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404roki · 2 years

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adrien & marinette are so incredibly toxic for each other it’s actually impressive.

[this is literally just marinette bashing from the pov of an adrien sympathizer/apologist/enjoyer/whatever the fuck ppl say, btw and most of it barely makes sense but it’s important for me that my hate doesn’t bump around in my head until i go insane]

obviously, they’re endgame. (i think that’s been confirmed, but i’m not sure.) the beginning of the story literally starts with marinette falling in love with adrien after he gives her his umbrella.

which is fine, and when i was 11 i thought it was very cute! but recently i’ve rewatched it, and being older now i’ve got more critical thinking skills & i have been thinking a LOT.

basically the way marinette falls for adrien is pretty cliche, she begins by thinking hes an ass and then he performs an act of kindness, which in turn, makes her fall in love with him.

but then it quickly gets weird. early in the show, she confesses her feelings via voicemail, and then when she gets embarrassed she reveals that she had been STALKING him. [knows his schedule from the time he wakes up in the morning to when he goes to sleep, where all his classes are, when they end. and she has it memorised.] in the same episode she steals his phone to delete the message. (and she doesn’t even admit she has it, doesn’t lie and say ‘i found it’ or anything like that, she sneaks it back in his bag?)

later, she gets annoyed with chat noir’s advances, and admits that she’s in love with someone else. despite that, she continues to flirt with him, but complains when he flirts with her?. she continues calling him affectionate nicknames, (and even once calls herself his lady) she makes fun of him. ‘‘we’re not a couple,’ ‘don’t call me bugaboo’ (but she calls him kitten.)

[another thing to mention is how marinette stans call this harassment on chat’s part, and then ignore the fact that 1) mari thinks it’s funny. canonically. she admits it in ‘truth’ 2) she flirts with him too.]

flipside of the abuse with the excuse she’s annoyed he’s in love with her [since ‘chat blanc’ she has treated him like absolute garbage. literal bullying/abuse/whatever you want to call her bad attitude. in ‘kuro neko’ plagg even tells her she needs to get her shit together], she keeps him in the dark about EVERYTHING. tell me, why did she think it was okay for carapace and rena rouge to know each other’s identities? that it was okay to tell alya hers, but if chat even mentioned the idea of wanting to tell someone she goes all guardian on his ass. she isn’t even inadvertently hurting him, she’s just straight up lying to him.

and she knows that too. she says she trusts him, but she thinks it’s faster and more convenient to find another miraculous holder instead of calling chat. still, in spite of all of this, he still ‘loves’ her. hell, in chat blanc he watches her commit B&E, but he’s still in love with her.

[also during chat blanc, she gawks at his things after breaking in, runs her fingers across his desk(?!?!) LAYS in his bed, sniffs his pillow “ahh, adrien's scent ♡” (EWW?) that is SO WEIRD]

she says they’re friends, and that he’s more than a partner [which, if it were me who confessed to the only person i felt truly happy with, and they told me they’re in love with someone else but emphasised that i was ‘more than a partner,’ i would HATE them]

but adrien doesn’t hate her. and maybe you could say that he’s truly in love, but reading between the lines of his backstory, and knowing how abuse victims [and adrien has been abused A LOT, but that’s a whole different thread] i’d say the reason he fell so fast for her is a product of abuse and neglect.

she gets angry with him when he’s cold with her after she hurts his feelings, which is wrong of them both. he’s human, and ladybug often treats him like he’s only there to be her lapdog (lapcat?). chat almost threw the fight because he let his emotions get the better of him, but ladybug’s reaction was awful. it’s like she doesn’t think about how her actions can effect chat.

in fact, a lot of mari’s reactions are downright disgusting. when adriens ABUSIVE father prevents him from going to see his friends in ‘felix’, marinette ends up sulking and making it about herself. and nobody ever calls out her selfishness, instead, she’s supposed to be the ‘everyday ladybug.’

and yes, adrien is the one who that, but 1) he’s unaware about what marinette does, 2) he’s reasonably nice to chloe and lila, and those are people he knows are bad. adrien, because of his sheltered life, his ENTIRE life, is capable of recognizing bad behaviour, but a lot of adults and probably peers, were objectively bad people, so he’s been forced to look past unacceptable behaviour.

[no doubt this would’ve been touched on more in canon of the show was aimed at an older audience .]

when marinette realizes adrien likes kagami, she instantly starts to hate her and she doesn’t even know her. she even goes through kagami’s phone out of jealousy. she isn’t dating adrien, she chickens out every time she even thinks about confessing. what’s her right to hate kagami? she has none.

and it’s like she sees adrien as an object, which is toxic in itself. she memorizes his schedule, interests and his favourite things. she stalks him in real life and online, watches videos of him on repeat. and the pictures of him under her mattress! what the actual fuck were the writers thinking? the fact that she has so many pictures of him, how many do you think she took of him without him knowing? at least 1, you see him looking in different directions in multiple.

[“they’re from photo shoots! they’re all public!” even so, she put time and effort into finding pictures of him, printing them out, hanging them up, and didn’t once think ‘this is wrong.’]

in partycrasher she gets mad and sneaks in when adrien’s bodyguard is only letting his male friends in. she practically had a tantrum over the fact that other people were seeing adrien and she could not.

and you could actually argue that she was mad at the ’misogyny’, but she was there when the girls were planting the trees and she left to see why the boys were making excuses to not come. she only became jealous when she found out they were with adrien.

this is made worse when her friends only fuel her obsession. alix is the only one who protests and calls her weird, but in the end she goes along with their complicated and problematic plans.

alya even pushes them both into situations they’re both uncomfortable with. with adrien and luka.

and speaking of luka,

marinette accepted his confession KNOWING she didn’t like him the same way she liked adrein. she knew she wasn’t over him. she was using him. not even as a rebound, but as a stand-in for adrien.

luka is still in love with marinette, and even if luka is truly okay with helping her be with adrien isn’t it literally just self torture? marinette is so wrong for that.

luka’s acceptance for ‘going with the flow’ i think, if it wasn’t a children’s show, would absolutely be replaced by the trauma of being the eldest of of someone named ANARKA and overall mental health issues. [because being an older sibling in a dysfunctional household is traumatic enough on its own. seriously]

luka comes across as someone who’s in control with everything. his job, his future career, his entire life. him being the elder sibling, and probably the caretaker since anarka is… anarka. with a mother like her, he has no choice but to play the cards he’d been dealt. and marinette was shuffling them and handing them out.

he was in love with her, and she barely liked him. she still let herself use him as a stand in.

but back to adrien.

in ‘kuro neko’ the writers suddenly blame ladybug’s abuse— [yes i will keep using that word. it’s true. since becoming the guardian she has been neglecting and bullying him. “marinette is scared of chat blanc that’s why she’s pushing him away!!!” so… you’re afriad your parter is going to be overcome with negative emotions, so to avoid that, you knowingly hurt them?] — on cat noir being in love with her and somehow this is getting in the way.

he feels excluded and treated unfairly, betrayed and abandoned because ladybug was pushing him to the sidelines and choosing other people to help fight along side her, episode after episode. and this had nothing to do with him being in love with her. even plagg was telling marinette she was being an ass

anyway there’s probably a billion other ways i could criticize marinette , adrienette and all thinks akin but this is such a long rant and i am so tired and now i’m pissed too

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buggaberry · 4 years

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life is a little sweeter when I’m with you

This is for the @mlwritersguild October Event! It’s from Team Ladybug’s fic Floured Faces, Frosted Lips by @deinde-prandium, @sukker-sugar, and me ♡

#miraculous ladybug #ml writers guild #october event 2020 #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #adrinette #ml fanart #my art #lovesquare #sukker-sugar #deinde-prandium #buggy writes??? technically #do it for the children

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sugarcubetikki · 3 years

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Love Languages - Adrien and Marinette

Talking about Adrien and Marinette’s contrasting love languages!

I think Marinette's love language is pretty obvious. Her two major love languages seem to be gifts and acts of service.

Marinette mainly expresses her affections through gifts. She's always making gifts for Adrien. And when it comes to giving those gifts, she's always super afraid and literally acts like giving them would be a declaration of love or something. You can see her getting freaked out over giving Adrien a gift in both The Bubbler and Cat Blanc.

Oh, and she's well prepared too...she has a chest full of gifts FOR HIM.

(Who does that? Normal people with crushes don't. Marinette expresses her feelings in an exaggerated manner).

In the Gamer, she gives him her lucky charm bracelet. This scene is very prominent. Marinette's major love language is through gifts and the fact that she's giving him a gift without stuttering in this scene is just...beautiful. Also, it's not something she planned beforehand. She literally took out her lucky charm bracelet and was like: Here, you can have it. She said it like it was no big deal. I think this scene really explores her feelings for him and it's where you see more of her genuine feelings without all her awkward and exaggerated shenanigans.

