#The Marinette & Chat Noir one was so awkward though...

[xhanisai]

You know what really grates on my nerves?

When people say that Adrien deserves to get hurt or heartbroken for not ‘noticing’ Marinette and her feelings all this time and when people say that Ladybug deserves to get hurt or heartbroken for not dating Chat Noir right away or something like that.

It is such a vile thing to say or agree on- especially when Adrien and Marinette thinks of the world of each other and their alter egos. Adrien has asked a few times about Marinette’s feelings to her face and her nerves always got the best of her and she never admitted the truth; he trusts and values her word. So it isn’t his fault that he doesn’t know her true feelings for him. 

And Ladybug, despite not accepting her partner’s romantic advances, absolutely adores him! She trusts him with her life and the civilians of Paris. She loves giving him adorable nicknames and treats him with care when she can. Regardless of what she feels for him (even if us viewers know it’s romantic love), Ladybug doesn’t have to go out with him and she shouldn’t be punished by the fandom for that. 

Anyways, these two mean the world to each other on all sides of the lovesquare and they’re not aware that their feelings are reciprocated (regardless of which side). They also NEVER go out of their ways to intentionally harm or hurt the other and always push things aside and prioritise each other when needed.

Do they have a bit of a communication issue? Yes, but they are teenagers and are working on it and they will clear that obstacle. The problem is that they are both too selfless so they don’t like to burden others with their feelings. They will grow and become better people :)

Overall, what I’m trying to say is that lovesquare adore one another and if you genuinely believe that Adrien or Marinette have to be punished for not being aware or acting on the other person’s feelings, you’re a piece of shit and I feel sorry for the people around you :)))))

#ml fandom salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #lovesquare sugar #this isn't a vocal minority by the way #i have seen too many people on all platforms with the mindset that adrien and ladybug should be punished or suffer consequences for not #either realising marinette's romantic feelings or accepting chat noir's proposals #and it's genuinely so baffling #how can you seriously not see adrien's blatant love and pining for marinette and the huge respect and admiration for her? #he genuinely cares for her but often gets confused by her behaviour towards him #because he was homeschooled and he is socially awkward af #and ladybug? she fucking loves her partner IT WAS OBVIOUS FROM EPISODE ONE #yes she has unintentionally pushed chat noir away and made him feel lonely but that is because the balance between them shifted when she #became guardian and not to mention having to deal with Chat Blanc!! #in reality the people you love or loves you will end up hurting you be it intentionally or unintentionally #but that's because we are all human and we make mistakes #especially when you're young and you're still learning and growing #as i was typing the tags i just realised #it's another form of demiromantic erase if people genuinely think you should be punished for being friends with someone who's in love with #you even though you love them back (whether you know it or not) #you lads are a stupid bunch #anyways i'll be here all day and i need to fuck off lol

[megatraven]

A Run In Autumn

Written for @peakwonderfulness ! It wouldn't let me gift to you on AO3 for some reason, but thank you so much for this! I had fun writing it! :)

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Pairing: Ladynoir Summary: On her morning run, Marinette spies someone who reminds her too much of Chat Noir. When she falls, he offers her a hand, and realizes that really is her partner- and he recognizes her as Ladybug.

AO3

_

The air nips at her nose as she runs, the cool autumn wind making Marinette glad she chose to bundle up that morning. In a ladybug-spotted hat that Alya had gotten her the previous year, and a new, bright red jacket that her parents had gotten her to match it, she was perfectly warm enough to run without much fear of catching cold. Plus it was sunny out, when it'd been storming the last week- she didn't want to waste it, nor the opportunity to wear the sunglasses she'd made again.

Taking a path outside of her usual running route, she was hoping to find something to inspire her next fashion project. Autumn was one of her favorite times to find inspiration in the way the colors of the trees change, how the warm colors contrast with the cool air, how people begin to change into warmer clothes while trying to hold onto the heat of the summer a little while longer.

It wasn't hard to keep an eye out as she ran; her time as Ladybug made her more vigilant than ever. For the first leg of her run, she made a mental note of different things: couples wearing matching outfits, the few people who properly blended summer and autumn attire, the colors of the city and how the late morning light danced on them. 

It's only halfway through her run that she notices him.

The other runner, who's been keeping pace with her for the last half-mile or so.

He's running on the opposite side of the street, dressed in all black, including his hat that's adorned with kitty ears. Bits of blonde hair stick out from underneath, and its unruliness reminds her of Chat Noir's.

In fact… the way he runs reminds her of him, too. The eyes, maybe, but he's wearing sunglasses just like she is, and of course, there's no tail… but she can picture one behind him pretty easily.

She's so distracted watching him that she doesn't notice the uneven sidewalk in front of her, her foot catching on it and sending her down to the ground. So much for vigilance. With a groan, she brings herself back up to her knees, checking for any injuries, and only finds a few scrapes on her hands. No big deal, and easy enough to take care of once she gets home.

"Are you alright?"

Startled, she looks up, the other runner in front of her now, holding his hand out to her.

"Never better," she says, a little sarcastic, though she does take his hand, appreciating the kind gesture.

Standing face-to-face with him, she tries to see through the dark lens of his sunglasses, and she thinks his eyes might actually be green underneath. He glances at her hat and grins, and she wonders if he's thinking that it's funny, both of them being out wearing Ladybug and Chat Noir attire specifically.

"Might wanna keep a better eye on the road," he says, not unkindly, " …my lady." 

And then he smiles wide, as if he just told the world's funniest inside joke.

Except, she's the only other person actually in on the joke.

"Chat Noir?"

The shock on his face freezes him still, and it's only when he stiffens that she realizes his hand is still in hers. She carefully takes her hand from his, and he jumps back a little.

"... Ladybug?"

"Chat Noir."

The shock quickly leaves him, though she's still reeling from it. Instead, he looks a little bashful, sticking his hands deep into his coat pockets- probably to protect how his ring looks outside of the transformation. She's suddenly glad that her hat covers her ears and keeps her earrings from being seen, although hers are pretty generic.

"Funny meeting you out like this. Civilian patrol?" he asks, and the awkward question makes her smile.

"No, just out for a run. It clears the head, you know?" She pauses. "Wait. Are you?"

"No! No, I'm out for a run, too. Before it gets too cold."

She nods, understanding. Once winter comes around, she won't be able to get many runs in herself, unless she's wearing her actual Ladybug suit. Akumas are a holiday season staple, unfortunately, and the cold tends to make people more miserable than not.

"Is this… I'm not asking to pry, but we probably shouldn't be catching the same running paths in the future, so is this one of your regular routes?" she asks.

"Yeah, I come this way a lot. It's pretty quiet, not much traffic… I've never seen you running in this area before though. At least, not at this time."

"I am a little late to run today," she admits, cheeks warming slightly as she shifts her weight from one leg to the other. "But I don't usually come down this way anyways. I'm just looking for a little inspiration and thought I'd change up my route today."

"Inspiration?" he asks, cocking his head to the side. The ears on his hat move, too, and she has to stifle a laugh.

"Oh, you know, trying to figure out a certain kitty's gift for this year." A lie, but not really. She does want to figure out something nice to get him, even if it isn't the purpose of her run today. "What about you? Why're you out running?"

He shrugs, rocking back and forth on his feet, which is a little funny to see from her partner.

"Just getting some fresh air."

"Oh, okay."

"Yep."

They stand there, neither one moving as the wind rushes past them. It's… more awkward than Marinette would like to admit, and she's sure Chat Noir feels the same, but she doesn't want to leave him quite yet. Even if it's dangerous for them to be meeting like this- unplanned or otherwise- she never truly enjoys saying goodbye to him.

Struck by that particular realization, she peers up at him, and smiles.

"So, do you-"

"Do you want to-"

"Sorry, wait, you go on-"

"No, you first," he says, gesturing with his arm to let her go.

"Alright, well," she begins, clearing her throat. "Do you want to finish our runs together? We can pick a new place to stop and split up from there."

Chat Noir's expression lifts, and she can imagine his cat ears perking up, his tail swinging side-to-side from excitement. It's a silly thought, but then, she knows her partner's mannerisms better than anyone, and that includes the cat components that are absent on his civilian person.

"I was going to ask the same thing!"

"You know what they say about great minds, don't you, Chat Noir?"

He beams at her.

"Of course, my lady. After you," he offers, letting her take the lead so that she can set their pace.

She accepts it, starting off at a brisk jog before ramping their speed up to a run, the same pace as before. He runs right beside her, ring clenched in one of his fists, and she grins. Pushing herself a little bit faster, she watches him match pace with her, speeding up as she does, and slowing down when their path requires it. 

Each time they stop at a stop sign or traffic signal, they don't stop, running in place. Marinette laughs when Chat Noir presses the cross button for the wrong crosswalk, and he returns the favor when she just barely stops herself from crashing to the ground again.

They don't talk much between catching their breaths, but it's still one of Marinette's most enjoyable runs to date. Turns out, running with someone- especially someone you like- makes the experience that much better, and when she thinks of what she could make for her project, ideas swarm her mind. She has a much more clear vision than before, but she's pretty sure chat Noir has more to do with it than the run itself.

When they finally come to a stop, they're both breathing hard, but they just smile at one another. When she raises her fist up to him, he connects his fist to hers. The touch is electric with no suit to keep them apart, but it fades just as fast.

"Bien joué!" she says, letting her fist drop.

"Bien joué, my lady."

"I'll see you later for patrol, okay?"

"It'll be my pleasure."

With an over-exaggerated bow, in typical Chat Noir style, he splits away from her, and she watches him until he disappears at his next turn. Feeling a little too warm for her hat, she just barely fights off the temptation to take it off; protecting her identity came first, but just barely. Her morning runs have never left her feeling so warm, and once again, she's pretty sure that she has Chat Noir to thank for that.

Turning away, she starts home, reinvigorated and ready to take on the rest of the day.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ladynoir #ladybug #chat noir #marinette dupain-cheng #marinette #my fic

[pinkandbluewrites]

Adrien knows Marinette's identity...

Hey guys, I believe that Adrien Agreste knows Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug. I have evidence that I have gathered and analysed. Believe what you want. I'm happy to hear rebuttals, but after all is said and done, I really think you will believe me.

Okay, so it started in Troublemaker. That was when Adrien first suspected that Marinette could be Ladybug. So, at the beginning of the episode, Adrien sees all the pictures in Marinette’s room and assumes that she has a crush on him. As Chat Noir, he goes into Mari's room, and LB is being very weird and telling him, 'They can take the tour later'. LB gets defensive, and Chat Noir is like, “Wow, lots of pictures,” blah blah blah. Later, when Trouble maker steals one of Ladybug's earrings, half of her face is exposed, and that’s when Chat can see half of her face right.

Chat Noir landed by the window.

This is where Marinette was - and the window is over to the back right.

She is detransforming away from Chat Noir, but then she turns around and grabs her earring, now facing him, to put it back in.

She is side-eyeing so hard lmao maybe looking at Chat Noir?

If Chat Noir was looking, he had a clear shot of seeing her side profile, though not completely clear because her hand was slightly in the way. However, he can see her eyes, nose, and mouth, which can't be completely covered by the quantum masking at that point.

Chat Noir then walks up to her, and says, "That was a close call,"

This can be interpreted in two ways, "I almost found out who you were" or "Hawkmoth almost got your earrings."

I think Marinette interpreted it as the second one because when he says, "Certainly not how I dreamed we'd share our secret identities."

This is her reaction:

Then Chat says, "Oh no, not like that" which doesn't seem very reassuring, but it convinces Marinette that he doesn't know her identity yet, because this is how she reacts:

Notice how awkward Chat Noir looks? He doesn't look very reassuring. To me, the vibe of this scene is just strange, but it makes sense if that small glimpse of Ladybug's face made Chat Noir begin to wonder if she really could be Marinette. When you see a small glimpse of someone you think you recognise, you wonder if it is actually them or someone who just looks similar, and your brain is tricking you; most of the time, you do a double take and realise it is just someone who looks similar, Chat didn't get the opportunity to double take, so he was left wondering.

However, I think he tests his curiosity in the next scene...

In the locker room.

When Mari arrives, and Adrien scares her, he is smug, smirking, etc. It makes sense because he thinks she likes him, but Adrien has never acted like that before. It was almost like he was acting as he does as Chat Noir, and who is the one person who knows how he acts as Chat Noir? Ladybug...

He's very overconfident when usually he is just 'smiles' and 'kind gestures,' and he is getting in her personal space, smirking at her, and downright being flirtatious.

Ok, I want to point out that he looks at her side profile, which you should remember for later because, in the upcoming episodes, he does it a lot. Which may be him trying to see Ladybug in her or the glimpses of Ladybug he thought he saw. Anyway, what really gets me is what he says next. I try so hard to understand what it could mean, if anything but the only conclusion I can come to is that what he says, is him trying to test Marinette.

"...and photographs of me everywhere, even in the most unlikely places.” 

Then Marinette giggled and went, “Yeah, who would have a photograph of you under a bed.” 

And he’s just like “Right.” 

First of all, Chat Noir is the only one who saw the photo under the bed “in the most unlikely places.” It’s almost like he’s alluding to his secret identity to see how she reacts. If she was LB, she would know Chat saw where they were, right? Like he’s almost admitting it?????

Anyway, I think Marinette was a little dense with that scene, but I think if anything it's proof that Adrien really thinks Marinette could be Ladybug.

I don't think he is 100% sure at this point, but I really think he is considering it.

Moving on, when Adrien walks out of the locker room, he is looking back at her:

Then in the end card:

HE IS LOOKING AT LADYBUG!!!!!

They could have chosen any scene, any picture of Adrien, but they chose the one where he is looking back at her, almost analytically if you will, and have Ladybug follow his line of sight. I'm sorry, but with this many clues, there's no way that I'm just reading into it. Even if I'm wrong in the end, I'm literally right.

The evidence does not stop here.

Multimouse. Now, many people believe that this is what really got Adrien to stop believing or kill the idea that Marinette could be Ladybug.

I'm sorry, but no, you are wrong.

Okay, so we know the jist. Plagg and Tikki get caught (almost) by Miss Mendeleev, and she is on the reality TV show. Adrien and Marinette recognise the drawings for their kwamis and realise they must have done something, and this is probably bad. so Marinette leaves, and Adrien sees Marinette leaving and is like, 'huh?'

Surprised Adrien fr.

ANYWAYS the next scene is dumb, like hella dumb, cause Adrien sees Marinette on the phone, walking through the locker room, and is deep in thought and Plagg interrupts and then he's like...

"What if Marinette were Ladybug?"

The way this is worded makes it seem like this isn't the first time Adrien has considered this... Hmm. Hence Troublemaker.

Plagg goes “Marinetteee? Nahhh!”

First of all, great job Plagg you’re an actor. Lmao, not very convincing.

“Besides, you shouldn’t be trying to find out more. If you discovered ladybugs' true identity, you’d have to give your miraculous back! So, if I were you, I’d act like nothing's going on! That’s what I always do when there’s a problem, and it’s always worked out just fine for me." 

Okay, so first of all, Plagg, really? He is essentially saying, like ok, you found out, but just pretend you don’t know anything so you can keep your miraculous.

If Adrien was using his logical brain, which I think he was because he agreed with plagg, he would have thought the same. If it were anyone else, Plagg probably wouldn't have said that because there would be no risk of him losing his miraculous unless he was guessing right.

And Adrien goes, “Maybe I should listen to you this time.” 

But of course, as the curious kitty he is, he still asks LB when he is there. 

“This kwami Buster villain, she’s from Francois Dupont High School, right?" 

(Note this part for later)

Ladybug shuts him down, saying, “Remember the rules chat noir… blah blah” 

Okay, can I point out the fact that if Chat Noir thinks Marinette is Ladybug, when she detransforms cause of kwamibuster and shouts 'No, don't look over here', don't you think he would be hearing Marinette's voice at that point because she is already on his mind, so wouldn't that be proof enough for him, anyways, continuing on...

Later on, they both lose their miraculous and Adrien is in the banana suit. The next thing he sees is a bunch of kwami's charging toward him, and one stops in front of him, with multimouse on its back.

Conveniently, it is the original multimouse without an extra miraculous.

Marinette says, “Pssst chat noir is that you?” 

And he goes, “Ladybug just when I think I finally know you, you manage to surprise me again.” 

And she says, “That’s very sweet of you, but I’m not ladybug,” and points to her earrings, “I’m Multimouse ladybug sent me to fetch your miraculous, to defeat kwamibuster.” 

Adrien ends up giving Multimouse his ring. I truly think this is because he still believes that Ladybug/Multimouse is the same person, aka Marinette. (I don't think he would have given the ring so easily if not, because look how he reacted with Alya as Ladybug in season 5; he is trusting but only toward Ladybug.)

I believe this because this is his face when Ladybug drops down in front of him beside Multimouse.

Agree to disagree, but he definitely thought that Multimouse was Ladybug.

So, he must believe that Ladybug is still Marinette, and Multimouse has to be someone else.

Furthermore, this is his face when Multimouse ends up being Marinette:

Literally flabbergasted.

Ok. So, I have a few points to cover here. I really think this would have left him very confused.

I think Adrien is a trusting person; he likes to see the best in people. Multimouse told him that she wasn't Ladybug, yet he was shocked when he realised that she wasn't. If I may, this is what I think could have gone through Chat Noir's head:

First, if Ladybug was detransformed, she'd go to the guardian for help to get a miraculous. Now, she couldn't transform into Ladybug, so logically, she would use another miraculous for herself because disguising herself and finding a random civilian for help would be a lot of effort (especially when transformed like, come on). So he probably didn't understand why Multimouse wanted to cover up the fact she was Ladybug, but as Adrien does, he likes giving the benefit of the doubt.

Second, in the illusion, there were no kwami's. There's no way there was enough time for all the kwami's to return to Master Fu between being realised and Chat entering the scene; logically, they would stay with Ladybug. Chat literally saw them earlier; Multimouse was being carried by them. I'm sure he thought a lot about this because Marinette not being Ladybug would be hard for him to accept, so I do think he would have picked up on this eventually.

Third, he didn't go in for a pound when he always does. It may just be the scapegoat for the poor writing because obviously if he went in for a pound it, the illusion would fall away, but he didn't. The only times prior where he didn't go in for a pound it was to take Kagami away when he was falling for her and to hug Ladybug, so the fact he didn't is strange, almost like he knew...

