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miraculousares · 3 years

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Reflexes

A quick fic inspired by this gif set

Over the last three years of being Ladybug, Marinette had changed in several ways. The two most notable to those around her were both physical. One, she was buff. Like, she could beat Kim at wrestling kind of buff. When she wore bikinis to the beach with her friends, they'd all stare at her abs for a moment. Alya constantly asked her how she had gotten so ripped but never got a straight answer. It's not like Marinette could exactly say that she had gotten strong by fighting villains all day.

The other thing that had become most noticeable was her fighting skills. Few of her friends ever witnessed anything as fighting wasn't a super common civilian issue, but Alya saw her take down a mugger with one hand. Nobody really believed her when she told people about it - "Oh, sweet little Marinette couldn't hurt a fly," they often said - but she still made a note not to startle her or get on her bad side.

One of the most problematic changes that she'd made, though, was her fighting instincts. While it came in handy during fights with akumas, she often found herself judo-flipping her partner, Chat Noir, when he snuck up on her. The worst part was that he never learned to give her some warning, so it wasn't an uncommon occurrence to accidentally throw her best friend off of roofs. Of course, he was always okay. Not only did he have his staff and super-agility, but he'd learned to expect it. That only made her feel more guilty.

~ o n e d a y ~

Ladybug leaned against the chimney of one of the several rooftops of Paris. She was looking down at her yoyo's screen, catching up on some fan emails, while she waited for her partner. Suddenly, she felt the sudden presence of someone behind her, a hand reaching toward her. Instinctively, she grabbed the wrist and slammed the attacker down on the ground in front of her. She kept the arm in her grasp and put a foot on the person's chest to hold them down. The laughter that followed registered before the face did. She immediately let go and took her foot off of the blonde and held down a hand to help him up. Once he was standing again, he worked to control his laughter.

"Stupid cat, I've told you over and over again not to sneak up on me like that! You know that I react like that to being startled," she grumbled, closing up her yoyo and attaching it to her hip.

"I know, I know. But it's kinda funny," he wiped a tear from his eye.

"It won't be so funny when you dull my reflexes and I get my miraculous stolen by a villain," she retorted, pushing him playfully but sternly on the shoulder.

"My lady, you could never be dull, not even your reflexes." His eyes shone with adoration and she rolled her eyes. She had to admit that his flirtiness had gotten a lot sweeter in the past few months as they got to know each other deeper and deeper.

"Yeah, whatever, kitty. Are you ready to go on patrol?"

"With you? Always."

The two leaped from the rooftop and began scanning the streets of Paris for any akumas or citizens in need of help. They helped an elderly woman gather the groceries that had fallen through a hole in her bag and helped prevent a traffic collision. As always, they stopped by the bench where Mr. Ramier sat with his pigeons and chatted with him, bringing him comfort. The man had gone through a lot of trauma, having been akumatized over 50 times. Finally, the sun began to set and they decided to call it a night.

Marinette stretched and yawned, extremely tired. As soon as they'd gotten home from patrol, they got an akuma alert and had stayed up until nearly 5 am fighting.

"I don't know how I'm gonna make it through the day on only two hours of sleep," Marinette commented as she messily pulled her hair into her signature pigtails.

"You've got this, Marinette! I know you can do it!" Her kwami pressed against her cheek in a hug and the girl felt energized just from the affection from the small creature.

"Thanks, Tikki," she smiled. Then she opened her bag for her to fly into and headed for school.

"Hey, girl!" Alya called from across the courtyard. She was standing near the stairs talking to Nino. Marinette managed to jog over there and greeted her friends.

"Oh man, you look terrible," Nino commented. Alya jabbed him in the side. "I mean, you seem tired. You okay, dude?"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah, the noise from the akuma last night kept me up," she fibbed.

"Oh that's right, it was right over by the bakery, wasn't it? Did you see that villain though? Hawkmoth is really stepping up his game!" Alya continued to talk about the night's battle, giving Marinette a chance to zone out for a moment since she didn't need a rundown of the battle she'd fought. Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She jumped and her instincts took over. She grabbed the wrist of the person behind her before they could even tighten their grip and threw them with a slam onto the ground a few feet in front of her. Then, she processed what had just happened and who she had just thrown. She rushed over to him and offered a hand to help him up.

"Oh my god! ARE YOU SORRY? I mean- I'm okay! I mean... uh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay, Adrien?" He stood up and stared at her in shock.

"I told you! I told you she was a damn ninja! Mylene owes me $10," Alya celebrated. But neither of the pair was paying any attention to her. Marinette was too lost trying to decipher Adrien's gaze and why he had yet to let go of her hand. The bell rang and students filtered out of the courtyard and into classrooms and eventually, the two were alone.

"I- ah, Adrien?" Marinette stammered, her face still a bright red but her thoughts more clouded by confusion than romance.

"I guess your reflexes haven't dulled yet," he whispered, his eyes never leaving hers. Marinette paused for a second, trying to figure out why the phrase sounded so familiar before it hit her.

"It won't be so funny when you dull my reflexes and I get my miraculous stolen by a villain."

"My lady, you could never be dull, not even your reflexes."

She felt her knees give out and she fell to the ground. Adrien quickly moved to kneel down beside her. She just stared at the blonde for a while, her eyes wide and brain moving at a thousand miles per minute.

"Chat... Chat Noir?" She finally pushed the words out of her lips, though they were a struggle. It felt impossible. Adrien was so different from Chat Noir. But, when she thought about it, it all made sense. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug.

"It's really you, buganette," he whispered into her hair, returning the embrace.

"My kitty."

#ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #mlb #fanfic #ladynoir #adrienette #ladynoir fic #adreinette fic

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enternalempires · 3 years

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A Surprise Visit

This is a Lukanette fic, with majority of fluff and a lil hurt. Hope you enjoy! Haven’t figured out how to use links yet but my Ao3 username is the same!

“Did you know,” Marinette said, twisting an ebony and silver ring around on her finger. It was one of Luka’s and she rarely, if ever, took it off. When he went off to college and moved to Lyon, a mere two hour train ride from Paris, he gave her a couple pieces of his jewelry, his favorite hoodie, a Jagged Stone t-shirt, and a promise of returning. “That I miss you?”

“Yeah, Melody, I know.” The Musician’s voice was clearly wistful despite. “I miss you too, more than you can imagine.”

“I think I can imagine it well enough,” She whispered back.

They were on a call, speakerphone allowing them to lay back on their separate balconies and star-gaze. The black spaces between the stars seems farther apart than usual, the moon more alone than before.

The distance felt longer than it was.

The days went by so slow, each hour lacking something and each night dragging on and missing a vital piece needed for good sleep. That wasn’t a piece, however, but a person— Luka. She wanted him closer, close enough to hold and laugh with and see that dopey smile he always had around her and blush at his sly comments and cheek-nuzzles after he kisses her forehead.

She misses the boy that, for the last couple of years, had become her best friend.

Alya was… supportive and an amazing friend but she just didn’t understand.

Luka did, though.

Whenever she needed someone to listen without judgement or without trying to solve her problems for her— to just listen, he was there. And when the musician needed someone to talk to him, to distract him from his thoughts and whatever was making his mind a too-heavy place to be, she was there for him.

He was her shoulder to cry on and who made her laugh and she was the same, holding him when his heart ached in his chest with memories it couldn’t forget.

They were each other’s rocks in an otherwise chaotic, always shifting tsunami of a life.

Marinette fully supported Luka following his dreams and going to college and getting a degree that will push him along and better his musical career— she just wished it didn’t hurt so much to be away from him.

She had half a school year left before her time in Lycee would be up and she’d be, coincidentally, going to the same university as him. It didn’t seem to come quick enough, though.

They were both busy. Luka had gigs with his new band called the Silver-hearts of Serpents, practice, and extracurricular activities and she had to work on her designs for anyone who commissioned MDC— the name on her website— and they both had schoolwork and classes to attend to so that meant little to no time to catch up with each other during the day.

Thankful for being in the time zone, they tried to make it work and usually called before going to bed and when they woke up and texted in between classes or things that kept them on a constantly shifting schedule.

But it wasn’t the same as just being able to go across town and curl up into their favorite person’s arms and just sleep the weight of the day’s events away. It wasn’t the same as laughing when stranded in a heavy downpour because neither of them checked if it was going to rain. It wasn’t the same as chasing Andre’s Sweetheart Icecream around for half the day just to drop it from tripping over themselves seconds later even though neither of them believed in the magic behind it.

It just wasn’t the same.

It wasn’t fair either, Marinette decided, that the boy I fell in love with and who genuinely likes me back has to be so far away.

But she didn’t tell him that— not when she knew it would make Luka feel even guiltier for leaving. They were each other’s greatest support system and they always would be, and he didn’t like being gone when she was handling so much.

That so much being Alya unable to understand that Marinette simply didn’t like Adrien anymore— her falling for Luka and falling for him hard; falling for him in a way that felt deeper and closer than anything she ever did for her former crush— and still creating schemes to get them together, to the point where it was getting dangerous and rather ridiculous.

She had homework, exams coming up, commissions, hours needed to help her parent’s in the bakery, other hours dedicated to helping friends, and being Ladybug and the burden that came with the earrings (not that, to her knowledge, Luka knew about).

To top that off, she dealt with a lot more frustrating people at Lycee than she did at Dupont, including belligerent teenage boys who don’t understand the word no or respect boundaries.

So she really missed him.

So much so that it left her heart aching.

Only a couple months, she reminded herself. It would only be a couple more months till the summer. Till they would be at the same University (and sharing the same apartment— it’s less expensive and they always used to joke that they’d make great roommates with how often they spent over at the other’s place).

“Melody,” Luka said, voice deeper than before but just as smooth. “Did you fall asleep on me?”

“No,” Marinette yawned, covering her mouth with a small squeak as she curled up and turned towards her phone, squinting at the bright screen that showed his contact picture— dopey smile and all. “I just got lost in thought, sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby.” He reassured and she felt her mouth tug up into a warm smile. She loved when he called her that or his other pet names for her, it made her feel special. “But you sound tired and I know you have a test tomorrow morning, you should go to bed.”

“But Luka,” She whined. “I want to talk with you more. I really missed you today and, and I have more things that I want to tell you.”

“Come on, my Melody,” He coaxed and she pouted. He knew she’d do what he wanted when he used that stupid, attractive, comforting voice. It simply wasn’t fair. “Both of us are free tomorrow afternoon, remember? You’re only going to watch Kitty Section practice then going home and I only have my own practice to attend to. I’m sure we’ll be able to talk after.” Then his voice got softer. “I’ll always be here for you and I’ll always listen to what you have to say, but I don’t want to keep you up when that risks your grades and, more importantly, your health.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” Marinette grumbles, groggily getting up and moving over to her hatch where she easily slipped into her bed and snuggled under the covers. “Can you at least talk to me until I fall asleep?”

“Of course, beautiful.” Luka agreed, making a sleepy blush to climb her cheeks. “Anything in particular?”

“Just about things that make you happy.”

“Well, I know this one girl and she’s the most incredible person I ever met. She had amazing blue eyes and is a very talented fashion designer. Her smiles, man, her smiles make me melt and—”

“Luka,” Marinette giggles. “Not about me.”

“But you make me the happiest,” He protests.

“Sap,” She smiles, eyes closing as she laughs quietly one more time, head sinking into her pillow. “Can you… can you sing me something?”

“Mhm,” Luka hums and it’s not long before she’s falling asleep to the sound of her song, of the one he made for her.

That night she dreamt of two tattooed arms holding her and teal dyed, messy hair falling in front of aqua-blue eyes and woke up alone with tears staining her pillow— Tikki offered her a warm smile and a pat on the cheek but it didn’t seem to help the cold, lonely feeling in her chest.

* * *

The day had not been kind to Marinette.

She woke up with a headache, didn’t have enough time for a proper meal but remembered to grab a granola bar after Luka texted her and reminded her to eat, got a pretty bad bruise on her wrist from getting it slammed in a closing door, tripped multiple times, and managed to ruin her lecture’s notes with her coffee.

