#Adrichat is really good at putting up a front that everything is fine

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Keep hearing people say maribug keep asking adricat if he's ok and he keep saying he's ok instead of telling her his problem but I don't remember it happened more than once in s4 in Rockettear but even then the circumstances of that episode did warrant the "nothing" answer he gave her unless he want to tell her that "nino tell me you let nino and alya know each other identity" which will reveal adricat identity. So when else did she ask? about the thing in hack-san, I think another credit goes to alya since she's the one who bring the topic to maribug who seems to be blissfully unaware that her leaving without telling adeicat that she send subtitute would be a problem.

I didn't get into this side of things in my other post because it was long and I wanted to focus on why Chat Noir's behavior was so frustrating, but this ask brings up the other big reason why the season four conflict was such a frustrating and terribly written plot line. Specifically, the part of your ask where you point out that Maribug seems blissfully unaware that her actions are having a negative impact on Chat Noir until someone points it out to her.

Yes, she is presented as blissfully unaware of this and every other interpersonal conflict we're given in season four. Your ask treats this as a failing on Maribug's part as if she should have obviously realized that she was in the wrong, but that's the whole problem. Telling kids - telling anyone really - that they should just magically know what others need is a frankly terrible life lesson as that's just not how the world works. You cannot just assume that everyone will have the same view of the world as you do and instantly pick up on the same issues as you do. That is the path to easily avoidable frustration and conflict. It also teaches people to assume that their view of the world is inherently correct when that is rarely the case. We often don't know the whole story and the other person's point of view may end up being equally or even more valid. This issue is extremely present in season four as Marinette has legitimate reasons to behave the way she does, which I'll get into in a bit.

If Marinette were written as feeling guilty about how she was treating Chat Noir, then this would be a different story. She'd be way more in the wrong and would shoulder a much greater portion of the blame. But as is? She has no idea that she's doing anything wrong. And until someone takes the time to tell her that her actions are causing harm, she is going to continue causing harm because she has no idea that she's causing harm.

In fact, I'd argue that the Alya thing in Hack San is a point in Maribug's favor. Throughout the episode, we see Marinette sending Alya messages on ways to be a good partner to Chat Noir, proving that she does in fact care about him. And then, as soon as Alya says, "You need to talk to Chat Noir," what does Maribug do?

She goes and talks to Chat Noir, giving him a pretty good apology for the problem she now knows she caused. Because, shockingly, Maribug doesn't actually want to hurt her partner. She also clearly cares about his feelings, making me want to take the season four conflict and tear it into itty bitty pieces because what is the conflict even supposed to be when you write shit like this?

I want to briefly step away from Miraculous and talk about this issue in a broader context via this YouTube short:

This short is from a Vietnamese woman who moved to Germany. Her YouTube channel is about her experiences there, including things like the short above which goes into the differences between what it means to be a dinner guest in Vietnam and what it means to be a dinner guest in Germany. In Vietnam, it's apparently standard for the guests to cook dinner with you where as, in Germany, you're expected to have the meal ready when the guests arrive, making this a situation where it's super easy to come across as rude just by doing what you think is normal.

Society is relatively aware that these types of culture clashes are a thing, but you don't have to be from different cultures to have these types of situations. Every person has their own unique needs and ideas of what "normal" is. The culture they were raised in will affect this, but so will their family, their personal needs, and many other factors. Two people can be raised on the same street and wind up with wildly different world views even though they supposedly share a culture. This is extra true when you add in compounding factors like neurodiversity, which is why it's an exercise in futility to say, "But Maribug should have realized..."

Well, she clearly didn't. And you can't change that she didn't realize whatever you're mad about. All you can do is have someone tell her what she's doing wrong. If she then continues the behavior, go ahead and judge away. But if she immediately corrects it like she did in Hack San? Doesn't that just prove that she truly didn't know that Chat Noir was hurting and would have probably fixed all of his problems if someone just pointed them out to her?

This is only exacerbated by the fact that Marinette's behavior in season four is largely unchanged from her behavior in previous seasons. The only major change is that she revealed her identity to Alya, but as soon as that's pointed out as a problem, she course corrects with an apology. After that, she thinks that everything is okay because why wouldn't she? Chat Noir said it was fine and everything else has been business as usual.

Bringing temp heroes into help as needed? That's been going on since season two. Having these additional members has been vital in multiple battles and there have been plenty of times where Chat Noir took a background role to the temp hero of the day like in Sapotis, Rena Rouge's season two debut. So why would Maribug suddenly think that this dynamic is a problem when it's been working fine for so long? We even had a whole episode about how Chat Noir was still needed in spite of the new heroes back in season three! Or, at least, I think that was Desperada's message? This show is shockingly bad at giving clear lessons.

Keeping guardian knowledge from Chat Noir? That's also been going on since season two and was even treated as a conflict that supposedly got resolved in the episode Syren which was the episode that ended with Master Fu coming to the mansion to talk to Adrien after everything was over.

When I watched that episode, I assumed this meant that Chat Noir was going to be more involved in things like picking the temp heroes. I actually thought this was how we were going to get Queen Bee because I knew she was going to be a thing, but it made no sense for Marinette to pick Chloe for a miraculous. Of course, I was wrong. Nothing changed after Syren. Chat Noir remained nothing more than the comic relief while Ladybug got all the insider info.

To be clear, I think that was a terrible move writing wise, but it doesn't change the fact that this is what they went with. This is the established dynamic. I can't even say that Alya learning Marinette's secret led to something new. She's just taken Marinette's old role while Marinette has taken on Master Fu's old role. This show loves it's status quo and Chat Noir has been at least tolerant of that status quo since Syren, so it's not surprising that Maribug doesn't register that this is a thing that should change and no one bothers to point it out to her even though she has a mentor in Tikki (and Su Han, I guess?) and a confidant in Alya and a whole slew of Kwamis who could also provide insight if they were allowed to do that sort of thing. (Sass and Wayzz were robbed of mentor roles.) Additional blame goes to Plagg because he should absolutely have told Adrien to talk to Ladybug. What is the point of giving these characters mentors who never mentor? It's aggravating in the extreme.

