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mochinek0 · 2 years ago

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Daminette December 2023: 18-Hiding in the Shadows

Marinette looked around her pent house in Paris. She had everything she wanted as a teenager. Well, almost everything. She was a well-known fashion designer, to the people that were aware of her. She kept her business a secret and used an alias. Her clients all came from judgement on her other clients. Others designers knew her as 'Passion' after her store's brand. Very few knew her as Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Gabriel Agreste, Audrey Bourgeois, and Jagged Stone.

Marinette had enough money to pay her rent, her fabric, all of her equipment, anything a business woman could need. Marinette herself, not so much. She missed being able to walk out and go sit at a café for a bit. When she saw Wayne Enterprise opened a section in Paris, she came up with an idea.

'Wayne Enterprises is a place that usually pays big. Even a part time job should be fine. A little play money couldn't hurt. A few extra euros so I could eat out, get some comfy clothes so I'm not rushing between orders and messing up wouldn't hurt.'

Damian Wayne sat at his desk, looking through potential applicants. Many of them were attached to big names or had one of their own. As he rang background checks, he could see they were all connected to each other in one way or another. He smirked at his idea.

'Let's put on a show. I want to see what kind of people these applicants are around each other. Would they out themselves?'

Mari was escorted to a waiting room as Damian Wayne got through other interviews. When the door opened, the last thing she expected was to see some familiar faces: Chloe, Adrien, and Lila.

"I don't know why you're even here, Dupain-Cheng." Chloe snarled, after the door was closed, "This is a big company that would love to work with our families. You have nothing going for you."

Marinette sat down and smiled, "Is that right? I guess I must have sent the wrong order to your mother and that's why she wore my design down the red carpet at the MET Gala."

Chloe tensed up and refused to meet her gaze. She could tell Adrien and Lila were surprised as well.

Chloe cleared her throat, "You're lying."

"Call your mother and ask." Marinette shrugged, "Oh, that's right! She doesn't like you; she prefers your half sister, who can actually work and living on her own, instead of leeching off of her Daddy."

"This isn't you, Dupain-Cheng." Chloe declared.

"No. This is me." Marinette shrugged off the concerned looks, "I'm just not being forced to coddle you to make Caline Bustier's life easier. 'Oh, just show Chloe some love, so she'll know what it's like and she'll get better eventually. You'll see.' Even she knew you were a horrible person. She basically thought you were The Grinch. That with enough love, your heart would grow three sizes and you wouldn't be such a bitch anymore."

Everyone was speechless at Marinette's attitude. This wasn't the Marinette that they grew up with.

"Chloe Bourgeois." a security voice called.

Chloe held her head high as she walked into the office.

"Damian Wayne." Chloe stated.

"Sit!" he demanded.

Chloe was shocked by his attitude.

'Doesn't he know who I am?'

"Do you know who I am?" she shouted.

"A spoiled brat; Ive read the articles on the internet." Damian stated, "You are known for crying for your father when you don't get what you want. Even though you are the oldest, your half-sister is who your mother relies on to bring customers for Style Queen in New York."

"My father-" Chloe snarled.

"Isn't the mayor anymore. He hasn't been the mayor in three years." the Wayne heir spoke, "If you're thinking of blackmailing me, you chose the wrong person. Spread whatever lies you want or cry to your father, the hotel owner. I could make one post about how horrid his hotel is and he would go out of business. Could you live with that?"

Chloe stood there, speechless. The only person who talked to her like this was her mother.

"I'm in charge, here, and if it came down to it, your job would be scrubbing toilets all day." Damian declared.

Tears formed in Chloe's eyes.

'He's glaring at me, just like Mommy. He doesn't look happy. He looks at me like he wishes I was gone or someone else.'

"We're done here." Damian stated.

Chloe quickly rushed out of the office. The three saw her rushing away, crying.

'I knew she wouldn't last.'

"Marinette, I can't understand why you're like this." Lila spoke, as she took her seat.

'He made that Daddy's Girl cry. I better go at this carefully.'

"Oh, shove it, Lila." Marinette sighed, "All three of us, here, know you're a lying manipulative bitch. You don't have to fake it."

"I don't know-" Lila continued.

"Adrien already told me years ago that he made a deal with you. He made one with me, too. Did he ever tell you that?" Mari questioned.

Lila glanced towards Adrien, who kept his head down.

"Oh, he didn't." she giggled, "You see, I was already designing for Jagged Stone when you arrived to our school. Adrien even had me autograph things I designed for him."

The model had turned towards Adrien and was now glaring at him.

"I could have made your whole 'tinnitus-kitten bullshit' story go up in flames since day one." Mari smiled, "I could have video called him and you would have been labeled as delusional."

"I took all our friends away!" Lila cried out, in victory.

"No." Mari answered, "You took away people, who were finally talking to me. Chleo ensured that for seven years, I had no friends. Those 'friends' just went back to not talking to me. You didn't actually do anything. If anything, you helped me. You took away the class president duties from me and I had more free time. You turned Alya and Nino away, so I couldn't babysit. I designed more clothes and got more clients. You didn't make my life worse, Lila, you made it better."

Lila fumed. Adrien had played peace maker between the both of them. From what Marinette was saying, she could have won the war in an instant! She thought she had chased Marinette Duapin-Cheng out of school all those years ago and here she was smiling, practially laughing at her, saying it wasn't true. She had thanked her and said she made her life better.

'I need this job so I can rub it in her face! I need to win against her!'

"I do hope you at least did some research into Damian Wayne." Marinette stated.

"I've known Damian Wayne since we were children!" Lila announced.

"Is that what it told you, you should say when you looked up how rich his family is?" Mari inquired.

Lila stood up, in rage.

'How dare she!'

"Lila Rossi." security called out.

Lila smirked, "I'm coming."

"She really should have done her research." Marinette spoke out loud.

"Why do you say that?" Adrine asked.

"Lila likes to play off her tears and looks." Mari declared, "Damian Wayne hates going to galas because of girls that try to attach themselves to him."

"And?" Adrien questioned.

"He broke an Italian model's arm two months ago, for lying to him." the designer stated.

Adrien paled at her words. Marinette merely smiled and pulled out her phone and dialed emergency services.

"Hello, what is your emergency?" the voice asked.

"I think we need an ambulance at Wayne Enterprise." Marinette stated, "I think someone's arm is broken."

"Are you with this person?" the voice questioned.

"No." the designer answered.

"I have sent medical to your location." the voice declared, before hanging up.

"That was pretty extreme, Marinette. I have faith in Lila!" Adrien shouted, "I don't think he would do that! The Waynes have an imagine to uphold!"

"Maybe, you should have done your research." Mari shrugged, "You still have time. Maybe five minutes."

Lila sauntered her way into the office.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne." She spoke, calmly.

"Sit." He demanded, not looking up.

Lila waved off his decleration. She moved past the chair in front of his desk and walked her way to his side.

"Can I sit on your lap?" She asked, "You see, I have tinnitus and-"

"There is nothing in here that would activate your tinnitus. Tinnitus is when you can't here anything for a brief amount of time, but a loud ringing. It's usually followed after hearing an extremely loud sound. I should know; I went to medical school." Damian stated.

'Shit. My usual tactics won't work here.'

Lila nodded and made her way back to the seat.

"Why shoud I hire you?" The Wayne heir questioned.

Lila fluttered her lashes, "I'm a model for Gabriel Agreste."

"Former model." Damian interjected, "You now model on Instagram and Only Fans."

Lila turned red. She didn't expect them to aware of her new lifestyle.

"Now, Miss Lerouch-" he continued.

Lila paled, "Wh-What did you call me?"

"Cerise Lerouch." Damian stated, "Did you think I would not delve into your background? I have to know who I am working with."

Cerise quickly leaped up from her seat and rushed around the desk.

"Don't touch me." Damian demanded.

"I'll do anything." Cerise cried out, grabbing onto his arm.

The Wayne heir growled, "Let go."

"I can help you relieve stress in other ways, you know." Cerise pleaded.

Damian grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, harshly. Cerise screamed in pain.

"I have no need for whores." Damian spoke.

He grabbed the back of her shirt, arm still twisted, and walked her to his office door. He grabbed the knob and threw her out, in front of his security team.

"Drag this whore out by the hair, if you have too, but I want her off Wayne Enterprise grounds and blacklisted!" Damian shouted.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne." they spoke simultaneously, as he slammed his door shut.

"Shit, I think her arm is broken." the one on the left declared.

"She would call an ambulance?" the one on the right asked.

"Please, help me! It hurts so much!" Cerise begged, cradling her arm.

"You shouldn't have pissed him off." the one on the right declared, "Damian Wayne isn't one to mess around."

A man rushed towards them with medical workers.

"Did you guys call for an ambulance and someone with a broken arm?" the new guy asked.

"No, but perfect timing." the one on the left stated, "Girl with broken arm right here."

Cerise was walked by the waiting room. Inside, she could see Adrien looked horrified before turning to Marinette. She was smiling at her. Then, the baker's daughter flipped her off.

'She knew! That bitch knew how this would end!'

Cerise burst into tears as she was carted off.

"I guess that just leaves you and me, Agreste." Marinette stated.

Adrien began to feel uncomfortable.

"I do hope you do better than they did." She spoke, "For your Father's sake."

"Huh?" Adrien asked, confused.

"Damian Wayne isn't one to back down, not even to his father. He can make his father bow down to him. You have no idea how......attractive that is to a woman, Adrien." Mari smiled, "A man with a spine."

The model gulped, watching Marinette lick her lips.

"You should grow a spine." she declared, "Maybe then your father won't force you to model for him. I' sure that's why Kagami chose Felix over you. Your cousin has a spine. It looks good on him. Maybe, that's why Kagami didn't take my advice on how to get back with you after the break up."

Adrien only looked at her in shocked.

"Alya told me you broke up and I went to see her." Marinette continued, "I tried to help, but she didn't want to. She said it was better that way and well, Felix and you did look alike as teens. The same face with a spine; kind of hard to resist. They're so happy and their twins are adorable."

"Adrien Agreste, Mr. Wayne will see you now." the voice spoke over the intercom.

The model looked over at the designer. She waved at him, but said nothing. Adrien stood up and stood tall.

Adrien walked into Damian's office. It was intimidating; Marinette was right. He was scarier than his father.

"Why should I hire you, Adrien Agreste?" Damian questioned.

"I hate modeling. I prefer computers and science. I want to break free of Gabriel." Adiren admitted, "You don't have to worry about me telling him anything because I never learned anything about fashion. I couldn't even tell you the names of two different shades of fabric. If anyting, you should hire Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette has always been an amazing designer. She was recognized by Father and Style Queen when she was only thirteen. She's the one who would know everything about fashion."

Damian hid his smirk behind his hand and looked down at the papers about Adrien again.

'What a miracle worker you are, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Agreste grew a spine.'

"We may have an internship available in our science department." Damian spoke, "Do you still live with your father?"

"Yes." Adrien spoke.

"We have a company home we prefer our interns reside in." Damian continued.

He noticed Adrien seemed relieved about that.

"The internship isn't a guarantee." The Wayne heir continued, "We need to see you commitment and dedication first hand. If you can't keep up, we'll put you in a different department. If you keep failing to meet our expectations, you'll have no choice but to keep modeling for your father."

"Tell him we'll work with him for one year, as a test." Damian continued, "You have one year to get your affairs in order. You'll need to move in one month from now and if not, consider the contract cancelled. I will inform them you are expected."

"Thank you." Adrien smiled.

Damian waved him off and Adrine walked out of the office, happy.

Marinette stood up when her name was called. As she walked towards the office, she saw Adrien smiling at a paper. She entered the office and closed the door.

"Please sit Miss Dupain-Cheng." Damian ordered.

Marinette immediately took a seat in front of him.

"Why should I hire you?" He questioned.

Mari shrugged, "You don't really have to."

"Oh?" Damian pushed.

"I'm only here for a part time job." the designer answered, "You know, helping out on the floor, coffee grabber, secretary gig. That sort of thing."

"Excuse me?" he asked, shocked, " Aren't you a fashion designer."

"With my own clients and I can pay for my own things." She smiled.

"Then why are you here?" Damian questioned.

Marinette sat back further in the chair and got comfortable, "Play money. I spend my own on my deisgns, fabrics, equipment, rent. Why not have a little extra to treat myself to a night out or a night in, for once?"

That was not the answer he had been expecting.

Damian laughed, "What if I decide to keep you?"

"Keep me as in?" Marinette pushed.

"I decide I want to become one of your clients." he offered.

"Are you offering?" the designer asked, "I've seen some of those suits you wear to galas and it doesn't bring you out to your full potential."

"And that would be?" he asked.

"You're outshined by your father, your older brothers, and the company." She spoke, "You can stand out, but maybe you want to fade into the back, less people to grope you."

Damian chuckled and stood up from his seat. He made his way around the desk and rested on it.

"What would you dress me in, right now?" Damian questioned.

"Depends." Marinette smiled, "Do you always wear a suit to work or are you interested in a change?"

"Tell me about this hypothetical change." He demanded.

"Ever heard of quick change wear?" She asked.

"No." he replied.

"It mainly takes woman into factor. Clothes that can go from working at the office to going out on a date or partying." Mari answered, "Just a few adjustments and possibly a new shade of makeup and usually people tend to think they took all day to get ready."

Damian took what she said into account, "And for men?"

"Most don't really have the option." Marinette shrugged, "Shame, but on you.....your figure. Well, there's nothing sluttier than a man wearing a sleeveless turtleneck."

The Wayne heir couldn't help but think of his old League of Assassin's outfits.

"No one at work would know if you have a blazer on and buttoned." She continued, "It is your office so you can always install a closet here and keep an extra pair of clothes. Jeans, if you prefer. Who is to say that this whole time, you weren't wearing sweatpants and just dressed from the waist up."

He chuckled ather way of thinking.

'Effective, but true not the less. I could kick out anyone who entered my office, should I choose to dress comfortably, and there was a closet hidden behind the cabinets.'

"Another thing most people tend to do is incorporate their culture into their clothing, as well." Marinette spoke, "Personally, I use apple blossoms in most of my designs for myself."

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, you are not what I was expecting." Damian declared, "I like to expect everything."

Mari smiled, "I've been known to be...unpredictable."

"You want to work part time in the fashion section." The Wayne heir stated, "Even if it's just grabbing coffee or lunch for others."

"Correct." she answered.

"Fine." Damian spoke, "You can work here, part time, at least three days a week. I f you have a big comission, I want to know about it. You can keep the details to yourself, but I want a time frame."

Marinette nodded, happily.

"I also want you to make me something to relax in the office that could pass for office wear." he suggested, "I'll pay for fabric of course. I can send you the details of my heritage via email, later."

Marinette stood up, "I'll start on that and bring it by Friday."

Damian grabbed her hand and kissed it, "I'll see you Monday morning, at 9AM, for work. We can go over your schedule then."

Marinette felt her face flush as his lips connected with her hand. His gaze was piercing.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne." She answered, flustered.

Damian waved his hand, dismissing her, but he still followed her to the door.

"You know, Miss Dupain-Cheng." He whispered, pressing himself to her back, "They may not be able to see it, but I see what lurks in the shadows. I can see what you hide there. I can wait a bit longer for the side of you that wants to come out and play."

"Is that so?" Marinette whispered back.

"I'll enjoy getting to know you, in the future." Damian spoke, before opening the door.

Marinette took a breath before she walked out the door.

"Marinette, did you get the job?" Adrien asked.

"Yes." she answered.

The model sighed in relief, "I told him you were good. I told him about Father and Audrey."

"Did you think I wouldn't be able to get it on my own?" Mari questioned.

"That's not what I meant!" Adrien cried, surprised at the question.

"Then, don't belittle me and my work." Marinette declared, "He already knew who I was. The Wayne keep a check on everyone and everything. Did you seriously not expect him to know about our families? He was probably listening to us in the waiting room."

Adrien gulped in response.

"Besides, I wasn't apart of whatever you three were fighting over." Marinette smiled, walking away.

