#Having Adrien learn that he should let others decide for him and speak for him is wrong actually | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zivazivc · 3 years

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Pinocchio AU

Okay people want the explanation for this comic so here it goes. It’s long and complicated and MESSED UP because of course it is, this is me. I’m going to write in points because my small tired brain can’t handle good english atm but basically to sum up the Adrien was a sentimonster theory or Pinocchio AU as I like to call it:

Young married Emilie and Gabriel can’t have kids. Gabriel reluctantly accepts this fate and even brings up adoption as a possibility once, but Emilie doesn’t want to hear any of that. She’s a bit of a Marinette in the sense that she pictures this romanticized ideal life for herself and a child—her flesh and blood—HAS to be in it.

They keep trying to get a baby while other young families Emilie knows keep growing. She feels left out and hurt and depressed, then her newlywed twin sister announces she’s expecting a baby too and something within Emilie just unhinges.

She eventually lies to some of her friends, who she was out for coffee with, that she’s pregnant too. She mostly does it just to see their reaction and feel what it would be like but it quickly spirals out of control where she just starts pretending she’s pregnant until you can’t even tell if she believes it herself.

Gabriel is confused at first because he hears the news second hand (a friend/family member congratulating him) so he’s apprehensive when he approaches his wife but she convinces him that they really are getting a baby and Gabriel is ecstatic.

It’s only later at a doctor’s check up that Gabriel learns that she indeed is not pregnant. The doctor even speaks to him alone explaining that his wife is in denial and that he should make sure she goes to see a psychiatrist, something she definitely wouldn’t do alone.

Gabriel is unsuccessful with that because he’s not entirely persistent, doesn’t want to be the guy with the crazy wife having to tell everyone she lied about being pregnant, and hopelessly believes she’ll just get over it eventually.

That is until her “pregnancy is near due”—her sister already had Félix in England a few months ago—and he stumbles on her transformed with her peacock miraculous (they already have both of them) creating a sentimonster newborn.

They have a huge fight about it but because Emilie refuses to destroy it, won’t tell Gabriel where the amok is, and Gabriel can’t just hurt the baby with his hands, Emilie just… wins. Fucked up, yeah?

Now she tried creating kids before this one, using her imagination to try and blend her and Gabriel’s looks but it just wasn’t working. So she decided to copy of photos of baby Félix because he already looked almost like a copy of his mother, and Amélie and Emilie already looked alike so it’s not so weird?—is what her mind was telling her.

She didn’t dare alter his looks but she decided to give the baby Gabriel’s eye color to include the “father” in some way. (Yes in that comic I made I gave Adrien a mix of green and gray but that was mainly to get the point across to the perceptive readers)

Now we got Adrien, a normal baby boy to the whole world except for Gabriel who’s forced into his wife’s fantasy through social expectations.

Why are we only at this point and this post is already so long AAAAAAAA!!!

Adrien physically basically grows in a way where Emilie just keeps changing his appearance to match what Félix looked like a few months prior.

Mentally he’s like a robot just taking in information without really needing to learn it. So Emilie decides when he says his first word, she decides when he learns to walk,… He knows how to walk, he just wasn’t given the command to do so yet.

But even so he does develop a personality over time, just slower, because unlike a normal child who’s always testing his boundaries, how far they’re allowed to go until they’re in real trouble, Adrien just can’t misbehave. At all.

But he does have his favorite foods and favorite toys, and jokes that make him laugh the most. The problem is just that Emilie could just decide that his favorite food is strawberries and he’d just start acting accordingly, rewiring his belief.

He also isn’t allowed to argue or be mean to others which is why Félix thinks he’s a goody two-shoes weirdo while Chloé the brat adores him.

This behavior isn’t so hard to hide with a toddler who’s fickle but it’s harder and harder as the kid grows. Which is why the family becomes very secluded over time.

Gabriel always keeps distance with his “son”. He’s not Dad, he’s Father, he doesn’t do hugs and cuddles, he doesn’t say I love you. But Adrien knows he loves him because his mom told him so and he loves him back unconditionally because Mom said that’s what families do.

Now even though Gabriel is traumatized by this whole ordeal and knowing Adrien “isn’t real” freaks him out he does soften a bit over time. I’m going to give an awful example but like someone who hates cats softening for a cat that their partner/roommate decided to get/had from before. Continuing with this example: But still becoming appalled when the cat starts acting odd/unusually.

Okay I think you get the gist. Let’s move on…

Emilie loves her son more and more as he grows and his sentimonster behaviours start bothering her more and more too. She hates being reminded that he’s not a real boy by people mentioning he looks young for his age because Emilie forgot to make him grow for a while. She hates when he does everything like he’s told. She hates that he has no real friends because they’re afraid to expose him to the outside too much and without supervision. She hates to think about his future.

Her desire for him to be real keeps growing and is what drives her to search for a solution in the miraculous spellbook.

She cracks the script after years, when Adrien is nearly a teen, and finds a way to transfer the creators soul into a sentimonster.

It’s a long process that takes time and while she falls ill to everyone around her, Adrien becomes more real.

Gabriel starts realizing what’s happening when he notices Adrien hesitate for a second when he’s playing a video game and Gabriel wants him to do something, groan when he gets bothered watching TV, huff, complain, have slightly opposing opinions to his and Emilie’s, when he argues with his mother when she tells him she’s feeling fine; when he notices his son’s eyes are greener. Or is it all in his head?

He confronts his wife too late, when she’s extremely ill already, her normally vibrant eyes dulled match Adrien’s bluish gray, and he pieces together in his head what she’s doing.

Before Gabriel could properly think what to do to stop the love of his life from turning into a lifeless doll, in a fit of panic he tries to take her wedding band (where he knows Adrien’s amok is) to get rid of Adrien instead, but is unsuccessful in getting it off her so he snatches her peacock brooch instead (which she needs to complete the spell obvs) and breaks it. (Heyoo! broken peacock miraculous. things are coming together)

Because the spell was almost complete anyway it’s Emilie who falls unconscious. But she doesn’t disappear because she’s not a real sentimonster, she just becomes dormant like one.

This is the point in the story where Gabriel makes it seem like Emilie ran away or something like that—basically disappear. Now he’s living knowing he has an almost sentimonster wife in the basement, knowing he almost killed his son (or her), and having to care for a son that suddenly became much more alive, questioning, arguing, angry, screaming, not accepting, crying, grieving, staring at him with Emilie’s eyes.

Instead of becoming a real parent, Gabriel shuts him out.

Soon Adrien evolves desires for socializing, company, getting away from the suffocating home which eventually leads to him going to a public school.

He slowly starts to live life freely without the restrictions that were put around his thoughts.

Gabriel has an even stranger relationship with Adrien now because he still loves him in a way but also holds resentment toward him. But mostly he sees him as something valuable.

The show happens here… And now finally we get to the comic…

Gabriel gets a hold of the ladybug and black cat miraculouses. (There’s no epic fight in his lair as you see there’s no Ladybug in the comic but that’s not really important)

What’s important is that Gabriel had deciphered the miraculous spellbook with the help of Emilie’s notes and had decided to use the unification’s “wish” power to awaken Emilie.

He’s aware he’ll need to sacrifice something for the wish to come true and he’s certain Adrien should be enough because the soul inside him is literally the one thing Emilie is missing.

✨Adrien (poor boy just lost his miraculous) is taken to Gabriel’s lair, where he finds out his father is Hawk Moth, sees his mother, learns he’s a sentimonster, and that he’s going to become a sacrifice ✨

Of course the last part is not what happens. It’s Gabriel who ends up being sacrificed.

I can’t decide if Gabriel ends up sacrificing himself because he changed his mind in the last moment while Adrien was screaming for him to stop, OR because he didn’t love Adrien enough for him to be considered an equal exchange for his wife… O.O

But anyhow…

Emilie wakes up with Gabriel’s soul within her (hence the bluish gray eyes in the comic).

Adrien is traumatized for life.

This took me hours to write… I knew there was a reason why I didn’t want to do it. I hope I didn’t forget anything and my brain made sense of it all

Well there you have it, peeps. The Pinocchio AU. It’s as messed up as my sleep schedule. Good night.

#and they all lived happily ever after. the end #ml #miraculous ladybug #sentimonster adrien theory #sentimonster!adrien #adrien agreste #emilie agreste #gabriel agreste #pinocchio au #answered #my art

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nobodyfamousposts · 3 years

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My-Crack-Ulous: FOP Crossover

*Coughs* Ahem.

Fairly Odd Parents.

Oh, but not what you think! We’re not getting Cosmo and Wanda for a sad Marinette or Adrien. Oh, no...that would be easy.

No, no. Instead, we’re getting Norm the Genie.

Norm the Genie who wants to be free of his lamp but needs a magical stooge to trap in his place and, hey! Kwamis are magic, aren’t they? Not that he knows much about them since they predate the known universe and even Norm isn’t that old, but still!

So somehow Norm’s lamp ends up in Paris. And just happens to end up in Lila’s hands.

Lila, of course, tries to use it to her advantage.

It goes about as well as you should expect...

____________________

It took a few years before Norm’s lamp found itself back in the human world. And of course, it was only a matter of time before it ended up in someone’s hands.

Granted, he hadn’t expected to end up in Paris, France.

Or for his new beneficiary to wear an incredibly unfashionable jacket and have sausages in her hair.

Oh wait, that was her hair. As sausages. Gross.

“So you’re a genie?” She asked.

Norm had to avoid rolling his eyes.

Teenagers. They thought they were so special, so smart. That if something were to happen to them, that it was only for good and because they deserved it somehow. And for how smart they liked to think they were, none of them ever really questioned what the catch was. Or if their wishes were something they should make at all.

This one was no different.

“And you can grant me any wish?”

“Yep.”

“ANY wish?”

“I just said for the seventh time, yes. Any wish. Three of them. Rule-free.”

Not that she knew what Da Rules were, but meh. Details.

“Then I get sucked back into the lamp.”

Of course, he didn’t mention his propensity to twist the wishes for fun. Seriously, if these people were stupid enough to just take advantage of his powers without considering consequences. Or the complete lunacy of just expecting a magical creature to grant them whatever they wanted for no reason just because they ask for it.

Seriously, these chumps never learn.

Now all that remained was for this latest chump to start and he can begin his fun of finding the best ways to twist her wishes for entertainment…

Lila smirked.

“Well then…I wish for Ladybug to be beaten and forced to bow before me!”

Pause.

Norm raised an eyebrow.

“Wait—seriously?”

He shrugged.

“Okay.”

Suddenly, there was a POOF!

And when Lila blinked, there before her was the image of red with black spots.

Ladybug.

By which is meant the lowercase insect “ladybug” kind instead of the uppercase superhero “Ladybug” kind, much to Lila’s disappointment.

As if to further insult her, the bug proceeded to point in her direction, in a facsimile of a bow.

Lila stared.

Norm sighed.

“Ya know, kid, normally people don’t make it this easy. I barely even had to do anything. I feel kind of cheated.”

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Lila demanded, gesturing to the insect.

“It’s your wish. Duh. I mean, I knew people made stupid first wishes but...wow. This is actually worse than the sandwich.”

She wasn't even going to ask.

“My wish was about Ladybug! Not just a normal ladybug! I’m talking about the superhero, Ladybug!”

Norm shrugged. “Well you should have been more specific.”

She practically growled. “Who else would I be talking about?!”

Norm, for his part, was less than impressed.

“I’ve been in a lamp. How should I know?”

Lila huffed before storming over to her computer and turning it to face Norm, showing a picture of a heroine in a red leotard with black spots in mid-swing between buildings.

“THIS is Ladybug. A magical do-gooder who protects the city from Hawk Moth. I want to see her destroyed. Brought low in every way that matters and forced to beg me for mercy.”

“I see.” Norm said, not really getting it at all.

Kids these days, was he right?

“So grant my wish.” She demanded. “I wish for Ladybug, the superhero, to be beaten and kneeling before me.”

Upping it, wasn’t she?

He shrugged. “Fine.”

POOF!

Some distance away, in the middle of an akuma fight, an injured Ladybug was sent flying back into a delivery van full of discarded papers to be shredded for recycling, scattering the papers around her. Winded, she fell into a kneeling position. It just so happened that one of the many papers that on the ground right in front of her was a poster of Lila from one of her photo shoots with Adrien.

Ladybug took no notice of this, being much more concerned with the akuma attack. She quickly pushed herself up and leapt back into the fray.

Lila and Norm watched this on a television from the safety of her apartment some distance away.

“What the hell was that?!” Lila demanded, spinning on Norm.

“Your wish.” He answered bluntly. “She’s beaten. She kneeled.”

“But not to me!”

“Technically, she did.” He corrected her, gesturing to the TV where the now rumpled and sad-looking poster of her image rested where Ladybug had once been. It seemed the hero had even stepped on it once as she took off. Norm bit down the smirk at the unintended irony.

Lila glared at him.

Then she seemed to realize something as she suddenly gained a thoughtful look.

“Can I wish for more wishes?”

Oh, NOW she starts asking smart questions.

Norm stared at her, considering.

He should lie.

He really should lie and say she couldn’t.

From what he’s seen of her so far, this girl seemed a few wires short of a Crock-pot, and speaking of, he was starting to get some flashbacks. His previous time working with Crocker reminded him full well why it was a bad idea to let the humans know they could wish for additional wishes. Plus this girl was already giving him the feeling that the sooner he was away from her, the better.

…but he had spent years as a urinal cake and given what Lila had told him about magical-based superheroes, well, how could he turn away from an opportunity?

“Sure.” He finally answered, much to Lila’s glee.

“Then I wish for three more wishes!” She exclaimed. “And for my first wish, I wish that Ladybug—the superhero Ladybug whom you just saw would be forced to kneel before myself—the me that is right here before you.”

Lila smirked, figuring that it was specific enough that there was no way this could be turned against her.

How little she knew.

The POOF of Norm’s magic was immediately drowned out by complete chaos as something came crashing through the wall and into Lila’s bedroom.

Lila screamed as she was blown back, and covered her face in a limited ability to protect herself from further onslaught.

Coughing could be heard, but it wasn’t just Lila. She dared to peek through her hands and…

Of all people, it was Ladybug crouched on the floor of her room, coughing and waving away the dust and debris.

And sure enough, her position of trying to regain her bearings had her turned in Lila’s directions, head bowed and on her knees. Just as Lila had asked for.

But not in the way she had wanted.

Norm had conveniently vanished from sight, so there was no one else for Ladybug to see besides Lila. Realizing where she was and who she was in front of, Ladybug couldn’t hide her initial scowl before she was able to mask the expression and focus in on the task at hand.

“My apologies, civilian.” She bit out. “Akuma attack. Just stay here and stay safe for now. This won’t take much longer.”

And without another word, she shakily got to her feet and turned back to the attack.

Given Ladybug’s state, Lila could have been in a perfect position to try to interfere. Grab her. Maybe even get her earrings.

But the crash had sent Lila herself falling back, and she was even more unsteady than Ladybug.

She tried to push herself up, but realized that in the chaos, some debris had landed on her leg, preventing her from moving.

Of all the rotten luck!

Ladybug left without further ado and Lila was stuck in her room with a hole in her wall and no way to move from her spot on the floor.

Conveniently, Norm reappeared once she was alone.

“Soooo…just a suggestion, kid, but maybe you should try wishing for something else. Something that doesn’t involve superhero ladybugs.”

“Shut up.” She groused as she struggled to push the broken bits of her desk off her leg and grunting in pain.

Norm, of course, did not shut up.

“I take it you want to use your second wish to restore your room? And your third to wish for more wishes?” He asked, but it was clear he wasn’t actually asking.

“Yes!”

The sooner the better.

With another POOF, her room was restored and her leg, while still injured, was no longer pinned. Cautiously, she rose to her feet, hanging onto her bed for stability.

As if to further mock her, it seemed that Ladybug had successfully defeated the akuma as the Miraculous Cure swept through the area, restoring everything else.

Norm blinked in surprise.

“Huh. Didn’t know that could happen. Well, that was a waste of a wish, huh?”

Lila twitched.

__________________

“Okay. Okay.”

She had thought about this long and hard.

Much to her frustration, it seemed wishing anything against Ladybug directly was doomed to failure. Lila attributed it to Ladybug’s magic and natural luck. There could be no other reason for it. Lila’s phrasing and intentions had been fool-proof.

Norm’s smirks and passive aggressive comments didn’t mean a thing.

As such, Lila reluctantly turned her focus away from her arch nemesis to the more civilian side of things and decided to target someone who had no such protection.

The only one to figure out she was a liar: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She didn’t know how the other girl knew so quickly. Or what led her to the truth.

And Lila didn’t particularly care.

Marinette was just another thorn in her side. Not nearly as irritating as Ladybug, but still enough to want her gone. And since Lila had a genie and three more wishes to use to her advantage, it seemed Marinette would serve as the perfect way to test it.

And so, Lila made the first of her next three wishes.

“I wish that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was forced to leave Francois Dupont.”

A bit on the extreme side, admittedly. If she was being honest, Lila would have preferred to keep Marinette around and wish her to be miserable in some other way instead. But she had the power of a genie at her command and given Marinette’s annoyingly clever and intrusive nature, it would likely only be a matter of time before she caught on to Lila’s new advantage and tried something to relieve her of it.

So the brat had to go.

And oh, what a wonderful scene it was when two serious and official looking men stepped into the classroom to ask for Marinette to go with them to the Principal’s office. The goody-goody left the room looking scared. Everyone whispered and looked to each other in confusion, questioning why and what happened. Who were those men and what could they want with Marinette?

Lila practically felt downright giddy at the sight! She couldn’t wait to see the other girl in tears!

It was almost two hours later when Marinette was brought back to the room by Principal Damocles. Both looked pale and fatigued. But Marinette in particular looked almost tearful.

“Pardon us, Ms. Bustier, but Marinette is just here to gather her things.”

Lila had to hold herself back from grinning and instead put on a fake look of concern.

“Oh no! Marinette, are you all right?”

"Girl, what happened?" Alya asked, worriedly.

“What did those guys want?” Adrien questioned in concern.

Marinette shook her head. "I'm being transferred.”

Here, Lila did smirk even as everyone else around her gasped in dismay.

Damocles patted Marinette’s shoulder, his fatigue giving way to cheer. “Those gentlemen were representatives of one of the most highly acclaimed private art schools in Paris, and they came to interview Marinette for a place in their program!”

"WHAT?!"

Any smirk Lila did show immediately dropped.