To circle back to the first part of your ask, outside of Hack San and Rocketear, I don't think there are any times when Ladybug invites feedback from Chat Noir unless you want to give credit to the end of Kuro Neko:

Cat Noir: (lands next to her) I've been a really temperamental kitty, m'lady. I didn't realize how much trouble I'd make for you by giving back my Miraculous. Ladybug: (sits closer to him) Just because I don't need you all the time doesn't mean that I don't need you at all, Cat Noir. No one could ever replace you.

Which isn't Maribug inviting him to tell her what's up, but she is clearly willing to listen to him and reassure him, further backing up my point about this conflict being some of the worst writing I've ever had to suffer through. If Maribug always fixes the issue as soon as she learns about it, you are not writing a situation where she's clearly in the wrong. You are writing an easily solved communication issue where she gets blamed for something she clearly doesn't realize she's doing wrong and it is so frustrating!!! I feel so bad for her. The next episode is Penalteam, btw, which starts the battle with this gem:

Ladybug: (laughs) Nice scare tactics, but it's not gonna work. Cat Noir and I are the best at soccer! Cat Noir: (Whispers to Ladybug) I don't know a thing about soccer M'lady. Maybe it's time to call the real team?

And basically just spends the whole episode making Chat Noir seems like a worthless partner while Maribug tries her best to make him - and everyone else - feel special.

Oh, and the episode before Kuro Neko? Well, it's technically Ephemeral, but that got magically overwritten so let's go one further back and we get to Dearest Family, which ends with this:

Cat Noir: (grabs a golden paper crown on the coffee table) Since I'm the king, (wears the crown on his head) would you be my queen, Ladybug? Ladybug: With pleasure, kitty cat! Tradition is tradition!

Oh yes, these two are in such conflict and Maribug does nothing to validate Chat Noir. He's in pain every episode and she's just totally oblivious to it.

If that was what they wrote, then I'd probably agree that we needed more instances of her asking if Chat Noir was okay. But it's not what they wrote. If you look through the list of season four episodes, you'll find that less than half of them deal with the supposed conflict of the season (by my count, only 8 of the 24 episodes before the final actually showcase the conflict and they are not in a logical order in terms of escalation as I tried to demonstrate above). The rest of the episodes flat out ignore it or even straight up work against the conflict like when Ladybug says this to Chat Noir in Guilttrip: "I probably don't tell you this enough, but I couldn't do this without you. And it'd be a lot less fun too."

Seriously, what even is this season? What is the conflict supposed to be? Because it sure as shit isn't Maribug undervaluing Chat Noir, if memory servers, season four sees her validate him more times than any other season. And it isn't her guiltily hiding things from him like so many fanfics claim because we have multiple points of evidence that prove that she's completely oblivious that there even is a conflict. So what conflict are the writers actually trying to write?

What's even more baffling is that none of this logically leads to the loss at the end of the season:

Maribug's new secrets didn't lead to her downfall. The only reason she lost was because of the secret that's always been there - a fact that's never revealed to her - and a freaking evil twin! So why did it matter that Maribug was keeping secrets? This is made even worse by season five maintaining all of the secrets, once again begging the question of what lesson were we trying to teach here???

Chat Noir wasn't needed for the final fight of the season, Maribug only needed the powers of a few of the temp heroes to win, a baffling ending to a season whose focus was Chat Noir feeling unimportant. You could scrap that conflict entirely and the ending would not change. In fact....

Adrien quitting to be nothing more than a good little boy who obeys his father would have actually saved the world from eventually being rewritten. If you think about it, the season four final actually punishes Adrien for being defiant. So does season five as, if Chat Noir had quit, his father would still be alive. I thought this show was supposed to be a romcom, not a tragedy. Why is Adrien being punished for being a hero? Is this supposed to be karma for lying to Ladybug with the whole Catwalker thing?

This shit is why I say I'm a writing salt, character sugar blog. I can't get mad at the characters when they're in such a nonsense story where things never logically tie together. They all deserve so much better.

None of this is meant to imply that ignorance is a blanket excuse for hurting others. Nor is it meant to imply that you have to forgive someone who hurt you just because they didn't mean to. There's a ton of nuance around these topics. But season four acknowledges none of that nuance while creating a situation that desperately needed nuance because there was no clear right and wrong here. Should Maribug work to be more aware of others feelings? Sure, but that journey can only start after she's made aware of her faults and no one ever points them out to her. Does Chat Noir need to work on clearly communicating his needs? Desperately, but no one is teaching him that lesson so he remains a terrible communicator who suffers in silence. What impressively bad writing.

[hateswifi]

No More Second Chances: Chapter Three

So not even all hell breaking loose (cough adrichat) will stop me from posting. (Just ignore that I haven’t posted in like a week). Without further ado.

No More Second Chances 

The Master: Master List

———————————-

After collecting the little she has from her locker, they meet Jon outside. “Did you call your parents to let them know?”

“Yep! Ready to go?”

“Yes,” Damian grumbles, following the energetic boy.

“So how are you two even friends? Damian you’re super grumpy and Jon is just like a ball of energy and sunshine,” Marinette asks, walking in between the boys. (Yes, somehow the sidewalk fit three people, idk just imagine it ok?)

“Our fathers’ are friends.”

“But! He’s grown to love me,” Jon taunts in a sing-song voice.