'What did she mean by that?'

Adrien turned to see Damian Wayne leaning against the door, wearing a smirk on his face. Damian took notice of the model and hardened his gaze. Adrien gulped as Damian stood tall and closed his door again.

'What was he staring at?'

Adrien turned his head back down the corridor and saw Marinette speaking to the receptionist.

'He was after Marinette the whole time!'

'He already knew who I was.'

'He was probably listening to us in the waiting room.'

'Besides, I wasn't apart of whatever you three were fighting over.'

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#daminette december 2023 #daminette #marinette dupain cheng #wayne enterprise #damian wayne #chloe bourgeois #adrien agreste #lila rossi #chloe salt #adrien salt #lila salt #mommy issues #cerise miraculous #daddy issues #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #hinding in the shadows #mochinek0

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mc-lukanette · 8 months ago

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Marinette held the butterfly miraculous up towards the ceiling, leaning back in her chair thoughtfully. It was amazing, really, how harmless it looked, yet it'd been so disastrous in the wrong hands. She felt lucky that she got it back before anything seriously bad happened, like Hawk Moth - Gabriel Agreste - finding Master Fu and getting his hands on the Miracle Box.

Nooroo hovered nearby, saying for what must've been the tenth time now, "Thank you so much for saving me, Ladybug, really."

"You can just call me Marinette," she assured, as being called by her hero name was too formal for her tastes. Too used to having a kwami of her own around, she unconsciously pet his head, though he at least didn't seem to mind. "Besides, you shouldn't have been held captive in the first place. You deserved to be free."

She'd already decided to hold onto him for a while to let him heal. Even being as ancient as he was, it couldn't have been pleasant dealing with the situation he'd been forced into.

She frowned, bringing the miraculous back down to chest level and thinking over the situation. Under Gabriel Agreste's ascot the whole time was the butterfly miraculous, and inside that was the woman who led up to all of—

"...Huh?"

Nooroo flew closer, peering over her shoulder. "What is it, La—Marinette?"

She blinked. She remembered the moment she tore the miraculous from Hawk Moth, the way it flew across the room as the man detransformed in front of her. She'd hurried to retrieve it before even seeing who he was and caught the image of Adrien's mother inside, the miraculous having popped open during the fall.

However, in her possession, the picture of Emilie was gone and in its place was Luka Couffaine. It was a simple shot of him looking delicately at the "camera," his eyelids relaxed and a soft smile on his face.

"It changed..." she muttered.

"Yes," Nooroo replied casually. "He feels like a sweet boy. I'm glad you have someone like that. Not all heroes do."

She raised a brow at him, puzzled, and not just from the comment about Luka "feeling" like a sweet boy; it must've made sense to kwami, or maybe just Nooroo specifically.

"Oh." He went over to float next to the miraculous, placing a hand next to the image. "I'm the kwami of emotion, and my miraculous reflects that. The person inside changes based on what's in the holder's heart."

"But..." She hesitated, lips pressed into a tight line as she considered the information. "What about Adrien?"

Nooroo placed a paw to his chin, thoughtful. "Yes, he could have been in my mas—" He tensed. "—ah, in Gabriel Agreste's miraculous."

She wanted to correct him - to say that it wasn't what she'd meant - but the answer he'd given did go down a similar path to what she'd been wondering. "What do you mean?"

"Some of my holders had their lovers inside, some had their best friends, and other had their child or children." His eyes grew briefly distant in his reminiscing. "Even when they already had lovers, there were holders who had their best friend here instead."

That... well, it was interesting, but it didn't explain what she was experiencing. Adrien had been the crush everyone had (unfortunately) known her for, and Alya was always someone she considered her best friend, so what did that make Luka? If she was honest with herself, she never got to think about it; whenever she'd tried to, there were interruptions or other matters to tend to.

Nooroo stared at the mix of emotions on her face, eyes too intelligent for someone so small and cute. Offering her a comforting smile, he reminded her, "You have time to think about it now if you wish to. That's what many holders do after everything's over, even if I can't be there for it."

The statement was so obvious, yet it'd never occurred to her before. She'd been so deep into the monotony of being Ladybug, of chasing Adrien, of making time for everyone and everything she wanted to do, that it didn't feel real for it to be over. He was right though: there were still loose ends to tie up, but she finally had time for herself and for her own thoughts.

She felt... reassured.

—————

One of said loose ends to deal with after the two lost miraculouses were retrieved was Master Fu and Marianne. Now that Gabriel was in prison where he belonged, they were free to be together as much as they wished.

Part of that wish was to travel the world in order to do all of the things they'd once planned to long ago. The Miracle Box would go with him as well as Duusu, who was getting her own well-deserved vacation after having her miraculous broken for so long. Beyond the butterfly, Marinette kept the ladybug miraculous with her in case of emergencies, promising to call if Marianne needed to don the horse and bring her a miraculous or two.

It was bittersweet, heartwarming but confusing. She'd seen them together only for a moment before, but they really did make a charming couple. Despite years apart, they touched each other like it was instinctive and were like a pair straight out of a wedding, ready to jump into their honeymoon phase.

She wanted that. She had wanted that for a long time, ever since she was a child. Someone to grow old with, to share secrets with, and to be comfortable around.

It was uncomfortable realizing that she didn't have anything close to that with Adrien. She'd worked towards something like it, and where had it gotten her? She'd almost managed it and got humiliated in front of her friends.

It hurt worse to see Master Fu and Marianne so thankful to her, when she felt like she was the cause of them being apart for even longer. No matter how many assurances she had that it was an accident, it didn't change what happened. Emotions she hadn't felt before began to bubble to the surface; ones that she either hadn't focused on or simply hadn't had time to feel.

Sure, she would meet up with them again someday, but she wondered if it could've been different. Even seeing them off, it was difficult to say what her relationship with Master Fu even was. He lured her into running in front of a car to save him, but simultaneously cared for her well-being and trusted her abilities. He mentored her and the plan had originally been to make her the next guardian, but it wasn't like she'd really wanted it, or to be Ladybug in the first place.

She hadn't asked for any of this.

As for Marianne, Marinette barely knew her at all. Had the letters not been mixed up, they might've gotten to know each other better. Maybe she would've had a positive female role model in her life, or she could've come to see her like a grandmother figure, someone who stuck around more than her actual one.

She should be thankful, she told herself. Ladybug gave her the strength to stand up to her bully, and she was such a screw-up that it was a miracle she hadn't made things worse for them. It wasn't fair for her to be lonely, jealous, or resentful of them.

"Negative emotions don't have to be ugly," Nooroo whispered from her bag when he caught her wringing her hands together. He touched her with a paw, trying to soothe her. "It's how you work through them that matters."

All in all, she felt... conflicted.

—————

Marinette's friends were the first to learn of her identity, almost as soon she'd been given the okay to do so.

It wasn't all of them, of course, but figuring out which ones she could tell had ended up being more difficult than she'd thought. Her secret had been kept safe for so long and it was precious to her, so even if she was largely out of the weeds of risk, she didn't want it getting out into the public.

Thus came the natural conclusion that she could only tell people she truly trusted, and it would be pointless to tell those who she barely ever hung out with. The latter alone left out most of the boys in her class barring Ivan, who she'd interacted with plenty during the two weeks of preparation for their Kitty Section video.

While Nooroo munched away peacefully on some snacks, she had to resort to writing down all the people she considered "friends," a list that ended up surprisingly long. The Marinette of the past swelled with pride at the sight but, upon closer inspection, there were only a handful she could say she'd genuinely bonded with.

It was then that she realized she didn't really know what having a friend meant. Her parents had always encouraged her to talk to people, make friends, and had been the ones who gave her the box of macarons on her first day of the new year.

A bribe, essentially, or a conversation starter if she was being generous; reel people in with the prospect of sweets and then try to make some sort of connection with them. It never really worked, and the basis for most of the friendships she had nowadays came down to them being nice to or doing something for each other.

Reluctantly, she'd had to scratch most names out and write them on a more proper list, like acquaintances. She was also just as reluctant, if not more so, to recognize that she couldn't come up with a valid reason to tell friends like Alix, Rose, or Alya about her identity.

Alix was for reasons unrelated to Alix herself, as Marinette associated Alix knowing her identity with Bunnyx and therefore the traumatic events of Chat Blanc. Rose, meanwhile, was too likely to let the secret slip by accident.

Alya though, had already spilled a secret of hers before: she'd told Nino about her crush on Adrien, then tried to lie about it. How could she have counted on her to keep her big secret if she couldn't keep the (relatively) smaller one? They spent the most time together, certainly, and Marinette didn't dislike her, but could she say that Alya was her "best friend" if she couldn't keep her secrets safe?

Not really.

In the end, she'd picked four people: Juleka, Ivan, Mylene, and Luka. Juleka was too quiet to care about telling people, Ivan would be fine so long as he could talk to Mylene about it, and Luka was—well, Luka, the most mature out of all her friends to the point where people went to him for advice.

When she pointed out what she felt was a pathetic number to Nooroo, he replied, "It's good not to spread yourself too thin. Even my most caring holders only had so much love and trust to give before they exhausted themselves."

The word resonated with her. She felt... exhausted.

—————

It was, perhaps, inevitable that Chat Noir would want reveal their identities to each other. He'd wanted to since the very beginning and there was little danger to worry about anymore.

Hesitantly, she agreed, but hadn't been mentally or emotionally prepared to see Adrien Agreste standing in Chat Noir's place. He was equally surprised to see her own identity, but she couldn't make out his excitement about them already knowing each other or the actual words he was saying with everything going on in her head.

She put her arms behind her back, allowing her to pinch herself without being seen. She could see the appeal of it, in a way: she'd been crushing on Adrien and Chat had been crushing on Ladybug, so it sounded perfect on the surface that revealing their identities would "solve" things.

Yet, to Marinette, it sounded like a sick joke, like a prank Chloe would've set up so she could laugh while watching Marinette spin in circles over it. Her life had been complicated enough without throwing in something straight out of a cheap drama that tried to keep the characters apart for as long as possible. After all of that embarrassment she'd been through, she'd apparently been "loved" by him all along?

Except she wasn't interested in Chat. Technically, she wasn't even interested in Adrien either until he gave her that umbrella. Was Adrien the "real" Adrien, or was it Chat Noir? Was it half-and-half? If so, what did it say if she wasn't crushing on both of them?

She could still recall that rainy afternoon after having finally stood up for Chloe after multiple years. It was so picturesque, with the sound of thunder punctuating the emotion as Adrien offered her his umbrella. It was the first act of kindness any boy had really—

Oh God, did she really fall for the first boy to show any semblance of kindness to her as Marinette? Had she been that desperate for someone to cherish? How could she go back in time and offer the Marinette who felt like she had nothing a hug?

She tried to focus on what Chat—Adrien was saying, and to respond with her own questions in kind. Why did he notice Ladybug and not Marinette? Why did he tell her that he had no friends when he'd known Chloe as a friend for years? Why...

just why?

But it all came out scrambled, too many thoughts stumbling about to form into anything coherent. Her brain ached at the onslaught of everything she wanted to say and everything she wished so badly to forget about while struggling with the knowledge that Adrien lost his dad and she should be gentle with him.

"It's okay to take a step back," Nooroo had told her sometime before, "You don't owe anyone your time if you're not ready to talk yourself."

Had he known or suspected something like this might happen? Regardless, she took the advice and left for home.

The revelations had left her feeling... disappointed.

—————

Marinette ate meals at home without needing to rush, she finished projects that she'd had to drop due to having no time before, and she slept soundly with the knowledge that an akuma wouldn't appear in the middle of the night to disturb her.

Refreshing was an understatement: it was healing. The ache in her feet and the pain in her spine that no fourteen-year-old should have to deal with disappeared, and she hadn't even noticed how much it had hurt until they were gone.

She could finally make time for herself, going off to an art museum for inspiration or taking a stop to eat just because. She shared food with Nooroo when no one was looking and pretended to be on the phone with someone when she wanted to talk to him. The small things she'd taken for granted before becoming Ladybug felt like a luxury now: like a princess spoiling herself, not with a shopping spree or servants but a hot cup of tea and a midday nap.

When she could enjoy the act of doing nothing in particular, she found herself pulling out the butterfly miraculous to look at. Luka's face continued to stare back at her, the same gentle gaze as always.

While Adrien had been at the forefront of her romantic pursuits, she couldn't dismiss Luka's presence either. Her heart skipped a beat when their eyes first met, they bonded over a mutual appreciation for Jagged Stone, and he gave her what both her and Tikki agreed was a tender and very real love confession.

At the same time, Luka was her friend. Alya had teased her a couple times over being attracted to him, but then wasn't happy with her letting Adrien go date Kagami. She didn't really get it and, as she reminded herself again, there always seemed to be something in the way when she tried to make sense of it.

People rarely batted an eye or said anything when she called Luka a friend, like they didn't even take the idea of him being anything more seriously. Calling Adrien a friend, on the other hand, earned her snickers and sarcastic comments.

It was ridiculous, wasn't it? Either they mocked the idea because she'd made so little progress that they weren't even friends at all (which she wouldn't have disagreed with), it was such an unimportant step on the road to being a couple that it was laughable, or she couldn't see him as a friend so long as she was crushing on him, which was—

Marinette's eyelids flew wide open. She sat up in her seat, taking her first gasp post-epiphany.

"Nooroo, I'm so stupid!"

He blinked at her, gently admonishing, "You're not stupid, Marinette, and you shouldn't say things like that about yourself. If you feel like you have to, try something softer, like silly."

"Then I'm REALLY silly!"

—————

The weather as Marinette waited near the Liberty was only average. Clouds filled the sky, not storm clouds but ones that covered the sun enough to where it felt later than it really was. It wasn't exactly the making a grand statement kind of atmosphere, but the weather had never worked how she'd wanted it to anyway, apparently.

There was no one home, so she lingered around, reclined on the stairs going back up to the city, and idled on her phone. She'd shown up wholly unannounced in her haste to get there, so she was fine being left to her thoughts for a while.

It could've been anywhere from five to thirty minutes before she heard a familiar, "Marinette?"

She looked up. Luka was standing there with his bike, understandably surprised to see her.

"You should've called me to tell me you were coming. I could've been here sooner."

She giggled when he pulled out his phone, just to make sure she didn't text him while he was doing his job and failed to notice. "It's okay. I didn't want you to rush."

"We love having you here," he added with a frown, putting his bike aside so he could make the awkward leap onto the Liberty. Setting up the gangplank for her, he added, "You can invite yourself in any time."

"It felt too empty when there wasn't anyone here." She shrugged, stepping up the little walkway to go across. At the Liberty's side, she sat down on the steps and looked up at him expectantly. "And I came to talk to you?"

It came out like a question because she had considered that he could've have prior plans or some such but, because it was Luka, he smiled and sat down next to her.

He didn't even go back to get his bike.

"Okay." He undid the straps to his helmet and put it aside. "What did you want to talk about?"

It was oddly casual, all things considered. The others that she'd told her secret still were a bit star-struck after she told them that she was Ladybug. It wasn't at all a bad thing - Nooroo encouraged the boost to her ego it gave her - but it was also nice to have someone who didn't care: who just saw Marinette.

Her eyes flicked up to the top of his head. The signature strand of hair there had been pressed down by the helmet he'd had on from his job, and she unconsciously reached out to fix it. His face remained carefully neutral and he was entirely still for all of it.

It only registered with her what she'd done when she pulled back to check her "work." Blushing faintly, she dropped her focus to the brooch clipped to her jacket.

"Do you remember when I told you I was Ladybug—I mean, of course you do—but..." She fidgeted with the brooch, then gently pulled it off. "...how I was keeping the butterfly miraculous for a while?"

He nodded. "Its kwami must've been through a lot. Are they feeling any better?"

"A little." She smiled, impressed and touched that he'd thought about some kwami he hadn't even met. "But I was surprised. There was a picture inside, and it changed when it became my miraculous."

