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flightfoot · 6 months

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Fics with major Alya focus that Alya fans should read

So it's hard to find fics where Alya's a central character, where she has a character arc, focus, development of her own to a significant degree, so I figured I'd rec some fics that Alya fans might appreciate! She's not necessarily the main character in all of them, but if she isn't the MAIN main character, then she's still a major character (and almost certainly POV character) in her own right in the fic. I'm only reccing completed fics for this, btw. If anyone knows the tumblr name for any of the authors involved, let me know!

Also I have a blog dedicated to Alya at alyappreciation, so check that out if you're interested!

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In Direct Opposition by @generalluxun

Alya Cesaire is a brand new student to Francis Dupont, to Paris even. The first student she meets is one Chloé Bourgeois, and Alya is determined to make a friend. Things advance Chaotically. Her new 'friend' is definitely a handful, and suddenly Paris has a supervillain and two brand new superheroes! Alya finds herself balancing a lot of things, trying to live up to her ideals and those of her icons. And then reality seems to contradict itself. As time progresses it seems to happen more often. Becoming a hero, battling villains, staying alive, working through friendships. Something is lurking, tweaking events at times, changing them, and no one seems aware. Alya will need all her wits to get to the bottom of this. Her investigative mind can only get her so far though, and then she needs to rely on her friends. This is not a foe you can beat head on.

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Alya's Guide To Surviving A Magical Terrorist Which You Can't Remember by PumpkinPatchworkQuilt

In a world where the fight against Hawkmoth is kept secret from the public, one Alya Césaire sets out to bring the whole thing to light, (and possibly win a journalism award while she's at it)

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Hold Me By Both Hands by @angelofthequeers

“I know he said never to take you back,” Plagg mutters. “But he’d change his tune if he knew.” He looks Adrien straight in the eye and, more serious than Adrien’s ever seen him before, says, “There’s someone you gotta meet. He’s been looking for that book for ages.” How differently might the events of season 2 have gone if Adrien had also known of Master Fu from the start?

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Vantage Point by @ashes555

Most of the time, with more information, life get easier and things make more sense. But Alya discovers that sometimes, knowing everything is just plain complicated.

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Trust by bi_skyes

They thought that because they believed Lila’s lies, they would not be trustworthy to Ladybug anymore. They thought wrong.

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Closure by bi_skyes

After the events of “Trust”, Alya tries to find closure.

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Lean In by Rachelea3

Marinette spills her secret, and Alya does the only thing she can do.

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Alya Cesaire Should Be Allowed To Swear by @stripesandblossoms

Akuma attacks don't stop just because Alya is no longer a Hero, but that's fine, because she can still help clear civilians from the danger zone. Even celebrity-friends like Adrien Agreste.

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Justifying the Means by @ashes555

When the worst happens, Alya finds that she may be willing to do the unthinkable. Is any sacrifice to big to make for her friends?

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Accidents Are Also Miracles by @liiinerle

After some turbulent days that end with five people knowing her secret identity as Ladybug, Marinette loses faith in her ability to keep herself hidden. Wracked with doubts and insecurities, she pleads with Alya to take over as Scarabella, and tries to disconnect from heroing altogether. Along the way, she starts to date Kagami. Hard as she tries, though, she can't stop worrying - especially not once Monarch takes a particular, and personal, interest in her. At the same time, Alya tries to adjust to her new role while she works to uncover who Monarch really is, and makes some realisations about her own wishes. Kagami struggles against a controlling and abusive parent, and a girlfriend who seems bent on destroying herself - with or without Monarch's involvement. And in the meantime, Alix keeps popping her head back in with offers to help (because cool though time travel is, she misses hanging out in her own time). [Contains some spoilers for early s5 episodes, but otherwise diverges significantly from the plot of the season.]

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Alya's Amended Guide For Internet Safety (The RPF Remix) by @redrikki

Alya hadn’t meant to fall down the Ladynoir fic rabbit hole. It just happened. She didn't mean to make Ladybug to read fic about herself either. That just kind of happened too.

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You Are Just A Grin by Midnightdemonht

Oblivio was the only one to need a second separation, even after the butterfly was torn away.

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the best laid plans (of bugs and bakers) by @mexicancat-girl

Paris is buzzing with the appearance of a new ladybug-themed hero, Scarabella. Alya decides to use her second hero identity to help her best friend Marinette. A bit of her flirting with Marinette is bound to make Marinette's crushes jealous and finally ask her out! Her plan is fool-proof…! Except when it's not. Not enough people are talking about Scarabella flirting with Marinette. How can Alya properly help her best friend if the news can't be bothered to cover Marinette's budding romance with Scarabella and only posts things about Marinette with Chat Noir?! So Alya puts her all into her plan, upping up her flirting each time she appears as the newbie hero Scarabella. This totally does not backfire in any way.

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Radio Silence by @into-september

When an inexplicable change between Marinette and Adrien brings the two closer than ever, Alya is left on the outside of a secret too confounding to be about cheesemaking or puppy love. [No S4 AU]

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Creative Lies and Destructive Truths by @azuriteartist

Alya and Lila are two sides of a never-ending fight. The fight between truth and lies, between honesty and deception, between justice and personal gain. And now they have the powers to elevate that fight to a city-wide level. Can Alya stop the deception before it destroys the city? And can Lila stop the truth before it destroys her?

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The Investigation by @11jj11

Adrien and Marinette are finally dating-- which is what Alya has always wanted... but yet this sudden transformation in their relationship overnight? Things aren't adding up. They are suddenly so much closer than they ever have been before, Adrien is apparently a flirt, Marinette is no longer a stuttering mess, and not to mention the nicknames that came out of no where. Alya is happy for her friends, but she knows there's something more going on, and the reporter in her is going to get to the bottom of it.

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Cat Naps by BookGirlFan

Chat Noir doesn't care if he dies temporarily. Alya's starting to think he doesn't care if he dies permanently. Marinette's way too stressed for this, so it's up to Alya to find out why Chat Noir's willing to let his cat naps turn into the long sleep.

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Where were you the first time you were possessed? by @zanzquest

It should be an easy assignment: write about the first time a ghost took over your body to make varying degrees of mischief. There’s just one issue: Alya hasn’t been possessed yet.

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Is it chill that you're in my head? by @bringthestorm

Alya stared at the picture plastered across the homepage of every single tabloid and news site, whispering every curse she could think of under her breath. SHOCKING SECRET ROMANCE BETWEEN LADYBLOGGER AND PARISIAN SUPERVILLAIN REVEALED!!! the headline announced, casually shouting the words she had been dreading for all of Paris to read. --- Alya had always assumed that someday Paris would discover that she had secretly been kissing their most wanted vigilante, but she had never thought it would happen so soon. As the domino effects of her relationship with Ladybug go spiraling through her life, Alya turns her sights towards the one responsible: the elusive superhero Hawkmoth. AKA Someone outs Alya and her girlfriend so she retaliates by deciding to take down Hawkmoth

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Lady and the Fox by @ck2k18

Marinette and Alya, known to their subscribers as “Ladybug” and “Rena Rouge,” have a popular cooking vlog using their parents’ kitchens. While moderating comments, Alya realizes that their viewers assume the two anonymous hosts are a couple, and it causes her to look at her relationship with Marinette in a new light.

(punch punch) fall in love by @mexicancat-girl

One day, Sabrina walks up to Alya. Alone. No Chloe in sight. Sabrina wants to learn self defense. Alya agrees to teach her. Alya ends up getting way more invested than she originally thought she'd be, because Sabrina is a quick learner and sometimes her smile makes Alya's insides go weak.

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When I Grow Up by waltzofthewifi

-I want to be a superhero." The class stifled laughs. "But superheroes aren't real!" Someone called out. A look through Alya's life. One-shot.

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disconnected by just_an_ordinary_fan

Lady Wifi believes she might be the only one who does not want to obey Hawkmoth's orders. When she sees another akuma hesitate in the battle, she finds she might not be entirely alone.

Walking that Mile by @nomolosk

Nino and Alya wake up in the wrong bodies. Several things result from this, including, but not limited to, identity reveals and a better understanding of what their respective best friends are going through.

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(may we write it all down) in cursive light by @sunfoxfic

Since retiring as a journalist, Alya hasn't been involved in an interview in several years. But now that her identity is out, that's about to change.

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Strangely Familiar by @sunfoxfic

Alya Césaire’s life is perfect. Indeed, between the success of the Ladyblog, how well she’s doing in school, and the fact that she’s a superhero who has never bore the weight of a crisis of epic proportions, her life almost couldn’t be better. Almost. But Alya has always been a go-getter, and so she’ll chase after that perfect life if it kills her. Which is how she ends up rushing to move out of her father’s apartment and in with Marinette, Adrien, and a complete stranger: Nino Lahiffe. And in fact, her life does seem perfect — she and Nino are fast friends. They spend a lot of time together and get to know each other really well. But in the end, fortunate situations will bear unfortunate truths, and she learns things about herself that aren’t quite comfortable. Like I said, though: Alya has always been a go-getter, and she won’t let new feelings deter her from chasing after her perfect life.

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Trust your instincts by @ultrakart

Alya has the instincts of a fox. Nino finds it hilarious.

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Foxy Lady by WizardlyMagik

In which Nino finds himself unexpectedly attracted to Rena Rouge, tries and fails to tell his friends and get some advice, and desperately attempts to hide it from his girlfriend. (Who in fact, is planning to use it to her advantage)

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No One Can See Us Here, Alone; or, The Behaviors of Binary Stars by artEngine

"Yeah, about that," Nino turns to fall in step with her out the door, "Hows about we take a small break from the quests? Chillax, enjoy our money and things?" "You say that now," Alya eyes him from the corner of her vision, "but would you still say that if I told you this special quest was to find a hidden genie for three free wishes?" "Dude. Yes." "Fine. Look, I promise to chill if we go on this quest. Okay?" Nino narrows his eyes down at her pleading expression. This dialogue is suspiciously familiar. Somehow, he gets the feeling that this time will be different. And for some reason, he listens to that feeling. "You're lucky I like you," he concedes. Alya hip-checks him with a winning smile. "That I am." : : A series of Alya and Nino's exploits as a part of the 10,000 gamers who found themselves trapped in Akihiko Kayaba's VRMMORPG game, Sword Art Online. For AU April with the Miraculous Fanworks Discord. (Knowledge of and/or interest in SAO or ALO is not required to enjoy this fic)

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well somewhere along the way in our words i must've gotten lost by @noirshitsuji

Beelya where Queen Bee visits the Césaire house after Alya writes an article about her fighting Mr. Pigeon alone. Normally Chloé would like the publicity but Alya had titled it ‘The Birds and the Bees’. After that she ends up coming back to complain about her mother. And her father. And about the fact that her oldest friend seems uncomfortable around her. Her visits becomes weekly, then almost nightly. (Don’t forget to include Chloé redemption (and some “Bee Movie” jokes).) * Alya isn’t quite sure how she ended up here, in a place where she isn’t even surprised Chloé would seek her out to talk about her dad, where she wouldn’t even mind her doing so, where she would expect it, where she would– (–thud. She might be in trouble.)

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Me, My Best Friend, and Her Cat by @ladyofthenoodle

Ladybugs aren't known for being particularly sneaky. Good thing this Ladybug has a fox in her corner, watching her back. (And giving Ladybug's love life a nudge along the way. Maybe more than a nudge. In Alya's defense, Ladybug can use all the help she could get.)

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Best Laid Plans by @captorations

Alya Césaire had always known she was going to be a superhero one day. She even had a rather unique plan to protect her secret identity, and it worked like a charm. But tricksters have to be careful, lest they end up tricking themselves.

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Outfoxed by @captorations

Lila Rossi is not a Miraculous wielder. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have power. Alya was under her spell, along with so many others, until the day Lila unknowingly overstepped herself. Freed at last, the true Fox recognizes magic when she sees it, even if it doesn’t come from a source she understands. She is none too happy about this pretender abusing her natural gifts to make fools of Alya and those she loves. Alya Césaire might need an enchanted necklace and the aid of a tiny deity to cast illusions, but she swore to use her borrowed abilities for the greater good long ago. There is none better suited to facilitate the liar’s downfall. And maybe she’ll help her best friend sort out her increasingly complex love life along the way.

#miraculous ladybug #alya cesaire #rena rouge #ml fanfic rec

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luka-couffaine-ship-tournament · 5 months

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Round 1 Side A - Pair 1

CAMPAIGN

Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-They‘re just so good for each other. Luka is such a calming presence in Marinette‘s chaotic life and helps her relax when she feels anxious and unsure of herself, always willing to be there for her and offer a helping hand during tough times. Marinette has a deep appreciation not only for Luka‘s ability to play music but also hear heart songs, as if she understood immediately what he meant after listening to him play for the first time. They feed off each other‘s creative energy and are just generally so wholesome together. I could talk about them forever, they make me so happy!!

-Luka is the best boy, and deserves love from the girl he adores

-I just woke up and am too lazy to think of words for my favorite couple so here's some gifs as propaganda

Gif de gifs-misc

Gif de bizarrelovesquare

Gif de notasiren21

Gif de ouiladybug

Gif de kochengnoir

Gif de jeldraximo14

Gif de notasiren21

Luka Couffaine/Sabrina Raincomprix

-Listen, Sabrina needs someone who treats her well, she needs someone who considers her an equal and someone to show her what real love is like. And I truly and honestly think that she would try her best to understand and appreciate Luka but who he really is (if she can see the good in Chloe she is capable of seeing a God when she meets one)

-Vote lukabrina people. We cant lose this!

-This is just unfair we need to help our girl out!

I'll start!

Item Number One: Viperhound Is S Tier

This is the fucking duo right here, this is endlessly clever and positive tag team action, this is a pair who will NOT fail the mission alright?

They are designed so interestingly parallel and then put right next to each other in this sweeping shot of the new miraculous squad???

Like, am I supposed to not assume something about it??

Item Number Two: opposites contrast

Orange and Blue, extremely Sun and Moon energy, but I don't think that would make this ship sail smoothly. See, Luka likes being a moon. He is happy to support and enjoys being someone's shining beacon in the endless dark of night, and no one needs that kind of anchor to hold onto more than Sabrina right now. Sabrina cut ties with her best and only friend and while we see her hanging out with other classmates just fine, we don't really know how she is with being actual friends with people. I don't think anyone has tries to reach out to her since evillustrator and we saw in that episode how she approaches new potential connections. Overwhelmingly cheerful and warm and oppressively clingy, like a ray of sunlight that won't leave your eyesight on the hottest day of the year. She means well but, boy, she can be a lot. And more importantly, she needs to be the one helping because, what kind of friend is she if she isn't? Who is she if she's not doing everything for everybody else? It would, amusingly and annoyingly and endearingly, put her into conflict with Luka, who is similarly always pushing his own problems aside to help people with theirs. This would lead them into a loving rivalry of "take care of yourself" "no u" that goes both ways, a back and forth that ends with them reluctantly letting the other help them. And after so many years as someone's shadow, Sabrina deserves to have someone in her orbit, someone she shines a light on when he needs to be seen.

Item Number Three: YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE

Look I'm SORRY okay, but I have to say this even tho I also think their ship got done dirty by the show, I still think they wouldn't have lasted. I think Marinette and Luka being "too easy" is exactly their problem, as even if they didn't have everything else to worry about Marinette needs complexity or she starts to lose her mind overthinking things and goes looking for it. The simple nature of her relationship with Luka is what 13 year old Marinette needed, the Marinette who wasn't Ladybug yet, who hadn't stood up to Chloe and maybe even just had her heart broken in a mean prank. It makes sense she'd fall in love with and gravitate towards this living embodiment of all the comfort and security she wished she had, she had desperately needed at that time. But that's just it, she needed it then. And now she can rely on herself a lot better, she has a whole support system to fall back on, and what she needs from a romantic partner is something else. But Sabrina? She's done horrible things in the name of her friendship with Chloe and even enjoyed some of them, but had finally hit her limit of how much abuse she can both dish out and take herself. Sabrina can definitely recognize that Luka is a good person, but more importantly Luka would have to actually try to sympathize with a person, rather than just immedietely like them. Lest we forget, Sabrina is the one who locked Juleka in the bathroom on picture day. Chloe told her to but Sabrina physically did it. Being confronted with someone who hurt his sister but is, herself, hurting, and is determined to help everyone but herself will be a lot of conflicting emotions for Luka, and Sabrina would need to get used to being the center of someone else's attention in a way not entirely dissimilar to how Chloe was for her, although significantly less codependent.

What makes Lukabrina interesting isn't that they're perfect for each other or that it's immedietly easy.

It's awkward and messy and they clash, they push each other out of their comfort zones and find a new one to settle in together.

It isn't instant or love at first sight, but by resolving their issues with each other through communication, honesty and trust, they are able to become a happy and wholesome couple.