“You’re bearable,” Damian corrects. The train ride back to Metropolis was quiet, or as quiet as a ride can be with Jon. She blocked out the world and just let her thoughts fly on the page. She was brought back to reality by Jon tugging her arm.

“Woah! That’s awesome!” Jon says, looking at the drawing. It was her, well Ladybug, and Chat Noir first bumping in front of the Eiffel Tower. “Who are they?” 

She slammed the sketchbook closed and looked at her phone, March 21st. “Umm not important, I have to call someone,” Marinette says, rushing in front of the boys a bit. She dials a number, one neither boys can see, before speaking in rapid French. “Adrien did you realize it’s been a year since we finished the war?”

“Um yeah earlier today Aunt Emelie took me to visit him,” Adrien responds.

“How’d that go?”

“It was rough, but in other news I convinced Aunt Emelie to let me go to college in America.”

“That’s fantastic! I was thinking about staying here as well, cause well ya know Sabine and Tom,” Marinette shrugs, opening the lobby door.

“Makes sense, by the way, watch out Aunt Emelie adores you and she heard about your parents, she may or may not be trying to get adoption papers,” Adrien chuckles.

“I’ll decline the nicest way possible,” Marinette giggles, pressing the elevator button. “Well I’m almost home, and I have a project to work on, so I’ll talk to you sometime soon, bye love you!”

“Sooooooo, who was that?” Jon asks, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

“That was Adrien,” Marinette said, stepping out of the elevator.

“Your boyfriend?” Jon asks, drawing out the words, teasingly.

“Nope, my best friend,” Marinette clarifies. Before turning to Damian to say, “I’m going to get changed, I’ll be out in a minute.” When she came back out her hair was pulled into a messy bun, she was wearing her favorite fuzzy cropped cat sweatshirt that had cat ears on the hood and the string had pom poms on the end. She was also wearing light skinny ripped jeans.

“Mari, why didn’t you just get dressed into something comfortable?” Jon asks, pulling out the juice from the fridge.

“Because, I haven’t seen a lot of the city yet so whenever we finish making progress for today, I’m going to go out for a walk,” Marinette explained, opening her backpack.

“You should be careful, this may not be Gotham, but it’s still dangerous,” Damian says, finally looking up from his phone. He would never admit it, but his face tinted a light color of pink.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve learned self defense when I was living in Paris,” Marinette said, brushing off their worries. “Ok for this project…” (i don’t take business as an elective, so imma just gonna skip it).

It was two hours when Clark and Lois walked in, they were surprised to see Damian get along with someone so well. Marinette isn’t just anyone though, she was a sunshine.

“Hey, Damian it’s nice to see you again,” Clark said, placing a hand on his back.

“Likewise, Clark,” he responded, not looking up from their work.

“Are you staying for dinner?”

“No I should be getting home, father is strict about curfew,” Damian said, picking up his stuff.

“We have to talk about plans for tomorrow, so I’ll walk you outside,” Marinette said, standing. They walk in a tense silence for a moment before she starts speaking again. “So I think tomorrow we should work on question five through eight.”

“Where do you want to work?”

“It doesn’t really matter, but if you want, because we worked here today, we can work at your place,” Marinette suggests.

“That would be adequate,” Damian sighs, pressing the elevator button. “Good night, Marinette.”

“Good night, Damian,” she responds as the elevator’s doors close. She pads back to the apartament  and is about to open the door when he hears Jon scream. “He blushed!”

“I literally step out for a minute, and you are all talking about my nonexistent love life,” Marinette said, crossing her arms across her chest, she was leaning up against the door frame, watching the scene unfold in front of her.

“He blushed though! Trust me that’s the closest he’s ever been to having a crush,” Jon defends.

“Doubt it, it was warm in here and he was still wearing his uniform, which may I remind you is long sleeves and pants,” Marinette said, pushing herself off the doorway. “So on a different topic, what’s for dinner?”

“We were just going to order pizza,” Lois answered. (Totally forgot that Superman is vegetarian, so like ignore that.)

“Cool, I’m going to go out for a walk before dinner if that’s fine with you,” Marinette asked, moving towards her room to grab a windbreaker.

“Yes, just take your phone with you, dinner will probably be here in twenty-ish minutes,” Clark said towards her room. She grabbed what she needed, put on her shoes, and ran out the door. She had a peaceful walk, the cool air calming her down, leaving her with her thoughts. As much as her parents’ hurt her, she couldn’t help but miss them, even if it was just a bit. She missed how everything use to be before the drama that Lila brought, but it helped her realize who actually care about her for her. Time flies when lost in her thought, apparently, because the ten minute timer, she set to make sure she would be back in time, went off. She sighs before walking back the way she came. 

Dinner was filled with light chatter about the day, more getting to know you things, and an explanation about how their weekly schedule is. After dinner, Jon and Marinette work on homework with Lois watching T.V. Superman had just stopped a train from crashing. Both Lois and Jon clapped and smiled right before Superman flew off the scene. Not too long after that, Clark ran back into the apartment holding a bag of groceries. Marinette shrugged and chalked it up to them being Americans

When she finished her homework, she said goodnight, did her nightly routine before falling asleep, oblivious the chaos happening in Paris that was unleashed by Sabine and Tom.

-----------------------------

CLIFFHANGEEEER! but like foreshadowing for salt! and getting what they deserve

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[mikauzoran]

Ladrien/Adrienette/Adrichat: Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses: Kiss Forty-Eight

Read it on AO3: Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses: ...out of habit.

It was currently not a good day to be Adrien Agreste, he thought as he took a flying leap off the runway and fled amidst the screaming audience from the model who had been akumatized thanks to his father’s pitilessness.

The day of the show, while they were doing their last run-through, Gabriel had decided that one of the model’s gaits was objectionable.