On the brightside she kept Luka’s hoodie clean— as today she decided to wear it over a simple white t-shirt and paired it with a black skater skirt, lace stockings, and combat books— and managed to not face-plant into anything by the time school ended and she was allowed to pack her things and start the walk to the boathouse to watch Kitty Section preform.

Since Luka was in college and lived too far away they had to find a new guitarist, just like Luka had to find new members to form a band.

Luckily Juleka mentioned Marc, Nathaniel’s boyfriend and the writer to his artist, played the guitar and was really good at it so within no time they were back to practicing and finding a new dynamic for the group.

Luka got lucky with some of his old friends and formed his new band which was just as good, if not better, than his old one but that was only due to a lot of extra practice and more opportunities to grow.

Axel was the band’s bassist, Bash was the drummer, Tyra was the back-up vocalist and keyboardist, and Luka was the guitarist, lead vocalist, and leader.

Marinette couldn’t wait until she could see them perform live. Luka had sent her videos and recordings of their music and songs or just of him singing or playing guitar but she knew first hand that nothing compared to seeing it in person.

And she knew that, either way, his band would be amazing.

“Marinette!” A soft voice called from behind her, making the young bluenette startle and turn slightly on the sidewalk to see who was calling her. It was Rose, a sweet smile on her lips and she tugs her girlfriend along.

As soon as her and Juleka catch up, Marinette tilts her head to the dark-haired girl’s silent greeting and drifts to the side so the couple wouldn’t have to awkwardly get out of the way.

“You’re watching us practice, right?” Rose asks. There’s an energetic bounce in her step that Marinette can’t help but to be suspicious of, and the slight smirk on Juleka’s lips don’t help.

“Yeah,” Marinette says, adjusting her purse to be in front of her as a group of obvious tourists cater to the side and almost crash into her, not wanting Tikki to get tossed around. “Do you know what you guys are playing yet? I heard Ivan mention something about revamping one of your original songs.”

“Oo!” The blonde giggles, wide eyes excited as she starts to rant about the different things her and Ivan were brainstorming earlier to improve their old work.

Her girlfriend nodded and added a couple quiet things here and there while Marinette listened, pilotely following along with the conversation and her mind strayed to Luka and thinking about what he was up to.

No doubt working on his own songs, hanging out with his band mates as they practice.

“Mylene is coming too,” Rose tells her and Marinette blinks back into reality, narrowly dodging a man skating with a yelped out apology. “So even if you won’t be alone, you’ll have company!”

“Uh,” She pauses, racking her brain to know if she missed something in the conversation. “Who’s going to watch the practice other than Mylene? Is Nate coming to support Marc?”

“Nate?” Her friend paused her skipping to let out an excited squeal. “Oh, you don’t know! Well—”

Juleka suddenly spun her girlfriend into her arms and pulled her into a kiss, causing Marinette to step away awkwardly but not retreat. Paris was a welcoming city and full of diverse and accepting people but there would always be that one jerk who had a problem with people loving other people and finding a problem if they happened to be the same gender— so she would keep a look out just in case someone wanted to cause a problem.

When the pair of girlfriends broke away a couple seconds later, Rose seemed too flustered to continue or even remember what she was saying and the bluenette laughed at how smug the blonde’s girlfriend looked.

A couple minutes went by filled with light banter between the couple and an amused Marinette refusing to join a side before the three of them got to the docs and made their way onto the boathouse.

“The rest of the band will be here soon and I want to be here when they do to ask Marc something,” Juleka says, a smirk just visible under the half of her face hidden by hair. “Can you do me a favor and grab me an extra sweater from Luka’s side of the room, Marinette? I started to keep some of my things in there when he left.”

“Uh, sure?” The bluenette nods, frowning slightly. “But didn’t he say not to—”

“Oh!” Rose suddenly bursts, whipping around to face her girlfriend. “That’s clever! You—”

And then they start kissing again and that’s Marinette’s cue to go.

She passes Anarka on the haul and gives her a friendly wave that the older woman returns with a wide smirk that she now knows her daughter inherited and quickly went below deck and crossed over to where Luka’s room was.

She grips her elbows with both hands, rocking on the balls of her feet with every step as she paces down the hallway, trying to hype herself up enough to actually go into his room.

It would be so… strange.

She was never in there without him being there before and it would be full of his things but the most important ones gone— the wall of guitar picks packed up and now put up in his apartment’s living room from what she saw from the video he sent, the little trinkets gone from the desk now bare, and his bed only having a bare mattress and the walls without postures or any pictures.

She doesn’t know how it would feel but she knows that it won’t be good, she knows it will make the empty ache in her heart stretch all the wider.

But now she’s in front of Luka’s door and she doesn’t have a choice.

Marinette took a deep breath and turned the hatch on the door, the metal giving a slight creak to it as she awkwardly used her bodyweight to open it, grumbling to herself as it hung heavily halfway open— not noticing the group of three that were holding their breath at her entry from the middle of the room— and one of the sleeves that were way too big for her got caught in one of the crooks on the edge.

“Aw,” Her brows furrowed and she pouted as she tried to tug the sleeve free, but of course the world was against her and she somehow made it worse. “Mr. Sleeve, I’ve had a really bad day, can you please just— ahah! Thank you!”

Freeing herself from the door, Marinette pulled the sleeves over her hands for better control of the jacket and twisted around to begin the search for Juleka’s sweater when she met a pair of vivid brown eyes— eyes she definitely wasn’t prepared for.

“Eek!” Squeaking and startled, the young heroine takes a stumbling step back and ends up falling onto her butt, skirt thankfully in place and with her wide, blue eyes traitorously filling with water.

“Oh my God, she fell!”

“Shit, Bash, you scared her!”

“Aw, that’s a cute skirt. Do you think she’d tell me where she got it?”

Came the voices of the three strangers that were now all focused on her, eyes pinned onto the girl that fell as she stared right back, a slow race of tears from the day’s stress finally snapping trailing down her cheeks.

“W-Who are you guys?” Marinette stammered out, mind reeling and anxiety having already taken hold of her even before she noticed the trio, just noticing the sting in her palms and the burning heat of the ripped open skin. “You, you shouldn’t be in here, this is a p-private room!”

“I’m Bash Vulcan,” The guy with vivid brown eyes— and the one who scared her— had slicked back blonde hair, a thick black sweatshirt, ripped skinny jeans with converse, and a shit-eating grin on his face as he offered her a hand up.

She refused and just remained on the floor, not trusting her legs to keep her up if she stood at the moment. Feeling extraordinarily pathetic, Marinette just couldn’t focus on anything besides her pounding heart. She defeated Akumas on a weekly basis but couldn’t handle a couple strangers?

It made her feel so weak.

And those stupid tears were still falling.

“Sorry this asshole scared you, he didn’t mean to. I’m Axel, by the way. Axel Jupiter?” The one who swore and reprimanded Bash gave her a sympathetic smile that she barely registered and waved at her, his light brown hair flopping in front of his face from where it reached his shoulders. He had a punk style to him— and he said his name like it was supposed to mean something.

Maybe it was.

Maybe on a good day or with a slightly calmer heart Marinettte would’ve placed who they are but she just came up blank. Blank and panicking.

The only girl in the Trio had a pixie cut that was a pastel green and a nose ring and anyone with eyes could tell that her style was gothic anad that she simply didn’t give a shit by the tilted smirk of her lips— that only deepened as she pointed to Marinette’s skirt and asked, “Where’d ya get it, girly? I’m Tyra Bellona, I guess since these idiots gave their last name too.”

Tyra. Axel. Bash.

They’re in Luka’s boathouse. They’re in Luka’s room. They’re in Luka’s band.

The Band.

Luka.

“L-Luka?” Marinette sniffled, wiping away her tears as she sat up and winced at the way her palms stung, the broken skin and forming scabs still tender. “Why are you guys here without Luka?” She asked, using the hatch’s edge to pull herself into a standing position.

It was Bash’s turn to look suspicious and he stepped closer and pointed his finger at her, eyebrows raised, “Everyone was supposed to know why and where. So who are you, huh? Whatcha doin’ here? Are you some crazy fangirl that snuck on board?”

“What?” The young heroine swiped at her tears again, voice slightly croaky as she took a shaky step back. “N-no! I’m not a fangirl! I was getting a sweatshirt for Juleka and—”

“I smell lies! What’s your name? Don’t lie. I can smell them. I can.”

“Man,” Axel throws something at the back of Bash’s head, making his bandmate back up. “Leave the girl alone, you prick. Look at her jacket? Look familiar?”

Tyra and Bash looked her up and down, the gothic chick laughing after a second before she shoves the latter in the shoulder with a cocky look playing on her features, “Just wait until Couffaine finds out you made his girl cry, Vulcan. I can’t wait to see him flip his shit.”

“Wait,” Marinette drew the attention back to herself. “Luka is here?”

“Aw, he didn’t tell her,” Bash snickered making Axel hit his gut before gesturing to the other door that leads back to the deck but on Juleka’s side, and explaining how Luka snuck up there thinking that ‘his melody’ wasn’t there yet and wanting to make sure that his demon of a sister didn’t get too smug and spill the beans.

Marinette tiredly, but with excitement running through her veins, dashed back through the hatch door— being quickly followed by the bandmates, because who would want to miss the drama?— and ran all the way up to the deck.

Anarka laughed whole-heartedly as she passed and yelled out, “Go get ‘em, lass!” that had her blushing up to her ears but she was simply too happy to care.

Luka was here! In hugging distance!

And the jerk didn’t even tell her!

She saw Luka sitting on the couch, his guitar next to him and his leg bouncing with nervous energy. He ran his hand through his hair and tugged, an anxious look on his face as he talks to Rose about something, eyes closed as he grumbled.

Which was perfect because he didn’t even see Marinette and didn’t get the choice until she was throwing herself on top of him, legs on either side of his and knees tucked into his hips as she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his neck.

“Oomph!” Luka let out a loud breath, eyes flying open at the abrupt weight settled onto his person but then softening as he saw the girl in his lap, his arms coming around her and holding her to him just as tight— his nose nudging the top of her head as he took in her scent of chocolate cookies and vanilla. “Melody?”

Rose was squealing somewhere in the background while Juleka and Bash snickered, Axel cooing at them while Tyra complained about the disgusting gooey-ness but all of that lended into the background.

All that mattered was the two of them— the fact that they were here, in the same space, breathing each other in, holding onto the other as tightly as they could.

All that mattered was them.

Not Juleka’s scheming falling into place, not Rose’s excited chatter or how smug his mom had been or how horrible the day had been leading up to this point. Just her and just him.

“No,” Marinette mumbled, flexing her arms around him as she fully relaxed into him. “You don’t get to talk. You might forget to tell me something very, very important. Like, I don’t know, coming back to Paris?”

“I’m sorry, baby.” Luka nuzzled his hand against her hip, rubbing his thumb in circles as he mumbled into her hair. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I missed you,” She replied, forgiveness in her tone. “But let me be prepared next time.”

“I will,” He kissed her forehead, putting the tiniest amount of space between them. “And you know I missed you too, right?”

She shook her head.

“Liar,” Luka tapped his fingers on her sides and dug them in a bit, tickling her and making Marinette giggle loudly as she still refused to move away from him. “You just gonna stay there, baby?”

“Mhm,” The young heroine hummed, placing a light kiss onto the edge of his jaw.

“Did you meet everyone already?” He asked. “Assuming that’s how you found out I was here— seeing them, I mean?”

“She met us,” Tyra cut in, a cackle in her voice that doesn’t go unnoticed. “Vulcan made her cry and scared her, she fell down and hurt her hands I think.”

“He also then got all up in your girl’s face and accused her of being a crazy fangirl.” Axel oh-so-helpfully replied.

“Traitors!”

“Bash.”

“Oh, fuck.” The aforementioned boy squeaks out at Luka’s growl. “Dude, I am so sorry, I didn’t know she was—”

“We’ll talk later about it,” Luka brushed him off— which, coming from a Couffaine, is never good as they are people who like to be blunt and solve issues as soon as possible. To delay it means that, well, you screwed up majorly. “Melody, let me see your hands.”

