#adrinette mention

[anna-scribbles]

heyy @shortmexicangirl !!! i’m your secret santa :D have some miraculous x taylor swift 🫶 happy holidays!

(lyrics from the song peace by taylor swift)

[watwhatdoyoumeanbythat-blog]

I can't stop thinking about that time when Adrien picked up the trash can as soon as he heard Marinette sneeze and waited patiently until she was done.

[cat-saturn]

An addition to the hallmark movie au I forgot to post

[seas-of-silver]

Marinette: winces

Alya, Nino and Adrien: look at Marinette

Nino: "Are you okay?"

Marinette: "Yeah, just need to make an appointment with my chiropractor."

Nino: "Oh, for your back?"

Adrien: "Lower back."

Marinette, Alya and Nino: look at Adrien, wondering how he knows the answer and why he's answering on Marinette's behalf

Marinette: "Uh, yeah."

[wisteriasymphony]

tweos!adrinette where the two are out shopping and adrien avoids polka dots like the plague. even the sight of them gets his heart racing and his palms sweaty. marinette—somewhat starting with a conclusion and cherry picking evidence—concludes this must mean he has a crush on ladybug and all her hard work is paying off!

adrien however, can't help but be reminded of the time ladybug broke his arm in four places just to get him to cry. every time he sees spots.

[rosie-b]

For the Sake of a Ring

(5750 words, complete) Link to AO3

Summary: An akuma that transfers people's consciousnesses into other universes hits Ladybug, sending her into a world where everything is the same... but instead of earrings, she's wearing a ring on one hand! She's only just arrived in this universe, but already Plagg seems to have gone missing. It's up to Marinette to figure out what happened before she's sent back home!

This work includes some elements inspired by The Bravery of Adrien Agreste! If you haven't read it yet, it's an amazing series, so give it a shot!

Marinette was halfway through the craziest day of her life.

Well, it didn’t actually qualify as being in even the top ten craziest days of her life if she thought about it. But it was definitely the craziest day Marinette had had in the last week!

That morning was normal enough. She’d woken up late for school, the reclaimed kwamis swarming around her sleepy head to wake her up, and Tikki had helped her pick out an outfit and hurry to school before the first class ended. Marinette sat beside Adrien, just as she had ever since they officially started dating.

It was still strange for her to realize that she was living the life she’d wanted so desperately at thirteen, with a few key differences, of course. For one, she still hadn’t defeated Monarch, who had started calling himself Hawkmoth. Not again, he insisted in the one interview he gave to Alya over email, but for the first time. Because last time, it was spelled Hawk Moth. Clearly, there was a big difference.

Marinette had taken to writing about him as Dipshit in her journal, to avoid any confusion.

At lunchtime, there was an akuma, who seemed to be the kind that got a laser gun and blasted people with it. After they got hit, the victims were unhurt but confused, looking down at their clothes like they’d never seen them before, in some cases freezing as if they’d been thrust into a new and uncomfortable body.

Apparently, as the akuma proudly shouted, their power was to prove the existence of a multiverse by zapping people’s consciousnesses away and replacing them with their counterparts from parallel universes. Where the zapped consciousness went, Ladybug wasn’t sure. And she hadn’t wanted to find out. Which meant that naturally, she'd gotten hit mid-swing and sent out of her usual body.

Now, Marinette was sitting in class again, in the same seat as before, beside Adrien, as per usual. It felt wrong somehow, but the only obvious difference in this universe seemed to be that there was currently no akuma on the loose. Good. Maybe this universe’s Ladybug was a little more competent; maybe the fight would be wrapped up soon, and she’d be on her way back to her home universe.

Marinette sighed, impatient, and tapped her pencil on the wooden desk. Looking down at the worksheet she was supposed to be working on, she struggled to recall the lessons from earlier that week. Crime and Punishment was written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, she knew that, but she forgot what its cultural significance was. Marinette reached down in her bookbag for her notebook, hoping that other-her had taken notes about the lesson (Marinette hadn’t had the chance before an akuma struck).

As Marinette raised the notebook to put it on the desk, a flash of light caught her eye. Pausing, Marinette looked more closely at her left hand, where the flash had come from. Everything was normal… except for the golden band lying innocently on her finger.

Marinette jolted back in her seat, surprised by the sight of the ring. It reminded her of the way Chat’s Miraculous looked, when she wore it (briefly) while it wasn’t activated. Rubbing her thumb over the cool, light metal, Marinette tried to stay calm, raising a hand to her ears to check for her earrings. They weren’t there. They weren’t there.  

There was a ring on Marinette’s hand. And she wasn’t wearing earrings. This could only mean one thing: In this universe, Marinette wasn’t Ladybug. She was Lady Noire!

That explains why the fight back home is taking so long, Marinette thought. Instead of one Ladybug and one Black Cat fighting together, there were two people used to being Black Cats and nobody used to being Ladybug to guide them. And that was assuming time passed at the same rate in both universes!

Marinette felt her heart stutter once, and her hand trembled above the desk. Adrien noticed, sitting at her left side, and offered her a comforting smile as he took her trembling hand and raised it to his lips, brushing a light kiss over her knuckles. Marinette blushed scarlet. She’d never gotten used to receiving Adrien’s affections like this, so easy and genuine, as he looked at her like she was his whole world. And this wasn't even her Adrien!

Marinette offered this Adrien a tentative smile as she pulled her hand out of his and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. What should she do? She didn’t think it would be wise to tell him that she wasn’t his world's Marinette, not when her consciousness could switch back at any moment, but she also didn’t know how to act convincingly like this universe’s Marinette. So far, though, Adrien hadn’t noticed anything was wrong, so she might be doing a good job of it!

Okay, Marinette thought as she returned to the worksheet, if I’m Lady Noire, that means I should have Plagg with me. He’s probably in my purse, where I keep Tikki!

Marinette peeked in her purse, but there was no kwami inside. Maybe Plagg was hiding somewhere else? Chat Noir seemed to have trouble controlling him sometimes. Or what if Plagg had simply flown over to a different school, because he was hungry and smelled cheese? There wasn’t any camembert in Marinette’s purse, either — it was a valid possibility! Or worse— what if Plagg had sensed that his holder suddenly had a new consciousness, and went off to hide from the strange new being wearing his holder’s body?

Marinette would have run, too, if she were Plagg.

Marinette tapped her foot on the floor as she waited for the bell to ring and release her from school. The sooner she got home, the sooner she could figure this out. If Plagg had gone missing, it was her responsibility to find him and bring him back before this universe’s Marinette got her body back.

__*__*__*__*__

Eventually, the last bell rang, and Marinette packed her bag as quickly as she could. 

Adrien seemed amused by her hurry. “Excited to go home, Bluebell?”

Marinette tripped over thin air as she tried to sling her bag onto her back. Bluebell? Her Adrien never called her that!

“Oh!” Adrien gasped, catching Marinette’s backpack as it fell. “I can carry that for you! What say we walk home together?” His green eyes glittered playfully as he smirked at Marinette and leaned in close to her.

Marinette yanked her bag back out of his hands.

“No thanks, I can carry it on my own,” she said, offering a conciliatory smile when Adrien’s face fell. “I’m in a bit of a hurry today, and I don’t really have time to talk about it. You can ask me about it tomorrow; I should have answers by then.” Marinette might not have gotten over many of her nervous habits around Adrien, but she was proud to say that now she only ever stuttered in response to his most outrageous flirtations.

“O- okay then,” Adrien said, looking confused as Marinette walked past him. She turned to wave as she left the schoolroom. Marinette felt bad about being so blunt with Adrien, but she really couldn’t waste any time if she wanted to find Plagg before someone else did. Another Kwamibuster would be disastrous, and she really didn’t want to complicate her situation any more than she already had by getting sent to this universe in the first place.