“Stop,” Gabriel called, his voice reverberating throughout the auditorium as the models, technicians, and various crew members held their breath, waiting for hail and brimstone to be rained down upon them.

“You,” Gabriel intoned flatly, indicating Clement, a new model only a few years older than Adrien.

The young man stiffened as if turned to stone by a gorgon, his eyes widening in sheer terror.

“The way you walk is too flouncy. I want you to glide. Try it again,” Gabriel directed.

“Yes, Sir,” Clement gulped, thinking light, diaphanous thoughts as he went back and attempted the walk again.

“No. Stop,” Gabriel growled in irritation before Clement had even made it four steps. “Now you’re too wooden.” Gabriel shook his head in disappointment, bellowing, “Adrien.”

Adrien, who was scheduled to walk last in that grouping and had been waiting in the wings, poked his head out at the summons. “Yes, Father?”

“Come out here and show this amateur how to walk properly. I want him to float weightlessly. Show him how to move gracefully, with dignity,” Gabriel instructed.

“Yes, Father,” Adrien acquiesced, shooting Clement an apologetic look before gliding smoothly down and back up the runway, making it look effortless.

“There. Now that you’ve seen how a professional does it, try again,” Gabriel commanded with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“You’ve got this,” Adrien whispered encouragingly, giving Clement a small smile.

Clement nodded and blew out a determined breath before making his third attempt, trying to reproduce Adrien’s movements.

He’d only made it about a third of the way down the catwalk when Gabriel stopped him again. “That’s quite enough. Marcel.” He turned to the stage manager. “How many looks is he modeling?”

Marcel quickly flipped through the papers on his clipboard. “Uh…Three, Monsieur Agreste.”

“Reassign them to Adrien.” He looked back up at Clement in annoyance. “You have wasted enough of my time. You are fired.”

“Father, no!” Adrien protested. “That’s not fair!”

Gabriel shook his head, unmoved. “Adrien, enough. This is a business, not a charity, and I hired a model, not a marionette. Marcel, have the looks adjusted to Adrien’s measurements. Will the current order allow for enough time for Adrien to change?”

 Adrien was, frankly, surprised that it had taken so long for Papillon to akumatized Clement, but now the mistreated model was shooting silk scarves out of his wrists like Spiderman, out for revenge on Gabriel and, by extension, Adrien.

“My father needs sensitivity training,” Adrien muttered bitterly as he dodged around people scattering in all directions.

Plagg snorted. “Understatement of the year.”

Amid the frenzied shouts of the crowd, a yelp of distress caught Adrien’s ear, and he turned to see Elise, a redheaded model he sometimes traded snarky comments with, fall before The Mannequin (as Clement was now calling himself). Elise held her arms up in a futile attempt to defend herself, bracing for the impact.

“Hey!” Adrien called, picking up a folding chair and throwing it at the akuma. “I believe you’re looking for me.”

The Mannequin turned with dead, wooden eyes and stared Adrien down.

Suddenly, playing the hero without the super suit didn’t seem like such a bright idea as The Mannequin shot out a tentacle of silk scarves, wrapping it around Adrien and lifting him off the ground.

Adrien’s panic was short-lived, however, as Ladybug swung onto the scene.

“Hey!” she shouted as she landed in a crouch. She rose to her feet and glared at the akuma, demanding, “Put him down,” in a tone that brooked no objection.

Adrien swooned a little bit at her command of the situation. He’d always had a thing for strong women, and his girlfriend was, unquestionably, the coolest.

His reverie was interrupted when The Mannequin took Ladybug’s instructions a little too literally and sent him hurtling through the air on a collision course with the pavement.

“Adrien!” Ladybug screamed, launching into action.

She scooped him out of the air and made a break for it, determined to get her Miraculous-less boyfriend to safety until she and her superhero boyfriend could take care of the supervillain du jour.

She set him down on the roof of the nearby Le Grand Paris and pulled back, holding him at arms’ length to frantically inspect him for damage.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” she demanded.

“No, no,” he assured. “Not a scratch on me. Promise. I’m just a little shaken. But I’m fine. Honest.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” she sighed, hands coming to rest on his face, gently cupping his cheeks like she did when she was Marinette.

The gesture had a decidedly non-platonic feel to it, causing Adrien to blink, momentarily confused.

Was she going to…?

Before he could react, she pulled him in, pressing her lips to his in a quick but solid kiss.

“Stay safe,” she admonished, not seeming to realize what she had just done. “Chat Noir and I will take care of everything.”

Without looking back, she took off, returning to the fight.

Adrien stared after her for a minute, perplexed, before he burst out laughing. “Oh my gosh, Plagg. Did you see that?”

“Yep,” the kwami sighed, too tired of the identity shenanigans to really be amused. “You’re both idiots.”

“At least now I don’t have to feel so bad about myself for kissing Marinette as Adrien when I was dating her as Chat Noir because it looks like my Lady just made the same mistake herself,” Adrien chuckled.

“Hilarious,” Plagg remarked wearily. “You’re obviously meant for one another. Now, can we transform and defeat the akuma already?”

“Sure, Plagg,” Adrien agreed with an impish smile. “Transform me.”

 Later that evening when she finally got away from the wreckage of the Gabriel show, Marinette found Chat Noir and Adrien snuggling on Adrien’s couch.

“What are you, an octopus?” she chuckled, surveying the way Chat Noir had positioned himself around Adrien from behind with Adrien sitting between his legs, Chat’s arms wrapped around Adrien’s torso, his chin resting on Adrien’s shoulder.

“We almost lost him today!” Chat whined like the drama queen he was.

Adrien rolled his eyes. “I was fine,” he sighed. “Ladybug had it under control.”

“The platonic love of my life!” Chat yowled theatrically. “Almost dashed to pieces before my very eyes!”

