#curious what you guys think because currently we have no hints

[daisynik7]

Teach Me, Senpai!

Pairing: Ino x f!reader x Nanami

Rating: Explicit - MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Word Count: ~2.6k

cw: smut - threesome, spit-roast, PIV sex (doggy style), blow job, cunnilingus, vaginal fingering, Nanami is sorta a perv oops, Ino calls Nanami senpai, a hint of a breeding kink, use of pet names, everyone is an adult here in case that doesn’t come across clearly

Summary: Takuma Ino is your silly, golden retriever boyfriend who brings you along to meet his mentor, Nanami Kento. You’ve heard a lot about him, mostly because your boyfriend constantly praises him for being so amazing. You underestimate how close their relationship is until Ino starts asking his "senpai" for pointers on how to spice things up in the bedroom. What better way to learn than to demonstrate, right?

Author’s Note: I'm currently in heat, can you blame me? I tried my best to edit and proofread, sorry if there are any glaring grammar mistakes or typos, please ignore! Tagging @todorosie @crazychaoticizzy @gojoloves @brightnessemma @batafuraikisu (I know you didn't ask, but I'm tagging you anyways bc ily and I think you'd like this lol). I'm sorry if I missed any tags, Tumblr wouldn't let me tag you! Likes, reblogs, and/or comments are always appreciate, thank you for reading! MDNI divider by @/cafekitsune.

“You’re going to love him, I swear!” Ino insists, dragging you down the hallway of the office building, past empty cubicles. It’s past five and all the employees are out for the remainder of the day. 

“I just don’t see why I have to meet him,” you argue, following him reluctantly.

“Because he’s important to me! He’s my mentor, my senpai! I have the highest respect for him, and I think it’s cool for you to finally put a face to a name. Aren’t you curious about the guy I’m always talking about?”

“Not really,” you answer, rolling your eyes. Honestly, you’ve grown sick of hearing your boyfriend gush so much about this Nanami fellow. You’re starting to feel jealous about how highly he thinks of this other man. “Why are we even here? This seems like a very random meeting spot.”

“We debrief here sometimes after our missions. He used to be a salary man, so I guess they still let him use the office.” They arrive at a closed door at the end of the hall. Ino knocks twice, a bright smile on his face, a little too excited for this.

A well-built blonde man answers, donning a blue dress shirt and spotted tie. You immediately notice how large his hands are, clenched to the door frame, staring at you from behind steampunk glasses. “Hello.”

“Nanami! Hey! This is my girlfriend, the one I’ve been telling you about.” You introduce yourself to him with a handshake, confirming that they are indeed very big compared to yours. You feel guilty noticing something that can be misconstrued as inappropriate, even lewd in most cases, so you quickly let the thought fade, stepping inside the room. 

It’s a normal looking office, quite barren, except for the few papers stacked on the desk and a map posted on one of the walls. There’s a single chair facing the table, so you take that as Ino stands beside you, arm around your shoulders. “Thanks for letting us stop by. I really wanted to introduce you two to each other.”

Nanami nods curtly, leaning on the edge of the desk in front of you. Your eyes almost drift toward his crotch, curious about his size, but you resist the temptation, ashamed of yourself for even imagining something so completely wrong, especially with your boyfriend right next to you. “You said you wanted to speak to me about something,” he says, focusing on Ino. He removes his glasses, tucking them in his breast pocket.

“Ah, right! Well, I’m a little shy to ask, especially since I haven’t mentioned it to her yet…” Ino scratches his nape nervously, tugging his beanie to cover his reddening ears.

You look at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”

He bites his lip, choosing his words carefully before speaking. “Well, you know how you and I have been…you know, having some trouble in the bedroom?”

At that, you immediately freeze, gaping at him, shocked. A strangled noise comes out of Nanami’s throat, equally jarred.

Ino continues. “I want to get some advice from someone I really trust, like Nanami.” He glances between you, waiting for a response, an uneasy grin on his face. 

You’re stunned, heat surrounding your entire body now, mortified that your boyfriend would casually bring this up without any warning whatsoever. It’s no secret to either of you that your sex life has gotten a bit lackluster recently. Besides missionary and the occasional blowjob, there isn’t much else that you’ve tried in the bedroom. Neither of you are that experienced to begin with, and you both lack the confidence to initiate something different, something new. It’s a matter that you’ve been meaning to resolve privately. Or so you thought. 

No one speaks for what feels like an eternity. You’re tempted to grab your boyfriend and haul ass out of there, hoping this entire conversation can be forgotten or played up to be some kind of cruel, sick joke. However, you remain seated, curiously anticipating Nanami’s response. After all, you haven’t flat-out refused yet, and neither has he. 

Nanami clears his throat. “What kind of advice do you need?” You’re surprised that he’s even entertaining the idea. 

“I just want a few tips on how to spice things up,” Ino answers. “Make it more enjoyable for her.” He puts his arm around you again, squeezing your shoulder. You don’t know whether to punch him or kiss him; the arousal growing between your legs says the latter. The thought of another man who’s practically a stranger instructing your eager boyfriend on how to pleasure you is titillating and definitely something different, something new. You won’t deny it: you’re intrigued. 

Nanami crosses his arms over his chest, avoiding either of your gazes, focused on the floor instead. “I will help, if you both consent to it.”

Ino turns to you with puppy dog eyes. “Babe, you cool with this?”

Too invested now to refuse, you reply, “Sure.”

Your boyfriend lets out a sigh of relief, the tension relaxing in the air surrounding you. “Sweet. Me too.” He looks at Nanami, a bright smile on his face now, clearly thrilled about this. “What’s first, senpai?”

Nanami clears his throat again, standing up straight, taking a step towards you. “Well, foreplay is always a good place to start.”

Ino sticks his finger up. “Right! Foreplay. Uh, do you have a pen and paper so I can take notes…?”

“You don’t seriously need to take notes on foreplay, do you?” he snaps. “It’s as simple as kissing and touching on all the right spots.”

“What spots are those?” 

“It’s probably better if you ask her.” Nanami points to you, making direct eye contact. “Where do you like to be touched?”

You swallow hard, timid from being put on the spot like this. “Just the normal places.”

“The two of you have to communicate better if this is ever going to work out,” he says, a hint of impatience in his tone. “Show him.”

Committing to this fully now, you stand up, grab Ino’s hand and brush it against your lips. “I like it when you kiss me. And when you touch my lips.” 

He smiles at you. “That’s good.”

“You can also put your fingers in my mouth every once in a while. If you want,” you suggest, licking the tip of his middle finger. 

He smirks. “Yeah. I definitely want that, too.”

“Sometimes, it’s better to learn by doing it,” Nanami interjects, watching the two of you carefully. 

You gaze at Ino’s lips, then into his eyes, nodding. He leans in, kissing you slowly. He’s always been a good kisser, a great one, actually. The problem is that he’s too gentle with you. 

“Kiss her neck,” Nanami orders, arms at his sides now, hands clenched into tight fists. 

Ino follows, trailing down your chin until he’s at your neck, sucking on your skin. 

“Put your fingers in her mouth. She said she likes that, right?”

Ino hums, tracing the outline of your lips with his thumb before pushing it in. You surround him, using your grip to pump him in and out of you. His other hand drifts to your waist, teasing the elastic of your pants.

“Are you getting wet, sweetheart?” Nanami’s voice is low and sultry; the use of the pet name has you unraveling much quicker than you expect. Without thinking, you breathe out, “Yes,” pushing his fingers deeper down your throat. 

“Fuck, baby,” Ino moans, hot on your ear. “Where else do you want to be touched?”

You pull him out, swallowing your thick saliva, placing his hand between your legs. “Touch me here.”

Ino, eyes glossy with lust, slowly shimmies your pants down your legs, revealing your soaked panties. “Oh shit, you really are wet, fuck.”

“Eat her out,” Nanami demands. There’s a desperate gruffness in his voice that’s undeniable now, and one glance is all it takes for you to realize that he’s hard, an impressive bulge strained in his slacks. He shoves all his belongings off the desk, making room for you. “Here. Do it here.”

Ino curses under his breath, cock stiff in his sweats, leading you to the table, where you sit at the edge, spreading your thighs open for him. He slips your panties off, licking his lips before diving into your arousal, tongue pressed firmly on your clit. “Fuck,” you moan, squirming from the sensation. 

Nanami walks to the other side, near your head, staring at Ino’s face buried in your pussy. Instinctually, you reach for him, pulling him by the belt, tongue hanging out. His eyes flit to yours, surprised when you say, “Touch me, senpai.”

Ino moans into you, clearly turned on by it. Obliging, Nanami hoists your shirt off, leaving you in just your bra, which he hastily unhooks to bare your chest. Bending towards you, he wraps his lips around one breast, suckling at your teat, his hand working the other nipple, pinched between his fingers. You’re close to your climax; you just need a little bit more. As if he can read your mind, Nanami releases you with a pop, saying, “Suck on her clit until she comes. Fuck her with your fingers at the same time.” His sudden vulgarity spurs you on, grinding your hips against your boyfriend’s face, pulling Nanami back to your tits.

Ino muffles, puckering his lips around you, sliding his middle finger inside you. You throw your head back on the desk, ecstasy rippling through your entire being, knees shaking with sensitivity. 

“Yeah, she likes that,” Nanami purrs, flicking his tongue on your peaked nipples. “Put another in. One at a time, until she’s full.”

Ino manages to fit three of his digits inside you before you orgasm with him latched to your swelling bud, coating him in your slick. He doesn’t stop licking until you’ve come down from your high, pushing his head away, overstimulated. Nanami removes himself from you, unbuckling his belt, watching intently as your boyfriend slips his wet fingers inside your mouth. “Taste yourself babe. You’re so fucking good.” You slurp your own juices off him, pussy throbbing, aching to be fucked. 

“You like that, don’t you, sweetheart?” Nanami murmurs, shimmying out of his pants, erection protruding from his briefs. He palms it, rubbing his thumb over the wet spot oozing from the tip. “Ino, tease her a little bit.”

“Yes sir,” he salutes, pulling down his bottoms, cock sprung against the hem of his sweater. He taps the tip of his dick on your puffy bud, smiling wide as you writhe for him. “Damn, baby. I’ve never seen you this wet before.”

“It’s a good thing you came to me then, isn’t it?” Nanami mentions, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. “Now turn around for us, princess. It’s going to feel so much better for you like this.”

You obey, readjusting your body to bend over the desk, ass pushed towards Ino, desperate to be used by them both. Your boyfriend positions his cock at your entrance, huffing, “You ready, baby?”

“Yeah. Fuck me, Ino,” you moan. “Fuck me hard.”

He glides in slowly, stretching you out little by little, easing into you. Once he’s all the way in, groin pressed to your ass, he starts thrusting at a steady pace. It increases gradually until he’s pounding away at you, hitting that sweet spot over and over until your eyes glaze over, in a total state of bliss. 

Nanami studies you, enjoying the show until he notices you staring at the bulge in his briefs, tongue lolling, practically begging for him. He smirks at you. “You want all your holes stuffed, don’t you, sweetheart?”

You nod, drool leaking from the sides of your mouth, eyes weepy, peering up at him. How could he resist such a cock hungry slut like you? Especially when you look at him like this? 

“I’m going to give you my cock then. Think you can take it?” he asks, shoving his underwear off, cock flopping against his abdomen. 

“Oh yeah, she can fucking take it,” Ino grunts, hands gripped to your hips, still fucking you with fervor. “Right babe?” He delivers a fresh slap to your ass, which echoes off the walls of the office. 

“Yeah, I can take it,” you mumble, gulping down the spit collecting on your tongue. 

Nanami hums, satisfied with your answer, inching his dick closer to your mouth. “Open up for me, sweetheart.”

You do, swallowing him until he bottoms out to the back of your throat, testing your gag reflex. He stays still, staring at you, relishing this lewd sight. “Ino, your girlfriend looks so pretty with my cock in her mouth. Don’t you agree?”

“Fuck, yeah. So fucking hot how she just takes it. She’s a good girl, always has been,” he says from behind you, spreading your cheeks open to watch himself disappear into your pussy with each thrust. 

“You’re a lucky man,” Nanami mutters, tipping your chin up, gazing into your eyes. “And you’re a lucky girl, aren’t you? Getting fucked by your boyfriend and his senpai.” Nanami begins to move, pumping himself in and out of your hungry mouth, your tongue running along the underside of his dick. 

Ino shrugs his beanie off, running his fingers through his hair, damp with perspiration. “Oh fuck, baby, you’re taking us so fucking good.”

“Like a proper slut,” Nanami adds, tracing the outline of your lips, glossy with spit, stretched around his shaft. “Do you suck his cock as good as you suck mine?” 

You nod, swallowing your gag reflex as the tip of his dick hits the back of your throat with each solid thrust of his hips. Your second orgasm approaches quickly, your pussy clenching Ino’s cock, though you can’t say anything while gobbling up Nanami’s cock, so you let it be, continuing to be spit-roasted over the desk, thirsty for their cum.  

“Fuck, I’m going to come soon,” Ino says, slowing his pace. “I’ve never…I’ve never come inside her before.”

Nanami, still relishing his blow job, asks, “Why not?”

“Too scared to get her pregnant,” he admits. It’s true; Ino always pulls out, even when you beg him to finish inside you. You appreciate that about him, but in this moment, you want nothing more than his cream pie filling you up. 

“Is she on birth control?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Once again, as if psychic, Nanami responds, “Then I’m sure she wouldn’t mind getting your load just this once. Right, sweetheart?”

Your words are muffled. Nanami pulls out, cock wet with your spit, stroking it in his fist. “What was that, princess?”

“I said yes! Give it to me, Ino!” you whine, shaking around him. 

“Fuck, are you sure, baby? You sure you want it?”

“Give it to me. Want you to breed me,” you blurt out. 

“That’s it, that’s a good girl,” Nanami coos, slapping the head of his cock on your tongue. “How about here? You want it here too?”

You glance at Ino, who’s watching. He nods, licking his lips. “Yes. Want your cum inside me, senpai,” you reply. 

He smirks, pushing himself back inside you, his length sliding on every inch of your tongue. “Good girl.”

It doesn’t take long for both men to come, Ino shooting his seed deep into your womb, stuffing you full, Nanami spurting ribbons into your mouth, guzzling down each drop. They pull out slowly, cocks sensitive now from the stimulation. You roll over onto your back, catching your breath, looking up at them with a satisfied smile on your face. 

Nanami cups your cheek in his hand, thumb brushing delicately against your skin. “Such a messy girl. I think she needs a few more lessons. What do you think, Ino?”

Your boyfriend’s eyes are blown wide, staring at the lewd sight before him, your pussy leaking with his cum, your mouth drooling with Nanami’s. “Yeah. Definitely needs more, senpai.”

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Alot of my high school experience was ruined because my life was rough, i have a request that maybe eddie knows reader didnt get to experience things she wanted to, sneaking around at school to make out, hiding hickeys, a guy sneaking through her window to take her on an adventure, being told in the middle of the night to meet them in the woods so they could fuck, was crying instead of getting fingered on prom night ect so he wants to make the reader feel special and plans all these exciting things for her and does it in a way that feels natural? (Lets be honest eddie doesnt have to be a teenager anymore, he'll crawl through your window regardless)

Request by anon

18+, mdni. Fluff.

❤️

Eddie had a plan. It involved you- his princess.

There was a list that he had made of all of the things you didn't experience in high school that he was determined for you to experience now.

You had confessed all of the things to him a few nights ago and he couldn't stop thinking about it. It kept niggling in his brain until he couldn't take it. He had to do something for you.

Most of your high school life was spent fighting interdimensional monsters with Steve and the rest of Hawkins heroes. No wonder you weren't able to have a normal high school experience.

There were also a few family troubles that caused you to be stressed throughout high school as well.

And so the list was born. Some things were easy, like sneaking around and making out. Granted it wasn't sneaking around and making out all over school like you wished to experience but it was something.

None of your friends knew that the two of you were together, the relationship had only come about after the upside down was finally destroyed and you and everyone else in Hawkins could have peace from all the spooky shit that had been happening the last few years.

❤️

The first experience on the list was just about to begin, Surprise you by climbing through your window and Take you on an adventure.

He was currently trying not to fall off your roof as he made his way to your window.

He smiles when he sees you reading on your bed and gently taps your window. You peer up and a smile caresses your face. "Eddie!" you rush over to open the window and he clambers inside.

"Sweet princess, will you join Eddie the brave on a new quest... a quest for adventure?" you giggle and nod looking delighted.

"Of course my knight" you take his hand and he gestures to the window. He was hinting for the two of you to make your exit out of the window. "Eddie, we can't. What if we fall?" he grins and kisses you.

"Come on sweetheart. This is an adventure after all" he's practically bouncing on the balls of his feet to get started and you couldn't help but feel endeared by his excitement.

"Okay, let's go" he grins and bows to you, then helps you climb out of the window and climb off the roof.

"Where are we going to go Ed's?" you're curious about where exactly the two of you could have an adventure when it was almost midnight.

"That's the point of an adventure sweetheart, we just see where the night takes us, now onwards" he holds your hand all the way as the two of you walk into the night.

...

It's maybe a few hours later when you sneak back into your room feeling flushed and giddy, you collapse on the bed and giggle at how amazing the night was.

You're so exhausted that you fall asleep instantly but not without one final thought that tonight was one of your wishes to experience. If you weren't so tired you would think your boyfriend was up to something using what you told him.

You dismiss the thought and succumb to sleep.

❤️

For the next few days Eddie ticked off a few more things on the list but tries to make it look like they are occurring in a natural way.

Giving you the best prom night- of course there wasn't another prom that you and him could go to but Eddie had talked Steve into throwing an impromptu prom themed party and everyone had to dress in formal wear, drink punch and dance to cheesy as fuck songs; that Eddie would only listen to for you.

To sober up he took you outside where the two of you danced under the stars and the glow of the moonlight.

"I love this. This is amazing Eddie" you murmur as you rest your head on his chest and sway to the music. He kisses your forehead and a Cheshire cat grin forms on his face.

"What do you say that I give you the proper prom experience sweetheart?" He waggles his eyebrows, you giggle and swat him playfully.

"Let's try and sneak past Steve" you whisper and he gapes, clutching his heart in mock horror.

"I feel like I'm a bad influence on you princess" he winks and then the two of you snuck upstairs to one of Steve's guest bedrooms and Eddie drove you wild with his fingers, you clenching so tightly around him that Eddie almost came himself. (The two of you didn't leave the bedroom that night)

Of course if he ended up crossing off another item on the list which was to have a little fun in the woods near Steve's house then that was no one's business but you and Eddie.

"What's that on your neck?" Steve asks as you and Eddie join the others for breakfast, pretending that you've both been fast asleep. Nancy and Robin exchanged knowing looks, Robin shaking her head in amusement as you try to unsuccessfully cover your hickey.

"What does it look like dingus, I know it's been a while since Brenda but you remember a hickey right?" she teases him and he rolls his eyes at her.

"Of course I do, I just didn't realise that her and Eddie were uh...together" he shrugs and Robin snorts.

"Steve, they've been together for three months" at learning this Steve makes a little oh face then goes back to making pancakes.

Nancy delicately pulls something out of your hair and holds out a bright orange leaf. "Busy this morning huh?" you exchange looks with Eddie and both of you erupt with laughter.

Eddie meanwhile is pleased as punch that he's managed to tick all of the things off the list. Maybe he should write a new one?

After all he's never had sex in a pool before and Harrington's one is just right outside...

🤭❤️❤️

[comics-and-fanworks]

Hi! I found this Drabble and was curious on how you’d write your own story around it because of how amazing you are! So, if it’s not too much trouble, do you think you could write a Maribat story around this prompt please? Thank you!

“It was gentle moments like this that made her life worth it.  Of course these moments were few and far between, but they were there, and that’s what mattered.  She leaned into the gentle touch, the loving way his fingers ran through her hair.  The rise and fall of his chest.  The warm, beautiful sound of his heartbeat against her ear.  It was wonderful, so wonderful she knew that it wasn’t real.  

She opened her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks as she looked around her cold empty apartment living room.  It had been another dream of something that was impossible.  She had been alone for so long, going outside as little as possible so that her curse of misfortune would not spread.  But she longed to make that dream a reality.

It was strange though, she had similar dreams before, but from what she could tell after studying them was that in every one it was the same boy.  Despite never seeing his face even once, despite never once meeting them, she longed for them.  Longed for the gentle love that they showed her, even if it was only for a moment.”

Hi! So sorry for taking so long! I’m currently in college and it’s killing me slowly, there’s been a lotta ups and downs, and my mental health is realistically not where it should be. Thank you so much for being patient with me, I really should have gotten this done sooner. Also I didn't know which batboi you wanted so I put them all on a wheel and spun it. I also rewrote some of the scenes in Miraculous like Lila's first appearance to make her a bit craftier and such.

I love this prompt! Thank you for suggesting it to me and for your sweet words! I hope you like this super cute Soulmate AU!

Also heads up this is super long and only loosely adheres to canon! The thing is so long because it took so long for me to get this done, one thing led to another and here we are. This thing is pages long and has 23,741 words. P. S, some of this was written on my phone sorry if the formatting is inconsistent! Also, let me know if I miscalculated ticket prices or made mistakes, and I’ll fix it! How I did the math was I googled a Disneyland Paris ticket price, took the highest value, multiplied that by the number of students going (They had a pass for ages 3-17 that I used for the students), and then did adult ticket prices for the two teachers. I multiplied those by seven days and added the results. My result came up to about 9,667 not including tax, so I chucked on a few extra thousand to account for Lila pocketing some of the money. 

