#‘easy. my son. adrien agreste.’

[trashart00]

Less than 12 hours until the release of “The Tortured Poets Department”!

Hence, I present to you, “The Tortured Catboy Department”

Track List:

SIDE A: Deux Semaines (feat Ladybug) / The Tortured Catboy Department / My Lady Abandons Only Her Favourite Partners / Down Bad

SIDE B: So Long, London / But Daddy I Love Her / Fresh Out the Slammer / Akuma !!! (feat Monarch)

SIDE C: Guilty As Sin? / Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me / Even Ladybug Can’t Fix This / loml

SIDE D: I Can Do It With a Broken Heart / The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived / The Cataclysm / Adrien Agreste

Bonus Tracks: The Black Cat / Solitude / Doppelgänger / Tell-Tail Heart

(Love how so many of the original track names still work)

My takes of what each song is about/inspired by under cut (but, if you feel like it, tell me yours :D)

I’m picturing all of these to be from Adrien’s perspective so they reflect mostly his version of the situations rather than the objective reality (especially the Laybug centered ones)

Deux Semaines (feat Ladybug): This one would focus on the sequence in Multiplication where Monarch doesn’t attack and how LadyNoir’s relationship recovers from the events of Season 4.

TTCD: Kept the “Catboy” singular because while there are multiple Catboy identities, there is only one boy underneath them all. Hence while I think it would be about him just stating his issues with everything, it would also focus on loneliness and how his department is understaffed :(

MLAOHFP: All of the Season 4 LadyNoir separation arc angst, with the “Favourite” being a callback to Risk (and kinda a jab at Rena because he thinks that she’s really her favourite, but y’ know, she didn’t abandon her so Rena can’t be her actual favourite)

Down Bad: Mainly about how Chat’s love for LB makes him excuse her behaviors, but also makes him act out (maybe a reference to Elation).

SL,L: About the whole arc of Gabriel sending Adrien to London and all of the memories he would have surrounding this ordeal - key point, not “So Long, Paris” because he didn’t want to leave, and in the end he comes back to a changed world.

BDILH: This one’s either about the Chat Blanc breakup or Gabriel’s dislike of Marinette in Season 5 (or both, with maybe a line about how he feels like this has happened before)

FOTS: Adrien realizing his father is a Bad Person.

Akuma !!! (feat Monarch): This one would be like a song about his daily life and then the chorus would start with a shout of “Akuma!!!” and it would switch to him as Chat Noir. I feel like it would start out with normal life being boring/hero life being fun but as it goes on he grows exhausted. Monarch has a rap verse.

Guilty As Sin?: Chat Blanc centeric - would ask who is to blame for the destruction of the world, like is it Chat because he lost control or Hawkmoth because he took advantage of his son’s emotion?

WAoLOM: Chat Blanc centric at first (like a villain song) but ends with Adrien reflecting on the events of Evolution-Destruction-Multiplication-PS night

ELCFT: I think it would be about his relaction ship with his father and how he wishes there was something he could do to go back to how they were when Emilie was alive but there’s no easy fix and his father keeps on getting worse and worse after any attempt.

loml: A song for Marinette with a bittersweet air - she’s the love of his life but he can’t tell her everything, and she can’t tell him everything either

ICDIWaBH: CatWalker centric - him going back to Ladybug in Kuroneko.

TSMWEL: I actually have three for this one - 1. About Gabriel and his need to domineer because he feels small and powerless. 2. About Adrien feeling small and insignificant. 3.About Plagg because he’s a smol boi (it would be like a lighthearted, cheeky song, like when you sing to your pet about how adorable they are)

The Cataclysm: Literally about how he cataclysmed Monarch, but also about how the event impacted his perception of self.

Adrien Agreste: Ending the album with a song that’s his own name :o.

Now for the variants:

The Black Cat: This one has Chat on the cover and the song is mostly about his bad luck. ‘I Love You It’s Ruining My Life” works both directed at Ladybug and his father.

Solitude: With Chat Blanc on the cover, this one’s about his mother. I think the “You Don’t Get To Tell Me About Sad” is pretty self-explanatory.

Doppelgänger: CatWalker is on this one, his song would be about how he may literally be the same person but he doesn’t fully feel like himself. He had to repress a lot of himself to be CatWalker hence I thought “Am I Allowed To Cry?” fit him really well (especially with Plagg not giving him the time to fully recover before he had to jump back in). Please note the crossed out name (unlike Chat Blanc) because he’s reinventing himself.

Tell-Tail Heart: This one has Ladybug on the cover - wait she’s not a Catboy?? The song is titled “Tell-Tail Heart” as a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart” and would explore Chat’s perspective of Ladybug’s guilt for keeping secrets, how any excuse she makes is ultimately unimportant because she would do it either way. The fact that this is the only song title with a pun references how Chat tries to lighten the mood and avoid serious conversations, and the “Tail” is supposed to refer to Rena Rouge. The flowers she’s holding are meant to be foxgloves which symbolise secrets and insincerity (they’re also poisonous and damage the heart :)). I also really liked the “Old Habits Die Screaming” for her as it could mean both Chat Noir’s love for her being an old habit that he cannot get rid of, but also her habit of keeping things from him (especially with how she does it again at the end of season 5) being something she can’t stop. It is also him being able to see that, despite what she tells him, her “Heart” is tells him otherwise.

(also would like to point out that he wouldn’t mention Rena by name, he’s upset, not evil)

[jack-of-heartstrings]

yay you've watched the episode!! :D

do you have thoughts or feelings about the whole new big cult thing reveal?

I'VE BEEN TELLING EVERYONE!!! After so long I was shocked to actually see it more directly, but I've been reminding people for ages that we still didn't know shit about What We Started Fifteen Years Ago! That there was this whole big conspiracy in the background! We never saw it more clearly than the Shanghai special but it's been alluded to offhand since then, and hints have been dropped as well.

xD I am unfortunately going to have to rewrite (easy) and re-record audio (PAIN AND MISERY AND SUFFERING FOR TEN THOUSAND YEARS) for the Chloe video essay I was working on now that we know a little more but YEAH.

I think it's likely an extremely important detail that Gabriel was "The Diamond", and the party in Emotion was the "Diamonds' Dance", and likely also that the party in Gabriel Agreste had such a similar aesthetic to the Diamonds' Dance.

I'm not sure if his code name makes me more or less certain the suspiciously-all-similar-aged kids at the Diamonds' Dance of which confirmed Sentis Adrien and Kagami were the king and queen were also all Sentis themselves, but I still think it's a strong possibility too. Yes this includes Chloe. Especially Chloe. I've been trying to figure out which icon Audrey could be now that we've seen the council, and wondering if Andre is still involved, though I imagine much like Nathalie it's hard to truly leave. 100% though, Chloe is more of a celebrity now because the organization is collectively pushing for her to fill the space left by Adrien (and to an extent Kagami).

I also suspect, of all people, Bob Roth is probably involved, if not on a seat then as someone's Shadow, but very possibly as a council member outright. His inclusion in the episode card of Gabriel Agreste was always so suspicious and part of the cult evidence, and as comically over the top as he is, he is very much a picture of corrupt corporate greed that seems very much the cult's MO. Everything he's doing setting up his son as a manufactured icon fits perfectly with what we've seen so far with the Perfect World Project. (Hell, even learning Luka was Jagged's son and going "you can always turn a celebrity's kid into a celebrity" like... wouldn't be evidence on its own but with surrounding context is... yeah, that would track, huh.)

I am so SO bad with audio processing, and between different presentation (haughty vs low and slow and serious), the slight mechanical distortion on the call, AND a language I don't speak, I CANNOT tell just comparing the French versions if the voices are at all similar or wildly obviously different, so someone please do tell me if it's the latter. But with the context that my brain just sucks at this so I'm purely guessing from visual cues and subtitles, I wonder if Lord Graham is the Scepter.

(Edit to add: I thought Tomoe being The Machine was too obvious to need a mention but just saw people questioning so I'll throw that in too. She's definitely The Machine. Between taking of Gabriel's work, the manufacturing business, and "I never fail" with the whole Tsurugi family themes. Yeah.)

I'M WILDLY DELIGHTED THAT WE ARE GETTING NATHALIE LORE and I did not expect HER family to be equally involved in this but I am NOT complaining. FANTASTIC time to introduce it, too, weighed against Ivan's lore drop and Adrien's struggles.

BUT YEAH. I think my ideal would be us getting scattered tidbits more this season, like significant but small bits, until the season finale or close to it, and then dealing more heavily with the cult next season. As eager as I am for answers I do enjoy the slow burn and think it'll be great to keep the focus on the interpersonal stuff going on for most of this season. I'm willing to wait.

[megan0013]

really want to write this fic but have zero inspiration beyond replaying a few scenes from it in my head whenever i need to zone out, so:

nathalie has never, not for a split-second ever entertained the idea of sleeping with clients. she’s had offers, of course – wealthy businessmen and wannabe treasure hunters – but she’s never been the least bit tempted

until gabriel and emilie agreste

they’re much younger than her usual clientele and gorgeous, and nathalie’s 100% attracted to both of them. which is good because they haven’t stopped plotting how to get her into bed with them since she pinned some asshole’s hat to the wall behind him with a hunting knife the day they met

but nathalie is a professional. she was hired to guide the agrestes through the mountains of tibet and that’s what she’s going to do. she will not be participating in a threesome with them. nope, no siree, not gonna happen

but then there’s a blizzard, and the three of them are stuck in a yurt for four days with nothing to do but triple-check supplies/maps/research and drink a very potent version of local moonshine. the situation makes it ridiculously easy for her to fall into bed with them, and nathalie wakes up the next morning feeling both (incredibly) physically satisfied and more than a little relieved that they can get back to business now that her married clients have satiated their curiosity

except, they haven’t and it keeps happening

to the point where nathalie’s pretty sure the agrestes aren’t having sex without her at all anymore

fast forward to finding the peacock and butterfly miraculous and the subsequent parting of ways. it’s harder than nathalie expected, saying goodbye. she’d let the couple into her bed, yes, but she’d also let them into her heart far more than she’d ever thought possible

judging by gabriel’s scowl and emilie’s teary eyes, they did too

anyway. a few months go by and nathalie is out in the field somewhere when she gets a call from the ‘home office’. the agrestes are in need of some help deciphering a text they’d found alongside whatever treasure they found and her assistance would be greatly appreciated

the next six weeks are spent hooking up with gabriel and emilie (or, one or the other, depending on the circumstances) as they work through the grimoire to perfect the peacock’s abilities/limitations in creating new life. when that happens and her lovers are ready to take the next step, it’s bittersweet for nathalie. on one hand, she’s so so so happy for them. on the other, she’s fallen in love with them but whatever they have is obviously going to be over now that a baby is involved

so, she accepts a job somewhere (anywhere) else in the world that’s so remote she doesn’t receive a single bit of communication from them until she resurfaces in london a year later. and when she does, it’s to a birth announcement for adrien something-something-something-or-another agreste dated six months prior

there are also emails and a few voicemails, little messages from the agrestes (emilie, mostly) asking about her travels and updating her on adrien’s development. she tries not to put too much stock in them. they’re friends, sort of, and she knows way more about their son’s conception than anyone other than the two of them should. it’s obvious they’d try to keep in touch with her for that reason alone

the christmas card sent to her london flat is unexpected, though

as is their surprise visit on boxing day

“we heard you were back,” gabriel says, leaning against her doorframe with a smirk on his stupidly handsome face as emilie grins by his side. “and amelie promised to watch adrien tonight. we thought we could catch up.”

and, oh, do they

nathalie officially meets adrien the next day

it’s love at first sight

and it only spirals from there

a few weeks later she spends an extended layover touring new york with emilie and adrien while gabriel’s caught up with fashion week. some odd months after that she stays at the agreste’s mansion for a full two weeks of what would be described as wining and dining if she thought the agreste’s intentions were romantic instead of friendly-with-benefits. then gabriel flies her from a dig in sanremo to milan for a weekend, and a month after that all three agrestes kidnap her from her own london flat for a week in monaco

and then nathalie scores a longterm gig in milos

it’s a lot like that year she had zero service, except this time she’s able to communicate when her busy schedule permits. which, unfortunately, still isn’t quite often enough to satisfy gabriel or emilie, and they wind up booking their own grecian holiday a couple of months after nathalie’s tenure there begins

this is where everything changes

but not right away

nathalie is still busy, of course, but the agreste’s rented villa is close enough to the site her team is excavating that she’s able to stay with them most nights (which is very convenient for her and great for her employer’s lodging budget) and the three of them have fallen into a comfortable, oddly domestic routine by the time summer starts slipping into fall

and then the diving accident happens

emilie isn’t there when nathalie almost dies, but gabriel is only a few meters away when a pylon collapses on top of her and is still visibly shaken when they return home hours after he narrowly saves her from drowning

something in the overall dynamic shifts then

there’s a sort of awkwardness that hadn’t been there before and when they aren’t being overly affectionate towards her, the agrestes are having hushed conversations that have to be about her since they always seem to grind to a halt the second nathalie’s within earshot. and then one day a little over a week after the incident when she’s playing hide-and-seek with adrien she gets the confirmation she needs that they have been talking about her

“… be okay with it, right?” she hears emilie say

“it’s what we want,” gabriel responds softly. “she’ll understand.”

“but what if she doesn’t? want it, that is. what if she wants everything to stay the way it is? would you be okay with that?”

there’s a long pause, then: “no. no, i don’t think i would be.”

so, that’s that, nathalie thinks. they’re ending it. they don’t want me anymore

she makes excuses and leaves the next day without ever knowing they were not going to end it. that, in fact, they were going to tell her they were head-over-heels in love with her, that they’ve felt that about her since tibet but were too afraid to tell her, that they couldn’t bear being parted from her ever again and wanted nothing more than for her to be their girlfriend/partner

[this is when my original thoughts went to amelie outing nathalie’s pregnancy to a shocked gabriel and emilie six months later, but based on a few screenshots i’ve seen this little story has grown some canon legs so we’ll just leave it here]

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I was rooting for Gabriel having a redemption arch, but even I know that what we got in the show was anything BUT.

How would you handle it? If you were to succesfully redeem Gabriel? How would you do it?

