#juleka likes new marinette

[dominus-discordiae]

Marinette Addams and Paris #3

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: *is a sweet, shy girl who dresses in pastel clothes and likes to help everyone with their problems*

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: *is accused, expelled from school, harassed at every possible opportunity by almost every resident of Paris*

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: *runs away from Paris and flies to the United States*

Parisians: Finally the monster is gone!

The Akuma Class: ...

*a dozen or so months later*

Marinette Addams: *sassy, dark, deadly, sarcastic young woman, dressed like a gothic princess who will have no problem sending you to the other side*

Marinette Addams: *arrives to Paris with her group of two werewolves, two mermaids, a vampire and a murderous seer*

Marinette Addams: ¡Hola, bitches!

Parisians:

The Akuma Class: ...

Juleka: ...

Juleka: You look brilliant, Marinette. Can I join your group?

Previous | Next

[mc-lukanette]

It was the day after the class seats had been swapped around, Marinette having since resigned herself to being moved to the back. She wasn't happy about being alone, but everyone else was with their own seats and the last thing she wanted to do was stir up a fuss again just to have it turned against her.

Making a case would've been less of an issue had she told everyone that she was actually no longer into Adrien and had an entire boyfriend to show for it, but Alya was too unpredictable in how she might react to that and the others hadn't seen her and Luka together long enough to understand. She loathed the fact that an infatuation of less than a year was what people were basing her character on - nowadays, she looked back on it like an artist who grimaced at their week-old work - but her private life was no one's business but her own. If she had to reveal it to convince people that she wasn't an evil person going after a "perfectly innocent" girl over a crush, then—

Well, normally she would say that it was her fault, but Luka had been firm about her not blaming herself for everything under the sun and she was really trying to stick to that.

Maybe being in the back won't be so bad, she thought, attempting to calm her mind. I feel, um... taller? That's something.

It wasn't helping.

"Alright, class," Miss Bustier called out, clapping her hands to earn everyone's attention, "before we start today, we have a new student who just transferred to our school and I'd like you all to give them a warm welcome."

A new student? Marinette shut her eyes and held back a groan, thinking that the current "new student" was already more than enough. If it was another Lila or Chloe, she might have to seriously consider bribing Master Fu for the fox miraculous so she could Mirage herself into class to avoid them altogether.

Also, as she was quickly realizing, the only available seat was next to her. This was a disaster, an absolute disas—

"Luka?" Juleka blurted out, uncharacteristically loud in her shock.

At the name of her boyfriend, Marinette's head jerked towards the classroom door, seeing him standing next to Miss Bustier like he belonged there. She blinked, glancing out at the hall as if the real new student would come in, but nothing happened. Even when she looked back at Luka, he met her gaze as if to wordlessly tell her that yes, he was there.

Just to make absolutely sure, she dropped her arms to her lap and pinched her forearm until it hurt.

After giving a general introduction that Marinette processed none of, Miss Bustier turned to Luka to ask, "Would you be alright sitting in the back next to Marinette?"

He nodded, not waiting to start heading up the stairs. Eyes, either curious or puzzled, followed him as he went, but he had his own eyes on his decided-upon seat.

Marinette could only continue gaping at him, even as he sat down and made himself comfortable. He eyed her, smiling softly, then reached out and slowly closed her mouth. The cheek caress that followed was so subtle and quick that no one could've caught it even if they were looking, but it finally brought her back to life.

Leaning towards him, she whispered in a panic, "Luka! What are you doing here?! How are you here?!"

He took a single glance at Miss Bustier, who was turned towards the chalkboard, then leaned in and whispered back, "I didn't want you to have to do this alone."

"But—!" Her face scrunched, mind racing in an attempt to understand. She'd told Luka about what happened with Lila, but that was only yesterday. For him to have found a way to transfer between then and now was—was— "That's crazy!"

He shrugged, unphased.

She gripped the table, as if it would give her the mental support needed to juggle the thoughts in her head. "You didn't have to go through all this for me! It's too much!"

That finally got a reaction out of him, but not in the way she suspected. He frowned disapprovingly, leaning in further and raising a hand between them to further muffle his words to others' ears. She felt his breath against her ear as he explained, "You're my girlfriend, Marinette; my girlfriend and my best friend. It's not 'too much' if it's what I wanted to do."

He left it at that, straightening up again and putting his focus towards the front of the class. She could only pout at him, hoping no one saw the blush on her cheeks.

It felt wrong, somehow. It was Ladybug who was supposed to swoop in to save people, not the other way around. She was the one who had to make choices on the fly to help others.

She could already hear Luka's voice in her head, shooting that idea down: "Ladybug can't be the savior all the time. Someone has to look out for Marinette too."

It was almost frustrating, losing a battle of words in her own head, but she'd be lying if she said that it didn't make her feel relieved to have someone who would back her up no matter what. Whether she chose to go after Lila or not, he'd be behind her the entire way.

She couldn't help herself. Checking to confirm that there still weren't eyes on them, she leaned up towards Luka and imitated his gesture, raising her hand between their faces. He'd seen the gesture out of the corner of his eye and tipped his head to listen better, but she kissed his cheek instead.

Pulling back quickly to look normal just in case the pecking sound had been caught, she dared only a single peek at Luka to catch his reaction. He was trying and failing not to grin, probably looking as if he was just very interested in the lesson to any outside eyes. It occurred to her then that, had they been in the front or middle rows, it would've been impossible to not be seen by anyone behind them.

Letting an imaginary Marinette in her mind cheer and jump around for her due to being unable to do anything even close to that in class, her thoughts screamed, Being in the back is the best!

[zoe-oneesama]

Saw your post about Andre

What do u think about Zoe, then?

As a character, she's not bringing anything worth getting excited about. Personality wise, she's just Marinette-Pre-Origins: sweet and eager for friends, but ultimately letting her fear of Chloe rule her behavior until someone else reaches out, and now she suddenly has a spine. And I'm all for the idea of Marinette taking the lessons she learned in Origins about standing up for herself and not sitting by and letting injustices happen, and then turning around and inspiring someone else to do the same, so on paper, Marinette being that person for Zoe would be sweet and make sense. Except we have a full class of kids that she could've and should've already been that inspiration for, so this feel very Too Little Too Late.

And the few things they did to try and make Zoe unique didn't have enough thought or effort put into them so they fall flat.

So she got bullied out of her old school because she "was playing a part; being someone else" and when she dropped the act, "everyone turned against me". Um, yeah, if I found out my friend who'd I'd been confiding in and getting close to lied and faked their entire personality, I wouldn't want to be friends with them anymore either. I wouldn't go so far as to put cockroaches in their locker, but I can't blame Zoe's old "friends" for feeling betrayed.

(And let's be real, the writers definitely HAD to throw in the cockroaches thing so that Zoe actually had examples of being bullied instead of "no one wanted to be my friend anymore when they found out I was a totally different person")

So she's an actress, putting on different faces to please the people around her (clearly, she learned nothing from her previous experience - it's reasonable that people didn't like you because you lied, not because they didn't like who you really are). But then they didn't even keep up this 'acting' thing for more than one episode! Sure, she dusts it off in "Gabriel Agreste", but that entire aspect of Zoe's story is resolved as soon as it's introduced.

(Though it's obvious that the show is trying to convince you that her old friends DID turn on her JUST because they didn't like her as a goody-two shoes nice girl).

With Zoe putting on a fake persona, there could've been intrigue over the episode, or even the season, about who Zoe really is. Like, Marinette is SURE that Zoe is faking being like Chloe, but she has no way to know Zoe wasn't faking being nice to her when they first met. Why not show Zoe putting on different personas than just those two? Have Zoe interact with Juleka by being low energy and stand offish, then swapping to bubbly and energetic around Rose? Have Marinette be confused and that becomes part of the Mystery of Zoe?

And how about that contrivance, that Marinette met "nice" Zoe first and so is SOOOOO sure that Zoe is faking being "mean"? And because Marinette declares this To Be So, all of her friends just believe Marinette and are willing to give Zoe a chance. (despite not believing her about other things *cough* Lila *cough*) This is the same Marinette who's canonically declared her hatred of "liars" more than once, so even if Zoe is only "pretending" to be mean, why is Marinette giving her a pass? I'll tell you why - because we need to seamlessly integrate Zoe into the main friend group so we can speed run her taking over as the new Bee.

Because that's the main problem with Zoe - it's so blatantly obvious what the writers are trying to get out of her, because they don't even TRY to hide it. Don't get it twisted, I don't care that Zoe is brought in to replace Queen Bee, Queen Bee deserves to be replaced. I care how Zoe was brought in to replace Queen Bee. If the writers had taken enough time and care to ACTUALLY seamlessly integrate Zoe, instead of just shoving her in and bending the characters to accept her with no hesitation, then Zoe wouldn't come across as such a Mary Sue-Diet Marinette.

We already have a pretty full cast, so making the audience care about this new character that they've neither hinted at or bothered to build up to in Season 4 was already a big ask. Which is why I believe they should've stretched her "faking personas" story over several episodes. Have Marinette be as wary about Zoe as she was about Lila, esPECIALLY since she's Chloe's sister, but then have Zoe showcase her range of "personas" to throw Marinette off guard. Then you can have scenes of Zoe's mask slipping, like small acts of heroism where there's no time to think: pulling someone out of the way of an akuma attack, distracting the akuma if it gets too close to Ladybug, or even using her acting to help someone else get out of trouble despite Zoe getting nothing in return. Show the REAL Zoe through her actions DESPITE her acting, which then justifies Marinette being sure that "mean" Zoe isn't the real one.

Could've even had Chloe notice that Zoe's slipping and isn't acting very much "like a Bourgeois" and make it CHLOE who digs up that Zoe was bullied, make it CHLOE who airs out all the things that were done to Zoe. I mean, who better to call out a poser than Chloe? Especially since the rest of the class would more willing to take Zoe's side against Chloe (you would think) and it helps with the whole Zoe vs Chloe thing with the Bee Miraculous. Plus, having that information aired out when Zoe didn't want it to could've been a better reason to be akumatized than just "I'm giving in to playing the role I was already determined to play and putting my shoes in this hole with my dreams." Just saying.

But they didn't want to take the time. They didn't want to try. They didn't want to put in the effort to make Zoe someone to care about, both for the audience and for the characters. They shoved her in, gave her an exposition dump, and suddenly everyone was totally cool with her, No Questions Asked. In fairness, they didn't actually have Zoe be mean to anyone other than Marinette One Time in front of Chloe, so there wasn't much to overcome. But that's just another check in the "wow, you didn't even try" column.

I can't bring myself to care about Zoe because she's just a tool. She was brought in with the sole purpose of putting in nearly no effort to become friends with everyone and use the Bee Miraculous, as quickly as possible and as effortlessly as possible. Never mind that such a thing probably should have been earned. I just hate it when I can see the writer's intentions so blatantly.

But I get it, the Bee Miraculous is seriously OP and it'd be a shame not to use it just because Queen Bee was benched. Too bad Ladybug can't just merge Miraculouses and use it hersel- ohhhh, wait.

[junnmoon]

mlb group chat???

pov ur besties with the miraculous characters.

(maripoo=marinette ,awlyeah=alya, speakup=adrien, lukipoo=luka, ninaur=nino, and y/n)

cunty little babies 👶

*maripoo created a chat*

*maripoo added adrien.a, alya.c, y/n, luka.c, nino.l*

maripoo: hello every nyan

maripoo: plz rename urselfs i can’t take it.

awlyeah: finally a gc

ninaur: frl

lukipoo: hey??

speakup: i didn’t name myself this.

speakup: y/n come out of hiding ik it was you.

y/n: oh..erm….haii :3

awlyeah: i was gonna say let’s get food again but mari doesn’t love us anymore so she won’t come

ninaur: tbh when we was at dennys she was throating them waffles like a mf

maripoo: CAN U QUIT IT??

y/n: mari where is adrien rn i have

to give him my notes

speakup: why are you asking her and not me

maripoo: well it’s almost 3 so he’s probably in the car right now otw to fencing practice with kagami then they go out to eat afterwards so he should be free at like 4:30ish- oh. yeah maybe ask him..

ninaur: jaw dropped

awlyeah: mari you’re terrifying.

speakup: ..i think it’s kinda comforting idk

y/n: oh yeah y’all both fucked up mentally

maripoo: ANYWAYS!! what r u going to give him y/n..

y/n: …why is ur aura threatening rn

maripoo: 😆

y/n:does anyone wanna get lunch w me😣

awlyeah: I WOULD but me and nino r going out as we speak

y/n: sighhh. wake up and break up

lukipoo: i wanna get lunch with you

y/n: YAYY

speakup:wake up and break up u said?

y/n: shut

maripoo: juleka js texted me asking if we wanna sleepover tonight😝

awlyeah: yassss

y/n: WHY is viperion so fine omg

maripoo: this is the wrong gc i’m afraid.

y/n: ….oh

lukipoo: ??

awlyeah: speak ur truth n/n

y/n: ykw i WILL cs chat noir fine as shit too

speakup: ????

maripoo: CHAT NOIR??? EW TAKE IT BACK

y/n: FYM????

maripoo: NO WAY U LIKE CHAT NOIR

y/n: ermm ofc i do.. hes tewwww fine

maripoo: have you ever met him.

y/n: I HAVE! he took me up to a rooftop when

there was an akuma alert

speakup: what was he like

y/n: he’s so babygirl

y/n: OH I MET VIPERION TOO lord…i luv me

the emos

awlyeah: i remeber u simultaneously telling me about cat noir and viperion for 7 hours non stop

y/n: THEYRE SOOOOOO

maripoo: still can’t fathom the chat noir hype

y/n: do u want me to break down 4 u damn

maripoo: yes bruh

speakup: not a fan of cat noir mari?

maripoo: not my type.

lukipoo: interesting

y/n: i luv kitty noir BUT…..viperion is my

boyfie i fear.. :/ (mad at chat for flirting

w lb on tv)

lukipoo: yeah?

awlyeah: yeah you tell him y/n !!!

maripoo: YEHA BOOOOOO CAT NOIR BOOO

ninaur: BOOOO🍅

speakup: but guys

y/n: SHUT UP BROKE BOY

y/n: BOOOOO CAT NOIR👎

speakup: broke boy is crazy.

thanks for reading tbh. i’m obviously very new to this LMFAOOO but there will be a part 2 bc these r fun to write.

[ggomos-maribat]

1 | a perfect day

Part 1 of Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Dead | Masterlist

The place they reserved was beautiful: the greenhouse-type of dining with ferns and orchids hanging from the glass ceiling and walls, a lush green against the pristine white of their chairs and table napkins. The day was blessed with fair weather so just the right amount of sunlight was cascading down on them which fit the light hum of the festive music from the speakers. Even the hostess herself was a sight to behold—a flowery off-shoulder dress, curled brown hair, and pastel manicured nails.

Sabrina truly felt she was in another world.

Their hostess stood up, holding her wine glass in one hand. "I'd like to make a toast." She beamed. "To everyone here, who accepted my invitation for a humble reunion."

