 

“I have no idea.” 

She sighs, then squeezes his hand a little tighter. He doesn’t want things to become awkward again, and the instinct to try and be humorous gets the better of him. 

“The media sure are a t-tough crowd, huh? They’ve been gathering outside the mansion all night…” 

Adrien’s voice trails off as he thinks back to the moment when he first stepped outside. He was transformed then, with Ladybug by his side, and although they both smiled and waved at the flashing cameras, on the inside he was distraught. His life was falling apart and none of these people cared. The worst part? He couldn’t even ask someone for help, couldn’t reveal his identity without dooming himself to a lifetime of angry glares, sympathetic looks and whispers behind his back, because who in their right mind would listen to the son of a terrorist? 

Suddenly Adrien’s memory takes him back even further, to the moment when he first saw his mother in the crypt beneath the mansion. She looked serene and unsettling at the same time, a porcelain doll in a glass container. Defeating Gabriel (it hurts now, calling him Father) had already taken its toll, so the sight of his mother broke him. Adrien remembers the way he fell to his knees, his sobs racking his body, and how Ladybug quietly held him in her arms, never questioning and never scolding. 

“Adrien, you’re crying. What is it?” 

The sound of her voice brings him back to the present, and he’s suddenly very aware of the tears in his eyes. 

“Nothing, I’ve n-never been better…” 

There’s no point in arguing, though, since Ladybug is already brushing his hair out of his eyes and reassuring him. 

“Shhh, hey, listen… it’s not your fault, Chaton, none of this is. I’m here…” 

Her voice is barely a whisper, yet it feels like Adrien’s heart, his mind, his entire body has been set alight because of it. He’s always felt this peculiar sensation when he’s with Ladybug, and right now he wouldn’t trade it, or her, for the world. Casting any doubts out of his mind, he pulls her in for a hug and gently wraps his arms around her. He hears her gasp in surprise, but she quickly reciprocates it. 

For a few minutes they stay like that, slowly rocking back and forth as Adrien’s breathing evens out. When they finally break apart, Ladybug goes one step further, planting a kiss on Adrien’s forehead. He can’t help but smile at the blush which then forms on her cheeks.

“I…I want you- I mean, I want to see you again soon!” Ladybug stammers, clasping her hands together. 

Adrien’s eyes widen, and he nods slowly while watching Ladybug get up from her seat. 

“Okay…how soon?” 

She stops and thinks for a moment, then snaps her fingers like she’s just had the best idea ever.

“New Year’s Eve!” 

“Whereabouts?” 

“Uhh- the, uhhh…Eiffel Tower! You know, our usual spot?” 

“Well yes, but-” 

“Sounds great! In that case, it’s settled!” 

“Ladybug…” Adrien begins, placing a hand on her shoulder, “why exactly do you want us to meet there?” 

Ladybug stares at him for a moment, and just when he starts to worry that he’s gone too far, she smiles with a familiar gleam in her eye. It tells Adrien that she’s got a plan, and that it’s bound to be a good one. 

“I want to tell you who I am.” She says, cupping his cheeks one last time and giving him a second kiss on his nose. 

A sudden knock on the ambulance door and someone calling Ladybug’s name interrupts them, but Adrien doesn’t mind (mostly). He smiles at her one last time before she waves goodbye and steps outside - a different, happier smile than the feeble one he’d given her when she first came in. There are still a lot of things that he needs to deal with, but now Adrien can do it with a renewed sense of hope and love.

[gamma-squad]

The Ultimate Gamma Squad Fic Rec List

From Angst to Fluff to Reveals, fanfiction will make you cry :D

Adrinette

Double Blind Date -  Alya knows Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, and now that they're finally in the same city at the same time, she is determined to get them to meet.

The Bravery of Adrien Agreste -  adrien ends up living on the streets for a while, it's extremely well written and has also adrien marrying marinette to emancipate from his father.  There's also a sequel, the Bravery of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, which the author is currently writing. 

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

The Bravery of Marinette Dupain-Cheng -  After the defeat of Hawkmoth, Adrien and Marinette are strangers to each other, but somehow… married? - Sequel to The Bravery of Adrien Agreste

Soulmate Survey -  A brand new dating app hits the scene, giving you a percentage of how well you match with someone else. And it is taking the world, and certain teenagers, by storm.

Cats are Colorblind! - Reverse Crush AU - Ladynoir/Adrinette - Adrien is blind but he can... feel Marinette’s features? Which happen to be the same ones as Ladybugs (Reveal)

have the stars blotted out in a brilliant morse code - Fluffy Adrinette moments and reveal? beautiful

Strength - Crack/Fluff oneshot with a reveal

Marry That Girl -  Adrien finds Marinette’s plans for their wedding and just falls

League of Losers - Slightly Different Superhero AU with crack angst and fluff

You, Me & A Little Bit of the Future - future ladynoir asks adrinette to babysit and everythings cute

Practice Makes Purr-fect - Adrinette/Ladynoir + Reveal and kisses (all you need in life <3)

wish you were here - demon au, adrien is just really confused

The Moving Statue - AKDJSSD - Adrinette + Reveal

Operation Mega-Sleepover - Adrinette Sleepover Shenanigans

Butt Dial - Marinette butt dials Adrien and all his plans for a normal afternoon jumped out the window (Reveal)

The Wedding Plans of Marinette Dupain-Cheng - Adrien finds Marinette’s wedding guest list for their future wedding and he’s like ‘WHERE AM I?’ (boy you’re the groom)

Plagg Meets Marinette

i hope that fate will forgive us (for tempting the sea) - mermaid royalty au and arranged marriages - Felix x Bridgette and Adrinette - also the author is v nice <33

The Player and the Princess - Childhood friends turned enemies turned lovers <3

take me back- By marvelousmsmol

By Design - By marvelousmsmol (Still going!)

Graine de toi - By komorebirei (Still going? I’m not sure)

Smoulder - By midnightstarlightwrites (this is adorable and full of ships! Also, finished 36/36).

Lucky Us - By PrincessKitty1 (Sigh, it’s too cute! Finished 30/30).

Facades -   AU with dark!Adrien. Has even a short sequel (lovesquare but mainly centered around the two main ships)

 Kiss shy - By emsylcatac (This is a great one-shot!)

i don't have a latte but give me a shot - By marvelousmsmol (The one-shot, i wish was a series).

 Under Lock and Key - By EdenDaphne, Maerynn (the antics! Finish 10/10)

The Woman With Blue Eyes - By ghostgirl19 (One-shot!)

 Friends By Day, Enemies By Night - By Dristi5683 (This is 49/49, there’s also marichat and angst ladynoir)

A Bride for the Prince - by ChocoluckChipz (Totally_lucky) and TheNovelArtist

Penumbra - Adrienette hurt comfort, rated M for serious topics like implied noncon as a minor

keep me in your thoughts - adrienette soulmate au

Passionfruit- Adrienette soulmate au series with 3 parts

a chat in disneyland - pretty self explanatory, chat noir antics and slightly traumatized workers, everythings great

Finding Diamonds in the Rough -  A prince escaping the confines of his castle. A girl who saves a naive visitor. The connection built between these two of different worlds. Welcome to another Arabian night.

Out of Your Hair -  Adrien wants to support Kitty Section during their first large concert in the park, but dad says no. So of course there’s only one way this can go

Infatuation - Adrinette childhood enemies to ‘I hate you but i seriously want to kiss you’

Blindsided - Adrinette/Ladynoir - Ladybug gets hit by an akuma and goes blind but hey! Adrien/Chat Noir is literally the most amazing person ever and that helps (Reveal)

Just a Friendly Game Night -  The four teenagers arrange a game night at Marinette’s house. What could go wrong

Just Best Friends -  The sequel to ‘Just a Friendly Game Night’ where the teenagers deal with what went wrong

We’ve Got It Covered -  Marinette needs to create a concept album cover design for Jagged Stone, but when she can’t get anything, the stress builds…

Le Prix du Silence -   this is in French, by Etoile-lead-Sama, but it's so worth google translating! Especially her inverted umbrella scene where Marinette gives the umbrella back to Adrien because she wants to rid her feelings for him and in that moment he realises that he's in love with her…  *heartbreak* but it's all wonderful and her slow burn is exceptional

Shop, Bake, Eat... - Crack, mature humor and content

Having a Ball - Adrien and Marinette attend a Victorian ball without recognizing each other.

In Which Adrien Agreste Butt Dials Ladybug - Based on NY Special, what if Adrien kept the remote to the cat toy in his back pocket?

The Jacket - Marinette gives a black jacket to Adrien and he thinks she's figured him out. 

Stuck In A Bakery (With You) -  during the pandemic, Adrien gets stuck in the bakery with Marinette and family. 

MariChat:

Chat Got Your Back - Lila I don’t like you and neither does Chat

Burgundy and Blush -  Marinette needs a date for the dance, and Chat Noir is happy to help. But can the two teens in denial make it through the night without catching feelings?

The Trouble With Kissing Boys -  When an akuma handcuffs Chat Noir and Marinette together, true feelings are revealed… but only to get the cuffs off. Really

double jeu -  An injured Chat Noir leads to a frantic Marinette and frequent midnight visits neither of them had expected to get used to.

Lace or Leather - Sequel to Burgundy and Blush

Stand-In Journalist - MariChat being besties

spark - marichat dating app shenanigans

Forget-Me-Not  -  Marinette looses her memories a little bit (unfinished)

Jealousy - Onesided reveal and then it turns into a love confession and a reveal

When Duty and Desire Meet - By EdenDaphne, midnightstarlightwrites. (Still going! Its so romantic, the yellow rose hits me the most)

Selfless - By ghostgirl19 ( I wish this fic was still going but it’s not! It’s discontinued!! T~T)

The Cat, the Bell, and the Wardrobe (Malfunction) - ChocoluckChipz (Totally_lucky), Eizabet, KryallaOrchid, Maerynn, midnightstarlightwrites. (I know the embracement... It’s also a one-shot!)

The Wingman Visits - By NiuNiu. (This is completed with 16/16 and rated mature!).

I Won’t Hold You Back - THE BEST PROM FIC YOU’LL EVER READ. Adrien invites Mari to prom. In which Adrien Awkward Awkward Awkward Athanase  Agreste makes an appearance. 

A Gamer’s Pride - No miraculous but they’re video game partners and they hate each other but they like each other and HHHHHHHH

Diamonds never leave you... men do! - Marinette the cop and Chat Noir the criminal (they’re dating <3)

Kiss and Dash -  It starts of when Marinette kisses Adrien on a dare and runs off but it really spirals out of control when Chat Noir takes revenge with his own kiss and dash. Do all people kiss the same way? Adrienette/Marichat/Ladynoir/Ladrien. - I THINK I ASCENDED WHILE READING THE FIRST CHAPTER

No Longer Running From -  After an Akuma attack, Marinette runs off in order to avoid Chat Noir, but she didn’t count on him being so willing to come after her.

Chat Blanc - Chat Blanc fights with reveals and Adrien being a good person even when akumatized

Worries - Chat is very concerned for the well-being of Marinette who he has noticed, decides to run into akuma battles in a very much not safe way

Rooftop Tears and Gentle Hugs [Vent] -  Marinette goes mute for a week, and everybody is worried. It seems only a concerned Chat is the one to finally reach her.

Tendencies - (series) lots of good writing starting out as marichat and then a reveal

Just Chatting -  Chat crashes onto Marinette's balcony and continues to visit. Marinette finds herself impulsively getting closer to him, and then everything goes to shit.

Reves de Noir et Blanc - LISTEN. MARICHAT HURT/COMFORT AFTER A NIGHTMARE MAKES ME FEEL CERTAIN THINGS

Physical Touch - Chat Noir, my amazing child, is touch starved. Marinette is happy to help with some cuddles

It’s Okay to Cry - THE SUMMARY ALONE GOT ME FEELING SOME STUFF LET MARINETTE SHOW EMOTION -  Marinette feels the burden of not letting her negative emotions show, since Ladybug cannot let herself be akumatized, no matter what. A cat is there to let her vent.

heartstrings - HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - they frggin kiss and its dramatic and teenage drama and romace 

Crushed - Stuck under a collapsed building together, Chat Noir and Marinette have a heart to heart.  (Reveal)

Every Heartbeat: A Marichat May 2021 Story:  -   Reeling from a brutally difficult day, Marinette finds her life becomes amazingly complicated after impulsively inviting Chat Noir to spend the evening with her. But when the suave feline begins to weave his way into her heart, she realizes rather quickly just how conflicted her feelings for her partner truly are.

A Roll of the Dice - AVERT YOUR EYES INNOCENT CHILDREN - mature (obviously) Alya gives Marinette an adult dice set and at night time, Chat Noir dares her to use it. 

tell me something i don’t know - the infamous marichat soulmate au by the beloved carpisuns

Trading (Momentary) Burdens - UM. YOU HAD ON RIGHT?? I AM SAD??- Ladybug gets hurt mid-fight and Chat has to turn into Misterbug to save her

Miraculous Dupont -  Marinette finds herself attacked by Chat Blanc, an akuma at the orders of Hawkmoth. But before the akuma can do any damage, she's saved by Chat Noir, a superhero who is fighting the akumas. Chat Noir senses something in her and takes her to the magical school he attends, Miraculous Dupont, where Master Fu, the head teacher, agrees that she has potential to be a Miraculous holder. So Marinette is thrown into a world of hidden identities, akuma fights and mysteries and ends up by discovering that this whole world wasn't that unknown to her to start with, that the boy behind the mask, of whom she desperately falls in love, wasn't a stranger from her too, and it's all connected to two lucky charms, a seal and a mysterious magical potion she (and her friends) should never have been exposed to...

Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright -  chat noir gives the tiger miraculous to marinette. I love her concept of the tiger miraculous, so cool!

Terror on La Seine - Villains weren't supposed to help when there are others in need. But can Hawk Moth truly stand aside and do nothing? Especially when a young woman he knows personally is in danger? TW: implied trafficking

Madness Within -  If you want slowburn, feral Chat Noir and dark themes this is a great place to start and I’m super excited for what’s to come. Very highly recommend

you came to me with gold and i mended the pieces -  Adrien gets into a really ugly argument with his father, and as a result the poor boy gets a slap right across the face. In a daze, he runs away from home, transforms, and decides to seek comfort in a really close friend of his.

I’ll Be Your (Wing)Man -  When Chat Noir finds Marinette sighing over her failed love life, he decides to help her get the boy of her dreams. Nothing can go wrong here. Absolutely nothing.

The Tendencies Series -  HIGHLY RECOMMEND and will sure to keep you busy for a while

LadyNoir:

A Summer Treat - LadyNoir Icecream date in Shanghai and lovestruck adrien

TKO - LadyNoir workouts and they KISS

Doctor, Doctor, Give me The News (Your Lips Is The Only Cure I Could Use) -   Plagg’s sick, Adrien’s in love, Shit Happens™ 

 Of Yellows, Pinks and Blues - New York Special LadyNoir but with ROSES 

Long Live - LadyNoir based on the song <3

Letters of Lovers - LadyNoir writing down all their feelings on letters BUT THEN AT THE END THEY READ IT + Reveal

A Bad Dream - Ladybug tells Chat about a ��dream’ where he was Chat Blanc (spoiler alert: it wasn’t a dream)

The Bug and Cat Show - ADKLJSASD READ THIS

You’re My Sight - Adrien is blind but with the miraculous, he can see and this is very much a wonderful thing to happen to him. One day he tells Ladybug.

United - OMFG - ladynoir established relationship (+Reveal)

a nine-year-old - i havent met anyone that hasn’t read this fic but still (im still sorry emsy, i believed you were 9 with my entire heart 😭)

Death By Ladybug - Flirty Ladybug and Flustered Chat Noir

Chat Noir’s White French Man Hitlist For Feminist Purposes - (THIS HAS A PODFIC NOW)

Liquid Luck - LadyNoir Banter + Reveal

Symphony - Adrinette/LadyNoir + Reveal (with the best ending ever omg)

 The Miraculous Tweets of @luckylady and @chatnoir - Internet Shenanigans

Problems - ladynoir fluff

Only a beat a cat can hear - Ladybug tells Chat when he finds out about her blindness that she scared about him leaving her. He’s having none of this self deprecating stuff and reassures her that he loves her a lot and nothing changes that. 

