#why does tikki do this

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

As a follow up to you post about mentors, just to make things fair, what are examples of Tikki being a bad mentor to Marinette?

Post in question for context.

Tikki often acts as the voice of the author. She's there to explain why Marinette is in the wrong. Since Miraculous has some wacky morals, that means we get a mix of good advice and wacky nonsense advice.

Two examples of bad advice that come to mind are Gamer and Strikeback. Gamer is the episode where Marinette stumbles upon an Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament, realizes that Adrien is taking part, and decides to compete so they can be on a team together. Marinette wins a spot through her own hard won skills and then this happens:

Tikki: All you wanted to do is spend time with Adrien, there are other ways to do that! Marinette: What are you getting at? Tikki: You know how much Max wanted to be in that tournament. Kim said he'd been training for it all year. Marinette: You're right. All I could think about was Adrien. 

This is how tournaments work, right? They're not tests of skill, but tests of who put in the most work or who wants to compete the most! That's why we had that scene with Marinette writing out her training schedule and motivations for evaluation, but she lied and that was wrong and...

Okay, I was the one lying here. There was no written evaluation because that's not how tournaments work. All anyone cares about is your skills. They don't care if you're doing this for personal glory or to get closer to a boy or whatever Adrien's motivation was because - notably - his motivation didn't matter in this episode about needing pure motives to be allowed to do things.

What if he didn't care about the competition and only did it to get closer to his classmates? That's not even a random guess. It's a valid read because Adrien ultimately gives his spot to Max while claiming that Max is the better player even though Adrien very clearly beat Max at the start of the episode. Ignoring that weird nonsense dialogue, why was it fine for Adrien to compete when he didn't care but wrong for Marinette to do the same? And Max wanting to compete to show off his skills is also a totally selfish motivation, so why does it matter that he wanted it more? Everything about this episode was nonsense and uncomfortably sexist. If Max wants to compete, then he needs to get better at the game. That's how competitions work.

Strikeback is the second part of the season four final and it starts with Marinette mourning the fact that "Adrien" has left Paris, leading to this:

Marinette: (crestfallen) It's all over, Tikki. Tikki: He'll be back, Marinette. He's just going on a voyage!

Which would be lovely advice if Adrien was a normal boy, but he's Chat Noir and Tikki knows that. She should be freaking out and trying to find a way to get him back to Paris, but then Tikki would have to support Marinette's actions and we can't have that, so instead Tikki gives this nonsense advice because she has to be against whatever "wrong" thing Marinette is doing today.

I could come up with a few more examples, but I think those two paint a pretty good picture of issue one re Tikki. However, when it comes to Tikki, my main issue with her is less a wealth of bad advice - unlike Plagg*, I think she's right more often than not - and more a lack of support. It feels like she's just here to judge Marinette and point out when she's doing something wrong, but a good mentor should be so much more than that.

Kuro Neko is a great example of this. When Chat Noir quits, Tikki just sits back and does nothing while her young charge is freaking out. She doesn't even try to defend Marinette when Plagg is going off about Chat Noir's "ill treatment". For all Plagg's faults in that episode, at least he's doing something about the situation. Meanwhile Tikki literally has two lines in the entire episode! A similar thing happens in Kwami's Choice where Plagg is the one driving them to act while Tikki just wrings her hands in despair.

Tikki: (sighs heavily) What can we do? Plagg: We must free them of that impossible choice. We must… free them of us.

These are not the actions of a mentor. Mentors aren't supposed to just offer judgement about things that their mentee has already done or is considering doing. They're supposed to be a source of support and guidance in hard times, but we never really see Tikki stepping in to give Marinette that kind of advice. If memory serves, she never offers solutions or acts as a sounding board. That role is mainly filled by Alya and I love Alya! It's good for Marinette to have support from a friend, but Alya is also a teenager while Tikki is an ancient being who has seen many Ladybugs go through the kind of struggles that Marinette is going through. I expect her to use that knowledge to help her charge, but she never does. This exchange from Passion perfectly highlights this problem:

Tikki: Don't worry, Plagg... my holder has decided to run away from her real feelings to pursue an impossible love with Cat Noir instead. Plagg: Uh, just to be sure, sugarcube, you do know that Cat Noir and my holder are one and the same person, right? Tikki: I do, but my holder doesn't. Plagg: If she declares her love to Cat Noir, something tells me she'll find out soon enough. Tikki: You have nothing to fear. When my holder is in love, she never gets anywhere. She'll just knit hats and make very complicated plans that will never come to fruition. Plagg: Hmm... ah, then everything's fine.

Tikki, I love you, but by the gods! With a mentor like you, Marinette doesn't need enemies to be miserable! Do you care about her at all??? What kind of mentor delights at their mentee's suffering? Not a good one, that's for sure.

*Quick note: I think that Plagg and Tikki are probably neck and neck for who has given the most bad advice, Plagg just feels like the bigger problem because we don't see him as much as we see Tikki. Since she's tied to the main character, Tikki gives advice in almost every episode and most episodes have decent morals.

Adrien's need for good advice can also feel more glaring because he's so isolated and passive. That makes Plagg's lack of good advice feel more harmful, but Marinette is just as isolated from real advice. Her mentor figures - Su Han, Fu, and Tikki - mostly give orders and judgement instead of support and guidance. It's just harder to spot that fact because Marinette is actively trying to do the right thing, meaning that she's more likely to make mistakes, and it's easy to see why she comes across as a lot less pathetic and a lot easier to judge.

[sillysiluriforme]

And the holders, oh god how the holders would view it all.

Nino wouldn't really understand all the reasons why, but he'd know (or learn painfully) that opportunities to DJ are down, that clubs are closing (who would party in such times?) and that people are struggling. Wayzz wouldn't help much, just urging Nino to help and protect whoever he can.

Marinette and Alya would know more due to family businesses, but mostly through belts being tightened, tight eyes and forced smiles as another shipment is delayed, as an order has to be rejected or reduced, as people walk out unable to buy fresh food (or with food in hand, but the bakery that much closer to bankruptcy). Parents too kind to show the whole story, but ears near stairwells and hushed arguments get the message across. Orders are down, purchases fewer yet the shelves are still emptier than Before. They could sell the business, but a whole lifetime down the drain? Starting anew somewhere else, rebuilding from scratch? Besides, no one is buying, and there's no where to go. Perhaps a check comes from the french government, or a tax writeoff, but it's not enough. It's never enough. Trixx would know little, maybe having a holder own an entertainment business or two, but never having paid attention. Tikki may understand, but catching hawkmoth is more important, and would fix everything, right? Right? (Ladybug must carry the weight of the world, but the weight of one city could break this one) But Adrien. Adrien would know. His father wants to keep the business alive, and can do so because his designs can be made elsewhere. Shipped to Paris and photo'd on Adrien. Paris may have been a hub but it's just one in his Empire. He wouldn't hold back either. Anyone unnecessary- cut. Jobs are few but talent is plentiful. Everyone else in fashion is leaving, but no one in paris can follow. Quality can be dropped in Paris - what else can you buy? Pay drops significantly- if fashion is your passion, where else could you work? And Gabriel would tell Adrien everything. He'd expect Adrien to understand it all, to stare the horror down and keep an iron spine. Preferably with a smile on his face, but that softness came from his mother after all. There's opportunity in crisis, and a struggling man can be made to work harder for less. The city may be dying, but there's life to leech yet. And Plagg and the lamb would know. They'd understand the full weight of Paris's situation. Plagg knows that unless hawkmoth is stopped, Paris will die. He can feel the decay, the death, the slowly creeping end. It's his domain after all. He'd lie to Adrien, to provide some comfort, but they both would know the truth, and it's better that Adrien trust Plagg fully than to trade that trust for a brief hint of warmth. The lamb does not know the ways of man. He does not care about imports and exports or any of that. He does know the ways of gods. The cost of their games. The price that must be paid. He knows Sacrifice. And what is the worth of one city, compared to the world? (I love this AU)

[sinister cackling]

[ct-multifandom]

Climatiqueen reactions

Featuring level 99 plate of corn analysis

I wonder what gets posted in the pig channel, like cutesy things?

Aurore :))))))) the children yearn for her getting screen time. Where is Mirelle

Ok so Aurore is genuinely interested in meteorology as a science and wasn’t competing in s1 to just become a TV personality

I’m getting a hunch influencer!Chloe is part of some larger akuma-baiting plan. Like she’s running competitions and showcasing her “rich perfect life” to potentially make people upset. I feel like Zoo is run by Tomoe since she was pretty much responsible for Alliance, which had the goals of invasively collecting data and making people doomscroll. This feels like the same exact thing, take 2. Vincent did an ad for her cars in revelator, and he might be in on this too.

It’s called Zoo because all the channels are named after animals get it get it?

Chloe lists off the names of miraculous animals who aren’t allowed to compete as their icons show up on screen, but she says unicorn instead of goat. Huh (maybe she’s biphobic. Sorry)

I like that Alec has a huge afro wig now, it feels more in tune with his backstory

Yeowch imagine scrolling and a news report about your father’s death shows up

I want to know what Adrien was texting Juleka about. Meow meow to meow meow communication

LMAOOO his messages to Marinette bro was infodumping. Purely one-sided yapping. I guess this lines up with what she says later about not knowing what to write in response to his perfect texts

r/malelivingspace fr he’s so unsure about his identity he can’t even decide on a wall color. In revelator we see him in front of the same wall but it had like teal and yellow swatches. Idk if he’s still deciding or if it’s gonna be like “what if my wall was a messy splatter of different colors and I didn’t have to choose just one”

TIKKIS LITTLE TEA SET oh me oh myyyyy

Gina lore also what could Marinette possibly be doing with her stuffed cat and potted plant

Why does a Reblochon pancake actually sound kinda good

Adrien: Nathalie probably isn’t going to like my pancakes 🥺 Nathalie: oh thank fucking god they taste like real food instead of chalk and nightmares

The garden hose scenes made me laugh out loud each time, they didn’t get old. Ily gorilla

They’re so cute but also that one couple in high school that has you like is this allowed wtf is that allowed

Adrien’s kinda eating in that bike helmet with his bangs in the wind

Tf is Ray posting about to be in second place

Nora is in 3rd and in 4th place is uh… chlorine? Nice to see people so interested in chemistry!

Diane seems really sweet but I have to wonder if it’s fr or if she’s secretly one of those aggravating out-of-touch people iykwim. Luck is obviously written all over her and she pretty much tells Aurore later like oh I’m only winning because I’m lucky haha see all my posts are so stupid yet everyone loves them! which is what makes her snap. I guess my question is if she’s well intentioned yet insensitive or if she’s an undercover mean girl

AURORES OUTFIT oh peak character design the sunny dress covered by the cloudy transparent raincoat? And her mismatched gold smily sun and silver frowny flower earrings? The bits of curly hair in front of her ears look like lightning bolts

Gorilla on the scooter serving Paul Blart realness

Aglae you’re so cute please don’t be Lila you little emo boy from Whoville

She’s wearing like goth oxfords with socks with ghosts on them? She has one of those “tattoo” chokers but there’s an animation error in one moment where it looks much thicker. Her hoodie has a paint splotch design and her leggings do as well in a tie dye way or maybe it’s supposed to look like they’re ripped?

Why are they posed up like the iconic Marc and Nathaniel love at first sight scene is something yurious occurring

Interesting attention to detail that Aurore sucks at makeup and is one of the only girl characters not wearing any

Oh did Aglae like, smirk sinisterly in the split second before she hugged Aurore and told her she was too nice to do anything underhanded or am I seeing things

Girl why is Manon at big kid school? I didn’t realize school for all ages meant literally fully integrated that sounds… unhelpful. And every single other character we’ve seen at school so far is a teenager.

Marlena teaching cooking class as if she doesn’t have a full time job already

Adrien how do you even mess up using a piping bad that badly

I need a full 360 on the design of that poetry teacher she looks like Professor Plum

Juleka, Rose, and Ivan are all in that class and have been shown to write poems/their own lyrics, but Luka isn’t. Headcanon Luka is bad at lyrics?

Guys great news Ivan still has an eyebrow slit, it’s just a lot smaller and harder to see. He’s also wearing a necklace made out of metal beads. His miraculous might be missing (animation error) and he still has bleached bangs.

Ok I had to double check to make sure I’m not crazy but Nathaniel’s hair is like, brown now, right? Or at least way faded. I had to turn back to the intro where his hair is bright red again and Alix is next to him… *remembers trading card lore* hmmmm I think I see where this is going.

I was gonna leave it at that ^ but then I remembered some of you will have no clue what I’m talking about so. There’s a piece of trivia that Alix dyes Nathaniel’s hair so I’m saying his hair faded because she’s been gone too long and she’ll fix it when she comes back. I’m predicting this will be the main plot of his focus episode

As soon as I saw Ondine is was like :0 👉 ONDINE!!!! She’s so gorgggg she’s finally allowed to wear normal clothes. Ondine my queen I love you and I can’t wait for your episode I’m so glad you’re part of the squad and kind of important now. If they ever need a substitute miraculous holder she’s probably at the top of the list.

Oh hi Marc. Wait are your legs clipping into the ground? It’s kind of funny that the whole gang is crowded around one table while Marc and Nath are taking up an entire big table for just the two of them

They’re eating a refined smear of orange sauce for lunch (jk I know they’re done eating)

Zoe’s phone case and screensaver are her shoe design. They all have more unique cases now ig, Aurore’s in blue with white clouds and Diane’s is pink with green clovers.

Hot take Kim was valid for asking Aglae if she thinks Aurore was about to get akumatized. That was a perfectly important and relevant question.

Also Kim has stud earrings now, I first noticed that in revelator

lmao “I know what you need, a tall glass of water!” “…Buh-” 😧👉🥛

Oh wow the food pyramid poster in the nurses office seems to be organized like the hierarchy of needs with carbs on the bottom, then veggies (vitamins), then proteins, then sweet treats. Then exercise and drinking water are drawn below the pyramid. That’s actually a pretty nice design. See this is the plate of corn content I promised you all

The drills. The lightning crown. The stormcloud skirt with neon lightning cracks… peak. If Aurore knows how to do one thing, it’s slay. Reminder that akumas “design” their own costumes

Glad to see the school is confirmed to actually have an elevator btw

The 2D wow

Oh my that train cataclysm scene was epic. Sure is lucky there was nobody on it during all that! I’m glad to have cool fight choreography again because last season it was starting to feel kinda like they just beat up the villain in 5 seconds out of obligation and left. I hope we’ll get some cool lucky charms again

Ohhhhh people have been saying that Lila hasn’t outright requested the miraculous yet before this. Omg she’s only doing it *after* the akuma gets what they originally wanted so it feels like a fair follow-up deal. Rather than expecting them to pledge allegiance to her on a gamble that they may or may not get what they want. The braincells

Episodes since the Eiffel Tower has last been personally victimized: 0

I guess they can just automatically use power ups now? Is this part of having adult powers or do they like eat a handful of special macarons every morning just in case

She has neon corset lacing on the back of her dress

Markov is now a tiny fella who snaps into Max’s wristwatch. I miss his old design because it was really cute but this new concept is pretty cool

Pegasus has been carrying this season so far what. First transformation of the season this is his show now. Miraculous tales of Pegasus

The choreography is like the same but cooler. Such small changes make it so much more visually interesting to follow like how it pauses on his shoes and chest to highlight the more interesting details of his suit, and how the horseshoe boomerang swivels in with a lightning swoosh effect. The Just Dance icons at the bottom are fun.

Did you know Just Dance has a map of the miraculous theme song where the coaches are cosplaying lb and cn? I recently found that out. I also recall one time Alya and Nino were playing a game that’s basically Just Dance in the show. Rest in piss Gabriel Agreste you would have loved Lida

Ok yeah Pegasus saved the tourists but realistically they would still take serious fall damage. I guess his portals somehow magically decelerate them so they’re ok.

Chloe degaf about this contest she’s so over it like ugh I guess you won whatev

Aurore considers Marinette and Adrien to be her friends

Oh so now you care about the book again

*Aurore putting a picture of Claudie on a hear me out cake* Max: THATS MY MOM

I see Lila is also doing that “next time…” 😈 shit Gabriel used to do before he realized that statistically it probably will um not be next time or the time after that either

I guess the ladybug community is the peace and love one where nothing toxic happens ever or something

People have pointed this out a long time ago but the merry go round is now filled with seats designed after the miraculous animals :)

If you gave Adrien the goat miraculous he wouldn’t even have powers he’d just turn into a black widow type of superhero

Marinette: I’m gonna be mature and let Adrien live his life! Marinette two episodes later: now who the fuck is that and why hasn’t he introduced her to me how do they know each other

RIP Adrien you would’ve loved Apple by Charli XCX

“Why doesn’t Sublime assume Adrien is jogging for sport, a totally normal thing to do in a park?” bro he’s wearing skinny jeans

Astruc or someone please tell us Diane, Aglae, and Ondine’s last names for tagging reasons please

Ok that’s all for now folks, see you after El Toro de Piedra probably!