Don't fucking tell me the odds lol, I know they're probably not winning but they deserve a fighting chance. So please feel free to add your own Lukabrina Viperhound propaganda!

TAG:

Luka/Marinette - @mikoriin

Luka - Twitter @Karma_sensei_

@lukacouffaineappreciation

#luka couffaine #miraculous ladybug #viperion #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #ship tournament #tournament poll #tumblr polls #tumblr tournament #fandom polls #polls #luka x marinette #lukanette #luka x sabrina #sabrina raincomprix #marinette dupain cheng #mlb marinette #mlb sabrina

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theerurishipper · 2 months

Note

What's ur opinion on the whole "Blame the writing not the character" thing for writing, cause I think miraculous and its Fandom is a weird case.

Normally I prefer approaching everything from the "Blame the character" angle because at the end of the day all a character is IS their writing (this also applies to good things oc, not just bad). Especially regarding their emotions I don't see much purpose in distancing everything one doesn like about a character from them by saying "Oh, it's just the writing. Disregard it, tahts not who the character truly is" cause at some point that just reads as.. kinda refusing to acknowledge who the character on screen actually is bc one doesn like it.

Miraculous is just a weird case. You can smell the meta decisions 10 miles against the wind - like Marinette and Alya for some reason being able to beat Adrien in battle and Cat Noir pre-s5 being "incompetent". You know exactly that this is not character based writing, Cat has to be weaker than Ladybug and Scarabella because they're girls and they have to look good. It's hard saying Adrien is a weaker fighter in all those cases, or when the temp heros need to be brought in, because you at some level know exactly that there is a meta reason behind it. And that makes it hard to discredit him for that just as much as it's harder to actually give the girls credit for their abilities. They shouldn't be able to beat him so easily, but they do because of their gender and this shows "rules". Just like there is no actual reason in-universe for why he's suddenly on Ladybug's level in season 5. It just is.

(kinda weird how the show also never gave Kagami credit for being a trained fighter either. I guess they thought they can't acknowledge her training either or else they couldn't get away with making Adrien weaker as Cat Noir. So they probably dead ass denied Kagami her special spotlight too for shallow reasons (but at least their consistent)

But on the other hand, I personally don't think Marinette and Adrien leaving in Kwamis choice without saying goodbye to each other is out of character the way most people say it and then just disregard it by saying "it's the writing, not the characters". Rewatching that two parter, it set up alot from the finale, and I don't think them leaving each other like that is out of character just a harsh reality check where we are at after s4.

They never came out of that season actually "better" partnership wise just because Adrien decided to stay by her side these two times and remained kind and supportive. That was decided to be the Cat's definitive job towards the Ladybug so that's what he's continuing to do but that doesn't really concern anything beyond that. In my opinion it is very much questionable how much Ladybug and Cat Noir are actually REAL FRIENDS and not just kind collegues the way Marinette wanted in s4 (with potential for real friendship under better circumstances).

That's also why Adrien gave himself up in the finale, no? If they were real friends he would have been able to ask for her help as she was the only one who could have kept him save because of her yo-yo. But they're just kind collegues, so he didn't.

And just because he stayed her teammate doesn't it mean he's still in love with Ladybug or that he still WANTS to be in love with her after all that pain it caused him. So he made a harsh decision thanks to Plagg and prioritized finally being happy and getting some stability, especially because Gabriel was being fake loving.

And Marinette's romantic feelings for Cat Noir and her acknowledgment of him all together have always been of shakey and chaotic nature. Her feelings for him really started whne she was at her lowest an thinking herself all alone while also being afraid of her feelings for Adrien.

This was from the get go an already dark orange sign for how genuine her feelings are (desperation is always an iffy foundation) and as others already said, she's never seeing more in him than the mask. How can you say you really love a person when you only acknowledge half of their personhood? Marinette only started taking interest in who Cat is when she started getting frustrated by him not reacting the way she wanted him to. If he had I don't think Marinette would have thought about wanting to know who he really is, it really came across like a frustration thing which explained why she was so reckless about it in Elation, and why she then left afterwards.

I don't wanna say she saw no purpose in him anymore after being rejected by him (that's too strong) but we already saw in season 4 that Marinette's treatment or acknowledge of Cat Noir very much reflects what use and purpose she sees in him, hence why he was basically reduced to an irrelevant footnote by the end of season 4. Yes, she wanted him there as teammate but thats it. It's still questionable in my opinion if she even noticed him not showing up anymore at the beginning of Kuro Neko since she reacts surprised when the reporter points out his absence and then claims towards Plagg Cat should be happy that he gets to have time off, as if she just convinced herself that she generously allowed him a week off instead of her having been so deep in team leader mode that she didn't even notice him not showing up anymore.

Marinette not noticing him having stopped showing up is a harsh characterization, but I wouldn't call it out of character in the broader sense.

So her leaving when he rejects her, because she doesn't want to be his friend and teammate but his girlfriend and he said no? Can't say thats out of character either because the show is also really consistent in her characterization that she doesn't see much value in being friends with Adrien either because she loves him, so being friends is the worst thing possible for her.

À décision being harsh and not what one likes doesn mean it's out of character and one should distance the event from the character in one's head.

I think Kwamis choice makes alot of sense, as does the focus on Adrinette instead of Ladynoir, and how the finale played out.

Which goes back to my original question. It's very obvious that there are 20. 000 meta reason controlling the narrative, but in my opinion only in a specific way. Everything still makes sense in my opinion, it just feels so CONTROLLED.

Marinette is a mouthpiece for the writers messages but even if I think the messages are fucked up and hypocritical, I can't say any of it was ever out of character for her?

You get what I mean?

Yeah, I get that. I myself approach it from the "blame the writers" way, but like you said, it's a blurry line. What tips me over ultimately is the fact that Marinette should have grown but clearly didn't. What she does isn't out of character for her for sure, but as far as the writers are concerned, she has grown and she is better, and all the stuff she's doing isn't really a bad thing. So, I can't in good conscience blame the character for being bad when the people who are bringing her to life are the ones who really believe all the stuff that's being said through her. She's supposed to have developed as per the writers' vision, but clearly, she hasn't. It's bad writing, and that really isn't the character's fault. That's how I see it.

Thank you for your ask!

#ML Salt #ML Writing Salt #ML Writers Salt #Marinette Salt #Asks

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sizzleissues · 8 months

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Continued Speak my Language just a slight bit if anyone’s interested.

Edit : Got an Ao3 link now <- Both one-shots up

Again, base idea by @nervousbelieverstarfish

Hold On (1407 words)

She was always quiet at first. They’d find their spot at the back of the school library; the classics section that no one was ever in unless they wanted privacy and set up there. After the first day when they had found the main area too bright and too echoey to bear, they’d (well he’d) dragged a couple chairs into the more shaded section and staked their permanent claim. They’d sit in the seats they always sat in, Marinette facing him and the bookshelf and Adrien facing the pathway down. It would take five minutes of gentle prodding to get her to speak more than a couple words. Then there was no silencing her.

That trait of hers made it so often they'd end up sitting on a bench outside the school after being kicked out for disturbing the quiet. Depending on the day she'd be mortified into silence or dedicated to getting even louder.

Adrien didn't mind one bit.

After two weeks of finding themselves stranded outside, Marinette surprised him.

“So, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to mine instead, to tutor me? We can be as loud as we want in my bedroom and it's not too far from your house.”

Adrien shut the French book he'd been showing her and placed it between them. Going to her house was definitely closer to being friend friends then school friends. (Which was already a step up from tutor and student but he'd allowed the change because it would be awkward otherwise.) The voice inside him told him to make something up about not being allowed but that didn’t really make any sense. He wanted to say yes and he was already allowed to stay late at school to tutor her, why not at her house?

“Sure,” Adrien said. He felt a lot lighter all of a sudden. Had his self-imposed isolation really weighed on him that badly? “That sounds perfect.”

“Great! We can walk there after school tomorrow.”

Marinette stood with a grin on her face, picking up her school bag and books.

“Say that in French,” Adrien said. Her smile dropped from her mouth but her eyes still remained lit. She pursed her lips in thought and then produced after a few seconds of thinking;

“Good. We will walk there after school… tomorrow!”

“You’re getting better!”

“Because of my excellent mentor.”

“You live over a bakery!”

Marinette looked behind her shoulder at him to where he’d stopped in his tracks. She laughed and went back to unlocking the door.

“My parents own the bakery.” She pushed the door open and stepped for Adrien to walk into a small stairwell, his mouth hanging open. They’d walked right past the customer entrance to their private one but from a brief glance he could tell it was popular. How had she not mentioned this? If it were him that would be the first thing he’d say.

“That’s so cool.”

She led him up the staircase into the apartment above the bakery and then quickly through it up to her attic bedroom. The smell of baked goods chased them up the entire way and he realised why Marinette always smelt so good, it was the scent of fresh bread and cinnamon.

Her bedroom was far enough away to allow for its own aroma, something floral and sweet to match the pink decor. It made perfect sense that a room like this belonged to Marinette, it was everything she was and more. A little chaotic with clutter but with a purpose to its madness, soft with cushions and plush furniture that invited him to relax. There were magazine cut outs along the walls from different fashion lines as well as what appeared to be her own designs pinned beside them. She walked past it all, clearing off the love seat at the back of the room for them to sit on.

“We can sit here. Ignore the mess,” Marinette said.

Adrien sat down, placing his bag at his feet. He was in awe of how much personality she’d crammed into her one room when all he’d managed to have done to his room of fifteen years was stick up a Ladybug poster a week ago and call it a day.

“Your room is amazing.”

Her cheeks turned a light pink as she turned away. Perhaps he’d sounded a little too amazed.

“I tried to make it feel like my room in China but it feels like it's missing something.” She crossed to the other side of her room and pulled her desk chair back with her to sit on.

“Why’d you never mention that your parents owned a bakery before?”

“It didn’t really come up. Before my parents met my Papa ran a bakery here but he closed it to move to China with my Maman.”

He couldn’t imagine how that might have felt. He didn’t have much to close up and leave behind. Not anything that would care if he left anyway.

“Marinette?” Someone called, followed by the trapdoor swinging open. A large man with an impressive mustache stuck his head through it, a tray filled with treats carried in his hand. This must be her father. Her father’s eyes landed on Adrien, seated politely on his daughter’s love seat, widening slightly. Had she not told her parents?

“Papa! Out!” Marinette dove across the room. She grabbed the tray from his hands as a teasing smile started to spread across her father’s lips.

“Is this your boyf—.”

Marinette slammed the trapdoor shut, forcing her grinning father out. She lay on top of it and looked back to Adrien with an embarrassed expression.

“Sorry about him.”

“Boyfriend?” He said it without meaning, mulling over the logical conclusion to M Dupain’s words. Boyfriend was definitely a bigger step up than friends. He couldn’t tell how that word felt in his mouth but it wasn’t a terrible taste. He could see it suiting him one day.

Marinette turned pink, scrambling up to her feet before falling down again.

“I don’t think you’re my boyfriend! I was just talking about our lessons to my Mom and he misunderstood. Mandarin's his second language so sometimes we speak too fast for him and he made a completely incorrect assumption. I corrected him but you know how dads are, they’ll take any chance to tease you. Please don’t be freaked out.”

But he didn’t know how dads were. Gabriel was only his in name. Marinette kept talking but Adrien stayed with that thought for another while.

He became aware of how quiet it had gotten when Marinette whispered his name.

“Adrien?”

“Eh-. Sorry. Y-your fine, I wasn’t bothered by it.”

Marinette frowned. He must have missed more than he’d thought. She sat across from him, kneeled down and looking up with her brow lightly pinched. Her hands flexed against the material of her jeans, a habit of her’s he’d grown to notice.

“You look really zoned out. Was I speaking too fast again?”

“No, no. I could keep up. I’m just-.”

“What?”

Adrien bit down on his lip using the moment of pain to ground himself again. He wouldn’t shut her out too, she didn’t deserve it like Gabriel did.

“I don’t know what ‘dads’ are like.”

“Oh? I thought-.”

“I have a dad.” He interrupted. “It’s my mom that’s gone but her death sort of took him with her. He’s different now.”

“Do you miss him?”

Adrien didn’t answer because he didn’t have one. No one had ever asked if he missed his dad. Only his mom and only with their eyes downcast and their voices lined with pity. Marinette didn’t hide like that, there wasn’t a trace of pity to be found in her voice. Only a question.

“Yeah. I do.”

Something hot rolled down his cheek.

“Oh, Adrien.”

She reached toward him, locking him into her arms. Her head slotted perfectly onto his shoulder, the scent of her hair filling his senses. Of course she used blueberry scented shampoo, the obviousness of it nearly made him laugh. Then he cried some more as he realised he hadn’t been close enough to someone to smell their shampoo in a while. He tightened his arms around her back.

Marinette pulled back for a moment and he saw a thought flit past her eyes. A slight shake in her watery smile that he nearly wanted to chase. But it wasn’t the right time and she wasn’t the right person.

“You can have my dad if you want. While you wait for yours.”

“I think I will.”

I said i was busy but this had already been partially written weeks ago so forgive me! This is just another kinda fleshing things out thing. Again playing a bit more into the movie canon but show stuff does apply.

Little reference to their alter egos (well just Ladybug) so I’m going to explain it a bit and I want to write another one shot delving into how their dynamic works in this AU.

I imagine the miraculous act as universal translators. Marinette is hearing everyone in Mandarin and they’re hearing her in French but she doesn’t know that. Opposite for Adrien. So it gives a bit more a reason for Marinette to like being Ladybug because as Ladybug she’s accepted and understood by everyone.

Most of the movie stuff happens with Adrien using Chat Noir to be the person he suppresses and Marinette to be the person she is without difficulty. They both find freedom in it now while they face the pressures of being heroes.

Ladynoir is still Ladynoir-ing in ways I’ll hopefully get to write about.

Also as you see I’m trying to flesh out Adrien daddy issue angst. I imagine that he grieves his father in much the same way as he grieved his mother but Gabriel is someone who still haunts him. So while talking about his mother makes him slightly annoyed because it’s such a done topic to him now, his father is an ongoing issue.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #ml fanfic #ml fic #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #miraculous movie #speak my language

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saemi-the-writer · 11 months

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If you're still doing the pairing meme: Tikki/Plagg, Alyanette, Felinette, Adrinino and Lukanino?

Oh wow, that's quite the list. *cracks knuckle* Here I go!!

Tikki/Plagg

Screw canon with "Kwami don't understand love or human's feelings", Tikki and Plagg are the oldest married couple ever around!!! The balance, opposite attracts, fun bickering, sweet nickname Plagg only has for Tikki? They're married, your Honour!

Alya/Marinette

Best friends to lovers is a go!! It's a shame the show is so inconstant with Alya's characterization, but let's forget it for a moment: Alya is the one who openly stood up to Chloé for Marinette when they didn't know one another, Alya keeps rooting for Marinette in everything she does and helps whenever she can, is her confident and keeps giving her pep talk... what's not to love? Sure, Alya isn't perfect, and she's still a teen learning subtility among other things. And I don't think I need to expand on what Marinette does for Alya and everyone else, the poor girl even needs a long vacation! Burn whatever Lila is doing to Alya's brain whenever she appears on screen, Alya is a good friend and potential GF for Marinette!

Felix/Marinette

I am glad Felix was replaced by Adrien, I don't care if the quality of the show dropped or is imitating a roller-coaster ride. I've seen enough "girl is infatuated with a (selfish) boy who's acting like an asshole to her, whilst drooling all over a persona of hers", and I am glad they went for the "classmates-friends-to-lovers" route. Felix isn't "a jerk with a heart of gold", that's fanon Felix, and while some creators have very good AUs for the pairing (some I even follow!), it got tarnished in my eyes by the too many salt fics where Felix comes around to "save Marinette from EvUlanDsTOopiD classmates and Adrien". UGH. I despise how they made Felix an asshole only to try and make me feel sorry for him afterwards, there are two kinds of assholes, and Felix in his first apparitions wasn't in the "likeable" one.

Adrien/Nino

Underrated, underdeveloped, wasted potential, WHY?! They would make a very cute couple!! Also, gimme more of their friendship on screen goddamnit!!!!! They would be so fun to follow, example: Nino is usually being chill and smiling yet he (internally or not) completely freak out when Adrien makes a social faux pas due to his upbringing or casually buys him some expensive stuff "DUDE PLEASE DON'T 😨" "Did I do something wrong?? Are you mad? 😢" "Nonononono I'm not mad but... next time, just follow my lead and keep your money, please??" (still he lets Adrien give him gifts though because it's one of his love languages)

Luka/Nino

Anon, either you've been through my main blog (respect, for it's so chaotic and mostly untagged) or you're a mind-reader because it's a rare pair that I'd love to see more!! I admit that the idea crossed my mind kind of randomly, mostly when I was working on my Miraculous Team AU, but then I couldn't stop thinking about it. With good development, these two could work well! They'd make a fun, cute and chill couple, both music lovers and artists in different fields. Nino could be the shoulder Luka could lean on, he who is so often the one to dry people's tears, the two would support each other in a calm, steady way. Nino's perseverance would inspire Luka, and Luka's hidden sneakiness would come in handy for Nino... so much potential!

