#alya salt

[geekgirles]

Liar Revealed

So Marinette and Sabrina worked together to lure Lila into a false sense of security that eventually led up to her spilling everything in front of an audience she was unaware of. Now everyone knows she’s been lying about everything, she’s a horrible person, and she and Chloé are about to be expelled for good... After 7 years, the fandom finally got what it wanted.

...then why do I feel like I’ve actually wasted those 7 years of my life? 

Buckle up, ‘cause this is going to be a long ride.

As someone who’s been eagerly awaiting for Lila to be exposed since Volpina, a feeling that only grew with each passing episode she’s been featured in, I honestly find this development wholly underwhelming, highly disappointing, even. 

Maybe I’m too vindictive, who knows, but this in no way feels like proper comeuppance for a character who’s been maliciously manipulating everyone around her and relishing in other people’s misery since she was first introduced.

First and foremost, because having Lila accidentally reveal herself while gloating is too much of a cliché. I’ve seen people before mentioning how Lila exposing herself seemed to be the only way this could go, seeing as Marinette’s best attempts always seemed to fail. But if we ignore for a second this was actually set up by Marinette and Sabrina, with the way it’s handled it just feels like a kick in the gut, not the overwhelming catharsis I’m sure most of us were expecting. 

Because, and this is actually my main problem with the execution, by having Lila expose herself by spouting a self-satisfied tirade of every single lie she’s ever told and people have believed without question as she disparages Sabrina’s attempts to take her down, saying how she could easily turn everyone against her, the narrative is actually framing Lila in the right.

When we as the audience know it shouldn’t be like that. 

Lila only really upped her game in season 5 (and even then the writers still rely too much on the characters being dumbed down around her for it to work), up until then all her lies would have been easily discreditable if the writers didn’t need the class and everyone in Paris to believe her for her schemes to work!

From our perspective, Lila is nowhere near as formidable as she presents herself to be. Which, admittedly, goes in line with her consistent characterisation (about her only consistent trait aside from being hateful and a liar) that she believes and presents herself to be more special than she actually is. But the problem is no character other than Marinette, Adrien, and now Sabrina ever learnt of this fact! Maybe now that she’s exposed herself, but with the way she gloated about all her plans going off without a hitch...

Which leads us to another reason this was the worst possible execution of Lila being exposed they could have come up with:

It was a stroke of luck.

That’s it. That’s unquestionably what it was. Because hadn’t Sabrina finally grown a spine and drawn the line with the actions she was willing to commit for Chloé’s sake, Marinette would have had no way of knowing of Lila’s plan and preparing accordingly. 

Really, the only positive thing I can say about it is that it could maybe count as character development for Marinette since she finally learned she needed to be as sneaky as Lila if she wanted to take her down. And there’s of course the fact that Sabrina finally broke away from Chloé. Other than that? It’s a fairly sombre scenario, really. 

Because, again, Marinette didn’t manage to finally beat Lila because she had a strong support network (which would have painted a very symbolic and meaningful picture showcasing how, for all the superficial attention her lies can get her, in reality, Lila will always be alone as long as she doesn’t put in the genuine effort to reach out to others like Marinette does), but because she had outside help. Again, help she couldn’t have accounted for until Sabrina herself reached out to her. 

Relating to my previous point, Marinette never got Alya to even believe her about Lila or at the very least question how genuine she was until Lila spelled it out for her. Even though she’s known her best friend is Ladybug for months, which brings forth the question if letting Alya in on Marinette’s secret ended up being even worth it if the writers refuse to have her help her out where it matters (I’ll be sure to go back to this point in a minute, just you wait). 

What else? Oh, I know! How about the fact that, for a season that was supposed to be all about Adrienette winning, the writers purposely robbed us of that Adrienette vs Lila alliance we were promised back in Chameleon, huh? Because Adrien was completely left out of the plan. In fact, ever since Ladybug back in season 3, he hasn’t been allowed to do anything to help Marinette against Lila. As with the Ladynoir conflict in season 4, his relevance all but vanished even though he was a central part of the conflict from seasons 1-3. 

Even better! When he finally spoke up about Lila to Nino and Alya, arguably his best friends besides Ladybug, they completely brushed his concerns off as him just agreeing with Marinette out of boyfriend obligation! I didn’t know intangible things could slap me in the face, but boy was I wrong!

And the best part? This complete disregard of his feelings, lack of communication, and their assuming they know better than him (which disturbingly parallels to his own relationship with Gabriel...) is certainly never going to be explored, let alone resolved. 

What do I mean with all this?

Well, basically that for a show that’s supposed to promote the power of love, friendship, and teamwork, when it comes to Lila Marinette is all alone. Has been since Volpina. 

But at least that’s done with, Lila got her just desserts, and we’re never going to have to deal with her ever again...

SIGH

Except, not really. Not at all, in fact. 

Because just as she and Chloé were finally being reprimanded for their actions, Mr. Damocles had to choose that of all moments to realise he failed as a principal, attract an akuma, cause a racket, and provide Lila with the perfect distraction to just...walk away unscathed. 

And with the reveal that she actually has more identities, social circles, and opportunities to lie and manipulate to fall back to after being expelled from the Françoise-Dupont...Let’s just say it implies that while Marinette (and the audience) had to endure nothing short of psychological torture, Lila never really had anything to lose.

Now I ask you...how the Hell am I supposed to consider that a satisfying, cathartic resolution to that particular arc?!?!?!?

And if you permit me, there is one more thing I’d like to get off my chest. 

Alya’s reaction to this.

After learning the truth she rushes to hug Marinette and apologise, being a clear wreck about it. And while Marinette getting an apology once in a blue moon is always a welcomed thing, once again the writers aim and completely miss their shot. Because Alya apologises for being gullible. 