“They saw my hat at the fashion show and other designs from my website, and once they heard that I was complimented by Audrey Bourgeois, they decided to offer me a scholarship to come to their school." Marinette explained, looking a mix of excited and anxious.

“That’s wonderful!”

“You deserve it, Marinette!”

“That’s right! It’s a great honor!” Damocles continued. “Of course, they were rather insistent about arranging the transfer, but it’s early enough in the school year and—”

Lila didn’t pay any attention to anything further of Damocles’s prattling and barely even noticed the way everyone else in the classroom cheered and showered Marinette in congratulations and praise.

Nobody paid much attention to Lila for the rest of the school day. Which was just as well, as it allowed her to skip out and storm back home.

Where she found Norm. Sunbathing on her balcony. And messing with her laptop.

He only noticed she was there when she slammed the door open.

“What?” He snarked. “Not what you wanted?”

“Undo it. NOW.”

“You sure?” He asked. “I mean, she’ll still be gone. There’ll be no one to call out your depressingly obvious lies. And with her not being around as much, your little followers are bound to lose touch with her over time and be all yours to screw with.”

“The point is for her to be miserable! UNDO IT!”

The next day, it was with some disappointment as Marinette informed her classmates that while the school had wanted her, the school only had limited slots and apparently the men who came to interview her hadn't been aware the vacancy had already been filled.

"It was still a bit too early for me to start there anyway." Marinette added. "I double checked, and they're a fully fledged lycee. They were apparently figuring I could skip ahead a grade and start there sooner."

"Weird."

"But impressive!"

"Yeah, you totally deserve it, dudette!"

"You'll just have to try for next year." Alya said, moving to wrap an arm around Marinette’s shoulder. “But I’m glad you’ll be with us for a while longer.”

Marinette smiled back, happy and relieved. “Yeah!”

Lila glared at the happy group from around a corner.

So this fell through. But next time would work.

She was smarter than some shut-in genie. She was bound to find a way to make a wish that would give her exactly what she wanted.

And when she did…

Lila smirked.

Ladybug would be as good as gone.

#ml fic #ml crossover #fairly odd parents #lila sucks #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #be careful what you wish for #lila is not careful #my-crack-ulous

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mochegato · 3 years

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Even the Losers

Chapter 19

Thank you guys for your patience! I took a week of vacation to focus on relaxing and catching up on this fic but I’m a wife and a mom so that’s the exact opposite of what happened. But I’m back now. I still won’t have daily updates, but it shouldn’t be weeks in between anymore.

Chapter 1 Chapter 18

Marinette looked up at the Wayne Enterprises building, craning her neck in an attempt to see all the way up. This was only her second time seeing the building up close and it was no less intimidating the second time around. There was nothing inherently intimidating about the building. It was large and imposing, but that was the only characteristic that would be considered intimidating.

It was more a feeling, an aura, she got from the name, the history, the expectations and obligations that hit her every time she saw the building. Like something was weighing down on her for just being in its presence. Something pushing her away and pulling her in at the same time. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her eyes never once leaving the building’s façade.

She almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “You sure you’re okay with this?” Max asked quietly. “We don’t have to do this today.”

Marinette shook her head, her eyes still pinned to the building. “Yes we do. I’ve pushed it off too long already. At this point, I’m getting favoritism by not getting lectured for it.”

Max looked around to make sure nobody was listening. “If it helps, I don’t think M. Wayne is the type to confront you at work.”

Marinette scoffed and gave him a pointed look. “That is exactly the type of man he is. Confront in a public place where it is likely to create a scene if I say ‘no’ and ask me to speak with him in a more private venue.”

Max gave her a small sympathetic smile. “Bad time to mention that you appear to have similar approaches to confronting people who are avoiding you?”

Marinette glowered at him, but only slightly. He wasn’t wrong. She was usually the one doing the avoiding, but if she had to confront someone who was proving elusive, such as when she had approached M. Fox the first time, it was an approach she would take. Didn’t mean she liked it. Either the tactic or the similarity in thinking process… or maybe she did like the similarity. It was a link to him. A subconscious, constant, unchanging connection to her biological father.

“I just mean to point out that if you do think alike, then you can anticipate his next moves and plan accordingly. You can use it to your advantage. You’re Harry Potter to his Voldemort,” Max offered with a supportive smile.

Marinette blinked a few times before turning to him wide eyed. “Did you just compare your boss, my biological father, to Voldemort?”

Max’s eyes widened in realization. “I… no… I… what I meant…”

He was cut off by Marinette’s laughter. It took several minutes for the laughter, loud enough to draw the attention and gawking of employees passing them by as they made their way into work, to die down enough for her to eke out words. “First a snake, now Voldemort. The man cannot get a break.” She wiped away the laughing tears from her eyes. “At least nobody’s compared him to Umbridge yet, so there’s that.”

She finally settled enough to pat Max on the back, her expression still amused, a wide smile on her lips. “Thank you, Max. I’ll consider that.” She turned back to the building and her bright smile dulled until it disappeared.

Max frowned at the change. He was very familiar with Marinette’s anxiety, it was an integral part of who she was. It had been since he first met her. But he had yet to figure out how to get her out of it. Alya and Adrien were always so good at getting her out of her head. What would they do? Max stared at her while he tried to remember how Adrien and Alya responded to Marinette’s anxiety spirals.

They had already reached the front steps before he decided however they would respond that wasn’t him. He pointed out facts then let people make their decisions based on the information. Then they might, or if it were Kim definitely would, make a stupid choice, but at least they had the information beforehand. “If it helps, M. Wayne used to walk through the department twice a day. But the last few days he’s only seen him in the afternoon, so I don’t think he will be there this morning.”

Marinette looked down, tapping her fingers together, avoiding his eyes. She closed her eyes and mentally berated herself. Why was she still such a coward? Avoiding her problems as though that had ever made things better for her. Avoiding Luka after they broke up just made him feel terrible and made her feel like a horrible person. And here she was doing the same thing, like she hadn’t learned a damn thing. She needed to talk to M. Wayne eventually, she knew that, she just didn’t know what to say or how to make it better yet.

She finally looked up guiltily at Max. “I’m sorry. I’m just not ready to see him yet, I haven’t figured out what I want to say, so that does help, knowing I still have time.” She let out a deep breath and squared her shoulders before making her way to the front door.

They slowly made their way to the elevator, focusing on each other and their path to the elevators, pretending like they didn’t see the people staring at her and whispering to each other. Once they were alone on the elevator, nobody to overhear their conversation, Max spoke up. “Maybe,” Max started quietly, “maybe, you don’t need to know what you want to say. Maybe you should let him say what he wants to say and go from there.”

He looked up at Marinette, a slight furrow in his brow. “From what you and Adrien said, it sounds like he may have some questions or may want to apologize. You had the last word, perhaps it would be most appropriate and in spirit of the rules of conversation to allow him the first in the next conversation.”

Marinette nodded at his reasoning. He was right. M. Wayne likely had a lot of questions and she hadn’t exactly let him have a say in their last conversation, perhaps it was only fair to allow him to have his say this time. She gave him a resolute nod and stood up straighter. “You’re right, Max. I should let him decide the next steps. I decided the last ones.”

Max turned and shook his head. “No. That is not what I am saying.” He looked her in the eyes for a moment before looking away and fixing his glasses. “What I meant to insinuate is it doesn’t have to all be on you. You don’t have to take responsibility for everything. There are two people in the conversation, in the relationship. You don’t have to take responsibility for moving either forward. He is responsible as well. You shouldn’t take it all on your shoulders.”

Marinette opened her mouth to say something but closed it quickly, not entirely sure what she wanted to say to that. She was saved from having to respond by the elevator doors opening. She stepped off and turned to Max with a plastered on smile. “Ready?”

Max looked down into his bag and raised his eyebrows at Markov as he stepped off the elevator. Markov displayed down-turned eyes and a frown. “Right, well,” Max started, much too loudly. He stood up tall and adjusted his glasses as Markov flew up next to him. “I promised to show you around the department. Come on, they’ve made some great progress. You should see the plans. You might have insights on the different directions we’ve been considering.”

The tour was short, it wasn’t a large department, but extremely enlightening. They were already making great progress. There was a mountain of failed prototypes with in depth analytic reports on their development and why they failed, ways to change it for the next attempt. There weren’t many employees in the department and they all smiled at Max and Markov as they passed and gave friendly nods. It seemed like nobody was upset that their former head of the department had been ousted and had welcomed Max with open arms.

“Ms. Dupain Cheng,” Lucius called out, making his way off the elevator and toward her and Max. He smiled warmly at Marinette and clasped her hand between his to shake it. “It’s been too long.”

Marinette chuckled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “It’s been like three days since we talked.”

Lucius grinned. His eyes gleamed with a mischievous glint that reminded her of the sweet older men who would come into the bakery and “flirt” innocently with her maman and her when she was older but then wax poetic about their wives, their entire faces brightening when their wives joined them. “Like I said, too long.” He chuckled along with Marinette and backed up a step. “Thank you for meeting me here. I trust Mr. Kante and Markov showed you around the department and pointed out your office.”

“They have,” Marinette looked at Max and Markov with a smile. “It looks like they’re in good hands. I don’t think I’ve seen Max this giddy since he got a tour of CERN.”

“That is great to hear. And did he run over the different options we’ve been discussing?” Lucius motioned toward the white board and neatly stacked piles of reports on the tables next to the board.

“He did,” Marinette assured him, her face turning serious as she looked at the piles of reports.

“Very briefly,” Max added.

Marinette kept her eyes focused on the whiteboard, looking over the bullet points of their conversations. “They are very ambitious plans. It will certainly be a challenge for designing and a lot to consider.”

“In any way in particular?” Lucius prompted.

Marinette considered his question for a few moments and looked between Max and Lucius. Max nodded to her. She nodded back. “If you're talking about changing the rigidity of the fabric, then I’ll need to consider how that will affect the shape. If I have it molded to a person's body when it's soft, when it gets stiff it won’t bend the same way, so it’ll lose that shape. I’d have to figure out how to make it still work.

“We should really discuss intentions for the clothes so I can design appropriately and we can make sure there is a market for the clothes.” Lucius looked at her curiously. “How large of a difference are you thinking? Because the larger the difference, the more difficult to design, but also to wear. Unless you have some way that you're keeping it in shape regardless of how rigid it is. So you need to figure out if that is an important issue for you or not. Also, thread.”

“Thread?” Max blinked a few times

“Thread,” Marinette repeated with a curt nod. “The thread I use on say silk is a lot more delicate than the thread I use on jeans or leather. Those materials are stiffer and harder and need thicker thread to hold them. But I can't use thicker thread on things like silk because it weighs the fabric down too much and ruins the shape, so you need to think about the thread. It needs to be something that can work with delicate fabric but will still hold without breaking when the fabric changes.

“Also color. If you are going to change the fabric color, then the thread will likely have to change as well.” She looked between the two men. Max was staring toward the white board with the algorithms on it in contemplation. Lucius pursed his lips as he looked at the desk. Marinette rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. “But that’s just off the top of my head. I can come up with more insightful once I’ve had more time to think.”

“That is quite a lot to consider,” Lucius nodded, finally looking back at her. “Those are important points we hadn’t yet considered but will have to be incorporated immediately. Thank you. I would very much like to discuss this further, but with more of the project involved and give you time to review some materials. Would you be available on Monday? That should give us and you time to prepare to discuss the options.”

Marinette frowned and pulled out her phone to see her calendar. “That should work.” She scoffed and waved her phone helplessly. “I pull this out like I’ve been putting anything in my calendar on it. We’re in Metropolis this weekend. I should be back by Monday.”

“Monday it is,” Lucius agreed. “Now that that is settled, I’d like to talk about logistics, setup, and ask a few questions up in my office.”

Marinette’s smile immediately dropped. She froze, her eyes widening. “Oh… um… That sounds…”

Lucius looked around the room to see who was looking their way and who might be listening in. He lowered his voice until only she and Markov could her and leaned slightly closer. “Mr. Wayne hasn’t been in before noon the last few days. I happen to know he has asked his PA to reschedule his morning appointments for today as well.” He shrugged and leaned back, keeping his voice low. “No real importance to that information just that there’s nobody up there with whom I can drink tea and it is about tea time for me.”

Marinette let out a small breath and gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’d love tea.”

Lucius motioned toward the elevators. “Shall we?” He fell into step beside her. “We assume you won’t spend much time in your office, but it is fully equipped in case you would like to use it or split your time.”

“Thank you,” Marinette nodded lightly. “I haven’t decided what I want to do yet.” She looked up at him uncertainly. “Or what the contract would allow.”

Lucius grinned as he walked off the elevator on the executive floor. “It is a partnership with a designer, not employment. You are working with us, not for us. As long as we can contact you and get the fabric to you, we will allow whatever you need, Ms. Dupain Cheng.” He nodded to Bruce’s PA.

“Mr. Fox,” Bruce’s PA called out. “I wanted to double check that the new time works for your meeting today with Mr. Wayne.”

“Yes, Mr. Cortland. The new time is fine. I’ll be in my office for a bit. Can you send someone to bring in some tea for us please?” Mr. Cortland nodded and sat back down, picking up the phone to make the arrangements. Lucius opened his office door and motioned for Marinette to enter. After she had taken a seat at the small conference room Lucius watched her with a concerned look for a few seconds. “So is the trip to Metropolis for business or pleasure?”

“A bit of both,” she smiled at him. “Metropolis is one of the places we’re considering moving to so we want to look around and see if it’s some place we would like to live. Really, it’s just touring around the city.”

“You’re still deciding on where you want to live then,” he noted.

Marinette started to respond but paused when a man came in with a tray with a tea kettle and cups. She thanked him and waited until he’d left before speaking more about her plans. “We’re still thinking, yes. We’re not extremely excited to live in New York. Honestly, I think if we like Metropolis well enough this weekend, we might make the decision. Assuming Adrien gets offered the position he applied for, which I am.”

Lucius nodded as he took a sip of tea. He quirked his head to the side as he considered her answer. “Metropolis is certainly more manageable than other options, workwise, I mean. We could still have some in person meetings. Getting fabric to you would definitely be easier than say Paris, but we can push off making a decision on the logistics on that. Until then, let’s make sure you have access to the network. We’ll talk to Mr. Cortland about it when we’re done with our tea.”

Marinette smiled at him and took a sip of her tea. Lucius watched her for a moment, drinking more of his tea as well. “You know,” he started slowly, “Metropolis is close enough, you could choose to live between there and Gotham and be close enough for both of you to commute, him to Metropolis and you to Gotham… if you wanted to base your company here.”

Marinette froze momentarily, her lips perched on the edge of her teacup. She set the cup back down without taking a drink. She stared at drink for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I don’t think basing my operation in Gotham is a good idea,” she said quietly. She looked up at him with a smile and immediately looked away. The smile was supposed to be confident, quirky, not shaky. She took a moment to breathe and refocus.

“I’m trying to build my own brand without depending on M. Wayne. I’m going to face enough criticism and skepticism as it is without setting up my company ten feet from his.” She looked back at Lucius with a steely resolve. “I’ll finish my contract to the best of my ability. I’ll work with you in the future, not doing so would be business suicide, but I think a little bit of space might be good… for us both.”

Lucius gave her an understanding look. He knew something had happened. There was a reason Bruce was no longer coming in in the mornings and looked like Tim after a research bender when he finally did come in, like he had been up all night protecting someone. But he had also seen Tim’s reactions to him, the disappointed, frustrated, annoyed looks and passive aggressive comments about communication. All of which means Bruce was brooding and not talking to Marinette about it.

He swirled the tea in his cup. “You know, Bruce takes protecting those around him very seriously. He’s lost so much and is terrified of losing more. He’d give everything he has, everything he is, to protect someone he loves. But he also takes on all the guilt when he failed.”

Marinette sighed deeply and looked away, her eyes suddenly desolate. “He told you about dinner,” she said quietly.

Lucius frowned at the implications of her statement. He’d guessed Bruce had started brooding because of the Riddler incident, but clearly there was something more going on. “No. I didn’t know about dinner, I just know Bruce. I know his guilty brooding. I also know Tim and his disappointed anger at Bruce.” He leaned in closer toward her conspiratorially despite her not looking at him, hoping it would still get a smile out of her. “I’ve seen it a lot.”

He leaned back with a gentle smile. “So I don’t know what happened, but I know Bruce feels like he failed you. Which means he’s afraid of saying or doing something to make it worse, so he’s probably avoiding you, which is probably making it worse.” He faced her with a frown. “Because the worst thing in his mind is hurting you.”

Marinette continued staring at the cityscape outside the window and took a long sip of her tea. “That’s an awfully proper and long winded way to say ‘he had a reason for being an asshole and you should excuse him for it.’”

“Well, I do strive to be proper,” Lucius chuckled mirthlessly. “But I never said you should excuse him for it. I suppose it's something that the rest of us have learned to accept about him. We put up with it, but that doesn't mean you have to.”

“The problem is…” she quirked her lips as she sought the words to properly express her thoughts, “everyone keeps explaining why he acts the way he does as though that makes it okay, as though there’s some obligation on me because of it. Like understanding it means I have to build a great relationship despite it. But… there has to be trust somewhere in there too, doesn’t there? Understanding, compassion, those are supposed to go both ways, aren’t they? Everyone’s asking me to be more understanding, more forgiving, but nobody’s asking the same of him. It isn’t supposed to be the job of the child to do all the work.”

“He does get asked to do that. You don’t see it, but he is getting asked. I assure you his other children are making their positions clear,” Lucius assured her softly. “And I assure you he knows he isn’t doing what he should, but he is trying.”

Marinette scoffed. “He’s shit at it.” She took a long sip and watched some birds flying outside the window.

“I don’t disagree.” Lucius fought keeping the amused tone out of his voice, but it was a hard fight. “This whole situation is filled with everyone trying to do the right thing but failing… constantly, talking past each other, working past each other, sacrificing parts of yourselves thinking it will help, but it really just hurting everyone. It’s a comedy of errors.”

“Except it’s real life, and in real life it isn’t so funny,” Marinette whispered. She stood up and moved to the window, crossing her arms over her chest protectively.

“No, it isn’t,” Lucius agreed softly. He quietly rose up and stood next to her at the window, keeping his gaze focused outside the building. “Real life is work. Real life is hard. Real life hurts. Real life is less than ideal almost always. This situation isn’t ideal, but it doesn’t have to be abysmal either. You can choose to make the best of it.”

“But what’s the best that this situation can be?” Her voice was so quiet Lucius almost didn’t hear it.