“You weren’t even there,” Marinette snorted, trying to contain a fond grin. But then a thought occurred to her, and her begrudging grin wrinkled into a frown. “…Were you?”

“He was,” Adrien confirmed just to drive Marinette nuts wondering who her masked boyfriend could be in his civilian life.

“I almost transformed right there in front of everyone when Clement grabbed you,” Chat insisted, squeezing Adrien tighter. “Thank goodness Ladybug showed up when she did.”

“Yeah,” Marinette muttered, distracted.

“Speaking of Ladybug,” Adrien snickered. “You will never guess what happened to me today.”

Chat clicked his tongue. “Pretty Boy, I know you went through a traumatic experience earlier, but try to keep up. We were there when Ladybug saved your toned behind when Clement got akumatized. This isn’t news.”

“No,” Adrien insisted turning to whisper conspiratorially at Marinette. “Ladybug kissed me.”

Marinette’s entire body lost all manner of colour, leaving her bleached like a painted sign left out in the elements.

Adrien could practically see the cogs in her brain turning as she put the pieces together and realized that Ladybug and Marinette were two very different people to Adrien and one of them had overstepped her bounds.

“What?!” Chat Noir gasped, pulling back to get a good look at Adrien’s face. “No! Seriously?!”

Adrien nodded, giggling madly. “Seriously. She set me down on the roof of Chloé’s penthouse suite, told me to stay safe, and kissed me. I barely knew what hit me.”

Marinette made a strangled choking sound (which the boys pointedly pretended not to hear) as the full implications of her mistake hit home.

Meanwhile, Chat slapped Adrien on the arm, giving his boyfriend a heated glare. “Do you know how many years I tried and failed to get Ladybug to kiss me? And you just stumble into danger like the dork that you are, and she just lays one on you unprompted like that?”

“Yep.” Adrien grinned widely, enjoying provoking Chat Noir.

Chat pursed his lips, stewing. “…Darn. Maybe she has a thing for damsels in distress.”

Adrien shrugged. “Maybe. It’s not like I’ve really spent a whole lot of time with her, so… Maybe she’s a fan of my work?”

Marinette winced at the thought of Adrien assuming Ladybug was a crazy fangirl who used her position as a superhero to force herself on unsuspecting models. Her mind whirled as she tried to come up with a way to fix this disaster.

Chat hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know. She’s not really the type to get sucked into a celebrity crush. She’s a really practical, sincere person, and she feels things deeply. I can’t imagine her acting on shallow feelings, so she must really like you.”

There was a beat during which Marinette mentally commended Chat Noir for knowing her so well before an important realization dawned upon him.

Chat’s eyes opened wide as he gasped, “Oh my gosh…what if she knows you in real life?!”

Marinette almost screamed.

Adrien’s mouth rounded into a little “o” of surprise. “You think so?”

Chat nodded enthusiastically. “That would explain it. Maybe you two go to school together or something?”

Marinette needed to put a stop to this before things got out of control. Unfortunately, things quickly snowballed before she could figure out how to shut the conversation down.

Adrien chuckled softly. “You know, I used to have this crazy theory that Marinette was Ladybug. They’re so similar.”

Marinette felt her soul leave her body.

Then it got worse.

“Really?” Chat laughed at the coincidence. “Me too! They’re just both so amazing and talented and strong and resourceful,” he cooed, delighting in the opportunity to wax poetic about his girlfriend.

“Is there something you’re not telling us, Marinette?” Adrien teased, turning to look at her.

He found her complexion as chalky as skim milk and her eyes blown wide in horror. Her mind was going a mile a minute as she attempted to come up with a plausible explanation all while trying to fend off hyperventilation and a panic attack.

“Hey.” Adrien separated himself from Chat Noir and took Marinette’s hands in his own, coming around to kneel in front of her. “Calm down, Marinette. Deep breaths. I’m so sorry. We were just teasing. We didn’t mean anything by it.”

“We definitely know you’re not Ladybug,” Chat assured, resting one hand on her upper arm while the other rubbed soothing circles on her back. “Just breathe, Princess. It’s going to be okay.”

She nodded, vaguely registering their words amid the cacophony inside her mind.

“I didn’t kiss her back,” Adrien promised, trying to give Marinette some reasonable excuse for flipping out like she was. “I swear I wouldn’t cheat on you guys, not even with a superhero.”

“Don’t worry, Marinette,” Chat coaxed, scooting in to nuzzle her hair comfortingly. “I’ll have a talk with my partner and let her know in no uncertain terms that she’s to keep her hands off of my boyfriend.”

“Be nice,” Adrien chastised lightly. “I don’t want to sow discord in your partnership. You two need to work together to save the day, so don’t say anything you can’t take back.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be nice,” Chat sighed, pressing a kiss to Marinette’s temple and giving Adrien’s hair a playful ruffle. “Now, what do you two say to some dinner? I’m starving.”

“Right!” Marinette spoke up a little too suddenly and shrilly. “Dinner! Cooking. That sounds…uh…wonderful. Let’s…make Indian food?”

“I’m down for anything with Paneer,” Adrien volunteered.

Chat Noir snickered. “Plagg would be so proud that you’ve finally come around to the good cheeses.”

That got a laugh out of both Marinette and Adrien, and they headed to the Agrestes’ kitchen to initiate a hostile takeover and set about cooking several rice, vegetable, and bean dishes together.

 That night, Adrien was lounging on his couch in his My Little Pony pyjamas when a rap at the window announced an unexpected guest.

His first thought was that Chat Noir had come to visit him, but then his tired brain remembered that he was Chat Noir.

He looked up from the documentary on Japanese tea ceremony to find Ladybug standing nervously on his window ledge, looking like she’d rather be standing over an open shark tank.

