#at what point was Adrien pretending??

[nixthelapin]

I just saw someone claim that during Passion (season 5), when Adrien was tempted to use their miraculous to make a Wish and heal Natalie, that he was pretending to not remember that the Wish has a cost to trick LB into letting him make the Wish, and therefore Marinette actually can’t trust him (this was made in response to the fandom being mad at Marinette for keeping secrets from him at the end of the season). Lmao what?? What planet are you on? 🤣

[multimousefanatic]

For a show that hinges upon its audiences’ adoration for identity porn, there is far too much unexplored potential for secret identity shenanigans for my liking. I want to see more Multimouse and Chat Noir. But I also want to see Multimouse and Adrien. Multimouse and Aspik. Multimouse and Cat Walker. Marinette and Aspik. Marinette and Cat Walker.

I know the fandom loves to hate on Aspik but I think it would be so fun to see him and Multimouse interact. JUST IMAGINE IT okay? BOTH of them are gonna be awkward AF and internally spiraling bc they have to pretend to not know the others identity AND act like they’re not absolutely head over heels for them. They literally both know the others identity but have to pretend they don’t in order to hide their OTHER secret identity like HDBDBDJDNDJCHHC

And like, imagine Cat Walker working with Multimouse? And like he can tell that Marinette kind of has a thing for Cat Walker and he doesn’t quite know how to feel about that until Plagg points out that it’s the third version of him she’s fallen for and he suddenly feels very okay with it

Or Multimouse sees Adrien and she reverts back to nervous-clumsy-stumbles over her words Marinette because she’s overthinking the whole secret identity thing but Adrien KNOWS she’s Marinette so he totally clocks that behavior and thinks it’s the cutest thing ever but also he acts completely oblivious and does everything he can to help her calm down and act natural

And then Marinette and Aspik? Similar vibe except maybe Adrien’s trying a little too hard to look cool in front of Marinette which gets her to laugh because she KNOWS he’s trying to impress her and it helps her to calm down and stop overthinking the fact that she has to pretend not to know who he is, and he loves that she’s laughing, but that’s not really what he’s going for so he ends up using second chance to redo the moment over and over & he can’t figure out what he’s doing wrong or what Marinette thinks is so funny

[mochinek0]

Senorita (song fic)

Alya and the girls had once again lost sight of Marinette, in the club. She hadn't wanted to come out. They were just hoping not to find her passed out at someone's table.

"There!" shouted Alix, pointing to the dance floor.

"What?" Alya shouted, "Wh-" but she caught sight of her friend dancing.

I love it when you call me Senorita

I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya

But every touch is ooh, la-la-la

Ooh, I should be running

Ooh, you keep me coming for ya

Marinette was dancing with a guy and they were pretty close. Closer than anyone they had seen Mari with and trip into just about everyone.

'That’s not the Mari I know!'

"Guys, how much has she had to drink?" Alya panicked.

"The one shot you made her take." Juleka responded.

Land in Miami

The air was hot from summer rain

Sweat dripping off me

Alya spotted Adrien and grabbed onto his arm.

"We need your help!" she pleaded, "I'm pretty sure Marinette is plastered. She's dancing with some guy and-"

"Jason wouldn’t hurt her." Adrien declared, spotting them.

'Ugh, gonna need eye bleach.'

Before I even knew her name, la-la-la

It felt like ooh, la-la-la

Yeah, no

"How do you know?" Mylene questioned.

He smiled, "Her boyfriend wouldn't hurt her."

"Boyfriend!" they cried out.

Sapphire moonlight

We danced for hours in the sand

Tequila Sunrise

"Oh." he spoke, "You didn't know?"

"No!" they shouted.

"When did she get a boyfriend?" Alix asked, eyeing them dance.

'Didn't expect Mari to be a grinder.'

Her body fit right in my hands, la-la-la

It felt like ooh, la-la-la, yeah

"Two years ago." Adrien sighed, leaving them speechless, "I'll wait until the song is over and then bring her to talk. How's that?"

They just nodded as the song continued to play.

I love it when you call me Senorita

I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya

But every touch is ooh, la-la-la

It's true, la-la-la

Ooh, I should be running

Adrien walked over to the couple. They could see Mari was pissed when she crossed her arms. Adrien pointed at the group. Her boyfriend seemed to find the situation amusing and laughed. Marinette on the other hand, smacked her forehead. All three of the left the dance floor and walked over.

Ooh, you know I love it when you call me Senorita

I wish it wasn't so damn hard to leave ya

But every touch is ooh, la-la-la

It's true, la-la-la

Ooh, I should be running

Ooh, you keep me coming for ya

"Hey, Mari." Rose waved.

"So, uh, you-you have a boyfriend." Alix commented.

"Yeah." Marinette answered.

Alya rapidly glances at Adrien told her all she needed to.

"Why did Adrien know before us?" Alya asked, a bit disappointed.

"Because this goofball is my roommate." Mari sighed.

Adrien shouted, "Hey!"

Marinette simply rolled her eyes.

Locked in the hotel

There's just some things that never change

You say we're just friends

But friends don't know the way you taste, la-la-la

'Cause you know it's been a long time coming

Don't you let me fall, oh

The girls glanced at Marinette's boyfriend to gauge his reaction. He seemed unbothered by the revelation.

"Th-That doesn't bother you?" Mylene asked, "Them living together?"

"Nah." he answered, waving his hand, "Mari's told me plenty of embarassing stuff about him to have him practically be another brother added to the mix." Jason answered.

"You what?" Adrien shrieked, "Why?"

"Revenge." Marinette answered.

"It was one time!" he shouted back.

"It was one time too many!" she shrieked back.

Everyone glanced at the two roommates confused. The girls had never seen them at odds before. To Jason, they just reminded him of his siblings, during a quarrel.

Ooh, when your lips undress me

Hooked on your tongue

Ooh, love, you kiss is deadly

Don't stop

"So, uh….how did you two meet?" asked Rose.

"In Mexico." Jason declared.

"Huh?" Alya replied, confused.

"I had that client two years ago." Mari answered, "I left for a six months trip to Mexico."

"We met in a café by the beach." her boyfriend continued, "They were trying to hustle her. Pixie started yelling at them in full on Spanish. Their faces when they realized she spoke Spanish fluently . They ran around and grabbed her order so fast! It was glorious! I paid for her meal and asked her to sit with me."

"I was in a rush and they were messing around." Marinette growled.

Jason smiled, "I told her to relax for five minutes or she could fall and create a bigger mess. She sat down and ate with me."

"It's not my fault I'm clumsy." she pouted.

I love it when you call me Senorita

I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya

But every touch is ooh, la-la-la

It's true, la-la-la

Ooh, I should be running

"We talked for a bit." Jason spoke, "I saw her there just about every morning. I decided to ask her to grab food with me at a different place."

"We got tacos." Mari smiled.

He sighed, "I still can't believe you eat snails, but you won't eat octopus."

Marinette glared at Adrien, "Yeah. There's a reason for that."

"I'm sorry!" Adrien shouted.

Ooh, you know I love it when you call me Senorita

I wish it wasn't so damn hard to leave ya

But every touch is ooh, la-la-la

It's true, la-la-la (true, la-la)

Ooh, I should be running

Ooh, you keep me coming for you

Jason laughed, "What?" I don't know this story."

Marinette leaned up and kissed his cheek, "I'll tell you later."

"No!" Adrien shouted, "Please don't!"

"You don't understand he would understand you more than I did?" Mari suggested.

Adiren grabbed Jason's hands quickly, "If you really love me like a brother, keep an open mind."

Jason glanced at his girlfriend, who only shook her head. He nodded and got a bright smile in return.

'Oh god; original Jon.'

"Hey, I tried the tacos de lengua." Marinette declared.

"Tacos de what?" Alix questioned.

"Tongue." Mari spoke, "Cow's tongue; it's wasn't bad."

"Eww." the girls replied grossed out.

"Cool!" Alix smiled.

All along I've been coming for ya (for ya)

And I hope it meant something to ya (ooh)

Call my name, I'll be coming for ya

Coming for ya, coming for ya, coming for ya

For ya

For ya (oh, she loves it when I call)

For ya

Ooh, I should be running

Ooh, you keep me coming for ya

"So you met in Mexico and kept meeting when you both came back to Paris?" Juleka questioned.

"Actually, we've been in a long distance relationship." Marinette answered.

"I live in the United States." Jason continued.

Mari smiled, "I didn't expect you to be here."

"I was gonna visit your place tomorrow." he admitted, "You said you were busy with work. Liar."

Mari scoffed, "I was busy. The girls were the ones who dragged me out complaining I'm a work-a-holic."

"See Pix, this is why you fit in." he smiled.

"Fit in?" Mylene asked.

"With what?" Alya pushed.

"My family." Jason explained, "All work-a-holics, except my sisters. Between Tim and you…..i don't know who drinks more coffee."

Marinette giggled, "Well, we'll find out this summer, won't we?"

"Oh, is your family comign to Paris?" Rose asked, smiling, hoping to meet new people.

"I'll be visiting his family." Mari declared, "Jason and his older brother are here in Paris, right now, but his other family are busy. Tomorrow, I'm taking them to meet Maman and Papa. Actually, it's probably best if we leave now. Bakers wake up super early."

Jason sighed. He had been ready to spend all night with Marinette at the club.

"You get super fresh pastry." his girlfriend teased.

"I'm in!" Jason smiled.

"Me too." Adrien exclaimed, inviting himself along.

"Sure, Adrien." the baker's daughter replied.

After the couple had left, the girls turned to Adrien.

"What do you think?" Juleka questioned.

"I've never seen her happier." Adrien smiled.

Some of them shifted uncomfortably, hoping to push the two roommates together.

"Hey, how come we didn’t know you two were roommates?" Alya pushed.

"I'm shocked you didn't, but I guess I'm usually out at the bakery or with Luka." he replied, "Marinette put padding in her room to make it soundproof so her sewing didn't wake me up. I probably came home sometimes while you were there and you didn't even hear me."

Alix smiled chaotically, "So, have you accidentally seen her?"

Adrien sighed, "She forgot to lock the bathroom door twice and her right hook was enough for me to start knocking on doors. I think I was half asleep and knocked on my own door, once."

Alix began to laugh. Rose started to giggle and Juleka just look amused. Alya was still reeling with the fact that her OTP was outdated and seemed to have moved on to a sibling bond instead.

Jason held Marinette's hand as he walked her home, "So, are you gonna tell me about the octopus thing and Adrien?"

She palmed her face and sighed, "I went on a trip with my uncle for two weeks. Adrien had to study for finals and his laptop was broken. I told him he could use mine. I was planning on taking my tablet, anyways."

Her boyfriend nodded, along.

"I came back a day early." Marinette explained, "I booted up my laptop to transferring my sketches I worked on. There-There was just so much….hentai on it. It felt like there was fifty tabs open."

Jason immediately started cracking up with laughter.

"Next thing I know, Adrien walks in. I'm just standing there, pointing at my laptop. He dropped to his knees and started apologizing that he had been stressed and was gonna delete the search history that night, before I got back."

"Oh my god." Jason cried, "You know what, I think I might know someone he might get along with. They both have Daddy issues."

Mari giggled.

"Roy is a single dad." he added.

Mari smiled, "Adrien loves kids."

"Bring him to Gotham and we'll set somehting up." Jason smiled.

"Uh, we should probably stop and see Roy first." she pushed.

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure Selena would adopt him on the spot, if they met." she declared, "He's my unofficial brother and he loves my parents but….something tells me they would get along like thieves."

Jason winced, "Roy first. Got it."

[anxresi]

I Beg To Differ.

Okay, now just because I'm about to embark on an epic rant does NOT mean I think anything bad about you as a person, OP. It's just on this one teensie-weensie most minor of points, I happen to think you're 100% wrong. Just thought I'd clarify that, so no offense intended. Anyway, on with the show...

Nah, they did us SO dirty with Chloe. I hear your above argument a lot, and it WOULD be a fair point… if it wasn't for the fact that there are SO many clear signs this wasn't what was intended from the beginning that it makes your reasoning completely null and void. Chloe's 'arc' was the most blatant case of in-show character assassination I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing, and I'm about to explain why. Read on! (If you want to, that is.... no pressure).

They strung us along for at least three seasons with various hints about her 'traumatic past', her problems with her often absent mother (which Marinette didn't help by encouraging them to bond because 'they're both such awful people'), showed her genuinely apologizing to her victims, protecting Sabrina from akumatization and having times when she treated her as a real friend, sacrificing herself to save the day occasionally, hugging Miss Bustier in a moment of genuine emotion, telling Ladybug how 'useless' she felt in a teary rooftop encounter, saving lives both as a superhero and a civilian (check back if you don't believe me), giving Adrien a moving speech on his phone about how 'she'd always be there for him', sharing a really close bond with her father, telling her butler Jean it was time she started doing things for herself, loving Mr Cuddly, adoring Pollen… I could go on. Not the best person in the world, true.... but a promising start. Green shoots, and all that. Her name literally means that.

S4 simply forgot any of this happened, and literally pushed her burgeoning development off a cliff with Sisyphu's boulder tied to it's big toe. There was NO build-up, NO foreshadowing, NO precedent for Chloe suddenly becoming a one-dimensional total-sociopath irredeemable-monster AT ALL, they simply made her that way on a whim. They had her start acting like a complete psycho for the evilz, made her the most stupid person in the show BY FAR, severed ALL of her few close relationships, wrote AN ENTIRE FLASHBACK EPISODE in incrimate her newfound nastiness even more and 'punished' her by sending her off exiled on a plane in tears with her abusive mother to… what else? Get abused, of course. GREAT MESSAGE TO ALL THE VULNERABLE TEENAGE GIRLS OUT THERE. (I won't even get into how utterly useless and blandly boring her 'replacement' of a plot device Mary S... oops, I mean Zoe is).

And we're supposed to believe the former corrupt mayor Andre, the terrorist Gabriel Agreste and Thomas Astruc (you know him) are the GOOD guys here? Well, I'd like to tell you what I'd like to do to them… but for fear of censorship, I'd better withhold that particular information for now.

The upshot of it is… if Chloe had been bad from the beginning and terrible at the end, I'd have accepted it. Heck, if her so-called damnation arc was even halfway well written and gave us an accurate and compelling look at the moral descent a person who's capable of redemption could take to the light but ultimately chose to stay on the Dark Side, this would've been highly disappointing to me but fine from a storytelling perspective.

But they didn't give us anything like that, did they? It was just… 'pretend the last three seasons never happened, develop amnesia, hit yourself repeatedly on the head with a shovel… we don't care. Just accept this is the NEW Chloe without question despite past evidence, because you won't be getting any answers. Now let's go back to what we're REALLY here for… Marichat, Ladynoire, Adrinette and that other stupid ship name. SWOON!'

Thanks, but no thanks. Did I ever tell you how much I HATE this stupid show? Apologies if I didn't make that clear enough.

[zoe-oneesama]

Speaking of Émilie, do you think that she could have been a bad mother before her death, coma, or disappearance? Because, from what I've heard, Émilie had been dead, in a coma, or missing for about a year before the events of MLB, and if Adrien had been homeschooled for about most of his childhood, then that could indicate that his mother was aware of this and didn't do anything about it. Either Émilie was overprotective of Adrien and his wellbeing that she and her husband had to shelter him from the public, or that she was in a horrible situation with her husband from behind the scenes, ergo feeling powerless to do something about her son's sheltered life. There are so many things to imagine who Émilie was really like, but so far, we don't have enough substance to even care about her, especially if that substance arrived five seasons/eight years too late.