I'm not opposed to a Gabriel redemption arc, but it would be very hard to do without some serious and careful character development or serious edits to canon. My preference is option two because option one risks something that is a hard no for me: glorifying the cycle of abuse. We'll still talk about both paths because it's worth discussion and we'll start with the easy one, which is rewriting canon to remove the abuse.

Rewriting Gabriel

The easiest way to give Gabriel a redemption is to make him a good father. Someone who clearly loves Adrien in a healthy, non-possessive way. Someone who is at least trying to have Adrien's best interests at heart. Someone who is willing to let Adrien do things that make Adrien happy.

To make Gabriel into this kind of character, we would need to remove all - or at least most - of the manipulation. Things like when Adrien asked to no longer be a model and Gabriel used that as an excuse to make an AI Adrien and then told Adrien that his options were to either tolerate the AI or go back to being a model:

Adrien: Dad, I'm not really comfortable with having my face on all these rings. That's actually why I didn't want to be a model anymore, to avoid that. Do you understand? Gabriel: Of course, I understand, my son. But that's the point; it's just an image, it's not you! And since this image frees you from your obligations, we, the Agrestes, are able to spend more time together. But if you'd rather everything went back to the way it was before, just say the word.

We'd also need to get rid of every moment when Adrien seemed to fear his father like this scene from Illusion where Adrien spilled spaghetti on Gabriel and then immediately started freaking out like he was afraid of being hit or otherwise punished:

Adrien: Yes, I forgot my school bag. (spills the spaghetti on Gabriel’s clothes, but Gabriel remains calm) Oops! Oh, sorry, Dad! You must be so angry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!

These moments are easy to write because they allow Gabriel to come across as evil and scary without the audience knowing anything about him. In other words, they work wonderfully with the whole "every episode must stand fully alone" rule. But if we ignore that rule and say that Gabriel is allowed to be nuanced, then we can replace this straightforward writing with more complex writing that requires you to watch multiple episodes in order to understand what's going on in the broader story.

In this new version of canon, we wouldn't have to change much story wise. We could keep the same general story beats. The only big change is that we'd see Gabriel struggle between his grief, his love for his son, and his desperation to restore his wife. This would mean little moments of nuance like Gabriel changing his mind about the day's akuma because his planned akuma would knowingly putting Adrien at risk and Gabriel won't do that, so he has to swap plans on the fly, leading to some of his more wacky akumas. This setup allows for a Gabriel who is still a super villain, but he's now a super villain with principles who refuses to let those he loves be harmed in his quest.

A more minor change is that Adrien's fear of his father would be replaced with a more complex setup. Instead of fear, Adrien is now held back grief because he's a teenage boy who is grieving and who knows that his parent is also grieving, but who doesn't know what to do about any of that. In this setup, the father-son conflict is not abuser and victim but two grief-stricken individuals who no longer know how to connect because a vital element of their relationship has forever changed. You know, the kind of setup you'd expect for a family where the relatively young mother died less than a year ago.

I've talked about this kind of setup leading to a corruption arc, but you could also use it for a redemption arc. If Gabriel never goes against his principles and always puts Adrien first even if it means losing Emilie, then you maintain Gabriel as a complex and nuanced character who would believably stop his quest as soon as he learned Chat Noir's identity or was otherwise put in a position to once and for all choose between his son and his wife. (Which could be how we get our next villain if the story doesn't end with Gabriel's lose.)

While I thought that the movie adaptation was too rushed to make it's ending really work, it does show the template for this path. A path I would have personally loved, but it's not the path we got in the show so let's talk about option two.

Redeeming Canon Gabriel

Whether or not he understands what he's doing, canon Gabriel is an abuser. He controls and manipulates his son without any concern for what Adrien wants because Gabriel seems to view Adrien as a perfect doll and not a real human being with his own wants and needs.

Quick senti rant: This is yet another reason that I hate the sentistuff. Because sentimonsters are so poorly defined, that the sentiplot does kind of validate Gabriel's POV and that's not a good thing. This is extra true since Gabriel's part in that plot ended with Gabriel essentially giving Marinette ownership of Adrien by passing on the rings. I talked about it at length here, but I think the only way to make the sentiplot work in the context of canon is for it to end with Gabriel realizing that he needs to view Adrien as more than a doll and I think the only way to really do that is to have Gabriel use the wish to free his son.

Back to the main discussion in which Adrien is a real boy and we ignore the senti complication!

In order for canon Gabriel to be redeemed, he must acknowledge his abuse and make recompense for what he's done. Adrien must also acknowledge his father's abuse and be allowed to decide what that means for their relationship as Adrien is the victim and, when it comes to reconciliation, the victim should be the one calling the shots, not the abuser. This is a complex and nuanced process that would take an intense amount of screen time to make work. I do think you could do it, but once again, it would require Miraculous to get rid of that whole, "every episode must stand fully alone" rule.

Off the top of my head, if I had to take this route, I'd have season five end with Gabriel losing. I also wouldn't let him die or do his grand plan. Instead, I'd have him lose without a big public reveal by having Felix or Nathalie reveal Gabriel's identity to Ladybug and Chat Noir. This would lead to Gabriel being stopped in an epic battle between our two heroes.

Once Gabriel has been subdued and the full story has been revealed (because it would be so much more satisfying coming from Gabriel and not freaking Felix), Ladybug would contact the guardians to see if Emilie could be saved. This is a path Gabriel never had the chance to take because the Guardians weren't around until quite recently. (I'd probably make it so that Gabriel didn't even know that the Guardians were back.) The Guardian's answer would, of course, be yes, but it would require some special lost item or other BS that the heroes need to get/do first.

At the same time, we'd learn that there is a new bigger, badder villain. I'm thinking Tomoe, but Lila, Felix, and/or Nathalie are also options. No matter which one we pick, Gabriel would have knowledge about the new villain that no one else does. Knowledge that is not easily given. In order to save his wife, Gabriel agrees to help the heroes with the new villain and they agree to help save Emilie (they would have done that anyway, but Gabriel doesn't need to know that).

Over the course of this plot line, Gabriel would become less of a recluse and, as a result, he'd get out of his own head and start to regret his actions as he comes to view the heroes as people, not obstacles. This plot line would really lean into the idea that Gabriel never viewed his actions as real because he'd always planned to reset everything with the wish, so what did it matter if he hurt people? It was all just a bad dream that they'd forget once he'd won and set everything right.

Now that his hope of resetting everything is gone and his actions have actual weight in his mind, he'd be incredibly remorseful about the way he treated Adrien, so he'd pull away from his son. At the same time, he'd be bonding with Chat Noir, whose identity was never revealed. This would eventually lead to a reveal whose time and place was fully chosen by Adrien. A reveal that would only take place once Adrien felt that his father had truly changed and come to regret what he'd done.

Bonus element to this idea: the Gabriel-Adrien reveal would be our new identity shenanigan hook, meaning that the love square could reveal themselves without removing that element of the story. It would just have a new main flavor.

The Cycle of Abuse

I mentioned at the top that you have to be incredibly careful about redeeming abusers because it can glorify the cycle of abuse. I wanted to end by talking about what I meant by that as I think that far too many pieces of media accidentally glorify this cycle because they don't put the necessary effort into their redemption arcs. When it's media aimed at teens and adults, I just kind of sigh and stop consuming it. When it's media aimed at kids, I get legitimately upset because the cycle of abuse is already hard enough to escape without media helping you internalize it at a young age where you don't have the skills to understand fiction vs reality.

There are a lot of in-depth articles and books about the cycle of abuse, so I won't go too deep here. I'll just link one article and go over the basics which is that abuse is often not constant. In many cases, it follows a clear pattern in which there's an incident of abuse, followed by some form of reconciliation, followed by a period of true calm and happiness, but that calm and happiness never lasts. There will eventually be another incident of abuse and the cycle will start all over again. It's an existence of the highest highs and lowest lows where the victim has true hope that things will get better only for that hope to be cruelly dashed to pieces again and again.

This cycle is one of the many things that can make it hard for victims to leave or even identify the abuse depending on what form the abuse takes. After all, no one is perfect and we want to support our loved ones. If a person does something mean and then apologizes, we want to believe that apology. This very normal series of events can be paired with the cycle of abuse to keep a victim trapped because they think that they're a bad person if they give up on their abuser who is, "trying to get better," or some other excuse. But that's not what's actually happening. While the abuser is saying what the victim wants to hear and may even mean it in the moment, if they're not actually doing any work to change, then it's just another reconciliation round in the cycle of abuse.

This is why it's so important to have media that tells you that it's okay to give up on people. That their happiness is not your responsibility. It's also a big reason why I like the idea of redeeming character A while not redeeming character B. That setup lets you have that positive message of redemption while also presenting the idea that redemption is never a sure path. You can only redeem those who want to change (even if it's for a selfish reason) and who are willing to put in the work. A thing that you can really highlight and drive home when you do the A vs B setup.

Before we move on, I will note that there are abusive relationships that don't look like the cycle. The cycle is simply a very common pattern. The thing that makes it "special" when it comes to writing is that it's the type of abuse that's easiest to glorify and/or romanticize if you're not careful in your writing, which brings us back to Miraculous.

Miraculous actually demonstrated the cycle of abuse horrifically well in season five. In this season, we see things like Gabriel giving Adrien apologies and permission to call him "dad." Acts of reconciliation that were followed by blissful happiness for Adrien who desperately wants his father's love. But of course, that happiness never lasted. In the end, Gabriel always destroyed it with a new act of abuse because he is an abuser. An abuser who loves his son, but an abuser none the less because love doesn't stop abuse.

Because of this, if you want to write a realistic redemption, then you cannot give Gabriel a simple redemption where he apologizes and everything is suddenly okay. You have to differentiate his "true" apology from the others. You have to make it clear that this isn't just another round in the cycle of abuse both to tell a good story and so that little kids can hopefully internalize the difference between when you need to run away and when it's safe to stick around.

Another important element in getting this message right is allowing the victim character to be the one who is in charge of the reconciliation. Generally speaking, the victim should be super wary about reconciling because - for this to work - they need to be fully aware that there has been past abuse so that they can make a fully informed choice about what that means for them and their relationship with their abuser. It's not a true reconciliation if the victim is totally oblivious to the fact that they've been wronged.

Because of this, the true reconciliation will usually be a drawn out process wherein the abuser and the victim don't reconcile until the abuser has unequivocally proven themself as changed to really highlight the difference between an actual reconciliation and the kind of temporary reconciliation we see in the cycle. This why my hypothetical solution has a love square reveal and Gabriel avoiding Adrien out of shame.

That route allows Adrien to have full control over the situation as Ladybug can accommodate his needs, allowing Chat Noir to have 0 required interactions with his father. All required interactions are handled by Ladybug or other teammates so that all of the interactions that happen between Gabriel and Chat Noir feel like Chat Noir's freely made choice. This setup also allows Adrien and Gabriel to be on more equal footing in terms of power, an extremely important element of reconciliation. A lot of damaged parent-child relationships don't fully heal until the child is an adult and the parent loses their power.

All of the above is why I'm wary of giving abusers redemption arcs into happy close relationships with their victims (I'm much more liberal with redemption arcs into happiness with people they never hurt and/or where they're redeemed, but not super close with their victims). I'm extra wary in the context of children's media as it can be harder for kids to understand nuance and this is an incredibly important topic to get right.

That doesn't mean it can't be done. It can! It just requires a lot of effort to do it right. Most of the time, stories with this type of redemption feel lackluster and honestly make me a little sick to my stomach because it's so common to go the lazy route where a single apology is all that's required. It's why I'm super wary of the whole "enemies to lovers" thing. I like the concept it in theory, but more often than not, it ends up being abuser-and-victim to lovers, which is a hard pass for me. I don't judge people who enjoy that stuff in fiction or role-play settings, it's just not my cup of tea. Be it fiction or reality, I want couples that feel healthy and families/teams that I'd love to be a part of.

Since this was a serious one, let's end on a topical, but humorous short from ProDZ where he very accurately sums up your standard bad-guy redemption and why I don't like it. I love the redeeming power of love, but like all tropes, part of doing it well is knowing what story setups are suited to it and which ones are not.

[awholelotofladybug]

I Do (AKA Emilie’s Choice Part 3): A Stammering Adrien AU Story

Based on this AU.

Disclaimer: The only characters or locations I own are the ones I make up.  All other fictional characters and locations about Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir are the property of Thomas Astruc and Zag. Please support the official release.

The beauty of summer was on full display in the Agreste backyard garden. The sky was sunny and clear, the air was sweet with the smell of flowers, and there was a friendly face everywhere you looked, especially today. The Dupain-Chengs, the Lahiffes, the Cesaires, the Bourgeois’, the Couffaines, and many others had gathered together, dressed in their Sunday best, for a most momentous occasion. It was the day Emilie would no longer be a widow. It was the day Nathalie would receive a big promotion. It was the day Adrien would receive a second mother. Yes. This was the day of Emilie and Nathalie’s wedding.

Nathalie stood next to the priest, wearing her best black suit. She had a smile on her face, a song in her heart, and a knot in her stomach. While this was the happiest she had ever been, it was also the most nervous. This wasn’t like getting married at the courthouse. That was easy. This was a wedding. A wedding was a big event, and Nathalie was worried she might stumble.. So many things could go wrong. She could say something wrong while exchanging vows. Emilie could get cold feet. It didn’t even have to be a problem with them. A bird could land nearby and give Adrien a sneezing fit. Marinette could trip and get hurt. Chloé’s stress nausea could flare up and make her vomit. Worse still, Emil Dupre, obsessed with Emilie, could make an objection. So many awful scenarios plagued Nathalie’s mind until she heard the music. That’s when she saw Emilie walking down the aisle in a beautiful wedding dress, followed by Chris and Manon, the ring bearer and flower girl. The sight of Emilie in her dress was like a river washing her worries away. The closer Emilie got, the more at ease Nathalie felt, and as Emilie took her last few steps, it was time.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” said the priest. “On behalf of the brides, I would like to thank you all for coming. We are gathered here today to witness the union of these two wonderful women in the bonds of matrimony. If anyone objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Silence befell the crowd. Good. Everyone there approved. Everyone there was affirming. So, with no objections to be heard, the priest continued.

“Alright then, to continue, it is time for the brides to exchange their vows.”