“No.” Marinette grumbles, earning laughs from Tyra and his sister, who the guitarist quickly flips off. “I’m comfortable and it’s just scraped and I missed you.”

“Good luck getting her off in the next hour,” Juleka said, her hair pushed out of her face so when the young heroine peeked out from his neck she could see a sly smile spreading across her features. “Marinette’s been whining about not seeing you for weeks and she’s as stubborn as they come.”

Marinette flips her off, too.

“Aw!” Rose giggles, bouncing on her toes. “You’re becoming a real Boat Kid, Mari! They’re all adorably crass like that!”

“Says you, Rose,” She shot back. “I’ve known you for years and you’ve always sworn like a sailor so it was no surprise to me that you started dating one.” This got laughs from Axel and Luka, the latter’s chuckles she could feel in her own chest.

“Hey,” Juleka said, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend. “Leave my Manic Unicorn alone, it’s cute that her favorite word is fuck.”

“I watched your Manic Unicorn swear out a teacher when we were seven.”

“I genuinely would’ve paid to see that.”

“Oh!” Rose squealed, a soft expression on her face. “I remember that, she was so rude! Mrs. Palanchi never did anything about the girls who bullied Mari. It made me cry.”

“Aw, it’s okay. Marinette can’t get bothered by them now,” Juleka patted her head and blew a raspberry onto her cheek that had her girlfriend’s sullen expression go all giddy again.

After knowing Rose for so many years, she knew the blondie was a walking mood-whiplash, so she wasn’t really surprised.

“Wait, wait,” Azel held up a hand, drawing attention as his eyebrows pinched together. “Your girl’s name is Marinette? I thought it was Melody!”

“Nope,” The young heroine says. “It’s Marinette, you can call me Mari though. Rockstar here just calls me Melody.”

“Well then it’s nice to meet you, Marinette.” Axel did a playful bow, reminding her of a different boy in black. “This prick was always shy about the details even when he could go on and on for literal hours about you. Where’d you meet?”

“Erm…”

What was an appropriate way to say ‘his room because I was having a breakdown over a different guy that I was in love with and we sort of just clicked from there after he teased me about my stutter’?

“Jules had her over to watch the band practice,” Luka, thankfully, cut in— probably having felt her body tense slightly. “We became friends after that and just got closer since then.”

Not as close as she wanted, as she’d rather be a girlfriend than best friend but this was Luka and she’d take as much as him as she could and love it until she didn’t know how to anymore.

“When did you guys start dating?” Tyra asks, popping the gum that she just put into her mouth. “Couple years, right?”

Luka’s silent for a painfully long second before informing, “We’re not dating.”

Someone Marinette doesn’t see who but would take a wild guess that it’s Bash as he starts choking on the water he had been trying to swallow and the other two bandmates start protesting their confusion.

Sometimes she questioned if Luka still liked her— but Marinette had her fair share in experiencing unrequited feelings and she knows that this is not what that looks like— and it’s times like these that she hopes against hope that he likes her as much as she likes him because she fell and she fell hard and she can’t be the only one who fell.

Not again, not this time.

Not with him.

The next hour passes by in a breeze. Mylene and Ivan show up with Marc and soon Kitty Section is practicing, the other band handing out advice and compliments where they’re earned and Anarka drifting off to an unknown place to let the teenagers ‘cause mayhem as they please’.

Ivan and Mylene left early for a double date they had been planning with Alya and Nino and somehow they managed to convince Marc to drag Nate along so it was a group date.

Eventually everyone settled down into a circle around eight at night, having eaten and caught up or got to know each other better.

Marinette learned that Tyra was a little snarky but overall entertaining in the way she so passionately hated everything but loved to mess with Bash— Bash himself was a bit of an idiot but a goofball and it made him loveable enough to forgive the scabs on her palms (Luka didn’t agree with this). Axel was Luka’s best friend and he was a generally sane person but he was fiercely competitive and loved to cause arguments.

It was the most fun the young heroine had in a while and the boy she loved was by her side, so what could go wrong?

“Let’s play Truth or Dare,” Rose giggled, turning to Juleka with wide, puppy-dog eyes. “Oh, please! Can we?”

And like the lovesick fool Jules was she gave in.

Marinette knew something was either going to go wrong or horribly embarrassing from her by the wicked gleam in the purple haired girl’s eyes and, not even five minutes later (and after Bash was dared to drink hotdog juice), Luka got a dare.

Do Seven Minutes in Heaven with ‘his Melody’.

Stupid Juleka.

But also thank you Juleka.

Which— after making sure it was okay with her— he agreed to so it was safe to say all her nerves were on fire. And it absolutely didn’t help that Tyra snarkingly called out, “If you start bumping uglies, put on a sock on the door.” after them.

“One of these days,” Luka sighed out as he closed his bedroom door behind them. “I’m really going to kill my sister.”

“I’ll help,” Marinette giggled at her, though her face was still a burning red at what Tyra had insinuated— which they, of course, wouldn’t be doing.

“So,” He said and her smile widened at his semi-awkward tone, her hands bracing herself against the hatch as she watched the musician sit on his bed, twisting the bracelet on his wrist. “What now?”

She wouldn’t say it was entertaining watching Luka be so nervous but it definitely wasn’t something she saw very often so it definitely was amusing in some sense of the word. Usually she was the awkward one who didn’t know what to do with herself, not him.

“What?” She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know how to play?”

Luka gave her a flat look, “I’m in University now. Of course I know how to play seven minutes in heaven.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Baby…” He sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, because I do want to kiss you, I just— I don’t think… fuck, this is why I have my guitar.” He grumbled. “Words are not my thing.”

“That’s okay,” Marinette smiles at him, tugging his jacket’s sleeves down further her arms. “I mean, you’ve seen my stammering. We’ll just not be good with words together.”

“Together?” Luka questions, a slight quirk to his lips as his head tilted, teal hair obscuring his eyes.

“Mhm,” She nods. “Together. You and me.”

“I like the sound of that,” He smirks back at her, reaching slightly to tug her forward, the young heroine now standing between his legs. “You asked if I knew how to play— it’s my turn for the question. Want me to teach you how?”

“And you say you’re not good with words,” She sasses, a giggle falling from her mouth as Luka rolls his eyes and takes her chin into his hand, dragging her face down so they are eye-level, both of their eyes closing, and kisses her.

It’s not a heated kiss, not one that had Marinette’s heart racing but… it was one that made something slot into place in her mind, like something was missing before but finally found its way home.

As his mouth moved against hers, she leaned into his touch, hands fluttering through his hair and tugging as the strands, his own moving to cup the back of her neck and to the side of her jaw, angling her head for better access.

The emotions spilled out between them; the love they kept tucked into their sleeves, the joy, the passion and overwhelming amount of just… feeling safe and comfortable with each other.

It was by no means a kiss without soul.

Luka would go back to his university and she’d be stuck here for another month, their lives were so different and they were busy. Marinette had the responsibilities with the Miraculous and he had his band and they both had classes and a future neither could write out a solid plan for no matter how hard they tried.

So maybe it wasn’t the best timing, maybe it wasn’t the best situation or the best reason to kiss or the best way they could have gotten together, by a surprise visit nonetheless— but they were together.

And, at the end of the day, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

#lukanette fic #lukanette #luka couffaine #band #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #viperion #fanfic #lukanette prompt #surprise visit #hurt/comfort #fluff #angst

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aquariusrunes · 4 years

Text

The Superfriends AU (part 2)

Marinette slowly zipped the black bag, smiling at the garment inside as it disappeared. That was the last of them. Fifteen. She had created fifteen new looks, some were recycled pieces or materials, but all the outfits were brand new. She’d only be with Edna for eleven days, but she knew outfit changes were going to be a must, she also had to factor in the formal events she’d be taken too.

She placed the garment bag on the silver rack that was against her wall. Now that her outfits were done, it was time to finish packing the rest of her luggage. She’d already filled the small pink trunk which housed her shoes, accessories, and makeup. Now she just needed toiletries and electronics. She began mentally checking things off her list as she filled her backpack.

It had been awhile since she last saw Edna in person.

Last time was when Edna unexpectedly dropped by the bakery about two summers ago, her first summer as Ladybug. She remembered nervously squirming as her everyday school outfit was criticized for not being powerful enough for Marinette.

She also remembered nearly having a heart attack when Edna shooed her parents out of the room and sat down, crossing her fingers in the way she does, then saying very calmly in a low and threatening voice, “now darling, let’s talk about that suit.”

She still wasn’t sure why she ever thought she could keep her secret from her family, considering about a month later she was rushed to Gotham for an impromptu Cousin Hang Sesh and promptly pressured into giving up the goat. At least her family had a good concept of keeping a hero’s identity secret. The Wayne’s practically taught Marinette the hero code, as well as trained her in a lot of skills she was finding more and more useful as Ladybug. Still waiting for the day where she lucky charms a gun though, then it’ll be Jason’s time to shine.

She hadn’t seen them since that summer either, at least not in person. But it was pretty normal for her to go long stretches of time without seeing her extended family. Especially those on her father’s side, they were all rich and constantly busy. Which is why she was so excited when Edna asked her to come to Steel City and help her with her latest collection. Of course Marinette initially turned her down, explaining that she couldn’t just leave Paris for a week and a half. But Edna pushed her to discuss it with the Guardian and Marinette was quite surprised when he pushed her to go.

Fu had said that it was important not to let her superhero life destroy her civilian one, and that this sounded like an excellent opportunity for her future. He then assured her that Chat Noir, and perhaps if needed, another hero, could handle things without her for a little while. Even Chat seemed excited for her.

Marinette paused in her packing to look at the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls sitting side by side on her desk. She and her partner had come a long way from when Ivan was first akumatized. There wasn’t a person in the world she was more in sync with, and she doubted there ever would be. They had a deal now, once Hawkmoth was gone and they return their miraculouses, they would reveal themselves. It had been her idea, and he had been over the moon when she suggested it. She just hated the idea of losing him forever, he was after all, her best friend.

She quickly picked up the blonde doll and placed him in her backpack before zipping it up and slinging it over her shoulders. She did one last sweep of her room, making sure she didn’t forget anything before finally moving to the cork board above her desk. Her pictures of Adrien long since gone, her wall space was needed for other things now.

The cork board had three lines drawn down it, Marinette’s name written on the right side and Lila’s on the left. The middle of the board was labeled Neutral. Push pins with her classmates’ faces on them were stuck all over the board. A lot had changed in her class since the Liar first showed up. Now it was a full on war.

Everyone knew you were either on Marinette’s side or Lila’s. Chloé and Adrien were the only ones in the neutral zone, as Adrien refused to get involved and Chloé simple could care less. Marinette still had trouble disproving whatever Lila said, but now and again she’d catch her, and some of her classmates had just wisened up, like Max.

Max was under Marinette’s name, as was Alix and Kim. Nathaniel was there too, and with him of course came his boyfriend Marc, even if the boy wasn’t in their class. Kagami and Luka were also on her side even though they weren’t in Ms Bustier’s class either. Ivan was also on Marinette’s side, despite Mylène being on Lila’s. The two girls were the only thing the couple fought over or could never agree on. But she was very happy when Ivan apologized to her and told her that he believed in her.

Rose, Jukela, Sabrina, and Alya were also on Lila’s side. Though she thought Jukela was close to converting. It used to bother her that Alya always took Lila’s side, but over the past few months Marinette had become desensitized to it. Though it did take her forever to stop thinking of her as her best friend, demoting her to friend, and then just an acquaintance. Every now and again a spark of hope would fill her chest when the glasses wearing girl showed concern for her, but it was typically smothered as quickly as it appeared.

With a sigh Marinette plucked Nino from her side of the board and pinned him back on Lila’s. Nino and she had been friends for a very long time, and it hurt like hell when he chose Lila over her, it hurt more than some Akuma attacks did. But then one night he showed up at the bakery and asked her if they could talk. And Nino explained.

