#maybe emilie agreste was just a girl.

[anna-scribbles]

they should've been at the club(infertility treatment centers)

[flightfoot]

Hey! I saw a rec of yours a couple days ago and completely lost track of it and was wondering if I could help me find it! It was something something Adrien and marinette were childhood friends and in the summary I remember it being like “if only they remembered each others names” I know this isn’t much to go off of but that’s all I can recall

There are a few fics like this that might be what you're looking for! All of these are "Adrien and Marinette were childhood friends and at least one of them forgot that fact, only to rediscover it later" fics.

His Princess and Her Knight by @seas-of-silver

Adrien, Marinette, Nino and Alya have a group assignment about how the past has shaped them into the people they are today, but they’ll make a discovery that’ll send them searching for answers.

This fic is adorable, Adrien, Marinette, and Nino uncover that they all went to the same preschool together, with Adrien and Marinette immediately latching onto each other, Adrien being the knight to Marinette’s princess, and also making friends with Nino. Sadly he was pulled after two weeks, but it made quite an impression on him.

---

A Friendship Not Abandoned (Just Delayed) by @nomolosk

Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste first met as tiny little kids, but then Adrien had to move away. When they finally meet again, will they even remember each other, much less become friends again?

Poor Adrien keeps on saying or doing just the wrong thing to give Marinette the impression that he’s a bully like Chloe when he’s not, and he keeps desperately trying to fix it. So a bit of an enemies au in that way, since Marinette doesn’t like him much. He does gradually manage to convince her that he’s a good person though.

---

Through the Looking Glass by @jheqiawrites

Adrien is a lonely child, cut off from the outside world by his parent's strict rules. But when he discovers a window in his closet and sees a young girl looking back at him like his reflection, maybe he has hope for friendship after all.

Poor Adrien here, he makes a long-time friend (who everyone thinks is an imaginary friend), and has several great years interacting with her as his parents grow more concerned with him not growing out of it... and then Emilie dies, Gabriel orders the window destroyed, Adrien’s put on medication to suppress his “hallucinations” (which also makes him forget Marinette) and he’s just kind of left like that for the next several years, until he’s an adult.

Luckily, while Adrien forgot Marinette, Marinette never forgot him, and he’s not too difficult to track down...

This is some really cute Adrienette, if you want a “forgotten childhood friends-to lovers” Adrienette story, you should check this out!

[carpisuns]

Now that you are no longer avoiding miraculous ladybug spoilers, can I say that it is absolutely bonkers the way the sentimonster theory started out with just Adrien, but then spread to Felix, and now apparently kagami??? And I've heard there might be another person who is one as well?? Like at this point I think we might as well say that every rich kid in paris (or vaguely related to paris) is probably a sentimonster. I bet it was a top secret Agreste collection back in the day, and all of Paris' wealthiest got a slice of it

OHOOEHEHEHE YES AND IM LIVING FOR IT!! honestly I never thought we would get confirmation of the senti theory that is this clear—like I thought it would be hinted but left open enough for the average child viewer to totally miss and for deniers to be able to deny if they want to. And I guess they could still deny? But man I didn’t expect it to become so central!! the felix eps were insane i was yelling !!

A while back I saw this theory that was basically what you said—that all the rich kids in Paris were sentis. Because of that fancy weird cult party from the episode Gabriel Agreste. Which was so fascinating to me back then and now it feels not unlikely?

It’s so interesting bc we know sentis are created from a specific emotion. It would seem appropriate that Emily created adrien out of love, and that’s why he’s such a kind boy who gives undeserving people second chances and who loves people with all his heart. Im not sure what emotion felix would be?? he’s a pretty complex character but his sense of personal justice is strong, wanting to free himself first and then the other sentikids, and using morally questionable means to reach his mission. So maybe something along those lines. And for kagami, idk, is perfection an emotion? Desire for perfection? That idea is brought up more and more surrounding her and her mother is very concerned with kagami’s perfection.

This gets even more interesting to me when you consider Chloe. Admittedly, she makes less sense as a senti bc the other sentikids have a missing parent (presumably the one who wielded the broken peacock and then eventually died from it??). But im just considering the concept of Audrey making Chloe from her own emotions….which seem to consist solely of selfishness and superiority. So if Chloe was made with such ugly emotions, no wonder she is the way she is. And no wonder that every time she seemed to make a little progress, she backslid into her old behavior. Bc any display of self-awareness and kindness and genuine care for someone else goes against her emotional core—her very essence. Is it even possible for a senti to change their emotional core? that would be an insane display of self-control and sheer force of will that would challenge the very concept of sentis as creatures who are made to be commanded. if it’s possible for a senti to break the bounds of their emotional core, is it also possible to break the bond between them and their amok holder and disobey a direct order? Could they even break their link to their amok entirely? This is all crazy talk bc it doesn’t even make sense in context and I doubt Chloe would end up having that big of a role anyway lol but the implications are interesting to think about! It’s even interesting to think about XY and the possibility of him being a senti—emotional core of greed, maybe? or, like, shallowness? lol. his dad definitely controls him and his image pretty carefully so. Hmm!

anyway insane musings aside I am really enjoying this arc with the senti focus!! felix’s Argo fit is so cool. his villain song. Girl help!!! when he had to kill his sentimoon and cried…oh that got me. That was his SISTER !! and FELIGAMI HELLO???? FELIGAMI PRACTICALLY CANON AFTER 2 EPISODES??? i did NOT have that on my bingo card lol but you know what?? Hell yeah!!!!!! Kagami said if Adrien doesn’t love me I’ll simply fall for his more intense and moody twin who rapidly and rightfully became obsessed with me

[unecoccinellenoire]

Do you ever wonder what would it have been like if Nathalie had met Gabi Grassette instead of Gabriel Agreste? What if Gabriel hadn't changed his name and such?

Honestly I never had considered this scenario just because...it is Gabriel Agreste that Nathalie meets and falls in love with and a lot of that history is tied up in him being that person that would change his name.

If Gabriel still meets Emilie first then I feel like the version of him that stays Gabi (although we don't know for certain if that is his legal name or just a shortening he went by) Grassette is both less sucessful and sucessful less quickly. So maybe he's doesn't get into the rich conspiracy and he's not of interest to Tomoe so she never introduces him to Nathalie.

And becoming Gabriel Agreste, creating this persona and idea of what an Agreste is, is I think is very strongly linked to this desire to create Adrien as The Perfect Son/Model/Boy. Admittedly we don't know Emilie's feelings on the matter and her being the one to actually create Adrien and making him look so like her definitely speaks to a desire to have a biological child that no one else has any claim on. But I feel Gabriel in this scenario is much more likely to consider adoption or going abroard for surrogacy rather than chasing after the Miraculous.

So again we end up in a scenario where the canonical meeting with Nathalie doesn't happen.

But let's try again, maybe the boy that stays Gabi Grassette doesn't dare to dream the way the boy that becomes Gabriel Agreste did. He isn't brave enough to apply to art school, or to try to become a fashion designer amongst people who look down on him without a safety net, or ignore his parents' concern about his career. He's softer- less willing to cut off people he thinks might way him down.

So he doesn't meet Emilie. And if he does maybe he's not brave enough to reach up to this star out of his orbit.

And thus he doesn't meet Nathalie.

But you're asking about if he does meet Nathalie, except the first question is how?

What's Nathalie doing in Paris, or Normandy or the Region Sud or wherever Gabriel lives in France rather than hunting relics on the other side of the world. What's Nathalie's backstory? Is her life different too?

I think that regardless of their universe Nathalie and Gabriel always work well together. They have this instinctive understanding of each other and in some ways they're very compatiable- they both treasure the quiet times together, physical affection means a lot to them, they love fiercely but they're also mean- they don't care about the people they don't love and they almost enjoy that, certainly they'd be the type to cattily gossip about things together.

They have their differences. Both of them only truly cleave to a small network of people but Gabriel wants this wider adulation, he wants to be seen as sucessful, as good, as in love in a way that Nathalie has no interest in, and frankly prefers not to be perceived. Some of that internal/external validation discrepancy also shows in how Gabriel has to justify things where Nathalie owns her decisions.

All of that is still there. But Nathalie loved the Gabriel who's ready to take that leap of faith and do anything for what he wants. Can she love a Gabi who doesn't?

And is Gabriel resenful about how his life's turned out? Does he wake up and work and wish he'd chosen to do something he loved? Does he feel like he doesn't have a future or a career - just a job selling chips from a trailer in the rain?

Does Nathalie feel like adventure to him? Or is she put off by the anger she can feel inside him?

Or does he have friends? Is his life unexciting but full of love and life? Does he go for a drink on his free days and get unencouraged to settle down, and he's never go over the girl who got away but now Nathalie feels like another chance?

I mean it's a fun scenario because (unless you go full chip shop AU and Nathalie's his employee) Nathalie isn't his subordinate here so that changes the dynamicc in of itself but there's just so much to figure out how this would work.

That said, I'm pretty sure @silver-hibiscus does have an AU for this scenario so go send some questions her way.

[saemi-the-dreamer]

MLB - Black Swan AU

Many of us are unhappy about how the Agreste household was written and shown. Personally, I dislike how Emilie was said to be a Saint and how she and Amelie were sold as "Best Moms material" while looking at canon facts, it was obviously untrue! There are thankfully plenty of AUs that point this out, I am thinking especially about the "Dad Villain AU" by @bigfatbreak right now (love it <3 )

As for this AU, I chose to do what I did with many aspects of the show in my "Miraculous Team AU": pick what Canon said were true facts and actually make them true. Here are the elements I picked:

Emilie is a good person and a good mother

Gabriel is redeemable and truly loves his son

the Agreste household was stricken by tragedy

Nathalie couldn't have done much more than she did

Felix is a victim that almost became a villain but stopped before it was too late

Now, on with the concept of Black Swan AU!

PART 1

GIF publié par ouiladybug

Emilie and Amelie were born into a prestigious and filthy rich family, the Graham-de-Vanilly. The parents want their twin daughters to be "perfect" at all costs and put monstrous pressure on them.

Emilie hated the life her parents wanted for her, so she decided to emancipate as soon as she could. She became friends with people like her, people her parents called "lecherous" and a "group of misfits" (because they are all LGBTQ+ and some are outcasts). Emilie managed to build her life again by breaking away from her parents. She married Gabriel who had no fortune and no name, and despite their struggles, the two were happy and lived their lives fully.

Meanwhile, Amelie never had the courage or will to rebel. In a way, she found it easier to stay obedient and follow blindly her parents' directions. While she still cared for Emilie, the way her parents kept comparing them and calling her "the good twin", and "a good girl" was slowly becoming addictive and reaching her, making her believe she was indeed better than her sister, deep down. However, her life took a tragic turn after she married. Her husband was an abusive man, and no matter how hard she tried, he was never satisfied.

Probably due to all the stress and abuse, Amelie could not have a child. And because of that, her husband became worse; even her parents took his side and called her unworthy.

