#yeah kagami that's definitely not gonna turn into a crush

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Intermission

Directory | Dark Cupid

It was finally Friday, and also finally the end of classes. And the girls were going to take advantage of it!

Granted, they were planning to study for their exams, but it was also a chance to have fun together.

“It was really nice of you to invite Chloé to our study sleepover, Marinette!” Rose cheered, smiling, while Marinette gave a more strained smile.

“Yeah, well... it was nicer of her to rip up the invitation,” she replied, remembering Mme. Bustier's face when Chloé made her choice.

“But did you have to invite Lila?” Alya complained.

“Alya, Lila is five times cooler than Chloé,” Marinette said, knowing that her friend still had a bone to pick with the Italian. “And I can't exclude people.”

“Yeah, Alya.”

Yeah, she was going to have her hands full with these two.

----

Meanwhile, the boys gathered together at Kim's suggestion.

“If the girls are gonna hang out, we should too!” he suggested, and everyone else let out a “YEAH!” in response.

“What should we do?” Nino asked.

“Movie? Museum? Arcade?” Ivan offered and Adrien lit up with the last one.

“Wow, I've never been to an arcade before!” he commented.

“Alright, arcade it is!” Nino said, and Adrien put his arms around Nino's and Nathaniel's shoulders.

“YEAH!”

“Let's win Adrien all the Marigold merch!” Kim said, and Adrien was shocked out of his enthusiasm.

“YEAH!” the others yelled.

“Wait, no!” he tried to interrupt.

Yeah, he had forgot to mention that little tidbit the other week...

----

School had finally let out, and Ondine and Kagami were making their way home: since the latter's house was on the way to the former's, they had made it a habit to walk together.

“It's too bad we couldn't go to Marinette's sleepover,” Ondine commented as they passed by an arcade. “Practice is really ramping up.”

“Yes. It's unfortunate, but my mother must remain ignorant of my friendships. Excluding Adrien,” Kagami replied, which was yet another thing Ondine thought was quite messed up with Kagami's mother. She chose not to comment on it, though.

“Almost, almost!”

“Aw, you dropped it!”

She recognized that voice, and turned to see that it was indeed her boyfriend.

“Kim?”

“Wuh-hey! It's Ondine!” Kim cheered up.

“Ondine!” Max said. It was clear Kim had come out with his friends, and since she was with Kagami... perhaps it was time to help her friend meet more people?

“Hey guys! Come meet Kagami!”

“Right now?!” Kagami asked, shocked. Oh, right, she was kinda bad at this. Well, as her best friend, it was her mission to help Kagami come a bit out of her shell!

----

“Hey, Kagami!” Adrien said as he arrived, and Kagami quickly clinged to him.

“Hello, Adrien.”

“You guys know each other?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah! We have fencing together!”

Kim gave Adrien a knowing look.

“So you know each other, or you know each other?”

“Huh?” Kagami said, confused. Adrien realized what was the meaning and waved his friend off.

“Oh, no, we're just friends!”

Kagami tugged on Adrien's sleeve.

“I thought we were good friends!” she said, and Adrien took her hands in his.

“You're absolutely right, I'm so sorry.”

Nino watched with bemusement.

“You guys are definitely giving the wrong impression,” he said, bringing the two Marigold dolls he had got out of the claw machine. “Here you go, dude!”

“Thanks, but you don't have to,” Adrien said, while Kagami kept her eyes on the dolls that resembled her favorite hero so much. “I don't have a crush on Marigold.”

“Whaaat?” Nino said, surprised – so much that he didn't notice Kagami stealthily picking one of the dolls. “I'm so lost, who do you like? You wrote that poem for someone.”

“It's Marinette, right?” Ivan suggested.

“Marinette for sure!” Ondine said.

“It's obviously Marinette,” Kagami added.

“WHAT?!” Kim shouted, and Adrien turned to see him, Nathaniel, and Max loaded up to the gills with the stuff they had won. “So you don't want this stuff?!”

“Oh my Lord,” Adrien said, shocked.

Even with Kagami taking one or two things, Adrien had found his arms full of Marigold merchandise, so much that he found himself unable to open the car's passenger door. Thank goodness Nino was there, even if he was still embarrassed.

“Dude, I can't believe how wrong I was!” he apologized. “I'll step up my game, promise!”

“No worries, Nino! See you tomorrow!”

----

As Adrien got into the car, he noticed that he had his arms full of merchandise from the heroine, Marigold. It looked like he was unable to fasten his own seatbelt, so he waited until he could put everything in a secure place and fasten his seatbelt – Mr. Agreste was always very clear that, save for emergencies, Adrien had to be secured before the car even started – which was hard because Adrien didn't even know how to put things without covering the car's floor.

Then Adrien looked at him and waved one of the objects, and he nodded. Carefully grabbing the statuette of Marigold wielding her weapon, he smiled.

This was going to go into his collection.

----

“Sir, Adrien is on route home,” Nathalie said, picking one of the grapes from the dish in front of her.

“Thank you, Nathalie.”

“It was kind of you to allow him to go, Master,” Nooroo complimented, taking advantage of the fact that, for once, Gabriel did not seem to be ready to akumatize someone else.

“Bah. Who knows what my son would do to retaliate if I denied him,” Gabriel complained. “He might wear crocs.”

“Adrien's rebelliousness has been increasing since he started school,” Nathalie noted, although the memory of him cursing at her before his first day at Françoise Dupont was still fresh in her mind. She ate the grape, savoring the mix of sweet and sour.

“True,” Gabriel admitted, “but the alternative is having him wander the house and discover our plans.”

“I'm home!”

Quickly, Nooroo hid away to avoid being seen by Adrien, and Gabriel and Nathalie looked towards the lobby... where they found Adrien walking in.

Wearing Marigold antenna.

And with an armful of miscellaneous Marigold merchandise.

“My friends scored!” Adrien happily said, unaware of how uncomfortable the two adults were feeling. “You want any of this?!”

Gabriel chose to reject the offer, but she decided to pick the spinning top: it was the most inoffensive of all the objects in the pile, and she felt a bit of comradeship with the younger girl, even if they were in opposite sides of the fighting.

“My son, a Marigold fan,” Gabriel lamented, covering his face.

“It's only natural, sir. She is a hero, after all,” Nathalie replied, testing the toy. “Look at it this way: at least, he's admiring the smart Marigold and not the incompetent leader, Scarlet Lady.”

Gabriel struck the table in an uncharacteristic fit of anger.

“Scarlet Lady is not incompetent! She's the slipperiest of the whole group!”

“Ah, of course, Sir,” she replied, trying to mollify him... even though she knew very well the real reason why he said that.

Because if she was an idiot, you'd be the guy losing to that idiot.

----

Chez Marinette, the hour was getting late, and it was clear that they had worked hard – and their minds were exhausted. Marinette palmed the table and stood up.

“Studying, done! Let's party!”

“YAAAAY!” the girls said in unison.

“I gotta charge my phone, go ahead and get into PJs!”

While the girls took turns to change their clothes, Marinette ran upstairs: she did need to charge her phone, but she mostly wanted to check on the one being that lived in her room, hidden in a part of her wardrobe.

Her phone was now charging – but also prepared to cue some videos. The spicy chips bag was opened just enough to allow Pollen to access its contents without risking an accident. And the bed was just perfect for her.

“Do you need anything else, Pollen?” she asked the kwami, who smiled at her.

“This is more than enough, my Queen! Thank you for such hospitality!”

Marinette picked Pollen up and gave her a sweet kiss in the head, causing the kwami to blush slightly.

“I just want to make sure you're taken care of. Let me know if you need anything!” she said, helping Pollen into the bed. “See you for patrol later!”

As the first video of the list began, Pollen pondered something.

Am I the Queen?

----

Now dressed in their pajamas, the group had sodas and popcorn ready while waiting for their pizzas to arrive, and Alya leaned down towards Alix.

“Hey, Alix, why do you hang with Lila and Sabrina?”

Alix turned to her classmate with a quizzical expression.

“Huh?!”

“I mean, aren't they a bit girly for you?”

Alix admitted it might look like that, but she wouldn't let that pass.

“Sure, they go shopping and dress up with each other,” she said, looking as Lila laughed at an imitation Sabrina was making, “but they're fun. I like talking to them. Isn't that enough?”

She pulled her phone and opened the photo folder.

“Besides, they're sportier than they look,” Alix finished, opening the photo from the last roller derby game, and Alya felt her jaw drop.

“WOW.”

It certainly deserved the shocked expression: Sabrina's look of utter wrath as she threw another skater into the ground, while Lila cheered in the background with a maniacal face, was something she had never expected from her 'girlier' classmates.

“Yeah,” Alix sagely nodded, “they got a lot of rage to work out.”

---

Meanwhile, Juleka had offered to do make up for all the others, which they gleefully accepted: Juleka could make wonders with the most basic of supplies, and she had brought a very diverse set of makeup tools to the pajama party.

Of course, that gave everyone free range to speak of personal matters, and for Mylène – who was currently in Juleka's capable hands – there was a matter she was really curious about.

“I never got to hear how you two got together,” she said, nodding at Juleka and Rose, who was acting as Juleka's 'assistant'. Rose giggled.

“You could say it took a while for us to get on the same page!”

“Huh?”

----

“Wanna get ice cream?” Rose asked.

Does she mean as a friend? Juleka thought, blushing.

----

“Will you go to the movie with me?” Rose asked, blushing.

As a friend, right? Juleka thought, uncertain.

----

“I love you, Juleka,” Rose said, kissing her for the first time.

As a friend?! Juleka thought, her face burning from the clash of thoughts. And because Rose's lips felt really nice against hers.

----

Juleka tried to push back those embarrassing moments to the back of her head, and turned to do her wonders on the party host.

“Is there someone you like, Marinette?” she asked, and Marinette smiled.

“There is, but... I don't think I should go for it.”

“Why not?!” Rose cried out: she was a sucker for romance stories, and seeing her friend lose hope in her own romance was something she disliked.

“He's a very busy guy with an erratic schedule, and I've been getting busier myself,” Marinette explained. “It's just not fair to either of us. I'm doing what I can to support him.”

Juleka pulled a spray and aimed at Marinette, who closed her eyes.

“Well, don't forget you have other options,” she said, pressing it.

“'Other options'?” Marinette asked, just as the doorbell rang. Shaking her face off, she rushed to the door.

“Pizza for you!” the delivery boy said, and she smiled when she saw who it was.

“Luka!”

Marinette picked up the boxes – feeling her face getting as warm as the pizzas – and invited Luka inside while she got the cash.

“Hey, Jules,” Luka said, greeting his little sister.

“Guys, this is my brother, Luka,” Juleka presented him.

“Hey, Luka,” Lila intervened, entranced. “Are you Juleka's older or younger brother.”

“Older,” Luka said, smirking.

“How much older?” Lila insisted.

“Older.”

Lila pouted at being denied such critical information about the cute boy in front of her, but her interrogation was interrupted when Marinette returned with the money.

“Here, Luka,” she said, adding a tip for the boy's work. Luka smiled at her.

“Thanks. You look really pretty, Marinette,” he said in an appreciative tone, making her blush even harder.

“T-Thanks!”

The moment was interrupted when Juleka grabbed a cushion.

“Okay, time for dumb boys to get out,” she declared, slamming the cushion on Luka's face.

“AH!” Luka complained, causing Alix to laugh as he tried to regain his dignity and left. The girls picked up everything they'd need for dinner and placed it around the table.

That was when Sabrina found a box full of toys and dolls.

“Huh? Marinette, what's all this stuff?” she asked, curious, and Marinette turned to her friend.

“Oh, that,” she said, picking the Marigold doll she had crafted a couple of weeks before. “It's for when I babysit! I had to make my own because they used to not make any. Scarlet Lady only worked with expensive brands, you know.”

The girls approached the box and checked Marinette's creations: they were all hand-crafted and very well detailed representations of most of the heroes and Akumas that had shown up since past September, and even if they were a bit of a bad memory for some of them, they thought they were cute, and began to pick one or two.

Meanwhile, Alya scratched the back of her head: Marinette's comment about Scarlet Lady had shaken her a bit.

“Uh. Well, she has an important job! She deserves royalties, right?” she suggested.

“Ha!” Lila laughed. “Royalties for what, sitting on her butt while being a glory hound?””

Alya's eye twitched.

Teams had formed.

On Team 'Scarlet Lady' stood Alya (with Small WiFi), Mylène (with Pebbleheart) and Rose (with Mini-Reflekta).

“Why, you–!” Alya said, her hand itching to close around Lila's neck for a moment. “She's a hero! Everyone knows she's the best!”

On Team 'Heroes' were Juleka (with Xiaomaotif) and Sabrina (with Rogersmall and Vanishrinker)

“I don't really care,” Juleka said.

“Yeah, all the heroes work hard, right?” Sabrina asked.

Alya turned to the last team, formed by Lila (with Volpiccona), Alix (with Timecracker) and Marinette.

“Well?”

“She's the worst,” Marinette declared, thus giving name to Team 'Worst', while Lila stuck her tongue and Alix laughed.

“Marinette!” Alya shouted, and tackled her friend to pull her cheeks.

Ignoring the roughhousing, Sabrina checked over the doll of her own Akuma, remembering how she had become Vanisher.

“Y'know, Chloé is probably Scarlet Lady's biggest fan, but I never understood why. She'd even say they're best friends even though I never saw them together,” she said, shaking her head. “But maybe that's why she started blowing me off.”

“Hm,” Lila mumbled, picking Volpiccona. “Don't forget, Scarlet Lady's never humiliated Chloé like she did me. Maybe she's telling the truth.”

“Hmmm...” Lila's words were correct. Perhaps Chloé and Scarlet Lady were, somehow, friends?

“YEAH, RIGHT!” Alix exclaimed, and all the girls began to laugh at how absurd the idea was.

“As if Chloé could stop herself from posting pics all over the place!” Lila mocked the rich girl.

“More like Chloé thinks they're BFFs!” Alya cracked up.

----

The girls had gone to sleep in a good mood, and were now laying around, in different states of sleep, but all likely to remain so for the rest of the night.

All... but one of them.

As soon as she was certain the others would not wake up, Marinette carefully stood, tiptoed around the insensate bodies of her friends (particularly to avoid Juleka and Rose, who looked very cute together) and walked up to her room, where she carefully woke up her kwami.

“Ready, Pollen?” she asked, and the kwami smiled up to her.

“Mhm!”

“Buzz On.”

Opening the window as silently as possible, Marigold jumped out of her room and into the roofs of Paris, keeping an eye on potential trouble like thieves: Paris being what it was, it was not uncommon for problems such as those to appear.

However, it looked like tonight would be a calm night, as she made her way towards her accorded meeting point – where her Chat Noir was already waiting for her.

“Hey, Minou,” she greeted, landing next to her partner, who smiled at her.

“Hey, Goldie!” he greeted back as she sat next to him. “Thanks for taking on patrols, Marigold. Scar wouldn't even consider it.”

“No problem,” Marigold replied.

“Seriously, ever since you showed up, it's like I can finally relax. Even my civilian life doesn't feel like I'm drowning anymore!”

Marigold blushed slightly, looking aside with a pleased smile. This was the kind of vindication she had wanted to hear, and it felt so sweet.

“M-Merci,” she thanked with a minimum of stumbling.

“Oh!” Chat Noir exclaimed, pulling a hairband with antennas from behind him and offering it to her. “By the way, your popularity is on the rise! For you.”

“For real?” Marigold said, softly laughing. “Should I look for matching ears?!”

But, still, she put the hairband on. It was a present from Chat Noir, and she liked what it represented.

And after that, they kept talking. She didn't know why, but... she always felt so at ease when talking with him! It was so wonderful, not just because of what they had in common, but also because he was so nice.

But all good things had to end, and she brought up a particularly important matter.

“Master Fu said Scarlet Lady wasn't supposed to have the earrings,” she said.

“Yeah, he did.”

“Should we do something about it?”

“Hm.” Chat Noir put his hand to his chin. “Never really stopped to think about it. Sure, Scar does the bare minimum, but if we ever came close to defeating Hawkmoth? I don't think she'd give up her Miraculous willingly.”

Marigold clenched her fist. She had known for long how self-serving Scarlet Lady could be... and she could easily believe that she could fall that low.

“What about her kwami?” she asked. Knowing that one of Pollen's friends was in the hands of Scarlet Lady was distressing enough.

“Tikki?”

“Yeah. Can't she take the Earrings herself?”

Chat Noir shook his head, sighing.

“It's not that easy, or Nooroo would've nabbed the Butterfly Miraculous a long time ago. There are rules that kwami are bound to, apparently. Plus, Plagg says Tikki is particularly duty-bound. So long as Nooroo is in danger, she'll prioritize him over herself.”

“Poor Tikki,” Marigold complained. “It just doesn't seem to be fair.”

Chat Noir said nothing, but Marigold knew that his silence was in agreement.

The two of them watched the stars... and they thought of what the future might bring.

----

Animan

@zoe-oneesama Let's take a break, with fun times... and also the memory of Tikki being in the hands of a horrible boss.

Since we know that the Chat Noir and Marigold dolls are officially named Chaton Noir and Minigold, I thought about giving the other dolls special names.

* Stoneheart -> Pebbleheart (a pebble is a small stone)

* Maotif -> Xiaomaotif (xiao mao means little cat)

* Vanisher -> Vanishrinker (since the doll is like shrinking Vanisher)

* Volpina -> Volpiccona (piccola means "small" in Italian)

* Timebreaker -> Timecracker (if you try to break something but can't, maybe it just cracks)

[angelofthequeers]

Will You Marigami Me: Marigami Week Day 2

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

Day 2 of @marigami-week 2020!

Day 1 | Day 3 | AO3 link

2. First Meetings

“– Adrien’s arriving today, and since that’s going to be his seat, this is going to be my seat. Get it?”

Kagami Tsurugi’s first impression of her new class is…not great. An unpleasant blonde dressed in eyewatering yellow and white – whose pale pink lipstick is not doing wonders with her tan skin, and Kagami is willing to bet that she considers herself some kind of fashion icon – is looming over a pale girl who looks like she’s of East Asian descent just like Kagami, with her jet-black pigtails and her softer nose ridge in comparison to the blonde girl.

“Who’s Adrien?” the pigtailed girl says. The blonde bursts into shrill peals of laughter, accompanied by the pale redhead next to her.

“Can you believe she doesn’t know who Adrien is?” the blonde says. “What rock have you been living under?”

Kagami turns to look at the redheaded teacher, waiting for her to use her authority and resolve the issue, but the teacher is just sitting at her desk and regarding the confrontation with an air of detached interest. Ah. A teacher who believes that children should solve their own problems. While Kagami might ordinarily respect that, this seems to be far from the first altercation that these girls have had, so why hasn’t the teacher spoken up and resolved it?

And Kagami was so hoping to go an entire day without making an enemy. Oh well. It’s hardly the first time she’s gotten on the wrong side of someone with an inflated ego. Before she can intervene, however, she’s beaten by a dark-skinned girl with reddish-brown curls, who’s sitting alone at the front desk in the other column of seats.

“Hey, who elected you Queen of Seats?” says the brunette girl, standing up and crossing her arms. The blonde sneers at her.

“Oh, look, Sabrina! We’ve got a little do-gooder in our class this year!” the blonde says. The redhead – Sabrina – giggles. “What are you gonna do, super newbie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?”

The brunette rolls her eyes and heads for the pigtailed girl. “Wouldn’t you like to know. Come on.”

The pigtailed girl trips on her way down to the front, spilling her box of macarons everywhere, and her face flushes as she scrambles to gather them up while the blonde and her friend Sabrina laugh loudly. The teacher finally leans forward, but before Kagami can hope that she’ll finally speak on the matter…

“Has everyone found a seat?” the teacher says once the students are all seated. Kagami blinks. A girl was blatantly bullied in front of her and she’s doing nothing? And judging by the air between the two girls, this rivalry has been going on for a while.

Wait. No. It’s not a rivalry. To call it that would imply that they’re on even footing, and the blonde most definitely has the pigtailed girl under her foot, not to mention every other classmate who just sat and watched silently. No wonder the pigtailed girl has no confidence, if this has been a long-term thing. Well, unluckily for the blonde, Kagami is not in a good mood; not after losing her chance to join the most prestigious fencing teacher in Paris due to being late for her tryout to help an old man in a hideous red Hawaiian shirt being harassed by a group of older teenage boys. And as Mr D’Argencourt had rightly said, if Kagami can’t be on time for her tryout, how can she be trusted as a reliable student?

“If your friendship with this Adrien is contingent on you sitting near him, I fail to see how it’s particularly strong,” Kagami says, slowly approaching the blonde as one would approach a venomous snake. She pauses in front of the desk and makes sure to loom over the blonde just as the blonde had done with the pigtailed girl. Unlike the pigtailed girl, the blonde merely raises one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

“Adrikins and I happen to be childhood friends, new girl number two,” she says. “And I wouldn’t advise getting on my bad side like super newbie just did.”

Kagami’s lips twitch without her permission. The blonde’s trying to come across as tough, but she’s really just reinforcing Kagami’s first impression of her: a particularly weak bully whose only power is some kind of influence that she seems to have over everyone. This action doesn’t go unnoticed by the blonde.

“You dare laugh at moi?” The blonde slams her hands on the tabletop. “I am Chloé Bourgeois, daughter of the mayor of Paris and the Style Queen herself!”

Ah. There it is. Kagami had been wondering how this Chloé had so much power. Allowing herself a small smirk, Kagami draws herself up and straightens her back.

“And I am Kagami Tsurugi, only daughter of Tomoe Tsurugi and heir of the Tsurugi family,” Kagami says. “I can match you in both wealth and influence.”

Chloé snorts, while her classmates start to mutter. “Wealth, maybe. But influence? I’m Paris’ darling!”

“No,” Kagami says. “You’re no one’s darling but the mayor’s, if what I’ve seen in this room is any indication. The only reason you have influence is because of him, and if he wasn’t in power?” She shrugs. “I, on the other hand, have worked for my prestige. I’ve won fencing competitions and plan to compete in the Olympics. I’m a model student. Everything I have apart from my wealth has been earned.”

The other students’ heads swivel back and forth between Kagami and Chloé, as though watching a particularly exciting fencing match. Except in this case, Chloé’s far from the trickiest opponent that Kagami’s dealt with. In fact, judging by the interesting shade of splotchy red that her face is turning, she seems to know very well that she’s not winning this bout, even if she’s not going down without a fight. Out of the corner of her eye, Kagami notices a tan boy with golden hair and green eyes appear in the doorway, then pause and frown at the scene that’s unfolding before him.

“I will destroy you, Tsurugi,” Chloé snarls, drawing Kagami’s attention back to the petty drama before her. “I will make your school life a living hell. You think they’ll lift a finger against me? My daddy can cut their funding just like –” She snaps her fingers, “– that. No one would dare side with some ugly Asian bitch with a super tacky haircut over me, so you may as well go and mingle with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Kim Chiến Lê over on that side of the room.”

Kagami can’t help but laugh at the fact that Chloé thinks that she’s just made a terrifying threat. The pigtailed girl – Marinette – is watching the confrontation with wide eyes, so Kagami offers her an attempt at a small smile. From what Kagami’s seen of her, she seems to be a sweet girl, if lacking in self-confidence, but Kagami has plenty of self-confidence to offer. That is, if Marinette is willing to be her friend. Kagami’s not sure how to go about befriending someone.

“And how do you think my mother would react?” Kagami says. “She sent me to this school under the assumption that it’s the best one in Paris. If the quality started to slip, she would most definitely investigate. And while your father may be extremely influential here in Paris, I highly doubt that he could withstand an inquiry led by the national board of education. So, go and run to your daddy. Tattle on me. But I can promise you that if your inflated sense of entitlement affects my education in any way, your influence will disappear just like –” She copies Chloé’s earlier move and snaps her fingers, “– that.”

Chloé opens her mouth, closes it, then lets out a terrible little snarl and slouches back in her seat, crossing her arms. “Whatever. Like I give a damn about your empty threats. But I’m not moving, and you can’t make me!”

“Yes, I can!” Marinette stomps over to the desk and stops next to Kagami with her hands on her hips. “That’s my seat, Chloé. I ended up there in the first place because you made me, and I’m not playing musical chairs just because you want to sit with this Adrien guy, who’s probably just as stuck-up and snobbish as you!”

Chloé’s blue eyes glitter dangerously. However, Kagami’s pleased to see that this time, Marinette doesn’t back down.

“Watch how you speak to me, Dupain-Cheng,” Chloé hisses. “You’re nothing but a baker’s daughter. Don’t make me put you in your place again.”

