#just like his one for marinette too lol

[rainbow-arrow]

can't believe we really did gloss over luka saying '(adrien) loves everyone, and everyone loves him back' implying he is a part of the 'everyone' that loves adrien.

[bubsmiraculousau]

These are my OT5 brainstorm pages. Elaborations on how I got to these below! I reference concept pages so if you see any pictures you don't recognize that's why. <3

First up is Cat Noir who I think is already perfect lmao. For my version though I wanted to lean closer to his PV design because I love it, like his larger triangle nose (you can't really see it at the angle in my drawing but it's there I swear!), the bigger bell, the more elaborate belt, etc.... so basically everything ... just in my style instead.

With my designs I think that whenever someone transforms into their miraculous persona it's based on what they think a hero looks like or what they think is cool. I think Adrien reads a lot of comic books and is a fan of characters like Batman (relatable for him LOL), Catwoman, and Nightwing, so his suit reflects that kind of vibe.

Extra: I decided that Ladybug and Cat Noir's masks go all the way up their foreheads because it looks nicer in my 2D style with their bangs haha.

Next up is the one and only Ladybug! Unpopular opinion but I actually like the all red suit! My hypothetical series would be a webcomic, and I feel like in action scenes the red differentiates her from Cat Noir esp at a distance, and more red style keeps their color ratios even.

I like the ladybug designs with a bunch of black sections they're very cute! Just not for my au. (I think it's just me but I find drawing the ladybug designs with inverted red dots to feel sacrilegious in a way,,, just my neurodivergent brain lol)

And I am a long ribbons truther, I love them and they can be very expressive. Also I knew I wanted Marinette to have a more vertical circular eye shape because her shape vibe is definitely a circle (Adrien's is triangle) and it reminded me of the eyes for the main girl in princess jellyfish (I've never seen it, love the style tho)

Her hair is a more bright blue to contrast her hair against her suit, and make her look more cartoonish. I imagine her idea of a superhero comes from kids shows and some magical girl anime. So her hair has a plastic shiny texture to it because when she thinks 'superhero' she thinks of kids toys. Also I just like color! The blue kinda gives comic spiderman vibes imo (the version with the light blue instead of the navy)

Queen Bee definitely changed the most throughout the design process. I really like her in-show design so I just tweaked it to be more my vibe. Adding a crown because she's a Queen.

Something that I've noticed is that Alya and Chloe actually share a lot of traits (There's even some old concept notes where I believe Alya and Chloe either switch names or roles at some point?? The miraculous concept info rabbit hole is real y'all) and I think this comes through in their final designs.

Like they both share a middle part, which bothers me for some reason, so I decided to give Chloe a little Ariana Grande side part into a ponytail.

I wanted each character to have a cool little piece on their costume, so I tried these little hip things to make her more commanding and girlboss, but currently her weapon is similar to ladybug's (but more like one of those hair ties w the little disco balls on them) and it would sit on her hip and would clash w her hip thingies, so I just decided to make her weapon the hip things instead, combining the two.

Something else that bothered me a lot was that Rena was the only one with white on her costume. Everyone has black but she's the only one with white... my brain says that this cannot be. So I tried to give Bee some fun white fuzzy bits but the texture just was too different...

And then I had the mega-brain idea to make her hair white to tie in the white from Rena. Her and Cat Noir both having blonde hair irked me as well LOL so this hit two birds with one stone. I wanted her hair to be sharper and more aggressively drill shaped because of her abrasive personality haha.

After that, is Carapace. I had an idea for him from the start because I felt like his in-show design just doesn't match his personality... I couldn't make his outfit all loose because I wanted to stick generally to the miraculous suit formula, but I feel like 'skin tight suit' just isn't his vibe. So he has a kind of hammer pants situation.

I think they capture Carapace's b-boy ninja turtle vibe while still looking like a miraculous outfit. Though I decided later that I wanted the pants to be a lighter color for contrast and the visor to be white (to tie in that Rena Rouge white).

Lastly is Miss Rena! Something that bothered me (back on the similarities to Chloe) was that they both have ponytails (yes I know I'm crazy). Even though they have very different textures I just wanted each of them to be distinct from each other. So I put her hair down and just dramatized her regular hairstyle.

Also her and Queen Bee both have black gloves to their upper arms, which, you guessed it, bothered me. So I shortened Rena's to just reach her elbow.

I wanted her to look like a magic-man, her illusion powers evoke a showmanship energy to me. I imagine her and Cat Noir are quite the dramatic theater kid-esque duo.

So, for drama I tried some flowy arm bits, which I think ended up just looking a little strange, so I'll pocket that idea for something else. Then, I tried to add her coattail from the show, but it ended up looking a little frumpy, not the drama I wanted.

I ended up making her coat more triangular in the front, to give off the vibe of a magician's vest, and changed it to solider red/orange double coattails, which I think makes her more magic-man-ish. And I think the white ends made it too busy.

So those are my hero designs! I'm still working out Hawkmoth and Mayura, esp Hawkmoth because I am not good at drawing masculine older men...

If y'all want LESS of the artistic process let a girl know lol! I know some ppl like it but this is very long,,, all my drawings will not have text this long! thx for reading if you did tho xx

[sidsinning]

the movie aint better ya goofs (don't read if you don't wanna hear my slander lol,,,)

"Movie!Gabriel is better than show!Gabriel because he actually cares for his son and gets redeemed"

istg this fandom's obsession with redemption needs to END

Morally better character ≠ better writing

Can I just get a piece of media that tells kids "hey, ur abusive parent was an asshole, and even if they had humanity you do not need to reconcile and forgive them in the end" bc I feel like that's what show!Gabriel leans towards which is great

Gabriel barely talks to Adrien in the movie and suddenly when he sees him under CN's mask his entire reign of terror, his determination to see his dead wife again ends in a tearful hug lmao come on now

("but the ending where Adrien suddenly loves his dad again???"- Astruc has been pretty blunt on Twitter that this perfect society you see in S5's ending is built off of a lie, so Adrien is def not gonna just keep that view)

"Adrien actually stands up to his dad in the movie!"

Movie!Adrien is legit a normal human boy, not a sentimonster who is literally physically incapable of fighting back against whoever has his amok

He DOES fight back (even in S1 as CN!), but people like to remember the show only up to S3. Guess what, he learns to fight back and stand up for himself through his growing bonds and relationships with those around him through character development ✨✨✨

Also, he is an abused kid??? In the show?? How can you knock him down a peg for not fighting back,,, 😭 Adrien's lesson isn't that he needs to learn how to fight back, it's that Nathalie shoulda called cps sooner!!! In the movie they are much more of an estranged father-son pair than anything abusive. So obviously the back talk is much easier too. Movie!Adrien gets to go out alone and with friends unless his dad has specifically planted an enemy where he is. Show!Adrien has been beaten, mind controlled, forced to hurt Marinette, isolated and locked up, etc.- he has been TERRIFIED of his dad multiple times.

"Marinette isn't an obsessive stalker in this!"