I think realistically, all signs point to Emilie being just as on board with locking Adrien up, limiting who he's allowed to be friend's with (Chloe), employing him as a model, bogging him down with lots of extracurricular activities despite him not really being into them. But because Gabriel's an out and proud dickwad, Emilie got to be the "good parent" because she was gentle about it. If Adrien ever DID complain, Emilie was probably the one to talk in a soft voice about how Gabriel was doing what was in Adrien's best interest and to just give it his best shot because things will be fine, or worse, lie to Adrien and tell him that she'd talk to Gabriel about it and then just didn't. She's at best a weak enabler who never stood up for what her son wanted and at worst fully complicit in being completely in control of Adrien's life.

But this show is definitely going to pretend that she was sunshine and rainbows and the best parent ever, a paragon of Momness, because that's literally the only characterization we've ever gotten of her in 5 Seasons - biased recollections from Gabriel and Adrien about how great she was.

I mean, look how the show shills Bustier as the Greatest Teacher Ever despite all the contradicting evidence. Why wouldn't they do it with Emilie.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Revelation and Confrontation

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of the season. For the most part, Season 5's episodes have been boring at worst and passable at best, with only about four episodes I'd consider to be outright bad. That pretty much disappears starting here. It's like the writers held back for most of the season, and just as the final arc was about to begin, right when most of the audience was led into a false sense of security, they were like:

Let's get into the twentieth and twenty-first episodes of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Revelation and Confrontation

So, for an episode titled “Revelation”, you'd assume it would focus on Marinette and Adrien finally learning the other's secret after all these years, right? Nope, it's a Lila episode, as in Lila is the character we follow. How does it open? By revealing that Lila has different moms she's conning into believing she's their daughter.

I believe Linkara best captures my reaction to this.

YEP. Right out of the gate, we get arguably one of the dumbest plot twists in TV history. For an episode that's supposed to help us learn more about Lila's life, it's only raising more questions than it's answering, and it feels like it was there just for the sake of shocking the audience.

First off, why is she doing this? What does she possibly have to gain living with three random women who, as far as I can tell, have no political, social, or financial power whatsoever? Her entire motivation is lying to make herself look good so she can kiss up to famous people and ride the coattails of their success. Who the hell are these three people and why did Lila chose to pretend to be their daughter? In fact, are any of them even her biological mother?

Second, how did she even pull this off? I can somewhat buy her tricking her peers into believing her lies, but three grown women all believe this person is their daughter? Did she fake a DNA test or something? Did she frame some other kids for murder? Is one of them the kid in Omelas? Did the other moms adopt Lila? They must have, because I'm pretty sure any of them would know they were pregnant, but how did she fake being an orphan? How has she not been caught? The scene establishing this shows her ending a call with one of her mothers right as another one enters her room. You're telling me nobody has ever walked in on Lila talking with one of her mothers?

Third, just how long has she been doing this for? Has she been doing this her entire life? Did she frame her real mother for tax fraud at the age of five so she could explore the world? When the hell did she start doing this, and how did she even get the resources to do it? Does she have more than three moms?

Finally, what the hell does any of this tell us about Lila? We already know she's a liar and a villain, but what does learning she lies about who her mother is accomplish for the narrative. Outside of a single line to Sabine later on that heavily implies she wants to make her her next mother, this scene is entirely pointless. Sure, it shows how effective of a liar she is, but that's what the episode is already setting out to show us! We already know she's manipulative, so what's the point of any of this?!

Jesus Christ, we're only on the first scene, and I'm already pissed off. You see what I mean about these last seven episodes?

After lying some more, Lila learns an update to the Alliance rings has Kagami replace her as the female avatar. When she goes to ask Gabriel why he's cutting off ties with her, we learn just why Gabriel is such a tactical genius.

Gabriel: You were only the face of my brand in exchange for a mission: to monitor my son's relationships and keep him away from bad company. You failed. My son got close to this Marinette Dupain-Cheng who's been nothing but a terrible influence on him. But you did give me one excellent idea: to create a new media-friendly pairing for my son, which is why Kagami Tsurugi will be the new female face of the Gabriel brand. Perfection itself! All that remains to do is perpetuate this facade until it becomes truth in everyone's eyes. And until jealousy eats away at Marinette Dupain-Cheng...

Lila: But... What's to become of me?

Gabriel: You just remain what you are. Nothing.

Because it's not like Lila is easily your most competent ally (at least, by comparison), and is the only one who doesn't hate your guts, right? Seriously, Lila's biggest motivation other than fame is to ruin Marinette's life, and for the most part, as bad as the writing has been, she has been mostly effective in damaging her reputation (Chameleon, Ladybug, Adoration). For God's sake, if it wasn't for her, you would have been exposed as Monarch earlier this season in “Illusion”! Say what you will about Lila as a character and how stupid everyone acts when she's on-screen, but at least she's good at her job.

Lila walks off fuming, and Gabriel considers akumatizing her, but doesn't want to risk it because of how much she hates him... even though multiple Akumas over the course of the show were people who hated Gabriel or wanted revenge on him (The Bubbler, Simon Says, Style Queen, Heart Hunter, Passion, Action). It also doesn't stop him from akumatizing Lila later on in the episode, because her hatred is now directed at Marinette. And as we all know, it's physically impossible to hate more than one person at a time.

After a quick scene showing Marinette and Adrien's relationship is now public knowledge, we cut to class, where Ms. Bustier is handing back tests.

Also, despite being in the second trimester of her pregnancy (which hasn't been mentioned since the New York Special, over two years before this episode premiered), Ms. Bustier is wearing no maternity clothes to speak of, just her usual outfit with a noticeable baby bump.

I'm obviously not an expert, but I don't think that's good for the baby. If anyone reading this has experience with being pregnant, feel free to correct me.

Ms. Bustier points out that Sabrina put her name on both hers and Chloe's. Ms. Bustier naturally wants to know what the hell is going on.

Ms. Bustier: How long has this been going on?

Chloe: Oh, since we learned to write-- I mean, since Sabrina did.

Yep, after almost five seasons, the writers are now officially resorting to making dumb blonde jokes, the only kind of humor rivaled by fart jokes and racist jokes in terms of being overused and unfunny.

Ms. Bustier lets Sabrina off with a warning and decides to help Chloe make up for the lost work and salvage her academic career. For some reason, even though this is a reasonable response to discovering one of your students has been cheating for years, Marintte has a problem with this.

Marinette: Everybody knows that Chloe been cheating, taking advantage of Sabrina and not making any efforts compared to the others... for years! And the only consequence is that she's going to get help?! Of course, we need to support students who have problems, but not when they're the problem!

If you had a problem with Chloe mistreating Sabrina, THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL MS. BUSTIER YOURSELF? Even Lila points out that Marinette should have pointed this out to the teachers as class representative (I'm not sure if that's a thing in French schools, but let's assume it is for this episode's sake), but Marinette herself says she chose not to.

Marinette: Why would I have? She doesn't have difficulties! Only privileges! And if you need proof to see how the teachers will let her get away with anything!

What was it Alya said in “Origins”? Something about evil triumphing if good people do nothing? Eh, I'll think about it later.

Also, who's to say this isn't a punishment? Chloe is still going to have to make up her work, she'll need more attention from the faculty as a result, summer school is most likely on the table now, and who's to say her dad won't have problems with this? Yeah, we know he's a spineless coward, but let's assume he'll actually act like a parent for once, for the sake of argument.

Despite outright saying that she neglected her duties as class representative, Marinette is shocked Lila takes the chance to suggest she replace her for the job. Later at lunch, like what's happened in every other Lila episode, Marinette tries to tell Alya that Lila is a liar, Alya doesn't believe her for a second, and nothing changes. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that this time, Adrien and Nino are there too! That makes it different!

Seriously, why are we still doing this? It's almost the end of Season 5, and even though Alya is one of Marinette's trusted confidants, the show still needs to have this drama with her not believing her. It honestly feels like a lot of the Lila episodes this season were originally written before Season 4 aired, but something changed, so they just threw them here when it makes no sense for Alya to still doubt Marinette after all this time. It's also why they randomly threw this line in to remind us that Alya knows.

Alya: You know, even Ladybug accepts help from Scarabella every once in a while.

Yeah, mind telling me what happened the last time Alya transformed into Scarabella?

OH RIGHT.

It's during this little conversation where we get the first hint of the episode's moral, and believe me, I'll get to that. Alya tries to reason with Marinette that maybe it's possible for Lila to help Chloe change for the better, which Marinette vehemently refuses to believe. We're clearly supposed to see Alya as being too naive and is oblivious to Lila's true nature, but neither of them know just how bad she really is. We, the audience, know that Lila has worked with Gabriel and Monarch willingly in the past (Heroes' Day, Chameleon, Miraculer, Illusion, Adoration) and that she's living under several fake identities. Yeah, we know Lila hates Marinette and tried to get her expelled in “Ladybug”, but nobody else knows just how bad she is. It doesn't help that Marinette's reasons for Lila only amount to “She's a liar!”, and not “She tried to get me expelled!”, intentionally making her come across as petty so it's easier for Alya to doubt her.

Another thing that makes the whole “Alya thinks Lila can help Chloe change” deal is that we already know Marinette has done nothing to really stop her behavior as class representative or as Ladybug, so it's hard to really act like Marinette contributes a lot to the job, especially when, once again, she willingly admitted to not even trying to reach out to the other teachers about Chloe's grades or how she's using Sabrina to get by in class. Even though Alya doesn't know about Lila's true nature, she's not wrong when it comes to believing someone else could bring something new to the position of class representative.

And this only gets worse, as we see Lila's latest plan to win over the class.

Lila: My dear classmates, I am convinced that even the worst person can change if you reach out to them. And to prove it to you, Chloe, will you be my deputy?

(The whole class gasps in shock)

Chloe: (sighs and walks to the front, putting on a fake smile)

Nino: Wow, is Chloe actually going to be a mere deputy?

Alya: That is so not Chloe!

Rose: Does this mean it's already working?

Mylene: Can Lila actually get her to change?

Marinette: (slams her fists on her table) This is so crazy! It's all lies!

Lila: Poor Marinette... couldn't succeed because she was too busy with her love life, as well as being reminded of her disdain for Chloe. But you know me. You know all about my humanitarian work. I'm used to going into conflict zones. I can do this. There are two weeks left. What do you have to lose? Help me, help Chloe change. Vote for me!

OH, YOU NO GOOD MOTHERFU---

Sorry, sorry. Had a little... episode there. Where were we?

Okay, first off, wow. Are you trying to seriously piss off your fanbase? The whole argument of being able to appeal to the humanity in the worst person is one of the biggest arguments people in favor of Chloe redemption make, so you know damn well this scene was targeted towards them. What was the original draft for this? A still image of Thomas Astruc flipping off the audience?

Second, once again, Lila isn't wrong. As far as we know, Marinette did nothing to really help or stop Chloe over the school year other than foiling the occasional scheme. While we know it's a lie, can you really blame the rest of the class for believing Lila will actually make things better for them by finding a way to stop Chloe from bullying them? It doesn't help that the case Marinette makes for her class representative campaign is that she's giving up on helping Chloe, saying she sucks, and that she's going to help the rest of the class instead. Because we all know showing blatant bias against one of your classmates is a surefire way to win the favor of your peers, right?

As for the speech itself? Well...

Marinette: My dear friends, of course, you should always do everything in your power to help people. And we all hoped that Chloe would become a better person. Ladybug reached out to her. Ms. Bustier reached out to her. So did Adrien and so did I. You all reached out to her. This proves how big your hearts are. And yet, Chloe remained the same. Why? Because as far as she's concerned, having a big heart is a weakness to be exploited. Chloe already believes she's better than all of us. So... don't be fooled. I, for one, am done wasting my energy in vain. As class representative, I'd much rather help all of you because you deserve it a thousand times more.

So here's the main moral of the episode, kids: If you ever decide to be the bigger person and show kindness to someone who is mean to you, it's going to bite you in the ass sooner or later, so never try helping other people change. I just... what the fuck, Astruc?

Yeah, the show tries to point out that being kind to others is still important, but the context of the episode itself doesn't show any examples. You could have used Kim as an example of someone who has changed his ways, but “Derision” retconned him into not being a bully, and Felix isn't even in this episode, so he can't be used as an example. The episode never really provides an argument showing the difference between people who can change their ways and people who choose not to, which is why the lesson doesn't work. How exactly is a child watching this supposed to tell when they're being taken advantage of for their kindness? For a show with an opening that has the lyrics, “The power of love always so strong”, this episode really isn't doing a lot to encourage its audience to show compassion to others.

And we're not done yet. Lila makes up a sob story relating to getting fired, and tearfully says there's no hope for Chloe. Once again, the writers think by having a villain say stuff certain fans believe in, it's meant to automatically invalidate the argument. What are you going to have Lila say next? “Felix should face consequences for his actions”? “Gabriel is far worse than Chloe will ever be”? “Somehow, Chloe is worse than either of her terrible parents”? I'm all ears here.

The entire story was a gambit by Lila so she'd have a cover story, as she plans to attract an Akuma with her sheer hatred for Marinette. Like I said earlier, Monarch assumes that since Lila hates Marinette at the moment, it's impossible for her to harbor any negative feelings towards his civilian identity, choosing to akumatize her into Hoaxer.

Ignoring the fact that the name sounds like it belongs to an antidepressant, Hoaxer is an okay recolor of Volpina. There's not much else to say visually. Her powers involve brainwashing anyone who hears her lies through the Alliance rings... even though she was already able to manipulate others through lying, so this seems like a redundant power to give her. Sure, she can also teleport through the Alliance rings, but that's just something Lady Wifi could already do. Monarch also gives her the Fox Miraculous' Mirage to use so she can create fake footage to back up her lies... even though she already has the power to make everyone believe her lies. Yeah, this upgrade is kind of pointless, isn't it?

Hoaxer's first lie is to say that Marinette is really Monarch. With the exception of Adrien, Ivan, and Mylene (who don't wear Alliance rings), the entire class is brainwashed into hunting Marinette, believing they'll save Paris if they stop her. After Adrien points out how it wouldn't make sense for Marinette to be Monarch if she wants Lila to expose her secrets, he ducks out to transform into Cat Noir, soon meeting up with Ladybug.

Ladybug and Cat Noir steal an Alliance ring from Officer Roger to learn how this power works, only to learn the brainwashing is only effective as long as the victim is wearing an Alliance ring. Hoaxer senses that one of her victims lost their ring, so she turns the rest of Paris against the two heroes by saying that they're from the planet Saturn and fart bubbles that destroy the ozone layer. Believe me, I wish I was able to come up with a line that stupid.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, and gets a sewing machine. She goes back to her house, only to be ambushed by Alya. Ladybug takes off the ring and detransforms, lending the Ladybug Miraculous to Alya so she can transform into Scarabella as part of her plan. Because even though Alya has already been exposed three times in the past two seasons, the animators paid for the Scarabella model, and goddamn it, they're going to get their money's worth out of it. While Cat Noir fends off some brainwashed civilians, Hoaxer uses her powers on Nathalie to get her to send all of Gabriel's private secrets to her. How Monarch doesn't sense this is anyone's guess. Marinette pretends to appeal to Lila's conscience as part of a plan involving her, Scarabella, and Cat Noir, but Lila then rejects the Akuma with ease.

The Akuma somehow de-evilizes itself, Scarabella makes her only contribution to the fight by using Miraculous Scarabella to fix the damage, Monarch still doesn't know Lila now has intel on his civilian identity when he should have a telepathic link with her, and instead blames Marinette for all of his problems.

Back at school, Adrien apologizes to Marinette for not telling her to act against Lila, something that should be huge. It's just that both of them make it about how bad he feels, not about Marinette.

Adrien: I'm sorry, Marinette. I was wrong. I shouldn't have told you to act against Lila. If you give the slightest opportunity to people like her, they'll grasp at it and cause disasters in no time. And now, you're the one who looks like a bad person.

Marinette: You thought you were doing the right thing. Just like with Chloe. That's another reason why I love you, Adrien. You always want to see the good in other people. But sometimes, the good we think we see in some people is just a reflection of our own, and we end up being fooled by our own kindness. But we'll find a way to expose Lila eventually.