Emilie started. "Nathalie, you've been there for me since we first met. You helped me through school, helped me raise my son, and after Gabriel died, you held me together whenever I fell apart. Now, I want to be there for you. I will never let you forget that you are loved. Each day will begin and end with an "I love you." I promise to provide for you, care for you, and just like you did for me, hold you together on those days when you fall apart."

As Emilie said this, a few quiet sobs could be heard from the crowd. The most guilty party was Adrien and Marinette, overcome by her beautiful words. Despite this, the exchanges continued as Nathalie began her own vows.

"Emilie, before I met you, I had no friends, never left home, and did nothing except study. But then you appeared, and everything changed. You stood by me through even my darkest days. You changed my life, and now, I hope to change yours. I promise to weather every storm with you, brave every adventure, and just like you did for me, stand by you through the darkest parts of our journey ahead."

The priest smiled and nodded. “Ring bearer, the rings, please.”

Chris Lahiffe walked up and presented the rings. Nathalie and Emilie smiled, taking each ring, then exchanging them with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces.

“Now, to continue,” said the priest. “Do you, Emilie Agreste, take Nathalie to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” said Emilie.

“And do you, Nathalie Sancouer, take Emilie to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

Nathalie gave a happy nod. “I do.”

“Well then, by the power vested in me,” said the priest. “I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Without even a second’s hesitation, The two woman shared a kiss, and the union was sealed. Emilie had a wife, Adrien had a second mother, and Nathalie now had a wife and son.

Marinette was a gasping, sniffling mess as she got herself some cake and punch. Was she being emotional? Maybe. But she honestly couldn’t help herself. Thankfully, she was able to pull herself together and make her way to the table. She sat next to Adrien across from Alya, Nino, and Chloé.

“I’ve never s-s-seen my mom so happy,” he said, wiping his tears away.

 “I know,” said Marinette. “Isn’t it wonderful? And what a great ceremony. I couldn’t stop crying.”

Alya chuckled. “No kidding.”

“Yeah. You two were blubbering through the whole thing, you big babies,” Chloé teased.

“I can’t help it,” Marinette defended. “I always cry at weddings.”

“This is a very emotional day for me, okay?” said Adrien. “This... This feels like a happy ending.”

“Nah, bro, not a happy ending. A new beginning,” said Nino.

Marinette perked up. “Yeah,” she said. “It’s like my Nonna says, this is the next chapter in your family’s story.”

Adrien smiled, then raised his glass of punch. “A toast then. T-T-To my mothers. And to new beginnings.”

The young friends all raised their glasses in the toast, and Marinette gave a small, relaxed sigh. She took a moment to observe. No broken glasses or plates, no spilled drinks or smashed food. It would seem that she had kept her klutziness under control. What a relief. The last thing she needed was to end up tripping over herself and destroying the cake, ruining Emilie’s dress, wrecking the buffet, or maybe even all three at once. But no, no spills, no messes, no disasters of any kind, at least not yet. Right now, all Marinette had to do is relax and take in all the love.

Kagami sighed as she stood alone, taking in the atmosphere of the reception. It was bittersweet. While she loved all the love and happiness in the air, she couldn’t shake the loneliness she felt inside. Breaking up with Wayhem was the right decision, but it still stung. However, being who she was, Kagami refused to give up. She would find love again, and as she thought this, she noticed Felix Fathom approaching her, though rather timidly.

“H-Hey, Kagami, said Felix. “Enjoying the wedding so far?”

Kagami smiled. “Oh, hey Felix. Yeah, it’s been great. It’s all very romantic. And inspiring.”

“Inspiring?”

“Yeah. I’m done waiting for love to come to me,” said Kagami. “I’m going to seek it out. I don’t care how long it takes.”

“I mean... It might not take that long,” said Felix, his cheeks turning pink.

Kagami was quick to catch that one. “Felix, a-are... Are you asking me out?”

“I-I mean, I know we only just started to get to know each other,” said Felix. “And I know you rushed into your last relationship, but maybe, I don’t know, we can give it a try? Maybe take it slow and see where it goes?”

Kagami was stumped. It was true that things didn’t work out with Wayhem. But there was something about Felix. She took a second to look at him. The timid little smile, the blushing cheeks, the puppy-dog eyes, all reminiscent of a male protagonist in one of her romance mangas. Kagami’s vision became rose-colored, and she felt a warm, bubbly sensation. So, without hesitation, she took his hand and gave her answer.

“Sure,” she said. “I’d like that.”

Felix’s shy little smile grew from ear to ear, but he quickly tried to wipe it from his face

“Sorry, sorry!” he said, hiding his face behind his free hand. “I’m trying not to make it weird!”

"No, no, no, it's okay," said Kagami.

“Are you sure?”

Kagami blushed. “You’re talking to a girl who uses shoujo mangas as a reference for romance. Trust me, you’re fine.”

Felix gave a small chuckle, then a satisfied sigh. This felt like a victory to him. If things went his way, he just might be able to call himself Kagami’s boyfriend. However, as this wonderous idea rushed through his mind, he felt a dainty hand on his left shoulder, and turned to see his aunt and his mother looking at him.

“Felix,” said Emilie. “May I speak to you in private? It won’t take long.”

Felix saw the look on his aunt’s face. Whatever this was, it was clearly important. So without hesitation, he followed her and his mother into another room.

The day went on, and the reception soon gave way to a dance. Emilie danced with Nathalie, Tom with Sabine, Andre with Audrey, Nino with Alya, Luka with Chloe, and of course, Adrien with Marinette.

“Today has been perfect, don’t you think?” Adrien asked.

“I’ll say,” said Marinette. “Everything went off without a hitch and... Wait, do you smell smoke?”

“Smoke?”

Adrien took a quick whiff of the air. There was smoke. But how could that be? For there to be smoke, there had to be...

“FIRE!!!”

Amongst the sudden panic of the crowd, Adrien had spotted it. The entire buffet had burst into flames. Everything, from the appetizers to the entrées, was burning. Even the cake, well, what was left of it, was up in flames. Adrien was dumbfounded. How could this have happened? Another ten seconds of searching gave him his answer. Standing at the table, casually eating some burned finger sandwiches, was a supervillain. He wore a black, skin-tight suit under a dark red overcoat with orange gloves and boots with trim made to look like flames. He was bald with bone-white skin, black eyebrows, a black goatee, and red-lensed sunglasses. The firey foe smirked as he looked up at the crowd.

“Sorry I missed the ceremony,” he mocked. “Gotta say though, this reception sure is HOT!”

Marinette gasped. “AN AKUMA!”

“You got it, girly,” said the villain as he conjured up a ring of fire around the crowd.

Everyone in the ring bunched together like a frightened flock of sheep. Marinette and Adrien were both desperately trying to keep a level head as they looked over the crowd. To their despair, everyone was there. Everyone was trapped.

“Alright, everyone, listen up,” said the villain. “The name is Torcher, arson extraordinaire, and, as of right now, the man in charge.”

Everyone in the crowd scowled as the villain rambled on. Hearing themselves talk seemed to be a favorite passtime for bad guys.

“Here’s the downlow. We’re all gonna play a little waiting game to see which of the little super-brats comes to rescue you rich little pukes first. And let’s hope it’s soon, because if it takes too long, I might just roast you all and rob the place.”

Now this was bad. As far as Adrien and Marinette could tell, all of the Guardians were trapped in the fire ring with them... Or were they? Adrien took another look around, and noticed three people missing from the crowd; his mother, his aunt, and his cousin. For a second, he panicked, worried that they might be in danger, but that fear was soon put to rest when Marinette subtlely pointed out his mom behind Torcher to him.

“Shhh,” she mouthed silently. “We’re gonna get help.”

Adrien and Marinette were ready to nod, but quickly stopped themselves before he could blow their cover. They could only hope the others knew what they were doing.

About ten mintutes went by, and Torcher paced back and forth like a tiger ready to strike. Everyone’s eyes were on the villain, hoping he wouldn’t pull some sort of deadly trick.

“Hmmm,” he said. “You know, while we’re waiting, you rich jerks might as well take out your valuables and put ‘em on the ground for me.”

“What?! That’s outrageous! Don’t you Akumas only ever want those Miraculous things?!” Audrey Bourgeois asked.

“That’s what Hawkmoth wants,” said Torcher. “Me? Well, what can I say? I’m greedy. Now hand over what you’ve got before I turn you all into barbecue!”

Then, just as the hostages were ready to comply, there was a roar like thunder, so loud that it knocked Torcher off his feet.

“What the?! What gives?!” he snarled

The crowd and the villain were shocked to see an enormous lion. It had light-blue fur, a large, dark blue mane, and glowing, light purple eyes. The great beast roared again, and the shockwaves from its mighty call put out the fire, allowing the hostages to scatter and escape. “HEY!” Torcher exclaimed. “That was my payday you just mucked up, you oversized alleycat! I ought to make a lion flambe out of you!”

“Not in this lifetime, hothead,” said the voice of a young man.

Torcher was confused. “Who said that?”

Off from atop the lion’s back came a young hero wearing a dark blue, hooded suit with feathers on the sides ofthe hood. Like his steed, the hero had purple eyes, and his skin matched the color of the lion’s fur. The young stranger smirked as he struck a dramatic pose with a feathered fan in his right hand.

“The name is Argos,” he said with pride. “I am the latest guardian. And this magnificent beast is Xerxes. He is but one member of my menagerie of might.”

“Menajerie of might?” the villain asked. “Oh, kid, I’ve been to crop fields that were less corny than that.”

“Says the guy named “Torcher.” You know what? Doesn’t matter. I’m here to take you down, then turn you in.”

Torcher chuckled. “Careful,kid,” he said as his hands produced two fireballs. “You’re literally playing with fire.”

Argos shook his head. “And you just stepped into the lions’ den.”

Torcher wasted no time. He immediately began firing at the young hero and his panthera pal, but with lightning-fast reflexes, they dodged each blow, then moved in for a counterattack. It quickly turned to fisticuffs, with blows being exchanged between both hero and villain. However, with a swipe of his paw, Xerxes sent Torcher flying backwards. The villan sneered, but then chuckled as he got back up.

“I can take it,” he said. “I can take anything you and Fluffy here can throw at me. So come on, feather boy. Hit me with your best...”

Before he can finish his bluff, Torcher found himself getting kicked in the back of the head and falling to the ground. He looked up to see his attacker, and was stunned to find the rest of the guardians there, with Ladybug and Chat Noir leading them.

“You’re pretty “hot-blooded,” Torcher,” said Chat Noir. “If you ask m-m-m-me, you ought to “cool your embers” a bit.”

Torcher snarled and got up, but then noticed his sunglasses were missing.

“My shades!” he exclaimed. “Where are my shades?!”

“You mean these?” said Ladybug, holding them up. “Don’t you hate it when you lose track of important things?”

Without even a second thought, Ladybug snapped the sunglasses in half, released the akuma, purified it, and set it free.

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!!!”

The damage was all magically undone, and the menacing villain was soon changed back into a mere man in a black t-shirt, jeans, and black shoes. This common criminal then realized he was surrounded by ninteen unhappy superheroes. Out of options, he held up his hands and chuckled nervously.

“Is it too late for sorry?”

Before anything else could be said or done...

*SWOOSH!*

A massive creature swooped down and snatched up the criminal.

“Mon Dieu!” said Rena Rouge. “What was that?!”

The guardians looked up, and the captor was none other than their old foe, Anton Moreau, akumatized into his dark persona, the Bogeyman, now sporting large wings and a long tail.

“Hear me, guardians!” he proclaimed. “I bring a message from Hawkmoth! Your days as a nuisance to us are coming to an end! Prepare yourselves! This is war!”

The grotesque ghoul gave a diabolical cackle before flying with the underling into a dark portal in the sky. With his disappearance, the faces of our young heroes soured.

An hour had passed and the high of battle had simmered down as the guardians, unmasked and gathered in the Agreste family’s living room, sat together drinking soda to mask the bitter taste left by the villain’s earlier threat.

“War,” said Rose. “Do you think he meant it?”

Kagami set her drink down. “What difference does it make? We need to be ready for whatever comes next.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Nathaniel. “It’s just a shame the day has to end on a bad note like that.

Marinette’s face soured as she stood up.

“You know what? No,” she said, putting her foot down. “Today was a GREAT day, and I’m not going to let Hawkoth or any of his cronies ruin that for us.”

Adrien stood by his girlfriend’s side. “Marinette is r-r-r-r-right. This HAS been a great day. The wedding was... The wedding was great, the food was terrific, we b-b-b-beat the bad guy, and we have a new guardian on our side.”

“Yeah,” said Alya. “Bogey’s little “declaration of war” doesn’t change any of that. Legit or not.”

“And who cares what that walking Halloween decoration says anyway?” Chloé asked.

“Exactly,” said Nino. “War or no war, we’re the guardians. We’ve beat them before, and we can kick their butts again.”

This earned a cheer from the crowd. What had started as a meeting full of worry and fear was now one of hope and confidence. Everyone quickly perked up and went from moping around to hanging out. While this went on, the watchful eyes of Nathalie and Emilie looked over the scene with hope, but also with a bit of concern.

“I knew this whole superhero thing would be challenging, but war?” said Emilie. “This might be too much.”

“I’m not worried,” said Nathalie.”

Emilie’s eyes widened. “You’re not?”

“Marinette, Adrien and the others have been at this for almost a year now. They can handle this.”

“You really think so?” Emilie asked.

Nathalie smiled as she took Emilie’s hand. “I do.”

Emilie smiled back and wrapped an arm around Nathalie.

“I do too.”

[blueberrypancakesworld]

Sabotage in love - Hesperia/Betterfly x fem!reader

warning : fluff, tiny hurt/comfort, teen angst from adrien, use of Y/n, female reader

Summary : Time has passed after the death of Emelie, and although his wife is still there in Gabriel's mind, he has found a new love. But his son is anything but pleased when he meets her...the only thing to do as an emo is to ruin the dates.

Info : So this One-Shot came from a comment by @iamallthingsasian and her idea of Adrien try to sabotage the dates of his father with his new girlfriend. Have fun reading :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since his father Gabriele had fallen into mourning after the death of his wife, some time had passed. The fashion designer had cried at the funeral, in the evening and the days, weeks and months after. But after almost two years he had finished with it.