SIGH.

Man I am so sick of this complaint- the show has never rewarded Marinette for her obsessive behavior. BC IT IS A CHARACTER FLAW. One they use for cringe comedic purposes, but a flaw nonetheless. Every time she has done anything that hurts others in pursuit of Adrien she is punished by the writers. And bc the show has an episodic monster-of-the-week format, this plot is recycled a lot (which is its own complaint). And guess what? SHE STOPS BEING OBSESSIVE. YEAH. SHE STOPS DOING THAT SHIT- so what do you want now??? She grew out of it after it costs her the miraculous so why tf are yalls still hurling this at her like its a L,,,,

This Marinette is just a watered down boring version of show!Marinette. She's just a girl who gets insecure at times but grows confident bc she's Ladybug. Ok. So is our Marinette but MORE. Our Marinette is super smart, creative, resourceful, an overthinker, extremely kind and selfless to others, gets jealous and reckless when her emotions get the better of her, etc. She is fully formed even after watching just 3 episodes of S1.

Like the fact that they didn't even bother to include the oh so important hook of the show- her lucky charm power- shows they didn't care about doing this story justice- its so transparently lazy writing 💀 (miraculous of creation where??? CN gets cataclysm for destruction but what is movie!LB bringing to the yin yang table,,,)

Legitimately all the comparisons I'm hearing from people saying the movie is better are from those who just aren't caught up with the show where Marinette is no longer toxically obsessive with Adrien, where the plot/lore is insane but 10000000x better and more creative than what the movie gave us, the love square was much better developed EVEN FROM JUST THE ORIGINS EPISODES, etc. Istg these people stopped at S3 where the show was at its worst (if I were to pinpoint it)

Everything is so watered down or changed for the worse

Adrienette bonding was 1 conversation and 2 seconds about his mom in a voiceless montage. Marinette didn't fall for him bc of his kindness after a misunderstanding, it was bc he looked handsome in the library's light lol. He called her weird and didn't think twice about putting on his earphones to listen to more alpha podcasts. You really do wonder why she likes this dude over her partner CN bc they have no connection at all.

Movie!Adrien was an asshole don't you dare do show!Adrien dirty by comparing him to this ellen degeneres alien lookin mf

When movie!Adrien is crying after Mari reveals herself as LB, unlike the show, here you're like "yeah no you only like her now bc she's LB lol"

Anyways feel free to enjoy what you enjoy but uuuuuhhhh this movie getting a 3/10 for me would not rewatch

Oh wait the good things

-Visuals

-Some Ladynoir scenes were cute, like them playfully fighting with the accidental wall pin

-I liked Ladybug moving away from CN's kiss- nice hint of angst

-Chloe's coffee stain scene

-Luka cameos were cute

songs were bad or mid

ya das it

I guess feel free to talk to me in my inbox about your own thoughts if you wish (respectfully plz)

[kari-go]

This was so much fun :D

They will change ofc. Mostly just Marinette and Chris get buffer xd

btw, the body birthmarks' placement was random.

Ramblings under cut

Marinette

Marinette has a typical teen girl body type. I don't think that her legs and arms would be weak tho. She helps around in the bakery and has to keep up with Kim. Sometimes she even runs with him in the morning (he takes a slower pace ofc).

She does have neat handwriting when she isn't in a rush, which doesn't happen that often honestly. Sometimes her notes are readable sometimes not, it's a gamble. She tries to make them look nice tho, she has a few highlighters she uses constantly.

Chris

Chris has a sort of hourglass shape. I always drew him as slender and like. Why did I do that. It's a crime that I haven't drawn him chubby like of course he will be. Mf sits around all day and goes on a walk sometimes like bruh. Other than that he has really veiny hands, another thing he got from Arthur along with his baby face lol (although, Arthur’s veins are even more prominent, so much they're kinda concerning). I like how I drew them :]. The baby face is not gonna change soon unless he stops transforming which he definitely won't do. Btw, despite being the weakest of the trio as a civilian, he's actually the strongest while transformed (with the lion ofc)

As for his handwriting, it's not bad. Sometimes he squishes the words together to not waste space and it ends up not being readable.

Stephan

He's already pretty athletic, he used to do competitive gymnastics and ice skating in his free time. Used to, he sprained his wrist (mostly out of stress and to occupy his mind to keep him from thinking about Viktor,,,, it's just.. a thing he does). Then they moved to Paris anyway, so he just stopped completely. He gained a little weight so he started running in the morning, to also get to know the city better. He also starts going to the gym with Kim after a while. His freckles are mostly on his face and neck

Surprise, his name is Štěpán lol. Would Štefan/Stefan be more fitting? Yes, but I like Štěpán more. Anyway, his handwriting is really neat, he's left-handed btw (idk just vibes). His notes are also nicely organized so he's the one to go to out of the yellow group if you need them.

Alya

Alya, my girl, I love her. She doesn't do much physical activity, she usually just sits around doing something on her phone or laptop. But after The Butterfly appears she starts running around more, to get the footage for Ladyblog. Her stamina gets so good omg

Her handwriting is not that bad. It honestly depends on the day and mood, sometimes she can't even read it herself xd

Chloe

Chloe is another athlete, she did gymnastics, track running, ice skating and sometimes ballet and fencing. Her legs are so powerful you have no idea. I know that's a lot of sports and her grades reflect that which is why she needs a tutor. She stopped ice skating, fencing, and ballet when she was younger and now she just does them for fun, when she gets the time ( ,,, she honestly doesn't lol). But now she also quit the other ones as she went into lycee because her grades were too bad and Andre put his foot down (he mostly just told her that Audrey would be disappointed oof). Btw, Aurore’s mom was her ballet teacher :) definitely no rivalry there 

She writes in cursive? She does, to make herself stand out and appear fancy. It does look fancy but she focuses on that too much so sometimes she doesn't write everything down :/

Kagami

My girl is BUFF. Her main focus is on fencing, which is how she met Chloe :D. She has a private gym wherever she lives, so she trains there. She also has an interest in archery and sometimes ice skating so she does that but also just regular sparring. But again, her main focus is fencing, she's already one of the best but she can be better. Her freckles are mostly on her face (her nose to be specific) and are more sparse on her body

Her handwriting, like everything else about her, is bold.

Lila

What do I say about her? She cares about her appearance a lot and she knows she's pretty. She exercises at home but also goes to the gym sometimes (she has to watch out for her asthma tho). Her self-control fails when it comes to sweets but it goes to her thighs mostly which she doesn't mind as much. Her tummy and fingers annoy her tho

Pretty handwriting. She tries to make her notes pretty but gets so occupied with that, that she doesn't even pay attention to the lesson and just the appearance (wow really subtle lol)

Nino

He's the least athletic out of the three besties, he doesn't even try to catch up anymore xd. He can barely run a lap (same tbh). 

His handwriting takes up space and is sometimes unreadable. That's not really an issue because he remembers stuff more by listening so he doesn't take notes. He just looks at Marinette’s (or Stephan’s after they meet) if he needs to.

