#Gabriel Agreste is a dick and we know that

[mochinek0]

Diner Girl

"So, we finally get to meet your girlfriend, in person?" Tim questioned.

"I'm already regretting this decision." Damian declared.

Jason chuckled, "Why? You think she'll like us more?"

"More like drive her away." Damian snarled.

"Relax, Little D." Dick smiled, "We won't do anything of the sort. Besides, it's been three years."

Damian sighed as they pulled up to the diner. Marinette had stated she was busy working until 5pm. The Wayne boys couldn't wait to meet her and asked if they could meet her at her work for a quick bite. They even said they could head out from there and take her home. He knew his brothers would try to convince her to change and go out instead.

Marinette heard the ding of the door opening and turned to see her boyfriend and his family. She smiled and looked at the clock.

'Thirty more minutes until I get off the clock. Maybe they'd like some appetizers.'

The Waynes sat down and saw Marinette subtly wave at them.

"My God, did you see her?"

"It suits her."

"I'm shocked she hasn't dropped anything yet."

Tim quickly took out his phone. He made sure to look interested at it, as he noticed the people in the booth behind them point at Marinette. He made sure his phone was still focused on them as his little brother's girlfriend approached the table.

"Sorry, for the wait." Mari spoke, "What can I get you to drink?"

"Hey, Pixie. Can I get a strawberry milkshake?" Jason questioned.

"Pixie?" she repeated.

"Because you're tiny and cute." he smiled.

His answered earned him a quick kick to the shin by Damian.

"Ow! You brat!" Jason yelled.

Damian flipped him off.

"Ignore them." Dick commented, "I'll take a limoncello float."

"Black coffee." declared Tim.

"Damian?" Marinette questioned, "Chai tea?"

"Yes." he answered.

Marinette smiled and walked away from their table.

"Oh, so she knows you favorites now?" Jason teased.

"Shut up." Damian growled.

"The butter knives aren't sharp enough and you know it." Tim sighed, noticing the girls in the next booth glaring at them.

Tim continued to appear interested in his phone.

'This isn't going to end well.'

Lila smirked as she tipped over her drink and it clattered to the floor.

"Oops." she spoke.

Alya snickered as the drink covered the floor.

"Clean it up, Lila." Adrien declared, "Now."

"Why would I do that, Adrien?" Lila questioned, "I don't work here."

"Well, if that is how you think, I can say you won't have a job anywhere." he replied.

Alya, Nino, and Lila looked at him shocked.

"You can't do that!" Alya shouted.

Adrien smiled and leaned back, "It's my father's company. Father expects perfection everywhere; especially in public."

"But my wrist hurts!" Lila whined, "It's why I spilled it. It was an accident."

He sighed, "We both know you're full of shit."

"Adrien!" Alya gasped.

"You are only special in your own head and it shows." he declared.

"Dude!" Nino cried out, surprised.

Marinette walked towards the table behind them and slipped on the scattered ice. Damian quickly grabbed her, preventing an accident, but the drinks still fell to the floor.

"Marinette!" the manager shouted.

"It-it wasn't my fault!" she stammered.

"You're fired!" he roared.

"But-" Marinette tried to refute.

"It's fine, Habibiti." Damian spoke.

"Yeah." Jason replied, "We'll leave."

The manager glared at her, "See! Now, you are making the patrons leave."

"The only reason we came here was to see Marinette." Dick annouced.

"Besides, " Tim spoke, "maybe you should hire Sausage Hair, there. Seems she'll be out of a job soon."

"Were you spying on us?" Alya shrieked.

"Recorded your conversations, too." Tim commented, "Planning to trip her? Classic."

"You're just jealous that Pixie Pop is better than you." Jason replied.

Lila stood up, in outrage, "I'm the daughter of an ambassador! I am a model for Gabriel Agreste! I travel the world and help with various charities! I know Prince Ali of Achu and Jagged Stone. I help Prince Ali in his environmental charities and I'm Jagged Stone's niece!"

The Waynes laughed. The manager noticed Marinette covering her mouth, but she was laughing, none the less.

'What is going on?'

"One: Prince Ali works in children's hospitals, not environmental projects." Dick stated, "He donates to our charities, all the time."

"Two: Marinette knows Jagged Stone. She is his 'niece', as well as his personal designer." Tim declared, "She doesn't even need this job, but she thought it would get her out of having kids thrown her way for unpaid babysitting gigs, at the last moment."

"Three: You are a waste of space from what Blondie was saying." Jason scoffed.

Damian smirked, "Go ahead. Tell her who we are Agreste. You've spoken to us before."

Adrien relaxed and smiled, "You're the Waynes. Your father is an international billionare."

Lila and the manager's faces drained of color.

Damian turned his glare to the manager, "Four: The only reason we were in your pathetic place was because of the angel in my arms."

"What's so special about her, anyways?" Alya snapped.

"She's my girlfriend." Damian announced.

The Waynes smiled behind him. Lila tensed up and looked between Marinette and the Wayne. Adrien just smiled and the manager sensed he had made a huge mistake.

"Come along, Angel." Damian spoke, "We'll take you home and we'll treat you to dinner."

"I have five restaurants ready to take our reservation in three hours." Tim declared.

Dick smiled, "We can settle it in the car."

"Sorry, I was such a bother, Damian." Marinette whispered.

Damian leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips, "You are never a bother to me. Though, you also have to thank Agreste there. He was trying to get the bitch to clean up the mess she made, before you came over."

Marinette smiled, "Thanks, Adrien."

"Oh, you're welcome, Mari." Adrien replied,, "Sorry, you ended up falling and getting fired."

Marinette just shrugged it off, "Like Tim said, I don't need this job. I just tired of Alya and Nino dumping their siblings at me for free babysitting gigs. I mostly took this out of spite. I'll be moving out of my parents' place this year; I didn't want to deal with packing and trying to take care of kids for some people who hate me."

"Come on, Pixie Pop!" Jason shouted, "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Dick smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, "We can drop you off and we can go change in our suits that you made us."

Marinette smiled brighter, "They fit, right? Nothing needs to be adjusted?"

"Are you kidding me?" Jason asked, leading the way out the door, "Like a glove! Best monkey suit I've worn!" making her giggle.

"Do we need to stop anywhere to get you dressed up?" Tim asked.

Mari scoffed, "You think I wouldn't have dressy clothes? I have to travel with Jagged to his functions."

"Rock and Roll!" Jason smiled.

Damian kept his arm snug around Marinette's waist as they left the diner with a smile.

"Move, Lila." Adrien demanded.

"Huh?" she spoke, confused by the hostility coming out of his mouth.

"I need to leave." he declared

"But-" Nino spoke.

Adrien pointed to the door as Natalie walked in. She quickly spotted the blonde's coiffed hair and walked towards them.

"Adrien, those were-" she bean.

"The people Lila just humiliated herself in front of and they recorded the whole thing?" Adrien stated, throwing her fully under the bus.

Natalie glared at her as she quickly moved, allowing Adrine out of the booth. Adrien walked around the mess and spotted one of the dishtowels that Mari had dropped onto the floor. He picked it up and threw it right in Lila's face. She sputtered as she removed the soaked towel from her face. It was painfully obvious by the two toned skin color that most of her makeup was wiped off on the wet towel.

Adrien smiled, "You might want to get use to your new job."

"They know Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Natalie questioned.

"Marinette is dating the youngest Wayne. Unless, Mari puts him in a good mood, Lila is likely to-" Adrien declared as his phone went off rapidly.

He pulled his phone out as Natalie looked towards her tablet.

"Oh, never mind. Timothy Drake-Wayne blasted Lila on twitter. The co-CEO of Wayne Enterprise just showed the world how two-faced Father's model really is." Adiren overdramatically sighed, "He posted the whole video of Lila pretending to be injured and purposefully making Marinette slip. He also posted Marinette getting horribly fired and all of the Waynes calling Lila a huge liar to her face. That's really not a good look for Gabriel."

Natalie tightened her grip on the tablet, "I'll call your father to see how he wants to deal with this new situation, seeing as we were suppose to meet the Waynes tomorrow."

Adrien smiled, "I'm pretty sure that the girl Lila got fired is the Waynes' personal designer."

Lila gulped and slowly sat back in the booth.

"If that is the case, I agree with Adrien, Miss Rossi; I would start looking for a new job." Natalie commanded.

Adrien walked out of the diner with Natalie in tow. Lila sat there frozen until Alya reached out and touched her hand.

"It's gonna be okay, Lila." Alya smiled, "It's-"

Lila tore her arm away from the journalist grasp and glared at her. She got up quickly and tried to rush out the door. In her hurry, she had forgotten about the spill and slipped. Lila fell forward but landed awkwardly, attempting to catch herself. She was rushed to the hospital with a broken arm.

As Nino drove Alya home, she sniffled as she looked through her phone. Her blog was being torn to shreds by people around the world. They were pointing out every lie and detail on how everything Lila said was fake. The comment that hurt the most was: I can't believe this blogger wants to be a reporter! Doesn't this girl know the basics for a reporter? It's called fact checking! Google isn't that hard to use!

TAGLIST:  TAG LIST:  @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

[princess-of-the-corner]

How a true Batman would see the miraculous class.

Bruce: ...

Dick: No you can't adopt all of them.

Damien: Please, he can't adopt ANY of them! I refuse!

Bruce: 5 words. Audrey Bourgeois and Gabriel Agreste.

Damien: You mean that horrible women who had the audacity to try and fire Alfred!?

Dick: And the guy who I'm like 99% sure is Hawkmoth? What about... fuck they have kids in the class don't they.

Damien: Tch, I'll tell Alfred to prepare 2 rooms.

tbh the ML kids could double his child count because you have Adrien, Chloé, Zoé, Sabrina, Lila, Kagami and Felix.

And that's just the kids in need of better parental figures that we know about!

[baenyth]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Reviews Episode 5-17: The Dog Miraculous: Lesbians!

Oh boy! A Sabrina episode! I love Sabrina! She's both an accomplished and disaster lesbian! #1 at getting into toxic yuri! Let's go!

Wait, is this going to be another Adrienette episode?

Wait! No! This is the gay Zoe episode!

Mayor Andre is the epitome of that dick flattening meme.

Actually, Zoe being a year younger than everyone else makes a lot of things add up.

Yep, here comes the secondhand embarrassment!

Almost forgot. It's neat the Emile Agreste movie was originally a love story. It's a shame it was for Audrey, though.

Nice to the waiter

Our Swamp

Trying to get rid of Chloe's redeeming qualities, are we?

Nerd

Even the Gorilla is joining in on dinner!

The sudden shift sdfdfdfdfdfdfdfdf

Get blackmail'd

"Sabrina, the police force is corrupt. Your father once helped Waluigi racially profile Dupain-Cheng's mother."

Trying to get rid of Chloe's redeeming qualities, are we?

Wait, does Chloe command Sabrina with a whistle or something?

"Your plan is lame and ridiculous! We just lost our double bottom! What will we do now?"

Monarch @ Kaalki:

Lila the teenage witch

Zoe looks like her eye's going to twitch. I dunno. Something feels wrong about her.

Dramatic Irony^2

I know this is just a way for us to see Vanisher, but it feels weird for her to have Chameleo Arm levels of invisibility. Then again this show is a sea of morons.

This is a worse version of the plan Lila used to get Marinette expelled. There have been invisible akumas before. I swear, if people believe her...

!#$&*!^*&(^%!#*(^$ AGAIN!?

Spin the yoyo all around! Do an AoE attack!

She didn't even say it.

Finally! Gabriel Agreste did something good for once!

When I realized what was going to happen, I was going to say that they should confirm Rose and Juleka and Marc and Nathaniel as well. But she didn't even say it. It was blatant, but this show is so hesitant to say these characters are gay. Just say it. Say it. Say it. The homophobic foreign dubs can eat shit all I care.

[confusedandghostly]

Entirely self indulgent dp x dc x mlb prompt

—

-Danny & Adrien know each other, maybe via Magic Stuff, maybe it’s the classic “event in a convenient spot”, doesn’t really matter. Point is they’re hero friends who both know each other’s secret identities and keep in touch.

-At some point, Danny is forced to relocate from Amity park because of a reveal gone horribly wrong. He bolts and keeps going until he can’t anymore. He’s picked up by a stranger.

-(Generally he doesn’t drop his transformations by accident anymore but thank the ancients he did this time because he would’ve had one hell of a time explaining to this stranger why his blood was bright neon green. As it stands, the biggest question is what the hell happened to him.)

-Nightwing is just vibing, doing his nightly patrols in Bludhaven, when he finds this kid half unconscious in an alleyway, bleeding out. They more or less beg not to be taken to a hospital when Dick suggests it, so instead he takes them to one of his safe houses and patches him up there (This kid is 16? Maybe? Why’s there an open autopsy incision-)

-Danny is not in any shape to be going anywhere and on top of that, his accelerated healing is working at a third of the speed it should be because of the materials that were used to hurt him being anti ghost, so Dick manages to convince him to stay in his misc safehouses - he doesn’t need to stay in just one, he’s allowed to move between them, just please don’t leave entirely.

-Danny explicitly requests that as few people as possible get involved in this, and yes that means the rest of the bats. If he can leave once he’s healed without anyone but Nightwing ever knowing he was there then that’s for the best.

-Except, as it often goes, Danny gets attached to Dick and Dick gets attached to Danny and the Reveal happens, etc.

-While he’s still healing and can’t do much of anything, a story runs on the news. Dick doesn’t think too much of it at first, but Danny gets really concerned when he sees it.

-“-Paris’ supervillain Hawkmoth has finally been taken down. Secretly the popular fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, many people who have heard the news are devastated. His home is currently being searched….”

-Danny goes “oh shit!!! I know that guy!!!” and immediately calls up Adrien and asks if he’s alright, what he’s doing, etc and the resounding answer is no, Adrien’s having an existential crisis, and he’s staying with friends while he figures out what to do with himself.

-Danny explains his own situation, specifically that he was displaced but found a safe (and at this point he really doesn’t want to leave anymore) home with another hero, and Dick, who’s only heard half of the conversation but understands that someone Danny knows and trusts with his own identity needs a place to stay, and offers Adrien a place here.