Look, back in seasons 1 and 2, Hell, even back in season 3, I could have overlooked this. Yes, she never listened to Marinette, could be a tad hypocritical, and the whole jealous thing got old and annoying fast, but at least she couldn’t know for certain Lila was bad news. But from season 4 onwards Alya no longer has such an excuse. No, from season 4 onwards Alya’s problem isn’t that she’s gullible, it’s that she willingly and repeatedly chose to blatantly ignore all of Marinette’s suspicions and warnings regarding Lila. Even after Adrienette finally became canon and Marinette had realistically no reason to feel jealous of Lila in any way, shape or form, Alya still couldn’t fathom that, perhaps, her best friend had her reasons for disliking Lila besides a love triangle. 

The moment Alya learned Marinette is Ladybug, the two should have been allowed to talk about Lila, about the real reason Marinette hates her, and to work together to overcome this issue and bring her down. How do you expect me to be okay with season 5 opening to these two having daily sleepovers to talk about Marinette’s love life, but not a single second could be spared after Illusion to have Alya question why Marinette hates her so much, if not connect the dots herself since she is Ladybug’s best friend, not Lila, and Ladybug hates her?

I’ve seen people justify this saying it’s been a long time since Lila lied about being Ladybug’s best friend, and while I’ll argue the last time it was mentioned was actually Chameleon, not Volpina, I could see your point. Except that is not just another lie, like her claiming she knows Jagged Stone or Prince Ali. No, that is the lie that started everything.

It was because Lila lied about knowing Ladybug to impress everyone, especially Adrien, that Marinette completely lost it and chewed her out for it in front of him. It’s because of that lie and the consequent reaction it got from Ladybug that Lila even developed a grudge in the first place. It’s because of that lie that Marinette ever found out about Lila being a liar, because before she first lied to Adrien about being close to Ladybug, Marinette was panicking because she had no chance against someone as incredible as her. If she hadn’t lied about knowing Ladybug, Marinette would have been as fooled by her as everyone else and the two might have never really come to blows.

So don’t tell me it was never brought up because it was so long ago and it doesn’t matter anymore, when that particular lie carries so much weight and we all know the real reason they couldn’t have Alya in Marinette’s corner is because the writers know Lila needs everyone around her to follow her blindly for her lies to work and everything to always work out in her favour because otherwise she just doesn’t work as a villain.

TL;DR: If you want a good resolution to the Lila Gets Exposed plot, pick literally any fanfic dealing with this exact premise. It’ll be better, I promise.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #ml spoilers #ml season 5 #ml season 5 spoilers #ml s5.21 #confrontation #ml salt #ml analysis #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #sabrina raincomprix #adrien agreste #lila salt #alya salt #lila rossi #alya césaire #chloé bourgeois

[mochinek0]

Diner Girl

"So, we finally get to meet your girlfriend, in person?" Tim questioned.

"I'm already regretting this decision." Damian declared.

Jason chuckled, "Why? You think she'll like us more?"

"More like drive her away." Damian snarled.

"Relax, Little D." Dick smiled, "We won't do anything of the sort. Besides, it's been three years."

Damian sighed as they pulled up to the diner. Marinette had stated she was busy working until 5pm. The Wayne boys couldn't wait to meet her and asked if they could meet her at her work for a quick bite. They even said they could head out from there and take her home. He knew his brothers would try to convince her to change and go out instead.

Marinette heard the ding of the door opening and turned to see her boyfriend and his family. She smiled and looked at the clock.

'Thirty more minutes until I get off the clock. Maybe they'd like some appetizers.'

The Waynes sat down and saw Marinette subtly wave at them.

"My God, did you see her?"

"It suits her."

"I'm shocked she hasn't dropped anything yet."

Tim quickly took out his phone. He made sure to look interested at it, as he noticed the people in the booth behind them point at Marinette. He made sure his phone was still focused on them as his little brother's girlfriend approached the table.

"Sorry, for the wait." Mari spoke, "What can I get you to drink?"

"Hey, Pixie. Can I get a strawberry milkshake?" Jason questioned.

"Pixie?" she repeated.

"Because you're tiny and cute." he smiled.

His answered earned him a quick kick to the shin by Damian.

"Ow! You brat!" Jason yelled.

Damian flipped him off.

"Ignore them." Dick commented, "I'll take a limoncello float."

"Black coffee." declared Tim.

"Damian?" Marinette questioned, "Chai tea?"

"Yes." he answered.

Marinette smiled and walked away from their table.

"Oh, so she knows you favorites now?" Jason teased.

"Shut up." Damian growled.

"The butter knives aren't sharp enough and you know it." Tim sighed, noticing the girls in the next booth glaring at them.

Tim continued to appear interested in his phone.

'This isn't going to end well.'

Lila smirked as she tipped over her drink and it clattered to the floor.

"Oops." she spoke.

Alya snickered as the drink covered the floor.

"Clean it up, Lila." Adrien declared, "Now."

"Why would I do that, Adrien?" Lila questioned, "I don't work here."

"Well, if that is how you think, I can say you won't have a job anywhere." he replied.

Alya, Nino, and Lila looked at him shocked.

"You can't do that!" Alya shouted.

Adrien smiled and leaned back, "It's my father's company. Father expects perfection everywhere; especially in public."

"But my wrist hurts!" Lila whined, "It's why I spilled it. It was an accident."

He sighed, "We both know you're full of shit."

"Adrien!" Alya gasped.

"You are only special in your own head and it shows." he declared.

"Dude!" Nino cried out, surprised.

Marinette walked towards the table behind them and slipped on the scattered ice. Damian quickly grabbed her, preventing an accident, but the drinks still fell to the floor.

"Marinette!" the manager shouted.

"It-it wasn't my fault!" she stammered.

"You're fired!" he roared.

"But-" Marinette tried to refute.