TW: swearing, mentions of bullying, and minor violence, hints of PTSD, mentions of death

~~~~~~~~

Marinette knew the minute she had her first dream about him. She was sitting on a couch in a library working on her designs. A faceless man approached her, holding two mugs, and set one down in front of her, gently kissing her head. Despite her inability to identify this man, she felt safe with him and could feel love and affection swelling in her chest. He set his mug down and sat beside her, chuckling as she snuggled up. In comfortable silence, they worked on their own projects, not a care in the world.

When Marinette woke up that Saturday, she immediately called Alya. "Girl guess what? I just had my first soulmate dream!" She quickly removed the phone from her ear, correctly predicting the excited shriek from Alya. "Oh my gosh, Marinette! This is amazing! Did you see his face? Was it a guy? Was it Adrien?" Marinette jumped out of bed, an extra bit of pep in her step. It was going to be a great day, she knew it! "Yes, it was a guy. I couldn't see his face though... so that rules out Adrien." She hadn't even thought of that. Everyone knew that you wouldn't see your soulmate's face in your dreams until you met them! She would have to face the reality that Adrien was not meant to be hers. Alya heard her tone change, and thought quickly, "That doesn't necessarily mean that! People are reporting that they haven't seen their soulmate's face even though they had already met them in real life because the time wasn't right! Maybe Adrien is your soulmate but now isn't the right time because his supervillain of a father who could make Hawkmoth look like a saint won't let him date. Or girl have you considered that your soulmate could be a superhero? Lois Lane stated that she knew her soulmate before she saw his face in her dreams because he had a secret identity that obscured it! Your soulmate could be Chat Noir," Marinette made a face as she styled her hair, " or one of the vigilantes from Gotham! The way I see it is that you have three options. 1. It is Adrien, it just isn't the right time. 2. You haven't met them yet. 3. It's a superhero." Marinette laughed, "What if they're a supervillain?" "No way girl. You’re too sweet and pure for a villain. Anyways-" An Akuma alarm sounded, cutting their conversation short. "Welp, that's my cue. I gotta go Mari, duty calls!" And with that, Alya hung up to chase down the Akuma, while Marinette shouted out, "Tikki! Spots on!"

There she was, hiking through the woods with her soulmate. She still couldn't see his face, but she immediately knew why they were there. He wanted to show her someplace special, somewhere he'd never taken anyone before. Eventually, they found a stream, and she turned to see her partner rolling up his pant legs and taking off of his boots. "Throw a stick in the water to see how strong the current is. If it's too strong we'll have to turn pack." His voice was slightly garbled so she couldn't identify it, but she could clearly hear what he said. Picking up a stick she tossed it far out into the creek, watching as it lazily floated away. With that, she took off her own hiking boots, and the two made their way into the creek. The water was cold and she almost lost her footing, only to be caught by strong arms and pulled against her soulmate's broad chest. Marinette couldn't help the blush rising to her face as he held her. She could feel his gentle breath by her ear, along with the steady rise and fall of his chest. She could fall asleep listening to his heartbeat. He whispered, "Careful love. I don't want you getting hurt." He helped her stabilize and the two continued to make their way up the creek until-

Marinette woke with a start to the sound of her alarm clock. She cursed the thing, of course, it had to go off when she was getting to the good part. She realized as she rushed to get ready for school that she was able to identify something about her soulmate, they were both adults in this dream. She had been having them for a few months now, but this was the first time she could figure out any detail about when they would meet. It also didn't rule out any of Alya's theories either. She kissed her Maman and Papa and sprinted to school, thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't late. However, she was in for a surprise when she arrived at Mrs. Bustier's classroom. There was a new girl sitting in her seat, while the whole class gathered around her. Alya noticed her and waved her over. "Marinette! This is Lila Rossi! She just transferred here and she's from Italy! Guess what girl? She knows Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale too! She saved Jagged's cat and he wrote a song for her, and she taught Clara some of her most famous dance moves! She also works with Prince Ali on environmental charities!! She's so amazing!" Marinette paused. Jagged Stone doesn't have a cat, he has Fang the alligator, and Prince Ali focuses on charities for children, not the environment. She could also remember Clara doing all of her own choreography, so her suspicions were already raised. She had serious doubts about the girl in front of her, and despite wanting to voice them she held her tongue. "It's very nice to meet you, Lila! I'm Marinette the class president, welcome to Dupont." Lila looked her up and down and gave her a saccharine smile which only raised Marinette's suspicions even more. "Hello, Marinette! I hope we can be good friends! Alya tells me you like fashion, I happen to be a personal friend of Hubert de Givenchy, so maybe I can introduce you to him!" Marinette's eyes narrowed, Hubert de Givenchy had passed away in 2018, and if Lila really knew him she would have known that. Her classmates looked on with bated breath, clearly believing Lila knew these famous people.

"Oh, you knew him?" Lila nodded, "I was so sad to hear when he passed away in 2018. He really was an inspiration of mine," Marinette said, watching as Lila's eyes widened, but was impressed with how quickly she recovered, "Oh I know! I misspoke earlier, I meant his nephew!" Before Marinette could reply, the bell rang. Alya turned to her and said, "Marinette I hope you don't mind. Lila has really bad tinnitus from when she saved Jagged's cat from getting run over by a plane. She struggles to hear so we gave her your seat." Marinette looked around and noticed no one was in their normal seats. If Lila had her seat, it meant the only place left to sit was alone in the back. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I really would have appreciated it if you waited for me to get here. I have no problem with Lila sitting there if she needs it I just wish you would have-" Lila cut her off with fake tears, "Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to cause problems I just wanted to be able to hear the lessons! I can move to the back if that makes things better." Shit, she was good. Marinette looked around at her classmates who were now glaring at her. Did they not hear what she said? She had no problem with Lila sitting there if she needed it, she just wished someone would've let her know! "Don't worry Lila, you can stay there it's not your fault. I guess Marinette has decided to have an attitude today," Alix said, glaring at Marinette. "I just said I wished someone would have let me know!" Marinette shouted. "Girl it's just a seat it's no big deal. Why are you acting like a child about this?" Alya crossed her arms looking at her. "It's not even about the seat," Marinette started, "It's about you making a decision that affects me without talking to me about it!" "Well, we figured that since you're our Everyday Ladybug you'd have no problem with it. Come on Mari, you're supposed to be nice." Adrien scolded, and before she could defend herself the second bell rang, signaling the start of class.

She dreamed of walking down the streets of Paris, her soulmate nowhere in sight. However, she felt happy, it was a good day. She was going to her favorite bulk fabric supply store and texting some friends about the project ideas that danced in her head. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she knew this path by heart. She was planning on buying fabric to make a new spring line when she ran straight into someone, how embarrassing. Looking up, there was her soulmate, with his clouded face. He chuckled and asked where she was going in such a rush, and she stuttered out an apology. He offered to walk with her, making Marinette smile, they must have done this before many times.

The next few months were rough. Later that first day she had gone to talk to Alya and had presented evidence to prove Lila was a liar, but her best friend had simply shaken her head and told Marinette that jealousy was not a good look on her. Marinette had been stunned, she had nothing to be jealous about until Alya told her that everyone could see Lila had a crush on Adrien. Alya's words still burned in her brain, "I can't believe you Marinette. To try and ruin another girl's reputation because of a crush. You need to take a good look in the mirror." Marinette couldn't fathom why her best friend wouldn't listen to her and decided to go for a patrol as Ladybug. Then while she had been passing by the park, she had overheard Lila telling Adrien that she was the fox hero, Volpina. She had to say something, Lila might not realize how much danger she was putting herself in by making those claims. So she swung down, (and tried her best to keep her cool) and explained to Lila that there was no fox hero and that if Hawkmoth had overheard her she could be in danger. Of course, that caused Lila to get akumatized. To make things worse, a couple of days later Lila had cornered her and threatened her! Despite everything, she still believed her classmates would come around and see the truth.

That was exactly five years ago. Marinette really should have had less faith in the people around her. Lila got her expelled, Alya disavowed their friendship, and Adrien betrayed her worst of all. In his endless quest to avoid any confrontation, he pressured her to keep quiet, and when she didn't he turned his back on her. Marinette had quit trying to expose Lila years ago, but the brunette had kept her promise. Adrien just watched as their class left her out of their plans, destroyed her things, and ripped up her work, among other things. When she confronted him about why he was allowing this to happen, he just shook his head and told her it never would have if she had done what he said. Her heart shattered, and she prayed that her soulmate wasn't Adrien. The only people she had in her corner were her parents, Luka, and Kagami (who had quickly seen through Lila's bullshit after she'd tried to lie her way into Marinette's room), Nino, and Kim (they snapped out of it after Lila accused Marinette of pushing her down the stairs), and she had the newfound support of Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose. The last three didn't want to rock the boat or have Lila's wrath directed towards them but had expressed seven months ago that they figured out Lila was lying, but after Marinette was nearly knocked into the path of an oncoming car, they began to be more vocal in their opposition. Chloe had also stepped back from tormenting Marinette, the two girls never talked, but were never hostile. Her friends couldn't do much while they were in school, and since they were busy with their own lives, Marinette truly felt alone. Even under the mask as Ladybug she was alone, witch Chat Noir had gotten so frustrated with her constantly refusing his feelings, that he'd almost completely stopped showing up two years ago. Her only solace was that Paris seemed to be on her side with that one, and whenever Chat Noir did emerge he was met with anger from the citizens he'd broken his oath to. On top of all that, Marinette hadn't had a soulmate dream in years, which terrified her to her core. Did her soulmate die?

"Tikki, I haven't dreamt of him in years! What's wrong with me!?" Marinette sobbed, holding onto a pillow on her bed. Most of her days ended like this, with tears. The Kwami were kind enough to protect her from akumas during these times, after realizing that Marinette was only putting herself at risk by bottling up her emotions. Her room had changed since the Lila Era began. She had taken down all of her photos, save a few, her bright pink walls seemed to lose their hue, and she only ever designed for commissions, simply because she knew she needed a portfolio for college. Tom and Sabine had tried their hardest to get their little girl out of Dupont, but her transfer papers kept getting "lost." They tried to get her into therapy, but with Hawkmoth around every therapist had a waitlist that was beginning to enter into years. Tikki was growing more concerned with each passing day, her Chosen was close to breaking. "Oh baby bug, there's nothing wrong with you! Soulmate dreams are different than regular dreams because they're tied to real people in this world. The interesting thing about them is that they show up when you need them." "But I've needed them! I need to know I'm not alone, that I haven't been abandoned, and that the universe doesn't hate me enough to take away everything," Marinette just sobbed harder before she froze, "What if Adrien really is my soulmate and that's why I'm not having dreams? I'm unlucky as it is, so this would be on par for me," Tikki was horrified that Marinette would even think that, and before she could say anything, a new voice cut her off. "No. That brat is not your soulmate, I won't allow it." There was Plagg, in her room, holding a familiar silver ring in his paws. "Pigtails after what he's done to you, as Adrien and Chat Noir," Marinette and the other Kwami gasped, "I won't let him. I won't let him hurt you anymore! Marinette I am so sorry, I should have done this a long time ago, but I let my gluttony and my pity for the kid cloud my judgment. I let him fail you inside and outside of the mask, Kitten I promise you I will never let a black cat holder hurt you again." Plagg nuzzled against her cheek, gratefully accepting Marinette gently kissing his head letting him know all was forgiven. "Besides! His karma is coming for him, but I have to warn you too. He's going to try and pursue you romantically because he doesn't like who his soulmate is." Marinette perked up at that, "Adrien knows who his soulmate is?" Plagg nodded, "Yep. One Lila Rossi. A liar and an enabler, how fitting. He had rejected her because at the time he was still convinced that Ladybug was his soulmate, but now that that's not true, he's turning his attention toward you. He found out from Alya that you had a crush on him, and so even though he knows you aren't his soulmate he's going to try and pursue you anyways." Marinette's brows furrowed, deep in thought. No wonder Lila was so obsessed with Adrien, and it explained why she wanted to get close to him. What Marinette needed was a plan, so she hopped out of her bed and made her way down to the kitchen where her parents were talking. "Maman, Papa. Would it be alright if I took a mental health day tomorrow?" Her parents seemed to light up at the thought, seeing this as an opportunity to give their child a break from her tormentors. "Of course! In fact, why don't you take the whole week off? You're ahead on your work and haven't missed any school this year. We'll call the school tomorrow and take care of everything." Sabine said, right before she and Tom were tackled by their daughter for a hug. With time to plan, Marinette made her way upstairs to begin her work.

It was gentle moments like this that made her life worth it.  Of course, these moments were few and far between, but they were there, and that’s what mattered.  She leaned into the gentle touch, the loving way his fingers ran through her hair.  The rise and fall of his chest.  The warm, beautiful sound of his heartbeat against her ear.  It was wonderful, so wonderful she knew that it wasn’t real.

She opened her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks as she looked around her cold empty room.  It had been another dream of something impossible.  She had been alone for so long, going outside as little as possible so that her curse of misfortune would not spread.  But she longed to make that dream a reality. It was strange though, she had similar dreams before, but from what she could tell after studying it was that it was the same boy she had dreamed of before.  Despite never seeing his face even once, despite never once meeting them, she longed for them.  Longed for the gentle love that they showed her, even if it was only for a moment. Marinette quickly snapped out of her sorrow when she had a realization: She had dreamt of her soulmate again! She couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. A knocking on her trapdoor snapped her out of her thoughts, and her mother's voice brought her back to reality, "Marinette sweetie? Are you up? I have some news. We couldn't have timed this better, it's your spring break, so we don't need to worry about problems from Damocles or Bustier! Also, your class has left for their trip, so there's no way you'll bump into them! Alright, that's all I've got, go back to sleep." Marinette couldn't sleep, not after hearing that great news! The kwami were already waking up and grabbing their food from the minifridge she kept in her room, while Marinette dashed to her wardrobe. She had made herself an outfit a while ago but was too afraid her classmates would ruin it. It was a short light pink sundress, perfect for today's weather. She was going to spend the day out on the town enjoying her life. She had a considerable chunk of fun money saved up from her commissions and decided that she deserved a self-care day.

She had just left her favorite brunch spot and was making her way to her fabric shop of choice, texting her friends who had gone on the class trip. Marinette was the only one who was purposely excluded from it, and while her friends tried to drop the trip, Mrs. Bustier made them go because if that many people dropped there would be no way the class would hit their fundraising goal. Marinette was pretty sure some of that money was going straight into Lila's pocket, but she wasn't class president and had no way to get her hands on the class's records. Marinette didn't know the average price of sending 13 students plus two teachers to Disneyland Paris, but 12,000 euros seemed like a lot. And the worst part: she was still expected to contribute! Marinette was so wrapped up in the sheer ridiculousness of it all, that she didn't realize where she was going until she ran right into someone! As she began to fall, she felt a strong arm grab her by the waist and suddenly she was standing upright and looking up at the man she had just run into. He was stunning, at least 6'2 with medium-length dark hair he kept neatly styled. His tan skin radiated warmth, and his muscles were clearly defined by the dress shirt he was wearing. As her eyes trailed up from his sharp jawline, she froze when she saw his eyes. They were a rich green, held a deep, almost mysterious gleam, and were as sharp as a panther's. Like the cat, there was something wild about his eyes, hidden just below the surface. The only thought running through her head was a simple, 'He should be Plagg's next holder.' Suddenly the man staring at her let out a deep chuckle that rumbled in his broad chest, "What's the rush little Lily?" His voice was deep, with a sort of sharpness to it, like this kind of conversation was new to him.

"I, I am SO sorry sir! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran into you! I hope I didn't mess up your outfit!" Marinette was in full panic mode, the most attractive man she'd ever seen in her life and she just made a fool of herself. Instead of the rage she expected and was used to, he only smiled, "No harm done. I don't have anywhere I have to be, and besides you only bumped into me, you didn't spill anything on me. Can I ask where you're going? My family has just arrived from the U.S. and I was exploring the city." Marinette blushed, he looked so intimidating, but so far he'd been nothing but kind. Still, she had learned never to drop her guard, but... If he wasn't from here she supposed it wouldn't hurt to be polite. "I'm going to some of my favorite fabric shops in the fashion district... I'm a clothing designer and I was going to pick up some to start working on a spring and summer collection," She decided to take a gamble, "If you have nothing to do I can show you around." He smiled, "I would love that Ms...," "Marinette, and you are?" "Damian." Marinette smiled as the two began to walk toward the fashion district together, "Well it's very nice to meet you, Damian, even if it was in interesting circumstances."

When Damian heard his father talking about going to Paris to investigate the Hawkmoth situation, he quickly volunteered to go along as well. His official pitch was that he was closest in age to the young heroes of Paris, and would have an easier time getting them to talk. He also said it would look good to add a bit of international travel and education abroad to his resume. However, he had a secret reason for wanting to go to Paris: to meet his soulmate. Younger him would have scoffed at the thought, but he was not the same person he was when he first came to his father. Thanks to his brothers and Jon (mostly Jon), he had grown as a person, and now that he was close to graduating high school, he was beginning to think about the rest of his life and how he wanted to spend it. Of course, there were the staples, going to college, starting at least 5 charities for animals, and inheriting the cowl, but a part of him wanted more. A part of him didn't want to be alone. So he started looking back at all the soulmate dreams he'd been having since he was thirteen. Even though he'd dismissed it at that age, he at least had the foresight to write everything down, and using his Batfamily-honed detective skills, he deduced his soulmate was somewhere in Paris. One dream stood out to him, he was standing on a sidewalk in Paris when his soulmate crashed into him. From the way she spoke in the dream, he deduced that this was when they would meet. So there he was, standing on the exact sidewalk in the exact spot. He knew how ridiculous he must've looked as he texted his family, his official story being that he was going to look for clues about the heroes. Right as he was about to reply to a snarky text from Tim, he felt a small mass crash into him with way more force than it should have. He quickly spun around and caught the woman, and as he stabilized her he was able to get a good look at her. The first thing Damian noticed was how small she was, at least compared to him, however, she did have quite a bit of lean muscle. Her skin was pale, with a slight pink undertone to contrast her shoulder-length ebony hair. Her cheeks were lightly dusted pink with small patches of freckles, and her lips were ruby red. She almost resembled a porcelain doll. She was gorgeous, but what really took his breath away was her eyes. Framed in long dark lashes they were a beautiful deep blue. They reminded him of an ocean, deep and rich and sparkling under the sunlight. This had to be his soulmate. He learned her name, Marinette, and she invited him to go with her to the fashion district. Damian was content, while she may not recognize him as her soulmate yet, it was undeniable that she felt the same pull towards him that he felt towards her.

Before she knew it, Marinette had spent her entire spring break with Damian. She couldn't help it, she felt drawn to him, like she needed him to breathe. What surprised her the most, was the dream she had the night after she met him. She was sitting atop a building as Ladybug, watching the sunset, and next to her with the black cat Miraculous, was Damian. They watched the sun sink below the horizon, and suddenly the sky erupted into fireworks of all colors. The show ended with a sentence spelled out in fireworks "Thank you Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit." She knew the moment she opened her eyes that Damian was her soulmate, and from the texts, she'd received, he knew it too. The two of them agreed to take it slow, they were still very young and had just met. However, as the mini vacation went on, the pit of dread in her stomach began to grow, and she would have to return to school. She had told Damian what was happening with Lila, Adrien, everything. Needless to say, Marinette was surprised when he told her he would be in her class, and that he wouldn't let them do anything to her (Little did they know Tom and Sabine heard them, and Damian had just won their approval). So when he arrived to pick her up, he made sure they got to Dupont early. Marinette gave him a tour, and as they were walking he stopped to talk to people. "Don't you normally hate talking to people?" "Normally I do my Lily, but in this case, I do not mind. However, I do have an ulterior motive. By talking to these people, I've created an alibi. Look over there," Marinette looked over and saw Sabrina and Alix watching them and whispering, "Those are two of that liar's sycophants right? Well now that they've seen that you spent your time before class giving me, a new student, a tour, if Lila claims that you did something to her, two of her own followers have seen evidence disproving it. So either they mention that there's no way you could've done it because they saw with their own eyes that you have not even interacted with her, or they say nothing and you know what kind of people they are." It was brilliant. Marinette was a little miffed she hadn't thought of it before. The two walked to class, and Marinette whispered, "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. Adrien will give you the most problems. I heard from a friend that he was interested in me, even though he already knows who his soulmate is." "Is it Lila?" "Yes. I know enough about her to know that she's incredibly selfish, she hated it whenever Adrien gave me any attention, because-" "Because he was her ticket to fame and fortune, and if he had picked you she would be locked out." "Exactly. I do not doubt that the second she hears your last name, she won't give a shit about Adrien and will focus her full attention on breaking us apart." Marinette was shocked when Damian told her his last name, she may be oblivious but even she knew who the Waynes were. Plagg joked that it was the Universe trying to make up for how shitty it had been to her. She was not expecting the wicked grin Damian gave her as they arrived at their classroom. "I would like to see her try."

Before the two could reach their seats in the back of the room, Marinette was yanked away from Damian by Kim and Nino, "We don't know who you are but you don't deserve her!" Kim shouted, holding onto Marinette. "Yeah! Mari's the nicest dudette the world has ever seen, if you hurt her we'll kick your ass!" Nino said as he put himself between Damian and Marinette. There was a small moment of awkward silence before the group laughed. Marinette had warned him that her two best friends would try something like this, especially after she told them that he was her soulmate. Taking their seats at the back of the class, the group chatted about their spring break, until Lila walked in with the rest of the class. She readied a fresh accusation to fling at the ravenette but caught herself just in time. WHO was that gorgeous man sitting with Marinette? He put Adrien, a freaking model, to shame. Everyone else seemed to share that sentiment, and Alya was about to start demanding answers when they were spotted. The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as the man glared at them. Marinette waved to Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel, who quickly took their seats near the group of outcasts while Damian Batglared the rest of the class. "Can I help you?" He asked in an icy tone, one that demanded immediate answers. Alya balked, "We, we were just curious about you, since you're, um, a new student here." Damian pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed, "My name is Damian Wayne, yes, from that family. I came to Paris with my father for a business trip, and to find my soulmate, Marinette," Little mutterings of "no way," "That's impossible," and "I didn't think that bitch would have a soulmate," filled the room. "I plan on staying until graduation, and from there I will be going to college with Marinette. Let me make one thing clear: I will not hesitate to retaliate against anyone who tries to hurt my soulmate in any shape or form." Nathaniel could be heard whispering, "Oooh, I like him," To the rest of their little group, who nodded in agreement. After waiting for a second for anyone to challenge him, Damian turned back to Marinette, and almost like a switch flipped, began showing her pictures of his cat.