-Adrien decides to take him up on that offer. He’s being harassed, moreso than he ever was simply for being Adrien the model, because now he’s Adrien, the supervillain’s son, and since Hawkmoth was pretty localized he’s hoping that it won’t be near as bad in a different country.

-Now Dick has two kids in his care and he’s feeling more and more like Bruce by the day because he’s just gone from living alone save for whatever times he visits the manor to having two kids in his house, relying on him for safety and emotional support in the span of like. Two weeks.

-Reveal x2 with Adrien, all that Bonding Stuff™️

-Adrien and Danny get to talking and they’re both experiencing some cabin fever and so they decide “yk what?? We could help Nightwing with his hero work!! The area already has a metric fuckton of heroes, what’s two more?”

-It’s actually rather easy for Adrien to convince Nightwing because he gets why Adrien wants to be back out on the field. Danny, on the other hand, is finding it way harder, because Dick is already worried about Danny’s injuries.

-They both manage it though, under two conditions.

-1. They can’t be Phantom and Cat Noir. Not only is it going to be incredibly obvious if/when they make any public appearances as civilians, but also it’s going to raise questions and unwanted attention.

-2. Minimal magic and ghostly powers. This ties back to the previous stipulation, technically. Cataclysm is too recognizable as a miraculous thing, and it could be detrimental in a fight where Adrien can’t get away to recharge. If Danny used too many of his ghostly powers, he could give himself away as a ghost and become a target for hunters.

-Cue a montage of Dick hiding his two new protégés from the rest of the bats because he wants it to be a surprise and also he wants their debut to be on their terms for safety and damage control reasons while trying to set them up with the appropriate training and gear (moreso Danny who needs a whole new suit than Adrien who can just redesign his magic suit)

-The other bats are absolutely certain something is up with Nightwing and they’re proven right when two new players make their debut.

[theerurishipper]

The Issue with Felix Fathom

So, I'm not a fan of this character. I think there was a lot that could be done with him. I think he was done really dirty by the writing (but what's new there XD). He had a lot of potential; he was genuinely entertaining when he showed up and he slayed in that musical number. And that he was the only one to actually advance the plot meaningfully? Respect. But Season 5, as Season 5 does, ruined his character. And I don't like when bad writing ruins good characters. So I took it upon myself to break down his character and how Season 5 took a sledgehammer to it. I divided it into three parts.

A) Inconsistent motivations

B) Half-assed Redemption

C) Feligami is a bad ship

This gets long, so here we go.

A) Inconsistent motivations

The first time we're introduced to Felix in the episode named after him, he seems to just be a grade A dick, going out of his way to ruin his cousin's life and making deals with Hawkmoth to get his hands on some rings (which we now know are Adrien's amok) and the natural assumption is that he's just a spiteful asshole who's angry that Adrien didn't attend his father's funeral. Then he comes back in the finale of Season 4 (after a not really noteworthy return in Gabriel Agreste the episode) and proceeds to spend that time betraying Ladybug and giving all the Miraculous to Gabe, along with Adrien's Amok in exchange for the Peacock Miraculous. Then he shows up again in Season 5 as an advocate for Sentimonster rights and commits genocide, only going back on it when Adrien and Kagami called him out. Then he spends a while stalking Kagami and saving her from her mother, and then reveals his tragic backstory to her, instantly earning her trust. Then they get together, and the next time we see them, Kagami is declaring that they're doing this to stop their parents from getting in the way of their love. Then he is straight up missing from the finale, so that really did go somewhere.

So, let's take a look at his motivations through all these episodes one more time.

Felix: Just seems to want to ruin Adrien's life and get his hands on the rings that have his Amok in them.

Strikeback: Wants the Peacock Miraculous in exchange for the rest of the Miraculous and Adrien's Amok.

Emotion: Wants to rid the world of humans in an effort to create a better world for his fellow Sentimonsters.

Representation: Wants to stop Monarch so that he and Kagami can love each other freely without their parents' interference.

Recreation: Is a part of the hero team.

That's five different motivations within the course of, what, 8-9 episodes? And it causes some major inconsistencies in his characterization.

For an example, the episode Emotion introduces his whole Senti-rights thing, and he starts snapping the world away so that he and Adrien, and later Kagami can live happily ever after. He only let Kagami stick around because he realized she was also a Senti later (and Marinette too was only spared after he realized the relationship between her and Adrien), so we assume it was just going to be him and Adrien. He goes as far as to say he did this all for them, showing that he really cares about their opinion and well-being. And considering that Kagami and Marinette only factored into this later, we assume he was originally doing this just for Adrien.

Then why did he treat Adrien like such absolute shit over his past appearances? Let's review exactly what Felix has done to the cousin he claims he loves enough to snap out the world to protect him.

Victim blamed him for not standing up to Gabriel (despite knowing he was being mind-controlled and had no way of standing up to him).

Took on his identity to ruin his relationships with others he cared about.

Sent a cruel response to his friends' kind video to isolate him from his friends.

Stole his Amok from Gabe.

Realized his father was Shadow Moth and didn't tell him of the danger he was living under, or you know, give him back his Amok which holds his very autonomy in it.

Didn't try even a little to help Adrien when he realized the danger he was in.

Didn't tell Adrien he was a Sentimonster.

Gave Adrien's Amok back to Gabe without a hint of regret or hesitation.

Snapped everyone he cared about out of existence.

And yet, he loves him so much.

For someone who supposedly cares about Adrien, he sure did go out of his way to bully him and treat him like garbage. A clear example of how his motivations were retconned. He went from being a grade-A douchebag to Adrien to supposedly caring deeply about Adrien and wishing only for his well-being. He went from screwing over Adrien to doing everything for him apparently. He traded his Amok with no hesitation and with a grin on his face, and yet he supposedly did all this for Adrien.

Then the next time we see him, he's a Senti-rights advocate and is committing genocide for that cause. Which, fine. It was set up in the Season 4 finale that he seemed to care about Sentis. Still doesn't explain him caring about Adrien suddenly, but okay. Then we see him get into a relationship with Kagami, and the next time we see him, he's completely over his Senti-rights phase, and is now focusing on making sure Gabe gets taken down so that he and Kagami can love each other. There is no mention of his earlier motivation that he would not shut up about, and the only motivation is Kagami stating that they can't love each other unless they take care of Monarch. Sentimonster rights? Who cares about that? All that they need is to protect their love, because they're all that matters right? Not like there's a third Sentimonster still being controlled by his supervillain father that might need rescuing. Which is something Felix should probably care about if he's such an advocate for Senti-rights and freedom. Instead of, you know, focusing only on one girl he met less than a month ago.

And I'm not saying that wanting to protect his love can't be his motivation. Except when you make Senti-rights his motivation and then forget all about it to push an already rushed ship, it just ruins his character. Constantly retconning character motivations doesn't make for good storytelling, who woulda thunk it.

And just to drive in this complete reversal, the episode Emotion where Felix begins his quest for Senti-rights ends with him breaking down over having to destroy the Red Moon. And what do you know, this complete change in his motivation makes him create a Senti-projector for no reason and destroy it with no hesitation! Almost like the writers forgot what he was all about in the first half of the season! That they established him as someone who fought for giving Sentimonsters agency and treating them like people, and who would break down at having to destroy them, and only created Red Moon because he thought he wouldn't have to destroy her! But when his motivation changed to being in love with Kagami, I guess that all just up and vanished. And it just makes him come off as a hypocrite.

(Which is honestly what he is. Felix is a hypocrite. Despite not having been able to break free of his abusive father until his death, he mocks Adrien for not doing the same. To be clear, this is not criticism of Felix for not being able to fight back against Colt. He is not to blame for that whatsoever, and he did not deserve that treatment. This is criticism of him blaming Adrien for not fighting Gabriel, which is pretty hypocritical of him. And as I mentioned before, he says that he's not like others and that he wouldn't bring a Sentimonster to life just to destroy it later. Senti-projector would beg to differ.

These moments are transparently hypocritical. But the thing is, the narrative doesn't portray these as hypocritical moments, and never seems to acknowledge this aspect of his character. Instead, it's played straight and never addressed. You'd think that Felix doing the one thing he swore never to do would be addressed, but nah.)

And then Felix, the most proactive character in the series, whose whole appeal is that he gets shit done, decides to leave it to Ladybug to handle and fucks off to who knows where. And then he joins the team at the end despite having shown nothing but disdain for these people the last time he saw them, and despite having never shown the desire to work in a team.

B) Half-assed Redemption

That is, if it can even be called one.

So, yeah, let's start by listing all the awful shit Felix has done. We've already covered the list of things he did to Adrien specifically. But we can move onto the rest of his awful actions.

Tried to kiss Ladybug without her consent.

Betrayed Ladybug and gave all the Miraculous to Shadow Moth, putting Paris in grave danger.

Committed literal genocide.

That's it, pretty much. Until you consider the magnitude of what he's done, and then it all becomes a whole lot worse.

Like, he gave all the Miraculous to Gabe. He directly enabled a terrorist for personal gain. He actively put the lives of countless people in danger for his own desires. He betrayed Ladybug's trust and caused her great suffering. And did I mention he enabled a terrorist?

And his defense for this?

Argos: True, except I work for no one. (kicks Ladybug, causing her to crash onto a building) I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! (charges in to punch her and she dodges) I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish! (makes another attempt to attack Ladybug with his heel as Ladybug rolls away to evade it)

Oh yeah, so sadness, much remorse. Very redeemable.

But the funny part is, this isn't even the worst of it. He then goes on to commit literal genocide. I know I brought this up more casually before, but I need to emphasize how actually fucked up this is. Felix, of his own free will and of completely sound mind, killed all the people in Paris and possibly in other parts of the world, whilst singing a peppy song and enjoying himself.

And yeah, I got a good laugh out of that scene too. Doesn't make it any less fucked up. He committed genocide without a care in the world. Mf literally pulled an Eren Yeager, but even Eren had some remorse or something. And he didn't even bring them back because he realized mass murder was wrong, he did it because the people he did it for turned on him, and he realized that maybe people with morals don't appreciate him killing everyone in the world including the people they love.

And what does that episode do? Have Ladybug blindly trust that Felix would fix things himself, with no reason for her to do so. He literally just admitted he feels no remorse or regret for helping Monarch, that he wants their Miraculous to make a wish and that he has nothing to lose. And she just... decides to trust him because... the Lucky Charm said so? Because she was able to feel positive vibes coming from deep within him even though he has proven to be nothing but a self-absorbed piece of shit? Even though he's betrayed her trust so much and caused her a great deal of pain and suffering? And it's not even like it was right, because he didn't change and fix things because he could be trusted. He did it because his plan failed to please Adrien and Kagami and he realized he had fucked up with them. Not the people he killed, just them.

Okay.

After this, we see him in Pretension. To his credit, he seems to have given up on genocide, and has taken up stalking as a new hobby to keep himself busy. And then he kidnaps Kagami, yadda yadda, Sentimonsters are people, we don't abuse them in my house, all that. And then, this is what gets Kagami to start advocating for Felix.

Like, he just not too long ago snapped her mother out of existence right in front of her. He just snapped the entire fucking world out of existence. He should be publicly despised. People should be out for his head. Ladybug and Chat Noir should have made getting his Miraculous back one of their top priorities. But no one does anything. And hearing one speech about how Sentimonsters should be protected makes Kagami just flip her whole tune about Felix, as though he didn't commit unimaginable horrors. One hint at a tragic backstory and a passionate speech about Sentimonster rights, and suddenly he didn't do anything wrong. He was actually a good guy all along! There's certainly no reason for anyone to distrust him! He may have done all that awful shit, but he had good intentions! That makes it all okay!

Like, I get it. I get that his motivations are sympathetic. But that does not absolve him of wrongdoing. He doesn't get a free pass from consequences and accountability just because he had good reasons and a bad childhood. Kagami goes from being unbelievably hurt by him essentially murdering her mother, to being okay around him when he kidnaps her, to literally shielding him from consequences a short while later, and ends the episode by going on a date with him. As though she doesn't remember what he did.

Really. Kagami would do that. Kagami Tsurugi. You expect me to believe she'd do that? That she'd be swayed by one passionate speech and start coddling and protecting people from facing justice? Kagami would do that? Sure Jan.

Seriously, this is like listening to a terrorist go on about how animals deserve to be treated well and shouldn't be abused and deciding that their fervor for animal rights means they're a good person at heart. They aren't completely insane, cool. Doesn't mean they still aren't a horrible, monstrous person! And yes, I am comparing the two situations. Just because Felix brought all the people back doesn't change the fact that he first did it with the intention of having it be permanent, only brought everyone back because it was hurting the people he tried to please and not because he realized genocide was wrong, and then never expressed remorse for it. The writers aren't good enough to properly explore the implications of what just happened, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna brush by it, especially since they want to be taken seriously this season.

But Felix had a bad childhood, and he had good reasons, and his heart was in the right place. So naturally, he doesn't need to be called out, and Kagami's word is enough for Ladybug and Chat Noir to just... straight up forget that he happily gave up the Miraculous to Monarch and let him do whatever he wants. Sure, he betrayed them horribly and said he wasn't sorry at all about it, but this girl who's known him for a few hours at best says he's a good guy, so it must be true! The show tells us that he's not bad really, he's just misunderstood! Even if he never really apologized or expressed regret and remorse. Ladybug and Chat Noir have valid and justifiable reasons for going after Felix, and the narrative hasn't yet proven them wrong. And yet, him simply having sympathetic motivations is enough for him to be considered a good person and have all his mistakes forgotten. That's not how a redemption works.

Forgive me for being a basic bitch, but look at ATLA and how it handled Zuko's arc. Yeah, Zuko had sympathetic motivations, but that was never used as an excuse. He had to go through a whole arc of realizing the error of his ways, and no one coddles him through it. He actively owns up to his mistakes, accepts blame and responsibility for them, and works hard to earn the Gaang's forgiveness and trust. They don't forgive him immediately either, and he literally puts his life at risk to be accepted by them. He openly calls himself out and apologizes. Contrast that to Felix's "redemption," where his sympathetic motivations are used not to explain his actions, but to excuse them. Him having sympathetic motivations makes another character start to like him enough to shield him from being called out. He gets sympathy and understanding despite having done nothing to earn it. He never apologizes or tries to fix what he did, he never even admits that he hurt people and made mistakes, and yet just because he showed that he's not a heartless monster, the people he hurt are just supposed to accept that he's not a bad person. He's done so many awful things, but he's shown that he can potentially have a compassionate side (for very a specific thing but okay) so all is forgiven and forgotten.