“That is up to you and Bruce to decide.”

“It’s not just us though, is it?” she noted quietly.

“This part is,” Lucius assured her. “This part is just between you two. Your relationship with your siblings is separate and you can work that part out with them. One doesn’t have to affect the other.” He chuckled lightly, his eyes unfocusing slightly as he remembered something. “The other children have proved that well enough.”

She looked out to the skyline again, letting his words settle in, considering what they meant and if she believed them. “How do you forget? How do you move on?”

Lucius shook his head gently. “Moving on isn’t about forgetting. It’s about learning and adapting.”

Marinette finally looked over at him, her eyes pleading, looking more lost than he had seen her look before. “But what’s my lesson? What is it I’m supposed to learn here?”

Lucius’ lips turned up into a sympathetic smile. He laid a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t answer that.”

She shook her head and looked out the window again. “Because the only thing I see so far is that I shouldn’t trust M. Wayne. That I’m never going to be…” she sighed heavily and looked down. She took another deep breath and looked back up. “Weren’t there setup issues we had to resolve?”

Lucius stared at her for a few seconds, compassion shining in his eyes. “Yes we do,” he nodded lightly allowing her to change the subject. He patted her on the back and encouraged her toward the door. “Let’s get you in the system so you have access to the building and a secure email. We’ll order a laptop for you too so you can access the documents on the network.”

“Mr. Cortland,” he called out. “Can you get Ms. Dupain Cheng set up with a secure laptop with access to the network and the basic programs installed, please? And request an email for her.”

“Of course, sir,” David nodded to Lucius and started typing.

“Did you say Dupain Cheng,” a new voice spoke up. Marinette picked up on the excitement and interest in his voice with extreme apprehension. Marinette whipped around to the new voice. She looked over to Lucius to see how he responded. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw his easy smile.

“Mr. Dowd,” he held his hand out to him, “it’s good to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Mr. Dowd gave him a bright smile. Marinette stared at him curiously. He was about her age and was too excited and happy to be an employee. Not that the Wayne Enterprises employees she’d come across so far hadn’t seemed happy or excited about their projects, but they had a professional demeanor that Mr. Dowd didn’t seem to share. “It’s always good to see you. How’s Luke?” He looked between the two of them though his eyes lingered on Marinette as if waiting until it was polite to start talking with her.

Lucius chuckled. “He’s doing well. He is supposed to come visit next weekend. I’d like to say it’s because of me, but I believe he has a date or two planned with Ms. Gordon. But let me introduce you to Ms. Dupain Cheng.” He motioned to Marinette. “Mr. Dowd, this is Ms. Dupain Cheng. Ms. Dupain Cheng, this is Mr. Dowd.”

Bernard rolled his eyes. “Please call me Bernard. I’m Tim’s boyfriend. It’s really nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you.” He held his hand out to her.

Marinette immediately relaxed and shook it. That explained the excitement and interest. It wasn’t a random person wanting a scoop on the Wayne family, it was someone wanting to get to know his boyfriend’s family. “It’s really nice to meet you. I didn’t even know Tim was dating.” Her eyes widened immediately. “Not that he doesn’t talk about you! I just haven’t had the chance to really talk to him yet.”

Bernard smiled at her for a few seconds. He shifted back and forth on his feet awkwardly. Marinette opened her mouth to tell him she had to get back to work when Bernard spoke up. “Hey, Tim and I were going to get lunch in his office. Want to join us? We were just ordering from the cafeteria because he has a meeting scheduled in like an hour. We can add something for you.”

Marinette looked over to Lucius anxiously. Lucius smiled at her and nodded in understanding. “We don’t have much more to finish, just waiting for the laptop to arrive. There’s no reason for you to sit around and wait. Go ahead.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. That wasn’t what she wanted him to understand! That wasn’t what she was trying to communicate to him. She hadn’t had really talked to Tim and every time they were close he froze up or got so tense she swore he was going to give himself a headache. Spending time with him and his boyfriend while he acted like everything was okay wasn’t going to end well for either one of them. She narrowed her eyes at Lucius. She honestly wasn’t sure if he misunderstood the source of her anxiety or if he knew what it was from the start and decided to ignore it.

Marinette turned to Bernard with a forced smile but it relaxed into a soft smile when she saw how excited he was to spend time with her. “That sounds really nice. Thank you, Bernard. Please call me Marinette.”

“Awesome, Marinette,” Bernard’s grin was a brilliant as Adrien’s and Marinette couldn’t suppress the giggle that came out. He led her toward Tim’s office. “By the end of the day, I’m going to get you to let me call you Mari. That’s the new goal for the day.”

Marinette tried unsuccessfully to suppress a snort. “And what was the old goal?”

“Prove the Miraculous team in France are actually fae,” he answered with conviction. He looked over at her, his face somehow becoming even brighter. “Hey, you’re from Paris, right? Maybe you can help answer some questions for me. This is perfect.”

Marinette stared at him wide eyed, frozen in place until Bernard looped his arm around hers and gently pulled her toward Tim’s office. Marinette chuckled and shook her head. She needed to record this conversation. Alya was going to die laughing.

Chapter 20

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#maribat #bio!dad bruce #bio dad bruce wayne #roynette #mbdbwm2021 #Even the Losers #prompt - Consolation/Advice

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ilikekidsshows · 3 years

Note

how much do you think Adrien and Marinette's relationship developed from season 1 to 3 ?

Very well, as a self-professed connoisseur of all things slowburn, let me go over the Adrinette development that has happened in the show up until the season three finale and educate this fandom on the subtle beauty that is the Adrinette arc. This is gonna be long, because, apparently, there's a lot of material to cover, because this relationship can fit so much development into it.

Let's go in chronological order (as far as I can tell). In 'Origins', Marinette first started becoming a stuttering mess around Adrien when he opened up to her about how he wanted to make friends, becoming infatuated with the sensitive side he showed. Meanwhile, Adrien is excited over the prospect of having made a friend.

In 'The Bubbler', Marinette only manages to get out an awkward "hey," at Adrien and Adrien mimics her, in lack of a better response. He barely seems to know her at this point.

Marinette begins her infatuation with Adrien by simply thinking about him and fantasizing about him. In 'Stormy Weather' we hear Marinette's daydream, fully fleshed out on the details of what their children should be named, but not sure what their pet should be. Adrien seems pleased to see Marinette, but doesn't seek her out, also maintaining some distance.

Then comes 'Mr. Pigeon'. Adrien finds out Marinette is into designing and is taken aback by her verbal floundering. He also didn't know Marinette's last name. When he introduces Marinette to his father, there's an awkward silence after, like he'd finished the sentence too early, because he did, he never said her last name. Adrien knew Marinette existed, and was interested to know more about her, but that's it. Meanwhile Marinette speaks complete nonsense to Adrien, unable to remember what words even are.

In 'Evillustrator' Adrien seeks Marinette out of his own volition, having the perfect conversation starter in her encounter with Cat Noir. He wants to know what she thinks of him. Meanwhile, Marinette manages to get full, coherent sentences out, but keeps saying contradicting things. Adrien responds to Marinette with a drawn out "okay," starting to learn to just go with it and, at the end of the interaction, pats Marinette's shoulder companionably as he leaves. He thinks they're familiar enough for him to touch her casually, he was just waiting for the chance because he’s so touch-starved.

'Horrificator' doesn't actually show Adrien and Marinette interacting directly outside the acting scenes, where Adrien is very receptive to having Marinette as his co-star, but Adrien gets to see Marinette at her best, helping people out and solving problems. This episode is where Adrien starts to form his opinion of Marinette as someone dependable.

In 'Animan', Adrien knows Nino likes Marinette and is fully supportive. He's convinced Marinette would be receptive to Nino just acting natural and not doing anything special, so he thinks Marinette is a kind and warm person. He has no reason to think Marinette is into him instead. Marinette fumbles around Adrien again, and this time Adrien doesn't react at all: he's used to it.

In 'Kung Food', Adrien rushed to help Marinette the instant he heard from Alya that Marinette needed help. Marinette manages to get her meaning across even as she fumbles. When they have a discussion about Marinette's uncle, Marinette doesn't stutter once, and Adrien holds Marinette's shoulders when he comforts her. They managed to keep to casual interactions during the episode because they have other things to focus on.

In 'Gamer', Adrien is very casual around Marinette, inviting himself over to practise the game and being pretty frank about his insecurity as Marinette's gaming partner. Marinette responds first in a way that devalues Adrien's feelings ("No, you're amazing, I'm bad"), but eventually gives Adrien the lucky charm as a gesture of accepting him as her partner, a gesture Adrien will treasure for several episodes to come. Also, this episode has more casual shoulder-touching from Adrien to Marinette. (Aside note: Cat Noir later mimics Tom's body language in the episode, so Marinette's parents really made a first impression that stuck.)

In 'Volpina', Marinette shields Adrien from Fu's suspicions, but does briefly entertain the thought that Adrien might be Hawk Moth. This could be part of her catastrophizing or realizing she doesn't know him well enough to know for sure. Marinette also saves Adrien from his father, for Adrien's sake, not even revealing her own involvement in the matter to get closer to him. Marinette just wanted to help him out.

'Despair Bear' has Adrien protect Marinette from making a scene and making herself look bad, something he'll do again later in 'Chameleon'. Adrien sees it as his place to interfere for Marinette's benefit in this way and he thinks about the possible repercussions Marinette might have gotten from accusing Chloé publically without evidence. Adrien also instantly gets the idea to ask Marinette to dance when she bumps into him and decides to just roll with him when Alya arranges them into the typical "slow dance" position. At the end of the episode we see the first instance of Adrien invading Marinette's personal space by leaning in to talk to her. All in all, Adrien is just very comfortable around Marinette in this episode.

'Gigantitan' is more about Marinette learning not to overthink, something she didn't entirely learn as she prefers to abort the entire mission rather than enter a scenario with Adrien she hadn't considered. But we see Adrien offering Marinette a ride home even when his bodyguard is impatient. He really wants to do a favor for her.

'Riposte' has the second attempt from Marinette to simply spend time with Adrien, after 'Gamer'. She went into a lot of effort to learn fencing on time for the try-outs. She accidentally compliments Adrien to his face, who is very grateful for the nice things Marinette said about him. Caught off guard, Marinette fumbles once more, but manages to recover. Adrien laughs in enjoyment of the occasion and Marinette shares the laugh. Adrien keeps showing how comfortable he is with touching Marinette when he tutors her. Meanwhile, Marinette is very flustered, but manages to focus on what she's doing, doing well enough for Adrien to notice.

Adrien also questions Marinette's call as the referee, not concerned with Marinette's possible negative reaction and Marinette does respond honestly, showing Adrien that he can trust her judgement. Adrien also gushes about Marinette to Kagami, when he insists that Marinette didn't deny her the point to be mean, and the affection in his glowing endorsement has Kagami immediately note that Adrien likes her a lot.

In 'Befana' Adrien admits that he always carries Marinette's lucky charm with him, which inspired him to make one for her as a gift. The episode even ends with him looking at his own charm fondly, as the narration brings up "the person giving (the gift)", signalling that Adrien is specifically thinking about Marinette, who gave him the charm.

When Adrien asks Marinette for a safe place to hide in 'Gorizilla', Marinette gets over her stuttering very quickly when she realizes Adrien is in trouble to help him. Even in the subway Marinette is able to focus on Adrien possibly getting into trouble at home instead of getting flustered again. Adrien sidesteps the concern by playing the situation down, reminding Marinette that he does, indeed, always carry the lucky charm he got from her with him. At the movies he's more upfront to her about the restrictions he's placed under and why the movie is so important to him. Also, at no point does he point out Marinette is in her PJs, even though he definitely noticed. He probably just thinks it's a Marinette Thing.

'Frozer' has Marinette go all out for Adrien's sake, not because she wants to be with him, but because she wants to see him happy. She gives him advice on how to pursue another girl and asks Luka out on a double date to be there for him. On this occasion Marinette also shows how she's not as selfish over Adrien here as she was back in 'Gamer', when she was very willing to rob Max of something he really wanted in order to spend more time with Adrien. Meanwhile, Adrien gets distracted from his actual date when he wants to make sure Marinette is okay. When Plagg accuses him of "going after Marinette", Adrien is surprised by the suggestion, and assured Plagg that Marinette is just a friend.

An interesting thing to note is that Adrien actually sounds uncertain in 'Frozer' when he calls Marinette a friend, the one time he does so (at least in the English dub). This is why, when Marinette asks him to go skating with her sometime, he does entertain the thought of it just being just the two of them (aka, a date). However, when Marinette assures him it would be a friendly outing with other people too, the moment passes, and Adrien forgets his doubts and agrees to a friend outing. Plagg put the idea in his head, and Marinette could have sealed the deal. This is another occasion where Adrien pats Marinette's shoulder.

'Troublemaker' is the episode where Marinette's self-sabotage really gets going, when she "reassures" Adrien that she'd never consider him attractive in a romantic way ever. Meanwhile, Adrien once again invades Marinette's personal space and implies he doesn't mind modeling if it's for Marinette as he invites her to a photoshoot and says he's glad to have her as one of his fans.

In 'Style Queen', Marinette is actually open with Adrien about her insecurities and Adrien reassures her, and he supports her in 'Queen Wasp'. He also says he'd be able to model for her if she made it in the business, repeating his desire to model for her specifically that he first stated in 'Troublemaker'.

In 'Reverser' Marinette panics when suddenly encountered with Adrien and having to explain what she's doing, but Adrien gets the gist of it, having learned to interpret most of the word vomit Marinette produces and astutely claims: "That's typical of you," about Marinette helping someone out and offers his assistance if she needs any.

In 'Maledictator', Adrien is brave enough to let Marinette know he disagreed with the reason she and everybody else was happy. He doesn't pretend to be fine with the "good riddance, Chloé '' party because, just as Adrien knew, Marinette doesn't judge him for being sad to see Chloé leave.

In 'Heroes' Day', Adrien admits he came to the picnic to tell Marinette just how highly he values her. He shows how much attention he pays to all the times Marinette has helped their classmates and gives the iconic line "You're our everyday Ladybug". Marinette manages to gather up her courage to kiss Adrien on the cheek in response. This is also a notable moment when Adrien opts out of the usual shoulder pat, implying the gesture is something Adrien does to cut away the physical distance between himself and Marinette, since such a thing wasn't necessary in 'Heroes' Day'. (This boy is touch-starved, guys!)

In 'Chameleon' Adrien starts trying to play mediator between Lila and Marinette but, when that didn't work out, he once again protects Marinette from making a bad call with an opponent out to wreck her reputation, but he also acknowledges that Marinette had been wronged and decided to personally support her by sitting next to her since she'd been having such a tough time that day. He just wanted to support her like a friend would.

'Backwarder' has Marinette try to take the easy route of confessing through a letter, which predictably ends up not going as planned. But, as Adrien said, he spent all weekend making sure he could help Marinette with something he thought she really needed help with. Adrien just really wants to be able to do things for Marinette.

'Weredad' gives us an interesting glimpse into how Adrien views Marinette in relation to romance, noting that he "didn't think Cat Noir was her type". He's most likely referring to Luka, since he's the only guy Adrien has seen Marinette with, and Luka is quiet, contained and thoughtful, nothing like how Adrien presents himself as Cat Noir. However, since Adrien doesn't consider himself a candidate, he does most likely consider himself more like Cat Noir than Luka, aka, not Marinette's type.

'Desperada' has one of Marinette's worst freakouts in a while. Adrien showed up suddenly, and Kagami challenged her directly by saying: "Are you here to watch your boyfriend practise?" Marinette also tries to shoehorn Adrien into every situation, be it a guitarist or superhero, possibly as a subconscious attempt to gain more control of the situation with Kagami. As Tikki said, Marinette has a troubled heart in this episode.

'Chrismaster' shows off the fact that Marinette has tons of presents prepared for Adrien in advance for different occasions. These were most likely prepared during the early stages of her infatuation, when she was admiring him from afar and fantasizing about him. Making presents "just in case" fits the fantasy model. At this point, she’s embarrassed over having done it.

In 'Startrain', Adrien immediately relaxes into sleep as well when Marinette falls asleep on his shoulder. This boy is touch-starved, guys, and Marinette's touch in particular calms and soothes him. Similarly, when Marinette wakes up in the middle of their nap, she settles right back to continue sleeping, no panic in sight.

'Stormy Weather 2' shows Adrien connecting Marinette's handwriting from the note on his homework with the valentine he got, and all of the misunderstandings together convince him he was mistaken. "She's just a friend who loves fashion," Adrien says with a downtrodden face, disappointed that Marinette couldn't care for him as more than "a friend who's also in fashion". He thinks of Marinette insisting that she'd never be into him, and of Marinette and Luka skating together, with obvious chemistry between them. And, in the end, when he says it's just someone with similar writing, he sounds wistful.

'Party Crasher' has Adrien insist Marinette is one of his guys, clearly missing her when he's hanging out with his school friends. In fact, when she does show up unexpectedly, he looks very pleased.

'Puppeteer 2' is an episode that sets up obstacles for Adrinette in addition to the misunderstandings listed in ‘Stormy Weather 2’. Marinette finds out Adrien is in love with someone else, and Adrien tries to share more parts of himself with Marinette, only for it to end very badly. Adrien has been getting braver about expressing himself to Marinette, but it's mostly been his opinions so far. In 'Puppeteer 2' Adrien tries to joke around with Marinette, only for Marinette to end up mortified and crying. This convinced Adrien that there's a part of him that Marinette won't be able to accept so he'll have to hold back with her.

Meanwhile, Marinette overcorrects because Manon, as kids are wont to do, keeps airing out all of her dirty laundry regarding Adrien, and so she convinces Adrien he's lucky she even kinda likes him. Adrien connects this with the fact that apparently his sense of humor is something that Marinette hates enough to cry over it.

The rest of season 3 stays on the course set by ‘Puppeteer 2’. Adrien still cares about Marinette immensely, even if he's convinced she doesn't like him nearly as much. He puts himself on the line to protect her from Lila in 'Ladybug', and neither he nor Kagami consider Marinette's presence on their outing third-wheeling in 'Heart Hunter'. Meanwhile, Marinette is pulling away, convinced Adrien and Kagami are the perfect match.

There you go, that's the Adrinette development, broken down step by step, during the first three seasons. As you can see, it's actually quite a lot, and some people might even notice more development tidbits.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #adrinette #lovesquare #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml meta #long post #popular

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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IOTA Reviews: Crocoduel

When you stop and think about it, this episode is really just the world's most intense custody battle.