He had accepted that his once beloved Emelíe had died and knew that holding on to it was not good. He knew that as much as it joked him, his son had to let go. It counted that he remembered the good things and not the last moments.

Gabriel had initially tried to be there for him and they had become closer. But since his father had applied himself in Adrien's eyes to look for new love, the blond clung to the grief.

A process that Gabriel could not oppose, especially since he had to concentrate on the villains of the city Shadybug and Clawnoir and did not want to lose hope himself. Until the day came when his father brought home a woman and it was not a new secretary. ,,Adrien, I'd like you to meet Y/n...my girlfriend," his father said after a moment's pause, reaching for her hand.

The younger woman next to him, perhaps a few years older than Emelie, smiled kindly at his son. Before she broke away from Gabriel and held out her hand to Adrien, ,,Hello Adrien nice to meet you" the blond teenager looked like he had been punched.

The eyeliner that was carefully drawn began to smear as he gave his father a hateful look and tears welled up in his eyes and he wiped them away. ,,Traitor! You and your-your money-grubbing bitch!" he hissed, slapping her hand away before running up the stairs to his room, the slam of the door echoing throughout the house.

She felt two hands on her shoulders and he hugged her from behind, ,,I'm sorry he was like that, I hope he didn't hurt you...he hangs on to his mother" the older one said and closed his eyes for a moment before she turned to him.

She carefully took his hand in hers and kissed it, a gesture that brought a smile to his face. ,,It's okay...not just a teenager he lost his mother I can't imagine how hard that must be" she said understandingly knowing it wouldn't be easy.

But she also knew that she would try everything to make him understand that she would not replace his mother and here was for Gabriel not for Adrien.

A relationship that the two continued anyway and even Nathalie was pleased that Gabrile had found a partner and the two women understood each other much to the chagrin of Adrien who liked her less and less each day.

But instead of reaching for his power and just wiping her out because he knew that even this was too conspicuous. Instead, the emo thought of other things to get his father away from her.

After a few weeks and months she moved in with the Agrestes and slept in bed with Gabriel. She had her own room where she she stayed from time to time, but most of the time she helped Nathalie and Gabriele either as a secretary or in designing clothes.

Gabriel always fell into a love frenzy and recited her the most beautiful poem while he used her as a model. Gestures and words that Adrien tried to block out with My Chemical Romance what was coming from his room.

Not only was the side of the bed she was sleeping on suddenly cut and torn, but the side of his mother's bed where Gabriel was sleeping was completely intact. But this only led to the couple sleeping together on the couch or simply in one of the other beds and this closer and sweeter than ever before.

The morning came over Paris and Y/n decided to make breakfast for their loved ones. It was to be pancakes with syrup nothing particularly exciting but sweet.

While she went to the kitchen and slept out of the room before she gave Gabriel a light kiss on the head and checked that Nathalie was still asleep she went to work in the kitchen. Humming lightly, she got to work on the dough before she went in search of snow. A time that the blonde took advantage of and poured the white spice into the dough.

Giggling, he hurried out of the kitchen and ran into Y/n, who held him so he wouldn't fall. ,,Are you alright?" she asked and was about to offer him a cup of cocoa or something else in the hope that he would say yes.

But he hurried out of her grasp and ran to his room. The surprise was yet to come as everyone gathered for breakfast. ,,Good morning, everyone!" she said cheerfully and put out their favorite drinks.

Gabriel his lavender tea, Nathalie her coffee and Adrien she had even bought his favorite energy. ,,Thanks" he mumbled and the three adults looked at each other in confusion before they hurriedly continued before they all had a pancake on their plate.

,,I hope you like them" Y/n said and took a bite of the pancake like the others and Adrien seemed to almost break the cutlery. ,,Oh...this is just...so good" Gabriele murmured and Nathalie agreed while pleasurable noises came from the three of them and Y/n hastily waved it off but was happy that it tasted good.

,,What!" he shouted way too loud and took a bite of his pancake but it was true it was sweet instead of salty. He had mixed up the salt with the sugar and poured sugar into it.

A fact that made the blond run back to his room before he took his energy and ran away again. ,,What's wrong with him?" asked Nathalie and her father said, ,,Maybe he doesn't like sweets?" before the three of them continued to eat and spend the day. With the condition that they Gabriele and Nathalie had to write down the recipe and the three ate together for a while.

But this was only one of the many pranks that Adrien tried to bring his father apart. Whether it was the trip to the park in which the two made an excursion. Hand in hand the way along went and it always smiled when Gabriele butterflies observed and her about the kind something told while she made photos of it.

The two complemented each other in this matter and she even got a necklace in the shape of a butterfly from Gabriele. While they were walking she felt him stroking her fingers when suddenly a teenager with a hood on his face came towards them.

Before it happened he took out a water bomb and hurled it at the woman. With a splash it burst and the woman was completely wet while the teenager ran away. But the force almost knocked her over. Adrien had used his strength and only a fraction of it.

Gabriel caught her before she stumbled and held her close, afraid something might happen. ,,Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Gabriele asked immediately ignoring the young man and taking off his coat, the dark purple coat wrapped around her form as she began to shiver from the icy water. ,,Y-Yes, thank you, it's just water...even if it was weird" she replied and gave him a grateful smile as he rubbed his hands over her arms.

Tried to give her warmth before he realized that this wasn't completely effective. ,,Close your eyes, we'll be home soon," he murmured, stroking her hair before turning and picking her up in his arms.

Transformed, he jumped from roof to roof back to his house where he set her down and transformed back. Before Nathalie made her friend a tea and Gabriel disappeared with his friend in the bathroom.

There he ran her a warm bath and sat down next to the tub while Nathalie brought the tea and seemed to be having a conversation with Adrien when the music stopped. ,,Don't you think your care is a little too much?" she asked, taking a sip of the tea as the foam sank into the lilac lavender water.

But the white-haired man just shook his head with a smirk as his fingers slid through the water. ,,No, I mean you are the most important thing in my life next to Adrien and Nathalie. You're my family...but you I'm afraid of losing...my heart couldn't take it" he confessed and looked at his shot confessing his inner self and touching her heart with his words.

Putting the tea aside she sat up slightly and reached for his hand while placing her other on his cheek. ,,Gabriel I had no idea...thank you my love" she said softly and pulled him into a loving kiss before she felt him come closer to her and return the kiss.

After the conversation with Nathalie, Adrien didn't seem to accept his father's girlfriend as his mother, but he respected her somehow and seemed inwardly happy that she was somehow doing his father good.

Even if the attacks on the dates suddenly stopped, the occasional hissing from Adrien and the evil glances were still there. But Gabriel and his love stayed together they had found their future and their true love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@irenea666 , @vavandeveresfan , @a-reading-dreamer, @taylorsmakingfuckingmacandcheese

[thefcguy]

My Miraculous Rewrite Protagonists: The Power of 3 Main Trio (Cause Adrien and Marinette have disappointed me way too much)

Since I am too busy still finishing the drawing for my Hope Squad season 1 cover (yes, that thing still exists, lol), I don't have enough energy to draw the main trio right now for the Power of 3 [who are the reimagining of PV!Felix , PV!Marinette and Gorgeous Nathan from the Gym club], I used pircrew (https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2583252) to create their designs (I am still unsure if I want Sophie to be a redhead or a brunette, so...)

(ALSO, THERE ARE NO UNNECESSARY IDENTITY SHENANIGANS, THEY KNOW THE TRUTH FROM THE START, AND MASTER FU AND LANCE'S GRANDFATHER TRAIN THEM ALL EQUALLY...)

Lance Sphinx (Based on PV!Felix)

Lance is the holder of the Axolotl wondrous hero. Based on PV!Felix, he is competitive and a bit cold. But, deep inside, he does care... he is just a bit tsudenre coded.

Unlike the other two heroes, Lance has been trained for this since he was a child... one more human conditions than the Order of the Guardians did, ofc.

He believes he can do it all alone, and doesn't need anyone else's help... that is why he is reluctant when the current miraculous guardian (Master Fu), and his grandfather (The Wondrous miraculous) insit on finding holders of the Ladybug and the Black Cat to help him out.

Although he is on neutral to aggressive terms with the rest of the school (bad experiences on his past school in New York), he cares deeply for his cousin Francis, and his friend Sophie.

Although he doesn't want to, he knows that, now that he is actively being a hero, he needs to open up and learn how to make friends and trust on people.

(yes, Emilie and Amelie have a triplet here).

As the hero Blue Gills, Lance doesn't change much. He is leading the team with his mind powers, and as the one who can purify the akumas (I want to keep the Ladybug and the Cat with the same level of power, so, some of the ladybug's abilities will be giving to the axolotl).

Francis Agreste (Based on Gorgeous Nathan from the Gym Club).

(The picrew doesn't make it clear, but, unlike Adrien and Felix, he has Dark Blonde hair, instead of the light one).

Francis over here is very energetic. In his day-to-day life, he is the sheltered son of the sucessful stylist Gabriel Agreste.

This Gabriel, however, isn't as bad a parent as Canon One is, and he actually had his reasons for keeping him home.

So, Francis never really modeled, and, for that reason, was allowed to grow his own sense of style... one that Gabriel finds exaggerated, but still supports it.

Francis was always a wild child who easily got excited. A bit of a nerd as well, he loved comic books, cartoons and animes.

He also uses braces (I forgot to add them) and loves a good sweater (a bit of Mabel and Dipper Pines inspirations).

This version of Chloe, instead of being enfatuated by him... can't stand him. These two have never been friends and they tend to bicker.

Francis can be childish, impulsive, and rebellious, but, is a very sweet cinnamon roll that has big dreams of being a cartoonist one day (friendly rivalry with Nathaniel and Marc perhaps).

Since it's his first year out of the house, however... he will have to learn how the real world works...

(See, unlike Adrien, he has a personality, it isn't that complicated!)

As the hero Feline Knight, Francis gets even more confident, and even a bit flirty.

But, he only has eyes on his crush, Sophie Dupain-Cheng... but she seems to busy with her own problems.

Sophie Dupain Cheng (Inspired by Bridgette)

Sophie's life has never been quite easy... she was the younger Twin to the Dupain-Family... and her sister Marinette had always been in the spotlight.

As they grew, Marinette showed to be specially good with sports, and her parents started to spoil her even more... which lead to poor Sophie feeling a bit left out.

Meanwhile, Sophie grew interested in the world of fashion, and used her art and designs to express herself.

The relationship between the sisters was... never great, tbh. Marinette constantly invaded Sophie's personal space and forced her to do whatever she wanted to...

Sophie's school life wasn't easy either, as she was the main target of the mayor's daughter.

She never really had friends, and doesn't speak much. Due to this past, however, she grew to be very cautions and empathetic.

She is the kind of person that never judges a book by the cover, and gives people as many chances possible... which usually backfires awfully (hint for Lila, perhaps? XD)

(Unlike Marinette, she doesn't actually spy on others or purposefully or accidentally sabotage others. Actually, on her group, she is the one who tries to keep the other two from crossing the line. Imagine like how Darwin needs to stop Gumball from time to time XD).

Now that Marinette left to study and compete abroad, and Lance and Francis are teaching her how to deal with Chloe, Sophie is determined to finally have a good year and pursue her dreams.

She is not interested in romance, however, due to being busy with her fashion designs, helping her family in the bakery... and her job as Lady Red.

As Lady Red, Sophie gets a bit more confident. Out of the group, she is the most creative one and tends to find unusual solutions to their problems.

(I inspired myself a bit on Dorothy, cause, Wicked has taken over my brain).

[wisteriasymphony]

sooo… Emilie Agreste is a boy mom, right?

absolutely. insufferably so. the only benefit of having a girl would've been that her child would be a mini version of her, but otherwise raising girls is "too much drama" for her and adrien was a very "easy" kid.

plus, i think this sort of "devouring mother" archetype fits very well with Gabriel's parenting techniques. Emilie would (in a sense) "love too much" while Gabriel "loves too little", and yet neither of them really address Adrien's needs. Adrien is a pawn to them, a little doll they can use to play house, and both their displays of affection towards their son are exclusive to what benefits them. Emilie smothers her son to boost her own self-image as a "loving mother", whereas Gabriel's small crumbs of affection are just to maintain the relationship so Adrien will agree to continue being exploited as a model.

But yeah, I think Emilie is perfect for that creepy, no-boundaries, "a mother is her son's first love" territory. ex:

Adrien: Hey dude... when's the last time your mom slept in the same bed as you?

Nino: Idk, when I was like five, I think. Probably happened once or twice, dude. ....You?

Adrien: ..........last night :/ She keeps sneaking into my room really late, I guess. Even though I keep telling her not to :/

(yes i know emilie died before these two met like. shut up. shhhhhhh. this is to provide an example)

[miraculous-thenextspots]

What happened to the Miraculous Characters:

This is just a post explaining what happened to each miraculous main character on my next-generation AU. Some will have more info than orders due to spoilers 😉

With nothing else to add, time to start!

Marinette Dupain-Cheng:

…

She is dead, and that’s it.

Okay, now being a bit more serious… not all of the canon miraculous events happened the way they did. Season 3 had some different moments, and Season 6 had some serious changes as well (one of the reasons being me changing Sublime in the AU to be Chloe’s daughter so that Mike can have at least a few friends).

Marinette led the Miraculous Team for years until she put the kwamis to hibernate to keep them from Chrysalis radar without seeing any other option.

She had just found out she was pregnant from Missigno (yes, I will be naming him that until the reveal of who Mike’s dad is), and was worried about the baby.

Sadly, the pregnancy affected her health badly and she died soon after Mike was born… ☹

Adrien Agreste:

So, Adrien and Marinette’s AU started similarly to canon, except that with an identity reveal… until Adrien finds out about how she hid Hawk Moth’s identity from him.

They ended up breaking up and stopped talking for a while. However, Adrien’s feelings were too strong, and he tried to reach her after a while…

Sadly, she was already with another guy, but, they recovered their friendship and partnership.

Despite Marinette thinking everything was fine, Adrien was suffering on the inside, still having the same strong feelings he had when they were dating…

When Marinette died, Adrien was heavily stroked by grief. He was the one who felt the worst out of everyone.

Sadly, he transferred part of his rage towards the baby, being unable to even get close to him.