Walking quickly through the streets of Paris, Marinette decided that she’d stop at home first, just to check on whether this Marinette was also the Guardian, or if that had gone differently, too. Maybe Mister Bug was the Guardian in this universe. She was unsurprised at how okay she was with that scenario. He might goof around more often than she’d like, but he’d always treated the proper situations, like lost kwamis, with an appropriate seriousness. He truly cared about his kwami, just like Marinette herself did. He’d make a great Guardian, Marinette told herself as she looked at the shelf where she normally kept her Miracle Box. It was full of old sketchbooks... no Miracle Box was in sight.

Oh, well. On to finding Plagg!

Marinette decided to try summoning her transformation, first. She wasn’t sure exactly how far Plagg had gone, or how far he could go before her transformation phrase wouldn’t work, so there wasn’t much to lose here.

“Plagg!” she called as loudly as she dared. “Transform me!”

Nothing happened.

Letting out a disgruntled huff, Marinette took off her ring and sat down on the chaise. Tilting it this way and that, she wondered if it was worth renouncing Plagg just to see if reclaiming the ring would bring him back to it, saving her from searching all of Paris on foot for a tiny black void of a kwami.

Might as well give it a shot, she thought.

“Plagg,” she said, and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she envisioned the rage of Plagg for the hurt she was about to cause him. The other Marinette can apologize for me, she decided. Plagg would be fine.

“I renounce you.” Marinette said with finality, lips close to the ring clenched tightly in her fingers. Then she opened her eyes.

Standing halfway into the room, still holding the trapdoor open, Adrien Agreste looked at her in shock. Then a wave of pain crossed over his face, quickly chased back by his model smile.

“At least let me know what I did, first,” Adrien joked in a weak voice. Stepping the rest of the way into the room, he walked over to stand by the chaise, where he stood awkwardly, twisting his hands together. “Can we— can we talk about this? Why are you taking off your ring?”

Marinette squeaked, embarrassed at being caught and wondering how Adrien had gotten into her bedroom without her parents warning her.

“I— uh, I’m… polishing it?” Marinette offered a weak smile to go along with her feeble excuse.

Adrien crossed his arms, frowning down at her.

Marinette slipped her ring back on, sighing as she did so. “Okay, fine. You got me. Do you want the long story, or the only-slightly-less-long story? They might be the same story, come to think of it!” Marinette giggled nervously as her mind raced, trying to come up with a believable excuse. What would this universe’s Marinette say if she were here? Had she told Adrien about being Lady Noire, or had she, like Ladybug, succeeded in keeping her secret identity away from her boyfriend?

Sucking in her lower lip, Marinette nibbled at it as Adrien responded, “The long one, Bluebell. Look, if there’s even a chance that you’re thinking about getting a divorce, I have to say that I understand why, but before you do any—”

“Wait,” Marinette blurted, her eyes widening in shock. “Wait, wait, wait. You think that I want a divorce?!”

Adrien nodded, cheeks turning a pale pink as he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“But we’re not even married!” Marinette exclaimed, spreading her arms wide. Again, a flash of light shone off the ring on her left hand... her ring, which was still golden, exactly the way Plagg's renounced Miraculous should not look.

“Yes, we are,” Adrien said sulkily. “Even if you do go through with the divorce, as of now we’re still married. And I’m going to support you either way, but—”

“Hold on, ” Marinette cried, jumping up and grabbing Adrien’s hands in hers. She looked at his left hand — actually, wait. That was her left, his right. She tried again.

Holding Adrien’s left hand in front of her face, she examined the finger next to his pinkie, where lo and behold, a matching gold band rested.

Marinette’s knees felt weak. “What,” she said in a low tone. Was the room spinning suddenly, or was it just her consciousness returning to her home universe, where everything made sense and she and Adrien were still just dating, like normal sixteen-year-olds?

Stepping back, Marinette collapsed onto the chaise, arms flopping over the sides as she stared at nothing in shock.

“Marinette!” Adrien called. “Are you okay?” He stepped closer to the chaise and knelt down in front of Marinette. His eyes gazed into hers as he took her hands in his and rubbed little circles on them. It felt comforting, sending pleasant tingles up Marinette’s spine. She tried to yank her hands back, but she moved too slowly and only wound up bringing them closer to herself.

“I,” she gasped out, dilated pupils fixed on Adrien’s concerned gaze, “I, I can’t, I—”

“It’s okay,” Adrien said, dropping one of her hands and moving to sit beside her on the chaise. They were even closer, now, and Marinette shivered at the contact. “Take your time. You don’t have to tell me yet,” he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Is this okay for now? You can tell me to go,” he reassured her.

Marinette squeezed his hand tighter, finding herself unwilling to let it go.

“No,” she gasped out. “I mean— this is fine. Yes, I’m okay. I can do this,” she said, mostly to herself. Adrien smiled at her, still looking a bit hurt and confused but trying to make sure Marinette was okay. To make sure his wife was okay. 

Marinette had to tell him.

“Your wife am not I,” she said. The smile dropped off of Adrien’s face. Were his eyes shinier than usual?

Marinette cleared her throat and tried again. “Your wife is in another universe,” she said confidently. “I’m just inhabiting her body temporarily.”

Adrien dropped her hand like it was hot and jumped to his feet.

Rude, Marinette thought. He stole all the warmth away!

“What do you mean, you’re inhabiting my wife’s body?” Adrien hissed. “She’s in another universe?! What on earth are you talking about!?”

His green eyes were narrowed into slits, glaring at Marinette accusingly and with no small amount of hurt.

“This had better not be another excuse not to talk about the divorce. Marinette, if you’re still in there, blink twice! I’ll try to save you!”

Marinette blinked once. “All right, I can see where that went wrong,” she said consideringly. “I’ll start over. Adrien, your wife’s consciousness has been stolen by an akuma. She’s currently in my body in my home universe, and I’m in hers for now. But that’s only until Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat the akuma! Then your wife will be back in her proper universe, and so will I. Any questions?”

Adrien stared at her like she’d grown two heads. Maybe three, with the intensity of his gaze. “Several,” he spat out. “What’s an akuma? Who are you, normally, if not Marinette? Are you Marinette, but just from a different universe? Then why were you trying to divorce me anyway? And last of all, how are a beetle and a black cat going to fix anything?!”

Marinette tilted her head. “You don’t know what an akuma is?”

Adrien crossed his arms. “No! Why would I?”

Marinette flinched at the loud volume of his question.

“Well, they’ve been terrorizing the city for the past few years,” she said rationally. “Do they go by a different name in this universe? Let’s see— dark spirits? Esprits sombres, or êtres des ténèbres? Malevole—”

“No,” Adrien said, cutting her off. “We don’t have any hakuna matata things in this universe. Look, you need to tell me who you are, right now, or I’m going to start freaking out. You can’t just inhabit my wife’s body and expect me to be chill about it! What are you, some kind of demon?”

“No!” Marinette was scandalized. “As if a demon could ever possess me. I’ve cleansed so many of them, they’re all scared of my shadow by now. No, I’m Marinette. Just not your Marinette. And we’re not married in my universe.”

Adrien blinked, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “Oh. So, you’re still Marinette?”

“A Marinette,” she corrected.

“Right. And you still know me in the other universe?”

Marinette nodded.

“But we’re not married.” Adrien sounded bewildered by this, like it was normal for people to get married when they were sixteen. 

“We aren’t,” Marinette confirmed. “I don’t know why we would be. I mean, we’re still dating, and that’s normal, healthy behavior for kids our age. Getting married is not,” she pointed out gently. “So, why did you two get married?”

Adrien opened his mouth to speak, but then a confused look crossed over his face. Maybe he’d just realized how uncommon this situation was.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “Do you want the long version? Or the not-so-long version,” he said, a sparkle returning to his eye.

Marinette was intrigued. “Give me the basics,” she said. “I’ll ask questions whenever I need to.”