[laterreurofficial]

Will the kwami be different in la terreur and how so, also why do the kwami smoke and how does it affect them.

Well, for starters, the kwamis do look a little different (as evidenced by silu's many sketches), but overall their main difference is that their attachments to their child soldiers are largely devoid of genuine affection outside of what makes their holder willing enough to actually fight.

Like, sure, they might care a little bit for these wet meat creatures that barely last a blink in a swami's lifespan, but first and foremost they are puppets for the kwami to enact their will and the mission always comes first.

The kwamis all have vices because silu and I thought it was funny. (And it's symbolic for their connection to the mortal plane. probably.)

Tikki vapes, Plagg smokes tobacco out of a pipe like a gentleman, on and on. Just imagine one of the kwamis taking a fat rip out of a bong, isn't that the funniest thing in the world to you?

If you respond with 'no', you need to reflect on yourself. Rearrange your comedic priorities.

[at4-raxia]

Mark Grayson x ladybug! Reader (part 2)

Part 1 (if you haven't read it) and part 3

Hii, honestly I couldn't wait to write part 2 especially because I just love the variants and writing various shenanigans with the characters. With that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Before you read: protective Mark, him and the reader are whipped for each other (more like obsessed to some degree), they are also really dumb, the variants want that cookie, deception, non-consensual touching, suggestive, the reader is not okay (unreliable narrator), angst (because why not?), and lastly but not least, violence and blood.

Synopsis: It was a way to cope, if you could overcome your past with Mark, you would start anew, but as [name] it was impossible. You had missed this sense of normalcy with him, you had missed Mark, and being Ladybug had given you the solution on a silver platter. With a mask on you forgot about all your insecurities, in your suit you forgot about everything that had transpired with him and you acted almost like you did once. It was easy, flawless, until, well, it was not, and the consequences of your actions came crashing down on you.

"Tikki does it look like I can do anything else?" Your frustration was palpable in the air, you didn't want to hear the scolding.

"[name] please" she pleaded softly while flying in front of the woman who had her arms tightly crossed and her face tense. "I'm only saying that you can't keep doing whatever it is you think you're doing, it's not healthy".

"Then what other option do I have Tikki? As a normal human I was not enough, now as a superhero I can't face him without my mask." Your eyes were staring at the ground, your jaw clenched in anger and you closed your eyes for a second from feeling the tears.

"Mark... I don't understand him. How could he approach me as if nothing ever happened? As if he didn't sever ties with me, as if I didn't go no contact from everyone for almost two years." Your hands were swiftly wiping the tears away. Tikki for a second went still, shocked by your outburst, and then went to hug your cheek, not caring in the slightest if the tears wet her tiny form.

"I just—I don't understand. I can't do it, I can't go back to how things were without addressing everything. But even if I did, we wouldn't go back to how things were. I can't even face him, I can barely speak to him, or give him what he needs apparently, and now, I can't even let him go." Your deep sigh reverberated through your chest, a slight tremor ran through your spine and you felt more at peace after having let some of the build up tension out of your body.

"I'm so tired of not being enough Tikki... If I had been enough do you think he would have at least apologised?" The words were brimmed with insecurity which made the kwami of creation gasp in horror at how little you thought of yourself.

(Paris had destroyed you and those two years were a buried secret that you and the city shared. You were a murderer in cold blood, you had done it for the city, you had gotten rid of the black cat that mindlessly annihilated without remorse. That day of destruction and death, that dark day for the supposed "city of love", was the only day the Parisians had praised you. "Their saviour" they called you, "their hero", "the luck of Paris". You remember puking your guts out, your knees giving up in your tiny claustrophobic bathroom. You had enjoyed killing the cat, you had loved the feeling of creating strategy after strategy to demolish every little ounce of his hope and strength, your smile becoming more twisted each time you saw him crumble. Tikki didn't say a word to you about the ordeal, not to comfort nor punish you verbally, but while you had given a young man eternal rest in a brutal way, you had done it for the greater good. That fact alone was enough for Tikki to know that while wrong, you had done the necessary thing that many would have hesitated to do.)

"Can you believe that I really thought that I would have a chance as a superhero?" Your laugh is a ugly, almost hysterical as you wither in the corner of your room.

"[name] that's not true, I really think you should talk to Mark about this—"

"And then what?"

"Haven't you stopped to think for a second? Don't you maybe think that Mark did that years ago not because you were not good enough but to protect you?" Tikki then gave a napkin for [name] to blow her red nose in.

"What do you mean? Then why only me?" You say focusing your puffy eyes on the tiny red and black creature.

"Is it really so out of the question to think that maybe you were so special that he couldn't have risked you getting hurt because of him? Are you really going to just disregard the fact that he stuck with you through thick and thin? And for what? Because you overthink too much".

"it's not overthinking if it's the truth, he didn't even message me or call me to know if I was okay after I went to France". There were so many different little things you were focusing on, your mind was imploding from the possibilities, from the guilt of having jumped too fast to conclusions.

"I don't know about that for sure and I'm not justifying his actions, but we need to see his perspective. We don't know why he did that, yet you can ask him that". How could Tikki even propose this when you couldn't even look him in the eyes?

"You can't hide forever behind this excuse, your avoidant behaviour is just your way of justifying your fear of being faced with the reality of things again. I know you're afraid, but you can't run forever or hide behind your mask forever. Even if the worst case scenario happens and we discover an even uglier truth than what we imagined, at least you will have the truth in your hands. You will be able to finally get closure, to have a fresh start". After recovering from the shock of Tikki's wake up call, you slowly nodded while some tears made your way down your face. An ugly smile, the one you make when you cry, made its way up to your face as you hugged your friend closely and closed your eyes.

-

Eve knew that Mark had a childhood friend, she knew that he cherished her deeply from how fondly he spoke about her when they had been together. She wasn't jealous, Eve recognised her worth and wouldn't want to exchange it with anyone else's, yet it kind of hurt to see that Mark didn't talk about her with the same fondness. For Eve you were at some unreachable peak, and in the moment she had realized it, she understood how Alexander the Great's generals must have felt knowing that he was unsurpassable.

Mark wasn't the only man in the world, but for some time he had been her world. He had been a good boyfriend, caring, attentive, sweet and so on. They had their ups and downs, like any other couple, but overall the experience had been unforgettable.

(A buried thought screams that in another universe where you don't exist, maybe there's a possibility that she's still with Mark. Even if she does think about it sometimes, she doesn't dwell on it.)

Mark loved her, she wouldn't doubt it. Yet, it wasn't enough when she wasn't the girl he loved the most.

(To their friends they say they separated on a mutual accord, but nobody knows how it had happened. One day everything was fine, while the next they were on separate ways. She couldn't stay with Mark when you were on his thoughts 24/7, but after seeing you in person she couldn't really blame the guy .)

Meeting you had been an humbling experience.

You weren't the most attractive person she had seen, but there was something about you that made you look like a flower in bloom. The kind that you appreciate early in spring after a harsh winter, the kind you don't pick off the ground just to see it alive the next day.

Alive.

That was the word.

You felt alive, not just in the literal sense. More in the fact that every little gesture, every smile, every giggle livened up the room. For Eve this kind of beauty is not something you can achieve, it's something that you have because you're a good soul and your body shows it.

You're no saint, but for a moment—the goodness in you, the pain you carry both as a civilian and a hero, your smiles—all of this makes Eve believe in something, in something good, that almost resembles hope for this world. (She hadn't meant to find out who you were, it was accidental. One moment she was following you to talk to you, the next you were de-transforming, completely clueless of her presence.)

-

"So you know Invincible's name?" Atom Eve, or Eve, had sat down next to you after asking you this question. The both of you were on the roof of a building, legs dangling meters from the ground as you munch on your sandwich.

"I heard it from you", it was the truth, but you also knew who was under the yellow mask, so partially the truth?

"Are you sure?" You were pretty sure.

"Yes, I was standing not too far away, I mean I'm not hard of hearing" you joke, but something tells you that Eve's question is not really about Mark's name.

"Look, I'm gonna be forward with you" she turned around to face you completely as you took another bite of your sandwich, for a moment she thought about just asking where you had bought it, but then she revealed something she knew about you.

"I know your identity", the words leave you comically frozen, but there's nothing to laugh about really.

Silence, complete utter silence. You had stopped chewing, the air had grown still and there was no sound whatsoever. You slowly turned to face her, with cheeks full of food and eyes wide.

"Did you tell Mark?" That was what you were worried about?

"So he doesn't know? I guessed this was the reason why he acted so differently towards 'Ladybug'. But no, it's not my place to do that, but I think I should also ask you that question." She was calm as she generated in her hands a sandwich, probably hungry too after seeing you eat with so much joy. You had found out her identity just by using your brain, after all there was no way that Samantha Eve Wilkins—the same girl who looked and sounded like Atom Eve, the girl who befriended Mark after he got his powers—was not the superhero in pink.

"To whom would I reveal your identity? I mean, as far as you're concerned my kwami knows about you", you opened your bottle of water and washed down the lingering taste of meat, veggies and home made bread.

"Kwami?"

-

You don't really know how much time you had spent with Eve, talking about your powers, about college, work and so on, but you were glad you had the opportunity. One conversation led to another and suddenly you were vulnerable:

"I mean, I might be smart but that's it. There's nothing really special about 'Ladybug'", the both of you were still on that roof fully suited up, your feet swinging mindlessly.

"You're kidding right? You defeated a villain with a hairpin and you can repair any damage. Your powers are similar to mine, but you have the creativity that I lack. My powers are almost limitless, but I just act in survival mod all the time".

"Creativity won't save me in the long run, against viltrumites I'm useless, while you can hold your ground. I'm not fast enough, strong enough to compete. I'm not weak but it's not enough, you know?".

For a moment Eve was silent, thinking her next words carefully.

"Well, you don't need to be that strong. You're not facing threats alone, you can rely on others." Eve was not a person of words, she was not as impulsive as Mark, and was not insensitive, but she wasn't used to comforting others.

"You need to embrace your confidence, and honestly—it's not really about this—but you need to tell Mark. That man is going crazy over you". With that you choked on saliva and got up.

"Eve! Don't lie about this!" You exclaimed with a high pitch. You were already delusional enough to hope that maybe you could fuck around with Mark without him knowing who you were in the long run, she didn't need to feed your delusions by saying that Mark was crazy for you, it was unfair.

"Why would I lie?" She laughed hard as she also got up, she couldn't really believe how ridiculous the situation was, how stupid the both of you were.

"You need to grow some balls [name], I mean it". You pushed her lightly as she laughed before saying goodbye and flying away.

.

.

"Why do you need to grow some balls?"

"JESUS MARK" you're startled as you jump a little, your eyes wide as you turn around to find Invincible standing in all his spandex glory.

"It's 'Invincible' to you Ladybug" He says before crossing his arms and looking at the city.

"yeah, yeah 'Invinciboy', tell that to the news, not me", your smirk is the one of a cat as you tip toe on the edge of the roof. You might not see his eyes, but you know Mark, you know every kind of expression he makes.

And if that isn't one of irritation than you never knew him.

"Don't call me that".

"You have a lot of demands today, first you eavesdrop on a private conversation and then you pretend I call you 'Invincible'? You let everyone else call you Mark when no civilians are around". You express your opinion with nonchalance, with a teasing smile as you take a good look at him, at your Mark in spandex (or in polymer fiber or whatever the material is—).

"I wasn't eavesdropping and you're not like others for the record" , for a moment you think he will add a "because you're special, so you can call me however you want", but you know he won't, so you start to question if he at least considers you a friend.

"Aren't we at least friends?"

"Why would we be friends?" There's no evil, no malice, nothing. It's just a mere observation after all.

Your playful expression vanishes for a second, your gaze falls on his eyes once again as you try to understand if the words are genuine or just a way to rouse you.

"Why would we not be friends? We fight together, joke around, talk, spend time—"

"No. We don't do that. At least I don't, you do all the joking, the talking, the laughing. All you do is stick to me like some octopus". You're not even close to him and he can feel the lingering sensation of your gloved hands against him. He calls you an octopus but then he just clings on you like a leech in your civilian form? How hypocritical can he be?

"You should be glad that at least one girl is giving you some sort of attention". You might be hurt, but you recover fast. There's no right or wrong right now, even if it's mostly your fault. You wish you had the confidence to solve this mess, but instead you fuel whatever this is under this confident façade you have created for yourself.

"That's a lot coming from you, you look like a lost puppy every time I even look at you". A hard jab, one that makes you more vicious. One that makes you laugh internally, since that's the face he makes whenever you're too busy to give him some semblance of attention.

"I don't get why you're so pressed about it. The fans love us, the GDA loves us as a duo. You're the only one so against it". You don't understand why things always need to be so complicated with him.

"Um, hello??" He says mockingly with sass. "Maybe it's because I don't like you?"

You laugh a little, because obviously he doesn't like you. He didn't like you before you became a superhero, it was foolish to think that maybe he would change his mind now, fuck Eve for saying otherwise and getting your hopes up.

"Oh really? Are we in fifth grade? Let's hear it then, who does the little baby like?" You don't bother to cover up the mix of emotions you're feeling right now as you mock him with your tone, you might have cried on the spot if it wasn't for the anger that kept you going, which was directed at him and yourself. Out of every plan, out of every crazy stunt you have pulled, trying to start anew with your secret identity has to be the one to go wrong? (And all for what? Because you don't have the balls to face Mark? Pathetic.)

His skin reddens, only slightly, as he looks away. Now he even dares to become shy? Fuck wrapping your hands around him, the yo-yo in your hands looks too good to not be used right now.

"It's not your business, but this" he makes a gesture with his hands to indicate whatever is going on with you and him, "needs to stop". Especially when he can't even make a move on [name] properly.

"Oh yeah, gee I wonder who it is with your busy social life", your tone is acidic as you mock him, "Mmm, let's list all the girls you know and find out, is that okay for you 'invinciboy'?" The man grits his teeth and is about to go away, tired from your bullshit when he halts as he hears you listing names and things you shouldn't really know about his life.

"Is it Eve? Mm, from your face I guess no. But it would have been a good guess, many exes who remain friends usually go back together", your face is gleeful, but in a mocking way, focused on his expression as you try to solve him, like one of your puzzles.

"Oh, oh! Is it Amber? She was your first after all."

"What—"

"Mm, I don't think it's anyone from the team either, is there a possibility you might be gay then? Do you like William perhaps, Gayson? I don't have other female options available and the best friends to lovers troupe is really common—" Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, you're no longer touching the ground and Mark is holding you up by your suit.

"How do you know all of this?" His voice is deep as his glare cuts your skin like butter, there's no sympathy in his tone, the words are the ones of a man who doesn't mess around with the people he cares about. It's the first time you've seen this side of him directed at you.

"Has your tiny little pebble brain thought that maybe, just maybe, I'm someone you know?" You seethe as you face the consequences of your actions, you know that Mark could rip you to shreds right now since he has the upper hand, but you don't care, because he is not a monster like you, so you know he won't snap your neck for running your tongue.

"Then tell me who you are, if you're so sure you actually know me" Was he insinuating that you, a hero, were a stalker? You knew he had at least somewhat the right to believe it, due to the information, but you weren't that bad to make such an assumption. (You were already this horrible in his eyes, and he didn't even know your worst side yet.)

"Why don't you answer my question first?" His face is still contorted in rage, yet he hasn't abandoned all common sense like you. He ponders for a second if he's making the right choice, the right deal.

"If you dare to hurt them I swear—"

"Woah, woah! Pretty boy, I would never. You're not that pretty". It's not the right moment and your joke doesn't land, yet after this illuminating discussion you realize that none of them really did, because Mark doesn't like you and he doesn't even trust you as a coworker.

"After I tell you who it is, you will reveal your identity to me". You freeze slightly, your pupils shrink at the possibilities of a disastrous aftermath. Your curiosity is too much though, you really need to know who this person is.

"Yes, yes, okay", you say, but not before rolling your eyes.

He looks at you for a second more, to see if you're honest under all this fake bravado, before sighing and letting you free from his hold.

"Do you know the bakery down the road?"