He told her that it took him awhile, but eventually, after doing some fact checking he realized Lila was lying, about a lot. He’d tried explaining to Alya but she just got upset with him for ragging on her friend, so he dropped it. He didn’t like the way Lila hung all over Adrien, or how she badmouthed a lot of people, not just Marinette. But he loved Alya, a lot. And he was quite sure that eventually he could get her to come to her senses, though he wasn’t sure if Marinette would still want to be her friend then, and when the day came, he wouldn’t push it. And furthermore, Lila told Alya a lot, and Alya usually repeated it to him. He knew things that Marinette didn’t, sometimes he even knew about rumors or frame jobs before they happened. Nino asked her if she would forgive him, and in exchange, he’d stay on Lila’s side. He’d be Marinette’s mole.

She hated seeing Nino on Lila’s side of the board, she hated not being able to hang out with him like she used to. But his information was always good, and her side was making a lot of progress when it came to getting people outside of the class to turn on Lila. So she let it continue.

“Marinette! The car is here!” her mother’s voice came from downstairs.

She quickly doubled checked that she had all her legal documents in her red folder before clutching it to her chest and turning to face Tikki. “Ready for America?” She asked.

The small kawami giggled. “Yes! I can’t wait to see how it’s changed.” It was still odd for her to think about the small god being anywhere besides Paris, but Tikki had assured her that she’d had wielders all over the world. Marinette waited for the creature to settle herself into her backpack before she went downstairs to greet one of Edna’s men.

…

By the time Marinette boarded Edna’s private jet her lugadged was already a board and secure. She eyed the black bags and trunk carefully as she went to sit in one of the white leather seats. It wasn’t her first time on a jet, she’d be on a handful throughout her life, but she always got a little nervous when it came to flying.

She checked her watch quickly, it was almost 8:30pm, meaning by the time they got to America and she got through customs, it would probably be close to midnight. Her aunt had suggested Marinette come later in the evening, that way she would have a full night to adjust to the time difference. She’d thought it would have been a better idea for her to take an earlier flight and just sleep in the air, but she wasn’t about to argue with her aunt, after all, it wasn’t Marinette’s jet.

She was introduced to the pilots and the two attendants that would be on the flight by Desmond, a large and imposing man her aunt had sent to collect her. After introductions the staff gave her a run through of basic plane safety. Both attendants, one male and one female, were very talkative and their safety monologue had a lot of jokes and quips in it. After they were finished they kept chatting with her, asking her questions about herself and how she was related to Edna. The man kept asking about her outfits, which were towards the back.

By the time the conversation died down and Marinette looked out the window, they were in the air. She hadn’t even noticed the take off, either that or she’d just blocked it out. In any case she set to work making herself comfortable, she was hoping to sleep for most of the flight.

As she spread the blanket she had been given over her lap she stealthily examined the man who Edna had sent for her, he was sitting on the opposite side of the cabin in a similar chair to her own. Desmond was large in stature, reminding her of Adrien’s bodyguard. His head was square shaped and he had a grey buzzcut. His chin was large and protruding with a dimple in the center of it. His eyes were a dark hazel and covered by square reading glasses that he had not been wearing when he picked her up. He wore a well tailored suit and was holding what looked like a romance novel in his hands. That’s when Marinette noticed the wedding band.

When Edna had come to visit Marinette a few years back, she ended up stealing Marinette away for an impromptu American weekend. That was the last time she had been to Steel City, which was Edna’s home base. They spent two whole days in Edna’s costume shop attempting to come up with a work around for the magic suit. Marinette left with no new suit, but Edna did promise her she would come up with something.

She had ridden alone on Edna’s jet back to Paris, save for a bodyguard of her aunt’s. “Were you the man who escorted me home the last time I visited Edna?” Marinette asked, her voice low and calm.

The man looked up from his book and smiled. “Yes ma’am.” His voice was deep and gruff with some sort of accident Marinette didn’t recognize.

“I remember that flight.” She whispered. “Weren’t you, I mean, hadn’t your wife just give birth?” The conversation was still fuzzy in her head, but she remembered the man being very nervous about fatherhood.

His smile grew as he sat his book down.

“Yes ma’am. Zoe was only about a week old. I volunteered for the day trip to escort you back. Needed to clear my head for a little bit.”

“How is your daughter?” More of their previous discussion coming back to her. “She was in the NICU, wasn’t she?”

“Ten days, yes. They needed to run some tests but the doctors and her mom and I were fairly confident that she was healthy by the time I agreed to take you home.” She could tell he was surprised she remembered so much.

“Do you like fatherhood?”

“Very much ma’am. Little Zoe’s babbling and toddling all about now. And she’s got a brother on the way, he’ll be here in a few months.” Marinette beamed at the man.

“That’s wonderful! Do you have any names picked out yet?”

“We’re thinking either Brandon or Lewis.”

“Oh, I love the name Lewis!” Marinette chimed. “It’s one of my top two boy names. The other is Hugo, but I suppose you don’t hear that one as often in America.”

“No ma’am, you don’t.”

“Sorry that you had to fly to Paris and then all the way back for me. I bet you would much rather be with your family right now.” She looked down sheepishly. “If I had children I don’t know how on earth I could leave them for even a second.”

“I don’t mind ma’am. And besides, it’s not like I left my little Zoe all by her lonesome, she’s got her mom. And her grandparents are in town. Plus, Edna’s always much more generous with paternity leave if you’ve put in a few long hour jobs.”

“Oh. Well I’m glad to hear that.” Marinette breathed. “Can I ask, it’ll be pretty late when we get there, do you think it’s worth me sleeping now? Or should I try and wait it out?”

“Honestly, with all the commotion, Edna will probably want you up bright and early. I’d say once we get you all settled in it’ll probably be around one in the morning, and someone will come round to wake you about five o’clock.”

“So I should sleep now?”

“That would be my suggestion ma’am.”

She nodded happily. “Alright then, that’s the plan. Could you wake me up about an hour before we land so I can make sure I look a little presentable?”

“Of course ma’am.”

“Thank you Desmond.” She relaxed into the chair and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep. But sleep did not come to Marinette easily nowadays. In fact, it was getting hard to remember a time when sleep came easily to her at all.

Her mind immediately went to Chat. He knew she was leaving that night, usually they would be patrolling together about now but she’d explained to him she would be leaving before they got the chance to meet up again. Hawkmoth had been unusually quiet the week leading up to her trip so she hadn’t seen Chat in about five or six days. She missed him.

Usually on nights where one or both of them weren’t patrolling, Chat would drop by her balcony and the two would have a nice talk over hot chocolate and baked goods. But he hadn’t been in awhile. He’d explained that his schedule was getting more and more hectic as they moved into spring, or at least he explained it to Ladybug. She later used that information to rationalize to herself why he hadn’t been around in a while.

She was a little surprised he hadn’t made this point known to her civilian self, but then he was leaving certain details out of conversation between her two alter egos. She’d noticed it a few months ago. He’d tell the same story twice but a handful of details would be added to one and would be missing from the other. When he told Marinette about his friend getting his head stuck in the railing of his stairs, he’d mentioned that this was the same friend who constantly challenged people to arm wrestling competitions. But when he told the story to Ladybug he completely left out the part where his other friend had tried to use butter to get him unstuck, thoroughly coating his head in the condiment.

It felt almost like he was testing her. The dynamic between them had been weird like that for awhile. It was almost like he knew, or he was close to figuring it out, and was just trying to piece together the last few dots. If this had been a year ago, or even half a year ago, she would have lost it. But now, the idea of Chat knowing, didn’t bother her as much. She actually found herself playing along, dropping hints.

He’d drop hints too. She wondered if he’d figured out that she had a guess for who he was as well. If he’d noticed her testing questions or not. He probably did, her kitty was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for.

They’d agreed on waiting till after Hawkmoth’s defeat to reveal themselves, but she was pretty sure that by the end of the year they’d both have a solid grasp on who the other was. She wasn’t as afraid of it anymore, not after she came to terms with what her mind and heart was telling her. And the idea of him knowing got less and less scary the more he looked deeper into Marinette, the more he analyzed her when he thought she wasn’t looking. He almost seemed rather pleased at the idea of it being her, or at least at the idea of him having figured her out.

Of course, everything could very easily fall apart if Marinette’s own guess was wrong. Hence why she was a tad more cautious with her own digging. After all, Chat knew that she had a very very large crush on Adrian at one point. The last thing she needed to do was upset him by assuming that the two boys were one in the same, or worse insult him. Though the evidence to support her theory was mounting quite high, she still felt a little unsure.

At this point she was about sixty-eight percent sure Adrien and Chat Noir were one and the same. She felt like Chat’s percentage of where she and ladybug stood was much higher, but she no longer cared if he figured her out first.

As she drifted off to sleep she made a mental note to make sure and get him something, a souvenir of some kind from her trip. She wondered if she should get both boys something, or just Chat and see if Adrian showed up with it on his person. That was a good idea, she’d have to remember that.

_______________________________________________________________________

(part 1) (part 2) - Here (part 2.5) (part 3) - soon

Planning on making a part 2.5 which will hopefully be up within the next few days depending on my spare time. And if you want to be tagged, let me know!

@graduatedmelon @northernbluetongue @violatiger8 @bamagirl513

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aurorarose2112 · 5 years

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Miraculous Rambles (Warning: very VERY long rant ahead)

Now that we are halfway through season 3, I just wanna say, the only characters I love and stan are Marinette first, Luka and Kagami second. No one else matters.

MARINETTE

Marinette deserves so much better. From the fandom and the writers. She is not being done justice. Yeah, her main characterisation is based on learning from her mistakes and amending them, but seriously, stop rebounding everything back to her and saying it’s her fault when, more than half the time, it isn’t. And I really wish she stops putting Adrien on a pedestal. It’s good and all to admire and respect his professionalism in fashion and his selflessness, and it was cute and funny at first, but now it is just cringey and second-hand embarrassment.

Also, I wish Alya would stop pushing her to confess. I’ve read a lot of salt against Alya and I’ll make my stand clear: I understand that Alya simply desires strongly to create an opportunity for Marinette to confess since Marinette is too shy and timid to do so, and she does this because she is Marinette’s best friend and is just being supportive. I respect that. What I don’t respect is how she is forcing Marinette out of her comfort zone and to do it when it is clear Marinette is uncomfortable with being put on the spot. We constantly see Marinette freak out (Puppeteer 2.0, Reflekdoll 2.0, etc) and very nearly fall into panic attacks at the mere thought of confessing. Clearly she isn’t ready, but Alya, as Marinette’s best friend, thinks she knows her best and believes it is just the normal anxiety of confessing (I mean, surely everyone can agree it isn’t easy confessing feelings of love). Alya doesn’t realise it runs much deeper than that.

Marinette doesn’t just fear rejection, she is traumatised by it. Why I use the term trauma, is because throughout the series so far we’ve seen Adrien ‘just-a-friend’ Agreste constantly friendzone her, and when Luka, another boy, begins to show romantic interest to her, her first worry as shown when she spoke to Tikki in the toilet cubicle in Frozer was ‘Do you think he is like Adrien, just a friend?’ It is borderline trauma for her to be friendzoned because that’s what Adrien has been doing (for a year in canon-time), and while she acknowledges her feelings for Luka, her first concern is being friendzoned.

I mean, she has only been in love with the same guy for so long, but throughout the entire time, not only is he completely clueless about her true feelings, he is constantly calling her ‘just a friend’ or ‘a great friend’, and personally, as someone who has had an unrequited crush of almost the exact same situation for five years, I know firsthand how much that hurts and how tiring it gets (I’ve lost interest in having a love life altogether, much to my mother’s chagrin). He doesn’t even consider her as anything more than a friend, and in fact, we saw him almost immediately shoot down the idea when Plagg suggested it in Frozer.

On that note, Adrien needs to get his head out of his ass. I understand that there are people who are like ‘Ladybug and Marinette are the same person, so no matter which one he likes more, it’s still the same.’ Hell no it is not. Ladybug is the mask, Marinette is the essence and heart of it all. Marinette is the reason why Ladybug is kind, caring, loving and considerate. Marinette is the reason why Ladybug is strong. The only difference is that the mask makes it easier to hide Marinette’s insecurities and weaknesses. Ladybug is the mask, Marinette is the human here.