Let's get into the thirteenth (chronologically the twelfth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Crocoduel

We start off with the band Kitty Section (composed of Luka, his timid sister Juleka, her “best friend” Rose, and Ivan) performing a concert for the super amazing Zoe and all the peons beneath her greatness (Alya, Alix, Nino, and Mylene). Luka notes its been a while since Marinette came to the Liberty. Because I guess even the show wants to forget the events of “Sole Crusher”.

Luka is still upset that Marinette hasn't wanted to be around him since their breakup, so after he walks away, the others scheme to force them to spend time together.

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Yep, even though they promised to back off in “Gang of Secrets”, Marinette's friends are once again trying to meddle in Marinette's personal life as well as Luka's this time. Because it's not like they can understand how hard it is for two exes to remain friends after a breakup and give them their space, right? They plan to invite Marinette to Luka and Juleka's birthday party while reminding the audience that they're twins.

YES. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TWINS. ASTRUC HAS NEVER SAID OTHERWISE OR CONTRADICTED THIS STATEMENT IN THE PAST.

LUKA WAS NEVER TWO YEARS OLDER THAN JULEKA, JUST LIKE THERE WAS NEVER A WAR IN BA SING SE.

In all seriousness, I do feel like I was a little hard on Astruc for this. Compared to other things he's made canon on Twitter, this is fairly minor, and we only knew Luka was the older brother at first through a tweet. And considering the other retcon we'll see in the very next scene, this isn't as big of a deal as I made it initially.

Alya invites Marinette to the party, but she easily deduces that it's a trap. Alya then tries to convince Marinette to talk to Luka.

Uh... since when? When did Marinette lose all romantic feelings for Luka? The whole point of the breakup in “Truth” was to show that she couldn't pursue a romantic relationship with Luka because of her duties as Ladybug. She never showed any signs of not loving him, which made the breakup all the more tragic. Yeah, “Mr. Pigeon 72” was an excuse for her to go back to loving Adrien because the writers don't know how to write anything else, but it didn't mean she stopped loving Luka. You know, it's almost like the writers want to make sure the audience knows Lukanette will never happen and the sacred Love Square is the only way Marinette will ever feel love for someone else.

Alya still forces Marinette to go, making her ask Juleka if Luka won't be there. Some people have gone down on Marinette for this, but she does later acknowledge how wrong this was to ask, and apologizes to Juleka for trying to force her to do something she didn't want to do. If only Marinette's friends learned the same lesson.

Juleka goes to tell Luka about the party, but hesitates to tell Luka he can't go there. While he knows Juleka is hiding something, Luka is distracted by the sudden arrival of his father who he loves despite abandoning him for his entire life, Jagged Stone. However, Luka and Juleka's mother, the anarchy-loving Anarka isn't happy that much like his sperm when the condom broke, Jagged came in without her permission.

At the day of the party, Marinette panics as soon as she sees Luka, who in turn realizes she didn't want to see him. Rather than comfort Juleka who just ran away crying, the others comfort Luka, preventing him from being akumatized by Shadowmoth, though he still keeps his Akuma around just to be safe. Marinette apologizes to Juleka before Shadowmoth can akumatize her too (even though she got a Magical Charm in “Guiltrip” so it wouldn't work either way). Then Shadowmoth tries to akumatize one of the guests as they find out Jagged (who just arrived) is Luka's father, but since they're dumb teenagers who don't know Jagged was winning awards and being celebrated as a rock icon while Anarka was working two jobs and struggling to make enough money for rent, they think it's awesome. Very confusing day for Shadowmoth, isn't it?

Marinette also finds out Jagged is Juleka's father and finds out Juleka worries Jagged loves Luka more since they share more interests, which she thinks is true when Jagged gives Luka a guitar case and instructs her to not tell his sister. Marinette tries to call out Jagged for neglecting Juleka over Luka even though Jagged was more of a father to his pet crocodile than either of his biological children, but it's obviously a gift for Juleka, the first bass guitar Jagged ever owned, which calms her down. Funny how nobody acknowledges how Jagged practically abandoned his family, isn't it? Sure, it looks like he's trying to make up for it, but he just acts like he's always been Luka and Juleka's dad and they don't have any problems with their father literally never being in their lives until now.

Jagged's gift to Luka is a record of the first record he made in his band with Anarka before they broke up, Crododuel, but Anarka is naturally pissed he wants to give that to Luka. Jagged and Anarka argue over which one was the Yoko Ono in their relationship while they both grab the record, which Shadowmoth uses to akumatize the two as it breaks, turning them back into Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock respectively, Shadowmoth labeling them as Crocoduel.

Unlike the other team Akumas like the Punishers or the Gang of Secrets, Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock care more about fighting each other than working together, and they see getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous as a competition to help prove who was right in their argument. It's a pretty interesting gimmick, though I don't get how Shadowmoth thinks this will help him and not ignore Ladybug and Cat Noir while they fight.

Alya provides a distraction to help Marinette transform, and after we get Adrien's single scene to remind the audience he's still a main character, he transforms into Cat Noir. The two heroes give chase, but then Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock decide to take their fight to above the clouds.

Yeah, it's not like you have a form that specifically allows you two to fly, right?

All they had to say was that Marinette was still making more potions for that form, and it would have been better than ignoring the fact that they can fly.

Much like the hotel room during the night Luka and Juleka were conceived, the crossfire from Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock's fight starts to damage the area around them. Ladybug and Cat Noir get Luka and Juleka to safety, and Luka tells them about what's happening, while Ladybug spouts the lesson about people needing to talk even though they don't love each other anymore, reflecting the situation the writers retconned her into learning.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, a roll of scotch tape, and comes up with an idea that involves Juleka. She takes her away into an alleyway and gives her the Tiger Miraculous. The tiger Kwami, Roarr, demands Juleka show some courage, so Juleka yells in her face. Unfortunately, as much as I want to show this scene, the subs I got don't really match up, so I can't really give some screenshots of it. So I guess you can watch this scene from Full Metal Jacket instead to get the gist of things.

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So Juleka takes the Tiger Miraculous and transforms into Purple Tigress.

I think the suit has a pretty good design. I like the striped pattern with the gold highlights around the black stripes, and think the color scheme is visually pleasing, especially the hair. I wouldn't call it one of my favorite hero suits, but I still like the way it looks.

Cat Noir launches Ladybug and Purple Tigress into the air where they split up to steal both halves of the record, but when they break them, no Akuma comes out. It turns out that since the record was broken while Jagged and Anarka were akumatized, they need to put it together again before breaking it in order to free the Akuma.

Purple Tigresse goes to distract Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock with her power, Collision, which she uses to KNOCK CAPTAIN HARDROCK'S SHIP ABOVE THE CLOUDS, TAKING GUITAR VILLAIN WITH HER.

Why the hell did it take four seasons to break this Miraculous out if it gives the user the ability to go Super Saiyan on the enemy? I think Cat Noir's expression after seeing the power in action says it all.

Cat Noir Cataclysms the record (because a record is just so hard to break without using the power of destruction, isn't it?), Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix everything, Jagged and Anarka somehow weren't killed by their own daughter, the three heroes pound it, and Ladybug gives two Magical Charms to Jagged and Anarka.

Back at the Liberty, Juleka tells the two to forget what caused them to break up and just apologize while they ignore the past, proving the writers really don't get how hard it is to move on from tough events in life. And despite building it up for the entire episode, Marinette and Luka talk in the final thirty seconds of the episode and just agree to be friends, meaning once again, Luka was sidelined in what should have been a focus episode for him.

Aside from the way Jagged and Anarka's relationship was portrayed coupled with the retcons surrounding Luka, this episode was alright in my opinion. Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock are some of my favorite Akumas, so I thought it was nice to see them again, even if we didn't get to see their powers at full potential. I also thought this was a really good episode for Juleka, as I felt like the hero debut really helped her grow as a person and didn't just feel like she was given a Miraculous because the plot said so. She wanted to help her parents, and using the Tiger gave her the courage to symbolically speak out while potentially launching them into the stratosphere.

But the biggest problem to me has to be the way Jagged is portrayed in the episode. Just like with “Truth”, the idea of Jagged being a terrible parent is just swept under the rug and everyone just accepts the fact that Jagged is Luka and Juleka's dad very well. Despite the idea leading to some interesting drama in a show that's no stranger to family drama, they don't really do much with the whole “Jagged abandoning Anarka” thing. Aside from a brief interaction between Luka and Jagged while the former was akumatized into Truth, nobody is really angry at Jagged. Nobody really feels angry at Jagged for what he did, despite the drama being the main focus behind the episode that also had the Lukanette breakup. You would think this would at least lead to some tension between his family, but nothing really comes from it other than an argument that was pretty much played for laughs. But considering this show has a history of teaching kids to love their parents no matter how cruel they are to them, I'm not entirely surprised.

Overall, it's just a decent, albeit forgettable episode. If the writing with Jagged was different, it could have been a lot better in my opinion.

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itsamiraculous · 3 years

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Alya and Secrets

So I started making a post about Alya and secrets a little while back, but after Sentibubbler I put it off as I wasn’t sure, however after Rocketear I feel as if it still stands.

Sentibubbler revealed to me that yes Alya can control things by herself, is loyal to Marinette and wouldn’t reveal her secret easily. I never wanted to insinuate that she ever would, but now after Rocketear, I feel as if my belief that Alya will make a mistake with the secrets department. Alya has told Nino about Rena Furtive when Marinette had firmly told her not to, knowing of Marinette’s fears and her position as Ladybug.

Alya decided to tell Nino everything because she doesn’t like keeping secrets from him, her relationship has never been like that. Her role as a journalist is to seek the truth as well. She is not comfortable with keeping secrets, and I don’t blame her for that, I think it’s actually very commendable. What I don’t agree with is that she has gone against Marinette. The repercussions could be dire, like what happened in Optygami, or it could cause a huge rift in their friendship. In Sentibubbler Marinette was afraid that all of her secrets would get out and that she would be betrayed by Alya. I believe that she will still have a “betrayal” by Alya (also by Chat, but that’s a different post). Then in Gang of Secrets she was afraid of telling Alya everything could change and potentially destroy their relationship.

Rocketear also highlighted again why Marinette keeps secrets. We see it breaking her relationships throughout this season; she is making sacrifices to those she cares about because of the role she takes on and the stakes as Ladybug and is breaking her and potentially all of her relationships, whether that be with family or other.

Rest lies below the cut, this is a long post

Her responsibilities are keeping her away from happiness, with her family, from her friends, and has also broken her chances for romance with anyone. I don’t think that is a coincidence that her family was brought forward and the fact of Marinette’s need/want to keep secrets will be tested with Alya. Marinette’s vehemence of keeping her identity a secret is also influenced by the events of Chat Blanc

Speaking of Chat Blanc, within this episode Bunnix explains briefly why she was chosen to be the bearer of the Rabbit miraculous and it was because she knows how to keep a secret. Alya has constantly been surrounded by the challenges of being Trustworthy. Key episodes this season being Sentibubbler, Gang of Secrets, Optygami and now Rocketear.

I feel as if this has much more weight on it now after everything that has happened in this season so far.

Previously Alya has been shown how trustworthy she can or can’t be. In Puppeteer 2, Alya insists she didn't tell Nino about Marinette’s crush on Adrien when she clearly had.

She clearly did tell Nino, or accidentally told him because otherwise there wouldn’t be the narrative of Alya and Nino trying to get Adrien and Marinette alone together etc.

I do trust Alya, but she has a recurring theme where there is too much emphasis on the word trustworthy which insinuates that this is a challenge for her character.

Alya can als be quite pushy. Like in Sapotis when she got too swept up, and Trixx planted the notion of becoming a permanent miraculous holder, but he was also the one to help her realise to prove herself trustworthy. Trixx and Alya can also be very hard to say no to, they have a persuasive attitude, but it can also make people realise things.

Alya can be very pushy when she gets swept up in “helping” Marinette get close to Adrien. Reflekdoll and Gigantitan always have rubbed me the wrong way with Alya’s role. In Gigantitan, Marinette wanted to help that woman up the stairs who had baby August in the stroller, Alya insisted for Marinette to stay, until the woman was really struggling and Marinette just went, and even then Alya was in her ear saying to hurry up as Adrien was coming.

If Alya just let Marinette be everything would have been fine. In all actuality, if Adrien saw Marinette he would probably help and it would start a lovely, genuine conversation considering he also wanted to help, but couldn’t. It’s in their blood to help. Both Marinette and Adrien earnt the miraculous because they were the only ones around who cared enough to help people.

In Reflekdoll it was both the fault of Marinette and Alya that Juleka went in on herself. Marinette didn’t allow Juleka to speak as she bombarded her with questions. Alya was pushing because of the time crunch and pushed Marinette and Adrien together, she had completely overlooked Juleka’s feelings as well. Marinette didn’t completely get blinded as she did try to double check that Juleka was alright.

Alya can just be impulsive sometimes. Most of the time when she is told to stop, like in Sapotis when Marinette tells her to slow down in trying to find out Ladybugs identity, and then when Ladybug tells her she can’t tell anyone, Alya complies.

Being impulsive is what Alya has in common with Chat Noir with his self-sacrificial tendencies and emotions clouding judgement.

She is aware of getting ahead of herself anyways

Alya and Marinette are both making mistakes. Alya made a huge one in Optygami because her judgement is impared due to her emotions towards Nino. Marinette has made and is making a lot of mistakes. The huge ones are those which take time to surface, like what happened with Chloe and what is happening with Chat Noir. Marinette decided to reward Alya by giving her the miraculous permanently. I don't think she should have done that, at least not yet. It's a huge risk on top of another. Marinette knew from the beginning that Hawkmoth knew who the holders were, yet still decided to give them out to the same people, however with Chloe it was totally different. She should have been open with her in the first place.

Marinette has also always been super lenient with Alya as well, first with allowing Nino and Alya knowing their alter egos (although Alya knew of Nino in the first place), but again a huge risk really, as we saw in Catalyst, they got distracted, and their emotions getting themselves turned into scarlet.

Although, I do understand that there was a time crunch.

Marinette often has a double-standard and bias when it comes to Alya. For instance, in Style Queen Marinette was going to give the Bee miraculous to Alya as well.

Why!??? When Alya already had been using the Fox Miraculous. Ladybug’s decision to constantly not tell Chloe is what led to Miracle Queen. It was not fair. Sorry, there is no way I can really excuse that. She was so blind-sided by judgement in that decision.

However that has equally been counteracted by proving she is trustworthy, that she is loyal and also looks for the facts. Alya can also be level-headed like the approach of finding out who was framing Marinette in Ladybug.

She has been a big help for Marinette as well, as we see in Mr. Pigeon 72.

She was a miracle in Sentibubbler as well! As she kept her cool and thought ahead. She still made a couple of mistakes like telling Chat Noir it’s a two person operation etc. Not her fault though. Nothing said in that moment would have helped.

Alya is definitely a huge asset for Marinette to have, by running ideas and taking some of the pressure off of her shoulders and ultimately being able to think for herself.

It all comes back to Bunnix in Chat Blanc as well saying she can keep a secret, so I fear what is to come. Alix has constantly been the one shown to have a rational head. Reverser being the big one, but also the little comments when with the girls like in Gang of Secrets and Gigantitan.

I have a feeling that Marinette’s leniency with Alya may end up being a mistake. I do think it’s good some of her weight has been lifted, but now it seems she is being a little arbitrary. Alya we know has a huge target on her back. She may have saved herself in Sentibubbler, but now she has told Nino everything, against the wishes of Marinette. Although, Marinette says that she does trust Alya when Alya fixes things at the end of Rocketear.

I think Alya makes this decision as she is firm in her belief that secrets shouldn’t be kept when it comes to loved ones, especially those who are meant to be your partner (best friend, boyfriend/girlfriend). I also wonder whether this decision to tell Nino was also influenced because Marinette was easy on her after what happened in Optygami, thinking Marinette wouldn’t mind. Plus she got around it all in Puppeteer 2.

Marinette is actively going against her own beliefs (and what she was told by Master Fu) by utilising the same miraculous holders. I understand that she is the new guardian and she is making her own rules, but she also saw sense in keeping things secret, because of her own identity, and how she refuses to allow Chat Noir to know who the holders are as well. It is way too risky, whatever Marinette is up to. She is not allowing Chat Noir his right to know as much as she does; they are meant to be partners, but it doesn’t feel like that. That is all due to her fear of Chat Blanc and its events. She is now heavily reliant on Alya/ Rena Rouge. That is going to cause a huge rift once Chat becomes wise to their dynamic as we are seeing blatantly now in Rocketear.

What happens if Alya slips up again and it’s huge this time. What is the secret that Bunnix is referring to that makes Ladybug/Marinette realise that she is the one to be trusted with the Rabbit miraculous? When will that be? Will Marinette have a falling out with Alya after finding out that Alya told Nino that she was still working as covert Rena?

I think what Marinette has decided was untimely. These kids shouldn’t be dealing with this, but they are. They are feeling way too much and are still trying to learn about themselves. It is not fair. They are bound to make decisions. I just have this unsettled feeling that there is too much concentration around this topic to overlook. I don’t think that Marinette is going to be best pleased when she finds out that Alya has told Nino everything, especially after all that she has sacrificed with Luka and Adrien and as Rocketear stated about her family again. I think the pressure will get to her again.

#ml meta #ml analysis #s4 spoilers #optygami #alya cesaire #marinette dupain cheng #rena rouge #ladybug #mr pigeon 72 #ml theories #miraculous ladybug #rocketear #sentibubbler

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marauderundercover · 3 years

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This Side of Normal Ch. 10

AO3

Marinette glances around the silent table, willing Jason to say something. Or do something. Or even Dick. She needed one of them to start a conversation, because Adrien hated awkward silences. And if this silence went on much longer, he was definitely going to say something and then she would regret it. Horribly.

“These rolls are purr-fect.” Adrien says, out of nowhere. Marinette lets out a groan, of course he’d skip straight ahead to the cat puns. Of course that’s where his freaking mind was tonight.

“Aren’t they? I’d say Alfred’s cooking is pretty claw-some, myself.” Dick speaks up, grinning at Adrien. Marinette looks at him, wide eyed.

“That’s it. I’ll find a new trapeze partner and a new best friend. Both of you are out of my life.” She deadpans, ignoring Adrien’s offended gasp.

“But Bugaboo, who else would give you a hand with your crazy schemes?” Adrien asks, and Marinette turns to him, narrowing her eyes.

