#Plagg deserves better

[wordsofrowan]

The Shadow Court

Chapter 15 - Consumed by Shadows

Under the shimmering glow of the moon, Chat Noir stealthily made his way back to his, dimly lit room, his mind consumed not only by frustration but also by a seething anger that threatened to consume him. With a swift and forceful motion, he shed his heroic facade, he began pacing back and forth in his room. "Can you believe her, Plagg?" he exclaimed, his voice dripping with a volatile mixture of disbelief and rage. "I presented her with irrefutable evidence that Marinette is colluding with that wretched Shadow Moth, and yet she dares to treat me as if I am the villain in this twisted tale!"

Perched on Adrien's shoulder, Plagg trembled slightly, sensing the explosive energy radiating from his holder. Plagg couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Adrien. Plagg didn’t know when it happened but this definitely wasn’t his kitten anymore, "Ladybug does have a point, Adrien. What you offered her wasn't concrete proof. And you do tend to disappear frequently during those wretched Akuma attacks."

Adrien's frustration reached its boiling point, causing him to snap at Plagg with an intensity that sent a shiver down the kwami's tiny spine. "Yeah, that's because I am Chat Noir! I have every damn reason to not be present! I’m the one busting my ass to save Paris!" His words reverberated through the room, filling the air with a palpable tension.

Plagg, his eyes wide with fear, attempted to reason with his enraged holder. "Have you ever considered, Adrien, that Marinette, considering the countless times she has been targeted by those accursed Akumas, might be grappling with some deep-seated trauma?"

Adrien's anger surged like a raging inferno, and he lunged toward Plagg, his piercing gaze filled with a violent intensity. "Why are you defending her now?" he hissed through gritted teeth, his voice dripping with malice and venom as he punched the wall beside him, leaving a small dent in the wall. Plagg felt sick to his stomach.

Taken aback, Plagg cowered slightly, his voice trembling as he defended himself. "I'm not defending her, Adrien. I'm simply attempting to help you see reason!" His words were barely a whisper, barely audible amidst the tempest of Adrien's fury.

Adrien's voice turned icy and menacing as he silenced Plagg with a forceful wave of his hand. "Silence, Plagg," he growled, his tone laced with a chilling threat. In an instant, Plagg's mouth sealed shut, his frightened eyes widening in horror. Throughout his existence as a kwami, he had encountered holders who had misused his powers, but the terror he felt at that moment surpassed anything he had ever experienced. "I don't wish to hear your voice any longer. You are my kwami. I alone dictate what is right and wrong," Adrien declared, his words punctuated by a violent outburst that echoed in the room, leaving an unsettling silence in its wake.

"And just so we're clear," Adrien continued, his voice a volatile mix of command and menace, "you are forbidden from leaving my side in public, and you are forbidden from departing my room when we are here. Do you understand?" His words hung in the air, heavy with the threat of consequences.

Plagg, his trembling intensifying, could only nod, a deep sense of powerlessness washing over him. He yearned to warn Marinette or Tikki, but Adrien's explosive and violent nature left him utterly helpless, a captive within his own existence. He could only hope and pray that Marinette would unearth the truth before Adrien's inner darkness consumed him whole, for the storm that raged within Adrien threatened to consume everything in its path.

He paced back and forth, his steps echoing in the silence of his room. The image of Marinette, entangled with Jay and serving the nefarious Shadow Moth, haunted his thoughts. He couldn't bear to see her caught in the web of darkness any longer. He had to find a way to free her from the clutches of evil and bring her back into the light.

But it wasn't just Marinette who had fallen prey to the machinations of the darkness of this world. Ladybug, the hero he had admired and loved from afar, had also become entangled in this twisted game. Adrien couldn't fathom why she had turned her back on their shared duty, why she had forsaken the very essence of what it meant to be a hero.

His heart ached with longing and frustration. He yearned for the Ladybug he had once known, the one who embodied hope and unwavering determination. He needed her to see the truth, to understand the consequences of her actions. If only she would submit to him, to his guidance, then everything could be restored to the way it was supposed to be.

As Adrien stared at the photographs of Ladybug and Marinette on his desk, a flicker of determination ignited within him. He couldn't sit idly by while his loved ones succumbed to darkness. He had to find a way to break through the barriers that held them captive. They were his and he would not allow them to continue to disobey him and insult him in such a way.

His mind raced, searching for a plan, a strategy that would bring about the change he so desperately sought. But time was running out, and the stakes were higher than ever. Adrien knew he had to act swiftly and decisively.

Plagg hovered in the dimly lit room, his emerald eyes filled with regret. How had he failed to notice the darkness that had taken hold of Adrien's heart? As a kwami, it was his duty to guide and protect his chosen Miraculous holder, but he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for not intervening sooner. Was this because he was ill-suited for the Black Cat Miraculous, Plagg wondered was this darkness in Adrien his fault. 

He had always known that Adrien wasn't like Marinette, the true holder of the Ladybug Miraculous. But Plagg had never anticipated the depths to which Adrien would sink. The weight of his father's influence and the shadows that lurked within his own soul had consumed him, twisting him into something unrecognizable.

Plagg had tried his best to impart wisdom to Adrien, to teach him about boundaries and the importance of autonomy. But it had become painfully clear that Adrien had become entangled in a web of darkness that even Plagg couldn't fully comprehend.

The kwami sighed, his tiny form slumping with defeat. He had underestimated the power of the darkness that resided within Adrien. The allure of his father's teachings had clouded his judgment, leading him down a treacherous path.

Plagg's mind raced, searching for a solution, a way to break through the barriers that held Adrien captive. He knew he couldn't give up on his chosen holder, not when the fate of Paris hung in the balance. But the task ahead seemed insurmountable.

With a heavy heart, Plagg reflected on the lessons he had tried to teach Adrien, the moments they had shared. He wondered if he had failed him and if there was something more he could have done to prevent this descent into darkness.

The guilt gnawed at him, consuming his thoughts and filling him with a sense of failure. How had he let things escalate to this point? He couldn't help but feel that he had failed not only Adrien but also Marinette and Tikki.

As a kwami, Plagg had a unique perspective on the lives of his chosen holders. He had witnessed Adrien's reckless behavior and his disregard for the consequences of his actions. Plagg had tried to intervene, to guide him towards a path of responsibility, but his efforts had often fallen on deaf ears.

The memories flooded back, each one a painful reminder of missed opportunities. Adrien's blatant disregard for Akuma's attacks and leaving Ladybug to fight alone. His relentless pursuit of Ladybug, even as she repeatedly made it clear that she did not return his affections. And now, his misguided attempts to force his feelings onto Marinette.

Plagg couldn't shake the feeling that he should have done more, that he should have been more assertive in his guidance. He had seen the warning signs, the cracks in Adrien's façade, but he had allowed them to go unchecked, hoping that Adrien would find his own way.

Regret washed over Plagg, his head drooping with a sense of defeat. He should have protected Marinette from the pain she had endured. He should have shielded Marinette from the turmoil that Adrien's misguided affections had caused. For the first time in a long while Plagg cried. He wanted to run to flee to Tikki, but given Adrien's commands that was no longer an option. Plagg felt alone and lost. He figured this must be what Nooroo and Dusuu were feeling as well.

XoXo Rowan

#writing #spilled ink #miraculous au #miraculous fandom #adrien salt #adrien bashing #obsessive behavior #Plagg deserves better #Obsesive!Adrien

[shima-draws]

Watched the MLB movie and I just. I WANT to gush about it but the fact that Marinette’s regular voice actor and her singing voice actor sound SO different just took me out of it every time and left me feeling very disengaged;; At least Adrien’s singing voice kind of sounds like his speaking voice (and Gabriel’s is 👌 bc my king Keith Silverstein can actually sing and he can sing REALLY fucking well) but Marinette’s. The voices are COMPLETELY different and it threw me off every single time. Like obviously her singing voice is really good and I understand why they picked that person to do her songs but bro you could have at least TRIED to get someone that sounds similar to Cristina Vee. It drove me nuts every time she sang bc I was like “That is CLEARLY a different person entirely!!”

I’m realizing this might have been a dubbing issue but still 😭 I feel like I would have enjoyed the movie way more if it didn’t look like Marinette was lip syncing the entire time bc there was such a huge disconnect between her speaking and singing voice

#Also I can’t fucking believe they did that to my boy Plagg. They RUINED him #He did not deserve that #Miraculous Ladybug #MLB #MLB movie #ALSO. Also. Personally. I don’t think it needed to be a musical #Bc that was very jarring in itself I was not expecting it #Since Miraculous isn’t a musical normally anyway!! #They probably could have fit in a lot more plot and made the story flow better if they took out all the songs #And replaced them with actual character development and stuff. #Idk it just feels like they tried to make it like a Disney film. And it didn’t quite fit with the story #I WILL say tho the character models were top notch. Marinette with FRECKLES?? YES PLEASE #Anyway yeah lots of thoughts but I could not take it seriously bc of the awkward voice casting #It actually ruined a lot of the movie for me :’( Again it drove me nuts lmao #Shima speaks #Idk maybe I'll watch it in French next time. Maybe I'll like it better then lol

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

It's weird to expect lb to be able to read cn mind and called her a bad partner for it. But it's even weirder for lb to ignore cn WHEN HES OBVIOUSLY IN DISTRESS and not called her a bad partner for it because I think called her a bad partner for ignoring it is understandable and justified especially since she consider herself as his boss.

Every time I bring up this conflict, I try to make it clear that I don't think Ladybug was blameless, I just think Chat Noir's writing was worse. Let's walk through the problem to show what I mean.

Season four stars with Marinette extremely stressed by her new Guardian status. In Truth and Lies, the first episodes of the season, we get this:

Ladybug: Will you cut it out with the practical jokes? I could have really hurt you! Cat Noir:(answering while hanging by the yo-yo) M'lady, the only thing that really hurts me is when you make me go on patrol by myself. (sighs, relaxing his posture) I even missed your little angry pout. Ladybug: Sorry, Kitty Cat, I'm a bit over my head at the moment. (pulling him up) Cat Noir: I bet! "Guardian of the Miraculous", big name, big responsibility!

This is also the start to Chat Noir communicating poorly. In this episode, he's straight up told that Ladybug is in over her head and he never once asks how he can help. In fact, we even get him saying this when asked how he feels about the change:

Truth: Cat Noir, tell me what- (interupted by Ladybug throwing a present at Truth) Ladybug: (covering her parasol with foil) ...do you think about my new role as guardian! Cat Noir: If it doesn't change things between us, then I'm good with it!

So not a great start to the season. I know people focused on Adrien's terrible treatment of Kagami in these episodes, but this Ladynoir dynamic was actually what rang alarm bells for me. I kept waiting for Chat Noir to offer his support since it was really, really obvious that Ladybug was in over her head since she was late to patrols, the last season literally ended with her losing her mentor figure, and, you know, she straight up told him that was what was going on?