Nevermind the fact that Lila's lies haven't done anything to negatively affect Adrien at school, only Marinette, so his little pity doesn't feel earned. There's a difference between feeling bad about something and making it all about you. Also, once again, the episode's moral still comes across less like “mean people can take advantage of your kindness” and more like “never trust anyone, as your attempts to show kindness can backfire horribly on you”.

Lila is elected class representative, and Alya still believes her over Marinette. How does Marinette respond?

Marinette: I decided to let her have her way so I can finally prove to you all who she really is.

Spoiler alert, next episode, someone other than Marinette does the heavy lifting to expose Lila, and I doubt it was ever part of Marinette's plan.

The episode ends with Lila learning all of Gabriel's secrets, which would have been a much better opportunity for her to learn he's Monarch instead of learning about it off-screen as far back as “Emotion”.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... MARINETTE

Once again, Gabriel was very close to earning the Biggest Idiot Award for the third time for ditching Lila for no reason and later giving her the tools needed to learn his deepest and darkest secrets, but Marinette edged him out here. Not only did Marinette outright admit to neglecting her responsibilities as class representative, blamed Ms. Bustier for not doing anything about Chloe when she hasn't done anything to stop her either, and made a very poor argument for her reelection campaign by saying that being nice is bad. But hey, maybe her genius plan next episode will make up for it.

“Confrontation” starts off with Adrien struggling to fill out an orientation form for what kind of school he wants to go to next year and what he'll study. I'm not really an expert in French schools, but I'll assume this is how things are done there. Either way, Adrien isn't willing to fill out the form because as we saw in “Pretension”, Gabriel is planning on sending him to a private school in London next year. Why Adrien wasn't excused from this assignment is beyond me.

Adrien: If Marinette finds out that my father's decided to send me to a private school in London next year, it will break her heart and mine, too.

Again, it's really funny how a huge portion of his screentime in Season 4 involved being angry at Ladybug for keeping secrets from him, yet now, Adrien sees nothing wrong with keeping secrets from Marinette, even when it's inevitable that she'll find out. Then again, Plagg's response isn't any better.

Plagg: I know how I would feel if I had to be separated from you, Adrien, and there is nothing funny about that at all.

Then why did you force Adrien to give up his Miraculous in “The Kwamis' Choice”?! I'm pretty sure that was all your idea, as was what happened afterwards with Monarch almost winning.

As Marinette worries about the career stuff, but through some flashbacks showing just how selfish and one-dimensional Chloe and Lila are, she's not exactly confident they have her best interests in mind. Also, remember how Marinette said she supposedly let Lila win at the end of the last episode in order to make progress on finding a way to stop her?

Marinette: I feel like I'm betraying our friends by entrusting their forms to such awful girls.

As we'll later learn, while she does come up with a plan to expose Lila, it was after this scene that it happened, so this doesn't really make it look like Marinette has any ideas to stop Lila after she won at the end of the last episode. After the rest of the class fills out their forms, Lila destroys them all so Sabrina can forge their handwriting. Of course, not before we get another “funny” scene where Chloe struggles to understand their own plan.

Lila: After you destroy the forms, you'll fill out new ones using your talent for forging student's handwriting. I'll tell you what to write.

Chloe: Not so fast! You're using too many words to explain your plan!

GET IT? DO YOU GET IT?! SHE'S RICH AND BLONDE, SO THAT MEANS SHE'S STUPID! WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING AT THIS COMEDY GOLD?!

Meanwhile, Nino calls for another meeting of the totally useful and not at all irrelevant Resistance, citing an issue. Because they're all planning to go to different schools next year, they're not sure how they can help Ladybug and Cat Noir... other than, oh, I don't know, meeting outside of school? It doesn't matter, because everyone unanimously volunteers to go to the same high school next year. Well, everyone except Nathaniel, but that's not important.

After Marinette gets a call from someone, Mylene suggests that the class go on strike against being forced to decide their careers so early in life. This would have made a lot more sense if you chose to do this before submitting your forms, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Adrien finally figures out what he wants to do, so he hands his form over to Lila. What did he write down?

Lila: (reading the letter) “I've been thinking a lot, and still not know what I would like to do later in life. The only thing I know for sure is that I love Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But I guess that doesn't really help you. I'm sorry. Adrien Agreste.”

Minimum wage at Wendy's it is. Good choice, Adrien.

Yeah, I think now's as good a time as any to talk about how flat Adrien's character has been this season. Even though Adrien has gotten more character focus thanks to not being hampered by loads of other side characters and temp heroes, he hasn't really had a lot of strong moments overall. Scenes that should feel like a big deal, like him accidentally Cataclysming Monarch or realizing he has feelings for Marinette are usually downplayed or brushed off so we can see how those events affect other characters. We don't get any scenes with Adrien feeling guild for possibly condemning a man to death because more focus is given to Gabriel dealing with his impending demise. We don't get any scenes that show how Adrien has come to see Marinette in a romantic light because more focus is given to Marinette struggling to deal with his sudden confession. And here's this scene. Rather than showing Adrien developing an interest in something he wants to do for a career, a huge sign of his growing independence, what do we get? Adrien saying he loves Marinette and admitting he has no goddamn idea what he wants to do with his life. Such a defining moment for one of the two main characters in the show. I'm just saying, if the last season made a big deal about Adrien wanting to be treated more importantly, why is he still getting shafted by the narrative?

And for the umpteenth time this season, because Chloe is the one saying that Adrien's form is “pathetic”, we're supposed to not agree with her, even though this is supposed to be a serious form that your teachers will see. Just what is this show's obsession with using strawmen to try and invalidate criticism? I've seen more nuanced takes from political cartoons.

Lila and Chloe present the forged forms to the teachers, assigning all kinds of inaccurate assignments for careers that the students don't want. Lila manages to get one student in particular held back, Marin—Juleka. Yeah, Juleka, Lila's most hated enemy is being forced to repeat a year. Why didn't Lila try to keep Marinette held back?

To be fair, Lila's plan is to slander Marinette specifically, but screwing over the entire class feels like a bit of a reach. I don't even know if part of Lila's plan was to attract an Akuma or not. Speaking of, Monarch senses Juleka's negative emotions and sends a Megakuma her way. Because it's a day that ends with a “Y”, the Magical Charm does nothing, so for the sixth time in the series (not counting her brief appearance in “Ladybug”), Juleka is akumatized into Reflekta. I swear, at this point you could make a drinking game for every time an old character model is reused this season.

Reflekta's design is pretty alright. I like the idea of the shy and quiet Juleka getting a brightly colored form that's impossible to ignore, and her power to make everyone else look like her fits her character. Unlike other returning Akumas this season, Reflekta gets a noticeable upgrade to her powers, as now she can essentially create a hive mind with all of her victims on top of getting the Tiger Miraculous' Clout to do some extra damage. Wow, it's almost like the Miraculous powers should actually serve as upgrades to established powers instead of being the only thing that gives the Akuma their powers.

Reflekta goes to town assimilating more victims, Marinette does nothing to get the still pregnant Ms. Bustier to safety so she can dart off and transform into Ladybug. By the time Ladybug and Cat Noir meet up, the city is crawling with Reflektas.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, getting a plastic tape dispenser. Using Cat Noir's staff and the tape, the two put up a fake brick wall poster in an alleyway. The two heroes split up and draw a Reflekta's attention respectively, pretending to be helpless once they reach a “dead end” at the fake brick wall. When the two Reflektas try to use Clout, Ladybug and Cat Noir duck out of the way, letting the two attacks collide.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Megakuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, and gives Juleka yet another useless Magical Charm.

And while you'd think this is where the episode ends, unfortunately, we're only halfway done. Id anything, this entire fight was pointless, and it's going to lead to a lot of problems with the pacing later on.

Back at school, Lila takes the opportunity to pin the blame on Marinette, though when Marinette points out how good Sabrina is at forging handwriting, Sabrina admits to helping them out. While the blame is still on Marinette, Chloe and Lila follow Sabrina when she runs out of the classroom. In the bathroom, Sabrina is still upset about what she had to do, and when Chloe and Lila confront her and try to keep her in line, only for Sabrina to reveal it was a trap for Chloe and Lila to confess their plan in front of the rest of the class, and one that had been set up a few days ago by Sabrina and Marinette.

So after an episode that went out of its way to show how apologetically irredeemable Chloe and Lila are, Sabrina is the one to ultimately turn a new leaf and is the key player in stopping Chloe and Lila's tyranny. Let's go into all the reasons as to why this failed to be a triumphant moment.

First off, why is Sabrina the key player who helps finally expose Lila? Why not Adrien, or Alya, or anyone else in Marinette's class? Rather than work together with her friends to show she wasn't lying, Marinette only works with Sabrina, and they act like they're the close friends working together. What, you thought Adrien or maybe Alya would help Marinette expose Lila like the end of the last episode hinted at? HA! Of course not.

Second, Sabrina's redemption is forced as hell. I'm not saying Sabrina turning a new leaf is entirely impossible, but the show just expects us to forget all the times she's gone along with Chloe's bullying antics (Origins, Mr. Pigeon, Lady Wifi, Dark Cupid, Horrificator, Darkblade, Reflekta, Zombizou, Stormy Weather 2, Lies, Sole Crusher, Gabriel Agreste, Derision, Adoration), and even in this episode, she still helped forge the new forms for Chloe and Lila. Remember how “Derision” said Chloe's actions couldn't be excused by how poorly she was treated by her mother? Funny how Sabrina's actions can be excused by how poorly she was treated by Chloe. The redemption honestly could have worked if it was Marinette who reached out to Sabrina and saw the good in her, teaching the lesson that while some people refuse to change, that doesn't mean other people can't change either. But instead, Sabrina's just a good guy because the plot said so, a deus ex Sabrina if you will.

Third, this was Marinette's plan to stop Lila? Like I said, while the previous episode made it seem like Marinette had an idea on how to expose Lila, this episode showed that Marinette had absolutely no plans prior Sabrina's call, and she handed over the sheets to Chloe and Lila earlier. What was Marinette even going to do if Sabrina didn't call? This only makes Sabrina's redemption feel even more forced, because that was what led to Chloe and Lila being exposed.

And finally, we don't even get a lot of resolution with Marinette's classmates believing Lila over her once she's exposed.

Yes, there was a deleted scene where Alya and the others apologize to Marinette instead of just Ms. Bustier which was supposedly cut for time constraints, but why would you leave that out when Marinette's friends believing Lila over her has always been a sore spot among viewers? If only there was another scene that could have been cut out of the episode that added nothing to the plot over an important character moment showing how guilty Marinette's friends feel.

Chloe and Lila are expelled by Mr. Damocles, but then he gets a call from Andre ordering him to keep them in and do nothing to change the forged forms. Normally, this would be something to make Andre out to be a bad guy, but like Sabrina, because he's being belittled and ordered around by someone else (in this case, Audrey), we're meant to sympathize with him. Trust me, it gets even worse next episode.

Mr. Damocles is upset enough to attract another Megakuma from Monarch. You would think Marinette would transform into Ladybug and save him,but the episode does something different. Somehow, because of the other students telling him to believe in himself, all of their Magical Charms resonate with Mr. Damocles' Magical Charm. And then, his Magical Charm transforms into a shield which de-evilizes the Akuma as soon as it touches it?

I'm sorry, WHAT!?

Yeah... that just happened. I'm happy the Magical Charm actually did something for once, but I don't get why this was the climax of the episode. Why did this episode spend more time focusing on Juleka, Sabrina, and Mr. Damocles instead of Marinette's final battle of wits with Lila? Forget it, it's almost over anyway.

Mr. Damocles sends in the correct forms for the students before he resigns as principal, and we then cut to Ms. Bustier realizing that Chloe is pure evil and needs to face consequences for her actions. What does Chloe say that causes her to come to this revelation?

Ms. Bustier: Where's Lila?

Chloe: How should I know? I'm not the betrayer's mother.

Yep. A somewhat rude answer to a question Chloe doesn't even know the answer to is the last straw for Ms. Bustier. Maybe it's the hormones? Ms. Bustier decides to give extra attention to Chloe going forward, and somehow, that's different from Ms. Bustier wanting to help Chloe make up her schoolwork at the beginning of the last episode. But what happened to Lila, you may ask?

Oh my God, she's cosplaying as T'pol from Star Trek: Enterprise! The fiend!

Yep, Lila abandoned her old school and moved onto one of her other lives, now calling herself Cerise. Okay, a few questions.

First, was she wearing makeup as Lila or something? I'm not sure if it's the lighting in this one scene, but I swear, her skin looks lighter than Cerise here.

Second, how is Lila going to blend in under her new identity when for a while, she was the face of the Gabriel brand? What, is she going to claim that “Lila” is her twin sister or something?

Third, if Lila's trying to blend in as Cerise, why did she throw her old wig in the trash, in broad daylight?

Fourth, why wasn't this scene the one used to establish Lila has multiple lives? It actually feels plot-relevant, unlike the revelation of her having three different mothers last episode.

Finally, we're really going to brush over Lila facing any setback to her vague goals? She got expelled, and we don't even get to see her face consequences for her actions after all these years? What a load...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS...MARINETTE

Yep, Marinette got the award twice in the same two-parter, and this is her third one at that. Adrien was sort of close to winning it with his stupid application form and not doing anything to stop Lila himself, and even though Marinette's plan to expose Lila worked, I still had to give it to her. She willingly gave her and her friends application forms to Chloe and Lila without any plans in case they tried something bad, had absolutely no plan to stop Lila in general until Sabrina came alone, and didn't think to simply de-evilize a Megakuma targeting her principal when Lila was able to sneak out with no problem.

Anyway, these episodes SUCK. I know it might not seem as noticeable compared to my reviews last season, as I've been trying to not get too angry, but I still couldn't stand these episodes.

As always, Lila's lies are incredibly stupid and don't work under the suspension of disbelief, especially with what we learn about her here. What I don't get is that we still don't know why Lila does what she does. I still don't know why she is so obsessed with getting the better of Marinette and Gabriel outside of being petty, and given what happens by the end of the season, it makes her unclear motivation even less excusable. In a pair of episodes meant to give more focus to Lila as she tries to ruin Marinette's reputation right before the school year ends, we really needed more depth for her character.

Marinette wasn't any better. What should have been a standout moment for her this season, she spent most of these two episodes complaining about Chloe and Lila when she did nothing to really stop them, and only made progress when Sabrina had a change of heart out of nowhere. Hell, even then, Chloe and Lila barely faced any setbacks for their actions. Marinette honestly felt very underutilized in what should have been an important set of episodes for the season.

Adrien didn't fare any better. He barely got to do anything and unlike Marinette, he wasn't even involved with the final plan, despite the ending of “Revelation” hinting that he and Marinette were going to work together to stop Lila. And then there's the form he filled out where he pretty much confirmed that he has no goals in life and that the writers just have no idea what the hell they want to do with him now that he's Marinette's boyfriend.

But let's talk about what I think really killed these two episodes, specifically “Confrontation”: The unnecessary focus on side characters. I can understand why Ms. Bustier needed more focus in these episodes, considering it was focused on the school environment, but I can't give that kind of lenience to “Confrontation”. That episode decided rather than focusing on Marinette finally outsmarting Lila, we needed more focus on Sabrina, Juleka, and Mr. Damocles. Why did we need to give Sabrina a change of heart over Marinette's friends working together to help her expose Lila? Why did we need Juleka to be targeted by Lila and subsequently akumatized by Monarch in a gambit to slander Marinette when all Lila had to do was have it look like Marinette tampered with Chloe's form? Why did we need an extended sequence of Mr. Damocles fending off an Akuma with the help of his class when he had no real presence in this arc, and if anything, took Chloe and Lila's side more often than not (Ladybug, Derision)? I don't get why the writers chose the tail end of the season to actually develop some of its side characters at the expense of major players like Marinette, Adrien, and Lila.

