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miraculouscontent · 3 years

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Didn’t Need Burrow (May 23rd-25th)

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Astruc admitted Sabine was based on an ex and Marinette is what he imagined their daughter to be like. He later admits Audrey was based on an ex and Chloe is what he imagined their daughter would be like. Despite moving on, he still bitter and created two teen girls as "payback" against his exes.

The whole “virtual daughter” thing still squicks me out.

Also, I don’t actually take “Didn’t Need Burrows” referring specifically to the staff/fandom since that’s outside of the show, but I also definitely think about them all the time and like sticking them in here.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Building off of the "Adrien knows about Marinette's crush on him and tells Plagg about it" Burrow, Plagg will point out to Adrien that this is a bad idea and what he is doing is wrong and that Adrien is leading Marinette on so as to stroke his own ego. He will not be listened to, and the show portray him as in the wrong, despite him being right, because anybody who stands up for Marinette's agency deserves to be shut down. In the meantime, Adrien will be allowed to continue

Bonus if Plagg will be considered “wrong” because Adrien not leading Marinette on would lead to him being sAd because Marinette isn’t fawning over him anymore (as if he doesn’t have a million fans).

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be presented not only as "Chloe if she was good person", but also as "Marinette if she wasn't constantly making mistakes"

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be basically Marinette if "Marinette's Mistake of the Week" formula never existed.

Sounds about right.

Amazing what can happen when the show doesn’t have a gun to your head telling you to make mistakes in every episode.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: The show delves into a shitty harem as the writers forget that Adrien is not the main character. Who knows, maybe Zoe will join the harem.

The only reason I feel like Zoe wouldn’t be a part of Adrien’s harem is so she can ship the love square.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be Animaestro-type episode where Marinette "makes alliance" with (read: is manipulated by) Chloe or Lila against Zoe. In the end she is only one punished, while her "partner in crime" (or rather person who manipulated her) walks away completely scot-free.

To the surprise of no one. Can’t have the antagonists be punished, because that would make sense.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: (narrative-wise) Agreste's family drama and Bourgeois's sisters drama will overshadow whatever Marinette character arc will be in season 4.

I’m taking this a step further and saying that Marinette in generall will keep having her plots/”arcs” overshadowed by everyone else.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Marinette will be akumatized. She will be easily defeated due to "bond" between Chat Noir and Temporary Ladybug Zoe. This will be presented like Ladybug's constant refuse to "bond" with Chat Noir was reason why their fights with Akumatized Villains are so hard. (bonus: This episode will be followed by a group of fans that would state that Zoe should replace Marinette as Ladybug Miraculous Holder and not Chloe as Bee Miraculous Holder.)

Uggggh, I’m always waiting for the “love square magical bond” garbage.

Also, the bonus reminds me of the fact that I don’t understand people who hate on both Marinette and Luka but continue to ship the love square. Like, wouldn’t they want to ship Adrien with someone “””worthy””” of him??

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Marinette akumatization has Miracle Queen-type set-up, Chat Noir will quickly defeat her and whatever all other Miraculous Holders alone (or optionally supported by Temporary Ladybug Zoe). This will be presented by narrattive as proof of why Chat Noir is Brawn in Ladybug-Chat Noir duo. (Bonus: After that episode Adrien stans will make mass of "I hope this will shut up everyone who think that Chat Noir is useless/weaker than Ladybug/etc." type posts)

At this point, I’ve just grown numb to Chat suddenly being able to do things that don’t make sense for him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Temporary Ladybug Zoe

Okay but is she keeping the black highlights or do they turn red. These are important questions.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Kagami will be changed (ret-conned) into Adrienette (or other Love Square's part) shipper after "Lies"

Something similar is already on the card so that’s fun. :’3

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe, not Marinette, will be wearing that dress from the Season 4 Concept Art.

*eye twitch*

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Rena Rogue will be appearing even when she isn't needed to defeat Akuma of the Week. This will be probably used to justify Chat Noir's increasing resent up towards Ladybug and (probably) consequent reversal of Love Square.

anything: *happens*

Chat Noir: bad Ladybug

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Ending: Marinette will willingly sacrifice herself to wake up from coma/ressurect Emilie. Both Adrien and Gabriel will be happy that Emilie is back. Adrien will have his happy relationship/ending with Zoe whom personality is (or was ret-conned into) "Marinette in anything but name". (Bonus points: if everyone behave like Marinette never existed after Emilie revival)

I’m sad.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Akuma of the Week isn't Reflekta/Mr Pigeon/Gigantitan/etc,.Pig Miraculous"s "Gift" power will basically fail and only make current Akumatized Villain angrier and more determined to achieve his goal, basically restarting whole fight against Akuma.

PIGELLA NO

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will never react to Zoe becoming more popular than her

I imagine Zoe isn’t the same age as Chloe since they’re not twins, so Zoe at least won’t be in Bustier’s class.

Now, if they make her a Lila slave, then we’ll see.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that Marinette is going to hate Zoe for being related to Chloe and this will be limited to her or she'll be the only one scolded for it (likely by Adrien), because you can't hate someone for who they're related to (which actually is a good lesson but ml will probably f it up somehow).

I feel like the writers just look at a character and go, “okay, how can we engineer them in a way for Marinette to mess up around them?

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need Burrow - Chat will find out Rena Rouge knows her identity and becomes angry bc "You and me against the world, m'lady." This will cause one episode of Adrienette becoming closer and Ladynoir drifting apart before Chat magically forgives her like it was no big deal after she makes a huge gesture to get him back.

You’d think they’d have worn out the reset button by now...

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need burrow: one of two things will happen, either Adrien will try to help Luka get back together with Marinette (basically the same plot as Mr. pigeon 72) or the relationship will not be brought up ever again and Mari and Luka don't really directly interact with each other anymore

“Bonus” if Adrien is “taught a lesson” that he shouldn’t meddle, and it’s only because he chose to meddle in Lukanette. “Double bonus” if his attempts actually get Lukanette back together but this is presented as a bad thing (for some reason)..

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be(e)come pernament Bee Miraculous Holder.

This won’t be added because I think we already got official confirmation on this?

Oh, or do you mean “permanent” as in her keeping the miraculous eventually?

edit: yes, that’s what they meant (also, A+ pun)

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Every Miraculous Holder introduced in Season 4 will be will lose right to their Miraculous, except Zoe/Vesperia.

lol me just imagining them struggling over either making models or trying to not use those miraculouses anymore.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Luka will be forced to say Adrien and Marinette are perfect for each other in "Optigami".

Wow, show, why don’t you just prove more that you’re purposefully pointing out that you’re giving Marinette a grand total of One “Obvious” Option.

Anonymous asked:

Unsure if this one has been sent yet but | Didn't Need Burrow: Alya is going to continue Marinette to pursue Adrien even after Marinette broke down and said she doesn't have time for love right now.

We have some similar ones I think.

“Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square“

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sandboy 2.0: Ladybug's nightmare will be about Chat Noir abandoning/hating her

I was dumb enough to raise an eyebrow at this like, “Would they really reuse akum--oh wait.”

Anonymous asked:

I'm gonna try and go for a good Didn't Need Burrow: WHen Sole Crusher gets Marinette we'll either get a lovely King Kong moment between them, or Chat Noir will come in and save her (and it'll possibly be a moment of reverse love square).

If they have Marinette doing the cliche “crushing because they got saved” I’m gonna throw hands.

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to burrow:

Marinette will never have a heart to heart with Luka revealing she's Ladybug or even explain the reason for their breakup.

Just gonna slap a big asterisk on this because it’s like:

*despite Luka being an obvious choice and they could’ve worked out the issue but the show is afraid of the side ship they’ve created working out better than the love square itself

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to Burrow: For Optigami, the episode will barely or never acknowledge Luka's and Marinette's relationship/breakup. It will be ignored and we won't have any cute Lukanette moments. As long as Adrien is in the picture, Luka will be always sidelined.

Honestly that last one is basically one of the commandments of this show.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will now only appear in cameos (probably without even any voice lines).

show writers, shoving Lila under a rug: Leela Ransai?? Never heard of him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Since Lukanette is over, Luka can be ret-conned from show. Everyone will behave like he never existed at all (and Lukanette never hapenned).

We at least know that Luka now appears in a later episode, but this could easily be worded as “Luka can be retconned away from being Marinette’s love interest and everyone will act like he and Marinette aren’t that close or never made soft eyes at each other.”

Except I wouldn’t count on Lukanette being retconned because that would stop the show from being allowed to make Marinette feel bad and guilty and possibly cause another akuma over it, plus possibly Luka “rejecting” his feelings for her and thus making her feel worse that he sees her in a lesser light.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be an episode that will break "Mr Pigeon" episode record of "Don't Need a Burrow" and close calls.

Not gonna lie, I would be legitimately impressed if that happened. I’m just wondering what predictions would be mashed together to make it as such.

Anonymous asked:

Didn’t Need Burrow to know that Zoey (I heard somewhere that that’s how her name is going to be in America, it might be wrong), is going to get involved in the love square somehow.

Bonus:

Or she will replace Kagami’s role as Marinette’s friendly rival, and when her heart gets broken Marinette will be the one to blame, for no reason, like always. Or she will have an interest in Marinette, since it seems they are going to be close friends, only for Marinette to put her in the friend zone, and she gets akumatized. People will blame Marinette for giving false hopes to the girl, even though, she never acted different than how a friend would act.

All girls exist to comment/have an opinion on the love square, obviously, and they’re antagonists/villains if they have a negative opinion on it.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Writers will use Alya bashing concept of Alya proposing Lila as potential new Miraculous Holder. Marinette will obviously refuse, but due to fact that Lila is suddenly ret-conned into being good person this is Marinette's Mistake of the Week. She will repair it by making Lila pernament Miraulous Holder

Waiting for the one episode long Lila redemption...

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sabrina will be redeemed. She will change from Chloe's servant... to Zoe's servant.

and it’s fine of course because Zoe and Sabrina are best friends and Sabrina is doing this all happily and willingly.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Alya will be changed into basically Marinette's Guardianship mentor

Somehow, this is one of the ones I hate the most because it seems accurate so far.

#((''Sole Crusher'' airing in a bit so needed to get this out now.))#((''Mr. Pigeon 72'' is such trash for most of it so I wanna salt but after seeing the trailer for ''Optigami'' BOYYYY))#((better to wait it out.))#((Four episodes in a week and my brain is mush.))#Didn't Need Burrow #((I'll put these on the spreadsheet later. I'm tired.))

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chicoriii · 3 years

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Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72

I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.

Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.

I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.

But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.

In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.

Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.

I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.

Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.

So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.

The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.

Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.

Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.

After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.

Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.

I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.

---------

I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.

#miraculous ladybug #ml mr. pigeon 72 #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #ml spoiler #chicoriii about S4 episodes #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii #original post

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neakco · 3 years

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The Lost Temple Ch.3

Ao3 First Prev Next Masterlist

Tim and Marinette are captured by the enemy. At least they don't have to search for them anymore.

Ch.3 That's One Way...

Tim didn’t say much for the rest of the night. What is someone supposed to say when your told the entire universe will end?

After quietly making their way back to camp he watched her start on breakfast so he decided to make an attempt at coffee. He let himself get lost in thought as the water boiled, this was no longer a reconnaissance mission. Even without reporting back he knew that it was his duty to help save the world. There was no way he was going to make it home before the paperwork piled up again, he really wished Bruce would pay attention to his civilian work every once and a while.

He was distracted from his thoughts by an amazing smell. Looking up he could see that Marinette was cooking pastries. He looked around to make sure they were still in the jungle. How, just how? She was making more from scratch while others cooked over the fire.

Tim shook his head and focused on pouring his now boiled water into a French press while he let his thoughts wander back to the mission.

He knew he had to tell his friends something but Bart was loud. As long as there was a chance the enemy didn’t know what they were searching for. It wasn’t a large chance, especially since he was never that lucky.

It was still enough of a chance though that he didn’t want to risk informing Bart.

In the end he just asked Kin to casually sweep the ground to see if he was able to spot anything unusual. When asked why he casually answered that if they could find what the target was looking for first then they could go home that much sooner.

Marinette and Adrien both looked a bit surprised that he hadn’t told his friends everything. He did wonder how Adrien even knew she had told him but filed it under his ‘children of gods' theory. Less of a headache that way.

The rest of breakfast was filled with Bart's apologies for ever hating croissants and the revelation that Kon had never tried any French pastries before.

Adrien had tried to stop him from admitting this but he was too late. Marinette had already adopted Kon into her abused children club and sworn that she would bake him at least one of every pastry in existence after the mission was over.

She was still describing different mouth watering treats when Adrien finally shook her and reminded her that the mission came first.

Tim laughed while helping clean up as Marinette kept pouting cutely and muttering about noting being more important than good pastries.

Finally they split up to start their search. He made good time with Marinette despite her odd stops to check plants. Maybe it was a weird tracking habit.

They had been at this for awhile and he had just looked up to check for dropping snakes when Marinette tackled him to the ground. Before he did more then break the fall she had shoved sunglasses on his face, removed and hidden his Cape and had somehow pulled a long sleeved shirt over his head. He was actually impressed albeit a tad confused.

“Sorry" She whispered directly into his ear. “Don’t want our targets to know you’re a hero.”

“What..” He stopped as he picked up the sounds of several approaching voices. They were coming towards them in a semicircle and it was too early in the day for him to merge with the shadows.

Knowing it was probably pointless he still swung Marinette onto his back and carried them as high into the trees as he could. Once high enough they flattened themselves as close to the branch as possible. Their only chance was to hope this group was stupid, but he doubted they would be that lucky. Their targets probably would have learned by now to keep an eye for jungle predators dropping on them from above, and they were easier to spot then a tiger.

It didn’t take long for the group of men to have guns pointed at them as the apparent leader gestured at them to climb down. They climbed down carefully and Tim just barely caught the small smirk and wink she gave him moments before hitting the ground.

In a blink she was a completely different person. Not only was she scared and rambling but she physically appeared smaller. His French was a little rusty but he was fairly positive she was rambling about getting lost and assuming they were a predator.

“Enough!” the leader yelled. Tim tried to act as startled and scared as Marinette. Pretty sure he failed, but it seemed to fool the men pointing guns at them.

“Tie up the tourists, we will release them once we have what we came for.” He paused and looked at his men, “Do any of you speak their gibberish?”

Marinette clung suddenly to Tim's arm and shook as if scared. He may have found it cute if he didn’t know it was all an act. It did give him a chance to act as if he was trying to be brave for her.

He swore internally as he realized he had been paying attention to Marinette instead of the threat. Thankfully he had been at least noting that none of them spoke French.

The apparent leader gestured to two of his group, “Drag them back to camp and toss ‘em in one of the cages, I will find a better solution tonight.”

As they lightly struggled against their captors to keep up the illusion Marinette started her panicked rambling again. “I really hope you can understand me. I vote we go along and escaped after we've learned what we need.”

Tim tired to make his voice sound scared as he responded in French, “Quick thinking, you have my vote. I'll contact the others when I can.”

She smiled to show she heard before bursting into quiet sobs. Tim was a little intimidated by her acting skills.

It was roughly an hour before their captors emerged into a clearing and tossed them into a cage at the far end. They were left bound as one of them men explained something about the boss’s orders and how the stupid tourists couldn’t even speak a proper language.

Tim waited until the men were out of earshot before activating the comm with his shoulder. “Marinette and I found the camp. Keep scanning the ground. We will join back when we can.”

He looked over to Marinette to see her analyzing the camp layout. There position was weirdly ideal for it. They had gotten lucky that the cages were on a small slope at the back.

He made sure to keep to French in case any of the men came to check on them. “So how did you know they were coming? I didn’t hear anything until after you forcefully dressed me.”

He thought he saw her cheeks colour but it was gone before she spoke.

“It wasn’t what I heard but rather what I didn’t.” a sly smile graced her face, “A quiet forest is a human filled forest.”

He blinked and listened. It was easy to hear the noises of camp, but there was no wildlife, not even birds.

“I can’t believe I missed that.” Some detective he was.

“Don’t feel bad, you work mostly in a busy city. It took quite a few wilderness adventures before Adrien and I learned that quiet always meant either humans or danger.”

There was a lot in that statement for Tim to try and unravel later, for now he had to focus on escape. He tapped the release on his wrist to loosen a knife and started to slice at the rope. He faltered briefly when he saw Marinette’s ropes fall behind her, untied and uncut. How did she?

The thought ended as she held out a long wire, “How good are you with locks?”

“A lock like this should only take seconds.”

Marinette smiled to herself, the lock would only distract his clever mind for a fee minutes. At least she could trust him not to bring it up until the were safe.

“Done.” She watched him creep forward before signalling to show it was clear.

Escape was slow. The whole operation was larger than she could possibly have imagined. So it took them longer than she would like to sneak past everyone in order to make it to the main tent. But make it they did.

Red Robin had led them expertly and with easy to follow hand signals . Sure she didn’t work quite as effortlessly with him as she did with her kitty, but Adrien and her had gone through Hell together.

Being Red Robin had only known her a day, he seemed to instinctively understand her. Or maybe he thought just similarly enough to her that they worked. They didn’t even exchange words as he stood watch for her to search the tent.

As soon as the flap closed behind her Tikki flew out to help with the search.

“Marinette, over here.”

Tikki had found a torn document written in the language of the guardians. She carefully shoved it into her bag before glancing at the poor translation next to it. After a brief moment she decided to leave that since it didn’t actually contain any useful information and snuck back out.

She quickly nodded to let Red know she had what she needed and he started to led them back into the jungle. She was happy to let someone else take the lead as she let her thoughts wander. Honestly with an operation this large they were lucky that the temple hadn’t been found yet.

It was three silent hours before they found their way to camp. Marinette was finally starting to feel the results of her sleepless night and wished she could take a nap. She had to share what she had found, Red Robin had been more than patient with her and her secrets.

Tim watched Marinette call Adrien over to their makeshift table. He was expecting them to discussing things among themselves first, so he was actually taken off guard when she took hold of his hand to pull him over.

“I know your mission is only supposed to be reconnaissance, but Adrien and I would really welcome the extra help.”

He watched as Adrien flattened the stolen document out. He leaned closer to try and make it out but saw that it was in some unknown and possibly ancient text.

Marinette waved Bart and Kon over and waited until everyone was settled before speaking.

“According to the translation I saw, our target believes they are looking for an ancient treasure guarded in an old temple.”

That isn’t quite the case.” Adrien point out a passage, “This actually translates roughly to ‘That which even gods fear.’ Not treasure.”

Tim could see the grim looks on the duo's faces.

Bart looked surprised, “You can read this?”

“Impulse, don't just ignore that these people are going to unknowingly unleash something bad.” Kon turned towards the duo accusingly, “but you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Actually, no. Even after reading this we have no idea what the temple is guarding. We only know the temple was lost.” Adrien shrugged.

Tim looked closely at the two, once again suspicious and looking for any sign of deceit. “How did you know about the temple?”

Marinette sighed, “The monks sent us.”

“Threatened us.” Adrien corrected. Tim saw her glare before deciding to ignore him.

“The monks hail from a sister temple with their own well guarded secrets. They tasked us to go rescue the treasure.”

Adrien gestured to the paper, “This is written in their language.”

Tim could observe some anger on both their faces before it was gone with Bart's appearance in their space.

“You were threatened? But you two are so awesome.”

Adrien was laughing too hard to answer, Marinette looked at him briefly with concern and Tim remembered what they had said about laughing. That couldn’t be good.

He was about to ask if the blonde was okay when Marinette spoke, “We were unofficially inducted into their order by a rogue monk that believed he was the last. The currant group don’t really like that they can’t remove us or make us follow their rules.”

Adrien's laughter died away suddenly, “We do this for them and the leave our loved ones alone. My girlfriend…” He trailed off as his eyes misted up.

“and my grandparents.” Marinette finished looking just as lost.

The heroes were all silent, this was a lot bigger than they thought.

Tim blinked in surprise as the pair's words fully settled. He would have bet money that the duo were dating. They had affectionate nicknames and absolutely no boundaries.

Kon looked to him and the duo which snapped Tim back to the problem at hand, “What's our plan?”

Tim spared only a small glance to Marinette before smiling confidently. “We find the temple first.”

Taglist @toodaloo-kangaroo

#maribat #the lost temple #adventure #some humor #some angst #all chaos #rin writes

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dessarious · 4 years

Text

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt88

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

By the time Selina exited the bathroom in her street clothes Chloe had tucked Mari in, sent Damian a ‘thanks for the heads up asshole’ text, fed the Kwami, notified Luka and the Kwami that they’d be dealing with any issues for the next few days, and was currently calmly filing her nails waiting for the front desk to send up the room key. She didn’t look up as the woman walked back in the room but could feel her eyes on her.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. I shouldn’t have just shown up in costume without making sure you were aware I was coming and I shouldn’t have made assumptions about who you were outside of being a hero. Apparently Bruce left out a few things when he explained the situation to me. And he most likely didn’t mention to the boys that I could be showing up early.” Chloe glanced up at the woman and saw real sincerity. She looked at Marinette’s sleeping form and could practically hear the girl’s voice in her head telling her to be nice.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.” And she was. Everyone expected her to be someone else. Her parents expected the perfect daughter. Her class expected a first class bitch. The public only saw a spoiled little rich girl. She’d always played to people’s expectations rather than herself to the point that if you asked Chloe wouldn’t be able to tell you who she was. Marinette was changing all that, but she still didn’t have a clue who she was under all the bluster and snobbery. “It’s not your fault either and Mari would kick my ass if I were less than civil. We can start over tomorrow when tensions aren’t so high and we’re all rested.”

“That… sounds like a good idea.” Chloe watched as the woman frowned thoughtfully at Marinette. “She’s very observant.” Chloe let out an amused snort.

“You have no idea. It’s worse when she’s awake because you know she sees more than everyone else but she keeps it to herself. It’s maddening wondering what she saw that you didn’t.” It had absolutely nothing to do with her being Ladybug either. Marinette had seen and heard more than everyone else for as long as Chloe could remember. Honestly it might have been the look of pity the girl gave her the first time her parents didn’t show up for something that started Chloe on her vendetta when they were little. Everyone else believed her when she said her parents were too busy to attend some tiny school assembly. Somehow, Marinette knew she was lying. Every time Marinette looked at her after that she’d felt like she was under a microscope.

“I live with ‘the world’s greatest detective’ so I’m used to that feeling. Granted Tim’s worse in that regard but Bruce is so uncommunicative you know he’s got things in his head you’ll never be able to pry out.” Chloe gave a non committal hum. She hadn’t been that impressed with the man during their encounter, but he had been squaring off against Mari so both that comparison and the fact she was in protection mode may very well have colored her perception. Okay, it definitely colored her perception.

“That will help. Plus Mari’s gotten a lot better at hiding it when she figures things out. That comment about why Damian doesn’t like you would never have come out, she just would have started subtly nudging the pair of you into some form of tolerance without you noticing. She probably still will actually.” Definitely with Damian. His obvious intolerance of someone so important to his father was bound to make her do it even if Selina was the most obnoxious person alive. Mari couldn’t help herself. If she thought it was broken, she fixed it, and Damian had become her pet project.

“I’m not that easy to manipulate.” Chloe could only smirk at the woman.

“I assure it won’t matter. With no planning she got Bruce to agree to leave Damian in Paris. Trust me, when she decides something needs to change, it does. I’m a prime example of that.” That was probably not the best way to say that. Mari had a tendency to push people towards what would make them happy. With Chloe it had changed over the years and she hadn’t even realized what was happening. Mari was the one who got her to think about running for class representative originally. At the time her father was in the middle of a reelection campaign and she’d wanted to be just like him. Mari was also indirectly responsible for her push to get Adrien out of homeschooling. All it had taken was a few well placed comments. It was honestly scary how easily she could manipulate people. And it was amazing that she actively tried to only help people when she could do so much damage.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Honestly if she can get Damian in anyway on board with my relationship with his father it would be a tremendous relief. I know we’ve had a… fairly rocky relationship for a long time, but we’re both finally at the point where we can accept each other for who we are. But if Damian is completely set against it, I don’t think Bruce will risk alienating him to stay with me. It hurts knowing that, but I understand. Especially given all they’ve gone through. Bruce won’t risk losing a child that way.” Chloe could help but frown at that. She couldn’t imagine either one of her parents denying themselves something just to keep her from leaving. She was actually pretty sure her mother would auction her off to the highest bidder for an exclusive on the next hottest thing in fashion. Her father would sell his own soul to stay in office so she didn’t imagine he’d flinch at tossing her out if she became a liability.

“He sounds like a decent man.” Bruce Wayne’s public image was terrible but she knew better than most how deceptive that could be. Selina was giving her a concerned look. Crap, her thoughts must have shown on her face. She really was tired if she was having trouble keeping a neutral expression.

“He is, no matter how hard he tries to pretend otherwise. He wouldn’t have given me so many chances if he weren’t.” She glanced at Mari. “I have a feeling you’ll understand what I mean.” Chloe just nodded. Mari had given her chance after chance, as both herself and Ladybug. If she hadn’t who knows where she’d be right now. “People like that are rare, but they also don’t stick with lost causes. If you or I were a hopeless case they wouldn’t have put the effort in.”

“She’s right you know.” Tikki flew over from the bed to land on Chloe’s shoulder. “There was always a hero in you. You just needed to know it was okay to be that person instead of who you were raised to be.” That got an even more concerned look from Selina.