Kim

Another athletic fella. He does track running and swimming. He did track sooner than swimming but he likes swimming more and wants to focus on it (it's also how he and Ondine met). And like I mentioned before, he runs in the mornings and then starts going to the gym with Steph. So yeah, another strong legs lol

His handwriting takes up SO much space. He goes through so many notebooks, it's also not that readable xd and it's not like he can focus on the study sessions with Nino and Marinette, they usually just end up playing UMS3. (he always loses if you're asking)

Juleka

Jules! She's pretty thin. She walks around a lot and forgets to eat sometimes. Especially when she's studying. Her collarbone is really prominent, she also has bony hands.

Her handwriting is small, sometimes unreadable

Luka

He has a belly button piercing!!!! (very important information imo) That's it. bony hands also

His handwriting is shit. You will not understand half of the stuff (unless you're Juleka).

Sabrina

Just an average teen girl's body, she exercises at home at least once a day.

The best person to go to for notes. So nice, so readable, so neat

Alix

Her legs are strong, she just flies around all day. She skates to school every day (which is like 45 mins on foot). Then she goes to a skate park or a roller skating rink.

Her handwriting is somehow worse than Luka's, like it's completely unreadable, just cat scratches.

Mylene

She loves walking around, just taking in the atmosphere and nature

She has really small handwriting, the words look lonely on the page

Max

He sits around a lot but he makes sure to exercise to make sure his body is healthy. He also watches his diet.

His handwriting is the best out of the class but his notes look less nice than Sabrina’s. He always writes down his full name

Rose

She has a hard time gaining and maintaining weight (even if we ignore her allergies) so she eats a lot and doesn't exercise much. Her chronic cough also doesn't help

Her notes are always decorated, there are so many cute drawings and stickers. It's so adorable

Nathaniel

He's a lot like Chris, except he gets forced to do stuff by Alix

He doesn't have the prettiest handwriting. He usually just ends up drawing all over the page

Ivan

His little sister is a back killer, she wants to be on his shoulders all the time.

His handwriting is on the smaller side

Aurore

She did ballet since she knew how to walk. She slowed down a little, wanting to focus on her grades and the weather competition she loses.

Pretty notes, she doesn't use highlighter and decorations that much, just headers

Ondine

Swimmer, she's like a fish. She has pretty wide shoulders. She has freckles everywhere.

Her handwriting is so round and spacey. She has a lot of pretty highlighters. Also her last name is Rosseau :D!

Marc

They don't exercise much, or at all. They like to take a walk when their inspiration is low

Their handwriting is nice, but it can get messy when they're really inspired and just write with no breaks.

[bakawitch]

Continuing this nonsense au

(I can't draw right now, and I need to get it out of my system)

Marinette is best friends with Chloé (they're the mean girls)

She's the daughter of the most famous/expensive confectioners in all of Paris

She's a klepto and pick pockets the ladybug miraculous from Fu before he could give it to an appropriate holder

Her hero name is Lady Vermilion

She is the sole defence against Hawkmoth for a while and is perceived very positively by the public

Sabrina takes on Marinette's canon role and is constantly victimised by Chloé and Marinette

Que Alya's transfer to the class, her and Sabrina become fast friends and they bond over their mutual love for Lady Vermilion

Sabrina passes one of Fu's dumb tests and gets the black cat miraculous - becomes Calico

After Fu sees Alya help Calico while Lady Ver is down from an akuma attack, he gives her the dog miraculous

Alya becomes Huntara and Calico and her partner up!

(Fetch has a different ability, I don't know what yet, but it's something stronger. Maybe it's something like stealing distance between the user and targets the ball hit? Dunno lol)

After the akuma gets defeated, Lady Ver welcomes them to the hero business and tells them that one day, they might be as great as her if they try hard enough, because this time they definitely just got lucky

Lady Ver is fake nice to them in a condescending and belittling way, she's very angry and concerned that they might steal her spotlight

Alya and Sabrina are unaware of each others' secret identities because they don't know each other well enough to know if they're acting out of character or trying to cover for something but they will figure it out eventually

They do hero stuff, and Lady Ver usually steals the spotlight

She usually only appears for very dangerous akumas and lets Calico and Huntara deal with the small fries

Enter Adrien- dun dun dun!

He's also a mean girl™

Marinette still has a thing for him, but Adrien and Chloé are too oblivious to notice her advances and

Something something happens, Marinette gets the opportunity to snatch the bee miraculous from Fu

She gives it to Chloé and reveals her secret identity to her, believing that as a duo, they have better chances to rival the rising in popularity cat and dog duo

Chloé becomes Queen Frelon

Seeing the increasing amount of miraculous in play, Hawkmoth recruits his disgruntled estranged son and gives him the broken peacock miraculous (father of the year, ladies and gentlemen)

Adrien becomes Fanfare and almost immediately gets sick after detransforming

(He's probably not a senti-baby here...? Idk)

Fanfare eventually recruits Lady Vermillion and Queen Frelon from the shadows to start his own cause because there is no way that he's going to give the ladybug and black cat miraculous to his incompetent father

Queen Frelon and Lady Ver start openly sabotaging Calico and Huntara and try to set them up as fall guys for Fanfare's plan

Love square is Huntara/Alya->Calico->Alya<-Sabrina

Felix arrives and eliminates Hawkmoth/Gabriel with Adrien/Fanfare's help after figuring out their identities

Felix gets the butterfly and becomes Jaded Majesty

Lady Ver and Queen Frelon fully switch sides, and Lady Ver uses her influence to start portraying Huntara and Calico as villains, and the heroes become wanted criminals

The new actual villain team carefully craft a plan through which they will practically have full control over Paris

The goal is still to get the black cat from Calico, but their wish is now to heal Adrien

And yeah, that's as far as I have this au roughly outlined XD

[ggomos-maribat]

NMWYCAM [bonus deleted chapter]

This is a scene i wrote out but couldn't fit into the current chapters :)

Originally Damian was going to find out that Marinette knows their secret in another way...lol he was gonna get badly injured as Robin and Marinette saves him but reveals she knows his identity

***

2:51 a.m. Marinette was still awake, despite the kwamis telling her off. She found herself having excess energy that night, so she decided on sketching under the yellow desk lamp with some music on. All was calm and peaceful until her phone buzzed.

Damian: Hello

Damian: Are you awake? Can I call you right now?

Her keyboard popped up for the reply, but more messages came in.

Damian: You're probably sleeping

Damian: ...

Damian: sorry

Damian: I shouldn't have bothered

Damian: sweet dreams, Marinette

Smiling, she went ahead and pressed the call button. When it took him several rings to answer, she pictured a panicked Damian fumbling to answer his phone.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Did I wake you?" His warm voice filled her ears. "Sorry . . ."

"No, no, I was awake. Couldn't sleep." Marinette propped her legs up on her chair, tucking them to her chest. She saw a groggy Tikki peek out of her small blanket but she waved the kwami off to go back to sleep. "Is something the matter?"