M’Lady - THEIR LAST DAYS AS SUPERHEROES :’’’’))) (Reveal)

It was just a cheek kiss! - Ladybug slowly falling for Chat and them finally getting together (my friends thought I was getting murdered when I readthis. So many screams)

Discordant Sonata - EdenDaphne (Still going!)

like poles of a magnet - By maketea (8/8! It's finished!)

From the Ashes - By MiniMinou (Finish! Btw this is angst and mature rated)

Ladybug and Chat Noir's Guide to the Rooftops of Paris - PipTheMagnificent (One-shot!)

 in the dead of night, your eyes so green - this ones by miraculouslycool so you know its good 

 Day 7: Interview - Chat Noir being cute with kids

Misunderstanding - LadyNoir Identity Shenanigans <3

Not Kitten Around, Badylug - the road to reveal, integrating parts of S4, all in mobile texts. Sweet, funny. The kind of pick-me up you need after an angsty ep.

Two Seconds -  perfect for a light morning read.

i think it’s time i told you (im a fan of your universe) - LadyNoir (AND THEY GET MARRIED)

It’s Not PDA If You’re Just Friends - They’re just friends! Friends can kiss each others shoulders and spin each other around, right?

I Guess That Makes Us Even - Chat Noir dying = REALLY SAD LADYBUG AND COMFORT - its by buggchat so you already know its simply superior

Red Strings and Markers - Soulmate AU my beloved

little kitty on the rood, wearing his lady’s boxers - Adrien in Ladybug boxers, Marinette in the pool with her pjamas, Adrien uses his one braincell and realizes some pretty shocking things (Reveal)

dont let me die alone - okay so you may get a lil sad but you know

Return to Base - LadyNoir laser tag baby, Adrienette laser tag with LadyNoir dynamic, reveal

The Ladyblog Comment Section - they like to annoy alya in the comments. and flirt. but they dont realize the last part yet

Irreplaceable -  Adrien is insecure. Marinette doesn't let anyone talk bad about her partner.

Where are you Chat Noir? -  As the final battle unfolds to their defeat, Hawkmoth and Mayura use plan b and withdraw in a 'Sentiworld', a parallel reality created with an Amok. What's worse, they drag Chat Noir with them. What's even worse, Ladybug can't say goodbye, or I love you. Guilty and desperate, what will she be ready to sacrifice to get her partner back? (Rated R for mature content)

Kitty Chat Kisses -  Give Chat more kisses please, this was so sweet and cute and sad and just...someone give Chat some hugs and kisses and tell him he did a good job

i’ll marry you - Chat Noir talks to his sleepy girlfriend about their future.

Upon the Eiffel Tower, They Reveal it All. -  Chat Noir spots Ladybug heading towards the Eiffel tower without telling him, and when he checks on her, finds out more than he thought he would.

Two Hundred and Fifty Four -  aspik angst :’)

Ladrien:

bang bang - KISSES

whose woods these are (I think I know) - FIRST OF ALL, its a cinderella au and its MAGNIFICENT - Four years after his future turns to cinders, Adrien is a servant in the house he was meant to inherit. Disowned by his father and abused by his stepmother, his days are filled with drudgery until he meets a masked huntress in the forest behind his father's chateau.As his friendship with Ladybug turns to first love, he dreams of a future spent at her side.Then, on the eve of the Princess's masquerade, he meets his guardian—and is granted a wish.

The Tell-Tale Kiss - Adrien gets discouraged when Ladybug turns down Paris’ favorite cat every time. But what if Paris’ favorite model asks her?

The Cat and His Daffodils -  I adore Hanahaki AU’s and this was one was really good and wonderfully angsty.

Post/One Sided Reveal: 

Serendipitous Fate -  With Hawkmoth growing stronger, Chat Noir and Ladybug need to practice. And get teammates. And grow stronger together. Which means learning each other’s identity, no matter the risks. Unfinished, but worth it. Also, there is some smut near the end, but the author warns the reader on the exact chapter and it is very skippable

switch it up - Adrien uses the Ladybug miraculous and everyone simps even harder

Remember That Time When... - Marinette is ready to enjoy her wedding anniversary with her wondrful husband. Except when she wakes up, she’s not going to be able to celebrate her anniversary. In fact, she’s seventeen again.

Divide By Infinity - Post-Reveal Adrinette being adorable and looking at LadyNoir moments

Bad Day - Adrien finds out Marinette’s Ladybug on the toilet and everything just does downhill from there

Get Agrekt - Post Reveal + Drunk Adrien my beloved

Under The Stars - PROPOSAL

Do You Hear That, Love? - Post-Reveal angst and babies

Side Effects of Paw-esome Merch: Model Chokes on Air - Post Reveal Marinette making my poor boy adrien consciously try not to die by wearing Chat Noir merch

Serotonin Boosts - ADRIEN LOVES HIS GIRLFRIEND OKAY?

When the Wedding Bells Toll - Post Reveal Adrinette pretend to date to get free food at a wedding (ha ha guess who fell in love againnnn)

All You Had to Do Was Stay - first of all, OOF - Marinette and Adrien reveal their identities and he panics and Marinette, three years later, sees him again for Alya’s wedding with the urge to both kiss him and punch him in the face

Adrinette April Day 23: Sunset - CUTE FLUFFY PEOPLE (its by sketchy-panda)

Forget-Me-Not - written way before oblivio but basically, oblivio

The Wall Between Us -  Lukanette, Adrigami, Alya finding out, lovesquare reveal, Adrien finding out Gabe is Hawkmoth, then theres Adrinette being in love and MarcNath walking in them making out. Its a whole vibe. Two Seconds was written in response to this :D

Mari Me - CHRISTMAS PROPOSALS AND CHILDREN ARE BEAUTIFUL OKAY?

Trolling Alya -  After Adrien and Marinette reveal their identities to each other, instead of going right into dating, they agree to just be friends and take their time. Alya is not having it.

The Biological Imperative - excellent explicit story with an interesting concept about tikki being able to freeze the power of all miraculouses in her box in case of marinette's pregnancy. Adrienette of course. 

The Closest Thing to Love - god i love a good fake dating story - post reveal Aged Up - adrien decides that the best way to gain independence from his dad was to get married. To who you ask? Of course its his lady, Marinette Dupain Cheng. Nothing could go wrong! They’re just friends after all.

Not A Ship But Hella good Stories

Papa Bear -  In which Tom is the one to figure out Adrien’s home life is putting him in danger and helps Adrien escape.

Nooroo Uses a Swear Word -  He really, really does. But he has a very good reason, so... let's hear him out, shall we? Crackfic, one-shot.

Move to Safety - Sort of a longer take on the ‘ Adrien runs away and seeks shelter with the Dupain-Chengs’. Involves the final battle and Adrien knowing Gabe is Hawkmoth. 

I Know, Kid - Plagg has a very important conversation with his holder when they return home after defeating Guiltrip.

Chat Noir is My Science Teacher - When Mattheu Magan witnesses his chemistry teacher, Adrien Dupain-Cheng, transform into his favorite superhero Chat Noir, he becomes the Monkey Miraculous holder Monkid, going on adventures and learning what it means to be a hero alongside under his new meow-ntor. (OC, Adventure, Aged-up - Yall ive only known Mattheu for like, a month BUT I LOVE HIM WITH ALL MY HEART)

Won’t Tell a Soul - Nino finds out that Marinette is Ladybug and keeps the secret. Kind of. 

Motherfucking Superheroes - Directly following the events of the season 3 finale, Alya Cesaire decides to create a groupchat with all the known Miraculous holders, which sets off an investigation into Ladybug’s identity. (Crack, Groupchat/Text fic)

My Boy - Gabriel creates a sentimonster copy of himself to free himself from unimportant matters, but he didn’t expect it to become more human than himself. (Angst, Mentions of torture)

The Malicious Pavilin - Evil gay Emilie is a whole ass mood

Never Sing At Home - Based on that ‘hey, bad news and good news. Bad news, Hawkmoth knows my identity, good news, I know his!’ prompt on tumblr

Bite off more than you can chew and you’ll choke - Lila gets exposed fics my beloved

ouef, ouch, owie - Chat and Rena plan some Aspik-related shenanigans to cover up Chat’s secret identity when Ladybug decides to have all the Miraculous heroes train together. (Crack)

What the Cat Dragged In - MCU Crossover

the last day on earth - Chat Blanc angst is top-tier

Air Miraculous - Miraculous but with Basketball and Shoes

how the strings intertwine - MDC Fic - UNFINISHED BUT AMAZING

Nine Lives - Hurt/Comfort, Adrien Centric

In Good Hands -  in which Ladybug tells Chat Noir about her new confidant and Chat chooses his own.

How Nino Waged War with Gabriel Agreste - By ChocolateXMyMouth (Still going!)

The Inappropriate Touching Talk -  this is another pure crack. Gabriel finds out that Adrien "touches inappropriately" Marinette and decides to have "the talk" (or rather have someone else have the talk with him)

Broken - Cop AU with lots of angst :D

Informant - miracuclass group chat au with identity shenanigans 

Lucky Fox Paradox - Marinette gives succeeds in giving Alya the ladybug miraculous. And regrets it. Enter, the fox miraculous.

“I have plan” - based on the ‘Ladybug joins the fight as multimous and she and rena rouge won’t let adrien leave to transform and its just crack’

Sting -  Chat Noir mysteriously vanished, and as much as Ladybug hates it, she can’t do her job alone. Which is why she decides to give Adrien to bee miraculous until her partner returns!

Accidental Dates - The four friends make a group chat to plan game nights. Some people tend to take it further

Leave for Mendeleiev -  Marinette is in Mendeleiev’s class instead of Bustier’s, meaning new friends and different relationships

Ridiculous, Utterly Ridiculous - rejected one time too many, Chat Noir ends in tears on someone's balcony. No, not Marinette's. Chloé's. And no, it doesn't end with an adrikloe (or how it's called). Chloé actually ends up being a good friend (*insert ohhhh of surprise*)

I’ll Handle This - Adrien accepts a deal with Plagg for the black kwami to resolve his problems. And Plagg succeeds. 

let’s get covered in flames and play some games with the smoke -  1920s enemies to lovers soulmates au that makes me want to jump off a building in a good way

Ruffled -  Harry Potter AU

Passionfruit -  Adrienette soulmate au series with 3 parts

Repetition -  One day adrien stumbles upon hawkmoth’s lair. In response, Gabe wipes his memory and is done with it. until it happens again, and again, and again…

Bite Me. -  Vampire!Alya one-shot. Really good world-building in this one chapter alone!

“I have a plan.” -  Really funny one-shot where Marinette’s idea of going in as Multimouse doesn’t exactly pan out how she wanted it to.

Back to Us -  After a reveal so shocking it rocks the core of Paris itself, the villain Hawk Moth is finally defeated...at a great personal cost to heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir. With the city safe, they go their separate ways, returning to the lives they were forced to put on hold since receiving their Miraculous.

Free Falling - Fantastic story with amazing and well written themes that I really just adored reading. Beautifully written and wonderful plot/story

Other Ships (outside of Love Square):

The Worst and Best Thing - GabeNath, drama and angst with a happy ending

Operation Lovebirds -  DJWifi - Alya and Nino try and get Adrien and Marinette together, and get more than they thought they would

Phase Eight - Sequel to Operaton Lovebirds -  Three years after the failure of Operation Lovebirds, Alya and Nino’s relationship is tested when Alya comes across a startling secret.

Cola Date - DJWifi -  When Alya finds herself on a date with the wrong guy she searches for unconventional help to get her out of this. Luckily, the cute waiter doesn't mind to help her out with a favor.

Soundless - Lukadrien - Luka has the Ladybug Miraculous and can pretty much tell who’s Chat Noir

Hotdogs and Icecream - Lukagami - Luka and Kagami hanging out while Adrinette are being in love during the NY Special

[jennagrinsoverml]

do u have any really good fic recs for mlb enemies to lovers

Do I ever! Some of these have already been recced in my AU rec list, but since this isn't part of my "undiscovered gems" series, I'm going to let myself rec all of the popular enemies to lovers fic I've been enjoying too 😊

A Series of Meets: Reach by @damagectrlwrites

Paris is safe, except from the rivalry of its two superhero guardians: Ladybug and Chat Noir.  Since they were teenagers, the two have raced around Paris, trying to out do-good each other.

After Chat Noir saves a bus of people from falling into the Seine before Ladybug can even get there, Adrien is in high spirits.  He helps a young woman reach some chips high on a shelf, kicking off a friendly conversation that ends with a coffee date.

It’s a terrible day for Marinette.  First she had a hectic day at work, then Chat Noir gets all the praise for saving a bus of people, and then she nearly topples over trying to reach some chips.  At the very least, a nice guy helps her and asks her to coffee. Surely, things will get better, right?

Ladynoir Enemies AU. Never met AU. This one is absolutely amazing and hilarious and YOU NEED TO READ IT!! Ladybug and Chat Noir are superhero rivals, always trying to outdo each other, and being annoyed at the other. Marinette and Adrien get a meet-cute and fall in love. The juxtaposition is perfect and ridiculous and THAT IDENTITY REVEAL OMG.

Dearly despised, (I love you) by @snacc-noir

Marinette could go on about why she hated Adrien Agreste—to his pranking tendencies to ineffable attractiveness—ever since he had the audacity that day with the umbrella.

And yet, here she was fake-dating him while in love with a superhero.

Adrienette Enemies AU. Warning: This is a WIP! But it's so much fun. Basically Adrien and Marinette never sorted out the misunderstanding with the gum and instead just dug themselves deeper and deeper in hate with their miscommunications. Meanwhile ladynoir are totally in love with each other. Add in a whole bunch of sexual tension and seeing just where the author teases out these missed chances and it's beautiful.

Curiosity and Satisfaction by @imthepunchlord

When Adrien agreed to this line of work, he thought all his focus would be on the job of catching the elusive Lady Luck. It never crossed his mind that someone else would catch his attention.

Ladynoir Enemies AU. Although this is a ladynoir enemies AU, this dynamic change bleeds into all of the different sides of the love square and it's so different and interesting! I loved how the changes made actually affected other aspects. The story feels very real and believable.

like poles of a magnet by @rosekasa

ladybug spat her blood at chat noir. invincibility was only granted to the ladybug and black cat that worked together. not even the miraculous cure could heal them, otherwise.

(or, five times they didn’t hate each other, and one time it was love).

Ladynoir Enemies AU.  The enemies dynamic here is AMAZING!! Adrien is so in character even when he’s a “bad guy”, and the backstory of how he ended up working with Hawkmoth is perfect. (Also, how is Gabriel even worse??) I love the way the identities are played with, and especially the repercussions of Chat working for Hawkmoth on what Adrien is allowed to do.

Unstuck by @ominousunflower

Chat Noir, notorious supervillain of Paris, experiences a wardrobe malfunction in the best and worst possible place: Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s balcony.

Heart pounding, Chat pins Marinette’s wrists to the balcony. She stares up at him, her blue eyes kaleidoscopic from the lights hanging overhead, her features twisted into a scowl.

“Why are you trying to take my Miraculous?” Chat hisses.

“Because—you—I—” Marinette splutters, her eyes dipping down below Chat’s face. “Why is your suit unzipped?”

“I—well…” Chat sighs. “My zipper got stuck.”

Ladynoir Enemies AU featuring Marichat. I'm an absolute sucker for villain!Chat who just needs someone who's willing to care for and believe in him. And, even as a villain, he's still so recognizably Adrien here. My hearttttt!

out of the woods. by @anxiouscupcake​

“I- I have a… Someone I care about very much,” Adrien admitted. “I’m only doing this because my father gave me no choice.” “Well,” she said, lips pursed. “I don’t have it in me to fight The Gabriel Agreste, right now. My hands are tied too.” “I’m sorry.”

To his credit, he genuinely sounded a little remorseful. She even resented him a little for it, because she had so much more to lose than he did, but he just wanted to stay in Daddy’s good books.