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

Ko-Fi

Tag List

@noirdots @valeks-princess @chocolatecatstheron @krispydefendorpolice @bee-wrecker @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @northernbluetongue @paradoxal-occurance @scrumptiouslyelegantchaosqueen @sonif50 @thequestionablyhuman @persephonebutkore @elspethshadow @geekydragonyt @mmwolf1605 @da-tasuky @mjisntme @bluerosette23 @anjuschiffer @littleredrobinhoodlum @tazanna-blythe @resignedcatservant @schrodingers25 @seraphichana @persephonescat @punstoppablechatnoir @magicalfirebird @crazylittlemunchkin @corabeth11 @cyborgcandy @casual-darkness @shamefullove @miraculous-simmer7 @tamoni112 @cat181818meow @littleblue5mcdork @allthebooksandcrannies @enchanted-nerd @disneyfoxuniverse @fallinginthe-void @mandy984 @goggles-mcgee @fontegagrilledcheese @dorkus-minimus @theatreandcomicfreak @zerotosiki @ayuchan07 @mindfulmagics @urbanpineapplefarmer @winter-gardenflower @mooshoon @my-name-is-michell @melicmusicmagic @7-sage-7 @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @alicesangelofmusic @caffeinetheory @nataladriana9 @multplelifes @wanderingreader1019 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @mvaree @redscarlet95 @storyteller-d @howabouticallyou @ginamarie1512 @kurogaya913 @tbehartoo @maddrag @two-faced-biatch @senyahgirl @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @iloontjeboontje @kakashixobito @welcometopradasa @amirahevens @amlesi @miraculousbelladonna @virgil-is-a-cutie @18-fandoms-unite-08 @cupcakeandkisses @angelofmusickaterinapetrova @book-r-the-best @dur55 @moonlightstar64 @fertileleaf @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @thecaptainthunder @danielslilangel @novicevoice @nyaabinch @interobanginyourmom @welcometopradasa @charlietheepic7 @im-here-for-the-content @maya-custodios-dionach @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @starwindmaden @tired-butterfly @rogueptoridactyl @emeraldpuffguide @suzen23smith @yuulxd @animegirlweeb @alovelyocean @kris-pines04 @semaalcocer-blog @cadencehood @jardimazul-blog @shethecat @silent-storms-posts @simplysslytherin @tog84 @thesunanditsangel @dast218 @tall-and-angry @the-alice-of-hearts @captainmac6 @theyellowfeverexperience @chrismarium @alessialeone6997 @heaven428 @tinyterror333 @smolplantmum @lilyellowink @naoryllis @katiegardneriscoolerthanyou @magewriter @doodledeerest @athena452 @peachedpocky @tired-butterfly @risingmoonyue @lunammoon @mylife-demonstrates-murphys-law @bobothyross @silvergold-swirl @loysydark @heaven428 @peachedpocky @hauntedwintersweets @awesome-starfish-and-tacos @silvergold-swirl @rosesgonerogue @castielsofficialtoothbrush @myazael @aestheticnpoetic @creator-josie @sturchling @snowstar1016 @myblacknightworld @kittycatwowmeow @midnightkaito @chylou34 @hufflejournals @indecisive-mess-named-me @uwuteamleader @sassakitty @jessigurl-design @demigodgirl20031 @freshbark @soup-served-chilling @elmokingkong @unknownvsworld @thatonegaybitchfromschool @tis-i-beanbandit @damianette-is-life @peachesbackup @nobodyw8s4evr @the-fusionist @iwantwhirlledpeasandlotsatrees @chocolateherringtacofan

#maribat #bffmaridami #marinette dupen chang #chloe bourgeois #Selina Kyle

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buggachat · 4 years

Text

A Love Letter to LadyNoir

I said I was going to write an essay about how great LadyNoir is, and I wasn’t lying.

DISCLAIMER I: All sides of the love square are wonderful! I love them all a lot, and this is in no way hate for any side. It’s kind of hard to say “this side is my favorite” without comparing it to the other sides at least a little, but the other sides are still amazing and I love them to bits too!!

DISCLAIMER II: Yes, Chat Noir is an ass to Ladybug when it comes to being rejected. This is absolutely true and I’m not going to defend that. Ladybug has every right to not want to be with Chat Noir, and him repeatedly asking her out and then openly moping about it when she says no, despite KNOWING she’ll say no, is very Bad. I’m not here to defend that. However, Ladybug and Chat Noir are 14, and Chat Noir is not only navigating love for the first time, but relationships in general as well. I’m not excusing it, and this is Definitely and Objectively a flaw of his, but it’s something he can (and I expect WILL) overcome and grow out of as he matures and realizes the error in his ways.

And after he grows out of it? Once Chat Noir matures and learns to be more respectful to Ladybug’s feelings? You know what’s left? The best ship ever, that’s what.

Here’s a list in no particular order about all the amazing things the LadyNoir side of the love square has to offer, and why it’s my favorite:

• Their aesthetic is literally picnics on top of the Eiffel Tower under the setting sun and racing each other across Paris’ rooftops.

• Do you like soulmate AUs? Because LadyNoir is basically a soulmate AU in and of itself. They are creation and destruction and the most obvious representation of the yin/yang part of the love square. They’re two halves of a whole. They balance each other out.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir actually argue with each other! This may sound like a bad thing, but... they’re the first side of the love square to get comfortable enough to tell each other when they’re upset with the other. I feel like that’s a pretty important thing. Adrichat is not yet secure enough with Marinette to argue with her, and Maribug is not yet secure enough with Adrien to argue with him. Ladybug and Chat Noir are so comfortable and secure in their dynamic with each other that they can be totally honest with each other when the other upsets them. basically, they can bicker like an old married couple and it’s beautiful

•They share a burden that literally nobody else in Paris has. The temporary heroes have gotten a taste of what it’s like, sure, but nobody but Ladybug and Chat Noir truly understand the lengths that they have to go through to keep their secrets, the frustration of having to slip away from friends/family to transform at a moment’s notice, etc...

Picture: Ladybug’s responsibilities start weighing her down, so she goes to confide in Chat Noir, the only other person who can at all understand what she’s going through. He holds her and reminds her of how amazing she is, tells her how much he believes in her, reassures her that he’ll always be there by her side no matter what, offers to take some of the burden off of her shoulders, and then ends it all with a silly joke that makes her laugh.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir sharing stories about their kwamis, horror stories about the worst-possible-times they had to transform, laughing about their worst excuses, etc. They have so much to bond over that is so specific to them.

• This may sound silly at first, but hear me out..... LadyNoir is the most honest side of the love square. Yes, they have the most secrets between them (they literally don’t even know each other’s names), but they also have the least amount of secrets. Does that make sense? Let me explain:

Ladybug is fully and completely aware that Chat Noir has a name and life that she doesn’t know about, and vice versa. They are completely aware that the other has secrets, and have openly consented to not knowing them. Yes, they know the least about each other— but they’ve agreed to not know those things, which cannot be said for other sides of the love square.

• The amount of trust between them. They literally trust each other with their lives on a daily basis, not to mention the amount of trust they have that the other wont take a peak when they have to detransform near each other.

• How in sync they are with each other. Ladybug and Chat Noir just understand each other so innately, even with minimal verbal communication. They understand each other’s body language so well, and I don’t know how many times Ladybug gave the vaguest instruction to Chat Noir and he just knew what she meant.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir met first. This isn’t really important, but I wanted to point it out anyways. The first time the love square ever met was when they were Ladybug and Chat Noir, and Ladybug was the first friend Adrien made besides Chloé. I just think this is a cute fun fact so I wanted to throw it in here.

• The forbidden love aspect. They can’t know each other’s secret identities... they don’t even know each other’s names, and loving each other is putting them at risk for being taken advantage by Hawkmoth... but imagine them hiding away on a dark rooftop, stealing kisses and telling each other about how much they love each other despite it all.

• There is so much ‘Adrien and Marinette never met AU’ potential with LadyNoir. Imagine it with pre-established LadyNoir... and imagine their reveal, and they don’t know each other, and they actually get to meet each other. Imagine the potential of a fic about a long-standing and committed relationship between two people who never learned each other’s names, finally meeting for the actual first time. Imagine them getting to know things about each other’s personal lives, introducing them to their friends and family, slowly learning about all the things that they’d had to hide from each other for so many years......... honestly, it’s a trope/au that I love SO MUCH and honestly isn’t touched on nearly enough. I could go on about it forever.

• Relationships dwindle and get strained... Adrien and Marinette might graduate high school, go to different universities, and lose touch. Or maybe they might become too busy to be able to make time for each other... LadyNoir, though? Ladybug and Chat Noir are stuck together at LEAST until Hawkmoth is defeated, whether they like it or not.

• Enemies AU potential. I mean, Hawkmoth is literally Chat Noir’s father... imagine an AU where Adrien has been tricked by his father into thinking he’s on the good side, that what he’s doing will save his mother’s life and no one will actually get hurt, and then he meets Ladybug, sees her give her big speech to Paris, and falls in love. Chat Noir fighting with trying to justify his father’s actions vs knowing that Ladybug is objectively good. Ladybug seeing the good in Chat Noir, knowing that he’s not evil like Hawkmoth, and actively reaching out to him... so much potential, you guys.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir are the most confident versions of themselves... which means that, as their relationship progresses and they get to know each other, they’ll slowly learn each other’s insecurities, short-comings, greatest fears, etc. LadyNoir starts with masks, and then the two slowly open up and learn about the vulnerable side of each other, and I think that progression is amazing.

Like yeah, Marinette learning that Adrien has a joking/flirty/silly side to him is great and all... but you know what I think’s even cuter? Ladybug learning that Chat Noir has a timid/sad side to him. And Adrien learning that Marinette has a powerful/confident side to her? Great. Chat Noir learning that Ladybug has a clumsy/awkward/insecure side to her? Amazing.

• The FLIRTING AND BANTER. And I don’t just mean Chat Noir... Pre-Glaciator, Ladybug would sometimes flirt back with Chat Noir if the situation wasn’t too dire.

I mean seriously... these two together have so much chemistry. They’re so funny to watch on screen together / read fanfics of, and the way they bounce off each other is just priceless.

Now imagine them dating. Imagine all their playful banter and flirting, but tenfold.

• Ladybug pets Chat Noir like a cat.

That is all.

• Do you like angst? Because oh boy... the amount of close calls that they’ve had together... the amount of times they’ve watched the other get hurt. The emotional toll that takes on them. The way Ladybug frets over him and pulls him up when he’s injured, the way that we’ve seen them look at each other and fear that it could be the last, the way that Chat Noir has literally sacrificed his life for her multiple times....

There is an infinite amount of potential for "my love dying in my arms”, “I thought I was going to lose you”, and physical hurt/comfort scenarios with these guys, and all with a happy ending because of the Miraculous Ladybug Cure. Like, seriously.... there’s so much potential.

•They’re so emotionally supportive with each other. Seriously... the way they treat each other is so caring. Like, they care deeply about each other’s mental health, and the fact that these emotional scenes happen in the middle of such dire situations really helps to emphasize how much they’re willing to set aside in order to take care of each other.

In conclusion: The ML writing staff made the "Chat Noir can’t take rejection” subplot to nerf LadyNoir because otherwise it would be too powerful.

#ml #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #ladybug #chat noir #cat noir #ladynoir

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p-artsypants · 4 years

Text

Integrity

Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.

Overwhelmed with her responsibilities, guilt, and drama, Marinette has an emotional breakdown in front of everyone, and even hands over her earrings in a moment of weakness. Only for a few seconds, but the damage was done. Adrien’s pretty quick on the uptake like that.

I got this idea from a sermon a few weeks ago. It was supposed to just be a one shot, and then it got out of hand. This will have maybe two more chapters.

FF.net | Ao3

—

Nino would feel guilty in the days to come after unconsciously making her burst into tears, Marinette knew. It wasn’t actually his fault, but there was so many layers to this onion that she couldn’t explain it if she wanted to.

I had been a simple request. He was going on to create a sequel of Horrificator, with Mylene and Ivan starring again. He had simply asked if she would be able to create a costume that matched the akuma on film, though it didn’t need to be perfect, since they’d be filming it Blair Witch style.

Before she could even respond, Lila had butted her head into the conversation and said something along the lines of ‘oh my father’s college roommate is a famous monster movie costume designer! He could totally whip something up for you!’

Her butting in hadn’t been the problem. Marinette was totally used to it now. She practically expected it.

“Oh that’s awesome, Lila!” Alya had chirped. “That would be so amazing!”

“Yeah dude! We’re going to start filming soon, so if you could reach out to him and give me an answer about it, that would be awesome!”

“Of course! And that way you don’t need to bother Marinette. She always so busy in the bakery…”

“I would have loved to do the costume.” Marinette clarified. “It really isn’t a problem. So if this falls through, let me know, okay?”

“Thanks Marinette!” Nino beamed.

Then Lila smirked. And Marinette sensed that she had sealed her own doom.

How? Easy.

Lila would put off on confessing that her contact was busy, and then Marinette would be forced to work too quickly and do a half-assed job, or reject it completely.

Making her look like a flake, or a bad designer.

She rolled her eyes at the thought, and took out her sketchbook and pulled up the Ladyblog on her phone. Of course Lila had no contact. There was no reason to wait for a response. She’d might as well just get started on it now.

“It’s so cool that you know so many people, Lila!” Alya said from her side.

“Oh, I try not to think about it too much. I don’t want to be a braggart.”

Marinette bit her tongue, trying not to respond.

From in front of her, Adrien had leaned his head on his arm, on her desk, watching her work. “That’s smart.” He said softly. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Thanks Adrien.” She smiled at him, a little solemnly. Her stuttering was mostly gone now. She was trying to be a good friend and let him go for Kagami’s sake. But it was so hard! Especially since they weren’t official yet.

Alya sat next to her, ignoring her ‘jealousy’ to her classmate. “Girl, before you came around, Marinette was doing everything around here! Now we’ve got you so we can pull from all different talent pools!”

Except they weren’t. It was still Marinette.

Doing everything. As class representative, as craftsman, as liaison, as a tutor, and even a therapist. She was constantly bending over backwards to help.

And still no one appreciated her. Now she was working with shorter deadlines, and less respect. More skepticism and less mercy.

Everyone was taking advantage of her, and she was too nice to put a stop to it.

Or too naïve to notice it was even happening in the first place.

Of course, this was all on top of her guardian and Ladybug duties, which was already a full time job. And also a full time student, with remarkable grades!

And she was expected to do her chores and help out part time in the bakery.

She couldn’t remember the last time she designed something for herself.

“Of course,” clarified Nino, who had been sitting on his desk, “when you’re working with famous people, things don’t always work out. That’s why it’s nice to have Marinette around! She’s so clever! She always finds a solution!”

It was supposed to be a compliment. He was trying to let her know they still liked her and needed her.

But it came to a screeching halt with Nino’s words.

“Marinette?” Adrien asked, noticing the tears first.

She covered her mouth, lest she sob out loud and get too much attention.

But the concern in Adrien’s voice had already grabbed the attention of those around her.

“Girl...” Alya said with far too much pity. “There’s no reason to get upset.”

“Yeah Marinette.” Said Lila, with fake sympathy. “I know you want to be helpful, but you’re only one person. There’s no reason to be jealous. You can’t master everything!”

“Lila, maybe you should stop talking.” Adrien said patiently. “You know she doesn’t like you.”

“And I can’t imagine why! I’ve only ever been nice to her!”

Alya winced. “It’s...complicated.”

Lila gasped. “You’re not still jealous because of Adrien are you? After all, he’s dating Kagami, and she’s your friend! That’s not fair to me, Marinette!”

Any minute now, Marinette was going to burst into gut wrenching, uncontrollable sobbing. And she would rather do it as Ladybug so she could snatch up the Akuma before they landed. Classes were over for the day anyway. She had just stayed behind to attempt to socialize with her friends for just a few minutes.

Looked like that was in vain.

She stood, “I have to go.”

Alya grabbed her wrist. “No you don’t. Let’s just sit and talk this out.”

Lila continued to twist the knife. “Yeah Marinette. Let’s air our grievances like adults. We can be friends.”

But Marinette frantically scooped her belongings into her bag, holding onto every shred of dignity that she could, while Lila continued to rip it away from her.

“Can’t you see how your stubbornness is hurting your friends? You’re causing a lot of unnecessary drama.”

“Lila’s right, you know. Acting like this is really hurtful to me.” Said Alya, still full of sympathy.

She should have stayed silent, but her anguish spoke for her. “I’ve told you again and again that I don’t like Lila because she’s a liar. No one believes me, so there’s no point in talking about it!” Her voice cracked at the end.

“Marinette, we know Lila has a condition that causes her to misremember information. That doesn’t mean she’s maliciously lying!”

Marinette shook with untapped rage. She was a ticking time bomb. “She is though. She threatened me. I warned her that her lies were going to catch up to her, and she said that she was going to war with me. To take my friends away from me!”

“How dare you!” Lila shouted, with a pathetic snivel.

She was overacting, to be honest.

“You did that to me! How dare you try to make me the villain?! I was willing to let it go, but apparently, you’re worse than I believed!”

“Are you sure you aren’t misremembering that too, Lila?” Marinette bit.

“I could never forget the attempt someone made on my life! You gave me nightmares! You threatened to kill me! All because I was talking to the boy you were in love with—no! Obsessed with!”

“Marinette!”

“That’s awful!”

“Why would you do such a thing?!”

But Marinette didn’t respond, knowing that it was futile, just shouldered her backpack, half empty coffee cup in hand.

Adrien, bless his heart, packed up with her. “I’ll walk with you,” he offered.

Eloquence was not on her side, nor was grace or kindness. All that was holding her together was the utter desire to get away. “Leave me alone!” She shouted, before leaving.

Or, attempting to leave. She was short on the step and slipped, thrusting her coffee cup forward and right onto Lila.

“Ow!!” Lila cried, as the day-old lukewarm coffee hit her. “It burns!!”

Marinette, who wasn’t buying the pain, did feel guilt for spilling coffee. Because even if it wasn’t hot, it still stained. “Oh my gosh, I’m so so sorry Lila! That was an accident! Let me run home, I’ll get you a change of clothes!”

“You did that on purpose!” Lila sobbed, holding her arm. “I think it might be third degree!! Ow!”

“Marinette, seriously? What’s wrong with you? You’re out of control girl!” Alya scolded. “We need to tell the principal about this!”

“What? No! That was a complete accident! But the coffee is from this morning, it shouldn’t even be warm—“

“Come on Lila, let’s go see the nurse!” Rose, ever vigilant and noble, grabbed the lying girl and escorted her out of the room.

Marinette stood there quaking. Stupid. Unfair. Cruel. Why had fate turned everything against her? Why was everything unraveling?

Why did she mess up with every step?

“Marinette—“ Alya started.

Furious, and not quite herself, Marinette poured the rest of the coffee on the desk, on Alya’s hand.

“Hey!”

“She’s a liar! She’s always been a liar, and that’s all she’ll ever be!” Then she finally stalked out of the room.

Alya scoffed with a shake of her head. “God, bitterness is so ugly.”

“I’m going after her.” Adrien stated, making sure he had everything.

“Dude, leave it. Marinette’s always upset these days. Don’t worry about it. If what Lila says is true, we should just let her go. We should be more concerned about Lila.”

Though Alya didn’t quite share the sentiment as she touched the puddle of cold coffee on the desk. “Well...Lila might be being a little dramatic, or it could be shock. Either way, it’s just another day of drama. Marinette just needs to calm down. Even if she did have a lapse of judgement, that doesn’t mean we can’t just let bygones be bygones.”

Always upset these days? Was she really? How much of a friend to her was he if he had never noticed before?

Ignoring his other friends, Adrien left the classroom, hoping to catch up to her.

She was in the locker room, packing up her bag while she trembled and hiccuped.

“Marinette?” He asked.

“Please leave me alone.” She whispered.

He frowned, coming closer. “I don’t think I want to.”

“I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“Like how?”

She shrugged her shoulders miserably. “Weak? Ugly? Pathetic? Take your pick!”

“What? Because you’re crying? That’s not weak at all. And you want to see an ugly crier? I’m an ugly crier.”

“I highly doubt that.” She whispered.

“No really! I get all snotty and hiccupy. When you cry...your eyes get all sparkly.”

Adrien had seconds to brace himself as her lips trembled, before she started to sob.

“Hey...” he reached out for her, wrapping his arms around her slowly so she could pull away. But instead, she just returned the hug, burying her face in his shoulder.

He could feel her tears leaking through. Still, he just held her, rubbing her back gently.

Suddenly, a switch flipped and she shoved him away. “No! No I can’t!”

“Marinette?” He asked, startled.

“It’s not fair! I can’t take comfort from you!”

“Sure you can!” He laughed incredulously. “I’m here for you, Marinette.”

“It’s not fair to Kagami!”

“Kagami? She’d want me to comfort my friend.”

Marinette trembled. “No! It’s more than that! You’re with her and I can’t cry on you because I don’t want to hurt her because I’m in love with you and it’s not fair to take advantage of you! It’s not fair that you don’t know that!”

His eyes blew wide. “You...what? Lila was telling the truth?”

Marinette made a horrible choking sound as she realized what she blurted. “No no no...no this can’t be happening. I didn’t, no I—I’m just a fan! I love you, like a friend! Like—like—!” She sobbed. “Ugh! I’m ruining everything! Everything is falling apart! Why am I so stupid?!”

Adrien grabbed her arm tightly, almost painfully. “Marinette, we need to go.”

She looked up sharply, seeing that he wasn’t looking at her.

He was looking at the black butterfly crawling through the edge of the window.

“No, you—you’ve got things to do. I’ll go—“

He squeezed her tighter, “you’re crazy if you think I’m leaving you alone.”

“But—“

“Come on!” He yanked her, pulling her out from the locker room and into the courtyard, where students were milling about. Including their classmates.

“Oh Marinette—“ began Alya.

“Shut up!” Adrien retaliated.

“No!” Marinette dug her heels in as a purple light formed a mask over her face.

Adrien didn’t let go. Couldn’t let go. He didn’t see where the Akuma had landed. Her bag? Her hair ties?

Marinette trembled. “I—I can’t. I won’t!”

Adrien turned to her, cupping her cheeks in his hands. “Marinette? Marinette listen to me. Look at me. You don’t need him, okay? You’re smart, and wonderful, and kind. He’s not going to help you. He’s lying to you. You hate liars, right?”

Marinette nodded mutely.

“Then tell him to piss off!”

“I can’t—“ she choked. “I can’t be akumatized. I can’t!”

“And you won’t!” Adrien argued. “There’s always a solution, no matter how bleak or overwhelming. And I will help you fix this!”

Marinette clenched her eyes shut, every muscle in her body coiled tight.

Then she whispered out, in a very even tone, “Hawkmoth, leave me alone.”

The light disappeared, and the black butterfly flew away.

For a few moments, everyone was tense, still, and silent, the only sounds coming from Marinette as she stifled her cries. Adrien moved his hands from her face down to hold her hands.

Then she collapsed, and started wailing.

Powerful, horrible, heartbreaking wails. The wails of hopelessness, fear, and loneliness, bubbling and bursting out of her like a waterfall. On and on, she just screamed, not caring who heard or saw.

The crowd was at a cross between embarrassed and concerned. Some wanted to give her privacy, some wanted to just leave. Either way, everyone eventually trickled away. Her classmates leaving last.

Adrien crouched, sitting beside her. Close enough she could lean on him if need be, but far enough away for her to pretend she had privacy. But he kept his hand on the back of her neck, moving across her shoulders occasionally for support.

“Marinette,” he moaned, once they were alone. “I know you must need to cry…but I can’t bare to watch this…do you want to talk about it? What happened? This isn’t just about what just happened in the classroom. Although that didn’t help...”

“It’s Lila!” She screamed. “And-And Alya! And you! And Master Fu! And Luka—And And—!” She wailed, her words turning into moans.

“Whoa whoa whoa what?”

She just wailed harder.

He exhaled slowly. “Okay, that’s a lot to unpack…” He glanced around, taking note of the lack of people. Fencing started soon, but he was obviously skipping.

“Marinette? Don’t you want to go to your house?” He asked softly.

“I don’t know! I don’t know what to do!”

“Hey, hey, let’s breathe together. Okay?” At least she wasn’t screaming anymore.

She hiccuped a few times, but finally took a deep breath along with Adrien.

“Okay.” He said, smiling at her. “You’re doing great. Now let’s slowly talk things out. Once we know what we need to do, we can take care of your problems in little chunks.”

“I can’t tell you my problems!” She yelled, clenching her fists. “That’s the whole problem! I can’t tell anyone! Not my parents! Not my friends, not—“ she cupped her hands over her mouth, holding back a sob.

“Oh Marinette...”

“No! No I can’t do this anymore! I’m 15! I can’t handle this kind of pressure! I’ve ruined all of it! Paris needs someone better, and I can’t even handle my own problems let alone everything else demanded of me.” She fumbled with her earrings, before slapping them down in his hand. “You take them! They’re your responsibility now! I quit!”

A flash of pink took over the earrings as they went from the plain black stones she wore, to the flat gray stubs he saw as his stint as Mister Bug.

He choked.

His reaction snapped her out of her hysteria. “I shouldn’t have done that! I should not have—!” She swiped the earrings back and put them back on with fumbling hands. “I need to go before anything else happens! I’m a walking disaster!”

“Hey, whoa whoa whoa, Marinette—“

“No, stop talking!” She snapped. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just—panicking.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” He sighed, and then took her hand in his. “Look, let’s get out of here. We’ll go to your house.”

“But—But don’t you—aren’t you—will someone be looking for you?”

“I have fencing.”

“I don’t want you to be late!”

“Marinette! I’m skipping!”

“Really?”

“Yes! You’re way more important to me then some stupid sport!”

“But—“

He helped her to her feet. “I’ll text Kagami so she can cover for me. Don’t worry about it, Marinette.”

“...I just don’t want to burden you.”

“You’re not. I’m promise, you’re not.”

She gripped his sleeve. “You can’t tell Kagami, or—or anyone. Please Adrien, I didn’t mean to say it. It’s not...not that I don’t trust you. I’m just...” she sighed in frustration. She was so overwhelmed, words weren’t coming the way she wanted them to.

“Marinette, I get it.” He assured, taking hold of the hand gripping him. “You trusted me with the snake, even though I failed back then, I never breathed a word of it to anyone. I’m not going to say anything. See, I’ve already forgotten what you said.”

She managed a watery giggle. “Thanks Adrien.”

“Now come on. Let’s go talk somewhere private.”

Resigned, Marinette allowed Adrien to tug her along. On the front steps, students were milling around, having evacuated the courtyard. Adrien didn’t say a word to anyone, while Marinette kept her eyes firmly on the ground.

Once they were away from the school, Tikki peered out of the bag, taking note of the fat tears rolling down Marinette’s cheeks. She was spiraling again, assuming the worst.

But Chat Noir was here, and they’d work everything out.

In the bakery, however, things reached a fever pitch as Lila, still wet with coffee, stood at the counter, talking to Sabine.

The conversation halted as the little bell above the door chimed.

Lila just looked at them and smirked, her face turned away from Sabine.