If he likes Ladybug more than Marinette, he is in love with the mask, not the girl behind it. Only when he likes Marinette more than Ladybug, then can he say he is truly in love with the girl behind the mask. (For Adrien’s case, Chat Noir is the essence and Adrien is the mask. Adrien is the perfect golden child because he was raised that way, and forced to conduct himself as such, but Chat Noir is his true self, someone who desires freedom, friends, love, and a life outside of the name Adrien Agreste.) Neither of them are looking past each other’s mask. This is a big reason why I stopped rooting for the Love Square.

Lastly, I wish the writers stop suddenly inserting Marinette’s jealousy of any girls around Adrien and resorting to drastic measures. For her following Lila and Adrien to the Agreste mansion in Onichan, that can sort of be justified by the fact that she is rightfully worried (it’s Lila we are talking about here), but the whole trying to scale the fence was a bit over the top. But during Ikari Gozen, her rash decision to try and sabotage hers and Kagami’s chances of winning the game just because she didn’t want to let Kagami and Adrien spend time together, that was so petty. And it was so immediate, and unlike her usual self. She didn’t even stop to consider why Kagami, being the serious girl and renowned ‘Ice Queen’, was actually participating in a game for forming new friendships. The normal Marinette would’ve considered the possibility of Kagami wanting friends, but lo and behold, the writers decide to portray her jealousy instead.

Seriously, that needs to stop. It wasn’t funny in Animaestro or Frozer, and it isn’t funny now. I still can’t believe that Marinette teamed up with Chloé to execute a petty plan of having Kagami accidentally sit on cake and possibly suggest it was an accident happening. That is Chloé behaviour, not Marinette. Marinette deserves to be portrayed better than that.

Going back. Remember what I said about rebounding everything back to her? Yeah. Let’s talk about that.

Biggest sore spot for me on that was Zombiezou and Chameleon. In Zombiezou, while it wasn’t mentioned, Marinette must’ve spent a lot of time and effort working on Ms Bustier’s gift, and not to mention the cost. But then Chloé goes and ruins it. Bad enough Ms Bustier didn’t tell Chloé to apologise, she has the nerve to bring Marinette out and tells her to set an example. She disregarded how Marinette must have felt, as a creator watching her creation be ruined by somone else, and put Chloé above her. Bad enough she prioritised the wrong person’s feelings, she dared lecture Marinette about being the bigger person. Yeah that is important, but what about how Marinette feels? She didn’t even consider that. She invalidated Marinette’s feelings to favour Chloé’s step-by-step progress to improvement. That shouldn’t happen. She wants to talk about setting the right examples, she should be the one doing that as the adult and teacher and lecture Chloé for doing something that was very clearly out of spite, because regardless of what reason she gave at the end of Zombiezou, it wasn’t like she ruined everyone’s presents, she ruined only Marinette’s, on purpose, to hurt her.

And then there’s Chameleon. Oh, god. It wasn’t just Ms Bustier, the whole class disregarded Marinette’s opinion and invalidated her feelings in deciding the seating arrangement. Yeah, Lila decided everything, but no one bothered to inform Marinette, the one person to which Lila didn’t tell about her seating plans. They all assumed Marinette wouldn’t mind. And then, when she voiced her displeasure, everyone had the nerve to turn on her, get upset with her, and accuse her of being selfish, when they were the selfish ones. They didn’t ask her, and didn’t bother even informing her. They decided how she’d feel for her. Forget about the fact that Lila was lying to stay in the front, Marinette wasn’t given the chance to have a say in the change in the seating arrangement. Nobody bothered to listen to her. Her opinions and feelings didn’t matter to them. (On a side note, do your damn job right, Ms Bustier. Lila is still a student, and no matter what ridiculous illness she’s got, you need to get a medical certificate from her or her parents before accepting it and agreeing to such things like changing seating arrangements.)

And shortly after that, her friends disregard her care and concern for them as mere jealousy. Seriously, Alya needs to stop assuming she knows best.

Marinette shouldn’t have to deal with this. Marinette deserves better than this.

Luka

Luka deserves better. When he was first introduced in season 2 (Captain Hardrock, Frozer and Mayura), there was an unbelievable amount of hate on this boy, in several groups, so I’m going to adress them one-by-one.

First, hate due to shipping. Okay, allow me to just state where I stand. I do ship Lukanette, to the point I almost wish time and time again it were the end ship instead of the Love Square. Reason being he appreciates and notices Marinette more than Adrien does (since our dense blondie has eyes for only the lady in red spandex), and she too does hold romantic feelings for him (albeit not as strong as those she held for Adrien). He respects and understands her feelings, for him and for Adrien. He doesn’t act out on jealousy (unlike a certain cat) and gives her space when she needs it, while doing what he can to cheer her up.

Luka is the best choice after Adrien (it pains me to put it this way, but it sounds a lot better than saying he is a good replacement or substitute). Luka is not a replacement for Adrien. No one can replace someone else, but I believe most Lukanette shippers see Luka as that boy who deserves being on the receiving end of Marinette’s affections should the Love Square not work out, because of his selflessness and kindness when it comes to her. Hating him just because he poses a possibly formidable threat to the Love Square doesn’t justify as a reason to hate him; that’s just spite. And let’s be honest: the fact that he is seen as a threat means you acknowledge the fact that Marinette likes him and that they deserve each other to a certain extent.

Even now, in season 3, even after making an explicit and clear confession in Silencer, he respects her boundaries and doesn’t push for a reply anytime soon, because he is aware of her feelings for Adrien, and understands she needs time to come to a decision. He is satisfied with being able to spend time with her at all. He is someone who is actually looking at her, supportive of her, and respective of her boundaries. While Adrien/Chat only sees Ladybug, and is constantly pushing Ladybug to be his girlfriend/lover. He doesn’t see Marinette in a possible romantic light at all, and I’m supposed to be rooting for this guy??? I’m done with the Love Square, if Adrien doesn’t straighten up.

Second, hate due to his character. Okay, I don’t understand how anyone can hate his character. After Luka was first introduced in Captain Hardrock, I read so many posts on hating him, and I’m like, what’s there to hate? He is kind, caring and selfless. Whenever Marinette is feeling down, he knows not to pry too much in case bringing up the memory might hurt her, and know exactly what to do to cheer her up.

And then there were people who said he is spineless (or something of the like), and I’m just going to say, no he isn’t. At the end of Frozer, he let her go not because he was afraid he couldn’t win. He let her go because he believed that would make her happy. He didn’t force her to stay while knowing she wanted to go to Adrien. He was being a gentleman; a gentleman doesn’t force a lady. And while there’s love about holding on, there’s love about letting go (Beauty and the Beast, anyone? Beast let Belle go save her father despite being in love with her and wanting her to stay). If you love someone, you would be willing to let go of them for their happiness. That’s what happened at the end of Frozer. It’s not like he gave up on her or anything, he just didn’t force her to stay at where he wanted her against her own will. He prioritised her happiness over his own. If he had prioritised his own at that scene, that would have been selfish, and even seen as possessive or obsessive. and he knows Marinette doesn’t belong to him. He was making the right call in letting her go.

I don’t understand why people can’t see that. He is like, the purest character in the series so far. (Adrien’s pureness has been slightly tarred by the occurrences of his slightly selfish and entitled behaviour in season 2. He was willing to forgo the Black Cat Miraculous to be let in on a secret that wasn’t rightfully Ladybug’s to share while Paris was submerged underwater with people possibly drowning. If that isn’t selfish, I don’t know what is.)

Again, now in season 3, he has already confessed, but he isn’t forcing her to be with him, and pushing her for an answer. He is letting her take her time to come to a decision. He is so selfless, more than Adrien/Chat has been, and people hate him for that? Mistaking it for spinelessness?

As Chloé would say and I quote, ‘Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!’

His debut as Viperion did not do him justice. I hate how it further emphasizes how he is a second choice to both Marinette and Ladybug. But despite that, whether or not he knows it I can’t say for sure, but the fact that he doesn’t display any signs of disappointment about makes me proud of him. He isn’t so entitled as to believe that he should be someone’s first choice or only choice, and respected Marinette’s choice of choosing Adrien first each and every time.

And then that sibling moment between him and Juleka. Can I just say, best big brother ever? He knows exactly what to say to calm his sister down and encourage her without sounding even remotely troubled by it. He doesn’t see it as trouble, as he clearly truly cares and love Juleka as his sister. And while we don’t know what he is truly feeling underneath, watching his sister slowly approach her way towards anxiety, we do know that he is holding back his own feelings to help her process hers.

For both Marinette and Juleka, he keeps his feelings within, to respect theirs.

Third, hate due to his character design. Okay seriously, don’t hate him for that. He isn’t the one in control of his own character design. Blame the animators.

So yeah, Luka Couffaine, hands down best male character of Miraculous Ladybug to me. Absolutely love him, and support his love for Marinette.

Kagami

Let me make this clear, I have never hated Kagami. Got upset and disappointed at certain times, but never hated her.

When Kagami was first introduced in Riposte, I didn’t even care that she was a threat to the love square. I was looking forward to her becoming friends with Marinette. She was all, ‘I’ll be happy to get to know your friend Marinette’, and then when we see her again in Frozer, she is this ice queen that stared at Marinette from the other side of the rink with disdain.

What happened to wanting to become friends? I was really upset by this.

And then in Backwarder, Animaestro and Onichan, she is being displayed as a petty girl who got jealous easily. I seriously disliked that. Backwarder I have nothing much to say, other than the fact that I found her spying on Marinette giving Adrien the letter a little petty.

Animaestro though. That was so petty, when she turned up with her mother at the cinema, spotted Marinette and Chloé in the crowd, and then made a show of taking Adrien’s arm to spite them. And then when Marinette went over to give Adrien the macaron, she didn’t even regard Marinette or greet her, just glaring at her back the whole time.

And then, Onichan. She was upset in her own right, being suddenly sent a picture of a girl kissing the guy she likes (yeah, on the cheek, but still). I wasn’t too pleased with the reason for her akumatisation though, because like, sure she is a girl and can get emotional easily. But the thing is, she didn’t strike me as the type of person who would jump to the conclusion that Adrien is dating someone else or that someone took Adrien from her from a mere picture. Being upset is fine, angry even, but the fact she rashly concluded that from a mere picture and even cried because of it, was completely unlike her. I can’t say I liked how the writers portrayed her that way, to be so weak.

I was really upset with the writers for all these events that happened before Ikari Gozen.

God bless Ikari Gozen. It is what saved Kagami’s character. Here we have a lot more insight about her. So, going back, in Riposte, we learn that her family is one that doesn’t take failure well, seeing as how upset she had gotten from her one loss against Adrien in their first match. She even told Adrien that there was no such thing as second chances in her family. It tells us she was raised with the belief that failure is not an option, and must be avoided at all costs. And the fact that she was akumatised from one failure goes to show how much she fears it. Then, at the end of the episode, when Adrien insists once more on having a decisive match, she is surprised, but eventually accepts it, happy to be given a second chance. Since clearly she doesn’t receive that a lot. She was happy to find someone who could look past her flaws (her temper as displayed when she became Riposte) and failures (although it was only the first one seeing as they had just met), and I think that is partly why she is in love with Adrien and treasures him greatly as a friend. On a side note, I feel that Riposte is the manifestation of the side of her that fears failure and desires strongly for second chances.

In Frozer, she gives Marinette advice, saying that her hesitation is the reason why she can’t stay on her feet, and that she - Kagami - never hesitates. Now, this is just me; I know she wasn’t saying this as a friend, but perhaps that was her attempt of starting a friendship. She recognises that Marinette has much hesitation (although she probably doesn’t know it is due to both boys, and thinks its just Luka), and knows that it results in Marinette’s doubt. Kagami’s lack of hesitation is most likely another aspect resulted from her strict upbringing, and hence she probably dislikes it when people are so hesitant about everything (which happens to be Marinette in regards to love). There was so much hate, saying she was rude, but I saw it differently. I think Kagami was giving sincere advice, and it was also her way of telling Marinette to straighten up. Because while Marinette has received many chances, there are some things that have no second chances, and hence she has to make up her mind before it is too late.