It's almost a mutter but you hear it anyway so you don't bother to mock him with a derisory "what did you say?", you're getting tired of this, yet not tired enough to just give up. This is the moment when you can finally find peace and accept that maybe Mark wasn't meant for you. (Deep down it's useless thinking this way, since you will never get over him.)

"I buy often from there", your words are almost phrased like a question. Maybe it's because you work there and there are only two people and an old lady running the place.

"It's one of the girls working, her name is—"

"Anna?"

"[name]".

The name repeats in your head like a loop as you become a statue, your smile fades as you come to the realisation that it was always you at the end of the day. Not Amber, not Eve, not Ladybug, just you.

[name].

You've tried so hard to fix things, to have a second chance. Now you're face to face with the fact that you had never needed one, that all your overthinking, all your crying about him, avoiding him, all your fears and insecurities could have been avoided if you had had the courage to talk to him.

You're not happy, you're not relieved.

You have ruined everything.

He loves you, of course, he has just said it. But he loves [name], his childhood friend, the girl who loves baking, the [name] he remembers. He doesn't love Ladybug, the superhero version of you, the one whose trauma changed her in a confused mess. His distrust and dislike is palpable, you wouldn't doubt after your epiphany that he might be disgusted too if he knew about the blood you have shed in Paris.

You're breathing hard, you know that he will hate you if he discovers your identity. Not just Ladybug, but you. (But who are you really? Are you [name]? The childhood friend that stuck to him like glue. Are you Ladybug? Are you something else you don't know of?)

You think you're crying as you walk back towards the edge of the roof, your only escape route, since running away is the only thing you're good at. (It almost reminds you of that time when Nolan comforted you, it was also the last time you had seen him and Mark doesn't tell you what happened when he comes to the bakery. He doesn't even talk about his family, about his little purple brother you saw on the streets when you were patrolling).

"Hey, are you okay?" He is tentative in his steps as he tries to approach you, he had expected some sort of reaction from you, but not this.

"I need to go", it doesn't sound right because of the tears, from the snot in your nose that's keeping you from saying the words right, together with the hiccuping.

He finds it hard to let you go after you promised to reveal your identity, yet it's even harder when you cry the same way his girl does.

He almost reaches to hug you but you're already far away, he can see your silhouette swinging from building to building. He could fly and catch you, but he doesn't find it in him to be harsh on you again after seeing your crying face.

-

("Aren't you glad [name]? He loves you!" Tikki is buzzing around happily as you try to collect yourself, as if you're the broken puzzle that needs solving.

"You don't get it, do you? He doesn't love me, he doesn't know who I am anymore, he loves the person he remembers, the one who he thinks I am. Not this mess. I thought that if he fell in love with Ladybug, it would have been easier for him to accept the person I'm now". Your hands are shaking as you look at them, as if by looking at them you could remember the sensation of the warm blood coating them.

"Let's think in a positive way, at least you know the truth..!" Tikki stops in her tracks as she sees your deranged expression.

"You and your damned truth. I don't need to know the truth!" You glare at the kwami with the build up hatred you have for yourself and this hero life that was forced upon you.

"I don't give a shit about the truth!" Your voice gets higher with every point you make, Tikki can't help but flinch at you.

"I just want Mark" you plead, almost like a prayer and not a demand. Tikki can't help but be angry at you, at the fact that you won't listen, you just drown in your sorrows even when there's a life-saver around your body.)

-

You don't talk to anyone, not even to Tikki, you don't go to work and you ask your parents to tell others that you are sick. They are worried about you, sometimes they come inside your room and sit on the bed, they tell you that they are there if you need them. You don't answer, you never do, and you feel like a bad daughter, you don't deserve this coddling when it's your fault, but you know that it's not like you can accept their help, since it's not even a possibility in their minds that you might be a superhero.

Your friends and coworkers are worried, Mark especially. You feel guilty about causing all this distress, but it's not enough to stop you from looking at flights for Paris. Would everything be better if you just gave back the miraculous? Tikki might not outright say it but you can see the way she looks at you. The way she judges you, scrutinizes you. You know she would gladly go back to Marinette if given the opportunity.

You never book the flight, you just look and think about it under the warm blankets as the bright light from the laptop makes your eyes red. Tikki can see what you're doing, yet she doesn't stop you. Maybe it's some sick test to see if you have the guts to actually leave behind one of the identities you have created, or maybe it's not, and she genuinely wishes you would press it and get this over with.

You never make up your mind, you just rot in indecision, like you always do.

Like you do with your life, with Mark and with everything else.

You don't know what is going on with the outside world, the GDA has contacted you multiple times but it's better they get used to your absence since you're reluctant to go back to the team. You're a coward, they might need you for something important, and your stomach churns at another responsibility you are avoiding.

"[name]?" Tikki after weeks of giving you the silent treatment, has finally decided to grace you with her presence. You wonder if she feels remorse for having blindly accepted Marinette's choice. You look at her, she's clearly worried and she's trying to find the right words to not activate the bomb in the room.

You don't bother to wait for her and just go to the bathroom. The one that stares at you in the mirror is not your reflection, or at least you hope that it's not the reflection of who you truly are. (A shiver runs through your spine, you knew that the black cat had gone crazy. You wonder if maybe he had been just misunderstood, if he had been just like you. Instead of trying to find a better solution to help him, you gave him a painful death.)

Suddenly as you wash your face you feel something trying to keep your hair from getting wet. You see the little creature that has been by your side until now holding your hair up, she's looking at you with love and sadness, not hate.

And you feel guilty, because how could you be harsh to her when she's always trying to fix your messes?

You repeat "sorry" all over as she dries your face with a towel, she doesn't say anything, she doesn't need to. She always knew that you were never going anywhere, but she wanted you to know that she was also not going anywhere.

While Marinette had been great, every miraculous holder had been a unique experience and you weren't the exception.

You didn't see it yet, you didn't see yourself the way Tikki, Eve, Mark and everyone else did, but maybe one day you would and she wasn't about to leave your side before that moment.

Because she loved you, not the girl who liked to bake, not the hero, not whatever distorted version you had in mind of yourself.

Just you.

"Do you feel better?" Tikki's voice is calm, gentle as she puts the towel aside.

"I think I do—I do", your words feel like a promise. A promise to be better than yesterday, for the people you love, for those who need you, for yourself, even if you don't know who she is yet.

-

"Have you read any messages yet?" Tikki says with her tiny cheeks full of chocolate chip cookies that had just come out of the oven.

"No, I don't think I will for now."

"[name]..." You glance at the little creature who's giving you an accusatory glare with no real heat behind it. You just smile and cut up the vegetables, the onions are merciless to your already tired eyes as you're hit by their pungent defence, but your knife is far more cruel as you dice them without remorse to prepare your five star meal (fried rice).

"I mean, I know I should let them know if I'm alright, but I just want to enjoy my peace a little more", you take out the left over rice and put it on the counter, the vegetables are sizzling and the aromas that cloud the kitchen make you sigh.

You're fine, not great yet, but for now being contempt in just cooking for yourself and your little friend a meal is enough.

Cooking is a big part of your life, one of your defining abilities. Your skills make people wonder how you became this good at such a young age.

You don't say to them that you cook when you're stressed, you cook when you're sad, happy, and even when you're angry.

You've lost some of the creativity over the years, pursuing your passion at an academic level has replaced fantasy with skill and technique. You have always known that academic discipline kills passion, and it did kind of murder the love you had for cooking.

But what else could you do if not that? It was either following your childhood dreams or working in an office.

You don't know where Tikki is as you lose yourself in your train of thoughts, completely focused on the task at hand. You stir, mix and add whatever is missing almost on autopilot and you sway your hips to the rhythm of the music that is playing on your phone.

In your little safe haven you don't know what's going on outside. You don't know about the dangers your coworkers are facing—the dangers Mark is facing—because the one time you seclude yourself from the rest of the world, it's also the one time it's about to be destroyed by alternative versions of your childhood friend.

You don't even think about what could be happening outside until you feel strong arms around your waist.

( "why do you always leave the window open?"

It was a bad habit of yours to forget to close the kitchen window, but your neighbourhood had always been safe. "I mean, it's not like we're in a dangerous area and the kitchen sometimes needs some air", you don't look at him in the eyes as you answer, you don't need to, because the bangs on the table and the almost moan that comes out of his mouth are enough to tell you that he is enjoying the food.

"Is it good?" You laugh proudly as you throw a glance in his direction.

"Not just good, it's better than my mom's, I'm not kidding", that's praise right there, better than his mom even? That's something to blush for.

"I'm not that good, Debbie is on another level", you jump a little as you feel him peer over your shoulder to look at what else you're making.

"Next time I go to your house I'll tell her you said this", there's a teasing glint in your eyes as you turn your head around to face him.

"It's not like she would disagree, she literally loves you more than me" he scoffs even if his lovingly warm eyes betray how he truly feels.)

You gasp at the sudden contact and instinctually elbow the person that's holding you so close against him to the point where there's no space between the both of you, no air that keeps away the heat radiating from whoever is behind you. As the hit lands you're not met with an abdomen, but with a wall that doesn't even budge.

"hey, it's me baby".

The voice is raspy, almost breathless as Mark whispers in your ear. You suppress a shiver as you try to create some space between your face and his, and while doing so that's when you take a good look at him.

"What the—what's with the mohawk? And Mark can you let me go please—" you plead before yelping from your stomach fat getting squeezed as the man behind you just sighs and just nuzzles his face in the crook of your neck, his short hair tickling you in the process.

"you don't like it?" You're speechless at Mark's anomalous behaviour and looks, but it's been quite a while since you got out. It's wrong to be so pleased about the situation, about the domesticity of it. You have dreamed of Mark coming home and hugging you like this while you cook your favourite meals. Now though it just feels wrong, especially after last time. You could not in good conscience take advantage of the situation without addressing the many problems at hand.

"No, it looks good" the rice is done, but you're not focused on that as you hear a deep chuckle from Mark, who just smirks and leaves feather like kisses on your bare neck. You squirm as his weight and arms are blocking you from escaping his gentle assault at your neck. A whine builds up in your throat, frustrated at your helplessness.

You know the bastard is enjoying this, you can feel his smile as he almost bends you on the stove.

"Just—hey what are you doing?" You don't know what stars have aligned to put you in this position, but you need to put a stop to this. The escalation of the situation is worrisome as teeth graze your skin, as you feel his groin against your ass.

"Can't a man just appreciate his girl?" Not when you're not his girl.

"Don't call me that" you manage to say, as your flushed face betrays you.

You don't realise that he is confused by your statement, since you can't turn around to face him, but you do feel his muscles tense. What gives you the chance to escape is the smoke coming out of the pan, the rice is not inedible but it's just slightly charred by the looks of it.

"The rice!" Your suddenly raised voice and the smoke that hit his senses made him slightly loosen his vice grip around your warm waist. It only took one second for him to recollect himself, but it had been enough for you to just step aside and not feel his hot breath on your neck.

Having the possibility to turn around you can finally have a good look at him.

Is it bad if you say he looks wrong?

You were gone for two years and there's barely any change, you're gone for a couple of weeks and this man does a whole 360?

And the eyebags, his eyes...

They are so dark and focused, almost predatory as he looks at you up and down.

"I really missed you babe" he sighs, eyes half lidded, like a full lion after a meal and he hitches closer, because unlike the feline he could be satiated.

"Mark, you're acting weird today, are you alright?"

"I've never been better", his gaze is loving as he settles for grabbing your face with his hand—squishing your cheeks in the process—and giving you a peck on the lips, as if this was a daily occurrence. It's heart warming, soft, and gentle. It's not a passionate kiss, but it's enough to make you freeze. After all it's just the start of something more as his hand settles on your hip.

"Mark—no, stop. We can't." There's a frown on your face as he lets you push his face aside with shaking hands. His face is confused and you don't understand why, what did he expect?

"Why not? Come on [name], don't tease me.." he's almost desperate as he longs for your touch once more, even the hands that keep pushing him away are somewhat palliative as he can once again feel your soft skin against him once more.

"Because it's wrong, we're not together and there's a lot you don't know about me that I haven't told you about. You would hate me if I told you." He chuckles, no, no, he laughs whole heartedly, wiping some of the tears that are about to fall from your eyes. So this lame ass version of himself is not together with you? And more importantly, you're hiding something from him?

"Babe, babe", you're tormenting him with your flushed face, with your slightly red eyes.

"I could never hate you"

You stare at him as if he just hit you with a bucket of cold water.

On the other side of the room your phone vibrates on the table from the quantity of messages you're receiving.

Mark: are you okay?

Mark: hey, answer me? Are you home?

Mark: [name], it's important

Tikki looks at the messages with a horrified face, so she flies in a zone of the room where you can see her, even with the doppelganger in your way.

When you lock eyes she rapidly shakes her head while indicating the men in front of you and your phone.

Mark is calling

You don't hide the expression you make, it's priceless how your eyes shrink and your mouth falls agape. You don't know if he has realised that you know now, you don't know what his intentions are with you, but he had seemed so sincere, there was no way he would hurt you? What version of Mark could be so sadistic to toy with you before hurting you?

"Love, are you okay?" His tone has shifted, the words are another way of saying: "Oh, so you know now? No more faking?"

Because he knows you're not okay, and you're too smart to be fooled twice.

As you move backwards he moves forward, amused by this little waltz he is entertaining you with.

You move right using the table as a support, and he follows you.

It's fun, it's hilarious even. You were so pliable in his hands, like putty, whining about the contact even if your body craved more, and now you were making this laughable effort at evading him. You were lucky he loved you. He wonders where your Mark went wrong when you're as eager to hold him as he is.

Your back hits the open window behind you, the air is cold on your face as you turn around and look at how high up you are.

"There's nowhere to run now babe" he laughs amused as he hovers closer and closer, barely containing his desire to just finish what he started back at the stove.

"You really think so?" A smirk appears, eyes shining in a way he has never seen before, and then you do the most unexpected thing.

You jump out the window, he's not fast enough to grab you since you took him by surprise.

His heart leaps out of his throat, he almost doesn't want to see if you're splattered on the floor, your body just a stain on the floor as your organs are splattered here and there on the sideway.

As he flies outside instead of something gruesome, he's met with your suited up form bouncing around buildings as you try to create some distance between the both of you. Or maybe you're creating some other scheme to fool him once again.

When your gaze meets his, time freezes and you playfully stick his tongue out to him, to mock him, laugh at his foolish and cocky behaviour.

He laughs as one hand just covers his face.

Of course you had powers in this world, of course this was your secret.

Oh, this Mark was a real loser.

Hellooo, I hope you enjoyed part two! Honestly out of every variant, Mohawk Mark is my favourite. Originally I had just planned to finish this here, but then I just got carried away with the last part, lol.

Part 3

[wisteriasymphony]

Chloe had knocked over Marinette's tray at lunch earlier that day. It wasn't anything new, just like the way Chloe had started making oinking noises to Sabrina when Marinette had bent down to clean it up. Or like the way Chloe had said that Marinette didn't really need the extra calories, so she was actually helping her after all.

Lucky Lucky Ladybug kept replaying the scene in her mind, over and over, thinking about just how stupid Chloe would've felt if Tikki had let Marinette transform and give Chloe a talking-to as Ladybug. She had woven the string of her yo-yo between her fingers into a cat's cradle, and every time her hands would stretch apart, the yo-yo would spin on its track. Then she'd bring her hands back together to catch the yo-yo mid spin, the metal body clacking against the bones in her hands. Spin, then clack. Spin, clack. Spin, clack.

Chat Noir had been talking for the past few minutes, but Ladybug never bothered to listen to him anymore. He had probably just made one of his awful puns again, based on the way he started stammering.

"Oh, uh, s-so the joke is that it's a play on the word—" "Have you ever thought that maybe, if you have to explain all of your jokes, you're not funny?" Chat Noir got quiet, his shoulders falling. Ladybug kept her eyes on her yo-yo. "I'm sorry, milady," Chat Noir apologized. "I just assumed you didn't understand the punchline." "Maybe you should come up with jokes other people understand then. That way people might actually laugh at them." Spin, clack. Spin, clack. Ladybug kept imagining Chloe's face, with her pale blue eyeshadow and her cakey makeup.

Chat Noir started to twist his fingers together, the claws on his thumbs digging into his gloved hands. It wasn't anything new—people having little patience with him, that is. His father had gotten him used to it by now. Chat Noir knew that the right thing to do in such situations was just to acquiesce, and that when you acquiesced people liked you more for it. "I noticed you and Rena were on television the other day. How did that go?" Ladybug hunched over herself, scoffing as she wound the string of her yo-yo tighter around her fingers. She had started bring Renared to press conferences and fan meetups because she could trust that Alya wouldn't act like an idiot or say stupid things. Alya was a good friend like that, willing to pick up Chat Noir's slack. Plus, doing things with Rena instead meant that Marinette and Alya could hang out for the rest of the day, and Marinette would actually enjoy herself. Doing anything of that with Chat Noir... would mean she'd be hanging out with Chat Noir. Bad pickup lines and worse jokes included.