The next episode is Gang of Secrets in which we see Marinette out her identity to Alya. I get why she did this, she needed support and her partner doesn't seem interested in giving it, but she can't say that for certain because she never asked him directly and she should have. Trusting Chat Noir over Alya would have allowed Ladynette to maintain the security of her secret identity - a thing she claimed was more important than ever - and to honor their partnership. At the very least, she should have told Chat Noir that Rena Rouge was now a full time holder so that he could account for that in battle and to minimize the fallout by owning up to her mistake asap. The longer a lie goes on, the worse the truth will hurt.

To Ladybug's credit, she does eventually acknowledge her mistake after the Scarabella incident:

Ladybug: You... must've been pretty surprised to discover there was another holder! (Silence. She sits beside Cat Noir.) Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings.

This is a decent apology. She doesn't try to absolve herself of wrong doing. Instead, she acknowledges that what she did would hurt her, too, if the shoe were on the other foot. The only thing she loses points on is the fact that she doesn't tell him about Rena Furtive.

However, instead of agreeing with her and telling her that she has hurt him, Chat Noir says that she did nothing wrong and never once brings up how their weakened partnership is bothering him:

Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. Paris will always need a Ladybug superhero to watch over her. It's just... I realized that if one day that hero wasn't you, m'lady, since we don't know each other's identities, that means... I'd never see you again. Ever. And now, I just don't know if I can bear it.

This is the thing that I hate about this arc. The reason why I say Ladybug is blamed for not reading his mind. Especially because, three episodes later, we get Rocketear, which gives us this:

Cat Noir: Everyone has doubts now and then, (looks down) even me... Ladybug: Is everything okay, Cat Noir? Cat Noir: Yeah, yeah. (prepare his fist) Pound it! Ladybug: (fistbumps) Pound it!

Rocketear is the episode where Nino outs that he and Alya know each other's identities while acting like Ladybug said identities weren't a big deal even though that is very much not what happened. You'd think that Chat Noir would want to know the full story, but instead he just lies and says that everything is fine.

So we have two situations where the show allowed Ladybug to give Chat Noir a chance for clear and open communication and both times he turns her down.

What's worse is that he clearly starts making up stories in his head, leading to Kuro Neko, which starts with Adrien avoiding a fight on purpose as some sort of shit test. He then gets upset when Ladybug... doesn't lament his absence on national TV?

Clara: (from TV) By the way, where's Cat Noir? You've saved Paris without him quite a few times recently. Are you two at odds with each other? Carapace, Pegasus, Vesperia and Pigella: (from TV) Pound it! Ladybug: (from TV) Of course not, it's just that... umm, he's a partner like any other! The most important is to pick the best superheroes for each mission, with or without Cat Noir. No matter what, we've got a great team and we'll always be here to save Paris. (Adrien is shocked.) Adrien: (turns off the TV and sighs) "A partner like any other..."

Dude, what did you want her to do here? Complain that you flaked on her? Make Paris feel less safe by saying she doesn't know where you are? Imply that the fight was barely won without you? What are you doing? Plagg, you are completely failing as a mentor right now.

The shit test continues as Chat Noir goes to meet up with Ladybug now that the battle is over, arriving just as Ladybug has finished instructing the team on what to do:

Ladybug: Come on, guys! Hurry up before you all detransform. I'll meet you at rendezvous points. (The heroes jump away in different directions, and Ladybug starts typing something on her Yo-yo.) Cat Noir: Hey! Meow are you, m'lady? Ladybug: Great, thanks, but I gotta go retrieve all these Miraculous. Cat Noir: I could lend you a paw to help save time. Ladybug: Thanks, kitty cat, but it's a guardian's job to do it. Cat Noir: I know who some of them are, remember? I was there when you first gave them their Miraculous! Ladybug: You don't even know where their rendezvous points are, I don't have time to— Cat Noir: Playing cat and mouse is my forte, you know— Ladybug: (yelling) If you wanna save me time, stop wasting it in the first place! (Cat Noir gasps. As Ladybug swings away, Cat Noir clenches his fist.) Cat Noir: And take my Miraculous back when you're done!

So Ladybug doesn't publicly chastise Chat Noir for missing the battle and rejects an offer to help because of very legitimate timing concerns, leading to Chat Noir quitting because she failed his stupid, petty, childish tests. Realistic writing? Yes. Writing that paints Ladybug as the one in the wrong? No.

Going into this episode, Ladybug has no idea that things are messed up between them even though she has actually kept communication lines open. She asks him if things are okay, but he lies. And when he's ready to quit? He plays stupid games and wins a stupid prize. It's really not shocking that the next scene sees Ladybug totally baffled by what just happened:

Plagg: For a while now, you've been neglecting this camembert— I mean Cat Noir, and going on adventures with the all other cheeses! Ladybug: But he should be happy about it, it gives him more time off. Plagg: Cat Noir doesn't wanna have time off, Ladybug! He is in love with you! And your persistent calling on all the other heroes has broken his heart.

And how is she supposed to know that, Plagg? Was she supposed to assume that her partner was lying when he said he was fine? Because she did ask and he said that nothing was wrong. But something was wrong and it lead him to build up a story in his head, reading nonexistent intent into her actions, all of which is toxic and unhealthy communication.

I cannot stress how common this shit is. I've seen it so many times and I will own that I've done it in the past and wound up getting no support when I needed it because I'd directly told people I didn't and they committed the heinous crime of... believing me.

Here's the other thing, there are times when I'm in distress and legitimately don't want or need help. Times when I just need to be alone for a bit. So if someone asks me if I'm okay during those times, I'm probably just going to say, "Yeah, I just need a people break" or something like that. That's why the Scarabella scene is so bad. Ladybug can see that Chat Noir is in distress and he gives her a fully plausible answer: I'm not upset with you, I'm just saddened by the idea of losing you. And she believes him because why wouldn't she?

Same goes for Rocketear. It's reasonable for Ladybug to assume that Chat Noir is just shaken by the fight. She has no idea about the bombshell that Nino dropped right before the fight. She doesn't even know that Nino and Chat Noir are actually close friends, making this fight a lot more devastating than it looks at face value. Her actions here are not objectively wrong. They're only wrong if you know the whole story, including Adrien's needs. Things that she cannot know unless Chat Noir uses his words to tell her things.

I cannot over stress how much season four is a textbook example of denying yourself support because you cannot communicate your own needs. Is it an understandable character flaw for a character with Adrien's background to have? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. But it's still a character flaw. This season desperately needed an arc about Adrien learning to tell people what's wrong. Not because he's the only one in the wrong here, but because things cannot get better when Ladybug has no idea that she's hurting him. (Nino has no idea either, but let's keep our focus on Ladybug.)

One of the most important things you can do for your own mental well being is to dismiss the idea that your needs are the same as everyone else's. Everyone needs different amounts of attention and values different behavior based on things like their upbringing and life events.

I get the feeling that I'm wired pretty similar to Marinette. At least, it influences how I write her because I can go months without talking to my best friends and still call them my best friends, a trait we all share because two of use are artsy introverts and two of us are moms to young kids, which allows for very little free time. Meanwhile, my SO and his best friend spend hours on the phone almost every week. I swear that those two go into withdrawal if they don't talk at least once every seven days. If months went by without them talking? Something would be very wrong, but the exact same time gap isn't even remotely concerning when it comes to my friends. It's something my SO and I had to figure out when we got together because I need a lot less attention than he does. But we communicated and found a balance that we continue to work to communicate about so that he doesn't feel neglected and I don't feel overwhelmed by too little me time.

What I'm trying to say is Marinette wasn't horribly wrong for assuming that Chat Noir was telling her the truth or that he liked having a larger team so he had less responsibility. Those are reasonable assumptions. Especially since he never actually indicated that he wanted more responsibility until he was ready to quit and decided to shit test her by pushing for more to do when she was stressed and on a timer.

I do think that she should have offered it to him before that or - at the very least - the show should have clearly stated why she didn't do that since it apparently had nothing to do with Chat Blanc trauma like we all thought it did. I'm not saying that she's blameless or perfect or that there weren't things she could have done better. It's just really hard for me to look at Chat Noir's behavior in season four and go, "Oh yeah, he's the injured party here. Ladybug holds all the blame and did everything wrong." She did many things wrong, but generally speaking, she owned her faults and tried to keep communication channels open. Chat Noir chose to ignore those chances to talk or otherwise try to express his needs in a clear and understandable manner.

We'll end with one final point to drive this home: You said that she's his boss. Well, if my boss asked me, "is everything okay with the project?" and I said, "yes" while freaking out about the upcoming deadline that I'm probably going to miss because he's given me too much work, the issue is not all on my boss. It's on both of us. Him for overloading me and me for not telling him I'm overloaded. You could even argue that it's mostly on me because I'm the only one who can properly gauge my own ability to do a given workload. As soon as it was too much, I should have said something. And if I don't feel like my boss is approachable? Then I should quit. But that isn't the situation I'm in and it doesn't appear to be the one that Chat Noir was in, either. He wanted to stay part of the team, he just totally failed to tell Ladybug how being on the team was making him feel.

People magically knowing what you need and how you feel is a myth. I promise you, most people in this world do not want to cause you pain, but if you cannot clearly express when someone is causing you pain, then you will continue to get hurt by people who would be very happy to not hurt you if they actually knew that their actions were causing you pain.

#ml writing critical #ml writing salt #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #I do give Luka a bit of a side eye for not getting involved after Wishmaker though #Dude's supposed to be some sort of empath and he's at his best when he's in a mentor role #He should have been allowed to be Adrien's Alya since Nino is clearly not suited for the role #Season four my belothed #kuro Neko salt #ml season 4 salt #you cannot expect someone to correct their behavior when no one is telling them that they're behaving badly #And no one calls Marinette out so of course she doesn't change her behavior! #She is shown to be willing to change when prompted too #She only knew that something was wrong post Scarabella because Alya told her #Do you really think Marinette was aware that she was hurting Chat Noir and just willfully kept doing it? #Or is it more likely that she just didn't know because no one told her? #Feel free to give Tikki some blame too because she's been a real shitty mentor for a while now #which breaks my heart because I love Tikki and Plagg and want them to be good mentors

[gracetheadrienettefan]

Adrien hates walls.

His prison of a house? Walls.

His father’s closed office door? Wall.

His mother’s room? Oh, look, more solid walls.

The garden? Don’t even TRY.

He escapes through Chat Noir, but then—

Ladybug. Wall. Wall upon wall upon wall. At first it was just their secret identities. He could manage one more isolation.

But now it’s hundreds, layers upon layers of mistrust and lies that pile up until they’re almost more oppressive than the bars that close him in for real.

Any friends? His own secret identity is a massive, glaring, ugly barrier.

Maybe, just maybe, they’re never going to move. Maybe he’s meant to stay walked in. Hidden. Forgotten.

“I love you just the way you are,” he says. One wall down. Only it’s not, because apparently Marinette has walls too, and they’re going up faster than he can stop them. He’s hopeless, helpless, alone. Walled in.

And he’s starting to get claustrophobic. He’s stuck, in every way imaginable. He can’t move. He can’t fight for one love without ruining another. He can’t fight for one life without leaving a gaping hole behind in the other.

But he can’t keep filling all these gaps. His existence is like the plug in three dams, all connecting at one point—

His identity.