Emilie got more and more worried for her sister, whom she had kept contact with. She offered her sister to come live with them, but Amelie refused, she was afraid of divorcing, of disappointing her parents even more. But she agreed to spend some time at her twin's house. Part of Amelie was grateful towards Emilie, but she couldn't help envying what her sister had. Emilie and Gabriel were happily married, and the two had managed to make their own fortune; her only solace was that they had no children, so she thought it meant that Emilie had trouble conceiving too.

After many discussions, Gabriel and Emilie agreed to introduce Tomoe to Amelie. They knew Tomoe had the Peacock Miraculous and had been training to create a child with it, so they thought that maybe it would help Amelie if she kept refusing to leave her husband.

Indeed, Tomoe had managed to get "pregnant", but she lost her sight doing so. The Miraculous was now unstable, so Tomoe warned Amelie about using it. Amelie still took it, even if she was hesitant; she didn't want to become disabled and thus "useless" afterwards.

Back at the Agreste house, Amelie saw a doctor walking out and, morbidly curious, she went and eavesdropped on her sister and brother-in-law's conversation. When she heard that it had just been confirmed to them that Emilie was pregnant, something snapped in her. The fact that they hadn't even planned to have a kid, it just happened, only added salt to the wound. Amelie's repressed anger started to boil, and she became even more bitterly jealous of her sister. How unfair was that? She was the good daughter! So why was Emilie the happy one? Why was her sister getting everything Amelie ever dreamt of?!

Refusing to lose to her sister, Amelie decided to use the Miraculous of the Peacock. But instead of using it herself, she gave it to her husband so he would suffer any consequences, not her. To her great (hidden) joy, his health started deteriorating as her pregnancy got to term. Felix was born, and Amelie was finally praised for birthing a healthy baby boy.

Wishing to get rid of any evidence in case her husband were to die, Amelie decided to give the Miraculous to Emilie, since this kind of magic object was one of her passion. On the day Amelie went to visit Emile with Felix to drop the Miraculous, she saw Adrien for the first time. Then her jealousy erupted like a volcano, driving her to madness.

Adrien felt so real, contrary to Felix who was way too calm and unmoving. Gabriel was a loving husband and father, contrary to Colt... Emilie had everything while she had nothing. It didn't feel right, it wasn't the right order of things! Amelie was the good daughter, she was meant to be rewarded for that!!

Insane with rage, Amelie transformed and used the twin rings to create sentimonsters; the sentis hypnotized both Emilie and Gabriel so Amelie could switch places with her sister. Emilie, now convinced she was Amelie, went to London with Felix while Amelie took her place in the Agreste household.

In the following years, Amelie made herself the centre of Gabriel and Adrien's world. Adrien was easy to manipulate because he was a child and couldn't remember his real mother at all. However, Gabriel was more difficult; she especially got scared when Emilie came back to visit them with Felix. The two lovers almost broke out of her grip. Amelie had to use the Peacock powers to keep the hypnosis working, not realizing she was getting ill because of the damaged Miraculous until it was too late. She turned Emilie and Gabriel against each other, going harder on Gabriel so he would despise - even hate - his "sister-in-law".

Amelie's hold on Gabriel had become so strong that she didn't even need to use the Miraculous at some point, she had reached her goal. Gabriel was head-over-heels for "her", she was his muse and relished seeing all the paintings and statues of herself around the house; and Adrien loved his "mother" dearly, more than his father. Neither Adrien or Gabriel knew that "Emilie" was keeping them apart, abusing them whilst making Gabriel the strict parent figure. And when she understood she was dying, Amelie made Gabriel swear to bring her back, manipulating him until she fell into a coma.

Meanwhile, Emile held on as Amelie, doing her best to survive and raise the one she believed was her son and cherished him. And when Colt died, she didn't grieve him long. She was more focused on her child, wishing to give him full agency and freedom of will.

Most of the following events stay the same, until "Amelie" and Felix come to visit on "Emilie's day of disappearance anniversary". "Amelie" asked for the twin rings, pointing out that it was a family treasure and that she never understood why her sister, who had left the family decades ago, took them with her and even used them as wedding rings. Gabriel, of course, got angry in answer and refused to give them back; Felix, wishing to make his mother happy, went with his plan to make a mess. "Amelie" was very defensive of her son in front of Gabriel, but she still chastised him when she heard what happened. Felix still snaffled Gabriel's ring in the end and gave it to his mother.

From then on, "Amelie" started to have strange memories resurfacing.

[bnhaoptr]

For My Love | Gabriel AgresteXReaderFem!Terminal Disease

∆ Hope like it

∆ Gabriel Agreste X Fem! Terminal Disease

∆ Request Are Open

∆ Warnings:  Adultery, Alcohol, Heterosexuality, Sex Innuendo, Inappropriate Language, Spoilers, Violence,  Action, Adventure, Drama/Tragedy, Family, Fantasy, Women's Literature, Wrestling, Magic/Mysticism, Mystery, Romantic/Shoujo, Alternate Universe

∆ synopsis:  Adrien Agreste had begun dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng, leaving aside his father’s hard hand and traveled to Shanghai to open his new store. Alone in his mansion, he ends up receiving a letter from his former love, he just did not expect that the news was not the most pleasant.

∆   +2000 words

The famous Eiffel Tower was fully illuminated on the French night, as if it were the only star in the sky darker than the feathers of a crow. The Seine was bustling with boats playing jazz and some couples dancing slowly in the open gardens.

Gabriel Agreste was a young punk who worked in a small hippie tent, where he styled clothes to his style. He always had a serious face and rarely gave small smiles, as if there were no reasons in his life to express joy. Or that’s what they thought, after all, when the young [Name] appeared, Agreste could barely contain her smile.

[Name], an aspiring actress and singer, performed small shows at the renowned Moulin Rouge, enchanting everyone who attended. And that’s how the young woman ended up meeting Gabriel, the boy she saw a huge talent as a fashion designer, asking her to prepare her clothes for the presentations, in which she accepted very willingly.

The relationship of both increased and intensified, making the romantic side of the Agreste flourish. Many thought that nothing could separate them. But the fame came to the boy, who began to travel around the world and dress the most internationally renowned, then, on one of these trips, Emilie appeared in the life of the French, who lost the ground when he met her. Just as Hades did with Persephone, Gabriel took Emilie to his world, making [Name] the Minta of the relationship.

Obviously the young woman suffered with the end of their relationship, wishing she had never met him. However, seeing him happy with those who left him radiant as she could not even, made his heart join the shards, overcoming and always cheering for the joy of the couple.

Years later the cycle of a loving relationship began to flow naturally, starting with the engagement and ending with the birth of the first and only child of the most influential couple in France and the world, Adrien Agreste, the child from the eyes of her loving parents.

Unfortunately, not all romance stories have happy endings. Emilie suddenly fell ill and died soon after, leaving her husband and son helpless. Gabriel never accepted the fact of losing his wife, doing everything so that his son had the best education and that nothing was missing him, even if it meant distancing himself and putting an iron hand in that small family.

Adrien no longer accepted being manipulated and living in the torment of his confused mind due to the hard hand of his beloved father. He understood that Gabriel did all that for his own good, after all, he lost his true love too soon. However, everything existed a limit and, unfortunately, Gabriel was crossing the limits.

As soon as the son of the greatest fashion designer in Paris began to relate to Marinette Dupain-Cheng, he decided to take time off and traveled with the girl to Shanghai, using as a pretext the opening of his new store in the other country, leaving his father alone in that huge mansion in central Paris.

And again, Gabriel was alone.

Like most people who find themselves lonely, both mentally and physically, feelings of nostalgia were surrounding the designer. Almost every time he found himself remembering his punk times, where he worked alongside the Seine and dated [Nome]. Maybe if you’d stayed with her, none of that would be happening.

Recalling his former passion of youth, an inspiration for a new collection came to his mind: tight dresses on the bust part and rotated in her skirts, lots of sparkle and the colors vary black, red and gold.

Gabriel could imagine [Nome] being the main model of his new collection. When I closed my eyes, I could see her walking on the catwalks with a black lace corselet that descended to a short skirt full of ruffles detailed in crimson, her beautiful long legs would be covered with a sockpants with drawn flowers and a glowing red feather adornment in their hair. [Name] would be perfect, a real representative of one of the most famous places in Paris.

A few days passed, almost dragged, inside the private studio of the Agreste. On their tables and floors were scattered all the sketches of new clothes. In his untouchable world, in the few moments of peace, he was interrupted by the bodyguard and driver, who came to warn that a letter had arrived, but that, unlike the others, it was not from someone known or an invitation.

At the time, he just ignored and left the card lying on his desk, didn’t even look at who sent it. A few hours later, after an outbreak of shaking a line of a skirt, as soon as he sat down, he took the letter and opened it, making a tear run down the corner of his cheek and falling soon after on the yellowish paper. Gabriel would recognize in a thousand years that handwriting, after all, had not changed anything.

[...]

For my love.

Gabriel, I’ve been thinking about you for years.

Whenever I see you in the tabloids or your son’s picture, I think about writing you, but I lack the courage.

Since he married Emilie I root for his happiness and cried when I heard of her passing. I wonder what you must have gone through with your son, I know it wasn’t easy, but you’re strong.

I’m sending this message because I have a short time left and did not want to die with something choking me for so long. After all, it’s been seconds, minutes, hours, months and years that I’ve been trying to tell you what drowns my heart in a succinct and beautiful way, but what I have to say has not much to shorten.

I, [Name], have always loved you Gabriel and will always love, but I will die. And I swear, on my deathbed, I will only think of you.

Always yours, [Name].

[...]

At the end of the letter, Gabriel was in tears with tears running down his thin cheeks. Many years ago I did not feel fear, pain and anguish as I was feeling at that moment. He reread that letter several times, trying to understand what had happened and how time had escaped between his fingers.

Soon Agreste called his employees and asked them to send the best fabrics to his mansion and a manual sewing machine was quickly installed in his office. He took one of the most beautiful sketches he had there, making the mold and starting the work of cutting and sewing, for the dress that was there designed by himself.

Gabriel still had the measures of [Nome] stored in a small agenda that he kept as a memory of that time. She’d be grateful to have kept that infallible good. When he finished assembling the garment, he asked his driver to take him to the address of that letter, to then find that old passion that made the flames of his heart light up again.

His hands trembled at the moment of squeezing the bell and the cold sweat dripped all over his body. As soon as the door opened, and their eyes crossed with those of [Nome], the only thing they could do at the time was to hug each other, while tears washed away all the negative feelings that were hovering over them.

"My sweet [Name], I never forgot you".

Her hands squeezed tightly the designer’s haute couture and well-done clothes, as if that could prove to her eyes that Gabriel was there of his own free will.

"I always loved you"

She almost couldn’t talk.

[Name] was in front of him. A little thinner, deeper eyes, pale cheeks and dull hair; really, did not lavish the beauty of a healthy person, but the smile proved that it was the bold girl who always loved. Gabriel was always quite sure that the gods loved those who dared and [Nome] was one of these people, but something within her had abandoned her.

Inside the living room of [Nome’s] house were photos of her performances at the Moulin Rouge, auditorium programs she was invited to and even photos of her youth with Gabriel. There were several Affairs in the life of [Nome], but never married or joined things up with someone else, it was always just her and herself.