“Thank you for telling me, young lady. I’ll handle everything.” The woman said, edge in her voice.

Lila nodded pitifully and walked passed them to the door.

As she passed Adrien, she whispered, “I’m going to your father next.” And then left without a rebuttal.

Marinette looked at him, wide-eyed and horrified. “Did she just—?”

“Adrien,” Sabine said sternly. “Thank you for escorting Marinette home. But I have to ask you to leave. I need a word with my daughter.”

Adrien panicked for a moment, not sure how to navigate this situation. He never talked back to authority figures.

Well, not as Adrien. But his Lady was in danger, so Adrien was going to sit this one out, and let his Chat Noir persona deal with it. He held up a hand. “Mrs. Cheng. I don’t know what Lila just told you, and frankly, I don’t want to know.” His tone was stern and demanding, one he adopted from his father in the most cutthroat situations. It was scary, to Sabine and Marinette. “Lila Rossi is a liar and has been harassing Marinette for a while now. She’s the one responsible for her expulsion, and lying to get it reversed as well. I’ve spent the last—“ he took out his phone to look at the time. God. “I’ve spent the last hour holding Marinette while she cried. That gave Lila plenty of time to come here and do damage.”

Sabine just stared between him and Marinette. “Marinette, is this true?”

She could only sniff and nod.

“Madam Cheng?” He said, a little softer. “My father doesn’t trust me. I never did anything to warrant that treatment, but he doesn’t. It hurts that I don’t have an adult I can turn to when I need help. Don’t be like that to Marinette.”

Sabine gasped a little. It was harsh, of course, but seein0g Marinette—his lady—so broken was stirring up some ugly emotions in him.

“I’m not leaving.” He told her. “Marinette needs me.”

“Of course dear. Thank you so much. I found it hard to believe that Marinette would become violent with anyone, but after that ridiculous expulsion, I didn’t know what to believe. I’m not at school, I know Marinette, but—“ she shook her head.

“I tripped.” Marinette whispered. “The coffee was cold. It was an accident.”

“Now that, I believe,” Sabine hummed fondly. “Madam Rossi probably deserves a phone call. Why don’t you two go up to her room? I’ll bring up some tea in a bit.”

Adrien massively sighed. “Thank you Madam Cheng. And...sorry for being rude.”

“You were stern. It was important.” She walked over and hugged her daughter, petting her hair. “Marinette, I’m so sorry for making you feel like you couldn’t talk to me about this. I trust you, both of us do.” She kissed her head. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help every once in a while, okay?”

Marinette could only nod against her.

“I’ll let you two go. When you’re calmer, you can tell me what happened, if you want. Either way, I’ll disregard what that girl said.”

“Thank you, Maman.” Marinette whispered.

“Of course baby.” She kissed her forehead tenderly.

Then Adrien took Marinette’s hand again and pulled her away upstairs.

Once in her room, Marinette sat on her chaise, pulling her legs up to her chest. She was silent.

Adrien grabbed a blanket from her bed, and wrapped it around her shoulders, then sat by her side and pulled her to lean against him.

“Whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here to listen.”

She whimpered. “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“...of saying something I’m not supposed to. I wasn’t supposed to tell you about...any of that. It just all came out.”

“Sounds like you’ve been bottling yourself up. That’s not healthy, Marinette.”

She pushed away from him, standing, her back to him. “I’m sorry, Adrien. I really appreciate you being here with me, but...it’s just too dangerous. And, like I said, it’s not fair to Kagami.”

Adrien huffed, his bangs fluttering over his forehead. “Marinette...I’m just trying to help.”

“And I appreciate that, but I can handle it.” Then quietly, more to herself. “I have to handle it.”

Swallowing a growl, he looked at his stubborn lady. “What about Chat Noir?”

She hunched her shoulders. “What about him?”

“Have you talked this out with him? Does he know you’re struggling?” He knew the answer, but he was curious to what she would say. Would she lie?

Her hiccups and sniffles weren’t exactly what he was expecting, but it wasn’t surprising. “He’s already so disappointed with me!”

“What?” He stood too, whirling to face her. “What are you talking about?”

“It was written all over his face during the last fight! He knows I gave away my mentor’s identity! I’m the reason Chloé got upset! And I keep stringing him along!” She sobbed. “He had to do everything in that last fight! I couldn’t plan, or think or—or do anything! And he hasn’t talked to me since!”

Adrien’s warm hands landed on her shoulders. “Marinette, Ladybug, you know that’s not true right? Chat’s your partner. He’d never be disappointed in you!”

“How do you know?”

He shrugged. It wasn’t the right time to reveal himself. She was already dealing with so much. Surely revealing himself would cause another spiral. “I just do.”

She shook her head in disbelief.

He pulled her back down to the chaise to sit, and rested a warm hand on her back. Then he eased her over to lean against his shoulder again.

“I won’t say a thing. I’m not Adrien, I’m not anyone. Just a pillow with ears. Why don’t you talk it all out. And once you’re done, I’ll stuff this day far into the back reaches of my mind where no one will find it. All your secrets are safe with me.”

Marinette started to relax against him, despite the absolute panic of being close to her crush. He was warm, and his arms held her securely. She felt safe.

Tikki made her appearance, coming out of Marinette’s bag that had been set on her desk. “Marinette?”

Marinette only looked back at her, ashamed and embarrassed.

“It’s alright. You can trust Adrien,” is what she said. Not, “you‘ve failed and I hate you. How dare you!” There was no judgement, no reprimanding. Just comfort.

She wanted to cry again, but Adrien petted her head, a soothing rhythm.

With a shuddering breath, she began, “Lila’s been threatening me. I knew she was lying because I’m Ladybug. I didn’t like that she was using my name to get close to you. I saw her getting away with all these other lies too because no one bothered to fact check her. It was frustrating that every time I urged Alya to listen, she wrote me off as jealous. I’m not jealous of her. I have no reason to be. But because I have a...crippling crush on you—“ she bit her lip.

Adrien gave no reaction.

She continued, “—I was automatically deemed jealous because she was talking to you. Lila confronted me in the bathroom, fake concerned about my well being when I was moved to the back of the classroom. But when I told her I knew she was lying, and that everyone would figure her out, she threatened me. She said she was going to make me her enemy, that my friends would leave me behind and you’d—you’d be with her. I tried to ignore it, and take the high road like you suggested, but...”

“Did you tell anyone she threatened you?”

“...no.”

“Why?”

“I was so scared Alya would treat it like every other thing I said to her about Lila. She’d pass it off as jealousy. She’s supposed to be my best friend but she doesn’t believe me!!”

“Forget about Alya then. If she doesn’t believe you, then that’s her fault. You’ve got nothing to prove. What about anyone else?”

Marinette shuttered. “I thought...no one would believe me.”

“Even me?”

She pushed away from him, hugging herself, the guilt starting to creep back in. “I can barely talk to you...how was I supposed to tell you I was being threatened?”

“That’s fair, I guess. I just...I could have helped you.”

She was quiet, hugging her arms to her chest. “I...didn’t think about it. It was my problem to deal with. And I’m not great at asking for help. I’m sorry.”

“Aw, you don’t need to apologize for that Marinette. You didn’t do anything wrong. Lila’s the one with the stick up her ass.”

Marinette giggled. She had never heard Adrien swear before.

Suddenly, Adrien’s phone rang, interrupting the conversation. He sighed heavily. “Gee, I wonder who that could be.” He took it out, and saw Nathalie’s name. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. Then you can have my full attention.”

She highly doubted that, but nodded him on.

He answered, “hi Nathalie.”

“Adrien, your father wants you home immediately. Considering that you answered, I’m assuming that you’re not in practice anymore...or maybe you never went.”

Adrien swallowed, but realized there was no point in arguing. Not with her at least. “Put my father on, please.”

“You can talk to him when you come home.”

“This is urgent, Nathalie, give the phone to my father.” He couldn’t keep the bite out of his tone, but allowed his protectiveness to take the reins, filling him with adrenaline.

“One moment.”

The phone went quiet before Gabriel’s voice cut in, “Adrien, I want you home. Now. You are in danger with that girl—“

“Do you trust me?”

Gabriel sighed, “I’d trust you more if you did as I asked.”

“No, father, I need to know if you will listen to me and believe me when I have something important to tell you.”

“Yes yes,” he said, and Adrien could imagine him flipping his hand. “What is it, Adrien? What is so important?”

“Lila Rossi has been sexually harassing me.” He blurted. Not the argument he was planning on making, but one that might make his father listen to him.

Gabriel paused before asking, “what?” All anger in his voice had evaporated, which was new.

“She touches me without my permission. And she threatens any other girls that get close to me. I don’t know what she told you about Marinette, but she’s been threatening her for a while. Marinette had a break down at school. I’m trying to comfort her.”

A pair of slender arms wrapped around his waist from behind in a gentle hug. She rested her cheek against his spine. Adrien rested a hand over hers, appreciating the comfort.

For once, Gabriel didn’t respond. Adrien took that as a cue to keep going.

“I don’t feel safe around Lila. She lies to people to get her way. She got Marinette expelled almost effortlessly. I’m scared that she’ll do something like that to me. To us. What’s stopping her from accusing me of sexual harassment or worse?” He swallowed. “Please don’t make me model with her anymore.”

Gabriel continued to be silent, and Adrien took it as quiet contemplation.

Finally, Gabriel responded. “You’re concerns are valid. You make very good points. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

Adrien exhaled in a whoosh.

“I will be working through dinner, so you may stay with the Dupain-Chengs if they’ll have you. Just be home by 8. I’d like to talk with you more about this then.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“Thank you for being honest with me, son.” And he hung up.

Adrien took a shaky breath as Marinette pulled away from him. “Sorry for the hug, I know you were just talking about being sexually harassed—I just know that was a hard conversation to have and—“

“Marinette.” He stopped her, holding her hand. “It’s more than okay. You can hug me whenever you like. I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.” He smiled. “Your hugs, whether intentional or not, are nice.”

She blushed.

“I-I mean...Lila and Chloe hang on me, or clamp down like...like a pair of handcuffs. You hold me. Sure, but gentle enough I can pull away. It’s nice.”

Still blushing, and unable to look him in the eye, she hugged him again, hiding her face in his chest.

He gathered her close, savoring her touch. He had found her. Finally. Of course, it was in a horrible way, and she didn’t know who he was. But he found her, and he still loved her without the mask. That’s more than he ever could have asked for.

“Your hugs are really nice too.” She mumbled into his shirt.

He snickered, imagining her reaction if he was Chat. He couldn’t help but think it would be a little different. “Alright,” he pulled away slightly. “My problems are on hold. Let’s get back to you. Let’s get back to what caused you to cry in class. What got you so suddenly upset? Because you started crying before Lila blurted out all that stuff. Was it Lila making another bogus offer?”

She shook her head. “No...it’s stupid.”

“It’s obviously not stupid if it made you cry.”

She sighed, but didn’t pull away this time. Her walls began to crumble, since he was Adrien and he was so kind.

“It wasn’t Lila. It was actually Nino.”

“Nino? Really? What did he do? Do you need me to kick his butt?”

She smiled softly. “No, he didn’t do it on purpose. I think it was supposed to be a compliment...”

“And that was...?”

“He said that it was nice to have me around when things fail because I always have the solution.” Her eyes watered as she spoke.

“Oh. Hmm. I guess I don’t really see why that would have bothered you? I mean, you are really smart and clever, and quick too! You always know what to do.”

“But I don’t!” She threw her arms in the air and began to pace. “That’s just it! I can come up with problem solvers when facing an Akuma! And occasionally I have good ideas for dealing with school problems! But right now? I don’t know what the heck I’m doing!” She shouted, a few tears leaking out. “My mentor is gone, and it’s my fault! I gave away his identity to Hawkmoth and he in turn gave up his memories to protect me and Chat! Now I’m the guardian of the Miraculous and I’m only 15! So not only do I have to deal with that big mess, but I have to deal with balancing being a full time student and superhero without letting anyone catch onto what’s happening, which requires a lot of lying, which I hate doing!! And now with Lila making these bogus claims and no one listening to me, I’m left scrambling to pick up the mess she makes because I’m the class representative and I’m terrified of disappointing my friends more! I’m already on thin ice with the class and being a social outcast might just break me! So I have to put aside my own problems to deal with Paris and my fickle classmates. I just keep watching you grow farther away, and Chat become more and more disappointed and heartbroken, and Luka become more impatient and I don’t even have the emotional energy to decide which one hurts me more!” She outright sobbed.

“Marinette...” Adrien breathed, not able to say much else.

“Just for once, I want my problems to just—solve themselves. Because I’m so tired and I’m so scared! I messed up so badly today—what about tomorrow? What if my next break down is in front of Hawkmoth?”

Adrien stood slowly, approaching her like a wild animal. “Hey...if it’s any consolation, you are completely justified in having this break down. This is an unbelievable amount of stress you have. I’m surprised you didn’t crack earlier.”

“I did. Right before Miracle Queen. Luka found me then. I felt awful for crying on him, because I know he cares about me...but I just don’t feel the same. I like him, I really do, but I can’t—“ she shook her head. “I’m just leading him on at this point. I’m so terrible.”

“I know exactly how you feel.”

She looked up at him, seeing the sympathy in his eyes. He looked miserable.

“That’s exactly how I feel about Kagami.”

Marinette wiped the tears from her cheek. “What?”

“She said that my indecision hurt her, which I get but...I can’t just stop loving—“ he turned red, and turned his face away, “sorry, we’re focusing on your problems. Not mine.”

“No, don’t. Adrien, who are you in love with, if not Kagami?”

The desperation in her voice forced him to look at her. He felt extremely embarrassed and guilty. All this time, he declared he’d know her anywhere, and yet how was he supposed to explain that he looked right passed her?

“Um...” he said smartly.

“Please?”

“It’s...you. I’m in love with you.”

She choked, her face turning red. “You...are? But I thought...”

“Ladybug, you. To be more precise. But now that I know who you are, the feelings are the same. Or possibly even stronger. Just so you know. It’s not just some silly celebrity thing.”

She opened her mouth, preparing to speak, but the words were stuck, her throat dry.

“Marinette...” he took her hands gently. “You are amazing, brave, smart, and kind. You’re my hero, and while you are going through some really hard stuff right now, you have something that Lila and Hawkmoth don’t.”

“A life?”

He chuckled, “well, yes. But I was going to say integrity.”

“Integrity?”

“Yeah. Willingness to help others even when you have bad days. Doing your best to keep promises. Being someone dependable, honest, and selfless. It might be exhausting, but in the end, you’ll be still standing when everyone else’s messes fall down around you.”

Her shoulders sagged as she let out a whoosh of air. “That’s really sweet, Adrien. But...” she hugged herself. “You told me it didn’t matter as long as you and I knew the truth. That I should take the high road and her lies would catch up to her. Well, I almost got expelled, so it obviously isn’t working.”

“Right, yes. And I’m sorry,” he clarified. “When I gave you that advice the first time, I didn’t know she threatened you. I thought it just bothered you that she was lying in general. I’m not saying you have to lay down like a dog anymore, I’m just saying that you have an advantage on her. And your character is your foundation. If you were a terrible person, and she was lying about you, there would be no reason for anyone to doubt her. But because you are so amazing, someone’s going to notice. And if they don’t, that’s not your fault. I will help you come up with a way to solve this problem, I promise.”

She sighed again, this time in relief. “Thank you Adrien. That means a lot.”

“Now,” he began, starting to pace himself. “I’m not sure what I can do to help you with the Miraculous. Given that I was a terrible temporary holder, and I’m not even supposed to know about this—“

“You don’t need to help me there.” She sighed, but in a gentle way, that sounded relaxed and okay. “If we can get the Lila situation under control, I think I’ll be able to handle guardianship a lot more.”

“What about Chat? Can he take some responsibilities?”

She groaned. “That’s another one of my problems. He’s so...”

Adrien held his breath, ready to take whatever terrible trait she had honed in on.

“...so wonderful.”

Huh. Not expected, but not unwelcomed!

“He’s goofy, and impatient, and goes overboard sometimes, but he has such a good heart and encourages me. So during that last fight...it broke me to see him step up and take control while I just spiraled.”

“You’re a team though. He should be able to take control when you’re unable to.”

“I know, but it shouldn’t be when I’m having an existential crisis! Just when I’m hurt or sick—“

“I’m sure Chat didn’t mind stepping up.”

“How do you know?”

“I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

Marinette groaned again. “And there again! If I keep rejecting him, he’s just going to get more and more heartbroken, and then he’s going to resent me! And I hate that! I don’t want to be the cause of that!”

Adrien paled. Honestly, he was trying to move on with Kagami. He wasn’t going to let heartbreak turn to resentment. Especially not towards her, who he still adored. That was yesterday’s problem though, things were looking pretty optimistic in the love department now. Though they hadn’t gotten that far yet.

“Marinette, I think if that does happen, it wouldn’t be your fault. I think...Chat should be mature enough to respect your wishes.”

“He has his moments.” She breathed. “Did you know I almost gave up being Ladybug right at the beginning?”

“What?! No way!”

“Yes! But Chat encouraged me. Alya was in danger and that prompted me to put the earrings back on, but Chat actually talked me into being a hero. In my darkest moments, I wonder ‘what would Chat say?’ Sometimes the answer is stupid, but it makes me laugh. And then I hear his encouragement.”

“You care a lot about Chat, don’t you?”

“I love him. He’s my best friend and the best partner I could ask for.”

Adrien’s lovesick grin was probably not the best reaction to her praise of someone else. He shook himself into a more relaxed and normal expression. “Have you guys talked at all since then?”

“No. I have no idea what to say to him.” She plopped down in one of her computer chairs and leaned her head back. “I wish I knew Chinese!”

“What?” Adrien asked at the sudden change in conversation.

“Don’t get me wrong, I know some. But not enough to get me by. My mom offered to teach me some when I was younger, but I was being stubborn and now I regret it! I’ve been trying to learn more since I started training, but I can’t ask my mom for specific phrases, and free apps only get me so far!”

“Why do you need to know Chinese?”

Marinette took a deep breath, and looked at Tikki.

“I mean, he already knows this much, might as well keep going.”

She exhaled. “Alright. The miraculous come with...a manual, of sorts. But it’s all in code. Some of that code is in Chinese, either Mandarin or something else...maybe even ancient Chinese. I don’t know. But I figure being able to read it would help me figure it out.”

“Uh...wasn’t there a temple or something in Tibet that came back? Could you use the Teleportation miraculous to get there?”

Marinette stared at him, wide-eyed. “You...you’re on to something there! Oh but that doesn’t fix my Chinese problem! I know how to say ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘good morning’ and stuff but not ‘hello, I’m the new Miraculous Guardian in Paris and I don’t know how to read the book. Can you teach me?’”

“Hello, I’m the new Miracle Stone Guardian in Paris and I don’t know how to read the book. Can you teach me?” Adrien said in Mandarin. “At least I think that’s what it is. I said ‘Miracle Stone’ instead of Miraculous, because I think that’s a better translation—“

“Adrien!” Marinette grabbed his face with both hands, squishing his cheeks together. “You speak Mandarin!”

“Yes? Isn’t that what you were getting to? Asking me to be your translator?”

“I didn’t—we couldn’t—“

“Because I’m not supposed to know?” He asked delicately.

Marinette didn’t answer.

“Or because you believe you have to do this on your own?”

She groaned again. “Are you like a mind reader or something?”

He rested a hand on her shoulders and rubbed back and forth. “One of my many talents.”

“But, yes. That is what I’m worried about. I don’t want to get you too involved. I should at least talk to Chat about it.”

“Yeah, I think you should just be honest with him. Just tell him everything.”

“I can’t tell him everything, it would compromise my identity!”

“Um, just out of curiosity…why don’t you two know who the other is?”

“It was a safety measure, in case either one of us got akumatized, or under the control of an akuma. Our master was very strict about it.”

“But, you’re the guardian now. Isn’t it better to know each other? What if something happens to the other? There’s no one that would know who the other is.”

Marinette exhaled. “I’ve been thinking about that too. I just…I don’t know.”

“Okay. Well, I think you should let him in at least a little more. Just talk to him. He should at least know where your head is at.”

“Okay. I’ll start there.”

Adrien’s phone buzzed with a text. “Oh, who is it this time?”

Kagami: Where are you?

“Oh whoops! I needed Kagami to cover for me.”

Adrien: I’m with Marinette. There’s some class drama going on right now. Can you cover for me?

Kagami: Sure! Tell her she’s got me on her side. (Even though I’m not sure what’s going on.)

Kagami: Are you doing anything this weekend? I’d love to get Ice Cream with you! <3

Adrien winced, as he read the newest text.

“Is something wrong?”

“Um, just trying to figure out how to interpret this text. I think Kagami is asking me out.”

Her heart sunk. “Well, um…are you going to go?”

“Not if it’s a date.”

Adrien: As friends?

The little dots popped up, indicating that she was typing.

Kagami: I already told you that your indecision hurts me. Are we a couple or not? Please don’t waste my time.

“Woof. It’s like everyone is falling apart today.”

“What’s wrong? Can I help?”

Adrien smiled at her. “Not to be a complete hypocrite, but I have to handle this on my own. Should I just be blunt and honest?”

“Quite honestly, that seems like Kagami’s language.”

Adrien: I really care about you Kagami, and your friendship is very important to me. I don’t want to lose you. But I can’t be in a relationship with you. I’m very much in love with Marinette, and I just found out she feels the same. But I can’t be with her right now because of…extenuating circumstances. I wouldn’t be fair to you to be with you while I wait until things clear up for her. You deserve to be happy, and I don’t think I can be that person for you. I’m sorry.

“Adrien? Is everything okay?”

“I…I think I’m doing the right thing.”

Kagami: Thank you for your honesty. I wish you had told me sooner. We will remain friends, but I need some time. Tell Marinette I said hi and that I hope she feels better.

Adrien didn’t know how to respond to this very professional reply, so he just didn’t. He had heard you weren’t supposed to break up over text, but they weren’t exactly dating in the first place. More than likely, this conversation would be continued in person. Or she’d never talk to him again.

Instead, he noticed he had another unread text.

Nino: Did you take Marinette home? Is she okay?

Adrien gnawed at his lip. “Are you okay if I tell Nino kind of what the truth is? Besides your identity?”

Marinette shrugged. “If you can convince him, be my guest.” And she took a seat at her desk, pulling out some homework.

Adrien sat in the chair nearby, tapping out an honest reply.

Adrien: I took her home, still with her. She’s not great.

Nino: Alya said that Lila went to tell her mom about what happened. Please tell me she didn’t.

Adrien: She so did.

Nino: Ugghghhhgghhh We told her not to, especially since Alya confirmed that the coffee was cold. Ngl that whole thing at the end was super dramatic

Adrien: Of course. She’s an attention hog, and she demands it however she can get it. That includes lying out of her nose.

Nino: Lowkey bro, I haven’t been believing Lila’s stories for a while. I’ve been going along with it because she’s nice and Alya’s really good friends with her, but today was too much. It was not her place to out Marinette’s crush, especially in front of you. That was dirty

Adrien: Wait really? What made you start doubting her?

Nino: When she could never come through with any of her promises. A few times, sure, celebrities are busy, but every single time she said she’d pull a string, it would fall through. Chloe is more reliable than her. Why do you think I asked Marinette for help first?

Adrien: Boy I’m glad to hear you say that! Marinette’s feeling really overwhelmed because she has to pick up all the plans that Lila ruins.

Nino: Why? It’s not her fault. I love Marinette, but she’s got to stop catering to people.

Adrien: Dude…don’t get mad, but that’s kind of what tipped her over this afternoon. You said something like ‘she always has a solution’. She feels like everyone is depending on her to make things right.

Nino: Aw dude you’re so right! I noticed she started crying when I said that! I just didn’t get why! Aww man!

Adrien: I don’t think she minded helping people, but being asked to help and being expected to help are two totally different things

Nino: For sure dude.

Adrien: You trust me right?

Nino: Yeah dude! You’re my dog bro!

Adrien: Then know what I’m about to tell you is the absolute truth. Lila isn’t just lying for attention. She’s lying maliciously to hurt Marinette on purpose. And not only is she not friends with Ladybug, she HATES her. Chat Noir himself told me that she faked an injury to get him out of a fight and leave Ladybug alone with an akuma. When I told her she didn’t need to lie to make friends, she turned straight up evil. Marinette got on her bad side because she told her to knock it off. She lied about Marinette pushing her down the stairs, and all the other stuff that got her expelled. The only reason Marinette was allowed back at school was because I sorta blackmailed Lila. That’s when she made up that ridiculous lie about having a lying disorder.

Adrien’s phone laid on the desk for a moment, Nino’s contact completely silent.

Nino: Dude.

Nino: I gotta find Alya.

Nino: Stay with Mari.

“Okay. So, I think I won Nino over.” Adrien said with a relieved smirk.

Just then, Marinette’s phone buzzed. She had ignored it since coming home, knowing that there would be a plethora of foul messages from classmates. But she spared the screen a glance. “He just texted me. ‘Dude, I’m so so so so so so so so sorry that what I said hurt you. I only meant that you are extremely smart and clever and reliable. I never wanted to take advantage of you, but it’s nice to have someone in your corner, who you can trust and knows will be honest with you. You’re real, and I’m stopping communication with Lila now. What she did was not cool. Sorry this went on for so long. I’m talking to Alya now. Might take a while to wear her down. You know how she is. But she loves you, so she’ll see the light’.”

“Aw. Nino’s so cool.”

Her phone buzzed again. She blushed at the message, and turned it face down.

“What was that?”

“He said ‘behave’ and then a winky face.”

“Ha! I love Nino. It makes sense why you chose him to be Carapace.”

“You know about that?”

“Yeah, I know who all of the others are now. Except Chat Noir, but I have my suspicions.”

“Oh yeah, who do you suspect?”

“You know the performer XY?”

Marinette gagged. “No. Way. My Chat is way more handsome, kind, and talented than that pompous asshat!”

Adrien guffawed, and when he collected himself, he giggled out, “Handsome, huh?”

“Of course he’s handsome! But don’t you dare tell him I said that!”

“Your secret is safe with me.” He took on a more serious tone. “All of them are, you know? I promised I’d stuff this day in the back of my mind so no one will know.”

“Actually,” she gave a contented sigh. “It’s nice that someone knows. It’s nice that you know.”