She looked at them on by one, first at Alya who seemed to cling at her every word, then moved down the table to Nino, Rose, Juleka, Max, Kim, and so on. These were faces of now acclaimed people, successful in their respective fields. "It seems it was just yesterday when we were only students in Ms. Bustier's class," she continued, "But in reality, we've been through a lot. Ups and downs, pains and losses. But I'm proud of us for sticking together, for keeping in touch after all these years."

A star in the social media field, and a proud founder and CEO of her brand. Lilia Ross. That was the alias she had been using when she was stepping into fame. But to Sabrina, she'll always be Lila, the charming girl who once was a transfer student in their class.

"To us!" Lila cheered, raising her glass up in the air. They all followed suit, some laughing a little and others bursting into lively conversation.

Sabrina took a sip of her drink, turning to her left. "It really has been so long, hasn't it, Chloe?"

The blonde appeared to be in some kind of stupor, but her friend's words shook her out of it. "Huh?"

"I said it's been so long."

Chloe rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Uh, yeah, you're right."

"Are you okay?"

She gave a smile of reassurance. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, it's just . . . stress from work."

Sabrina was about to suggest she get some rest first when the wooden doors opened, revealing another familiar face from their teen years. Large sweater over a collared piece. A priceless watch. Golden hair fixed to look stylishly unkempt.

The man greeted them, "Hey, I hope I'm not too late?"

At the head of the table, Lila's jaw dropped open. "A—Adrien?"

"That's me," he chuckled lowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Long time no see, everyone."

The others, too, couldn't mask their shock—understandably so. Adrien Agreste had been out of the public eye for the past seven months, halting his modeling career and laying low in god knows where. Even Sabrina couldn't remember when she had last seen him.

It was Alya who stood up, grabbing a seat for their new guest. "It's been so long!" She said. "Come here, sit. Where have you been and why were you so unreachable?"

"Yeah, man, I even tried visiting your old house in Paris. They said you weren't there." Kim, meanwhile, passed a plate to him.

"I'm really sorry for that." Adrien gave a sheepish look. "I was too focused on taking time for myself. I'm on hiatus from modeling—I didn't mean to cut everyone off. But I wanted to make it to this reunion!"

At that second, Sabrina's phone began to buzz a notification.

"It's alright to take a break sometimes," Mylene consoled. "Are you going back to modeling soon?"

Adrien shrugged. "I'm not sure yet; I might try out other things and see what works for me."

The phone vibrated again, a few times in succession this time.

"What about working with me?" Alix offered. "I need some extra hands around the museum. Minimal experience needed! I'll teach you everything I know."

The nth buzz sounded and Sabrina pulled out her phone from her purse to completely silence it but then she caught a glimpse of Chloe. She looked pale as a sheet, staring down at her unfinished plate.

Sabrina leaned. "Chlo—"

Buzz. Buzz.

Frowning, Sabrina unlocked her phone to check what the incessant ringing was all about. There were tweets, articles, posts, and messages filling up the screen like something had blown up. And something might as well have.

Her eyes widened when she tapped on an article.

Alya's voice rang out. She, too, was looking at her phone. "Hey, Lila, what's this all about?"

"Hm? Is it about my magazine feature?"

"No, it's not," Sabrina whispered.

There in bold letters the words were summoning up a storm: 'The Truth About Lilia Ross: She's Not Who You Think She Is' .

***

Saturday morning saw Jason Todd at the Wayne manor's dining table, munching on a piece of toast with jam. He stayed the night after patrol upon Alfred's insistence, and then remained for breakfast after some more badgering.

The second eldest raised an eyebrow when Bruce strolled into room wearing office clothes.

"Event at WE today," Bruce explained, making a coffee for himself. "Tim, feet off the table please."

Tim, who was stuck to his phone, let out an incoherent mumble before putting his feet down.

"Lilia Ross," uttered Bruce. "Does that name ring a bell?"

"French-Italian, founder and CEO of Lilia Designs, sells clothing and cosmetics," Tim supplied in a monotonous voice. "She's more famous as an influencer though. In the past few days, there have been a lot of rumors popping up about her. Why do you ask?"

"PR at WE asked me. They wondered if I knew her."

"What does she have to do with Wayne Enterprises?" Damian chimed in.

Celebrities and trends never piqued Jason's interest—he focused on eating, debating internally if he should purchase more handguns to replace a couple that he lost.

"She's been promoting our products even if she's not legally affiliated with WE," Tim explained whilst gulping down his daily dose of caffeine. "She's just trying to fish for a real sponsorship or partnership. Her brand's getting famous in Gotham, you know."

"It's not much of a concern for the company then. Our lawyers will be able to handle it if her so-called scandals affect WE," said Bruce.

"True, but it's still weird. This is her first major backlash on the internet and there's a lot of—" Tim did air quotes with his fingers, "—'anonymous witnesses' coming forward to show her 'true colors'."

"How is that different from the usual celebrity rumors?" asked Damian.

Okay, maybe Jason was a little curious.

He discreetly pulled his phone out to check the articles popping out online. And there were many, as if testimonies were spewing from a never-ending fountain.

'eiffelparis12: don't fall for it. she bought all those views and likes. fake *****'

'coffeecake: I worked as a stylist in a studio once. She was at our show...I didn't expect her to be so two-faced! She was so rude to the producer's assistant and kept bossing her around. The poor guy didn't even get to eat.'

'seaasss: her products arent even that good. lol.'

'venusred: she bought her way to be in our blog's feature. i'm pretty sure she has an anonymous sponsor.'

'harpyre: OMG! does she even pay her employees enough?'

'silverberry640: no way, lilia doesn't deserve this! there's no proof.'

'ngc5195: this is what fame does to all of them......sad.'

Jason looked up again when Bruce spoke. "For now, WE isn't obligated to proceed with legal action and we're not actually involved anyway. I'm sure this will pass on its own."

He wasn't wrong. Scandals came and went; people liked to throw stones at one person then move on to the next after the damage was done.

"Or not," Tim suddenly said, staring at something on his phone "Shit."

"What is it?" asked Bruce.

Tim read the words aloud. "Influencer Lilia Ross, accused of murdering former classmate." 

[kikigeh]

I decided to write down the most striking information from the season 5 bible leak. DO NOT INTERACT if you want to go into the season blindly but do interact if you want to discuss it. Heavy spoilers under the cut.

A few things to note before we go on:

The document's final revision is from 2020, this means that THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT FINAL and the information might differ from what we will be seeing in the end product.

Also, a show's bible is meant to go over the key points of the story and characters, it's not necessarily a synopsis of everything that you'll see in the show so save yourself the immediate belief that the season is going to suck because character A or thing B are not mentioned in length here.

The bullet points go in order of appearance in the document, hence the jumps in subjects.

With that out of the way, let's start. FINAL WARNING, leave if you don't want to be spoiled.

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

It is revealed that Marinette had a crush on Kim prior to the show starting. Confessing was a bad experience for her (thanks to Chloe) and that's the reason as to why she's so hesitant to confess to Adrien.

At the very end of the season, Ladybug and Chat Noir will finally be able to use their special powers without transforming back. They'll be able to use Lucky Charms/Cataclysms more than once.

Adrien will find the courage to tell Gabriel that he doesn't want to be a model.

Adrien realizes that he feels something special towards Marinette and, realizing that Ladybug will never love him back, he decides to pursue her instead.

Adrien and Marinette will have their first kiss on episode 23 "Collusion".

Gabriel, owing a favor to Tomoe Tsurugi, wants Adrien to be with Kagami.

Nathalie is described in the document as "eventually emerging as a surrogate mother to Adrien".

We will either see or hear what happens when Chat Noir uses his Cataclysm on a human being in the episode "Destruction"

Ladynoir's relationship will change; without Chat Noir's flirting and with Ladybug finally accepting that she needs him (no longer pushing him away), they become a perfect duo of platonic, supportive friends.

Lady Noire and Mister Bug make an appearance in Season 5 once more.

Ladybug will be merging the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous herself becoming "BugNoire".

The merging of the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous create a brand new Kwami whose ability is to grant a wish (Like Dragon Ball's Shenron). The magic formula is found within the Grimoire; Gabriel, however, does not know how to decipher it. This is why his goal is to find someone who does.

Ladybug/Marinette finds out Hawkmoth's identity. Chat Noir/Adrien, however, will NEVER learn about it.

Nathalie was introduced to the Agrestes by Mrs. Tsurugi. She was hired because she was a hunter of magical artifacts.

Nathalie is secretly in love with Gabriel and follows him blindly, however, she has a secret plan for herself and wishes to fuse the miraculous so that her own wish can be granted: Make Gabriel fall in love with her.

Monarch will akumatize people and then send out a miraculous their way this season.

At the end of the season, Gabriel will give up the butterfly miraculous and someone else will get a hold of it: Lila.

Lila has several identities and several families, somehow. She goes by Lila Rossi, Cerise and Iris Verdi for different scenarios.

Scarabella will make a comeback for the two episode special.

Chloe's butler's name is Armand; he's the only person who cares for Chloe. More about this will be brought up in the episode "Adoration".

Zoe has feelings for Marinette, but she doesn't dare to tell her. This will also come up in episode "Adoration".

Zoe will become the holder of the Black Cat miraculous during the two-part special.

Contrary to popular belief, there are no written implications about Juleka and Rose's relationship despite it being shown on-screen. Neither are there any implications about Marc and Nathaniel's.

Kim was ALSO in love with Marinette in 8th grade. He is said to be the root of Marinette's problems in the episode "Derision".

Kagami is described as having "powerful feelings" towards both Adrien and Marinette.

Luka will leave in Mid-Season 5 as to not compromise the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir. He will leave with Jagged to Brazil, where he meets with Su-Han who will teach him Mirakung-fu. He'll go back to Paris in the finale.

Felix's new identity as the Peacock holder is called "Argos".

There will be several instances where we're reminded of Marinette's anxiety, mostly induced by her fears both as a civilian but also as Ladybug.

Marinette gives up on Adrien (or attempts to) and starts realizing that she may have feelings for Chat Noir, who has changed a lot since the end of S4.

Adrien asks Marinette out, which further complicates her feelings since she believes her crush on Adrien is detrimental.

Marinette is convincing herself that the one she loves is Chat Noir in order to forget about Adrien but he, who has given up on Ladybug, is intent on pursuing Marinette this time around.

There will be an apparent complete reversal of the lovesquare which may only culminate with Andre The Ice Maker's appearance to help them figure some things out.

Plagg and Tikki hurt from watching Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir struggle with their feelings, which is why they opt for removing their miraculous and handing them out to other holders (Alya and Zoe).

Marinette thinks Zoe has a crush on Adrien. We know that that isn't quite the case and she is the object of Zoe's affection instead.

Lila and Chloe become the next class representatives. Lila is able to manipulate and control Chloe; because of their joint efforts, they become Monarch's strongest minions.

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

I think the only three things I heavily dislike are:

1. The fact that Adrien will NEVER find out about his father 2. Lila is not a compelling character, so the show is definitely going to suffer with her as the lead villain. 3. Felix is not mentioned much, if at all. Seems like the sentimonster arc might take a backseat but then again, things could've changed during production from 2020 to 2022.

But other than that, I don't see why anyone would read the document and firmly believe that it's underwhelming. If anything, I find most of it extremely exciting compared to the other seasons. Only time will tell.... but anyway, until then, don't miss today's release of episode 1!

[maddascanbe-blog]

"Im'a snek. I'm a slithery little sneaky snek." -Luka probably

You know when face shape, body type, hair, skin, eye shape and color are already decided and drawn digital it saves a lot more time! I had a plan for Luka's civilian design but when I went to do it digital he just took the reigns and demanded his jacket back (it was originally going to be tied around his waste)

Silencer always bothered me a bit? For the most part I likes his design, but the purple was a bit too vibrant. I chnaged it drastically to make it look more cyber-punk inspired.

I had zero plans for Viperion's diesgn outside of giving him snake bites and wanting him to not look like Aspik. And once again the design took over and demanded a leather trench coat, I don't make the rules guys.

For the re-write stuff, Luka is 18 (as is Juleka, they are still twins) He graduated a year early to get a job and start helping support their family. To the surprise of exactly no one Anarka kind of struggles to keep a job. They always had food on the table, and living on the Liberty meant there was always a roof over their heads. But new clothes were reserved for birthday and Christmas presents, everything else is usually thrifted. Luka got really good at basic tailoring and likes to paint, dye, bleach, or otherwise make his and his sisters clothes unique. When he started they would have little fashion shows for their mom, which sparked Juleka's love for modelling. This shared interest is part of what draws him to Marinette.

Luka is canonically an empath, and I ain't about to take that from him. Non-miraculous super powers exist in this world, it would not shock me in the slightest if Luka was powered. He can sometimes get overwhelmed in large spaces of conflicting emotions, but had been slowly adjusting to it with each performance he and Juleka do. Kind of like exposure therapy.

If your scared to do something and want someone to support you? Ask Luka, he'll probably do it to to show his support. When they were 6, Juleka wanted to get her ears pierced but was scared, so Luka decided he wanted his pierced too. He ended up loving them and got more earrings later, and an eyebrow piercing. So far only 1 has ever gotten infected. In turn when Luka wanted to dye his hair for the first time, Juleka decided to get it done as well (albeit without bleach for fear of damaging it to much)

While they've never met their father, they have a feeling they know who it is. Their mother doesn't hide her child support letters nearly as well as she thinks she does.

[revengemicrowave]

So continues my attempt to not be aaaaapanic by actually posting stuff haha and feed the Lukadrien tag, my true motive

Another older doodle when I was still figuring out Luka's hair, from Zombie!AU I have all the ideas but no time to do the comic for. Ahh, the endless struggle...

Premise (completely spoiled lol) under the cut. tw: body horror, parasites/bugs, usual zombie stuff, talk of mercy killing a bitten

On a particularly warm day in April, a sudden outbreak sweeps through Paris. People turn wildly aggressive, biting and killing others - who then get back up to do the same hours later. The dead are controlled by a parasite that pupates and hatches from the face of it's host into a stunning, shimmering purple moth. It's wings extend over the face, like when Shadowmoth controls the akumas.

When the host makes a kill, the moth detaches to lay eggs in the new body and die, leaving a shambling biter with other larvae (potentially) still to hatch. However, rarely some stay in rooted to the host brain and become more intelligent, more dangerous zombie variants (like the really mushroomy clickers in Last of Us).

Luka gets seperated from Juleka and Rose on a supply run into the city, the Liberty a safe haven on the water with a small community of other boats. Has a chance run in with Adrien's group when Adrien saves him from one of the first of the more dangerous variants. Everyone is strangers in this AU, besides Luka, Juleka and Rose (and Anarka!), and Adrien, Alya, Nino and Marinette. There are other survivors, but small main group. In the group, Kagami carries a bow and insists she doesn't view the infected as human anymore. Marinette is their medic, Nino is the defender and they're trying to find Alya (who is with Chloe, driving eachother insane). I was also considering Weyham or Max or someone, make it more of a mixed group. Luka is a very reluctant zombie slayer, which is what nearly gets him killed when he first meets Adrien. He has an axe because I'm hilarious. Juleka carries a baseball bat with nails and Rose a can of mace and bugspray (which ends up being suprisingly effective). Rose the alchemist surprise-making a flamethrower, please. So, Luka joins Adrien's group and tells them there's a safe place on the Liberty, but they need to get to it and signal from shore without drawing attention. Because of the cluster of survivors on the river, the banks of the Seine are swarming with zombies, but the moths won't go in the water.