"There was no other man in my life, Gabriel. You were the only one".

"I feel honored. I brought you a gift".

[Nome] sat in an antique wine-tone armchair and took the large white box with a huge golden bow on top. She opened it slowly, as if her fingers did not have the strength to undo the bow, and then pulled the dress out, making her lose her words.

"As always, it’s perfect!"

She put the dress in front of her and looked at a small round mirror in her living room to see how that dress looked.

"I still had your measurements saved, this dress is unique and there will be no other".

[Name] smiled, then folded the dress and put it back in the box. She took a serious look and continued:

"I’m so sorry for Emilie, I know she was the love of her life".

"My heart is big".

"I know, but I’ll be dead in a few months. Maybe weeks".

Gabriel just turned his face and took a sip of the tea [Nome] served.

"Glad to see you again".

"You’re not gonna die, I’ll pay for whatever treatment it is".

[Nome] stood up and went to him, then hugged him strongly, as he did when he felt that Agreste was down and was returned.

"I already find myself in the palliatives".

Agreste took the hand of his passion and gave a chaste kiss.

"But we just met again".

"The journey ends with the lovers meeting. Do you remember our phrase?"

Gabriel was feeling fragile, brittle and vulnerable, things he hated to feel. If he himself were not the person who akumatized others, he would be transformed at that moment.

"Then stay with me until the end".

The designer then just quietly agreed.

From that moment on, Gabriel stopped staying in his immensely lonely mansion, even freeing Adrien and Marinette from their brotherly concerns. I was thinking a little more about you and [Nome], with which you began to spend more time, taking her for a walk in the places they walked when they were younger.

When they were still a daring punk couple.

Now they were older and with other worries, hair turning gray and less fervor of longer walks. Life did this, gradually shaping each one with their obstacles, so that when they got older, they would enjoy the little time left.

However, Gabriel had to give his arm to twist. No model looked so good in her custom-made clothes as [Nome] and when she stood in front of the city lights, which illuminated the darkest night, there was no work of art that came close.

Like fire in gunpowder, violent joys have violent ends. [Nome] was hospitalized in serious condition, causing the heart of Agreste to break again.

"Why did you fall in love with me?"

Gabriel enjoyed the moments when she was still lucid and not so tired.

"Because you’re my favorite villain".

"Am I a villain?"

"Well, it did".

He combed the hair of [Nome], who could barely lift his arms.

"You know, that attitude and punk look. I always had a preference for villains, I never liked heroes".

"May I ask why?"

She stopped for a while, fixed the oxygen catheter in her nostrils, waited a few seconds and started talking again.

"A hero would sacrifice you for the greater good, but the villain would set the world on fire to have you".

Agreste smiled, because that’s exactly what he did with the miraculous butterfly.

"Besides, the villain has a good heart and an immense love to give to those who really deserve it".

He then sat on the corner of the stretcher and smiled:

"Just know that I would do anything to have more time with you".

"I am happy to have shared more time with you these days".

That afternoon, on his last visit to the intensive care unit, [Nome] had already begun to show improvement in death. Gabriel recognized those signs from afar. Then, before leaving, he gave a small chaste kiss on his forehead and said:

"[Name], I will love you even when everyone dies and no one else remembers us, and we are nothing but stardust wandering through infinite space".

The actress who made her career in the well-known Moulin Rouge could not even answer. I was too tired to say anything, but the smile and a tear managed to express everything I had to thank his former love.

At two and fifty-two in the morning, [Name] died. Gabriel was already expecting the call, had not even slept during the night and organized everything for the last farewell of his first love.

Just as [Nome] had said, Gabriel would put the world down to bring Emilie and her back again. No matter the timelines or the sacrifices, he would bring his loves to life again.

[sweetcloverheart]

Actually I’m still bitter about the finale - here’s an AU

I’ve lovingly decided to call this “Because the Butterflies Hate You” AU (Because Butterfly Effect is a spiteful bitch as Gabriel will soon learn).

So Gabemoth does as leaked and tries making his wish to “undo his past mistakes” via taking on Emilie’s coma status and giving his life for hers.

Un(Fortunately) for him, my version of Gimme is petty AF and the dictionary definition of the Jerkass Genie trope+monkey’s paw, so it grants his wish by taking him literally and undoing all his choices that lead him here to this moment - including his meeting Emilie. Should have been a bit more specific on that part Gabbie-boy!

So instead of croaking, Gabriel wakes up in his old family flat from back when he was still Gabbie Grassette. A quick search of his things and his old diary reveals that in this new reality, Gabbie’s attempt to strike out on his own fell flat, as never meeting Emilie meant he never met her parents or Audrey and Andre to help get his fashion career off the ground and create his “Gabriel Agreste” persona to escape his past. After too many failures in attempting to start up his own brand, he eventually (and reluctantly) returned home and took over the family frystand as was originally ordained for him.

Needless to say, Gabe’s not happy about this (nor the fact that he’s still alive, because that means Gimme didn’t use him as the wish’s price as planned), especially since despite all his googling, he can’t find anything about Emilie in the new reality (or Nathalie and Adrien).

So he gives temp control to one of his family employee’s and asks Harry (Who’s comedy career sadly failed to take off) to drive him to Paris under the guise of “Fry research” to see if he can gather clues there (and maybe see how much this world differs from the old one)

When he arrives, he sees the entire city has changed. Certain shops aren’t where they’re supposed to be or replaced with unfamiliar businesses, different people have taken different roles and jobs, and there’s no one who recognizes him. Even Andre, Audrey, and Tomoe are no longer the same people they were in the original universe either...

But even with all that, Gabriel still can’t find any sign of Emilie. Even researching her family turns up no clues for him (though that blasted Amelie seems to be doing well though). He had originally assumed she somehow still managed to break away from her parents, but none of that explains why he can’t find anything about her. It’s like she vanished into thin air. The only real clue he has is that she clearly didn’t find any success as an actress in this universe since he can’t find her filmography.

The same goes for Nathalie - though she seemed to have had a very detailed and lucrative career as an archeologist and explorer a few years back before she all but disappeared from the public eye some odd months ago. Conspiracy theorists point the finger at the mysterious research benefactor from her last expedition, but so far her case has many people stumped.

Which just leaves Adrien - and while his son seems to no longer have articles or magazine covers to track him with in this universe, Gabriel at least hopes one thing hasn’t changed in the universe.

“...Gabbie?” “Yes Harry?” “This isn’t about fry research is it?” “What makes you say that?” “*Gestures to the fact that they’re two grown men hanging outside a middleschool in a van*” “...” “...” “...I promise this makes sense.” “Do you now?”

Luckily for Gabriel, he was actually correct on that point - the Adrien of the new universe still attends Francois Dupont, and he spots him exiting during the lunch bell with some friends (Though that Dupain-Cheng girl isn’t with him - Strange...?). He still looks the same as the old universe, the perfect image of him and his beloved’s dream child

...Except, isn’t his hair a little darker? And the shade of green for his eyes is way off - nothing like the subtle emerald hues of his wife? Also, is that a cane? And why is he wearing that trashy bargain bin outfit for? Just what did that blasted Gimme change to cause his son to become so different!?

Before he can question it more though - a Sentimonster attacks. Yep, still a thing in this universe. Gabriel gets separated from Harry in the chaos but remains calm. After all, if there’s still an active Peacock user (which means it got fixed in this world as well), then that must mean the butterfly must be active too, which also mean that blasted Ladybug and Chat Noir are still around. They should be able to help him.

And Chat (or at least a new one it appears) does show up alongside three other heroes...but there’s no Ladybug among their numbers. An akuma never shows to help the sentimonster either. They take down the creature and rescue civilians caught up in the attack, but the damage done around the school remains as the children are forced to leave early, Adrien included.

Naturally, the lack of a Ladybug wielder despite the Peacock (and what happened to the Butterfly Miraculous? Is it not active? Was it never found?) still being in play is concerning, but Gabriel’s more interested in following his son (who technically isn’t really his son anymore but eh - semantics), to make sure he gets home okay - aaaaaand maybe learn more about his new life in the post-wish verse and possibly find a clue about Emilie. After all, if their son still exists, that must mean she still used Dusuu’s powers to create him which also means his wish didn’t change anything

Of course, it’s just then that Gabriel gets ambushed and dragged away into a random alley. When he finally regains his wits he learns his attacker is...

Marinette (wielding the Pig Miraculous no less), who as it turns out, still remembers the old timeline too - and is very pissed at Gabriel for that backstab venom (oh, and also for throwing the fabric of the cosmos out of whack because he thought he knew better than her, his wife, and the centuries old cosmic demigod).

Lucky for him though, she’s prioritizing undoing his universe-sized goof up over payback (for now), so now the two have to work together to find the Ladybug, get the Cat’s new owner to help them, and undo Gabriel’s wish to turn things back to normal. Hurray...

[jellojolteon]

Thoughts on ml movie below the cut (not really looking for any response, just to drop my thoughts somewhere, but y'know standard spoiler warning too)

Really mixed bag? Like genuinely and truly. There were parts of it that made me laugh! The humor was genuinely fun and I loved the use of cuts! There were parts that were really great! And the visuals are unquestionably stunning.

I'll abstain from an opinion on the musical numbers since that isn't really my cup of tea and I can't judge em

And I'm willing to let rest that this is a retelling, and it's a cool take on the story in terms of what got brought back (mime guy from the pv??? Amazing so glad that got given a proper use) and even the characterizations are fine in my book, especially given limited runtime.

But I think that this movie (and this seems like a common problem in the show too, at least to the point through s3 where I had stopped watching) (and the marketing too tbh) is that it tries to do too much with too little substance. It spreads itself too thin. What even IS the theme here? Is it the love over death thing? Is it self-acceptance? So much was stuffed in that it was all tell and almost no show.

It pays lip service to the original idea of trying to put another Real Girl Superhero into the spotlight and simply by virtue of the mechanism that the agreste family plays in the story, aka them as the driving force of the plot, it's hard to handle it and have Marinette still be clearly the main character. In retrospect, there's almost a bitter irony to Adrien cockily proclaiming that he's the main hero and Marinette is the sidekick. I think if Marinette had really had her growth focused clearly in one direction it wouldn't have been so bad, but the multiple themes really eat away at forming a cohesive picture about her and her growth and cementing for the audience that she's the star. I guess the "she-hero" bit just bugs me an exceeding amount.

As a result of the allotment of character complexity, it almost feels like Gabriel is the most compelling character, even though he's still sort of flattened into a two-dimensional version of himself. He's an asshole to Adrien at the beginning, like pretty blatantly, and then explains away everything at the end and boosh suddenly everything is ok. I didn't even pick up that he had any sort of atonement or one-on-one time with the French judicial system, outside of the implication of him going to jail by trusting Nathalie with the secret of Emilie. So like. I guess the things that make Gabriel most compelling are his longer hair when he was younger and his absolute scuzzy gutter dad look lmfao.