“But we didn’t actually solve any of your problems.”

“Well, no. But we have a solid foundation to work on. I feel a lot more optimistic about being the guardian and dealing with Lila. I think the rest will fall into place when I have less on my plate.”

“And I’ll help you with Lila. Again, I’m sorry for my useless advice earlier.”

She rested a hand on his shoulder. “Adrien, it was helpful advice for what you assumed was going on.”

“I really tried, you know. She weaseled her way into my photo shoots, and I told her I wouldn’t boot her as long as she left you alone. And she hasn’t. So the deal is off.”

“You did that for me?”

“Of course!”

“Even without knowing that I’m...?”

“Yes! Marinette! You were always a very precious friend to me. The first that I really felt like I earned on my own. It really sucked to see you hurting, and I wanted to do whatever I could to protect you.”

Tears sprang to her eyes, but in a hopeful way this time. She threw her arms around him and squeezed. “You’re the best.”

He hugged her back, squeezing her tightly. “I try.” He glanced at his phone. “Looks like we got some time before I have to leave. Did you want me to look at that book? Or do you want to just play video games?”

“Honestly, video games sound awesome. Let me just go tell my mom you’re staying for dinner.”

“Okay.”

After she left, Plagg appeared. “You doing okay kid? Your heart is just a hum for how hard it’s beating.”

“I’m fine, just...I guess still processing everything? No wonder she feels so overwhelmed.”

“I’d like to think that by confiding in you, she’s feeling a little better.”

“I hope. I know how particular she is about her identity. She might still be uncomfortable.”

“Are you going to tell her who you are?”

“Not just yet. On one hand, she might feel better knowing it’s not some random person who knows who she is, but on the other hand, that’s a whole other can of worms and just one more thing to worry about.”

“Yeah. But you’re also not a stranger to her. You’re a good friend and the boy she’s in love with.”

“Yeah…Marinette’s…Ladybug. And she’s in love with me…”

“Kid?”

That was all the warning Plagg got before Adrien straight up passed out on the floor.

Marinette rushed back upstairs when she heard the thump. And thankfully Plagg heard her steps so that he could hide.

“Adrien?!”

The dizzy spell only lasted a few seconds, as he groggily blinked back to awareness.

“Are you alright? Do you need water? Food?”

“Yes to all the above.” He stated with a lopsided smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just...I think my brain finally processed who you were and I just got really light headed.”

“You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks Mari.”

She blushed.

“Is that okay? Can I call you that?”

“You can call me anything.”

“Okay boo boo bear.” He grinned.

She started giggling. “Oh no! Not disgusting pet names!”

“Snookie wookums?”

“No!”

“Sweetie Mari pie?”

“Adrien!”

“My most ardent desire, love of my life?”

She calmed down her giggles. “That one’s pretty good, only if you say the whole thing every time.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Actually, I think I have the perfect name for you. But I’ll drop it on you when you least expect it.”

“Whatever you say...Blondie.”

“That’s the best you got?”

“I’ll think on it. I’ll get one that just melts your heart.”

There was a knock on the trap door. “Marinette?” Asked Sabine.

Marinette opened the door, and helped her mom with the tray of snacks and tea.

“Here you go. Plenty of feel good snacks to help a wounded heart.”

“Thanks Maman.” Marinette said earnestly.

“Now, I want you to know, I got in contact with Lila’s mother.” She sighed. “I’m so sorry honey, but she’s right up in Lila’s lies. She didn’t even believe me when I said Adrien had come over to clarify everything. Apparently, he’s dating Lila. There’s no way he would defend her bully.” Sabine gave them a flat look.

“Me? Date Lila? I’d sooner date a rancid garbage bag. And kiss it too!”

“Well, and least the garbage bag would never lie to you.” Marinette smiled.

“So, want do you want me to do?” Asked Sabine. “Stay out of this? Call the principle? Call a lawyer?”

“No mom,” Marinette said with an accepting sigh. “I think we’ll handle her.”

“Don’t do anything dangerous.” She warned. “I know you’re not a bad kid. But don’t stoop to her level.”

“Don’t worry. I intend to handle it with grace and dignity.”

“Dignity I can see. Grace? Just do your best.”

“Gee thanks.”

“Just let me know if you need anything. Talking to her mother didn’t work, but if we can a parent teacher conference...”

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Marinette. “But let me try a little longer. Adrien knows a little more about the situation, and so does Nino.”

“Okay baby.” Sabine smiled. “I’m proud of you. And I love you. You too, Adrien. I’m proud of you for coming here and making things right.”

He blushed. “Thank you Madam Cheng.”

“Alright, I’ll leave you kids alone. I’ll call for dinner.”

“Thanks mom!”

The video games were a great distraction from all the stress and revelations the day had brought. Smack talk, praise, puns, and even overt flirting.

“What’s wrong, Ladybug? Having trouble in a digital battle?”

“Oh you wish! I’ve fought in one of these for real!”

“Oh you lie! You think you can just tell me you did anything as Ladybug and I’ll believe it!”

“I mean, I can. You can’t prove I didn’t.”

“Yes I can, you’re sucking at this!”

“Oh but that’s just a part of my plan!” In a super mega ultra combo, Adrien’s health bar went from three quarters full, to only one hp left.

“Nonononono!!” He cried, mashing the block button.

It didn’t matter.

“Victory, thy name is sweet.”

“Guhhhh,” Adrien moaned as he flexed his sore hand. “And not a single victory for me.”

“You’ll get there some day.”

“When you go easy on me...”

“No promises there, handsome boy.”

He grinned at her.

From downstairs, Sabine called, “Adrien! Your bodyguard is here!”

“Wow, is it 8 o’clock already?”

The clock read 7:45.

“You know what they say, time flies when you’re having fun.”

He smiled softly at her. “And with you, every minute is an absolute blast.”

She blushed.

“Look, Marinette...” he trailed off, scratching the back of his head. “I...I want to be more than just a friend. I really...I love you. Truly.”

“But...?”

He winced. “A temporary but. I have a few loose ends I need to tie up before I ask you out, properly. I need to talk to my father, and I’d like to make sure Kagami’s okay. And I should probably mention it to Chloé.”

“Okay. That makes sense.”

“I just don’t want anything to ruin us before we even start, you know?”

“Of course. I understand completely.”

He sighed in relief. “Thank you. And um...I’ll leave you with this, so you know I’m serious.”

“Leave me with what?”

He swooped in, pressing the sweetest, warmest, lovely kiss of them all on her lips. It only lasted a few seconds, just to leave them both pining for more.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asked as they parted.

She didn’t have the words, as she only dumbly nodded back.

With his award winning smile, he pressed a tiny peck to her nose and then danced away before she could compose herself.

After he left, she sank to the floor.

“Wow! Looks like talking out your problems with someone really did help!” Said Tikki.

“Uh huh...”

“You okay?”

“Adrien...kissed me.”

“He sure did! That was really cute!”

“I love him...I’m going to marry him.”

“Okay, maybe slow down...”

“Don’t crush my dreams Tikki!”

—

At home, Adrien arrived 5 minutes before 8. But his father was still waiting outside his office.

“Welcome home, Adrien. Did you enjoy dinner with Marinette and her family?”

It was certainly nice to receive a warm welcome! “Yeah! Her mom made this soup that was really good, and we had fresh bakery bread!”

“Sounds lovely.” Gabriel stayed with a pleasant tone. “If you aren’t busy, I should like to finish our earlier conversation.”

“No. I mean, no I’m not busy! We can talk!”

Gabriel nodded and beckoned him into his office. They sat across from each other in chairs.

“I want to thank you for being so frank about the situation with Miss Rossi. I’ll admit, I was impressed with her quick wit and ability to fabricate stories—“

“Wait.” Adrien held up a hand. “You know she was lying?”

“Of course. I’m not an idiot. Her lies were obvious, but to the unpracticed ear, they’d go unnoticed. She seemed earnest enough when she told me she cared about you, and so I...had her keep an eye on you.”

Adrien felt his skin crawl. “She...spied on me?”

“Hmm. Spied is a little strong of a word. Just reported back to me the goings on of your classmates.”

“I mean,” Adrien began, sheepishly. “If you wanted to know, you could have just asked. I would have told you.”

“I should have. I see that now. Lila was obviously abusing my trust and taking advantage of you. She probably assumed she could get away with anything as long as she reported everything else.”

Adrien wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. He desperately needed a shower after this conversation.

“I feel kind of violated.”

“I understand. Lila had no business to touch you without your consent.”

“No, I mean, yes, that was very violating, but I meant, your spying on me. I thought you trusted me?”

“I do. Adrien, I do. Lila told me you were being manipulated by unsavory types. I now know that she was talking about herself. What you said about her lying to get Miss Dupain Cheng in trouble really hit me. We will be dropping her as a model, and I’ll be speaking with my lawyer in case she decides to turn her silver tongue on us.”

Adrien sighed in relief. “Thank you father.”

“You know if someone ever touches you in a way you don’t like, you’re allowed to say no. Right?”

“I...yes. I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well, I just...it happens all the time. Models and stuff. Lila was just doing it off set too.”

Gabriel frowned in thought. “Does modeling make you uncomfortable?”

“No. Not really. Just...some of the times in like, couple shoots?”

“I see. I’ll look into getting you more solo sessions.”

This conversation was going a lot better than he expected. His father had certainly lowered Adrien’s expectations, but at least he was admitting allowing a teenager to spy on him was a bad idea.

Progress.

“Now, about Miss Dupain Cheng.”

Adrien winced.

“What’s your...relationship, currently?”

“Right this minute, we’re still just friends. But very soon, I hope to be dating her.”

“Mmmm. You’re still very young, Adrien.”

“I know. But too young to love?”

His father gave a little chuckle. “You are so much like your mother. I suppose it would be hypocritical of me to prevent you from dating, since I dated at your age as well. Marinette has certainly proved to be an upstanding girl. Her family name is well known and respected, even in elite circles. If you wish to date her, you have my blessing.”

Yes!!

“But I would like to have dinner with her and her family, once you do ask.”

“Yes father, of course. Thank you!”

Today wasn’t so bad after all. Of course, it hurt to see his lady in so much pain, but he had been able to bring her so much happiness! And now this!

“There’s one more thing I wanted to talk about.” Gabriel took a very serious tone.

“Okay?”

“Do you trust me?”

“I—yes! Yes of course father.”

“Good. Because I need to show you something. Something I should have shown you a long time ago.” He stood, and walked to the painting of Emilie behind his desk.

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrinette #adrienette #identity reveal #lila rossi is exposed

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akimmito · 4 years

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Heroes are made by the path they choose

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Master List

Chapter 10

Richard Grayson never expected to meet someone who had an aura similar to Alfred's, but when he approached them after leaving the hotel and almost killed them with fright, he found that the existence of other like that was possible.

Hugo, as he presented himself, did them the favor of leading them to a house on the outskirts of Paris. Unlike Wayne Manor which is amazing to see, Lenoir Country House is like stepping into a magical garden worthy of being part of a movie set. Vines tangle in the wooden frames and arches forming a natural roof from which grapes hang, plus the rose bushes that cluster around. As they walk through what would be the totally green front garden, they begin to hear barking and, according to what they were seeing on social networks, Marie Lenoir's son has six dogs, two puppies and four adults, in addition to two cats (yes, they did their little research on the family and were able to see the only photograph of the boy, who has green eyes and a haunting resemblance to Bruce).

At the entrance of the house they are greeted by a gray-haired woman with a motherly gaze. She guides them through the small mansion to her employer's study, telling them some stories of the place's reform and how kind her boss is, letting the employees live in the house, in addition to informing them to be careful with the Animals that roam the house, can be very wild and are capable of knocking down adult men (he told the anecdote of Agatha rolling through the mud to Felix Graham de Vanily and Adrien Agreste at the same time).

Tim looks with interest at the scenery, everything is so… soft, warm and homey. The place is decently large, but it doesn't feel empty, not the way the mansion, even with everyone gathered, feels cold and lonely. In that house only three people are part of the Lenoir (if their observations are correct regarding Hugo).

As they walk down a hallway, they hear two different types of barking, but soon more join… until a black-haired boy pushes them aside as he runs, behind him come the four adult dogs and they manage to knock down Dick who had the unfortunate luck of not being moving in time, the two cubs pass over him.

A little subtly they hear the boyish childish laugh before crossing another hallway (although for Tim, it was more of an evil laugh).

"That boy, always doing his thing." The lady denies with a loving expression. "When I met him, he was very grumpy, he only gave us suspicious looks and observed us in everything we did, especially when we cooked. The first time he refused to eat something that had not been prepared by Miss Lenoir or Hugo, it was hard for him to trust us..."

"Looks like they had a rough start." Dick mentions curiously, wanting me to explain a little more about the boy. Marie has done a better job than Bruce keeping her son away from the media.

"I was, but I think it was worth it, he's a very special boy." She smiles and starts walking again, straight to the shrill noise of the dogs. They barely manage to hear the murmurs.

They enter the studio, a rather large and very elegant room in cream white and black. As they walk through the door, Marie looks up and drops the conversation she was having with her son, Damian turns and gives them a look of contempt, as if he really has something against them. Dick is openly confused by the boy's gaze.

"Welcome, Mr. Grayson and Mr. Drake." She smiles kindly and invites them to settle into the room, the dogs have already taken over a large part of the space. "Honey, why don't you take your friends out to play in the backyard?"

"They are very comfortable here, mother, besides, we have played all morning. We deserve a break. ”He responds politely and giving them another poisonous look, he sits on the black leather sofa (synthetic leather, of course) rising above them as the owner of the place.

Now Richard is much more confused, did they do something to offend the boy?

Tim is restless, the boy deliberately ran past his pack of dogs capable of taking down a Dick-sized man (maybe they could even knock someone like Jason or Bruce to the ground) and now he's subtly threatening them, maybe his older brother isn't I feel it as such, but Damian is drawing a line that if they cross, it will have consequences, and he doesn't want to imagine what that murderous-looking boy is capable of doing to them.

"Weren't you going to take measurements and ask what they want, mother?" Damian questions from her place, seeing that the three adults stood uneasily. Tim tries not to look in his direction, he has the feeling that he would smile darkly at him like a whole evil being.

"Sure..." She says and takes the tape measure from the desk and putting it on her shoulders, then picks up a pencil and her sketchbook. "So is it for an event or for everyday use?"

"Daily use, in my case". Dick responds as casually as he can, feeling the boy's gaze awkward. "Tim wants his suit for work."

"Comfort and elegance, I feel most of the time, but I need to be more than decent when executives decide to improvise a meeting." Tim looks around awkwardly. "It happens very frequently... and most are organized by Bruce"

Marie is aware of what Damian is doing, but doesn't understand the reasons, she has never had that behavior with a client and doubts that it's only because they are two men who border her age, there is something else and she's going to find out, these two men they mean something, her child only reacts to extremes when it comes to... his birth family. Well, mystery solved. Now, she will discover how to approach the issue.

She couldn't see the boy's reaction to his biological father's name, but ho gaze only intensified by throwing mental daggers at the younger of the two men, causing chills. Dick gives Damian a small look, yes, it's unsettling, but he's worried about the amount of contempt he has for them, he cannot even think about how sweet and pretty the designer is, because he's not blind and she's beautiful.

Damian takes out his phone and takes a subtle photograph that he sends to the chat he has with Felix, asking him to come help him intimidate those two men. She only receives a vague reply, but it's enough for him. Although his attention is slightly taken by the group chat, where he has the misfortune of being for being of all the members of the MT (official and unofficial) .. with a very subtle name and nobody don't want to tell him who was the genius who put it on, Although if he must guess, it must have been Kim. Between that and the ridiculous names, he's completely sure that it is his doing.

Marie spends the entire morning chatting with her two clients, Damian and her pack of dogs hang around the entire time. The two German Shepherds are very intimidating, especially Agatha whenever Richard leaned too closed to his mother.

Damian is not allowing his supposed brother to have even the slightest chance of becoming his alleged father. No, he prefers his mother's lover (whoever he is) a thousand times to anyone who is in any way related to his biological family.

----------

It's not the MT

The Antibiotic: Why wasn't told me the butterfly it was active?

Perfect Crime: Because, dear cousin, enough suffering is being married to the shrew.

Plasticine: Don’t invoke her, she’s worse than Satan.

Almost pretty: At least Satan is a good guy, he invited me for a few drinks when I went to Los Angeles with my mother.

Three balls: I signed him a comic, it's great.

Needle: I remember that day, he invited us to a trio

Dragon Tamer: I remind you that there is a child here.

Olive: Agreste, none warned you because they have the concentration capacity of a stick, that is, none.

Plasticine: And you?

Olive: I don't care enough to remember his existence.

The Antibiotic: At least you are sincere...

----------

At lunchtime, Felix arrives at the country house. The two clients are still there, after Damian left the room to go to the bathroom (he's still mad at his physiology for betraying him), Tim was more open about the details. Dick was also more relaxed and they even got into a little conversation around the stunts... until the boy returned.

Two things became clear to Dick: first, the boy has something against them, and second, he has a very heavy and intimidating presence. Very creepy if asked.

So, with everyone gathered in the dining room, it's almost a surprise to see Felix arrive carrying another puppy, Dick looks bitterly as the boy gets another dog, at least hde will not be there for when the puppy turns into a giant dog.

"Felix, what does this mean?"Marinette questions in dismay, none of her friends had given an animal to her son, most against her beacause allowing him to have so many pets (even though only Daphne lives in the apartment).

“A few nights ago I had an epiphany when I saw how a ridiculous suit was the solution to all our problems, so I decided to give Damian a Great Dane because… things can only be strange to a certain extent. "

"You're delusional." She wants to laugh at his logic, especially since he always seemed incredulous every time he saw a Lucky Charm, he always ended up talking to Tikki about it and ended the discussions regretting the loss of all logic (he gave up long ago time, but it seems that the last Akuma made him remember the strange things that it delivers).

"Anybody raves after that." Damian, take. ”The boy stands up to receive his new pet, showing a small and subtle smile when he takes the puppy in his arms. "I had a hard time getting it, I had to blackmail this friend of my mother who tried to sell it at exaggerated prices. "

Marinette gives him a warning look, refraining from saying what he did in front of her guests, can still save her family's reputation a bit after Damian nearly threatened them with kitchen knives (because the real weapons don't come out of the headquarters of the MT).

"Of course not, I made a deal, I can't reveal the circumstances of the deal." He smirks and his gaze on Marinette's clients. "I'm sorry for my rudeness, I'm Felix Graham de Vanily."

"No problem, Richard Grayson." He gets up to shake hands and shake them, giving him a nice smile, Tim stays in his place and just introduces himself, looking at the blond man without being able to avoid that many expressions of the boy are reflected in him. Does Damian see him as his father figure? He's pleasant around him, although he has not seen how he acts in front of other people.

"Do you have lunch with us?" Marinette already knows the answer, but still asks for the employees to prepare another dish.

"Of course. "

"Does he have a name?" Damian asks after he has been stroking the puppy whose fur is completely black, who is happy to be cared for.

"No, you can put whatever you want and, for the love of all that is good, never ask my cousin about it again." Mariette smiles with amusement and settles again, although she knows that Damian will take a little longer to return to sit down.

"Pictso seems happy with his name." Damian says amused to see Felix's face contract, he enjoys teasing the adults around him (except his mother).

"It just shows that any creature that comes from my cousin has the same lousy taste as him."

"I thought that was established since he didn't accept that Chloe will start the divorce process." Marinette says simply as Margaret, Hugo's equivalent in the country house, comes in with the extra plate and places it right in front of Tim, at Damian's side of the seat.

Felix only teases and adjusts himself in his seat, Damian imitates him without releasing the puppy, ignoring Marinette's gaze.

"Damian."

"Only this time, mother, then he will be with his brothers." He responds, facing his mother, feeling Richard's gaze on him, making him uncomfortable because it's too soft for his taste.

What does he need to does to get those people out of his life forever?

--------

Damian @DamianLenoir

Titus is added to the family, his brothers adore him.

[Attached photo]

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

@DamianLenoir Another one? Where do you get dogs so fast?

Marie L. @MarieLenoir

@DamianLenoir @BourgeoisQueen It was a gift from Felix.

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

@DamianLenoir @MarieLenoir Tell me it's not related to the bottle of Château Cheval Blanc that he gave us all

Marc @MarcAC_twt

@DamianLenoir @BourgeoisQueen @MarieLenoir I think it is.

Nath @NathanielKC_twt

@DamianLenoir @BourgeoisQueen @MarieLenoir @MarcAC_twt I don't even dare to touch the bottle, why did he give us a damn 5,000 euros wine? I shouldn't have investigated...

Felix @GrahamV_Felix

@BourgeoisQueen @MarieLenoir @MarcAC_twt @NathanielKC_twt Say thanks, or didn't they teach you manners?

Nath @NathanielKC_twt

@BourgeoisQueen @MarieLenoir @MarcAC_twt @GrahamV_Felix I would be more grateful if I didn't feel that wine is worth more than all my art supplies

#dickinette #dick x marinette #maribat #ml x dc #mominette #Damian & Marinette

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hermionemonica · 4 years

Text

Breaking the Barriers

Hey, @lalunaoscura! Happy birthday, dear! Here’s your gift, and I hope you like it. Have an amazing day!

(I own none of the characters. This is merely a fan fiction.)

AO3 link

“Hey, Nino! What's up?”

“I’m really sorry to disturb you at this hour Marinette, but Adrien is not picking up my calls nor replying to my messages.”

Marinette sat up straighter. “What are you saying?”

“I don't know, maybe his old man grounded him again or something, but I don't have a good feeling about this.”

“Okay I got this,” Marinette was already shoving her notebooks away. “I'll text you when I reach him.”

“I'm not sure if you will be able to contact him,” Nino sounded unsure.

He can’t ignore me if I physically show up though, thought Marinette.

“You know me, Nino. I got my ways.”

“Okay, just drop me a line to let me know that he's alright, or if he is-"

“Don't worry, he'll be fine,” Marinette said with a conviction she wasn't quite feeling herself.

As soon as she ended the call, Tikki floated over in front of her, “Adrien?”

“Yeah. Nino says he's not responding to him. He has never done that before.”

Tikki smiled knowingly. “Just say the words.”

“Tikki, spots on!”

Within a moment, Ladybug had climbed out of Marinette's room and was swinging her way to a certain model.

Knock-knock.

Adrien looked up over the back of his couch towards the closed window from where the sound came.

“Marinette?”

He hesitated for a moment, but then gave in. He hurried over to his window.

He paused again in front of his window. His lady was hanging on the other side of his window, separated from him only by a glass pane. He hadn't seen her in more than twenty-four hours. And just like every time, he was mesmerized by her ocean-blue eyes. Her cheeks were lightly flushed, probably from the cold outside, but he thought it made her look all the more beautiful.

He was broken out of his reverie by her fist thumping on the glass.

Are you going to let me in or what? she mouthed.

It would be a disrespect to leave a Princess waiting outside when she had shown up at his window, he thought while opening the window to let her in.

The first thing Ladybug did after getting into Adrien’s room was to enfold him in a tight hug.

Adrien was surprised at first, but he soon melted into her warm embrace. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. And slowly he could feel the tension floating away from his body.

This felt good.

After a long moment, they let go of each other, very slowly. And then Ladybug said, “Tell me.”

Adrien knew she would want to know. All evening, he had retreated into his little shell and refused to interact with anyone. He refused to touch his phone or come out of his room. He even cancelled his photoshoot saying he was not feeling too well.

His heart had been crying out for Marinette. His Lady. His Princess. Because he knew that she was the only one who could make him feel better. But he couldn't pluck up the nerve to call her or text her.

But now, when she was looking at him with that piercing gaze, that was both concerned and demanding at the same time, he could not find it in himself to hold back any longer.

“Promise me you'll not get upset?”

“I'm sorry Adrien, but I cannot promise you that. If it is something that upset you so much, then I am probably going to get upset as well and I am going to fight it.”

How could this girl have him so intimidated and in love with her at the same time?

He led her to his couch, where he was sitting earlier. Marinette noticed his Ladybug plush, and it had dents on it that looked like he had been holding it really tightly. This didn't look good; Adrien was not okay at all.

“Please wait here,” she heard him say as he made his way upstairs.

Adrien needed to get his phone. He had kept the phone somewhere on his bookshelves, just to be away from everything for a while. When he turned it on, he was shocked to find 55 missed calls, 17 voice messages, and 92 texts from Nino in the past three hours.

Adrien smiled. He was so lucky to have friends like Nino and Marinette, who cared for him so much. But then the other thing came back to him in a rush, and he felt tears forming up in his eyes.

“Adrien, are you alright up there?”

Marinette's voice brought him back to reality. It was incredible how she seemed to just know that it was her voice that he needed to hear then.

“Yeah, I’m coming down in a minute!” he called out.

And he did come down in a minute. He decided that it would take him some time to respond to all of Nino's messages. But he could not just leave him hanging like that, so he just sent him one little text: I'm alright. Don’t worry about me, man. I'll call you when I'm free. Sorry for worrying you.

“Hey Princess,” he announced, taking her by surprise. He noticed she was typing away on her yo-yo phone. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Oh no,” Ladybug said, shutting down her yo-yo. “I was just texting Nino. He has been worried to death.”

“I know,” Adrien sighed, settling down on the couch beside her. “There are so many alerts on my phone from him.” His voice dropped to a whisper, “I am sorry for making you guys worry.”

“No Adrien!” Ladybug placed her hands on both of his cheeks, gently turning his head towards her. “Please stop saying things like that! We worry about you because we care about you!”

Adrien smiled at that, but Marinette noticed how his smile did not even reach his eyes.

His smile faded too soon. He took his phone and did something on it, and then nervously extended it towards her. Ladybug took the phone from his shaking hands. The screen showed a page on the Ladyblog. It was the video of last week's akuma battle. The one in which Chat Noir ended up being captured, and the supervillain was holding him hostage to coax Ladybug into giving up her Miraculous. Luckily, she managed to find a way and got Chat out of there in time, deakumatised the villain and saved the day.

Right now, Ladybug was reading a thread of comments. The very first one read: “How is Chat Noir even a hero? All he ever does is get captured, get turned into one of the akuma's minions or distract Ladybug.”