"It's fine, Habibiti." Damian spoke.

"Yeah." Jason replied, "We'll leave."

The manager glared at her, "See! Now, you are making the patrons leave."

"The only reason we came here was to see Marinette." Dick annouced.

"Besides, " Tim spoke, "maybe you should hire Sausage Hair, there. Seems she'll be out of a job soon."

"Were you spying on us?" Alya shrieked.

"Recorded your conversations, too." Tim commented, "Planning to trip her? Classic."

"You're just jealous that Pixie Pop is better than you." Jason replied.

Lila stood up, in outrage, "I'm the daughter of an ambassador! I am a model for Gabriel Agreste! I travel the world and help with various charities! I know Prince Ali of Achu and Jagged Stone. I help Prince Ali in his environmental charities and I'm Jagged Stone's niece!"

The Waynes laughed. The manager noticed Marinette covering her mouth, but she was laughing, none the less.

'What is going on?'

"One: Prince Ali works in children's hospitals, not environmental projects." Dick stated, "He donates to our charities, all the time."

"Two: Marinette knows Jagged Stone. She is his 'niece', as well as his personal designer." Tim declared, "She doesn't even need this job, but she thought it would get her out of having kids thrown her way for unpaid babysitting gigs, at the last moment."

"Three: You are a waste of space from what Blondie was saying." Jason scoffed.

Damian smirked, "Go ahead. Tell her who we are Agreste. You've spoken to us before."

Adrien relaxed and smiled, "You're the Waynes. Your father is an international billionare."

Lila and the manager's faces drained of color.

Damian turned his glare to the manager, "Four: The only reason we were in your pathetic place was because of the angel in my arms."

"What's so special about her, anyways?" Alya snapped.

"She's my girlfriend." Damian announced.

The Waynes smiled behind him. Lila tensed up and looked between Marinette and the Wayne. Adrien just smiled and the manager sensed he had made a huge mistake.

"Come along, Angel." Damian spoke, "We'll take you home and we'll treat you to dinner."

"I have five restaurants ready to take our reservation in three hours." Tim declared.

Dick smiled, "We can settle it in the car."

"Sorry, I was such a bother, Damian." Marinette whispered.

Damian leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips, "You are never a bother to me. Though, you also have to thank Agreste there. He was trying to get the bitch to clean up the mess she made, before you came over."

Marinette smiled, "Thanks, Adrien."

"Oh, you're welcome, Mari." Adrien replied,, "Sorry, you ended up falling and getting fired."

Marinette just shrugged it off, "Like Tim said, I don't need this job. I just tired of Alya and Nino dumping their siblings at me for free babysitting gigs. I mostly took this out of spite. I'll be moving out of my parents' place this year; I didn't want to deal with packing and trying to take care of kids for some people who hate me."

"Come on, Pixie Pop!" Jason shouted, "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Dick smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, "We can drop you off and we can go change in our suits that you made us."

Marinette smiled brighter, "They fit, right? Nothing needs to be adjusted?"

"Are you kidding me?" Jason asked, leading the way out the door, "Like a glove! Best monkey suit I've worn!" making her giggle.

"Do we need to stop anywhere to get you dressed up?" Tim asked.

Mari scoffed, "You think I wouldn't have dressy clothes? I have to travel with Jagged to his functions."

"Rock and Roll!" Jason smiled.

Damian kept his arm snug around Marinette's waist as they left the diner with a smile.

"Move, Lila." Adrien demanded.

"Huh?" she spoke, confused by the hostility coming out of his mouth.

"I need to leave." he declared

"But-" Nino spoke.

Adrien pointed to the door as Natalie walked in. She quickly spotted the blonde's coiffed hair and walked towards them.

"Adrien, those were-" she bean.

"The people Lila just humiliated herself in front of and they recorded the whole thing?" Adrien stated, throwing her fully under the bus.

Natalie glared at her as she quickly moved, allowing Adrine out of the booth. Adrien walked around the mess and spotted one of the dishtowels that Mari had dropped onto the floor. He picked it up and threw it right in Lila's face. She sputtered as she removed the soaked towel from her face. It was painfully obvious by the two toned skin color that most of her makeup was wiped off on the wet towel.

Adrien smiled, "You might want to get use to your new job."

"They know Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Natalie questioned.

"Marinette is dating the youngest Wayne. Unless, Mari puts him in a good mood, Lila is likely to-" Adrien declared as his phone went off rapidly.

He pulled his phone out as Natalie looked towards her tablet.

"Oh, never mind. Timothy Drake-Wayne blasted Lila on twitter. The co-CEO of Wayne Enterprise just showed the world how two-faced Father's model really is." Adiren overdramatically sighed, "He posted the whole video of Lila pretending to be injured and purposefully making Marinette slip. He also posted Marinette getting horribly fired and all of the Waynes calling Lila a huge liar to her face. That's really not a good look for Gabriel."

Natalie tightened her grip on the tablet, "I'll call your father to see how he wants to deal with this new situation, seeing as we were suppose to meet the Waynes tomorrow."

Adrien smiled, "I'm pretty sure that the girl Lila got fired is the Waynes' personal designer."

Lila gulped and slowly sat back in the booth.

"If that is the case, I agree with Adrien, Miss Rossi; I would start looking for a new job." Natalie commanded.

Adrien walked out of the diner with Natalie in tow. Lila sat there frozen until Alya reached out and touched her hand.

"It's gonna be okay, Lila." Alya smiled, "It's-"

Lila tore her arm away from the journalist grasp and glared at her. She got up quickly and tried to rush out the door. In her hurry, she had forgotten about the spill and slipped. Lila fell forward but landed awkwardly, attempting to catch herself. She was rushed to the hospital with a broken arm.