(side note, part of me lived in fear of being spoiled of the parts of the show I haven't watched, but I guess if there were such spoilers I missed em. It just surprised me that they were willing to play their hand on Gabriel=Hawkmoth with so little fanfare, but then again maybe I shouldn't be asking so much when it was already all spread so thin)

So like

Yeah

It didn't necessarily have me staring raptly at the screen, but most of my gripes are of the same flavor that I have for the show anyway.

There were much worse uses of my afternoon 😂

[rosie-b]

True Blue

Chapter 6: A Window into Darkness (<- ao3 link) (2943 words)

M. Agreste shook his head as he closed the casket. “The Wish will rewrite every mistake we have made, Marinette. It will be as if the akumas never happened. There will be no pain, only a brave new future rid of monstrous deeds and people. It’s as simple as ripping out bad stitches in a dress, only...” “Only, Golden Bug and Chat Grise have the seam ripper,” Marinette realized.    M. Agreste smiled grimly. “Exactly, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I knew I was right to choose you as my apprentice.”

Read the whole chapter on AO3 using the link or just below!

Marinette lay awake in her bed, unable to sleep as M. Agreste’s words turned around in her brain, repeating themselves in an endless circle. 

She hadn’t had enough time to think about them that afternoon, while M. Agreste rapidly explained everything and practically pushed her out of the door. There was far too much for her to digest in one evening, as her parents exclaimed in relief that she was safe from the Evillustrator and stuffed her full of comfort soup when they noticed how shaken she still was. 

It was one thing to learn that M. Agreste was Hawk Moth. It was another to learn that Adrien was created by magic, a magic that had broken and nearly killed his mother. A magic that was possibly breaking her, too. 

M. Agreste had created an akuma that could have killed both her and his son. He’d also offered her a life-saving medicine, and was working day and night to save his wife and the lives of two others. He was stiff and cold, but it was clear that his heart was full of love for the people closest to him.

And yet, he was the face of evil in Paris.  

Marinette didn’t know what to do with the heterogenous mix of information swirling around her head; should she try to warn Adrien that his father was misguidedly using a Miraculous to try and save his mother? Should she tell him that his existence was bewildering to every brain cell she owned? 

If she were Adrien, she’d rather hear about all this from her parent, not a girl who’d only just found out about it, herself, and didn’t have a good grasp on the situation. 

Marinette rolled over and buried her face in the warm pillow. Did Adrien even count as human? Was he some kind of humanoid magical being, like an elf? 

That would explain his superhuman good looks, at least. 

But no! He had to be human! Adrien was the most human boy she’d ever met! He felt everything so deeply, even when he hid it, fought to protect her from the Evillustrator, made the worst puns she’d ever heard, and cared so much about life and the people he met in it.  

He just also happened to be tied to an amok that could let anyone (or maybe just his mother? Marinette wasn’t sure) control him. 

She had to tell him eventually. He deserved to know the truth. 

Resolved, Marinette rolled over again and tried to fall asleep. 

Before she could drift off, another thought struck her. 

Emilie was still alive according to Gabriel, but the rest of the world thought she was dead or missing, at best. So where was she? 

She really hoped Gabriel wasn’t keeping her in the attic. That would just be creepy. 

__*__*__*__*__ 

That morning, when the Gorilla came to pick Marinette up, Adrien was waiting in the backseat. As Marinette approached the car, he opened the door and stepped out, balancing his new bookbag on his shoulder. 

“Hello, Marinette,” he said, lifting his hand in greeting and offering her a small smile. 

Marinette stared at him unblinkingly for three agonizingly long seconds. Then she jumped backwards and grinned manically, her eye twitching as she spread her lips further. 

“Haydrien! Smile nice to move you! No, I mean hi, Adrien! Your smile is nice! Very human!”  

Marinette wondered if she could ask M. Agreste for an akuma to make the ground swallow her. 

Adrien blinked. “Thanks, Marinette! Your smile is very human, too.” 

Marinette coughed into her fist and kept staring at Adrien as the smile slowly fell off his face. 

His ears turned pink as he adjusted the bookbag’s strap on his shoulder. 

“Marinette, I know we don’t have much time before you leave for the mansion, and I have to get to school, but I need to ask you about yesterday. Chloe didn’t apologize, did she?” 

Oh, right, Chloe’s latest bullying attempt had been yesterday, too. 

Marinette shook her head, remembering how Chloe had laughed about M. Agreste only thinking of her as a servant. Well, he’d proven that he cared about her enough to trust her with his biggest secrets.  

Marinette slowly smiled as Adrien lowered his head and frowned remorsefully. 

“I’m so sorry, Marinette! I could tell she was acting weird, but I didn’t know what to do about it. I won’t let her get near you again, I promise. She has to learn to stop bullying people!” 

“Yeah,” Marinette agreed, still caught up in gloating over the inaccuracy of Chloe’s taunts. Just a servant, indeed! Just a girl with the most dangerous information in Paris! That had to count for something. She was like a secret confidant, and everyone knew confidants were worth more than servants. 

The Gorilla pressed the car’s horn, startling both Marinette and Adrien. 

“I guess it’s time to go,” Adrien said, scratching the back of his neck. “Listen, I know I can never make up to you for what happened yesterday, but I promise I’ll try! And I’ll see you after school, right?” 

Marinette shrugged as she swung her backpack off her shoulders and put it in the car. 

“I hope so,” she said, brushing her bangs out of her eyes and turning to Adrien. “Have a good day at school, Adrien! I’ll miss you during lessons!” 

Adrien swallowed, watching Marinette climb into the car and get ready to go. 

“I’ll miss you, too,” he said, and waved as the car pulled away from the curb. 

Minutes later, Marinette was stepping into the mansion, feeling a shiver of dread as she remembered that this was the house of Paris’ feared villain, Hawk Moth. 

She tried to banish the thought, reminding herself that M. Agreste had a good reason for what he was doing, and besides, he seemed to care about her. She was probably safe. 

Ms. Sancoeur led Marinette into the study room, which felt twice as large without Adrien in it.  

“Mr. Agreste told me that you discovered Hawk Moth’s identity yesterday,” she said once she’d closed the doors behind them and they were alone in the room. 

Marinette’s heart skipped a beat. That’s right, Nathalie knew about his secrets, too! 

“Yes,” she nodded as she wet her backpack down unsurely. This day was not going to be normal, was it? 

Ms. Sancoeur sighed and pushed her glasses up. “That’s not ideal,” she said. “How are you taking the news?” 

I’m still not sure if it was a dream, Marinette thought. Out loud, she said, “I’m still adjusting to it. Although, I can see why M. Agreste is almost never available, now. He has to be one of the busiest men on earth, since he’s running a company and making akumas at the same time.” 

Ms. Sancoeur frowned and tapped her pen against the tablet she was carrying. “It isn’t easy for him. But even though I’m sure you have questions, I have a few very important ones that I’d like you to answer, first. And they’re not your times tables,” she said, stretching her mouth in an awkward smile. 

Marinette stared. 

“Sorry, I was never good with humor,” Ms. Sancoeur sighed. “Well, please do your best to answer, anyway. Where was Gabriel when you found the safe? Was he inside?” 

“No, he was outside by Emilie’s statue,” Marinette responded.  

Nathalie took a deep breath. “And he needed his tablet?” 

“It was his sketchbook, actually,” Marinette replied. “He wanted to try a traditional approach yesterday, so he asked me to get his sketchbook for him.” 

“And he told you it was in the atelier?” 

“Yes.”  

Marinette scrunched her brows together as she thought. Hadn’t M. Agreste told Nathalie any of this yet? Then again, he was pretty busy, as Ms. Sancoeur had just confirmed. 

“And that’s when you found the open safe and put on the brooch.” 

“Exactly, and then M. Agreste found me while I still had it in my pocket.” Marinette squirmed as she had to retell the story. “I wasn’t feeling well afterwards, so he took me upstairs and gave me some of Emilie’s medicine after explaining things to me. It was very nice of him.” 

Nathalie muttered something under her breath and made a note on her tablet. 

“So, you know that Emilie used the Peacock to create Adrien, that it made her ill, and that Gabriel is using the Butterfly to try to gain the Ladybug and Black Cat, which he’ll use to bring her b— to heal her."

“Along with someone else who used the Peacock, and two others who died from it.” 

Nathalie sat down in Adrien’s old chair. “He really told you everything, then?” 

Marinette frowned. “Well, mostly. He didn’t tell me where Emilie is. Is she in a hospital somewhere? The United States, or England?” 

Ms. Sancoeur looked away. “She is receiving the best care we can offer her,” she parroted. “In Paris. You’ll have to ask M. Agreste if you want to see where she is exactly.” 

“Oh. He did say I could ask him more questions after school today, but I don’t really want to bother him more than I have,” Marinette said. “Do you think I should ask him?” 

Ms. Sancoeur gave her an odd look. “If you think you’re ready for the answer, then go ahead. I think he wants to share this with you,” she said, and cleared her throat as she stood up. “Now that that’s done, we should get started on our lessons. There are many subjects to cover, and you’ll need to get started on your homework early if you want to ask M. Agreste about Emilie this afternoon. We’ll begin with a short French lesson, and after that, your Chinese tutor will be here...” 

__*__*__*__*__ 

It wasn’t until three o’clock that Marinette had the chance to speak to M. Agreste. Standing in his office, she looked at the portrait of Emilie with a trace of guilt in her chest. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t temporarily stolen the brooch from that safe! 

“So, did Nathalie explain anything more to you?” 

Gabriel looked down at Marinette from where he stood, working on a new design at his art stand. She fidgeted and shifted her stance. 

“She said you’d gone over most of everything. But she said I should ask you about where Emilie is receiving care, not her.” 

M. Agreste turned off the tablet he was working on and turned to Marinette.

“Yes, I suppose that would make sense. Come with me,” he said, walking over to the painting that hid the safe. 

Marinette was confused, but she followed behind M. Agreste. He pressed a few buttons hidden in the artwork, and suddenly, a circle appeared in the floor, opening up to reveal a glass elevator. 

“We will have to go one at a time. When you get to the bottom, wait for me,” M. Agreste said, guiding Marinette into the elevator by her shoulders. 

I don’t like where this is going, Marinette thought as the doors closed behind her.  

The elevator was not very wide, and Marinette stayed stock still, afraid to tilt the whole machine, throughout the ride down to the hidden basement. The elevator opened, and she stepped out through a second, metal door onto a dimly lit balcony connected to what seemed to be a catwalk of sorts. She stayed frozen there as the elevator rushed up to the first floor and came back down with M. Agreste in it. 

He stepped out of the elevator and walked past Marinette onto the metal bridge. A group of lights turned on, and at the far end of the catwalk, a large window opened up, illuminating a large, circular platform with plants growing on it. In the middle of the platform, there was a white box that looked like a casket. 

Marinette’s heart twisted as she followed M. Agreste onto the bridge. Was this really where Mme. Agreste was being treated? It was just as bad as if she had been kept in the attic! 