Marinette felt her blood boiling. Her temples throbbing, she scrolled down to read the replies. And when she did, she almost wanted to smash the phone into two. Because there were at least twenty people who seemed to agree with that person.

“How many battles does Chat Noir even fight in? On Ladybug’s side, I mean.” “I wonder what loser is under that silly leather suit.” “He thinks he looks cool but the stupid bell is such a ridiculous accessory.”

With every word she read, her fist clenched tighter. And when she read a comment that said “Ladybug would be much better by herself without that stupid cat”, that was it for her. She hurled the phone away (luckily it landed on the carpet) and rose to her feet with an oath. “How dare they?” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Who do these people think they are? I can very well decide who I want to be my partner and I want none of their opinions! And hiding behind fake usernames ha! I swear I'm going to track them down and-"

“Are they really wrong though?” Adrien’s little voice cut her off in the middle of her rant. Marinette turned to look at him. He had his knees pulled up to his face and was trying his best to curl up into himself. It was then that she noticed that his ring was not on his finger. Which explains why Plagg wasn’t with Adrien before I came, Marinette thought.

Her heart bled for this poor boy; she couldn't even begin to imagine the hell he was going through.

“Oh kitty,” she whispered, plopping down onto the couch and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him close. At first Adrien tried to resist, but then he gave in. He broke down utterly. All his defenses completely gave way as Ladybug rested his head on her bosom as she placed one hand on the side of his head and the other around him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held on as tight as he could. They stayed like that for a while, Marinette holding on to this boy crying his heart out.

Marinette was aware that Adrien had grown up with severe self-esteem issues. All his life, he had been made to believe that he wasn't good enough. Being Chat Noir had been his only escape, but now people were attacking Chat as well.

After a while, she loosened the embrace only slightly, and began to rub soothing circles on his back. “You know,” came her voice, “how much you mean to me, and how much I need you.”

Adrien sighed. “That's because you're blinded by your lo-" He checked himself. “By your trust in me. But maybe you really would be better off with any other partner. Or any other Chat Noir.”

“No, Adrien,” Ladybug tightened her hold on him, “no one will ever be you. You are my partner, my Chat Noir.”

My Chat Noir.

Marinette had never realised how beautiful those words felt on her lips.

“I know you do all of that only to protect me. If it were not for you, then I- I don't know what would have happened to me,” Ladybug whispered.

“Please don't say things like that. I cannot imagine you not being there.”

“And I cannot imagine you not being there. Ladybug is nothing without you. Neither is Marinette.”

“You-you really think like that?”

“Yes, I do. And that is the truth,” Marinette spoke lovingly. “I need you, Adrien.”

At those words, Adrien broke down into a fresh bout of tears. Shaking uncontrollably, he clutched onto Ladybug and he wept like a baby.

This was not the first time she was seeing Adrien like this. But it made her heart bleed every time he broke down. Here was this pure kind soul, who deserved all the happiness in the world, but why did he have to be the one to suffer?

Gradually, she felt his breathing calm down. “Princess,” Adrien mewed.

“Yes?” Ladybug whispered back, not loosening her hold on Adrien.

“Can you- can you detransform?” he asked in a little voice. “Please? I really want to...” The rest of his sentence dissolved into an inaudible murmur.

“What was that, kitty? I didn't catch the last bit.”

Adrien leaned his head back a little to look at her. Marinette noticed that his expression was still troubled. He ran his hand down her arm, sending a strange shiver through her spine. And then he looked straight into her eyes.

“I want to feel your skin on mine.”

A fierce blush rose to Ladybug’s cheeks. Did Adrien really just say that?

“Adrien, I-"

Adrien put a finger to her lips to shush her. “Please Marinette.”

Was he out of his mind? What was he trying to do? He knew very well that they had agreed to keep things strictly platonic between them! Then why was he suddenly asking for something that would clearly break down all the walls between them?

No, she was definitely overthinking this. There wasn't anything wrong about what Adrien was asking for! It must be unsettling for him to feel her suit under his hands; she had felt the same way sometimes before. There was nothing wrong with a little bit of a friendly touch! And that's precisely what he was asking for, right?

It was just she was getting a little too carried away by her emotions. But right now, Adrien was in pain. Her best friend, her partner was suffering, and all he was asking for was to be comforted. He might not be in his proper senses right now, but that doesn't mean that she wasn't. She knew where to stop.

“Tikki, spots off.”

When the pink light of detransformation came over her, Adrien did not flinch nor closed his eyes. He kept staring at her with the fascination of staring at fire. But strangely, the fire seemed to be in his eyes.

Marinette looked at Tikki and subtly nodded at Adrien’s bare finger. Tikki nodded back and flew away silently. Marinette turned back to Adrien and smiled weakly. And that was all it took for him to reclaim his place in Marinette's arms.

Marinette unconsciously reclined back, so that she was leaning against the arm of the couch, and Adrien was lying on top of her. He did not seem to mind the change of position; rather it liked like he was more comfortable that way. He purred softly.

After a while, Adrien lifted his head to look at her. Marinette thought she saw a little desperation in his eyes. A little impatience. She didn't have to wonder for long, however, because his next words made it clear what he was thinking about.

“Can I kiss you?” Adrien whispered, stealing glances between her eyes and her lips.

What would she not have given to hear those words from him?

But this time, it was a no. She was not going to take advantage of Adrien like this. He was sad, he was weak, he was not in his senses, and it was her responsibility to stop him from doing anything that he would regret later on. No matter how tempting it could be. No matter how much it pained her to turn him down.

“We can’t, Adrien.”

“Why not, Marinette?” Adrien broke away from the embrace and sat up straighter.

“You know why.”

“No, like really,” Adrien went on, “What sense does it make? Here we are, two people absolutely perfect for each other, completely in love with each other,” Marinette’s eyes widened at how easily the words flowed from his lips, “and yet we can't be together? Why?”

Marinette was stunned into silence for a few seconds. And then she spoke in a little whisper, “You know we have to be responsible, for the sake of Paris.”

“But why does that mean that we have to be so unfair to ourselves?”

For once, Marinette could not find any reason to counter Adrien's words, no matter how hard she tried. And it certainly wasn't helping that Adrien was staring at her with that intense look in his eyes, begging, imploring.

Adrien placed a hand on the side of her face, and she instinctively leaned into his touch. “I promise you, what happens tonight will stay between the walls of my room. No one needs ever know.”

Could they ever stop if they started it?

But the next words Adrien spoke made the last of her resolve crumble down.

“I want you Marinette,” he spoke in a husky voice, one that sent chills through her body.

“I want you too, Adrien.”

Wait, did she just say that out loud?

“Then nothing can stop us,” Adrien growled, before crashing his lips into hers with a burning passion.

Neither knew how long the kiss lasted or how things accelerated from there. It was only when an incessant ringing on Marinette’s phone woke her up that she realised that she had fallen asleep for more than two hours. Groggily opening one eye, she saw that Nino was calling her. As soon as she received the call he started shouting in a worried voice.

“Where have you guys been? I have been calling both of your phones for the last two hours and I cannot reach any of you! Adrien texted that he would call me later but he didn't and now his phone is switched off! And you would receive neither my calls nor Alya's, do you have any idea how worried we have been?”

“Nino, I-" she began, but was interrupted by a grunt coming from her pillow. She looked up in confusion and realised her head had been resting on a bare chest.

Adrien's bare chest.

She sprung backward with a gasp.

“Marinette are you okay?” Nino's voice came through her phone.

“Ye-yes I am grand! Hey, I'll call you later okay, I-I fell asleep!”

“You fell asle-"

“MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG, ARE YOU SAYING YOU SLEPT WITH ADRIEN?”

“Alya, where did you come from?”

“I added her on conference call. But is that true? Did you guys sleep together?”

“I'll call you in a moment, okay?” Saying so, she hurriedly ended the call. There was a lot to process right now.

Apparently, she had fallen asleep with her head on Adrien’s chest, her left foot sprawled over his body. Adrien was topless, and his hair was a mess. Oh, and Marinette was only in her bra.

The good thing was both her jeans and Adrien's pajamas were intact. So, nothing happened, right?

And then Marinette began to remember what had happened. They had ended up making out on the couch, and then Adrien had carried her to his bed. Drunk on the heat of the moment, they had undressed (partially), and all the pent-up desires had taken over them as they had tried to touch and kiss every exposed part of the other's body that they could reach.

The talking had woken up Adrien, who was rubbing his eyes. When he removed his hands from his eyes and looked at Marinette, his face assumed an expression of surprise. But it quickly relaxed into a smile.

“Is it morning already?” he asked.

Marinette felt the situation was strangely domestic. And it made her feel all the more guilty and embarrassed.

“I- I am sorry about what happened,” she said, looking away.

“Oh no, you don't need to be sorry,” Adrien spoke up. “Unless,” his voice trailed away, “Marinette, do you regret doing this?”

Did she regret doing the one thing her love-struck heart had always wanted to do? “I- I don't.”

“Thanks for making me feel better, m’ lady,” he mumbled, but his sleepy voice was doing things to her brain.

“I- uh, I need to find Tikki,” she grabbed her shirt which was lying on the other side of the bed and turned to leave, when Adrien held her hand.

“Before you go, can I get one last kiss? I mean we don't have to, and I definitely am not asking you- mmph?”

The rest of his words remained unspoken as Marinette dove in for one long, passionate, hungry kiss.

When they finally let go of each other, Marinette rested her forehead on Adrien’s. “Chaton?”

“Mm-hm?”

“Please never think of leaving me, again,” she whispered. Adrien’s eyes widened as he felt her slowly pushing the ring onto his finger.

Plagg zoomed out and immediately went into a rant “HOW DARE Y-”

#miraculous ladybug #chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug #ladrien #adrienette #post reveal #pre relationship #hurt/comfort #ml fanfic #lalunaoscura #Happy birthday!!!#my fic #breaking the barriers

184 notes · View notes

authenticcadence18 · 4 years

Text

“Do You Trust Me?” Chapter 2/Conclusion

HEYYYY GUYS. Back in February, I wrote a few fics for @lovesquarefluffweek, including one called “Do You Trust Me?” that was based on a few of my favorite scenes in Aladdin and ended on a bit of a cliffhanger 😅

I am pleased to tell you that I have FINALLY finished the second and final part of this fic! (I wanted to finish it in time for Ladrien June, but alas...t’was not meant to be). I’d highly recommend reading Chapter One before moving on to this one, if you haven’t already.

I want to thank the amazing @youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal for beta reading/proofreading this piece and the lovely @macaronsforchat for motivating me to finish it once and for all! Y’all ROCK!!

AO3

....

Adrien never tired of feeling wind dance though his hair as he vaulted across Paris as Chat Noir. There was a confidence involved with every burst of air, an assuredness that he COULD be his own person and ensure his own freedom, at least for a little while.

He’d leapt over rooftops and soared high above the city more times than he could count. He loved it--how could he not??--but it was normal to him by now. He’d grown used to it.

…...but Adrien would never grow used to soaring over Paris in the arms of his Lady.

Seeing the city from Ladybug’s perspective took Adrien’s breath away….which was a little embarrassing, considering he’d seen all these landmarks from above dozens, if not hundreds of times, AND typically accompanied by Ladybug herself.

But being gathered in her arms as she swung across the city? Untransformed and completely dependent on her for safety?

It was just an extension of the trust he felt for her as Chat…..and it was invigorating.

….especially considering he became more and more certain who lay beneath her mask with every leap she took.

...

Marinette was observant.

Perhaps a little too observant when it came to Adrien. (At least according to Alya, anyway).

But Alya didn’t notice the things Marinette did.

Such as the way Adrien had slowly been deflating over the past week.

She sensed it in the smiles that didn’t quite meet his eyes.

In the snippets of overheard phone calls in which Adrien looked pained and the person on the other line--presumably his father or Nathalie--sounded angry.

And in the way he looked just as sad as Alya--if not more so--when Nino didn’t show up for school for multiple days due to a bout with the flu.

By Friday, Marinette ached to ask Adrien what was wrong because she just KNEW something had to be wrong. So she did.

He didn’t say much. Just a hasty, “Oh, I’m alright! Just a bit tired, that’s all...I’ve had a busy week.”

Marinette didn’t believe him for a minute. She wanted to help him so badly, but wasn’t sure how…

And then she realized.

Perhaps it would be difficult to help him as Marinette…..but Ladybug would have an easier time at it.

….

After a half hour or so of exploring the city, Ladybug swung unto a nearby rooftop and gently set Adrien down before reeling in her yo-yo.

“This spot has a great view of the river,” she explained, sitting down and gesturing for Adrien to follow suit.

Adrien did just that, heart still racing from the exhilaration of the ride (and from the close proximity to his lady, of course).

“Would you like a macaron?” Ladybug asked, revealing a small paper bag tucked away beside a chimney. She retrieved a cookie from the bag and offered it to Adrien with a warm smile.

Adrien accepted the gift and took a bite. His breath caught as the familiar flavor dissolved over his tongue. “Is this passionfruit flavored?”

Ladybug nodded (perhaps a bit smugly).

“That’s my favorite!! How did you know?”

She shrugged with a coy grin. “A hero never reveals her secrets.”

...only one other person had ever offered Adrien a passionfruit macaron.

And she just so happened to be the same person who’d recently helped Adrien escape a rooftop similar to the one he and Ladybug were seated on now.

Marinette.

Adrien bit his lip, stealing a glance at his Lady—at....Marinette?—as she gazed at the stars and nibbled on a macaron.

He’d never spent this much time with her without a miraculous—unless, of course, she and Marinette were indeed the same person.

He was 90% sure of her identity this point…the passionfruit macarons she’d brought him only contributed more puzzle pieces to the final image that had been growing in his mind ever since she’d reached out to him earlier in the night....but the remaining 10% insisted it couldn’t be true, that it would be too good to be true, that Ladybug would be ANGRY with him if it were true so he might as well try to forget about the possibility and move on with his life.

Still, if his Lady really WAS Marinette, he couldn’t just keep it a secret from her. He had to tell her the truth.

And if she wasn’t? If the uncanny similarities between the two of them that sent his heart racing were just coincidences?

No harm done then.

(There wasn’t a pang in Adrien’s chest at that thought. No way.)

….

"...so....do you want to talk about it?"

Adrien's pulse skyrocketed.

"What? Huh?? Talk about what??"

Did she know?

Did she know he knew??

Ladybug cocked her head at him, seemingly puzzled.

"About whatever's bothering you. We don't have to, if you don't want to. I just thought it might help."

Adrien let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh! That."

He supposed the "sorry I figured out your secret identity, but in my defense, it was only because you’re just so amazingly wonderful" conversation could wait a bit longer.

"Well, I mean....”

What harm was there in telling Ladybug...in telling Marinette...what was bothering him?

She was a superhero. She was probably as good at keeping secrets as he was.

"My father....well, I haven't really seen much of him this week....and I wonder if it's because he doesn't really want to see ME. I see Nathalie, my father's assistant, all the time...but this week she's just been acting like him. Cold. Only seeming to notice the things I do wrong.”

A dark scowl passed over Ladybug’s face.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my father!!" Adrien insisted as he caught a glimpse of the storm clouds brewing in Ladybug’s eyes.

"It's just....this week he's being less supportive than usual. Yeah, that's it. And then, one of my best friends has been absent from school for the past few days because he's sick. Usually I'm able to talk to him about this stuff and he makes it easier, but now I can't even visit him....and I don't want to text him about it, because what if my Father or Nathalie take my phone and find out?? They'd be so disappointed in me... And I already feel bad enough for telling Nino about some of my problems...I didn't want to burden any of my other friends with them..."

A wave of sadness and clarity rolled over Ladybug's shoulders at that final statement. No wonder Adrien hadn't gone into any specifics with her at school.

".....I probably shouldn't be telling you this…” Adrien muttered after a few seconds of contemplation, gazing down to the ground below. “You already have the weight of the world on your shoulders, you don't need my personal problems added to the mix...I’m sorry…..”

"Adrien.”

The sharpness in Ladybug’s tone snapped Adrien out of his lonesome stupor.

Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

“Listen to me....you are NOT a burden. And you are NOT in the wrong for wishing your father and Nathalie treated you differently.”

Adrien knew that. Deep down, somewhere, he knew it, even if it was hard to believe.

It still felt good to hear Ladybug say it though.

But she wasn’t done.

"...you are so loved, Adrien.

You are loved in ways and to lengths you don't even realize, in ways you can’t even IMAGINE. I guess the main reason I brought you out here tonight was so I could tell you that."

".....how could you know that?" Adrien breathed softly.

"Oh...a bug has her ways...." Ladybug replied with a gentle smile. "And you trust me, don't you, Adrien? You know I’m telling the truth.”

That sealed the deal. It was official.

Ladybug was in fact Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

And suddenly, Adrien didn’t want to keep this knowledge to himself any longer.

“You know, I’ve also been having a bit of trouble with school,” Adrien said, trying to conceal a wobble in his voice. “You know that reading assignment Ms. Bustier assigned us to analyze this weekend? I just don’t understand it.”

“Wait, really?” Marinette asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I didn’t think it was too bad. Maybe I can help you with it before Monday.”

Adrien’s breath caught in his throat.

A wave of nausea struck Marinette as her brain caught up to her tongue. She slammed on her breaks...but the car ahead of her was already hit.

“.......uh. I mean…….”

Oh no. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. This WASN’T REAL. Adrien could NOT know she was his classmate.

It was okay. She could fix this. Ladybug could fix this.

“I mean, I Alya told me all about the reading assignment earlier today!!!! We talk sometimes because of her Ladyblog, that’s all….”

She made the mistake of glancing at Adrien...and any remaining words fizzled out on her tongue...because he was gazing at her as if she’d hung all the stars in the sky.

There was a softness...an assuredness in his gaze unlike anything Marinette had ever known.

Adrien had never looked at her—with or without her mask—like this before.

Luka had never looked at her like this.

Even Chat Noir, with all his pining and devotion and declarations of love, had never looked at her like this..

Adrien’s eyes seemed to capture her entire being. He saw all of her...he looked like he’d spent a lifetime searching for his other half and had finally found it in her.

“....it’s you,” he whispered softly. Reverently.

“Marinette.”

The logical part of Marinette screamed for her to DENY and ESCAPE before it was too late.

……..but the corner of her heart that had never quite given up on Adrien refused to settle for

that.

“I….okay…..I’m Marinette...” she breathed.

Adrien’s eyes shone. “I knew it.”

“But….but...but how did you know?” Marinette asked.

“Uh….” Adrien hesitated. He couldn’t really explain how he’d figured it out without compromising his own identity...and would Marinette want him to do that?

Fortunately, he was spared from facing this predicament for the time being because Marinette was talking again.

“I mean, I’ve barely been the guardian for a month! I thought I was being so CAREFUL, but somehow you figured it out and if YOU figured it out, what if someone ELSE figured it out?? Oh GOSH I am a HORRIBLE guardian and everyone probably knows my secret identity now and this is SO BAD--” “Woah, slow down!!” Adrien interjected with a chuckle, taking Marinette’s hand in his own and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You are definitely NOT a horrible guardian. You’re the most amazing person ever!! You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise. And no one else knows! Don’t worry: your secret is safe with me.”

Marinette gazed at him, a blush glowing faintly on her cheeks and the hint of a smile gracing her face.

Perhaps Adrien knowing her identity wouldn’t be so bad. She WAS the guardian now, after all, and had more responsibilities than ever. He could help keep her secret, maybe even help her come up with excuses if she needed to leave school more often.

….but Chat Noir would be disappointed when she told him Adrien Agreste had figured out her identity before he learned it for himself.

Wait.

Chat Noir.

Suddenly, Marinette remembered icy blue eyes bearing the grief of a hundred restless, lonely nights boring into her.

Oh no.

Oh NO.

“Oh no, no, NO, Adrien, you CAN’T know who I am, this is so bad, this is so bad, the last time this happened….oh gosh, oh no--”

Adrien’s face blanched as Ladybug--Marinette--his lady began to shake.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Please don’t cry, it’ll be okay, I won’t tell anyone, I promise…..”

Adrien was sitting closer to her now, rubbing circles into her back in an attempt to calm her down and unable to comprehend why his lady was so distraught when she’d seemed alright just a minute ago.

Normally, Marinette would have been over the moon to be so close to Adrien.

But the thought of poor Chat Noir all alone in a barren Paris was too horrible to be chased away by Adrien’s close proximity.

“It’s all my fault…..” Marinette wept. “I’m a horrible Ladybug...I can’t even keep my identity a secret and now Chat Noir will suffer for it….”

Adrien stiffened. What did Chat Noir have to do with any of this?

“You are NOT a horrible Ladybug, Marinette….” Adrien assured her. “It’s not your fault that I found out your identity, honestly! Why is this so bad?”

Was HE the problem? Did Marinette already know his identity? Was she disappointed?

Marinette bit her lip, straining to hold back tears that threatened to continue falling.

“...the last time you found out my identity, Chat Noir was akumatized….” she sniffled.

Adrien’s stomach plummeted. “Wait, what? What do you mean? What last time? And I--er--I never saw any footage of Chat Noir as an akuma! I mean, unless you count Copycat, which I don’t.”

Adrien wished he could forget THAT day.

“You’re right, he hasn’t been akumatized…” Marinette agreed. “...not anymore, anyway.”

Shadows of an abandoned city haunted Marinette’s eyes as she gazed out over Paris. Adrien couldn’t see what she was seeing...and yet he shuddered .

“But in an alternate timeline…” Marinette whispered. “...you found out my identity. And somehow it led to Chat Noir finding out my identity….which led to him being akumatized.”

An alternate timeline? A faint shudder glided along Adrien’s shoulders, phantoms of a life he never lived chilling him to the bone.

“But….but how? I only figured out your identity today,” Adrien replied.

“It wasn’t always this way….do you remember the beret I brought you from your fanclub in Brazil?”

“Yeah! I love that beret! But that was a while ago...what does that have to do with this?”

Ladybug bit her lip. “Well….that beret was actually from me. Marinette. I meant to give it to you as Marinette, but you weren’t home...so I left it in your room as Ladybug. In the original timeline, I signed my name on the card and bugged out without being seen...or at least that’s what I thought. But then Bunnix grabbed me and brought me to the future that mistake led to...a future where Chat Noir had been akumatized and...and bad things happened.

“It isn’t that I don’t trust you Adrien, I do!! But somehow, you learning my secret identity led to Chat’s akumatization….”

Adrien considered his next words carefully. If he’d been akumatized for knowing Ladybug’s identity in the past--or, well, in the future--he had to tell her the truth about his own identity.

Maybe doing so would prevent anything bad from happening this time around.

“Well, I’m not sure why Chat Noir would have gotten akumatized...but I think I know how he was able to figure out your identity….” he said thoughtfully.

“What? How??”

“Well, Chat and I both have a similar...perspective on things…” Adrien said slowly. “...you could say that, if I figured out your identity, Chat would too.”

“but...but...you mean you told him?” Marinette asked incredulously. “I don’t understand.”

Adrien bit his lip before continuing. “Well, when two beautiful girls, one with a mask and one without, ask you to trust them twice in the same week, it’s hard NOT to see behind the second girl’s mask and find the first girl beneath.”

Ladybug’s eyes narrowed, the gears in her head turning. “But...I barely talked to you as Marinette last week...the only other person I asked to trust me is….”

Her breath caught in her throat.

“Chat.”

A roguish glint twinkled in Adrien’s eye.

“We should hang out like this more often, m’lady.”

….

“Oh my gosh. Ohhh my gosh. Oh my GOSH OH MY GOSH.”

Marinette was hyperventilating, looking around in every direction but at Adrien, as if searching for some sort of clarity in the vast city sprawling below them.

“You’re Chat Noir. You’re CHAT NOIR. YOU’VE BEEN CHAT NOIR ALL THIS TIME OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH it all makes SENSE but it also DOESN’T OH GOSH.”

“Are...are you upset?” Adrien dared to ask as Marinette paused to take a few breaths. “I know you wanted us to keep our identities a secret, but--” “Upset?” Marinette let out a strained laugh. “No, no, I’m not upset. I just….all this time...two of the people I care about more than anything in the world...they’ve been the same person. It’s just...I...it’s a lot to process…”

“Believe me.” Adrien squeezed her hand gently. “I know the feeling.

“Do you want me to transform? Would that make you feel more comfortable with...all this?”

“No, no!!” Marinette stuttered, gesturing about. “I mean! If you want to transform, that’s fine! But if you don’t want to, that’s fine too! Whatever you want to do...anything is fine.”

Her gaze was still distant. She wouldn’t look at him.

“...are you thinking about the future?” Adrien asked, trying to ignore the pit of dread slowly forming in his gut.

“....maybe….” Marinette replied softly. She clenched her eyes shut, as if to chase away the images haunting her mind.

“Do you want to talk about it? Maybe we can figure out how I got akumatized back then, figure out how to keep it from happening again.”

“No…” Marinette took a deep breath. “I think it might be best if I took you home. I don’t want your father discovering you’ve been gone for so long, considering how he’s been treating you this week.

“Or, you know, if you’d rather transform and go home yourself, that’s alright too! I just...I think I need more time to think about all this. Before we figure out how things are going to work from here.”

“Will I need to give my miraculous back?”

Marinette finally looked at him at that.

“Are you kidding? No one can be my partner but you, Chaton. You’re irreplaceable. You know that.”

She caressed his palm with the tip of her thumb.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

For a few seconds, Marinette and Adrien sat in silence...Marinette finding the partner she’d grown to depend on and care for so much in the features of the boy she’d loved from the day they met, and Adrien seeing beyond the mask of his lady for the girl who’d been there for him since they shared an umbrella on a fateful rainy day.

Adrien broke the silence with a whispered request.

“...do you mind taking me home? I think Plagg is asleep in my jacket, and I’d hate to wake him.”

“...I’d be happy to.”

…..

It was our love that did this to the world, m’lady.

The words echoed in Ladybug’s head like a warning siren as she soared over Paris, their volume only amplified by the proximity of the boy she cradled in her free arm.

Chat Noir loved her.

ADRIEN loved her.

And that love had destroyed their world.

Learning the identity of her partner brought many of the walls Marinette had constructed around her feelings crashing down. She now understood just how deeply she cared for Chat Noir...understood why the feelings lingering beneath the surface of her subconscious felt right, even though she loved Adrien so much already.