Adrien scrambled to his feet and hurried over to the window to unlock it.

“Ladybug! Hey. Good evening. What a surprise!” he rattled off, mentally rolling his eyes at himself for having no chill.

“Good evening,” she greeted politely, but a pained expression she wasn’t quite able to hide betrayed her unease. “I’m sorry to bother you so late.”

“You’re no bother at all,” he quickly assured. “What can I do for you?”

She shifted anxiously, her left heel lifting so that she could toe at his widow ledge. “I was hoping we could talk?” She bit her lip as she looked at him expectantly.

With a jolt, he realized he was being a clod. He stepped back, out of her way. “Right! Of course. Please come in. Can I get you something to drink?”

She gently lowered herself down into his room and shook her head, polite smile never wavering even though he could tell it took effort for her to maintain. “No, thank you. This should be quick. I just wanted to apologize for—” She looked down to the side, cheeks heating in embarrassment. “—for earlier. For kissing you.”

She forced herself to meet his gaze so that he could see her earnestness. “That wasn’t okay, me…” She turned up her nose in disgust at herself as she thought about what it must have been like for Adrien. “…imposing myself on you like that. I’m so sorry. I had no right, and I—”

“—Ladybug, no,” he cut her off, waving his hands to flag her down before she could tar and feather herself. “It’s fine. It’s totally fine, so don’t worry about it.”

She blinked at him several times, taken aback. “What? No. No, Adrien.” She shook her head, pursing her lips and frowning. “I know you’re a model and you don’t always get a say in the poses you do and the people you pose with, but you have to understand that that isn’t okay. That’s never okay. Not for work, and not when it’s some careless superhero who just rescued you and wasn’t thinking clearly. It wasn’t okay for me to kiss you like that without asking, and I’m truly sorry, Adrien.”

She dropped her gaze again in shame, turning her face from him to hide the disappointment and embarrassment and other conflicted things she was feeling.

“I wish I could give you a reasonable explanation for my actions, but…a heartfelt apology will have to suffice,” she muttered ruefully. “I hope you can forgive me.”

“Hey,” Adrien called softly, stepping in and taking her hands. “Look. It’s really okay, Ladybug. I’m not upset, and there’s nothing to forgive.”

Her brow furrowed as she looked back up, perplexed.

“I talked to Chat Noir about what happened, and he said that you weren’t one for celebrity crushes, so you must actually have sincere feelings for me,” he explained, trying to give her an out because he had caused his girlfriend enough suffering for one lifetime already with all of this identity drama.

Her mouth fell open, and her lips widened.

“We’re guessing that you probably know me in real life, but you can’t explain yourself without endangering your identity, so…don’t worry about the kiss. If you like, we can pretend it never happened,” he offered.

“That… Yes. Please…. Thank you,” she spluttered as her mind struggled to catch up. “Sorry. I can neither confirm nor deny that I know you as a civilian, so…”

“Don’t worry about it,” he reiterated, letting go of her hands to give her arm a comforting touch. “But…if Chat Noir is right and you do have feelings for me, I need to tell you that you are the second most amazing woman I have met in my entire life, and I admire and respect you so much. I wish you nothing but the happiness and love you deserve, but…I need you to know that it can’t be with me,” he informed gently.

Ladybug blinked uncomprehendingly at him for a moment before realizing that her boyfriend was in the process of letting her down easy.

“I’m sorry,” he continued. “A couple years ago, I had the biggest crush on you, and I would have jumped at the chance to stand by your side as your partner, but now…I’ve found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, and I love her with everything that I am. I don’t think it’s possible for me to ever feel this way about anybody but Marinette. I’ve put everything I have into loving her, so…even if things didn’t work out between her and me, I don’t think I would have anything left afterwards. I wouldn’t be able to be the partner you deserve. I’m really sorry, Ladybug, but thank you for caring about me in the first place. I am beyond honored.”

It took her a moment to wrap her mind around everything he had just said, and, when she finally did find the words to answer, they came out haltingly. “Wow…. You really…You’re really in love with your girlfriend, aren’t you?”

Adrien nodded, a shy smile blooming on his lips. “Marinette is my other half. I’m really sorry, Ladybug.”

“No, no.” She put her hands up in protest. “You’re good. It’s fine. I know Marinette. She’s…” She fumbled for an adequate adjective. “…great. I’m happy for you two. If I had to get beat out by someone, I’m glad it was her. I hope you two are happy.”

His shy smile transformed into a full-on beam. “Thank you very much.”

There was a beat, a small blip in the conversation where neither quite knew what was coming next, that awkward pause between breaths where the uncertainty of whether the next breath would come rushed in.

“Well,” Ladybug remarked succinctly. “Thank you very much, Adrien. Sorry to take up your time, but thank you for hearing me out.”

“Absolutely,” he replied cordially. “It was nice to see you.” He hesitated before deciding just to go for it and see what happened. “Actually…would you be available to stay for a little while longer?”

She arched an eyebrow, slowly loosening the grip she’d had on her yoyo in order to make a quick escape. “Stay?”

“And watch a movie or TV show or something,” he quickly elaborated. “I was getting kind of bored and a little lonely sitting around by myself, but it’s sort of late, and I don’t want to bother anyone, so…since you’re here anyway…what do you say? Maybe we could be friends, if it wouldn’t be too hard for you so soon after I told you I had a girlfriend I was crazy about? I don’t want to be insensitive.”

“No,” she answered hastily. “I mean yes.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, straightening out what she meant to say in her head before giving her lips a crack at it. “Thank you for being so thoughtful. I think I’m going to be fine, actually, knowing that you’re so happy in your relationship with Marinette. Let’s watch an anime or something.”

