#they have to fake date now so people don't figure out their civilian identities

[angstandhappiness]

BAH HAH HAH

Kite-Man meets Spoilers 'boyfriend'

Kite-Man carries money bags to the van he's helping other goons fill up.

Kite-Man (singing): I love stealing. I love taking things.

Kite-Man hears a ping on his phone from Golden Glider. While he texts her that he's safe, the other goons get taken down. He turns around and sees Spoiler and Red Robin (Tim).

Spoiler: Dang it, no! No! Why does it feel like we're linked to meet by stars? Is this a punishment for my father's crimes? Lord, if you can hear me, sins of the father much!

Red Robin: Hi, Kite-Man.

Kite-Man, unaware that Spoiler hates: Hey Red Robin. Hey rival, how's it going?

Spoiler: You know what? I got to go. Red Robin you can take care of the-

Red Robin places his arm on Spoiler's shoulder before she can run away.

Red Robin: You can't leave me alone with him. He's your rival.

Kite-Man: You told him I was your rival? Oh my God have we reached that level of rivalness? Where you tell your family about me? Good looking out girl.

Spoiler, to Red Robin: You're enjoying this for now. Oh, but later. Man, why are you robbing... A bank?!

Kite-Man: I know what this looks like, but I'm not the one who needs the money from the bank, just doing some part-time gooning, you understand?

Spoiler: STOP SAYING THAT LIKE I DO!

Red Robin: Well...

Spoiler: I swear to Christ.

Kite-Man: You guys need a minute?

Spoiler: No! I'm ignoring him, what happened to your bar?!

Kite-Man: I'm still running it, but I can't give up life as the top-tier criminal of Gotham. The bar ownership is a hobby.

Red Robin: You know what's that like Spoiler?

Spoiler elbows Red Robin in the stomach. He winces while laughing.

Red Robin: Worth it.

Spoiler: I say this with the knowledge of how bars work, just run the bar! Give up on crime! Red Robin I swear if you tell Batman I said this I will pour cold water on you while you sleep.

Red Robin puts his phone away in the middle of texting their father.

Kite-Man: Dang man, you might be right... Nah can't give up my mantle of top tier criminal of Gotham.

Spoiler, shaking with rage: You're not!

Kite-Man chuckles.

Kite-Man: She's such a jokester.

Red Robin notices Spoiler clenching her fist with anger. He turns to KM.

Red Robin: Yeah, hilarious lady. I enjoy seeing her angry like this but we got to arrest you dude. I'm sorry.

Spoiler smacks RR on his arm at apologizing to the annoying villain.

Kite-Man: Do you really have to arrest me? Glider does not do well with the bar most of the time... she abstains from alcohol.

Spoiler: She's that type of religious?

Kite-Man: Yeah. Aww you remembered rival.

Spoiler, taking a deep breath: Are the comms on?

Barbara, on the communication receiver: Yup.

Barbara eats popcorn as she listens in.

Spoiler: Red Robin, I will kick you in the shin if you say anything else. Arrest him so we can go.

Kite-Man: Aww, that's sweet you guys are arresting me as a couple. I knew you'd find the right one, Spoiler.

Spoiler blinks surprised.

Red Robin not laughing: Fucking what?

Kite-Man: You guys are a couple. It's all around the villain circuit. I think you two make a pretty good pair.

Red-Robin: Wait a minute, that's not... We're not-

Spoiler: We aren't together anymore- why did I say that?

Kite-Man: You guys broke up? That sucks. Was it your astrological signs? Do they not mix with each other? Because golden glider says that plays a big role of how relationships work out.

Barbara cackles in the background making Spoiler groan. Red Robin covers his blushing face in shame.

Spoiler, gritted teeth: Of course you're into astrology. We're not dating!

Kite-Man, shrugging: Everybody just assumed you guys were banging because you're the ones who team up the most.

Barbara keeps cackling.

Barbara: I can't breathe. I can't breathe! Lord, this is the best night ever.

Red Robin, frustrated and embarrassed: Okay, I'm knocking you out for saying we're dating and then putting the cuffs on you.

Kite-Man: Spoiler, you good with that?

Spoiler throws her hands up and walks away, contemplating her life's choices for the 50th time since knowing Kite-Man.

Red Robin runs to the man and punches him unconscious.

[discocandles]

Jason Todd, but he's not around the batfamily very often, bc i can.

It's not unusual for Jason to just kind of be gone for anything bat-esque for a while. Sure he'll still be in Gotham doing some crime fighting, but just not make many appearances in Wayne Manor/the Batcave.