A sneak-through a building goes wrong and Luka gets bit. Marinette patches him up despite his protest about using the supplies, because he 'still shouldn't be in pain'. Kagami reminds them what a bite means, but finally softens when he jokingly tells her to look after the kids (they bond as the two most emotionally mature). The group have to say goodbye, and still in denial and shock, Adrien offers to be the one to 'take care of it'.

At first, it's assumed the bite is what turns you, as no moths have hatched and the first people killed turned after 18-24hrs. Adrien has to come to terms with leaving the guy he's falling in love with in a locked room to turn into a monster, or put him out of his misery.

But Luka doesn't turn (come on as if I'd turn favourite bluebell into a zombie and do that to Adrien) and over summer the hoardes thin as the bodies start to rot. They just need to make it to winter.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Hot take: Toxinelle's design for the most part isnt as great as everyone makes it out to be, much less it being groundbreaking or the best emo design, since it's barely anything new at all:

it's just her head that's amazingly designed and the fact that Ladybug's regular suit honestly couldn't set the bar any lower.

Griffe Noire on the other hand is actually punk through and through. Not giving a single shit what you think of his look and being the punkest bitch by even going with a feminine-coded name in the french original bc he doesn't care about your single-minded bs when you for some reason automatically think he MUST be female just because he has two "e"s in his name:

One of these two got one hell of a save design where barely a single risk was taken so she remains universally pretty for every viewer

And the other one actually was allowed to embody a whole new fashion style and life style, that fits perfectly as an extension of his OG character, merely things went south.

In my opinion there is no competition who got the better character design.

It's the one that actually does something for the character besides looking pretty, cool and being inoffensively save.

I'll give you a hint: it ain't Toxinelle.

edit:

Just to clarify this, I'm not saying I fell out of love for Toxinelle's design to be a b*tch. I'm saying it from the stands of me wanting the show to put the same amount on effort into Marinette's designs as Adrien's.

Griffe Noire is allowed to be straight up punk and yet the most I can give Toxinelle is that her design is Gothic-INSPIRED:

Again, her head is the most well designed part and especially the mask going underneath her chin, the amazing hair style and the conveniently fitting red-black color scheme works perfectly for Gothic.

As are her already incorporated gloves, the fact that she's wearing a mask in the first place and her dark makeup. Especially her vampire red eyes (like Monarque Bug, I love that detail) and I'll also give credit to how the upper red part of her body suit looks like a sleeveless dress and the little Ladybug symbol looking like a necklace.

All that combiened with her overall Gothic-elegance shows how AMAZING Toxinelle could have looked if they had for once taken an actual risk with her and prioritized what the fashion style is actually supposed to be over her looking universally pretty for every viewer.

I'm being nitpicky here because of how frustrating I find it that Griffe Noire has such a phenomenal character design, straight up one of the best in the show, and yet Marinette is still stuck with the same one-layer body suits a la "just this time the stripes go to the left"

Character design is not decided by if EVERYONE thinks they look great. The priority is what the character design does for the character. It's visual story telling.

I personally dress much more like Juleka or Emo Marinette in real life and yet in my opinion it's still crystal clear that Rose as Pigella has one of the best hero character designs because of how unapologetically ROSE it is:

I personally don't have to want to wear it or even like it at all to think it's one of the best ones because of the simple fact that this design embodies Rose's PERSONALITY (as does her whole transformation) and tells me more about her.

Especially in direct comparison with Griffe Noire, or even civilian emo Adrien probably wearing his dead mother's jacket while Adrien HAS TO keep dressing more low-key, Toxinelle barely tells me a thing about this Marinette's personality besides "slay Queen"

Because there IS no personality. The most you can get out of this is her being even more uptight and closed off because of how her collar directly blends into her mask, keeping her in a visual choke hold.

But that's mostly it. For Griffe Noire they explicitly went with punk fashion, meaning everything punk stands for can now be put into new context with Adrien.

But Toxinelle barely embodies a fashion style, she's just Gothic-INSPIRED (at most). And that's such a shame because Gothic, especially if you wanna use it in a darker way, was a PERFECT fashion style to utilize here.

The most common Gothic styles are inspired by Victorian funeral wear and give off an aura of authority, seriousness and melancholic detachment, being kept in the past (this is in no way meant as generalization, fashion is complex)

In what reality COULDN'T we have gone with that for Toxinelle? She would have been the perfect complimentary style for Griffe Noire by her side.

And we don't even need to go with a dress. Gothic women wear pants too:

Can you imagine how amazing she could have looked as an actual goth? How much visual story telling through FASHION they could have put into her design when the evil Ladybug is a vampire goth whose fashion is inspired by funeral wear??

Yes, I AM pissed.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Do you think that a lot of the bad moments that people salt Marinette for are more due the "Marinette must commit a mistake and learn a lesson" Episode Writing Rule than things that she would actually do?

Partly. To be fair, part of it does seem to be based around the cringe moments that the writers threw in because they thought that somehow a teenage girl being embarrassed is what amounts to "humor". These humiliating moments that nobody BUT Marinette seems to experience and have played for laughs. Certainly not to the extent she does.

Not helped is that not only does no one else have to suffer such moments, but when others actively inflict this embarrassment onto her, they're never called out or really even acknowledged for their part. And when any of them experience similar treatment, it's narratively portrayed as sad and something to sympathize with them for.

Chloe pulled a lot of horrible stunts, and the fact that she's not even given so much as a slap on the wrist only further pushes this horrible narrative that it's supposed to funny and no big deal when Chloe does bad things and when Marinette suffers. And especially when Adrien or really anyone else does just as bad if not worse only to have any lesson be actively avoided.

So I think a major aspect of the salt towards Marinette is the narrative around her and how her suffering is portrayed as a joke and as if it's somehow deserved or warranted.

The very first episode had it end on a humor note of her losing out on a modeling chance with Adrien and the ending acting like she deserved it somehow. Let's bear in mind it was Alya pushing her to join and Marinette herself hadn't done anything to really deserve losing out the way the episode did compared with if she'd been actively ignoring Manon or acting like a jerk. As a result, I don't know what the lesson was supposed to be there other than that Marinette can't have nice things.

Reflektdoll was a major episode that showed this issue. ALYA was the one who pushed Juleka out to force Adrien and Marinette together. Even though Marinette told her she didn't want Adrien there in the first place. And yet even though ALYA was the one who caused the situation and MARINETTE was the one who at least TRIED to help Juleka and hear her out, Marinette ended up the one getting the full blame for Juleka being upset and the ONLY ONE who apologized by the end for apparently not doing enough to help Juleka despite her actively having attempted to and being cut off by Alya each time. She also ended up the ONLY ONE who WASN'T in the picture with Adrien. ALYA was in the picture, despite being the one directly responsible and the one who wanted Adrien and Marinette to have pictures taken of them together. All of this together gives the impression the narrative is punishing Marinette and that Marinette is somehow supposed to be the one in the wrong in the situation. Meanwhile, Alya and her actions and her part in the whole mess are simply forgotten.

There are at least four separate instances I can think of off the top of my head of Adrien throwing tantrums in the middle of akuma fights and even going so far as threatening to quit, refusing to work with Ladybug to stop the akuma, and even actually quitting. And each time, either HE was portrayed as the wholly innocent party and/or SHE was portrayed as being in the wrong and needing to apologize to him for...(checks notes) not giving him what he wants: whether that be a date, her identity, Fu's secrets, or not being dependent on him.

Then there's Chloe and Lila. Do I really need to get into them at this point?

And remember the comic and how Marinette ended up naked in New York thanks to a stunt Chloe pulled and instead of ANY punishment for Chloe for theft and leaving Marinette without any clothes, it's used to teach Marinette a lesson about racism? No, I will NOT let that go. Even if they did an "official New York episode" to try and replace it, it showed the depths that the writers would put Marinette through and how they would go out of their way to make it be more of a point to make HER wrong somehow even if they had to make it up and disregard the implications and the person responsible.

It all comes down to this common tendency Miraculous has to make light of the things Marinette goes through and having the treatment of her be their go-to joke.

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe

Juleka vs. the Forces of the School Dance i

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe (AO3)

Hello everyone!!! I wanted to start out by thanking you all for your ongoing support and patience! This has taken me far longer than I had hoped, as I wanted to have this fic done before 2024. Obviously, that didn't happen 😂😅 I ended up needing to take a break to rest after my fall semester because it was super intense. I also had to take some time away from creative writing for personal reasons. your support, patience, and kindness has meant the absolute world to me, and I can't thank you enough for it.

Another reason why this chapter has taken so long is because chapter 17 was becoming massive (as in 20k words and counting). I debated this decision quite a bit, but in the end I've decided to break chapter 17 into smaller parts so that's why the chapter count has gone up 😅😅😅 It's much easier to revise shorter chapters, and I think it's probably easier to read shorter chapters too. This also gives me a bit more time to finish what is now the second last chapter.

I need to give a huge shoutout to the LBSC crew for their ongoing support, and for talking me off the ledge multiple times when it came to this chapter. And also just for being there for me the past few months. And again, another huge thank you to all of you for your support.

I Hope you enjoy the chapter!

ps. if I don't respond to comments on this chapter it's not because I'm ignoring any of you, it's because I don't entirely trust myself not to accidentally spoil something 😂😅

A thousand akumas fluttered in the pit of her stomach as she put the lid back on her lipstick with a satisfying click. She sat back in her chair and sighed. She was used to the feeling of butterflies, except right now it felt like there were silver and black akumas fluttering around insider her, and that mixture was a new feeling. 

On one hand, tonight was the night. The night Luka and Mari were going to the dance. Together. 

But on the other hand… she grimaced as the reminder for the ‘Operation Fairytale Ball Phone Meeting’ pinged on her phone. Usually they all got ready for dances together, but Marinette had needed the extra time to put the finishing touches on her dress and it hadn’t felt right for the rest of them to get together without her. But, Alya had wanted to go over the plans for the dance one more time, so Alya had scheduled a phone meeting… 

She had fifteen minutes until the call. 

She silenced the reminder on her phone, and turned her attention back to her reflection. The purple in her hair was nice and vivid, and the waves she had put in her hair added a touch of glamour. And her makeup looked amazing, if she did say so herself. She had gone for a soft but still vampy look with plum and black kohl softly smoked out across her lids and deep plum lips. She smiled as she tilted her head to the side, watching the way the light caught her highlight. Those makeup masterclasses had definitely paid off. In more ways than one. 

She straightened her head. And then frowned. 

Her bangs had slipped across her eyes again, obscuring her face. 

Usually, she liked wearing her hair that way. It had started as a security thing. Her hair had acted as a shield to hide her away from the rest of the world. And there were times she still needed that. 

But tonight… 

Tonight she didn’t want to hide. 

She reached for a bobby pin, but her hand stopped halfway to the tin of them she kept on her dressing table. Originally, she had planned on wearing her hair down, the way she normally did. But then she wouldn’t really be able to show off the back of her dress… 

And given what Alya had planned for the night—to say nothing of the schemes she was positive Alya had hidden up her sleeve—she could do with a touch of Tigress. 

She grabbed her brush and a black satin scrunchie, and made quick work of pulling her hair up into an elegant, high ponytail. Once the ponytail was secured, she grabbed a couple of bobby pins and pinned her bangs just enough so that they didn’t cover her eyes, but still framed her face to keep an element of drama. 

That was much better. 

“Hey Jules, have you seen the- Jules. You look beautiful.” 

She was unable to control the grin on her face as she turned to the door of their room. Luka was standing in the hallway, he was wearing his good jeans, but his hair was still damp and he was wearing a t-shirt. But even though he wasn’t ready, she couldn’t help but preen under his words. 

“Thank you.” 

A sappy grin was making its way onto his face. “I’m really proud of you.” 

“But I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes you have.”

“No I-“

“Look at you,” he said quietly as he made his way to stand behind her, and direct her attention back to her reflection. 

“It’s just hair…” she mumbled, trying to fight the growing warmth in her cheeks. 

“You and I both know it’s not just hair. And it’s more than that. You’ve been-“

“A pain in your neck?” she asked with a laugh.

“You always are. But you’ve been more sure of yourself lately. More confident. You’ve been coming into your own. It’s nice to see.” 

“You’re such a sap, you’re going to make me ruin my makeup,” she mumbled, waving a hand in front of her eyes to keep them from tearing up. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to cry, she stood and hugged Luka tightly. He returned it just as fiercely. 

Once they broke apart, she smacked his arm. Lightly. Ish. “Why aren’t you ready yet, dummy?” 

He chuckled, shaking his head as he rolled his eyes. “I need to iron my shirt but I can’t find the iron anywhere.” 

“Check the greenhouse, last time I saw it Ma was using it as a door stop up there”

“Figures,” he mumbled under his breath. He was halfway out the room when he turned back. “I really am proud of you, you know.” 

   “I’m proud of you too.” After all, he was finally not stepping back. “Now go,” she said, smiling as she shooed him out. “You need to get ready, you are not making me late tonight.” 

“I thought it was fashionable to be late?” he called from the hall. 

“Shows what you know about fashion!” she quipped back before turning back to her mirror and began adjusting the pins in her hair so that everything was just right.  

Once she was satisfied, she added a final spritz of hairspray and then began packing her supplies for the evening into her clutch. Lipstick, powder, keys, hand sanitizer and cream, and emergency candy. Just in case. The finishing touches were her jewelry—the black lace choker she had made for herself and a pair of amethyst earrings—and a couple of spritzes of her favourite violet perfume. 

As Roarr would say, she had her war paint and armour on, and she was ready for battle. 

And not a moment too soon. 

The screen of her phone lit up with an incoming call, the icon for the Adrienette group chat flashing on the screen. 

“Hey,” she said once she had tapped to accept the call. 

“Hi bijou!” Rose’s voice came from the screen as the group chat icon filled the screen. Rose had insisted it would be a voice only call since they weren’t all getting ready together, that way that could all surprise each other with their finished looks. 

“Hi, Juleka,” Mylène said. 

“Hey,” Alix’s voice crackled to life over the phone.  

“Hi, Alix!” Rose chirped. “Are you excited?” 

“Sure,” came Alix’s nonchalant response. “I mean, it’s a dance. There’s only so much to really be excited about-” 

“Juleka?” Mylène’s voice cut Alix off. “My mascara is really clumpy! How do I fix it?” 

“Wipe the excess off your wand with a tissue and then brush it through. If you have a lash comb, brush it through your lashes too. That should break some of them up.”

“You’re a life saver, thank you.” 