Lila couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Damian Wayne was in her class, the richest, most eligible bachelor in the world was in her class... and his soulmate was fucking Dupain-Cheng! She swore this had to be some sick joke. There was no way that THE Damian Wayne (whom she had instantly recognized because she had seen him once at a charity ball her mother had taken her to and committed his face to memory) had someone as pathetic as Marinette as his soulmate. The universe truly was cruel. She'd thought she was lucky when she found out Adrien was her soulmate and was devastated when he told her over the break he was going to pursue Marinette. But now? Now Lila knew she must be the luckiest girl in history! Glancing over at Adrien confirmed her belief, the dumbass pushover glared at his rival, and she knew he wasn't going to back down. This was perfect. All she would have to do is separate Marinette and Damian, use the mountain of evidence against Marinette that she made over the years to convince her future husband that his soulmate was no good, and then bam! In a few short years, her name would be Delilah Wayne! Adrien's persistence would only help her case, especially with Marinette's former crush on the blond it would be so easy to frame her for cheating. She would have to be careful though, just from the look in his eyes she could tell he would be much sharper than the rest of her classmates had been: he would be her greatest challenge yet. For now, she would bide her time, and perfect her plan.

Lila made her first move at lunch. She and Alya were sitting at a table, observing Marinette and her friends talking with Damian. "He's so kind to them, why is he such an asshole to us?" Alya muttered. Ah, an opening. "Well, I don't think it's really his fault. I mean he did say that he had come to Paris to find his soulmate, and well, Marinette IS a pathological liar," Lila said as she picked at her food. Alya nodded, "I just can't understand why they still hang out with her! They know what she does to you, they know she's a bitch!" "I think it's a mix of sunk cost fallacy and denial Alya. Nino and Kim have known her since they were little, so I think the reality of Marinette being a bully just can't compute for them. As for Juleka, Rose, and Nathaniel, I think they feel indebted to her or something," Alya nodded, agreeing with her logic. "Girl you're so in tune with people it's crazy!" 'Yes I am,' Lila thought, 'You have to be able to read people to trick them.' "Alya... Can I tell you something? Something bad happened between Adrien and me over the trip." The reporter's head snapped around to her, "What did that bastard do?" Lila began to channel the sorrow she felt when Adrien confronted her over the break, "He... He told me he didn't want me!" She wailed, just loud enough for Damian to overhear, "He called me a liar and all of these awful names, and he told me he was in love with Marinette and that he knew she felt the same for him! He told me if I told anyone about this he'd ruin me!" She cried. It was amazing that Adrien had just handed her this opportunity, completely unaware that he'd done so. As Alya promised revenge against Adrien and the whore who stole him from Lila, the girl in question carefully glanced over to see Damian looking right at her. Perfect. When Lila had decided on this plan, she decided the initial bonding point would be that they had both been betrayed by their soulmates. If Damian was emotionally vulnerable he would be that much easier to manipulate, it would also be the perfect story to pitch to the media as well, they were both betrayed by their soulmates and fell in love!

Lila was quiet for the rest of the day, waiting eagerly for their classes to end. She had a feeling that Adrien would make a move and wanted to be there to see what she'd have to work with. She made an excuse to leave class early and quickly hid behind the stairs. She had to wait a bit for them to leave and spent the time doing research about Damian on her phone. So he loved animals, was passionate about the arts, and was a master swordsman and martial artist. He also spoke seven languages including Italian!! Lila sighed, he was perfect. Finally, the bell rang, and students began making their way out of the building. Lila knew Marinette usually spent some time helping the art teacher before she left, so she was certain Adrien would wait for the girl. Risking discovery, she poked her head out and saw her plan falling into place. Adrien was standing at the top of the stairs, clearly waiting for Marinette. He was muttering to himself, about how it wasn’t fair, about how he couldn’t understand how Marinette could trust a stranger she’d just met. Lila had to keep herself from letting out an amused snort. Isn’t that rich considering their class’s track record? 

She had to wait for about fifteen minutes before she heard laughter coming towards the entrance of the school, it was Marinette, laughing at something Damian had told her, “Oh my gosh, are all your brothers on crack?” she gasped for air, “Sometimes it feels like it,” Damian chuckled. The two were about to walk down the stairs when Adrien stepped in front of them. “Hi, Mari. Can I talk to you, please? Alone.” Wow. Lila didn’t know Sunshine Boy could have such venom, she figured he must’ve been directing that at Damian. Lila could only imagine the glares between the two boys, not daring to poke her head out now and get caught, however, when she thought she heard footsteps back into the school she took out her phone and pressed record. “Why? So you can pressure me into silence again? If you need to tell me something, say it now because Damian and I have plans.” Lila had known about Adrien’s high road advice, and that Marinette had been so in love that she listened. She doubted the ravenette would fall for that now. Lila waited with bated breath to see what Adrien would do, and could not believe what she heard. “I think you should stay away from him. You only just met him, he’s probably lying about who he is Mari. You saw how he treated our friends-” “He has been nothing but kind to MY friends. That’s so rich coming from you Adrien. Lila comes along and lies about everything and it’s totally fine, I meet my soulmate and now suddenly you care about honesty?” “It’s a different situation and you know it Marinette. Lila’s not hurting anyone and if you expose her she could be akumatized.” “What about me Adrien? What if I’m akumatized because of the lies that have ruined my reputation, my belongings are destroyed, when I’m being excluded from practically everything? Do I not matter to you?” “What- no Marinette you matter to me! Besides it’s not that bad and you’re our Everyday Ladybug so-” “SO WHAT? So I’m supposed to accept being mistreated and abused? What are you even here for Adrien?” Lila could tell that Marinette was losing her patience and for a moment, she genuinely wondered if this would be what got her rival akumatized. Adrien took a deep breath, “Marinette you are an amazing woman, what I wanted to tell you was that I accept your feelings and will be your boyfriend.” Perfect! Adrien had given her just what she needed. Lila kept recording because even if Marinette didn’t respond how she wanted, she might say something Lila could doctor later. And it would seem that Marinette was finally shaking off her shock, “Are you crazy? Adrien, I haven’t loved you since we were thirteen, since you made it clear that not rocking the boat was more important to you than me. Besides, I’ve met my soulmate, and yeah we haven’t known each other long, I want to focus on getting to know him.” Adrien did not back down, “Come on Marinette! I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I know we’re meant for each other. The reason I know he’s not good for you is that you’re MY soulmate!” Wow. Lila wasn’t expecting such a bold lie from the blond, he must have been banking on the fact that Marinette had no way of knowing that Adrien was HER soulmate. Now that she had what she needed, she carefully snuck through the bushes and as soon as she turned a corner, she booked it for home. She wasn’t going to risk slowing down to look behind her, she figured since the two were still arguing that she’d successfully completed her mission. Soon it would be all over the media, ‘Model Adrien Agreste Ditches Soulmate for Useless Nobody: How Lila Rossi Saved the Day and Won Damian Wayne’s Heart.’ Lila knew she had a lot of work to do, and couldn’t wait to get started.  

After a long day, Damian returned to the upscale apartment his father was renting during their time in Paris. Marinette hadn’t been joking, her class was a nightmare! Damian had been skeptical at first, no way people could be that ignorant, but after what he saw today, he realized it ran deeper. They looked at Lila the same way people looked at him: They wanted something. Marinette had told him that Lila lied and faked evidence conveniently showing she knew famous people in their fields of interest, so it was likely they followed her because they wanted her to boost their careers. The Ladyblogger, someone who should have known to fact-check followed Lila like a sycophant, either knew she was lying or was really bad at her job. Then there was the other big problem in the class, Adrien Agreste. He seemed to believe he was entitled to Marinette’s love, despite his soulmate making it clear she wanted nothing to do with the blond. He had texted Nino about the Adrien-Marinette situation, and the DJ had filled him in. Marinette used to have a crush on and did some very crazy things to get his attention (Nino had also admitted the class had pushed her into some of the crazier situations), but Adrien either ignored her or was oblivious. At the time this was going on, he had a massive crush on Ladybug and still had a crush on her until recently. Googling the Parisian hero, he found a few things that made his blood run cold. First,  Ladybug had stated that she would never date a civilian (smart) in an interview. Second, the videos he’d seen from when Chat Noir was acting showed the hero displaying the same entitled behavior Adrien did, along with a couple of the same speech patterns and body language. Finally, Ladybug and Marinette looked very similar. There were some differences, but he couldn’t deny that the two could be sisters. A theory was forming in his head, Adrien had been Chat Noir, and after being rejected constantly by Ladybug, decided to set his sights on someone who looked similar to Ladybug. It was clear he still believed Marinette was a sweet, naive girl who would never say no to him, so he potentially thought he could pressure her into accepting his feelings.

  Damian was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that his father and Tim had returned home, however, they certainly noticed. Bruce decided that this was one of those moments where Damian might need some fatherly advice, and Tim decided he wanted to hear whatever was giving Demon-Spawn trouble. It must be interesting. “How was your day Damian? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you lost in thought,” yes he could. It was right after Damian had been brought back from the dead. He watched his son’s head snap up, “I… I’m fine. My day was fine.” “No, you’re not fine. Something’s been on your mind since B mentioned going to Paris, so you can either tell us what’s up or I’ll hack your phone.” Dammit, Tim not now. Damian sighed, surprising both that he wasn’t putting up more of a fight. “The reason I wanted to come to Paris was that I had figured out my soulmate was here.” 

Tim dropped the coffee mug he was filling, and Bruce stared at his son in shock. “Oh my gosh! Did you meet them yet? What are they like? When will we meet them? How did you meet them-” “Tim.” “Sorry B,” “Start from the beginning Damian.” “I met her last week. She was going to buy fabric and bumped into me. We spent every day of her spring break hanging out and getting to know each other, and I was lucky enough to be in her class at the school you enrolled me in. I also found out she had been having trouble with some of her classmates,” “Is she drama-prone?” “Tim let him talk,” “Not necessarily. She’s being bullied and has been for the past few years. Her classmates are the typical users we encounter at Galas and believed her bully because she promised them she had connections. My main concern isn’t the bully, I can deal with her, but a boy in her class has begun to show some alarming behavior... From what I’ve figured out, he was the hero Chat Noir, and I think he’s become obsessed with Mari- my soulmate because of how similar she looks to Ladybug. From my information, I know that he has never shown any interest in her before and that when they were younger she used to have a crush on him. I also know that for whatever reason he’s no longer active as Chat Noir.” “So your theory is that because he no longer has access to his obsession that he’s shifted targets to someone he thinks he still has power over in order to pressure her into fulfilling his fantasy?” “Yes. However, I don’t think he’s realized that. I think a part of him genuinely believes he has feelings for her. I did some research on him, and he grew up with a very controlling and sheltering father, so he’s still incredibly naive, that or he’s so deep in denial he’s become delusional. He still seems to believe that staying silent about my soulmate’s tormentor purposely lying to ruin her reputation and all the physical torment she’s receiving is the right thing to do.” Bruce raised an eyebrow and Tim clutched at his pearls. “So how do you plan on handling this?” Bruce was worried, they needed to find out why Chat Noir was no longer active, if Damian’s theory was true and the former Hero of Paris got akumatized he could still be a massive threat. However, Damian was his father’s son, “I looked into some of the old posts on the Ladyblog before it… strayed. From some clips, I think my soulmate might actually have a connection to Ladybug.” Tim raised his eyebrow, “Damian it’s not that I don’t want you to be happy, but she sounds a little too good to be true. An amazing talented woman who just happens to know celebrities and heroes? Isn’t that the same thing that girl with the weird hair on the Ladyblog claims?” “Well, my soulmate can actually back up her claims.  Her class has had the most akumatizations minus the pigeon man, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Ladybug noticed, and my soulmate is connected to one of the most popular boulangeries in Paris that Ladybug has been seen stopping by. I was going to go out on patrol, and if I couldn’t meet Ladybug that way I’d find a way to see if my soulmate could get her attention.” Bruce nodded. The spotted heroine had been incredibly elusive, and he was beginning to suspect magic was involved. He gave Damian his blessing, and as his youngest son left to get ready for patrol he and Tim turned their attention to a new mystery: Figuring out who his son’s soulmate was.

Paris was beautiful at night. Damian stood atop the Eiffel Tower, looking out over the city. He could almost run the path between his classmates’ homes by muscle memory alone. While he may not like them for their treatment of Marinette, he knew his soulmate still cared about them to some degree, and if anything happened to them it would kill her. He was debating swinging by Marinette’s home but decided against it. While he felt like he could trust her with his life, their relationship was still too young to bring the baggage of a hero into it. He almost didn’t pick up on the gentle thud behind him, and when he turned to snap at Tim for bothering him, he froze. “Mari? My Lily?” He couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing in front of him was Ladybug… who looked exactly like Marinette. Her costume had changed since her initial debut, but there was no doubt who the woman in front of him was. This whole time his soulmate was also the hero they were trying to contact. “Damian? You’re Robin?!” “And you’re Ladybug.” That seemed to snap Mari out of her stupor, “I can explain! Please don’t be mad!” He would address that last bit later, but for now, he just leaned against the railing and watched as she began pacing back and forth. He’d wait all night if that’s what Mari needed to get her thoughts together. “I became Ladybug when I was thirteen. I was chosen by the Guardian of the Miraculous, and he snuck the Ladybug Miraculous into my bag.” “Forgive me but what’s Miraculous?” “Oh right,” He watched as Marinette took off the red and black earrings, “Miraculous are magical objects that are often worn as jewelry. Each Miraculous is connected to a Kwamii, and each Kwamii is the embodiment of a fundamental force of the universe,” A bright red flash came from the Miraculous, and next to Marinette was a floating Ladybug-like creature. The little Kawaii-thing flew up to him, and he carefully held up a hand to allow it to land. “Hello! Damian Wayne, Robin, Son of Bruce Wayne, Grandson of the Demon, and Heir to the Cowl. I am Tikki, the Kwamii of Creation! I am bound to the Ladybug Miraculous that my Chosen uses, and am the source of her powers! If you’ll excuse me I’m going to refuse with Marinette, it’s awfully chilly up here.” With that Tikki zipped back to Marinette, as soon as the two touched a bright red flash appeared and Ladybug stood before him again. “The previous Guardian, well long before he left and left the title and other Miraculous to me, lost two Miraculi, the peacock and the butterfly.” “Which are being used by Hawkmoth and Mayaura.” “Exactly.” Damian nodded, their theory was correct, magic was involved with the Paris situation. 

“Lily, didn’t you used to have a partner?” He watched his soulmate huddle into herself and immediately got off the railing to comfort her. “I did. Chat Noir wielded the Black Cat Miraculous of Destruction. He was my other half, my balance. Over time he got it into our head that because our Miraculi were complimentary, that meant we were soulmates. He began flirting with me constantly, calling me these embarrassing nicknames even when I asked him to stop, and would needlessly throw himself into danger to try and impress me. Eventually, he got tired of me turning him down, and he started missing battles and patrols. When he did show up he’d just get in the way, saying he’d help me again if I admitted we were soulmates. It got so bad his own Kwamii took the Miraculous back from him and brought it to me. I used to have temporary heroes I could count on, but they’re out of the question because their identities were exposed or they’ve chosen Lila’s side.” Damian hugged her tightly, he wasn’t one for physical affection but she was the exception. “So you’ve been alone this whole time? Oh my, Lily I’m so sorry,” he sighed, “Does Adrien know you’re Ladybug?” Marionette’s eyes widened, amazed he knew who Chat was. “Not that I’m aware of. He thinks we look really similar, but he’s seen Ladybug and I in a room together so I doubt he thinks we’re the same.” Damian nodded, “Mari I promise you I’ll help you through this, I just need you to trust me. My brother Red Robin and my father Batman are here-“ “BATMAN IS HERE?!?!” “- yes love. We’re here to help you take down Hawkmoth. I’ll help you take down Lila and figure out how to deal with Adrien, and then as soon as we graduate I’ll steal you away to Gotham.” He looked into her eyes and watched as a hopeful spark began to reignite. 

It was time for phase two of Lila’s plan. She was going to paint herself as Damian’s ideal woman, not by exactly mirroring his interests, he’d catch on to that. A good idea would be to lean into his love of animals. She had researched some well-known animal charities, and even though she really hated getting dirty, she had gone to a volunteer event the other day. Sure, the puppies were super cute, but Lila would rather spend her time working on her manicure. But now she has photos, timestamped photos. She took extra care to make sure her hair and make-up were absolutely perfect, checking on her secret weapon one last time before she left. She was going to save it until she absolutely had to, it would be either her killing blow or her final saving play. As she walked to school, she mentally mapped out her plan for today. She would brag to her class about her volunteer work, and show them the photos on her phone, then she would spread a rumor about seeing Marinette talking and being affectionate towards some random guy. ‘Lila Rossi!’ she thought, ‘You can do better than that! He would see through that in a heartbeat, they spend all of their time together.’ She decided to settle on making Marinette look bad. She’d have to be sneaky, Damian was clearly aware of her tricks and would be on guard, but Lila still thought she had a window of opportunity to convince him Marinette was the evil one. She went into a coffee shop and ordered an iced coffee, Lila wasn’t going to drink it, it was simply a prop she’d spill on herself as a direct result of Dupain-Cheng. She hated to sacrifice her favorite outfit but consoled herself with the knowledge that this would be rags compared to the luxury she’d wear as the girlfriend of a Wayne. Now she just had to decide how she’d spill the coffee, would she make it look like Marinette shoved her? No… too complicated. How about tripping? That won’t work, the little brat’s gotten too smart and now specifically looks for it. She would make it look like Marinette ran into her, and while it wouldn’t do as much damage as she’d like it to, it would be good to show Damian that his soulmate was WAY too clumsy to represent the Wayne Family. She was excitedly daydreaming about all the galas and events she’d go to, hell maybe she would start an acting career! Lila was so caught up in her fantasies that she almost ran into Alya! “Hey, girl! Don’t you look lovely today!” Lila smiled, “Hey Alya! I think you’ve got me beat today! Have you seen Damian? I’m worried Marinette might have said some things about me… and I wanted to talk to him and show him I’m not the person she says I am.” Alya scowled at Marinette’s name, “Ugh I bet she did! But she’s not here today. Her parents called and said she’d gotten sick over the weekend. Damian called in sick as well, and come to think of it, Adrien isn’t here either! Today should be an easy day for you!” Lila had to force a smile, this screwed up her plan damn it! Oh well, maybe if she got the chance, she could poke around Marinette and Damian’s lockers to see if there was anything she could find, it would also be a good chance to strengthen her hold on the class. If Lila is anything, it’s flexible, and she would never let an opportunity slip by.

Damian was looking around Marinette’s room, marveling at just how much his soulmate had accomplished. It looked less like a bedroom and more like a design studio, with mannequins adorned with projects ranging from just starting to fully complete, the walls papered with designs, and the occasional photo of friends or loved ones. Just underneath the papers, he could see the faint hint of a light pink painted wall. Bolts of fabric were arranged against another wall, organized by color and material, as well as a massive piece of wall art made to conveniently store different yarns. There was a closet filled with cases of embroidery floss and other art supplies. Under Marinette’s loft bed was a table with two sewing machines, a modern one able to do large-scale embroidery and Esme. Esme was Marinette’s pride and joy, a vintage singer sewing machine that was practically indestructible. Esme has been through everything, leather, denim, silk, you name it she’s sewn it. When she wasn’t in use, she was kept on her own table, in a place of honor within the room. Beside Esme was a vase of white lilies he’d given her, and a massive book. This was Marinette’s logbook, in which she kept meticulous records of everything: Who commissioned her, how much they paid, what they wanted, how much of each material she had, where it was, and other expenses. It seemed like wherever Damian looked, he saw something new. She made clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry, accessories, and the evidence of that was in her controlled chaos. Even though it was smaller than the Manor, he loved it, he loved everything about Marinette’s home and her family. They were warm and inviting, and it was reflected in their home, and in the daughter Tom and Sabine had raised. Marinette’s room was like her, bright and full of unique colors and energy. She was currently moving Esme to her spot of honor, and opening a special compartment in her desk. From the compartment, she pulled out a vintage sewing box that looked almost ancient (I’m sorry but they made the Miraculous box an EGG when they could have done something that could blend in). 

As soon as Marinette opened the box, sixteen bright lights shot out of it, flying around the room. “Alright everyone listen up!” Mari clapped her hands together to get the light’s attention. They eventually came to a stop in front of her, and Damian looked at them in shock. There were… SO many Kwamii, and apparently there was supposed to be more his soulmate had to recover from around the world. “This is Damian, my soulmate. He’s-” Marinette was cut off by the excited shriek of some of the Kwamii, “He’s going to help us take down Hawkmoth and Mayaura and rescue Duusu and Nooroo. He and his family are superheroes from Gotham and-” “He’s going to be the next Cat,” Plagg interrupted, the seriousness of his tone taking everyone by surprise. The cat Kwamii flew over to Damian, holding a small ring. “The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are connected. One cannot be active for long without the other.” Damian’s eyes met Plagg’s, “And how do you know I am compatible with the Miraculous? I am Marinette’s soulmate but that doesn’t mean I am a match for you.” Plagg cackled, flying around Damian, who stood with his arms crossed, “You’ll do just fine! Much more serious than my last holder for sure! You are more compatible than Adrien was for the simple reason that you are deeply connected with Destruction itself. You come from a tragedy on both sides, a father driven to fight an endless war to avenge his parents’ murder, a mother who needed a pawn and heir to an empire of assassins. Not to mention, the Lazarus Pit.” Damian froze at the mention of the pits, and for a moment, he could almost feel the blazing fire of twisted life rushing through his veins. “Damian? Are you alright? Plagg? What did you do?” Marinette gently rested a hand on Damian’s cheek, she could tell he was reliving something… Plagg simply flew back towards the box. “I’m doing things differently this time Pigtails. I had some time to think… I need to be more responsible for you and for future cats and bugs. Nothing should be hidden between partners, and I know you love him, I know he loves you, but there are people in his life who will not approve. I think he should be the one to tell you when he’s ready. It’s a conversation that needs to be had for both of you. There can be no more secrets.” And with that, the Kwamii flew back over to Damian and gently placed the ring in his hand. The weight of it seemed to snap him out of his flashback, and he looked down at the ring in his hand. He remembered what he’d seen from the videos, he knew the basics of the Black Cat’s powers, and combined with his training, he would be formidable. “I’ll do it. What do I have to say to transform?” Plagg smirked, “Alright kid, all you’ve gotta say is, Plagg claws out!”

Alya was out with her class, chilling in the park after school. They had stopped and gotten smoothies and were working on their own projects in comfortable silence. Alya was busy chasing two leads: What were the Waynes doing in Paris, and where was Chat Noir? Sure, he didn’t do much in most Akuma fights, but he was still one of the heroes of Paris! Come to think of it, no new heroes had been called up since Hawkmoth discovered their identities. She had to take a little bit of pride in that, they were so good that Ladybug couldn’t find any good replacements. She thought about asking Lila for the inside scoop, but with how stressed her bestie had been lately due to Adrien and Marinette’s actions she decided against it. That was another mystery: Marinette. When had the switch flipped? What caused the switch to flip? Was she always like this and Lila was just the first to uncover it? She was also curious about Damian, why would nobody Marinette have such an impressive soulmate? She figured his bad attitude was Marinette’s fault, although, from the articles on her laptop, he’d never been the most approachable or friendly. ‘An asshole for an asshole,’ she thought. Although she’d noticed Lila had been eying Damian since he arrived, maybe she was giving him the benefit of the doubt? Alya shook her head and went back to her research. Something had happened to Chat Noir and Ladybug has been silent about it. She had her theories, and normally she’d run them by Nino, but since the two had broken up all those years ago… Alya sighed. Marinette split the class in two and nothing has been the same since. The Girl Squad was disbanded, she and Nino broke up, and class events rarely hit their goals because if the bully wasn’t invited, her supporters wouldn’t go either. Alya groaned and shifted positions, she NEEDED to finish her research about Chat Noir's disappearance. It’s been forever since she uploaded  Ladybug and Chat Noir content to the Ladyblog, even Alya would admit her blog had started to shift towards Lila content only. Just as she was beginning to give up, a message popped up on her screen.