And it's not out of sheer spite, surprisingly enough. its bc after being a crime lord then quitting to be an anti-hero, he came to the realization that being Red Hood couldn't be the only thing he was using his life for. he would end up like Bruce, only using a civilian identity when he absolutely had to. But Jason Todd was legally dead, so he wouldn't ever have to be a civilian, but at the cost of losing himself to a vigilante identity. I don't believe Jason would want to take that risk.

So he makes a fake identity so he can live in a (shaky) routine as a civilian. He still goes by Jason, given its a common enough name. but he changes his last name to Devoss, as it has the same meaning as todd but is of Dutch decent rather than english, bc I'm the kind of nerd that still wants names to mean the same thing even it's not the point whatsoever, so Jason is too. Plus its better than most of the name changes DC has done.

Anyway. Jason's "routine". The only reason it could be considered a routine is bc he typically goes to the same places. he drops by the same coffee shop at least three times a week, frequents the same gym, and visits the library about once a week. he's in the bare minnimum of consistency & sticks to it.

Despite being given enough money from Bruce to count as a solid income, Jason still lives in walking distance of Crime Alley. the landlords there don't care who you are so long as you pay rent, bc who wants to live near Crime Alley? barely anyone. Later he gets a job, which actually cements his routine. he works as a chef in a chain restaurant, and he's so good at it, it's like hes being petty about it.

Actually, being petty is the most common thread most of the people who know Jason Devoss as an aquaintance have. He's petty about entitled customers who start screaming in at his regular coffee stop, if someone he tends to work out with has a cheating partner and the assholeperson has a hole in thier can of mace and their knife is suddenly dull(neccessities in Gotham), Jason has no clue how someone could manage that. Absolutely none.

Ok, back to Jason getting a job. So like I said earlier, Jason gets a job as a line cook, bc they really dont keep people from the job unless you're actively supposed to be in Arkham(exemptions can be made for blackgate). Which is why having a civilian identity is helpful, bc being both legally dead and spending some time as a mob boss probably wouldn't jive with any hiring manager ever. But he's able to make himself a normal part of the scenery, and makes the most effective closing shift, totally not be he has patrol that he's already late for. He begins to have to switch between taking orders and making food.

And this is how he ends up meeting Bernard, bc they have to work together to figure out what Tim would want. Jason realizes that this isn't some other kid named Tim he thinks "oh this is going to be rich." bc no one in the family has been to his work so far since he started working in the front of house, and he hasn't mentioned it to them.

So Tim walks in, and sees his bf, then he sees Jason, who just says "Oh, you must be Bernard's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." Smiling like he's never done anything remotely wrong in his whole life. Now Tim is questioning everything and can only repond with something akin to "Mhmm yup. Nice to meet you too." & is on edge for the rest of the date, bc his brother is being paid to watch his date, and will interrupt them for refills or other nonsense when he was beginning to forget Jason was there.

Bonus points if it's before Tim introduces Bernard to the family.

The batfamily knows where he is, and he knows they know. No one who has met Batman once can have him be unaware of their whole family tree, of course he knows where his son is. Jason will sometimes get visits, most often from Duke, be despite the fact that Crime Alley is mostly terrible, the sunset view is pretty dang good.

Duke will just be sitting on his couch when he gets home, like "you wanted to talk?" to which he and Jason will simply chat. and jason will often give critiques to Duke's technique.

The other common visitor is steph, but that's most ofting in the form of her ding dong ditching him,

-

[starfallskitter]

The Guardian Alya Theory

Hi! Didn't expect to be writing Miraculous theory again so quickly, but I have an idea in my head that I needed to get out there. So hear me out.

Warning: major spoilers for Season 4 all throughout this theory. Specifically Gang of Secrets, Optigami, Truth, Furious Fu, Mr Pigeon 72... just, most of them.

In short, the theory is this: Marinette will discover that she can't be both Ladybug and the Guardian at the same time, and will make Alya the Guardian. Marinette's memory will be wiped and she will spend a few episodes re-learning how to be Ladybug, and re-learning Chat Noir, which will obviously change their relationship.

This means Alya will know who Chat Noir is. And I think, for a brief time before her memory is wiped, Marinette will know as well. Meaning: temporary one-sided reveal!

Now, here's all the evidence, below the cut.

There's a fundamental problem with Ladybug and the Guardian being the same person. There's the stress it places on Marinette, sure, and the Guardian certainly can have a Miraculous and use it, but the problem is right here:

Someone has to be the link between civilian identities, and right now Plagg and Tikki are the only ones who know- and that's useless when both heros are transformed. The Guardian needs to know the identity of both Ladybug and Chat Noir. And if there's one thing that the show has absolutely beaten into us by now...