Those feelings were one and the same. And now?

They were stronger and ever.

But new walls were already sprouting to take the place of the old ones.

Because now, loving Adrien--AND loving Chat--meant risking everything.

Paris.

The world.

And above all….Adrien himself.

Marinette never wanted him to suffer the heartache and devastation his alternate counterpart had. How could she confess her feelings to him when she knew the horrible outcome that could follow it? That had ALREADY followed it?

Maybe Bunnix wouldn’t be able to save them this time.

She couldn’t reveal her feelings. Not yet, anyway.

It wasn’t safe.

….

“Thank you for tonight, Mari...uh...Ladybug...I feel better than I have in a long time.”

A smile tugged at Marinette’s lips as she swung to a stop at Adrien’s window and helped her partner climb inside. She remained outside, still held taut by her yo-yo string. “I’m glad I was able to help...even if YOU took our discussion in a direction I never would have expected.”

Adrien smirked. “Cats have a way of bringing things out of the bag.”

Marinette rolled her eyes with a grin. “So I’ve learned.”

“You know, speaking of our discussion....” Adrien leaned out over the railing until he was looking up at Ladybug as she dangled a few feet above him. “Hearing you say how loved I am as Ladybug reminded me of how compassionate and caring you are as Marinette, which was more or less definitive proof that you ARE Marinette, you know?

“But...even if that was a very ‘Marinette’ thing of you to say...I can’t help but wonder who you were referring to. Who could love me that much?”

“Uhh, uhhhh…..”

Marinette was blushing and CURSING herself for blushing because this was a matter of literal life-and-death but she just couldn’t help it. She’d been relying on the elusiveness of her identity to conceal the fact she was talking about her own love for Adrien as Ladybug, but now that they knew each other’s identities, that elusiveness had been nullified...and she’d basically admitted her feelings to Adrien already.

“Our friends!” she finally stuttered, doing her best to sound casual.

“Our friends love you! And our teachers! And myself, of course, because of COURSE I love you! Er, as my friend! Just like Alya loves you! Or Nino!”

Adrien couldn’t help but smile at her rambling explanation, even if the words themselves weren’t quite what he was hoping for. There was the Marinette he knew and...well…

He didn’t allow his mind to finish that statement.

“That’s what I figured!” he replied with a smile. “I just wanted to make sure.”

“Well, anyway, I should probably head home…” Marinette said, already envisioning flopping on her bed and shrieking at Tikki for a couple of hours. “I still have some studying to do.”

“I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday,” Adrien replied. “Or maybe for patrol before then?”

“Maybe!” Marinette replied with a smile. “And Adrien…

“If you ever need to escape or just, you know, sneak out and hang out with our friends...just let me know. Ladybug is always willing to protect an unsuspecting akuma target or potential akuma victim by stealing him away for a few hours.”

There was a hint of truth in the latter part of that statement that didn’t really resonate with Marinette until it left her tongue. Adrien, fortunately, didn’t seem to pick up on it at all, as his face was beaming.

“I’ll definitely take you up on that, m’lady.”

“Good. Well, uh...bug out, I guess!”

Marinette tugged on the yo-yo string, prepared to make her exit as gracefully as possible.

...but her yo-yo apparently had other plans tonight.

Perhaps by chance, perhaps by luck, or perhaps by divine kwami intervention, Ladybug’s yo-yo did not send her shooting into the sky as it normally did. Rather, it sent her barreling downward.

Not too far downward, fortunately.

Just far enough to crash into Adrien’s lips with her own.

The first few seconds were a kaleidoscope of emotions and feelings and sensations because THEY HADN’T DISCUSSED THEIR FEELINGS and this would make things AWKWARD and ADRIEN DIDN’T THINK MARINETTE LIKED HIM THAT WAY AT ALL and MARINETTE COULDN’T LET ADRIEN KNOW JUST HOW MUCH SHE CARED because THE WORLD WAS AT STAKE.

...but the softness of Adrien’s lips against hers rapidly tore down the walls Marinette had hastily constructed barely an hour ago.

He loved her.

She loved him.

Maybe their situation was complicated, sure, but...they loved each other.

Maybe the world was at stake...but it had always been the two of them against the world, hadn’t it?

Adrien’s first instinct was to go rigid as Marinette melted into the kiss. She didn’t like him, right? She just wanted to be friends, right?? This couldn’t be happening...right??? But as Ladybug gently cradled his face with her hand, Adrien realized he might have been wrong about all that.

It would have been quite a sight for the papers and blogs. Paris’s favorite hero and their favorite star, tenderly expressing their love for one another under a moonlit sky.

But Lady Luck was on their side tonight...the streets of Paris were quiet.

This moment was theirs and theirs alone.

….

“...so...I think I understand who you were referring to earlier….” Adrien whispered, eyes wide.

“You know….when you said I was loved in ways I couldn’t even imagine….”

Marinette’s eyes twinkled as she brushed a lock of golden hair behind his ear and leaned in to press a kiss against his cheek.

“You always were a smart kitty.”

The rational part of Marinette’s brain reminded her of why she’d been so adamant not to let this happen in the first place, and she flinched.

“We can talk more about...this...on patrol…” she said, “but for now...let’s just agree to keep everything between us, okay?”

Perhaps in the other timeline, she and Adrien had dated publicly, which led to Hawkmoth discovering their identities, Marinette reasoned. Keeping their feelings for one-another a secret might allow them to be together while also protecting themselves.

“Whatever you say, m’lady,” Adrien replied dreamily.

He didn’t need the world to know how lucky he felt to love and be loved by such an amazing girl.

All that mattered was that he knew.

“Goodnight, my beautiful princess…” he whispered.

Marinette blushed, the warmth of their kiss still lingering on her lips and the joy of finally, FINALLY expressing her feelings to Adrien bringing tears to her eyes.

They’d find a way to make this work.

They WERE Ladybug and Chat Noir, after all.

“Sleep well, my prince.”

...

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! I hope it was worth the wait!! :)

#my writing #miraculous ladybug #ladrien #miraculous ladybug fanfic #ml fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ladrien fanfiction #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #ml love square #ml reveal #ladrien fanfic #ladybug #at long last...i've finally finished a wip #boy does it feel good!!!!#:)))))

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coffeecomicsgalore · 3 years

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I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You

Ao3

Summary: She didn’t know how it began. The stirring feeling that welled within her chest whenever he gazed into her eyes. How her heart skipped a beat when he bowed and kissed the back of her hand so sincerely after a battle. How she had to focus her energy on forming a cohesive sentence whenever he complimented her on the fly.

But she did remember the day it hit her hard, the way she stared into his vibrant green orbs, ones that were hopeful and filled with love when he gazed into her soul, a set of eyes that had so much to give. That feeling came, a rush of happiness filling her very soul and making her feel wanted. It felt amazing for a moment, but she deterred back. She always did. The thought of grasping onto that feeling when identities had to remain a secret scared her, but breaking the wall that she put up a year ago terrified her more than she cared to admit.

Yet, all she wanted was to spend a lifetime loving him.

She didn’t know how it began. The stirring feeling that welled within her chest whenever he gazed into her eyes. How her heart skipped a beat when he bowed and kissed the back of her hand so sincerely after a battle. How she had to focus her energy on forming a cohesive sentence whenever he complimented her on the fly.

But she did finally admit to herself not that long ago that knowing him and loving him fully would be so much easier most days… especially after the disaster of today.

Ladybug sat at the edge of the highest beam of the Eiffel Tower, looking out into the Parisian night sky as she wallowed in her thoughts. Her knees were brought up to her chest for comfort, while her arms folded nicely over her knees. Her chin rested on her arms as her eyes roamed from star to star that peaked through the lightly polluted sky. Her eyes landed on the waning moon that was waiting to be revealed by the thick billowy clouds that had covered most of its glow, and she let out a heavy sigh as she felt held back by the mixture of sadness, fear, and hope that had rolled within her.

She knew when those feelings started. She just tried to forget. She willed herself to forget.

It was nearing the anniversary of when she had to defeat him - blue eyes, white hair, stark white suit that sucked the life out of her sweet, fun kitty. She never wanted to tell Chat Noir about Chat Blanc for fear it coming true, so she didn’t. Yet, something he said lingered in the back of her mind, and it made her shiver every moment she remembered the phrase.

“It was our love that did this to the world...”

She let out an anxious sigh, the threat of a sob threatening to spill from her lips. How often did their paths cross? How often did something happen that led them both together in one way or another? How many times did Bunnyx have to come in and fix a timeline she wasn’t aware of?

Dark Cupid with True Love’s Kiss™ breaking the spell. Glaciator believing they were in love enough to defeat him. Oblivio and that wholesome kiss that showcased how in love they were even when their memories were wiped clean. And of course Chat Blanc indicating that he loved her in and out of the mask and causing the destruction of the world.

She just wished she knew why it happened.

She let out another sigh as her eyes left the moon and wandered to the streets below. A flash of the day flitted across her eyes. She swallowed the sob, but it didn’t stop the silent tears as they began to fall the moment the memories plagued her mind.

Marinette was finally going to confess. She was finally going to tell Adrien how she felt, and it would be the pinnacle of whether she would finally be with him or move on. She wanted a chance to move on, to maybe finally give in to her partner’s interest in her, yet she knew how painful it would be to give Adrien up completely.

But when she remembered the look on his face when she asked him about the cute, crooked smile he had unconsciously expressed... she laughed bitterly to herself at the memory. She took that look and hoped that giving him an off handed compliment would give her the confidence to finally tell him, but when he started to talk about this girl he likes - in a detail she had never heard him express even after the subtle confession after the wax museum - her world came crashing down around her, and it took everything in her to keep on smiling before excusing herself to the bathroom to cry.

She knew it was futile. Insanity, really. Trying to confess and hoping for the hopeful result, yet, everytime she did confess, the world stopped her like it was the stupidest thing to do.

All she wanted was to spend her lifetime loving him. Was that so much to ask?

She buried her face into her arms as she considered her options. She didn’t hear the silent footsteps of her partner joining her on the platform, and when she did, she silently hoped that he wouldn’t question her disheveled state.

Chat sat beside her, keeping a small gap between them and focused his attention to the night sky. He could feel her sadness, could see her body trembling in the dark. He wanted to say something, anything to help her feel better, but he knew it was best to wait and give her the space to either talk it out or bury it within her.

Hesitantly, he placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb as a calming gesture. Ladybug brought her face out from hiding, resting her chin back on her arms.

“Hi, Chaton.” She responded, quietly.

“Hey, bug.” He echoed. “Pretty night.”

She hummed, not wanting to touch how awful she felt, but let out a shuddering breath to ease the tension building in her heart. They fell into silence for a few heartbeats, not wanting to leave, but enjoying the comfort of companionship.

“When do you know it’s time to give up?” Ladybug stated, dejectedly. Chat turned, slightly alarmed, and Ladybug responded to his silent thoughts. “No. Not about being a superhero. Sometimes that’s the only thing keeping me going these days.” Chat looked back towards the sky, giving her his undivided attention without staring at her. “What I mean is, when do you know it’s time to move on from loving someone?”

“Did something happen?” It was all he could ask.

“No- Yes.” She decided to admit. “I tried to confess today. I decided that I needed to tell him so I could move on, or at least try to. He said he liked someone else.”

“Oh.”

“I knew he was never going to see me as more than a friend. But I was just… hopeful for one second.”

“I understand.” Chat commiserated. “I loved you for a long time. Remember?”

Loved? The word haunted her.

“I still do. But I won’t lie and say I haven’t started having feelings for another girl. It was… unexpected. But I understand why.” Ladybug eyed her partner before looking back down to the street below. She could feel her heart shattering once again. “I want to love her. But loving you, and trying to let go of you, has been so much harder than I ever imagined.”

She sadly smiled, unsure if it was right to explain her feelings when she herself felt the same turmoil. Would it be better? Would he drop everything if given the chance?

Chat broke the slight silence with a whisper. “And if given the chance, I would spend my lifetime loving you.”

Ladybug pursed her lips as he repeated the words she had said to herself earlier. Spending a lifetime loving you. Could she allow herself to say it to him?

“It seems like a heavy promise.” She said instead.

“Yeah. But it’s a promise that I had made myself and it seems like I’ll never let go of it no matter how much I try.”

Ladybug contemplated the words for a few minutes. Chat Noir made his way into her heart. Without his trust, without his comfort, she wouldn’t be who she was today. It was a blossoming love that was slow and wanted, and she couldn’t deny that all those feelings bundled up together outweighed the potential catastrophic disaster of the world like in that timeline.

Ladybug let out a bitter laugh. She hated the secrets between them. Hated how she is the guardian and yet she didn’t know who he was. Then the idea struck her. Maybe it was a secret that caused the disaster. Maybe not knowing each other was what caused the destruction. Or hiding the fact that they did love each other caused some sort of inner turmoil enough to akumatize him.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to reveal themselves once and for all. And maybe, just maybe, she could finally allow herself to give in to the love building within her, to love Chat completely and freely.

“You would really spend a lifetime loving me? Even knowing who I was underneath the mask?” She hesitantly asked, never once looking at him for fear of the answer.

Chat turned to her with confusion in his eyes. “Of course. I love you no matter who you are.”

She looked at him, a quick fear as blue eyes and white flashed before her eyes before fading to green eyes and black leather. She mentally scolded herself that he was fine and not insane.

“I won’t lie,” she began, her eyes closed as she sorted her thoughts, “I have this inkling, a little flame that’s been building inside of me and I don’t know how much longer I can go without it bursting into a blazing flame of destruction. But I also don’t know how I can continue being the guardian and not know you are.

“I’m... scared. I’m scared to know who you are. I’m scared to fall further into love with you because I loved that boy so… so damn much and for so many years only for him to never love me back. I’m afraid to give out my whole heart again just to have it destroyed by a single word.”

The tears flowed down her face and Chat’s heart shattered at the sight.

“Then let me show you. Let me give you the happiness that you deserve.” Chat turned to her, wrapping his fingers around her palm and bringing his free hand to her cheek and wiping the tears from her mask. “But I’ll only show you if you let me.”

Ladybug could feel the truth spilling from his lips and hear the sincerity in his tone. She closed her eyes, allowing her this one chance to feel free, to feel in control of something, to stop feeling the fear that threatened to swallow her whole. When she opened her eyes and noticed the small smile that curled his lips, she knew what she needed to do.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” He repeated, a little hopeful.

“Okay.” She smiled, standing up.

He followed her lead, holding onto her palms as they stood before each other in the dimly lit platform. They stood for a moment, looking at each other in silence, while their hearts hammered in their chests.

With one nervous breath, Ladybug closed her eyes and called off her transformation. Chat did the same.

“Chat?” Marinette called out, biting her lip.

“Bug?”

“Ready?”

“On the count of three.”

“One… two… three.”

The moment they both opened their eyes, the tears began. Marinette placed a hand over her mouth, holding in the sob that threatened to come out. She wanted to say something, anything to break the silence between them. She could see the smile on Adrien’s face, his own tears falling down his cheeks.

“A- Adrien?” She whispered out, afraid she was seeing a lie. “I- I fell in l-love with you… twice?” Her resolve was breaking but the brimming confidence finished her sentence, ending the relentless stutter.

“My lady?” Adrien cried out, before watching her nod in assurance. His excitement took over, picking her up and spinning her around in his arms as he continued to cry. He dropped her back down and nuzzled his face into her neck, his body wracking in happy sobs as his adrenaline calmed down to a buzz. “I can’t believe it’s you.” He managed to mumble out, letting out a happy sigh when he finally emerged from his position. “It’s always been you.”

“Are you okay that it’s me?” She had the courage to say, biting her lower lip as she waited for his anwer. It struck her how he had spoken of another girl earlier, and the fear started to eat at her.

He smiled and placed his palm on her cheek. “You were the other girl, Marinette. I was thinking about you earlier and tried to subtly tell you.”

Marinette looked to the sky for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief. “I was going to confess to you. You started talking about another girl and I thought I needed to give you up because it was fruitless and thought you were never going to love me back and it broke my heart so I left and cried in the bathroom and continued to cry-”

Whatever Marinette wanted to say next dissolved as his lips met hers. She relaxed to his touch, barely registering the slight movement of his thumb rubbing smooth circles against her cheek.

The kiss was slow but full of passion. It was wanted and desired, the barriers breaking as their love oozed through their pressed lips. Seconds turned to minutes, soft presses turned into little chases, and fingers slowly intertwined with the soft tresses at the nape of their necks. Little pecks ended the lingering kisses, but it was only because they needed to breathe in between.

Adrien was the first to pull away, resting his forehead against hers, as they relished in the high of their confession. Their cheeks were flushed and delirious smiles had permanently etched onto their skin.

Adrien sighed and pressed one kiss onto her forehead before nuzzling his nose against hers.

“I meant it when I said I want to spend my lifetime loving you.”

Marinette looked up into his gaze and felt the love for him overflow from her heart.

Her smile brightened as she cupped his cheek, running her fingers along his cheekbone. “And I promise you that I’ll spend my entire life loving you, too.”

#LadyNoir #adrienette #identity reveal #love confessions #miraculous ladybug fanfiction

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capesandshapes · 4 years

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The Last Resort: Chapter Six (Adrienette)

Summary: After an akuma attack goes wrong, Adrien finally learns Ladybug’s secret identity and finds himself falling even deeper in love with his friend. He thinks he’s finally gotten lucky when she declares to him that she’s currently in the business of falling love with anyone but her previous crush… until that crush turns out to be him. Now Adrien has to somehow convince the girl of his dreams to fall back in love with him, while keeping his own identity a secret from her. Well, if there was one thing his father taught him, it was how to multitask. Chapter Summary:

Adrien Agreste: Master of Subtlety, Tact, and Timing Marinette reacts to finding out that her not a date is a date, Alya points out an important detail, and the boys are roped into the world's worst field trip. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eons seemed to pass, but it was actually only a matter of seconds before Marinette responded, her body releasing hair in a low hiss. Slowly, she sat up, her eyes wide and her hands bunched into fists on her thighs as she looked to Adrien with a horrified expression. Her shoulders rose and fell with every slowing breath, and he could tell that her mind was racing through a thousand different scenarios to explain the statement. Finally, her eyes cast away from him, directing themselves to the floor as she decided to speak.

“You don’t have to say that just because Alya told you I might think it’s a date, or that I might like you or something weird,” she said, obviously having settled on some sort of explanation.

“I’m not.”

With a sharp inhale, Marinette flew back into staring at him, her hands clenching visibly tighter. “Oh.”

“Oh,” he echoed.

“Um, I…” She began with a blink. “If I’d have known, I wouldn’t come dressed like this...Or maybe I would have tried a little bit harder to get to the movie-- Not that I didn’t try! I just… I would have, you know, been a bit better.” Taking in her previous statement, she cringed, leaning towards him a bit more before jumping into a new explanation. “That’s not what I mean; this isn’t how I meant it to go. I mean-- I, you, wow! That’s…”

“No, it’s okay!” Adrien grimaced, “I should have been clearer. That’s on me, that’s…” He trailed off, shaking his head to himself. “Me, all me.”

“Not you! No, um, me. My fault. I did this.” Marinette’s eyebrows knitted together, “I understand if you don’t want to-- I mean tonight is just-- I’m really sorry that I ruined things here.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t ruin anything,” he admitted. “If you didn’t want to, we could just spend time together or you could leave, whatever you’re more comfortable with. I don’t want you to feel like you have to be a part of a date that you didn’t even technically agree to.”

“I…” Her eyes drifted down to her hands and Adrien’s followed, noting how she gripped herself hard enough to turn the skin white. “I want this to be a date,” she mumbled, wringing her hands.

His hands landed on top of hers, just the contact of his skin being enough to cause her grip to soften. Her eyes rose to meet his softened expression, coaxed by his reassuring squeeze. “Then it’s a date,” he whispered, eliciting a smile from the girl.

“I’m on a date with Adrien Agreste,” she repeated, and though he knew it was more for her ears than him and he snorted.

“You make spending time with me sound so much cooler than it really is.”

“Because it’s not like every girl in Paris has fantasized about this exact moment,” Marinette replied, her face red as she attempted the joke. Seeing the overly proud look on his face, she added, “not me.” It was a clear lie.

“Riiiiiiiiiiiight,” he struggled not to laugh and besides herself, she actually did.

With that laugh, she allowed her fingers to loosen even more, Adrien’s filling the gaps where they were once knitted together. With a small tug, he pulled her up closer to him. She obliged him easily, throwing her legs over the side of the couch to slip into a sitting position beside him, the nerves still visible on her face.

“I don’t think I’ve watched a minute of this movie,” she began, still looking at him rather than the screen. She sounded slightly nervous as she said it, like he’d be offended that she didn’t take in a second of a cheap horror movie in between all that had happened.

“I don’t think I have either,” he reassured her, his fingers tightening around hers. “What do you think is going on?” He asked.

She looked back at the screen, cocking her head as she did so. He couldn’t help but notice that she also shifted a bit closer. “I think… Maybe they’re coworkers?” Almost as if on cue, the couple on the screen began to kiss and Marinette’s face fell, “maybe not?”

“They’re coworkers at the military base outside of town,” Adrien began to theorize, “and before all of this they didn’t like each other, but now?”

“They’re the last two people alive,” Marinette shrugged.

“And his lips have the cure to zombie bites,” Adien joked, earning him an eye roll. “It’s a b movie, don’t expect high-quality plots here.”

The two spent the rest of the night hypothesizing, each trying to nail down the movie’s plot but never really getting close. Somehow his arm winded up around her, and her legs ended up in his lap. They both made no moves to acknowledge it, but they were acutely aware of it all. Every time she scooted closer, his heart soared. Every time he whispered dumb observations about the movie, one of her hands rose to cover the bottom of her face. And every time they looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, they caught the other one looking.

They’d both spend the night wanting more but never asking. Just their hands remaining intertwined the whole time was enough for then.

*****

“I could kill you,” Alya proclaimed, her body pacing across the length of the picnic blanket as Nino and Adrien looked on. “I could honestly just, right here and now, murder you with my bare hands.”

“I think it went well--”

“No, Nino. It did not go well, not as well as it should have gone,” Alya said, rolling her eyes. “Marinette didn’t even know she was on a date at first, and even though she agreed, Adrien ended up forgetting to do two of the most important things: kissing the girl and Getting. Another. Date.” Alya cringed, “you could have lived without doing both of them, but at least one of those two things needed to happen.” Her hand flew to her hair as she let out an exasperated sigh, “and now we’re stuck in limbo again.”

“But he’s on her mind,” Nino responded with a wink, sticking his hand out to Adrien for a fist bump.

“As a maybe,” Alya said. “As in, maybe this will happen again. Maybe in this life, I might have the slightest opportunity to go out on another date with Adrien. Maybe I didn’t screw things up completely, because if I definitely didn’t then some sort of sign that he liked me would have come flying out of the sky by now! But. It. Didn’t.”

“She could have asked as well,” Adrien argued. “More than that, I didn’t want to kiss her if I wasn’t sure. Maybe she didn’t have as good of a time as I hope--”

“She had a great time,” Alya groaned. “She had an absolutely amazing time,” she flourished her heart emoji covered phone screen to him for a mere moment to confirm this statement. “It’s all I’ve been hearing about for the past eight hours!”

“Well, that’s good,” Nino interrupted.

“She couldn’t even get out a word around you before,” Alya was not done with Adrien yet. “You really think that Marinette is going to stand up in front of you and ask you on a date? Please, with all that’s happened, the girl is freaking out. It would take an actual miracle for her to manage to do it.”

“Marinette is a lot braver than you think,” Adrien mused, leaning back on his hands.

“Oh, I know that Marinette’s brave. The problem with her isn’t bravery,” Alya grimaced, “it’s that she cares too much about everyone else. If anything, now she’s worried that she’s made you feel uncomfortable or done something wrong. More than that, might I remind you that Marinette isn’t the only one who was into you? And she’s hardly forgotten about Kagami’s feelings--”

“Neither have I, and might I remind you that Kagami very clearly stated that while she enjoys my company, she knows a lost cause when she sees it.”

“Congrats on being a lost cause, Sunshine--”

“Well, I’m not proud of it; I’m just saying that Marinette knows--”

“That you and that Kagami had a relationship that was very important to the both of you--”

“--And that relationship was cherished but is now over--”

“She wasn’t a part of that conversation, so imagine how she’s feeling!” Alya declared, and with another flourish, she showed Adrien a row of crying faces on her text screen, her hand moving away too quickly for him to read the messages beneath them. “She’s freaking out, even if she won’t admit it. Right now, in the back of her mind she’s going through a thousand reasons why she shouldn’t have even gone to your house last night.”

“I asked her to be at my house, why would she think--”

“Because you didn’t kiss her!”

“I’ll do it next time!”

“When is next time?”

“Dudes,” Nino interrupted. “Honestly, love the back and forth, it’s really great and all, but-- Where’s. The. Food.” Having lost his patience with talking about Marinette, Nino focused on the facts at hand more than the speculations of his two friends. “You said this would be a picnic, Alya, so where’s the actual picnic part of this? You’ve been sitting by that basket all day and I’m really starting to think that it’s empty.”

Adrien blinked, remembering the actual point of coming to the park in the first place. He looked to Alya as well, his mouth slightly agape just as Nino’s was. Alya had called the two of them out for a fun day at the park, but the fun part hasn’t exactly started before she began probing him for information about his date. Now that he was looking at Alya’s guilty face, his stomach began to sink.

“About that…” She raised her hands defensively, her face taking on a sheepish smile. “You two wouldn’t have agreed otherwise. And, well, Marinette would do it too...Plus, I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t fun.”

“No,” Adrien was the first to reply.

“Oh, come on! You aren’t the least bit curious?”

“No,” he groaned once more, his hand slapping over his mouth as the realization hit him. Beside him, Nino stiffened, sporting the same blush that Adrien had begun to form.

“It’s not today, is it?” Nino muttered.

“Oh, it is,” Alya grumbled, “and after the very confusing events of last night, she’s asked me to sit here and watch. Of course, she didn’t outright say it was a date, but I can put two and two together.”

*****

In case you were wondering, there are a few things that you should not do when you are sickly in love. Adrien couldn’t list them all, there were probably twelve or more, but he was confident that one of the very first things not to do was this:

Do not, absolutely do not, spy on the date of the person you love.

