#thomas astruc is a hack

[i-am-going-to-skream]

Someone locked thomas asscheeks out of the studio when they where making the mlb movie and it shows

[a-flaming-idiot]

I think the reason I like redeemed Lila so much is a combination of her having nice potential for redemption and being a normal cast member conceptually and just to spite Astruc who decided the two greatest evils in the world are a pair of fourteen-year-old girls who he will snap the universe over his knee to make as impractically evil as possible.

[princess-of-the-corner]

I kinda love how much of the Miraculous fandom is focused on fixing the show.

Like other fandoms are like “ok so I don’t like this thing so I will fix this thing and let the rest unchanged”

The Miraculous fandom is like “canon is dead Thomas Astruc is a talentless hack and we all must fix the shit he made and create something good out of it”

If I had a nickel for every time the fandom as a whole was like 'fuck the later bits and everything the creator says on social media I'm sandboxing the shit out of this dope as hell concept' I would have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

[anxresi]

An open letter to everyone who now hates Chloe after the events of ‘Derision’...

…You do realize the writers invented this entire newfound premise for Marinette’s previous erratic behavior around Adrien just to ‘get one over’ on Chloe fans and continue the character assassination they’ve subjected her to since S3, don’t you? 

Think of this as just another extension of Zoe’s ill-thought out  introduction and suddenly forgetting Chloe ever had any more agency than ‘doing things for the evulz’ and hopefully then you’ll come to understand my point.

Like I’ve said on many previous occasions, idk whether to be angry, sad, bemused or simply in awe that Thomas Astruc would work so strenuously to drag a character down that only a couple of seasons ago was being touted as a multi-layered anti-hero.

And anyone who says this blatant retconning was ‘planned from the beginning’ is obviously wrong. If this show was a person, I don’t even think they could even remember what they’d had for breakfast. I don’t need to cite any examples… anyone who’s watched it from the beginning can figure out what I mean.

This entire continuity-busting farce is down to one man and one man only rewriting the entire show because a character he despises was becoming more popular than he likes around S2… so what better way to demonize her forever than to make her personally responsible for traumatizing the main character Marinette for the rest of her life?

The fact this clears up a LOT of questionable previous scenes (like Marinette stalking Adrien wherever he goes, having a copy of his entire schedule and that weird moment with his waxwork) also apparently lets Astruc and his merry band of hack writers off the hook, while now giving a tragic undercurrent to them which it hasn’t earned because it’s as clear as day they were originally intended to be ‘humorous’.

What he’s done is genius, really. In one fell swoop he’s permanently stigmatized Chloe in the eyes of a lot of Miraculous fans, rebranded controversial moments with Marinette at her stalking worse as somehow ‘symbolic’ with past abuse and cynically done it all without a hint of regret.

This is an evilly cunning plan that even Hawkmoth might find a tad excessive. I’d take my hat off to him… if I didn’t like to think I was one of the ‘good guys’.

So, I’ll simply say in response “YOU SUCK”, pull a stupid face before running off into the distance sneering at him all the way.

…Hey, it’s all I’ve got ‘kay?. 😜😎

[artzychic27]

The Akuma Class and the Science Class (especially Chloe and Nathaniel) have had enough of Astruc's shenanigans and march right into his office, demanding they stop Chloe from returning to her abusive mom, and to keep Nathaniel at DuPont.

Reshma: *Kicks the door open*

Thomas: What the hell?! You nearly broke the door off the hinges, René!

Reshma: MY NAME IS RESHMA, YOU DUMB BITCH!

Thomas: Okay, let's just calm-

*Ivan locks the door*

Thomas: ... Down.

Marc: *As he approaches, he takes a swing at Asstruc's computer with his baseball bat* ... Now, here's what's gonna happen, you raggedy-ass bitch. You're gonna make all of us the same age, you're going to keep Chloé away from her abusive egg donor, you're gonna keep my boyfriend on the fucking show, and you're gonna write a kiss scene for the two of us.

Thomas: *Scoffs* And what if I don't?

Alya: I got a year's worth of blackmail on you, bitch. Try us. And with each minute you're not rewriting your fucked up script, I'll just have one of my friends hack your Twitter account and post a confession, like how Sabine is based on an ex of yours.

Thomas: You don't scare me. Who the heck even is this hacker?

Cosette: Wow, you don't even know your own characters. Know what? Fuck this guy! Post that sucker!

Ismael: Start with how the male artists drew inappropriate content of the main characters.

[10-dutchies-12-bicycles]

the fuck you MEAN Lila’s hair is a wig?!

- a person who refuses to go back to watching mlb but is still curious about the wackassery of it all

OK SO BASiCALLY

LILA IS ACTUALLY SOME KIND OF SECRET IDENTITY OF THIS GIRL CALLED CERISE WHO ACTUALLY HAS SHORT HAIR. SHE HAS LIKE A PIXIE CUT