"It was fine," Ladybug huffed, rolling her eyes. "Why do you even care?" "Oh- well, uhm. You just used to take me, and I was wondering if you had a reason that you... well... stopped."

One time during an interview, Chat Noir had derailed the entire conversation talking about the intricacies of whether or not their group of holders counted more as a religious or a political organization, entirely unaware that nobody could even begin to care about such a thing. Spin, clack. Spin, clack.

Ladybug thought about the way Chloe's face had scrunched up when she oinked at Marinette. Ladybug thought of Chat Noir's stupid awkward stammer. Ladybug thought about having to admit to her mother that her grades were getting worse.

Ladybug trapped the yo-yo in her hands for the last time, almost trying to crush it.

"It's because she's better at it than you, and I like you better when I don't have to hear you talk. Does that make you happy?!"

Chat Noir almost answered—No, actually, knowing that people didn't like hearing him talk didn't make him happy at all. But he'd learned by now that when Ladybug asked him questions like that, she wasn't actually asking and a response would only make her angrier.

"I'm sorry. I'll talk less, milady."

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"...I'm sorry."

Maybe Chloe could pick on Chat Noir for a change. He deserved it more than she did.

[mochinek0]

Daminette December: 4-A Day in you Life

Damian looked to the alarm, as it sounded off. He looked around the room, surrounded by papers all over the walls. He let a smiled slip out as he got ready for the day. He went downstairs to find Tom already up and preparing the dough for the day.

"Good morning, Tom." Damian spoke.

"Ah, you're already up. Good!" Tom bellowed out, "I have prepared a dough for you. Remember to wash up and try not to use too much force on the dough."

Damian washed his hands and went over yesterday's mishap in his head. He haad kneaded the dough too much and it hadn't risen. They had been useless in the bakery; he had been useless. He moved over to the dough and glanced steadily as Tom worked on his own dough. There was enough force to move the dough, but not enough that he could hurt an enemy.

"You're doing great, Son." Tom whispered.

Damian froze, just for a second, and kept working. He mimicked Tom's movements until the bread was ready to go into the oven. There wasn't much else he could do in the bakery without proper training. He helped Tom separate the egg whites and yolks for the macarons and other bases. Once they were done, he went back upstairs to start breakfast for the couple.

He sighed as he manned the register, easily doing calculations in his hed. Many asked if he was a new employee, but he paid little mind to them. He made sure they had their correct change and the desserts they wanted. He ignored every flirty remark. During lunch, he went upstairs and the akuma alert went off. He quickly ran upstairs to Marinette's room.

"Tikki, spots on!" he shouted, before leaping out of the window.

---

"Who the hell are you?" Chat Noir hissed, as a male clad in black, the seemed to shimmer blue in the light. It was like looking at moving steel.

Chat Noir began to attack, believing this was the akuma. Quickly, he was pinned down.

"Despicable cat." Damian growled out.

"Wait 'til Ladybug-" he hissed out.

"My fiancée is in the hospital and has tasked me with her miraculous." Damian declared, "SteelBug."

Chat Noir froze under his grip.

'What? No! She would hav told me! She said she liked someone but...it wasn't a lie?'

"She was injured as a civilian and it will take months for her to heal." Steel continue, "Tikki has filled me in on my duties."

"B-But, She and I, we." the destruction weilder stammered out.

Steelbug released his grip, "Aid me or are you as pitiful as they say? My fiancée defends your role as her partner. Prove her right."

Steel jumped away at the sound of an explosion. Chat Noir remained frozen on the roof.

'Ladybug is engaged?'

---

Damian walked down the stairs, as if the akuma never happened. He took his place back at the register. He heard the school bell ring and knew the influx of customers were approaching. Many girls fluttered their lashes and ordered pastry, asking him questions. Damian kept his answers short and remained focused on the pastry. Many were smart to see they were getting nowhere with him and left, but the same wasn't said about the bunch about to walk in. He steeled himself to keep himself from glaring at Marinette's old friends.

As the girls walked in, Sabine approached him and touched his shoulder, "Why don't you go check on Marinette. I'm sure you'd like to see her."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Is Marinette sick or something?" Alya questioned.

"She wasn't in school." Mylene piped up, "Does she need her homework?"

"Marinette won't be in school for awhile." Tom declared, "She's in the hospital. Depending on her recovery, she'll have to repeat the year."

"Recovery?" shouted Rose.

"What happened?" asked Alix.

"How about we all go visit and-" began Lila, grabbing onto Damian.

He was quick to shove her off.

"Hey!" shouted Alya, coming to Lila's defense.

"No." Damian sneered, "I will be visiting my bride on my own."

"B-Bride!" Rose cried out.

"Her?" Lila sneered, but quickly controlled her features.

"Marinette and Damian have been dating for three years." Sabine declared, glaring at them, "Why shouldn't he call her 'His Bride'?"

"Is somehting wrong with our daughter?" Tom demanded.

The girls looked at each other, trying to find the words to defend themselves, but also bring up some concerns.

"She loves Adrien!" Alya snapped.

"You must be Cesaire." Damian spoke, "Marinette did say you had a delusional fantasy about them together."

'What?'

"Delusion!" Alya shouted back, "She is the one who told me that she wanted to marry him and have three kids!"

"At the age of thirteen and yet, she got him together with Kagami Tsurugi. When they broke up, you tried to push her to play the 'sympathetic ear' until he fell for her. Marinette instead comforted Tsurugi and attempted to fix their relationship. Although it failed and she instead developed feelings for his cousin, Felix. She has collaborated this story, of course."

"Wait!" Alix spoke, "What?"

"You never told us that, Alya!" Mylene declared.

"When did this happen?" Rose asked.

"When they were fourteen." Damian answered, "I must go. I have been helping her family, as much as Marinette does and I have to babysit Manon tomorrow."

"You know Manon?" Alix prodded.

"My niece is around her age and is more......intense." Damian replied, "I've also contacted her fashion clients and they understand her work will be on hold, until she is better. I don't want her to wake up and worry. Marinette overexerts herself and micromanages herself and her work. I will be assisting her in her recovery."

"Go ahead, Damian." Tom smiled, "I'm sure your eager to check on her."

Sabine nodded along, "We plan on closing at 5pm so we have time to visit and prepare for tomorrow."

Damian nodded his head and walked past the group.

---

Damian sighed as he sat in the hospital chair; Marinette still unconcious in the hospital bed. As he grabbed her hand, her eyelashes fluttered. He grip tightened around hers.

"Habibiti!" he called out.

"Hey, you." Marinette whispered, looking at him.

"Marinette!" Tikki cried out, hugging her cheek.

"Hey to you, too." she answered.

Damian quickly composed himself, "I have everything under control. You just rest."

"Even the cat?" Mari questioned.

"Especially him." he growled out, "I'll declaw him, if I have to, and have back up in an hour."

Marinette smiled, "What would I do without you?"

Damian chuckled, "I thought I was marrying a secret Kryptonian. You do so much, Habibiti. I promise to do anything for you and to ease your burden."

"I love you, Damian." Marinette answered.

"I love you, Marinette." He replied, pressing the button on the bed.

"What?" she questioned, as a nurse quickly walked in.

Damian quickly stood up, "I'll call her parents. Make sure you have a listing of all medical exams for me."

"Dami?" Mari called out, confused.

He smirked, "Don't worry; they were already planning on closing early. You do so much; let us return the favor. I'll take care of the bakery so they can spend more time with you before tomorrow."

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events

DAMINETTE- @meme991001 @umbreon-worshipper @stainedglassm @jasmine-the-fox @psychicdelusionwerewolf @vixen-uchiha @mysteriouschar @missmadwoman @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @dissarraymania @tundra1029 @abrx2002 @mrsjacuinde @ledalasombra @animegirlweeb

UNSPECIFIED- @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @tigresslily @legodetectivemalsblog

[starsfic]

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Girlfriend of Ladybug

Summary: During another invasive interview pushing her towards Chat Noir, Ladybug panics and claims that she’s dating someone. Who? Oh, just her civilian identity. Dominos unexpectedly topple.

Ko-Fi

-_-

It was a heat of the moment thing.

Ladybug really couldn’t blame herself. Well, technically she could, considering she had agreed to another hour-long interview with Nadja and Chat Noir. Where, of course, the topic inevitably turned back to the nonexistent romantic relationship between her and her partner, not helped at all by the fact  that Chat kept egging it on and nobody seemed to notice or care about her discomfort. The moment Alya appeared on screen and asked “So when are you going to admit your feelings for each other?”

She snapped.

“I have a girlfriend.”

Dead silence encased the studio. Chat gaped at her, Alya gaped at her, Nadja gaped at her, everyone gaped at her. It was only until a hand reached out of the audience that noise came back in. “Excuse me?”

“Yes, I have to agree,” Nadja said, a flustered blush making her cheeks red. “Excuse me?”

Welp, she had already said it, so might as well. “I have a girlfriend,” she repeated. Chat and Alya continued to gape at her. She took a deep breath in and plastered on a stern look. “Nadja, did you ever think the reason why I don’t confess my feelings for Chat is because I don’t have any?”

Silence encased the studio, but it was the silence where people were muttering to each other. Ladybug waited. Chat continued to gape, but Alya shut her mouth and made an odd squeaky noise.

Nadja finally took a deep breath in. When she opened her eyes, she seemed to be staring at her in a different way. Not as an icon or an idol or a celebrity, but as if Ladybug was a real person. She hadn’t even realized that she hadn’t been looking at her that way. “No,” she said. “I’m…so sorry, Ladybug. I hadn’t considered that.” Ladybug nodded but didn’t say a word. “May I ask who it is?”

Well, crap. She hadn’t expected that. She was tempted to say, “No comment,” but then it would be possible that people would catch on to the fact that she was lying. She needed someone. Ladybug thought for a moment and then prayed Tikki wouldn’t be too mad.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Once again, the room descended into muttering silence. Chat was pulling out his staff with the angriest look she had ever seen on his face. Ladybug couldn’t help but raise a brow at that. But then Alya spoke with a “NO WAY!”

Ladybug raised a brow. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“Yes!” Alya said, seeming to not care about the fact that she was being televised live. “She’s in love with Adrien Agreste! He’s her soulmate, I’m sure of it!” Geez, Alya, thanks. Chat’s muttering stopped. “She’s been struggling to confess to him since the attacks first began! He’s-”

“A boy, Miss Cesaire,” Ladybug cut her off, keeping her voice bored. Yes, she did have a crush on Adrien once. But her feelings had faded over time, especially when she thought of how he reacted to Chloe and Lila hurting her. “A boy that is well-known and popular with the female population of Paris. A boy that would be expected if a person asked about a celebrity crush.”

Alya stared at her. She could practically see her put the pieces together. “What about Luka Couffaine? She dated him for…a few months!”

“Her and Luka Couffaine, I have discussed with her,” Ladybug said, keeping her voice calm. Her mind raced- she would definitely need to talk to Luka after this. “I will not pretend to be a good girlfriend, Miss Cesaire. Marinette does not know who I am under the mask- if anyone says that they do, they are lying-” Hopefully, that dealt with Lila. “Our relationship had to be kept secret. I cannot take her out on dates or meet her parents. So, we agreed to an open relationship.”

Nadja cleared her throat. “She does not know who you are?”

Ladybug shook her head. “No. We agreed that, after Hawkmoth is defeated and I can retire, I will reveal myself to her and discuss our relationship from there. I’m only being open with my relationship now since she knows I am uncomfortable with people trying to ship me with Chat Noir-”

“Because they know we’re meant to be!” Chat burst out. Honestly, she was surprised that he hadn’t spoken up sooner. He grabbed her hand and tried to pull her close. “My Lady, think about it! We have so much more in common than some random civilian!” His eyes were dark, sending shivers up her spine. “You’re lying about Marinette, right? There’s no way you could fall for some random person-”

“Hey!” Alya spoke up, her voice bordering on fury. “Marinette’s not just some random nobody!” The camera shook as something slammed, most likely Alya’s fist slamming into the desk. “Marinette is the smartest, most creative person I have ever met! She’s probably the greatest actress of all time, and I would say that she has done so much more for Paris than you ever have on your own!” She took a deep breath. “Ladybug, you have great taste.” And with that, Alya’s camera cut short.

Nadja nodded. “Okay, next question,” she said, her voice still a touch strained from the bombshell that was just dropped on her.

Hopefully, this didn’t blow up.

-_-

It blew up.

Tikki, thankfully, didn’t seem mad. “It was clever,” she said before encouraging Marinette to go to bed.

When Marinette woke up surprisingly early, it was to a ton of messages on her social media and email. By the time she left for school, it was a flood that she was too afraid to look at. Her parents were surprisingly happy for her, with her dad apologizing for blowing up in such a way on Chat Noir. “It’s okay,” she said, hugging him. “It was awkward, but it kept Chat from following Ladybug.”

“Which I can’t believe he did!” her mother groused. “You think he would know better!”

“Yeah,” Marinette sighed, old annoyance flaring up. “Me too.”

Thankfully, there wasn’t a crowd of reporters- yet. So Marinette wasted no time in rushing over to school before one did form.

Once she was there, she found herself pausing. A large portion of the people she saw were wearing Ladybug’s spots or LGBTQIA+ merch, from full outfits to just hair clips. Several stopped to smile and give her friendly waves, while others looked starstruck. This was a bigger reaction than she was expecting.

She waved back and headed to her classroom. She sent another prayer to the surprisingly quiet Tikki that nothing happened and opened the door.

The classroom was surprisingly quiet, with Lila sitting in the back looking like she had all the life drained from her, until Marinette stepped inside. “Marinette!” Alya said, jumping to her feet. She had switched her orange flannel for one bearing the pan colors. She wasted no time in rushing up and practically scooping her up in a hug. The shock meant that it took a second before Marinette realized that Alya was apologizing into her hair. “-so sorry, I should’ve thought more about Ladybug’s feelings, I never meant to hurt her, swear-”

“It’s okay,” Marinette said, pulling away to smile at her bestie. “I know how people can get with superheroes, I think Ladybug forgives you.” She poked Alya’s nose. “Although I’m annoyed that you tried to air out my crush on Adrien to all of Paris.”

Alya sighed, nodding. “I know. Now that I think about it, it was super not cool.” She tried for a smile. “I’m sorry, girl.”

Despite herself, Marinette couldn’t stay mad. “I forgive you. But, don’t do it again.” Alya nodded and with that out of the way, she could move on. She looked around and couldn’t help but raise a brow. “But what’s going on? Why is everyone either wearing Ladybug stuff or pride stuff? If I had known, I would’ve dug my pride stuff out.”

“Oh, haven’t you checked online?” Nino called, his headphones decorated with bi stickers.

Marinette shook her head. “I’ve been too afraid to,” she admitted. “My social media has been flooded with messages and emails.”

“Oh, I can sort those for you, dudette.”

“Thank you,” she sighed, handing over her phone. “The code’s still the same.” Nino nodded as he began to fiddle with her phone.

“Anyway,” Kim said, wearing a transmac hoodie instead of his regular red hoodie. “The entire queer community adopted Ladybug as a queer icon after her interview last night. People have been debating for hours whether she’s a lesbian or bi.”

“Uh huh,” Well, at least the community was supportive. “I’m glad people are supportive.”

“Of course they are,” Alya said, leading her to their seats. “It’s Ladybug and you, the biggest sweethearts in Paris. If anyone isn’t, they look-”

“RIDICULOUS!” Chloe stormed in, wearing her normal clothing. Her gaze could’ve set Marinette on fire as she marched up and slammed her hands on her desk. On closer inspection, her eyes were rimmed red. “Break up with Ladybug.”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you deaf?!” Chloe shrieked, slamming her hand down. “Break up with Ladybug! There is only one girl that is perfect enough for her to date, and it’s certainly not you!”

“And I’m guessing that’s you?” Alya scoffed before Marinette could figure out a proper response that wasn’t not in your life. “Please, everyone knows Ladybug hates your guts.”