#miraculous ladybug #pairing ask #alyanette #adrinino #lukanino #ninuka #plaggxtikki #felinette salt #saemi answers #long post #answers #rarepair #nino lahiffe #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #luka couffaine #tikki the kwami #ml plagg

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mlbigbang · 1 year

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2022 General Fic Rec List

It's the end of the year which means it's finally time for the ML Big Bang's yearly fic rec lists! We're really excited to bring you our contributors' favourite fics started this year to supply you with plenty of reading material while you're waiting for the Big Bang fics' publication in January.

deliverin' by @fragileizy 5,750 words, General, 2/2 chapters

“Is everything okay?” “Yeah. Yes, of course it is, I just”—she swallows ash and ice—“it was just the Book I was reading. It, uh… their family separates after a bit, and it’s all a misunderstanding, and—” she can’t finish. She’s not allowed to. “Do you need a hug, Jules?” I need you to stay, she wants to cry. You’re my only brother. And I’ll miss you so terribly when you’re gone. Every day, I’ll be alone without you, because Mom will try to visit as often as you always visit me, but she’ll keep feeling guilty for the rest of our time together because she knows how upset I am. And she’ll be upset, too. I’ll never be able to watch her cry, but I’ll hear her. And I don’t think I’m strong enough to deal with that. “I do,” she says instead, wings closing up around her like a ball. “Please. Just for a little while.”

"Cute!!!"

Telling the bees by @feather-dancer 5,768 words, Teen, 1/1 chapter

Chloé and Zoé have a routine where at least once a week they meet up somewhere for a chat which is an excuse to get away from their shared mother and to vent as much as anything. Folklore says it is very important to keep the bees up to date with the coming and goings of their keepers, these two are no different. Part of Haven of Strays.

"Canon has denied us any real Zoe&Chloe sisterly content. It's up to the fanfic community ot make up the difference. This author does all that and more in a weighty interaction between two sisters who are not friends, but are sisters."

Chaotic Company by ADeadmansBliss 5,450 words, Mature, 1/1 chapter

It's been nearly a week since Adrien's acquisition of a new pet and unfortunately traumatic injury is not something that can be recovered from quickly. Bored with only an unconscious former hero for company he decides to sneak out to find some entertainment which goes fine until Hawkmoth decides to ruins it.

"It's unlike anything I've read before and it's so super fantastic!!!"

Stranger Acquaintance by @bugchat 1,885 words, Teen, 1/1 chapter

Marinette just wants to live her Special Agent life as quietly as possible. Put bad guys behind bars, maybe make friends with three people at work, and eat pizza once they close a case. What makes its way into her life is a mop of blond hair with a stunning smile and too much of a back-talking mouth to be healthy for her.

"It's an good AU concept with fun dynamics, and it's a short, easy read! Detective Marinette and her team of four being Alya, Nino and Kagami. There's so much room for sequels if the author chooses to!"

maybe shake a tambourine by noirshitsuji 1,703 words, Teen, 1/1 chapter

Written for a Miraculous Writer's Guild blog request: Start a story with "I need a place to stay." Felix looks at his cousin, sometimes. Looks and wonders. The silver ring he’d taken to wearing a couple of years ago is gone. But the Adrien he’s known since childhood isn’t there either, and, much as Felix would like to attribute the tapping he’s noticed his fingers do every time Adrien doesn’t answer one of his questions to annoyance, he knows it’s truly because he feels unnerved by it all.

"It's a lovely exploration in Felix's character and his feelings toward Adrien while absolutely teasing a glorious plot about Adrien, Marinette, and Gabriel"

(may we write it all down) in cursive light by @sunfoxfic 3,503 words, Teen, 1/1 chapter

Since retiring as a journalist, Alya hasn't been involved in an interview in several years. But now that her identity is out, that's about to change.

"An amazingly written future!fic that beautifully explores a time long after Hawkmoth's defeat and "our" heroes' retirement."

Off the Mark by @buggachat 4,632 words, General, 1/1 chapter

Ever since Nino's (frankly embarrassing) akumatization into Rocketear, Chat Noir's behavior had taken a strange and sudden turn in the presence of Carapace, and Nino could only think of one possible explanation: Chat Noir hated him. Somehow, Adrien didn't seem to agree.

"Any fic that focuses on Nino and Adrien being bffs is important. After Rocketear, Nino may have rambled a bit to Adrien about how weird it's been being around Chat Noir. Adrien is weirdly invested in this problem. A lot of misunderstanding leads to heightened emotions and eventual revelations. Just a really good examination of the difficulties of secret identities and being best friends."

Infestations and Maladies by @sunfoxfic 100 words, General, 1/1 chapter

Bunnix called Chat Noir to go to a mysterious version of the timeline and fix… something.

"A well-written drabble exploring a reverse Chat Blanc. A very clever concept written in a very clever way!"

In Memory Of by @graaythekwami 3,012 words, Teen, 1/1 chapter

Gabriel Agreste was never good with kids, but his granddaughter needed him.

"A very interesting story with a dark backstory, but it's very sweet and well-written."

I Am Your Ghost by @emmalylis 1,559 words, General, 1/1 chapter

Adrien attends one of Gabriel’s galas in his mother’s old dress.

"Adrien in a dress. Need I say more?"

goodbye, goodbye, goodbye (you were bigger than the whole sky) by @hanaasbananas 865 words, General, 1/1 chapter

Distantly, he hears the music still blaring behind him, the song mocking in its cheerfulness, imprinting itself into his memory as the soundtrack to his devastation. For a moment–the longest of his life–everything stands still, the universe holding its breath and then Sabine shrieks and it shatters like glass beneath his feet.

"This is short but its just so damn sad😭 hit me right in the feels"

Moon mission by @ultrakart 2,789 words, General, 1/1 chapter

For Fei, escaping her past is as difficult as trying to escape the Earth’s orbit.

"Kart is the king of the Shanghai special and this is such a sweet short fic that showcases just how great his writing over it is."

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #fic recs #ml fic recs #general fic #ml big bang #ml big bang 2022 #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #nino lahiffe #alya cesaire #gabriel agreste #chloé bourgeois

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myfairkatiecat · 4 months

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20 Questions for Writers

Thanks for the tag @fanfictasia!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

51 under my current account, though floating around AO3 are the fics I left up when I deleted my old account in a fit of rage (don’t ask 😅). So, 51 plus twenty or so under no name.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

208,386!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I’m in a lot more fandoms than I’ve published writing for so I actually had to check AO3 to remind myself what I actually write fics for 😂 I have the most fics for Star Wars, though I currently mainly write for The Mysterious Benedict Society and BBC Merlin. I also had a brief Miraculous phase and a few scattered fics from random fandoms.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Rebel Pilot (Star Wars) - Anakin Skywalker finds himself suddenly and inexplicably in a cell with Princess Leia Organa on the first Death Star. When he realizes he’s in the future, chaos ensues, revelations are made, and Luke is the ray of sunshine that keeps them all together. (Oh, and there’s a Skywalker family road trip to kill the emperor and save the galaxy)

2. Viral (Star Wars) - thirteen-year-old Anakin runs a Space Tik Tok account in which he films Obi-Wan doing random things and posts it. Obi-Wan has no idea who is running this horrible fan account.

3. This Part Was Not Foretold (Merlin) - Upon seeing Merlin doing magic, Arthur comes to the conclusion that his friend has been possessed by an evil sorcerer who must be stopped.

4. Jealousy, Jealousy (Miraculous) - Adrien, in an attempt to make Lila as jealous as Marinette as possible, blurts out that they are dating. They are not dating. (But maybe they soon will be 👀) (also SERIOUSLY there’s a miraculous fic in my top five? That was like. My most embarrassing hyperfixation ever. Can we just forget that happened??)

5. Pen Pals Across Time (Star Wars) - Ahsoka convinces Anakin and Obi-Wan to write letters to their future selves. You know, as an exercise. But then the Force sends the letters. Chaos ensues.

Well, this was a real reminder that I did not always peacefully exist within the quaint, whimsical, slightly chaotic fandom that is The Mysterious Benedict Society. For this game, I have ventured beyond the secure perimeter. But as an honorable mention, this is my most popular TMBS fic by kudos:

The Two Mr. Benedicts - Constance uses naming confusion regarding Mr. Benedict and his redeemed twin brother to be a chaotic little gremlin.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always! I want them to know I appreciate that they took the time to let me know they enjoyed my work, as this motivates me to write more in the future. Sometimes I may take a slight while, but I always do it!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I almost ALWAYS give my angst happy endings. I was only able to find a SINGULAR FIC with an angsty ending out of all my fics! Our Forgotten Bond is a Star Wars fic about Anakin being brainwashed into attacking Ahsoka and only remembering who he is after he killed her. Yeah. Ouch. I only wrote it because of Angstpril that year okay 😭

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All of them? Even my angst tends to end happy. Half my fics are just crack so whether the ending is happy is irrelevant. Most of my fics have satisfying endings 😅 I can’t pick one!

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

People used to give me annoyingly critical analyses on my Merlin fics, which I deleted bc they weren’t worth my time. But especially since I’ve been mainly in the TMBS fandom, everyone’s been super supportive!

9. Do you write smut?

Nope. G and T ratings only around here!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes, but all of mine are WIPs right now with varyingly recent updates 😅

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, someone offered to translate Revel Pilot into a language. I cannot remember what language and when I look at its name in the characters of the original I can’t read it and I don’t want to guess and be wrong and offensive so. A Language

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

I used to do writing circles on discord where we’d take turns writing portions of the story, so if that counts, then yes! You can tell which ones they are on AO3 because they have a ton of authors lol.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Yikes. Anidala, I believe. Or perhaps Percabeth. Huge sokeefe shipper. Jorgen/Spensa heals me. This question hurts me.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My Anidala cutting edge AU. I just wish someone else would write it 😭 I love it but cannot create it right now or possibly ever.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, and when I put thought into it, prose. I’m good at character introspection and understanding of their relationships. Also, humor—I can make fics hilarious way easier than I can make them touching. (Yes, I think I’m funny. No, I don’t care if you disagree 😂)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes and planning of long plot lines. Also, keeping a serious fic from devolving into crack.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I’m comfortable doing it in Spanish bc I know it, I feel anxious when using google translate for other languages, and as far as fictional languages go (such as Mando’a in SW fics or the language of the Old Religion in Merlin fics) I just copy and paste things from the internet!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Bet you think the answer is going to be Star Wars, huh? Nope. Keeper of the Lost Cities. When I was ten. On Wattpad. Don’t go looking for it.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

AH NO DONT MAKE ME CHOOSE. I’m a particular fan of Rewriting Destiny (my Star Wars/Merlin crossover), Things my heart still needs to know (my Newsies/Anastasia crossover), and Holding On to You (one of my many TMBS Benedict Twins fics!)

This was fun! No pressure tagging: @nobodysdaydreams @sophieswundergarten @phtalogreenpoison @heyitsthatonesmolgay @any avid fic writer who wants to jump on in!

#tag game

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seeasweetsmile · 10 months

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To my miraculous fans followers

I'm sorry but more the serie continues, more I’m turning myself into the dark side (aka the ml salt).

Maybe you saw that I didn’t reblog gifs from episodes since S4 (just a few) like I did for S1-S3 and to be honest, the wait between seasons/episodes and the way I’m slowly detached myself from the show to discover others cartoons or animes didn’t help either.

For S4 and mostly S5, the traitement of the characters, the Ladynoir/Adrinette chaotic relationship, the way Lukanette and Adrigami were killed at the first two episodes of S4, Marinette’s hypocrisy, Gabriel’s madness and his growth grudge towards Marinette, Chloé’s caricatural treatment, Lila being mastermind, no adult has a brain anymore, even if there’s globaly good ideas and so much potential, the fact they were awkwardly or badly executed were a pain to watch.

And you know what is the most painful? I loved that show.

Because is that : I loved that show.

It’s been 7 YEARS (almost 8 years in september if I remember correctly) since the serie debut, and like so many fans, I grew attached to the worldbuilding, the characters, the bond between all of them, the humor or the banters, the lore about the miraculous, the design of the superheros and the supervilains, their powers and how complex/funny/interesting they were... and if you have the inevitable urge to read/write fanfics, look/create the fanarts, or even read analysis/meta post about the episodes, you grow even more attached to the characters and the show!

But when you watch from a objective point of view, you realize there’s so much problems consistency issues (I don’t list them, others fans on tumblr and salty hashtags do it better).

Like I said in a previous reblog, if the writers didn’t want to make episodes just for shocked the viewers (remember when they said each episodes of S4 were equivalent of Chat Blanc??) because all the excessive drama around ladynoir or adrinette, if they didn’t push these things to the extra way, if they didn’t get anyone involved (Alya, classmates, adults) to tell Adrien and Marinette what to think or what to do, it could have been so much better. I firmly believe that friendship is a fondamental piliar to any relation. Adrinette started with a good way (cf origines), but they shaped Marinette into another girl who idolazed Adrien without sincerly knowing him (and when they start to give Marinette some retrospective of her behaviour, what we got? we got Alya to tell her she kNoW AdRiEn instead of listening genuinely her best friend and step back), and Adrien, even though he sincerely liked Marinette and held her in high esteem, he ends up becoming the perfect boy madly in love with her who forgets everything as soon as she is in his field of vision or as soon she breathes. If the others characters had LISTENED to Marinette when she questioned herself and preferred to remain friends with Adrien because she realized she didn’t fully know him, and if the others characters had LISTENED to Adrien when he told them he wasn’t agree with their crazy plans (they didn’t listen and the MCs sighed, abandonned their spine column when the classmates insisted a little bit too much), I repeat myself ; it. could. have. been. so. much. better.

To leave Marinette and Adrien figuring out how to do the things at their own rythm. Instead of a healthy, good and solid friendship that transform into romance, we get a forced ship. Because “ThEy MaDe FoR eAcH oThEr” like everyone said in millions times (I was temped to rewatch since the beggining to counts exactly how much the characters say this stupid sentence but I’m not strong enough). And they say this as if we were dumb and we didn’t know Adrinette was the endgame since day one.

Also, another thing that bug me : since S4 to S5 –and I don’t know if anyone felt that– but I have this distrubing impression that Marinette and Adrien mostly were just puppets in the theater/playhouse and they didn’t have a soul. Sometimes it push me out of the show when I watch the episodes.

Anyways, if you made it until here, thank you for reading my rant post. Two more episodes to left for S5 that will air early july (I read the script of the finale and boy...) and I still don’t know if I will watch the S6. With Gabe and Chloe out of the picture, Lila stepping as main vilain (still wait for her background) and Emilie being here, maybe they’ll do something correct ? But as I said in a previous post, if I watch the first few episodes and if it irrated me, I’ll stop.

I’m tired to hurting myself.