She grimaced. Marriage, for one year, they agreed. And a painful few months of “courtship” to convince the press of the authenticity of their “marriage”.

In eighteen months, her father would be hale and hearty, and she’d divorce Adrien Agreste and be nothing more than his business partner.

(...In which Gabriel is an asshole, Adrien is trying and Marinette's stubborn but gives in eventually.)

This is a 2-part series that isn’t finished and that I desperately hope is continued. It’s not EXACTLY enemies AU per se, but it hits the same sweet spot. Ladynoir are in love, but can’t be together. Adrienette are forced to marry because of circumstances and Marinette resents Adrien for it. It’s got Enemies to Friends to Lovers vibes, even if we haven’t gotten that last part yet, and I love it!

i have found someone (like a nomad finds a home) by @hanaasbananas

After Stoneheart, Gabriel figured out who Chat Noir was, and forced him to work for him, rather than with Ladybug. Years later, Adrien is miserable until one night, he meets Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Ladynoir Enemies AU featuring Marichat. Sort of a Never Met AU in that Adrien doesn't start attending school until after he's been a villain for some time and after he's gotten to know (and fallen for) Marinette as Chat. I love it when Chat's a villain and his love for Marinette/Ladybug helps him make better choices!

This Red Love by @hanaasbananas

In another world, he loves her. Would lay down his life for her without a second thought. Would be devoted only to her. In another world, they are partners, fighting side by side to keep Paris safe from Hawkmoth. Ladybug and Chat Noir, heroes of Paris. In this world, Ladybug is his enemy; the only thing standing in the way of what he most desires. In this world, he is not a hero.

Or the one where Adrien and Marinette are dating, but Chat Noir works for Hawkmoth. Angst ensues.

Ladynoir Enemies AU featuring Adrienette. This one has so much tension and the identity reveal and the ladynoir conflict really impacts the adrienette relationship and it's fantastic!

[starfellwish]

ML Theory: Episode 22, Finale, Ladynoir, and Everything Else

This will have rocketear and finale synopsis spoilers - be warned.

I genuinely do think that the two part finale of season 4, "The Last Attack of Shadowmoth" (which is,,, a title to say the least; more on that in a bit) is gonna be so tense for a variety of reasons.

Rocketear Analysis

We have a couple of gamechanger episodes coming up. Rocketear definitely was a gamechanger as Adrien was able to realize that Alya and Nino are aware of each other's identities with Ladybug giving them permission. And he's angry about it. He knows that Ladybug lied to him about the rules, and he also knows that her being the guardian is definitely something that has led to their relationship being affected (flashbacks to a previous s4 ep when he's like it's cool if she's the guardian, as long as their partnership isn't affected - well that was some foreshadowing, wasn't it?). Honestly, seeing that as Marinette makes all the rules now as guardian, her decisions should be able to include her knowing Chat's identity. But. Chat Blanc exists, and I think that her not telling him about it and hiding it from him is a parallel to how she wanted Alya to hide the truth from Nino (obviously this failed too - Alya went behind her back to tell Nino the truth). She knows that he'd understand if she told him and its better to tell him that he may destroy everything if they knew each other's identities than left him feeling isolated and alone and at risk for literally getting akumatized. By isolating him, she's quite literally putting the world at risk for Chat Blanc 2.0, rather than her telling him something heartbreaking and being there for him so he doesn't get hurt by Shadow Moth's intentions. I think that she'll come to realize this in the finale and learn from her mistakes.

I think that in this screenshot, we got a snippet of foreshadowing of what's to come:

I saw some people theorize that this is foreshadowing that Adrien's real identity is between Ladynoir, and while this could be general foreshadowing for the entirety of the show (Marinette is in love with Adrien, and that's why she can't love Chat Noir), I do think that interpretation could be misplaced here due to the tone of the episode. Instead, I believe that this is foreshadowing that Chat may reveal himself to Ladybug. After all, she literally knows the identity of literally every other person who has a miraculous, and is the guardian.

*Side note: It also reminds me a lot of Felix. Could be a reference to that? Not sure what my thoughts on that being, but it's just somehting that struck me.

Episode 22

In my mind, it would make most sense for Adrien to reveal himself in episode 22. We've been told by the people who make the show that since episode 22 is the 100th episode of the show overall, it will be incredibly serious. This episode may run the highest risk of Adrien being akumatized into Chat Blanc again, as tensions are definitely running high. However, another akumatization event could happen, and Chat could be left out again, making him angry. I think that him getting akumatized is more likely, however. This is because of his appearance in Sentibubbler - I think that's foreshadowing. After everything is taken care of, Chat Noir and Ladybug will get into an argument. Chat will tell Ladybug that he knows about Alya and Nino, and that he thinks she's a hypocrite. He was loyal to her, and now he's having his doubts about their partnership, because he doesn't even think its a partnership anymore. Ladybug is the guardian and has more secrets that she is keeping from him. She talks about Chat Blanc and tells him that him finding out her identity leads to basically the end of the world. Adrien is surprised that he was akumatized before. He then gets mad at her for literally hiding this from him when they could've taken precautions beforehand, and then could possibly assert that he doesn't know what else she's hiding from him. He also, at the same time, doesn't feel like he should be Chat Noir anymore if he poses that much of a risk to the world. He detransforms in front of her and gives her the miraculous. He tells her he won't be a problem again, and leaves.

Finale

Ladybug, of course, realizes her mistake and tries to get him back. However, over the course of 23 and 24, she is caught up with Alya and Nino's problems with them not hiding their secrets. Adrien is already scheduled to leave Paris for a couple of weeks with Lila, and Ladybug trying to persuade him to stay is basically one of the main conflicts of the final episode. Pair this with "ShadowMoth's Last Attack" and you've got a season finale. I think the name of the season finale, is, as always, a misdirect. There's no way Gabriel is getting all his miraculous taken away until season 5, as that's when the full reveal happens, so it seems like he'll return to just regular old Hawkie. I don't think it would make sense for him to be disarmed now and for next season's finale to have the full reveal. Here's the synopsis below so we can dissect it.

Shadowmoth's Last Attack

Having understood that if Ladybug always triumphs, it's thanks to her prudence, Papillombre (Shadow Moth) conceives a diabolical plan around a super villain endowed with the power to push his victims to take all risks. When Marinette learns that Adrien must leave Paris for several weeks with Lila, new muse of the Agreste brand, she is ready to do she is ready to do anything to stop him. How far will she go? Even to the fatal risk of betraying her secret identity for love? And will Adrien take the risk to finally stand up to his father?

Okay, so let's dissect this. What I said before adds up to Adrien leaving with Lila. It would also explain why Marinette would potentially reveal herself to Adrien, if only to get him to stay. Because she knows that he's Chat, and maybe her being Marinette will somehow influence his decision. Or, it may show him that she's finally willing to trust him with everything.

It could also allude back to the song in the movie. Since the Miraculous movie was originally intended to act as a finale to Season 5, we can take things from early development and see if they end up fitting in the narrative. In this situation I'm going to quote "Ce mur qui nous separe" (English translation: The Wall Between Us), the French song that was made for the movie when it was intended to be the Season 5 finale.

It’s strong when I see him I want to scream on the rooftops our love that reaches out to us But I know that I can’t It’s not the right moment We have to be patient be patient

Here's the French translation in case the translation Genius gave me was wrong:

C’est fort quand je le vois Je veux crier sur tous les toits Notre amour qui nous tend les bras Mais je sais que je ne dois pas Ce n’est pas le moment Il faut être patients Être patients

This part of the song is from Marinette's perspective, and the fact that she's saying that she has to wait for the right moment to actually be in love with him probably means that she knows Adrien's identity. Because why would she "know" that she can't love him? Why is it not the right moment? Why do they have to be patient? Her being Ladybug and being unable to be in a relationship may explain why it's not the right moment, but the fact that she says "our" love points me in another direction. She knows she loves Adrien, and she knows that Chat, and therefore, Adrien, loves her. But she can't tell him her identity yet. However, her knowing his identity would make sense. I remember that before season 4 started airing, a lot of the fandom wondered if Chat was going to have to reveal his identity to her because she's the guardian. After all, that would make sense. Them making it a problem over the course of the season would mean that it would have to be handled in some way. I think that her finding out Chat's identity is probably the most logical course of action, as she can't be a good guardian until she has all the information at her disposal.

There are two specific lines which I find interesting in the finale synopsis. The part where it says, "Papillombre (Shadow Moth) conceives a diabolical plan around a super villain endowed with the power to push his victims to take all risks," is particularly interesting. This could mean a couple of things. Shadow Moth could be akumatizing Felix - after all, he stopped at nothing to try and replace Adrien in order to ruin his relationship with his friends. He kissed Ladybug when she told him no. He was snooping in Adrien's things. Clearly, there was nothing he wasn't willing to do in order to get the ring back. (This whole thing is never explained either after Felix - why is the ring so important?) Maybe that will make a comeback? Or, the "his" in the synopsis where it specifies that the villain has no limits, may be referring to Shadowmoth. In that situation, it could be Lila who is again akumatized. She has clearly no limits, as she's working for Shadow Moth willingly, and likely knows his identity. This is one likely scenario. Or Shadowmoth will akumatize Adrien. He may feel detached, and Gabriel will interpret it as being sad that he's being taken away from all of his friends. Adrien is known for being quite stubborn, and having Ladybug fight Adrien's akumatized state would be season finale material. However, if he is akumatized in the finale as something else, then the Chat Blanc akumatization in episode 22 is unlikely (they wouldn't do something like that twice in a row). Of course, his akumatized state would be different than Chat Blanc because people can be akumatized into multiple different villains and Hawkie doesn't know that Adrien=Chat Noir.

The second line that I find particularly interesting is this one:

And will Adrien take the risk to finally stand up to his father?

Now, why would Adrien stand up to his father? Maybe with literally everyone betraying him, he'll find no reason to stay. He needs a constant in his life, and telling his father that he needs him to be here for him may be a step that he makes. After all, Ladybug and him are having their biggest fight, his best friend Nino told him that he finds his hero persona absolutely abhorrent, and he doesn't feel like he has a place on the superhero team. He needs someone, and he's hoping that Gabriel can be that person.

That could be one scenario, or Adrien may find out about Hawkie's basement. Now, this, could raise a lot of questions for him. While I believe that Adrien would have the normal tendency to be like "father, what the hell." He may honestly believe that this is all he has left, and therefore, will assist his father. This takes me back to the season 2 opening card.

Where is Chat Noir? With the villains.

Maybe Adrien will have his well deserved Dark!Chat Noir arc. Or maybe, he'll be a spy for the Quantic team. Ladybug and him will make up, and he'll tell her that he can spy on Hawkie for the team, and that's how they move into season 5 - with Adrien as a double agent. He will help his father in everything that he does, and therefore, get access to more information that he can share with the team. He can help establish a meeting for Hawk Moth to get caught, with evidence, by planting cameras, calling police, etc.

Honestly, I'm hoping for the latter subplot, as I don't want Chat Noir to go evil for everyone's sakes. I do think that the latter would also give him a cementable role that would logistically make sense and help establish him as an strong character, and more importantly, a valuable member of the team and Ladybug's true partner.

Or, they could go down the more simpler route, and choose Adrien to find out, be shocked, and then yell at his father for being who he is. Gabriel just assumes because Adrien is only just Adrien, he doesn't have to worry about him. He will threaten Adrien, and Adrien will stay silent in front of him, but tell the team on the side. Of course, this doesn't really mean double agent Adrien, but it still implies spy Adrien. It also still manages to make his character more relevant.

Regardless, there's a lot of different ways that line could go, and I'm excited to see where it moves on from there.

Implications on the Love Square

The love square seems entirely messed up this season. There is almost nothing going on in relation to it, especially in regards to Ladynoir, Ladrien, and Marichat. Adrienette has honestly the most action right now, especially with the reverse umbrella scene, them helping out Juleka together, etc. This leads me to think that while we'll get a lot of Ladynoir in the finale as they repair their relationship, Adrienette may be the strongest ship of the four when moving into season 5. Let me explain why.

Over the course of this entire season, Adrien has been getting closer to Marinette, and is honestly more warm with her than he has been with Ladybug. This can explain what everyone has been thinking - a reverse love square. Even if Ladybug and him make up, Chat may honestly want to go and see other people. This includes Mari. What Nino said about Ladybug finding him annoying may actually really affect him and his feelings and make him realize that he can find love elsewhere. It's also the fact that it was enunciated twice during Rocketear that Alya couldn't fall in love with someone that she didn't really know. That could lead Adrien to wonder if he really knows Ladybug, which will definitely complicate his feelings. The Kagami thing was never going to work out, so he just needs to find someone else who cares for him. He knows Marinette; he has called her similar to Ladybug - he may rebound from Ladybug to Marinette. Ladybug may realize that she messed up, and she has already shown that she is becoming more indifferent to dating Adrien, due to what happened with Luka. When she and Chat Noir fix their relationship, she may see him as the only person she doesn't have to lie to, and therefore thinks about pursuing a relationship with him. Therefore, a reverse love square would make the most sense in this situation.

If a ship were to start actually dating in season 5 - it may honestly depend on how the finale is. The two most likely ships imo are either Ladynoir or Adrienette. If Ladynoir makes up during the finale, then the barriers to them dating aren't really present, unless the Alya thing actually makes it complicated for them. Adrienette may get together, but Marinette is wary of dating because she's Ladybug. However, we all know she's weak in the knees for Adrien and will definitely say yes if he asked her out.

Therefore, I feel like this season is leaning more towards plot and character development, and while it may set some things up for season 5, it is important to pay attention at the little shifts in the square, because they are happening right in front of us.

Alya and Marinette

I wanted to be able to talk about this at some point in this theory, but since everything else is more Adrien centric, I added it here at the end. Okay, so we know that Alya is lying to Marinette about telling Nino things. We also know that Alya has bended the rules for Nino multiple times, both before and during Rocketear. This could go one of two ways: Alya telling Nino teaches Marinette that she needs to be able to trust Chat, and therefore helps her realize that she doesn't need to be so secretive and lie all the time. It could also lead to a plot where Alya basically messed up largely by telling Nino, and everything goes downhill from there. Ladybug shows Chat that they can't know each other's identities because of what happened with them. We also Nino is a bit of a blabbermouth - love his character, but he is. He told Adrien not only his identity, but also Alya's. He also told him that they know the other's identity. This is bad, and Adrien knowing definitely affects the plot later on. If Adrien ends up revealing himself to Ladybug, it is likely that she'll find out about Nino saying that, and having to revoke their kwamis. This could lead to a strained relationship with Alya. In fact, it is likely that at this point, Marinette will already have a strained relationship with Alya, as it could be revealed that Alya told Nino about Rena Furtive. This could lead to Ladybug being defensive and worried that she made mistakes, and literally just closing the Miraculous box because of it. Maybe Alya will go rogue? After all, it was mentioned in Rocketear (and I appreciate that they talked about this) how Alya was a reporter and that by extension means that her personality is one of a truthteller. Alya getting angry at Mari could definitely lead to a situation where she threatens to tell he everyone. I don't think Alya would or could do that, but anger leads to akumatization, and an akumatized Alya would not be good for anyone as her judgement would be impaired. Regardless, Rena Furtive may be a short time hero, and Mari and Alya may end the season in a fight. I don't see that being resolved in the finale, as no fight like that is mentioned in those episodes. There is also simply too much going on in the finale for it to make sense. It may be resolved later on, just like how other problems in season 3 started being solved in the beginning of season 4. Or, it could be fought out and resolved in episodes 23 and 24.

Therefore, I think that the Nino carelessly revealing his identity and Alya carelessly disregarding Ladybug's orders may lead to a plotpoint at some point where Alya and Ladybug fight. While I do think that it would be nice if Alya proved Ladybug wrong and showed that they were stronger for working together, I do not think it's likely. The show was deliberate in showing that Alya had a weakness for Nino, and has shown before that it has led to many situations where there were risks for everyone involved. Even Hawkmoth said that love and secrets don't go well together (is he talking from experience?), and I feel like that was so deliberate, but it could also be alluding to Chat and Ladybug. (Side note: it was so weird for Hawk Moth to say that, as he had no idea of the situation; regardless I do think this it's heavy foreshadowing.) Therefore, I do not think the situation that Alya has placed herself in is a situation which will have a peaceful ending.