Hello Ladyblogger. I have some information you might be interested in.

Alya stared at her screen. Was this a scam? She tried to click off the message, but it stayed. She should close her computer, and ask Max to take a look at it, but… what if this person was an inside source!? Carefully she typed out a reply.

Who is this? Why should I trust you? 

Her elusive new friend was quick to respond.

That’s funny. You were so quick to trust before. What changed?

She didn’t know if she should be freaked out or offended, but her curiosity would get the best of her.

I got betrayed by someone I thought I could trust. Now what do you want?

Oh, you got betrayed alright, or to be more exact, you’re currently being betrayed, you’re just too deep in denial to realize it.

‘What?! What could they possibly mean by that?’ Alya thought as her eyes narrowed and she looked around at her friends.

Look if this is you Marinette I don’t want any of your bullshit.

My name isn’t Marinette. It’s Red, and I happen to know about Chat Noir’s whereabouts or his lack thereof. But, if you want the file, you’re going to have to do me a favor.

Oh shit. There were many things Alya was willing to do for a lead, but she had a couple of lines that she refused to cross.

Oh Yeah? And what kind of favor is this? 

I need you to look into your class’s multiple akumatizations.

The feeling of wielding a Miraculous was exhilarating. Domain’s whole body was practically vibrating with an energy he’d never known. It felt like everything was amplified, he wanted to, no he needed to run, and could feel his senses sharpening and his emotions, or at least how he felt them, intensify. ‘This must be what Starfire feels like,’ He thought as he admired his new suit. It was all black with acid-green accents and made from the same material as his Robin suit. Instead of a belt tail and ears, he wore a long cloak with a hood, and two tiny bits poked up to form the ears. The cloak was lined in gold and the ears were tipped in gold as well. A solid black domino mask hid his identity, and his eyes were a bright shade of acid green to match the accents on his suit. The suit itself was made of a similar material as his Robin suit and was solid black, but if you looked at it in the right light, leopard spots were visible. He’d said to hell with the bell, and holding his cloak on and the sash-belt that doubled as a tail were held in place by a deep green cat’s eye gemstone His boots and gloves were solid black, and fitted with braces for extra support when landing. At the tips of his gloves were retractable claws that glistened in the light, and they were slightly curved so he could use them to grab onto buildings and climb. He still had the baton, but a sword was really more his style, but even still he marveled at the magical weapon. “Before you make your debut, you should come up with a name so you aren’t put on the spot like I was,” Mari said as she looked him up and down in the new suit. Damian thought for a moment, “Panthère de Nuit. Night Panther.” his soulmate let out a pleased hum, “Letting Hawkmoth know he faces a more dangerous apex predator?” “Indeed my Lily,” Marinette smiled, and with a quick, “Spots on,” the two were ready to begin Damian’s first patrol as Paris’s new hero.

The two heroes raced along the rooftops, with Panthère de Nuit easily keeping up, a credit to Damian’s training and time as Robin. The two finally came to a stop on a rooftop near the Eiffel Tower, they could see their class in the park below. “Okay, the second Alya sees us, she’s going to try and flag us down for an interview. Do you want to speak with her?” Damian thought for a moment and shook his head. “No. Since Lila has taken over her blog, I don’t think she is a reliable source of information. I do not trust your local news here as well, they seem to lean into rumors. Is there anyone reliable we can talk to?” Ladybug looked around and spotted a familiar parasol. Aurore. The two had gotten to know each other better since Marinette distanced herself from her classmates, and she found out that the blonde ran her own Ladybug-themed blog called On the Spot. While Aurore didn’t get the close-up Akuma footage that Alya had, she was far more accurate in her reports. She recorded information such as the time of akumatization, rough location, and the direction the akumas had been seen traveling from. She had meant to begin working with Aurore and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to start. “See that girl over there? The blonde one? She runs her own blog, On the Spot, and while it’s less popular than the Ladyblog, it is more accurate. We can talk to her, but we need to make it look natural, so our class doesn’t think we ignored them. 

As luck would have it, an Akuma decided to make an appearance. Frozer was back and seemed to be determined to turn Paris into a winter wonderland. “He has ice powers similar to Mr. Freeze, and the Akuma is in his ice skates,” Marinette said as the two rushed into battle. “The easiest way to get the skates would be to immobilize him. If we could somehow trip him, you could cataclysm the skates and release the Akuma.” Damian nodded, “Not my first time dealing with ice-themed villains. I can distract him, while you try to use your yoyo to catch him off guard. Do you want Batman and Red Robin to help with this?” “No. If Hawkmoth finds out they’re in Paris, he’ll for sure try to target them. Please be careful,” Damian gave her a reassuring smile. “Darling I promise I’m not the type to pick fights I can’t win.” With that, he leaped into action. Frozer had sent a blast of ice towards his classmates, which Panthère de Nuit skillfully blocked with his blade. The world around them seemed to, well, freeze as everyone took a moment to process what just happened. “And who are you?” Frozer asked as Hawkmoth’s signature mask appeared over his face. “Panthère de Nuit, the new black cat.” Frozer laughed, “Oh? So Ladybug’s finally replaced that mangy feline? Well no matter, you’ll be just as easy to defeat!” With that, several more blasts of ice were thrown at Damian, who easily dodged, blocked, and reflected. Frozer seemed to pale, if that was even possible, and began to back up for a hasty retreat. Damian couldn’t help himself, “What’s wrong? Not used to fighting a competent Cat Miraculous holder? Too bad.” His eyes met Ladybug’s and he nodded, the sound of her yoyo zipping through the air, and the thud from Frozer hitting the ground confirmed their plan had worked. Damian simply waltzed up to Frozer, and one Cataclysm later, a dark butterfly made a break for it, only to be caught and purified by Ladybug. “That was amazing! I didn’t even have to use my Lucky Charm! Well, I still have to reverse the damage but, you know!” Ladybug exclaimed as she did just that. Damian looked at his ring to check how much time he had before he transformed back and noticed the little pawprint was still full. Weird, he’ll have to ask about that later. A crowd of people had begun to gather, including their classmates and Aurore, Ladybug noticed her and smiled, which encouraged the blonde to ask her questions. “Hello, Ladybug! Great job with the Akuma, that has to be a record!” “Thank you! Aurore is it? Of On the Spot?” The blonde nodded excitedly, “Although, I can’t take all the credit. My new partner was amazing!” Damian sensed this was his cue, and stepped up to answer Aurore’s next question, “Who are you, and what happened to Chat Noir?” With one last glance at Ladybug, Damian spoke, “My name is Panthère de Nuit, and I am Ladybug’s new partner. Chat Noir, as well as some of the temporary heroes, have been permanently retired. The Black Cat Miraculous was taken from him by his Kwamii, who felt he was no longer worthy to wield it,” This was met with cheers from the surrounding civilians. “I promise to do a better job and be a reliable and competent hero that Ladybug and all of Paris can count on. All I can say to Hawkmoth and Mayaura is that your days are numbered.” And with that, the two heroes left to roaring applause. 

Adrien was watching his TV in horror. Plagg, not Ladybug, not the Guardian, PLAGG had taken his Miraculous. His own kwamii had betrayed him, did Plagg even have the power or right to take the ring from him? And now, he was seriously in a bind. If Plagg took the ring, it was safe to say that Ladybug had no idea who he was, and most likely had no idea who her new partner was so he couldn’t ask her to get it back for him. Not to mention the last time they spoke, they weren’t exactly on good terms. Yeah in retrospect skipping patrol and all those akuma battles wasn’t his best idea, especially because that soured his relationship with the people of Paris. If his dad had taught him anything, it was that public opinion mattered a lot, and now he couldn’t exactly count on the public’s support for Chat Noir. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, his best chance of EVER getting a Miraculous again was to pretend to support this new cat, and hope that gets him Ladybug’s attention. Adrien let out a groan and flopped on his bed, his whole life was a mess. Plagg had taken his ring and hadn’t even given him a chance to fix his mistakes (He’d been given many chances), Lila was his soulmate and causing trouble in the class, and then Marinette shows up one day with Damian Wayne claiming to be her soulmate! He’d looked it up, and it really was Damian Wayne, and not some imposter using his name, but it was still so frustrating! He couldn’t figure out just why Marinette was so smitten with the man when he seemed like such a terrible fit for her! Marinette was kind, compassionate, and warm while Damian was cold, selfish, and quite mean. Adrien had been nursing a small crush on Marinette for a while and had known about her crush on him before Alya told him. He still loved Ladybug but realized after a while that she really might not feel the same way, and he couldn’t help it when a brilliant girl like Marinette was in his class. It didn’t hurt that she and Ladybug could be sisters, but he just figured he had a type. What he couldn’t figure out was why she was so focused on Damian when she’d been in love with him for years! “Calm down Adrien,” he muttered to himself, “Mari’s always been a hopeless romantic, so it’s probably just the fact he’s claiming he’s her soulmate.” He also needed to do something about Lila. Sure, he still believed the high road was the best way to go, but he had never expected things to escalate to the point Lila and their class were physically harming Marinette. Walking over to his closet and pulling out a whiteboard and some markers, he began to work on Operation Win Back Marinette.

Across Paris, another student was working on a plan: Alya. She had been working on her newest lead, and chatting with her new friend, Red. True to his word, Red had given Alya information about Chat Noir and Panthère de Nuit. What she knew so far was that Chat Noir’s behavior had gone on longer than anyone in Paris had realized, and that this was not Panthère de Nuit’s first time as a hero. In return, she had compiled a list of all her class’s akumatizations, and why they were akumatized. She slowly began to notice four outliers in their class: Marinette, Damian, Adrien, and Lila. Damian she could explain away easily, he had just gotten to Paris and hadn’t had the chance to be akumatized yet, but that was where easy ended. Marinette had a few failed akumatizations, in which she was always able to break out of Hawkmoth’s control. Alya chalked it up to Gina teaching her some meditation methods she used, but what was harder to explain was why Marinette was almost akumatized. The first time made sense, she had just been expelled, but the others were a complete mystery. Adrien hasn’t been akumatized (I’m not counting Cat Blanc or Ephemeral), but it almost seemed like the akumas never targeted him. She had seen him express negative emotions before. Then there was Lila Rossi, who had been akumatized into Volpina a scarily high number of times. Drawing from her own experience as Rena Rouge, Alya knew that the Fox Miraculous was all about illusions, and an Akuma based off of a Miraculous will share its powers, but in a weaker state. Come to think of it, there were times Lila was akumatized into Volpina that didn’t fit. She would be crying because Marinette had bullied her, and still turn into Volpina. Alya knew that you would only turn into an akuma twice if you felt the same emotions both times, such as Mr. Pigeon, so something wasn’t adding up. Opening her laptop, she typed out:

Red? Are you on? I have a few Questions.

She waited nervously, tapping her fingers on the desk as she checked her phone.

Yeah. What’s up Ladyblogger?

Alya could’ve kissed her computer, she felt like she was closer than she’d ever been to uncovering something big.

I was going back through the list of my class’ akumatizations and noticed a couple of outliers. Do you have any information on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste, and Lila Rossi?

I never thought you’d ask. Here’s what I have.

Red sent over a bunch of files, with a ton on Adrien and Lila, and very few on Marinette.

Why does Marinette only have like, three things?

She isn’t a public figure like the other two, well at least under that name. Ever heard of MDC? That’s her. You aren’t a true celebrity if you don’t have an MDC original. 

Marinette was MDC?! This was news to Alya, but she guessed it would make sense. Marinette had stopped making them things a few years ago, saying she was too busy. If she was covertly running a fashion empire that would explain it. However, one last thing still haunted Alya, especially as she began to click through the files on Adrien and Lila. She paused for a moment, Red had sent her camera footage from the day Marinette was expelled, but why was it labeled as Lila’s file? As she pressed play and began watching, she began noting some inconsistencies. Before returning to the video, she typed out one last message. 

Red? I’m starting to think I’ve been lied to. 

For the next week or so, all anyone would talk about was Panthère de Nuit, and the hype was justified. He’d been spotted a few more times since Frozer, at Akuma fights and on patrol, and was just as skilled as his first fight. Videos were made speculating about his powers if he had any new ones, and where he could have possibly gotten the skills he used in his fight. The most popular theory came from Aurore, who hypothesized that Panthère de Nuit was not new to being a hero. The public was still a little apprehensive, since they remembered what they’d been through under Chat Noir, but were rapidly warming up to the man. Of course, a certain someone claimed to have more info than she did. Marinette sat in her spot with Damian by her side and rolled her eyes as Lila went on and on, “I’m so happy I was finally able to convince Ladybug to replace Chat Noir! I’ve been telling her for years that he isn’t a good partner, but she’s so sweet and sentimental, so she was hesitant to get rid of the partner she’s had since the beginning. Maybe now that he’s not around to get jealous, I can convince her to give you all your Miraculous again! Well, some people might not be worthy of wielding one, but that’s their own fault.” The class snickered and shot looks at Marinette and her friends, who simply ignored them. Lila had no way of knowing that some of the class would never wield any Miraculous again, their identities had been exposed and it was too much of a risk. Lila went on and on, even when Ms. Bustier came in and tried to start class. However, someone caught Marinette’s attention: Alya. Her former best friend was sitting with her laptop open to the Ladyblog analytics page, and she was watching Lila with narrowed eyes. She would occasionally stop and type something out. Her concentration seemed to stop when Adrien walked into the room, and Marinette quickly looked away to avoid eye contact with either. Damian shot a glare at the blond who was trying to get Mari’s attention, and the ravenette paid him no mind. Nino (Who still had connections in the Adrien fan club) had informed her that the model talks about her at his shoots, and when people ask if they’re dating he never denies it. “He’s trying to create a public narrative,” Damian had explained, “If the media picks up the story and the public catches on, it could spread like wildfire. Remember how everyone thought Ladybug and Chat Noir were in love and destined for each other? That resulted in people pressuring Ladybug to admit feelings she didn’t have.” The group nodded, clearly understanding that Damian was worried the same thing would happen to Marinette.

Adrien made his next move at lunch. Marinette and Damian, along with their friend group were going to spend their lunch at a nearby cafe. The group didn’t want to deal with Lila, and wanted to be able to discuss their topic privately: Reopening an investigation into who Hawkmoth is. Marinette had a theory board about it that she had made with Alya when they were younger, but the two stopped when they had their falling out. As they were leaving, Adrien approached them. “Hey, Mari! So where are we going for lunch?” I know a great place-” “We? Dude, you haven’t been caught dead anywhere near us since middle school,” Nino practically growled and crossed his arms. The ending of their friendship had been… explosive. Nino had gone to Adrien after he figured out Lila was lying, hoping to gather support to expose Lila and save his childhood friend’s reputation, and was horrified to find out that Adrien knew and pressured Mari to keep quiet. The following argument resulted in Nino being akumatized into Maskless, who was determined to “remove the masks” and expose people for who they truly are. It was a difficult fight for Ladybug, and after it was over, Nino disavowed the two boys’ friendship for good, the last thing he’d spoken to Adrien before now was, “I just can’t be friends with someone who would sacrifice a friend to avoid having to deal with a little discomfort. Talk to me when you grow a spine and maybe I’ll forgive you.” And the future director had kept his promise. This was the first time he’d spoken to Adrien in years. The callout seemed to catch the blond off guard, and he stumbled out, “Well uh, my father wanted me to talk to Marinette about an internship, so I was going to do that today at lunch. So Mari where do you want to go eat?” And with that Adrien made a move to grab Mari’s wrist, but was blocked by an angry Kim and pissed Damian. “Didn’t your dad teach you it’s rude to grab someone without consent?” Kim snarked. Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka nodded, with Juleka working up the courage to add, “You’re forgetting that you aren’t the only model in the class anymore. I’m in the same gossip circles you are now, and I know you’re trying to make people think that Adrienette is a thing.” “That’s not true I-,” “Enough,” Marinette cut in, Adrien gave her a hopeful smile, while the others snickered. “Adrien, I already have plans with my friends and it would be rude of me to cancel at the last minute. Plus I seem to remember two very important things you’re conveniently forgetting: First, the conversation in which I very clearly told you I wasn’t interested, and second, the letter I received in the middle of class a year ago from your father telling me I’ve been blacklisted from the company. And from the looks on both your and Lila’s faces I can conclude you both had something to do with that. If Gabriel wants me to work for him, he needs to start by addressing the elephant in the room and the damage he’s done to my career before I could even graduate. Come on guys, we need to actually get something to eat before lunch is over,” and with that, Marinette and her group sidestepped a disappointed Adrien and made their way toward a cafe.

After they’d gotten their food, they got to work on their theory of who Hawkmoth was. “Here’s the list of people I considered before I knew for sure he had a partner,” Marinette set a stack of papers down, “And here’s the list of suspects after I had to start over once Mayura came onto the scene.” That list was twice as long and seemed to radiate an aura of frustration. The others each took papers and began crossing out people that they knew couldn’t be Hawkmoth. “Soooo… I think we can rule out some people based on the fact they don’t have time to be Hawkmoth or Mayura. Like we know they aren’t any of our parents because they’re too busy with work,” Rose chirped as she crossed off names with her sparkly pink Pom Pom pen. “So I hate to be that person but are we sure Mayura is Hawky’s only partner?” Nathaniel asked, playing with a pencil. Damian nodded, “Surely he has to have someone else. He can’t guarantee that someone in Paris is going to feel upset enough to attract an akuma even though Paris is a big city. It would make more sense if he had someone working to actively cause akumas,” the group seemed to be stuck for a moment after the obviously innocent people have been ruled out. The problem with Akumatizations is how little solid evidence is left behind. Hawkmoth can emotionally hijack someone and leave behind no DNA or fingerprints, or really anything. 

Damian had (and none of them except Marinette knew this) checked the databases the Justice League and Batfamily kept on the various super criminals of the world only to have it turn up empty, so the group was stuck… until a new voice cut in, “You’re assuming he’s smarter than he really is. I should know, I’ve helped him before.” Chloe and Sabrina stood in front of their table, with the heiress making a point to sit herself down at the head of the table and continued, “Be honest with yourselves, I’m not the only person with an attitude problem in Paris who didn’t care how many akumas I caused. There are many more who don’t care, and those people are the backbone of Hawkmoth’s operation whether they realize it or not. Unless you and Ladybug have a plan to make everyone in Paris act as sweet as pie, you need to stop acting like Hawkmoth is a genius. He thrives off dumb luck and takes advantage of problems others cause.” Marinette froze at the mention of her alter ego, “Why do you think I know Ladybug?” Chloe snorted and gave Marinette a look, “Dupain-Cheng you got that wannabe reporter an interview with her! Despite your family’s lack of financial wealth, you have connections coming out of your pigtails. If anyone in this hellhole keeps regular contact with Ladybug it would be you. Anyways, Hawkmoth isn’t the brains of the operation, that could be Mayura if she would stop going along with all his ridiculous schemes and grow a backbone. In the few times I’ve willingly helped him, it was clear that his plan was only cobbled together at best and completely on the fly at worst.” “Why did you help him in the first place?” Rose blurted out, and realizing her mistake she quickly covered her mouth. 

Chloe simply sighed, “I guess I do owe you all an explanation since I was responsible for most of your akumatizations. When I agreed to help him, I was at my lowest. He prays on weakness in any form it comes in. I was always taught that I was born lucky, and everyone else was just lucky to be born- yes Kim I know what show I’m referencing- and for the longest time I believed it. I believed I had the right to act the way I did, and my parents encouraged it, but as I started getting older, it became clear that I didn’t inherit my mother’s talent so she started distancing herself from me. My father tried to fill the void by just giving in to everything I wanted. I know he loves me, but he wanted to be my friend instead of my parent, and that whole dynamic messed me up even more. Then I met Marinette fucking Dupain-Cheng, a girl who my parents taught me to consider less than dirt beneath my feet… but she somehow had everything I wanted,” Chloe clutched the smoothie in her hand, and couldn’t meet Marinette’s eyes, “Your parents love you so much, and are so involved. They made it to every event our class had, while mine couldn’t be bothered, they encouraged you when you failed and promised to help you, while my mother would scream at me and tell me I was a waste of her time. They helped you learn how to deal with your problems instead of paying them to go away. I was and still am, so jealous of you Marinette. I’d give anything in a heartbeat to trade places with you, but instead, I did the only thing I knew how to do: I lashed out. I made your life hell for years, long before Lila came around, in fact, I’m surprised that you didn’t dump our class sooner. In all the years I bullied you, not a single one of them helped you, they avoided you, and the second you stood up to me they tried to act like all those years just disappeared,” Damian, who was mainly focusing on how Marinette was reacting, quickly noticed the shame on the faces of their friends. While he wanted to rage at them for what they’d done to his soulmate, he stopped himself, he knew he couldn’t now that he was Panthère de Nuit if Hawkmoth found an opening… He focused back in on Chloe’s story to try and calm down, “Anyways, when Ladybug came onto the scene, I immediately latched onto this idea that if she was my friend, all my problems would be fixed. I would have an amazing friend who would get my parent’s attention and make all my problems go away, but I screwed it up royally. When I found the Bee Miraculous, I thought it was a chance to redeem myself. I should have just returned it to Ladybug instead of causing that train accident, I thought if I showed her that I could be a hero then maybe she’d accept me. She kept giving me chance after chance, and I kept fucking up because I would let my ego get the better of me. When I lost the Bee Miraculous, when I realized Ladybug wanted nothing to do with me, and when I realized it was all my fault, I broke. I was convinced that I was destined to destroy anything good in my life, and that was when Hawkmoth approached me about becoming Miracle Queen. I was so emotional that I forgot who I was talking to, and gave him everything he needed to convince me to join him. After that… I was bitter, bitter at the world, Ladybug, Zoe, you name it I was upset at it because something had occurred to me during that time. I realized that I was never born lucky, that’s you Marinette, I was actually the one lucky to be born- shut up Kim let me have this- even though you were going through hell, you still had people in your corner who support you unconditionally. I know Ladybug hates me, I know you do too, but if she really wants to defeat Hawkmoth all she needs to do is get him at his lowest, and Mayura will follow him down.” With her speech over, Chloe and Sabrina simply got up and left, leaving a stunned table in their wake. “Get him at his lowest…” Marinette murmured to herself, and she kept muttering it all the way back to school. 