As Nino drove Alya home, she sniffled as she looked through her phone. Her blog was being torn to shreds by people around the world. They were pointing out every lie and detail on how everything Lila said was fake. The comment that hurt the most was: I can't believe this blogger wants to be a reporter! Doesn't this girl know the basics for a reporter? It's called fact checking! Google isn't that hard to use!

TAGLIST:  TAG LIST:  @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus

#daminette #damian wayne #dc x mlb #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #long distance relationship #first meeting #diner #marinette dupain cheng #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #maribat #lila rossi #lila salt #alya cesaire #alya salt #adrien agreste #adrien sugar #nino lahiffe #marinette works #jagged stone #fired #accident #natalie sancoeur #mochinek0

[airi-p4]

hey Airi, can you recommend me some alya salt fics (bonus if it's lukanette)

Hi! I haven't been reading many fics lately (I want to catch up so baaad ;v;) and my memory is not the best but sure! I'll do what I can! (Tbh, I don't think I've read any Alya salt fics that's not Lukanette so the bonus is definitely included LOL)

These are the ones I have bookmarked or subscribed on AO3 (some of them are minor salt and some are dark so make sure to check the tags, please!!):

Oops by @quickspinner [Rated M] (I recommend all Quick's fics in general btw -SO GOOD)

Two Letters by cartoonaddict564

We're a kiss at 2am by @nerdypanda3126 [Rated E] (Panda's writing is just SO GOOD- I 100% recommend all her stories)

Juleka vs the forces of evil by @goldenlaurelleaveswrites (SO FREAKING GOOD!! I get so excited every time I see an update. I LOVE IT)

Luckier without , Choice chances and LadyBugOut by @miraculouscontent (I ADORE everything MC writes. Both FLUFF and SALT are exquisite. 100% recommend all of MC's stories and rants)

I'd kill for you by @notasiren21 [Rated M]

For the Lady's Favour , Liquid Courage and Living Arrangements by @mintaka14 [Rated T , M and M] (I LOVE Min's stories!!)

Marinette's Hanahaki by @haphira

Of Science Teachers and Coffee Addicts by N3verlandsShadow and Toko_Shadow (Nixys11)

When a Snake Strikes by lunamugetsu [Rated E] (Yandere Luka - VERY DARK)

Multibug and Vipercat AU by broadwaynerd_3

Hello Stranger by Freedom_shamrock

What goes around comes around saga by Cornholio4

Minor Alya salt:

Practice makes perfect by @ladycat1

Chords and Courtship by @goldenlaurelleaveswrites

And these are three Alya salt fics written by me:

Surfacing secrets

Fact check

The choice (just a pinch of salt)

I'm sure there's more, but I can't remember right now ^^; I recommend using AO3's tags to find more of them, either "Alya salt" or "Alya Césaire Bashing" (plus "endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng" or "lukanette endgame" for the bonus)

I hope this helped!

#airi answers #fic recs #alya salt

[jayphoenic]

MLB Alya Cesaire Salt Prompts/Fics Recommendations

A Bakers Daughter by @ladyanput

This doesn't actually have a title

“You’re not walking away from this, Marinette! If you need harrassing Lila like this, you’ll get arrested! Get it in your head! Adrien doesn’t want you! He would never want a baker’s daughter, someone so useless and uninspiring! You’ll never reach great heights, Lila does! Lila has more talent grace in one pinky, than you have in your entire being! You’ll always be a nobody and you need to learn to deal with that.”

All This After a Monkey Tries to Steal Marinette’s Purse by @cornholio4

“Dad, I can explain…” Alya replied while trying to think of an explanation that sounded somewhat believable.

“I sent Marinette to our house to wait for either of us, I want you home within half an hour to take over for the babysitting duties that you were supposed to be doing anyway! I will try and be home shortly to have a talk with you!” Otis told him sternly and Alya looked down sadly having to tell Nino and Adrien that she has to get home with them looking concerned.

FACT CHECK by @spooky-z

“Marinette, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Act like nothing is wrong. I didn’t know you could be that cold and calculating.” She caught everyone’s attention again, especially Marinette.

Marinette sighed, her elbow resting on the table, she laid her head on her palm. There was an air of boredom around her. Chloe, Sabrina and Nathaniel with unimpressed looks on their faces.

New York Special Salt: Confrontation by @nobodyfamousposts

Adrien was shaking at this point, but forcing himself to remain steady.

“You both knew Marinette liked me. Fine. Sure. Apparently she was having trouble telling me this. That’s okay. You knew she felt this way and was having trouble telling me. I get that.”

He glared.

“What I don’t get is why it was necessary to go THIS far instead of just TELLING me what was going on yourselves?!”

Exposed by @miraculousbelladonna

She is still absolutely going to have words with her bestie later, but she doesn’t think twice about posting the life changing video onto her blog.

All she’s thinking about is how it’s so cool that she’s the one who found Ladybugs identity. It’s so cool that she’s the one who’s revealing it. It’s so cool that her best friend, Marinette, is Ladybug. Her views are going to go through the roof. Television channels are going to be talking about this, they’re going to be calling her and asking to use her footage.

#mlb fic #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #miraculous fanfiction #tales of ladybug and cat noir #marinette dupen chang #mlb marinette #miraculous fanfic #miraculous fandom #ml class salt #alya salt #adrien salt #ml salt #Lila salt #class salt #fanficiton #fanfiction recommendation #marinette deserves better #fanfiction recommendations #mlb #adrien agreste #mlb adrien #adrien agreste salt #mlb salt #lila salt #lila rossi salt #bustier salt #masterlist #alya cesaire salt #alya cesaire

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe

Juleka vs. the Forces of the School Dance i

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe (AO3)

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

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

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

I Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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

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

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

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

She had fifteen minutes until the call. 

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

She straightened her head. And then frowned. 

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

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

But tonight… 

Tonight she didn’t want to hide. 

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

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

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

That was much better. 