She just puts on a wig and contact lenses for the lila persona or some shit. also she has a ton of wigs and colored contacts like shes in some kinda spy thriller shes insane shes constantly like undercover as like 5 different ppl idk

also she has two moms??? or like. lila rossi's mom and the Second (Secret) Mom??? (who uses sign language!! neat! :3) and i dont think lila rossis mom knows about her REAL(????) mom (sign language mom) but sign language mom knows abt lila rossi mom which makes me slightly concerned that lila/cerise stole the identity of the REAL lila rossi like a decade ago and has been living as a lila rossi stand-in for the past 10 years after she buried the body idfk lol (joke theory. not an actual theory. but lets just say that the fact that this "lila killed someone and stole their identity" theory is semi-believable is already enough to show how bonkers season 5 was)

but yea she just disguises herself like Constantly and turns out lila rossi was just one of her evil spy personas. she also has an evil spy basement lair with like hacking equipment or sth. and she used Remote Spy Manipulation (an earpiece and strategic wording lmfao) to manipulate chloe into becoming the mayor of paris for like a week. chloe then proceeded to sicc robot cops on everyone's asses

also also after gabriel kicked the bucket and went to heaven together with emelie or whatever the fuck nooroo's miraculous was lost (it fell into the water at the bottom of gabriel's evil basement) but its revealed at the end of the finale that surprise surprise! cerise/lila/weirdospygirl has the brooch and will presumably be the big bad for the foreseeable future. IF she survives being possessed or some shit. idk she got attacked by a white light or sth and she was like "GASP D:" and then the season ended ¯\_(:/)_/¯ 

other fun things that happened this season:

adrinette ACTUALLY CANON (NO YEA FOR REAL) ok ok so basically. at the start of s5 marinette gets a crush on chat noir and adrien crushes on marinette instead of ladybug. eventually marinette allows herself to love adrien again and adrinette slowly get together like halfway thru s5 or sth. everyone ships it. and no. they do NOT know each others secret identities :')

luka knows the identities of both chat noir and ladybug as established in... season 4...? iirc? unfortunately halfway thru s5 gabriel figured out that luka knows so luka fled the country and went on a fun father-son-crocodile bonding trip (so like. with jagged stone, penny, and fang) to become tibetan monks. under the guidance of master fu's superior who we got introduced to last season (one of the monks who were like magically frozen in stone for 150 years or whatever)

tikki and plag biblically accurate angels confirmed. they can combine into ANOTHER biblically accurate angel called gimmi. gimmi granted gabriel his wish and now the world ended, gabriel is dead, etc etc adrinette lives happily ever after or sth

oh yea also felix kagami and adrien are sentimonsters. if you remember last year on twitter when thomas astruc swore up and down that senti!adrien theory was bullshit? yea so. he lied. he played a longcon. felix and kagami are in a relationship and both know that theyre sentis but adrien is like,,,, VERY HEAVILY FUCKING IMPLIED to also be a sentimonster except he doesnt know that yet. rip adrien. i think marinette knows abt kagami and felix being sentimonsters!??!?!?!??!? it was a VERY confusing scene like felix and kagami explained it to marinette thru interpretative dance T_T

OH YEA ALSO ladybug (fused w the cat miraculous. i forgot what name she gave herself) WAIT NO. BUGNOIR OR SOMETHING. ok so bugnoir fought hawk SHIT NO shadowmoth one-on-one and discovered he was gabriel and also saw his evil lair and emilie in the fridge coffin yanno. but yea adrien doesnt know. gabriel died and paris assumes he was the hero who defeated haw-SHADOWMOTH and adrien thinks so too. marinette is i think? the only one who knows gabriel was the big bad. aside from lila/cerise bc she knows everything with her stupid evil spy skills 🙄 oh yea lila also got a hold of all of gabriels secret files, including his photocopies of the grimoire

ON THAT NOTE gabriel was suuuppeerrr manipulatively nice to adrien this season and nathalie came SOOOOO SO SO SOOO CLOSE to throttling him on like at LEAST 5 occasions bc she cares for adrien more than she does for gabriel and she was SO gaslight gatekeep girlboss this season it was great like shes a few hours away from dying herself and she STILL tried to shoot gabriel with a crossbow lmao

[cobrawolfmeiji]

End of Ladybug: ZAG's Blue Harvest?

It is no surprise to everyone who is a Ladybug fan that the title of the upcoming special has raised eyebrows. The new Special, coming this year is titled "The End of Ladybug" and has shocked the fandom and even those who are not even in the fandom. This leads to the question: why?

The answer might be two worlds: "Blue Harvest"

when George Lucas was filming "Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi" he used a fake title "Blue Harvest" to hide behind. He used this mainly when filming in The Yuma Desert and Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park. people who worked on the film wore hates and jackets with the name "Blue Harvest" on them with the claim they were filming a horror movie (which were common in the 1980s.)

Could this be what Jeremy Zag and Thomas Astruc are pulling?

The answer might be yes as ZAG Animation has also been doing another trick Lucasfilm has pulled off for the sequel trilogy: Fake Leaks.

Lucasfilm pulled off several fake leaks to prevent true leakers from revealing too much about the Sequels, as several Old EU Purists tried to hack into Lucasfilm and Disney to try and ruin the movies out of revenge for the Old EU being ended by Lucasfilm (The only Old EU material left is Star Wars The Old Republic, which many have said might be soon moved to Canon.)

After what was known as the "Big Big Leak" of the last half of Season 5 (with a few fake leaks also being leaked), Zas and Astruc did not take chances for The Ladybug and Chat Noir Movie, the upcoming specials or Season Six, so they started sending out fake leaks....a lot of them. many of these fakes were found out by a few people, along with the fact that did used and said sorry for using pictures on DeviantArt, for fake leaks. The biggest fake leak is the infamous "Bible' of Miraculous, showing what it claimed to be the full episode list of Season 6, only to be proven to be faked.

So to Zag and Astruc, I say bravo for your deception of those who want spoilers.

[magical-xirl-4]

Wow, they really did Chloe dirty in MLB Season 5 😐 Like I heard how bad it was in Seasons 3 and 4 were for Chloe, but I never realized how bad it got in Season 5 until I heard about it. Thomas Astruc is a hack of a writer.