Look, these episodes were just awful, okay? And somehow, things manage to get worse as we get closer and closer to the end of the season.

[beatrice1979a]

Sunburn

Reverse Marinette's first heartbreak

credits: @adorkastock for this pose

@bgony for alt chloe design.

Yes that's reverse Adrien many months before his haircut.

@generalluxun for Chloe's sunny character concept. Marvelous just Marvelous! Chloe can kill with kindness. Check their reverse fics Note that Alt!Chloe is definitely NOT into Adrien or any man. But I needed a Chloe. Update: read this post here for more about this Chloe. Let's pretend for a moment the Supreme forced her to date Paris' beloved teen celebrity for the Greater Good. What's even scarier is that this brainwashed Chloe would probably comply gladly.

**

Sunburn

(English is not my first language. So grin and bear it)

They say never meet your heroes or, in this case, your beloved idol. Marinette learned this the hard way.

She was beside herself when she learned that, despite the rumors of having (yet again) a new Supreme-sanctioned girlfriend, the self-proclaimed teen heartthrob Sunshine Boy Adrien was having an informal meet and greet at Le Grand Paris. Just two blocks away from her own home. There was no point asking for permission. Her parents would never allow it. But this chance was too good to let it lapse. 

It was dark and everyone was asleep. She grabbed a few magazines and one of the many pictures scattered all over her punk themed bedroom and, silently escaped her room by climbing down the side wall of her three storey home. She ran into the night and camped, hours before dawn, by the expected location, right near the entrance of the fanciest hotel in Paris. It was chilly and slightly humid as the sun climbed the sky but Marinette didn't pay any mind even as the noisy swarm of fans started gathering all around the area forcing her to push and fight to keep her privileged spot in the queue.

There he was, Adrien Agreste in the flesh, even more handsome than portrayed in the heavily retouched press photos or the official telescreen channels. Her heart skipped a beat and she charged forward to beg for an autograph.

And then she saw her.

His arm around her with such unbearable familiarity. Her golden messy hair precariously arranged in two braided ponytails. Unmistakably her. Blinding her with that sunny personality and that oh-so-hideous saccharine smile plastered on that ridiculously pretty doll-like face: Chloe. Chloe Bourgeois. The snobbiest prissy miss perfect, top-of-the-class loved-by-all daughter of the mayor of Paris. Chloe Bourgeois. Her bully. Her tormentor. The only person who single-handedly made her life a total misery every single day since kindergarten. Even today on this otherwise auspicious day.

She felt something snap and, for a moment, she couldn't move. As she missed her chance, she got shoved and pushed by the hoards of screeching fans hopelessly drawn to the golden pair like moths to a flame. A flame Marinette could no longer see with tears clouding her sight and threatening to ruin her heavy makeup and the magazines she clutched for dear life onto her chest.

Then another spark blew from her heart, and fire swallowed her whole, uncontrolled, until it scorched her feelings and escaped her lips in a shaken broken whisper: I hate you.

I hate you. She repeated and ran as fast as she could until she crashed back in her bed. She ignored the angry protests of her parents and, possessed by an irrational anger, she dragged all the posters, the pictures, the Supreme endorsed propaganda and threw them into the open fire of the large oven at the back of the bakery. She just stood there hypnotized, staring and staring as that pretty boy face writhed in the flames.

When everything was reduced to ashes, she pulled her phone and called that guy who'd been pestering her for the last few months, begging her for a date. And she agreed. Because she also wanted to shine. She wanted to be loved and held tightly, and worshipped even if for just a moment, even if that moment was going to be with that obnoxious, arrogant, stuck-up class president, Le Chien Kim.

But maybe just then she would finally stop feeling like such a loser for having that ridiculous crush for someone who didn't even know she existed.

And with those thoughts she promised to never succumb to the whims of her heart ever again.

But Marinette was right at least for one thing: Adrien Agreste had never even seen her before in his life. Not until a few weeks later when he decided to finally surprise his mother with her favorite artisan macarons and his feet dragged him to the door of the most popular bakery of the 21th arrondissement.

Come let the truth be shared No one ever dared To break these endless lies Secretly, she cries

And I'll hide from the world Behind a broken frame And I'll run forever I can't face the shame

[ladyofthenoodle]

i keep thinking about kagami and lila’s friendship in season 5. because it was so fascinating the way lila manipulated her and played into her insecurities but also the way that kagami never really admired lila or pined for her friendship the way she did with marinette. and that lila had to be okay with not receiving that admiration for her to get what she wanted out of this friendship, that she had to fawn and fawn over kagami to earn the status of friend while kagami tells her to her face she’s not a precious gem. meanwhile kagami is absolutely starving for adrien and marinette’s attention and lila just has to live with that which she must have HATED, and THEN kagami just shuts down the whole manipulation scheme and insists marinette and lila are both her friends. and lila hugs her and SMIRKS like she’s not done plotting and then…

then that’s the last we get of the two of them. lila gets exposed to the whole class and yet we don’t see even a hint of whether kagami is told any of this or what her reaction is. the storyline is just dropped. sure, lila’s mad about kagami replacing her as the face of alliance, but they don’t interact again, and we can only guess whether kagami tried to reach out to lila or thought about lila at all.

but in a way, this makes sense: kagami and lila both meet someone new. lila gets closer to chloe, who she doesn’t need to convince to hate marinette. and kagami, of course, meets felix. and plenty has been said on the ways that felix lives up to the expectations kagami had for adrien, but not enough on how felix filled the need that lila had previously been exploiting in kagami. lila’s manipulation of kagami was twofold: it played on her own sense of isolation from her peers and on the pressure she felt to be perfect all the time. and then felix comes in and says, hey, actually, there’s a reason you have felt isolated and it’s because you’re different, but so am i, and i admire you but i’m not scared of you, and you were created to be perfect but i’m going to set you free from that.

so by the time confrontation comes around, maybe it doesn’t matter what kagami’s reaction to lila’s exposure would have been, because all those cracks in kagami’s armor that lila was trying to slip through are gone now, either sealed or blown wide open, and there’s no place for lila anymore. kagami had already moved on.

at the same time, i’d LOVE to see it. i’d love to see lila barely hiding her resentment of kagami taking her place on alliance while assuring kagami that of course they’re still friends! to see lila coming to kagami after collusion and insisting that marinette framed her and kagami turning to felix like “would you believe what she’s saying about marinette?” and he’s like god no i spent 10 seconds with her while i was pretending to be adrien and that was 9 seconds too many. and maybe at that point lila finally drops the act and admits she was only pretending to be kagami’s friend. that she was only trying to turn her against marinette. and kagami, matter of fact as ever, would apologize that lila wasted so much time on something that would never happen.

[ilikekidsshows]

What do you think of the argument that Marinette keeps secret to benefit others while Adrien keeps secrets out of selfishness?

---

I think Adrien salters are so infected by bad faith criticism that Adrien could sneeze and they would claim he was just trying to get sympathy by faking an illness. Adrien can't do anything without them taking the worst possible interpretation and running with it. I also think that they have Adrien and Marinette confused. Adrien is the abuse victim who has been taught that his feelings don't matter while Marinette is the control freak in pigtails. Adrien lies because he has been taught to lie, while Marinette lies because her biggest fear is feeling uncomfortable for the 10 minutes it would take to explain the truth. 

But, let's play a game of pretend. Let's pretend Marinette is a pure saint who only ever lies to bring happiness to others and never for her own gain. It still wouldn't matter. The argument has never been: “did Marinette lie for the right reasons?” It's always been: “did she have a right to lie?” and the answer is, unless you're a victim-blaming ghoul, a resounding “Fuck no!” Marinette’s good intentions don’t actually help any of the people she lies to, because things they have a right to know and that they need to know so that they can make informed decisions are being kept from them, by Marinette. The people defending her can’t even give any reasons for why the “logic” of her lies is sound, because they just make vague comments about the secrecy being “more secure” without giving any examples why Cat Noir knowing the two-man team is now a three-man team, there’s a potential backup Ladybug and who their allies are is such a security risk.

As I said, there is no point in arguing over selfless or selfish lies because that's not what the discussion is about. It's about lying about things the other person has a right to know. Marinette is not entitled to Adrien's personal life, any of the conversations he’s ever had about her or every thought he’s ever had, even if they’re negative thoughts about her, but Adrien, however, is entitled to know what the fuck is happening in the team he’s in. He’s entitled to know his father was a supervillain. And he’s definitely entitled to know that he's a remote control robot and his cousin can now snap him out of existence whenever he wants. Marinette causes problems by lying and no amount of good intentions will fix that. In fact, the good intentions make it worse, because now her victims feel like they have to give her a free pass because “she didn’t mean to hurt anybody”. Maybe people should get mad at her for once and maybe she’d stop being like this. Because Marinette lies constantly over the most inconsequential shit, so it’s not surprising she lies about the actually important shit too.

Because, like, let's not kid ourselves here; Marinette’s lies aren't within spitting distance of selfless. Marinette lies to avoid feeling uncomfortable, because the truth makes her uncomfortable or makes her look bad. This is consistent with her lies as both a hero and a civilian. Her reasons for lying include not wanting to deal with Chloé's reaction to being told she was off the hero team, not wanting to explain to Cat Noir that she isn’t the independent, perfect leader she portrays and actually buckled under the pressure and made Rena a permanent team member to take off some of the load, wanting to sabotage a girl who has a crush on Adrien so that they don't get to spend time together, lying about deleting the most important video Alya had filmed in her career as an amateur journalist so far because she didn't want her to be upset at her, and trying to avoid a preschooler thinking she's cringe. There is no greater good here. If there's a pattern to Marinette's lies, it's not selflessness, it's her fragile ego.

[knifedancer]

Not Dating

Day by day, one by one, Marinette’s classmates noticed that the young designer had gotten closer to Felix. Close enough to be considered dating. Finally, the entire class is convinced that the two ARE dating.

The only problem is that Felix nor Marinette seem to know about it.

Felix (PV) x Marinette, posted to AO3.

~~~~~~~

~~~SCENE 1: Lila~~~

Lila was walking down a shopping district when she caught sight of her favorite victim—er, classmate eating at a nearby café. Carefully maneuvering around the outdoor patio in a way so that she would not be seen, she noticed that Marinette was not alone… Across from her sat the snobbish cousin of Adrien’s: Felix Graham-Agreste. The Italian narrowed her eyes as she took in their chummy atmosphere. ‘When did they get so close?’

“Oh my gosh, Marinette! What a coincidence!” The liar called out as she exited her hiding spot.

The designer’s countenance darkened a bit as the liar approached, her voice dropping into a flat irritated tone. “Lila.” The snake’s eyes gleamed with a cruel light, her smile becoming a bit sharper.

“What do you want, Rossi?” Came the exasperated, blunt voice of her pale blond companion. Rude.

“What? Can’t I say hello to my classmates? I stop by this café all the time; the owner is like a father to me. I highly recommend the pasta!”

“It’s a boba café, they don’t sell pasta!” Cried the exasperated class president.

“Well, it’s on the secret men—”

“Hi, order number 42?” A waiter interrupted, pointing to the little plastic table number resting beside Felix’s elbow. “Who had the honeydew milk tea?” Marinette raised her hand and he set it before her. “And one matcha milk tea for the gentleman. Please enjoy.”

The two teens stared down Lila as the waiter left two straws and returned to his post inside to take orders. She scoffed as she sauntered away, pretending to look over the posted menu while spying on the pair. ‘Perhaps I can get something good to lie about at school tomorrow…’ she thought, watching them from the corner of her eye.

“Mm, this honeydew is delicious!” The bluenette remarked while sipping happily on her drink.

“Let me try,” Lila watched as Felix grabbed the drink right out of Marinette’s hands.

“Hey! Don’t steal all my tapioca pearls, jerk!”

The blond brought the same straw to his lips to take a sip. “Hmm, you’re right, not too sweet.” The designer’s scowl transformed into a smug smile as he set the glass back down in front of her, continuing to enjoy her drink without a second thought.

‘Did they just…indirectly kiss?! Oh my, talk about juicy gossip!’ Lila’s lips curled into a wicked smile; she couldn’t wait to twist this into a new story tomorrow!

~~~ The next day…

“You’ll never believe this, girls. Marinette was on a date with Felix!” Lila sobbed, “After I told her how much I liked him, too!”

“Aw, Lila…I’m sure that’s not what it was,” Mylene comforted the girl.

“I saw it! They were all lovey-dovey, sharing a drink—” The liar attempted.

“Girl, are you sure that your lying disease isn’t acting up again?” Alya asked skeptically as Lila tensed. “I mean…Marinette and Felix? Pfft, that’d never happen!”

“Does seem rather far-fetched,” murmured Juleka in agreement.

“But I really saw—" she tried again in vain.

“Shh, it’s okay. Why don’t you tell us more about your recent trip to Achu instead, Lila?” Rose begged the flabbergasted liar.

~~~SCENE 2: Adrien~~~

It was Saturday and the teen heartthrob of Paris had just finished a photoshoot early. Nathalie had even agreed to let him enjoy a little free time! ‘Too bad Nino is busy with Alya today,’ he thought glumly as he looked around the park. Spying his favorite designer’s balcony in the distance brought a smile to his face once again. ‘Maybe Marinette would want to play some UMS III!’ Destination set, Adrien began crossing the park at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sun and the breeze on such a pleasant day.

He watched as kids chased each other through the park, vendors sold balloons and treats, and friends picnicked on checkered blankets. The model smiled as his roaming eyes noted happy couples – like the two giggling college students holding hands as they walked, Marinette and Felix lounging under a tree, the young man chasing—WAIT. Marinette and Felix were what?

Adrien’s eyes locked back onto the pair beneath the tree in disbelief. Felix was sitting with his back against the trunk while reading the book he held in one hand. Sprawled out between his knees was a slumbering bluenette, her sketchpad forgotten on her lap while her fingers still twitched with the pencil between the digits. Her body was slumped slightly to the right, her head lazily resting against his cousin’s chest. Dumbstruck, he continued to stare as Felix brought his free hand up to turn the page before returning it back to its original place, his silver ring gleaming in a wayward sunbeam as his fingers idly played with one of Marinette’s pigtails.

They looked…comfortable. Closer than he remembered them being.

Marinette seemed to stir, her eyes squinting slightly against the sunlight before she began to shift. The blond’s hand extracted itself from her hair, his eyes falling away from those crisp white pages to gaze down at the girl in his lap. The bluenette resettled on her left side, half curled against his chest and readily fell back to sleep. With unbridled fascination, Adrien watched a soft smile spread across Felix’s face before his hand cupped around her cheek to gently play with the short hairs that curled in front of her ears. His smile never wavered as his eyes returned back to the book in his other hand as if the whole exchange had never happened.

Felix looked…happy and, perhaps, in love?

‘Are they…dating?’ The model’s brow scrunched in thought, considering the whole exchange as he quietly walked in the opposite direction. ‘Good for them. I should congratulate them at school tomorrow!’