(This is NOT Adrien Salt. I just love how Pearl used to resent Steven in SU, only to grow to care for him, and want a similar arc here).

Nowadays, he is a teacher.

Out of love for Marinette, he checks on her son from time to time. Hidden so that he doesn’t have to face the child of the love of his life.

Alya Cesaire:

Just like it was for Adrien, Alya didn’t react very well to Marinette’s death.

No matter how hard she tried, she saw Marinette everywhere. It came to the point of living in Paris being too painful for her.

She stayed away for a while, focusing on her career, and accompanying Nino as he pursued his dreams.

However, she returns to the city a while before the story starts.

She never met Mike, but, she doesn't resent him. Still, she doesn't feel ready to be around him.

Nino Lahiffe:

Although losing Marinette wasn’t easy for him either, it wasn’t as painful as it was for the two above.

He also wanted to leave Paris for a while, to distance himself from the atmosphere of grief for a while, but also to invest on his career as a director.

He arrives in Paris with his wife right before the story starts.

His feelings about Mike are similar to Alya's

Chloe Bourgeois:

- Chloe, unlike in canon, in my AU, had a kind of redemption… kind of.

- She may still be a bit mean and isn’t the best mother, but, at least she isn’t purposefully working with terrorists anymore.

- A few years after season 5, she and Luka started a relationship that didn’t last long, but, resulted in a girl named Sublime.

- As a mother, Chloe can be a bit overly demanding towards Sublime. She wants the best for her daughter and thinks that’s the way to do so.

- They aren’t very close, though…

- Nowadays, Chloe has her own clothes store, where she can be a very annoying boss.

Sabrina Raincomprix:

- Sabrina, in my AU, had a redemption way earlier… around season 3.

- She and Marinette eventually became close, mostly due to Sabrina’s thankfulness due to Mari’s help in freeing herself from Chloe’s control.

- That’s why Sabrina felt so guilty when she learned that she had died…

- Just like with Adrien and Alya, she felt devasted, and the fact she felt guilty for ‘not helping her enough’ made things worse.

- Although she never felt any resentment towards Mike, she couldn’t get close to him for a long time…

- … until she learned he was struggling with his mental health, and offered her services as a psychiatrist to help his grandparents.

- She is trying her best to help him face his depression and insomnia, but… she notices it isn’t working and she is feeling even more guilty because of it.

Juleka Couffaine:

- She and Rose eventually left the Kitty Section and started to play their music on their own.

- They traveled all around the world to explore, experience, and mature.

- They are now officially married.

- Juleka felt tempted into visiting Mike, but, never had the courage to do so.

Rose Lavillant:

- Again, she and Juleka are a power duo.

- Rose spent years fighting her sickness.

- Nowadays, she uses her money and fame to help create organizations to help people with deadly diseases.

- Even if Marinette’s death still causes her some pain, she wants to meet Mike. She only didn’t do it out of respect for Juleka.

Mylene Harprele:

- Mylene, nowadays, is nothing more and nothing less than… the Mayor of Paris itself!

- Ever since she was elected, she has been doing her best to improve Paris.

- A lot of clean energy, new technologies to help, and giving attention to the importance of mental health.

- Marinette’s loss did affect her, though. And, although she also wants to meet Mike, she is both busy and a bit scared of meeting him.

Ivan Bruel:

- Mylene’s number 1 supporter and loving husband.

- Besides that, he also opened a gym where he teaches kids how to defend themselves from bullying.

- He also teaches them meditation and yoga to process their feelings in healthier ways.

- He has been postponing meeting Mike with his wife for a long time as well since he isn’t sure of what to say to him.

Alix Kubdel:

- Alix, nowadays, is a very renowned world graffiti artist.

- She travels all around the world painting, traveling, visiting museums…

- And even if Marinette’s death wasn’t easy for her, she is one of the miraculers that best handled her grief. - It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but, she knows that there is nothing else to do.

- She also met Mike when he was younger, but, didn’t have the chance to see him much often because of her job.

- Nowadays, she has completely healed from her pain. Of course she still misses Marinette, but she prefers to remember their good moments.

Max Kante:

- Just like Alix, Max is mostly healed from the grief nowadays.

- He only left Paris because of his career as a scientist. He works for big companies right now, and is doing his best to turn the world into a better place.

- He never met Mike, though, because he isn’t sure exactly of what to say to comfort him.

Kim Le Chien (turns out Kim has two surnames according to my research. It also seems that, even if Kim is from Asia, if he moved to France, he would have to use his surname after his name, unlike how it is in canon. I don’t know much about how this works, so, someone please explain to me):

Kim handled Marinette’s death fairly well, to be honest. He was sad, of course, but, he knew crying wouldn’t bring her back.

Nowadays, he is a famous athlete who competes a lot.

He has a daughter with Ondine who is Mike’s age and used to study with him.

Ondine:

Marinette’s death was very painful to her at the start.

Although they didn’t study together, Ondine considered her a friend.

But, she ended up seeing Mike a lot, due to her daughter always studying nearby him.

He is too cute to stay away from, on her words.

Nathaniel Kurtzberg:

- Although he didn’t let it show, losing Marinette affected him.

- Like the majority of his classmates, he left Paris, but it’s still in France.

- He and Marc are married and working on their successful comics in peace.

- Nathaniel considering speaking with Mike, but, he doesn’t think he would be a good person to comfort him.

Marc Anciel:

-  Unlike Nathaniel, who didn’t show much sadness, Marc was visibly shaken.

- He was a part of the art club with Marinette, after all.

- He agreed with Nathaniel that moving away would be the best at the moment, but, he thinks that they should have tried reaching out for Mike, at least once.

Kagami Tsurugi:

Kagami was devasted after Marinette’s death…

She basically reverted to how she was before Ikari Gozen.

More reserved, quieter, and not spending as much time with her friends as she used to.

She is a renowned architect nowadays and lives in London with her husband.

She doesn’t resent Mike, but, doesn’t know how to act towards him.

Zoe Lee:

Poor Zoe was devasted as well.

Marinette helped her a lot to make new friends and adjust to Paris.

But, since she knew Mike would need to learn more about his mom eventually, she visited him as much as she could.

She did leave Paris because of the painful memories, and because she wanted to stay away from her family.

In New York, she is a famous actress and uses her money to help kids who suffer from bullying and abusive parents.

(Maybe she is married to @nerdy-chocomallow’s Cosette, who knows? XD)

She loves her niece Sublime a lot as well.

She has a daughter called Sophia, that, although doesn't study with Mike, used to be friends and play with him in Paris with her cousin Sublime.

Lila Rossi:

…

She has disappeared with the wind and no one knows her whereabouts.

Also, a fun fact, she doesn’t use any of her old aliases anymore. Lila Rossi, Cerise Bianca, and Iris Verdi have all disappeared.

She has created some new ones you all will be seeing soon.

[miraculousladybugconfessionbox]

(Asker warns in advance for poor english, and also it being a long winded submission.)

Transcript: i’m going to explain how gabriel agreste’s character was purposefully dehumanized, contradicting, how it serves as plot armor, and, ultimately, how much potential he had and what i would change about him. (i love him)

things that don’t make sense in the show

i. dumbness as plot armor

let’s start by noticing how this grown man is beaten every single episode by a supposedly clumsy girl. no matter how much time he or them (with nathalie) planned their next attack, how much effort they put into getting the miraculous, he either fell into ladybug’s oh-so-wise trap or there was something stupidly obvious that he missed and she didn’t. it’s pretty enraging how he passed 5 seasons, which add up to 2~3.5 years approximately, akumatizing someone every single day, which adds up to ~600 times assuming the average was 5 days a week, he somehow screwed up no less than 600 times. in a row. catch me? and let’s not think about how félix also outsmarted him at every chance he got or how even knowing the holders’ identities he couldn’t make his wish, because that’d be plain sad.

ii. contradictions (very related to previous point)

how is it possible that this man, a celebrity, a famous, wealthy designer that built his company on his own from poverty, said to be brilliant and very smart, blunders the same (and very easy) thing over and over again up to 600 times in a row against a girl who is, also, said to be clumsy and dumb, but suddenly turns stupidly wise the moment she needs to? (this isn’t hate towards marinette, just an observation). the show contradicts itself: if we took everything he is from what we know (resilient, cold, calculating, clever, and more), he shouldn’t have to try more than, what? 5 times? until he got a literal pair of earrings and a ring. from his own son.

another contradiction aside from the supposedly-brilliant-but-stupid, is his relationship with adrien. given that he’s his miracle child (literally), not only should he have stopped around the third/fourth season (with also nathalie’s 💗influence💗), but he shouldn’t knowingly put his son at risk. i don’t mean gorizilla or the audrey one (he’d get adrien back either from the wish or the “miraculous ladybug!” at the end), but particularly chat blanc. that episode was a very forced try from the writers to depict gabriel as a monter, because, knowing what we know, is it really believable that he threw his son like a baseball across paris from the mansion to the eiffel tower with a petty grin, and not only that but gaslights (and traumatizes) him and his girlfriend into that he’s a piece of shit for not wanting to make his mom come back to life (also with a petty grin)? the expected outcome, in my opinion, would have been a forced realization that he couldn’t do that. like very dramatic and such. but being this evil? please tell me i’m not the only one who thinks it’s out of his character.

iii. dehumanization

this is the most obvious one. we just get that he’s evil, heartless, and downright insane. he talks to his dead wife, is up to sacrifice his own son and the only other person that loves and helps him (nathalie), and terrorizes the city without any guilt or anything. the problem, though, is that we don’t see his side of things. and before you get at me, i don’t mean that these things could be “justifiable”, we just don’t get the side of him that regrets, double takes, thinks twice or genuinely cares about his son. it’s almost implied that he doesn’t, which ultimately implies he’s a psychopath or lacks basic empathy, ethic and moral. it’s pretty dehumanizing, isn’t it? the thing that characterizes humans is that we’re social creatures, and that comes with empathy and feelings and a sense of good and bad. he doesn’t constantly appear to have so, it’s more like fleeting moments that last two minutes and then back to a monster. if we got shown that he regrets his actions, that he feels bad for something, or even just having a human quality (like marinette’s clumsiness or adrien’s cutesy and being loving), something that makes him relatable, his character would have been much more complex and nuanced rather than just the evil, heartless, mysantropist parent that hates his son and is abusive and neglectful. we could’ve gotten a father that does these bad things but also makes sure his son is always safe and sound. a father that does these bad things but cooks dinner with his son. it could’ve been an interesting arch that could’ve ultimately ended up in him getting together with nathalie and handing over the miraculous because he loves his son and wants the best for him. the fact that he chose to betray marinette and die is the most selfish thing he has ever done, a deal breaker, something i will not forgive the writers for. like, everything just for what? adrien is an orphan when he could have gotten a loving family again where gabriel survived and nathalie survived too and they married and happily ever after. damn.

things i’d change about him

i. his backstory

i will olympically ignore the backstory of punk gabi grassette, thank you very much. mainly because, what the fuck, and then because i don’t find correlation between that and his current self. what do i mean? i mean that it doesn’t look like his personality and character could have been forged from... that.....

SO, what do i propose? i propose a poor, strictly religious household with an unloving, abusive priest as a father that believes that by punishing gabriel for being unruly and sinful will correct him, a mother that loves him but is too scared of husband to act up, and like 4 siblings, so they’re 5 in total. gabriel was either the oldest or second oldest.

i won’t explain further because it’ll otherwise be too long, but i can make another post if you want to :)

ii. the way he expresses things

just what i said in section “dehumanization”: show vulnerable moments where he regrets his actions, is affectionate with adrien, etc.

iii. his arch’s ending, chat blanc, and other questionable episodes

can we get just him married to nathalie and my happily ever after :( that’s all i yearn for. please.

anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk. bye

[jigglypuff1994]

Thank you for the rec @uptoolateart! I feel honored to be included!

This was the original prompt: Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Oh gosh, I don't have five fics yet, but I do have a fun time writing and soon, I will have many, many more. Lots of things in the works!!

But here's my library so far:

The Devil Wears Gabriel

One of my WIPs. This is a fun one for me! I've seen The Devil Wears Prada no less than fifty times, and I will never not watch it. One of my favorite comfort films.

I watched it back in March '24 and thought 'OMG. Miranda Preistly is Gabriel Agreste.' And it kind of spiraled from there. When I dove into the plot, it felt very crackish, and I grabbed onto that with two hands and rode with it.

I also didn't understand the importance of a beta until I met mine midway through this fic. She is wonderful and funny, and I couldn't live without her. Jodi, if you had a tumblr, I would tag you so hard.

Summary:

Being Ladybug is no easy task; she is the leader of Team Miraculous and keeps peace throughout Paris. Other than the weekly akuma attacks, her main problem is keeping Chat Noir and Viperion under control and out of each other’s jealous hairs. Sometimes, she misses the old days when it was just her and her kitty.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has recently graduated university and lives in Paris with her steady boyfriend of a few years, Luka Couffaine. After interviewing for a position she doesn't want in the first place, she ends up working as Gabriel Agreste’s assistant.

Between akumas, a narcassistic boss, and the men fighting for her attention, how will she survive the next year of her life?

past grievances

This one was inspired by the talented Christopher Nolan. I absolutely love the Nolan Batman Dark Knight series and DC in general (don't get me started on Young Justice, I won't shut up). And maybe one day I'll tiptoe through the window into the MLB/Bat fam fic world, but for now, I have my murder mystery fic.

I don't know where it really struck me, but I hadn't seen many MLB murder mysteries, so I felt compelled to write one in Felix's POV.

Also, I have a soft spot for antiheroes and comebacks, so, if that's up your alley, I have a tale for you.

Summary:

After the body of Adrien Agreste is discovered, Paris is in mourning.

After retracing Adrien’s last steps, Felix discovers more than he bargained for. He learns his cousin had a secret. One that leads him to his grave.

With this newfound discovery, Felix realizes that running away again isn’t going to work this time around. He needs to know what happened to Adrien.

While working through his own past grievances with his former teammates and through his own soul searching, he tries to mend himself, atone for his past mistakes and find Adrien's killer.

Bitten Smitten Kitten

I don't know what to say about this one. I am a vampire girlie at heart. I'm also a sucker for romance, smut and angst.

It's got it all: kidnapping, love, lust, clan vampire warfare, all of those tropes in 21k words.