As the school day neared the end, Marinette had gone to the restroom, promising to meet Damian by her locker. As the Wayne heir waited, he heard a gentle, ‘ahem,’ and turned, expecting to see his soulmate. Instead, he felt his blood pressure spike as he was face to face with the ravenous wolf that looked at him as if he were a gullible lamb, a.k.a, Lila. She looked a mess with puffy red eyes and mascara streaks down her face reaching her chin, it was clear to anyone she had been crying. Damian narrowed his eyes, this might not be one of her fake crying episodes, but it clearly was still a carefully laid trap. They were alone, with no witnesses to watch what was about to go down. Lila hesitantly held her phone out to Damian, and tears began rolling down her cheeks again, “I… I thought you should know,” she sniffed, pressing the play button. Damian listened with a raised eyebrow to the conversation Lila had supposedly recorded, “Marinette you are an amazing woman, what I wanted to tell you was that I accept your feelings and will be your boyfriend,” Adrien’s voice could be heard loud, and clear through the recording, Damian opened his mouth but Lila cut him off, “There’s more hang on,” Soon after, his Lily’s voice could be heard, “Adrien, I have loved you since we were thirteen-” With that Lila stopped the recording and began to cry, “I know Marinette’s probably told you all these nasty things about me… but it felt wrong to say nothing and let her keep manipulating you like this when I know what I heard.” With that, Lila went back to sobbing and wailing about how her bully ‘stole’ her soulmate and was a filthy cheater. If anyone else was around, they would have caught the Bat Glare Lila herself was too wrapped up in her act to see. Damian wasn’t surprised Lila stooped this low, in fact, he wasn’t surprised she didn’t stoop lower and try to fake a pregnancy or something, but it dawned on him that this was the perfect opportunity to end Marinette’s torment and he decided to take it. “Oh, you were there for that conversation too?” Lila froze, and looked up at him with fresh tears still rolling down her cheeks, “E-excuse me?” A deep laugh that rumbled like thunder cut through the tension. “Do you seriously think I would have let Adrien speak to my Lily alone when I knew he would try to pull something? And do you seriously think I wouldn’t consider the possibility someone could have been listening in,” With that, Damian pulled out his own phone, shooting Lila a vicious smirk. “Let me fill you in on what you conveniently missed,” As he pressed play, the smirk only grew as he watched the color drain from Lila’s face and his voice played from the speaker, “Agreste there is no way you are her soulmate. I saw Marinette in my dreams, and she saw me in hers. Besides, I know your soulmate is Rossi. She was determined to make a scene today at lunch, and it tipped me off that you would try something like this. I suggest you listen well Agreste because this is the only time I will be kind enough to give you some advice. Leave Marinette alone. All you have done is hurt her and allow others to hurt her. You have stood by and watched as a petty ectoparasite burrowed into Marinette’s class and allowed her to spread her manipulative disease. Even if by chance you have somehow seen the light and exposed the truth tomorrow, which we both know you will not do because you are too much of a coward and care more about what other people think of you, it’s too late. You have blown all your chances, and Marinette is far too good for you, someone who will throw her to the wolves to avoid a minor inconvenience. So stay away Adrien, if you know what is best for you.” With that, Damian placed his phone in his pocket and looked back at Lila. 

“You know, I really ought to thank you, Rossi, you tipped me off to Agreste’s plan and allowed me to collect evidence to foil your own. I have that entire conversation recorded from the moment he approached my Lily, and I have already been recording this one too,” Lila’s eyes widened and she looked like she was about to faint, so Damian moved in for the kill, “Do you really think you’re the first one to try and pull a stunt like this? I am from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the world, did you really think you would be the first to lie about my soulmate? How convenient, you happen to have a recording of Marinette supposedly accepting a confession from Adrien, and that you finally worked up the ‘courage’ to tell me the first moment I am alone and Marinette is not here to defend herself. I will give you some credit though, your editing skills could fool someone who is not looking for signs of manipulation, and could have definitely fooled our gullible classmates, which brings me to my next point,” Damian channeled his rage into a calm, icy glare, “You will cease tormenting my soulmate immediately. I am not afraid to expose your lies and underhanded tactics to our class, but let me give you some more incentive. Before, Marinette did not have the… legal resources to handle you properly, but I have my family’s lawyers on speed dial Rossi. Marinette is not my wife yet, but the same protections that cover the Wayne family extend to her. So if you know what is good for you, you will shut your mouth and never speak ill of my soulmate again, or my lawyers will see what other secrets you have been hiding.” Taking that as her queue to leave, Lila booked it toward the exit like the devil was on her heels. Operation: Lila Wayne was clearly dead in the water, and Damian would be sure it stayed that way. Once she was gone he took a deep breath and got his emotions in check, just in time to see the love of his life jogging towards him. “Sorry! I realized while I was in the bathroom that I left some stuff in the art room!” He smiled as the familiar feeling of warmth returned to him. It was wonderful, being in love.

Alya just got finished pacing around her room for what felt like the hundredth time. She stared at her computer, open to the video she had yet to publish, and the one that would be the final nail in the coffin for her career. She knew deep down she had to do this, it was the only way to atone for all she’d done. A chat popped up on the screen from Red:

Are you okay Ladyblogger? I know this is a tough decision, and I’m here for you. 

Alya smiled, over their many late-night conversations, Red had become a good friend and close confidant. She’d never meet up with him in person, that was online safety 101, but he’d helped her come to some difficult conclusions.

Yeah. Just trying to settle my nerves a bit. I know I have to do this, it’s the right thing to do, and lately, I’ve struggled with that.

You’ve got this. I think it will go over better than you think it will. 

With that, Alya closed her eyes, counted to ten, and pressed the upload button. A video titled after one of the worst things she’d ever said was now on the front page of the Ladyblog, a video she could never take back.

Marinette and Damian were in her room, munching on a variety of cookies and discussing their plan to end Hawkmoth’s reign of terror once and for all. Their brainstorming was interrupted when a notification popped up on Marinette’s phone, and a new video had been posted to the Ladyblog. The two shared a look and a shrug, sure, why not? It wouldn’t hurt to see what Lila was saying now, instead, they were met with a thumbnail of Alya sitting at her desk, and a video called ‘A Good Reporter Always Fact Checks’ was staring back at them. Damian pressed play, and the two sat back to see what this was about. 

“Hey everyone, it’s the Ladyblogger. This video is VERY different from what I normally post, and it needs to be because I have a lot I need to say. Many years ago, when I was just starting out I posted a video about a girl named Lila Rossi who claimed that she was Ladybug’s best friend. That video has been removed, but at the time I thought nothing of it. A girl who was my friend confronted me about it, and rightly, called me on the fact I had no evidence to prove anything Lila had said. Instead of fixing my mistake, I told her that a good reporter always fact-checks, but that wasn’t what I did. I am here today to apologize to her and to all of you for failing you. I neglected to do the right thing and gave a liar a platform to spread dangerous misinformation, but I also took that liar’s side and turned against the best friend I’ve ever had. 

I met Lila Rossi when I was thirteen, and I along with most of my classmates naively believed every word that came out of her mouth like it was gospel. She told us that because her mother was a diplomat, she had gotten to meet and work with all these famous people and that she could talk with them and help our careers. We were so excited, there was someone who could help us reach our dreams and she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart. Hindsight really is 20/20, and looking back there was no way any celebrity in their right mind would be that deeply involved working with a teenage girl to the extent Lila claimed. I can’t speak for my classmates but I know a part of me kept believing her because the fear of pissing her off and then it all turning out to be true kept me loyal to her. I was a coward and afraid that if I questioned her I would lose out, and that later turned into fearing what I’d done in her name if it turns out she was lying. This resulted in me interviewing her and publicizing her lies and misinformation, giving her a platform to fuel her own ego. To put it simply: I didn’t fact-check, and now everyone is paying the price. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so, sorry. Taking her videos down doesn’t fix the damage she caused, and just saying I’m sorry won’t either. It sounds cringy but I promise to do better, but I don’t expect you all to stick with me now that I’ve proven not to be a reliable source. For accurate, truthful information, check out Aurore’s blog On the Spot. She’s a great reporter and has done a much better job than I did. I would also like to apologize to Ladybug, and not just for giving Lila Rossi a platform. I want to apologize for all those shitty things I did to try to figure out her identity and push LadyNoir even after she clearly expressed multiple times that she was uncomfortable. Most importantly, I want to apologize to my former friend and ex-boyfriend,” Marinette’s eyebrow raised a bit, “They caught on to Lila’s bullshit years before I did and tried to snap me out of it because they cared about me. But instead, I dug my heels in and participated in icing them out from the class, and stood by while they were harassed. I broke up with my boyfriend over this whole mess because I was appalled he’d take Lila’s “Bully’s” side when the truth was that they were the ones being bullied. All I can say to them is that I’m sorry and that they don’t have to forgive me. My teacher taught us that we always need to forgive and be the bigger person, but forgiveness isn’t something owed, it's earned. I’ve acknowledged my wrongdoings but I haven’t yet begun to work to make things right. So to that girl who was my best friend and one of the best people I’ve met: I should have trusted you. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine, and I am so sorry for what I’ve done.” Marinette sat and stared, stunned at Alya’s admission and watching in awe as the blogger exposed Lila’s lies to the world. Out of all the people to do it, she never thought it would be Alya, Lila’s self-proclaimed BFF. However, it also meant the last variable in her plan was taken care of, so walking over to the Miraculous box, she took what she needed and gave a variety of Miraculous to Damian. Standing on her toes she kissed his cheek and whispered, “Text Red Robin and Batman, tell them to meet us at the Eiffel Tower at Midnight. And if you would be so kind, please take these Miraculous to their most recent holders. I know I said I retired the old heroes, but we’ll need most of them again. I have one errand to run, and I’ll meet you there.” Damian nodded, and kissed Mari’s forehead, “Be careful my Lily.” and She hesitantly broke away from his embrace, transformed, and snuck out through her balcony. 

Alya was scrolling through the comments on her apology/Lila Rossi exposè video, it was a habit she never could break. Yes, there were quite a few harshly criticizing her, and a couple were straight-up name-calling, but the majority of people were happy she’d seen the light and were encouraging her not to give up on her dream. Her phone was blowing up with texts and calls from her classmates (and quite a few angry voicemails from Lila), but she couldn’t bring herself to care. A part of her felt at peace, even though she mourned the loss of her dream. A knock on her door snapped her out of her spiral, it was probably her mom coming to give her a pep talk and reassure her she did the right thing. But as she opened the door to her room, a familiar set of pigtails nearly made her jump out of her skin. “Hi… I came to talk,” Marinette said, and Alya moved back to let her in. This felt so right, but wrong. It called back to the many sleepovers they had, laughing about boys and reading superhero comics, but this time it was like two opposing soldiers laying down their arms in a tentative truce. Marinette decided to break the awkward silence, “So I saw the video. I have to admit, I certainly wasn’t expecting you to expose Lila like that.” Alya gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Neither did she. She’s been blowing up my phone with voicemails calling me every name she can think of and promising to ruin me. Well, she’s too late 'cause I already did that.” Marinette looked over at the comments, skimming through them. “Not necessarily. You apologized, admitted you were wrong, and have already begun working to undo some of her damage,” “But that doesn’t excuse what I did to you, to Nino, and your friends.” “No, it doesn’t, but you’ve owned up to it which is admirable. What snapped you out of it?” Alya smiled softly, “I made a friend who got me to stop and think… and also got me access to the school’s cameras. I don’t know how much of the video you watched but I played the video from the day you got expelled and it showed Lila framing you so Damocles and Bustier are in some hot water right now.” Marinette laughed, genuinely, it felt so strange for Alya to hear, “About time! I can’t help but wonder how many other people they messed up, besides us.” “Oh, a lot. I plan on exposing more, but that’s a problem to take out another day.” Marinette perked up a bit, “Speaking of taking out problems, I need your help with a big one.” Alya nodded eagerly, ready to make up for her years of inaction. “I asked Aurore to post this too, but I need you to post this article,” Marinette handed her a piece of paper to read, as she read, her brow furrowed a bit, “You’re not planning on taking on Hawkmoth, are you? Oh my god, you are. I don’t know what secret weapons stash the Waynes have but-” “Tikki spots on,” Standing there, in her room, was Ladybug, where her former best friend once stood. Before Alya could find her words Maribug, no, Ladynette, no, Ladybug cut her off, “I have a plan but I’m going to need Hawkmoth to panic thinking the Miraculi are slipping out of his grasp. We need this to bait him out.” Alya was stunned, and began to stammer, “Of course! I-” “You said you wanted to work to make things right, so if you’re willing,” Marinette held out an oh-so-familiar fox necklace, “I’ll need Rena Rouge’s help too.”

Chloe was sitting in her room with Sabrina, pretending to be invested in whatever show they were watching. In her mind she kept replaying that day she spotted Marinette and her group in her favorite cafe. The conversation she had… she had never expected to spill her heart out like that. Her mother always told her that she could never be vulnerable, she could never let others see any weakness, and yet there she sat pouring out her heart. Eventually, Sabrina had to leave, they did have school tomorrow, and the heiress was left alone. Alone was something familiar to Chloe, especially since her Icarus Moment, as she called it, was something she dreaded. She knew her parents would leave her out to dry in a heartbeat, she knew Zoe had her own life and that the two sisters would never be close, and she knew all her daddy’s employees would quit the moment they found something better. All she had left was Sabrina, so she clung on for dear life. She’d stopped treating her friend like a servant a long time ago, and even when she was at her worst, Sabrina stuck by her. Initially, it was out of fear, Sabrina knew that if she was going to swim with sharks it was better to be a remora. She had many chances to leave but stuck around time and time again and Chloe realized that maybe Sabrina really did care for her. Then there was the hot mess that was Adrien. He’d tried to give Chloe the “Her lies aren’t hurting anybody” speech a while ago, but the heiress wasn’t having it. This girl had humiliated her and needed to pay. She and Sabrina decided to gather information, and that was how they overheard Adrien making Marinette agree not to do anything and later Lila threatening Marinette. 

Chloe had always felt a little bad for the baker’s daughter, she was madly in love with Adrien but had no idea what he was really like, he could be incredibly manipulative if it meant avoiding an uncomfortable situation. She knew that Marinette wouldn’t trust her to outright accept help from the heiress, so she decided to back off entirely, a cease-fire of sorts. It helped that this coincided with her revelation that she was jealous of Marinette and her family. When Damian Wayne joined the class and declared himself Dupain-Cheng’s soulmate, Chloe thought, ‘About damn time.’ She’d seen how the former class president was treated and knew she most likely had another major stressor (Chloe theorized she was Ladybug’s woman in the chair, working behind the scenes), so she was a bit relieved to see the universe finally being kind to the ravenette. Unfortunately, it also marked the turn for Adrien to go off the deep end. He had confessed to Chloe before that he knew about Marinette’s crush, but that he was pretty sure his soulmate was Ladybug, and he’d also said that she’d be his second pick if that didn’t work out, and she certainly got an earful when he found out his soulmate was Lila. After she and Sabrina returned to school after their run-in with the Mari Squad, Adrien stopped her and asked her to help him win back Marinette. “Agreste,” She remembered snapping, not bothering with any nicknames, “You’ve lost your mind. Dupain-Cheng finally, FINALLY has something positive working out for her and you, one of the main sources of all her anguish think you can just waltz back in? You don’t really love her Adrien, you said it yourself she’d always be your second choice, and when your first choice fell through and your soulmate turned out to be Lila you sought out your consolation prize. Let me give you some advice: Life isn’t a fairytale, you can’t expect Marinette to wait for you forever or to completely throw away her life for you.” She doubted Adrien would get the message, but at least she tried. If she was naïve, Chloe would wonder if this marked the start of the end of their rivalry and the beginning of a new friendship, but the logical part of her knew that the damage she did was too great. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a sound coming from her balcony. She groaned and got up, thinking a pigeon had crashed into the door and was now stunned on the floor. But when she opened the door, she was shocked, there was Ladybug and Rena Rouge on her balcony. Ladybug smiled gently, and in almost a whisper asked, “Is Queen Bee available?”

The three women arrived at the Eiffel Tower just before midnight. Their arrival was acknowledged by a majority of the Miraculous team and Red Robin. Batman stood back, silently observing. Marinette could feel the nerves rising in her stomach. There was Batman, in person, and he was here to help her. Alya seemed to be going through a similar mental process, trying desperately to act professional and not fangirl, until Red Robin greeted her, “Well, well, well. Gotta say I wasn’t expecting to see you here Ladyblogger!” Alya’s jaw dropped, “Red??” Tim threw his head back and laughed, “Yep! I needed some information for our investigation, and figured I’d help you off the sinking ship in the process.” Before Alya could reply, Batman spoke, “Speaking of information, we were able to figure out That Hawkmoth and Mayura are Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur by hacking into various cameras to track the akumas, and from there we monitored his activity through his security system,” “For the record I’ve seen better security from Rogues like Crazy Quilt,” Red Robin interjected, Batman sighed and continued, “We have solid evidence that will hold up in court, so our main objective will be to catch him,” the Dark Knight turned to Ladybug, “So I’m assuming you called us here because you have the plan to do that.” Ladybug nodded and stepped forward to begin to tell the team her plan, “So as most of you know Hawkmoth and Mayura get their powers from the Kwamii within their Miraculous, that’s the same thing that gives us our powers,” She clarified for the Gotham heroes, “All we have to do is remove the Miraculous from them, and their transformation will be dropped and they’ll be powerless. However, the tricky part is actually getting them to come to the fight themselves. The nature of their Miraculous allows them to create minions to fight for them, hence the Akumas and Sentimonsters, so it’s very likely that they’ll try and distract us so they can escape. We have a mostly full Miraculous team, minus the mouse, rabbit, ox, and horse, but those can easily be given to other holders to fill that void,” The group felt a mix of emotions at the realization that some of their classmates had still yet to try and make amends for what they did, but knew that it was for the better until they could fully trust the former team members again. “So in order to get them out, we need to get them to their lowest, a point in which they’ll be so desperate that they’ll feel like they have no choice but to face us themselves, and we’ll do that by making them think that everything is slipping out of their grasp.”

Adrien had just gotten home from school, and turned on the TV in his room, flopping down on his bed. His day was AWFUL because the night before Alya had made a video on the Ladyblog exposing Lila completely out of the blue. Needless to say, the class was furious, and then their fury was directed at him when they found out he’d known the whole time and the things he did to keep Marinette from exposing Lila. He’d tried to argue that yeah he’d made a mistake, but no major damage had been done and that the small stuff could be fixed, so they should all just move on and be friends again. That had only added fuel to the fire, and all of this was before Marinette and Damian walked in. Adrien could practically feel his blood pressure rising at the thought of his rival’s name. He’d changed Marinette, encouraged her to stand up for herself, and in Adrien’s opinion was shaping her into a toxic person, but it seemed like he was the only one who could see it! More and more people gravitated to Mari like moths to a flame, and she was enjoying quite the popularity spike while he and Lila were seemingly deemed the school’s outcasts. If he still had his ring he would go to her as Chat Noir and demand that she stop the bullshit and fix everything, but he couldn’t even do that. Lila had contacted him, screaming that he’d ruined her plan to split up Dupain-Cheng and Wayne, and if he’d just followed her lead, he’d have what he wanted and she’d have what she wanted. For once he wished he listened to Lila, especially when she told him that Damian had a recording of his confrontation with Marinette and her rejection. His lawyers explained that there was nothing he could do,  the Wayne family was a legal juggernaut so even if they did have a valid case, they would simply be able to drag it out until the Agrestes had no choice but to drop it, the same thing Gabriel had done to countless people before. They drilled into his head that any move he made against Damian Wayne would bring the wrath of his lawyers and that for once, Adrien was in a position of weakness. 

He was brainstorming ideas on how to convince Marinette to leave her soulmate when the TV switched over to breaking news. “Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit will be meeting with members of the Justice League and Justice League Dark today in order to transfer over the Miraculous to the hero teams. According to statements from Ladybug posted to the Ladyblog and On the Spot, ‘Hawkmoth’s attacks have become far more brazen, and in order to assure the safety of Paris, I felt it was necessary to entrust the Miraculi, including the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, to people who can properly protect them,’” The screen cut to Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit handing over what was supposedly the Miracle Box to the superheroes Batman, Red Robin, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate, The box was almost in Zatanna’s hands when a loud boom caught the attention of the heroes, and as the camera turned to show what they saw, Adrien gasped. There were Hawkmoth and Mayura on the back of a massive multi-headed dragon Sentimonster, with an army of akumas and amoks floating around them, ready to turn at least half of Paris into their own army. A burst of fire was shot from one of the heads of the dragon, with Ladybug, Panthère de Nuit, Batman, and Red Robin easily dodging. Zatanna and Doctor Fate, along with the Miracle Box disappeared in the familiar smoke of an illusion from the Fox Miraculous breaking, in fact, the whole area seemed to disappear, and when the smoke settled, it showed the heroes and villains trapped in a large Shell-ter. It struck Adrien that this was never a poorly executed plan that Hawkmoth discovered, this was an ambush. Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t get involved, he didn’t have a Miraculous and would be putting himself in great danger. However, he was convinced that if he showed Ladybug that he could still be a hero, she would have to give him a MIraculous, and he could prove to Marinette that he was the best match for her. So he left for the battlefield.

Everything so far was going according to plan. Hawkmoth and Mayura had taken the bait and were now trapped in the Shell-ter with the Heroes. Rena Rouge was working overtime, creating illusion after illusion to confuse the devious duo. Carapace’s Shell-ter was holding strong, preventing anyone from entering and potentially getting akumatized. Vipereon was given the rabbit miraculous as well and was currently hopping between dimensions and using Second Chance to reset the fight and figure out the next moves they should make. King Monkey (with help from the Mouse Miraculous), Pigella, and Caprikid were using their respective powers to work with Batman and Red Robin to try and throw off Hawkmoth and Mayura’s concentration. Meanwhile, Ryuko, Panthère de Nuit, Purple Tigeress (also using the Ox Miraculous), and Rooster Bold were handling the massive dragon Sentimonster. Ladybug herself was along the outskirts of the battle, with Miss Hound and the “new” Bee hero Swarm. Ladybug was using her yo-yo to get her allies out of the way of various attacks, and waiting for the signal from Vipereon to use Lucky Charm. Swarm was waiting for an opportunity to use Venom to stun either Hawkmoth or Mayura, while Miss Hound was using the Horse Miraculous to teleport around to take shots at hitting the villains’ Miraculous. All of the heroes were connected with earpieces so they could communicate and monitor how each other was doing, and so far everything was going smoothly. 

For the first time in forever, Ladybug was beginning to feel hopeful that this nightmare would be over soon, when Miss Hound caught everyone’s attention, “Ummm… Why is Adrien trying to get in? Does he know that Hawkmoth is his dad?” Red Robin dodged an attack from an enraged Mayura, and quickly answered, “Not that we’re aware of. Although we did find out that he was Chat Noir, so maybe he thinks he can help,” Ladybug sighed and declared she would handle it, swinging off to the border. Sure enough, there was Adrien, banging on the Shell-ter, and he perked up as soon as he saw her. The only thing standing between the former partners was a magical green wall. “What are you doing here Adrien? It’s not safe!” Ladybug crossed her arms and glared, she did NOT have time for this! “I’m here to help My Lady! So tell Carapace to drop Shell-ter and let me in,” The blond boy shot her his best Chat Noir smile, while Ladybug simply raised an eyebrow, “I can’t do that Adrien. Lifting the shelter would allow thousands of akumas to escape and terrorize Paris. It would be too much of a risk and put too many people in danger. Besides you don’t have a way to fight, so you wouldn’t be any help.” She hoped that would put an end to it, but she was wrong, “But I can help! If you give me a Miraculous I can help you defeat Hawkmoth. Please Ladybug we’re partners, we’re soulmates! I should be there fighting with you!” Adrien was persistent she’d give him that, but there was no way she’d let him in, potentially ruining everything when they worked so hard. “No Adrien, I will not be giving you a Miraculous! Every single one of them is in use right now and to take one away from someone would put them in danger. Besides, you already blew your chance when you were Chat Noir! You proved that you were never in it to protect people, and you were barely a decent partner! There were several times Hawkmoth almost won because you were goofing off or just didn’t even show up. Finally, you aren’t my soulmate, you never were. Just go home, go home, and sit this one out,” That seemed to cause him to only get more upset, “This is because of the new cat isn’t it?! He’s convinced you I’m some awful person so you’d give him the Cat Miraculous instead of me! It’s mine, not his! Master Fu chose me! I am the real holder of the Cat Miraculous, so you have to do what’s right and give it back if you’re such a ‘real hero’!” Ladybug sighed, “And Plagg, the Kwamii of the Cat Miraculous took it away from you because he felt you were unworthy to wield it. Why would I give it back to you then? Leave Adrien.” With that, she turned away, ready to rejoin the battle, but stopped dead in her tracks, “I should have known all along Ladybug, you aren’t a real hero. You’re just a narcissistic, pathetic, lonely girl pretending to be this great, benevolent hero because, in your real life, nobody loves you. Nobody wants you. I used to think I was your soulmate, and it’s clear I’m not because there’s no way such a vile person like you could ever have one. This is the only way you can get attention, and you strung me along in the process! If anything, you’re just as bad as Hawkmoth!” Adrien spat, before storming off. Ladybug took a deep breath, fighting back tears. It hurt to have someone she cared about, and used to love say such vile things about her, but now was not the time to lose focus, she had a battle to win. 