“Perfect!” he cheered. “How about Cardcaptor Sakura?” He’d been meaning to make Marinette watch it for a while.

“Sure,” she easily agreed, nodding towards his couch. “May I?”

“Go for it. I’ll go get some water and snacks. Make yourself at home.”

Once they were both settled on the couch and Adrien was cuing up the first episode, he paused and pointedly pressed his lips together as if he were debating whether or not to say what he was going to say next.

“Chat Noir actually gave me a message to give to you if I saw you before he did. It’s kind of rude, so I hope it doesn’t offend you, but…I assume you two are on pretty familiar terms with the way he talks about you.”

“What did that alley cat have to say?” Ladybug chuckled, bracing herself for something territorial and ridiculous.

“He said to keep your buggy mitts off of his boyfriend,” Adrien reported, looking away as he feigned embarrassment.

“Oh,” she replied neutrally, trying to act like she was surprised at this news. “…You and…and Chat Noir?”

Adrien nodded sheepishly. “Sort of. Yeah. It’s a bit of an unusual arrangement, but…Chat Noir, Marinette, and I are very happy.”

“Good,” Ladybug decreed with a warm smile. “I knew Chat Noir had found someone, but it makes me happy to know that my partner has the both of you to give him all the love and support he deserves. Chat Noir is really special. Be good to him, okay?”

“I’m working on it. Some days I don’t do a very good job,” he admitted, “but, lately, I’m learning how.”

“Good,” she repeated, sounding satisfied as she sank back into the couch cushions. “Just do your best. He’s one of the good ones.”

Adrien couldn’t quite control the rampant blush that invaded his cheeks from the bridge of his nose to the tips of his ears. It warmed his heart to know she thought so highly of him and wanted the best for Chat Noir. It was good to feel loved and valued.

“I’ll do my best,” he promised, starting up the first episode.

[adrienaline-rushed-art]

(For the character ask) Adrien Agreste!!

YOU CHOSE MY SON! you’d better prepare your noodles because I’ve got a lot to gush about my favorite boy

Why I like them: From the beginning, he was my very favorite character because he was a weird combination of someone I was close to as well as myself. Although, over time it’s been more and more about relating to him as opposed to seeing someone else in him. At the time that he first became a reminder of someone special, he got me out of a depressive state, and continues to do so!

I love what a genuinely good listener he is. He’s very considerate and respectful, he puts others before himself— though, Ladybug can tell you why that is also a flaw. 

I like to think about the scenes in Horrificator when his classmates kept fighting, but he— one of the leads —didn’t make any input to take sides. Not even for Nino, his best friend! But he did look really upset to see his friends arguing

He’s also very forgiving and patient, I mean… as annoying as Lila can be, he actually tries to understand and help her. And what he said in onichan is implied to be correct based on the beginning of the episode.

He got it on the head, and not only for the sake of excusing bad behavior, he can relate. He knows he’s gone out of line because of his loneliness and abandonment issues. He excused Lila for the same reason in season 1

Defending Lila for lying about her relationship with Ladybug (See ‘Copycat’) 

He definitely understands what’s bad behavior (as opposed to Lila and Chloe, he does remain selfless and kind) and when he doesn’t he gets to use this sympathy as an opportunity for learning. But he also knows a cry for help when he sees one, he doesn’t want anyone to feel the way he does. 

The only real downside is it makes him a doormat for Lila, Chloe, and most importantly his father. But he’s learning and I’m so happy for him. 

he’ll accept a rough relationship for the sake of helping you be better through kindness until it hurts his loved-ones, where he absolutely has to cut you off. That’s one thing he doesn’t relate to or believe in. When he knows he messed up and hurt someone, he didn’t mean it, so he apologizes. 

But you can see in his face that he doesn’t feel good doing it, because although it doesn’t excuse toxicity, he knows that the person’s pain is why they act that way. 

It’s still for his friends more than himself, but I’ll take it for now. The biggest flaw he has is also one of his sweetest traits, believing in the best out of everyone. He’s at least learning that you can’t always assume someone doesn’t mean any harm.

Also:

fcKing suPERB adrien

I also like his sensitivity. He isn’t trying to be the cool and mysterious type, he’s emotional, passionate, and caring. This vulnerability can also be his downfall at times, but he carries his weight and makes himself responsible for his mistakes, so he’s an excellent example to kids. He’s a good boy in a world of romanticized “bad boys”.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I can’t really say, I’m bad at choosing favorites. Really any scene he’s in— especially as Chat Noir —immediately makes me happy. Scenes of his that are sad or frustrating don’t make me happy in the sense that I like what’s happening, but the rush of emotions I get when I get to watch him interact with other characters and just be.. him… brings a certain type of joy? The fact that when he’s sad, I’m really sad… I don’t know, it’s a nice feeling. Don’t @ me but 2 years ago in my baby project, I named the baby Adrien, because I’ve adopted him and he is my son.

I guess I really like him in riposte? He was very soft in that episode, he was all giggly and blushy. Also, Gigantitan, Chris Master, and Sapotis? He’s so good with kids! Chat Noir got a lot of lines in Silencer (hA) and I thoroughly enjoyed that, he was such a dork. Weredad was just a masterpiece, we got to explore his thoughts toward Marinette too so that was cool. So it really comes down to any episode that he shines the brightest, the more screen time and dialogue the better. I WANT to learn MORE about him.

None of these are favorite episodes of all time I don’t think? It’s just my favorite moments for him I guess. Gigantitan might be a good example for an episode that fits on both lists, though. We saw a lot of different sides to him. We got to see Marinette comfort Chat Noir when he finally admitted his heartache, he finally admitted his frustrations with Gabriel to Nathalie (although she would have known without him saying), and I actually liked seeing Chat Noir’s petty side directed to Ladybug. No, I didn’t like that he was being unfair, but everyone has this type of moment in their life because we’re human, which is why it was SO great to see him like this.