The reason why her prominent love language is gifts is pretty obvious to me. It’s quite obvious that she’s not very good with words, and I believe she has even mentioned that in the webisode, she struggles to express herself through words, she can never really say what she truly means.

Therefore, the best way she can express love is through gifts as she's able to use her love of fashion and creation to express herself in a more comfortable manner.

She also seems to understand the value of gifts much better than others. She's very connected to them even if they seem weird.

In Befana, she says that she doesn't really care what the gift is, she cares more about the person giving it. Despite her grandma and Tikki's weird gift, you can see her put use into both gifts as she made them into a purse and pendant. That shows that she values gifts and she used her skill of design to make something out of even the plainest gifts.

Moreover, she was swooning completely over the Lucky Charm bracelet that Adrien gave her. Well...she does swoon a lot over him. But this is more prominent as she values gifts A LOT, she was all like...he actually brought me a gift that he made by himself. To her, that's very important. Someone reciprocating your own love language is the most dearest thing to a person.

Moving onto Marinette's 2nd love language, this one is acts of service. It' not as prominent but it's still important. Her first love language seemed more vividly expressed and she mainly used it to express her feelings towards Adrien. Mainly Adrien.

However, acts of service, I feel like this expresses more of her general love. She uses it mainly on everyone. It's not mainly specified to Adrien like her first love language.

She's very generous and she's always helping others. You can see this when she's both Ladybug and Marinette. She's always doing favours for other people despite her troublesome double life.

As she's not good with words, she represents general forms of love through her actions. But she doesn't use her prominent love language towards everyone as she does to Adrien. That's the differentiation.

Also, as I stated above, when someone else is reciprocating your own love language, you can understand it more and it makes you feel special.

There's one thing I noticed. The umbrella scene is an act of service! And Marinette is NOT the one expressing it. Adrien is!

No wonder she fell in love with him in that moment...

Adrien was reciprocating her own language, and since she understood it more, that's why it had such a huge impact on her.

She's shown to believe that actions speak louder than words in multiple situations (maybe because she's not too good with words as mentioned).

I feel like she expresses her first love language more and she likes receiving the other one more. BALANCE.

Of course, out of all the love languages, she uses these too the most and since she can understand these two languages, she's quite skilled at them. She understands both of them easily.

Luka seems to express acts of service more. And since Marinette seems to like receiving the love language more and the fact that she also understands it better. It makes sense why she sees Luka's feelings more prominently in comparison to Adrien.

I did NOT make this meme. The credit goes fully to the original creator.

Anyways, let's move on to Adrien's love languages!

His two most prominent love languages are words of affirmations and touch.

Narrowing down his main love languages were really difficult, since he’s so love-deprived, he’s very accepting of all forms.

It does make sense as it's something he lacked most of his life. His sheltered life means less affection. I can see his mom being affectionate but Gabriel doesn't really strike me as the touchy-feely type (bad parenting things). I think the loss of his mom made him just crave this even more. Word of love, gentle touches and hugs. It's what he understands and expresses more. You crave what you lack more than what you have.

It was really tough for me to actually differentiate between these two but I finally came to a conclusion.

I feel that words of affirmation is the one he expresses more. It's more prominent and there's actually a lot of proof too.

Cat Noir: It's precisely when something is important, that it's important to say it, no matter what.

Puppeteer 2 shows that he understands the importance of words and it actually makes a lot of sense as it's his prominent language (Ironically, Marinette is awful at words, true opposites).

He does express it more vividly towards Ladybug than anyone else. He compliments and encourages her during battle most of the time. I guess you could say his flirting is a form of his love language too.

(He also does express it towards Marinette a lot, she comes a very close second as he's always complimenting her too. More proof that Adrien DOES have feelings for Marinette, he's just confused).

In Dark Cupid, he was planning to write a poem for her, and that's another sign that he's pretty good at expressing his feelings through words (another contrast to Marinette's struggle in writing a poem).

He's also very flustered when Ladybug is complimenting Cat Noir.

Like in Gorizilla when he blushes during the scene where Ladybug tells him she trusts Cat Noir.

Of course, this is very general, but a reminder, I feel this is more of his expressive language than receptive one.

As for his more receptive language, it’s touch. He also uses it a lot though mainly my confusion to what his prominent language was. Because he's a very touchy person (especially towards Marinette and Ladybug). Not to everyone but he does touch and talk a lot, with people he's close too. He's always putting his hands on their shoulders or something.

The way I could differentiate is that he actually likes receiving gentle touches and hugs more. You should see the way he reacts...

In Simon Says, when Gabriel lunges in for a hug, Adrien is genuinely surprised. I mean the more obvious reasoning is that clearly Gabriel is not a hugger so that's probably he was surprised with his cold father's show of affection. This isn't really the only instance.

He's surprised when Ladybug hugs her in Miracle Queen. His gasp shows it. In Prime Queen, when Ladybug grabs onto his hand. He's also surprised with Marinette's cheek kiss, even though it's normal in France to express gratitude via cheek kisses, he's still was surprised with his mouth agape and everything.

But his surprise isn't a bad thing. He actually seems happy with his touches. We all know his face is beaming more brighter than usual.

Before I end this, I'd like to comment on how their love languages seem to clash.

As they clearly have different love languages, opposite languages, they face difficulty understanding the other's language. This may be why there so oblivious (Ladybug is less oblivious because she does know now but she always faced difficulty understanding Cat Noir's actions in the past and saw his flirting as cocky and irritating).

I don't blame them. Their love languages are very different: Adrien's love language is more direct and simple whereas Marinette's is more indirect and confusing. This even matches their characters (simple and straight forward vs convoluted!).

They are getting better at understanding each other's contrasting languages. Ladynoir has developed more in that department. Adrienette has a lot of potential for development in S4.

(I wrote this some time ago, before the New York Special, it could lack some context from there, but it looks fine to me...at the moment...)

#sugar analyses #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #adrienette #ladynoir #marichat #ladrien #ml lovesquare #love square #miraculous analysis #ml analysis

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gale-gentlepenguin · 4 years

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You know, the lovesquare isn't just interesting because it has 2 people and they are both in love with eachother without realizing it.

Its because each side of the lovesquare has a positive relationship even in the areas we don't normally consider romantic.

Marinette isn't just some Girl to Adrien, she is a close friend and someone that he values and respects. She is someone that helps him try harder. He admires her, he always does his best to support her.

Chat noir isnt a wisecracking sidekick to Ladybug who annoys her (contrary to what the salters make you believe), he is her trusted partner and emotional support. He helps her keep steady.

Marinette and Chat noir also have a mutual respect and care that goes beyond a simple hero and civilian.

Adrien and Ladybug’s dynamic goes without saying, but its mutual pinning idiots.

That is actually why I prefer this version to the initial PV version because the lovesquare in the current version is so much more healthy and caring.

Anyone that says the lovesquare is stupid or lacks development. I recommend wiping the salt from your eyes. You are missing the sight of something beautiful

#ml #miraculous ladybug #marichat #adrinette #ladynoir #ladrien #ml fandom salt #ml sugar #love square #lovesquare

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theladyfae · 2 years

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I want to know where I am on that graph 👀 👉👈

an angel. the love of my life. I could never bring myself to fight you which is why you'd be able to beat me without breaking a sweat, but I'd be fine with it </3

@ mutuals, find out how fight-able you are

#everytime you say something its just so true and right #especially when it comes to lovesquare ideas #also the other day.... miracuclass shenanigans doc...#sugar only for elle <3 #faera's

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mlwritersguild · 4 years

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Miraculous Writer’s Guild October Event 2020

Floured Faces, Frosted Lips by Team Ladybug: @sukker-sugar @deinde-prandium @pawsomelybuggy

Prompt: Baking

Summary: “Sugar, spice, and something nice for two oblivious idiots to do together on an autumn afternoon.”

art by @pawsomelybuggy

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“All right, class!” Caline Bustier called with a clap of her hands. “I’m so excited to see so many of you have volunteered to assist with tomorrow’s charity bake sale.”

Marinette shifted in her seat, excited for the rest of the announcement. Alya nudged her a bit, amused by her excitement.

“Each of you will be randomly paired with a partner to bake fall-themed desserts with. I’ll let you out of class a little early this afternoon so that you have plenty of time to make something delicious. Then tomorrow, we will set up a spot to sell your treats. All the funds from the event will be donated to the local children’s hospital!”

Ms. Bustier continued her speech, but Marinette found it difficult to concentrate on anything but the part about having a baking partner. She hoped to be teamed up with someone fun, rather than have to spend the day in a hot kitchen with an awkward atmosphere. Although she hoped for a good partner, she still wanted to get stuff done, not just goof about.

She peeked over at Adrien, who was listening to Ms. Bustier speak with rapt attention. Getting paired with him would simply be too much to wish for. Knowing my luck, Marinette thought with a sigh, I'll get paired with Chloe. She thanked the imaginary charity that had prevented Lila from participating, as well.