ALSO, Ladybug never convinced him that she doesn't go to Francois Dupont High School, only that Marinette isn't Ladybug, which I'm pretty sure she did the opposite of. It's almost ironic, if you ask me, that as soon as Chat Noir has the slightest suspicion that Marinette is Ladybug, bam, she somehow proves there's no way she ever could be. The thing is, Marinette didn't know Chat Noir was suspicious of her, so why did she need to pull a 180 on him?

Also, if Marinette 'isn't Ladybug', then how would you explain why she left early to go to the toilet? It was suspicious; it literally made Adrien think that she was Ladybug. If I were in the situation, I would think, okay, perhaps Marinette is friends with Ladybug; it would make sense because Ladybug trusted her with a miraculous when she was detransformed - but that doesn't explain away why Marinette would detransform in front of her and Chat Noir, if they were close friends than she would know not to do that, so something obviously doesn't add up.

Can I also point out the fact that Marinette, after she took of the necklace said “I’m so clumsy”

What was the first thing that LB ever said to chat noir? 

“I’m mar-a mar-a madly clumsy, I am so clumsy…” 

I really think Adrien figured this out because of how he acts in the next few episodes...

(Side note: I just wanted to point out that Marinette is so silly because she convinces herself that Chat Noir doesn't go to her school cause he refers to it as an elementary school when earlier he literally said,' Francois Dupont High School')

Anyways, Adrien was super convinced that Marinette was Ladybug, so much so to the point where this stunt didn't actually convince him she wasn't. How do I know, you may ask? Well, I will get to that, but first, we have an obstacle.

Puppeteer is in between Kwamibuster and the episode with my final proof.

So, how is it that we had to watch that disastrous episode and all the events in it if Adrien knew? Well, let's break it down.

Okay, so throughout the episode Adrien is trying to find a way to cheer Marinette up because he thinks she doesn't like him at all.

Adrien leaves it to the last minute before he jumps back and says, 'Eternity sounds like a long time,' it makes it sound like he is rejecting her right, but we later find out that this is supposedly when Adrien first started having feelings for Marinette because he enjoyed their 'kiss/almost kiss' so I think he was just freaking out because he's always thought that Marinette only sees him as a friend. He's never been reciprocated by Ladybug, so he doesn't know what it feels like to actually be flirted with by the girl he loves BAHAHA anyways this is my take on this.

Then what of the scene in the car? You may ask, well, look at it like this. This is how Adrien is looking at Marinette:

PLEASE

"The girl that I'm in love with doesn't like them either."

I know he is referring to them as two different people, but he's supposed to because Plagg told him to; he has to.

Ok, the evidence you've all been waiting for is plain as day. Chat Blanc.

When Marinette leaves the gift as Ladybug and Adrien sees, his first conclusion is that she is Ladybug. The evidence is right in his face, and because of the hearts, he realises that she loves him. Earlier, when the evidence was in his face, it was questionable, right? He wasn't 100% sure, but that little push of him catching Ladybug leaving a gift from Marinette made him sure.

The fact that she was multimouse didn't saude his made-up mind. he could have easily said, "No, Ladybug must be dropping off a gift for Marinette; she was multimouse."

She never convinced him when she made the illusion.

Obviously, it never happened. Adrien never made the conclusion because Marinette erased the timeline, but that means he's still sitting on the fence, waiting for that last little push for him to finally be able to confess he knows her identity. Do you notice the number of times that Adrien tries to get a reveal in seasons 1-3, then suddenly, in seasons 4 and 5, he stops? Yeah, he is upset they can't 'share' identities, but he never pushes. In season 4, he finally starts showing stronger feelings toward Marinette up to the point he starts to pursue her in season 5.

Do you remember in 'lies' when Adrien longingly looks at the lucky charm bracelet because Kagami thinks he loves Marinette now, not her, and she dumps him? Why does he look at the bracelet like that if it is Ladybug he loves. BECAUSE HE KNOWS THEY'RE THE SAME PERSON!!

In dearest family, when ladybug says the akumatised object is at home and he’s like ??? And she says I mean at their home.  

Ephemeral. Well, looking at that scene, he wasn’t even surprised to see Ladybug change into Marinette, he was just blushing and shocked that she was actually revealing, and yeah, he says, “I just found out that one of my best friends is also the girl I love and admire the most” 

Can we keep in mind that Adrien admitted that he started liking Marinette at the statue scene (He says this in season 5), right - so how is he calling her his best friend when he knew all along he liked her a little more than friends yk, because I think this could be interpreted in two ways Ladybug is his best friend, but so is Marinette, Ladybug is the girl he loves, but so is Marinette. So I think he is just saying that because he’s finally able to combine his best friend and someone he loves as one person… 

OK, now on to season 5. 

Adrien realised his feelings for Marinette, and he said it changed when she kissed him as a statue so how could Adrien know that she is Ladybug if he only started liking Marinette at that point when he’s loved Ladybug all along. 

Well, I think Adrien just decides to separate the two of them (Marinette and Ladybug) for secret identities. As mentioned before, I believe he knew she was Ladybug but was still sitting on the fence and choosing not to believe it.

I will admit there are some things that Chat noir says to Ladybug that don’t make 100% sense right. Chat said that Ladybug helped him realise his true feelings for Marinette. 

First of all, did he not tell Marinette that he realised his feelings for her when they were in the Graven Wax Museum, and she kissed him, and he liked it. He is either contradicting himself or he is not telling the full story. 

If you think about it, if Adrien knows that Ladybug is Marinette, it was easy for him to just be in love with Ladybug because it was safe when he believed that Marinette loved Luka and not him you know, but toward the end of season four (Which is very fast paced) he starts getting closer to Marinette right, and ‘realises’ his feelings because she’s always been there for him. But Adrien knew his feelings for her all along, and it just took him a little push for him to finally confess it to Marinette and start pursuing her, that push was Marinette repeatedly showing him that she was there for him, so I think a part of him began to believe that Marinette did love him, so he decided he would try to be with her. 

I know it may sound a bit far fetched, but there are some things that happen that just can’t be ignored. 

Adrien was desperately in love with Ladybug like hopelessly, and he just gives it up, to me it felt weird like he suddenly switched. With Marinette, she always loved Adrien even when she was pursuing Chat Noir, she was pushing Adrien away because she didn’t want to confront the reality that he liked her back, because she was scared. So yes, she does pursue Chat Noir for a short while, and personally I think it’s obvious that she loves him too, and has all along but we’re not getting into that. Anyway, Adrien is in full denial about his feelings toward Ladybug and I’m sorry the sudden switch just feels completely odd, like what the hell????

You know that part (I forgot the episode) I believe it is one of the last 5 of season 5 where Plagg says “Marinette is the most amazing girl in the world,” well, that is exactly what Adrien used to say about Ladybug… 

The switch up is just crazy to me, and the only way it makes sense in my head is if Adrien knows that he’s not ‘switching up’ he’s just pursuing the other side of Ladybug. 

SO there is three times I want to point out where I think it’s obvious that he knows. 

The first is when Nino tells Marinette about him and Alya being Rena Rouge and Carapace and confesses he told Adrien, and Adrien is like ‘innocent smile, wide eyes’ and looks at Marinette. Marinette is mad and is like “ADRIEN KNOWS? ALYA DID YOU KNOW ADRIEN KNOWS?” 

Im sorry but that scene is just so like Adrien looking at his lady, like whoops sorry my lady didn’t mean to find out, I feel like if Marinette was just a civilian she wouldn’t have been mad like that right, so how come Adrien wasn’t confused by her reaction??? She was annoyed, and yeah Adrien was shocked too when he found out but he had the reason that it was because he was doubting Ladybug’s character, but adrien doesn’t know any reason why Marinette would be mad by this, its just so like coded that adrien knows and he realises oh shit marinates not gonna like this YOU KNOW !/!?!?!? 

Anyways the second point is that in the finale when Adrien is about to tell Marinette his identity, he says ‘Time to drop the masks’ MASKS not Mask!!!! Like I was like why did they choose to say masks and not just mask???? It doesn’t make sense yk…. 

Ok and also Adrien’s nightmare, it was him as Anti-Chat or whatever, and he was holding Ladybug, and she was a statue, I was watching it and I was wondering where is Marinette in his nightmare, huh, why is she not there? The girl who he is supposed to love more than anything isn’t there… little does he know, she is there, in his arms, or perhaps he does know, he knows that he killed Ladybug/Marinette. That’s why he stepped back from Marinette’s balcony and couldn’t tell her. He couldn’t drop the ‘masks’ yet. 

Anyways, this is my theory. Feel free to comment what you think. 

#miraculous ladybug #theory #discussion #fan theory #just some thoughts #analysis #theories #adrienette #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #mlb adrien #miraculous adrien #adrien x marinette #marinette #chat noir #ladybug and chat noir #ml ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #marichat #cat noir #chat blanc

[tumblingxelian]

I doubt I have the time or focus to write it but legit fascinated of an "Adrien never went to school" AU thanks to re-reading the Enemies to Lovers Bakers AU.

I imagine the sequence of how this happens would be:

The first day happens as canon. But on the second day, Adrien is better contained at home until Stoneheat 2.0 lets him slip away to do hero stuff. Despite this, the fact the mayors daughter was nearly killed is used as Gabriel as a pretext as to why Adrien will be staying home. This nixes any plans, arguments or work arounds he or Chloe could come up with.

So, with Adrien contained to the manor, work & slightly more occasional Chloe hang outs, what becomes of the story overall? Well let's look at the season 1 plot from the main 2's perspective:

Marinette:

Off the cuff her story doesn't change much.

She doesn't befriend or start crushing on Adrien and because Chloe's distracted there's no seat dispute. With no Adrien, she may instead have a crush on Alya & Chat, but is not willing to act on or even necessarily aware of this at first. Though she may end up feeling heartbroken 'for some reason' when or IF, Alya & Nino start dating, but with no Adrien it may not happen, or could happen differently.

On a more long term level, I imagine some of the school Akuma don't come up, like there's no 'reason' for Chloe to try and steal Juleka's spot on photo day. & Chloe in general is probably bit more distracted & the two have slightly less reasons to butt heads, so the stories focusing on that would be stuff like the class election.

Her relationship with Chat would be largely unchanged given little has actually changed on that front. Though he may be a bit clingier and more overtly lonely so they may talk more. Adrien to her is just a pretty face who she sometimes sees hanging around Chloe.

I think the big divergence would really happen because of Lila. Mostly because without the Adrien factor she may handle the lies with a cooler head, this plot could manifest in two ways, but I will handle that lower down.

Adrien:

So, Adrien has been denied the chance to go to school because of the Akuma. He definitely resents his father and Hawk Moth a bit more overtly in this version and is even more inclined to use Chat Noir as an escape. What little freedom he did manage to claw out of the shift is usually spent hanging out with Chloe. This would also be easily used for comedy juxtaposition what she tells him of school with what we see.

As noted he also tries to spend more time around Ladybug and is perhaps a bit more fast and loose with details about his life, for good and ill. This could also lead him to slipping the truth to Chloe on accident or by intent shifting her dynamic with Chat, or there's still the fun contrast in how she treats the two.

Beyond that, and as established he spends a decent chunk of his off time with Chloe. In this context he is likely the one doing cosplay, which could may Lady Wifi notably hilarious if very stressful for him. He may also briefly connect with the class during the student election.

But again, he's otherwise very cut off from other kids. Though through this we do get to see a, if not softer, then "Trying to be a good friend" Chloe which is as awkward and clumsy as one would expect.

The main big divergence comes with his discovery of the book, likely born from a bit of rebellious snooping in his fathers office. As with the Lila piece above, this deserves its own segment.

Season 1 Finale:

The Book & the Story Teller would likely be the name. It'd be a dual story with Adrien uncovering the tome and realizing its importance and Marinette grappling with how to handle Lila's deceptions. I forsee 2 main varients.

1: Closer to canon. Adrien hears about Ladybug's "bff" from the Ladyblog and goes to give her the book to see if she can get it to Ladybug. It ends up with Marinette who suspects Adrien or his dad of being Hawk Moth. When the book is discovered lost, Adrien is barred from any outings or visits.

Chloe goes on a rampage to try and find it & to get Adrien to reveal Lila lied about them dating, causing her to Akumatize. Marinette does return the book at the sight of Chloe hiding somewhere sobbing over not being able to see her friend but not before making a photo copy version.

2: Very non canon. Adrien still discovered the book but is told to sneak off with it to tell Master Fu, and he does so. Gabriel is distracted by word of Ladybug's BFF and sends an Akuma after Lila. Because Marinette was already keeping an eye on her to reveal the truth she appears and quickly saves her, which makes it look like the lies are true, much to her annoyance.

Lila is now aware that this lie being believed is not good at all, she assumed Hawk Moth wouldn't notice or buy it. But she doesn't want to admit she lied either because then everyone would question everything so she's kind of stuck and ends up as the more common damsel essentially usurping Chloe's position as nominal Akuma target.

While all this was happening, Adrien was grappling with worries regarding his father and Fu and the Hawk Moth situation. He may also briefly lose the book when helping with Lila and it gets picked up by Ladybug so they both get to meet Fu. This sets up the Collector & also the return of the book via the above method.

I think I rather the latter as it feels more natural.

It also does something different with Lila with her still being a presence in class that irks Marinette and draws Akuma into everyday life.

It also lets her potentially be taken in a different direction with her being the target of attacks meaning she's sure as hell not going to work for Hawk Moth. Plus with no Adrien she likely fixates on different would be famous kids, be they:

Chloe (Hilarious because Chloe is as friendly as a porcupine), Marinette (Self starter designer who has to be polite through gritted teeth) General socializing (The Class) different targets of the week (Such as Luka) or a greater focus on Ladybug and trying to use her for social media fame, while also dealing with the stress of constantly being under attack.

Conclusion

It is harder to say what happens in season 2, but I imagine as changes would begin to pile up more things would diverge.

Kagami might make Adrien & Chloe a trio, or a quartet if Sabrina's been brought in more. She'd also potentially have a friendship episode with Marinette sooner if that was still to be a thing.

Chloe might not reveal herself as Queen Bee, or she might actually get picked by Adrien as a temporary hero, possibly along with Kagami, or Sabrina, so both he and Ladybug have a pair of friends.

It may be Nooroo's birthday that reinvigorates Hawk Moth, or he just can't quit in general. Less focus on school as the story heads into a "school break" period so more room for unexpected encounters & events.

Some version of Heroes Day and the Crimson Army is probably still the season finale. Or that could be the season 3 finale given its scale.

As said, unsure.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #Fanfic concept #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois

[sariahsue]

Hope

Talk of dating had started as a joke.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were obviously not together, Adrien had said, so what better way to protect their identities than have their civilian personas date each other? Marinette laughed at the idea, and then took him up on it.

That was two weeks ago. Two glorious weeks. Two amazing, torturous, exhilarating weeks. Filled with timid handholding and awkward smiles and even a few kisses, for show.

Well, on Marinette's part it was for show. It killed him to know that the affection she so easily gifted to him was all fake, but Adrien tried to pour his heart into the little pecks that they shared, as he pretended she felt something for him, too.

Tonight, it was their first public appearance as a couple.

He'd been to the Hotel Le Marois only once before, for a wedding reception. This time it was a formal dinner for Fashion Week. The flower arrangements were towering yellows and blues, the outfits were stunning, and Marinette was vibrating with excitement next to him and outshining them all in a dress of her own design. She'd never looked more radiant or more kissable.

Dinner started out great. Marinette was seated to his right, and a teenage model friend of his, Lili, on his left. The three of them chatted through the main course, but during dessert, Lili reached forward and grabbed his hand. Marinette's laughter cut off mid-giggle.

"You okay?" he asked, turning toward her.

Marinette sipped her drink. Lili slid her hand away. Neither of them would look at him. What had he missed?

"Well." Lili stood up abruptly, her fruit cup only half eaten. "I see another friend I need to catch up with. It's been nice talking with you, Adrien."

He turned to watch as she walked away. "What was that about?" he asked Marinette.

She only blushed and shook her head.

---

After dinner, Adrien was a good little gentleman and pulled Marinette's seat out for her as she stood. "Ready to schmooze with a bunch of socialites?"

Marinette latched onto his arm, like she wanted to keep him close. (He could pretend.) "As long as we don't run into Lili again."

"What?" he asked. "What's wrong with her?" She was one of the models he enjoyed working with the most.

She only shrugged one slender (fashionably bare) shoulder. "I don't want to talk to her again. That's all."

"But–"

She cut him off with a glare.

"Okay." He raised his hands in surrender. "I won't make you talk to her again."

They spent the next half hour of the night flitting from one corner of the room to the other. Adrien would get into the rhythm of the conversation, and then someone would smile at him, or touch his arm, or laugh at something he said, and Marinette would pull him away shortly after. It was almost as if…

He shook his head to clear the thought. They were now standing at one side of the room all by themselves, partially hidden by a towering floral arrangement sitting above the equally towering but empty fireplace. He didn't think Marinette was appreciating the decorations though. She seemed to be glaring tiny daggers at anyone who caught her attention. (Though she might have been studying the designs. Her serious face sometimes looked mean. The death grip she had on his arm suggested the first option, though.)

"My Lady," he started. He said it in a joking tone. There was no way she really was... But he wished. And he wanted. "You feeling a little jealous tonight, hm?" She would probably roll her eyes, but she might smile at him, and he could pretend.

Marinette turned her face away, lips pressed in a thin line. Silent.

That- that almost sounded like an admission. Adrien found himself breathing very fast.

"Marinette?"

She turned back just enough for him to see the edge of her bright red cheek. "W-well, you're my date, aren't you? Not theirs?" Her grip on his arm tightened as she continued to ramble. "Maybe I don't want to share your attention. That's all! I thought we were going to hang out together tonight, you know, like hanging out. That's all." She turned her face to the floor at their feet instead and whispered, "That's all."

Adrien stopped pretending. He started hoping.

"Marinette, can I kiss you?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "We're dating," she said. "I told you you didn't need to ask every time."

"No, I mean—"

He moved in front of her so he could block out the distractions of the room and all the curious eyes, and then leaned toward her. Their faces were so close.

"Can I kiss you for real?"

(Based on this)

#love square #adrinette #prpr #fake dating #miraculous ladybug #ml #adrien gets a clue

[another-miraculous-ladyblog]

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ON LUKA AS A CHARACTER AFTER WISHMAKER AND I’M GONNA DUMP THEM HERE

Luka is such a cool character and he has been a rock for marinette when things got rough for her, but beyond just being a really good and supportive friend I’ve gotta say that if anyone was going to find out both ladybug and chat noir’s identities, luka was definitely the best person for the job. like Marinette better be happy she was basically stuck giving that boy the miraculous of the snake because he might actually be the only one who can handle that level of responsibility.