The thing is, having sympathetic motivations and qualities that indicate that he's not completely cruel don't mean a thing if he doesn't act on them. It doesn't matter that he says he loves Adrien if he treats him like shit anyway. It doesn't matter if Felix cares about things and isn't actually as untrustworthy and selfish as he came off if he never shows those qualities in his actions. Sure, Kagami might trust him for whatever reason, but Ladybug and Chat Noir (as Adrien) are victims of his toxic actions, and Kagami's word about how he's not their enemy shouldn't be enough for them to just blindly let it go. Because they have no reason to trust him, and he has not shown any sign that he wants to make up for what he did or even that he feels bad about it at all (again, he literally says he doesn't).

Sympathetic backstories are supposed to help us recontextualize a character's actions, yes. Zuko too came off as a lot more sympathetic after we learnt of his past. That didn't mean he didn't have to make up for what he did. He had to work to change and grow, and actively states that he was wrong and that he wants to make up for it. Where does Felix do this? All he does is start talking about Senti-rights and suddenly all he's done is water under the bridge? All the things he's done can be forgotten because he did them for good reasons? One emotional moment means he's not that bad after all and means they can trust him, even though he's done nothing to prove that? Him having sympathetic motivations means he's now justified in what he did and doesn't need to make up for it?

That's not redemption. That's excusing bad people because they did what they did for "good reasons". He never admits to his mistakes, and he never takes accountability. Instead, Kagami is there to vouch for him despite not being the one most affected by him. And then no one calls him out anymore. And according to that little play, he still thinks it was justified for him to do those things because he had a good reason, and the show agrees with him!

A good heart is not enough for a redemption. It involves learning and growing and taking accountability. It means showing regret and remorse and the desire to do better. It means apologizing and accepting consequences. In canon, Felix has done none of those things. He expresses some kind of noble reason and is immediately validated and entitled to understanding and forgiveness. The characters don't bring up his past crimes, and he joins the team with no issue in the finale, as though he didn't snap these people out of existence gleefully, or as though he wasn't the reason they all suffered under Monarch.

You want me to believe Felix is a good guy? Give him an actual arc of growth. Actually make him confront the things he did. Actually let him face consequences and make it up to the people he hurt. Let him admit to his faults and learn how to be better. Don't give him a girlfriend who acts as a shield to exonerate him of all fault. That's not how a redemption arc works. That's not how any of this works.

C) Feligami is a bad ship

Imma say it. This is not a good ship.

Yeah, in concept it's fine, even good. I always love me some enemies to lovers. But the execution is so rushed and so poor that I really can't understand why they even got together.

The short version? It actively detracts from both of their characters.

The long version? Here we go.

It's so rushed.

We get Felix and Kagami together in Emotion, Pretension, and Representation. They go from enemies to lovers in three episodes, and in about a week in canon. In Emotion, they are very assuredly not friends. Felix only spares her because she's a Senti like him, and she straight up attacks him for killing everyone.

In Pretension, he stalks her for a while, saves her from her mother, reveals his sympathetic motivations leading her to start trusting him, and they go on a date at the end of the episode.

A few problems:

Kagami seems to have forgotten everything Felix did to her and the rest of the world just... a few days ago.

Kagami just admitted to still being in love with Adrien.

So for her to just... go along with him with no distrust or hatred is so strange. She called him out for stalking her, but what about the mass murder? Surely she hasn't forgotten about that?

And also, she literally just admitted to still being in love with Adrien. And she's immediately going on a date with Felix? I'm not saying she can't or that she shouldn't but... why have her still being in love with Adrien be such a big part of her arc this season, so much so that it had an episode dedicated to it, if it's going to be resolved in no time at all? Where did her feelings for Adrien go? They are never brought up again. Did they disappear off screen? And Felix and Kagami end up together in one single episode! They barely know each other! And by the time the next episode with them in it rolls around, Kagami is saying shit like "My mother and Gabriel Agreste will never allow us to love each other freely." Baby girl you've barely known him for a week, slow down please.

So yeah, rushed. But that's not all the problems I have with it. In their effort to pair these two together, there are some problems with the very concept of this ship. Now, the reason I said earlier that it's conceptually a good ship is because there are a few minor issues in it, but nothing that cannot be fixed with time and good writing. So overall it's a good concept. Problem is, we have the end product but the writing is shitty and ruins the whole thing.

It damages Felix's arc.

At least, whatever Felix's arc was supposed to be in Season 5. It started out with him trying to create a better world for Sentimonsters like himself. There are two aspects of his arc that the writers were trying to go for here. To integrate him into the protagonists' side from his role as an antagonist (his seasonal arc), and to flesh out his goal of getting more freedom for Sentis (his overall character arc).

Feligami as a ship undermines both these goals. Introducing Kagami as a love interest for Felix makes her more or less a shield for him to protect him from consequences, undercutting the "redemption" part of his arc. It stops him from having to face consequences or make amends or take accountability, because having a good person be in love with him is an easier way of painting him as also "good," thereby reducing the need to have him go through any actual growth. Having Kagami love Felix instantly prevents him from having to grow. It makes it cliche "Guy changes with the love of a girl" trope, except done poorly because he never really changed, she just started making it seem like he did by excusing him.

And as for his goal of freedom for Sentimonsters, his relationship with Kagami switches the focus from developing him, developing the lore of Sentimonsters (because the previous seasons did a piss poor job of it) and his goal into developing Feligami, which changes his goal from what was previously established to Being In Love With Kagami. He goes from wanting all Sentimonsters to be free to wanting to protect his relationship with Kagami and only that. You could say that he and Kagami are Sentimonsters and therefore saving their relationship falls under this, but that's not how it's framed. It's not framed as something Felix thinks furthers his goal, it's something else entirely. Felix spares no more thought to the freedom of Sentimonsters and does not mention it again, or else he would have thought about the other Sentimonster, his cousin, whom he damned in the previous season. He spent his reintroduction in Season 5 professing how deeply he cares for him, and yet after Feligami becomes a thing, he barely spares a thought to the only other Sentimonster (whose free will he traded for personal gain) even though he's such an advocate for Senti-rights.

It ruins Kagami's arc.

Kagami's overall arc is to win back her free will from her mother and find her own path in life, and this arc this season focuses on Kagami learning how to allow herself to be more passionate and emotional and want more from her life, both in terms of companionship and freedom, which is a step on her way to freeing herself from her mother's control. A big part of this arc is her still being in love with Adrien. She's also a Sentimonster, making her arc about autonomy and freeing herself from the control of her mother, finding new relationships and forging a new path for herself. This is something that has always been a part of Kagami's character. She's stubborn and headstrong. She finds her own way. And with the introduction of the plot point of her being a Sentimonster, you'd expect a pivotal moment to be her reclaiming her own agency. Except that's not what happens.

In Pretension, Tomoe asks for her Amok, and Kagami gives it to her. And at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Felix stole her actual Amok, and gives it back to her, thereby being the actual one who saves Kagami from being controlled by her mother. And it undercuts Kagami's arc of standing up to her mother and asserting her independence, because it's not her asserting herself, it's Felix sneakily saving her Amok for her. Kagami, who paves her own way, has a pivotal part of her arc where she reclaims her autonomy done for her by someone else. And we never see anything related to them again. So it makes an important moment which the episode has been building to, of Kagami standing up for herself and progressing her character arc into her being saved by a guy. She basically becomes a damsel in distress. And her arc never progresses beyond that, so her character journey in Season 5 which was supposed to be about freeing herself ends up being Kagami Finds A Boyfriend.

The episodes before this were building up her relationship with Marinette and Adrien, showing that Kagami is progressing in her social life, making friends and opening up to more people as a part of her development. Her development happened mostly starting from Season 3 and since she was only in a handful of episodes, we only saw it progress slowly. But we see a progression in her relationship with Mari and Adrien as she becomes more comfortable, open and vulnerable with them. And episodes like Perfection show how she is making more friends, that she is loved by many people. We see her start to want more friends, more freedom. And this is emphasized more than in the previous seasons. But once Felix enters the picture and Feligami happens, it's like her other relationships go out of the window. All she cares about is Felix. She doesn't want to assert herself to protect her other friendships too. All she cares about is that she and Felix won't be able to love each other. This straight up ruins her arc about finding many lasting relationships that she values and wants to fight for, because now she has one boyfriend to focus on over the many friends she was making and wanted to make, which was one of the things I actually liked about the Season. Kagami started the season with wanting to fight for all her relationships, and ended it with only caring about one guy she met a week ago. Thanks, I hate it.

It makes them both act OOC.

Feligami as a ship alters both Felix and Kagami's characters to revolve around their romance, even if it means they act in ways that are out of character. It drastically changes their personalities and their roles in the story.

For Kagami, it manifests itself the worst in Representation. Kagami is a very direct, to the point individual. If she wants to say something, she says it. If she wants to do something, she does it, or at least tries her best to do it. And Kagami hates lying. She broke up with Adrien for this very reason, because he wasn't being honest with her. So for her to go through this elaborate scheme to trick Marinette into going to the school by following Felix disguised as Adrien is unnecessary and... kind of cruel. And for her to have discovered Marinette's identity as Ladybug, and to go behind her back and tell Felix without informing Marinette herself, is so out of character for her. Felix is not entitled to this information. In fact, he is the last person Mari would want to reveal this to, other than Monarch and his lackeys. And for Kagami to betray Mari like this when she hates secrets and lies is so out of character for her.

And it's the same thing with Adrien. This is someone she loves so much that breaking up with him hurt her so badly, and she chooses to not tell him vital information that she knows about him, that he is a Sentimonster and his father is Monarch. Anyone who is keeping this secret from Adrien by thinking they know what's best for him is actively denying his ability to break free of his abusive father, whom Kagami is already trying to fight against, and yet the thought of telling Adrien the truth never crosses her mind. Even after she pushed him to assert himself and stand up for himself. She called him out for this in Risk, and yet now she is complicit in denying him the information he needs to do that. Kagami, who told Adrien to stick up for himself, is denying him what he needs to do that and making decisions for him.

It undercuts her personality in other ways too. Kagami is a very stubborn and very straightforward person. And so, for her to coddle Felix when Ladybug and Chat Noir come to rightfully take back the Peacock Miraculous and call Felix out is so against how she usually is. She is reduced to being Felix's protector. Kagami does not take shit lying down, and she does not shy away from calling people out, even if she loves them. For her to validate Felix just because he said and did a few nice things makes her come off very differently from who she is.

So basically, her personality changes. Since she is around Felix, whose MO is usually being tricky and sneaky, Kagami also goes along with it to advance the relationship and the plot, even though it is the antithesis of her character. She willfully abandons all her principles so that this plot can progress. Because Feligami can't happen as fast as it needs to if the writers have to explore this drastic difference between their values, as it would make them incompatible with each other. It could be resolved, but it needs time which the writers don't have because Feligami needs to happen quickly before the season ends for plot purposes. So this lack of exploration of their dynamic makes the ship seem very shallow, and so they would rather remove their defining traits altogether than take the time to flesh out their dynamic and reconcile their contradictory values which would make their relationship more natural.

The relationship also hurts Kagami's role in the story. The first half focused on her relationships with her friends and her mother. But once Felix came along, like I said, her arc switched to revolve around him. Not only does this hurt Kagami's arc, but it also removes her from the plot. Her mother is now part of the main conflict, and yet Kagami is separated from her at this crucial time and put into a romance with Felix to keep them busy and away from the main plot. Them being Sentimonsters too only really matters for exposition purposes and to force a relationship between them. And her arc of breaking free from her mother is abandoned, because now her relationship with Tomoe barely matters to the story. Only Feligami matters now.

And as for Felix, one of his greatest appeals as a character is his proactiveness. He pushes the story forward, he gets things done. He is interesting and engaging to watch because he doesn't sit around and let other characters make a move before he does something. And this romance arc with Kagami makes him do just that. Once his romance arc with Kagami begins, Felix's character is resigned to this arc, and therefore his pivotal role in the story proper ends. The relationships that were developed for him that gave him an active role in the story, such as his relationship with Adrien and his enmity with Gabe were all pushed to the side. These are the main characters in the show, and Felix's relationship to them was what allowed him to be close to the conflict. But after Feligami became a thing, Felix's connection to the main plot was severed, and all that he could contribute to it was the information he had figured out about it. So that's why his main contribution to the conflict this season was just telling Mari that Gabe is Monarch.

Basically, he was a mouthpiece for exposition. Compare this to his role in Strikeback, where he was an active part of the conflict because of his connection to Gabe and Adrien. And him being cut off from everyone except Kagami, who is by no means anything but a side character and who is certainly not as involved in the final conflict as she should be, his role also moves with hers because his arc is written around her. And his role only extends as far as hers, which is why he is barely in the finale except for a few seconds at the end. He goes from an active character to a passive one, which massively reduces his appeal in the story. He goes from proactive to complacent, which is so different from the type of person he was established as. Look me in the eye and tell me that Felix from Season 4 would let Ladybug handle things instead of marching up to Gabe and snapping him out of existence himself.

Feligami as a ship alters Felix's personality (the very little of it that was left after Season 4 ended). He was introduced as conniving and cruel and selfish. Him caring about Sentimonsters doesn't change that about him. But once Feligami becomes a thing, that aspect of his personality straight up disappears. From a writing standpoint, there is a reason for this which I'll get into later, but suffice to say that in order for Feligami to happen, they had to retool Felix's personality to be more appealing, and tone down his cruelty and lack of morals.

And as I've already mentioned, him destroying the Senti-projector without any sort of hesitation or guilt when he completely broke down about having to kill Red Moon shows how much his character had to change, even withing the season for this to happen. Felix being willing to kill a Sentimonster for any reason is completely unfathomable (lol) and yet he does it in order to save his relationship with Kagami without a hint of remorse.

Once again, the romance messes with their fundamental character traits and roles in the story.

Their relationship is diet Adrienette.

It is. Kagami is introduced to Felix when he is masquerading as Adrien. She later compares him to Marinette. Kagami is the reserved, isolated kid, like Adrien. Felix takes on the role of the "awkward" Marinette. Kagami is locked away by her parent like Adrien, Felix comes to her rescue like Marinette is supposed to for Adrien.

