#ANYWAY HIII PLEASE READ TVL EVERYONE

[literaphobe]

can i convince you to elaborate on any tvl analysis point you want? ok here i go. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

HELLO AND WELCOME TO -> the fundamental misunderstanding tvl ladynoir have leading up to ch9 (if u haven’t caught up to At least ch9 THIS IS UR SIGN TO SCROLL AWAY)

this will be kind of an unpacking and detailing of why ch9 unfolded the way it did. ch9 consists of two main parts -> 1. tvl ladynoir navigating a misunderstanding in their relationship. chat noir handles the situation sort of badly, and you’d think that would cause a big fight, which it almost does, but ladybug shows a Vulnerability that causes them to start Communicating and find a Solution. it ALMOST looks healthy. it ALMOST looks right. but really, it’s a red herring. and it lowers both their guards. to the point that 2. a tiny incident allows long lost misunderstandings (chat noir not knowing ladybug used to be in love with him, ladybug not really realizing he didn’t know) to resurface, and this mixing in with their Messy Current Dynamic makes it all implode, which is how you got tvl chat noir confessing his doomed love

but why DO things explode so bad? why does tvl chat noir handle the knowledge of tvl ladybug’s past love (s5 love square flip) so destructively?

it’s largely because it recontextualized their relationship in a very painful way. all this time he only HUNG ON because he thought ladybug could never love him back, that getting to have sex with her was the Most it could go, the most he could get. he’s upset because if she DID have the ability to love him, why didn’t she? and why didn’t he know before it was too late?

it doesn’t help that she’s been so accommodating of SEVERAL of his wants and needs. BUT he sees all these needs as… emotional. romantic. in nature. whereas SHE has seen them as physical. and sexual.

it’s why they have ‘worked’ so surprisingly well up till the blow up in ch9! it’s why tvl ladybug has been so ‘comfortable’! unfortunately, she THINKS he’s been viewing it through the same sexual lens she has been using

starting w their first conflict that gets explicitly laid out in ch6 -> tvl chat noir being unwilling to sleep with tvl ladybug UNLESS she agrees that it will happen MORE THAN ONCE

tvl chat noir: wants this because he cannot handle the coldness of a One Night Stand. he’s well aware that he WILL get emotionally attached if he sleeps with ladybug and he WILL get very frustrated if it all stops there. he wants it to be indefinite. because INDEFINITE screams commitment. and affection. and some mimicry of love. which is why he was so afraid to bring it up for so long -> he thought she would be against something that would connect them so deeply

tvl ladybug: was MOREEEE than okay to accommodate such an arrangement because she viewed his request as one borne of sexual desire! greed for more pleasure of a lustful nature! mutually beneficial exchange!

this brings us to our next Accommodation. tvl chat noir gets bolder, more presumptuous, and asks to be ROOMMATES bc his previous request was accommodated so easily

which throws her off, obviously, but he manages to make good excuses, scale down his request. realizes that’s too much, that he’s taken an inch and asked for a mile

and this instills The Fear in him again. but while he gets scared off, she decides to recompartmentalize his request as a simple matter of Loneliness. which she relates to! a Specific form of loneliness that only she can really understand as well. so she accepts to a degree! <- have more sleepovers. helping him meet a PHYSICAL need of requiring human companionship. a SOCIAL need to be around someone who’s experienced their very specific double life

this brings them to their next dilemma. tvl chat noir having difficulty sleeping without her. in ch7, he now becomes once more afraid to ask if they can share a bed at night, since he jumped the gun with his previous request, and she also made them two different custom bedrooms for their sleepover… reiterating to him that sharing a bed (like a couple would) is NOT something she would want. he is WELL AWARE that his problem is deeply emotional in nature. he has fallen for her again in debilitating ways. he wants to respect her wishes, and yet a part of his sleep deprived, desperate self cannot help trying to scheme his way into spending more time with her -> this causes him to act strangely during their sexual activities (terrified to come early and get sent back to his room, failing to exhaust her sexually enough to not care whether he sleeps in her bed or not)

however, she surprises him again by SORT OF figuring him out. but AGAIN, she categorizes his problem as a PHYSICAL need. to just sleep next to ANYONE. and that she’s only helping him bc she’s available and willing to. not… because she’s the only one who can

…which he very sadly realizes. but he also realizes that it’s better that she keeps Slightly misunderstanding everything. bc it’s how he’s getting So Much of… everything he’s ever wished. everything he desperately wants from her, that he wouldn’t get if she knew the truth -> he doesn’t just want to have sex. he’s in love with her (again) (electric boogaloo)

and in his eyes. she’s NEVER loved him Like That. so how could she understand? in a selfish way he wants to keep this a secret from her because he’d rather love her in halves than not at all. it’s also selfLESS. bc she gets to have sex without worrying about complicated feelings. and really. it’s a blameless thing. he can’t be blamed for falling in love with the easiest person to fall in love with ever, and he can’t blame her for not falling in love with him. she just isn’t capable of it, right?

yet the way she’s been acting SCREAMS of someone deeply in love. tvl alya very clearly recognizes this, despite not being present for any of their trysts. if anything, she’s only witnessed them interacting in chapter FIVE, which is literally all the way before they even HOOKED UP and started what tvl chat FEARED would get him so attached

we even find out that tvl marinette is TOTALLYYYY ok and chill w tvl chat noir occasionally getting a crush on her. or having feelings. because it’s the perfect way for her to excuse HER ‘occasional’ crush and feelings. as long as he doesn’t tell her! as long as he remembers he needs to squash it down every once in a while! just like she does (tries to)

in ch8, tvl alya accuses marinette of acting like she’s on honeymoon with chat noir. in ch9? she starts acting like his wife

-> chasing him for not being home, nagging him when he stays out late. welcoming him home with a tasty dessert when he arrives. fussing over his health, his rest, his sleep, wanting constant access to him, even when he’s busy or ‘with friends’

-> very obvious constant flirting, aka kissing him outside of a sexual context, like in the beginning of ch9’s last scene, when he alludes to the fact that she’s been kissing him non-sexually Very Often. obviously this has started even before ch9 but it’s clearly gotten worse (‘This is the eighth time you’ve done something like that this week!’)

…and… that’s how tvl ladybug managed to get SO comfortable that she doesn’t realize how STUPID it is to bring up that she used to be in love with him

even though she assumed he knew somewhat, and had let her down easy (I love you, but as a friend.), all those years ago. as time passed her memory shifted slightly. became -> he DEFINITELY knows! he DEFINITELY doesn’t want to be with me anymore! he DEFINITELY understands that us being together is a bad idea! he DEFINITELY doesn’t care that we have sex because that’s all he could want from me now!

and they’re terrifyingly WRONG assumptions to make. cue dramatic breakup in the pouring rain even tho they didn’t date. but at the same time, they were practically married