Adrien shrugged. “All right,” he said. He sat down on the chaise again, this time a few inches away from Marinette. “It started the day my father hit me. It wasn’t a common thing,” he said quickly when Marinette gasped. “It wasn’t… you wouldn’t even have noticed, if the makeup didn’t come off during gym class. And I… I remember you and Alya and Nino asked me about it,” he said, his voice sounding a bit choked. “And it took a while, but we figured out that— that he was being abusive. And I, I couldn’t do anything about it. We checked all our options,” he said, gaze fixed on his hands, clasped together in his lap as his right leg bounced with nervous energy. “The lawyer that we managed to sneak off to visit said that my father was too powerful for a case as small as mine to make it through court. We didn’t have enough real evidence, because most of it wasn’t— it was all just, emotional. And that’s easier to deny, especially for Gabriel Agreste. But we found out about a different way that could lead to my emancipation. You and I, we’d already been dating for a while, so it wasn’t that weird. And once we got your parents’ permission, and a few witnesses, and paperwork, of course there was so much paperwork—” Adrien giggled, high and nervous. His gaze darted to Marinette before carefully returning to the floor. His leg stopped moving. His fingers twitched. 

“We got married. And I was finally free to leave that house, that man behind. I’m Adrien Dupain-Cheng,” he said, turning to Marinette with wet eyes and a warm smile. “Nice to meet you, Marinette-from-another-universe.”

Marinette pulled him into a hug.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, feeling her eyes beginning to water. “I’m so glad you got married. I’m so glad you got out. Oh, Adrien,” she said sorrowfully, holding Adrien tight as he cried onto her shoulder. “I promise, your real wife will come back soon. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Adrien hugged her tighter.

After a few more minutes, Marinette hesitantly pulled back a little.

“Adrien, I’m sorry I need to ask this, but do you think that, in my universe, my Adrien is— that he could be, well, abused, too, and I just never noticed?” Marinette vision was blurry. “What if I could’ve been helping him and I just didn’t notice that he needed me?” she cried.

Adrien reached out to wipe a tear from her eye as it fell. “You would notice,” he said softly. “If you're anything like my Marinette, you would notice. Or he would tell you,” he said, hope and trust in his voice.

Marinette sobbed. “You don’t know that,” she gasped out. “I’m busier there than I am here, I’m used to pushing people away, and I— what if I didn’t notice in time? What if something happened, and I—”

“None of that,” Adrien said, pressing a finger to her lips. She stared up at him. “He would tell you if you asked, Marinette. You’re the only place that’s ever felt like home to him, and he would rather die than tell anyone else but he’ll tell you. Believe me,” he said, and Marinette supposed that she had to, but it was still hard.

“Sorry,” she said, drying her eyes and trying to pull herself together. “Of course, he would tell me. I, I think I’d better ask him as soon as I get back, just to make sure,” she said in as firm a voice as she could muster.

Adrien smiled. “Of course you will,” he said, his voice full of affection. “That’s just who you are. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Paris’ everyday hero.”

Marinette nodded absently before gasping. Whipping her head around to check the room, she frowned before grabbing Adrien’s hands and pulling him closer.

“About that,” she said urgently. “So, you don’t have any akumas here. Do you have any superheroes, then?”

“Uhh, not that I’ve heard of,” Adrien said with a crooked smile. “Why, did some come over from New York in your world?”

Marinette frowned. “No, we have some of our own,” she said cautiously. “Team Miraculous. W– they fight Hawkmoth, a despicable villain with no sense of timing and no fashion sense. He doesn’t have common sense, either,” she confided in him.

Adrien laughed. Marinette smiled.

“So, this Team Miraculous fights one big villain? Doesn’t sound that hard to me,” he joked lightly.

Marinette tried to smile but could only grimace. “You’d think,” she said wearily. “But Hawkmoth’s power lets him hide in his lair and let other people do the fighting for him. He controls victims through akumatization— basically, he uses a magic item called a Miraculous, corrupts a butterfly with dark powers, and transfers them into anyone nearby who’s feeling a bit under the weather. We— the team’s fought everyone from Bob Roth to Jagged Stone to a six-month old baby. And when the akumatized object — what the akuma goes into — is broken, Hawkmoth’s power gets snapped, but he can still make a new mind-controlled villain as long as the akuma exists. That’s why Ladybug — one of the two main heroes — has to purify it with her magic yo-yo and call for a Miracle Cure. After that, the akuma’s effects are reversed, and everything goes back to normal, while Hawkmoth gets off scot-free. It’s honestly enraging,” she said, clenching her fists.

“Yeah, that would make sense,” Adrien nodded in sympathetic agreement. “So, one of these hakuna matatas stole my wife’s consciousness and replaced it with yours? Why? How does that help Hawkmoth win in any way?”

Marinette twitched. “Well,” she said haltingly, “If Hawkmoth managed to hit, say, Ladybug or Chat Noir, but he’d honestly go for Ladybug, then his odds of winning the fight would increase. Because suddenly, instead of an experienced hero at the wheel, ready to fight and defeat him, there could be an inexperienced girl— or boy. One who didn’t know how to fight, and so she might get defeated, and then Hawkmoth would win and I’ll be trapped here forever and we’re not even supposed to be married,” Marinette gushed, each word closely following the one before it in an indecipherable chain.

Adrien looked shellshocked. “You’re saying my wife is trapped in another universe now? And we’re not even married? How do we get her back!? Is there anything you can do? No, because there isn’t any magic yo-yo here, which I think makes more sense than there being one anyway. So, so you’re saying that normally, you would fix this, because you’re Ladybug—”

“I didn’t say that!” Marinette interrupted. Adrien waved her objection aside.

“You implied it,” he said. “So, you’re stuck here, and my wife is probably stuck, too, unless she figures out how to defeat some minor villain controlled by a more evil one? That doesn’t sound too bad, actually,” Adrien said, relaxing. “I always knew my wife was a hero. And now she gets to prove it, too! This is kind of cool, actually,” he said, rubbing his hands together gleefully. “Is there any chance that other-universe-me will get hit, too? I wanna find out if I’m one of the heroes. Do you think I’d be strong enough to be the other main hero? Mr. Catboy? We could be like yin and yang,” he gushed to Marinette as she slowly absorbed the shock of how casually he’d figured out her super-secret identity. “Practically soulmates! That’s so cool! Come on, I’ve got to be the Chat Noir hero, right?” His eyes were dancing with light as he looked hopefully at Marinette.

“Uh, no,” she said defensively. “You are not. And also, I am not Ladybug! How did you even get that idea?”

Adrien frowned. “You kept almost saying ‘we’ when you talked about the team,” he pointed out. “And then you explained why Ladybug getting hit would be bad, and immediately afterwards, you starting talking about the situation like you’d really be trapped here forever. But the only way that could happen is if Ladybug got hit and replaced by her inexperienced counterpart from another universe, which, very rude of you to assume my wife won’t be able to handle a minor villain or two. She’s very intimidating when she needs to be,” he said with an offended sniff.

Marinette wasn’t sure what to say.

“Okay, well, hypothetically, you’re right that your wife could handle an akuma. And fine, you figured out that I’m Ladybug. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still trapped here! It’s been hours ,” she moaned, dropping her face down into her hands.

“Well, I’m sure that with Chat Noir’s help — my help — Ladybug will wrap this up in no time!”

Marinette raised her head to give Adrien a pointed scowl and then dropped it back down into her hands.

“Well, they’d better hurry up,” she mumbled. “I need to get back home and check on my boyfriend! Besides, I have homework,” she groaned.

Adrien’s lips twitched. “You have homework?” he gasped. “Who dared to weigh Paris’ hero down with a long list of— of physics equations to memorize? Short stories to read? They should be ashamed of themselves,” he tutted disapprovingly. Marinette couldn’t help but laugh.

Then she straightened up. “Adrien,” she exclaimed with the air of Archimedes discovering water displacement for the first time. “What if Ladybug, like Ladybug's physical body, got hit more than one time?”

Adrien stared at her in shock. Then his face dropped, and he collapsed backward on the chaise dramatically. “You mean my wife might be lost in who-knows-what universe? Not even just yours, which is dangerous enough, but some other, even more dangerous one? And she might be stuck there forever? What if we’re not married in that universe, either?!”

Marinette giggled. “Really, Adrien, that’s your priority right now? Being married, underage, to me in every universe? You are just like a puppy, aren’t you, you’ll die without my affections,” she teased.