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

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

“Thank you.” 

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

“But I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes you have.”

“No I-“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And not a moment too soon. 

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

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

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

“Hi, Juleka,” Mylène said. 

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

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

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

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

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

“You’re a life saver, thank you.” 

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

Either way, it was an awkward thing. 

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

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

“If we have to…” Alix groaned. 

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

Well, they were sort of in agreement there. 

They were just… diametrically opposed… 

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

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

Which meant she needed to be ready for anything.  

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

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

She also knew Luka and Marinette were going. 

Together. 

Of their own choosing. 

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

How could anyone think school dances were romantic?

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

Well, anyone except Rose. 

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

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

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

“You look gorgeous!”

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

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

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

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

Nathaniel nodded with a smile before slipping away. 

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

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

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

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

“Yeah? Well how about we-”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh, hey Luka!”  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And she had other things to worry about… 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“He isn’t playing-”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And this all but confirmed her worst suspicions. 

He was definitely in on whatever Alya had cooked up. 

“You look great, Adrien!” Alya said. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She whirled around, tugging Rose along with her. 

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

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

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

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

It made her look… freer. 

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

Shoot. 

“Wow, Marinette looks great!” 

Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot. 

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

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

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

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

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

There is was. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And really? 

That was what was eliciting that look? 

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

“Oh, ok-” 

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

“Yeah, it’s fine-” 

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

“But-” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey Chloe,” Adrien said, rather unenthusiastically. 

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

“Where are you going?” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m afraid so.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

At least, from her perspective. 

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

Almost. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“And you and Alya?” 

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

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

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

“What plan was that?” 

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

That was an understatement. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

The music was still pounding. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her smile faltered. 

It had seemed like an accident… 

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

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

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

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

And now…

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

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

That couldn’t be good… 

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

Nope. 

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

That was not good. 

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

It was definitely not good. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That is also a good point-” 

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

“Oh, excuse me- oh, hey Juleka.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But a ways behind them… 

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

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

“Why don’t we dance?” 

Did she really just say that?

Did she really just say that?

Did she really just say that? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully. 

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

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

“What are you doing?” 

Adrien’s brows furrowed. “Dancing?” 

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

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

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

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

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

There went that small comfort… 

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

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

With no mention of Chat in any of the lyrics… 

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

Of course it was.

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

This was more than painful. 

“Hey, you seen Chloe recently?” 

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

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

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

“Oh.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alya was the mastermind of all the plots. 

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

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

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

#juleka vs. the forces of the universe #juleka couffaine #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #rose lavillant #mylene haprele #alix kubdel #ivan bruel #le chien kim #max kante #adrien agreste #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #alya salt #adrien salt #chat noir salt

[sayuricorner]

Miraculous Ladybug crossover salt AU idea:

Marinette lose her friends thanks to Lila's lies BUT she go to New York for a student exchange program, became friends with ROTTMNT April O'Neil, meet the ROTTMNT turtles and become the little sister of the group.

Personal headcanon + unpopular opinion(?): ROTTMNT April and Alya are similar characters but April is better written.

Personal headcanon + unpopular opinion(?) 2: The turtles and April would be way better friends for Marinette than the Akuma class and April would make a better best friend for Marinette.

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

If you want to use this idea go ahead! Just credite/tag me in return please! ^^

#ml salt #miraculous ladybug #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt #crossover #marinette dupain cheng #rottmnt april #rottmnt raph #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt mikey #marinette deserves better #class salt #alya salt #lila salt #au idea

[mysteriouschar]

MASTER LIST

FELINETTE

Girlfriend

Rainy Day

Childhood friends

Already gone

That's not how this works

Proposal

New Year

Paris City of Love? Indeed

DREAMS OR REALITY OR BOTH

Part 1~Safe Heaven

Part 2~Dreaming

THE PARTY (Complete )

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

ALL THAT HAPPENED

Part 1~ All that happened

Part 2~ After that happened

BIO DAD BRUCE

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

MIRACULOUS SALT

Transfer

All because I liked a boy

FED UP

Part 1

Part 2

FINALLY

Part 1

Part 2

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrian salt #class salt #alya salt #felinette #felix graham de vanily #lila salt #nino salt #badass marinette #bio dad bruce wayne

[uptoolateart]

This, Alya. This is why it matters having an election with only two weeks left of the school year.

This was also the talk I was waiting for them to have since season three. I knew this revelation of his was coming. I wrote about it months ago. I think I even wrote it in a fic, once. This is him breaking free of naivety. He's having a massive coming of age moment here.

And this here was brilliant - because we do need to give people chances...but you have to know when to step away, too.

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #mlb #ml fandom #ml marinette #ml revelation #ml spoilers #ml s5 spoilers #ml s5 #ml analysis #ml adrinette #ml adrienette #ml adrien #lila rossi #ml lila #ml alya #alya salt #alya cesaire

[trashyangelic]

11/02/2023 - open prompt

Marinette thought of a new area for a field trip for the class to join. She was actually requested by one of the fans who has been requesting commissions on her website. About going to a museum that is in Las Vegas. Since Alya is no longer a deputy it is Chloe's job as a debuty.

"How about Zak Bagan Haunted Museum?" Marinette suggested it which gave Chloe the chills down her spine she has heard alot of stories about that museum it just gives her the chills. No one except for Marinette and Chloe knows that that museum is haunted with dark artifacts and has dark history.

If Lila starts to lie about then she would be in whole lot of trouble with the spirits in that museum. While Alya had the audacity to dragged Lila with her away from the group as for Miss Bustier who is being incompetent.

Behind the scenes Chloe send a message to the School Board about Miss Bustier's incompetent with head count and more. Some believe in ghosts like Chloe, Marinette, Kim, Nino, Ivan, Juleka, Nathaniel, Sabrina, and Mylene. But those who didn't believe in ghosts are Ms. Bustier, Lila, and Alya.