‘Maybe Luka is available for a jam session,’ Adrien pulled out his phone to call the older boy.

~~~SCENE 3: Adrien and Alix~~~

After school the next day, while waiting for his ride, Adrien flagged down his cousin coming down the stairs. Felix gave his usual short greeting before expectantly looking at him. Noting they didn’t have much time to spare, he decided to cut to the chase.

“I noticed you and Marinette have gotten rather close recently,” Adrien smiled warmly.

“Yes, she’s been very welcoming and warm. She grows on you, much like a fungus,” the snobbish blond replied while his eyes drifted towards the entry way as if looking for someone.

“Come on, Fe! You don’t need to be so obtuse. She’s really special, isn’t she?” The model raised his eyebrows, attempting to put a heavier meaning behind his words. All he got was a distracted, affirmative hum in reply. Settling a hand on his cousin’s shoulder, his grey eyes shifted back to Adrien. The model looked directly into Felix’s eyes with a bright smile, “I just wanted to tell you that I’m really happy for you two!”

His cousin’s face scrunched up in confusion but, before he could question the green eye blond, his attention was captured by a shriek coming from the stairs behind them. Felix turned just in time to catch a flying bluenette against his chest with an “oof!” before she could hit the ground.

Alix jumped down from the top step and swooped around them in her skates, looking frantic. “Oh my gods, Mari! I’m so sorry, I thought you saw me coming. Are you okay?”

“Kubdel, what the hell were you thinking? You know Marinette has her head in the clouds 80% of the time!” Felix scolded the pink haired girl while setting the young designer down on her feet, keeping her in the protective ring of his arms. Turning to her, his tone became a tender and worried murmur, “Are you alright, princess?”

“I’m purrfectly fine, she didn’t mean to bump into me! Besides,” Alix and Adrien watched as her smile turned fond, “you caught me before I could get hurt. My hero.” She pretended to swoon and, although Felix scowled, his eyes remained soft. They watched as he took her bag from her shoulder and then grabbed her hand. Neither classmate missed how the grey eyed boy threaded his fingers through hers.

“You’re likely to fall over if I don’t hold onto you. Let’s get you home in one piece, shall we?” He nodded to the two as he led Marinette away, the unlikely duo murmuring to themselves – smiling and laughing as if in their own little world.

“Are those two dating?” Alix inquired with obvious confusion.

“Yup, I saw them cuddling in the park over the weekend. I was pretty surprised but I’m happy for them. I think she’s good for him,” Adrien grinned.

“Huh. I always thought she’d end up with you,” the pink haired girl shrugged and skated away from the now blushing blond.

“Wait, what?!”

~~~SCENE 4: Amelie~~~

The Graham-Agreste family didn’t travel outside of Paris much these days but, when they did, it was usually for a week at a time. Amelie had warned her son about the impending trip to visit a business contact in Greece and he seemed less than thrilled. She suspected it had something to do with the sweet classmate he had been spending so much free time with. She wasn’t blind but pretended to be whenever Felix’s face softened and an unconscious smile spread on his face when he would receive a text from her. She even had her own ringtone! And today? Why, Amelie was in for quite the treat because that very classmate appeared at their door just a few hours ago to help Felix pack for his trip.

She didn’t miss the chance to remind her teenage son to leave his door open as she didn’t wish to be a grandmother…yet. Nor did she miss both turning bright red at the implication of her words.

Amelie had checked a few times – while walking down the hallway, she didn’t want to cramp his style – and noted that he had left the door ajar as requested. This allowed her to catch snippets of their muffled conversation and laughter in passing. Not that she was trying to eavesdrop, but those joyful sounds made her so happy. It made her heart swell that Felix had finally found someone he could relax and be himself with! Her grumpy little man had made a friend – a girl friend no less – and Amelie was over the moon!

‘Come to think of it, it has been a while and they are awful quiet…’ she internally mused. ‘Better go check on them.’

The older blond set down her crossword and headed upstairs, approaching the bedroom door as quietly as she could. She heard nothing as she paused outside the door. Curiosity getting the better of her, she pushed the door open soundlessly. She had to bite her lip to stop from cooing over what she found!

Felix’s carryon was packed and set at the foot of the bed with care, a light jacket draped over the handle in preparation of their early flight. A single lamp on his nightstand was on, illuminating the scene before her in the dusk-colored room. In the middle of the duvet lay the two teens, about a foot apart but facing each other, unconsciously holding hands as they peacefully napped side-by-side. Tiptoeing to the end of the bed, Amelie pulled out her phone and snapped a few silent photos – noting with glee the tiny smile on her son’s face as he slept. With an airy sigh through her nose, she silently departed so the two could rest.

‘They make such a cute couple! I’ll have to frame these photos for when they get married…’

~~~SCENE 5: Juleka and Nathaniel~~~

A few weeks later, Madame Bustier had paired up students for an art history project. Juleka and Nathaniel had scheduled some time during lunch to study in the library, hoping to get the necessary books for their chosen historical figure: Marcel Duchamp. They greeted the librarian and headed towards the art history section, flipping through various books to find the most relevant information. Suddenly a giggle cut through the quiet and caught the attention of the two studious classmates. Peeking around the end of the row and looking toward the beanbag chairs in the reading nook, they spied two teens engaging in a tickle fight. Their eyes widened as they realized the grinning blond was none other than Felix and the snorting giggles were escaping a very pink, writhing Marinette.

“Is that…are they…” Nathaniel questioned under his breath, Juleka nodding vaguely to confirm that she was witnessing the same thing. This was not the work of an akuma.

They watched silently as the bluenette twisted and struggled to evade the blond boy’s nimble fingers, eventually ending up tangled and panting in an embrace that resembled a human Gordian Knot. Her legs were draped across his lap and an ankle hooked around one of his, her arms weaved and locked around his upper torso, her fingers driven into his hair. Felix’s head rested against her collar bone, his eyes shut, and lips curved into a smug smile. Their bodies were pressed so tightly together that not even a breeze could get between them. “You could have just told me you wanted to nap! Gods, you’re such a cat sometimes!” Marinette scolded softly with a huff of laughter, her fingers petting the skin and long hair at the base of his neck as the boy seemed to melt further against the young designer.

“Do you think they’re dating?” Juleka whispered in amazement.

“Certainly seems like it,” the red head replied.

~~~SCENE 6: Mylene and Rose~~~

“…And the whole park just looks so lovely with all those new trees planted! Thank you for helping with my beautification project, Rose!” Mylene expressed happily to the strawberry blond beside her as they wandered into the cafeteria.

“I was so happy to help. The flowers are going to smell amazing when they begin to blossom!” Rose swooned softly before bumping into someone in her distracted state. “Oh, hey Marinette! What have you got there?”

“Hey guys! I made bento boxes today, want to see?” The bluenette opened the two boxes for their perusal. Inside were tiny hotdog octopi piled so close together that they seemed to be kissing, slices of fried chicken, rice balls with seaweed hearts stuck all over them, and a small salad filled with heart shaped veggies. The two girls cooed over each detail, noting the obvious theme…

“Did you make these for your crush, Marinette?” Rose chirped sweetly, “So romantic!”

“Wh-what?! N-no, no! I just made these because I wanted to…” the young designer blushed crimson at their words and nervously rubbed the back of her neck. “I kind of fell down a YouTube rabbit hole with Kagami the other day and became super obsessed with the idea. I’m not very good though, I still need a bunch of practice…”

The colorful dreadlocked girl smiled kindly, “I think it’s really sweet! You know, I bet Adrien would—”

“Oh shoot! Sorry, girls, I promised Felix we’d have lunch together to work on our project and I really want to eat before this gets cold,” interrupted a distracted Marinette as she packed up her bento, her face scrunched as she took in the grumpy blond at the far end of the cafeteria.

“Sure, see you later, Mari!” Rose and Mylene watched as their friend crossed the room to sit with Felix. “They’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, huh?”

The mousey girl nodded, watching in fascination as their class rep seemed to scold the pale blond for only eating an apple before spreading the two bento boxes between them on the table. Felix responded with an eyeroll from the other side of his book, but Marinette just gesticulated her hand brandishing chopsticks to wave off his arguments. They were taken aback a moment later when she scooped a mouthful from the box and blew away the steam, then offered it to the boy with a silent ‘say ah!’ The grump seemed to huff before dutifully taking the morsel into his mouth, not letting her feeding him interrupt his reading. Marinette smiled brightly and continued to feed them both in this fashion, completely oblivious of the two shocked girls watching from afar.

The petite bubbly girl squealed with joy! “Do you think she actually made the bento for Felix? Oh my goodness, she filled it with hearts!”

“And he accepted it! We’ve got to tell the girls!” Mylene gushed, thrilled to see their sweet friend find love and appreciation.

Looks like the Adrienette fan club needs to disband…

~~~SCENE 7: Kim~~~

It was date night with his girl, Ondine. He had lost their bet at swim practice, so she got to pick the movie – some American “classic” called Grease playing at a small, off-the-beaten-path theater. She seemed happy so Kim wasn’t about to complain. ‘I just hope it’s not a total chick flick! I’ll have to catch the latest John Wick with the guys next weekend…’ he internally sighed. It was early evening on a weeknight, a few bored employees manned the front, and very few patrons were in attendance. Most appeared to be couples out on their own dates. The two athletic teens settled into their seats near the back – prime make out territory for couples, oh yeah – just in time for the lights to dim.

Suddenly, about five minutes into the film, the entry door on the opposite side of the auditorium opened with a loud BANG and made everyone present jump. Kim heard a familiar voice call out a whispered “sorry!” before catching sight of a couple quietly making their way down the aisle and settling a few rows down from where he was. One tall, lanky, dour blond and a shorter, contrite looking bluenette… Wait, was that Felix and Marinette? As Ondine hummed and danced in her seat to ‘Summer Lovin,’ Kim curiously watched as the duo took their seats in the back half of the theater. Once seated, there was some sort of frantic movement from Marinette before Felix settled his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer; the young designer’s head coming to rest against his chest. Kim’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline and his jaw dropped.

Were they on a DATE?

Distracted, Kim draped his arm around his girlfriend and stared off towards the screen unseeing for a few moments, the gears in his head slowly turning. They arrived together. They seemed cuddly with each other. His eyes widened. ‘Wait, they…’ He glanced over a few times to verify, ‘…they sat in the make out section!’ By the time the characters were dancing around the carnival to ‘We Go Together,’ the Vietnamese boy noticed out of the corner of his eye that Felix had long ago rested his head on top of Mari’s and had occasionally rubbed his cheek against her dark hair.

Maybe it wasn’t really them?

The credits rolled and the dim house lights came on, allowing him to get a better look at the couple as they got up to leave. Oh, yup, it was definitely Felix and Marinette. He nodded along as Ondine gushed about the film, watching his classmates ahead of them from his peripherals. Marinette was gesturing widely, her eyes lit up in a way that only happened when she spoke about fashion. The grouchy teen was gone, a warm smile on his face as he gazed down at the girl beside him. Once outside, he watched as the smile turned into a frown once again – this time only because the bluenette was shivering. He thought he heard the blond murmur “are you cold, Bug?” but he wasn’t sure. For the second time that night, Kim was shocked as Felix shrugged out of his coat and draped it around the dark-haired girl before pulling her close as they walked down the street.

Ondine looked between Kim and the couple, tilting her head a bit. “Isn’t that your friend, Marinette?”

“Yeah…” the taller boy replied hesitantly.

“Wow, she and her boyfriend make such a cute couple!”

~~~SCENE 8: Chloe & Nino~~~

Nino’s groan of frustration was so loud that it reverberated off the walls of the hallway, “Chloe! Look, I’m not thrilled about having to do this report with you either but I’m not going to let you just not do anything!”

The haughty blond girl huffed, crossing her arms with a pout. “I can’t believe you’re going to make me do…” She paused, her mouth opening and closing like she was attempting to spit out something foul tasting, “…homework, Lahiffe. I have far more interesting things to do – like my mani-pedi! These hands don’t just look perfect all on their own!”

“Just use your phone to search for some information on Louise Bourgeois. You insisted on picking her since you’re related but you have to do more than pick the topic!”

Chloe scoffed and turned towards the other blond that had wandered out of the classroom, “Felikins, tell Lahiffe here that a young woman like myself has important needs!”

Felix settled against the wall beside the classroom door and rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth to reply when a stumbling blur came through the doorway and seized his attention. Nino watched in fascination as Adrien’s cousin quickly spun – was he always that fast? – and caught the figure in his arms, his face scrunched up in confusion and concern. As he raised himself from a crouch, the DJ was able to see he now held a barely conscious Marinette.

“Dudette! She okay?” Nino stepped closer with an outstretched hand, worry evident in his tone. Sure, he hadn’t been able to hang out with her as much lately, but he knew her! His oldest friend tended to push herself too hard and take on too much, plus she had developed a sensitivity to cold recently… Made her susceptible to getting sick very easily.

Then something unexpected happened that stunned them to silence... The grey eyed boy leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, his face transforming from worry to shock before effortlessly scooping the limp bluenette up bridal style. His voice softened, “Marinette, you have a fever! Did you go out without your jacket again?” He huffed as the girl whined weakly in his arms. Turning to the two of them, his tone became all business once more, “Excuse me, it seems I need to take her to the nurse.” The two shocked classmates stepped aside as a very fierce looking Felix hastened down the hall like a man on a mission. Nino could swear he heard Felix’s voice echoed a ‘what am I going to do with you, princess?’ as he turned the corner, but Felix surely wouldn’t say something like that… would he? Then again…

“Did Felix just…kiss Marinette? Do you think they’re dating?” Nino wondered aloud.

His words seemed to snap Chloe out of her stupor, she spun to face him and screeched in disbelief, “What?! Dating? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”

~~~SCENE 9: Sabine & Tom~~~

Sabine was a patient, protective, intuitive woman. She watched her beautiful daughter trip over herself for a boy in her school – a model, no less – she just shook her head. Adrien seemed like a sweet boy but distracted and flighty. Tom thought he seemed like a good match for their sweet girl at first and welcomed him into their home like they would a future son-in-law; Sabine was unconvinced though. Not that she would treat the sweet teen model without her usual kindness – he was her little Bǎobèi‘s friend, after all. He just wasn’t the right one.

However, about half a year later Marinette came home with another blond boy that immediately caught her attention. The new boy, Felix, looked similar to Adrien but was entirely different. Sure, both boys were respectful, handsome, and polite… However, where Adrien was falling over himself for approval and acceptance, Felix walked with a gait that seemed to communicate he needed no one’s approval. She watched with interest as their friendship developed and noted with a smile that the grumpy boy balanced out their daughter’s overexuberance. She softened his hard edges; his quiet support allowed her self-confidence to blossom. He brought structure and order; she ruffled his feathers and introduced some spontaneity to his life. Sabine and Tom had friendly bets going that the two would become something more, but nothing had shown that that was happening. There had been an obvious change in their dynamic a few weeks ago and the bakers were thrilled! Perhaps this was the moment? No.

At this rate, her daughter was going to cost her $30 if they didn’t get together by the end of the month…

It had been a couple days since a worried Felix carried a feverish Marinette home from school. He made sure to come by each day with notes, assignments, and to inquire about her health. Sabine could tell by the way his eyes drifted to the back stairs during each visit that he wanted to see her – not that the taciturn blond would admit such a thing. The two teens were in the living room watching a movie now that she was feeling better. Sabine smiled softly as she washed a few dishes in the sink, ‘As if illness would keep that boy away from your side, Bǎobèi…’ The blond teen was sitting a respectful distance from her daughter on the couch as they chatted about the plot quietly, smiles on both of their faces.

Marinette began to shiver, her body not quite recovered, and whined about feeling cold. Sabine watched as Felix rolled his eyes before getting up, eliciting a louder whine from the girl on the couch. He passed the kitchen with a nod and wordlessly went up the stairs to the designer’s room, returning with a thick fluffy blanket as if he was used to fetching things in their house or for their daughter. Odd. The boy proceeded to drape the blanket over his blue-eyed classmate, carefully tucking it around her whole form before lifting her feet and encasing them as well. Marinette made happy noises as she began to settle in when a sudden movement made her squawk with indignation. Sabine turned in time to see Felix sit closer to her, Marinette’s feet on his lap as he began to unconsciously rub them through the cover of the blanket.

The older bluenette smiled, watching the two returning back to their bantering. Sabine quietly dried her hands and went back down to the bakery. Tom was going to want to hear all about this!

~~~Later…

Tom and his wife tiptoed up the stairs, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two teens without their notice. There, on the couch and basking in the glow of the DVD menu, lay two sleeping teens. Their daughter was cocooned in the blanket like a caterpillar going through metamorphosis, only her head was visible. However, laying slightly behind and draped over the blanket was the slumbering form of Felix. His arms unconsciously pulled her closer, causing their Bǎobèi to hum happily.