In the recently released episode Desperada, we see Kagami first appear in the Couffaine’s houseboat for the first time, and was being playful with Adrien. It shows how she has loosened up over the series and is now quite open with Adrien, considering their close friendship. Later, she misunderstands Marinette’s and Luka’s friendship for a lover’s relationship, and unknowingly puts Marinette on the spot with her question of whether she was there to see her ‘boyfriend’ rehearse. At the end of the episode, she takes note of how Marinette stares at both Luka and Adrien and finally understands Marinette’s predicament. She approaches Marinette and pointedly states that she was mistaken about Marinette and Luka, acknowledging her mistake. And then proceeds to tell Marinette to quickly get over her hesitation and decide who she wishes to be with, saying there is no second chances in love.

Unlike her petty behaviour in Animaestro and Backwarder, she is being civil and almost friendly with Marinette. What’s more, we can see clearly here that she is respecting the fact that Marinette is still hesitating. While it is clear that Kagami likes Adrien, she has yet to make a clear cut move or confession, and is even telling Marinette to make up her mind. This means she is purposely holding her feelings back to respect Marinette’s. She talks about there being no second chances in love, and hence is letting Marinette carefully consider that one chance she has before she herself makes her move, regardless of the fact that it could mean she loses her one chance. Of course, there is no confirmation that she wouldn’t confess before Marinette decides who she wants, but as of this moment, she hasn’t, and is being considerate of Marinette.

Finally, Ikari Gozen. In this episode, we learn of how truly lonely Kagami is, as well as how insecure a person she is.

Near the beginning of the episode, she is seen training with her mother in the park and after falling (once to us watchers, probably many times canonically), she gets up and says that she is not strong enough and not worthy of sparring with her own mother. And then gets chastised for giving up so easily. During the game, when she accidentally opens Alya’s video message and finds out first hand how Marinette truly felt about her, said to Marinette she wasn’t worthy of her friendship. Then, when she receives the Dragon miraculous and Chat gets caught by her mother’s akumatised form, she immediately blames herself, saying she was rash, and decided she isn’t worthy of being a hero and fighting by Ladybug’s side. This actually reminded me of the Origins, where Marinette was quick to say she wasn’t suited to be a hero due to her klutzy nature and failure of capturing the akuma the first time. These two have almost the same amount of self-deprecation and insecurity issues, the only difference being Kagami is better at masking them.

She is almost as lonely as Adrien was before he began attending public school. The only person she can contact is her mother, and the only person she could truly call a friend was Adrien. Most of her time is spent with either her mother or at home, and the only time out of that is spent with Adrien at fencing classes (and possibly social gatherings as seen in Animaestro).

Now this is mere speculation/theorisation, but I think that Kagami, after making her first friend in Adrien, realises how happy she is and how much she hates being lonely and friendless, and develops a strong desire to have more friends. And seeing as she never hesitates, she immediately signs up for a game that allows forming new friendships (something the old her clearly wouldn’t have considered), and goes so far as to do so behind her mother’s back, then lie to her mother saying she didn’t, secretly record her mother’s vocal to playback to the AI system controlling her family’s car to bring her to the desination she was to meet her new friend. The old Kagami would never have defied her mother to this extent (or at all), which shows how she truly wanted a shot at friendship, and making friends by herself, not with help from anyone else, not even Adrien. This was something she wanted to do herself and for herself.

Even after finding out her partner was Marinette, she was not swayed and decided to press forward. Plus, she probably truly desired a friendship between herself and Marinette, I mean I assume she did, with what she said to Adrien in Riposte (‘I would be happy to get to know your friend Marinette’), and decided this was her chance to do so. Even though Marinette was a rival in love. (From what I know, Desperada is before Ikari Gozen, so I’m just gonna stick with that and assume she already knows. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)

Then, Marinette snoops through Kagami’s phone and finds out the only contact she has is her mother’s. Which comes as a surprise to all of us. Considering how close Kagami and Adrien are, and how Tomoe seems to approve of their friendship, you’d think she’d at least have Adrien’s phone number. But nope. And then Marinette finds that app that gave advice on how to make friends. (And that’s when she realised she screwed up 😆)

Then, when Kagami returns after finding out how Marinette really felt about her after accidentally opening up that video message from Alya, Marinette quickly tries to make amends for that, by proclaiming herself to be Kagami’s friend to Tomoe and trying to defend Kagami upon finding out that she was apparently forbidden to play the game. As Kagami witnesses this, she slowly smiles, clearly touched by Marinette’s kindness and selflessness despite learning how Marinette originally felt about her. (Plus she probably knows firsthand how terrifying it must be to go up against her mother.)

At the end of the episode, Kagami confronted her mother, apologising for lying and confessing she wanted to try and make a friend. When Tomoe pointed out that she already had Adrien, Kagami states it isn’t the same. Adrien, while a dear friend, is also the man she is in love with. What Kagami desires is purely friendship with people of her age, and more importantly, with girls around her age. An obvious lack of, as seen from the people around her. And although her mother advises against it, stating it may lead to disappointment, instead of relenting like she usually would have, Kagami remains insistent on it. She desired the opportunity, regardless of what the outcome might have been.

At the end of the episode, Kagami was surprised when Marinette invited her for a drink together despite the game having ended. She admits that she was wrong about Marinette and is happy to finally get the opportunity to become friends. I actually squealed when I saw the end card. I wanted them to become friends for the longest time. This was the character development I had waited for.

Kagami does not deserve hate, man. She deserves love and appreciation.

(Let me be honest, Adrien? VERY MUCH on the fence. For some reason, his behaviour in season 2 and 3 has been rubbing me the wrong way - especially in Puppeteer 2.0 [yes, understandably Marinette is also to blame, but he really should’ve just carried out his prank after her first line, instead of stalling longer than necessary and then jumping away when she tried to kiss what she thought was his statue] - and he is on fucking thin ice now.)

(Chloé... I’m waiting for further character development (especially in season 3 finale). I do think she has improved slightly in Miraculer, but her behaviour in Stormy Weather 2.0 shows that she still has that bad habit of taunting/hurting others every chance she gets instead of trying to be the super heroine she is supposed to be and wants to be - like really, after all that talk in Malediktator about wanting to change and help others, she hasn’t really been showing it. So yeah, I have my eye on her, but I can’t really say outright that I like her that much. BUT I will defend her should ANYONE say she is just as bad or worse than motherfucking LILA.)

(Lila... is dead to me. Lila stans/protecters/apologists, you are free to like who you like, I won’t judge. I just don’t particularly understand it. And please don’t comment to me saying I should like her or listing reasons/excuses why. I respect that you like her, so please respect that I DON’T. And absolutely don’t say you ship her with Luka. Till this day, I’m dumbfounded that anyone ships a godsend like Luka to a sinful **** like Lila.)

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rosegardentwilight · 5 years

Text

A Moment in Time Chapter 5

Adrien’s jaw dropped from slight bewilderment at why such a gorgeous girl would randomly sit down at his table and start talking away. The only problem? His name wasn’t Adam.

AU- Alya sets Marinette up on a blind date with a guy named Adam, but after a phone incident and the time change, she ends up crashing at a different table thinking it’s her date.

Chapter 5/12? maybe more?

Tagged per request: rosalind2013

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Adrien admitted to Plagg when they were on cleaning duty. His initial plan was to ease into the topic, but apparently, his mouth decided it would be better to go rogue.

Plagg merely snorted shaking his head back and forth. “You’re telling me, kid. I’ve never seen someone in as deep as you that’s willing to put themselves in the friend zone.” The comment poured salt into the wound. Adrien started to regret telling him the events of that night in the bakery.

Adrien slammed the towel down on the counter temper flaring. “What was I supposed to do? Tell her to forget about Adam and then kiss her senseless?” He realized that he raised his voice too loud as Charlie passed by the doorway one eyebrow cocked. Adrien’s shoulders slumped down as he continued to dry the dishes.

“You make it sound like that’s such a bad plan, but if you had, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” Plagg may have a point, but Adrien wasn’t about to point it out. Things would turn out differently if he had caved and kissed her but at the cost of guilt and regret. He didn’t want to be her second pick.

“She has Adam, remember?” Adrien lowly growled. “I’m not going to screw this up by barging in assuming I’m the only one she has feelings for.” Marinette wouldn't go on multiple dates with Adam if she didn't have feelings for him.

“But if memory serves, she went out with you first!” Plagg wagged his finger towards Adrien.

“Only because she thought I was Adam.”

“But she didn’t think you were Adam when you two almost made out in her kitchen the other night.”

Adrien’s cheek heated at Plagg’s comment. “It was at her bakery,” he muttered.

“That’s what you focused on?” The sarcasm dripped from Plagg’s voice. “You’re hopeless.”

“I’m so in over my head.” Adrien groaned running his hands through his hair. “I really like her.”

“You’ll never get anywhere if you sit on your hands and wait. If you like this girl, you need to tell her regardless of the outcome.”

The sound of Tikki’s laughter could be heard from every corner of the bakery. Marinette paused kneading her dough just to listen. The sound brought an effortless smile to her lips. She had never heard her friend laugh so much in a long time, it sparked her curiosity. The dough got left on the table as she ventured towards the door. She just caught sight of Tikki leaning on the counter towards Adrien’s friend...Plagg?

“Tell me!” She giggled again.

“Patience is a virtue, Cookie. I promised that I would tell when we were on a date.”

“I want to Plagg, but”—

Instantly Marinette heard her tone change, and her toe began to grind into the floor. “Things with Marinette and Adrien are so in the air right now.” Tikki wasn’t letting things advance between them because of her? The thought caused her stomach to churn. Not anymore, not on her watch.

“So, you must be the reason for Tikki’s mood the last week.” She interrupted any flirting, but it was for a good cause. By the blush, she received from her friend she knew she hit the jackpot.

“Marinette, I can explain.”

“There’s no need to explain anything Tikki. It looks like you were just helping the customer feel welcome in the store, isn’t that right?” She smiled towards Plagg, “Nice to see you again; I hope the cheese danish are satisfactory every single time.”

“Adrien was right about one thing, you have the best pastries in the surrounding blocks,” he purred, “Not to mention the most beautiful workers.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere today Plagg,” Marinette shot back playfully. “If I give you too much free stuff, my other customers might think you get special treatment.”

“Don’t I get special perks for being best friend with your boyfriend?”

“What?” Tikki exclaimed.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” She fought the blush spreading from ear to ear.

All the meanwhile Plagg’s eyes twinkled in mischief. “Isn’t he?”

The door chimed signaling and another customer. Marinette’s eyes jumped to the door only for her gaze to land on one Adrien Agreste in the flesh. This time is was Tikki’s turn to be surprised.

“Adrien? What are you doing here?”

“Visiting a friend.”

Tikki glanced towards Marinette absolutely dumbfounded. When had this development occurred? Marinette always told her everything, guys were not an exception. “Is it a safe guess to realize that you’re the reason for Marinette’s behavior the last couple weeks,” she teased back.

“I was actually wondering what days you’re free? Nathalie finally sent over my schedule.”

The name caused the edges of Marinette’s lips to twitch down. If he wasn’t fulfilling Gabriel’s wishes to follow in his footsteps, why did he still have a schedule?

“What about Saturday early afternoon?” She replied although all resemblance of excitement was wrapped up remembering the night that the woman bribed her to stay away.

“Marinette?” Adrien’s voice snapped her attention back to the room. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” the lie rolled off her tongue. She hoped that it was easy enough to believe.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes?” Now wasn’t the proper time to address this among paying customers and Plagg and Tikki. Maybe she would have enough courage to bring it up when they hung out together.