Max, Adrien, and Rose weren't with them they had a family emergencies that they had to call in sick for it.

#miraculous ladybug #lila salt #alya salt #bustier salt #chloe redemption #adrigami #chlonette #bisexual marinette #lesbian chloe

[taldigi]

is there a difference between alina and alya???? in terms of personality?

Since Alina is supposed to represent precanon Alya: yes.

From the 9/7/2012 bible: As eccentric as Marinette is classic, Alya wears extravagant outfits, swinging from gothic to geeky. She takes pride in being nothing like the others. It's her way of distinguishing herself. Alya is perfectly at ease with all things technology and telecommunications. Moreover, she's a budding reporter for the college newspaper!... Alya shares her bedroom with her younger sister. The room is divided in two. Alya's half is lined with posters of comic book superheroes, the floor is strewn with cables connected to an imposing DIY computer station.... Besides, she has theories on everything, admittedly- they are often very absurd. She dreams of gaining powers and becoming a heroine like Ladybug... Alya doesn't understand how Marinette can fall for Adrien, On the other hand, Alya finds Cat Noir super classy, ​​molded into his somewhat gothic leather uniform. Oh! If only Alya was Ladybug...

She is bright, smart, geeky- but fashionable! She's an individualist- loving to define and express herself. She's whipping up wacky theories that stem from her hobby of being a reporter for the school newspaper and her love of superheros- something she wishes desperately to be. She's a tech wiz- having built her own computer.

She also has a crush on Chat Noir, which i think is great in contrast to the love diamond and her relationship with Marinette. Later art of her does show that she even put red streaks in her hair, wore goggles, and held a helmet, which I think is super neat and expresses her more... creative or even techy side?

Canon Alya, on the other hand, dosen't seem to be too entrenched in tech, past a passing comment that a "good reporter backs up her files" or smth. But that's like.. something built into most phones these days, so it's not really a.. tech.. geek thing. Alya also never expresses much desire to be a hero, it more falls into her lap due to circumstance and nepotism. and her antics devolved into "stupid reporter" and zero self-preservation instinct- as well as pushing Marinette around for self-confidence reasons. (there is a discussion to be had there around black and asian stereotypes but thats a discussion for another day.)

Anyway, while it's true that none of the characters change outfits much due to cheaping out on 3D, Alya expresses no interest in fashion whatsover. In fact, she seems to carry a hipster vibe (she's rather unfashionable- I mean, most the cast are, actually.) and her outfit sort of expresses a carelessness to her fashion choices- as it's boring and plain, rather than "eccentric" She also actively seems to balk at the idea of Chat, and ignored him for the most part in favor of Ladybug. Her relationship with Nino is actively detrimental to her character and I think was her shark jump- as it suddenly started being the justification for a LOT OF BAD BEHAVIOR.

Hope this helps!

#688199 #Alina LeRoux #ladybug classic lore studies #ladybug classic #alya cesaire #Alya Salt #to be safe it's less salt and more an active criticism but people aren't great about defining the two lately

[verfound]

Hey I'm tryin to find a fanfic and I'm wondering if you wrote it or remember who did. It's a one shot I think where Luka and Mari have been dating and one morning she's really tired and wears his jacket to class by accident, cue reactions from everyone else. Another thing I remember is Luka and his friends show up, who love Mari and Lila tries to say that the relationship is a ploy to make Adrien jealous.

I honestly couldn't remember if this was one of mine - bc it kinda sounds like something I've used before but I also tend to stay away from Lila/Salt Land so maybe not? After scouring the older one shots and finding nothing, I tossed it to the LBSCers.

Is this the one you were looking for? (Mari wears his jacket to class, too tired to realize until he shows up with his class, Alya hauls her ass for an interrogation at lunch where Lila tries to start shit.)

Macarons, Jackets, Jackasses - lovelyswriting

Against her efforts, she must have dozed off for a second, because the next time she looks back up, Miss Bustier’s walking into the classroom jerkily, peeved.

Marinette wonders if another akuma graced the school with its annoying presence again, her hand already inching to her purse, but then she spots the line of students trickling in after Miss Bustier. Marinette squints at the whole new lot of people—juniors, she realizes—hovering as a crowd in the corner of the room while Miss Bustier addresses the front of the class.

She promptly chokes on air when she sees a head of bright blue hair amongst them.

#ver asks #fic recs #miraculous ladybug #lukanette fic #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #lila rossi #salt fic #give luka friends #luka couffaine #marinette dupain-cheng #lukanette #alya cesaire #alya salt #lila salt #girl squad salt #it sounded familiar but I'm not sure I read this one before #there might be a few with that idea but this is what we found? #hope it helps! #it was a good read either way - thanks for the ask!

[ladylookslikeadude1]

Lukanette Idea

Kitty Section (& Mylene) Sugar

Marinette's Calender - It has the whole class not just Adrien he just has the most activities and takes up the most space - Gets used against her by Lila and Alya

Kitty Section offers The Liberty as a safe place to hide

They find out most of what Marinette knows (Minus being Ladybug obviously) And supports her through and emotional break down.

And then plans (On their own because Marinette deserves to be taken care of) How to take down Lila, Alya and Adrien, who is unsupportive despite knowing Lila is a liar

Also a JuleRose, Myvan, and Lukanette triple date sounds cute

Lukanette is my favorite pairing for Miraculous Ladybug, so I love the choice there! This got...a little out of hand, so I couldn't fit everything in there, but I hope you like it!

Marinette was genuinely forgetful, and incredibly busy.  The fact that she had a calendar with everyone’s events on it was a natural progression of that, since she would, actually, like to spend time with her friends on occasion.  Adrien’s activities taking up such a large portion of the calendar was just because he had a lot of activities!  But Alya…she’d taken a picture of it, and shared it with Lila, who in turn showed it to the rest of the class and twisted it into something creepy and stalkerish.