First of all, he’s ridiculously level-headed until it’s his friends or family who are threatened. I don’t think he’d be akumatized unless someone came directly after his family or friends instead of him- the dude’s ridiculously patient and even-keeled, and as we know from Silencer, a gentle soul. Still though, this guy handles the information of who ladybug and chat noir are ridiculously well.

Like ignoring the weight of the responsibility for a second, just look at how hard it’s got to be to keep his mouth shut on a frustration level- he’s got so much on his plate already and now he’s got to watch these two knuckleheads be the level of oblivious and awkward that they are as civilians knowing full well how close they are as superheroes and how in love both of them are with each other (without knowing it) with a patient smile? The frustration we feel from watching the love square? This boy is living it.

Plus we know from Truth just how important that honesty is to Luka- he values it so so highly and holds himself to such a high standard, but when ladybug asks him point blank to his face whether or not he found out their identities, he lies without hesitation. He literally says that they were never hit (side note: why would he have used second chance then? idk ladybug didn’t ask so she probably assumed something else went wrong or they got stuck since he did seem to let her know that they had used multiple chances so whatever).

He lied to this girl who he cares about so much and compromised his own principles so soon after them being emphasized in Truth without questioning it because he

1. obviously cares about marinette/ladybug and chat noir/adrien and wants to protect them but also

2. because he understands that the responsibility that has been given to him as Viperion has to come before his own principles for the greater good.

He takes his hero-ing seriously, which is what you need from someone who’s going to be given the ability to play with time and potentially be your last resort if everything else fails. He’s known this, but I think after having that responsibility really play out in this episode at the expense of his own principles, he probably understands Marinette and the pressure she was facing and the weight that comes with being a miraculous holder even better than before. He probably went home and rethought everything, especially what happened in Truth with Marinette.

And speaking of the RESPONSIBILITY? All that while trying to not get akumatized and not hint EVEN TO LADYBUG/MARINETTE HERSELF (his friend and the guardian who trusted him with that miraculous) that he knows her identity or chat noir’s? And not hint that they really know each other in real life? And not slip at all even though he hangs out with both of them as civilians all the time?

Like he’s just gonna sit on that information and that responsibility of being the only person in Paris who knows both of their identities and not physically implode from the stress or tell anyone? Knowing that if anyone finds out he will become Shadow Moth’s number 1 target? But he won’t jeopardize his friends by even letting marinette know that he knows so he can talk to someone about it? Like I know he isn’t getting paid but someone get this boy a raise 😭

#he’s not paid enough for this shit #all these children have too much responsibility but this child is insane #I’d start twitching having to watch Marinette fall all over Adrien and then be cool and confident as she rejects chat noir #same for if I had to watch adrien’s oblivious ass ignore marinette as he makes heart eyes at ladybug #the patience on this child #too much responsibility I might implode #I’d have to tell her because I wouldn’t trust myself to know how to handle that without discussing it #it was a bold move on his part really to not tell her he knew #luka couffaine #mlb luka #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #mlb marinette #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #mlb adrien #chat noir #mlb spoilers season 4 #mlb season 4 #mlb season four #wishmaker #mlb wishmaker #lukanette #character analysis #mlb character analysis #Luka character analysis #my thoughts

[the-true-noodles]

incorrect miraculous ladybug quotes 2! (because we need more of them)

part 1

Nathalie: Now, the recipe calls for 2 shots of vodka.

Nathalie: *upends the bottle*

--

*Marinette's second day of interning for Gabriel*

Gabriel: Hand me the people opener.

Marinette: ...

Marinette: Pardon?

Gabriel, annoyed: The people opener! Just hand it to me!

Marinette, stressed: WHAT THE FUCK IS A PEOPLE OPENER?

Gabriel: How do you not know what a people opener is? Its pointy- you know? With a handle?

Marinette: Knife. It's called a knife.

--

Adrien: *walks to cabinet, removes oreo box, takes half a sleeve, throws empty box out* Hi!

Nathalie: Hey- what are you doing-?

Adrien, shoving an oreo into their mouth: I am saving space :D

--

Gabriel: Would it be discrimination to only hire employees at my doughnut shop who have the same name?

Nathalie: Legally, I don't believe that breaches any discrimination laws. Morally though... I don't know.

Gabriel: I believe god is on my side when it comes to Duncans' Doughnuts.

--

Chat Noir: honk.

Gabriel: WHAT.

Chat Noir: HONK.

Gabriel: WHAT DOES HONK MEAN THIS TIME YOU WHIMSICAL PIECE OF SHIT?????

--

Ladybug: So, what's it like living with Hawkmoth?

Mayura: They once referred to sand as "heterosexual glitter."

Ladybug: ...

Mayura: I love him so much.

--

Mayura: Where's Chat Noir?

Hawkmoth: Don't worry, I'll find them.

Hawkmoth, shouting: Ladybug sucks!

Chat Noir, distantly: Ladybug is the best person ever! Fuck you!

Hawkmoth: Found them.

--

Nathalie: I just heard Gabriel call the dog a “fucking liar” because he barked like someone was at the door and no one was there.

--

Chat Noir: You know, Hawkmoth, when you generalize, you tell general... lies.

Hawkmoth: ...

Hawkmoth: Are you trying to teach me moral lessons through puns.

--

Nathalie: How are you gonna carve a gigantic pumpkin?

Gabriel: The same way I make onion rings!

Gabriel: *grabs a chainsaw*

--

Nino: Hey, you want a tarot reading?

Gabriel: Those are Pokemon cards.

Nino You got a magikarp.

Gabriel: ...

Nino: It means 'fuck you'.

--

Hawkmoth: Here's two facts about me.

Hawkmoth: 1. I hate hot people.

Hawkmoth: 2. I'm a hypocrite.

--

*the day this man goes out of the house by himself*

Gabriel: Keep it running. *Tosses keys over shoulder into empty parking lot.*

--

Ladybug: You ever see something that changes your life and you're just like "huh.."

Chat Noir: I saw you.

Ladybug: Honestly that's so cute and sweet but it kinda makes this awkward because I was gonna show you a picture of Hawkmoth in a turkey costume.

--

Marinette: My hands are cold.

Adrien: Here, let me hold them.

Marinette: My lips are cold too.

Adrien: *covers Marinette's mouth with their hand*

--

Gabriel: If we lose, you’re out of the will.

Nathalie: I was in the will?

--

Nathalie: Are you having another depressive episode?

Gabriel: A depressive episode?

Gabriel: I'm having a depressive series and we're just on season one.

--

Gabriel, entering the room: *Sees Adrien and leaves*

Adrien, watching Gabriel leave: There’s my monthly dose of my dad…

--

*Marinette and Nathalie are planning to break in somewhere to save Adrien without Gabriel knowing he was missing*

Marinette: We need to distract the guards.

Nathalie: Right.

Marinette: What are we gonna do?

Nathalie: I'm gonna break their elbows while you poke their eyes.

Marinette:

Nathalie:

Marinette: Deal.

--

Hawkmoth You’d be stupid to lay a hand on me.

Chat Noir: Oh, you’d be surprised how much stupid shit I do.

--

Adrien: *Gasp*

Marinette: wHAT??

Adrien: What if soy milk is just milk introducing itself in Spanish?

Marinette: *inhales*

Gabriel, in another room with Nathalie: Why can I hear screeching?

--

*during a temporary ceasefire because reasons??*

Ladybug: Hawkmoth learned how to fold origami penguins from Chat Noir the other day. I told them, “I feel a little bad for the penguins, it’s hot here”, and the next day they put them in the fridge.

--

Gabriel: Where did you get that tomato soup?

Adrien: It’s actually a bowl of ketchup I just microwaved.

--

Gabriel: Christmas is cancelled.

Adrien: You can't cancel a holiday.

Gabriel: Keep it up, Adrien, and you'll lose New Year's too.

Adrien: What does that mean?

Gabriel: Nathalie, take New Year's away from Adrien.

--

Hawkmoth: Arson? Oh, you mean "crime brûlée".

--

Gabriel, digging their grave: Long story short, this is my grave.......Want me to make you one too?

--

*marinette's internship is something i want to think would be really funny*

Marinette: Hey, wanna help me commit arson?

Gabriel: What the hell!?

Marinette: Oh, sorry, my bad.

Marinette, whispering: Wanna help me commit arson?

Gabriel, whispering: Of course. What do you need?

--

Marinette: So, are you two friends?

Gabriel: Yes.

Natalie: No.

--

Chat Noir: You use emoji’s like a straight person.

Hawkmoth: That’s literally the worst thing anyone has ever said about me.

--

Gabriel: I’ve been here in jail so long I think I’ve lost my mind.

Gabriel: The days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months.

Gabriel: How long have I been in here now? Almost a year?

Nathalie: This is Monopoly.

--

Hawkmoth: Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions.

--

Gabriel, putting their hands over Nathalie's eyes: Guess who!

Nathalie: It's either Gabriel or the cold, clammy hands of death.

Gabriel, putting their hands away: It's Gabriel!

Nathalie: Dammit.

--

Ladybug: We need to open this locked door. Nathalie, give me your credit card.

Nathalie: Here.

Ladybug, pocketing it: Thanks. Chat, cataclysm the door.

--

Nathalie: When was the last time you cried?

Adrien: Uh 15 minutes ago, why??

Nathalie: really? That recent?

Adrien: Yeah *voice crack* is that a issue? *starts crying again*

--

Ladybug: Why are you always trying to aggravate me?

Hawkmoth: To relax.

--

*Something crashes*

Adrien: Shoot-

Gabriel: *running into the room in a panic* WHAT FELL?!

Nathalie: *walking by the room calmly* What died?

--

(sorry for taking so long)

#chat noir #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fandom #mlb fandom #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #mayura #ladybug #incorrect miraculous ladybug quotes #crack #pure crack #nathalie sancoeur #i think this was all of the tags #funny

[starssoblue]

miraculous: ladybug & chat noir, the movie | a(n in-depth) review

prefacing this to say that i recognize a lot of feelings about this movie are related to a frustration with experiencing the tv series for five seasons since 2015. i, however, went into this as a brand new fan, having finally tried the series just since april of this year. so those feelings of frustration aren't going to be present in this review and it's coming more from a (somewhat) objective place, considering the film as its own entity. (spoilers abound.)

marinette:

so i'm a marinette dupain-cheng shooter, i'll fight for this girl forever because of how targeted the hate is for her (and leading female characters in general). but i have to say, even though the movie did a good job not having her be the completely messy pre-teenager she is in the show (especially around her crush), i found that the character change was a little strange.

i think, despite how flustered she gets, marinette in the show is a very strong character. she's a child who spent three years being relentlessly bullied by a politician's daughter (chloe) that people she was generally (she has no good friends but she has an amicable relationship with her peers because they all grew up together) friendly with stayed away from her, for the fear of becoming that girl's next target. she tries her best to stay out of this girl's way because of this bullying, and her defense is to keep quiet and not draw attention to herself so she can get through the school day without being harassed. this harassment leads to marinette having intense anxiety and a lack of confidence in herself, despite having strong opinions and being an otherwise passionate person. meeting her new friend alya, who is very self assured, inspires marinette to not allow her bully to walk over her anymore, and when she gets her first win as ladybug she finds the strength to finally stand up for herself. though she remains a target of that bully, this newfound strength helps her not allow that experience to reign over her life and this gives her bully less power.

in the movie, marinette (there was one trailer that implied she was "the new girl" but the movie itself does not really give us this impression—her scared meekness would make more sense to me if she actually were a new girl in school but more on this later) still grew up in paris with those same peers, but has so much crippling anxiety she has no baseline relationship with anyone. instead of it being mere general awkwardness, the film decides to make her especially clumsy to the point of insane catastrophes constantly happening around her (i guess for her entire life?), and this chaos makes the entire school laugh at her and spread rumors about her, so she has no friends at all. (would make a lot of sense if she's the new girl unless the point is the entire school has been making fun of the wasian girl since maternelle that she's still infamous in lycée for it and spent her entire life without a friend until alya filmed chloe harassing her and saved her, which is... concerning. or wait, is it because they've just entered lycée so they're all technically "new" even though she's lived in paris her whole life because they're starting grade 10 together? but what are the chances that no one she knew from collége are in this school with her now? so she enters lycée, is so clumsy and catastrophes happen around her that she develops a reputation for herself and people like chloe know her by name because she's become that infamous that quickly? but in the song 'reaching out,' marinette sings that she always dreamed of calling paris home, which seems to suggest that maybe she's new in paris. but their bakery seems too established to be new... i don't know. tbh this is information we shouldn't have to guess, and this lack of clarity is something i struggled with for this film.)

as an introverted person, marinette's anxiety and fear of leaving her comfort zone resonate with me, but i feel like while this is explained in the show as a result of years of bullying, it's portrayed here in the extreme. i understand that she's afraid at school because of all the rumors and the disasters that follow her, but even on the streets when she was singing to herself, random people would wave to her and she'd (sing) to herself, "i can't show my face!" even though nothing embarrassing or disastrous had even happened. she's just deathly afraid of people. i don't think this in and of itself is an issue, but it definitely needed more explanation or build up. is marinette this terrified and timid because something (worse than what happened in the series?) happened to her here? is it because she's (new to paris? again, they don't really say but it would fit better if it were true) wasian and she feels out of place in largely white paris? is it more about her biracial identity rather than clumsiness? who knows. so i feel just more background and character development would elevate the movie. arguably, she could just be an anxious and introverted person, but the portrayal of these characteristics just seemed a lot more surface level than they are in the show. i guess this is an example of a limitation a creator has with a film—they can accomplish so much more with years of subtle hints in a series and lay the foundation for certain backgrounds and traits, but in a movie they have to figure out what to tell us, what to show us, and how to develop it in under two hours. sadly, i feel with marinette, as a result of this time crunch, some of the film's portrayals ended up being weak.

(there's this scene all over twitter celebrating marinette standing up to chloe after her newfound confidence as ladybug—i am actually very confused why this was pointed out as a difference from the series. once marinette realized through alya and her first success as ladybug that she didn't need to be afraid of chloe anymore, she stopped. she constantly argues with her, doesn't put up with her bullshit, and even is sometimes mean to her (i'm not going to judge her for it—that girl bullied her badly for three years straight sooo...). i like the scene in the movie too, but my point was that it's consistent with the show and not an actual change.)

people love to attack marinette for some instances where the character in the show was used for absurd comic relief, and i appreciate that the movie doesn't do this with her much. i do think the female characters in miraculous, series and film, would all be better written if written by women, but i digress.

i like that while film marinette tries to reject the earrings just like series marinette, she fails because the magic that has chosen her won’t just let her throw the earrings away or give it to someone else. though she doesn’t randomly decide to give the earrings to alya here, she does try to throw them out a window and they kept coming back to her because she was the chosen one. this was a nice change. i never thought it should be that easy for her to just re-gift them to any random person when they chose her specifically for a reason. 

adrien:

adrien agreste in the series is outgoing, full of energy, lonely but eager to make friends, kind of optimistic. his mother has only been missing for six months at the start of the show, while he's in the public eye, working almost full time as a teen model and the face of his father's massively successful high fashion brand. his circumstances, his public image, the fact that not much time has passed and he's still a 13 year old child all lead him to resist being too affected by his grief (he's obviously still affected but it's not a crippling part of his life, and though he experiences loneliness and has moments of being withdrawn and sad, he retains a relatively optimistic and outgoing nature that influences his outlook on life and his interactions with his peers. he's socially inept through lack of interaction with kids his own age and homeschooling, but he's willing to learn and this, as well as his pure heart, are what define this character.

adrien in the movie is different, but in a way that is realistic and understandable given the changes the film made to his background. he's more quiet, withdrawn, lonely but chooses to stay that way and intentionally pushes people away as a coping mechanism for grief. though in both universes his father's role in his life decreases once his mother vanishes, and he essentially loses both parents rather than one, in the show, being a model and the face of his father's brand allows him to continue having a place in his dad's life even though his father treats him like dirt. in the movie, the time period in which his mother has been missing in his life seems to be much longer, and there has been no indication that adrien has anything to do with his father's work. with his grief affecting him for a greater length of time, his age being older, and his dad being an absentee parent for several years rather than a few months, it's no wonder that the adrien we meet in the movie chooses to pull away from people, allows the sad feelings to dominate, and just overall lacks the energy and optimism show adrien possesses. (i'm also not sure if it's even his first day of school or if he was homeschooled his whole life—chloe claimed she wanted to show him around, but nino interacts with him like they've been friends for more than just a day and he's known him for at least a little while).

honestly, i really like the changes here, despite being tv adrien agreste's #1 fan. this insight into his feelings about his parents, his resignation about his constantly deteriorating relationship with his father, his fixation on the piano which was an interest he shared with his mom, how palpable his feelings of nostalgia and longing are for his mother... the way he was a child when she disappeared and now he's a teenager still thinking about her, always missing her... it was such a natural portrayal of love and grief and though you can see which circumstances prevent show adrien from turning out this way, movie adrien is such an understandable and empathetic character. you really feel for him the whole movie. i think his (possible) lack of fame adds to this too (he doesn't seem to be a model in this, he has no schedules and isn't driven around everywhere, there are loads of photos of him at home but they could just be photos parents put up of their only son). at the end of the day he's a teenager with a father who neglects him constantly for his business and his own grief that he feels very alone, and these feelings keep him from wanting to get close to anyone else, either because he's sad or just afraid of further abandonment. i found the character so incredibly relatable and it was interesting seeing a more vulnerable side to this character, a vulnerability show adrien only occasionally demonstrates, a vulnerability more hinted at in the show through chat noir (but this is an essay for another day).

most importantly, show and movie adrien are both total dorks. the essence of this character is portrayed well in the movie, i really didn't mind the changes because in the end he was still recognizable as my sad sunshine adrien agreste, and i hope people look past the surface differences to recognize and appreciate him for who he is.

plagg plays a bigger role in adrien’s life in the series than in the movie. i love their relationship so i missed that here, but i also feel like maybe they didn’t need him to be looking out for adrien and essentially taking care of him (gorilla does this in the series too, and he wasn’t needed in the movie as adrien has the freedom to largely come and go as he wants and use public transport, something series adrien could never do) because of how much less restrictive his life is in this iteration. 