The same thing that’s keeping him afloat is also crushing him, leaving him gasping for air and floundering for a foothold even as the walls close in.

His father asks about his ring, and in that moment, Adrien makes his choice. Trembling, clenching his arms tight around himself to hide it, staring his father (his creator) in the eyes, he plants himself between the window (freedom) and his father (the cause of all of his heartache, really, although he doesn’t know it yet.)

“You’d know I’ve been wearing this ring for a long time if you paid any attention to me, father.” He snaps.

His father leaves.

He’s shaking. His mind is spinning. He feels an ache of ‘wrong, wrong, wrong’ growing deep in his gut. Maybe he throws up, he doesn’t know for sure. But he’s done it.

The first step.

Was it Plagg who told him even the smallest force can start the biggest quake?

Maybe, Adrien thinks for the first time, destruction isn’t something to be feared. It’s something to be celebrated, used, enjoyed. It’s catsclysming the iron bars slamming down around him. It’s fighting back. It’s freedom.

Destruction is freedom. (How had he never seen it before?)

Sure, this time it was out of pure fear. Part of him never wants to speak again. A large part of him still nurses the idea of running away, hiding, where there’s no one to hurt and nothing to fear. But the larger part of him (by a small margin) is shaking not from fear but excitement. Thrill. Adrenaline. He’s realized, for the first time in his false life, that he can rebel.

This first crack in the facade was made out of fear. But the rest will be planned, in a beautiful cascade of reckless emotion and anger (that he now lets himself embrace for the first time, lets it fill him, swell in his soul, give him strength) and love that will bring the world tumbling down so that he can recreate it in the way it ought to be.

(It’s not until Ladybug breaks down and he crumples with her, eyes red-rimmed with frustrated tears and an aching loneliness that never leaves, that he learns of the other implications of such thoughts. What he could become, did he not love the right people.)

But no matter. Because he does love the right people. And he believes they can best the odds.

And Ladybug, somehow, with her trembling lower lip and fearful doe eyes, gives him the strength (he has to protect her at all costs) to fight for the future he sees for both of them. It’s her and him against the world.

She trusts him, somehow.

What does he have to lose?

#adrien #miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #fanfic #fanfiction #ladynoir #adrien agreste #ml fanfic #chat noir #adrien deserves better #destruction #Plagg #miraculous plagg #basically Adrien deserves to be angry #also the layers of isolation #he’s the only one who’s completely hidden in the show #they rarely show a glimpse inside his life #no one knows his identity #just #GAHHHH #my poor child

[dragonwritersblog]

These Hands Of Yours (Let Me Protect Them)

Read on AO3

For @xhanisai after I reblogged this post and immediately came up with this after the S5 finale. I have many thoughts but the main one was mostly “MARINETTE MY GIRL YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER!” but yeah, I decided to base this after the finale because I feel like it fits with that post that she made. I managed to write this with the help of the caffeine from my tea, my remaining will to live and the neuro-spicy brain juice swirling around in my head. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this Akari!

The image of her tears-stained cheeks, red eyes and running nose was something Adrien didn’t think he was going to get out of his head for quite some time. He had comforted both Marinette and Ladybug many times before for different reasons, but this was the first time he comforted the same person on both sides of the mask.

It had started earlier this evening when they were both on patrol, Ladybug had met up with them at their agreed spot on a rooftop. The first sign he noticed something was wrong was how tense she was. Sure, she had her signature sweet smile and adorable sass, but her grin seemed more strained, and her quips were forced rather than seamlessly rolling off her tongue.

When asking her if she was alright, she brushed it off with a nervous laugh and swung away to start patrol. Chat Noir thought about chasing after her, but decided against it, knowing that if he continued to press on about it, the less willing she would be to tell him what was going on. They met up again twenty minutes later, but this time the sass and smile were gone, replaced with a face clouded with gloom and her posture slouched. He asked again if she was sure she was okay, only to be given a single nod before Ladybug attempted to swing away again; key word, attempted. For when she threw the end of her yoyo and prepared to jump, her clumsiness seemed to strike, and she nearly lost her footing. If it hadn’t been for Chat Noir’s quick reflexes and grabbed her wrist to pull her away, there was a definite chance she would’ve been injured.

He asked her one last time if she was okay and something inside her seemed to snap. Her eyes began to water, and her bottom lip trembled before launching herself into his chest and began to sob, strained cries ripping from her throat. Chat immediately scooped her up into his arms and walked over to a chimney, sitting them both down with her in his lap as he stroked her hair.

“I’m s-sorry, I’m so sorry!” she wailed, her tears leaking onto his leather covered shoulders as she buried her face into his neck.

“Shhh,” he buried his claws into her hair, gently taking out her hair ties and began stroking through the soft dark locks to sooth her, “You don’t need to apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You don’t understand!” she hiccupped, her small hands gripping the back of his suit as her entire body began to shake with more sobs, “I was stupid, I was really stupid this time Chat!”

Another tremor wracked through her body, causing Chat Noir to start purring, hoping that the vibrations would ease the panic threating to bubble to the surface. The purring seemed to be working, for he felt her trying to even out her breathing, though it seemed that she struggled as she would let out a cry once in a while that just shattered his heart every time he heard it. “Whatever it is, we can get through this together like we always do.”

“Not this time Chat!” she whimpered, “It’s just gonna make things worse if I say it. Everyone’s already so happy I can’t say it.”

“Then don’t say it to everyone,” he took one of her hands, his thumb stroking the top as her face peeled away from her shoulder to look at him, “Just say it to me, and let the rest just follow.”

“I…he…he should hate me!” she sniffled.

“Who?”

“Adrien!” her chest began to heave again as her other hand clawed at her face, “He should hate me for what I did!”

“Adrien Agreste?” Chat Noir inquired, starting to put the pieces together, “If this is about what happened to his father, Gabriel made that choice to help save the city. It’s not your fault, he doesn’t hate you for that.”

While true, a part of him was still grieving the loss of his father, he was glad that in those remaining moments his true self came to light for what he would do for his family. With that information in mind, it was something he could live with. However, it seemed that what he said just made his Lady feel worse as ripped her hand that was held in his to claw at her neck as she cried harder.

“No, no, no!” She began to rock back and forth, red marks were starting to contrast against her pale skin on her jaw, making Chat Noir grab her hands into his own large ones so she wouldn’t cause further damage to herself. “He shouldn’t have died; I shouldn’t have let him die! Then the wish wouldn’t-”

She clamped her mouth shut, praying that Chat Noir didn’t hear that last part. Unfortunately, his enhanced hearing was able to catch those last few words, the boy turning to her slowly. “What do you mean about the wish?” his tone was slow and steady.

“I-I didn’t…that wasn’t what I…t-that’s not what I meant to say-”

“-Ladybug,” she nearly jumped at the sound of his voice, the intensity making her nerves twist again, “What do you mean about the wish?”

He didn’t look or seem angry, but she knew that this was a conversation that he wasn’t going to change. Trying to compose herself as much as she could, she began to explain.

“He-he tricked me,” her own voice seemed to start shaking, “M-Monarch tricked me.” She felt his claws trail up and down her back to try and relieve some of her panic as her stuttering continued. “He tricked me. He tricked me. He tricked me.”

“It’s okay,” he whispered. He thinks he has a bit of an idea now. “Monarch is nothing but evil. He would do anything to get what he wants. Don’t blame yourself for Monarch making Gabriel sacrifice himself, you did all that you could.”

It didn’t seem to make her feel better, her eyes were still wide open and spilling tears as her breathing worsened. She began to shake her head. “Monarch tricked me. Monarch tricked me!” she turned to meet his gaze, “Gabriel was the trick!”

Chat Noir raised a brow in confusion. How was Gabriel the trick? His thoughts were interrupted as Ladybug’s rambles became more frantic.

“Monarch tricked me! Gabriel tricked me. Gabriel tricked me. He tricked me!”

A pit began to form in his stomach. No, no there’s no way. It felt like pieces of a puzzle starting to finally click together. Or to put it more simply, two men – two horrible men – began to mould into one monster. It was only confirmed when Ladybug opened her mouth again.

“Gabriel is…was Monarch,” she gripped his hands as the memory flooded back into her mind, “He started saying these things and I though that maybe, just maybe, there was still some good him. How could I be such an idiot?! To fall for a few nice words and suddenly it’s enough for me to give him Tikki and Plagg!”

Chat wanted to tell her that she wasn’t an idiot, that he understood being manipulated by that man – if you could even call him that at this point – that she did everything that she could in that moment. But at the same time, Monarch was his father! He had spent the last few weeks wondering how he could ever live up to how great his father was in his sacrifice. When in reality, there was no sacrifice, just an act of cowardice and his lady was left to pick up the pieces. He forced himself to repress a disgusted shudder. No wonder she looked like she was about to break down the minute he saw her arrive. 

“How can he look at me like that?!” she asked aloud, the question not being directed to anyone, “Even when I keep lying to him?!”

Chat Noir tucked a loose stray hair behind her ear, “Lying to who? About what?”

“Adrien,” the name alone made his breath hitch, “Every time I see him, he just looks at me as though I handed the world to him by just simply being there, and he doesn’t even know what I’ve been keeping from him!”

Oh, that made sense…wait. Adrien hadn’t seen Ladybug since she gave him his father’s ring. The way she was speaking about him was as if they had seen each other many times before. Did he know her outside of the mask? Could he even be that lucky?

“I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” she continued, “I don’t know if I can handle him looking at me like that whenever we’re at school, or play video games at each other’s houses, I don’t think I can be able to keep it together when he takes me to the little coffee shop down the street that he knows that I adore. He’s done so much for me, cares so much for me and yet I’m doing this to him, and he doesn’t even know what a horrible person I am!”

School…coffee shop…dates…A chill rushes through his veins, realisation seeping in. The girl he was holding in his arms, her hands glued to his in a desperate sign practically begging not to be alone, was someone that he knew far closer to him than any of his friends. Someone who he knew that already had so much on her hands that just got piled on after everything that was said to him. It can’t be.

“I SHOULDN’T BE LADYBUG!”

Was the last thing that tore from Marinette’s throat as her suit disappeared, leaving behind the love of his life in her pyjamas, Tikki nuzzling her cheek to try and calm her as the wave of panic and weeping returned.

He drops everything that was circling in his mind - his father, the wish, his Lady’s identity – and wraps Marinette up in his arms as much as he can, purring and keeping her as warm as he can with his body heat. Her left arm was wrapped round his torso while he kept a hold of her right hand in his own. He takes a look at her ungloved hand, hundreds of little scars leaving their marks on her skin, leaving a mocking reminder of how much she failed that day.

The fact that Monarch…no…the fact that his father was so selfish and vile that he went out of his way to not only emotionally damage, but to go as far as to try to physically damage his Lady just for a wish. Was his own son not enough? Was he that self-centred to ignore his only family left while claiming that he was doing this for his child? How could he use that to justify hurting and manipulating such a sweet and kind person as Marinette?!

“This is my fault,” she whispers, her voice raspy and sounding sore, “This is all my fault. He should hate me, I’m a terrible person and a terrible Ladybug.”