“She does not!” Chloe shrieked, tears beading up in the corner of her eyes. “She thinks I’m great! She chose me to be a hero! She knows I’m great! She-”

“Lost the Miraculous by accident, and you refused to give it back.” Marinette interrupted. Chloe’s jaw dropped, and she gaped at her. “Yeah, she told me about that. She thought you would do better, be better if you understood how your actions affect Paris. But you didn’t.” She leaned forward and that angry spark in her, the one that had been burning in her since Adrien pouted and moaned, burned. “Your actions are why people were celebrating that you were leaving Paris when you decided to go to New York.”

“Marinette!” Adrien called, also dressed in his normal clothes, but she held her hand out.

“You are nothing to Ladybug. Just a hazard and a safety risk.” Marinette leaned back in her chair. “The only reason I made that party for you is because Adrien asked. Nobody else.”

Chloe shut her mouth. She looked around the room. Sabrina looked away. Nobody else did, staring her down, bonded in silent agreement. Marinette expected her to rage, to scream, to throw a fit. Instead, she straightened up and walked to her seat. The moment she sat down, she hid her face.

“Marinette!” Adrien barked. “That was horrible! You-”

“Told her what Ladybug thought of her and what she needed to hear,” Marinette said, interrupting him. She leaned forward, allowing the anger brewing in her at him to burn in her eyes. “And if you don’t stop and think about your actions, so will I.”

Adrien stared with wide eyes. Without another word, but a nasty glance back, he turned and sat down. Nino scooted away from him before turning and holding up her phone. “Here, Nette,” he said. “There was some hate mail from people like Chloe,” Chloe flinched. “But a lot more of people supporting you.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Marinette said, taking her phone back.

The rest of the school day passed in silence. Twice, Adrien tried to get her alone, apparently undeterred by her threat, but Alya and the rest of the girl squad made sure there was a bodyguard nearby until Adrien had to leave for a photoshoot. (Rose was tiny but fierce in her desire to protect Marinette.) The rest of the school left her alone, excluding a few people who asked for her autograph and pictures and a whole bunch of gifts and letters in her locker. Marinette tried to ignore the heat in her face with all the love and care. 

Finally, the school day was over. Marinette walked out and breathed a sigh of early relief. She could see a few news vans waiting outside the bakery, so she had that to stress about, but she had gotten through the school day relatively unscathed.

The sound of a guitar met her ears and she paused, coming to a stop on the stairs.

Right. Luka.

She meant to talk to him after the interview, but Chat Noir had been following her, insisting to talk more about them, that she hadn’t been able to. So, here she was, standing on the steps, trying her best to not be seen by the musician as he strummed his guitar, probably waiting for Juleka.

It was tempting to run. But Marinette had to be braver than that. 

She took a deep breath and marched down the stairs, coming to a stop right next to him. Luka paused in his playing, staring at her. Marinette couldn’t look him in the eyes. Instead, she found herself staring at her feet. “Hi, Luka,” she said and immediately wanted to facepalm. Hi, Luka? Just that? Not, hey Luka, did you see the interview where Ladybug revealed I was two-timing you with her even though we’re the same person-

“You should’ve given me a heads up that we were poly,” Luka’s voice broke through her haze. She glanced up. Luka smiled at her, although it was edged with something. “I have a cute boy in my class, his name’s Felix, and I think you two would love each other.”

Marinette’s mind blanked, at first wondering what he was talking about, and then realization. “You…you aren’t mad?”

“I…I don’t know how to feel,” Luka admitted, and it was strange to see him admit that. Luka was the only boy she knew who was best in touch with his emotions. “On one hand, it makes a lot more sense than you pining over Adrien like everyone thought. On the other-”

“I lied,” Marinette admitted. “I lied, a lot, to you and everyone.” She gripped the edge of her shirt. “I kept ditching dates for something dumb, not related to her,” Luka raised a brow, but she continued on. “Sometimes I wished she didn’t exist because I trust you, Luka, I trust you so much but I keep having to lie because I care about her too and hurt you and and and-” Warm arms engulfed her but she couldn’t allow it, she needed to say it. “I’m so sorry, Luka.”

Luka didn’t say a word, just held her. Finally, he sighed. “I’m sorry too, Marinette,” he admitted. “I should’ve been better, maybe then-”

“No!” Marinette shoved him away. Luka stumbled back, looking hurt, but Marinette wasted no time in gripping his shoulders, staring him down. “You were wonderful,” she said, making sure he understood. “You were wonderful. I was the one who should’ve been better. I should’ve communicated better, I should’ve explained better about why I was leaving you in the lurch.”

“I was the one who got akumatized,” Luka said, staring back with wide eyes. “I went after you.”

“It was my fault you got akumatized in the first place!”

“No, it was not-” And now Luka was holding her shoulders, making sure she was looking at him. They probably looked strange, gripping each other’s shoulders like this, but Marinette didn’t care. “It was not your fault. It was Hawkmoth’s fault.” Right, right, Marinette needed to remember that. He was the one who took advantage of people. “We’re both crappy at communicating. We can work on that.”

Wait…

“You…want to try again?”

Luka paused and then nodded. “Now that I know more, enough to possibly understand some things,” He took in a deep breath. “Only if you want to?”

Marinette nodded back. “We can try,” And isn’t that what they all could do? “Maybe you can introduce me to Felix, and I can introduce you to…” She held up her hand at the sight of a familiar red car. “Hang on real quick.”

Luka blinked but nodded. Marinette smiled as they released each other before she turned and marched up to Kagami, who paused with a raised brow. Much to her delight, she wore gloves marked with the queer pride flag. “Wanna go on a date?” she asked promptly.

Kagami blinked. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then hummed. Marinette waited patiently. If Kagami had to think about it, than she was willing to wait. “Yes,” she finally said. “If your girlfriend is alright with it?”

Marinette nodded, feeling her face heat up. “Luka and I are trying again,” she admitted. “So he’s introducing a friend of his on our date. I wanted to introduce you to him, because I think you guys would be good friends, if not datemates.” She wanted to be honest where she could.

Kagami’s eyes brightened at the mention of friendship. “Then I certainly will come,” she said. “You have my number, so let me know the details.”

“I will.” She held out her hand and Kagami didn’t hesitate in giving it a squeeze. “Maybe after practice today, we can have our first date? At our usual spot?”

Kagami smiled. It was awkward, but it was sincere. “I would love that.” With one last squeeze of her hand, Kagami marched into the school.

Luka was chuckling when Marinette returned. “I guess we’ll have a full table,” he said, pulling out his phone. “I’ll talk to Felix and figure out a good time for us.”

Marinette nodded. “Let me know the details.” She paused. “And, thank you, Luka.” Before he could respond she took off running.

Lying about her girlfriend went better than expected!

[chocostrwberry]

Based on the story, Trixx needs to suffer some sort of punishment or the consequences causing a domino effect that almost ended the world and left Adrien without his girl.

I was thinking maybe he’s locked inside his miraculous??

I don’t know exactly HOW this would come about, but I was thinking about changing a few parts of the au storyline to have it where when the miraculous is broken, the kwami are trapped inside and the miraculous are unable to be used. (So I would have to switch up when Mayura happens/appears and how Adrien’s mother falls comatose so thats why I’m still on the fence about it)

So maybe, Trixx’s miraculous breaks with the large unification OR Tikki does it herself as a punishment, and he becomes trapped inside without being able to like, float around or leave by will.

But even without this added aspect of the plot, him being trapped inside would be a pretty good punishment imo, since it’s not like they can do much to him because he’s also an eldritch diety like the rest of them.

[ilikekidsshows]

I think for me at least the difference between Adrien’s problematic behavior (harassing Ladybug even after she’s rejected him several times and even something like telling Marinette to take the high road regarding Lila which I know got him a lot of flack with the fandom) and Marinette’s behavior is that we actually see Adrien growing past said behavior. He does eventually move on from Ladybug and come to be happy being just a good friend and partner to her. (Sure it’s partly because he ‘falls’ for Marinette but we’ll not get into that here). He also realizes he was wrong about the Lila thing and actually threatens her to get her to fix what she did to Marinette in that one episode and tries to tell Alya and Nino the truth about her.

Meanwhile Marinette not only gets worse over time but the show bends over backwards to try and justify said bad behavior nor does she ever receive any real consequences for it.

For me that’s a large part of why I’m okay with Adrien’s bad behavior and not Marinette’s and I don’t think the two can really be fairly compared due to such circumstances and the way the show handled both of them.

---

Yeah, like, the writers also eventually made Cat Noir take responsibility for all of Paris thinking he and Ladybug are a couple and they made Adrien take responsibility for everything done against Lila, be it not confronting her directly or confronting her directly, since he actually makes comments on both approaches that can be taken as apologies. Adrien doesn't just apologize and “clean up his act”, he takes full responsibility over others’ similar actions as well. Even before this, though, Adrien's faults weren't treated the same as Marinette's. Whenever Ladybug told him his flirting was too much, she was presented as the one whose feelings on the matter mattered the most and Cat Noir respected her no and backed down every time. He also valued her friendship even before he stopped loving her. Meanwhile, Marinette stopping her stalking of Adrien wasn't even fully stopping and she was shown as frustrated about it while making excuses over how she was totally justified. Her feelings over the stalking were given focus, but we never learn how Adrien feels about it. She also never valued Adrien’s friendship, calling it the “worst thing ever”. The Lila thing Adrien was right about, actually, I will die on that hill. The writers can’t even remember what Adrien said about Lila, since he makes contradictory statements about her.

As you said, Marinette's behavior keeps getting worse but she keeps getting validated. Even the abuse apologia has already been validated by both Tikki and Bunnix in the London special. They treat it as a morally equal option to not doing what she did and they also shrink what Marinette did (abuse apologia) into just “not telling the truth” (they don't even call it “lying”) to make it seem even more like she hasn't done anything too bad. Alix also frames the whole thing in a way where she's only focused on consequences, saying being truthful would have also have painful consequences. They're downplaying the heck out of what Marinette's done wrong, so, when that's combined with how her other flaws are viewed as 100% okay or nonexistent, I just can't see this as an arc where Marinette learns anything, instead of it ending with Marinette crying about what a terrible person she is again while being instantly forgiven, if she gets confronted with this being a mistake at all.

So, let's compare and contrast:

Adrien makes a mistake: takes full responsibility, doesn't make excuses, focuses on the feelings of the wronged party

Marinette makes a mistake: makes excuses, screams and cries about how bad she's feeling until she gets coddled, talks over the wronged party

The writers are so consistent about ignoring anything Marinette does wrong or having her get instantly validated for her mistakes that I have no faith in her villain arc actually being anything close to one instead of of it just being a way to make Marinette the one who suffers the most from Gabriel's death and her “not telling the truth”.

[flightfoot]

Marinette is the second-biggest liar in Miraculous

Marinette's fascinating. She says she hates liars, but she will freely use lies to get things to go the way she wants - sometimes to help others, and sometimes to help herself. To the point that I'd argue Marinette's a Guile Hero, even. Outside of cases where NOT lying would have catastrophic consequences (e.g. Marinette needs to tell a lame excuse in order to go be Ladybug), she'll lie to try and avoid embarrassment or to help accomplish some goal she has.

The show doesn't often focus too heavily on the fact that Marinette's lying during these, so I feel like they're overlooked a lot, but I'd have trouble telling those lies, personally, since I really don't like lying. Something really needs to at least be true from a certain angle in order for me to feel comfortable saying it.

Anyway, I've decided to go through all the episode transcripts to document these cases in order to get a clearer picture of them, and try to figure out what it means for Marinette. I'm not going to include cases where Marinette's lying to herself, lying so that she can run off and fight the akuma, lying to try and trick an akuma into a position where they can be defeated, lying to maintain her secret identity, or things like that, though there will be some gray areas, of course.

Darkblade

While most of the time when Marinette's late to class it's due to her doing something as Ladybug (which she obviously can't tell people, so she has to lie), she'll lie even if she's late due to things she COULD explain, like when she was working on a trap for her diary and lost track of time.

(Marinette enters the classroom.) Marinette: Hi! I'm sorry! I-uh, I-uh, the bus, (Marinette starts coughing), dry throat!

The Mime

Marinette accidentally deletes the video of Ladybug talking to Alya, so instead of fessing up to the mistake, she steals Alya's phone so she can recreate the video, lying to Mylene about why she has the phone when asked.

(Marinette's phone rings.) Marinette: Hey there, Mylène! Mylène: (from phone) Do you have Alya's cellphone? Marinette: Uh, Alya's phone? Ah! There it is! It must have fallen down off her bag! Silly girl. Alya: (from phone) It's me! I'm here too. Marinette: Oh! Hi, Alya. You're on speakerphone? Hmm.. 'kay, I'll give it to you later on...at the show. See ya! (Tikki looks at her deceivingly.) Marinette: Don't look at me like that. This is all gonna work out! I think...

Marinette does fess up at the end of the episode at least, since she couldn't recreate the video.

The Collector

I'm not counting Marinette's lie that she used to return the Grimoire, since she stole it at Tikki's behest for good reason, and it was best that she not hint at the truth of how she obtained the book.

I AM counting Marinette lying to Fu though, because while I understand why she did it, telling him the truth was a viable option.

Master Fu: How did you discover this book, Marinette? Marinette: (Marinette has a flashback of Adrien with the Miraculous book.) I... uh... I found it, lying on a bench in a park close to... close to the school. Master Fu: You didn't see who it belonged to, then? Marinette: No. No, I...didn't. (Tikki looks at Marinette in a bewildered manner.) Master Fu: What a shame. For a moment, I thought we were about to discover the identity of Hawk Moth. We would've had a chance to defeat him. Marinette: Uh... I could investigate if you want.

Prime Queen

While Marinette double-booked herself as Ladybug and as Marinette and her not being able to say that she double-booked herself is partly why she was driven to lie, Marinette DID have other viable options for dealing with the situation she'd created for herself. She could have just gone to the bathroom, called either the network or Chat Noir, and said that something came up and she had to cancel. I don't know that that would have been the better option per se given how many people would have been disappointed by that, but it would certainly have been the more responsible choice.

Marinette:(Stutters) Oh, I forgot to err, tell my bakery something. They're in the parents downstairs. Do you mind keeping an eye on Manon while I'm not here? Alya: Don't you mean tell your parents something in the bakery? Marinette:(Continues stuttering.) Err, right. Well, err, sometimes, it can take a while - they don't always understand even when I explain. Err, actually, it's not their fault, they... Alya: Marinette? Marinette: Yes? Alya:Go! Marinette: Right! (Marinette then leaves with running down the stairs and starts talking to Tikki.) Alya's such a good friend, I feel so guilty for inviting her over just so I can leave her with Manon - then again, Alya is Ladybug's biggest fan - she'd be crushed if her favorite superhero didn't turn up for her favorite TV show.

Glaciator

This one's a weird example. I'm not sure why Marinette even lied about this. Maybe for privacy's sake? It's not exactly a secret that she loves Adrien though, and she's not doing it out of denial.

Marinette:(stares at the ice-cream) Uh...um. No! I- There's been a mistake! I'm not in love with anyone. And I think I just lost my appetite. (hands the ice-cream back) André: Why of course you are, my little one. When there's love burning in one's heart, André knows it from the start. Enjoy your ice-cream, Marinette. I know he'll be here. (Marinette stares at her ice-cream with a sad look on her face) Ivan: Green eyes like mint... Who could that possibly be? Marinette:(to André) Thank you, but you've got it all wrong. I don't have a- (She suddenly hear a whistle. She turns her head and sees someone walking who has the same clothing as Adrien) Adrien? (But it turns out to be Wayhem. She sighs)

...okay so this other part from Glaciator isn't a lie, but I think is something I need to note, considering some of the things Marinette does down the line.

Ladybug: Listen, I don't wanna play around with your feelings. It would be the same as lying to you. I don't wanna do that. You're more than a partner, Cat Noir. You're my friend. And I'd never wanna lie to a friend.

Like I fully believe Ladybug meant this at the time so she wasn't lying, but man this did not age well.

Troublemaker

This is another "Marinette lies to avoid embarrassment" scenario. She's not ready to confess to Adrien yet.

Marinette:(interrupting Adrien) Oh, so you watched the show, then! (laughs nervously) Well, uh, look...about what you saw on the show last night — the totographs, in my room— Adrien: You mean the photographs? Marinette:(assertively) The grotographs, exactly! (meekly) It-it's not what you think. (pauses) See...I'm really into fashion, and, umm... Adrien:(leaning forward with a piercing, impish glare) Are you lying? Marinette: No! I'm so not into you—I mean, sure, I'm interested in you, but, um, not in that way; well, you know, ha-ha-ha-ha...ha ha!

Gigantitan

Marinette does lie to Adrien about why she came to the park out of nervousness, she does this a lot.