She took a deep breath before handing it over; Nooroo had told her to imagine her own nerves as if they were beings that needed oxygen in the same way she did, and they could only breathe if she did as well. The thoughts raced through her mind from "What if he thinks it's weird?" to "You mean weirder than anything else you've ever done? Please."

Luka turned the brooch over in his hands, Marinette suppressing a giggle as she noted that it wasn't unlike what she'd done when she first got it. Nevertheless, he eventually popped it open, staring at the image of himself inside.

She kept speaking before he could ask any questions, the words rushing forth from her throat, "I didn't get it. I didn't even know it did that. Nooroo - he's the kwami - told me that it could mean anything. Other holders had friends or crushes in theirs, but all I knew for sure was that..." She swallowed, watching his expression carefully. "...you’re important to me."

His head jerked to the side to look at her, mouth dropping open like he might say something, but nothing came out. In the background, she could still see the sky, overcast and gray, but Luka's eyes were blue and appeared even brighter than usual.

"Y—" He exhaled, almost chuckling, but not in any mean way. He was charmed. "You're important to me too, Marinette."

Her heart fluttered pleasantly and she sat a bit straighter from how light she felt. In a way, she already knew that - he'd confessed to her, after all - but it was so soothing to hear it out loud. She threw her arms out, gesticulating left and right as she added, "But I felt like I couldn't just come here and tell you that. I wanted to be sure, instead of saying, hey, Luka, my vaguely important something-or-other!"

That got him chuckling for real. Whatever he expected her to say next, it didn't seem to be what she was going to say. Being "important" to her really seemed to be enough to make him happy all on its own.

She hadn't thought about it before, but all those loose ends had been leading up to this. The kind of romance she hoped to have for herself, the people she could trust, the phrase "just a friend" thrown around almost like an insult.

Luka.

She turned her body towards him, her knee bumping lightly against his. Extending an arm towards him, she gently held the hand that he wasn't holding the brooch with. He quieted, noting the change in atmosphere.

"I'm comfortable around you. I trust you," she told him. "Those two weeks together were probably the most me I've ever been."

He squeezed her hand.

"You're such a great friend—" She hurriedly waved her free hand about. "—and I don't mean it that way, but you are! So I thought it meant we shouldn't be not friends because you wouldn't be that great friend anymore!"

It was a little disjointed, but the underlying message was there. Her experience (or lack thereof) had told her that there was being friends and being together with no in-between and no overlap. When it came to a romantic relationship, friendship was a pathway and nothing more. Following that logic and what she'd interpreted from Nooroo's teaching, she thought that meant that Luka had to be her friend or her crush.

"But... I want it to be both," Marinette concluded. She held onto his other hand too, their thumbs touching just above the picture in the brooch. "I want to be friends with you, Luka, and I want you too. I—" She averted her gaze, voice almost inaudible as she added, "I want to kiss you."

It was perhaps - no, definitely - a bold declaration, but she'd been holding it in ever since she left the house. It was so obvious when it clicked, like the solution to a Lucky Charm finally coming together.

Only this was her life, not the distant life of her superhero self, and the only thing she was fighting was time; time that she wasn't going to waste now that she had it back.

"...Marinette," Luka finally spoke.

Oh. She shuddered, catching onto the heightened emotion in his voice. Not turning her head, she peeked up at him hopefully.

He'd closed his eyes and leaned towards her just slightly, but otherwise didn't move from his spot. In other words, he was opening himself up to be kissed. She nearly uttered a "wow," but it couldn't make it past her lips.

She couldn't believe it was really happening. Was it really so easy, or did it being easy make it all the more real? In a life where everything had been so complicated - making friends, being Ladybug, coming up with grand plans for anything and everything - wasn't it perfect for the love she'd longed for to be so simple by contrast?

Luka loved her. She loved him. That was it, and she just had to embrace the chance.

She slowly took her hands off of his. Then, remembering the thing that got her there, she took the brooch out of his hand. Holding his jacket in place, she clipped the brooch onto it, smiling to herself over the little visual metaphor for their shared feelings.

Luka's eyes stayed closed, but his twitching smile told her he understood.

The miraculous had been kept open, so she saw it change in real time. Light that didn't exist reflected off of the surface, turning it so white that she couldn't see Luka's image anymore. When it faded away, she was the one pictured there, her teeth showing in a beaming grin and eyes glowing in the same way the rest of her face was.

Hands free, she looked up affectionately at who she felt she could properly consider her boyfriend. She cupped his face, her thumbs caressing the tiny lines caused by the straps of the helmet he'd had on. She would've even been happy to continue doing just that, fascinated by the intimate bubble they'd created for themselves.

Still, she eased herself towards him, pulling him in. She tilted her head to the side and encouraged his to tilt to the other, which he followed along to without a word.

She kissed him, and felt Luka's previously stationary body move with purpose. He kissed her back as his hands went from his lap to her sides, holding her tenderly. The sensation was strong enough that it made her squeak, a sound that made Luka let go in alarm.

She took a hand off his cheek to grip his sleeve tight and keep him in place, assuring him that he was doing fine; fantastic, actually. He took the message exactly as intended, sliding himself closer so he could fully wrap his arms around her.

At some point, she climbed onto his lap, or maybe he lifted her there. It didn't really matter. They were kissing, and her whole world made sense at that very moment.

She felt loved, and was finally able to give it right back.

#queuekanette #lukaneventte: No Context November #Flower Arrangement Shipping #Pro LukaMari #Lukanette #type: salt

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flightfoot · 5 months ago

Note

Are there any funny/cute/slice of life/peaceful normal life fic about miraculous?

Yeah sure! There's a lot of those for Lovesquare especially. These are all from the last few years, because those are quickest and easiest for me to pull up, and frankly, there's quite enough of them.

The Magical Rainbow Flying Caticorn by CrochetJellybean

Kagami is just trying to have a fun day with Marinette when Felix keeps messaging her. Apparently Adrien stole the peacock miraculous and won't give it back.

So this is a fun little fic. Felix is very annoyed at having lost his Miraculous, but hey, at least the kwamis are amused with the situation! There might as well be some sort of upside to being a Senti XD.

---

Always Trending! by @candlemouse

Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube argue over the Parisian superheroes’ relationship and identities. Things heat up even more when interviews from the Ladyblogger, Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste, and Ladybug release!

This is a fun little glimpse into social media within Miraculous's world, especially with the speculation over secret identities. People keep on putting forward Adrien Agreste as possibly being Ladybug or Chat Noir, even though he's too busy to possibly be a superhero XD

---

Draining the Tank by @trinketsinthesun

After a hard day of being Paris's most famous fashion designer and supervillain, Gabriel Agreste wants nothing more than a hot bath. But with the hot water tank always empty, he starts to wonder - why is Adrien taking such long showers?

So this fic is rated M, and it's rated that high because Gabriel comes to suspect that Adrien's long showers are due to him masturbating while he's taking them (no masturbation actually takes place in the fic). Then he notices that Adrien's long showers happen to occur most frequently during akuma attacks and draws his own hilariously wrong conclusions XD.

---

Consequences of Dating Blindly by @mostmagical

Marinette knew she tended to get tunnel vision when she was focused, but luckily her boyfriend Chat Noir was always there to watch her back as they fought Monarch. With their enemy having disappeared, however, they decided together that it was finally time to reveal themselves. In public. Face to face. It's a little silly to have to introduce yourself to your own boyfriend, but after all, it wasn’t Marinette’s fault that she never knew her boyfriend’s name. (Adrien has never been to school, and Marinette doesn't know him.)

This is adorable! The two of them are so smitten with each other, and Adrien's not used to people not recognizing him as Adrien AGRESTE on sight. Marinette's got quite a few surprises coming her way, she didn't expect her kitty to come from this kind of background.

---

in which chat noir comes up with an awesome gift for ladybug by @mixelation

If his Lady wants ultra rare Adrien Agreste merch, then that’s what his Lady will get! Written for the Miraculous Ladybug Secret Santa exchange.

This was really sweet and I love how mixelation wrote Adrien's internal narration! You really viscerally understood his thoughts and feelings. It had some of the intimacy of a first person perspective, but well, in third person.

---

Crossed Wires by @torvalvtt

Marinette has taken Adrien up on his suggestion that they share an apartment in university to help cut costs and be closer to school. This would be fine, except they both seem to have a problem with keeping their suits off around the apartment.

This was fun and hilarious. I loved seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir hurriedly try to come up with excuses for why they were in their own apartment, while Marinette and Adrien weren't XD.

---

Valentine Surprise by choppa01

Adrien had the perfect plan for spending Valentine's Day with Marinette. Unfortunately Chat Noir has the worst luck when it comes to keeping to the plan. But it all works out in the end, right? Right?

This is adorable. Chat Noir keeps running into people who need help on Valentine's Day and sacrificing his own plans in order to help others. Luckily, all is not lost, even if everything he set up for his date is.

---

impromptu training exercises by @14muffinz

“I didn’t do anything,” Rena says proudly, not flinching away from the ire of their leader. “Eagle, on the other hand…” “DO YOU HAVE IT!?” Rooster Bold shouts eagerly, running forward to shake Rena wildly by the shoulders. “Do. You. HAVE IT!?” “YES,” Rena shouts back. [Eagle deposits an heroic object of importance known simply as The Ball in Alya's bedroom. Chaos, a game of keep away, and bonding insues. Also, a spreadsheet.]

This was a really fun fic! Basically the NYC superheroes play this training game where they attempt to steal this one tennis ball from each other and hold onto it for as long as possible. It's led to this one, ratty ball becoming an important piece of superhero memorabilia.

Naturally, the Miracuteam continues the tradition.

I love how you get little vignettes of what all the different characters are doing, getting a glimpse inside their heads as they try to find, steal, and keep The Ball. If you're a fan of hijinks or the Miracuteam more generally, this'll be right up your alley!

---

The Art of Blossoms by @fruitdragon1a

Marinette is a florist. Adrien needs a bouquet. Or: Five times Adrien walked out of Marinette's store with flowers, and one time he left with something far more precious.

This is a classic, adorable No Powers Adrienette AU. I love that Nino and Alya are a couple and are friends with Adrien and Marinette, but that Adrien and Marinette don't know that they have friends in common, it leads to some fun reveals!

---

Peppermint Kisses by @kuromori4

After a holiday adventure with his best friends goes horribly wrong, Adrien unexpectedly finds himself finally confessing his love. Too bad he confessed to the wrong girl.

This was fun and cute. An akuma attack gone wrong results in Adrien being a bit woozy and confessing his love to Ladybug... which would be fine, if he was Chat Noir, but as Adrien... well, there are problems.

Plus well. He HAS started catching feelings for Marinette as well...

It's cute, has some nice Ladrien, and just a nice, pleasant read.

---

Season Of Giving by The_Rabbit42

As Christmas draws near, Adrien and Marinette want to find special presents to give their partner and... other partner. Combined with Adrien rediscovering what Christmas is without his parents, Marinette getting sick, and Alya and Adrien becoming closer friends, it's sure to be a memorable holiday.

I love this, it's a nice festive story, and I especially enjoyed Adrien and Alya getting to talk and bond and just... be friends with each other, rather than simply existing together in the same friend group! Oh, also, this takes place post-season 5, so Adrien's dealing with being an orphan now and all the complicated feelings that stirs up.

---

this is my winter song to you by katrinette

On the last day of school before winter break, Adrien overhears someone singing in one of the classrooms. By the time he gets there, she's gone. He can't get her out of his head. And he keeps hearing her, wherever he goes, until she's the only thing that he can think about. But Adrien doesn't know who she is. At least... not yet. ––– Set against the backdrop of season 4 before Kuro Neko, Adrien begins to really understand the role that his friends play in his life.

Ah this is a lovely Lovesquare fic! Adrien's smitten with a voice he hears and he just keeps on hearing snippets of her singing, but can't track her down and it's driving him crazy!

There's a lot of cute Adrienette and slice-of-life in here, so if you want a low-key fluffy fic full of Adrien's and Marinette's usual adorableness, you came to the right place!

---

Perfectly Platonic (Unless…) by @frostedpuffs

After accidentally revealing their identities in less than ideal circumstances, Adrien and Marinette must navigate their newfound relationship as both partners and friends. Becoming best friends was a quick process, but when romantic feelings begin to bleed into what’s supposed to be a platonic connection, their friendship starts to change in more ways than one. Surely it can’t be that hard to hide their feelings from their best friend? (A post-reveal, pre-relationship fic full of romantic crushes, best friend shenanigans, and a whole lot of dumbassery.)

If you just want a straight-up romance slowburn with these two just somehow being convinced their relationship is platonic (or that the other person wants it to be platonic at least), you’ll find little better to scratch that itch than “Perfectly Platonic (Unless…)”. It’s a little smutty and definitely earns its M rating because of that. If you want mutual pining, there’s a ton of that here!

---

Confession Plans of Questionable Sanity by yellow14

Nathanael Kurtzberg has a confession to make. He’s in love with his big classmate Ivan. With the help of Marc, Marinette, Adrien and Nino, he’s going to confess, using increasingly complicated schemes. Marc meanwhile, is busy coming up with even more complicated schemes to sabotage those schemes so he can confess HIS feelings for his redheaded friend. Nothing could POSSIBLY go wrong with this, right? Written for the March 2023 gift exchange on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord forum for CassieTheweirdWolf.

This fic’s just really funny. These kids love to make things waaaaay harder than they need to be. But hey, everything ends up working out in the end, even if it’s not the way they planned!

---

Attack of the Crystal Zombies by @trainsinanime

Kagami had spent more and more time hanging out with Zoé, talking about things like families, expectations and crushes on Marinette. It was only natural, probably, that she would help Zoé practice flirting. That was definitely a great idea. Granted, the deadly Akuma battle around them was a bit of an issue…

Quality Zoegami fic here! I loved how Kagami kept thinking she was bad at flirting, but it was sure working on Zoe XD. The akuma attack going on around them, interweaving with their conversation, added a bit of spice to the whole affair!

---

Perfect by @deinde_prandium

It’s Adrien and Marinette’s wedding day! On site to ensure the event goes perfectly is their friend and famed wedding planner Kagami Tsuguri, and so far all has been going according to plan. There’s just one problem: no one ever told her about Adrien, Marinette, and their struggles with automatic doors. Add to this the fact that Marinette’s determination to play matchmaker between her and a certain wedding singer… Needless to say, Kagami is not pleased.

This is mostly a Kagami-centric fic, with a touch of Lukagami at the end. I loved the callback to Adrienette’s automatic door troubles, and Kagami and Luka being sneaky XD.

—

Patrolling with a friend for Christmas by @seas-of-silver

Adrien just wanted to gift his Lady some time off and hang out more with Marinette during the festive season - it didn’t exactly go to plan, but somehow ended up… better?

This was adorable! Chat Noir tries to give Ladybug a break by recruiting Multimouse to replace her on patrols for a bit, and Ladybug returns the favor by recruiting Aspik to replace Chat. Yep, it’s Snekmouse!

---

Until I Found You by @linnieluna

Working their way up to a settled adulthood, Marinette and Adrien, now 23, gain a reason to believe that they are expecting—way earlier than they ever planned. Still unwed, it evokes a revelation on Adrien’s behalf. Was it time to take the next step forward?

I loved the emotions here, how Adrien and Marinette reacted to the results of the pregnancy test, how complicated their feelings about it were - and how it prompted Adrien to take action. It’s a really sweet fic!

—

From school bells to wedding bells by @linnieluna

When the superhero duo takes on another exhausting fight against an akuma, Chat Noir does what he never hesitates to do and takes a hit for his partner. The problem being: neither of them knew what power the akuma possessed. That is… until he is transported into the future. More specifically, to his friend Marinette’s wedding.

Ah I love time travel fics! Older!Marinette’s surprised, Younger!Adrien’s bewildered, and Older!Adrien is off knowing exactly what happened and giving his younger self some subtle heads-up.

It gives Adrien something to look forward to, to cling onto, through bad days in the future at least!