I actually had the ending ambiguous at first, but I'm a big old softy at heart and had a couple commentors wanting more, so I wrote an additional chapter (it's fluffy and smutty *spoilers*)

Summary:

Born an orphan, Adrien was alone in this world. When the Black plague invaded Paris in the fourteenth century, at nineteen years old, Adrien became ill. On death's door, he was offered a second chance of life by a vampire with a kind heart, Emilie Agreste. Accepting her deal, Adrien found a family of his own with her vampire clan, the Agrestes.

After losing his eternal wife to vampire hunters, Gabriel became obsessed with finding the 'blood of luck'. When consumed by a vampire, the blood type is said to give a vampire unlimited power and is the key to ruling the underworld. Sending his adopted son on covert missions to find the human with this blood type, Gabriel was determined in finding the 'blood of luck'.

Transforming into a small black cat called Chat Noir, Adrien found the human who holds this special blood, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

The only problem? He fell in love with her.

Now Adrien has to choose between the love of his life and his clan.

Can Adrien hide this secret from his clan or will fate intervene when all hell breaks loose?

The Treaty of Miraculous Nature

This is my first fic ever. It's my baby, my first, my beloved.

If I'm honest, everyone needs to start somewhere, and my writing journey has been an adventure. I've learned a lot overtime and sure, there are some plot points or scenes I could have fleshed out more, but I'm proud of where I started and where I am now.

This fic will always hold a special place in my heart. (and maybe someday will have a sequel that I teased)

Summary:

Prince Adrien daydreams of a life of adventure and romance outside of the palace walls.

Marinette Dupain is a commoner who dreams of becoming an aspiring seamstress and designer for the Royal Court.

Soon the two soulmates are thrust together as fate has intended, bestowing them with jewels of magic from a goddess which allows them to transform and wield powerful magic of creation and destruction.

However, with good, there is always evil. Things may not appear as they seem.

Which brings the greatest age old question: can love conquer all?______________________________________________________________

As part of the ask, please spread the love and include more fic writers! I nominate: @ladynoirfanao3 @hamsteriffic @talkstoself @coffeebanana @chatnia-starlight @wisteriasymphony @aidanchaser

[yolowritter]

In Offense to Emilie Agreste

Hello there everyone, and- ...okay, put down your pitchforks, I haven't even started yet! Before an angry mob gathers 'round my blog, allow me to explain what today's rant is about. Unlike Lila Rossi, whose existence makes me want to hurl bricks at my screen whenever she appears, Emilie Agreste is actually a pretty interesting character. However, there are things about her (both canon and implied) that have me giving this picture-perfect gal a very intense side-eye. So today I'll be talking about what I think of her character, why I think she could have been written better, why she absolutely isn't a good person, and how the narritive does her a diservice by reducing this poor lass to an insignificant plot device, just so her clinically insane husband can have a reason to bully teenagers in spandex!

Firstly, let's quickly establish what we know about Emilie. I'll explain why I believe anything that isn't directly stated later, now it's just the basics. She and her sister Amelie are coming from a well-off family in England, presumably with quite high standards and expectations. We know little about her early life and it frankly isn't important, but she does at some point take an interest in the creative arts. She firsts meets her husband-to-be Gabriel when she arrives in Paris to further her education, and it's easy to assume they become friends due to similar interests. Then, later down the line, they meet Nathalie Sancoeur, with whom they scour the world to find the Miraculous jewels. After they do find the Butterfly and Peacock in Tibet, they all return to Paris and she creates Adrien Agreste, her son, using Duusu's powers. About twelve years later, she falls ill and "into a deep sleep" because the Peacock Miraculous was broken. This kicks off Gabriel's descent into madness and his crusade as Hawkmoth, which slowly drove him to insanity for reasons seen in this post. But still, this vague timeline leaves us with a lot of questions as to who she was as a person, and how she lived her life.

Before I delve deeper into this, I would quickly want to clarify the sources for the above information. We know from Represenation that Emilie met Gabriel when she went to Paris for educational reasons. I honestly don't remember if her field of study is mentioned, but considering she later stars in Andre's film "Solitude" it isn't hard to derive that said studies could be related. The high expectations from Emilie's family come from the fact that Gabriel had to change his name at some point in life, possibly because Emilie's parents wouldn't accept her marrying some "lowborn". Additionally, we know Amelie's marriage to Colt was arranged, so there definately is a sense of "securing the family lineage" here that exists in what remains of aristocracy today. In Passion, Nathalie is implied to be a treasure hunter of some sort at the time she meets Gabriel and Emilie, though how long she's been at the profession isn't clear. Still, they do work together to find the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous. We see in Evolution that they are occupying the Agreste Manor with the Peacock in hand, so it's possible they purchased the house either right after their trip to Tibet or before. Other relevant information comes from the thumbnails of Emilie's videos and photos from the Passion episode.

As an aside, Astruc better give us that Tibet special, because I need more Agreste family Lore! These people made their drama the entirety of France's problem and while I respect that, I need to know more! Also, Thomas' quote of "a lot can happen when three people are in close proximity for a long time"? Pretty sure that's from Twitter btw, if you want to look it up. I see you, Thomas...I see you...

Anyway, onto exploring Emilie's themes as a character. From the very start of the show, we have a lot of clues that point to her being an angelic, kind and can-do-no-wrong type of character, at the very least in Gabriel's eyes. There is a whole other topic here about him being obsessed with the past and looking at it with rose-tinted glasses, but I digress. The portrait of Emilie in the atelier, her photo in Adrien's room, and Gabriel's fond remniscing all give us the idea that she was a wonderful, lovely person! In fact, we even get a bit of personallity added to her in the Simon Says episode, where Gabriel tells Chat Noir "you have some of her (Emilie's) flair for dramatics". So of course, she was goofy sometimes, which is a trait we see Amelie share at least a little of in the Felix episode, what with her Elsa-style entrance into the manor. For Season 1, we got plenty of information as to her character, even if we didn't know her name quite yet.

In Season 2 we get more of these examples of her being a wonderful person who is dearly missed, such as the whole plot with the above-mentioned Solitude movie, and Adrien wanting to go see it. Why exactly Parisian cinema is playing this movie in the first place considering what we know about Andre abandoning his career as a director is completely unknown and reeks of a plothole to me, but then again so do half the episodes in general. Point is, from very early on in this show we get a positive perspective on Emilie's character. Sure, there's a lot we don't know about her, but I'm sure her wedding day, her early years with Gabriel, their actual relationship, whatever she had going on with Nathalie, and the whole drama with her parents and later Amelie's husband isn't important...right?

Yeah no I'm not letting her off the hook. Aside from the obvious Adrien stuff that I'll get into in a bit, it seems suspicious to me that nobody can ever come up with anything negative to say about Emilie. And I don't mean a genuine character flaw, even if nobody is perfect, I mean just...something embarrassing? An old joke shared between friends from college, a little detail that sheds light at her sense of humor, even a fond recollection of something silly that happened in her youth. There's nothing. Aside from Gabriel saying she had a dramatic flair, which I will talk about, we know nothing about Emilie Agreste as a person. She barely feels alive, almost existing solely to be the "dead wife" archetype of the show. And okay sure, some of that is the fault of whoever was in the writing room when they try to bring her up. But come on, you're telling me Nathalie doesn't have a single memory or photo in that large stack of recollections that shows her being alive for once?

And of course I don't mean Emilie being literally alive, we see plenty of that. But think back to the photo with Gabriel, Audrey, Emilie and Andre for a second. As an example. I can't recal the exact details, but Emilie is standing to the side, closer to being out of frame than anyone else. In the middle of the shot, the other three seem to be having a good time, but she's only giving a polite, proper smile to her friends. Naturally, not every person out there is extremely expressive, but this is a safe space. Emilie is with close friends and everyone is enjoying themselves, yet her face looks like she came out of a portrait. When I noticed that little detail, I went running to find more. Aside from the videos that she left behind, we've never seen her speak or interact with any character excepting that Evolution scene where she first gets the Miraculous. So can we please think about this logically for a second? What kind of person is Emilie Agreste?

She was born in high society, with a lot of expectations on her shoulders and only her sister for company in her formative years, if Adrien and Chloe's sibling-like bond is anything to go by. And yes that's another post entirely, but they were childhood friends and he had almost nobody else his age to talk to, so I'm drawing a parallel. I won't speculate at all about Emilie's childhood, because frankly it's irrelevant to today's conversation. What I will say however, is that everyone we meet who has interacted with her has fond memories and good things to say about her. And every depiction of Emilie we get, even those not made by Gabriel, she seems to radiate perfection. And that right there is her character's theme. Being perfect. She presumably was the perfect daughter, the perfect (or at least a good enough) student to go to France in order to further her education, so on and so forth. But her family life very much isn't anything close to that. For one, her sister is stuck in an arranged marriage with an abusive a-hole who seems to have been spat directly out of a Texas steretype. There is no indication that Emilie knew about this, but...she also eventually let Colt borrow the Peacock Miraculous to make Felix. Clearly she entrusted Colt Fathom of all people with a magical artifact that can make sentient life, because sure, that seems perfectly reasonable!

Of course signs of abuse are hard to notice even when directly pointed out, but for the purposes of Emilie and Amelie, it seems fundementally against the good, pure and angelic character that Emilie has been presented as to even consider handing Duusu over to Colt. I'm ignoring the issue of Tomoe since that hasn't been explained, but there's clearly something wrong here. And now...now we come to Adrien's home life. We know that he has never been to public school before Origins, which happened only because Chloe enrolled him by the way, and Gabriel does allow him to go at the end of the day. We didn't know at the time, but it does seem reasonable for Gabriel to refuse him completely here, seeing that in hindsight, Adrien's class specifically becomes a hotspot for Akumatizations. But despite this danger, Gabriel still allows Adrien to remain in public school. Additionally, it's completely reasonable to assume that a pre-teen and later teenager would want more freedom to explore the world, and I find it incredibly unlikely that Adrien only expressed this after Emilie keeled over. Surely, this child would have wanted to make friends before then, especially if Chloe would brag about how many friends she has in school, which seems like a thing she would absolutely do to impress him. Sure, that last bit is speculation, but Chloe does act like this all the time in Season 1, so it's natural to consider that she did so before too! The thought of Gabriel being the permissive parent here, and therefore not the one keeping Adrien inside all the time...it really frightens me.

And just to be clear, this isn't a tinfoil-hat "Emilie is secretly evil" theory or anything like that. I'm just saying that she isn't perfect, never has been, and actually made a lot of mistakes during her life. Especially with Adrien. Because doesn't it seem like a loving mother's attitude to want to spend time with her precious son, showing affection and being with him at all times? As a reminder, unless the concept of adoption was never invented in this universe, Emilie Agreste could have just grabbed a child out of an orphanage at any point during her lifetime. But instead, she specifically wanted this one, Adrien. And what does she do to get her precious, perfect baby boy? Why, she scours the entire planet with her huband (possibly to-be) and her definately-not-side-chick Nathalie the treasure hunter to find a magic brooch that gives her the power to make him herself, exactly how she wants! Plot aside for a minute, doesn't that sound a little bit insane to you? The desire to have a child alone wouldn't drive anyone to go to such lengths, and this is assuming she is infertile or has some other problem that a good night under the stars with her pals Gabriel and Nathalie won't fix!

Clearly, Emilie had something very specific in mind when going through all the magical, mystical and half-maddening hoops that she had to go through in order to make Adrien in the first place! She practically dragged her husband and their friend on a worldwide trip just to find some tiny bird goddess stuck in a brooch! Are you reading this correctly? And then after Adrien popped into existence (presumably by being carried to term, etc.) Emilie made sure to shower him with love and adoration. But she also kept him isolated, and secure. This isn't as much speculation as it is just reading between the lines, but Adrien seems constantly awestruck throughout the show when presented with new experiences. Not to mention another disturbing thing, she was put inside the life support pod with Adrien Amok on her finger! That's a huge red flag, right in front of us, but it's been ignored because Gabriel is the one who uses it on-screen. Consider that by the time he does use the Ring, Gabriel is well on his way to utter insanity, considering that Shadowmoth is already unhinged enough to quickly evolve into Monarch once the conditions are right. Gabriel has absolutely no chill when it comes to terrorizing innocent people, or using Adrien's Amok to control him when need be. So why is there an implication of Emilie doing the same when she should have been perfectly sane and not driven to desperation because of a loved one's loss like her husband? Again, go check out this post for a full Gabriel analysis.

I'm not saying that Emilie was evil or crazy or a psychopath or anything of the sort. I'm telling you all that she had control issues. Among all the other stuff we know, and with said information pool being tiny to start with, Emilie Agreste seems so intersting! There should have been a whole plot point about removing the rose-tinted glasses that her death cast down on Gabriel, Adrien and Nathalie! There should have been flashbacks to when she was alive! We should have seen her interact and show love towards Adrien! To her credit, Emilie did see that her death was going to mess with Gabriel's head tremendously, and left him a little video politely asking that he doesn't become an internation terrorist. You know, just as a failsafe. It sure is a shame that she never had that conversation with her husband when she was still awake, or that to our knowledge, never said goodbye to Adrien. The public narrative is that she "disapeared". Are you joking me? Of course Gabriel covered everything up, but this is never adressed!

The writers have a ironically perfect character in their hands! Emilie is a mystery to the audience, she has a complicated relationship with both the show's main villains (Lila doesn't count if she's in barely a dozen episodes), one of the titular characters, and is also literally the reason why the show's events kick off in the first place! But we are shown nothing of her for over one hundred episodes of Miraculous! Even Ephemeral, one of the episodes I hate the most in the whole show, could have given us a glimpse into whatever Gabriel's restructured world would have looked like! It was the perfect oppurtunity for us to see Emilie up on her feet and actually having a role to play, instead of just discount Mrs Freeze! Yes I know her name is Nora, I know it's not the same situation, shush, I'm making a "Emilie is in the basement fridge" joke. The writers and Thomas did this woman so dirty it's not even funny! And I am offended at her, because at the end Emilie serves no purpose than to have Gabriel be "sympathetic" in Season 2! There are a dozen plot threads just dangling around for them to rip out of the ceiling and play with, but Emilie's very existence amounts to absolutely nothing! A gravestone would have served as a better character, because at least there could be something useful writen on it! Some kind of descriptor that gave us any insight into her personality!