Especially if you are not a part of it.

Apparently, Marinette didn’t follow those rules though, much to his surprise. But still, out of the kindness of his heart, he diverted his eyes. It was hard, hearing the light laughter of his lady and persistent strumming of a guitar, but he knew that it was best for everyone if he didn’t look. So he fell onto his back, staring at the sky as Alya and Nino chattered beside him, trying to tune out visions of all too familiar smiles and softs touches, pretending that he was anywhere else in the world.

The thing that bothered him most was, why couldn’t he get himself to leave?

#my fanfic #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #mlb fanfic #ml fanfic #I feel so bad for the people who read this fic on tumblr because I update it so late here due to formatting and stuff #and like you're all genuinely very nice and sweet #ugh I am a goon

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

Text

(miraculous asks)

Anonymous said:

Oh My Gosh!!!! I was just thinking about Party Crasher and man I hate how they had Ladybug get captured for the men to save! It's a continuous thing you see in media: strong heroic woman gets put in peril so that the men can shine. I didn't even realize it until you said it! I get that it was probably meant to be a "role reversal" of Chat always getting kidnapped or brainwashed for Ladybug to save, but the fact that this is the "guys' episode" it read like "well damn, we can't have the guys be strong if a girl is in the way; let's have the girl get captured so the boys can prove their worth by rescuing her!".

At least in Sandboy, Ladybug was still competent and came up with the plans, but this?! It makes me sick, and it's all too easy to fall into these traps; even Kim Possible did it! In my magical girl story, the heroine does get put in a magical coma and require someone to bail her out, but it's her female friends AND her boyfriend who save her, so it's not just a girl being weakened so a boy can be powerful, especially since said boy actually does a minority of the work required to save her; the focus is on the female characters so it's her girl friends who do most of it. I still ended up scrapping that side plot anyway, and do you know why? Because regardless of who saved her, I still didn't want my female protagonist to be put in distress at all due to the unfortunate implications! Needing help in a fight? Sure. But outright being captured or kidnapped? Nah fam.

I was honestly thinking about that when the first episode came out. Like, they could’ve just had Marinette NOT SHOW UP in time so the guys take care of things, which at least gives more of a message that Paris wouldn’t go to hell just because Ladybug is a little late or something.

And yeah, the “boys squad episode so gotta toss the girl out” is... sigh.

Anonymous said:

I think the writers were trying to show Chat angsting to show his regret instead of an actual apology. Still doesn't explain why Aeon didn't bring up her death afterwards. Did Olympia delete that from her memory banks?

I guess? :|

I don’t know why Chat can’t just apologize without fishing or trying to earn sympathy. Like JUST SAY YOU’RE SORRY, DAMMIT.

Anonymous said:

If you haven't read Maribat, then you won't regret it. I am not in the DC universe but I started reading it and WOW. Literally every single time Marinette is a badass queen and gets her complete revenge and is actually happy! Even if you absolutely love Lukanette (which I have nothing against) you should totally try it.

Appreciate the comment, but I find it hard to ship other Marinette ships outside of Lukanette. Ivanette is a very loose exception and it’s not like I ship it hard or anything.

Anonymous said:

Despite not being a Lukanette shipper I love you. Why? Because you amazing, so right in literally everything and I love you <33

gkdfjgfdngjkfdg thank you

bat-anon said:

The NY Special made it so that Max is literally the only Black/Brown kid that doesn’t exist to make Love Square happen and that just makes me hate it even more.

I wish you didn’t make me have this realization because I hate it.

At least Delmar existed in the New York special???? I guess???? I dunno, I’m trying here, I don’t recall him doing anything love square centric.

Anonymous said:

I honestly don't mind Alix's outfit as Bunnix! I feel like it fits her, plus she's an adult so its not much of a problem, not saying it can't be improved however. I DO have issues with the designs for the underage girls outfits however....those are very sus

Yeah, the problem I take with Bunnyx’s is that it’s a bodysuit. If there was just more definition, like having actual boots, I wouldn’t complain as much.

Anonymous said:

I actually just really like the idea of the new bee being a genuinely nice person who becomes friends with Marinette. Not exactly close friends (since I like the idea of friendly working relationships without actual personal stakes in them). I also enjoy the idea of the new bee having some small animosity for Chat Noir- just because their personalities aren't the greatest mix. I also think that it would make sense for the miraculous of subjection to be at odds with the miraculous of destruction

Full agreement but we know how much the writers are resistant to have characters go against Chat.

Anonymous said:

Not gonna lie the scene where the girl squad gets akumatized almost makes it seem like they got akumatized on purpose, similar to Manon in Puppeteer 2(although she was a little kid who was probably just imagining she could enact revenge). And why can't they have a uniformed design, like they're a team but wear different colors, similar to the Sailor Senshi(like, Alya's the leader and wears orange, Rose wears pink, Alix wears green, Juleka wears purple, and Mylene wears yellow). It's so boring.

Mood.

Not to mention that WE ARE SO TIRED OF THEM GETTING AKUMATIZED INTO THE SAME AKUMA.

AT LEAST PALETTE SWAP THEM.

Anonymous said:

Relating to the Didn't Need Burrows and Treatment of Marinette bingo cards, have you considered making one for whenever the show fails at girl power? It could say things like "sexualized frames of teenage girls" "boy tells girl what to do" "girls don't get to keep Miraculouses", and "girls are forced to apologize whenever a situation goes wrong". And in the center, it could say "Don't show this to your daughter!"! Lol! What do you think?

lol I feel like I have enough cards, otherwise I would.

Anonymous said:

I saw another post that talked about Miraculous New York, and they theorized that it was rewritten to focus more on Marinette and Adrien in order to get viewers invested in the Love Square again after more people started to lose faith in the ship. Do you think that's a possibility?

I think so. The whole special comes off as trying to reassure love square shippers because of how hard it goes for him. I cut out Marinette’s crushing and it cuts like 18% from the episode, meaning it’s even worse than Season 3 (15%).

Anonymous said:

Maybe the point of the [break-up episodes] is meant to discourage people from shipping Lukanette and Adrigami too?

Spoiler alert: didn’t work.

Anonymous said:

Are we not gonna talk about how in one ask, somebody legit said "(long dreamy sigh) Viperion"? Like same.

RIGHT????

Same.

Anonymous said:

Ml fandom: I hate how Ladybug keeps secrets from Chat Noir! He sacrifices himself for her all the time and she never appreciates him for it! He has EVERY right to get mad at her!!

ML Fandom when Chat Noir does the same thing in the special: ....Wow Ladybug was way to harsh on Chat Noir!! She doesn’t appreciate him at all!! Shes so mean to him!

i hate it

Anonymous said:

Idk if it's just me, but a majority of the fandom is split in two; it's never one or the other "MARINETTE SUCKS AND IS A HORRIBLE PERSON GUARDIAN MARY SUE WHO SEXUALLY HARRASSES" or "ADRIEN SUCKS HE WAS NEVER ON MARINETTES SIDE" but im personally on the latter, but not to that extreme. i hate videos bashing marinette and then never acknowledge adriens faults

Yeah, the fandom gets more divided as time goes on because of the writers trying to increase the drama/tension.

Anonymous said:

I am PERSONALLY offended they gave Luka the snake miraculous. Snakes have such a negative connotation. A lot of people insult Lila by calling her a SNAKE. And now those ML writers DARE insult the best character in ML?! HOW DARE THEY!?????

I adore Viperion but I agree that I first heard he was getting snake and was like, “BUT MY BOI???”

It gets awkward too because other animals like the pig have negative connotations, like how Daizzi basically means “idiot/stupid” and they’re giving it to the freaking blond character, really???

Anonymous said:

I think that Ivanette would be even better if Marinette was plus-sized character.

I see why you’d think that. I just disagree because then it turns the ship into “let’s pair the heavyset characters together because they heavyset.”

Anonymous asked:

On the topic of romance failures and general series salt, my main issue right now is how the series puts so much focus on romantic relationships while failing to consider other levels of relationship or what they affect.

On the L² front I can completely buy Marinette being in love with Adrien. Most of the time she genuinely wants him to be happy and is ready to take a step back for him, however much it hurts. But in terms of romantic love? It. Is. A. Crush! But if we step back from the formula, what is there left between them? Their civilian relationship is held together by a “comedy” of errors and without that there is surprisingly little left. Well, besides two “best friends” desperately trying to make it happen because somehow they lost their individual characters and instead of being friends became matchmakers?

I too like Luka and Marinette together. Their relationship is pretty nice to see and all. But sometimes it feels like it happens in a dimension of its own, like the writers want to make the endgame clear in that the “sideships” can be easily cut out of the big “how they got together”-recaps. I especially miss reactions from and interactions with Juleka. She is Luka’s sister, Marinette’s friend, and IIRC someone aware of if not even a bit player in the great shipping game. She is in a prime position to step up and bring progress on all fronts: She can talk with Luka. She can either give Marinette helpful pointers or go “All in or nothing”, i.e. trying to make Marinette get her Adrien-feelings in order as she does not want her brother to get less than Marinette’s full heart. Similarly, she can counteract “friendly acts” and stop humiliating situations from escalating, or she herself can escalate them in the “All or Nothing”-scenario. Yet she remains basically a background character who gets little attention from the camera and almost no “non-focus identity”

As for Kagami, I may be too biased. *Any* positive Kagami/Marinette relationship is to me what Lukanette is to you. So naturally I have lots of opinions when it comes to her role ;) But can I just say that Adrien/Kagami is the weirdest ship for me? They have a few cute scenes and I think if they’d spend a lot more time together, they’d do each other good but I don’t know how they work. “No Hesitation” Kagami would lob Adrien’s head straight off with all his…everything. If we are meant to take Adrien’s love for LB seriously (and I guess we have to because how in the name of sanity is any form of the stated endgame gonna work otherwise???), how does Kagami fit into that picture as a girl who can hardly express emotions while Adrien is the definition of a guy who can not stop flirting or goes for all kinds of romantic gestures? Sometimes it feels more like a “social fit” and “Mommy/Daddy approves” kind of deal which is quite the shame! Normally I like these kind of relationships in fictions but they need a solid underlining or good development. One they haven’t and one the series has not been giving to anyone so far.

Yeah, the whole thing with the love square versus side ships ends up feeling extremely forced. Keeping Luka away and forcing Adrien into Lukanette episode are the biggest giveaways, basically a big fat sign that says, “We know Marinette would forget that Adrien exists if she hung around Luka for more than five minutes.”

AND YEAH, KAGAMI WOULDN’T PUT UP WITH ADRIEN’S GARBAGE. I liked Adrimi but it’s definitely more flawed than Lukanette.

Anonymous said:

Watched your opinion on the New York special and I agree with you. It was mediocre at best. It could have been something nice, like if they added Kagami and Luka, for example, so that we can get a bit of development from the new couples on season 4, so that it doesn’t feel rushed when they start dating on season 4. It could also be a good opportunity to see the other temporary heroes one last time, since Marinette technically has the miracle box.

They could have had an epic fight with the American Superheroes, maybe even giving the bee miraculous temporally to Aeon or Jess so that we didn’t need to see their awful and uncreative superheroes designs. It would have been nice if they made something more useful other than being characters that believe that Adrien and Marinette are “Meant to be”, like, we already got a ton of these already, couldn’t we get someone who didn’t feel something about this ship? It has so much wasted potential that I don’t even know how to start. Do you agree with anything I said?

I agree, yes. They could’ve easily thrown Luka/Kagami into the mix (or had Marinette/Adrien stay behind while flipping perspectives or something; flawed but they could make it work).

Anonymous said:

I'm rereading ladybugout and wow... the moment of silence after "chat deserves that kiss" gets me every time. Everyone stopping and just staring because wow he really just said that

Me whenever Chat Noir opens his mouth in the show.

Anonymous said:

I saw the Backwarder post you just talked about and yes, it is so totally ridiculous. They forgot another thing, though. Miraculous isn't just about comedy, action, and romance, it's about embarrassing Marinette. And the fact that almost everyone in the comments was acting like the medicine scene at the end was funny was just stupid and saddening to hear or read about, because it shows how people have been conditioned to hate and rally against Marinette without even realizing it. Granted, there was one lady who said it reminded her of her husband, so I guess that's okay(but all it means is that Adrien will be Marinette's--aka "his lady's"--husband like eeerrrgh!). And there was one person who said they liked that Juleka's advice because "If you're friend isn't willing to commit crimes for your happiness, is she even your friend?". But everyone else liked the ending. And I don't get the person who said we got "Subtle progression with Adrien and Marinette". We're right where we started.

Weeeeell, I understand the “comedy, action, romance” comment because all of those basically boil down to embarrassing Marinette or invalidating her. Comedy and romance goes without saying while action involves her dealing with Chat “Nice Guy” Noir.

Anonymous said:

Is it just me, or does Snow White's "Red Shoes" form look a lot like Marinette. I know, I know, Marinette is Chinese and Red Shoes is Korean, but they still look strikingly similar. They're bodies are really similar, too, but that might just be because animation tends to use eerily similar body types for its female characters on a whole. It's sad and it makes me think of how cute Marinette would be if she was fat. I also think Snow White was cuter than Red Shoes but that's kind of the point.

I think it’s the body type thing but that’s just a guess since I didn’t immediately make the connection.

I agree that Snow White is cuter.

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one who's never liked "destined to fail" characters? Basically this is when characters aren't allowed to be good at/succeed at something or else the whole universe will somehow fall apart. Think of how in The Amazing World of Gumball, if Richard gets a job, the world will be in complete and utter chaos. So he's better off as a lazy, bumbling dad. In Phineas and Ferb, Candace is always trying to rat out her younger brothers but if she gives up or succeeds something bad will happen.

TV Tropes put it the best: "Not only is she not allowed to succeed, but she's also not allowed to stop trying!"(conveniently under the Cosmic Plaything trope). I just don't like it because it shows that the writers just want to lead them on with the promise of success then snatch it away at the last minute. And now we're back at Miraculous Ladybug, where Marinette is humiliated every time she doesn't sign a gift that's for Adrien, and yet when she does, everyone in Paris DIES. Except for...HIM.

you: *mentions Candace*

me: [a million awful flashbacks]

Also, yeah, it’s so hard to watch, especially in “Chat Blanc” because it’s like, “Oh, you want to give a gift to a boy and you dArEd to use your powers for it? Congrats, but everyone else is DEAD and you can hang out with him as much as you want! You’re welcome!”

Anonymous said:

I think it’d become a “faintest idea blackout card”rather than a bingo.

(referring to my “Faintest Idea” card)

We’re getting there.

darkmoonravewolf said:

I hate that everything on that list could happen and very likely will

(referring to “Didn’t Need Burrow”)

Yeah, and it makes me sad :’)

Anonymous said:

That’s be real here. Miraculous ladybug is not a show about Marinette; Miraculous Ladybug is a show about Adrien. Adrien is the real main character.

Notice that when they focused on Adrien in “Lies,” they only cut back to Marinette (IN A SCENE THAT CAN’T EXIST) to have her fawn over him.

Anonymous said:

Is it just me or are Lady Noire's eyes huge? Maybe it's just the green but they seem way bigger than Marinette's

I’m not sure, but considering Rena’s facial structure being different from Alya’s, it wouldn’t surprise me.

asexual-individual said:

With what you've said about Adrien lacking a reason to exist outside of development for Marinette and Gabriel, I have to wonder how different the show would be if Chat Noir's identity was also kept from the audience. Adrien would still be there as himself, but he only gets as much focus as Alya, and Chat Noir's identity is treated as a mystery (a Tuxedo Mask type mystery, but a mystery all the same).

I see what you mean but it might cause Adrien+Chat’s screentime to feel excessive once the reveal happens, because suddenly their screentime gets combined and it’s like, “oh wow so the combined screentime is his then.”

Anonymous said:

I know that the kwami's really only exist so we can hear our protagonists' thoughts outloud (like what the Coraline movie did with adding Wybie to the story). But honestly, what's the point in having magical gods in the jewelry if you're not going to do anything with them?

Marketing with “cute” side characters.

guisendisguise said:

It's funny, originally, I had shipped Marichat in the sense that Chat and Mari start hanging out and both fall in love with the other's supposedly less perfect, more real selves. Then Luka was introduced and I ended up putting both lukanette and marichat at the same level. Then S3 hit and killed any love I had for Marichat. The writers themselves killed the Love Square for me. At this point, it's very clear they are living in a delusion where the Love Square could ever work narratively without Deus ex Machina or Deus Lo Vult (God wills it). Basically, they've gone past scraping the bottom of the writing skills barrel and are now shoulder deep in the hole they dug thru the bottom of said barrel. I'd like to point out that the bottom of the barrel is writing poop and now they're digging thru the useless plastic landfill the barrel was sitting on top of

Uggggh, yeah. Any appreciation I could’ve had for Marichat died in “Weredad.” I already didn’t like Adrien/Chat and then “Weredad” just showed his complete lack of... well, ANYTHING.

cosmostellar said:

Honestly feels like MLBs writers are going based off the "JUST IMAGINE EVERY POC CHARACTER YOU'RE WRITING AS WHITE" instead of, yknow, fleshing them out while developing them also in the context of their cultures and giving them these little things that the audiences who belong to the same minority can identify with. I don't mean "have Marinette walk in qipao 24/7" bcs thats just... bad on its own but man, /some/ casual acknowledgments of her culture would be nice.

Reading the sentence “JUST IMAGINE EVERY POC CHARACTER YOU'RE WRITING AS WHITE” physically hurts me.

Anonymous said:

Ok, I've always thought that Chloe was robbed of redemption (they held it in front of us, but then jerked it away while Astruc says, "She's irredeemable! We thought she was redeemable, but she wasn't :)!" What are your thoughts! Also, I just recently found your blog and I really like it :)

Thank you!

But I have no sympathy for bully characters, so I didn’t want Chloe redeemed. Maybe I’m still bitter about my own bullying experience, but I just wasn’t here for Marinette being forced to forgive Chloe, which is basically what they did until they backpedaled.

The time spent on her was wasted though and that I can agree on.

Anonymous said:

Me: Writes a 1k rant about how the tweet makes no sense as the "mistake" is about motivation and not the critical plot. Also me: Remembers that in MLB the plot always comes back to the romance. Finally me: Wonders why he got involved with the series post-S3 when all the red flags were already everywhere.

Mistakes were made.

Anonymous said:

I'm semi-catching up on miraculous, and- is it my impression, or does Kagami rebel against her mother more in few episodes she's in (even though her mother's influences on her seem to be stronger in general), than Adrien in the entire show? I /know/ that I don't want to see Adrien free himself from his father w/ the desperation I want to see Kagami free herself from her mother and realize that the standards she's held up to are unhealthy and too strong.

Yeah, I’m way more invested in Kagami than Adrien.

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one confused about whether the staff stopped caring and half-asses the series or cares too much and over-produces the hell out of it?

Nah. It really feels like they secretly hate the love square so they have to keep forcing it.

Anonymous said:

ngl I haven't watched any new episodes since Chameleon and I've been getting all that Miraculous News via tumblr to avoid that Marinette Brand Second Hand Embarrassment™

Understandable.

Anonymous said:

If they aired the 6th one first WHAT WHAT HAPPENED TO LEAD UP TO THIS???? WE ARE ON SEASON FOUR WITH TWO SPEICALS, GETTING A THIRD, AND ANY DEVELOPMENT WE HAD HAS GONE BACKWARDS, SUCKED, OR STATUS QUO YO-ED AWAY!!!!! HOW THE HECK DO WE GET ADRIENETTE FROM FOUR SEASONS OF NOTHING?????? I USED TO FANGIRL AT THIS NOW I AM TERRIFIED.

Answer: We don’t get Adrienette. We get forced love square and rushed/fake “development” of it while being constantly confused as episodes air out of order.

Anonymous said:

im sorry But adrienette has been suck in this limbo of one sidedness for 3 seasons. neither of them have become closer, neither of them have confided in one another, but somehow people still ship it? at least luka was able to make a move on marinette lol adrien still repeats the same boring “shes just a friend” line. adrienette is a really boring ship.

lol don’t apologize, you’re absolutely right.

nahte123456 said:

Very minor bit of salt to throw to the pile, but can this show just decide on how strong Miraculous holders are? Yes it's a cartoon and not the focus but in the Furious Fu episode we literally get Ladybug dodging lighting and then Su who seems mostly human and is at least slower then Fu was outspeeding her. It's distracting trying to figure out what is and isn't a serious threat in this show.

The deciding factor in the strength of the miraculous holders is “whatever works for the plot.”

Anonymous said:

At this point the only thing I'm excited for concerning Miraculous Ladybug is when it gets a reboot in like, a decade with actually competent writers

Best case scenario is that Zag goes bankrupt and Disney/Netflix picks up the series and gives it to competent people.

Problem is that the love square has been ruined so badly for me that even a “good” version of it wouldn’t be something I’d be into, but still.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the problem with having all of Marinette's mistakes result in huge disasters (ex. Feast), is that is gives off the impression that teenagers aren't allowed to make mistakes. This show clearly doesn't like giving second chances to the protagonist, so why would life give one to you? Am I right, kids?

Exactly.

Marinette makes mistakes and suddenly the world is ending.

Anonymous said:

If your gonna watch the show, at least pirate the episodes so the writers dont get your support

Don’t worry, I have no interest in financially supporting the show.

Anonymous said:

ml in a nutshell: wasted potential, then giving themselves more potential, only to turn the rest of it into a dumpster fire

Yup, that’s it.

Anonymous said:

u know, when My Little Pony, Sofia The First, and fanfiction carries out character development, respect, romance, and the main plot better than the original show, especially when the shows mentioned above are aimed more at little girls and the original show is aimed at slightly older audiences... somethings wrong

*sigh*

And then it’s like--people will excuse the show because “it’s a kids’ show” and then I’m just “okay then, why are there actually good kids’ show?”

If shows get a pass for being for children then all childrens’ shows should just not try and be garbage since the standard is so low.

Anonymous said:

ive seen some cool fic ideas/concepts/reviews that made me think: ml could use so much more looking into how a character thinks in some situations. one fic i read had alya in chameleon (i know its been forever since the ep came out but hey) not question lila cus she thought: "hey, lb wouldnt befriend a bad person" w and added a plot line of lila making her think lb was cobsidering replacing rena rougue. like, just a few lines to make them seem better pls?

YES. Like, show us characters’ perspectives and why they’re rolling with the facts that they’re rolling with, otherwise they just end up looking like jerks.

We sort of got it in “Ikari Gozen” with Kagami but of course it was just to make Marinette look bad.

Anonymous said:

You know I’m honestly considering making reviews of this show and if I do I could create hour long rants about the show just from that mans twitter.

Yeaaaaaah, once you had in the Twitter stuff, it just becomes, “okay so this is going to add another hour or two then.”

Anonymous said:

Okay one thing that bothers me is how plain marinette's suits are despite being a DESIGNER. Her multimouse suit it just blocks of color and her ladynoir suit is just grey with green lines. I think the lines are supposed to represent actually clothes. Like the limes on the calves are supposed to make it look like boots but why not actually GIVE her boots. (Right, because she has to have a skintight suit unlike the boys who get some layers.)

THE SHEER DISRESPECT OF HAVING THE FASHION DESIGNER WEAR SUCH A PLAIN SUIT.

It also goes to show who really designs here, like oh, interesting, the girls get skin-tight simplistic bodysuits and the boys gets all the cool stuff--

Anonymous said:

I heard some people in my class saying they watched Miraculous Ladybug for the first time, and they were saying how good it was, and I was like: 'Oh you poor fools. You have NO idea what it's truly like.'

You know what they say: ignorance is bliss.

bat-anon said:

Isn’t it INTERESTING how in Frozer, Luka understands that Marinette is torn between her crushes and continues to support her even though he knows she probably won’t chose him, and in the exact same episode Chat Noir refuses to help save the city because Ladybug told him AGAIN that she wasn’t romantically interested in him? HMMM 🤔😑

dbfgjbdfjkgf

I’M REMINDED OF “FELIX” WHERE IT’S LIKE--THEY WERE CLEARLY TRYING TO SHOW HOW MUCH “BETTER” CHAT NOIR IS THAN FELIX, BUT LUKA WAS THE RESPECTFUL ONE.

Anonymous said:

You know what I want to see? An evil kwami, like they just want to commit crimes. No moral high grounds, just chaotic evil.

That’d be amazing just because I wouldn’t be able to take them seriously.

Anonymous said:

Watching S1 and S3 episodes back to back, it feels like reading salt fics at times, especially in regards to the L². Like, Marinette was happy about weird plans, she both needed and wanted the final push, and most of the time there was at least something coming out of it. Nowadays it just makes her sad, Alya and the girls act *against* her, and we get shipping for shipping's sake.

That’s a good point. The shift from Seasons 1 to 2 to 3 is rather noticeable.

Anonymous said:

I hate how Adrien's busy schedule seems to only matter when it's used to make Marinette feel bad, but the second Marinette has a bit more to do, it somehow has a negative effect on not only her, but also everyone/everything she cares about, like, what's up with that??

I’m reminded of “Lies” here and I hate it. :|

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the way the show treats teenage girls is horse ass. The show treats the teenage girls of this show as if they're stupid, naive, emotional, clumsy, and need a boy to tell them what opinions to have. Marinette is always treated like the show's punching bag and blamed for everything that goes wrong because she's "emotional" or "obsessed with Adrien", Chloe could've been redeemed but the writers would rather keep her a brain-dead Alpha Bitch Valley Girl(even though Gabriel and Felix, the latter of whom is a teenage boy introduced in one episode, get to be treated as redeemable, despite the things they do being far, far worse), and Lila is a conniving, self-absorbed fox.

And even though Kagami seems better, she's still roped into the "girls catfight over an oblivious guy" cliche and so far, all of her akumatizations have been because of Adrien. Whenever Marinette tries to move on from Adrien the other characters tell her what's good for her and steer her in the "right" direction because she apparently can't think for herself, and the writers LOVE to use the girl squad to tell us who Marinette should be with, because they apparently know better than she does.

Plus the show loves to treat all the girls as the same, making them all either fight over Adrien or be obsessed with shipping, as if teenage girls are all one assimilating, homogenized group(also when they treat Marinette as if she's "just as bad as Chloe", rinse and repeat for the other ladies.). Honestly, the show feels like it was written by those types of people who think "teenage girls are the worst" so they make them all mood-swingy, obsessive, showoffs, emotional, and downright clingy.