“I swear to god if you take your arm off right now you will never find it again.” She threatens, pointing her fork at him from across the table.

“But Mari, that joke needs the arm. It doesn’t work without it.” He pouts, she rolls her eyes and turns to Damian.

“I apologize for him. He thinks he’s funny.” She says, turning her glance back at Adrien. “He’s wrong.”

“Tt. I’m unbothered by his sense of humor. I have lived with Grayson for eight years. His humor is nothing compared to those horrors.” Damian quips, and Marinette swears his lips almost quirk into a smile. She snorts.

“Guess I made the right choice in throwing Dick to the curb, huh?” She teases, ignoring Dick’s gasp and Adrien’s reassurance to the man. Honestly, who was the adult here?

“It was for the best, Dupain-Cheng.” Damian says and Marinette winces slightly. The only person who called her by her last name (in regular conversation, anyway) was Chloe. And while the girl had long since given up full on bullying her, she still wasn’t Marinette’s best friend in the world.

“You can call me Marinette, my last name is kind of a mouthful.” She says, trying to be nonchalant about it. She’d heard him refer to everyone else as their last name the entire evening. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, but him calling her Dupain-Cheng was going to make her uncomfortable in the long run.

“Very well.” He says, and though he doesn’t say her name, she still counts it as a win. A throat clearing catches her attention and she glances at Jason who was glaring at Damian.

“What’s up, Jay?” She asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“Nothing Pixie Pop. Just thinking about the time you kicked the ass of that would be mugger.” He says, and Marinette frowns. Mugger? “You know, the one that was obsessed with you?” He clarifies, and she understands. Copycat had been reakumatized during Jason’s stay in Paris. And he had wanted nothing more than a date with Ladybug. Though, she couldn’t understand why he was bringing it up now.

“I am so lost.” She admits, shaking her head at her pseudo-brother. He grins.

“That’s fine, just sharing that you can kick ass with the table. In case someone wants to try something.” He says pointedly. Oh. He definitely caught the heart eyes she sent Damian back in the gym. Can he blame her, though? Her weakness was green eyes. And Damian’s were the greenest.

“I did walk in on you hogtied, Todd. I assumed she was a reputable fighter after that.” Damian says, and Marinette blushes furiously.

“I’m sorry, what happened?” Mr. Wayne asks, his vapid (and fake) smile replaced with a faux look of bewilderment. She briefly wondered if it was exhausting, putting on a constant act, until she remembered how tired she was throughout collège, before she started lycée and decided she didn’t really care. Yeah, acting constantly was tiring. But why did he do it? Jason nudges her lightly and she blinks, focusing back on the conversation.

“Oh, Jason and I sparred. He apparently had forgotten that I use my surroundings to my advantage and that Adrien is always on my side.” She explains, shooting Jason a smug smile. Jason huffs.

“Not always.” He says, and Marinette raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms and giving him a challenging look.

“Oh really? Name one time that Adrien took your side instead of mine.” She challenges. She grins as Jason starts to think, obviously wracking his brain.

“Earlier today!” Adrien pipes up, and she immediately turns to him, glaring.

“What?” She asks, confused. What had- oh. Of fucking course. “That doesn’t count!” She protests, narrowing her eyes.

“Why not?” Adrien asks, raising an eyebrow in a challenge. She scoffs.

“Because it wasn’t a fight or argument or anything. It was a joke.” She says.

“Are you talking about the adoption shit, cause that was definitely not a joke. All the kids B adopts definitely have trauma and certain features.” Jason cuts in, and Marinette sighs. Of course he would clue in.

“But- no. No. That was a fluke. A glitch in the matrix, obviously. You literally cannot name a singular other time. And technically, ya big jerk, you didn’t even name this time. Adrien did.” Marinette points out, glaring at Jason.

“I’m sorry, how long have you three known each other?” Mr. Wayne cuts in again, and this time- this time- she sees that some of the confusion on his face is real. But it looks odd, like he wasn’t used to expressing a real emotion. She really needed to remind herself to talk to Jason about this later. She didn’t necessarily want to make it a habit to stick billionaire fathers with asshole tendencies in jail, but she would. She’d do it for her boys. Any day of the week. She hums in thought, adding up the time. The anniversary of Gabriel’s defeat had been a few weeks ago, which meant-

“We’ve known Jason for just over a year.” She says, before glancing at Adrien and grinning. “But I’ve been stuck with this goof for four years.”

“You know you love me.” Adrien says with a wide grin. She rolls her eyes.

“How exactly did you meet Jason?” Mr. Wayne asks, and she kind of wants to throw her fork at him. What was it, interrogate the random kids at dinner night? Though, to be fair, they were random kids in his house. But she refused to like the man until she’d talked to Jason about the potential assholeish tendencies.

“He helped me learn some self defence after I got caught up in an akuma attack.” Marinette lies smoothly. Well, it was technically a half truth. But the Waynes didn’t need to know that she was always caught up in akuma attacks.

“Akuma?” Mr. Wayne asks, and Marinette glances at Jason with a frown. Had he not told his father about anything? Not even the basics?

“Wait, is that what the thing that flooded Paris is called?” Dick asks suddenly and Marinette nearly flinches from the memory. That was one of the akumas that still gave her nightmares. One of the ones that was burned in the back of her eyelids when all she wanted was to sleep. And not think about bloated corpses and dead classmates for one goddamn minute. She lets out a steadying breath, glancing at Jason whose face had changed from annoyance to concern. She resists the urge to roll her eyes. She could talk about akumas. It was the past. Sure, she had refused all of the therapy options her parents gave her and Adrien, but she didn’t need it. She was fine.

“Yeah. Technically, her akumatized name was Siren. But, the general term for those attacks was ‘akuma’.” She says, gripping her fork a little tighter than necessary, grounding herself with Tikki’s reassuring nudges from inside her purse.

“There were more?” Dick asks, his eyes wide. Marinette glances at Jason and raises an eyebrow. Why had he not said anything? He’d been there for an entire month of Hawkmoth’s reign. He’d seen dozens of akuma attacks. Jason shrugs. Thank Jay. Super helpful.

“When you get down to it, there were probably hundreds if not thousands more. Some people, like Siren, were turned into the same akuma several times. Some people became a different akuma when they were akumatized again. I think it just depended on the person or their issue.” Marinette explains, hating how dry her mouth felt all of a sudden. She could talk about this. She could. So why was everything a little too bright? Why was the sound of forks against plates a little too loud?

“Did the Justice League stop it?” Damian asks, though by his tone, he seems to already know the answer. Odd.

“No, the local heroes did. Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Marinette says, ignoring the constricting feeling in her chest.

“Why-” Mr. Wayne starts, but Jason clears his throat. Everyone glances at him, and Marinette is unsurprised to see the flicker of anger in his eyes. Especially after she glances at Adrien and sees how pale he’s gotten. She kicks him lightly under the table to get his attention, frowning at him in a silent question. He nods, slightly. She purses her lips, not believing for a second that he was actually okay. But they could talk later. Away from eager ears.

“I’m sure you remember what Dick said about my phone call from when I first arrived in Paris. Marinette and Adrien dealt with attacks like that interrupting their day to day lives from thirteen to sixteen. I get that you’re not the best at knowing when to drop the damn topic, but I really think you should drop the damn topic.” Jason says, and though he’s smiling, Marinette can see the danger behind it. The warning. ‘Drop it, or I’ll make you’.

“My apologies, it was just so interesting.” Mr. Wayne says and this time Marinette winces at the falseness in his voice. And the smile on his face. God, this man could not have lasted a day in Hawkmoth’s Paris.

---

Finally, finally, dinner was over. After the akuma talk ceased, it was extremely awkward. Mr. Wayne looked like he would rather be anywhere else. And Marinette couldn’t blame him, wanting nothing more than to get back to her hotel room and away from the constant lack of real emotion on the eldest Wayne’s face. It was tiresome, just watching him.

“Thanks again, for having us.” Marinette says, mostly directing her comment to Dick and Alfred. Alfred just nods.

“Of course! Come back any time. Really soon, actually, so we can work more on the trapeze. I can’t lose my new trapeze buddy.” Dick says with a wide smile. Marinette holds back a sigh, nodding instead. She liked Dick, she did. But she’d definitely have to make sure that Mr. Wayne wouldn’t be around. She still wasn’t sure what to think of him.

“You should also spar with me, some time.” Damian speaks up and Marinette blinks in surprise.

“Spar. With...you?” She says, tilting her head in confusion. That came out of nowhere.

“Yes. You took down Todd easily, and I am far superior. You would actually have a challenge if we sparred.” He says. She smirks, and suddenly, with a burst of confidence she didn’t know she had, says:

“Sure thing, Pretty boy.” Before turning and walking straight out the door. The second she’s outside, she drops her head into her hands. “I can’t believe I just said that.” She mumbles under her breath.

“Pretty boy?” Adrien says with a smirk, she glares at him and moves down the front steps.

“Fuck you.” She says, no real venom in her voice. The boy knew how she got around crushes. He’d seen it firsthand. With him. With Luka. With Kagami. With the girl with bright green eyes who worked at the coffee shop across the street from the bakery. She was an absolute disaster. He was worse, but still. He wasn’t the one with the quickly developing crush on the youngest Wayne.

“Pretty boy?” Jason asks, a scowl on his face as he catches up to the two.

“Not another word, Jason.” She scowls at him, crossing her arms defiantly. He holds his hands up in surrender.

“Sure.” He says. Her mind rushes suddenly to her previous thought. Youngest Wayne. Damian Wayne. Hadn’t Lila- she snorts, before erupting into uncontrollable laughter, ignoring the worried looks from Adrien.

“I- oh my god, Jay.” She manages to say, straightening up and following Jason to the car he was borrowing to drive them back to the hotel.

“I’m completely lost.” He says.

“Join the club.” Adrien adds, and Marinette just laughs again.

“Your little brother is Damian Wayne.” She says, as if it should be obvious. Jason doesn’t get it, and neither does Adrien. But after a moment-

“Oh my god, that’s hilarious!” Adrien cries, letting out a chuckle. Jason huffs as the trio get into the car.

“Care to share with the class?” He asks, and Marinette snorts.

“Absolutely not, I dislike the majority of those people.” She says, referring to the group who was hopefully already in their rooms and not in the lobby of the hotel. “Now it’s funny that your brother is Damian Wayne because Lila made us come to Gotham instead of New York and London, because she’s dating him.” She explains and Jason scoffs.

“Yeah right.”

“Obviously she’s not actually dating him, Jay. But it’s freaking hilarious that she thinks she’s gonna get away with it. He definitely goes to Gotham Academy, and people are definitely going to call her out.” She says, not even trying to hide the absolute glee she’s feeling. If there was ever a time for all of Lila’s lies to come crashing down around her, now would be good. When she can’t just run away and claim Marinette set it up. If people Marinette didn’t even know called Lila out, well, that would be irrefutable evidence, right?

“Her regime is gonna topple and I’m gonna take you guys out for ice cream to celebrate.” Jason declares and Marinette laughs again. She was so against the idea of Gotham originally, but now, with Jason at their sides again, she’d decided that it wasn’t so bad. Suddenly remembering what had been on her mind most of the night, she turns to Jason.

“Jay, I have a serious question. And I know it’s a little hard to talk about but just know that we’re here for you to support you, and that we’ll figure out a way to make sure you and your brothers are safe and-”

“Whoa, Pix, calm down kiddo. You’re rambling again.” He says gently, furrowing his eyebrows. He pulls the car over to the side of the road and turns to put his full attention on the two. “What’s bothering you?” He asks.

“Is Mr. Wayne abusive?” She asks and Jason blinks. “I saw how hesitant you were to call him your father, and you were tense around him a lot of the night. And I don’t think the man had one legitimate expression all night. He was acting the whole time.” Marinette says, looking at him worriedly. “Look, Jay, I don’t necessarily want to make a habit of putting billionaires in jail, but I’d do it for you.”

“Is he- you would-” Jason stops and lets out a breath, obviously trying to compose himself. “No, kiddo, he’s not.” He finally says. Marinette frowns.

“Really?” She asks, and he sighs.

“Yeah, look. Our relationship has been...rough, for a couple years. We had a sort of falling out when I was a teenager and I stopped talking to him for several years. We reconnected a while ago, but it’s still rocky at times. I don’t usually call him dad or father or anything. He’s just Bruce, or B, to me.” Jason explains and Marinette nods, letting out a small sigh of relief.

“I was worried, Jay.” She admits, and Jason grins at her before pulling away from the curb again.

“I didn’t even catch on.” Adrien says with a frown. Marinette rolls her eyes, smiling at him with fondness.

“Course you didn’t Kitty. Reading people isn’t really your strong suit.” She says with a small smile. He huffs, but nods in agreement.

“True.” He says and Marinette laughs. She could officially take Bruce Wayne off her ‘threat to be dealt with immediately’ list and move him to ‘possible future annoyance’ list. A big improvement for the man, and it would mean she wouldn’t be as tense around him the next time she saw him.

Tag list: @toodaloo-kangaroo @laurcad123 @kittenmywaythrulife @lost-in-the-world-of-maribat @queenz-z @daminette-56

#daminette #maribat #maribat fanfiction #ao3fic #platonic jasonette #maribat platonic adrienette #platonic maribat adrienette #damian x marinette #maribat damian wayne #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat adrien agreste #maribat jason todd #maribat dick grayson #This Side of Normal

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nixxx11 · 3 years

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Ending Umbrella Scene Analysis (Mr. Pigeon 72)

I loved this scene so, so much from the new episode, I'm going to be rewatching it on repeat for 5 years 😍

So anyways, I noticed some interesting things about the parallels of the umbrella scenes...thought I'd share...

Marinette got trapped under the umbrella when she was standing alone under it in Stoneheart.

In Mr. Pigeon 72, they are both trapped under the umbrella together and are standing next to each other.

It symbolizes the fact that now both of them hold the umbrella, showing their mutual love for each other, Marinette not being alone in her feelings for Adrien anymore.

“Wow, have you kept it all this time?”

Immediately after, the scene shows us rain and lighting, the same situation in Origins when Marinette first fell in love with Adrien. It’s indicating that she’s fallen in love with him again.

Marinette's love for Adrien was originally depicted in the umbrella scene. He gave her the umbrella. It’s the moment that sparked her love. But it doesn’t end there. He's also given her something else, which she's kept for a long time. It's not just an umbrella. The umbrella is supposed to symbolize love between them. More than a reverse in the love square, it’s a reset.

Adrien's question about keeping the umbrella doesn't just refer to the umbrella. It refers to her feelings.

Marinette has kept the umbrella concealed, the same way she’s kept her feelings concealed. What’s special about this scene? The fact that she didn’t conceal her feelings. She’s been trapped, like an umbrella, but she’s finally opening it up in this scene.

The symbol here is that she’s had the umbrella the entire time.

She’s kept her feelings for Adrien buried inside the entire time, finally taking them out during this scene and falling in love again.

The umbrella served as a symbol of her love for him, and by showing that she kept it, it suggests she never lost it.

Yes, Marinette spent so much time in denial of her feelings. She even tried dating Luka. She tried to forget about Adrien. But she never did let go of Adrien. Marinette still has the umbrella, but she's using it for the first time after falling in love during this scene.

I can't go to describe how well the dialogues are written in this scene.

Although Marinette wanted to return the umbrella, Adrien told her she would need it to get back home.

They're literally speaking through the umbrella's terms here-

Their love is symbolized by the reoccuring situation. Adrien is telling her that it’s too early for him to accept the umbrella. He tells her she needs it to go home. Before he can accept it, Marientte needs to accept her feelings for him and become comfortable with herself. She needs to feel comfortable around Adrien before he can accept his love for her. That’s why they’re both standing under the umbrella this time. Not just Marinette.

When they were both holding the umbrella, Marinette asked him to walk home with her. The way she asks for love is indirect. He was happy that Marinette wanted him to walk alongside her, but looked back and realized there were still too many responsibilities for him too. That it wasn’t time yet.

I think this scene was trying to tell us that it’s too early. It’s not time yet to hold the umbrella together, before walking beside each other, before accepting those feelings. He first needs to get control over his life. They must be prepared to hold the umbrella together, not just as Marinette and Adrien. As a team.

But he can’t accept the umbrella just yet.

Life is not waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain.

I love what Alya said here. The quote essentially suggests that you should enjoy the present moment for what it is, rather than wasting time watching it pass.

Adrien and Marinette falling in love under the umbrella happened all over again, and it’s really not a coincidence. Alya said that she wanted Marinette to understand that she needs to live for the present rather than constantly worrying about being a guardian night and day. No matter how bad the circumstances are, she's still got to take breaks. Marinette found out immediately after that Adrigami had split up. But instead of going to console Adrien, she went to console Kagami because she knew Kagami’s only friend was her. She learned to accept circumstances as they are and immediately decided to go to Kagami. Because that’s what (girl)friends do.

When the storm passes, you can dance in the rain. When you wait for a storm to pass, you will freeze. Life is a struggle, and you will have to deal with daily struggles that are outside of your control. Depending on how you handle your struggles in life, you’ll either build yourself up or break yourself down. In the midst of the storm, you can find peace if you take the right steps.

‘Learning to dance in the rain' refers to the need to prepare for difficult times rather than merely wait for them to pass. This means that, despite all the challenges in life, it is still possible to find happiness. Despite being stuck in the middle of a bad storm, it’s important that Marinette learns to dance in the rain. It’s about how to view things, and how we keep optimism about our future, and recognize that we're heading in the right direction. You won't put your life on hold if you make it a point to enjoy life, even if it means you might have to sacrifice something to let loose once in a while. When the storm passes, you shouldn’t sit down to wait for it to pass since you may forget to get back up and continue your life. That’s what Alya is trying to tell Marinette. You’re going to get tired, and you can pause for a break in the weather, but dancing in the rain helps you get back up and finish what needs to be done.

Whenever there is a storm, Marinette isolates herself from love. Not just Adrien. Any type of affection. Her friends, her family, Luka...That’s what happened in Gang of Secrets. Marinette wants to keep her friendships but she doesn’t want to reveal her secret. It's important to her not to involve her friends in this. They shouldn't be burdened by her. It’s safer if no one finds out. Having a secret, and a struggle to prioritize, and maintaining her relationships causes her to do that to herself and people around her. In spite of the fact that it hurts, she's avoiding relationships entirely because she hopes it will protect those around her. Her time and energy is limited because relationships take a lot of effort and time. As a result, she avoided any type of romance. To the point where she was in clear denial of her feelings.