Marinette shoots a look at Kagami and straightens her spine. “Well, as Alya said, “all that’s necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”. And as Kagami said, if your father takes it out on the school, people will have to take notice! I’m not going to sit back and let you bully me any longer! Now, move. You’re in my seat.”

Chloé makes no attempt to move, instead regarding Marinette with a curled lip. It’s at that moment that the blond boy in the doorway makes his presence known by clearing his throat and, judging by the way Chloé squeals and almost launches herself out of her seat, this must be the Adrien she’d talked about. Her shrill shriek confirms this.

“Adrikins! You’re here! Come, I saved you a seat right in front of –”

“I don’t sit with bullies.” Adrien’s shaking but holding himself tall, and Kagami’s first impression is that this is someone who’s very much unaccustomed to standing up to people. Maybe Kagami can help him as well. Helping people is what friends do, right?

“Bullies?” Chloé gives an exaggerated gasp. “Moi? Adrikins, you don’t know what –”

“I saw everything, Chloé. If you weren’t a bully, then why did you call Kagami that? Why did you just threaten Marinette?”

“And she’s wrong,” Marinette says, chancing a quick sideways peek at Kagami. “Kagami’s not ugly. She’s super pretty. It’s a bit hypocritical for someone to call her ugly when they think that shade of lipstick matches their skin tone.”

Kagami slaps a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. She sneaks a look at Adrien to see if he’s going to disapprove of Marinette’s jab, but he thankfully seems to have tuned it out. That’s something that Marinette needed for her self-confidence, and it’s not even a particularly mean remark. And to be fair, Kagami probably wouldn’t be this close to losing control of herself and laughing if not for Marinette’s compliment. The fact that a gorgeous girl thinks she’s pretty too…

“No, Chloé, I don’t want to sit anywhere near you,” Adrien finishes. “Now, give Marinette her seat back.”

For a moment, Chloé doesn’t move. But then, with a wail, she jumps to her feet and stomps back to her usual desk, with Sabrina scurrying behind her. Marinette sinks down in her seat with a wide smile, joined by Alya a second later.

“Thank you,” Marinette says, directing her smile at Adrien. He grins and ducks his head.

“No problem. I just really hate bullies. And I never thought she was like that.” He turns to Kagami and adds, “Do you want this seat? I’m happy to sit at one of the back desks.”

Although she usually sits in the front, Kagami finds herself shaking her head. For one, she’ll be right across the aisle from a furiously scowling Chloé, which isn’t something she particularly wants to deal with all year. And for another, the dark-skinned brunet boy with the blue T-shirt who’s watching them from next to the empty seat seems like he’ll be much better company than the massive boy behind Alya, who gives off an air of very much wanting to be left alone, or the redheaded boy in the back behind the large boy, who’s doodling in a notebook. Kagami can co-exist with either of them, but Adrien seems to be a much livelier person than her, and he could potentially make great friends with this brunet boy in the front row.

“You take it,” Kagami says. Adrien’s face lighting up lets her know that this had very much been the right call, so she offers a small smile of her own in return and treks up to the large boy. “May I sit next to you?”

“Oh – uh, yeah,” the boy mumbles after a moment, so Kagami takes her seat beside him.

“Wonderful!” The teacher claps her hands like she’d done anything to help defuse the situation. “Now, for those of you who don’t know, my name is Ms Bustier…”

Kagami tunes out Ms Bustier after that, because Marinette turns to give her a radiant smile and mouth, “Thank you”. Kagami smiles back and ducks her head. Is this what it’s like to have friends? Hopefully, it’s not always this dramatic, although Kagami doesn’t think she’d mind drama if it means being Marinette’s friend.

[miraculouscontent]

A Change of Heart (post-”Miraculous New York”)

"Kaalki, divide!"

Ladybug felt Kaalki's light wash over her, the kwami emerging and flying a small distance away. They were up on one of the rooftops in New York, overlooking an interview that was happening on the street.

Kaalki hummed in interest, taking the time to see the tall buildings. "What a grand city." Then, her gaze dropped down and she squinted, adding with distaste, "Quite crowded though."

"There's an interview going on right now. That's why. One of their supervillains was just taken down," Ladybug explained, placing her foot up on the edge of the building and peering down to look at the crowd.

"And, what precisely are we here for?" Kaalki asked, hovering near Ladybug's face to follow her gaze.

"Not what, but who. We’re here to see Eagle," Ladybug answered, pointing at the eagle-themed superheroine being interviewed. The crowd was enthusiastically cheering at just about every answer Eagle was giving, and Ladybug couldn't help smiling at the fact that the person she gave the miraculous to was still doing well.

As the interview came to an end, Eagle's eyes shifted from the interviewer to Ladybug, who had made sure to be where the red-and-black of her suit would stand out; she wasn't exactly the definition of "stealthy," and it worked to her advantage in this case.

Eagle jumped up to the nearest rooftop, then waited for the crowd to disperse before leaping over to where Ladybug was. "Hey, Ladybug! What are you doing here?" Her brows creased in seriousness, and she held her fists up like she was raring for a fight. "Did Hawk Moth come back to New York?"

Ladybug waved dismissively. "No, no, it's nothing like—"

"Pardon me," Kaalki said, making sure she was loud enough to be heard. She puffed her chest out haughtily and gestured to herself with a hoof. "I'm Kaalki, the kwami of migration. Pleased to meet you," she said, her tone forced as to imply that she didn't appreciate being ignored.

"Uh... hi," Eagle greeted flatly, then looked to Ladybug for an explanation.

"Sorry about her. She was my ride." Grabbing Eagle's wrist and leading her to the center of the rooftop, where they were less likely to be seen from the streets, she explained, "Anyway, I came here because I was hoping that I could get your help."

Eagle leaned to the side, curious. "My help? What for?"

"Well..." Ladybug hesitated. "This is going to sound like a weird request, but..."

—————

Eagle crossed her arms in thought, still seemingly absorbing the explanation. "You want me to use Liberation on you? To get rid of your—"

"—romantic attachments," Ladybug cut in stiffly, the word 'crush' and 'love' sounding extremely un-Ladybug-like. She blushed in embarrassment and looked away, bringing a hand up to partly hide her face. "Listen, I know you probably don't get this sort of thing. It's already awkward to talk about it while I'm Ladybug, but—"

"No, I get it," Eagle assured, though her expression was neutral.

Ladybug looked at her in surprise. "You do?"

With a slight roll of her eyes, Eagle replied, "Okay, so I don't get all the love stuff exactly, but Uncanny Valley has her own thing for me to deal with. She always wants to help people; she can't help it. Besides, Liiri says that there's always something stopping people from reaching their full potential. Sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's good, and it's my job to figure out what it is." She glanced Ladybug up and down, as if to gauge something. "You really think it's that bad?"

Ladybug responded with a wince, bad memories already starting to surface.

"Alright, wow," Eagle said, hands raised as she took a step back, the reaction having already convinced her while she herself clearly wanted no details about it. "Are you ready then? You know this is only going to last five minutes, right?"

"Wait—" Ladybug blinked in surprise. "You're really going to help me?"

"Yeah?" Eagle replied. Half-offended, she asked, "Did you really think I wouldn't?"

"No! Sorry!" Ladybug rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "You'd be... surprised, by how bad this stuff usually goes for me."

For a moment, Eagle looked tempted to ask, but shook off the thought just as quickly. Placing her fists to her chest, her gaze went firm, showing that she was ready.

Ladybug stood in place, almost nervous at the prospect of doing this. She was essentially taking out a piece of herself, but it was the only way to test it; the only way to know for sure.

"Liberation!" Eagle called out, spreading her arms as a single light burst out of her.

Ladybug flinched, her fighting instinct kicking in, but she held firm and let the light touch her. For a moment, she was frozen, able to sense Eagle's presence in her mind and even hear her voice. Eagle's voice was calm, but tempting, offering the freedom so desperately desired.

"Ladybug, your love has taken over your life. I release you from it!"

—————

Marinette quickly stashed the glasses in her purse as she checked her phone's timer. She had four minutes and forty-five seconds to do this, and she took a steady breath before stepping out of the alley she'd been hiding in.

As she raced across the street, the fencing students were just filing out out of Françoise Dupont. The moment she saw Kagami and Adrien leaving, she raised a hand, raising her voice so she'd be heard. "Hey, Adrien!"

Adrien and Kagami stopped and glanced her way. Adrien turned to Kagami, saying something and briefly tilting his head in Marinette's direction. Kagami nodded at him in response, and they separated, Kagami heading in one direction and Adrien heading in Marinette's.

At first, Marinette was nervous, her worst case scenario being that Liberation had truly failed or worn off when she de-transformed, or that her feelings were somehow so strong or messed up that even Liberation somehow couldn't help her.

Yet, as Adrien approached, she found that she wasn't shaky at all. Her heart wasn't pounding either. She didn't even feel the slightest bit of awe from his presence.

She was normal. She was okay.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien greeted with a smile. "Did you need something?"

It took her a moment to answer, still stunned that it'd worked and she'd truly been freed of her crush, even if it was for five minutes. "Oh. No, actually, just..." She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone, checking the time, then kept it at her side as she asked genuinely, "How was fencing?"

Adrien looked briefly caught off guard, though whether he was surprised at her acting differently or just the question was anyone's guess. He then brightened, replying excitedly, "It was great! I got paired up with Kagami again, and you know how Mr. D'Argencourt is with fencing, so he..."

The conversation continued as nothing but casual from there, and Marinette almost felt silly at how amazed she was by such a simple thing. It was actually like she was Adrien's friend; like they were on the same page and she could actually hold a conversation with him. He looked and talked the same way he always did, yet she was perfectly fine. Students passed by and maybe tossed them a brief glance, but completely ignored them otherwise because she wasn't acting "weird."

At worst, she was grinning just a little wider out of the pleasant surprise of the whole thing.

When she'd first thought to "liberate" herself of her feelings for Adrien, she was certain she'd be disappointed by it. She honestly thought that she would see Adrien and miss the heart fluttering, the weak knees, and the sheer dreaminess he used to radiate.

But she was wrong. With her crush gone, she could see herself from an outside perspective and reflect without fretting over the things she would've otherwise. Where she thought there'd be disappointment, there was relief that she could actually breathe and not turn into a mess around him. Her mind wasn't clouded with thoughts, and her eyes could drift wherever she wanted without some brainless thought intruding and warning her that she might miss Adrien blinking if she looked away.

She'd needed this. It was nice; more than nice even. Is this how it could be all the time if she truly moved on from him? No more mocking, no more jealousy, no more "crazy Marinette"? It'd be like a celebrity crush that she grew out of; an embarrassing memory of the past and nothing more.

More importantly, she would remember this. She would remember this feeling; the sanity of not being in love with Adrien, or not feeling whatever that emotion was actually called. To say the word "love" seemed so... wrong.

Still mid-discussion with Adrien, Marinette's phone suddenly beeped with a warning message. She turned it in her hand, seeing that she'd properly set the timer earlier to warn her when there was a minute and half left of Liberation.

Adrien leaned over to look at the screen, but jumped when a loud honking noise abruptly sounded off from behind him. Marinette tried not to snicker, but it was difficult; seeing someone else be the jumpy one was quite the experience, and she'd have to remember that too.

Adrien looked over his shoulder at his limo waiting for him, then glanced back at her apologetically. "Sorry, I gotta go. Can we talk later?"

"Oh, sure! Definitely!" Marinette stashed her phone back in her purse, then waved to him. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed, waving as he rushed off. "It was fun talking to you!"

"You too!"

Marinette pursed her lips, trying to contain herself as she watched Adrien get into the limo and ride off down the street. She waited until it was out of earshot, then let herself start squealing, even hopping around and doing a twirl for effect.

"M-marinette?!" Tikki called, concerned. "Did it wear off? There's still time—"

"I'm gonna delete all my Adrien pictures!" Marinette exclaimed. "And take down that disaster of a wallpaper!"

"W-wHA—!!" Tikki gaped. "Marinette, when your feelings come back—"

"That's future Marinette's problem! This feels great!" Marinette cheered, having to suppress her excitement just so she could talk. Raising one hand dramatically, she placed the other to her chest, saying to no one in particular, "Oh, what's that? Me, crushing on Adrien? Ew, no way! We're just friends!"

She laughed triumphantly, a bounce in her step that made it seem almost like she were jogging. She crossed the street, reaching for the bakery door's handle and practically singing to herself, "Just friends~ We're just friends~ Me and Ad~ri~en are just good—"

She paused as she opened the door, seeing a familiar mix of blue and black standing at the counter and talking to her parents. At the chime of the bell, all three looked over at her, Luka's smile welcoming and his lips partially coated in white from what seemed to be a powdered donut.

"Hey, Marinette," he greeted. "We were just talking about you."

"Oh, he's such a sweetheart," Sabine cooed. "He came all the way here just to see you."

Luka blushed a light shade of pink at the obvious teasing, Tom jumping in to exclaim, "And he really thought he had to pay us for sweets! I told him, you're friends with our daughter, you better not put a single coin on that counter, young man!"

The three had a laugh together; clearly, they'd been getting along before she came in.

Yet, Marinette's smile fell from her face, a mental 'oh' echoing in her mind.

She hadn't even considered Luka when she'd thought of taking away her crush on Adrien, but it made sense; Eagle had said love, and Marinette wasn't foolish enough to think that she hadn't felt anything romantic for Luka. It only made sense that her crush on him would go too.

But it wasn't the same. The relief didn't follow the lack of feeling. With Luka, there'd always be a little leap in her heart, then a wave of calm washing over her, but neither were there and she couldn't help feeling disappointed.

Luka's smile disappeared as he noticed her expression. He approached, concern written all over his features. "Marinette?"

They were friends at that very moment; that was all the feeling she had on the matter, but she wanted what she'd had before. She remembered his confession at the TV station and yearned for the warmth in her cheeks when he stared at her and told her how much he loved her with words that were entirely his own; words that told her that he loved her as herself and filled her with a confidence she seldom had outside of being Ladybug.

Everything clicked. Her crush on Adrien represented stress, anxiety, and losing herself, but her crush on Luka represented peace, happiness, and being herself.

She missed how she felt about Luka. She didn't miss how she felt about Adrien.

That was all the answer she needed.

Almost on cue, her phone beeped again, this time to signal that Liberation was over. Marinette took in a shaky breath as she felt pleasantly familiar emotions rush through her again, and she welcomed them back like she would an old friend.

Luka's blue eyes gained vibrance and allure, his lips being coated in powdered sugar suddenly became incredibly cute, and she could think of him as no less than the most handsome boy in the world.

"...Sorry," she said breathlessly, waving a hand to assure him that she was alright. "Let's just say I went through a lot of emotions today. I'm happy to see you, really!"

Luka's smile came back, filling her with its warmth. "I'm glad," he said in relief. Then, taking a glance at her purse, which was still letting out a muffled, melodic beeping noise, he asked, "Sorry, do you have to be somewhere?"

"Hm? Oh, no, not really." She took out her phone to shut off the timer, then flashed him the screen before closing the app and storing the phone back in her purse. That done, she paused to consider things, then dared a glance back at him. "Hey... can we walk for a while?"

He blinked, mildly surprised, but nodded. "Sure. Did—" He froze, apparently only now realizing that he had powdered sugar on his lips. He swished his tongue around to lick it off, then started over with, "Did you want to talk about something?"

Smiling almost smugly in response, she felt confident enough to offer him her arm, as if he were a damsel she was leading around. She'd never seen his eyes widen quite so much before, but he also didn't protest, happily taking hold of her arm.

Knowing that her parents would just be giving their looks of approval if she glanced back, she stepped out of the bakery and led Luka towards the park.

"So, it took a little longer than I hoped, but... do you remember when you were talking about me getting clarity?"

[ur-favorite-queer-queen]

Let The Little Ones Sleep!

Master List 

Luka still remembered the day Juleka had pointed out the words to him. He was trying to play a chord on his small guitar when she had stopped him to point out the thing on his upper arm. He was around six years old when he took a good look at them. They were foreign and unfamiliar, written in another language that he did not recognize. 

He had gone to his mother, questioning her about the strange words on his upper arm.

“Those are the first words your soulmate will say to you.” His mother told him. The song he always heard, no felt, changing it’s tune to become less energetic and more soft.

“But I don't understand them, what do they say?” He asked. 

"Now where is the fun in me telling you that. Those words are written in English, which means that is the language your soulmate speaks. If you learn English then you can find out what it means and be able to talk to your soulmate when you do meet them." His mother explained. And the energeticness was back.

"How am I gonna learn English?" He questioned. 

"I will teach you! You and Juleka!" His mother proudly announced.

"Okay!" 

And that was how his lessons started. For the next 5 years his mother taught him and his sister English. And by the time he was 11 he was fluent in it. 

He now knew what the words on his upper arm said, and he could not be more confused. “I’ll go wake them up.” Wake who up? Why couldn’t his words be simple like Juleka’s? 

Speaking of Juleka’s words that brought on a new question, why were his words on his upper arm while Juleka’s were on her hand? And this time both him and Juleka went to ask their mother. Well, it was more like he asked and Juleka waited patiently behind him for the answer. 

“Such curious children you two are, never change. The place where the words are, is the first place your soulmate will touch you.” Her song turning slightly amused.

Curiosity peaked, Juleka spoke up, “Where are your words mom?” What are your words?” 

Their bright and energetic mother seemed to shrink at the questions. Her song turning sad and muted.

“Well my children, some people are born without soulmates. And I am one of those people.” 

“Oh.” Juleka mumbled at her answer. Her song turning slightly guilty before perking up again at her mother’s next words.

“There is nothing to be guilty of Juleka, it isn’t you fault I have no soulmate now is it?” Juleka shook her head, “ Exactly, but I don’t need a soulmate to be happy because I have you wonderful children. Now I think there are two wonderful children who need to do their homework. Hmm.” 

“Going right now mom.” Luka grabbed Juleka and started dragging her to their room so he could help her with math. Juleka didn’t protest. 

When he was fourteen and Juleka was twelve he got his first look into how exactly the bond worked. Not that at that moment he knew. 

Juleka had come home from her first day at collège a nervous, lovesick mess. He didn’t even need to listen to her song to know that. She had gone on and on about this one girl who was in her math, science, and English class, her eyes practically hearts. 

However when Luka asked if Juleka had talked to this mysterious girl, he got a stuttered out no. 

And this exact story played out for two more weeks. Juleka would gush something about Rose, he had finally found out her name, but had never gotten the courage to talk to her. It always ended with a sad Juleka and his only way of cheering her up was to play the happy, energetic song of their mother. 

It seemed that this would be her love life from now on, with Juleka too scared to do anything about her crush. But, thankfully, he was wrong about Juleka’s love life. 

Because on one fateful day when he went to pick her up he witnessed something magical. 

Juleka was walking down the steps towards him when what he could only describe as a ball of pink happiness and energy bounded up to her. She called out, “Hey your Juleka right?” and both Couffaines froze. 

But that didn’t stop the ball of pink positivity. She went right up to Juleka and grabbed her hand to shake it, and he could see the blush that was currently gracing her cheeks. He walked closer to the pair just in time to hear Juleka stutter out a, “Y-yeah that’s me.” 

If it was possible Rose’s smile got even wider at those words but before she could say anything was when it happened. Rose had to suddenly take a step back as bright purple and pink lights emerged from both their hands. Hovering in the air just long enough to create a heart shape before disappearing. All those around, including Luka and the two newfound soulmates, could only stare. 

“Wow you’re my soulmate!” Rose finally exclaimed, breaking the silence. 

“Oh I-I guess I am." Juleka mumbled. But Rose didn’t hear her, as she started pulling her away talking so fast that Juleka couldn’t understand her. Yet despite that being with her just felt right, so when she turned to lock eyes with her brother, she shook her head. That day Luka went home alone as Juleka got to know her soulmate. 

And that was his first and only look at how a soulbond worked. While it was definitely memorable and something he would never forget, soulmates were not his priority. 

As seen by his crush on Marinette, who was definitely not his soulmate. But despite knowing they could never be together, his heart always hoped. And when she did get together with her soulmate, he couldn’t be happier, because one of his best friends was happy. Even if the pairing was unexpected, he honestly had no idea that Marinette and Kagami would be soulmates but their songs work well together so he should’ve expected it.

However lately he had been feeling weird. The songs that he heard from every person became so much louder than usual, he could hear every mood change, every spark of surprise, happiness, sadness, fear from all those around him. It was starting to get overwhelming and he didn’t know why. This had never happened before. 

It all reached a high when he got introduced to one Damian Wayne, who was staying at Chloe’s father’s hotel and Chloe had to show around Paris. Well sorta introduced. He was having a major headache that doubled when he got inside the hotel and Chloe only said a quick Damian meet Luka, Luka meet Damian, before taking off with Damian to show him something he couldn’t recall. 

He went to their usual room in the hotel they would hang out in, closed all the blinds, and took a nap, hoping that his headache would go away with sleep. 

He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t right. He woke up but his headache still hadn’t fully gone away, yet it was still much better than it had been before. He grabbed a water bottle from the secret fridge and slowly drank from it as he waited for his friends to return. 

He didn’t have to wait long as soon the door to the room burst open and in walked his friends, including Damian. Suddenly his headache came back full force but he didn’t let it show. The last thing he needed was his friends worrying about him while they were trying to have fun with Damian. 

Time quickly passed and it was hard for him to keep up with everything that was going on, but as the day got later, one by one his friends started falling asleep. Until it was only him and Damian awake. Neither wanted to start the conversation, so for a solid hour awkward silence flooded the room. 

It seemed that Damian was starting to get tired of the silence as he moved to go past Luka to the others. However, what he said as he was about to pass Luka almost had him frozen, almost. "I'll go wake them up." In English, the exact words that were on his upper arm.

Luka's eyes widened in shock from three things. The first was that this guy was his soulmate. The second was that the major headache he had been having was probably the result of his soulmate being here and that must have interfered with his ability to hear people’s songs. The third was that Damian was about to evoke the wrath of his friends when they're woken up from their sleep. Not wanting to have another incident like that occur again he stepped into Damian’s path. 

“No, let the little ones sleep.” Right as he said those words Damian moved to push past him, touching his upper arm in the process. However the second Damian did bump into him he seemed to come to his own conclusion as he suddenly jumped back right as blue and green burst from where they touched. Just like he remembered from all those years ago the colors hovered in the air for a minute, just long enough to create a heart before disappearing. 

The others seemed to remain undisturbed in their sleep as Luka and Damian stared at each other with wide eyes. Finally Damian got the courage to speak up. 

-

Damian really didn’t know what to think. The words “let the little ones sleep” had haunted him for his whole life. In the league having a soulmate meant having a weakness, and having any weaknesses would get him killed. So he had it drilled into his head from birth that the second he met his soulmate he was to kill them immediately. 

Of course he really didn’t want to, the stories his mother told him in secret of how special soulmates were wanted him to meet his and not kill them. But not killing his soulmate would be seen as a betrayal to the league, which would lead to serious consequences. 

So he kept quiet about his soulmate, even when he was permanently sent to live with his father. The only reason they knew was because he had been working out in the batcave with a tank top on and Dick had seen the words on his upper arm. And Dick being Dick proceeded to tell the whole family about what he had discovered. Which resulted in a lot of teasing about his soulmate and what their first words to him would be. 

After a while the teasing died down and he honestly forgot that he had a soulmate. He had more important things to prioritize anyways. Like how he was in Paris to oversee if there was any damage left from when the magical terrorist Hawkmoth had been defeated a few months ago. His father had wanted to come to but he had things he needed to take care of in Gotham so he was there alone. Which wasn’t that bad in his opinion, it meant he could get more done, especially since his siblings weren’t here. 

Unfortunately his father had contacted the mayor of Paris and asked him to make sure that he ‘didn’t get in any trouble’. And so the mayor had his daughter follow show him around Paris. 

She also had her friends tag along with her on their tour of Paris but there was one friend in particular that he couldn’t get off his mind. Luka, Bourgeois had introduced him as, he didn’t look well and it seemed she knew that as she didn’t push for handshakes or proper greetings like she did with her other friends. 

Luka had walked off to what was apparently their hangout room as Bourgeois and all of her other friends left the hotel and gave him a tour of Paris. It didn't take nearly as long as he thought it would since they skipped over big tourist attractions and took him to what they called "local treasures". But the weirdest part was that he could get his mind off if Luka, and that frustrated him to no end. He barely knew the guy so why was he so infatuated with him.