Plus the way Thomas Astruc talks about the female characters on Twitter is even worse, and only serves to make this more evident: he claims Marinette "has poor control over her emotions"(all the while calling Adrien "perfect"), that Chloe was racist in Kung Food "because she's stupid"(so rather than having that scene serve as a lesson on respecting other's cultures, he just did it to pick on Chloe and make her look "stupid"), that she's incapable of being redeemed, that Lila's unlikable but Gabriel and Felix aren't(even though he claimed Felix was a terrible character and a "cliche", that's not what the show says my guy), and other such nonsense.

Other Twitter users have also called out Miraculous Ladybug and its stereotypical treatment of teenage girls. The only shows I've ever seen do this worse are those pretentious "darker" Magical Girl "deconstructions" aimed at grown men such as Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna, as well as most shonen/seinen shows such as Naruto and Death Note, which says a lot. Honestly, whenever I feel like watching a show with empowering and respectful depictions of teenage girls that treats them as bright and intelligent and actually unique from one another, I just watch Equestria Girls, Liv and Maddie, LoliRock, ANT Farm, Moesha, PreCure, or Sailor Moon. Because the way the show acts towards them is deplorable, absolutely deplorable.

Yes to all of the above. Almost all of the girls are involved in love affairs in some way, the two teenage girls are irredeemable while Felix got a sympathetic backstory right away (Chloe took forever to get hers which is a failure), and Marinette is flawed because she’s “too emotional” (a misogynistic stereotype).

Anonymous said:

Hi, I'm the anon who got upset at the lady who made the "Miraculous Ladybug is a Mess" rant, and yes, thank you zodiacspirit17 for liking and agreeing with my rant! I'm glad someone else saw that video! And ugh, Marinette learning to love Chat Noir? Really? I don't remember that line but I also don't want to go back and revisit it to make sure so I'll take your word for it. Ew. That was actually one of the things I hated about the Glaciator scene. Chat was supposedly comforting Marinette by taking her to the rooftop where he planned Ladybug's date, and yet only Marinette finds out about Chat's crush on Ladybug and comforts him on that(while rethinking her feelings), while all Chat knows is that Marinette's heart was also broken. He never asks who it is, or tries to help her get over her crush even if he doesn't know it's coincidentally him.

I know it's because of the "love square" but it's unfair that only Chat's love problems are directly addressed. Come to think of it, the reason Chat took Marinette to the rooftop...I know he was doing it in-universe to help her instead of intruding on her personal feelings(which might have also been why he didn't ask her who her crush was, he was probably thinking along the lines of "we don't have to talk about it right now, we can just have fun!"), but meta-wise, since we know she's Ladybug, the writers were probably trying to tell her "See? This is what you could've been doing, but you missed it. Shame on you!" That's a huge issue I have with the show: characters will do things in-universe to help Marinette, but the show has a different motive in mind. Compare to how Tikki gave actual advice to Marinette in Puppeteer 2, but the writers intended that for the statue scene so they could embarrass her in front of Adrien and the thousands of eyes watching the show(except we're not laughing.). Even if characters do support her, the writer is using them as props for her ritualized humiliation. And yet Luka is the problem somehow.

If Marinette needs to learn how to love Chat Noir, then it should at least be balanced out by Adrien learning to Marinette. I'm sick of this double standard that "girls need to learn to accept boys who like them but guys can do what they want". Another thing she said was that "Marinette needs to learn to define herself outside of who she's crushing on." NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. You see, unlike Adrien, Marinette HAS a life outside of who she's crushing on: she has school, she has Kitty Section, she has her "girl squad", she has her parents, she has her outside family, she babysits Alya's and Nino's siblings, and she has OH YEAH HER FASHION DESIGNING! I didn't even count being a superhero since Adrien does that, too. She has so many things to do outside of Adrien, and yet the fact that she makes gifts for Adrien or dreams about Adrien or wants to have kids with Adrien somehow makes her nothing but an "Adrien fangirl"?

First of all, she's the bloody protagonist?! That's such a "Real Women Don't Wear Dresses" argument, that she can't have her own life AND be in love at the same time! And somehow her crushing on Luka also means her life revolves around him, too! But Adrien's life doesn't revolve around Ladybug even though he doesn't really have anything going for him in his ordinary life? Outside of being rich, hot, white, and male, that is? What are his interests and hobbies, besides what Gabriel lets him do to pass the time? He doesn't even like modeling! And the Agreste plot is more about Gabriel, Emilie, and Nathalie than it is about him.

And what about his friendship with Nino? He didn't even care that Nino was getting strung along by Lila with the others! What about his friendship with Chloe that also waxes and wanes? Granted, Chloe's not a GOOD person, which that lady acknowledged, but she at least tried to change and has more development than him, the writers just won't let her change. I hate when people come for Marinette for doing literally anything when the show won't let her have agency and progress. It's so unfair of her and I wish they could see that. These double standards are driving me insane and they're sexist(maybe even a little bit racist, too), and it hurts even more when a woman's doing those things.

(I had to cut off some of this ask because I didn’t get all of it, so I cut it off at the point where it still seemed like a full ask.)

I FEEL THE “GLACIATOR” THING SO BAD. It hurts even worse when you realize that “Frozer” has to take place after “Glaciator,” so Chat Noir heard that Marinette has love problems and then ignored it to ask her for advice about his own love problems later on. The total lack of insensitivity???

Also, the idea that Marinette’s life would revolve around her crush on Luka is stupid. It’s the exact opposite, in fact.

Meanwhile, Adrien has so little going for him and the “interesting” parts of him involve who he’s connected to or what his father has forced him into.

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nathalie-sancoeur-assistant · 4 years

Text

Chat Blanc

I’m finally ready to post my Chat Blanc analysis now that I’ve my thoughts sorted out. Beware, there are going to be spoilers below and probably a lot of speculation on the Agreste family (and when I say “Agreste Family” that includes Nathalie and possibly Gorilla). I’m going to be using screenshots from youtube w/ english subs.

First off we have this

This further cements the idea that I’ve said before- that Gabriel doesn’t just want to bring Emilie back, but fix something that happened. Granted the mistake they made is likely the exact thing that sent Emilie comatose, but the fact still stands that he’s not just looking to wake her up. He’s looking to change the past so that she never fell ill to begin with.

Now we have that cute scene with the girls hyping up Marinette, Nathalie denying Marinette’s present, and Ladybug busting in. Which....idk that just seems really stupid. I get it, she’s 14 but she’s also proven she has critical thinking skills. She could have waited till the next day, or outside the Agreste gates until the car came up (Adrien would have rolled down his window for her), there were other solutions but I guess Marinette hasn’t always gotten an A+ for patience. But this girl, she takes it to far and all I can do is shake my head

The only reason you get a pass for this is cause you’re still learning what’s appropriate and not.

And I don’t think I have to explain why this is sad. He just wants his dad to be even a little proud, but he never gets to see his reaction or receive the praise he needs because his dad is “busy”. Can’t even spare a solid thirty seconds for Adrien to pop his head in and say “Father I won!” “That’s great son!”

Then cut to Marinette stuffing her face in Adrien’s pillow and I just I can’t. Sigh.

And props to Adrien for being smarter than we gave him credit for. And then we get to this scene...

Where we first see Chat Blanc and you can tell....he’s clearly unstable. You can just tell, from the moment he’s on screen singing to himself that there is something off and Adrien Agreste has left the building. I think that speaks numbers about the psychological trauma he’s been through regarding what went down in this episode. They displayed it perfectly in the most gut-wrenching way. You’re already fearful for Chat/Adrien just due to how he’s acting because you can tell by that alone, akuma or no, that something went terribly awry.

And now he wants her miraculous

Not because of his dad’s influence, though the initial goal of the akuma is probably terribly overwhelming. How long has he actually been there in this wasteland by himself? It’s practically clad in white and almost looks frozen. You can tell Chat Blanc brought on all of this from the beginning (obviously) but my point is that it even has a signature mark on it by the color scheme being off. It genuinely feels like an altered version of reality, or a separate universe (which it can’t be can it? Since Chat Blanc was going to destroy the whole universe, making Bunnyx panic. Does that mean there really is only one universe? Because I feel like in a world with multiple timelines that could occur that there would be more of a multiverse. Anyway...

This poor child...

He’s being torn between two different worlds in every way. And he doesn’t deserve it. We get to see glimpses of Adrien in between Chat Blanc. THIS is Adrien asking her to save him. But then Chat Blanc is back in the next scene.

I genuinely thought that perhaps Hawkmoth had sent his akuma into Chat/Adrien’s heart. But it was more symbolically than literally. Imagine how messed up that could be, if he could akumatize someone by the heart. How would they get the akuma out then? It would be a matter of actually being able to convince the person to let the akuma go. But Chat/Adrien has had so much happen that his emotions were already so high and intense, imagine how intense it must be now? It’s literally pushed him to the brink of insanity! Thinking about it though,.insanity at this point is likely the only survival tactic he has. How else could be handle being alone, completely and utterly alone? And for how long? How long would he had to have had to mull this over from where he started out as Chat Blanc, being able to fight against the akuma even a bit so that he didn’t directly harm Ladybug/Marinette. How long would he have needed to come up with “This is Chat Blanc. Chat Blanc did this, not me, Adrien, Chat Noir- it was Chat Blanc using my hands to destroy Paris” and develop this outlook so that he didn’t just completely give up. How long has he been fighting? The torture that came with that akuma likely isn’t going to go away once he forgets it. It’s just...this poor kid. He’s trying his best.

And here I think I appreciated Marinette’s hair being down just as much as the next person but I’m kinda curious as to why? It was in pigtails just moments before so why is it suddenly down- what prompted her to take it down and just keep it down? I feel like it represents the change in the timelines. Especially since we don’t see her with pigtails again in that universe.

“I finally understand that you’re not just a friend. I always felt that there was something more...” so in other words- he loves both sides of Ladybug completely. He would love Marinette without Ladybug. He has always had this underlying affection for Marinette that is completely unlike the feelings he has for his other friends but he’s suppressing it in order to not feel unfaithful or something in regards to his feelings for Ladybug. He wants to be genuine, and now that he knows that his feelings aren’t going to cause him any kind of discourse (when it comes to Marinette VS Ladybug) he can openly express and acknowledge his feelings for Marinette and Ladybug alike.

Please appriciate that Marinette has to stand on her tiptoes because her boyfriend is a tol smol.

And THAT is why Chat Blanc wants her miraculous. He isn’t thinking straight- he’s not able to think “if I give up the akuma Ladybug can use her Lucky Charm to fix everything” because he’s still swallowed up with the akuma, the command from his father to get her miraculous. And at this point he’s to tired to resist fighting her.

Yikes, someone’s getting jealous. Also, appriciate the fact that Marinette, in that scene, literally leaps into his arms. How long have they been dating at this point? This is likely only a few days after, once enough time has gone by for word to spread.

Luka says “Adrinette rights”.

I feel like some more time has been passing between these scenes. Not a ton, but a significant amount. After all, Adrien would hardly have enough to go on an icecream date and dance with his girlfriend at a friend’s place in the same week, wouldn’t he?

“It was so amazing, until Hawkmoth found out everything”- really. They seem euphoric. And Adrien finally has something that is making him genuinely happy and helping him get through everything he’s already had to go through. Then we get hit with this...

Side note- Nathalie is tol, Sabine is smol. Back on track- what the actual- are you actually serious? Gabriel is....he’s actually doing that? Perhaps it wouldn’t be QUITE so bad if it was him simply being an over protective dad, if Marinette weren’t a well-behaved aspiring fashion designer that could benefit both him and her in the future, you know, something bad was actually going on but no...Gabriel is just making her end the relationship....for an akuma. He is bullying and forcing a 14 year old girl totally head-over-heels and love-struck with his son m, someone who is actually giving Adrien a happy place....does he not already know what it’s like to be forcibly separated from the person you hold dear? He lost his wife so now Adrien has to lose his girlfriend because “it’ll save your mother” or some ish- no! There are other ways to get powerful akumas!!! You don’t have to be so selfish as to put your own son through something similar to your own heartbreak (I mean Marinette is up and healthy and everything but it’s still forcibly removing them from each other’s grasp and selfishly taking away his son’s love interest to revive his own). You want to manufacture an akuma? Fine. Get Lila. Or target literally anyone else besides your son’s girlfriend and her family. Your son has found a way to be happy and move on without his mother being by his side every day. Either you learn how to do that too or you don’t uproot the happiness he has found to “replace” it . Because you CAN’T replace what he’s found You can add to it, if his mother really can come back without harming him or someone else he loves. But not at the expense of what he’s made for himself. That is cruel, and I genuinely thought better of you. I’m deeply disappointed. Again, if this was because Adrien’s judgement was actually questionable and Marinette had a bad record, I could understand it more. But it isn’t because hes looking out for him, it’s purely for an akuma, no regard for Adrien. And I dunno exactly how willing Nathalie was in this situation but that’s a whole other post I made a day or so ago. We can’t judge her based on the few clips we’ve seen of the future, but we can judge Gabriel because there is no good excuse for it.

She sounds so heartbroken when he tells her to break up with him too. Because she really hasn’t done anything wrong. If this is the case, then she never actually had a real chance with Adrien because his father wouldn’t have allowed it regardless of how much they liked each other. And once again he used the threat of taking him out of school, something incredibly important to Adrien, to manipulate someone who genuinely cares about him to be selfless enough to comply with him. He’s counting on other people caring about Adrien more than him to get his way. This is not only emotionally abusing Adrien, but Marinette as well. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it outside of Gabriel himself.

And this heartbreak is so different from that act when Chat rejected her. That probably adds fuel to the fire with her parent’s. They can tell from her reaction that Chat was probably just a phase she was having but with Adrien, she genuinely loves and cares for him. She just wants to be with him and make him happy. You can tell that she already knows what she’s going to do simply because of how heartbroken and hopeless her cry sounds. There is NO justifiable reason for this.

And this is part of the reason why I want to know how long they’ve been together at this point. I can see current Gabriel doing this, but if he hadn’t done what he does later on (which feels very out of character as I’ve addressed in a previous post I believe) then something else would have happened to tell him that maybe perhaps he did go to far and needs to apologize. If only he hadn’t taken it to the extent further down, this could have all been resolved. (Also, you can’t tell me that the news reporting that Gabriel made Adrien and Marinette break up after having reported about how star-struck they were wouldn’t put more damage on the company than Marinette leaping into Adrien’s arms in public...)

Nathalie and the Gorilla aren’t much help in this scenario either. I mean, think about it.

They both very obviously care about Adrien, and they have both done things for Adrien to make his life easier, help him be happy. They both seem to see him as a son to themselves as well. But they both get to see how Adrien is treated day in and day out. There are cameras all over that house, I can only assume- so there would be plenty of evidence of the neglect going down.

So...why, pray tell, have neither of them done anything? Oh Nathalie we know why, but what’s stopping the Gorilla? Don’t tell me he actually thinks that Adrien is better off in this environment? He sees what happens every day- if he’s mute, does he not know sign language? Or how to write? If he actually can’t talk then he could still write out a letter to the authorities. Is it because he doesn’t want Adrien to go into some kind of foster care system, be taken away from him, or have to go live with Felix? Tell me there’s something more going on preventing the Gorilla/Nathalie from actually taking action and doing something besides their jobs and not wanting to separate Adrien and Gabriel.

She doesn’t even question her feelings for him even after finding out he’s Chat. And she probably knows that he knows that what she just said about not loving him was bogus, but I don’t think he ever figured out why she did it.

And look at this.

Here, Nathalie looks sad, heartbroken and almost shocked, while Gabriel is harshly calling for her from the phone.

And here her expression changes, only slightly. The first one, she saw Chat Noir and Adrien as one and was shocked that he that they were one in the same, and sad likely about the fact that he was fighting against his father. This one, is the moment of realization. Her eyes got wider, that look of dread really set in. This is where she realizes that not only is he fighting against his own father, but realizing what he’s fighting against, how many times he almost got killed because of it all (outside of the times Adrien has been the direct target of an akuma) and how she herself has fought against him in hand-to-hand combat and tried to hurt him. That is a look of pure regret. It’s all in her eyes.

And even here, her eyes shift ever so slightly, and she looks like she’s not even looking at anything anymore and trying to process that she has been actively hurting Adrien in her attempt to bring his family back together. Physically.

Then when she really tells Gabriel, she doesn’t seem quite hesitant per se, but she sounds like she has to actually say it to believe it and thinks that if Gabriel knows, something might change. I doubt she actually thinks he’ll totally stop trying to get the miraculous (because we don’t know how much time has passed here and it seems he gets more and more desperate and with each passing day and less likely to quit as time goes on) but I do definitely think that her intentions with telling Gabriel this, like all others, were good. She wasn’t trying to hurt Adrien further. She was doing what she thought was best because I think that she thought that if Gabriel knew he was fighting his own son he’d question himself again, stop fighting him and actively physically hurting him, just do something other than what he actually does. She sees good in Gabriel otherwise she wouldn’t be in love with him. Heck I’m not in love with him and I saw good in him. Never in my wildest dreams did I actually suspect he would have reacted the way he did- especially with how he acted in Gorizilla! Sure in that episode he was still pretty awful, I mean who tosses their son off a building, but at least he actually seemed to care, he seemed like he’d be emotionally torn if Adrien had actually transformed- which is why I think that Gabriel isn’t necessarily entirely there anymore. I mean...look at this. Really look at it.

There is a shock factor there, for a moment it actually seems as if Gabriel might be about to reconsider...

What the frick happened

I don’t recall seeing him smile quite like that previously. His reaction is “Chat is my son? Well then I’ll take his miraculous!” and it’s nothing like what we see in Gorizilla. Something here has changed- something changed in Gabriel, the household. It just doesn’t seem right. Where is the Gabriel from before? Where are the nose holes for his mask? Why does he not have any nose holes, does he mouth-breath? Man Hawkmoth really is evil if he mouth breaths. I’m getting off topic- but this is why I want to know how long Marinette and Adrien were together before this. Something had to have happened to make him unstable didn’t it? I just can’t see how that is Gabriel. I can’t see how that would be his true reaction. Perhaps my perception of him is just severely muddled. Maybe I had more faith in him than I should have.

...wow. He really did accidentally kill them. Two people he loves, obliterated because one doesn’t know when to stop.

Now here is an interesting scene. They fell directly from above, which tells me that Hawkmoth’s lair is directly above Emilie’s coffin room. Which must then mean that his office is above both on them? How very interesting. Now- how did they know where to find Hawkmoth. Watch that entire scene, you are given no hints....

Unless we are.

Mayura/Nathalie isn’t there. It’s very out of character for her to not help Gabriel, isn’t it? How much later is this from when Hawkmoth found Chat’s identity? I’ll say a week? A few days? I can’t see how Nathalie would be able to actively fight against Ladybug and Chat Noir knowing who Chat was. Her and Gabriel definitely spoke about it if it is a day or so after. After being told he was going to continue, I don’t think she reacted very happily. She isn’t fighting against Adrien.

That being said they’re also in the Agreste house. They already ruled Gabriel out of being Hawkmoth long ago, so why would they suspect him again? What could have given it away? Sure. she’s calling him Hawkmoth, but why would she respectfully call him “Mr. Agreste” or awkwardly call him “Gabriel”? Hawkmoth is much easier considering that’s who he is. If he wasn’t willing to stop or at least tone it all down for Adrien’s sake, then he was obviously doing all this for his own selfish purposes and was never out to help his family. No good could come of it, so I think it’s just barely possible that perhaps Nathalie decided it wasn’t worth it and found some way to contact Ladybug or tell Chat Noir/Adrien where Hawkmoth could be found. If it isn’t a few days after, then Nathalie hearing how Gabriel reacted, maybe she ran out through the front doors to tell them. All I know here is that there is a time skip of undetermined length and Mayura isn’t present in this episode at all.

This look of utter delight....if Nathalie did tell them where Hawkmoth was, she obviously said nothing about him knowing Chat’s identity or why Gabriel was doing it. Perhaps she knew that would make it harder to stop him for Adrien, if he knew what was going on? She can’t predict the future- But it comes as such a shock. I do believe they know that Gabriel is Hawkmoth and who they’re fighting against in this scene simply because how could you be inside the house of a world-famous fashion designer and not recognize that while you’re going in? How would they have found him otherwise? There has been no evidence to my knowledge that would have backed up them going after him and suspecting him again to the point they actually go inside his house. Why were we not told how they found out? Was the puzzle just to long or are we supposed to continue seeing a certain character in a grey light? We were NEVER told how they found out who he is or where his lair is! He’s able to use his knowledge of who Chat is though, to shock him long enough to press the “reveal my wife” button. When he says “Dear Adrien”, Chat doesn’t ask “Father?!” he asks “How did you know?!”. then he sees his mom

He doesn’t ask if Hawkmoth is Gabriel. He makes no move to seem to try to figure out “Why does Hawkmoth have my mom in his basement”. Sure, it’d be pretty obvious to anyone but he doesn’t even hardly have time to think “If my mom is here then this must be my father”. No, he just never suspected that his mother would be so close.

“I’m doing this all for her Adrien”

And Adrien then proceeds not to ask anything about his dad. He knows that’s him. He just asks “Why” over and over. He’s in so much emotional turmoil from this alone that he almost seems to cataclysm his dad, but I don’t think he even actually had that intention.

what

WHAT

WHAT THE HECK?!

HOW IS THAT ALLOWED IN A TV-Y7 SHOW?!

deep breaths, deep breaths, calm yourself, Self.

Then the next scene, Chat is fearfully crawling away from his own father. In actual fear. Gabriel is actually completely okay with what he’s doing, justifying it by saying “this is for us” but it isn’t. Not once he’s gone that far. If you have to beat your child into submission, it’s not for their own good. I hope it never actually goes that far, but let’s continue.

What he’s saying is basically telling Adrien that he’s been fighting against bringing his own mother back, he doesn’t want to hear that him and his lady are capable, have BEEN capable, of bringing his mother back to him. This goes to prove that IF Emilie is bad, Adrien wouldn’t be able to handle it. It would put a similar psychological torture on him as this did and idk about you but I don’t think Gabenath is worth Adrien’s mental health (I still very much ship Gabenath don’t get me wrong but if Adrien is going to suffer like that to make it happen then I’m not so sure it’s worth it.). The amount of emotional manipulation in these couple of minutes is too disgusting to put into words.

“If she loved you as much as she says she’d save your mother”- does that mean he’s now also aware that Marinette is Ladybug? Seriously, what happened during this time skip?? Did Ladybug and Chat Noir start openly dating so they could still be together as heroes even if they weren’t together as civilians?

It gets to the point where the boy can’t stand it. He needs to be left alone. He needs to process everything- how is he supposed to know what’s right and wrong when he has two people he loves dearly telling him to do two very different things? Does he save his mother and join his father? Does he listen to ladybug, spare someone else the price of Emilie and follow her into their future?

The delight on Gabriel’s face as he sends his akuma into Chat is just....it’s unthinkable. How can he be enjoying this when it seemed to hurt him so much to toss him from a roof? I don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense! The only way I can make any sense of it would be if Gabriel had just completely lost his mind! He feels so OOC! Something had to have happened to make him go this far. He has to be severely emotionally unwell and distanced from Adrien if he’s actually okay with this- and if he doesn’t have the critical thinking skills to think “Hey, maybe someone who’s this traumatized shouldn’t have the power of unlimited destruction. Maybe just be able to use his power multiple times.” then idk he’s a complete fool. At least this version is anyway. I can’t believe him.

This is not okay.

How can he stand there and watch his own son, in pain, struggling because he doesn’t understand what he needs to do anymore and just grin??

“Obey me!”

I’ve had my parents tell me to listen to them, to do as they say, quote the 5th commandment at me and things like that, but obey? In such a harsh tone? To obey could almost be interpreted as having to listen because they are your master. Slaves obey.

How they do the facial expressions so well...is just artful, I must admit. Even if they do tear my heart out piece by piece.

And perhaps Chat Blanc taking the blow for himself did something to damage his psyche even more than it already was. Perhaps that helped to paint the unstable Chat Blanc we’re introduced to.

“It wasn’t my fault”

That’s right baby, it wasn’t. You’re a victim of cruel circumstance. You’re completely innocent and I hope you genuinely believe that.

But seriously, Hawkmoth’s lack of understanding of what emotional turmoil can do and giving a distressed child the power of total destruction...yeah. Imagine being single-handedly the reason the entire freaking universe got wiped out.

---

What makes everything even worse is that now Marinette thinks she can’t trust Adrien with her secret. She thinks he blabbed and Chat found out her identity (still not piecing together that Chat is Adrien). That must be a rather hard potential truth to take. When in reality, he never said anything and she could trust him completely. And her erasing the signature

means the Chat Blanc Timeline never happened. Which puts everything back at square one. All that abuse...it never actually happened. It was a potential outcome of the future and it never actually occurred because it was fixed. We got to see a potential result of the identity reveal, we got to see the way Future Hawkmoth would have reacted- but what about current Gabriel? It feels like all that happened a decent way into the future, at least long enough for something to happen for Gabriel to go further down his rabbit hole. How different are the potential versions of Gabriel and the current Gabriel? I still want to hold out hope that he can change for the better. Adrien has been through enough as it is, he doesn’t need his father to hit him, emotionally manipulate and traumatize him.

This episode i feel like simultaneously showed a worst case scenario, why a reveal would be dangerous, why Adrinette probably wouldn’t happen even if Adrien liked Marinette like that, and how far things could go downhill if the reveal happened in the wrong place, at the wrong time. In this case it just absolutely obliterated the chances of Adrien having a loving family again, unless part of Gabriel’s wish erased what he had just done to Adrien. With the erasure of the Chat Blanc future, there is potential for Gabriel, I think, since Chat Blanc never happened. Since he never actually did it, I don’t know how to feel. On one hand he never did it and therefore could have potential to turn around, but on the other, that timeline showed what he could be capable of in the right situation.

I’m walking a thin line on a lonely road when it comes to Gabriel Agreste. I’m skipping rope with the line. And one last thing...

Alix is going to do something to prove herself in the future. You can tell by this scene. I wonder what it is?

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