"No, I . . . I was just lying in bed and got the sudden urge to talk to you," Damian recounted. "Is that strange?"

Marinette brought the back of her hand to her reddened cheek. This boy. "I think that means you miss me, Damian," she laughed. "How was patrol?"

"It went smoothly. We disrupted a smuggling operation and put Riddler back in Arkham. You? What were you doing?"

"Ah just drawing out some ideas. Nothing too important." Snuggled in her blanket under the calm night and talking to Damian was like a tight embrace, Marinette realized. "I hope you didn't push yourself too hard."

A scoff sounded out from Damian. "Father threatened to bench me when I chased after the Riddler. The others kept watching me like I'll disappear into thin air."

"They're just worried about you, you know. As they should be."

"I only need you to worry about me." A long pause. Then a long sigh. "Sorry, I . . . I don't know why I said that."

Marinette hummed, feeling more heat crawl under her skin. "It's alright. They say your inhibitions are looser at night, especially when you're tired. But it's okay to be vulnerable; it's just me."

"What do you mean by that? 'It's just you'?"

"I mean I understand that you're being honest about whatever you say to me right now. I won't judge you for it. I won't even bring it up tomorrow if that's what you want." She pressed her phone closer to her ear. "I don't want you to feel that you need to keep something to yourself just because it's me hearing your words."

". . . How come you always say the right thing?"

"I guess it's my forte?"

"What if I can't say the right things?"

"Just talking to you like this is enough for me," Marinette said. "I can be the one good with words, and you can be the one good with actions. You always are."

"That's not fair at all. You are also good with actions."

That elicited another laugh from her. "But you are very good at taking care of people through your gestures. Not a lot can do that."

"You're the only one who has ever said that."

"'Cause I'm the only one who notices."

Soon, whilst they talk, Marinette noticed that he was mumbling the ends of his words. Later on when she finished her amusing story about a deal with a client, she didn't hear a reply, but instead, light snoring at the other end of the line.

He sounds so relaxed. Now she had the urge to look at his sleeping face.

"Good night, Damian," she whispered. "I miss you too."

[anna-scribbles]

hey anna! the wait for kwami’s choice part 2 truly is abysmal and it’s so hard to navigate through the tag with all the leaks about, do you have any fic recs to tide us over until gloob puts us out of our misery?

not only do I have fic recs, I also have way too much to do rn and therefore will spend an inordinate amount of time crafting a detailed rec list for you 😘 (we can also just consider this my 2022 ao3 wrapped lol)

goes without saying perhaps, but ANYTHING by @peachcitt is gold and also uniquely devastating, some of my particular favorites being:

metamorphosis - 97k, enemies, sleepovers, you get it. i'm normal

those benevolent stars - 23k, ladrien thief/prince/soulmates au. what more do I even need to say

chat noir's white french man hit list for feminist purposes - 7k, hilarious and devastating, this fic is a child to me

double dare - 32k, ladrien, absolutely everything. cemented my friendship w/ peach bc I had to scream at her everyday abt it

I thought the plane was going down - 11k, attuned to my tastes specifically, adrinette having a History while on airplanes

@carpisuns also puts out banger after banger like it's her dayjob, specializing in understanding the ridiculous nature of the lovesquare to such a degree and also being the funniest person alive. some of my faves from her are:

tell me something I don't know - 120k, the marichat fic EVER, mar's dissertation on lovesquare and guess what she's right

pink - 14k wip, adrien loves marinette, SOFT

two idiots and a hamster (collab with @botherkupo) - 24k, adrinette roommates, makes me cry laugh

@picayunearts is a goddess on earth. she bends word and image flawlessly to her will. recently she has enraptured me with

final girl - 41k, marichat, au where marinette succeeds in giving up her miraculous to alya in origins. INCREDIBLE marinette character study

@rosekasa invented ladynoir and i'm not afraid to say it. check out everything on her ao3 but just note the following

when things were good - 15k wip, breakup fic/post hawkmoth takedown, has been ruining me in a SPECIAL way

new marinette 12k, post-guardianship memory loss marinette, a classic

like poles of a magnet - 12k, enemies au, hurts my feelings

ya'aburnee - 13k, ladynoir, HURTS ME VERY MUCH. I'VE NOT RECOVERED

@buggachat's fics always feel like i'm attending a course on adrien and marinette's true characterizations explained to me by someone with a PhD in lovesquare and I walk away enlightened. she has an incredible gift for storytelling and just Getting It. anyway read

maintaining a professional distance - 43k, ladynoir hotel room shenanigans, god-tier characterization

when you're near 10k, ladynoir dating but adrinette have never met, a classic

@sha-nwa should honestly quit her career and write lovesquare fanfiction for me full time. proof:

the way I loved you - 68k, marichat break up fic, will be cemented into my mind forever

photograph - 1k, sweet adrinette, abby loves making me cry

things WOULD be amiss if I did not mention @officialratprince (carolinaa on ao3) bc their fics derailed my homework schedule on several occasions last semester, though I'll be honest that their fics are not for the faint of heart or those who wish adrien agreste to have a good time. my faves are

I will take it / it can't go wrong series - 3 fics at 16k, 25k, and 39k, adrien's journey through experiencing child abuse and his friends being there for him, culminating in gabriel's court trial

home sick - 14k wip, adrien gets pneumonia and Everything Is Really Bad

other various fics I love for various reasons:

how hawkmoth got his groove back series by @agrestenoir - 2 fics at 3k and 1k, one of my favorite crack fics i read last year. had me crying laughing

1 step forward, 3 steps back by agnes writes - 10k, breaks my heart every time I read it. also makes me legitimately angry at adrien while still keeping him in character which is a feat in and of itself

the last day on earth by reiaji - 10k, chat blanc keeps happening as marinette gets older, I am incapable of not recommending this fic

okay now go forth and don't do your work<3

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 2

Propaganda why Marinette Dupain-Cheng is insufferable:

She easily gets away with bad, stalkerish behavior, it always feels like she can ‘do no wrong’ unless the show wants us to pity her, and the show writers want us to think she is a quirky and socially awkward girl when throughout the series we see her be friends with basically everyone in Paris with many connections to high up places.

I get she has social anxiety but the way she goes about stalking Adrien is kind of the worst like she even has creep shots of him hanging in her room? That’s weird. I think Adrien’s going through enough without having to deal with the main character being his stalker lol. I know they’re (spoilers) at this point but in the beginning it was so sus

In the newest season, Marinette hides the fact that Hawkmoth was Adrien’s dad. This leads to the bastard getting a statue and honored as a hero after his death. Adrien now never gets to know the fact that his abusive and neglectful father was the one trying to kill him and is instead proud of him.