I have no clue what’s happened in season 5 tbh, what happened?

[anxresi]

Okay, let’s say she’s a ‘fill in the blanks’ character… in other words, a stand-in for a more interesting person that didn’t make the final cut.

She got introduced far too late in the show’s life, she has no build-up whatsoever or connection to the main cast, she has the flimsiest of ‘personalities’ (if you can even call it that) and since her arrival has only succeeded in pushing the plot forward in the boringly generic way Thomas wants it to go.

So basically, she primarily exists as an object more than anything else; something that he can express his ire about Chloe with, whilst gaslighting the rest of us that this sudden bland newcomer is somehow better than going through a long redemption/corruption arc with Chloe.

I suspect in a better show the final goal with the ‘new’ Chloe would’ve resembled Zoe herself. With a tad more sass, reason for being there and less of this ‘token lesbian who doesn’t actually do anything’ trope that Zoe gives off in spades.

I agree that having a sister for Chloe is not inherently a bad idea, it could give her someone besides Adrien and Sabrina to bounce off of and check her worst impulses when the time was right. It’s only because the show itself has handled it in the worst way possible that it’s hard to contemplate an alternate reality where somehow the unbelievably clunky literary device that Zoe undeniably represents could possibly be salvaged into something worthwhile.

For a start (as mentioned) she needs to be introduced MUCH sooner, give her a bigger role where she interacts with the entire class in a compelling way (not being shilled to high heaven), give her GENUINE quirks, feelings, faults (apart from being too perfect) and whatever they have planned with Chloe, put her front and center in the reformation/damnation of her estranged sibling.

BINGO! You already have a far more intriguing contrasting dynamic that gives Zoe agency, a link with the rest of the cast and a placement that extends beyond the ���anti-Chloe’. It’s not that difficult… just hire some good writers, don’t centralize Marinette for EVERYTHING to give supporting characters a chance to breathe and for goodness sake, fire that useless hack Mr Thomas Astruc IMMEDIATELY.

Job. Done. 😇

They had over four seasons.

Socqueline was in an arts and crafts store in Paris throughout the entire run of Miraculous. There was nothing that indicated she left Paris. Just that she was forced out of College Dupont. She was in a store that Marinette could probably walk or take a bus to so the latter could see her "best friend." This also could've been a place that Marinette hung out in to pursue her dream as a designer. This is a place that Marinette could've brought people like Alya, Mylene, Juleka, Rose, Alyx, and many others to. Yet we never got a scene like that, much less one where they got to meet Socqueline.

They had four seasons to implement this character into the show. Four seasons that all had a consistent count of 26 half-hour episodes, something that most cartoons these days WISH they had, along with some specials. They had all of that time and their only "hint" to Socqueline's existence until Season 5 was Marinette changing her hairstyle before the series.

This is not a character you just drop into a series. They had plenty of opportunities to introduce Socqueline and how important she was to Marinette. If she was this important to her, SHE SHOULD'VE BEEN IN THE SHOW FROM THE START. I don't care what justifications you have. This is garbage and given that this is supposed to be for a character who was SUPER important to Marinette as a person, it's even worse. At most, beyond the fake Ladybug episode, it feels like the main purpose of her character is to shoehorn in a ridiculous incident into Chloe's list of crimes. An incident that doesn't even make sense even when she's there. For someone who's supposed to be Marinette's idol, it sure is interesting that she wasn't even a presence in the show until she cosplayed as Marinette's alter-ego in SEASON FUCKING FIVE.

And before you cry and tell me I'm being mean, this is not me "hating someone who protected Marinette with her life." This is me hating the writers shoehorning in a character that was supposedly super-important to the main character and then treating her like a fucking guest star. They made her as a narrative tool to justify Marinette's questionable behavior. That's not good and if this was actually planned from the start, that's even worse. You shouldn't be proud that they basically left a character in the backburner for four seasons (over a HUNDRED EPISODES) and then plant her in Season 5 without even giving us a hint of her existence beforehand. That is fanfic tier writing. I know this because I write it myself.

Please have better standards for your shows.

[mat2modblog]

TIL: XANA was a Sentimonster created by Shadow Moth.

[emtornado]

I'm cancelling majority of Season 4 of Miraculous. INSTEAD...

Oh my gods, I just saw the trailer for 'Hack-san' and I AM SO ANNOYED RIGHT NOW!!!

As far as I am concerned right now, I will accept SOME parts of this season.

Telling Alya? Questionable but okay

Luka getting to know? This will help them in the future cuz Luka is awesome.

Chat getting sidelined? Heartbreaking but okay fine, I'll take it.

ALYA BECOMING LADYBUG? BITCH NO.

This show is about Ladybug and Cat Noir- Marinette and Adrien.

For me, Season 4 right now is gonna be Chat being heartbroken cuz wtf man, his lady is being distant as fuck. Being Chat Noir always gave him a sense of freedom, but now he feels more and more like Adrien as Chat as well, trapped and useless to everyone around him.

So my dude goes and tells Ladybug that he can't do this. It's too much and she has Rena Rouge, Carapace and the others to help her. He is not important anymore, so it'll be fine if he gives his miraculous back to her.

Ladybug is shocked. She never wanted this. The main reason she was staying away from Chat is because of all the mental damage she suffered from Chat Blanc, because them being close, them being in love, basically destroyed the world.

So she sits there and she listens to her best friend (cuz Chat is her best friend, not Alya, fight me Thomas Astruc) say that he is gonna leave her, and she just kinda freezes.