They returned to the hotel to find Luka looked a little better, but that didn't stop his friends and him from worrying. There seemed to be several conversations going at once and Damian couldn’t keep up with all of them, so he tried his best to keep up with a few. However, something he noticed was that despite Luka keeping a smile on his face and nodding along to whatever conversation he was a part of, all the others including him would constantly cast him worried glances that he seemed to not notice. 

As the day turned to night, one by one, more of the group fell asleep. Soon it was only him and Luka left awake and neither stepped up to break the awkward silence. It irritated Damian to no end, even though he liked silence, he did not like this type of silence. But it seemed that neither him nor Luka was going to be talking anytime soon, an hour had already passed, so he decided that it would be best to wake up one of his friends. His best bet would probably be the optimistic one, Marinette.

Unfortunately in his thinking he had reverted back to English when he said, "I'll go wake them up." Instead of in French so Luka could understand. Out of the corner of his eye he was pretty sure he saw Luka's eyes widen in what appeared to be shock, but he wasn’t too sure. 

However a second later Luka tried to block his path also saying in English, “No, let the little ones sleep.” The exact words on his upper arm. 

His mind registered this discovery and he realized that must have been why Luka’s eyes had widened. However his body was already in the motion of walking and did not register that piece of information so he ended up bumping into Luka. Specifically his upper arm with Luka’s upper arm. The realization caused him to jump back in shock right as blue and green lights emerged from both their upper arms and formed a heart in between them.

They both stared at each other with wide eyes in complete silence before he finally got the courage to speak up. “I-” Curse his luck or thank it, Bourgeois interrupted him before he could get a sentence out.

“Ooooh are you guys soulmates?” She questioned, seeming much more awake than she should. 

“What’s going on?” Marinette asked with a yawn, her eyes fighting to stay open.

“It seems that Mr. Frowny Face and blueberry boy are soulmates.” Alix spoke up from her spot on the couch.

“Wow, didn't see that coming.” Nino said sarcastically as he slid Alix twenty euros. 

Almost everyone slid Alix and Bourgeois various amounts of money, the only ones that didn’t were the ones that didn’t take the bet. Aka those who knew better than to bet with Alix. As Kim slid his thirty euros he grumbled something along the lines of “Stupid time traveling bunny seeing the future” but Damian was more shocked at the fact they betted on him and Luka being soulmates. Despite only having one interaction before this. Luka, on the other hand, seemed much more calm and only shook his head at their antics. 

“Would you prefer if we gave you boys some privacy?” Marinette, the only one besides Kagami that didn’t bet asked. 

Damian and Luka exchanged a glance before Luka answered, “That would be nice.”

Marinette and Kagami dragged the others out of the room, with Marinette instructing Kim to pick up Rose and bring her to wherever they were going since she didn’t want to wake the girl up. Something about her being the baby of the group and how the baby is always allowed to sleep. No one objected to that so he assumed that was normal, or maybe no one objected because of Juleka giving everyone death glares.

Once everyone had left Damian turned to Luka, “So we’re soulmates.” He stated.

“We are.” Luka replied. Both stayed silent once again, Damian wasn’t good with talking about this kinda stuff and Luka was just as clueless about what to do. 

“How long are you going to be in Paris?” Luka asked, his fingers silently twitching and he wished now more than ever that he could play his guitar to relieve some of the stress he felt. He did not think that talking to your soulmate was supposed to be this stressful. 

“Another week,” He instantly answered, but at seeing the slight frown on his soulmate’s face he quickly added, “But I can always ask my father for more time. I am sure he would understand.”

“That would be nice but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 

Damian was about to reply but he stopped himself for a second to think, he would never hear the end of it from his siblings if he asked for Luka to come back to Gotham with him. Plus Gotham was not the best place to bring one’s newfound soulmate. His mind decided he replied, “No I want to get to know you.” 

Luka tried and failed to hide his smile at his soulmate’s words. That is until he came to a quick realization, “I don’t know your full name, we haven’t even had a proper introduction.”

Damian was surprised by that as well, he went back through their interactions and realized that Luka was right. Then he realized that he never got the full names of any of Bourgeois’s friends. He had been referring to them all by their first names...he couldn’t ever let his family find out about that. 

Breaking him out of his thought process was Luka sticking his hand out to him as he properly introduced himself, “Luka Couffaine.” 

Damian took his hand and shook it as he introduced himself, “Damian Wayne.”

“Wait Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? The billionaire?” Luka stared at him curiously. 

“Yes.” Damian hesitantly answered. 

“No wonder Chloe’s been acting so weird, a billionaire’s kid is staying at the hotel.” 

“HEY I DON’T ACT WEIRD!” Someone, definitely Chloe, shouted from the other side of the door. 

“Have they been listening this whole time?” Damian questioned Luka, he seemed more likely to know. 

“Probably,” He answered as he walked over and opened the door. All of the friends that had previously left the room to give them privacy fell when the door opened, most of them having the decency to look a little guilty for eavesdropping. Luka fondly smiled at them before turning back to him and stating, “Welcome to your week, or longer, in Paris.” 

Damian, strangely, found himself smiling back at him. “Can’t wait.” 

Alix, the first to have gotten up, looked between the soulmates who were currently staring at each other with lovesick grins and fake gagged, “Great another lovey dovey couple.” Juleka and Rose both threw pillows at her, while the others laughed. Yeah, Damian didn’t think it would be so bad.

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So this is my last contribution to the trope tussle! I hope everyone enjoyed the 3 fics I put out! Hopefully for the next event I will be able to post more works because school will be less of a pain! 

[emu-lumberjack]

Don’t answer the phone tired part 4

Time to plan some revenge, plus its time to find out how they met (Partly)

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

Hello All I decided to write part 4 before work and edit after. the pig latin at the start just translate to “Nix on the identity talk” for those who don’t know piglatin. also I hope y’all like it I decided to stop it where I did for slight evilness. (Sorry not sorry.) 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 5

Ixnay on the dentityiway alktay. I have another idea to tell them that.

Damian typed to Marinette as they walked into the restaurant. He felt his phone vibrate and looked to see Marinette's responding message

Chat, Ryuko, and Viperion have to be involved, and no one gets seriously maimed.  

Deal.

Lunch went smoothly, until of course Dick asked about how they met. Marinette took a moment then said “Damian and I made a bet that if Damian won in a video game we would go prank Lila if I won then they’d go have some fun with a water balloon fight to blow off steam.” Not super far off from the truth, just missing a few key facts.

“It was a bad day for both of us. Lila was being Lila, and we hadn’t played that fighting game yet. Needless to say she was a lot better than I expected.” Damian finished her tale.

“I guess I’ll have to play you sometimes, I’m currently undefeated at the manor.” Jason said through a mouthful of rice.

“I guess so.” She said. Anyone else would think of her tone of voice as soft but Damian knew that voice, it was the innocent voice she used when she wanted people to underestimate her. He looked forward to the prospect of watching Todd fail miserably. Marinette’s phone started going off, she looked at and answered. “Yeah Adrien.” Damian couldn’t make out what he said but it was enough to startle Marinette. “Crap I completely spaced. I was caught up at lunch, can you stall Madame Bustier for me? I swear I’ll be there soon.” she shoved her phone in her bag while leaping out of her seat. “Thank you guys lovely meeting you. Let me know how much I owe you for lunch later.” With that she was out the door.

“We’re not having her pay us back. Right?” Tim asked.

“Definitely not. It’s on me this time.” Dick responded. “Also Bruce asked all of us to check up on the Wayne enterprises building while we’re here. Let’s head over after we finish up here.” A chorus of agreement followed.

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

After the trip to the Paris office the four bats went back to Damians residence. Damian secluded himself in his room taking that over talking with his brothers, plus he had to finish his plan for tonight, he’d tell Marinette the rest of it after she got out of school. He’d been at it for a couple of hours when a knock at his bedroom door tore him away from his work.

“What.” he said curtly annoyed at being interrupted. Jason poked his head through the door, he looked tired.

“Nice to see your still alive demon spawn, we hadn’t seen you in a few hours. Anyway Dick went to the store, and Tim and I are gonna crash. Actually Tim’s already crashed on the couch and I’m about to follow. Wanted to let you know in case you needed something.”

“Yeah yeah I’ll wake you up if I do.”

“Yeah that was actually my warning. Wake us up and you will get a fist to the face, fancy ninja skills or not.” Jason held his fist up for emphasis, Damian just laughed.

“Sure Todd, if you can catch me you can hit me.”

“Wow that Marinette really has loosened you up, before I don’t even think you’d respond to me.” he paused for a second, “oh speaking of which did I mention she’s at the door?”

“You could lead with that!” Damian said, throwing on his sweatshirt. He scooped up his notebook and a pair of shoes. He shoved his notebook in his messenger bag and started hopping on one foot down the hall trying to put his shoe on and get to the door as fast as possible. That was until he lost his balance and planted face first into the rug, notebook landing like a tent on top of his head. He lifted it up slightly to see Marinette trying to stifle a laugh and failing, miserably. The Kwamii at her side no doubt doing the exact same.

“You’re welcome!” Jason called from Damians room.

“I’m gonna kill him.” A very red Damian muttered.

“Oh don’t do that just yet, we have to plan tonight don’t we. anyway he’ll get his due tomorrow when I play him.” She was still smiling as she offered a hand to Damian to help him up, he could forget sometimes how ruthless she could be behind the sweet smile, he liked it sometimes.

“Yeah you’re right, anyway ready to head out? Are we doing Andre’s?”

“Sure we can meet the others in the park. Also is your brother ok, because it looks like he’s about to fall off the couch.” Damian looked over to see Tim’s sleeping head practically touching the floor, with his feet still laying horizontal. Damian gave him five minutes before crashing onto the floor.

“He’ll be fine, lets go.” The two walked out of the residence hand in hand.

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

“Everyone clear on the plan?” Damian asked, it was a couple hours after he and Marinette had left the apartment. The ice cream they got from Andre was long gone, and the sun was setting.

“I mean it sounds simple enough, my question is what you want me to do?” Luka said from the corner still strumming his guitar.

“If you could use your lyre for ominous music when we start, that would be perfect to freak Greyson out. He may not be religious but he still believes in ghosts. Also in case they ever catch on before we get to do the rest of it you can use second chance and we can do it again.”

“Sounds good, and I have just the song.” Luka may be a kind kid but he wasn’t above pranks on siblings, especially if it was for a friend.

“So when do we start?” Kagami was pretending to study while she talked to them over phone, her mother wouldn’t let her meet up with them.

“Same question over here!” Adrien was simultaneously stuck in his room so Marinette had him pulled up on videochat.

“After sundown, think you two can sneak out by then?” Damian responded.

“How bout ten that when my mom is asleep and I can sneak out even easier.”

Kagami offered.

“Sounds good to me if it is for everyone else.” A chorus of yeahs confirmed the ten time. “Perfect Kagami, Adrien see you then.” With that Damian and Marinette hung up their respective phones.

“I’ve gotta go get some homework done before then, so I’ll see the two of you at ten too.” Luka  got up and put his guitar in its case, which he then slung over his back. He grabbed his bike handles and started walking it out of the park.

“We’ll see you then Luka, oh say hi to your mom for me, and tell her I’ll have those pastries to her by next Tuesday!” Marinette called to him. He was already halfway out of the park so she had to shout a little louder.

“Will do!” he called back. Marinette and Damian waved bye as he disappeared around the corner.

“So Dames, what do you want to do now?” she turned to him.

“I don’t know but we’ve got a couple hours to kill, you have any ideas?”

“I have one.” She said slyly, he looked at her face to see mischief in her bluebell eyes and a smile on her lips.

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

Game Over. Player 1 wins.

It was their 7th game and Marinette had wiped the deck with Damian every time. He got maybe two kills over all the games. The duo were killing time in Marinette’s room and decided to play some video games.

“Well that was a fun game, play again?” She said setting her controller down and stretching her arms up. Damian had gotten slightly more use to being so thoroughly crushed, so he only gaped for a minute rather than everyone else’s 15 minute long gaping session.

“Mari I love you, but I don’t think I can lose to you again.”

“Come on you might win the next one.” She said lightly.

“Mari don’t tease me it’s unbecoming of you.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not fun!” a buzz from her phone stopped her from saying another thing to annoy him.

Where are you guys, it’s already ten -Adrien

Sorry was beating the ice prince in video games. Be there soon. -Marinette

“You ready to blow off some steam, ten o’clock is upon us.” she gave a mock bow towards Damian sticking with her Ice Prince theme from the text.

“If you cut it with the royalty shtick I’ll even buy you some new fabric afterwards.” “Hmmmmm tempting but unlikely to happen.”

“I figured, but thought I’d try.” he held out an arm to her, “then are you ready to go mess with my brother's princess?”

“Let’s suit up.” She grabbed his hand, their excitement palpable.

“This will be fun.”

tag list: @ur-average-reader  @k-laconia-bug1 @smolplantmum @dast218 @pirats-pizzacanninibles @acoursedprophetwithasmothie @g-arya @loysydark @mewwitch @itsemeanne @hauntedstudent99 @pawsitivelymiraculous @clumsy-owl-4178 @shippernaturalsanderspjoandscifi @purplesundaze @zotinha456 @t1dwarrior-of-earth @chocolateherringtacofan @abrx2002 

[kidofthekat]

Salty Outcasts (part 3)

Part 2:

Part 3:

- Juleka, Luka, Adrien, Alix, Kagami and Chloé went to school the next day with a plan.

- Adrien had finally confessed to how uncomfortable he was with Lila (Chloé immediately apologised for hanging onto him just as much) so Alix was on lie duty, hearing and writing down everything Lie-la said. She also was hoping to plant little seeds of doubt in the rest of he classes minds.

- Juleka stuck by Marinette, both were now social outcasts but we’re able to find a better friendship in each other.

- Adrien and Chloé worked on getting in contact with as many people as they could that the Liar had lied about.

- After school, The couffaine siblings and Kagami went Bach to their houseboat to plot some more, the three were scarily good and coming up with plans to topple kingdoms.

- The blondes went with Marinette to the bakery to keep her company, Adrien also wanted to apologise for his advice.

- Alix, much to her dismay, had to go with the rest of the class on a picnic in the park, it would have been suspicious if she turned it down and this was another chance to find more of Lila’s lies to debunk.

- A week later of the same routine and Juleka and Marinette were better friends than ever. Anarka had claimed Kagami as her child and Adrien and Chloé were on their ways to becoming honorary Dupain-Chengs.

- They tried, they tried so hard to call out the Liar. But their mindless sheep of classmates just blamed Marinette despite that fact that she HAD NO IDEA and there was A PILE OF LAWSUITS on Lila’s desk.

- In the process, Alix and Adrien had outed themselves as on Marinette’s side so were given the same treatment as Juleka and Marinette.

- The whole day Marinette was in pure shock, they had tried to out Lila and failed even though they obviously planned it, her crush on Adrien was actually stopping, she was friends with Chloé! and her class had proven themselves as mindless sheep.

- She soon found herself on the Liberty surrounded by six people who had just explained what had been going on. Marinette, having been used to kindness only from her parents recently, just burst into tears sniffing about friends and outcasts and loyalty.

- Luka immediately jumped to her side to comfort her (much to Juleka’s amusement) and after she had calmed down the teens fell into easy chatter.

- They may be outcasts, but that class were so brainless they were gonna be as salty as they could (I know, cheesy, but I wanted to put it there so it is).

So yeah, the formation of the Salty Outacsts (credit to @flufflepuffle296 for the name). I am going to write this out as a fic and probably expand it but I’m behind on school work so it may take a while. Thank you for reading, there definitely will be more!

HERE IT IS WRITTEN OUT: (chapter 1, part1)

[azure-wolf-227]

ML AU: Sleeping Beauty (part 1)

Fourth installment of @princess-of-the-corner and my ML/Disney Princesses AUs; unlike the previous two, this one being inspired by Sleeping Beauty with elements from the Maleficent movies. In this AU Marinette is the one with the Princess role instead of Adrien but Lukadrigaminette is still the endgame.

(This Au will be divided in two posts since it’s very long)

It starts with King Tom and Queen Sabine of the Dupain-Cheng Kingdom hosting a party to celebrate the birth of their daughter, Princess Marinette. They invite King Gabriel, Queen Anarka, and Empress Tomoe, the rulers of the three neighboring kingdoms: the Agreste Kingdom, the Couffaine Kingdom, and the  Tsurugi Kingdom. The whole engagement thing is more about deciding who get engaged to whom. The different Kingdoms are known for different things, especially their exports to other Kingdoms. This is how @princess-of-the-corner put it:

The Dupain-Cheng’s Kingdom has some real great farmland, exporting plenty of produce that would not thrive as well in the other Kingdom’s lands. They’re also known for having some amazing chefs.

The Couffaine Kingdom is right on the water. They pretty much control the seas and any imports from further away countries.

Naturally the Agreste Kingdom is well known for it’s fabrics and fashions.

The Tsurugi Kingdom is likely known for it’s warriors, but also its weapon smithing.

Obvs all Kingdoms can function independently, but the trade between them is helpful to the others. Which is the entire reason why the Royals would like to merge the Kingdoms.

The joke is they think it’d take an extra generation do do so, having the kids be two couples and then the gen after them being arranged. But these four idiots fall in love and it’s like “well that works too…”

The Kwamis are Faes (like in the Snow White AU) and play the roles of Good Faeries who each give a blessing to little Princess Marinette.

Audrey is in the role of Maleficent, (she looks the live-action version with the horns and wings but her wings are yellow and glittery) the evil Fae who crashes the party cause she and throws a tantrum over not being invited. Granted, she’s an evil bitch and everyone knows that so it’s understandable that they didn’t want her there. Also, Audrey normally would not want to go to some mortal princess’s christening even if she were invited; she’s mostly outraged that the other Faes were invited because she views herself as better than them since she’s a descendant of the Fae Ancestor, the Phoenix.

Anyway, Audrey is offended by not being invited so she casts a curse on Marinette stating that she’d die on her 16th birthday after pricking her finger on a spinning wheel. Since Tikki’s the only one who hasn't given Marinette a blessing yet, she uses her power to change the curse so that, instead of dying, Marinette falls into a deep slumber that with the spell broken by True Love’s Kiss.

The Faes being the ones who raise Marinette is less about preventing the curse and more about her general safety because they fear that Audrey will do something else after they changed the curse. Also, Marinette is made aware that she was cursed as a baby and that’s she’s being raised by Faes, though they don’t tell her that she’s a princess. Note: The Kwamis/Faes don’t change Marinette’s name but that’s not really a problem cause she uses “Mari”  as a nickname and, if people learn of her full name, they dismiss it a coincidence.

Meanwhile, Audrey is realizes that the Kwamis changed her curse and quickly finds out where Marinette is. Audrey knows that the Kwamis won’t let her near the princess so she uses her daughter, Chloé, to spy on little Marinette.

Little Chloé at first tries to hide but Marinette quickly realizes she’s there and happily asks her if she wants to play. Chloé is a bit hesitant at first, but gets over it quickly and the two girls become friends. Audrey is pissed cause Chloé was supposed to stay hidden but thinks “this might work better” and let’s Chloé be Marinette’s friend. 

The Kwamis don’t realize that Audrey is using Chloé to spy on Marinette for two reasons: 1) Marinette doesn’t tell them about Chloé, at least not enough for them to realize that she's a real person instead of an imaginary friend; 2) Chloé doesn’t really register as a threat to their senses because a) she doesn’t have wings cause Audrey cut them off (telling her that she’d get the back if she’s exceptional) and b) she’s a child being manipulated by their parent and not actually malicious.

Sabrina is in the role of Diaval, though here she’s a wolf pup that Marinette and Chloé found caught in a hunter’s trap and Chloé then uses her powers to turn her into a human. Chloé tells Audrey that Sabrina is her servant, though this is kind of an act to please her mother (she does care for Sabrina as a friend) and Sabrina goes along with it. Sabrina is aware that Chloé is spying on Marinette for Audrey and of Chloé conflicted feelings over eventually betraying Marinette.

The way that Marinette meets Adrien, Kagami, and Luka is a bit like the meeting in the movie but with more chaos. (@princess-of-the-corner came up with most of this part).

Adrien, Luka and Kagami are all traveling through the forest (separately) and hear someone singing. Despite better judgement, they follow it and find Mari singing and dancing with some animal companions. Chloe is watching nearby and sees the three, but decides they mean her no harm. Sabrina is also there, either as one of the animals dancing with Mari or watching alongside Chloé.

One of the three, probably Adrien, can’t help but step into dancing with Mari. Mari has her eyes closed so she assumes it was just Chloé.

Then Kagami probably is like “excuse you if anyone’s going to dance with the cute girl in the woods it’s gonna be me!” And cuts in with a smirk. Adrien is both confused and attracted.

Right as Kagami is thinking “hm. Maybe I should’ve danced with the blonde boy instead”, Luka swoops in and spins both girls, keeping Mari to himself while spinning Kagami to Adrien. The two of them dance their way back and are all kind of like. Half fighting to dance with Mari and confused by each other.

Eventually Mari thinks “wait a minute. There are too many people here.”. She opens her eyes to see Chloé waving from across the clearing and surrounded by three strangers silently fighting over her.

Mari freaks out and screams (because, if you just realized that three strangers have been dancing with you without you noticing, you’d definitely freak out). She punches someone in the face, most likely Adrien; this somehow makes them more into her.

The three apologize for scaring her, just that she looked so beautiful when dancing it was hard to not join in. And her companion didn’t seem to have any problem with it.

Which yeah Chloé was keeping an eye on them and was ready to throw down and run if they tried some shit but they seem innocent enough.

Anyway, they all introduce themselves, though Adrien, Luka, and Kagami don’t mention that they are royalty.

They all spend some time together, getting to know each other but it’s obvious that all three royals are attracted to Mari who is smitten by them as well which Chloé and Sabrina notice.

Adrien, Kagami, and Luka regrettably have to leave but they all make arrangements to see Mari soon. I’m having Marinette’s 16th birthday be in a bit more than a week so that they have more time to know each other more.

Adrien, Luka, and Kagami arrive to the Dupain-Cheng castle, (though separately) and meet up with their parents: King Gabriel, Queen Anarka, and Empress Tomoe. The three royal families present themselves to King Tom and Queen Sabine, which is when the three teens realize that they’re all royalty. After the introductions are done and the royals mingle, the three talk to each other. They know that they are suppose to court Princess Marinette once she returns but they realize that they all have a crush on the peasant girl Mari. The three agree to court Mari and whomever she choses will back off from courting Princess Marinette.

Meanwhile, Chloe informs her mother about the three strangers who Mari meet in the forest and Audrey realizes that they are the heirs of the other kingdoms; this infuriates her since there’s a chance of one of them breaking the curse on Marinette. She orders Chloé to keep an eye on them and possibly try to sabotage their chances of falling in love with Marinette. 

Chloe doesn’t really want to do that since she cares about Marinette and, over the years, has somewhat realized that her mother is awful. Though she still goes along with it cause she wants Audrey’s approval and to get her wings back. Fortunately, her efforts are a bit lackluster and actually end up bringing the quartet closer.

(End of part 1)

[dandelionflower]

Felinette Month Day 26

Fighting

“Felix and Marinette are fighting.”

Lila was good at breaking up couples; it was her first talent. It all just came from there, lying to see the falling out of two insufferably loving people, and she learned that she could use lying for her own good too.

She’d been having a bad day, so when she saw Marinette and Felix come into class at a different time, a rare occurrence, it was like a gift from heaven.

“It’s so sad, really.” She looked down, drawing in more girls from the class. “I was there after it happened. I didn’t really know what was going on, but I was obviously the first person Marinette had seen after the fight, because she just broke down and was sobbing into my shoulder.”

“Poor Marinette!” Rose covered her mouth.

“Yeah, she was a mess, blubbering on and on about how mortified she was to find out he was cheating on her.”

A gasp rippled through the girls.

“Cheating?” Alix squinted, skeptical. “Felix? That guy’s more devoted to Marinette then Kim is to his dares.”

“I know, but that’s what she said. Something about Kagami too.” She added, figuring why not kill two birds with one stone?

“Kagami?” The look that passed over Alya’s face was almost better than the possibility of her two least favorite couples in school breaking up.

Almost.

“Yeah, I almost went to go give her a piece of my mind, but Marinette really needed some comfort from me.”

“That was really nice of you, thanks for being for her when I couldn’t.” Alya smiled, but there was a rage behind her glasses.

Good. Lila was going to need that for later in her plan.

—

“...and then he just broke down! Right in front of me!” Lila brushes away an imaginary tear.