M. Agreste began to speak as they neared the end of the long bridge. “From what I understand, Miss Dupain-Cheng, you have never lost anyone close to you before. Nathalie tells me that you might have some difficulty understanding our position because of that. Well,” he said, placing his hand on the white casket, which opened to reveal an unmoving Emilie Agreste, “Perhaps you will understand me better after this.

“Imagine that for twelve full years, you have to watch a loved one, perhaps your mother or father, slowly die of a mysterious illness. No medicine can cure them, it can only lessen their suffering. And soon enough, even medicine begins to fail them. So you turn to your friend, who creates a piece of technology so advanced that it can hold death off for years. And then for months, you hold on to hope for a miracle. You hide your loved one’s sickness from their child and the rest of the world, just as they asked. You help them into this bed and hope that one day, they’ll step out of it. You let the public give up on her, and you hold a funeral, a façade meant to divert public attention until you find the cure. 

“And you do find the cure. But someone else has it, and they’re unwilling to share. They’ll never share, even if it means my wife’s death, and the death of three others. Hundreds could die, and they still would not give me their Miraculous!” 

M. Agreste was breathing heavily, his hand clenched into fists as he leaned over Emilie’s life-saving coffin. Marinette watched in shock as a tear fell from his eye.

“So, you do the only thing you can. You put on your Miraculous, become Hawk Moth, and fight to save the people you love. And the city calls you a monster, as if you don’t know who the true monster is!”  

He slowly turned from the coffin and glared as he looked at Marinette. “The Guardian of the Miraculous is a cold-hearted man, Marinette. He will do everything in his power to stop me from saving Emilie and the others, even you. But I can’t give up hope, not when the Wish would solve every problem I face and more. Not when Adrien is giving in to despair and turning to school to distract him from his fear that he will never see his mother again. Do you understand now, Miss Dupain-Cheng?” 

It was hard to speak through the lump in Marinette’s throat, so she just nodded instead. Her eyes were wide and glistening as she stared at M. Agreste, whose face relaxed as he nodded back at her.  

“For as long as the Guardian clings to his foolish old ways, I must remain as Hawk Moth. Rest assured, Miss Marinette, I will win in the end. And the Agrestes will rise once more.” 

That was fine, but, “What about the Parisians you akumatize? Won’t they remember the trauma from causing harm to the city, even if Golden Bug always undoes it?”

M. Agreste shook his head as he closed the casket. “The Wish will rewrite every mistake we have made, Marinette. It will be as if the akumas never happened. There will be no pain, only a brave new future rid of monstrous deeds and people. It’s as simple as ripping out bad stitches in a dress, only...”

“Only, Golden Bug and Chat Grise have the seam ripper,” Marinette realized.  

 M. Agreste smiled grimly.

“Exactly, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I knew I was right to choose you as my apprentice.”  

Marinette’s stomach flipped. “Just for fashion, right? You’re not training me to be the new Hawk Moth, are you?”" 

The corner of Gabriel’s mouth twitched. “Of course, just for fashion,” he said in a voice as sticky-sweet as honey. “I would never expect you to put yourself in harm’s way for someone you hardly know.” Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply. “There’s something I must attend to,” he said as his eyes shot open. “A person’s heart is ripe for akumatization. Would you like to come with me to see how it’s done? It might set your mind at ease. I can feel your discomfort through the brooch.”  

Marinette swallowed as he removed his ascot and touched the metal butterfly lightly. From his shirt pocket, a purple kwami emerged, wings drooping as he stared sadly at Marinette.  

“Well?” M. Agreste asked impatiently.  

“Maybe next time,” Marinette said quietly. “I promised Adrien I’d talk to him after school, and I only have a little time left here, anyway, so I should get ready to go. If that’s okay with you.” 

M. Agreste frowned, but nodded in understanding. “Then go, Marinette. I will see you again tomorrow. I suggest you be ready then.”

Marinette felt his eyes boring through her as she slowly walked back to the elevator and pushed the button to go to the first floor. There was another button, too, but she wasn’t sure where it went, and she didn’t think she could handle anything more today. 

She practically fled from the atelier, hoping that she would never see Emilie Agreste’s coffin again. She wasn’t sure how she could face Adrien after today, knowing so much more than he did about Hawk Moth, about the woman hidden under his house, even about Adrien himself. There was so much she had learned that she'd never wanted to.

At least it turned out that Hawk Moth was on the good side, after all.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Wish come true - Adrien AUGreste Day 14+15

A bit late, but I was smart in asking EtherealGenie for help betaing, so there shouldn't be any spelling errors, at least not before the social media part, that I just added, so that was up to my spellcheck so fingers crossed. Also, it would actually take 6 hours for them to get to Saint Vincent Beach from Paris but for the sake of the story, we’re gonna say it takes less time. Anyway, enjoy! Passion

“No! Let me go, you can’t do this! I’m your daughter! I’m Lila Agreste!”

“Honestly Gabriel, you should have nipped this in the bud earlier. It’ll be difficult, but she’ll be disciplined and a different child by the time she comes home for break.” Tomoe said as they watched Gorilla carry the squirming girl to the red car. “My family will keep you updated. It’s laughable, how she doesn’t seem to realize how a name can’t get you far. You have to work for the respect you want.”

The designer could feel the judgment from the famed fencer. He still couldn’t understand how his daughter turned out like this. He thought back and realized times where she was caught, usually by her mother. Eventually she just got better at not getting caught and because he was so preoccupied with work or Emile’s health, he didn’t notice. Then she wanted to go to school and try her luck out there. She was quickly found out but it didn’t stop her. She kept trying to gain some attention, like something was supposed to change and nothing. And now it left her as this, a known bully who attacked a student with no motive. It took all his skills to keep the Rossi’s from suing, from having Lila removed to paying the hospital bills, and sending a check that was near 1 million euro. If he wanted any chance at saving his business, getting a new face for the company was critical. There were only so much his apologies could do. Honestly, after he got the Miraculous and got Emilie back, the business wouldn’t matter but until then, he had to focus on this, even if it meant turning his back on his daughter.

“I’ll fly with her to Japan and make sure she’s dropped off. Our security is going to meet us at the airport so your guard can stay here.” Good, Gorilla was not made for flying. “I should hope when I return that our business dealings won’t be putting my family at risk anymore.”

“Of course. Thank you again for doing this.”

Tomoe hummed before heading to the car, climbing into the passenger seat. Lila was still protesting as the car drove off.

“Master?” Nooroo asked once Gorilla had gone back inside leaving him and Nathalie on the front steps.

“Would I really not have been able to control her as an akuma? She would have been perfect.”

“But she wouldn’t want to give the wish over, even if she did know. She would be selfish. Even if she would have been your most useful or most powerful, she would have been the one you could never control.”

“Not to mention she still wouldn’t admit she stole the Peacock Miraculous.” Nathalie said.

“She didn’t have it. I couldn’t find it in any of her stuff. She might have given it away to keep it from you.” Nooroo said.

“To who? No one liked her.”

“Maybe she slipped it into a classmate’s bag. Unless Duusu came out, they wouldn’t know what it is.”

Gabriel thought of where Lila could have slipped it. one seemed the most obvious. “She must have slipped it into Rossi’s bag.”

“A-Adrien? M-Master, you can’t actually think…?”

“It makes the most sense.” Nathalie said. “She hated him and was constantly trying to get him into trouble. She left the book in the garden, no doubt because it was too big to hide away, the Peacock wasn’t. And it’s the one you want back the most. To hide it with someone who would be in bigger trouble than she’d been in would be the perfect place.”

“Um, uh, Master, I don’t think…you can’t go near him now.” Nooroo stuttered out. “Lila hurt him and his parents, they don’t want you around him. Even if he does have it, I’m sure he would have mentioned it.”

“He’s popular on Instagram, isn’t he?”

“His personal account is private, but he has a cosplay and food blog one.”

“Keep an eye on them. It might turn up.”

“But he might not even have it.” Nooroo said.

“Where else could it be? Do you know?” he ordered.

Nooroo stiffened as his ability to follow orders was triggered. “I don’t know.”

“Then we keep an eye on him. Now, what about Juleka’s contract?” he asked, heading back inside.

“Her mother has been going over it. Sir, she’s been checking everything from pay, to breaks, making sure it doesn’t interfere with her schooling and also making sure she isn’t working over a certain number of hours. You have to admit, the original contract violated a few child labour laws and she’s been spotting them like it’s nothing. In fact, she’s figured out how to get her daughter paid more.”

“Her mother? I suppose getting in trouble with the police makes it their job to drop by.”

“Actually sir…she graduated from law school.” At Gabriel’s stunned look, she continued, “Top of her class, was given the most offers after graduating but she didn’t accept any of them. Students in her class knew she had a deal with her parents to go to law school and she was allowed to do whatever she wanted after. Became a guitar player for Jagged Stone early in his career, got certified to be a ship captain, worked as a captain on a yacht for a while before becoming a freelance captain and had two kids. She knows how to get away with things because she knows the law. She’s making sure Juleka gets whatever she wants and that we legally have to give her.”

Gabriel sighed, looking to the ceiling. “The messes never end. Take care of it. If I want to fix this company, I need her.”

                                               _____________

Adrien watched his boyfriend and Rose go over lyrics. The two were focused, Luka coming up with a melody that fit the words Rose came up with. He felt like he was watching Marc and Nath work on the newest issue. The couple had a rough start as comic partners, even after the effort of stopping Marinette from going with her idea and acting as a middle man until Marc felt confident enough, but now they were a well-oiled machine, with Nath talking Marc through his drawings and then listening intently to the script Marc came up with from that. He looked over at Marinette who was using Juleka as a model for new outfits for Kitty Section. She worked tirelessly with ease, attaching the pieces until they became a cohesive look. She was the same when sketching designs, rarely able to be disturbed. Even Ivan has his private passion with poetry. He wasn’t attempting to sing it anymore, but Mylene swore that his words had a deep meaning. He seemed calmer working on it, even when Mylene wasn’t there to read his work after. Watching everyone work on something they were passionate about made Adrien realise something. He hadn’t been doing that. Food blogging was easy but getting lost and exploring and even cosplaying had taken a back seat. He hadn’t actually worked on anything since his Queen Serenity cosplay and the feather disaster. He had a few that he wanted to work on but another thing he realized was he was bored of doing it on his own. Sometimes he was able to get his mom involved and his dad loved doing it but he had to rush off after staying in Paris while he recovered from his concussion. Very few times had he gotten friends involved. For the most part now, Nino took his photos and Marinette helped him with the more difficult outfit builds, and of course Max helped with any tech stuff like the wings. He even brightened at the challenge of making a bow and arrow for his BOTW Link, lights and all.

He wanted to do a simple cosplay and just get lost to find a place for pictures. But with his mom busy with her own job, it wasn’t like they could take a train and be back before her next meeting. He could do it by himself, but it was so much more fun getting lost with someone.

“You ok?” noticing Luka was standing in front of him, he looked and realized the others were setting up to start practicing, though Marinette was taking the time to fit everyone into their costumes in case of issues.

“Yeah, just…seeing everyone so focused on working on their favourite thing I realized I haven't been able to cosplay in a while. I just want to get lost and take pictures and fall in love with it all over again.”