“Ms. Bustier’s about to pick names,” Alya whispered, nudging her again. “Pay attention!” Marinette straightened up in her seat and looked to Bustier. She held a clipboard and a pencil, the paper on the board showing a list of the pairs.

“This year the groups will be,” she started, building a bit of suspense, “Chloe and Alix, Rose and Nathaniel, Ivan and Sabrina, Juleka and Alya, Nino and Kim, and Max and Mylene.” She stopped speaking for a moment, catching her breath. “Finally, Adrien and Marinette.”

Marinette eyes went wide, a bit with horror and a bit with overwhelming joy.

She nearly jumped right out of her seat when Adrien turned around to give her a little smile and wave. “It looks like you and me get to be partners, Marinette! I’m sure it’s gonna be a dream working together with you,” he beamed, making Marinette’s heart stutter for a brief moment.

She belatedly returned the smile and wave before coming back to her senses, “Ah! Yeah! I’m super excited to get to work with you. You’re amazing at everything, it’ll turn out great for sure.”

Adrien’s face seemed to scrunch up in a bit of a cringe. “Actually… I don’t really know that much about baking. I’m probably going to end up following your lead for the most part,” he said with a sheepish smile.

"Fat's thine! Uh, sorry, I mean, that's fine! We can, um, we can work at my house if you want? You know, since I live above a bakery and all that. Got all the supplies!" she added with a nervous laugh.

Mercifully, an angry shriek from Chloe Bourgeois saved Marinette from getting any deeper into the pit of awkwardness she had started digging for herself.

“EXCUSE ME,” Chloe called out, “I’m supposed to be paired with Adrien!” Everyone collectively sighed, Alix making a noise equivalent to a snort and laugh.

“Honestly, I would side with her, but I’m not putting him through that.” Alix remarked.

“It is utterly ridiculous! I refuse to work with this hooligan!” Chloe shrieked, gesturing toward her partner.

Ms Bustier opened her mouth to intervene, but Alix waved her off. “It’s fine Ms. Bustier, really. Someone has to handle her. Besides, this might be fun,” she said, mischief glinting in her eyes as she turned back to her partner. “Just relax, Bourgeois. I’m not gonna kill you with my baking. And remember, this is for charity. It’s not about you. Think of the children.”

Chloe growled at her before plopping back down into her seat with a huff. Marinette didn’t miss the way the blonde girl glared at her in the process.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. “Don’t worry about Chloe,” he said reassuringly. “She’ll get over it. Anyway, when should I come over to your place? I’m really excited to be with - I mean, to learn from you.”

Marinette nodded a bit dumbly, her smile widening as the seconds passed. Adrien turned back to back the front, right as Alya nudged her, breaking Marinette out of her trance. Alya nodded to the front, signaling to pay attention as Bustier went on with the lesson.

---

The class seemed to drone on for quite a while after that, but nobody was really paying attention anymore, as they were too excited for the bake sale. At least, Marinette wasn’t paying attention, that was for sure. She seemed to float through the rest of the lesson in a daze; before she knew it, everyone was packing up and preparing to head home.

"You ready to make something amazing together?"

Marinette nearly choked at the question. She glanced up to see Adrien, who was smiling up at her despite the uncertainty painted on his face.

"Sorry...you did say we were going to your place to bake after school, right? I’m actually pretty lucky, because Nathalie texted me earlier to say my photo shoot this afternoon was cancelled, plus with Ms. Bustier letting out of class to bake I’m really all yours until at least dinner time, but-"

“No, of course! Let’s go!” Marinette said. She headed out the door with him, staring at the ground as she walked. She wanted to look at him, talk with him, sure, but she knew the words wouldn’t come together.

Marinette fidgeted a bit trying to come up with something to say, but Adrien beat her to it. “So, any ideas on what we’re baking? We should probably come up with something before we get there.”

His voice abruptly pulled her out of her scrambled thoughts. “Right! You’re right, we probably should come up with something,” she said, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “Was there anything you had in mind?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I might not have much experience as a baker, but I’m up to the challenge of making anything! Maybe something we can easily make a lot of in a short amount of time,” Adrien replied, tapping his lips with a finger.

Marinette paused and contemplated for a moment. “Well, it’s fall themed. So for flavors we could go with pumpkin, maple, apple, or cinnamon.”

“Hm, that’s true. So would we do some kind of pie or cake?” he asked as they began to approach the bakery.

Marinette seemed to perk up a bit as an idea struck her. “Ooh! We could do cupcakes! We could have different flavors of cakes and frosting and then decorate them all fall themed! Maybe the frosting on the pumpkin cupcake could be pumpkin shaped, or we could frost maple leaves, there’s a lot we could probably do. But I think cupcakes are pretty safe - we could make a bunch!” she rambled, her eyes practically dazzling with excitement as she looked at him.

Adrien responded with a smile so bright, Marinette nearly fell over. "Cupcakes sound like a brilliant idea. Honestly, as long as you're in charge, I'm sure whatever we make is going to be amazing. Everything you suggested sounded just heavenly."

She beamed at his praise. You're heavenly, she thought to herself with a happy sigh.

"What was that?"

Marinette ducked her head as blood rushed to her cheeks. Did I just say that out loud?? In her panic, more words poured from her mouth of their own accord. "Oh, nothing! Nothing at all! Definitely nothing about how your smile is so nice - I mean, ice! Icing! I was thinking about how much icing sugar we'll need to frost our cupcakes."

When the door to the bakery came into view, she practically cried with relief. "Oh, look, we're here! I'm, um, I'm just gonna run upstairs and throw my stuff in my room, feel free to wait down here and make yourself at home, be right back!" Not waiting for Adrien's response, Marinette all but dove inside, scurrying through the bakery and upstairs to her family's apartment as quickly as her legs could carry her.

It wasn't until she was in the safety of her room that Marinette even stopped to take a breath. "Why am I freaking out like this?" she wondered aloud. "It's not like we haven't been alone together before. We're friends. Friends bake together, right? I can do this. Remember, you’re doing this with Adrien for a charity event. Think of the children, Marinette. Think of the children."

Tikki flew out from her hiding spot to offer some additional advice. "You may want to think a little faster, Marinette. You kind of just left your friend downstairs."

Marinette froze up at the realization that she had just left Adrien at the door. “Oh no,” she muttered. She sprinted over to the trapdoor and flung it open, dashing down the flights of stairs before skidding to a halt right in front of the arch leading back into the bakery. She stopped and took a deep breath, walking back behind the counter and to the door as calmly as she could.

Adrien was still standing there, right where she had left him. When he saw her, he gave her a smile, but if Marinette wasn’t mistaken she could’ve sworn there was a hint of mischief in his eyes as well. It seemed to disappear as quickly as it came.

“You all good?” he asked, snapping Marinette out of her train of thought.

“Huh? Oh! I’m fine, I just had a lot of books in my bag so I put them away really quick,” she said with a nervous laugh, “Uh, I’ll take you upstairs. You can put your things down in the living room and we can use the kitchen there since my parents are busy in the bakery kitchen.”

“Okay! Sounds good to me," Adrien nodded. Marinette let out one more little nervous laugh before turning around and leading him up the stairs.

She needed to pull herself together, remember the children. Do it for the children. The children—

“Hey, Marinette?”

Marinette froze at the entryway. “Yes?”

“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here today? You seem kind of...distracted.”

She glanced guiltily at her baking partner, whose smile seemed to have lost a bit of its luster. Instantly, her heart dropped into her stomach; the last thing she needed was for him to think she didn’t actually want him there. “I’m fine, Adrien,” she assured him. “I promise. I’m just...nervous.”

“Nervous? Why?”

Because I want to impress you? Because I can barely form sentences when you’re near, and we’re about to spend hours in the kitchen together?

“I...just want to do a good job with these cupcakes,” she said after a moment’s consideration. “I know my parents run a bakery and all, so I guess I’m suddenly feeling a bit of pressure.” Though it wasn’t the whole truth, at least it was something.

Adrien nodded in understanding. “I get it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put pressure on you or anything.”

Marinette shook her head. “No, no! It’s not your fault. I do this to myself all the time.”

He smiled at her once more. “Well, this time, you’re not alone. I may not come from a line of bakers, but I know how to follow directions. And I’m willing to learn. So if you don’t mind teaching me, I think we could make a really good team.”

They exchanged warm smiles that made Marinette’s heart melt, but she continued to get prepared. They went up the stairs and into the apartment, Adrien going over and sitting on a barstool while Marinette grabbed miscellaneous bowls, spoons, and whisks from cabinets above and below.

“Alright, let’s get started.” Marinette declared.

---

Marinette went around the kitchen, grabbing different ingredients and tools and setting them by the stove as Adrien held the bowl against his lower chest, trying his best to lightly fold the batter over itself. She maneuvered behind him and took sheet pans out of the oven, preheating it after everything was out.