“Better be ready to pay up, honey,” whispered Sabine with a grin. “This boy is definitely our Nǚxù.”

Tom chuckled softly, pulling out his phone and opening the notes app. “Do you think he’ll like strawberry crème for their wedding cake?”

“Perhaps lemon, it would go very well with that cream cheese buttercream you’ve been testing out…”

The two adults retreated back to the bakery to continue their discussion, leaving the two teens blissfully unaware that the details of their anticipated nuptials would likely be hammered out by the end of the week.

~~~SCENE 10: Sabrina & Roger Raincomprix~~~

Lt. Roger Raincomprix returned home after his evening patrol, dropping his keys on the entryway table before letting out a long sigh. Tonight had been a long shift but he needed to speak to his daughter before she went to bed… He plodded down the hallway to her room and knocked when he saw the light still shining from beneath the door. “Sabrina? Are you still up, pumpkin?”

“Come on in, Dad!” Roger nervously pushed his way in, finding his smiling daughter dressed in her pajamas and sitting at her desk. “We have a big test tomorrow, so I was just getting in one last review before going to bed.”

“That’s good, honey. We need to have a talk,” the officer sat on the edge of his daughter’s bed and fidgeted with his hands. He wasn’t sure how to broach this topic with his teenage daughter but, some things had happened that evening that made Roger realize that he needed to make sure she was being safe.

“Something wrong, Dad? Did something happen on patrol tonight?” Sabrina’s tone became pensive, concerned for the serious look that her father was sporting.

He dropped his eyes to the floor, flexing his hands in and out of fists as he spoke haltingly. “Yes. Uh…well… Pumpkin, you’re a young woman now. Hormones are hard to deal with as a teen and you’re…going to meet someone special…and you’re going to have some urges—”

“DAD!” The scandalized cry brought his eyes up to meet her own wide, cyan-colored eyes. “Are you…trying to give me the ‘birds and the bees’ talk?”

He swallowed thickly, “Yes, sweetie. You’re sixteen now and—”

His daughter crossed her arms and gave him a flat look as she interrupted again, “I don’t even have a romantic interest right now, Dad. We already covered this in Sex Ed. What is this really about? What happened on patrol?”

Roger gave a long sigh and his brow furrowed. ‘I shouldn’t tell her what happened but… Sabrina wouldn’t tell anyone.’

He cleared his throat. “There was an incident with two of your classmates tonight in the park—”

“WHAT? Who?”

“Sabine’s daughter, Marinette, and that blond kid…what was his name again? Not the model.”

“Felix Graham-Agreste?”

He snapped his fingers, “That’s the one! Caught the two of them in the park canoodling…”

~~Earlier…

Lt. Raincomprix whistled softly as he walked past the hero statue in the park. It had been a quiet shift besides the akuma – not that he could assist with that! – which the heroes apparently wrapped up a few minutes ago, if the recent swarm of ladybugs was any indication. ‘I wonder what those two do after the fight? Chat Noir seems suave, he’s probably some playboy…’ Suddenly a crash and groans were heard. Roger pulled out his flashlight and rushed toward the bushes where the noise originated. There, he found two teens he recognized from his daughter’s class in a compromising position…

Felix Graham-Agreste was slouched back against the trunk of a tree and Marinette Dupain-Cheng was slumped forward between his knees, both staring towards the light with wide eyes. Their hair and clothes were in disarray, small twigs and leaves attached to the strands as if they had been rolling through the bushes. One of the bluenette’s hands was resting upon his thigh, while the other was gripping the front of his belt. The blond had a hand on the back of her head and the other pressed against her upper back, as if pulling her towards him. Felix’s shirt had been untucked and ridden up to expose his stomach; Marinette’s shirt gaped open in the front where a few buttons had popped off to reveal the lacy shoulder strap of her bra.

“What do you two think you’re doing? A park is no place for a lover’s tryst!” Lt. Raincomprix exclaimed.

The two looked each other over briefly before turning red in the face, the small girl squeaked in embarrassment as the boy pulled her close to cover her exposed décolletage and flaming face. He cleared his throat to try to regain some semblance of decorum. “Our apologies, Officer. We weren’t… this isn’t… this was an accident…”

“So are many babies that come from young teenage relationships, son. I understand, I was a young, hot-blooded man myself once.” Roger chuckled at the memory of his adolescent escapades. The two teens in front of him rose to their feet, a flustered Marinette clutched the front of her shirt closed as a more composed Felix kept an arm around her while he continued to shield her from view with his body. “Head on home. I don’t want to be finding you two in the bushes after dark again, you hear?”

The two teens nodded and started the trek back towards the bakery, Roger could hear the bluenette muttering about this being all the boy’s fault. Before they could escape the park, the officer called back out to them. “Oh! And remember to use protection!” He could see the pale blond stiffen and a new flush of red go up the back of his neck at the comment. He chuckled and murmured quietly, “Kids these days…”

~~~Present…

“…I know they’re in your class and you’re all about the same age. It’s totally natural to express your love that way. I just wanted to have a talk with you to make sure that you’ll be safe.” Roger smiled at his daughter and ruffled her hair. “Alright, pumpkin, thanks for hearing me out. Just wait to give me grandkids until you’re a bit older, hm?” He chuckled and walked from the room with a wave. “Sweet dreams and good luck on that test tomorrow!”

A gaping Sabrina stared at the door that her father closed behind him, trying to grasp the facts – Felix and Marinette were apparently caught in a park together.

Were they even dating? It was obviously serious!

Or was he just using her?

How had no one noticed?

She needed to talk to Chloe!

~~~SCENE 11: Max~~~

The cafeteria was busy when Max Kanté wandered in, almost every seat was taken, and a few students had even braved sitting on the notoriously filthy tabletops. Markov scanned the area and found an empty chair near the resident grumpy blond in the corner – was he saving it for someone? Or perhaps most were just too intimidated to ask? Based on various factors, the bespectacled teen calculated that he had a 64.8% chance of success approaching him verses someone else in their class. He’d take those odds.

Approaching the distant table, he noted that Felix Graham-Agreste was focused – leaned forward on elbows and brow furrowed – on a laptop screen in front of him and, once he was within two meters of his target, that it appeared he was playing a video game. Max’s curiosity was peaked. “Hello Felix, apologies, I noticed you were playing a game. I was unaware you were a gamer. Perhaps you would be interested in being a beta test—”

The blond winced slightly and sat back, looking up at the suspender-wearing boy with a wry smirk. “I’m not, Kante. I am attempting to try a game recommended to me by an acquaintance. I’m afraid this endeavor is likely fruitless.”

“Oh,” Max paused, unsure how to continue the conversation. “Well, if you change your mind, I wouldn’t mind a non-gamer perspective. My games should be user friendly to professionals and novices alike.” Felix hummed in response, his eyes returning to the screen where 32-bit sprites bounced in place while awaiting orders. ‘Likely an emulator game considering the archaic graphics,’ he thought to himself.

He cleared his throat and rested his hand on the back of the open chair. “I actually came here to ask if I could take the chair or are you saving it?”

Felix’s eyes flickered over the item before he waved dismissively, “Take it. I’m not saving it.”

“Many thanks. Enjoy your game.” The blond teen snorted in reply and turned back towards his computer.

Max moved to a table nearby, settling in to eat with a few members of the AV club to discuss the latest technology released at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES). While one boy animatedly spoke of the newest VR technologies, the bespectacled boy noticed Marinette swerving between the tables; he raised his hand to greet her, but she only gave a wave in passing before stopping beside Felix. Unusual. The distance between them was not great and, though he did not mean to, he could not help eavesdropping inadvertently.

“Hey Felix! Are you…playing a game?” The bluenette leaned over his shoulder, tilting her head at what was displayed.

“Yes, although not very well.” He chuckled softly.

“…But you don’t like video games,” he hummed as she paused in thought. “What brought on the change of heart?”

Felix roughly cleared his throat and preoccupied himself with brushing nonexistent dust from the keyboard keys rather than meeting her eyes. When he finally spoke, Max could barely hear his voice over the general din. “…You enjoy it.” Were his ears red? That had to be a trick of the light!

Marinette whipped her head towards him, blinking a few times as she absorbed his words. Max could see the instant they sunk in: her cheeks took on a rosy glow, her eyes softened, and a sweet smile spread across her face. Were they…flirting? Max was unsure. She leaned in a bit closer, “So…what are we playing?”

Felix seemed to recover some of his normal composure at her reply, “Final Fantasy 7, unfortunately.”

“Wait, the original 1997 release? I love that game!” Marinette glanced around for a chair, frowning when she didn’t see one available. She contemplated the tabletop with a quick swipe of her hand, grimacing at finding something sticky. She wiped her hand lightly on her dark wash jeans and mumbled something that made the boy scoff. They seemed to exchange a look before he sat back and made a gesture in front of him.

Wait! Was Felix Graham-Agreste offering what Max thought he was offering?

No! Couldn’t be! There was only a 13.7% chance that…

Max stared with wide eyes as the blue-eyed designer smiled graciously before casually taking a seat on the blond’s lap – as if this was an everyday occurrence! – before proceeding into a detailed breakdown of the game mechanics and basic strategy. Felix loosely looped an arm around her waist to hold her steady while her hands fluttered about to emphasize her words. The pale blond rested his chin on her shoulder, his eyes attentive and focused on the screen once more, nodding along while his body language communicated contentment. Lifting the sleeve of his green polo shirt, Max pinched himself to make sure he was not imagining this strange manifestation, then glanced around for an akuma for good measure. Nope, this was real.

‘Looks like I need to adjust my calculations…’ he thought, baffled.

~~~SCENE 12: The Whole Class~~~

After a few long days of presentations and exams (and multiple late-night stress-induced akumas – midterms, amirite?), students were rewarded with a school board mandated half day as a “stress relief” measure. Dupont’s was scheduled on Wednesday and teachers had doubled up on homework assignments, but Madam Bustier’s class wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and they had time off from school! They quickly arranged for a potluck styled picnic in the park and most of their group had arrived by the allotted time…

“Hey, where’s Marinette and Felix?” Max questioned.

“Don’t know about Felix but you know my girl, she’s always running late,” Alya chuckled.

“They’re probably coming together!” Rose chirped from beside a nodding Mylene. Juleka seemed to be murmuring something about a Felinette fan club to a perplexed Ivan.

The Ladyblogger scoffed, “Yeah right. They can barely stand each other at school.” Alix seemed to be quietly chuckling at something Nathaniel was muttering about from the shade of a nearby tree.

Nino and Adrien shared a look beside a smug Kim. “They seemed pretty chummy to me,” the jock shrugged while the other two boys nodded emphatically.

Lila crossed her arms with a huff, “I tried to tell you, Aly—”

“Pardon our tardiness, someone couldn’t pick what flavor juice they wanted…” interrupted Felix with an annoyed tone.

Everyone turned to see the grumpy blond, who had suddenly appeared and was setting down a few boxes of pastries from the boulangerie. He was dressed in a crisp white linen button up, the long sleeves belying the warmth in the air, with his typical grey vest and slacks. Trailing behind was a contrite looking Marinette carrying a large jug of grape juice, her flirty grey skirt and short-sleeved white blouse with white embroidery seeming to match Felix in a casual way. Most present would agree that that was the best way to describe the pair: formal vs. casual, yet somehow complimentary. Well, most people anyway – Alya called it a coincidence!

“There were too many options,” she protested with a scoff, “rich people apparently like to have a bazillion different kinds of juice!”

“It’s called ‘having a selection’ and that’s not even a number!” The boy snarked back, wandering closer to Adrien with an eyeroll. The designer grumbled as she poured herself a cup of juice.

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s get this party started!” Nino cried while pumping a fist in the air, cueing Max to start up the tunes while the group mingled over snacks and students settled into a rough circle on a collection of picnic blankets.

Everyone was laughing and having a good time, although many were stealing glances at the bluenette and pale blond as they seemed to coordinate or maneuver around each other like some kind of elaborate dance. His hand steadying her elbow as she wobbled while getting up, her wordlessly placing a few extra cheese squares onto his plate, a tap or a smile or a shoulder bump somehow communicating each other’s needs without words. The food began to dwindle after a couple amicable – if scrutinizing – hours passed. All that remained was a handful of badly bruised fruit and the dwindling drink supply. It was during a moment when Marinette was refilling her cup with juice at the nearby table and Felix turned a certain way that it happened…

“Uh, Fe… You have something on your collar.” Adrien pointed towards his own neck to indicate the general location. “Did you spill something on yourself?”

“No,” puzzled the teen in question, popping open the top button, pulling the collar away from his neck and into the edges of his field of vision.

“Yeah, dude, it kinda looks like lipstick?” Nino helpfully contributed.

Felix face morphed into a flat look of irritation before leaning back to call over his shoulder, “You got lipstick on me again?”

‘AGAIN?’ The class thought simultaneously, shocked speechless.

Oblivious to the turmoil he had created in their classmates, the grumpy blond turned to speak directly to the approaching bluenette. “What is it with you and always leaving marks on me, hm?”

Jaws slackened, unsure what to make of such a bold statement. However, Alya’s eyes had zeroed in on the exposed skin around Felix’s collar bones and shoulder… which were covered in light scratches. Scratches that were obviously made by human fingernails rather than by an animal. ‘As if given in the heat of passion…’ The thought caused her to choke on a bite of food and left her coughing roughly to clear her windpipe.

“It’s not like I meant to—AH!” Marinette’s toe caught on a rock, lurching her forward and causing the grape juice to go airborne. As if in slow motion, everyone watched in silent fascination as the purple stream crashed down on Felix. With a bland look and soft growl, the now wet teen dragged a hand down his face and looked into the bluebell eyes staring at him in horror. A silent conversation seemed to pass between the two as everyone held their breath – Adrien’s cousin was not known for being forgiving, especially when it came to his clothes. After a couple seconds, the young designer scrambled up and began to blot his face and neck with a few wrinkled napkins that she had crushed in her hand when she fell.

“Oh gods… I’m so, so sorry, Felix!” They watched as his brow furrowed and he captured the wrist of one fussing hand in his. Just as he was about to open his mouth to give a – likely scathing – retort, she suddenly perked up with a determined glint in her eye. In one fluid motion she reversed his hold and yanked them both to their feet. “I know! Let’s go back to my house so you can change, I have one of your shirts from last time!”

With a quick tug and a brusque ‘see ya’ over her shoulder, the two were off! The drenched blond stumbling after the exuberant bluenette bounding gracefully across the grass, moving so fast that they were quickly out of earshot. Leaving behind the cacophony of vocalized reactions of their friends and classmates to such a proclamation…

“Wait—”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN—”

“…Last time?”

“Do you think that means they…”

“DUDE!”

“…my ship…”

“Damn, get it, bro!”

“Did you see…”

“I told you so!”

“What just happened?!”

“Ridiculous! If you hadn’t already told me, Sabrina, I would not have believed it.” Chloe’s muttered words, although not loud, cut through the din and silenced all present. Twelve sets of eyes landed on the duo as if seeking answers or insider gossip.

“Wait! What do you know, Sabrina?” Alya questioned with narrowed eyes.