“Who would you be?”

“I don’t know. I have a few thoughts but I kinda want to do a pair cosplay. Getting lost with someone is so much more fun than going by yourself.”

“Guys!”

“Let me know a few of your choices after practise, ok?” Luka asked, leaving Adrien slightly confused. Why did he want to know that?

Practice ended with them going to Marinette’s to get the last pick of the day – and get extras – before Luka walked him home. They did stop by Andre’s ice cream cart to people watch.

“So, couples cosplays. What were your choices?”

“Couple?” Adrien looked at Luka. “Where did this come from?”

“I don’t actually think I’ve seen you in cosplay, I always see the pictures after. With everything you dealt with, with Lila, you kinda deserve to get lost. Maman has so many offers to borrow a vacation house out near the Rivera. So why not take a train and get lost?”

“I don’t think our mothers will be ok with us staying the night by ourselves.” Adrien felt like pointing out, if only to distract himself. He wasn’t upset with the suggestion, not at all. He just wasn’t expecting it.

“So, we go there to change into costume and back before we head home. Look, I’ve had those times where I feel like life is pulling me away from the thing, I’m passionate the most and having the time to do those things make your life so much better and less stressful. You’ve been through a lot recently and I want to do something to help you feel better. So, what couples cosplay do you want to do?”

“You’d really do that for me?” Adrien asked. He couldn’t remember any relationship where his partner wanted to participate.

“Yes, so come on.”

“Well, it’s a tossup between Ikuto and Amu and any of the main Mermaid Melody girls and their boyfriends. You know, with your hair, you’d do a pretty good Hanon, even though your personality is a bit more like Lina’s boyfriend.”

“Think we could do two outfits?”

How did he end up with this guy? Seriously, how was he real.

“If it’s closet cosplay, sure. I really wanna dress you up as an idol though. How do you feel about ruffles? And hair pins? Can I please put hair pins in your hair? Oh wait, I need to get you to listen to all the songs, even the openings and closings, I think you might like them. Is this, ok?”

Luka couldn’t help but laugh at him. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this excited in a while. You’re cute. I’m up for whatever, promise.”

Adrien couldn’t help but bounce a little. “You’re going to be the best mermaid prince idol ever. We need to stop at the cosmetic store. Hanon’s boyfriend has blue hair. I need to get temporary spray.”

“I think you’d rock blue hair.”

“In case I forget to in my excitement, thank you. really, you could have just come with me, but I’m glad you're interested in trying. I promise, I’ll make the experience awesome.”

“I can’t wait.”

                                       _________________

@lukarockstar

A story with a selfie of Adrien and Luka, sitting in train seats. A typewriter font in the corner with ‘Heading out for shoot day!’

Another story, a video focused on Adrien sewing the last of the light blue ruffles to the cuff of a sky-blue tailcoat. ‘Look at him go’ is cantered at the bottom of the video in the same font.

@adrigatto

A post with a picture of Luka, headphones on, focused on his phone propped up by a pop socket on the table. ‘@rosieheart, I think I got @lukarockstar hooked! He’s halfway through and calling Kaito stupid for not realizing.’

Another post with several pictures and a video. The video is from Adrien’s point of view as he follows Luka off the train, panning to take in the people exiting with them and heading for the station's exit. The next is a picture of the ocean and the one after that is a selfie of Adrien and Luka, Luka’s arms wrapped around Adrien who’s holding the phone. ‘@lukarockstar and I have arrived for our Hanon and Nagisa shoot!’

@lukarockstar

A reel with Luka filming himself. With his other hand he’s holding a piece of bread. “Just a piece of advice if you ever go to a new restaurant with Adrien. If they offer to bring chips or anything like that to the table, tell them to bring it with your orders, or else you have to watch this and starve.” Luka flips the camera to focus on Adrien, who’s standing and taking overhead shots of their food. Seeing his boyfriend filming, he refocuses with a smile on his face. “Leave me alone.” the camera flips back to Luka. “You’ll be happier, trust me.”

A post with pictures of Adrien opening the door to their temporary accommodation, a small Disney princess trunk themed carry on standing next to him, the cosplays hanging up on the door and a mirror selfie of Luka as Adrien does his makeup.

A story of a reposted TikTok with Luka and Adrien, Adrien leaning on Luka with his hands on his shoulder while Luka films. He shakes his phone and when the picture settles, they’re in costume, still in the same pose. Luka has star hairpins clipped into his bangs and the sky-blue tailcoat with ruffled cuffs match the pale blue shirt and white cravat which has a Shell Locket pinned to it. Adrien’s hair is now a pale blue, not true to Nagisa’s near black hair, but in a long sleeved white striped shirt and black short sleeved shirt over it and grey eyes.

@scarcatblog

A blurry picture of the Parisan skyline with a spot of red and black in the distance. ‘Spotted today was a new spotted hero with Catseye. Caught name was Ladybird, blonde hair and spandex suit. Witnesses claim this isn’t her first time out on the streets but second, but where has Scarlet Bug gone?’

@gattocosplay

A post with pictures, first with Luka on a dock. You could see his whole outfit now, including the dark blue bow attached to the tailcoat and the white slacks tucked into pale blue Doc Martens. An E-Pitch microphone is in hand as well. The first 3 photos are of Luka on the dock, either looking at the camera or of a profile of him. The next two are of him and Adrien by a rock wall. First is Luka sitting on it, looking down at Adrien who stood staring up at him between his legs. The next is Adrien dipping Luka as the two stare at each other. The one after that is on the sand, both holding ice creams, which are pressed against each other as the two share a kiss. The last two are close ups, one with Luka pressing a kiss to Adrien’s cheek and the last of them sharing the microphone, as if singing together. There’s a video at the end of Adrien and Luka by the rock wall. Adrien is trying to dip Luka, but Luka leans back too far and both go falling to the sandy ground, laughing when their attempts to stop fail. ‘Our Mermaid Melody shoot was a success! This was @lukarockstar ‘s first time cosplaying and I think we can agree he did amazing. Close up shots of the finished cosplay and more pictures and BTS coming soon!’

@hungrygatto

Pictures of their food from La Treille Tapas and a perfect shot of the ice cream used in the shoot, and a selfie of Luka and Adrien eating their ice cream. ‘A trip to Saint Vincent Beach means food fit for the seaside. Shared a traditional plate with jamon, cheeses and pain con tomate and 2 drinks. Altogether, no more than 25 euro. The ice cream was from a nearby passing cart, 3 euro each. I got passion fruit and @lukarockstar got mint chocolate chip. Very good, but melts very quickly. Already want to come back for a deeper dive.’

@lukarockstar

Story with a picture of Adrien, back on the train, asleep on Luka’s lap. The added gif of a cat sleeping tells all it needs. The next picture of the story is of Adrien as Nagisa sitting on the stairs, looking off camera. ‘He’s amazing’ is written in the corner in the same typewriter font.

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Happy November! October was a month of excessive edits, so I thought it might be fun / good for my own brain to just make an edit round up list of everything I made this past month! Will I ever do this again? tbd, maybe so, ask me in 30 days!

Halloween Edits

Spencer Hargrove as the Final Girl

Greer Collier as the Bad Girl

Ophelia Wayne as the Final Girl

Rosabelle Legume as the Whore

Cassia Potter as the Cassandra

Stacey Byers as the Final Girl

Arianne Martin as the Opheliac

Verona Rosier as the Dead Girl

Caroline Fox in Barbie

Gilmore Girls OCs in The Craft

Gossip Girl OCs in The House On Sorority Row

Colton & Cece Cartwright in the Addams Family

Nikki Rogers in Van Helsing

Arianne Marin in Alice In Wonderland

Mercy Correira in a Horror Film

Sidney Hopper in I Know What You Did Last Summer

Betty Fabray in Carrie

Isla George in Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

Verona Rosier in The Corpse Bride

Laura Hyde in Jekyll And Hyde

Ilsa Gilmore Danes in Hocus Pocus

Elle Winchester in Goosebumps

Kyla Keller as Cher Horowitz

Abi Claremont Diaz & Bea Fox as Romeo & Juliet

Betty Fabray as Sandy Olsson & Satine

Willow Dell & Lucas Gilmore as The Mystery Gang

Aurora Anderson as Wednesday Addams

Blossom & Ben as Belle & The Beast

Nikki Rogers as Taylor Swift

Kirsty Gilmore in Swan Lake

Caroline Fox & Alex Claremont-Diaz as Rapunzel & Flynn Rider

Emily Patterson & The Phantoms in The Wizard Of Oz

Savannah Evans as Janet Weiss

Jo Berry & Camilo Ayers as Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona

Vicki St James as Ginger Spice

Hillary Holliday as Barbie

Colton & Cece Cartwright as Veronica Sawyer & Jason Dean

Aurélia Agreste as Lydia Deetz

Dylan Efron & EJ Caswell as Cady Heron & Aaron Samuels

Ophelia Wayne & Leander Hayes as Elena & Zorro

OC Birthdays

Bethany Lance

Matilde Bourgeois

Alcyone St Stevens

Greer Collier

Aria Parker

Elizabeth Barton

Deborah Winchester

Fallon Parris Jones

Anastasia Andrews

Atalanta Jackson

Jacqueline Grant

Kirsty Gilmore

Lucas Gilmore

Josette Cobblepot

Aurélia Agreste

Savannah Evans (pt 1)

Savannah Evans (pt 2)

Pumpkin Spice Day

London Carter

Camila Nelson

Gabriel Branwell

Rebecca Wayland

Aislynn Deaton

Evan Mariano

Betty Fabray

Jo Berry

Isla George

Nikki Rogers

Cassia Potter

Anissa Radcliffe

Stacey Byers

Adina Lightwood

Callie Raeken

Willow Dell

Kyla Keller

Halley Shaw

Ophelia Wayne

Kirsty Gilmore

[ao3feed-ladynoir]

Study Date Selfie

Study Date Selfie by Jendora

For the first time ever, Adrien and Marinette have arranged to hold a study date at his mansion. At the end of the study date, Adrien decides that he and his girlfriend should take a selfie to show their friends at school the next day…and maybe, just maybe, this perfect selfie should be posted onto his public Instagram account too! It's only right that all of his fans saw how lucky he was to have somehow won the love of the most beautiful girl in Paris…maybe even the world. Marinette would thank him later for this…someday.

Words: 1963, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Nathalie Sancoeur, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Emilie Agreste

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Additional Tags: Study Date, Miraculous Ladybug Spoilers, Miraculous Season 5 Spoilers, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44270449

[sufandomgirl]

Miraculous Ladybug x Hell's Belles Series Part 1: Gabriel

[A/N: Once again, another ridiculous Hell's Belles Crossover idea. I think at this point, it's a given. Comment if you find this funny or just plain weird.]

!Season 5 Finale Spoilers!

Gabriel: Make sure that Adrien doesn't remember the villain that I was. (sets rings down) Only the times that I tried to be a good father...

Later...

Adrien: As distant as he was to me, I always chalked it up to him missing Mom. I'll miss him.