Despite getting off to a rocky start, things were actually going pretty well. She smiled, flicking her wrist up into the air while whispering the directions to herself - something she did to keep herself motivated or on task while baking. Thankfully, Adrien didn’t ask.

Adrien’s face scrunched up in thought as he stared at his bowl. “Does this look okay?” he asked.

Marinette glanced over at his bowl and nodded. “Yep! I already put the cupcake liners in the pan, so you can just pour that in. You can use the ice cream scoop if you wanted it to be neater,” she instructed. "I’m gonna start making frosting for the pumpkin cupcakes. Let me know if you need any help putting the batter in!”

Adrien made a little ‘o’ shape with his mouth, clearly impressed. “Okay, I think I got it. Did you want me to start the batter for the maple cupcakes after?” he asked.

“I already set everything up for those, so you can go on ahead and do that,” she replied as she dug around for the powdered sugar.

She glanced over at Adrien putting the last bit of batter in the tin and smiled to herself. They did make a good team, didn’t they? Adrien could almost give Chat Noir a run for his money.

Adrien placed the empty mixing bowl in the sink, a look of satisfaction painted on his face. “You know, Marinette? I think I was right. We make a pretty good team.”

Marinette blushed. “I was just thinking that,” she admitted. “For someone who is new to baking, I’m really impressed by you!”

“But you’re just incredible in the kitchen,” he countered. “I mean, using the ice cream scoop for the batter? I never would have thought of that.”

“Oh, that? That’s nothing.”

“No, seriously! You’re just so...resourceful.” Adrien’s voice dropped lower, and he looked away. “For a minute there you totally reminded me of…” he seemed to mutter to himself, before trailing off.

Though he was not facing her directly, Marinette noticed what she could have sworn was a hint of red across his cheeks. “Reminded you of who?” she asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

“Of Ladybug,” he murmured. "But I suppose that makes sense, what with you being my everyday Ladybug and all."

Marinette’s breath hitched. Oh.

Unspoken words hung over them as the silence continued. Marinette shrunk into herself a bit, crossing the kitchen space over to the fridge. Adrien went over to the part of the counter and started on the maple batter, the silence eventually becoming less tense and more comfortable.

Adrien pursed his lips for a moment. “Um, sorry, but when do I add in the maple syrup?” he asked, holding up the bottle.

“Ah, when you’re done with the dry ingredients you can get another bowl and start beating the butter. You can mix the syrup in with the butter after that,” she said, glancing over at him a moment after answering. She had to stifle a laugh.

Adrien seemed confused. “Is everything alright?”

Marinette snickered. “You got a little…” she trailed off, gesturing to her face. Adrien only seemed even more confused and tilted his head to the side.

“Hang on,” she said, getting up from where she was sitting in front of the cabinet. She walked over to him, picking up a clean rag and using it to gently wipe his nose and cheeks.

“You’ve got flour all over your face,” she said, showing him the cloth covered in flour. Adrien was practically frozen with a little bit of pink dusting his cheeks.

It didn’t take long for Marinette to realize what she’d just done and froze up as well. They were still almost nose to nose, so close that she could practically count the light smattering of freckles dotting his cheeks. She didn’t realize Adrien even had freckles. Unconsciously, her gaze drifted down to his mouth, then back up to his eyes - glittering pools of green that seemed to be doing the exact same thing she was.

If she were bolder, this might have been the moment to make her move. Instead, another thought invaded her mind. The children. Think of the children.

The buzzer dinged, interrupting their silent standoff. Adrien spoke, his voice hoarse. “We, ah - we should probably check on those before they burn.”

Marinette stepped away with a nod, blushing furiously at what she had almost done. She’d literally gone from ditching Adrien at her front door to being on the verge of kissing him. What was wrong with her?

She swiped a pair of oven mitts and opened the oven door, the hot air blowing in their faces. She grabbed a toothpick and stuck it in one of them, checking that it had come back out clean. She pulled out the pan and set it on the stove top, closing the door. She slipped the mitts off her hands and onto the counter, grabbing the towel slung over her shoulder and dabbing her forehead.

Marinette turned back to him, finally not being a flustered mess for the first time in the past few minutes. However, when she spun around, he broke into a fit of giggles.

“What is it?” she asked.

Adrien looked up from keeling over and holding his stomach, and rubbed his forehead. Marinette became more confused by the action, until she felt her own forehead. She brought her fingers back down in front of her face and found them white and powdered from the towel.

Normally, Marinette would have become a flustered mess at the notion that she’d just rubbed her face with the towel that she rubbed his face with, but she couldn’t help but burst out laughing along with Adrien instead.

It took them both a while to sober up, and Adrien was rubbing tears out of his eyes by the time they both caught their breath again. “So, what do we do next?”

“Well,” Marinette said as she got the last giggles out of our system. “We should get that next batch into the oven, but the ones that just came out need to cool a bit longer before we frost them. So...you do the cupcakes while I work on making the frosting?”

Adrien gave her a little salute. “Aye aye, captain,” he said with a little grin.

And just like that, the pair continued as if nothing had happened. Within a few minutes, the maple cupcakes were baking away, and Marinette was scooping frosting into a set of piping bags.

“So, I’m guessing that you’ve never frosted cupcakes before?”

Adrien shook his head. “I’ve got a feeling it’s a little harder than mixing ingredients in a bowl.”

“You’re not wrong,” Marinette agreed. “But what if I taught you how?”

“You’d do that?” Adrien asked hopefully. “I can’t guarantee that my cupcakes will look as beautiful as yours, but I don’t want to make you do all the work.”

“Of course I would. We’re a team, remember? Anyway, we can keep the designs simple. Nothing too intimidating,” she added with a smile.

Handing him a piping bag, Marinette grabbed a clean plate and placed it between them on the counter before reaching for a bag of her own. Carefully, she twisted the end of her piping bag closed, squeezing the frosting out in a straight line. “The trick to frosting cupcakes,” she said, “is to keep the pressure even while you’re squeezing the icing out of the bag. That way, it doesn’t spill out too quickly.” She passed the plate to him. “Now you try.”

Adrien followed in suit, twisting the end and squeezing the middle. He slowly moved the bag across the plate, the icing coming out the front. He stuck his tongue out in a small blep as he focused. Marinette smiled at it a bit at the action. It reminded her of something Chat Noir would do whenever he had to focus.

He stepped back from the line of icing he drew on the plate, smiling at his work. Marinette looked over it - the line was slightly wobbly, but overall, good for a first try.

“Great! Now try making something with the frosting. It can just be a circle or a little flower.”

“Okay!” Adrien said as he adjusted his grip and started drawing with the frosting. He picked up a piping bag or two with different colors to add little details.

It took him a minute, but once he was done, he stepped back with a wide grin. “Ta-da!”

Marinette looked over at his plate and gaped. She couldn’t find the words to respond, instead making a few incoherent sounds.

“Cat got your tongue?” Adrien said, shooting a wink at her.

The pun caught her off guard even more.

“That's - you - how?” she stammered, looking back and forth between Adrien and the cute, perfectly frosted cat on the plate in front of her.

“I guess that’s what happens when you have an amazing teacher,” Adrien said, waggling his brows a bit.

Marinette looked at him, dumbfounded, “But I didn’t…?” she paused and stared at him. “Are you secretly some expert cupcake froster?”

“No, but I am a very attentive student. And who better to learn from than the daughter of the best bakers in Paris?”

“You say that like my parents are baking royalty,” Marinette scoffed.

“If they’re royalty, then that must make you the princess,” Adrien replied smoothly, shooting her a smile so blindingly flirty that, combined with his use of the word princess, almost made her believe she was talking to Chat Noir himself. An unmasked, totally gorgeous, baking Chat Noir.

I must be short circuiting, she thought. Adrien and Chat Noir? Impossible. Must refocus. Think of the children. The children...

Marinette took deep breaths in, deep breaths out. It was fine. It was going to be fine.

“So we may not need to practice with the icing as much as I thought we would.” she said, sliding the bags of different coloured icing to the side. She cleared the counter and moved the cooler cupcakes into the space, leaving the stove top for the batch about to come out of the oven.

“I guess we can sit for now. The cupcakes in the oven are probably gonna take fifteen minutes,” she said as she put her hands on his shoulders to lead him over to the sofa. He started giggling as she walked him over and pushed him onto a cushion where he plopped down.

“You know I could’ve walked myself, right? The sofa was right behind us,” Adrien snorted.

Marinette, in turn, scrunched her nose. “You have a better idea of what we can do, Agreste?” she asked, putting a hand on her hip.

Adrien grabbed her hand and pulled himself back up. He stood before her, just inches away, eyes gleaming. “If you ask me,” he said lowly, “I don’t think the day would be complete if we didn’t…”

Marinette gulped, on the verge of total shutdown for the umpteenth time that day. “If we didn’t what?” she croaked.