The thing is, these similarities are extremely superficial. Kagami and Adrien share a similar situation as abused children who are currently being controlled by their parent, but that's about where it ends. And Felix's awkwardness and shyness remind Kagami of Marinette, but that's about where their similarities end. And yet, their relationship is not built up much beyond that. There are some differences, but again, a lot of the concept is the same, and with so less screentime, it ends up coming off as a less compelling and way more rushed version of the main couple. Especially since the writers clearly didn't know what to do with Kagami and Felix, so the obvious solution was to give them each other and end that plot line. This relationship is literally just "Pair the Spares."

Of course, there are also differences, plenty in fact, but all things considered, it seems like the writers wanted to make Kagami and Felix prominent but didn't know how to end their seasonal arcs. Kagami's of finding lasting relationships (the plural being important actually)/being in love with Adrien, and Felix's of redemption and coming over to the good side. So they threw Felix at Kagami as a consolation prize and Kagami at Felix as a convenient excuse. Of course, this is a really poor conclusion to their seasonal arcs, and also warps their overall character arcs, Kagami's of asserting her individuality and Felix's of Senti-rights. It twists it into becoming all about their love when they could continue working on progressing those like they've been doing in the episodes prior to Feligami becoming canon.

And it seems to also be trying to compensate for Adrienette. Adrien and Marinette are having trouble kissing? Felix and Kagami can't stop. Adrienette took literally forever to happen? Feligami happened in a single episode. This relationship is built around the main couple with not much of a leg to stand on its own. They have no organic, natural build up. It just happens because the plot demands it. The reason I say their relationship is built around Adrienette because it is clearly only happening because they needed to get Felix and Kagami out of the way, and they try to make up for some of the criticisms levelled against Adrienette with this ship.

But speaking of differences...

They don't know each other.

Quite frankly, they do not know each other at all. They've barely known each other for a week. That's not enough to fall in love with someone, not enough that someone like Kagami is talking about it like they're soulmates, star-crossed lovers who are fighting the world or something. Their relationship is extremely superficial, and the only reason they are together is because the plot demanded it to be so. We've seen how it warps their characters to be involved in a romance and how them even falling in love necessitates that their personalities be altered. And there are a few other contrivances that leads to the conclusion that this is clearly less a natural and organic relationship and more a set of conveniences that are needed to give them something to do in the season.

Why do I say they don't know each other? Why do I say they aren't in love with each other? Well...

Felix only likes Kagami because she's a Sentimonster.

Because that's the reason he ever even noticed her. He only noticed her because she was a Sentimonster. That's why he spared her. That's why he followed her. That's why he likes her. Because she's just like him.

Ask yourself, what else does Felix know about Kagami? What does he like about her explicitly? Does he appreciate her character? Does he enjoy her interests? What would they talk about other than them being Sentimonsters? And the answer to that is we don't know. We don't know why Felix likes Kagami, aside from the fact that she's a Sentimonster like him and that she stuck up for him. The rest is inference, because they only appear in what, one more episode after that, and they spend all that time putting on that cringy play for Marinette (which does fuck all because Mari doesn't figure out that Gabe is Monarch from that anyway lmfao).

Kagami only likes Felix because he's similar to Adrien.

On the most superficial level, of course. Felix looks like Adrien, he sounds like Adrien. The reason Kagami broke up with Adrien is because she wanted him to be more assertive, and Felix has that in spades. He's kind of like Adrien... the way Kagami wants him.

Puts things in a different context, huh?

Adrien is kind and compassionate, he's empathetic and selfless. He cares about her. Kagami was drawn to that nature of his. And on the surface, Felix exhibits these traits as well. He's kind to Kagami, he seems to have a great deal of compassion and empathy for Sentimonsters. And it was only previously revealed that Kagami still has feelings for Adrien. And here she sees a boy who looks and sounds like her old boyfriend, who seems to share some of the same qualities as him, even doing things like drawing hearts on her window, which is something a romantic like Adrien would do...

Seems like Kagami is trying to replace Adrien with someone who seems to be just like him. She's projecting her feelings for Adrien onto someone who meets the criteria.

Of course, that's where these superficial similarities end. Felix and Adrien couldn't be more different. Adrien is a hero. He's Chat Noir, who risks his life on the daily to battle Monarch. Felix... directly enabled Monarch's rise to power.

And that's just it. Kagami has not seen this. Kagami does not know this. She sees that Felix is, on some level, similar to Adrien, and seems to like him for that reason. But she doesn't know Felix as he is. She's only ever seen his "nice" side. She doesn't know who he truly is and what he's done. She doesn't know him. She's never seen him at his worst, she doesn't know just how badly he's fucked up, she doesn't know that he wasn't sorry for it at all. And what he did do, she never brings up and never acknowledges it, so it's like she forgot. At least for the whole genocide thing, we can at least make the excuse that he brought everyone back to explain her not trying to cut him into tiny pieces the moment she sees him (again, it's a bad excuse, it should not have been glossed over and forgotten, but if I have to do the writers' work for them...). But she doesn't know him beyond that. All she's seen is his "good" side. She doesn't know how he betrayed Ladybug. How he allied himself with Monarch. How he treated his cousin. She doesn't know him at all.

How do you think she'd react if she knew all this? Would she still be in a relationship with him? No. And that's why the writers had to make sure she never found out, and only saw the "good" side of him. So that she could fall for him without having to deal with the atrocities that he committed. So that they could come up with justifications for why she liked him without having to have him face consequences and actually deal with what he's done. They had to erase the worst of his actions so that Kagami could come to protect his feelings from his victims. They had to alter his personality and ignore some of his more unsavory personality traits so that they could justify someone like Kagami falling for him. The moment Kagami is in the picture and the Feligami arc happens, all Felix's traits like his cunning, his selfishness... it's all gone. All to make him more appealing.

She liked Adrien because he was nice to her. Not just to her, but to everyone around him. Felix is also nice to her. But that's all she's seen. She doesn't know Felix. So she doesn't know that he's only nice to her (and his mom). She's only seen him in situations where he comes off as good and nice, and she hasn't known him long enough to get the whole picture (people will point to the events of Emotion, but it doesn't count if she never seems to hold it against him or indicate that she even remembers it). Which leads to Kagami having a fundamental misunderstanding of who Felix is, not knowing that he's selfish and cruel, and not like Adrien. They had to hide this side of him when he was with Kagami to make him seem more nicer, kinder and sweeter, more like Adrien. And this is the Felix that Kagami falls for. Not for who he is as himself, flaws and all, but only the positive aspects of him, the qualities that got her to fall for Adrien.

There is a fundamental lack of understanding between them because they don't know a lot about each other. Their relationship isn't built on acceptance of the other person, they only like each other because they meet their superficial expectations and haven't known each other long enough to understand each other deeper, which would make them realize how different they are, who the other person truly is. This is the kind of relationship that ends in a mess. Once Kagami finds out about Felix being a tricky and scheming person, more than what he showed in Emotion, and that he's selfish enough to damn them all for personal gain, do you think she'd stay with him?

Kagami has a strong sense of justice and right or wrong, while Felix is... morally ambiguous, to say the least. And so, it begs the question, how were Kagami "I hate deception" Tsurugi and Felix "serial manipulator" Fathom able to reconcile this fundamental difference in their principles that is a very defining part of who they are? The answer is they didn't. And that does not make for a sustainable relationship. They need to get to know each other better before acting like they're fated lovers straight outta Shakespeare. But as of now, they don't know each other, they don't know some very important things about each other that could cause conflict in their relationship. But dealing with that would take away from other important things such as Adrien and Marinette trying to kiss for the thousandth time, and so the writers fail to explore it and ignore it, opting to write Kagami and Felix both OOC to make it seem like they are totally made for each other and have a great relationship and are super in love.

It wouldn't matter if it was implied that Feligami have this conflict and the writers chose to hint at it and address it later. But they're portrayed as a perfect couple with only cute moments and stuff. And it really seems like there was no effort put into writing them at all. The relationship is only there to give them something to do. Watch as they never address any of this, watch as they just keep giving them cute moments instead of addressing some important issues with this relationship. Watch as they keep writing them OOC because they would hate each other if their personalities were left as they were.

Because it's not perfect. Quite frankly, it's not good.

Edit: Apparently she does know about Monarch. I forgot that play they did, and he mentions that he gave the Miraculous to Monarch. My bad. But my point still stands. In fact, it makes it worse. They made him justify himself in that play and Kagami just accepts it. Kagami accepts and willingly allies herself with someone who is the reason everyone is in such danger. She willingly allies with someone who hurt her friend in such a cruel way. It literally goes against her character to exonerate people just because they have a tragic backstory. And Felix's character and personality is still changed to be more appealing so that they don't have to deal with all this. You expect me to believe that Kagami, anyone really, would just brush over the fact that Felix sold them all out to Monarch? She knows about it, but they still had to brush over it in order for the ship to work. The writers knew that if they actually made Felix face consequences and acknowledged his actions, they could never get Feligami together, or even get anyone to associate with Felix for that matter.

And even if Kagami does know about Monarch, that doesn't change much of my criticism. She still doesn't know how he treated Adrien, she still hasn't seen his manipulative and cruel side. His personality was still made more appealing so that she could get together with him, which includes glossing over his flaws and unsavory character traits and erasing his mistakes. Kagami still doesn't know who Felix is as a person because she has never been exposed to that side of him. The show tries to sell it to us that he does everything for a good reason, and that's why Kagami decides to trust him (which I already addressed), but she hasn't seen all the shit he did to his cousin out of sheer spite. I stand by my point that Kagami would never associate herself with Felix if she knew who he really was, and the writers knew this. So, the show goes out of its way to downplay his mistakes and make it seem like they are noble heroics, and it literally changes his personality so that Kagami can like him. The way it's written, she might as well not know and nothing would be different, so really, none of my criticism is actually moot.

The writers couldn't find a way to have Feligami happen if Kagami held Felix accountable, so they just made Kagami brush over it/forget about it and had Felix justify himself. Their relationship isn't built on Felix genuinely regretting his mistakes and wanting to fix it, it's built on him getting a personality retool and justifying himself, and on Kagami miraculously (sorry) forgetting how egregious his mistakes are and excusing him because of his tragic backstory. Instead of dealing with his unsavory traits and acknowledging his mistakes, the show erases those traits and justifies his mistakes to make him seem better than he is. His awful actions are retconned into being noble deeds that were necessary and correct, so really, Kagami still doesn't know him because the story changed what he actually did into something else entirely. She doesn't truly know what he did, just the watered down, sanitized version of it. But to an audience who watched Felix remorselessly bargain with Gabriel and doom so many people to be victims of Monarch, it makes Kagami look bad by association for allying with someone who sold them all out to a terrorist and doesn't regret it.

Again, this is still changing his personality. Making a clearly bad act to be justified, thereby portraying it as some moral act instead of the scummy shit it was makes him seem better than he really is. I may have been wrong about Kagami not knowing about Monarch, but she still doesn't know him, because now he doesn't have those bad qualities and his mistakes aren't really mistakes. So, Kagami doesn't know who he truly is and thinks he and his actions are better than they really are. She doesn't accept him flaws and all, she doesn't realize he's changed or that he's trying to change. She's written so that she thinks that what he did wasn't so bad that he has to be held accountable for it. The writers couldn't put in the effort to actually deal with what he did, so they tried to justify him by having characters like Kagami not bring up his mistakes, and rather accept and agree with what he did. Which is just... yikes.

In conclusion...

Felix's character was stripped of his intrigue and plot relevance. He was turned from a compelling character and villain into a glorified love interest who barely mattered to the plot. His "redemption" was half-assed because the writers couldn't bother to put in the effort, instead choosing to drastically alter his personality. His motivations were retconned in twice in the season itself, and his story ultimately went nowhere. He was ruined so badly that he took Kagami down with him. And it's sad, because despite his villainous role in the story, he was a genuinely interesting character. He had a great presence and he actually acted and did stuff. He was fresh and fun. Sure, he was an asshole, but he was enjoyable and entertaining to watch. But once you take away what makes him so appealing, all that's left is a husk.

Thing is, most of the problems with Felix can be traced back to Feligami. And sure, maybe that handful of Feligami shippers who spawned after Gabriel Agreste were gratified, and you know what? Good for them. But I really didn't like it, and I thought it was a massive disservice to both Felix and Kagami's characters. For Felix to be reduced to a simp and a glorified trophy, and for Kagami to be reduced to "girl who fixes the guy" (which they didn't do well lol) and the damsel in distress for him to save. I didn't like how their characters were changed for this ship to happen all because the plot demanded that it had to happen.

I am not against a relationship between Felix and Kagami. I love enemies to lovers. But it has to be good. It shouldn't rely on the characters' personalities being changed and their past interactions and mistakes being forgotten in order to force a ship to happen within a single episode. It shouldn't gloss over their genuine incompatible qualities. And I've said it before, having opposing personalities isn't a sign that your relationship is fated to be doomed or something. Not at all. People can put in effort and work on their relationship to reconcile their differences. But it's not dealt with. Rather, it's ignored in favor of making them seem like the perfect couple just a week or so after they met? As though they are already like such a healthy and loving couple who know each other soooooo well. The show chooses to change their personalities rather than figure out a way for them to reconcile their actual personalities. And this hurts both their characters and makes them do things they would never do if it were not for the ship. And if you have to change your characters' personalities for a ship to happen... then no offense, but maybe it shouldn't happen.

And most of this problem with the ship is because of the lack of screentime. Maybe they could have cut down on the Chloe hatefest to, idk, give these important characters some more screentime? Maybe we didn't need Derision and we could have gotten some more of Felix and Kagami there? No hate to the people who like Derision, I'm happy that others got joy out of it, but was it really necessary? Maybe they could have given Felix and Kagami the time they gave to Socqueline, who is the most unnecessary character ever? And again, no hate to her fans, but was she really needed? Did she contribute anything that could not have been and wasn't already being contributed by an established character (Alya)? Does she have any plot relevance aside from being there?