—

u + me = love by @xiueryn

Marinette has a massive crush on Adrien. He has a crush on the superhero, Ladybug. When he says the only person he’ll invite as his plus one to an event is Ladybug, Marinette takes her chance to romance him for the night. AU. (a fanboy and fangirl start to date.)

This is just a fun Ladrien story. Ladybug is happy to oblige in Adrien’s fantasies, and no one else believes that he’s actually dating Ladybug.

---

Miracoffee by @pauliestorylover

Ever since the last Mr Pigeon attack over nine months ago, Hawkmoth has fallen off the face of the earth, seemingly for good. There’s never been a better chance for an identity reveal—but after keeping her identity a secret for so many years, Marinette feels incredibly nervous about one. When Chat Noir accidentally finds Ladybug working at a café, Alya comes up with a brilliant idea. If Ladybug and Chat Noir interact regularly in a civilian setting, surely they’ll move towards an identity reveal without outside interference?

Adrien Never Goes To Public School Coffee Shop AU here! It’s funny how he clocks Marinette as being Ladybug IMMEDIATELY. And then after discussing it for awhile, decide to make a bit of a game of the identity reveal, having Chat come in on pre-determined days and seeing whether Ladybug can figure out who she is, all while they get to know each other, even if in passing.

Love the other Miraculous heroes making cameos as well, Marinette seems annoyed that Nino cosplaying as Carapace actually doesn’t tip anyone off XD.

---

His Princess and Her Knight by @seas-of-silver

Adrien, Marinette, Nino and Alya have a group assignment about how the past has shaped them into the people they are today, but they’ll make a discovery that’ll send them searching for answers.

This fic is adorable, Adrien, Marinette, and Nino uncover that they all went to the same preschool together, with Adrien and Marinette immediately latching onto each other, Adrien being the knight to Marinette’s princess, and also making friends with Nino. Sadly he was pulled after two weeks, but it made quite an impression on him.

---

The Mer-Human Race by @rosie-b

Bringing her hand closer to his lips, Adrien tried to plant a kiss on it, but Marinette pulled away before his lips could touch her. “Save it for your girlfriend,” she said teasingly. “Or do you still not have one yet?” Adrien smirked and crossed his arms. “It’s a girl,” he said. “And I know her in real life. That’s all you get. Now, let’s get back to planning, shall we? We have a mermaid to beat.”

Lovely world-building here! Merfolk and humans have had a treaty for a long time, so there’s a tradition where merfolk can challenge humans to a race, and whoever wins gets to ask for a reasonable sort of reward (in Marinette’s case, she wants to be allowed to captain a ship at a younger age than is usually allowed). Alya, Nino, and Adrien are naturally very encouraging towards Marinette, and luckily for her, a nice merman going by the name of Chat Noir shows up and challenges her to a race…

Yeah you can see where this is going XD. It’s fun, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

---

Cheating Cat by @11jj11

When Emma and Isaac Dupain-Cheng realize that Adrien is Chat Noir, that can only mean one thing… that he’s cheating on Marinette with Ladybug, and they’re the only ones that know!

This is really cute, with Emma and Isaac being worried about Adrien supposedly cheating on Marinette and wanting to talk to Ladybug to stop her from dating Chat Noir. That’s not all that’s going on here, though - Isaac’s actually adopted, but he and Adrien are still related, which puts an interesting twist on the tale. There’s a reason he’s especially sympathetic to the fact that Adrien being Chat Noir means he would have had to fight his own father…

—

A Mousey guest by charliepoet13

Adrien Agreste has finally managed to break away from his father and make his way out into the world. One faithful night, after settling down in his new home, he spots a strange guest.

Adrien X Multimouse fic here! So this is inspired by the Borrowers, with little people the size of mice living amongst ordinary-sized humans, and Marinette got a little careless here XD. But soon finds that Adrien’s friendly and not a threat. It’s adorable and reminds me of the The Littles book series that I read when I was a kid!

—

Three Crazy Days by @lea-panthera

In which Marinette’s mind is forced to stretch a mile.

So Bunnix drops off Marinette’s future daughter for her to take care of, who blabs that her grandfather is Hawk Moth, and then things quickly spin out of control XD.

---

@ ladybug by @hefoundme

Trending in Paris 1 · Trending #JusticeForPapillombre 2 · Technology · Trending Tsurugi Corp Trending with Tomoe Tsurugi 3 · Trending #LadynoirStrong

So this is a multimedia type fic showing various online conversations and things that would likely be going on in Miraculous Paris. It doesn’t really have a coherent narrative per se, and is more like a series of vignettes. It’s a lot of fun, like there’s a section going over Andre’s ice cream reviews, Alix talking with Max about how she’s worried about Alim falling down conspiracy rabbit holes, an image of the most popular google search terms for Adrien, all sorts of things! It must’ve taken a lot of work and I think it’s worth a look.

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Lost Little Kitten by soliea0death

Monarch hasn’t been seen for a while, but that doesn’t mean that Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t still needed as the heroes of Paris. Also, the new holder of the rabbit miraculous may need some more practice when dealing with time travel. One-shot Ladynoir ;);)

This is adorable. Ladybug and Chat Noir find a toddler wandering around and try to find her parents, to no avail, so they decide to take care of her (well Ladybug said she was gonna leave her with Marinette, but you know what that really means). Of course Bunnix had to come to collect her since she was displaced from time, but neglected to say who her parents were…

Anyway this was adorable, and I loved the explanation for how, exactly, the little girl ended up in the wrong time period.

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adrien agreste and the consequences of tweets making fun of yourself by Anonymous

Well, Adrien thinks, what’s the worst that could come from a few poorly thought-out tweets lightly ribbing his own civilian identity?

I love the focus here on how people just assume what Adrien’s thinking and feeling and act on his behalf, without actually waiting to see what HE wants, and Adrien’s growing frustration. How they create a version of him in their heads, but don’t care to check with reality to see whether he actually wants their “defense”.

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Spin the Bottle by @kasienda

When the bottle cap comes to a stop dead center on Nino, Adrien’s both relieved and somehow more anxious. His first kiss - not his actual first kiss, but still kinda his first kiss - the first kiss he will remember, will be with someone he deeply cares about. But Adrien also cares what Nino thinks of him, so what if he’s a terrible kisser? Nino offers him a reassuring smile, and he relaxes. Adrien glances at Alya for permission, and she just shoos him towards Nino. Adrien turns to Nino, leaning closer. If his stomach had been squirming before, it now feels like a half dozen Kwamis have taken up residence in his gut. But Adrien doesn’t hesitate. He blocks out the presence of all of his friends watching, and instead focuses on Nino - like Nino is a stage partner in a photoshoot. Except kissing Nino is nothing like a photoshoot. … Adrien kisses Nino in a game of Spin the Bottle, and then neither can stop thinking about it. Alya really likes how flustered her boyfriend is by all this. Marinette though, can’t handle it and keeps running away.

This is a great Alya X Adrien X Nino X Marinette poly fic! I love them all talking out their feelings and realizing new things about themselves. Alya’s instrumental and bringing everyone together, though she, herself, is also nervous about confessing to her longstanding crush XD

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Windows 5 + 1 by @dadplagg-mamatikki

A bet between Kim and Alix trigger a chain reactions of events where Adrien jumps out of windows.

I love this. Adrien needs very little prompting to jump out of windows, heck he’ll do it with NO prompting, it’s hilarious XD. Heck he even asked whether Kim would prefer a normal jump or a theatrical one! It’s really not that surprising though, considering how we’ve seen Adrien dive from the top of his rock-climbing wall onto his couch.

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I know there’s been pain this year (But it’s time to let it go) by @ninadove

“What? Nooo! Adrien doesn’t hate Christmas.” “Are you absolutely certain? What was he like last year?” “Well, he —” Marinette furrowed her brow, scanning her own memories. Of course she was absolutely certain. At least, she thought she was. Okay — she could not ignore that Adrien had run away from home that night, wandering the snow-covered streets to escape the freezing cold of his own home. Nor could she brush away the disintegrated Morris column, cataclysmed for the crime of bearing his own face. Oh, and the shaky videos circulating on YouTube. That musical number was… Concerning, to say the least. Still, it was no smoking gun. Right? “Oh my god,” she squeaked, plopping down against the counter. “Adrien hates Christmas.”

I love Marinette and Felix doing their best to cheer Adrien up, it’s adorable. Especially Marinette’s attempt. It’s very Marinette, I laughed out loud XD. There’s a lot of senticousin bonding here, so if you like that, this is a good one to check out!

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Caught In A Multimouse Trap by @a-flaming-idiot

Adrien was having a rather slow morning. That was until he discovered a tiny superhero trapped in his home and decides to be a bit of a hero even out of his suit.

This was adorable! Adrien does his best to care for the little miniature superhero caught in a mousetrap, bandaging her up as best as he can (thankfully only her tail got caught so it’s more of a phantom pain than an actual injury) and just… it’s really cute.

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

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

I adore fics that center on Alya, I haven’t exactly been shy about that fact. This is a nice one for some Alyanette adorableness! (And some Scarabella and Chat banter, I really enjoyed reading that as well). “Fake” flirting to make crushes jealous tends to turn real very quickly, and this is no exception. It’s hilarious, Alya’s the last one to figure out that her romantic relationship with Marinette is very much real XD.

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Within Your Heart by Inkyibis

It’s Valentine’s Day and Ladybug just wants to her superhero partner to find his love. And what she wants, the Lucky Charm will create. If only she could remember what it is she did last night.

Adrino fic here! Marinette’s drunk and feeling awful that her superhero partner is alone on Valentine’s (she’s in a loving and committed relationship with Alya), so she creates a Lucky Charm to help Chat find love! In this universe, Ladybug’s Lucky Charms have the power to create new rules for the universe to follow, such as making one that demands that if you have any magic in you, you have to tell the truth or else you’ll freeze. Or in Adrien’s case, that he has to wake up in the arms of his true love every day XD. It’s very sweet and I love both Adrien’s and Nino’s relationship, and the relationship between the rest of the Miracuteam members as well, even though that’s not the focus.

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a winter so warm by @rosekasa

winters were hard for even the best of vampires, but at least adrien had marinette to keep him warm with her cuddles. december was going to suck without her. so it was only to be expected to get extra cuddles in before she left, right? (well, not really, considering those heating supplements he was taking, but she didn’t need to know about that).

This one’s mostly just cute cuddly adorableness! It’s basically like all those “Marinette gets the Ladybug trait of needing to cuddle up to someone for warmth”, but with Adrien instead. And of course featuring Marinette being a very talented witch who just wants to help Adrien stay warm when she isn’t there XD.

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The 8 Weddings of Alix Kubdel by The_Rabbit42

The bet is simple: with the Rabbit Miraculous, Alix will be speaking at all of her friends’ weddings. No matter what age they tie the knot, she’ll be there looking the same. From Alix’s perspective, she’s going to each ceremony and reception one right after another in a nonstop bender.

This fic’s a lot of fun! I loved seeing all the different weddings, as well as how Alix slowly felt more and more out of place, with going forwards in time. Some of the weddings could get, uh. Exciting as well XD. And while there’s been years in-between Alix’s appearances for her friends at the wedding, for Alix, it’s only been a few hours, if that…

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Three’s company by @torvalvt

Kagami has been doing her best for years to ignore her feelings for her friends. It doesn’t help that Adrien and Marinette insist on spending as much time as possible with her, even going so far as inviting her along on their dates together. If only the affection she felt for them wouldn’t get in the way of their relationship. Because it is growing harder and harder to tamp down her feelings with how close they are getting to her.

This is adorable. Adrien and Marinette really want Kagami to join their relationship and she just doesn’t dare hope for it. If you want some adorable Adrigaminette from Kagami’s perspective, I recommend checking this fic out!

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The Power of Love by @nedjsmlfavs

In which Ladybug announces that she’s pregnant via her long term boyfriend and Chat Noir is a supportive partner. After all, he can hardly be upset when he’s been dating his Princess for years!

A different take on the show’s tagline (“The Power of Love Always so Strong”) written for Valentine’s day 2023.

This is just a sweet, fluffy fic about Ladybug and Chat Noir finding out they’re having a baby, revealing to each other, getting married, and becoming parents. Gabriel actually tries to do better here, as he does actually care about getting to know his grandchild, and realizes that he can’t undo this timeline without undoing his granddaughter’s existence as well.

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Skinny Dipping in the Seineby whensparksfly

When Marinette and Chat Noir cross paths one stormy night, an unexpected friendship blossoms, and between the two of them they’re both able to admit what they’ve been looking for the most — freedom. Vowing to tackle all of the things they’ve never tried before, they set out on a series of adventures to complete their bucket lists.

Cute little Marichat fic here! Just Marinette and Chat Noir hanging out and doing things they’ve always wanted to do, like going to a rave or, well, skinny-dipping in the Seine.

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Villainous Matchmakingby @nedjsmlfavs

When Chat Noir is tragically unable to attend an event with Ladybug, the mayor calls in a favor from a designer ‘friend’. Now she’s attending in style, on the arm of the hottest male model in Paris. Which would be fine if it weren’t for one, tiny issue: Paris’ favorite domestic terrorist now knows how Ladybug feels about his son. This leads him to his greatest plan yet, using Ladybug’s extremely obvious crush on Adrien Agreste to akumatize Chat Noir.

A Ladrien/“platonic” Ladynoir fic

This is adorable and hilarious. Gabriel keeps on “accidentally” releasing things which makes it looks like Adrien and Ladybug are a couple in an effort to make Chat Noir jealous, while Adrien and Ladybug ae just over-the-moon about getting to spend time together and finding out that the other person loves them XD.

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The moment I knew (I’d no choice but to love you) by @bbutterflies

“He’s dating me,” Nino said, taking Adrien’s hand in his own.

Adrien could only stare back at him in shock.

“How dare you all force him to come out?” Nino continued, glaring at the reporters. “That was disgusting.” He pulled Adrien over to the car, guided him in, and shut the door behind them.

In the relative quiet and privacy of the backseat, Adrien finally processed what had just happened. “So… when were you going to tell me we were dating?”

This Adrino fic is delicious XD. Reporters keep hounding Adrien about his love life, so Nino finally gets them off Adrien’s back by fake-dating him. Problem is, Adrien’s actually been madly in love with Nino for years but has never been able to tell him. And now as they’re spending more time together, Nino’s beginning to find that he’s enjoying all these “couple” activities more than maybe he ought to if it’s entirely platonic...

If you want to see Adrien and Nino PINING for each other while “fake” dating (is it really fake if both parties want it to be real?) then you’ve come to the right fic!

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Every Heartbeat by @epcot97

Reeling from a brutally difficult day, Marinette finds her life becomes amazingly complicated after impulsively inviting Chat Noir to spend the evening with her. But when the suave feline begins to weave his way into her heart, she realizes rather quickly just how conflicted her feelings for her partner truly are. (part of MariChat May 2021)

Okay so I’m cheating on this one just a little. This story was originally uploaded in 2021, but was taken down and then reuploaded in 2023. I didn’t read it the first time around, and I really enjoyed it and this is my list, so screw it, I’m including it.

Really lovely Marichat fic here! Gabriel fires Marinette from her designer job for unfair reasons, so Chat goes to comfort her and help her set up her own fashion business, becoming closer and closer as they do so.

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Chemistry With Him by @bbutterflies

It kind of sucked Nino was taking chemistry, but classes had filled up fast and he needed to take something and his advisor had said the credits would, somehow, count towards his major. It really sucked he was taking it first thing on a Monday morning (and Wednesdays, and Fridays, unfortunately). But he could get through it. He knew he could.

So no more boys. No distractions. He could do this all on his own.

“Is anyone sitting here?”

Nino looked up to find the source of the voice. A blond, green-eyed, absolutely beautiful someone.

Okay. Maybe one distraction.

Ah, adorable Adrino. This is a universe where Adrien never went to public school, so while Chat Noir, Ladybug, Carapace, and Rena Rouge all know each other (and Marinette, Alya, and Nino all know each other’s identities) they’re unaware that they are all already friends with Adrien. I loved seeing Chat and Carapace excitedly tell each other about their awesome crush/boyfriend, not knowing they were talking about each other XD.