He’s messing up? Fantastic! And it was so intriguing to see how he behaved when he finally snaps, particularly toward Ladybug. We hadn’t seen him lash out toward a friend— let alone a romantic interest —at this point. He really needed to unleash those emotions, and I’m glad he didn’t keep them bottled up any longer. He was having a garbage day to begin with, I wouldn’t be able to stand watching him brush it off.

It wasn’t fair to Ladybug, but it was perfectly fair to himself. Ladybug said she couldn’t hang out because she was with friends, sure! From his perspective, what does that look like? Well, we got to understand it thanks to this episode. Think to what happens to him later in the episode, he’s unable to spend time with his friends. There might be a tinge of jealousy toward that. Or maybe it’s that the phrasing made it sound like Chat Noir wasn’t a friend, which adds up to his relief at the end of the episode when Ladybug calls him a best friend. But also, the excuse wasn’t satisfying to him because clearly, he had intended to put both friends and Ladybug in his schedule, why couldn’t she do the same? I’m not saying this is logical thinking, but it’s interesting to step back and realize that it’s entirely likely he thought this way. And it all makes sense that he cherishes being with her more than any romantic future with her, because the fact he didn’t get angry when he heard about her “boy”, but he did when it came to her friends.

And, a little Ladybug appreciation, she didn’t invalidate those feelings. He’s not allowed to act up and ruin an akuma fight, but he is allowed to feel that way. I mean, it was a little mean to suggest fake dating right after brushing off a real one. But he realized how inappropriate the timing was, and apologized for it. And taking his humility a step further, he went with Ladybug’s original (arguably tortuous) plan, and disciplined himself during it. He didn’t try to take advantage and get all smoochie and cuddly on her. He offered his hand, but she’s the one who came to him and kissed him on the cheek. He let her create the boundaries. Later, he kissed her on the cheek for the first time.

Anyway sorry for that entire essay, but as you can tell I really loved that episode front and back.

Favorite season/movie: I think since we only have two and a half seasons, I can only say season 2 for now. I say season 2 because it’s where we first uncover more of Adrichat, not only to ourselves but to Marinette. He’s been really cute in S3 so far though, so my opinion could always change.

Favorite line: Any of his laughs. Ok fine, an actual line… uhh.. you know what, he’s said a lot of very profound and sweet things… so how about something stupid and random 

“Wanna hear a secret? I love chouquettes.” You sure do, you little dork. 

Favorite outfit: That purple/maroonish and green one on one of his magazine covers. 

OTP: Marichat, always. Ladynoir close second. If we’re talking outside of canon, probs Alyadrien. 

Brotp: Nino, obviously, they’re phenomenal. 

Head Canon: Maybe this is less of a headcanon, and more of an excuse for the writing.. but I don’t think Adrien is that oblivious. But as someone who’s forgiving, it would make sense that he also doesn’t assume things that could hurt them. For one, he denies Marinette likes him simply because she seems to have implied she doesn’t. He takes her word for it. 

Notice that almost every time it comes up, it’s not denying his own feelings, and he’s not even denying the “signs”. He just doesn’t want to put words in her mouth or ruin their friendship by jumping to conclusions that could put distance between them. It makes sense that he would want to protect their friendship because of how they met. 

Unpopular opinion Adrien is not a mary sue. First, I’ve already mentioned plenty of flaws in this post. Having no flaws is one side of a mary sue, the other side is being overpowered. So what if he’s in a bunch of clubs and has essentially mastered all of them. Stress on essentially, so far we know he can play one(1) classical piece on the piano and he messed up on it (it was a small mistake because of skipping practice, but a True™ mary sue wouldn’t have). Also… I’m sure he’s fluent in Chinese and Japanese, but he could be pronouncing better. Actually, that’s unfair, the French dub did pretty well for Japanese pronunciation and everyone knows French is more canon. I don’t know enough about Chinese to judge his pronunciation of it. We don’t know much about his sports except that he’s good at them, but we know Kagami kicks his ass at fencing apparently, so still not overpowered. Anyhow, these are just talents and skills. Not only can anyone learn them with effort (because he isn’t a prodigy at any of them), but it’s realistic that the famous model son of the strict CEO and founder to the prestigious fashion company Gabriel would be forced to have a full tool belt. Not to mention he’s a model in the acting business (Animaestro) actors legit have to know how to do EVERYTHing to even compete with others. None of the above has to do with power though.

  If anything, he’s underpowered. He’s not treated very well for a teammate who isn’t a sidekick. Often his intellect, wisdom, rationale, skills, and agility have been compromised for the sake of making ✦Ladybug✦ look good. Which, is sort of counter-intuitive if you think about it. We know this from the inconsistencies between episodes. One episode he’s decoding morse, giving Ladybug advice, making detailed plans, or showing off his expert-level martial arts… the next he’s… accidentally grabbing an ice cream cone while Cataclysm is activated? hmmm. ALso, as stated before, Adrien’s intelligence is suppressed for the advancement of the plot.

A wish: I want more Ladynoir discussions outside of akuma battles. Regarding things like the Dark Cupid kiss.. there are a lot of things I want them to straighten out and grow on. 

And, I think this is going to happen anyhow… but like,,, he needs to find out about the scarf, I’m sorry. I know it’ll be bittersweet but,,ghhhgk

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: *INHALES* pleASe, Emilie, be a good person!! ALSo, NO FIGHTS WITH NINO. EVER. 

5 words to best describe them: Patient, dorky, loving, childlike (not childish), brave

My nickname for them: heeheh, it’s my blog name title, Paw Prince.

I wrote you a whole book, my bad. I don’t regret it though. Now you know why it took me so long to answer.