“No,” Chat Noir shook his head, a slight growl escaping with the word.

“I’m really sorry,” she whimpered, “I should’ve told you; you have every right to be angry with me, you’re my partner, you deserve to know.”

Did she…did she think his anger was directed at her? “Oh Mari,” he pressed his lips to her hair, “I have no reason to be angry with you. Never, ever blame yourself for the cruelty of others. You don’t need to apologise for any of Gabriel’s actions.”

He takes her other hand and clasps them in his again, making sure that her attention was focused on him and only him. “Since the moment I met you, you’ve been pressured to put the weight of Paris on your shoulders. From our friends to the other civilians, even yourself, it might not have been said out loud, but you definitely felt them giving you that responsibility. You are so strong; I’ve seen the remarkable things that you have accomplished with your hands. How you’ve protected so many people, to figuring out any lucky charm thrown your way, to even fighting the most feral akumas. But it’s also left its impact on you as well, and eventually, the weight that your hands have carried for so long has started to take effect. It doesn’t make you weak, no, however it is something that you don’t have to do alone. We’re the bug and cat team, we’re meant to share the weight, not take the burden from the other. And know that I know, I’m gonna make sure that you never feel such a weight again, both in and out the suit.”

She tilts her head in confusion before a flash of green made her squint and look away. When she looked back, she gasped, for there in front of her, in his pyjamas and zip-up hoodie, was none other than the boy she swore to protect from all the darkness she held so that he would never be burdened with. “Adrien?”

He pressed a kiss to her hand, “Hi Princess.”

Her eyes filled with tears again, she tried to make sure that Adrien would never find out about this, not at the expense of his happiness and now she managed to screw that up as well.

He was more prepared this time when she let out more apologies, taking off his hoodie, wrapped her up in it and pressed her face to his chest as he tightly embraced her. He purred louder and more even to make sure she was relaxed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Adrien!” she blubbered out as he rocked them back and forth, “I should’ve told you, but you were finally happy! Finally free with your life and I didn’t want to take that from you!”

“It’s alright, shh, it’s gonna be alright,” he let her continue to sob, his main priority at this point was her and taking care of her, “I’m okay, we’re okay, it’s not your fault.”

A few minutes later, her sobs turned to quiet sniffles. He took another look at her face, his stomach twisting when he saw just how exhausted she was, the guilt had really taken an ugly toll on her. Tikki was still cradled in the crook of her neck, having fallen asleep while soothing her holder. He stood up, holding her in his arms as he called out for his transformation phrase and jumped off the rooftop, making his way back to the bakery.

Once he landed on her balcony, he released his transformation again before going through her trapdoor window and gently placing her onto the bed.

He lifted her upper body he raised her duvet and placed her under it, making sure she was wrapped up safe and warm before joining her under her blankets, wrapping her up in his arms again and resumed his purring. Tikki had woken up and moved from Marinette’s neck to her hair, Plagg joining her as he buried himself in her dark locks and he began to purr as well.

Adrien could feel her body struggling to relax, constantly shifting from trying to letting herself by soothed by the warmth and love she was being given to stiffening back up again as though she didn’t feel as though she were allowed to.

His brows furrow in concentration, forming a plan in his head on just how to help his princess within this moment. He looked at their hands again, having conjoined again while in the midst of her much needed cuddles. He raised her dainty pale hand to his lips, gently pressing them against the tips of her fingers, making her look up at him and pausing her internal dilemma.

“I’m not surprised that you’re Ladybug,” he told her, “I mean, I am a bit shocked at the sudden reveal, but it makes so much sense that you’re her. The kindness with how you treat civilians, the creativity when figuring out any lucky charm thrown at you, not taking any nonsense from anyone – all of that comes from Marinette.”

He presses two more kisses to the back of her hand and laid it on her pillow and started stroking her palm in small circles with his thumb, taking notice that she was focused on the lazy motions and the soothing feeling it gave her. “It comes from everything I’ve seen you do outside of the mask,” he continued, “How you treat our friends and students outside of our class to make sure everyone is happy, coming up with ideas for not only your fashion but with baking, drawing and so many other projects, and you refuse to let others be walked over and stand up for those who aren’t able to do it themselves. All that comes from you! And all those amazing things come from your amazing hands.”

She tried to smile; it wavered a little, but she wanted to show how much his words meant to her. She wanted to believe him, she wanted to believe him so badly! So why wouldn’t the final image of Gabriel leave her mind?! Why did it have to keep reminding her of how much she failed.

She curled in on herself, the brainstorm building up again. Luckily, Adrien seemed to take notice. “But those hands have been hurt way before you became Ladybug, haven’t they?” he asked, making her thoughts pause as she peered up at him through her eyelashes.

“Despite saving the city multiple times, its far from the first time your hands have been used in that way,” he brushed his thumb over a faded scar, one that he noticed from the first time he met Marinette. Back during the hat contest, before everything, when he gently brushed his hand against hers to take her winning hat, he saw it on the top of her hand and was curious as to how it got there, but he didn’t want to pry. Now, after knowing all she went through, he had a bit of an idea on how she received it.

“All those years that you had to defend yourself from Chloe’s ruthlessness to the point you were terrified to go to school, and then Lila trying to do the same to you as well. Not to mention, you always tried to take on everyone’s problems, whether if its Kim and Ivan fighting, or Alix trying to pick a fight with someone, you’ve constantly found solutions to the point that they just keep coming back to you for help,” he continued, “They see you as the only way to fix a problem instead of trying to figure it out themselves. I know that you’re afraid of our friends getting akumatised, but you can’t take on everybody else’s burdens if you’re already being dragged down by your own.”

Marinette whimpered, every word he was saying was ringing so true that it hurt to listen to. Adrien sensed her distress and pressed a few more gentle kisses to her cheeks and forehead; he knew she had to hear this, but he knew that there was already going on in that head of hers for her to finally be confronted with both her greatest strength yet biggest flaw.

“And now knowing that you had to defend yourself from my father, both with and without a miraculous,” a bitter taste formed in his mouth as he remembered how Ladybug tried to fight Hawkmoth after Tikki and Plagg took back their miraculous. His father might not have known it was Marinette at that time, but he did know that the person he was fighting at the time was defenceless and vulnerable to the extreme damage he inflicted. “The fact that he would do that to you, that he tried to go out of his way to hurt you and then proceeded to trick you…...I’m so sorry Marinette. I’m sorry that you’ve kept this to yourself just so you could protect me but,” he looked at the scars on her hands again, the ones that Gabriel left there permanently, “No one was there to protect you from what he did.”

“-But you’ve already protected me for so long!” Marinette injected, the sudden volume startling Adrien a little bit, “You’ve already done so much for me, even when I pushed you away you were always by my side even when I didn’t deserve it. Even after keeping this from, you, how could you still want to be my partner…I don’t deserve this.”

He pressed a finger to her lips; she looked up as their eyes locked with one another, anxious blue met a frustrated green, but not at her. “Don’t ever say that again,” he murmured, his voice low and laced with both hurt and concern, “You deserve so much more than you’ve been given. You barely ask for anything, nothing even, and yet no one can even give you that.” He brought her hands to his chest, right above where she could feel his heart drumming softly, “You are so incredible, so talented, so amazing. And it hurts to watch that being stripped away every day, as Marinette and Ladybug. You think that you need to take on so much more than you already do, that you have to feel this horrible, but you don’t! Ladybug wasn’t meant to be on her own and neither was Marinette. You don’t need to do this alone anymore Princess…please, let me in, let me help you, let me share and protect the world that is threatening to fall out of your hold.”

“I-I-I,” her voice broke a little, the weight of his words was hitting harder than she thought it would, giving her a sense of peace and relief that she hadn’t felt in so long. But she knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold onto it forever, something was going to make him realise that she was a terrible partner, and he would finally realise that. “I can’t. I can’t take your happiness away after you fought so hard for it, I can’t let you be dragged down with me. I should’ve been smarter that day, I could’ve found another way – I could’ve! That way you don’t have to be here now to feel burdened by me!”

“I can assure you that never have, or will, burden me with anything,” he let go of her hands and wrapped both of his arms around her smaller form in a silent promise of never letting her go. “I’m here because I want to be. Gabriel has always found a way to trick others for years, he tricked us both when he first thought he was Hawkmoth, he’s managed to talk his way in and out of situations without anyone batting an eye and he has manipulated me for years into thinking that I was wrong about everything. And the fact that all of Paris believes that he’s some kind of hero while you’re suffering in silence after everything he put you through just proves how much of a monster he is. And I feel sick knowing that I believed that too for a while.”

Marinette shuffled in his arms. Ever since she became Ladybug, defeating Hawkmoth was the only goal she knew that she had to complete. She sacrificed everything in order to do that, her hobbies, her love life, even herself to some degree. And yet when the time came, she failed. Part of him just wanted Adrien to scream at her, tell her that she messed up and messed up bad. But seeing him look at her with the utmost love after she thought he would hate her for keeping these secrets and failing to complete the most important task of their lives, even after finding out that Hawkmoth was his father, a part of herself felt as though he were telling the truth about everything he said in that moment.

He let one of his arms fall and clasped her hand again, bringing it to his lips, “You’re not alone anymore Marinette. No matter what the future holds for us, we’re going to go through this together. You didn’t mess up; you didn’t fail, and you deserve to be happy. I’m here now, so please, let me take care of you as you took care of me and everyone else,” he gently pressed his lips to her knuckles as one more promise, “It’s you and me against the world.”

The dams broke once more as Marinette buried her head in his chest, wailing once more as he gripped her tightly with as much protection as he could give her in this moment. He let her cry as much as she needed to, stroking her hair as she got everything else out of her system while whispering and presses comforting kisses to her forehead.

A while passed before her cries turned to whimpers and her whimpers turned into soft, even breathes. Looking down, he saw that she had cried herself to sleep. Judging by the bags under her eyes and how deep she seemed to be in her dreamlike state, this was probably this first time she properly slept since her battle with Hawkmoth.

Her arms were tightly wrapped around him, as though she were begging him to stay – as if he could ever leave her after what happened. With one arm wrapped her waist and the other round the back of her head, he cuddled softly into her, relishing in the soft content noise that left her throat. The kwamis retreated to the other side of the pillows, giving their holders much needed space while close enough in case they needed them.

Before he allowed himself to fall asleep however, internally, Adrien made one more promise to her. I won’t let this happen to you again Marinette, not after this. No matter what, I’ll keep you safe and never let your hands carry that type of weight ever again. Now that I’m free for him, nothing will stop me from protecting you or leaving your side.

Only after making that promise, did he join her in sleep.

(In the morning.

“Plagg, how do you cataclysm a dead person?”

“Adrien I just woke up what the fuck.”)