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The Rules of Engagementby @overworkedunderwhelmed

When tragedy sends Adrien Agreste racing back to Paris to run his father’s fashion house, Marinette doesn’t expect much from her very new, very rich boss. At least not until she is set up on a blind date with a very familiar face.

Much to her surprise, Adrien Agreste was hiding far more secrets behind his stoic business-like mask of temporary CEO. Maybe as many secrets as she had been trying to hide for years.

As they grow closer, Marinette fears her mask isn’t nearly as foolproof. Day after day, it gets harder for her to keep all her secrets well hidden from the surprisingly sweet man who insisted on staying by her side as often as possible.

Only she couldn’t afford to fail. Not when her biggest secret could spell the end of the job she’d dreamed about for years.

They might not be superheroes in this universe, but secret identities are still active here. Both Marinette and Adrien used to be involved with the Ladybug and Chat Noir movies, and both kept that a secret - Adrien especially, since if his father found out about it, there could be some bad repercussions, as he voiced Chat Noir without Gabriel’s permission. Marinette, meanwhile, is well known for making cosplay (calling herself “Ladybug” after the movie), and has been in contact with “Chat Noir” for quite some time before the story starts - not that she knows he’s the actual VA.

It’s mostly an Adrienette fic with the two of them getting to know each other after their unusual “first” meeting, where Marinette pretended to be Kagami in order to scupper the date with Adrien and get Tomoe off her back, with some intrigue and drama thrown in. Lila’s skulking around causing problems for the people around her, but she’s honestly not the main focus here.

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Fate, Destiny... A Hamsterby @mostmagical

After finally moving into his very first apartment per Ladybug’s suggestion, Adrien discovers something no movie or TV show could have ever prepared him for: someone else's hamster.

Marinette was so excited to have her first pet. If only it would stop escaping!

At least now there’s an excuse to talk to the new neighbor.

(Adrienette Never Met AU)

Funnily enough, this is based on a true story. Specifically, the author’s own experience of having her hamster run out and be found by a neighbor.

Anyway, this is adorable! Marinette and Adrien become smitten with each other extremely quickly, with Marinette’s hamster keeping giving them reasons to talk. Very effective wing-hamster, that one XD.

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you made me a hero - reverse crush short stories seriesby @non-fantasy

This series is just plain fun! Like the title says, it’s a reverse crush AU, so Adrien’s head-over-heels for Marinette, while Ladybug’s smitten with Chat Noir. Which means that Adrien’s constantly trying to woo Marinette while Ladybug’s attempting to have normal conversations with Chat Noir (and failing), and both of them are oblivious to each other’s feelings.

I love the way non-fantasy executes it, with Alya literally carrying around a spray bottle because of how eager Adrien is, and Ladybug being VERY SCARY if you ever lay a finger on Chat Noir (seriously akumas will literally beg for their akumatized object to be broken just to escape her wrath).

Oh, also, Ladybug regularly stops by Adrien’s room so they can both lament how difficult of a time they’re having wooing their crushes, and just have fun together.

There’s a lot of entries in this series - 29 of them in fact - but most of them are pretty short, making it great if you want to devour some quick, cute, hilarious romcom action!

Some stuff does actually change over the course of the series, it’s not just slice-of-life. Like identity reveals, dating, and even Hawkmoth’s defeat, so there’s clear progression and changes in circumstances as well.

#ask #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic rec

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kupo-theincendiary · 4 months ago

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Nathalie is resigned to find herself withdrawing to the empty balcony before the end of her own wedding. They won't miss her-- it's Emilie they're here for, and Emilie they'll get. She is happy to stay as a helper, as the lines drawn across the page of Emilie Graham de Vanily's life. This is what they are used to, Nathalie loving and working and Emilie shining. At the end of the day, Emilie will come back home and tell Nathalie she loves her, and it will be like the first time she said it, standing over Gabriel's grave, and Nathalie will know that she belongs in this family.

It's wonderful to watch her out there. Emilie spins between conversations, catches the light and shines around a glowing smile and makes the world fall in love. They congratulate her on the match, let her brush them off when they ask about how fresh the soil is over her last spouse, and they dance. Everybody dances with Emilie. Except Nathalie, but that's okay. Tonight, that isn't the place she's been given.

"Are you alright, Nathalie?*

She straightens, relaxes-- she wishes he'd stop asking that. But Adrien sometimes works in repetition, and she supposes there is logic in him running like clockwork every once and awhile. She tries not to parallel herself to a boy who has been told to be perfect and can't help but do what he's told. She knows it's different. She also knows what Emilie asks of him isn't wrong. Everything they do is for him. He owes Emilie obedience.

"Yes," she says, and remembers to smile. "It's a wonderful day."

"You're not going to dance?"

"I'm not much of a dancer."

"I've seen you and Mummy dancing before."

"That's-- not in public."

He nods. It's a sentiment the whole household knows. What stays inside against what gets to come out at parties, at work. They breathe it-- Adrien was raised on it, but Nathalie took it in herself, dropping out of college to help the Agrestes and hiding anything that might make them let her go. When they finally learnt her age, it changed very little.

"Just-- make sure you enjoy yourself."

"I am enjoying myself," she says, and looks at him. Just freshly a teenager, unsure of himself, and her family. Family. "I get to talk to you."

He laughs a little, like it's bullshit. It's not. She hates being disbelieved, but she stands and doesn't call him out.

"There you are!" Emilie rushes up to them, all fluttery gold and white. "I saw you two om the balcony together-- what are you doing all the way up here? My favourite son and my beautiful bride."

She kisses Nathalie. It takes her by surprise but it's nice and anyway, it's Emilie.

"I was just reminding my mum to enjoy herself," says Adrien, with a sideways grin at Nathalie.

Mum.

Nathalie has never been a parent. She was set on it as soon as it was suggested to her. She is not a teacher, not a protector-- she is a worker and a fighter and to Adrien she is a friend, first and foremost. But it's a good word-- mum. It finalises the marriage. She is with them, one of them. She is family.

She'll take being a mother for that.

But Emilie frowns. "Nathalie's said she doesn't want to be a mum."

"It's fine," Nathalie tells her, firm.

"Nathalie isn't your mother," says Emilie. "I'm your mother, why would you want to have another one?"

"But she's marrying you, I thought--"

"I understand the confusion," smiles Emilie, "but she's just my wife."

"Isn't she--"

"Don't call her your mum," says Emilie. "She's not actually related to you-- you know that."

She touches her rings.

Nathalie closes her eyes, and smiles flickeringly.

"Of course," says Adrien.

Somebody Nathalie doesn't know pushes his way onto the balcony. He shakes Emilie's hand enthusiastically.

"Lady Graham de Vanily," he exclaims-- "and the wife!"

A week later, Emilie calls them for a family meeting. Nathalie shows up, and Adrien stares at her hollowly.

"But you're not our family."

It's not his fault.

Emilie laughs it off for the both of them.

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miraculog · 1 month ago

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Marinette Salt Prompt:

TLDR: Ladybug "accidentally" reveals Chat Noir's secret ID before a massive crowd after an akuma fight doesn't go her way. She expected them to hate him. She didn't expect him to be loved more.

Marinette scowled at her monitor. She thought that her plan would go different. She wanted to show Paris that Chat Noir wasn't fit to be a hero. That he didn't listen to orders and that would make things worse.

She doesn't know how, but him not listening got them to defeat the akuma they were battling faster. She was just so mad.

She still had time before her timer ran out. But Chat Noir? He had used his powers already and had to leave to keep his identity a secret.

He told her once that if she saw him without his mask, she wouldn't be able to resist him. And she hates that he's right.

Because she prevented him from leaving. She kept him there, telling him off before so many people. Almost all of them filming. The beeping coming from Chat Noir's ring meant nothing for her in that moment. And then the transformation dropped, revealing the boy she had been in love with the whole time. Adrien. Her Adrien.

She fled before he or his kwami could say anything to her. Demand answers from her.

She thought that this would get him to quit being Chat Noir. That it would mean people would turn on Adrien and make him need comfort. Comfort she could provide.

But no. Her monitor showed anything but that. Adrien was being interviewed by Nadja. The two were laughing and talking about his work as Chat Noir. About how his father demanded he stop. Adrien didn't want to stop.

They talked about how his aunt helped him get emancipated. How he was eager to move into his own place. How he wasn't working for his father anymore, but he'd consider modeling occasionally for anyone else.

Everyone loved him. Chat Noir being Adrien Agreste made both of them more popular. There were questions about why he was cutting ties with his family. About what he was going to do.

And then there were people criticizing her. Saying she shouldn't have outed him. That clearly, she didn't know what she was talking about. She was wrong about him. He was a good hero.

Marinette growled as she shut off her screen.

Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir.

Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste.

And apparently, everyone loves him more now.

#marinette salt #marinette salt prompt #adrien salters can stay mad #marinette salt prompts #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #miraculog #miraculous #adrien sugar #ladybug #chat noir #cat noir

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justheretodump · 8 months ago

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this is going to be dc x danny phantom x miraculous ladybug x spiderman

pt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

for those who aren't familiar with every show, here's a lore explanation

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when marinette had reached out to cat blanc, her heart bled with conflict. she had been wrong to give adrien the gift, wrong to use her powers for selfish reasons. regret coursed through her veins, sadness clouded her face with tears, and hatred brewed at the man gabriel agreste chose to be. her last visage was that of cat blanc kneeling in pain and her heart hurt for him.

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peter parker had not survived his encounter with the vulture on the beach. he had enough time to tie the man up but amongst the scattered debris and plane cargo on the sand, he had slowly fallen to one knee, and then the other, before slumping forward with a last breath.

his only thought was that may parker would have dinner alone, and what kind of nephew was he to miss family dinner?

---

red robin did not trust many people. his family and his titans, undoubtedly. in a professional capacity, a few of the justice leaguers and close colleagues like gordon. outside of that, he tended to tread with caution. like every robin before and after, it was hard to refuse batman's particular brand of paranoia. dick had always stood out by sometimes (the key being sometimes) refusing bruce's hardheaded wariness. jason had the emotional intelligence of a pumpkin, though he would cooperate with "untrustwrothy allies" just to spite bruce. it fell on to tim, then, to be a carbon copy of his mentor. c'est la vie, and all that.

when batman received a call from constantine asking for technological help, red robin eyed the comm warily. justice league dark needed every member available due to the recent ghost cases and the australian running off had been bad timing.

"batman," the man's voice was serious and fast-paced in the echo of the cave, "jazz called from illinois, the call cut out, bad signal or something. she was panicking. i need you to try and trace it."

batman hadn't needed to say anything, red robin had already begun to search for all state phone towers emitting a weird signal.

"springfield isn't turning up anything."

"no, no," constantine denied bruskly, "she mentioned another place, amity park. i don't know where the fuck that is, she's never talked about it."

oracle, from her corner of the computer wall, piped in, "jazz fenton was transferred to springfield's house for wandering girls when her family passed away in a house fire in amity park."

"why would she visit her family house after all this time?" batman mused.

"well," barbara continued, "says here the house was passed to her name when she came of age. maybe she finally wanted to check on it."

"she wouldn't just leave," constantine pressed, "she was obsessed with the ghost cases we've got going on."

red robin stopped his typing to read the silenced comm link blaring at the edge of the screen. "batman, we've got zatanna online."

"oracle, patch her through."

while zatanna spoke to oracle through her headset, red robin frowned at the messages on the terminal. signals across the town were poor, barely enough to reach springfield. anything further than that was a miracle connection. citizens would have to direct all communication to springfield before accessing the wider world. red robin tried pingponging the signal to other stronger towers but they were incompatible. his frown deepened. what obscure provider did they contract for the town?

"batman," oracle called, voice steely, "we've got news about arabia.

the pit disappeared."

---

"superman," spoke red robin's voice through his earpiece. clark winced. sudden calls with no warning were the bats' specialty, no matter how disliked it was.

"hello to you too."

"busy in metropolis?"

clark stared from his place in the sky at the traffic jam on the expressway. he shrugged, "no, not really."

"great, i'm sending you coordinates to jazz fenton, she works with the jld. 45 minutes ago her call to constantine cut off. it's the first time she's talked to him in two weeks, gone missing somewhere in illinois."

clark darted through the air, red robin's no-nonsense voice cluing him in on the severity of the situation. he didn't know jazz fenton nor constantine very well, but a fellow hero in need of help was always an important matter.

he zoned in on the blinking dot of his wrist watch - a justice league perk from the bat himself.

"any idea what i'm going to get?"

"not really," red robin drawled, "all we know is she sounded like she was in a panic. the location isn't hers, it's her phone signal before it cut off."

"alright, be there in 5."

---

tucker foley blew a bubble with his gum, letting it pop in boredom as he walked down the sidewalk. it was a sunny weekend afternoon, and the record store had sold out of chappell roan albums already. probably paulina again. he couldn't be too mad, it was probably the lesbian gods favoring an actual lesbian.

the town was a bit more busy than usual. it was thanksgiving week and all the out of state family members were passing by to reunite.

nobody in the hustle of the square really stood out; there went the baxters arguing about how many potatotes were needed for dinner, and mr. lancer with his new partner (a boston dentist, mrs. babette had whispered over the grocery aisle last week).

pulling out his phone, he dialed sam. they were meeting later tonight, but tucker felt it was important to pass on that the dentist was wearing gothic clothing.

just as sam muttered a clipped "what do you want?" from the receiver, two very strange things happened before tucker foley.

one, a weird object whizzed through the air, too fast for the naked eye to fully figure out. tucker thought it was superman, which would've been pretty cool, but it was probably a fighter jet from the nearby base. they'd never taken their jets out before, but what did tucker know about military operations?

secondly, and perhaps the most important one, was a flash of ginger hair out of the corner of his eye. he turned to look, and the figure hurrying down the street made his breath catch. distant memories of a boy's laughter rang in his head as he watched jazz fenton, older and looking harried, basically speedwalk with her phone in hand.

he choked as he swallowed his gum.

"sam," he whispered, the girl replying with a worried "tucker?"

"sam, i think i just saw jasmine fenton."

#dc x dp #dc x dp crossover #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #miraculous ladybug au #peter parker in gotham #batman #dc #danny phantom

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fortuna-et-cataclysmos · 2 years ago

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In defense of s5 finale

I hear and see a lot of people expressing dislike of the season finale, some also in the tags and comments of my analysis/speculation posts. So I wanted to further expand on this.

Gabriel's victory -being remembered a hero despite everything wrong he did, especially abuse to Adrien- has left a sour taste in many people's mouth; many blaming the scenarists and not shying away from calling it "bad writing."

But I think that that was exactly what the scenarists wanted to do? The perfect world Gabriel leaves behind is unsettling, unfair, and I think that the creators have done their best to show that implicitly but clearly. I think that we are supposed to be irked by the finale.

Why do I think that? Because there were a lot of small things that gave the message that, as @emsylcatac iconically put it, "this is the bad place." I touched upon some of those in my previous post on how this was a victory for Gabriel and Lila, and a defeat for Ladybug. I'll try to list them more clearly here.

Gabriel a hero

This is the one thing everyone has the most problem with. At the end, Gabriel was declared the hero who gave his life to defeat the Monarch, who was none other than himself. Some artistic choices here are so over the top that I believe they were specifically made to irk us.

If the silver statue itself wasn't enough, the exact quote of Caline Bustier is:

All the rings that have been highjacked by the Monarch have been recycled into a statue in honour of the great Gabriel Agreste.

Then Tsurugi Tomoe goes on to say:

Beyond the visionary entrepreneur and genius creator that he was, we are celebrating a hero today.

See, everything bad about Gabriel has been flipped. If you count literally exploiting people visionary entrepreneurship, sure, he was that. And genius? He couldn't get the miraculouses of two teenagers for an entire year despite having all the resources, and he ended up succeeding only with the help of another extremely powerful person (Tsurugi Tomoe) and even then he ended up dying himself.