Chat being Chat, sees this and goes to her being like, "Milady are you okay "

and before he finishes, he sees that she is basically having a panic attack and she's not breathing (duh. The number of expectations this kid, YES KID SHE'S LIKE 14, has is heartbreaking and she's been bordering on Anxiety and Depression for too long) and has tears streaming down her face and Chat immediately goes and hugs her and helps her through it (Imma stick to the 5-4-3-2-1 technique cuz its been effective for me).

After that happens they finally show some vulnerability to each other, and Ladybug finally tells him about Chat Blanc and how she's basically traumatised because of it.

Chat is heartbroken.

He never thought that him loving Ladybug could have such drastic consequences, and so he asks her if she wants him away. She could choose another Chat Noir, but this time so the fate of the flipping world doesn't hang in the balance, and after like a few more hours of opening up to each other, they decide that Ladybug and Chat Noir will always be Ladybug and Chat Noir. Best friends, partners and each other's solace.

Nothing else. At least until Hawkmoth is defeated.

And so they both go home, and Marinette is finally at peace cuz her partner is her partner again and she doesn't have to do all the unnecessary crap of having new superheroes in every new episode.

Adrien on the other hand is defeated as fuck. My man is so sad and he doesn't know what to do. He can't talk to Nino about this, he can't talk to Alya about this (they're just not that close, honestly) and he doesn't know what to do.

So, he bribes Plagg with a wheel of Camembert and transforms before going to the one person he trusts as much as he trusts Ladybug (3 guesses who lol)

Marinette is a little surprised to see her partner less than half an hour after having a huge talk with him. Of course, Chat doesn't know that and he just wants a friendly face who he knows will listen to him without an ounce of judgement.

And so Mari invites him in for passionfruit croissants she definitely made for Adrien that morning and makes them both comfortable in her room.

And then Chat talks.

He talks about how alienated he felt, he talks about how scared he is and he doesn't stop talking to Marinette until they're both just wrapped around each other, asleep, leeching off of each other's warmth cuz getting up to take the blanket was just too much work.

In the middle of the night, Plagg detransforms and goes to the other Kwamis to look at these two dumbass kids, who have way too much weight on their shoulders.

As the sun rises, Plagg (after being told by Tikki to 'be subtle for fucks sake, Plagg') gently wakes Adrien up, and Adrien leaves a note for Marinette, thanking her for listening to him, and leaves again.

And then, they go about their days as usual. Go to school, fight Akumas side by side, with a little extra help from Rena Rouge and any other hero, but people in Paris can see that it's The Ladybug and Chat Noir team once more.

And at night if the two heroes spend a little extra time together, as Chat Noir and Marinette, then nobody knows about it.

ON THE OTHER HAND, Alya is getting a little annoyed (just like we did with her lol) and straight-up asks Marinette what was the point of telling her all this if she was just gonna use her as a sidekick and Marinette (who has a lot more confidence considering during day time Adrien boosts her ego, and at night Chat does it) just goes "cuz you are a sidekick...? Your job, along with every other hero I give the miraculous to is to help Chat and me." (is this a little OOC for Mari? I don't care lmao)

Alya bristles and goes on to make a series of bad decisions to prove that she is vital to the tram, but she only adds a lot of drama smh.

OKAY BACK TO CHAT AND MARI. Gods they are SO in love. These two fools really do friends to lovers properly and cutely. Mari unknowingly gets over her crush on Adrien, and develops one on Chat instead, never realising that she fell in love with the same idiot.

And Adrien? Gods, he doesn't know how he never SAW Mari. Funny Mari who always beats him in Videogames and always gives him the best food (cuz gabby is a dick and doesn't feed his son enough) and gives the best hugs and always comes to every single tournament of his to cheer him on and laughs at all his puns and talks to him every night until they fall asleep together, either in each other's arms or over the phone. (If you think Adrien didn't get another phone just so he could talk to Mari as Chat at night and to send her memes during his photoshoot, then you're lying to yourself, bestie.)

And so one night, they kiss.

And everything seems so, so right.

And then they both get an akuma alert so Chat has to go asap, and Mari quickly transforms to meet him. They get there, and Rena Rouge is there, but with different colours and Ladybug and Chat Noir are confused cuz you know.

This is their friend. Their ally.

And then Rena turns around and says,

"Hello, Marinette."

End of Season.

Okay yeah, thanks for reading that. If I ever get the time I'm making this a full fanfic hehe

[fandoms4enternity]

I think the majority of us in the Miraculous Fandom know the show isn’t good but it’s entertaining. Stop expecting a show we know that has bad writing cuz Thomas Astruc is a hack, to have good writing. It’s kinda fun when the episodes are just fanfiction because fanfiction is usually better then the actual show writing. So let us enjoy this mess. Thank you. Let me have my marichat and maybe reveal. Good night

[zoeytessie]

ADDING ON TO THIS RANT‼️

OKAY IF ONLY THEY ADDED THAT ONE DETAIL OF ADRIEN CRYING TEARS OF JOY WHEN HE FOUND OUT MARINETTE IS LADYBUG-IT WOULD HAVE SQUASHED ALL DOUBTS BACK THEN. IT'S SUCH A MISSED OPPORTUNITY I DONT KNOW WHY THEY DIDNT DO THIS IN THE ACTUAL EPISODE?!?! 😭

LOOK AT ADRIEN'S TEARS HERE. So we could've gotten Adrien crying TEARS OF JOY and TEARS OF HEARTBREAK in one episode. First, because he found out that MARINETTE is Ladybug. Second, because Marinette was forced to break up with him. Imagine the emotional impact this parallel would have brought 😭

And Plagg's reaction. He has probably never seen his holder THIS HAPPY about something and then he had to pull himself together because of the RULES. 😭 Damn. We were robbed. ROBBED.