#ml salt #ml writers salt #ml spoilers #ml season 5 spoilers #adrinette salt #ml fandom salt #my post

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blueberry-macaron · 9 months

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Watched the movie and honestly it was fine. No groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece. No disasturous dumpster fire. Just an ok movie that felt like a fanfiction from s1

Here's some more thoughts I have. There's no structure it's a little chaotic. Also spoilers (duh)

The stuff I liked:

The music was good

THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS. The lighting in every scene is perfect, the city actually feels populated and the colors overall are so much prettier than in the show

I loved the akuma designs

They do a good job of establishing how Marinette, in the beginning, is very anxious, affected by Chloe's bullying and how she doesn't have friends. That works better than what the show tried to establish, about how Marinette had no friends but still being popular for some reason

Alya being a good friend

The way Adrien deals with the loss of his mother and how playing the piano brings him comfort and makes him feel close to her. Imo the show went overboard with how literally everything Adrien does is dictated by his dad and never something he might genuinely enjoy doing. The fact that he had this hobby made him feel like he was more than just a sad boi

Adrien also seems to struggle with not having many friends outside Nino. Works pretty well with the characterization that he's socially awkward after being homeschooled for most of his life

Generally this Adrien has more PV vibes? I‘m digging it ngl

Marinette's dad is the best

Fu's introduction to Marinette sure was something xD

Gabriel was a good villain character. The show version is just some weird ass goof who is a huge ass to his son and everyone, yet the show wants you to feel for him without giving us a reason to care. This version actually has complexity. He’s still an ass, but now the pain over loosing Emilie feels real. You also have him hesitating to use the butterfly but ultimately spiraling completely into an actually threatening villain.

the fight scenes looked great

Marinette is still clumsy and awkward towards Adrien but without being too cringe about it and doing stupid shit. It‘s just heart eyes and day dreams and some stuttering. She‘s still nervous but I never felt like Adrien brought oit her worst side like in the show. She was simply a girl in love. This was wholesome to watch and so much better than... whatever the fuck the show did with the fucking dating trauma to use for """comedy""" bc the show runners have zero respect for her seriously I'll never get over how fucking stupid that was Marinette honey you deserve so much better

I honestly think this is a better version of the square. Still heavily flawed, but their dynamic feels so much more natural. Ladynoir stuff was sweet

The end where Marinette looses the earrings and then saves Chat without the costume was a good scene

Most of their moments were just quiet moments between just the two without any outside forces and characters constantly pushing them together. This bothers me in the show so much and is another major reason I cant get behind the ship, but for the most part the movie has some gentle pushing here and there but no convoluted and stupid cringy plans. In that regard movie love square is superior

Nino had a thing for Alya from the start pretty much, unlike in the show where he was crushing on Mari five minutes before getting with Alya. I like them in both the show and the movie, but the way they got together in the show was a little meh

Nino getting screentime in general

The stuff I don't know how to feel about:

Careless whisper. It was silly goofy but especially the second time when Paris is on fire and we skip to Adrien's room where he sulks... yeah that tome switch really threw me off

Two different voice actors for singing an talking. The difference was very jarring and while good for Bryce, Cristina has the voice of an angel like cmon I need her to do at least a cover from one song

Gabriel's redemption. Ok so I'm a little torn because the way they did it ties in very well with the the "power of love" theme that his love for Adrien makes him realize his mistakes bla bla, but he still terrorized a city and yet faces zero consequences, and Adrien forgives him, which are all thing that really rub me the wrong way. Idk the franchise is so obsessed with painting this man in a sympathetic light and in order for this to feel truly satisfying Gabriel shouldn't have tried to destroy Paris like 5 minutes earlier. I see what they went for and thematically it worked but I just need Gabriel to be put in prison

Speaking of Gabriel, the Adrien Gabe relationship isn't as abusive as in the show. This isn't good or bad, but I still think (very unpopular opinion) the show doesn't handle abuse well at all bc the only point of the abuse is pity points in oder to get the fans to care about the characters. So taking that out of the movie where you have limited time to wrap this whole thing up might've been a smart decision

With the ending they sort of hinted at a sequel

The cut off kiss at the end. They still act like a love square kiss is something sacred that they can‘t just give their fans. Commit to it already

The stuff I didn't like:

The dialogue was… something. Marinette just asking her mom over breakfast how to make her dreams come true. Babe just just woke up, that deep convos are for late nights

Generally the dialogue in both the movie and the show is a little weird

Lika Alya‘s „people try really hard to fail as hard as you“ Marinette spilled some coffee it‘s not that hard

Even though I liked the portrayel of Marinette‘s anxiety, at times the went overboard with it

Going back to the Gabriel redemption, just let Adrien have negative feeling about Gabriel already. The s5 finale have him idolize him and here he just instantly forgives and forget

So the butterfly is a villainous tool by default? They could've fixed their messy lore but noooo

The scene where Marinette gets her miraculous feels rushed.

The way Adrien receives his miraculous. He was chilling in his room and suddenly a black cat shows up. He doesn't even have to proove himself like Mari when she almost got hit by a truck. The moment in the show was already weak but this is just fucking stupid

the first akuma was just some random dude. They should've used someone the main duo has a connection to

Chat being a lil bitch about Ladybug rejecting him. Hated it in the show, hate it here. They could've used the movie to fix Adrien and they didn't. Other than that being a dick move as so many people have explained millions of times now, I find this such a boring source of conflict for the climax of the movie? They worked well before and they both know they care for each other as partners and even if being rejected hurts, Chat acts like LB just threw their friendship away or something with how strongly he reacts to it. In the show it felt blown out of proportion and it does here as well. I think they should've had a different kind of conflict which actively hurt their partnership or Chat stops treating LB unfairly just because to her he‘s not a romantic partner.

The fart jokes. Though tbf this is a kids movie

The way Marinette falls for Adrien was extremely underwhelming. Adrien smiles at her and helps her get up and then just walks out of the library all like „she‘s so weird“. Could‘ve been fixed if he and Mari stayed in the library and had a little conversation

Also Adrien‘s introduction in general? He just chills in the library and… yeah that‘s it. I blame this on the writers of the movie cutting character introductions short because they assume the audience already knows the characters and therefore doesn‘t have to introduce them. I don‘t think that was a good choice

The Adrienette stuff was just a montage. Would've been nice to actually see them connect (though that was probably a time issue)

Also they didn't give any spotlight to Marinette's good qualities like selflessness and intelligence. Would've been nice to see her be more willing to be there for people and help them out with things as a result of her gaining more confidence

Seriously the montage was a big mistake and takes away a lot from what could've made the movie stand out

The reveal felt a lot like Adrien only loving Marinette because she's LB, which was a big reason for me to not ship Adrienette prior to the flip (not that I did after). Something like this would‘ve been believable in a setting where they didn‘t know each other as civilians I guess, but that doesn‘t work for the square. Had they actually shown Adrienette develop outside of a montage this would'be been way more believable and touching.

I think a reverse love square from the beginning would've worked better here, or they should've made the Ladynoir side canon

Adrien tells Marinette about his dead mom. Chat noir tells Ladybug about his dead mom. How does she not make the connection?

The "power of love" theme fell flat with Marinette. she doesn't have her moment of "oh I have to protect the people I love" like Tikki's dialogue suggests. There were multiple people at the theme park she could've spotted being in danger and that should've made her want to save them. Tom being there was literally the perfect set-up. The show does this with Alya being trapped under a car or something and Marinette seeing her

I also think the jump from anxious Mari to brave Mari didn't work. In both the show and the movie it just feels like she just decides to be confident now without really getting there through hard work. The motivation was there in the show (see previous point) but in both instances it just happened too fast. Let Marinette have time to really adjust to her new role

This would've worked if the movie didn't try to keep the show's formula of "villain of the week". Why are we getting a montage about that when there's already a whole ass show with five seasons where we already see that? This montage took up time that could've been used more effectively. The movie should've tried to be more of it's own thing, really shoud've tried to flesh out the characters more in a way the show doesn't. They didn't need LB and CN immediately competent and loved by the public after the theme park fiasco. Just use the run time of the movie to get adjusted to fighting crime on a weekly basis, have them fail to then fix their mistakes and learn from them. Why not do a training montage with the point of becoming better instead of flirting? The movie tries too hard to keep up the show formula and it takes away the quality the story could've had

Also in Marinette's case it felt like the only "power of love" that mattered was her partnership with Chat. Her family and friends weren't completely unimportant but definetely underutilized in that regard. Romantic love is not the only important love you know

Their powers of cataclysm and miraculous ladybug only came in at the very end. The built up could've worked if they spent more time showing how they become good and experienced heroes over time

Generally the climax was underwhelming. Gabriel learns Chat‘s identity and the damage is made undone like 10 seconds later

Adrien being like "yeah I didn't really get close to people after my mom died" what's with the Nino erasure smh

Luka wasn't important

Kagami wasn't even there

I think the end scene hinted at the sentimonster stuff and I wished they would've just not include that

Final thoughts

There are things the movie did better than the show and some things it didn't. They don't waste much time on establishing who the characters are because they expect viewers to already know that from watching the show. But like the show, they fail to use the concepts they've set up in an effective way. The movie not only tries to stay true to the show but is almost dependent on the audience knowing the series.

But yeah, the movie atmosphere was nice. Nothing extraordinary but also not super bad. It had s1 vibes and despite the problems I listed, I had a good time for the most part. Not a must watch but still fine

4/10

#ml movie #ml movie spoilers #ml review #long post #ml salt #about the movie and the show

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artzychic27 · 5 months

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Some More Marvel Kids Stuff

Cosette: Hi, I'm Cosette. Like my father, I will occasionally break the fourth wall and make snarky comments. Now, on with the headcanons while I list the traits of my ideal woman. First, a statuesque picture of beauty and elegance-

Max wants nothing more than to live in his half-aunt's lab. All that Wakandan technology at his fingertips is a dream

Chloé likes to paint her claws. Well, actually, she has Sabrina paint them

Nathaniel gets incredibly annoyed when people think he refers to himself in the third person like his dad when he transforms

Like in the DC Kids AU, they have Hero vs Villain fights. Only, they're a bit more chaotic

No one lets Zoé around anything that looks like a crystal or a gauntlet. Yeah, they're not risking that

Cosette: Hey, I'm here again. See, the hero kids are a bunch of fucking bitch-ass cowards who can't handle Zoé's power. And that's my two cents for now.

Kim really likes humming the Spider-Man theme while crawling on the ceiling

Mme. Bustier: How did footprints get on the ceiling?!

Kim: *Walking on the ceiling* Spider Kim. Spider Kim. Does whatever a Spider Kim does. Can he swing from a web? Yes, he can. 'Cause he's Spider Kim, look out. He's Spider Kim.

Mme. Bustier: ... At this point, I am no longer surprised anymore.

One time, Simon, subconsciously, trapped himself and his classmates in a mini Hex, where they were all characters in a sitcom world similar to FRIENDS. The Marvel Hero Kids were VERY invested

Alix is oftentimes called a "poser" by the other non-superpowered students. Her friends always assure her that she is just as much a superhero as them

Juleka's cape keeps pulling Rose closer to her

Marc is pretty much a chaos-loving anarchist who will gladly push someone down the stairs for the sheer thrill of it, but he turns soft when it comes to Nathaniel

In fact, he's the one to always calm him down when Alix isn't around

Max and Marinette share custody of a lab

Quick note: If you take Myléne’s arrows without permission, she will retaliate

Rose is even stronger in this au than canon. Like, she can easily deadlift the Eiffel Tower

Cosette: I-I’m sorry, but I feel like some of you are curious as to what went on in the Hex. Gladys, put on episode five, dear! Thank you!

*FIENDS Season 1, Episode 5*

Marc: *He and Lacey are at Jean’s apartment, leaning over his balcony* Jean! Get your ass out here! There is a hot guy just sunbathing on the balcony across from yours!

*Canned laughter*

Lacey: His abs are out in the open for literally anyone to see, man! And he’s wearing headphones! He can’t hear a word we’re saying!

Marc: You’re missing everything! There is a shirtless man, just sitting across from you!

Ismael and Marc take immense pleasure in mocking others by shapeshifting into them

Marc: *Shapeshifted into Adrien* Oh, of course I can lift Mjölnir! I’m perfect! *Slaps his behind* WOMP! WOMP!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #science kids #akuma class #marvel comics #marvel #marvel au #mlb au #mlb ocs #answered ask #ask me stuff

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flightfoot · 1 year

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How do you think things might have gone if Adrien got Tikki and Marinette got Plagg? Because I think it would have been the beginning of their villain origin stories.

I feel like Tikki/Marinette and Plagg/Adrien work because they appeal to what the other needs. Tikki needs a holder that thinks outside the box with a ton of creative potential but those people are often frazzled and let their minds run away with them. So Marinette needs someone with a grounding influence and some responsibility to get her back on track.

Plagg needs a holder with a sense of responsibility and restraint to wield such a destructive miraculous, but those people are often in the box thinkers, afraid to step out of line. Adrien needs someone who he doesn’t feel beholden to, someone that encourages a more free thinking spirit.

Tikki is often gently scolding and rerouting Marinette and Adrien is often gently scolding and rerouting Plagg.

So if Adrien had gotten Tikki, they would have worked well initially because of their mutual dedication to doing the responsible thing and following rules. He would happily accept being essentially Spider-Man at first. But Tikki would have eventually become just another directive voice in his head and a daunting responsibility as the more analytics heavy hero and the one who is required to save the day. Adrien is already dangerously close to burn out in canon with his civilian responsibilities and always being the responsible/perfect one. With no outlet and added pressure to be two ideals that everyone looks to - Mr. Bug and Adrien Agreste- I think he’d crash. Hard. Possibly into a depressive, uncaring state. At worst, into a meltdown. And Tikki’s words would fall flat on his ears because they’re just another echo of the expectations that trap him.

And Marinette, oh man. Becoming Ladybug served as a way to build her confidence and encouragement to channel her frantic energy into something productive and clever. Plagg would channel it into pure destruction and chaos and enable her worst impulses. Like Adrien, she might be okay at first, developing an “I’m taking no shit now” attitude and becoming less of a pushover. But without Tikki’s restraint and guidance, With no one in her ear to stopper her more chaotic tendencies, she and Plagg might be menaces together. She might become an antihero or a vigilante. She’d be an emotional wreck because in her moments of clarity she’d be like “I was right! I AM a disaster!” And Plagg would be there like “… yep… really fucked that up. Well at least we have cheese.”

I think that Adrien with Plagg and Marinette with Tikki is more balanced than the alternative, but I don't actually think it'd go that badly if the kwamis were swapped.

There would be an issue with Adrien potentially getting burnout even more than Marinette has if he had the Ladybug role, what with how constrained his civilian life is and not having that much of a support system, so that might potentially be even more of a problem for him than it's been for Marinette.

As far as Tikki's presence though, I think that she could fill a valuable niche in Adrien's life, though a different one than Plagg occupies. Adrien doesn't have the sort of reasonable adult influence that Marinette does. I think Tikki might end up filling that role for Adrien, essentially mothering him at times, helping to fill a bit of the hole left behind when Emilie died.

As for Plagg and Marinette, I do think that him enabling some of her worst instincts could be an issue. Tikki's tried to rein her in when she started going down a path she shouldn't, though admittedly with little success. I don't think she'd ever become an antihero or vigilante though, both Plagg and Marinette have decent moral compasses, they can just be a little lax on the actual rules at times, or when their priorities conflict with their other priorities.

I don't think Plagg would be quite as unhelpful while Marinette was being an emotional wreck as you think though. For her more mild freak outs, sure, he might be unhelpful. But if she was really down, if she NEEDED that reassurance? We've seen Plagg with Adrien during those times, I'd say he's actually a more sensitive, caring kwami than Tikki is when he needs to be. He might try and play it off afterwards, but he's actually pretty good at encouraging his Holder when he needs to, and even getting his Holder out of an emotional hole - we saw that in Syren and Kuro Neko. So Plagg might actually be more helpful than Tikki in that regard.

#ask #miraculous ladybug #ml analysis #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #tikki #plagg

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luka-couffaine-ship-tournament · 3 months

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Final

CAMPAIGN

Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-Luka is the best boy, and deserves love from the girl he adores

-Luka/Marinette had 3900 works on AO3

-I just woke up and am too lazy to think of words for my favorite couple so here's some gifs as propaganda

Gif de gifs-misc

Gif de bizarrelovesquare

Gif de notasiren21

Gif de ouiladybug

Gif de kochengnoir

Gif de jeldraximo14

Gif de notasiren21

Oh my god

They are literal soulmates

in every regard

You cannot change my mind

And not only because Luka is best boy and goes above and beyond for Marinette and gives her the most beautiful love confession in the entire show

It is because they literally have the most special and unique connection from every couple in the show, not only romantic but also platonic

It starts off with captain hardrock, the first time they meet, they‘re a little awkward at first, until he invites her to sit and Luka plays out Marinette‘s heart

And she doesn‘t judge him or thinks he‘s weird or is confused. She gives him a look of curiousness and of genuine admiration and asks „how do you do that?“

She immediately realized Luka is special for his gift of hearing people‘s hearts. And I can easily imagine that people would see Luka as weird and cringe (like parts of the fandom did), so imagine what it must‘ve been like to get appreciation for something like that. She‘s impressed and wants to learn more.

They interacted for about two minutes at this point and they‘re already smitten by each other.They already have a wholesome dynamic that feels so realistic for two teenagers who are attracted to each other. Again, after two minutes of meeting.

And it goes on through the episode, speaking highly about each other and Luka basically self-sacrificing himself so Marinette can escape

(I‘m certain he knew Marinette would come back for everyone one way or another. And she did)

An amazing set up for an amazing couple🩷💙

From there on every time we see them together when they‘re (not to be salty) not undermined by another ship they keep being there for each other through hard ships

Their both artistic kids and respect and admire the other for it (See Silencer, the best episode of the whole show)

It also just shows that Luka isn‘t the center of Marinette‘s life. Instead she‘s a girl with ambition who just happens to have a crush on a guy. Silencer is her being the best version of herself and Luka doesn‘t actively try to change her. He‘s literally just existing around her. For show‘s standards that‘s incredible. It takes away the one thing people don‘t like about her, what more could you want?

And then when their music gets stolen, Marinette literally starts beef with Bob Roth, a super influential man in the industry who could destroy them both, just to save Luka‘s music from getting stolen! She’s not even afraid or second guesses herself, she just goes all in and threathens him to reveal everything on live tv.