“Plagg and I have to go otherwise chief will skin us alive.” His eyes softened, and a small smile emerged. “I’ll see you Saturday.” He fought the urge to kiss her hand again, it would bring up questions, and she would probably get grilled after he left.

“Wait!” Marinette blurted out. She dug out the pastries and pulled out a chocolate croissant. Bagged in a blink of an eye she slid it on the counter. “One for the road.”

Adrien blankly stared at the baked good and then at her before he reached out and grabbed it. “Thank you,” he replied with a warm smile, and the two were out the door.

“Did I hear Adrien ask you on a date?” Tikki teased.

“No,” she countered. “We’re just friends.” The word left a bitter taste on her tongue.

Marinette sat at the coffee table hoping that if she recreated her first date with Adam that maybe things would end up differently. Adam showed a couple of minutes late, but he brought flowers, so she could overlook that fact.

“Hello beautiful,” he greeted.

She thought her heart would flutter at the compliment, but instead, she felt nothing.

“How was your day?” She asked her hands cupped the coffee before pulling it towards her.

“Sorry I was late, but my boss pulled me aside, so he could tell me that he put me up for a partner. Partner, can you believe that?”

“That’s great!” The two fell into a silence that was anything from comfortable. The only thing that filled the table was the dings coming from Adam’s phone.

“I’m going to get a coffee. Maybe when I come back, you can tell me about that cook-off.” He disappeared before she could correct him.

Marinette sunk further in her seat. She couldn’t understand how hard it was to remember that she was in a baking competition. It was almost as if he hadn’t listened to her the first time. Her phone buzzed and drew her gaze.

Adrien: I hope you have an amazing day. Any luck on that peanut butter and chocolate combo?

The text caused her heart to skip a beat and drew out the smile she desperately needed. Adrien had the knack to swoop in right when she needed it.

Only as a friend, she reminded herself. The thought was something she had to repeat constantly since he showed up at the bakery. She thought that he was going to kiss her, what’s worse she wanted him to. The last thing she expected was Adrien to flip 180 and tell her that they needed to be friends because of Adam.

Marinette glanced over at her date standing in the coffee line glued to his phone. She wondered if Alya truly got to know Adam, would she still be so adamant to set them up? He worked all the time, striving for partner, but what he was giving up in the process didn’t seem worth it. Yes, she worked long hours at the bakery, was that the same thing? Getting her second store listed among her top priorities, but she spent plenty of time with her friends and family.

“Sorry about that,” Adam interrupted her thoughts as he took his seat. “I forgot how long the lines get.”

“What do you like about me, Adam?” The question was blurted out before she could stop it, but even after it linger, she didn’t regret it.

“What?”

“Out of all the conversation that we’ve had what’s some things that you like about me, parts of my personality, hobbies, my ambitions?” The way he shifted uncomfortably in his seat made her stomach sink.

“You can’t be serious.” He shot back only to get distracted by another work email.

“I’m sorry I can’t do,” She motioned between them, “whatever this is anymore. I hope you make partner since you’ve made it very clear that’s what you want.” She stood up gathering her things as quickly as possible.

“Marinette—Marinette, come on!” Adam’s protests were ignored. She breathed in the city’s air when she exited the cafe, and a new sense of freedom overcame her.

Her fingers typed on her phone, and she pressed send before she had a chance to change her mind.

Marinette: You too! I think I made some progress and I can’t wait to tell you.

“You can do this. When Marinette opens the door just tell her how you feel.” Unfortunately for Adrien, that was his plan A, at the moment. The week flew by as he focused on his plans with Marinette, but the day arrived, and he found him vastly unprepared of how to tell her his feelings. He hoped that she would agree, and this would turn into a date rather than whatever the hell a “friend date” was. He pushed himself up the stairs and pressed her buzzer before he could chicken out.

“Adrien?” Marinette’s voice echoed over the speaker.

Adrien’s eyes closed tight as he could feel the word vomit traveling up his throat. “I like you, and I know that you have Adam, but I think if you gave us a chance, I could make you happy—So what do you say?” The quiet that followed his rambling was deafening. He could hear the static from the speaker.

“I didn’t catch any of that.” Her words crackled. “Come on up, I’m almost ready.”

The buzz jolted his attention to the door, and he stepped inside and headed to the stairs. 3 floors later he still had no idea what he was going to say when she opened the door, but it was too late to back up. He found that he dragged his feet when her door came in sight in an attempt to give himself more time.

After two knocks it only took 30 seconds for the door to fly open. This was it, his moment to tell her how he felt. Any words he had prepared fell to the pit of his stomach. Adrien’s mouth ran dry, and his heart pounded against his chest.

“Ready to go?” Her hair wasn’t pulled back like it normally was, it flowed free. A large comfy sweater swallowed her upper half and still came together to showcase her hips. Her dark jeans cling to her leg only to finish off the outfit with a pair of black boots.

“Yeah,” he managed to answer. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

“So,” He drew out the word his spoon hitting the bottom of the cup. “What do you do when you’re not baking?” Adrien hoped that he could use this time as a groundwork to know her better. Some of the best relationships were built off friendships after all.

“I don’t have free time outside the bakery.” Marinette was impressed that she managed to get out an answer with how much her head was spinning.

She couldn’t ignore the fact that she had heard Adrien confess that he wanted to date her, and she didn’t know how to cope.

She couldn’t ignore the fact that she raced around the apartment like a mad woman making sure every part of her outfit was perfect.

Marinette hoped that by the time Adrien had the nerve to confess again so would have an idea of what to say. It’s not that she didn’t want to date him, there were just complications that she hadn’t figured a way to smooth out yet.

She didn’t expect a chuckle out of her “date.”

“Ok, if you did have free time, how would you spend it?”

“Drawing and painting.” How she missed the day where she would curl up with her sketch pad on her lap, and her only company was a cup of tea. Running the bakery didn’t leave time for the hobby anymore, and if it did, she found herself exhausted.

“Like actually painting?”

“No like finger painting,” she teased sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“What would you create?” The two stopped and sat down on a nearby bench.

“I sketch designs,” she hesitantly admitted, “for paintings, it’s usually more landscapes or still art.”

The way his face lit up caused her heart to flip in her chest.

“You sketch designs! That’s amazing, I could introduce you to my father, and maybe he could give you a few pointers”-

“No!” she blurted out. If Gabriel didn’t like her before, imagine if his son asked him to give her pointers. He would shred her pieces mercilessly. “It’s ok, really. I’m rusty, and I’m sure your father has better things to do. Like I said if I ever had time those are my hobbies. I haven’t picked up a paintbrush in years.” She hoped that she reassured him enough to drop the subject.

“But why?”

“It’s complicated,” she mumbled.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed. I hope you share your art with me someday.”

A new silence spread over them. However, it carried a different air from what she experienced in the cafe with Adam. She knew that she could tell Adrien her whole story, she wasn’t ready to be that vulnerable yet. Her head came to rest of his arm while she wrapped her arm around his.

“Thank you.”

“Hey,” he coaxed, “want to show me your video gaming skills in a rematch?”

She couldn’t see his face, but she could hear his smile. She nudged his shoulder with her body. “You’re on, Agreste.”

“I won.” Adrien breathed as he stared straight ahead the fact still sinking in. He had been questioning his video game ability since the initial date. Although still distracted by her during the match, he had grown up with these games logging thousands of hours. If he had lost every match today, Adrien might have given up completely. “I won!” He repeated thrusting his fist up in the air forgetting his company for a couple of seconds.

“I told you that if we deviated from Mega Strike, it would be a more equal playing field. Congratulations,” she leaned back in the seat resting her head eyes closed and a content smile resting on her face.

“You seem calm for someone who just got themselves handed on a plate.”

“It wasn’t that much of a landslide,” Marinette responded without budging from her comfortable spot.

“So, you don’t mind, for scientific reasons that we play again. Just to rule out you letting me win.”

“If I didn’t let you win on our first date, why would let you win now?”

“But”-

“Adrien, I didn’t let you win.” Marinette chided. It wasn’t until she could feel warm on her hand, did she realize that somewhere along the way she had grabbed his hand to silence him. Heat shot up to her cheeks, and her hand snapped back to her side. “But if another game will calm your nerves, we can play another round.” As if on cue, her stomach released a growl.

“Or I grab the carry out menus, and we can order before our next match. I’ll be back.”

Marinette watched him bound out of the room in a hurry and giggled to herself at his politeness. Her gaze drifted off as she took in the room for the first time since she got there. Her lips tugged up in a smile when she saw a head pop around the corner followed by a tail twitch.

“Well hello,” she held out her hand but didn’t move. “You must be Chat Noir. Adrien has told me all about you.” The cat ventured closer and sniffed her hand releasing a meow. “See, I’m not so scary.” Chat closed the gap and started to rub his tail up and down her leg. Marinette scratched his head in return earning a purr.

“Do you have a preference?” Adrien called from the kitchen.

“Surprise me!” She answered not holding back her smile.

Chat decided that her hand had been gone too long for his liking. He jumped up beside her crossing the space on her lap meowing louder.

Marinette turned her attention back to the cat scratching his ears and chin.

“He doesn’t usually like strangers.”

Marinette’s gaze jumped to meet Adrien leaning against the doorway a bemused smile mixed among his facial features. “I don’t see why he’s the sweetest thing.”

“That’s how he gets you eating out of the palm of your hand.” Adrien’s eyes watched as Marinette began to interact with the cat. This girl would be the death of him, but he somehow, he didn’t mind.

“Marinette,” his hand started to rub the back of his neck fighting the heat that rose throughout his face, especially when she turned to face him.

“Yes?” She found his green eyes so captivating and it almost transported her back to their time together at the bakery. Could this be it, what she had been waiting for all day?

“I—um—do you want to play another round?” He sighed mostly at his inability to tell her when it mattered.

“It’s your funeral.”

When they heard a knock, Adrien paused their match and jumped up from the couch. “It’s probably the food.” As disappointed as he was that he chickened out with his confession before, it gave him the chance to calm his nerves once more. Sweaty palms only left bad impressions as far as he was concerned. Adrien dug out our wallet and swung open the door.

“How much do I owe”- the person standing at the door was definitely not the delivery man.

“Silly Adrikins, all you ever owe me is your love and affection.” After no comeback and no attempt to let her in; Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to let me in?”

Adrien glanced back in Marinette’s direction thankful that Chat Noir had caught her attention once more.

“Now is not the best time.”

“Nonsense, I called Nathalie, and she said that you didn’t have anything on your schedule tonight.” Chloe pushed her way past him into his apartment and stopped in her tracks.

“Who are you?”

“Marinette,” she answered as confidently as she could. The fact that Chat Noir hissed and ran off the moment he saw her caused her nerves to be on end. “Who are you?”

“Chloe,” the blonde replied wrapping her arms around Adrien. “I’ve been Adrien’s friend forever.”

Marinette could only watch as Adrien squirmed under her touch, but did very little to remove her.

“We share everything together, why am I not surprised he hasn’t mentioned you.” Chloe didn’t even offer the curiosity of glancing in Marinette’s direction.

“Maybe I should go,” Marinette shifted in her spot wishing she had Chat Noir to distract her. She couldn’t blame the cat that he ran and hide from such a cold person.

“That sounds like the best idea that you’ve had all day.” Chloe jeered. “I missed the quality time with my Adrikins while I was in Milan. I have tons to catch him up on, we could go all night.”

“Chloe,” Adrien snapped.

But Marinette had already made up her mind, it was time to leave. She took large strides to reach the door as quickly as possible only to be thwarted when Adrien gently grabbed her arm.

Don’t go, he whispered with his pleading eyes.

Marinette almost listened. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him everything. But whoever this Chloe was, she affectedly ruined the moment.

“I’ll text you,” she didn’t know if she was lying or not. Chloe left a bitter taste in her mouth. She tried not to be cold towards him, it wasn’t his fault.

“Marinette!” Despite his attempts, Adrien’s call did no good as he watched her walk away. He shifted on his heels to face the woman who spoiled his perfectly blank evening.