Her crush on Adrien is like a black hole for her character. Things she’s done because of it:

1) stolen property

2) ruined dates

3) humiliated other characters

4) has a chart of Adrien’s daily schedule for the next year in her room (this is stalking)

5) broke into his room and sniffed his pillow (also a crime)

6) sniffed, took the hair from, and tried to kiss what she thought was a wax statue of Adrien

7) convinced her parents to let her go to China. Why? Not because she wants to connect with her mother’s heritage, not even because she’s a budding fashion designer and Shanghai is considered a fashion hotspot. It’s because Adrien was there.

I started the show, watched one episode, and never tried again. I simply do not vibe with her.

shes annoyinng anf shes a stalker

I love fanon miraculous but by god she has got to stop obsessively stalking her crush and generally making a ton of other terrible decisions. I’d submit Adrien too but he’s more of a deuteragonist

More propaganda

Anti propaganda

Propaganda why Aelin Ashryver Galathynius is insufferable:

Your basic Mary Sue. Styled as the incredibly cool best-assassin in the land at only 18, she nevertheless is constantly snuck up upon, distracted by pretty boys, and possesses not an ounce of wit. In a competition between murderers and thieves to win a place as the King's Champion, she sees a bag of chocolates on her bed that she didn't put there and immediately starts eating it and gushing about how much she adores chocolate - nevermind that they just had a trial involving poison, which several of her competitors are adept at. She's always right, and other characters exist just to tell her how awesome and beautiful and wonderful she is. And then she turns out to be a super special magical fey princess!

I generally don't believe that a Mary Sue is a bad thing, but the only thing I remember about this book was how she had been in prison for years but was super young but was also still the most super-specialest assassin. And she kept reading when she should have been training or sleeping. Like, girl, this is not final exams where you can stay up all night and then roll into class in your pajamas and still squeak out a C. It's supposed to be life and death. Her character traits didn't make her relatable, they made her a moron

Heir to a kingdom plus turquoise eyes plus best assassin in the world plus protagonist centered morality

Anti propaganda

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Sorry if you've already talked about this but I just found your blog and I have a question. I basically stopped watching the show and Gang of Secrets but I'd like to know your thoughts on how the show handles secret identities?

Personally I really like secret identites as a trope and the way you can use it to make different character dynamics, and I feel like the show underutilizes it at best and at worst seem actively annoyed by the constraint they gave themselves.

Like this is somehow a show where when Alya and Nino found out each other's identities, it directly contributed to them each getting taken out in Heroes' Day, and when Marianne got Akumatized she instantly spilled the Guardian's existence, and both time the two leads have had identity reveals it lead to a world-destroying catastrophe, and yet half the fandom and seemingly the writers act like it's at most and inconvenience?

Let me know if I'm off or seasons 4 and later do anything to contradict me but it was one of my issues at least and I felt like there were so many fun things they could have done with the set up. Sorry again if this is too long/rambly or whatever lol

Long asks are fine! Heavens knows I tend to make long posts. It's why I use the queue instead of just posting things as I get them.

Anyway, secret identities and identity shenanigans are the things that brought me to this show. They're nothing new in superhero setups, but most shows in this genre have the identity stuff as more of a fun bonus element than the main focus. The idea of a show that was more centered around these concepts via a romance plot sounded like a blast!

It has not been a blast.

The main problem with the identity stuff is that the show's guiding rule seems to be maintaining the secret identities at all cost because a reveal means no more love square and, at this point, it's pretty clear that thy're going to drag the love square out until the bitter end. This means that they actively avoid anything which puts them into a position to push a reveal. The problem with that is that the love square isn't some cute running gag that has no real impact on the plot. The love square is the show's main focus, so you cannot treat it the way you normally treat an identity shenanigans setup.

To give an example for contrast, the show Phineas and Ferb has a running gag involving the titular characters' pet platypus Perry. Unbeknownst to the boys, Perry is a secret agent who saves the world on a regular basis while his "owners" remain oblivious to the fact that Perry is anything more than a normal pet platypus. It's a good running gag because there's no reason why the boys need to find out Perry's secret. There is no overarching plot that's in limbo until this moment happens. It's just a silly thing that could be completely removed from the show without any major impacts.

Consider the difference between that and the love square. You remove the love square and you have a wildly different show because the love square isn't a gag, it's a plot and plots need to progress to feel meaningful. Marinette and Adrien should be growing closer on at least one side of the masks and they should be doing so in a way that makes it feel like the reveal is drawing ever closer.

For example, the fact that they're now dating should be a source of tension. The last time these two dated someone, they both ended up single due to the lies that come with a secret identity. But while Lukanette and Adrigami both lasted a few weeks at most, Adrienette got a whole season without a single identity-based conflict because acknowledging the identity conflict means progress on the reveal and we can't have that because the reveal is apparently being saved for the end of the show.

We don't even get much in the way of developing their relationship because letting them grow closer in a meaningful way means knowing more about each other which, once again, means that a reveal becomes inevitable. This is probably why we got the Derision retcon where Marinette suddenly couldn't talk to Adrien while dating him. No talking means no growing meaningfully closer means no reveal.

It's incredibly frustrating because reveal plots simply aren't structured to be long running plots. This is why most identity shenanigans media either focuses on the reveal and ends up relatively short (ex: the movie You Got Mail) or does the running gag thing where the identity stuff is a source of comedy, but the actual plot is something else that would technically work perfectly fine even if you removed the identity hi-jinx (ex: the anime Spy X Family).

When it comes to the love square, my preference is to take the first option and make it resolve within the first few seasons, but if we must draw it out until the show's end, then I would make all of the following changes to turn the square from a serious plot to more of a running gag:

Do NOT let Chat Noir confess. Instead, make it that he's always setting up romantic dates or confessions for Ladybug that end up stopped because of an akuma or fans or whatever. This would make Marinette's ongoing failures feel more balanced as they're both doing the same thing. It would also turn the confession into more of a comedy element instead of a dramatic one.

Focus more on plot elements unrelated to the love square, distracting the audience from the romance with shinny subplots like a Lila take down.

Don't have the secret identities be a source of conflict. Have Chat Noir totally uninterested in a reveal.

Have Hawkmoth be someone other than Gabriel. The less serious the show's basic setup, the less serious audiences will expect it to be

Of course, all of those are pretty massive changes to the show's basic setup, which is why I say they should have just let the reveal happen. Then they could have actually let all sorts of fun moments happen as we build to the reveal because it's no longer a thing that they writers have to avoid. As someone who has written multiple stories with a reveal, the fun really is planning it all out so that the tension and/or the comedy builds and builds to a dramatic crescendo where everything feels oh so satisfying.

When you live in fear of the reveal and awkwardly shoehorn things in, you get boring things like Gabriel's identity being leaked from a random play, Marinette's crush being revealed by freaking Andre, and Nino's identity reveal leading to nothing interesting because it can't because then we'd be drawing closer to a love square reveal and, well, you know the drill. It's also why you get messed up crappy episodes like Chat Blanc and Ephemeral. Episodes that are just there to prove that the reveal is a bad thing you shouldn't want!