Maybe if they had cut down on some of these useless decisions which no one really asked for (did anyone really look at Mari's awkwardness and think "oh I wonder what specific trauma she went through to be like this, it can't be that she's just nervous around her crush or anything"), they could have made Feligami a more natural and believable romance and had Felix develop as a character and join the team in the end without having to change their characters completely.

But Felix's character is riddled with inconsistency and hypocrisy, and he is the farthest thing from redeemed, even at the end of the season. And frankly, it baffles me that they decided to include him in the team at the end. The writing choices surrounding him did not help his character develop in any meaningful way. He was less a character with a story and an arc and more a plot device that the writers changed up whenever they needed him to do something. His personality and motivations changed according to the needs and demands of the plot. But it also went out of its way to justify and make the audience sympathize with him. So, Felix's writing is in this weird grey area where he's a victim of bad writing but it's used to his advantage more often than not.

(To get a little more into my personal feelings here, unlike characters like Chloe for whom I can get rightfully angry about her mistreatment by the narrative, I don't feel that way for Felix because the narrative favors him, and his personality is changed to make him look good in whatever plot he's in. His moments are at the expense of other characters. So, his character is inconsistent and poorly written, but it's often to his favor, and that makes it less... outrageous? to me than for characters like Chloe and Adrien. Idk, this is one of my most subjective points, feel free to disagree.)

But bad writing is still bad writing. Ultimately, the decisions made in Season 5 were detrimental to Felix's character and made him far less compelling than he was, and it's a damn shame. But hey, that's just me.

[ledalasombra]

The Granddaughter - Chapter 4 - Little reveals

"Media? If he's famous, the paparazzi must have made a mess of the relationship," Tim commented as he took a sip of his coffee.

Alfred noticing the matter, called attention to the preselnce of the two at the door, causing the room to be silent.

"He was a model…" Marinette replied in a low tone when she noticed the silence and everyone's attention on her. "He gave up his career when his father disappeared."

"A pity the boy had to go through that. Adrien is a good boy, and he didn't deserve to lose his father so soon after finding his mother and no matter how bad his father was, the boy should try to keep the good memories…"

"Gabriel Agreste is probably the worst person I've ever met in my life Jagged." Marinette spoke calmly, taking a deep breath "I'm sorry to cut you off, but after I had to take Adrien to the hospital at least three times in less than a year because of the absurd diet his father made him follow and of the countless times he's come to my house hungry because he's gone more than 12 hours without a proper food, I refuse to hear anything good about him."

"Oh Mari I'm sorry. I know you don't like talking about him, it's totally my fault" Jagged tried to apologize but she just shook her head slightly.

"Water under the bridge Jagged, don't worry." She looked at Alfred who rubbed her hand lightly to assure her that everything was fine. "Excuse my rudeness, good night everyone! Mr. Wayne, Damian, it's nice to see you." She smiled slightly, cutting the subject short. "Jagged didn't inform me that we would be coming here today, as usual I'll just find out where I'm going when I get to the place."

"Hey, that's not true.." he spoke with his hand on his chest pretending to be offended

Penny smiled looking at her husband beside her "unfortunately she's right, she only found out when she got in the car. I didn't know you knew Mari"

"Oh! Penny, Jagged, let me introduce you to my grandfather Alfred Pennyworth. He is Julia's father" Marinette spoke with a wide smile and a lot of pride, looking at her grandfather, hugging him from the side. "He is simply the best person in my life. I certainly would not have survived the last 5 years without him."

Alfred returned the hug, lightly rubbing his granddaughter's head. It wasn't common to see him so openly show affection, not that the older one didn't show it in general, but he was very attached to etiquette in front of other people. "You're going to be fine" he spoke softly in her ear seeing her just nod positively. He lightly rubbed her head with his hand, turning his attention back to the couple.

"No way Alfie! How could that be? And I thought I was going to surprise him…."

"Mr. and Mrs. Stone, Mari is my only blood family and, after hearing all the stories possible from her about the interaction between you, I can only thank you for the care you both have taken with her." Alfred told the couple "actually the family didn't know about her existence until yesterday…"

"So let me introduce you to my friend of many years. Bruce Wayne this is my niece Marinette Dupain-Cheng aka Marie from Luck Charm, my fashion designer for the last four years…" Jagged spoke excitedly. Marinette smiled, greeting the older Wayne again.

"It's nice to see you. Jagged has been talking about you and your family for some time now and I can tell you it's nice to be able to put a face to every story. However, I must say I can't put you in most of the situations he described. "

"Should I care about what was said?" Bruce commented smiling and looking towards Jagged.

"Only if I decide to talk about them" Marinette completed looking at Bruce and smiling genuinely.

"Then I shouldn't worry about what Jagged and Alfred say about you. Let me introduce you to my children." He turned around pointing to the others in the room "This is my oldest, Richard Grayson-Wayne…" he said pointing to him.

"You can call me Dick, short for Richard… " Dick spoke cutting off what Bruce was saying. "You really look like Julia. Your mother was an amazing person from what I remember of her."

"Thank you. I don't remember her very well but Alfred always talk about her."

"This is my second oldest Jason Todd-Wayne" Bruce said.

"Oh… you were the guy from yesterday, who talked about the curves… of my motorcycle" Marinette spoke slowly, with a playful smile, which earned a few chuckles from around the room.

"It's a pleasure sunshine… " Jason replied laughing and shaking her hand.

"The one with the coffee is my second youngest Timothy Drake-Wayne" she smiled slightly greeting Tim from afar, where he looked at her a little scared.

"He is fine?" She spoke looking at Alfred and then Bruce

"You're Marie…" he said still on cloud nine "...and Alfred knew all this time?" Tim looked at the older man and only received a slight smile in return.

"It's not a secret of mine to tell master Tim" commented the butler….

Tim approached looking at Marinette in the eyes and then taking her hands. "Marry me?" She looked at him with wide eyes "You're the best designer I've ever seen in my entire life! You're smart, beautiful and Alfred's granddaughter…"

Marinette looked at him desperately hearing Jagged and Jason laugh behind her. She looked nervously at her grandfather who just shook his head. "Um… I don't think that's a good idea?"

"Master Tim, I suggest you sleep after dinner and I'll be clearing out all the coffee until you get a decent amount of sleep…."

Marinette frowned, looking at him sympathetically… "I'm sorry about that…" she said watching him walk away, looking at Bruce who pinched the bridge of his nose in a clear sign of tiredness.

"My youngest, Damian Wayne, who you met yesterday…" the young adult just nodded slightly towards her in greeting.

"It's a pleasure to see you Damian." she smiled slightly towards the boy.

"I'm going to finish setting the table for dinner. If you can all make your way to the dining room, everything will be ready in a few minutes." said the butler.

" Do you need some help?" Marinette asked, looking at her grandfather.

"Don't worry my dear, you are a guest." the older one responded by patting her hand, then moving away. The young woman just nodded, turning her attention to the other members of the room.

"Jagged mentioned yesterday that you moved to Gotham to study, correct? With so many universities in Europe and the region being so well recognized, why come to America?" Bruce asked, seeing the young woman take a seat next to Jagged.

"Actually, it wasn't such a difficult decision. My grandfather lives here, I spent my whole life away from him, for me it was the most logical thing. My parents are great people, but I always missed him by my side." She paused as if thinking briefly about what to say, "Besides, Paris has become a city with a lot of memories that I'd like to leave in the past."

"Hawkmorth left a deep mark on everyone." Jagged completed by speaking seriously for the first time.

"But people are healing, that's what matters. Plus Gotham has one of the best universities in the world which will certainly help me a lot with Luck Charm."

"It must have been pretty hard living all that time under the pressure of not being able to release your feelings in a decent way" Dick commented sympathetically.

"Everyone did what they could to not get akumatized. And those who couldn't or didn't care... people just wished it wasn't so bad." She spoke with a faraway look

"And how it is?" Damian asked, causing her to turn her attention to him, not understanding the question. Dick looked at him scolding him "What's it like to be akumatized?" She looked him in the eyes, but before she even answered, Penny did.

"I don't think Mari is the best person to answer since she has never been akumatized" Penny commented, hugging the young woman from the side.

"There were some very close situations... in one of the most extreme cases he called the akuma back. Not being akumatized is probably the hardest thing to do, but I managed it and I believe meditation and my family at the time were what got me helped. I also talked to Alfred quite often. I think knowing how to address stress and feelings was what helped me the most." She commented with a tight smile.

"I believe it's best that we direct the conversation to the dining room." Alfred spoke completely cutting the subject. Everyone got up, following Alfred to the dining room, not being able to notice some exchanges of glances between the family.

Dinner passed with light conversation about Jagged's tour accompanied by delicious food served by Alfred. Jokes and puns were thrown in during dinner, setting a mild mood, very different from earlier in the evening, where the atmosphere was tense.

“Hey Alfie, dinner was wonderful. I already missed your food, there's no place that can do what you do…” commented Jagged excitedly “I'll invite myself to eat here whenever I'm in Gotham…”

"Jagged... you can't just invite yourself into people's homes..." Marinette commented, rubbing her forehead and shaking her head.

“Oh M, I already do that with Tom and Sabine. You know very well that this is true. Your parents and Alfred are the best…”

“I'm glad you enjoyed the food, Mr. Stone. I suggest you finish your conversation in the living room and I'll bring you all tea in a minute." the butler commented getting up, watching the others leave next. Marinette watched the others leave, gathering some plates to help her grandfather.

“Do you think you can come to lunch with me tomorrow? We really need to talk…” the young woman said gathering all the dishes and taking them calmly to a cart that was in the corner of the dining room.

"I'll be there. Did anything happen besides the pending conversation?” the older one replied looking at her intently, studying her reactions. She looked at him without answering and they were both silent for a few seconds.

“I need to have a breakdown before answering this question, but we can say that the night has not been very easy… The conversation with Adrien was difficult and all the questions today were not very helpful…”

"I'm going to make you some tea to help you relax… In the meantime, we'll talk and you can explain to me what's going on in that head of yours that's always full…" the eldest smiled lightly, heading towards the kitchen with his granddaughter right behind him.

–

"What possessed you to ask those kinds of questions Damian? I think it was clear that Parisians have a hard time with the whole Hawkmorth situation… We're not in an interrogation…" Dick spoke to the younger one when they both fell further behind when left the dining room.

"Tt. It's obvious to me that she knows something… The whole situation in Paris was very closely guarded, we don't have much information about what really happened these years…"

"Damian… Alfred asked that there be no involvement on our part. We all agreed not to delve into her life… "

"I, as an outsider of the situation, was trying to understand what went on in Paris. I wasn't looking at anything in her life… " the young man stopped to look the older one in the eye "I just think from the way she spoke and her reaction, she was involved..."

"Where is she? I didn't see her go by with the others…" Dick asked looking where they came from.

"She was talking to Alfred." Damian ended the conversation and walked back to the living room. He didn't intend to stay long, but he didn't want to be lectured by his father. Dick stopped for a few seconds, going back the way he did earlier and going to the kitchen, where he could hear part of their conversation.

___

"Adrien is trying to convince me to go back to London." She spoke as soon as they entered the kitchen. She was clearly uncomfortable with her conversation with her ex. "My presence wasn't doing him any good grandpa"

He sighed looking at his granddaughter "You need to worry a little about yourself too Mari. You need to be sure of what you want and what you need." He paused, reaching over and holding both of her hands. "Let's try to explain it piece by piece. Why do you think your presence hurts him?"

"He has nightmares seeing me… " she stopped talking closing her eyes “...during the last encounter everything got out of control and…"

"Calm down my love. Take your time…" he rubbed her hand lightly trying to be supportive.

"He thinks that because he couldn't protect me on the last day, because he saw me... he thinks that being by my side is putting me in danger. He pulled away and when he said it was better that we broke up, I ended up accepting it." she opened her eyes letting a tear fall. Marinette was going to continue but before she could say anything, she looked her grandfather in the eyes and stopped, pressing her lips together. "It's better if we talk when we're in a place where no one can hear us…"

"Hum…" the butler paused looking at her "we'll talk better tomorrow, ok?" She nodded.

"I'll understand your calmness about this whole situation as a vote of confidence but I don't like it…" He smiled slightly with the younger girl's sentence moving away. He put the water on to boil in the kettle, watching as she approached and stopped next to the marble cupboard in the center of the kitchen. He walked over to her, holding her hand "Do you trust me?"

"My life and more" she answered honestly and without hesitation.

"Then get that worry out of your head… " he said placing his index finger on her head. Marinette just pursed her lips, looking at him "Worry about what is necessary. I'll be by your side to solve what you need" Alfred caressed her face, seeing his granddaughter nod positively, leading them both to the door right away. As soon as he got to the door, both stopped and Alfred addressed the guy who was on his back playing with his cell phone "do you need anything Master Dick?"

….

Dick returned to the kitchen, stopping in the hallway when he heard the voices of Alfred and Marinette.

"He has nightmares seeing me... during the last encounter everything got out of control and…" 

 "Calm down my love. Take your time…"

"He thinks that because he couldn't protect me on the last day, because he saw me... he thinks that being by my side is putting me in danger. He pulled away and when he said it was better that we broke up, I ended up accepting it." Dick heard Marinette talking, noticing that they both stopped talking for a few moments. He was going to move, but stopped when he heard the young woman continue "It's better if we talk when we're in a place where no one can hear us…"

Dick was standing next to the kitchen for about 5 minutes and he was sure no one heard him coming, so how? He never understood how Alfred managed to sense his presence even when he didn't make a sound in the dark. Even after years he had come to simply accept that his grandfather just managed to be always present. Finding out that her granddaughter could do something similar was intriguing to say the least. Was it a family thing? Dick took the cell phone sending message in the group chat that has only his brothers.

Group Chat: The war zone

The First One

She certainly knows about what happened and from what I understand, so does Alfred.

It's scary how they manage to talk without saying anything...

I think it runs in the family, she knew I was down the hall in less than 5 minutes….

The Best One

I said she knew something. Pennyworth must explain to us later.

Richard was about to respond to the group when he heard Alfred speak behind him. He noticed that the cell phone started to be bombarded with a lot of messages, keeping it in his pants pocket.

"Do you need anything Master Dick?"

"Alfred! I came to get Marinette, she wasn't with the others…" he said smiling gallantly as he looked at the two. Marinette looked him up and down, taking a deep breath...

"And here I thought only Mr Wayne was like that…"

"Marinette…" Alfred spoke in a scolding tone.