Diving back into the fray, she quickly tugged Caprikid out of the way as Hawkmoth tried to strike him. “You good,” He asked as the two regained their footing on a building, “You left your earpiece on so we kinda heard all of that. Panthère de Nuit looked ready to kill him at one point, and the rest of us would back him up if you want.” Ladybug chuckled a bit, “Thanks but the Miraculous Team is adopting the Bat’s no-killing rule. I’ll be okay, no, I’ll be amazing once we end this!” “Then I’m happy to inform you that it’s time for Lucky Charm,” Vipereon chimed in, “Swarm! Miss Hound! Take the shot! Lucky Charm!” Panthère de Nuit Cataclysmed the Sentimonster, causing cracks to form, destabilizing Hawkmoth and Mayura, with some help, the Amokized pendant was caught and quickly broken. Swarm hit Mayura with Venom, and her Miraculous was taken with Miss Hound’s fetch, leaving a defeated Nathalie, and Hawkmoth standing alone. Ladybug would have to move quickly so Hawkmoth couldn’t Akumatize Nathalie, and looked down at the Lucky Charm in her hand: A lily. Looking around, she quickly developed a plan, Grabbing a few supplies, she made her way to the tallest point within the Shell-ter, and set a trap for the Akumas. Sure enough, the allure of a flower overpowered Hawkmoth’s control over the butterflies, and as a result, they left the villain powerless. The heroes were quick to surround Hawkmoth, and with no Akuma and nowhere to ruin, it looked like his reign of terror was over. “You’re done Hawkmoth, you lost,” Ladybug declared as she jumped down to meet the villain. His cane, which contained a small blade, was ripped out of his hands by Batman, who did not want to risk the former villain attempting to stab Ladybug out of desperation. Seeing as he had no way out, all Hawkmoth could do was sigh in defeat and remove his Miraculous. Once it was securely in Ladybug’s hand, Carapace let the shelter down, and one Miraculous Ladybug later, the destruction of the battle seemed like a distant memory. 

It was like waking up from a dream. For a moment, no one said anything, what was left to be said? News helicopters were now flying overhead, as people began to gather around. A few stunned police officers made their way to the front of the crowd to arrest Gabriel and Nathalie, and as they were marched away the crowd erupted in a roar of jubilation. The Miraculous heroes were quick to leave the scene, and not a moment too soon, since their transformations dropped shortly after they landed on a distant roof. As the rest of her team celebrated, Marinette turned to look at the Eiffel Tower, where it all started five years ago. It didn’t feel real, Marinette looked down at the celebrating crowd below,  she was happy, but she also felt lost in a way. Being Ladybug had been such a huge part of her life, and she hadn’t really planned what she’d do once Hawkmoth was defeated. She was snapped out of her thoughts when a familiar arm wrapped around her waist, “Hey,” Damian murmured. She could feel a smile growing on her face, “Are you doing okay my Lily? I thought you would’ve been celebrating as well,” Marinette leaned into his side, “I feel like I won the lottery… but I’m not sure where to go from here. I’ve been Ladybug for a good chunk of my life, all the plans I made revolved around being Ladybug and responding to Akumas. Now I don’t really know what to do with myself,” “Come to Gotham,” Tim shouted at the pair, effectively ruining the moment. Damian turned, shooting Tim a glare over his shoulder. “He’s not wrong you know,” Batman started, getting everyone’s attention, “You’ve proven yourself to be incredibly capable, and now that the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous are back in your possession, the threat they pose has been taken care of. We would be honored to have you join us and the rest of the Gotham Knights.” Marinette was stunned, she stammered over her words trying to piece together a sentence, “I, I don’t know what to say-” “How about yes?” Damian asked as he leaned in for a kiss. “Alright then. yes. “ Marinette responded as her eyes fluttered closed. Before their lips could meet, the moment was ruined, “Get a room!” Tim called, resulting in a groan from the couple, and laughter from their friends. 

Marinette took one last look around her bare room, almost everything was gone except for her bed and a change of clothes. This was her last night in Paris for a while, maybe forever unless she came back to visit. In the month since Hawkmoth’s defeat, all of Paris had been in a state of constant celebration, and tonight there was supposed to be the biggest party of all: to wish Ladybug good luck and farewell as she joined the Batfam and by extension the Justice League. She would be the only hero moving up to the big leagues, with the rest of the Miraculous holders involved in the final battle releasing a statement that they would be permanently retired until further notice. They cited that it would be too dangerous to have so many Miraculous out and active on a permanent basis, potentially giving supervillains multiple targets to go after, and the potential danger each Miraculous could pose if they were to fall into the wrong hands. They wished Ladybug well and stated that they’d always be ready if she needed them again. Panthère de Nuit was publicly revealed to be Robin, the vigilante from Gotham, along with a slightly watered-down version of why the Bats were in Paris in the first place. No one really cared about the schematics, Hawkmoth was gone, and people could live their normal lives again. Marinette plopped down on her bed, sighing as she watched the Kwamii fly about the room. There really was nothing left for her in Paris, Hawkmoth and Mayura were gone, the rest of her class finally apologized, Lila was exposed and she’d just graduated high school alongside her soulmate. All she had to do now was go to college in Gotham, build her fashion empire, and help defend the world whenever she was needed. She was excited, who wouldn’t be? That excitement was dampened by a sense of melancholy, Paris was her home and she had so many good memories here, some she could remember vividly, like her soulmate dreams. “Hey Tikki?” The little Kwamii paused, floating over to her champion, “Now that I’ve met Damian, am I going to stop having soulmate dreams? I mean I’ve never had them consistently before… but it would be weird for them to suddenly stop right?” Tikki sat for a moment in Marinette’s hand, pondering her chosen’s question. “Well, it depends. Soulmate dreams work differently for different people, but you primarily seem to get them when you’re in a situation relating to hope. When you’re either full of hope or desperately need it, that’s when your dreams seem to come to you. They act like a promise, a promise that all will be well. So I imagine that you may occasionally have one when you need it most or when you feel particularly hopeful. Anyways, I hope you’re ready, it’s almost time for the party to start!” Tikki cheered as the Kwamii surrounded the two. 

Damian sat atop the Eiffel Tower as Panthère de Nuit, he watched Ladybug (It’s Lady Miracle now, he reminded himself) as she made her way across the rooftops to him. She was followed by cheering from the crowd of people, who all seemed to surge forward towards the celebration. Occasionally she would stop to pull a few people out of the crowd who looked like they were having trouble, but nonetheless, she was making good progress. She landed next to him gracefully, and he stood to meet her. “Hello my Lily,” he whispered as he pulled her into an embrace. “How was your last day in Paris?” She hummed contentedly as she kissed him, pausing a moment to snuggle closer. “It was good. I finally got apologies from the rest of the class, and anyone else who believed Lila. I only had to deal with Adrien for a few minutes, he tried to convince me to stay in Paris and go to college with him instead of leaving for Gotham. Papa showed him the door. And I also finished up the last of my packing! I’ve never seen the room so empty, it’s kinda scary.” Damian sighed, It seemed like Adrien would always be a pain in their sides, he couldn’t do much, but he seemed determined to be a constant presence in their lives. The two decided they wouldn’t focus on it now, they had a celebration to attend to. 

The heroes wove their way through the crowds, talking to people, and occasionally stopping at vendors to purchase some snacks or merch. Eventually, the two made their way to where the old Ladybug and Chat Noir statue stood. There were plans to take it down and replace it. “It should just be a statue of Ladybug, I only came to help defeat Hawkmoth, but she has been fighting him the whole time,” Panthère de Nuit explained to the mayor and various sculptors and architects that were discussing it. Ladybug was munching on a chocolate croissant from her parents’ booth, when someone spoke, “So this is it huh? You won and now you’re just packing up and leaving?” She turned to see Lila standing there, arms crossed and looking a mix between furious and annoyed. ‘Annoyed Hawkmoth didn’t drag me down with him,’ Marinette thought, swallowing the bite of croissant. “Hello, Lila. Yes, I got invited to join the Justice League, so I’ll be spending a few years in Gotham training with Batman. How about you? Got any plans?” It was a bit of an antagonistic question. Since Gabriel Agreste was exposed, the brand Gabriel had been in a perpetual death spiral. Adrien, with the help of the board of directors and some lawyers, was able to stabilize the company, but it was going through a serious rebrand and may have to downsize. So Lila’s future as a model was shaky at best. Lila however, did not show any uncertainty, “Oh I’m probably going to continue modeling, after I finish college that is. Who knows, maybe I’ll leave that behind and branch into acting. Now,” her gaze hardened, “Let’s drop the pleasantries shall we? Hawkmoth is gone, so I expect I won’t be having any more trouble with you-” “Unless you decide to work with a terrorist again. The only reason you haven’t been arrested is because there isn’t enough evidence Lila.” “And it's going to stay that way. You have no reason to go snooping around my life anymore, and besides,” Lila shot her a smirk, “I’m sure the Justice League wouldn’t like it if it got out that their newest member was stalking an innocent model, accusing her of outlandish crimes.” Ladybug laughed, “Considering some recent revelations about you I don’t think I’ll have a problem convincing them you’re anything but trustworthy. So stay out of trouble, because you’ll certainly end up getting in over your head, and someday no one will be around to bail you out.” Lila made a sound similar to an outraged chicken, and placing a hand over her heart she cried, “Is that a threat?” an obvious attempt to make a scene. Ladybug simply shrugged, “Nope. It’s a warning. Do with it what you will,” and with that, she walked over to Panthère de Nuit, and the two swung back up to the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks. The show was amazing, the symbols of all the Parisian heroes lit up the sky, and Marinette contentedly sighed as she leaned into Damian’s side. Life was good. After a couple of minutes, the grand finale began, with the final fireworks spelling out: Thank you Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit.

[sea-owl]

You know, I think there's some conversations to be had with Ogerpon's decision to go with the main character and the reactions to it.

Looking at the backstory for Ogerpon, she has been living very isolated on Kitikami ever since her original trainer died and the battle with loyal/mischevious three. Her story has been mistold to where she's the villain and the people born to Kitikami dislike her basically on principle. She hasn't felt safe to reveal herself to others outside of the masks festival where everyone is wearing a mask. Though based on some of the dialogue, it makes me think this is a one-off thing, and I think she finally felt brave enough because she saw the MC beforehand.

Ogerpon is shown to be very intelligent pokemon, she knows who is from the village and who isn't. She's also a curious pokemon because instead of fleeing when she sees MC and Kieran battling in front of her cave, she stays and watches. MC is probably the first outsider, like herself, that Ogerpon has come across. Kitikami kinda gives off the vibe that while they are currently trying to become more open to outsiders its a work in progress. But seeing someone different may have made Ogerpon curious enough or brave enough to go to the festival. At the festival she has a positive experience with the MC, the first positive experience she's had with a human since her original trainer. Now her past experience did make her nervous enough to flee when Carmine, one of the villagers, showed up, but I don't hold that against her.

After that, Ogerpon has positive after positive experience with the MC. They bond, MC shows a gentleness and care that Ogerpon hasn't received from humans in generations. The MC runs around Kitikami looking to take back the masks Ogerpon cherishes with Ogerpon. Looking into all of that I'm not surprised by Ogerpon's choice of traveling with the MC to put her hurt behind and make new memories.

Now, looking into Kieran. Before I go further, let me say I love Kieran. I love the arc his character goes through, but he kinda gives off nice guy energy who got rejected by his crush when it comes to Ogerpon. We learn early on that Kieran idolized Ogerpon's or the Oger's, strength. While talking with Carmine at the festival after seeing Ogerpon, she hints at, as much as can be hinted for a kids game, that his idolization may be a bit more of an obsession. Which, I am inclined to believe because we actively see him doing the same thing to MC and their strength.

Off the bat, Ogerpon isn't going to trust Kieran because he's from Kitikami. That isn't against him. That more just has to do with Ogerpon's experiences. Kieran also actively goes into Ogerpon's territory, sometimes at night, we're told, which is dangerous. That can't be a good feeling of someone rocking up to your home in the night, possibly waking you up. Especially when you don't trust the villagers as is and try to avoid them. Now we don't know if Kieran ever said anything while at Ogerpon's den, hoping she would hear or what he does when he gets to the den. But we do know she never felt safe or comfortable enough to reveal herself. Kieran mentioned to the MC that he would have Ogerpon live in his house in the village, a place Ogerpon actively avoids. So I wonder if he made that offer to her too by speaking it aloud or she overheard that at an earlier point, and it came off as a threat to her.

Back into the story Ogerpon doesn't bond with Kieran at all. He has the chance to, MC and Carmine both actively say hey let's go help Ogerpon get the masks back but he declines. Now he does go and spread the true story of Ogerpon to the other villagers but Ogerpon never asked for that, she didn't even want to step foot into that village. What she wanted was her masks back. That honestly should have been our first hint that Kieran didn't respect Ogerpon's choice.

Then came the battle for Ogerpon. At this point Ogerpon has actively chosen MC to be her new trainer and we see the negative affects of Kieran's obsession. He claims we "stole the Oger" from him, who he liked first. Carmine even jumps into this argument, saying that hey Ogerpon made her decision and they should respect that, but Kieran still wants to battle MC for her. He runs off after MC catches Ogerpon and the end scene to the Teal Mask DLC we see his obsession full on switch from Ogerpon to MC.

Indigo Disk also brings up some intresting things as well when it comes to Kieran's unhealthy obsession to Ogerpon. During your battle, he still calls her the Oger instead of her actual name, and if you bring her into battle, all his attacks focus on her. He's not over her rejection.

I also think there might be a conversation to be had about real world commentary on women's choices via Ogerpon as well. Whether the Pokemon company meant to do it or not they set it out there when they decided to make Ogerpon a girl. They reinforced it too by making players respect her decision and making her untradeable when Kieran trades with you after Indigo Disk.

[lvrslvt3]

IN YOUR SHADOW | s.reid

main masterlist | criminal minds masterlist

pairings : spencer reid x fem!reader

summary : in which spencer reid is not good at taking hints.

warnings : sad

notes : this is very “cool about it” by boy genius. (atleast it is in my head)

you grinned over at spencer as you both relaxed on his couch, each of you having a book in your laps but him being much closer to the end than you were. this was your favourite moments with spencer; just the both of you being together in utter peace.

it was moments like these that you wished could last forever, that you wanted to happen every day. that’s how you could imagine your perfect life, but that would never happen unless spencer reid liked you back and that didn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.

you hadn’t told him - despite morgan, garcia and prentiss telling you to - but something felt right in this particular moment. it was only confirmed when he looked up at you and he gave you the look that only you got. the one that was the reason why you got yourself into this predicament of liking your bestfriend.

you were finally going to do it. this was the moment that would either change your life for the better or worse, but something that had to happen. you couldn’t continue living thinking of all of the ‘what ifs’ between the both of you. you couldn’t live in the shadows anymore.

“i’m so happy that even after everything, we can just be friends.” he spoke up with a small smile on his face, not realising that he had just broken you completely with a simple sentence. “y’know? without other things getting in the way and splitting us up.”

something inside of your heart broke so violently that you wondered if there was a possibility that he could hear it. you knew this moment would haunt you forever. gideon had once said words are fragile things that can break the strongest of hearts — and you knew that this was an first-hand example of just that.

somehow, without skipping a beat, your eyes refused to dim and your smile never faltered as you continued to look. this was the price you would have to pay to stay in spencer’s life, even if it managed to ruin you in the process.

but inside, you could feel yourself instantly wilt as soon as he spoke. it felt as if your insides were churning as you kept on your grin and swallowed down your sorrow before you spoke, “of course.” the lie felt like you were betraying yourself,

“he didn’t say outright he didn’t like you.” morgan was leaning across your desk with his arms folded, the lunches infront of you both forgotten since he had decided to try and persuade you into admitting your feelings for spencer instead of eating.

he didn’t stop - or falter - even when you admitted what had happened that night at his when you had tried to confess your feelings, the moment that now had put a dim to your life. “well, it was heavily implied, okay?” you snapped back after listening to derek.

the agent shut up immediately at your tone. he felt sorry for you, your mood had changed drastically. “i’m sorry,” he dropped his head, shaking it in disappointment with himself. “i just don’t like you with that guy.”

you knew he was referring to your current boyfriend of only a few weeks. even though you hadn’t known him for long, you had thrown yourself quickly into a relationship despite the man having multiple obvious red flags that he hadn’t even tried to hide.

the reasoning was simple enough, it was a good distraction from spencer and also an easy way to try and avoid his curious eyes. you knew he would pick up on your low moods, it was something he always managed to do no matter how you hid it from him.

you didn’t respond but instead picked at the food infront of you. derek had met your boyfriend, very briefly, and instantly hated him. mostly because of his clearly very controlling and possessive behaviour over you. it made him worry for your well-being.

it was also the way that his eyes wandered to every woman that passed you both, and the robotic style gestures that he used towards you that made it seem like you were strangers instead of lovers. he only properly embraced you when another man tried to pick you up.

the agent moved his hand to touch your shoulder, squeezing it in a comforting gesture to gain your full attention. your eyes successfully flickered up towards your colleague and close friend. “you deserve to be with someone who wants to be with you.”

you couldn’t help yourself in that moment. your eyes immediately swept over towards spencer that was sat eating his lunch by himself; an odd sight since usually you sat with him. you were the only one he liked at his desk for such a long period of time but lately you had been ‘forgetting’ to sit with him.

“but what if no one ever does?” you may have had a waver running through your voice, but your words remained true. you appeared almost like a child as you looked at derek full of hope that he could fix all of your problems so you wouldn’t have to live like this anymore. with all of this pain.

morgan tried not to let your voice break him aswell. he couldn’t bare to see you and spencer act like this with each other. he moved over towards you and wrapped an arm so tightly around you that you weren’t sure you could escape his embrace. “don’t let yourself be his second choice.

“second place is still a place." your voice cracked, letting go of derek and focusing back on your desk, wiping your eyes before it became too obvious that you were almost crying at work. “it’s better than nothing at all."

“are you okay?” you spun around in the old, battered stool just as spencer came up to the bar you were currently stationed at. you simply smiled in his direction. “of course i am.” you finished off your drink before finally meeting his eyes.

his expression was often serious, but you liked how it softened slightly when he looked at you. like the way he looked at you was different from everyone else. it made you feel special but in that moment you couldn’t meet it.

“you’ve been avoiding me.” the man stated matter-of-a-factly while taking the seat beside you, trying to hide his grimace at the old and most likely sticky surface. truthfully, you weren’t as drunk as you wished you would be while having this conversation with him.

“i have?” you acted dumb as you stared down at his hands. a thousand times you wanted to take his hand, and a thousand times you had stopped yourself. you still liked him, but you didn’t know how to begin — or if you even wanted to anymore. there had been way too many signs trying to stop you from confessing your true feelings.

“um, yeah.” he retorted back quickly, “is your…boyfriend okay?” his words sounded awkward, something that had never happened between the two of you before. you nodded with a hum, “yeah. actually, he’s actually picking me up soon so i’m gonna go wait outside i think.”

“i’ll come with you—“

“—its fine.” you interjected before he could get up, placing a hand on his chest to stop him and standing up by yourself. spencer sighed in frustration, “can i atleast get you a water?” he questioned but he had already signalled over the bartender.

now you were stood watching until finally spencer paid and gave you the water, your eyes settled on his wallet. you wondered if your photo was still in there. “thanks.” you mumbled while tucking it into your purse, too scared you would choke on it if you drank.

spencer didn’t speak for a long moment. he continued to stare at you with such a strong gaze that you couldn’t bring yourself to leave it just yet. he had always been compelling. he was like an illusion you could not let yourself look away from no matter how hard you tried.

“you know,” spencer stood up aswell and took a step closer to you, “i used to like you.” his words came out awkwardly and jumbled tighter. before you could respond, he added in, “but i don’t anymore.”

spencer couldn’t meet your eyes anymore but instead stared down at the ground below the both of you. you weren’t sure what to say to him, but you couldn’t indulge in this. it would be selfish and you knew if he ever agreed to a relationship with you it would only be so you wouldn’t get your feelings hurt.

you wanted someone that wanted you, not just needed you. “i didn’t know you ever did.” you stared blankly at the man before re adjusting the bag strap on your shoulder, glancing behind you before speaking up. “i’ll see you later, spence.”

he was shocked at your sudden, and quick, dismissal. he wanted a reaction, good or bad as long as he spoke to you properly. every conversation you had shared was blunt and impersonal as if you were strangers and not close friends. he wasn’t sure if you were even friends anymore.

to him, you were everything. even before you were close friends you always had a special place in his heart and his brain. no matter what he was doing you were there — physically or not — and he had only realised that was love when you began to slip away from him.

before he could save the situation you turned and left, all the possibilities that could have happened between the both of you playing out in your head as you left spencer reid behind in your shadow for the first and last time.

[sevensoulmates]

Spec on what Tommy's (possible) sexuality might be?

In relation to some spec I'm seeing going around about how Tommy identifies his sexuality, I'm so curious to see what that's gonna be and how he came to figure it out.

Here's what we know:

Tommy had a girlfriend in Chimney Begins because Captain Gerrard asked Tommy when his girlfriend was coming by the station to cook them all dinner. But then again he was kinda cagey in answering the Captain about her coming.

In Hen Begins, Sal insinuates that Tommy is "more of a Team Jacob kind of guy" aka Gay because Tommy finds Kristen Stewart "too broody". Tommy takes this in stride, sending Sal a joking air kiss, but it's by far the biggest hint we've gotten about Tommy possibly not being straight during the time he worked with the 118. However this line was likely originally intended to show casual workplace homophobia in order to make Hen uncomfortable, and not really to be like "oh hey Tommy's queer". But it ends up working out for the writers that they already had this tidbit in here.

In Bobby Begins Again Tommy tells Hen and Chim "I'm telling you, single is easier. Having the scars impresses women, getting 'em freaks 'em out." Which heavily implies dating/being attracted to women. In the same conversation, he later brings up a quote from Fight Club the movie, and in case anyone wasn't aware, has long been interpreted as a queer allegory due to large amounts of homoerotic material in the source material and film adaptations.

All of that being said, there are arguments for Tommy possibly being bisexual, or possibly being an in-the-closet gay man. Whichever direction they choose to take Tommy will be telling for the future of the plot for different reasons.

If Tommy ends up being bisexual like Buck, then more than likely they'll end up having a lot of parallels to experiences Buck has had in the past, further cementing to the audience that Buck has been bi this whole time but just didn't realize it. It could also parallel Buck's current situation (hiding him and Tommy from Eddie + the 118) and possibly the catalyst for Buck to come out to the rest of the 118.

But, if Tommy ends up being gay, and had to hide it and/or repress it for most of the time he had been with the 118, that could prove very interesting for the ways in which he strongly parallels Eddie.

7x04 spent a lot of time hammering home to the audience that Tommy is extremely similar to Eddie. I wouldn't be surprised if they take this a step further by having Tommy have a queer experience similar to how many of us believe Eddie's to be. That being growing up in a hypermasculine environment, filled with shame and plenty of reasons to repress and/or keep that information to himself. And only figuring out who he is later in life.