ladynoir:

the film introduces ladybug and chat noir as "two rival heroes." plagg and tikki themselves are called rivals. eventually ladybug redubs them as "partners" after she and chat noir find a rhythm and master fu also tells them they're stronger together, so i am puzzled why they even tried introducing them that way. in the show, ladynoir aren't rivals at al—they've always been a team. and in this movie, despite those initial comments, it's no different. there's banter and flirtation for sure, but the most "rival" these two get are when they first meet and are goading each other into an argument over which hero is better and who is the sidekick (before they've done anything lmao) and that one fun volkswagon ad when they race each other. i love the flirty competitive sparring, the way they tease each other, when they're just messing around and being playful in the 'stronger together' sequence. you really watch these two become best friends, and like the series, chat noir falls in love with ladybug like a thunderbolt (a coup de foudre!) while for her, you see her affection for him grow the longer they work together and get to know each other. i don't think this is as much of a departure from the series as stan twitter would have you believe, but it does spend more time on their dynamic in one setting than any episode ever does (ladynoir is developed over time in the series, little by little, and their cute flirty dynamic is very reminiscent of how they're portrayed in the first two seasons before the guardianship and other miraculous holders complicated their relationship. at their core they've always had great chemistry and a strong connection). i like both developments tbh, but that one scene of them training together and having fun for a significant amount of time was so lovely to see. don't get me wrong—there are some great moments these two share outside of battle in the series too, but it's been a while since we've seen this dynamic there with everything else going on that it felt so nice to return to this, and in such a huge way too.

the one thing i miss is chat noir calling ladybug "milady." it's such a cute thing he does in the series, and though i enjoyed that "insane!" / "watermelon!" banter, i do miss this being what he calls her all the time. (there is a song called 'my lady' that chat noir sings to himself after he falls in love with ladybug, and in the very last line of the song he calls her this, but otherwise it's just not a thing in the movie.) it really doesn't matter, but i still mourned its absence.

adrienette/adrinette:

the first time i watched this film, i did not like the first adrien/marinette meet-cute at all. to be honest, i wasn't being fair. the first miraculous scene in the series that had me completely enchanted was that umbrella scene in origins, and it is the foundation for this ship and why i love them so much. every bit of the original scene is perfection, with the careful finger brush, the soft smiles, the way their eyes meet and marinette hears a thunder clap (an actual coup de foudre) in the distance as the instrumental 'in the rain' plays in the background... that scene was so spectacularly constructed, it was always obvious nothing this movie did was ever going to match that.

and that's okay.

watching the film a second time, i found that while the umbrella scene still is incomparable, there are things i did like about marinette and adrien's first meeting. the way marinette asks for "a little luck" and she follows the light through the bookshelves to see adrien, who approaches her himself because he thinks she might be in need of help, asking her if she's okay or seeing the distressed look upon her face and wondering if she's crying. it's different from origins, but in some ways it's the same—marinette was distressed, adrien approached her first, she's thrown by his kindness and flustered by his beauty. they have some kind of moment and in the end, he offers her an awkward but gentle smile.

but in origins, they already had history. she didn't care and barely realized he was famous or even connected to her dream of becoming a fashion designer. his looks don't register to her until she's already fallen in love with him. and it's his initiative to correct the misunderstanding between them and show her kindness despite her being harsh and unfair to him that makes her take a second glance, and once she does, she falls in love fast. though i do see the essence of that moment—the being drawn to adrien's kindness aspect—in the movie's library scene, it's less impactful. she doesn't know adrien, so there is barely a conversation between them, and other than his concern over her and his offer of a helping hand when she falls, i don't really see what he does that makes her fall strongly in love with him. if it's still his kindness, it just feels weaker. one could argue that her instant attraction to him is because of his cuteness, and this is what flusters her, and his kindness (less impact than the series, but in this new universe, barely anyone in this school has ever shown marinette kindness rather than gossiping and laughing about her clumsiness so maybe to her this is a real moment of kindness) is only secondary. it's not all that clear. either way, marinette is fascinated by him to keep looking at him before she even falls and he offers to help her up, so the meeting feels a lot more shallow (he had noticed her distress and asked if she was crying before, but i don't know... is just asking about her enough kindness to get that reaction from her? it makes sense after he helps her up but the fascination before.. maybe i'm just longing for the impact of the umbrella scene and this was actually fine...?). the scene ends with adrien's confused, soft smile when he says "she's so weird" to himself (they barely interacted, so i don't know if i'd call it a "fond smile" but it's not the malicious thing some people on social media have been making it out to be. in this iteration adrien tries not to interact with many people, so it's a big deal he was kind enough to still reach out to her. this meeting probably stuck out to him as something unordinary and the comment felt more like he was curious about her more than anything else. it ends up being important to marinette because her clumsiness makes people usually mock her, but he didn't do that, so her instinct then is to try to talk to him (and ask him out, probably?). not the big momentous falling in love scene from the series, but it is still a nice moment for these characters as they're established in this universe.

i think one of the reasons this ship feels weak to me in the film is that outside of this moment, adrien and marinette's friendship development is reduced to a musical montage.

if the movie had used this moment to develop their relationship further, i probably would have actually liked the romance here. while ladynoir had scenes of interactions and ladybug and chat noir getting to know each other and becoming comfortable with each other and literally becoming bffs who trust each other as only two people in the world who share a singular unique experience can, all the development adrien and marinette have is shown through one musical montage in the middle of the movie. (they do have a small interaction at the fair, but this is around the time adrien is first coming out of his shell so it’s very brief.) in the montage, you see many shots of adrien and marinette hanging out with alya and nino in picnics and at the movies, and he looks more at ease with each outing. and you also see adrien opening up to marinette specifically about his mom, sharing photos of her, and finally working through his grief rather than withdrawing from everyone. but because this is a five second scene in the midst of a musical montage illustrating the passage of time, we never get the words exchanged, the scene is glossed over and the impact is only felt by fans of the series who know what this means to him. (fun fact: the film has adrien trusting marinette enough to feel so close to her he talks about his mom with her before he talks to ladybug about her and how in his grief he pushed people away before he met her. though ladybug was the catalyst to him opening up to people, i do find it meaningful that he opened up to marinette first. but this is still a crumb and you have to be looking to make those connections in order to see them. the film should have shown adrien falling in love to some extent outside of the mask as well, he’s supposed to have some kind of inner conflict and it’s hard to believe that he does here with all the missing pieces.) i’m not sure if casual viewers would even notice it in the midst of all the other scenes happening as the theme song plays in the background. had we seen more of stuff like this, gotten some kind of explanation that over time adrien had started to feel for marinette too and this montage is proof of it (it shows that they’re friends and he trusts her now to some extent, but it’s so fast it barely registers. you can’t deduce he’s in love with marinette here, whereas in the scenes with chat noir you see ladybug actively struggle with her feelings, develop affectionate feelings for chat noir, and feel bad for rejecting him because of that, not just because it sucks to have to turn someone down), then that would have been fine. but that’s not what happens. after this montage we barely see adrien and marinette together at all until she tries asking him to he ball and he says he’s sorry but there’s someone else. though his rejection was soft, and you do see him look upset he had to reject her, there was no doubt he was going to reject her here. the core conflict—that they’re in love with two people, one they fall in love with like thunder and another that slowly builds in their heart—is so badly illustrated in this movie. you can see the intention is there if you’re looking for it, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. 

though i appreciate that marinette didn't struggle to find her words around adrien in this film, and appeared more realistically flustered and anxious rather than the over the top thing they do in the series, i still feel like the adrinette in the series is overall written and developed better as a ship. in the tv series, you see this initial conflict —chat noir falls fast for ladybug, who turns him down because marinette fell just as fast in love with adrien agreste—turn into marinette forming a friendship with chat noir, whom she then starts to get close to outside and in the mask, as adrien starts to fall in love with marinette. the series is now at a point where adrien and marinette are actually in love, despite never actually falling out of love with their superhero counterparts, so that if it finally leads to a reveal (which it hasn’t yet), it would be incredibly moving.

my issue is, without this adrinette relationship development, the reveal feels less impactful. if you’re frustrated the series hasn’t given you this moment yet, you feel satisfaction seeing it in the conclusion of this film solely because of the progression of the series. without it, looking at the moments in this film alone, it feels halfhearted. though marinette is ladybug, it’s an idealized version of herself she’s created to take on the challenge of being a hero. these characteristics are still hers, but it feels like someone falling in love with a celebrity. though this isn’t wholly true—chat gets to know ladybug’s vulnerabilities too as they get closer—it’s still not fully her the way marinette, as a normal person who now has the confidence being ladybug provides her echoing in her daily life too, is. so her struggling with her feelings, turning chat noir down reluctantly before adrien rejects her, but still reaching out to him once discovering they’re the same person—you just see that she falls in love with all sides of him. but it’s less clear for adrien. you can analyze that montage and make a deduction, but it’s not as explicit. instead, it just feels like he rejects who she actually is for her heroic persona, and that makes the reveal feel one-sided (unless you carry over your feelings of frustration from the series never giving us this moment).

it sucks that adrinette was underdeveloped because as far as scenes go, the reveal is actually quite beautiful. adrien has tears in his eyes when she introduces herself as ladybug and he realizes she liked him all along, but if we knew why those tears of relief and happiness appeared upon realizing the girl of his dreams was marinette, it would mean more. [he’s also at this ball wearing the bow tie marinette made for him that she threw into the trash after he rejected her, and i’d love to believe that this isn’t a continuity error, but it probably is. it’s hard to imagine adrien felt so torn up about rejecting marinette (after ladybug already rejected him??! like it really felt like he’d like to go to this ball that he never asked ladybug to go to alone rather than with marinette, which is…not great ) that he went by the trash, saw his name on a box and opened it up, realizing she made him a gift, and then chose to wear it. he literally doesn’t think about marinette once in this film after he rejects her so this feels like a reach… unless it was intentional, in which case they should have written so much more to make this (and this ship) clear.]

gabriel agreste:

i can't remember if origins explained how long gabriel agreste had the butterfly miraculous and if he used it right away upon acquiring it, but what i liked in the film was that it was clearly explained that he had had that artifact for a while, done research on its capabilities, considered the risks and rewards, and then after a long time of deliberation finally made the active choice to do what he knew was wrong just because he loved his wife so much he would never be able to live without her. ("if chaos is the way, i will burn the world and lose myself to do so!") each time he misuses the miraculous to hurt people, it takes a toll on his physical and mental health, making him look haggard and act more crazy and reckless (this happens in the series as well—season 1 gabriel isn't season 5 gabriel but he becomes more villainous over time).

one thing that confuses me though is that gabriel got a sense of the chaos and terror committed with the butterfly miraculous upon just touching the item, but the series and later on in the film, it's explicitly stated that this miraculous isn't inherently evil. in the show there are many reasons why ladybug and chat noir historically were called to fight, but in the movie it seems to be implied that it's this one miraculous alone that summons them through creating chaos in the world. but it's also allegedly 'good'—this contradiction is confusing (and my friend who had no knowledge of mlb was so lost watching this movie). i don't think the show does much for romanticizing this decision the way the film does, and it certainly doesn't make us believe that gabriel agreste felt forced to make this decision and had doubts he overlooked because he was that desperate. i mean, his desperation comes across in the series in other ways but not in a sad lonely man who is struggling to live without his wife way. the film humanizes this stupid, terrible man in a way the series fails to do so (which makes sense given some of the atrocities he goes onto commit that film gabriel doesn't come close to doing). this softer portrayal works for the movie as many of the things i dislike about m. agreste are never portrayed, leaving him a bit more of a sympathetic villain even as he terrorizes all of paris. he still sucks though, just on a lesser scale. 

when gabriel tells the story about how much adrien's mother meant to him, and how difficult it was for him to face the sadness in adrien's eyes upon losing a parent (tbh he's so dumb. his son finds it hard to cope with one parent leaving him so his solution is to make him lose the second parent too just because it was hard to deal with his son's grief on top of his own...dumbass), he says it was only after she was gone that he learned about the miraculous. does this mean that in this universe adrien actually wasn't conceived using the peacock miraculous and the coma emilie is in at the end is caused by something else? gabriel and adrien both speak about his mom like she's dead. and at the end it's revealed that like in the series, emilie is still alive but in a magical coma. did he just mean that they already knew about the peacock miraculous and what he learned about was the butterfly miraculous and then the wish the ladybug and black cat miraculous combined make? i'm lost. (maybe it's just really huge a continuity error?

i saw a lot of people wonder why adrien in the show doesn't argue with his father or blow up at him the way adrien does in the film. aside from the fact that gabriel agreste in the movie is a lot less criminal than the abusive doucheface he is in the series, it doesn't look like adrien is being controlled by his father if he's a sentibeing here too and the worst thing gabriel has done is be an absentee parent (bad, but it's not the locking your kid up, forcing him to work since he was a child, controlling his every second of every day, having your employees follow him around and spy on him for you, trying to control who he interacts with on a daily basis, forbidding him from hanging out with friends, trying to akumatize him or exploit him in other ways, being emotionally abusive, etc etc). adrien in the series being younger, experiencing his father being an ass only since his mother disappeared six months ago and taking nearly a year to realize his treatment isn't normal and he physically can't resist his dad's orders even if he wanted to... they're in such different predicaments. older adrien with less manipulation and abuse would have an easier time yelling at his father. tv adrien also eventually argues with his dad in season 5, but it takes a lot to build up to that and then the series quickly destroys all this character development because of a hole they wrote themselves into, but that's an essay for another time... i don't think these can be fairly compared. (that said, i clapped hard when adrien told his father he lost his dad a long time ago. his father made a decision not to act like a parent once he lost his wife and it's been a long while since then, he's essentially raising himself at this point.)

it's this change in adrien and gabriel's relationship that allows the end of the final battle to make sense in the movie in a way they wouldn't make sense in the show. tv gabriel agreste doesn't care to hurt his son—you see this constantly explored in different timelines. there is a reason why there's so much fanfiction guessing gabriel would exploit adrien if he learned he was chat noir, or actively try to trade him for his wife. movie gabriel, however, stops right away the second he realizes that the teenager he was ready to hurt was actually his son. hell, even earlier, he called adrien to leave the fair before sending akumas there because he didn't want him to get caught in the crossfire. tv gabriel would never. (i guess show gabriel also does this mid-series sometimes but it's so inconsistent...granted show gabriel doesn't know what his son is even doing most days unless he's leaving the city—the one very aware of his schedule is nathalie sooo maybe it's an issue of knowledge. either way, by season 5, gabriel tries to deliberately put his son into harm's way and even akumatize him sooooo....) so that heart to heart they have that helps gabriel deal with his grief and talks him down from being a supervillain any longer is a beautiful moment (the scene itself has the prettiest animation of those two embracing as purified butterflies surround them), but one that the series would not be able to replicate (that character is really not redeemable there even though they kind of tried).

chloe:

to be honest i don't really care for her in any iteration of this, but i did find it interesting that while she said she offered to show him around (as she does in the show too), we never see adrien with chloe in this movie ever. he doesn't talk about her, he doesn't acknowledge her. i always see their friendship as one created by circumstance—when you're kids and your parents' friends only have the one child you're left to interact with so you become "friends" but that friendship isn't anything deep despite it being one of your first. not going to analyze their relationship in the show because while it's not the best friendship some people in fandom fictionalize, it does have some complexity, but in the movie, i'd honestly argue they barely know each other. chloe mentions adrien on multiple occasions. but he doesn't once talk or think about her. he's already friends with nino (is he new in this? chloe said she wants to show him around, but he's already hanging out in a library when we first see him and he already is friends with nino enough for nino to try to invite him out—is it that he's new but this time it's not his first day we're seeing? i don't know, it's unclear), and they make plans to hang out. you see a montage of him hanging out with nino, alya and marinette later, but nothing on chloe. if she wasn't so extremely anxious, i'd wonder why marinette believes chloe at all when she suddenly claims to be the girl adrien likes. i saw some people say chloe in the film is more redeemable than chloe in the series, and while this is true (because of things chloe does to aid a supervillain in seasons 4 and 5 that can't really be undone) i don't see much of a difference in her relationship with marinette. she's not a "rival" (rival suggests a largely harmless competitiveness—marinette isn't competing with her. she's trying to stay out of her way so chloe doesn't hurt her). the degree of bullying is possibly different (we don't really know. movie chloe threatens to strangle marinette with her own hair, so while she's probably not the sole reason marinette has no friends this time, she's still pretty much an actual bully, though a little more aware of being shamed via the internet for her crimes, though not so much at school in front of people... probably because irl people she can control but on the internet, as a politician's daughter as well as a famous hotel heiress, she is bound to face backlash for herself and her family...?) but it's still not great enough to be claiming this character deserves serious spotlight or a redemption arc (honestly she's hardly in the movie). like the series, i get the impression that there is some racism at work here too, but it's not as strong as it is in the show (marinette being this white girl's main target for no reason, her talking to her like she's inhuman, the way the entire school is so quick to dismiss her whenever she's targeted by lila or chloe without ever investigating anything because a white girl cried wolf, and then chloe's actual comments to marinette's uncle, the way she stresses the 'cheng' part of her surname when she's addressing her, etc. etc. the film doesn't do any of this).

there's a scene where chloe is ordering sabrina to locate marinette so she can harass her, and sabrina finds marinette but chooses to lie and pretend she couldn't find her. though sabrina in the series slowly evolves and learns to listen to her own conscience, i like that outside of chloe's line of sight, she knows what's wrong or right. though this is true of series sabrina too, she doesn't act on this sense of morality. i like the change that she does in the film, at least away from chloe. it's the bare minimum but at least it's something.

the music:

it took me a whileeee to care about the music here, but i still find a lot of the music just largely forgettable. (honestly i was hoping for disney classic level music in this animated film, so i guess i have no one to blame but myself there. it doesn't help that i'm obsessed with the actual instrumental music in the series—'in the rain' is one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard. also i was hoping for ce mur qui nous sépare, but i guess that was a hopeless dream. i was hoping, if they were excluding it, the song wouldn't apply in the movie because there were less "walls between [them]" than in the series, since it was ending in a reveal, but the film doesn't actually go that route... more on that later.) despite the fact that the music wasn't my favorite part, and i really think the movie would improve if there had been a better balance between story development and music (the film really suffers from too much unneeded music in favor of less story development), i did really enjoy some of the songs and the usage of series throwback musical motifs was excellent. also really enjoyed the usage of 'careless whisper' in this movie lmfaoooooo, comedic excellence.