Marinette: (internally screaming) Oh, I'm sure he'll miss you...(under her breath) wherever he ends up.

Adrien: What was that, Marinette?

Marinette: Nothing! Nothing, Adrien. So, what are you thinking of doing...now that he's...gone?

Adrien: I hadn't really thought about that.

Nathalie: (with Amelie) No matter what, I can't leave Adrien. I've grown to love him too much.

Amelie: (holds her hand) You were so close to being his stepmother, and you took care of him for so long that he became like a son to you. (giggles as Adrien waves at them; waves back)

Nathalie: (waves back at Adrien) I just hope that Gabriel found some peace in the end.

Meanwhile, At the Hellp Desk...

Gabriel: (walking up to the desk) Excuse me, ma'am, maybe you could help me. I'm supposed to be with my wife, but I was told that I was to come down here to get my situation cleared up.

Penny: (makes eye contact with him) Gabriel Agreste. (looks up and down the mountain of a file) Yes, you're definitely in the right place for...clarification. Your file materialized on the floor and it still reaches above the top of my desk. (touches file) Or do you prefer that I call you by one of your alter egos instead?

Hellp Desk: (collectively lean in closer)

Gabriel: Alter ego? You must be mistaken.

Greg: (walks up behind his wife)

Penny: Sir, we know every detail of your life after we touch your file. Every single one. Like a massive temporary download. So, do you prefer Gabriel, Hawkmoth, Scarlet Moth, Collector, Shadow Moth or Monarch?

Gabriel: Miss, I'm af--! (looks around) What are they doing?

Everyone: (pulling their hair up)

Penny: Oh, them? Don't mind them. Another cool thing is if something major happens in the world like all of the destruction you caused, everyone in what you call the 'Afterlife' will find out about it. We've actually been expecting you since your first akumatization. Several deities from many different belief systems have actually called down to put their name on the waiting list for their turn to come down and give you a taste of what you deserve and we just finished constructing your pocket dimension. Sort of like solitary confinement.

Gabriel: What?! I was doing it--!

Judy: To bring your wife back? We know why, Gabriel. That doesn't negate the fact that what you did and the lengths that you went did an irreparable amount of psychological harm and what you said to that poor girl who had to fight you so many times and even tried to warn you that there would be a price to pay. You were a villain, you sure got that right.

Gabriel: Ladybug's Lucky Charms fixed everything, though.

Lily: Not everything, Gabriel. Not her trauma, or your son's or anyone else's that you hurt. Even if they did, you're still destined for your own pocket dimension on Level 9. Don't worry, Greg will get to drag you down there eventually. However, let's see how strong you are against other ADULTS WITHOUT your Miraculous. Since you know, beating up teenagers was so easy with it.

Dante: (hits "record") This is gonna be great!

Sharkie: (starting up LED chainsaw) Yeah, it is!

{Gabriel's eyes held so much fear as the Belles charged him. Bel and Greg watched with pride as their wives and friends beat up this pompous magical asshole. Angel was just happy to hand them weapons. Dante handled the livestream. He was getting better at it.}

Emilie: (watching the livestream) That's what you get for throwing my son across Paris so many times, asshole. (slow turn to Aphrodite) I'm really not sure what Nathalie--or for that matter, I--saw in him. Care to explain?

Aphrodite: Hey, that was not on me. Eros handles Paris, France. Hera and Athena made sure that I had no reign over anything named similarly to Paris of Troy.

Eros: (pokes head out of sliding door) Hey, I thought that she and Nathalie could change him! Love can change people.

Emilie: I'm afraid that's only true for some people. Hopefully, my Adrien will be okay with Marinette. Those two were made for each other.

Athena: I hope that Marinette girl and your son can live somewhat happily now. They should never have had to become soldiers against evil so young, and until the Butterfly Miraculous is retrieved, her and your son's fight isn't over. If she ever chooses to reunite with Hippolyta [A/N: Sorry if I spelled that wrong], I will hopefully get to pass an encouraging message on to her.

Meanwhile, In the Mortal World...

Marinette: (feeding each kwami their favorite and hugging Tikki)

{All of a sudden, her Kwagatama glows, pulsating and Tikki separates from her to see what it is. Her eyes get wide.}

Marinette: Uh, Tikki, Su-Han, what's happening?

Su-Han: This is...remarkable.

Tikki: It's never happened before. (flies in front of Marinette's face) Marinette, you know how you can summon any of the past Ladybug Holders by touching a Guardian seal and saying 'Reunion'?

Marinette: Yeah, I remember talking to Joan of Arc. That whole day was embarrassing and crazy. What about it?

Tikki: Well, it's only been theoretical and never happened before until now, but I think one of the past Ladybug Holders is trying to connect with you from the Afterlife!

Marinette: (gasps, shocked) What?! That's possible?!

Tikki: Until you, a lot of things were thought to be impossible, Marinette. Even with the Miraculous.

Marinette: (panics) Aaaaahhhh! What do I do? A legendary hero is trying to talk to me from beyond the grave!

Su-Han: You answer them, obviously. It should work the same. (hands her a Guardian pendant) You're one of us now, Marinette. Please, accept this pendant as an apology. Just touch the Kwagatama to it and say 'Reunion'. Think of it, like answering a phone call.

Marinette: (takes pendant; puts it on) Okay, here we go. (deep breath; touches Kwagatama to pulsing seal) Reunion.

{The bright light flashes and instead of portraits hanging, she sees Joan of Arc walking towards her instead.}

Marinette: Joan?

Joan: (hand across chest, bowing) Good to see you again, Noble Ladybug of Paris.

Marinette: Why are you bowing? How are you? What's going on? Tikki said that this has never happened before. Other, previous Holders contacting me from the Afterlife.

Joan: I am well, thank you. You've proven yourself worthy and capable of a bow. You've done it. You've stopped your Monarch. Something that I regrettably could not do myself.

Marinette: The Butterfly Miraculous, it's still missing, I was trying so hard to keep him from making the wish, and I couldn't even do that. Someone else took it. I got all the others, but...I failed.

Joan: (holds her shoulder) You did what any of us would have done. You're far too young to have grown so quickly. All of us were chosen when we were already adults. We cannot fathom how you've managed to overcome so much, yet you have. Your Guardian chose well.

Marinette: (tears up, sniffles) No, he didn't. I couldn't protect him. He had to renounce because of me. I was the only one who could take his place...(holds pendant)

Joan: (looks, amazed at Guardian seal) You...are the only Ladybug that's ever become a Guardian. The fact that you are so young and have conquered so much in addition means that Tikki may very well be right to describe you as the best Ladybug holder she's ever served. The fight may not be over, but neither are you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hero Champion of Paris and Guardian of the Miraculous. Whenever you need any of us, we will be here. The other Ladybug Holders sent me to assure you that we are all behind you and now that your Black Cat has a Kwagatama, the same goes for him. Call upon us and we will come to your aid. They also wanted to send me since I am the only one that you've ever summoned from beyond the Veil. They're quite amazed by you as well. Same goes for my Grimalkin and the other Black Cat Holders.

Marinette: Amazed? By me? That can't be right. You're all legendary heroes who have overcome impossible odds, and I'm just a clumsy baker's daughter.

Joan: Is that the pleasant aroma from downstairs? Don't be doubtful of my next words, you and that puny kitten of yours have become somewhat of legends yourselves among us. You've overcome odds all your own and will continue to. Some of the other Ladybug Holders want to come and meet you. We just can't come all at once because that would raise suspicion in the Afterlife. We'll try to space it out, but some can't wait. (hugs her) Worry not, for Monarch is where he belongs and we will take care of him from here, like we do all of each other's enemies. Fare thee well, young Guardian. (disappears)

{The world comes back into focus and Tikki is the first to ask.}

Tikki: Marinette, is everything okay? What happened?

Su-Han: What did you see?

Marinette: The world around us kind of darkened and instead of portraits, the Holder trying to contact you just walks up to you to talk. Made me a little disoriented, coming back into focus. Couldn't you hear it, Tikki?

Su-Han: (writing this down) Fascinating.

Tikki: No. It's strange, but I couldn't hear anything. Who was it?

Marinette: It was Joan again. Side note, Su-Han, you may want to give Chat Noir a seal, too. The battle is far from over and Joan implied that maybe he'll need to talk to the previous Black Cat Holders with his Kwagatama, too.

Su-Han: Got it. Wait, Chat Noir has a Kwagatama as well?

Tikki: Plagg said that he gave him one.

Su-Han: (smiles and nods) I'll get one for you so that you can explain it to him, Marinette.

Marinette: Fine. Anyway, she also said that apparently, Tikki, you've described me as the best Ladybug that you've ever served. Despite the rest being legendary heroes known throughout history.

Tikki: (rubs back of head) Well, every Ladybug is different. Like she probably told you, you're the first not to be given your Miraculous as an adult.

Marinette: Yeah, she said that. Also, that Monarch is where he belongs in the Afterlife and that they'll 'take care of him' there. Like they do for each other's enemies.

Tikki: Well, yes, Marinette, you've earned your place as one of them and their respect because of all that you've accomplished at such a young age. As Ladybug Holders, you can summon each other from all across history and from the Afterlife for a reason. It's a huge burden and no one should feel as alone as you have. They look out for each other. Monarch is gone and they...have some grievances with him. Particularly because you are so young and they've grown fond of you, like I have.

Marinette: (hugs her to her face as she nuzzles her)

[mlwritersguild]

Study Date Selfie

Study Date Selfie by Jendora

For the first time ever, Adrien and Marinette have arranged to hold a study date at his mansion. At the end of the study date, Adrien decides that he and his girlfriend should take a selfie to show their friends at school the next day…and maybe, just maybe, this perfect selfie should be posted onto his public Instagram account too! It's only right that all of his fans saw how lucky he was to have somehow won the love of the most beautiful girl in Paris…maybe even the world. Marinette would thank him later for this…someday.

Words: 1963, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Nathalie Sancoeur, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Emilie Agreste

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Additional Tags: Study Date, Miraculous Ladybug Spoilers, Miraculous Season 5 Spoilers, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44270449

[theultracharmingladynoire]

i'm curious to know what you thought about nathalie this episode 👀

tbh I've not got too many strong opinions about her this episode (Because Adrien sighing and marinette growling was all I could concentrate on PLEASE😭)

But her akuma design was 10/10? Also Idk if that was an Indiana Jones or Lara croft reference but either way the Agreste lore just seems so. Wild now. What did these fucked up people even do why did they fight for artifacts?? What were they up to? Was the whole Emilie-Nathalie-gabe trio a thing before Gabriel's stardom as a fashion designer? (as I type this though, I just can't help but think of this more- like could finding the miraculous and marrying emilie actually have been something which led to Gabriel's career? Then there is Audrey too - maybe he was like an amateur treasure hunter and met Nathalie and Emilie along that way? hmm)

The scene with Nathalie and Emilie though... there's no heterosexual explanation for it😌 (Even if there is I pretend I do not see it) And Nathalie's current progression as a character really reminds me of Pearl and Rose quartz but I am not too convinced about a redemption for her yet. We'll see how it all plays out.