There actually is solid logic as to why a reveal might not be the best move, but we don't even get to see that discussed. Chat Noir just pushes for a reveal because love while Ladybug stays focused on risk mitigation and it's so boring because a good show would let them have an honest discussion of the risks verses the rewards to help drive the conflict leading towards a reveal as a lot of the rewards are only realized if these two already know each other, which is a great tension build! But we can't build tension like that because then you'd be letting them have actual team dynamics where they talk about things and talking about things means bonding which means a build up to reveal and I think you know the drill by now...

This was a bit of a ramble, but hopefully it addressed your question! This is a broad topic that has a lot of ground to cover, so feel free to clarify if you wanted my thoughts on something else. I love identity reveals, so I am happy to babble about them. There's nothing more satisfying then setting up a good one, even if it takes tens of thousands of words to make it hit just right!

[theerurishipper]

Do you think Emo Marinette treated Claw Noir better than him her? Because I've seen so many Marinette kinnies say that they think she was much kinder to him and he was an awful Jerk, and now I'm kinda questioning if I'm missing something?

In my eyes, they treated each other equally bad. I'm tending towards saying Marinette fans just aren't used to seeing an Adrien or Cat who isn't fawning over Marinette no matter what she does to him. If Shadybug is rude and dismissive of Claw, he's rude and dismissive back.

So they think Claw's treatment of Badynette was so much worse because her treatment of her Cat is honestly not all too different from the regular LadyNoir vibes pre s5. Him not catching her when she falls from the sky for example. Our Adrien wouldn't do that, period. No matter how pissed he is.

But I wouldn't necessarily say that there was anything Badynette did that our Marinette wouldn't do to our Cat under heightened circumstances. I would even say that Marinette is much more likely to be the one betraying Cat Noir to get his Miraculous than the other way around.

So I guess it makes sense that Marinette fans think that Claw treated Shadybug worse because he was the only one who actually showcased bad behavior towards the other one our main characters wouldn't do. They're basically just not used to seeing Marinette not getting rewarded with kindness from Adrien whne she isn't treating him well either. Which is ironic, that Marinette fans react this badly to seeing Marinette in a more or less equal dynamic with Adrien for once.

But that's just the way I instinctively read it. I do wonder if there's something I'm missing because of how persistent Marinette fans are with that take.

I did not know that take was popular, but I have seen it before. I have written about this before, so I'll just put it here.

And maybe I'm just defensive, but there's a line about how Claw Noir treated Shadybug horribly, which comes off to me as OP pointing out that this is another way Marinette had it worse, when she was just as cruel to him lol. They both hated each other, it was mutual. She wasn't there for Claw Noir; she hated him and treated him just as badly as he treated her. Did we miss her attacking him and taking his ring? In fact, he was the one who reached out to her and tried to offer kindness and comfort first. And no hate on Emonette, they're on better terms now, but they 100% were not like that before, and she did not care about him.

In fact, rewatching the scene, she was the one who threw the first insult.

Claw Noir: There! You can have your boyfriend back! (Shadybug pulls out his belt) Hey! (Shadybug uses the belt to tie Ubiquity and keep her captive.) Don't yank the tail! Shadybug: At least now it's being put to good use. (stares at Marinette's wallpaper of Adrien in her monitor) Even in this world, we find pictures of that self-centered Adrien Agreste. Claw Noir: Obviously, he can only be perfect here, too. Shadybug: A perfect stuck-up brat. No wonder you're a fan of his. (jumps up on Marinette's bunk bed and looks at her board full of pictures of her friends, and notices the open trapdoor above her) They must've gone out this way!

You'll notice that this is their first scene together, and she's the one who's insulting him. He doesn't say a thing to her that might have provoked her. Which is not me saying that he was nicer to her than she was to him, since he starts fights later in the special, but saying that Shadybug was the nicer one when the first line she says is an insult directed at him is... pretty rich lmao.

I'm not sure that it's because of how the show presents their relationship (though it could be a factor). I think it's more that the people saying these are the ultra Marinette stans who call Adrien a sexual harasser or an abuser or something. It sounds like something they'd say.

Thank you for your ask!

[shiori8]

Oh look! It's another redesign!

Here, have this little illustration based on my Ladybug/Chat Noir re-designs, that I've been slaving away at for the past month (we're just gonna ignore the fact that I started plotting out the costumes and sketched the pose a year ago lol). I know, I know. A redesign? Very original. But hey I haven't done it yet, so that makes it different ok😝!

(Gosh, I usually don't post sketches, I feel like this is exposing all my drawing weaknesses lol)

These are some of the first doodles I did. For Marinette I basically looked at some traditional Qui Pao and Hanfu dresses for inspiration and mixed and matched details I liked. I also gave her these little skirt flaps (?? whatever you want to call it) to symbolise the ladybug wings and kept the spots concentrated there. All in all I actually immediately knew what I wanted to do with her costume and pretty much just kept to my first draft, but what really gave me trouble was the hair somehow. I really wanted to incorporate actual antennae (I just think it's cute🤧!!!!) but it got too crowded up there so I had to let them go eventually🥺. In the end I settled for her twin tails pulled up instead of down. To make it look more distinct from her civilian form the idea was also that her hair colour changes to black after the transformation.

Chat Noir on the other hand was so difficult😭😭😭. I honestly like the original design soo much it was hard to think about alternatives. I wanted something that matched better with my new Ladybug, but I don't think I succeeded much. Also I hyperfocused on giving him this little scarf/oversized collar thing in my first doodles because I thought it looked cool and ended up scrapping it because the little bell is just too iconic not to keep lol. As you can tell from the final illustration there is actually not all that much that made it into the final version, except for the sheer sleeves, the shoes, the claw marks and some neon green details. I also ended up giving both of them some gold accents to make them match a bit more. As with Marinette, the idea is that Adrien's hair changes colour a bit after transforming too. So I envision Adrien having more of the smooth platinum blond in his civillian form and a more brown-ish dirty blond as Chat Noir, to go for the whole stray cat look lol.

I might come back to this one day, to re-do their civilian forms too or make these costumes more practical rather than just focusing on aesthetics (But hey if the show does this than I am allowed too😂!)

[jennagrinsoverml]

hii! any oblivio fics recommendations?

Yesss, so happy to rec fics for my favourite episode!! 💕💕💕

the wonderful part of the mess that we made by heresie_irisee

They knew.

They knew, and there would be no magical reset button for the memories they'd made today. She'd have to  see him at school every day, and she'd see the Chat in him, as surely as  he'd see the Ladybug in her.

One-shot. This is such a great alternate take on Oblivio!! The mutual pining is so, so, so good! Especially love Marinette struggling to assimilate Adrien’s identities and Adrien’s obliviousness. There's a reason this is one of my absolute favourite fics in the fandom.

breath of fate by @11paruline44

Was it really True Love's Kiss that broke Dark Cupid's spell? Marinette is, of course, an absolute mess in the wake of the akuma in which she kissed Chat Noir. But, amidst her embarrassment and copious internal screaming, her mind is too curious not to wonder. Overwhelmed by four opponents at once amidst the Puppeteer's attack, one of them being her own Chat Noir, the idea pops into her head: If True Love's Kiss worked once, who's to say it wouldn't work again?