I am so sorry it took this long! I swear I should’ve gotten it out sooner but it’s here now and I hope you like it! <3

#mari my babygirl you deserve so much better #adrien would do anything to protect his lady #miraculous ladybug #love square #marichat #ladynoir #adrienette #ladrien #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #tikki #plagg #gabriel agreste is mentioned but not in this fic #my writing #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #dragon rambles #post s5 finale #ladybug #chat noir

[aryxchse]

adrien agreste headcanons

a/n: i just wrote whatever camed to my mind, also this takes place after gabriels death cause i dont want him

- he watches k-drama

- he started with the c-dramas to study chinese, but he got addicted and started watching k-dramas too

- his favorite is twenty five twenty one, since it's all about fencing

- thinks cat woman was one of the black cat miraculous holders

- when the house is empty, he transformes into chat and just walks around the house by using his cat-like abilities

- he geniunely likes eating, specially when he's chat noir

- his little secret dream was to become a florist but never told anyone, even marinette

- this boy sure knows everything about flowers

- has a really good fashion sense and helps nino pick his special-occasion clothes

- he thinks hes hot while hes bleeding (he is)

- couldn't tie shoes until he was 13

- for a homeschooled, never-got-out kid he curses really well and is a secret bully to the people he hates

- for some reason, he felt really comfortable when he found out luka knew his identity, took the weight of his shoulders fr

- he chills around the paris SO OFTEN!! you can see chat noir just walking around on the roofs anytime of the day

- he just really appreciates his country since he never got the chance to explore it

- mamas boy

- listens to any kinds of music but jazz is his favorite

- he got sick from people calling him dumb-blonde so he dyed his hair black one day and he actually looked so GOOD with it

- he told ladybug that he really liked adrien agreste with a black hair and that he inspired him to do it too (lucky for him she believed)

- among us fan

- live laugh love adrien

#sentimonster adrien #miraculous adrien #adrien x marinette #mlb adrien #adrienette #adrien deserves better #adrien agreste #miraculous ladybug adrien #adrien and marinette #adrien and plagg #chat noir #cat noir #miraculous lb #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous fandom #miraculous awakening #miraculous spoilers #miraculous movie #miraculous season 5 #miraculous memes #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanart #miraculous au #miraculous headcanon

[midnightgremlin]

I waited 8 YEARS for the FINALE of Miraculous Ladybug, and I got that?!?!!! What the actual fuck--

⚠️Spoiler Warning⚠️

Tis a horror show, an absolute shit-show, like I was expecting some epic showdown and I got a mediocre battle at best.

Don't even get me started on the last minute redemption arc for Gabriel, like my man didn't deserve to be redeemed. The AMOUNT OF TIMES he tried to KILL literal teenagers, including his nephew and son-- he did not deserve to be remembered as a hero. He was a villain, and he should have died as one.

And- AND there wasn't a reveal?!?!?????

8 years and still no reveal (that is in a timeline that didn't get erased or memory wiped). Like they're together, but still not?? The hell?? I am dissatisfied, disappointed and absolutely destroyed that they decided to end it that way. Like wtf?!

#miraculous ladybug #ladybug and chat noir #i am angry #ladybug #chat noir #Gabriel agreste can die in a hole #marinette dupen chang #adrian agreste #Adrien I am so sorry #you deserved so much better #also eldritch horror beings??? #plagg #tikki and plagg #tikki #wtf???

[lundenburn]

Here me out

What if plagg dosen’t know that nooroo lives in the same house

BUT

Nooroo knows that plagg is Gabriel’s sons kwami but dosen’t say anything (probably because it’ll lead up to the end of the world!!!!)

#miraculous #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous movie #adrien agreste #sentimonster adrien #adrien deserves better #gabriel #hawkmoth #chat noir #cat noir #adrien and plagg #mlb plagg #nooroo

[superstarhodaya]

purrr…

only when i’m cat noir i can be myself because that’s when my true colours are getting shown.

behind that mask I can be myself.

no Gabriel that’s towering all over my head.

Plagg saved my life, he’s my best friend and he’s been there when no human was.

anyways, things are changing.

worlds are colliding.

i’m no longer cat noir/Adrien, i’m both. I think the world is ready to see the real me⭐️

#miraculous #adrien agreste #cat noir #char noir #mlb #mlb s5 finale #mlb fanart #mlb fanfic #mlb world #mlb spoilers #mlb adrien #plagg #mlb fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous season 5 #miraculous fanworks #adrien deserves better #mister bug #love #writing

[just-walk-around]

I don't know if is because I'm aro but I really will prefer that in the miraculous ladybug show the relationship between Adrien and Marinette were more like friends or family than romantic.

Like the writer kind of fucked up with Adrien character, most of the shady shit he had pulled was glossed over.

Nothing make more happy that reading a fic were this is deal with and they start over with a better founding. For example:

Adrien is a lonely sad boy that is working hard in moving on with his life after his mother death,he is the perfect son to a father that is mourning, his dad don't need to worry about him messing around (maybe if he works hard father will be proud of him, maybe if he hides his "flaws" he will look at him with love again). But staying in the house is hard for him (too much memories) his work as model and the other extracurriculars distract him but he doesn't know how to be "normal" teenager, doesn't know how interact with others outside of professional areas and his only close relationship is Chloe, but going to public school with help him, he will met more people of his age, he just needs to be perfect there too and people will know that he is worthy of it . He is naive and he could come as the classic rich white boy but he is trying. He "falls in love" with ladybug but in reality he just wants someone to see him without the perfect boy glasses and still stay with him.

Chat is the part of Adrien that he hides because is silly, goofy, unperfect (not worth of love) he knows that's a great responsibility but this is freedom too and they need to hide their identities so is good to act the less like perfect boy Adrien. Sometimes goes too far, he forgets that being a hero is serious that people are counting of him to save the day but he has a good heart, he's young he can learn and be better. He jokes to calm himself down and for the fun of it. He knows when to do it and when he needs to be serious.

Plagg is a God, he knows the value of chaos and the need of destruction to create , everything needs a balance. This human boy is young, he is reckless (he don't know what his life is worth anymore), he is naive (he needs guide), he will be a great black cat he just need some work. But the boy not need another "adult" ordering him around he needs to learn how to make decisions for himself, he don't need more strict rules and nagging. Plagg knows how to work with any type of human, he had being doing for centuries, (he started to lost hope in the humanity's), he had worked with cruel humans that try to abuse of his power they regret it in the end he makes sure of it, this boy is just another one that he will have to guide(in the end this boy became one of his best user his memory will be forever part of him, to remind him of hope and change for the better)

Marinette is a hardworking girl, that choose to be kind to put people needs before her(she was conditioned for that be a the teachers that think she should catter to the more privileged). Ladybug is someone that people will look for answer and help she can do it, she will sacrifice her life and dreams for the rest (she had already do it).

Tikki is a goddess, she knows the value of the order and how creation could bring destruction. This young girl will be a great ladybug she already knows of responsibility and sacrifice (that is so sad, to learn that to such young age is a tragedy itself) but she needs to learn to said no, to work in her needs because she keeps going like this she will burn she will not grown. She is chaotic (work fast to not disappoint, who cares what she lost in the way) she is nervous ( she is scared what if she fail? ) she doesn't know what to do with her feelings (they never matter in the first place).

Tikki knows what she needs to do, but this young girl needs someone to teach her the balance of life. She knows that the mission is important that Noroo needs helps but Hawkmoth is dangerous and her user will work until her dead to stop him, but she-is-so-young and Tikki doesn't wants to lose another one (not again, not again please) so she will help the best she can.

So yeah I think that in this point the fans only lives on the head cannons.

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #adrien deserves better #adrien needs a hug #marinette dupain cheng #marinette deserves better #marinette needs a hug #platonic relationships #plagg #Tikki #adrien and plagg #marinette and tikki #This kids needs therapy

[lycorogue]

Watched Miraculous: Awakening last night. While I’m not going to take the time to write up a full critique/commentary on the movie, I will shout this:

THEY DID OUR POOR BOY PLAGG SO DIRTY!

The poor kwami had, like, five minutes of screen time (if that) and he was farting during all of it. I get giving him s1 vibes since he hadn’t had the chance to really get to know Adrien yet, but still! No!

(I will admit though, the movie having the kwamis refer to themselves as genies that can’t grant wishes does seem to add validity to my head canon that Plagg was Aladdin’s Lesser Genie of the Ring... so... there’s that...)

I don’t have the time or spoons (or even inspiration... sadly...) to write up a new Plagg appreciation story. But, to help cleanse our pallets, for those in need, I present the Plagg appreciation stories I have already written:

Breaking Monotony Summary: Plagg's days are all starting to feel exactly the same. As he goes through yet another school day with Adrien, he wonders if he can do something to start shaking up the status quo. At the same time, though, he reflects on how great it is that his life is fairly predictable. Word Count: 5,789 Rating: General Audience

Forever in Darkness Summary: Plagg has always been in darkness. It had become all he knew. Then he got a ray of sunshine, and it helped save him. There was a reason he believes Adrien is the best Chat Noir ever. Word Count: 4,701 Rating: Teen (for depictions of emotional torture and mentions of child executions)

The Truest of Friends Summary: It's the second day of the new school year, which also means it's been a year since Stoneheart first attacked Paris. Adrien wonders how he could best celebrate the anniversary of becoming Chat Noir, and how to properly showcase how much he cares for someone very special in his life. Word Count: 3,254 Rating: General Audience

I Need Him Back **SPOILERS: NY Special** (written before Kuro Neko aired) Summary: Marinette has no clue what to do without her Chat Noir. All she wants is for her partner back. Plagg is just as distraught without his holder, but maybe he can find a way to get the ring back to Adrien. The trick is doing so without revealing who Chat Noir was to Marinette. Word Count: 5,689 Rating: General Audience

Cataclysm the Doubt Summary: Barely three hours into becoming a new father, Adrien is not handling the life change very well. It’s a good thing Plagg is right there to get the twenty-something’s head on right. Being able to cataclysm physical things is certainly easier, but sometimes a metaphorical cataclysm is the best option. Word Count: 1,677 Rating: General Audience

The next Friday 13th is in October, so feel free to join me in celebrating Plagg Appreciation Day. ^_^

Also, if anyone else has Plagg-centric/Plagg-appreciation stories, please add them and/or tag me. I’d love to read them!

#ML #Miraculous Ladybug #ML movie #Miraculous Awakening #Plagg #Plagg appreciation #Plagg deserved better #writing #LycoRogue writing #Plagg Appreciation stories #Plagg-centric stories #LycoRogue original

[goggles-mcgee]

Too Late: Tikki, Plagg, Fu & Marianne

Latest chapter in the story for @miner249er

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Summary:  The days passed by for Tikki as a blur, it was almost like being in the Box, sometimes she wished she had stayed in it.

The room was filled with silence though not a comfortable one, it was always like that nowadays. It was like the other three were walking on eggshells around her, waiting for her to snap or break. Tikki felt like she was breaking so maybe they were right to act that way, her heart hurt constantly and her mood shifted so fast it left her exhausted at the end of the day. There were days she just wanted to hide in the Miracle Box and never come out, she had had days like these before but it had been a long time since then. During those times she was always able to pick herself up, but now it felt like she would never be able to pull herself from the never-ending pit of hollowness, anger, sadness, and hope she found herself in. Plagg tried his best to raise her spirits but she still felt dim, and if she looked in the mirror she would find it was only too true. She was no longer the vibrant red she used to be, but a dull pale pink, looking almost gray. 