“Well…” she hesitated, looking around nervously before dropping her eyes to the checkered pattern of the blanket she sat on. “My dad said, the other night…”

~~~SCENE 13: The Confrontation~~~

No one was really sure how it started but the newest ‘golden couple’ was in the middle of an argument during their free period. Madam Bustier had left to gather more materials for later coursework. Everyone watched with silent interest as Marinette and Felix seemed to forget that the rest of the room existed, teasing smirks and flashing eyes only for each other.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah!”

“You and what army?”

“I don’t need an army, I can best you all by myself.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

The class collectively held their breath as the two edged closer and closer. The space between them on their shared bench disappeared as they leaned in, eyes locked together as grey gazed deeply into blue, nose to nose and humid breaths mingling as they continued to banter. Marinette’s bangs brushed Felix’s forehead as he tilted his head and his features adopted a more cocksure appearance, as if he was challenging her. She leaned ever closer, their lips only a whisper apart as their voices dropped in timbre. Time seemed to slow to a stop in the classroom. The anticipation was so thick that it was choking every ambient sound into silence…

“JUST KISS ALREADY!”

In an instant the spell was broken. Everyone jumped at the screeched words and searched for the source. There stood a panting, flushed Juleka. Her hands planted on her desk as she leaned aggressively forward, a fierce fire burning in her eyes as they bored into Marinette and Felix – as if the strength of her will alone would make it happen. A few groans were heard as the couple leaned away with widened eyes, only now realizing they had an audience.

“What did you say?” questioned the pale blond, his lips turning down into a frown.

“We’re saying you don’t need to hide your relationship anymore,” Ivan smiled softly.

“Guys, what…” the young designer chuckled incredulously.

“We know you two are dating,” answered Kim plainly.

Marinette and Felix’s ruddy complexions mirrored each other, their eyes looking like they might pop from their sockets. The two tripped over their words to contradict but neither were able to get more than a “we’re not—“/”that’s not—” as their tongues tumbled about uselessly in their mouths.

“Don’t even try to deny it, we’ve all seen you two. It’s not like you’re very subtle, Dupain-Cheng!” Chloe crossed her arms and stared down her nose at them.

The tall blond boy was the first to recover, his brow furrowing. “Wait, what do you mean you saw us?”

“I saw you cuddling in the park,” Adrien offered softly.

“And in the library,” Nathaniel contributed while Juleka got herself under control.

“All of you know that Marinette is very physically affectionate, especially when she’s cold.” Felix defended.

Alix scoffed, “What about holding hands and carrying her bags?”

“She’s also incredibly clumsy and regularly hurts herself. I do that to keep her from faceplanting every three meters,” he argued while Mari chuckled softly.

“You two regularly share drinks,” Lila rolled her eyes at the gasped “sorry for not believing you, girl!” coming from Alya beside her.

“And made him bento lunches!” squealed a lovesick Rose.

“Hey! I told you I made those on a whim!” the young designer cried.

“Then why were there so many hearts?” Mylene innocently questioned.

The bluenette blushed, “They were supposed to be flowers…I’m not very good at cutting shapes with a knife.”

“Well, Ondine and I saw you all lovey-dovey at the movies,” presented Kim with an eyebrow waggle.

She crossed her arms and huffed, “I was researching 1950’s American fashion for a design!”

“Uh…dudette…we saw him kiss you,” Nino nervously murmured. Although, by the way the whole class gasped, they had heard him. The Moroccan boy quickly added, “it was on the head!”

Marinette squeaked and looked at the slightly pink boy beside her. Felix turned to meet Nino’s eye, “…she was ill with a fever and I had my hands full, if you will recall.”

Lila’s tone turned salacious, “That doesn’t even cover the scandalous moments…”

“You did seem awfully cuddly playing video games at lunch the other day,” Max stated while adjusting his glasses.

“B-but th-that was…” the designer stuttered weakly before being interrupted.

“Sabrina’s father caught you hooking up in the park,” Kim smirked and winked towards Felix, who showed the telltale signs of a flush spreading up his neck and ears.

“Not to mention the lipstick and scratches!” Alya leaned towards Marinette and whisper shouted, “I didn’t know you had it in you, girl!”

“And he has clothes at your place from last time,” purred the Italian.

“That’s…” the bluenette swallowed hard, “I-I-I was tr-trying to save a k-kit-kitten from the tr-tree in the p-park. F-Felix ca-caught me when I s-slipped, damaged hi-his clothes… He left his sh-shirt for m-me to repair it and he for-forgot to p-pick it up.”

The blond kept his eyes down, his voice was quiet but still carried in the small classroom, “I recently discovered a new allergy to a certain laundry detergent that makes me very itchy and I’ve been scratching myself…”

“Um…what about the lipstick?” a bashful Adrien murmured.

“I hav-haven’t gotten m-m-much sleep lately…” began the designer, pressing her palms together in her lap nervously.

“…She has a tendency to fall asleep on me if I carry her,” Felix finished quietly, his grey eyes holding unreadable emotions.

“We’re just friends,” they flatly replied, their expressions reflecting some internal conflict while unable to meet the other’s eye.

Most of the students collectively groaned again as they hunkered back down into their seats, unable to stand that phrase. Fourteen sets of eyes exchanged looks as the information sank in. The couple’s explanation made a lot of sense in hindsight… Nino and Kim had known Mari for years and she was overly physically affectionate. ‘Plus Alya knows the girl was even more so with cold weather,’ the Moroccan boy thought. He and Kim shrugged it off, who were they to judge? Many others are willing to brush it off as a misunderstanding now that the excitement had passed.

On the other hand, Adrien seemed to grow more flustered since the declaration of friendship, shooting furtive glances towards Marinette – his imagination running wild with the idea of cuddling with the soft, sweet-smelling baker girl. ‘Maybe she and I…’ He was jolted from his daydreams by a tap from Nino’s pen on his arm. The model’s ears and cheeks felt like they would permanently sport a pink coloration. A few Adrienette fan club members squealed quietly as they observed his reactions. However, there were a few classmates that were still suspicious – such as Chloe and Sabrina – that quickly found home with the handful of Felinette shippers as they charted their theories. Some things just felt too convenient and damn, if they didn’t make an adorable couple…

REET! REET! REET!

The akuma alert popped up on every phone in the class, everyone opened it to see the location— BOOM!

RIIIIIING!

A plume of dust rose above the rooftops from a few blocks away and the school’s evacuation bell blared overhead. The students quickly grabbed their things and calmly evacuated away from the action. They all failed to notice a still pink Felix Graham-Agreste grab the hand of a flustered Marinette Dupain-Cheng before running furiously in the opposite direction…

~~~ BONUS SCENE~~~

The akuma took longer than usual. They were both off their game. First, the heroes had been distracted and submerged in the thoughts contained within their own minds. Their communication suddenly became stilted and awkward, filled with embarrassed laughter that would die out like a sputtering engine running out of fuel. Then it was as if they were hyperaware of each other – every touch, glance, and proximity – causing them to jerk away at the most inopportune times.

The worst part?

It wasn’t caused by the akuma.

The issues were not resolved by the Miraculous Cure. So, after recharging – and getting a peptalk from – their kwamis, they rendezvoused on the top of a tall building where they would not be overheard. Feet dangling over the edge, they decided to clear the air.

“I just can’t believe they thought we were dating!” Ladybug cried, her hands fluttering anxiously around her head.

"That cover story about the kitten in the park was genius though." Chat Noir chuckled, “I’m honestly not as surprised. You did suddenly act much closer to me after you revealed your identity.”

“Excuse moi? I was NOT the one that revealed to you! I seem to recall saving your leather-clad butt from being revealed to all of Paris.” The spotted heroine poked him in the shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah…” the black-cloaked hero rolled his eyes, “and you happened to drop your transformation right as we barreled headlong into that broom closet. You landed right on top of me!”

“Fine, I saved both of our asses, Alley Cat!” she grinned teasingly.

Chat threw his head back with a joyous laugh, a more natural grin spreading across his face as he flirtatiously waggled his eyebrows. “Alley Cat who? Our classmates seem to think I’m a House Cat now, Bugaboo.”

Ladybug’s cheeks pinked under her mask at the implication of his joke, her eyes breaking away from his to refocus on another point on the skyline pensively. Had he said something wrong? The lines of Chat’s mouth tugged down at her reaction, leaning closer in an attempt to meet her eyes again when her whisper froze him in place.

“…is the idea of being MY kitty so ridiculous…?”

His eyes widened. Chat swallowed thickly, his mind supplying the same sweet moments their classmates had witnessed and more as his face burned up. Perhaps even a bassinet, family dinners, and kisses. Gods, that sounded…purrfect. A wide grin blossomed from the ashes of his frown and he leaned into her peripherals to catch her eye with a flirty wink.

“Does that mean my princess would like to become my queen?”

The bug-heroine’s eyes snapped to meet his, filled with enough warmth and love to knock the air from his lungs. Within seconds, a playful sparkle and a bright smile broke across her face as she leaned right into his personal space to peck his cheek. His face grew hot, smile lopsided, and he could swear his spine melted a little.

“If you can catch me, Kitty,” launching herself from the building with a laugh as she swung away.

Shaking himself from his stupor, he pulled out his baton and plunged off the side. Challenge accepted. He had a bug to catch!

‘Looks like our classmates will have more to talk about tomorrow…’

**Note: I plan to write a sequel eventually!

[mcheang]

Reality

As Nino lays out his plan for targeting Gabriel, Alya points out one thing. “Sure I know Ladybug can fix the mess an akuma causes. But Gabriel will still be mad. He already doesn’t like you, Nino. Don’t push it. For all we know, Gabriel might threaten to transfer Adrien to a different school. Remember, he totally lost it when Adrien lost his book?”

Nino: oh…right. I didn’t think of that. Then, who do we target?

Marinette grins sneakily. “I know someone who can get upset very easily.”

Adrien: really, who?

Marinette: i don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Later, as the parent-teacher meeting commenced, Marinette bursts in, “Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in like this. But I forgot I needed Mrs Rossi’s signature for Lila’s trip to Achu.”

Caline: Marinette, can’t this wait?

Mrs Rossi: what trip to Achu?

Caline and Marinette look at her. “You know, the trip she’s taking to join Prince Ali in teaching children for free. It’s such a shame that she won’t be able to attend the school’s weeklong camping trip but it’s for a good cause.

Mrs Rossi stands up. “My daughter is doing what?”

Caline: why are you so surprised, Mrs Rossi? Lila went to Achu for months less than a week after she joined Dupont.

Mrs Rossi: she told me the school was shut down from akuma attacks!

Marinette pretended to look faint. “Oh no, was it because of her special lying disease?”

Mr Cesaire looked skeptical. “A lying disease…? Do you mean compulsive lying?”

Gabriel almost regretted not being able to akumatize Mrs Rossi, if only to make up for losing Lila Rossi as a spy since clearly Alliance can no longer use her. Oh well, there’s always the fallout when her sheep find out.

Alya and Nino were recording this with open mouths. Adrien wasn’t so bothered by this after seeing more of Lila’s hateful personality.

Needless to say, the parent-teacher conference was delayed as Sabine then angrily wanted justice for her daughter if she was indeed framed by a liar. Gabriel had to admit the teaching faculty here was lousy to fall for Lila’s reception, but that’s what makes this place so prime for his akumas! Why did he send Adrien here again? Oh right, it’s the most prestigious school and he’ll never hear the end of it from Andre because Chloe would never accept his perfect son being in another school away from her.

Later, after Marinette received an apology from Mrs Rossi, she agreed to bring Lila up. Alya and Nino looked apologetic. “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Marinette looked behind her. “It’s ok. Keep recording. If Mrs Rossi isn’t angry enough to attract an akuma, her daughter will be. Nothing akumatizes Lila like being caught.”

Lila was immediately suspicious when Marinette of all people came to get her, however it was subdued by Marinette’s poorly hidden dislike and the fact that it was Gabriel who asked her to come.

Certain that Mr Agreste wanted her help against a stupid boy’s resistance team, she agreed.

Boy was Lila surprised to see Sabine and her mother standing in front of the classroom instead of Mr Agreste, who looked disappointed in her.

Uh oh. Now Lila could see Marinette’s triumphant face and could see what had happened. Her one consolation was that the team’s plan to anger a parent into akumatization had failed. Though she was also irked she couldn’t get akumatized and make that loser suffer for exposing her like this. This is worse than Ladybug’s exposing her in front of Adrien!

As Lila was dragged by her mother to the principal’s office, Caline tried to resume the parent-teacher conference though it was clear all now felt disheartened by her incompetence.

The resistance was confused. Angry Rossis and disappointed parents were around. Where was the akuma?

Eventually they had to give up. What a waste of free period.

Not entirely a waste though since Lila was now exposed. Alya sent the recording to the whole class as the parents left.

Outraged gasps were heard everywhere.

Nino: why didn’t you wait till class was about to start? Then we could prepare to record the akumatization.

Adrien: if Monarch didn’t come out for Mrs Rossi and Lila, I doubt he’ll come for-

Reverser promptly swooped by, ready to turn Lila nice and honest.

Adrien: never mind.

Marc was deakumatized and the class apologized to Marinette for not believing her.

Lila returned to class, sulky in her forced apology, not really bothered by their angry reactions now that she was expelled. Only Marinette’s smug attitude infuriated her. Having been forced honest by Reverser, she had confessed to having duped two other women into being her mothers and had initially planned on running away to join one of them. Her mother now has their numbers. It was a nightmare.

Alya: who else can we akumatize for the greater good? Mayor Bourgeois?

Marinette: I don’t think our plan works if we our expected target isn’t even akumatized. We’ll have to think of something else.

Monarch is disappointed he won’t get to akumatize the akuma class again for a while. Ah well, it can be a favor to Adrien.

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

Felix v Chloe

Lemme just say, I hate the way Felix is treated in the show and the fandom compared to Chloe

Somehow, someway, the characters can forgive Felix and even have him on the team at the end (?????), and all of his actions are completely absolved due to his backstory: “Oh he was just doing all that for his survival! He was just an awkward quirky guy with no social cues all along!”

But Chloe’s backstory even being brought up for an explanation is immediately shut down, it doesn’t excuse a single thing she’s done! Hell, it doesn’t even explain why she’s the way she is because Mylene has an absent mother and she turned out fine! Doesn’t matter that Mylene had a father that actually taught her how to act and didn’t just buy her love with constant gifts and abuses of power, there’s just no excuse!

Both act in their own self interest, turning to the villain to get something they want, but nonono, Felix, without apologizing once mind you, is redeemed and forgiven while Chloe gets sent off to NY with her mother! Everyone wins!

Not to mention Felix did arguably worse than Chloe

Felix was the one who actively made Hawkmoth more powerful by giving him the miraculous (not to mention giving HM the ring) while with Chloe, Hawkmoth got the miraculous on his own and she was just along for the ride basically. Then Felix came back and snapped away everyone. Chloe sent everyone away when she was akumatized as well, but at least we could see where they went and there wasn’t any confusion as to whether they got snapped to some pocket dimension or straight up disappeared. Oh, and she was akumatized by Gabriel who was literally manipulating her along with Tomoe and Lila at the time??

I feel like any arguments for Felix about worrying for his or Adrien’s safety, any excuses, should’ve been thrown out the window in the season 4 finale. After that point he had full control over himself and gave up Adrien’s free will, and he still came back to snap everyone away! Now, I would absolutely be fine with this (cept the Adrien part) I mean trauma with humans isn’t going to go away just like that even when there’s no immediate risk anymore (unless you get a girlfriend apparently). My issue with that is how this same sentiment isn’t given to Chloe whatsoever, her lash outs aren’t given any thought beyond “oh she’s evil for the sake of it”, ignoring how the trauma of her mother leaving her and treating her like garbage would still affect her, and it drives me up the wall

Not to mention the show actively tries to pretend that the adults surrounding Chloe’s life don’t have any influence on her whatsoever, even though they obviously do and Tomoe and Gabriel literally set her up as a scapegoat in this season. Somehow her father isn’t responsible whatsoever for the way she was raised, her mother leaving apparently didn’t even affect her behavior because we’re genuinely supposed to believe this teenager is just an evil person. Somehow the storyline of her being set up as a scapegoat by two grown ass adults is literally ignored by the narrative including some of the fans

Oh but Felix gets all the sympathy regardless of what he did

Right.