Wife material through and through.

Which leads to the most wholesome confession in the entire show. Not only as an akuma

BUT LATER AS REGULAR LUKA

AND MARINETTE IS SO TOUCHED BY IT

And by the end of season 3, they give the relationship a shot. Without Mari pretending she‘s over Adrien, but with full honesty about her feelings. And that‘s really the most fair way they could‘ve gone about it. They don‘t promise each other wedding rings and kids, they‘re just two people in love who wanna create art and have them be muses for each other and just like each other without any pressure from outside. It really those silent moments where it‘s just them where Marinette is her best self and Luka is his best self.

They are so so SO GOOD for each other.

„But Blueberry, Marinette broke up with him and lied to Luka!“

RIGHT PERSON WRONG TIME RIGHT PERSON WRONG TIME RIGHT PERSON WRONG TIME

The problems these two had ultimately were never intrinsic problems that they fundamentally don‘t work together as people, it‘s really outside forces keeping them apart. Had Marinette not been LB, they would‘ve literally had no reason for a break up and crushes on other people are things people can get over.

Plus, even as exes they keep being there for each other, having a wholesome and healthy friendship. That‘s a big deal! Nice hard feeling or anything, they just want what‘s best for each other, even if they aren’t a couple anymore.

And yet still look at each other like this

And just overall being super touchy with each other

And put the safety over the other above their own values, even though it means they have to lie about what they know. It hurts both of them but you know how it is, nothing hurts like true love. And yet they forgive each other because they never wanted to intentionally hurt each other

They‘re still SO in love with each other argue with a wall.

(Also it‘s this episode when Mari says „you always find the right words“ even though in Luka‘s introduction he says he‘s not good with words. I bet 1000000€ Marinette was the one which helped Luka be a better communicator with words. The support for each other always went both ways I know it they told me)

But even just as platonic buddies, look me in the eye and tell me that these two will not have each other in their lives forever, I dare you. If one of them jumps into danger, the other jumps after them. If one of them has troubles of any sort, the other will listen, because they know nobody will understand them as good as each other.

They‘re ride or die forever and I think that‘s fucking beautiful. So yeah folks, show the blueberries some love because they deserve the recognition just like they deserve each other🫐🩷💙

Thanks for coming to my propaganda ted talk

Luka Couffaine/Therapy

-Therapy... so much therapy

-As much as I ship Lukadrinette and all its sides, Luka/Therapy should 100% win, lol

-So many of the propagandas for other ships (outside of two or three) were about what Luka could do for the other person, not how they were the best match for him! That means our boy needs to go get some professional help (therapy) so he doesn't become everyone's personal 'fix-it' guy/partner!

TAG:

Luka/Marinette: @mikoriin

Luka - Twitter @Karma_sensei_

@lukacouffaineappreciation

#luka couffaine #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #ship tournament #viperion #tournament poll #tumblr tournament #tumblr polls #polls #fandom polls #lukanette #luka x marinette #luka x therapy

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coffeebanana · 2 years

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Coffee's Random Rec List (take 1)

I have no explanation for this except that I've wanted to do more to promote other writers for a while, but I didn't know how to go about making rec lists and, well, mostly I was just lazy. So, basically, I'm going through my bookmarks and picking out some underrated gems. I can't say I'll do this with any particular frequency, and I'm mostly doing this tonight to procrastinate my own writing, haha. But also, this has been a crazy few days for me and I want to give back. So! 1. Friends who cook together... by @2manyfandoms2count

After Hawkmoth's defeat, Adrien Agreste finally gets a taste of freedom as he moves from the Mansion to his own flat, and from Lycée to University. He relies a little too much on food delivery for Marinette's taste, though. Maybe food won't be the only thing simmering in the kitchen as they learn how to cook together...

5 Chapters. Fun fact: this is the first fic I ever bookmarked on ao3. (Admittedly, I was reading a lot before I started bookmarking, but the fact that this fic made me take the leap says something). What can I say about this? Well, PRPR and cooking together? Idk why that wouldn't be enough right there. It's SO CUTE. I've definitely read it more than once.

2. If I’m evil, and you’re evil, then who’s stopping Hawkmoth? by @ninoisntluka

Multimouse is caught by Mayura and Hawkmoth. The only way to survive was to swear fealty to their cause. But Aspik refuses to let his friend go down this dark path alone, even if it means betraying the one he loves most. Actually, most of this could’ve been solved if either of them had actually talked with each other, but the mind games take on a life of their own. Watch two idiots who are essentially playing tic-tac-toe, but think they are playing 5-Dimensional chess, when the game is checkers.

Oneshot. I won't spoil more than the summary says. but this is pure crack/identity shenanigans. A fun and chaotic read.

3. undeniable by @zimtlein

For whatever unfathomable reason, Kagami decides to play matchmaker. She’s worryingly bad at it. So of course, Alya has to do as much damage control as possible.

Oneshot. This one is so funny! Kagami's trying to set up the love square, but like the summary says she's a terrible matchmaker, and it's peak comedy. It has great platonic Kagami and Alya interactions too!!

4. burning through the hours talking by @calico-and-lace

Stay a while, stay a while, stay here with me, lie here with me. I like me better when I'm with you. A love-square song fic played to the tune of I Like Me Better by Lauv.

Oneshot. This one starts with Adrinette snuggling on a rooftop in New York, and their relationship progresses in different Marichat and Ladynoir scenes over time. It's just really soft, and it works so well with the song!!

5. safe and sound by @agnes-is-wright

Adrien has nightmares, and finds comfort in an unlikely place. Or rather, person.

Oneshot. Hits right in the hurt/comfort feels. Adrien ends up calling Marinette for comfort in the middle of the night. Short but very sweet!

6. Totally Not a Rom-Com by @nomolosk

Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Graham de Vanily (formerly Agreste) meet for the first time on a trans-Atlantic flight to New York. Cuteness and fluff ensues.

Oneshot. No-Miraculous AU, but even if that's not normally your jam I urge you to give this one a try because it's freaking adorable. Also I've definitely wanted to do that whole falling in love on a plane thing HAHA. Needless to say...I have not been successful.

7. i say your name in hopes you hear it in the stars by @lilacteapot

Ladybug and Chat Noir have been separated for years after the defeat of Hawk Moth. No word has come from either since then, and Marinette hopes to see his shadow pass during her visits to the Trocadero even if the chances are slim to none. After a chance encounter, however, she may hear the familiar sound of her kitty's bell once again.

This is bittersweet but ends on a hopeful note, and it's so heartfelt! Plus, the writing is lovely. (I may be biased since this is one of my friends but shhhh!)

And that's all for now. Please reblog if you can! Spread the joy!!!

#miraculous ladybug #fic recs #coffeebanana recs #7 recs because that's my fave number #love square #prpr #adrinette #ladynoir #marichat #snekmouse #LMAO i almost forgot to link all the fics

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ali-annals · 6 months

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Chaotic Coffee Zombies- One

Masterlist Chapter Two Chapter Three

Pairing: Timari

Rating: T

CW: Mentioned off-screen character death, Tim is slightly OOC

Taglist (open): @aquilavela @ghostdoodlen @jennifer-rose123 @questioning-blob-of-fog

A/N: Happy birthday to my first bae @aquilavela!! I hope you have a wonderful year<3

~~~~~

“Kaalki, voyage! Divide! Spots off!” Marinette stumbled through the portal into her room and froze.

Oops.

“Young lady, what do you think you’re doing?”

She squared her shoulders and faced her parents. “Surprise?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” “I couldn’t because…magic. But since I’ve just taken Hawkmoth and Mayura’s Miraculous, I guess now I can? Maman, Papa, I’m Ladybug, hero of Paris.” And Grand Guardian, she added silently, crossing her fingers behind her back.

“That’s why you were- oh, sweetie, if we’d known…” Sabine’s arms wrapped around Marinette, Tom engulfing both of them from the side. “I’m so sorry, honey. But you said you have Hawkmoth’s Miraculous?”

“I’ve settled with him,” Mari said grimly. “I don’t need to be Ladybug anymore.”

“He’s…you didn’t…”

“No, no, he’s still alive. I did punch him several times before I fixed everything, though.”

“As you should’ve,” Sabine nodded proudly. “You know we would have understood if…” she trailed off again, the whole situation making her usually chatty mother at a loss for words. “I’m sorry.”

Tikki flew out from behind Marinette’s back. “It’s not your fault for not knowing, Mme. Cheng! The Miraculous magic does a good job of keeping its wielder’s identity hidden. You should be proud of the- your daughter! She is the best Ladybug I’ve ever worked with!”

Tom and Sabine stared at the kwami in shock.

“Maman, Papa, this is Tikki, my kwami. She’s the ladybug kwami of Order, Creation, and Good Luck.”

~~~

After supper, once some of the shock wore off, Tom and Sabine had a good long talk with Marinette about the past five years. Tears and laughter were freely expressed as they were finally able to be openly emotional.

Luckily, school had just ended three days ago, so Marinette didn’t have to get up early for school. Once Nadja Chamack and Ladybug reported that Hawkmoth and Mayura were finally defeated, most of Paris shut down for the week to vent. The weeks after would be soon enough for celebration.

Mari explained the whole situation with Lila, and how Chloe and Kagami were the only friends she had left.

Now that Hawkmoth was gone, she could freely leave Paris. She still loved the city, but it had taken too much from her, and she needed a change. Tom and Sabine agreed.

“We’ll move to America,” they decided. “Your uncle Jagged is from Gotham; he’ll know good universities for you to attend.”

~~~

Jagged was ecstatic to have Mari closer to his home, and eagerly loaded her up with links and places to check out. He offered to write her letters of recommendation for whatever she wanted, confident in her abilities to pursue her dreams in any field.

A realtor friend of his found a shop with living quarters above it, like their current house, in a good part of town and for a decent price. After some renovations, it would be a dream bakery.

She could attend Gotham Academy for her Grade 12 credits and graduate in December, thanks to the way her French requirements translated to American credits.

It didn’t take the Dupain-Chengs long to pack up, sell the bakery, and fly to Gotham, New Jersey. Not a word was said to her former classmates. Only Chloe knew where Mari was, and she’d never tell. After her apology and joining of Mari’s squad, she was mostly ignored by the others. Chloe and Kagami were saddened to see their best friend leave, but knew a new environment would be more conducive to her healing and growth.

At least they had video calls and texts to keep in contact.

~~~

While the renovations were being completed, the Dupain-Cheng family shacked up at Jagged and Penny’s Gotham mansion. It was nowhere near as large as some of Gotham’s Old Elite family’s mansions, such as Wayne Manor or Drake Manor, but it was definitely sufficient for the five of them (six, counting Fang).

Mari had a lot of fun working with Jagged and Penny on his new album, both on songs and styling. She was recording background vocals for Jagged on a bonus track when her parents stopped by the built-in studio.

“Mari, you sound amazing, sweetie! I can’t wait to hear the rest of your songs! We’re going to the bakery to check on the renovations, and then have a lunch date; we should be back around two. We can bake your birthday cake with you then, if you want?”

“Sure, that sounds great. Have fun!” Mari hugged her parents quickly. “Oh, did you get the lemons for the peel garnish?”

“Oh, no, we didn’t. We’ll pick them up on our way home. Love you!”

“I love you too!”

Months later, she was glad those were the last words they shared.

“Marinette, honey?”

She glanced up at Penny’s approach, flipping through a catalogue for inspiration for Jagged’s new suit. Why was Penny crying?

“There was a bank robbery. Your parents were helping some kids hide when…I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

Marinette didn’t want to believe it, but some intuition in her gut told her that Penny was telling the truth. She collapsed into her arms, weeping.

~~~

The next morning, Mari emerged early from her room. Though she knew she didn’t have to, she explained anyway. “I’m wearing red, not black, because it was their favourite colour on me, especially after they found out I was Ladybug. Penny, do you think it’s possible for me to have died yesterday as well? And then can I become legally emancipated? I was researching last night…this morning, I guess, and I think I’ve got things figured out. I just want you to check them to make sure they’re sound and y-you approve.”

She would not break down, dammit. She had a life figured out and she needed to follow it now.

Jagged started to speak but Penny cut him off with a warning glare. She’s coping…she’s used to bottling up her feelings…she just needs some time.

Penny took the papers and flipped through them. “This looks legally sound; you’ve put time and effort into planning this. You’re a strong, smart, talented young woman; I don’t know why you shouldn’t be emancipated.

“You do know we’d love to adopt you though, right?” Penny asked carefully. “If you’re worried about being a burden, please don’t be.”

“Yes, I know. I appreciate it, but…not now. I can’t.”

“We understand.” Penny patted her shoulder comfortingly.

Jagged snapped out of his shock. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want, Mari! Pen’s right, we’d love to have you as our daughter officially, but in our hearts it doesn’t matter. We’ll sign anything you want.”

“Thanks, Aunt Penny, Uncle Jagged. I do have a few more papers for you to sign.” A thick file, carefully organized and colour-coded, slid along the breakfast table. Penny figured that Mari hadn’t slept all night; not that she could blame her. “Name change, legal emancipation, property transfer…” she flipped through the tabs. “Most of these we can get filed pretty quickly. Jagged’s friends with a judge here so we can probably get some things moving a bit quicker, too.”

“Great. Thank you.” Mari poured a mug of coffee, gulped it down in four sips, and poured another before leaving the room. Penny shivered, but figured if there was ever a time for overlooking something, it was now.

~~~

Thomas Dupain, Sabine Cheng, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng died on July 8th. On July 9th, Mara Stone was born.

She bought the partially-renovated bakery and had it finished as a studio/sewing shop, with the top level furnished as MDC’s headquarters.

Mara decided that since she had a new name, future, and school, she’d change everything. Chloe, Kagami, and Penny (and sometimes even Jagged) went on shopping trips, helping her furnish her new living and working quarters and replenish her much-picked-over closet.

For a girl’s date, Kagami and Chloe dragged Mara to a spa, where she was transformed.

Her waist-length blue-black hair was chopped down to a stylish bob, the white-tipped ends just brushing her chin. Her bangs had grown out over the past couple months and now simply added layers to frame her face.

Her closet was now more befitting of a fashion designer, departing from her white, pink, and grey, and containing reds, blacks, blues, and a multitude of colours.

Courtesy of Chloe, she could now walk in heels without tripping, which, when heels became a staple in her wardrobe, added several inches to Mara’s stature.

Jagged and Penny often spent weekends driving to the beach for Marinette to practice swimming and attempt to face her fears from Syren. She was soon swimming like a duck and gained a nice tan for the first time in a while, a light spray of freckles blossoming over her cheeks and shoulders.

For the entire summer, Mara stayed away from anything Ladybug-related, beyond feeding the kwami.

But once the school year was just around the corner, she pulled out the Miracle Box from the depths of her closet.

She wanted to rotate the kwami, so they could each have turns being out of the box. If the Bats let her, she wanted to join them on their patrols sometimes. Maybe they would introduce her to Wonder Woman, who could introduce her to Hippolyta.

How to get their attention was the question…

Ideas filled her head as she walked home, her arms full of fabric to work on Jagged’s upcoming tour outfits, as well as hers and Penny’s– plus the spiffing up she wanted to achieve for her Gotham Academy uniform.

“Gimme yer money, lady.” A gun was shoved in her face from the dark alley.

“Sorry, I spent it all on fabric,” she replied cheerily, nodding at the bolts in her arms, preparing to kick the robber’s gun hand.

Robin swooped down, punching the man into incapacitation.

Plan D it is!

“Oh monsieur, merci beaucoup! Vous m'avez sauvé la vie!” Mara gushed, playing the part of helpless, frightened tourist to perfection. Hugging a shocked Robin and air-kissing his cheeks, she slipped a tracker on his utility belt, underneath a compartment, where she hoped it wouldn’t be immediately found.

“Ma’am, you shouldn’t be out alone so late.”

“Oui, oui,” she nodded shakily. “I was shopping and ah– how to say– lost the time,” she laughed self-deprecatingly, shrugging her shoulders. “Merci beaucoup.”

With a wave, she headed back in the direction she came from, just in case he decided to follow her. Luckily, he seemed to be called somewhere and left after watching her turn the corner to the more populated Diamond District.

Once she was sure there was no tail on her, she ducked through the streets and back lanes until she reached Miracle Designs, her shop. She didn’t want to be known as MDC here yet. After she graduated and had time to handle large orders, then she planned to announce her identity.

Mara stored her fabrics on their appropriate shelves, locked up, and portalled back to her room in Stone Manor. Why all the Gotham Elite’s houses were [surname] Manor, she wasn’t sure, but she thought they deserved more creativity if they were going to go to the trouble of naming their houses.

After supper, she helped wash the dishes, then told Jagged and Penny she was transforming and going out for a bit.

Pulling out the receiver for her tracker, she saw that its last signal originated from a house just down the road…Wayne Manor.