“That’s seems unlikely.” Max adjusted his glasses. “Out of all of us, Felix seems is the most emotionally withdrawn. Third to me and Chloe.”

“I know, I was so surprised when it happened. He just crumpled down the onto the floor, whispering something about Marinette and how she always did have a crush on him... Any ideas on who the ‘him’ could be?”

Ivan tapped his chin. “It could be...”

“No way, man!” Nino shook his head. “No way.”

“Yeah,” Kim agreed, “Marinette is more dedicated to Felix than I am to my dares.”

“Yeah...” Lila mused. “Probably, I’m just worried though, if Marinette was actually cheating on him like he said...”

“It would break him.” Nathaniel shook his head. He glanced at the other boys. “We may want to watch out, just in case.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“I knew I could count on you.” Lila pressed her hands on her chest, rejoicing both in and out.

This was gonna be good.

——

Lila has been watching Marinette and Felix all day, making sure no one got too close to see that they weren’t actually fighting.

Soon, she would convince Alya to go up to Marinette and apologize for Felix’s ‘cheating.’

Marinette would think her words accurate and confront Felix, for him to mention that Ivan told him that she was cheating on him.

Hopefully, the same thing would be happening to Adrien and Kagami, and breaking up would ensue with both pairs.

It was an old routine, but one that never failed to succeed, even with the closest of couples.

“Felix! Marinette!” Crap. She had forgotten about Adriens inane dedication to his friends.

“You’re fighting? Please don’t break up!” He was practically on his knees, begging. “You’re my OTP!”

“Adrien? What are you talking about?” Marinette tilted her head in an insidiously concerned way.

“Sabrina told Chloe who told me that you two were fighting. I told Kagami and she almost ran Paul through with her foil.” He took one of each of their hands, pushing them together.

“She agrees with me. Felinette for life!”

At this point, the rest of the class was gathering closer, murmuring their curiosities.

Felix scanned through crowd with calculated eyes.

“Who all thinks Marinette and I are fighting?”

When no one made any movement to show that they did, Felix said it again.

“Come on, just a show of hands. Who though Marinette and I were in a fight?”

One by one, each member of the class rose their hand, with a sheepish looks on their faces.

Felix rolled his eyes. “Well, I suppose, you were right...”

Adrien groaned hopelessly, almost melting to his knees.

“...but not in the manner you would expect.”

Marinette smiled and followed Felix out the door, and guided the class to the park.

Lila crept forwards, trailing behind them by a few steps.

The couple stood across from each other, in determined stances.; boxing gloves and odd helmets on their hands and heads.

Without warning, they lunged are each other, Felix jabbing above Marinette’s head as she ducked, laying a blow to his stomach.

The class watched transfixed and Adrien climbed up onto a bench, shouting, “Go Felix! Go Marinette!”

Finally, they stopped.

Marinette whipped off her helmet, flashing a smile to the class.

“We’ve been taking boxing lessons.” She said, taking off her gloves and placing them in a duffle bag no one noticed.

“I thought it would be a good idea, considering the... situations Marinette’s been put through by people who shall not be named.”

“That doesn’t explain why you both came in at different times.” Alya, faultily journalistic as ever, recalled.

Marinette blinked for a moment. “I slept in.”

“As did I, but it seems out definitions of ‘sleeping in’ are rather different.”

“Wait, Alya. I thought you knew.” Marinette stared at her with wide eyes. ”We’ve been practicing with your sister. At your house.”

“Oh.” Alya blushed. “Well, I’ve been pretty busy with babysitting, and the Ladyblog and...”

“It’s fine.” Marinette turned to the rest of the class and raised her voice. “But next time you think we’re fighting, come talk to us.”

“Before following baseless accusations.” Felix finished. “After all, rumors are not always as they seem.”

Lila could have sworn they were looking straight at her when they said it.

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - Outside the Wall

Part 19

Hey guys, very short, laid back chapter. I finished up writing my timari spitefest work and then immediately had a 6 month old puppy brought into my life. She likes sleeping on my hand. If you guys want, I'll post a picture of her, but the point is that writing may slow down significantly due to training and cuddles. Sorry this is almost more of a filler.

Wonderfully patient CLOSED taglist: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @emjrabbitwolf @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Walking through the portal, Jason took in the sight of his team dropping their transformations one at a time, taking no mind to the kid who walked in behind him. Guess it didn't really matter. What are the chances he would recognize them in any manner that mattered? Plus, they wanted the kid to feel comfortable here. That he could trust them.

Marinette walked over to him, barely glancing at the awkward Robin standing out of place.

"Alright, reprieve is over. You'll never adjust to your body this way," she said with an apologetic smile, lacing their fingers together and both loosening their crushing grip on their bond they'd been holding for the last two hours. As they both relaxed their minds, they slipped back into their own bodies, souls settling happily into their rightful place. 

Placed properly, Jason turned towards the Robin in the room, offering a lopsided smirk, "Welcome to the shitshow."

He shuffled his feet, "I don't plan…"

"On staying. Yes, we know Timothy. It's okay," Marinette helped him out, smile soft.

His shoulders tensed and narrowed eyes stared them down, staying quiet.

"Look, replacement, we're not trying to intimidate you or anything. We know Bruce's identity. Comes with being one of his charity cases, you know? It's not difficult to figure out which kid ended up in his care next," he intoned, trying to help Timothy see their lack of intentions towards revealing his identity.

"We only thought it fair you should be made aware of what exactly we know. I imagine it would be quite unsettling to think you had the upper hand on us only to find out later that we knew the whole time," Marinette chimed in next.

They watched as his face screwed up with an off put expression only to nod his assent, "That would bother me more, yeah."

"My name is Marinette," she put her hand out towards him, waiting patiently.

"Tim," he carefully shook her hand, staying almost formal despite the informal correction, "So the part about you getting stuck in the former Robin's body during his death. That's why you share the madness you mentioned before?"

"Lazarus Pit insanity. So fun. Definitely recommend," Jason decided to butt in, noticing the way Tim focused on Marinette the moment they switched bodies, "we were both dipped in a way, though she got the short end of the stick. My body, her soul."

"So some of it transferred due to it contaminating her soul then?" Tim asked, finally looking at him.

"Pretty much. Splitting it up this way makes it easier to handle," Marinette answered.

Tim seemed to consider this for a moment, "why are you answering me so willingly?"

"What purpose would hiding it serve?" He countered, receiving a surprised silence in response.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that out there. I'm sure that couldn't have been pleasant," Marinette slowly brought her hand to his shoulder, leaving plenty of time to move if the kid decided the contact was unwanted. When Tim allowed it, eyes still almost glaring, she smiled up at Jason and led the boy further into the room while he followed behind.

Zeroing in on where Marc stood on the phone, he gave a curious look only for Marc to end the call and curiously glance at the screen before turning back to the room at large, "That was Alfred. He can't make it here for a few days due to the giant man baby that's currently throwing a fit, but apparently someone else will be coming by tomorrow to speak to you two," This was partially directed towards Tim, but mostly to himself, "Said one would know her as a bat, the other as the eye in the sky."

"Barbara's coming? Oh great! It's been entirely too long since we've seen her!" Mari perked up, "did he say when to expect her?"

"Around eleven," they easily replied, picking their way over towards the trio, "sorry about holding you down by the way. Couldn't let you get caught up in that mess. My name is Marc," was directed at Robin.

"So… you were the mice?"

"They were the mice, yes. I'm Juleka. I was the one who brought you to the portal."

"The fox then, and you were likely the cat?" Tim directed towards Kagami.

"Kagami. In the next room over is Chloe."

"The one who opened the portal."

Jason felt a strange sense of appreciation for how quickly Tim placed the identities together. As well as a sense of dread. This kid was too bright, too sharp, based on what Mari told him, to be so easily fooled by Bruce. To not see how toxic that environment was. What happened to his replacement to make him so willing to overlook it all?

At this point a small hand slipped into his as Chloe introduced herself to the boy, having entered the room a moment before. Looking down, he took note of Damian huddling closer to him, watching the scene unfold.

"Another one?" The kid grumbled, tightening the grip on his hand and looking none too pleased, "I know you said I'd have to adjust to new people, but isn't this a bit much?"

"I don't know, kid, you seem pretty accepting of me," Jason tilted his head, watching the kid stiffen slightly, a blush overcoming his face.

"I hadn't realized you changed back yet," Damian replied, though he remained gripping his hand as they watched Tim interact with the others, "Will they all leave already?" The kid added, drawing his eyes back down to the uncomfortable shifting. Glancing at the clock, he figured he might as well indulge Damian every now and then.

"Chloe, lead the herd, would you?" He asked, maintaining eye contact to get his point across.

"Alright you lot, time to head out. Surely Robin won't be too comfortable around all of us for very long."

There was a touch of an argument over this, but eventually the team picked themselves up around the apartment and headed out, saying they might stay away for a few days. Jason caught the grateful smile on Marinette's face and took his small victory in how Damian pulled him back a little when he moved, as though afraid he might leave as well. 

When the apartment quieted down and everything went still, he took a deep breath and led the kid over towards the kitchen, feeling Marinette move behind him to follow. He set a pot onto the stove and filled it with milk to heat up, turning to look through the cabinets while it heated up, "Have you ever had Hot Chocolate, kid?"

"You mean melted? Once. I was given a piece to hide, but it melted a bit," Damian answered, sounding disappointed, though at only having it once or having to admit letting it melt, he wasn't sure, "Why?"

"Not quite what I meant. But I'll take it as a no. We're gonna have some tonight then," Jason responded, pulling down a bag of milk chocolate chips. They'd have to do. He pulled his hand up to ruffle the kid's hair, chuckling as he yanked back with a sneer, shuffling over to duck into Marinette's side, who'd been holding easy conversation with Tim all the while, carefully not commenting on the way the Robin pulled off his mask carefully and was beginning to calm down now that there weren't as many people. Jason chose this moment to eavesdrop, now that he no longer had to occupy Damian.

"Why's the new one still here?"

"Damian, this is Tim. He needed a place to stay."

"Why does it have to be here?"

"The same one who wronged Jason and I has wronged him as well. I imagine being around people who understand his position and won't judge him helps."

Jason chose to speak up now, "Marinette took you in when you had no one. When the two of you understood each other and felt connected for it. That's how you came to be family. He and I have a similar understanding."

"So he is family to you?"

"Nah, think more like when you first met her."

"You are… Wanting to protect him despite not personally knowing him. Instinct."

"Now you got it," he responded, pouring four mugs of the beverage, ignoring the calculating gaze between his shoulder blades. Then went about handing them out despite Tim's reassurance that he was fine, "drink it or don't, won't bother me either way, but I'm not going to leave you out."

Damian remained silent up until this point, observing the young teen curiously before passing his final judgement, "okay, as long as he sticks with you," the unspoken threat to keep away from Marinette did not go unheard.

"No one will take your place in my heart, little one. That place was created for you. If I become close to anyone else, they'll have to find their own place. Yours is occupied," she assured, as they both pretended not to hear his unbelieving grumbles. That lesson would be learned with time. 

Through it all, Tim kept to himself, sipping slowly and watching their interactions. Jason couldn't know what the boy thought, but if he had to wager a guess, he probably felt suspicious over how open and honest they were. Confused by their relation to Damian, but unsure if it was safe to ask. Likely, the teen just wasn't sure what to make of it all and wouldn't for quite a while. 

It'll take time and reassurance, probably even multiple visits from Alfred and Barbara to convince Tim that this was a safe place for him, but they had time to spend.

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: G

Chapter Summary:  Adrien and Ladybug skate together. Chloe and Kagami play damage control.

Word Count: 2,809 | Chapter 3/4

XXX

“XY!”  Chloé shoved partygoers aside as she stormed up to the DJ table.

“Huh?”  Her former-favorite musician looked at her like she was crazy.  He was crazy!  ...And he couldn’t hear her through those stupid clunky headphones.

She yanked them off of his ears.

“Hey!  What gives, Cholera?”

“It’s Chloé.  Seriously, we’ve met five times!  How hard is it to remember my name?”  If she had to call Jean Claude by his real name, the least everyone else could do was give her the same respect.

“Chloé, Coleslaw, whatever.  Why are you yelling?”

Chloé pinched the bridge of her nose.  XY was probably just too stupid to remember.  Just like he was too stupid to follow basic instructions.

“You posted a picture to Instagram!”  

“Yeah?”  XY grinned and dug his pinkie in his ear.  Ugh.  His ears had to be clogged if he could stand being so close to the blasting music.  “Pretty cute, huh?  Lu’s a really good skater.”

It had been a pretty cute photo of Luka lifting XY above his head, while XY spread his arms wide like an airplane.  Frankly, it was shocking that Luka’s skinny noodle arms could lift his boyfriend.  But none of that was the point.

“No one is supposed to post photos until after the party.”  It shouldn’t have even been possible.  XY’s phone must have been some fancy model that could get past Max’s data block.  “You’re going to bring Adrien’s bodyguard right to us!”

“Pshaw, it’s no big deal.  They’ll be too busy looking at me to even notice he’s here.”

Chloé smacked her forehead.  She did not get paid enough for this.

“Is something wrong?”  Luka asked, approaching Chloé and XY with two slices of passionfruit cake.

“Yes, there is!  Your utterly ridiculous boyfriend is going to get Adrien’s party busted!”

Luka sighed at XY.  “Baby, we talked about this.”

XY’s bottom lip jutted out.  “But… it was just one teeny-tiny little picture…”

“Just listen to Chloé and take it down.  You can post it again when the party’s over.”

Finally, someone was taking her seriously!

“Awwww, fine.”  XY pulled out his phone and deleted the post.  “Happy now, Clooney?”

She huffed, but turned her back before she could say anything she’d regret.

“Excellent work, Chloé.”  

She jumped.  Kagami was standing right there.   How did she always show up like some kind of ninja?

“We will still need to engage our failsafes.”  Kagami began typing on her phone.  Chloé stood on her tip-toes, looking over her shoulder.  She was posting… some selfies with Adrien in a blue wig?  

“Hey, I thought no one was supposed to post pictures.” Chloé frowned.

“These will lead Nathalie and Adrien’s bodyguard off our trail.  I’ll adjust the lighting to make them appear as if they were taken just now.”  She added filters, and the background grew dark.  “Now they will believe Adrien is at the juice shop with me.”

“Not bad.”  Chloé smirked.  “You know, for someone who never lies, you’re awfully good at fooling people.”

“Only when necessary.  Adrien’s happiness tonight is my number one priority.”

Kagami’s gaze shifted down to the rink, where Adrien and Ladybug were skating hand-in-hand.

“You’ve done a good job,” Chloé said quietly, leaning against the railing.  Over her shoulder she watched Adrien and Ladybug weave figure eights.  Even over XY’s blaring music, she could hear their laughter.  Two years ago that would have made her jealous.  

But it was good to see her oldest friend and her biggest hero make each other happy, even if it was only for one night.

“Come on.”  Kagami smiled at her.  “No more slacking.  Time to learn how to skate.”

Chloé faked annoyance.  “Oh, alright.  If you insist.”

XXX

Adrien glided like he was in a dream.  The soft pressure of Ladybug’s hand in his was the only thing anchoring him to the ground, and even that felt too good to be real.

But she was real.  She was here.  She cared about Adrien enough to come to his birthday party.

“You didn’t hit your head too hard, did you?”  Ladybug giggled.

Oh.  He must have been staring at her stupidly again.  That was how he’d tripped over Marc and crashed the first time.

“I’m fine.  It helps that the ground is a built-in ice pack.”

She laughed again.  She never laughed at Chat Noir’s jokes this much.  Maybe she was just trying not to hurt his feelings on his birthday, but he’d take it.

“Look at that.”  She bumped his shoulder with hers.  “Looks like Queen Bee could use an ice power-up.”

He laughed as he saw Chloé wobble onto the rink, Kagami steadying her with both hands.  He was glad they were both getting along, or at least trying to.  Having so many of his friends in one place was the best birthday gift of all.

“I bet she’d love that.”  He wished he could use his ice powers too.  It would make it easier to avoid slipping and embarrassing himself again.

Not that she’d laughed at him, really.  That would be weird to get used to—not that he should get used to it.  As soon as he was suited up again, they’d be back to bantering and making fun of each other like normal.  

But for now, he savored the feeling of her eyes on his, of the way her brow softened beneath her mask every time he smiled.

(He was smiling a lot.)

“Hey, Adrien!  You gonna kiss her yet?”  

Adrien’s face caught fire at Kim’s shout.  Kim didn’t just say that.  

Please tell me he didn’t just say that.

His eyes darted to Ladybug’s.  She’d dropped his hand, and her mouth was stammering wordlessly.  

He couldn’t blame her.  His brain wouldn’t send a coherent thought to his mouth, either.

Kim turned around and started skating backwards.  “I’ve got a bet with Alix.  She thinks you don’t have the guts, but I believe in you.  Don’t let me down, man!”

He promptly crashed into Nino and Alya, and all three of them wiped out.  Normally, Adrien would’ve rushed to help his friends up.  But right now, he wanted nothing more to melt through the ice.

“Please just—ignore him,” he said quickly, falling back and clinging to the handrail.  “I don’t know where he got the idea that—I mean, not that I wouldn’t—er—I’m going to shut up now.”

She laughed hysterically, eyes darting back and forth.  Was she already looking for a way to escape?  

Gah, and everything had been going so well too!  He could almost believe that Ladybug… that she… what, liked him?  Just because she was nice to him and laughed at his jokes and held his hand…

“You know,” she said quietly, “I wouldn’t, um, mind if you…”

His heart sped up.  It could’ve done backflips in the pauses between her words.

“If I…?” He asked, trying not to sound too eager.  She could’ve been about to say anything, after all.  

Like maybe she wouldn’t mind if he left her alone forever.  Maybe she wouldn’t mind if he faceplanted on the ice like Kim did.  Maybe she wouldn’t mind if he locked himself in a tower, never to see the light of day until a fearless ogre came to save him.

She leaned in closer.  Her eyes sparkled as bright as the frosty tips of her tiara.

“If you… got me a slice of cake!”

He blinked, pulling back.  “O-of course!  Um, did you want me to bring it back here, or…?”

“Uh, yeah, sure!” She said.  “Er, on second thought, there’s no tables on the rink, haha, and I’ll probably trip even with my powers if I try to eat down here…”

“There’s tables closer to the entrance,” he suggested, still startled by Ladybug’s sudden shift.  The smile on her face looked strained.

“S-sounds great!”

Unfortunately, getting out of the rink meant skating past Kim again.  He’d finally made it to his feet with Nino and Alya’s help.  Alix sped past, blowing a raspberry at him.

“Just don’t make eye contact and we might be fine,” he said under his breath.

...Or not.

“Yo, Ladybug!  How’s my little monkey dude doing?”

Ladybug groaned.  “That’s my luck.”

“I thought Chat Noir was supposed to be the one with bad luck?” Adrien joked right before Kim got close enough to sling an arm around Ladybug’s shoulder.

“Hey, King Monkey.” She grimaced.  “Xuppu’s doing fine.  But, um, Adrien and I were just about to get some cake, so…”

“Aww, come on!  I bet my boy Adrien tastes better than some kind of fruitcake.  Who even thought of putting fruit and cake together?  Gross.”  Kim stuck out his tongue.

Plagg was shaking with laughter inside of Adrien’s borrowed hoodie.  Couldn’t the kwami Just Cataclysm him and put him out of his misery?

“It’s passionfruit cake,” he corrected on principle.  “And Marinette made it, so it’s going to be amazing.”

For some reason, Ladybug’s face only got more red at that.  “Right, amazing!  Definitely better than kissing Adrien, ha!  Ha ha ha…”

Ouch.  Now that hurt worse than a Cataclysm.

Kim winced in sympathy before patting Adrien’s shoulder.  “Sorry, buddy.  I tried.”

“Please stop trying,” he whined.

He and Ladybug finally escaped Kim.  Adrien glanced over his shoulder, and saw Nino flashing him a comforting grin.  Alya had dropped her head in her hands.

Me too, Alya.  Me too.

XXX

“Lesson’s over,” Chloé said while pulling her phone from her pocket.  She didn’t slip, even without holding onto the handrail.  Despite her attitude, she was implementing Kagami’s lessons well.

“The student doesn’t decide the length of the lesson.”  She crossed her arms.  

“She does when she has bad news.”  Chloé scowled.  “Max just texted.  That tracker you and Nino put on the Gorilla's car?  It’s going off.”

She held up her screen, which showed a map of the streets near their location.  A red skull icon flashed towards the ice rink.  Not good.  Adrien hadn’t even gotten the chance to eat his cake yet.

“We’ll have to deploy the contingency plan.”

“I thought you already—”

“The other contingency plan.”

Kagami grabbed Chloé’s hand and skated towards the exit.  

It was time to find Wayhem.

XXX

Marinette’s  pulse pounded in her ears.  Adrien was still holding her hand, even after Kim had come along and… well, been Kim.  But she could take it.  She was cool.  She was confident.  She knew Adrien had a crush on her!

And yet she was still too much of a coward to kiss him.

What if Nino and Kagami were wrong?  Granted, Nino knew Adrien better than anyone, and Kagami had probably never been wrong in her life.  

But still.

“I hope you like passionfruit.”  Adrien rubbed the back of his neck before cutting her a slice of the three-tiered cake.  It had taken her two days to fine-tune the recipe, not including the full afternoon she’d spent adding details with icing.  It was a pale shade of pinky-orange, dotted around the edges with rosettes of spring green.  Just like his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I love it!” she said.  It was a bit of an exaggeration, but she had gained a taste for it after eating one passionfruit macaron a week for the past two years.  “You’re lucky Chat Noir isn’t here.  He’d finish off this whole cake as soon as your back was turned.”

Adrien laughed.  “He’s got good taste, then.”

It was too bad Marinette didn’t know Chat Noir’s birthday.  Passionfruit was his favorite favor, too; she could reuse the recipe.  

They took their cake and some plastic forks and settled down at a table.  She sat across from him, but the table was small enough for her knees to bump his underneath.  She’d dismissed her ice transformation, so she didn’t have to worry about stabbing his feet with her blades.

“Wow,” Adrien said through his first bite.  “I knew this cake was going to be good, but this is—I’ve never tasted anything like it!”

“Really?”  She grinned.  If he was saying that to Ladybug, then he wasn’t just saying it to be nice.  He really liked her cake!

“Really.  I shouldn’t be so surprised, though.  Marinette’s amazing at everything.  She’s designed album covers for Jagged Stone, and won the student Ultimate Mecha Strike Tournament, and even impressed my father.”  He sighed wistfully.  “It’s too bad she couldn’t make it.  I really wanted to thank her.”

Her heart fluttered like a butterfly on steroids.

“I—I’m sure she wanted to be here too,” she said.  Should she find a way to sneak off and detransform?  Would Adrien have been happier if she’d come as herself?  “And I’m sure, if she were here… she’d want to thank you.  For being such a good friend.”

He stared at her with soft eyes.  A bit of icing still clung to his bottom lip.  She tore her gaze away.

You heard what he told Kim.  He doesn’t want to kiss you!

Wait.  That was what she told Kim.  After she’d panicked and blabbered something stupid by reflex.  Why had she said that?  She did want to kiss Adrien!  Now he was going to think that she hated him and probably hate the birthday present she’d brought and— 

“Ladybug?”  Adrien’s voice finally snapped her out of her spiral.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Huh?  Why wouldn’t I be?”  She grinned too wide.

He glanced down at her plate.  Her fork was stabbed into the thin styrofoam.  That wasn’t the only thing she’d stabbed, apparently.

“You, um.  Spaced out and carved a broken heart into your cake.  Unless it’s supposed to be an upside-down spade…?”

She hurriedly shoved forkfuls of cake into her mouth.  Ugh, she was a mess without Alya here to help her keep cool.  How would Alya feel about getting her miraculous back for the sole purpose of wingmanning?  

It probably wouldn’t work.  There wasn’t an illusion strong enough to cover up Marinette’s spazzing.

She swallowed her cake.  “I’m sorry, Adrien.  I just got distracted for a second.  What were you saying?”

“I was just talking about Marinette… you two are friends, right?”

“Friends?  What—what makes you say that?”  She blinked.

“She helped you fight the Evillustrator and Kwamibuster.  I guess I just assumed, but—”

“Wait.”  Marinette dropped the fork back to her plate.  For once, her mind whirled for a reason other than proximity to Adrien.  “You—how do you know Marinette helped with Kwamibuster?” 

Had Chat Noir gone around blabbing about Multimouse to everyone?  No, there’d never been a trace of her on the Ladyblog.  And Chat wouldn’t reveal heroes’ identities like that, even if she’d already told him that “Multimouse” couldn’t hold a miraculous again.