She was still eating cookies, but she simply couldn’t stomach Tom & Sabine’s cookies anymore, they brought back too many memories and when Marianne had brought her some she had burst into tears. She loved fresh baked cookies, and her favorite had been Tom & Sabine’s, especially if Marinette helped make them, but it was like she couldn’t stomach them anymore. No. She didn’t deserve them anymore, so she ate the store bought and tried to ignore the lack of warmth, but even then she hardly had an appetite. Her energy seemed to have been stolen from her because all she wanted to do was lay on the cushion Fu and Marianne had given her and there were days where that was all she could do. It was like she was glued to the cushion, but it was those days where she went from this incredible sadness that seemed to drown her to this stomach-clenching anxiety that shouted at her for doing nothing, that by laying there she would miss something important. 

It was never ending. 

It reminded her of her losing Jeanne. She had been like this back then too, loss never got easier. Even if it was something you had experienced before, you’re never ready for when it happens again. You think you will be, you delude yourself into believing it, but when it happens you are slapped with the cruel reality that loss can never be prepared for. She had lost many of her bugs to time, and even then it was hard to get over, but it was those lost to tragedy that hit her the hardest. She had vowed to never lose another Bug to tragedy, not again, and she thought she would be able to avoid it with Marinette. Things hadn’t seemed so bad, and when they got bad Marinette had this amazing ability to bounce back from whatever knocked her down so Tikki felt like she didn’t have to worry too much. Yet, she still worried, and she lectured and pushed in the hopes it would have made Marinette stronger. In the end it was just another thing that added to the hurt Marinette had been feeling, Tikki was sure of it. 

Fu and Plagg treated her with sympathy and pity while Marianne treated her with compassion and Tikki hated every second spent with any of them. She didn’t deserve their sympathy, their pity, nor their compassion. Tikki wanted them to be angry with her, she wanted them to yell at her and tell her what she already knew; it was her fault. Her words caused Marinette to become akumatized, her words were something that pushed her towards the edge, it was her words that caused Paris to lose the most wonderful girl. Kwami have often heard over their years of being active and those before, how humans spoke about the weight of words, how they could heal, how they could cut and how they could bring people together just as fast as they could push them away. Tikki had never really understood it at first and she knew her fellow Kwami felt the same, humans were tricky creatures and more complex than they could ever imagine. As they spent time with them it became clear that they were right, words had power with them and it was a terrifying realization. 

Working with humans had been an exciting new thing for them all, lending them their power for the first time was something that Tikki would never forget no matter how long ago it was. It was something so beautiful and magical, it was overall something hard to describe. Of course things weren’t all great, the Kwami were bound to the jewelry that became known as the Miraculous and though lending their power was still an amazing thing, it didn’t feel the same as it once did. It was still beautiful. It was still magical. Yet, it felt muted, but there were some, some rare chosens they got that felt like the old times, it felt brand new. Those moments made Tikki fall in love with her power and humanity all over again. She felt bad to say she had favorite chosens, but every Kwami was the same, it was those rare chosens that they connected to that were their favorites. Maybe that’s what made all this worse. Marinette had been one of those chosens, and the most worrisome thing to Tikki was how she had been the youngest. 

She was so young in human and Kwami years, a tiny thing too, though Tikki knew better than most that size did not equal power, maybe that was why Tikki was so hard on her. Humans were such fragile but stubborn creatures, Tikki had seen maybe humans fall, many rise to power and had seen them create. It was her favorite thing about them, how creative of a species they were. If they found something that seemed impossible, they created something that overcame the impossibility! If they were bored they created something new to entertain! It was something otherworldly to watch and experience, even if Tikki had to be hidden at times. Her chosens tended to be creative spirits and Tikki loved being in their presence, each just had a different creativity to them and it was fascinating to think about. Then they died and she would no longer be surrounded by that presence and it felt like she was adrift for years until she found another chosen. 

Marinette had been a light for her, one that pulled her from her drifting after the loss of Jeanne. She had felt that connection she had felt from past rare chosens and had wanted to ignore it, so Tikki did all she could not to get too attached. She took on the role of mentor and tried to keep a distance but it was all for naught. Souls like Marinette’s were too warm and bright to stay away from and Tikki fell all over again. Marinette was another Ladybug that she saw as her own, she became protective and that protectiveness corrupted into something ugly. She thought she was doing the right thing whenever she told Marinette to ignore the negative emotions that threatened to swallow the teen some days. Or when she lectured Marinette on behavior she thought could lead to trouble, trouble brought strife and strife brought the end of life. Tikki wanted Marinette to live a long life, even if she wasn’t in it, she hadn’t meant like this though. Anything but this situation would be better. Her connection with Marinette was completely severed, something that terrified her, she tried everyday to reach Marinette and was always met with nothing or with static. 

Honestly she didn’t know which was worse.

It gave her hope because the static meant that Marinette was alive and there was still a part of her that wasn’t fully accepting of the akuma. On the other hand the silence, the nothing meant the connection was weak and barely hanging on by a thread. Marinette, or whatever name she went by was embracing the akuma full heartedly and the more hours that passed and turned into days which led into weeks where Tikki got fewer and fewer static, she feared what it meant. No one had ever been akumatized as long as Marinette was currently going on and that knowledge made Tikki’s heart skip beats. Tikki needed sleep but she would talk herself into pushing the connection as much as she could only for her to end up with a killer headache, a migraine she believed it was called, and an overwhelming feeling of nausea. Plagg pleaded with her to take breaks, eat, rest but how could she rest when her child was out there somewhere? 

“Hello, Tikki. How are you doing today?” Fu asked as he walked in, she may not have been facing him but Tikki could hear his uneven steps that came from his cane and age.

She didn’t answer.

“We brought you some cookies from the store.” Marianne voiced, Tikki could identify her by the shuffle-like steps she made. 

Tikki merely pointed to the corner where many abandoned plates of cookies sat, she didn’t need to turn around to see their disappointed faces, she could feel the emotion hanging in the air like the lingering scent of Plagg’s precious Camembert. 

“C’mon Sugar Cube, you have to eat something.” She could always sense Plagg, they could always sense each other, no matter what. His presence always brought her comfort, even now when all she wanted to do was be alone. It was odd, it was like she wanted to yell at him to leave but at the same time hug him like he would vanish if she didn’t.

“Why?”

“Why? Tiks, C’mon you know why.” Plagg’s voice broke as he spoke. 

“Why does it matter Plagg? What? I eat, I get better, then what? Fu hands me off to another user? No. I’m done.” 

“Tikki. Tiks.” Plagg breathed out, each utterance of her name sounded like a plea. A plea for what she wasn’t sure, but she felt his hands take hers and she finally looked up, looked at him, her partner after what felt like a lifetime. The sight of him brought fresh tears to her eyes. “You’re breaking my heart here Sugar Cube.”

“Yeah well…mine’s been broken.” She stubbornly replied through her tears. “I can’t Plagg. I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep losing my Bugs to tragedy. Mar-Marinette was a child. A baby. And now my baby is gone because of me. Not greedy humans, not war, not old age, but me.” 

“It was not your fault Tikki.” When she shook her head his voice got more firm. “No, listen to me, it is not your fault. I know when we lose one of our users it feels like it is. The Universe only knows how many of my Kittens have fallen to tragedy and how many of those I blamed myself for. You didn’t let me be swallowed by guilt, guilt you told me was unfounded. This guilt you’re putting on yourself is unfounded, Tiks. You were doing what you thought was best.”

“Yeah well it is perfectly clear that my best isn’t enough. My ‘best’ pushed my Bug over the edge, Plagg.” Tikki hissed.

“Tikki. You couldn’t have known what she was feeling.” He insisted but Tikki knew different, or well felt different, but it might as well have been a known thing with all that transpired. 

“But I should have!” She shouted as she floated a bit above the cushion she had confined herself too. Her antennae and tail all ramrod straight as she glared at him. The anger was not directed at him, it was directed towards her but maybe that wasn’t entirely true. She was angry at herself but the more that Plagg, Fu and Marianne pestered her about her feelings, asked her how she was doing, told her it wasn’t her fault, the angrier she got. So maybe the anger was a little directed at him too. 

“We may be beings that humans once revered as Gods, we may actually be quasi-gods who knows, but we have never been all-knowing Tikki. Never. So there is no way you could have known how Marinette was truly feeling at all times, even if she was a rare chosen, you know that the connection doesn’t work that way.” Plagg shouted back, though his shout was more desperate. 

“Tikki.” Fu’s voice rang out and made Tikki snap her head in his direction.

“I don’t want to hear your voice Wang Fu. Hearing you putter around this place already makes me sick and full of rage.” She seethed. “You are as much to blame as I!”

“Now Tikki, the loss of Marinette is a tragic one but there is hope to get her back. It will do us no good to blame ourselves. There were many causes and Marinette is but a human, her fall was hard but we will find her and pick her up. I understand-” Fu began but was cut off by a growl from Tikki.

“You understand nothing!” Tikki felt like she was on fire, her rage felt all-consuming and then she spotted Plagg in the corner. Plagg who looked miserable and afraid and just like that her rage left her in a rush. With nothing to fuel her or give her energy, Tikki let herself float down onto her pillow once more. “You don’t understand so don’t you dare breathe those lies in my direction Fu. At least I take responsibility for my mistakes, I own up to them. I sit here and I admit I pushed Marinette to push aside her feelings of anger, of sadness, or anything negative because I was scared of losing her. When she was able to fend off an akuma for the first time… I became worse. I became worse because I was blinded, I thought she was stronger than any other human and that was my mistake. She is strong, but no one is strong enough to fend off their emotions. No human can just shove aside what they are truly feeling. I scolded her. I lectured her. All because I thought she was more, she was stronger, she was better and because I feared I would lose her.”

Tikki took a shaky breath in. “And I did lose her. I held her to impossible standards and I recognize that, but you. You knew…you knew how much was on her shoulders and yet you still added more and more. You, just as I disregarded her complaint, her worries. But at least I listened to them and tried to give advice, granted it was wrong advice but advice nonetheless. I wanted to pretend that Marinette was somehow something more than human but at least I tried! What did you do, Fu? What. Did. You. Do?” 

She watched as the older man’s eyes filled with tears, as his mouth opened and closed and as Marianne placed a hand on Fu’s shoulder to pull him into a hug. Tikki couldn’t look away even though she could feel Plagg’s eyes on her. She didn’t want to look at her longest and oldest friend and see the sadness and disappointment echoing in his eyes even if that is originally what she thought she wanted. She had wanted some reactions other than pity and comfort but not this way, but at the same time she couldn’t take the words back. She wouldn’t take them back. So she did the only thing she could think of and flew, flew out the open window which Marianne had cracked open when Fu had lit too many incense sticks to try and calm himself. Tikki flew and flew and flew till the world blurred around her, she didn’t have a destination in mind, she just wanted a place to clear her head. Funny how she ended up at Collège Françoise Dupont. There was no way she could enter Bustier’s classroom…she couldn’t even look at it, so she flew into Mendeleiev’s. 