She was good at twisting things like that.  One day full of side-eye from everyone except Juleka, Rose, Mylene, and Ivan and snide comments about being a stalker and Marinette was ready to cry-or scream.  Fleeing to the park after school had been a thoughtless decision, brought about simply because she didn’t want to go home and have to look at that calendar quite yet.  She collapsed under a tree and couldn’t help the silent tears that spilled over.  

She knew she had to calm down.  She knew.  But Marinette couldn’t stop replaying the day over and over in her head, seeing Lila’s smug little smirk and Alya’s self-righteous look.

“Ma-Ma-Marinette,” Luka’s low voice greeted her playfully before he caught a good look at her face.  “Hey.”  He sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug.  “It’ll be ok,” he murmured to her.  “Whatever it is, I’ll make it ok.”

Marinette let out a wet laugh as she swiped at her cheeks half-heartedly.  “I don’t think it will be,” she told him tiredly.

“Come to the Liberty,” Luka offered.  “We’ll talk about it and make a plan.”

“You hate plans,” Marinette said, a small smile tugging at her lips.  Luka was definitely more a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy.

“Yeah, but you don’t.”  Luka’s gentle look somehow ripped Marinette apart and put her together again at the same time.  

Marinette should have expected the ambush at the Liberty, but she wasn’t even mad about it.  Juleka, Rose, Mylene, and Ivan dragging her (and Luka by way of proximity) into a group hug while telling her that they knew it wasn’t anything creepy was a balm to her battered emotion.  The brief explanation about what happened during class had Luka’s eyebrow raising incredulously.  “They’re stupid,” Juleka concluded darkly.

“I-you’re busy,” Luka said in disbelief.  “How exactly do they expect you to keep track of all of the events they have-that they ask you to make stuff for and don’t pay you for-without having it on a calendar or something?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Marinette murmured.  “But Lila’s a huge liar, so I’m not surprised she’s pulling something like this.”

“You’ve said that before,” Mylene said slowly, her voice soft and considering.  “What do you mean?”

Marinette hesitated for a moment, but told them all, “I don’t know if you know this, but I got Alya that first interview with Ladybug.”  Rose let out a soft noise of realization.  “So she and I have…a professional relationship, I guess.  So I know for a fact that Lila isn’t her ‘best friend’.  And Jagged Stone doesn’t have a kitten, he has Fang-his crocodile.”  She sighed.  “I just…I can’t stand liars.  Maybe I shouldn’t have been so harsh with her, but it just really bothers me.  And then this.”

“I asked Prince Ali about the charity she said she worked on with him,” Rose said after a moment.  “He said he didn’t know what I was talking about-Lila said it was very confidential, and that’s why he couldn’t say anything but…that didn’t make a lot of sense to me,” she admitted.  “I’m sorry Marinette, I should have stood up for you today!”

“No,” Marinette said immediately.  “No, I wouldn’t want you to do that.  It’s better that she’s just focused on me.”

Ivan was not someone who spoke often, but when he did it made an impact.  So when he told Marinette, “It’s not your responsibility to protect us-we care about you, and you deserve to be protected too,” she paused to let it sink in.

And then Marinette promptly burst into tears.

#Miraculous Ladybug #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #lukanette #pro lukamari #alya salt #lila salt #my fanfiction #my writing #ladylookslikeadudeanswers #writing prompt answers

[mochinek0]

Daminette One Shots

“Normal”

Sweetheart Ice Cream

Fairy vs Angel

Maribat Halloween

Bruce v Gabriel

Team Damidrien

Chat’s Retaliation

I Don’t Bite

Reunited

Karma

Not my Type

Umbrella Scene

The Moon and her Shadow

Tied for Second Place

The Sketchbook

Party Crasher

SIT! (meme)

Halloween Treats

Dirty Mind

Bees (meme)

Pissed Off

Green Eyes

Damian X Plagg

Diner Girl

Valentine’s Day Surprise

Robin Hoodie

TAGLIST:  @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @scribblinggraveyard @urbanpineapplefarmer @northernbluetongue @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @grandmaveitch @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @friedchickening @iggy-of-fans @mjisntme @sam-spectra @sonif50 @dur55 @danielslilangel @notmycupoftea26 @t1dwarrior-of-earth @bee-wrecker @polyvirnl @pawsitivelymiraculous @wannajointhecrabcult @goblinwhoships @starlightshield @demonangel27 @dreamykitty25 @irontimetravelflower @clumsy-owl-4178 @lavenderjunes @miyla-lokidottir @toodaloo-kangaroo @our-preciousss @crystalangelluna @sassakitty @tomanyfandomsonmymind @ichigorose @tigresslily @legodetectivemalsblog

#daminette #damian wayne #marinette dupain cheng #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #wayne family #bruce wayne #gabriel agreste #lila salt #alya salt #chloe burgeois #nino lahiffe #bamf marinette #conerned friends #chat noir #marichat #nino sugar #adrien agreste #adrien sugar #mention of suicidal thoughts #lila exposed #gina dupain #league of assassins #halloween #adrien salt #batfam #wayne boys #overprotective

[imthepunchlord]

Do you think Gabriel is a better character than Adrien?

No, honestly, ML over all doesn't have any "good" characters. And it's largely due to their writing.

They either have characters hop between two extremes and they have those two extremes exist at the same time like Gabriel "I love my son" to "HAHAHA! I'M GOING TO CHUCK MY SON ACROSS PARIS!" or "Chloe the Hero!" to "Chloe the Villain!" or Alya "Marinette I'm your best friend, here to support you, you can trust me with your secret and I will keep things secretive" to "I'm Lila's best friend, you're just being jealous, and hey, Nino, I gotta tell you something".