Dunno if this has been stated before by the others cause I was only TODAY YEARS OLD that I found the story board. Thanks to Anita in Twitter. She's a MLB ambassador. ❤️

Okay, at first I really had my doubts about Adrien immediately accepting Marinette as Ladybug after watching Chat Blanc the first time... BUT-

Hack-san proved to me that he is indeed IN LOVE with the girl underneath the mask. THAT was why it was just really really easy for him to connect the dots back in "Chat Blanc". Keep in mind he had already guessed Ladybug's secret identity TWICE in the series. Since he was so captivated by the admirable qualities of whoever the girl is under that mask, it's definitely a given that he sees the same qualities in Marinette. He already called her "Our Everyday Ladybug" in S2. And I thought it was a little unrealistic to assume that Adrien WANTED Marinette to be Ladybug because for me, guessing it correctly twice was not enough (YES, I know I'm incredibly skeptic).

After rewatching Hack-san for the 4th time (ahah yes its my favorite episode so far), we see how he works with a different Ladybug this time. Scarabella, who is Alya donning the spots. Their dynamic is really different, but still unique and works well with his miraculous nature. But this was how I was convinced that he's actually really in love with Marinette. The OG ladybug. Chat Noir isn't actually swayed by the glamorous, fierce and confident persona of Ladybug, he was amazed by the courage and determination to stand tall admist the adversity that was already a part of Marinette's nature. Which is ALSO why she was the most suitable person for the miraculous.

So yes, I also think Hack-san was an episode that was subtly trying to prove the skeptics (like me lmao) that Chat Noir is indeed in love with the girl underneath the mask, and his affection isn't shallow. I once thought that if Ladybug were to be Kagami even, he would still be head over heels for Ladybug but NOPE- that was a stupid thought. Lmfao.

He knew right away that Scarabella was a different person. Even Shadowmoth was able to tell that it was a different Ladybug. So Marinette's influence really shines through as Ladybug, which further confirms and proves the point that yes, maybe anyone with similar qualities CAN be Ladybug, but Marinette is uniquely amazing in her own way, and that is why she was fated to be Ladybug in the first place... even after she tried to give the miraculous to Alya back in Season 1. Chat Noir saw this and realized this from the very start, and it's only a matter of time that he sees more of this on Marinette as the story progresses.

Look, the fact that Chat Blanc happened some time after Oblivio (another episode that could prove that his feelings for Ladybug is not shallow) made me more skeptic because Chat Blanc was so rushed and catastrophic for both of them. It was like getting your hopes crushed by the grim reality of their situation lmao. Fortunately, that is now a discarded timeline thanks to Bunnyx's help.

I still can't believe I actually doubted Adrien's feelings this whole time. Welp, gotta thank Hack-san for bringing me this realization. ❤️ Definitely my favorite episode so far!

[giuliafc]

Faceless

My Miraculous Ladybug Big Bang Fanfiction is FINALLY out!

Faceless

Read on Ao3 || FFN

When Ladybug rejects Chat Noir one time too many and a little too harshly, Adrien is left heart-broken and unable to process the umpteenth blow. This leads him to be akumatised to 'Faceless', an akuma whose power is to change people into the face of their true love. Identities get revealed, Marinette confesses her feelings, and Luka... well, Luka ends up wearing a different pair of earrings, for once.

Please, if you read, leave me a comment and let me know what you think! <3

Language betas: Khanofallorcs, Agrestebug, Lady Elaine, Myimaginationflows, Lots_of_free_time

Concept betas: Genxha, Malauu-Ladynoir, Etoile-Lead-Sama, and Rosehealer02

MLBB artists who illustrated this story: Lizzie! and Imogen

Also, big thank yous to Mikauzoran for their help with Japanese!

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Written for the Miraculous Big Bang event.

---------------------

Chapter 1 - One too many...

"It’s okay to be sad. You don’t owe anyone a performance of being okay when you feel like you’re falling apart."

Daniell Koepke

"Let someone love you the way you are - as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you sometimes feel, and as unaccomplished as you think you are. To believe that you must hide all the parts of you that are broken, out of fear that someone else is incapable of loving what is less than perfect, is to believe that sunlight is incapable of entering a broken window and illuminating a dark room."

Mark Hack

oOoOoOoOoOo

The akuma wasn't a difficult one. They had just broken for lunch after Mlle Bustier's lesson, when a worker at the local cinema had been akumatised because someone left a popcorn disaster under one of the seats. Ladybug and Chat Noir found themselves fighting against a giant popcorn machine that turned people into popcorn, and a sentimonster-hovervac that sucked them up. But the giant popcorn didn’t move very smoothly, so it wasn't very difficult for the heroes to defeat. When they landed atop Montparnasse Tower to debrief before heading back to school, they still had a couple of minutes left on their timer.

That's when Chat Noir bowed in front of Ladybug and skillfully presented her with a single red rose. "Voilà. A beautiful rose for a beautiful Lady."

"Oh, Chaton," said Ladybug as a sad smile curled her lips. She picked the rose in her hand, and looked at it with a sad frown. She tried to hand it back to him, but he wouldn't take it. "You know I can't accept it."

Chat Noir's ears drooped and his smile faded into a pout. His throat clenched over as a sour taste filled his mouth. She had told him that so many times and, from the way that she had treated him recently, there was no way her heart had changed.