“Um… because, she… told me?”  Adrien shrugged.  A tentative smile graced his lips.

Her brow creased.  “No, she didn’t.”

This didn’t make any sense.  How did Adrien really know, and why would he lie about it?  

Unless—?

Before she could follow that train of thought, Chloé’s hands slammed down on their table.

“Sorry to interrupt, but you two need to go.  We’ve got company.”

“What?”  Marinette blinked.  “Is there an akuma?  I’ll—”

She shook her head.  “Worse.  Kagami’s backups failed.  Nathalie’s here.”

“What?”  Adrien stood, nearly kicking Marinette’s shin in his haste to get up.  “I have to stop her before she tries to have Nino arrested again!”

Marinette grimaced.  Yeah, Adrien’s sixteenth birthday party hadn’t exactly worked out.  But she wasn’t about to let this one get ruined, too.

“No way, Adrikins.” Chloé blocked his path.  “Kagami’s handling her.  She told me to make sure you get out before you’re grounded for life.”

“But—!”

“Ladybug, I know you’re smart.”  Chloé turned to her before he could protest.  “Take him out the window before he pulls one of his little self-sacrificing stunts again.”

Self-sacrificing.  That would be like Adrien.

(It would also be like a certain partner of hers, who also liked passionfruit, knew about Multimouse, and had a crush on Ladybug.) 

“I can’t just leave you—!”

Marinette stood and wrapped an arm tightly around his waist.  He cut off, blushing at their proximity.

“You heard Queen Bee.”  She winked at Chloé, who smiled.  “Let’s trust your friends.  And trust me, too.  I’ve got a surprise for you.”

He looked down into her eyes, then hesitated as if about to ask something.

“Whatever, just take your surprise out there!”  Chloé pushed them away from the tables.

“Right.  Hold onto me,” Marinette told Adrien before grabbing her yo-yo.

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” he mumbled into her hair, his arms firm around her shoulders.

This is fine, she told herself while trying not to melt into an ecstatic puddle.  Then she cast out her yo-yo and swung through the distant window.

She and Adrien had a lot to talk about.

[angelofthequeers]

Not a Good Look: Chapter 5

@thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @lady-charinette @elmokingkong tagged as requested :)

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6 | AO3 link

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

“All set,” Marinette announces once she and Kagami have met Adrien in the boys’ locker room before fencing class. “Alya and Nino are interviewing Lila as we speak.”

“I have to say, it was a smart move to interview her about her new modelling opportunity,” Kagami says. “The additional evidence will definitely help incriminate Mr Agreste if he tries to deny anything. But you know it’s not guaranteed to out her as a liar, right?”

Marinette sighs and lets her shoulders slump. “Look, at this point, Lila doesn’t even matter anymore. We can deal with her if she wriggles out of this. Right now, our main goal is to confirm whether Mr Agreste is Hawkmoth and then take him down if he is. And if he isn’t…well, he still looks pretty sleazy for striking a deal with an underage girl like this.” She squares her shoulders and adds, “Either way, he’s not going to get away with treating Adrien like a piece of meat any longer.”

“Agreed,” Kagami says. Then she shoots a glance at the locker room door and her determined face melts into something more forlorn. “Since we have a little time before fencing class begins, I think we need to talk. We need to sort out what’s going on between the three of us.”

Marinette’s heart sinks. She hadn’t realised until today just how touchy-feely she’d been with Adrien yesterday, especially in the wake of the identity reveals, because now how is she supposed to feel? Her dear partner, the boy who’s been in love with her from the start, is the boy she loves and let go for his own happiness. And although she’ll keep letting him go to make him and Kagami happy…well, there’s a part of her that doesn’t want to; that wants to push Kagami aside and claim that happiness for herself, even though her rational brain is sickened at the thought of betraying her friend for the sake of a boy.

But Adrien’s not just a boy. He’s her partner. Her kitty. But at the same time, he’d also mentioned that he genuinely does like Kagami, in a way that Marinette doesn’t feel about Luka. It’s going to have to come down to his decision but, well, Marinette’s got a strong suspicion that he’ll pick her, and Kagami doesn’t deserve to have her heart broken like that. And on the slim chance that he does pick Kagami? Marinette’s not sure she’s ready to have her heart broken when she’d just gotten her hopes up about potentially dating him.

“This is ridiculous!” Marinette bursts out. “Why does all this drama have to revolve around a boy? What are we, a soap opera?”

Kagami raises her hand to conceal her unladylike snort, while Adrien looks like someone had bashed him around the head with a sledgehammer. It must now be sinking in for him just how silly this all is.

“Look,” Kagami says. “Let me be honest. You two are Ladybug and Chat Noir. I saw how he instinctively gravitated towards you after his panic attack. Even back at the ice rink, I could see that Adrien had feelings for you, even if he didn’t know at that time. If it comes down to it, I’ll step aside, because I know Adrien. I know he’ll choose you if we truly forced him to do so. And yes, it’ll hurt me now, but it would hurt far more to let myself fall deeper for Adrien and let myself think that I have a long-term possibility with him.”

“Kagami –”

“But,” Kagami cuts across Adrien, “I had an idea last night when I was trying to come to terms with it. I wasn’t lying when I said that I was crushing on Ladybug and that she made me realise my bisexuality. And after the way you helped us escape the hotel during the wedding anniversary? I don’t think Adrien was the only one infatuated with you having your hair down.”

Marinette blinks. Then she blinks again, because Kagami seems to be going in a very specific direction with this, and she’s not sure whether the thrilling butterflies in her stomach from that direction are amazing or terrifying. Maybe both.

“I do have strong feelings for Adrien,” Kagami says. “He knows this. I’ve also realised that I have feelings for you too, Marinette; feelings that I didn’t want to consider until yesterday, when I realised that we don’t need to torment ourselves with deciding who dates who and whose heart gets broken. I even called Alya last night so that we could have a “girl talk”, as you call them, and she told me about your two classmates who are dating while one of them also has a girlfriend. Kim and Max, I believe.”

“Wait, Kim and Max are dating?” Marinette and Adrien chorus.

“I had no idea!” Adrien says.

“Yeah, I thought he was dating Ondine!” Marinette adds. Kagami’s lips twitch.

“According to Alya, Kim’s dating both Max and Ondine,” she says. “And that made me realise that all three of us could date each other. Adrien clearly loves you, Marinette, and I know he’s been agonising over his feelings for both you and me. And I do have some feelings for you, but we don’t have to date each other, so that doesn’t matter right now. We can deal with the two of us later.”

“Oh, that’s why I freaked out about her being cute during the friendship game,” Marinette mumbles, though she’s not sure whether she’s talking to herself or Tikki. Tikki still giggles from within her purse. “Oh my god. I think I’m having an identity crisis.”

“All three of us…dating?” Adrien says blankly and runs a hand through his hair, looking about as error 404 as Marinette currently feels trying to process Kagami’s suggestion and whether she’s got a small infatuation with Kagami that could potentially grow into an actual crush in the future. “Is that even…but I thought you could only love one person! That’s what I’ve been taught all my life.”

“Clearly not, or I wouldn’t be suggesting this,” Kagami says. “It’s not going to magically erase all the jealousy and problems between us, and I know I’ll feel odd about seeing you and Marinette being affectionate at first because I’m so used to winning and getting what I want for myself. But I know that the three of us can work long-term if we put the effort in. Adrien and I are similar enough to truly get each other, and Marinette’s the lynchpin between the three of us to balance us out when we’re too similar. The wedding anniversary proved that.” She smiles at Marinette, who’s currently trying not to die on the spot, and adds, “You’re the only person I’d be willing to share with. It wouldn’t feel like second place next to you. And if we ended up dating in the future, I’d be very happy. But if we didn’t, I’d still be happy to be one of your best friends.”

“What the heck kind of girl talk did you have with Alya?” Marinette croaks.

“The kind where she’s frustrated beyond belief over this ‘love square’ and wants you to ‘get your crap together already’ but also wants me to be happy as one of her new friends,” Kagami deadpans.

“Alya’s definitely the one with the brain cell,” Adrien says with a shaky laugh. “And I really like her idea. But I don’t think I can commit to anyone right now. Not even my lady.”

Marinette’s brow creases and she reaches out to rest a hand on his arm. “I get it,” she says softly as Kagami takes his other hand. “And I agree with you. We need to deal with this business first.”

“But even then.” Adrien’s face twists. “What if he is Hawkmoth? The evidence is all there. What happens in the fallout? I’ve got nowhere else to go. I probably won’t have any money to bring to the table because that’s definitely gonna be wrung through the legal system and my father’s company will tank with his reputation. I’ll be a wreck. And I don’t want to put that on anyone else, especially you two.”

“Rubbish,” Kagami says immediately. “We and Alya and Nino are your friends. You can’t push us away that easily.”

“And if you think we care about the money side of things then you really are a silly kitty,” Marinette scoffs. “You’re staying with one of us. I want to say me or Kagami but, well, considering this whole three-way idea we’re thinking of…”

“It could easily go south,” Kagami agrees. “Even if she is your superhero partner.”

“And Alya’s family probably wouldn’t have the space for a fifth kid, even if they’d love to take you in,” Marinette says slowly as the cogs in her brain whir. “But I’m sure Nino would love to be your adopted brother. Then you’d really be “bros”. And if he can’t…well, what about your bodyguard? Do you think he’s in with your father too?”

“No,” Adrien says immediately. “Definitely not. He’s the only adult who’s, well…actually been there for me since my mother disappeared. He’s the only one who lets me get away with small things here and there when I need it, like that photoshoot I did with Juleka to model your designs. Nathalie’s in too deep with Father – and Hawkmoth, if they’re different people, but, well…I can’t see anyone else trusting her enough to give her a Miraculous. And she can’t have stolen it, or Hawkmoth wouldn’t trust her, and why would she ally with him in that case?”

“And I’m sure Ladybug will personally ensure that no one dares to think that you were in collusion with Hawkmoth,” Kagami says. Marinette nods immediately, because like hell she’s going to turn her back on her kitty when he needs her most.

“Damn right. Especially with Chat Noir’s support.” She squeezes Adrien’s arm and adds, “But Kagami and I won’t put more on your shoulders. We’ll be here for you but…yeah, I think it’s a good idea to wait until this all blows over before we try, um…dating.” Her cheeks fill with hot blood at the mystical d-word, especially having said it to Adrien’s face. Yes, he’s Chat Noir and she knows he has feelings for her but…he’s still Adrien.

“And now that that’s settled,” Kagami says, “I hope you won’t let your performance slip during class today, because your father possibly being a magical terrorist is no excuse to slack off against me.”

To Marinette’s delight, that wrenches a small laugh out of Adrien, and he mockingly bows to Kagami. “When have I ever slacked off against you, Kagami?” he says. Kagami’s cheeks turn a faint pink.

“That’s the answer I was hoping to hear,” she says. “You’ll be staying to watch, right, Marinette?”

“Of course. But –” Marinette rests her hands on her hips, “– if you’re gonna drag me in to referee for you, I’m out.”

“Of course not,” Adrien and Kagami sing innocently. Marinette resists the urge to thump her head against the wall and wonder what the heck she’s gotten herself into by even considering jumping into a three-way relationship with them.

***

“All good?” Marinette says once Alya and Nino climb into her bedroom to join her and Kagami. Alya shoots her a thumbs-up.

“We owe Chris and the twins a whole week of desserts, but they let us go out and get Lila to babysit,” she says. “We convinced them that we’re playing a prank on her and they have to keep her busy.”

“They won’t spill?” Marinette says, nibbling on her bottom lip. This plan has to go right. If one little thing goes wrong…

“Nah,” Alya says. “Ella and Etta love being in on pranks. And Chris feels like a grown-up because this is a Big Kids Plan. They wouldn’t dare.”

“I wanted to make her a Césaire Specialty drink to make her feel sick,” Nino grumbles. “Nora would’ve helped me. But Al wouldn’t let me.”

“I don’t need you to defend my honour after how she screwed me over,” Alya drawls before pecking him on the lips. “But I appreciate the sentiment. Ready to go?”

Marinette nods and opens the Miracle Box to retrieve the Fox, the Horse, and the Tiger. She hands them to Nino, Kagami, and Alya respectively.

“I know the Fox won’t be seen,” she says apologetically when Alya glances wistfully at the orange necklace resting against Nino’s blue shirt. “But if on the slim chance he doesn’t turn out to be Hawkmoth, I want Nino to have some experience with the Fox so that he can replace Rena Rouge.”

“I get it,” Alya sighs and slides on the panjas bracelet, causing Roaar to materialise in a flash of magenta light. “And if he is Hawkmoth?”

“Well, I am the Guardian,” Marinette says slowly, trying not to grin at the way Alya’s eyes light up. “And since only Hawkmoth and Mayura know your identity for sure because no one who was brainwashed remembers anything…”

“You think Chloé remembers?” Nino says. Alya’s face darkens at the reminder of Miracle Queen.

“I don’t know. We did forcibly deakumatise her, rather than Hawkmoth recalling it, but…” Marinette shrugs helplessly. “I don’t know nearly enough about the Miraculouses. I’m kind of barely treading water here.”

“We should do this,” Kagami says. If she ever needs glasses in the future, there definitely won’t be any disappointment on Marinette’s part; not with how Kaalki’s glasses frame Kagami’s brown eyes and make her freckles pop. “Adrien’s waiting for us. And if we leave it too late, we run the risk of arousing suspicion.”

“Right, right,” Nino says. “Trixx, let’s pounce!”

“Roaar, stalk the shadows!”

“Kaalki, full gallop!”

Marinette grins at the sight of the three heroes before her, clad in orange, magenta, and brown. She takes Alya and Nino by the hands and nods at Kagami to open the portal that will deposit them around the corner from the Agreste mansion, and once they’ve leapt out onto the road, the three of them duck into an alleyway.

“Just picture what you wanna create,” Alya says once Nino’s unslung his flute. “And since it’s a glamour, you have to direct it specifically at Marinette instead of in the general area. Takes a bit more focus but I know you can do it. And hey…” She looks him up and down, from his fox-eared hood to his baggy jacket and pants and his knee-length boots. “You look hot in my colours. I like.”

“Alya, stay focused,” Marinette chastises, though she can’t deny that if she saw Adrien in her colours – which she had, now that she thinks about it, with Misterbug, and his butt hadn’t looked half-bad in spots, even if she’d denied it at the time because he was Chat Noir – no, focus, Marinette! No Agreste booty!

“Alright, here goes.” Nino plays a small tune on his flute and flicks the orange orb at Marinette with a, “Mirage!” When the light fades, Marinette looks down at herself and nearly throws up upon seeing that her usual clothes have been replaced with the dreaded black romper and red jacket. And her hair – her precious, silky hair – now it’s in sausages!

“Lord help me,” Marinette mumbles in Lila’s voice. Alya makes to slap her on the back, then remembers just in time that this will dissipate the illusion.

“You’ll live, girl,” she says. “Shadowcat!”

Before Marinette’s eyes, Alya ripples out of sight, until she can only be maybe seen if one happens to squint in exactly the right direction. Even then, her chameleoned form shifts and ripples with the shadows around her, not allowing Marinette’s eyes to keep track of her for longer than a few seconds at best.

“Sweet,” Alya whispers. “And hey, I wonder if one of the guys who created Kitty Pryde had the Tiger.”

Marinette snorts but doesn’t say anything, lest she accidentally trap Alya in a conversation about superheroes and derail their whole plan. The two of them emerge from the alleyway and round the corner to approach the Agreste mansion, with Marinette emulating Lila’s strut as best as she can – ew – and Alya following close behind, only detectable by Marinette’s sixth sense honed from her experience of being Ladybug.

“Miss Rossi,” says Nathalie’s signature dry voice once Marinette’s pressed the doorbell buzzer and the weird electronic eye’s come whirring out to verify who it is. “I wasn’t aware that you were expected today.”

Marinette gasps and clasps her hand to her chest as she’s seen Lila do before. “Oh, you didn’t know?” she cries. “I thought I was supposed to have a study date with Adrien today! I’m just really falling behind, you see, and considering that Marinette kept throwing herself at him today…well, I haven’t really gotten much done and I could really use the help. And Mr Agreste approved of me as Adrien’s friend, didn’t he?”

Badmouthing herself – not that Nathalie knows – seems to do the trick. In a moment, the eye’s buzzing back into its socket and the massive gates swing open to admit her. Just before they can slam shut, she senses Alya slipping inside after her. The surprises pile on even more when Gabriel Agreste himself is waiting in the foyer to greet her once the front doors open.

“Miss Rossi,” he says coolly, his hands clasped behind his back as usual. Marinette lifts her hand to toy with one of her fake sausage fox tails, even if she can only feel air. God, this is weird.

“Oh! Hello, Mr Agreste!” she chirps. “I thought a surprise study date would make Adrien feel better. It was just awful today, you see, watching Marinette Dupain-Cheng constantly try to –”

“Spare me your theatrics,” Gabriel says. “Did you enjoy your modelling gig last week?”

“Ooh, of course!” Marinette nods and clasps her hands to her chest again. “Thank you ever so much for the opportunity, Mr Agreste! I’m really growing as a model because of you!”

“I’m glad to hear it. However…” Gabriel descends the stairs until he’s towering over Marinette, who has to resist the crushing urge to back away to avoid risking him dissipating the illusion by accident, because Lila Rossi doesn’t back down from anyone. “I haven’t seen much, ah…progress with our deal.”

“Our…deal?” Marinette says. Gabriel’s eyes flare.

“I do hope you haven’t lost what few brain cells I’ve seen you use,” he says acidly. “Yes, our deal, you silly child. Must I spell it out for you? You keep Marinette Dupain-Cheng away from Adrien, preferably getting her upset enough to be akumatised so that she stays away, and I provide you unlimited access to my son. And right now, I’m not seeing much fulfilment on your end.”

It’s a wonder that Marinette doesn’t throw up right then and there. Her little sixth sense is telling her that yes, Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth, because why else would he care about her being akumatised? Especially since she’s fought off Hawkmoth’s akumas before, so of course he’d take an interest in her! Is that why Lila had gotten her expelled? Because the only reason she hadn’t been akumatised then was Hawkmoth suddenly giving up for whatever reason!

“Y-Yes, of course,” Marinette says on shaky autopilot and fumbles for something that Lila would say about her to placate Gabriel. “I promise you’ll have your results. She’s just…annoyingly optimistic. Ever since I got her expelled, I haven’t managed to get her upset enough again, because she just seems to shake it off.”

Gabriel snorts. “Well, Miss Rossi, that certainly doesn’t reflect well on you, does it? At this rate, I might have to push her and my son together and break her in that way, what with her annoyingly massive crush on him. I already have to deal with his relationship with Miss Tsurugi in a way that won’t alienate her mother and cost me valuable business. But I’m sure you wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Marinette swallows down the bile that’s rising in her throat. Honestly, she’s not even sure how Alya’s holding herself back right now, because if the roles had been reversed, she would have gone for Gabriel’s throat for daring to hurt Alya.

“U-Understood, Mr Agreste,” she croaks. It’s only then that Gabriel smiles, if it can even be called that. Sure, his lips quirk upwards, but…there’s nothing in them. He looks more like a predator about to pounce on a particularly juicy piece of prey.

“I’m glad we see eye-to-eye, Miss Rossi,” Gabriel says. “Adrien’s upstairs in his room. Please do keep the commotion down to a minimum.”

Marinette nods and hurries to get the hell out of there, tearing through the labyrinth of hallways until she finally arrives at Adrien’s room. She doesn’t even knock on the door; she just bursts in, scaring Adrien into falling off his bed, and his look of disgust upon seeing Lila Rossi lasts only for as long as it takes for him to take in the look on her face.

“Marinette?” He rushes to her side and grabs her by the biceps, causing the illusion of Lila to vanish with faint flute music. Marinette just claps a hand over her mouth and rushes in the direction of Adrien’s bathroom, her stomach rolling, and she heaves and empties its contents right into the expensive porcelain bowl of Adrien’s toilet.

Gross. She’s always hated vomiting so, so much. Pain? Sure, keep tossing it at her and she’ll groan and deal with it. She gets enough of it as Ladybug. But nausea and vomiting? Marinette would rather die than have to constantly deal with it. There’s no worse feeling than your body actively rebelling against you in such a painful and disgusting manner. She’s vaguely aware of someone brushing the hair back from her forehead, murmuring soothingly, but she can’t focus enough to discern who it is and what they’re saying until finally, at long last, her heaving and retching die down.

“Eww,” she rasps, pushing herself onto her shaky feet to flush the toilet. She gags again when she runs her tongue over her teeth and cops the aftertaste, so the mystery person immediately guides her to the sink and pushes a bottle of green mouthwash towards her. Judging by the paleness of the hand, her mystery hero is Adrien, and this is confirmed when she tips her head back to take a swig of mouthwash and she catches a glimpse of golden hair in her peripheral vision.

“Well,” Adrien says once she’s gargled and spit, then wiped her mouth on a fluffy white towel nearby. “That was a better reaction than me. At least you just threw up. I up and had a panic attack and fainted.”

“I’m sorry for all the times I was ever a creepy stalker,” Marinette croaks as they leave the bathroom. “I promise I’ll never steal your phone to delete an embarrassing voicemail again, or try to spy on you in your room because of Lila, or –”

“I’d really rather we go over this when we’re both in the right frame of mind, yeah?” Adrien says. He stops and clasps her by the shoulders and squeezes, providing the little extra grounding she needs after what she’d just learned. “Considering that Fa – that Hawkmoth’s using us both like chess pieces, that’s the least of our worries.”

“He said – he said –” Marinette’s eyes sting. “I can’t believe – he’d actually support us getting together just to b-break us up…just to turn me into an akuma…but why me? He can’t know I’m Ladybug!”

“I know why.” Adrien pulls her in close, wraps his arms around her, and says, “Because you’re one of the strongest, kindest, best people around. People like you are like poison to people like Lila and Fa – Hawkmoth. They can’t understand people like you, so they lash out and try to tear you down. If our everyday Ladybug was an akuma…well, Paris wouldn’t stand a chance. But that won’t happen because you have me.”

“And me.” Alya wraps her arms around Marinette as well, her arms now bare rather than clad in magenta material.

“Me too, dude.” Wait, when did Nino get here?

“And you have me as well.” Kagami’s voice tops it off. Marinette blinks.

“Um – how –”

“I told Kagami to get here and bring Nino,” Alya says. “Figured you could do with the support after what we learned. And god, I’m gonna kill that guy – no, wait, death is too good for him –”

“Uh, Al, as much as I wanna stab him and dump him in a ditch somewhere,” Nino says, “you’re kinda getting a bit scary.”

Alya huffs in Marinette’s ear but falls silent and keeps up the group hug. It feels like an eternity before the five of them untangle themselves from each other but honestly, with how dazed Marinette’s been, it could have just been a few minutes.

“Thanks, guys,” Marinette mumbles. Alya smiles and nudges her.

“Of course,” she says. “Nino and I might not want to get in on your little love polygon but we’re still your best friends. We’ll always have your back.”

“It just means that this all ends tonight,” Kagami says, thumping her fist into her palm. “We need to get that Miraculous away from him. Not only can Ladybug not be allowed to be akumatised, but I’d throw myself into the Seine before I let Marinette or Adrien experience what it’s like to be akumatised.”

“You remember it?” Adrien says as Alya and Nino nod in agreement.

“Bits and pieces, dude,” Nino grimaces. “It’s like a nightmare. You wake up and you feel like shit, but you don’t remember everything that happened. Then you have weird dreams about it and you never know whether it actually happened or your brain’s just messing with you. Did I really drop you guys from, like, five hundred feet?”

“We’ve had worse,” Marinette says with a weak smile. “But Kagami’s right: we can’t allow this to go on any longer. It ends tonight.”

[miraculouscontent]

(miraculous asks)

Anonymous said:

Oh My Gosh!!!! I was just thinking about Party Crasher and man I hate how they had Ladybug get captured for the men to save! It's a continuous thing you see in media: strong heroic woman gets put in peril so that the men can shine. I didn't even realize it until you said it! I get that it was probably meant to be a "role reversal" of Chat always getting kidnapped or brainwashed for Ladybug to save, but the fact that this is the "guys' episode" it read like "well damn, we can't have the guys be strong if a girl is in the way; let's have the girl get captured so the boys can prove their worth by rescuing her!".