Ha! She was right!

She’d suspected the Waynes were the Bats for a while now. They had excuses, alibis, even Bruce Wayne and Batman in the same place at the same time. The public were convinced there was no way the Bats were the Waynes, except for a handful of hard-core conspiracy theorists.

But as someone who had a secret identity and access to magic, she knew how easy it was to create excuses and body doubles. If the Bats were really as smart as they seemed to be, it would be a piece of cake for them to keep their two personas separate. Especially if they had access to alien tech via the Justice League and were filthy rich, with access to elite tech and disguises.

Martian Manhunter was a shapeshifter, was he not? It would be easy enough for him to impersonate either Bruce or Batman, especially since he worked with the Bats. Trixx had done an excellent job of illusioning Marinette and Ladybug talking to each other before- it wasn’t that hard.

“Kaalki, voyage!”

Mare portalled into the Batcave, internally fangirling just a tiny bit. It is real!!!

She stepped around the corner, hands up. “I wish to speak to Batman.”

“How did you get in here?” Gotham’s Dark Knight asked, hand on a Batarang.

“I made a portal. Have you heard about Paris?” “What about it?”

Mare explained the situation from the past five years, ending with her retirement as Ladybug. By then the entire Batclan had gathered and were listening in shock at what had transpired, things they had no idea about.

“We never heard a word about that.”

“So, which…Miraculous are you using, and what’s your vigilante name?”

“The horse. It creates portals. My name is Mare.” Mara had specifically chosen Mare as her name, since it sounded similar to her civilian name and she could brush off an accidental reply to the wrong name.

“Let’s spar and see how you do,” grunted the Bat. “I’m not putting someone in danger under my mantle.”

Violent coughing sounded from the cluster of Bats behind him, which he ignored.

“You pass,” nodded Batman approvingly.

Yes! All her training paid off!

“You can join us when you wish, as long as you give us a heads up. Oracle will give you a comm so you can connect to our channels so no mishaps occur.”

“Was that you or your Miraculous?” asked Robin.

“My Miraculous suits protect my body and give me power-ups and magical abilities, but I have to call upon them to use them. My fighting skills are all me, Bird Boy.”

Robin’s jaw dropped. “Bird Boy?!”

Mara wondered if maybe she shouldn’t possibly insult her new coworkers and boss’s son(?) before she’d even officially joined the team, but her worry was allayed a moment later.

“You even screech like one!” cackled Red Hood, pointing at Robin derisively. The Bats quickly descended into anarchy.

It made a little ache appear in Mara’s heart and she absently rubbed at her chest. She missed her old friends and team at times like these, even if they’d outgrown each other long ago. “Voyage.” In the chaos, she escaped to her room, where she cried into a pillow.

~~~

Miracle Designs was decorated in creams and neutrals, with pops of colour dotted around, creating a rainbow for Mara to live and work in. The kwami had had a hand in decorating and deciding what things would look like, and now everyone was happy with their new living situation.

Gotham Academy was a twelve-minute walk from MD; a nice stroll most days. Penny had completed the enrollment signings and picked up her uniforms the week previous; now the only thing that remained was actually attending the academy.

Occupied with creating the Stones’ tour outfits, revamping her own wardrobe and uniforms, and adapting to life on her own, Mara was far too busy to accommodate commissions at that time. MDC’s website asked for her clients’ patience while she settled in North America, much to one Tim Drake-Wayne’s sadness.

~~~

Mara woke bright and early, having had a good sleep for a change. Still, she needed her coffee. On her first week in Gotham, she discovered a lovely coffee shop that sold an amazing blend of energy– Goth Bean, it was called.

She threw on her uniform and headed down the street to Goth Bean. Luckily, it was on her way to the Academy. She requested her usual order, the barista growing ever more concerned that there were two coffee zombies in this city (or as she called them, combies).

Mara Stone strolled into school unnoticed and slid into an empty seat in her first class. Picking a boy to attempt to befriend–he looked like he needed her coffee more than her– she turned to the tired boy she sat beside. “Macaron? I have some gluten-free ones, if you prefer. I’m Mara Stone, by the way.”

She’d cried all the night before as she made the macarons, the first and last year she made them alone before her first day of school.

“Thanks. Tim Drake.” He took one, sniffing it cautiously. “These smell as good as Alfred’s!”

“Is that a compliment?” she asked teasingly, handing him her coffee.

He looked at it, then her, perplexed.

She shrugged. “I drank half, but you look like you need the remainder more. Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned or whatever. Neither are the cookies, by the way.”

“Thanks.” He still looked at her suspiciously, but chugged the coffee anyway. “And yes, that’s a compliment. Alfred makes the best cookies…I think you should have a bake off. I can judge.”

Marinette snickered, ducking her head when the teacher entered the classroom.

Maybe she could make some new friends after all.

She found herself in classes with Tim all day, except for one period. Compared to Europe’s curriculum, the classes were a breeze (though they would’ve been harder if she hadn’t studied English until she was fluent in it.)

She noticed Tim also whipped through the work, completing most of the homework in class; it turned into a friendly competition. Although, noting the glint in Tim’s eye, she second-guessed the friendly part of the competition.

Their teachers noticed, groaned inwardly, and wondered what they’d done to deserve having Tim Drake in their class, together with the new student, and apparently in academic rivalry.

However, the new girl did keep the Wayne kid from taking over the classes somewhat, so maybe this wasn’t all bad…

The first half of their classes were spent doing the work and quietly heckling each other, the second half mocking the curriculum and planning ways to better teach the school (their hypothetical students would hate them unless they were also certified geniuses).

The other students found Mara nice, especially when she distributed cookies; she was also found terrifying, especially since she got along too well with Tim Drake!

The third day of school found the two coffee addicts pairing up to work on a project.

“I’d offer to go to my house, but my brothers are…extreme. Can we go to yours, or somewhere like a coffee shop, instead?”

“Sure, my place is fine. Leave now?”

“Sounds good.”

They walked to MD, Mari taking him in the back way so that her designs wouldn’t be seen or disturbed. “This is me!” she said brightly, changing from her kitten heels to her house slippers.

“Nice place,” agreed Tim, looking around. “Is that- do you have two Keurigs?”

“Yep, I need them a lot. Do you want some of my magical energy brew? You look a bit sleepy.”

“Sure; what’s in it?”

“Trade secret,” she winked. “Want to spead the work on the table over there while I make it?”

“Sure. What were you thinking for the format?”

“Wow, this is a magic energy boost! I love coffee,” sighed Tim.

“Thanks, I added a little extra just for you.” It’ll help keep you safer.

~~~

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Timmers?” Jason flopped over his chair, twisting unnaturally to see the screen.

“Move, Jason. You’re heavy. I’m looking up a classmate; she’s new and I need to confirm she isn’t a threat.”

“Boring.” Jason left to find Dick to bug.

[ Mara Stone

07/09/2006 (17)

AFAB

College Francois Dupont Paris, France

GPA: 4.0

Class President (Raised $30,000 USD via various fundraisers and events)

Note: Parents recently deceased; legally emancipated ]

Hmm…interesting.

~~~

“Hey, Mara. You finished the project?” Tim slid into “his” seat beside her, sliding a to-go cup from Goth Bean across the desk.

“Yep, you?” She gulped the cup in twenty seconds, impressing and worrying Tim.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course! Why not? I was just up late working on some art.”

“Uh huh. Late being another definition of all night?”

“Like you’re one to talk,” she sniffed. “I do it all the time; I’m fine.”

“What type of art?” TIm ignored the truth Mara pointed out.

“An outfit for my uncle. I design clothes for him and my aunt sometimes.”

“Oh cool. So you’re into fashion?”

“Yep. I like to design and make clothes. My ex-friend was a model for his dad actually; it’s kind of funny. I guess birds of a feather flock together.”

Tim looked at her, then back at the board. “Who’s your favourite designer? Mine’s MDC– I dunno if you’ve heard of them– they’re still pretty niche, but they put so much attention to detail into their works. I’ve been trying to commission them forever but they haven’t been open in ages,” he moaned into the desk, missing Mara’s double take and choke on her coffee.

“I don’t have a favourite designer currently, but I do agree with you MDC has some nice work.”

“Nice work? I’m offended on behalf of MDC. They put so much work into all their designs!”

Mara sunk into her seat more and more as Tim defended her alter ego to her face.

Tim’s mental file on Mara gained several more notes.

[ Name: Mara Stone

Age: 17

Birthday: 07/09/2006

Birthplace: Paris, France

Notes:

Caffeine addict (Insomniac)