Adrien threw up his hands. “Yes,” he insisted. “How am I supposed to get used to not having a wife? You’re the other half of me,” he said, sounding impossibly sad for someone who could only feasibly have been married for a few months at the most.

“It’s okay,” Marinette said, patting his shoulder awkwardly. “The akuma only swaps people with other iterations of their own consciousness. If your Marinette could defeat an akuma, so can other Marinettes. The only problem is keeping one in the same universe, mine, for long enough that they get the chance to win without getting hit again.”

Adrien sat up, looking sheepish. “You’re right,” he said. “That was a bit silly of me, wasn’t it.”

Marinette held up her fingers, held a little apart. “Just this much,” she said, trying not to laugh. “I’m sure this world’s Marinette is okay. And, hey, even if she’s not, I’m sure Bunnyx will come erase this timeline eventually. And, and as long as that affects us, too, not just the people in my universe, we’ll be okay. It’ll be okay,” she repeated.

Adrien sniffed. “Is it worth asking who Bunnyx is?”

Marinette took his hand in hers, sitting close to him, like he had with her before. “She’s a hero who controls time,” she said. “She’s already helped me avert one apocalyptic future. I have a lot of faith in her. Chat does, too,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

“Huh,” Adrien said ponderously. “So, this Chat fellow— you keep mentioning him. Are you sure he isn’t me?”

Marinette shook her head, and then nodded instead. “As sure as I can be,” she said. “We keep our identities a secret from everyone, as well as we can. The Miraculous magic helps protect us,” she said. Then, as if having an epiphany, “That’s why you were able to figure me out so easily. You’ve never been affected by the Miraculous directly! But I have, so I think even if I tried to figure out who Chat is right now — which I won’t — then I wouldn’t be able to figure out his secret identity. You might be able to, though.”

Adrien adjusted his hold on Marinette’s hand, pulling her a bit closer and resting his head on top of hers. “Really? Then let’s try it,” he said. “Describe him to me.”

Marinette shifted, too, laying her legs overtop of Adrien’s, like she’d done a hundred times before. 

“All right, let’s see— he’s insanely kind, and so strong — not just, like, physically strong, but mentally strong, too. He’s my rock in hard times; he keeps me going when all I want to do is give up my Miraculous to someone else and stop fighting. He’s always there for me, and even though his puns can be a little annoying sometimes, I don’t know what I’d do without him. Who I’d be without him. I love him,” she said, shrugging to show how easy it was. 

Adrien was staring at her.

“You know,” he said cautiously, “That sounded an awful lot like the first part of your wedding vows to me.”

“It did not,” Marinette said resolutely. “My wedding vows probably came out as garbled nonsense. Besides, I don’t love him like that. Chat Noir is my partner, and my other half, but we’re not dating. You and I—” she gestured between herself and Adrien, who was obviously holding a smile back, “We’re dating. It makes more sense. And it doesn’t lead to the end of the world, like the other option does.”

“Uh-huh,” Adrien said, but it was obvious that he didn’t believe her. 

“Ugh, you just want to believe that you’re him!” Marinette sighed. “All right, believe what you want, but I know better. I would know my partner if we ever met out of the suits! I—”

Marinette blinked a few times, and then she threw her arms around Adrien with a happy smile. 

“I’m back!!!” she squealed. “I’m back, I’m back, I’m back!” She started peppering her husband’s face with kisses, looking deep into his eyes for a moment before pressing one last kiss against his lips, soft and slow.

__*__*__*__*__

It took a moment for Ladybug to get used to having her own body back.

Marinette shook her arms out and stretched as her heart rate lowered to its normal level. Apparently, being forced into superheroing was a stressful experience. Who knew?

Moments after the last magic ladybugs disappeared and the purified akuma flapped out of sight, Ladybug was tackled in a fierce hug from Chat Noir.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” he whispered, voice taut with emotion.

Marinette felt a weight lift off her chest as she wrapped her arms around her partner and let herself relax in his embrace.

“I’m glad to be back,” she said, her voice a bit muffled by Chat’s shoulder. “The other universe was a little weird. I mean, there wasn’t any Hawkmoth, which was good, but my boyfriend’s dad was abusive and I had to marry him to save him, and— I’m just glad to be back,” she said, squeezing Chat Noir a bit tighter.

For some reason, the action felt slightly less platonic than it usually did. But everyone knew that Ladybug and Chat Noir hugged! They were partners! It was their kwami-given right to hug!

Chat Noir took a step back, placing his hands on Ladybug’s shoulders and looking at her face very carefully, as if looking for any residual changes the other consciousnesses had left in her.

“You’re feeling normal, right?” he asked seriously. “Maybe justifiably worried about your boyfriend, but other than that, you’re okay?”

Ladybug nodded, watching Chat relax as his ring started beeping loudly. A second later, her earrings followed suit.

Chat Noir winced, taking another step back reluctantly as he gestured to his ring (which was on his right hand. It felt like it was on the wrong one). “Gotta make like a banana and split, milady,” he said, and the grimace on his face said even he knew it was one of his weaker puns.

Ladybug smiled good-naturedly at her partner, turning to go, herself. “Let’s meet back here in ten?” she asked. “I have a few questions I want to ask about the battle.”

“Sounds good,” Chat Noir said. “I hope I have all the answers, but I don’t know. That battle was easily the most confusing one yet. I think you cycled through, like, ten personalities.”

“That’s a lot more than I guessed,” Ladybug said, flinching as her earrings beeped shrilly in her ears. “Ugh, these stupid timers! Eighteen can’t come fast enough,” she muttered. “All right, see you soon, chaton!”

Chat Noir saluted and left to find a safe place to detransform as Ladybug swung off to her own spot.

Yes, today had been one of the craziest days Ladybug had ever faced… at least, the craziest day within the last week or two. And now Ladybug knew that her boyfriend wouldn’t have a bad reaction to her being a hero!

Marinette looked forward to seeing the look on his face when she finally revealed her identity to him… which would come much sooner than expected, when she finally sat down and talked with him about what had happened to the other universe’s Adrien. It turned out that Adrien wasn’t abused… but there was a different secret he'd been keeping from her.

She hated to admit it, but the other universe’s Adrien was right: Adrien did make an excellent Chat Noir.

[overworkedunderwhelmed]

Alya figures out Chat Noir’s identity within a week tops after Marinette owns up to their kisses.

Oddly, Marinette still couldn’t meet Adrien in the eyes, so she kept missing the fact that Adrien’s gaze kept straying over to Marinette’s lips when he thought no one would notice.

He. Thought. Wrong.

[miraculous-ladybutt]

Miraculous au where they don’t have powers or miraculouses and Adrien and Marinette are neighbours. Adrien has a pet cat called Plagg and Marinette has a pet cat called Tikki. Marinette has had a crush on her cute neighbour for a while now and has been trying to build up the courage to ask him out when one day she finds out her cat is pregnant with Plaggs kittens. Through Tikki’s pregnancy Adrien and Marinette bond a lot, flirting and shenanigans happen and by the time Tikki gives birth they are together hip hip hurray. The kittens have kwamii names, including a stripy one called Pollen.

[buginetteandchaton]

Been thinking bout Adrinette this week and there's nothing that warms my heart more than them. Like there's something so tender and sweet about their relationship that melts my heart every single time

[wolfprincesszola]

Table Sitting

Uh so someone actually held me accountable so here’s more Miraculous shit. First fic of the new year, so it’s only fitting that it’s a new year fic~

Also can I just say *spoilers to season 5 (released on Disney+) in the next few words* THEY FED ME MARICHAT CRUMBS AND THEN IMMEDIATELY RIPPED IT AWAY FROM ME I’M SO MAD anyways enjoy~ ——————– Summary: Marinette decides to take Alya’s advice to sit underneath a table during New Years in order to see if in 2023, she could get a relationship. What she isn’t expecting is for Adrien, her very good friend and lowkey-crush to sit next to her underneath the table. Conversation ensues.

Trigger Warnings: None

Content Warnings: Swearing ——————– “What are you doing?”