He had sighed and cried into his pillow at night as he thought of how useless he had been in the last few fights, how his presence hadn't even been needed, how he was always the last hero to arrive on the battlefield. Like it had happened when they had faced Optigami and he had arrived after the akuma had been destroyed. He had discussed it with Plagg to no end. His little black friend had advised him against it, but he had to give it a shot.

She cupped a hand to his cheek. "We can't, Chat Noir. Papillombre would use it against us." She clenched her fists holding the rose in her hands more firmly. "I do love you; you know that, right? You're my partner and my best friend with the mask. But I can't love you the way you want me to. I told you so many times that you should stop flirting with me, Minou. If you keep doing what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got. Why do you continue to hurt yourself? We can't be together, you should know that by now. Instead, you keep presenting me with roses that I cannot accept!"

He mulled on it for a very long time, his gaze locked into hers. "You're still in love with the other boy?" he eventually asked, after having slouched his shoulders and sighed.

She moved towards the banister and gazed down at the city underneath them, full of movement and life. "It's not that," she admitted. But when Chat Noir's ears perked up again, she paled and her eyes opened wide. She continued quickly, "I still can't accept, Chaton. I don't feel like being in any relationship at the moment."

He gulped.

"What do you mean, LB? Have you grown out of love with your mystery boy?"

She gave him a glassy look full of tears. "It's not that either. It's complicated, Chat Noir." The pout on his face widened as she continued, "My life is very complicated."

He sighed. "I know that being the Guardian you have a lot of responsibilities, but you never talk to me about them. I've told you plenty of times that I'm here for you to share the load if you need me to, but you always push me away. Why, LB? Don't you trust me?"

"It's not that," she blurted out. She eyed him a couple of times, like a prey that has seen a hunter following its track and is trying to avoid getting caught.

"What is it, then? Lately, I always seem to get to the fight last and new holders pop out of nowhere and defeat the akuma before I even get there. When was the last time that my presence was crucial to the outcome of the battle? You say that you don't want to replace me, that I'm irreplaceable, but your actions don't match your words. I feel so...useless." He heard her holding her breath and gave her a sad look before continuing, "I hate being kept in the dark, Buguinette."

"Why does everyone want to know things?" She put her hands to her temples and closed her eyes shut. "My parents wanted to know things. My friends wanted to know things. They put me under such great pressure because they wanted to 'help me'. I was tired of lying to them, Chat Noir. I was lying to my parents, I was lying to my friends; it got to the point that I told them to get out and never come back. I felt that I wasn't allowed to have friends because of my role as a Guardian, that I wasn't allowed to have a life. I felt so alone!"

"But I was there! I wanted to help you!"

"I couldn't accept your help! Don't you understand that? I needed someone who knew me in my civilian life. I needed someone I could rely on without the mask! That's why I told her!" she shouted. But as soon as she did, she noticed Chat Noir widening his eyes and felt all blood draining from her face. Her heart stopped.

"You did...what?" asked the feline.

Ladybug wished the ground would swallow her whole. "Uh, eh…" she stuttered, looking down at her hands and starting to fidget nervously with her fingers, but Chat Noir grabbed her by the shoulders and raised her chin to force her to look at him.

"You did what, Ladybug?"

She looked down. "I told...my best friend."

"WHAT?" He was looking at her with an incredulous gaze, that kind of gaze that knows the truth but doesn't want to believe it. That kind of gaze that begs the other person to disprove the obvious conclusion and let out a new truth. "I thought you told her because you needed to leave the city without a Ladybug."

Ladybug closed her eyes shut; she cupped her empty hand on her face and started crying. "I'm sorry. I know you thought I had revealed myself out of necessity the time Hack-san akumatised Markov again, but I didn't tell you the entire truth." She looked at him briefly and must have seen how all blood had drained from his face and how wide his eyes had gone because she closed her eyes shut again as heavy sobs shook her frame.

"I was overwhelmed! So lonely...really needed a friend. Everybody wanted the truth from me. My parents, my friends, my best friend, the boy I was going out with...everyone! I had lost everything. I was lying to everyone. Me, the person who hates liars, was being the worst liar in history. I felt I wasn't going to get out of it, that I couldn't have friends, I couldn't have a relationship, I couldn't have a life while I was Ladybug!"

She cried some more into her hand. "I had to give up on pursuing the boy I love. I had started a relationship with another boy, who told me he loved me, to try and forget the boy I love, but I had to give up on him too, because he wanted the truth! And the truth was the very thing I couldn't give him. I was heartbroken, I didn't know what to do!" She glared at him, completely missing the pallor of his face and the shock in his eyes. "I couldn't talk to you about it because we're supposed to keep our identities a secret from each other. My best friend was the only person I could rely on!"

"You started a relationship with another boy? Only because he told you that he loved you?" He pursed his lips when she nodded and lowered his gaze. "I see. It's okay, you don't have to love me, I would never force you into anything. But it does hurt to find out how many things you aren’t telling me. You don't trust me at all."

"I do trust you! I trust you with my life, every day, at every battle."

He glared at her and he could clearly see how she paled under his gaze. "Then act like it!" He saw her paling further. "I'm tired," he added. "I'm tired of being lied to."

"What do you mean? I've never really lied to you, I've only hidden...things...from you!" Her brows furrowed, her gaze locked into his. He had gotten her attention, for all it was worth.

"I know about Rena and Carapace."

She gasped. "Y-you know what about them?"