“If we didn’t taste what we’ve made before we sold them,” Adrien finished. Still holding her hand, he pulled her back into the kitchen. All Marinette could do was follow.

He let go of her hand once he got over to the cupcakes, leaving her at a barstool to figure out how to breathe again. Marinette looked up, seeing Adrien holding two halves of a cupcake - half for him, she assumed, and half for her. She took her portion and split that in half as well, popping a piece into her mouth.

Adrien picked up the green icing bag and squeezed a bit on the top, stuffing it in his mouth. Marinette giggled at him, grabbing the pink icing and smearing some on her other piece. She ate it and nodded her head in satisfaction.

“Hang on,” Adrien said, pointing to the corner of his mouth. “You got some on your lip.”

“Oh, okay,” she said. She took a napkin and wiped her lip, somehow missing any trace of icing. She brought the napkin against her lip again, still missing the icing.

Adrien walked over and placed his hand against hers and asked, “May I?” Marinette blinked a few times, her cheeks becoming red as she nodded with a shaky breath. He tilted her chin up with his free hand, brushing his thumb against the corner of her mouth and catching the extra icing on it. He stepped away and wiped the pad of his thumb against his own lips now, licking the icing off.

Marinette stood in shock for a good thirty seconds.

If she had thought her face was red before, she was definitely darker than Ladybug’s suit by now. She had to break her gaze from him, covering her mouth with a hand in a futile attempt to cover her blush. She couldn’t even think of the children.

In the midst of Marinette rummaging through her brain for a proper response, the front door suddenly burst open, revealing her parents.

“I’m so sorry we couldn’t greet you sooner, we were having our rush hour down in the bakery,” Sabine said, smiling warmly at the two of them. Tom waved from behind her with a platter of snacks.

Marinette had been startled, but she soon puffed out a breath of air she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Hey, Mom and Dad! It’s all good, we’re alright. We’re pretty much done, actually - we just need to decorate after we take the cupcakes out of the oven,” she said with a voice ever so slightly wobbly from being flustered.

Adrien gave them a polite smile and wave as well. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng!” he greeted.

"Please, call me Tom," Marinette's father said with a laugh. He smiled with approval at the batch of cupcakes out on the table. "I see you've already got one batch ready to frost. They look wonderful!"

Marinette glanced over at Adrien, and struck by how quickly his previous swagger had given way to his usual shy sweetness. "This is all thanks to Marinette, really. Your daughter is an amazing baker, and an even more incredible teacher," Adrien said. "She's been so, so patient with me all afternoon. I can't say enough how grateful I am to have been paired with her for this project."

It seemed silly to say it, but of all the things that had happened so far - the flour, the flirting, the frosting - it was the sincerity in Adrien's voice as he spoke that pushed Marinette past the point of functioning. It was just too much. "I need a minute," she suddenly blurted out. "Can you please excuse me? I just, I...I'll be back in a minute."

She didn't wait for an answer, but simply ran up to her room, leaving a bewildered Adrien in the kitchen with her equally bewildered parents as she shut the trap door behind her.

Blowing out a breath, Marinette struggled to make sense of the events of the past couple hours.

Tikki flew over from in front of Marinette’s desktop, a concerned look across her face. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Marinette slowly nodded, taking deep breaths in and out, attempting to not hyperventilate.

“I just- I can’t-'' she stammered between breaths, “I don’t think I can function anymore. Adrien’s being so nice - not to mention flirty - and he’s made me need to think desperately about the children a whole lot.” Tikki just nodded in reply, flying over and rubbing Marinette’s cheek in a soothing manner.

“I’m sure everything will be fine. Besides, you like him, don’t you? How is this bad?” Tikki asked.

Marinette rubbed her finger against the back of Tikki’s head, sighing. “Yes, I do like him. But this is for charity, not flirting. Besides, he probably still sees me as a friend.” Marinette explained. “Plus, I can barely function around him normally, let alone inches apart.” she groaned, burying her face in a pillow beside her. “I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m just gonna mess everything up and make a complete fool of myself at this point,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by the cushion.

Tikki was quiet, she flew over next to Marinette’s face, reassuringly rubbing her cheek against her’s.

They stayed like that for a moment until the sound of hesitant tapping came from the trap door. Tikki immediately flew away to hide and Marinette sat up.

“Can I come in?”

Marinette felt her heart leap into her throat at the sound of Adrien’s voice.

The room fell into silence for a brief moment.

“...Yeah,” she eventually spoke up in a voice just barely above a whisper.

The trap door began to creak open, his blond locks peaking through. Her breath hitched once their eyes met.

"Your mom, uh...she sent me up here to check on you. Said something about us needing to clean up the kitchen so that they can get dinner started.” He paused, and Marinette noticed that his usual smile had been replaced with a frown. “Listen, I, um...I think I owe you an apology.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Adrien pulled himself up the remaining steps and shut the trap door before giving her an answer. “I, um…” he began, rubbing the back of his neck, “I feel like maybe I made you uncomfortable just now. Or maybe the whole afternoon, even. I haven’t been respectful of your boundaries, and I’m sorry. I just...we were having fun, and I thought...anyway, what I thought doesn’t matter. I just hope I didn’t upset you too much.”

Her stomach twisted guiltily. She hadn’t stopped to think what message she’d been sending when she flew from the room, and now this sweet, adorable boy thought she was actually mad at him. Confused? A little. Flustered? Definitely. But not mad. Never mad.

“That’s not - I’m not -” she stuttered, “You didn’t upset me. It’s just...a lot to take in, having you here all afternoon.”

“Oh,” he said, dejection lacing his voice. “I’m sorry, I-”

“No, it’s not you!” she interjected. “I swear. It’s been...amazing having you as a partner, spending this time with you. It’s just, I don’t know...maybe I felt like we’ve been having too much fun? And I kinda felt weird about it.”

“Weird?” Adrien asked, cocking his head to one side.

Marinette shrugged. “You know, ‘cause this is supposed to be a charity thing.”

“Well, no one says that charity work can’t be fun,” he pointed out, a little glimmer of a smile returning.

“Yeah, well, fun is one thing, but flirting is another,” she shot back. Adrien seemed to stiffen at her words, and Marinette’s eyes widened as she realized what she’d just said. Oh no. “Sorry, I meant-”

“You were flirting with me?”

Heat rose in her cheeks, and she struggled to find the strength to respond. Think of the children, she told herself. “Well, I-”

“Because I was.”

Marinette sat cemented to the chaise, unable to move or say anything.

Adrien said, fidgeting with his hands as he spoke, seemingly nervous. “I...I’ve liked you for a while. Everything you do is amazing, not to mention what you’d do for other people. You are amazing, and I don’t know how I didn't see it the first time we met. I couldn’t possibly put into words how wonderful you are to be around. I’m sorry if I pushed boundaries, or made you feel uncomfortable. I feel like I misinterpreted everything. Sorry if I ruined the whole day.” Adrien apologized, twisting the ring on his finger. He glanced over to the side, avoiding eye contact.

Marinette felt a flurry of emotions run through her all at once. But what made her heart lurch the most was the look of hurt spread across his face.

“Adrien… you didn’t ruin anything at all, I promise,” she said sincerely, looking straight at him. “I had a lot of fun spending time with you. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. You’re amazing too, you know?” Adrien looked like he wanted to protest, but Marinette kept going, "It was my fault for confusing you. I was so focused on keeping my feelings in check I… I didn't really stop to think about yours."

“You...you were trying to keep your feelings in check?” Adrien asked haltingly. “Your feelings about me?”

“Well, yeah,” Marinette replied, confused by the tone of his question. “I mean, you’ve been so sweet, even when I was ditching you at my front door and ordering you around and wiping flour off your face. And yeah, I got a little flustered when you licked the frosting that was on my face - I mean, not that you licked it off my face, but you know what I mean - and there are a couple times when you’ve been a really close and it’s been hard to concentrate because you smell so good, but that’s not your fault because my kitchen is pretty small...”

She trailed off when she noticed the look on Adrien’s face, which could only be described as an adorable combination of amused and awed.

Adrien chuckled quietly. “You, um...you didn’t quite catch everything I said, did you?”

She gulped, wracking her memory of the past few minutes. “I caught the part where you said you were sorry, but like I said, you don’t have anything to be sorry about, because I-”

“Marinette.” He scooted closer to her on the chaise, and when he took her hand in his, she thought her heart was going to stop. “I said that I liked you. That I like you.”

Marinette looked down to their hands and back up again, dumbfounded. “You do?” she squeaked.

Adrien chuckled again and smiled, looking into her eyes. “Yeah.”