(unpopular opinion: i really didn't mind that lou sings for christina. it doesn't fit well at all, but i heard about it long before i watched the movie and was just expecting it. it's not the best because their voices are so different, but it didn't really take me out like i thought it would, and i got used to it really fast.)

in the first song marinette sings about believing in herself. the visuals are gorgeous. the film brought to life her sketchbook, evolving the mundane to the most elegant of clothes. honestly would love to see and hear more about marinette's passion for design and her dream of becoming a designer. the film barely touched upon it (the show could go into this more too! they do sometimes but i want moreee), but it would be nice to hear where marinette's inspirations come from, why this dream is so meaningful to her. what i found interesting was, in the show marinette exclaims that gabriel agreste is her favorite fashion designer. but movie marinette doesn't mention him ever. does she know about him? is he less influential to her here? she walks by his showroom on her way to school but that's the extent we see of anything in this vein. curious.

though i don't think the 'you are ladybug' song was a necessity (adrien didn't get a song about becoming chat noir, but i guess he didn't need the extra encouragement, since he was ready to go instantly), i did actually enjoy it. lyrically it isn't strong, but it's a fun back and forth between marinette and tikki, and the way the song pays homage to the miraculous ladybug theme song is beautiful (the entire "i have one job / i'm good at it / i've been doing it for so many years" follows the tune to "another day / i'm back at school / i look at him, he's so cool" in the series theme song, and i especially loved "but why me? / i'm nothing special, bug / wait and see / what you're capable of" sung to the melody of "oh oh oh / he's got me spinning 'round / oh oh oh / my feet are off the ground." just TOO GOOD). the rap where tikki channels lin manuel miranda made me die of laughter, but also i really can't get over her going, "we'll come THISCLOSE to dying and then we'll do it all again!" as a selling point to convince this teenager to put her life on the line for all of paris. the other part of this song i really loved was the polyphony at the end when marinette and tikki sang their own melodies at the same time—not just because it sounded nice but because i died over tikki saying, "i'm about to kick your butt if you don't start to listen" lmao.

my entire theater laughed at hawk moth’s song (the song was okay, but the concept of hawk moth singing took me out lmao). it did have the feel of a classic villain song in movies like anastasia or the lion king, but it wasn’t as memorable. i do think it expressed gabriel agreste’s mental state really well though. 

reiterating that i really don’t think marinette needed 3.5 different songs about the same theme, but the best song lyrically/musically/vocally is definitely ‘courage in me,’ hands down.

maybe it’s because i adore the fuck out of the music drew ryan scott sings as ’christopher wilde’ in the disney channel movie starstruck, but i love the song chat noir sings after being lovestruck by ladybug after their first meeting (sung by the same man). the visuals of him literally singing with his head in the clouds were excellent, the character song fit him so well, and i think the melody had such a dreamscape feel of falling in love. i actually really like the lyrics in this song too (“it’s been a while since i smiled and meant it” adrichat my bb ;A; ) and my favorite part is “then she appears like a dream in a dream!” i think this song also does what music is meant to do in a musical—add to the story so that part of it can be told in song. so we get adrien basically saying he’s been withdrawing from people for sooo long, and this encounter with ladybug in which he almost died is the first time he’s felt something in a long time. this musical interlude leads to him hanging out with his friend nino at the fair (he said ‘whatever’ when nino first asked him to go, but the difference in his expression and the fact that he seems more smiley and enthusiastic in this encounter, and even hopeful enough to ask his dad to actually come to the fair and hang out with him already demonstrates a change in his demeanor), actually having a conversation with marinette, and then a montage of him no longer choosing to deal with his grief alone and finally reaching out to others, so you can see how that moment with ladybug (and all the other moments of them getting to know each other afterward while fighting or training) really did impact his life.

the miraculous title musical montage around the middle of the movie was too excellent and showed the passage of time really well, both as ladybug and chat noir, and as adrien and marinette. this was a great way to develop parts of the story (it also depicted marinette’s character evolution, making her more self confident in her daily life and no longer being an anxious messy creator of catastrophes). it was also nice to just hear a familiar song. (chat noir smiling goofily to himself after seeing ladybug smile at “and when i see her smile, that’s when she becomes miraculous” is my fave—it's just so well done, i love.)

‘stronger together’ is one of those songs that i love the first half of but find the second half too messy. the sequence is gorgeous, the scene is one of my favorites in terms of relationship development and animation in the entire movie. and i am weirdly in love with the part of the song where it pauses before he sings “take my hand!” and the music picks up. it’s so playful and flirty and the essence of how ladynoir are depicted in this movie, and i love that. the vocals are lovely. there’s a musical motif throwing back to one of my favorite instrumentals in the tv series—'the last dance' which serves as the background of so many touching ladybug and chat noir moments in the show—at the end of the song where she ponders the mixed feelings inside her heart before ultimately rejecting chat noir (“what is this feeling now? i cannot fall for him…” / “we could be great, i know / i’m falling for you.”). as a song, this back and forth dialogue feels so random tacked on here but it is a musical so i guess that fits, i just found the whole thing kind of messy. but i love that they did this dialogue to the melody of ‘the last dance’ because it’s such a gorgeous melody and a sentimental throwback. honestly even if i only like half the song, the scene itself is a film highlight and i fucking cry over the cheesy cute “you save the world every day with your mask, but the girl behind it saved my heart” he says to her that causes her to gasp (same).

film additions that are just better:

the animation, obviously. (THE HAIR TEXTURE! THE SCENERY! THEIR EYES? I CRY I CRY.)

i am fond of the fact that their miraculous lights up (flickers? glows? there's light of some kind) when the city is in need of ladybug or chat noir to save the day, and just kind of guides adrien and marinette to where they need to go. this is a big difference from the series where they have to physically encounter the danger themselves (and they do! because in the show, most of the people akumatized are people they know, random adults in their lives or the kids in their class). and at least one of them has to be present to call the other one to appear. this is not necessary in the universe of the movie. it's also more realistic because hawk moth isn't specifically targeting the kids in his son's class, but is akumatizing people at random all over the city.

i also really loved the fact that tikki and plagg use magic to choose their own chosen holders, rather than master fu doing a random test in the middle of nowhere and hoping to attract people of pure heart out on the street. it helps add to the lore that they're actually chosen, and that they're fated and compatible, and i love that a lot. (there is a scene where he, while trying to chase tikki, ends up in the middle of the street in front of oncoming traffic, and marinette risks her life to save him. but this wasn't used as a means for him to choose her for the ladybug role, but rather as a means for identifying that she was destined to be ladybug and tikki had chosen her. i will add that while i love the concept, the scene itself made me laugh because he sounded crazy interacting with her, no wonder she ended up being scared and running away from him.) the fact that adrien spots a black cat that leads him to the black cat ring and marinette spots a ladybug that guides her to the ladybug earrings... *chef's kiss* i'll confess, i wasn't a fan of every single person they choose throughout history being called ladybug and chat noir (in the series, they choose their own names. ladybug is self explanatory but the fact that adrien's mom used to read him a bedtime story about a hero named chat noir and this resonated with him so much he chose to name himself that immediately upon discovering he has powers means so much to me), but this really wasn't a significant change and i only care because i love adrichat so much.

it was a cool detail in the scene where marinette meets tikki that she awakens like the genie in aladdin (she even calls herself a genie in this one rather than a god. it doesn't matter, but i prefer kwamis being called gods. tikki then goes on to talk about how she can't grant wishes, when we know the black cat and ladybug miraculous can grant a wish in exchange for an equal price which is the entire plot of the movie, but this terminology preference is unimportant). the way she noted all the societal changes and how much time has spent since she's been needed to reawaken was very fun.

in the tv series, gabriel agreste akumatizes himself when he thinks ladybug and chat noir might guess his identity as hawk moth, hoping that if he appeared as a victim they'd be off his trail. while this serves its purpose in the show, i thought it was really cool that film gabriel agreste decided his dark heart would be stronger than the people he's been akumatizing, and instead of continuing to sit back and use innocent civilians for his means, he chooses to akumatize those negative feelings he always carries with him and turn into the ultimate villain himself. and he succeeds, becoming a villain that is so strong, he gets the earrings himself and nearly gets the ring. though i liked that he did this, something about this battle still felt really anticlimactic. it's probably a pacing issue because i really did love that final scene between gabriel and adrien, but everything happened so fast it didn't feel as epic as it seemed they were going for. additionally, i know that the point was ladybug and chat noir are only unbeatable if they work together and they were not at all united this final battle because their feelings got in the way, i was still really troubled that the only reason they won against hawk moth is because he backed off. had chat noir's mask never gotten torn, he would not have stopped...

(i also have to ask, since his identity gets revealed on a large scale and the newscasters even announce that it was him the whole time, does he actually get consequences? like he did back off, but he was still terrorizing the whole city for months... if he's exposed, shouldn't there be ramifications? i can't tell if he went to prison. the movie did not say.)

where the series shines more:

to someone who has never seen the series (i watched this initially with a friend who knew absolutely nothing about mlb), the powers are confusing. in the series, origins explains really well what cataclysm and lucky charm do, how they can only use them once before given five minutes before detransforming and needing to re-transform to use the power again. the series makes use of this, creating tension with the five minute rule (which is explained to only apply to them while they're children, so once they "mature" the time limit will disappear and they'd be able to use their powers over and over without fear of exposing their identities). while the movie does not need to stress over the time limitation (as the film aged up the characters from 13 to 15/16, so i guess they've already hit 'maturity'), it spends no time on explaining what a cataclysm is (a power chat noir doesn't even use until the final battle, and NO EXPLANATION IS GIVEN. WE'RE JUST SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE ALWAYS HAD THIS ABILITY HE NEVER NEEDED TO USE UNTIL HAWK MOTH WAS READY TO KILL HIM) and there are no lucky charms.

actually, the entire battle format makes little sense. in the show, ladybug and chat noir have to figure out what object hawk moth akumatized to turn civilians into his supernatural army, break the akumatized object, free the butterfly, and then purify it. in the movie, all they're really told is that they're meant to fight these beings, and after they win, ladybug can purify the butterfly. there isn't an explanation for when the butterfly leaves the akuma—no objects are being broken; they're literally just fighting until the monster can exist no more. this is strange to me because these fights have no rules. it's just, literally physically defeating a creature until the magic can no longer hold it.

i don't know how i feel about this, but i liked how the series does it. because it's an emphasis on physical strength, the movie lacking lucky charms makes sense, but what i always liked about that was 1) it called back on ladybug being the embodiment of good luck that her power would be chance, and 2) it was specifically marinette's time to shine. her strength in the series is her creativity, her creative approach to problem solving and use of her clever mind is what sets her apart and makes her the best ladybug in the series no matter who else has worn the ladybug miraculous. without this, i felt like a big essence of the character was missing. (the film does call upon her intelligence and creative mind in some scenes, like in the first battle where she uses her yoyo somewhat strategically to stumble her way through traffic and save chat noir, but it wasn't enough for me. i guess it was supposed to be implied that she planned the gargoyle to get hit by the train and the collision released the akuma, but the film is so unclear about this. it looked more like a happy accident rather than marinette using her brain to save the day.)

in the show, ladybug also has the ability to undo akuma damage when she throws her lucky charm into the air and shouts "miraculous ladybug" at the end of each battle. since lucky charms are absent in this iteration, it makes sense this isn't a thing either. (i guess it could also be tedious to show this in the movie after every single attack whereas once an episode is fine, but they could have just shown it once and implied it always happened. instead, what they implied was that after every battle, the damage to the city was actual damage and the city had to deal with the infrastructure hawk moth damaged until after the final battle, when ladybug gave master fu the butterfly miraculous. upon reclamation of that miraculous, fu told her that she, as the holder of the miraculous of creation, could (now, i guess?) use her power to rebuild the city. instead of it being a lucky charm thrown into the air with an incantation that creates a swarm of butterflies spreading over the city for an immediate cure, it's marinette directing her power slowly to every corner of the city and actually creating to undo the damage. this made for a very pretty scene that i really liked, but imagine how awful paris would look if in the series, none of that damage was ever fixed and it would have taken til the end of season 5, ten months after hawk moth started terrorizing the city, for anything to get restored (actually this wouldn't even happe if the show universe worked the same way because they don't reclaim that miraculous at the end of season 5).

so one of my main issues with this film is that a lot of the major themes and didactic messages are just constantly shoved in your face rather than learned by the characters. i think the series—because it has the time—does this better than the film because it allows characters to fail and learn things on their own, rather than having the message delivered in big "life lesson" quotes to the characters all the time that it doesn't at all feel natural. (so the film constantly tells rather than shows.) for example, on her way out of the bakery, marinette randomly asks her mom, "how do you make your dreams come true?" this conversation comes out of nowhere (they were talking about her embarrassment from her dad's antics and her lack of friends right before), and it's followed up with a lesson in believing in herself. it might have made sense had her mom encouraged her to embrace who she is and related that to her reaching out of her comfort zone to consider befriending some of her peers, but that doesn't happen. (it does lead to a song about believing in herself and how if she did so she'd reach her true potential, which is nice, but feels so disjointed from the conversation that happened before it, it was a bit jarring.) when marinette meets master fu on the street, he randomly says to her "who saves a life saves the world" and scares her. but then moments after, she ends up somewhere a ladybug leads her to the same words written on stone. we really didn't need master fu saying this to her when she was going to encounter the message anyway (especially as it comes into play significantly at the end of the movie in the final battle when fu reiterates the quote).

i cringed so hard in that scene after their first fight where master fu appeared out of nowhere just to say “before you discover who i am, you must first discover who you are.” like... okay?

similarly, this is how i felt about the "stronger together" theme. i love that this message is important to the plot—chat noir and ladybug literally are stronger together. but this is constantly being stated rather than the movie trusting the audience to realize it on their own. in the show, ladybug and chat noir work best as partners. their teamwork and trust in each other makes the entire show. here, they work best together also, and their powers even amplify during the moments of teamwork rather than when either of them try to take on a fight alone. i thought this was an interesting change (i love both), but i really like the two of them discovering this on their own through trial and error rather than having master fu mention it to them once and they just spend the entire movie constantly thinking about it.

the one “life lesson” that i thought was more naturally expressed was when chat noir, before being a cute goofball and teasing her, realized ladybug was a little hesitant to accept the mission, and he said, “i understand you’re afraid, but failure is not your enemy—your fears are.” though his delivery was lighthearted, the message stayed with her and she even parrots it back to him later. this is how a film expressing such “life lessons” should do it—through natural progression rather than a bunch of fortune cookie quotes thrown at you over and over again. (though the scene is different, it was reminiscent of the scene in origins when ladybug panics because of how they messed up their first fight, and chat noir reassures and encourages her, inspiring her to continue being a hero despite her being afraid of making more mistakes. this is another example of the film having corresponding but distinctive scenes that i still really enjoyed even though they were different from the series.)

actually, that scene towards the end of the film when tikki reminds marinette that she's ladybug even outside of the mask was really well done too (as well as its reference to the earlier "you save the world every day with your mask, but the girl behind it saved my heart" scene). i loved seeing marinette muster up all the strength she has to try to free chat noir from hawk moth's grip. that one shot of her tackling him out of the way of hawk moth's attack as herself untransformed is so beautifully animated.

overall:

honestly, ignoring all those tweets arguing the movie is better than the series (they're incomparable—there are things the film does better, but overall the development of the series spread out over a hundred episodes is way better than a movie limited under two hours with way too much music), i found that the movie was fun if it wasn't taken seriously. as much as we all hate astruc i don't think it can replace the series even with the things it did better, but i don't think it was meant to (despite what tons of great marketing tweets by fans have claimed). it's just another way to enjoy these characters that mean a lot to us, another iteration of a story we cherish. i do hope the writing improves and the lessons come more naturally in the sequel, but even if it's just a continuation of this i'll eat it up every time (especially now that the movie approaches territory the series has never come close to: marinette and adrien know their feelings for each other and their identities, a fanfiction reader's dream! and maybe they can retcon the adrienette and explore whatever was meant to be conveyed via that montage so that the relationship works on both sides of the mask). i hope anyone familiar with miraculous (and those even curious about it) go and enjoy this film on netflix because it's still a fun ride, and i'm really glad i had the opportunity to experience it at the cinema and laugh and cry all the way through.

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous movie #miraculous awakening #ml movie spoilers #miraculous the movie #miraculous ladybug the movie #ml awakening #mlb movie #miraculous le film #awakening spoilers #mlb movie spoilers #ml awakening spoilers #chat noir #miraculous spoilers #mlb spoilers #ladybug and chat noir #miraculous #review #the gist is: it does some things better than the show and some things worse but overall i had fun anyway and i'm excited for the sequels

[aalissy]

Villains

Anddd we are officially halfway through Adrienette April! Absolutely crazy to me haha. I hope ya'll like this lil reveal tho <3!

AO3

Marinette glanced nervously around the small pink foam prison she had gotten encased in. One of the akumatized villains had managed to trap her in here before she could transform. Once again, she attempted to elbow her way out with all of her strength. If she was alone this would be no problem. She’d transform. Get whatever lucky charm was needed and magically pop her way out of this cage. 

But... issue was that she wasn’t alone. Her gaze slid over to Adrien as she continued to ram her elbow into the foam at a faster pace.

“Marinette!” Adrien called out, grabbing her arm gently in his as he gazed down at her sadly. He shook his head. “It’s not working and I don’t want to see you get hurt. We’re going to need to wait for Ladybug.”

She sighed, shooting one last desperate glance at their walls before slumping down against them. “Or Chat Noir,” she muttered, hugging her knees to her chest. Right now it was only going to be Chat Noir who was saving them. Ladybug was a little... occupied at the moment. Marinette couldn’t stop herself from fiddling with her earring. She placed her chin down on her knees, staring down at the floor miserably. “His cataclysm sounds really good right about now.” 

She heard Adrien sit across from her and peeked back up at him. He gave an almost awkward-sounding laugh that had her raising a brow. “Yeah, or Ladybug’s lucky charm.”

Marinette gnawed at her lower lip, not wanting to think about that right now. Surely Chat would save them sooner or later. She just needed to wait.

But, after an hour of waiting, Marinette was slowly losing any semblance of hope. Maybe Chat had gotten caught in a foam prison like her and he was also trapped with someone next to him. At least she was with Adrien. Who she would trust with her life.

Sucking in a deep breath for courage, Marinette spoke up at the same time as him. 

“I need to tell you something!” They both burst out together.

They both chuckled, their previously wide eyes softening into a look of endearment as they gazed at each other. 

“What, um...,” Marinette said, fiddling with her earrings once again. She’d take any distraction to keep her identity secret for just a few moments longer. “What did you need to tell me?”