Final Notes:

I personally cannot wait for the "Gabriel Agreste" episode. I think that the fact that we did not get it yet means that it has serious story implications. Personally, I believe it's going to explain allllll the backstory we need for the whole Bourgeois/Tsurugi/Agreste history and tell us why Emilie is the way she is right now. Of course, maybe it won't do everything, but the fact that it is named after Gabriel makes me wonder if it'll be his origins episode of sorts.

EDIT AFTER MEGA LEECH: IF GABRIEL AGRESTE REVEALS ADRIEN TO BE A SENTIMONSTER I WILL BE SO SO EXCITED BC ANGST BUT ALSO LIKE??? WHAT ABOUT THE PLOT? WHAT ABOUT THE NINE YEAR OLDS?

Chat snapping is honestly something that I cannot wait for. All of his anger has been building up over the entire season thus far, and the implications of his feelings are definitely serious for the show's plot.

I wonder if Mayura will be making a comeback at some point. While this is less relevant, Nathalie's health seems to be making her bedridden for a long time. Maybe she'll return to a similar state to Emilie? I saw theories that stated that if Hawkie gets his wish, Nathalie's life may be sacrificed for Emilie's, and idk, I think it's not likely that it'll happen, but it would be cool if it did. The ultimate payback for his actions being the loss of Nathalie.

Look at the end card of Rocketear:

He's looking at the moon, which was shown in New York to be something he does when he's sad. Also possible reference to him destroying the moon in Chat Blanc.

Kitty do be on a roof all alone without his lady :(

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to SIMPLEMAN

A day late but that's what happens when good subs aren't out until the next day, and you're busy that day. This episode is so sweet and wholesome that it was worth it, for sure. I'm still not sure which one is Ella and which one is Etta. They're always addressed together so I just don't know, but I'd like to. ;-; (Note: Looked it up on Wikia, the one in pink with seafoam earrings is Etta, the one in seafoam and pink earrings is Ella) See Nino knows. Nino's concerned about Marinette babysitting three kids already. He lives with one all the time, times that by 4 and WOO that's crazy. Sweet of her to want to ensure her best friend has some time to relax with her boyfriend. Oh. OH those poor Kwami! Especially Fluff and her ears being pulled like a game of tug-of-war! I can see it now, Fluff now traumatized by young kids. So if Alix ever has any in the future, they better grow up knowing about Fluff right away or she's in for a horror show. PV TRAILER AND MUSIC! I'm such a fan of the music and the PV that when my sister told me about it, it made me even more excited for this episode than I already was. And I was very excited already! Manon: So? Aren't you going to answer it? She knows what's up. So Adrien's calling asking Marinette to help sew on a wing? Because nobody else there can do it? I dunno, sounds kind of sus to me, Adrien. Are you sure you're not using that as an excuse just to see your "friend"?

Marinette's biggest problem is thinking so far ahead in her brain that when she goes to speak, she's either way far ahead of herself or gets everything mixed up as it comes out of her mouth. If she just lived in the moment and didn't plan (which being Ladybug that's probably very hard not to do outside the costume), she'd be able to do this and overcome that fear of rejection as well. She seems to have that part fairly taken care though. When Gina said she was in China to learn Kung Fu and met a girl that reminded her of Marinette, instantly thought about Fei. How could it not be her? Rolland gets asked to babysit, immediately is like "Let's do something fun and dangerous!" Tom must have had an interesting childhood with Rolland and Gina. o.o Clearly Rolland doesn't realize who the heroes are based on. Or just completely forgot he met them when Bakerix. xD Adrien's so sweet with Marinette, even if he can't understand a single thing she says. That's adorable. But a really good way to thank her could've been "Would you stay and watch the photoshoot, and then maybe we could go do something fun/get something to eat after?" BOOM. Problems solved. But I have a feeling this may come back later, and maybe that would turn out better. Marinette's grandparents tend to give Hawk Moth/Shadowmoth the most sass and trouble in comparison to other Parisians. XD Rolland is so sweet to these kids, and they are so caring towards him. It's so wholesome! Just think: if that helicopter wasn't crashing behind her, she would've screamed she loved Adrien. So close. Simpleman is the chillest akuma. Being all "Hey kids, even though I'm akumatized, let's go out into the city!" and the kids are like "Yeah, okay. Hey let's get ice cream!"

Him protecting them from all the flying pizza boxes that guy was throwing around everywhere was super sweet too. LB and CN: Things are complicated. So we should find Shadow Moth directly. Let's run around the city screaming for him to come find us so we can fight him! I seriously think if Chat Noir or Ladybug brought up the fact that their identities made things complicated, they would've revealed themselves right then and there. LOL at the old school fighting and them behaving like young children xD "NO!" "I'm NaNa, ClaCla is no longer with NaNa! Paris is really messy! BuggyBug, KittyKity, help us!" Oh this is going to be so hilarious in the English dub with the voice actress who also voices Nathalie. XDDD A bouncy ball is very complicated for Ladybug. That a literal 5 year old can figure out. Wow this villain's power sure did a number on her. xD I find it all the more stressful actually, that Chat Noir and Ladybug can remember what they were doing the whole time they were affected by the akuma. That means if Marinette said she loved him, or they revealed their identities, there would be no going back or being able to make an excuse for it. Can we just talk about how those kids could understand that the reason he wants things to be simple and is upset that the world is so different, is because it scares him and he doesn't think he's capable of learning and changing with the world? A majority of adults these days can't even take two seconds to try to understand someone else's situation(s) before judging and being outright nasty people towards them. Yet these kids were able to do so. And a lot of kids actually are like they are in real life. Some may see this as an episode just for kids to appreciate, but there's a lot in here that's aimed at adults, too. Adults need reminders and these lessons just as much, if not more so than young kids. It's adults that lose their way and needed to be reminded of it, as they have a greater immediate impact on the world. I've seen so many people judge Rolland, make assumptions about him which is almost always the very worst things they could think of. But this episode shows how caring and willing to learn and understand he really is, he was just hiding behind his fear of change and not being able to keep up with it. Some lessons in this episode for the adult viewers are: -You're never too old to learn, get over your fears, try new things, become a better person, and see things through new eyes. -Don't over-complicate or overthink, but don't be lazy and think keeping everything simple will actually in reality be the answer, sometimes it can make things worse! -Kids tend to see the world as things are, not what they think it should be, or believing they're the center of the universe like adults tend to do. -Being wise means knowing that regardless of your field, educational background, age, or lived experiences, you don't know everything, there is always more for you to learn about everything out there. The kids in this show are quite wise, as they know that there is so much they don't know and how they treat learning new things. They also know how adults tend to understand, or act like they understand everything, so we as adults aren't used to it when we don't and react negatively to that because it scares us when we don't know. In that way, this episode was very brilliant! Also that hug at the end, oh you can bet these kids are going to want to go visit Grandpa Rolland, and honestly I'd love to see bits of them here and there, their bonds are adorable and they've changed his life in such a positive way. Also the pure Ladynoir without another hero or Alya or any kind of upsetting situation was honestly such a breath of fresh air! Maybe not the kind of Ladynoir people wanted, but it made me happy. Marinette acknowledged her problem is she's scared of Adrien rejecting her. First step is admitting it! Can't blame her for not being able to do what she wanted, she only just realized the issue after all. It's going to take a little time now to work on it! Is it just me, or

does it seem Adrien's almost trying not to laugh when she was messing up and then asked if he liked fishing? XD Maybe it was the actors tone with the facial expression but it seemed that way! But the way he just watches her run away and does that adorable little chuckle... Oh Adrien, we really need you to start realizing why you keep doing that. "She (Ladybug) reminds me of your grandmother and you know what? You look exactly like her (Ladybug)." Well. Oop. He's onto you! Apparently Rolland isn't blind, as not a single character suspected her from her personality or appearance to be Ladybug so far. Even Adrien only began piecing it together due to circumstances (and his own personal wish that Marinette is LB, you can't convince me otherwise this isn't true). This is going to come back later, possibly Dearest Family? Overall such a good episode with a lot of things in it, if you decide to watch without high expectations or biases. After all the angst lately, it was certainly needed as a nice change of pace.

[burritosbymoonlight]

adrinette in season four

i love adrinette. beyond the hilarious scenes that stem from marinette's nervous ramblings and adrien's oblivion, the two also offer a sincere and sweet dynamic. they're always looking out for the other's well-being, even if the other doesn't know it (the scarf, the lost miraculous book, confronting lila, etc). however, as much as the two care for each other, neither will admit it.

this is adrinette's flaw.

burdened by her insecurities, marinette refuses to tell adrien the truth about her feelings for him. she's terrified of his rejection, so she settles and hides her feelings from him, which ends up hurting as she helps him navigate his feelings toward kagami. it doesn't stop there, though. because of her poor attempts to keep him at a distance, he has misinterpreted her intentions several times in the past. from adrien's perspective, he's not so sure marinette even likes him as a friend, let alone as a romantic love interest. her inability and refusal to tell him results in several awkward or painful situations for the two of them.

meanwhile, adrien does the exact opposite. sure, he always makes sure to tell marinette that he likes and values their friendship, both when and regardless of if she needs reassurance. he sprinkles thoughtful compliments into their conversations whenever appropriate. he gushes about her to plagg and his friends all the time—even to his father on more than one occasion. it's cute and endearing and oh so frustrating because his issue is that he does not seem to accept the extent of his feelings for marinette to himself. whether those feelings are romantic or not right now is not the point. we know that he will eventually fall in love with marinette, and he even hints at already having feelings for her in chat blanc ("i've always felt like you were more than a friend").

instead, adrien's problems are a direct result of his paradoxical behavior. unlike marinette, his strategy in avoiding his feelings for her is to get closer to her. if he can succeed in his constant attempts to deepen their friendship, he will prove to himself just how much of a friend she is to him—and nothing more. right? after all, she is just a friend. he says it so often. to so many people. with so much... hesitation.

if she is just a friend, why does he feel the need to prove it to himself?

while it may seem that he simply does want to get closer to her, there is one thing that separates marinette from his other friends and nearly every other civilian in paris: she reminds him of ladybug. he says so himself, and it reveals that he sees a potential in her to share with him the same dynamic he shares with her alter ego. the reason this is so important is that ladybug is not only the love of his life, but his best friend, too. if ladybug has rejected him so many times, how could he bear to withstand marinette's rejection as well if he did admit his feelings? he already worries that marinette doesn't like him at all.

okay, but why does he handle ladybug's rejection so well?

the masks.

as chat noir, he is unwavering in his freedom and confidence. ladybug doesn't know his identity beneath the mask, and it gives him just enough anonymity to handle her dismissal. not only that, but he has nothing to lose with her. she loves having him as a partner, and he knows he means the world to her, even if she hides it under snarky comments and feigned indifference.

with marinette, he's baring his civilian self to her, and he has no escape toward another mask. he must be perfect because as adrien, he's vulnerable. one mistake and he might just crack. if he admits that she means more to him than he allows himself to believe, then he has to also accept that she's seen a side of him that both torments him and doesn't fully represent him. not that chat noir fully represents adrien, (he's the total combination of chat noir and adrien), but at least he feels more comfortable as a superhero.

and so he dated kagami for a while. marinette wasn't his third choice. she's likely his subconscious second to ladybug, but since she reminds him so much of ladybug who has rejected him before, he doesn't bother with trying to understand his feelings for her because he thinks he already knows how she will react. it won't matter because she'll decline him in the same exact way ladybug did. so he goes after kagami. and of course, that doesn't work out because she's not ladybug/marinette.

so what does he do? he forces himself to view marinette as just a friend. again, in a strange paradox, he hides his feelings by deepening their friendship. of course, it's an artificial depth that he calculates and measures and crafts, but he doesn't know that because he won't admit it. she's so much of a friend that she can't be anything else. hm.

so what now? their friendship is flawed. both are holding back, and neither wants to admit the extent of their feelings.

in an ironic twist, ladybug's new role as guardian of the miraculous is what will bring them closer to one another.

forced to give up on love because of her responsibilities, she will finally lose the nervousness that has interfered with their relationship for so long. she'll start treating him like an actual friend and in the process, she'll open herself up to him in a way that was impossible before. she can be vulnerable now because there is nothing for her to lose.

meanwhile, adrien will face something he didn't foresee: marinette actually growing closer to him. before this, he was comfortable disguising their friendship as deeper than it actually was to protect himself, but now, it's real, so now, he can't hide his feelings anymore. in knowing her, he will also unravel himself to her more.

as we've already seen in the trailers for the upcoming episodes, it seems marinette is able to manage her feelings around him much better than she has in the past. in addition to hinting at what i've already predicted above, it also shows that it allows for adrien and marinette to work together. and given lila's impending role, they must work together to be everyday heroes in their civilian lives.

just like ladybug and chat noir do against shadowmoth.

of course, until the reveal, it is impossible for the two of them to understand the weight of their dynamic and the extent of their love for each other. they are already partners, best friends, and the love of each other's lives. in time, their fates will twist into a single string. for now, adrinette will learn to develop a relationship that is not a replica of ladynoir, but a complement to it.

meanwhile i hope ladybug is unraveling with chat noir in the same way because oh god i'm such a ladynoir stan

[hufflepotato-18]

So I’ve seen a few posts about the reveal and how it will affect Chat Noir/LadyNoir and here’s my take. But before diving into it, I want to talk a little bit about Adrien’s situation.

We’ve seen Marinette’s side. How she was overwhelmed with everything (breakup, being guardian, being Ladybug, having to keep secrets from everyone, all at the young age of 14/15?), which lead to her being deadass depressed, wanting to put aside her “normal” life and pushing away her friends and ultimately, she ended up revealing her identity to her best friend. Now, how is Adrien? He also went through a breakup (and lost a friend in the way). He also has the weight of being a superhero [even though I would dare say there’s not as much pressure on him as there is on Marinette, seeing that only Ladybug can capture the akuma and etc. In fact, he sees Chat Noir as more than a responsibility, as a way of being more free (plus he can be around the girl he loves), and we can’t exactly say the same for Marinette. Actually, it’s more about the things he goes through as Chat, sacrificing himself and dying and shit]. He also has to keep secrets from everyone. He has a shit ton of extracurricular activities. AND he has single-handedly the shittiest father in the whole universe. He can’t possibly be completely okay, especially considering he’s also just a fucking kid. Not to mention he’s seeing Ladybug, who he loves, going through a rough patch, denying it and not wanting to talk about it with him, someone who she can always trust and rely on, no matter what (cue the last scene of “Lies”). And you just know that shit hurts. ALSO, is anyone checking on Adrien?? Despite not wanting it, Marinette/Ladybug had the support of her friends and Chat Noir, who all noticed she wasn’t okay and offered a listening ear. Has anyone done the same for Adrien? Taking the following points into consideration

1. Ladybug is too wrapped up in her own stuff to realize it (I don’t blame her, of course)

2. His father is Gabriel Agreste (do I need to say more?)

3. Adrien usually pushes it all down and tries to hide how he’s truly feeling

I’d say there’s really only one hope in this department: Nino. So honestly, I hope they’ll show us Adrien’s side of the story.

Now, onto the main topic: the reveal and its consequences.

I don’t think Ladybug is going to tell Chat that she revealed her identity to someone. She knows how difficult that subject is (cue the Chat Blanc episode) and how devastated and betrayed he would be (wouldn’t blame him), so she’s probably going to hide it for as long as she can. And since we know that “their relationship is going to change, not necessarily in a positive way”, it is very likely that this is going to blow up in her face later.

Now, in the aftermath of that, I think (and deeply hope) Ladybug will not be so strict when it comes to revealing their true identities. Since she told Alya, I think she will be more open to Chat Noir telling the truth to someone, as long as it’s someone really trustworthy and that he knows will keep his secret safe, and as long as IT’S NOT HER. IT CAN’T BE HER, not for now anyways.