But no, she's a blank slate! She's just some gal that showed up, found a magic peafowl and keeled over, ultimately leading to Adrien's sheltered home life, social awkwardness, and mommy issues! Because you cannot tell me that Emilie's parenting, no matter how well-meaning, didn't screw Adrien's early life up! She could have been the best mum in the world and it still wouldn't have mattered, because she considered him her perfect creation! Can you see the irony here? Can you observe the myriad of metaphors and the hundreds of ways this can get included in a story? Does Thomas Astruc and his team want me to have a mental breakdown??? Like, excuse me, honestly excuse me, but the sheer amount of offense I take both on Emilie's behalf and to her utter uselessness in this franchise is astronomical! I love this character! I really do! Wrote a whole alternate backstory for her where she and Nathalie are college roomates and everything! Heck, I love her so much that I did make her into a crazy psychopath in one of my AUs just so she can play a key part in that story as the Hawkmoth-equivilant! My love and adoration for Emilie Agreste reaches the god damned moon and back, but unless she actually has more than ten seconds of dialogue in some kind of flashback or prequel, I will continue to be offended! I'll continue to be pissed! And I'll continue to pray for the day where she becomes more than a practically irrelevant plot device!

Anyway, I need to cool off. I need to have a drink. I need to relax and take a break before making the post in defense of poor Chloe, because she too got shafted by the narritive, just like Adrien's mum. Expect it sometime soon, or at the very least when I'm not going insane over the fact that despite directly causing every major event in this franchise to occur, Emilie Agreste is a bigger question mark than the dude in a banana costume. Seriously, what the heck is up with Mr Banana anyway? I'll be seeing you all soon, but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

[miraculousweb]

If Gabriel was, while not a good person, was a good father, partner and friend AU

The Wish Aftermath

Gabriel Agreste, the last will and testament/the last letter (or something):

"I leave my trusted friend, partner and confident , Nathalie, with whom I've asked too much already, my butterfly brooch. To my son, Adrian I leave his mother's peacock brooch, know that I am so proud of you. To my dearest wife, Emilie,I return to you the tome I've had within my possession, and I give you my sincerest apologies and regret for the mess I've no doubt left behind. I'm sorry that you have to find out this way, that I've done too many unspeakable things that I can't even begin to list them, I regret that I'll never get the chance to tell you in person or express how sorry I am for all of this. All I can offer you is perhaps hollow excuses and explanations. Duusu, though they owe me nothing, has agreed to pass on my follies and my failings, for you to judge and decide if or how you wish to remember me by.

I regret, so so many things, I am regret that I never got the chance to say goodbye to you my wife, my love, my heart and soul, then or now. I regret that I am not brave enough to face my precious child, my son, my light, before my final moments. I cannot even begin to ask for either of your forgiveness, for these transgressions against you and against those whose lives I've hurt, for the tarnished legacy I leave behind, and all the broken pieces I've left behind for you to pick up in my stead. As the end grows closer I am both terrified and relieved, I know I have no right to make any last requests of anyone but I beg of you, please don't blame Natalie, she did everything she could to mitigate my actions. Do not condemn her for my mistakes. I am sorrowful and guilty for all the pain and suffering I've caused and I alone take the full responsibility for it, she is not responsible for my wrongdoings.

I leave you with these final words, and though I know they are not enough, I know I must press forward still, and write them.

Emilie, I've missed you, with all my heart, mind and soul, and I love you, more than I could ever love myself, more than enough to trade my life for yours in a heartbeat. Please live your life, and take care of Adrien for me, won't you?

Adrien, my darling boy, my only son and child, in the darkest of times, you have been the brightest light that shines, never lose sight of that strength within. I never said it enough, I never told you, not in so many words, just how much I love you and how proud I am of you. Be there for your mother, but don't forget to take care of yourself too. I know I've always demanded too much of you, so consider this my blessing to make your own demands from life and live it to the fullest in whatever way is best for you. It's your turn to decide what life you want to live.

Nathalie, my oldest and dearest friend, thank you. Thank you for everything. I'm sorry for leaving you behind, for putting you through all this, and abandoning you to pick up the pieces in my stead. I wish you nothing but the best, and I want you to know that no matter what anyone says, you are family. I will forever be grateful to you. Goodbye old friend

I love each of you, may you be able to rest easy from here on out without me

Sincerely

Husband, Father, and Friend

Gabriel Agreste "

[miabrown007]

Opening Line Patterns

thank you for the tag @ladyofthenoodle and @aidanchaser!!

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern.

1) Felonies and Other Love Languages

Adrien Agreste is at a standstill, perched up way above ground, and he hates every second of it.

2) Happily Ever After Is a Zero-Sum Game

Once upon a time, Marinette believed in happily ever afters.

3) Scar-Crossed Lovers

Marinette rests her forehead against hospital sheets—the kind she’d never be able to afford.

4) Lowkey? Like Hell

One thing you need to understand about Marinette and Adrien Dupain-Cheng is that they are not and have never been, what the kids call, "lowkey".

5) Fighting Dragons with You

Being the son of Death-Eaters was fine.

6) play stupid games/win stupid prizes

Faking Emily Laughlin's death was never going to be easy.

7) Start a War

Time stops when Chat Noir plummets from Marinette’s skylight.

8) Blinding Lights

Marinette never in her life thought that her first argument with Adrien as a couple would go like this.

9) On Borrowed Time

Time is of the essence, my dear, his mother always used to say, but Adrien was so young back then — just a kid trying to sneak away from his mother’s skirt in the crammed and stifling ballroom — he never really got what she meant.

10) Power-Struggle Power-Couple

“Oh, this could get embarrassing quickly.”

hmmm, the pattern is maybe that I will be talking about the plot, the theme, the purpose of the story first thing first--though I feel like that's pretty standardly what a first line does haha. I'm surprised to see though that I don't have more dialogues in this compilation. at a time I was really big on starting in the middle of a conversation and giving exposition later along the way

no-pressure tagging: @valiantlyjollynightmare @rosekasa @2manyfandoms2count @peachcitt 💕

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Five Ways SentiAdrien is a Retcon

Adrien’s a sentimonster now, but he wasn’t always. Here’s a list of things that wouldn’t have happened if Adrien was a sentimonster:

Chat Blanc

Epehemeral shows us what happens in a world where Gabriel Agreste learns his sentison’s identity. Chat Blanc shows us what happens in a world where Gabriel Agreste learns his human son’s identity. If Adrien was a sentimonster in season 3, then Chat Blanc would have ended with Gabriel winning just like he did in Ephemeral. But it doesn’t because season 3 Adrien was a real boy.

Gorizilla

Nooroo: Master, you don't really think Adrien could be Cat Noir?

Gabriel: I don't know. But he's hiding something for sure. Since his bodyguard has failed to keep an eye on Adrien, there's only one way for us to uncover his secret.

Yeah, put on one of the slave collars and say, “Adrien, tell me what you’re hiding from me?” Problem solved! Except Adrien wasn’t a sentimonster yet, so Gabe had to use an akuma instead.

Felix

As of season 4, Felix and Amilie know that the Agrete’s wedding rings are amoks, so why were they so obsessed with getting their hands on them back in season 3? What were they planning to do with Adrien? Why did Amilie think that was a reasonable request? There’s no way that she’d hand over her son’s ring! Easy answer: the twins cousins weren’t sentimonster yet and the rings weren’t that special. That’s why that plot goes nowhere and why Felix’s actions don’t match his actions after they decided that the boys were sentimonsters.

Origins

Adrien keeps sneaking out of the house to go to school and Gabe just yells at him, never using the slave collars. Plausible, I guess, but still hard to buy given how controlling he is. Why wouldn’t he use one of the rings? He already doesn’t care what Adrien wants and Gabe does not get meaningfully more controlling as the show goes on (it’s part of why season 5 completely fails to make him feel worse in my book).

Miracular

Cataclysms drive Sentimonsters insane, but kill humans, so Chat Noir probably should have gone insane here. Along similar lines, the fact that akuma powers work on him like a normal human is super weird because Adrien isn’t a true human. Can he break his bones? Does he even need to transform to fight? Do all sentimonsters have the ability to use miraculous? I have questions that this show will never answer because the answers don’t exist. That would require competent, well-thought-out lore.

[purrincess-chat]

Call It What You Want CH1 (The Era's Fest (Love-Square Version)

Cat? Posting a new fic? In this economy? It's more likely than you think!

Listen, it's been a hell of a year, but why not send it out in style? And by style I mean here's the fic I wrote for @theerasfestlovesquareversion the era I was assigned was Reputation, and boy did I pack as many references into these 2 chapters as I possibly could.

The fic itself takes place in the Chat Blanc timeline, three years after Adrien is akumatized into Chat Blanc. It's short but sweet and filled to the brim with lots of post-reveal love square goodness and Taylor Swift references galore. I will give more specific warnings tomorrow when I post chapter 2, but there is a small nsfw scene in chapter 2 (c'mon am I gonna reference Dress without letting them smash?) but my beta and I agreed that the scene itself is tame enough to still skirt under a T rating (which was my goal when I wrote it). So, if you like smut, don't get too excited, and if you don't like smut, don't be too worried. It's fairly easy to skip if you don't want to read it. Anywho, I'm gonna shut up and let you guys enjoy this fic~ Bone apple teeth.

Summary: Adrien Agreste did his best to forget what happened three years ago when he and Ladybug defeated Hawkmoth and exposed his identity to the world, but with his father finally being put to trial for his actions as the holder of the Moth Miraculous and reminders of that dark day plastered on every news station in the city, Adrien is left to grapple with the Agreste name and the big reputation that comes with it.

Rating: T

Read on AO3

Chapter 1

Three years ago, Adrien was akumatized into Chat Blanc, and a Ladybug from another reality saved him and restored the world he’d destroyed in his grief. Three years ago, he and his Ladybug unmasked his father as Hawkmoth. Three years ago, his castle crumbled overnight, and everything Adrien knew and loved collapsed in an instant, sending him spiraling into a free fall. And as he fell, he fell apart.

He learned back then that when it came to matters of his father in the eyes of the public, whatever he said wasn’t right. Whatever he did was not enough. His kindness was fake. His pain was manipulative. The boy who was once so loved had his reputation tarnished by his father’s own get-love-quick scheme, and he was left to claw his way from underneath the rubble.

When he finally rose, he rose slowly, and with a desolate knowingness, bathed in his brokenness, he said a prayer of gratitude for each chink in the armor he never knew he needed. Standing confidently next to him was a love that was really something, not just the idea of something. Marinette, his Ladybug. She’d always meant it when she said it was the two of them against the world.

He’d done his best to forget what happened that day, quietly moving on under the watchful care of his aunt who moved into the mansion with her son Felix to take care of him after his father’s arrest. But his father was finally being put to trial for his actions as the holder of the Moth Miraculous, and with reminders of that dark day plastered on every news station in the city, old wounds were resurfacing for everyone. The Agreste name carried with it a big reputation.

“Gabriel Agreste-”

“Gabriel Agreste-”

“Paris’s supervillain Gabriel Agreste-”

“Gabriel Agreste was once on top of the world, but did he do some sketchy things to get there?”

“He akumatized too many people.”

“And what has happened to Adrien?”

“Adrien Agreste voluntarily bringing attention to himself with his donation-”

“What Adrien did is not enough.”

“Adrien Agreste should really be focusing on his reputation-”

“Gabriel Agreste takes the stand in court tomorrow-”

“-Agreste’s reputation-”

“Gabriel Agreste’s trial is finally here, and baby, let the games begin!”

Marinette shut off the TV, and Adrien leaned back against his couch with a sigh. It was happening all over again, the media storm surrounding his father never seemed to end. Every channel was talking about them.

“Jeez, and I thought three years ago was bad,” Plagg said, shoving a wedge of cheese into his mouth on Adrien’s coffee table.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been that long,” Tikki echoed from her plate of cookies.

Adrien leaned his head back against the couch, heart hammering. Flashbacks of that day flickered in his mind, and he squeezed his eyes shut as if to block them out.

“You okay?” Marinette placed her hand over his.

He didn’t bother throwing on a smile she could tell was fake. If anyone could call his bluff on all his usual tricks, it was Marinette. She was the only constant in his life. Instead, he slowly pulled her in close, and she wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling into the crook of his neck. Adrien took deep breaths, soaking in her warmth and the familiar scent of her shampoo. Because he wasn’t okay. He was a mess, but miraculously, he was the mess that she wanted.

“Adrien?” His aunt knocked on his bedroom door before peeking in. “Can I see you downstairs?”

Marinette sat up, leaving a cold emptiness in his arms. He opened his eyes with a sigh and stood up, following his aunt down into his father’s old studio. She’d converted it into a tasteful living room — one of many ways she livened up the mansion when she and Felix moved in.

“I made some tea, would you like some?” Aunt Amelie offered, taking a seat on the sunken couch. She nodded to the seat across from her as she poured him a cup.

“Thanks,” Adrien said as he sat. He picked up the cup, less interested in the drink but more in its warmth. Goose bumps pricked his arms, and he took a sip to swallow back the lump hammering in his throat.

“So, I’ve been thinking lately since you’re almost done with school. Why don’t we go on a little family trip to celebrate? Just the three of us. Marinette can come too if she wants. Belize is gorgeous this time of year, you know,” she said with an innocence she no doubt thought would fool him, but Adrien had grown far too adept at spotting the way people tiptoed around the subject of his father.

“You want to get out of Paris while the trial is going on, don’t you?” Adrien guessed.

“Oh, you and Felix both just see right through me.” She cupped a hand to her cheek, then lowered her gaze with a sigh. “But since you’ve caught me, I’ll speak my mind. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I think it would be best if we moved back to London when you finish school in a couple weeks. Things around Paris might get…dicey if we stay.”

“No! I don’t want to leave Paris. Everything I have left is here,” Adrien said.

Aunt Amelie set her cup down and took a deep breath. “Adrien, this trial isn’t going to be pretty. It’s already bringing a lot of negative attention to you, and I just want to protect you.”