As of creator, he was literally a destructor. He destroyed Paris more times than anyone can count, and everything was fixed every time only thanks to Ladybug. Let's not also forget how he destroyed the Miraculouses to exploit their power.

Adrien's comment about his father

This is another thing many people have had problem with. It is so outrageous that I won't believe the creators would expect us to take at face value.

At the end, Adrien acknowledges that his father died to take down the Monarch, and says:

I don't know if one day I'll manage to become like him.

Lo and behold, the man who had emotionally neglected and abused his son to no end has turned into the said son's hero and role model. Adrien not only looks up to him, but also wants to make an active effort to become like him. Hell, he even doubts if he can be as good as him.

No way this line can taken at face value. There are many children's shows with abusive parental figures nowadays (like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the Owl House) that have all handled the conclusion to that abuse generally well. The watchers' expectations are high in this respect; the scenarists would know that such conclusion, if not ironic, would not satiate the expectations of the spectators.

Lack of accountability: Gabriel and Tomoe

As many many people have pointed out, the general lack of accountability in this season finale is infuriating. So Gabriel mentally tortured THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION and not only never faced consequences in life, but also is remembered as a hero in death?

What about Tomoe?

Not only she has not faced any repercussion for being basically a supervillain, but also she is still a respected public figure who can go and make a speech backed by the mayor, in front of the freaking French flag. If that doesn't irk you, I don't know what will.

Worse is that, she goes as far as saying in her speech that:

I'll make sure to continue his legacy.

So she'll continue to be evil. Great hint that she'll continue being an antagonist in season 6.

As you can see, the new world that has been created is extremely unfair and problematic. No way this can be "the good place," an actual "happy ending."

Everything is fixed! No problems anymore!

Also, you'd realise that the world is perfect, a little too perfect. It is like a green utopian dream.

Caline Bustier has been the mayor "only for a few weeks" (direct quote from the episode), and she has already fixed all the problems possible in Paris. Not only that, she has also solved inequality and class struggle (again, mentioned by herself). Let's make Caline the President of the World already.

Funny that LITERALLY ALL THE PROBLEMS of a city could be solved, while the exact same episode showed Majestia, the freaking Supergirl of the ML universe, acknowledged in her nightmare that:

Even with all my superpowers, I'll never manage to solve all the problems of the world.

Well, Bustier says that she has no superpower, that people working together can accomplish that. Kudos to her and her democratic spirit. But like, perfect city in a few weeks? Even Mayor Bourgeois who wanted to send all the trash of Paris to space would realise that that's impossible.

There is no perfect solution, yet the world is perfect

Ladybug acknowledges that there is no perfect solution to Gabriel's situation. Trying to bring back his wife, he has caused irreparable damage to himself and to Nathalie, effectively leaving Adrien an orphan. He still hopes that Ladybug can fix it all. But she can't because of the nature of the wish: for one thing gained, another thing should be lost. In Ladybug's words:

There is no perfect wish. Every time a power is used for personal gain, it causes catastrophes. (...) We'll find a solution, but it will never be as perfect as one would wish.

Interesting, given that the world ends up being completely perfect?

All the problems are solved, literally everyone is happy, Marinette and Adrien are finally together. But the wish was made for personal gain, no? So where are the consequences? Where is equivalent exchange? The catastrophe, the price of the perfect, green, just world? I think we'll see that in season 6.

The dream world

The new world is seriously giving me weird vibes. Like it is a movie set. For those who have watched The Good Place, you'd know how in the town everything feels a bit too bright, artificial, perfect. I get the same vibes from the post-wish world.

The Agreste mansion is covered by green vines?? Way to hide the atrocities that were planned and happened here.

Here is a screengrab I found on the internet from The Good Place (the ladybug is a funny coincidence lol)

I am getting the exact same vibes!

Also, I have expanded on that in my post on "running out of time" theme, but basically in the ML universe usually the "real" stuff are associated with the night and the rain while things that happen in the sun turn out to be fake or erased/forgotten. So the feeling that I get from this finale is that, this new "perfect" world is not genuine; that the seeming happiness it brings will be soon destroyed (I doubt erased), just as it happened in other fake reality episodes like Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, or Jubilation. As I argued before, this is not a permanent victory. Hell, it isn't even a real victory, not with the secret Marinette is left to keep from Adrien.

Not a real victory

Another thing that makes me think that this ending is not genuine is the lack of Chat Noir in the finale. Yes, I am a fervent Ladynoir stan who was hoping for some Ladynoir action (if not reveal) and was hugely disappointed by the lack of Chat's engagement in the final fight, but now that I think of it, this may have been on purpose.

Notice how in Conformation, Ladybug says:

Our only way to win against him is to fight him together.

And yet, soon thereafter, she is catapulted into a fight with the Monarch.

Notice also it wasn't her choice to unify the miraculouses and face the Monarch alone. She had to, because Chat Noir wasn't there.

Let's remember that this show spent the entire season 4 explaining how Ladybug assuming all the responsibility alone leads to disaster, how she needs Chat Noir to share the burden with him.

Let's also remember how in season 5, especially at the beginning of it, we see Ladybug change her behaviour towards Chat Noir: she gives him more responsibilities (the Bunny Miraculous, the identity of certain holders if I am not mistaken), and how at one point she confesses that Chat Noir has been very serious and responsible lately (and then promptly develops a crush on him).

So taking on the Monarch herself is really against everything they have built up in season 4 and the beginning of season 5. That's why I think that this "victory" is so wrong: it was "won" only by Ladybug. Maybe if Chat Noir were there, he would have prevented the Monarch from making the wish (hypothetically, then we would have an entirely different timeline). If his identity were revealed the way Marinette's was, Gabriel could have controlled him through his amok. In any case, their defeat or victory would have looked very different from this.

In the end, we must remember that this world is far from being a victory for Ladybug: she has, after all, LOST. She couldn't stop Gabriel from making the wish. And while this world looks perfect, and we got what seems like a forever happy after ending for Adrinette, their happiness is set in a non-genuine victory and world.

So I think we shouldn't be angry with the show-runners: there is a reason why this ending feels and is wrong. If it were all wonderful, it wouldn't be the season finale. It would be the finale, period. And I believe that everything that has been disturbing us in this season finale will be addressed, if not consist of the core conflict of season 6. Let's all take a deep breath and turn to fan fiction or fan art till we get the new season now :) (at least that's what I'll do lol)

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml season 5 #from fortuna #ml conformation #ml recreation #ml analysis #ml meta #ladynoir #adrinette #ml speculation

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 9 months ago

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Hello! What do you think about Natalie, her writing and fandom treatment? I find it fascinating that despite all the evil, she has so many fans, and even those who salt on ML and the Agrestes heavily often portray her as cool and/or sympathetic.

Prior to season five, I had mixed feelings about Nathalie. I like badass female villains, but I don't like women being idiots over men. Those were her two defining traits in season three and four, so my attitude was mostly, "can we please switch her motivation so that I can love her? I really want to love her because, if we remove the romance crap, then she reminds me of Shego and the world needs more Shegos!"

Then season five hit....

I utterly despise Nathalie's season five writing and think it makes her look weak, cruel, and ineffectual. I have no idea why so many people adore her and are excited that she's Adrien's new mom. She is not meaningfully better than Gabriel. In fact, season five Nathalie bothers me more than Gabriel. Why? Because Gabriel is the villain. He's allowed to be villainous. When Nathalie was a villain, the same rules applied. But the show claims that she's good now and yet she does nothing meaningful to stop Gabriel even though she could have.

Nathalie lives in the Agreste mansion, knows all of Gabriel's secrets, and has access to his secret lair. We also see her pin Gabriel to a table, undo his senti commands, and boss him around without any retaliation. He just rolls over and takes it. This is not the setup for a weak willed woman who sits idly by crying woe is me because she has no true power, yet that's basically what Nathalie is in season five. The first part of the final even outright confirms that Nathalie knows Gabriel's ultimate plan:

(A Tsurugi Industries pop-up appears on the screen.) Ad voice: After months of research, Tsurugi Labs have found the antidote– Nathalie: (Swipes the pop-up away.) He's going to finally do it...

So why didn't she find a way to contact the heroes and tell them what was going on? Why did she wait until she was dying to do something? Right after the above line, she grabs her crossbow and goes off to find Gabriel in a moment that made me roll my eyes. It's such blatant pathetic fan service. Only now when Nathalie is too weak to make a difference is she finally allowed to make a token effort to stop the man that she's been babying all season.

If Nathalie was allowed to be the kind of character they wrote her to be, then she would have acted much sooner and to greater effect. For example, imagine if her akumatization was just a ruse to get to the heroes. Once she loses and Gabriel can no longer see what's going on, she calls on the heroes to wait and then tells them everything, offering to help stop Gabriel. That's the kind of shit I'd expect from Nathalie's character.

Instead she just lays around in bed and occasionally pleads with Gabriel to change his mind like in this scene from Intuition:

Nathalie: Gabriel, you may only have a few weeks left like this... and I don't have much more than that. Maybe it's time to stop chasing after the Miraculous and start looking for a solution for Adrien. Make sure he's not alone once we're gone. (Hearing these words, Gabriel's eyes start to fill with sadness. Nathalie places her hands over Gabriel's.) Nathalie: Do it. For Emilie.

Nathalie, you have known this man for literal decades. Why do you expect this to work? Wake up and take charge, woman! Tell Adrien yourself! Help the heroes! Right your wrongs! You are literally dying! What do you have to lose? She honestly comes across pretty hypocritically here because, as she pointed out, they are both actively dying, which will leave Adrien alone, and yet Nathalie also does nothing to prepare Adrien for that. She just wrings her hands and hopes that Gabriel will do the right thing for both of them and I just... GAHHHHH!!!

The only semi-meaningful thing that Nathalie does in season five is undo Gabriel's commands, but that's literally just her maintaining the status quo. It's only there so that the writers don't have to deal with the senti stuff having any real consequences beyond delaying the Adrienette kiss a few episodes. Nathalie isn't trying to free Adrien or get his rings into safe hands before her death. She's just withering away and listening to Adrien talk about Marinette while knowing that he will soon lose everything. It's legitimately upsetting to me.

The anger some people feel about Marinette's actions at the end of the final is how I felt about Nathalie for all of season five and Nathalie is a freaking adult who has known everything for years. Matinette only knows the truth in a context where she can tell Adrien for about two on-screen minutes and that's assuming that Marinette figured out that Adrien is a sentimonster from context clues which she may not have! No one ever explicitly told her the truth and she had a lot of things thrown at her in rapid succession. I would not be stunned if season six reveals that she's still in the dark.

Nathalie is not sympathetic. She has had full agency and knowledge throughout the entire show. She has never been forced to do anything. She is the only peacock wielder to wield it knowing that she would die. She willingly supported Gabriel even when it put Adrien at risk. She outed Adrien's identity in Chat Blanc. She snapped away sentiBug! She's a great villain! She is a piss poor maternal figure.

The final annoying thing about her season five writing is that her "changing sides" makes no sense! She has no idea why the time travel plan failed and her own FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE is that Gabriel will put those he loves before defeating Ladybug (see: Ladybug where Gabriel chose Nathalie over winning). It is such a glaring example of bad writing that it infuriates me! This is the exchange I'm talking about:

Nathalie: (on-call) Gabriel, did it work? Gabriel: No, Ladybug tricked me! She stole the Time Miraculous from me! (Nathalie coughs from her sickness.) You have to help me! Come up with a new plan! Ladybug can’t get away with this! Nathalie: (on-call) You had the Time Miraculous. You could’ve chosen to save Emilie! You could’ve chosen to save me! (coughs) But instead, you chose your obsession with Ladybug and Cat Noir. You're insane, Gabriel!

Please remember that Nathalie has been helping him behind the scenes since the start and is fully aware that every plan he's ever made has failed even though she considered many of those dozens-if-not hundreds-of-plans brilliant.

Gabriel: If it were to fail Nathalie, I could never forgive myself. Nathalie: You made a promise to your wife. You've risked so much for the chance to bring her back. (Hands Gabriel her tablet) Lila has been harboring her rage against Ladybug for months, and today wherever she looks, she'll see the object of her hatred, and as predicted, her anger will reach devastating heights. Your plan is perfect, sir. Gabriel: And you're sure you want to do this? Nathalie: I will always be here for you. We will succeed.

Why is she suddenly so sure that this plan was different? What made her go from encouraging Gabriel to take risks to calling him insane? Why is she suddenly convinced that Gabriel can't possibly win and needs to focus on Adrien when she never said a word during the multiple akumas that directly threatened Adrien's life?

The meta reason is that the writers needed her to act as if she'd been watching the episode so that she wouldn't blindly support Gabriel anymore, allowing them to do the senti BS without it being meaningful to the story. The in show reason? I've got nothing. It is jarring to watch this while remembering that season four ended with Nathalie being given ownership of Adrien and willingly accepting that task, even going so far as to issue senti commands to "Adrien" to make him obey, which does not instill confidence in her parenting skills.

It's just so freaking infuriating. It would have been so much better if Nathalie was allowed to die and we got Emilie back. Nathalie did absolutely nothing to deserve a magical healing and I've been curious about Emilie since day one.

#alexunbroken #Nathalie salt #ml writing critical #ml writing salt #Nathalie deserves better #Give me back my black hearted villainess!

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afayebray · 2 months ago

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I'm sure there's already a post about this but I am kind of psyched because this goes back to my theory I've had for awhile. Only I thought Emile (though we didn't know his name at the time) would be the head, potentially.

So, let's break down what each symbol is, what it could mean, and who they could be. If you disagree on any of these or have any ideas that I missed, please let me know!! (I'm definitely going to need to do/hear a voice comparison on a couple of the ones that spoke.)

1. Stylized eye--potentially visions/seer, have also seen it in relation to succubi in my reverse search, but the one I think is most likely is surveillance -- having eyes everywhere.

One of my other main theories of this season is that since Tomoe has been heavily implied to be the Quantic verse's Elon, she purchased or created Zoo and has someone helping her with surveilling and data mining the hell out of what the kids are posting. Tracking location settings would also explain why they almost always tend to show up/be near Marinette *or* someone who has posted about/been wronged by her.

With how much he's been in the episode, the amount of trouble he's caused, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if this is Vincent.

2. Bricks--obstacles, perseverance, conformity/loss of self, strength, "building" (as a verb), durability, security.

3. Quill--writing, creating, narrative, communication, etc. André Bourgeois? Could also be Bob.

4. Wheel--(wheel of) fortune, fate, progress, cycle of life, guidance. Never mind, I think this one is likely Bob Roth. With his obsession with fortune, desire for constant progress, and he's a manager/agent, so...guidance, supposedly.

5. Scepter--leader, ruler, sovereign--prior to finding out that they actually do exist and it's not just some theory that I've had, I assumed this would likely be Emil based on what we were told in "Representation".

6. Diamond--ol' Gabe ⚰️I want to update this to say that I absolutely love the backhandedness of having him be the Diamond. Someone that they saw as common, working class (coal) put under pressure and polished up to be something of value to them.

7. Wheat--known to symbolize the cycle of life and death, sacrifice, fertility, growth and renewal. // considering what we know of Nathalie, this seems fitting for her father/for what he expects her role to be.

8. Gear--we know this one is machine. Could also be used/translate as technology potentially. I didn't pay close enough attention to the voice at the time, but I can't imagine this is not Tomoe.

9. Theater masks--this one is pretty self-explanatory...the two extremes of the human psyche, showing the differing sides of emotions--both the "foolishness" of humans and darker ones like fear and sadness, I think. This is probably related to Cerise.

10. Sword--authority/nobility, honor/loyalty, protection/defense, truth/justice/righteousness, battle of good v. evil-- this particular sword is very reminiscent of Excalibur, I'm assuming this is Emil (or both GdVs) if the scepter is not him.