"What? Seriously grandpa, Mr Wayne acted exactly the same yesterday… This family is very strange…" she said as she walked a little further ahead and Alfred shook his head negatively at the interaction.

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

Hello everyone... sorry for the delay but life is hectic... 

I'm still trying to finish editing the other chapters of "My not so normal little sister" and it's complicated... I won't even start with the others WIPs that are in my head and partially written. thank you for your patience, feedback and a thousand apologies if I forgot to tag someone. And again, english is not my first language, it's actually my fourth so I am so sorry for the grammar mistakes... the goal is always to improve

@fusser90  @night-ngale  @missmadwoman  @prettylittlebutterflie @babylovebug18 @its-maemain @iglowinggemma28 @the-church-grimm @kp-names @iamablinkmarvelarmy​ @starling218  @battybatbat  @atiredartistandacat @serasvictoria02 @read-fantasy-to-escape-reality @alice-hazelwood @maybeanalien0-0 @stella17luna  @sknerd101 @kathygene @waffleyunsure @nightfallsthings @taewinterbear95 @occulta-lacrimarum13  @kathygene  @tinybrie​  @kitsun369​  @iglowinggemma28​  @crazylittlemunchkin​  @nightfallsthings  @fangirlingfanatic​  @nightmarewasteland​   @laydeekrayzee  @the-ruler-of-death​ @sarcasticbambi

[starwarsmum]

Day 24! Officially less than a week left. @maribat-calendar-events prompt of the day is Surname

“Come on, Damian,” Marinette coaxed, holding his hand as they walked along the Seine. “I would love to meet your family, and you said that a few of them have been asking as well. Are you worried they won't like me?”

“Tt, of course they will like you,” Damian replied, bringing her hand up to his lips. She waited for him to continue and he gave a sigh. “My family can be insufferably inquisitive, I do not wish to subject you to them so soon. I find the thought of you choosing to end our relationship deplorable and would like to have a more stable base before unleashing them upon you.”

“You're surprisingly sensitive, you know that?” Marinette giggled, blushing lightly when he smirked back at her. “I've already met Tim and Dick, what worse could the rest be?”

“Tt, Drake and Grayson are objectively the least irritating, excepting Cassandra. Todd is the one I am most concerned about, and at any rate it will interfere with our investigation if we take time out to indulge my family's curiosity.”

“Why do you do that?” Marinette asked suddenly, looking up at him. He squinted at her, and she clarified. “Call them by their last names, I mean.”

“I have done it since I arrived with my father. It was…a way to assert my position as my father's one true son originally. Over time I have accepted that my father adores his strays but I have kept to using their last names.”

“But you don't with Cass any more?” Marinette asked, her head quirked to the side as they continued their leisurely stroll. The tips of Damian's ears turned ever so slightly pink and she immediately wanted to know why. “Damian, pretty please won't you tell me why?”

“Tt, that is because you call her Cass,” he admitted, his blush spreading as she looked up at him. They pulled to a stop just before the Pont des Arts bridge, Damian fidgeting ever so slightly. “I also owe her a debt for introducing the pair of us, and continuing to call her by her surname seemed rude.”

“You are the sweetest,” Marinette said, lifting her free hand up to his face and brushing it against his cheek. He huffed and looked away from her so she reached up and kissed his cheek gently. “No, really, you are. You're so incredible and thoughtful, I have no idea how I got lucky enough that you want to date me.”

“Well, you do carry around a pocket sized deity as a good luck charm,” Damian smirked, laughing as she squawked and slapped his chest lightly. “But if you are serious about wanting to meet the rest of my family, I can think of no further reasons not to.”

_ _ _

After a quick message to Dick, Damian resigned himself to most of his family descending upon Paris to assist with the investigation (and meet Marinette). Bruce graciously said that he would remain in Gotham this time, to ensure that the city was kept safe, but otherwise the rest of the Batfamily were ready to get on a plane.

Damian's work towards finding Hawkmoth had begun to show definite signs of pointing to one person and Damian was impressed once again by Marinette's capabilities. Her intuition had pointed at Gabriel Agreste and all of Damian's further research was heading that way.

To help avoid a bias, Damian had not told his brothers of her suspicions and was vindicated by their drawing the same conclusions. If they were quick, they would be able to inform his family that the threat was neutralised by the time they landed.

As it was a Saturday, Marinette was free to move around the city as she wished. Damian and his family had discussed their options, and all had confirmed that he should work with Ladybug as Robin for the actual takedown of Hawkmoth. 

She had been surprised when he had confessed his secret identity, but had been surprisingly accepting. She admitted that she had suspected something had to be going on given his interest in Hawkmoth and willingness to help her bring him to justice. 

He planned to inform Dick and Tim of his plans, to make sure they had back up if things went sideways, but he was confident that Marinette would be able to defeat Hawkmoth quickly if it was a straight fight.

So it was that later that evening, Marinette and Damian as Ladybug and Robin slipped into the Agreste mansion. Silence permeated throughout the grand house, and Damian was ever thankful that he had been trained in stealth from the moment he could walk.

Their first stop saw them slipping into the assistant’s room. She was fast asleep, although her breathing was laboured and Marinette saw a contraption designed to help the woman walk in the corner of the room. Any doubts either of the two had were snuffed out when Marinette retrieved the guardian’s tablet from the bedside table.

When they didn't find the peacock brooch, Damian signaled for Marinette to follow him along the hall. They stalked along it noiselessly, coming all too quickly to the master bedroom. The door was ever so slightly ajar and Damian managed to push it open just far enough for them both to slip in.

And there they were: the peacock and butterfly brooches, lying on the far bedside table. Marinette froze but Damian moved as quickly and quietly as a bell-less cat. He padded across the room and caught up the jewelry, shooting Marinette a look of triumph as he returned to her.

And then they were scurrying out of the house as though they had never been there. As they shot across the rooftops, Ladybug let out a whoop, laughing almost manically. It was over: she was free.

[voidisverytired]

Luka tended to check out sometimes. He'd be fully immersed in a conversation one second, and the next he's staring off into space, catatonic, unresponsive to even the loudest screams.

In his teen years, his mother thought he was on drugs and had him taking a drug test randomly every couple weeks.

And he might as well have been on some type of drug. Maybe it was a hallucinatory one that plagued his sight with visions of Chat Noir getting impaled by his own staff. Or Vesperia getting her miraculous ripped from her hair. Or that time Ryuuko jumped a little too late and was flung into a wall of brick.

By now, he knew the identities of every miraculous holder in Paris, plus some other uncomfortable details. Like the fact that Gabriel Agreste was Monarch, or that Alya once willingly caused an Akuma in her teen years, or that Felix's dad was an abusive dick (don't even ask how that one was found out in the span of five minutes).

Luka had witnessed a thousand different possibilities. Each one haunted his dreams, twisting the once sweet melodies echoed from his life to his dreams into dangerous and violent tunes. Screeching of chords that would have normal people covering their ears and begging for it to be turned off. But no, not Luka. He'd grown so used to the clanging of cymbals that he sat and listened to the sound, trying to make a sense of a beat. A melody. A pattern, so he could better understand.

But he never found one.

That did not stop him from pursuing one fervently each time the screeching chords revisited him.

As Viperion, Luka had seen horrible things. Witnessed things that only he would remember.

Rena Rouge wouldn't remember the scream she let out that rubbed her vocals raw when Carapace had fallen from the Eiffel Tower with no shield available. Rooster Gold wouldn't remember the feeling of having his arm torn apart by the claws of a panther. Pegasus wouldn't remember the feeling of having his hair ripped from his head. And oh so thankfully, Purple Tigress would never remember the way she choked on her own blood when she was stabbed by a violent villain.

It was terrifying, Luka supposed, to be the one who remembered. To be the one who'd carry those screams, those sounds, those sights, to an early grave.

It was utterly terrifying.

"-erion! Viperion!"

Someone was shaking him, Luka realized. When he focused his eyes and looked up at the person who had their hands on his shoulders, he came face-to-face with Ladybug. Behind her, the other heroes of Paris stood, each with equally worried looks on their faces.

"What happened?" He asks, though he fears he already knows the answer.

"We were hanging out, but when Pigella tried getting your attention, you weren't responding." Carapace responds.

"You weren't reacting to anything." Chat Noir was crouched in front of him, worried greatly. He was one of the few present who knew Viperion's identity.

"Sorry." He supplies dumbly.

When he gets no further verbal response, just worried glances, he decides to give them more context.

"When I have to use my second chance during an attack, I usually check out for a good hour. It's best for me to go to my flat and relax, but you guys were really insistent that we all hang out." Luka immediately regrets his words when he notices the guilty looks of the heroes. He hadn't meant to inadvertently blame them. "It's fine, really!" He tries backtracking. "I only had to use it a total of 17… no, that's not right." He shakes his head quickly. "16… no 15 times. That's a bigger amount than last time I had to use it. This guy was hard. In one of the scenarios, Argos got stabbed." And oh, Luka realized as he rambled on about what he had witnessed, he was slipping again.

"Ladybug got her earrings ripped out one time and this other time, Carapace used his shell to protect Rena but didn't account for himself and got crushed by a giant rock. I spent an entire loop laughing uncontrollably after Chat was thrown off a building and hit the ground. And oh, that was such a fun thing to hear. Can someone take me home?" He tries to use some of his still intact brain cells to interrupt his rambling. "I really need to go home or I'll keep rambling and you guys really don't need nor want to hear this stuff. I need to go home!"

"I've got you." Argos steps forward and helps Viperion up. "Your loft is on my way to my place anyways."

—

As Felix, detransformed and wearing some silky pajamas, tucked him comfortably into the weighted blanket and sat by his bedside, Luka recalls a conversation he'd had with Sass after a particularly bad loop.

When Luka screamed that he felt he was going insane, Sass looked him dead in the eye and said, "Insanity is a given for the people who wield my power. I chose you because you can deal with it. Do not make me believe I chose wrong, Luka."

Luka had no choice, really, to lay down and take what the universe threw at him.

He'll wake in an hour or two, screaming for someone— who? He doesn't know— to run, to jump out of the way, to get out of the fight.

He'll spend tomorrow walking around his flat in a haze. He won't remember how he spends his day, but he will remember the bone dead tiredness seeping into his veins and locking him to his bed, like vines made from the strongest of metals.

He'll live.

He has to.

[morningstar-chronicles]

do you have any agreste family headcanons for your dr?

definitely! but what kind largely depends on the DR, i think. i only have one miraculous DR listed on my pinned, but i have several kicking around in my head. so i'll just give you all of my headcanons! keep in mind i stopped watching the actual show a long time ago lmao

case #1: adrien and julian

despite adrien actually being older, julian acts older. adrien is still very much in the mindset of "i want to make my father proud!" and julian is kind of trying to act as a better role model for adrien to aspire to.

julian frequently dyes his hair loud colours and pierced his septum against parental consent (this is actually how he got the bull miraculous, which is a nose ring. master fu is the one who pierced julian's nose).

adrien wants to be a good role model for julian, and julian does want to look up to him to some extent, but their dynamic is very complicated considering how differently they feel about their father.

julian has wayyy more freedom than adrien (mostly because last time gabriel said no to something, julian pierced his septum. adrien would never).

julian models casual lineups for gabriel, and adrien models business and formal stuff. julian would have a lot more fun modelling for marinette though, since his style just doesn't match gabriel at all, and would probably completely turn on gabriel fashion as a company for one chocolate chip cookie. he absolutely fucks with marinette's ideas though- especially anything inspired by jagged stone.

despite looking like he would listen to emo or punk rock music -which he definitely does- he also hardcore vibes to taylor swift and other pop songs. once he stops doing things exclusively to piss off gabriel (i.e. once gabriel is dead) he gets into indie music and everything about him completely softens. he's a huge puppy dog.

julian gets perms. he also wears glasses (his father prefers him in contacts and makes him wear them for photoshoots).

adrien and julian are often forced to go to galas. their father doesn't attend with them. julian only goes if he can bring a friend, otherwise nathalie will have to drag a ragdoll julian into the car, and then julian lays on the floor of wherever the gala is until nathalie drags his ragdoll ass back home again. it's just a really bad look for the agrestes, honestly.

julian doesn't like felix. felix loves him like a brother. sometimes felix pretends to be adrien just so julian will tolerate him for a day. truthfully, julian doesn't like felix because he sees a lot of the things he doesn't like about himself in felix. he doesn't want to end up like that.

case #2: emilie's fertility treatments

this DR/AU stems from the popular headcanon that adrien is a sentimonster (did they make this canon??) because emilie had trouble conceiving- except instead of using dark magic, emilie just went to a fertility clinic like a normal person.

this resulted in five kids- the triplets (adrien, chase, and beau), and the twins (julian and emmy).

emilie was super excited to have all these kids, but died pretty promptly after the twins were born, so now they're all gabriel's problem.

adrien is the sweet summer child we all know him to be, and julian is of course julian.

emmy is julian's twin sister, and the only agreste girl. she's sporty and she's fun, and she's always nice to everyone. she and abby would be good friends!

chase is like adrien if adrien was kind of a dick. like, chase isn't actually rude or mean or anything, but he has sort of that energy to him where he probably would have been a bully in middle school and then grown out of it later in life. that is, if he ever went to school.

chase is a full-time model, and honestly has no interest in doing anything different. he's a nepo baby at it's finest. the only reason he would ever go to school is to make friends his age, but the condition of that would be keeping his grades up. besides, chase and chloe actually are good friends.

beau on the other hand is super interested in learning, but has no interest in making friends. he's extremely introverted and prefers to work on his own. he also doesn't go to public school.

adrien and chase are both models. beau is not. when he was little, gabriel tried to get them in triplet photoshoots and beau bit him. chase thought it was funny and considered also biting gabriel, but he actually likes all the attention he gets from modelling so he didn't.

adrien likes to braid emmy's hair. he learned to do a bunch of intricate styles so she could feel pretty even while they're not modelling.

emmy and chase model sports clothing, adrien and emmy model formal, business, and casual clothing, and again, julian models the most casual lineups.

gabriel cannot force all five kids to go, especially with no handler adult present. adrien, emmy, and chase go. sometimes julian goes just because he wants to bring me with him to impress me lmao 😭.

bonus: general headcanons, applicable to any miraculous DR

gabriel is a natural brunet. his hair is just white because he's old.

nathalie is working with gabriel because she's in love with emilie, not actually gabriel himself.

adrien views nathalie as his stepmom because he thinks she's in love with gabriel (gabriel also thinks this, but they're both wrong).

gabriel handed the butterfly miraculous down to lila because he views her as an apprentice. not quite like a daughter, because he does actively akumatize her and let her be in danger frequently, but he views adrien as a mirror of emilie and lila as a mirror of himself, and wants to be able to live vicariously through them. it's really weird and messed up.

hot take- i feel like emilie also wouldn't have been all that great of a parent. adrien is super attached to her obviously, but she would have been super fake and treated her kids more like accessories or therapists than kids. so, marginally better than gabe, but... still a pretty fucked up dynamic.

adrien has dimples, which he inherited from emilie. felix also has dimples, which he inherited from amelie. the only differences between them physically are that felix is slightly paler and adrien's hair has a slight wave to it that felix's doesn't have naturally. felix is also ever so slightly taller- only about a half-inch. only marinette and kagami can spot these differences.

this is either way more than you were expecting or not what you were looking for, but i had fun writing it!