Legally emancipated

Ex-friend is a model

Ex-friend’s family is into fashion

Has bad blood with exes

Is into fashion

Is indifferent to MDC! ]

~~~

#timari #ali writes #fic #DCxMLB #chaotic coffee zombies #CCZ #Maribat

7 notes · View notes

mlwritersguild · 7 months

Text

Fireflies in a September Sky, by @chai-ki

AO3 link; No powers AU, Not set in Paris, Childhood friends, Adrien and Felix are siblings, Marinette and Chloe are best friends, enemies to friends, minor bullying, 6 year-old angst

Summary:

It's the first day of first grade and Adrien is super excited. This year he gets to be the 'big' buddy for the incoming kindergarten class, and he can't wait to find out who he's going to be paired with. Maybe it will be his brother or perhaps a new kid. He's determined not to let anything, or anyone ruin this day. Not even silly little Marinette.

But maybe, Marinette isn't as annoying as she seems?

—

There was no one who drove Adrien crazier than Marinette Dupain-Cheng did. Marinette, with her silly pigtails all wrapped up in large, pale-pink bows and matching sparkly cowboy boots that he swore she lived in. The girl was tiny and never could keep up. Being the oldest, he was always the one stuck helping her instead of keeping pace with his brother and Chloe.

By the time he’d be finished helping her climb some tree, or cross a creek, Felix had snagged the best role in whatever game they were playing. This of course left Adrien to be something he thought dumb. One time they’d made him be the dog of all things! He liked cats way more than he liked dogs, and they knew that. Marinette had only giggled and offered to be the cat herself, as if she’d orchestrated the entire thing. On top of all that, she was always around. Everywhere he looked she was right beside him, like a second shadow.

Marinette was never mean, and she hardly spoke, but he wanted to be able to have choices in the games his brother and Chloe played, and he couldn’t with the bug around. On the lucky chance she wasn’t around, he was getting scolded by his mom about leaving her behind and excluding her. Which he didn’t of course!

Sometimes he just got so involved in a game they were playing that he lost track of her. She was so impossibly small! Felix was almost a year younger than Marinette and he was already taller.

The one thing Adrien had been looking forward to all summer was the first day of school. Sure, he loved summertime as much as any kid, swimming, exploring and riding horses was something he would never ever be tired of doing. But when school started, he would be free of the clingy bug, and he couldn’t wait. He just had to get through the rest of this morning, then he’d meet his buddy for the year and be blissfully Marinette-free. First grade was going to be awesome!

“Adrien! Felix! We need to head to the bus stop now, get your shoes on please.”

“Okay mama!” Adrien gleefully skipped into the mud room and slid on his brand-new light up shoes – complete with laces since he knew how to tie them now.

Felix burst into the room huffing. “I’m. Here. Ready. Mama.”

“Sweetheart, your shirt is on backwards. Here, let me help.”

Adrien giggled at his brother, always so chaotic. Felix stuck his tongue out at him in response.

“Now you two, be nice. Adrien, it’s your brother's first year at school and I need you to be your wonderful self and look out for him, okay?”

“I will!” He wrapped his arms around Felix, causing the younger boy to groan and stick out his tongue again in contempt. “We always got each other!”

“Mamaaaaa. I don’t need Adrien to watch me. Chloe will watch me just fine, she promised!”

Adrien watched as his mother shook her head with a smile on her face. Clearly knowing something he didn’t. “Of course, she will dear.”

“Plus, Adrien has to help Nette!”

“Moommm, do I have to?”

“Adrien, she’s your friend, isn’t she? It would be the kind thing to do.”

He simply huffed in response. Marinette, his friend? His mom had clearly gone crazy. But she expected him to be kind, so, as annoying as it was, he would help Marinette… a little. Once he was in his class with his friends though, she was on her own. She would have Felix anyways since they were in the same kindergarten class.

“Well, shall we? Sabine will be meeting us at the end of the driveway with the girls.”

They wasted no time bursting through the door and down the porch steps. Though it was nearly September, summer was trying to hang on and the morning was already heavy with heat. Their mother followed them both into the yard and the three began strolling up their long driveway that led to a dirt road which began at the end of a paved cul-de-sac. About halfway down the driveway, they could see Sabine, Chloe and Marinette. Felix took off running to meet them while Adrien remained behind to enjoy the peace with his mom. Moments like this were rare and he thoroughly enjoyed them.

“Good morning, Sabine, girls! Are you excited for your first day, Marinette?”

“Yes, m-iss Em-ile.”

Oh. He’d forgotten about that. Her stutter. She always stuttered and it drove him crazy!

“It’s going to be so fun! I’m happy you and Felix are in the same class this year.”

“M-me too. A-a-drien, a-are you exci-t-ted?”

“Mmhmm.”

He watched as she smiled, clearly pleased with his wordless answer.

“Alright kids, let's head on up to the mailboxes.” Sabine addressed them all before turning to Marinette. “That’s where the bus will pick you up and drop you off, remember Marinette?”

“Yes, m-ama.”

“Miss Sabine, will you pretty please remind my mama to meet me at the bus after school?” The hopeful look in Chloe’s eyes made Adrien sad. “She said she would try to leave work on time.”

“I absolutely will, sweetheart.”

The group began the rest of their walk towards the mailboxes. Felix and Chloe walked, hand in hand ahead of the group while he and Marinette remained next to their mothers who were happily chatting about something to do with the ranch and their dads.

Adrien was curious to find out who would be in his class this year. Last year he had made friends with a couple of the boys, Ivan and Nino, but he had hardly seen them over the summer. Nino’s family owned a large ranch on the other side of the county and while Ivan lived in-town, his family liked to travel during the summer. They were the three musketeers though and he really, really hoped at least one of them would be with him.

As they waited for the bus to arrive, Adrien watched a few birds hop around in the grass on the other side of the road, searching for a morning snack.

“I l-like you-r back-kk-pack.” Of course, she did. It looked like a cat, with ears and everything.

“Thank you.”

He took a moment to look at her for the first time that morning and was not at all surprised to see the light-pink, sparkly cowboy boots on her feet. How she wasn’t dying from being hot he had no idea. He supposed it was because she was wearing a dress. Her backpack was a ladybug and like his had cat ears, hers had antennae. Her whole getup was so her that he momentarily forgot she was super irritating, and he smiled in her direction. The moment she returned it he snapped back and looked away.

“Mooommmmm! Chloe said she isn’t sitting with me on the bus!”

“Felix, Chloe can sit wherever she likes. You aren’t her only friend.”

“But mommmm! Marinette can sit with Adrien!”

“Mari is my bestest friend, I’m sitting with her Felix!”

“But you promised me.” Tears began to pool in his brother’s eyes and Adrien had to hold back a giggle. He always did this when Chloe chose Marinette over him.

“I promised I was gonna play with you at recess! I promised Mari I was gonna sit with her on the bus, so she wasn’t scared.”

Felix sniffled and squeaked out a small “oh.”

Marinette for her part looked shaken. Neither she nor Adrien were strangers to the other two’s shenanigans, but this seemed to really bother her.

“I-I w-wil-l b-be ok-kay.” Marinette’s voice was a small whisper.

Both his mother and Sabine looked at a loss for words, unsure of how to handle the situation. Adrien wasn’t all too sure what to do either. The bus ride was supposed to be the beginning of his Marinette-free day! Still, he was a big kid now and big kids sometimes did what they didn’t want to do because it was the right thing, so he spoke up.

“I’ll sit with you Mar.”

“R-real-ly?”

He nodded.

“T-thank y-ou A-drien!” She came up and wrapped him in a hug, making him stiffen. He saw his mom smile and knew he had done a good thing even if it was annoying.

“Yay! Chloe, you can sit with me now!”

“Felix, you were mean. But I’m nice so I’ll forgive you. Plus, we’re birthday buddies so I don’t like to be mad at you.”

Felix beamed. Adrien rolled his big green eyes like he’d seen his mom do to his dad before. Marinette, thankfully, let go of him and went back to holding her mom’s hand. The bus arrived a few moments later and they were off.

Adrien decided to let Marinette have the window seat so she could wave goodbye to Sabine, and he sat near the edge, so he didn’t accidentally bump her. He tried to ignore her for most of the ride but found it hard to do as she kept fidgeting with the tabs on her backpack and it was driving him crazy.

“You don’t have to be scared. School is fun.”

She nodded.

“Kindergarten is really, really fun too. You have Mrs. Caline, right?”

Another nod.

“Chloe and I had her last year. She’s really nice. And you’re going to get a buddy from first grade who will help you. My buddy last year was named Max. He was really cool.”

“Max?”

“Yep! He is super smart. He sat with me at lunch and played with me at recess sometimes. He knew where everything was, so he showed me. Your buddy will do that with you too.”

She stopped fidgeting. Yay!

“T-thank you.”

“You're welcome, Mar.”

🖍️🖌️🖍️

Adrien couldn’t remember a time when his brother had ever been timid but when they arrived at the school the boy withdrew and for once, chose him over Chloe. Since Felix and Marinette had the same class, the older two led the younger pair to Mrs. Caline’s classroom.

“Okay Felix, here you are! You get to meet your buddy today, remember?”

“I remember, Adrien. But what if my buddy is mean?”

“Then they’ll have to deal with me!” Chloe stood tall, her fisted hands on her hips like a superhero. This seemed to pull Felix out of whatever funk he had been in.

“And me!” He hugged his brother. “We have to go to our class now. Stay by Marinette!”

“Okay. I will. By Adrien, bye Chloe!” Felix waved excitedly.

Marinette simply stood there, wide eyed and watching him retreat. She would be fine though, she had Felix and she’d get her buddy today too. Adrien was finally free to not worry about her and he was so excited that he practically skipped down the hall to his classroom. Chloe rushed up to him, having fallen behind from hugging Marinette.

“I’m worried about Mari. She’s so small. What if she has mean kids that pick on her like that stupid stinky Sharon from last year?”

Adrien was tired of hearing how Marinette might not do well. He wasn’t supposed to have to worry about her while at school!

“She will be fine.”

“But how do you know?”

“I just do Chloe. I can’t always be the one to help her, okay?!” Chloe froze and just stared at him for a moment.

“What?”

“You’re mean.”

“Am not.”

“Are too!” She stuck her tongue out for good measure.

He didn’t get to retort as they each reached their classes. This year they were separated and for once, he was happy about that. He didn’t spare her a second glance as he headed into the room.

“Adrien! Guess what!”

“IVAN!” Adrien practically ran through the classroom in excitement over seeing his friend in the same class.

“I went to a different country this summer!”

“Woah. That’s so cool!”

“I know! Look, I got you and Nino matching bracelets with this cool leaf on them!”

Ivan dug through his Batman themed backpack before procuring something. He then handed Adrien a squishy, flat bracelet that was mostly red with a small white square. Inside the white square was a red leaf.

“This is awesome! Thank you!”

“Buds! YES!”

Ivan and Adrien both whipped their heads towards the door to see Nino walking in their direction.

“Nino!” “I got you something!” Both Adrien and Ivan said in unison.

“The three musketeers together again!”

“Yeah!”

“Ninoooo! Look what I got us!” Ivan shoved the matching bracelet in Nino’s direction.

“This is awesome!” He slipped it on.

The three of them did their secret handshake before surveying the rest of the classroom. It seemed meanie Sharon wasn’t in his class so that was awesome. The teacher, Mr. Armand, had even placed him, Ivan and Nino at the same table. Adrien just knew that this was the start of what would be the best year ever!

---

The first part of the morning had been so much fun already. They had done letter tracing worksheets, a refresher from the year before, and then had gotten to draw a picture about their summer. Adrien had gotten better at writing short sentences over the summer, he had practiced of course, and he was really happy that he was able to tell the story of his summer in two or three of them. (Drawing was secretly his favorite part.) He had been so busy that the morning flew by, he and his best friends chatting about their summers while doing their work.

“Alright class, we will be going to meet your buddies just before recess, which is in about fifteen minutes. As first-graders I expect you to be good friends to your buddies, just like your buddies from last year were to you.”

Adrien was incredibly excited to meet his buddy. He just knew they were going to become the best of friends. Maybe Adrien could even teach him to use the monkey bars if he didn’t know how, just like Max had taught him last year.

“I am going to come by and give you a name tag with a color on it. Your buddy is going to be wearing the same color tag so that you will be able to find them when we head over to Mrs. Caline’s class.”

Mrs. Caline? Marinette’s class. Adrien had a hard time repressing a groan but he could be paired with anyone, she was just one person anyways! A very small, small person.

“Nino, your color is lime green.” Mr. Armand handed Nino a sticky name tag that had a big bright green circle colored on it.

“Cool!” Nino immediately peeled off the backing and slapped it to the center of his chest.

“Ivan, your color is gray.”

“Borringgg.” He copied Nino’s movements, though much less enthusiastically.

“And Adrien, your color is sky blue.”

Like Marinette’s eyes.

The thought momentarily stunned him, and he could only nod in response as he placed the tag on his shirt, just over his heart.

“I hope my buddy likes music!” Ivan mimicked drumming on his desk with his index fingers and rocked his head up and down.

“I hope mine likes to climb really high!”

“I hope mine likes to do the monkey bars so I can teach him like Max taught me!”

The three of them were definitely hyped.

“I hope our buddies like each other!”

“Me too.” And Adrien really hoped they did.

“Of course, they will! And if they don’t, then we can teach them how to be friends. We got our big buddies to be friends last year, remember?”

“You’re right, Nino!” Ivan stopped his drumming for a second to fist-bump Nino.

“Alright class, time to head out. Please line up at the door.”

Adrien and his friends stood next to each other in line, with himself standing last. This was something they started last year to be silly. Mrs. Caline liked to have her students stand in alphabetical order by last name, aside from the line leader, of course. So, the three of them would stand backwards just for fun whenever there wasn’t a rule about it.

While the rest of the class was excitedly chattering about their buddies and what they might be like, Adrien thought back to last year and how nervous he had been as a kindergartener. At least he’d had Chloe, who was equally terrified. He was for once thankful for Marinette because that meant that Felix wasn’t alone.

Everyone quickly quieted down as they made their way through the hall so as not to disturb the other classes. He saw Chloe’s class lined up outside of Ms. Olga’s room, a letter each written on the sticker they wore on their chests. Chloe saw him and waved. At least she didn’t seem to be mad at him anymore.

“Alright, let's head on in. Line up in the front of the classroom and Mrs. Caline and I will introduce you to your buddies for the year.”

This was it!

🖍️🖌️🖍️

Walking into the room, Adrien could see how nervous the younger kids were. He saw Felix sitting near the door and waved. Felix held out his shirt and pointed to the big gray circle on his tag. Adrien was super excited that he and Ivan would be paired together, now he really didn’t have to worry about his brother!

The kindergarten room had tables that were set up in a ‘U’ shape with kindergarteners themselves seated along the outside edges. Inside of the ‘U’ there were chairs that had been brought in especially for today (Adrien remembered from last year) where the older kids would sit opposite their buddy after being introduced.

He scanned the room a little more as he took his place in the front with his class attempting to try and find the student with the match to his tag. Unfortunately, he was only able to see a handful of them and none matched his. During his observation he noticed a lanky looking boy with dark hair and light eyes along with a girl who could rival Marinette in height or lack thereof. She had light yellow, very curly hair and dark eyes. Next to the small girl was Marinette. She kept her head down and hardly acknowledged his class though she stole a peek at him. He turned his head immediately when she caught his eye.

“Is everyone ready? Okay!” Mrs. Caline clapped her hands together. “First up, Felix! You will be buddies with Ivan, can you please stand-up Felix?”

Adrien watched as his brother stood with a huge grin on his face and waved at Ivan. Ivan returned the wave as he walked over to the empty chair in front of Felix. They both sat down and instantly began a quiet conversation.

Mrs. Caline worked her way around the tables and as more and more of his classmates went to sit down without his name being called, Adrien began to worry. There were only four kids left. ‘Dark-haired boy’, ‘Light-haired curly girl’, another small-ish girl who sat on the other side of Marinette, and Marinette herself.

“Kim, please stand-up. Your buddy is going to be Nino.”

Nino was paired with ‘dark-haired boy’. Adrien wasn’t upset that he was going to be paired with a girl, he was friends with Chloe after all! He just wanted anyone but Marinette. Dejectedly, he watched as the last girl of his class was paired off with ‘light-haired curly girl’. As Marinette stood up, his heart began to thump harder in his chest. It was just him and a boy named Nathaniel left.

Adrien looked everywhere but at her, willing Mrs. Caline to call Nathaniel’s name. He couldn’t hear anything over the roar of his heartbeat and thus he didn’t hear his name being repeatedly called. It took a gentle tap on the shoulder from Nathaniel for him to come to his senses.

“Adrien, you are buddied up with Marinette, please come take your seat.”

🖍️🖌️🖍️

So much for the best year ever. How could he have gotten saddled with her again? Wasn’t it bad enough he babysat her when they were at home? Maybe he could request a change, though he didn’t know if he’d be allowed.

Marinette sat across from him and fiddled with the un-tied ribbon on her dress. She wouldn’t look up, as though she was nervous. They’d be leaving to go outside shortly and a small part of him actually felt bad for her. She was a quiet kid, he knew, but this seemed different.

“Mari?”

No reply.

“Why aren’t you talking?”

She shrugged her shoulders, eyes still downcast. He huffed.

Mr. Armand announced it was time for recess, effectively ending their conversation. They both stood and lined up next to each other to head out the door and he noticed she stood a little ways away from him which was even more strange because usually it was him that had to move. Marinette had never been scared of him before and the thought made him worry because his mom would surely be mad if she found out he had upset her somehow.

Adrien’s worries were quickly washed away as they all rushed onto the playground. Nino and Kim met right up with them along with Ivan and Felix. ‘Light-haired curly girl’ came up with his classmate Lucy to join their group and introduced herself as Mylène. The eight of them walked over to the jungle gym, Marinette trailing behind slightly.

“What should we play?” Ivan asked as he stared intently at Mylène with wide eyes.

“Nothing scary please. I don’t like scary.” Her voice was soft and hard to hear.

“I’m gonna climb higher than all of you, watch!” Kim immediately began climbing up the side of the gym.

“No way you can beat me!” Nino followed suit.

“Where’s Chloe? She promised to meet me!”

“She’s probably with her buddy, Felix.”

Adrien felt an incredibly soft tap on his arm.

“A-adr-rien-n. C-can you p-please t-teac-h me t-to do the mon-nkey bar-rs?”

He really didn’t want to but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings either and relented with a nod before following her over to them. Ivan, Felix, Mylène and Lucy began playing a game of some sort, one he wished he could have been included in, while Nino and Kim raced all over the play structure. Marinette stumbled up onto the platform and reached for the first bar. Her fingertips barely brushed the first one but she managed to catch it and grasped it with both hands. Adrien remained on the ground and slightly behind where she hung so he could watch her from below and help steady her if needed, at least he hoped he could, her legs were all he could reach. Marinette looked back to him for guidance.

“Okay, reach one hand forward and grab on, then bring your other hand to the same bar!”

She did as instructed and her arms were stretched as far as they’d go before she brought the second to meet the first. She repeated the process again and again squealing with glee as she made her way nearly to the middle. Adrien couldn’t help but smile up at her because she was doing something on her own without him!

“I see London! You see France! Adrien see’s Mari’s underpants!” A kid he knew as Tucker chanted. He was in Marinette’s class and must have remembered Adrien’s name from introductions.

Marinette lost her grip then and slammed into him, knocking them both onto the ground in a heap. Tucker ran off laughing with some other boys. Adrien pulled himself out from underneath Marinette and helped her stand up.

“S-sor-ry.” She looked like she might cry.

“I’m okay. Did you get hurt?”

She just shook her head to say no.

“Good. You can try again if you want?”

“N-no t-thank-k you-u.”

“Oh. Okay. Well what do you want to pla…” He was cut off by Felix’s voice.

“CHLOE! YOU’RE FINALLY HERE! Look! Adrien’s best friend is my buddy!” Said best friend was standing next to Felix along with the other two girls from earlier at the top-most part of the playground.

“Hi Felix! This is Sabrina, she’s my buddy for the year!” Chloe gestured to a red-headed girl with glasses who timidly waved.

“HI SABRINA!” Felix was really into yelling today.

Forgetting about Marinette for a moment, completely by accident, Adrien went over to introduce himself.

“Hi, I’m Adrien. My brother, Felix, is the loud one.”

“Nice to meet you, Adrien. Felix is funny. Chloe talks a lot about him.”

“Of course I do! He’s my birthday buddy. I’m going to marry him some day.”

Ivan, Mylène, Lucy and Sabrina all stilled at the comment, looking at Chloe like she was crazy.

“Yepp! And we’re gonna have five hundred cats and two-hundred dogs and a thousand horses!” All eyes snapped up to Felix who was now perched at the top of a slide getting ready to come down.

“That’s right!”

“You guys are crazy.” Mylène spoke up, louder than he’d heard her since meeting her.