"I know who they are. And I know that they know each other's identities. They're a couple. And you allowed them to know. You gave them their Miraculous at the same time." He couldn't avoid spitting the words out as if they were poisonous. He looked at her shocked expression and sighed. "Plagg told me it would be useless to talk to you about it. Forget it, it doesn't matter."

"Y-you know who they are?" she whispered, her eyes still open wide.

He nodded. "Yes."

"And you know I gave them their Miraculous at the same time," she muttered to herself. Her gaze became distant, as if she was trying to remember something very hard. "I don't think there was anybody in that room when I gave them their Miraculous, so it means one of them told you."

He nodded again. "Yes."

She pouted. "I will need to have a word with Nino," she muttered under her breath. "But, Chaton, you don't know the entire situation. Did he tell you when that happened?"

"No, he just said that you gave them their Miraculous at the same time," admitted Chat Noir, still sounding quite harsh.

"It was an accident. I didn't have the time to get to them separately and had to make a choice." She noticed that his gaze was still harsh and his hands were still clenched into fists. "They're only temporary holders, Chat Noir. And they don't hold a Miraculous as important as mine; or yours."

"It's still a Miraculous, though," he said. "And Papillombre knows their identity. It would be easy for him to use them to get at me, or at you. Why can they know each other's identities and we can't?"

She cupped a hand on his cheek. "Papillombre could hold it against u—"

"BULLSHIT!" He pushed her hand away. The hurt in her face when he looked back at her was so evident it pained him. "It's not that. Or at least, it's not ONLY that. I can sense it, Ladybug. There's something else you're not telling me. I can see it in your eyes. In the frown that you give me every time we talk about it." She furrowed her brows and he pointed at her face. "There, that frown. You don't trust me. For some reason I can't understand, you're pushing me away. You're keeping me as far as you can from you."

Tears streamed from her bluebell eyes. "You don't understand," she said as she clenched her fists to the sides of her head and closed her eyes shut. "You can't understand!"

He grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. "THEN MAKE ME! I want to understand, Buguinette. But I can't understand unless you give me the whole picture. Instead, the more I try, the more you push me away."

She started crying. "I can't." Her eyes were full of tears and she finally managed to get out of his hold and look down.

He also looked down, slouching his shoulders. "And there I was, hoping that, at least today, things would be different. Of all times, I had to find out today how much our partnership is a farce—"

"—What about today?" she interrupted him. Her hand left his cheek and moved to her chin, starting to rub it thoughtfully.

"You don't remember? It's been a year. A year since Stone Heart. That's why I wanted to give you the rose."

He saw the gleam of comprehension that passed through her bluebell eyes and smiled sadly. She looked at him with a gaze so full of emotion that he felt a big lump in his throat and had to gulp.

"A year since…you turned my world upside down."

"I'm sorry. Everyone has to come to terms eventually to the fact that their dreams are too… impossible."

She looked away and as she did that, her gaze fell on the nearest billboard to their rooftop, obviously featuring Adrien's beautiful face.

She sighed. "I had to give up on my dreams, too, as I told you." Her eyes started burning, as tears popped out of the corners of her mask. "I still love that boy, Chaton. More than words can say." It took her all her strength to tear her gaze from the billboard and look at Chat Noir again. "That's why I can't be with you. You and I will never be together that way."

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, like the one he had given her a long time ago, when she rejected him the first time, and gave him back his rose.

"I'm really sorry, Chat Noir." Her voice cracked and she sniffed loudly. He turned around, feeling as if the whole world was falling and the ground was unsteady under his feet. He couldn't look at her anymore.

She tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but he pushed it away and didn't turn around again. So, eventually, she twirled her yoyo and disappeared in the distance.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Plagg didn't even go to get his cheese when Adrien released his transformation. He just stared at his chosen with the saddest look in his electric green eyes. He was uncharacteristically quiet, but it was clear from the position of his ears flat on his head, and the way his tail flapped left and right that he was extremely upset. Adrien fumbled with his hand into the pocket of his shirt, taking out the slice of Camembert he knew his little friend needed to recharge. Plagg took it from his hand, but didn't start eating it. Again, uncharacteristic of him.

They were in the school boiler room—Adrien had detransformed and just ducked into it when he saw Chloé walking his way. He wasn't in the right frame of mind to face the blonde. He wasn't in the right frame of mind to face anyone. He walked the corridor aimlessly and ended up in the very place he and Marinette had consoled Juleka a few weeks back, sitting down in the exact same way, his back resting against the wall, his face buried in his knees. At least he knew that nobody would find him there. When it had happened to Juleka, he and Marinette had found her by mere accident.

"Gamin," Plagg attempted to say. Adrien's face didn't appear from behind his knees, not a sound came out of his mouth. Plagg pouted and moved his slice of cheese in just one paw, to use the other one to pat Adrien gently on his hair. "I'm sorry."

At that, Adrien's face jerked up, his green eyes full of tears, but opened wide as he shot an incredulous look to Plagg. His eyes widened even more when he noticed that the kwami hadn't still touched his cheese.

"Eat your Camembert, Plagg." He sniffed. "God forbid that Papillombre decides to send yet another akuma and we're not prepared."

But Plagg didn't touch his food and just stared.

"I said: eat your Camembert," said Adrien a little louder. Plagg started munching not very enthusiastically at the cheese in his paws, following each and every tear that fell down Adrien's cheeks with his electric green gaze, for once, void of any mockery. Adrien picked up the single rose that he'd tried to give Ladybug a few minutes ago and glared at it. He scrutinised every single corner and every single petal and then clenched the stem into his shaking fist.

"There were thorns on that stem," stated Plagg matter of factly. "I'm the God of Destruction, but you're not, Adrien. You should look after yourself."