“Are we going to get started, or what?” She had thought at first that maybe Alya hadn’t been on the call—a foolish thought—but it seemed Alya was still officially not talking to her. Which, after last night… she wasn’t entirely sure it was a good or bad thing. 

Either way, it was an awkward thing. 

Rose and Mylène had been in a tizzy all day, trying to get them to talk to each other. Alix had made a few attempts, but after a while had clearly given up and resorted to sighing and rolling her eyes with great exasperation. But Alya… Alya was stubborn. Marinette and the rest of the class had picked up on it too, except Adrien that was. Even Bustier had noticed something weird was going on.  

Honestly, it felt more than safe to assume that the only reason she was even included in this pre-game call, so to speak, was because the rest of the girls hadn’t given Alya a choice. Looking at the screen, Rose had been the one to initiate the call. 

“If we have to…” Alix groaned. 

“We do. Nothing can go wrong tonight,” Alya said firmly. 

Well, they were sort of in agreement there. 

They were just… diametrically opposed… 

“So, I just texted Marinette,” Alya continued, “She just got out of the shower so she’ll only just be starting drying and doing her hair, which means we all have time to get there and get everything into place…” 

Despite the fact that she could have listed the schemes backwards in her sleep, she listened carefully to Alya’s every word. She mentally sifted through every word and intonation, looking for any potential clues for what other schemes might come into play. Because she knew Alya. And after their… talk last night, there was no way Alya was showing up without a fresh set of schemes ready to go. 

Which meant she needed to be ready for anything.  

But she was feeling apprehensive about the evening for more reasons than Alya was giving her. 

An odd clash of elation and dread was brewing in her stomach like a hurricane. She knew all the schemes that had been plotted at the meetings she was present for. She knew Alya undoubtedly had more schemes that she didn’t know about ready to set in motion. She knew she had to be and was ready to deal with those schemes. 

She also knew Luka and Marinette were going. 

Together. 

Of their own choosing. 

But she wasn’t expecting much beyond that in the sense that, well… school dances were… school dances. They were fun. But they weren’t the magical and romantic settings that movies and tv likes to play them off as. So while she was elated that they were going together, she couldn’t see much more than that happening tonight. 

Apart from all the stupid and ridiculous schemes she would have to derail, that is. 

As much as she wanted Luka and Marinette to stop being idiots, they were idiots. Sure, she could give them gentle nudges, but tonight, her priority was to just let them enjoy themselves. They had already taken one step away from idiocy by going to the dance together. Tonight was about letting them just enjoy their one small step towards reason.   

But even knowing that…  she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was going to happen tonight. 

“School dances are just so romantic!” Rose squealed, breaking her from her thoughts.

***

The thing about school dances was that they were just about the furthest thing from romantic. 

The music was always too loud for an enclosed space, and the base too high. And the music choice was always just what was most popular. Which was fine. There was nothing  wrong with music being popular. It was just that Bob Roth had bought XY’s place to the top of the charts, so the playlist by default, was dominated by XY’s  music- or rather, the music he had stolen.

To say nothing of the smell. The school dances were always held in the gym, which perpetually smelled like a phys-ed class. And the boy’s locker room. Even the smell of strong perfume and cheap cologne couldn’t mask the eau de body odour. Somehow, it just made it worse. 

Awkwardness permeated the very air; whether it was people trying to ask their crushes to dance, or people worrying over what they wore or who came with who. And of course there were the chaperones. It was impossible for anything to be romantic when M. Damocles and Mme. Mendeliev were watching the dance floor like a pair of hawks, on the lookout for any inappropriate behaviour. 

How could anyone think school dances were romantic?

“This is going to be so romantic!” Rose’s squeal was high pitched enough to be heard over the music without shouting. 

Well, anyone except Rose. 

“Rose! Juleka!” She turned at the sound of Ivan’s voice, which somehow managed to travel through the pounding base. Ivan and Mylène were weaving through the crowd towards them. Nathaniel was trailing behind them, in the wake Ivan left as people parted to let him and Mylène pass.

“Are Alya and Alix here yet?” Mylène asked as she joined their group, almost shouting to make herself heard over the music. “Rose, you look lovely! And-” Mylène’s eyes widened a bit as she looked at her. “Juleka! Your hair” 

“It looks really nice like that,” Ivan said with a shy smile. 

“You look gorgeous!”

“Doesn’t she?” Rose asked brightly, taking a firmer grip on her arm as she leaned against her. 

Her cheeks were suddenly hot and she had to remind herself not to hide her face in her hands given she couldn’t rely on her hair to hide her blush. “Thanks. You all look great too!” she added, gesturing to Ivan, who had a small, faux sunflower clipped to his shirt to match the floral print of Mylène’s dress. Mylène had twisted her hair up into a bun, which was also adorned with a sunflower clipped into it to frame a loose tendril by the side of her face. “You too, Nathaniel,” she added as she glanced at him. He cleaned up pretty good.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice almost lost to the crowd. “Oh, I see Marc! If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to go…” 

“Of course!” Rose squealed, grinning. “We’ll see you on the dance floor?” 

Nathaniel nodded with a smile before slipping away. 

“So…” Ivan said slowly, “I know you all had some sort of plan but if Alya and Alix aren’t here yet, maybe you and I could dance?” he asked, turning to Mylène. 

Mylène was just nodding when a familiar voice carried through the music. 

“I bet you I could dance for an hour straight!” 

“I bet you would trip over your feet in the first ten minutes,” she heard Alix say as she caught a flash of pink hair moving towards them. 

“Yeah? Well how about we-”

“Absolutely not!” Rose said indignantly as Kim and Alix joined their quickly growing group. “This is a dance. It’s supposed to be romantic. And bets aren’t romantic!” 

“Thank you, Rose” Max sighed as he stopped to stand on her other side before adding under his breath, “I think.” 

“Aww, c’mon! What’s wrong with a little fun- Whoa! Juleka! I don’t think I’ve ever seen both your eyes before!” 

She couldn’t help but chuckle at how utterly Kim he was. Before she could reply to what she assumed was his attempt at a complement, Rose opened her mouth. 

“And?” Rose asked, her high voice holding an edge of danger. 

Kim’s eyes widened as they darted to Rose, in all her swirly, pink, white kitten-print glory and swallowed. “You look really pretty! I just- I wasn’t expecting you to- I mean, you never wear your hair up…” he said, tripping over himself as he tried to both clarify his compliment and appease Rose. 

She nudged Rose gently with her elbow and gave her a look before she smiled at Kim. “Thanks. You look pretty good yourself. You all do,” she added, glancing to Max and Alix as Kim puffed his chest out in pride. 

“Oh, hey Luka!”  

“Hey, Kim. Everyone” Luka said just loud enough to be heard over the music as he slipped between her and Max, shooting Max a grateful smile as the shorter boy made room for him. 

“Did you escape in one piece?” she asked.

“Escape?” Ivan asked, his brows furrowing. “From who?” 

“Damocles cornered him when we got here,” she snorted. “He wanted to know how lycée is going for him,” she added with a smirk as Luka groaned. 

“I feel like he and his sister have a bet going about me and Dingo or something. He kept asking about our science classes and showcase performances…” he said, his voice trailing off as he oh so subtly scanned the crowd around them. “So has anyone seen Marinette yet?” 

“No sign of her yet,” she murmured before gently elbowing his side and shooting him a smirk. She hadn’t called him a ‘sap’ out loud. She wasn’t that mean. Besides, she didn’t need to say it for him to get the message… 

He rolled his eyes before turning back to the conversation. He was lucky the lighting in the gym hid the pink tinge to his ears. For the most part… 

She turned back to the conversation as well, which had somehow worked its way back to Kim and Alix trying to have a competition that Rose wouldn’t outright destroy them for for having at the dance. But she only listened with half an ear, if that. Luka was there to help keep Rose in check should she decide Kim and Alix were ruining the ‘romance’ of the dance too much. 

And she had other things to worry about… 

Surreptitiously, she scanned the crowd, looking for any signs of Marinette. And crossing all her fingers that Marinette would arrive before Alya… though she wasn’t holding her breath… 

The crowd ebbed and flowed around them in a blur of coloured lights and party clothes. Their group was far enough off to the side that they weren’t being overrun by the people dancing, but they were still close enough to the action. She caught sight of Nathaniel and Marc dancing on the fringes of the dance floor. A girl in a yellow dress—similar to the one Chloe had worn— crossed her line of vision, holding a cup of punch, which only served as a reminder of one of the more harebrained schemes Alya had come up with for ‘Operation Fairytale Ball.’  The thought of the schemes left a bitter taste in her mouth, and a lead weight in the pit of her stomach. 

Things had been bad enough when she was only contending with one set of schemes… but after last night… there was no way Alya didn’t have contingency plans… 

Another song passed with anxious anticipation. And then she saw it. The unmistakeable flash or orange by the doors to the gym. 

“Alya” Rose shouted, standing up on her tip toes to be seen past Kim, “over here!” 

Whether she had actually heard Rose, or more likely, seen Rose’s glitter clutch as she waved it and Ivan and Kim’s large forms in the crowd, Alya turned in the direction of their group. And then started weaving through the crowd towards them with a determination that didn’t bode well for her plans for the night… 

“You look great, Alya!” Rose chirped once she had joined their quickly growing group. 

“Thanks,” Alya said, flashing a grin. “You all do too,” she said, smiling to all of them. But then Alya’s gaze landed on her. Alya’s hazel eyes widened in surprise for a moment, the way everyone’s had when they had first seen her with her hair up and away from her face. But then they had narrowed. And while she had still smiled at her, it was rather frigid.

And she hadn’t said anything to her, so it seemed like Alya was still dead set on the whole no talking thing.  

“I like how you did your hair,” she said to Alya. And it was true. Alya’s hair looked great. 

Alya, for her part, didn’t seem sure how to respond. On one hand, Alya still seemed determined not to talk to her, but on the other… 

“Thanks,” Alya said slowly, her face guarded. “Yours looks nice too,” she added, with just the slightest hint of suspicion detectable in her voice. But it was clear as day in her eyes. And then Alya turned to look at Luka, and her eyes widened all over again as soon as she saw what Luka was wearing. 

Alya made a strangled, chocking sound that she quickly tried to cover in a cough. 

“You ok?” Mylène asked worriedly, taking a step towards Alya to place a hand on her back. 

Alya nodded, “Fine,” she said hoarsely before blinking to do a double take at Luka. Luka blinked at her, his face shifting into something guarded, and Alya’s eyes narrowed again, her mouth setting into a grim line as her gazed flickered back to land on her. 

She should have known Alya would take his outfit choice as a sign of her ‘betrayal…’ 

Luka nudged her shoulder. “I’m going to go get something to drink. Want anything?”  His voice sounded almost tinny through the base.  

“No, but you should-“  He was gone before she could finish telling him he should wait until Marinette go there. Now that Alya was here… Marinette could show up at any time, and she didn’t like the idea of Luka going off on his own and leaving Alya with an opening. 

 “So, where’s Nino?” Kim asked, seemingly wonderfully oblivious—as usual—to everything. “We need some good song recommendations for a dance off and he’s the go to guy for that kind of stuff.” 

“He isn’t playing-”

“Well, yeah,” Kim laughed, “that’s why that other guy is up there,” Kim said as he nodded to the hired DJ. “But I’m sure we can make requests.” 

“That’s true…” Alya said, turning to Alix as she pulled her phone out of her purse “But remember-”

“I know, I know,” Alix groaned, holding up her hands. “But they’re not even here yet.” 

“Who isn’t here-” Kim started to ask. 

“Nino just texted, he and Adrien are almost here,” Alya said as she read something off her phone. 

“I know!” Alya shouted over the music.“And Marinette should be here any minute! And-“ Alya began frantically waving. “Nino and Adrien are here!”

“Do you want to dance?” Rose grabbed her hand, beaming up at her as she tugged her towards the dance floor. 

She wanted to. She really wanted to. But she also didn’t want whatever Alya had planned to go ahead. Which meant she needed to be ready for-

“Hey dudes.” Nino was grinning as he and Adrien joined their group. But then he caught her eye. His eyes widened, dnd then his gaze dropped, like he couldn’t look her in the eye. Nino had always been a bit of an open book. Subtlety wasn’t exactly his forte. 

And this all but confirmed her worst suspicions. 

He was definitely in on whatever Alya had cooked up. 

“You look great, Adrien!” Alya said. 

Adrien, who had looked morose and like he had every intention of at least half-sulking the entire evening, looked up. “Oh, thanks.” 

“Yeah, you clean up good, man! Do you think you can dance in that getup? Because Alix and I were going to- oof” 

Kim’s obvious attempts to get Adrien to join in on the impromptu dance off were quickly cut off by Rose’s elbow. 

“I probably could, but they’re not really made for that kind of dancing.” 

“Yeah, Kim. Those kinds of clothes are for dances like the waltz. You know, the romantic kinds? There’s nothing more romantic than a waltz! Just imagine, a candlelight waltz, or a waltz under the city lights,” Rose sighed dreamily. “There’s nothing that could be more romantic than that.” 

“Yeah? You really think?” Adrien asked, immediately perking up. Even after their fight, he was still concerned about that? 

“There’s Marinette!” Mylène’s voice was almost lost to the music. 

Bewilderment crossed Alya’s face. “Her dress…” 

She whirled around, tugging Rose along with her. 

Marinette wasn’t wearing green to match Adrien’s eyes, as per her prediction. And despite Alya’s suggestion—demand more like. 

“She looks gorgeous!” Beside her Rose practically swooned. “She looks like a princess!”

Marinette’s dress was simple; a sweet heart neckline and spaghetti straps, with a full and voluminous skirt made up of what looked like layer upon layer of gauzy fabric. It was a soft shade of blue, caught somewhere between summer skies and calm seas. It was the blue of where the horizon met the sea. It was the blue that lived somewhere between the shade of Luka’s eyes and Marinette’s. A simple silver pendant that looked remarkably light a floral treble cleft matched her shoes. 

And her hair was  down. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Marinette with her hair down; she always had it pulled back, even at sleepovers. But now it cascaded over her shoulders in loose waves. 

It made her look… freer. 

Rose was right. She did look like a princess. She was about to elbow Luka in the ribs when she remembered he had gone to get a drink. 

Shoot. 

“Wow, Marinette looks great!” 

Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot. 

Now was not the time for Adrien to start noticing what he was missing out on. 

Despite her initial reaction to Marinette’s dress, or more specifically she assumed, its colour, Alya smiled smugly. “She sure does,” she said. 

“I’ve never seen her with her hair down…” 

“Maybe you should tell her to wear it down more often…” Alya suggested.  

Adrien shrugged blithely. “Maybe, but I like the pigtails. They remind me of Ladybug.” 

There is was. 

Because even with his so-called Lady standing right in front of him, he couldn’t see her, he was so blinded by the scarlet and spots. 

“Hi guys!” Marinette said a little breathlessly as she pushed through the last bit of the crowd standing between her and the rest of the group. 

“Hey,” she said, louder than she usually would so as to be heard over the pounding music. 