See, Marinette was always taught by Fu that NO ONE could ever know Ladybug and Chat Noir’s true identities, for everyone’s safety. When she was in dire straits, she tried to deal with it alone, but it just wasn’t working. So, in a somewhat desperate move, she told Alya. She needed someone, and who better than her best friend (who actually didn’t tell Marinette she was Rena Rouge and who broke free of an akumatization, purely thanks to her trust in and loyalty to Ladybug)?? It must’ve been such a relief for Marinette and she’ll see how things are so much better when you have someone you can actually talk to about literally everything and anything that is going on with your life, without having to hide certain aspects. Marinette will realize that maybe Fu didn’t have the right answer to everything and she’ll try to do better.

[bugaboo-and-kittynoir]

Leather Claws to Human Hands (Love Square Reveal Scenario: Post-Alya Reveal)

Edit: This is now on AO3, link here.

Summary: A scenario where Ladybug and Chat Noir reveal their identities to each other. This occurs some time after Alya finds out Marinette's secret.

Words: 1,763

Chapters: 1/1

Title: Leather Claws to Human Hands

Content: Post-Alya reveal, Chat finds out Ladybug told someone her secret identity, Ladybug and Chat Noir reveal their identities scenario, Ladynoir fluff, Ladynoir angst, Adrienette fluff

--

“Chat, I have to tell you something,” said Ladybug.

“What is it, Bug?” he said, putting his stick on his belt. She called him here just minutes ago, right before they were supposed to go out for patrol. It was dark out, and they were meeting on a rooftop they both knew well.

“This isn’t easy for me to say, but…” she started. Chat’s expression turned from one of humor to concern. “...I told someone my identity.”

Chat’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. “What?”

“I’m sorry kitty, but you’ve seen how bad I’ve been lately. I couldn’t handle it anymore, I had to tell someone,” she said, her cheeks flushing and her eyes watering. It was strange seeing her like this, Chat thought.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. Chat couldn’t help but ask. He didn’t care if the question seemed selfish; he’d always wanted to know her secret identity, and he was hurt that she didn’t think to tell him first.

“I want to, Kitty, but—”

“It’s too dangerous, yada yada, I know the drill,” he said, mocking her with his hands. Ladybug’s brow furrowed. “But you told someone else? Someone who isn’t a superhero? Who could get akumatized!”

“She is a superhero,” Ladybug said. Chat could tell she did not mean to say that.

“Who did you tell?” he said, anger still in his voice.

“Rena Rouge, okay?” Ladybug answered. “It’s Rena.”

“You must know her well then.”

“Yes,” said Ladybug.

“What about me, m’lady?” said Chat, finally letting the hurt he felt escape him.

“She wants me to tell you, too,” said Ladybug.

“I can’t help but agree,” said Chat.

“Are you sure?” she asked. Chat laughed at the question. Of course he was sure. But then he realized that she may be serious about considering it, and that the moment he’s been waiting for since the day he met her might be happening today. Right now.

“I’m sure,” said Chat, turning to face his lady. He held her by the hands. “I’m sorry I got mad.”

“Now you’re just trying to get on my good side again,” teased Ladybug.

“I’m serious. I know you’ve had a rough time lately since Master Fu is gone, and I’m sure there’s so much more that I don’t even know about. I’m here for you, and I’m sorry I got jealous knowing that you told someone else before me. You have a whole other life—I forget sometimes.”

“Thank you, Kitty.”

“So, Rena wants me to know?” said Chat, cocking an eyebrow up at her.

Ladybug nodded. “So do I.”

He couldn’t believe it. This was actually happening. Ladybug said she wanted to know his identity. And for the first time, it seemed like she was actually going to tell him.

“Do I get to tell you too, then?” said Chat eagerly. He couldn’t wait to see Ladybug’s reaction to Adrien. He thought she may laugh right in his face. Or she would be shocked that someone like him could be a superhero, too. He laughed at the thought of her finally knowing that Aspik was also Chat Noir, like he tried so hard to tell her during his grueling three months fighting Desperada.

“It’s up to you,” said Ladybug.

“Yes,” he said.

“Think about it kitty, don’t just say—”

“My answer is yes. I’ve thought about it enough, every day since I met you m’lady. I’m ready,” he said.

“But wait, before we do this,” Ladybug said, holding Chat’s hands tighter. “I just wanna say that, I…”

Her bluebell eyes melted his heart every time she looked at him, no matter how hard he tried to get over her. “I trust you with all my heart, Chat Noir. I always have.”

Ladybug tentatively leaned towards him, and before Chat could begin to relish in her closeness to him, she gave him the softest most tender kiss, right on the lips.

As much as he wanted to pull her back for more, he let her go. It was the simplest kiss, but it told him everything he needed to know.

“Show me who you are, m’lady. I promise I’ll never tell a soul. Chat’s honor,” he said, attempting to bring a smile to her face. It worked and he grinned.

“Don’t make me regret this, kitty,” she said, her cheeks a little redder by the second.

“We should detransform,” he suggested.

“Really? When I told Rena, I just said—”

“I want to see who you are, too, m’lady. I want to see the girl behind the mask,” said Chat. “Besides, what if I’ve never met you before?”

Ladybug giggled and ruffled his hair. Chat’s mouth dropped open again at her affection. “You have, kitty.”

“Really!? But how do you know?” he asked.

“Will I recognize you, too?” she asked, beginning to show some excitement.

Chat chuckled. “Yes, yes you will.”

“I can’t wait Chat.”

Words couldn’t explain how good that felt to hear. “Me neither, m’lady.”

“On the count of 3?” said Ladybug. Chat nodded, taking her by the hands again.

“One,” said Chat.

Her grip on his hands tightened. “Two,” said Ladybug.

For a second, neither of them breathed. They didn’t move a muscle. The world around them stopped.

“Three,” they said together.

“Tikki, spots off.”

“Plagg, claws in.”

Pink and green light filled the spaces around them. Ladybug held on to Chat’s hands tight as she felt his leather claws transform into human hands.

Once the light faded, all they could see was each other.

Marinette.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Of course she was.

And to think, he fell for this girl twice.

Adrien could not believe how he hadn’t seen it before. Marinette was a hero, that he knew, but he didn’t realize that she actually was a superhero, too, the way he was one.

“Marinette,” said Adrien. In his shock, Adrien remembered to study Marinette’s reaction to him. He was such a fool to think they only knew each other from the few akuma attacks where Ladybug saved Adrien. They were best friends. They went to the same school. And he knew all too well that he was fully and completely in love with her.

“Adrien,” said Marinette, her mouth gaping open in disbelief. Her face was bright red, just as red as her Ladybug costume. Her hands, her real, bare hands, were soft on his hands. He realized that he had held her hands so many times before. His lady, the one he’d always been looking for, was right in front of him for so long.

Adrien finally gave in, and tears fell down his cheeks. “Are you shocked?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” said Marinette. He noticed that her grip on his hands had loosened. “Of course it’s you.”

“I feel the same way,” Adrien said, pulling their hands towards his chest.

“There is no one else it could’ve been, kitty,” said Marinette. It was strange to see Marinette’s face saying Ladybug’s words. “There’s only one person I’ve ever loved.”

Adrien’s eyes widened. “Did you just say—”

“The boy I loved was you, Adrien,” said Marinette. “But then I fell in love with Chat anyway.”

Adrien could not hide his smile. “You love Chat?”

“Yes.”

Adrien believed her. After all, she was the one who kissed him earlier. “And to think I fell for you twice.”

“What?” said Marinette.

“I love you, Marinette,” said Adrien, not believing how easy it was to tell her that.

Marinette gasped. “You do?”

“I always have. But lately I’ve…”

“The girl you told me about…” Marinette said. “You said there was another girl, is it--”

“Of course it was you,” said Chat. He almost laughed. “And to think I was telling my crush about my crush on her without knowing it was her.”

“You did that another time, too. When you told me about Ladybug, on the roof that one night?” said Marinette. Chat nodded, eyes wide. Marinette scoffed. “And I told my crush about you, too.”

“Wait…that was about me?” he asked.

Marinette nodded. “Yes!”

“I broke your heart?” whimpered Adrien. He remembered that night well. Marinette told him that she had her heart broken, just like he had. He had tried not to think about who she was talking about. He didn't want to use his superhero identity to know more than Marinette cared for Adrien to know. He couldn’t believe his foolishness.

“Maybe I didn’t get to see Adrien like I wanted to that night, but what ended up happening that day meant so much more to me,” said Marinette.

“And what’s that?” said Adrien.

“You made me finally see that you loved Ladybug. And I realized that I…”

Adrien smirked.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, blushing.

“You realized what, m’lady?” said Adrien, pulling Marinette closer to him.

“I realized that I was falling head first for Chat Noir and there was nothing I could do about it,” she said. Adrien couldn’t contain his happiness.

“I love you, Marinette,” said Adrien. “Of course it was you. I fell for the same girl twice. And now that I know you’re the same girls…”

Marinette grinned, their noses brushing against each other.

“...I love you even more.” With those words, Adrien finally did what he’d always wanted to do—he put one hand in hers, the other on her cheek, and kissed Marinette softly on the lips.

“Can we come out now? This is torture!” said Plagg from Adrien’s jacket. Adrien and Marinette giggled.

“Yes, you can come out Plagg,” said Adrien.

“You too, Tikki,” said Marinette as Tikki flew out of her bag.

“Hi Marinette,” said Plagg.

“Hi Plagg,” said Marinette.

“Hi Adrien,” said Tikki.

“Hey Tikki, it’s good to see you again!” said Adrien.

“You two have known for so long, haven’t you?” said Marinette, with a certain sympathy in her voice. “Since we fought Reflekdoll and Juleka got akumatized?”

Plagg and Tikki laughed. “No Marinette, we’ve known since you fought Dark Owl! Remember, you were in that container and you detransformed!”

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other, then looked back at their respective kwamis.

“Oh my gosh, Tikki, I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Marinette.

“You had to listen to me talk about Ladybug all the time when you knew she was right in front of me!” said Adrien as Plagg and Tikki flew closer to Adrien and Marinette, still in an embrace.

The four of them laughed at the whole situation together.

“We really got ourselves into a mess, didn’t we?” said Marinette.

“I’d do it all again, m’lady. You’re worth it.”

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Truth

Warning: Spoilers and intense emotions. You have been warned.

So that's how you fix a broken miraculous. And once it's fixed, Duusu seems to be better and felt that she was living a nightmare. Okay, we see.

I never spoke about ShadowMoth's costume. It's okay. I just don't like how powerful he is now.

I guess since the Kwamis were never out of the Miracle Box, they don't know how to behave in the human world. Its funny to see how they behaved, but I also feel bad for Marinette who looked like a crazy person trying to get the kwamis under control.

Also, the Miracle Box reflects Marinette. Does that mean that Marinette is spontaneous or that she is willing to let the Kwamis out of the Miracle Box? I say its both.

Also, how did the writers let Marinette forget that the Kwamis live in their magical world??? (Did they forget about "Sandboy"???) Also, didn't Master Fu or Tikki ever tell her about the whole kwamis and technology thing??? Is Adrien the only one that knows??? Or do I have amnesia?

The girls thought Adrien was at her place??? Did anyone even tell them about the whole Adrien and Kagami thing? Or is that why they are shocked???

The goat kwami apparently did not know about the technology thing and called photos paintings. I get it though: photos are like paintings.

And they sent a photo of Adrien to Luka. Oh boy *facepalms*

...and when Marinette answers Luka's call (made by the goat kwami whose name I cannot recall), she mistakes him for Adrien. I wonder how long this will last (if it even lasts)

Being a guardian means many responsibilities... and forgetting many things, including having a date with Luka. I feel bad for both of them, especially since the date was yesterday. YESTERDAY! Also, forgetting what they were going to be doing and what they will see in the movies

I love Lukanette's chemistry (even though I am a Love Square stan as you all know). Their guessing game on the way to the movies was adorable and in line with couple goals.

The necklace as a gift theory was right! We did it peoples!

Marinette screaming the answer "Kiss me" was a whole mood. And so is the staring thing.

WE/I WERE/WAS RIGHT THAT THEIR KISS WOULD BE INTERRUPTED!!! AND THAT IT WAS AN AKUMA!!! Take it as you will, although they were both passed that there kiss was interrupted.

Ladybug yeeting Chat Noir off the roof only to pull him back, break an office window, Chat smiling about it, and Ladybug enjoying this moment while simultaneously being concerned is what I live for! My Ladynoir heart is satisfied.

IT IS CANNON THAT THEY HAVE PATROLS. Although, it was cannon ever since the IG accounts existed.

ShadowMoth and all these sentimonsters is bananas. How do Marinette and Adrien handle this????

Well, we know for Marinette is the excuses that sometimes make no sense. And the fact that we see Luka become more upset with the more excuses she makes hurts, to the point that he mentioned it at the performance.

LUKA HAS A CHARACTER PEOPLES! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

He had no idea who his father is and his mom would not tell him. This is why he has some form of trust issues and why he is very hurt when Marinette would not tell him anything (because that would mean that she has to tell him she's Ladybug and that could mean the end of the world).

Side note: He is still aware that she still likes Adrien.

Luka resisting the akuma and amok because he still trusts Marinette hurts and shows that they have a healthy relationship (or as healthy as it could be when your girlfriend is a superhero and cannot tell you). Also, how he tells Marinette to run before succumbing to ShadowMoth shows how much he really cares about her. Luka I owe you an apology

Love how everyone in Paris thinks that Marinette's secret is that she loves Adrien. Marinette, you got them all fooled. But if this is the case, then that means Adrien is really dense.

Truth spots his mom and gets her to say who his father is...

ITS BEEN JAGGED STONE ALL ALONG!!! WE WERE RIGHT PEOPLES! OUR HEADCANNONS BECAME CANNON BECAUSE WE ARE GENIUSES!!!

My first thought was "Holy chiz, we were right! We were freaking right!" I had to pause for a miniature victory dance.

Miniature victory dance break!

Anyways, he goes to Jagged Stone not before ShadowMoth yells at him and Truth yells back that he always tells the truth. Man this all hurts so much seeing Jagged's absence having an effect in Luka's thoughts about honesty.

Chat Noir saving Ladybug from saying who she is, giving her the oxygen mask, and saying how he won't force her to tell the identity is wholesome.

Luka is understandably angry at Jagged for leaving him and his mom as Truth. Understandable. I also get Jagged's perspective of the fears of being a horrible parent. But once you are a parent, you have to stay unless you are a danger to children. Jagged is not a danger to children and he should have stayed. Just saying.

People are being yeeted left to right in this episode like wha???

Now Truth heads for Marinette's house and attacks her parents. They also think her secret is about Adrien lol.

I love Tom. Even under the spell, he was willing to make sure Truth does not go up to her room. Too bad that wasn't enough though.

Just as he was about to open the place with the Miracle Box, they catch him! Now, the showdown starts.

Ladybug loves Chat's confidence, courage, and SENSE OF HUMOR!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!

Ladybug and Chat saving each other from revealing their secret identities is just wholesome!

It sucks being in a room that belongs to your soon to be ex (Note: Marinette is not his ex yet, so do not say ex until a certain point). And with photos of the one she loves. Yikes.

Ladybug and Chat's conversation is wholesome. They are safe in each other's company because they trust each other and such. And they like each other's company. But they will catch ShadowMoth no matter what his name has changed to.

Also, Adrien must have had a hard time in his civilian life to be excited about fighting akumas and sentimonsters. I mean why am I surprised this is the same guy that is excited about throwing himself to death get this kid some dang therapy!

The Lukanette break up. So they are taking a break because Marinette wants to be honest to Luka, but cannot be honest for now. Luka takes this surprisingly well and says that he will be waiting while Marinette is the one that appears to be hurt the most. It hurts me

Luka and Jagged Stone collab! I can't wait for it!!! Glad that Jagged and Luka will slowly bur surely mend their relationship.