I wouldn’t hate Felix or his character direction so much if it wasn’t a direct slap to the face for Chloe, not to mention giving the Chloe stans fuel! I mean, it literally proved their point that Chloe deserved a redemption because full grown adults who’ve done worse and a guy who’s done nearly the same shit as her are forgiven and “redeemed”, ridiculous (I say that a lot huh)

[purplecatghostposts]

Miraculous Ladybug characters and what character in Mario Kart 8 I think they choose as well as if they’re good at the game, based on the vibes I get from them!

Marinette: Used to play Peach but now is purely loyal to Toadette and Toadette ONLY! Canonically great at video games, so Mario Kart is naturally included.

Adrien: CAT PEACH. If anyone else chooses Cat Peach, he immediately gives them a DEVASTATED look and they swap immediately. Very good at the game, he has three stars on every cup!

Alya: Daisy. She will FIGHT anyone else trying to pick Daisy. Nobody is taking Daisy from her. She’s pretty decent at the game but is mostly just here to have fun and maybe kick some ass.

Nino: Strikes me as either a Yoshi guy or Shy Guy guy, though he’s chill if other people wanna pick them. Also decent but has a grudge against certain NPC opponents.

Chloé: Pink. Gold. Peach. Threatens to sue if anyone else takes her. She’s actually pretty good at the game and tends to be VERY agro. No mercy, she needs to WIN.

Kagami: Has swapped between a lot of different people but settled on Link. Incredibly intense in-game. She’s willing to battle to the death.

Félix: Isabelle from Animal Crossing. Do not let it fool you. He wants to WIN and he will red shell you at the worst time to do it.

Luka: Claims he’ll ‘Choose anybody’ but he’ll go for Rosalina if given the choice. He’s just trying to have fun and is 90% of the reason why controllers are not thrown at the TV. Juleka claims he’s “Going easy” on everyone so less feelings will be hurt. (She’s right, he loses on purpose a lot.)

Juleka: Dry Bones or Dry Bowser, she thinks they’re both cool. Doesn’t usually get top 5 if everyone is playing but consistently gets 6-7th! Hitting people with red and blue shells is kinda cathartic for her.

Rose: Sometimes picks one of the baby versions of the characters, but other times chooses one of Bowser’s kids, like Wendy or Roy. The former is for when she’s playing to have fun, the latter is for when she’s gunning for top 3.

Zoé: Pretended to be bad at the game until she realized she didn’t need to spare anyone’s feelings. Very good at the game, knows a lot of the techniques to give herself mini boosts. She LOVES Boswer Jr., especially after becoming Kitty Noire.

Sabrina: Genuinely one of the best players… When she’s not playing with Chloé. Otherwise she’s always letting her win, aiding her the best she can, and pretty much always gets whatever rank is directly behind hers. Claims her favorite character is Baby Peach (it’s actually King Boo).

Kim: DONKEY KONG. Also occasionally Wario. He’s actually kinda terrible at the game but he tends to spams items and makes that everyone else’s problem.

Max: Chooses one of the Inkling Kids (he strikes me as someone who also probably loves Splatoon). He’s good at the game but with how many other people are also good at the game, sometimes he gets overshined. He’s better at fighting games.

Alix: Waluigi 100%. She thinks he’s hilarious and while she doesn’t actually care, she WILL bring up ‘Waluigi should’ve been in Smash Ultimate’ At some point, because she thinks it’s funny. Not great at the game, is here purely to spam items and fuck over as many people as possible.

Myléne: Terrible at the game but plays to have fun! Likes to play Boswer because Ivan has cosplayed as him before.

Ivan: Also terrible at the game but likes losing alongside Myléne. Likes to play as Luigi, though occasionally chooses Dry Boswer if no one else has.

Nathaniel: Rarely plays but will choose Rosalina or Lemmy if he does. Likes to play against other casual people but usually dips if too many competitive people are playing at once.

Marc: Surprisingly really good though isn’t always good about asking if he can have a turn or not. Loves to pick the animal crossing villagers if they haven’t been chosen.

Lila: Claims she’s won a championship before. Is actually terrible at the game with the worst luck and very rarely plays. The first time she was gonna play with the class, she selected Cat Peach. Everyone stared at her as Adrien gave her the most devastated look. She panicked and faked an injury to stop playing altogether.

[runawaycatwalker]

Part 25. Best Friend Erasure (Oni-Chan 2.0, part B)

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Description below the cut

Catwalker approaches Ladybug as she stands on a roof.  She points off in a far away direction.

Catwalker: Ladybug!  Oni-Chan is back, and this time her powers are—

Ladybug: I need you to go to one of the rooftops way over there and stay right there.

Catwalker: Are you sure?  I could do more here if I—

Ladybug: Just.  Go.

Catwalker: ...Yes, Ladybug.

Ladybug swings towards a rooftop where the other heroes have congregated near a Find Adrien billboard.  Viperion looks up at Ladybug.

Viperion: Ladybug!  Why isn't Catwalker with you?  Did you talk to him about... that thing I told you?

Ladybug: We talked.  He wasn't hiding what you thought he was.

Viperion: Oh.

Ladybug stands in a ‘take charge’ pose right in front of the billboard with Adrien’s face.  Most of the heroes gather in to look towards her, but Carapace looks off towards the direction Catwalker took instead.

Ladybug: And everybody, gather around! You should all know this.  Catwalker is on probation until further notice.

Viperion: Probation?  Isn't that kind of extreme?

Ladybug: I have my reasons.  He's keeping his miraculous, but you're the people I'm going to rely on to beat the akumas.  For now, consider him an observer and just ignore him.

Carapace starts using his shield as a phone to text his girlfriend.

Carapace (texting): Rena, why is Catwalker allowed to keep his miraculous?  We *have* to stop him from causing more damage.

Rena Furtive (texting): I'm watching him, don't worry.

Cut to Rena hiding on a rooftop as she uses her flute simultaneously as a telescope to spy on Catwalker and a phone to tap out a reply to her boyfriend.

Rena Furtive (texting): But if you want to try to get more info out of him as Carapace...?  I'm sure Ladybug wouldn't mind...

Carapace leaps towards Catwalker, who looks at him suspiciously.

Catwalker: Carapace?  What are you doing here?

Carapace: Ladybug said you were alone, and I thought you shouldn't be.

Catwalker: You should go back.  Ladybug needs every hero she can get.

Catwalker perches himself on the ledge of the building he’s atop of.

Carapace: Then why did Ladybug send you all the way out here?

Catwalker: She needs me.  I just... need to wait here.  Until she comes up with a plan for how she can use me.

Carapace: If you want to help, we can always work to protect Adrien Agreste.

Carapace opens his arms wide and tries to give a disarming smile, but he can’t help but show his underlying malice.

Carapace: If you know anything at all, I'm all ears!  Even if it's something you need to keep on the down low, I can be your confidant.  I'm a hero, after all!  You can trust me to keep secrets.

Catwalker, completely uninterested in going through another round of ‘my best friend pretends to like me when I know he’s secretly mad at me’ points his finger in accusation.

Catwalker: I see what you're trying to do and I'm not going to fall for it.

Carapace: Whaaat?  I'm not trying anything!

Catwalker: Nino.

Carapace: How did—I mean, who's Nino?

Catwalker: You forgot to tell Adrien that he shouldn't reveal secret identities to anyone.

Carapace, completely off put, tries to make this new bit of information add up.

Carapace: He told you about me?  Why would that even come up?  Unless...  Did he tell you he had a superhero for a best friend to try and convince you he didn't need you?

Carapace points an accusatory finger at Catwalker. Catwalker tries to placate, but he’s distracted by a burst of red light in the distance in the direction of the other heroes.

Carapace: And then you forced him to leave when he didn't want to and—

Catwalker: You have it all wr—Oh no.

Oni-Chan rapidly teleports between temporary heroes (all of whom had just been staring towards the giant face of Adrien) and hits them with her sword in quick succession: Vesperia, Viperion, King Monkey, Purple Tigress, Polymouse, Pegasus, and Pigella are all frozen before they can do anything to fight back.

Oni-Chan: You!  Won't!  Get!  In!  My!  Way!  Anymore!

Oni-Chan lunges for Ladybug, but she manages to swing out of the way with her yo-yo and escape, unable to be tracked because she was the only member of the group who hadn’t been staring at Adrien’s face.

Catwalker: Come on!  Ladybug needs our hel—

Catwalker leaps into the sky to follow Ladybug, but as he is in midair, a green sphere forms around him.

Carapace: Shell-ter!

After the sphere hits the ground, Catwalker looks up at Carapace, who stands at the edge on top of the nearest building tauntingly.

Catwalker: I don't want to fight you.

Carapace: Good!  Because you won't be able to fight anyone!

Catwalker: Look, we're both heroes right now.  We need to be able to work together to help Ladybug.

Inside the sphere, Catwalker kneels and looks down dejectedly.

Carapace: Ladybug doesn't want your help!

Catwalker: Maybe not right now, but—

Carapace: Why did you think she sent you so far out of her way?  She can't even stand to look at you!  No one needs you.  No one wants you.  You should just give up your miraculous and save us the troub—

Carapace’s attention is caught by something happening across the skyline of Paris: with the Agreste mansion at the epicenter, a flurry of black ribbons launches into the sky, each one racing toward a Find Adrien billboard.  Where each ribbon touches, the place where Adrien’s picture should be has been replaced by an empty white void.

Carapace (to himself): What the...?  ...the Adrien billboards...  All the pictures of Adrien...  He's gone.

Carapace points down at Catwalker accusingly and brings his shield in close.

Carapace: Why couldn't you have just done nothing and let his real friends help him?  Some magic ribbons just wiped Adrien from existence!

Catwalker: That's impossible.  A sentimonster probably just got rid of the Adrien ads.

Carapace: You don't get it!  He exists nowhere!  And I'll prove it!

Carapace uses his shield to navigate to the pictures on his phone.  His hand touches at the shield when it displays a picture of Nino and Adrien smiling together, nothing erased.

Carapace: I'll show you how this picture of the two of us is—

Catwalker: Wait.  Carapace, you need to drop it.  Now.

Carapace (to himself): Huh...?

Catwalker: Adrien is alive, I promise—

Carapace (to himself): He's still here with me...?

Catwalker: —but she's going to find you if you keep looking—

Oni-Chan pops in and out of existence just long enough to stab Carapace in the back, sending his body off the edge of the building.  Below them, Catwalker looks up and destroys the sphere around him.

Oni-Chan: Begone!

Carapace: Ack!

Catwalker: No!  Cataclysm!

Catwalker leaps into the air, arms reaching towards Carapace’s petrified body, all while the shield Carapace dropped in the commotion falls next to them.

Catwalker: I've got you!

Catwalker tearfully embraces the frozen Carapace from behind.

Catwalker: I am so sorry.  For everything.

Catwalker continues to hug Carapace tight as a flood of emotions spews forth.

Catwalker: I never wanted to hide behind a mask, especially not with you, Nino.  You've always encouraged me to be myself.  Even though I've never been able to fully show you everything I am, you accepted the 'me' I could give.  It meant so much to know that you cared, not just about the idea of me, but the real me.  And now I'm less 'me' than I've ever been.  Maybe it would have been better if I did nothing. But when she tried to kill me, I just... ran.  Ran and insisted I was fine like I always do.  And now you're the one paying for my rash decisions and I feel so powerless to stop it.  I hope one day you'll forgive me.

Catwalker places Carapace’s body upright and touches his back in a gesture of farewell.

Catwalker: I wish I could talk to you for real.  But I can't.  I can't leave when I might be needed.  Even if everyone hates that I'm here, I've got to help however I can.

Catwalker gives Carapace a fist bump in one final promise of their friendship.

Catwalker: I'll come home as soon as it's safe again.  I don't know how long it'll take, but I promise I will come back.

Below is the same image as above, only without text:

[theerurishipper]

Do you deny the bad stuff Adrien does??? Like when he refuses to take no for an answer to ladybug rejecting his confessions,when he crosses boundaries?, like in gladiator 2 whare he spread out that he and ladybug are a couple when they aren't???

Can you explain???

I don't deny Adrien's flaws. I deny all the crimes the salters assign to him because he dares to disagree with their queen.

The "he refuses to take no for an answer" talking point just shows me that the people saying that have no understanding of narrative tone, because they clearly can't differentiate between what the narrative treats as a joke and what it wants us to take seriously. You can criticize the fact that they treat it like a joke, but you have to assign that flaw to the writers. In-universe, these actions are exaggerated for the sake of comedy, because ML relies on absurdist humor. Which is why it is ridiculous to use "Adrien doesn't take no for an answer" as a critique. It's disingenuous and it makes me want to just ignore anyone who takes it seriously, because they're just fishing for reasons to salt on Adrien instead of coming up with constructive critique.

It's the same as people who go on long, obsessive tirades about how Marinette is a creepy stalker, cause no, she's not. It's a joke. It's exaggeration for comedy. Him flirting and her being exasperated is supposed to be funny. Her breaking into his house in goofy ways and having his schedule mapped out is supposed to be funny. It's up to you to find it funny, and you can certainly talk about the fact that it shouldn't be used as a joke, but pretending this is some character flaw and not a joke is a bad argument, and makes me less inclined to take anyone who thinks that way seriously.

And in Glaciator 2, he didn't spread rumors about their relationship? It was some magazine that did that (they got voted couple of the year or something), and he was just making jokes about it. And he can be called out for that (and he is called out in the episode), but conjuring up imaginary flaws to make him look worse is not helping your point, because it just makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about. I hope that clears it up.

Thank you for your ask!

[rosekasa]

13 is a classic that will never get old

checked what it was and was immediately like Yes. it's always so funny

13. “I forgot you’re dating my other identity” kiss from this list by @/kisspromptsforthelovesquare!

Waking up is slow and sticky, one of those naps that feels almost comatose -- spatial compass trying to calibrate, one arm numb, taste buds still rebooting. Marinette doesn't even try to open her eyes. No point. Naps like this means she's definitely too late for whatever it is she was procrastinating. And she's already drifting off again, anyway.

Slowly, a warm pair of arms pull her in.

Oh, right. She'd fought an akuma. This nap wasn't procrastination. It was deserved.

Blindly, she reaches up and strokes his jaw. "You awake, chaton?"

Chat Noir groans softly. She imagines his face in her pillow, or smushed into her giant cat plushie.

"No," he says. "Body achy. Leave me alone."

She momentarily forgets her own soreness. He sounds exhausted. After the body slam he took against those bricks today, she's surprised he even managed to make it to her balcony. She hardly can, some days, but she knows it cheers him up to cuddle with his civilian girlfriend after difficult fights. The only hard part is having to pretend she wasn't also present during those fights, especially today, when she's so tired she can't even remember getting back to her room.

Cupping the back of his head with one hand, she musters up her strength to move and kisses his neck.

"Do you want macarons?" she asks, kissing him again.

He groans again, shifting around. "I want to sleep," he says. "Your mattress is so uncomfy."

Excuse him. He didn't seem to have much of a problem with her mattress when he was sneaking into her room every night for, quote unquote, 'platonic' sleepovers before they started dating. Now he calls it uncomfy?

Though, to be fair, it does feel a little harder than usual.

He searches blindly for her face until he finds her lips. She lets him kiss her, even though his nose is cold, and in the meantime runs her hand through his hair.

Huh.

She can't feel his hair.

Why can't she feel his hair?

Marinette opens her eyes to the open sky. And her own transformed hand. And Chat Noir's decidedly untransformed face.

"Fuck!" Ladybug yells, and sits up on the roof tile. She grabs hold of his shoulder (his civilian shoulder, clad in a white overshirt--) and shakes him hard. "Chat, wake up."

He must hear something in her voice, because Chat Noir-- Adrien opens his eyes.

He looks at her.

She looks at him.

Reaching up, he touches his collar, where her lip balm had transferred from his neck.

"So I'm guessing the macarons are off the table now?" he asks.