Marinette turned to her and the smile that had been gracing her face grew even wider. “Juleka!” she gasped before pulling her into a hug, “you look incredible! I knew that dress would be perfect for you, and the shoes and your hair!” 

“I know, right?” Rose chirped. “I think you should wear heels more often,” Rose added added as Marinette pulled away. 

“And Rose! You look fabulous! You all do!” Marinette squealed as she looked around their group, grinning at everyone. But she was also oh so very obviously looking for someone who wasn’t there. She had to fight back a grin at how transparent Marinette was. “Has anyone seen-” 

“Girl, that dress looks great on you! It really brings out your eyes!” Alya said as she pulled Marinette into a hug. Though she knew Alya had misgivings about the colour Marinette had chosen, the compliment was obviously genuine. Marinette did look incredible, and the colour of her dress made her eyes all the bluer. 

Marinette smiled at Alya as she released the hug. But there was something guarded about her smile still. The way it had been every time she had smiled around Alya the past few days. “Thanks. You look great too.” 

“I can see why this took you so long,” Mylène said as she looked at Marinette’s dress before pulling her into a hug as well, “just how many layers are there in the skirt?” 

“I lost track around seven,” Marinette laughed. “But where’s Luka?” she asked. 

“He went to go get a drink, he should be back any minute,” she replied as Rose pounced on Marinette, enveloping her in a hug. From across their little group, she caught Alya eyeing her suspiciously. 

And really? 

That was what was eliciting that look? 

What did Alya expect her to do? Ignore Marinette’s question? Did she expect all of them to ignore Marinette’s question. 

“Oh, ok-” 

“While you’re waiting for him,” Alya interrupted before turning to Adrien, “You like this song, right Adrien?” 

“Yeah, it’s fine-” 

“Why don’t you two dance? The crowd is so thick it could Luka a while to come back, plus if M. Damocles wants to talk to him again-” 

“But-” 

Another flash of yellow in the crowd caught her eye. This time, it was Chloe. 

Chloe had proven to be very effective in coming between Adrien and Marinette before… she just needed to get Chloe to notice him… 

Behind Chloe, she saw Aurore and Mireille drifting through the crowd. 

She shifted a step to the side so that she was closer to Adrien, and reached up and began to wave. “Mereille, Aurore! Over here!” she called as she continued to wave, keeping her gaze on Chloe’s ponytail. 

She hadn’t expected either of them to hear her, and evidently they hadn’t heard or seen her as they disappeared back into the crowd. But that didn’t matter. Because Chloe had noticed her. And more importantly, Chloe had noticed who was standing with her…

“Oop. Chloe incoming,” Alix said, but it was too late. 

“Adrikins! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” 

“Hey Chloe,” Adrien said, rather unenthusiastically. 

“Aren’t you going to compliment my dress?” Chloe asked as she looped her arm through his and began tugging him towards the dance floor. 

“Where are you going?” 

“To dance. Obviously, Césaire,” Chloe snapped before dragging Adrien off. 

She turned back to the rest of her friends as Adrien and Chloe started dancing, to find Alya glaring at her suspiciously. But she just shrugged innocently. It wasn’t like she had called Chloe over. Alya couldn’t reasonably accuse her of doing anything.

Just Alya couldn’t get mad at her for helping keep Mendeliev from finding some of the scheme…

“Hey, angel,” she said quietly, leaning down to whisper into Rose’s ear, “you and Mylène hid the flowers are under the tables right?” Rose nodded. “Mendeliev is poking around over there.” She straighten up and glanced knowingly towards the tables that had been set up for people to sit at when they needed a break from dancing. Mendeliev wasn’t exactly poking around them, but she was circulating amongst them. And Mendeliev was eagle eyed… 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rose’s eyes widen as she followed her gaze. 

“Alya! Mylène! I need a girl talk real quick!” Rose sad, grabbing them both by the arm and not waiting for a response from either of them. “I’ll be right back, bijou!” Rose called over her shoulder before saying something into Alya’s ear. 

It was hard to tell from behind, but based on the way Alya picked up the pace towards the tables, she felt safe to assume Rose had told her Mendeliev was alarmingly close to the flowers Alya, Mylène, and Rose were supposed to use for one of the schemes. Alya shot a conflicted, yet suspicious glance over her shoulder at her as she hurried towards the tables. 

“Welp,” Alix said, “I guess that means it’s time to check out the snacks.” 

“Wait!” Kim called as Alix began to saunter away, “I thought we were going to have a dance off now! Or! I bet you I can-” whatever it was that Kim had been saying was lost in the noise of the crowd and music as he disappeared after Alix, pulling Nino along with him. 

Max sighed. “I suppose I had better go make sure neither of them choke if they end up having an eating contest or something.” She shot Max a sympathetic smile before he turned and trudged after Alix and Kim. 

“C’mon,” she said to Marinette, nodding towards the end of the gymnasium the refreshment tables were set up in, “let’s go find my brother before Damocles corners him again.” Marinette nodded as she looped her arm through hers. 

Marinette’s brows twisted in confusion as she began to follow her through the crowd. “Before Damocles corners him again? What-” 

“Did you know Damocles has a twin? And that she’s the principal of Saint-Saëns?” 

“There’s two Damocles?” Marinette asked in disbelief as they began to weave through the crowd. 

“I’m afraid so.” 

“You don’t think she also dresses up Knightowl, do you?” 

“I hope not,” she laughed. “Luka hasn’t said anything about it but you never know-” 

“Jules!” She pulled Marinette to a stop as she turned in the direction of the voice. Luka was smiling apologetically at someone she recognized from the year below her as he awkwardly side stepped towards her. “I thought I had lost you Jules- Marinette.” 

She didn’t bother to hide her smile at the look on her brother’s face. She had never seen his eyes so wide. And she swore she could almost hear the sounds of his brain short-circuiting. His plastic cup clattered to the ground, thankfully spilling only a few drops as it had been almost completely empty. “You- you’re beautiful,” he said, almost reverently. 

She glanced at Marinette at the corner of her eye, even as Marinette unhooked her arm from hers to take a step towards Luka. Her smile only grew. Marinette was equally wide-eyed, and she was practically glowing. 

“Your dress, it’s incredible. I knew it would be, but… wow,” Luka laughed breathlessly. 

“Thank you,” Marinette said, almost shyly. “But Luka, your tie.” Marinette reached out as if to touch it, but stopped just short, her hand awkward  hovering a few inches from Luka’s chest.

The sap looked down to grin at the floral tie, which was the same shade of pink as his cheeks and ears, before smiling back up at Marinette. “Yeah, I-“ she watched as her brother reached up to rub the back of his neck as a bashful smile and flush crept across his face. “It made me think of you.”  

***

Phase ’And Their Eyes Will Meet’ had gone off without a hitch. 

At least, from her perspective. 

The best part was, she hadn’t had to do much. And that meant that there was no way Alya could turn around to try and pin the phase’s failure on her. Especially given she had alerted Rose to Mendeliev getting a little too close to the faux flowers for comfort. She had almost felt sorry for Adrien as Chloe dragged him off to dance with her. 

Almost. 

But knowing what she knew… yeah. She didn’t. 

Plus, it got him away from Marinette. And more importantly, Alya. 

And that had given Luka an opening. Of course, the DJ had just had to put on an XY song, which meant Luka and Marinette weren’t dancing… They were hovering by one of the walls of the gym, glasses of the saccharinely sweet punch completely forgotten in their hands as they laughed over something. Sure, they were maybe leaning a bit into wallflower territory, but they were together. 

The other good thing about them standing there by the wall was that it was relatively easy for her to keep an eye on them and the things going on around them as Rose spun her around the dance floor. She would have been more than happy to sit this song out too, to be honest. It wasn’t like any of them had a soft spot for XY. The complete opposite in fact. But even the sourness of the memory of their music being stolen wasn’t enough to dampen Rose’s spirits. She had practically begged to dance, and when had she ever been able to say no to Rose? Especially when she used her puppy eyes… 

“I can’t wait until they play a slow song!” Rose somehow both sighed and squealed as she pulled her into an enthusiastic spin. 

“Neither can I,” she chuckled, blinking as she teetered on her shoes and tried to steady herself. While she was able to keep an eye on everything from the dance floor, keeping everything she saw straight was another thing entirely with Rose leading… 

“Sorry,” Rose said, cringing as she smiled apologetically. 

She couldn’t help but smile at how unabashedly Rose was leaning into the rose-tinted romance she perceived the dance to be. “It’s ok, maybe just a little less… gusto?” 

Rose nodded brightly before tugging her a little closer, her smile dimming a little. “You’re still doing ok?” 

She blinked down at Rose. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Rose shrugged as they continued to dance. “Yesterday… it was a lot. It was a lot for me and Mylène. Heck, it was even a lot for Alix. We’ve… none of us… well, I don’t remember the last fight any of us had like that. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a fight like that before…”

“It was a lot,” she agreed, nodding slightly. 

“I know we talked it out last night, but  this morning, and during the phone call… Alya wasn’t exactly…”

“Talking to me?” she snorted. Rose nodded, and she sighed. “You and me? We’re alright. I promise,” she added, squeezing Rose’s hand. “Me and Alix and Mylène? We’re fine too. I talked with them both last night.” 

“And you and Alya?” 

She bit back a groan, but some of it still slipped into her sigh. “I don’t know where we are right now. But I know that she needs time to let it go and- what is she doing?” She craned her neck to get a better view of what she had seen over Rose’s shoulder. 

Alya was dancing with Adrien. It was very obvious that Adrien was trying to lead the two in the dance, and it was even more obvious that Alya had taken the lead. And that she was steering him right towards… 

Rose turned to look over her shoulder in the direction she was looking and sighed. “I forgot about that plan…” 

“What plan was that?” 

Rose turned back to her, and to her surprise, rolled her eyes. “It was one of the ones Alya came up with. One that we weren’t supposed to tell you about,” she added apologetically. “We tried to tell her it wouldn’t work but…” Rose’s words trailed off in a shrug. “I suppose she didn’t listen.”

That was an understatement. 

“Hey,” do you think we could maybe take a bit of a rest?” she asked as casually as she could. “I’m getting a little tired, I’m not used to wearing heels and we’ve been dancing for a while…” 

Both were true. They had been dancing for three songs now. And she wasn’t used to wearing heels. 

But that pang of guilt still lodged itself in her chest. She still wasn’t sure what the best course of action would be, with the girls. Telling them everything—well, not everything—or keeping quiet. She knew she would have to decide one way or another eventually. But today- tonight didn’t feel like the right time. 

All she was sure of, was that she needed to keep Alya away from Luka and Marinette. 

“Of course, bijou!” Rose said brightly. “I was getting hungry anyways. Want me to go grab some snacks?” 

“Sure. I’ll wait over with Mari and Luka?” she asked, nodding towards them. 

“That sounds good! I’ll bring snacks for them too, we can all rest for a bit.” 

She pecked Rose on the forehead before they parted ways. Rose heading towards the refreshment table, while she headed into what felt like what was going to turn into a storm… 

***

The music was still pounding. 

The gym was still dimly lit by the lights and the disco ball that had been pulled out from the school storage for the occasion. 

The gym still unfortunately smelled like Kim’s locker. Maybe even worse now that people had been dancing for a while, not to mention topping up their perfume and cologne in the bathroom. She had nearly choked on the clouds of clashing scents when she had ducked into the ladies room. 

And while somewhat expected, it seemed Luka and Marinette were still no closer to stopping their mutual idiocy than they had been when they had arrived at the dance. Or last week. Or last month… 

The only thing that had changed in the past hour of the dance had been… 

She narrowed her eyes as she watched Nino sling an arm around Adrien’s shoulder with a laugh. Normally, that wouldn’t be something she would even bat an eye at. Nino was just like that, always slinging an arm around his friends’ shoulders or ribbing them when joking around, or slinging an arm around Alya’s waist. For all the ways he presented himself as a chill, nonchalant kind of guy, he was actually very touchy-feely and outwardly affectionate to the people close to him. In some ways, he was quite a bit like Luka, being more than content to let things be and happen as they did. 

And he was a terrible liar. And a terrible actor. 

She wouldn’t have batted an eye at the way he had slung his arm around Adrien’s shoulder, if not for the almost mechanical way he had done it. Like it was timed, or he was overthinking it in trying to make it look casual. 

And of course, there was the fact that he had shot a not-so subtle glance at Alya where she was standing over by the refreshment table, sipping a glass of the overly sweet punch. 

She almost frowned before she remembered herself. It wouldn’t do to look suspicious; she was at a dance after all, she should look like she wasn’t trying to unravel Kwami’s only knew how many unknown convoluted schemes Alya had cooked up. She turned her attention away from Alya and back to Mylène. Or rather… at the spot just over Mylène’s head where she could see Nino and Adrien talking. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a whirl of bubblegum and serene blue. Rose and Marinette flew through her field of vision, laughing and giggling as Rose swung them in a twirling dance that wasn’t so much a dance per se as a whirling tornado of pink and blue, puffy chaos. A smile curled across her face at the sight; she had needed to take a break from dancing. She still wasn’t used to wearing heels, so there was only so much dancing she could do at a time. And Marinette had seemed disappointed to not be dancing to this song while Luka was in the bathroom trying to dry off, so of course she had no objections to Rose dancing with Marinette for a while. 

Her smile faltered. 

It had seemed like an accident… 

But she of all people should know things aren’t always what they seem. 

And it was just a little too convenient that Kim’s water had ended up all over Luka. Sure, it was easy to brush off; Kim wasn’t exactly what anyone would call observant. And he had been goofing around—as usual—when he had bumped into Nino and sent the water all over Luka’s side. But the fact that it had been water as opposed to the syrupy punch that had ended up all over Luka’s sleeve made it feel too deliberate. For all her flaws, Alya wasn’t mean. She wouldn’t stoop to completely ruining Luka’s shirt. 

And of course, there was the fact she had been Nino. That, and she had seen Alya give Nino what she assumed was meant to be a covert look a couple of minutes before it happened. 

It was just water. But it was enough Luka had ducked out to the washroom to try and dry off some of the water with paper towels and the hand dryers. 

And now…

Her gaze narrowed in on Nino and Adrien again. Nino was nodding his head towards Rose and Marinette, his movements painfully stiff and awkward looking. She couldn’t tell what he was saying from here—there was no way on earth she could hear him from that far away over the music and frustratingly, lip reading was harder than she had initially thought. But she had a hunch. 

She watched Adrien and Nino as Nino continued to talk with exaggerated motions. For her part, she nodded along as she listened to Mylène talking about her plans for the first couple of weeks of the summer break. Adrien nodded again, and Nino’s face broke out into a look of relief. 

That couldn’t be good… 

The song—one of Clara Nightingale’s recent releases—was still going, but she recognized the lines enough to know it was nearing its end. And- 

Nope. 

Adrien was walking away from Nino now, making his way through the crowd of people dancing with his usual supermodel grace.

That was not good. 

Nino was watching Adrien go as he made his way towards Rose and Marinette. 

It was definitely not good. 

And across the dance floor, Alya was also watching Adrien heading towards Marinette and Rose, grinning like the cat that had just caught the canary. 