At least in Sandboy, Ladybug was still competent and came up with the plans, but this?! It makes me sick, and it's all too easy to fall into these traps; even Kim Possible did it! In my magical girl story, the heroine does get put in a magical coma and require someone to bail her out, but it's her female friends AND her boyfriend who save her, so it's not just a girl being weakened so a boy can be powerful, especially since said boy actually does a minority of the work required to save her; the focus is on the female characters so it's her girl friends who do most of it. I still ended up scrapping that side plot anyway, and do you know why? Because regardless of who saved her, I still didn't want my female protagonist to be put in distress at all due to the unfortunate implications! Needing help in a fight? Sure. But outright being captured or kidnapped? Nah fam.

I was honestly thinking about that when the first episode came out. Like, they could’ve just had Marinette NOT SHOW UP in time so the guys take care of things, which at least gives more of a message that Paris wouldn’t go to hell just because Ladybug is a little late or something.

And yeah, the “boys squad episode so gotta toss the girl out” is... sigh.

Anonymous said:

I think the writers were trying to show Chat angsting to show his regret instead of an actual apology. Still doesn't explain why Aeon didn't bring up her death afterwards. Did Olympia delete that from her memory banks?

I guess? :|

I don’t know why Chat can’t just apologize without fishing or trying to earn sympathy. Like JUST SAY YOU’RE SORRY, DAMMIT.

Anonymous said:

If you haven't read Maribat, then you won't regret it. I am not in the DC universe but I started reading it and WOW. Literally every single time Marinette is a badass queen and gets her complete revenge and is actually happy! Even if you absolutely love Lukanette (which I have nothing against) you should totally try it.

Appreciate the comment, but I find it hard to ship other Marinette ships outside of Lukanette. Ivanette is a very loose exception and it’s not like I ship it hard or anything.

Anonymous said:

Despite not being a Lukanette shipper I love you. Why? Because you amazing, so right in literally everything and I love you <33

gkdfjgfdngjkfdg thank you

bat-anon said:

The NY Special made it so that Max is literally the only Black/Brown kid that doesn’t exist to make Love Square happen and that just makes me hate it even more.

I wish you didn’t make me have this realization because I hate it.

At least Delmar existed in the New York special???? I guess???? I dunno, I’m trying here, I don’t recall him doing anything love square centric.

Anonymous said:

I honestly don't mind Alix's outfit as Bunnix! I feel like it fits her, plus she's an adult so its not much of a problem, not saying it can't be improved however. I DO have issues with the designs for the underage girls outfits however....those are very sus

Yeah, the problem I take with Bunnyx’s is that it’s a bodysuit. If there was just more definition, like having actual boots, I wouldn’t complain as much.

Anonymous said:

I actually just really like the idea of the new bee being a genuinely nice person who becomes friends with Marinette. Not exactly close friends (since I like the idea of friendly working relationships without actual personal stakes in them). I also enjoy the idea of the new bee having some small animosity for Chat Noir- just because their personalities aren't the greatest mix. I also think that it would make sense for the miraculous of subjection to be at odds with the miraculous of destruction

Full agreement but we know how much the writers are resistant to have characters go against Chat.

Anonymous said:

Not gonna lie the scene where the girl squad gets akumatized almost makes it seem like they got akumatized on purpose, similar to Manon in Puppeteer 2(although she was a little kid who was probably just imagining she could enact revenge). And why can't they have a uniformed design, like they're a team but wear different colors, similar to the Sailor Senshi(like, Alya's the leader and wears orange, Rose wears pink, Alix wears green, Juleka wears purple, and Mylene wears yellow). It's so boring.

Mood.

Not to mention that WE ARE SO TIRED OF THEM GETTING AKUMATIZED INTO THE SAME AKUMA.

AT LEAST PALETTE SWAP THEM.

Anonymous said:

Relating to the Didn't Need Burrows and Treatment of Marinette bingo cards, have you considered making one for whenever the show fails at girl power? It could say things like "sexualized frames of teenage girls" "boy tells girl what to do" "girls don't get to keep Miraculouses", and "girls are forced to apologize whenever a situation goes wrong". And in the center, it could say "Don't show this to your daughter!"! Lol! What do you think?

lol I feel like I have enough cards, otherwise I would.

Anonymous said:

I saw another post that talked about Miraculous New York, and they theorized that it was rewritten to focus more on Marinette and Adrien in order to get viewers invested in the Love Square again after more people started to lose faith in the ship. Do you think that's a possibility?

I think so. The whole special comes off as trying to reassure love square shippers because of how hard it goes for him. I cut out Marinette’s crushing and it cuts like 18% from the episode, meaning it’s even worse than Season 3 (15%).

Anonymous said:

Maybe the point of the [break-up episodes] is meant to discourage people from shipping Lukanette and Adrigami too?

Spoiler alert: didn’t work.

Anonymous said:

Are we not gonna talk about how in one ask, somebody legit said "(long dreamy sigh) Viperion"? Like same.

RIGHT????

Same.

Anonymous said:

Ml fandom: I hate how Ladybug keeps secrets from Chat Noir! He sacrifices himself for her all the time and she never appreciates him for it! He has EVERY right to get mad at her!!

ML Fandom when Chat Noir does the same thing in the special: ....Wow Ladybug was way to harsh on Chat Noir!! She doesn’t appreciate him at all!! Shes so mean to him!

:|

i hate it

Anonymous said:

Idk if it's just me, but a majority of the fandom is split in two; it's never one or the other "MARINETTE SUCKS AND IS A HORRIBLE PERSON GUARDIAN MARY SUE WHO SEXUALLY HARRASSES" or "ADRIEN SUCKS HE WAS NEVER ON MARINETTES SIDE" but im personally on the latter, but not to that extreme. i hate videos bashing marinette and then never acknowledge adriens faults

Yeah, the fandom gets more divided as time goes on because of the writers trying to increase the drama/tension.

Anonymous said:

I am PERSONALLY offended they gave Luka the snake miraculous. Snakes have such a negative connotation. A lot of people insult Lila by calling her a SNAKE. And now those ML writers DARE insult the best character in ML?! HOW DARE THEY!?????

I adore Viperion but I agree that I first heard he was getting snake and was like, “BUT MY BOI???”

It gets awkward too because other animals like the pig have negative connotations, like how Daizzi basically means “idiot/stupid” and they’re giving it to the freaking blond character, really???

Anonymous said:

I think that Ivanette would be even better if Marinette was plus-sized character.

I see why you’d think that. I just disagree because then it turns the ship into “let’s pair the heavyset characters together because they heavyset.”

Anonymous asked:

On the topic of romance failures and general series salt, my main issue right now is how the series puts so much focus on romantic relationships while failing to consider other levels of relationship or what they affect.

On the L² front I can completely buy Marinette being in love with Adrien. Most of the time she genuinely wants him to be happy and is ready to take a step back for him, however much it hurts. But in terms of romantic love? It. Is. A. Crush! But if we step back from the formula, what is there left between them? Their civilian relationship is held together by a “comedy” of errors and without that there is surprisingly little left. Well, besides two “best friends” desperately trying to make it happen because somehow they lost their individual characters and instead of being friends became matchmakers?

I too like Luka and Marinette together. Their relationship is pretty nice to see and all. But sometimes it feels like it happens in a dimension of its own, like the writers want to make the endgame clear in that the “sideships” can be easily cut out of the big “how they got together”-recaps. I especially miss reactions from and interactions with Juleka. She is Luka’s sister, Marinette’s friend, and IIRC someone aware of if not even a bit player in the great shipping game. She is in a prime position to step up and bring progress on all fronts: She can talk with Luka. She can either give Marinette helpful pointers or go “All in or nothing”, i.e. trying to make Marinette get her Adrien-feelings in order as she does not want her brother to get less than Marinette’s full heart. Similarly, she can counteract “friendly acts” and stop humiliating situations from escalating, or she herself can escalate them in the “All or Nothing”-scenario. Yet she remains basically a background character who gets little attention from the camera and almost no “non-focus identity”

As for Kagami, I may be too biased. *Any* positive Kagami/Marinette relationship is to me what Lukanette is to you. So naturally I have lots of opinions when it comes to her role ;) But can I just say that Adrien/Kagami is the weirdest ship for me? They have a few cute scenes and I think if they’d spend a lot more time together, they’d do each other good but I don’t know how they work. “No Hesitation” Kagami would lob Adrien’s head straight off with all his…everything. If we are meant to take Adrien’s love for LB seriously (and I guess we have to because how in the name of sanity is any form of the stated endgame gonna work otherwise???), how does Kagami fit into that picture as a girl who can hardly express emotions while Adrien is the definition of a  guy who can not stop flirting or goes for all kinds of romantic gestures? Sometimes it feels more like a “social fit” and “Mommy/Daddy approves” kind of deal which is quite the shame! Normally I like these kind of relationships in fictions but they need a solid underlining or good development. One they haven’t and one the series has not been giving to anyone so far.

Yeah, the whole thing with the love square versus side ships ends up feeling extremely forced. Keeping Luka away and forcing Adrien into Lukanette episode are the biggest giveaways, basically a big fat sign that says, “We know Marinette would forget that Adrien exists if she hung around Luka for more than five minutes.”

AND YEAH, KAGAMI WOULDN’T PUT UP WITH ADRIEN’S GARBAGE. I liked Adrimi but it’s definitely more flawed than Lukanette.

Anonymous said:

Watched your opinion on the New York special and I agree with you. It was mediocre at best. It could have been something nice, like if they added Kagami and Luka, for example, so that we can get a bit of development from the new couples on season 4, so that it doesn’t feel rushed when they start dating on season 4. It could also be a good opportunity to see the other temporary heroes one last time, since Marinette technically has the miracle box.

They could have had an epic fight with the American Superheroes, maybe even giving the bee miraculous temporally to Aeon or Jess so that we didn’t need to see their awful and uncreative superheroes designs. It would have been nice if they made something more useful other than being characters that believe that Adrien and Marinette are “Meant to be”, like, we already got a ton of these already, couldn’t we get someone who didn’t feel something about this ship? It has so much wasted potential that I don’t even know how to start. Do you agree with anything I said?

I agree, yes. They could’ve easily thrown Luka/Kagami into the mix (or had Marinette/Adrien stay behind while flipping perspectives or something; flawed but they could make it work).

Anonymous said:

I'm rereading ladybugout and wow... the moment of silence after "chat deserves that kiss" gets me every time. Everyone stopping and just staring because wow he really just said that

Me whenever Chat Noir opens his mouth in the show.

Anonymous said:

I saw the Backwarder post you just talked about and yes, it is so totally ridiculous. They forgot another thing, though. Miraculous isn't just about comedy, action, and romance, it's about embarrassing Marinette. And the fact that almost everyone in the comments was acting like the medicine scene at the end was funny was just stupid and saddening to hear or read about, because it shows how people have been conditioned to hate and rally against Marinette without even realizing it. Granted, there was one lady who said it reminded her of her husband, so I guess that's okay(but all it means is that Adrien will be Marinette's--aka "his lady's"--husband like eeerrrgh!). And there was one person who said they liked that Juleka's advice because "If you're friend isn't willing to commit crimes for your happiness, is she even your friend?". But everyone else liked the ending. And I don't get the person who said we got "Subtle progression with Adrien and Marinette". We're right where we started.

Weeeeell, I understand the “comedy, action, romance” comment because all of those basically boil down to embarrassing Marinette or invalidating her. Comedy and romance goes without saying while action involves her dealing with Chat “Nice Guy” Noir.

Anonymous said:

Is it just me, or does Snow White's "Red Shoes" form look a lot like Marinette. I know, I know, Marinette is Chinese and Red Shoes is Korean, but they still look strikingly similar. They're bodies are really similar, too, but that might just be because animation tends to use eerily similar body types for its female characters on a whole. It's sad and it makes me think of how cute Marinette would be if she was fat. I also think Snow White was cuter than Red Shoes but that's kind of the point.

I think it’s the body type thing but that’s just a guess since I didn’t immediately make the connection.

I agree that Snow White is cuter.

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one who's never liked "destined to fail" characters? Basically this is when characters aren't allowed to be good at/succeed at something or else the whole universe will somehow fall apart. Think of how in The Amazing World of Gumball, if Richard gets a job, the world will be in complete and utter chaos. So he's better off as a lazy, bumbling dad. In Phineas and Ferb, Candace is always trying to rat out her younger brothers but if she gives up or succeeds something bad will happen.

TV Tropes put it the best: "Not only is she not allowed to succeed, but she's also not allowed to stop trying!"(conveniently under the Cosmic Plaything trope). I just don't like it because it shows that the writers just want to lead them on with the promise of success then snatch it away at the last minute. And now we're back at Miraculous Ladybug, where Marinette is humiliated every time she doesn't sign a gift that's for Adrien, and yet when she does, everyone in Paris DIES. Except for...HIM.

you: *mentions Candace*

me: [a million awful flashbacks]

Also, yeah, it’s so hard to watch, especially in “Chat Blanc” because it’s like, “Oh, you want to give a gift to a boy and you dArEd to use your powers for it? Congrats, but everyone else is DEAD and you can hang out with him as much as you want! You’re welcome!”

Anonymous said:

I think it’d become a “faintest idea blackout card”rather than a bingo.

(referring to my “Faintest Idea” card)

We’re getting there.

darkmoonravewolf said:

I hate that everything on that list could happen and very likely will

(referring to “Didn’t Need Burrow”)

Yeah, and it makes me sad :’)

Anonymous said:

That’s be real here. Miraculous ladybug is not a show about Marinette; Miraculous Ladybug is a show about Adrien. Adrien is the real main character.

Notice that when they focused on Adrien in “Lies,” they only cut back to Marinette (IN A SCENE THAT CAN’T EXIST) to have her fawn over him.

Anonymous said:

Is it just me or are Lady Noire's eyes huge? Maybe it's just the green but they seem way bigger than Marinette's

I’m not sure, but considering Rena’s facial structure being different from Alya’s, it wouldn’t surprise me.

asexual-individual said:

With what you've said about Adrien lacking a reason to exist outside of development for Marinette and Gabriel, I have to wonder how different the show would be if Chat Noir's identity was also kept from the audience. Adrien would still be there as himself, but he only gets as much focus as Alya, and Chat Noir's identity is treated as a mystery (a Tuxedo Mask type mystery, but a mystery all the same).

I see what you mean but it might cause Adrien+Chat’s screentime to feel excessive once the reveal happens, because suddenly their screentime gets combined and it’s like, “oh wow so the combined screentime is his then.”

Anonymous said:

I know that the kwami's really only exist so we can hear our protagonists' thoughts outloud (like what the Coraline movie did with adding Wybie to the story). But honestly, what's the point in having magical gods in the jewelry if you're not going to do anything with them?

Marketing with “cute” side characters.

guisendisguise said:

It's funny, originally, I had shipped Marichat in the sense that Chat and Mari start hanging out and both fall in love with the other's supposedly less perfect, more real selves. Then Luka was introduced and I ended up putting both lukanette and marichat at the same level. Then S3 hit and killed any love I had for Marichat. The writers themselves killed the Love Square for me. At this point, it's very clear they are living in a delusion where the Love Square could ever work narratively without Deus ex Machina or Deus Lo Vult (God wills it). Basically, they've gone past scraping the bottom of the writing skills barrel and are now shoulder deep in the hole they dug thru the bottom of said barrel. I'd like to point out that the bottom of the barrel is writing poop and now they're digging thru the useless plastic landfill the barrel was sitting on top of

Uggggh, yeah. Any appreciation I could’ve had for Marichat died in “Weredad.” I already didn’t like Adrien/Chat and then “Weredad” just showed his complete lack of... well, ANYTHING.

cosmostellar said:

Honestly feels like MLBs writers are going based off the "JUST IMAGINE EVERY POC CHARACTER YOU'RE WRITING AS WHITE" instead of, yknow, fleshing them out while developing them also in the context of their cultures and giving them these little things that the audiences who belong to the same minority can identify with. I don't mean "have Marinette walk in qipao 24/7" bcs thats just... bad on its own but man, /some/ casual acknowledgments of her culture would be nice.

Reading the sentence “JUST IMAGINE EVERY POC CHARACTER YOU'RE WRITING AS WHITE” physically hurts me.

Anonymous said:

Ok, I've always thought that Chloe was robbed of redemption (they held it in front of us, but then jerked it away while Astruc says, "She's irredeemable! We thought she was redeemable, but she wasn't :)!" What are your thoughts! Also, I just recently found your blog and I really like it :)

Thank you!

But I have no sympathy for bully characters, so I didn’t want Chloe redeemed. Maybe I’m still bitter about my own bullying experience, but I just wasn’t here for Marinette being forced to forgive Chloe, which is basically what they did until they backpedaled.

The time spent on her was wasted though and that I can agree on.

Anonymous said:

Me: Writes a 1k rant about how the tweet makes no sense as the "mistake" is about motivation and not the critical plot. Also me: Remembers that in MLB the plot always comes back to the romance. Finally me: Wonders why he got involved with the series post-S3 when all the red flags were already everywhere.

Mistakes were made.

Anonymous said:

I'm semi-catching up on miraculous, and- is it my impression, or does Kagami rebel against her mother more in few episodes she's in (even though her mother's influences on her seem to be stronger in general), than Adrien in the entire show? I /know/ that I don't want to see Adrien free himself from his father w/ the desperation I want to see Kagami free herself from her mother and realize that the standards she's held up to are unhealthy and too strong.

Yeah, I’m way more invested in Kagami than Adrien.

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one confused about whether the staff stopped caring and half-asses the series or cares too much and over-produces the hell out of it?

Nah. It really feels like they secretly hate the love square so they have to keep forcing it.

Anonymous said:

ngl I haven't watched any new episodes since Chameleon and I've been getting all that Miraculous News via tumblr to avoid that Marinette Brand Second Hand Embarrassment™

Understandable.

Anonymous said:

If they aired the 6th one first WHAT WHAT HAPPENED TO LEAD UP TO THIS???? WE ARE ON SEASON FOUR WITH TWO SPEICALS, GETTING A THIRD, AND ANY DEVELOPMENT WE HAD HAS GONE BACKWARDS, SUCKED, OR STATUS QUO YO-ED AWAY!!!!! HOW THE HECK DO WE GET ADRIENETTE FROM FOUR SEASONS OF NOTHING?????? I USED TO FANGIRL AT THIS NOW I AM TERRIFIED.

Answer: We don’t get Adrienette. We get forced love square and rushed/fake “development” of it while being constantly confused as episodes air out of order.

Anonymous said:

im sorry But adrienette has been suck in this limbo of one sidedness for 3 seasons. neither of them have become closer, neither of them have confided in one another, but somehow people still ship it? at least luka was able to make a move on marinette lol adrien still repeats the same boring “shes just a friend” line. adrienette is a really boring ship.

lol don’t apologize, you’re absolutely right.

nahte123456 said:

Very minor bit of salt to throw to the pile, but can this show just decide on how strong Miraculous holders are? Yes it's a cartoon and not the focus but in the Furious Fu episode we literally get Ladybug dodging lighting and then Su who seems mostly human and is at least slower then Fu was outspeeding her. It's distracting trying to figure out what is and isn't a serious threat in this show.

The deciding factor in the strength of the miraculous holders is “whatever works for the plot.”

Anonymous said:

At this point the only thing I'm excited for concerning Miraculous Ladybug is when it gets a reboot in like, a decade with actually competent writers

Best case scenario is that Zag goes bankrupt and Disney/Netflix picks up the series and gives it to competent people.

Problem is that the love square has been ruined so badly for me that even a “good” version of it wouldn’t be something I’d be into, but still.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the problem with having all of Marinette's mistakes result in huge disasters (ex. Feast), is that is gives off the impression that teenagers aren't allowed to make mistakes. This show clearly doesn't like giving second chances to the protagonist, so why would life give one to you? Am I right, kids?

Exactly.

Marinette makes mistakes and suddenly the world is ending.

Anonymous said:

If your gonna watch the show, at least pirate the episodes so the writers dont get your support

Don’t worry, I have no interest in financially supporting the show.

Anonymous said:

ml in a nutshell: wasted potential, then giving themselves more potential, only to turn the rest of it into a dumpster fire

Yup, that’s it.

Anonymous said:

u know, when My Little Pony, Sofia The First, and fanfiction carries out character development, respect, romance, and the main plot better than the original show, especially when the shows mentioned above are aimed more at little girls and the original show is aimed at slightly older audiences... somethings wrong

*sigh*

And then it’s like--people will excuse the show because “it’s a kids’ show” and then I’m just “okay then, why are there actually good kids’ show?”

If shows get a pass for being for children then all childrens’ shows should just not try and be garbage since the standard is so low.

Anonymous said:

ive seen some cool fic ideas/concepts/reviews that made me think: ml could use so much more looking into how a character thinks in some situations. one fic i read had alya in chameleon (i know its been forever since the ep came out but hey) not question lila cus she thought: "hey, lb wouldnt befriend a bad person" w and added a plot line of lila making her think lb was cobsidering replacing rena rougue. like, just a few lines to make them seem better pls?

YES. Like, show us characters’ perspectives and why they’re rolling with the facts that they’re rolling with, otherwise they just end up looking like jerks.

We sort of got it in “Ikari Gozen” with Kagami but of course it was just to make Marinette look bad.

Anonymous said:

You know I’m honestly considering making reviews of this show and if I do I could create hour long rants about the show just from that mans twitter.

Yeaaaaaah, once you had in the Twitter stuff, it just becomes, “okay so this is going to add another hour or two then.”

Anonymous said:

Okay one thing that bothers me is how plain marinette's suits are despite being a DESIGNER. Her multimouse suit it just blocks of color and her ladynoir suit is just grey with green lines. I think the lines are supposed to represent actually clothes. Like the limes on the calves are supposed to make it look like boots but why not actually GIVE her boots. (Right, because she has to have a skintight suit unlike the boys who get some layers.)

THE SHEER DISRESPECT OF HAVING THE FASHION DESIGNER WEAR SUCH A PLAIN SUIT.

It also goes to show who really designs here, like oh, interesting, the girls get skin-tight simplistic bodysuits and the boys gets all the cool stuff--

Anonymous said:

I heard some people in my class saying they watched Miraculous Ladybug for the first time, and they were saying how good it was, and I was like: 'Oh you poor fools. You have NO idea what it's truly like.'

You know what they say: ignorance is bliss.

bat-anon said:

Isn’t it INTERESTING how in Frozer, Luka understands that Marinette is torn between her crushes and continues to support her even though he knows she probably won’t chose him, and in the exact same episode Chat Noir refuses to help save the city because Ladybug told him AGAIN that she wasn’t romantically interested in him? HMMM 🤔😑

dbfgjbdfjkgf

I’M REMINDED OF “FELIX” WHERE IT’S LIKE--THEY WERE CLEARLY TRYING TO SHOW HOW MUCH “BETTER” CHAT NOIR IS THAN FELIX, BUT LUKA WAS THE RESPECTFUL ONE.

Anonymous said:

You know what I want to see? An evil kwami, like they just want to commit crimes. No moral high grounds, just chaotic evil.

That’d be amazing just because I wouldn’t be able to take them seriously.

Anonymous said:

Watching S1 and S3 episodes back to back, it feels like reading salt fics at times, especially in regards to the L². Like, Marinette was happy about weird plans, she both needed and wanted the final push, and most of the time there was at least something coming out of it. Nowadays it just makes her sad, Alya and the girls act *against* her, and we get shipping for shipping's sake.

That’s a good point. The shift from Seasons 1 to 2 to 3 is rather noticeable.

Anonymous said:

I hate how Adrien's busy schedule seems to only matter when it's used to make Marinette feel bad, but the second Marinette has a bit more to do, it somehow has a negative effect on not only her, but also everyone/everything she cares about, like, what's up with that??

I’m reminded of “Lies” here and I hate it. :|

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the way the show treats teenage girls is horse ass. The show treats the teenage girls of this show as if they're stupid, naive, emotional, clumsy, and need a boy to tell them what opinions to have. Marinette is always treated like the show's punching bag and blamed for everything that goes wrong because she's "emotional" or "obsessed with Adrien", Chloe could've been redeemed but the writers would rather keep her a brain-dead Alpha Bitch Valley Girl(even though Gabriel and Felix, the latter of whom is a teenage boy introduced in one episode, get to be treated as redeemable, despite the things they do being far, far worse), and Lila is a conniving, self-absorbed fox.

And even though Kagami seems better, she's still roped into the "girls catfight over an oblivious guy" cliche and so far, all of her akumatizations have been because of Adrien. Whenever Marinette tries to move on from Adrien the other characters tell her what's good for her and steer her in the "right" direction because she apparently can't think for herself, and the writers LOVE to use the girl squad to tell us who Marinette should be with, because they apparently know better than she does.