Marinette looked up to see Adrien snorting amusingly at her.

“Trust me, if the world worked my way, I wouldn’t be under here.”

“Well, why are you here?” Adrien asked, kneeling down to be eye level with Marinette.

“Ah, Alya saw this new thing where if you are under a table during midnight, you’ll get into a relationship that year. Since she and I are the only two single people in our friend group, she begged me to try it. Unfortunately, when I agreed, I didn’t think we would be at a party for all of the class.” Marinette let out a small laugh. “I think Alya’s over there.”

“No, I don’t think she is.” Adrien let a smile dance around his lips as he turned to point to Alya talking to Nino on the couch.

Marinette gasped, “The traitor.”

Adrien shifted all his weight to the ground and motioned to the spot next to Marinette, “May I?”

“Oh please. Just as long as you’re not afraid of being judged about sitting underneath a table.” Marinette moved over so Adrien could have more room. He proceeded to back up until they were sitting next to each other.

“Don’t worry. I never judged you.”

Marinette felt her heart flutter. For some reason, Adrien always knew the right thing to say to her.

“Ah, I never thought you would.” Marinette clicked her tongue, “I’m afraid everyone else would.”

Marinette motioned to the plethora of classmates staring at them with a concerned expression before just waving them off.

“Well, it’s okay, but we’ll be in relationships in 2023 and those losers won’t. Especially your best friend.” Adrien smiled.

Marinette swore that Adrien lit up the world with every smile he gave. At least it lit up hers. She wanted so desperately to be brave enough to tell him her feelings, to tell him that she hoped that them sitting underneath the table would bring her their relationship. But staring at his grinning face, she knew he might not be ready to hear it. Not when they were such amazing friends. Not when he was just fine platonically to her. She wasn’t going to ruin it just yet.

“So what are we supposed to do within the 10 minutes left on the clock?” Adrien asked, looking up at the bottom of the table, tracing his fingers through each curve. Marinette wanted to do the same with his face. She had studied it so much that she memorized the outline. She resisted the urge to trace the air with his outline, his image popping up. There was not one hair out of place in the picture in her mind, and every dimple and mole was present in her image.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think this far.”

“Do you think that Alya just decided not to go underneath the table early?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her for not going underneath it at all.”

“Ah, that’s true.” Adrien snorted before staring off, “My father was supposed to be here today.”

“Really?” Marinette raised an eyebrow, “He doesn’t seem like the type of person to show up.”

“He’s a little controlling…and a lot reserved, but he tries. Sometimes I wonder if he’s ashamed we’re related though.”

“Because he never talks to you?”

Adrien motioned to the doorway where nobody was, “Well, I mean look at the evidence. He hasn’t shown up, and even when he does talk to me, he doesn’t feel like a father. Maybe I’m just not a good enough son...”

Marinette blinked, before turning to Adrien, “Are you seriously worried about not being a good son?”

“It sounds stupid, I know, but…my father is really important to me. He’s the only link we have to family.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow, “Still, Adrien. Every child deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a child. If anything, he’s not being the correct nurturing parent to you.”

“Debatable.” Adrien shrugged, “I mean, we stopped being close after my mother died. Now that he’s actually making an effort again, it just disheartens me when he doesn’t show up to parties I also go to. Maybe he’s just starting to understand that the universe gave us that space for a reason. Maybe he wants to create that space again.”

“Alright, stop it.” Marinette snapped her fingers, getting Adrien out of his trance and making him turn to her, “Before you start spiraling, I need you to look at me.”

Adrien struggled, but finally managed to look her in the eyes.

“Right, can I touch you?”

Adrien nodded.

Marinette grabbed onto Adrien’s face, bringing them inches apart. She didn’t bother thinking about how close they were, knowing she would faint if she thought about it.

“You. Are. Amazing. You. Are. A. Good. Son. I promise you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Marinette nodded, “Now repeat it back to me.”

“I am amazing. I’m a good son.”

Marinette tsked, “That was bad. Again!”

“I am amazing! I’m a good son!” Adrien gave a smile and Marinette returned it.

“Just like that, Adrien. When in doubt, remember what I said.”

“Thanks, Marinette…I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re such a great…”

Adrien hesitated.

“Friend?”

“What? You don’t think of me as your friend?” Marinette bumped her shoulder against him playfully, “I see how it is. Don’t talk to me again.”

“No, no, no, no, no!” Adrien flushed, “Please, Marinette, come back. I do really appreciate you and think of you as a friend…I just don’t know if you’d be happy with me calling you a best friend.”

Marinette paused. She had assumed that Adrien was joking, but this was a new development…even if she was still stuck in the friend zone.

“Ah, you’re funny.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on, Adrien. There’s no way that you think of me as that close. I stutter around you. I fumble around you. I say the wrong things. Sometimes I say things that are hurtful to you. I mean, Nino’s even told me this before. We can’t be best friends if I make you feel horrible sometimes.”

“Do you actually think that?” Adrien raised an eyebrow, “Marinette, there are so many things wrong with what you said. First of all, you have never made me feel horrible. Nino probably said that as a joke. That’s a me decision though. It has nothing to do with you. Second of all, everyone says wrong things around others. I tell you if you hurt me, which is not a lot. You communicate with me why you said those things and I know you didn’t mean it the way I took it that way. Third, you have anxiety. Of course you’re going to stutter and fumble. I don’t mind. Seriously. Finally, I mess up all the time around you too. Just yesterday, I spilled my entire milkshake on you. You just laughed it off and helped me clean it off. You just changed outfits like you didn’t mind, but I could tell that a part of you was upset over the ruined outfit. You’re probably the nicest person I’ve ever met. I really appreciate you, and I don’t know how you could think that I wouldn’t see you as one.”

Marinette blinked, staring at the boy smiling in front of her. The golden haired boy with eyes that reminded her of the most beautiful evergreen forests. The boy she fell in love with. The boy she saw as her best friend. The boy she was starting to realize was so special to her.

She didn’t want to lose him. Not now or ever. He was starting to become everything to her.

And yet, she wasn’t sure if he thought the same of her. For all she knew, another girl could come along and become his everything while she was stuck there still trying to get out of the friendzone.

“I guess you’re my best friend too then.” Marinette hummed.

“Good, because I was going to grab that kitchen knife and go stab Alya if I wasn’t.”

Before either of them could say anything else, Lila spoke up.

“Alright guys! Listen up, there’s less than five minutes til midnight. I’ll put the countdown above, but I need someone to help with the ball dropping because of my sprained wrist. Anyone want to volunteer?”

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other before shaking their head.

“Marinette! Adrien! Want to help?’

“Nope. We’re under a table.”

“Just…get out from under it?” Lila raised an eyebrow.

“We’ll do it!” Alya volunteered, raising hers and Nino’s hand.

Everyone watched as the two went to help Lila set it up before the chatter started to bubble up again.

Soon, Adrien and Marinette were able to talk to each other again.

A minute to midnight, Adrien asked Marinette, “Oh, shit, I just realized. There was another tradition of New Years, wasn’t there?”

Marinette raised an eyebrow before it came clear as soon as Juleka grabbed Rose by the waist. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah.” Adrien laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. “I mean…if you’re comfortable with it…I don’t mind.”

Marinette had been waiting for any moment like this to come her way. She had been wishing for a chance to kiss Adrien. Here it was, beating her up in the face with this opportunity, but she knew what her correct answer had to be.

“No, sorry. Is it okay if we don’t?” Marinette gave an awkward smile.

“Yeah, yeah, no of course!” Adrien nodded, turning away from her and towards the screen with the countdown. Marinette thought she saw a flash of shame flood his eyes. It was the first time he had broken eye contact with her since he started talking to her. It was always Marinette who broke it first.

“Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s your right. I’m not going to force you to kiss me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s not that.” Marinette sighed, “I really don’t mind. I just…don’t want this to be the kiss between us.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Marinette fibbed, knowing she just didn’t want to rat herself out.

“Try me.”

Marinette usually liked it when Adrien said it, as he always understood what she was trying to say, but this time, she wanted to strangle him.