It hurts me knowing that Marinette can't be with anyone as long as she is Ladybug (or at least until ShadowMoth is defeated) because of the responsibilities and secrets she holds. She is afraid that she is a danger to others and being a danger to others means that they are a danger to Ladybug and Chat Noir and that means the end of the world! My precious bean is 15/16 and she has the weight of the world on her shoulders and this is the first step to her eventual breakdown from the Gloob trailer. Like, can we not hurt Marinette FOR FIVE GOSH DARN MINUTES???????

At least being a guardian has some perks, like having all the Kwamis giving you a hug in exchange for the world on your shoulders. Glad that the kwamis are being understanding to this extent.

Also, can I have kwamis to hug me when I am sad/stressed??? Especially since I am going to college

Overall, this is a very heavy first episode and I am here for it! Luka has a backstory independent of Marinette and a lot of our headcannons are confirmed! Also, Ladynoir are very much alive in their platonic banter and I am here for it even if the rest of the Love Square is somewhat dead.

I have my two cents on Lukanette and that is even as a Love Square stan, they deserve better, at least for half the season, and allow Luka to heal, and Marinette to focus on herself and being a guardian.

I sort of see the impact of Chat Blanc in this episode, but I am not a very emotional person when it comes to watching TV and even though it did not make me cry, it was still emotionally heavy for me, so take it as you will.

Anyways, we are back on track my peoples and I will add on to this post once the English Dub comes to light. See you all soon!

[emsylcatac]

Compatible

Summary:

When Ladybug brings some of the old magazines she used to read as a teenager to a sleepover with Chat Noir, they end up doing an 'Adrien Agreste compatibility test', something that she has done more than once as a teenager.

There's no way her partner could beat her at it and get a higher score than her. No way.

Read it on AO3

Ladynoir identity reveal commission for @multibug​​ ♥ | Donation drive @mlbforblm​

Thank you so much again for beta-reading this, @rosekasa​ ♥

The proceeds of this commission go to Color of Change, a racial justice organisation centered on the Black Lives Matter movement!

You can learn more about MLB for BLM & the different contributors on the blog, and you can view info for commissioning me for art or fics here!

You’re of course very welcome to commission any of our talented contributors and donate if you can! Otherwise you can help us to spread the word by reblogging the different posts from the blog! Thanks for your help ♥🤜🤛

* * * * *

Ladybug looked around the room at the mess she and Chat Noir had left from the evening before. Scattered UNO cards on the table, empty glasses and half empty bottles of wine and cider, a plate with only three or four cookies left, and abandoned game controllers on ottomans in front of the small TV.

They always left a mess when they had a sleepover together; always because they went to bed way too late and were too tired to clean it all.

She loved that.

She turned her head to look at her partner half-sitting beside her on the sofa bed. The sheets were pulled up his waist, and he was wearing a dark grey t-shirt v-neck as a pajama that suited him particularly well. She herself was wearing a red with tiny black polka-dots tank top, and a pair of small black pajama shorts.

Chat Noir was smiling at whatever he was reading on his phone. Ladybug propped her head on his shoulder, but kept her gaze away from the device.

“What are you looking at?”

He kept silent a few seconds, still grinning, before answering. “I told my best friend about what my supervisor said to me yesterday. He’s telling me he’s gonna buy an electric racket for mosquitoes and slap him with it.”

Ladybug chuckled. “I like your friend.”

Chat Noir was doing an internship somewhere in the city, and while it seemed like he enjoyed it, his supervisor sounded everything but kind to him. Something Ladybug couldn’t understand, knowing how nice her partner was.

“I thought you would,” he replied, turning his phone off and putting it on the nightstand.

After defeating Hawkmoth four years ago, Ladybug and Chat Noir had both taken a break to focus on their studies. He had been somewhere abroad from what she gathered; she had studied in another city. Now they were both back in Paris and had been for a year; a new threat needing the heroes had arisen.

It had been good to see her partner and best friend again after all this time, a deliverance of sorts. Being older opened up to a lot more freedom than they had as young teenagers: they were more lenient regarding their identities, for one. Ladybug even offered more than once to reveal each other, but Chat Noir told her he was not quite ready yet. It had surprised her a lot, but if he needed time, she would let him take it.

Still, it hadn’t kept them from getting even closer than they used to be.

Ladybug wished they could be even closer. She suspected that Chat Noir probably did, too, yet neither of them pushed for it. The very comfortable friendship they had now established was both a blessing and a curse in that regard.

While it was easier for her to stay at her parent’s house for now, Chat Noir had had a new personal studio. It wasn’t big; just the kind of place you’d expect from any average student having to rent a far too expensive place for what it was, courtesy of living in Paris—but it was enough. It was great to plot against their enemy… or for sleepovers, a habit they had taken soon after he got it.

Chat Noir looked at the pile of old magazines she had brought—they were the ones she read as a teenager, the ones she gossiped about with Alya during their sleepovers. She had thought it could be fun to try that with him, even if they were definitely not up to date.

“We forgot to read those!” he exclaimed, getting up.

She watched as he closed his eyes to pick one at random, and brought it back to the bed.

“Which one did you get?”

“Let’s see… oooh, ‘Clara Rossignole is looking for a Ladybug and a Chat Noir for her next music video’”, he read aloud. “Wow. How old is that stuff?”

“Er, I think I must have been fifteen or something so… Seven years old?”

“Amazing! Exactly what I need to keep up with the latest juicy gossip!” He grinned.

Ladybug laughed and leaned on his shoulder to have a better look at the magazine. She remembered that one with this cover very well, it was the one where there was a personality test about—

“‘How compatible are you with teen model Adrien Agreste’, page 21.” Chat Noir fake-gasped. “Spiiicy! Let’s do it!”

As he opened the magazine, Ladybug hoped that it wouldn’t be too obvious to see how easy it was to find the page right away. Despite the years that had passed, the page was still bearing the marks of having been opened and opened again and stared at for far too long, more than any other.

If he noticed, Chat Noir chose not to comment.

He grabbed a four-coloured pen on his nightstand. “Wow, my Lady, that’s a lot of ink on there! We can barely see the little symbols in front of the answers.”

Well. She had had to take the test more than once to get a better score. She’d been aiming for a hundred percent compatibility, a hundred-and-one if she was lucky, or over-compatible—as she should have been back then according to herself.

Not that she would admit that to him.

“I had done it with friends. That’s why it’s so… inky.”

Chat Noir hummed, suspicious, but didn’t push further.

“And it doesn’t work with symbols, it’s a points system. So we can’t cheat,” she added.

She would know. She had tried.

He snorted. “You remember this surprisingly well, Buguinette.”

She didn’t comment on that very accurate observation. Instead, she dropped a kiss on his cheek.

“Why do you want to do that test anyway?”

“Because it’s fun! And to see if I can get a better score than you,” he said.

She scoffed. “As if you would win! I’m unbeatable at this.”

That made him snicker. “Unlike with UNO?”

She glared at him at that and pulled her head away from his shoulder. He brought her back with an arm around her, and kissed her temple apologetically.

She begrudgingly accepted the kiss. Very begrudgingly. (She couldn’t help but smile at the contact of his lips).

(She also couldn’t help but snuggle closer to him).

“So,” Chat Noir went on, “what do we have for the first question… Oooh, ‘which colour is your favourite? Green, Blue, Pink or Red?’,” he raised a brow. “That’s not a lot of choices in my opinion.”

“Blue,” Ladybug automatically answered.

Chat Noir snorted. “No, yours is pink Bugacheat, I know that well enough,” and he circled the answer in red. “However, mine is blue.”

“Maybe I changed favourite colour.”

“No, you didn’t,” he replied flatly. She pouted. “Next question. ‘What is your favourite season?’”

Ladybug pondered. She liked all seasons, after all; they each had their charm.

“Can’t we pick all of them?”

“Well, apparently you can’t because, according to this very accurate magazine, Adrien Agreste has only one favourite season.”

“Write ‘autumn’, then,” she decided.

He circled it in red for her, and circled spring in green for him.

“Okay, ‘how many times do you blink in the span of a minute? Fifteen, eighteen, twenty or twenty-two”, he frowned. “Where did they even get these information?”

“They have very good sources.”

“Sure,” he snorted. “Does Adrien Agreste himself even know the answer to that?”

“Well, of course, it’s in the magazine,” she laughed.

She knew it couldn’t really be trusted, but she liked to take these facts as straight science when she was younger.

“God, these tests are so bad,” Chat Noir shook his head. “How is that suppose to tell you if you’re compatible with him or not?”

“Hey! Don’t criticise my magazine or you’ll offend mini-me!”

“Well, Babybug, I think the questions from your magazine are dumb. And I’m answering… I don’t know... eighteen maybe?”

“Put twenty-two for me,” she said proudly.

She remembered the answer corresponding to Adrien’s to that question, but he didn’t need to know that.

They went on like that through the rest of the test, from morning routine to favourite scent—“Ew, why are one of the answers camembert?”— and gut reaction when faced with an akuma—“you would jump off of a building, Kitty”.  Ladybug tried to answer what ‘Adrien’ would do instead of herself, and Chat Noir corrected her each time—“I choose passion fruits!” - “there’s a reason you always take strawberry ice-creams, my Lady. You can’t fool me!” — until they arrived at the end of the test.

“Aaaaand I’ve got a score of…” Chat Noir paused, looking and calculating the results, “eighty-six percent! While you, on the other hand, despite trying to cheat on at least five questions—”

“Hey!”

“—have a score of… Aw, only forty-one!”

“What?!” Ladybug all but screamed.

“Ah, yes, it looks like I beat you Buguinette!” The little shit sounded so proud with himself.

“There’s no way your score is higher than mine,” she said, snatching the magazine from his hands and scrupulously recounting the points herself.

There was no way, indeed.

And yet.

Chat Noir knew how to count, alright. Ladybug was silently fuming.

No, it didn’t matter anymore whether she was compatible with her old crush or not. And yes, the magazine was probably incorrect anyway.

And sure, Adrien was twenty-two now, not fifteen, so his answers would probably not be the same anymore, but still.

She had to defend young-Marinette’s honour.

And in honour of young-Marinette’s past struggles and unconditional love, there was no way Chat Noir of all people could be more compatible with Adrien than herself.

Chat Noir’s laughters brought her out of her shocked horror.

“Aw, don’t pull that face, Bugachups, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose! Maybe you’ll beat me to the next! Say, they don’t have a compatibility test with Chat Noir by any chan—”

“You cheated.” She stated it calmly but coldly. She had to be calm about it. “You must have.”

Chat Noir guffawed. “I’m not you! Also why so upset? Afraid I ruined your chances with…” he took the magazine back from her hands to read the caption under the test’s title, “...Paris’ favourite teenage boy?” He frowned. “Hey, shouldn’t that have been me at the tim—”

“No, I’m not afraid of anything like that,” she grumbled. “It’s just that… I used to know everything there was to know about Adrien Agreste back in the day.”

He blinked. “Everything?!”

“Everything,” she repeated. “Also, I don’t need to do a Chat Noir compatibility test to know that I’d get a hundred percent at it.”

He snickered. “I sure do hope that you’d get a higher score with me than that poor forty-one percent.”

She hit him with her pillow. For making fun of her, and for not having taken the bait.

“Yes,” she insisted, “I’d have a better score and I’d get the highest, thank you very much.”

He gently pinched and squished her cheeks while nuzzling his nose against hers teasingly. “Aaaww, of course we would be the most compatible Buguichou, we’re made for each other!”

Better.

Still, they had become so comfortable with each other now that it could mean everything and nothing.

“Chat Noooiiiiir,” she whined in lieu of pushing further, “stop annoying me!”

He released her and laughed. “You love it when I annoy you!”

Yes.

“No.”

He snorted and shook his head. “Anyway.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “What was it about you knowing everything there was to know about teen model, Paris' darling extraordinaire Adrien Agreste?”

She groaned. “Please can we not?”

“No. I want to know more about the boy I’m eighty-six percent compatible with, Bugaboo! And who better to teach me all I need to know other than the finest expert you aaaaar—”

She snatched the magazine back from his hands and swatted him with it.

“You’re” —swat— “not” —swat— “more compatible than me” —hit— “with Adrien” she had him pinned on the bed and he was giggling, trying and failing to push her away, “because I had the biggest crush” —swat— “on him and I was” —swat— “in love with him, do you understand?”

She stopped hitting him to throw him her deadliest look.

“Wait, what?” he said, still grinning from the fight. “You were in love with him like… in love love?”

She crossed her arms. “Yes, I was in love love with him.”

He snorted. And then, slowly, his body shook more and more, the laughters coming from him getting louder and louder.

“You—,” he choked, raising a finger in her direction, “you were in love with Adrien Agreste when we were fifteen.”

She sighed. “Yes, I was in love with Adrien Agreste. Go on, laugh all you want, ‘ha-ha-ha, Ladybug was in love with Hawkmoth’s son, ha-ha,’ so funny.”

“Oh my god, yes, Ladybug in love with our enemy’s son,” he kept laughing. “Waaait, wait wait, hold on, that’s excellent but… when you told me you were in love with someone else, back then…”

Her stomach fluttered at the memory that yes, Chat Noir used to be in love with her.

“...Does that mean that he was the boy you were referring to?” he looked at her expectantly.

She didn’t reply.

“He was?!" he exclaimed. “Ladybug, that’s… that’s… that’s hilarious!” and he was back laughing, even louder than before.

She glared at him, before grabbing her pillow once again and hitting him with it.

“No, no—I’ll stop, I’ll stop! But you don’t understand, this is so funny!”

“I really don’t see why.” And with that she lay down on the bed and turned around, her back to him. “Adrien is a very sweet person, I had great taste.”

Today, however, by loving Chat Noir? Maybe not so much, she decided.

A warm hand settled on her arm.

(She still had great tastes).

“Say, my Lady… if you were to meet that Adrien boy today and he were to ask you on a date… would you say yes?” She could still hear the remainder of his amusement in his voice, but he seemed to have calmed down, now.

She turned around to face him. He was lying on the side, propped on one elbow with his head resting on his hand. She pondered his question a few seconds. She hadn’t seen Adrien in a while, after all.

And… there was someone else now. She wasn’t fifteen anymore.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

He was rubbing small circles on her arm.

“Oh?” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “What would fifteen-year-old-Bugbooboo think about that?”

She snorted. “She wouldn’t believe I’d ever say that. She’d think I lost my mind.”

He chuckled with her.

She frowned. “But… well, we all change when we grow up and… Adrien is probably still a great person. And I mean, with what he had to go through, I admire him a lot. But also, there’s some—… there’s…  there’s...”

“There’s what?”

You.

“Chat Nooiiir,” she tugged at the kwagatama around his neck instead, and raised her eyes to his. She bit her lip. “You know.”

She couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. Even after all these years, confessing was still something she found herself struggling with. But she kept his gaze as he silently searched hers; she wouldn’t back away or hide from it.

She kept it as he slowly took the hand that was fiddling with his necklace and lifted it to his lips. Kept it as he gently kissed the tips of her fingers. As she felt a shiver and the heat rising to her cheeks and was sure he could see it, too.

And she still kept his gaze as he lowered their hands on the mattress, and caressed hers with his thumb.

He knew.

And he reciprocated. She put a hand on his cheek, and slowly brought her face closer to his. She was about to close her eyes and the gap between them when a finger on her lips interrupted her.

Chat Noir closed his eyes, letting a small smile tug at his lips. Took a deep breath. Exhaled.

Opened his eyes again and looked right into hers.

“What if…” he said nervously, almost as a murmur, a deep contrast to his amusement from earlier. “What if I told you that… that you could have both? In one person.”

Her eyes widened. She sat up suddenly and grabbed his face. Did he mean that—

“Chaton?!” she said surprised —questioning. Her eyes frantically searched his.

He took one of her hands and brought it to his mask. And slowly nodded.

Carefully, shaking, she removed the home-sewed mask from his face.

His eyes were closed, but it was the unmistakable face of Adrien that met her. And older Adrien, an Adrien who was still the same but also so different.

An Adrien who was Chat Noir, and had always been—an Adrien that she knew more than she could have possibly thought.

As he opened his eyes to look at her, she took both his hands and kissed them. She noticed that she was crying when she saw tears dropping on his ring. She didn’t care.