Marinette: I came here to do some sketching! (holds out her sketch pad) I can't believe we've run into each other here! Hey, would you like to—?(She and Adrien hear his bodyguard honking the car horn impatiently) Hang pout? I mean, hang about? No, hag out? (The bodyguard groans again) Oh, forget it. (chuckles) Better not keep your guard waiting. Adrien: Uh, okay. (Marinette sighs when she realizes she still couldn't ask Adrien out. Her friends are all annoyed at her as well.) But we can take you home if you want it.

Befana

Marinette does lie to her grandma about liking her candies in order to spare her feelings, which isn't really a bad move, but it didn't turn out well either.

Marinette: No! No, it's awesome! I can make this work. It's perfect, grandma. Thank you. Gina: Your Nonna has also brought you your favourite candy! (she places a tin in Marinette's hand) Marinette: Oh! (she laughs uncertainly) Gina: You still love them, right? Marinette: Yes, yes of course...

Gorizilla

I guess this is another "lying out of embarrassment" deal, though I'm not sure why she even bothered with Alya, she's FULLY aware of how enamored Marinette is with Adrien.

Commercial voice and Marinette: Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Adrien... (Both Marinette and Tikki suddenly hear the phone. Marinette pauses the video to pick up when she sees that the caller ID shows Alya.) Alya: Marinette, I've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes! Where are you, girl? Marinette: Uh, I was deciding which swimsuit to wear. (chuckles) (The video from her computer starts playing again.) Commercial voice: Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Alya: Uh-huh. And the Adrien's ad helps you pick out a swimsuit, girl?

Style Queen

This is another case where Marinette's lying because she's nervous and scared, she doesn't want Audrey to turn on her.

Audrey: What is this? Marinette: Uh… (nervous laughter) Chloé: Uh, Mom, this is Marinette Dupain Cheng, the loser! And this is a hat she made, because she thinks she's a designer. (holds the hat upside down) She even signed it, look. Marinette: I— It's not me, it's another Marinette! I was just bringing it to, uh— Nathalie: Marinette! We have to go. (Marinette takes the hat and runs off with her face buried in the hat)

Reverser

This is another case where I'm not even sure why Marinette lied? Honestly she seems to do it instinctually when she panics. She could've told Adrien the truth about her and Marc wanting to see whether Nathaniel likes the book Marc wrote.

Marc: Do you think he likes it? Marinette: Look at his face, of course he does. Adrien: It's rude to spy on people. Marinette: Eh.. (quickly spins around) No! It's not what you think at all! It's just that... it's gonna be... eh... Nathaniel's birthday soon and, ehm, Marc and I wanted... to give him a disguise... I mean, surprise! Adrien:(not paying it) Cool! (winks) Very typical of you, Marinette. Well, if you need any help with that, let me know. Marinette: Sure won't! (higher pitched voice from embarrassment) Sure will. (slumps) Marc: You're just as shy as I am, aren't you? Marinette: Just do as I say, not as I do, okay?

Anansi

Marinette wants to make sure Nino wins the arm-wrestling competition so Nora will take him seriously, so she sabotages Nora (and uses a lie to give herself the opportunity to do so).

Nora: Really? Is that all you got? Alya: She's gonna rip his arm off. (shakes her head) Nora:(fake yawns) Marinette:(gasps) Over there, an akuma! (points past Nora) Nora:(turns her head to look where Marinette pointed) What?! (Marinette grabs Nino's and Nora's hands and pulls them towards her, so Nora loses the wrestling.) Adrien: And the winner is… Nino! Marinette:(fake sheepishly) Oops, my bad; it was just a fly.

Marinette does fess up to Nora afterwards, thankfully.

Bakerix

So here, Marinette wants to get Roland to open back up to her father, and she's pretty sure telling the truth will get her frozen out (which she is most likely right about) so she resorts to trickery.

Tikki: What are you waiting for, Marinette? Marinette: If I tell him who I am right away, he won't listen to me, just like with mom. (rings doorbell) Rolland: (through an intercom) What do you want? Marinette: Uh... I'm... a friend? Rolland: I don't have any friends. Marinette: This won't be easy. (rings doorbell) Rolland: What do you want? Marinette: Hello, sir. It's the mail lady. Rolland: Do what you usually do. Throw the mail in the trash. (Marinette looks over, sees the mailbox empties into a trashcan. She sighs, then rings the doorbell.) Rolland: What do you want? Marinette: It's for the firefighter's calendar? Rolland: Ah, doesn't need the fire. I hate calenders!

I find it interesting that Tikki actually calls Marinette out for her attempts to infiltrate, including her lying.

Tikki: You sure you should be sneaking in, lying, and pretending to be someone else? You've never met your grandfather, you don't know how he'll react! Marinette: Well, it's not exactly a lie. After all, I am actually- (loses her balance) Delivering the! All the uh! (catches herself) The flour! What really matters is that he comes to dad's birthday party, and that they both make up. (Pushes the front door open, then whispers) Hide, Tikki! (She examines the house as she walks in, noticing all the old-fashioned technology and furnishings)

And of course, she continues to lie to Roland after getting in. I'm not actually sure what her plan was here? I guess to build up some sort of rapport with him before revealing the truth.

Rolland:(startled, turns around) You're not Gilbert! Marinette: No... I'm, um, Germaine! His cousin! Rolland: Hmm. Aren't you a little young to be delivering flour? Marinette: I'm... an intern! (giggles) I'm doing a flour delivery internship, because some day I wanna own my own flour shop! Rolland:(frowns, and turns back to his dough) It's good to be ambitious. You can put the sack down now. Have a nice day. (to his mouse) Soot! (the mouse brings over a bag of soot) Marinette: So you're a baker then, huh? Rolland: Are you a flour delivery girl or a nosy detective? Go on! Put the bag down and be on your way! Marinette: That oven you have there, it's a '72 La Pegnole, Right? It's a rare woodfired model! They only made a few hundred of them! Rolland:(spins around) How did you know that? Marinette: My daddy- uh, um- My bready, bread history teacher taught us that. Rolland: Well, that's new. (incredulous) You need bread history classes to become a flour delivery person now? Marinette: You bet! You have to study for ten years to be a delivery person these days! Rolland:(throws his hands up, then returns to kneading) Good luck with your internship, Germaine. Now put the sack down and have a good day!

Weredad

I'll let Marinette's initial lie about being in love with Chat Noir slide because she panicked and only said that because she believed it was the only way to conceal her secret identity, though there were better options, she just didn't think of them.

I AM counting the way she reacted to Chat gently turning her down though, she had time to think that one through and she went way overboard.

Cat Noir: Anyway, I'm afraid my heart belongs to someone else. (Marinette looks up) Even if she keeps rejecting me. (She looks towards Cat Noir) Even if she loves somebody else. I'm in love with Ladybug. (to Marinette) I'm really sorry, Marinette. (Her parents recoil in shock.) Marinette: (excitedly) Oh, this is so— (She remembers she's supposed to be heartbroken.) Uh… (She looks at her parents.) So sad! (grabbing Cat Noir, dramatically) Oh, to think I spent all this time following you everywhere to tell you that I loved you Cat Noir! (cries) I am so miserable! (weeps on table) No one will ever love me! (Her father looks sad and concerned) (into her hands) I'll end up all alone with my hamster, (running to the stairs) and its name will be (inhales) Loneliness!! (She slams the door and continues crying)

Marinette: (singing) La, la, la, la, la! Ah, such a relief, Tikki. Phew! He's not in love with me. (Tikki looks disappointed)

She really didn't think through how her overreaction here would make Chat feel at all, or how it might cause her parents to act towards Chat.

Silencer

For Silencer, I think Marinette lied here because she didn't want to bring up what seemed to be a love confession that he might not have truly meant as himself. I do still think she should have told him since he directly asked her what he said and because what he said still affects her behavior towards him, so he deserves to know, but I see why she didn't at least.

Marinette: (grabs ahold of Luka before he goes onstage) Luka? Did you really mean those things you said when you were akumatized? Luka: I'm sorry, Marinette, but I don't remember. What did I say? Marinette: Uh, oh, nothing. It was nothing at all. You were possessed by Hawk Moth's akuma.

Christmaster

So this is another "lie Marinette's telling out of embarrassment", though it's also a kind-of pretend-lie, like when Alya claimed to Manon that she was secretly a unicorn. With little kids the line between lying and playing pretend gets blurry at times.

Marinette:(thinking) Uh, look I can't tell you that these are the gifts I've made for Adrien's next 35 birthdays. Cause you'd tell your brother Nino and he'd tell Adrien and Adrien'd think that I'm totally crazy! Wait, maybe I am. (To Chris) Hmm. I can't tell you I'm one of Santa Claus's elves on a secret mission and that I'm looking after one of his boxes of gifts. You wouldn't be interested though; because gifts are for babies, right? And you're a big kid. Chris: That's a lie! Marinette: What, that you're a big kid? Chris: No, that you're one of Santa Claus's elves! Marinette: I can't say anything more.

I do find it interesting that Tikki called her out on it though.

Tikki: A Christmas elf on a secret mission, seriously, Marinette, don't you think you went too far this time? Marinette: I know, Tikki, it was pure ridiculousness. But I couldn't tell him the truth about the gifts. Besides, I simply told Chris a nice little story, which hopefully will teach him some patience. (She picks up the felt dolls and walks to her desk. Tikki looks unsure.) Speaking of patience, I've got an idea of what I can give Adrien for his 50th birthday! Give me a hand?

There's also some follow-up with Chris at the end of the episode.

Marinette: Sure will! It'll be awesome. We're really good buddies. (Alya closes the door) I know I shouldn't have told you that I was one of Santa's elves. But you were acting like— Chris: A baby, I know. Mommy says lying is wrong. So from now on, we'll always tell each other the truth, okay? (He puts out his pinky)

Ikari Gozen

Most of Marinette's nonessential lies are white lies because she's nervous or embarrassed or she thinks it'll help the situation.

What she does in Ikari Gozen is not that. While I don't think she was actively thinking in terms of "I want to hurt Kagami," that was mostly because she wasn't thinking of Kagami as being an actual person with feelings that could be hurt. It's amongst the worst things Marinette has ever done, though she DID at least realize she was being an ass by the end and tried to make it up to Kagami.

Tikki: Marinette, this isn't fair to Kagami. If you won't be her friend, she won't be able to play. Marinette: Yeah, right. She's so smart, I'm sure she'd figure a way around it. Probably even do it twice as fast by herself. In fact, I bet I'd just slow her down if I went. (gasps) Of course! You're right, Tikki! If I stick with her, I can make us lose. And then Adrien would never see Kagami win and they'll never fall in love. Tikki: Uh, come to think of it, perhaps it would be better for you not to go. Marinette: Hide, Tikki! The game is on! (runs over to Kagami) Kagami! Woah! This must be fate! I mean, what were the odds of you and I being paired up? One in ten million at least. Right? So awesome! (chuckles) Kagami: You didn't look too happy about being my secret friend, though. I saw you turn around and walk away just now. Marinette: (her eyes twitch) I-I actually thought I'd, um, gotten the place wrong. I totally hadn't seen you yet. No way! Really, I'm super excited to play the game with you. (smiles nervously)

Party Crasher

So Marinette didn't feel like telling the other girls the truth about wanting to investigate what all the boys were doing.

Marinette: (senses something is wrong, gasps) Oh! Uh... speaking of excuses, I- I- forgot that I was supposed to help my... grandpa bake a cake for one of his mouse's birthday today. Sorry, Mylène. Catch you later, girls! (takes off) Alya: Did I miss something, or is it bad excuses world championship today?

Tikki actually asked Marinette about it later on. Turns out she lied in order to spare Mylene's feelings.

Tikki: Marinette, this isn’t the way to the bakery. Marinette: No, Tikki, I just said that so I could lead my investigation undisturbed. Tikki: You lied to your friends...? Marinette: I didn’t want to upset Mylène. It was her idea to plant the trees this afternoon. But something totally fishy’s going on. All the boys are unavailable with really lame excuses, and trust me, I know a lame excuse when I hear them. I’ve turned into an expert at them since I became... you-know-who. (winks) I know, I’m gonna call Ivan. He can’t lie to save his life. If there’s something secret going on, he’ll definitely blab.

Marinette comes up with a plan that involves more lying, which again, Tikki calls her out on.

Marinette: All the guys are together at Adrien’s place, so why can’t I be there too? I’ll just pretend I was passing by and, uh... Tikki: Yet another lie? Marinette: Just a half truth.

Marinette's not allowed in since it's boys-only, so she disguises herself and lies in order to crash the party.

Marinette: (in a fake accent) Hi there! It's a-me: Marino! Your neighbor! I heard there was a party going on here, a guy's-only, so I'd like to come-a too, because, uh, I'm a guy. Heh! In fact, it's hard for me to walk with all these guy muscles of mine. Hehe! (The gate opens. She cheers in her normal voice) Aha! (goes back to her fake accent) I mean, hoo hoo! (walks inside and into Adrien's room)

Marinette, as well as Nino, both admit that they weren't exactly honest this episode.

Nino: (to Marinette) Things would probably have gone differently if I hadn't lied. Marinette: I wasn't completely honest today either, but... Nino & Marinette: ...I did it for Adrien. (laugh) Marinette: If we hurry up, we can still plant trees with the girls.

The Puppeteer 2

So this is another case of "lying to avoid embarrassment".

Manon: Really? But I thought you and Marinette were boyfriend and girlfriend. (Marinette squeaks) She has lots of photos of you all over her bedroom. Adrien: (laughs) That's because she loves fashion and I'm a fashion model. Manon: But then why are there so many hearts drawn on them? Marinette: (laughs nervously) Those aren't heart! Those are, uh, upside-down spades! I was just coming up with some new, uh, patterns, for my fabric designs. (covers Manon's ears and leans towards Alya with clenched teeth) You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!

Ah, the honesty of little kids, always making things difficult.

Adrien: Were you serious when you were talking to the statue? I mean... me as a statue? Marinette: Serious? Me? (fake laughs) You gotta be kidding! I'm the queen of pranks! (fake laughs) I knew you were playing a prank on me, so I just wanted to get you back! Gotcha!(laughs forcefully) Adrien:(slowly) So you didn't really mean all the things you just said? Marinette: Of course not, I was role playing! I was in love with a statue, not with you! (stands) If I'd feel anything for you, it wouldn't be like for that statue, rather like, for a... regular human being! (fake laughs)

Again, more lying to avoid embarrassment.

Shanghai Special

So here, she's lying about wanting to reconnect with her roots because she thinks her parents will think it's lame/creepy for her to want to fly halfway around the world to follow Adrien. Though she does genuinely end up connecting with her roots and enjoying her time with her great-uncle.

Marinette: (enters) Mom! Sabine: (turns to her) The package! It'll never make it in time! Marinette: Yes it will, because I'm gonna hand it to uncle Wang myself. (Tom and Sabine look perplexed.) You see, because it's high time I visit my uncle in person! Because my uncle- (trips over the package and gets up.) It's my roots. And I've been trying to connect to Adri- I mean, my roots - for so long! And he keeps- I mean, they - keep eluding me. (Tom and Sabine look at each other) And without him- I mean them - without my roots- I mean, I feel incomplete! (She covers her face with her hands and peeks from between her fingers.) Sabine: Marinette, are you saying that... you want to go to Shanghai?!

Truth

Obviously Marinette lies a lot in this episode for secret identity reasons, but she also just does it out of embarrassment.

Luka: Thanks for the photos of your bedroom (Marinette checks phone and discovers the accidentally-sent pictures by Ziggy) and of Adrien. Marinette: Ah, my room! Yeah, I- uh- it's full of photos of Adrien because I uh... I'm using them for fashion pics for my blog and I need your opinion on them because I know you have great taste, Adrien. Luka: My name is Luka. Marinette: Haha yes of course, Adrie- I mean, Luka. You're Luka, obviously, hehe, because you're you, and I am me, Marinette. Hehe, uh, I'm so sorry, it's just that I've been so busted- uh I mean, busy!

Gang of Secrets

I'm not gonna list every instance here, but Marinette's pretending to be okay to the point that it goes beyond "lying to herself" and more to "is afraid to let anyone in and is lying because she's scared."

Marinette:(crying) Alya: Marinette? Have you been crying? Marinette:(whilst faking the emotion) Me? Crying? Are you kidding? I'm super happy! Let's celebrate and have a party! I'm so happy!

Crocoduel

So this is a case of Marinette lying because she's panicking and wanting to get out of the situation she's in. She asked Juleka to somehow disinvite her own brother from their shared birthday, assumed that she had managed to do it, and when she showed up and found that Luka was there, she flailed. She claims to Alya that she doesn't want to talk to Luka because she's afraid he'll get akumatized if he hangs around her and they're not dating, with knowing that she broke his heart, but honestly it mostly seems to be because SHE can't handle being around him, knowing she broke his heart. Luka's handling the situation just fine.