“Well, I just-I don’t want you to-Adrien, don’t make me say it.” Marinette exhaled, almost pleading with him. “I don’t want to say it.”

“Say what?” Adrien asked.

Marinette turned towards the countdown. 30 seconds left.

Well it was now or never. She could leave it behind with the year. Deep breath and just take the risk.

“Adrien, I like you. Not just as a friend, but more. I like you so much that it infuriates me. And I know that you’re not like someone else I’ve liked because for once, you make me feel calm around you. Somehow, even when I think about you, I instantly relax. I am always so nervous around other people. My thoughts whirl around at light speed around me when something happens, but you put me right at ease. I don’t understand it. That’s why I don’t mind kissing you. I mean, I want to, but I’m not going to let our first kiss be because of-MPHF”

Marinette was cut off with lips on hers.

Adrien cupped Marinette’s face, pressing their lips together roughly as she could hear others around screaming the final three numbers to midnight. She felt her heart soar as they connected as soon as it hit midnight.

Immediately after, Adrien separated, flushing, “Sorry, continue.”

Marinette blinked, “I feel like you didn’t hear me when I said that I didn’t want our first kiss to be because of convenience during New Years. I wanted it to have meaning.”

“It did.” Adrien smiled, “Marinette, you have no idea how much I’ve been wanting you to say those words. I really like you too, and I thought that me kissing you was obvious!”

“No, it’s not!” Marinette shoved Adrien, scoffing.

“Well, next time, I’ll just tell you straight out. Maybe when we don’t have 30 seconds on the clock.”

“Agreed.” Marinette smiled. “...is there any chance that we might do that again?”

“Ah, maybe, if I get a girlfriend before I come out from under this table.”

“Oh yeah?” Marinette smirked. “And who are you gonna ask?”

“You tell me. Who should I ask?”

Marinette just grabbed Adrien shirt, pulling him closer to her, “Alright, Rapunzel, come here and give me an actual kiss.”

“First kiss of the year.” Adrien smiled into the soft kiss that they shared. “And maybe girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend.” Marinette nodded.

[anna-scribbles]

anyone ever heard of Them!

[adrinetteapril]

Adrinette April 2024 is coming soon! We can't wait to celebrate these two lovebirds again! Major thank you as always to @chocoluckchipz for designing the calendar again this year! Send Lucky so much love!

Prompts were selected by the Adrinette April discord server! If you’d like to be part of prompt selection in the future, send @purrincess-chat a message for an invite! 

If you would like to participate, just use the prompts above during the month of April and tag your submissions with #adrinetteapril2024 and/or @ mention this blog! To make things easier on the mods, please spell it adrinette for the sake of this event. Misspelled tags may lead to your submission being missed.

A few ground rules:

This is a salt-free event. This includes any harsh or negative critique of the show, characters, ships, fandom, or creators.

Please center your submissions around Adrinette. Each side of the love square has a designated month, and there will be plenty of opportunity to create content for the other sides of the love square soon.

For the purposes of this event, the Shadybug universe Adrinette is valid for submissions. Create all of the emo children content you desire.

NSFW is allowed, but please put it under a read more and tag appropriately.

If your submission hasn’t been reblogged within 48 hours of you posting, feel free to reach out via ask or message @purrincess-chat privately. The mod team will do our best not to miss anyone, but sometimes things slip through. Please be patient and respectful. We are not skipping anyone on purpose. 

We can't wait to see all of your submissions for this year's event! Prompts are listed in order under the cut

Dating Sim

Truth or Dare

Virtual Reality

Passing Notes

Flirting

Red String

Shared Dreams

Soulmate Markers

Fantasy AU

Found Family

Made for Each Other

Reverse Crush

Sharing a Bed

Identity Reveal

Villains

What If

Future Plans

Confessions

Taking It Slow

Best Friends

Lucky Charms

First Kiss

In the Rain

Boyfriend and Girlfriend

Love Notes

London

Starlight

Wedding Dress

Safe

Emma, Louis, Hugo

[ladyofthenoodle]

pre reveal established relationship adrinette where marinette goes to university and adrien misses her so he goes to visit as astrocat. and every time her roommate is like “marinette your boyfriends here” and marinette gets really defensive because chat noir is NOT her boyfriend, adrien is her boyfriend!!! and her roommate is like. whatever i’ll be in my room. you guy really need to dtr. and then it turns out that one day adrien had gone into the living room to detransform and feed plagg while her roommate was sitting alone in the dark contemplating her existence and she never mentioned it because she thought marinette knew and just had commitment issues

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

S5 finale: wrapping up the "running out of time" theme

So I have been mentioning frequently that there is a theme of "running out of time" in season 5, but I wasn't able to make out the meaning of it, until now.

We can say that there are three situations where the theme explicitely manifests:

Gabriel: After receiving a cataclysm wound in Destruction, we often hear Gabriel repeat that he is running out of time. The entire Intuition episode is based on that premise.

Ladynoir: This is the most obvious manifestation of this theme. In Jubilation, Ladybug and Chat Noir live a dream just to be constantly reminded that their perfect life together will end when they wake up to reality. I call it Ladynoir, but actually it is Maribug's love and romantic relationship with Chat in general.

Adrinette: This is the most subtle one, but it is there. Notice how Marinette needs to ease into a relationship with Adrien, and Adrien is doing his best to cut her slack, so much so that he says in Derision, and I quote: "We've got time." Soon after, Adrien is sent to London.

If you think I have forgotten other strings of running out of time, feel free to let me know!

Now let's look at these three strings individually:

Gabriel running out of time

This one is the simplest one as it starts very early on in the season, with the episode Destruction where he gets the cataclym wound, and ends in Recreation with his "sacrifice." Also worthy noting the names of the episodes. What starts as Gabriel running out of time in Destruction is concluded in Recreation with him making his wish, accomplishing his wish, and dying. We can consider this thread concluded.

2. Ladynoir running out of time

Of course, the first episode that comes to mind is Jubilation. In Jubilation we (and the blorbos) learn that they actually desire to be together, romantically. And indeed they get to live a perfect little life in their dream, ignoring the increasingly bigger alarm clocks that are trying to wake them up. Except that at the end Ladybug realises that they must wake up (duty calls!), and she abandons Chat Noir in the dream universe, broken.

From here on, nearly every episode is a warning for Marinette against being romantically together with Chat Noir:

Determination: Marinette accepts that she has feelings for Chat Noir, her reaction to that is crying

Passion: Ladybug's crush on Chat Noir leads to her being distracted and making many critical mistakes in their fight

Reunion: is a cautionary tale about Ladybug and Cat Miraculous holders falling in love

Illusion: (I haven't watched this in a while but I think nothing relevant happens here)

Elation: Marinette is nearly akumatised because of her love to and rejection by Chat Noir

The overarching message from Jubilation to Elation is that: if Maribug ends up with Chat Noir, it'll be a disaster.

So Marinette decides to close up her heart to anyone, and after a brief depression, Adrien finally convinces her to be with him and they become an official couple. From this point onwards, the key ship becomes Adrinette.

Does that mean that Ladynoir has run out of time? Not necessarily. They just decided to love each other in a different way. I should remind here that even though we tend to polarise the sides of the square as fandom, the creators have repeatedly told that the love square is one, there is one love.

The Ladynoir relationship has a direct connection to the Adrinette dynamics because after all, they're the same two people.

3. Adrinette running out of time

Now that Adrinette is finally together, they should have all the time in the world, right? Right? It's what Adrien says, after all.

But I couldn't shake this sense of urgency throughout this season. Every time they said that they had time, it made me feel like they actually don't and they don't know it. And it was exactly what they wanted to make us feel: with Adrien's move to London, it turns out they didn't have time. Worse is that, Adrien actually knew that he'd need to move to London but he couldn't tell it to Marinette, he kept it a secret all the way till he was shipped off to London.

And there is a parallel between Jubilation and Revolution here: in both episodes, their dream is shattered, they share one last dramatic kiss, and they are torn apart from one and other (@asukiess had a big brain time and pointed this out back when Revolution aired).