Now that she has Alya, she can help her. Of course, Alya's support for Marinette cannot be underestimated, but the episode is also a reminder that things aren't close to being ideal. As strong as Alya is, she isn't so strong that she can completely reverse Marinette's fall and reset everything back to normal.

Marinette’s definitely recovering. Nevertheless, the show is doing a lot to demonstrate that it is still a process. She’s still spending lots of time battling Shadowmoth. She has been making all kinds of crazy contraptions to hide the miracle box and kwamis in her room, and it’s driving her a little insane. She’s spending most of her time working on translating the grimoire while maintaining her double life and duties as a civilian. The storm is waning- but it isn’t over yet.

Why is that line from Alya so important? Because Marinette does need to let loose. Take a break from all the plans and simplify her life sometimes. Her approach is to take charge of situations, make plans, and set up things to make them happen. When she’s Ladybug, her assertive behavior means she is automatically paid attention to, and her clever plans save the day. Sometimes her anxiety is spiking and it goes a little too far. A flaw shown throughout the show: She goes from trying to lead a situation to trying to control it, steamrolling the other people involved. Complicating things often stresses her more.

Gamer 2.0 is a perfect example of this. This episode shows how she goes to great lengths to make people happy and even overworks herself in order to do so. She attempted the same approach over and over again out of stress and confusion in response to the situation. The concept of “dancing in the rain” is actually what Chat Noir did and was trying to tell Ladybug in the episode. Yes, there was indeed a storm. Yet, it was the enjoyment he found in the midst of it that helped them in the end, wasn't it?

Another example from this episode. Marinette did that with Kagami. Marinette was determined to reconcile Kagami and Adrien since she thought that would be the best outcome for their relationship, regardless of Kagami’s multiple attempts to tell her she didn’t want to make up with Adrien.

She, however, reevaluates the situation and reconsiders her approach when she's calmed down.

It took Marinette a while to allow herself to be happy again because she was waiting for the storm to pass. Alya advised Marinette to take a break and get her mind off of those things, but Marinette kept insisting that she couldn’t until she had everything figured out. While Alya tried to make Marinette forget about her stress by telling her about Adrien's commercial and the breakup, Marinette denied any sort of feelings she had for him, because if she tried to pursue Adrien while Shadowmoth was still active, it would end in the same way as Luka. And she doesn’t want a repeat of that. That’s why she seems to be avoiding romance.

Her avoidance doesn't just stop there- she fights as hard as she can to keep Kagami and Adrien together. Why? Because she can’t get distracted. Because she’s put a barrier on herself. Marinette is evidently not allowing herself to be happy until Shadowmoth has been defeated and her life calms down.

Marinette unknowingly recreated the moment where she first fell in love with Adrien, except this time they were holding the umbrella together. It's a symbol of reciprocation.

Kagami: The beating heart, the tingling..I felt all this. At your place. You’re the one that blushes and stutters when you’re around Adrien. You know his schedule over three years. You’re right, Adrien is perfect. He’s perfect for you.

The whole point; Marinette had a very specific goal in mind: scheming to make Kagami realize that Adrien loved her. Yet it clearly did not work that way. Mariette managed to avoid all that pressure once Adrien found interest in someone else and for once, she didn't have to worry about it. Because she didn't aim to be the one with Adrien, she didn't obsess over how every move she made could lead to him disliking her. Her downfall in past episodes was that she anticipated Adrien's reaction and panic over how it would ruin her life.

In much the same way as the first umbrella scene, Marinette didn't focus on her feelings for Adrien due to the fact that she didn't develop them until after the moment. As a result, her romantic feelings were able to blossom without thought or hesitation. In this interaction with Adrien, Marinette conveyed exactly what she wanted. She barely even stuttered or stumbled over her words when asking him to walk home with her.

Since Marinette was still convinced Kagami had a chance with Adrien, when Kagami told her that she’s the one who should be with Adrien and then walked away, she had little time to reflect, since Adrien immediately approached her.

Marinette and Adrien allowed themselves to be themselves and let the unfolding of events be an unplanned event.

Adrien still has a special place in her heart, despite it taking her longer to recreate a moment with him. The parallels show that this is the moment they fell in love all over again.

Marinette took advantage of being alone with Adrien in the rain to ask him to walk her home with her, spending more time with her. His father wouldn't approve of him skipping Chinese lessons if he turned her down despite the fact that he wants to.

In that moment of walking home, she was not only smiling, but also enjoying "dancing in the rain." Both literally and figuratively.

And I really, really want to talk about the end card. After three episodes of Marinette being curled up alone, crying, depressed and helpless, look at her now- She’s happy, she’s dancing, laughing and so in love!!

Marinette dances in the rain, as Alya suggested, indicating that we can still let loose even in tough times.

Not everything is fixed; it's clear that there’s still lots of duties for her. But even though she has a storm coming, she's in one at present in the midst of it all, but despite these responsibilities, it's fine to enjoy herself in the moment!

Another very important thing to note from the scene…

When Marinette takes out the umbrella….

She didn’t give it back to him. But he didn’t take it back.

She isn’t losing hope or giving up on her feelings for him, she’s content to keep and enjoy the feelings and accept wherever that leads her.

Despite still having much to think and reflect about, she now acknowledges her feelings, something we’ve seen her struggle with since the end of S3.

Another thing on the end card...the pictures of Adrien. In the pictures, she’s dancing in the rain, so it emphasizes yet again her happiness to enjoy her feelings for Adrien. In one of the pictures, Adrien is wearing the scarf Marinette made for him; I feel that this could be foreshadowing? Because if what was needed was pictures of Adrien, what was the need to include the scarf in two of the pictures? I’m thinking maybe it has something to do with a scarf reveal in the future. (That’s just a theory though)

And the most important thing from this end card was also because of the scarf. Marinette was the one who gave Adrien the scarf, and Gabriel is the one responsible for Adrien not knowing about it. He’s like a barrier between them- both as Gabriel and as Hawkmoth. (@sugarcubetikki Sugar I was talking to you on Discord about that so I thought you might want to be tagged)

Adrien has no idea that it's from Marinette, he thinks it's from his father. The thing standing in their way is his father.

Similarly to this scene- what gets in the way of him walking home with Marinette is his father. He has too many responsibilities. He needs to go home. Same with the scarf. It's his father's actions that limits him and hides the truth, it's the same reason he isn't able to realize Marinette's love for him in both situations. Gabriel’s like a strain putting a restriction on them. It’s the same thing that happened in Chat Blanc. That’s why they couldn’t date.

The next part is probably my favorite :)

It’s so silly and cute. The umbrellas closing in on them.

But even that, note the difference between the two- Marinette was trapped under the umbrella by herself before. Now they’re trapped under it together. They’re both trapped under their own love. That’s why this scene wasn’t necessarily a reverse love square. It’s indicating that the next step is for both of them to carry the umbrella.

In a tender moment with Adrien where they retrace past steps, Marinette falls in love for the second time after getting Kagami's blessing to pursue Adrien. Her umbrella symbolizes the love between them, and thus she offers it to Adrien.

The difference this time is that she is in control of her feelings, rather than allowing it to be given to her.

She willingly offers the umbrella to Adrien. She isn’t trying to make a disinterested Kagami try to date Adrien anymore.

There’s also something so different about his look. When he initially befriends her, he’s careful because he’s never done it before. He’s never had friends, it’s all new to him and doesn’t want to mess up. At this moment, he isn’t really going for friendship or romance or anything specifically, it’s just a relationship he wants to fix. Adrien has made a friend for the first time, and Marinette wouldn't even look at Adrien before that happened. It’s a situation where he’s happy to have befriended her. He is delighted that after several attempts he managed to become her friend. But this scene is so different. It’s almost like a realization. It’s perfectly reflected along with the fact that he isn’t the one lending his umbrella this time.

In the first umbrella scene, Adrien passed the umbrella to Marinette. The love is something he gave to her.

But in this scene? They’re holding it together. This perfectly represents that love is reciprocal and it takes the two of them to hold on to it.

Literally nothing to analyze here, I just love them so much lol-

The parallels here are absolutely adorable, they’re laughing at each other’s clumsiness and being silly. They’re both nervous and making silly mistakes out of love. It’s one of the times we get to see Adrien’s goofy, clumsy side around Marinette and it’s a parallel to the same reason they fell in love in the first place. Their reactions to each other here are so genuine and full of warmth. They’re so in love.

Adrien gave the umbrella to her in the first scene. She accepted that gesture of love and carried it with her, sometimes in denial but ultimately ended up taking it out. When she tries to give it back in this scene, Adrien tells her she still needs it.

She can’t give up just yet. That’s why she’s full of happiness at the end of the episode. Marinette wants to enjoy her feelings for Adrien, she’s overjoyed to be in love again.

Adrien can’t accept the umbrella from her just yet because…

Marinette needs it.

It’s too early for him to.

But it’s such an important moment of growth.

It’s vital that they’re ready to hold the umbrella together, not just as Adrien or Marinette.

Those two are made for each other. Kagami said it. Master Fu said it. There’s no doubt there anymore.

This episode carries a very important theme. The entire show does, actually. While life isn’t all about waiting for the storm to pass, we all have to learn to deal with the thunder and rain through experience and learning. It’s what Marinette and Adrien do every single day. We can allow life-threatening challenges to overwhelm us and leave us in darkness or we can embrace them with well-lit light. What made Marinette grow in this episode was that realization.

It’s about deciding if we want to embrace the rain by learning to dance in it, or if we want to make it even harder by waiting the storm out. Marinette finally danced in the rain. Things are headed in a good direction.

An important symbol I personally found memorable from the episode; Even in the middle of the storm, Adrien and Marinette are still tied together by their umbrella, they’re trapped under it, because they’re trapped under their love for each other.

(Or you know, you can just ship Marigami and move on with your life)

#miraculous ladybug #mr pigeon 72 #miraculous analysis #mr pigeon 72 analysis #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #ml season 4 spoilers #mr pigeon 72 spoilers #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #umbrella scene #miraculous #ml season 4 analysis #long post #tw long post #adrienette #marigami #ml love square #my analysis

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writer-panda · 3 years

Text

Ruin and Rebirth - Chapter 1

Ruin and Rebirth

Chapter 2

Inspired by @jumpingjoy82 on Tumblr. Thank you for the amazing prologue.

I don’t own the characters, only the plot. Miraculous and Justice League belong to their respective creators

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"It's okay Marinette. Everything is going to be fine. You’re too young to understand, but it was for the greater good."

To young.

TO YOUNG!

It was all the Justice League's fault. If they kept their incompetent asses out of Paris, none of this would have happened.

Apparently, they just spontaneously decided to go through the Watchtower’s recycling bin, and what they found astonished them. Years upon years worth of pleas for help from Paris.

They decide to finally investigate, and it just so happens that it was during an Akuma Attack, and they threw everything the Parisian heroes were telling them out of the window, wanting to do things their own way.

Superman was one of the ones there.

And they learned just how far the Miracle Cure could go.

He decided to use his super strength and threw a car at the akumatized victim, who moved out of the way at the last minute, so the car sailed right through the Tom & Sabine Bakery, promptly, catching on fire, giving no time for the people inside to get out. No one got out alive.

Ladybug froze for a moment, before fighting with more determination than before, knowing that the Miracle Cure would bring them back.

She was wrong, which brings us back to this point.

"I don't give a damn about you so-called 'greater good' and now you’re telling me, that I'm too young to understand, but am I too young to experience it? Too young to actually see everything and everyone I love torn from me because of these heroes?! Why the hell are they here now? Where were they when this first started? What changed? And now, because of them, my entire family is dead!"

After that everything was hazy, but she knew, she hated superheroes.

They never knew when to stop, and just like Chat Noir, they expected to be praised for whatever happens, no matter if there were casualties or not.

The world would be better off without them.

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

The sun has long since set over Paris. The fires were still burning in some parts of town. For the first time since Ladybug first appeared, the citizens of Paris felt true fear. It was ironic. They didn’t fear the akuma. They feared the heroes that came to their rescue. For the first time in four years, the casualties were piling up. And the akuma was responsible for none.

True, many of them initially asked for it. With each fight, Ladybug and Chat Noir were taking longer. It’s been obvious for some time that they were slowly being worn out. Some media started to criticize the duo, question their skills, age, their right to act in Paris. They weren’t part of the UN Justice League Charter. Their only real authority came from the trust of the citizens themselves. And that trust was lost. The civilian pleas to the Justice League increased in number and frequency. Under public pressure, the mayor had no choice but to issue an official plea for help.

But then, then… the heroes came.

In retrospection, almost everyone would agree that it was a mistake. Justice League was not used to fighting magical threats. They weren’t practiced in dealing with possessed villains. They didn’t understand. And they treated Ladybug and Chat Noir worse than sidekicks.

That flying chicken even dared to wrap Chat Noir in a metal bar so he wouldn’t get in the way.

Ladybug… tried her best. She allowed herself to trust the new heroes. She stopped saving every civilian from the rubble. She focused on the akuma. If heroes didn’t bother with the lives, it must’ve meant they trusted her cure, right?

WRONG

They were like a tank, riding through the city with a singular goal in mind.

It didn’t help that they deemed the akuma a “world-level threat”. Yeah, right. Stormy Weather was powerful, but the damage could’ve been repaired.

Or so she thought.

The volcanos, the tsunami, the tornadoes, the earthquakes? Those were fixed. The rubble caused by them was put back in place and those who suffered under them were better than new.

But not the damage caused by the heroes.

Not the bakery.

There was no magic in what happened. There was nothing to reverse. Those were human actions. For the first time perhaps, the people could see how much of the damage caused by the fight was the fault of heroes. How many deaths they caused. That is if they admitted, before themselves at least, that it was their fault.

And yet, the so-called ‘heroes’ dared to lecture her about responsibility. About the sacrifice of few for the lives of many. About the innocence of young.

She ran away. She managed to dodge them and vanish. Meld with the crowd when there were no cameras in sight and she was sure they couldn’t track her.

Now, Ladybug stood alone on the top of the Eiffel tower, with her yo-yo communicator in her hand. She sent the message fifteen minutes ago. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but at this point, she no longer cared. There was nothing more for her.

“He thought this was a trap.” A voice spoke from behind her. Ladybug twisted immediately, taking a guarded stance. She was still avoiding the Justice League after all. Before her stood… someone. She suspected it was an Akuma. The woman had pale skin and wore a black dress, black gloves, and a black veil over her face.

“It isn’t. I’m alone. The city suffered enough as it is today. I suffered enough.” Ladybug’s voice cracked slightly.

“I see…” The akuma pursed her lips. For a moment, a purple butterfly appeared over her face before the woman nodded. “Fine. Give me your miraculous and I will take you to him.”

“That isn’t going to work and you know it. You would just leave me stuck here. I’m willing to offer a token of goodwill though.” With that, Ladybug pulled a necklace and dangled it before the akuma.

“Is that…?”

“The miraculous of the fox? Yes. No tricks. I want to negotiate. In-person.” She made sure to emphasize the last part.

The outline of the butterfly appeared in front of the Akuma’s face for a moment before she silently nodded. “I can lead you to him, but not before you reveal your face.”

“Fine.” Ladybug didn’t hesitate. She was past that point long ago. There was no hesitation, no doubt… no regret. Not for her actions anyway. No more.

In the flash of light, instead of Ladybug, Marinette stood before the akuma.

“You’re…” the woman’s voice was stuck in her throat.

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Tikki, floating nearby gasped in fear. The Kwami didn’t get a chance to explain before Marinette resumed her transformation.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

The two leaped from the tower and started to zoom over the city. At first, they remained silent. Neither wanted to speak. It was tense anyway. It was, of course, Marinette who broke the silence first.

“Your… your look. Have you lost someone today?”

The woman didn’t answer immediately. She appeared to be mulling over the question at first. Or wondering if she should answer.

“A… colleague; coworker. He was… a friend of mine you could say. We’ve been working side-by-side for at least a decade.”

“I see…” Marinette pursed her lips into a thin line. “I’m sorry.” She spoke up after a moment. “I imagine you blame me now?”

“No.” The akuma snapped. “You’re just a child. I put the blame where it belongs. With heroes. And with people who chose to invite them.”

“Not hawkmoth?” Escaped ladybug’s mouth before she realized it.

“He… he never wanted this either. He isn’t a villain you believe him to be.” The akuma hesitated for a moment, but Marinette could sense it was her own opinion. She filed it in her brain under interesting.

-----------

When they arrived at Agreste manor, Marinette was surprised.

When they entered the study, she was baffled.

When they went down the secret elevator, she was angry.

When she stood before Hawkmoth, she was furious. And it wasn’t because he was her mortal enemy.

“So that’s why you neglect your only son?!” She screamed at him as soon as he turned to see her. His mouth moved, probably to give some excuse. “I don’t care if you want to rule the world or be a god or whatever. No matter what little sick excuse your brain found to justify your actions. You are not allowed to just ignore Adrien like that! He needs a father. He is a teenager and he needs you!”

“Madmoiselle Dupain-Cheng.” His voice was cold, but in a different way than she ever heard Gabriel Agreste or Hawkmoth speak.

“Gabriel Agreste. And I assume you akumatized your Assistant, Nathalie?” She pointed to the woman next to her.

“Astute observation, Ladybug. You risked a lot coming here to speak with me. I could take your miraculous now, or any other time. You gave me your most precious protection: your secret identity. So… what was that important?”

“I want to know. What is so important to you that you’re willing to go any length to get it?”

“That’s it?” Hawkmoth raised an eyebrow. “That’s all? You’re ready to risk everything over that little piece of knowledge?”

“Yes.” Once more, there was no hesitation. There was no doubt. Her heart had no place for doubts anymore. Her heart was still stuck under three levels worth of rubble.

“And what, pray tell, would you do if I told you?” He asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“That depends.” She could see he was now intrigued, so she started to explain. “On whether I like the goal or not. And on whether you understand fully the implications. If you pass, you will get my miraculous and I will deliver you Chat Noir’s miraculous too. If you fail, you still get my miraculous. But you will never get the ring. I made sure that if something happens tonight, he will retire. He will leave Paris and toss the ring into the ocean in a concrete box. You would be left to torture the city all you wish until the League found you, but the ring’s power would forever remain out of your reach. You would be left with nothing but a criminal record. And your son would sooner than later be left without both parents. Of course, you could abandon your crusade, but then I would’ve won. I’m not a naive girl without a plan. Not anymore.” She spat the last part angrily, but her gaze was not focused on Hawkmoth, but far in the distance.