It suddenly hit her that this boy had had to fight against his own father—and that it was certainly why he hadn’t been ready to show himself before. What he just did now, finally revealing himself to her—this was huge.

But looking at his gaze, soft from her actions, and feeling his hand wiping her tears away, she decided that it was probably not something he wanted to discuss now. And she didn’t want to ruin their moment, their reveal, with pity and talks about his father: the very thing he had probably tried to avoid when he was still insecure about who he was under the mask.

She giggled through her tears. “You’re beautiful,” is what first made its way out of her mouth.

That made him laugh and oh god, she was making him cry too now.

“Take off my mask. Please,” she whispered, kissing his fingers once more.

He sat up next to her, are gently put a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Then, he did as she told—and gasped.

“You—you’re Marinette!”

She giggled again. “And you’re Adrien!”

“I was thinking about you the other day. I was wondering how you were doing and…” he trailed off.

“And now you know!”

“And now I know!” he grinned. “You’re wonderful… I missed you so much but… it also sounds weird to say that now, doesn’t it?”

“Well… we could still catch up, around a coffee and uh… is this date with both Chat Noir and Adrien still on the table?” she asked.

Was she being a bit too straight forward? Probably. But she had troubles to control her mouth right now.

“When will it not?” he breathed.

She squealed and wiggled on her spot, grabbing his face. But before she could come closer to him, she faltered and stopped, remembering his finger on her lips a few minutes before.

“Uh, can I kiss you this time?”

He chuckled, a soft blush gracing his cheeks—and kissed her in answer.

She immediately closed her eyes at the contact of his lips and kissed him back—slowly, deeply, tasting him as much as she could. He tilted his head to give her a better access, and she climbed on his laps to be more comfortable—and closer to him.

Marinette lost count of how many times they came back for each other, of how many times their lips met, or their tongues. She felt so happy and so good—so in love.

When they separated and looked at each other, shy and giddy smiles on their faces, she couldn’t help but drop another tender kiss on his cheek, and caressed it afterwards.

“Now I know what you found so funny earlier,” she told him.

“It’s hilarious, right? We were so dumb!”

“We still are,” she added.

“We definitely still are. I can’t believe I didn’t know that Marinette was in love with me in collège, wow.”

“Is in love with you,” she corrected, still caressing his cheeks. “Present tense.”

She would always remember the look on his face when she said it. He was in love with her too, there was no doubt about it.

Suddenly, she was hit with a realisation and looked at him in horror. “Wait a minute. That means… That I have only forty-one percent compatibility with Chat Noir?!”

Adrien burst out laughing. “My Laaaady, you can’t seriously believe these tests, right?”

“Well, no, but we still should have way more compatibility than forty-one percent. Who even has that with their super-hero partner?”

“Marinette,” he said, amused, “my Bugabisous…I don’t even have a hundred percent with myself. It would be hard to live in my own head.”

She blinked. “You’re right. That test is dumb. But how do we know if we’re the most compatible then?”

Adrien chuckled, and put his hands around her waist, bringing her closer to him. “Well, you’re the Guardian, I think you can make up the rules for that.”

She put her arms around his neck. “That’s true. Then I decide that we’re a hundred percent compatible.”

“A hundred percent, uh?”

Their foreheads were touching now.

“A hundred-and-one,” she whispered against his lips, and she kissed him.

[2manyfandoms2count]

Four months later, my contribution for the @mlwritersguild April event! The prompts were the snake, ladybug, cat, ticket and treble emojis.

Note: I started writing this after Truth and Lie aired, and I tweaked it to be set after Gang of Secrets, but before the rest of the season; it's basically what I hoped would happen before all of the Ladynoir drama unfolded this season. I hope you'll enjoy this take!

Read on AO3

---

Of irony and trust

Sometimes, Ladybug liked to take a break and muse about how ironic life could be. The topic of such instances varied from I got grounded for skipping class and of all the places in Paris, the one I had to sneak out to because of a freaking Akuma happened to be the place I would have been in had I not been grounded in the first place to I’m the holder of a luck-associated divine artefact, yet out of two love letters and a constipation medicine prescription, guess which one ended in my crush’s hands .

Tonight’s boiled down to being caught stalking her ex-boyfriend (if they’d ever made it to the defining part of their relationship) in, granted, a fairly discrete manner, since she’d been transformed at the time, to check he was still doing okay after his akumatisation, and ending up not only being thanked for her concern and for saving him, but also being apologised to for falling for Shadowmoth's promises again, something which she still considered she’d been largely responsible for (even though Alya insisted that her secret had probably just been the metaphorical last straw, and that Luka would have broken down about truths sooner or later).

She sighed, looking into the sunset as she played with the two tickets Luka had offered her by way of thanks, wondering what she could, and should do with them.

In spite of everything, Marinette was bound to get one for herself any day now; Kitty Section were opening for Jagged Stone at the annual Bastille Day concert, a week from then, and if her friends didn’t invite her directly given the circumstances, there was a high chance that she’d get an invitation from Jagged himself to thank her for designing his latest album cover.

That being said, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to go. Watching Luka play on stage would only remind her of the fact that she couldn’t be in a relationship until all the Miraculouses were back in the box, even though it had felt amazing to be distracted from Miraculous matters for a bit.

Her mind wandered to Chat Noir, who was uncharacteristically late. She was faced with a very peculiar dilemma at the moment, one she could have used Master Fu’s wisdom to resolve; on the one hand, revealing her identity to Alya had been one of the best things to happen to her in a while. She felt a lot lighter, and it really made her wonder if sharing her identity with her partner would be such a bad idea. On the other hand, her mentor’s warning and her glimpse at an alternate reality where caution had seemingly been thrown to the wind still echoed in her mind like a tolling bell.

She knew Chat Noir trusted her, like she trusted him; a lot was left unsaid in their peculiar relationship, but that was something they’d never lie about - or at least she hoped so. She also knew that having revealed her identity to somebody who wasn’t her partner, and not even telling the latter about it, was a dangerous flame to play with. One maybe hanging out with him more, say, to start, at a concert, might help dampen ever so slightly.

It wasn’t like she could invite anybody else, and especially not Adrien, anyway…

An unfamiliar thunk, followed by a short skidding sound, startled her before she could reconsider her other options, and had her scrambling to her feet to assume a defensive stance, eyes darting around to find the source of the sudden interruption. Had somebody been Akumatised? What was their power? And where on Earth was Chat N-

“Sorry, don’t panic, Ladybug! It’s just me,” a voice sounded from slightly below her, drawing her attention to the edge of the rooftop, and to the lyre that appeared to have been thrown at her feet. The magical instrument made her shake off the thought that the voice had sounded a lot like her partner’s, and sure enough, instead of the black-clad superhero, it was a green-hooded one whose head emerged from the side of the building, slightly breathless from the climb.

“Adri-, I mean, Aspik?”

“Hey,” he hoisted himself up and brushed off some white dust from his suit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I wasn’t expecting you to already be there,” he added sheepishly. “I thought I’d have time to recover from scaling the building.” He bent over, resting his hands on his knees to try and catch his breath.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” She chuckled lightly at his pun. His humour was almost as good as Chat Noir’s. “You know that the lyre does enable you climb up things, though, right?” She smiled as she plucked a chord. A music staff appeared between them, and she demonstrated by starting to climb it, as if it were an elaborate staircase. The soft notes of a scale echoed around them as her feet landed on the lines.

As she turned towards him to gauge his reaction, she saw that he looked at her with something between fascination and mild annoyance.

“Chat Noir didn’t show you, did he?” she asked, jumping down and giving him the lyre back, a small blush dusting her cheeks.

“I’m not sure he knew himself,” Aspik muttered back.

“Right." She smiled tightly. "Miraculous powers was actually something I wanted to talk to him about tonight.”

“Ah. You weren’t expecting me, then, were you?”

Ladybug paused. She’d honestly forgotten about Chat Noir asking her if he could borrow the Snake Miraculous; it had happened right after Marinette had told Alya about being Ladybug, which had kickstarted a whole lot of research to ensure her friend was protected. She’d of course managed to make it to patrols physically, but even so, her mind had been a little elsewhere.

She just remembered Chat telling her that he might be busy in the upcoming weeks, but that he refused to leave her alone on patrols. She’d felt a little guilty about the comment and apologised yet again for the ones she’d missed, but her partner had brushed it off with a smile.

“Not really, no. But I’m very glad to have you here with me!” She poked his arm as playfully as she could muster, but his cocked eyebrows told her he wasn’t fooled in the least. “To be completely honest with you… I’m not sure who I was expecting.” She smiled sadly. “We haven’t exactly discussed bringing heroes back since most of our temps’ identities were leaked, so really, it could have been anyone new, or you, or…” She glanced down at her tickets again, and his eyes followed hers.

His understanding nod turned into an inquisitive look as her gaze darkened. She had to admit that she was relieved Viperion wasn't the one Chat Noir had chosen to replace him (temporarily, her partner was absolutely irreplaceable - she made a mental note to tell him as much again the next time she saw him) tonight; she wasn't sure she would've survived two surprise conversations with him in the same day. There was just too much guilt weighing on her heart when it came to him, although she hoped that time would eventually lessen it.

“Um, Ladybug?” Her companion probed.

“Yes?” She shook herself out from her guilt-ridden daze.

“Are you alright? You seem a little… troubled.”

“It’s nothing, really.” She tried to give him a convincing smile before sitting back down on the edge of the rooftop. When had it become so hard to act bubbly around Adrien? It was kind of nice not to be a blabbering mess for once, but she wished she could feel a little more upbeat.

“Sure? I’m here if you want to talk, you know; it’s kind of in my job description.” He sat down next to her and nudged her elbow.

“You have a job description?” One of her eyebrows shot up.

“Well, you know… It’s not because Chat Noir can’t be here tonight that he doesn’t want you to feel supported.”

“My sweet, thoughtful Kitty,” she shook her head with a smile, before sighing. She didn’t notice Aspik’s cheeks pinken, just under the fangs of his mask. “To be quite honest with you, I’m a little worried about him.”

“You are?”

Ladybug paused, uncertain whether she should continue or not. Aspik’s encouraging look helped her make up her mind. “It’s just something he said not too long ago… about only having fun when he’s with me.”

“Ah.” Aspik twiddled his thumbs.

“He brushed it off like it was a completely natural thing to say, but I still find it concerning.”

“I guess the wording isn’t very reassuring,” Aspik said cautiously. “It sounds worse than it probably is, though; he does, I mean, he must have friends, and he must have fun with them. Maybe… maybe you just caught him at a bad time?”

“I suppose it had been a pretty long day.” She pouted thoughtfully after a short pause. “But I don’t know, it scares me. I… Well, things haven’t been easy in my life either, especially lately, but there’s a part of me who’s afraid to tell him just in case… in case he really meant it. I really don’t want to spoil his fun.” She bit her lip, then shook her head with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you this.” That was half a lie. Adrien was a friend she knew she could trust, one whose presence felt very comforting. Maybe the sunset was getting to her head, making her feel like they were above time and reality, but she almost believed that they were in a safe bubble.

“I really don’t mind, if you don’t. Miraculouses come with professional confidentiality anyway, right? Whatever you say will stay between us. I promise.” He smiled. Ladybug could tell it was genuine, but there seemed to be something brave about it, too, as if he were ready for a band aid to be ripped off. “What could you possibly tell him that would ruin his time with you?”

She looked at him lengthily, gauging him. “Firstly, I don’t want him to worry about me. And secondly…” She was about to tell him about sharing her secret identity with Alya (without naming names, of course), when the thought that if Chat wasn’t the first to learn this information, her guilt would deepen, crossed her mind. “Ugh, see? I’m doing it again, opening up about stuff that would concern him directly with other people, instead of telling him directly. I’m such a bad friend.” She put the tickets to one side and held her head in her hands.

“I don’t think you are.” She felt him pat her back tentatively. “Actually, you… You kind of remind me of one of my friends.” She peeked at him through her fingers; although his hand was still soothingly rubbing her shoulder blades, he was looking at the street below, a soft smile on his lips. “I think you know her, Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Anyway, she’s a really great person, but sometimes she makes mistakes, too. It’s alright, though, because she always means well. Like you.” He smiled at her, this time. She felt her cheeks warm as their eye contact lingered. “My point is,” he cleared his throat, “Chat Noir knows you, and trusts you, right? You just need to trust him.”

“I already do.”

“Then what are you risking? Is what you did really that bad?”

“Not in the grand scheme of things, I guess.” She paused. “I don’t think I had much choice, anyway. But even if I don't really regret what happened, I'm concerned that he won't understand why there are some things I can't open up to him, specifically, about.”

“Honestly, you'd be surprised at how much he'd be ready to let slide when it comes to your relationship," Aspik said quietly. "It's no secret how much he, erm… appreciates you."

"I love him very much, too," Ladybug whispered. "And that's why I don't want to see him hurt. Ever." Ever again , she thought. "And this… This will definitely hurt."

"Okay, but look at it this way: sparing him is an honourable reason to withhold information from him, but if you don't tell him what you can soon, it might end up hurting him even more, for instance, if he somehow learns about it from somebody else. Or, depending on how important that information is, he might feel hurt that you kept it from him for so long." He bit his lip and eyed his bracelet.

"You're right. I know you're right." She grunted and leaned back, looking at the swirling orange clouds. It reminded her of another warm sunset exchange she'd had, after spending an afternoon in what had felt like the coldest world ever. "It's just so difficult for me to wrap my head around, I can't imagine what it'll be like for him."

"You might have to give him a bit of time and space, then,” Aspik warned her. "But eventually I'm sure he'll come around."

“I hope so.” She sighed. Her yoyo beeped, signalling the end of patrol time. She hesitated to ignore it; Adrien had proven to be a very enjoyable partner - not that she’d doubted he’d be when he’d shown up, really, but something about talking about Chat Noir had helped her keep a rather level head with him. She knew she had to head back, though. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to remain coherent if they switched topic, something she felt like they'd need to do soon if she didn't want to say too much, and beyond that, she had an important essay to outline and write for the next day. “Well, I think that’s our cue. Thank you for keeping me company tonight.” She smiled, pushing herself up and holding a hand out for Aspik. He took it and she helped him up.

They stood facing each other for a bit, smiling, unsure about how to properly end the patrol. It wasn’t like they could walk each other home, really. A small gust of wind ruffled the tickets which still lay on the ground, under one of Ladybug’s feet.

“Oh, hey, you’re forgetting this.” Aspik bent down to retrieve them and handed them to her.

“Right, thanks.” She looked down. Their discussion had boosted her confidence regarding talking to Chat, but she still didn’t know who to give her second invitation to. If she gave it to anyone.

“Who’s the second ticket for?” He nodded towards her hands, as if reading her mind.

“I was actually trying to figure it out before you arrived.” She smiled. “I kind of feel like I should gift it to you as thanks for being so great. Tonight! Just tonight, of course. Although I’m sure you’re just as great every single day,” she winced at her awkwardness. “But you’re going to be there anyway, aren’t you? And on stage.”

“If I can even make it. My schedule’s been a little all over the place lately.” His eyes darkened for a fraction of a second as he toyed with his bracelet, before lighting up again so fast Ladybug thought she’d dreamt it. “But I think you and I both know who you should give this to.” He gave her a pointed look. “I think it would be a great way to butter your partner up before delivering whatever bad news you’re withholding from him.” He winked.

“Very smart. And very practical. You know, you’re a lot like Chat Noir, actually. It’s a compliment,” she added quickly as she saw him tense up.

“Well, I sure hope so, my Lady,” he chuckled. The words sounded foreign, and yet right, in the hooded boy’s mouth.

“What… what did you say?” She gaped.

“I'm obviously not used to this Miraculous, I accidently activated it when I played with it. It doesn't happen with the ring, you see." He smiled and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as she looked on, slightly bewildered. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you won't remember any of this, but since we're here... I’d be happy to find a way to join you at the concert, my Lady." He bowed and kissed her hand. "It was lovely chat-ting with you tonight, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to what you have to tell me, but you know what? Thank you for the heads up.” He straightened up and squeezed her hand in his. "I'll be waiting for your call, after we're really done with our conversation." He placed his other hand on his wrist, and Ladybug's hand immediately flew to it, eyes almost feverish in the setting sun.