Plus the show loves to treat all the girls as the same, making them all either fight over Adrien or be obsessed with shipping, as if teenage girls are all one assimilating, homogenized group(also when they treat Marinette as if she's "just as bad as Chloe", rinse and repeat for the other ladies.). Honestly, the show feels like it was written by those types of people who think "teenage girls are the worst" so they make them all mood-swingy, obsessive, showoffs, emotional, and downright clingy.

Plus the way Thomas Astruc talks about the female characters on Twitter is even worse, and only serves to make this more evident: he claims Marinette "has poor control over her emotions"(all the while calling Adrien "perfect"), that Chloe was racist in Kung Food "because she's stupid"(so rather than having that scene serve as a lesson on respecting other's cultures, he just did it to pick on Chloe and make her look "stupid"), that she's incapable of being redeemed, that Lila's unlikable but Gabriel and Felix aren't(even though he claimed Felix was a terrible character and a "cliche", that's not what the show says my guy), and other such nonsense.

Other Twitter users have also called out Miraculous Ladybug and its stereotypical treatment of teenage girls. The only shows I've ever seen do this worse are those pretentious "darker" Magical Girl "deconstructions" aimed at grown men such as Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna, as well as most shonen/seinen shows such as Naruto and Death Note, which says a lot. Honestly, whenever I feel like watching a show with empowering and respectful depictions of teenage girls that treats them as bright and intelligent and actually unique from one another, I just watch Equestria Girls, Liv and Maddie, LoliRock, ANT Farm, Moesha, PreCure, or Sailor Moon. Because the way the show acts towards them is deplorable, absolutely deplorable.

Yes to all of the above. Almost all of the girls are involved in love affairs in some way, the two teenage girls are irredeemable while Felix got a sympathetic backstory right away (Chloe took forever to get hers which is a failure), and Marinette is flawed because she’s “too emotional” (a misogynistic stereotype).

Anonymous said:

Hi, I'm the anon who got upset at the lady who made the "Miraculous Ladybug is a Mess" rant, and yes, thank you zodiacspirit17 for liking and agreeing with my rant! I'm glad someone else saw that video! And ugh, Marinette learning to love Chat Noir? Really? I don't remember that line but I also don't want to go back and revisit it to make sure so I'll take your word for it. Ew. That was actually one of the things I hated about the Glaciator scene. Chat was supposedly comforting Marinette by taking her to the rooftop where he planned Ladybug's date, and yet only Marinette finds out about Chat's crush on Ladybug and comforts him on that(while rethinking her feelings), while all Chat knows is that Marinette's heart was also broken. He never asks who it is, or tries to help her get over her crush even if he doesn't know it's coincidentally him.

I know it's because of the "love square" but it's unfair that only Chat's love problems are directly addressed. Come to think of it, the reason Chat took Marinette to the rooftop...I know he was doing it in-universe to help her instead of intruding on her personal feelings(which might have also been why he didn't ask her who her crush was, he was probably thinking along the lines of "we don't have to talk about it right now, we can just have fun!"), but meta-wise, since we know she's Ladybug, the writers were probably trying to tell her "See? This is what you could've been doing, but you missed it. Shame on you!" That's a huge issue I have with the show: characters will do things in-universe to help Marinette, but the show has a different motive in mind. Compare to how Tikki gave actual advice to Marinette in Puppeteer 2, but the writers intended that for the statue scene so they could embarrass her in front of Adrien and the thousands of eyes watching the show(except we're not laughing.). Even if characters do support her, the writer is using them as props for her ritualized humiliation. And yet Luka is the problem somehow.

If Marinette needs to learn how to love Chat Noir, then it should at least be balanced out by Adrien learning to Marinette. I'm sick of this double standard that "girls need to learn to accept boys who like them but guys can do what they want". Another thing she said was that "Marinette needs to learn to define herself outside of who she's crushing on." NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. You see, unlike Adrien, Marinette HAS a life outside of who she's crushing on: she has school, she has Kitty Section, she has her "girl squad", she has her parents, she has her outside family, she babysits Alya's and Nino's siblings, and she has OH YEAH HER FASHION DESIGNING! I didn't even count being a superhero since Adrien does that, too. She has so many things to do outside of Adrien, and yet the fact that she makes gifts for Adrien or dreams about Adrien or wants to have kids with Adrien somehow makes her nothing but an "Adrien fangirl"?

First of all, she's the bloody protagonist?! That's such a "Real Women Don't Wear Dresses" argument, that she can't have her own life AND be in love at the same time! And somehow her crushing on Luka also means her life revolves around him, too! But Adrien's life doesn't revolve around Ladybug even though he doesn't really have anything going for him in his ordinary life? Outside of being rich, hot, white, and male, that is? What are his interests and hobbies, besides what Gabriel lets him do to pass the time? He doesn't even like modeling! And the Agreste plot is more about Gabriel, Emilie, and Nathalie than it is about him.

And what about his friendship with Nino? He didn't even care that Nino was getting strung along by Lila with the others! What about his friendship with Chloe that also waxes and wanes? Granted, Chloe's not a GOOD person, which that lady acknowledged, but she at least tried to change and has more development than him, the writers just won't let her change. I hate when people come for Marinette for doing literally anything when the show won't let her have agency and progress. It's so unfair of her and I wish they could see that. These double standards are driving me insane and they're sexist(maybe even a little bit racist, too), and it hurts even more when a woman's doing those things.

(I had to cut off some of this ask because I didn’t get all of it, so I cut it off at the point where it still seemed like a full ask.)

I FEEL THE “GLACIATOR” THING SO BAD. It hurts even worse when you realize that “Frozer” has to take place after “Glaciator,” so Chat Noir heard that Marinette has love problems and then ignored it to ask her for advice about his own love problems later on. The total lack of insensitivity???

Also, the idea that Marinette’s life would revolve around her crush on Luka is stupid. It’s the exact opposite, in fact.

Meanwhile, Adrien has so little going for him and the “interesting” parts of him involve who he’s connected to or what his father has forced him into.

[princess-of-the-corner]

So I’m doing this 100% for fun but like

Remember I mentioned a dream I had after reading to many of those salty “AU where Marinette’s sort of adopted and her bio parent(s) is rich/famous/powerful” of an mlp crossover where Mari’s bio moms are Twilight and Rarity from mlp? Yeah let’s expand on that a little!

Also, while this is kinda salty and has salty origins, this ends up being pretty sugary because that’s the nature of mlp stuff. 

So like there’s some interdimensional fuckery.

A little over 10 years prior to Canon the Equestria and the ML world kinda connected.

Twilight Sparkle, as Princess of Friendship, was sent as an ambassador to the new dimension.

Of course Earth sent someone to Equestria but whatever they’re not important.

Also involved is Twilights wife, Rarity, and lil baby Marinette pony.

Side note: while in Equestria they’re ponies, but interdimensional travel turns them Human in the ML world. Kinda like EQG but they have normal human skin tones.

Anyway! Mari is a lil pink Unicorn, but in the Human world she looks Human. She ends up wearing a lot of pink clothes because she misses her pony coat.

Because of several things, like wanting Mari to have a normal childhood and also some political stuff that her moms want to protect her from, she ends up being taken care of by Tom and Sabine.

I’m gonna say that Twi and Rares met Tom and Sabine through Pinkie, who has a habit of getting low-key adopted by bakers, and had met them through wanting to learn about Earth cuisine (and T&S wanted to learn Equestria cuisine, so it was a win-win).

When Twi and Rares are thinking about this plan, T&S are trying for a kid and haven’t had much luck.

Mari lives with Tom and Sabine for the day-to-day, but Twilight and Rarity visit as often as they can, spending plenty of weekends with their daughter, even if it’s low-key to keep her safe.

As far as Mari is concerned, she has four parents. Twilight=Mom, Rarity=Mommy, Sabine=Maman, and Tom=Papa.

Other than visits with her moms and trips to Equestria, there’s only a couple differences to Mari’s childhood.

First is that she gets visits from other mlp characters too. They don’t cause too many issues because

1.) they know how to not blow her cover and

2.) the ones who would do it accidentally can be reined in.

By that I mean that if Discord starts to act up Mari just says “I’ll tell Auntie Fluttershy” and he nopes the fuck out.

Mari’s classmates think she just has a lot of aunts and uncles with weird names and haircolors, not connecting them to the Pony stuff.

The other thing is that Marinette is a little more confident and somehow even more forgiving. Like, this is shown best in her interaction with Chloé.

Marinette stands up to Chloé from day 1 and doesn’t take her shit. She protects others and shuts down any of her petty schemes. Etc.

But she also doesn’t write Chloé off entirely. Marinette constantly offers her friendship, because she’s grown up with stories about her various aunts and uncles who were like Chloé or far worse, and that they eventually reformed. When she sees Chloé try to change, Marinette welcomes her with open arms and works with her to help her be a better person.

Anyway one more thing for Mari’s childhood before Ladybug: her Cutie Mark!

Marinette’s special talent is her eye for detail. Mostly she uses this to be a designer just like mommy(Rares is so proud!!), but it helps her be an expert at planning and organizing like her mom(Twi is also very proud!!).

Her actual Cutie Mark is an image of a Ladybug threading a needle.

Onto the Canon Timeline!!

Okay! So! Origins happens and Marinette gets the Ladybug Miraculous.

Mari is paranoid that it was given to her because someone found out about her being a Unicorn Princess. So she interrogated the hell out of Tikki.

Tikki’s like “okay I didn’t know that. I knew you had powerful Magic and that explains it but no. You were chosen for general compatibility with it!”

Ladybug’s secret identity lasts until Twi and Rares visit because they’re like “honey why are your earrings a powerful magic artifact???”

“Our little girl is all grown up and using Magic jewelry to save the world! Just like her moms!!”

So the whole family knows. Tikki does say that it breaks the rules, but there’s not much that can be done because of the circumstances.

Mari’s parents all kinda debate on whether or not she should try and figure out Chat Noir’s identity.

Twilight and Sabine argue that they would feel better if they knew who the boy was so that they could trust him. Twi’s reasoning is more “while you trust him now, your teamwork will grow stronger as you learn more about each other!” while Sabine’s is more “I want to make sure he’s not some creep/entitled dudebro.”

Rarity and Tom are okay with the mystery. Tom because obviously whoever chose Chat Noir to be a hero saw the same things in him that they saw in Marinette when making her Ladybug, so of course he must be a good guy. Rares just loves the drama of the whole thing! Secret identities! Romance! Etc.

Tikki is the deciding vote on that, saying it’s supposed to be secret.

That also doesn’t last long. Because Mari tells Rares about the crush on Adrien. And naturally Rares has to meet the boy! And they notice his ring and yeah…

She tries to keep the secret but as much as she loves the drama, the fact that her daughter is actually sad thinking Adrien isn’t interested in her when he absolutely is just breaks her heart.

Whoops the lovesquare is solved real early! Like, ‘sometime in Season 1 early’.

Of course they bring Adrien into the whole ‘secret royal horse family’ thing.

Mari’s a little scared on that because species difference.

Like, in Equestria interspecies relationship isn’t an issue because it goes by the basic ‘Harkness Test’ rules. So her interest in Adrien is normal to her.

But some Humans get weirded out by the idea so she didn’t know how Adrien would react.

It throws him for a loop but he’s cool with it!

This also involves telling Gabriel about the horse girlfriend.

Lucky for him, he decided to leave the Butterfly Miraculous upstairs during dinner or else he would’ve been found out too.

Anyway, the whole ‘royal horse princess’ thing is definitely enough to make Marinette a good candidate for dating Adrien. So Gabriel is okay with the relationship.

It also helps that Gabriel and Rarity actually somehow get along. She’s used to stuck up rich people so she can play his games without getting frustrated, and she can discuss fashion with him!

They get into a long discussion about Equestria fashion vs. Earth fashion, and Mari is sitting there taking notes because her goal is to make a fashion line that incorporates both dimensions!

Gabriel is kinda low-key thinking about how they’d make powerful Akumas, but tbh… magic horses are things he doesn’t want to risk messing with. Yeah they’d be powerful, but if they go rogue or have issues with merging the different types of Magic… it could be a bad time.

That said, he does try to low-key find out if Twilight and Rarity know of any Magics that might help him save Emilie other than the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. He doesn’t ask outright as he doesn’t want to tip his hand, but he feigns curiosity in some subjects.

They don’t tell Gabriel about the superhero thing because Adrien begs them not to, knowing that he’d try to stop him if he found out.

One more thing that changes is Mari and Adrien’s relationship with Master Fu as a mentor!

Because of Twilight’s experience with Celestia as her mentor, Marinette is encourage to question Fu’s decisions. 

They quickly realize that yeah, Fu’s not always right. In fact, he’s fucking up a lot. 

Fu and Twilight can get along as ‘protectors of Magical Artifacts that could either save the world or cause doomsday’. They debate about methods, and while Twilight agrees with Fu’s logic, she can also to get him to see the flaws in it. 

So. Outside of occasional pony stuff and various shenanigans involving the ‘aunts and uncles’, and the fact that Adrienette is canon, not much changes. I’ve written outlines for other AUs where Adrienette was Canon early on, so y’all can go dig those up. And I can’t think of specific instances where weird Pony stuff happens outside of like, Marinette’s birthday or something.

But this did start from a salty dream so we gotta get to Lila being a fuck.

Lila comes in and does her usual shit.

She lies about knowing Ladybug and various other celebrities. Of course.

She tries to flirt with Adrien. He turns her down as soon as he realizes because he’s in love with Mari. This gets Mari on her radar.

Between that, and Mari calling her out on her lies, Lila decides to try an ruin her.

So, Mari and Adrien’s responses to this are a little different than Canon.  

Marinette feels comfortable telling Adrien that Lila threatened her. So he’s not going to sit by and be quiet since he knows this is a threat, not just a girl lying for attention.

Despite the threats, both are too soft and sweet to write off Lila completely. Especially Mari, oddly enough. As I said. She grew up with stories about her aunts and uncles that changed for the better. So the two of them think that they might be able to be friends with Lila.

That said, they don’t put up with her shit. They call her out when she lies, and don’t tolerate her lying and manipulating people. It doesn’t usually work because Lila is good at thinking up more lies and turning it around, but they try.

The idea that Marinette hates Lila out of jealousy over Adrien is slightly more believable, because the classmates never saw Marinette be jealous before.

Chloé stopped ‘flirting’ with Adrien as soon as he and Mari got together because she respects Adrien as a friend. She makes it clear that they’re just friends and her flirting is mostly joking/possessiveness, and the relationship itself is the first thing that helps Chloé want to change so she can not lose Adrien over being mean to Mari.

Kagami was a little interested in Adrien, but shut it down as soon as she found out that he was dating Marinette, so she and Mari never got off on the wrong foot with jealousy, becoming friends rather quickly. (Mari might have tried to set her up with Luka after she rejected him but you know.)

Mari is usually nice to Adrien’s fangirls, barring any creepy actions.

So this is the first time the class is seeing her react to a ‘legitimate threat’ to the relationship.  

Now, while I like salt stuff, I don’t go full ‘the classmates durn into worse bullies than Chloé ever was because they’re convinced Mari is bullying Lila and believe Lila’s word like gospel’ thing.

I could go on a hell of a rant about how that’s a lot of victim blaming but that’s for another time.

Anyway, the classmates are still friendly with Marinette, but they are frustrated at her fighting with Lila. And Lila is lying, manipulating, orchestrating events to make it look like Mari attacked her, etc. It would take a decent amount of manipulation and gaslighting the class to get them to think Mari’s actually horrible, so this is a long-term plan.

One of the biggest things she does in the meantime, is try to isolate Marinette. If she sees someone talking to her, suddenly Lila needs their help with something! She tries to schedule hanging out with the class on days that Mari’s busy. Or just says she’s uncomfortable with Mari being at a hang out, so don’t invite her to this one(it works on smaller hangouts and ones where they’re at someone’s home, but big groups don’t work.). If she is forced to interact with Marinette directly, she starts a fight and blames Mari.

There’s a lot of tension. But Marinette learned from the Princess of Friendship herself. This can be mended, once they figure it out.

This all comes to a head when it comes time for the Class Trip.

The class gets permission to go out of the country, and Marinette suggests Equestria!

Her thought process is

1.) they can help mend things by learning about Equestria’s history and importance of Friendship.

2.) Despite the recent hiccups in their friendship, Marinette loves and trusts most of the class enough to tell them about the ‘I’m secretly a Pony Princess’ thing. And taking them to see Equestria is a good idea to help hammer it in and really wow them!

The school board is hesitant at first, because Equestria is technically another Dimension and all. But they tell her ‘if you send a letter to the Equestrian Government and they say yes, then okay’.

So Mari just calls up her mom and asks. Twilight is immediately planning the trip’s itinerary!

When Marinette announces it to the class, they’re all estatic.

Lila, of course, lies about stuff.

She claims that she went to Equestria before and when turned into a Pony by dimensional Magic stuff, she was totally an Alicorn!

Mari calls so much bullshit on that.

Because the only ways to be an Alicorn are either being born one, which means she’d have to be related to the Royal Family and that’s impossible, or Ascending, which is so goddamn rare.

Not to mention that even if a Human who crossed over became an Alicorn legitimately, that would’ve been major news.

Thankfully most of the stuff Lila lies about regarding culture/celebrities in Equestria/etc are either things Mari can spin as ‘actually that’s a misconception’ and redirect the class to real facts, or something that is coincidentally true, just fuckin buck wild.

When it comes time for the actual trip, Twilight and Rarity show up personally! Partly because they have to, as the link between Earth and Equestria, but also to see Mari and dote on her, glad to formally meet all her friends!!

The class begins to notice things when they are actually transported to Equestria.

First, they notice that Mari seems way too friendly with Twi and Rares. Like, yeah she’s a friendly person, but this is excessive.

They also notice that Marinette is a bit… too used to walking around as a Pony and using Magic, while everyone else is like ‘fuck how do hooves work???’.

There’s, like, a half second after they first go through the portal and are transformed where it seems like Lila wasn’t lying, as she looks like an Alicorn.

But then Twilight recognizes ‘Oh. You’re not an Alicorn. You’re a Changeling. I understand the disguise, as some Ponies are still a bit wary of Changelings, but you shouldn’t go around as an Alicorn as that will get you some unwanted attention and cause a lot of issues!’.

Everyone asks about that, and Twi happily explains that Changelings are shapeshifters!

So like, the excuse here is that Lila didn’t lie about going to Equestria before. She did once a few years ago with her mom. But she was a Changeling, not an Alicorn. She’d hoped that she’d be able to trick the classmates, and possibly even Twilight, but didn’t count on being called out so soon!

Unfortunately, everyone believes the reason Twilight accidently gave instead of the ‘Lila’s a dick’ thing. Mari’s frustrated because ‘damn it mom!’ but you know.

Side notes: What kind of Pony everyone is and their Cutie Marks!

Marinette: Pink Unicorn. Cutie Mark is a Ladybug threading a needle.

Adrien: pastel green Pegasus. Cutie Mark is a fencing saber with a neon green pawprint behind it.

Chloé: Black with white markings Crystal Pony. Cutie Mark is a golden crown, but with honeycomb shapes. (Basically imagine Diamond Tiara’s Cutie Mark, but gold and with hexagons instead of circles on the ends)

Alya: orange Unicorn, Cutie Mark is a Wifi signal with a foxtail

Nino: Deep green Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is headphones with a turtle shell

Juleka: Purpleish-black Unicorn, Cutie Mark is a mirror with claw marks behind it/

Rose: pink Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is a rose but the stem is real curly

Nathaniel: lavender Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is a tablet pen and a feather quill (Ya boi has so much trouble attempting to draw!!)

Alix: light blue Pegasus, Cutie Mark is a pocketwatch with wings

Mylene: tan Pegasus, Cutie Mark is a mouse-like theatre mask

Ivan: dark blue Earth Pony, Cutie Mark crossed drumsticks with a pair of ox horns above it.

Kim: red Pegasus, Cutie Mark is a star with a staff weapon in front of it.

Max: brown Unicorn, Cutie Mark is a computer screen in a horseshoe.

Sabrina: Turquoise  Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is a dark turquoise notebook with a purple diamond on it.

Lila: orange Changeling. No Cutie Mark. Uses a foxtail design when transformed to look like a regular pony.

So, as I said, the class is realizing that Marinette is a little too comfortable in Equestria. They eventually ask.

Marinette explains the whole ‘Okay, so didn’t tell you because I didn’t know to trust you guys, and then after I did trust you I wasn’t sure how to tell you but actually…’.

She goes over the whole ‘Twi and Rares are the bio moms, Tom and Sabine are her sort-of-adoptive parents but all four are parents to her’ thing.

Everyone’s like ‘Wait… you’re actually a Pony???’ then they’re like ‘HOLD HE FUCK UP YOU’RE A PRINCESS???’

Lila does kinda try and spin the whole ‘oh she didn’t tell you guys’ thing, but Twi and Rares explain the whole thing was about keeping Mari safe. And if certain people found out about her, it’d be bad.

Time for a little bit of the trip itinerary!

The first few days are spent in Ponyville, with the class staying in Twilight’s Castle.

I feel like I should mention that the last couple seasons of mlp aren’t canon to this timeline but whatever.

While they’re enjoying the sights and learning about Equestria, a chunk of the time is spent learning about how to be Ponies. How to walk on four legs and function with hooves, and how to use their various Magics. Nothing too wild. Just flight lessons for Pegasai, controlling strength for Earth Ponies, and basic spell casting for the Unicorns (along with control so they don’t blast something.).

Lila already knows how to use her Changeling spell stuff, unfortunately.

Marinette does discuss Lila with Twi and Rares.

They go into mom mode and are ready to throw down, but don’t.

Twilight asks them to just keep an eye on what Lila says, correct her if she lies, and maybe also ban her from shapeshifting?

Thankfully, Twilight is smart. She knows that banning Lila from shapeshifting altogether might end badly because there’s have to be questions of why. But she can subtly tag Lila with a specific ban.

Basically, Lila’s Magic will malfunction if she tries to shapeshift into Marinette, any of the classmates, or some of the more important Ponies. Lila won’t know about it unless she tries to do that specifically and finds she can’t.

Lila does, of course, try exactly that. She attempted to change into Marinette and be a jerk, but didn’t even get that far.

When she complains, Twilight just handles it by saying that it’s standard that Changelings nearby Royals and such have that ban.

Other highlights of the trip:

They hit some major cities in Equestria. Like the Crystal Empire, Manehattan(Which annoys Chloé a little because ‘I got to go to Manehattan before Manhattan fuck you mom!), Cloudsdale. And eventually, Canterlot!

Meeting various Royals is a trip in itself. I mean, this is Magic Pony Royalty!! But they’re also absolute dorks.

Adrien gets heckled by all of Marinette’s Aunts and Uncles and he’s a little terrified but loves her.

Diamon Tiara attempts to adopt Chloé somehow. Spike reminds her that Chloé does technically have parents back home, but Diamond’s like ‘no! she reminds me of me so much!!!’.

They get to see a Wonderbolts show in Cloudsdale, and a play on Bridleway.

As usual with me and ML fics, Chloé figures out that Mari and Adrien are LB and Chat. She had some strong suspicions before the trip, but after seeing the Cutie Marks of both them and other suspected Heroes, she’s like ‘you motherfuckers!!’.

Later on once they’ve gotten used to being Ponies, they get to go to the old Castle in the Everfree Forest, which is currently half archeological study, and half ‘training for all those bullshit Indiana Jones-like traps that Pony Archeologists have to deal with’. Which means it’s basically an obstacle course!

The final MANE event is an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala!! With Rarity making all their outfits because she’s GENEROUS like that!!

Last plot point: Lila.

Of course Lila’s lies will be revealed somehow. But tbh…. Since this is a mlp crossover, I sort of want to try giving her some kinda redemption.

I think the best way to do that is to be able to feel the emotions. I mean, Changelings are empaths, basically. She can now physically feel what others feel about one another.

I mentioned in TMOLR that Lila’s lies are part of a cycle. She lies to make people love her, but they don’t love her, just the lies. So she continues the lie to keep the love.

With her empathy powers, she can feel that the love aimed at her is no different than the love they aim at each other. And at first, she brushes it off as her fooling them too well.

It’s actually only once the lies are exposed that she begins to realize that, despite the anger and betrayal her classmates feel, they still care. They still, on some basic level, love her.

She’s not going to be free of consequences, but she might be able to turn it around.

Legit though, I think a mlp crossover is the only time I can genuinely think of having a Lila Redemption because of the kind of bullshit the Ponies have done with redemptions.