“I’m going to go find Luka,” she said, rather abruptly if the look Mylène and Ivan gave her was anything to go by. 

“He’s probably still in the washroom though, right?” Ivan asked. 

Max pushed his glasses up his nose before nodding. “That would be the most probable answer. That cup was quite full-” 

“I said I was sorry!” Kim interjected, earning a look of good-natured ire from Max. 

“But it also doesn’t take that long to dry off a shirt. He can live with a damp sleeve and he’s missing everything.” 

“That is also a good point-” 

She shot Max a smile, and then before anyone else could protest, she slipped away from their group and began fighting her way through the fringes of the dance floor. She was sure to make a show of looking around like she was looking for someone and wasn’t really watching where she was going—lest Alya spot her and decide to make more accusations—as she made a beeline for the spot it looked like she would cross paths with Adrien. 

“Oh, excuse me- oh, hey Juleka.” 

She turned to look down at Adrien—who she was towering over even more than usual in her shoes—with feigned surprise. “Oh, Adrien. Sorry about that, I didn’t see you there.” 

Adrien shot her one of his easy, effortless, supermodel grins. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “So, are you enjoying the dance?” 

She nodded. “I am. Yeah.” Ok. This was awkward. She had been so laser-focused on intercepting Adrien before he could reach Marinette and, she assumed, ask her to dance, that she hadn’t even thought about how she was going to keep him occupied. 

And for all his obliviousness, even Adrien seemed to be picking up on the pure, tangible awkwardness that was filling the air. 

“So…” he said, letting the single word trail off. 

What was she supposed to say? What could she possibly talk to Adrien about now?

Come to think of it, what could she ever possibly talk to just Adrien about? They had nothing in common other than their teachers and classmates! 

“Are you having fun?” The words blurted out, but that was fine. That was a nice, safe, impersonal topic. 

Adrien grinned again. “Yeah, it’s great! I’m glad father let me come, it’s a lot of fun dancing with everyone. I was just on my way to ask Marinette to dance- oh, looks like Luka is back.” 

She held back a sigh of relief as she turned to look behind her where Adrien was craning his neck to see. Luka was back, and even though the song hadn’t quite ended yet it looked like Rose had released Marinette from their tornado like dance to reunite with Luka. Marinette was busy inspecting Luka’s sleeve—probably to make sure he had properly dried it or something—while the dork stood there blushing and staring at the top of Marinette’s head like a lovesick idiot. 

But a ways behind them… 

She could see Alya staring at the two. Her brows furrowed and there was the familiar gleam in her eyes, the one she always had when she was plotting and scheming… 

“…but Nino said I should try to dance with Marinette, I’m sure they won’t mind if I interrupt-”

“Why don’t we dance?” 

Did she really just say that?

Did she really just say that?

Did she really just say that? 

Why? Why? Of all the things she could ever possibly say to him, why did she have to go and say that? 

She wasn’t sure who was more surprised. Her. Or Adrien. He was staring at her, his mouth gaping open not unlike that of a fish.  And honestly? She couldn’t really blame him… 

“Uh, yeah, sure. Sounds fun.” They stood there awkwardly, looking at each other. “I guess we should…?” Adrien asked, his question trailing off. 

“Oh. Yeah. Uh…” she glanced around, trying to spot Luka and Marinette so that she could get Adrien as faraway from them as possible. The two were dancing to the upbeat song that had started playing. Marinette was glowing, she was smiling so brightly at Luka. And Luka was looking at Marinette like she was the sun, the moon, and all the stars rolled into one as he laughed at something Marinette had said. 

 Her thoughts soured as she glanced around for Alya. There was no way she wanted Adrien anywhere near them lest Alya—or Nino—find a way to interrupt.

Alya was staring at her, her eyes hard and her mouth downturned in a frown. Nino was standing beside her, looking like he was trying to placate her. But Alya looked like she was ready to do business. 

She definitely wanted Adrien away from those two, and any plots Alya cooked up on the fly, as well. 

“Let’s go over there,” she said, nodding her head to the other side of the dance floor where the crowd was thinner. Far away from Luka and Marinette. And far far away from Alya’s interference… 

Adrien nodded, and began heading in the direction she had nodded. The wove through the crowd until they were on the fringes of the far side of the dance floor, far away from any of Alya’s plots and schemes. 

Hopefully. 

Adrien turned to her with another practiced smile and placed a hand on her waist. 

She couldn’t stop herself from stepping back in surprise. 

“What are you doing?” 

Adrien’s brows furrowed. “Dancing?” 

“It isn’t really the right kind of song for that kind of dancing,” she said, nodding to the people around them who were bobbing and swaying to the fast beat of one of the other songs from Clara’s new album.  

“Oh,” Adrien said, his brows still furrowed. But then he smiled and chuckled as he ran a hand though his perfectly coiffed hair. It was such a Chat like movement she almost grimaced. “Sorry about that, guess I’m not used to school dances since father never really lets me go to them,” he said, his voice full of its usual model charm.  

“No problem.” Nodding, she began dancing, trying to ignore the awkwardness that was making it feel like she was moving her stiff limbs through jello. She was never a big dancer, but it was also never hard for her to dance. But this? This was painful. 

But at least if they were dancing they wouldn’t have to make small talk… 

Clumsily, Adrien mimicked her movements. “So…” he said again, breaking the silence between them.    

There went that small comfort… 

“You like Clara’s new album?” she asked, desperately looking for something- anything to talk about that would maybe hopefully dissipate at least some of the awkward tension. Or at least distract her long enough to get her through this song. 

Except that was a mistake. Bringing up Clara’s new album. Because it had another Ladybug song on it. Quite a few actually. And a song a lot of people were speculating was intended to be about Tigress… 

With no mention of Chat in any of the lyrics… 

Adrien’s face darkened into almost a scowl before he seemed to remember himself. “It’s fine,” he muttered before brightening marginally. “The lyrics about Ladybug’s eyes are spot on,”  he half laughed, half sighed. “She really is brilliant- Ladybug that is. Clara’s first song, the one about Ladybug and Chat Noir is still my favourite though.” 

Of course it was.

And was he- was he humming that song about Ladybug and Chat Noir? 

This was more than painful. 

“Hey, you seen Chloe recently?” 

“What?” Why would he be asking her that?

“I haven’t seen her for a while now, and I saw another girl wearing a similar dress-” 

“Last I saw her, it looked like Sabrina was trying to keep her from noticing. I think I saw Sabrina talking to the girl earlier, probably trying to convince her to change.” 

“Oh.” 

Was he seriously disappointed by that? Was he actually hoping Chloe would see the girl wearing a similar dress? Something that would almost surely end in akumatization, if not for the poor girl then for Chloe. Except, it wasn’t really surprising because of course he would. Because where there were akumas, there was Ladybug. A wave of disgust washed through her. “Why are you asking?”

Alarm passed so quickly through Adrien’s eyes she would have missed it if she hadn’t been watching for it. “Oh, you know. It seemed like there’s always an akuma at school dances.” 

“Hopefully the evening won’t come to that.” 

“Of course,” Adrien said, casting her a charming, supermodel smile that was completely repulsive. 

She nodded, trying to return his smile. It wouldn’t do her any good to try and disagree with him. But trying to smile at him made her stomach feel like it was flipping inside out. 

Thankfully, he was Adrien. He took her smile—well, her rather poor attempt at a smile—at face value. “I wonder if Ladybug likes dancing…” She ignored him as he continued to muse about whether Ladybug liked to dance and what kind of music she liked and wax poetic about her in general. 

The song was still no where close enough to being over when she caught sight of Alya and Nino. She had to bite back a groan at the sight of them. They were standing, chatting with Luka and Marinette. She had been able to keep Adrien away from those two, but she had overlooked the crucial fact that it wasn’t just Adrien she had to be worried about. If anything, he really should have been what she was least worried about. 

Alya was the mastermind of all the plots. 

Alya was the one doing her utmost best to be a wedge between Luke and Marinette. 

And she had been so stupid to get so caught up on the Adrien plots that she had overlooked the reality she was contending with. 

Still… the night wasn’t over. Maybe Alya was keeping Marinette and Luka from enjoying their time together right now, but the night was still young. And the song would be over—though not soon enough—and she could make her way back to the two idiots. She just had to grin and bear it a little longer. And at least with Adrien waxing poetic about Ladybug, she could focus on figuring out how to keep Alya away from Luka and Marinette.

[quickspinner]

Do you have any hidden gem fics or lesser known authors you would recommend for Lukanette?

I'm not going to lie, it's way easier to call to mind friends' fics so the same names tend to pop up when I'm trying to think of recommendations, so this is a great question. I don't really want to claim these are 'hidden gems' or 'lesser known authors' just because they're not in the circle of authors I hear from and talk to frequently, so let's put it this way: here's some works I love that haven't come up in the recs I've been asked for recently.

(full disclosure some of them are still written by friends 😂 but may be older or don't get as much love as I think they deserve)

I don't know tumblr names for most of these authors so I can't tag them but if you recognize your fic here and would like to be tagged, shoot me a message or leave a reply and I'll edit the post to add it.

A Discordant Song by Bounemr (this one is not heavy on the lukanette but I still love it)

Standing Here All Alone by Thistle_and_Thorns

Cherry Blossoms at Midnight by FrivolousFlare

The Feel of Music by Renigan

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe by @goldenlaurelleaveswrites

Drunk Talks (and Sober Confessions) by @chrwrites

Saltinette by @freedom-shamrock

if you know, you know by RenderedReversed 

i'm in a world apart (a world where roses bloom) by nonbinarynino (STILL one of my absolute favorite ever stories)

In Vino Veritas by Marie_Chambers

The Hope of it All by Marie_Chambers

Crowned by @semi-slaughtomatic

Five-Minute Time Machine by L3245

Wingwoman by @mintaka14

So, You Met Tchaikovsky? by @mamanabeille

The Swan Song of One Marinette Dupain-Cheng by Wolfsbaene

the reason you stay by @eat0crow

Ewww... Not even dead by @bloody-writes

Acmé by @astronavigatrix

Or I could Just Kiss You... by @livrever

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (Lukanette Week 2019) by @semi-slaughtomatic

Brave New World: Lukanette Week 2019 by seasonofthegeek

Chai Tea and Fresh Starts by @freedom-shamrock (I still looooove this one)

Awards and Appreciation by whatarubberchicken

music to knit a broken heart by Nanimok 

In Between the Metro by damagectrl

Okay, disclaimer on this one: It is adrienette endgame, but I enjoy the Lukanette part of it so much that I'm listing it anyway. When I reread, I just stop before they breakup. I don't know that this kind of recommendation would actually be appreciated, so apologies to the author. 😂 More of What Was Once Mine by RavenclawPianist 

Oooh and I haven't read this one myself yet but friends are gushing about it so I'm reccing it based on that: Hunted by the Night Light by hislittlelady (NSFW)

Have fun! and be sure to leave the authors a comment, I'm sure they'd love it.

[mc-lukanette]

Ladybug just barely managed to squeeze through the window of the Liberty without being seen, her groan overtaking the sound of her detransformation. Finding places to hide as Marinette was simple when she could so easily slip out of a group, but when Ladybug got so much attention from everyone, it was nearly impossible to get back to where she was before. As it was, she'd had to use her aqua powers to hide in the water until she was sure it was safe to leap into the Liberty.

Maybe I should start carrying the mouse, she thought, slapping her cheeks to try and snap herself back into focus. Her mind whirled as she tried to remember what her excuse had been so she could follow up on it.

She was pretty sure it’d been snacks; she’d told everyone that she was heading downstairs to get snacks and drinks for them.

Heading over to the door leading to the deck, she opened it back up and hurried to grab some trays to put snacks on. Fumbling to gather things to make up for the time she was away, she tried not to get distracted by the conversation she could faintly hear up on deck.

"Haven't you wanted to change your look? It's been months now," came Mylene's voice. "Those costumes are starting to get old. I don't know about everyone else's, but Ivan's is starting to get beat up."

Marinette froze. Even without hearing the specific words, she knew they were talking about Kitty Section's costumes.

"We could ask Marinette to fix them up?" Rose suggested.

Alya dismissed the idea. "She's been busy all week! There's no way."

She wasn't wrong. Marinette tensed, already thinking about what'd just happened. She was living three lives - Marinette, Ladybug, and now the guardian - so it was only logical that she couldn't keep up.

"Oh," Zoe piped up. "If it's the costumes, I could find someone who's worked with real bands before on costumes? You could get a designer who could make something that'd last for a long time."

"Really? That's right, you even know the mayor!"

"That'd be awesome!"

"As long as you don't let Chloe hear, okay?"

Marinette fidgeted with the tray, hating the fact that a familiar jealousy was stirring in her chest. She and Zoe were friends, with Marinette being the one who vouched for her in the first place, so she had no one to blame but herself. Zoe was a great person: she was friendly, not awkward, and was even building a better relationship with the mayor of Paris. Anyone would want her company and Marinette couldn't compete with that.

It was inevitable that the costumes could get worn or damaged too, even by accident. She breathed up, steeling herself for the topic as she took the trays of snacks and started heading up to the deck.

Then, she heard Luka chime in, "They're Marinette's designs. We worked on them together and those two weeks are a verse I never want to forget."

"You don't have to throw the costumes away or anything," Alix interjected, confused by the emotional weight behind the words. "You'll just have new designs."

He paused, then directed his voice elsewhere as he asked, "What do you guys think?"

Some hums sounded amongst the rest of Kitty Section, Rose speaking up first to say, "New designs just mean we have more designs, right?"

Ivan added on, unsure, "I thought it was cool of Marinette to make these for us. It's kinda hard finding stuff that fits me."

"Mm," Juleka hummed noncommittally. "I like the worn look..."

"I guess it would be up to the band," Mylene pointed out. "Maybe we could vote yay or nay?"

"We're not getting anywhere like this," Alya countered. "All I'm saying is that it'll just put pressure on—"

By that point, Marinette had already stepped into view with the trays. She'd taken time and focus so as to not topple anything by accident, but was still wholly aware of the conversations. All eyes darted to her and it was difficult to tell who felt awkward and who was simply waiting for her to speak.

Keeping her expression as flat as possible, she went over to the nearest table and set the trays down. Standing straight to face everyone, she told them, "It's like Alya said: I'm busy. I'm not reliable enough to make repairs or new ones either, so..." She shrugged as casually as she could. "Those designs were made on a time crunch anyway, and I want you guys to have the best."

"See?" Alya gestured at Marinette whilst looking at Luka. "She thinks so too."

Having just been Ladybug a few minutes ago, Marinette had already had more than enough attention for the day. Preferring not to involve herself further, she turned on her heel and started heading back below deck, leaving Zoe free to use her connections without guilt of her watching.

"Marine—" Luka called behind her, but stopped short. She heard his footsteps follow after hers, but didn't discourage him and continued walking.

As she re-entered the lounge room, she went straight for the couch; not around, but straight ahead for the backrest. Putting her hands on top, she hefted herself over and plopped down onto the cushions, allowing her to lay back and stare up at the ceiling. A click of the door followed and Luka's face soon hovered over her from above the backrest.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why? You were trying to defend me."