Mendeleiev’s classroom had strangely been a comfort place for her and maybe Plagg too. They had met there many times just to get away from the noise, the chaos, the everything. So many that’s why it surprised her to see Mme Mendeleiev sitting at her desk staring out at her empty classroom. Maybe if this had been in the past Tikki would have gone somewhere else but she had always admired the teacher’s analytical mind and Tikki just wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t close to her. “Hello.”

Mendeleiev jumped at her voice and swiveled in her chair to stare at her in shock. Tikki waved at her and hoped it helped somehow calm the teacher’s shock. “Hell…Hello?”

“I don’t know if you remember me.”

“I remember.”

“Oh. Good…good.”

“I don’t mean to come across as rude by any means but, what are you doing here?” Mendeleiev questioned, her body tense.

“I…I just needed to clear my head and I found myself here. I couldn’t make myself go into B…Marinette’s other classroom, and if you recall, my partner and I used to wait in your room sometimes.” Tikki explained somewhat lamely as she flew over to Mendeleiev’s desk and sat on it. 

They sat in awkward silence for a good while before Mendeleiev cleared her throat. “So it is one hundred percent true? Marinette was Ladybug?”

Tikki searched the human woman’s face, she wasn’t excited at the prospect of having a superhero as a student, she wasn’t disgusted, she looked-Tikki didn’t know how to describe it-heartbroken yet proud at the same time. “Yes.”

She watched as Mendeleiev, the woman she and Marinette had always seen as strong and sensible, broke down in tears. “I…I wish I knew. I know it must have been against some sort of rules but she…she was just a kid…”

“I know…I…I wish things had been different as well. If it were up to us Kwami we wouldn’t have such restrictions like the identity thing but…”

“I’m sorry. Truly. You must have really liked her.”

“I love her…That’s why I’m so angry. I’m angry at myself. At her class. And also the Guardian. I see him, I hear him and I am so full of heartbreak and rage I don’t know what to do.” Tikki confessed. She couldn’t believe that she was being so forthcoming with a human but Mendeleiev’s energy sort of reminded her of Duusuu before they were corrupted at The Temple.

“This Guardian,” Mendeleiev held the ‘s’ a bit longer than normal before she continued, “he’s the one who hands out the Miraculous isn’t he? Not Ladybug like I had been led to believe.”

Tikki nodded.

Mendeleiev heaved out a sigh. “I mean…If I met the man who thought children were the perfect people to fight a terrorist I’d have some choice words too, but you also seem to have an emotional connection to the man.”

“We have a past, yes. It’s long and complicated but…I had never felt this rage toward him ever. I have been disappointed, maybe even frustrated but that was before Marinette disappeared and since then…Since then so many things have gone so horribly wrong. It’s like I can’t help but blame him.” Tikki said, she felt like she wanted to cry again but no tears fell. 

“You’re right about that. Horrible things have happened. And as much as I want to be reasonable, part of me believes Marinette’s disappearance was the catalyst. First she disappeared, the school turned against one class, then all of Paris turned against said class, then The Followers appeared along with their strings of petty crimes that escalated to…Caline didn’t deserve that. She made mistakes, I admit that, but she didn’t deserve murder.” Tikki nodded in agreement, yes she had been furious with the woman but she too thought she didn’t deserve to die. Nobody did.

Mendeleiev continued. “Then Lila Rossi was beaten within an inch of her life. She made many mistakes, she was an admittedly awful student but no child deserves that. She’s a child and they beat her. And now Damocles has disappeared! Fled I guess would be a better way to put it but no one knows where he went.”

Tikki gasped. “Disappeared? Why?” She hadn’t really been too focused on everything going on, only staying up to date because of the TV in Fu and Marianne’s place and from what she could overhear from Plagg, Fu and Marianne. 

“The school, as I mentioned before, turned on Caline’s class. Then outsiders started to partake, no matter how many security details we got. Things escalated, and Caline started to get harassed and well…we saw how that ended. Damocles started receiving the same sort of hate mail she had gotten. He had of course alerted the authorities but he had also told me. He became so paranoid. Then small things started happening, he’d trip but he’d trip almost into oncoming traffic if he hadn’t managed to roll in time. Things started to fall from buildings, nearly crushing him. One night he was mugged. Or so he claimed. I’m sure there were other instances but all of it just started to build and build on one another and…next thing I know he’s gone.” Mendeleiev stared out her window as she told Tikki about her former coworker, tears rolled down her face as she did so.

“The only thing he left behind was a note saying ‘I’m sorry. Please don’t look for me, I’ll never return to Paris.’ He sent the same thing to the police and asked for the notes to be burned so a Follower wouldn’t get their hands on it. I, of course, did so.”

They sat in silence once again until Tikki joined Mendeleiev in staring out her window before she whispered. “I wish I had been there for Marinette more…”

“I wish I had too.” Mendeleiev whispered back. “I wish we all had been.”

Next Chapter

#too late commission #rota #miraculous ladybug #ml salt fic #master fu salt #tikki salt #but like self inflicted salt #ml class salt #ml tikki #ml plagg #master fu #ml marianne #ml mendeleiev #marinette dupain cheng #marinette dupain cheng deserves better #hurt and some comfort #like a sprinkle of comfort #look tikki is deep in the depression abyss #tw physical violence #lila rossi salt #lilas lies exposed

[richter10]

Some ideas about the Season 5 time skip...

Spoilers to the end of Season 5 of Miraculous Ladybug

Apparently there is a time skip between the moment of the Wish and the party, and it opens some possibilities...

What if it was not Marinette/Ladybug that started the idea that Gabriel was a hero, but Tomoe? And without evidence, Maribug can not prove otherwise... (maybe the drama with Lila made her think that she could not convince people of the truth without evidence?)

What if Marinette/Ladybug did told Chat Noir about Gabriel being Monarch? (So the Adrien that we see is one that knows, but is pretending to Marinette (who would not know) that he do not...)

Alternatively, what if Marinette/Ladybug asked Plagg to return to Chat Noir and tell him about the Monarch fight, while she fixed the Miraculi?

What if Marinette/Ladybug wanted to tell the truth the Adrien, but others (Felix, Kagami, Nathalie, Tikki, Plagg - who *also* know) convinced her otherwise? Maybe she do not trust her own judgement after the Wish fiasco?

What if the Wish did alter Marinette's memories (and maybe only her memories)? So she would not be lying, but everybody else with their memories intact would think that she does...

Alternatively, what if the Wish did not alter Marinette's memories, but her reactions? what if the Wish put in her a compulsion to not reveal to Adrien about Gabriel? She would think that she is deciding to not tell (for various reasons) but actually is not her choice at all?

I'm not sure if the show writers would go with such ideas, but it is interesting to think about....

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous the tales of ladybug and chat noir #marinette deserves better #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #tikki #plagg #felix fathom #it would be more interesting than the old “Marinette makes a mistake and have to suffer for it” plot... #richter 10's thoughts

[sandradoodles]

Me: omg I forgot to draw Plagg's whiskers in the latest part of my comic; it's okay it's fine I'll just fix it real quick before anyone notices--

😳😳😳

#I am aware that by making this post I have now invited everyone to notice plagg's lack of whiskers #it is not the most cursed plagg I've ever drawn so it's fine #if I publicly shame myself I will never mess up again right #that's more or less what happened when I kept forgetting to draw adrien's miraculous #anyway plagg my darling you deserve better I'm sorry #I'll never draw you naked and whiskerless again (I hope) #this post is meant to be funny I'm not in genuine distress (maybe 3% genuine) #and thank you so much to everyone for the reblogs #y'all are LOVELY and I appreciate you

[home-of-renn]

Adrien Gets Swole

Adrien knew it wasn't going to be easy. It took months. A stolen ipad, a broken door, multiple power points, and the very last shred of Nathalie's sanity, but finally he had won.

________

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: General Audiences

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Nathalie Sancoeur, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Emilie Agreste

Additional Tags: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Is a Little Shit, Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, mah boy just wants to get swole, Let Adrien Agreste Eat, plagg is having the time of his life, Crack Treated Seriously, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Deserves Better, Nathalie Sancoeur Does Not Get Paid Enough, Oneshot, Humor, Attempt at Humor, I'm Bad At Tagging, Crack, Sassy Adrien Agreste, Chaotic Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, I'm Bad At Summaries, adrien is literally the wielder of chaos, Plagg's influence, Adrien Sugar, Adrien needs his protein, Chat Noir is a growing boy

#home of renn #Renn has written #ao3 #fic #crosspost #miraculous fanfic #miraculous lb #miraculous ladybug #myfic #mlb fic #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #ao3fic #ao3 fanfic #chat noir #plagg #adrien deserves better #Adrien gets swole #mlb #nathalie sancoeur #let adrien agreste eat #boy is literally they wielder of chaos #let him have a backbone #and some fun #my writing #adrien sugar #ml ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #ml marinette #gabriel agreste's a+ parenting

[coffeebanana]

This was supposed to be for the Ladrien June prompt "morning", but I didn't feel like waiting another week or so 😂.

Excerpt:

[CW for grief/mourning and recent character death (Gabriel)]

Adrien cleared his throat. "I...ran into Chat Noir outside. He said he had to go, but he told me..." He took a deep breath, continuing in a whisper. "I know my father's dead." It was the first time he'd said it out loud, and the words came out surprisingly clear. It was only afterwards, when they hung in the awkward silence following Ladybug's sharp intake of air, that he felt like they were eating him from the inside out. Ladybug's grip tightened. "I'm sorry, Adrien. I'm so sorry."

Read on Ao3, or under the cut!! 💜

The rising sun hit Adrien's back as he forced his front door open, its light casting an eerie glow over the mansion’s battle-torn foyer. Half the ceiling was caved in. The staircase was all but destroyed. And scraps of metal amongst the wreckage glinted gold, like the dying embers of a fire. Like the end of an era.

It wasn't the victory it should have been.

As the door slipped from his fingers, Adrien squeezed his eyes shut and stopped to take a few steadying breaths—a dangerous idea. Police officers were still on site, gathering evidence amidst the wreckage. One of them could easily notice him, and then he might get stuck answering their questions. He needed to move. He needed to remember the simple instructions he'd outlined for himself before walking back inside.

Sneak into the kitchen. Grab food for Plagg. Get out.

Run.

He could cover his tracks later. It wouldn't be too hard to find an excuse for Ladybug as to why Chat Noir hadn't come back after he allegedly went outside to recharge. It would definitely be easier than facing her as his civilian self—as Monarch's son—right now.

But hesitation had cost him. "Adrien?"

Ladybug.

Unable to reply or to so much as glance in her direction, Adrien stared resolutely at a piece of rubble by his feet—a piece which he thought used to be part of the bannister. Tears burned the corner of his eyes, but he did his best to blink them away.

He tensed when he heard her approach, something he wouldn't have noticed so quickly if it weren't for the debris scattered about. Any other day, her footsteps would have barely made a sound against the marble floors.

Too soon, her feet stopped in front of him. He struggled to keep his breaths even, fighting to remain upright when it felt like the entire world was closing in around him.