Marinette thought her heart couldn’t beat faster. She brought her free hand to cover her mouth, her face going dark red. “Oh my god.” Her face grew a giddy grin.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe this. I’ve liked you since you gave me your umbrella at the beginning of the year...” Her phone dinged from her desk, but she paid it no mind. “I’ve been trying to tell you for the longest time, but every attempt went horribly wrong.” Her phone dinged again. She brought her hand down from covering her face, rubbing it up and down her other arm.

Her phone dinged two more times, finally making her annoyed enough to get up and check it. “I’ll be right back.” Marinette heard Adrien snicker from the chaise while she got up. She picked it up and checked her messages, finding they were from Alya. She sighed and read through them before sending a quick reply: I was doing something, I’ll get back to you.

She went back over to the chaise and sat down, holding his hands in hers. “Anyway, all of my attempts have gone horribly, horribly wrong and I can’t possibly put how happy I am into words. “And I-”

Marinette was cut off by Tom hollering up the stairs. “Dinner’s ready!”

She sighed. “We should probably go down.”

Adrien seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Wait,” he said, gently taking Marinette’s hand in his as she began to get up. "Just so that I'm sure I'm not dreaming this...I like you, and you like me?"

Marinette stared at him, briefly confused. But once she saw the endearingly hopeful look in his eyes, she smiled. She leaned in and stole a quick peck to the lips before Adrien had the chance to do anything.

“Would you like to stay?” she asked shyly. “After all, we do still have cupcakes to decorate.”

Adrien looked at her with big, awestruck eyes. “I would like that.”

---

It took significantly more effort than Marinette had anticipated to keep her mouth shut about what had happened between her and Adrien. But as the two of them warded off curious stares from their classmates while they arranged their cupcakes at the bake sale booth the next day, she knew they were probably doing the right thing.

This wasn’t the time to indulge in teenage gossip, she reminded herself. They had the children to think about.

Still, despite the challenge, Marinette kind of liked the idea of keeping things a bit of a secret for the time being. She snuck a little smile at Adrien, who winked as he presented her with a spare cupcake.

It had a perfectly frosted black cat on it.

Across the room, Alix placed the cakes they - or rather, she - had baked on the table near the end, while Chloe sat and sulked behind it.

“Alix, why is she so mad?” Kim asked.

“No reason. I just made her do some of the work,” Alix replied, grinning to herself.

“She got batter all over my brand new sweater!” Chloe yelled.

Alix scoffed. “Yeah, no, you did that to yourself,” she shot back.

Back where Marinette was, Adrien stifled a laugh, shooting her an amused look when she snorted at Chloe and Alix’s bickering. Alya walked up next to her and watched the silent communication unfold.

“So, you wanna tell me what’s going on with you today?”

Guiltily, Marinette turned to face her friend, who was laden with a plate of cookies. “You never answered my texts last night,” Alya continued. “And now you’re here with Adrien, and it almost looks like you’re actually comfortable around him. I’ve been here for ten minutes and I don’t think I’ve heard you stutter once! What gives?”

Marinette’s cheeks tinged a little pink, “We just worked really well together, that’s all,” she said, fidgeting.

Alya gawked at her. “Did someone cast a spell on you or something? Now I really want to know what happened.”

Marinette gave her a look. “Of course not. We just ended up having a lot of fun at my place and baked some mean cupcakes. Nothing really happened, we- we thought about the children. It’s a charity event after all,” she insisted, sneaking a look back at Adrien...who was trying to stifle another laugh.

Her friend pouted in return, “I know that, I just--”

“Hey, Als! I need your help setting up this table over here!” Nino called out from behind a table he was attempting to carry.

“Oh, okay, I’m coming!” she called back, shooting a quick glance back at Marinette that read ‘this isn’t over’ as she jogged over to him.

Marinette sighed to herself, she turned around to look back at Adrien, who was tapping away at his phone with a cheesy grin. She raised an eyebrow and walked over to him.

“What’s with the face?” she asked with a laugh.

Adrien looked up at her. “Oh, you know, just doing a little promoting,” he said, showing her his phone.

It was a photo of the two of them in the kitchen after dinner. The two of them, covered in frosting and flour, dorky smiles adorning their faces as their cheeks smushed up against each other, each hoisting up a cupcake. The caption read, “Made some magical cupcakes together with this magical girl - come get your own at the Collège Françoise Dupont Bake Sale today! All proceeds benefit the Hospital for Sick Children. #bakesale #doitforthechildren #flourandfrostingfordays”

Marinette admired the photo of them, feeling bubbly on the inside.

“You do realize everyone is gonna freak out about this, right?” she said suddenly, nudging him with her shoulder. “What happened to keeping things quiet?”

“Do you not want me to post it?” he frowned.

She shook her head after a moment. “Nah, go ahead. Alya’s gonna get the scoop out of me one way or another,” she said.

“If you say so.” Adrien smirked, hitting the post button.

With that, the bake sale was bombarded in mere moments. There wasn’t a single crumb left by the end of the day...except maybe for Kim’s disaster of an experiment.

Marinette smiled over at Adrien, who beamed back at her. Despite her exhaustion, she couldn’t help but feel proud of herself - not just for what she and Adrien had accomplished together, but for how she had finally managed to tell him how she felt. To learn that he felt the same way was just the icing on the cake.

She suspected it wouldn’t be long before Alya (and the rest of her classmates) figured out just how much things had changed between her and Adrien in the kitchen that afternoon. Until then, she would just think ahead to next year’s bake sale - and the promise of more floured faces and frosted lips to come.

#ml writers guild #october event 2020 #deinde-prandium #sukker-sugar #pawsomelybugg #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fic #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #lovesquare #adrinette #adrinette fic #mlb #miraculous

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xhanisai · 10 months

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One thing I will always love about the Miraculous show is how they portrayed Adrien's interactions with Marinette and Ladybug's interactions with Chat Noir throughout all the seasons. That despite Adrien's and Ladybug's feelings for Marichat starting off platonically, they were still so tender and so sweet with them.

They didn't shy away from verbal and physical affection and the way they would marvel at marichat is so <33333

I just really love how while the show had Chat Noir fall for Ladybug and Marinette fall for Adrien immediately after they witnessed their strengths and kindness and determination, ladrien's journey for marichat was friends to lovers <33333333

They fell for each other fast and slow!!!!

They are slow-burn done right.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #adrinette #ladynoir #marichat #ladrien #ml sugar #the majority of people who complain about the show's slow and steady pace when it comes to the lovesquare indicate one thing #slow burn isn't for you #even for me slow burn is a hit or miss but ml does it so well it's uGHhhh #<333333333333333 #we are not here to talk about the flaws and imperfections here we are fangirling about lovesquare!!!!!!#keep your salt and gripes off my posts too #the second i see someone be like 'em um BUUUUT I am enTITLED TO MY SHITTY DUMBASS OPINIONS LEMME SHIT ON THE WRITING AND PAIRING ON YOUR #POST uGhgh EMMM EMMM'#I WILL BLOCK YOU.

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gameguy20100 · 2 years

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Hello! I hope you don't mind questions about one of the latest posts of yours!

"I don’t think Chat Noir really needs a new power to be Ladybugs equal."

I agree with your further points, that his power is pretty good on its own. And think that power up would be a cool story point and a part of a character development.

But I'd like to know what you meant by original statement here. Is it "Chat Noir needs something else, not his power upgrade, to be Ladybug's equal"? Is it "In terms of powers they are equal"? Or something else? Sorry, I got confused here a little

It was a " You are wrong."

Both at salty Adrien Stans who say he's being sidelined and made to look weak, and Ladybug abuses him.

And to Adrien Salters who say his powers suck, and that the others can do his job better.

So my point was.

Ladybug and Chat Noirs relationship is fine the way it is. Stop trying to force an anti Chat narrative where there isn't one.

Hope that cleared it up my dear anon. 👍

#miraculous ladybug #ml fandom salt #adrien agreste #Adrien sugar #ladynoir dynamic #ask and answer #Anonymous #lovesquare

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whimsicallyconfusedforlife · 4 years

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mL Sweet-ember..

My posts might be really boring and repetitive for these as I’m utter love square trash.. 😍

I saw someone else is doing this per episode. So I might borrow on that and start with The Bubbler! Some fave things about this ep-

- Nino trying to give Adrien the birthday party he deserves.

- Marinette and the scarf, letting Adrien think it was from his dad because it made him happy! 😍

- the Ladynoir interactions, especially inside the bubble.

- both of them doing something other than their superhero duties first, because hey they are teenagers!!

- melodramatic expressive Marinette.

And my silly spot - Adrien recognises Nino as the Bubbler, but not Marinette as ladybug.. lovable dummies!! 😂🥰

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml sweet tember #ml sweet ember #the bubbler #countdown to ml season 4 #ml sugar #lovesquare trash #miraculous sweet ember

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arlakos · 4 years

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Things that I feel would have made Miraculous Ladybug a better show.

A Comprehensive Guide to what I would fix with Miraculous Ladybug, with 10 different Ideas.