The last scene with Adrien was very wholesome though I am pensive about her knowing that marinette is the girl adrien is in love with, would that have consequences 👀

[mariproducer]

Kaoru Hakaze aka a fully realized variant of Adrien Agreste

He was forced to rewrite the sleep-deprived kaoru Adrien comparison essay and make it coherent.

They’re both blonde, they’re both rich, they both have parental issues, and only one of them remains to be a stagnant character (surprise! It’s not Kaoru).

Before I get into the meat of this long long post, I want to preface this by saying that I do NOT want or expect Adrien to be written this way. I acknowledge that there’s a point where the similarities between Kaoru Hakaze and Adrien Agreste diverge. I’m only making this post because a) the few friends I have that like both mlb and enstars wanted to read this and b) I just want to highlight how MLB could’ve tackled certain facets of Adrien’s character. At the end of the day, these two are only characters that share a few similarities and are different enough to be their own unique characters. Again, I just wanted to put this out there to show that Adrien, at his basis, could easily be an interesting character in the show, but the writers do nothing with the gold mine they’re sitting on.

ALRIGHT, since I’m posting this to my Tumblr dedicated to talking about MLB, I think some introductions are needed. Kaoru Hakaze is a character from the Japanese anidol franchise Ensemble Stars. He’s a member of the unit UNDEAD, and upon first glance, he appears to be a flirty and breezy sort of guy (note: his last name Hakaze plays into his wind theming).

At the start of Ensemble Stars! (with one exclamation point, this different is integral), you meet Kaoru Hakaze and 9 times out of 10 (unless your fave type is the flirty guy, which uh Stares at the numerous amounts of JP fans who love Kaoru ok maybe I was in the minority) you’ll likely be infuriated with him: he’s flirty and brushes off most of the cast because according to him, hanging out with guys is a waste of time and not fun and he’d rather be in the presence of girls. If I could find a clip, I would put his first appearance in the anime to give you a good idea on his initial demeanor. Anyway, the game, especially in its earlier years, really liked laying it on thick that Kaoru loves girls and loves flirting and loves taking them out on dates and detests the idea of hanging out with boys.

But slowly and surely, the Enstars writers eventually realized that they had something good and interesting in their hands, and began to write Kaoru slowly growing out of this pre-established mindset. As years passed by and we got more Kaoru-centric stories, he evolved from the stereotypical flirt character who only cared about chasing skirts and flirting with the player character (a girl named Anzu) to a guy who has a lot of love and care in his heart and hopes to be someone reliable to his peers. By the start of Ensemble Stars!! (I’m telling you the amount of exclamation points are important), he’s become a reliable sort of guy, hoping to be a good mentor figure to Anzu and the younger idols, and he cares deeply for his fellow unit members and friends.

So with that quick intro out of the way, you must be wondering: what does this have to do with MLB and where does Adrien Agreste fall in all this? Well, I’ll tell you! By bringing up the similarities between these two and how Adrien’s writing could’ve followed a similar path.

Dealing with the loss of a mother

The first and easiest comparison to make between Kaoru and Adrien are that they both have lost their mothers, with Kaoru losing his mom at a young age, while Adrien losing his mom a few months before the MLB canon starts (supposedly… uh the show is weird about when exactly Emilie Agreste disappeared).

The issue with Adrien is that… well his feelings about his mom’s disappearance isn’t really explored in the show. There are only a few episodes in the show that tackle this subject in relation to Adrien: Simon Says where Adrien tells Ladybug about his mom, Gorizilla where Adrien wants to watch the indie movie his mom starred in, and Felix where it appears Adrien seems to be at peace with his mom’s disappearance considering the fact that he appears to be ok with Gabriel moving on in life with Nathalie. Christmas Special also tackles Adrien being sad about his mother’s disappearance, but that episode falls in the weird line of it’s canon or non-canon because the MLB timeline is all sorts of wacky. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that Adrien’s thoughts about his missing mother are only brought up when the show needs a sad moment and to make us feel bad for him. We don’t get to see the ongoing effects on a kid who lost their mother recently, like how it’d affect the actions he takes or his perceptions on relationships with people or anything. It’s just there as an angst point.

Contrast this with Kaoru, who’s loss basically rewired his brain. For Kaoru, we know that his mother meant so much to him, as he brings her up in quiet monologues to himself, asking her for guidance or assurance. The reason he flirted with girls and craved their presence so much? Because his mother was a shining beacon in his life and when she died, it felt as though all those good feelings vanished (which was also exacerbated by his father’s colder attitude). Kaoru thought he could fill the void by going on dates with girls (yes this is Freudian as hell and I am so glad you have moved past this Kaoru) because he desired to feel loved.

You can tangibly see how this loss affects Kaoru, but with Adrien, sometimes it’s easy to forget that he lost his mother because there is hardly any exploration of grief for him (especially if this happened so recently). Why don’t we see an Adrien uncomfortable with the topic of moms more or more scenes of him wistfully staring at his peers’ with his parents?? Maybe we could get a proper explanation as to why Adrien somehow manages to get over his grief to the point where he thinks it’s alright for Gabriel to move on too. Like writing a child in mourning would be a good thing to show to kids, to not shame them for their tears and fears, to show them its ok to cry and that moving on is a journey. But with Adrien? Nothing.

A flirty demeanor and focusing on one girl

Both Kaoru and Adrien are established flirts. Both Kaoru and Adrien also end up singling out one girl for their affections. It’s just how these facts unfold throughout the story that differs. As said before, Kaoru has a reputation of being a skirt-chaser: his peers know it, girls know it, and it’s a part of his image as an idol. When he meets Anzu, the player character (side note: Anzu really shouldn’t be the player character for the player to self insert on because at this point, she is so heavily involved with the cast and has her own backstory, personality and motivation that it’s better to consider her as her own character), Kaoru takes interest in her because of course he does. However, because of Anzu’s constant presence amongst all the idols and her role as their producer (basically she’s their manager), Kaoru’s interest goes from shallow intrigue because she’s a girl to a full-blown crush on her. Kaoru does confess to her at the end of the school year, only to get promptly rejected. He ends up taking this rejection in stride, now focusing his efforts on supporting her whenever he can as a friend. (until enstars remembers it also has to appeal to self-shippers so Kaoru has stupid moments where he gets nervous around Anzu in !! era and it’s kind of PISSING ME O-)

On the other hand, we have Adrien, who acts flirty when he’s Chat Noir for… uhh actually is there an established reason as to why Adrien acts this way in canon? Because I was always under the assumption that he does this to differentiate his hero self from his civilian self but now I have no clue if that is canon or fanon (knowing this show I’m leaning towards fanon). So yeah, we have Adrien who flirts with Ladybug and some of the other female heroes too (like Ryuko) and his object of affection is Ladybug. He likes Ladybug because why not? Origins wants you to believe that he likes Ladybug because she’s an amazing sort of girl with convictions who also has a vulnerable side, but later episodes make it seem like he’s just in love with the heroine being perfect and also in love with him in return (looking at you Puppeteer 2 and Ladybug). And Adrien has confessed to Ladybug (numerous times now) and has gotten rejected every single time… like he didn’t stop after the first rejection and kept going instead? Sure, in Glaciator he SAYS he’ll respect her rejection and be there for her as a friend, then a few episodes later, Frozer opens with him trying to ask her out again and taking it badly that she rejects him a second time. Like, instead of idk the lesson of Adrien getting rejected sticking and him actually respecting her rejection, he just keeps asking her out? What’s the point of constantly having him do this because It just makes him look like a creep who can’t take no for an answer. Nothing of substance is really done with Adrien here either and this part of his character and the way it’s written in canon just makes him look worse.

On the topic of friendship

Alright I’ll admit that this may seem like a reach at first, but hear me out. For both Kaoru and Adrien, the topic of friendship is an integral part of their character, or at least it appears to be for Adrien. Origins establishes that one of Adrien’s goals is to make friends but we don’t see him in the act of making friends. Like he doesn’t go out of his way to approach people and befriend them most of the time (like Nino had to offer friendship first, Chloe was already his friend before the school year started, he ends up befriending Kagami because their parents pushed them together) and the episode Party Crasher just hands him a friend group with no effort on his part.

On the other end of the spectrum, Kaoru is resistant to the idea of befriending his peers because they’re guys but over the school year in ! era, he slowly opens up to them, finding their company to be pleasant and enjoyable. It’s also interesting to note the sort of company Kaoru keeps: he always manages to connect with those considered “eccentric” or too much to handle by others. His easygoing and breezy nature (sorry I need the wind puns) greatly contrasts the colorful personalities of his friend group; it makes for their interactions to be entertaining to read through. Making friends feels more meaningful for Kaoru because we see him work towards repairing his relationships with those who surround him, rather than suddenly having a friend group with no buildup like Adrien does.

An aside: Adrien has a thing in canon where no one? Dislikes him? Like besides maybe Lila but who knows what her motivations are since the show refuses to elaborate and Chloe I guess don’t know what’s going on with her and her perception of Adrien starting from s4. He never has anyone to butt heads with or have conflict with, and I think it makes him boring to watch at times because everyone just likes him. On the other hand, you have Kaoru who has a mixed reception with the cast: there’s a running gag with Souma where Souma wants to slice him with his sword and is always irritated by Kaoru or how Koga underestimates Kaoru and takes Kaoru’s easygoing attitude as laziness. People tended to condescend him for his skirt-chasing attitude, frowning down upon it or calling it his weakness. All the various reactions to Kaoru makes it fun to see him interact with all sorts of characters because will they make fun of him? Tease him? Look down on him? With Adrien, everyone likes him and praises him and sometimes it’s like hip hip hooray /s and other times it’s like wow this kinda sucks bc his father treats him differently but nuance or intriguing exploration of interactions? Sorry we don’t do that

Conclusion

Again, I want to emphasize that in no way, shape, or form do I want Adrien’s character to follow Kaoru’s exactly. They may share similarities but they aren’t the same. Like Adrien’s father is abusive, while Kaoru’s father only has a rocky relationship with his son (there’s no implication of abuse on Kaoru’s end, only that his father looks down on Kaoru’s decision to become an idol). Kaoru isn’t an only child and part of his character growth involves his relationship with his sister and how he wants to connect with his siblings, something that Adrien wouldn’t have as an only child. There will come a point where their stories diverge and tread different paths. The only reason I made this post is, again as I said at the start of this, to highlight ways the MLB writers could’ve written Adrien, could’ve tackled character traits they gave him, could’ve made him the interesting character he is on paper (but not in execution). I wish I could like Adrien because I could easily see him being a favorite character of mine, but his canon execution doesn’t allow him to grow in any shape or form and in fact, coddles him to prevent any sort of longstanding development to take hold of him.

I hope you come out of reading this long essay with the thought that more could be done with Adrien and his character, but because the writing team see and believe him to be perfect, that the world has to change for Adrien and not the other way around, Adrien can never be the compelling character people wish for him to be as long as he’s in the hands of the current writing team.

P.S. hi orion and friends ^_^

P.P.S. there's probably more I could talk abt but uhh my brain power is gone