“I… see. Clever. You’re right. This will probably end tonight.” He looked her over top to bottom. It was the first time he stood so close face to face with Ladybug. His nemesis.

Gabriel wasn’t sure if he was impressed with her, or infuriated. Scratch that, he was sure he was both. She outsmarted him. She was willing to make an ultimate sacrifice for the sake of ending the fight. In that very moment, in her determined expression, he saw a reflection of another headstrong woman he knew. It was as if Emilie’s spirit stood before him.

“So? How will it be?” she asked impatiently.

“Follow me.” He simply motioned for her and started walking.

Soon, the group entered a large chamber, lit by several lights. In the center of a platform in the far end stood a glass coffin. Even from the distance, Marinette easily saw there was a woman inside. She was quick to pass Hawkmoth and get there, even as he was trying to grab her.

When the akuma and Gabriel arrived, they watched as Marinette was carefully pacing around the coffin and muttering under her breath.

“She overused the damaged miraculous.” It wasn’t a question, but Hawkmoth answered anyway.

“Yes. Only the wish can bring her back.”

“You’re one of the biggest idiots in this whole city!” The girl screamed. “She is not dead, you moron. There are literally five different ways listed in the book which, may I remind you, you possess!” She continued to yell at him. “Hell! You could akumatize someone and give him healing power. You know… use the butterfly miraculous like it was meant to be used!” She scolded. “But nooo! You’ve got to be an idiot and immediately go for the most dangerous, imprecise, reckless, chaotic, risky solution there was! I’m sure she would’ve been ashamed.”

Gabriel was at a loss for words. Was it really that easy? It couldn’t have been. He checked several times. He would’ve known. The akuma left Nathalie, who collapsed onto the ground. Some tear stains were now visible on her face. “I… I was just… I did what she told me. Only the wish can bring back the dead.” He stammered.

“She. Is. Not. Dead.” Marinette made sure to punctuate each word. “She is in a coma. She is alive you moron. Tikki! Spots off!” The flash of light signaled the end of her transformation. “Be silent, little one.” She said in a caring voice. She couldn’t bring herself to take her anger on Kwami, but she couldn’t doubt now. “Akumatize me. Give me the power to heal her.”

The corruption left the akuma that was floating in the air, only for Hawkmoth to get his hands around the white butterfly and pour a new dose of power into it. It flew the short distance between them and sunk into Marinette’s purse. She smirked as the corrupted energy passed through her, turning her into an akuma. That is until she could see how she looked.

“I’m not sure how you can call yourself a designer and yet dress me in this!” she complained. Her skin was now deep red, the color of blood, and her clothes turned into a white nurse uniform. Still, she walked to the coffin and easily opened the top. From her purse (now medic’s bag) she pulled a needle and injected the content into Emilie.

When the beautiful woman started to move, letting out an exhausted groan, Marinette sighed in relief.

“Wha… what’s going on… the last thing I… Gabriel!” She bolted upright and immediately moaned in pain. Her hand instinctively flew to her back. “Gabriel Agreste! Did you keep me in this coffin for a whole week!?” She yelled at her husband. “And who’re those two?” She pointed at Marinette, who was smiling next to her, and Nathalie, still exhausted on the floor. “You were supposed to only reveal this to Adrien if anything happened to me. There was no talk about your assistant and… um, who’re you?” The woman turned to the akuma, who sighed and tore a strap of her bag. The butterfly left the item and Marinette reverted back to her normal form.

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I’m… was… used to be Ladybug.”

“But you’re just a kid. And why was Ladybug active… Gabriel!” She roared and her husband took a step back.

Marinette was… surprised. She didn’t expect Emilie to be like that. From what Adrien told her, she was supposed to be the kindest, nicest person in the world. Then again, he might’ve been looking at it through tinted glasses.

“Yup.” The bluenette couldn’t stop herself from commenting. “He decided that the best way to wake you up was to get the miraculi of Ladybug and Black Cat.”

“You nincompoop. That plan was only for when I was dead.” She glared heatedly at her husband and Marinette couldn’t help but be a bit smug. “And you couldn’t get the items from a kid? How many other heroes are there?”

“Only Chat Noir. He’s my age. And I sometimes call in some help from others.” Marinette supplied quickly. She was having entirely too much fun from watching Emilie tear Hawkmoth a new one.

“Two kids! You couldn’t defeat two kids! I leave for just one second and you start getting your rear kicked by kids!”

“He also neglected Adrien for the last two years.” Marinette decided to have as much fun as she could while it lasted.

“Gabriel Agreste. You’re officially grounded until I sort this mess. Now take your secretary and leave. I will sort the mess with you later,” she ordered. Her husband could only nod and leave as quickly as possible.

Marinette was now holding her sides laughing. ”That was amazing. Merci Madame Agreste. I didn’t think I would get to laugh tonight… But this was too good.”

“Oh sunshine, don’t worry. I will get him in line for you. Whoever decided to let kids fight for them was clearly sick or senile.”

“Master Fu was… he made some mistakes. I… maybe if I wasn’t so young…”

“It’s not your fault. Whatever you blame yourself for. You shouldn’t have been responsible for Paris. Or whatever else my husband did. I think some time on the couch will do him great.” The woman got up and walked over to pull Marinette into a hug. She then led the girl back to the (now half-open) coffin and seated them both on the edge. “Why don’t you tell me what ails you? I’m sure I can help.”

For a moment, Marinette looked the woman in the eyes. Then, she started talking. She told her everything.

About a class full of idiots who believed every lie and actively fought against her.

About Lila, who manipulated everyone and did everything to turn her life into a personal version of hell.

About the teachers, who preferred to let her be walked on then do their jobs.

About her partner, the dorky cat who couldn’t take life seriously and at times was immature. She came to like his antics, but he infuriated her as much as he kept her sane.

About the so-called heroes, who came into the city and ruined her life.

About the destroyed bakery. The four bodies inside.

“It was her birthday. Today my nonna had her sixtieth birthday. We were celebrating when the Akuma happened. Except the Justice League came. Funny thing. The cure can return anyone killed by magic. It can’t return those killed by aliens tossing cars around.”

“Do you have any other family?” Emilie asked, worried about the girl. She walked through so much pain in her short life.

“My uncle… but he lives in Shanghai now. Papa was the only child and Maman moved here from Asia… I’m not sure what will happen next.” The girl revealed.

“Next? Next, you will come live with us. No strings attached. I have no need for your earrings or other miraculous and I can keep my husband in check. I owe you that much.”

“I… you don’t owe me anything, Madame.” The girl quickly protested. “You’re not responsible for what happened. I don’t blame your family. Those were the American heroes who killed my parents. They were the ones that destroyed half the city. They are the ones to blame,” Marinette informed the woman in a solemn tone.

“And that’s why I want you to stay with me. With us. I can protect you. Teach you. You can have your vengeance on those who wronged you. I can make you a queen. They will regret the day they wronged you.”

“I… I accept.” Marinette bowed her head.

#miraculous #maribat #justice league #dc #dcu #dc comics #ladybug #evil!Emilie Agreste #hawkmoth #bamf marinette

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thatpoppinat · 3 years

Text

When The World Knows (Pt 1)

pt 2

It's been a while since Marinette has had time to herself. Thankfully, this isn't due to her responsibilities as Ladybug.

In fact, Hawkmoth seemed to be losing whatever motivation he once had for terrorizing Paris, and akumas were becoming scarce. This could have also meant that he was planning something big, but if Marinette was being 100% honest with you, Hawkmoth was becoming the least of her concerns.

Was her growing fame something she should be concerned about? She couldn’t tell you.

_____________

It all started on accident, if you were to ask Marinette. She had just went to visit her uncle Jagged while he was making music for an upcoming show that was being produced. After spending some time with him, he eventually introduced her to Hugo Morris, the director of "Autodale; a noir-esque dystopian show that is ‘the next being thing’”.

Hugo had apparently aided in the release of multiple blockbuster and popular shows. Marinette had no doubt that this one would be well received by the public, just by seeing the detailed sets being created all around her.

Almost jokingly, Jagged had encouraged Marinette to audition for the lead role as Aubrey; the Exceptional Girl. After all; Marinette matched the director's description of her very well, apparently.

She was given the script, and she auditioned. She didn't expect to get the role.

And somehow - miraculously - she did. Two days after her audition, she received a callback.

Marinette, after receiving the email, promptly had a seizure. She didn't think she was that good. But apparently, the producer saw something in her.

When she came in the week after to meet the rest of the cast, Marinette could only think about how big the production was, or worry if whether or not she was gonna screw something up with her world renowned clumsiness. She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng after all.

Speaking of her being her, the thought of being on the big screen made her head spin. In the past, she always thought that if she were to ever work in a film production, she would have been on the design team. Designing clothes was her dream after all.

But she guessed the saying was true: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." She was brought back in, she met the rest of the cast, and they were given scripts to read over and have decently memorized by the end of the month.

To only add to the workload, Marinette was still a school student. She hadn't even told her classmates about this.

… Her classmates, the people who didn't even bother to question if Lila was telling the truth; who didn't even care if Marinette's feelings were hurt; the people who didn't even hesitate to isolate her and bully her 'for Lila's sake', even after all she had done for them. And Adrien, who knew what they were doing to her, but chose to keep him mouth shut.

It was safe to say, that after all they'd done, they were merely classmates. Forced acquaintances, if you will.

After a few seconds of thought, Marinette decided not to tell them. She didn't want them to ruin this for her.

She'd have to tell Principal Damocles and Mrs. Bustier, however. If this production was as big as the cast was saying it was, she'd clearly be missing a lot of class.

And, after months of working with fellow actors, memorizing scripts, helping make props, doing schoolwork online, and keeping her nosy classmates from finding out, she could safely say that was the case.

_________________

Speaking of classmates.

When she was needed for the production of "Autodale" , Marinette rarely ever saw them. Being the lead role in a long production show would mess up your schedule one way or another. When she did go into that class, it was filled with people constantly going up to her new, lonely seat in the back and asking were she had been.

Instead of answering them, she simply shrugged and told them it wasn't their business. This got on their nerves to no end. At one point, Lila was spreading rumors and lies about how she saw Marinette hanging out with some older men (Marinette had to practically nail herself to the seat as she heard Lila "whisper" it to her loyal followers).

But Mrs. Bustier quickly shot that down and told the class that she knew where she "disappeared to", that it was a safe environment, and that per request of Marinette and her parents, the class wasn't allowed to know. Mrs. Bustier then scolded Lila about telling people things that could lead to trouble, with no proof anyway.

Lila then recovered by spilling crocodile tears and saying that she was only trying to help her dear friend Mari.

Well, at least Ms. Bustier wasn’t a wallflower anymore.

It was then classmates started to question Lila, not completely doubting her, though. Which made Marinette want to pull her hair out.

Marinette didn't end up doing that. After all, she had something to look forward too!

A sneak peek of Autodale was being broadcasted during an award show after school. Marinette couldn't wait! Marinette and the rest of the cast had gotten to see it early, and they were impressed with the craftsmanship.

_________

The next day, Autodale was all anyone would talk about at school.

And of course, Lila had to be apart of it.

"It took them a long time to make the animation that phenomenal. The team poured their hearts and souls into this project. Oh, Hugo is such a good director. He's really nice in real life, too! But, I think that may just be because he has a huge crush on me.

“Oh! yeah, I know the secret main actress. She's just secretive and only wants to reveal herself to the public after the episodes are released on Netflix. We're basically besties- sorry Alya! Aww! Of course Alya, I can try to get you an interview with her after the show is released. She might be busy, being the lead role in an anticipated TV and all, but I'll try my best! No problem!"

Oh the irony. She would've laughed.

But she was focused with what she said prior to claiming their supposed "friendship".

Did Lila know that Morris was a forty year old man and that she had just basically accused him of being a pedophile. That detail probably didn't matter to her. Lila probably would have said it anyway.

Marinette clenched her fists. Lila could spread all of the lies she wanted (she decided it wasn't worth it after seeing how gullible and unyielding her classmates were), but the fact that she was basically claiming how one of her father figures, with a wife whom he was deeply in love with, was a cheating, flirty pedophile made her blood boil.

It must've shown on her face. In a split second, Lila faces her, hiding a small smirk, then loudly proclaimed to her her:

"Aww! There's no need to be jealous Marinette! I might be able to get her to meet you! But, from what I've told her about you, I don't think she'll want to." Lila shook her head, as if she was pitying her. The class threw sneers her way.

Adrien winced, but, once again, did nothing, then looked away.

Marinette took a deep breath.

"No, no. That's fine," she smiled.

Then, with a stroke of luck, she was saved by the bell.

Thank the Gods for lunch period, she thought.

___________

She headed to the locker room. Once they were alone, Tikki emerged from her hiding spot.

"Are you okay?" Tikki frowned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Marinette insisted. "I just feel like talking to Carlos."

Carlos was one of the many actors and actresses she met on the set. Carlos played Macro, Aubrey's main love interest. He was funny, understanding, and would listen to her rants of frustration. All in all, they had a great relationship with each other.

Not a romantic one, mind you.

Carlos was gay.

She dialed his number, and he almost immediately responded. She put him on speaker.

"Hey Marshmallow!" Carlos exclaimed

"Hello, rainbow fish."

"Let me guess. Lila?" he questioned.

She sighed, "Yeah. You know me too well."

"So, what she do this time?"

"She essentially called Hugo a pedophile."

"...What?" He practically hissed.

"Yep. Said she knew the old man and claimed he had a crush on her."

"That lying two-faced fox." he sneered.

"She also said she knew the secret lead, that they were practically besties, and then straight up looked at me and proclaimed to everyone that the lead didn't like me."

“Wow. And they actually believed her?

"They always have been. And Adrien did nothing, again." Tikki handed her one of her cookies. She was missing lunch time.

"Seriously, that Agreste boy needs to grow a pair! I'm starting to think he just doesn't care."

Marinette said nothing. She could practically hear him rubbing his temples.

"*sigh* Don't worry Marinette. With the pilot episode being released next Tuesday, they'll learn the truth and regret treating you like trash. Everyone will finally know that Lila has been spewing bullshit since she arrived."

"I really hope so. I'm not sure how long I can take this."

"Girl, I'm telling you! Transfer schools! It's obvious that they're the type to suck up to influential people. Once they find out you're the secret lead, and MDC, they're gonna clam up to you so fast for clout it's not even funny."

THAT was another thing she hardly told anyone. A couple of weeks ago, she opened a commission website called MDCDesigns.

To help her out - and because they believed her clothes were to die for - , Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale began to wear her designs more often. It wasn't long until the Style Queen herself read a review, and for the first time in a long time, she wasn't tearing a brand to shreds.

In fact, she actually seemed to like her designs.

"They have potential, I'll admit. Certainly about average. Marvelous designs. " Style Queen said in her review. "If they keep this up, they'll certainly have a spot in the industry." She turned to the cameras. "Also, if you're watching this MDC, know that if we ever meet, I'd like a cream colored faux fur scarf."

Her website practically crashed due to the insane amount of commissions she had received that night. Ever since then, people have been dying to know who this mysterious designer was. She wondered if opening the shop was a good decision: not because of her career, mind you, but her health.

Regardless, she was planning to reveal herself after the pilot episode was aired on HBO (not Netflix Lila. If your gonna lie about something, at least research it beforehand)in an interview -with proof, as many people have claimed to be MDC since then.

She sat there in thought, when she was done thinking she responded.

"That... that sounds like a good idea. Well, the Earth doesn't revolve around me! How is your trip going yo-"

Suddenly, she heard footsteps and a door being slammed closed.

She froze.

"What was that??!"

She’d had Carlos on speaker the entire time.

Someone had been watching her.

And the person must've heard everything they said.

_____________________

Hi!

So, this is my first project, and I’m not sure I wanna continue writing it. If you wanna adopt it, I don’t mind. Positive criticism is welcome! Reblog if you want idc rn.

Also, seriously, Check out the series "Autodale” created by Dead Sound on youtube. It can be a little dark, but I think most people can handle it! It’s amazing!

This is also kinda based off of the tumblr fanfic “After The Week Off”. Huge thanks to princesslenaakaladykittuna for the link.

____________________

Anyways, have a nice day!

#lila salt #au #MDC #miraculous #class salt #ml #mlb #ml au #WTWK

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arlakos · 3 years

Text

Miraculous Rant

Actually, you know what, while im still mad from the previous post I made, lets go off on a rant. No punches pulled. Lets do this.

The lovesquare is the most terrible ship in this fandom. One girl is a hyper obsessed stalker who tracks her crush with her planner for 3 whole seasons, while the boy couldn’t learn to take a hint and stop flirting for 3 whole seasons until he decided to move on with another girl. Ironically that makes them perfect for eachother, but its in a creepy kind of way, not a loving kind of way.

Adrigami and Lukanette in the S3 Finale were wasted events and never should have occured because they were immediately axed in the first few episodes of the next season. I feel sorry for those that were hoping their ships could be real for at least a short actual while, and it makes me want to curse the writers for their story-boner for the status quo of teases

Despite what I said earlier, none of the girls are good for Adrien. Marinette’s stalkery and a borderline yandere, Kagami’s somewhat controlling and too similar to Adrien help him grow as a person, Chloe is a queen bee beyotch and honestly too much like a sibling to Adrien, and Lila is garbage. Fuck it, have Luka date Adrien and they can play some sweet music together (not like that you pervs, I meant they both play instruments).

Nino needs more love. Not only that, but there needs to be more Adrien/Nino bro moments. If Marinette and Alya can have moments together, why not the bros?

Chloe’s character is a mess, and is neither redeemable, nor notably evil. Her role as a villain in season 1 is very hamfisted, such as in the episodes Mr Pigeon and Kung Food. Not only that, Chloe also lacks any of the qualities that makes a good “bully villain” or rival to Marinette, and her sympathetic moments (which are Written by Sebastien) are mostly overshadowed by the fact that Astruc wants her to be a bully, so it just makes her bipolar and confusing when her character is tugged between two writers.

Chloe should not have joined Hawkmoth in Miracle Queen, see my other post as to why I think so. TLDR, its kinda ooc for her to go full on 2d villain like Hawkmoth especially after Miraculer, plus Lila was being build up to be the main antagonist of S3

Chloe got kicked from the Team in Miraculer because people know her identity? Fine. Kagami gets to be Ryuko again despite being known to Hawkmoth in Ikari Gozen? Not cool. Ladybug shouldn’t be a hypocrite and be willing to break her own rules just because “Kagami is my friend and Chloe’s not”. Same goes for her breaking the rule with secrect identities with Alya, only for her to go on and on about the rules to Chat when he pries.