Luka: Hey, Marinette! Marinette: (panics and runs away) Excuse me! Sorry! I've got something to do! It's super urgent! Yep! Bye! (falls on the stairs that leads below the deck) I'm okay!

Ephemeral

This is another case where I think Ladybug REALLY screwed up. She's not telling a malicious lie per se, but she's trampling all over Chat Noir's agency with nary a thought to whether he has the right to decide things ABOUT himself FOR himself, since she's afraid he'll make the "wrong" choice. Honestly I think this IS probably the worst thing she's done to date, even the Big Lie she tells in season 5 is more understandable in my opinion.

Cat Noir: Oh, yeah! So then, why did you need me exactly? Ladybug: Well... actually, it's kind of linked to what happened today. I've given it a lot of thought ever since I became guardian, you know? (leans on the fence) And, I've realized that... you were right after all. (turns to Cat Noir) We should tell each other our secret identities. Cat Noir: But, aren't the secrets supposed to protect us? Ladybug: I thought so. But when you didn't show up today, I didn't know how to locate you because we can't communicate when we're not transformed. If something bad happened to one of us when we're not heroes, we could know about it. It would make us stronger. We'd be able to defeat Shadow Moth quicker! Cat Noir: (walks towards Ladybug's side) So, we're doing this, for real? Ladybug: Yes. Cat Noir: Wow. Okay. You go ahead, m'lady. Guardians first! Ladybug: No, you first. Cat Noir: Let's do it together. (Viperion listens to their conversation while he's in the sewers.) Ladybug: No, I mean it. You go first. I'm... feeling kind of... awkward.

I know Ladybug actually going through with this plan was overwritten in the new timeline, but this WAS still her plan, she just got interrupted before she could put it into effect, so I still count it against her. It was really screwed up how easily she was able to lie to Chat here while appearing totally sincere.

Strikeback

Ladybug briefly tries to pretend that she misspoke and has no idea what Chat's talking about when he catches her talking to Rena Furtive, but she sees that he's not buying it and fesses up. She really doesn't directly lie about someone knowing her identity, Alya helping them out secretly, etc, during season 4, but she definitely keeps it secret when she shouldn't have.

Ladybug: Nice one, Rena. Cat Noir: (surprised) Huh? Rena Rouge? Where is she? Ladybug: Uh... Rena who? (Cat Noir squints in annoyance.) Ladybug: Fine, she's hidden. It's best you don't know where, it's too—

Destruction

Alya's trying to get Marinette to stop spiralling and watching news footage about Monarch, but Marinette's doing so anyway and lying about it so that Alya doesn't lecture her.

Alya: (in the video blog) Now that Shadow Moth stole almost every Miraculous and told us people to call him Monarch, with all these powers, what is he planning? (The real Alya enters the room's trapdoor, much to Marinette's panic.) Alya: Marinette, what did we say? Marinette: (pauses the video, stuttering) Th-The video launched itself! Alya: (sarcastically) Of course, it did. (goes back to her normal tone) Hey, you want some fruit with your tea?

Elation

So this one is a combination of Ladybug lying to try and get what she wants and her lying to try and make her behavior look normal.

Ladybug: Let’s at least kiss before we say goodbye! (kisses Cat Noir on both cheeks) Cat Noir: (steps backward, causing Ladybug to fumble on her feet) What are you doing? Ladybug: I always kiss four times. Come to think of it, actually, four is a little stingy. How about eight? Cat Noir: (steps away) I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not gonna work, m’lady. We’re partners and friends. Ladybug: Wait, what's up with you? You have a new girlfriend or something? Cat Noir: (gasps and laughs) You’re testing me! Could I tell you if I had a girlfriend. No, because the less we know about each other, the harder it is for Monarch to win. So, did I pass the test? Ladybug: (dejected) With flying colors.

Derision

Here she lies to avoid going to school, since Chloe's set on making her life miserable. I don't blame her, honestly.

Sabine: Aren't you eating, sweetie? Marinette: I have a tummy ache. Can't I stay home today? Sabine: Hmm... Yesterday, your foot hurt, and the day before that, it was your head. Come on, chin up. You only have two weeks of school left with her. She probably won't even be in your class next year. Marinette: Three years in a row, Mom. Why would my luck change now? (stands up from the table and bumps her cereal bowl, spilling milk on the table, her clumsiness thriving yet again, to which Sabine simply smiles)

Emotion

I'm not sure even Marinette totally understood why she so desperately wanted to crash the party in this episode, her explanation to Tikki didn't really make sense to me. She wanted to support him and let him know that not telling her was alright or something?

Chloé: (upon seeing Marinette and scrutinizes her) Oh! You're new! What's your name? Marinette: Uh- Zoé! My name's Zoé! Chloé: Yyyuck! Just like my half-of-a-sister. But at least you have style! How rich are your parents? Rich? Very rich? Immensely rich? Of course, otherwise you wouldn't be here! (grabs Marinette's hand and pulls her along across the dance floor) It's too bad we can't bring out underlings with us. I'm sure these tin cans can serve properly but we can't make fun of them! (grabs a drink from a Tsurugi robot and kicks it) So lame! What's your underling's name? Marinette: Um- Chloé. Her name is Chloé.

Conformation

Here, Marinette lies about wanting to check on Adrien. I'm not entirely sure why? Like, does she think her parents might try to stop her...? I think is one of her "panic-lies", where she lies instinctually when scared even when there's really no good reason to do so.

Marinette:(Runs downstairs and passes by her parents watching TV on the way.) I have an errand to do. See you later! Tom:(Blocks the door.) A-Aren't you going to eat something before you leave? Marinette: I'm not feeling very hungry, dad. Sabine:(Puts her hand on her husband's shoulder.) It's understandable that Marinette would have a poor appetite after Adrien's departure. Tom: But breakfast is the most important meal of the day! (Pulls out an enormous bag filled with croissants.) Marinette: Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, don't worry, I– (Experiences another flash of pain and grabs her head.) (Tom and Sabine look at their daughter with concern.) Marinette: This has... nothing to do with Adrien. I'm fine! I promise. Besides, he's just in London, he's probably doing great, there's no reason to worry. I was just heading out to meet up with my friends. (Takes the bag of croissants from her dad.) And that mountain of croissants comes at a perfect time. Love you both! (Walks out.) (Marinette's parents follow her outside and watch as she leaves from the top of the staircase.)

Re-Creation

This is the biggest lie Marinette's ever told, one that's likely to reverberate through the series for seasons to come. Lying about not knowing who Monarch is and about Gabriel being a hero. Marinette didn't lie all that often during season 5, but she did tell the biggest lie of all.

Marinette: You're not wearing it? Adrien: (while fidgeting with the rings) When Ladybug gave it to me, she told me how my father helped her to defeat Monarch, at the cost of his life. I don't know if I'll ever manage to be like him.

Action

Here, the class decides that they need to lie to gain an audience with the plastic guy. Marinette is there spokesperson, which makes sense since with Lila gone, she is by far the most experienced and accomplished liar in the class.

Marinette: Yes, it is him! Adrien Agreste in the flesh! (gestures to Adrien as he smiles) Amazing, right? (as Nino breaths a sigh of relief) And as it turns out, we're escorting him, all of us, to his meeting with Mr. Bertrand King. Adrien: Right, that's it. I'm uh...(looks towards Marinette for help) Marinette: Here to discuss new advertising campaigns for the Morpho fans. Adrien: Right. Marinette: We're his personal team of... (coming up with an excuse) ...delivery and cleaning people. (the Guard just stares. He then takes a look at Kim, Max, Adrien who smiles with Marinette, Alya, Ivan and Mylène.)

So some surprising results from this. Marinette barely lies in season 1, but she does so quite a bit in the following seasons, especially season 2. I didn't realize before that Marinette has this tendency to lie instinctually when she's panicking, even if she doesn't actually need to, it seems like it's become a defense mechanism for her.

Marinette's definitely a Guile Hero who can and will lie when convenient, sometimes out of embarrassment, sometimes because she's scared, sometimes to attempt to spare someone's feelings, sometimes to try and gain control of a situation, and sometimes just to get what she wants. Most of them aren't *bad* lies really, but she's definitely not the super honest person she sometimes gets painted as, both in the show (by Adrien, which makes sense, he thinks highly of her) and by the fandom. She may hate liars, but that doesn't mean she won't use it as a tool when she thinks she needs it.

[ponytailzuko]

my miraculous "enemies" au

i wanted to post something to give context to art i post so here it is! i think you can consider this my "miraculous rewrite" if you want to call it that...? but its just me wanting everyone trying to steal each others miraculous. that's literally it. i love drama. details under the cut:

The Premise:

When Fu was a child training with the Order, they left him to guard a Miracle Box for as long as possible without food or water. Eventually, Fu got curious - he opened the box and a beautiful array of animals spilled out. Tikki and Plagg act like the angel and devil on Fu's shoulder: Plagg, along with many of the other kwamis, urge Fu to use his Miraculous to transform in order to get food from the kitchens. Tikki warns him otherwise, but Fu transforms with the Peacock and the Black Cat, and the destructive power of his emotions go on a rampage, destroying the Order.

In the destruction, Fu loses most of the miraculous and the grimoire. They're scattered all across the world, falling into different people's hands. Tikki vows to help Fu rectify his mistake of trusting Plagg and help recover the lost miraculous.

What Does This Change?

Miraculouses and grimoire pages are spread around the world, so magic is pretty commonplace. Superheroes and supervillains have existed in Paris before "canon."

Adrien finds the Black Cat independently from the Guardian. He makes a deal with Plagg - freedom for freedom. Plagg gives Adrien powers that allow Adrien to get out of the house, and Adrien lets Plagg do whatever otherwise - no commands, unlike his past holders.

Hints of the Black Cat hit the news and Fu sees it. Fu is out of shape, and the Black Cat holder looks young. Tikki goes out to choose a new holder - Marinette. Marinette is mostly the same in this; she uses the Ladybug for stopping supervillains, but this time she doesn't have a partner.

The Black Cat has a terrible reputation... After all, Plagg was locked up in the Miracle Box and never used for a reason. Ever since its been out, people have used it for horrific purposes. Fu and TIkki are sure that Chat Noir must be up to something. If he's not, then it'd still be safer to keep Plagg in the box. Marinette, with no experience, takes their advice to heart.

Instead, she and CN are 'frenemies.' They end up working together to defeat supervillains, but before Ladybug gets the chance to take his Miraculous, something always goes wrong!

Chat Noir is unaware that Ladybug is working for the Guardian. He assumes she also gained her miraculous independently and he wants to be friends! He's never made friends before, though... why do his attempts keep going so poorly!?

When Chat Noir does figure out what Ladybug is trying to do, it turns into a competition on who can steal one another's Miraculous first. Plagg is adamant to never be put back in the box again.

When Chat Noir is first spotted in Paris, Hawkmoth doesn't reveal himself at all. Instead, he akumatizes people to try and lure CN (+LB) out and assess them. LB + CN are both unaware that the supervillains they put behind bars are actually akumatized. He tries to pit them against each other until the two accidentally break an object and discover an akuma. Oops :/

Eventually, after discovering Hawkmoth's existence, Ladybug and Chat Noir make a "truce" to work together to defeat him before getting back to their business (trying to take each other's miraculous lmao).

i have so many little things in this au and a bunch of doodles that i'll finish one day, but that's the general gist. later on, other characters get miraculous (also independently) which you know... it adds to it. writing isn't my personal forte and this is too much for more than the occasional comic from me. so i might write an outline for how i'd write the full thing at some point. (shrug)

TLDR: Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hawkmoth all want each other's miraculous and team up and break up in different combos until eventually Ladybug and Chat Noir team up like in canon.

edit:

[laterreurofficial]

So this AU is like, Evangelion meets Miraculous Ladybug?

It's not the same I know but it's got the vibes

And the

You know

Child soldiers

Also I love everything you guys have out out so far, this is a very interesting and creative premise.

It also makes a lot of sense that using powerful magic tools takes a toll on the body/mind

Was is Multimouse's curse? I think it had something to do with dissociation but how does it work exactly?

Also Tikky doesn't want to tell Marinette about the dangers of using the miraculous so often??? What the fuck Tikky :/

The mouse miraculous' curse is indeed a kind of disassociation! The miraculous side effects are often like radiation poisoning, a bleed from the magic of the miraculous to the person wielding it. So the side effects often represent an aspect of the power one gains from the magic or the animal it's associated with. With the mouse miraculous, splitting into multiple people who you *are* simultaneously would probably mess with your sense of awareness a little even without the magic radiation/

Also, regarding Tikki and the other Kwamis, remember, they are immortal. They can care, in their own way, about their wielders, but know how temporary those wielders are. Would you shoot a dog to prevent a thousand dogs from dying? To prevent the universe from ending? Would you shoot *your* dog? Even if you loved them a lot, you have to admit that the value of that one life is nothing in compare to the benefits of ending or ruining it. So it goes for Tikki and the other Kwamis. Their wielders are inconvenient at worst, and represent short friendships at best. Tikki, like Marinette, will ultimately value getting the job done over total honesty. And besides, Marinette never asked. Why would she volunteer information that would make Marinette *less* likely to serve her purpose?

[kari-go]

idk why I focus on the clothes so much lol

I don't actually think that Marinette cares or knows about the fashion industry that much. Like the main thing for her is the creation process, when she does stuff with her hands. She doesn't really know how to be stylish, she doesn't know brands or the people behind them, that's Chloe's thing lol. I think that her style is just basic feminine (shy girl next door vibes lol), the flair and personality being the things she does by herself to the clothes because she just wants to create and try out new stuff.

I don't think that she would pursue fashion as a profession, it'd just be a hobby or like extra income when she's in the mood. I think she would go into,, engineering, chemistry, architecture? maybe a mechanic? I think she would change jobs a lot. a tattoo artist just came to my mind hmm

she's a jack of all trades basically? like her hobbies change a lot but they're always creative, where she has to do something with her hands. She can create anything as long as she sets her mind to it. A new couch? sure. Necklace? absolutely. Corset? Give her a week or so. A Statue? she's a turtle now

but the thing is, she works better when she already has something available to her, not when she has to start from scratch on her own. which is why she's so good with Tikki's Genesis.

[miraculousfananalysis]

It just occurred to me that the kwamis, they know everything. When Alya asked Trixx "why would I hate Marinette?" Trixx knows exactly why, of course they were all probably instructed not to speak about what happened in the final fight in under circumstance and we know they can keep a secret I mean just look at Tikki she knew how this would all end and didn't utter a word throughout the series granted they probably didn't even write the ending at the time so there was nothing to hint to but still now the line "I knew you would come around" in the origins episode has a whole new meaning to it.

But anyways just imagine being Plagg and knowing that the person who held all your friends captive and exploited them, terrorized the entire city of Paris, put the life of his son aka your holder unknowingly and knowing in danger was living in the same house as you and had been operating from right under your nose. Also I don't know if Plagg knows that Adrien is a senti being he might. Oh and after knowing what a God awful person Gabriel was now Plagg has to watch Adrien grieve and he can't even tell him the truth, I don't know how he is able to contain himself but maybe that's just something you have to do when you are a kwami.

Another thing is that although it makes me so angry that Marinette lied to everyone and painted Gabriel as a "hero". I think I would have hated it more if she told everyone the honest truth because that would have made Adrien's life utter living hell. He would be bullied and accused of partnering with monarch, social media is playing a prominent role in season 6 and we already saw all the conspiracies of Vincent and I am guessing there are others too like we saw in the episode Reunion saying ladybug is incompetent and what not, who is to say people won't immediately take to calling Adrien monarch's accomplice after all Gabriel was doing all this to get Emily back, why wouldn't people think that Adrien would want to have his mother back.

So on top of grief for not being able to save his father and mother, he would also feel anger towards him for doing this in the first place and a lot more complicated feeling and on top of that he would have to deal with everyone antagonizing him. What if he got frustrated and revealed that he is Cat Noir and was fighting against Monarch in order to prove his innocence won't people immediately jump to the conclusions that he was actually slowing down ladybug and the only reason ladybug 'defeated' Monarch was because Cat Noir was in London.