11. Fire--passion, transformation, destruction and renewal/cleansing, knowledge/enlightenment, revolution.

12. Molecule? (fairly certain this one is a molecule though I'm not 100%)--if I am correct, I'm assuming this one was Colt Fathom since he also had a tech company like Tomoe, but he was likely a military contractor based on his description in "Representation", creating bombs, missiles, etc. Basically, the Justin Hammer of Miraculous. I wouldn't be surprised if he had the monopoly on space flight prior to his death and Tsurugi only took over (including Claudie's trip) after the fact.

We have twelve of these and twelve Zodiac Miraculous, I'm assuming when Tomoe planned to improve them, and they had their "new world order"/cult with Adrien and Kagami as "world icons/idols" idea these were meant to take the place of the 12 Zodiacs. Thoughts?

Also, do we think that Mom #2 (the one that's high up at Style Queen and was in "Gabriel Agreste") is one? Or maybe Cerise took over for her? Do we think that anyone we saw in NY, Shanghai, etc. is part of it?

#miraculous season 6 spoilers #ml s6 spoilers #el toro de piedra spoilers #miraculous ladybug spoilers #ml spoilers #ml s6 speculation

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jasmine-the-fox · 11 months ago

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Olga can see the truth

Hey guys! Back with another salt fic request made by UnknownDrew over on AO3! So happy to write this so I hope you all enjoy it in the end like I loved writing it!

Anyways enjoy the fic!

Olga has worked with children long enough to know that when something doesn’t sound right… look it up online to see if it’s true… and Lila Rossi was a walking lie in her opinion. It didn’t matter what it was about, she has to lie about herself no matter what which is why she has given Lila detention each time she lied or made an excuse for not doing the work she was assigned.

It caused the girl to always be quiet in her class… but the second she left the classroom she would go back to lying about herself… and that’s when she noticed that something was happening to people when Lila lied about something.

Marinette would avoid any place at school where Lila could be heard. During lunchbreak or when school ended, she noticed how she looked depressed while quickly heading home… which made her worry greatly for the girl… then came Adrien Agreste. If he was with his friends, he was happy and with a smile on his face… but the second Lila came over he would either keep away from her, ignore her or excuse himself and leave the group… which would upset Lila greatly.

But it was clear that both of them didn’t like Lila and she was hurting them with her lies… with this all noted, she decided to inform Caline to see what she had planned to stop all of this… but she was shocked by her words “Olga… I think you work too much as your making all of this up about my class. Nothing is wrong with any of my students” she said before walking away.

this up about my class. Nothing is wrong with any of my students” she said before walking away.

She tried to make her see things her way but Caline simply sighed “If anything… I think you should have Marinette in your class… that girl has been causing problems in the class by refusing for them to all be friends… especially with Lila” with that said she left to get to her classroom.

This shocked Olga… Caline was blinded by her own beliefs to not see how terrible her class was the longer Lila was there lying to her students. She had noticed that the class was bullying Marinette and ended their friendship with her because of things Lila said to them while crying crocodile tears to them… disgusted by this, Olga decided to do things herself about Caline’s class and she was going to make sure things changed for the better.

Which is why she stormed into Damocles’ office which startled him with a glare “For far too long you have pampered Caline into believing she can do no wrong and how her students are perfect. But it ends now! You will give me the power to punish her and her students as she should have done or I will get the proper authorities involved to investigate her, the class and you!” she demanded making the man tremble as he went pale from her words… but he agreed and wrote her a note to give to Caline so she knows that she has no say in what Olga decides for the class in the end.

She nods back to him after taking the note and went to her classroom to get started on her plan, it was going to happen and Caline won’t be able to protect her students from being punished in the end… but she hoped it would give them a wake-up call that they needed from the start.

The very next day, she storms into the classroom before Caline could start the lesson “Olga? What are you doing here?” Caline asked in great surprise. Olga gives her the note and she goes pale after reading it “And if you have a problem, you can go speak to him” she said, this angered Caline but she left the classroom to probably try to speak to Damocles about this.

Then Caline looked them over “When I call your name you stand” she said making them look at her confused “Alya Cesaire, Kim Lechien, Alix Kubel, Nino Lahiffe, Max Kante and Ivan Bruel” she said which made them all stand “You all have one week of detention, I also will have you do cleaning with the janitor during that week. If you have a problem with this, I will have no problem speaking to your parents about the unjustified bullying towards Marinette that you have done” she said making them look at her in shock.

“Now then… Juleka Couffaine, Mylène Haprèle, Rose Lavillant, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Sabrina Raincomprix. For now, I want you to return home and think about what Marinette has done so terrible that you saw her do to deserve the pain she received” she ordered making them slowly nod as they grabbed their things and left.

Olga noticed how nervous Marinette and Adrien looked over the situation “So this leaves… Alya Cesaire, Chloe Bourgeois and Lila Rossi… your parents have been called and informed of the bullying done towards Marinette… As for you Lila your mother was also informed of the sexual harassment you have done towards Adrien… which his father is informed about… and she also knows about how your failing” she said making Lila freak out as she tried to run out… only to be stopped by her mother.

Once it was only her with Marinette and Adrien. She told Mari that her parents were waiting for her at home “You will also be allowed a week to stay at home to rest” she explained making Mari nod and leave the classroom. With her and Adrien alone… she turned to look at him “It is very clear that you have suffered greatly. Get yourself a therapist to get some help to help you with the pain you have gone through” she said making him nod and promise to get one before leaving to return home.

Once he left, she pulled out her phone and called Child services about what Adrien is going through at school and at home. She also described Adrien’s physical form of being skinny and also how he is pulled out of school often without the school giving permission for him to go… she then calls the Embassy and informs them of how Lila has been using her mom’s job to protect herself and lie about travelling.

This of course causes many changes… Alya was without electronics because of her actions, some were pulled out of activities because of what they have done, Chloe was banned from shopping and Lila… well she was on the next flight back to Italy where she will reside until college… if she even is able to get into one that is.

Adrien was also taken to live with his aunt in London due to child labor laws being broken by his father who made Adrien work when he should be at school, put on multiple diets that were becoming dangerous for him and worked him over the normal hours he should be working… in the end things were getting better. Marinette was smiling again and made some new friends and was confirmed doing a lot better by her parents, they even got her a therapist to talk to about her pain and suffering she was put through.

But it was all thanks to Olga… because now justice has been served… since she was the only one who knew what to do in the end…

#miraculous ladybug #crossover #lila salt #class salt #salt fic #miraculous salt

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mochinek0 · 2 years ago

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Daminette December 2023: 3-Manga

"You should take her to that café on Fifth Ave." Jon declared, "She loves sweets and they serve a variety of tea there. It's perfect!"

"Marinette, remember to be courteous of his diet." Kagami spoke, "Don't go anywhere there are few options."

"I think Damian is picking the place this time so that won't be a problem." Marinette replied.

"Is that seriously what you're wearing?" Jon shouted.

"What is wrong with my outfit?" Damian questioned.

"Oh, nothing." Jon snarled, "It's just your usual suit. It's a date, Damian! You're not going to a gala; dress down, like if we were going somewhere."

Damian rolled his eyes and walked back into his closet.

"I have the perfect outfit for you!" Adrien shouted, pulling out the viral strawberry dress, "It's perfect!"

"Adrien, I really don't think-" Mari began to refuse.

"It's spring. You look great in pink and as a designer can you really refuse?" he countered.

Marinette sighed and grabbed the dress.

"Make sure you wear your red bow heels." he shouted.

"What?" Marinette yelled, "No way!"

"Are you going to wear your converse and clash." Adrien smirked.

Mari growled and went back into her room.

"Hurry up!" he called back, "I'm doing your hair and make up, too."

Marinette couldn't help but feel utterly ridiculous right now.

'How did I let Adrien talk me into dressing up like this? I feel so stupid right now!'

Marinette smiled, embarrassed, as she waved to Damian.

'Jon, I'm going to kill you.'

Damian took in Marinette's appearance and felt completely underdressed. She was wearing a short pink dress with flowing sleeves with strawberries and Jon had convinced him to come in jeans! Marinette was wearing heels; she never wear heels! Damian was already thinking which piece of kryptonite he was going to use to kill his best friend with.

Marinette looked around the tiny café. It was definetely something new. They had never eaten there before. She could see stands her family used for cupcakes, but these had.....sandwiches?

Damian gulped as she looked around. She seemed excited.

'Maybe Jon was right; I'll just maim him.'

'I never thought Damian would like these kind of things. This place reminds me of the galas he always complains about. He told me he hated finger food so why are we here? Did I say something to make him think I would like this? Is this because I told him I want jalapenos on the veggie pizza last time?'

"I apologize for being underdressed, Marinette." Damian spoke.

"Are you kidding?" Marinette questioned, "I feel overdressed. Adrien suggested this outfit."

"Jon suggested mine." he admitted.

Marinete giggled, "What else did Jon suggest?"

"Coming here." Damian admitted.

"Seriously?" Marinette asked, "How about we split a veggie pizza? I'm buying."

Damian stood up quickly and rushed to pay. Marinette just giggled at his urgency.

'I knew he didn't like this place.'

"So, did Agreste suggest the hair, too?" he questioned, looking at her hair in space buns.

"Yeah." Mari spoke, " He insisted. He said something about wanting to style my hair like this for awhile and how he needed it to be long enough."

"That I don't mind." Damian stated, "Although, I'm sure you are eager to get out of those heels."

As Damian drove them over to her apartment, Marinette texted Adrien and Kagami. She lied and said the date had been a disaster and she was at home. The moment they arrived, Damian texted Jon saying there had been an accident at the café and he desperately needed a change of clothes. He told him they had gone to her place as it was closer to the café.

Damian quickly hid in her room and Marinette sat on the couch facing the door. She buried her face in her hands as she heard footsteps pounding the hallways like a stampede. Her front door was thrown open.

"What happened?" Adrien shouted.

"I have my blade!" Kagami cried, holding it up in the air.

Almost instantly, Jon barreled into them shouting, "I have clothes!"

"Ow." Adrien winced, "Jon?"

"Who is he?" the fencer demanded.

They turned to Marinette for answers, only to see her glaring at them. They hadn't even heard her get up from the couch.

"Sit down; now!" she demanded.

Jon had never seen Marinette pissed off, but Adrien had.

'Not good!'

Adrien quickly grabbed Kagami's arm and pulled her to sit down where Mari had been. Jon wasn't sure what was going on, but he rushed to sit next to the others.

"You can come out now." Mari called out and Damian walked out.

"Hey!" Jon whined, "You said-"

Damian grabbed the clothes out of his friends arms and went back to his girlfriend's room.

"All three of you made this date a disaster." Marinette claimed.

"But-"

"We didn't know where we were going so we were dressed horribly." Marinette stated, "As a fashion designer that is a huge no in my books. While I don't mind Damian dressed casual, it would be fine if we were going to the mall, the movies, or a shopping date. I'm wearing a $200 dress that you insisted I wear."

"But you look so cute!" Adrien defended himself.

"I'm in heels, Adrien!" Mari shouted back.

Kagami even looked at him, like he lost his mind.

"You had us go to a tea shop." she spoke, pointing to Jon.

"Damian likes tea and you like sweets." Jon shrugged. Kagami sighed, "She grew up in a bakery. She bakes all the time. Marinette probably has five different types of bread or sweets in her kitchen, right now."

"While it's great you thought of both of us, they have specials on certain days. They were serving roast beef sandwiches today." Marinette explained.

"Oh." Jon whispered, sinking lower into his seat, praying that Batcow would forgive him.

Damian walked out of the room and took Marinette's spot as she walked into her room.

"Where did you get these ideas?" Damian demanded.

"Manga." they all answered.

Marinette walked out of her room in a new change of clothes. She kept her hair down, but was red crop top and black short. She had even traded in red heels for some white converse high tops.

"So?" Mari questioned.

"Manga." Damian answered.

Marinette facepalmed, "Swap mangas or something, but next time you want to give advice, make sure everyone has read it. Also, make sure you all agree with it."

Kagami pouted, "So, I don't need my blade, right now."

"No, Kagami." Mari responded.

"Fine." the fencer replied, sheathing it away.

"I'm sorry, Mari." Adrien spoke first.

"I'm sorry, Damian." Jon declared, " I was only trying to help."

"As was I." Kagami stated.

Mari smiled and grabbed Damian's hand, " Alright, well, now that that is over with; let's go."

"Where are you going?" Kagami questioned.

"We're gonna go on a pizza date." Marinette answered.

Damian spoke, "We are picking it up and then heading to my place to watch movies."

"It sounds boring." Huffs Adrien.

Mari stuck out her tongue at him and turned back to her boyfriend, "It sounds perfect."

The trio of friends pouted as all their hard work went to waste.

'Weirdos.'

As the couple walked out of Marinette's apartment, the three new friends began to go over what manga they had fixated on for the date and others they had read.

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @missmadwoman @meira-3919 @princessdaisysolosyourfaves @blep-23 @fangirlingfanatic @darkhinauniverse @ravenr22 @im-a-satanic-ritual @ravennm84 @bianca-hooks123 @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @starling218

#daminette december 2023 #damientte #damian wayne #marinette dupen chang #marinette x damian #damian x marinette #jon kent #jonathan kent #jon matchmaker #jon helps damian #kagami tsuguri #adrien agreste #friendship #manga #date night #hype squad #change of plans #mochinek0

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symwinter · 2 months ago

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I wrote more of my rewrite. It takes place after the ending of Le Bueller/The Bubbler when Adrien comes to school with the scarf on. Enjoy? I guess. I don’t know.

Nathalie Sancœur didn’t know much about fashion. She couldn’t tell you the difference between fabrics or what stitches would gather wrong, but if there was one thing she did know after befriending Gabriel Agreste in her first year business course (one he had apparently skipped over until his final year), it was that making clothes, no matter how small took time and materials. And as Nathalie removed the sticky note tag from a gift Adrien’s designer friend, she knew she would pay her back.

“I can’t accept this.”

She just didn’t expect it to be so difficult.

“Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, we’re both aware that you know that your present was attributed to M. Agreste and as the one who made that choice I cannot in good conscience not pay you for your work.”

“It’s really not necessary Mlle. Sancœur,” the girl replied, rocking on her heels. “It made Adrien happy to get a gift from his father, that’s good enough for me.” Nathalie fought against the urge to crumple the cheque she was holding.

“I disagree,” Nathalie placed the cheque on the counter and slid it forward. “Work deserves compensation.”

“Marinette, is something wrong?” An older voice called from behind the wall. Thank god, Nathalie thought. An adult. A few seconds later and a woman rounded the counter, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s mother no doubt.

“Oh not at-“ “Mme. Cheng if I’m not mistaken?” Nathalie interrupted.

“Yes that’s me, Mlle..?”

“Nathalie Sancœur, I work for Gabriel,” Nathalie handed her business card to Sabine. “We commissioned your daughter for a project, I’m here to deliver the payment, though she’s refusing to take it.”

“It’s too much! I can’t accept that amount,” Marinette protested.

“I guarantee it’s industry standard, especially with such short notice.” Nathalie interjected. “She has a real talent, your daughter.”

Sabine picked up the cheque, her eyes widening slightly. “It is certainly a lot,” Nathalie bit back a retort and smoothed down internal ruffled feathers.

“While the cheque has been made out to your daughter it can be put into another account if I accompany you to the bank, for emergencies, retirement, or college.”

“That is true,” Sabine replied.

“Maman…” Marinette’s protest fell on deaf ears. Cue Nathalie’s time to leave.

“The business card has my number, feel free to call it when you’ve decided where the money is going but the cheque will need to be cashed irregardless,” Nathalie turned on her heel and called out as she left, “have a lovely rest of your day.”

And if anyone saw Nathalie in the parking lot connected to Agreste manor with her head pressed against the car horn later that evening, well, they knew better than to say anything.

#miraculous ladybug #symwinter rewrites miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug au #miraculous ladybug rewrite #nathalie sancoeur #marinette dupain cheng #Nathalie is holding on by a thread dealing with Marinette #also I don’t know how much Nathalie gave Marinette on that cheque but it was actually a lot higher cause of guilt

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flightfoot · 5 months ago

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ML Fanfic Recs for Completed Fics 70K+ Words

13 fics here in all! 8 of them are even above 100K! That's some impressive dedication.