Personally, I would prefer it if they went this route with Tommy. Not only because I think it would strongly parallel a possible queer Eddie storyline, but it would also provide a contrast for Buck. By that I mean if Tommy says "well, my relationships with women never felt right, and I realized later it's because I wasn't attracted to them at all" then Buck can firmly place himself in the bisexual category in contrast by clarifying that he was and still is attracted to women, but now realizes he likes men too. And it doesn't hurt that it could be possible foreshadowing for Eddie, and/or parallels to Eddie's storyline with Marisol in the episode with something possibly not feeling right between them.

Either way, I'm excited to see to learn more about Tommy in 7x05. I'm also hoping for a bit more acknowledgment for how shitty he was to Hen and Chim in the beginning. It's a good way to show 10+ years of character development in one convo.

[m3r1m4r5u333]

So... I kinda feel like the 9-1-1 is foreshadowing a pregnancy...

So I speculate. Btw this ends up being more like a fic premise than speculation. Feel free to use these ideas if you want to x)

I'm a rabid crow so buddie would naturally be my favorite pick to be parents. (Also it's just more interesting to me to speculate about Buddie becoming surprise parents than for example Maddie and Chimney. I mean there is always Maddie's previous post-partum to add some challenge but still... Buddie is my go-to plot bunny factory, and Hen and Karen just got another child etc. So. Buddie it is.)

Btw one reason why I jump to buddie becoming parents (again) is that I think the show has foreshadowed it before. Remember that Christmas episode, Buck playing with Denny and Chris, with Eddie fondly watching them play?

Buck asks something like "who needs more cement?" and both kids want some, so Buck says Chris will have to wait, as Denny will get his first, "this big old piece"...

What could "cement" symbolize...?

Children, right?! Having more children does tend to add more "cement" to a family, right? The bonding, the responsibility... It's like cement!

And hey, didn't the Wilsons just get 'a big, old piece of cement'... Mara!

Also, during christmas there were four stockings hanging on the mantelpiece in the Diaz home. Like it was a family of four.

So Buddie... Tbh I think it would end up being them being dads if just either of them somehow ended up becoming the dad of a sudden 'child surprise'...

After all, taking care of a baby is hard and exhausting, and Buck and Eddie just naturally lean on each other for help, we've already seen it happen with Chris. They could not watch the other one struggle and not offer to help.

So how could Buck or Eddie become a dad of a baby? Could happen many ways I think.

Might be Buck or Eddie, impregnating a woman who decides to keep the baby, and then realises it was a mistake, as motherhood is certainly not something they enjoy, or are good at. Maybe single parenthood doesn't suit the mom's schedule due to them having a super demanding lifestyle thanks to their chosen field of work, something like that.

So the mom could decide that the other parent, the dad, would simply do a better job. So they'd show up at their doorstop, like a modern version of a stork, to drop off the baby, and then fly away. Or maybe to get them to share the responsibility, share custody and be a part-time parent.

The sperm donor story arc also feels like unfinished business to me.

I feel like Connor really wasn't as eager to become a parent as he pretended to be. I think he was just indulging Kameron, to fulfill her dream of motherhood, to make her happy, and was actually having seconds thoughts himself.

Really, the way he is introduced as someone who used to go by the nickname "Party Connor"...? Curious.

And do you guys remember the theme of drugs & neglect happening in the same episode in which Connor shows up to ask Buck to be a sperm donor...? Because Bobby also rescues Hoover in that episode!

Hoover is the dog which finds and eats the drugs his careless owner left lying around, and then needs to be resuscitated. So the team calls Hen on her day off, to ask for medical advice on how to treat a dog.

Hen... who is currently getting thoroughly drunk with Buck despite it being daytime, Hen who is asking Buck if he really is capable of fathering a child and walking away. Feels like foreshadowing to me!

My suspicion is that Connor might actually be an addict, that would explain his wild "party" past.

The stress of parenthood might make him relapse, leaving Kameron to deal with the baby alone. As we know, Cameron used to lead a wild lifestyle, and Kameron and Connor were already fighting before the baby was born...

Also, as this episode hints... Not all dads adapt to not being the biological parent of the child they are raising. Connor isn't the biological dad of the child Kameron gave birth to. What if that leads to problems, what if Connor is the type who secretly thinks that being the biological father matters more than being the father who is there? Chimney's dad isn't the only person in this world to think this way!

And hmm.. Connor was said to be infertile. But hey... What if he... isn't, after all?

The reason Connor was said to be infertile was "slow swimmers" aka slow sperm mobility, right? Well newsflash, having "slow swimmers" doesn't actually always mean it's impossible to conceive. It can be harder to conceive, but yeah, it's not necessarily impossible. It can even happen naturally.

So... What would happen if "Party Connor" relapses and becomes "Party Connor" once again...

What if he starts using and neglects his child?

And to add a cherry on top of the disaster, what if Kameron finds out she's late?

... Already expecting another baby?

How would she manage the single parenthood of two babies if it turns out that Connor isn't a reliable adult..?

What if she realises that the task is too much for her to take on,

that trying to care for two babies (or maybe even more than two, what if she's expecting twins) on her own...

would just make them all fall down?

Btw, Connor might not even believe the baby she's expecting is his since he appeared to be certain that having slow swimmers meant that he is infertile! That might make them really fall out, Connor leaping to the assumption that her wife is cheating on him.

So... I think she'd contact Buck and ask for help. After all, it doesn't seem like Kameron really has a family of her own, the way she was living in Buck's apartment when she and Connor fought. Maybe there is no safety net, and it's just her and Connor.

Until... it's just her. And the babies.

[darksiders-junkie]

Hello! Welcome back 😊

Could I request a female reader getting stuck under the mistletoe with War at Christmas dinner and having to explain the tradition of kissing under it to the big guy?

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Of course! I hope you enjoy this dearie! And happy holidays!

Everything about the Christmas season was great! The scenery blanketed in a fresh, crisp white. The joyous music. The beautiful blinding lights and decorations. Family and friends coming together to enjoy one another's company with eachother. The delicious foods. Watching someone open the gift you picked out from them, receiving gifts no matter how small and just knowing someone thought of you. Everything was amazing.

And it was something you truly wanted to share with the horsemen, War especially. Even if they hadn't ever celebrated or even just understood the meaning behind it! If anything, it made you want to celebrate with them more!

But the one thing you despised about Christmas currently, the one thing you had wished you never put up was the dreaded mistletoe. Why should you have put it up? It wasn't like you were dating any of the horsemen, even if you had thought of a specific younger brother in that light..

Currently being caught under it with none other the the youngest sibling, War, himself was agonizing.

His cute puppy head tilt at your odd reaction of running into you. God it was awful, you could just see yourself now. Red as Rudolph's nose, trying desperately to look at anything but the man standing before you. A fidgeting mess, and you could just hope he couldn't see you were sweating.

You just knew he needed a clue, looking up to the mistletoe praying you had mentioned it to him before. But you obviously hadn't when you could visibly see his confusion worsen. Looking to you as if you were crazy, as if saying "That is just a plant, why would you react this way over something so small and insignificant?" But he thankfully doesn't comment on that.

"Are you alright (Y/n)?" It comes out as a little grunt, but the concern is still evident.

"Y-yes, yes. Just, uh, the mistletoe and all.." As if that would explain anything to the man. Obviously he couldn't get the first hint because he didn't know anything about the tradition.

"What of it? If you're allergic to it, I can toss it away for you." He's already reaching up to get rid of the petty little thing bothering you.

You're tempted to tell him that yes, you are very allergic and want him to whip the evil little plant into the sun, but it doesn't seem fair to lie to him. You sure he'd be pretty unimpressed even from a little lie like that, and it took you so long to get him to have a normal conversation past just grunts and nods.

"No, I'm not allergic, it's apart of the holiday so please leave it up." You need to get a grip. It's just a silly little tradition, it's not like you HAVE to participate in it with him. Even if you'd really like to.

"Then what is the problem?" He's beyond confused, but he does drop his hand from the plant to leave it up.

"Just um.. just a Christmas tradition. It's nothing." You knew very well that wouldn't be the end of the conversation. War was far too curious for his own good.

"Tradition? Of what kind?" And there it is. That curiosity that most certainly killed the cat. Or more accurately you, his curiosity embarrasses you more often then it really should.

"Its just, for us humans, if you get caught under the mistletoe you have to.. Well you have to kiss the other person." Could you get more red? You probably did become more red despite the impossibility of it.

"Would that mean we have to kiss? Why? What is the meaning for it?"

You know it's just because he's curious.. but it almost feels like a rejection. You think you'll hate mistletoe forever after this.

"Well the ancient story I know was to increase the chances of.. marriage.. for a woman. And that if she wasn't kissed, she could still be single next Christmas. With each kiss a berry is removed until there are no more berries.. But uh for more modern day, it's just seen as bad luck not to kiss whomever you ran into under the mistletoe.."

War gives a little hum of acknowledgment, which just furthers your embarrassment. God is it time to go to bed and cry yet?

You keep your head hung from the embarrassment running through you, more then surprised when War lifts your head up by the chin and ducks down to give you a kiss.

It was just a little peck, so fast you barely had time to realize what was happening. Glad to the gods above that you were quick to kiss back despite not being all there before he pulled away.

He gave you a little smile, and man did you wish he always smiled. He looked pretty somehow.

"There. Now you won't have bad luck."

Well now you want to give him more kisses, as many as you could. But from the sound of it, he's doing it so you won't have bad luck, which sucks but at least kissing you wasn't so repulsive he refused to.

"Thank you.."

He just keeps surprising you when he leans down to give you one more before reaching up to tug a berry off and set it in your hand. You're so glad you bought a real mistletoe.

"And now you won't be single next Christmas, and your chances of marriage have increased."

Was he.. hinting he wanted to be with you? Or are you delusional?

"War-"

"Unless you'd prefer to be single. I.. there is no pressure." He was quick to interrupt, he smile deeming just a little.

"I.. I don't want to be single." You give him a smile. Moving to grab onto a piece of his armor, and leaning up. Glad he took the hint and leaned down to give you another kiss. Heaven, this is what it feels like.

He seemed happy when you pulled back, pushing your hair out of your face. "Its dinner time now yes? Would you like to sit? I'll make you a plate since you made dinner."

"Thank you War."

Oh you couldn't be happier, letting him wonder off to make you a plate, and moving to sit down in your spot with a big smile that more than confused the other horsemen. Whom had just shrugged it off, deaming it to just be due to the holidays.

When in reality it was all due to a silly little plant and a big hunk of muscle. Mistletoes just might be your most favorite thing of the Christmas holiday, despite hating them just moments prior.

Although you couldn't help but to feel War felt differently about them, with how heavily he avoided them with you the rest of the night. Or perhaps, he just didn't want you to get stuck under one with anyone else.

[demonkinguwu]

hey i know you're not in the ahit fandom anymore but i have to ask, why did you ship vanessa x snatcher? not to be mean but i was just curious this whole time it's okay if you don't wanna answer

Well, this is certainly a surprise lol

While I'm not really into AHIT much anymore, it'll always be special to me, so I don't mind answering this for old time's sake

[Warning: I will talk about Snatcher x Vanessa in a sort of positive way. Please don't read or send me any hate if it's not your cup of tea or don't like it. I know this warning might be a bit much but I have received harassment over this topic/liking Vanessa before, so I feel it's needed. Please feel free to block me/ or ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable. Thank you👍]

Personally, I think they're neat.

Yeah, it was a toxic relationship in canon, probably for the best they aren't a thing anymore. But the thing is, even in canon there are tiny hints that the current Snatcher might even have a crush on her or at least doesn't care too much about her [though admittedly yes, he is somewhat bitter over his death]. Just look at the Seal the Deal DLC

"We all have a soulmate, supposedly. I know I do, she's waiting for me, I don't see anyone waiting for you."

Always thought this line was weird if he 100% hated her. like, he could have told HK: "I had a soulmate once, let's just hope if you have one, they'll be just as wonderful as she was." Like, he's already giving the child death threats, I don't think he's above wishing HK a similar fate to his.

I'm sure there are more instances but I just got the feel that Snatcher, while somewhat bitter about his death and all, he's pretty much doesn't fear her or anything, maybe even finds her evilness kinda hot now, who knows?

Canonwise, I don't really see them working out as he is too mad about what she did and she doesn't recognize him/hates him but that leads to the actual reason why I liked them.

AUs Listen, Imma be real with you all, most of my enjoyment of AHIT was because of AUs. IDK, for me this game was so easy to make AUs of, especially the Subcon Forest chapter. I like to think of alternative endings or heck, fill-in lore and all. I think Vanessa being an ambiguous character helps a lot in this regard [I mean aside from my preferences of evil women n yanderes in general]

I know she went crazy after she 'caught' the prince and florist but I like to wonder why, as I do have a personal belief no one is truly born evil, I just think they're influenced into coming it. I also like to wonder about different scenarios and all using these characters. I just think in concept they could be neat.

That's not to say I only made AUs to ship them, I mean, [points at my RoleSwap AU where Vanessa literally hates/fears Snacter more than Canon Snatcher hates Vanessa] But the bulk of them are little what ifs and giving them a chance to either fix things or work things out.

Anyways, yeah, I just like them cause there are just two people who are intertwined, it's easier to make AUs of them and explore Subcon as a whole in general. Yes, I'm also one of those who like character redemption arcs. Hell, one of my OCs was an absolutely obsessive bastard man that I thought would never get redeemed or like much but whoops, me n partner like him now to give him two whole bfs.

So yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm sure I would have written an entire essay before but I'm not really much into this game as before. The only thing I'm invested in currently involving AHIT is a crossover AU that came from RPing in which my RS Vanessa has a tsundere crush on my partner's horrible AU MJ unicorn guy who she will take the hammer and FIX HIM

I will probably replay sometime later this year but currently busy with other stuff and fandoms. I can't guarantee I'll be back into it, but hey who knows, maybe I will.

[normalsnails]

Oooh Third High Rise World 👀👀 What is the big tower this time? We've got a railgun, we've got a space elevator.. *rubs hands evilly* I want to know everything >:D

Also I'm curious about your OCs! Are they participants, candidates, angels? *^*

Hii!! Thanks for asking :33 apologies that this took long I’ve been running errands!

So first, its a broadcasting tower! Its function is what it sounds like haha, it relies on a phone (and the ability, just like the railgun) for it to broadcast you the God’s code in a video form, kinda like a tv channel, which is why there are no tvs in that world! It’s a God mechanism similar to the og one, created by the creator of all of the realms to make a god out of people who were just like the “perfect” candidates, such as : Kuon, Juo, Aikawa (some may be family, but I’ll get into that later). So basically people who were closest to God / had great potential of becoming God!

The creator selected the people who were just like / related to the “perfect candidates” and threw in an extra 100+ (a lot, i know) people to give the people chances, give them opponents ect.

Now!! My ocs which i love aaaa my little babies have time to shineee

So first, Hidehisa Suzuki!!

•as you might have gathered, she’s Juo’s younger sister, shes the most similar to Juo in the sense of bloodlust (kinda), same principles (bad guys always win). So basically a lot of his qualities, not because it’s natural and in their genetics, its that Juo was a TERRIBLE influence on her growing up, aswell as their parents ect. So shes very dragged-up.

•Giving her a masculine name was intentional! Her parents probably thought it’d be “quirky” to give their kids such awful names.

•She isn’t a bully in the way her brother is, shes more of a “mean to everyone” type. Always gets into fights, causes trouble, makes fun of everyone sorta thing. She doesn’t have targets like Juo did.

•She wears her hair in all different hairstyles, one day its low pigtails, another its down, a braid ect.

•she has white eyes like her bro but they’re not as sharp as his, they’re quite big and round. (Still soulless-looking) and her hair is the same black with a hint of purple.

•she is currently a participant, but she’s probs gonna find a mouthless mask sometime soon (She probably will break it though, shes mentally weaker than Juo)

•she’s 15!

Thats about it on her!!

“I just wanna feel alive” so her. Thats just her.

Myra Aikawa!

•she isnt Mamoru’s daughter, she’s his niece! Shes similar to him on how she has a particular worldview (not an extreme darwinist like Mamoru, but similar), very collected, very strategic, polite, ambitious ect.

•when i wrote my Mamoru hcs ages ago, i mentioned he had a stepbrother, thats his stepbrother’s daughter!

• She wasnt influenced into thinking this way, she kind of just came to a sort of “the weak die, the strong live. Thats just natural selection.” Conclusion (shes very scholarly, reads alot of philosophy books)

•Student council president, takes her role far too seriously.

•Quite snobby and pretentious but doesnt realise, her father married a successful businesswoman who is the main breadwinner of the house.

•She is now a god candidate after randomly coming across a mouthless mask (we can all tell what her goals are now, yikessss)

•Her god candidate powers include :

Self strengthening ability (isnt that great)

Consciousness interference (can go into an awake person’s brain, it has drawbacks though as it exhausts her)

Ability to control Angels (only 1 currently!!)

•She is half Thai half Japanese (Thai on her mother’s side), she speaks both languages!

•she has light blonde hair (it almost looks white) and light brown eyes!

•she wears a half up half down ponytail with a black bow!

•she’s 16!

And last, Takeshi Akesofu

•He is the only one that isnt related to the “perfect candidates” legally or genetically, he is instead like Kuon in other ways. He is the son of a CEO (of a rival company to Shinzaki’s) and a retired actress, but he is not the heir to the company like kuon, instead his elder brother is the heir. He was raised to be superior to others, to carry himself properly because of the prestige of his family. He’s different to Kuon, but theres a reason they’re somewhat related (They may or may not be in a forced marriage / engagement, but thats just a rumour thats been circling around the internet (on earth in their universe))

•He pretends that he’s all serious and proper to please his family but in private he’s rude and informal. He often brags about what he gets from his parents to his (equally rich) friends. Just your classic spoiled rich kid but hides it.

•wears sunglasses almost all the time, says it makes him look hot but he just looks tacky.

•has quite a sheltered life because of the fame, but not as sheltered as kuon’s. For example, he can go out but only if he has bodyguards / people with him.

•is a God candidate! Same as Myra he came across one by accident. His abilities include :

Ability to control Angels (3 Angels at the moment)

Ability to observe an Angel’s strength

Self-transferring (undiscovered by him but it turns out to be weak and will make him confused and dizzy)

•he has dark brown hair and dark green eyes!

•very present on social media, has millions of followers. (Which boosts his already high ego)

•he’s 18!

Thats it for my ocs!! If you wanna know more about them or a character in specific then just tell me :>

And if the third high rise world was ever in written form (unlikely, too many wip fics and exams XP) they would be the protagonists! (Meaning it would be from one of their perspectives every chapter)

The third high rise world starts mid-arrive, and it’s still going on post arrive and isn’t gonna end because Yuri & co simply don’t know about its existence! Neither does the supervisor. They will find out eventually because Yuri is literally 100% God 100% human and i can ramble on and on about the 4 omnis ect.

There are titles which none of them have acheived, such as :

Seraph. (An angel (not in a TS sense) that is the closest being to God, yet not having the power of god.)

Idol. (Just as it sounds, basically having high numbers of followers, being worshipped basically by humans)

More to be added as i think about them and look at meanings ect! Most of these are religious terms because thats a heavy theme in TS and TSA!

Instead of lightning and cloud, they have light! So basically light radiates from them as lightning would in og TS!

So thats basically all for now, as this post is getting WAYY too long, but if you wanna know more then just send me an ask!! :3

[castlebyersafterdark]

I came to mope that I knew Finn with the heels would get brought up eventually and how that's lowkey why I've been enjoying Noah wearing some even in a silly way, more than Finn. Because we already know he has and I don't connect with the way people speak about it. People still couldn't believe Noah's gay and thought he was a frat straight so yeah I'll celebrate a gnc moment and focus on him and then both later.

But then I saw the other asks and yeah I agree about the Gen Z zoning in on aesthetic signifiers because so much of how Finn was known to be was A) a styling team especially for events, B) certain features being marketable especially on a boy so he would be encouraged to lean into them to stand out, C) the lack of it lately as he's gotten older. He's not as soft looking and androgynous as people may have seen him before thanks to puberty, I don't like attaching my interest to his youth as others do, but I know when he next does a shoot or dresses up like that there is a styling team and the goal to purposely emphasize those features behind it. I think it's really cool that he's chill with a pair of boots, he looks fantastic, but I've never made it something defining. I think I'm with you that he has always been a regular boy to me or at least wanted to be but he can't help how he looks/was skinny and white the way 2020s see the pinnacle of hyper queer people (when in the 2000s you'd assume a guy with that same physique is hanging out in a skate park). I'm curious to see the maturity in his entertainment/red carpet/model style in his 20's and seeing what he still likes or has moved on from. He's so interesting lmao!

Also I hate the press on nails content now knowing that the friends he was with there hated on Noah a few months ago during everything, so I lowkey hope those are the crowd he's started being less close with in this new glowing era he's in.

Ooooh boo on the friends of his, that's no fun. See, I don't personally keep up with the fine details of their social media lives and hints into personal stuff, so I look to tumblr to point things out. That's unfortunate his friends are like that. Hope he's outgrowing them, if true.

And yes - not going to reiterate too much because I co-sign what you're saying here. It's fairly accurate to what I feel. I do like to get silly with things sometimes and keep it light!! I just have to agree to fondly disagree when certain points are brought up since I have my own biases and viewpoints.

Because in full disclosure - you are spot on about a key point I think in why I view him the way I do in opposition to a lot of online fandom. My high school friend group was absolutely the "skater" off-beat weirdo crowd. There were boys who he so much reminds me of sometimes, from when he was young to little glimpses I see here and there now, but he seems a lot more Adult and with his shit together in this current era. So that's really what I see with him in a way. My stupid friends filming vines and being bad at skating and having a silly little band. (I did not skate and I was not in the band but I was around it all haha)

[twdmusicboxmystery]

First 10 Minutes of Daryl Dixon, Episode 1 - Part 1

@galadrieljones

Just watched the preview!! I’m definitely intrigued by a lot here. Of course I’m going to start with some nerd research, because that’s just me lol.

So Daryl did wash up in France, it’s established. The boat he finds, and the map from the Irish family helps us to understand just how unexpected this is, and I think Daryl realizes this, too. I can’t help but think this is on purpose on the part of tptb. It’s a hint, for the likes of us, ie: People who are going to google everything and who have been paying attention to everything. They already gave us that tricky hint with the coordinates in Fear. And they already have us paying attention to trade routes, port locations, etc. So why not add some more nautical weirdness to the mix?

It’s definitely not easy to float to Marseille from the Atlantic; HOWEVER, like I said, this is nerd research time, and I am pretty sure they would not choose to have him end up in a Mediterranean location without good reason. This show just doesn’t do that. It pays attention. They could also have just had him wash up in off the Bay of Biscay, in Bordeaux, for example, with much less weirdness and complicated explanations. But then we wouldn’t have anything to google and obsess over.

So I got just majorly curious like, how difficult would it actually be for some guy lashed to a skiff boat to float along the Atlantic into the Mediterranean and end up in Marseille. It seems really bizarre and impossible, but of course, it’s not. Per a bit of googling, I was reminded of the Coriolis Effect, a property in physics which holds that in the northern hemisphere, moving objects tend to deflect to the east, while in the southern hemisphere, they tend to deflect west.

The Canary Islands, all of north Africa, etc. is all well into the Northern Hemisphere. So I cross checked this information with how it would affect currents in the north Atlantic and found that, of course, the surface current along the northern coast of Africa and through the Strait of Gibraltar flows eastward, toward the Mediterranean. So not only is it entirely possible this could happen to Daryl, it makes a lot of sense. I wonder if Daryl was on a freighter and got abandoned somewhere off the coast of Portugal or maybe the Madeira Islands, and floated eastward through the Strait and into the Mediterranean, eventually washing up in Marseille. If we look at the trick coordinates for Grace’s “repeater station,” we can see they lie north of the Canary Islands, toward the Madeira Islands. Is it possible these things are connected?

Anyway, that's most of my nerd research for the day (but it's only 11 who knows!)

Just want to point out that in the map from the Irishman, you can see the Canary Islands, in the bottom corner.

On another note, the story with the Irishman’s family was really an interesting choice. Since it’s the first thing we hear, we have to think of it like a sort of thesis for what’s to come. An anglo man is out to sea with his wife and daughter. They head down around Spain and into the Mediterranean, eastward, to a more exotic land. His wife dies unexpectedly (from a heart attack? very strange) and his daughter is sad and wants to go home. He is just trying to get them to safety. We have no idea where they are now.

The story of losing a wife and then trying to hold it together for the child is very poignant here. It’s what happened to Rick, and it’s something that Daryl would remember and more obliquely relate to. Losing your partner, running, trying to find safety, then losing some more. The fact that Daryl finds the little penguin and that the man did not take it with him when he left the boat implies that the daughter might be dead now, too.

I was struck by the fact that the daughter’s name is Honey, which is what Dwight calls Sherry. Dwight also just lost his wife and his child. It was Dwight who, in Fear, pointed out that the coordinates for the Repeater Station are “inland,” which is clearly not true. Dwight’s child also dies at these faulty coordinates. The Irish theme is foreshadowed early in season 11, as Carol notices the lucky four leaf clover on the crate, which leads her to the food in Fort Connors. Greene is also an Irish surname. I don’t believe the choice for this to be an Irish family was made lightly.

The wine bottles didn’t get past me!

Also, it seems like where Daryl ends up toward the end of the preview, it’s a grocery store, or some sort of market. I was not expecting the like, acidic blood in the walkers. Oh boy. Another Davon reference. We never did figure out wtf it was that burned off Amanda’s face and killed her. Maybe Hydrochloric Acid. Still honestly not sure. But I feel like it must have something to do with the green Chlorine Gas. In Fear there were radioactive walkers with blood that could irradiate you. Now we have walkers with blood that burns your skin. Poor Daryl. He’s just used to regular lame walkers who drag their feet and can’t move very fast. Now he will have to deal with running walkers that bleed dangerous chemicals.

If you watch closely, one of the walkers that Daryl kills, you can see something pulsating through the veins in its chest. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that before. Something pulsating through the body would mean a functioning circulatory system, re: Jenner’s theory in the WB coda.

Also poor Daryl again, got so surprised in the market. He did not have google translate to tell him that the warning on the door reads “Be Careful. Hungry Inside.”

Anyway, looking forward to what you all thought. I know there was so much more to discuss, but we all have our own things we get fixated on, which is why we make a great team lol.

@wdway

I'll start at the beginning with mine. When I first saw this the little pink image with a yellow circle appeared like 10 seconds in. At first I thought it was a reflection from something, I even restarted but no it's there and seems to be following the boat. I've then realized it was purposeful and what is going on symbolically. This pink/yellow image following Daryl who is stranded a top of a Lifeboat clinging to Life by a rope. Then I looked up and realize that this is happening at dawn, at SUNRISE!!

Daryl coming ashore after his baptism finding a partially buried beach sand bucket with a small amount of water in it. More water symbolism.

Daryl realizing he is somewhere foreign, somewhere he cot read the language. Hidden in plain sight at the bottom of the white sign with black lettering is the image of a coffee cup. Coffee=Beth.

As Daryl goes into the cabin of the boat to the left we see a red fire extinguisher, yet another Beth symbol. The curtains initially look black and white but they are in fact a plaid black, white, red.

Daryl being resourceful is able to catch a fish he cooks it over an open fire. Fish or fish symbol is one of the most recognizable Christian symbols.

Daryl had moved his finger from his finger from the Mediterranean coastline to the Atlantic coastline. I believe this was very purposeful. Also noting all the exes that are marked along the route probably signifying the ports they pulled into.

I did not know what it said but from the images I had wondered if it was some type of market. Then when he went inside it turned out to be some type of indoor farmers market I suspect.

This is one of my favorites with a light coming in behind Daryl. To the left (do I really have to say this) left=Beth. Across from the fire extinguisher what looks like a child's coin prize machine. Where you put a coin in and get one of the round colored balls and inside is some small trinket. It reminded me of the lollipop jar on Dawns desk. And something I have been harping on for a few seasons. I single empty chair and in this case it's white=Beth.

Now we know why the nuns were burning his arm. It must have been some type of safeguard so he would not die from the burn. We now know that the look of surprise shock and despair was because he now thinks that the clock is ticking on his life.

I hit the major things for me. Did anyone get a clear look at the book he found in the boat and that he put in his bag?

@galadrieljones

It’s a translation book

I love your notes!! I also noticed the plaid curtains, and they kind of weirdly reminded me of Daryl’s shirt in “Alone.” I also noted the fish, but your comparison as a Christ symbol blew right over my head. I thought of it as a Leah reference. Tho since Leah is herself a Beth reference, then these are synonymous symbols.

I liked the mention of the tenth iversary. It made me think of Monument Day, in the Campus Colony, but also something that maybe Daryl would have thought about with Beth. Like, how many years since the end of his life (her “death”). Like a 30 Days Without an Accident reference. Ten years without Beth. It would have been ten years since we confessed our feelings for each other, etc. I realize it’s most likely been more than ten years at this point. But ten years is like a solid foundation of time.

Especially since Alone is a wedding allegory

This is from the trailer, but I wanted to point it out. It looks like Daryl is wearing a necklace here.

It looks circular. But I can’t tell what it is, and I can’t get a better quality shot because it’s just via youtube, which only streams up to 720p

Also, this antagonist's face tattoo. I can't be sure, but it looks like it could be an elaborate fleur de lis, like one that's made to look like flames. The fleur de lis appears on the traditional coat of arms of France from the Middle Ages until the French Revolution

Also I’m going to ask you guys to remind me what this symbol is, in Alone. I thought it was a Fleur de Lis, but a long time ago. Frangi said it was something else. Does anyone know/remember?

Nvm I figured it out! She said it was a palmette.

It does look like a palmette, but I want to point out that the fleur-de-lis, “said to have been bestowed on early French kinds by an angel, evolved in Egypt and Mesopotamia as a variant of the palmette.”

(See I told you it was only 11am plenty of time for more research LOL)

Anyway, I am interested in this because this symbol is an ancestor of the fleur-de-lis, which is an important French symbol, and there it is, right behind Daryl and Beth during their little bridal carry marriage moment. The fleur-de-lis is also a literal important “key” in the Davinci Code.

There are also fleur-de-lis designs on little Alicia’s mittens in “Amina.” I think you pointed this out, , and Frangi verified that they were indeed the fleur-de-lis

We see them when she shows us her cured bite, on her wrist ofc.

@wdway

Can you help me out on something, I was thinking about the empty single chair as Daryl walks in to the Farmers Market. And I was trying to think during a Seder dinner who is the prophet that the empty chair is left for.

@galadrieljones

Elijah.

[roryka]

i Cannot and Will not keep my questions to just one i am Too Curious chief, i'm almost wretched with how badly i want to ask about actualization report adljsfahsdjlfahsjlfsdhajlhasdlh im not sure i want to spoil it for myself though, i might just have to explode violently the moment you finish and post it :p

sfw teenybedo pleeeeease and 8, the cynonari one, for sure, and nsfw DRAGONFUCKER KOKOLUMI YES GIRL GET IT

you might be waiting a while for the next report haha, it's um. turning out Obscenely long. but it will definitely be worth the wait :)

anyway,

teenybedo: this one actually started out as a commission from a friend, which then fell through when i realised that the moment i'm getting paid to write something is the moment my brain decides it does not want to write it :D sjdfjdjhj though now that i'm not under any pressure to finish, i've been working on it again sporadically.

Albedo lifted the bottom of his coat up and to the side, displaying the remains of the potion that had dripped down his back. “I was wondering what sort of potion I was hit with. It appears as though it may be a shrinking solution of some kind— indeed, something of that nature would make it very easy to abduct a group of knights on patrol, wouldn’t it?” “Shrinking potion…?” Aether’s eyes widened. “Then… the knights who went missing…” “They’re likely still alive, at any rate. I also think you’re correct about the treasure hoarders being based in these woods. Though it’s too late to try and follow the one who escaped, we could—” “Albedo,” Aether interrupted urgently. “How… How fast are you shrinking?” Albedo blinked, his train of thought derailed. “I’m not sure. Anyway, the rate is potentially subject to change. Why?” “‘Why’?!” squeaked Paimon. “Because before long you’re gonna be even smaller than Paimon! We’ve gotta do something!”

cynonari but it's unhinged and unethical: okay so. hear me out. i love cynonari, big fan, but in canon (currently) they are Very Normal. an impressively well-adjusted and emotionally secure couple. so my thought was... what if they weren't always?

Cautiously, Tighnari stepped out of the narrow passage, on the alert for the sound of anyone approaching. The space was dimly lit, but he could clearly see that it was a research laboratory, just the same as some of the classrooms above. "Why would the Akademiya have a hidden laboratory...?" he murmured, wandering through the rows of messy desks and equipment. At the back of the room was a glass wall, seemingly looking into some kind of containment chamber. As he drew close, ears twitching with nerves, he noticed a figure laying on the floor of the tiny chamber, dressed in rags. Their bone-white hair was tangled and unwashed, and they looked terribly underfed. His eyes widened as the person straightened up, crimson eyes narrowing at the sight of him. "Who are you?"

kokolumi but lumine is a dragonfucker: h. hear. hear me out. okay. i (like a lot of people who have been playing since 2.4) was really confused and disappointed at the out-of-nowhere reveal that after all of hoyo's hinting at kokomi being the reincarnation of the hydro dragon (her constellation being "slumbering dragoness," the vishap research notes mentioning that the hydro dragon was supposed to be born in enkanomiya as one of the vishaps, kokomi supposedly being born already possessing her vision, among other things) it turned out be. some guy in fontaine. neuvillette i love you and this isn't your fault but you did not earn your dragon title and once hoyo remembers that kokomi exists at all-- okay well no that's not going to happen so i guess you're in the clear.

anyway, once i got over my initial frustration and started snorting kopium (that's kokomi-specific copium) again, i looked at neuvillette's lines and thought: "oh... he says the hydro dragon couldn't be born among the vishaps of enkanomiya because their evolution corrupted them... what if... what if kokomi was supposed to be the hydro dragon sovereign, but is instead more like a... failed, corrupted version?" and, well. we all know how i feel about corrupted dragon characters.

The great sea dragon, magnificent even injured, was dragging itself up the surf with a slow determination. Its gaze was locked on the cannon, glittering with intent. It had eyes like twin pools, Lumine thought, mirror-like and deeper than dark. She watched it approach without a single thought of running. When it drew close enough to rear its glimmering purple head over the outcropping, Lumine simply looked up at it, awe occupying her senses and drowning the tingling fear. It looked down at her as well, eyes reflecting so much that it looked like nothing. She had seen so many things since arriving in Teyvat, both beautiful and terrible, awe-inspiring and spine-chilling. To her, this dragon was almost like a culmination of it all. A fitting end, if an end it must be. Lumine didn’t want it to end. Not even like this. But her limbs were too heavy to raise a sword.  The dragon rumbled softly in its throat, plaintively, almost… familiar. Lumine's breath caught in her throat. “Kokomi…?”

feel free to send more asks if you have more questions, i have a terminal case of Can't Shut Up About Wips disease

[gontagokuhara]

Hi hi!! I am obsessed with your writing as always and was actually a bit curious about something! For the members of the team who don’t know their godly parents, I was curious if you had put in hints, tidbits if you will, on who their parent has a chance of being? I think a while back you mentioned in an author note that you were giving hints about the story’s direction overall, but I was curious!! For people like Shuichi I was originally thinking Kyoko (cause ya know detective), but I need to process all the details you have added and think about it some more LOL

I kinda want to re-read again (I love the story so so much) and was curious on how far I should go in analyzing 🧐🧐🧐

hi hi! i have a feeling this is going to get loooong, so under the cut we go!

(there are no plot spoilers, but i do go in depth about how one could feasibly figure things out before they’re actually revealed in-universe. if that’s something you’d like to avoid, here’s your chance!)

short answer: YES.

long answer: something that is really important to me while writing is things making sense. i will pinpoint and solve plot holes that have no bearing on anything relevant to the story, because if i notice it doesnt make sense, it will just endlessly nag me.

so to that end, i have (+ will continue to) make things “make sense” with respect to things that 1) will be revealed as the plot unfolds, or 2) things that can be (and i’m intentionally hoping will be) discerned by readers.

given i have multiple dedicated rereaders for pointy objects (including you which i ADORE 🫶) i want, in those rereads as more chapters come out, for things to make sense. i want to surprise readers, yes — not blindside you guys. a reaction of “huh? where did that come from?” feels like a failure in my development of the story. a reaction like “oh my god! i knew this could happen!” or “i didn’t see that coming, but it totally makes sense in hindsight!” DOES feel like a success, conversely.

it’s hard for me to refer to specifics, because there is so much throughout the fic that i hope, by the end, will be looked back on as building blocks to [x] outcome actually making sense within the plot. i’ve never been a fan of the “surprise plot trick” or “twist villain” tropes; take that how you will!

the speculation in the comments has been very robust, because in the same way i am leaving “hints,” a lot of people are also picking up on them. what makes it extra fun is that people have guessed things accurately, but people have also made really intriguing inferences that may not be the actual case, but they feel like they could be. so i feel currently i’m straddling the line well of not making things obvious and spelling things out before it’s quite time, but also providing enough “sense making” in my writing that people can and do guess accurately, so in that sense there shouldn’t be too much “blindsiding.”

so as for how far you should go in analyzing: by the conclusion of the story, most of the big questions posed by pointy objects will be answered, as many of them are integral to how the story i’d like to tell unfolds. it is my sincere hope that none of them feel like they came out of nowhere; that after everything is said and done, in hindsight things will make sense. if a particular comment, or plot beat, or “hint” itches at you, makes you think it could be important in answering those big questions later on…it could be! take a note! i love any and ALL speculation and conversation in the comments and here on tumblr.

i was right, this DID get very long! but i hope i offered you some insight that will be valuable as you continue to read. and as always, i’m more than open to hearing all of it — i won’t tell you whether you’re right or wrong, i want the story to do that, but i will absolutely love hearing it regardless.

[aceironwood]

Hi again! Hope you've been doing okay. Say, Oscar is the current Oz incarnation in this AU, right? Before Ozpin? What flaw dies Oscar has that Ozpin is there to rectify, just as in canon Oscar's trusting nature is a counter to Ozpin's millennium old trust issues? I see that Oscar's advice for Izpin in leadership insecurity isn't the same as Ozpin's to Ruby in canon, no words of caution on always being on your best, or why should others follow you then? How different is OCIN!Oscar compared to canon Ozpin and Oscar, and vice versa with OCIN!Ozpin? Would White Fang extremists still be involved here? Which part are we in currently in the timeline according to canon?

Yeah, in this AU Oscar is the current incarnation of the Ozs. And while I do think that him having trust issues will become a bigger thing as the story develops (he does still keep secrets, after all), I think the thing that Ozpin helps with more is opening Oscar up to being more actually connected to others. Like with canon!Ozpin, OCIN!Oscar is someone who preaches the value of teamwork and togetherness, but he's really a bit isolated. Sure, he has the Ozluminati and all, but there's a degree of emotional distance there combined with the whole trust issues thing where there are always secrets and such preventing the full truth from coming out. And then there's also the burden of knowing about Salem, with the stress of that and what could go wrong often occupying him. On the other hand, OCIN!Ozpin is a lot more willing to be in the moment and with the people he cares about. He basically grew up in communal living, and he forms strong bonds with others, and I think that's something that he teaches Ozpin. Because it's different to acknowledge that people are better together than it is to actually put that ideology into practice and allow yourself to get close to others

But I do also think that Oscar has things that he teaches Ozpin (aside from just as a literal teacher). Like you said, Ozpin has some insecurities in chapter 8 about being a team leader, and that is something that then comes up again in chapter 11 as he worries that Chae-Yeong doesn't trust him to help her. Oscar on the other hand is very sure of himself and his decisions, be it due to his experience of his beliefs in fate/destiny, and that's something I think could help benefit Ozpin

And you're right that Oscar's words of support to Ozpin left that out! That was an intentional choice, and to set up a different ideology that kind of lingers with him-- Oscar did say he has "potential" after all. Being told that by an authority figure you respect is bound to stick with you

The rest'll be under the cut

In terms of differences for them, I try to write OCIN!Oscar a bit like the canon version of Ozpin. This version of Oscar has long since lost himself as part of the unending cycle of Ozs, so while I do try to make his character voice more in line with his canon self, the way I approach his thought process is more like canon!Oz. There are hints of him still in there, but the very thing canon!Oscar is afraid of happening has already occurred here

Then with OCIN!Ozpin, I think the majority of his similarities with canon!Oscar will come in more as we get into volume 4. My goal with him is to show what he might have been like pre-soul merging with the other Oz incarnations, so while I do think he still has the wisdom that he did in the show, there's a little bit more of a naiveté to it. He doesn't have any trust issues yet, and he really is just A Little Guy who is trying to do his best even if he doesn't have a ton of confidence. There's an innocence there that's lacking in canon!Oz, and a bit more present in canon!Oscar, and then that also leads to him being very curious. I do try to make sure he has some of the same traits of canon!Ozpin (ex he still likes hot cocoa, he has a little bit of a mischevious streak that'll appear more in future volumes), but my overall approach is different from both canon!Ozpin and canon!Oscar at the time just bcs it's still early on, and he's still fully himself

With the White Fang, they will eventually be appearing, but not as dangerous extremists or anything like that. I know I'm not the first person to say their storuline wasn't handled with much sensitivity to real life racism and movements to fight bigotry, so I wanted to try and write them in a more careful way. They do still use violence when necessary to promote their cause, but hey, so does like everyone in Remnant. If people judge them for that, it'll be to show the double standards for humans vs Faunus. Also, I'll say now that Adam will never be appearing in this bcs I don't want to write him lol

And we are currently around the end of volume 1! So chapter 11 is the equivalent of The Stray, and chapter 12 will be the volume finale and the equivalent of Black and White. The first semester of Beacon is wrapping up, so the first volume will too

[tomsparkyr]

𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑-𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:

summary: while expecting, peter can’t help but brag to every single person he sees that you’re carrying his own little ‘spider-baby’.

masterlist.

andrew!peter parker x fem!reader

peter parker x fem!reader

warnings: fluff, talk of pregnancy, pregnancy, hints of sex, just really cute

i thought of this and immediately knew this would be something andrew’s peter would do, so here we are <3

word count: 1K

don’t steal any of my work, thanks!

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𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑’𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 smoothing across the prominent bump of your belly, circling around waiting for his daughter to kick. You were sat on his lap, chest against your back and his head between your neck and shoulder; his soft, growing out hair tickled your jaw and your head relaxed back on his shoulder. Your hands were gripped loosely around his wrists, following his movement as they roamed aimlessly around the home your child currently lived.

“I can just tell she’s gunna be a daddy’s girl, you know?” He whispered into your ear, lips brushing against the shell and tingling your entire body. His lips kissed your jaw, feeling a smirk on his lips as his daughter reacted to his words and movement: kicking your belly and signalling that she was already trouble before she was even here.

You held back a smile, failing miserably. “Really? You don’t think she’ll prefer the person whose had her in my stomach for the past 6 months?” You raised your brows, curious on who will be the favoured parent (hint: it was you).

“No way,” He groaned into the skin between your neck and shoulder. “As soon as she finds out her dad is the friendly neighbourhood spiderman, I’ll be the favourite.”

You looked up at his curiously, eyebrow quirked upwards and a smirk painted on your face. “Yeah, totally.” You teased, watching his shake his head and giggling to himself; content with the family he was about to begin his life with, the perfect woman and the most beautiful baby on its way. He couldn’t think of anything better.

He listened to the noise of your heartbeat, the thumps loud with his spider sense. “You can’t tell everyone about this, you know?” He heard your voice. “What?” He questioned.

“The baby, I know it’s been 6 months but I’d rather not walk to work and see ‘Spider-Baby On The Way!’ printed on every magazine.” He smiled at you. “Poor kid isn’t even here yet, I’d rather her first appearance not to be in the tabloids.”

Peter stroked the stray hairs off your forehead, his heart bursting at your dedication to keep this a little family, already feeling pressure for carrying the Spider-Man’s baby girl.

“I promise, love. I won’t say a word.”

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“She’s 7 months along today!” Peter smiled down to the citizens of New York, their smiles up to the man dressed in the spider suit.

The girls squealed, in awe and cheeks a splash red. The men grinned, eyes glistening with happiness and a subtle wink of pride. “That’s adorable, man. See ya Spidey!” Two of the guys waved.

Peter jumped down from the street sign, waving his hands infront of the people and webbing a couple citizens passing by into the little group he had created to engage in the conversation. “Woah, woah, woah! Did you know that my wife thinks that our kid will have my spider powers?” He beamed from behind the mask.

The crowd gasped and awed, heads tilting and eyes doe. Peter nodded his head amongst the reactions, “Yep, yep. I’ll teach her the ropes, but my wife will definitely kick my ass because of it.”

Many people clapped as Peter playfully did a bow towards the crowd and bit his lip to contain his smile. He shrugged off the compliments and congratulations from his fans, loving the thought of everyone being so supporting of his new and upcoming family of three.

“Hope it’s all well, Spidey!” Peter felt like he was going to cry. “Tell your wife congrats!” He��s on the verge of tears. “Take the time of Spider-Man, look after your family!” Sobbing profusely behind the mask.

What a family you would be. The three of you, you. You’re at home, carrying his child with the spaghetti boiling in the pan, knowing damn well you are running your hands over the bump of your belly, pretending it’s his hands. You’re the perfect mother, soon-to-be mother actually. And him, the superhero with a child, the most beautiful child to ever exist and to have the most fulfilled life you can guarantee. You. Shit! You!

He was meant to be home an hour ago! Thanks a lot Spider-Man fans! I blame you completely for making me talk about my favourite thing to only forget about my favourite thing! Damn.

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𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 cold the moment he fell through the window, sprinting to the shared bedroom so rip off his suit and walk in the front door to where you would assume he simply got caught up and didn’t hear what he was saying.

He kicked the door to the bedroom and pulled his mask off his face, yanking down his suit to his torso and trying to pull off his shoes, extremely ungraciously.

The light switching on in the room made his jump and land on the ceiling, head falling down to search for danger until it faced a phone screen.

Spider-Man brags about soon-to-be Spider-Baby with his longtime girlfriend, turned wife.

“You won’t tell anyone, huh?” He heard your voice from behind the glowing screen, holding it up for a while so he could read it upside down. Peter groaned and dropped onto the floor.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think before I spoke. Someone asked me about my future and I immediately thought of you and our child and before I knew it I was— wait a minute, are you laughing?”

He furrowed his brows when he heard your giggles and lip tugged between your teeth with a grin etched across you face. “Peter, I don’t care.” He relaxed his shoulders and fell into a hug with you, one of his hands resting against your belly.

You tilted your head up to bump foreheads with his, noses rubbing against each other as his was cold at the tip, your warm aura heating him up. He leaned to kiss your lips continually, whispering sweet nothings as he apologised still.

“There’s still no way I’m letting you teach our child the Spider-Man duties. Especially not the ropes.”

Peter laughed at you, knowing very much well that he would do it anyway. This was he chance to have a Spider-Baby, who would give up that chance?

this is awful but like anyways

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