It's that they can't know each others.

So, there's a fundamental tension here. Marinette is currently putting all of her focus on being the Guardian, on working with the kwamis and figuring things out about the Miracle Box; and as her plans increasingly involve her role as Guardian, using kwamis or the fact that Alya knows her civilian identity, she's not quite being Ladybug properly. She's not doing right by Chat Noir, because now, as her plans are increasingly involving things she as Marinette and/or she as the Guardian have access to, and Chat Noir is not knowingly included in either of those, he is being ousted. It turns out she still needs him (or Plagg, in Mr Pigeon 72) for her plans, but her relationship with him is suffering.

He says in Truth that he doesn't mind her being the Guardian as long as it doesn't change things between them:

Except it is changing, and it has been bothering him. Just look at his face when he realises (or more accurately, assumes) the akuma has been defeated without him in Optigami:

He is not happy.

I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone at this point that Ladybug is ousting Chat Noir and he's upset by it. At this point in the series he's doing okay about it, still managing to keep up a front and hoping this is temporary. Which, according to this theory, it is. Honestly, no matter how this goes, it's not going to make Chat happy, because in this theory, the ending won't please him. We'll get to that.

So Marinette can't be Guardian and Ladybug at the same time. So, she has to give one up.

She may try to give up being Ladybug, but I'm not convinced this will happen. She may try to give over guardianship to Su Han, but I'm also not convinced by this- it's not narratively interesting and seems to contradict the conclusion of Furious Fu. So, what might she do?

Well, there's a clear answer. Someone who's already helping figure out important features of the Miraculouses, who was able to figure out a whole new power of the Ladybug Miraculous:

And who has good investigative powers to reveal more secrets? Who is already heavily invested in the superheros? Who already knows that Marinette is Ladybug and is already helping her?

And who has Marinette possibly already said she's training up to be Guardian?

Now, whether she's reffering to being Ladybug or being the Guardian here is unclear. I've seen most interpretations suggesting she means Ladybug, and from the wording in this case it honestly seems like both; but it could definitely be either. And in the context of this theory, if we assume she means Guardian, then it's clear that Marinette is already noticing that Alya would make a good Guardian.

So, let's put the pieces together.

Premise: Ladybug and Chat Noir cannot know each other's identity until this Hawkmoth is defeated. Premise: The Guardian must know both Ladybug and Chat Noir's identity. Conclusion: Ladybug and the Guardian cannot be the same person at this point in time. (Chat Noir can't be either).

Premise: Ladybug and the Guardian cannot be the same person at this point in time. Premise: Alya would be a good Guardian. Premise: Marinette either will not, or should not, give up being Ladybug. Conclusion: Marinette will make Alya the Guardian.

There are two complications with this plan. One is in Alya being the Guardian, and one is in Marinette giving it up.

The complication with Alya being the guardian is that Hawkmoth knows her identity. He knows she's Rena Rouge, and as of Optigami knows that Rena Rouge is special as opposed to the other holders. This appears to not be stopping Marinette giving her the Miraculous, but obviously, based on the events of late season 3, it's more of a complication in her being the Guardian. She has, like, parents, and can't hide like Master Fu could.

A possible solution is some kind of trickery, in which they make it look like Alya has lost her miraculous, and make it seem like Ladybug's still the Guardian. I mean, Alya's miraculous is illusion-based, and this could be interesting if it's post one-sided reveal discussed below. I'm sure there are other solutions as well, but off the top of my head I'd assume that would be the plan. Perhaps the Box is camoflaged such that finding out what of Alya's is the Miracle Box at all would be a challenge. There's a lot of possibility.

The other complication: Marinette would lose all memory of the Miraculouses.

Now, it's presumed here that the way the memory loss works is that it happens every time (and it's not like the appearance of the box, or kwamis being in/out of it, in that it's a factor of what the owner believes), and that the memory loss only applies to the Miraculouses and the kwamis and all of that, and doesn't affect other memories- which seems to be Fu's experience of it, after all. He doesn't remember Marinette because he only ever knew her as Ladybug, but he seemed to remember the unrelated Marianne fine.

This means that if Marinette loses guardianship, she'll remember Alya, Adrien, her family, etc... but nothing about Ladybug, Chat Noir, Hawkmoth, Tikki, any of that.

Which means:

-She'll have to spend some amount of time re-learning how to be Ladybug, who Chat Noir is, etc. all of that. Chat Noir will probably be able to fill her in on all of this, and so will Alya and Tikki, so it won't take so long.