[andtheyweredeskmates]

Chapter Eight- Of Latte’s and Lingerie

For those of you who are interested, I posted my concept art for the red piece from the last chapter. If you got back to chapter seven there’s a link. If you don’t feel like going back and looking for it, you can find it here

Here’s the previous seven chapters for those of you who are interested

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

AO3

TAGLIST: 

@catsssmeow @toodaloo-kangaroo

When Adrien went to bed he was still texting Marinette. He started to pay a little more attention to the way he worded things. Maybe he was being a little flirty. Adrien sighed as he stared at his phone.

Did he really even know what flirty was? Nino was right, he hadn’t really been interested in anyone since high school, and even then it had been a halfhearted crush. Kagami was one of his only friends aside from Chloe and they’d spent a lot of time together. She was his first kiss. But it wasn’t long after they’d started dating that Adrien realized his feelings for her were no where near as strong as her feelings for him. So, he broke it off. They of course, stayed friends but Adrien could tell he’d hurt his friend. It was never really the same after that.

Adrien supposed that was why he never really tried too hard to get the attention of women. He was always so focused on making friends, he kind of let the idea of romance slip away.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

So who’s your dad? You keep telling me about how your dad is connected to the fashion world. Maybe I know him?

Coffee Buddy

Um, it’s a surprise. I’ll tell you after the show

The last thing he needed was to ruin a perfectly good friendship by telling her that his dad was her boss.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

All right fine, keep your secrets. I’m going to  bed. I don’t want to be late to work again. Are we still on for coffee tomorrow?

Adrien smiled softly.

Coffee Buddy

Yup! Good night Marinette, see you tomorrow.

…

Marinette really did plan to go to bed. But the racing of her heart and the pride she felt when she thought about how smoothly she was able to talk to the Hot Guy, kept her awake for hours. It was nearly two in the morning when she fell asleep. As Alya would say, she had it bad.

…

Miraculously, Marinette managed to get up on time the next morning. Even more miraculous however was the amazing mood she was in. Today would be a good day. She would go to work (and seeing as she was not in charge of running the upcoming show she would be free to start on yet another project and forget about the horror that would be Fruit of Passion), go to Dunn’s, talk to the Hot Guy, and come home for a self care night, complete with a bubble bath, candles, and a Jagged Stone record. Today was going to be a good day.

…

“Mari, I got your pieces for the show back today, I want you to try on the red piece so we can make sure it fits correctly. I know it’s your size but I want to ensure its flattering you in every way.Every detail matters.”

Marinette really thought it was gonna be a good day.

…

“Mari I’m almost impressed how well it fits you,” Audrey mused. Meanwhile, Marinette was blushing in the corner of the room trying very hard not to succumb to the instinct to cover herself. Audrey moved closer.

“You know these straps almost make it hard to tell how flat chested you are.” Marinette resented that.

“You know, I was under the impression that models were supposed to have perfect bodies. Full chests, toned stomachs, tan skin,” Marinette spat. Audrey rolled her eyes.

“Well luckily for you, we’re attempting to rebrand for the general public. Showing off average body types has become more widely accepted. Besides, that red does wonders for your pale skin. No one is going to be searching for your six pack.” Marinette groaned.

“If you’re really worried about it, you’re welcome to go to the gym,” Audrey said offhandedly. Marinette recoiled. She hated the gym. The sweat, the pain, the yelling, the stupid pictures. She’d much rather sit at home watching trashy television and sipping wine on the couch.

…

TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE

“No!!!!” Marinette screeched. She stared at the sign on the front door, mouth open.

“Oh man, I saw the sign that they would be doing renovations soon, I didn’t realize it was today, sorry Marinette.” Marinette turned around to see the Hot Guy standing behind her.

“You mean… they had a sign?” Marinette felt stupid. How hadn’t she noticed. She was only here nearly every day of the week.

“Yeah its been up for about a month now. I hadn’t really paid much attention to it though.” Marinette glanced back at the door.

“But…. Coffee…” Marinette said, defeated. The Hot Guy laughed.

“We could always go somewhere else! I still want to hang out. What about Starbucks?” The Hot Guy sounded a little desperate. Maybe he was desperately in need of coffee too. Marinette sighed.

“Yeah lets go there, hopefully they aren’t crowded.”

…

Starbucks was definitely crowded. Nearly filled to the brim with people.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anywhere to sit,” Hot Guy said, glancing around. Marinette bit her lip.

“Um this might sound lame but we could always take our drinks back to Dunn’s and sit outside? I mean, if you aren’t busy. I know that’s a lot of time to drive back and forth.”

Hot Guy laughed.

“Sounds kind of scandalous, like cheating in your own house. I’m down if you are Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Marinette nearly swooned. The gleam in Hot Guy’s eye when he said it, the low sultry tone. She really had it bad.

“Haha, yeah well I’m gonna order…” she said awkwardly. Hot Guy smiled.

“Just tell me what you want. I’ll grab both of our drinks. Just sit tight.” Marinette gaped at him.

“Oh, uh thank you. Let me hand you some cash…” Hot Guy was shaking his head before she finished.

“Don’t worry about it, consider it thanks for letting me crash your pity party at Dunn’s the other day.”

…

Adrien kinda wanted to kick himself. Crash your pity party? What an asshole thing to say. Luckily Marinette somehow didn’t seem to mind.

“Oh, thank you. Just get me an iced cocoa cloud macchiato.” Adrien smiled at her.

“No problem. I’ll be right back.” He walked over to the coffee line and waited patiently. Thankfully, even though the line had been long, the baristas moved efficiently.

“What can I get for you?” The barista looked dead inside. Circles under her eyes, a flat tone to her voice. Adrien was a little thrown. Starbucks had a very different atmosphere than Dunn’s.

“Oh, uh let me get a large mocha frappe and a large iced cocoa cloud… thing.”

“So a venti mocha frappuccino and a venti iced cocoa cloud macchiato?” Adrien blushed a little. He felt stupid in a place like this.

“Um, sure.”

“What’s the name?”

“Adrien.” The barista wrote quickly on the side of the cup.

“Your total is $10.29,” she grumbled. Adrien fished in his wallet for some cash.

“Here.” The barista counted his money and handed him the change.

“It’ll be out shortly,” she said. Adrien thought breifly that she kind of reminded him of a dead fish.

“Right,” he said quietly. He made his way back to Marinette.

“Well, it should be out in a bit,” he said cheerfully. No need to complain about how much he really did not like this establishment.

She smiled back at him. Adrien stared at her for a moment, as though for the first time. She really was pretty. She was mixed, that much was evident, even if you didn’t know her last name. She had fair skin and beautiful silk black hair. Her thick lashes brushed her cheeks when she smiled and her monolid eyes were a very astounding deep blue. He could see why Nino had such a big crush on her. She was beautiful.

“I’ve got a mocha frappucino and iced cocoa cloud macchiato for Aiden?”

…

Marinette jumped for a moment at the loud call of the barista.

“I guess that’s us,” Hot Guy grumbled, turning back to counter. Marinette immediately felt relief. Aiden. So that was his name. She can’t believe she hadn’t thought about that before. Listening for the call of the coffee. She immediately changed his contact name in her phone. Alya would be proud.

When Aiden came back, she smiled at him.

“So Aiden…” She trailed off. She hadn’t really thought of what to say, she had just wanted to try his name out. She was a little put off by the roll of his eyes.

“Oh whatever, you know that’s not really my name.” Marinette froze and laughed awkwardly.

“Ha, yeah… well I think I’m just gonna have to call you that from now on,” she said mechanically. ‘Aiden’ laughed.

“Oh no, don’t tell me this is a thing now,” he said. Marinette pulled up her phone and showed him his new contact.

“Yeah, it’s too late. That’s your new name,” she said.

“Alright, well I guess that’s just part of making new frineds. They always find cruel and unusual ways of making fun of you. Come on Mari, lets go back to Dunn’s.” Mari followed closely behind him and facepalmed. How the hell did she get stuck in these ridiculous situations?

Thanks for reading! I actually edited for once but if there’s any typos that you notice please let me know, I accept feedback of all kinds! Also I did another concept art for Marinette playing with the idea of her aged up with monolids. It isn’t really how I picture her but it was fun to draw! It’s here if you wanna see

Next Chapter

[heizerux]

Battle of the Miraculous (Love Eater and Miracle Queen) Analysis (Few Translations included)

“Some people may have their problems, but at the end everything will be okay.”

—Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miracle Queen Monologue)

(Disclaimer: Budgets and animation production play a huge part in how episodes are made and released . . . but this time it was straight up the network’s choice and a bad one :| Also I’m fully aware Chat Blanc and Felix may answer a few extra things, but for now I’ll just talk about what I’ve seen.)

I’ll be going over the finale in the Topics: 

Hesitations

Relationships

Beginning of the End

The Future? (Season 4 Talk)

I rewatched the episode with subs I could fully read and understand so I’m ready to talk about it now. Let's go. . .

FYI: I’m gonna be mainly dissecting Miracle Queen because A LOT happened here that I HAVE TO let out.

Hesitations

In Heart Hunter/ Love Eater we got a good consensus of how every character is doing. To summarize, we know Luka has deeply fallen for Marinette and constantly thinks about the song that is her. Kagami is much closer to Adrien and is open about her feelings to him. Luka and Kagami are also now officially good friends with their supposed love rival. Really everyone is getting along PERFECTLY. . . . But then Kagami and Adrien get much closer and all Marinette can do is just let the one she loves go. 

In Miracle Queen, Marinette cries to Luka and admits in her monologue that nothing is going and if anything things are painful. . . but that it’s nice to have someone that’s there for her when she need it. . .  this someone being Luka. Before the bees attack, Marinette makes a move to move on by wanting to hear his finalized song, but Luka questions an important question:

“You’re still thinking about Adrien?”

Meanwhile, Adrien breaks away from the kiss with an “Oh! Uh, it’s my first time, I’m not ready!” excuse even though it’s clear he’s unsure about advancing things with Kagami. But then her version of the important question is:

“But when will you be ready, Adrien? . .  Your hesitation hurts.”

*queue the bees* So as of this point, Adrien and Marinette have finally faced their actual obstacle in terms of romance: Their HESITATIONS.

This entire season, we’ve had instances in which Adrienette has had the thought of wanting to be something more (either through a crush or Plagg’s perseuations), but there was always the thought of “But there’s Luka/Kagami. . .” Ikari Gozen shed this for Marinette, Stormy Weather 2.0 shed this for Adrien. . .

Anyways Chloe calls forward people who have held a miraculous and exposes them (both in identity and diss lol) btw she did say Luka looked “kinda cute”

Ladybug and Chat Noir find each other confused as to how things went south so fast and Chat just asks “What did Fu tell you?”, to which Ladybug basically answers “Nothing” and has break down admitting she accidentally lead Hawkmoth to Fu.

Relationships

This moment right here. . . it's IMPORTANT. 

Chat sees Ladybug vulnerable and consoles her letting her know to focus on saving Fu and not to worry more on the rest mistakes. Ladybug thanks him and the two hug. . . but like ACTUALLY hug. 

I’m not talking someone hugging the other in attempt to save the other from harm, but an actual genuine friendly hug. Chat Noir isn’t being flirty or making advances, and Ladybug isn't annoyed or pushing Chat away. Their relationship as heroes is no longer just partners. . . but officially CLOSE FRIENDS.

Moving on, they kick ass, get the likely to be former wielders’ miraculous back and face off with Chloe. To summarize, she tells Ladybug that she’s the real enemy because she doesn’t trust her and goes on to equip all the miraculous. She tries to use them all but all the kwamis basically told her to go fuck herself in the form of “You don’t even know our commands.” 

Oh, but what’s this? ANOTHER advancement in the Ladynoir relationship. Ladybug turns to Chat all vulnerable once more, and he picks her back up. This is the first time in a WHILE (since Origins) that Ladybug had confided in Chat with her vulnerability and fears of failure TWICE in ONE day. Don’t forget about this for next season.

The Beginning of the End

After telling Ladybug that she now has all the keys and knowledge about the miraculous, Fu then decides its time. No not the grim kind of time, but the time to finally pass on the torch to Ladybug. He officially denounces his role as guardian, which renders all inactive miraculous useless. (I’m actually not certain but it IS what I noticed considering the active miraculous were still working but the inactive ones became empty jewelry shells as the kwamis got transferred into a brand new box for Ladybug. I’m sure S4 will have the answers here.) Hawkmoth is literally disappointed and leaves with a weaker Mayura.

Chloe angrily tells Ladybug she just wants to be Queen Bee and be the REAL MAIN HERO, to which Ladybug simply answers “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that, Chloe.” Chloe then throws a tantrum saying “FINE! I am not your fan anymore. I will go live with my mom because you don’t even deserve to breath the same air as ME.” and runs away.

Oh yeah, Chat lost Hawkmoth and Mayura :D. . . . *high five*

ANYWAYS, Ladybug and Chat Noir go to vibe check on Fu while Gabriel vibe checks Nathalie. One is alive and well and the other is alive and. . . yeah. 

KEEP IN MIND, NATHALIE NOW HAS ACQUIRED THE INFO SHE NEEDED FROM FU’S BELONGINGS TO REPAIR THE PEACOCK MIRACULOUS. DO NOT FORGET THIS FOR NEXT SEASON.

Back to Fu, he wakes up but. . . ya GUESSED IT (or didn't)  . . . lost his memory along with his duties as guardian and this marks the END of an era. . .

ML LORE: THE GUARDIAN RULE IS THAT YOU ERASE YOUR MEMORIES OF KNOWING ABOUT THE TRUE POWER OF THE MIRACULOUS ONCE YOU DENOUNCE YOUR ROLE IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THE current? WIELDERS. EVEN THE USE “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG” DOES NOT UNDO THIS.

DEFINITELY DO NOT FORGET THIS MOVING FORWARD IN THE SERIES (but mainly if you really like lore or just want to use this as a fic tool :3)

Techincally, someone did die this episode, but it was the person we all once knew as Master Fu. Now it is just Wang Fu. He returns Ladybug’s “lost key” thinking she dropped it? and then marks the a new beginning. 

Chloe returns to expect her mom to be getting ready to leave, but finds her parents finally happy and in love. . . I’m actually really happy this happened. Chloe needs a loving home and if this helps her in anyways, ABOUT TIME. 

“As you start to get older, you start to understand that life doesn’t always give you what you thought it would. I wanted to tell you this in person, Marinette, but if you are reading this it is because I’ve already lost all my memories. Do not be afraid, you haven’t lost all of me completely. Like I told you in the beginning of the letter, losses are a part of life, but this isn’t important. The only thing that’s important is if you’ve won (?) or not. That is the key to be able to accept changes as they come on your own. To be able to accept everything as a whole even when you feel life hasn’t given you enough. The real gift, is life itself.” —Fu

no I’m not crying, you are

After retrieving Master Fu’s leftover gifts for Marinette, she takes him to see Marianne to their new home (assuming), to whom Wang Fu has met for the first time but is already fully in love with. Marinette gives them a final parting gift, to where his last words to her are:

“Thank you, young lady. I’ll never forget you.”

okay, okay, maybe a TINY tear has left my eye. . .

Now to our final scene of the season. Adrien and Marinette are closer friends and nothing is distant between the two, They’re even so comfortable small talk is like second nature to them . . . they’ve also both finally faced their own hesitations and decided to give the person in front of them a shot for and for all: Luka and Kagami.

“The real gift, is life itself.”

okay okay I’m SOBBING aghhhHHHHHHHH--

Oh and Gabriel seems to have repaired the peacock miraculous 👀

The Future (?)

Okay, so THAT’S how Season 3 ended. It feels bittersweet, I cried about it when I got home and watched it with real subtitles, but now lets talk about what we can expect to come in Season 4. It’s all guess and theories but I guess here’s mine:

Marinette now fully changed and matured with her new role as guardian, will probably be a lot more calmer with her approaches. The relationships will likely be that Lukanette and Adrigami will try to flourish further as both Adrien and Marinette decided to stop hesitating and going for what’s in front of them. . . but so will Ladynoir. 

I’m, for the time being, jumping ship on the theory that Ladybug will fall more in love with Chat, and Chat still being loyal to his lady will equally return the feelings as this happens further. . . but of course their civilian relationships will interfere. . . and idk about you guys but that department looks like it’s going to be interesting. 

I may add more later on, but I just needed to get all this out in one post for the finale. I’ll still watch Felix and Chat Blanc cause I’m in denial that yes, this was basically it already . . . But the wounds are still fresh in my soul for this show and it still hurts. . . 

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So yeah . . . Lila Rossi who?

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Don’t know her. . . 

.

and neither did Hawkmoth in that finale 👀 *sips tea*

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Partners

Chat Noir deflected the akumatized villain's attack as Ryuko flanked them.

 

He grinned as his girlfriend bonked the guy on the back of his head. She must really not appreciate having their date interrupted.

 

The large akumatized villain fell, setting off car alarms as the ground shook.

 

Ryuko leapt back to his side, sword at the ready. "Any word from Ladybug?"

 

Chat Noir leaned closer. "None yet, Dragon-ette."

 

Ryuko raised an eyebrow.

 

"No? I'll keep working on it."

 

The akumatized villain rose with a roar. His breath attack sending cars flying.

 

Chat Noir grabbed Ryuko and used his staff to propel them to the rooftops, out of harm's way. "Yuck! Do you think he needs a breath mint?"

 

"Perhaps he should consider brushing his teeth every now and then," Ryuko supplied.

 

"I HEARD THAT!" The supervillain grabbed a nearby car and threw it at them.

 

Chat Noir extended his staff, using the roof as a brace to knock the car back down. He casually leaned on his staff. "But how is he going to get them clean without water?"

 

Ryuko grinned. "Water Dragon!" She flowed down the building, towards the indestructible supervillain.

 

"Hey!" Chat Noir yelled. "You know that 'blockhead' isn't meant to be literal, right?"

 

"YOU WON'T ESCAPE ME YOU MANGY STRAY!" The villain roared while launching another vehicle at Chat Noir.

 

Evading easily Chat Noir continued taunting the brute to keep his eyes off Ryuko. "Escape? Please, have you ever tried to catch a cat that didn't want to be caught? Fair warning: We have claws!"

 

"MY SKIN IS INDESTRUCTIBLE!" The brute bragged, lifting some more non-aerodynamic projectiles.

 

"Yeah," Chat Noir agreed, doing a handstand. "Bet it makes you really heavy, huh?"

 

"WHAT?"

 

The asphalt beneath the villain's feet cracked suddenly before a torrent of water burst out of the ground. The supervillain fell through the collapsing street and into Ryuko's Water Dragon.

 

The underground tunnel was completed flooded. And the akumatized villain was indeed too heavy to swim.

 

Ryuko reformed from part of the water, a deadpan look on her face. "I need a shower."

 

"But you just took a bath!" Chat Noir mock protested, gesturing at the thrashing liquid. "Incidentally, you don't think a diamond statue can drown, do you?"

 

"AAHHHHHH!" Water exploded upward as the supervillain's breath attack pushed it away from him. He grabbed the edge of the hole to pull himself up. "I'LL GET YOU LIZARD!"

 

"Is it because we forgot the bubbles?" Chat Noir asked as they were soaked by the water falling back down. "Ugh, now I need a bath!"

 

"HERE! LET ME DRY YOU OFF!"

 

This time Ryuko grabbed him and carried him to the relative safety of an alley. The breath attack didn't have any more cars to throw at them but it was still plenty dangerous by itself.

 

"Any ideas?" Chat Noir inquired.

 

"He is indestructible, correct?"

 

"That's what he keeps shouting."

 

"Then perhaps we should take him at his word," Ryuko suggested.

 

"I don't follow," Chat Noir admitted.

 

"Lightning Dragon!"

 

"Ohhh! I get it n- Wait, no, Kagami!"

 

Ryuko bolted out of the alley and straight for the akumatized supervillain. The wind from his breath imperceptible to her lightning form. She struck him square in the head, knocking him into a wall which collapsed on impact.

 

Chat Noir landed beside her as she reformed. "I thought we agreed no Zeus-ing the supervillains?"

 

"No, Ladybug stated she didn't want me to use Lightning Dragon directly on the villains and I replied that I understood her concerns. I never actually agreed."

 

Chat Noir opened his mouth and lifted a finger before letting his hand fall. "Drat. I totally should've thought of that!"

 

They were interrupted by the villain's roaring. The diamond skinned being lifted both fists and slammed them down. The street cracked with a quake, knocking both heroes off their feet.

 

Chat Noir sat up with a groan. "Ooh, yeah, definitely gonna feel that in the morning!"

 

Ryuko pushed some rubble off herself. She glared at the supervillain. "Perhaps if I dropped him from a really great height!"

 

"But I if you use your Wind Dragon you'll have to recharge and superhero-ing is a team sport!" Chat Noir protested as he dusted himself off.

 

Ryuko casually slashed a peice of wall sailing their way. "Do you have an alternative?"

 

Oh, Chat Noir really didn't want to suggest this! "Well, we could, you know, since he's 'indestructible' and all, maybe, use my, um." He pointed at his ring.

 

Ryuko blinked for a moment to make sure she was understanding him correctly. "Won't that mean you'll have to recharge if it doesn't work?"

 

Chat Noir tackled her out of the way of more building. "Hey, every time we team up I'm always the one getting captured or almost captured! If anyone's getting the short end of the stick it'll probably be me!"

 

"I was captured!" Ryuko reminded him.

 

"Getting caught on purpose as part of the plan doesn't count!" Chat Noir pointed out.

 

Ryuko narrowed her eyes at him but nodded her consent. Chat Noir propelled himself into the air as she kept the villain's attention.

 

"You know, for a diamond your really not that impressive!"

 

"I'LL SHOW YOU IMPRESSIVE!"

 

The breath attack provided the perfect cover for sneaking up behind the big brute. As he stood still and his hearing was full of that howling wind.

 

"Cataclysm!" That got his attention. "Do me a favor?" Chat Noir asked as the akumatized victim turned around. "Don't die." And pressed his hand to the man's stomach.

 

There was a painful breaking sound as cracks appeared along the person's diamond form. The largest bisecting the villain almost perfectly in half. His form shattered as though made of glass.

 

"NOOOO!"

 

Revealing a rather small man amid the shards.

 

Chat Noir breathed a sigh of relief. "A golem type akuma. Thought so."

 

"MY BEAUTIFUL, FLAWLESS BODY! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS YOU-"

 

Before he could finish the man and his diamond shards were engulfed in dark smoke. In his place was a boy a few years older than Chat Noir.

 

"I guess Ladybug found the akuma," Chat Noir observed as ladybugs swirled around them.

 

 

"Was all that really necessary?" Ladybug asked.

 

"You were tardy. We had to contain an akuma that had already knocked down buildings," Ryuko reminded her.

 

"I had to look all over a lycee to find his akumatized object! Including the-" She shuddered. "Boys' locker room!"

 

Chat Noir couldn't help a chuckle from escaping his lips.

 

Ladybug sent an accusing glare at him.

 

"Hey, at least everything turned out alright!" Chat Noir pointed out.

 

"Yes, we did manage to prevent more widespread damage," Ryuko agreed.

 

Ladybug conceded the point with a nod. "Why was he upset enough to be akumatized anyway?"

 

At this Chat Noir coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

 

"He was under the impression that in order to woo his crush he would have to be 'flawless'," Ryuko explained. "Chat Noir told him that if she was as incredible as he described then she wouldn't be impressed by such superficiality."

 

"That was really good of you Chat."

 

"Thanks, I try!" He smiled appreciatively as his ring began to beep frantically. "That's my cue! Later, ladies!"

 

"Does he seem odd to you?" Ladybug asked as they dropped into an alley.

 

"He is always odd," Kagami replied as she de-transformed. "It's what makes him an interesting companion."

 

 

"Hey, Kagami?"

 

"Yes, Adrien?"

 

"What made you notice me?" Adrien turned to look at his girlfriend as she paused in her stride.

 

"What brought this on?" Kagami wondered.

 

Adrien shrugged and looked down.

 

"... You were an honorable opponent," Kagami stated simply and resumed walking.

 

Adrien skipped to catch up. "It wasn't my fencing skills?"

 

"No, those are just a bonus," she replied. "... What made you notice me?"

 

Adrien gazed upward as he thought about it. "Your honesty. Or maybe your drive. I don't think it was one thing for me. Every day I learned something new about you and then, suddenly, I love you and I have no idea how." He smiled.

 

Kagami walked a bit ahead of him to hide her blush. A shy smile making itself known on her lips. "I love you, too"

@adrigami-week