He threw the rose angrily against the wall and looked at the palm of his hand, now bleeding from a couple of places where a thorn had cut the skin. "Why? Nobody would care," he muttered under his breath.

Plagg threw the slice of cheese in the air and ate it by catching it with his mouth and only chewing a couple of times. "I would, and you know it."

"Nah," said Adrien, closing his eyes and waving his hand dismissively. "You only want your cheese. There will be another Chat Noir who will give you Camembert."

Plagg flew to his nose and locked gaze with him. "I hate repeating myself, Adrien. I told you once already. Yes, there will be another Chat Noir that will buy me cheese. But he won't be you." When Adrien stared back blankly at him and just sighed, Plagg's ears went flat on his head, his tail flapping back and forth. "Maybe the Bug doesn't need you, but I do."

"Thank you, buddy." This time Adrien's hand reached for his little friend's head and gave him a quick, affectionate pat and a rub behind his ears. But there was no cheerfulness, no joy in his gesture. He smiled his fake model smile.

Although Plagg enjoyed the contact, he was painfully aware that his words hadn't really hit the target. "But I'm not enough, right?" he asked as Adrien sighed and hid again his face behind his knees. "We could run away from your home, run away from Ladybug and open that cheese shop I was telling you about the other day. Wouldn't it be great to live 24/7 surrounded by the smell of gorgeous gooeyness?" As he said that, his voice raised, his little body floated up in the air, with his paws up and his eyes lost in his imagination. That earned him a sad chuckle.

"Yeah. I already told you that it wouldn't work. You'd eat all the cheese and we'd be left with nothing to sell." Adrien sighed. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, buddy. I just… can't." His face returned to hide behind his knees as he fell silent and after a couple of minutes, his frame was shaken by deep sobs. "Not even a second choice. That's how much she values me. Not even a second choice!" He sobbed some more against his knees. "She told someone else that she's Ladybug, but she won't tell me who she is."

Plagg's ears went flat again. He floated to Adrien's head and used his paws to gently pat his hair while the soothing ronron of his purr filled the silence of the room. "I'll keep watch for butterflies," muttered Plagg. "You're going to get akumatised at this rate."

"I don't care!" screamed Adrien's voice coming from behind his knees. He didn't even bother to look at Plagg and just kept sobbing.

To be continued...

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Author’s Note:

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Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I can't believe that I can finally present to you this story that I have been writing for the last 6 months for the Big Bang event. It's been hard, it's been lonely (sadly I couldn't even show snippets or anything else!), and it's been scary, especially when Ephemeral came out and I thought for a second that I would need to pick this story up and dump it in the bin. But luckily, for some miracle, it didn't happen. went close to it, and I had to adjust a few things in order to make it fit with Ephemeral, but I want to point out that I wrote the whole part up to Adrien's akumatisation before watching the episode, because I wanted to keep it mine, without interference from Canon. Luckily I managed to achieve my aim.

So here it is. 12 chapters of angst, pain, self discovery, and, especially for Marinette, learning to love Adrien for real…well I can't say no more, or I'll spoil it for you all. It's been very interesting to write it and I've loved the concept and the idea behind it so much!

Just one note, that you may have seen in the tags already: there are hints in this story about the possibility that Adrien may be a sentimonster. They're nothing more than what we have seen in canon. I've left it very vague right because we're not sure yet, so I don't want to lean towards yes or no myself, since canon isn't in any way clear. But I had to do something because a scene wouldn't have worked otherwise. I'm saying it to warn you, in case you're completely against the idea. I know the feeling. I too, as people who follow me here on Tumblr know very well, am not convinced at all. I had to work hard to actually accept the possibility and process it myself, because I was very rigidly against the theory to start with. But Ephemeral and Gabriel Agreste broke me and I had to add the hint in case it was true.

Also, I nearly forgot, if you're not a member yet, please join our discord server, @miraculousfanworks

[nebulousobsession]

The villain in hack-san looks almost exactly like XANA, the enemy from Code Lyoko which Thomas Astruc also worked on.

[ilikekidsshows]

I'm a bit on the meh side when it's about Felix. But ever since Felix episode aired it become an annoyance because people started shipping Marinette with Felix while accused Adrien as sexual harasser. And there's also people who act similar with Chloé Stan, they claimed Thomas Astruc hate Felix that's why he made him to be worsen than what he supposed to be (PV Felix) despite the two Felix are different character.

Are they that different? Like, my point was that PV Félix has no personality, so how can he be different or similar to anyone? He seems kinda broody but that's it. Also, the irony of people preferring Félix to Adrien because "Adrien is a sexual harasser" when the STARTING CONCEPT for Félix was "tries to woo Ladybug for his own ends". He wasn't in love with her in the original concept, he literally needed a kiss from the embodiment of Good Luck to get rid of the unlucky Black Cat ring, which was cursed to be stuck on his finger. Like, that might not be sexual harassment, unlike what in-show Félix tried to do to Ladybug, but it's still skeevy as hell. Félix was always predatory. That's why Adrien replaced him as the main character.

You're correct. The one thing pushy Félix and Chloé Stans have in common (in addition to demozing a canonically kind character in fics to have their fave replace them) is this thinking that "This character I latched onto isn't written how I envisioned them in my head so the writers are just hacks and/or doing it specifically to spite me". It's that hyper individualism thing where they think their view on everything is the only correct one. The kind of thinking where you think media should be catering to your headcanons and preferences over anyone else's is so entitled, just like the characters the people who think like that latch onto.