He put his forearms up on the couch, allowing him to lean forward more. "You're part of the band too, to me. I shouldn't've said anything without you there."

"You don't believe me." It wasn't a question.

"I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something deeper to it."

As deep as a bottomless pit, Marinette lamented, wanting to scream but not having the voice to. Instead, she waved her arms about and continued to insist, "Look, I really am busier than when I made you those outfits! That's why we we couldn't date!"

His eyes widened at that, and it took her a moment to realize why: she hadn't specified that part when they'd broken up. She'd been tired, emotionally drained, and not thinking particularly clearly at the time, so the actual reasoning had been left out.

"When you're ready, I'll be here, Marinette," was what he'd said then, but the actual timeline after the fact was a little fuzzy for some reason. She guessed it was also related to her exhaustion.

She sat up to be closer to him, talking again before she could think further on it, "I'd feel awful if Kitty Section had to keep holding itself back because I don't have the energy for it, okay? You guys need new costumes and Zoe is the best for the job, so don't do this for me—"

"Zoe?" Luka's brows drew together in puzzlement.

"...Yes?" She tilted her head, equally confused by his response. "She's the one who offered. She has connections that I don't."

He shook his head. "That's not it. She's not the best for the job, she's just finding someone else to do it."

Marinette stopped halfway to a reply, having been caught in her mindset. Either he was that observant or she was extremely transparent about it. She planted her soles on the floor, turning so that her back faced him.

Luka walked around the couch to sit next to her, keeping a careful distance but being close enough for them to talk comfortably with each other. "Zoe can't do what you do, Marinette." Then, thoughtful, he assured, "But we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Except that was just the thing. She wanted to - always wanted to - yet there were never-ending obstacles to that. Everything she said had to be carefully calculated or she'd run the risk of causing everyone more trouble, but sometimes the choice would just be taken from her anyway if she waited too long. It was a tightrope walk of balancing words she should say with words that she shouldn't.

And she wanted off.

"I—" She grit her teeth, hands gripping the fabric of her capris. "It's not... it's not about what she can do. It's about what she doesn't have to. She doesn't have to worry about a packed schedule, or dealing with responsibilities she didn't ask for, or making time to do something for a friend because she can find someone else to do it."

Luka let out a hum of acknowledgment. She saw his hand reach over out of the corner of her eye, hovering silently over her hand closest to him. When she didn't pull back or express displeasure, his hand dropped onto hers and squeezed.

"There's nothing wrong with being jealous," he told her.

Stiffening, she pulled away from him on the couch and stood back up, arguing, "But there is! Zoe hasn't done anything wrong and I'm not allowed to want you after what happened, especially not when she's just a better me!"

"...What?"

She groaned, messing up her own bangs just so she could fix them again. "A better me. She was bullied too, but she's not—she's not like me. No one teases her or makes fun of her for what she does, but I'm such a disaster with everything that—"

"You want me?" he clarified.

Marinette met his gaze, having thought that was obvious from having told him why she'd had to break up with him. "Yeah? Who wouldn't?" Paying no mind to the blush that appeared on his face, she continued to throw her arms out and vent, "But I don't make people happy! I don't fit! Zoe doesn't get upset like I do, she doesn't have to run off all the time, and she doesn't make people argue over costumes since she's not the one who makes them anyway!"

She couldn't even look at Luka anymore, too ashamed to face him directly. She couldn't recall how she'd made the connection between her own issues and Zoe's, but finding out that she was jealous was another matter. It took time to properly recognize the feeling, but only because her initial experiences with jealousy were different.

Specifically, with Adrien. Whenever it came to seeing other girls around him, she'd wanted to interfere, to stop it at all costs. The exception had been Kagami at times, but due to a mixture of guilt and a desire not to lose her friendship with someone who'd openly told her (openly told Ladybug) that she prioritized pursuing Adrien over said friendship.

With Luka though, she'd never felt any rivalry or animosity towards anyone she deemed a "better fit" for him, and she never thought to act out on it. While Zoe had never made attempts to go after Luka herself, Marinette imagined it was only a matter of time if Zoe was indeed a better her, and she'd find it hard to complain if it ended up working out.

The difference in her states of jealousy was obvious: one was an obsession - "eyes on the prize," so to speak - while the other was a genuine love and desire to see the person she loved be happy. It hurt thinking about how it would all end regardless, but she was prepared to face it.

"...Marinette," Luka began slowly, still piecing his words together. He inhaled, exhaled, then finally said, "You can't decide that."

She faltered, scared to look at him directly in case she had an unpleasant expression on, but too confused not to do something. She turned her head just enough to peek at him through her bangs.

He continued without her asking directly, "No one makes me happy the way you do. Not Zoe, not anyone. You can't decide who fits me best just like everyone else can't decide what to do about the costumes without hearing you out first."

"But..." She shook her head despondently. "It was a nightmare dating me? I don't want you to want me if it'll just lead to that."

"What if you're the musician?"

That got her to look at him, in sheer befuddlement if nothing else. She'd registered the oncoming metaphor, but still failed to follow it to its conclusion. "What do you mean?"

"What if you're the musician, and I'm the guitar you had to stop playing because the music didn't sound right?" He put his hands in place to act as if there was a guitar in his lap. "Then you see a newer, fancier guitar that comes with all sorts of accessories, and everyone thinks you'd look great with it."

She gaped, horrified by the thought. "I-I wouldn't want that!" She sat down next to him again, huffing. "Just because it's new and fancy doesn't mean it'd work for me, and I already have memories with the guitar I have now! Maybe the music didn't work but—"

Something clicked. Luka must've seen it in her expression too, his frown making way for a smile instead.

"...There's nothing wrong with the instrument," she finished quietly.

He nodded. "Yeah. It was bad timing. Even the best musicians can get the timing wrong when it matters."

Sliding closer to her as she'd done earlier to him, he gripped her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. Marinette gasped sharply, suddenly surrounded by warmth when she'd felt so cold before. It really was as if he'd never let her go so long as she didn't move.

Whispering so as to not break the moment, Luka questioned, "Do you know what it was about my dad?"

She gripped onto whatever fabric was nearest to her, uttering a soft, "M-mm?" in response.

"I know he left, and it hurt me, but he came back in the end. He wanted to make it up to me. He could've decided that I wasn't worth it, or that he still wasn't interested in being around me, but he didn't." He rubbed her back, seeking to soothe her. "I believe in second chances, and if someone wants to ask me for one, then it's my choice to let them back in. I'm choosing you, Marinette."

She blinked rapidly, feeling potential tears coming on. While reluctant to pull apart from him, she broke the hug momentarily to see his face again. The temptation to jump on the offer was strong, but she admitted, "I...I don't know how to convince myself that it's okay."

"I can show you," he offered. "We'll take it at whatever pace you want, and I'll show you that it's okay."

Her eyes give him the answer before her mouth did, her body stunned still by the gesture. She'd really thought that she'd lost him for good and that there wasn't any hope left, but he stuck with her anyway.

She wanted to kiss him in gratitude, but it didn't happen right away. The close contact made it easy for her to let her hands wander, fingertips trailing across the bare skin of his forearms. Luka accepted all of it, reciprocating by touching her face and feeling along her cheekbones as if he hadn't already memorized every centimeter of them.

They were the kinds of touches that she'd - that they'd - wanted since they got together in the first place, but never did. They're gentle yet eager, tentative yet meaningful.

The kiss followed afterward, somewhat clumsy when their noses bumped, but they weren't deterred from continuing. They held each other, relishing in the contact they hadn't gotten to have the first time they'd attempted it at the cinema. Even the soft 'click' as they pulled apart became ingrained in Marinette's memory as something special.

Luka touched his lips with his fingertips, feeling along the surface, but stopped to point out, "You've been worrying about me this whole time."

"H-hm?" She also had to stop herself from touching her lips to reply.

"What about you?" he prompted, staring at her directly. "How do you feel?"

Her lips quivered, but she was smiling. Knowing that he knew the answer already, she threw her arms around him to return his hug from earlier.

She felt happy. She felt like she could safely talk to him about things without fear or repercussions. She felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders, even if it was only for a moment.

Most importantly, she felt loved.

[coralpaperthoughts]

for this au I'm thinking reverse love square, but Luka instead of Adrien

Luka walks his sister to school (coz he's a good big brother and she's nervous about her first day), he bumps into Marinette - now, he's already heard about Marinette from his sister but he's never actually met her before

He actually physically bumps into Marinette, or she does to him coz heck our girl lacks spatial awareness, and she falls but he catches her, and she doesn't feel anything but embarrassment but he, oh Luka, Luka is blushing, just a little bit coz wow, she's just got the prettiest freckles

and he's all up in her face so he leans back and helps her upright because he was practically dipping her and he let's go of her waist and Juleka mumbles 'Hi, Marinette'

so this is Marinette

she says hi back and introduces herself, 'oh you must be Juleka's older brother, Luka', Juleka mumbles smth about twins but Luka's not paying attention to her anymore, he's looking at Marinette and thinking about all the good things Jules has had to say about her in the past and how pretty she is, our boy is swooning so hard, he forgot to reply back before the warning bell has rung signalling to students class is starting soon

he says a quick rushed 'bye, you'll do great, I'll be here to pick you up' to Juleka and a quick smile to Marinette before he pushes the girls towards their classrooms and rushes out himself (this all takes place after the incident (test) with Master Fu)

This is Luka crushing on Marinette, then you have Marinette crushing on Scarlet Bug

because this strong, hunk of a guy, beautiful man is now her partner against crime (which she didn't sign up for !! but she'll do what she needs to do for the people of Paris) and at one point she gets flung across the block and lands in the beefy arms of a boy with gorgeous blue eyes

cue Marinette getting extremely nervous and stutter-y around him coz damn, she's falling

the fight goes so and so but it passes pretty quick, it was a bit difficult for Luka coz his partner would trip sometimes and wouldn't look him in the eyes but he just put it down to first time jitters, he was deffo feeling them too

they don't, however, purify the Akuma and so they're back at the fight a little over an hour later but now with a new addition to their already new team, Adrian !! (referring to Dog Miraculous!Adrien as Adrian coz I don't like Flairmidable, and Adrian is apparently a common name for dogs so hush)

Adrien is gay, he's known since he was a kid, women never crossed his mind - so when he lays eyes on the gorgeous gorgeous black and red haired (because I say so !!) boy that he is now meant to fight these so-called Akumas with, can you really blame him for falling in love?

So Adrien being Adrien starts flirting with this boy, non-stop, and it's not like he tells him to stop, no !! The boy, ScarletBug he introduced himself as, flirts back !! he indulges in Adrian's advances which springs a little hope in his heart, but also makes a certain Kitty mad

This wretched dog, just showed up out of no where! and is stealing her man!!

She gets so mad, she forgets to be nervous around Scarlet and here marks the start of a beautiful rivalry between Chien and Chat (maybe I'll have a play with the word chein for Adrien's superhero name)

This leads to them defeating the Akuma rather quickly and skillfully, bringing all surrounding citizens to awe as they watch this trio of Superheroes who work so well together and at the end, after Scarlet has purified the Akuma and Miraculous ScarletBug'd all the damage away, he extends both of his fists to new partners

the first 'Pound it' of many, even if this time Kitty and Adrian didn't do it to each other (they both have eyes only for Scarlet, they don't even take notice of each other)

until he bounds away that is, saying how he's about to transform and needs to hurry home and he rushes a quick goodbye and salute to them both before leaving

then the two left on the Eiffel finally take notice of each other's presence, glaring at each other with pouts on their faces and crossed arms

'Back off, dumb dog'

'He's mine, stupid cat'

'I saw him first!'

'I talked to him first!'

cue more glaring, growling and hissing until their ring/choker (omg I forgot the dog miraculous is basically a collar) beeps and reminds them they need to hurry back to class

so with a hmph from both kids, they hop down from the Eiffel and head off to detransform

masterpost

[ravennm84]

Lila’s Karen Moment

This is a story that I’ve been kicking around for a while, thinking of Lila having a moment where she’s in a bad mood and takes her anger out on someone, not knowing that the person is closely connected to her classmates. And... I just love writing “Lila gets exposed” stories. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!

Most of the class knew about Max’s cousin, Nick. They had been raised in the same apartment building and absolutely adored each other. Although Nick was a couple years older, he had been diagnosed with autism when he was four years old. Which wasn’t to say he was slow, just a little different. Mostly, Nick was shy and wouldn’t talk to people he wasn’t familiar with. He had a hard time looking people in the eye and didn’t understand social cues.

Still, the class, at least those who had grown up around him, knew just how sweet and caring he was; and how open he could be with people he knew. Kim and Alix would include him in their races, knowing how much fun he had running with them. Nathaniel would do drawings of Nick as a superhero, saving the day and protecting Max, which always put a smile on his face. Nino had a playlist with a bunch of show tunes, Nick was a big fan of Phantom of the Opera and Fiddler on the Roof. Marinette taught him how to do paper folding when they were younger, and he soon became better at it than she was. Even Chloe had a soft spot for Nick after he had bashfully given her a rose made of gold paper and said she was a ‘pretty princess’.

But none of the class cared as much as Max. He would go over to his cousin’s apartment every day in the morning to make sure he got up. Tell him stories about the class and show Nick pictures. Heck, one of the reasons he had invented Markov was to create someone to be a companion for Nick, so he would never be alone. Nick had a tendency to wander off when he was bored or saw something interesting. The few times Max, his mom, or Nick’s parents had lost sight of him; they had gone into total panic attacks. Only for Nick to find his way back to them a few hours later. If Nick had a little companion robot like Markov, it would be a lot safer for him.

So, when Max's aunt asked him if he could have an activity day with Nick, he was all for it. When he told the class, they decided to have a picnic for Nick. They had all been busy lately, it had been a while since they last saw him.

It was a beautiful day at the park. Nino had a full playlist ready to go, along with new songs from Hamilton and Six, he had a feeling Nick would like Haus of Holbein. Marinette had brought all his favorite pastries and a couple new ones he might like, making sure they were organized by size. Even Chloe had come, having Sabrina bring a ream of multicolored paper, perfect for folding. 

As soon as Max, Nick, and Markov arrived, there were good vibes all around. Kim and Alix raced laps with him around the fountain until Kim tripped and fell into the water; big smile from Nick. When No Way played, Nick had Nino put it on repeat over and over until everyone was singing it. When Rose and Juleka got there, they had been running late; Nick came behind the goth and started braiding her hair. He loved touching her hair and had done this many times before. Rose would always watch carefully and would gently tell him if he pulled too much.

Nick was in the middle of creating an entire boutique of paper flowers when the akuma alert went off. Alarms were always too much for Nick and before anyone could stop him, he had covered his ears and ran down the sidewalk. Markov followed as best as his little propeller would let him, but fell behind. 