One-shot. I'm OBSESSED with the premise of this fic! I love the use of true love's kiss, love the angst and the messy feelings and the reveal with Oblivio and I don't want to spoil it, but this fic left me with the biggest smile on my face!!!

Panicked Thoughts and Needed Talks by jillie_chan

After the kiss, in that moment everything was perfect. And then that moment ended. OR Chat Noir: You remember too? Ladybug: *pterodactyl screeching*

Multi-chapter. An alternate ending for Oblivio where they remember everything and react appropriately (lol). This is such fun and so cute and I really enjoyed it!

memory restoration by @raibo888

Alternate ending to Oblivio. What if Ladybug and Chat Noir regain their memories after defeating Oblivio?

One-shot. This one is super cute and I loved it!

Small Talk by @lnc2

All she wanted was a cup of coffee.

One-shot. Another "what if they remembered" take on Oblivio, but this is set a little after the episode, rather than in the immediate aftermath, which sets it apart. I just love the dynamic here.

Visceral by word_devourer

Neither Adrien nor Marinette has the slightest idea what happened when Oblivio attacked. All each of them knows is that they've been left with an aching love-sickness that they can't seem to shake.

One-shot. This fic is so cool! It really messed with my head but like in a good way. Definitely different than most Oblivio fics!

Amnesiac? More like Amnesi-Chat by therealjanebingley

Oblivio's back, and this time only Chat Noir gets hit. Based on his limited knowledge and the way Ladybug acts towards him, he makes some assumptions.

One-shot. This is hilarious. From Chat’s genuine glee about his superheroes to Ladybug’s affectionate indulgence to having Chat provide an “outside perspective” on Ladybug’s non-platonic behaviour towards him to the teasing… I could see this actually happening in an Oblivio 2.0 episode.

The Open Line by @sariahsue

"Maybe, Cat Noir admitted as Oblivio knocked him back once again, maybe it was his fault. Just a little. But in his defense, Ladybug was at the top of her game today, and it was absolutely irresistible." An Oblivio alternate ending, where she never learns his identity but remembers what it was like to fall in love with him, and how she slowly falls in love with him all over again. (More like a PG than a G.)

Multi-chapter. This one starts as an Oblivio alternate ending, but it develops out into so much more and is a really gorgeous ladynoir love story.

[saintforan]

I’m genuinely curious what the other critters roles are in the holders au (especially who the Chloe or Lila might be).

alr this ones simple, imma list all of the (rest of the) critters and give them a role based in both in the og MLB series and the Holders AU

just to make it clear, all of the relatioships im talking about here take place before catnap joins the same hs as dogday, eventually they all (Except bubba) become friends between them

Craftycorn: Along with dogday shes an exchange student as well, but attends to a different HS, she's dogdays roomate and both get along very well, eventually from living together they become good friends. Crafty's role on this au would be Alya's on MLB, but without the ladyblog lol, on this universe crafty like alya is interested in the heroes that suddenly popped out of nowhere, and starts investigating about them out of curiosity, eventually she gets very invested in them and starts taking part of a magazine to talk about them both. She's gonna be the first to find out their identities too, she eventually connects the dots and guesses, but doesn't tell anyone

Kickin: He's childhood friends with dogday, but here they met online before dogday decided to move and study on the same country as him, They don't belong to the same HS neither, he goes to the same one as crafty and they become friends there. His role here would be Nino's on MLB, as he would become very close to catnap eventually (catnap got his second best friend yippeee), and also would end up dating crafty lol (kickincorn enthusiast)

Bobby: Bobby is childhood friends with hoppy, and she takes on luka's role on MLB as the good listener and good advice giver to dogday (no romance between them here) Her and Dogday don't exactly have a band, but them both enjoy playing music together (dd plays guitar, bobby plays bass and guitar too + she likes to sing) which made them close. They met bc of Kickin as him, bobby and hoppy were in the same elementary school and kept being good friends ever since.

Hoppy: Childhood friends with Bobby, doesnt take on any particular character's role, she was on a volleyball club with kickin on elementary school and they met there, she also works at the same bakery as dogday mostly to help piggy's family out and get paid for hanging out with friends LOL

(as a psa, theres feelings between the bear and the rabbit, they are GAY, but their relationship develops later on)

Piggy: You could say she in some way takes marinette's role here? but this marinette would not be ladybug here LOL, i stated before that dogday works part-time on a bakery, well piggy is the daughter of said bakery's owner, and she also attends the same hs as dogday and catnap, she became friends with dogday from him working there and going to the same hs as him, shes also best friends with bobby and hoppy and hang out tgt often as a trio

Bubba: This man takes on both lila and kagami's role here, but both would be against caatnap here. As i said before, prototypes an engeneer who owns a company, said company has a partnership with another one, and this company ceo's has a son, Bubba is that ceo's son, so he and catnap had met on multiple ocasions but dont get along that well (they hate each other's guts), as bubba's mindset is like prototype's and catnap is not that fond of his father lmao. When catnap gets sent to socialize, prototype asks his ceo pal to send his son and watch him so he doesn't slip away from his duties. His job is basically to keep catnap from getting away from his father lol, and so he makes his life difficult to achieve that.

the closest thing to a chloe here would be bubba? but they behave very differently so he reminds me more of lila, so i could say theres no chloe here at all, personally chloe's character is very non important to the series, her only role is to be the mean girl and maybe help akumatize some ppl, but overall the only good part about her was her redemption lol, but then they threw that away soo, nothing much to say abt her, i don't find having a Chloe here necessary at all

[wackus-bonkus-maximus]

Also in the solitary confinement situation, adrien constantly talked with felix(unaware he is felix) non stop even after felix fell asleep, felix now officially knows way more about adriens life than adrien himself does. He also knows how many tiles there were in the room and the lore of 12 animes start to finish. Not to mention too many details about how marinettes hair looks under moonlight or sth probably. at some point felix felt so awful for him he even stopped teasing him. Even attempted to make puns like thats how bad it was

this is way too easy for me to imagine lol. like i might even have to make a fic out of it bc i cannot get the image of adrien & felix lying awake in the dark, twin telepathizing their shared nightmares & comiserating, out of my head.

like adrien would be like "do you know he gave me a foosball table and no one to play it with" and felix would just be like "you would've lost anyway"

or felix would say "something just like this happened in the shoujo manga i'm reading" and adrien like "you read manga?" and felix: "yeah kagami made me" and adrien "nerd. anyways about demon slayer--"

and lol adrien talking about "my nightmare is of me acidentally destroying the world" and felix seeing exactly what adrien's seeing, chat blanc and dead ladybug in his arms and just being like "lol wait. wtf."

and then adrien asking why felix isn't plagued by nightmares like everyone else and felix looking at adrigami on his alliance going "well it's already real innit."