But now, in Recreation, Gabriel is gone. Everything is fixed? Everyone will be happy, right?

Well... No.

As I pointed out in a previous post, the world that Gabriel creates is a bit too bright, too perfect. The show is notorious for associating the sun with fake happiness at this point, while the "real" moments are rainy and/or dark. And let's see the colour palette in the end:

Another detail that makes me put on my tinfoil hat:

They're not very visible on the static image, but there are white butterflies flying over the flower arch. Those could be symbolising the end, as a reference to how Ladybug releases the purified akuma at the end of each episode. But it might also have a second meaning, a reference to how this world was in fact created upon the ideals of Gabriel.

And that can't be good for anyone. I explain more the consequences and aftermath of this episode in the post I mention above, but basically this world is Gabriel's ideal, and it is far from being a good place for neither Marinette, nor Adrien.

One main reason why: Gabriel has left Marinette with the truth about the Monarch, and she agreed to keep it a secret from Adrien. But we know that it will eventually come out. Either she tells it to Chat Noir, or maybe Lila plots something, but it won't remain a secret forever. And when it does... it will have tremendous impact on not only Adrinette, but also Ladynoir.

This world is a fantasy world where Marinette and Adrien have ended up together, just like in: Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, Jubilation. And at one point the alarm clock will ring, the hammer will drop, and both Ladynoir and Adrinette will run out of time. Except that this time, we may not be able to revert back to the status quo.

Gabriel has left them with a tickling time bomb.

[writer-rider-flirty-thirties]

Marinette's just a normal girl with, mostly, normal regrets. 72/101 of Fanfic Wars (2022)

[familyagrestefanblog]

There is this ongoing thing with Adrien drawing back from kissing Marinette all the time, which at this point in "Collution" doesnt make sense anymore as him just 'backing out'. "Emotion" too brought this up already as legitimate issue Adrinette is going through that after the ending of "Adoration" every single time Adrinette tried to kiss, Adrien stopped it and even ran away.

This is a great opportunity for me to FINALLY talk about this massive subtext plot that started for real with the end of "Adoration" but up til now I didn't know from which angle I should approach an analysis post about it. This kissing detail being back and visually more elaborated on is EXACTLY what I needed!

In "Collusion" we see that Adrien's facial expression looks like as if an older order put in him is lighting up for a second preventing him from kissing her:

I mean, the shot composition is even purposfully leading your eyes towards Adrien's head with the background wall for example. It's clear who you're supposed to focus on the most.

"Emotion" already implied it through dialog but "Collusion" now pretty much proves that the one time on-screen we saw Adrien draw back from Marinette in "Emotion" wasn't merely caused by the damn phone (although this isnt the first time something weird happens with Adrien's phone this season) or an order somehow given in real time as one would assume, every single time after "Adoration" where Adrinette tried to kiss, Adrien seems to be stopped by an order Gabriel gave him after Gabriel turned Adrien into a puppet in the end scene and Marinette was so worried about if Adrien might be in danger in his home, but tried to remain hopeful:

This is something I figured for a while now. That we were supposed to feel exactly what Marinette is feeling here. She has no idea if Gabriel is doing something to Adrien and if its bad. She is the the outside person, she doesnt know whats happening in that house and she can't help Adrien once he's in it alone with his father. All she can do is hoping that there is another explaination.

Though that turns out to be wishful-thinking, because "Emotion" in fact has already told us that Gabriel did something to Adrien on this evening in "Adoration" after Adrien was forced back inside and Gabriel kept on and on twisting and using the ring while creeping backwards where WE know exactly that Adrien has just returned inside. They would have met in the foyer.

There is nothing far-fetched about a conversation having taken place once Marinette was gone and in my opinion it feels more like wishful denial to say that Gabriel 100% totally did not go to talk to his son. I mean, Adrinette was straight up about to have their first kiss right in Gabriel's view and that right after the events of "Protection", the episode right before "Adoration":

Re-enforcing to Adrien through harsher means to not be in a relationship with Marinette seems like a fitting punishment order Gabriel would pull after "Adoration's" horror show ending.

Give me a logical reason for why that wouldnt have been a realistic thing to happen? A reason that please isnt rooted in the logic of "we didnt see it when we followed Marinette's pov and therefore nothing happened". Cause I sure followed Marinette's pov and she ended this episode very alarmed and concerned.

Alarmed and concerned for a very good reason. The entirety of "Emotion" then goes on and on and ON about asking WHY Adrien is acting so weird and WHY he hasn't told Marinette about the Diamond Ball:

This question is a central theme all through the entire episode, and in the end the truth about Adrien's silence gets revealed.

Marinette herself has no idea and everyone else in this episode is also just giving their best guess of what makes the most sense for them. But that doesn't mean anybody actually got this right. And we know that because in the end Adrien outright SAYS that he didnt mention it because his father ORDERED him not to:

And then Adrien's and Gabriel's father son talk elaborates on that further from Gabriel's perspective:

I don't know what to tell you, it's right THERE. Adrien did not tell Marinette because Gabriel forbit it. It was an order Adrien couldnt go up against because it explicitly stated that Adrien is not allowed to tell Marinette specifically about the Diamond Ball. And as we saw in "Emotion" this order manifested in Adrien panicking around Marinette and lying in a way that at least somewhat still contained the truth:

I really find it upsetting when people victim-blame Adrien for not rebelling and "being brave" the way Félix and Kagami do (or even worse, compare him to Marinette who isnt a Sentihuman at all) because unlike them Adrien is not wearing his own amok AND is unfortunate enough to have both his parental figures wear them, so of course there are alot of direct interactions.

But if that one moment in "Collusin", where Adrien talks back at his father, indeed showcased Nathalie giving Adrien the means to really fight back for a moment by having laid her ring hand on Adrien's so one of his amoks would for the first time touch his skin and making it possible to nullify Gabriel's order depending on how passionately Adrien is against it, then this was a first taste of what Adrien would be like if he were given full control over himself:

Nathalie did that on purpose to protect Adrien from Gabriel and enable him to choose his own happiness as Emilie wished, which is what we saw moments before:

Adrien in "Emotion" and "Pretention" was not a 'coward', that is such disgusting victim-blaming against a person who is literally mind-controlled by their parent without even knowing it for their entire life. It's like giving Kagami shit for giving her amok back to her mother when Tomoe demands it, as if Kagami KNOWS that her ring holds her entire mental and physical autonomy. These poor children have it horrible enough being literally almost enslaved to their parents demands from the day they were born for some sort of sick purpose. Cool that Marinette doesn't have that problem at all and Félix doesn't have it anymore so THEY are able to do whatever they want, but they have no business being held as the golden standard.

This is about Kagami and Adrien who are still being taken advantage of and lied to ever since birth from the people who are supposed to love and protect them. Yes, they act weird and nerve-wreckingly sometimes and in ways that apparently dissappoints you because - of course - if you were a Sentihuman half enslaved and kept in the dark by your parent you would just choose to not have those problems, no biggie, but unfortunately Adrien and Kagami arent you.

They're weird and frustrated. Weird, frustrated, exhausted and abused little half-slaves, left in the dark and still minors so they cant escape anyway.

These things matter.

DETAILS matter.

Details like between the ending of "Adoration" and "Emotion" the episode has Marinette tell us that there was a time skip we didnt see in which Adrien has been acting very weird:

New and suspicious extremes MATTER.

Gabriel crossed a massive line by turning Adrien into a literal puppet at the end of "Adoration" seemingly for the first time from a further distance, since this seems to be the first time THIS happened in Adrien's head:

The fact alone that this was the instance where Gabriel crossed such a fundamental line is already a give-away that whatever is about to follow from Gabriel as Adrien's father from this moment onwards will be on an even more extreme layer of abusive. Which we know to be true from all the episodes afterwards.

But even if you wanna ignore all that, Marinette is then increasingly more worried about Adrien's safety in his home and everything regarding his father and has to truly face for the first time her underlying fear of "what if Gabriel isnt just a bad father?" and "What if Adrien is even being hurt in some way?" although she tried to approach it from deflecting angles until Gabriel talked to her in "Pretention".