Even as the swarm of magical ladybugs swept across the sky a few minutes later, signaling the end of the attack, Nick didn't slow down. He only stopped after he ran head first into a familiar girl wearing twin ponytails and an orange blazer. Both teenagers fell to the ground with Nick cowering and quietly apologizing, while Lila glared at the boy. Markov, to his credit, recognized her expression as hostile and began recording in case something happened. And boy, did it.

"You stupid, clumsy retard! What the hell are you doing?" Lila screamed as she stood over the cowering boy. 

"I… I-"

*smack*

Nick curled into a ball on the ground, scared and in pain from the unexpected strike. 

"Shut up, you don't get to talk. Retards like you aren't allowed to talk. How did you even get out of your ward? Things like you should be locked up since your parents weren't smart enough to drop you off a cliff." 

*smack*

Another cry and Lila kicked him out of the way with her boot, grumbling as she walked off that her outfit got dirty and scuffed. Not once did she bother to look up and see Markov hovering above them. The little robot stopped recording and floated down to comfort Nick while sending their coordinates to Max. 

Ten minutes later, the class and Max were gently leading his cousin back to the park. He was shocked and angry to see the bruises and nail marks on Nick's cheek. The marks meant that they weren't the result of the akuma attack. Those would have been healed by the miraculous cure. This would have been done by someone else after the initial attack. Marinette had rushed home to grab a medical kit while the others did their best to cheer Nick up. It wasn’t until Marinette got back that Markov was able to get everyone's attention.

"Max, I was able to record the interaction that resulted in your cousin’s injuries. Including the identity of his attacker. Would you like to see it?"

After Nick was properly distracted by Marinette and Nathaniel showing him a new paper folding technique, and moving a small distance so he wouldn't hear, Markov played it. The class looked on in absolute shock and disgust as they watched their "friend" verbally and physically attack one of the kindest, sweetest people they knew. 

After watching it a second time, to convince themselves that it really was Lila, they went ballistic! Nino was on the phone with Alya, telling her what he'd just seen. Max was angry-dialing his aunt and mother to tell them what happened, Markov had already forwarded the video to his email to send to the adults. Rose and Juleka displayed a surprising amount of strength as they kept Kim and Alix from hunting Lila down themselves. Sabrina had called her father to report the assault. Chloe was also on the phone with her father, demanding that he have the Rossi family kicked out of Paris immediately. 

~oOo~

Lila was beyond annoyed by the time she stomped into her family's apartment. First, her akumatization failed and she was turned back to normal after just a few minutes. That mangy cat even had the audacity to compare her to the fanatic bird guy. Then she got knocked down by some pathetic boy who couldn't even apologize right. She was so angry that she ended up slapping him a couple times before kicking him out of the way. And, just her luck, her phone got damaged from the fall.

When she got home, she barely made the effort to wave at her mom in the kitchen before going to her room. After changing into a new outfit, Lila took a few minutes to think up a good story as to how her phone was damaged and reasons why she needed the newest model to replace it. When she heard her mom talking to someone, she figured she was talking to her father over Zoom. He was back at his school in Italy. Maybe she could convince him to side with her for a new phone. 

However, she was met by two police officers that greeted her by name. Lila didn't get the chance to say anything before the men were arresting her for assault. Her cries went to deaf ears as she was taken away with her mother following them to the station. Even there, she had no chance to spin her lies as her mother and lawyer kept telling her to shut up. The only times they demanded she speak were to questions she didn't want to answer. 

Why did you hit a stranger who accidentally knocked you down? 

Silence.

You were akumatized? How could you not tell me? 

Silence.

How are you already back to normal? You told me how those useless, fake heroes take weeks to defeat a single akuma. 

Not so silent. 

It was the police that indignantly corrected Greta Rossi that time. For a few minutes they were going back and forth while Lila stewed between the four angry adults. She really wished that an akuma would come to her, but none came. Unknown to her; Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Pegasus were all camped out on the surrounding buildings to keep that from happening. They'd already spotted and caught three butterflies. 

Eventually, Lila was released into the custody of her mother, but was warned that they should expect to be contacted with a court date very soon. The entire way home, Greta was yelling and berating her daughter for not only physically and verbally attacking someone who accidentally bumped into her, but lying about the akuma situation. She already planned on personally escorting Lila to school on Monday to have an in depth discussion with her teacher and principal. Lila pleaded with her mother to just listen to her, but Greta wasn't about to fall for any more of her daughter's lies.

~oOo~

Monday turned out to be even worse for Lila with all her diseases and attendance issues coming out during the meeting at school. As well as the incident with Marinette. She tried to cry and tell her side of the story; but her mother, the principal, or Marinette would contradict her with facts. This left more lies exposed, giving her another six months of being grounded without an allowance, and the possibility of an expulsion from school. 

Marinette was soon excused back to class. Lila was formally suspended for three weeks, would have to finish the school year with her class, and then repeat the academic year. If she wasn't expelled, that is. Lila was in tears as she pleaded with the two adults, begging them to just give her detention and summer school instead of holding her back a year. It didn't work. 

Eventually, Lila was sent out of the room and left sulking in the hallway. It was just her luck that Max, Nathaniel, and Kim were going to the library to work on a research paper. The three boys scowled at her, she didn't bother to hide her glare today. When they stopped close to her, she sneered harder. 

"What do you freaks want?" She snapped. 

*SMACK*

Lila cradled her reddening cheek in shock. The other two boys were just as surprised as they stared at Max as he casually adjusted his glasses.  "I would like to state that under normal circumstances, I would never strike another person. I prefer to fight my battles with intelligence and wit rather than my fists." Then his lens glinted, giving him a menacing look. "But then you attacked my cousin. You hit him, called him disgusting names, and then kicked him out of the way like garbage."

Lila sputtered in shock for a moment before snarling at the boy. "Like that even matters. I'll get you expelled for hitting-"

"I can guarantee you that I will never face any consequences for what I just did." Max said, walking forward as he spoke and forcing Lila to back into the wall. "You have already been exposed as a liar, so no one will believe you. The cameras for this hallway are currently malfunctioning. I have no record of violence, ever. And I have witnesses that will support that I never laid a finger on you. If you tried to tell anyone, there's a 99.874% chance that they would say you're lying."

Kim shrugged as he looked at the two of them. "I didn't see anything."

Nathaniel looked surprisingly smug as he said, "I bet she made it up as a way to get back at the family that's suing her. Even the mark on her face, I bet she did it to herself. And it's not the first time she faked an injury to get someone in trouble."

Leaning even closer, and despite being several centimeters shorter than her, Lila felt very belittled by the boy. Since when was Max this intimidating?

"Consider this your first, last, and only warning. If you ever try to hurt my family or friends again, I will ruin you. You don't need to answer me now, I'll be watching."

Then, the three of them walked away, like they hadn't just threatened her! Like she was nothing to them! Just like… like she'd done to Marinette. Gritting her teeth, Lila wanted nothing more than to go after those boys and destroy them!

In the span of a single weekend, Max had been able to record her without her knowledge. Got her arrested for assault. Fired from Gabriel since the brand couldn’t be associated with someone who beat an autistic boy. Suspended from school, likely expelled. And most of her lies were exposed to her mother. Still, she wasn't about to let some nerd with no fashion sense get the best of her!

Lila was trying to decide the best way to get her revenge when her mother came stomping out of the principal's office. Cursing at her in rapid Italian the entire time, Greta dragged Lila out of the school. All the way home she tried to tell her mother about Max slapping her just outside the office and how they tormented her, saying that no one would believe her. 

"Will you stop, already?" Greta screamed at her daughter, catching Lila by surprise. "What makes you think, after everything you've done, that I would believe anything you say?"

"But-"

"No, I am done listening to your lies. Even if some stranger came up to me and said you stole their soul from them, I would believe that person over you."

"I'm not lying! Look! Max left a mark where he slapped me!" She screamed back, pointing at the slightly red cheek.

"After what Marinette told me, it wouldn't surprise me if you did it to yourself as a way to try and get out of trouble."

"But, Mom!"

"I don't want to hear it!"

Lila couldn't believe it, the one time she was telling the truth and her own mother didn't believe her… just like Max said. After arriving back at their apartment, Lila was put on house arrest. She would be forced to study under a very strict tutor until the suspension and trial were finished. After that, she would be sent back to Italy where she would be attending the naval military school where her father, Ciro Rossi, was the vice principal. And no amount of begging, pleading, or tears would change Greta's mind.

Bonus:

Once Max, Kim, and Nathaniel were out of sight, the smallest boy nearly collapsed to his knees in shock. He couldn't believe he just did that. He actually hit and threatened someone! Kim was patting his shoulder, assuring him that he'd been very intimidating. Nathaniel looked just as surprised by what he'd done, but far more accepting. 

"Do you think she bought it?" Max asked, a slight tremor in his voice.

"I would have, you were really believable," nodded the red head.

"Yeah, you were scary, man. I'm so proud of you." Kim noogied his head. 

Pushing the larger boy off of him, he gave Kim a smile before they went back to their project. He didn't like how he acted, even towards a terrible human being like Lila Rossi. But for Nick, he'd do it again.

Taglist:

@2confused-2doanything @7-sage-7 @aadnrsstar @abrx2002 @awkwardromances @bayball @babylovebug18 @botanicalfoxx @back-cats-and-broken-mirrors @caffeinetheory @cheshire5210 @chocolateherringtacofan @city-of-all-tunas @classycollectorreviewworld  @corabeth11 @chocolatechipcookiesandcamembert @darkened-flame @delightfulcookiesrecipespizza @fandom-trapped-03 @ghostmaster @iamblinkmarvelarmy @interobanginyourmom @izang @jesussavedevenme @kazedancer @kitten12113 @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @lilypotter2018 @lunataravler @ladylupuscrow @maskedpainter @miraculouslydumb @nerd-nowandforever @naruwitch @ola-is-dead @pandacatxd @plushbookworm @plz-excuse-my-inner-ravenclaw @pheonix-biach @pandora-fucking-box @raiderofthelostbooks @ramos123 @rowanrouge @rowanyx @ren121 @seesea22 @seraphichana @sashakoi @shypeacekitten @smartlanceisreal @tazer6787 @that-girl-sakea @thecrazyfantrollshasmoved @the-smallest-kittenz @tishwinchesterannabethjackson @t1dwarrior-of-earth @ulmban @with-forward-motion @wonderbat91939 @zoiechance

[msweebyness]

Times the Akuma Class Had Each Other’s Backs

Hey, folks! These are some old prompts for the Akuma Class that were in my notes! They were originally supposed to be shorts, but who knows? Maybe I’ll do some one day! Enjoy! @artzychic27 @imsparky2002

It should come as no surprise to you all that the akuma class absolutely despises Gabriel. For one thing, he’s a neglectful father who rarely gives his son the time of day, and for another, he’s an asshat who forced his son into a career that he doesn’t want. There have been so many breakouts from Adrien’s bedroom to take him to do something fun, or just trolling the heck out of Gabe in any way they possibly can. They plan to torment him until he gives up custody to The Gorilla.

It’s the sad truth that not all teachers have their students’ best interests at heart, and this was sadly the case with Kim and DuPont’s (now former) math teacher for their grade. He would constantly cruelly berate the young athlete and tell him he was an imbecile and would never leave middle school once the other students had left. He gave Kim extra work he wasn’t equipped to understand, and offered no kind of assistance. And when the other kids were there, he would constantly single Kim out, calling on him when he knew he was unprepared. Eventually though, the rest of the class caught on and all began taking notes and recording what they were witnessing. After a week or two, they reported their findings to the school board, and the teacher lost his employment. And when Kim’s parents were called in…the entire school could hear Mai screaming in furious Vietnamese.

It’s not rocket science that having your work stolen really hurts, and Max knows this firsthand. He worked for weeks on a new software format that would speed up processing to an insane degree, and was going to present it to a prestigious tech institution. Only for the program to get stolen by some jerks from another class who wanted the position for themselves. Thankfully, the akuma class is always prepared and had proven records of Max working on the program, such as photos and video, showing that it was his. They’ve done the same thing with jerks who’ve tried to steal or trace Nath’s art.

Whenever Rose can’t come to class because she’s having an episode of her condition, her classmates set up tablet with a video call and place it in her seat next to Juleka so she can feel like she’s in class with them. They also take extra notes just in case the connection goes out and she misses something.

Juleka’s first professional modeling gig was a joyous occasion…and one that warranted a whole boatload of stress. Juleka nearly worked herself into an anxiety attack on the day the shoot was scheduled…until she saw the boatload of encouraging messages from her classmates and the rest of the Girl Squad there to accompany her. The class does the same thing when Mylene is nervous about speaking for one of her charities or going on stage.

Marinette was overjoyed when she was nominated to take part in a prestigious fashion competition…only to be consumed by anxiety when she discovered she would be up against professional designers who had entire teams at their disposal! Thankfully, she has a squad of dedicated friends who were willing to learn how to put dresses together, no matter how many times they pricked themselves or had to redo their work. They absolutely kicked ass and all the other designers were embarrassed they were beat by a group of teens.

(Here’s the big one!) We all know teens can be stupid little shits, and this was certainly the case with some of Ivan’s neighbors. The three assholes, like a bunch of dickheads, decided to entertain themselves by throwing rocks from their mom’s garden to scare a group of little kids who were playing in the nextdoor yard. Well, this was the Bruel’s house and Sasha happened to be among those kids…and one of the rocks hit her in the side of the head. Hearing his little sister sobbing from inside the house while he’d been helping Mylene (who was over at the time) make the kids something for lunch, Ivan came back out to see what was going on…and completely lost it. After Mylene took Sasha inside and called an ambulance because her head was bleeding, Ivan blew up at the three boys, demanding to know what the hell was wrong with them. Of course, they decided to use this outburst to claim he had been threatening them. Of course the parents believed them, despite the testimonies from the other children (Kiran and the Cesaire twins) of what had happened, and actually threatened to sue and posted a warning on the neighborhood Twitter that the people next door had a ‘very aggressive son’… only to be forced to take it down and apologize when the akuma class (as well as the other three classes in the grade) all left comments saying that was total bullshit…and Max got ahold of security footage from the neighbors behind the Bruels, permitting Sabrina to get her dad involved. Sasha ended up having to stay in the hospital for a day or two, getting stitches and making sure there were no internal injuries to her head. (Thankfully, she was clear) But when she got home, the entire akuma class had made a ‘Get Well Soon’ card for her with personal messages from each of them! Marinette even made her a cute Sulley Mini Plushy, (Monsters Inc is her favorite movie) and Nath drew a picture of her as a princess superhero (what she says she wants to be when she grows up!) And don’t worry, those three idiots got in HUGE trouble. Let’s just say, Galina and Iosif were NOT happy with them…or their parents for that matter. (And it turns out the rest of the class had gone around talking to the neighbors and it turns out these kids had a history of problem behavior that their parents never did anything about!)

Family sticks together! (The Sasha one is based a little on personal frustration, because stuff like this happens, sadly more than once where I live. As someone who loves and works with young children, I HATE that the idiots who do that kind of stuff GET AWAY WITH IT. The last ended how I wish these situations would most of the time!) Leave your thoughts in the comments and reblogs!