I don't think the creators wanted to go down that path hence they made her lie and except for maybe the heroes other people will never find out the truth. So no I am not fond of the fact Marinette is lying to Adrien but I also wouldn't rather she told the truth to everyone. But at the same time Adrien does deserve to know and I think the writers should make ladybug tell Adrien the truth privately and then give him some time and get his opinion on what next. Also she should have Felix explain the who senti being thing to him because Adrien needs to keep those rings safe.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Emotion

Hey, remember Felix? You know, that minor character who is the entire reason Gabriel has all of Ladybug's other Miraculous? The writers remembered he existed more than halfway through the season.

Let's get into the eighteenth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Emotion

We start off with Marinette and Adrien getting ice cream, and just like last episode, right when they're about to kiss, Adrien stops at the last second. While we don't see it, it's heavily implied that Gabriel is behind this. It turns out that Adrien has to get ready for some dance for rich people. While it has a name and I think it was mentioned in a few earlier episodes this season, it's really just some dance for rich people, so I don't care enough to remember it. Of course, all of the rich characters we know are invited, like Kagami, Chloe, Zoe, and Prince Ali. Lila, on the other hand, wasn't invited. This might sound important, but nothing happens with her until the end.

Zoe isn't going because of the “character development” she's gotten, so she offers to let Marinette wear her dress to the dance, which just so happens to be a masquerade ball. Tikki asks why Marinette even wants to go to this party she wasn't invited to, but all Marinette says is that it's so she can tell Adrien that she didn't have to keep the dance a secret from her. Why didn't Marinette just call Adrien? Because then we wouldn't have a story.

At the ball, Adrien and Kagami are the king and queen or whatever because their parents are really determined to make their ship sail even though the two show no real interest in each other (insert your own joke about the writers here), but they're interrupted by Amelie, Emilie's twin sister and Felix's mom. She's worried because her son has been missing for weeks, but Gabriel couldn't care less about the little twerp.

At the party, we get a somewhat amusing joke where Chloe fails to recognize Marinette under her mask, where Marinette not only says her name is Zoe, but her “underling” is named Chloe too. But speaking of...

Chloe: How rich are your parents? Rich? Very rich? Immensely rich? Of course, otherwise you wouldn't be here! It's too bad we can't bring out underlings with us. I'm sure these tin cans can serve properly but we can't make fun of them! (grabs a drink from a butler robot before kicking it) So lame!

Okay, did the writers just stop caring about writing convincing dialogue for Chloe? This is a problem I've noticed a lot this season. Yeah, Chloe was bad in the last four seasons, but here, she constantly talks about how Sabrina is her “underling” (Passion), or how she finds Marinete's suffering to be amusing (Derision). It's not really out of character, but it's weird how she's so much more blunt when it comes to boasting about how full of herself she is. It feels like a lot of her lines this season were meant to be placeholders for stuff the writers thought they'd change later, but then they decided to keep it in anyway. And of course to show how stuck up the other rich kids saying the same kind of stuff Chloe normally says, which is somehow less subtle social commentary than Hop Pop shouting “EAT THE RICH!”.

Adrien and Kagami talk about how they're expected to follow orders, while pretty much saying that Kagami is a Sentimonster since the camera really wants to show off her ring.

Oh wow. what does this mean? Wow, this is such a compelling mystery with so many twists and turns. I am so very invested right now.

However, as the two talk, it's clear that Adrien isn't himself, literally.

“Adrien”: Let's leave, I dare you.

Kagami: Are you insane? We can't do that.

“Adrien”: Of course, we can. I can.

Kagami: (gasps) You'd do that?

“Adrien”: Wanna bet?

Kagami: No, we can't.

“Adrien”: See? You're not as free as you claim. Don't you think we should be able to decide our future?

I'll get back to this later.

Marinette tells “Adrien” that she loves her, but Chloe figures out that Marinette crashed a party she wasn't invited to. Of course, because this is Chloe, we're supposed to ignore how unnecessary this plan was for Marinette. Seriously, Marinette crashing the party in “Gabriel Agreste”, as illogical as it was, made sense, because they needed to stop Chloe from showing Gabriel incriminating footage of Marinette. Here, Marinette had no real reason to crash this party when all she had to do was call Adrien, and Chloe, like her or hate her, makes a good point in that she wasn't invited. But again, since this is Season 5 Chloe, she could say she opposes human trafficking, and the writers would still find a way to make her look like the bad guy.

Chloe tells the other rich kids to help her expose Marinette, but because they're so stuck up and entitled, they refuse to touch her. I'll give you all a moment to groan from that unfunny joke. Then we get this conversation between Marinette and “Adrien”.

“Adrien”: All eyes are on you.

Marinette: They're looking at me like I'm a monster.

“Adrien”: Look closer, Marinette. (whispers into her ear) They're the monsters.

I officially take back everything bad I ever said about the Canto Bight scenes from The Last Jedi.

While I get what the episode's going for, we really haven't seen a lot of the 1% doing things that would actually warrant this level of scorn from the audience. Yeah, most of them were egotistical snobs, especially Chloe, but you can't really see this as a shot at the elite when it's aimed at their children instead of their parents. All we've seen in this episode is the rich kids being jerks (and even then, it's played for laughs), Chloe rightfully trying to get Marinette thrown out of a party she had no reason to crash, and Gabriel and Tomoe trying to pair their children together. If you want to show the audience how bad rich people are, you need to show them actually abusing their power and mistreating others. As bad as the aforementioned Canto Bight scenes were, they still worked because it managed to back up the point it was trying to make.

Compare this to characters like the Ferengi from Star Trek or the World Nobles from One Piece. These are allegories for the 1% that work because they do a better job at exaggerating aspects of them that can translate to how we see the elite in our world. With the Ferengi, they represent everything wrong with cutthroat businessmen who base their entire society over financial gains, and with the World Nobles, they represent the disconnect with the common people by being so arrogant, they wear helmets that prevent them from breathing the same air as the commoners. If you wanted to show how bad the rich were, especially considering what's going to happen in a few minutes, you needed to do more to make the audience not like them so we'd be more happy to see them get their comeuppance.

Marinette figures out that Felix impersonated Adrien once again (it honestly stops being impressive when he's done it during literally every episode he appears in), and he decides to transform using the Peacock Miraculous in public for some reason, calling himself Argos.

Argos' design is okay. The suit and coattails look pretty nice, and the coloring on his face works a lot better than Gabriel's. The only problem I have is the way the hood looks. It looks too goofy to go with the rest of the suit. It kind of reminds me of that salmon suit Squidward wore in that one episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Before anyone else at the party can do anything, Argos reveals a Sentimonster he created, Red Moon.

Red Moon is... a red moon. It's just a red moon that floats above the city, and it gives Argos the ability to make anyone bathed in its light disappear with a snap of his fingers. If anything, this shows how overpowered the Peacock Miraculous is, and that Gabriel was a real idiot for not trying anything like this while he was Shadowmoth.

Anyway, after making everyone think his cousin is a supervillain as part of his brilliant plan, Argos decides to tell everyone in the room about what his Sentimonster can do. He demonstrates this by, of course, choosing to snap away Chloe before targeting Gabriel and Tomoe. You really have your priorities straight, buddy. Argos then carries Marinette outside before throwing her in a dumpster, because if he snapped her away, than Ladybug couldn't fight him.

But then Argos decides to go to the streets, and decides to snap away a bunch of innocent civilians... while singing a jazz song. To anyone curious as to what it sounds like, I must warn you, it isn't for the feint of heart.

I take back everything bad I ever said about the Hawkmoth rap.

First off, I'm just going to say it, Bryce Papenbrook cannot sing. Argos is clearly trying to sound like a suave and confident villain like Doctor Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, but his delivery is terrible. It either ranges from flat monotone to trying to shout while dealing with a sore throat. The point I'm trying to make is that there was a good reason someone else did the singing voice for Adrien in the recent movie.

Second, this doesn't do anything to make us root for Argos as a character, because there's no reason for him to be doing this. I can understand why he'd use his power to get rid of Gabriel and Tomoe (even Chloe, given we know how much she's done), but why is he suddenly going nuts snapping a bunch of random people who haven't even met him before? The episode tries to make him a character who only does bad things because he has no choice to, so him doing this to a bunch of innocent civilians makes no sense.

Finally, WHY THE HELL IS THIS SCENE A MUSICAL NUMBER?! It's hard enough to see Argos callously wipe out a bunch of bystanders, essentially committing genocide, but the tone of the song is all upbeat and cheery, while the lyrics are about how Argos should get whatever he wants. What is the purpose of adding a song here? Are we supposed to find this funny? Is it meant to establish Felix as a wild card? Is the song supposed to make us like him more because of how catchy it is? What was the writers' endgame here? Like I mentioned earlier, this flies in the face of the characterization the episode is trying to establish for him.

Marinette transforms into Ladybug and arrives on the scene, confronting Argos over what he did last season.

Ladybug: You're the reason why I lost the other Miraculous in the first place! And why he took them! You gave them to him without any regard for the consequences it might have with the people of Paris!

Argos: True, except I work for no one. I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish!

Ladybug: Your wish?! What do you want?! What are you trying to do?! You're destroying the world and we don't even know why!

Argos: When I merge your Miraculous together, I'll make a wish to create a better world! A free world, where no one will be under anyone's control anymore, where no one will be excluded like I was! A world without people like you to decide what's right or wrong! Who gets powers and who doesn't!

Dude, you're literally playing God right now by snapping away people who did nothing wrong, while singing a song at that. You have no right to lecture Ladybug on how to use power responsibly. And once again, even though we just saw him happily snapping people out of existence like the kid from that one Twilight Zone episode, the episode is going back to portraying him as someone who's only doing this because he has nothing to lose.

Ladybug tries to use her Lucky Charm, but gets nothing in response. This is because her plan is to get Argos to give up, but even in episodes where her plan was to get Akumas to give up, she still got her Lucky Charm (Rocketear, Qilin, Penalteam, Reunion, Perfection, Intuition), so this doesn't really make any sense. Ladybug calls Argos' bluff, so he wipes out everyone from existence. After running into Kagami and snapping Adrien back into existence, Argos is surprised that they aren't thanking him for wiping out all of humanity, and in fact, see him as a complete psychopath.

We then learn Felix's true plan. Earlier that day, Argos capitalized on a opening he had been hoping he would get for weeks, and then created Red Moon. Right after Adrien's date with Marinette, Argos ambushed Adrien, and snapped him out of existence with Red Moon's power. He then decided to impersonate Adrien so he could infiltrate the dance and snap Gabriel, Tomoe, and everyone else out of existence.

I think my feelings on this plan can be perfectly summarized by Tony Stark.

First off, why did he need to sneak into the dance? All Felix had to do was transform into Argos, and nobody would know who he really was.

Second, why did he need to impersonate Adrien? Felix claims he's doing this for him, yet all he did was steal his girlfriend and ruin his public reputation. As a matter of fact, why did he even snap Adrien away? You're already wiping out all of humanity, so I don't think temporarily doing the same to Adrien will earn you any goodwill.

Third, why did he waste so much time screwing around with Marinette and Kagami? I sort of get why he would try to get in Kagami's good graces (keyword being “try”) by trying to convince her to rebel against her mother more, but why did he dance around with Marinette while pretending to be Adrien? Felix later says he wanted to spare Marinette for Adrien's sake, but he barely knows her, and whether she finds out Felix impersonated her boyfriend or not, she's going to be pissed at either you or Adrien because of your galavanting. In fact, I don't think he ever told Adrien that he danced with Marinette while at the dance in the first place.

Finally, he really needed to wait for this for weeks? If your goal was to get rid of Gabriel and Tomoe, why didn't you just ambush them yourself instead of waiting for a public function? This isn't like has last few appearances where he needed to rely on his intellect. He has superpowers now. All he has to do is create another Sentibug or some kind of assassin Sentimonster and he can be rid of them easily. Instead, he waited weeks for a chance to steal his cousin's identity, dance with his girlfriend, talk trash about Kagami for listening to her mother when he's supposed to be helping her and Adrien, blow his cover in a crowded area by transforming, and use his killer moon to erase all of humanity from existence while singing. Remember, this is the show that usually makes jokes about Marinette's obsession with unnecessarily complicated plans.

Anyway, Argos tries to use his powers to bring Marinette back, but for some reason, they won't work. My best guess is that it's because Marinette transformed into Ladybug, but that shouldn't chance the fact that Argos snapped her with Red Moon's power. After trying to justify his genocide by saying he never wanted to hurt Adrien and Kagami, Argos remembers how his powers work and brings everyone back. After Ladybug lets him go scot-free, Argos goes to a private place realizes that he may have made a few mistakes for almost wiping out all of humanity, tearfully snapping Red Moon out of existence, calling it “his sister”. Because I guess we were supposed to emotionally connect to the giant moon that showed little to no signs of sentience this entire episode? Argos transforms back to Felix, and we learn that Amelie knew where he was the whole time, and she was apparently testing Gabriel for some reason.

After Adrien explains to Marinette that his father ordered him to not tell her about the dance, Adrien goes to talk to Gabriel about it. Gabriel, being Gabriel uses his control over Adrien to force him to never talk about Marinette again. Gabriel then gets a call from Lila, and even though she's been nothing but helpful to him since Season 3, he's apparently tired with her. Why is he suddenly rejecting the help of his most competent (by comparison) ally?

Also, the episode ends with the revelation that Lila somehow knows Gabriel is Monarch. Why? How? I DON'T CARE, BECAUSE THIS EPISODE SUCKS!

Oh my God, this episode was just terrible! “Derision” and “Adoration” definitely got to me with the way their stories were handled, but this was the first episode in a while to really piss me off. The plot was contrived as hell, basically being a repeat of “Gabriel Agreste”, and you all know how I wasn't exactly a fan of that episode. Think about it: Marinette sneaks into a party, Felix tries to scheme against Gabriel, and Marinette and Adrien end up getting caught in one of his schemes.

The social commentary about how bad the rich were just felt more pretensions than anything else. I get that it's meant to teach children a lesson about the real world, but the episode feels so confident in what its trying to say when it's not that deep, even by kids' show standards. Rich people are bad? Yeah, I think someone like me who lives in the same country as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg knows that. Will you actually teach kids about the financial conditions that allow the wealthy to abuse their power or the cutthroat methods they'll resort to in order to turn a profit? No? You're just going to tell kids that rich people are jerks without giving any actual evidence in the same episode you're using to try and to teach them? Man, these writers just keep hitting it out of the park here!

This whole “Rich people suck” message also falls flat because Felix is the one pushing it. You know, someone who already comes from a rich family? It's not like Bruce Wayne where he uses his money to help the people of Gotham, as Batman or not. Felix just whines about how “tHeY'rE tHe MoNsTeRs.” when he's just as well-off as they are. The episode tries to do a subtle discrimination message as evidenced by his rant as Argos earlier, but it doesn't work because we have never seen anyone discriminate against Felix for who he is. Yeah, the episode once again tries to hint at him being a Sentimonster, but because the show hasn't just pulled the trigger and confirmed it, it's hard to really sympathize with him being “excluded” when we've never seen him being treated differently by others in earlier episodes, and even if he was a Sentimonster, nobody would know or be able to discriminate against him in the first place.

I don't know why the show keeps trying to excuse Felix's actions when once again, he pretty much committed fucking genocide yet the episode still wanted us to feel bad for him realizing his actions had consequences. If he actually wanted to own up to his mistakes, he'd either hand over the Peacock Miraculous to Ladybug or help Ladybug stop Monarch. For someone who claims he hates when people abuse power to make others suffer, he's no better, judging from how both times he's gotten to use a Miraculous, he's either screwed over Ladybug (Strikeback) or endangered a lot of innocent people. And if you're wondering why I didn't point out any double standards between the treatment of Felix compared to Chloe, that doesn't really matter. No matter how you feel about Chloe, whether you feel like she got screwed over or not, it doesn't really make how the writers are glorifying Felix any better or worse, as his potential “redemption arc” isn't off to a good start.

The plot was stupid, Felix was an idiot, and it felt like more effort was put into the musical number than the writing. In my opinion, this is easily the worst episode of the season so far.

Although at the very least, now that we have even more evidence that Adrien, Felix, and even Kagami are all Sentimonsters, I think I know what clip I can start using to describe my feelings on this plotline.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... FELIX

For someone who managed to outsmart Gabriel on multiple occasions with no superpowers, Felix's intelligence really took a nosedive the second he got the Peacock Miraculous. He came up with a completely unnecessary plan that involved impersonating his cousin's identity and mocking his friend when he's supposed to try and win their favor, he danced with his cousin's girlfriend without his consent, transformed in public, smearing his reputation even further, and proceeded to gleefully wipe out humanity through a musical number, and needed other people to point out how immoral his actions were. Of course, Marinette gets second place thanks to her plan to break into the party and later letting Argos get away.