Zoe is a bland character who’s only notable trait that she likes Marinette, which automatically makes her worthy of a miraculous after two episodes and no actual development.

Astruc is a petty frick who makes episodes that give the finger to fans of the show that have a different opinion than him. Queen Banana, Miracle Queen, and Reverser are good examples of this (Reverser did Nathaniel dirty).

Master Fu is a shit guardian. Read my post for more.

FRICK THE FEAST EPISODE. Not only did is ruin Fu as character, it ruined all the good theories as to why the order fell, and wasted the idea of a new villain being introduced or even taking over as the main antagonist! Speaking of Feast, despite the sentimonster destroying an order when he wasn’t even big, he still go beat by 2 kids even when he was supersized!

Marinette is not a good Guardian. Her ability to choose heroes does not make her capable, and just because “tradition is stupid” doesnt mean that Marinette shouldn’t be tested like others before her!

Despite the Kwami’s being ancient magical buildings, they seem to act like kids a lot, and that annoys me when in S1 they are supposed to apparently be mentors to their wielders, like how Tikki was before she was mentally de-aged.

Lila is trash and should be removed from the show. The only reasons her lies work is because the writers dumb down every other character in the show and ignore the fact the people have smartphones with google.

The “Miraculous” Ladybug spell should require both Ladybug and Chat Noir to cast, because not only does the power have nothing to do with creation, but it also “destroys” anything created by the akuma, which thematically makes no sense. Also it would place more emphasis on the two heroes being equals and “two halfs of the same coin”

On that note, Ladybug has too many powers. Not only is she the only one who can purify akumas, and can cast a spell that can fix Paris time and time again like its no one’s buisness, but she also now gets a new suit and the ability to nullify Hawkmoth’s akumas. Like COME ON! Give Chat some powers too.

Mayura’s feather’s shouldnt be able to be purified by Ladybug since they have no dark energy, and (thematically speaking) Chat should be given an ability that allows him to “vanquish” the energy in Mayura[’s feathers similar to how Ladybug can purify Hawkmoth’s akumas. At least it would develop a rivalry between Chat and Mayura, and would make Chat necassary against Shadowmoth rather than being replacable with any other hero.

The are too many temporary heroes. They should have just stuck with the 3 heroes from s2 and leave it at that. Sure, new heroes were cool, but the overuse has made the whole hero thing feel less special. It made sense for the first 3 to have them, but now it’s just like Oprah where everyone gets a miraculous. Except Gabe.

Chat Blanc was a stupid reason as to why secret identities cant be revealed, also Chat could have told LB who Hawkmoth once he returned back to normal was and the show would be over.

Hawkmoth should not be Gabriel. Frick the lore about Gabriel’s wife dying and him going evil to get her back, it makes the story feel too much like a star wars/Darth vader reference and leaves Gabriel acting bipolar, flipping from wanting to save his wife and doing this out of necessity to being a power hungry madman wanting to take over the world ( which is said in his canon music video). Having Hawkmoth be his own character means he can be an actual maniac who wants world domination and not just have villanous plot that rely on obtaining magical jewellery (perhaps doing other evil things/taking a more active role), while Gabriel being his own character means he can be a father that has become estranged from his son due to the lose of his S,O, and thus can have a plot about him reuniting with his son (I liked the end seen in Simon says, ok?)

On that same note, I think Mayura shouldn’t have been Nathalie. Considering Hawkmoth’s plans were repetitive as heck for most of the show, when I heard about the Mayura leaks back in Season 2 (when she was called “le Paon”) I was theorising that Mayura would actually being Hawkmoth’s boss, the villain the was responsible for giving him his Miraculous and the one who destroyed the Order of the Miraculous, and would take over as the main villain in season 3 due to Hawkmoth’s failures. However, that turned out not to be the case.

Not only that, but Mayuras power is a copy paste power with some modifications to make it complement Hawkmoth’s power, by basically giving his akuma’s magic pokemon.

Speaking of Hawkmoth’s power, for a miraculous that is supposed to be used for good, how can his power mind control people and make them become evil? More importantly, for a miraculous that is supposedly weaker than the main heroes of the show, having it be able to multiply and posses people to create an army is kinda strong.

Fuck the Maribat ship that the salt fandom came up with. Its trash, it was made to bash most of the Miraculous cast sans Marinette, and anyone thinks it is good are either those same salters or are the same people who think that Rey-lo and the Twilight Saga are masterpieces of romance.

Whew! I needed that vent. Hope you enjoyed it as as much as I did, and Tune in next time on the next episode of: Arlakos loses his Mind and Rants for 2 pages of writing!

#Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Salt #Marinette salt #Adrien Salt #Everything salt #This whole show is a salt mine #Rant Time!#I love the show but I hate how its written

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toujoursmiraculous · 3 years

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Thoughts and Reaction to SIMPLEMAN

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

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

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

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

#ml #miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #ml spoilers #ml season 4 spoilers #ml spoilers season 4 #simpleman #simpleman spoilers #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug #chat noir #rolland dupain #chris lahiffe #ella cesaire #etta cesaire #manon chamack #toujoursmiraculous' thoughts and reactions #thoughts and reactions

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goggles-mcgee · 3 years

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Too Late: Luka & Kagami (commission for miner249er)

Chapter 6 of the commission for @miner249er

Previous Work

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Summary: Luka and Kagami just being there for one another and trying not to drown in their guilt and grief

It was mostly quiet between the two, Kagami had taken to channel surfing while Luka strummed his guitar aimlessly till he got sad and frustrated that he couldn’t find a melody. Then he would meditate before trying again. Mostly he was trying to get back into the music for his mom and Juleka’s piece of mind, he knew they were worried about him, he knew they noticed the lack of music in his life, but he also knew they knew why. Marinette. Even just thinking her name made his heartstrings tug painfully. How had everything gone so wrong? Him and Kagami had a plan, at the time it seemed like a good plan, but thinking back on it now he couldn’t help but see it for all it’s flaws, and there were...many. He felt like a fool, but he hadn’t brought up their failed plan because he knew Kagami could not handle hearing about their failure. He could hear it in her song, he could see it in her eyes, it was seeped into her very being, and all he could feel was pain and regret. That’s why there was no more music.

The “music” he would make would sound like his heart and his thoughts, and at the present they sounded like someone threw silverware in a blender and he felt like he was in that blender himself. Constantly hurting, constantly trying to get out and heal, but never being able to because he was too caught up in the motions. Once he had gotten the Snake Miraculous, he thought he understood the saying, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” His power was all about learning from the “past” and that saying had always been something that had stuck with him. He thought him and Kagami were well prepared to handle anything with their plan, but the more he thought of it, the more he screamed at himself that they should have told Ladybug, they should have told Marinette, they should have said something, anything.

Romeo & Juliet had always been his least favorite Shakespeare play, he hated miscommunication in tragedies. It worked well as a plot device in comedies, but in tragedies it was just frustrating. Luka always believed people could be better than the famous star-crossed characters and everyone else in the play, he truly believed he was above that level of miscommunication. Sure he had trouble explaining himself, more often than not he used his music as his voice, confident it would make sure his feelings were communicated clearly. Then Marinette came and he found himself wanting to talk without his instrument as the voice, each day built his confidence, he had never been that confident in his talking abilities, and then everything crashed and burned. Miscommunication was the fuel.

He was sure if he hadn’t cried as much as he had already he would be in a fit of sobs at the moment, but as it was, Luka was all cried out. So was Kagami it would seem, whose mother uncharacteristically was actually giving her time to herself, time to grieve, and time with her “friends.” Luka knew the only friends Kagami had were him and Marinette, and there had been that air of almost more that hung above them all, but just thinking of that hurt him more than he could ever put into words or song. It was easier to deal with the heartbreak of the things that came to be and passed rather than the ones that hadn’t even had a chance to see the light, or even have the opportunity to be a proper thought that was discussed. No. No. He wouldn’t think about it. He couldn’t think about it.

“Luka? You okay?” He heard Kagami’s soft voice ask. He looked to her immediately hoping he wasn’t showing the desperation he was feeling, but at the tight smile he got in return he knew he failed hiding it. “Thinking about her again?”

He made a noise somewhere between yes and no. It was harder to talk when she disappeared, but he didn’t want to leave Kagami to have to interpret all his sounds so he cleared his throat and pushed past the lump that seemed to be stuck there no matter what he did. “Shakespeare.”

Kagami nodded and took a seat beside him on the couch and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Romeo and Juliet again?”

Luka sighed and nodded as he closed his eyes and leaned his head on top of Kagami’s softly. “I know it’s not technically history, but it’s a part of history and it made me think.”

“I would say stop thinking since that’s all you’ve been doing today, but I know that is not easy and not actually achievable.”

“If I could stop thinking that would be great. I just...she would still be here if I had-”

“If we.”

“If we had just communicated we wouldn’t have lost her...I...we…” Luka growled before sitting up and grabbing his guitar and playing an angry harsh cord. He held his guitar to his chest like a lifeline, his grip not loosening, the string biting into his skin and for a moment he wished it stung or imprinted but his callouses protected him.

“I know. I know. She...Marinette was my first friend. The first friend I had ever made on my own. Not one my mother made me have because it would be good for the company or because it would make me or her business partners look good.” Kagami started to tell Luka, of course he paid attention, Kagami wasn’t really one to open up about how she felt. Even with all the time she had spent with him and Marinette and all the encouragement they both gave her to be more open with them. “I thought...I believed our plan was foolproof. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t stop to think of human error, and everything that could go wrong. Marinette...Marinette and you gave me optimism Luka. I had never looked at the world or any situation I had faced with optimism. It’s not how I was raised. Or any Tsuguri for that matter.”

Luka didn’t know what to say so he held Kagami’s hand and gave it a squeeze for comfort and a way to say to continue if she felt comfortable. There of course was an anxious little voice inside his head that was screaming that, maybe, just maybe, if Kagami hadn’t spent so much time with them, everything could have been avoided but he quickly shot that thought down. He would never regret becoming friends with Kagami. Never. She was Marinette’s and his compass. She gave them control and direction when the two of them wandered too far. Luka was the calm, he was the ship’s wheel. He followed the compass and made sure to keep them all steady and comfortable, but he was always ready to change the course if they all needed the change of scenery.

At first, Luka thought of Marinette as the sea. Beautiful, full of life and emotion, taking care of all the creatures and life in its waters, and filled with creativity. Then she changed in his mind to a lighthouse, something that would call him and Kagami home, a safe haven, something to strive for. Again the image in his mind changed to her as their anchor. She kept them both grounded, she made sure Luka didn’t get too lost in his thoughts and she made sure Kagami didn’t second guess herself. She kept them safe. Marinette was all those things and more.

“But you guys,” Luka tuned back into Kagami and berated himself for getting lost in his thoughts, “you guys gave me optimism. I was no longer just thinking about the bad that could happen in things. When we made our plan, I thought I had been thorough, that we had been thorough. I wanted to believe we were doing the right thing. The intelligent thing. Most importantly, I wanted to believe we were doing the helpful thing. I was optimistic. I was hopeful. And in the end we lost her…”

“Kagami...There is nothing wrong with being optimistic.”

“Did I say there was?” She snapped before her expression fell and she held Luka’s hand in both of hers, her eyes teared up as she looked at him. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you didn’t mean it Gami.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“Maybe not but you have already apologized. That’s what makes it okay.”

“If you say so...I’m just not entirely convinced, but okay. It’s just, I love that you and Marinette are optimists. I liked seeing things positively for once and not always thinking what could or will go wrong if I didn’t do things perfectly. But the one time I do so, it bit me in return. I...I hesitated Luka. Now Marinette is gone, the media only reminds us of her akuma and only wants to speak of her akuma and not the wonderful person she is. Except maybe Nadja and Aurore’s blog. It’s all that’s on TV, then there’s the whole Agreste situation that I would prefer not to think about but again, the media is focused on it.” After Kagami let all that out it was like she deflated and sunk into the comfort of the couch. Luka decided to join in and just flopped himself back into the couch and just stared up at the ceiling.

“Oh yeah...that. On one hand I can believe it, on the other I don’t want to but yeah let’s just...not get into that today. Maybe another day,” Luka grimaced at the memory of all the Agreste “rumors” flying around, and honestly he understood why Kagami would prefer not to think about any of that.

“Or ever. That could be beneficial too.”

“Gami. You know it’s better to face something than avoid it.”

“Perhaps, but avoidance sounds like the better option considering everything that has happened.”

“Have you spoken to Adrien at all?”

“No. Not since I found out he had no spine. And now...now I don’t even know how I would go about speaking to him. I do feel for him, but he’s not someone I consider a friend anymore. If anything he’s an acquaintance by necessity.” She huffed out with a shrug of her shoulder as she once more grabbed the remote for the TV and returned to channel surfing.

“Yeah, I get what you mean. It’s....talking with Jules has been hard. It was hard before, but now it’s...I don’t know. I know she wants to talk to me, I try to talk to her, but she won’t talk to me. She used to before Lila. Then we fought...we never fought...but she didn’t want to listen to me about Lila and her screeching of a song. Juleka got mad that I couldn’t see the “true” Marinette. She said I was blinded by my...my feelings.” Luka preferred not to remember him and Juleka fighting but it had become normal ever since his sister had started listening to Lila Rossi. After everything that passed though, Juleka wouldn’t even look at him unless it was in worry, like she couldn’t look at him. Not because he wasn’t worth her time, but because she seemed to believe that she wasn’t worth his.

In the simplest of terms, it was heartbreaking.

“Rossi has been exposed now though. She knows you were right.” Kagami said full of confusion, and Luka could admit it sounded confusing no matter how you looked at it.

“I think it’s because I-we- were right.”

Luka glanced over at Kagami and saw her frowning, “She’s angry that you, that we, were right?”

“I think it’s more shame than anger. I don’t doubt there is anger there, but it’s most likely directed at herself. Her song is all over the place…” He admitted with a sigh, he just wished that Juleka would open up to him like she used to so he could help. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew that something was happening at her school and it wasn’t good for her or her classmates. He hated thinking his sister was getting bullied but with Marinette’s rise to fame as an akuma and her almost cult-like following and those who raised her to martyr status all around, he wouldn’t be surprised if the “Akuma Class” was being “taught a lesson.”

“And yet she still won’t talk to you?”

“It’s...complicated. We are both not the strongest talkers, but it has always been worse for Jules. Now with everything that has happened…” Luka let out a frustrated breath and ran his hands over his face. Before him or Kagami could say anything else to add on to the conversation they heard rushed footsteps hurrying down the stairs towards them. Immediately, Luka recognized them as Juleka’s footsteps.

Juleka burst into the lounge from the deck, one look at her and Luka felt his anger rise. His sister’s clothing was ruined, her jeans that she had painstakingly sewn the lace to the outer edges of herself were splattered in paint and if he wasn’t mistaken there were rips on the knees. Her shirt looked wet and paint splattered, as did her hair, and one glance at her only visible eye told Luka she had been crying. She seemed startled to see them there and for a while none of them spoke, the only noise came from the TV where it had seemed to stop on a news channel since Kagami stopped her channel surfing in favor of focusing on Juleka’s entrance.

As soon as Luka stood up to comfort Juleka, maybe ask who the hell did that to her, she just as quickly shouldered past him and ran into her bunker with a slam of the door. That was another new thing, though not unneeded, they both got separate rooms after...after Marinette had helped Luka convince his mom they deserved separate rooms. Especially because of Jules and his ages and the fact a curtain wasn’t enough privacy but then there was the fighting due to the Lila and Marinette situation. It was just easier for them all if he and Juleka got separate rooms, his mom agreed, he knew it was because she noticed the tense silences and the loud music coming from them both during that time. So Kagami and Marinette helped Luka clean out another bunker room that had been used as a storage room and then helped him move in.

Luka didn’t know how long he stood there just looking at Juleka’s door but he came back to himself when he felt Kagami place her hand on his shoulder. He looked down at her to see her giving him a sympathetic smile and gave his shoulder a squeeze for comfort. It was grounding, but Luka’s heart still hurt at his sister’s refusal to talk to him or Kagami. He knew she needed him, and honestly he needed her too, he just wanted to be her brother again, and her be his little sister that was sometimes annoying but it was in a loving way. Everything had changed and Luka felt like he was on a sinking ship with nothing to grab onto for support except Kagami but he didn’t want to drag her down with him.

“I just…” He started, his voice tight with tears.

“I know.” Kagami answered.

“...Collège Françoise Dupont.” Both of their heads whipped towards the TV once they heard the name of that school. On the screen were two reporters that neither were very familiar with but they had seen the news channel in passing.

“Is that right? An investigation?” The male reporter asked.

“That is correct Robert! It has been confirmed by inside sources that a full scale investigation will be launched on Collège Françoise Dupont! Not only for its horrible negligence against The Protector but because of new reports made by students who no longer fear having to be akumatized since Hawkmoth has conveniently disappeared. Apparently the number of calls to the Board of Education was just appalling. As were the reasons behind the reports.” The female reporter announced with a plastic smile, but if you looked it would twitch every so often like she was fighting to keep smiling.

“I would like to say I’m surprised Madeline, but that would ultimately be a lie.” Robert quipped back with an equally plastic looking smile.

“Yes it would Robert.” The reporter called Madeline chuckled as she said that. “In other news still connected to The Protector, her parents will be getting an official apology from TVi Studios after said studio used footage of their daughter without permission written or otherwise.”

Luka and Kagami winced at the mention of Tom and Sabine as they knew the couple were having a hard time, but they had no idea that TVi Studios showed that segment without permission. Luka especially had a hard time believing it considering Nadja worked there and was a good friend of Sabine’s. Kagami looked particularly worried about this so Luka nudged her as a way to ask what was wrong. “Do you think they sued the studio? I don’t think M Dupain and Mme Cheng are in the right state emotionally to go through a lawsuit.”

“Well...they said it was an official apology so I don’t think they sued, which is good, because you’re right. They are in no state to go through a lawsuit or anything much at the moment.” Luka agreed.

“On to World News, there has been an amazing recent discovery in Northern Scotland. It has stumped the people, and historians. When we come back from the break we will talk about this historic find and what it means for the people of Scotland. See you after the break Paris!” Robert said before the commercials started up. Luka didn’t know why, but something told him that discovery was important.

Next Chapter

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