But more and more Marinette is learning in what hellhole Adrien has been living in for all his life.

Because, you know, that is the case with highly abusive parents and its something one very likely has to face when one enteres a relationship. This is perfectly realistic, just the abuse method is fantasy. Something the show is not yet letting any of the children besides Félix know yet.

But we KNOW that Adrien is a Sentihuman at his abusive father's mercy and "Emotion" tells us that Marinette's concern at the end of "Adoration" was correct. Gabriel DID do something to Adrien but we, just like Marinette, couldnt fully see it because the biggest portion of the abuse happened behind closed doors as most abuse does. And Marinette, just like us, was left wondering what just happened to Adrien when she saw something disturbing happen to him which may stand in connection to his father.

And she, just like us, asks herself if he's even safe living with this man (no he isnt) when THIS is what happend to Adrien just being near his home and father:

And just like Marinette WE were supposed to find Adrien's silence after this concerning. Marinette read this correctly but she doesnt know yet how to properly interpret all of Adrien's types of silence and the family contexts surrounding it.

Adrien didnt tell Marinette about the Diamond Ball because Gabriel silenced his son, something that Adrien himself wouldnt properly recognize as such and only blames himself for as a failure on his part.

Who cares what the other characters' guesses are for why he didnt say anything? The only two people who truly know why Adrien didnt tell her are Adrien and Gabriel themselves because that's the abusive parent and his abused child. And that's the truth Marinette should be after. Not the one she prefers to be true and she is finally making good progress on that front.

And we can take the silencing in "Emotion" even further, because that wasn't the only time skip + silencing situation we had.

Just like in between "Adoration" and "Emotion", there is yet another significant time skip very cleverly handled - and almost hidden - between "Emotion" and "Pretention". We know that there is a time skip because once again Adrinette tells us:

Honestly, no doubt they will go back to these important time skips in season 6 or 7, there is so much important Marinette development for her love-related anxiety alone deliberately skipped before and after "Emotion" because of what it was entangled with. Not to mention everything else!

Optional rant ahead, I need to get this out of my system for a second: "Emotion" still barely makes sense and dont get me started on Félix! When do you think he fell in love with and stalked Kagami besides in the time skip? He wasnt in love with her before he found out at the diamond ball that she's like him, he probably barely made anything of her when he thought her to be a "normal human". Kagami and Marinette were not part of Felix' plan, Kagami he only just found out is a sentihuman too and therefore deserving of concideration for him, and Marinette wasnt even supposed to be there!

I swear, "Emotion" and the time skips before and afterwards are driving me crazy. I have to make a seperate post for the Felix and Amilie stuff alone and Adrien too was just plain weird in that episode with no proper explaination besides for the little amout that was required to make this work for Marinette's outsider perspective who doesnt know what's going on inside those families anyway. Félix apparently was gone for WEEKS and apparently both Adrien and Kagami knew that because they werent surprised hearing that and neither Gabriel nor Tomoe seemed to care that Amilie went off on Gabriel about it in infront of their children.

Félix was gone for weeks. Adrien knew it. And then we see Adrien immediately recognizing Félix as peacock miraculous holder even despite the magic; not being too surprised seeing Felix there transformed and AT ALL when he should be missing and is willing to go to him in a friendly enough and trusting manner despite that being weird too with no context! Félix is a completely new person who suddenly is aware that Adrien has always been a victim caught in a hellhole with Gabriel and what the fuck was that fake miraculous ring from Adrien Felix had?

Screw you, something happened there in this time skip before "Emotion" and we only got to see the tip of the ice berg! And screw this show for barely giving context for anything in "Emotion" yet because we are stuck with Marinette as main character and Adrien didnt wanted to involve her in his family shit because why would he?

*GROAN* I'm turning grey because of this damn show...

ANYWAY

What "Pretention" does very cleverly is picking up the same character goals established at the end of "Emotion" prior and starting this episode with it. But that doesnt mean at all that this is the next day. NOTHING about what Adrinette tells us about how Gabriel now breathes down their necks makes sense if this is merely the next day:

It's at the very least a couple of days and that's being VERY generous. I'm personally putting it at one week. That would mean Gabriel is being increasingly more of an ass for one school week where Adrinette has to get more and more creative (and Adrien ending up knowing when his father is busy) and at the beginning of the second Marinette has had it. One week is also a perfectly reasonable timeframe for the kids to put off talking to Gabriel and Tomoe while its also a realistic point in time where you would draw the line and motivate yourself again to finally do it.

Kagami's dialogue is the factor that very cleverly tricks the audience into thinking it can just be the next day since Kagami is "oh so much braver than Adrien who doesnt dare to talk to his father", which the episode then subverts by showing that Kagami rightfully fears her mother too and shouldnt be concidered less for it because Tomoe is an abusive hardass too who Kagami needs to be protected from as (her) child and Sentihuman who doesnt know she is one & the end of "Emotion" literally showed us Adrien talking to his father right after he told Marinette that he would try to convince him to have a heart-to-heart with her to clear up whatever he has against her:

Adrien did NOT fail to talk to his father after he said he would because we saw him do it right away. What he did "fail" to do though was mentioning towards the girls that he already talked with his father and tell them what Gabriel said - though that's understandable, Gabriel is being an irrational fuck; blaming the fiasco on Marinette when it's realistically on Félix - and to convince his father to talk to Marinette. But even for this Adrien's on-screen talk with Gabriel has the explaination for:

Did you pick up on the pattern too? That as well was an explicit order from Gabriel with the ring.

Adrien in "Pretention" didnt 'manage' to talk to his father again about him and Marinette so they can have a heart-to-heart because prior to that Gabriel forbit Adrien through an order to ever mention Marinette towards him again (and that means, since Adrinette didnt talk to Gabriel yet, Kagami in turn put off talking to her mother too)

So of course Adrien couldnt do it, which is why he went along with the only option he subconciously felt like he had left. Bringing Marinette to his father so SHE can talk to him by his side, forcing his father into a corner. Adrien unknowingly loopholed himself and out of Gabriel's order that's literally silencing him.

Details, time skips and circumstances matter.

So to bring this back to the failed Adrinette kissing in "Collution":

I'm pretty sure that from the ending of "Adoration" onwards we are now going to see a further and further escalation of ways for Gabriel to enforce his power over Adrien. Regularly just as his father (which is already bad enough) and also the ways in which Gabriel can hurt Adrien through the amok ring

- but in ways he can for now at least somewhat still hide from Nathalie, though no doubt this is going to end BADLY where even Nathalie cant help Adrien anymore as it was already established that Gabriel can absolutely do that and still cross so many more lines-

and in "Emotion" that already included silencing Adrien from letting Marinette know about the Diamond Ball and then not letting him talk about Marinette to him at all (for which I'm quite sure Nathalie touching Adrien with the amok ring in "Collution" helped Adrien break through that barrier because that WAS the first time he really talked ABOUT Marinette towards Gabriel since "Emotion" that isnt just him mentioning her name in logical situations or vaguely talking around the relationship topic like in "Pretention").

But I'm also betting that Gabriel odered Adrien to not kiss Marinette after he puppeteered Adrien back into the mansion in "Adoration" or some other variation of an official grand gesture that Adrien is in a relationship with her. Something that... yeah, DID indeed stop after "Protection", didn't it? (Ooh. That explains why the date was made such a big deal for Adrien's story through the parallels to Gabriel's and Emilie's date in the past in "Evolution"; that was the last time Adrien was able to do something like that...)

But poor Adrien of course does not know the true reason for why he's still hesitating to kiss Marinette even now in "Collusion". He must be so relieved that Marinette is reading it as him needing more time with her too to get comfortable enough to kiss. It's so rough watching all these episodes and seeing Adrien beat himself up and think so low of himself when he's literally being abused through mind-control. All I want is for Adrien to finally have his rings on his hand like Félix and Kagami get to. I just want my boy to be free :'(