"I...I thought you were at Nino's," she said.

Had he told her that? He barely remembered any of the excuses he'd made last night. It was hard to recall much aside from how he'd awoken a few hours earlier to find his father's body splayed unnaturally across the floor, his vacant stare somehow still bearing traces of disappointment.

The ambulance had pulled away maybe an hour ago, with no sirens to accompany its departure.

Adrien only realized Ladybug was probably waiting for a response when she grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the present with a gentle squeeze. His stomach swirled. Couldn't she have reached for his other side?

She deserved better than the hand he'd used to destroy his own father.

When he finally managed to look up, he only felt worse seeing the sympathy in her eyes. He quickly looked back to his feet, panic drowning out any response he tried to cobble together in his head.

"Has anyone told you what happened?" she asked.

Adrien almost said no—which would be the truth, technically. Nobody had told him, unless he counted the clarifications Plagg had provided after the fact, details of what occurred after Ladybug and Chat Noir fell victim to Monarch's Akuma. Part of him wondered how Ladybug would tell the story, which parts would she soften or leave out. He wondered what she really thought.

But maybe it was better not to know.

Adrien cleared his throat. "I...ran into Chat Noir outside. He said he had to go, but he told me..." He took a deep breath, continuing in a whisper. "I know my father's dead."

It was the first time he'd said it out loud, and the words came out surprisingly clear. It was only afterwards, when they hung in the awkward silence following Ladybug's sharp intake of air, that he felt like they were eating him from the inside out.

Ladybug's grip tightened. "I'm sorry, Adrien. I'm so sorry."

His gut coiled tightly with some unbearable emotion. He tried to think up something else to say, lips parting as he raised his head to look at her. But the second he met her eyes—so wide and blue and sad—speaking was a lost cause.

His lips quivered. A sob clawed its way up his throat, tugging another one up behind it before the first had even broken free. Ladybug's hand rubbed up and down his arm, and that was all the encouragement he needed to finally release the tsunami inside him.

Adrien had killed his own father.

For months he'd been suffering. Adrien had assumed, when Monarch reappeared from his brief hiatus, that he was okay. That the Cataclysm hadn't been fatal. Instead he'd had a front row seat to his demise—to all the times he cried out in pain while cooking breakfast, trying to pretend everything was fine whenever Adrien noticed.

But if it weren't for that Cataclysm, if Monarch's health hadn't been weakened, then the world might have ended a few hours ago, torn apart and rebuilt in his father’s image. With his parents and Nathalie still alive.

How was he meant to feel about that?

He didn't even know where he was supposed to sleep tonight.

But at least Ladybug didn't hate him. At least he still had one friend in this crazy, twisted world.

She pulled him into her arms as he broke down in tears, as he crumpled like the ceiling and shattered like the windows. As he was reduced to nothing but a shaky foundation, to the dying embers of who he used to be.

Adrien and his cold, lonely home finally had something in common.

...

"Here you go," Ladybug said, sliding a mug of tea across the kitchen counter as she settled onto the stool beside him.

Adrien wrapped his hands around the mug. The water was still too hot, but it took him a few seconds to notice. By the time he loosened his grip, his fingers already stung.

"Thanks," he croaked, his throat raw from crying. He wasn't really the biggest fan of tea, but it had seemed to make Ladybug feel better having some way to help him.

The least he could do was pretend she'd succeeded.

For a while they sat in silence. Adrien stared blankly at his tea, vaguely aware of how Ladybug kept shifting around like she couldn't get comfortable.

"Do you...have any questions?" she asked eventually.

He shook his head. None of his questions were for the living.

"Well," she said, "if you think of any later...I'd be happy to answer if I can. And if there's anything else I can do..." She reached out slowly to touch his shoulder, and it was all he could do not to shake her off. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go? Someone you'd like to see?"

Adrien fiddled with the string of his tea bag, watching it bob up and down. "Am I even allowed?"

"What do you mean?"

"To leave."

"Why wouldn't you be?" When he shrugged, her hand slipped from his shoulder. She slid her stool closer. "Adrien, you're not in trouble. Nobody thinks you had anything to do with any of this."

Maybe they should.

Adrien swallowed. "But...don't I have to talk to a social worker or something?"

"Oh. I, um...I don't know. I guess so, but there's nobody here right now, so...I don't think anyone would mind if I took you somewhere else to wait."

He nodded slowly, hand moving automatically to his pocket. He shifted to pull out the lucky charm he kept there, wrapping his fingers tightly around it. "Maybe I could go to my girlfriend's house."

"That sounds like a great idea," Ladybug said, jumping to her feet. "Let's go!"

Adrien remained glued in his seat, his stomach swirling. Seeing Marinette probably would make him feel better—at least on the surface. But how long could that last? Hiding his identity hadn't really come between them since they'd gotten together, but this was different. How could he hide the worst thing he'd ever done?

But what if he told her and she never looked at him the same way?

Ladybug's stool scraped against the floor as she sat back down, and she sounded upset when she spoke. "Do you not want to go?"

Adrien set the lucky charm on the table and watched the beads blur behind fresh tears. "I'm...scared."

"Why?"

"Because...what if Marinette sees me differently."

"Do you really believe she would?" Ladybug asked in a small voice.

He thought for a moment. "No? I don't know. Probably not, but...she could."

She grabbed his hand, and when he glanced her way there was an intensity in her eyes he couldn't interpret. "I'm sure she won't."

"You can't know that."

"But I do! I—she loves you, right?"

Adrien's stomach clenched, but he managed a nod as a hot tear rolled down his cheek.

"Exactly!" Ladybug said, gesturing nonsense with her free hand. "So there!"

He mustered a small smile for her enthusiasm, but it was short-lived. "It doesn't matter," he said, wiping his eyes. "Things are different now."

"Sure. But...that doesn't mean everything has to change, right?"

He didn't answer, trying to ignore the feelings swirling inside him by poking at his tea bag again. The water was cool enough now that it didn't hurt when he accidentally dipped his finger in, but the idea of actually taking a sip and swallowing seemed foreign. So he kept staring at it until a sniffle came from beside him. He turned to see Ladybug with one hand covering her mouth, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"My lady?" he said without thinking, reaching over to set a hand on her shoulder. Panic spiked through him when he realized what he'd called her, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I didn't mean to...I'm f-fine! It's just that you—I just want to help you! But maybe I c-can't. And it's not f-fair, that you're hurting. And..."

Her next words were drowned out by a sob. She slumped down on the table, hiding her face in her arms. All Adrien could do was sit there rubbing her back until she calmed down, at which point she pushed herself up slowly, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry I let this happen," she said.

"What?" Adrien replayed her words in his head, certain he'd misunderstood. "It wasn't your fault."

"It was my job to stop Monarch from making the wish, and I...failed. Even if he didn't succeed...someone's still paying the price."

"That's ridiculous." It was his fault.

"Adrien, it's fine. You don't have to..." She drew in a shaky breath. "If you're mad at me, I understand."

None of the morning had felt real, but now Adrien was sure he must be caught in some sort of alternate reality.

Maybe the wish had worked. Maybe his mother would walk into the kitchen at any moment.

If only.

"That makes no sense," Adrien said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around things. "If anything, it's Chat Noir's fault."

Ladybug's eyes went wide. "Did he tell you that?"

How was he meant to answer that? "Not...exactly. But he told me about the Cataclysm, and—"

"Please don't blame him for that. I know he feels terrible enough already."

"Because Monarch's dead thanks to him. It's his fault!"

"It's not," Ladybug pleaded. "He was just following my plan, and Monarch caught us off guard, and then..."

"But...but you..." Adrien trailed off, his body shaking.

He didn't know what to say, because technically Ladybug was right. But he didn't blame her at all, and he certainly didn't want her blaming herself.

"It was my fault," he said, knowing it was true. He felt it with every inch of his body, with every useless breath he took.

The guilt consumed him.

"Adrien," Ladybug breathed. "It's absolutely not your fault. How could you even think that?"

Only once he processed her words did he recognize his own misstep. But she hadn't caught on yet. He could still walk this back.

But he wasn't sure he wanted to.

This secret took too energy much to hide.

"It was me,” he said shakily. “It was my..."

He couldn't finish the sentence. He could barely even breathe. But he could see in Ladybug’s eyes that she still didn't understand, so he raised his hand to mimic the motion, stretching out his fingers the way he would if he'd really called on his power. He tried to mouth the word too, but he wasn't really sure his lips obeyed. Slowly, he lowered his hand to the counter, letting it collapse into a fist when he made contact.

Cataclysm.

He watched as realization slowly dawned on her. Then she blinked hard, shaking her head as if trying to dismiss the idea. But her eyes flew to the ring on his hand, widening further.

“Chat Noir?”

"I did this," he said in a broken whisper. "I killed him."

"Oh, Chaton. No." Ladybug stood, wrapping her arms around him. "It was an accident. It's not your fault."

Adrien thought that maybe, if he kept taking breaths so small they barely counted, if he let his mind float away the way it had been threatening to do all morning, then maybe—maybe—he could keep from crying again. But Ladybug rested her head on his shoulder, her warm breath ruffling his T-shirt. And that was all it took for him to come apart again.

...

They ended up on the floor, wedged between both stools. Adrien wasn't sure if he'd fallen off his seat at some point or if Ladybug had carried him here. He didn't care. As long as he could keep lying here with his head in Ladybug's lap and her fingers in his hair, he could somehow keep the guilt at bay. He could stop it from devouring him whole.

But he couldn't stay here forever.

Marinette's lucky charm was clenched in his fist again, and he was afraid to let go.

"Should I tell her?" Adrien asked.

"Hm?"

"Marinette. Should I..." He closed his eyes. "Do you think she'd hate me if I told her the truth?"

Ladybug let out a shaky breath, her fingers freezing in his hair. "She won't hate you. And...yes. I think you should tell her."

"Okay. Maybe I will."

"How about this?" Ladybug said. "If she breaks up with you, I'll date you instead."

Adrien managed some semblance of a laugh. "What about your boyfriend?”

“Mmm." She twisted another strand of hair around her finger. "Somehow I don’t think he’ll mind.”

“All right then. It’s a deal.”

Her offer was a joke—he knew that. But somehow it still felt like a promise.

"Would you...like me to take you to her now?”Ladybug asked. “I still can, if you want."

"Maybe." He thought of the bakery. Of Tom and Sabine's welcoming smiles, the smell of croissants, and being wrapped up in one of Marinette's hugs. It sounded nice. "Give me five more min—" He broke off in a yawn.

Ladybug laughed. "Or you can get some sleep first." Her voice was gentle and steady and safe. "I'll stay with you."

He tried to reply, but his words were engulfed by another yawn. So he settled for mumbling his agreement, squeezing the lucky charm to his chest, and letting his eyes flutter closed.

Maybe in his dreams, the world wouldn't hurt so much.

#miraculous ladybug #coffeebanana fics #ladrien #angst #hurt/comfort #cw grief #cw character death #miraculeakless #adrien agreste #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #long post #season 5 compliant (up to what's aired so far aka episode 20)