Or characters have the issue of just being stagnant and they just don't do anything with them, which hey, there's consistency at least, but you're kinda boring as a character cause nothing changes or is done with you, best examples being Adrien and Luka. But we can appreciate consistency so thumbs up?

Or characters are a pinball that writers will fire at random to meet their needs in certain eps so there is zero consistency in their characterization. Best and biggest example is Kagami. Riptose introduces her as someone overly dedicated, no nonsense, competitive, doesn't like her time wasted, and holding herself to a very high standard. Frozer she's a bold romantic, who is still willing to pursue Adrien despite him saying he wants to pursue his initial crush and wasted her time (Riptose Kagami would've slammed the door on his hand). Then Animaestro she's a more subtle Chloe, purposely acting out to make Marinette jealous and show off her close ties with Adrien. Then Ikari Gozen she's all "I want to befriend Marinette but she's initially hostile/wary of me why?".

Lastly, there's the plot device, best and biggest example is Lila, who can mold the narrative to her needs that it throws logic out the window and she only exists when necessary.

So is Gabriel better than Adrien?

No.

Not by a longshot. He's bad by different means.

Adrien suffers by being stagnant, and by making choices that are clearly bad and should be called out, made to be a lesson, or give him some form of consequence, but aren't cause he's not meant to grow as a character.

Gabriel is bad with his inconsistency. Between his feelings of his son, between how we're supposed to feel for him which they do try to play the pity card sometime but he's also an active eager terrorist, between whether he's a joke villain to laugh at or if he's a more serious villain to take seriously. The latter of which is especially hard cause he's an idiot. Dude had freaking time traveling power and he stilled messed it up.

Gabriel I'd probably say is the most embarrassing part of ML simply by the extremes of his portrayal as a villain, cause he's meant to be that idiotic Saturday morning villain to laugh at, but he's also meant to be the big scary force that you're to take very seriously.

It's very rare to get these two to mix, and ML's crew are not skilled enough to do so, leaving Gabriel as a threat you can't take seriously, one that stuck around for far too long, and is someone you don't feel pity for. And his ending is just irritating.

Much like Chloe, with Gabriel they should've just picked a lane in what sort of villain he is.

#ask Punchie #gabriel salt #adrien salt #kagami salt #chloe salt #alya salt

[jayphoenic]

Tumblr MLB Lila (Salt) Bashing Prompts/Fics Recommendations 3

The Other Diplomat Kid by @musicfeedsmysoul12

Sam Williams goes to Paris when their dad temporarily takes over the title of diplomat to get away from their grandfather. They end up meeting a girl everyone in the diplomat circle knows is a liar.

Fake Lila Rossi AU by @ladyanput

So it was that night that Lila approached this girl, befriended her, and later offered her a deal;

Lila would pay her handsomely for her services. To act as her double. Lila promises to pay for the plastic surgery, anything she needs to look exactly like Lila. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be one of the biggest influencers in Paris? The girl does the charity work, get down and dirty, get Lila a good image, while Lila enjoys the high life. But they plan in carefully so that the two are never seem at the same time, even if they were in different places.

Fortune Reversal by @cornholio4

They put their paws together and in unison used the incantation that activated the magic of the Fortune Reversal. Plagg let Tikki take the reigns as she turned Marinette’s fortune positive and jsut because she decided to be a petty Kwami she also decided to reverse the fortune of Lila.

Rate this (Trust is Hard to Come By) by @unmaskedagain

Lila looked honestly confused. She had missed something, and it was big. “What’s going on?”

Nino glared at the girl; his eyes red, tear streaks his face. “Those numbers tell the world how much Ladybug trusts you. Or how much she doesn’t,” He said darkly, thinking about his own number and his actions against the girl he once called his best friend. “And why.”

“The lower the number,” Adrien added. “The less she trust you.”

Remember some chapters are longer than others

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

Taglist:

@lazyeasyaddict @aludhazie @lonestarfangirl2014 @gingerdaile @virgil-is-a-cutie @ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole @erb23 @miraculous-ladybug-stufff @thefullmetalfairy @im-tired-101 @rubybee5 @mewwitch @fantasyfandommaiden @mariloki4 @novicevoice @graduatedmelon @cheyj05 @sparklyaxolotlstudent @tails-of-a-dragon-rider @caycay-lee @crazylittlemunchkin @smartlanceisreal @lostinday @dagnysdawn @i-cant-think-of-one-meh @sassakitty @alicesangelofmusic @the-navistar-carol @wrecker-radioactive @toftbmh @whimsicalsandmusings @lugluh @ml-miraculouslady @unabashedbookworm @akittycat24stuff @sillyandquest @madd-kwami @naturegreenr @irontimetravelflower @starstruckstarlightpenguin @255940g @dreamer2 @staren3rgy101 @spottedbug @weirdness2020 @chaoticmistake

#mlb fic #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #miraculous fanfiction #tales of ladybug and cat noir #marinette dupen chang #mlb marinette #miraculous fanfic #miraculous fandom #ml class salt #alya salt #adrien salt #ml salt #Lila salt #lila gets exposed #lila exposed #class salt #fanficiton #masterlist #fanfiction recommendation #marinette deserves better #fanfiction recommendations #mlb #adrien agreste #mlb adrien #adrien agreste salt #mlb salt #lila salt #lila rossi salt #bustier salt

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

Juleka vs. The Forces of the Universe

Ch 18 Juleka vs. the Forces of the School Dance ii

Hello everyone! Thanks for your patience while I finished up this chapter! And thank you for all the kind and lovely comments on the previous chapter! I hope you all enjoy the chapter 💖💖💖

#juleka vs the forces of the universe #juleka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #alya cesaire #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #rose lavillant #girl squad #miracuclass #alya salt #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame