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#https://archiveofourown.org/works/18985999/chapters/45082516
flightfoot · 3 months
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do you know of lila take down fics that don't bash the children?
Hm, I'm assuming you mean ones that are still focused around Lila being a schoolyard bully? I generally stay away from those nowadays, instead opting to just read the fics where everyone's aged up and she's presented as more of a supervillain (those tend to not bash anyone else), but I do still have some recs for you!
Not Quite Right by @ladynoirfanao3
When Marinette wakes up one morning, she can’t help but feel that something is just a little bit… off. No one else around her seems to feel the same, however, and she is forced to shake off the strange feelings. It proves to be more difficult than she imagined, especially when an akuma attack leaves her feeling helpless as she watches Chat Noir and Ladybug arrive on scene.
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In Pursuit Of The Uneatable by @nemaliwrites
Who do you trust when your own reflection becomes a stranger? In a Paris where Lila weaves tales that blind the city, Marinette stands accused, isolated. Her parents' trust is shattered, her friends distant, and in battle, illusions blur the line between ally and enemy. As the shadows and uncertainty threaten to close in, Marinette finds herself turning to the last person who claims to be on her side: a boy in a white mask who calls himself a fox hunter.
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Hold Me By Both Hands by @angelofthequeers
“I know he said never to take you back,” Plagg mutters. “But he’d change his tune if he knew.” He looks Adrien straight in the eye and, more serious than Adrien’s ever seen him before, says, “There’s someone you gotta meet. He’s been looking for that book for ages.” How differently might the events of season 2 have gone if Adrien had also known of Master Fu from the start?
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Accidents Are Also Miracles by @liiinerle
After some turbulent days that end with five people knowing her secret identity as Ladybug, Marinette loses faith in her ability to keep herself hidden. Wracked with doubts and insecurities, she pleads with Alya to take over as Scarabella, and tries to disconnect from heroing altogether. Along the way, she starts to date Kagami. Hard as she tries, though, she can't stop worrying - especially not once Monarch takes a particular, and personal, interest in her. At the same time, Alya tries to adjust to her new role while she works to uncover who Monarch really is, and makes some realisations about her own wishes. Kagami struggles against a controlling and abusive parent, and a girlfriend who seems bent on destroying herself - with or without Monarch's involvement. And in the meantime, Alix keeps popping her head back in with offers to help (because cool though time travel is, she misses hanging out in her own time).
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Side Effects Include: Empathy by Word_Devourer
Adrien develops touch-based empathy from using a Miraculous as long as he has. This can only go well.
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The Investigation by @11jj11
Adrien and Marinette are finally dating-- which is what Alya has always wanted... but yet this sudden transformation in their relationship overnight? Things aren't adding up. They are suddenly so much closer than they ever have been before, Adrien is apparently a flirt, Marinette is no longer a stuttering mess, and not to mention the nicknames that came out of no where. Alya is happy for her friends, but she knows there's something more going on, and the reporter in her is going to get to the bottom of it.
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best (fake) smile by Reiaji
After Gabriel arranges for Lila to be his date at Paris Fashion Week, Adrien rights a wrong as best he knows how: with a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of subtlety, and a lot of social media magic.
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worddevdealswithml · 5 years
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Side Effects Include: Empathy
Chapter 34 (End):
Three plates of leftovers, a couple best-of-three mechastrike duels, and two completely unexpected kisses later (what could she say, he turned really red, and it was too adorable to pass up), Adrien finally ran out of excuses to stay. Not to say that she wanted him to leave; it was just that according to all stated logic, he had come here to make sure she was okay, and the longer he stayed, the more awkward questions there might be all round.
So, when his ride finally arrived, she’d made no bones about him needing to leave promptly.
She’d said it honestly, but he’d leaned in, and wrapped his arms around her, and she’d had a hard time holding onto that commitment.
“See you tomorrow night?” he whispered.
She tried to maintain her composure, an effort that was made all the harder by the fact that she knew he was entirely aware of exactly how she felt, and laughed.
“I’ll leave the skylight open.”
His arms tightened for a second, and then…
He pulled away, took a deep breath.
“I’m glad that you’re feeling better after your nightmare, Marinette,” he said, a trifle too cleanly, and winked at her.
She giggled.  “Well, I’m certainly glad you stopped by to make sure I was okay, and for no other reason.”
He started walking away.
--
It had been over a month since Ladybug had done, that, to Destruction Worker, and Hawkmoth was rapidly losing his mind.
He was nowhere near giving up yet, but it seemed like every villain he sent out… Grandshake, defeated in 4 minutes, Zillionaire, just over 2, and the 42nd rendition (43rd?  He was losing track) of Mr. Pidgeon…  Of course, he never really amounted to much, but under ten seconds of not amounting to much?
Ladybug had been bad enough before, when she just had a knack for planning around his supervillains, but now the balance had shifted, and unless he focused on strength, she could usually win in a straight-up fight.  And if he did focus on making them strong, they were usually animalistic, and she just planned around them like it was nothing, to say nothing of the fact that Chat Noir was still a completely viable threat in his own right, and the other Miraculouses she could call on…
Nathalie had visibly deteriorated since she’d started working with him, and if he kept this up, he’d lose the only asset that was keeping him from being completely outgunned…
And… And also Nathalie. It wasn’t like he’d enjoy that, either.
He could try turning her into Catalyst again, but that would require engineering another mass event like he’d done on heroes’ day, and he didn’t even know where Lila Rossi had gone.  He didn’t have Volpina, and he could barely afford to have Mayura.
Still.  He’d keep trying, and eventually, he’d hit on something that could get him a victory, or, if nothing else, at least another Miraculous that wouldn’t put his assistant into a coma.
But for now, who knew when that would happen.
--
A particularly astute observer would likely have noticed that something was going on, starting shortly after a nightmare-inducing villain had attacked.
And now, two months hence…
Ladybug stood there, a bored expression on her face, finger wrapped up in the cord of her yo-yo.
“I told you I would,” she said, sounding almost annoyed, “so I don’t think you have anyone to blame but yourself.”
Chat Noir laughed. “And I told you that I’d welcome it, and I certainly do.”
“I remember you saying that, certainly,” agreed Ladybug, “but I don’t see any of the reporters you were hoping for, which I think leaves the advantage with me.”
From the way Ladybug rolled it her eyes, it was safe to say that Chat Noir had winked at her.
“Then I guess I’ll just have to entice you into doing this again at a better time.  In the meantime, I’m not complaining. You already had me wrapped up in your charms.”
Ladybug sighed, and Chat Noir rose slightly higher above the ground as she put her face in the hand that was holding onto her yo-yo’s string.
She muttered something under her breath that an astute listener would have parsed to be something about regretting that his Miraculous was keeping him from being affected by his position.
“I get plenty of practice with the blood rushing to my head anyway,” he said, “after all, I spend plenty of time with-
“You already used that line!” cut in Ladybug.
“And it worked so well that time!”
“Well, maybe I don’t want it to be that simple for you,” said Ladybug.
--
The clip went viral almost the instant Alya posted it, but deep down, she knew that if they hadn’t prevailed on her to cut it off there, it would have been even more popular.
--
“Alright then,” said Chat Noir, craning his neck so his face was a bit closer to her.  “Then how about this one…”
He said something, not quite audible, and Ladybug went pale, the string she’d been holding onto almost popping off of her finger.
“Ah—” said Chat Noir, now in a pile on the floor, “too… Too soon?  I’m…  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, if you want me to wait until some other time, or—
His rapid backtracking was suddenly cut off, as Ladybug, who seemed to have pulled back into white so that she could slingshot directly into a bright red, wrapped him in what must have been a bonecrushing hug.
Most viewers would have agreed that Ladybug didn’t say a word, but Chat Noir, apparently would have disagreed with them.
“Oh,” he said, after a second, “I see.  I really do mean it, you know.”
Ladybug let out a weak giggle.
“I know you do, you silly kitty.”
--
Alya of course, told them all about what she’d seen, in person, the next day at school.
“I’m serious,” she said, leaning forward onto the table they’d co-opted to eat on, grinning wide, “I swear to you, after everything, they’ve got to be together.  Like, I don’t know what he said, but from the way she just dropped him, it must have been something serious.”
“Or it was just like, ‘I’m covered in mud, and you’ll get your yo-yo’ dirty,” said Nino, shrugging.
“Hush, you,” said Alya, “I’m not kidding.  They asked me to cut the footage, seemed really serious about it.  I’m pretty sure it was something personal.”
Adrien idly reached out a hand, and rested it lightly on Marinette’s back, low enough that nobody else at the table would see it.
//
Relief, presumably that Alya actually did cut the footage, sparks lightly into shock, and settles back down, as she almost casually accepts the contact.
“Well,” she says, “I think it’s great that you at least respected their wishes.”
Alya laughs, a trifle ruefully.  “Yeah, I mean…  I’m just imagining how popular the clip would have been if I’d gotten the whole thing, but… I guess it’s for the best, right? I’m fairly certain that at least a few Akumas were caused by a lack of privacy, and… just imagine Ladybug and Chat Noir turned against the city.”
“Well, I mean,” says Nino, as there’s a twist of distaste from Marinette, “he’s after their Miraculouses, right?  He’d probably just have them hand them over, and untransform them.”
“Well, I don’t want to find out what he’d do with them anyway,” says Alya.
“Probably something big and villain-y” says Nino.  “Hey, maybe that could be your next article.  Top 5 things Hawkmoth would do if he did get Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses.”
Adrien rolls his eyes, and as Alya and Nino continue their discussion, he looks over at Marinette.
She catches the movement and looks back at him.
Her expression is even, and more questioning than anything.
She feels… Honest, and open, more than anything, and right now, that is exactly the thing calibrated to set his heart racing.
Alya and Nino are busy with something else, so it’s not like anything stopping him from…
No.
As much as he’d love to even the score between them, vis-à-vis who catches the other off-guard with a kiss, right now, what he really wants…
He wraps his arm the rest of the way around her waist, and slides her closer, until she bumps up against him.
And there, the sun shining through the window, his friends hammering out the details of a new article, and Marinette beside him, lighting up his heart from the inside out, Adrien is happy to sit, and he knows, knows for a fact, that she’s happy, too.
And that’s all he needs to know.
 -The End
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worddevdealswithml · 5 years
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I'm really enjoying Side Effects Include: Empathy, and I've been looking for the first chapter, but I can't seem to find it. Did tumblr eat it? Also, will you be posting it on Ao3 anytime soon?
Ah!  Let’s see.  The first chapter isn’t actually labeled as such, since I didn’t expect to have more chapters afterwards.
https://worddevdealswithml.tumblr.com/post/185172220064/enjoy-a-solid-chunk-of-fic-inspired-by-this-post
As for AO3, it’s there too!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18985999/chapters/45082516
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