“Adrien, I mean, Aspik, Chat , wait-”

He paused, looking at her expectantly.

"Why?" Her question came out as softly as the hand that was suddenly cupping his cheek. "Why pretend you couldn't come tonight?"

"I had a couple of things I felt like maybe getting off my chest, if I got the opportunity.” He shrugged, leaning into her touch. “I just wanted to make sure I could backtrack if I made a mistake.”

“Oh." Ladybug gulped, and looked down. "Chaton, I... I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me about your own problems.” Her piercing gaze met his again as she ran her thumb along the edge of his mask. “If something’s burdening you, I’ll be more than happy to help carry the weight. You can trust me, you know that?”

“I already do my Lady.” He winked at her and kissed the palm of her hand quickly before touching his bracelet again. “Now, I don't trust you not to be mad if I run out of time, though."

"Yeah, I don't think I'd be ready to let that slide just yet." Her eyes twinkled in the dusk light.

"In that case... Second chance.”

[miraculousoj]

LadyNoir July 2021 Day 1: Older

Summary: Just some pre-reveal banter and fluff between LadyNoir. Ladybug spends Chat Noir's birthday with him eating macarons, joking about his age, and discussing his plans as an 18-year-old.

Rating: General audiences

Word count: 1920

Warnings: slight mention of alcohol

"Cats me if you caaan!" Chat Noir sang out as he ran across the Parisian rooftops under the night sky. The cool autumn air hugged his face as he laughed, jumping from building to building, running from his lady in their usual game of catch; the loser had to bring food to the next patrol. If he got to their rendezvous point before she caught him, he'd win, if she caught him before that, she'd win. 

If Ladybug were to be completely honest, she didn't mind losing and purposely tried to lose at times since she knew bringing fresh pastries was easy for her seeing as her family owned a bakery and she had no idea what Chat noir's financial situation may have been outside of his superhero life. Listening to him talk, he usually seemed like his home life was nothing to envy - he often spoke about his neglectful father, his deceased mother and busy schedule; though he did not give specific enough information to reveal his identity. It seemed that the only happiness in his life was being a superhero and attending school, something that had to mean that his home life was absolutely horrendous since she couldn't imagine anyone enjoying school. Nonetheless, he always put on a smile during their late-night patrols and akuma fights, seldom showing sadness or pain. It was only during the end of patrols when they'd sit and talk for an hour where he'd express his misfortunes in life but never in a way to gain sympathy. He'd always state them matter-of-factly as if narrating his life without seeming too beaten up about it. Maybe he had just gotten accustomed to it, that thought broke her heart. So she always tried to bring him his favourite pastries - croissants and macarons which he would gulp down graciously, almost as if he hadn't eaten at all that day.

"Seems like I'm the faster hero today m'lady!" Chat Noir taunted as Ladybug finally jumped to the roof that he had been standing on for about two minutes. Chat Noir contorted his body, flexing his biceps and triceps, earning an eye roll and chuckle from Ladybug. "Cats got your tongue? These bad boys right here got you stunned huh, m'lady?" He said, smiling proudly and moving his eyebrows up and down. 

"As if Chaton," Ladybug retorted, hiding her blush and strutting towards him. 

Standing directly in front of each other, he looked down at her acknowledging the height difference which increased by almost six inches in the past two years. It was in these moments when he noticed how much more beautiful she had become over the years. She looked up through hooded eyes, got onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek gently. Chat Noir gasped, his jaw fell open and his eyes widened in shock. She had never done that before.

With a flick of his bell and a giggle, Ladybug whispered, "Happy birthday, Chaton" into his ear causing Chat Noir to regain his senses.

"Y-you remembered?" He asked wide-eyed, turning to his left to face Ladybug who had now walked over to the box of treats she had brought. They usually left the treats at the rendezvous point to indulge in whilst hanging out and chatting after patrols.

As she sat, Ladybug asked, "Why wouldn't I? I even marked it on my calendar so I wouldn't forget. You're one of my best friends, and I never forget a friend’s birthday." If it wasn't for the darkness of the corner she sat in, Chat Noir would've seen her face turning as red as her mask. 

He was speechless. Ladybug had marked his birthday on her calendar and even considered him more than a friend, yeah it was a best friend, but it was more than a friend, so he was obviously climbing the relationship ladder in some way. 

He resorted to saying a grateful thank you instead of asking too many questions, also he was famished and tired and just wanted to put his head in his lady's lap and eat some of those delicious Dupain-Cheng pastries she always brought. Oh how he loved them. He was even good friends with the bakers’ daughter who sat behind him in class. She was an extraordinary girl and he'd be lying if he said that he hadn't considered asking her on a date a few times but his schedules didn't permit it and his heart belonged to Ladybug but by all means, if Ladybug didn't exist, he'd be head over heels for Marinette. She reminded him so much of Ladybug too, the way she took control during akuma attacks, stood up for others, helped those in need, brought pastries to school and she even told him Happy birthday that morning and gifted him some macarons. 

"Chaton" Ladybug’s cooing broke him from his thoughts of Marinette. He constantly compared them and if you asked, he wouldn't admit it but he would be a little disappointed if she wasn’t the girl under the mask.

As he dropped his body next to Ladybug’s and threw his head into her lap, she began running her hands through his hair and they both peered into each other's eyes in silence for a while. Friends. That's what they were but this wasn't what friends did, at least none of Adrien's friends did this. Except for the couples, of course. However, he dare not complain in case she stopped. He let the moment continue until she broke eye contact to fetch a macaron from the box to feed him. Another thing that friends did not do. But he ate it happily, it tasted like passionfruit, like the same ones Marinette gave him that morning. It came from the same bakery after all and they were his favourite flavour both as Chat Noir and Adrien so it was only obvious that his respective ladies would gift him his favourite flavour. 

"So how old are you now Chat?" Ladybug asked with a smile, she obviously knew but was just asking the usual birthday question.

"Eighteen," he replied sitting up, the number echoed in his mind and his eyes widened slightly. "I'm eighteen," he repeated a bit louder with a smile, this time, "finally legal. How old are you, m'lady?" He taunted, leaning towards her with a Cheshire cat smile, poking her cheek.

Ladybug narrowed her eyes and flared her nose, "Seventeen," she whispered "but I'm turning eighteen in two months, you know that," she stated louder, scowling with her arms folded.

"I'm oollldeer than you!” Chat Noir sang out pinching her cheeks and laughing. "Aww, babybug is maad, she's angwy, absolutely fwustwated," he teased in the most babyish, high-pitched voice he could have made whilst gently tugging at her now warm, reddening cheeks. "She's bwushing!" he exclaimed and fell backwards laughing wholeheartedly. He only felt this happy with her. Chat Noir’s laugh was contagious, to say the least, so although Ladybug tried her best to look angry, she couldn't hold in her laughter and began laughing too. 

As their laughter died down, Chat Noir sat up, slouching down to rest his head on her shoulder. Ideal sitting position. He hated having to sit upright and maintain that prim and proper form for extended periods of time. Yeah, he knew that slouching was bad posture but he wanted to be a normal kid who didn't need to worry about posture. 

"Hey Ladybug, now that I'm eighteen, I bet I could probably buy some wine for us," Chat Noir said excitedly.

"Oh!" Ladybug looked at him in wonder. They both had had wine many times before but had never been able to get wine-drunk especially together. Gabriel never allowed Adrien to have more than half a glass of wine to maintain his pristine image and Marinette’s parents didn’t necessarily like alcohol so they rarely cooked or baked with it unless an order or recipe specifically required it. Therefore, they never kept it around the house or encouraged Marinette to drink. 

Both teenagers looked at each other grinning, they had talked on many occasions about their desire to experience what being drunk was like. Now that Chat Noir was eighteen, he could pull through for them and bring a bottle or two during one of the patrols in the future. 

"Wow, you've got perks to being older, huh?" 

Chat Noir laughed, "Definitely, but I gotta use my powerup within the next two months else you'll come and snatch it from me!" Both teenagers laughed, revelling in their company and happiness. 

"But I think what I really want to do now that I'm eighteen, is organize to move out of my dad's house." Chat Noir said, feeling the atmosphere become heavy. Ladybug nodded, allowing him to continue. "Maybe I'll get an apartment and you can come visit me sometime," he had a faraway look in his eye and a small smile. 

Ladybug knew sharing their identities was a dangerous idea and going to his apartment would only reveal his own but she also knew that their relationship as superhero partners needed the reveal soon or things may begin to fall apart. 

She felt herself falling for Chat Noir more and more each day, the way he fought valiantly at her side and trusted her no matter what, and the way his eyes twinkled when she called him Chaton or scratched his chin. Her descent was slow and gradual at first but then she began thinking about him after patrols, ‘Does he go home? Does he stay out for a bit longer? Does he do homework or did he finish that before patrols? What time does he go to bed? What time does he wake up? Did he eat?' So many questions spiralled her mind each and every day, she couldn't control her feelings. She even resorted to telling him to send her a message when he got home so she'd know that he was safe, of course, she blamed it on the danger of akumas, not her feelings for him. She even stayed transformed until she got his 'I'm home bugaboo <3' message through her yoyo. Oh how she lived for that little heart at the end and the one time he didn't send it, she had a slight panic about whether or not he was okay, if they were okay. But he sent it in a separate message with an asterisk twenty seconds later. And that's when Ladybug knew she had it bad for Chat Noir, maybe even as bad as she had it for Adrien. The descent after that was like being thrown off of a cliff, she fell, and hard too. 

Did she want to go to Chat Noir’s house one day? Hell yeah she did! But she couldn't. Things bigger than them and older than them were at work in the universe and there was no telling what could happen at any moment. 

"M'lady?" Chat Noir’s voice broke into Ladybug’s thoughts, "you okay?" 

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I-I was just thinking about um...uh if I saw any apartments in the classifieds or on social media lately," she lied.

"Oh, ahaha. It's fine, don't worry yourself with that m’lady, I'll sort that out when I'm ready. Plus, father’s not letting me move out anytime soon,” he patted her knee, “Right now I'm focused on us enjoying the end of my birthday together." With that, they both smiled peacefully and leaned into each other as they watched the moon and ate the macarons and croissants in silence.

@ladynoirjuly

Also posted on AO3

[jennagrinsoverml]

ML Fic Recs - AUs

Last week was crazy and I didn’t get around to posting, but now I’m back with your weekly rec list. As usual, I’m trying to rec fics that readers are less likely to have read. (I base that off of kudos on AO3. The general rule is fics under 1000 kudos, but usually I try to keep it under 500!) You can find my other rec lists on my blog at #jennarecsml

If you enjoy these, please reblog so more readers can find these awesome fics!

I love the what ifs of taking are characters and changing something--or everything!--of their circumstances. What if Adrien never went to school? What if soulmates were real? What if there weren’t miraculous? There are so many ways things could have gone differently and I love these explorations. Here are some of my favourite alternate universes!

like poles of a magnet by @rosekasa

ladybug spat her blood at chat noir. invincibility was only granted to the ladybug and black cat that worked together. not even the miraculous cure could heal them, otherwise.

(or, five times they didn't hate each other, and one time it was love).

Multi-chapter. Enemies AU.  The enemies dynamic here is AMAZING!! Adrien is so in character even when he’s a “bad guy”, and the backstory of how he ended up working with Hawkmoth is perfect. (Also, how is Gabriel even worse??) I love the way the identities are played with, and especially the repercussions of Chat working for Hawkmoth on what Adrien is allowed to do.

I Love You To Pieces by marichatting

Marinette's wrist is blank. She knows that one day, she will kiss her soulmate for the first time, and her soulmate tattoo will appear on her wrist, but how is she supposed to wait patiently for that day to come?

She is dying to know whether or not Adrien is her soulmate. Meanwhile, a certain cat has the same burning question about Ladybug.

One-shot. Soulmates AU. This is so freaking sweet, I can’t even. I love when an author takes the rules of the AU and thinks through how they might play out with our characters and their dynamic, and that’s what we have here. Love the interaction between the soulmate kiss and secret identities!

A Series of Meets: Postcards by @damagectrlwrites

When Adrien moves into his first flat, he discovers postcards already in his mail box addressed to someone none of the neighbors seem to know. The postcards come from a young woman traveling the world for a few months named 'M' and her diligent, once a week cards make Adrien decide to hold on to them in hopes of delivering them to the correct receiver. However, with each postcard he gets, he learns more and more about 'M' and soon finds himself falling for the postcard's mysterious writer.

One-shot. No powers/Never met AU. Okay, technically this is a chapter in a collection of AU one-shots, but it deserves individual attention. I loved the mystery of this one, and watching Adrien slowly fall for someone he’s never even met. I don’t want to give away too much with this one, but when I finished reading it the first time I had to go back and give it another read to see how everything connected.

Footsteps by @sariahsue

"I'm not sneaking!" Marinette blurted out as soon as she saw him. She noticed three things instantly. He was blond. He was holding his hands around his eyes like binoculars, and he was in the nicest tuxedo she had ever seen.

(Marinette’s about to get married to her soulmate, a man she’s never met before. Too bad she meets that cute groomsman in the hallway first.)

One-shot. Soulmates AU. This is ridiculously, impossibly sweet. I love how even in a world where they’ve never met and things are clearly very different (marrying someone you’ve never met??), they’re still so very recognizable as themselves. I love this.

A Series of Meets: Reach by @damagectrlwrites

Paris is safe, except from the rivalry of its two superhero guardians: Ladybug and Chat Noir.  Since they were teenagers, the two have raced around Paris, trying to out do-good each other.  

After Chat Noir saves a bus of people from falling into the Seine before Ladybug can even get there, Adrien is in high spirits.  He helps a young woman reach some chips high on a shelf, kicking off a friendly conversation that ends with a coffee date.  

It’s a terrible day for Marinette.  First she had a hectic day at work, then Chat Noir gets all the praise for saving a bus of people, and then she nearly topples over trying to reach some chips.  At the very least, a nice guy helps her and asks her to coffee. Surely, things will get better, right?

One-shot. Enemies/Never met AU. Okay, technically this is a chapter in a collection of AU one-shots, but it deserves individual attention. This one is absolutely amazing and hilarious and YOU NEED TO READ IT!! Ladybug and Chat Noir are superhero rivals, always trying to outdo each other, and being annoyed at the other. Marinette and Adrien get a meet-cute and fall in love. The juxtaposition is perfect and ridiculous and THAT IDENTITY REVEAL OMG.

The Soul System by @peppermint-shamrock  

A series of fics taking place in the same soulmate AU, where soulmates experience an intense feeling of connection and recognition upon first contact - and only first contact. With no lasting proof beyond memories, things don't always go smoothly.

Series. Soulmates AU. This one is full of angst and heartbreak, but it’s so good. The worldbuilding is phenomenal. This is one where the author has really thought through the consequences of the alternate world, and then figured out how to inflict those on our canon dynamics in such a way that they inflict maximum hurt. Ladybug and Chat Noir are soulmates, but Marinette’s in love with someone else. Someone who already has a soulmate. 

lost without the shape of your heart by @beaubcxton

“I heard you today at the coffee shop.” Ladybug whispered, and noticed the way he stiffened immediately. “Don't worry, I didn't figure out who you were but I saw the back of your head as you left.”

“Oh.” He pulled away then, and offered her a wobbling charming smile. “You didn't happen to hear anything I said, did you?”

Four times Marinette stumbles onto the boy behind the mask, and the one time she meets him.

One-shot.  Never met AU. This is such beautiful ladynoir, and I love how that relationship grows and deepens. Meanwhile, of course, they’ve never met as civilians, but there’s nothing stopping them from recognizing each other. The ending absolutely sent me.

The following fics is amazing and absolutely worth reading, but does feature sexual content, so minors beware.

Overheard by @ghostlyhamburger 

Marinette and Adrien are roommates. Adrien overhears some odd sounds from Marinette's room.

Rated E. Multi-chapter. Roommates/Housemates AU. This is really hot and sweet, and then the angst hammer comes in. I just really enjoyed the entire thing, watching these two be idiots and seeing how the misunderstandings arise.