All of these fics will be in my Keyseeker's Choices For Best Completed Miraculous Fics Of 2024 Collection, and if you like that, please consider checking out my other collections, Keyseeker's Choices For Best Completed Miraculous Fics Of 2023, Keyseeker's Choices For Best Completed Miraculous Fics Of 2022, and Keyseeker's Choices For Best Completed Miraculous Fics - Misc. Years.

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Open My Eyes by @buggachat

Adrien smiles as he eats breakfast with Nathalie, smiles as he walks through the halls of his new lycée, smiles as people stop him on the street and tell him time and time again what a "hero" his father was. (Adrien wishes he could've been a hero, too. He should've been. Maybe then his father would still be alive.) (But he's surviving. Everyone may be treating him as though he were made of glass, but he can still go through the motions, he can prove them wrong, he can still smile.) “And you’re… happy,” Marinette spoke carefully, a nervous tilt to her voice, “... right?” (Adrien has some things to find out.)

If you want to see Adrien's response to finding out - well, everything - then this might be the fic for you! He's breaking down pretty badly even with just being an orphan now, so finding out all the awful truths? It's a lot. If you want to see some major emotional reactions and blow-ups, this is the fic for you! Though of course Adrien's put back together at the end as well, buggachat isn't the sort to just leave Adrien to flail without support for long or to have Adrien's and Marinette's relationship remain super strained.

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The Course of True Love by @nedjsmlfavs

Dark Cupid haunts Marinette. Do the events of that fateful day mean that Adrien isn’t her True Love? With a little help from Chat Noir - who has absolutely no personal stakes in this matter - she’s sure to find out. She’ll also learn the unfortunate truth: the course of true love never did run smooth.

So this is adorable, there's some nice Ladrien dating in here! Though also some angst, Chat Blanc still takes place in this storyline, as does a Hawkmoth takedown, and all the angst and trauma that goes with those things. But with Marinette and Adrien together, the two of them can handle anything.

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Finding A Way by @uptoolateart

Collège is nearly over! And what better way to celebrate than a class trip to Costa Rica? But with only a month left to tell Adrien she loves him, Marinette is feeling the pressure. Then – an accident at sea leaves them stranded together on a tropical island…alone. Or are they? Because those footprints in the sand don’t resemble any bird they’ve seen before. And what’s that roaring sound coming from the jungle? ‘Adrien…where ARE we??’ ***** A Jurassic Park / Camp Cretaceous AU that’s been kicking around in my head for over a year

I love the sense of danger permeating this fic, it really feels like Adrien and Marinette are stranded on Jurassic Park (well it's called something else in order to integrate it better into the ML universe, but it operates like Jurassic Park). They're making the best of it though, doing their best to survive - and along the way, getting closer together.

I like that it's not JUST them though, Gabriel and Nathalie find out where they ended up pretty early on and go to rescue them, with Alya and Nino stowing away. It was cool to see that side of things as well.

Oh yeah, this fic is rated M for violence and gore. It's because dinosaurs eat people alive and leave their body parts everywhere. If you can handle the Jurassic Park movie (or presumably the book the movie was based on, but I haven't read that), then you should be just fine.

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Symbiotic Whiskers by B1ackout

Adrien Agreste aka Cat Noir was given the cat ring miraculous to help Ladybug in protecting Paris. But something had found him first, a silent companion that granted him strength and power he never knew existed. Bonded with a symbiote, Cat Noir faces Paris alongside Ladybug without even knowing that someone left a magical ring in his room. (Canon Divergence)

This is a phenomenal fic that deserves more attention. It's kind of funny how he just goes "hey I've got superpowers, she says that the thing we have that gives superpowers is called the Black Cat Miraculous and that the being that gives them is called a kwami, obviously that must be what I have!" though that gets stretched more and more as Adrien's experiences with the symbiote contradict what he's heard about how kwamis work, and Tikki gets increasingly worried about "Plagg's" weird behavior. It's a dark, somewhat brutal fic (people die permanently, and they're not always villains), and it's absolutely worth a read, this is an excellent crossover!

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Perfectly Platonic (Unless...) by @frostedpuffs

After accidentally revealing their identities in less than ideal circumstances, Adrien and Marinette must navigate their newfound relationship as both partners and friends. Becoming best friends was a quick process, but when romantic feelings begin to bleed into what's supposed to be a platonic connection, their friendship starts to change in more ways than one. Surely it can't be that hard to hide their feelings from their best friend? (A post-reveal, pre-relationship fic full of romantic crushes, best friend shenanigans, and a whole lot of dumbassery.)

If you just want a straight-up romance slowburn with these two just somehow being convinced their relationship is platonic (or that the other person wants it to be platonic at least), you'll find little better to scratch that itch than "Perfectly Platonic (Unless...)". It's a little smutty and definitely earns its M rating because of that. If you want mutual pining, there's a ton of that here!

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Dreaming Wide Awake by @uptoolateart

Gabriel died a hero. He sacrificed himself in the final battle against Monarch. Or so Adrien's been told. At least he has his mother there to help him through the grief. So what is this niggling feeling that this isn't how the story was meant to go? And why does he keep having flashes of another world that lies just beneath their own? --------- A follow-up to the Season 5 finale because I am inexpressibly disappointed by what happened in Re-Creation.

So if you wanted an exploration of what could happen post-season 5 and a fix-it for that season's finale, I highly recommend checking out this fic. I love how it explores Adrien's deteriorating mental state over time, how much he's struggling with what he's heard about his father and reconciling that with the abuse he's gone through at the man's hands. And then there's "Cerise" showing up, who rubs him the wrong way for reasons he can't fully lexplain, even to himself...

Pay attention to the title, it's not just there for flavor, it means something.

This fic is rated Mature, but I have no clue why. There's no sexual content and there's pretty minor amounts of violence or gore. I guess Adrien's not in the best place mentally, but it's nothing worthy of an M rating.

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Boulangerella by @aidanchaser

Once upon a time, magic was wild. The two princes of the kingdom have been tasked with choosing their brides by the end of their 21st birthday celebrations. Crown Prince Adrien Agreste will have to choose between a woman who can protect his kingdom, a woman offering the power to wake his sleeping mother, and the woman he has loved and admired for the past year. Then there's also the seamstress that he is suddenly falling for. By the time he realizes he doesn't have the power to choose at all, it may be too late.

I love a good fairy tale AU, and this is no exception. Aidanchaser started writing it before Season 5 came out, so it's wrong about some things. Most notably, Felix's posthumous father was a good and decent person here, and one of the twin rings is Felix's Amok while the other one is Adrien's Amok, instead of both of them being Adrien's Amok.

This was a well-crafted tale, with kwamis operating as Fae: they can give power, but only if the wielder gives something up to pay for it. For temporary usage of their power, it can be something small and innocuous, such as giving Plagg cheese in exchange for his help. More expansive uses of their power requires greater sacrifices however, even sacrificing more nebulous things such as memories or hope.

The kingdom's currently being terrorized by this unknown villain, Hawk Moth, as in the show. Ladybug and Chat Noir emerge to battle him, but for some reason (*cough, cough*), King Gabriel isn't fond of the superheroes and wants them captured.

Gabriel isn't the only threat out there, Lila's skulking around, hinting that she knows how to wake up Emilie from her mysterious illness, if only Adrien marries her. And she's not about to take no for an answer.

If you've been wanting a fairy tale/fantasy Miraculous AU, I recommend giving Boulangerella a shot!

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If I hold you too close by @bbutterflies

Paris didn’t come to a screeching halt for akumas anymore. They were so commonplace, so frequent, no one stopped their lives unless they were in danger. They trusted the heroes to fix everything if something did go wrong, save them if they got hurt. Adrien was still fighting the urge to find Plagg and go running into battle. Plagg wasn’t here, though. --- Post-season 5 where Adrien got sent to London sooner and gave up his Miraculous to keep Paris safe.

If you know this author, then you've probably already guessed that this is an Adrino fic (seriously if you like Adrino, check out bbutterflies fics, though honestly if you ARE an Adrino fan, you probably already have).

So in this scenario, Adrien was sent to London and didn't get to return, so he gave Plagg the ring so he could find another Holder. In this case, Nino. After a few years, once he's an adult, Adrien manages to come back from London, but he's in ROUGH shape. He drinks a lot, he has a reputation for partying hard and causing disruptions, and is really depressed and hates himself, and hates Felinoir (Nino's Black Cat form) even more, for having what he lost.

But even while Adrien's pushing everyone away to protect himself, his old friends refuse to give up on him, even though he's given up on himself.

While Adrien's problems are the primary focus of the fic, they're not the entire focus. Nino gets a POV, and he has personal issues and insecurities of his own. He has trouble holding down relationships, he doesn't have a lot of close friends these days, and he's struggling to keep up in school with all the akumas he's had to fight. He and Ladybug are fine coworkers, but they aren't much more than that - they aren't friends like Chat Noir and Ladybug were.

Oh, also, Nino's a transman. That's also caused some issues in making and keeping friends.

It's a beautiful story of one person hitting rock-bottom and gradually being pulled back out of it again, until they can stand on their own and push themselves up the rest of the way, and of a friend who discovers their childhood best friend (and crush) has changed enormously since they last saw them, and not in good ways - only to find that their friend is, at their core, still there. They just need help seeing it themselves.

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A Small but Stubborn Fire by @cardiac-agreste

What if you were the parent of a teenage superhero, but didn't know they were? All you know is the nightmares, the panic attacks, and the bruises. She's missing school, she's disappearing on you, and she's not telling you anything. So you assume the worst: Assault. Depression. A permanent rift in the family. And what do you do when you realize you weren't thinking dark enough? Because your fourteen-year old daughter is the hero who flirts with death on the nightly news. -- Come inside and read about one mother's struggles to raise her daughter in a dangerous world while avoiding the mistakes her own mother made with her.

This is a more serious take on the consequences of Hawk Moth's war on Paris, with actual bloody, painful deaths as a consequence of many akumas, and Parisians developing PTSD because of what they've gone through. Ladybug can fix all the physical scars, but not the mental ones, including her own.

I love the focus on Sabine here. She's not just presented as being a mom - though of course that IS an important role she has. But she's explored as a character in her own right, one with a lot of emotional baggage as a result of her abusive mother, and trying to not fall into her mistakes, but sometimes doing so anyway out of fear for Marinette's safety. She's a really fleshed out, humanly flawed character, sometimes admitting that she would do something selfish if it means protecting the people she cares most about, like her daughter, even if its at others expense. She grows and changes a lot throughout the course of the story, her perspective on many matters changing multiple times as a result of getting new information or seeing the consequences of her previous approaches, and adjusting as a result.

If you want a fic that more realistically explores the dark consequences of Miraculous's setting, that fleshes out Sabine, or just develops a character in a complex way, then I highly recommend you check "A Small but Stubborn Fire" out!

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Made Miracles series by InkyIbis

A rewrite of Miraculous Ladybug (specifically with the miraculouses lore) with endgame Adrino! It mostly builds off the beginning canon and loosely off the later seasons with a lot more consequences than what the show has for when a magical terrorist shows up out of the blue. In that way, each book is considered like a season with the chapters being the episodes.

First fic in the series: Awaken

The previously white butterfly, now oozing black and purple as a conduit of the butterfly miraculous powers, flutters softly within the silvered-gloved hand. It sits there for a long time. "Go, my akuma," The soft sigh pushes the butterfly, the akuma, out towards the despair of a love not returned. The same ache within his chest. On a level so great that he's willing to sacrifice the city to mend it. It's okay if he's the villain for now. He'll force the miraculous of creation and destruction to be revealed, and once he gets his hands on them, none of this pain, none of his loss, will ever happen.

I put the first fic on my reclist for 2023, and now that the series is completed, I'm putting the whole thing on my reclist for 2024. If you want a rewrite of the series that gives Adrien top-billing, evens out Ladybug's and Chat Noir's power dynamic, is darker, and has Adrino as the main ship, then this series should be right up your alley.

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To Catch A Thief by @jheqiawrites

As a newly minted agent of INTERPOL, Marinette Dupain-Cheng scores the catch of a lifetime - nabbing the infamous thief and con artist Cat Noir. However, she's the only one who knows that he let her catch him. Soon her life turned upside down by a handsome, not quite reformed, thief who says she is the only person he trusts and they have bigger fish to fry: a secret criminal organization called AKUMA. Together, they solve cases and follow the illusive whispers about a man calling himself Monarch who never leaves a trace. What all is Cat Noir hiding? Will they expose the criminal underworld to the searing light of justice? And will Marinette fall for the man behind the masks?

This fic is inspired by a tv show called "White Collar", about a criminal informant and his handler solving cases. It does not follow the plotlines of that show, however, just the basic concept. While this is a No Powers AU, so there's now superpowers, the kwamis are human, etc, characters' personalities are still pretty intact.

Anyway, it's a lot of fun! I loved seeing Adrien's and Marinette's relationship develop, and the bureau slowly growing to like and trust Adrien, to want him to be safe and happy and to help him with his problems (it helps that his problems tend to be their problems as well, AKUMA doesn't like Chat Noir much.)

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A Breach In The Brooch by @piromina

Ladybug and Chat Noir are the heroes of Paris. Hawkmoth is Chat Noir's father. Chat Noir is aware of this. Hawkmoth is not.

So this is an interesting spin on the classic "Gabriel recruits Adrien early on to help him" plotline. Mostly because Adrien is still Chat Noir in this AND still helping Ladybug as a superhero - Gabriel has no clue about his secret identity.

Plagg, unsurprisingly, isn't thrilled about Adrien refusing to tell Ladybug what he knows about Hawkmoth's identity, and that Adrien keeps following Gabriel's orders, even when he knows they're wrong. Though he figures out before Adrien does that Adrien's compulsion to follow his father's orders isn't just a psychological thing...

I really love Plagg in this especially, he's the MVP. He knows what it's like to be compelled to do or not to do certain things, so he's good at comforting Adrien over it and at finding loopholes for him.

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Withered Wings by @11jj11

Nino wasn’t sure if anyone had ever willingly took the akuma butterfly before him, but with his mind completely open to this apparent son of Hawk Moth he knew that he couldn’t turn him away. Not someone that was so afraid, not someone who would be left at the mercy of Hawk Moth.

This fic is amazing! Just... some absolutely stellar Adrino, with some nice Alyanette on the side, AND it's one of the best Enemies AU (well, sort of. Adrien's on Hawkmoth's side, but Nino isn't, exactly), in the fandom! I love how much we get of Nino's perspective, his determination to save this boy who's been thrown into these battles, who clearly doesn't want to hurt people but is compelled to do so, while balancing it with trying to prevent damage to anyone else as well. He has to be the one to look after Adrien, because no one else will do so.

I also love the focus Alya gets here, as Marinette's partner. She does an amazing job in the role, with every Miraculous she gets, even though she isn't a perfect wielder.

That's something else, I like the bits of worldbuilding this adds in, with people who fully embody the aspect a kwami represents being able to transform more fully. That does not mean, however, that an imperfect match is a bad thing, the kwami and wielder can still be very strong together and get along well, even if they don't perfectly align.

I adore how Nino had to balance his roles in this, helping Adrien without hurting others, even fighting back against the heroes as needed, as much as he didn't want to. And how understanding people were when they found out the full story of what was going on. It's a truly fantastic story that anyone who likes Enemies AU, Adrino, or just want to read a good Miraculous fic should check out.

I do want to warn that Gabriel and Nathalie are significantly OOC in this. Gabriel's even more abusive and colder than he is in canon, and Nathalie is WAY worse. This fic started before season 5, so it wasn't known what Nathalie's red line would be. As a result, Adrien's more downtrodden than he is in canon, since the consequences of disobedience are worse than being cut off from friends, or even being made to sit in a blank white room indefinitely.

#ml fanfic rec #miraculous ladybug

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