“I thought she’d never leave,” Chloe announces as she draped herself where they had been playing video games not even 15 minutes earlier. “It’s amazing who you can just pick up the streets these days.” She began explaining her nails lazily. “Not that I blame you, she had a certain cuteness to her.”

“Chloe”- Adrien’s blood boiled at what Chloe insinuated. She had no room to trash talk Marinette and draw untrue assumptions.

“If you wanted to piss off your father, I could see how she would do the trick. As long as you remember that I’m currently the only one your father approves of.”

“You need to leave.” He growled, “now!”

“But”-

“Now,” to add to his point he marched back open to the door and opened it gesturing towards it.

“Adrikins-“

“I won’t repeat myself again, Chloe.”

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Fumes radiated off her as she stomped towards the door.

Adrien slammed it before she could get the last word in. Instantly he reached for his phone and frantically sent a message apologizing to Marinette and asking if she was okay. He resisted the urge to punch the wall. Losing her over a Chloe encounter wasn’t an option.

A knock rang out through the apartment. Adrien rushed over. Maybe Marinette didn’t make it that far, and he convinced her to come back. He threw open the door.

And his heart sank.

“Delivery for M. Agreste?”

Adrien sighed as he pulled out his wallet once more. “Yeah, that’s me.” He never expected to be eating the food they ordered...alone.

“Tikki, I have no idea what I’m doing.” Marinette groaned the second the last customer had left her store. She had wanted to spill the second she got there but decided against it. Her customers didn’t need to hear her dirty laundry, and there were enough of them to keep her busy for the next hour or so.

“For the competition or with Adrien?” Tikki teased.

Marinette sighed, she needed to get everything off her chest, and what better listening subject than Tikki? “We almost kissed yesterday,” she confessed keeping her gaze fixated on a spot on the counter.

“What?!”

“He had to pull a smooth move like feeding me the cake we made together. The flavor proportions were perfect, Tikki, I hopped out of my seat, and before I knew what was happening, I was leaning in to kiss him.” As she recounted the night, the memory played in her mind, and she knew she was a goner.

“He was so supportive, shared about his life, and I’ve never laughed that much since—“ her voice faded out and Tikki gave a nod not needing further explanation. Since before her father passed away a couple years ago.

“Then what happened?” Tikki gently nudged hoping to prevent Marinette from dwelling on the painful emotions.

“Alya called and wanted about my date with Adam.”

Tikki’s eyes widened, “did you talk about your date with Adrien standing right there.”

“No! I mean he might have heard that I went on a date; it would explain his behavior afterward. But my goal was to get Alya off the phone as quickly as possible.”

“How did he react?”

“He said he thought it would be best if we stayed friends for now. That we got caught up in the moment.”

“Well didn’t you?” Tikki pushed.

Marinette eyed her tiredly. “I don’t know, maybe!” She blurted* out. “But friends don’t gaze into each other’s eyes like we did, or kiss.” That kiss haunted her for the past week. Her dreams came alive at night of what would have happened if the kiss would have continued, most of which involved the shredding of some clothes.

“But what about Adam?”

“He won’t be coming around anymore.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened, he’s just married to his work. There’s no spark between us.”

“With Adam out of the way you can tell Adrien how you feel!”

“There are some minor setbacks with that,” Marinette winced. “Adrien said that he just wanted to be friends, so if I tell him how I feel, then I’ll look like an idiot. Not to mention how much of the idea is a hard sell to Alya. She’s super overprotective of me and still holds a grudge against Adrien,” she explained. “Then there’s Adrien’s father who for some reason thinks that I’m not fit to step foot anywhere near his son, and today I find out his childhood best friend that’s obviously in love with him, but other than that no problem at all,” she finished dryly allowing a small smirk to play her features.

“Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed. “You can’t just give up. Alya will come around when she sees how happy you are. Adrien’s father can’t do anything to stop you two from dating.”

“And what if Adrien wants to be just friends? What if he prefers Chloe?” The thought stung, but she couldn’t do anything If was the case.

Tikki stretched out her hand and rested it gently on her shoulder. Numerous conversations with Plagg confirmed that wasn’t the case, but she couldn’t outright tell Marinette and break Plagg’s trust, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t nudge her in the right direction.

“I think we both know that’s not the case.”

#miraculous ladybug #miraculousladybug #miraculousfanfic #miraculousladybugfanfiction #adrienette #adrien x marinette #tikki and plagg

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seasonsandcenturies · 6 years

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I’ve been seeing a bunch of rants about some of Thomas’ recent comments about character flaws, so have a rant/meta/some salt, because I’m not sure what this actually is--

ANYWAY. Today I’d like to talk about why Marinette and Adrien shouldn’t always be judged for their actions when Ladybug and Chat Noir, and why flaws aren’t bad.

1. Marinette is not always Ladybug.

Let’s take a look at a recent episode. In Troublemaker, once her photos of Adrien are shown on a live TV broadcast, Marinette curls up in her room being overwhelmed by embarrassment while Tikki is practical about moving on since the damage is already done. Later, Ladybug is able to prioritize defeating the akuma and keeping Chat Noir focused, rather than continuing to agonize over the photographs. She firmly diverts his attention but doesn’t fall back on Marinette’s tendency to babble and become flustered when things aren’t going her way. There’s a clear contrast between the two of them, and I’m pretty sure that’s all Tikki.

Marinette’s come a long way since she first became Ladybug, back when she was too timid to stand up to Chloe and tried to foist the Miraculous off on Alya. But there’s a lot about her that hasn’t changed. Even now, Marinette ropes her friends into complicated plots to give her and Adrien a chance to have an impromptu date, rather than just ask him herself. She lies to him about not knowing about his perfume ad, only to be awkwardly outed later on; obsessing over the ad also causes her to act irresponsibly and keep her friends waiting for hours to join them. That reluctance to just be straightforward about how she’s feeling isn’t just related to her crush, she acts exactly the same way in Befana when she doesn’t want to hurt her grandma’s feelings…but also doesn’t want to deal with the uncomfortable situation that would result from having an honest discussion.

But Ladybug isn’t remotely that self-centered. Ladybug is the one who goes after people who are hurting and heals them from their pain, freeing them from the akuma. Ladybug is the one who takes time, in Troublemaker, to ask the victim how she was doing, rather than piling onto her worries by being overly preoccupied with herself.

2. Adrien is not always Chat Noir.

Adrien Agreste is actually a very good kid, the kind who follows the rules no matter what. He’s incredibly loyal to his friends, he doesn’t judge other people for their bad/strange behavior, and he’s quick to forgive. He’s kind to his fans, even when they act obsessively. He’s talented, yes, but it didn’t come easily to him; it’s suggested that he’s reached a high level of fencing after years of training, that he typically practices piano for hours, he diligently studies Chinese, and of course he’s worked hard to represent his father’s brand as a model on an international scale. He’s aware there’s a lot of responsibility resting on his shoulders that most teenagers don’t have, and he isn’t willing to sacrifice his family’s reputation because his family is important to him. He genuinely loves his father and wants to please him, even though he isn’t treated very kindly. Nathalie’s strictness and the Gorilla’s constant presence are necessities he accepts, given his celebrity status, even though he wishes he had the same freedom other teens have. Despite (or maybe because of?) his sheltered upbringing, he tries to see the good in people and even the smallest things in life bring him a lot of genuine happiness.

Adrien has the same tendency as Marinette to try to escape his problems, but unlike her, he uses his superhero persona as his escape. For example, he transforms in the Christmas episode because he’s upset about his mother being missing and his father supposedly not caring; if he didn’t have the ability to become Chat Noir, he probably would have just stayed home.

Being Chat Noir gives Adrien a chance to be free, to run over rooftops and swing out of upper-story windows, and flirt and swagger the way Adrien never would. But as Chat, he also become more jealous and inconsiderate. In Glaciator, he sets up a surprise for Ladybug even though she said she was busy, and lashes out at her when she rejects him; his feelings of love are genuine but the way he goes about expressing them is... not healthy. In Syren, he lashes out again, frustrated to be kept out of the loop; he tries to shirk his responsibility because he wants to be Ladybug’s priority instead of protecting the city from the akuma.

But as Ladybug’s partner, he needs to trust and support her, and that ends up proving that his natural inclination (as Adrien) to be kind isn’t a weakness at all. In Glaciator and Syren, once Chat realizes he isn’t the only one hurting - once he remembers there’s an akumatized victim who needs saving - and learns Ladybug didn’t intend to hurt him, he’s able to be selfless. He’s getting a first-hand look at how letting yourself be filled with negativity can make everyone’s life a nightmare. And Chat repeatedly demonstrates his capability to be selfless and put Ladybug first by letting himself be akumatized to give her more time to save the day.

3. The kwami are helping both Marinette and Adrien figure out who they really are.

Ladybug and Chat Noir’s powers come from their kwamis, right? When transformed, it seems inevitable that they’d channel some of their kwamis’ personalities, too. Ladybug is confident and calm in a way Marinette is not. Chat Noir is frank and humorous in a way Adrien can’t bring himself to be. Tikki takes risks, is fearless in the face of danger, but is also patient and reassuring and not prone to panic. Plagg likes to relax, doesn’t take himself (or anything) too seriously, and is good at sneaking around, he’s also prone to complaining and prefers to find the easy way out of a situation. The two kwami are very different: Tikki is encouraging, while Plagg is enabling. Tikki models responsibility and compassion, Plagg offers indulgence and freedom. Tikki offers advice, but it’s usually given quietly, and Marinette doesn’t always listen. Plagg offers ideas, and he can be loud, but his suggestions aren’t always something Adrien should listen to. Depending on how self-centered she’s acting, Marinette sometimes has more in common with Plagg than with Tikki. Tikki and Adrien are also similarly supportive.

But the real question is, what are our heroes learning from this experience? Does being a superhero affect their civilian personas? If being Ladybug makes Marinette better, will being Chat Noir really make Adrien worse?

Tikki and Plagg aren’t responsible for Marinette and Adrien’s actions, when transformed or otherwise. They push them out of their comfort zones to become different people, to grow. But how the kids choose to react when pushed is what determines who they’ll become.

Which brings me to this:

4. The point of Miraculous isn’t how flawed a character is but how the characters are treated by the people around them.

Marinette is the biggest space case of all time, constantly ditching her friends, but they love her anyway. Because the plot demands it, yes, but it’s also because she’s more than just her flaws. Her friends can see the good in her: Marinette is brave, and responsible, and caring; she strives to be fair and just; she’s creative, and clever. Adrien is kind, but also naive to the point of insult. It isn’t enough for him to be ~perfect~, though; he has to learn how to interact with other people, how to see the good and bad in everyone.

But even so, there isn’t anything wrong with being a flawed character. Marinette and Adrien are both relatable characters in their own way. They’re teenagers, and neither of them are meant to actually be perfect, because that’s impossible. But they always try their best, and generally speaking, they have good intentions. And that makes them both good role models for kids (of all ages.)

Ultimately, Miraculous isn’t just a show about whether or not two teenagers fall in love or save the world. It’s about learning that there’s more to people than meets the eye. It’s about striving to be better individually and more compassionate towards others. I mean, every single episode sets up the akumatized villain in a way that makes them sympathetic; you always feel sorry for whatever it is that they’re going through. Let’s go back to Troublemaker one last time: Penny is awkward and sheepish when she reappears, but instead of yelling at her for ruining the show and scaring them all, everyone is just happy to see her. Instead of berating her for letting herself be akumatized, or being afraid of her for what she did to them, they all forgive her.

I guess what I’m getting at is this: if someone says your favourite character is too perfect (or actually not perfect at all), is it really worth getting upset over? Because this show has a lot of problems but I’m not sure that should be one of them.

#miraculous ladybug #ml meta #ml salt #ml season 2 #ml analysis #miraculous ladybug meta #that's what i think #sorry if i got any episode titles wrong!#i've been sitting on this for a day or two because apparently i spend way too much time thinking about what it is i like about this show #and trying to figure out what people don't like about it #now i wish i'd thought of some examples that weren't from just the most recent episode but it's still pretty fresh so...#i guess that's what happens when you watch it twice

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