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

Theory: Nathalie Sancoeur

I've seen a couple of posts about how Nathalie is only just starting to defend Adrien against his father, so I thought now might be a good time to post about my theory regarding Nathalie's backstory. 

My theory is that Nathalie was raised in a kinda abusive environment. I think she was possibly trained for a life of finding and potentially guarding the Miraculous, perhaps as some sort of response to the destruction of the Temple of Guardians, which would give her extra motivation to help Gabriel get the Miraculous - she'd be doing what she was trained to do. She never mentions her family, and in Passion she says she has nothing left to lose, implying that her family perhaps aren't in the picture anyway - in addition to this she never goes home, living with the Agrestes, even though she is severely ill. In terms of her training, she is a skilled fighter both as Mayura and Nathalie (Felix), is extremely intelligent and observant, and we know she was an Indiana Jones-style treasure hunter. She is also very stealthy, and is good at hiding herself and taking advantage of distractions to stay undercover - she has previously evaded professional guards and stolen Master Fu's tablet with the deciphered spellbook pages. She is ruthless and merciless, implying that she was trained meticulously with one goal, with no feelings to spare for any casualties - in this case emotions may have been seen as "weak".

This is where we start to allude to an abusive upbringing. Nathalie allows herself to be used by Gabriel to the point of terminal illness, and still forces herself to keep working even when ill, suggesting that she feels obliged somehow to help him, and has learned to put her own needs last. Her general personality would also indicate that she is a survivor of abuse. She is generally serious, cold, closed off and seemingly emotionless, which is a survival instinct that comes from being threatened (in my experience, it comes from living in an environment where anything you do could be used against you - it might be a similar story here). She has clearly learned to suppress her emotions, to give nothing away - possibly as part of her training, or just for survival. She doesn't pick up on Gabriel's abuse towards Adrien until she realises that Gabriel is in general a dick in Evolution. The way that she reacts towards Gabriel would perhaps suggest that he and Emilie were the first people to really treat her with kindness, explaining why she clung to the idea of helping Gabriel for so long and why she is so fiercely loyal towards him and Emilie. She regularly blames herself for things that aren't her fault, and has said she has "failed" somebody on more than one occasion - this both implies emotional abuse and an overly-formal way of speaking suggesting she was raised around adults - and is very afraid of disappointing people. She is also prone to emotional manipulation - both Lila (which isn't saying much but it still counts) and Gabriel have used this to their advantage before. Notably she herself is also a skilled manipulator and very good at messing with people's heads, such as in the episode Ladybug where she manipulates Cat Noir into thinking the sentimonster is actually Ladybug, and as a result almost manages to take his Miraculous. 

Then we come to her relationship with Adrien. Nathalie is fiercely protective of Adrien and, interestingly, we never see her face him as Cat Noir any time his identity is revealed - in Chat Blanc, when she tells Gabriel what she's seen, she seems more horrified than angry, as though she's realised she was hurting Adrien the whole time. In series five, when she starts actively defending him against Gabriel, it feels more to me like she didn't really recognise the abuse before (possibly because it was similar to the way she was brought up) and is now starting to realise what's really happening, than anything else. 

So, my full theory of Nathalie's backstory, given the evidence:

The story would start similarly to Master Fu's - at a very young age, potentially as a baby, she was chosen because of certain attributes or qualities she had, and taken away from her family to be raised and trained by some sort of organisation. This organisation was probably something to do with finding the Miraculous. Nathalie was raised as a soldier or a hunter, (think Partizans from The Rosewood Chronicles or the Widows in Black Widow - her behaviour is very similar to Jamie Volk's), and in her late teens she met Gabriel, who was also looking for the Miraculous for some reason or other. Perhaps she was sent out to start searching and ended up travelling with Gabriel and Emilie. Whatever happened, they were kind to her, so she became very loyal to them, never realising that their kindness didn't mean she owed them, or that the reason she felt obliged to them was because of how she was raised. So she stays with them - assists them with Adrien (because we pretty much know he's a sentimonster now, and she would have known enough about the Miraculous to be able to show Emilie how to use the peacock Miraculous) and then, after Emilie's disappearance, felt a strong enough connection to the Agrestes - stronger than any connection she'd ever really had before - that she felt obliged to keep helping Gabriel, even when his actions were straight up evil, because it was all she'd ever known. 

It's not a very organised theory and I'm sure someone somewhere could put it far better than I have but what do you think? Add anything I've missed and feel free to ask questions. 

A final thing I find interesting - considering the idea that Nathalie doesn't know her family… on Miraculous Wiki she is described as having "bluebell eyes". For such a serious character it seems a strangely whimsical description… unless you consider the other character described as having "bluebell eyes". I know it sounds ridiculous but I saw a post recently mentioning how all of the Asian characters in the show seem to have blue hair (which is kind of odd and I feel like there's a rabbit hole I could go down here but I'm not going to), and how Nathalie shares a lot of traits with Marinette. The post wasn't about this specifically but I think it's entirely possible that Nathalie and Marinette are linked somehow, plus Nathalie being part-Asian would support the theory. 

[tsuki-chibi]

Ladynoir July 2023 Day 29: Back to Back

Read all the entries on AO3

--

“I just want to crawl into bed and stay there for like a week. Is that really too much to ask?” Ladybug wondered, stumbling over to one of the reclining chairs on her balcony. She sank into it and stared up at the sky, feeling so tired that she couldn’t even bring herself to detransform.

Because if she did, she’d have to go downstairs to find cheese and cookies for Tikki and Plagg without her parents seeing, and probably some food for her partner too. That was beyond her at the moment.

“According to Hawkmoth, yes,” Chat said glumly. He sounded as exhausted as Ladybug felt. He sat down on the other reclining chair and sighed, running a hand through his messy hair.

“I just don’t get what’s up with him lately. Is he on vacation from his normal job or what?” Ladybug said. “He’s been sending akumas out back to back! I feel like every time I blink, there’s another akuma in Paris. It’s getting ridiculous.”

“Maybe he’s bored,” Chat said. “Or maybe he’s just trying to overwhelm us.”

That was, Ladybug thought, the more likely explanation. Hawkmoth was a dick like that. And unfortunately, if that was his plan, it was starting to work. Both she and Chat were getting so fatigued that they were starting to make dumb mistakes. But that was what happened when you fought six akumas in the span of three days. That was an average of two akumas per day for crying out loud.

She closed her eyes for a moment, sighing. The cool, early morning air felt nice on her face. She could easily fall asleep right here. What she wouldn’t give for her and Chat to have just a couple of hours to themselves. Chat needed the sleep even more than she did, what with how hard his father had been driving Adrien lately. Gabriel Agreste was also a dick, just for the record.

“What would you think…” Chat began, then trailed off.

Ladybug looked over at him. “What would I think of what?”

“Well… this is getting to be too much for us, My Lady. We need help.”

“We have help,” Ladybug said, confused. “We have Carapace and Rena Rouge and Queen Bee and Viperion when we need them, and Paon as an extra back-up.” In fact, during three out of the six battles, Ladybug had had to go fetch Rena Rouge for help. She’d gone to Carapace and Queen Bee twice.

“I know. But frankly, it’s getting really hard for me to keep an akuma occupied while you’re gone,” Chat said. “I think we should consider letting them keep their miraculous for good.”

Ladybug bit her lip and didn’t say anything. Truthfully, the thought had crossed her mind once or twice too. But even though she was the guardian know, she didn’t know if she wanted to cross that line. Master Fu had always been adamant that it was too dangerous to allow more miraculous out there fulltime so long as the Butterfly and Peacock were in the wrong hands.

“I’m not trying to pressure you. I’m just saying. I think it’s something we should talk about,” Chat said gently. “You trust our teammates, right? And LB… we cannot keep going at this pace. Something has to give. We need help that you don’t have to leave akuma fights to go get. Help that can just show up right away.”

An image flashed into Ladybug’s mind then, of her and Chat reporting to an akuma battle only to find that their teammates were already on scene. She wanted that, she realized.

And Chat was right. She did trust their teammates, even Queen Bee. Master Fu had never been able to trust anyone but Ladybug, and to a much lesser degree Chat Noir. But Ladybug didn’t want to be like that. There was a reason she’d chosen the people she had for the miraculous in the first place.

“Not Paon,” she said. “He’s too new and needs more practice.”

Chat looked delighted. “But the other four?”

Ladybug nodded slowly. “We can give it a try.”

[literaphobe]

I love your take on the wlw Love Square! Now I'm curious about your take on an mlm Love Square

ive actually never thought about mlm love square. but for you anon? okay!

ladynoir: ifl mlm ladynoir would spar so much and be a lot more competitive about whos in charge. boy ladybug is a bit of a dick about how Being the ladybug miraculous holder makes him the de facto leader and when master fu starts training him he rubs it in chat noirs face. chat noirs retort is always about how master fu clearly thinks he doesn’t NEED his hand held because he’s so obviously the more competent one. secretly he is very sad that master fu doesn’t gaf about him. boy ladybug also slowly stops bragging about all the responsibility because he realizes its not a title of honor but a heavy rock he’s been saddled with but he can’t look weak in front of chat or he won’t ever let him live it down. one day they get into a shouting match that ends with them passionately making out only to run away after because What The Fuck

adrienette: ifl boy marinette would be the perfect like. all rounder. good at gaming, good at sports, best grades in the class, extremely talented at fashion design. bro would be drowning in bitches and equally oblivious about the fact that everyone wants him so fucking bad. like without misogyny he would fly so high. adrien would have complicated feelings about him bc gabriel would weirdly compare them and be like if not for the inferiority of his birth, he would be a better son for myself than you <- or something else fucked up that cuts adrien deep. but then gabriel finds out that boy marinette is a mlm and never speaks of him again. even tells adrien not to hang around him OR imitate him in anyway. praises adrien for being a good straight son (without directly saying straight…? idk) and it only makes adrien more determined to become friends w marionette

marichat: chat noir sees marinette on his rooftop balcony and is like um Hey i know we barely know each other but i heard about u coming out recently and Uhhh i hope ur okay i heard the Agreste brand rejected you for their summer program because of it and that really sucks and hes like oh. thank you. i dont know how you heard about that but thats really nice. im okay really. my parents are really supportive and the fact that gabriel agreste is homophobic makes me not want to have anything to do with him or his brand. and chat is like oh… everything? even his… son? and boy marinette is like are u kidding? adriens one of the best people i know. i feel bad that he has to live with a father like that. and chat is like yeah. me too. and marinette is like confused like did u come here just to talk to me about adrien agreste? and chat is like oh um. i actually um. came here to ask for advice on coming out bc im gay…? its half an excuse because every night he thinks about the time he kissed boy ladybug but also he does not know what his sexuality is. hes like. its almost as if hes not allowed to like men. and yet… ANYWAY. marionette is like um. i guess coming out advice number one. don’t tell ur parents if ur dad is someone like gabriel agreste. and he laughs and chat is like haha! so funny! thank god im not adrien agreste! would suck to be him if he was gay! and boy marinette shrugs and is like eh. i doubt adrien’s gay anyway. i hope for his sake that he isn’t

ladrien: something happens that makes adrien’s identity as chat noir almost get compromised and he lies to boy ladybug and is like uh… i have the biggest crush on chat noir? he was um. my gay awakening? and ladybug gets a little jealous because hes in love w adrien and its like wow of fucking COURSE adrien likes chat noir. of course chat noir’s the hot sexy one who gets all the men he wants without even trying! his charms totally dont work on boy ladybug tho. of course not. them kissing that one time never happened. anyway in his annoyance he tells adrien hes free to go for chat noir because there’s no way he’d turn down Adrien Agreste™ and adrien is like hang on how did u know that chat noir’s gay????? and ladybug panics like FUCK did i just out chat based on what i know as boy marinette???? and he backtracks like WHAAAAAT no um i have no idea what chat noir’s sexuality is just um dont u think chat noir looks gay??? gives off such a gay vibe??????? and adrien is like WYM CHAT NOIR LOOKS GAY LIKE WHAT DID HE DO???? and its just a disaster all around

[abyssal-ali]

Marinette "Valkyrie" Wayne

Masterlist Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 ao3 link (completed) Valkyrie’s suit

Pairing: Marijon

Rating: G

WC: 1.5k

Marinette drove her bike down to the Batcave. It was almost midnight, so the Bats were out patrolling.

It was Steph’s night off, and she had decided to keep Babs company while Babs ran the comms.

“I need a spar. Steph?” Marinette growled.

“Want to talk about it?” Steph asked cautiously, stepping into the ring.

“No. Let’s dance, Waffles.” Marinette flipped over the bar and squared off.

They sparred for twenty minutes, neither side gaining much upper hand.

Black Bat returned, saw the spar, and said, “Stop holding back. She can take it.”

Steph didn't look away from Marinette, dodging a flying kick. “I’m not!”

Marinette flipped over Steph’s shoulder and pinned her, making her tap out.

Cass took Steph’s place. “Why so angry?”

“I don’t want to talk,” snapped Marinette, squaring off again.

When the other Bats returned, Cass and Marinette were still sparring.