WARNING: long post for mobile users

1. Combine the Riposte and Captain Hardrock episodes to introduce Luka and Kagami and have it be strictly a civilian episode.

After 3 seasons of Miraculous, I can safely say that I don’t care much about the whole lovesquare stuff, and to be frank I hate the fact that Luka and Kagami were added into the show just to be alternate love interests for the heroes.

I mean, Kagami gets a pass because she has a unique personality, but Luka is literally just every guitar teen ever, and is more one dimensional than season 1 Chloe.

EDIT: It really doesn’t help that because of these new ships, there is even more ship teasing that before, making the whole romance side of miraculous rather boring and filled to excess with ship teases

HOWEVER, if you really wanted to introduce these characters as alternate love interests, why not do something unique with it and in a way that won’t go over so long?

My idea is as follows

1. Have Adrien meet Kagami at fencing and Marinette meeting Luka with Kitty section.

2. Have the two main characters interact with these new love interests and learn more about them.

3. NOT have Hawkmoth come and akumatise anyone, because akuma’s shouldn’t be the only reason and/or way to progress the show or make it interesting.

4. Have the new single episode be about Adrien and Marinette falling for new people.

That way, the show can introduce the idea of new love interests, change the episode format so a bit so that its not so linear, and save an episode slot for a episode idea more interesting... Or perhaps instead restrict the whole alternate romance subplot to a few episodes as part of a small storyline and have the whole romantic subplot be done with instead of extending it is like with the Lovesquare over 2 seasons

EDIT: I don’t particularly like the ship, but the idea I’m proposing could be a good way to shorten it into a more coherent and more interesting plot, instead of adding another ship tease into the series that ends up tearing the fandom apart.

2. Have Season 3 be about Ladybug and Cat Noir teaching the 3 new heroes how to fight.

Season 3 is trash. There I said it. And its not just the episodes themselves are the problem. The whole season and the premises it tries to introduce are garbage as well.

Lets start with Lila.

Based off of the Chameleon episode, it was believed that Lila would be a more prominent character in the show, basically being a villain for both Marinette and her alter Ego. Despite that, her actual effect on the season was about as minimal as you could get, with her presence only being restricted to a few episodes (with these episodes more relying on everyone else being an idiot for them to work, Chameleon included). It also didn’t help that the show still stuck to the single episode format, meaning Chamelon, which was meant to be an episode that would set up a ‘war’ between Marinette and Lila was immediatly suceeded by episodes such as Gamer 2.0 and Animaestro, both of which did not feature Lila at all and took the tension out of the first episode (unfortunately not the salt though, rip Miraculous Fanfics)

Also, the Finale robbed Lila of her spotlight. Imagine being presented as the villain of season 3 only for you to be replace with a knockoff Queen Wasp 😭.

Season 3 also made the mistake of introducing new heroes into the show.

Now, I’m of the opinion that the new heroes introduce in season 3 were a mistake, because not only did the new heroes make the idea of getting a miraculous not so special anymore (with so many new heroes), but some of the designs, powers and/or Miraculous tools were not really that great. I mean, Viperion looks cool and all, but his tool is a goddamn lyre. At least a yoyo can be used to tie up people. And do not get me started on Pegasus.

Also, with all the new heroes introduced, it meant that the heroes from season 2 barely got any screentime. Chloe was made into a villain by the end of Season 3, while Rena Rouge got to appear once and my boi Caracace got only one episode out of the ENTIRE SEASON to appear.

But I do have a solution to at least on of these problems.

What if, in season 3, that season was all about Ladybug and Cat Noir teaching Rena, Carapace and Queenie how to actually be heroes and form a team of 5? It would help bring some new dynamics into the whole hero stuff, and we could potentially see more of the stuff that we had only seen in heroes day.

(Also, rewrite heroes day so that the 3 heroes don’t immediatly get akumatized and actually help Ladybug and Cat Noir. God, they got ripped off for all the hype build-up.)

It could allow for new stuff in season 3 such as:

More hero dynamics

Seeing Alya, Nino and Chloe adapt to daily heroics

Ladybug (and Chat) learning how to be leaders and mentors, which would then make the plotline about Fu passing on his title to Marinette make more sense and justified, since they didn’t do that in season 3 at all.

A more realised storyline about Chloe’s identity being public knowledge that goes on for more than two episodes

Also it means we could get rid of Lila...just saying.

3. Have Miss Bustier work to rehabilitate Chloe and have that be the starting point of Chloe’s redemption.

In recent months, there has been a lot of salt aimed at Miss Bustier, and to be frank I don’t think she deserves it. Her characterisation is honestly really heartwarming when it comes to the idea of teachers caring for their students, but her character can often be forgotten by writers, especially when they desire a story to tell. This can be seen as early as Origins, where she ignores Chloe outright bullying Marinette so the latter can stand up to her later on, but notices Ivan being angry at Kim so Ivan becomes Stoneheart. I personally think her character is lovely, and certain fanfic stories like the Miraculous World of Caline Bustier show that good side of her that so many salt fics fail to forget or intentionally ommit because of one bad episode where Marinette cries (chameleon).

However I do think that Chloe gets way out of hand in the show, and I do feel that despite her best intentions, Bustier not doing anything about Chloe for two seasons seems a bit...off putting.

But what if she did do something about it?

I think that the best way for Ms Bustier to act more like a teacher without breaking her ‘kind teacher’ status would honestly be to actually work on rehabilitating Chloe, either by working with her after school with exercises or recommending her to a psychiatrist for help. I know this can come off as dark for miraculous, but Chloe has already shown that her life beforehand has been a bit rough (even though it doesn’t nullify how she has acted in season 1), so it would make sense that Chloe would need some help with her behavoir/attitude. It would be a great way for Bustier to actually do something about Chloe’s behavoir, without compromising her kind personality. She is kind enough to care about Chloe being better, but assertive enough to do something about it.

Plus, for those who like Chloe, it could be a great way to redeem her properly without going back and forth between a ‘likable person but also bitch’ and ‘an asshole bitch with no redeeming qualities’ like in season 3. Plus it would then make Chloe becoming Queen Bee more fair instead of making it seem as if she doesn’t deserve to be a hero.

Also it would make those people who make salt posts about Bustier frick off. Leave her alone she’s a good character

4. Not having everyone immediately liking Ladybug/Marinette but not hating her either.

Ok, this is where I get really heretical with this post, especially because of how much of the fandom likes Marinette, but I feel that having every single character in the show immediately liking Marinette is a bit too much, at least for me. This sounds biased, but it causes problems for the show for two main reasons.

Marinette is kinda at this point a part-Mary Sue, at least when it comes to the idea that everyone in the world seems to like Marinette and the only ones who don’t are irredeemable pieces of trash who are probably villains (Lila and Chloe being Astruc’s favorite examples :/ ).

Marinette often has everyone agreeing with her on everything (when Lila isn’t there) and majority of the time she goes unnopossed with anything that she does, to the point where even a fireman doesn’t call the cops when he see’s her outright breaking into Adrien’s home (in Oni-Chan).

It would be more interesting (or at least more realistic given the setting) if most characters aside from a few important ones were mostly indifferent towards Marinette, aside from ones such as Alya, Nino, Adrien and Nathaniel for obvious reasons. I’m not saying they have to hate her, but it would be cooler if the rest of the class were more individuals with their own lives and focus, rather that characters with a trope who just revolve around Marinettes world.

Also those girl squad moments in Miraculous seem kinda forced, mainly because Alix, Mylene, Rose and Juleka don’t seem like the type to hang with Marinette unless the episode calls for it like in Gigantitan and Reflekdoll.

Now, lets discuss Ladybug.

To keep it simple, I think that it would make more sense if people weren’t immediately trusting of Ladybug at first, and I feel that as seasons go on, it would make sense that over time, people would eventually start to lose trust in her or start to feel angry at her for her inability to stop Hawkmoth permanently.

I mean, if you take episodes such as Syren (where said villain floods a whole city), it is likely that some people got hurt (or worse) and people would eventually start to worry that Ladybug could fail or that her Miraculous Ladybug could stop working.

It would wouldn’t help that Hawkmoth is mostly focused on getting Ladybug and Cat Noirs Miraculous, and people would start to realize that and would start to get the idea that if Ladybug and Cat Noir gave up their Miraculous, Hawkmoth would leave them alone.

Now, don’t get the wrong idea, I don’t think that this has to be a permanent thing that constantly worries the heroes like in other shows such as Ben 10, but it would be an interesting storyline for Miraculous if some people in Paris would start to get fed up Paris being used as a battleground for heroes and villains.

Also, it would make sense that the class likes Ladybug at least, especially for saving them in season 1.

EDIT: Changed my opinion, read my reblog

5. Have Adrien fall in love with Marinette and Ladybug fall in love with Chat - AKA I’m tired of the lovesquare.

I’m gonna be frank with you, I’m a little biased on this one, mainly because I can’t stand the lovesquare stuff. Its annyoing because people fight over which ship they like, and tbh it has gone on for way too long.