[miraculousverse]

Six strings of a broken heart

Part 1

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug (AU)

Pairing: Luka x Felix

Notes/Warnings: non miraculous AU; the characters are in high school, except Luka who is two years older, finished high school and now is taking a year off; Marinette and Luka dated and recently broke up; Felix lives in England and had a good relationship with Adrien; slow burn; my first attempt at writing; I need to share my love for these two dorks with the world lol; Adrien is a little sunshine;

***

Felix remembers how the first time he met and spoke to Luka, he nearly rolled his eyes so hard he almost saw his four past lives.

Adrien finally convinced him to go with him to see his friend’s performance at their school’s charity event, organized by the students to help spread awareness about the importance of self-care and emotional well-being.

“The soul speaks through music when words cannot be heard,” was the sentence that made Felix want to tell the older Couffaine sibling to shut up and look the other way.

First of all, Felix hated all these douchebags high on their own spiritual cold brew, blond roasted coffee farts, who dedicated their lives to mastering the art of pretentious jabbering.

And secondly, and perhaps most importantly, Felix resented everyone unable to engage in concise and rational conversations.

If your words “cannot be heard,” it’s either that the other person is an idiot or you’re the one incapable of constructing a coherent argument.

Luckily for Felix, his interaction with Adrien’s school friends was limited by their involvement in the event, and he was soon left to himself, free from attempts at polite but entirely meaningless conversations with people he barely knew and would probably never see again.

He mostly stayed upstairs, observing the crowd and watching the students perform in the talent show—the main driving force behind this charity event.

Felix hated every second of that lame performance. At some point, he was so bored that he even considered finding Adrien and talking to him instead.

But Adrien was busy backstage, helping the “Hello Kitty” band get ready for their performance. They were going last, a detail Adrien apparently forgot to mention, and Felix, who against his better judgment promised his cousin to stay for their performance, had to sit through the entire charity event to see Adrien play the damn synthesizer.

“Ah… it’s Kitty Section,” Felix mumbled under his breath when the principal announced the last group coming on stage. The band members wore colorful masks and shoulder pads, looking so incredibly dorky that Felix couldn’t help but chuckle into his plastic half-empty cup as he took a sip of the lukewarm sparkling water. Somehow, Adrien fit perfectly among them.

Their two songs, despite their cliché lyrics and generic pop sound, were still the highlight of the event. Although there was hardly any competition.

***

Apparently, Luka wasn’t a fan of caffeinated drinks and preferred tea instead because “coffee made his sleep worse.”

“I enjoy bubble tea from time to time, but it’s a little too sweet for me,” Luka smiled as he ordered a matcha latte, standing next to Felix at the counter. Felix never asked him if he liked coffee or tea. He just told him to go ahead and order first.

After the charity event, the group headed to the nearest coffee shop, and Adrien, buzzing with excitement and joy, dragged Felix with them, reassuring his cousin that it would be “a ton of fun.”

Felix glanced at the group of high schoolers behind them in a large cozy booth, noticing that Adrien sat next to Marinette, who blushed furiously every time the blond turned to her with a big smile.

“Same as him,” Felix gestured to Luka’s latte and paid with his card. Luka was still standing next to him, waiting for Felix to get his order, and for some reason, Felix felt slightly uncomfortable. He felt like something was expected of him, like small talk or anything that would make this situation less awkward. He wondered why Luka didn’t go sit with the group. There were two seats available next to Marinette.

“You play guitar very well,” Felix finally said when he realized that the barista was taking too long to give him his order. “It was nice. The show and your group’s performance.”

The compliment sounded robotic, and Felix hated how stupid it made him feel. He probably looked like a socially awkward idiot.

“Thank you.” Despite everything, Luka’s gentle smile seemed sincere, yet his eyes had a glint of mischief in them. Felix thought that Luka didn’t believe him but appreciated the effort Fathom was making.

Finally, Felix was handed his drink, and they walked toward the group, who were too busy monitoring social media, looking for any mentions of the event. Alya was reading out loud the comments under her post in the LadyBlog, and Felix was happy that everyone’s attention was on her.

“You didn’t get any dessert?” Marinette asked when Felix took the seat next to her, but she was quickly satisfied with his brief “no” and turned back to the group when Luka joined Felix. There was a sudden but very subtle shift in the air, and Felix couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Luka. The blue-haired boy was smiling softly, but Felix noticed how his fingers tensed around the paper cup. Just a little and for a very brief moment, but Felix caught that.

Oh…

Felix turned back to the group, only half listening to what they were talking about. He was happy that they barely talked to him, and he only had to engage in very surface-level conversation about England’s climate and his favorite subject at school.

“And do you like Paris?” Felix wasn’t sure if Rose was genuinely curious or was only trying to be polite because everyone else was starting to accept that he wasn’t going to be very talkative and were thankfully getting bored by his one-sentence replies. If he was lucky, Adrien might give up on his quest to socialize Felix with his friends.

“It’s pretty. A lot has changed since my last visit,” Felix said and heard a light chuckle and turned to its source. Luka was looking at his almost empty coffee cup with a smile and then shot a glance at Felix when he felt his eyes on him.

“I thought that we should visit the Eiffel Tower while you’re here,” Luka smiled innocently, and Felix couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The guitarist seemed very chill, but Felix caught the mischievous spark that lit behind his eyes for a second.

Felix absolutely hated that tourist spot.

For a moment, Felix doubted his judgment of Luka and was slightly disoriented because immediately after that quick exchange, Luka was called by his bandmate, and he turned away from Felix to discuss their performance at the event.

And once again, Felix had to hold back the urge to roll his eyes when Luka made a comment about the “heart guiding you through the music notes,” but this time Felix was suspicious that this cringy behavior was genuine.

[katydoodles]

Stolen Credit Card Chronicles Headcanon: Chloé knows about Luka from Marinette. So, Chloé and Zoé spends a lot of money, backing up Marinette's fashion designer career as a "thank you" for this.

LOL I like the idea that Chloe and Luka meet through Marinette.

In the AU they are university age. Luka is studying Math and Music Theory cuz his dad is funding his tuition. Luka can afford to study what he wants, but feels weird because its not his money, and knows its a way Jagged Stone is trying to make up for being an absent father. Luka takes up a pizza delivery job and tutors on the side.

Chloe has gotten over some of her mommy issues and hero warship of her mom, but is still a shithead and arrogant. Lol she is taking revenge on her mom for years of neglect by stealing her card and spending it on what ever she wants.

Marinette happens to be doing some work for Audrey Bourgeois and comes across Chloe struggling on her math work. Audrey demeans Chloe for even trying to go to high education and should just model. Chloe gives Audrey the bird and walks away to find Zoe to spend money. That's when Marinette texts Luka to see if he has time, cuz she knows a rich girl who needs help with math.

Luka finds Chloe in the Uni library crumpling paper and violently shoving them in the trash. Luka offers his assistants and offers to tutor her, they get to work, and talk about their lives. Luka mentions that Marinette was actually the one who suggested him to tutor Chloe to make extra cash.

I have thought about this too much