“Who taught you?” asked Dick, eyeing a very graceful layout executed by Marinette.

“Self-taught. Took various martial arts and gymnastics classes when I was younger.”

She landed a kick on Cass’s thigh. “I spar when I’m angry, and I don’t want to talk about it. None of you would get it, anyways.”

She ducked a punch and landed a light hit on Cass’s shoulder.

Dick jumped into the ring, curious.

Marinette deflected his first kick, then caught his ankle and yanked while jumping over a kick from Cass. A high scissor kick caught both their shoulders and sent them stumbling.

Jason entered when Marinette made the ‘come at me’ motion.

She ran straight at him, did a quick handstand on his shoulders, then wrapped her legs around him in a lock.

Damian and Bruce entered. Damian was easier to take down, as he preferred to fight with a katana. Bruce was fairly graceful for his large size, though Jason was still lighter on his feet for being so big.

She ran straight towards him as she did Jason, jumping again. Then she dropped between his legs and chopped at his knees, climbing to his shoulders from behind. The family clapped slowly and dramatically. Marinette bowed, huffing.

“Interesting. The bigger the challenge, the faster you took us down,” Bruce commented.

“I’ve had months of studying your styles and determining the quickest way to disarm you,” she shrugged.

“Feel better?” asked Steph.

“Somewhat.” Marinette wiped her face with a cool towel and chugged the water bottle Dick handed her.

“After Paris, I spend all my emotions on doing things–sparring when I’m angry, drawing when I’m happy, dancing when I’m sad…”

“What about Paris?”

“Oh, those four years when Hawkmoth emotionally terrorized us all?”

“That’s why I was in Paris those few months ago, trying to find evidence of Hawkmoth. Nothing came up, and no one talked about it,” said Bruce.

“Yeah, we don’t like talking about it, especially the akumas that eliminated most of us. Jason knows it’s unpleasant talking about your deaths, unless it’s for morbid humour."

“Was…the sparring about that?”

“Kind of. My friend, Adrien– his dad was Hawkmoth, so of course there had to be an investigation to see if he knew that. He didn’t– he was actually Chat Noir– but everyone still hates him because his dad is dead, so they can’t actively hate Gabriel. That’s what I’m mad about. Some classmates beat him up, and when he called me… well, I needed to beat something up.”

“Can we meet Adrien? Maybe we can help him with this investigation, and he can tell us about the situation.”

“I’ll talk to him. No promises,” she warned.

~~

“Chat Noir incoming,” Marinette said two nights later. A portal opened and Adrien Agreste stepped through.

“The Batcave is real?”

“Looking only, no touching,” reminded Marinette after she hugged him. He wandered around, observing all the tech and gadgetry, then the Bats emerged from the shadows.

Adrien yelped a little. “He’s real!”

She rolled her eyes and gently pushed him towards them. “Introduce yourself, Chaton.”

“Bonjour, I’m Adrien Agreste.”

“Batman. Marinette tells us you’re one of Paris’s heroes, the Cat?”

“Yes. I was Chat Noir from the beginning to the end of Hawkmoth, who turned out to be my father. I didn’t know until the very end.”

Cass nodded from behind his back, confirming his statement.

“So you’re not Chat Noir anymore?”

“No, I permanently retired, along with all the other temporary and permanent Team Miraculous members. Ladybug merged the Miraculous to stop my father.”

“What are the Miraculous?”

“Gems that were bound to tiny entities, called Kwami, which are the physical manifestation of a concept. Mine was the Miraculous of the Black Cat, a ring that housed Plagg, the Kwami of Destruction, Chaos and Bad Luck."

“How did merging the Miraculous stop Hawkmoth?”

“Ladybug dissolved the bindings of the kwami to the Miraculous, freeing the kwami and collecting their powers in one vessel. It was remote but all-encompassing, meaning it took Hawkmoth and Mayura’s powers away as well.”

“What was the vessel?”

Adrien shrugged. “She never said. The magic took a lot of Ladybug’s energy, and she was knocked out for two days after that. Then…otherstuffcameupandIneveraskedher.”

“How powerful are these Miraculous?”

“There are three layers of Miraculous in the Zodiac Miracle Box. The bottom layer housed the twelve kwami of the Chinese zodiac, the least powerful. The second layer held the Butterfly, Peacock, Turtle, Bee, and Fox Miraculous, and the top set was the Ladybug and Black Cat. What I know is that Plagg sank Atlantis, killed the dinosaurs, erupted Mount Vesuvius, and with Ladybug’s Kwami, started the Black Plague and created the Lazarus Pits, which can heal from the brink of death but cause temporary insanity and bloodlust…”

“We know what they do,” cut in Bruce, a little horrified at the destruction.

“But it’s not all bad,” Adrien hastened to reassure them. “Ladybug’s Kwami, of Creation, Order, and Good Luck, can neutralize the Lazarus Pits. She also created many different plants and flowers, worked with Joan of Arc and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons…”

“We know Hippolyta! Let’s call Diana!” one of the Bats interrupted.

“Wonder Woman?” Adrien’s eyes were big.

“Her mother is Hippolyta. Thank you for explaining this to us. Do you know how to contact Ladybug or know her identity?”

“No, she disappeared after Hawkmoth. Mari was close with her though, we’d both often stop by Mari’s balcony and chat. Do you know, Mari?”

“Ladybug told me she was retiring,” Marinette shook her head. “I’ll call her last number and see if she still uses it.”

Tim and Bruce started talking Adrien through the legal stuff while Marinette pulled out her phone and called her old, disconnected number.

“No response,” she said.

~~~

The JL wanted to know more about Paris and what happened, particularly Diana, Arthur, and Bruce. That much unknown power wasn’t good.

Flash, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Lantern #1 (John Stewart), Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, all the Bats, Raven, Zatanna, Dr. Fate, Constantine, and Adrien gathered in the Batcave.

Adrien re-explained the situation. All twenty-three of them sat in silence.

Eventually, it was decided that the magic members would cast a spell leading them – hopefully – to Ladybug and/or the vessel.

Marinette’s eyes widened, then returned to normal as she focused very hard on deflecting the spell.

Constantine looked up. “Well, mates, looks like she either doesn’t want to be found or she’s dead. Pretty powerful magic blocking us, though. Be careful what you do when you find her, Batsy. I’d stay on her good side.”

“You’re on no one’s good side,” said Red Hood.

“Exactly.”

Everyone exchanged glances.

~

“So, who’s the newest addition to your cauldron, Batman?” Wonder Woman asked, easing the mood.

“Delphi is her code name; she works with Oracle. She may join us in the field soon, under a different code name.”

“I wish to spar with her, if she is willing.”

“I’d love to!” Marinette rose and joined Diana in the ring. The other members stood around, watching.

“Weapons?”

“I prefer hand-to-hand,” Marinette confessed.

“Very well.”

They began, Marinette dancing around Diana’s blows, darting in and out, always switching up her style. Then she landed a blow on Diana’s hip, hitting her lasso.

Marinette fainted.

~

She woke up a few minutes later with many curious faces over her.

“I’m fine!” she waved away their concern. “I just forgot about lunch, with the JL meeting and then the heat and excitement of sparring…I’ll just have one of Agent A’s lovely sandwiches and be fine.”

No one was convinced, but her vitals were okay, so she was released for lunch.

~

Marinette collapsed onto her bed, holding her side in pain. Just under her rib was a tattoo, currently glowing brightly hot. She opened a portal to the Himalayas and screamed, starting an avalanche. Luckily, there were no people or settlements in its path.

After a few minutes, the glowing subsided and she portalled to her room, clutching her lower left ribs. Kismet hopped onto her bed, snuggling into her.

Note to self: do not touch Diana’s lasso of truth.

[ao3feed-ladynoir]

Ladybug and Bats Cousinship Au

Ladybug and Bats Cousinship au by Am I really a writerhuh

“Do you think we'll see the Bat?” he whispers to her. “Maybe,we always run across the heroes whether we want to or not,it could have been Superman if Lila hadn't charmed Damocles into changing the destination,” “Think it's all a plot to take out the most dangerous akumas in Paris?” “Nah, Gabriel would never let you come, ‘Daddykins’ was just concerned for his daughter's well being and decided the rest of her class needed a break out of the goodness of his heart and his dear old friend Brucie just happened to own half a city,” “I know she's our friend now but I still can't believe she included the entire class on her trip, especially the entire class," “Chloe's better now,what I think is she let the change of destination slip without complaint 'cause there's a chance some liar gets shot if she says the wrong thing in the wrong place,” she sighed dreamily.

“Maman said I had a cousin her age there by some weird relation on their mother's part. ‘Bruce’ she said I think, I didn't get a last name. She said I'd see the resemblance,” she shrugs “Maybe it's Bruce Wayne,” he joked, “I went to a gala once, you have all the features of a Wayne,"

Words: 2686, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Bio cousin Dupain-Cheng-Wayne au

Fandoms: DCU, Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bruce Wayne, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Lila Rossi, Batfamily Members, Parisians

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe

Additional Tags: How Do I Tag, Bio-Cousin Bruce Wayne, Fluff, Light Angst, Attempt at Humor, Secret Identity, MariBat, Akuma class salt, Functional Batfamily, Justice League involvment, some more salt, Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42551796

[iwasbored777]

Okay I'm afraid to ask but I need to know at this point what's with the purple dick thing

Origins of the purple dik meme here we go

So everything started when I Gabriel made that first Monarch costume and it was different from his other costumes cuz for that, his skin was purple. Put of the blue my dirty mind figures out that if all other parts of his body are purple then so is his dik and I post it of course. People are disgusted. However I decide to make the most of it and make memes how Nathalie is gonna love that new purple dik cuz she loves Gabe and people find it funny. And then Nathalie ruins my memes and because she broke up with Gabe in Evolution. So I'm sad like she took away my meme material. So I'm sad and then the best thing ever happens - Gabriel and Tomoe start working together and that's how I got to the memes I post today. And I started shipping them unironically. I swear I got unfollowed by so many people since then but I also made new friends with just as weird sense of humour as mine but that's not the full story. Félix, my man over here, decided to wear purple costume too and paint his skin purple which means he also has a purple dik and what's even better is that according to the spoilers Kagami is supposed to simp on his villain form, I repeat purple villain form, just like her mom is simping on a purple villain from his family. And to make this even better, I'm seeing that every time Nathalie was akumatized or transformed she was either blue or purple. And now in the newest trailer I see my daughter Marinette attacking every purple Agreste villain and it's sending me cuz she's so tired of that colour.

And it doesn't help Gabriel that he looks like he's wearing a condom over his head with these helmets of his.

I don't know what future holds but I know that I will never stop making purple jokes cuz there is just too much material.

And now I want to write fanfictions about these couples but I don't want anyone to think that I have a purple dik kink because I don't I swear I don't. This is just too hilarious not to be used for a meme cuz it's canon it's canon that they all have purple genitals.

I hope this clears it up.

[writingsnippetsthatneverupdate]

In Which Marinette Is NOT Amused; 632 Words

Or, a Marinette & Adrien time travel AU! (In which I fuck with the timeline so much that it snaps!)

Okay so! Marinette time-travels to the day JUST before Fu gives her the Miraculous, and in THIS universe there's a month-long buffer between the first akumatization and Marinette and Adrien getting tossed into battle! Also Marinette and Adrien got their Miraculous during the beginning of summer break! (Is that how French schools work? Probably not! Suffer!)

As soon as Marinette realizes she's in the past, and happens to see an all-expenses paid trip to Gotham, she's set on heading there!

future!Marinette made friends in Gotham, and so she's planning to recruit Batman to prove that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth. She has no idea what any of the Bats' identities are, and the first time she met Batman as Ladybug, he nearly caught her and sent her to Arkham. The only reason he didn't send Marinette there (DESPITE her magic) is because Marinette had Kaalki. (Her Lucky Charm during that encounter was a hospital pager. Marinette cried when she saw it.)

Right now she does NOT have Kaalki, and she's not in the mood to see if Batman is still in Rage Mode, so she's planning to lurk in Gotham, assess Batman's mental and emotional state, and go from there.

So! She explains the situation to Tikki and heads off to Gotham! She also realizes on the flight that Master Fu probably only gave her the Miraculous because of one (1) encounter where she dropped her macarons to save him OR he's been stalking her.

So, she arrives in Gotham absolutely furious! Stephanie sees a furious, attractive lady and promptly asks her out for waffles, because of course she does. (Is Cass there? Who knows!)

Meanwhile, Ladybug discreetly goes around Gotham trying to figure out what Batman's up to! (She is NOT wandering around Gotham as a civilian, with her stab-able civilian clothes! No thank you!) Oracle catches on to her presence, and they start this game of cat-and-mouse where Marinette realizes the cameras are Watching Her and tries to avoid them and Oracle tries very hard to catch Marinette!

Also to torment Marinette further, Bruce is dead and Dick hasn't put on the cowl yet, so Batman seems to be on a hiatus.

Meanwhile, in Paris...

Adrien is trying SO hard not to murder his Dad. Like, yes, it's his Dad, but also, HIS DAD TRIED TO KILL LADYBUG. And also akumatize all his friends. And also tried to end the world. (Adrien has his priorities in a perfectly fine order, what are you talking about? Denial, thy name is Adrien Agreste.)

Timothy Drake is in Paris, trying to figure out where the HELL Batman is, and he runs into Adrien! The two of them see each other and go "oh shit that guy is NOT normal" and they also have crushes on each other, probably. Tim has to run around the world to save Bruce, but while in Paris he and Adrien become close, Adrien drops hints about his Dad that Tim FULLY plan to investigate post-resurrection, and Adrien is crushing hard and would also help Tim commit murder if he needed it.

At some point, I feel like I HAVE to include Marinette calling Adrien 'Kitty <3' in her phone, and Steph seeing it and going, "ARE YOU FUCKING CATWOMAN?! BATMAN IS DEAD OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU EVEN DO THAT --" and Marinette shrieking, "NO, I FUCKED CHAT NOIR AND WE BOTH REALIZED WE'RE GAY!"

Something something time travel reveal, something something resolution?

I don't know how that'll happen, but I'd like it to happen! End goal: at some point we get Stephcassinette, Adritim, and a Gabriel Agreste who dies under mysterious circumstances! (The best kind of Gabriel Agreste!)

@maribat-get-in