 “Actually, it might be easier if I show you.” Adrien scratched the back of his neck.

“Show me wha-”

“Plagg, claws out!”

The burst of green light had Marinette clenching her eyes shut. What?! But... but that can’t be! Slowly, she cracked an eye open, and to her surprise and utter bafflement, instead of Adrien, there stood Chat Noir, transformed into his alter ego with the signature black suit and cat-like mask.

"A-Adrien?!" Marinette exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

Adrien, now Chat Noir, grinned sheepishly. "I’m sorry, Marinette, but I couldn’t risk us staying in this cage for any longer. And, besides, I trust you."

Marinette's mind raced with a mixture of astonishment and pure joy. Adrien trusted her! Revealed his identity to her just moments before she was going to do the same thing. At the same time, though, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was lucky that both Ladybug and Chat Noir ended up stuck together, or if it was rather unlucky instead.

"You're Chat Noir?" Marinette's voice was filled with wonder as she took in the sight of her partner in a new light.

“Pawsitively!” He grinned and wow, he looked so good like that.

Shaking her head to keep herself on track, Marinette stood up too. “Then, I suppose it’s for the best that I show you what I wanted to say as well.”

His head tilted with confusion. “What do you me-”

Before he could finish that sentence, Marinette called on her transformation. “Tikki, spots on!”

Now it was Chat’s turn to look incredulous. “M-M’lady?” he asked almost hesitantly.

“Yep!” She nodded firmly. “But we’ll have to discuss this later. Right now there’s an akuma to defeat and we need your cataclysm to get out of here.”

“Right!” Chat’s eyes blazed with determination before he called on his power, finally letting the two be free for the first time in over an hour.

Though right now all she wanted to do was freak out, that would need to come later. Once the akuma was defeated then... then she and Adrien could finally talk about everything that they needed.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #ml #fic #fanfic #adrienette #adrinette #ml fic #reveal #identity reveal #adrinetteapril2024 #adrienetteapril2024 #adrinetteapril #adrienetteapril #love square

[familyagrestefanblog]

The importance of Marinette complimenting Mister Bug's eyes in "Passion", and regarding Marinette's love for Chat Noir from 5x07 to 5x12

I honestly have to say I genuinely, truly dislike how this moment is perceived as "Lady Noire hilariously catcalling Mister Bug because Marinette is so insanely thirsty for him" by the majority of the Fandom. That is the furthest thing from what I see in Marinette’s intentions here.

I personally view this as Marinette realizing on the rooftop that this is now only the SECOND time that she's able to possibly see what Chat Noir's actual eyes look like and therefore she took the chance to comment on that, which merely came out as too directly and that made it awkward.

The following is not really what the rest of the post will be about underneath "Read more", but I just need to talk about this detail and it's implications because it's driving me crazy. It is part of the main points and the overal post's theme of Marinette's love though and will lead right into it while providing more context for it, so don't worry. Also, head-up, I had to get creative here and there to work around the 30 images limitation. I did not think that would get so complicated at times lol So, long post ahead x3

Unfortunately, the way this moment is shot in the end leaves out a crucial aspect of it and I don't understand WHY they did that:

When you watch this moment in normal speed and without being able to pause it then it looks like Adrien is reacting so uncomfortably/ irritated either only because Lady Noire is not moving and keeps looking at him OR because she IS doing something (negatively) he's uncomfortable with/ irritated by and we merely don't get to see it.

Also Adrien's head being placed in the upper right corner when he's alone on screen basically forces you to look at him next when the camera pans out, which means you are absolutely gonna miss where Lady Noire was before she quickly stands up.

And that's the thing:

THIS is what Adrien was reacting to. Instead of standing up to go into battle with him Lady Noire dreamily leaned forwards a solid bit to look at him more. But most importantly, especially regarding the "catcalling" line, Marinette is leaning forwards to see Mister Bug's FACE. His REAL eyes. You know, the part of his appearance she just complimented him for.

Looking into someone's eyes is the LEAST objectifying thing you could possibly do. In fact, other pieces of media deliberately utilize this method in scenes where a woman purposefully sexualizes herself and flirts with a man (for one reason or another, y'all know the trope) so the show/movie etc can showcase that the man is "not like the other men" and doesn't see her merely for her physical beauty by having him only look into her eyes.

It is BAFFLING to me that the show went out of its way to HIDE the actual reason for why Adrien is reacting like he does because by never letting us see that Marinette only leaned forwards because she wanted to she Chat Noir's real eyes and then got distracted by them and him, it really does Marinette no favor at all.

What she did in this moment was incredibly cute and wholesome and it's a shame the episode didn't used the wide shot earlier so the audience can properly put into perspective that, while Adrien's discomfort/irritation is valid because he is not at all used to Ladybug behaving like this towards him and doesn't know what to make of it or how to read it, WE at the very least would immediately know that Marinette did NOT just do something bad here that truly deserved such a reaction. But the way the episode basically hides that Marinette moved at all and HOW is giving room for understandable bad readings which in turn can be twisted into sexist double standards in both directions.

And I don't like that. I don't like it at all.

Because when you look at the overall situation and how Marinette now sees Chat Noir and so many things about him by the time of season 5, there are so MANY reasons for why her pointing out his eyes not only is incredibly wholesome, it also makes perfect sense WHY it's his eyes she points out and WHY this little compliment is actually very VERY meaningful in the wider context of how Marinette's love for Chat Noir develops in season 5:

With one exception, she has up until now only ever seen her partner as Chat Noir or in a miraculous unification that included the Black Cat miraculous, so he was never without the Green Cat eyes she knows him with. Never except for the one time in "Reflectdoll" where she didn't took notice of it and then it didn't happen again.

That one time she let go by without appreciating it because she probably didn't even pick up that there was something special she missed because for all it is nothing too much changed. Adrien still has green eyes and his regular blond Chat hair as Mister Bug.

But that is actually the point, in that her point of view changed.

By the time "Passion" comes around in season 5 Marinette let's herself embrace her feelings for Chat Noir and REALLY regrets having pushed him so far away until the end of s4, and yet she still has not a single clue if even any of the physical features she normally associates him with truly reflect his civilian apparence. She knows NOTHING.

Which while it absolutely does NOT in any way excuse her almost turning into his enemy in "Elation" to demask him as akuma bc he didn't wanted to be with her as Marinette anymore or her being.. VERY hypocritically upset about him "keeping secrets":

It does in my opinion at least give a very understandable reason for why Marinette spiraled down so hard as she did until it all escalated in "Elation" and blew up; and why she then snapped back to put full effort into platonic love with Chat Noir in "Perfection":

Her ending up in a massive emotional extreme in "Elation" where by the time the date happens she.. well, basically completely stops acting in anyway in Chat's interest too so he isn't hurt or forced into something he doesn't want (her knowing he has no idea that she's Ladybug), her then giving up her earrings in "Kwamis Choice" and from then on not acting on her previous crush on him anymore, does come across as rough and kinda as her merely rebounding on him, but frankly, no, it is NOT at all "proof" that Marinette's love for her partner is not and was never genuine.

in "Passion" her love for him really is still pure but by "Elation" Marinette had to accept that 1) Chat Noir doesn't want to love her anymore, and 2) she isn't what he needs. He needs a (romantic) partner who is with him as civilian because it MATTERS absolutely who is underneath the mask MARINETTE:

The way the show handles Marinette's crush on Chat Noir in how "Elation" turns out in near the end through the emotional extremes, and all of that then leading into "Kwamis Choice" is.. we all know that it wasn't good for both parties, so I'll leave it at that.

"Elation" leads into one serious low for Marinette and in it comes Adrien to help her, which from then onwards has Marinette find the love and happiness she was really looking for. But the fact that Marinette then found her happiness and love with "someone else" and not Chat doesn't mean that her feelings for him were never real and that she in all of this never truly hoped for him to find his love and happiness too:

And that is were we go on from "Perfection" onwards. Marinette's love isn't meaningless rebounding and we didn't get here for no reason. Marinette's emotional extreme that escalated so hard was neither irrational selfishness nor was it justified blamelessness.

It was rooted in her genuine feelings for her partner, her fear of hurting him further, loosing him and her wanting the both of them to get closer, be bigger parts of each others lives after everything that happened in s4 and just be happy.

You know, the happiness that Adrien as Chat explicitly named towards Ladybug in "Passion" when they exchanged their miraculous' and he very openly asked her why they cant make a wish themselves to finally put the fighting behind them. And Marinette in turn treated her partner's feelings and ask for help with all the seriousness and care he deserved.

Marinette too wanted this for the BOTH OF THEM. And what set this off so badly by this point no doubt was her trauma copying mechanism of having to know everything about the person she loves to keep herself save, cause that clashes BADLY and in several ways with her realizing for good that she knows very little about Chate for sure. Not even how he actually looks like.

As if Marinette by now doesn't know exactly that a miraculous transformation can changed most of a person's appearance. She knows who every Miraculous holder in her team is and where this already occurs - most importantly Alya as Rena Furtive-

but of course we also have the obvious cases of Hawkmoth, Mayura and now Argos too where it's to be expected that they massively changed their appearance to hide their identities.

Plus, Marinette's own eyes and even CatWalker's that one time are the same as Chat Noir's (which are by default actually Plagg's eyes) and Zoe having the Tiger eyes (for some reason?) as Kitty Noire really would put it into perspective for Marinette that she actually doesn't know anything about her partner's appearance for sure.

Cause apparently the Black Cat miraculous automatically gives you Plagg's green cat eyes or let's you take on Roaar's Tiger eyes if you wanna spice it up.

And let's add the fact that Chat Noir has blond hair, CatWalker's were green and now Marinette saw that Kitty Noire had blonde hair with green highlights; while Kitty and herself as Lady Noire also have a leather outfit and CatWalker shared Chat Noir's chivalry tendencies and turned them up to an eleven & every single Black Cat miraculous holder (including Marinette herself now) has depicted the same flirty and or romantic tendencies for the Ladybug miraculous holder.

Man, at this point I would not at all doubt it if Marinette were to genuinely question if the things she always thought she knew about Chat Noir are actually truly like him as civilian at all. She has no real reverence to ANYTHING. The only Black Cat miraculous holder Marinette knows the identity of is herself but even she is very well aware that she is acting even more "unhinged" as she already did.

So yeah, tell me what is there NOT to appreciate for Marinette in "Passion" about seeing Mister Bug again?

In "Reflectdoll" she most likely didn't even notice that she just received confirmations about a few things she already assumed about Chat's appearance and therefore took it there for granted. But now in s5 it turned into a case of "Phew, I DO actually know the most BASIC things about Chat Noir. I'm so GLAD!"

The Ladybug miraculous on itself up til now (Monarque Bug doesn't count that's a unification) has always keep the holders normal eye color and even if Alya as Scarabella changed her hair style, her hair color stayed the same. If anything it merely got a bit more vibrant.

Meaning that Mister Bug IS the only possible reference Marinette has to draw some conclusions on how Chat would actually look like as civilian. And secret identitiy be damned, at this point I would want to have at least SOME clarity too.

Which btw, yes, this means Alya's statement in "Elation" was correct:

Just because Marinette says otherwise doesn't it mean that her behavoir also reflects that all the time, and when it does, it doesn't mean that Marinette is morally anywhere close to RIGHT.

Anyway. She may still not know for sure if Mister Bug's appearance can truly clue her in on how Chat looks like as a civilian but at least through seeing Mister Bug again Marinette had the opportunity to put things into new perspective and narrow down the chances.

Marinette now knows for example that even if Chat Noir's hair doesn't exactly look like this civilian hair style-wise, his blond hair does have to be/ most likely is an accurate reflection of his real hair.

Plus, another VERY nice detail in my opinion: Marinette may know through especially Alya as Scarabella (but also through alot of other miraculous transformations) that the hair styles can differ from their civilian counterpart, but the fact that the boy behind the mask chose the same hair style as he always wears as Chat Noir does tell Marinette that the hair she associates him with is the hair style he personally prefers the most because he always comes back to it over and over again without fail.

That IS information about him (as it also provides information for us the viewers that unlike Félix for example, Adrien genuinely LIKES to have his civilian hair more messy and would probably prefer to go even a bit further but knows better and remains in the middle about it) and in my opinion, it's very wholesome that Marinette now got a confirmation that she knows how her partner prefers to do his hair. Idk, I find that cute <3

And of course the aspect Marinette herself puts the most emphasis on because, duh, eyes are the doors to a person's soul:

I don't know about you, but I personally cannot see any thirsty "catcalling" intentions in Lady Noirs compliment. Even if she voiced it too bluntly and it therefore got a bit awkward.

Wouldn't YOU be happy to finally get as close to a non-verbal and non-reveal confirmation as possible that you indeed were always right about what you assumed your dear friend's (for whom you also have feelings for) EYES look like?

Isn't it rather SAD that this is something Marinette felt the need to point out and compliment him for, one year into their partnership?

Cause can you imagine how much it would have hit Marinette in the face if suddenly Mister Bug showed up the second time and out of nowhere he had brown eyes? Sure, it probably would have stung too if he suddenly had brown hair, but especially with a miraculous transformation that is a secondary priority.

Why WOULDN'T Marinette be gleaming and starring happily while commenting how the red outfit makes his eyes stand out? Thats literally the truth! The Mister Bug suit is the only one she has ever seen her partner wear that make his eyes stand out FOR HER. Chat Noir's regular transformation magic Cat eyes are just that for her, the regular Transformation Cat eyes she associates with him. Adrien's real eyes are the RARITY here.

And seemingly, Marinette realized this by the time they reached the rooftop and this second chance to make up for her obliviousness in "Reflectdoll" very clearly meant alot to her because if there is one thing I learned about Marinette's body language it's that if she can't or has trouble looking a person (especially Chat Noir and Adrien) into their eyes she either feels bad about something or for what she is currently doing.

Marinette's eyes give her feelings away more often than not, even if she isn't ready to voice them out loud or face her mistake:

(I still find it remarkable how people are seemingly not picking up on how hard Marinette is projecting her guilt towards Chat Noir onto Kagami where most of it is badly missplaced and therefore caused the same problems as in the Ladynoir conflict [same with Luka in "Migration" but elaborating on that would implode this post that already starts lagging while writing and editing lol Kagami and "Perfection" are much more important imo]. So Marinette's/ Ladybug's dialogue that episode, especially around Chat Noir, more often than not very clearly doubles to appliy to both Kagami AND Chat. How else was especially the way Ladybug just pours her heart out about and TOWARDS Kagami/ Kagami's akuma form - who can't hear her ANYWAY - supposed to check out secret identity wise if the episode wasn't written in a way where Adrien understands that Ladybug is opening up about her s4 guilt towards him after they both left in "Kwamis Choice"? Like, the episode and Marinette's behavior, words and fears around Kagami don't make alot of sense in the intensity Marinette is displaying if you don't apply Ladynoir to it:

Sure, there is the obvious Chloè influence here, but Marinette's fear of her dear - but very blunt - friend she treated badly in the past calling her out and mocking her for not being able to face her love for Adrien and TALK when she basically got it served to her on a silver platter? [notice how without a pronoun you don't even know for sure if I just talked about Kagami or Chat. Hint: it's both.] And Marinette feeling extremely guilty about what Kagami had to put up with at the ugly end of her and Adrien’s love after Marinette treated her not exactly kindly until "Ikari Gozen" so she doesn't want to talk to Kagami at all until Marinette figures everything out?

Yeah, nah, this is clear-cut Marinette projecting her insecurities regarding Chat Noir onto Kagami. Kagami’s bluntness is what she fears from her and also from Chat - because she's doing the same hurtful communication inablility again with Adrien (or the boy she told Chat about in season 2, who she is in love with. Hence why the rebounding is hurtful bc Adrien knows that Ladybug loves someone else but is BAD at facing her feelings, so he's aware that she redirected her love to HIM as Chat because that's easier. Sorry, but that's what happened.) when it's very important, but she doesn't want Chat to know that [he knows though lol]- and combined with the similarities between Kagami and Chat Noir for Marinette in their history with her regarding treatment, love life [and an abusive/ bad home, which Marinette absolutely picked up on by now regarding Chat Noir, which is yet another thing “Passion” silently showcased aplenty, but that’s a topic for another post] yeah, Kagami ended up being the prime ‘target’ of having Marinette project all her CN insecurities on, which then escalated the situation in the Kagaminette friendship in a similar way Ladynoir did in s4.

That's straight up almost the entire episode.

You can't just say "That's Marinette's trauma talking" about everything and leave it at that. Trauma isn't irrational. If a traumatized person "overreacts" to something and it genuinely doesn't fit well at all to the situation at hand [like with Kagami] than that's because your emotional trauma is hooking itself onto a dynamic/ person similar enough as an outlet to deal with said emotions when you can't or don't want to channel your emotions at the person it is rooted in [for good or bad reasons]. Trauma on it's own is NEVER irrational and when it comes across that way that means the other person either IS doing something bad to you [intentionally or not] which merely doesnt look like that to other people from the outside, or your own trauma is misdireting itself to something/ someone else that shows a similar pattern that make your alarm bells go off)

So if Marinette struggling to look someone she hold dear in the eyes means she has hidden guilt, then the opposite applies for when she looks them (but particularly Chat Noir after season 4) deep into their eyes and holds the eye contact:

The key to Marinette's guilt and genuineness concerning vunerable topics is hidden in her eyes, if she dares to look and if yes, then how deeply, how long and how open to said vunerablity is she? Cause Marinette can, will and absolutely HAS dealt with emotionally important and vunerable topics while she herself didnt actually let it reach her own vunerable core and remained on defense.

So explain to me again what exactly was shallow and inconcidered catcalling about this moment:

Yeah, that's what I thought.

---

Oh. And do me a favor, will you?

Everything I just said, that it is understandable for Marinette to feel desperate at this point to know.. well, ANYTHING about Chat Noir as civilian because she loves him so much and he means so much to her - and especially her who has sworn in the past to know absolutely EVERYTHING about the person she loves to feel save falling in love - and at this point so many informations around them clash with each other that it would take away any certainty Marinette has about what she always thought she knew and liked about Chat Noir?

All of that and so much more I mentioned? Yeah, let's stop cherry-picking through double standards for a second and apply all of that good-will and understanding for Marinette literally even going so far and being willing to turn into Chat's ENEMY to demask him, get to know him and get his love and apply just HALF of that to Adrien.

And I'm not asking you to do that for no reason. Cause if you do that then

Voilà:

You also get your actual reason for why Marinette said this at the end of "Passion".

Cause this isn't just Marinette romanticizing Chat Noir seemingly being able to flawlessly do for her now what she herself has unsuccessfully tried putting her self through with Adrien two times already - entirely stop acting like she loves him to the point where Adrien or anyone else wouldnt pick up on any absolutely still existing feeling in her anymore. All so she isnt distracted or tempted anymore to do any kind of bad choices for romantical or emotional reasons -,

Nope

Cause this questionable moment at the end of "Passion" IS Marinette massively appreciating how strong her partner is. Even if she isn't properly there yet morally-wise.

Marinette's crush on Chat Noir is on full display from episode 6 til 9 and in these 4 episodes she is literally going further and spiraling down harder than Adrien ever did for Ladybug in 4 seasons. This questionable moment is later payed off by THIS in "Perfection":

At the end of "Passion" that was Marinette gushing over how Chat Noir is emotionally strong enough to not only pull something off she herself knows she could never do - fully stop acting like she love Adrien for the greater good - it's also her gushing over him BECAUSE she knows exactly that by the end of season 4 Marinette as Ladybug pretty much reduced the Ladynoir partnership and friendship down to "Chat Noir I want you around but don't ask anything of me, don't expect me to tell you anything or that you have any voice or status in my team besides being my favorite minion and MY emotional support."

Cool that YOU don't agree that that's bad, but Marinette herself is literally gushing and squealing in "Passion" while being in hard-core denial that her partner has actually already moved on from her (as she said he has to do) because she doesn't want to face the reality that it wasn't only bad, it was BAD and now Chat is trying to protect his heart while still wanting to be with her as friends but she was making that..really difficult for him:

It was a necessary development from episode 6 til 9 that Adrien as Chat Noir learned to assert himself against Marinette / Ladybug and reject her too and actually have it stick even if she is sad, because Marinette herself is indeed aware now how MUCH she asked of her partner to put up with, go through for her and to what little amount of certainty about anything around them and her - whom he loves/loved dearly and with all his heart - he had to settle and adjust to with no choice in the matter bc she didn't let him have any choices

(I swear, if you make all of the season 4 Ladynoir conflict out to be "just" about Adrien's LOVE for Ladybug and completely ignore how much her friendship and companionship means to Adrien I will break into your house at night time and eat your broomstick right in front of you while keeping eye contact. And I promise you, we are both not gonna get out of that one without receiving psychological damage)

Minimize and disregard it however you want. MARINETTE is at least emotionally fully aware of what she did and knows she - who has/ had to know everything about her crush and control as much as possible with barely any compromises - could not have gone through what she asked of Chat Noir while also leaving him all isolated. Which, again, is something she knows she couldn't do because she literally brought Alya/ Rena in fully on his expense while keeping it a secret (and 14 other team mates, bc that was oh so vitally necessary).

The difference between the end moment of "Passion" and the beginning of "Perfection" is that in the later Marinette is past her denial that her asking so much of him she couldn't go through herself actually caused him pain and that is costed him so much emotionally that it did leave him wanting to protect his heart from Ladybug romance-wise and look for his own happiness and love somewhere else for his own sake.

And for the record since I mentioned it earlier: Yes, Adrien noticed the entire time that Ladybug flirted with him ever since "Determination", how is this still a hot take? The development hardly makes any sense if he was just too oblivious to breath. Besides, the entire time Ladybug making a move on Chat Noir always resulted in him running and pulling away from her and Adrien making himself take the next steps in facing his love for Marinette and persue her. No, that wasn't a mere coincidence for like 7 episodes in a row. Gosh...

All of this is literally pay-off for season 4. Marinette's love for Chat Noir coming to light and compensating for her regrets for their partnership, friendship and especially romance-wise; him rejecting her too and persuing civilian Marinette as Adrien and Adrinette finding a healthy love while Ladynoir gets comfortable around each other again.

What have y'all been watching?

#ml spoilers #ml analysis #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #ml season 5 #adrien agreste #miraculous ladybug #chat noir #Mister Bug #Lady Noire #Ladynoir #Misternoire #ml passion #ml elation #ml perfection #I have no idea how this will be perceived in the Marinette tag #Miraculous #Ml #Ml love square #Ml love square development #Marinette loves her Chaton #But I hardly see any appreciation for how much she actually does and not just surface level stuff to shut people up #After season 4 I'm eating Passion up to meant by broken Ladynoir heart #Ml Marinette appreciation #Glad I can use that tag again

[mlwritersguild]

Luka/Marinette/Adrien/Kagami - No One Can Know That I Know That He Knows That She Knows That One Thing

The response to this prompt is a collaborative effort by @galahadwilder and @deinde-prandium!

---

Luka wasn’t an idiot, but there were times he suspected Kagami thought he was. In fairness to him, however, it wasn’t exactly his fault that he was trying to put some space between them since accidentally discovering that she was Ryuuko. It’s not that the news upset him or anything. It was just…he was now at three secret identities that he’d discovered, all without even trying. And he wasn’t even a Guardian! As good as he was at projecting an air of calm around Marinette and Adrien, somehow knowing about Kagami as well threatened to set him off kilter. Honestly, he didn’t know how Marinette did it, keeping the kinds of secrets she did. But it’s not like he could talk to her about the situation…or Adrien, for that matter. He shuddered to think how awkward the conversation would go if it turned out that his boyfriend, a superhero, didn’t actually realize his boyfriend and girlfriends were also superheroes…

No. He just needed time to process. And to figure out what to do. The important thing was, no one could know that he knew. 

—

Kagami wasn’t an idiot, but she certainly felt like Luka was treating her like one. It’s not like she’d treated him any differently when she accidentally discovered he was Viperion— not that she told him that she knew, but still. Then again, it was one thing knowing Viperon’s secret identity, but quite another to learn the secret identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir. That discovery had thrown her for a loop, even though she really should have seen it coming, and now she found herself wishing she had a confidant. Talking to Adrien about it was out of the question, and Marinette— as the Guardian, she had enough on her plate. Luka, on the other hand…he would be an excellent secret keeper, if only it didn’t feel like he was avoiding her. Did he suspect that she knew about him? Hmm. 

Whatever Luka’s motives for avoiding her, perhaps he had the right idea. No matter how awkward things got, it was critical that no one knew that she knew. 

—

Adrien wasn’t an idiot, but he was starting to wonder if Marinette thought he was. Kagami had blown her identity on her first time out, and Miracle Queen had shown Luka’s directly to Hawkmoth, but only Marinette wasn’t allowed to have a Miraculous back after only he had seen her? Sure, do whatever it takes to protect your identity, but then. Luka—Viperion—had found out his, somehow, and she hadn’t seemed surprised. Which meant she knew and didn’t tell him. That hurt. He wanted to ask her about it, but he wasn’t supposed to know who she was, was he? She’d been adamant that nobody was supposed to know, but apparently it was just nobody but him.

He could get the picture. He wasn’t let in, again. And that was fine. He still cared about her, about all of them, even if they didn’t about him, so it’s not like anyone really needed to know he was hurting. It’s not like anyone needed to know he knew.

—

Marinette wasn’t an idiot. Both of her boyfriends, and her girlfriend, were all avoiding each other. Clearly there’d been some kind of fight, and all of them were… mad? Maybe?

Okay, maybe she was an idiot. Because she had no idea what had happened, why none of them were talking, and none of them were telling her anything. She’d gotten so engrossed in her duties as Ladybug, and the Guardian, that she hadn’t really kept up with her datemates, so she’d clearly missed something, and she had no idea what. And she couldn’t just ask them—they’d flip out and be mad at her and they’d stop being able to protect Paris and then Monarch would win and the city would be overrun by Nazi Zombies! No, she needed a plan. Some way to investigate what had happened. Maybe she could get the rest of Operation Secret Garden involved in her scheme? It didn’t matter. Whatever it took, she had to know.

---

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#ml writers #writer spotlight #galahadwilder #deinde prandium #ml writers guild #mlb #miraculous ladybug #adrien x marinette x luka x kagami #march 2024 event #the fic i might write

[vizzy740]

MariChat

Marinette looks out from her balcony at the sprawling expanse of Paris.

There’s the Eiffel tower, towering above the city, and there’s all the other sights, along with the black, starless sky, but she isn’t really interested in any of it.

She leans over her balcony, looking in the direction Chat Noir usually comes, waiting for him.

She can enjoy the skyline and her thoughts on her own, but Chat had said that he was coming tonight. With that knowledge she can’t just focus on the skyline that she’s known for her entire life, she can’t stop herself from looking over, waiting for the highlight of her night.

The development was a bit strange, when she first met Chat, he’d just been her annoying hero partner, constantly flirting with her and all that. Then she met him as Marinette and their relationship changed. Now they were friends, bonded through their mutual unattainable crushes.

For a time she’d felt guilty about the entire situation, with her being the one who was rejecting him. Later, she was able to compartmentalize it, realizing that though Chat does have feelings for Ladybug, he knows that the chances of her ever returning his feelings are low, but he’s still willing to shoot his shot every time he can.

“Hello, Princess.” Chat breathes into her neck.

She immediately turns around, smiling, though she knows there’s a slight exasperation and sass to her expression, “Really, Chat?”

Chat shrugs, a smile on his face as he moves away. She’s a bit disappointed at the distance, but she’s used to it.

“So, how was your day?” Chat asks.

Marinette gives him an answer and they easily transition from one thought to another, falling into their usual routine.

Eventually they reach a lull, and Marinette asks a question that’s been bugging her for a good while.

“How’s it going with you and Ladybug?”

Chat shrugs, “She told me that her job as a hero is to defeat Hawkmoth, unless some other supervillain comes along, she’s retired so… I guess nothing. What about you and your lover boy?”

“My… lover boy?”

“Your Ladybug, the boy you’ve been pining over? The person we bonded over?”

“Oh, yeah…” Marinette trails off, she hasn’t thought about Adrien in a while.

“What?”

Marinette shrugs, “I just… I haven’t thought about him in a while. I think…” She looks off, thinking it over, because she really hasn’t thought about Adrien, and now that she thinks about it, she hasn’t been awkward around him for a while, not since they defeated Hawkmoth, and it’s been a month since then. “I don’t think I like him anymore.” Her expression turns wistfully surprised as she breathes out, “I don’t like Adrien Agreste.”

“What?” Chat Noir says, his eyebrows are raised. “Wh-why would you like Adrien Agreste?”

Marinette laughs, it starts out small, but slowly grows until she can barely breathe. It takes her a good few minutes to be able to speak again, “H-who else would I be talking about? I said I liked the prettiest and handsomest boy in Paris, who else would I be talking about but The Adrien Agreste?”

“I-I don’t know.” Chat Noir replies, his expression still surprised. “H-how long do you think you’ve stopped liking him?”

Marinette shrugs, “I don’t know… I actually haven’t thought about it. A few months before, I promised that I’d stop trying to pursue him, but I’d done that a million times before, but it just seemed to stick that time…” She drifts off as she looks into Chat’s feline eyes.

He watches her intently, clearly eager to hear her continue, but she isn’t interested, she’d prefer to hear about whatever Chat has to say, or just look in his brilliant green eyes all night…

Oh. That’s why she stopped liking Adrien.

 …

Chat Noir thinks he regrets not asking Marinette out as Adrien a few months ago. Which is a very weird thing to do, because he didn’t think he was interested in Marinette before then, but now he can’t stop thinking about the now-defunct prospect of being with her in that way.

About how he could’ve asked her out, how he could be going out to Andre’s ice cream stand with her, how he could hold her hand as they walk around some place, any place.

He doesn’t know how this is happening. His feelings for Ladybug don’t feel any different. Speaking of which—

“That went well, didn’t it?” Ladybug says as she strolls with him upon the rooftops of Paris, “We kept our privacy, but we were able to get them satisfied enough that they won’t question your late-night roof-top runs and my absence.”

Chat Noir nods. “Yeah.” He says absentmindedly.

“Chat, are you okay?”

“I… yeah, I’m fine, I just… feel a bit strange. There’s this girl I talk to sometimes, as Chat Noir. We bonded over our mutually unreciprocated feelings. She told me a while ago that her feelings have… left, that she doesn’t like him anymore, and in the same breath she revealed that it was… that it was me. That she’d liked my civilian identity. Now I can’t stop thinking about it, how I could’ve been with her just a few weeks ago, and I’m regretting not doing it now.”

“S-so you think you like her, like you want to… to date her?” Ladybug asks, her voice trembling for no reason that Chat can fathom.

Chat shrugs, “I suppose so.”

“Th-that’s good. Well you should, youshouldprobably, probably go on her roof tonight. I’ll— I hope you have a good time!” And swung away, her usual cool attitude strangely destroyed.

He smiled as she left, charmed at her rare awkwardness.

…

When he came to Dupain-Cheng roof, the place was… a bit busy.

Marinette was scurrying around moving things about in a mad haste. She looked over to find somewhere to put the mess she held in her arms, only to accidentally finally notice him perched on the fence of her balcony.

“Oh, uh… h-hi Chat Noir. I-I didn’t think you’d be over here so soon.” She replied, her voice trembling and her face flushed.

Chat nodded, “Ladybug said that I should come over tonight, did you talk to her about something?”

“I, uh… y-you could say, butalsonotreallyit’smorelike…” she stopped herself, and took a deep breath and let it out.

She looked to the ground and didn’t say anything.

“Did Ladybug tell you that I’m–”

“I know you’re Adrien Agreste.” Marinette interrupts, “And… and I like you, as Chat, as your pun-filled, stupid, flamboyant self with all your… stupid bells and all. The fact that you’re Adrien isn’t why I like you… I like you for… for this side of you. I-I’d like to go out with you.”

“W-would you be okay going out with Adrien too?”

She looked up, a smile on her face, which in a second turned into a chuckle, he smiled at the sight.

“Yeah, I’d be okay with that.” Marinette replied. “It would be useful to see who I’m dating outside of them coming to my balcony at night.”

“And, uhh… I still like Ladybug.”

Marinette’s expression grew confused.

“Would you be okay with that?”

Marinette opened her mouth, then closed it, her expression becoming concentrated.

“Tonight you… you told me that you were Adrien.” She replies.

“I… didn’t?” he replies.

“No, you did, after you finished you and Ladybug’s final interview.”

“But–”

Marinette shook her head, a few turns longer than anyone usually would. She reshuffled the things in her arms, and tucked her hair behind one of her ears, and looked up to him, her lips were pursed in what could almost be a frown, and her eyebrows were furrowed together. She tilted her head to let the hair she’d tucked fall by her ear, her trademark black earrings still in place.

“Why would you having feelings for Ladybug trouble me?”

Plain earrings.

“Are… are you Ladybug?” Chat asks.

“Yes,” Marinette replies, “I am Ladybug. So… would you go out with me?”

“Yeah.”

Catcity

#mlb #mlb fanfic #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #marichat #marinette dupain cheng #mlb marinette #marinette cheng #cat noir #miraculous #miraculous marinette #marinette dupen chang #chat noir #romance #drabble #oneshot #one shot #1.3k ish words #plus 1k words

[artzychic27]

Just a little fic idea I had to blurt out, I’m tired, feel free to throw in ideas and we’ll see where this goes (Includes elements of WandaVision, I may make a WandaVision au, we’ll see)

One morning, the Akuma Class all wake up to find Paris has become sort of a medieval fantasy world, less dark ages, more Renaissance Faire complete with peasants in colorful clothing, fairies flying about, the occasional dragon flying overhead, phones and laptops are replaced with pen and paper and carrier pigeons, Jagged’s a famous bard, etcetera

At first, a few think, “Oh, I must be dreaming.”

But the rest are, “Uh, how are we all having the same dream?”

While walking around and trying to figure out what’s going on, they end up in the town square where a crowd has gathered, just in time to hear some trumpets blowing and for Butler Jean to announce the arrival of the Prince

And to their surprise… It’s Nath! (They didn’t even realize he wasn’t with him) He looks… Happier. His smile looks more genuine even though he’s not around Marc, and he doesn’t look the least bit embarrassed by all of the praise he’s receiving

Girl: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Nathaniel: *Catches a rose in his hand* Love you, too, rando!

Those who are still so sure this is a dream world join in on the cheering, catching the attention of everyone until it’s just awkward silence. Then one guy screams, “IT’S THEM!” The crowd gets into a panic, Nathaniel is escorted away, and when Akuma Class is wondering just what the hell is going on, a team of knights surround them

The only ones who stand out are the two in magenta and mint armor (Psst, it’s Denise and Lacey as the head knights) They order the other knights to seize the Akuma Class, but they manage to escape and find refuge in an alley

They get some answers when they find a few wanted posters with their faces on them plastered on the walls, labeling them as traitors to the crown

Ivan: Kim, what’d you do?

Kim: Nothing!… Though, I’m sure I did do something.

Going against their better judgement, they sneak through the village while avoiding knights out for their heads, (Though, Marinette and Adrien sneak away) and manage to make their way over the palace walls with some help from Ladybug and Chat Noir, and find themselves in a hedge maze. While walking and speculating who could be behind this, they begin to suspect Marc because it’s a fantasy world and of course, he would make Nath the prince. That doesn’t explain why he made them traitors, though

While walking, they come across Aurore, a weather fae watering a rose bush with a rain cloud. She’s about to call the knights, but Rose goes feral and tackles het to the ground with her hand over her mouth. While she’s restraining her wrists, Aurore suddenly goes limp and there’s a brief moment of them freaking out until she seems to wake back up, sounding panicked and wondering where she is until she sees the outlaws and is like, 😑

Aurore is kind of dismissive when the outlaws question her, but before they can notice, they hear some knights approaching, Rose gets off of Aurore, and she goes back to screaming for help all of a sudden while they run away

Meanwhile~

Nathaniel is in his bedroom with Marc, who’s consoling him about earlier, giving him nothing but compliments, and swearing to stop the traitors until Nathaniel asks him to stop talking about them, when they get an alert from one of the knights that the Akuma Class, Ladybug, and Chat Noir have snuck in

The outlaws (Their group name for the time being) sneak all around the castle to look for either Marc or Nathaniel, but come across Jean, now a minstrel. He’s about to warn everyone until Rose goes feral again and tackles him to the floor She restrains his wrist like with Aurore, and it’s the same effect. Jean goes limp for a second, wakes up and freaks out, and he sees the outlaws and is just-

Jean: Oh, it’s you guys.

Ladybug: What’s with the attitude?

Jean: Don’t act like you don’t know. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t go all ballistic when he got Akumatized and tried to make you all disappear into like this alternate universe where you never existed or did like a Groundhog Day thing where you’re forced to relive awful moments until you learn the fucking lesson he’s trying to teach you. I mean, that’s what I’d do, but I’m petty like, 24/7; it’s a real problem.

Sabrina: Enough with the pronouns game! “He” who?!

But before Jean can answer, knights storm in, Rose gets off of him, and he goes back to talking like it’s the Middle Ages

The outlaws split up all around the castle to avoid the knights. Ladybug and Chat Noir manage to make it to Nath’s tower where they find him standing on his balcony serenading some song birds like a fucking Disney princess. Chat Noir makes the move to take his wrist, but nothing happens like with Aurore and Jean

Ladybug: Nath?

Nathaniel: … Is that any way to speak to a Prince? No matter, you need to leave. I can’t have either of you interfering when my knight brings the traitors to justice.

Ladybug: Nathaniel, listen to us; Your friends-

Nathaniel: They are not my friends. They are not even my subjects. They are traitors, as are you both. You are outsiders, and you are trespassing here. And I want you both to leave!

Later, when Marc returns, Ladybug and Chat Noir are gone, and he informs Nathaniel that the knights have caught the outlaws

Meanwhile…

Ladybug and Chat Noir emerge through a wall of purple static and find themselves back in Paris… Or part of it, at least. The rest of it is encased by a purple forcefield. While they wonder what that could mean, they’re confronted by Austin Tomassian, who looks seconds close to slapping them both across the face. It’s when he shows them a video Armbruster sent him, that they realize why Nathaniel got akumatized

After yet another- quite destructive- Akuma that went to attack the school, the Akuma Class evacuated with help from Ladybug and Chat Noir, but left Nathaniel to trip, fall, and get his leg crushed by falling bricks. Alix made a move to help him, but Ladybug insisted that they had to keep going since the Akuma was right behind them, and they all just left. Fortunately, Denise rushed out of an alleyway where the Science Kids were hiding, threw the bricks off of Nathaniel, and carried him to safety with the rest of their class before the Akuma saw them

Cue Judgmental/Disappointed Austin Tomassian Glare™️

Tomassian: Go fix this, now! He’s got my boyfriend locked in there doing God knows what! It’s been an hour since we’ve made out, and I’m going through withdrawals, man! *Pushes Ladybug and Chat Noir back into the forcefield*

And that’s all I got. Feel free to add on, or something, but like I said, expect a WandaVision au

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc anciel #akumatized nathaniel #just an idea #I don’t know

[hungarrrrrr]

ALL ABOARD MY CRACK SHIPS!! 🚢🚢🚢

(in no particular order)

Alya x Adrien (Rena x Chat) same brain cell all the way

Ok ik I said they share the same brain cell and I still think Rena and Chat do but Alya and Adrien’s dynamic is a lil different. They’d probably start off as friends first. I think Alya would take him out of his comfort zone and show him new and exciting things. Like adrenaline junkie things bc Alya is so fun and fearless. Also different foods bc her mom is a Chef.

Stormy Weather x Chat Noir. gets flustered/angry when teased x teaser

okay I think this one is pure crack but it’d be so silly! Soo much banter, so many puns. There is no real explanation or justification for this ship, I just watched Stormy Weather and found them fun. also I love stormy weather’s design

Chloe x Adrien aww childhood friends to lovers.

Of course their relationship would have some ups and downs but Adrien is kind, patient, and forgiving giving Chloe the room to fully develop into a better person. Chloe would help Adrien become more assertive and firm, not only with her bc she can act like a brat sometimes, but also with his father and people who try to take advantage of him (FÉLIX). He would probably only get like that on occasion though and Chloe would usually be the one to say he ordered no pickles on his burger.

Chloe x Kagami (Queen Bee x Ryuko) tsundere x kuudere.

I can see this going two of ways, either enemies to lovers or something similar to a celebrity/popular person and person who doesn’t give a shit and treats them like a normal person. Kagami would call Chloe out on her shit n that would simultaneously piss Chloe off and make her contemplate the way she acts. Maybe they both connect over their love for Adrien, platonic or romantic (😱 love triangle where the opponents fall in love instead!?!?) Both are some how extremely blunt while also being emotionally constipated. I like to imagine that when Chloe is being rude for attention Kagami would ignore her until Chloe asks directly for what she wants(cuddles).

Luka x Nino (Viperion x Carapace) chill guy x nervous wreck.

When Nino is stressed Luka is always there to calm him down. Otherwise, they’re both super chill and bond over music. In the past, Nino would sometimes entertain the idea of learning an instrument and making his own music but now that Luka’s in his life and is starting a band, he has more motivation to learn the keyboard. He would probably replace Adrien in Kitty Section (sorry adrien). But if Adrien rlly wants to be in the band Nino has no problem just directing/editing the music videos for them or background sound stuff.

Nino x Marinette complete disasters.

Definitely awkward in the beginning. Especially if they both have crushes on eachother. Nino would make Marinette playlists as a way of communicating his feelings. Either the titles of all the songs say a message or the songs themselves are the message. So much blushing, nervous laughter, and slip-ups (if they can even talk to eachother at all), Adrien and Alya would help them fall in love and confess and possibly develop feelings for each other while doing so.

Rose x Max might be a lil ooc but cinnamon roll x cynical or more accurately blind optimist x extreme realist

lol I lowkey started writing a whole short story/synopsis for these two but long story short Rose gets Max to believe in the improbable and to stop relying so much brain and more on his heart. Rose can be kind of naive so Max helps Rose use her brain and start questioning others and their intentions more. When Rose tell Max about her illness he would freak out, research it, and bring Rose’s favorite things as much as possible if she was in the hospital. He even would build her a robot that tells jokes, plays movies, and has custom video games that she would like. Idk.

To be honest most of these started off as jokes but now that I’ve typed out their dynamics I think some of these ships could actually work.

#alya x adrien #rena x chat #rena rouge x chat noir #stormy weather x chat noir #nino x luka #viperion x carapace #nino x marinette #rose x max #chloe x kagami #ryuko x queen bee #adrien x chloe #crackship #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #chat noir #rena rouge #stormy weather mlb #chloe bourgeois #kagami tsuguri #miraculous ryuko #queen bee #nino lahiffe #marinette dupen chang #luka couffaine #rose lavillant #max kante

[sariahsue]

Jealousy Ch 2

Adrien's point of view

(Chapter one (Marinette's pov) here. Please note that I started this story in the ancient days of May 2021.)

---

Chat Noir almost always felt at home in Marinette's room. It was cozy and warm, lined with layers of fabric, like she was building a soft den. It was so different from his own old and sterile room. His windows let him see outside at the same time they reminded him he would always be disconnected from it. Marinette leaned against him, but tonight, no matter how close he physically was to her, he felt like they were on opposite sides of glass.

Their playing cards had been knocked out of their piles by Marinette's victory dance. A container of leftover noodles lay empty on its side. And Chat Noir held steady against Marinette's weight as she relaxed into his side.

There were so many things he couldn't tell her. So many things he wanted her to understand. "Hey, Bug?"

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Aren't you asking something now?" she joked. "Sure."

He hesitated. Asking was only a few steps removed from the forbidden act of telling. (Not his name. Not how many days it had been since he'd last had dinner with his father, or been given a hug.) He wanted to ask why she'd taken down all her pictures of Adrien. What had he done as his civilian self that had upset her so much? She stayed perfectly polite to him at school.

Instead he asked, "If it weren't for that other guy, do you think you would have fallen for me?"

Marinette leaned away. It wasn't the first time he'd asked a variation of this question. It was almost always on his mind. His rival.

"Um... do you want to play another round of Uno," she deflected, "or should we do something else?"

"Marinette, I'm serious. Would you have?"

She shrugged. "Maybe, I guess. Video games? I have UMS 4."

"Really, that's it? You guess? That's not a real answer."

"Please, chaton. Don't do this to yourself."

He selfishly slid closer to her. Not many people allowed him to be in their space like this, and the need to touch her was too much. If she felt like he was chasing her, she didn't complain. A reminder that at least someone wanted him around.

He didn't stop until he could feel her comfortable body heat against his side again. "I just want to know."

He'd expected a simple yes or no.

"You're kind and compassionate. You're reliable. You're funny." She stopped, taking care to find her next words. He thought she would just tell him no. "We have such a strong connection, and I trust you with my life. You're brave. You're my best friend."

Marinette's voice dropped for the devastating truth. "It would have been so easy. That's the real answer."

Chat Noir struggled to stay still, focusing on not hugging her, not crying, not moving. Even if she didn't love him back, she did in some way love him. She just… loved someone else more. Differently. Who was it? Adrien watched her at school. He knew Alya teased her constantly about her love life and Marinette's inability to talk to the mysterious boy who'd so effortlessly caught her attention. Adrien never overheard his name, though he'd tried.

"So why haven't you talked to him yet?" Chat Noir asked.

"What?"

"If you'd pick him over all that, then you must like him a lot, but you aren't together."

Marinette shifted, looking at him for the first time since gifting him a list of her favorite things about him (a gift he didn't deserve). "And I can't imagine anyone rejecting you, so you must not have asked him out yet."

"I'm... very awkward around him. I'm pretty sure I make him uncomfortable sometimes."

"I doubt it," he said. "So who is he?" Another question he hadn't been able to ask before. But he was tired of the glass in between them. If he couldn't be with her, maybe knowing more about her would help. This nameless boy was such a huge part of her life.

And one of the biggest obstacles in his.

Marinette got up and walked away, her back to him. "We shouldn't be talking about this."

"Why not?"

"Because I hate this!" Her face was pained as she turned to him. "I hate hurting you every time you bring it up."

The headless mannequin was suddenly very interesting. Father didn't have his own mannequin until he was nearly 18. Marinette was more passionate and more talented.

"I'm only curious," he lied. He felt like a bad friend for pushing, but there was only so much he could learn about her from studying the decor in her room. "I just want to know what type of person attracts Ladybug. That's all." And find out what he still lacked.

"I'll tell you under two conditions. One, you stop asking about it. Two, you don't laugh at me."

"Laugh?" he asked. "Why would I laugh?"

"Because you're going to think it's a celebrity crush, and it's not."

He waved to distract her from his face. He hoped it was neutral, but he couldn't be sure. A celebrity? She had a crush on some random celebrity? That's who his competition was?

Marinette groaned. "Adrien Agreste."

He didn't think. Didn't realize he'd stood up until he was walking toward her. The glass was shattering. "Plagg, claws in!"

"NO!" she shrieked, snapping her eyes shut. Had she seen? "What are you doing? Put your suit back on!"

"No."

"I'm not going to look at you."

Plagg bobbed back and forth between the two of them, then flew off to find Tikki. That was as close to permission as he was going to give.

"You have to retransform." Her commanding tone was at odds with the way she backed up, flinching away from him until she hit her desk, hiding her face in an effort to protect him. Or maybe herself.

"No," he repeated, "not until you look."

"You'll have to," she said. "You can't walk out my front door and let people see you. You'll have to leave the way you came in."

"You're just going to keep your eyes closed for the rest of the night?"

She nodded.

Adrien walked over to her, his socked feet stepping lightly over the remains of their time together. He wrapped her in a loose hug, and then waited. After a few seconds, Marinette dropped her hands from her face and sunk into him. He took that as permission to hug her the way he'd always wanted, like he was never going to let her go.

Maybe he didn't have to.

He was the boy. The rival. The obstacle. She could know all of him, and he wouldn't have to feel so fragmented and broken. There would be nothing left to come between them, if only she would open her eyes.

Marinette shivered in his arms. His fire dimmed, replaced with softness at her worry. It was so much better to hold her without thick armor in the way, just a few layers of fabric.

He wouldn't force her to look, but he wasn't above leading her for once. He could tell himself that it would be an advantage, tactically, for her to know who he was. It would strengthen their partnership, but really, he just needed her to know him.

"I'm not opening my eyes," she said.

"Then please just listen to my voice. I won't tell you my name, but please just listen?"

She pushed her face into his neck, skin to skin, and breathed deeply, nodding. Adrien wanted to drop his head on top of hers, but instead only leaned down, letting her hair brush his cheek. Almost nothing in between them.

"When I'm not transformed, I'm much quieter."

"A quiet Chat Noir?" Marinette teased. "What must that be like?"

"I don't show off either. I try to avoid attention, actually. I get too much of it."

Marinette didn't ask him why, though he'd expected it. He hoped it was because she was trying to figure it out despite herself.

"Did you know that we know each other outside the masks? We go to the same school."

He stopped, letting her come to the truth if she was ready. Despite what he wanted, and how desperately he needed to be seen by her, this ultimately had to be her choice. If she wanted to understand, she would.

Marinette's fingers started to roam, first to his ungloved hand, maybe testing to see if he really was detransformed. The hairs on his forearms raised as she drew a line from his wrist to the edges of his rolled up sleeves. Over and across, to his shoulders, a breathless slide along his collarbone, then down the buttons of his shirt, then back up to his shoulders as she breathed into his neck, and her eyelashes tickled him as she opened her eyes.

She wouldn't be able to see his face, but she knew. He rested his head on hers, strengthening his hold on her.

"You're kind and compassionate," he said. "You're brave and creative and amazing. It was so easy to fall in love with you, Marinette."

Her hands slid from his shoulders and wrapped around his neck, holding him just as tightly as he held her. "I love you too, Adrien."

#ml #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #marichat #fanfiction

[jennagrinsoverml]

I've been through your rec lists already, do you have any more funny stupid ladrien recs? Or in general?

Usually I don’t revisit lists that I’ve already made, but I haven’t recced ladrien in a while and I love them and I do, in fact, have a couple of other fics in mind! Not all of these are funny, especially because I find that the ladrien pool of fics is already on the smaller side, but hopefully you still enjoy these!

(I have, of course, previously recced ladrien: hidden gems ladrien and funny ladrien and ladrien fake masks and flirty Ladybug/Marinette (which featured a lot of ladrien))

Bedroom Talk: The Awkward Edition by @botherkupo

“Do you want to come in?” Adrien had blurted. Yeah. He should have kept his mouth shut.

One-shot. These two are so crazy for each other, and I do mean crazy. Watching them bumbling around like two awkward, enamoured beans was so much fun. I seriously cackled through the whole thing.

identity crisis by @e-milieeee​

Chat Noir discovers that despite wearing a supersuit, it’s still possible to get a concussion. He also discovers that after hitting your head hard enough, it’s practically impossible to keep a secret identity.

Ladybug is not sure what to make of concussed-Chat-Noir, who is either suffering an identity crisis and thinks himself to be Adrien Agreste, or is Adrien Agreste.

The first option seems more believable.

One-shot. (This is actually part two of a loosely connected series, but it can be read as a standalone.) This one is so well done with the way Ladybug’s distracted thoughts are interwoven with the akuma battle. But more importantly, these two are just SO DUMB. (Though at least Chat has the excuse that he’s concussed haha)

œuf ouch owie by @ominousunflower 

Chat Noir enlists Rena Rouge's help to create an Aspik illusion. Absolutely nothing goes wrong.

Ladybug smiles. “I wanted to drop by and welcome Aspik. I know it must be a little intimidating, being surrounded by so many veteran heroes…so, welcome! We’re glad to have you on board.”

“I look like an egg!” Aspik announces, T-posing.

Chat turns to Rena, feeling like he has been punched in the solar plexus. What the hell? he mouths.

Rena grimaces, her eyes wide with panic. Stomach sinking, Chat remembers one of the first things he learned about the Fox Miraculous: that if Rena Rouge isn’t focused, her illusions go haywire.

Oh, no.

One-shot. This isn’t ENTIRELY ladrien, but it definitely hints at Ladybug’s feelings for Adrien and illusion!Aspik makes some comments about his feelings for Ladybug. Mostly I’m reccing it because it’s hands down the FUNNIEST fic in the entire fandom asdfghjkl like I have read this fic at least 50 times and I still laugh out loud every single time. If you have somehow failed to read this fic before, read it now. You won’t regret it!

Resolution by @thelibraryloser​

Ladrien: New Year's Eve Resolutions and also... another Ladrien specific bonus trope which is a surprise and I will give you a hint: it isn't gratuitous blushing

One-shot. Yes, it’s a seasonal fic, but don’t let that stop you! Besides, I think we’re close enough to the holidays now to break out the seasonal fics! (Real talk: I never stopped.) This fic is so lovely. I love all the little reminders of how well Adrien knows Ladybug, and then oh my gosh there’s so much YEARNING here. The dynamic between these two is so perfectly done with all of the little hints that Adrien’s feelings are requited, even as he thinks it must be wishful thinking, and then that ending 😍😍😍 This fic hasn’t gotten nearly as much love as it deserves, please read it!!

Hold Me Close by @ck2k18

Alya has a plan to get Marinette and Adrien together, and the result is Adrien is spending a lot more time in Ladybugs arms. But what happens when an akuma shatters the illusion?

One-shot. OMG the premise is so ridiculous and these two three are so stupid and I love them so much!! Alya is the wingwoman to end all wingwomen, Ladybug came around awfully fast, and Adrien is just living his dream! Seriously, this is so cute and funny!

scales and steps by @settledownsummer

Adrien left something behind while running from an Akuma. Ladybug has a five-step plan to return it to him.

One-shot. This is adorable. For once one of Marinette’s plans re Adrien actually works! It’s so cute being in her head as she works her way through her plan, and Adrien, of course, is super responsive, and the whole thing is just so sweet and pure.

Sleepless in Paris by @2manyfandoms2count

Adrien receives a relationship-threatening text from Ladybug. A sleepless night later, his overthinking is bad. Thankfully Ladybug comes over and puts him out of his misery.

Or, Adrien is a drama queen (affectionate).

One-shot. This one starts a little sad with Adrien freaking out over the text from Ladybug and while we all know he’s being stupid, I still felt for him! And then it just leads into utter ridiculousness that makes me so happy with a nice happy ending.

Operation Marichat by @coffeebanana​

When the news gets out that Ladybug and Adrien are an item, Alya and Nino make it their life's mission to comfort Marinette. Because obviously she'd be sad that Adrien's off the market, right? (Never mind the fact that Alya knows exactly who's underneath Ladybug's mask.)

And if Nino's plan to cheer up Marinette involves setting her up with Chat Noir...what could possibly go wrong with that?

One-shot. This one is just so much fun! EVERYONE is stupid and meddling and asdfghjkl Just FANTASTIC shenanigans and the whole thing is hilarious and the identity reveal is awesome.

#ml #miraculous ladybug #ml fic rec #ml fanfic #ml love square #ladrien #ml fic recs #jennarecsml