-She gets a total reset on her relationship with Chat Noir. Which I highly doubt he'll be happy with- but it might change her view of him. I say it might change her view of him because mainly, while their relationship has been pretty consistent, she definitely is starting to like him more in this season, seeing him differently- and I largely think that that's due to a change in circumstance, as Marinette can only trust so many people in her life:

But I think an important part of Adrien's character recently is that we've seen less dichotomy between Adrien and Chat Noir. His true personality is a little of both, but he puts both on to play various roles; but honestly, I've noticed some more of Adrien in Chat Noir, and some more of Chat Noir in Adrien. He's being more honest with himself around some people, the self we only really see him being with Plagg, which he was trying to be with Kagami and is increasingly being with Marinette. It's hard to provide specific examples, though.

But if Marinette's first impressions of Chat Noir are just a touch more Adrien-like than they were, perhaps her feelings towards him will change- without losing that aspect of trust. I know I'm being very vague here, but there's a lot of potential and it'll take a lot more episodes of this season than we've seen to predict how this might go.

It's also possible that Marinette will remember Chat Noir when she met him as Marinette. Then we might get some great Marichat, or her only having knowledge of him as that boy who came to her ledge or she fake-dated. Which would be interesting. It's not totally clear how this will work if it occurs, so it's up to the writers really.

So that situation provides a lot of angst: Ladybug forgetting Chat Noir. But what comes before her forgetting Chat Noir could be something really interesting. After all, if the Guardian must know Chat Noir's identity, perhaps Marinette will try that first. Adrien will, of course, trust her completely.

Cue at least one episode where Marinette knows that Chat Noir and Adrien are the same person (while Adrien not knowing the reverse). Cue Ladrien. And, right after that, an episode that revolves around Ladybug erasing those memories. While Alya knows everything that just happened. And that Chat Noir is Adrien. And she can't tell Marinette this as she has to re-teach her how to be Ladybug. Honestly, if any character knows what we as the audience know about the Love Square, it makes perfect sense that it's Alya.

In conclusion: angsty season finale that ends with Alya knowing everything, Chat Noir Very Upset, Ladybug getting a memory reset, and just generally everything changing? It's more likely than you think.

[gothamcityangst]

Music Meister, Riddler, Scarecrow, Jervis.

The scenario: they travelled somewhere undercover for something. While in fake identities they fell in love and start dating civilian, nice person! Cuteness and romantic ensues! But wait! Love interest finds out their villain secret! They are disgusted! "I never thought you were such a cruel monster! How could you hurt those people!"

Scarecrow: I'd imagine they'd meet in a lab setting. Jon is trying to infiltrate a S.T.A.R Lab when he runs into his s/o. Jon gets roped into a discussion about adrenalin and its uses and he forgets about his objective. He hasn't had a good discussion since his days as a university professor so it feels quite nostalgic for him to have one now.

He grows closer to the s/o and spends more time with them. Jon's fake identity was pretty well crafted so he more or less spends a couple of months working in the lab. He falls in love but then Batman manages to track him down.

s/o feels utter betrayal. They think the entire time that they were just trying to get to them. It kills the relationship dead.

Music Meister: He was scouting a theatre when he first heard s/o playing. They were a string musician. And they played so beautifully that Dennis couldn't help but be enamoured. Dennis focused back on the task at hand but later they ran into each other. S/o assumed that Dennis was a stage actor and Dennis didn't correct them.

They start hanging out more and Dennis knows he's their soul mate. Dennis, not wanting his beloved to think little of him, hypnotises everyone in the production. He officially made himself the lead. It can only last so long before they eventually figure it out. They leave him in a big dramatic moment during opening night and Dennis is crushed.

Mad Hatter: There was no big evil scheme. He was out of Arkham on good behaviour and they set him up working in a small bookshop. Jervis will let them leave him but not without begging and pleading that he'll change for them specifically.

Jervis cleans up pretty well and when he brushes his hair he's unrecognizable to most. s/o finds him the most charming British person* in all of Gotham.

And then s/o figures it out and doesn't understand. They think that they've been chosen for some nefarious plot and Jervis was just buttering them up.

Riddler: He was scoping out a bank when Two-Face just happened to be robbing the bank at the same time. Ed didn't know what came over him but he protected a worker there from the hails of gunfire that followed.

What started in a near-death situation turned into one of the best things that had ever happened to Ed. They fell in love with them and over the next few months, they had an absolute ball of a time. Ed should have figured he'd fall for a bank teller. After all, intelligence was the most attractive trait to him.

When he reveals his true identity they simply get up and leave. They simply don't want to deal with it. Ed is crushed but decides not to pursue them.