“Right?” Ivan suggested. “They should have two-thousand horses!”

“He’s right Felix. We’re going to have two-thousand!”

“Okay!”

“Adrien, where is Marinette? Is she with her buddy?”

Oh no, Marinette! He quickly scanned the area and didn’t see her.

“Adrien is her buddy!” Felix, who had made his way down the slide, leapt off of it and landed next to Chloe.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him and Adrien felt a chill run down his back. “Where is she?”

“I, uh… I don’t know? We were by the monkey bars and she disappeared when I came to say hi.”

“Ugh! I have to do everything for you!” Chloe threw her hands up in the air before stomping off, Sabrina hot on her tail.

All but his brother simply looked confused and went back to playing. Felix shrugged and joined Ivan leaving Adrien to follow Chloe. So much for having each other’s backs!

They searched the entire structure and didn’t see her.

“You lost her! She’s been scared about school and you lost her!”

“I didn’t lose her! If she had just…”

“W-what are y-ou guys-s yel-lin’ about-t?”

Adrien stilled.

“We were just worried about you Mari! I want you to meet Sabrina!”

“Hi.” Marinette gave a small wave.

“Hi Marinette!” Sabrina hugged her and Adrien watched Marinette stiffen.

“Where did you go Mari?”

“T-to look-k at t-the flowers-s.” She pointed to the field beyond the playground that was decorated in an array of white clover flowers.

“Those are pretty! Sabrina, we should make wildflower crowns next recess!”

“Yeah!”

Adrien groaned and thankfully the bell rang to go back inside. He and Marinette walked silently back to her classroom though she hung behind him just a bit. He found it odd but didn’t say anything about it. Soon enough it would be lunchtime and he’d have to do everything all over again and he was already exhausted from this first recess.

🖍️🖌️🖍️

The room was abuzz with the chatter of small yet impeccably loud voices. Everyone seemed to have a story to tell about who they’d been partnered with and no one wanted to wait their turn. Adrien was the only one who remained silent. There wasn’t anything to tell about Marinette that his friends didn’t already know.

“Get this! Kim climbed all the way over the top of the rail next to the tall slide and onto the other side!”

“Woah.” Ivan’s eyes were as big as saucers.

“He said he’s already broken his arm once!”

“That’s crazy!”

“He’s gonna break his leg soon I bet. He’s so much fun!”

“Who would want to break their leg?” Adrien was genuinely confused. Pain wasn’t exactly fun.

“KIM would! He isn’t afraid of anything. Plus then everyone gets to sign his cast. They all did that at his preschool last year.”

Seemed sketchy but who was Adrien to judge?

“Adrien, your brother is a lot of fun!”

“I wouldn’t know.” He grumbled mostly to himself.

“What do you mean? You’re brothers.” Nino apparently heard him.

“It’s nothing.”

Adrien folded his arms across his chest and slumped in his chair, a scowl on his face.

“You look mad.”

“Yeah.” Nino agreed. “Is it because you got paired with Marinette?”

He didn’t know if he should tell them how upset he was. They wouldn’t understand.

“She’s so super nice though! I bet she would go along with whatever we wanted to play!”

“Nino is right! Felix said she is really super fun.”

“Super fun? Marinette? No way.”

“But Felix said…”

“Felix gets to play with Chloe all the time. I’m the one who has to play with Marinette. She can’t keep up with them so she can’t keep up with us. It’s hopeless.” His shoulders sagged in defeat. He didn’t truly want to leave her out, he just wanted to not have to follow her everywhere or have her follow him.

Both Nino and Ivan pondered Adrien’s words for a bit as the three of them continued working on some addition problems together. Finally Nino spoke up.

“Why don’t you trade buddies or something for next recess?”

“Trade buddies?”

“Oh I think I know what he means! I’ll hang out with Marinette and you hang out with Felix.”

“Really?” He couldn’t help the hopefulness that entered his mind.

“Yeah! One sec, I wanna go ask Lucy something.”

Ivan got up and walked over to Lucy’s table, looking like he was asking for help on the worksheet.

“That’s a good idea, thank you, Nino.”

“Michelangelo, at your service!” He whipped his hands around pretending to swing a nunchaku, making Adrien laugh a little too loud. Mr. Armand gave them both a look before turning his attention back to the student he was currently helping.

“This is gonna be such a good plan!”

Ivan once again joined them.

“It is! Freedom will be so nice!”

“Yeah, that too.”

“Ivan, your cheeks are pink. Do you…” Nino gasped. “Do you like…” his voice dropped to a whisper “Lucy?”

“Nope! But she said she and Mylène would play with Marinette and I at recess.” His cheeks got pinker, and his smile got wider.

“Ooohhh.”

“I like her curly hair. It’s like my mommas.”

“Thank you, Ivan.”

“You’re welcome, Adrien! I’m excited and Marinette seems really nice. Plus I’m even taller than you so I can help her if she needs it.”

Adrien smiled in response. His only worry was that Marinette might be upset over the switch but then it occurred to him that she had been hanging back earlier. Maybe she would be happy to be away from him too? He supposed only time would tell.

🖍️🖌️🖍️

Lunch had come and gone in a flash, Adrien sat across from Marinette at the table and on either side of him were Nino and Ivan. She was sandwiched between Kim and Felix. They had explained the switch for recess to her and she had seemed excited. By the time recess had arrived, she was talking about the flower crowns Chloe was going to teach them to make. To his surprise, Felix had chosen to play a game with him instead of trying to hang around with Chloe.

They’d played pirates along with Nino, Kim, Nathaniel and the other small girl who he had learned was named Alix. The rest of the day was a lot of fun. They’d gone to the library as a group of two classes and Marinette had kept mostly to herself, not even asking for help reaching a book on the top shelf. She’d asked Ivan instead. Strangely, Adrien felt a little lost not helping her and he couldn’t make sense of it.

After the library, his class had an introduction party where they shared their pictures from the morning and told about their favorite part of the summer that year. Adrien’s had of course been riding the horses with his papa on the ranch. Nino’s had been going fishing with his brother and dad, and Ivan’s had been going to the cool country with the red leaf.

Finally it was time for their final recess and Adrien wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. On one hand, he wasn’t super upset that he had to go back to being Marinette’s buddy because he was grown up now and it was the grown-up thing to do. But on the other hand, he still wanted to play with the other kids and not have to worry about her being left behind because she couldn’t keep up. Maybe she would look to Ivan again for help now though?

They made their way to her class once more for the day before lining up to go outside. Marinette had taken her place right up next to him again and he grumbled internally. So much for Ivan then. When the doors opened the rest of the kids rushed outside while he hung behind just a bit. No need to rush when they weren’t going anywhere fast.

“So… what do you want to do?”

She shrugged before pointing to the flowers in the field.

“Flower crowns?”

“Y-yes p-please. Chloe sh-owed m-me.”

He sighed. “Okay.”

“You-u don’t-t have t-to.”

“You want to go make them by yourself? Are you sure?”

She smiled at him and nodded.

“But you’ll be alone.”

“T-that-ts ok-kay! G-go play w-with F-felix.” She hugged him quickly before running off to the field.

Adrien waited a moment, curious to see if she’d change her mind. When she didn’t he turned and ran off towards his brother who was already playing a game with the same group as last recess with the addition of Ivan and Mylène.

“What are you guys playing? Can I join?”

“Yeah!” Felix looked overjoyed to see him.

“We’re playing animal superheroes! I’m a bull!” Fitting for Ivan considering he was already tall and muscular at the young age of 6.

“I’m a goat. Because no one pushes them around, they do the pushing!”

“I’m a bunny because I’m cute!”

“Nino, you’re a turtle, aren’t you.”

“MICHELANGELO!!!!” He shouted. “Kim is a monkey!”

“What are you, Felix?” Adrien wasn’t sure what animal his brother wanted to be, though he had taken a liking to the wild turkeys that often frequented the ranch in the fall.

“Peacock. Because they have cooler colors than turkeys. How about you Adrien?”

“Cat, of course!”

Mylène squeaked. “But I’m a mouse, and cats chase mousies!”

“Not this one, I’m nice!”

She visibly relaxed and they all began playing. They had fun figuring out what powers they would have and showing them off. Nino of course was like a ninja, and Kim could climb anywhere. Mylène was super small and could get into any place by shrinking down. Ivan was strong, Nathaniel never lost a fight and Alix had super speed. For a girl with such tiny legs, she really was impressively fast. Adrien decided that his power would be destroying or breaking things since the cat that Marinette’s family owned seemed to like knocking things over to break them all the time.

They were just beginning to go on their first ‘mission’ when Chloe’s voice screeched behind him.

“Adrien! Where is Mari? Did you leave her?”

Uh o. He hadn’t thought about how angry Chloe would be for his not staying by Marinette.

“She wanted to go make flower crowns by herself.”

“But you promised to stay by her! I would have gone to be with her if I knew you would leave her alone!”

Chloe grabbed him by the arm and drug him away from the group who looked at him sadly before going back to their game. Sabrina came along with the two of them and Adrien was struck with a sense of deja-vu.

“I didn’t leave her. She said she wanted to go alone Chloe.”

“You always do this Adrien! Say you will help Marinette and then go away. You’re so mean!”

“I didn’t go away Chloe! And I am not mean! Stop saying that! She wanted to be alone and I let her because I am always helping her and I wanted to play instead!”

“See, mean!”

“If anyone is mean it’s you and her and Felix! You guys always run away and leave me behind and she takes all of the fun parts to play.”

“We do not!”

“Yes you do!” Adrien was full blown yelling now.

“Nuh-uh!” Chloe was yelling right back.

“Yeah huh! Marinette always takes the cat and you guys let her. You know cats are my favorite. Marinette likes ladybugs because she is one! A small annoying bug!”

“You’re being mean Adrien!”

“Uh guys?”

“No I’m not!!”

“Guys?”

“Yes you are! She is our friend and you need to be nicer!”

“She’s your friend, not mine. I just get stuck with her all the time.”

“GUYS!” Sabrina finally shouted.

“WHAT?” He and Chloe yelled at the same time, still staring daggers at each other.

Sabrina pointed to where Marinette was standing about a few feet away from them, a woven clover bracelet in her hand and tears silently running down her face. The bracelet fell to the ground and she turned around and ran.

“I’m so mad at you!” Chloe shouted before booking it after her.

Sabrina spared him a small glance before following them. Adrien stood helpless and wondering what had just happened.

🖍️🖌️🖍️

Guilt ate him up inside. He hadn’t meant for Marinette to hear what he’d said, and he really didn’t mean it. Not completely anyways. He was tired of being the only one stuck helping her but when he really did think about it, he cared about her. Seeing her hurt was something he had never wanted, and being the one who caused it made the feeling a million times worse.

Absent-mindedly he twisted the clover flower bracelet on his wrist. He had picked it up after the girls had run off and eventually put it on the same arm as the bracelet from Ivan. The bell had rung not long after and not knowing where Marinette had gone, Adrien made his way over to her classroom to wait for her.

It didn’t take long for her to join him in the lineup that was forming but she kept her distance and wouldn’t look at him. He had heard her hiccuping the entire time they stood there and even as they made their way inside. Before his class was ushered back to their own classroom, Adrien took one last look at her and something about her tear-soaked eyes that briefly met his had broken him.

He didn’t know how to make it right and he wanted to. He’d help her climb as many trees as she wanted if she never looked like that again. His mama would know, she knew everything. And she was going to be so disappointed in him for how he had acted.

The day had started out with so much anticipation and now all he wanted to do was go home.

---

Waiting for the day to end was agony. Ivan and Nino had tried to help him and had even come up with ways he could make the situation better but nothing felt right. They were great friends though and he was so happy to have them, especially because they weren’t mad at him like Chloe was. Hopefully she would forgive him too though he doubted it. She had always been incredibly protective when it came to Marinette.

Finally, the bell rang, and he and his friends said goodbye before leaving the building. Ivan’s dad picked him up on the other side of the school and Nino’s bus was on the other end of the long pull off.

He made his way towards his bus, looking at his feet while he walked. He wondered if he should try and save Marinette a seat or if he should just let her be. Maybe Chloe wanted to sit by her and he would sit with Felix. Maybe Felix was mad at him now too. Suddenly Adrien felt a shove to his shoulder and he fell forward towards the concrete, catching himself with his palms.

The impact stung and he winced at the pain.

“Whoops! Didn’t see you there.”

Adrien remained still for a moment, confused as to what had happened.

“Heard you made a girl cry today. That’s not very nice.”

He turned his head to look up and saw a bigger kid, probably in third grade, towering over him. Next to the large kid was Tucker, who had teased him and Marinette that morning. He went to stand up only to be shoved back down again by the large kid's foot.

“What do you think, Tuck? Should we make him cry too?”

“Yes!”

Adrien felt himself being raised by the back part of his shirt that was visible above his backpack and scrambled to break free, though his efforts proved futile. Just as he was about halfway up a figure came into view. The first thing he noticed were sparkly pink boots.

“Leave him alone!”

“And what are you going to do about it, pip-squeak?”

“Put him down or else I’m gonna make you regret it.”

Adrien was stunned. He had NEVER heard Marinette talk without her stutter.

“Johhnnnnn!” Tucker whined at the bigger kid. “That’s the girl he made cry!”

Adrien felt himself drop, this time his elbows and forearms caught the fall.

“She’s the one you like?”

“Johnny! Be quiet!”

“Haha, my little brothers got a cruuu-uushhh!”

Adrien decided he would stay down just to play it safe, though he stole a look at Marinette and what he saw made his jaw drop slightly.

She stood with her hands on her hips looking completely confident. There was a fire in her eyes that he had never seen before, and boy was it an incredible sight. He truly didn’t know how he should feel in that moment because he had just seriously hurt her feelings and she still stood up for him, the feeling that Marinette’s friendship was not deserved washed over him in waves.

“You two should g-go.”

He didn’t hear them respond but the fading laughter of ‘Johnny’ let him know it was safe to try and get up. Marinette held out her hand for him to grab which he accepted gratefully. The sudden shift in their dynamic felt odd but welcome.

“Y-you okay?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“A-are y-your hands hurt-t?”

“I’ll be okay Mari. Let’s just head for the bus.” In truth, his hands and elbows stung quite painfully.

She turned and walked ahead of him, only glancing back to make sure he was still following her once. They boarded the bus and she took a seat next to Chloe. Adrien sat next to his brother who looked irritated.

“I don’t get to sit by Chloe because of you.” He grumbled towards the window.

“I’m sorry.”

Felix looked at him, a small amount of understanding in his enormous gray eyes. The rest of the ride home was silent, at least between them.

---

As promised, their mothers were waiting at the Mailbox for them, including Chloe’s mom, though she looked bored.

“Welcome home! How was your first day?”

“Momma, it was awesome! One of Adrien’s best friends is my buddy!”

“That’s wonderful, sweetheart.”

“Mother, I made a new friend today, her name is Sabrina!”

A small hum of acknowledgement was all Audrey offered in response and Adrien watched intently as Chloe visibly deflated in her excitement. Adrien really did not like Audrey.

“How was your first day, my little ladybug?”

“It was g-good momma!” Sabine looked temporarily shocked at Marinette’s lack of stutter.

“I’m so glad to hear it!”

“Chloe t-taught me how t-to make f-flower crowns-s.” Marinette grabbed Chloe's arm and looped it with hers, brightening the blonde girl's features a bit.

“That’s wonderful. You two are so sweet. I can’t wait to hear about this Sabrina!”

Adrien hoped they would skip over his day. He really didn’t want to talk about it. Thankfully his mom must have seen something in his eyes because she invited the group to start making their way towards his house since their three families were having a back-to-school barbeque.

Audrey hopped in her expensive-looking SUV and drove up while the rest of them walked down the driveway much in the same way they had that morning, with Chloe and Felix holding hands in front and Marinette by Sabine’s side. His mother slowed down bit by bit so that soon they were far enough away from everyone else to not be heard.

“What’s bothering you bub?”

“Nothing…”

“Hmm. Are you sure? You seem rather gloomy this afternoon.”

He didn’t want to tell her; she’d be so disappointed in him.

“Adrien.” He turned when he realized her voice was further away than expected and saw that she had stopped, crouching down to his height. “Come here love.”

He ran to her arms and the instant hers wrapped around him the tears he had been fighting spilled freely. His mom held him as he let it out, never once letting go until he pulled away from the hug himself, still she held his arms in her hands to keep him steady.

“I wasn’t a good friend. I’m sorry momma.”

“Oh baby. Tell me what happened.”

“I got paired with Mari and I was just upset because I always have to help her at home and I wasn’t supposed to have to at school. Then we got teased and she seemed fine but then she walked off when I went to say hi to Chloe and Chloe got mad.”

His mom listened intently, never interrupting.

“Then Nino and Ivan had a good idea to trade buddies for lunch and I got to play with Felix and it was so fun! But then Mari was back to being my buddy for last recess and she wanted to go make flower crowns and said she’d be okay by herself! I made sure to ask Momma, I did!”

She nodded in understanding.

“So I went to play with Felix and my friends because Mari said she was happy to be by herself and Chloe came and got really, really mad at me because I left Mari alone. I got mad back at Chloe and we yelled. A lot. I said not nice things about Mari and even said she wasn’t my friend. But that’s not true! She is my friend but I was mad and sad that I didn’t get to play how I wanted because I have to watch out for her. I hurt her feelings, Momma. I feel really bad.”

“I see. Have you talked to her?”

“No… I didn’t know how to. And there were some mean kids who pushed me down because I made her cry. But she came and stood up for me. You should have heard her, she didn’t even stutter!”

“I think you should find time to talk to her when we get home. Apologize and tell her how you really feel.”

“But what if she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?”

“She might be upset for a while, hon. Her feelings were hurt and she’s allowed to feel that way. Marinette is a very kind and smart girl; I am certain she will listen to you if you ask her to talk. And you need to listen to her too.”

“Okay. I’ll try to.”

And try he did but Chloe was glued to Marinette’s hip the entire evening. Anytime he would approach Marinette, Chloe would stare daggers in his direction and drag her away. Felix largely remained with them but every now and again would check in on Adrien, who had finally decided to busy himself with a puzzle at the table out on the back porch.

The sun had finally dipped behind the mountains leaving everything bathed in a light purple glow. He only had a few pieces left of the puzzle to do when the back door opened and Marinette stepped out, alone. She briefly glanced at him before hopping down the stairs and walking over to the large cottonwood tree at the far side of the yard, sitting down at the base.

Her movements stirred up a few rare fireflies in the yard and he watched as they danced around each other, slowly moving through the air. Fireflies were always a treat to see in Wyoming, especially this late in the summer. Their lights eventually stopped flickering and he brought his attention back to Marinette, who hadn’t moved but had been watching the lightning bugs as intently as he had.

It was now or never, so Adrien abandoned the almost-finished puzzle and walked over to her. No more fireflies emerged.

“Hey, Mari. Can I sit with you for a moment?”

She nodded and he sat next to her, up against the wide trunk of the tree.

“I’m sorry for earlier. I said stuff I didn’t mean.”

“I k-know.”

“You… know?”

“Mmhmm. You w-wouldn’t-t help m-me s-so much if I w-wasn’t y-your friend.”

“Oh.”

“It st-till made m-me sad t-though.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I f-forgive y-you.”

“Really? Just like that?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Yep!”

“But why? I was mean.”

“B-because you aren’t-t always m-mean. I knew y-you didn’t-t want-t t-to watch m-me at-t school and I want-ted t-to b-be a b-b-big kid t-too.”

“I just… it's hard sometimes I guess. I wanna play with Chloe and Felix too but sometimes we can’t because…” He didn’t want to insult her again so he cut his sentence short.

“B-because I am small.”

“Yeah… because of that.”

“I’m s-sorry. I don’t-t t-try t-to make us s-slow.”

“I know you don’t.”

“I only p-play the k-kitty b-because you love our k-kitty s-so much. He m-makes you happy a-and I w-want t-to m-make you happy t-to say t-thank you f-for al-ways-s helping m-me.”

He had never even thought that she would have done that to make him happy but knowing Marinette, it made sense.

“I didn’t know that. I thought you were trying to take it from me.” He chuckled a little, now the idea seemed so silly.

“Nope. I w-would rather be a ladyb-bug or h-orsey.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t a good friend to you Mari. Can we maybe start over?”

“I’d l-like t-that.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder, relaxing against him and he rested his head against the tree. The fireflies from before began blinking and twirling around the yard again and he and Marinette remained there, enjoying the companionship and serenity that came with a true friendship.

There was no one who made Adrien happier than Marinette Dupain-Cheng, with her sparkly pink cowboy boots and pigtails adorned in matching bows. She was kind and smart and the best friend he could have ever asked for. He couldn’t wait to spend this year being her friend too.

#ml writers guild #mlb #writer spotlight #lovesquare #miraculous ladybug #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fic #miraculous #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #felix fathom #chloe bourgeois #september event 2023

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