“I’ve already been through it all before three years ago when Ladybug and Chat Noir revealed his identity to the world,” he said. “It was rough, but-”

“It’s different this time.” Aunt Amelie cut him off. “This trial is going to bring to light everything that your father did with evidence, including the things the public didn’t know before. They’ve spent three years building this case, interviewing victims, digging into your father’s past and leaving no stone unturned. I don’t want Gabriel to drag you down with him. We should lay low until this whole thing settles down. As your legal guardian, I’m just doing what I think is best for you.”

Adrien’s hand curled into a fist at his side, nails digging into his palm. He set the tea cup down with more force than he intended and stood up. His aunt braced for an outburst, but instead, Adrien folded his arms over his chest with a grunt.

“Fine. If it’s what you think is best,” he grumbled.

Aunt Amelie relaxed, offering him a sympathetic smile. “I know it’s not what you want, but it will be good for all of us to get away from everything.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Adrien shrugged. “Is that all you wanted to talk about?”

His aunt nodded, so he took his leave. He took a deep breath outside his bedroom door before heading back in to Marinette. Seeing his sullen expression, she crossed the room to cup his face.

“Is everything alright?” she asked. “What did your aunt want?”

Adrien bit his lip, taking her hands in his, but met with her enchanting blue eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to break the news.

“She just wanted to make sure I was doing okay with everything.” He lied.

“Oh.” Marinette gave his hands a squeeze. “Maybe we can play some games to take your mind off of everything. I won’t even kick your butt as hard as I usually do.”

Adrien chuckled at that, stretching down to kiss her. He lingered long enough to savor the taste of her lips, but not long enough to rouse suspicion.

“Video games sound nice,” he said.

She smiled, toting him over to the couch, and he allowed himself to relax in the comfort of her presence. She was the one thing no one could take away from him, but even still, people were already talking. No one in the world could take it forever, and he couldn’t shake the deep fears that the world would divide them. He had a bad feeling about the trial.

***

Reporters crowded outside the mansion the following morning as Adrien got ready for school. As a child celebrity, he was accustomed to media attention, and after his father was exposed, he was even more accustomed to negative media attention. Even still, as he donned a black cap and sunglasses to walk from his front door to the waiting town car, he was acutely aware that the world was watching his every move.

TV station trucks lined the block outside the school, and Adrien braced for the worst as Gorilla parked and moved around to help him out. He kept his head down, dodging microphones and questions as his bodyguard escorted him to the front doors, and although he had hoped the secluded school walls would offer him respite from the unrelenting scrutiny, every eye followed him down the hall to his locker where Marinette, Nino, and Alya were waiting.

“Hey, dude…” Nino tipped his hat.

“How are you holding up?” Alya asked.

“Well, today is the first official day of my father’s trial, so I imagine it’s all downhill from here when details start coming out over the next three days.” He sighed, tossing his sunglasses and hat into his locker.

Marinette took his hand, running the other up his back, and he took a deep breath, forcing his shoulders to relax. Based on the last time, he just needed to keep his head down for a few months, then everything would be fine again. Leave it to his father to spoil his final few weeks of school. He never did want Adrien to enjoy his freedom, even locked up he was still finding ways to make Adrien’s life miserable.

“We’ll get through this,” Marinette said. She offered him a small smile, stretching up to kiss his cheek.

“Yeah, dude, we’ve got your back.” Nino draped an arm around his shoulders.

“Thanks, guys.” Adrien tried to offer them a smile, but it felt too forced, so he just pressed his lips together.

The bell rang, and they started up the hall for their first class, hundreds of eyes watching their every move. Schoolmates exchanged whispers they thought Adrien couldn’t hear as they passed, but he blocked them out. Most of them, anyway.  

“His mom was in the basement.”

“I heard his father’s assistant was in on it.”

“Do you think his dad will go to jail for life?”

“Aye, maybe you should worry about your own lives, and leave my boy’s name out of your mouths,” Nino shouted up the hall, and everyone scurried away like mice.

Adrien squeezed Marinette’s hand three times, hoping to mask how his was shaking. How quickly the world turned on him. None of his efforts to distance himself from his father’s reputation seemed to matter, and no amount of charity work could absolve him of his father’s sins in the eyes of the people of Paris. Still, he had a few people in his corner that weren’t going anywhere, and he’d cling to them until the bitter end. They were his one and only, his life line.

He pressed on through a mostly uneventful day, doing his best to push the trial from his mind as much as possible, but after school, the number of reporters outside seemed to have doubled from the morning. Cameras flashed, and Adrien was met with dozens of microphones everywhere he turned just outside the front doors. He pulled his cap down over his eyes, holding tight to Marinette’s hand as they descended the stairs, but halfway down, a strong hand grabbed his wrist and yanked him away from her grasp. Adrien caught a glimpse of Gorilla through the flashes, and he reached back for Marinette’s hand again in vain. She’d been swallowed in the sea of reporters, and Gorilla wasn’t letting up either.

“Marinette!” he called.

He finally caught sight of her at the top of the stairs with Nino and Alya. Their eyes locked only briefly as Gorilla stuffed him into the town car.

“Go back for her!” Adrien demanded when Gorilla got in on the driver’s side, but his pleas went ignored as they drove away. He leaned back against the seat, tears welling in his eyes. Couldn’t they see that he had nothing to do with his father? The temptation to transform in front of everyone weighed on him, but exposing his identity would mean giving up his Miraculous for good.

His phone buzzed in his pocket—a text from Marinette assuring him she was alright. He typed a quick reply promising to meet up with her at their usual spot later that night and apologizing for the chaos. Wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans, he braced himself as they rounded the corner of their street.

Police cars were parked on either side of the front gates of the mansion, uniformed officers creating a barricade between the mob as they pulled into the courtyard. For once, Adrien was grateful for the tall walls designed to keep people out. Aunt Amelie was waiting for him when he made it inside, her expression grave, and Adrien’s heart dropped to his feet.

“What happened?” he dared to ask.

Aunt Amelie shifted, averting her gaze as she searched for the right words.

“He confessed.” It was Felix who responded, sitting with his legs stretched across the stairs. “To everything.”

“What?” Adrien turned to his aunt, who pinched the bridge of her nose. “Show me.”

“Adrien, I don’t think you-”

“Show me.” He met her gaze head-on. “If you don’t, I’ll just look it up myself.”

Aunt Amelie sighed, beckoning him into the living room. Felix trailed behind them, hands shoved in his pockets like he didn’t have a care in the world, much to Adrien’s annoyance. His cousin had always been aloof, but he could at least pretend to care that Adrien’s entire world was falling apart around him.

Adrien settled onto the couch as his aunt pulled up the trial footage, stomach churning in knots. She flicked him one last look as if to ask if he was sure, and at his nod, she pressed play. It had been several years since Adrien had seen his father’s face. The last time he’d seen him was when the police were shoving him into a police car after he and Ladybug reclaimed the Moth Miraculous. His mugshot was on every newsstand in the city for weeks after that.

The years had not been kind to his father. His hair was completely gray, and his usual neat pompadour was replaced by a messy low ponytail. His stony eyes were more hollow than Adrien remembered, framed by deep wrinkles in the corners. Nevertheless, he sat with his back straight and stiff, just like always. Adrien squirmed, almost expecting him to come through the screen and lecture him.

“Don’t blame me, I did it all for love. Any of you would have done the same thing if you were in my position,” his father said. “For my beloved Emilie, I would do anything. I would cross the line. I would waste my time. I’d even lose my mind. I’d fall from grace just to touch her face.” He shook his head with a smile. “Everyone keeps saying I did something bad, but I’d do it over and over and over again if I could.”

“Leave it to my uncle to make an even worse mess of things.” Felix rolled his eyes. “Deranged idiot still thinks he’s innocent.”

Aunt Amelie turned the screen off, hugging her arms to her chest with a sigh. “I’ve made the decision. We’re leaving for London tonight.”

“No!” Adrien stood up.

“Adrien, look at the scene outside. We aren’t safe here. I know you wanted to finish the school year out with your friends, but we don’t have that luxury anymore. It’s not just reporters outside anymore. There are people who are hurt and angry, and they’re looking for somewhere to take that anger out. I’m just trying to protect you.” She cupped his face in her hands, tears welling in her green eyes. “We have to leave. I’m sorry.”

Adrien’s throat closed, eyes burning and wet. “Can I at least say goodbye to my friends, please?”

“There isn’t much time,” Aunt Amelie said. “And we can’t just walk around with the crowd outside.”

You can’t. Adrien ran his thumb over his Miraculous.

“Then can you at least give me a few hours to make some calls and pack up. Please?” Adrien held her gaze until she nodded, and he paced out of the room, keeping his steps even to mask his eagerness.

Kicking open the door to his bedroom, he beelined straight for his closet, yanking out a few changes of clothes as well as his toiletries from the bathroom. He stuffed them into a black duffle bag, and headed back into his room, startling when he nearly collided with Felix.

“Shouldn’t you be packing too?” he asked.

“I packed this afternoon while you were at school.” Felix clasped his hands behind his back, pacing the length of Adrien’s desk. “I just thought you’d like some comfort. You’ve had a trying day.”

“Since when have you ever been comforting?” Adrien quirked a brow.

“I took a psychology class when I was working on my bachelor’s degree,” Felix stated, but at Adrien’s unamused frown, he rolled his eyes. “I understand your life is in shambles, and in general, I don’t trust anyone, and nobody trusts me.”

“That’s an understatement.” Adrien moved to pack a few things from his desk into the duffle bag.

 “And even though I think your friends are frivolous, and you still haven’t forgiven me for walking in on you shagging your girlfriend-”

“Yes, after we had the conversation about what a sock on the door means,” Adrien said.

“Despite all of that, you are the only family I have, and I’ve come to see you as a brother in the three years we’ve lived together.” Adrien stopped and turned to face him, and Felix averted his gaze with a huff. “I know this situation isn’t what you wanted, but from what I’ve seen, you have a lot of people that love and support you. Things with your father will blow over eventually, and you’ll have all those people to fall back on.”

Adrien smiled, leaving his duffle bag on the desk and opening his arms to Felix.

“No.”

“It’s happening.” Adrien closed the distance between them, pulling a reluctant and stiff Felix into his embrace. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

“I can’t comprehend why you’re so upset about all of this. When my father died, I was relieved to be rid of him. From where I’m sitting, your father is finally getting what he deserves,” Felix said.

“Can’t we just have a nice moment?” Adrien groaned.

“We both know that’s not in my nature.” Felix pushed him away and headed for the door. “Send my regards to Marinette.”

Adrien waited until he was gone before transforming and disappearing with his duffle bag into the night. Marinette was in her room when he peeked in through her window, and at his knock, she rushed to let him in.

“How are you holding up, kitty?” She pulled him into her arms, warm and familiar.

“Oh, ya know. Bad.” He looked her up and down, quirking a brow. She was dressed in a form fitting black dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. “Me-ow, my lady. What’s the occasion?”

“Oh, this old thing?” She cocked a hip and brushed his nose with her finger. “I made it for our graduation party. I just finished the last few adjustments, so I wanted to try it on.”

“You look beautiful, but I think it needs a little something…” He pulled a small box from his belt and held it out to her. “It was going to be a graduation gift, but now’s as good a time as ever.”

She smiled brightly, her starry eyes sparking up his darkest night. Carefully removing the ribbon, Marinette lifted the lid of the box, gasping at the gold pendant bearing their initials.

“Kitty, it’s gorgeous!”

He pulled her in, kissing her soft and deep, and she welcomed him eagerly. When they parted, he helped her fasten the chain around her neck and pressed a gentle kiss to her exposed shoulders. He hugged her waist, resting his chin on top of her head with a sigh.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” he said, “but I really don���t want to say it.”

“What’s wrong, chaton?” Marinette shifted to face him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him down until their noses touched. “Is it… about your father?”

Chat Noir kissed her again, drawing strength from the warmth of her breath. What he wouldn’t give to stay locked in that moment forever. Hidden away and safe with the woman he loved, no harsh stares or camera flashes. Just the taste of her lips. She made him so happy, but the looming escape to London turned it back to sad. It was the two of them against the world, so how could he be expected to leave her behind?

When they pulled away again, he flashed her one of his cheshire cat smiles and dropped onto one knee, placing a hand over his heart. “You know I can’t let you go, m’lady. Your hand print’s on my soul. That’s why I gave you that necklace with our initials — because you really know me, which is more than anyone else can say. No matter what happens, you and I are end game. I’ve always known that.”

“Chaton…”

“You’ve made your mark on me, Marinette. There will always be an indentation in the shape of you, a golden tattoo on my heart.” He pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. “Even in my worst times, you could see the best in me, and I know that no matter what happens, you’ll always be there for me.”

“Adrien.” Her voice was firm, and she tilted his chin to meet her gaze. “Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?”

His smile faded, all of his boyish charm and humor evaporating. He stood up, taking a few steps back and averting his gaze.

“My aunt wants us to go to London until all of the buzz around my father’s trial is over. We’re leaving tonight.” His stomach churned, bile burning his throat. He swallowed hard, brushing a tear before it could spill over his mask.

“How long will you be gone?” she asked, voice soft and broken.

“My aunt thinks we may have to lay low for as long as a year, but we don’t know for sure.” He shrugged. “All of this is just so… It’s not safe for us to stay here anymore.” He looked up into her big blue eyes, wet with tears, and his glass heart shattered. “We can still see each other. We can take turns flying between Paris and London. We can rendezvous on top of Big Ben—you love Big Ben.”

“Adrien…” She hugged her arms to her chest.

“Marinette, I love you, and you will always be part of my life, okay?” He cupped her face in his hands, wiping her tears with his thumbs.

“It’s not that.” She shook her head. “I just feel so useless. When everything happened three years ago, I couldn’t save you. You were akumatized, and someone else saved you because I wasn’t strong enough, and now, I feel like I can’t do anything to help or make it better! Even now, I still can’t save you from this. I-”

Chat Noir placed his fingers over her lips to silence her. “That’s not true, m’lady. You were there for me when my whole world got turned upside down. You make all my gray days clear, and you’ve stayed by my side no matter what.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her nose, his mind wandering to the black duffle bag waiting up on her balcony. Heart beating fast and mind whirling with possibilities, he met her gaze again. “You don’t need to save me, Marinette, but… Would you run away with me?”

Marinette searched his expression, pressing her lips into a firm line and nodding.

“Yes.”