It also doesn’t help that it ruins the main characters. Marinette suffers because she can act like a creepy stalker at times, memorizing his schedule and even stealing his phone, yet can’t even speak to him properly (or more importantly like an actual friend) in a majority of episodes, making her look both creepy and/or idiotic.

Chat Noir also suffers, but even more so due to double standards by the fandom. I don’t think Chat is a sexual harasser like SOME might want to thing (looks at the salty side of fandom), but I do think he flirts WAY the fuck too much, to the point where it wastes most of his character. At least him making more jokes would be better than flirting.

So, my idea is to get rid of all that.

Let Marinette actually talk to Adrien, learn about him, care about him like he’s an actual human being, and actually be a good friend for once rather than being friends through Nino and Alya. Let Marinette actually be kind to Adrien and have her actions make Adrien realize that he likes her more than a friend, rather than Plagg telling him something he wants to deny.

And on the reverse note, Have Chat stop flirting and be more caring. I want Chat to treat Ladybug like she’s the greatest thing in his world, and not by flirting with her during akuma fights, but by checking how she is daily, wanting to spend time with her on lonely nights to make her feel better, and overall being more a friendly (yet lovestruck) partner than the flirty sidekick that Astruc wants to relegate him as. By all means, let him pun and make jokes during fights, that’s part of his charm, but I want Ladybug to fall in love with a Chat Noir that stands by her side, cares about her to the point of overkill and makes her always feel better no matter how down she feels.

And THAT’S what the lovesquare should be about, a story about two characters falling in love with two amazing people, not realizing they are one an the same.

I want Adrien to fall in love with the extrodinary Ladybug who changed his world forever and the simple but amazing Marinette who loves him for who he is, and not what he is. I want Marinette to fall for the sunshine Adrien that is too pure for this world and made her smile on a rainy day, but also for the caring Chat Noir that has always stood by her side no matter how dark the situation has gotten when fighting Hawkmoth, and has always cared about her to the point where cannot help but love him for who he is, puns, humor, love and all.

That’s what I think would make good romance in Miraculous Ladybug

Also Adrien doesn’t deserve that kinda salt btw. FIGHT ME.

6. Have Akuma battles actually cause an impact on the show.

Akuma’s are both a curse and a blessing for Miraculous Ladybug. A blessing because the powers can be unique and the designs are pretty to look at (minus a few), but a curse because the way they are written is responsible for Miraculous Ladybug’s stagnation and also how character issues are resolved.

Someone gets sad because a personal problem, they get akumatised, the return back to normal thanks to Ladybug, and their personal problem is suddenly resolved. Rinse and Repeat. All of the damage caused by the akumas is fixed, and no one seems to be affected by the akumas long term.

So...why not change the last bit?

I think that the akumas should do more than just trash Paris and not by being more evil, but by also have an effect on people mentally, similar to how people write about Chat Blanc causing Marinette to have PTSD. I don’t think the akumas have to be more threatening then they are, but I do wish that certain akuma’s or even the experience of being akumatized would affect certain characters more than what is shown.

Like say, how about an idea where Style Queen suddenly trying to turn Chloe into a statue, and not caring for the fact that she is her daughter, causing Chloe to straight up hate her now that her true colors are shown? Or perhaps an episode where people get hurt due to rubble from a battle, and one of the main characters sees someone greviously hurt despite them being fixed after the battle? These are just some ideas, but as is, akumas feel somewhat of a let down, because despite their cool designs, they are just one-shot glorified henchmen of Hawkmoth who are essentially forgotten after a single episode.

EDIT: I personally got some asks saying that giving characters PTSD would be a bad thing for a kids show, so Im just gonna clarify: I dont think that the characters should get PTSD, but I do think akuma battles should matter, given that some akuma backstories are made from more personal problems but are treated as with less seriousness than expected and often times fixed instantly by the end of the episode.

7. Give Luka a personality

Luka is the personification of every soft spoken teen music player ever and has the personality of the song Wonderwall. Next.

8. Have Alya not try to Figure out Ladybugs identity.

For someone who has read hero comic books, Alya should realise that trying to expose someone’s public identity is a VERY BAD IDEA.

9. Have Ladybug and Chat Noir unlock new powers on their own, rather than having to rely on Gimicky power up potions.

I’m gonna be frank, the power up potions are lame as heck. They are essentially glorified costume changes that add new stuff onto the suits, which doesn’t sound that bad until you realise that Miraculous Wielders are capable of Changing thier costume designs anytime they want, meaning more likely than not they could probably just change costumes without the potions. Even the Aqua form is pretty lame once you realise that Ladybug and Cat Noir’s tools function like water breathing devices.

Instead, I think it would be cool that as the heroes wear their miraculouses, they star to bond with them as they get close to their kwamis, allowing them to unlock new abilities over time, similar to how learning the basics of martial arts follows into more advanced styles. It would also make the miraculouses feel more magical and add more depth into them, as it turns the miraculous from magical jewellery that give powers, into a magical experience that grows and changes as the wielder and Kwami bond together on a spiritual and magical level.

It would also help to offer contrast between the heroes and Hawkmoth, because while the latter doesn’t have a timer for his powers and is stronger (for the time being), the heroes bond with their kwami’s and unlock new abilities in the process, while poor Gabe is stuck with his base powers due to forcing Nooroo against his will, only able to unlock more abilities through cheating (aka Scarlet Moth).

10. Change Hawkmoth’s story

Hawkmoth is about as bland of a villain as you can get when it comes to villainy. Even with the whole sob story of Gabe’s wife in a coma and her trying to bring him back, Hawkmoth himself has always been all over the place, especially when the writers try to bring the two sides of the character together. They want him to be unwilling to hurt Adrien in one episode, but then for him to be a dangerous and despicable villain in Chat Blanc. It gets really annoying, as they both want him to be a sympathetic villain, but also a villain who isnt afraid to be pure evil as well.

Also Mayura doesn’t help much with the story either. Before she was revealed, people were speculating that she was a new person would be the actual big bad of the show, and it was rumored that she would be Hawkmoth’s boss, and also the possible reason for Hawkmoth getting the Butterfly Miraculous, which could have been used to expand upon Hawkmoth’s character, and potentially have some sympathy given to him if the writers wanted to go that path, with Mayura being the new evil of the show. Unfortunatlely, it turned out Mayura was Nathalie all along, essentially being a glorified henchman for Hawkmoth, and not only that, but her powers were a copy and Paste of Hawkmoths own abilities (Villain infects an object, something something magic, Ladybug needs to destroy an object and purify it in order to return it to normal)

They could have at least given the job of purifying feathers to Chat, would have made him more essential in season 3 if Mayura was actually used more.

Hawkmoth’s character has stagnated, and personally, I think he needs a rewrite.

Some ideas that I have for Hawkmoth that could make him a better character better are:

Have Mayura be the actual big bad of the show (and a completely different character) and have Hawkmoth be her (somewhat unwilling) lackey. She could also be written to be crueler than Hawkmoth, and could show how Hawkmoth is a more sympathetic character by having him only focused on his son like in Gorizilla, while Mayura’s the one more likely to pull a Chat Blanc situation and absolutely torture the poor cat into being an akuma. Also, it would still allow for those Nathalie/Gabriel moments without ruining them with character changes.

Have the Butterfly Miraculous be corrupted with dark magic (thus allowing Hawkmoth to make possesed villains), but as a side effect make him more crazy, causing him to go from the kindness we see in Gorizilla to the ruthlessness seen in Chat Blanc. (On a a side note, the idea of the Butterfly Miraculous being corrupted would make more sense, given that it can corrupt people into being villains, and would also explain how something that is supposed to be used for good can be used for evil.)

(My Favorite one) Have Gabriel and Hawkmoth being entirely seperate characters. Have Gabe keep the book like in canon and have the Peacock Miraculous be broken, but Hawkmoth is for all intents and purposes a different person who is also a villain. It would allow for Hawkmoth to become an actual villain without the moral restrains made in season 2 with the revelation in The Collector, while also allowing for a story with a nuanced yet kinder Gabriel. Perhaps even a story where Adrien reconnects with his father.

I think that all of these story ideas would really help make Hawkmoth a better character, either by allowing him to be a villain that the writers want him to be like in Chat Blanc, or the sympathetic villain that wants to fix his family.

And that’s about it! Do you agree with this list? Don’t agree? Got more ideas? Reblog this post and write about what you would fix with Miraculous

#Miraculous Ladybug #List of shit i would fix with the show #A comprehensive guide to fix the show we love but also don't love #Sugar all around for these badly written characters #Chloe redemption #or more like a way to make a well written Chloe redemption #No salt on this post!#Adrien or Miss Bustier Salt can go somewhere else!#Miraculous Lovesquare

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